teddy bear quilt

I got asked to fix a teddy bear quilt for my nephew. The top wasn't actually quilted to the back.  But my other step-sister who was preggo asked if I could also make one like it for her baby. 

Today I started the draft of the new quilt. I laid it out on the kitchen table and measured and noted colors and sizes of blocks. Then I placed my pin board with a piece of swedish tracing paper under the center bears and began to pin.

Then I lifted the quilt off my board and marked the holes with dots. the I draw the lines between the dots and waalaa. I have a pattern.  tonight watching Greys Anatomy and Private Practice, I'll pin the teddy bear quilt. I'm going to DVR Project Runway and watch it in the morning.  The Hubby left this morning for a conference about 2 hours away. Tomorrow, I and a friend are going to fargo for a genealogy conference on Saturday.  I made my shoppng list for the new quilt. I need four colors of fake fur and lots of flannel.

Pantry clean up

As I was putting away groceries,  I got frustrated with my pantry.  Don't get me wrong I love the silly thing.  But stuff was falling off the shelves and I couldn't always tell if I have pickles or mayo. I grabbed the garbage can and went to town.  I threw away stuff that hasn'e been used in 12 years, from when we moved to Minnesota.  How do I know? It had packing tape on the lid from the movers.  I cleaned up leaking bottles of honey and something someone gave me.  I have a hard time throwing things like weird hot mustard from  a gift basket.  I won't use it.  I had planned on donating most of the stuff, but The expiration dates nixed that idea.

When we first moved in the space along the stairs to the basment, was 8 inches deep and probably ten feet tall.  Yes there are places on the pantry that I need one of those grabbers, to reach. The Hubby and I put up adjustable shelves. Over the years the  pantry just became a whereever it could fit space.  Now it is clean and organized. I now know that I have lots of peanut butter, which is good because number 2 son is coming home on leave.

I'm working on cleaning out and donating lots of our clutter. next up is the bathroom.  I have a drawer full of stuff that is preventing the drawer from working properly.

Renaissance fair ready

Earlier I showed you the vest I modified, but here are pictures of the kid all dressed and ready for the fair.

We quickly decided she needed a money pouch for her phone and stuff.

 Happy kid, she even took it to work that night.

 Just a simple small messenger bag, with a very long strap so she could wear it cross body.

I closes the flap with a snap set.  The color went really well with the vest and skirt.

Embroidery

Today the Big Embroidery machine hummed away as it stitched a pile of shirts for a local business. I finished faster than I thought so I folded up the shirts and delivered them.  I got paid right away, so I can add that check to the bank in the morning, while I run a few quick errands, dry cleaners, bank, etc.

Then embroidered a name on a pocket of one of the totes and the scripture case for my granddaughter.

 Loving the Disney'ish font for my granddaughter.

While the embroidery machine stitched it's heart out, I also cut the strips for the zipper gusset. I then sewed two strips to the zipper, and then the bottom of the gusset to the zipper panel.  I started to pin and found than I need to let the side seams out a touch.  Last time I need to take in a lot.

Tonight while I watch Project runway I'll unpin and unpick the two side seams and figure out how much I need to adjust the gusset.

My new desktop came today. I need to use Windows Transfer to copy and move my files, then disconnect the old computer and put the new one in place.  I'll do this while the rolls are rising.

I had a really good day. I was organized and had everything laid out, ready to get to work

Sewing Totes

I love to sew simple quick totes, that I personalize.  I am in the midst of making three totes and a  scripture bag.  I have everything cut out, ready for the embroidery.

I finished one tote with a ton of pockets.

I combined the pick a pocket bag with the quick tote and made it very wide. The tote has six pockets, three on each side.

Tomorrow is all about t-shirts and work shirts for a local business. Hopefully while the t-shirts are stitching on the big machine, me and the serger are zipping along in the construction of the totes and  scripture bag. Friday is baking day.  The Hubby's work is having a going away dinner on Saturday for one of the co-workers and I always get asked to bring the potato rolls. They melt in your mouth.

Genealogy Sunday afternoon

Most Sunday afternoons, I spent in the Family History Center, helping people with their genealogy or working on my own.  I ordered in some films from Salt Lake and they arrived this week.
So I quickly took snap shots of the different sections that are on each film reel.

This means that this is the Cathloic Church in Gaz, Croatia. Church Books, Rodenih is birth records from 1878 - 1894. I also scanned the first pages of each section so I can translate each column. I made a list for each reel.  This will make my searching through the film faster.  This way when I want to find a birth from December 1880, I know what film reel to pull and which section to start in.  The ledgers are in chronological order.

I am so glad I found a great online serbian-croat translator.  But sometimes the translator goes huh????? In different time the accents are placed differently.  I always start with an idea, like birth, death and marriage. That way if I type in umrlica and it comes back with no results, then I cross reference death - umrlih.

I am making a cheat list as I go along.  I need to translate months of the year and make a list.

best book ever

This is the best book ever, by Judith Turner.  The book can be found here.  I ordered it, because Judith is in Austria, I turned around and ordered the e-book version.  I read it in five hours.  I have been a sloppy alterer. I just normally pinch in the sides and sew up, straight through the waist band and the hem, which leaves a bump.

I did this faux suede skirt two weeks ago. see my messy job.  But this is for me, so.  Now I can go back and clean up my mess and make it look like it is supposed to, like it wasn't even altered.

The daughter is going to the Renaissance Fair south of Minneapolis with some friends so they are going to dress up.  She had borrowed a wenches dress, but it was a cheap costume for Halloween and the more I touched it the more I hated it.  I was just going to replace the ribbon lacing with a real leather shoestring, but I popped three rivets out.  yes I can replace them. The sleeves were mesh but had been slit and the mesh was pulling away from the shoulders.  The daughter and I decided that she would borrow a shirt from me, a crinkle cotton that skims her body, then her own long blue skirt, I took in (she has lost 50 lbs) and I modified a vest from the thrift store.

I didn't take any before pictures, so I staged one.  Before:

 After, I used Judith's techniques of pinning and sketching the look. Then I took my vest/bodice and drafted the right curve to the new neckline. Then I chalked the nest neckline and then cut it 5/8 inches in.  I serged the new neckline, then flipped it under and top stitched it down.

The new vest is really nice.  We debated over cutting off the button placket and putting in grommets, but the daughter decided that leaving the button is better, because then she can wear this vest with a nice top and skirt or pants.

I'll post about the skirt later, because I need to start dinner.