Friday Finish 092917

Still More Pillowcases

We had more ladies show up to sew pillowcases this week.

Newcomer Lisa took advantage to give her daughter a sewing lesson.

Tuesday we got 4 completely finished and 3 partway.  Not bad for 1.5 hours and lots of distractions.  It was lots of fun and reminded me so much of the sewing group we had in Guatemala.

Miss Lauren's mother-in-law's friend got put to work ironing.

Wednesday my other sister (not the one who sewed with me before Hurricane Irma hit) joined us.  We finished the 3 from Tuesday and got 4 more done for a total of 11.   Woo hoo!!

Wednesday Miss Anna is back at the machine along with my sister.

Pretty sure it was 32 all together.  Not bad for an impromptu project.

Separately I finished 2 more to send to the siblings of Middle E's best friend in college.  Middle E's college was evacuated for Hurricane Irma and they couldn't come to us because we were also under evacuation order (even though at the last minute we didn't go and we were okay except for loss of power for a few days) so the friend's mother came to get them (a trip that normally takes 4 hours took all night) and they went to her home for 10 days!!! before the dorms opened again.  I figured the siblings deserved some sort of prize for sharing their home unexpectedly for so long.

Heading to a special pair of sisters.

So all in all a good week for pillowcases.  We will meet again in 2 weeks to sew more.  I have 10 more cut and ready to go.  Digging deep into my mother's stash now and my sister brought me a bit as well.

Linking up to Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Crazy Mom Quilts to show off finishes.

Stash Report 092417

Fabric Out - Again!

We got 6 pillowcases made at school on our two "learn to sew" days.

Day 1 with Miss Lauren

They were the perfect project for straight line stitching.  

Day 2 with Miss Anna

My contribution on Saturday.

We have a friend in Madrid, Spain whose mother was hit by a car recently.  She is in the hospital in serious condition.  This pillowcase will not go to Houston, but will go to Spain personalized just for her.  Hope it brightens the hospital room a bit.

I need to work on my spacing, but for my first try it's not bad.

Fabric In - But With a Reason!

I've been looking for a heavier/decorator weight fabric to make children's aprons for my classroom this year.  I changed classes this school year and the aprons I had made years ago stayed with the previous class.  We have some Dollar Store aprons in the new classroom, but they are not nearly as good as homemade.  Aprons will be another good "learn to sew" project in the future.  $3 for 4.5 yards at my favorite thrift store.

Green on Green with almost a denim feel. 

Fabric Purchased This Week: 4.5 yards
Fabric Purchased YTD: 51.17 yards

Fabric Acquired This Week:   0
Fabric Acquired YTD: 18.98 yards

Fabric Used This Week: 13.32 yards for 12 completed pillowcase

Fabric Used YTD: 72.9 yards

Fabric Stashed in 2017: 2.75 yards used

I'm glad the pillowcases are getting me out of the red, but I'd rather there wasn't a need for them.

Staying accountable with quiltpaintcreate.

More Pillowcases Finished

With my co-workers help we got 6 more pillowcases finished. Woo Hoo!!

Day 1 with Miss Lauren and her kids.  Everyone is in on the action.

This was the perfect project for teaching straight line sewing.   They really enjoyed the project and it was for a good cause.  Because we sewed at school we had a few people come and comment on what we were doing and express and interest in also learning to sew. When the kids came in they picked which ones we would sew next and that was fun too.

Day 1 finished pillowcases.

There are still more cut and ready to sew so we will try to get more done next week. If I can borrow another machine I think we can have someone else join us at.

Day 2 finished pillowcase.  Forgot to get a picture of  Miss Anna sewing.

We made 3 pillowcases in 1.5 hours both days we sewed.  They asked how many I could make myself in 1.5 hours.  That is a good question!  I would assembly line sew and I am much more confident and sew faster overall and there are no pauses for explanation, so I am guessing I would get more done.  But the important part was encouraging others to sew and sharing the joy of sewing.

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict to show off finishes.

Tasty Tuesday - Cheese Dreams

This is a recipe from my childhood.  I remember my mother making these. She probably found the recipe in a magazine or newspaper.  Maybe my sister has it still in the box of Mommy's recipes.

I vaguely remember she made them with a large slice of tomato between the bacon and cheese.  Not happening with my veggie-phobic crowd.

Also, the original used split English muffins.  I often use leftover hamburger buns and the result it nearly the same.  Really, who can taste anything else under bacon and cheese!!

Cheese Dreams!

CHEESE DREAMS
from the kitchen of Sally Fazenbaker

Cook bacon

Toast English muffins or hamburger buns

Place strips of bacon on muffin/bun.  Cover with slice of cheese - we prefer cheddar.

Optional: slice of tomato between bacon and cheese.

Broil on high about 5 minutes.  Watch so they don't burn.

Stash Report 091717

An unexpected fabric outage during an expected power outage.

At daylight after the worst had passed us.

My sister and I made pillowcases for Harvey victims while we were sitting out Irma.  You can read more of the story HERE.

Ten finished pillowcases before the power went out!

I cut a lot more after the power went out, but they haven't been sewn so I won't count them as out yet.  My co-workers are going to help out with those.

Fabric Purchased This Week: 0 yards
Fabric Purchased YTD: 46.67 yards

Fabric Acquired This Week:   0
Fabric Acquired YTD: 18.98 yards

Fabric Used This Week: 11.1 yards for 10 completed pillowcase

Fabric Used YTD: 59.58 yards

Fabric Stashed in 2017: 6.07 yards stashed


Staying accountable with quiltpaintcreate.

Pillowcases for Harvey During Irma

I had offered to teach my co-workers to sew by making pillowcases for Harvey victims.  Sarah over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict has a pillowcase drive going and it seemed like the right thing to do.

Potential Pillowcases

Before I could get going on it we found out we were in the path of Hurricane Irma - along with the rest of the state of Florida!!  Never seen anything like it and hope to never again.  So I picked a bunch of likely fabric and packed up what I needed to work on it while we were evacuated.  My sister would bring her smaller machine.

All hands on deck!

When Irma turned to the west we decided to hunker down and sit it out.  But my sister still came to us.  All day Saturday we still had electricity.  I cut and gave her instruction and she sewed.  After the first one or two we got a system going and we knocked out 10 pillowcases before we called it a day.

All the stages of the process.

Sunday morning we had no power and we were in the throes of the eastern bands of Hurricane Irma.  No sewing or cutting.  Mostly just looking out the window.

Out the sewing room window as it was in the final hours. Not too bad, really.

Sunday noonish the worst had passed and she found out that her neighborhood had power and the way had been cleared for her to go back home.   I cut the rest of the day until it got too dark to see well enough.  Ended up with 20 more pillowcases to add to the 5 that we hadn't sewn on Saturday.  Whew!

10 Finished!!

Our power was still out, so we spent the night at her house Sunday night.  I took the bag of cut pillowcases, but we were so tired that we didn't get to it at all.  Showers and feet up was all we could do.  It had been a fitful night.

One of my favorites.

So now I am back to getting my co-workers going to finish these up.

Linking up to Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Crazy Mom Quilts to show off finishes.

Design Wall Monday

Another hexagon got finished as a Leader & Ender while I was working on the Flower Baby Quilt.  I didn't have 6 of the same hexagons or even enough of the same greenish fabric, but I am the Queen of Make Do.  I had just 2 hexagons that were very similar in coloring and found a similar green print and I think it works just fine.

I still like it.

And I pulled out the red, white and blue fabrics to try again to make a backing for my red, white and blue star quilt.  This one has been waiting for a while.  Mostly because of the size.  I don't have anywhere to lay it out.

Red White & Blue

Middle E came home from college for the long weekend, so it got put on hold.  But for sure it is my next project.

Linking up with  Small Quilts and Doll Quilts to show what we are working on.

Stash Report

Finished the baby quilt and even though the client gave me some fabric as a starting point most of the fabric used was from my stash.

I love the color combination!

The binding was the same fabric as the flower which I think framed it up nicely since a border didn't seem to be the way to go.

As much as I didn't like the finished quilting, I do like the detail on the back.

I love the gray polka dot on the back.  I had just gotten that at the thrift store the week before and it was perfect for this project.  Unfortunately there was not quite enough, but it combined well with the client's moon fabric to make a pieced backing.




Fabric Purchased This Week: 0 yards
Fabric Purchased YTD: 46.67 yards

Fabric Acquired This Week:   0
Fabric Acquired YTD: 18.98 yards

Fabric Used This Week: 3.81 yds

Fabric Used YTD: 48.48 yards

Fabric Stashed in 2017: 17.18 yards stashed

Hey!  When I look at the numbers it appears as though I have basically used about what I have bought and stashed what I have acquired free. Not bad when I think of it like that.


Staying accountable with quiltpaintcreate.

Flower Baby Quilt is Done!!

Woo Hoo!  I was hoping, but I really wasn't sure if I could do it.  My work schedule is different this year and Little S's school schedule is also different.  So I have 10-15 minutes after I put her on the bus before I have to leave for work.  I have been trying very hard to make those minutes count.

testing sashings

It didn't take too long to get the strips sewn together.  Then Little S was gone ALL DAY with a friend! I sewed and sewed.  I got the top all together without agonizing too much over my color choices.  I just went with what looked good and moved forward.

bright flower

The machine I usually use for quilting has been behaving very poorly with free motion, so I decided to check it out using the walking foot.  I had never used this machine with its walking foot before.  I usually borrow my sister's machine since I used to have an identical machine and bought a walking foot for it.  (The machine is now with my MIL in Guatemala, but I hung onto the walking foot since that was not something she would use.)

colors are great

Yes, the finicky machine worked with its walking foot, but the stitch length varied greatly which I wasn't expecting since my other walking foot/machine combo is very consistent - slow and steady and consistent.  I also had had a hard time getting the layers pinned together well and I felt like that affected the finished product as well.

love the windy day photos

Got it done the next day, but I was not very pleased.  I was able to try some new things that I wondered about after quilting Middle E's college quilt.  Yes, they were better done this way, but not with this particular machine.

details show up great on the back

Good News - The machine works, so I think it is the free motion foot that is the problem not the machine.  Much easier fix.

Lesson learned - Keep borrowing my sister's machine when using a walking foot. 

Client Satisfaction - 100% so really I have to call it a success overall.

Linking up to Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Crazy Mom Quilts to show off finishes.