USS Electokate

On Monday my husband carried home, about 3 blocks, a huge empty box. He received a delivery of chairs for the Math Lab. The chairs came in the box. All kids love boxes and our son, Parker, is no exception. The box has become a nebula class star ship.

The box is so large that I had to carry it around the house to the playroom patio doors to get it into the playroom.

The dome is a plastic shade that fits over a bulb. These were the old playroom lights, just bulbs hanging from the ceiling with these sad plastic shades clipped on. It makes a great star ship dome though!

I'm not sure what all the markings are for on the inside, but Parker has been working very hard on it every day after school.

He has a used aluminum pie plate that will become the deflector shield soon.

I have been swamped with work lately. I am taking a labor intensive two week course on WebCT, an online course delivery and course manager type software. Since I am doing more classes these days and the classes are online courses, I thought it would be a good idea for me to finally take this course so I can use WebCT in my job. I am taking this course in addition to my regular jobs which is really cutting into my sewing time. So this star ship project is about the most exciting and creative project going on at my house right now.

Wonky New York Beauty, Part 2

I finished making the four wonky New York Beauty blocks for my homework project.

I did not enjoy piecing these as much as I enjoyed the other wonky blocks I've made. The only real difference is that these are foundation pieced and the others were not. So maybe that is why I didn't enjoy these as much.

I have put my blocks together.

I am thinking about what kind of border this needs, if any. So I haven't squared this up yet because I don't know what my next step will be. My sewing time is up for today so that will have to wait for another day.

I also cut up some of the fabric I was given recently. I have two charity quilts cut out that will be Leader and Ender projects.

The Clifford quilt.

Just from today's sewing session, I pieced about two-thirds of the Clifford squares to short red rectangles. At this rate I will have the top done in no time!

The Winnie the Pooh quilt.

And a Goldie picture.

A cats favorite place to lay is on whatever quilt you are working on! These are the fabrics for my Wonky NY Beauty blocks.

Mystery Project revisited

I wanted handles on my Featherweight case cover. This would have been much easier to do before assembling the bag, but, *sigh*, I really wanted handles and didn't know how I wanted to put them on until the bag was completed. So I did a little unsewing; made handles and attached them to the liner; then resewed.

The handles are a 4" strip by width of fabric. Fold the strip in half lengthwise and press; open it and press each side to the center fold; then fold in half, press and stitch. Just your basic handles really.

Although my Featherweight case is probably not original to the machine, I have still heard that it is not a good idea to carry these by the handle. Someone in my mom's guild had her handle come off as she was carrying her case, with the machine inside. It wasn't pretty folks! Now my little Velma has a beautiful fabric cover with handles so she should be safe and snug for many years to come.

And here is a photo I took over the weekend of an uneasy truce that has developed at our house between the 20 year old cat, Maggie, and our new kitten, 3 month old Goldie.

This is the first time since Goldie moved in that they have been close enough (and not fighting) for me to take a picture of both of them in one shot.

Boyd Fun Run

My son's school does a one mile run every Fall and Spring. The kids run while the parents cheer and take pictures. The kids line up in a mob at the starting point. Parker wore all yellow! I cringed a bit when he left the house in the morning, but it was easy to find him in a crowd.

They run (or walk).

He finished 65th and ran most of the way - a big improvement over last Fall's run.

Every kid that finishes get a ribbon and a popsicle.

A good time with friends.

Zipper Pouch

Yesterday I successfully put in my first zipper! Yippee skippy!

I bought this kit and the pattern at the quilt show last weekend.

The kit was very nice. It came with everything I needed: a generous amount of fabric, the fusible fleece, a zipper and a spool of matching thread. The pattern, Cash and Carry by Atkinson Designs, was very easy to follow, correct and well written. It took me about an hour to complete my pouch but I anticipate being able to make more in less time now that I've done the first one. It turned out so cute!

There is a pocket on each side that holds a credit card or ID. That should give you an idea of its size. I did not take pictures of my process on this since it is a purchased pattern. I recommend the pattern if you are interested in making one. In addition to this pouch, the pattern also includes instructions for three other similar pouches.

I couldn't resist snapping of few photos of Goldie this morning. So here is your daily dose of kitten cuteness.

She is not suppose to be on my ironing table, but does it look like she cares?!

Mystery Revealed

I finished my mystery project this morning. Those of you who guessed "bag" were on the right track. This is the outside.

This is the inside. I used left over strips from my king size bed quilt project on the inside.

So what is this? Meet Velma, my Singer Featherweight.

This is a quilted cover for her case. She was very excited to try it on!

It fits perfectly!

I got the pattern out of the current issue (October/November 2010) of Quilter's Home Magazine.

The project is featured on the cover. It was not hard to make, but not what I would call a fast project. I am planning to make one for my mom for Christmas but I wanted to try out the pattern first. I don't think my mom is a regular blog reader, but if you are mom, just forget about this entry!

Wonky New York Beauty

My art group met today. We made wonky NY beauty blocks. Well, I made about 1 1/2 blocks but have foundations and fabric to make more for homework.

We may have finally settled on a name for ourselves, the Sew Silly Sisters (or Sisterhood).

I am still working on my mystery project. I'll show you another photo.

Five of the pieces are quilted and the sixth is about half quilted. When I finish the quilting, I'll be ready to move on to the next step. I'll give you a hint: this is quilted, but it is not going to be a quilt.