July Happenings

I cannot believe we are at the end of July.  This month was a busy month but still seemed to fly by!  I spent the weekends out hunting deals at the Flea Markets, spent a Monday serving jury duty and ended that week celebrating my 50th birthday, spun like a crazy woman during the Tour de Fleece on Ravelry, and got my quilt pieces cut for my Grinch Halloween Quilt... along with working my day job.  It was a blast!

Here is the disassembled Grinch quilt.  It will be paper pieced.  Paper piecing?  Haven't done that for a while.  I actually had to watch a YouTube video to refresh my memory.  Paper piecing is one of my favorite ways to quilt.  I cannot wait to begin the assembling process, but the piecing was put on hold while I spun for the Tour de Fleece...

Tour de Fleece took its tole on all of us.  As you can see, a few ladies couldn't handle the pace. lol  Lots and lots of wool spinning.  It is my favorite event on Ravelry!  

Luckily, I took my birthday off from work and made a long weekend of spinning.  The Shepherdess and I spent the morning of my birthday going to a quilt shop, coffee shop for lunch, and an antique shop to round up the trip.  The following week, I did a little hunting on the internet and found a gentleman on Ebay selling sewing parts.  I inquired about a stitch dial for my 3/4 size Kenmore 158.1030.  (It is the niftiest little sewing machine but arrived to my home with a broken dial.)  He had one!!  He not only sold it to me but took photos on how to install it.  What a great seller!   Big thanks to Scott and five stars to his seller store found under Flapicker.  :)

I think it will do its maiden voyage piecing the Grinch quilt.  It is so light and portable.  If you can find one, I highly recommend the style.

August is right around the corner.  So much to do and so little time! ;)

Sewing with the Grinch

I spent the last few months working on selling off some of my wool stash and was able to clear my studio floor of fleece filled bundles.  :)  As with most of my artistic ventures, I cannot start anything new without an organized work space.  Clutter can stop me in my tracks.  My reward for  all of the hard work in the studio was this nifty quilt kit starring none other than -- the Grinch.  Did you ever watch "Halloween is Grinch Night"?  It was one of my son's favorite Halloween movies.  The Grinch was a real naughty character.  My son loved him.  Kind of scary really!  LOL  I have decided to jump back into quilting with this kit.  Of course a hundred other projects are in the wings, but this one was too darling to pass up!

 

 



Hubby and I went shopping, and this darling "Hello Kitty" mug made its way to our home.  It makes me think of our black cat, Mew.  I would always hold her up to the TV when the "Hello Kitty" balloon was shown on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Funny enough, Mew never seemed interested.  Never the less, I tried every year, and it became a Thanksgiving tradition handed down to the new Fuzzies... with the same lack of interest.  *sigh*

Of course, I nearly flipped at Christmastime when seeing the Janome RED "Hello Kitty" sewing machine.  I know, a plastic machine???  But it was just to darn cute to pass up!  It will not be used on the Grinch quilt, but I will piece a few smaller items on it to test it out.   The machine has received various favorable reviews.  It will be coming out for a test run this month, and I will share my thoughts.  Great to see some products to encourage young people (and adults) to sew.  :)