Year End Wrap-Up

This is it, my 2015 year-end-wrap-up, three days late. I had to show my latest addition to the stash closet, the third and final ruler board. Mr. Goodneedle made it for me for Christmas. It joins these two, already installed.
This third one is the final one only because I'm out of real estate on the walls in the closet! My husband would like to think it's because I am done buying specialty rulers; well, if the truth were known, that is probably something that I should think about doing... but, until then, there's still room for a few more! The rest of this post is a show and tell of random dowloaded photos that, basically, speak for themselves but I'll add a few brief explanations.

After the Christmas pillowcases came off the grandchildren's pillows 

they had to be replaced... out with the Santas and reindeer and in with some winter fun motifs!

I ordered this book which arrived too late to have some sewing fun with the little ones this year...

bit that's okay, we'll start early this year and create some ornaments together, this is an adorable resource; I recommend it.

I am wearing this pin proudly, the precious gift from a dear friend who knows me well...

proclaiming me to be the queen of ironing; I can own that!

This is another Christmas gift, from my husband. Too bad it wasn't cool enough to wear it at the time! 

Notice the temperature on the instrument panel of my daughter's car. This was on Christmas eve at 5 PM! Actually, the temperature rose to an unbelievable 80 degrees before we arrived at church that evening! I was reminded by those temperatures and the humidity level of a Christmas eve twenty years earlier... when we lived in Puerto Rico! North Carolina, Christmas 2015, felt exactly like the Carribbean. 

 

I stitched out some samples this week for altar linens, something new to me; I loved the results.

That's it: a wrap-up of randomness. All in all it's been a good year... and on we go, it's all good.

Welcome 2016 ~ I'm ready!

Life is Good!

Stitching Up Some Love

I haven't shown a lot of things that I've been sewing lately, mainly because most of the needle and thread activity going on around here has been for gifts! Now that Christmas is behind us, it's safe for me to share. I quilted stacks and stacks of squares and rectangles:
that combined, with a layer of insulbrite in between, to become potholders! I copied this idea from a link found on Pinterest to put together some bundles of love for friends and family. They turned out cute... nothing says lovin' like something for the oven kitchen!

Back a few years ago I embroidered some personalized elf hand towels for Mason,Lucy Ann and Gregory. I don't know how Lynnleigh was overlooked, but the last two years she never got one! 

Her hands are dry now, she has her own towel. For some reason she named the visiting "elf on a shelf" at their home Peggy. When she spotted her own hand towel, hanging beside her brother's, she called to her Mom: "I have an elf towel too, it says "Peggy" on it!" I pointed out the "L" and asked her to guess again at the name on her very own towel. "Oh" she replied, and after thinking about it for a few minutes she called out: "my elf towel says Lynnleigh and Peggy"!

Life is Good!

And Suddenly...

...just like that, it's NOVEMBER! Wha-a-a-a-at? I know, right? Today I am busily trying to catch up on my Bible Study blocks, this one (the buggy block, left) is representative of my efforts to get myself back on track. The sewing machine has been gathering dust as the cookie adventure has accelerated. Stay tuned to see what's new in that arena for this week coming up , my plans are exciting!  In the meantime, I'm humming along in the sewing room... making up for lost time. Looking back, I did accomplish a lot this past month, but was woefully negligent about blog posting; sorry about that! A few weeks ago I had several items to machine embroider for the grandchildren only to learn that the security key which allows access to the software program (on my laptop) had become corrupt!?! Thank goodness, my LQS was super helpful in contacting Bernina for me and getting that key replaced, for a moderate fee, without my having to upgrade to the new version which would have been a considerable chunk of change! I'm perfectly happy with the older version (it takes one to know one!), since it was still available, and was able to complete the task to the happy delight of both Nana and the little ones. Whew, crisis averted!

October saw personalized aprons for Lucy Ann's art party...

... four special Halloween pillowcases for four precious grandchildren...

...four pumpkin placemats for our own dining table... (Framed Seasons pattern by QP Quilts & Co)

...Snowbird and I teamed up to quilt this black and white beauty for a friend...

...and last, but certainly not least, the ongoing upholstery project that Mr. Goodneedle and I are working on together. When we started this we asked ourselves "how hard could upholstery be?"; now we know, it's hard. But, we're nothing if we're not determined and tenacious. This project will be  completed!

 On Friday this past week we took the youngest grandchildren and visited a friend whose daughter's horse had welcomed a new little one only six days earlier!

It was a beautiful day to create a totem pole!

And, one last parting picture to bid adieu to October. Lynnleigh (with her minion jack o'lantern) last evening dressed as Milli from Team UmiZoomi. Have you ever seen anything cuter? I know I'm prejudiced, but really... have you? I didn't think so. Now, it's time to finish adjusting the clocks back an hour. Yes, suddenly it's November! Bring it on...

Life is Good!

This, That and The Other Thing

Warning: this post is a compilation of complete and total randomness.

There's been a lot going on lately... not any one big thing in particular, just this, that and the other thing.

This picture now greets me every morning when I enter the kitchen, it makes my heart smile. Ever since I've known my husband and his family this has hung in his mother's kitchen. She took it off the wall recently, wrapped it up and gave it to me. She knew how much I had always admired it. It's true, I always have. While it makes me sad that she is beginning to give away her possessions, I am grateful that she is able to delight in placing her items in the hands of those who will treasure them always, that is a blessing.

I spotted this product at the grocery store recently.  So now there's a dryer sheet especially "for men and those who smell them"? Why, I ask. Is Outdoor Fresh not manly enough anymore?

We concluded another successful Quilt Ministry year, we're off for the summer months and will resume our weekly meetings again after Labor Day. This was the last quilt we finished, it was a retirement gift for the outgoing Bishop of the NC Synod of the ELCA; from all reports it was warmly received.

 On the home front: quilting progress is being made on this small quilt for my mother, she purchased it as a top a few years ago at a yard sale and only recently discovered it in an all but forgotten box.

She plans to use it as a seasonal table topper.

Mason helped to design this T-shirt for himself last weekend, after the bridge building was completed. He chose the fabrics for the appliques and the size of the camper. He stood right by my side as I stitched and was delighted with the results... is that not the face of one happy camper?

I finished this book over the past weekend, in all honesty I couldn't put it down. 

If you haven't read it I think you should... it will change you. In a good way.

We attended a funeral yesterday; one for the precious daddy of a dear friend. 

Something that the Pastor said resonated with me: "in reality we all write our own eulogies".

Hmmmm... that we do. One. Day. At. A. Time.

I was sitting in the car waiting for my husband to come out of a fastener store the other day (screws, nails, bolts, etc.); now you know why I didn't accompany him inside. The sun was beating through the window onto my arm and I noticed, for the first time, that my skin had sparkles on it! Okay, I doctored this photo a bit w/ Picmonkey so you'd get the idea. I suppose the sparkles come from my Jergens body lotion, that's all that is on my skin other than soap and water! It's just regular, original Jergens too, no tanner, firmer, healer or other enhancements contained. I've used this product for years and never noticed sparkles before. I suppose there must be some talc or other mineral in the composition of the lotion; enough to make me sparkle in the sunshine. To be honest I'm not really sure how I feel about this.

I'll be back; with more structure, content and regularity...  you can count on it.

In the meantime, it's just been this that and the other thing.

Life is Good!

 

This and That Thursday

There's been but a lot going on lately; but it's not a whole lot of any one thing.  I've been chipping away at the Head For The Border piece, working on machine appliqué of the top and bottom borders. We will have the final reveal/reunion of our group at the end of August and if all goes according to plan I hope to have mine done and quilted by then. We all know what happens to even the best laid plans though. Wish me luck; we'll see, I'm hoping for the best.

There's been steady progress on the quilting of "Got Cookies?"; I'm actually out to the borders now and ready to turn it. 
I hope to have the binding in place next week and be ready for handwork.

I fulfilled a burp cloth request recently; something I still love
 to do, but the orders are infrequent and sporadic.

A certain grandson is soon to have his 6th birthday and he has requested
a Corn Hole game. Nana was able to do her part... PawPaw is still working on
painting the boards in the workshop. Shhhhh... it's a secret!

We ate at Applebee's last night and found tablets for ordering installed at every table now.
I think it's ridiciulous; more technology replacing jobs, plus the added distraction of games
available for play too... nothing like adding to the demise of a family dinner together where
 conversation and eye-to-eye contact used to be the highlight of eating out together. 
This was my rant on the subject, my husband tried to explain things to me from a business standpoint...
not that he was in favor of the tablets necessarily, but simply to give me another perspective. 
Personally, I find the tablets sad for all the reasons stated above... 
what do you think, is this progress for the better?

Speaking of family... there's a great family drama series,
Heartland, available for viewing through Netflix all the way 
back to the premier episode from 2007. Filmed in the majestic Canandian 
Rockies the series centers around a horse ranch run by two sisters 
and their grandfather; it's a joy to watch and I am hooked!
I don't know how I ever missed this from the beginning, but have been
catching up on all the episodes this summer; I'm so happy to have found it.
Netflix is really the best way to watch a series like this: no commercials!

Life is Good!

Keep Looking!

This dongle that is attached to my laptop is, quite literally, the key to my Bernina software program for machine embroidery. Through this software program I create every bit of the lettering, monograms, and numerous other combinations of designs that I choose to stitch out for personalizing or embellishing quilts, T-shirts and other objects and gifts; without the "key" I cannot access the program, period. I had stitched out a sweet little Easter T-shirt for Lucy Ann on Monday night and planned to do the same for Lynnleigh on Wednesday, that's when I discovered that my dongle had gone missing. I was frantic, mainly because the trash had already been picked up for the week, only hours earlier! I literally tore the house apart; searching, and continued to come up empty. I knew a replacement would be costly but little did I know how much that would be until my friends, those who work at my local Bernina store, urged me enthusiatically: "keep looking!." I thought and thought, there were only two places that I normally had it: either plugged into the laptop or in the desk drawer, it wasn't there. I retraced my steps from the clean-up that ocurred after a recent sewing session; nothing. I felt sick and worried... the reality of the situation was beginning to set-in. The resolution to this loss was going to be expensive, I would likely have to buy the software all over again. "Keep looking" continued to ring in my ears, I made one more trip up to the top shelf , on my step-stool, to look underneath the stabilizer that I had folded and put away the day before. There it was, sitting on top of a box. I have no idea why I hadn't seen it the first, or second, time I stood atop that same step, in the same spot, but that didn't matter at all anymore; I had found it! Relief doesn't even begin to explain what washed over me, I was consumed with gratitude for the encouragement spoken by my friends: "keep looking"; even when I thought for sure all hope was lost, or more specifically, was in a trash truck on its way to the landfill!

I've learned my lesson.
The dongle has been put on a leash, and tethered to the inside of my desk drawer!
Peace of mind is a comforting thing.
Life is Good!

Outgoing...

The last few weeks have seen many things running under the needle and straight out of the house. A baby quilt, variation of this pattern, was finished up and gifted last weekend.
The recipient is a sweet baby girl who just so happens to have two older brothers. This quiltmaker decided her quilt needed to be delicate, feminine and personalized... just for her.

The embroidery machine has been humming, too. I made up some special burp cloths for another new baby. In between projects I've added names to a few shirts, an Easter basket and some draw-string bags, all of which have gone to live elsewhere.

Last Saturday the smart and talented Lady L. (with the assistance of Sundance) stopped by and quilted this vibrant baby quilt that is to be a gift for a family friend. She, and her equally smart and talented Mom, (Lady L. comes by it honestly) pieced this quilt as a team; now her Mom is finshing up the binding. It was a great way to spend the morning on National Quilting Day! One more beauty to be in, out, and on its way!
Life is Good!