Creative Homemaker

Today, my Chels got her tonsils taken out. She did a great job and I am so proud of her. They schedule the surgeries youngest first, taking the babies first and then the patients get increasingly older. She was a little bit scared at first, but she had her iPod shuffle and "zoned" out while we were waiting for her turn. The surgery center where she had the proceedure done was very efficient, I spoke with both the doctor and the anethesiologist during our 20 minute wait. The were quick, efficient, but also very patient in anwering any questions I had about the proceedure and recovery time. I was fairly impressed. They took her back and I waited in the waiting room for about 30 minutes. The Doc came back and told me she had done just fine and was groggily resting in the recovery room. While I was sitting in the waiting room, I had an enigmatic experience. I had been working on this project. Carefully sewing the little seams back together with...

Some people have an affinity for animal rescue. That's wonderful for them. There are many poor pets that need a loving home and someone to be their advocate. I appreciate the work and the services they provide. I, however, have a heart for unloved, abused quilts. At every yard sale I visit I keep a keen eye out for poor unloved fragments of fabric. Every once in a while I find a treasure worthy of rescue. Today was that sort of a day. I stopped just down the road, not thinking I would find anything, browsed a few tables, walked around a corner and saw this beauty. It was marked $22, which was a steal of a deal for the vintage fabric and hand sewing involved. I quickly and discreetly scanned the bills in my purse and was about to walk away, but the "yard sale manager" said she would consider all offers. I quickly said that I only had $13, would that be OK. She hemmed and hawed, then caved! YES!! This vintage Double Wedding Ring was poor, unloved and abused. It was once a l...

I finished sewing the binding on last night while I watched "Blind Side." I thought this would be an appropriate movie since I was doing the "Bind Side" of the quilt, haha! Great movie. Great actors. But no one to watch it with. I hate watching good movies without my Bear....but I digress. Back to Beary Wonky Cabins by the Lake. In keeping with the scrappy look of the quilt, I did a scrappy binding too and pulled all my reds and blues out of the binding drawer and pieced them all together. I love hand sewing a binding on a bed size quilt. I'll do a machine stitched one on wall hangings and table toppers, but I prefer the old fashioned way on a full-size quilt for some reason. A quilting friend of mine said that I was backwards in my opinion on this, that I should do it faster on a bigger quilt, and take my time on a quilt that didn't take so long to finish. I don't know. I guess I'm just weird like that. I'll be sending a picture of the finished ...

I've had this top unquilted for a while now. It's a crumb chaos block which you can find tutorials for here and here . Beware, if you try these, they are addicting. You just whip along mindlessly sewing, and streaming out the backside of your machine come these lovely wonky things. I love wonky these days, ever since I did my wonky houses for Jennifer . So, yesterday, I really wanted to stipple. Just to meander around the quilt and not really think about what I was doing. So, I sandwiched this top with batting and backing, and went to town, or rather went to the Lake. (I really did label the quilt with my name, but I don't post that sort of stuff on the web.) My boys have bunk beds, so this will be for one bunk and the other bunk may get its covering soon, I'm such a fan of wonky blocks, I have to do more. I still have to bind it, but couldn't wait to show you. So, what have you finished lately?

My new Elna Quilting Queen and my Elna 8200 Experience Embroidery machines are here!! I'm unpacking them now. Later I'll be sewing, and after that, more sewing, and after the sewing, I think I'll be...yep, sewing. I may come out from under in a few days!! Don't expect to see me until the newness wears off, maybe in say about 10 years!! (I will post pictures in a little while as soon as they are all unpacked and pretty.)

Alright, it's not what you think! A honey bun is a sweet rolled up bundle of fabric strips! They are 1 & 1/2 inches wide and come in the most luscious colors! I'm entering the giveaway here. I'm also in an online quilting bee with this talented crafter! Seriously, she is a crafting maniac! Christy makes the coolest things out of "stuff" the sort of stuff that other people would throw away! She's my kind of frugal gal that way! So, hop on over, follow her instructions and you can have a chance at a honey bun too!

Hi dear readers. I think there may be two of you... I'm working on a new layout and a post to go with it. I'll be under construction for a bit, so please bear with me. It'll be good, I promise. See you soon...