Needles and Pens

A: My latest quilt for Quilts with Love ! "Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think." ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Taking a little break from the basement this week to finish up a quilting project. Yesterday I did the last of the quilting on my black and white " Quilts with Love " quilt, and today I hope to get the binding sewn on. That might be a stretch, however, because I'm going with my daughter this morning for her ultrasound appointment! Hopefully by lunchtime, we'll know if we're having a boy or a girl. I'm very excited, and not at all sure I'll be able to concentrate on sewing. On the other hand, if we do find out, I'm going to be itching to work on a quilt for the little one, so I'll have a little extra motivation to get this one finished up: I guess we'll just see how it goes... Well, I was right. I was much too excited to feel like sewing this afternoon -- but -- I did it anyway. Gotta love Tackle it Tuesday! Since I definitely wasn't up for hours of handstitching, I decided to attach the binding to the back of the quilt and then experiment...

My friend, Jean , said, "Did Tackle it Tuesday bleed over into Keep Working Wednesday?" LoL Actually, it did! (Not to mention, Throw it Out Thursday!) ;o) Here's that dreaded pool table, before: And after: We even shot a few games of pool last night, and that hasn't happened in ages . Now, the picture might make one think that I just piled everything on the table to the left, but that pile's actually headed for Goodwill tomorrow. And the garbage bag on the floor is, well, garbage. I was truly relentless in my decluttering, and truly determined to figure out where the rest of the stuff belonged . But honestly, I'm still far from done. There's a big shelf full of miscellaneous books and board games, a ton of video tapes to sort through, and one last stubborn pile of things that doesn't seem to belong anywhere . But the difference in my attitude when I walk down there is huge. I do see some light at the end of this tunnel. ;o)

I'm back from my " Tackle it Tuesday " hiatus, in need of a little extra motivation on this basement project that seems to be taking me forever . I've been trying to rid out unnecessary clutter and organize stored items into one storage room. The ultimate goal is to make the main area more like living space, less like a junk yard. So my tackle for today was just to make a dent in this corner. Check it out! Before: After: It's the magic of Tackle it Tuesday! Eventually this will be a sitting area, so there are still lots of things to shift into place. In fact, I still have a long way to go on the decluttering -- behind me is a huge mess that includes a pool table heaped to the ceiling with stuff to sort -- but this was some major progress for one day. I have a sense of accomplishment now that'll hopefully propel me on to the next corner. LoL Thanks for the motivation, Carolyn! Just two more tackles to go today -- dinner and a soccer game. ;o)

Yeah, I'm excited. Spent today at my mom and dad's house, vacuuming and rearranging the living room furniture... and I came home with a new toy! After months -- maybe years -- of debating about it, my mom decided to give me her sewing machine and cabinet today. It was a tough decision, as she used to do a lot of sewing, but she hasn't done any for several years now. Since I sew pretty-much-constantly, it'll get a lot more use here. And she says if she needs to do some mending or whatever, she can always come and do it at my house. ;o) Mom bought the cabinet about 35 years ago, when we lived in New Hampshire. I was about seven or eight years old. It still looks brand new. Here it is closed: And opened with the machine up: She bought the machine about twenty years ago, Singer's top-of-the-line model at the time, and one of their first electronic machines. Even at 20+ years old, it has loads more bells and whistles than my newer machine. My favorite feature, a wind-...

Got the borders on my quilt top yesterday, pieced the backing, AND got the whole thing layered, pinned and marked for quilting. So far, so good: Meanwhile, my house was transformed today into "baby central." On a hot garage sale tip, my daughter and I were out bright and early this morning and scored a really nice Medela breast pump, complete with leatherette carrying case -- very professional -- for only twenty bucks. Perfect for when she goes back to work. This inspired us to start pulling out all the great baby things that people have been passing along to her lately, and get everything washed and ready for baby. I can't believe there are only six weeks to go! I adore the bassinet (here, with the vibrating infant seat, car seat bases, a Boppy pillow and Diaper Genie): Baby swing, stroller and two car seats (one attaches to the stroller): And there's more in the basement yet. She still needs a highchair, though there's plenty of time for that, and is determined ...

Believe it or not, I think I've had enough quilt journaling for awhile. All the little bits of paper are cleaned up for the time being, and here's the page I finished last night for my daughter's graduation quilt (Think I went a little overboard with the flower stickers?): I dutifully put in some time today mowing the lawn and sorting through about half of the clothes in my 10-year-old's room, so I think I deserve a little time in my sewing room. I'd like to start setting together the quilt blocks for my grandbaby-to-be, but first I need to finish up another project I've left hanging. It's to be a Quilts with Love quilt for the troops, made from some of those bazillion 4" squares I cut out of fabric samples. Here's a photo I took awhile back, of the top in progress: As of today, the rows are sewn together and I just need to add a border and get ready for quilting. Border strips are cut, a path is cleared to the sewing machine, nothing can stop me no...

The thing about scrapbooking is, once you get started it's so hard to stop! For one, it's messy, and I hate to clean up until I'm finished scrapping for awhile. Secondly, it's just addicting, plain and simple. Again, it's the reason I limit scrapbooking to my quilt journal alone. Once I get it caught up, I have to make more quilts -- so I can make more pages. LoL Here, three more pages completed yesterday. A tribute to my adorable new great-niece, Sophia (and her quilt, of course!): The "Paws-itively Wild" Bear Paw quilt for my son, Timothy (my favorite part is his thank you note, "Thank you for the awesome quilt, Mom. It is paws-itively amazing." ): Remembering a favorite teacher -- and our gift to her this year: I have one more page to go, then I think it's time to clean up the mess and get back to work on my latest quilt. No wonder I have a hard time getting around to the housework! LoL

Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. ~ Psalm 29:2

Last night I started working on a brand new quilt journal/scrapbook, since my last one holds three years worth of quilts and is, well, stuffed to the gills. I've been collecting all kinds of little stickers and other goodies to start journaling my latest quilts, but somehow it's been difficult getting started on that first blank page. And yet, despite my apprehension and rudimentary scrapping skills, I have finished page one, "A Box of Chocolates." "Chocolates" was my first finished quilt of 2008, donated to Quilts with Love for the troops serving in Iraq. I've made several quilts and tops for Quilts with Love, journaling each one, and so I've run out of new ideas to include on these pages. The new addition this time, a miniature copy of the Certificate of Appreciation that was awarded to the group last year. I love to fill my pages with pictures and pretties, so I often forget to include the details of the quilt, the size, the fabrics, how the idea ...

I woke up this morning with the overwhelming feeling that I have SO much to do in the next few weeks, how will I ever get it all done? It's a panicky feeling that just hits me every so often, generally first thing in the morning, and the only thing that calms me is to make a list and get all of those nasty little details out of my head and onto paper. So I did. And it helped. After all, I'm here writing, aren't I? The one thing I keep telling myself I have no time to do! Yesterday was my daughter's 19th birthday, and also marked the end of her 33rd week of pregnancy. I can hardly believe there are only seven more weeks until her due date. Of course, to her, time seems to be standing still. (Note the intensely forced smile that was preceded by, "Mom, stop taking pictures of me. I feel enormous!") She's nesting, which is hard to do when you don't have a home of your own. Much of my own to-do list involves helping her create a nest within a nest, in our p...

Second year, the clematis is thriving... A profusion of lilies... Purple Coneflowers... and the view from the chaise lounge... "All of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon - instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today." ~ Dale Carnegie