Where have I been and what have I been doing ???

We had a wonderful visit with our four children, their spouses and our 6 3/4 grandchildren in February. But once that visit was over and everyone had gone home I was resolved to get some sewing done and so I did. The pictures below are four dresses that I smocked and sewed and my fingers have tough spots now from pushing the needle through to prove it. I decided that I can't decide what I love most, hand sewing or machine sewing so I think I am just going to love both. My Bernina makes the machine sewing so much easier and the people at Australian Smocking and Embroidery magazine make the smocking possible. It is a fabulous publication and I was brave this time and didn't just try to make the easiest dress, I ventured into lots of piping and new hand stitches, one being the cast on flowers which are picture on the pink flowered dress. They were tough so I really need to practice to make them better and there were colonial knots on the blue and yellow flowered dress. The other challenge was the ribbon run under the smocking on the bright pink dress. That was tricky!! The ribbon kept folding over on me and I was getting frustrated but I kept at it. The finished product is not perfect but once again it was a learning experience. Having 5 granddaughters is definitely motivating for me. It is so much fun to make such pretty things. I am anxious to get back to quilting, I want to practice free motion quilting with my stitch regulator but I need to make another dress or outfit as there are four here, not five. Also I am encourage any hand sewers to get yourself an Ott light, what a great product, I feel like I can see the tiniest stitches with it by my side to light my work. I told my husband the other night that between my wonderful Amanda Jane pleater and my Ott light that I am one lucky girl and of course he just laughed! All these tools make it easier and possible to enjoy smocking and sewing.

A Belated Valentine Meme

I saw this on A New Chelsea Morning and thought it would be fun to borrow it and fill in my own answers.

It's all about me and my Valentine the love of my life....

♥ How long have you been together?
We will celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary on June 22nd, but our first date was February 28th 40 years ago. I was only 16 years old.

♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating?
About 6 months I believe.

♥ Who asked who out?
Walt asked me out but it took many phone calls before he got the nerve.

♥ How old are each of you?
We are both 56.

♥ Whose siblings do/did you see the most?
Unfortunately both sides of our family live out of state so we don't get together very often. My husbands family suffered a tragedy in August of 2007 when their house burned to the ground and two of their children died. With the loss of our precious niece and nephew we have followed this difficult time with about 3 gatherings of all of my husbands family. I would love to see my siblings more. Everyone has busy lives.

We do love when we have special family occasions so we can all be together, our niece Erin was married 1 year and a few months ago, that was a wonderful family time alos.

♥ Do you have any children together?
Yes, we have four, Jason 33, Megan 31, Courtney 28 and Patrick 25.

♥ What about pets?
No pets right now, we had a dog for about 15 years but we had to put him down sadly a couple years ago. He wasn't a well behaved dog so I don't know why we loved him but we did.

♥ Did you go to the same school?
No, my husband went to Roselle Catholic High School, a private school for boys only at the time, and I went to Abraham Clark High School in the town of Roselle. We met at a dance at his high school because they welcomed girls in for their dances.

♥ Are you from the same home town?
Walt is from Cranford, NJ and I am from Roselle, NJ. Our towns were about 2 miles apart.

♥ Who is the smartest?
My husband by far, he is the one I go to for many answers and if you asked my kids they would say, Mom always said, Ask your Dad.

♥ Who is the most sensitive?
I think I may be more sensitive but he is definitely a sensitive person also.

♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple?
We have lots of favorites but one is local diner called Four Corners Diner, we know the owners and many of the people that work there so when we eat there it is like visiting caring family.

♥ Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
We went to Hawaii over two years ago now, that would be our longest trip although we have also been to Ireland and Alaska.

♥ Who has the worst temper?
Hmmm, probably me but neither of us get too mad too often, injustice gets me down, when I see people treat others poorly.

♥ Who does the cooking?
I am the chief cook but occasionally Walt cooks fried or poached eggs.

♥ Who is the neat freak?
Well I guess neither of us, but I hang up lots of coats that don't seem to make it to hangers or hooks. But I really don't mind. I don't like muddy shoes walking in on the carpet.

♥ Where was your first date?
It was to a high school play, I was very nervous.

♥ Who has the bigger family?
He has the bigger family, so many aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.

♥ Do you get flowers often?
I do, he is very thoughtful that way.

♥ How do you spend the holidays?
It varies every year. Our oldest grandchild is not four just yet and we have 6 going on 7 so there have been many changes. Our children need to be with their spouses families too and spend time in their own homes. Every year it's different.

♥ How long did it take to get serious?
Pretty quick for me, I adored him from the time I met him.

♥ Who’s better with the computer?
He is definitely better with the technical side, I love the internet, too much so I think.

♥ Who drives when you are together?
He always drives.

An ongoing quilt and a little handsewing . . .

Since my last post I was sick for about a week. I had a cough that wouldn't stop and some aches and chills so I mostly stayed home and layed low. I did a little sewing working on this quilt. It is a Happy Hour design by Terry Atkinson, the blocks are simple but it seems like it took me forever to cut them out. When it is done it will be a queen sized quilt and I think I will be keeping it. Right now I have 11 rows of 9 block sewn together but it has been put on the back burner because my sewing machine went in for a checkup. When we bought it last April they said to bring it in 6 months and so I went way beyond that. There never seems like a good time to give up my sewing machine. They said it would take 7-10 days so I will just have to be patient. Guess I will have to clean house or cook. I really do need to do that so I will.





In the meantime I am still itching to make things so over the weekend I made a doll quilt, my first and made it all by hand. Don't look close, my hand quilting isn't very good. Still, it was a lot of fun to make.

Our weekend visit and a little more sewing . . . .

We had a wonderful weekend visiting our son Jason, his wife Holly and Jason, Jr. We haven't been out to their house in a long time and we were anxious to be with them. Our grandson is growing so fast and loves puzzles. He even stopped to put these pieces on his riding toy.



Oh he made me laugh walking around with his hands in his pants pockets, like a little old man.



He loves to paint too, he has so much fun playing, he never stops.



While we were away, I finished up another blanket for Lifesavers Ministry and plan to take these onesies that I decorated and burp cloths over to our church on Sunday. I hope some sweet new baby enjoys them.

A sweet little jacket, a little bread and a grandson . . . .

Oh I really am having fun sewing this week. I finally got around to working on a little jacket for Leanora from this pattern. A while back I had made some pants for Tessa and Joy from this pattern, also by Jackie Clarke. If you click on this link take a stroll through the gallery on Farmhouse Fabrics, such delightful childrens' clothes. The service from this store based in South Carolina is amazing. Use them and you will be very pleased. While I am at it I should also mention Karen Faylor, another great place for an online order, especially if you like to smock. Karen is another wonderful person to talk to, she is very helpful. I think I should make up a list for the side of my page with the online stores that I like to use. The customer service you get online is truly personal.

I have been making lots of burp cloths, some as gifts, a few to sell and so I have accumulated lots of flannel along with scraps left over from the blankets I have been making for LifeSavers Ministry. I lined it with minky so it is so soft. Minky is a little slippery but so cuddly soft. This was smooth minky, without the bumps so it worked perfectly. Not that you couldn't use the bumpy minky. It really is great to use some of these many scraps that I hang onto, some I thought were too small for anything but between repairing the quilt and making this jacket it has been fun to see how well things that I already have go together. Maybe I will post a picture later of LJ (that's what her Mommy calls her sometimes), wearing it, if she isn't already too big. She is growing so fast!
















In addition to sewing I have gone bread machine crazy. My daughter Megan gave the machine to my husband years ago and I never used it, if it did get used it would be because I would pick up a mix in the store for Walt and he would make us some bread. Well he brought it up to the lake and after Christmas I went soup and bread making crazy. So far I have made cinnamon raisin, corn bread, regular white bread, old fashioned buttermilk and honey wheat! I never knew how easy it was, five minutes is all it takes to put all the ingredients in! I guess you are all wondering where I have been since the 1990's but I am afraid that the bread machine was just gathering dust since then, sorry Megan. There are recipes all over the web (have I mentioned we lost the book that came with it) but one of my favorite places for a recipe is here.


I am really flying high tonight because my husband and I are heading out tomorrow to see the little man pictured below, just 20 months and already on ice skates. Oh by the way, I think he does wear a helmet when he skates too. I have really missed him and can't wait to see him. Have a great weekend, I know I will.
Jason, Nana and Papa will see you soon and we can have a date with something Melissa and Doug!

Patching, fixing and lots of zigzag stitching . . .

Today was the inauguration of course and I really wanted to leave the tv on and listen but I can't sit on the sofa all day. So I finally dragged out an old quilt that was done in sort of a crazy quilt style by someone in my husband's family. Some thought that his aunt had made it years ago. Well it was falling apart and frayed in many places with some pieces missing so I went to work on it for many hours with the tv on in the background. It turned out pretty well and can now be used as a throw or a coverlet or it might even be big enough for a twin bed.




















Last week Joann's was having a sale on patterns, $1 each so I stocked up. One of the patterns was a vintage yo yo clown from Simplicity's archives. I worked a long time on this but am not completely happy. I think his head is too small, if I make another the next one will have a bigger head. Anyway it was fun to make from my huge stash of various fabrics.

A little stitchin', a little crocheting . . .

A new year and January usually gets me itching to make things but where to begin, my mind races with all the ideas out there. I am interested in helping this ministry so I thought I would begin by making some receiving blankets with crocheted edges and some burp cloths to go with them. They have such pretty yarn to put on the edges so they are fun to make.




I've always wanted to make this pincushion. It's from Heather Bailey, although she wasn't given credit here. It was also fun to sew, think I will try some more.

Oh boy, what's next . . .

I received gifts of fabric for Christmas and got some on sale too, lots to make, just have to decide what it will be and then settle down and do it.
Maybe more of these , or maybe I will try this, who knows, there are so many ideas out there. I made one of these for Christmas and would like to make another. They certainly are enjoyable to make, and there is even a hat to match.

A study in brrrrr. . . .

We live in upstate New York, in the area called the southern Adirondacks so we are pretty familiar with snow and ice but we are not always guaranteed a snowy, freezing winter but this year we are having just that. The beauty of it all is astounding to me sometimes and I know many people don't like winter. If you click on the first picture you can see an ice shanty out on the lake, that's something I don't think I would enjoy. I have to wear my winter boots and a scarf, hat and sometimes many layers of clothes when we go out. But the beauty of all as I look out the windows towards the lake and the mountains makes it worth it to me. I took the icicle pictures quickly before my husband knocked them down. The lines in the snow are from the wind whcih is very still today but was so crazy on thursday. Everyday is different up here. As for today more snow is expected, maybe even 8 inches but for now the sun is still out, it will begin later. I am curious to hear what bloggers west of us got this time. Our church is always open, our pastor lives in walking distance so he says we will always have Sunday services. Of course he also said people that are uneasy shouldn't drive to church if the roads are bad. My husband is never uneasy so we can always get there.

Birthday celebration and creativity . . .

We celebrated Courtney's birthday on Thursday night at Court and Adam's house. Adam made chicken parmesan and got Courtney's request of a Carvel ice cream cake. Annabelle pretty much wanted to eat everyone's cake, she was pretty funny.

Annabelle was very tired but very happy nevertheless, she is such a friendly little girl

Katie surprised Courtney with a beautiful pear pincushion that she made herself, isn't it pretty? She also gave her some new pins to use with it. So happy to see my daughter-in-law sewing. Courtney enjoys it too. Those babies just don't give them much free time to do it.