A Bowl Cozy For Me

 Several years ago (2018, apparently, post here), I made microwavable potholders, or bowl cozies as they are more commonly called these days, for all my kids and their spouses/significant others.  At the time, I intended to someday make one for myself as well, but wasn't in a huge hurry.

Fast forward more than seven years.  Sometimes that's how it feels, like seven years rushed by in the blink of an eye.  I finally sat down and made that bowl cozy for me.  

While looking through my fabric stash for other things in December, including fabric to make a reading pillow for Sixlet with, I ran across a piece of fabric with horses on it.  Which reminded me that a) I still hadn't made myself a bowl cozy, and b) I still wanted one and here was the perfect fabric for it.

A little over a week ago, I decided I needed to sew up my long-awaited bowl cozy. I'd like to say I sat down and whipped one out right then. They are really quick to make, less than an hour start to finish if you know how to sew a little and how to read directions.

 But I didn't.  I actually spent about 10 minutes each day over about 5 days working on it here and there when I felt I had a minute free to do so.  

One day was picking the second fabric, that I used for the inside, as well as hunting down my piece of Wrap N Zap that had been stored since 2018.  Another day was ironing the fabrics, then cutting the four pieces--one of each fabric and two of Wrap N Zap-- needed.  A third day was marking the sewing lines and pinning the Wrap N Zap to the fabrics.  Half of the actual sewing got done on a fourth day, and on a fifth day I finished the sewing.

Ta-Da!  

I now have a bowl cozy to call my own.  Now I can quit burning my fingertips when trying to carefully remove a hot glass dish of leftovers from the microwave onto a hot pad so I can carry it to the table and eat my lunch,

Horses on the outside

Complimenting gray fabric,

 with brownish and cranberry colored vine-y motif, on the inside.

A bowl cozy for me. Life is good!

Nightgowns and Sweaters

 Remember back in June when I took a trip to Shipshewana with DD2, DD1, K3 and Faline?  When I posted about that, I mentioned that Faline had requested a new flannel nightgown because she had outgrown the one I made her a couple years ago, so while on that trip I had Faline and K3 pick out fabric from Lolly's for new nightgowns.

My intention had been to sew them over the summer, or early fall, and have them ready for the girls to wear when the weather turned cold.  Intention did not equal reality, and I did many other things this summer and fall while the fabric sat, washed and waiting for me to work with it.  I would forget about it for weeks, then see it sitting in the sewing area and feelings of guilt for not doing anything with it would nag at me for a few more weeks.  More things would come up and the cycle would repeat.

Finally, in December, I decided I was going to sew those nightgowns, and they would be Christmas presents.  I figured the granddaughters had forgotten about the fabric (and my good intentions) by now, and would be surprised to unwrap a custom made nightgown in their chosen fabric. Plus, DH and I had absolutely zero Christmas presents made/purchased.  So this would kill two birds with one stone (or, on my mental list, turn two failures into achievements.)

Really, once I blocked out time to make the nightgowns, they didn't take long at all.  Why had I let so many other things delay working on them this summer?  I sorta know, but that's a topic for another post in the future, maybe (as in, maybe I'll share, maybe I won't; still thinking on that as I don't have answers to the issues).

Anyway, here is the nightgown made with Faline's fabric, in a child size 8 (according to her measurements and the sizing on a 20+ year old pattern from when my own kids were little).  She's stocky and tall for her age (5), but not as tall as an 8 year old yet, so I whacked about 2" off the bottom of the nightgown to make it ankle length but left the sleeve length the same.  The sleeves are a tad long for her now but we all know she'll grow a bunch and I'm wanting her to get two winters out of this nightgown,

And this is K3's, made in an adult small from another 20+ year old pattern for unisex nightshirts.

In late November, when I finished knitting my 2025 socks (so named because they were the only pair of socks I knit last year), I decided to cast on a new Sunday Sweater for Faline.  I had made her one for her birthday the year before (can see photo of it in progress in this post), but she'd pretty much grown out of it all ready.  Which meant that by this coming Spring she would be asking me for a new, bigger one, because she loves that her Amma makes her stuff (even if she doesn't yet understand how time consuming those handmades are).  So, why not knit a new one and use it as a Christmas gift?

This time I used a pale pink yarn, (Brava worsted in Blush from KnitPicks).  That sweater knit up pretty quickly in the evenings, and it was off the needles on December 14th.   Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture before wrapping and gifting it. 

Being that our family Christmas with kids and grandkids was scheduled for the 27th, and I was feeling my knitting mojo running high on the 14th, after casting off Faline's sweater I immediately grabbed yarn (Brava sport in Cotton Candy) and cast on a size 6-12 month Viola sweater for Octavia. I figured I could get such a small baby-sized sweater knit in 12 days and would use that as a Christmas gift also.

And then, of course, lots of things came up to keep me from having as much knitting time as I had thought I would have.  Which made me stress out and worry that maybe I was going to have to run to the store last minute and buy another gift for Octavia (DH wanted each grandkid to open 3 gifts from us.  3 X 10 grandkids. . .  I think the man is delusional. . . )

I did it! I was able to get Octavia's sweater finished, but just barely. This photo was taken early on the morning of the 27th, when I unpinned it from being blocked and then quickly boxed and wrapped it for our family gift giving later that day.

Phew!

You'd think after stressing about that little sweater--and spending hours knitting on Christmas Day (which was just DH and I) to get most of it finished--that I would be burned out on knitting for a while.

I'm not.  Winter means long hours of being in the house in the dark of the evening.  Hours where DH sits in front of the TV and we don't work on projects together.  I find it impossible to sit for long if I'm not either reading (which is increasingly difficult to concentrate on with the volume DH has the TV at) or doing something--such as knitting--with my hands.  So I have been working on a new sweater, a Little Hipster Cardigan in size 18 months, for Lucky. I am using Brava worsted in Fig.  It will be a present for his first birthday at the end of this month.

Octavia's Quilt

 I decided on a blog name for Grandbaby #8, who has joined us this past weekend.  Going with the numeric theme I unintendedly started with Grandbaby #6, Sixlet, and continued with Grandbaby #7, Lucky, I like Octavia (meaning, eighth) for this next one.  And I have to confess that yes, I do tentatively have a name in mind for Grandbaby #9, if there ever is one, and if it's female.  Time will tell, we'll all have to wait and see on that.

But now is about Octavia, her name official, and the baby quilt I made for her.

Her quilt was completed at the beginning of June, and has been gifted to her and her parents, so therefore I can now publicly show pictures of it!

true to color photo of backing (and a little of the front border)

while I was working on the binding.

Like K3, Toad, and Rascal, her quilt is a simple design of 6" squares of fabric.  That is the design I picked for all my grandkids sired by DS1 back when K3 was born. Like I talked about in this post, it also contains fabrics that are in her older siblings' quilts as well as a fabric that is in her cousin Faline's quilt.

a very untrue-to-actual-colors photo of the quilt top

Right now our weather is way too hot to wrap her up in her quilt.  And she's so tiny (being induced early because her mom was showing signs of going into pre-eclampsia, she weighed in at 5# 11oz) she would get lost in it anyway.  But this quilt is big enough for her to cuddle under for about a decade to come.

For now, here's a picture of her meeting her Papa.

The Shipshe Trip

 Shipshe being the dialectual shortening of Shipshewana, the town in Indiana not far from the Michigan/Indiana border known for it's Amish community.  In the past 10 or so years, I and one or both of my daughters plus a granddaughter or two, have done an overnight trip to there annually or biennially for some time away from home, men, and general life responsibilities.  

We always stay at the same hotel, the Farmstead Inn, which is typically peaceful and quiet, clean and well run, and provides a hot breakfast along with many choices of cold breakfast if that is your preference.  

Over the years, we've found which places we like to shop at or otherwise just revisit, which places we like to dine at, and have developed a routine for our trip.  It's always a summer trip, being that it's hard for DD1, a teacher, to get away during the school year.  Also, the flea market in Shipshewana is open Tuesdays and Wednesdays from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

Initially, the flea market was our main destination.  However, in recent years, we spend less and less time at the flea market (which seems to have become less of a handmade/Amish made market and more of the types of goods you'd find at pretty much any flea market anywhere in the US).  Our main targets are 

• the Davis Mercantile with Lolly's Fabrics, Simple Sounds (a music store with instruments and sheet music and all things instrumental), a candy store, a puzzle/toy store, and random other stores (typically we skip most of the random others); 
• Yoder's Hardware and Yoder's Department Store; 
• The Redbud Coffee and Tea Cafe in the Red Barn (very delicious tea blends including my favorite--those with no leaves!  since I don't like traditional tea, only floral/fruit ones); 
• Yoder's Meat and Cheese Co, 
• and of course the grocery store E&S Sales.

There are lots and lots of other shops and attractions in Shipshewana, but the ones I listed are on our 'Must See' list and are places we go to every time.  After this most recent trip, however, I'm wondering if in the future we need to extend our trip by a day in order to have more time to explore more of what's there (most shops are open only until 5:00 p.m.), or if perhaps I need to maybe do a separate trip without the group. . . I'd love to take a 'just me and DH' trip to Shipshe, but I don't think he'd enjoy it quite as much as I do.  For one thing, I'm fairly sure the hotel doesn't allow alcohol, which is fine with me (and one reason I love staying there), but is a hard thing for him to find enjoyable on a 'vacation'.

Anyway, we got to Shipshewana around 1:00, which gave us time to hit the Davis Mercantile first, and not have to rush through Lolly's.  Lolly's always takes time, partly because the sheer size of the store and their offerings, and partly because they have a boat which is always overflowing with fat quarters.  Looking through the boat can easily take more than an hour.  

As soon as we walked through the door, Faline went right to the boat and quite literally dove in.

Once we convinced her that being in the boat wasn't allowed, she found a shopping basket and proceeded to put all the fat quarters with fabrics she liked into the basket.  According to her, her Barbies were in need of pillows and blankets made with fabrics that featured bananas, hot dogs, flowers, stripes, fish, and more.  DD1 talked her down to just two or three of the fat quarters she had chosen.

My personal mission at Lolly's was to get fabric for two flannel nightgowns: one for Faline (she'd called me two weeks before to ask me to sew her a new nightgown because the one I had sewed her previously had 'suddenly' gotten too small) and one for K3 (if she should want one; she did.)  I let each girl pick the fabric for their own nightgown and had it cut to the length needed before I allowed myself to figuratively dive into the boat and look at fat quarters. Of which, I very responsibly limited myself to two.

A thunderstorm blew up unexpectedly, and we got drenched going from the Mercantile to where we'd parked.  Our original plan for this trip had included a swim in the hotel pool after Davis Mercantile and before going out to dinner.  With our wet clothes and hair, we all were chilled and decided to just hang out in our room for a bit after checking in, and move the swim to after dinner.  There was some bored shenanigans from Faline (it's tough being 4 years old and having to wait for the grown ups), but overall she was pretty good with waiting and hung out on one of the beds with K3 watching a video on K3's phone.

After a good dinner from the buffet at the Blue Gate Restaurant, the girls did finally get to go swimming.  We all went to the hotel's indoor pool and swam, played in the water, and relaxed in the hot tub for well over an hour.  The only picture I took was at the end, when Faline and K3 were putting their wet towels into the bin for housekeeping to launder.  The whole trip, Faline was totally hero worshipping her older cousin, and thankfully K3 was willing to go along with being the cool chosen one.

A new tradition we started on our last trip, in 2023, is to hit the breakfast area beside the pool area after we finish swimming.  There is ice water and hot water available there 24/7 (as far as we can tell, we've never checked after 9 p.m. or before 6 a.m.), as well as tea bags, instant coffee, and hot chocolate packets.  I didn't believe it until I tried it for myself, but a cup of hot chocolate after swimming on a summer evening is actually really good.  Rather than making you feel too hot, it's just kind of cozy.  Maybe if you don't have long, wet hair your experience might be different.  But for all us chicks with long tresses, a good cup of hot chocolate post swimming pool is enjoyable.

The next morning, while sitting in the breakfast area savoring our hot breakfast (egg burritos, biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, sausage. . .), Faline commented that there was a playground outside and that she'd never gotten to play on it before.  Indeed, out the large windows of the breakfast area, you could see a nice playground belonging to the hotel.  And, indeed, on previous trips, Faline (or K3) had not had the opportunity to play there.  So I asked, since both she and I were done with our breakfasts, if she wanted to go back to the room with me so I could finish packing up my stuff, and then I would take her to the playground to wait for the rest of our group to be done eating and packing.  Of course she said yes!

Once out there, she had to try out every slide and swing and the teeter-totter (yes, this grandma attempted to teeter-totter with someone about 1/2 my height and roughly 1/4 my weight; it was hard on the knees, LOL).  I was amazed, after the first big push I gave her on the first swing, to see her keep the momentum going by pumping her legs.  Apparently pumping is a newly acquired skill for her.

Once we checked out of the hotel, we began our shopping excursion at E&S Sales.  In addition to great fresh baked goods (Whoopie Pies, anyone?), they have lots of scratch and dent, close dated, and bulk food items.  I typically stock up on some bulk spices I can't find around home in bulk (such as bay leaves for soups, marinades and canning dill pickles), as well as random candy (typically chocolate, plus a bag of Bit-o-Honey for DH).

The food purchases, mostly from E&S, but meat and cheese from Yoder's

Next stop on our planned route (which, after E&S, had us making all right turns onto and off of the main road through town until, at the last, we had to turn left to get into the Yoder's Shopping Center for the hardware and department stores ), was the flea market.  Splitting into three groups for most of that part of the morning, I think we made it through the 40ish acres of flea market in record time: about 1 1/2 hours!  Like I mentioned before, a lot of the flea market has become things you can find at just about any flea market, so we cruised right on past many, many booths without stopping to look individually at their items.  I did pick up a few things, as shown in the photo below.

Rubberized gardening gloves for weeding in dewy/wet conditions,

teal blue duct tape for using in the barn (because it doesn't have to be gray or black),

a leaping deer cast iron bottle opener for DH (only $2!!)

After the flea market, we went to the Auction House restaurant for a yummy lunch.  I think they've changed hands again since we were there in 2023, or at least, their menu has changed.  The food was still good, but with the exception of their traditional included side dish of applesauce, coleslaw or cottage cheese with every meal, and the selection of pies for dessert, not much of the menu of stereotypical Amish foods (like the awesome chicken and noodles) from the previous ownership (2020 and prior) remains.  I was a little bummed out that it had a lot of typical burger/sandwich fare with french fries these days.  The BBQ pulled pork sandwich I had was good, but it wasn't those chicken noodles I'd been dreaming of when planning the trip.

More shopping ensued after lunch. Due to where at the flea market we'd parked, Yoder's Red Barn Shoppes and Yoder's Meat and Cheese Co were on our way from the restaurant to our truck, so we walked and stopped at each.  The meat and cheese store has delicious offerings; their smoked gouda is a family favorite. In fact, Honorary Son had asked DD1 to bring home 5 pounds of it!  

Once finished up there, we packed our meat and cheeses into our cooler, tucked everything else into the bed of the truck, and drove to our last stop: Yoder's Shopping Center.  I love looking at fabric in the Department store, but I also love going to the Hardware.  Before I left home, DH asked what I could possibly want from that hardware store that I couldn't get from any of the hardwares near home.  I then had explained that they have way more than nuts and bolts and tools and hoses.  They have beekeeping and syrup making and wine making and canning and baking supplies, as well as tons of off-grid living type stuff, livestock supplies and even puzzles and toys for kids.

I treated myself to, from the Hardware, 

• a new large frosting spreader (my other one having gotten loaned out a handful of years ago and never returned), 
• a French style rolling pin (something I've been considering for a number of years), 
• a new clothespin bag to replace one I'd sewn many years ago that is on it's last legs and I doubt I'll have time this summer to whip up a new one, 
• two nice dish cloths (Rada, I believe; they sell Rada there) with pale green stripes.  Because, while I have, and love, my other Rada dishcloths, none of them have green! (Green being my all time absolute favorite color.)
• a pie crust decorative cutter, which is something I'd never heard of before but was instantly enamored with.  I don't typically make two-crust pies, now I guess I'm going to have to make them more often so I can use my fancy cutter.  I mean, look at that super cool crust on the label!

At the Department store, I reined myself in.  Before leaving home, I'd sternly told myself that other than flannel for granddaughters' nightgowns, I don't need more fabric.  *Sigh*  But there's so much lovely fabric in Shipshewana. . .  So I only allowed myself a few remnants (1/3yd each), two fat quarters, and a 2 1/2 yard piece of bubble gum pink cotton that I intend to sew Faline a surprise summer weight nightgown with.  I did good.  It hurt to leave so much loveliness behind, but I controlled myself.

Flannels and flannel fat quarters and a hot pad pattern from Lolly's,

pink cotton, remnants, thread and fat quarters from Yoder's Department Store.

It was a good trip.  Both in fellowship with my daughters and granddaughters, and in the items on my lists that I managed to bring home with me.  I really would like to go back and check out some of the places I've never been that we just didn't have time for.  Although I think I need to do a whole lot of sewing first, and use up at least a double digit percentage of my fabric stash.  Because I'm not sure I can be so good a second time at not buying all the pretty fabric.  =0)

Started a New Quilt

I have started yet another grandbaby quilt!  This one is for Grandbaby #8, a girl, who is due in mid-July but is actually kind of expected in June because of issues her mom has had in previous pregnancies.

There's so much to tell in relation to this new grandbaby. She was a Christmas surprise; as in DH and I found out about her back in late December at our family Christmas gathering.  She was also a total surprise to her parents, especially since they thought they had taken steps to ensure that there wouldn't be any more babies between them.  Turns out her dad's little snip snip came about two weeks too late. . . And so, surprise!  DS1 is going to be a dad again.

To back up a bit, DS1 (who became a widower in early April 2023), renewed a friendship he'd had since he was 8 years old.  This friend had, off and on, been quite close, and had even for a while after DS1 and K2 had moved up to MI from SC, been friends with K2 also.  This friend--she's gonna need an official this little place here name--had been through a couple of rough marriages beginning shortly after she and DS1 graduated high school (he stood up in her first wedding when he was home on leave after finishing USMC boot camp) and at the time that K2 passed away was a single mom on her own again.

She and DS1 bonded, many months after K2's death, talking about the challenges of being single parents.  After a couple of months they realized that they were talking and/or texting with each other nearly every day, and decided they might as well try being an official dating couple.  Well, time went on, and, obviously, things got more serious.

So, here we are in May 2025.  They are engaged, she and her 3 yr old son (who also needs a this little place here name) have recently moved into DS1's house, with him, K3, Toad and Rascal, and they are all learning to be a blended family.

Now that you're kinda up to speed on the situation, let's talk about this new grandbaby's quilt!

I had decided, long ago, that all of DS1's kids would have a quilt of the same pattern.  Just like all of DD1's kids all have a quilt of a particular pattern, and all of DS2's kids will have their own identifying pattern.  Likewise DD2's kids, if she ever decides to have any, will have an assigned pattern.  

Knowing that, I didn't have to spend any time coming up with a pattern.  Instead, I spent all my thoughts on choosing fabrics and pulling from my (embarrassingly large) stash.  I needed to find the 'Jesus fish' fabric that I had used in each of K3, Toad, and Rascal's quilts.  That was a self-made requirement.  Just like that fabric ties the quilts of the three siblings together, it will now tie their new sister to them. 

The next fabric that I felt must be in this quilt was the tiny pink heart-flowers that had been in K3's baby quilt.  I pulled the remnants of that fabric, bought back in 2012, from my stash and found that, unfortunately, it wasn't enough as I needed, and some of it had somehow gotten stained.  

Determined that I must find and purchase more, I set out on an internet search, only to remember that I had bought the original yard at Hobby Lobby, as I wasn't buying much fabric online back thirteen years ago.  Did Hobby Lobby still carry it?  Yes, they did!  Therefore, I needed to make a trip to Hobby Lobby!  (Oh no, not Hobby Lobby!  I could easily lose an entire day and lots of money at Hobby Lobby!  Confession: I didn't at all mind the thought of going to Hobby Lobby.)

This fabric would tie the two sisters together.  Despite the big age difference between them, I do hope they will have a fondness for each other and a good bond all their lives.

Another required fabric was something with John Deere tractors.  With the exception of Lucky, who got Disney, all of my other grandkids' baby quilts contain a John Deere print.  I pulled out remnants of each of those, looking to see if there was one that might fit in with the color scheme I had in mind for this quilt.  And what I came up with was this one,

which is also in Faline's quilt.  And so, it not just matches color palette wise with this new quilt, but by including it this time around, will tie Faline and her new girl cousin together.  Symbolic.

That brough me to three fabrics, and my design needed five.

Thinking more about the big picture of the quilt, and the tone I wanted it to have, I dug through my stash some more, auditioning about a dozen other fabrics, before finally settling on which of those would be the two needed.  Here, in order of how they will be in the quilt, are the final five.

Right after Easter, I was able to get all the squares cut out (had to wait until I could make that trip to Hobby Lobby, LOL).  This week, I sewed the squares, in order, into rows.  Maybe next week I can get the rows sewn into a flimsy with borders, and hopefully after that, get it sandwiched and quilted together.  I'd like to have the entire quilt finished by the end of the month.  Being that I also have two horses in training in May, and an entire 1/4 acre garden to plant, getting an entire baby quilt sewn from start to finish in the next 30 days is going to take conscious effort and strict scheduling of my time. 

Along the way, hopefully I can come up with blog names for the four new people joining my family.  Because that's kind of a big deal, at least to me.  I didn't ever think my family would grow quite so quickly!

A Whole Bunch of Random

 Back in November, during firearm deer hunting season here in Michigan, I didn't get out into the tree stand much.  But when I did, the first time, I found that the squirrels had pretty much destroyed the seat cushion for the tree stand I use (that DH had put up in October).

That hunt was fairly uncomfortable, sitting on a cushion that was one narrow strip (the cushiony part) and several large spots with no filling between my gluteus maximus and the metal frame of the tree stand.

By the third time I went out to hunt, DH had dug up a new 'cushion' (a not very squishy foam board--very likely ancient and petrified) to temporarily replace the one the squirrels excavated for nest insulation material.  I used farmer ingenuity and secured it to the tree stand with baling twine.  Because, baling twine.  LOL.  If you know, you know.

In early December, DH was out of town the week of my birthday.  DD2 was also away, so I was home alone.  Rather than just kind of not have a birthday, like I've done in recent years when DH is away on my natal date, this year I decided to celebrate myself.

So I bought myself a (cheap) bouquet of flowers from the grocery store, ordered a yummy "salad" (lettuce, chicken, rice, roasted corn, black beans, guacamole)  from the local Mexican restaurant to be ready for pickup when I was done bringing horses in for their evening feed, and made myself a small cake (chocolate with peanut butter frosting).  I even put two candles in it, leftover from when K3 and Toad were very young and often were here on short notice for an indefinite amount of time (number 5 and number 3, my current age).  I of course lit them so I could make a wish and blow them out.  It's not a real birthday party without blowing out the candles.

Silly?  Maybe.  But it was better than pretending it wasn't actually my birthday just because no one else was around to celebrate with me. 

I forgot to set aside a bit of frosting to add food coloring to and use for decorating the cake, so instead of writing Happy Birthday on it, I used colored sprinkles to carefully spell out HAPPY.  The whole message being too big to write in sprinkles on an 8" x 8" cake.  Actually, I think maybe HAPPY will be my mantra for this year of my life.  There's been a whole lot of years of late that I was frustrated, overwhelmed, hurt (by and for others), and pretty much unhappy.  I'm rather tired of all that.  Happy is my desired goal from here on out.

We had a couple decent snows in December.  After one late in the month, I found myself walking in the woods (helping DH track a doe he'd shot during the late antlerless season) and took a picture of the trees in the snow.  I/We really need to get out there more and just walk around for the sake of wandering, not because we're working on finding a deer, or cutting/hauling firewood or tapping trees and collecting sap for syrup.  

Since the first of the year, I've started working on a new baby quilt.  Grandbaby #7 (who shall be dubbed with the name of Lucky here on the blog) is due on Valentine's Day.  This is the first child for DS2 and Surprise, and they are keeping the gender a secret until Lucky arrives.  Surprise suggested 'genderless' colors such as light blue, green, yellow, gray, for this quilt.  

As usual, I've taken that concept and am running with my own adaptation.  I'm not a pastel lover for baby quilts, especially as I make my grandkids quilts that will cover them until they are about 8 or 10 years old, not just as newborns.  I don't want a theme they will outgrow quickly.  And, since DS2 and Surprise originally met at Disney World 10 years ago, I just had to go with Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Pluto fabric too.

The weather has been rather cold lately, as it should be for January (but wasn't in Jan. 2024), and the Yarn Thief has been preferring to stay in the house rather than go outside to hunt birds and mice.  She's getting a bit of cabin fever, though, and while I was changing the sheets on my bed she crawled underneath the fitted sheet where she made a lump I couldn't smooth out.  This is a favorite game of hers that usually involves me getting one or more claws in my fingers as I'm trying to make the bed.

There have been other things happening around this little place here in recent months, and I'm hoping to turn a few of them into their own posts rather than including them here.  But I can't resist adding a couple pictures of  a Christmas present my kids got me.  I'm willing to bet I'm the only Mom who actually put these on her Wish List:

Caution cones!  Coming to a pseudo riding arena near me (okay, my temporary riding arena behind the barn) once the frigid weather breaks long enough for me to get back into the saddle.  I'm so excited to be able to set them up in multiple configurations to use as training aids.

Sewing and Stitching, September Update

The Airplane Quilt top is now a flimsy! Meaning all the piecing is done and borders are on.

I have all the components needed to finish this quilt: backing, batting and red-white-blue variegated thread for doing the quilting.  The next several weeks are going to be quite busy, so I doubt I will actually get any part of it quilted before the October sewing and stitching update. Sandwiched and pin basted, maybe, but most likely not quilted.

A few weeks ago I grabbed the pile of worn out jeans that has been accumulating for a couple of years and cut the seams and waistbands out of them.  I would like to make DS2 and Surprise a jean quilt for their Christmas gift this year, and might finally have enough scrap denim to make one.  No way to know until I start cutting the pantlegs into the 6" squares I'll need and see how many squares I get. That's the next quilty thing on my docket.  

Other than cutting the squares from all that scrap denim, jean quilts are super fast to make.  Being heavy with all that denim, I don't put batting in them, so once the squares are cut and sewn into rows all I have to do is sew on the flannel backing, tie every other square, and the quilt is finished.  If I have enough denim, it should be no problem to whip this one from start to finish in a month's sewing time.

But before I cut denim squares, I need to make some repairs on horse turnout sheets before the weather gets to be the cold & rainy type.  So far we've had rain on warm days and our chilly Fall-like days have been dry ones, but I know before very long I'll be wanting waterproof sheets to put on horses so they don't get chilled in the cold rainy weather Michigan can have when there's a hurricane working up the eastern seaboard in late September and October.

There has been no cross-stitching done since I finished the beading of the Celtic Santa, although I am contemplating doing some small designs on perforated paper that I could make into Christmas ornaments to give to each of the grandchildren in December.  I need to put a bit more thought into that and also look at what other projects (both crafting and outdoors/homesteading) are slated for the next several months to determine if that's a feasible thing for this season or not.  I don't want to take the time to stitch those and get some done unless I am able to get all six done, if you know what I mean.  It's an all-or-nothing task.  Not that Sixlet will know if he misses out this year, but Buck will.  And Faline most definitely will.  That girl is about the most detail oriented three year old I've ever known (except maybe myself but I don't remember things from when I was three.  Four years old, yes.  Three years old, no.)

Sewing and Stitching Update, August 2024

I decided, in late July, that I wanted to get the beading done on my Celtic Santa right away rather than waiting until closer to Christmas time to finish it.  So, on a couple of hot and humid afternoons when I was in the house out of the mid-day sun, I worked at sewing on all the little tiny beads.  Now all I have left to do is trim the perforated paper down to just barely outside the stitching, braid some of the leftover embroidery floss to make a hanger and glue on a piece of felt for the backing.

Also during hot days I spent some time down in the basement sewing area working on the Airplane Quilt.  Once all 42 planes were sewn, I couldn't wait to get them put together into rows and then the rows into a top.

While trying to take a picture indoors, I discovered I really don't have a place to 'hang' a quilt this big for photos, so I made the best of it by draping the top over a set of tall shelves plus a tall 'dresser' that sits next to the shelves.  It looks a little wonky in the picture below, but the rows really are straight, lol.  

I have the skinny white inner border strips cut and ready to sew on (we've had a cool spell lately, so I've been outside a whole lot in the past week).  Then I will need to go through my solid red fabrics used in making some of the airplanes and see if there's one that is big enough to cut the wide outer border strips from.  If not, I might play with making the border scrappy using all the reds rather than just one solid one.

Sewing and Stitching Update, July

My Celtic Santa counted cross stitch has all the cross stitching completed.  Now I am working on the backstitching and plan to do the beading and get it finished in the coming month.  

In June's update, I showed 10 airplanes that I had sewn for the Airplane Quilt.  How many airplane blocks have I made since then?

Eleven!  That brings the total to 21, which is half the number I need to make.  It makes me feel good that I was able to sew that many.  

21 Airplanes

There was a day in late June that I had wanted to spend some time sewing, but ended up spending about 6 hours instructing DD2 in how to do 'clothing' construction.  She had purchased fabric to make Brad an apron for his birthday, and through circumstances ended up waiting until pretty much the last minute to come over and sew it.  As she hadn't sewn anything before other than the log cabin throw quilt she made for the wedding present of friends a few years ago we had to start with washing, drying and ironing the fabric as all fabric for clothing should be preshrunk.  

Then came learning how to read pattern instructions, identify and cut out the correct pattern pieces for the item being made, layout the fabric with the correct side up, pinning down the pattern with the correct side up, cutting around the pattern pieces, transferring marking lines from the pattern to the fabric before removing the pattern pieces. . .  And then the actual sewing. 

Since DD2 had also brought over about 5 loads of laundry to do while here (instead of paying to use the machines at her apartment complex), she spent about 15 minutes of every hour changing the load in the washer, hanging stuff out on the line or putting it in the dryer (depending on how long it would take to line dry).  So the 'sewing class' took way more time than we'd anticipated.

But, she finished her first ever apron in time to gift it to Brad on his birthday, and while I couldn't sew and quilt blocks that day I did manage to sew a total of eleven new airplanes in the last month.  

Faline sent me home from her house a couple of weeks ago with a tulle tu-tu style skirt that she'd ripped the top layer almost completely off of.  Her request?  "Please sew this for me; I need to be Minnie Mouse for Halloween."  The layer in need of reattaching is red with big white polka dots, so it would be rather difficult to be Minnie Mouse without it.  That is on my sewing list for the coming month, as well as seeing how many more airplanes I can get sewn.

Sewing and Stitching Update, June

Do I have sewing and stitching stuff to show you!  

First up, I finished a long-time UFO: a Black, Bright and Batik quilt that began as a block swap in 2013.  Originally I had received 12 blocks in the swap.  I knew, at the time, that I wanted to make a bed-sized quilt out of them.  But then came news of Grandbaby #2 (Toad) being under construction, and my focus went to making a baby quilt for him. 

And time went by, and I found out my brother and his wife were also expecting (actually, at the same time Toad was due), so I quickly added another baby boy quilt to my agenda.  And then more time went by, and some king sized jean quilts were made for the two kids who got married, and then more time went by, and I needed to make a third grandbaby quilt (for Rascal).  And then I totally forgot I had swap blocks stashed away.  (And made some throw sized quilts, and a baby quilt for Grandbaby #4--Faline.)

Along came February 2022, and I uncovered the Black, Bright and Batik blocks.  I decided that those blocks needed to become a quilt and there was no time like the present. So I designed up a twin-size quilt that required 20 blocks and some sashing.  I had 12 blocks, and a nice chunk of black-on-black fabric leftover from a previous project somewhere along the way since 2013. So, diving into my fabric stash (that had grown exponentially since 2013) I came up with blacks, brights, and batiks that I then used to create eight additional blocks.  Got them all sashed, sewn together, bordered with the perfect fabric that matched everything in the blocks, and had a finished top.  I even bought large amount of a cheery lime green and yellow batik and made the backing.  And then I layered it, and rolled it up without basting because guess what; my time was needed for planning and constructing Grandbaby #5's (Buck) quilt.  The Black, Bright, and Batik quilt, that just needing basting, quilting and binding, became a rolled and then folded mass on one end of my cutting table.  Relegated to UFO status again.

For about two years. (Grandbaby #6, Sixlet needed a quilt of his own too.)  And then, in late April, I grabbed the wad that was the BB&B quilt, unrolled it, saw how close it was to being done and decided that this is the year the Black, Bright and Batik quilt gets finished.  So I did. I stopped worrying about making it perfect and just went for done. 

Confession: I didn't take apart the layers, nor did I iron the top and backing, then re-layer.  I just unrolled it as it was, pin basted it, then off to the sewing machine we went. As a result, there's some not-so-perfectly smooth areas on the backing.  I decided not to fret about it.  It's a utilitarian quilt, not a show quilt.  Nobody laying under it is going to notice a few sewn-in wrinkles.

Most of the blocks have echo quilting in some form or another.  A couple are heavily quilted where it accented that block's pattern or fabrics, others are more understated in the quilting. Once it was quilted, there was enough backing leftover that I thought about using that to make the binding but ultimately decided to go with a solid black. To help it pop.  The binding is sewn down with the same variegated rainbow thread that I used to quilt the top (a pale yellow in the bobbin) and boy, that black sets off the stitching.

Binding finished, I took it outside the next morning for beauty shots, then into the washer it went (with several color catchers).  That night, it graced the twin bed that's used for a grandkid when they spend the night here.  And, truth be told, I've slept under it a few times since then on nights that DH was snoring so badly I was tired of getting woken up every 30-60 minutes and I removed myself to a quieter room. It's a nice, cozy quilt. Sleeps well.

fairly true to color photo

 

showing some of the green backing

Once the BB&B quilt was finally crossed off my to-do list, I began working on the Airplane Quilt I'm hoping to give to DS1 by the end of this year.  I need 42 blocks with airplanes on them.  So far, I've made 10: 4 gray, 5 (of 20) blues and 1 (of 18) red.  As there has been time, I've been cutting pieces for a couple of blocks, then sewing those blocks, then cutting pieces for a few more blocks.  Even if I can only squeeze out 15 minutes for sewing, I can throw together one block using pre-cut pieces.  Or, I can grab a fat quarter or piece of scrap fabric, and cut pieces for two blocks.  

In the past week, I've done some cross stitching on my Celtic Santa.  Due to self-imposed restrictions on physical activity (disclosure: I really aggravated my knee and could barely walk, so spent a lot of time on the couch with my leg up being iced, or heated, or just rested) I had a lot more crafting time than I normally would in this season of the year.  Since the sewing machine is down in the basement, and stairs were  restricted to only for getting to the bedroom at night and then back to the main floor in the morning, I couldn't do any sewing. So I cross stitched instead.  Santa is pretty close to halfway through the stitching.

Now that my knee is much happier and (fingers crossed) nearly back to normal, I have a lot of catching up to do in the garden (weeds!!!), but hopefully I can spend some time down in the basement and get some more airplane blocks cut and sewn yet this month.

Sewing and Stitching Update, May

 In April, I finished all the backstitching on my squirrel counted cross-stitch.  Which means it's done!  In terms of stitching that is. In terms of completely made into a framed piece on a wall or as a cover for a pillow, or however I'm going to use it, well, that's going to be a while.  I haven't decided yet how I want to display it.  I'm leaning toward framing this one and the fox I did winter of 22/23, and using them as seasonal decor.  That's an area that is new to me, as typically I don't have much in the way of decorations (You could probably describe my decorating style as Spartan, or Amish).  Most everything has a function, and looking pretty hasn't really been considered a function.

On Monday of this week, I started working on another cross-stitched Santa ornament.  This one is Scotland Santa of the Celtic Santas series by Mill Hill.

Last month, I had mentioned that I was going to begin an Airplane Quilt intended for DS1.  I pulled fabrics from my stash, and other than figuring how many planes of each color I needed to cut out, that's as far as I got.  The pattern calls for 42 planes, I'm going to make 4 matching ones in gray/silver, 19 in various blues and 19 in assorted reds.

Rather than cutting pieces for those airplane blocks, I decided the time had come to finish a long-time UFO.  Mostly because it's been taking up a large chunk of my cutting table for a couple of years and I'm getting tired of working around it.  I don't want to just move it somewhere else temporarily, because for at least a year before I put it on my cutting table it was a top, batting and backing all rolled together in the upstairs bedroom I used to use as a sewing room from 2012 to 2021ish.  Honestly, I think why I just let it sit so long even though I had all the necessary components to finish it, is because it's bigger than a baby quilt, bigger than a throw blanket, and I didn't know how to go about quilting it on my home sewing machine that doesn't have the most spacious throat in the world.  I also didn't want to quilt it with stitch in the ditch, which is pretty much all I'd done successfully until about a yearish ago.

Finally, I just decided to bite the bullet.  It would be how it would be, and if that wasn't the best quilting in the world, so be it.  It was to go on one of the twin beds (in the former sewing room) we have here for the grandkids to sleep on when they spend the night, and they are hardly quilting critics.  I tried my hand at echo quilting and then just did what I wanted in each separate block.  Some blocks have more quilting than others, depending on how I felt the fabrics in those blocks should be accented with stitching.  Most of the quilting was done on my sewing machine, but on the middle of the center block and the final corners I did quilt by hand with a backstitch, using a quilting hoop I'd picked up at Goodwill a few years ago (4 hoops, of varying sizes, in a bundle marked $10!!  That was cheaper than the price of the smallest one brand new!).

This quilt now just needs the binding made and sewn on. It will most definitely be featured in next month's sewing update in beauty shots as a finished quilt.  And then I will start the Airplane Quilt with a whole lot more space on my cutting table!

Sewing and Stitching Update, April

As the days get longer, and the weather gets warmer, I'm outside more and more.  Always outdoor stuff to be done around this little place here.  And I do love being out in the sunshine.

BUT that means I'm not getting much cross stitching or sewing done lately, and from experience I know that more than likely the amount will dwindle even more as summer gets closer.  So, unless we get a string of yucky weather days (and my housework is caught up; it gets a little behind with the longer daylight/nicer weather days too) there probably won't be as much to show/talk about sewing-wise until late fall gets here.

What did I actually get stitched in the last month?  Well, I got a little of the backstitching done on my squirrel.  Mostly around the eye, on the tail and one of the legs.  Only two colors of floss so far; I think there's eight colors used in the backstitching part of the pattern,

I mended Faline's (hand me down) Easter dress by putting new buttons on it.  It was missing three of the four original white ones.  I didn't have any white in that size, but I did have some pink ones that matched the flowers in the dress, so I went ahead and took the fourth button off and replaced all four.  There was also a part of the sashing around the waist that had come loose, so I sewed that back down too.  And forgot to take a picture, of course.

When I gave that to DD1, she mentioned that Honorary Son had a faux leather jacket that the underarm seam had come unstitched and he'd wondered if I could mend that too.  Unstitched seams are an easy fix (way easier than seams where the fabric shreds), so it didn't take long at all for me to stitch that back together.  Rather than unstitching the inner lining to redo the seam from the inside, I just mattress stitched it from the outside. That worked really well.  Unless you look closely, you can't even tell.  I did take a picture of that, I was so pleased with the repair.  It's about a six-inch long section.  Can you tell?

I had hoped to start cutting pieces for a quilt I've been wanting to make for almost a year.  I had the idea last May, and a pattern in mind (which I purchased when Missouri Star had a deal on printed patterns for $1 each), and a whole stash of fabrics that will work as it's done somewhat scrappy instead of with a fabric line.

While no cutting has been done, I did pull fabrics for what I'm going to call the Airplane Quilt. As you can see, there's a red white and blue theme.  It's intended for DS1, who was an airframer during his time in the Marine Corps, and worked on F-18s.  My goal is to have it finished for his birthday this fall, or, if not then, by Christmas.