Tomato’s Anyone!

I had a great time last night. I took a class from my friend Sharon Stewart of Liberty Rose.Like I said on my last post it has been a long time since I had taken a class. Sharon always has everything you need to make your project. You don’t have to bring a thing. Thank you Sharon!!

Lots of chatting and stitching went on. I met some wonderful ladies and my best buddy Janet even came.

I was able to finish two tomatoes completely and my pin keep.

I also spent a little too much money on patterns/kits I did not need, but they were oh so attractive all packaged up so pretty. Sharon you are killing me – a entire basket full???!!!!It began to storm when I left, so the drive home was quite exciting. I felt like I had a disco ball flickering above me the entire drive because of the constant lightening. I got home a little late and little Alice was asleep, she seems to have caught a nasty cold.  Natalie and Gordon met me at the door. Gordon was very excited about the tomatoes I had promised him and “Pigges”.  He showed my husband the two tomatoes I had finished and the pin keep and the next thing I know they no longer belonged to me. Gordon does not allow many items to be included in his room, I found them carefully placed on his shelf next to the infamous “Pigges”. I hope they make good use of them.I finished up a project I had started some time back for my friend Janet last night also.  Being sick slowed me down quite a bit. I will only show a hint.Off I go – a little house cleaning to get to. Have a great day!!

Jennifer

Redwork Block

Redwork Block
Originally uploaded by stitchin.thyme

I only have one block to finish before I have the 9 slated for this quilt done. I say it like that because now I am wondering if I should not do 12. I could do one whole quilt with just the Lakadaisies patterns I have. They are all so precious just like this one. I abosolutely love their redwork designs. You can see them all at http://www.lakadaisies.com.
I have a bigger work load this week than I thought. I have two days of working I did not realize. I was hoping we could cook out and eat bad on Monday, but I will be working. Please everyone eat a hotdog (fixed anyway you like) or cheeseburger (with just lettuce, tomato and maybe a little mayo) for me, I would appreciate that.
I am going to crash one of my friend Sharon's (http://www.Liberty Rosepatterns.com), classes this weekend. I can't wait. It has been so long since I have taken a class, I really miss it. We are making Tomato pincushions! Yippee!
I have news on my ears! Not much good. I think it is safe to say I wont be finding out what is really wrong until I go to the ENT this coming week. I am still off balance, have the nausea, can't see as well as I would like and a constant static sound in my ear, topped with a good old headache. I was diagnosed today with Ménière's disease , not an ear infection. I was also given a 2 week supply of prednisone, eyi-yi!! Not happy about that. The good news is I am able to tolerate a large amount of pain before I am useless, so this will not bring me down. I am definately much better than I was last week. So off I go to the road of good health, this turning 40 thing sucks!

Still Hurting!

I am still not doing well, both ears hurting, balance problems, eye problems. I was supposed to go back to my regular doctor yesterday and today but waited too late. I will go in tomorrow  morning after work. I have an appointment with the ENT, but I couldn’t get in until next Wednesday. My husband says it is my fault I am still hurting since I haven’t gone back, I just keep hoping tomorrow will be better, but it never happens. I am going tomorrow though, so Sharon, Janet, I do not want to hear it – I will be going! I have tried to work on several things this week. I have not finished anything. It takes me forever to stitch and I actually messed up (well – I have to alter them now)  a couple things I finished stitching. No major mistakes. Except for poor Harry.

I made the mistake of trying to trim both the guinea’s nails when I cleaned their cages the other day. Harry moves around quite a bit and he is a little difficult to do, plus with my vision problems right now it makes it that more difficult. So I cut one of his nails way to short. Blood was pouring out, the kids were freaking out. Alice even called my husband and told on me, little stinker. I held him for about 30-40 minutes with a rag around his paw and even tried the little stick thing that is supposed to stop the bleeding, finally I just put him back in his cage. He seemed fine and I did a little research online and felt comfortable he would not bleed to death. Both he and I were covered in blood, my kids were freaking out because I have warned them in the past to never let anyone's blood touch them, so they kept telling me I would have to go to the hospital also because his blood was on me. Goodness, what drama! He is fine today.

I put a link on my sidebar for “Primitives From The Attic”, she has some wonderful primitive designs and is having a giveaway. Go take a visit!

Also another site “By Your Hands” is having a great pattern give away. Check them out also.

All for now – going to rest for a bit before work. Have a great day!

Jennifer

It’s Your Birthday!!!

Today is my best buddy's birthday! Janet and I have known each other only about 4 years. We met while we were both working at a local quilt shop. We have become like sisters in that short 4 years. We share so much, she is more than just a friend to me – she is my sister.

Janet I appreciate everything you are to me. You have been a shoulder to cry on and have lent an ear too many times to count for me to complain to. Thank you for being such a great friend.

I hope you have a super day! I am sorry I am under the weather and can’t help you celebrate yet. If only I could age as gracefully as you do.

When the time is right come on over – you have a family at this house who wants to celebrate with you!

P.S. As much as we see each other this is the only picture I have of you – we need a newer picture!

Have a great day!!

On the road to recovery

Isn’t he the cutest little guy – this is one of our new pigs.  We found him at Justice. The picture was on the camera when I downloaded some other photos so I thought I would show him off.

I am feeling much better today. Thank you to all of my well wishers. I had to work last night and when I got off this morning I felt better than when I went in, so the medicine is doing its thing.

My sewing buddy from work, Tim, made this great project bag for me for my birthday.He has only been sewing/quilting for a very short while and he is awesome. He makes lots of handbags, he made a very cute baby quilt in which he pieced together boat blocks and embroidered Bermuda on, it was gorgeous. A great embroidered Sponge Bob quilt.   He also made his partner, Jeremy, an awesome suede quilt, it is unbelievable, I have to get pictures to show you. Anyway, he has come a long way in such a short time. Quilting/Sewing is definitely his calling.  Isn’t it great!!!I got a message from one of my best buddies today. April is in Japan, her husband is a doctor in the Air Force. She wasn’t very happy about going to Japan but I think she is liking it now. I sent her out on a mission to find cute pig stuff. She said she just sent off a box to us full of pigs, bento boxes, pig fabric, etc. I cannot wait to get it. I told the kids and they are very excited, Alice kept going outside when we got home looking for the package. I told her it would be quite a while coming from Japan.

Well, I need to get back to resting. I still cannot sew. I think the vertigo still has my eyes out of whack.  Maybe tomorrow!!

Have a great day!

Jennifer

Out of Service

I have been out of service this week. I went to the doctor on Monday morning because I have been having an earache off and on for about two weeks. My husband has been telling me to go but I never seem to have the time. And I have always had headaches so I can kind of live with the pain.  Well I went and the news was not good. I wear an ear piece at work to answer the phone and apparently I got some type of bacterial infection from it on my outer ear that went into my inner ear.  I clean it rather well but apparently not well enough. So I am on 2000 mg of antibiotics a day plus antibiotic ear drops. I feel awful. Not only are they making me feel bad but I also have real bad vertigo and a constant static noise now in both ears. Ugggh!!
 
Yesterday I gave the kids a big fright. When I picked them up from school I was feeling really bad, I am not very hungry while on the medicine so I had not eaten all day. When we came in the house I started feeling really bad and I was saying that to the kids when down I went. I must have been out for about 30 seconds or less, when I came to I had Gordon looking at me laughing on the phone with his dad, telling him something was wrong with mommy, but he was laughing! Alice was walking on my back - she said she thought that would make me feel better. And Natalie was crying. I finally mustered enough strength to have Gordon hold the phone for me and I told my husband I was fine. After about 5-10 minutes I got up and ate something and felt a little better.
 
Gordon told me next time I pass out I should fall on the couch - I agree - the hardwood floor is just that - hard and I hurt my foot when I fell.  So the kids were properly instructed how to react in an emergency and that laughing, crying, and walking on backs was not part of that.  I will give them props for calling their father. They know now and I know I should eat while taking the medicine whether I want to or not.
 
So I am feeling a little better now. Still have a real bad headache, on medicine for the vertigo (which is helping a lot), still have the static in my ears, but I am alive and not on the floor. I have not felt like doing anything but crying like a baby this week, hopefully I will be back to crafting soon.
 
Take care - and don't forget to eat!!!
 
Jennifer

---

Hotmail is redefining busy with tools for the New Busy. Get more from your inbox. See how.

Liberty Rose

My friend Sharon, of Liberty Rose, has some great pictures of my surprise party on her blog, here. Go look – they are great!!! I saw some of her new designs that are going to be released at market – they are to die for!  I can’t wait to get my hands on them!!

I was set up!!!!

I took Alice to her friends birthday party at the bowling alley today. When we were coming home Natalie called me and was insisting on finding out how many minutes it would be before I got home, saying she was oh so bored. I thought nothing of it until I was driving down the street and saw balloons and a big signs in front of our yard. “Lordy, Lordy, look who’s 40!” Alice kept saying “What is going on?”  and I kept saying “I have been set up!!!” My friend Janet’s truck was in the driveway so I knew she was here. When we came in the door they all screamed surprise and the whole downstairs was decorated. And then Evette, Sharon, Kim, Laura and Pam all pulled into the driveway.I am still grinning from ear to ear. My cheeks hurt from smiling. I have never had a surprise party before, and never a surprise Stitch-in Party. We all stitched, most were working on wool appliqué I was too happy and excited to stitch on anything.

My kids shocked me, they have know for about 2 1/2 weeks or more and kept the secret the whole time. I would have been bursting at the seams. They helped my husband and Janet set everything up. They all worked so hard. I am so truly blessed to have such a wonderful family and wonderful friends.Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!! I love you all!Evette gave me a great sketch journal and a very pretty pin cushion!Sharon gave me the most wonderful jar filled with great treasures!!! I didn’t want to take anything out – it was so pretty, but Alice helped me unpack it!!!

She made the pin cushion from an antique handkerchief she found – isn’t it awesome!!!!My family is all worn out now. I am so happy – I feel so very special!!

Have a great rest of the night or day, depending on where you are. I am off to try and maybe do some sewing or just lay around smiling, feeling really loved!

Block #3

Last night I tried a different method of applique for my War & Pieces quilt.  I will eventually find the method that makes me happy. I prepped the pieces with freezer paper. I traced the shapes reversed on the dull side of the freezer paper and then cut them out on the drawn lines. Then I ironed the freezer paper onto the wrong side of the fabric. I ironed the seam allowance onto the dull side of the freezer paper and use a little starch on a paint brush, then ironed it. After I had completed all the pieces I then used a small amount of fabric basting glue and basted the pieces where they went (I used a light box to position the pieces). I then machine zigzagged stitched the pieces down. It turned out great but it was a little tricky with a single layer of freezer paper.

This is my husbands favorite block. He collects wheat pennies/Lincoln cents and we have a ton of Lincoln pictures, etc. Gordon on the other hand says this block looks silly because Lincoln looks like a monkey. Can’t please everyone I suppose.

Here is the history behind this block. It was inspired from one from a sampler in the Shelburn Museum's collection. It says “the quilter must have seen the illustration in Harper’s Weekly, May 27, 1861, just a month or so after the war began. That drawing is based on a photograph that Matthew Brady took of the new president, whose election infuriated the South so much that cotton states began seceding within weeks of the Republican victory.

They added Mary Lincoln in an evening dress. Mrs. Lincoln was quite fashionable and, of course, she spent far too much on clothing. She is a much maligned historical figure, who had difficulty dealing with all the burdens she had to bear.

The scalloped border on the bottom of this block appears often in antique quilts and seems to represent the ground or floor.”

Here is my block":

So another history lesson for you and another block finished for me.

Don’t worry I will not bore you with another lesson tomorrow. We have a busy day today and I will not be sewing this evening. Also, I am back to work tomorrow after having a full week off.

Have a great day, I will be trying to stay inside since it is so hot here today.

Jennifer

War & Pieces

Finally, I have completed block number two for my War & Pieces quilt.  I started it two days ago and appliquéd the shield and bias strips down with the sewing machine. I then hand appliquéd the rest and decided I liked how it looked with the machine stitches so I went back over the rest after I had completed it by hand. What a bone head I am sometimes.  Have no clue why I did it, but I did. I am happy and ready to move on to block number three.

Here is a little history behind this block. It represents the Pre-War hope for conciliation, inspired by both a poem and a quilt. The poem was Lucy Larcom’s “Call to Kansas,” written in 1855 to inspire Northerners to immigrate to the Kansas Territory to vote for a Free rather than a Slave State. She invited women to accompany their voting men and to “sing upon the Kansas plains a song of Liberty.

The quilt was a samplar dated 1859, two years before the War. One block featured a Union Shield blooming with flowers, which the designers of this quilt adapted to become the Northern Lily and the Southern Rose. The blooms sprouting from the shield can symbolize futile hopes of compromise between Northern and Southern interests. Or this block can be a symbol of Post-War reconciliation when Union would once again encompass North and South.

So, that is your Civil War history lesson for the day. No worries you will not be tested. Here is my block:

  Have a great evening!

 

Jennifer

Back to Life

I had such a wonderful day yesterday. I had so many well wishes for my birthday and felt so loved!! I received beautiful flowers from my father-in-law and his wife. My friend Janet came over and brought me lots of goodies (magazines, notebooks – I am a notebook freak, fabric, plants for my porch and garden and the ultimate gift -  a certificate for a massage!!!). You rock Janet!!!

After opening my gifts we (Janet and my husband) went to some antique and thrift shops about a half hour away. I found lots of goodies, lots of goodies that I couldn’t get.  I did get some things that made me oh so happy.

When the kids got out of school we went out to eat , we had a great time. I ate way too much food. We went to Red Robin and they have this strawberry lemonade drink, soooo goood. I think I drank about 6 glasses of it. The waitress was awesome and she even embarrassed me by singing Happy Birthday.  Alice told her it was my birthday, I told her it really wasn’t but she didn’t believe me. So they all sung, I turned red and the kids had ice cream. There were three other birthdays while we were there.

We also stopped by and saw Pam and Mack at the Rusty Bucket. I haven’t seen them in so long. I missed them. Mack loaded the kids up with candy and Pam gave me some special birthday gifts. Thanks guys!!

Thank you everyone who made my day extra special!!

I couldn’t wait to get home and stuff the wire chicken with some of my Valdani floss – look at that little lady – isn’t she sweet!

Have a great day!  I am  off to try to recover from all that bad eating I did yesterday.

 

Jennifer

Guess Who’s 40!!

Yep that little girl on the left – she is 40 today!

Okay so I don’t really look much like that now, 37 or so years does a lot to a person.  I sure wish I could wear a little skirt like that.  What were my parent thinking with those outfits – I am sure we probably begged for them. I love how we are “holding hands,” not much holding going on there.

Have just a little bit of plans today, going out this afternoon with my friend Janet and dinner with the kids and husband. A super sweet coworker took my shift at work tonight so at least I didn’t have to work Mother’s Day and my birthday. Yippee!!

I do not feel forty, I don’t think like I am forty – that is probably not a good thing. Growing up I was always mature for my age and then I hit 26 and quit maturing, that is about as grown up as I can get I suppose. I can live with that.

Anyway, off to have some fun – have a great day!!

Jennifer

Block A – A Gardener’s Journal

I finished up block A from A Gardener’s Journal” by Anni Downs of Hatched and Patched. Not happy with it, I have 3 mistakes, one would be okay but 3 is pushing it a little. I still love the fabrics I chose, I think it looks pretty.This weekend one of our neighbor friends gave us 5 bags of clothes for Alice. Alice was in hog heaven. She even got tired out from trying on clothes there were so many. We are extremely thankful, she really needed summer clothes.There were a few “skorts” that were too small for her so last night I was playing around with them and decided to make a purse. The first skort did not work because when I was trying to cut the shorts out of them I cut a big hole in the front, darn! I love it how the other turned out.

All for now – going to try to get some sewing in before school is out.

Jennifer

Let’s Try This Again

Nothing is worse than typing a very long post and having your computer freeze up, and you haven’t saved anything and the program closes on you. yikes!

I hope everyone had a super Mother’s Day. Mine was good, I did what I love to do. Gardening with the kids.

I want to eventually put gardens alongside my entire driveway but for now we started a little temporary one near the mailbox.  It was so much fun. My husband and the kids helped out. Natalie was our designated photographer since she doesn't like the gardening part. Thank you Natalie for taking such awesome pictures!!

Here is the before shot: The during shot (I have excluded the photos of myself because I look like a big brown sweaty cow!!)

The after shot:

As you can see from the next picture, our flowering cherry tree leans a bit. We are suckers for the unwanted.  It is leaning a little more than it typically does because the wind was blowing. The wind is always blowing in the same direction coming down our street so it tends to stay put in that direction. We have many large trees in the backyard  that are taller than our house that also lean that way.  Not much we can do about it except love them for what they are.

On Friday my husbands father and his wife stopped by on their way back to Maryland from Florida. We all went to watch Natalie perform at a Harnett County wide Honors Chorus program at Campbell University.

Nine kids from each school were chosen to perform. They had a group from the county elementary, middle and high schools. It was fabulous. The kids did a great job.

Other news is that all of the birds have left the nest. I was trying to load a video Natalie took of the first bird learning to fly but it keeps locking up the computer when I try to post it. It is so cute, I am sad you can’t see it.  One day I will figure all this fancy stuff out.

I have a couple projects I should be finishing up tonight. Hopefully I can put them on tomorrow.

Have a great rest of the day!

 

Jennifer

Happy Mother’s Day!

I hope everyone has a great Mother’s Day today and received some special attention! 

Remember today is your special day and you don’t have another excuse for it all year, so use it up today!!

Have a great day!

Top is almost complete!

I have all the squares sewn together. I used all but one of the 4 1/2” squares. Perfect!  The picture is not the greatest, I had to hang it over the window to get it all.  I took a picture of it on my bed, which is a queen size bed, to give you an idea of the size, without borders it is 72” X 84”.  I have been auditioning borders and I am not very happy. I have so much fabric but I do not have many large pieces so my choices are limited. I do not want to buy anything so that is not an option. The quilt will be a perfect size for a queen sized bed if I had about a 6 inch border (could be broken up into two borders). I have 3 colors I was looking at, opinions would be appreciated, so bring them on.

Option 1: (I am leaning towards this one- the inner border would be the smaller piece – it is the same color of the orangey/red that is throughout the quilt) They are both Jo Morton fabrics by Andover.

 

Option 2: (not too impressed with this one – too light I think) It is a Windham “A  Little Bird Told Me” by Maren Scott.  And Option 3: Is Marcus Brothers Fabrics a line by Judie Rothermel and the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum called “Rocky Mountain Quilts” There you have it. I also thought about using the same color as the squares but I only have about a yard of that so I don’t think it will work. Here are two pictures that show the colors a little better. The quilt wrinkled up a bit when I put it on the scanner. I was amazed how well it came together and it lies very flat, no bumps or anything. I am so happy.

If you have any ideas let me know!! Maybe it shouldn’t have a border at all. I am going to use  double layer of flannel as the batting to make it a summer weight quilt, which should also make it easier to hang, if that is what I will do with it.

That’s all for now – have a great day!!

 

Jennifer