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.

Playing between the Lines Finished

Well, my day was hijacked this morning by work. I managed to get a few things on my list completed but not nearly everything. I finished up the button project.

The basting I did left lines on the front!! I tried rinsing it this morning. I dried it for a little while in the dryer then hung it on the clothesline. It looks better, but I can still see the lines. Maybe I will always be able to see them but nobody else will. Can you see any lines?

I am considering whether or not I should add some stitched detail to the binding. I think it looks fine now, but maybe it could look better. However, I'm not sure what I mean by "stitched detail" just yet. I'll think about it some more. Honestly, I don't have time right now to fool with an already finished project!

Unexpected Windfall

Parker had a friend over this afternoon for a play date. When her mom came to pick her up, look what she brought me!

Two boxes full of fabric! Goldie is inspecting it for me. She approves.

The family is moving soon. They had a yard sale, but folks around here don't want to pay what things are worth at yard sales. So lots of stuff didn't sell.

A bag of Disney prints

A bag of sports theme prints

A bag of Halloween prints

These photos are just a sample of all the goodies in these boxes. I have not had a chance to go through all of this yet. I will keep what I can use and give the rest away. My guild has what we call the "raffle table" every month. The idea is that you put things you don't want on the raffle table. During break members "shop" the table by purchasing tickets for $1 on a chance to win stuff off the table. At the end of the meeting a winning ticket is drawn for each pile of stuff. The winners go home happy and who ever brought the stuff does too! The money raised goes to the guild general fund.

Silver Threads Quilt Show

I think this may be the only underground quilt show in the world. The show is held in the community center in Creede, CO. It doesn't look like much from the outside.

The husbands of the guild members serve lunch in the covered porch area outside the show. I had a wonderful potato soup with ham and mushrooms and an apple bacon sandwich.

I wasn't bowled over by any quilt in particular in the show. So I just took pictures of the quilts that caught my eye for various reasons.

These first two were from their guild challenge.

This doll house quilt was just darling! The front of the house was on the back of the quilt.

To see the large quilts you have to walk through the unfinished mine section of the community center where the show is held.

The vendors are in a separate area next to the community center. It is in the garage of the local fire station.

Inside there are bays excavated out for the trucks to park. The vendors set up in the truck bays. So what did I buy?

Some rubbing plates and stencils to use with my Paintstiks.

Some wool beads. They were 50% off and I just couldn't resist.

A pattern and kit to make some zipper pouches. I saw this pattern on somebody's blog and seriously considered ordering it. I'm glad I waited.

I had planned to avoid buying fabric, however, that didn't work out very well.

These half yard bundles come from a store in Nebraska, Material Girl Fabrics. When I saw all the Kaffe Fassett fabrics I knew I was in trouble! Oddly, I didn't buy any Kaffe fabric though.

Sunshine Award

Yay me! I got a blog award yesterday from Melissa. She has a great blog that I follow. If you aren't familiar with Melissa's blog, click on her name to check it out.

The award is just for fun. It's more of a gift than an award and the idea is that I pass on the love. So here are my nominees:

Stephanie (Mama Pea)

Sandy

Barb

Denise

Deanna

Naomi

Teresa 

All these ladies have blogs I enjoy. Click on their names to visit their blogs.

If any of these nominees choose to accept this award for making me smile, here is what they need to do:

1. Save the image above and post it on your own blog.
2. Pass the award on to 12 fellow bloggers
3. Link the nominees.
4. Let nominees know they have won this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Share the love and link to the person you received this award from.

 

Yes, I know that I only listed 7 nominees and the instructions say 12. I have not been blogging or following for very long so I could only come up with 7. I really enjoy what my 7 nominees post and I didn't want to cheapen their efforts by just picking 5 more names because "I had to." My philosophy is to only follow the rules that make sense to me. 

 

And what have I been doing today besides winning awards and basking in the glory? I'm not going to tell you, but I will show you a picture.

Stayed tuned for further details on this one. And I haven't posted a Goldie picture in a few days. So here you go.

She is sitting on the back of my sewing chair trying to figure out how to get to the little hummingbird pull I have hanging from the ceiling fan.