Stitching up Little Stuff

 Last Wednesday I took a few mental health hours and did some sewing.  I put together this tiny tablerunner with the We Wish You a Merry Christmas blocks, then I was motivated to quilt and bind Christmas Past and Presents from last year.

 A co-worker, Jen, asked me to make her  mug rug because she saw I always use one.  I made the one above for her and the one below for a fellow sewer down the line.

 After putting those together I decided it was time to quilt and bind this pop bottle.  This is from the paper piecing class I took several years ago.

 I went hiking this week too.  Listened to some music and an audiobook.  I love it out there!

 We also got another cat.  I know--we are nuts.  She is nine years old and needed a home. Her name was Ashley so we named her Stash (so it sounds similar) but I hate people names for animals!  At least first names.  She is SLOWLY acclimating to our zoo--we have put her in the Packer room with a gate so she can come and go as she likes but has a place away from the rest.  We are hoping she and Singer Kitty become buddies, but so far it is not looking like it.

 We had my nephew Ben overnight last night (which used up lots of my sewing time) and we took him to the Ostrich Ranch (Farm) where we got to feed and pet lots of animals. Ben loved it!  They have added Parakeets since we were there and the rainbow lorikeets were a hit as always.  Ben really liked the fallow deer too because they ate from his hand gently.

 I did manage to cut my hst's and rip the paper while watching Finding Nemo with Ben.  Later I sewed up the most recent clue for the Nimble Thimbles mystery.  Whew, caught up til January!

35th Ave. BOM for April and Satin....

Sunday I whipped up the 35th Ave. BOM for April.  It was the same block but different colors that we have for March and it went together pretty well.

I also added satin to my brother's old baby blanket for his son Ben.  I did not do a great job on it, but as long as it is soft, he will be happy.  I hope they don't ask me to do the other blanket, because I didn't care for it at all!  I tried two different methods neither with much visual luck, lol, but it is on the blanket and it is done!

Binding Marathon at My House!

 I made this giant pillow for my nephew Ben a few weeks ago and I finally hand sewed the opening closed today.  I also finished up several Tribbles that I had knitted the past week.  I have suddenly been making one every other day at work between calls!  Building up my Christmas stockpile.

 Kathy and I had a little binding marathon today.  We got six quilts back from Joanne and I bound Jordan's NYE Mystery quilt.

 Our Lil' Twister Christmas tree wallhanging got bound too.

 Also bound was this quilt for Aunt Jenny.  You may recall I got this with all of it cut and some of it sewn from a fabric thrift sale.  I also cut lots of the extra fabric into strips (leftover from the backings of the six I got back) and loaded them into the right colored drawers.

 Kathy bound her sister Kelly's quilt which was her Easy Street quilt as well as Jonathon's NYE Mystery quilt (which is the same pattern at his twin Jordan's) too.  We then made labels for all of them and my cousin Kai's quilt and ironed them on.  So far I have sewn two labels...tomorrow we will take pictures outside in the AZ sun and then they can be mailed off to their new homes!  Oh, I have the binding on the Halloween quilt (label too) but didn't finish attaching it yet.

I did get in a tiny bit of piecing too...sewed up the yellow spools so I can link up to Angela's Rainbow BOM!  Oh and I made my sister another Crown Royal tissue holder because she lost her purse and lost the last one!
Oh I almost forgot, lost 8 pounds in the first week of my 90 day challenge.  Seems like it has been way longer!

New "old" Sewing Machine, Bluework Indian Girl Block and Ben...

I ordered myself a used book called "Small Endearments: Nineteenth-Century Quilts for Children and Dolls" by Sarah Fox and fell in love with many of the quilts in it! Here are some from the doll quilt chapter! I absolutely love this first one with all the green, but the little pieces look like more than I would want to deal with.

I also love this one!

Would really like to have some time to make a few of these or quilts inspired by these!

Last Sunday we went to my sister's house and here is one of a zillion pictures I took of my nephew Ben eating an ice cream cake cupcake from Cold Stone. He LOVED it. Did lots of licking and laughing and even sharing!





I finished my bluework Indian woman in the car on the way down and back to my sister's.

And I picked up this sewing machine and cabinet from my sister's friend for 15 bucks. It will need a tune up, but it has the book and attachments (which we left at my sister's!) so all I did was wipe it all off and take a few pictures but I can't wait to see what sewing on one of these is like! I figured for 15 bucks even if all I did was blog about it and drool over it, it was worth it!