Wow

I can't believe I only blogged a couple times all year. Let's just say, I will be glad when this year is over. It has been one thing after another.  Some good things have happened, though. I am getting better at quilting thanks to my Quilting Group. I think getting out and being around people is helping me, too. Even though my groups have me going non-stop and it's overwhelming at times. I have two quilts started. Oh. I should post the pictures of those.. This is a quilt I sewed a long long time ago. For Eli. I don't know what happened to it but I vaguely remember it was in our shed or storage and got wet and completely ruined. My Mom paid for all the fabric for me to sew this. It kind of makes me sick to my stomach thinking about it.

This was a quilt I started when I was pregnant with my now 17 year old son. I finished the one (top) strip. And after joining the Quilting group, and taking a class; I thought, "I should get that baby quilt out I started.."  I sewed a second strip. Well, you can see how much bigger the second strip is! I was going to sew it for my first grand baby, when I found out my son and his wife were expecting. But she lost the baby. (They still haven't tried again, and it's been over a year.)

And this is another quilt I started. We took a scrap strip quilt square class for Quilts of Valor. And I decided to try my own quilt at home. To practice so maybe I will get brave enough to sew a Quilt of Valor. All the fabric is from what I had, or got off the stage for free. It's the Free "Table". But it's the stage of the center we meet at. If you have anything you want to give away/don't want anymore (fabric, yarn, magazines, books, sewing things...) you can put it up there and whoever wants it takes it. And vice-versa, if you want something. You just have to take back home whatever didn't get taken (that you brought).

Remember how I said my groups keep me busy so that I am overwhelmed?... This was one of those things. Eight pairs of Elf Slippers for the ladies on the Christmas Committee, for the Christmas Party. They provided the yarn and paid me, $10 per pair. But. WOW. I was so glad when they were all done. And I had two months to knit them all!!  The Christmas party was the first week of December. I didn't know, they all dress up as Elves. Which is why they wanted the slippers.

A different view so you can see the toes.. I knitted a pair of these for Eon a few Christmases back. And when I brought them to show and tell someone said "Can you make us ten pairs?" I was like, "No..."  (Two of the ladies couldn't make it, so I only had to do eight pairs..)  One of the pairs was Eons'. He never wore them, and she said she would just take those.

This is another bag I sewed for Quilts of Valor for their fundraiser. It's another class we did. I love this bag. I want to sew one for myself. I got some super cute "Paris" fabric off the stage, that I want to use in it.

And I even sewed a pocket. :D I was so happy how this came out. I love it. Alice said I used a lot of fabric no one would take in a long time. I was like, "Really?" Well that's good. ~Anyway~ 

I hope to be better at blogging. I really miss it. I have lots of pictures from Facebook and Instagram. I just don't post them here.  The font is bigger in some areas in this post, but I don't know how, or want to try and change it; because I just got it to where the pictures would all stay in the middle. I hope you can read it.

                                        ~~Until Next Time~~

Hello It's Me...

It's been a long time, I know... I joined a quilting group in town a couple months ago. And it has me going in circles. I just joined to meet ladies here, crochet, knit, and sew. Learn more about quilting and my sewing machine... Then  people asked me if I wanted to help with this charity, with that charity and do I want to join Quilts of Valor...  They make things for babies, make things for seniors, make beds and quilts for Sleep in Heavenly Peace.. Now I am going to meetings and group things three days a week, going home and sewing more.. I'm not enjoying it, it's stressing me out! I finally said something to a couple ladies, and they said to just wait/hold on. It's not usually this busy/crazy. This week was the 25th anniversary of the group. The News and Newspaper was there. A big huge picnic. (I made a dessert.)  The woman who founded the group got a certificate. She started the group 25 years ago, in her garage. (In the desert... That had to be fun.. Lol)   I took a Freshman Quilters Academy class. That was four weeks. Monday was the last day.  Then I volunteered to sew a bag for a fundraiser for Quilts of Valor. I've never sewn a bag before in my life. A couple ladies helped me. One sewed the topstitching on one side of the bag for me. And Thursday, another lady helped me with what to do next, what to do next...  And I actually finished it. And it looks nice. :D I'm so happy.

The inside is lined. We got a handout of the pattern, I think it's called Charming Going Green bag. I couldn't find it online. But this bag is very similar.  I have squares to do another one for the fundraiser, and squares halfway cut out for a third (that one is for Pine Ridge).   I never thought I would ever do any sewing again. I used to sew a lot-- Bears, bunnies, doll clothes, some clothes for our kids (shorts mostly). I sewed a couple quilts. I got the quilt I started for Eon when I was pregnant with him, out. I have one strip all sewed. I started sewing more squares. To finish it. But...  My squares now and the ones I sewed 17 years ago do not match. I think I was using a really big 1/4" seam, and was sewing some crooked and just left them.  So... I don't know what I will do with that strip.   Maybe frame it as bad quilting art. Lol. :P 
 
Next week is an awards ceremony for the Quilts of Valor group. I volunteered to make cookies, and I am going to be in charge of a table. I don't know what to do (about quitting the group).  I feel like they always want you to do more, more, more...  I can't even do everything at home and I feel like it's a part time job. (And I'm not even a secretary or in charge of anything!) One lady I was sitting next to on Thursday resigned from that group. (I don't blame her...)   I appreciate our veterans, and I think it's great what the Quilts of Valor group does for them. But I don't think I will EVER sew a quilt good enough to their specifications. I don't know. I am learning a lot with the group.    I will try to blog more, and keep you posted.

Happy 2019 Part 2

Since my last post of 2018 was talking about this dishcloth I had started, I thought I would post a picture of it.. That's the booklet the pattern is in.

And the finished dishcloth. I really like it and wanted to keep it. But blue and red are not my kitchen colors. :P Plus it was for a swap. (Like my kitchen has any "colors" any more... LoL. Nothing matches anymore...) 

I crocheted this to go with it. I don't even remember who it was for.. This was in a magazine, I don't even remember what one it was out last summer though. Probably Crochet World? In the summer, I remember.

Another thing I was talking about in my last post of 2018 was these tags I started. So I thought I would post some that I finished... These were from old bill envelopes. All of them. I made different tags from them.

Some other tags from regular card stock I also had started.

My "Shabby Chic/Ephemeral" tags..

Butterfly one.

Another butterfly.

Halloween tags, all from old bill envelopes- except for the bottom middle one.

A Piggy tag I made for a Pen Pal friend, who loves pigs- and got me loving them, too...

Santa tags, all from old bill envelopes.

And, some of the Christmas baking I did... Christmas Tree Brownies, which I'm sure I've posted about before? Basically, you just make brownies in a round springform pan, then cut and decorate. I saw this originally on Pinterest.

I only had blue gel icing. So. Whatever... The kids don't care. :P

I saw this on Facebook I think M& M Christmas bars or something...It's with a yellow cake mix, and like two eggs... I'll try to find the recipe to link it later. It was from Pinterest: M& M Cookie Bars (only four ingredients.)

I made some Jumbo chocolate covered Christmas marshmallows, and candy cane hearts with chocolate in them. I put them in stockings. I made the whole bag of marshmallows, thinking Eon would maybe take some to friends or teachers at school. But he didn't want to. So, I gave one to the lady at the post office. Put one in the mailbox for the mail carrier. And, we ate the rest. 

Here they are all bagged up. I got the bags at the Dollar Store.

And, some candy cane sleighs I did. I haven't done these in years. I thought Eon would want to give one or two to a favorite teacher. But no. So, I took one to the woman who works at the Bookworm Haven (used book store here in town). She gave me two free Harlan Coben books on my birthday. So I put one of these in a bag with a Christmas card and said thank you.  :) The other three were for Eon, Eli, and Steve.

I just made a few of these one day. I don't remember where I saw them probably Facebook or Pinterest. Basically, you put peanut butter on a cracker. Then do that again, and put a cracker on top. Then put them in melted chocolate- and I put sprinkles on them.

I made cinnamon rolls one morning while Steve had four days off, too.  I will save more pictures for later. See what happens when you don't blog for four months?...   

Happy 2019

It's been a long time since I blogged...   So I thought I would start off with what I last posted about, the mini-Christmas stockings. I ended up getting twelve done and sent. Here they are filled with one candy cane and two mini-Hershey chocolate bars. :)

I jumped on the Grinch C2C bandwagon. :D  I don't even remember who posted the original pattern but when I finally decided to crochet one, and went back to it; she had taken the pattern down because of copyright issues.  But, it is the basic C2C scarf pattern. If you go to YouTube, and type it in you could make one.

This was another pattern I kept seeing on Facebook. I thought it would be perfect for Eon, he is always using Burt's Bee's lip balm. I never did give one to Eli. I was going to put money in his (but we ran out of that...) The money in there was just for the picture. This is the pattern.

And, I finally decorated my crocheted Christmas Tree. Which I think I started when we lived in the apartments in Oregon. I finished the "base" (which I made up) when we moved into a house in Oregon. I had more mini-ornaments, too; I thought. But I got the gold bead rope at a thrift store here. So I just used that. I think it's cute. I posted it on a crochet group on Facebook and I almost regretted it, people kept liking it so much. LoL. This was the pattern I used.

And, I also crocheted a Grinch scarf. I totally winged this one. For my husband. I guess I didn't tell about the Grinch scarf. Well when I posted it on Facebook, someone asked if I do orders. (I haven't and don't want to. But.....  I said I would.)  So, I hurried up and finished this scarf before Christmas but knew there was NO WAY it would make it there in time for Christmas. I sent her a message and she didn't reply..... Finally get a message back saying she would do it after Christmas.  Well, my husband really liked the scarf and asked if I was making it for him. Soooo, finally getting to my point, here... That was why I did this hat. And, he hasn't even worn it. (Roll eyes...)

Another Christmas theme thing... I did another Santa suit sleep sack for the OB Unit.  

AND, I don't think I posted this? I finally finished the Central Park Hoodie!!!  Only ten years later...  I was so happy I finished it. 

And yes, I finished it in the summer. O.O Hood up.. 

Hood down...

And, unbuttoned..  :) 

I am not really into "New Years Resolutions". But, I do want to do better sending to the OB Unit this year. I really "slacked off". Not only because we haven't had any money. But I just was burnt out.  The Santa suit I posted I had finished a year prior. (No lie.) 

We also found out last year that we were going to be grandparents. Our oldest son and his wife. But, she lost the baby at approximately twelve weeks. :(  So... We aren't going to be grandparents at this time.  It was sad. But, the doctor said they could try again in three months. They weren't "trying" when they got pregnant. And I don't know if they will try again or not. But the fact that Evan told me they could try again makes me think they might. We will see.I did knit a pair of booties and bought a onesie that says "Take me to Grandma's and let the spoiling begin"...  I will go find the pictures.

This is the booties. I knit them in off-white/aran, because they obviously didn't know yet what they were going to be having... The pattern is a free Ravelry download.

This is the onesie.  They still have these things, so... Maybe they will be trying again. Evan is almost 27 years old. So... (I was beginning to think they just didn't want to have children.)