Civil War Quilt

Even though I have three projects I need to be working on, I decided to make some pillow shams tonight. I haven't used our civil war quilt on our bed because I thought it needed some pillow shams. Made some very simple ones tonight. No flange around the edges. I think they look good and simple with the quilt. I even made two other pillow covers. The beige, I need to work on. Not too happy with it.

This quilt is huge. Guess I'll put my fall quilt on the other bed. I really love being able to change quilts often.

Furry friend

The hubby has a constant companion. Jesse follows him around just like a dog. Here they are relaxing on the deck.

Old Fashioned or Vintage?

This kit was an impulse purchase when I was off work with my surgery.  Something about it seemed to say summer.  Now when I look at it, I think it looks rather old-fashioned, or is it vintage?  The light is an ecru color.  It just looks white with the sunlight behind the quilt.  Funny how "old fashioned" seems to imply something out of date or not popular.  But then "vintage" implies old but desirable, old but worthy.  So, I've decided I think it is rather vintage......

And I am so glad I could use my little vintage sewing machine to finish it up today.  Now to decide how to quilt it.  Have any ideas?  I wonder if some straight or diagonal lines would be in keeping with the vintage look.

Singer Featherweight

Since my sewing machine is malfunctioning again I got out the little antique Singer Featherweight. After mom made a few adjustments, it works just fine. I love the fact that not only is it a little beauty, it really works. Mine is the centennial edition 1851-1951. Yes, 1951. That makes her 61 years old! And she still sews beautifully.

Do I prefer my computerized machine? Yes. Do I find this little mechanical jewel awesome? Yes! Today, I am so glad to have it here. It is a great backup.

Machine Malfunction Again!

Yep, it happened again.  This time I managed to get it going after it froze.  Then it froze again. And again.  Then it froze every single time I stopped and started.  I had to manually turn the round thing (I should know what that is called, but sorry, I don't) to get it going again. When I ran out of bobbin, it refused to wind the bobbin.  Frustrating!  I managed to sew for 1/2 hour before it quit.  I'm ready to order a new machine from Amazon.

Since I had several hours to sew tonight, I did redeem the time and get my next Remembrance Quilt cut out.  This is for a very dear friend.  Her son passed away two years ago. We are using her husband's shirts in the mix too. I think Bonnie Hunter's Bricks and Stepping Stones pattern will work well with these shirts.

Almost Fall

We've had a few nice days lately, that seemed to have a touch of fall in the air.  In honor of those days, (besides the fact it was time to wash the bed quilts) I've replaced my summer quilt on our bed with my fall one.  Love the rich burgundies, golds, and greens.

Busy day today.  More to do before I get to sew tonight.  The hubby will be fishing a tournament so I can stay up as late as I can......which isn't that late these days........I remember in my younger years when I might pull an all-nighter just getting stuff done around the house.  Those days are long gone!

Lap quilt kit

Today's progress:

The sewing machine is working fine. I decided to finish up this one for us, although I am not that crazy about it. I don't like to start anything new until I finish what I am working on. That way I don't have a lot of UFO's laying around.

Back in business

Yay! I am finally able to sew again. They couldn't find anything wrong with my machine. Weird. I am just glad to have it back, and am keeping my fingers crossed that it works through the next four projects I have planned.

Homemade Soup

Whatever you throw together in a pot with chicken broth, turns into the most wonderful soup! I keep a container in the freezer and put all my leftovers in it. This soup had white beans, lima beans, cut up chicken tenders, corn, peas, and I added celery, carrots, mushrooms, green beans, and okra. Threw in some minced garlic, onion powder, salt, pepper and chicken broth and it was so delicious!

I had a very busy day and barely got home before the hubby. It cooked up fast and made a great meal with some homemade bread. I am very frugal at heart and love to take little bits of leftover veggies and make something yummy from them.

Mamaw H.

This little lady was so good to me for over 20 years when I was married to her son. I visited her in rehab today. Hopefully she will recuperate from her broken leg and get to go home soon. Love you Mamaw Hixson!

Cool Hat!

This is a really cool hat. It is difficult to find mesh backed hats these days. My husband's young fishing buddy says hats with mesh are old men hats. Humph! Well, Farm Bureau has these really cool hats for a $5 donation and the proceeds go to the American Cancer Society. And they have a mesh back.

I've been looking for a mesh backed hat because my head gets so hot when I walk, yet I need to shade my face. And it's PINK! Ever since my own breast cancer scare a couple years ago, pink has become one of my favourite colours. And after all, I am a girl. I'm supposed to love pink.

If you have your Fall 2012 issue of Tennessee Home & Farm you'll see the ad demonstrating that "real men wear pink" and mesh.....By the way, I absolutely love my Tennessee Home & Farm magazine.

Tattler Reusable Canning Lids and Rings

14 quarts.  Beautiful.

In case you are wondering why the tops of my jars are white.....it is because last year I invested in some Tattler reusable canning lids and rings.  The white lids are a hard plastic, and the red rubber rings form the seal.  You use your regular metal screw-on top rings to hold everything together.  I've used them before and am pleased. You can reuse them for years.

Green Bean Canning

I really enjoy canning.  That is, if I have the time.  Jim brought home a bushel of beans from one of his co-workers.  He stayed up late breaking them.  Got up early to break more.  I am canning tonight.

I had told him to not bring them home unless he could help.  I am so busy with many things going on right now.  Bless his heart, he is trying to help.  Of course, he wanted permission to fish tonight....lol.  I think breaking them was a big enough help to me, so I gave him the ok.  I was a bit worried.  I've heard of other folks having really tough beans.  I cooked some of them this evening and they were really good.

Canning makes me feel like a farm woman.  I like that.

40th class reunion for the hubby

We went to Jim's hometown last night for his 40th high school reunion. Out of a hundred graduates there were about 40 class members attending. I thought that was a really good percentage, more than we have had at my reunions. I met some really nice folks there. Evidently Jim was in the "popular" group. He was class president. I enjoyed hearing all the stories. For entertainment, one of the members, who is an amateur magician, did some tricks. He was good!

Janome Troubleshooting

Bummer. My sewing machine may have just bit the dust. I packed it up and took it on vacation but didn't use it. Got it unpacked and hoped to do a bit of sewing today, but I can't get it to work. The electronic code on the display isn't in my owners manual. I was hoping to finish up a project of my own soon, so I could start two others I have committed to do, one being a remembrance quilt. Any of you have any ideas what is going on with it? Everything is connected but the pedal won't activate it and when I push the pedal I get that weird code in the picture.

If I have to lay it to rest, I can say it has been a trooper. In a little over five years, it has made 115 quilts.