Saturday Break

Today is a good day to take a break.  I'm expecting a flood of orders for next weekend so I thought it might be a good idea to relax while I can.  Last year, Cyber Monday was a great day for my business and I'm relying on it to be the same, if not better, again this year!

 

 

But for today, I'm breaking away from necessary sewing to fun sewing!  I have to admit, I really enjoy ALL the sewing I do, for the most part, but some is just more fun-ner than others and it truly depends on my mood, too.

Last year, I made and sold 169 quillows and this year I'm up to about the 120 mark.  You'd think I'd be sick of sewing them, but, really, I'm not.  I've learned not to push myself to do something when I really don't want to, and fortunately, it's not too often I'm in a position when I have to sew something by a deadline.  We all need breathing room, doncha think?  I knew a long time ago that if I ever made sewing my living, then it would take all the fun out of sewing, so I made it a point to never let that happen.

 

Thus, today I'm doing the "fun" sewing.

 

 

I purchased a quilt kit from Connecting Threads several months ago on clearance (at an unbelievably fabulous price!) and am morphing the quilt into a quillow (naturally).

 

I'm not crazy about some of the fabrics, but when you step back and look at the design and how the fabrics work together, it's rather nice.  In my business, I realize that I can't just make the things I like - I need to cater to several tastes.  I try to load my shop with designs and colors for all tastes - male and female alike.

 

 

So, here I sit today, working on chaining some flying geese listening to the bread machine churn away in the kitchen.  We're having meatball subs for dinner tonight and I'm too cheap to buy sub rolls - thought I'd make them instead since I have all the ingredients.

 

It's been sunny the past couple of days and in the low 60s/high 70s.  Today I'm working on laundry, too, and luckily I'm still able to hang my laundry out on the clothesline...taking advantage of the cost savings!

 

Perhaps I'll finish my book later on today.

 

 

It's due back at the library next week and I've already had it for two checkout periods - it's a real good read!!  I wanted to re-read my Harry Potter "Deathly Hallows" book next, but my son has it and is supposed to bring it to me on Thanksgiving, but I'm not holding my breath for that to happen!  My backup is that if he forgets to bring it, I'll pull out my set of Narnia Chronicles and read them again.  I saw that they're coming out with the movie for the "Dawn Treader".  That's one of my favorites in the series.

 

We're also heading to the city later today to pick out some floor tile for the Stumptown House project.  My husband is back at work on it after pushing it to the side while we built his cousin's house this past year.  Praise the Lord, I believe we have a buyer on the house so hopefully we'll be writing a contract soon!  You'll probably see a few construction posts from me before the end of the year because he wants me to come help him with the tile and cabinets...I think I'm ready to get back into the construction mode!

 

 

Hope your Saturday is a fun and relaxing one, too, wherever you are!!

 

Take a moment....

...and clean the cotton-picking sewing room floor, FOR GOODNESS SAKE!!!  Sometimes I just need to stop what I'm doing and clean because all these threads just become attached to everything and it's so annoying!!

Sewing all day, every day causes lots of strings to abound!  I carry them around on my house socks and they get spread all over the house!  But, luckily, the carpet is a variegated design so it's not as drastic looking as it could be.

  

We've taken to actually sweeping the carpets in my sewing/cutting rooms because the vacuum cleaner just gets too clogged with all these strings.  This is the 'monster' that my husband swept out of my sewing room last week!!!

Who knows what's lurking inside!!!

I'm not one who enjoys hardwood floors, because although they are very beautiful, they don't appeal to my cozy side - I prefer padding around the house on carpet as opposed to cold, slippery hardwood - BUT - this is one time when I desperately wish the floors in my workrooms were NOT carpet and were easy-to-sweep hardwood!

Anyway, on a less scary note, we went turkey shopping today.  I have been working so hard to save up my Greenbax at the Piggly Wiggly (you get a free turkey with 5 Greenbax) and I had 2.94 Greenbax!  They also advertise that you can earn 1 Greenbax for each coupon you use - I am a super duper coupon queen so this was going to be easy for me!  We went to "The Pig" today and picked up a few things, and used 3 coupons.  (This should bring my Greenbax balance to approximately 5.94.)  Once I paid for my order, I was ready to head back into the store, gather my free turkey with my 3 newly-acquired Greenbax, but found out that they had just discontinued that little perk of "1 Greebax for each coupon used".  I was IRATE!  I rarely ever shop at Piggly Wiggly and had just dropped $20 there in order to get a free turkey!!!!

So, I stormed out of there and told my friendly chauffer that he needed to head to Wal-mart because I needed a turkey today as it was going to take at least a week for it to thaw in the frig.  Turkeys at Wal-mart start at 68¢/pound and I wanted a large one so I selected a 20-pounder.  I figure, hey, if you're going to have the oven on, might as well cook a big turkey so you'll have lots of leftovers.  All 3 of my kids are coming to dinner and they will most definitely pack up a plate to take home so I can always use lots of turkey.

I headed to the register and forked over my $14.07.  Not bad, actually.  I was fine with that.  Just then, two ladies behind the register said that a local chain grocery was selling their turkeys for 39¢/lb and Wal-mart will match that price.  I didn't even ASK!!!  So, I got me a 20# turkey for $8.07 - WOOOOOOO HOOOOOO!  I can deal with that!  God is GOOD!

There he sits until next Thursday!!!  It's a Jennie-O, too!  Bob and Jillian would be so proud of me!!!  :)

I forgot to show you last month but I finished quilting and binding my quilt along quilt led by Fat Quarterly.

I tried a loop-de-loop quilting design on it, which I thought was fairly difficult to maneuver. 

I hope someday to have a sewing machine with a larger throat because this one is just WAY too small to do anything larger than a baby quilt.

I do like how it turned out, though.  It's a great little scrappy quilt that I plan to keep in my car for road trips!!

Today I worked on some Appalachian State University Christmas stockings for a customer.

Cute!...and definitely quick and easy!!  I like those kind of projects!

Now, I need to get back to that floor cleaning....ugh!



From Gray to Rosy Red

I have the house to myself today.  I like days like that, do you?  Sometimes we just need to have some alone time and today is one of those days for me.  Time to think, work quietly, relax, rejuvenate...

This morning, my husband tells me that I look pink (my pajamas are pink).  He asks, "Do you feel pink?"

I answer "no."

"Do you feel blue?"

I don't answer....I am trying to figure out what color I feel.

I think I feel gray.  Yeah, gray is probably a good description.  It's a gray day outside today and I'm feeling it.  But, something catches my eye and turns that gray a bit rosy.

 

 

Last week our youngest daughter came home to celebrate her 23rd birthday and she brought ME a rose!

The sight of that rose and the thought of her kind gesture definitely put a rosy hue in my heart on this gray day!

 

 

 

 

 

Back in the (re-adjusted) saddle

It's a lovely, rainy day here today (my garden is loving this!) - the PERFECT day for catching up on sewing.  I have a lot to do in addition to making a custom quilt that needs to be completed by Christmas (oy vey!)  I've been absent from posting for a while now and have lots to talk about, but just can't justify the time to do it right now.  I do want to send a big thank you hug to the handful of blogging friends that took time to email me and say they missed me!  How genuine!  I am truly touched and thankful for dear blogging friends who care!  I have been debating whether to continue blogging or not, simply because I feel I've been doing it for the wrong reasons.  I've said to myself that I was done, but I really don't think I am.  I do think I need to re-evaluate my motives and stop worrying about 'popularity' or anything along that line....I decided I would make my posting more like writing letters to friends and family...not like competition with the other crafty ladies in the blog world.

 

There.  I said it.

 

So, that being said, I'll leave you with a picture because we all love pictures.