A New Day, A New Project

I finished my little quilt today,unless I decide to go on and add a few tabs to hang it. I may do that eventually.(I have it across my rocker at the moment,Connie)I covered another box today. When I finished the quilt, I found myself wanting to go back and work on it some more, so I brought out a little pillow top I had started, heaven only knows when, and decided to use it in another little quilt.I had some strips left from the last quilt, so I have been using them on the new one. I'll probably put it together like the last one,using up a few more scraps.I wasn't as pleased with the finished product as I had hoped to be. The batting was to fluffy, and I hemmed it before I stretched it tight enough, and it doesn't lay as flat as I had hoped, but hopefully, I will learn from my mistakes and do a better job with the next quilt.I think I could get the hang of it shortly, but the quilting part, I don't know about that. I never measure my pieces. I just free hand it all, and that was part of the reason my quilting did not suit me. I tried to follow the seams and sew in the ditch like my sister, Vicki, showed me, but the rows of stitching were showing up crooked on the back, so I ripped them out and tacked it.Mom tacks all her quilts. I tried quilting a couple of my pouches,but can't make myself do too much of that finer intricate work.I think it's beautiful, but I haven't mastered it yet. I don't use a thimble, and my fingers are a little tender tonight.I will not be going to Mom's tomorrow. We are getting a lot of snow, and I'll stay in. No grand kids until Sunday,if Pop will go after them. I don't drive in snow,especially since my little accident a few years ago.So I'll have all day to work on my new project. Till my next post,Happy Crafting.

A Little Further Down the Road...

I'm not quite finished with my little quilt, but I am a little further down the road with it. I am in the process of trying to quilt it now. I have always tacked my quilts, but thought I would attempt quilting this one. Wish me luck. I am truly struggling with it.I'm thinking about using it as a wall hanging when I am finished. It is so nice to look around the room and see things that I have made. I don't think Pop appreciates my work that much, at least he doesn't let on. I guess that comes with growing up with your grandparents. You just assume every woman can do the things your grandmother did, but it does give me a sense of pride to see my works displayed. I guess that counts for something.

Have You Had A Nap Today?

No, I'm not talking about my 5 year old grandson.He gets really grumpy with out his nap, but I speaking of myself.It was my day to spend with Mom and we had a special treat today. My older sister,Mary(Nails in My Pocket)spent a portion of the day with us. We had a great time. We only hit one consignment store. Mom tires so easy. Then we stopped for lunch at McDonald's, then on to do our shopping at WalMart. It was a great day. Mom is going to be featured in a video for a Valentine's Day function at her church. They are having the meal catered for the evening of family fellowship. We were planning for that day. Several of the daughters, and hopefully a couple of nieces plan to attend with Mom. She is so excited. Most of us girls have attended various functions with Mom, over the years, with her church, so they know most of us girls even though it is not our church. They always treat us as if it were.
When we returned from shopping, Mary went on home. It was around 1:00, but Mom rushed in and set out my cot. We always take a nap on our day together. I started doing that a few years ago. Mom doesn't sleep well at night,so I felt she needed the nap, although I'm usually ready for one myself.But lately our nap has ended up being 2 hours long instead of our usual 1 hour. You can probably guess what's happening at my house. I am up till 1:00 in the morning, wide awake. Today I picked up a couple of new quilting tools, and I am enjoying using them tremendously. I don't want to stop, and it's 1:00 already, plus I have the grandkids tomorrow. I will need that nap then, for sure.I have posted a picture of my new tools and a small quilt I have been working on. I have said it before, I am not a quilter, but I could learn to like it much better, if I wasn't too tight to purchase a few tools to make things flow better.Just these new tools alone may help encourage me to do a little more quilting.I think I am winding down from my nap, so till my next entry,Happy Blogging. Good Night All!

Why Do I Love Boxes?

This is the reason I love boxes. I had a very productive day working with them today. I have yet to get my work room built, but I keep in my mind, just how I want it to be as time goes by. You know the quotes,If you can conceive it, you can achieve it. And the one,Act as though you already are what you'd like to be, and it soon will become reality.I want to be a super organized crafter.I have covered a few boxes and labeled them with their contents. Hopefully when I get my room, I will have at least two walls of pretty white shelves, and I will stack my boxes on my shelves in an orderly fashion with all their labels neatly printed for easy access.I will have a nice wide work table for my sewing machine(white, of course)I will have lots of shelves for my nicely folded and organized stacks of material. My sister,Vicki, sorted my material when she was in for Christmas.She has been quilting for years, so she knows what's important in the layout of one's quilting supplies.I have devised a rack for my thread, but I think I will end up rethinking that.It didn't turn out to be as handy as I had planned. My neighbor,Connie, has a nice thread rack on her wall near her machine. I liked that, but you know me. I was trying to be frugal and use something I already had.I may come up with a better plan shortly.
As I stated earlier, I had a very productive day. I must be getting over my "cold". I cooked a pot of pinto beans today and a skillet of cornbread for supper. I even made a batch of chocolate fudge.I painted a while in the basement. I washed a load of clothes or two.And I didn't even need my usual nap. I must be getting better. Hopefully, I will get back to blogging on a more regular basis now.My granddaughter fusses because I post the simplest things on my blog.I always ask her,"Can you do it?" When she says,"No".Then I tell her,"I rest my case.There is always someone out there that doesn't have the insight to make something pretty and usable out of what others would throw away." That is my goal. To show folks how to use up what they have, instead of running out and wasting their hard earned money on something new, when they can make something that works just as well, with what they have at home.
Well, it's another day, and another blog.Till my next post,Happy Blogging.

What's Our Next Holiday?

What's our next holiday? I hear that question a lot from my grand daughter. She loves to decorate. When we were taking down the Christmas decorations, she is asking me that very question.I guess she gets that from me. I use to decorate the school cafeteria where I worked for 27 years,for every holiday. I have boxes of decorations that I've used over the years, stored away, but when it comes time to decorate for any specific holiday, it is more trouble to locate them, then it is to make new ones. I guess the smart thing to do would be to label and organize them or else sell them at a yard sale for someone who doesn't do crafts, to enjoy next year.Then when I end up making new ones, I don't have to worry about the past years decorations accumulating "out in the shed".I now have two sheds for storing such as this. I could probably use a third shed, but I dare not ask.

I am feeling much better from my "cold" or whatever it was. I feel more like blogging today, than I have in weeks. The weather warmed up and I got outside (a little)and I think the fresh air helped me as much as anything,although I did try the saline solution up my nose.Thanks Connie.I think the echinasea helps,too.Hopefully, I will be back to crafting and blogging full force real soon.

On the Mend

Mom and I are both on the mend from our colds or whatever it was we had. I had it for 2-3 weeks. Mom had it about a week so far, but she is adamant about taking her medication to the letter. She is that way with her vitamins and supplements of all kinds, and her prescription meds. I guess that is why she stays as healthy as she does at soon to be 84 years of age this month. I love to study nutrition and natural healing, but I don't practice what I preach that close.Pop has it now, too. I have been working with him a little so as not to let his cold get quite a hold on him as it did me. I took Mom home today. I think she was getting a bit bored. I've posted a couple of things we worked on, and the hair cut I gave her while she was here. She stayed as busy as she could helping me tidy up every minute and working on crafts with me, but it just isn't the same when you can't be in your own home, and I understand that. I hate being away from my "stuff" for very long at a time. I can carry some things with me to fight off boredom, but it still isn't the same.I think she was well enough to go home, and her water had thawed out after a day or two of being froze up. All seems well at her home. No bursted pipes that we're aware of,anyway.Today was suppose to be the last really cold and snowy day for awhile. The weather folks say it will be up in the 30's and 40's for the next several days, so she can handle that.She is tough as a pine knot in so many ways.She appreciates it, but she's not much for imposing on others.She's always said she wants to depend on us, but not be dependant on us.Hopefully I can get back on track here shortly. I must say, I have a lot more energy since I am feeling better. I will be back crafting full force any day.Happy blogging everyone!

Make a Smilebox collage

I Love Boxes!

Boxes,boxes,boxes.I don't know if there is a name for it, but I do love boxes. I was told that there was once a lady that lived downtown,Upton, who was known as The Box Lady. I could easily claim that title. I hate to toss out any box that is firmly constructed and sturdy. Hopefully with a lid, but not necessarily so. I can always construct a lid, if necessary. I use a lot of boxes to hold craft supplies and things I use on a regular basis.I work constantly at being more organized, which will never happen, but I love fixing pretty boxes to hold items I am trying to keep together, for easier access next time I need them.Once I decide what each box is to hold, I simply label that box and they stack easily on a shelf for storage. At least, that's my plan. I take great pride in constructing something I can use, rather than running out and buying something to fill the bill. I did go out and buy 4 little baskets to fit on a set of shelving in my bathroom, and I was sick later, thinking about how much I paid, just so they would match.I paid $5. for the shelf,$2.00 for 2 cans of spray paint to paint the shelf,and $4 a piece for the baskets. How Dumb!!!! I guess in the long run, it was worth it. My bathroom is very small and the shelf worked out fine. I'll bet I could have built something just as nice for that much money.It holds extra washcloths, soap,razors,etc.Pop likes everything he uses to be close at hand when he needs it.

I'm not completely over my cold, but am feeling better. I can tell by having the desire to get back to my crafts. I had the grandchildren for 2 half days and 1 night, and that held me up a little.They wanted to make snow cream and go sledding. So we tackled both jobs.Pop pulled the kids around the yard and drive way with the 4-wheeler. They had a blast. We made a corn hole set. I sewed the bean bags while Leah constructed and painted the box. She made it out of cardboard instead of wood. It will work fine for indoors. She painted it red,white, and blue. It looks nice.I figured it would be a good indoor game for them to play in the basement on some of the worse winter days.It is a job, keeping them entertained, but that is why they love coming to the country. It is never boring, at least hardly ever. I'll post this for now and watch a little TV with Pop before he falls to sleep. And possibly crochet something. Enjoy the snow,everyone.

A New Twist on an Old Favorite

I stumbled across a blog yesterday with a demonstration on the Butterfly loom. http://www.thebutterflyloom.com/ . It is a little different variation of an old time favorite that my family used 40+ years ago. We all took a spell
making doilies from a homemade version of a similar loom. With money, or the lack of, always being a problem , we had to conjure up a lot of

things patterned after some of the latest fads. Most of the time we could get it pretty close, at least to where


we could come up with a similar finished product. We had brothers in wood shop in school, who would help on occasion,if we needed them to, but most of us girls could construct our own projects with no help from the guys.We used plywood to make our loom frame, and finishing nails for the pegs all around the wooden frame. I think Mom still has some of the old looms we made as youngsters. She has made the doilies for her friends in her Sunday School class and her Silver Threads Class in the last few years. I have attached a picture of one of the doilies Mom made in the last few years. I use it at Christmas. I have cut, what I feel, is a close pattern for the Butterfly loom from card stock , but I think by using the looms we used in the past, you could get the same finished product, so I may give it a try. I liked the neck scarves made from the Butterfly loom. If I can make it work, I will try to get one made and post it at a later date. It's always nice to run across a new craft to add to my Want To Try List.

Happy Crafting!

Temporary Setback

Due to a little sickness, I have not been posting. Nothing serious, just a head and chest congestion, and a vicious cough that doesn't give me much relief, but doesn't want to go away either. I've been trying lots of different folks suggestions, short of going to the doctor, but very little results from anything I've tried. Hopefully a little more rest will help. I'm anxiously waiting to get better, so I can get back to blogging. I do miss it. I'm still reading others though, so keep it up, everyone. Later. Sue