Sick kid....

Well, no time to play with the machine tension yet, hopefully tonight. I have done some knitting - finished another dish cloth and plugging away on some socks. A little tough to do though, since Aidan is worse than the cats with trying to get the yarn... so can only do it while he is sleeping.
I took Aidan to the doctor this morning and he has bronchitis! Poor little guy. He has been coughing for over a week and is not his usual self... although it hasn't stopped him from pulling himself up onto anything he can find! Got some medicine into him this afternoon and hopefully that will kick in soon and he'll start eating again.
I get a day out Sunday! Card making from 9-2 and then I need to prebowl for my Tuesday night league since G has to work late that night. I missed this week because I picked up Aidan wrong that morning and strained my lower back. Better now, but I need to be more careful when picking him up from now on.
Ok, will go try to play with the machine while he is napping.
Have a great weekend everyone.
Deb

Tension issues.....

Arrrgghhh! I had some tension issues last week when doing some sewing for my mystery quilt, but by changing the thread and rethreading everything and cleaning it got better.... for a little bit. Yesterday, nothing I did fixed it. Changed thread, bobbin thread, cleaned it, etc... So I think my Viking has to go in for service. I lugged out the old 'Craft and Sew' machine that has not been used in a couple of years. Cleaned it and then had to figure out where everything was. Took me 5 minutes to find the presser foot up down thing! I got spoiled with my Viking. Did a practice sew and boy does it sound awful! Very clunky and not smooth at all, but the tension is good. So, the delima is..... do I wait for the Viking to get serviced (they are not open until Tuesday and I have no clue how long it will take) or sew my homework on the old machine? It is not due until next Saturday so I have almost 2 weeks to get it done. Thoughts?

On a happier note.... I got some good pictures of Aidan last week outside. He has since come down with a nasty cough and cold that is finally getting better.

Progress.....

Well, I have managed to get a few things done... but none on my list!
We were starting to look at vans since it is a little difficult for me to get my 22 pound 8 month old in and out of my car, into his carseat without bumping his head.... and this without the pregnant belly yet! So, we started looking at vans.... and test drove one on Saturday and will pick it up on Thursday! Yea!!!!

I also finally got 2 towel tops crocheted for my Mom...
they are for Thanksgiving and I think she gave me the towel earlier this year. So, that is finally done. Just need to do a few more for her since it sounds like hers need replacing... and she always has one hanging on her stove in the kitchen. I'm going to let her put the buttons on though! These are quick and only take about 30 minutes to make.
I also got a few hours of sewing in on Sunday so I could get my homework done for my mystery quilt. I did 40, 4 inch blocks using my accent and medium background fabrics.... so yellow and green batiks for these blocks. Here is a picture of the fabrics that will be in this mystery quilt. It will be interesting to see how it turns out.
The fabrics are cut out for my autumn chelsea bag... just need to start working on that. So will sign off and get up to the sewing room while Aidan is napping and before I need to start dinner.

Old quilt.....

Well, our visit with Grandma from Florida went well and most everyone has gotten over our colds this week. I have gotten almost nothing done, since the boy is extremely mobile now and is getting into everything! Oh, to go back a month where he pretty much stayed where I put him.... but then he says 'Mama' and holds out his arms for a hug and gives baby kisses and all is better! He says 'Baba' (bottle) and 'Mama' all the time now and said 'granpa' on Monday! He sure was keeping an eye on Grandpa while we were visiting! Here he is this morning with his big bear.



I did get down to visit my parents on Monday with Aidan and my Mom asked if I could repair a quilt for her. This is a special quilt for her since it is the last one her Mom made (my Grammy M) before she died in the late 70's. My nieces and brother were living with them for a few years when he got his divorce and my niece J took a likeing to it. She asked if she could bring it to her new home and my Mom agreed she could borrow it for a little while. Well... 2 years later and my Mom bought a quilt bedding set for her room so she could get her quilt back. When they returned it...my parents were not home. When Mom took a look at it, one block has lots of pieces that are pulled up from fabric breakage, a few other blocks have places where the seam opened and the whole binding has a tear at the middle all around the quilt. Knowing that I got a box of my grammy's fabrics and her treddle sewing machine, Mom asked if I could try to repair it. We discussed what to do and I'll give it a shot. I will just put a binding over the existing one, blind stitch the little gaps/tears and will attempt to make a block of the same pattern using the fabrics from my box and fuse it down over the existing one and then stitch it in place. I hope I am able to do it without damaging the quilt too much.
The quilt. I am not sure of the pattern name.

Damage pictures.. and the binding.



I did manage to finally finish one sock I started knitting last fall! Now, if I can finish the other one before next fall, I'm doing good!

I've also been reading a lot. I have read at least 8 of the Jennifer Chiaverini - Elm Creek Quilt series of books. I am addicted! I am currently reading the Circle of Quilters.
Another series I read late this summer is the Emilie Richards - Shenandoah Valley series. I passed my books to my Mom, who passed them to both my sisters. Another set of good books I'd recommend.
Ok, need to make some phone calls while boy is napping.
Have a great day everyone.

October already!

Well, I did not get many things done on my 'to do' list for last month.
I did get a quilting hoop, finished my 'test' Chelsea bag and have the fabric cut for the 'fall' one. I started a mystery quilt at my LQS - have the fabric and am done the first homework assignment. Did my guild block for sharing and one for me. I also helped finish organizing a one day technical conference that was held on the 30th, so have been a little busy with that the last 2 weeks. DH and I also got 2 nights out for dinner by ourselves this week! We also started Aidan's water classes and those are going well. He was actually kicking a little bit last week in his third class... not bad for a 7.5 month old.
This is the reason that I get so little done... but he is worth it.


Aidan has been doing lots of new things this week.... he started crawling forward on Saturday morning. He can now go from laying down to sitting up (as of this afternoon!) and is getting into EVERYTHING! He is feeding himself puffs... most of the time. Yikes, he is growing up way too fast. We also have had my MIL visiting since last Friday so things have been a little out of the normal routine with that and the conference happenings.

My 'to do' list for this month.
1.) call the bulb company and see if they are going to ship my order or not... then plant if they ever show up. Arrghhh I hate mail order companies!
2.) close up the veggie garden and expand/till it so it is ready for next year. (this weekend!)
3.) go apple picking and make applesauce, pies and whatever else I can think of.
4.) Make a fall chelsea bag
5.) Make my Quilt Guild BOM block.
6.) Continue Mystery Quilt at LQS.
7.) Machine quilt DH's quilt... (since I don't seem to be hand quilting it.)
8.) Put together the pinwheel quilt top and machine quilt it... will need to create a top and bottom border to make it big enough to cover the inside front door to limit drafts this winter. Will try quilt as you go method.
9.) Quilt the charity quilt and finish the binding.
10.) Make black/white and red baby quilt ... need more fabrics.
11.) Work on some leaf blocks from a very old WIP... I think I need 11 more blocks to complete the top.
12.) Pumpkin wall hanging.
13.) Whatever else jumps in as a whim to get done.

Ok, boy is awake and dinner needs making.
Have a great week everyone.