Weekend Sew-in April 2015

This past weekend was another productive sewing weekend for me. My lovely step-daughter- Amy, her wonderful husband Paul and our adorable grandson Bennett came to stay with us for the weekend.

Amy brought her sewing machine, several projects to work on and oodles of lovely fabric for me to drool over. On break times, I got to snuggle baby Bennett.
We did take one road trip to a quilt shop south of us. Amy needed some fabric to finish up the top she was working on and I entertained B while mama shopped. Amy's mom and aunt met us at the shop (they are quilters too) and a good time was had by all. I showed extraordinary restraint and didn't purchase anything - I mean ANYTHING! (crazy - right?)

Here is a picture of Amy's finished Weekender quilt top. I love the red colored border. It really frames the quilt nicely.

I was able to finish up quilting another weekender quilt top on the long arm machine. We pieced this top at our weekend retreat back in February and this one is for Amy's Grandma Virginia.

With the quilting done all that is left is the binding and hopefully we can give it to her on Mother's day since Grandparents day isn't until September.


The boys napped while we sewed.

Dad grilled.

It was a great weekend!

On Sunday, we pinned Amy's quilt and got it ready for her to machine quilt it on her new sewing machine. She was pretty excited about trying to free motion quilt on her new machine.

The blue and white quilt is quilted and now needs binding too so I guess I will be brushing up on my binding skills soon.

I started another quilt a couple of weeks ago for my niece who is getting married in May. I worked on the blocks this weekend and they are all pieced now. I have been working on the sashings a little every night after supper and will post a picture when the top is completed.

I love the longer sunshiney days. I can leave the door to my studio open and listen to the birds chirping and can even hear the trains tooting their horns at times. It is quite peaceful in my little corner of the world.
Have a great week.
Thanks for stopping by.

What's your motivation?

Hi there,
How do I start? Where have I been? What brought me back?

All good questions - I am starting here - again.

I think my last blog post was well over a year ago and maybe even two. What happened? I lost my mojo, my muse, my wherewithal. I wasn't sure if I was ever coming back. My computer crashed and the one I have been using for 2 years now is small and veery, veery slow.
I hadn't been sewing, oh once in a while I would stroll through my studio, touch some fabric, even stitched up a couple of small things, then turned out the light and walked out.

In my 2 year sabbatical, because that is what I will call it, I was blessed with 2 new grandbabies, I learned how to make soap (real soap, with the lye and everything), learned how to make bread (with yeast) and read tons of books. Started up a food coop here in our community, babysat grands and nearly every weekend took off to parts well known to visit family and friends.

Now I am back and I am thinking it is for good.

What happened? Well my step-daughter Amy McCubbin got bit by the quilting/sewing bug. Amy decided this year that she wanted to make a quilt for her son (which is how I got started, wanting to make a quilt for my grandson). She enlisted my help and I was so very happy to help her and decided to post about starting over - so here I am again. She has asked me numerous times if I am going to start blogging again and today I decided was going to be the day.

There is something about Amy, I can't really put my finger on it, that she is able to get people up and moving. She doesn't nag, or complain, she just throws her ideas out there, asks what you think, maybe uses some of your ideas and then gets right to it.
She is funny and sweet and well quite frankly, I love that girl. I have been sewing up a storm this year and in the back of my mind I am thinking, wonder what Amy and I can work up next - another retreat, a new project for our facebook group or a shopping trip to get re-inspired. Whatever it is I love her enthusiasm and determination to get us all motivated. She doesn't want to leave anyone out of her fun either, that includes skyping her step-sister in Idaho, texting her other step-sister here in Iowa or helping her cousin to pick out a sewing machine and get sewing.

So Amy - thanks for the Motivation. I got my MOJO back!!!

I hope you out there in blogland are inspired to start up again or even to start something new. Find someone that loves what you love and get going. It is good to have someone to bounce ideas off of and someone who doesn't need you to get going but loves to have you along for the ride. I feel blessed to have Amy. She has so many ideas, and she is doing it. Thanks Amy, love you girl.


Thanks for checking in. Talk to you soon.
God Bless.