…….We finally have a piece of the pie!
Do you remember that old song from the TV show The Jeffersons?
Well, we finally have a piece of the pie. Apple pie that is! As in Apple computer technology.
While in Alberta, our DD-A and DSIL-J presented us with:
They’re determined to keep us up to date with technology, and now we can FaceTime with them and LV!
Now the fun begins – learning how to use this new toy, and now I get to make an iPad cover for myself!
Happy moving with the times! Blessings, Peg
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After some very lazy days, I finally sat down at my sewing machine. First project, some bookmarks – and then on to some prep work for a kids’ quilt that I’ve wanted to do for a while.
The bookmarks – a quick and easy project/gift that I had seen at my parents’ home. They were made for them by one of their quilting friends, and when we stopped by there before Christmas on our way to Alberta, the friend came over and gave me a quick tutorial. Apparently she bought a special ruler to make these, but I thought I should be able to figure it out without that, and I think I have.
This is the first one that I made a few days ago, and Grizz is using it in his books right now. I made a few mistakes, but that’s what practice is for isn’t it:
These are the four that I finished up today, after I did one, taking pictures so that I could share a tutorial with you. These ones still need the final edge-stitching:
And here’s the one that I made for the tutorial:
Very easy, and actually very little sewing.
Start with 4 strips of fabric – for the tutorial I used red and purple, but for the others I used 4 different fabrics, and my parents’ friend also used 4 different fabrics in each of the ones that I’ve seen that she has made.
I cut fabric 2 1/2” wide by about 8-9 1/2” long, with the intent to have a finished product 7 1/2” long. It’s actually important for the finished look to have that 1/2” measurement for the length.
Back any two of the strips with fusible web – I use Misty Fuse, but a light Steam-a-seam would work just as well'. If you look very closely at this picture you can just see the Misty Fuse on the left-hand side. Placing the iron on the edge of the fabric, and you can pull away the excess fusible web – and as you may be able to tell I’m using a silicon pressing board, very important if you’re not using fabric-backed fusible!
Place the fused fabric wrong sides together with the un-fused fabric:
For this purpose the red (fused) strips are shorter than the purple (unfused) strips. Set aside one set, and fold the other set in half length-wise, and press:
Mark a line 1/2” in from the long raw edge (I call this the vertical line). I used a Fuzion pen for marking because the marks will disappear when pressed afterward:
Mark a horizontal line 1 1/2” from one end from the fold to the vertical line:
Mark lines at 1” intervals across the width from the marked vertical line to the folded edge, for the length of the folded strip:
This creates 6 ‘boxes’ in a 7 1/2” length strip:
Then mark diagonal lines from where the folded edge and marked lines meet to the opposite corner of the ‘box’.
Be sure to make the diagonal lines run toward the 1 1/2” space at the end. Then mark a second, shorter line from the fold to the horizontal line 1/4” above the already marked diagonal. Do NOT mark below the last horizontal line:
Cut along all the diagonal lines. Again be sure that you’re cutting from the fold toward the vertical line, with the ‘point’ away from the 1 1/2” space at the ‘top’ end:
Open out the folded strip, and press flat:
Fold up and finger press the V’s created, then press with your iron:
Pick up the fused strip that was set aside, and determine which fabric you want to show through the cut out spaces:
Put the strips together and secure with a dab of glue:
Now before proceeding, make sure that if there’s any selvedge on any of these strips, that they will be cut off. I neglected to do that, and the back of this bookmark has some selvedge at one end (LOL – must laugh at myself!).
Secure the strips together with a line of stitching down the center:
Trim all sides 1/2” from the points of the diamonds:
Using any decorative stitch, sew around all four sides:
One last finishing touch – dab Fray Check on the raw edges:
And when it’s dry – tuck it into your favorite book:
And, by the way, if you haven’t read this one, it’s well worth the read. It’s a far cry from her Harry Potter books, and I found it a little difficult to follow until I began to understand some of the British terms, but a very interesting read.
Happy reading! Blessings, Peg
which was also my April Start
Baby Gracie’s quilt – design and color-way selected by DD. The fabrics in rows 3 and 6 (from the top) are already used in the baby room, so some coordination happening here.
The room is all decorated, furnished, supplied and just waiting now for Gracie to appear. Just a few weeks to go! Gracie is not her name (we don’t know that yet), but will be the name I’ll use for her on my blog.
I quilted daisies into the corner posts and the crosses:
Kind of softens the angles, I think.
And sewing has begun for baby Peanut (DS1 and DDIL2), due in October. First up – diapers, 3 dozen are on the go right now. Then plans to sew receiving blankets, burp cloths, nursing pads, take-along change pads, changing-pad covers (see the chevron fabric on the right in Gracie’s room), crib sheets, diaper bag, sleep sacks, car-seat snuggies (Gracie will need one of these too in the fall).
It’s an adventure – and so good to keep busy while we’re waiting so the time goes by faster!
Happy baby sewing! Blessings, Peg
We’ve been home for a little over a week now, and it’s just flown by!
We started and ended the week helping our DS-K clean up his new home. What a job! But it’s clean enough now that he can actually live there, but the cleaning and renos and redecorating will be continuing. Here’s a picture of behind the fridge before we cleaned it:
K’s mother-in-law actually took charge of the kitchen, and it looks fabulous now!
DDIL-M is away at school,so she is missing out on all the FUN!
So, at the end of the week – carpets are all out, ceilings are almost all painted, floors are vacuumed and washed, kitchen and bathrooms are clean, drains are almost all running freely, lawn is mowed, garbage has been removed, several windows are clean so that we can actually see through them, the small bedroom that K will use temporarily has been painted. Lots and lots more to do yet – painting will continue, the furnace and water heater will be replaced this week, some windows need to be replaced this week. But K actually slept in the house for the first time last night! Welcome home bud!
During the week, Grizz and I tackled a few jobs around the house that were waiting for us – picked and juiced our grapes (sorry, forgot to take a picture), washed the living and dining room drapes (oops, that exposed our windows that are ready for another cleaning), and got started on painting the trim on the outside of the house.
Friday was a day off – and we took full advantage. We headed out to watch some of our friends and neighbors compete in the BC Senior Games Floor Curling competition:
They came home with a gold medal! And another friend competed in the bike racing competitions and came home with a gold and a bronze medal. Not bad for folks in their 70’s and 80’s!
Friday evening we went to the local Fall Fair. The Midway held its usual fascination for the young and the young-at-heart:
There was outdoor stage entertainment by a home-grown singer (not our style, so we didn’t stay long)
We learned that the first night of the fair, there are no animals in the barns yet (will make sure to go on Saturday next year). But the arts and crafts and horticultural displays were all ready:
I, of course, particularly liked looking at the quilts – and there were lots of them:
For the first time ever, I entered a craft project in the fair, the cross-stitch of Kilby Farm (local historic site) that took me several years to complete. As you can see it got a second place:
Happy week! Blessings, Peg
It’s Wednesday again – let’s see what there is to share. If you want to read more, just click on the link on my sidebar.
1. Describe a typical Sunday in your childhood.
Sunday in my childhood meant chicken for dinner, and a trip to visit grandparents or cousins or both.
2. How comfortable are you with uncertainty? Explain.
I really dislike uncertainty. I like to know where I’m headed, when I’m going there, how it will all come together. As a planner and organizer, I really do like to have all my ducks in a row.
3. What's something you've accomplished recently that might be described as crafty, as in 'arts and crafts' crafty? If crafty doesn't work for you, how about handy? Or both.
Recently I finished a Christmas project, thought it was going to be cross-stitch, only to discover it was needlepoint when I got right down to reading the instructions after saving the magazines for several years. After finishing the stitching, then there was assembly. Really happy with how it turned out:
4. Have you ever worked in a 'food place'. What did you take away from the experience?
I did a couple of stints waitressing in small restaurants while in high school. I learned that I love fruit salad, and that dishes should never be dried because tea towels are dirtier than the air (still don’t dry dishes if I don’t have to! LOL).
5. Cold turkey, talk turkey, what a turkey...in recent days, which turkey phrase or idiom best applies to you and why? Click on the word turkey if you need to read more about the meaning behind each phrase.
A few days ago, I decided to bake some cookies. Not a hard thing to do, I’ve done it before, know what I’m doing – right! Well, apparently not so right! I was a real turkey – adding flour while the mixer was going (you should have seen the ‘snow’), dropping an egg in without cracking it open first (again while the mixer was running). Not so sure what I was thinking, but it sure made for some mad scrambles!!! Reminded me of baking days with my daughter.
The cookies were good though!
6. If you could have any one guest join your Thanksgiving dinner table, who would it be?
My fondest with is to have my kids all home for Thanksgiving – hasn’t happened in a lot of years.
7. What is one thing you must accomplish today?
There are no ‘must-do’s’ on the list for today, and number of want-to-do’s like sew a couple of challenge quilt blocks, or put binding on a quilt, or make another Christmas ornament. Then there’s ‘some day soon we should make a Costco run’ – that’s probably the one that will get done first.
8. Insert your own random thought here.
In many ways this has been a lazy week. Not sure why, but I can’t seem to settle down to doing much of anything. I pick up a book, put it down; pick up a sewing project, put it down; turn on the TV, wander away; head for the computer, forget why I went there and play some solitaire. I tried to start a knitting project, discovered that I need to teach myself how to knit all over again, and then finally got going and discovered my needles are too small, so that all came out again. Guess I need to find a purpose somewhere and then get a move on. This all probably relates back to my need for certainty. There are a few things a little uncertain right now – just need to wait out the time to see how it will all turn out.
Here’s to a happy Thanksgiving (US) season! Blessings, Peg
