Saturday, February 20, 2010

Yes, I Did!

Friday Night Sew-In. Did you play? I checked Heidi's blog tonight and there were 193 people signed up! Yay for us!

In her instructions, Heidi tells us to "put on your comfy jammies.. maybe make a cup of tea.. and sit down to work on some of those projects (or anything else that you want to work on)." Well, honestly, I've been schlepping around the house in my comfy jammies much too much these last couple weeks, and it's just not a treat anymore. Even Hubby agrees. So actually PUTTING ON CLOTHES was my strategy for this event. (No, I don't mean that I would otherwise quilt nude--at my age, there are too many saggy, floppy things that might get in the way of the needle, which makes quilting more dangerous than dropping into the half pipe to execute a corkscrew. I just mean that I actually wore "normal" clothing. For a change.)

I DID make tea though. And I served it in style in the red and white polka dot mug (eat your heart out Heckety and Gran!). With M&Ms (get well "medicine" sent to me by Crafty Carol). Yum. (Sadly, though, before the evening's festivities were over, I got excited--or maybe it was due to a sugar/chocolate high--and knocked half a cup of tea over. I hate it when I do that, and it actually seems to happen more often than it should.)


The first thing I worked on was quilting the Winter White Schnibbles quilt. I started it Thursday and I thought I'd finish it during the sew in. But guess what? I ran out of thread. ARGH! I ordered another spool, but I had to order online, so I won't get it until sometime next week. Don't you hate it when that happens?!


I thought about giving up, but I decided to keep going since it was only about an hour into the evening's sewing. Next I pinned and started quilting THIS one:


This is as far as I got. I still need to quilt the border, but that shouldn't take very long.

Then I need to teach Hubby how to sew bindings. Holding a needle isn't great with my hands, so doing hand work--well, I can do a little bit at a time, but it would take awhile to finish the binding, and I'm just not very patient. Now that I think about it, maybe teaching Hubby to sew bindings isn't a great idea--that whole "not very patient" thing, you know? Well, we'll see. Three weeks at home together and we're both still living, so I count that as an achievement in patience.

Before I shut down and go to bed, I wanted to mention this book:


If you are the kind of person who laughs out loud and if you live with anyone else, this might not be the book for you--because I think you'll laugh your way through the whole book and annoy the heck out of everyone around you. This book was originally published in the UK, I believe, under the title Divas Don't Knit. I really enjoyed reading it, mostly because I loved the author's sense of humor. I've checked Amazon and readers there gave it anywhere from one to five stars with an average of about three and a half. I would have given it five, but then again, I've read books that have been given five stars, like While my Pretty One Knits, and although I enjoyed the book well enough, I thought The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club was much more entertaining. Funny how we all have different takes on things, isn't it? But if you enjoy funny books, try this one.

Happy sewing--and reading!

10 comments:

Heckety said...

I'm very happy to see my mug again! It appears to be quite content in its life with you! M&M??
Your quilts are looking good- I found out why my machine quilting is such a disaster- I can't drom the feed dogs on my machine. Also I put into practice your idea of choosing the border before starting the quilt on my latest scrap yoke, (although it may not look it)and I think its much better- so thank you!
I'm off to look for this book- have you read any Anna McPartlin?She's lovely.(Swaps!)
Also Hubs and bindings?????remember the advice on the bullet proof vest? Get one for yourself too whilst you are there...my Hub only does 'donkey stitch' and I would NOT want that on a quilt!
Just sayin'!!

Heckety said...

PS. I meant M&M as in you lucky duckie!
But I take it back because you need treats a LOT just now.

Kelly Ann said...

Quilting???? do you have braces on your wrist...now that's a sight I'd like to see...

Shelley said...

glad to hear you got some sewing done Kim.
Aren't M n M's the BEST medicine!:)

Jocelyn said...

Love your polka dot mug! Can you sew your bindings down on the machine? I've gotten to where I do that more and more. And most of the time I bring the backing fabric over to the front and sew away ;-) I don't enjoy doing hand binding.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the recommendation! I'll keep an eye out for it.
Those quilts are looking great! Keep up the good non killing of each other. Really its so messy, and such a bother to explain...

Anonymous said...

How fun to see you here again...and did get a chuckle out of clothes vs lack of. Take a look at the post a made previous to one up now if you want a good chuckle!

paulette said...

Hi Kim!
As I was reading your post I'm singing.."She back in the saddle again..." (with a down south western accent of course...) I know you're still on the mends so I won't break out into FULL chorus until then but it felt good...Was it good for you?
Love you quilts! And thanks for the book tips! Take care...Paulette

kimland said...

Kim, looks like your starting to get your groove back. I hope it's smooth sailing going forward. I was signed up for the friday night sew-in and totally forgot (til now). I was out of town/and out of life for a week got home Wed. night and started a new job Thursday morning, sooo... that's my sad story and I am sticking to it!

Anonymous said...

I love the quilt with the brown blocks! And I am green with envy about your red mug. I actually put pjs on, but still had on shoes which drives my husband mad. Hey, I just don't like to quilt barefooted.