Clara's Calling

Today I found out about something that touched my heart!  

Master Sergeant Clara Vargas and her team of American soldiers have a mission to teach 4,000 widowed Afghan women to sew, so they can provide basic necessities for themselves and their children.  These women have nothing.  Clara started this project last year and quilters and lots of sponsors are doing what they can to help.

They are asking for treadle machines and irons that are heated on a fire, like my grandmother used, because there is no electricity available.  When I think of how fortunate I am, I thank God.  Who uses fire to heat irons anymore?  These women do.  I may not be able to donate a treadle machine or an old antique iron, but I have many of these items in my sewing room that I doubt I'd ever miss.  How lucky I am.

Several quilt stores, have jumped on the band wagon and are providing postage to mail these items to Afghanistan. All we have to do is give what we can to help these poor women.

Some of the things they need are:

Fabrics*

Scissors

Rotary Cutters

Bags or Totes

Pins

Lace

Rulers

Bindings

Fabric Markers

Patches

Fasteners

Elastics

Buttons

Embroidery Supplies

Zippers

Needles (Hand & Machine)

Ribbon & Trim

Sew-In Interfacing/Stabilizers

Organizers

Thimbles

Pincushions
And much more!

Please go to clarascalling.com and read about this amazing project.  I'm taking this to my local guild.  I know they will be ready to give generously.  I hope you do your share.

Embroidered Burp Pads!

My sister asked me to embroider some burp pads for a co-worker's daughter so that's what I did this morning.  Pretty simple and quick! 

I got some Carter's cloth diapers at Wal-Mart to use.  They really are super for burp pads.   They have that extra padding in the center which is perfect.

I also made one with the baby's name on it.  Now get this--the baby isn't born yet.  Things change.  I made a quilt once and put the label on it with the baby's supposedly "name" on it.  Yup, you guessed it. They decided on another name.  I told them I'd take the label off and re-do it, but I never got it back.  Who knows if they took it off or not.  Hope so.  Rather have no quilt label, than the wrong name on it for the poor child.

I may have to start selling these for people.  Maybe I could make enough to pay for my thread!!  Anyone need some??

FINALLY--Quilts done started seven years ago!!

CELEBRATION TIME!!!   Seven years ago when my two oldest granddaughters were two, a long time friend made some embroidered doll blocks for them and told them that their Nana could make them a quilt out of them.

Patsy had just gotten a new embroidery sewing machine and she just has grandSONS, so was anxious to try the cute "Sue's Cousins" designs.  Well, then the ball was in my park and I used the excuse for a while of finding the perfect pattern. Then I used the excuse of finding the perfect fabrics.  So I finally decided if I was going to do it while they could still use them, I'd better get in gear.  So this year I finished them.

I then had another problem, because I had another granddaughter born later.  So I decided to make her one too.  Well, I do have a nice embroidery/sewing machine now, but didn't have the designs in the right format, so Patsy made the blocks again for Lyndey and I got busy and made hers too.

Their birthdays are within a month of each other, and the past weekend, we celebrated two of them.  So I decided to give them all at the same time.

Lyndey, the youngest, says "Paige got the prettiest--PINK!"  I knew that might be a problem, they all love pink.  Patsy had chosen the red for Kayley and I knew Paige loved pink, and Lyndey likes purple too, so I went with that.  I wanted them to be the same but different colors. 

My daughter had taken photos of me and each granddaughter at Easter so I used them on my label, so when I'm long gone they won't forget me!!

The girls were much much more excited with the toys they received, but someday I know they will appreciate the quilts and know that their Nana loved them so much!

Journal (Notebook) Cover!

When we were on vacation I spotted a similar journal cover that I really liked.  As usual, it was on display for a class and no pattern was available.   So....... I came home and made my own pattern!  Here it is:

I LOVE JOURNALS.  I can't really say just journals, but notebooks, too.  I jot notes down all the time.  Robert says I "make lists of lists"!  Things to do for the day, things to make (sew or quilt) and then every so often I have to prioritize what I'm going to do FIRST.  Please tell me I'm not the only one out there that does this. 

Anyway, back to the notebook cover.  When you open, it looks like this:

And behind the spiral notebook, there is a panel that holds the notebook in.

Sorry, for some reason I canNOT rotate this picture, but hopefully you get the idea. 

If I make another one, I'll make a change or two.  One being putting the velcro on the front cover before adding the inside cover and binding.  As you can tell, you can see the sewing on the little pencil holder which also made the cover of paper notebook NOT FIT!!  I was already to rip it out when Robert said why don't you just trim the paper cover.  HELLO.....sometimes he is amazing!!  Why didn't I think of that.

Santa Sack Swap!

Today I received my Santa Sack and two wrapped gifts from my Santa partner, Sandy in Ohio!  Love the fabrics and the giant ric rac really sets it off!

This is going to be such fun!  I, too, was tempted to take a little peak but I didn't do it!  For those of you that don't know about this fun swap, Cheryl at

http://stitchingcubbyhole.blogspot.com/  is hosting this!  Each month we send our partner two WRAPPED gifts between now and Christmas.  This first month we included a gift bag to put the gifts in each month and then on Christmas morning we get to open all of them.

  I don't know about you all, but sometimes Moms get the short end of the stick on gifts!  I'm not complaining, as at this stage in my life I have everything I need and most of what I want, but don't we all like to open gifts and these will be from quilting buddies, so they know what we like!!  Thanks, Sandy, can't wait to see what's in those gifts!

 

Lucky Charm Lotto Blocks of the Month

It seems as I forgot to post last month's block.  If you remember I'm providing a block made from 5" charms in an effort to use up our stashes and charm packs for my guilld.  This was what I am calling the "Six Pack".

How easy is this one?  Just choose three light browns and three darker/black charms and make two rows of three for each block.  Of course the winner may put them together the way she chooses, but I'm thinking a frame or sashing of the same fabric and this would turn into a manly looking throw very quickly!

And for this month, I've chosen the "Nickel Brick".

This block uses four 5" squares, different prints.  Cut squares to 3" x 5" rectangles.  (Save the 2" x 5" strips for piano keys border).

One 1 1 /2" x 40" strip of solid black fabric.  Cut eight 1 1/2" x 5" strips.
Sew a black strip to each long side of 3" x 5" prints.


Arange the four blocks together and sew together as above picture.  It is most important that you position the four mini blocks the same way for each block.  Ask me why I tell you this.  Yes, I was sewing along just trying to get the twosies to match colorwise a little bit and was not paying attention.  Sure enough, I had sewed some with the upper left mini block going horizontal and some vertically.  It does make a difference, trust me!

I have several layed out in the following picture to show how it would look in a quilt.

There are several blues that need to be re arranged, but this is just to give you an idea how the blocks will appear to be woven.  A great way to use up those scraps!

Granddaughters making MUD PIES!

My granddaughters love making MUD PIES!  Actually, they make pies, cakes, cookies, puddings and anything else they can think of.  They were over last night, and decided it was time to have another "baking session".  (Actually, it was hot enough to "bake"" them pretty quickly.

As you can see they had a ball.  They added "chips" (rocks), coconut (grass), cinnamon (sand) and just about anything they could find.  They found some roly poly's and wanted to add them, but I said no live animals.  :)  Mostly they love making "batter" and playing IN IT.



Kayley loves to "mold"cookies!

Lyndey with the PECAN PIE

They even decorated the swing set!

They had a ball!  They wanted their cousin, Paige to be there and she will be in a couple of weeks.  She gets to come along with her brother to spend a week at Nana's and Papa's.  When that happens the cousins are together most of the time.  I love that.

Easiest lint brush YOU can make in a flash!

Today I made the "neatest" (that's not an in word, I know), "coolest", (okay, I'm still not there) LINT BRUSH, but suffice to say it is pretty darn "nifty"!

It is a lint brush to clean the bobbin area on your sewing machine!  Okay, I know I have one that came with my machine and I also have a "big"fuzzy one I use quite frequently.  But this one is made with things you probably have in your home if you're a grandma or mother and you make it in SECONDS.  AND, you can make multiple ones at a time and if they get lost--no big deal.

All you need is a pipe cleaner and a straw.


Fold the straw in half and poke both ends into the straw.

You are done.  How great is that!!!

BEFORE

AFTER



I always clean the area when I change bobbins. But with this handy, I'll be doing it a lot more often! The straw is long enough you can manipulate it very easily. I forgot to tell you that the straw I used was a thin one and it worked perfectly. I expect if you had a bigger holed straw you could just double again and it should work.

Now I CANNOT take credit for this. Cheryl over at naptimequilter.blogspot.com

had posted this on her blog. She gave me permission to tell you about it. Hop on over and check her site out. Thanks for sharing, Cheryl!



Tortilla Steamer

Today I made some of those very easy tortilla steamers.  You insert your tortillas and stick them in the microwave for a couple of minutes to heat them.  Of course, the time varies from microwave to microwave.  We eat a lot of Mexican food and love flour tortillas.  This will be used a lot.

I have one of those plastic tortilla "bowls" with the lid like you see in the restaurants.  One time I put that in the microwave.  Not too smart.  I didn't think I'd ever get that lid off!  I learned you heat them first then put them in those containers. 

The next picture shows that one half of the steamer opens up to insert the tortillas.

The pattern is by Legacy and really a quick project.  The only thing you must remember is to use 100% cotton fabrics AND batting. 

You can even put potatoes or frozen corn on the cob in there too.    I may get some potato or corn fabric and make me some more of these!  Too cute!

Beautiful Needlecase!

This gorgeous needlecase was sent to me from Corina of Winnipeg, Canada.

Her free motion quilting is wonderful and I love the idea of the additional pincushion on the outside monogram !  And isn't it so functional, I love it.  Thank you, Corina, for the wonderful surprise!

Bloggers Quilt Festival (Jar Quilt)

Amy over at Amy's Creative Side is putting on the Bloggers Festival again.  This is a fun way to see a lot of beautiful quilts without leaving the comfort of your easy chair.

I decided to participate again and chose a quilt I finished ten years ago.  I've been noticing a lot of people are doing "jar quilts" again and wanted to show mine made way back then.  I even left one jar "open" with a fly trying to get in it.

When this pattern first came out, everyone on the internet jumped on the idea of swapping jar blocks.  I was in a group that decided to do FOOD instead of bugs.  This was in 1998, I finished it in 2001 and it hung in my kitchen for quite a while.

It was so much fun and I was lucky enough to get blocks from the Netherlands, Australia, Norway and many places across the United States.  I decided to put labels on my jars and put everyone's names and email addresses on them, just like they were real canning jars on a shelf.  (It's doubtful any of the addresses are still current, I know mine isn't!)   It was a real conversation starter!

Anyway, I thought it might be fun to list the names on the quilt.  Maybe some of your are still out there and might like to see your block made into my quilt. (And if you are, please let me know!)  Here they are:

Bonnie Preslar, Beverly Burris, Peggy Raley, Judith Brainerd, Jean Fajimoto, Lyn Sethna, Wendy Harrison, Barbara Morris, Patsy Brown, Dixie Reed, 
Laurel McDaniel, Eileen, Chrysanne Demirel, Karen Dent, Lucy Radatz, Synnova Vanar, Susan Leise, Nataya Segerink and Patsy Hasenfratz.  (Thank you all.)

Everyone enjoys the back of the quilt too.  It was a huge jar full of Hershey candy bars and my label was on the jar lid.

Be sure to check out all the quilts here.

Enjoying the week in Texas with GRANDkids!! (Sewing, too!)

This week my daughter and son-in-law are on a fun trip and Nana volunteered to come stay with Jake and Paige.  I am really enjoying them so much.  Jake is always on the computer as you can see. 

 Paige sometimes teases him as she goes by.  He always gets even though!  With an eight year old and a ten year old--something is always going on between them.  Paige showed me the neatest experiment she learned in science class.

Put a little milk in a bowl, then add a drop of four food colorings.  Take a cotton swap with a little dishwashing soap on the tip and dab in colors.  The soap reacts to the fat in the milk.  It really is pretty cool.

I tried to insert a video clip but didn't have success, but the process is neat!

While the kids are in school, I have been sewing and shopping.  On Monday, I made it to "Quilt Country", one of my favorite quilt stores.  I'm like a kid in a candy store there.  So much to see, patternwise and FABRIC!!!  I only bought one yard of fabric for a specific purpose, so I was happy about that.  But you just have to visit those favorite stores just to keep you

aware of what's out there, right??

I had brought my little Janome and a couple of projects to sew on.  One being--Nickel Bricks, a great way to use up scraps.

It's mindless sewing, something I can stop and start at any time, so it's perfect to do here.  I'm determined to diminish that stash!!

Oh, can't forget this!  Julie treated me for Mother's Day!  She gave me a massage, a manicure and my FIRST pedicure.  Oh, I like that pedi!  I even had them paint a little design on my big toes.  I'd show you, but I emailed a pic to my husband and he responded--"those cute little sausages look pretty".  So a photo online is not gonna happen!!  But NOW I can say I've had a pedicure and up with my granddaughters now!  Thanks, Julie and Tom!!