Life is good!

I went to vacuum up the threads mentioned in the previous post.  I don't know if it was the threads, or just coincidence, but my vacuum died.  Completely.  Ordered a new one, and it arrived in THREE big boxes, much to my kids' delight!

I've been in the new house for almost a year now, and things are getting pretty close to settled.  My craft room is still a work in progress (although I imagine I'll be saying that when I'm 80!).  One thing I decided I very obviously needed was a thread catcher.  To date, my wastebasket hasn't found a home close enough to the machine to work, so I've just been sort of letting the threads fall where they may.  You can imagine the results of that!  My poor vacuum...  Last night I had some time, so I broke out the tutorial from Sew, Mama, Sew for the pincushion/thread catcher combination. It called for three coordinating fabrics, but I had a panel of jelly rolls that I'd sewn together ages ago in my scrap bin, so I cut all the pieces out of that instead.  I used crushed walnut shells for the filling, and it did take me several attempts to get the amount of stuffing I needed right.  Overall, it was quite fun to work on, and I completely lost track...

I had a meeting with the quilt guild yesterday.  A local historian was there, and he is an avid collector of both feedsacks and feedsack quilts.  He brought an impressive collection of quilt tops.  It amazes me how many unfinished tops are floating around out there... His discussion of the topic really did put things in perspective, at least as far as how good we have it.  In many homes in the 30's and 40's, every piece of cloth in the house, clear down to the skivvies, was recycled feedsack.  Many of the women in the guild recall wearing feedsack underwear, or going off to college with only two feedsack dresses to wear.   My picture of one of the most impressive quilts didn't come out; it was an amazing hexagon quilt, with over 10,000 pieces.   Overall a fascinating evening! I didn't realize feed sacks came in so many solid colors... A quilt done in 1880's style in 1940's fabric. Love the small squares, and the bl...

  This block is for a quilting bee I'm in.  I'll admit it was due in December.  But it is an improv block, and that is something entirely new for me!  I've been looking at it for weeks, and last night finally took the plunge.  I think it turned out pretty well overall!  The directions had some of the stripes being much narrower, and I actually ended up cutting it apart several times to make them thinner and fit more colors in.  The 'gentle curves' the guidelines called for turned out pretty well, I thought.  I might be tempted to try some more of this improv stuff!

Isadora came into my room on Sunday morning, about four a.m., complaining she didn't feel well.  Shortly after she threw up all over the living room rug.  Poor kid.  Gunner had already been suffering from diarrhea for a day or more, so by that point I knew I would most likely not be going to work on Monday.  By about six-thirty, Marc and I both realized we were not feeling well.  The day just went downhill from there.  Isadora probably watched seven hours of television, and Gunner spent most of the day playing in his room, while Marc and I tried not to die in bed.  Izzy and Marc were back at school/work on Tuesday, but I stayed home for another day with Gunner.  It's Thursday now.  I finally started eating a bit yesterday, and think I'm pretty much back to normal.  So I've gotten almost nothing done.  I did finish the crocheted scarf for Isadora, but have made no progress on the dining room seat cushions.  To be honest, they'...

I finally did break down and start a crochet project.  I was browsing the web for something, I can't even remember for what, and found a YouTube video on how to make a waffle stitch scarf.  And JoAnn's had yarn and crochet hooks on sale, so it seemed like the thing to do!  It was great to have something to work on while still being able to watch some of the football games with DH.  I love the way the scarf is turning out; it's very warm and cuddly.  I think I may try and make several scarves this year (crocheted and otherwise) and give them to my sisters for Christmas next year.  This scarf is currently about five feet long.  I used up one skein, and decided I needed to add more length.  One advantage of the really bulky yarn is how quickly it grows!  JoAnn's also had a granny square book on clearance, so I picked it up as well.  I'll have to do a lot more refreshing/googling/you tube instruction videos to remember how to do anythin...

I started out the year with a good day in the craft room, but no quilts will be forthcoming.  Instead, I'm working on finally getting the covers put on the cushions in our dining room window.  The foam has been staring at me for months, so I figured it was time to get to it.  I made almost all of the piping for the edges.  I need to go get another pack of cord today.  I also got one of the three cushions covered in muslin, but I think I sewed them in too tightly.  I may have to redo that edge.  It's back to work today.  It wasn't easy to get out of bed this morning, that's for sure!  It's been so nice to spend time home with my hubby and the kids.   But I think it is about time for my daughter to get back to school.