Has it really been that long since I wrote? It doesn't seem that long. I seem to be stuck in the fast lane of traffic and not be able to move over to get off the exit ramp, even with my turn signal on.

I finished 20 eyeglass holders for the nursing home and gave them for the June party.

I have embroidered some shirts, worked on some crochet, and did some beading, but I have been so busy getting people in the house ready for camps, going to graduation parties, and such. I have barely had any time to keep up with what every one is doing and this makes me sad. My two sons were in an auto accident. An elderly gentleman hit them and totaled the vehicle they were in. That alone took two full weeks out of my life. I had to make what seem like millions of calls to get everything taken care of. My job (the one I get paid for-grin) has been very busy lately and I have worked quite a lot of overtime. I have been so tired when I haven't worked. I joined Curves with my daughter because I was doing horrible trying to motivate myself to get some exercise and sitting for 8 hours five days a week was getting to me.

I guess the problem is I have been disjointed. I still haven't found my groove with things since the change in jobs last November. I spend time thinking and planning a new strategy for how to get it all done, to have something happen and everything fly in my face and upset my new routine. I thrive on routine, but right now I haven't found one that works, thus I am not thriving. I have to remember there is seasons to our lives and I seem to be in the stormy season, not much different than the weather around us right now.
This is the latest of my projects for the nursing home. I made 80 of these little patriotic pins for them for July. I now face August and have no creative idea of what to do. Hopefully, I will get some time to do some web surfing and come up with something. I have an embroidery project waiting for a customer and clothes to repair for our daughter's upcoming camp week and some one just brought me a shirt to repair for them and ironing to do and...well you get the picture. Does everyone have all these things looming over them?
Sew Long for Now!

A few cards I made this week. I haven't done much sewing except in my mind.

Sew Long for Now!

Greetings! I got a picture of one of the pins I made for the nursing home door prizes. The ladies loved these and I was ask to make a few more, who could say no to such cuteness.

Meanwhile I have started on these necklaces for June's door prizes. I also made 20 bookmarkers. I was thinking with Father's Day being in June I need to find a special something to make for the just the men. There are less than 20 men who come to the party. Any ideas would be appreciated, remember these are men in there 80's+.
And I just have to share what I received for Mother's Day from my daughter!

She spent a long time beading each of these flowers and making this necklace for me, she even made a pair of matching earrings! She is so talented!

I have caught up on my mending again, I seem to end up with a lot of mending around here. I need to finish my quilt. Of course my mind is always thinking of more projects to sew!

Sew Long for Now!

Another skirt finished for me. This one out of a soft brown suiting material lined with a cream lining. April's been a busy month. I haven't done a tremendous amount of sewing, but I have gotten a decent amount of crochet done.
I have crocheted a supply of dishclothes, and because of a swap I participated in I made some potholders also.

The nursing home door prizes got attention too. I made 20 brooches out the above fabric. I made big yoyo's out of the pink gingham and then sewing little yoyo's out of the print, I placed those in the center of the larger yoyo's. I topped that off with a button in the center of the smaller yoyo. The brooches look like flowers, something out of a Mary Englebreit picture.

We put in most of two of our veggie gardens. Still need to add more beans and more peppers.


If you have time stop by Things Least Expected and read the poem my daughter wrote for me. I was so touched and awed by it!
Sew Long for Now!

No sewing accomplished over vacation. I did spend a lot of time running around.Here is one of the pandas from the National Zoo which we visited in DC.

I did work on getting some mending jobs done when we got home. The general has a new zipper in his coat and our little bee keeper has the hem let out of some of his pants. Boy, is he going through a growth spurt.

I cut out two skirts that I hope to work on today. I also started a new project for door prizes for the nursing home's May party. I haven't gotten any further on my quilt though. I hope to work on it soon. I need to get some clothing items done first before I continue.

Sew Long for Now!

Here is the quilt I have been working on, I want to make it bigger and I think I will add some more sashing to do that. I want to make it throw size.
I have also been making hotpads to go with my dishtowels.
After years of use mine seem to have worn out.

I have also been crocheting dishtowels and dishclothes. It gives me something to do when I sit through piano lessons, violin lessons, 4H, and other such activities that I take the children to or while the general watches tv and I just want to sit with him. I must admit to enjoying Treasure Hunters.

I am off from work for vacation and the general is also on vacation. We aren't doing anything really big and exciting; Awana games with our youngest, going to one of our oldest ultimate frisbee matches, going to DC to the Smithsonian and National Zoo, and trying to find time to get some stuff done around the house. We are just excited about getting to do it together. We love to spend time together and don't always get to.

Sew Long for Now!

Thanks to my friend Linda's advice I picked a lovely burnt orange fabric to use as the sashing with the blocks I made. Now to just work on it. I finished up 20 clover pins for the nursing home party late Saturday night. I had to give them to coordinator Sunday morning. Sewwwww, I forgot to take a picture of them. I could kick myself because they were so cute. I used a Criswell charm design for a clover I had and did 20 free standing embroidered charms. Then I tacked them on white felt that I had cut in the same shape a little bigger then the charm. Next I cut green felt to match the color thread I used a little bigger than the white felt still in the same outline. I hot glued the green felt on and then put a pin back on each one and put them on card stock with Happy St. Patrick's Day written on it. Now I need to start thinking about April's party.

I have also been working on dishtowels. I dislike fluffy dishtowels, they leave lint. I saw on Amanda Jean's blog how she found some waffle muslim and put binding on it. When I was in JoAnn's the other day I picked up 2 yards of waffle muslin. I began dividing it and cutting it to decide what size I thought would be good for a dishtowel. I also have a couple of the feedsack ones and they are just too big. I finally decided on 18 1/2 inches by 13 inches. With this size I got 16 towels out of the 2 yards. I have loads of premade binding that a lady gave me last fall. I went through it and found some cute binding with a floral pattern and some with dots. I covered the raw edges with binding on all the towels. I think I will add a little to something more to them. I was thinking maybe a row of pieced blocks across the bottom.

Sew Long for Now