What's Up Wednesday

Happy Wednesday, everyone!  I hope you all had a good weekend and a good week so far.  I'm feeling better this week.  Thanks for being patient with me last week.  I guess I'm just feeling overwhelmed with all the things on my to-do list, and once in a while it's nice to crawl back into bed and stay there for a couple of days to get my head back together.  Thankfully I'm in a place in my life where I can do that.

Well, on to all the things I've been up to lately!

What's up around the house

It's a lovely 75 degrees here in western NY!  I've been taking advantage of the unseasonably good weather by putting up my Halloween decorations.  I'm going to have my hubby help me put up the Halloween lights on the porch tonight.  He's 6'5 and he doesn't need a ladder or chair the way I do, so that's handy!  I've gotten everything else up though, and it looks really nice.

Here's a pretty little home.  I got the ghouls out yesterday, and the tombstones and the pumpkin buckets on the railing.  My mums are starting to fade a little bit, but that's ok, that's just the way life is.

I have lots of decorations inside.  Since we were married in the fall, we have lots of fall decorations leftover from the wedding, and over the years I've added some nice things to the collection.  Here's a tour of my fall home! (PS, sorry for the bad pics; it's really cloudy today.)

Here's my front room.

And facing the other way in the front room.

Here's our niche in the front room.

And the desk by the front door.

We have a bigger tv this year.  For many years, we had a small tv and an old fashioned entertainment center, and I could decorate the top of it.  I don't have that now, so I did the best I could with the new set up.

Here's the bookshelf in the dining room.  The bouquet on the left is my wedding bouquet that I made myself! (It was a very frugal wedding!)

Here's our dining table.  It's currently a mix of fall and Halloween stuff.

This is the centerpiece on the table, a bowl full of fabric eyeballs I made a couple of years ago, lol.  I like to point one right at my hubby, lol! 

That's all the pictures I took, but there's so much more that I couldn't get a shot of.  I love getting out my fall decor because it makes the house so warm and cheery, which is so important as the year gets dark and cold. 

What's up with plastic canvas

Well, I started out last week by just making free patterns.  I wanted to get a good pile of them made up in advance so I wouldn't have to worry about them for a few weeks.  However, on the second day, I made a really cool pumpkin box I liked so much that I decided to put it in my shop.

And then I made a couple more boxes to go with it!  I should have the pattern up by next week sometime, and then I decided to make Christmas boxes too!  Yay! 

I did get one free pattern done last week, lol, so you'll be seeing this again soon.

What's up with sewing

I decided that before I get back to my quilting, I need to get my clothes pieces sewn for colder weather, which will be here shortly.  I made a pretty shirt a couple of weeks ago, and last week I decided it was a good time to make a pretty jacket.  It came out so well!

It looks very professional and I'm actually excited for cold weather to get here so I can wear it.  I'm going to start a turtle neck tunic dress tomorrow, and after that, I just have one more piece to make.  That will round out my winter wardrobe pretty nicely.

Well, that's all for me this week.  How are you all doing?  I hope you're getting a chance to enjoy these lovely days before winter gets here.  I'm certainly trying to!

Little delay

Hi everyone.  I haven't been feeling well this week, so I'm going to take a little time off from blogging.  Hopefully I'll be back next week with lots of new stuff for you.  Have a great weekend.

Free Friday: Boo! Blocks

Happy Friday, everyone!  Are you having a good week?  I'm trying to get this post done quickly because it's my 10th wedding anniversary!  My hubs is home from work early and we plan on doing something nice together tonight, so I'll get right to the pattern!

Boo! Blocks

Skill Level:

Beginner

Size:

2x2x2 inches

Materials:

• 7-count plastic canvas
• Red Heart yarn in colors listed in key
• #16 plastic canvas needle

Instructions:

1. Cut and stitch plastic canvas according to graphs.
2. For block one, whipstitch together side 1 and five side 5's with Spring Green yarn.
3. For block two, whipstitch together side 2 and five side 6's with Dark Orchid yarn.
4. For block three, whipstitch together side 3 and five side 5's with Spring Green yarn.
5. For block four, whipstitch together side 4 and five side 6's with Dark Orchid yarn. ♥

 

Click the image above to see it larger.  You may share this pattern however you please as long as you don't alter it or claim it as your own.  Please link back if you share this pattern.  You may sell items made from this pattern.  However, you may not sell this pattern.

Have a great weekend everyone!

What's Up Wednesday

Happy Wednesday, everyone!  I hope you're all having a pleasant week so far.  It's been absolutely beautiful here this last week, with temps in the 70s and just the nicest weather.  The leaves are starting to turn pretty colors, and I'm excited to get out into the woods this weekend with my hubs. 

It was a pretty busy week, so let's get started!

What's up with sewing:

I went to the annual Quilting On The Bayfront quilt show in Erie, PA, and per usual, it was awesome.

It was quilting ladies and fabric as far as the eye could see!  My mother-in-law and I have been going to this quilt show together for at least 5 years now.  It's nice!  They have lots of cool quilts to look at, but really, we go for the shopping.  We have yet to actually get through the whole show.  We got as close as we ever have this year, but after three hours and about 80% through the show, we were both feeling really loopy and starting to go crossed eyed, so we decided to leave. 

Besides, by then, I had already spent most of my cash and I was excited to go look and what I got.

I got for bargains at the quilt shows.  There's a vendor that always has these $6 bags of scraps and you never know what you're going to get.  I got two of their scrap bags, and when I got home I found I had gotten at least 5 yards of fabric in standard quarters and half yards, plus lots of interesting little scrappy bits to add to my collection.  I also got three bags of Moda scraps, which are basically 2 1/2 inch strips cut along the bias.  They make really fun strip quilts, and are a super cheap way to make a whole quilt.  I got a couple of yards of fabric, a bundle of fat quarters, a yard and a half of border fabric, a 60 degree ruler (for $5!), and a flannel quilt kit I plan on making soon! Phew!

I have however decided I need to stop buying fabric.  I have so much now that I barely have room for it all.  So no more until I use what I have!

On Friday, for my birthday, I decided to sew a shirt for myself with some pretty rayon jersey knit I bought from Fabric.com.

The photo's not the best, but the shirt is very nice.  Flouncy and flowy, and it has nice shape.  It's more of a fall shirt though, so it's going into the closet for a couple of weeks.

Spices decided she wanted to model a piece of scrap fabric from my shirt.  I think it goes well with her fur.

What's up with plastic canvas:

Actually, not much is up with plastic canvas this week.  I finished my Turkey TBC on Monday, but I haven't started anything else yet.  I'm thinking of working on my free patterns for a week to get a good stock of them on hand.  I finished one today that I think is pretty cute.

I'll probably post that one this Friday, so keep your eyes peeled! 

In other plastic canvas news, Annie's finally posted some patterns I sent them!  It took them a small eternity for them to put these on their websites, but I was persistent and also patient.

Clicking on the images above will take you to Annie's where you can buy these patterns (or you can buy them at my Etsy shop).

What's up with everything else:

My mom is a borderline hoarder.  She collects junk, but she's usually ok with me going through it and throwing things away/donating them.  Since I bought her a new sewing machine a couple of weeks ago, I decided her sewing/plant room needed some tender loving organizing.  So on Tuesday, I went over to her house and spent an entire morning going through more junk than I would have ever thought possible to put in a 10x10 room. 

Here's before:

And here's after:

I filled two huge contractor garbage bags full of garbage, and had enough donation stuff to fill the back of my SUV!  Phew!  Hopefully she won't fill it back up again too quickly. 

Welp, that's all for this week, everyone!  Have a good rest of the week and I'll see you again on Friday!

Turkey TBC

Happy Monday, everyone!  I'm back to work today after a fun and relaxing birthday weekend.  I worked my butt off this morning to get this cute TBC finished, but it was worth it!

Turkey TBC pattern, $4 on Etsy

I hope you all had an awesome weekend too! 

Happy Birthday!

Sorry there's no post today everyone.  It's my birthday today and I decided I needed the day off!  See you next week :)

What's Up Wednesday

Happy Wednesday, everyone!  Are you enjoying September?  It's my absolute favorite month, and it's just starting to get really pretty out.  It was so cold the last two weeks, we finally had to turn the heat on (!) last weekend.  Thankfully it's warmer this week and I can actually open the windows again!  I don't know how long that will last, though.  The remnants of hurricane Irma look like they're coming our way.  We got blasted by the tail end of Harvey too, so it's been pretty rainy here so far this month.

What's up with sewing:

I haven't gotten a lot of sewing done lately.  I've really wanted to, but I feel way too busy to actually sit down and get to sewing.  I have several quilts I'd like to work on, including an xmas present for my hubby and a wall hanging for my mom.  I also just bought a bunch of Jersey knit to make myself some cold weather tops!  So I need to get started on something soon.

I do, however, have an announcement to make.  I've added a member to my family.

My mom heard about my new vintage sewing machine and she said she'd really like one too because she can't figure out how to use her more modern sewing machine.  Well, I thought maybe I'd go over and figure it out for her and then give her some lessons.  However, I got over there and discovered her machine is pretty bad.  It's the noisiest sewing machine I've ever seen, plus the most complicated to thread.

So I though, oh, why not, I'll see if I can get her a vintage 301A like I bought myself.  And when I saw that beauty on ShopGoodwill.com, I snapped it up!  I got it for $60!  I went cheap because some fool who posted it on the website took a picture of the back of the machine, and didn't mention what model it was.  I knew right away it was a 301A because I've been looking at them so much lately.  I would have paid a lot more for it if it was easier to tell what model it was.  But that's ok!  I don't mind cheap.  I think I'll keep the two toned one and give the solid colored one to my mom.

Because I'm weird, I took a family photo.

Two Singer 301As, a Singer 15-91, a Brother 1500PQ, and a Pfaff Ambition Essential.  My family <3  Lol!

Speaking of sewing machines, I told my sister she could have my mom's old sewing machine if she wants it.  She said she couldn't figure out how to use the machine either, and that she'd rather have one of those hand held sewing machines.  I was a little appalled.  I've heard those things are really junky.  However, I'm trying not to judge other people!  I went on Amazon and got her a little hand held Singer for xmas.  This one was rater a little higher than the others.  It's kind of cute, too.  That's a pint jar next to it for scale.

It's ridiculously loud and a little unwieldy, but I'm sure she'll like it.  Plus, it was less than $20!

What's up with the garden:

Well, the garden is winding down.  Try as I might to grow fall vegetables, the slugs always eat them to the ground.  Literally, they eat entire plants all the way to the ground in the fall.  Out of 64 pea plants I planted, only about 8 have made it, and let's not talk about the kale annihilation.  I should just give up trying.  However, the cucumbers are still churning out little beauties, and I finally decided to do something about them before they all rotted.

Refrigerator pickles!  I don't follow a recipe.  I just mix a good amount of equal parts water and white vinegar, add enough sugar and salt to make it taste good, then add in a broken cinnamon stick, whole cloves, coriander and dill seeds, and peppercorns.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes, then pour over cucumber slices.  Yum!

What's up with stitching:

I've started a new project!  I decided I need to do something for Thanksgiving.  It's a really hard holiday to create for because it's one of very few holidays that have been commercialized and it really doesn't have many symbols or icons.  The one thing that really stands out for Thanksgiving is the turkey!

So I'm working on a turkey TBC.  Cute, right?  TBCs are pretty easy to create, so I hope to have the pattern up by next week.

Spices was not amused when I made her move.

Well, that's all for this week.  I hope you're all having a great Wednesday and have a good rest of the week!