A new sewing machine!

Well, the 30+ year old Singer sewing machine that I have used forever finally sewed it's last seam. I considered, briefly, of having it repaired but I didn't think it would be worth it. So, off we went to JoAnn Fabric's and even though I intended to just buy a simple replacement machine, I ended up with a wonderful, new, does everything under the sun, sewing machine.

We bought the Singer 350. It sews and embroiders. I've got the sewing part figured out pretty well, but I need a little help on the embroidery part. They offer free classes so I'm going tomorrow to learn all I can on this great machine. I can't wait to do the fun stitches and embroidery patterns.

Mother's Day crafts

Thursday was craft day at Grandma's. We decided that the kids would paint birdhouses for their moms for Mother's Day These were re cute, little, wooden houses that I bought at the dollar store.
We used washable paints and set everything up in the garage. So after school we got started. As you can see we had a wide variety of techniques.

Josh's birdhouse was a kaleidescope of colors. He wanted to use every color in the paint box on the house with an emphasis on black. Kelly's house was very typically Kelly; pink and purple. She's such a girly-girl. And Erin's house showed her personality as well. Blue with white polka dots and white with blue polka dots. Erin is more creative and steps out of the box. All in all it was a good day and the mom's were surprised with their gifts. I don't know who enjoyed craft day more; Me or the grandkids.

Be careful what you wish for!

Well, I wanted to sell aprons and I'm selling them now! Thanks to my wonderful daughter who Twittered about my Etsy shop and got me an instant sale! How's that for instant results? And then when the buyer Twittered about her purchases I got more inquiries. So, I'm pretty happy. I've been busy cutting, sewing, photographing and listing aprons. And I've done one custom order and the customer has asked me to do at least two more custom aprons!

So, if you need me I'll be sitting at my sewing machine or at JoAnn Fabrics!

Etsy mention!

Anda from Etsy purchased three Christmas stockings from my Etsy shop and she was gracious enough to mention them on Twitter! How nice was that? After the first mention I got a sale within the first half hour! Wow !

Aprons for the grandkids

I started out wanting to make new aprons for the grandkids. We've had plastic ones and fabric ones, but I though I would make something really cute and personal for each one. I saw cupcakes on a black background that I thought would be so cute, and I found other cute, food-themed fabrics but none I thought the grandson would like. There was the red chili peppers but didn't think the five year old would want it.

So that got me to thinking that I needed something else. Well, I have that huge stash of squares from the quilt so I decided to make alphabets and spell their names on plain cotton, canvas aprons.

It was easy once I got started. I ironed HeatnBond

on the backs of the fabric squares and then placed stencils on them, traced the letters and cut them out. Simple - right? Wrong

The letters were way too big! Back to tracing the letters. This time it was trial and error until I got the sizing right, but I'm pretty pleased with the way they turned out.

Now I was going to finish this off by doing a zig-zag stitch around each letter, but I think I may just leave them the way they are for right now because I'm anxious to move on to another project. And, anyway, the kids really like them the way they are.

Stockings are done!

Well the Christmas stockings are all finished. I'm very pleased with the way they turned out. I've been getting some hits on Etsy of people looking, but so far no buyers. Maybe it's just too soon to think Christmas. I think I need to go back and tweak the descriptions of some of the stockings, but that can wait another day. Now I'm thinking about another project. (Of course I haven't worked on Mom's quilt in a while - oh well.)

The next thing I want to do is make aprons for the grandkids. This will probably be the third set of aprons they've had, but I've never been happy with those. So, I'll let this idea swim around in my head for a bit longer and then I'll dive in and start them. I'll post pictures along the way. I can't wait too long to finish - the grandkids love to help me cook when they're here. And I love them helping me in the kitchen. The best thing we're making........memories.

Vintage stockings

The stockings have come out better than I'd hoped. I'm so pleased. The quilt patterns show beautifully on the stockings. Each one is slightly different from the last, but when hung, they will look great. I've listed the first one on my Etsy shop and hope to have the remaining seventeen finished and listed soon.

Another project.

It seems like before I get one project finished, I have an idea for the next one. I have a very old quilt that was made by my great aunt.

It has a lot of damage and deterioration from age and wear but I wanted to do something with it. I thought that I could cut it apart and make something. I decided on Christmas stockings. I wanted the design of the quilt to show through the pattern so I used a plastic shower curtain to make a clear pattern.

Then I just placed the clear pattern (which I traced off an old Christmas stocking) on the quilt and cut them out.

I'm pretty happy with the way they're turning out. I used unbleached muslin to make the backs so that it matches the original material my great aunt used. I had to do a bit of mending in spots, but it doesn't take away from the appearance of the quilts.

Now, I have to admit, I did have a little bit of help with this project as you can see by the following pictures. Molly is always there to lend her support.

Quilting

My mother used to make patchwork quilts for our family for as long as I can remember. Nothing fancy, just four inch squares sewed together in random order.

My kids and grand kids always liked to look at the various fabrics and remember what material came from which pajamas, dress, curtains or whatever, that "Big Grandma" made for them.

Well, mom had a quilt started that she isn't able to finish now due to her arthritis and macular degeneration so it's been passed down to me! Now I never would have thought that just sewing together four inch squares of fabric would be so difficult.

But I have a new appreciation for the time and handiwork my mother put into those quilts. But I'm having trouble matching up all those seams when I put the rows together! The good side, is that my mom wants to give these as Christmas gifts so I have some time to work on them. I can only hope that these quilts turn out as well as the ones my mom made.

Time flies

Boy time sure flies fast! I kept thinking I should blog today, but then before I knew it, it was weeks ago that I last posted. Well, let's see....the snow was a big story. I think all in all we had about 15 inches of snow. Can't wait for spring to be here. At least we've had a couple of warm (50) days so it's not too bad.

Apparently the blackberry jam was good. I haven't tried it yet, but those who have tried it have liked it. I think this summer we'll take the grandkids out to pick apples and let them make applesauce and then we can pick strawberries and make jam. I think they will love it.

Making jam

I've never made homemade jelly or jam but when my daughter had blackberries that she didn't want I thought now would be a good time to try. I decided to try freezer (no cook) jam. It was really very easy.

Things were going well after I mashed up all the berries until I dropped the masher and it fell on the dog and splattered all over everything!

The ingredients were only blackberries, Sure Jell, sugar and water. But since my little jars didn't have lids I had to seal them with wax.

The only part of the jelly making that required cooking was disolving the sugar into the pectin. It almost boiled over a couple of times.



Here's the finished product. It had to sit for 24 hours and then go into the freezer. I only wanted small jars so we could try it and not waste it if we didn't like it. I'm pretty pleased with the way it came out. I hope it tastes good too.

A New Computer!

After spending some time looking at the ads and comparing prices, we bought a new computer! It's a really nice HP and has some features that I really like. I wanted a web cam and this one has one. And I wanted it to burn DVD's and CD's. My old computer used to do that, but that feature broke some time ago. I had hundreds of photos on my old computer that I wanted to get off and now I can organize all my digital pictures. It makes me feel better to have all the photos organized and categorized. I hate clutter, even on my computer.

What a week!

Well, the cold that has lasted for at least four weeks, is finally getting better. Of course two kinds of antibiotics might have helped. There are some side effects though - three naps in one day! Maybe that's why the cold is better.

And my mom is home from the hospital. She went in last Friday with chest pains that turned out to be congestive heart failure. She's feeling much better now - well as better as an 86 year old woman with a lot of health problems can feel.

Christmas is over!

The last of the Christmas ornaments are put away and the house is clean again! But I just don't understand how I just put it all away and what are they showing in the stores already? Valentine's Day! I'm not ready for that! It is just one holiday blending into another? I don't decorate for Valentine's Day. Maybe if my kids were little or the grandkids were here all the time, but any Valentine's Day decor would be lost on my husband!