PERKY PETAL PROJECT PIECED...

Say that three times fast, lol.  This quirky little pillow/mini quilt was begun as a way to try out the new Sizzix die that my parents bought me for Christmas.  I was determined to complete this project with absolutely no money spent on fabric!  It's time to shop my stash! 

The next step will be to quilt this little beauty with lots of happy colored threads and maybe even a few embellishments to pump up the funky fun!  Then I'll add an envelope back just in case this "Perky Petal Project" is destined to cover a pillow in my Expanded Sewing Room.  OR, I can add a few 3M hangers to the back of the pillow cover, turning it into a mini quilt to bring some pizazz to my sewing room wall!  Multi-function means more bang for my buck...er...stash!  No matter where it ends up, I know it will turn my frown upside down!   

FREEBIES LEAD TO PROGRESS...

At the end of December I took stock of my numerous gift cards.  I had quite a few that were set to expire in early 2015; so in January I began purchasing various quilting supplies to keep from "losing" money to ridiculously short expiration dates.  Of course, since all of my purchases were being made online, I was left with "small" amounts of money on numerous cards.  My goal is to get all of my cards down to $0.00, but the minimum I am willing to lose is less than $1 on a card.  If I can, I will use the tiny bit of change left on a card toward in-store purchases (though we all know how much I hate to shop in brick and mortar stores!)

One of my cards was down to $4 and change.  By the time you include tax and shipping, there isn't very much you can buy in the world of quilting for under $5.  Then I remembered Judi Madsen's shop, Green Fairy Quilts.  Judi offers free shipping within the US and carries a good number of "mini" charm packs...32 at last count...for under $4 each! My fingers flew over the keys and within seconds I was "ooo-ing" and "ahh-ing" over the selection.  BUT, I could only buy one!  It was a very unusual (for me) half hour of indecision before I finally put a single pack of "Best Day Ever" in my cart.  I have three or four mini-charm packs in my stash and they are all in bright primary colors.  Hopefully I can combine pieces from multiple lines to make a truly unique project.  "Best Day Ever" seemed like it would fit right in.

A few days ago I received my mini charm pack and it DIDN'T make it into my stash with all of the other mini-charms...it stopped right on my craft table!  Amazingly, a large number of the charms were a perfect match for my "petal" pillow/mini!  I had stopped working on my pillow/mini because nothing in my stash was quite "right" for the pieced border I had in mind...and I was DETERMINED to use only fabrics I had on hand to finish the project. 

Yesterday I began the cutting and piecing and I'm REALLY happy with the way "Best Day Ever" is adding such a pop of color against the first border.  Thanks to Judi I was able to add to my stash for free and find the solution to my problem at the same time!  Kudos, Judi...I LOVE YOUR SHOP! 

FINISHED...

Even though we are supposed to get SLAMMED with snow tomorrow, the barometric pressure was steady when I woke up...so my pain level was stable.  I took advantage of the reprieve and did a small amount of FMQ on my pillow (my first real attempt at FMQ) and then sewed up the sides.  I absolutely LOVE this pillow!

Sorry the pictures are a bit blurry...my pain was stable but my tremor was acting up.  But I am sure you can get the idea, lol.  

Good thing I did a little bit of sewing this morning.  The barometric pressure is dropping and I am starting to really hurt.  We are getting killed with snow tomorrow...think I will spend the day under the electric throw trying to keep warm and keep my pain in check. 

Take care, stay warm and stay safe!

A DECISION IS MADE...

No matter how many times I looked at the red and white diamond material as the backing of my "Square Pot" pillow...I just wasn't happy.  Then last evening in our mail was a package of fabric I ordered to make valances for the windows in my ESR.  Suddenly I remembered I had bought more than enough material to make the valances!

I think this material is absolutely PERFECT for the back of the pillow!  While my ESR is my expanded sewing room, Dear Hubby has asked that I not make it SCREAM sewing.  So I have to be a bit "obtuse" in my decorating scheme.  He is okay with the "buttons" on the rug since they give the room a big pop of color, but he would prefer not to have TONS of "sew-y" themed stuff around the room.  I almost DIED when I saw this beautiful hexie material!  To a quilter, this pattern just screams QUILT, but to the non-quilter it is just a nice geometric pattern that matches the black, gray and white of the room.  Perfect.  ABSOLUTELY PERFECT!

So this morning I sewed up the backing of the pillow.  Hopefully within the next few days I will get the front of the pillow quilted and then I can assemble it.  This weekend I will go to JoAnn's and buy another pillow form.  I will also check out the curtain rods at Walmart.  I need to go online and purchase the curtain rod hooks that attach to the window frame so I don't have to put holes in my newly painted wall.  Then all I need to do to finish my room is complete 8 more Collapsible Craft Containers to hold the rest of my buttons and the room will be DONE.   Decorating, that is.  I still have a ton of sorting, etc. to do in the room...but the pretty stuff will be done. 

WIP...

I have a new WIP (work in progress) on my sewing room table...a cute little pillow inspired by Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts.  I am having SO much fun decorating my ESR (Expanded Sewing Room) and the bright pops of color are just what the doctor ordered for these cold, winter days!

I used a mini charm pack of "Potluck" by American Jane for Moda.  While I loved the white sashes on Amanda Jean's pillow...black is much more in keeping with the decor of my ESR.  I couldn't find any black yardage, or even fat quarters, so I simply pieced some Kona Black charms that I had in my stash.  Once this is quilted I doubt the seams will be very visible.  It took me all last week to get this pillow top finished.  Physically it was NOT a good week. 

This morning I searched through my yardage to find a suitable backing for the pillow.  I came across this fabric that my Dear Aunt won at the local quilt show we attended last year.  I love the bright, funky-ness of the pattern, but is the white too much for the black on the other side?  There is white in the mini charms and also white in the carpet.  Is the "scale" too different?  I really need your opinion! I am usually VERY decisive...but this one is throwing me for a loop.

We had unexpected company over the weekend as my Mom, Dad and Dear Aunt ran out of propane to heat their house on Saturday.  Snow on the ground, in the forecast and cold, cold, COLD and the propane company failed to keep their tank full!  I was FURIOUS!  Not that they were staying at our house (that was never a question and it was actually fun), but that the company whose job it is contractually to keep their propane tank filled fell down on the job...in a house with three elderly people, two of whom are in their 80s and have very serious health problems. Even more inexcusable, the emergency switchboard called at least 6 different delivery people on Saturday evening and not ONE of them answered the phone or called my folks back.  So Sunday morning "I" called the company (Huh?  Headquarters is on the west coast?) and raised holy hell.  I have learned over the years exactly which buttons to push to have things accomplished...and where my family is concerned I was pushing ALL of the buttons! While I am thankful that we live close enough for my family to come stay at our home, gathering up all of their medications, blood pressure cuff, blood sugar machine, clothing, etc., etc. was really too much for my folks  and aunt to handle with such short notice.  They were all pretty stressed!

So I am hoping this week will be a little calmer.  We are due for another snow on Thursday (the day Dear Hubby, J, K and I are going to the car show in Philly), but we are hoping to be headed back home before the roads get too bad.  Where are you, Spring?

ONE WIP COMPLETED!

Well, I did it!  I finished a WIP.  I am really, REALLY happy with how it turned out.  The dresden was made completely from scrap fabric.  It is bright and cheery and I just love it.  I even added a bit of trapunto to the front circle so the blue center really "pops".  The most special scrap fabric is the polka dots...I bought them to make burp cloths when I was pregnant with J some 26 years ago!  I am fastidious about saving scraps, lol.  

The rest of the pillow cover is a really pretty white linen.  It fits a 16" pillow form perfectly.  I was planning on listing this in my shop immediately, but I really want to show it to the family first.  Who knows, my sentimental mother may just want a pillow with the fabric from J's burp cloths, lol.  It's hard to list something for sale when you absolutely love it, lol.  But it doesn't match the colors in my house...they are more of a mid-range intensity pastel, not bright.  

So I am going to sit on this for a few days and then decide if I can bear to part with it.  I'll let you know what I decide, lol.  Dear Hubby figures we will eventually begin to drown in all of my projects...but as long as I love crafting I should continue it.  He may be right!  I'd better practice my backstroke...glub, glub...

THE WEEK IN REVIEW...

This week has flown by in misty blur.  We have had rain, on top of Rain, on top of RAIN...accompanied by ridiculously high temperatures.  Tomorrow is supposed to be the cool day of the coming week.  Round about Wednesday we could have real-feel temps around 104-105 F.  That is unheard of in this area!  To make it worse, it will likely be a muggy heat too, not the beautiful dry heat of the Southwestern part of our country.  This hot and muggy weather has even led to some tornado warnings in our area!

This hasn't been a particularly good week for me health-wise.  After a three day bout of Trigeminal Neuralgia (someone please numb me from the neck up!) I finally got relief from the TN only to be hit with a day long migraine!  I went to my family physician for a routine check up yesterday and told him I have also been having more "all over" pain this past week...without even starting any weaning of my medication (that starts in 2 weeks and I am DREADING it)!  My doctor wisely pointed out our horrendously hot and muggy weather and commented that many of his patients with rheumatologic disorders have been having a particularly hard time of it this week.  Well....DUH...I made the connection between my pain and the weather over a year ago.  I will blame my memory blip on my Fibro fog, lol. 

I have accomplished a few things this past week.  Remember the doodling I mentioned in my last post?  Well, I finished my "doodle", scanned it into my computer and printed it onto some light gray cotton.  I have decided to use it as the centerpiece of a new pillow...sewn with the super fun fabrics of "Happy Go Lucky" from Moda.  Making things even better, a few weeks ago my Dear Hubby threw out a shirt that was wearing out a bit in the cuffs.  I rescued it from the trashcan and just discovered that it is a perfect match to the green and navy in the "Happy Go Lucky" charm pack.  I think the front placket of the shirt will make an adorable back for the pillow.   Dang, I just noticed that the interfacing I used is wrinkled from folding the cotton.  I sure hope it irons out eventually!


My hope is to embroider the design, although I know it is going to take a very, VERY long time working in teeny "steady hand" chunks.  So yesterday I went to JoAnn's and bought a few skeins of embroidery floss in bright and happy colors...red, yellow, orange, green, gray, navy, and aqua.  They were so bright and cheery that I smiled all the way home from the store! 


When I began having problems doing hand sewing I gave away all of my embroidery supplies.  I was going to buy cards to wind my new floss onto and then thought I would look and see if my new Sizzix Big Shot could supply me with something suitable at no further cost.  The Sizzix is my birthday present from Dear Hubby, but he insisted that I begin using it now rather than waiting a month for my birthday.  Cutting shapes with scissors is really problematic sometimes so he wants me to take advantage of the Big Shot.   

I found just what I needed!  My Big Shot came with a free assortment of dies and embossing plates.  I found the PERFECT frame die in the bundle of accessories.  So I tried out my Big Shot to make sure it works (I can now throw away the shipping box) and I made myself cute little embroidery floss cards in the process! See!  Aren't they cute?  I just wish there was a way to have the Sizzix cut the little slits for starting and ending the winding.  Trying to cut those were the PITS.  I had to squeeze my arms against my sides and press my arms on the tabletop to steady myself enough to cut just those little slits.  Phooey!  My tremor has been really BAD this week; typing and texting has been rife with wrong letters and double strikes.  It just KILLS the transcriptionist in me!  To think I used to type 130 words per minute with 98% accuracy.......ugh......those days are definitely GONE.

In better news, a few days ago I was reading the blog, "Jenny of Elefantz" (fabulous blog by the way!).  In one of her posts she mentioned a delicious Irish Tea Bread that she had found on another blog.  So I followed the link and printed out a copy.  On Thursday night I started the raisins and sugar (I reduced it by about a third) soaking in the tea.  Friday morning I only needed to add some flour and one egg and pour the batter into my cast iron bread pans and bake. 

I hate to admit it, but by last night one whole loaf was gone.  Even Dear Hubby liked it!  In all honesty I probably should have only used one pan instead of two as it made rather short loaves.  But, it was FABULOUS. 

I had a piece of the second loaf this morning with my coffee.  The recipe said that the bread gets even better the longer it sits.  Oh yea....it was even yummier this morning!  I am going to try to eat just a skinny little slice with my coffee every morning to try to see at which point "post baking" it reaches its peak taste.  Do we think it will last that long?  Hehehe...I doubt it!  The next time I make it I am going to reduce the sugar even further and maybe even cut back a bit on the raisins.  I have found that most recipes can be adjusted quite a bit before it starts to mess up the end result. 

The other big news around here is that I have gotten my half of our anniversary gift...an IPAD!  I have wanted one that I can use when I am out and about, or when I'm waiting in doctor's offices, etc., and on our vacation every year.  I have been using a Netbook that Dear Hubby won a few years back, but it is not working properly and has a mind of its own...usually losing whatever I am typing or reading!  As it was a very inexpensive, very low end model (hey, what did I expect it was a door prize!) I can't say it owes me one penny.  I have used it long and hard for quite a few years and it has earned its retirement.  Dear Hubby will also be getting some type of tablet for his half of our anniversary gift.  However, as he wants to use his for doing work on our vacations (yes he works every day we are away, lol) and for traveling to the UK for work, he has to wait until the IT Department tells him the exact specs he needs.  They are doing a lot of upgrades and he doesn't want to buy his anniversary gift and then find out it isn't compatible with the specs.  

So, that is my week in a nutshell.  I am sure there are a few other "happenings" that I have forgotten to mention.  Knowing how bad my memory can be, I had intended to keep a running list of things I wanted to tell you.  But, thanks to my lousy memory I forgot to start the list, lol.  Oh well, no big loss.  It's not like I hit the lottery and forgot to mention it!

WORKING ON MY GUEST ROOM QUILT...AND MORE...

Since J moved out of the house back in January, Dear Hubby and I have been playing musical bedrooms...fixing up J's room as my "Expansion Sewing Room" and slowly moving hubby's "house" office out of the fourth bedroom, which will become our new guest room.  Since we have moved J's old queen sized bed into the guest room, we will need bedding to match the room.  Luckily I found a set of new blue sheets in the linen closet, but the only blankets/quilts available to put on the bed are J's old black vellux blanket and his dorm room denim quilt.  Not very pretty for our new room!  Serviceable and warm, yes, but pretty?  No.  So I have begun work on a quilt for the bed.

After paying to have J's old room repainted, hubby and I certainly can't afford to change the decor of the guest room too.  Being "stuck" with the yellow (not my favorite color...the room was originally J's gender neutral nursery updated years ago with a border and curtains to make a grown up bedroom)

I picked out Sweet Shoppe Calico Candies material by Benartex as it contained all of the colors of the bedroom and retained that "cottage-y" feel (which I DO love, by the way!  It's so ME!).

I then picked out a pattern that felt "scrappy" to me (my first love in quilts) and mimicked the lattice frame on the wall.   However, since I am using 5" charms to construct this quilt, with each of my blocks finishing at 4.5", it is going to require tons and TONS of blocks and hours and Hours and HOURS of work!  Good thing I am in no rush to have the room finished (especially when I only average 12 to 18 blocks per week!), lol.  I am not even sure I have enough charm squares to finish a queen sized top.  Lol.  I tend to "wing it" when designing quilts and adapt as I go along.  While I do have quite a few similar patterned/colored fat quarters that I could cut into charms allowing me to keep it completely a 4.5" block quilt, I may consider some type of sashing to break up the pattern and speed the quilt to completion.  I'm not sure yet and will play it by ear as I move along.  

I am using Bella Solid white charms in the construction of the block.  

Each charm is cut into 2.5" squares, which are used to form the pattern of my quilt blocks.  

White squares are positioned in opposing corners and pinned in place. 

Then, using my all-time favorite quilting gadget (Quilter's Magic Wand), I draw my stitching lines. 

By moving the wand to the right of the stitching line I am able to draw another stitching line 0.5" away.  

 

Two stitching lines done.  

Flip the block around and do the same on the other 2.5" white square. 

Move to the machine and sew on all four stitching lines.  

Snip all threads and prepare to kill two birds with one stone!  

Cut down the middle of your two sewn lines.  

This will give you your primary block AND two teeny tiny half square triangles for a future project!

I wasn't kidding when I said "teeny, tiny"!  Those small HST's will finish at just 1" square!  Teeny, tiny and Oh. So. Cute!  I am thinking they would look just darling as the border on a throw pillow!  As tiny as they are, though, I know better than to try to work with them unless I am having a really good tremor day, lol.  

So, after working on my quilt for just 30 minutes my tremors decided to make their presence known and forced me on to bigger, more tremor friendly things (crochet).   

My stack of completed blocks to date.  A mere thirty one blocks out of, oh I don't know, maybe a gazillion?  This quilt is going to take a long, LONG time, lol.  I think my mom was right when she said I needed to live to be at least 125 to finish all of the projects in my head, but maybe I need that many years just to complete THIS one!

Off to work on crocheting the last dish cloth so I can list them in my shop.  Oh, and speaking of crochet...

 

On Sunday the landscaper came out and weeded, edged and mulched my flower beds.  Over the years all of my beautiful daffodils have died...with the exception of the muted, slightly peach colored flowers you see above.  They looked so pretty set against the new dark black mulch.  So I took my scissors out and cut a few fresh flowers to enjoy in my sewing room.  After pulling out my small vase I decided that a thin, top heavy water filled vase was NOT an ideal candidate for a tremor ridden admirer.  I could just PICTURE the vase and water splattered all over!  A quick search through my glass jar collection located this short, squat jelly jar.  While I like the pattern in the glass, it was still BORING.  So I crocheted a white bobble edging to put around the rim.  Okay, better...but still kinda BORING.  I crocheted a few pink flowers and green leaves to add to the edging.  I pinned them onto the edging in an effort to "live with the look" before I attach them permanently.  Cute, but.....I don't know.  

I like the light pink because it clearly picks up the pink flowers on my tea pot, but I feel like something is just not "right".  Maybe two flowers are too much?  Any suggestions are welcomed!!!! 

 

MY AUNT'S PILLOW IS DONE!!!

I finally finished the pillow I promised my aunt WAY before Christmas.  I love how it turned out and can't wait to see it in the driver's seat of her car!

The little bag is to hold her Garmin.  It was made from the small piece of fake leather I used to sample the monogram.  She has no idea I made it.  I think she will be surprised!

I'M FINISHED DAD'S PILLOW!

Shortly after Christmas my mom mentioned that my dad could really use a pillow to support his head while resting under his new quilt.  It has taken me since then to finally finish it, but I am happy with the results.  I can't wait until I see him to give him his gift!  Now I just have to finish my Aunt's pillow and all of my "promised" sewing will be caught up.  

MY THRIFTY LUMBAR PILLOW

Between time spent at my computer, time spent at my sewing machine and time spent in my rocking chair resting, I spend a LOT of time sitting down!  Whether the results of genetics, posture, my neurologic issues or alignment of the stars, lol, I have a bit more "swayback" to my lower spine than most people.  As a result I find it uncomfortable to lie on my back, or sometimes even sit, without a little something to fill in the gap.  When I finished the cover for my sewing machine (you can see a bit of it in the photo below) I had quite a few scraps left over.  The scraps of each charm square could easily be cut to yield two additional 2" squares, finally leaving me with only a very small sliver of material to discard.  I believe in getting the absolute MOST I can out of any piece of material!  Fabric is too expensive to waste!  Because the back of my chair is really curved (see picture) I needed something to fill in the space right at the bottom of my back... my lumbar spine area.

 

Using the scrap 2" squares, some FREE batting and stash muslin I pieced and quilted the front of small lumbar cushion.  Frugal, right?  It gets even  better!

  

 I used some more of the FREE blue "linen-like" material I had gotten from a fellow Freecycler to make an envelope style back to the cushion. This blue material also lines my sewing machine cover. 

I made a pillow insert from some muslin I had lying around for eons.  But now it was time to "stuff" my insert and I wasn't quite sure what I would use.  I needed the pillow to be very pliable so that it would curve to fit the contours of the chair and my back.  No firm overly stuffed pillow would work.  Then I remembered a "frugal tip" regarding using "old stockings" to stuff pillows...and I thought I knew just where I could find some "very old", but never worn knee high stockings!

About 26 years ago I was working in a medical office and wore knee high stockings to work every day under my white uniform pants (this was before the days of "scrubs, socks and sneakers".  For anyone who wears stockings on a daily basis you know how expensive replacing torn hose can become!  A local store was going out of business and was offering a 4 pack of generic knee high stockings for $1.00.  I bought 20 packages of stockings, figuring 80 pairs of knee highs would last me for years!

I had only used 6 packages of hose when our son was born and I stopped working outside of the house.  My new "mommy" uniform was shorts, t-shirts, sweats, SOCKS and sneakers! My "dirt cheap" stocking supply sat untouched.  Just a year and a half later I found myself boxing the stockings for a move to our new house.  And there they sat...forgotten in a sealed box....until a little "memory" nudged at the corner of my brain.  Could it be?  Maybe I had plenty of knee high stockings that I could use to stuff my pillow (if I hadn't already sold them at a garage sale, lol)!  After 25+ years it was probably all they were really good for anyway, as I'm sure they would have ripped from dry rot within a few hours of slipping into my shoes!

Sure enough...the box containing 14 packages of knee highs was still there.  I quickly emptied out all of the stockings, mixed them with a bit of FREE cut up batting I had gotten from a Freecycler and stuffed my muslin pillow form.  When I thought I had reached the right ratio of firmness and pliability I folded over the open end and used masking tape to seal the muslin.  I can add more torn up batting or polyfill as needed.   Smiling to myself at my thrifty accomplishment I stuffed the form into my new pillow cover, placed it on my chair and sat down.  Perfect!  Just one more instance when ingenuity and frugality solved a problem AND added to the decor of my "Scrappy Happy Place".