What I've been up to.....

I haven't gotten nearly as much sewing done in the past few weeks, as I've needed to get done.  Nothing on Peter Pan blocks, one exchange that still isn't done (was due on Saturday), etc.  There has been so much 'life' going on, that I haven't been able to concentrate like I should.  Oh well.  Still, stuff has been happening.

I've been working on Clue #2 of Kevin's Mystery Quilt Along.  This is my very first Mystery quilt.  Of course, I didn't do it the usual way, nope, I had to do it the hard way, and work on THREE different versions at the same time.  Kevin released the final info on this clue, so, I'm w-a-y behind now.

2 scrappy versions of Clue #2

controlled version of Clue #2

See the blocks in the top picture.  Oops!  They aren't supposed to be stitched all together.  They are supposed to look like the ones in the bottom picture (2 sets of 3 strips, not sets of 6 strips).  I wasn't paying attention, and stitched 2 full sets of the scrappy version together.  Guess who has been un-stitching???  I still have some of the larger strip sets to sew together.  Kevin warned us that this Clue had the most sewing to do, and, he was correct.

A man came to my booth at Lyon's Farm and asked if I wanted some machines.  He just wanted to get rid of them.  Well, he called me on Friday morning, and I went over and picked up 3 machines.  Not sure when I'll get a chance to clean them up (you can see the dirt on one in the pictures below).

Kenmore 148.292 (1960-61)

Kenmore 158.1355080 (1991?)

Kenmore 158.19460 (1976)

The bottom 2 machines are free arm machines.  Once they are cleaned up, I'm sure that they will find new homes with someone else.  The top one, I think I'll keep.  It is just a straight stitch machine (and really heavy!), and I like it.

Hubby and I had a very busy day on Saturday.  Hubby wanted to go garage sale shopping.  We did find a couple of things.  My mother wanted a sewing machine that was light weight, and simple to use.  The light weight part rules out most of my vintage machines (they start at 25 lbs without a base added).  We found a pretty new Kenmore in a bag, that has only been used a few times, and is lightweight. (Sorry, I forgot to take pictures).  I'll have to check it out, to make sure it works, then mom will have her machine.

We also found a pack & play that had only been used 4 times.  With a new grandbaby on the way, we wanted something for the baby to sleep in when it came to visit us.  It has a changing table and a musical mobile, too.  The 'baby' is just a stuffed elf I have.

set up for an newborn

diaper changing area

Now to make some sheets for this.

While we were out running errands on Saturday, we also stopped and picked me up a new cell phone.  Mine would have been 5 years old at Thanksgiving, and was so old that many apps wouldn't load on it, and it wasn't working properly.  I don't upgrade unless I have to, since I really don't like learning new technology.  I'm doing really well with this new phone.  The only problem I've found so far, is that my old phone had a 'quilted cover' on it, but, this one is such a new version, that they haven't come up with any 'quilted' patterns for cases.  Yes, I know that I could have uploaded a picture, and they could have printed it on the case, but, I'm already learning enough new technology, so, I opted for a case online.  Hopefully it will arrive this week.

Yesterday, when I was backing out, at the grocery store parking lot, this caught my eye.  I just had to take a picture of it (and laugh).  It must be October and Halloween time.

passenger in the car next to mine

Last night was my little quilt guild, Wego Quiltin'.  Since we are a tiny guild, we don't have speakers come in, but, we take turns (volunteer) to do different demo's for the group.  I did the demo last night.  I found this Christmas Ornament last year.  It was sew simple to make, and the ladies loved it.  It took me longer to figure out what fabrics to use, and to cut the fabrics than it took to stitch up some samples.

Here are the two that I finished.  I have lots more to stitch up.  I made kits for everyone in the guild, so that they could make one at home.

same fabrics, turned different directions

I'm headed out to pick up a friend, and we are going to the Quilts of Valor sew-in this morning.  We both will be sewing binding on finished quilts.