Valentine's Weekend

This weekend was wonderful. DH & I attended a new church mixer as we are helping to mentor a new young pastor as he starts a church in the Memphis area. We don't plan to leave our home church but are helping out for the time being. This weekend was the first event. I worked the registration table, hubby worked security and our daughter provided child care. It was a family event for us. We did have a candlelight luncheon that was catered by Coletta's Italian Restaurant. Hmmm...good. The highlight of my day was watching my hubby line dance for about 20 minutes with our daughter. He did pretty good for his first try since he claims to have 2 left feet. When we got home, DH gave me a small container of my favorite chocolates. Couldn't be more perfect than that. Then on Sunday, DH surprised me by renewing my Threads subscription for 3 years. I would say that was a good Valentine's day present. All in all, it was a great Valentine's Day weekend.

"The Seamstress of Hollywood Boulevard"

Had read a bit about this book in our local newspaper and thought the title was intriguing so I ordered the book from Barnes & Noble. It is a fascinating look at the early 20th century and the development of Los Angeles along with Hollywood. Young girls flee their families and farms in search of a dream. The main character is a young girl named Nell who is unhappily married at a young age (17) with 2 infants. She has worked on her parents farm and then on her husband's family's farm in rural Kansas. It is a hard life. Her only skill is sewing in which she excels. A visiting preacher tells her about California and she dreams of a better life for herself. Sewing for the town folk, she saves enough money to buy a train ticket to Los Angeles. Then she runs away from her husband and children. The story continues for the next 20+ years as she marries again and has another child. She sews for the high society ladies of Los Angeles and ends up with a job at Universal Studios where is a costumer. Just when her future is the brightest, her 2 older daughters turn up on her doorstep and turns her world upside down. The story does not have a happy ending. In fact, it leaves you wanting more from this author. According to the excerpt, the story is based on the author's grandmother's life. The author is Erin McGraw. I loved the book and read it over a weekend. Maybe there will be a sequel. I certainly hope so.

Crooked Sewing Adventure

As an active member of my ASG chapter (and president) it seems like most of my sewing is craft projects to learn new techniques or reinforce old ones. While I long to spend more time on garments, in reality, it is craft projects that actually make it to the machine. This week, I made my first quillow. When I started this, I had no clue as to what a quillow was or what one does with it. I went out and bought 3 yards of black fleece, packed my travel sewing machine & supplies and headed out to our meeting spot. Wouldn't you know it, I forgot black thread and had picked up navy blue by mistake. Duh!!!

Fortunately, one of my friends had a large spool of black quilting thread so I used that. Wound the bobbin, threaded the machine, and then read the directions over & over but they didn't compute. Must have had brain freeze or something like a senior moment or who knows what. Anyway, I just sat there trying to figure it out. Fortunately, one of my friends recognized my dilemma and offered to help me out. We folded the fleece, cut off the amount for the pillow, and started trying to even up the ends. Oh yeah, a quillow is a blanket with an attached pillow for those who do know this. We measured, lined up, and using a yard stick to guide me with a rotary cutter, I cut crooked. We tried again. Lined up, measured carefully, and then I cut crooked. For some reason, I've never mastered cutting straight lines even with yardsticks, lined mats, etc.

Grrr... Then my friend tried cutting the fleece and it was still crooked. We laughed and figured out that the fabric was off grain and would not cut straight. Oh well, since I see crooked, I cut crooked. This quillow will go to my DD and she won't really care if it is perfectly straight or not. Well, I went to the sewing machine to sew this quillow and the fleece would not feed straight which resulted in crooked seams. Took them out muttering under my breath. Tried this again and felt like it was done even if it was a little crooked. As we got ready to turn the quillow, found out that the fleece had slipped and one section of the pillow was not sewn to the blanket. I need a walking foot for my travel machine. Muttering again, I started to frogstitch the pillow. By then, the day was half over and all I wanted to do was go home. Trying a third time, I finally finished the quillow to the point that it was acceptable. Then I started stitching the edges in a red decorative stitch. Maybe I should have done that before attaching the pillow (ya think???). Got 2 edges done and called it a day.

When I got home and looked at it, I realized it looked like a first grader's project. It was not something I was proud of or would want others to know that I made. So, I put it away. Today, I'm frogstitching the decorative stitches as well as the pillow. I figure that if I sew it on my Pfaff with its IDF, maybe the fabric won't slip and my seams will be straighter. Also, I decided I want to add some embroidery to the pillow part and I'll need to frogstitch it to do that. Whether this quillow will be finished or not remains to be seen. For now, I'm going to go back and re-read some sewing books. Happy Sewing!

Farewell 2008 ... Welcome 2009

Happy New Year everyone. The first week of 2009 is almost over and I keep wondering where the time went. For Christmas, I did a flurry of sewing projects - pillowcases, ornaments, baby bibs, pillows, napkins, etc not to mention some embroidery projects. DH surprised me with the Embird Software w/Iconizer so I hope in 2009 to do more projects with embroidery. Since I seldom make resolutions (as I never keep them anyway) I won't bore you with my goals for this new year. I am thankful for my health, my family and my sewing ministry.

Over Christmas, my youngest sister came for a few days with her family. We enjoyed our time together which is always way too short. We got to meet our niece's fiance and hear all about her wedding plans. While I won't be able to attend her wedding for health reasons, I am happy to share in her joy and excitement. The wedding is over Memorial Day weekend. DH & DD will go to Orlando for the big event and I'll get a DVD of the ceremony. I love that she has created a website to keep family and friends updated on her plans as they are finalized. http://www.mywedding.com offers a lot of options for building a site.

To add to our joy, my younger brother, Steve, and his lovely wife, Theresa, had a healthy baby girl named Heidi Elizabeth on December 12th. Of course, I had to come up with special gifts for this precious little one. That's 2 boxes of gifts off in the mail for them. Big sis, Savannah, is so excited over her new little sister.

All in all, the future looks bright. Happy Sewing!

Advent Project Completed

The Advent project is completed and turned in to the church. It was a challenge because I scanned and copied a photo from a needlepoint book. I worked without instructions and a pattern. I'm very pleased with the finished product. I really felt honored to be asked to do this project. Here is a photo of the altar cloth taken today. Plus here is one of the three clerical stoles I made modeled by my DH. Now, I can get to my Christmas sewing. Found out also today that a devotional I wrote was published in our Advent book. I am really blessed.

Popping In

Just popping in to say hello to everyone. Am busy embroidering the Advent clerical stoles. On the right side of the stole will be the Star of Bethlehem and on the left will be the Cross. These are the samples of what it will look like. Of course, the stoles will be backed with batiste. The fabric is crepe and the thread used is a light gray Madeira rayon. Think that it looks great. Will post a photo when one is completed. Have to be done with project by Monday to turn into the church on Tuesday as it will close for the remainder of the week.

Also, I've updated my profile photo. Hubby took this one of me this afternoon after I got my hair cut today. Nothing like a little pampering for the holidays.

Preparing for Advent

Advent begins in 2 weeks. It is a season of joy, hope, and giving as we prepare ourselves for God's greatest gift. What does this have to do with sewing? Well, I have been asked to make 3 clerical stoles and paraments for the altar, pulpit and lectern. This is a gift of service to my church. The paraments and stoles are being made of royal blue crepe with a batiste backing. I'm embroidering a cross on the left side of the stoles and the Star of Bethlehem on the right. Blue is a symbol of hope. I feel so honored to be asked to do this project. Will post photos when finished. So what are you doing for Advent and the holiday season?