Here, there, GroundHog Day

I haven't blogged for awhile. No reason, really. It's funny - there are many days that I think to myself, "I should blog about that..." and then don't. Guess I've just been out of blog mode.

To play catch up - the holidays went well; gifts given, loved; gifts received, loved; family meal, fine. Missed my son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter but certainly understand why traveling over the holidays with a toddler might not be their idea of fun. I'd have made that same choice.

Computer - broke. New computer - bought. Loud and clear - I don't like Windows 8. Not so loud but still clear - not crazy about my new computer either. Wish I'd gotten the old one fixed and still may.

I'm living through GroundHog Day. My day goes: Get up, get dressed, make Jeff's breakfast and lunch, clean the house, do some sewing, babysit Mr. B for 90 mins, make dinner, watch TV, go to bed. Wash, rinse, repeat and throw in a few trips to the fabric store. Ah well. Could be worse.

Yesterday I got my Singer Featherweight out. I've owned this machine for five? six? ten years? and never used it. Now I'm doing a lot of sewing (kids clothes, stuffed animals, and yes, quilts), I thought it might be fun to put the Featherweight in the kitchen to work have a machine to work on downstairs while dinner is cooking or a load of laundry is processing.

How did I get a Singer Featherweight? You won't believe this. When I first started quilting and was gung-ho on taking all the classes I could find, I mentioned in a phone call to my BFFFFFF and F Tricia that it would be so much easier if I had a Singer Featherweight. Not being a sewer, she said, "What's that?" I described it to her - small, comes in a case, has a little table like deal that folds down, to which she replied, "Oh, I have one of those in my closet. It was in the annual Fire Dept. auction and (can you imagine?) didn't sell." Gulp. Yup, she mailed it to me. God bless her.  And get this. Not only is the machine itself in perfect condition, but it has every single original attachment, a dozen original bobbins, the manual, two packages of original needles, an original tube of Singer machine oil, and even the little wooden spools of thread that came in a wonderful Singer starter kit! I mean, come on... what are the chances? I don't believe this machine was ever used, or used a very few times.

So I got it out yesterday and got this little machine purrs like a kitten. So much quieter than my big computerized Janome! It's got some tension issues, but I found this web page to help me figure it all out and will work on it today.

Mr. B's birthday is March 1st and I have promised and promised him a new quilt, so now I've made his birthday as my self-imposed deadline. Originally, I was making him a Lego Ninjago quilt. Very detailed appliqued figures of the Ninjago characters. All completed. I put the quilt away over the holidays, and got it out last month to work on. Then I noticed Mr. B. hasn't been all that into Lego's lately. Hmmm... I ask my daughter and she says No, not so much.. now he's into Pokemon. Gulp. Since I spent nearly a month working on these appiqued Ninjas, what to do, what to do. Change of plans. I'm making a simple monochrome HST quilt (blue and white) on one side, and putting the Ninjago characters on a colorful background fabric on the reverse side. A two-fer quilt. If he doesn't like the Lego side, he can flip it over and have the more mature HST side. All 500 HSTs are cut out, sewn, cut apart, clipped and ironed. Now starts the sewing frenzy of putting them all together.

And here's some finished projects with Miss Aimee as the recipient and model. On the left is a fleece jacket and a sock monkey I made for her. On the right is the sweetest "Chicky" fabric I thought was just perfect for a sweet dress. She's stylin' for sure.

And I'm delighted to add that Miss Aimee and her mother are coming for a visit next week! I'm so excited. Gotta get my grandmother smOOches in!