Friday, April 30, 2010

Shop Hop Eve

13 Ladies are going on the Spring Fling Shop Hop! We may need 3 vans for October's Hop! Games and prizes are ready and the reservation for lunch is made.


Tonight I made little busniness card wallets out of card stock and vinyl. They were real quick to make. I'll add a tutorial soon.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

It was a Beautiful Day for a Bike Ride and Picnic






It was a pretty day yesterday. Bruce and I took the boys to the park for a picnic of peanut butter and jelly! Of course, we had to eat the fruit with animal chopsticks! Ben and Caleb took turns riding the bike with me and papa.

AND....I finally finished the snowman candle mat for the store. Now, so much to do before the shop hop on Saturday!!

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Overnight Sew


Yes, we are called a Sewing B, however less than 50% of the people were sewing...there were cross stitchers, beaders, and scrapbookers too! If you live in the Michiana area, you can get more info here on the Michiana Sewing B Facebook page.


We had 14 attendees...with 8 spending the night. Not much sleep happened...maybe a few hours.


Kristie is making another t-shirt quilt for a customer. Looks good so far.


This is the pretty little tablerunner Kristie made. I think she is teaching this class at the store.



Sheryl was probably the most productive. She made a pillow sham for her daughter Joy, a shopping tote, a pillowcase and she was trying to decide between three other projects to start when I was leaving.



Patsy, Ginger and Darlene worked on cross stitch projects and beading.


Marcia's Sock Monkey quilt that she is making for Caleb is going to be adorable. It is from the Beyond the Block book that we got at quilt camp.


I didn't get much done. I cut up my scraps using the group's Accuquilt. BJ DID finish my sewing table and drove all the way out to bring it to me! Very nice. I think he would like to make more.


I'm very tired. There are others still at the sewing b right now, but i think the 2am run to Walmart for a pizza did me in.


An anonymous angel dropped off some pillowcases for ConKerr. Thanks sooooo much. Joni's grandson was in the hospital a little while ago and he excitedly told her that he got to keep his pillowcase. Such a small deed can make a difference! Thanks to all who have made and continue to make pillowcases!

Friday, April 23, 2010

An Early Mother's Day Present!


I've been wanting a plexiglass sewing table extension.....and my son made me one!
Woo Hoo!
It's not ready to take to the Overnight Sew...but maybe to the next Sewing B.
Tomorrow...pics of the overnight sew!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Making Memories




So, my phone rang yesterday...and it was Ben. He asked if the next turn was "his turn" to come to my house (without his brothers). I said yes...and he said, "What time are you going to pick me up...and what are we going to do?" Ben is smooth! Needless to say, I went to pick him up. Another visit full of hot dogs, ice cream, bike rides, the park, movies, plus we put together and painted a model airplane.

I had a chance to talk to my cousin Bruce online a few weeks ago. What a blessing that was. I used to love visiting him and his family in Kentucky. We were always made to feel welcome...and Aunt Nannie could make the best breakfasts! And she used to let me get the dried apples from her freezer and hold them in the fire place with stick to warm them up to eat. One of my most cherish memories as a teenager was swimming in Cumberland Lake with Bruce...who we called Junior back then. Bruce has since moved to New Jersey and I hadn't talked to him in years...and one of the first things he asked was if I remembered our swimming in Cumberland Lake. How funny, I never in a million years thought he would have remembered....
I hope Ben, Caleb and Eli will remember the things we did together.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

FREE Needlepoint (Cross Stitch?) Converter Site

For anyone who likes needlework, I came across a free pattern maker site at Pic2Point.com. It is really neat. Just upload your photo and select your options and you are ready to print your pdf pattern pages and start stitching!

Sunday, April 18, 2010

No sewing today..too many boys around here.

Ben and Caleb came home from church with me today. It was Caleb's turn, however he invited Ben along. Caleb proabably regrets asking Ben. They are tooooo competitive!

BJ put the Tag Along kids bike on the back of my bike. We went riding this afternoon. The boys wanted to keep going...and going...and going. Pa Pa and I had to give up and bribe them with kites and ice cream.

Pa Pa gave me a break after I took each boy on a couple of rides apiece.

Caleb rode along on the tag along without pedaling...he's legs wouldn't reach well enough to pedal. When Ben got used to the tag along, he started pedaling and it was like having a motor on my bike. That was pretty nice!


The wind wasn' the greatest for flying kites, but we had fun.


Pa Pa gave Ben lessons on how to watch Baseball then painting rounded out our day. I'm tired!

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Projects....New and Old


Today I started a new model (#24246) for the store. Well, I really can't say that I have done much. I was eager to start...and the first directions were to wash the felt. Buggerrrrs! I didn't think that washing the felt would make such a difference, but it did.

Meanwhile, I got two quilts ready to go. I stopped and picked up some thread for the sampler quilt that Marcia pieced for my father-in-laws neighbor.

I also pieced the backing for a quilt that Kristie is going to quilt for me. This bright little quilt doesn't have home yet. It is my own pattern and I pieced it at quilt camp over a year ago.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Sewing B

Woo Hoo, taxes are done...with one day to spare. Every year I say I'm not going to wait til the last minute again....oh well. Guess I'll always know what I am going to be doing on April 14th.

I've said before how lucky I am to be surrounded by a wonderful group of creative and last night I was able spend time with 17 of them! At least twice a month we meet together as the Michiana Sewing B. Even though our name is "Sewing B", we have scrapbookers, knitters, cross stitchers, embroiders as well as sewers and quilters.
Marcia pieced this quilt for my father-in-law and now I am going to quilt it. We call it the $25 quilt, as my dear father-in-law said he would pay us $25 to make this quilt to give to his very helpful neighbor. (We won't tell him what it really costs to make, and before you ask...no.)
Sheryl S. has been really busy. She was going though some old boxes and found the birth sampler she started for her son who was born in 1981. She is going to finish it..better late than never! The middle quilt is the one she worked on at Spring Fling Quilt Camp at Camp Tecumseh and the quilt on the right is for her grandson.
Cindy brought her ribbon embroidery to the last Blair Hill's B and Darlene has already finished the cross stitch project that she won at the Sewing B Party!
Kristie sewed up some blocks and Erica helped her lay them out.
Steve has been real busy. He brought 4 quilts to share. The second from the left is made from the Bingo Blocks he won at the Sewing B Party.
The scrapbook gals are gaining in number that they may soon outnumber the quilters!
Missed You, Pam!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Work, work work.


I am very fortunate to work in a very creative environment. However, it seems lately that I only get to admire the creativity of others rather than being creative. Almost daily, someone will bring a fabulous item in to share. I'm the lucky one who gets to take the pictures of these items and talk to the "artist" about his/her creation. The pictures and the stories will eventually be included in Erica's newsletter and sent all over the world! I walked around the store the other day and took a few pics of the models I have made for the store. Now, if I can just finish my taxes......

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Just a thought....even if it is someone else's.
(At least the photo is mine!)



Even though you may want to move forward in your life, you may have one foot on the brakes. In order to be free, we must learn how to let go. Release the hurt. Release the fear. Refuse to entertain your old pain. The energy it takes to hang on to the past is holding you back from a new life. What is it you would let go of today?
--Mary Manin Morrissey

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Just for Fun!

A facebook friend had this posted on her blog. I wonder if I could get my Golden Retreiver, Nick, to do this?????

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

It was a Ben Kind of Day

Ben was here! He spent the night...and I got to go to the Dragon Movie again! There was a lot that I missed the first time when I went with Caleb. Ben and I also went for a bike ride, flew a kite, blew bubbles (outside AND inside), put a puzzle together, played a game, painted with watercolors AND took a nap!






On Monday's trip to Shipshewana I saw this ruffled Vera Bradley bag. And since I'm down to less than 50 UNFINISHED projects, I thought it was time to start a new one! I thought this red and flowered fabrics would make a cute summer bag. What do you think???