Two gifts complete

I finished the matching lounge pants for my SIL and Grandson. Finished, well mostly. I still have to purchase and put in the elastic for Grandson's pants. I did a flatfelled seam on the larger pants because for some reason whenever I make pants, the crotch seam always seems to come unsewed. I will serge it and go back and seam it with the sewing machine, but they always seem to come unsewed. Hopefully this type of finish will keep SIL from "splitting" his pants!

It's funny, while working on these LSU Tiger pants, the football team was losing to Arkansas!

PJ's for IV and other projects

Here are the PJ's I finished for IV. This was so easy. It is pattern 2826 and I made the size 3 for the top and the size 2 for the bottom. If this fits him, I'll make another pair out of this fabric.

I have enough fabric of each of these to make him a short sleeve pair and short pants as well as another pair next winter! I didn't realize I was buying so much fabric. This fabric came from Joanne's in Orlando that I bought when I was there last time. I'm also working on this Jalie pattern

Out of this knit fabric

that I bought a long time ago from I don't remember. This is my muslin. I'm planning on using my coverpro machine to do the hems, etc. The serger will be used to finish the seams.I'm also working on this pattern for my SIL - Larry for part of his Christmas Present.

I'm making him a pair out of this LSU Tiger cotton fabric as well as a pair for IV, so they will have a matching pair - corny I know, but cute.

That is all I'm working on right now and it is enough to keep me busy for awhile. These LSU Tiger pants come first because I need to get them finished before the 12th of December, that is when I'm heading down to Orlando again and it will be my Christmas visit.

My foot isn't well yet, but it is not too bad. I threw out (donated) all my old shoes and am replacing them with Clarks only. I now have only 7 pairs of shoes and 1 pair of running shoes in my closet. I had over 30 pairs of shoes before I purged them.

I also had a very successful garage sale a few weeks ago. Made over $300. I still have quite a bit that will be taken to Goodwill or the Salvation Army as donations.

Catching up on projects - Wall hanging

I've been away from this blog for awhile, so I'm going to catch up with the projects I have finished, started and planned!
I finished the wall-hanging and it is on the wall! I think it really looks like the picture that was on the pattern. I give a big applause for all the quilters out there, this is HARD. I didn't expect it to be so hard to match seams, etc. I thought the actual quilting would be the hard part, but it seems the piecing is much harder. Anyway it is finished and I am glad it is done. I did use my BSR to do the quilting along the borders and I used the embroidery for the quilting in the triangles.

Ok so my feet aren't so OK......

Last weekend turned out to be a horrible one due to excruciating pain in my right outside thigh. I ended up going to the ER Saturday evening and they had no idea what happened to me as did I, so they gave me an injection of Morphine and a prescription for pain. The morphine injection was like water....it did NOTHING! I questioned wheather I received "real" morphine or not. I stayed in pain the entire weekend and went to my GP on Monday morning and received another injection. This was a new drug that I also received the prescription for to take by mouth. This stuff was a miracle drug! As of today, it feels like nothing happened. It is strange that I had visited the Podiatrist the previous Monday and received a cortisone injection in my heel, a taping of the heel and instructions to go to a local athletic shoe store and buy a particluar pair of running shoes. I was supposed to wear these shoes almost 24/7, only when time to go to bed was I to take them off and then I had to wear this boot thing to sleep in. I followed all of these instructions and then I ended up in the ER. He says it had nothing to do with my pain....hummm. Not so sure buddy!

Anyway as of today I feel great. I just have to wear these shoes ALL the time. It is hard to look nice with running shoes on, I feel like such a slob!

I have to get up early tomorrow morning for my Sorority garage sale and then I'm free to sew the rest of the weekend. I received my newest toy yesterday, a Janome Coverpro 900. I bought several knits and really wanted to finish them professionally so I found this neat little machine (it isn't all that little) that does the coverstitch hem for a great price of $249.00.


I working on my wall hanging now and hope to finish it this weekend.

Finally made it ....

Well I finally made it to visit my 2 year old Grandson this past weekend, a little late for his birthday party, but I made it there all the same (Gustav can't stop me forever).

He is so much fun!!!! Here he is in his birthday party outfit (that he didn't get to wear!). I was very hard to get him to stay still long enough to get a picture that wasn't blurry or of just the back of his head....he never stops!!!

For his birthday I bought him his "big boy bed". It is a cute cherry finish toddler bed. The crib mattress fits in there and he just looks so cute in there. He is doing great sleeping in there, no problems keeping him in it. Good thing I made it there to get his bed because when we were loading it into the truck to throw in the trash, all the spindles fell out. It was 30 years old and kept in the hot attic for 25 years, so I guess it served its purpose. His mother used it as well as his Uncle Bubba and now it has been put into the trash!

While I was visiting my DD and I visited several fabric stores and I purchased quite a few pieces and notions. I added a few more paisley fabricsto the stash for the quilt (that will end up costing me $1000 bucks before I finish). I also found this unique black silk fabric with fussy dragonflies that I will make a couple of pillows with. I have no idea who will get them, but I couldn't resist the fabric. I'll post pics soon.

Hopefully, I will get some sewing done this weekend. My feet are on the mend so I hope to rest some this weekend.

Ike is gone....things back to normal???

Ike finally made it's way to Texas, but not without giving us a little grief. The winds were horrible and of course the yard is flooded again and the power went out again but only for a short time.
Friday night we found a snake in the hall heading to my bedroom!! We have also found 4 skinks in the house, which Hunter loves to catch and play with until there are dead carcasses left and removed tails! He gets a treat for each one he kills! How are these little creatures finding their way into my house???
Saturday after doing a little cleaning (checking for any additional critters) I had to get out of the house! I finally got to a quilt shop that I had been wanting to visit and headed over to Hancock's with the Bernina store inside. There was a coupon sale for $10 off any $50 purchase, which I took advantage of and purchased a new foot (#57) and 3 boxes of Bernina needles.
I was going to start working on my Cotton Theory quilt using my paisley fabric, I am short 6 more fabrics!!! So, I started my wall hanging, I'll post the final project when I finish.
I booked my airfare to see my DD and her family, again! The other trip for GS's 2nd birthday was cancelled due to Gustav, so I'll try it again next weekend. I'm heading to Dallas Wednesday for a bank seminar for work and this weekend I have a cooking class to attend. I need these things to take my mind off the hurricane havoc!

Gustav came and left......a mess!

Pool fence damage and debris in pool.

Uprooted tree that did NOT hit anything but my driveway!!! Very blessed.

Gustav did make landfall and it hit the Baton Rouge area very hard! I evacuated because it was suggested due to the expected storm surge

The trees that were downed is amazing! Our power was restored on Saturday night at 9:30 pm. We used generator power at my Sister's house until her power was restored early Saturday morning. We picked up our things and set it up at home. A window unit and a generator are wonderful items to have. We purchased both right after Katrina and before Rita. We have used both several times since then. Last summer there was damage to the power substation and we were without power for 4 days.

Hopefully Ike will not hit any part of Louisiana, we have had enough!!! The national news never mentioned anything about the damage to BR and surrounding areas, only that New Orleans was OK. I guess it is because the resident's of this area weren't crying for people to help us! Our new Governor, Bobby Jindal, has done an exceptional job! Congratulations to him and his staff for a job well done!!!

Eyeing Gustav

I see that Gustav has just been upgraded to a cat 3 storm. I've gathered all supplies and if I have to I'll be ready to move out. Of course my 440 is going with me!



Hanna has started to move west now and looks to be getting stronger too. I also see that there is another TS brewing off the coast of Africa.


My house has this stinky smell going on that I can not figure out. I noticed it last night when I took Hunter out for his last potty break. I have sprayed Frebreeze and have lit candles. We changed the air filter (because it seems to smell worse when the A/C is running) and I've steam mopped the floors plus vacuumed and cleaned the toilets. I still smell it. We pulled the refrigerator out from the wall, nothing! It is a mystery.


I'm working on my PJ's and I have run into a problem. I didn't have enough fabric to make the facing out of the fabric that I wanted to use plus I didn't have enough fabric to make the bottoms out of the same fabric as the top. So I had to make the top out of the floral and the pants out of the pink and white dot fabric. I wanted to make the facing of the top out of the pink and white dot as well, but had to use plain white and I have cut a small piece of the pink and white to sew together so that it will show by the collar. Hopefully it will work out ok, afterall it is just pajamas.


Here is the fabric I'm using for the top.

Here is the fabric I'm using for the pants and trim.

This is what I have to do to make the facing show the way I wanted it to.

I should have them finished this evening. I have the shorts finished.


UPDATE!
Gustave is now a Cat 4 hurricane and we found the source of the stinky smell!!! DH was cleaning out the frezzers in the garage on Wednesday morning preping for Gustav and left a package of turkey necks out (thinking he would put them back in just in case we decided to go crabbing again) and forgot to put them back into the freezer, so they have been sitting out since Wednesday morning...yep, that is a horrible smell!!! So now the garage door is open as well as the utility room door and hopfully it will air out and go away!

Preparing for storms

Last night we gathered all the battery type of lighting to see exactly what we have and if we needed any batteries. We have so many lights and extra batteries we will be very lit up! Hubby made sure the generator still runs and the portable AC, then filled up 4 gas cans and will get butane for the grill today as well as some canned goods, etc. We have plenty of water on hand from the scare of a storm last year. All in all we are as prepared as we can be. Now it looks like Gustav has moved to the west southwest, so who knows! There is another storm, Hannah out there on the eastern side of the Virgin Islands and the projected course takes it to the east of Florida by Monday or Tuesday. I'm leaving Thursday morning for Orlando.......uh supposed to.

I traced the pattern for the latest PJ project for me last night while I was watching Project Runway so I will try to get it started on Friday night, tonight we have a wake to go to for a friend's Father that passed on Tuesday.

FINISHED project !! Nightshirt

Here is the nightshirt for my sister. She bought the fabric in San Diego at the quilting store.
Here is a closeup of the hem facing. I had never tried this before, a new technique for me.
The back of the nightshirt.
Here is a closeup of the back emelishment.

I think it came out very nice. I hope she likes it. I think it looks like one of those "dusters" that the stay at home mom's used to wear in the 60's!! Or it could be a cover up or robe?



Here is the pattern that I used from Cindy Taylor Oates called Pajama Party and I have made 3 pair of pajamas already, but this was the first nightshirt. I have another pair of PJ's for me in the next project that I will start this week. I'm going to make short pants and just use one print for both and add a smaller print for the trim. Pics to follow.

Watching the rain fall....and sewing

A great weekend for sewing. Fay finally made it out of Florida and decided to give us a visit. Saturday was beautiful but windy and Sunday was rain all day long.

I managed to do a great deal of sewing Friday night and all weekend. Friday night I finished the quillow and Saturday night I cut out the pattern for my sister's nightshirt. Sunday I sewed on it all day and decided to stop around 7:00pm to spend some time with the hubby. He was away in Bristol Tennessee at the Nascar races. I should finish the nightshirt tonight or tomorrow night and will post pictures when finished.

Here are the pics of the finished quillow.

I almost forgot....I finally lost a few pounds - 2!!!! Not losing by leaps and bounds but I'll take it.

Tropical Storm Gustav just formed and he better not mess with my trip to Orlando next week!!

A Sewing Sunday

I finally finished my grandson's 2nd birthday outfit.

I also quilted for the first time using my BSR!! It is the pocket for a quillow for my mother's birthday present next month. Here is the picture of that. After reading the post on pattern review about someones experience using the BSR for the first time...I thought it was about time I gave it a try. The results (IMHO) are very good. This was my first try at using free motion quiting at all.

If you don't know what a Quillow is, it is a lap sized quilt that can be folded into itself to form a pillow. I posted pictures from a Fons and Porter magazine from Jan/Feb 2007 that had the instructions. I wasn't able to get far on the project because I didn't have the right sized batting. So I'm off to Hobby Lobby today at lunch to purchase the correct size batting.

No result!

Well....after one whole week of doing the healthy eating program and walking on that treadmill, nothing, nada, zilch! Not one ounce lost. I remember when I could lose 7 pounds in a week by just watching what I ate. I guess those days are gone since I hit the big 50! I'm not giving up! My new receipe book by Ellie Kreiger came in today, so I'll be able to find new healthy receipes to try.

On to more happy things! I finally stitched out the embroidery basket with daisies to go on my mothers quillow pocket. I also, cut out my precious grandson's red gingham JonJon that I am making him for his 2nd birthday party. I will stitch out the "practice" balloons and #2 tonight to make sure it stitches ok before putting it on the suit. Hopefully picture will be added tomorrow.

I purchased a new foot for my machine today. It is #18 the button sew on foot. It is a new version to the old #18. This one is rubber coated so that the button will not move when you are trying to sew it on to the item. Very nice, plus I received 20% off because of a store sale!

Made it through 2 days.....

I made it through 2 days!!! Not so bad to eat healthy and walk on that dreaded treadmill. It actually went really fast last night. I was walking and watching Closer, so it went real fast. Last night I fixed the grilled chicken that had been marinated in fresh lemon juice. When you take a bite of that, it is just so wonderful! Tonight it is Grilled Salmon and asparagas with a brown rice pilaf.

Received several e-mails from online fabric stores that had great sales, but no paisley that I am looking for, so I'll have to keep looking. My next item to start and finish is my mother's birthday quillow! I'll start that this week.

I need to fix those 5 little pillowcase dresses for my friends' granddaughter. She's a little smaller than I thought she was. No problem though, I'll just have to unsew the ends where the elastic is and pull about an inch off of the front and back and restitch. She is just so cute. Yesterday she came walking out of the garage all excited. She just learned to walk. It is so fun to see little ones learn new things!

My grandson is having problems with some of his family members names! I don't blame the poor baby. He has a Granny (ME!) a Grammy (Father's Step Mother) and a Grampy (Fathers' Father). Oh well, he will figure it out.

Time to loose some of this weight.....AGAIN!

Ok, so maybe I'll change this blog to a sewing and trying to loose weight site!! After my trip to San Diego, I have to loose some weight. I have always had a weight problem, all my life and now that I am older I just couldn't seem to get to that point where I was ready to loose some of the gained weight again. But after that trip.....it has finally happened.

I started my plan this morning, first weighing in, and I was surprised that it wasn't as much as I thought it was. Still up there but about 20 lbs lighter than I thought I was. It is all just repositioned around my body, instead of around my hips it is all around my stomach and waist and my big ole neck! That after hysterectomy spread and of course being over 50 doesn't help much either.

The treadmill is sitting right behind me as I type this, just sitting back there. I HATE that thing, but I will put my walking shoes on in a little while and get on the darn thing. I plan on getting on it each evening after I get home from work. I would love to be able to walk outside but with the heat index hovering around 102 degrees, I don't think so. At least inside I can watch TV and have the air conditioning and ceiling fan running.

I finished 2 projects on my list today! I finished the baby blanket and a burp cloth (not on list but an after thought) for my Son's friends' baby girl and I finished the window treatment for the sewing room!!! It has been a good day, except for that darn treadmill looking over my shoulder!!! I guess it is time.

Wall hanging project

I received my Rust Autumn Harvest Wreath Quilt wall hanging kit yesterday! Since I put the concrete floors in the sewing room and repainted, I needed something to decorate the walls. As you can see from the picture of the project it will look really nice against the gold of the room.

Here are the fabrics in the kit and I bought the Floral Trellis Tonal for the backing fabric as well. There is some applique involved which is the wreath, I've never tackled that so this will be a learning experience!

The kit list the fabrics as Golden Vines, Rust Wheat Stripe, Brown Packed Ditsy, Rust Focal Wheat, Rose Packed Ditsy, Sage Packed Leaves and Rust Ditsy. Don't you just love the names of fabric! I purchased the kit from Connecting Threads on sale for $19. When finished it will be 36 1/2" square.

I have several other projects that need to be finished before I can start on this but will post the progress once I get started.

Quilt shop in San Diego

I've just returned from my 4 days in San Diego with my Sister. We had a wonderful time doing all the usual tourist things. We both decided that we WILL lose some weight before next trip. Our feet and legs were killing us from all the walking we did.

I did get to visit a quilt shop called Rosies Calico Cupboard....and I have to say, I've never seem so many bolts of quilting fabric in one spot in my life!!!! It was referred to me by someone in my Bernina group online site.

I only purchased 1 piece - a creamy gold paisley to go with my other paisley collection for my quilt as you go quilt. Almost there! I know, all that fabric and you only bought 1 piece! I was having stomach issues that afternoon and just couldn't get into looking through it all. My Sister did buy 2 pieces so that I could make her a nightshirt. Another project to add to my list!

Sewing room

Here are the pictures of my sewing room. We just finished refinishing the floors with stained concrete. I had burber carpet here for 10 years and my Jack Russell Terrier aka Hunter became really sick and needless to say, I had to rip the carpeting up! This works better for a sewing room anyway. I still have to make a new window topper and I do have the gold paisley (of course!) fabric, just not the time to make it yet. I'm leaving for San Diego on Thursday morning and will not return until Monday evening, so no sewing for me for a week or so.

Projects

I went to Hobby Lobby Thursday on my lunch hour to use my gift card that my son gave me for Mother's Day and I found 5 pieces of fabric on sale that I had to have. I decided to make pillowcase dresses for a friend of mine's granddaughter's first birthday. Of course this was NOT part on my list of projects already started! I also bought 2 pieces to go with my never ending "paisley" infatuation for a quilt as you go project. I keep gathering fabrics for this project with no beginning date set. I have to decide on the pattern I will use so that I can finish buying the stash. I still have money left on my giftcard so I can return for more to add to my stash!


I did go straight home after work and cut all 5 dresses out and finished them all this morning.

Project List as of today

• princess seamed dress for sister (still in the muslin fitting stage)


• paisley quilt as you go quilt


• embroidered sewing motif clock for sewing room


• Continue to organize sewing room


• baby blankets for son's friends baby - born this week 2 weeks early!


• Quillow for my Mother's birthday in September


• Curling Iron holder


• Embroider luggage tags