Tag: charity

Yep, I look like Frankenstein

So, I had the chance last month to donate some dog beds to one of my favorite Dog Charities, Hospets. They make having a pet as a Senior much easier. I think I may have had 11 this time. All are totally washable and have zippered covers. I also sent some bandana collar covers. I hope they can sell them for some additional funds.

Why do I look like Frankenstein? Well, on October 10th I had to have neck (spinal) surgery again. It was sort of a sudden thing. At the end of September, I received date of late October, and then then they decided to do it sooner rather than later. I had some fairly severe spinal compression and it appeared that I may be losing spinal fluid (turns out I wasn’t, phew). Good thing I did not have much time to think about it. I might have chickened out. I spent a few days at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. Good times. I am home recovering. So far so good. It seems that a few things (problems) may have been resolved. Fingers crossed. Tomorrow I go to have my staples removed. This has been the longest I have been out of work since the birth f my daughter. It feels weird. So they shaved some of my hair off and I have a line of staples down the back f my neck. Hair grows back. I am itchy now, so looking forward to the removal of those staples.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

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Santa Chairs!

So many many moons ago, I bought Holiday chair covers. They were made out of very thin felt-like material. I used them nearly every year. Well, they are finally worn out, so I made a pattern and started making new ones. I chose fleece. I am hoping that will stop fingers from going through them every time a chair was moved. I actually saved/used the pom poms from the old ones. For some odd reason, they make me happy. Only problem I have is tht I did not but enough of the red fleece to make six, so hoping that I can match it fairly closely. I will be able to wash these if needed. The other could not be washed. They would have never made it through the washing machine.

If you can, I suggest trying this….

While I was at my mini-retreat, my Friend Lynn introduced me to these OLFA ENDURANCE blades. I am usually a skeptic, especially about blades. Wow, do these make a difference. She had one in her rotary cutter and when I used it, I was not even aware that I was cutting anything. There was no resistance and it was completely silent. The best thing for me or anyone with arthritis or anything in their hands. They can be pricey, but I have seen them on sale. Lynn had been using hers for a while and it was still as sharp as ever. My package is clearly empty because I bought one and it is wonderful!

Dog Beds for Hospets

There is a local group in my area called Hospets. They support Seniors with Pets. They help them with appointments etc so that they don’t have to choose between their pet and something else. I donated 5 dog beds to them to pass out as they see fit. I will continue to donate dog beds to them. They were very grateful. My daughter and I are also sponsoring a senior for the holidays. They submit wish lists for themselves and their pet and you help them out with items from their list. Our person is local to us and has a pet bird.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Wow, I did something else

Sarcasm is abundant in my life.

I read about everyone working on UPO’s, so I got crazy and finished one that has been sitting around for quite a while. My daughter used to be a bookwork. Now that she is older there are things that are far more important. It will be a reminder though. I put the titles of many of the books that I found in her room on the “spines” of the books. If nothing else, it will be memories for her. It only took me about 5 years to finish. It will now go on list of things that need long armed. Hopefully I can get to that soon.

Pillowcases – This is something I can do, that does not make much time, but does get me in the sewing room. I just had 42 picked up from my house that will go to the shelter. It helps me get rid of some of my rather large stash of fabrics. Sometimes when I get some of them out, I really wonder what I was thinking about when I bought them. They do make fabulous pillow cases though.

So, I am slowly working on getting better. To add to all my other issues, I have a heart rate issue. It suddenly goes up for no good reason and it is constantly draining all my energy. Doc gave me something to slow it down which seems to be helping, and I will see a cardiologist in a couple of weeks. It seems that when one thing goes wrong a bunch of other things follow.

Since I have a three day weekend, I am hoping to get some sewing done. I would really like to get the quilt finished that has been on my long arm since my health went AWOL. It has been on there about 6 months, at least. Fingers crossed that it will happen this weekend.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

God Bless the USA

Some Important Lessons learned

Hello Fellow Quilters!

Lesson #1 – I hated these fabrics when thy were given to me to make a donation quilt.  I hate them a little lesson now that it is together.  It looked better on the design wall than it did in the picture.  I think this would look better with some different fabric.  I may try it with some of my own at some point. Lesson is,don’t always judge fabrics so harshly, sometimes they will surprise you.

Lesson #2 – If you don’t have a carbon monoxide detector, get one.  We all could have lost 20200531_200223our lives.  Our ancient (20+ years) carbon monoxide detector, went off and would not stop.  Initilly we thought it was nothing, but something said call the fire department and have it checked.  It goes off when the kids unplug it or bump it and it beeps to let you know that it is on battery power.   Well, when the firre department came, they opened the door and shut it immediatly.  They said that they could not go in without oxygen.  They suited up and returned to tell us that they had never seen carbon monoxide this high in any house.  They set up some fans and got us some things we needed out of the houser and we were off to spend the night at the neighbors.  The next day it turned out that the exhaust pipe from our water heater became disconnected and all the Carbon monoxide was going directly into the house.  We had it repaired and the fire department came back did a recheck and we could return home.  Please, if you have propane or natural gas anywhere in yur home, pleaase get one.  If yours is old, please replace it.  It saved us.  We would have all been dead in less than 30 minutes.  Lucky for us it was a nice day and we had been outside, so we had only been in the house for about 10 minutes.  Phew.  I was bit freaked out about the whole thing.  Yikes.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

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Insanity has set in.

I can’t even begin to count the swear words on this one.  It looks simple enough and honestly I think it is.  The problem is me.  So, let me explain how this went, after the top was finished.  “Hey Mom, shouldn’t the dog part on the top have a leg also?”  Son of a nutcracker.  Ugh.  “Oh, and doesn’t the dog need a tail?”  You have got to be kidding me.  Yep, no top legs and no tail.  What is going on? I have totally lost my mind. Even better after I made the leg section and finished the top, post mistakes, I found a leg section that I had made.  It was not like I made it a long time ago and forgot, we are talking one day to the next.  I think that quarantine is eating away my brain.  This project is  My One Monthly Goal.  My intent is to finish it.  We will see.  I am supposedly heading back to work next week, so I am not sure it can happen.

So, when/while I got frustrated with this quilt top, I made some pillowcases.  For me, it is 20200504_195345something I can see being completed.  This stack has 22 pillowcases.  This brings my total pillowcases for charity to 44.

It also means that my stash has lost 44 yards of fabric.  Trust me there is more where that came from.

So, I had the chance to look at my next charity quilt kit.  Good God.  It is equally as ugly (maybe more) than the last one.

Could the fabrics be any uglier?  Yes, they can.  See my last charity quilt.  The picture on the right is the pattern I am supposed to use.  On the plus side, all the 2.5-inch strips are cut. and it should be quick to put together.  But, I do not like working on quilts that are not something I would ever put together.  I know, charity, someone will love it.

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Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Stay Safe

What day is it?

So I had every intention of participating in One Monthly Goal.  However, I can not keep track of days or dates.  Here it is April 9, 2020, missed it!  I swear I may be losing my mind.  It is like time has stood still in my mind because nothing changes, yet it is actually continuing.

I might as well tell you what my goal was.  My intention for the One Monthly Goal was to complete the top for a charity quilt.  My quilt guild had about 35 kits ready to pass out at meetings, yet we are not having meetings, so they volunteered to drop them off.  I said I would do a couple, considering I needed some motivation to actually do something.

Don’t care for it one bit.  The dark brown bother me.  The instruction I had for this quilt were crazy.  They were all wrong and totally goofy.  I am not a good instruction follower in general, but since this was not my fabric and for charity, I thought I should actually read them and follow them.  WRONG.  They were wrong on most counts, what needed cut, the layout, everything.  It still needs borders and I am hoping that makes it look a little better, but I am not very hopeful.  I am hoping this is meant for a man.

Mostly working from home.  I am getting better at that.  I get up early before everyone else gets up so I can get as much done as possible before they arise.  They are pretty good at not bothering me though, with the exception of the dogs.  “Hey Mom us up, let’s all sit on her.”

I hope you are all staying safe.  Happy Sewing, Happy Quilting.

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My Moka refuses to Social Distance!

Some Charity Sewing

I do actually get some sewing done. I have made a few pillowcases for my guild. These 9 bring my total up to 23 pillowcases. The pillowcases go to a shelter for abused women. They get to select a pillowcase and they put some personal care items in them. Some come with nothing, so the pillowcase becomes the first item that belongs to them after their escape.

There was a time in my life when I needed to escape.  I began squirreling money away, a little at a time so it would not be noticed.  Things turned out differently for me and it turned out that I did not need the money.  I still have the account though as a reminder.  Today I save money in that account so Haley and I can go to Europe when she graduates.  Now it has a happy intent.

I am still struggling a bit with my sewing.  I just can’t seem to get much done.  I find myself going from one thing to the next a lot.  I think that is why I made the pillowcases, so I could see something finished.  I do have a baby quilt on the long arm.  I picked up a UFO to work on and I have another one in the works.  I think I need to get back to the “One Monthly Goal” that might help me get in the swing of things.  I will put a reminder on my calendar.

A big thank you to Susan at DesertSky Quilting for mentioning her Uncle Donald Quilt.  It brought such a smile to my face.

Because I am a crazy dog lady, I found the below picture hysterical.  Happy Sewing, Happy Quilting

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Jingle Bells Jingle Bells…and a Hand Quilt Along

So, last week at my monthly guild meeting, there was  Quilt ship visiting.  Of course, they brought stuff to sell.  I thought this was such a cute pattern and I needed to make it for my door for Christmas.  I will jungle so nicely every time the door is opened.  I liked the fabric they used and just bought the “kit”.m that way I did not have to go out and look for bells I could sew on.   I imagine that I could find them, but this way, I did not have to risk it.20171102_190307_resized

It turned out, that there is quite a lot of fabric left over, so I may make a holiday table topper with it.  I do like the fabric.

At the beginning of the month, I participated in the guilds “Quilt Wars” However, because we all finished at different times, I did not get any pictures.  So at the last meeting they brought all the quilts that were made.  The quilt my group worked is the second from the right.  All these quilted were made with “Miss Rosie’s Quilt Cp.Cake Mix Recipe #4.  If you have never used them, it made creating these quilts super simple.  It calls for layer cakes, but any 10 ” squares will do.  From each recipe you can create multiple designs.  All of these quilts were created from the same cake mix.  Oddly most of came up with the same design.  They are available all over the internet and at my local quilt shop.  All of the quilts from Quilt Wars are finished and donated to Charity.  It was a fun time.

I almost forgot my Hand Quilt Along.  Kathy from Sewing Etc, a=has stqrted this.  I 20170401_135727_resized.jpgcurrnelty have 2 hand sewing projects.  I will have to post a photo of the other one later.  I am currently trying to finish my last and final dog bone dresser scarf.  I refer to them as “Sit on the Couch Projecrs”.  Take a look and Join us.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

An Awesome reason to have a Quilting Blog

Besides being with like minded people, there are awesome opportunities to strike up friendships with some of the most wonderful people.  I recently had the opportunity to email back and forth with Nanette Chopin Cook from Chopin-A Passionate Quilter.  She is so kind and wonderful.  Sometimes in life you can feel all alone and then someone like Nanette pops in and renews your Faith in People.  Nanette sent me the 2 beautiful books by Edyta Sitar.  They are gorgeous and have some awesome quilts.  I love scrap quilts and these 2 books are packed with them.  Such a wonderful and thoughtful thing to do.  Thank You Nanette.

20170514_122126_resizedSo, I did get some sewing done this weekend.  Made some pillow cases for the quilt guild.  Haley helped me with picking out the fabrics and ironing.

Mothers Day was wonderful.  I hope you all had a wonderful mother day too!

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Treasure your Family

 

Sewing for Charity with help from the kids

So, since joining a Quilting guild, that does lots of charity work, On Friday night, I decided to work on a few of those items.

Since my 13 year old was in trouble, I decided that she was going to be my assistant.  At first she made a face at me and then I told her potentially wat the alternative could be (something crappy), so she quickly changed her mind.

I explained to her that we would be making these hearts for the local Hospice.  Once someone is hospice passes, they write a message on one side of the heart and then all the nurses that cared for that person sign the back.  A very sweet gesture at a difficult time.

So, I let Haley pick fabric out of the scrap basket.  Then I gave her a pattern and had her cut out the batting for the hearts.  Of course she informed me that she was not good at that and I told her that she would have to practice until she got it right.  Then, Miranda felt left out and joined the party.  She became the chief ironer.

They did not do too badly, there were a few rejects, but overall a success.

Since I am finally feeling a bit better, I also go to work on my one monthly goal project.  I totally need to get it off my design board so I can put something else up there.

My projects have expanded out of my sewing room and are not taking over other parts of the family room.  I have stolen the pool table and placed a board on top of it so I could use it as a work area.  I also put my design board in the pool room.  My shape cutter is sitting next to the bar with several plastic tubs of important stuff and then of course I store a couple of things in the corner of the kid’s family room.  Then there is the long table on the other side of the bar where I usually do my quilting.

I should probably real it in a bit before I have a full scale family revolt on my hands.

Happy sewing

Happy quilting

Treasure your Family