The Best Laid Plans

I said I was going to stay home today and play with fabric.  Fat chance.  It was so lovely and cool, I decided that Sam and I should go into a nearby town and walk around - it's a lovely town, with a historic district, great pedestrian town.  Haven't been there in years.  So we kidnapped my mom and took her along.



This home is on the town square, near the theater.  I love it so much.  Had to take some pics.



Please forgive the poor quality, my camera does not like the out-of-doors.  And it was overcast and sprinkling.



This is where they have Art in the Park.



And the ice sculpture contest in winter.  Lovely, large town square.  I also couldn't resist taking a pic of this store:



The Doll House and Toy Cottage!  Isn't it too cute?

And then we ate at Jimmy John's and decided to see a movie. 



I saw my first ever movie at this theater, when I was five years old - The Sound of Music.   I'll never forget it.  The experience, not the movie - I still watch the movie once a year.  LOVE it.

So glad we decided to take a play day - and NOW I'm going to go cut some more fabric!  Hope you had a lovely play day too!

Insomnia

It's 5am, I'm still awake  - awfully peaceful at this time!  I've been cutting out more pieces for my Sis Boom quilt, and remembered to upload some more vintage designs for you.  I had them traced, just needed to scan.  Do let me know if they are too faint, I'll change up the way I scan them.  I think this set is just darling.  Click on each pic to get the size you want.











It's going to be a lovely cool day here, at least between hot flashes, so I'm going to have fun in my sewing room playing with beautiful fabrics.  Enjoy your day, wherever you are and whatever the weather!

Boy Have I Missed You

We lost our internet last week, due to storms, I guess...never lost power or phone, but suddenly the world wide web was GONE.  What a long weekend!  I haven't looked at my Google Reader yet, I'm saving that for after dinner - I'll probably be there until Wednesday.

So, what did I do with myself?  I got a machine working, that's what.  I finished up Jenny's July Challenge, I really love the way it turned out.





I couldn't find anything to use for binding, so I just stitched the backing on, turned it, and topstitched around.

I also finished Dawn Hay's design.



Another one I just love.  AND....I started cutting for my Sis Boom quilt.  Here's my design wall.....


Mind you, nothing is stitched together yet, we're still in the cutting process and then the jigsaw play begins.  But this will give you an idea of what I'm doing.  I had to borrow some Drunkard's Path rulers from my friend Cathy, and the pattern is one I found on the internet free.  I think it's perfect for these fabrics.  This illustrates exactly what I love about Jennifer's fabrics - all of them, no matter what line it's from, go together so perfectly. 

I pulled out my Curve Master presser foot, that I bought several years ago and never opened.  I need to watch the video again and have some practice.  But that will have to wait - I need to go catch up on all of your blogs!  See you soon, I also traced out some more vintage designs that I'll be uploading in the next couple of days.  Have a great week!

What A Week [or two] Plus Embroidery

It's been a busy couple of weeks here in Allie-land.  My oldest, John, turned 18 on the 30th....



That's him, second on the left.  I'm between him and his brother, Sam.  Lots of running around to get John legally licensed, I won't bore you with the details.  You can thank me later.  Let's just say I hate paperwork and redundant government offices.

Turns out Sam has scoliosis, so we've been to the dr.  Not too fond of them either.  We're signing up tomorrow at the YMCA, we'll see if swimming and regular exercise will help - surgery is not an option.  We'll be getting a full set of x-rays after August 1st to see how bad it is.  I'm looking forward to the therapeutic pool at the Y - good for arthritic old folks like me!  The place is pretty amazing, all the cardio machines have their own little tv's so you don't get bored.

Also, I met my new counselor at rehab.  I like her a lot.  She went over all my paperwork and test results.  Turns out, there's a problem with my working memory - probably due to chronic pain and fatigue.  I think part of it is also "fibro fog".  I knew there was a problem, but not how bad it is.  All I can say is thank goodness - it's not dementia - and I'm not losing my mind.  Quiet there in the back row - you know who you are. *G*

Gosh, sounds like a bad week, doesn't it?  But it wasn't!  Sometimes there are glitches in my sweet happy life, but the love of my Lord and family and friends is more than enough to make up for it and see me through.

Speaking of love and friends, I got a box full of love in the mail.  Remember my "Portholes"?  And how I used Sis Boom fabrics to complete it?  I love Sis Boom - Jennifer Paganelli is my favorite fabric designer of all time.  Look what she sent.



The creative wheels are turning so fast they're making me dizzy!  I love her fabrics so much, you can mix and match various lines, they all go together, they're elegant and lovely and saturated with color.  I love the feel of them too.  The first thing that came to mind to make was another Catchit bag.... and a new purse [I'd love to carry a bit of Jennifer with me!] and possibly a chair cover if my limited skills can handle it, a new stitchery in the research phase, and of course a QUILT.  Thank you Jennifer, I'm so excited to get busy!

I've also been working on Jenny's July Challenge.  What fun!  Of course my machines are down so I've done it by hand -



Not going to show the whole thing til it's done.  Just a peek so you know I haven't been totally idle.  I do think I'll be able to get one machine working, I believe it's just the needle threader that is bent, I can handle that.

I'm still working on tracing vintage designs for you.  Next week I hope to have a full set, but I'll put this one up for now.  If you click on the picture, it will take you to my flickr set, just click on 'all sizes' at the top and pick which size you want to download.  I think this one is absolutely darling - it would look so sweet on a baby pillowcase.


Have a wonderful, splendiferous week!