Just a Thing or Two

As I was editing last weekend’s photos, I realized that I have been a little productive in the sewing room.

My friend’s church has a couple of ladies that take mission trips to Haiti, Dominican Republic and Honduras.  They deliver dresses to girls in orphanages there.  Each Monday night members and non-members of the church gather to make these simple dresses.  I have participated a few times. 

Over the last few months I contributed 13 dresses.

All of the materials come from donations.

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Speaking of donations…  a couple more helmet liners were donated to Forgotten Soldiers Outreach.  

These were sent to me from Pat in New Jersey.  She is a friend of Selina’s who, like Selina, has contributed helmet liners the last two or three years.  Selina’s package is somewhere in post office land.  She has her local postmaster searching for them.  Between the three of us, we have completed 7 helmet liners this year.

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My sister visited last month so we could celebrate my Mom’s 73^rd birthday.  

As is our tradition, we went to the Mount Dora Craft Fair.  It is pretty much the same year after year.  You can read about a previous visit here.

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I cut fabric for two laptop cases.  My daughter’s college roommate asked for one and my daughter decided hers needs to be replaced. 

I was supposed to finish these last weekend using my early birthday present...thank you SWEEEET HUBBY! 

However, there was a distraction…a nice distraction.  I’ll share about that in a later post.

Hoping to make the laptop cases by Friday as I’m leaving for Old Town Alexandria on Saturday for 9 days.  I’ll be working there all of next week.  

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It won’t be all work and no play, though.  Next Sunday morning, and the following, I’ll be taking a class at Fibre Space.  I shared my first visit with them here.  They sent me the yarn, pre-wound, in advance so I could make the swatch.  

We will be learning how to make this...

Photo from Google Search

The pattern is Asanagi Wrap by Olga Buraya-Kefeliar.  You can find it on Ravelry.  The yarn is from Woolfolk Tynd, 100% Ovis 21 ultimate merino – whatever that means.  I’ll ask for an explanation when I get to class.

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Hope everyone exercised their right and voted today.  I did my part J

Hugs!

100th Blog Post Giveaway Winner

First I want to thank everyone that commented on my last blog post for their encouragement and feedback.  You’ve given me just what I asked for J  I wish I had a gift certificate for all of you!

Counting people, twenty-one followers commented so I let the random number generator do its thing…

The lucky number today is 15!  

Congratulations to Needled Mom

Mary will receive the $25 Fat Quarter gift certificate.

Thank you all again!

Hope everyone has a wonderful day J

100th Blog Post and Giveaway

When I started my blog on June 6, 2013, the intent was to share progress on my craft projects - and maybe a little of my life - on a weekly basis.  Now that would mean today should be my 179^th post.  I’m a little off from my original goal J

I’ve made so many new blog friends but it seems like we are more likely to post on Instagram or Facebook these days.  It’s like an instant post without much effort.  Honestly, I do not really post much on the Slammin’ the Screen Door Facebook page, I’m mostly on Instagram and I see so many of my favorite blog friends are there as well.

I am not quite ready to abandon the blog.  I do have hopes of reviving it along with my creative activity.  I have been in such a slump lately with regard to sewing or much of anything crafty.  I’m going to shake myself out of this slump because I have so many projects waiting to be completed.

And because it is somewhat of a miracle – that I have completed 100 blog posts – I will celebrate by offering a giveaway.  The prize?  How about a $25.00 gift certificate to the Fat Quarter Shop?

To enter, leave a comment on this post to let me know if you are a regular follower of my blog. And if so, let me know how you follow…  Google +, Bloglovin’, email or some other way.  Do you follow me on Instagram too?

  

The winner will be selected from comments that are received on this post only by Sunday, November 6^th at 9:00 pm EST. 

~~~~Don’t forget to change your clocks this weekend~~~~

I will use the online random number generator to select the winner sometime after 9 pm.

Now, just so you know that I haven’t been completely lazy, I want to share the latest block in my Building Blocks adventure. 

This is block #5, a lesson on cables – and it is another one that I am going to re-do.  Why?  The block is so simple that I got complacent and knitted an entire 7 extra rows!  Now, the block in the photo is my 4^th or 5^th attempt.  I’m not kidding when I tell you that I got complacent.  There were times that I knitted when I was supposed to purl and vice versa.  It doesn’t help that I do this while watching sports too.

This is November 1st and I say it is as good a time as any to jump back into my projects.

Let’s see how it goes J

Building Blocks Update and Halloween Panel

Just where did the summer 2016 go?  As fast as Flash Gordon it is gone!  From July 8^th until August 21^st I traveled every weekend, pretty much covering the entire state of Florida.  I was as far northwest as Perdido Key on the Alabama border, as far northeast as Fernandina Beach on the Georgia border, as far southwest as Sarasota and as far south as Key West.  This post was going to be a recap but when I downloaded the photos, all 2203 of them…well, I decided that was going to take more bandwidth than I have at this moment to organize.

So, I thought I would give you an update on my Building Blocks progress.  If this is the first you are reading about BB then you can catch up here and here.

Remember Block 3 and how wonky it was?

I decided there MUST be a redo.

This is Block 4 and the lesson here is simple decreases.

These have not been ‘blocked’ so I’m sure they will end up more square and to the proper size before I sew them together.

I’m currently working on Block 5 (cables) and absolutely loving it…can’t wait to show this one to you later in the week.

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On one of my summer road trips I visited a shop that had some really cute panels.  I am not typically a panel kind of gal but I thought this one would look cute in my daughter’s college apartment.  This is Frightful and Delightful from Henry Glass.  It is supposed to glow in the dark.

I added the purple inner border and the dots are not only the outer border but also the backing.  I tried a new-to-me method of binding by folding over the backing.  Super easy for something small but I think I’ll stick to the traditional method on larger quilts.

That is about all of the creativity I’ve been able to muster lately but looking around at some of the items that followed me home this summer, I better get to it.

Hope you are all having a great week!

American Embroidery Conference and Building Blocks

The American Embroidery Conference is an annual gathering of machine embroidery designers and vendors of all sorts.  This year’s event was held in Palm Beach Gardens, FL.  It was four days of instruction and, for the most part, fun.

Most of my classes were with Missy Billingsley.  She offers designs in everything from tea towels to cross body bags and tablet keepers.  I find her instructions very easy to follow.  I just loved her and her helpers.

Here is what I made in her classes.

Cross Body Butterfly Bag

Cute as a Button Zippered Bag

Quilty Tool Caddy

Various items including a mug rug and koozie

The conference also supports a charity, Kids in Distress (KiDs).  These are children who are removed from abusive homes in Palm Beach and Broward counties.  You can read more about them here.

The conference raffles gift baskets to raise money for KiDs and they also challenge quilters to donate as many quilts as they can.

I did step away from the embroidery machine to take one class on making a tumbler quilt which is to be donated to KiDs.  The intention was that you got as far as you could during the class and finish at home.  The pre-cut kit was provided.

The kit was a disappointment.  The fabric had been donated and it was a mix of all kinds…NOT quilt quality.  I persevered but it wasn’t enjoyable.

I found the conference to be a bit expensive.  You pay a hefty registration fee and then pay for each class separately.  There are mostly two classes per day.  I understand the charges but in retrospect, I don’t feel like there is much value there for me so I won’t be attending in the future.

On a happier note, I am making progress on my Building Blocks and learning a lot.

Block 2 is finished.  The lesson here was reading charts.

Block 3 is finished.  This was a lesson on yarn over and bobbles.  I had to tie on another skein of yarn and the block is wonky.  If the blocking process doesn't make it look better then this one will be a do over.  I won't mind as the bobbles were fun J

My husband and I are taking a long weekend, traveling to Alabama and north Florida.  A friend is going to try to restore my treadle’s cabinet or maybe replace the wood part all together.  So excited to get this baby going again.  My sewing machine guy has the machine itself serviced and says it is a gem.

I’ll share more about the machine later.

Val’s Annual Piggy Bank Challenge

Hard to believe that it has been a whole year since Val began her 3^rd annual piggy bank challenge.  The name has now changed to Piggy Bank Savings = Money for Quilting Challenge.

The goal was to save our loose change over the span of one year, count it up and share how we plan to use the ‘found’ money.

Well, I’m a debit card kind of consumer so I do not typically collect a lot of change.  And since I work from home now, I’m not eating in the company café with an opportunity to use cash.

However, I was pleasantly surprised when I counted out a whopping $78.35!

I’ll tuck this away for another couple of weeks then use it for the Florida Lighthouses and Bridges shop hop that begins on July 16^th.

Stay tuned for those adventures!

Oh! Val is hosting another piggy bank challenge.  Check out her blog for sign ups beginning next week and a linky party where you can see how others fared with their savings.

Slow Sunday Stitching and Selina's Giveaway

My knitting needles have been busy.

I made three helmet liners for this year’s Operation: Warm and Fuzzy campaign. 

My regular readers will remember this, an activity my former co-workers and I would do each year for the soldiers.  Even though I am no longer working with them, I’m still helping out this year as they lost quite a few knitters.

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This is block number 1 from the Building Blocks book that I told you about here.

Block 1 teaches simple knit and purl stitches.

This is the beginning of block number 2 which offers a lesson in reading charts.

I’m enjoying the book and will spend more time on this project now that I finished the helmet liners.  As a matter of fact, I am working on this today for my Slow Sunday Stitching project.  Check out Kathy’s link here to see what everyone else is up to.

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Do you know Selina?  She blogs at Selina Quilts and just recently offered a giveaway to celebrate her 300^th post.  I was the lucky winner of these…

Two cuts of some adorable red fabric, a pin cushion and zippered bag that Selina made.  You have to check out Selina’s post on how she made the bag…genious!

In my next post I will share the projects I made while attending the American Embroidery Conference last month.

Enjoy the remainder of your Sunday!

CONGRATULATIONS SAILOR!

Our family is celebrating the promotion of my son’s military advancement.

Any details that I am about to share here are not confidential, they have been publicly posted by the Navy on Facebook…so it must be safe, right?

Our Fire Controlman (he doesn’t put out fires, he launches missiles!), was promoted to 2^nd class.

He is aboard the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville (CG-62).  Chancellorsville is on patrol in the U.S. 7^th Fleet area of operation in support of security and stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific.

We are so proud of him for making the decision to join the Navy and for working so hard to earn this promotion.

This was too good not to share…so I am linking up at Sarah’s Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?  Hop over and see what has others doing the whoop whoop.

Thank you for indulging this Proud Navy Mom!

Fair Winds and Following Seas!

Hands 2 Help Charity Quilt Challenge 2016 Link Up

This is my second year participating in the Hands 2 Help Charity Quilt Challenge coordinated by Sarah who blogs at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

There are a record number of quilters signed up for this year’s challenge so I am sure Sarah will receive a record number of quilts.  Many quilters donate more than one or two so I am excited to see the final number.

Please visit Sarah to read more about the challenge and see the link ups for some quilty inspiration.

My contribution this year is a simple child’s quilt that will go to Happy Chemo.

These are the fabrics I selected.

The fun giraffes and yellow fabric came from Stephanie’s stash.  Stephanie Dunphy is writing some wonderful tote and quilt patterns which you can find  at ConnectingThreads.

The green is a Gail Kessler for Andover fabric and the Little Elephants fabric is from Michael Miller.

The easy strip pattern is one I found many years ago.  It was on Mary Johnson’s website.  This is a perfect pattern for a child size quilt.

I would like to thank Sarah for the opportunity to participate.  She is a very special person with a huge heart.  I look forward to next year.

Hugs,

Lost in Fibre Space

Where have I been?  

Well, I traveled to Old Town Alexandria last week for work.  Not sure if I mentioned it before but I will go there occasionally. 

When I wasn’t busy working, I searched for quilt shops and yarn stores.  No luck locating a quilt shop close by but I did find an amazing yarn shop that was within walking distance.

Fibre Space is my new favorite gourmet yarn store.

Three large rooms filled with high quality and unique yarns as well as a classroom area and lounge.  They were shooting a commercial the day I was there and NO, I resisted the photo bomb.

Happy mannequins, even the yarn adorned deer.

 So much yarn (swoon)

Meet Arthella (shop manager) and Sarah  (most helpful)

You can read more about these ladies and all of the Fibre Space staff by clicking here.

Nemo

Under the watchful eye of Nemo - the shop's mascot, Sarah helped me find a couple of nice projects.

To expand my knitting skills, I purchased Michelle Hunter's Building Blocks.  You knit 12 individual squares, learning new techniques with each one.  When the squares are complete, she shows you how to join them to make an afghan.

I selected Ella Rae's Superwash Wool in Heather Blue for that project.

The shop had a sample of a beautiful ombre' scarf, I forgot to get a close up photo of it.  Sarah helped me find the pattern on Ravelry for Cynthia Parker's Ombre Infinity.  My yarns for this project are Blue Sky Alpacas (50% baby alpaca 50% raw silk...yum!) in Gold Dust, Flint and Cinnabar.  This pattern involves the Kitchner Graft which is a technique I have only used once before, so...fingers crossed.

That is where I have been.  I highly recommend a visit if you are ever in Old Town.  But if you can't wait until then, you can find them online here.

I will be back to share my progress on these fun projects as well as something quilty J