And even more pictures of our Chicken Coop!

Our Chicken Coop!

More pictures of the chicken coop! I LOVE it!

The Coop has arrived!!!

This is going to be a picture heavy post. I am so excited to share our new chicken coop that we had made by Bob Bowling Rustics

Meet Mac

Mac flew home with Harry on tuesday this past week. All the way from Wisconsin, in a pet carrier, in the cabin of the plane, under the seat!

He was slightly big for the carrier, but it was better than putting him under the plane. He did not make a peep the whole 4 hours!
He has been settling in nicely. Such a sweet boy.

Jewelry, chicken coops, and other things....

So much is happening in my world right now. We are seriously exploring the idea of adding backyard chickens to our life! I spend a lot of time each day looking at coop designs online of what other people have come up with. The following is a coop that I really like alot. We are hoping to use recycled materials to build our coop.
Chicken coop

I have also been creating now that my jewelry space is cleaned up and organized. I made these earrings so that I could remove the bead dangle and change them out depending on what I am wearing. I really like the ear wires and will be making more dangles for them.

My son has been creating also. We went to the Flower and Garden show a couple weeks ago when he was off for mid-winter break and he made a dirt head with hose, grass seed and soil. It is kinda cute!

I have also been working through my yarn stash and have made a triangle scarf and a knit hat. I'm not gonna share the pictures of those. I put those pictures on ravelry

Lastly: I won something on a blog giveaway!

I won this lovely pincushion on Crazy Lanea's blog! It looks perfect on my sewing table. Thank-you Lanea! I am gonna have to have a giveaway sometime in the future.

The weekend is here. Enjoy!

A beginning quilter

Ever since Harrison saw the mug rug I made for my friend, he has been wanting to make one. I hesitated. But then I thought "Why not." So he picked out his fabric. I did most of the cutting since it involves a rotary blade, but he did all the sewing by himself! He chose to sew the binding on with the machine which suited me since it was easier than hand sewing. He really enjoyed himself and is already planning what he wants to do next!

Mug Rug

To celebrate a major clean up of half my sewing/jewelry making room, I made a mug rug for a friend today using this tutorial.

I think it turned out pretty good. I used old jeans and some quilt scraps. I'll be making more for sure.

An Inconvenience

The BEST and
most BEAUTIFUL things
in the WORLD cannot
be SEEN or even
TOUCHED. They
must be FELT with
the HEART.
Hellen Keller

Bah Humbug

My daughter wanted to be able to wear this oversized sweatshirt to work today.


So I cut it up...

And made her this....

Finished!

It is finally done and in the mail to my mom for Christmas! I am happy with it. I think the only thing I could of done better is the actual quilting. But practice will help me get closer to perfect.

On the Border

After taking advise from others, my quilt top now has a border. It does look so much better. Next is piecing the backing and then quilting it together. I do wish I had a helper to hold it up when I take pictures. It is a bit distorted and the color of the photo is bad.

Mom's chemo and quilt top

So today is my mom's 4th chemo. Thanks be to God that the chemo has been doing its job. So as I thought about the long day of chemo she is going through (she does a 6 hour drip to reduce her symptoms, versus a 3 hour drip), I sewed the t-shirt quilt squares I have been working on into a quilt top.

This quilt is evolving as I sew it. I started with a plan, but it changed slightly. I like to let the quilting happen as it goes for these t-shirt quilts. They are so hard to plan from start to finish. I started out thinking it would be a quilt like I made my daughter awhile back, with batting and quilting and all. I have started wondering though, how it would be as more of a blanket. With a soft minkee type fabric for the back. Ummm cozy. Just what my mom might need for comfort this winter. I will be taking a trip to the quilt store to get some advice as to whether they think this is a bad idea. I'm not sure about sewing with minkee. It is difficult. I probably won't listen though if they discourage me from doing it this way.

Sorry about the bad photo. My daughter has my camera at college and I had to use my i-phone with poor lighting. And I know the oriental rug is not the best background to film on but I was too lazy to get a neutral sheet to put under it.

Old t-shirt and a chemo turban

I finally found a serger on craigslist! Yea! So for my first project I decided to use this free pattern. Of course it came out a bit wonky since it was my very first serged pattern (it could be made without a serger). But it was quick and easy. I will be making more since I have lots of t-shirt backs from making t-shirt quilts.

Progress

I started working on the squares for the t-shirt quilt. It got me thinking that I haven't posted how my mom is doing. Her progress has been amazing. She has had 3 chemo treatments and her C125(?) count is normal now! She goes in for a chemo treatment next week. This time around has not been as hard as I thought it would be. She is familiar with what to expect so it makes it a bit easier on her. Plus they have all her meds figured out so she is not having so many side effects. Yea!
So I decided to get working on the t-shirt quilt I am making her. I had some time on Thanksgiving to sew. Pictures are of the progress I am making.
First I mark the square on the t-shirt that has been backed with interfacing. Then I line a border on the line with right sides facing. Sew that on and then trim the excess t-shirt to the seam allowance. This keeps the t-shirt from stretching.

I keep adding the borders to the squares and trimming the t-shirt until I have a quilt block.


I will be working on more today. I only finished 2 yesterday with all the Thanksgiving cooking. But I am excited to keep working on it to get it done for my mom's Christmas present!

T-shirt Quilt for Mom

As much as I first want to make the Reverse-Applique Swing Skirt out of the Alabama Stitch Book with the above brown and wine red jersey knit fabrics...

I must first finish a t-shirt quilt for my mom of all the t-shirts from her travels. I hope to finish it for her for Christmas, but that might be pushing it. Above are the fabrics and the rough cut prepared t-shirts. I will post pictures as I go to give anyone interested an idea of what is involved. As you can see, I first rough cut the t-shirts and iron a lightweight fusible on the back. Be careful in the ironing as the design on front can melt or bleed ink. Next I will mark the size of the square directly on the front including the seam allowance. Pictures will follow after I do that.


On a side note: Thank-you for looking at my blog! It is amazing that someone in Portugal or Germany or Croatia or Australia actually looked here! What a small world it is. : ) My blog is not the most interesting yet.... but I am working on it.

First Refashion

Well it is finally done. Not exactly how I envisioned it turning out, but it will work. It was sort of a sew as you go project. I didn't plan it out all the way through and had to make some changes as I went. The pictures are not the best and I am not having any taken with it on me! I am not in the best form right now and I do not have the proper tights or underskirt to wear under it yet. So without further ado I present my first refashion...