Picture Overload

I have been very busy sewing, putting in 8 to 12 hour days for the last 5 or 6 days, these items are what I have to show for it.  Seems like there should be more, lol.  This is a smaller version that I winged as I went, of the Temple bags from My Quilt Diet's blog.  It's for my 5 year old granddaughter for an overnight type bag.

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The smaller versions front and flap.

Her Mama, Marcy's full sized version.

Marcy's back.

Marcy's inside and flap.

A comparison of the two sizes.

Mine.  I keep giving mine away, maybe this one will stick.

The back of mine.

And the inside and flap of mine.

My visiting teacher Becky's back.

Becky's inside and flap, I seem to have lost the picture of her front momentarily.

A Spider Man and Marvel heroes travel pillowcase for my 2 year old grandson.

My grandson is visiting his brother, another grandson, in Germany and he informed me that his girlfriend will be traveling with him and having a birthday while they're gone.  This is a gift for her, a large bag with 10 pockets and a zipper top.  Hopefully, handy while traveling. 

A totebag for the 2 year old.

Zipper pouches for the 5 year old great-granddaughter, and the 2 year old great-grandson.

The insides.  Spider man and Paris.  While the visit is going on, they plan to all visit there. 

And the missing front.  These Temple bags are pretty labor intensive, thus the hard day's labor. 

More Early Christmas, For The Boys

The boys are 1 year old (later this month), and 4 years old.  A pillowcase each.  The one on the left is for the 1 year old, and it matches his quilt, from Ikea, with hedgehogs. 

Also these Hot Wheel carriers, not perfect, but hopefully they'll like them.  I know they're too old for the one year old, but I figure his mom can put them aside for him.  I used the instructions on Homemade by Jill, and Just another Hang Up.

What's Going On

Small things amuse small minds.  First I had to get over my wonder that "What's Going On"  could be a question or a statement, the first clue being that there isn't a question mark.  Oh well, it's one of those days.  My grandson, his wife and their two children got in Tuesday evening and so we've been able to spend time with them Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and now they are in Memphis, Tn. visiting her side of the family and taking care of some business.  They'll be back in a week and then will spend a couple of weeks here.  The kids are adorable, we are getting reacquainted with our great-granddaughter, who will be 4 in December and meeting her brother for the first time, who will be 1 this month.

   We also had a beautiful new granddaughter Friday the 4th.  We've only gotten to see her once so far, but I'm sure we will see a lot more of her. 

Not much sewing going on between visiting, home health people for my husband, and doctor appointments, but yesterday I did go to Hobby Lobby and picked up some fabric to make new pillowcases for the small pillows on our bed.  Do you think maybe it's time.  As you can see by the first photo up at the top, mending isn't my best talent. 

This morning I got up and made these 8 pillowcases.  They aren't fancy, just simple little rectangles with French seams and a hemmed top, but I'm so glad to have them.  We use quilts on the bed, and they are all scrappy, so anything goes pretty much.   Yesterday, I must have been in a purple mood.

After Quite Awhile, More Pillowcases

Not very good lighting on my pillowcases, the one on the right is very washed out.  The backdrop is my Scrappy Lattice that I basted yesterday and the pillowcases I made today.  They are for my niece's little girls, the ones who are getting new quilts when we see them later this month.

PS.  Here are a couple of good tutorials for the pillowcases.  I didn't do the band trim and I also topstitch the cuff after I sew it on to the body of the case.  I don't like little gobs of fraying material lumping up inside, so I encase it in stitching.  You can see the topstitching on the first two cases since I was too lazy to change my thread and did it in gray.  

 http://www.maryquilts.com/pillowcase/

 http://quilting.about.com/od/quiltpatternsprojects/ss/easy-pillowcase-pattern.htm

Quilts and Pillowcases Received

My nieces three smallest girls with their pillowcases.  The littlest discovered they could be used for clothing, sort of.

Baby Tucker with his new quilt.
DH woke up about 3 am on Tuesday with chest pain, so we made a trip to the ER.  They admitted him, and he was there for 3 days.  He had a TEE echo and the doctor said that everything was looking better.  He still has to have another cardio cath on Tuesday, but if it still looks better his open heart surgery may be postponed indefinitely.  We are certainly hoping for the best, and appreciate all the prayers and good wishes for him.  He came home last night, and is sure enjoying being out of the hospital.  The cardiologist said he wasn't sure why, but the valves seemed to be leaking much less.

No Quilting This Weekend

Didn't get any quilting done this weekend, although some projects were calling my name.  I was thinking that I had until the end of August to do the pillowcases that I had promised to Carol at Brown Quilts.   Luckily, I thought I'd just take a look at the email to double check, and oh-oh, it was August 1st.  I hurried up and did two pillowcases and got them in the mail, (then I realized that she only lives about 15 miles from me, so if worse came to worse, I could have delivered them myself, lol).   I figured while I was at it I might as well do the 7 pillowcases that I want to send along with the baby quilt that I'm working on.  So, no quilting, but i did get 9 pillowcases done in the last 2 days.  My new quilting buddy Ruth, is coming over one day this week to do pillowcases, but I can show her how and I can work on my bow ties, or my 36 patches or my RRCB string blocks,  you get the picture, I'm not without projects.   Hope your weekend is good.

More Fleece Blankets and Flannel Pillowcases

For My Niece Naomi's living room. 

About to be Out of Here!

Finally, everything is finished for this round. Hayley's and Naomi's (above and below) will be on their way to Jacksonville soon. The dark blue in the photo above is the bottom of the tote bag. It isn't exactly blending, but it hardly shows when the tote bag is sitting. It is leftover flannel from the backing on my Carolina Straightaway.
The pink and blue 9 patches will also be on their way to Pennsylvania soon.













The fleece blankets and travel pillows and cases will be out of here in the next day or two also, but we will deliver them locally. I wasn't too satisfied with the machine embroidery after they were washed, but they aren't horrible, just not as good as I'd like.







































Last night, my granddaughter and one grandson came for dinner and since my grandson and husband are both musical, they played with my husband's trusty old accordion for awhile. It is about fifty years old. I thought my grandson did pretty well for a first try. It is nice that my grandchildren are feeling more free to come and visit more, we enjoy their company. These are my daughter's children, unfortunately my son's children live farther away and we don't get to see them very much.
Today's going to be interesting. My daughter's non-profit is supported by doing paperwork for other non-profit's and it was very slow for awhile and now has picked up a lot. I volunteered to help her catch up. I've already warned her that the old brain is not as quick as it used to be, but it'll be interesting to go to "work" after being retired for about 4 and 1/2 years. Wish her luck.

Little "Bits" to show for the Day

I had done the machine embroidery for these two labels the other day, and today I started out by finishing them up and sewing them on. These are on the two nine patch quilts from Crazy Mom Sew's Quiltalong. They are ready to pack up and send off as soon as I finish my niece and great niece's fleece blankets. They are going another place, but I might as well get them ready for the post office at the same time.
Ethan and Savanna are the children of my grandson's former girlfriend.














Next project, sew the small and large pillowcases for my great niece, Hayley's birthday. Now her tote bag and pillowcases are done, only the fleece blanket to go.













Then, it was on to her mom's and her bindings for their fleece blankets. Guess which is flannel and which is cotton? This flannel is very soft and cushy, hopefully Hayley will like everything.













Last project (I think) for the day (unless I get a second wind). I made the 3 pillowcases and 3 bindings for our Chinese friends little girls. I'm afraid everything may look a little more Japanese than Chinese, but all I could find specifically Chinese was things like dragons. I hope that it is ok. Since they are from a different culture and one that they are very proud of, I hope that it isn't any type of offense or anything. I already had the fabric because I liked it and probably would have used it for a granddaughters gift if I hadn't used it for this. The oriental girl embroidery is on one of the fleece blankets and will look better when washed and the stabilizer gone. Each of the three has a different oriental girl. The girls are 7, 5 and 5.
We got travel sized pillows to put in the pillowcases, and the fleece blankets are quite puffy. I hope that we can find some gift bags large enough at the dollar store.













Sorry about the mess, it's sort of a semi-organized clutter. Getting better organized is a goal I'm working toward, and every project hopefully is getting me closer. More and more "closet clutter" gone.
PS My oldest grandson stopped by today and had lunch with us and he had asked me previously to help him with mending as he has split all his pants except two. I remembered the come back "would you ask Picasso to paint your shed", but since he needs them for work and is on his own, I agreed. He's bringing them Saturday morning. Why is it even when we enjoy sewing we don't enjoy mending. Oh well, it will be my good deed for the day, lol.

Next Up

Next project is to make this stack go away. The two rolls of fleece have been in my closet for a couple of years, another portion since July 11 of this year, and the light blue and patterned fleece on the bottom since about an hour ago. We just got back from Joann's and I got those, a spool of Coats and Clark's machine quilting thread to try, and some dye catchers (boy was it hard to find those, and at the end there they were the first place I looked and where I thought they would be, I just missed them). The blue in the middle is for my great niece on my Jacksonville brother's side, the last 4 quilts I sent off were for my Brunswick brother's grandchildren, my great niece's and nephews. I plan to make her a fleece blanket, flannel pillowcase and flannel tote, the print on the bottom is for her mama, my niece, their birthdays are 1 day apart. Horses are what my niece loves, and the only fleece I found with horses is more western with horses, cattle, spurs, etc. I hope she likes it. My brother bought the fabrics and I'm supplying the labor.
We have become friends with the owner of the Chinese restaurant where we eat lunch sometimes, and I am making her 2 daughters 7 and 5, and her niece 5, fleece blankets and cotton pillowcases. I have some cute fabric with Oriental girls (see on the left of the picture) and will machine embroidery their names and some cute Oriental girls on the fleece. all of the fleece blankets will be bound just like quilts with the double fold binding. Now I just need to get cracking and make them, lol.