Thankful Thursday

I am so thankful for these ladies who inspired me and participated in my first sewing class.  It is something that I have been wanting to do, but never quite got up the courage for until now.

Inaugural Participants!!

We used a room at the local library and had a great time.  We went over some fabric basics, learned to thread the machine, practiced sewing straight lines, and then made little tissue covers from Two Brown Birds. Lots of fun.

They want to meet again, so next time our plan is to make pillowcases.  More straight line sewing.

Thank you, ladies!

Don't forget to check out the June Giveaway.

Whatever Wednesday 061318

Do you like mending?  My mending tends to pile up and then some rainy day I will pull it out and work on it, but by then I am uninterested in the item. Recently, Senor G asked me to replace a zipper in his work shorts.  I said no.  I don't mind putting in a zipper, but replacing - no thanks.

This was a special mending job, so I said yes.  My friend's daughter was to be in a wedding and wear a dress that the bride (her cousin?) had worn as a child.  How sweet is that!  But the dress didn't fit quite right.  I took a look at it and yes it hung too low in the front, but it was because the elastic was shot, not because it was too big.  They just wanted a tuck in the sleeves, but in good conscience I had to do better than that.

The old elastic - no wonder the sleeves weren't fitting correctly.

It turned out to be not too difficult to unsew the spot where the elastic entered the bodice, run new elastic through and then hand sew it closed again.  My biggest concern was getting the new elastic the correct length.

Running the new elastic through.

It came out great and they were very pleased. 

Pretty flower girl.

Before you go - go check out my June Giveaway.  Over 2 yards of a fun vacation fabric.

Linking up to Jo's Country Junction to show whatever it is that we are working on.

June Giveaway

June's Giveaway is in honor of a traditional summer vacation place.  It also happens to be the only state my father never visited.  We went all over the United States and into Canada traveling in a converted greyhound bus on our summer vacations.  Then he traveled many places around the world to visit us or just because.  He sure did love to travel.

Large repeating design

This fabric was given to me not too long ago and I cannot imagine how I would ever use it. I am going out on a limb assuming it is Hawaii, since I have never been either.

Does this make it Vintage fabric?!?!

It measures 2 yards 10 inches and is the complete width of fabric for the entire length.  Someone bought it for something and then never used it.

BONUS!!  During my super deep cleaning in mid-June I found some scraps of this fabric that I can add to this vacation giveaway.  Surfers!!  It is approximately half of yard total.

Surf's Up!

Please leave me a favorite vacation memory in the comments.  On (or about!) June 30 a lucky winner will be chosen. 

Design Floor Monday 060418

I finally made a plan for the baby quilt for our new niece.  We didn't know the gender in advance so I had a good excuse for putting it off.

Isn't she sweet!

I had originally wanted to make something different but my level of concentration is not that great right now so I went with Bonnie Hunter's Little Monkey.  I had made these before and I knew that each block stands alone and doesn't have to be super matchy or coordinated. 

Almost final layout

I also wanted to use scraps I had bought back from my MIL last time we were in Guatemala and some of them were on the smallish side, so this actually ended up being perfect.  I just picked my basic color scheme and ran with it.  I was able to use some leftover HSTs and lots of bits of this and that.  I dug into my drawers of strips/squares and didn't have to cut anything at all from yardage.  Does that make it a FREE quilt?

The white sashing is a shirt from my FIL.  When he passed I asked my MIL for some of his dress shirts.  She sews and she understood.  Last summer I was able to use one of them in College E's college quilt.

Next step is sew it all togther.  I use Bonnie Hunter's webbing technique and it goes together easy peasy.

Then to decide on borders.  I have another shirt from my FIL that I think will be perfect for an inner border, but will require some careful math first.  There is no rush, since I don't know when we are going to get down to Guatemala to see the cutie.

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

Stash Report June 3, 2018

A busy week in the sewing room, but not much overall movement.

Fabric In: Not a lick of fabric came in this week.  I even went to the thrift store.  Thankfully two ladies were already in the small craft room and there was nothing I was interested in enough to barge in and poke through.

Fabric Out:  The May giveaway fabrics are packaged and ready to mail out.  1.38 yards

I worked pretty steadily on the Little Monkey blocks for a quilt for our new niece in Guatemala.  I was very happy to be able to use some of my MIL's fabric scraps that I had brought back with me last summer.   1.44 yards

Most of the Little Monkey blocks

Baby Blanket:  I finished the crochet edges of another flannel blanket.  This time I knew I would do it from start to finish.  They are kind of addicting.  I will hold on to this one until I have someone to gift it to.   1.32 yards


Fabric Purchased since last report: 0 yards
Fabric Purchased YTD: 39.26 yards

Fabric Acquired since last report: 0 yards

Fabric Acquired YTD: 22.65 yards

Fabric Used since last report:  4.14 yards
Fabric Used YTD: 54.25 yards

Total: 7.66 yards stashed

I am slowly getting into the sewing groove again and working my way out of the hole.

Kate over at Life In Pieces has challenged us to try to stitch 15 minutes each day.  I was able to sew almost every day this week. 

Days stitched since last report: 6/7
Days stitched this year: 140/153
Success Rate: 92%


Linking up to QuiltPaintCreate and Life in Pieces to keep accountable.

And the winner is ......

The winner of May's giveaway is SUSAN !!!  She choose the Air Force Fabric and says:

Destined for an American Hero quilt!

I would love to have both, but, not being piggy is a good character trait, so I'm picking the Air Force fabric. It would go perfectly with another service fabric I have, and I'm thinking they would work into on of my American Hero quilts, either as stars or perhaps as stripping, depending on how the amounts work out. Thanks for the chance to win these!

I can't wait to see Susan's American Hero Quilt.  Check out her work over at Desert Sky Quilts.  Susan will indeed get both fabrics since there was no interest in the florals.  It's like my father used to say, "You can't win if you don't try."

Pretty florals

Thanks for playing along.  

I have a fun vacation fabric to giveaway in June, so check back in a few days. 

BOM Challenge Month 6

Amazingly I am still keeping up with Jo's BOM Challenge.  My BOM happens to be precut and I know that helps a lot.

Month 6

Month 6 was 2 blocks for the outer border corners.

On the design wall!

I know that I am missing some of the months and have duplicates of others.  When those months come along the ease of this challenge might be over for me!  But for now I can use easy.

This month's accompanying story for the block.

Linking up to Jo's Country Junction to show progress on our BOMs.