Saturday, May 31, 2014

Here's the new leaf

Alright then - here we go with an update on the past couple of weeks.  I found some fabric at the Goodwill.  Ronda usually has more success than I do, but nonetheless, it makes me feel so good when I find a bargain there.  And especially when I have the right color tag to get 50% off.  Yeah!

This is for borders on a UFO.  Time to get some stuff moved along!  Yesterday I made two labels for 2 quilts that have been sitting downstairs waiting for this last step.  I am working on the 3rd one and then I should be about caught up with that task.  I'm still working on my sweatshirt jacket,
This is another made by our teacher.  When (not if) I get this done, it should be very nice, indeed.  But Caro you are right - it is a lot of work sewing all those little pieces on.

For Memorial Day Week-end, we went away with our RV group.  Thursday, when we arrived, was quite nice and sunny.  Sadly it seemed to deteriorate as the days went by.  By Sunday, we had lots of rain going on.  But that has never damped our week-end outings.  We had potlucks, several educational presentations, and of course, lots and lots and lots of games.    Here are a couple of photos, courtesy of Lis Smoot.  This is Mayfield Lake.

  One of the dogs learning how to do "nose" work.
And these are the women who had served in the military, whom we honored.
Lots of fun, of course.

So, this week:  we got rid of a couple of old chairs (you've seen the new blue ones)
Some friends from Denver, Colorado came into town and we HAD to visit and have coffee with them,
Last night was the 11 year old grandson's school play.  Revivor Philadelphia - all about the U.S. Constitution and all its framers.  It was a musical and the kids did a terrific job, with all their lines memorized.

Today was gorgeous and sunny.  So what must we do?  Ride our bicycles.  Our big bike trip is coming up in August and we gotta get all our parts ready for that - legs and backsides!

We did 12.5 miles.  Bit by bit, we're improving!

Time to revisit the sewing room and keep working on that sweatshirt.  More again soon.

Friday, May 30, 2014

No - I didn't fall off the turnip truck

But seem to have fallen off blog writing.  Sorry about that.  I promise some good catching up tomorrow.  It's too late tonight.
Working on my block with some embroidery.  RVing with the group for the holiday week-end.  Lots and lots of stuff happening - what's with this retirement = nothing to do.  Ha!

Sunday, May 18, 2014

As promised. . .

Stashbusters (Yvonne, this is my quilt bee group)

Elaine was playing with strips

Practicing with some half log cabin blocks for a group project.

I couldn't attend the CTA community sewing day (known as Sew Thoughtful - ha ha ha) but I did have to stop by to pick up the bag I left behind at our meeting on Monday.  While I was there Mary found a few things for me to work on at home.  Projects are usually "kitted up", meaning that all the necessary fabric is gathered together, ready to take and start sewing.  These will all become pillow cases (American style) which are given to a local hospital.





This has become a 4 patch little quilt which is given to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the same hospital.

I have finished 3 pillowcases and the little quilt.  6 more pillow cases to go, for this charity sewing project.

On Saturday I began the workshop to use a sweatshirt as the base for a jacket.  I am trying to document the steps.  It isn't at all hard, but it is a bit tedious.  Using an especially large sweatshirt (1-2 sizes bigger than you might normally choose), you remove the bottom band and both sleeve bands.  You baste up the center of the front (to mark it) and then you cut the side seams and the sleeve seams.  Then using pieces that you have cut from 7 fat quarters, attach those randomly (but use them all) to your sweatshirt.


To make sure that I am using all the different prints, they are separated into piles.



Here is an example of a finished sweatshirt jacket, made by our instructor.  I'll show you how much progress I'm making, throughout the next days/weeks.

Pretty cute, huh?

It didn't rain today (as promised) so we had a very pleasant walk in Magnuson Park, along Lake Washington.





Busy these days at Casa Nana.  But life is sure good!

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Sunshine, AGAIN

I do realize that it isn't summer quite yet, but high 70's and low 80's could fool you into thinking it was. However, the TV weatherman assures us that it will all come to a crashing halt tomorrow and even some wet-stuff on Saturday.  Alas!

The sweet little girls (and their parents) came for a short visit on Mother's Day - bringing tulips.

[being very careful with a peanut butter topped bagel]  Miss "L" was just cruising all over the house.  She seems to be really enjoying not being tied down with that crawling business.

Monday at CTA we had a couple of fun/interesting "Show and Tell" items.  It is always fun and interesting to see what folks have been doing between our meetings.



Some fun things to do with old blue jeans - a skirt and a bag.  A quilt made from things for sale at last year's fabric sale:
The sale this year will be June 21 (unfortunately - or perhaps good - I will miss it)

A bit of babysitting - tiring, but great fun.
[Cheerios while standing taste much better than when sitting down]

Stshbusters tonight, tomorrow CTA baby quilts and Saturday a sweatshirt re-make workshop.  Photos to come along.  Happy days.

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Here's what's going on at Casa Nana

Well, I guess I have some more catching up to do with you.  Before I forget again, I don't think I showed you my new "floor cloth".  My friend Nancy made this - isn't it just so much fun?  She started with a piece of canvas (I think), she added gesso (not sure that is spelled correctly) in several coats, then she painted it and then put on several coats of varnish or lacquer.  It is now a very substantial floor cloth - a rug for in front of my ironing board.  It makes me very happy.


What else?  Well, it seems that little Miss L has got this walking stuff down pretty well.  She does quite a bit of looking like Frankenstein as she moves around, but she gets there and doesn't rely on crawling very much any more.  So cute!

The girls really enjoy "Baby Einstein" videos, so they are allowed limited time with those,
Of course, who doesn't love a baby in sunglasses?

We did a bit of purchasing (and assembling) this week.  A couple of new items for the motorhome - well not actually for the motorhome, but for us to use when using the motorhome,

I don't think these fold up quite as small as the ones we have seen in Europe, but they will work fine for us and should fit in the back storage space.  Pretty cool, huh?

Been doing a bit of cooking this week, as well,
Banana cookies - another way to use up those over-ripe bananas sitting on the kitchen counter.  They are quite tasty, albeit very soft.  Lots of banana flavor.  I chose to add some butterscotch chips and pecans.  And then today we gave a Christmas gift a try - I know it is May, but you don't want to rush into things.  And having a good long time to try this was what was required.  What a hoot!


A Dutch taste treat from Glenn and Sue.  Yummy!

A neighbor had a small "display" on the front lawn - celebrating May Day.  Happy May one and all!  And for the mothers among you, Happy Mother's Day.