Sewing, Swimming, and School

We're winding up our summer this week. 

I meet this time of year always with a bi-polar personality. 

Half of me is eager to get back into a more structured day. Something about the urgency & business of the school year helps me to be more organized, more methodical & thereby more productive. 

But the other half of me resists this structure & wants to further enjoy these free-floating days.

And this year is even "more" as I send my younger daughter, now the youngest here, off to public high school on Monday. After being so wrapped up in my kids' schedules & homeschooling them, I'll find myself with time on my hands.

How many days & hours did I fantasize about "me time" back when they were all younger? And now the prospect of me time sounds, well... kinda lonely. But I'm very good at keeping busy! I have three client quilts to work on this upcoming week, amongst other various projects lined up that have been in my mind but on the back burner until I had more time. 

Then there are personal, career-oriented goals I haven't seriously thought about in years. 

And now I am.

In between school shopping & trying to get in last-summer swims, I've gotten a little sewing done as well.

Made a couple checkbook covers:

This sunflower checkbook cover matches the sunflower purse I just made!

And later I wanted to play with a new eyelet punch tool, so I made this very simple bookmark:

Has anybody used one of these? I ask because the front of the eyelet retained it's red color, but you can see the back of this eyelet rubbed off in the stamping process & has been left silver instead. I'm not sure if I squished it like a beast & thereby rubbed off the color in my quest to MAKE IT STAY?? Or if I have cheap eyelets? Or if this is just the way it is???

It's Friday. We're planning to take a bike ride & enjoy this weather today. 

Saturday through Sunday we'll have hurricane Irene come past & so we'll start honing in on the weather report to see how bad our chances are of getting more of the heavy rain which would cause the Susquehanna River to flood our town... my home. 

And Monday my daughter will start high school... on her 15th birthday. She's excited to see what high school is like but wishes she were able to sleep in on her birthday! 

I'm a Bag Lady

I have a small addiction to bags- pocketbooks, totes, coin purses, hobo bags, etc....

I'll admit to not being too picky. Yes, I own a couple small Coach bags, but I'm not opposed to grabbing something that catches my eye at a cheaper, box store too.

My latest thing is having learned how to make a lined zipper purse. 

The butterfly purse ended up being an odd shape. I like it's width but it looks a little short/squat: 

  

And I didn't properly catch the sparklies in the fabric either. Morgan deemed it "dorky" & asked me not to take it out shopping at the mall!! hahahaha

I made some adjustments & tried again with this beautiful sunflower fabric. I REALLY like the way this one turned out!

  

Made it taller & not quite so wide, but I did keep the bottom width. 

I customize the pockets for what I want to be held within: checkbooks, chapstick (a good friend gave me a terrific hint to make this pocket short, too, so that it doesn't get "lost" too far down), hand sanitizer, a pen, etc.

Next, I want to make a zippered totebag. With the school schedule starting & all the running around that entails, I'll be spending a fair amount of time in the car just waiting for my daughter. 

And I'm a huge fidgeter. I have to have something to do or read or somewhere to write while confined in the car, and so I always keep a bag packed & ready to go. 

But I guess I also do a bit of careening about in my car, as so often my bags are flopping here & there with the contents spilling out. Thus, the zippered totebag idea... 

Whippet Goes Down

Introducing our other dog... Dino the Whippet.

So far, you've mostly heard about the Spastic Lab, but this week's Doggie Antics showcase Dino.

Somehow while out in the backyard by himself with no other dogs around & no way to make contact with a moving vehicle, he managed to dislocate his hip & get some nasty lacerations. 

In an effort to allow the over-stretched ligaments, etc., to heal, Dino has his leg bandaged in place  & is reduced to hopping on three legs. 

He spent the night at the animal hospital & came home a tad wobbly, so we were holding the leash in one hand & his tail in the other to lend stability. 

(my daughter, Maegan, helping Dino get up)

  

This has consumed my week for the most part... trying to keep him calm, help him get up, help him lie down, hand feedings, shoving pills down, and running through the yard Quasimodo-style holding Dino's leash in one hand & his tail straight up in the air with the other one, trying desperately to keep up with him while simultaneously getting whipping in the face with various things in the yard (our "gardens" roughly resemble a jungle presently.) 

Hope y'all have a terrific weekend!

Hershey Quilt Show Loot

I went to the Hershey Quilt Show with a couple of friends this past Sunday, and came home with some fantastic loot!

This is an over-view picture. The pictures below separate it all into groups...

WOOL - Since I did my snowman candle mat, I'm hooked!! It's fantastic to stitch on & I think it looks fabulous to boot! I haven't tried felting it yet, but that's up there on my "things-to-try-soon" list!

NOTIONS: a couple lighted crocheted hooks, a chalk liner, rubber thimble, Marvy erasable fabric marker, a few HQ reusable bobbins, and that round thing is a chalk eraser and/or fuzzy remover.

I didn't buy much fabric. Unless I'm looking for something specialized, most likely something novelty, I resist buying fabric at the shows because it's darn expensive. So I look for smaller cuts of novelty for the most part.

FAT QUARTERS: pickles, "manly", lime green, orange w/spider webs, "I love soccer", two purple bats, and a couple candy corns.

Had to show a close-up of the "manly" -- They're more difficult to find. I cannot fathom what I'd make with it, but well, you know, I still NEEDED it.

FREEBIES: Oh yeah, you read that right!!! I got all these various sized cuts below FOR FREE!! I guess the folks at Epicurean Crafts thought I'd spent enough at their booth that I'd earned some free loot!! I'm all for that :) 

(the stuff I bought from them are the patterns at the end for stitchery)

THREAD: Cones for the HQ16

ORNAMENTS: Halloween & Christmas patterns for felted wool

SEWING: a Bible cover & a 12"X 12" mini quilt for summertime

STITCHERY: Halloween, Autumn, runner, and Easter wall-hanging, and a book of "edgings"

Are you all familiar with "stitchery"? I've come to love it! It's simpler than full-out embroidery & works beautifully in my very old home. I was thrilled to see so much of it at the show this year. Last year this wasn't the case & choices were more limited.

That's the end of my loot-sharing. The pile seems a tad small to me when I consider the total price tag, but alas, I know I haven't picked the cheapest hobby. 

AND I don't have the most restraint when I find myself in a room filled with sewing/quilting stuff... or books for that matter... or in bakeries ... or in any other restaurant... or in an education store... office supplies stores...

Perhaps I need to work on self-restraint??

Hazy, Hot & Humid

I think I had to have sweated off something like 10lbs this morning walking Smokey the spastic lab in this heat. If only I could lose fat & excess body weight so easily... having it just ooze out my pores along with some sweat??? That's what I like to imagine anyway.

As usual this week has been full of doggie antics. I heard some weird rustling noises coming from the family room whilst I was happily working away in the sewing room... then I heard a lot of body slamming on our old floors which causes the house to reverberate in places. And so I thought I'd better go investigate....

Found Smokey whipping back & forth my daughter's feather pillow. The one I'd just recently COVERED WITH THAT NEW SHAM with flying geese!!!!!!!!!!!!! I guess he was having quite the fun with it. Feathers were flying hither &  yon, but I only saw red at first when I thought he'd ripped open the newly made sham... the one that sat on my to-do pile for 3 years & finally got attention & had been finished & washed & looked gorgeous!! 

I calmed down upon investigation when I realized he hadn't in fact ruined the sham -just ripped open the pillow near a seam & so the feathers escaped. WHEW!!

And then I thought to grab my camera :) He does look a little sorry, doesn't he?

He REALLY looks sorry in this one! lol I just can't stay mad at him for long. He's really just a big, hairy baby.

Other news... I finished this 7" felted wool Snowman Candle Mat. I've added it to my etsy shop, but if it doesn't sell, IT'S MINE!! Though as much as I enjoyed stitching it up, I really could just make another, eh?

This is the first time I've worked with felted wool & I really liked it! I love that the hand-stitching gets "sucked into" the felt in such a way that not only hides the stitching for the most part but also adds texture. 

I do believe I'll be on the prowl for felted wool at the Hershey Quilt Show later this month! Along with thread for the longarm, novelty fabrics & an applique project to teach this fall. My list of things to look for at this show is growing exponentially!! 

And last, I thought I'd share what's been on the machine this week:

I'll show an "after" picture once the quilt has been delivered back to the shop. 

Sure hope you're all finding fun ways to beat this heat!!

Take care :)

My Etsy Shop is Open!

After YEARS of talking about doing it, I've finally set up shop on etsy! 

I'm just getting started, so there are just about a dozen items listed. It'll be interesting to see how I like it? I often look at projects & think, "Ooohh that's lovely eye candy, but WHAT WOULD I DO WITH IT?????" 

Sometimes I just want to make something for the pure fun of it, the art of it, but then my practical side kicks in telling me if it's not useful & pertinent to my life then I should move on & save my money. 

Sooo now I have AN EXCUSE to make things... sooo I'll need to have fabric & whatnot to make those things... soooo I might just have an excuse to purchase some SUPPLIES while at the Hershey Quilt Show  coming up later this month! 

WOOT! Do you think I might be able to translate this into "I need a working budget for my longarm & etsy businesses" to my hubby?? (heehee this here mind is allllways thinkin')

I do hope you'll pop in to visit me at etsy & give me your feedback. Since I'm just getting started, I'd love help shortening my learning curve. Though it seems fairly straight-forward, I'm hoping I didn't forget to do/say something important!

Okay, onto some show & tell...

I finished this quilt a couple weeks ago, but since I had to deliver it back to Stitch & Craft, I've allowed a bit of a delay, never wanting someone to see their quilt posted here before seeing it for themselves!! That just seems rude!!

I wish you all a good day! We've been blessed with a gorgeous, sunny day here in Lancaster, PA.

We have 6 & 1/2 weeks of summer left. Exactly half our summer is over! How 'bout instead we just say WE STILL HAVE 6 WEEKS OF SUMMER LEFT! 

(How's that for looking at our lemonade glass as half full??)

4rth of July Weekend

Got lots done & had some fun over the long weekend:

Every summer I take off the books, wipe down the shelves, weed out the unwanted & reorganize all the books. Though it's a long process, I secretly love having time to fondle all these books 

(it really does rival fabric fondling for me!!)

This is the "before", which isn't too bad, but you can see on those right hand side shelves there are a bunch of books just shoved in wherever they'll fit at the moment.

 Below is the "after"... you may notice not only the neatness of those shelves but also all those holes left 

FOR MORE BOOKS!!!! Wahoooooooo!! 

Excluding the top two shelves, everything on the left is spiritual/non-fiction/reference for homeschooling, and the shelves on the right house fiction alphabetical by author as well as some movies & photo albums.

After I got some work done, I got to do some quilting. These pillow shams match & were made for my 14 year old daughter's quilt. Back in 2008 I made a large queen-sized version of this flying geese pattern, sewed the shams at the same time, but just never got back to quilting & finishing them.

I think it's easier on these to see the quilting from the back

(before sham construction)

(after sham construction)

And to round out the weekend-- some good family fun..

The four of us went kayaking on the Susquehanna River, starting at Duncannon & paddling back down to Marysville.

This was my first time kayaking, and while I'd boated on the river back when I was a kid, and we've taken the kids out to play on the river's edge, this time around it seemed so big & ominous! 

Maegan & I were in a tandem kayak together, with Marshall & Morgan riding in another one.

And at the end of a full 3 hours of paddling, I'll admit my arms felt a little like jello, my butt was soaked from some Class 2 rapids, and I came away with some nicely burnt skin, but I'd had fun & learned how to do something new :)

Afterwards, we stopped at Rita's for some Gelati, then headed home for some backyard swimming, ladder golf, and food cooked on the BBQ!

I hope you all had some fun with your long weekends & made some memories!

Summer is speeding by!

I can't get over the fact that it's been  a little over 2 weeks since I touched base here! 

We've had various appointments taking up our days: 

*a couple with the local high school where my younger daughter is now enrolled & so had to meet with the guidance counselor twice to go over class options & then actually schedule said classes

(let's not even go into my coming to terms with no longer homeschooling!!)

*a couple appointments with the orthodontist for the same 14 year old to get that ball rolling

(and another coming up to put the actual braces on later this week!)

*one dental appointment for the customary teeth cleaning but also for pulling two teeth for the same 14 year old daughter in preparation for those braces

*a general physical for THE SAME DAUGHTER to get her into public high school sports

*an appointment with our wonderful homeschool evaluator to finish up the 14 year old's 8th grade school year

*and a random eye appointment for myself

(to get bifocal contact lenses--shhh I'm still in denial about this)

Along the way I've also gotten a decent handful of quilts done for Stitch & Craft. Here's one of the latest: (sorry the pics aren't the greatest)

I spent a couple days reorganizing my sewing room & it's closet

(the bad side)

 (the good side--though now both sides are good)

Went hiking with the family on Father's Day

(Maegan, me & Morgan)

 Me & Marshall

I swim Smokey most days after we've walked. 

And Morgan & I went to a used book sale, grabbing 40 books & 20 magazines for $5!! 

(Yes, we are book hoarders)

We're having fun & getting lots done, but I'm really looking forward to some SUMMER VACATION days!! You know the kind where I wake up when I darn well feel like it & the dogs' bladders won't explode, I veg on the computer or whatever I want for however long I want, float aimlessly in the pool for as long as it takes for me to get bored, have a completely ready dinner miraculously appear in my kitchen, someone snaps their fingers to clean up like Bewitched, and then I go up to read leisurely before bed while someone else puts both dogs out separately & also goes out to find the cat & bring him in...

Oh dang, I slipped into dream-mode again....