Still hot

This is not my favorite time of year. Thank God the A/C is still running properly and the weather channel promises a drop in temps in the next few days. Maybe I can wear my makeup without it streaming down my face.

August 5 is my granddaughter's birthday. Brittany will be 10 years old! The picture below is a neck bone pillow I made for her last night. I used a pattern from her old pillow to make the three sides. I was going to show you a picture of her old, nasty pillow, but decided against it. It was just too "loved" to be pretty. Suffice it to say that the seam allowance tells the story of what color it used to be! She carried that thing around like a well-loved blankie. I did use the innards of her old pillow and had to add more stuffing to make it really plump. My biggest challenge was figuring out how to attach the handles but I got it done.


Jim and I were able to take a few days and run up to Ruidoso this past weekend. We had a nice, restful time. But, it was even too hot in the mountains! I got to see my Aunt Dolores and Uncle Tony and three of their boys, Joe, Robert and Gilbert and they're respective spouses and on of the grandkids. All in all, it was a very nice trip. We got back Monday afternoon.

Dad is having issues with his feet these days. They are hurting and seem a bit swollen. He has a lot of pain when putting weight on them so he can barely get from the bed to the potty then to his chair. Once in his chair, though, he goes everywhere. He's really enjoying being able to go outside and cruise. As for his feet pain..we think it may have something to do with a new medication, but then again, it may just be the cancer. If this continues, we'll have to get him in to see someone for more relief.

It's time to get ready for work. I need to find a gift bag for Brit's goodies. She's having a little party tonight at a friend's house. I need to leave early today in order to stop at the supply house for some hair color. Have a great Thursday!

Is it hot enough for you?

Oh my goodness, 102 and 103 temps! Thank God for air conditioning. I don't even wear makeup on the days I watch Kerrington. I can't see sweatin' it off when she doesn't care if her grama is naked-faced. I may not even make-up my face today when I go to work. No, wait. I will. When I don't, people think I'm sick. Maybe 'cause I'm so fair skinned and I look like I'm about to pass out. LOL

In spite of the heat, I made another blanket last night. These are so easy to make and Kerrington loves being swaddled to sleep. These blankies are not as hot as a flannel blanket would be, I think.
Notice I mitered the corners correctly? I don't know what I did with the previous blanket that caused me to have to re-design the corners, but I like the mitered corners much better. I have a feeling I will be making more of these for gifts.

I also worked on the tablerunner last night. I can't seem to make one of these without making mistakes. When I start one of these, I need to just keep at it until I'm done. Especially when using directional fabric. I stopped to get on the computer for a while and to make the blanket. When I got back to the runner, I'd lost track of where I was. Oh well.. I got it straightened out and hopefully will finish it tonight.

I STILL need to embroider three plush blankets for a client. I just get so lazy about setting up my embroidery machine.

It's shower time and I want to get to work a little earlier. Don't laugh.

"Design Opportunity"

Also known as a mistake! But, as you can see in the picture, it turned out quite nice. The corners of this receiving blanket were going to be mitered until I made a mistake, on all four corners, and I had to cut them to finish them in this manner.
I made another blanket with this pattern and it was fine. I don't know what I did. I'll have to try another one. The back of this blanket is part of a sheet that Judy gave me to use for this purpose. It's a very soft fabric and worked very well. One queen-size sheet will make four nice size blankets. The front fabric came from a stash that Leota brought me a while back. I WILL get the corners right! lol

I'm at Rob and April's right now and have just put Kerrington down for her morning nap. This child knows exactly what to do once she is swaddled. The trick is to swaddle her tightly because she will pull her arms out if given half a chance. But, if she's wrapped right, she falls right to sleep. No crying at all! Same way with her afternoon nap. She's such a good girl!

Ready for stitching

I decided all the July BOMs needed to be appliqued since the first one I did turned out so cute. I didn't feel like choosing different fabrics for each one, so they all look the same. Lazy, huh? The little bit of embroidery that is needed for the stems and lettering will finish them nicely and I'll use a blanket stitch with black thread around the applique pieces.

I've spent most of the evening on Facebook. Waste of precious time, believe me! But, it's addicting. I'm building my farm and playing Farkle. lol I did clean off the dining room table to get ready to quilt the tablerunner I cut the other day and I've started another bag. Oh, I did cut and apply all the applique pieces on the BOMs.
I spent the night last night at Dad's. He did well. He didn't even beep for me. I know he got up several times to the potty, but he didn't have to call me. I just kept one eye open, ya know? Now that I think about it, it's time to get to bed. Maybe I'll sleep all night since I'm pretty tired. It's Kerrington time tomorrow! Seems like ages since I've seen her. It's actually been since Thursday.
Goodnight!

July BOM

A quick note to show you the July Block of the Month. I finished it this morning, just in time to hang at the shop today. Judy and I attended another Entertaining at Home party tonight so I just got home. I have a bad headache so I am going to call it a day. I have to work tomorrow and half a day Saturday, so I'm off to bed.

Quilting? What's that?

Finally! I sat down and actually did some sewing on a quilt tonight. Okay, a tablerunner, but it will be quilted. This is a quilt-as-you-sew project.
I have needed to work on it for several weeks now but so many things have gotten in the way. Actually, I needed to figure out how to make this runner longer as per my client's request and so I've been putting it off. After working with it tonight, it turns out that all I have to do is add more squares and sewn rectangles. The squares along the sides will be cut in half, making triangles and then I'll bind it in black. I call it a tablerunner but my client will use it to cover her piano bench. Thus, the musical note fabric.

I have it all laid out on the backing and backing and hope to get it sewn down by the weekend. I also have several fleece blankets that need embroidered names added. But, I'm off to bed. I had a wonderful day with my granddaughters and my dad. He's doing well and even came home without any bandages on his legs! Yaayyy!! I don't even remember how long he's had ulcers on his legs. This is the first time in almost 5 years, I think, that he is bandage-free! Please pray that he stays this way.

Another week gone by, again.

Wow. I did not realize that I had not posted since last Monday. Time flies when you're having fun, I guess. What kept me the busiest this past week was getting ready for the motor cross event that took place Friday and Saturday. I set up a booth to sell Scentsy but was only able to do it on Friday night. With the wind blowing and the sun so hot, I just couldn't do it on Saturday, too. My thanks to Rob, April, Leota, Chad and Crystal, Judy and last, but certainly not least, Jim. Rob, April and Jim did most of the physical work. Thanks, especially to Jim for sitting with me the whole time we were there on Friday night. My apologies to anyone I forgot.

My oldest granddaughter, Brittany, is here for about 3 weeks. It's her time with her dad and it is so wonderful to have her here. I couldn't wait to take pictures of both of my beautiful granddaughters.

I made Kerrington two more little hats. The white one is an eyelet fabric that April can clip ribbons on.
The polka dot hat will hopefully work with an outfit April has set aside for Kerrington to wear later this summer.



The headbands I made for Brittany. She was going to sell them, along with her lemonade stand when she and her daddy gave away puppies, but they didn't get around to doing that yesterday. So, she's decided she'll either keep them or share with her friends. Brit spent the night with us last night and went with me to Rob and April's this morning. She decided to stay with her dad tonight because I wake her up too early. lol I don't blame her.

Well, let's see what I can work on tonight. I hope I don't wait another week before posting again.