Thrifting

A lot of thrifting has been happening lately as I've been trying to get needed things for the mobile home that if all go well where I'll be living in a couple of weeks.   Most of it has been needed because of the amount of purging that I'd done before putting all into storage for the last 6 months.

I saw these vintage embroidered bread covers and towels and couldn't resist them.  They are done on vintage feed-sack type material.   All are in really good condition.  I'm thinking that the 4 on the left (3 dogs and one duck) will be cute with some of my 30's repro scraps.  Not sure what pattern I want to use with them at this point.

The one on the right is commerically made, but brand new.  I'll cute the floral panels out and make quilted postcards with them.

And one of the latest things I found were two of these Coca-cola print, cotton kitchen towels.  I have a friend in TX who collects coke themed items, so I'll send these to her in some form.  Am debating about whether to make them into bowl cozies for her or just to gift them to her as is.

Scrap-Happy February 2022

Sigh, another month gone and even less sewing done. Lots has been going on - helping my dad by working on clearing out clutter and other stuff in his house, the new job (boy am I not used to getting up at 5 am anymore for work!), trying to get things done where I'll be moving into hopefully in a months time............and a teensy bit of sewing. 

This month I've managed to get get 4 more cozies made for the order of 16.   That makes me halfway finished with the order.

Cut fabrics for the next 6 cozies from the leftover fabrics of previous orders.

I've been doing lots of juicing of lemon juice and then freezing the juice into cubes because what will be my new place has a lemon tree and it is prolific, with lemons the size of my hands.  Each cube is roughly 1 ounce of juice, and I've filled the trays 2 times so far.   More to go.

Check out what the rest of the group has done this month.
Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill,
Claire, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Jule, Gwen,
Bekki, Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera,
Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Bear, Carol,
Preeti, Edith, Debbierose

Gratitudes:

1. The end is in sight for being able to move into the mobile home.

2. First month almost done at the new job and I'm liking it.  Lord willing will go perm in 3 months.

Scrap-Happy January 2022

Lots of scrappy sewing this month for orders.   Remnants and scraps were what I was working from. 

First up was this computer bag. Super simple pattern but I don't remember where I ordered it from.  A long time friend ordered this for his wife to use for her Mac Airbook.

Next up were lots and lots of bowl cozies.  Remnants, partial FQ's and assorted batting scraps were used in the making of these.   These were both for gifts and commissioned orders.

Deer for my girlfriend's husband.

Lemons for my niece.   Not shown are the owls for her sister.

Van Gogh for my girlfriend.

Marines and Cardinals.   One each for a gift, the other two will be listed for sale.

Check out what everyone else has been working on this month - 

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill,
Claire, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Jule, Gwen,
Bekki, Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera,
Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Bear, Carol,
Preeti, Edith, Debbierose

And last but not least, I've started making chicken bone broth for myself.  The broth is the only thing that I drink hot, and by making it myself with the everything left from the rotisserie chickens that I buy it is far better for me and much cheaper.   I get 3-4 quarts from one chicken.

Gratitudes:

1. After 13 months of unemployment, and 20 months after my last paycheck, I start work at a new contract position with the State of AZ Court System on one of the IT teams.   Hopefully in 4 months time the job will transition to a perm position.

2. My Dad and I are on the downhill side of buying a mobile home for me to live in.  It's smaller than my old house, but I'll make it work.   I'm looking forward to being in a place of my own and having my stuff back with me again.

Scrap-Happy December 2021

Quite a bit of scrappy work was done this month.  

First up, I used some of the larger scraps from the card cases made in previous months and made these 10 slightly larger card cases.

Next up for the remaining scraps from the original card cases was this casserole dish cozy.   I figured scraps were a good thing to use when I'm trying to test out what size to make something like this to sell (either in my etsy shop or as custom/commissioned items).glass or metal

What I've learned is there is no "standard" 9" by 13" pan.....not only are the metal and glass ones different sizes, but even among the same type (glass or metal) the sizes across the commercial ones available are different.     So now I need to come up with a size that will fit a range, maybe two sizes, so that they aren't too big in size.   I also want to work on one for a 9" by 9" type/size of pan.

Glass " 9by 13" dish in the cozy

Metal " 9 by 13" pan in the cozy.   This was definitely a bit smaller than the glass dish.

And don't forget to take a look around at what everyone else has done this month - 

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynn, Lynda, Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan, Moira (me), Sandra, Chris, Alys, Kerry, Claire, Jean, Jon, Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Bekki, Sue L, Sunny, Kjerstin, Vera, Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2 , Bear, Noreen, Preeti, Edith and Jule

Scrap-Happy November 2021

 Scrappy sewing happened this past month on several projects. 

First up was using up 12 FQ's (they count as scraps in my stash because I rarely use them) that had been in my mom's stash for the backing of the memory quilt that I'm making my dad for Christmas.  

These were cut into 16" squares so there will be more from the scraps coming at a future date.

I've been working on a custom order of cardholders for cards that are approximately 2" by 3" in size.   The cards are for a Bible verse memory class and come in 5 sets of 12 verses.   I was asked to make little cases that would hold a set of the verses....and there are 25 people or so taking the class.  I used 5 different remnant of cotton upholstery fabric to make the holders.   Letters were embroidered on them so the ones who bought them would know what set was in which one.

3 of the 5 sets of holders here.

And finally, a little zippered tote bag for the gal who is leading the Bible Study that the cardholders were made for.   She wanted something that would hold her books and her set of the cardholders.  

Bag was made from one of the plaid scraps leftover, and the final 4" WOF piece of the grey that I had used as lining for the plaid cardholders.

Scrap-Happy October 2021

The house has been sold, and 99% of of what I own is now in storage which leaves me with not a lot of things to sew on till I can find a job and get a place to live on my own again.

I did however find a bit of room to bring the scraps of shirts that had been used to make memory bears back in 2019.   I'm planning to take and use these to make 4 memory quilts from them.   Here is the first one of them.

Not the greatest of pictures for some reason.   Quilt is made from 6" squares of plaid shirts, and alternate string-pieced WOW's and COC's.

The shirtings even have the sleeve plackets and buttons on several of the blocks.

Gratitudes:

1. One job interview has been had, and another is scheduled for the morning of the 15th.

2. For friends who allow me to stay with them while I job hunt and work to help my dad out here in Phoenix.