New Stove

My new stove arrived and I love it. I have cooked on the stove top several times and today I baked a box cake that turned out great. 

It has 5 burners on the top. I think when cooking for the whole family I will use this feature a lot. It also has a griddle that fits over two burners.

I think Friday I get a set of new appliances delivered also. I have a new washer and gas dryer coming. My washer is on it's last leg and the gas dryer is more efficient than electric. Chris

Did a little sewing

To begin with I needed to wind bobbins and the machine I have been quilting on the bobbin winder is shot. So I used the little bobbin winder and didn't get good results. I had to back track and rip out. so I guess I need to get the old black machine out and wind bobbins on it. They are the same size bobbins and I get much better results.

Today is a Holiday and no bank or Post Office so those things are on hold. I cleaned well yesterday so maybe an outside day. Jeff has a job he needs to do and I guess I will just get the trimmers out and go to town. Also the yard can be mowed so I think as soon as it is dry enough to go out I will.

We have Pines in our adjoining yard with the neighbor and the Pine Needles are everywhere. If you don't get them mulched up they can kill the grass off when they become meshed in the standing grass. Every year we have to mow over them several times to keep up with them.

I am now going to get something out for supper and try and be creative with it. Tired of the same old meals. Have a Good one Chris

Looking in two tubs

Well I started on sizing up what was in the tubs I brought from my mother's house. I wanted to see if anything was close enough to finishing. Well no it isn't. Not so far anyway. I thought this was all just strips and I thought oh good I can use these in my Pineapple blocks. Well guess what there is a modified log cabin block inside the tub. 

Here is a block that needs pressing. Not sure how far she intended to go with these. She normally made crib quilt size quilts. She gave them to the Linus Project. 

This is the second tub. It is 30's and 40's prints. Well after further investigation it is a bag with blocks and fabrics. 

These are the blocks. She had several of them made. 

Here is another one of the many that are done to this point. 

The pattern for them is in this tub also. This is nice because I can see what her intentions were. A summer looking quilt.

It is in the Dec 2005 magazine. So I think this will be started after Christmas gifts are finished. I plan on not making a lot of things for Christmas, but just a few. This would be nice with a light weight quilt batting and simple quilting. 

This is a beginning of my journey into seeing what my Mother was doing with some of this fabric she would buy. 

I cleaned a lot this morning and got more of my house in order. I took a nap and still want to get myself better organized soon. So order in my life needs to happen. Chaos has been the norm and it is not fun all the time. Chris 

Yesterday I was on a mission

Yesterday was a busy day for me. I wanted to accomplish something here at home and ended up doing it and also running to the hardware store twice. The kitchen table and surrounding area got cleared up. I got rid of a tall hamper full of sheets to my daughter-in-law. With kids in the house she needed extra pillowcases and bed sheets.  

Then I tackled the dining room table. With everyone coming to eat last night I had to clear it off. This is what was left after they left last night. A coloring book and some puzzles that they hadn't seen for awhile.  In cleaning out a cabinet that we had I found several books that they weren't ready for and also some games. so now it is new all over again. 

My mom did that when were kids she would get out a certain amount of toys and after a couple months she would put those away and get something else out to play with. That way we thought we had new toys, but we didn't. Story books were the same way. 

Today I need to get some cleaning done now that I can see the corners. The house has been in such uproar for so long and finally getting settled into a somewhat normal appearance. It feels much better to be able to do some normal things. 

The beef and noodles went over very big and they all got filled up. I sent the leftovers home with them so they have lunch today. 

They have a busy day there also. They bought two new outside doors for their house last night and also they bought some replacement windows for a porch. When you own an old house you end up having to replace things every so often. So they got a couple real good deals on things for the house. 

Their community has had more break ins and looking doors is more important. So they needed more secure doors and locks. Now they will have them. They have a good friend who did our roof that will help them get installed. 

Well off to start laundry and get some cleaning done. Maybe I can do some sewing later today. Chris  

making fabric

I have been sewing to get my mojo back using up small scraps. Some call it making fabric. some call it crazy blocks others call it crumb sewing. As I cut scraps into usable sizes I have all these left overs. I always thought good applique pieces, but how many pieces can one person save????

As you can see they are odd sizes and shapes. They can be cut to make similar sizes for sewing together. A lot of the time I just lay them together and start sewing. I finger press until I can't get them to lay flat then use the iron to make them summit to the iron. This is the amount I have made in two mornings of sewing for about an hour each day.

They need to be squared up to like sizes and then I can add sashing or quilt each as a single block and add sashing strips to join them together. I like to use the decorative stitches on the sewing machine to quilt them. With a black sashing I think the thread will be black to stand out. 

No it isn't finishing anything, but I am getting back into the mood by doing some stitching. I am also getting a tub of scraps used up. Well they will have to be 200 blocks before that is all used up. 

I need to measure the smallest one and get a common size. Then size them all the same. Some times the cut off pieces can be parts of another block if they are of any size. 

It feels good to get back at machine work. Yesterday we did a lot of purging and moving of more furniture. I got rid of old VCR tapes I had recorded of TV shows and also found puzzles and books geared more for Autumn's age group to use when she comes. She likes to be read to.

I went yesterday and bought myself a new toy. No not a machine. A new stove. My oven hasn't been right for a long time and this one was on sale and a rebate and free delivery and they take the old one. Win Win in my book. It has 5 burners and also a griddle for the top burner. I had better get my husband up because the delivery is between 7-12 noon today and it is almost 7 am now. Have a good day. Chris    

Repurpose

This is a repurposed cabinet. A few years ago my husband made it for the TV and stereo components. We bought a different cabinet to fit the flat screen TV we bought about a month ago. He didn't know what he was going to do with it. 

I am making it into a storage and ironing station in the sewing room. I have cubbies to place tubs of scraps for easy access. Perfect for ironing.  

In sorting I found this pineapple block. This is on Crazy Mom Sews blog. She breaks it down into a very easy to follow tutorial. I made one to see how it went together. I did this months ago and decided it was a definite scrap user. 

I started the second one and never got back to it. Life got in the way. This is high on my working in between blocks. I need to check to see if IO have lots of the right sized strips made so when I cut scraps I add to the mix to make them interesting. 

Today is cooking day. The Grandkids are coming tomorrow to have Beef and Noodles for supper. I need to cook the meat today and then less to do tomorrow. I will be making homemade noodles for this meal. Some of the kids don't care for the homemade noodles So I bought the wide noodles for them. 

I need to be distracted with busy work today so I think the Netflix will be turned on and go to the sewing room to make a dent in that mess. My Granddaughter is coming and she will be horrified if I have touched it. She is an organize freak. 

I think today will be therapeutic for me. They are talking about rain off and on so we will see how far we get. Have a good one. Chris  

Been a rough day.

I was on pins and needles for the better part of the day. My son was in court with his EX over custody of the two older kids. They want to live with Dad and a lot of money has been spent since this whole divorce has been started in 2007.

The Judge listen to everything and decided to wait on a decision for 2-3 weeks. The kids were so disappointed that they didn't get a decision today.

I sat by the phone all day and then to get another disappointment. Being a Grandparent isn't always easy.

I sorted through some more things and return some carpet samples, paid some bills and helped my husband install a new walk-in door on the garage.

Nothing else reproductive.  Maybe tomorrow. Chris