Design Wall Monday

 I came home from the quilt retreat yesterday and decided to make some string blocks.  There were so many gorgeous string quilts and after watching other people making there's, I finally decided to make some!  Mary Lou also shared a lot of her scraps so I finally have enough to start making blocks!

I made one last night and six today.  I'm not positive how I am going to  set the blocks, but I am probably going to sash them.

Cupcake and Oreo were my helpers.  You should see the mess they made of my strings basket today, I had quite a mess to pick up!

I got half of my rag quilt made, it was so easy sewing that denim and flannel on my hand crank.  I took a picture but I can't find it.  I'll finish it off on my treadle since it is faster.

I also made several tops of my sailboat blocks for my baby quilt.  I would have done more but for some reason my machine was skipping stitches and we finally decided that I need to give it a good cleaning when I got home.

Here is a finished block.  I can't wait to finish this quilt!  This is what I look like after staying up until 3 in the morning and only having 5 hours of sleep.

I'll show you more pictures from the retreat tomorrow and what everyone else was working on.  I had so much fun!  I met some one who actually reads my blog!  I thought that was pretty neat!
I think I am going to sew some more string blocks now, bye for now!
Missy

15 minute pin cushion

This pin cushion took me only 15 minutes to make!  My husband was like, "you're already done?"  because I'm very slow.  I've always wanted a pin cushion for my wrist!  What better material to use for a pin cushion, than material with a pin cushion it?  I did fussy cut my material to make sure I had a whole tomato centered on my pin cushion.

This pin cushion was in a sewing box I got at an estate sale, 

It was very dirty and orange.  I'm not a fan of pumpkin orange, maybe it's because I hated it when people said I had orange hair growing up, oh wait - I still hate that!  

It was pretty simple to slide the old one right off of the wrist cuff.  I love old, vintage things, but sometimes soemething just cannot be cleaned, but the cuff is still old!

I just looked at the old cushion and used it for measurements.

I cut two rectangles 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches.  I cut another square about 2 1/2 inches by 2 1/2 inches.  Next time I will cut it about a 1/4 of an inch more all around and wait to cut the edges with my shears until after I have sewn it together to make sure that all of my points match up exactly.  Except for the sides on the small square which will need to be cut with the shears before hand.

 Take your 2 rectangles and put them wrong sides together.  Take the small square and put it on the side that will be the bottom with the wrong side facing the right side of the bottom, this is how it will be sewn together.  You want all of your rights sides facing out to be seen.  No turning wrong side out involved!

I used my vintage sewing machine to sew around my squares and it does not have any seam guides, I need to put some on there because my sewing is wonky.  I just sewed around on three sides. give yourself a generous 1/4 inch to a scant 1/2 inch seam, remember you are going to trim after you sew it to make it even all of the way around.  Leave one side open for the stuffing.

I took pieces of leftover fabric from cutting and made it into confetti to stuff my pin cushion with, I prefer the stiffness of it in my pin cushions.

After you stuff it, sew up the last side.  Make sure it is stuffed to the max!

Slip it onto your wrist cuff.  Do you remember those slap bracelets from the late 80's?  Those would be perfect for these pin cushions!  See how easy that was to make?

I've already packed this in my sewing tool caddy for the retreat this weekend!

Missy

"23  And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!

24  And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!

25  It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

26  And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved?

27  And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible."  Mark 25

Romans 10:13  "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

Design Wall Monday

 I've been busy cutting material and getting ready for a quilt retreat this weekend.  This will be my fist ever quilt retreat, I'm pretty excited.  I was cutting  my strips of material that I had sewn together for my trip around the world quilt and putting them in this picnic basket, I closed the lid to keep the kittens and Pippi out.  My husband told me to look in the basket this morning and look what I found!  Pippi had opened the lid and crawled in.  Chris said she kept looking out from under the lid and bopping the kittens as they walked by.  Sometimes I think she is just too smart.

Here are my neat piles that are not neat any longer thanks to Pippi.
 Last night she had dumped the whole basket out, twice!

Here are my strips that still need to be cut into 2 1/2 inch strips, to be  resewn back together.  This quilt will be worked on between the other two quilts that need to be finished this weekend.

This rag quilt should be easy to sew up in one day.  I cut 221 pieces of flannel and 221 pieces of denim to make this quilt.  I already put them in the order I want to sew them.  This quilt is for my nephew, so no big deal if  it gets out of order.
He won't care!  I just remembered that I still need to make a label for this quilt.

I had packed it in this tub, but I think I will take them out of here and put them in the
 picnic basket to save room in the car.

I also finished cutting out all of the pieces to the Sail Away baby quilt.  I'm hoping to get all of the blocks sewn together this weekend, but it is a lot sewing!  There are 440 2 1/2 inch squares alone in this quilt!  That is just for the sashing!

I also have a tin of blue and yellow 2 1/2 inch squares so that I can work on bow ties if I have time.

I have my portable ironing board ready to go and my matching sewing tool caddy ready!  All I need to do is finish cutting my strips and pack!

What are you working on this week?

Ironing Board Cover

 I needed a cover for my TV tray, I have a portable ironing mat, but I wanted something that fits my TV tray better.  I used material left over from my sewing caddy and just sewed them together quickly rather than doing a cute patch work.  I could not find a tutorial on how to make one with elastic, but did not want to make one with a staple gun because I wanted to be able to wash it.  So I just kind of figured it out on my own, next time it will look nicer and go quicker.

I used two old towels rather than batting, it's a lot cheaper!  First of all, make sure you round your corners or it will be very hard to get the elastic around and the corners will stick out funny when you are done.  Be sure your towels are the same size as either the top of your board with no over hang or that it is the same size as your material.

Give yourself an extra three to four inches overhang for the elastic casing and to be able to fit securely underneath.  

There you have it, I love to keep it next to where I am piecing  so I can iron as I piece.  It is also handy for taking with you for sewing days and quilt retreats.  I am going to a quilt retreat this weekend, my first ever!

On another note, my iron died!  I bought it back in 2000 at Sears, it's a Kenmore.  I can not tell you how many times I have dropped that thing, I never cleaned it - yet it lasted me for 13 years!  I got it pretty cheap too, it was on clearance, I used a coupon and my employee discount.  All of this to tell you I had to buy a new iron.  We went to Bed Bath and Beyond.  I was fine with choosing the cheapest iron but my husband insisted on getting a Rowenta.  He liked the retractable chord and I had told him that it is a popular iron with quilters.  I don't like it though!  I do not like that the plate does not extend all of the way down and it is very heavy.  He insists I will get used to it, but I don't know.  What do you think or Rowentas?

What do you like to iron on and iron with?

Also, I was wondering if someone else has trouble seeing some pictures on some blogs?  Every once in a while a picture will be messed up on other people's blogs and I was wondering if it was just my computer or if other people were having the same problem?

Have a great day ya'll!
Missy

Phillipians 3:14  "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

Feline Friday - kittens

It's already Friday again!  I have been very busy this week!  I got a phone call on Friday and my friend was moving to MO in like 30 minutes and found out she could only take her two grown cats and one kitten!  Remember Midnight and her kittens from last week's post here? 
Well, we now have three kittens added to our already big cat family!  We are trying to find homes for two of them, although we have already gotten attached to all of them!  Chris will only let them go to someone we know - LOL.  I think I have a friend who will be taking one of them, she has terrible reception where she lives and I'm having trouble contacting her right now.

left to right, Bessie, Oreo and Custard

Custard is Chris's kitten

Oreo asleep in my arms.  Please ignore the burn on my arm, from the iron!

They love Grandpa Boots, he is 17 years old!

Oreo never stops meowing and he meows himself to sleep and will fall asleep with his mouth open.

We named Bessie, Black Eyed Susan (the flower), BES, which changed to Bessie, but we are thinking of staying with  the food theme.  We are deciding between Ganache, because it looks like someone poured ganache all over her, Marmalade since the rest of her is the color of orange marmalade or Shortcake.  What do you think?

Have a great weekend ya'll!
Missy

Steering Wheel Cover Tutorial

When my husband bought the car, I wanted a yellow car but we could not find a used yellow car that fits our needs.  We got boring black that everyone else haves, so he is letting me trim out the car in yellow!

First, cut a piece 6 inches by 22 inches, of course this depends on your steering wheel.  I had cut 6 1/2  inches, but it was a little too wide.  You want your outer covering and a fleece for the inside to give it some stability, it also makes it a little softer.  leave both ends open so you can turn it right side out.  For my friend's suburban  I would have lfet it at 6 1/2 inches and probably made it 24-25 inches long.  You will be trimming the excess off late, but better too long than too short.

2.  After turning it right side out I highly recommend do a stay stitch on both sides, this will help  keep the material from moving around.  I had to sew it with the fleece side up and the cotton down, sewed easier this way.  Then, using my FMQ foot, I just did a wavy line down the middle, you can do a straight stitch or whatever, just something to keep the material from moving.

I thought this was pretty cool, my expensive Janome FMQ foot cost more than my vintage Japanes 15 clone, Dressmaker Special, and it fits!

3.  Take your long piece and measure it on your steering wheel.  Make sure the  top side is facing down so you can sew it right sides together.  You want it snug, but not too tight.

4.  Pin it with two pins.

5.  Sew it together with a slight curve in the middle, but do a better job  than I did, LOL.

6.  Time for some hand stitching!  My husband prefers to do this part because he can make it tighter than I can.  We used a thick crochet thread, a big needle and put the knot on the inside of the cover.  

7.  While holding the material tightly closed (it helps to have an extra pair of hands) tightly wrap the thread, floss or yarn around the steering wheel.

8.  When you get to the end sew through to the bottom and tie it off  with the knot underneath.

You're done and now your husband will stop nagging you about making him a steering wheel cover!  In TX that black steering wheel can get pretty hot!
Missy

Feline Friday - cat sitting again

I have had a busy two weeks cat sitting!  This week I am cat sitting Muffin and Tiger's older sister.  She is from the first litter and my boys are from the second litter.  She is smaller than Pippi and my boys are huge compared to her!

 She's the same color as Tiger too, just short haired instead of long haired.  She's in heat!  She's driving my cats crazy and Pippi sits there staring at the door until I open it.  DH says that she is doing the freaky dance, she keeps sticking her rear end up in the air and shaking it around.  Well, this morning when he opened the office door, my innocent Pippi was in her usual spot and watched her dancing for a second and then started dancing too!  She's picking up bad habits from that promiscuous cat!  LOL  I know it's not her fault, but it sure is funny, she's trying to catch a man by dancing and "singing"!

She's driving my boys crazy!  They are fixed but can't figure out what is going on!  They are innocents too, she's corrupting my babies!  She goes home Saturday.  She is very sweet and cuddly though.

Last week we watched the demon cat!  It will be the last time we ever watch her!
The first time we watched her she was a couple of weeks old, here's her rescue story.
We watched her last October and she was a different cat!  Here's that story.
We watched her for the last time last week.  She now has kittens and was worse because she was protecting her kittens.

 Yes, she is laying in her food feeding the kittens.  She would not let us in the bathroom to pick up the food dishes!  I'm not really sure how my husband was able o get these pictures!  I think she didn't want to hurt the cats by attacking at that moment.

Doesn't she look demonic with those eyes, she's hissing and saying "stay away"

We had to wear an oven mitt to put the plates of food in the bathroom, we would hold the door open just wide enough to put the food in and she would lunge at us, hissing and growling and spewing.  She sounded like a wild animal in there eating!  One time she tore the oven mitt off my hand!  It got stuck between the door half in and out.  Every time I tried to pull it out, she attacked it!  We kept a board across the entrance of the door to protect our feet, it was at an angle and if a kitten happened to be between us and her, she would not attack us because she did not want to hurt her kitten.
Wednesday, she was being good and kind of ignoring me, so I moved the board to the end of the small hallway there so the kittens could come out and play.  I had left it open for about 30 minutes and decided it was time to feed her.  I was stupid enough to not protect my hand or feet and stepped over the board and she attacked me!  First she attacked my ankle, I pulled her off my ankle and she attacked my wrist and arm, I have no idea how I got her off, but ran into the bedroom where my cats were locked up and cried like a baby.  (FYI the oven mitt incident happened the next day)  My hand had gone numb!  She hit something wrong and I was in such pain!  I treated it with a paste of lavender. colloidal silver and bentonite clay to draw out the poisons.  By Friday it was red and slightly puffy on my wrist and ankle, so I started treating it with an oil blend called deliverance, and  by the next day the infection was gone!  It's still sore, but healing.
When I came out of the bedroom she was in her carrier, nursing so I was able to get the bathroom door shut.  I will never go near that cat again though!
The kittens were adorable though, when we got to see them.  Thursday night Chris was able to trick her into another carrier so we were able to clean the bathroom, scoop the litter box and of course play with the kittens!

 The pictures aren't great because they were just wanting to play.

Chris wants this kitten, and if we did not already have six cats he would have asked for her.  Her coloring is a lot like Pippi's.

 Did I mention that their daddy is one of Pippi's brothers?  Hence the similar coloring.

 She had three calicoes and one black and white.

Trying to escape.

I wish we could have played with them all week.  Maybe it was a good thing we couldn't or we might have seven cats now!
I almost forgot to mention what happened when her owner picked her up.  She saw Ebbye and it was like she was a totally different cat!  She jumped up on the board to get Ebbye to pick her up!  She loves Ebbye's kids too, so they all get socialization at the house, I just hope her kittens don't get her bad habits!  However the dad has to carry a water bottle around because she attacks his feet!  LOL  She's a regular Dr. Jeckyl and Mrs. Hyde!
Do you write cat posts?  You should link them up at Feline Friday with Sarah Did It!

Have a great weekend!
Missy