Labels, Labels, Labels, and Mother’s Day

I put this picture on Facebook for Mother’s Day but thought I would share it here.  This is our family’s 4 generations of mothers: My mother, me, my daughter and granddaughter.  We have Mother’s Day all over the southeast. 










DH and I went to Mellow Mushroom for lunch: doesn’t this look good?  Well I’m here to tell you that it was GREAT! 















I finally got the binding put on the Boots quilt.  I had to wait until I had the label designed (EQ design wall?).
















I am working with a new software: it is so much easier to stay with the old one but I like the challenge. 























I also have pinned the label on the Funky Chickens quilt but it isn’t sewn on yet.  I plan to take a couple of these quilts to guild Tuesday and would like the labels to be there when I do.













I have started stitching down the Underground Railroad label.  I have to say that all these labels have severely cut into my knitting time. 














And this also cuts into my knitting time.  After DH and three dogs join me on the swing, there is precious little room for knitting.  But who can say no to these cuties.















I did finish my placemats, first real finish since March.  But I think I am on a roll now.





I will be linking up with Patchwork Times, a great place to get your creative juices flowing.

BOM’s and a Finish

The first thing I got done was this month’s teapot.  I was really excited to get this done because when next month’s comes out I will have them all and be ready to plan the quilt’s setting.















Then I looked at this temp. wall I have set up so I can make sure I don’t use the same fabrics over again.  And I counted and only came up with 9 finished teapots.  Now, I have looked “everywhere” for it but can’t find it.  I couldn’t believe I had not made all of them but finally went back through my blog to find which one wasn’t on my wall.





After a blog search I found this picture of the missing pot.  At least I know I made it, now I just have to figure out what I did with it.  I am usually so good at keeping everything together, I wonder what happened.  Anyway, I will keep looking until the next one is done and if it hasn’t been found, I guess I will make it again. 







The next thing I worked on was the binding for this Jelly Roll Quilt a Long quilt. 











I am so glad I decided against borders.  I think the binding right on the blocks is just right.










And it even looks great with the backing fabric.  And now it is ready to give hugs to a teen girl in foster care.











This is a fuzzy picture of my next project.  This is a “BOM” being featured at the Fat Quarter Shop.  Actually, I think they post a new segment every other week, but I am three weeks behind so I am not really sure. 






So here are all of the parts cut for the gingerbread men.  Mine will all be the same fabric with some differences in the bows.  All that being said, I really don’t like having to cut up all those little pieces (1 1/2” squares), but it had to be done.





Now with all those little pieces in hand, I started sewing gingerbread men.  This is how far I got yesterday but I hope to actually see gingerbread men by the end of today.












Part of the reason I didn’t get more done was because Sadie made me spend time on the hammock with her.  Puppies can be so pushy. 






And the most important thing this morning is that today is my mother’s 91st birthday.  And I am hoping that she has received my package because I am going to share her gift on the post.  But first I must tell this story. 

I had a plan for her Mother’s Day gift.  I got ready to make it and the device I needed to make it all work, the printer, didn’t work.  It took me a month to get it working well enough to print pictures with the right colors.



So finally the pictures got printed, first on paper and then on fabric.











What I made was this little pillow.  It is to be an attachment to a pillow I made for her a few years ago that had pictures of her two children, our four children, our then six grandchildren, and one great grandson. 






And I put pictures on both sides because I just love this one.
The bowl is a chicken and is her birthday gift.  Mother collects chickens and this seemed perfect for morning cereal and/or lunch/dinner soup. 

     Happy Birthday, Mother!

Busy and Productive

This has been a good week for getting things done.

Don’t look at the dog, look at the white part next to the bed.  What you can see is the top step, of two, we put next to the bed because we have two dachsunds and don’t want them jumping on or off the bed and hurting their backs.  However I painted the steps with a glossy paint and decided it was too slick.  So I needed a rug runner for them.  See it on the step?

I bought a bathmat with a rubberized backing and cut it in half.  Then I needed to bind the cut edge.  I was planning to use colored Duct tape but found a woven binding tape and sewing it on.  

I have to say that my straight stitch machine did a wonderful job.  This is the machine that I do all my piecing on and it handles all fabrics, has a pin stitch for when I have multiple layers, and never fails to give a great stitch no matter what I throw at it.

I also got all my Carpenter’s Star blocks put together and two of the three borders on.  Just for this picture I stuck a piece of the outer border up so I could see how this quilt will look when it is all together.  One small problem is that I don’t have enough of that outer border fabric for the binding so at sometime I will have to figure out a substitute.  Anyway, I am really pleased with how this top is looking.

I got to celebrate Mother’s Day over a three day span.  On Saturday we received a package from our youngest son and his wife.  It contained the card you can see in this picture (Snoopy dances on the inside) and the glass owl in front of the lamp (a Christmas 2010 gift).  I collect glass owls and they keep finding ones I have never seen before.  And the fun thing is that we will get to go antiquing with them next month when we get together in NC for a short vacation in the mountains.  Yea!!!

On Sunday, after our Mother’s Day dinner, DH and I spent time, and money, at Lowes where I got this throw rug.  I don’t drink all these kinds of coffee but I do like flavored coffee and love this little rug.  It is in the entryway of the bedroom, reminding me what I get to look forward to when I get up in the morning.

Then on Monday we had lunch with our daughter and she gave me this gift.  I kind of looked at it askance until I opened it and saw what was inside.

Look at these beautiful plates.  Of course she has already told me we are to have her and her husband over for desert served on them.  And you are seeing them fresh from the dishwasher: yes, we have already had desert on them, twice.

 

I should also note that I heard, via email, from our older two sons also.  I feel truly blessed.