Design Wall Monday...

...and NSM Days 26 and 27. 

With our water issues of last week, I spent a lot of my sewing time making string blocks. Neutral blocks and colored blocks. Lots of them. Lots of mindless sewing. Sadly I didn't sew anything on Sunday. So my sewing everyday streak for National Sewing Month has ended. I will finish out them month by continuing to sew every day.

Earlier in the week, I made my 1st tester bra. It turned out so nice and pretty but it has issues. The band fits pretty good but the cups are too small. Back to the videos I go to find out where I need to adjust things. I think I know but I want to be sure before I start on tester #2.

Now just for the fun of it:

One day Crystal and the kids stopped by while waiting to take Leland to school. He drew me a picture. Gram is prite (pri te) is hanging on the kitchen door. My heart melts a little each time I look at it. I keep thinking I might want to turn this into a pillow.

Saturday we took spent the afternoon with friends. We drove by Silver Lake and I had to get a picture out the truck window as we were going past the lake. We've spent quite a bit of time at this lake when our kiddos were small. Ernie used to work up near Spirit Lake and Mt. St. Helens before she erupted so there are lots of great memories of this place. If you are ever in the neighborhood, you should take a day trip up Spirit Lake Hiway and see the mountain and the visitor centers. You'll drive right by Silver Lake.

Since it is Monday, I'll be taking a tour around Blogland and seeing what others have on their Design Wall Monday posts that have been linked to Patchwork Times. Thanks Judy L for making my Monday morning fun.

NSM 23-25 And Life On The Farm

I had so much fun making string block Tuesday that I decided to make more. 

I have not made a dent in the neutral string box.

Some days call for mindless sewing in front of the TV.

I had so much fun on Tuesday, I decided to continue Wednesday.

These are 4 1/2" blocks.

They have all been depapered and trimmed to size.

Friday is another string block.

I thought I would put these away but decided to make just a few more.

A few more turned into 25.

36 blocks this week has made a little bit of a dent in this string box.

A very little dent but a dent. 

How cute is the rooster block!

Life on the farm has not been fun this week. 

I thought I had run us out of water.

Turns out it wasn't me.

There is a leak in our old water line.

For the past 30 years we have talked about replacing that line.

We no longer could put this off.

Day 4 without water is almost over.

We were able to turn the pump on and take quick showers

but couldn't leave it on for very long.

Ernie and his friend have worked hard all day to get this done.

I stayed out of the way and sewed.

NSM Days 21 & 22

Sew much fun during National Sewing Month. 

Completed part 2 of Country Roads Quilt Along from Humble Quilts.

Another row complete for Quiltville's 2015 leader/ender project.

Just for the fun of it, 3 1/2" string blocks.

11 were made this morning while I finished my movie.

Had to add the 12th one for the photo.

Fun snappy bag.

The bra pattern is cut out, ready to start sewing.

Design Wall Monday and...

...NSM Days 17-20

You know by now that I love Swoon Patterns. The last few days of National Sewing Month were not very kind to me. Or my brain was not very kind to me.  This wallet is called Pearl and she is fabulous! Not a hard sew at all. But my brain confused me at almost every step of the way.

If the instructions said to place the card slot openings on the right, I place them on the left and sewed them down. The seam ripper is now dull with all the use it got this week.

Here is an example of my brain at work. The tab need to be centered. There are nice marks on the center of the tab and the center of the wallet piece. Did I line them up? No, I did not. Not the first time anyhow!  In the end, I love the way Pearl turned out. She is fun and I can't wait to use her. 

Today I start something not quilt related or Swoon related. Today I am going to start making myself a bra. I've had the kits and the DVDs from BravoBella for over 2 years. Now I am going to work on this until I get one that fits me perfect. Wish me luck. I'm pretty excited about it again.

My goal to sew every day this month was interrupted by 45 pounds of tuna that needed put in jars on Saturday. My niece offered to share her catch if I would teach her to can. OK. Ernie, Anna and I used 2 pressure cookers and 133 jars and got it all done. That night Ernie had to "taste test" it and it passed his test. I couldn't move from the recliner......

See what others have on their design wall at Patchwork Times.

On The Needles

Holy Cow, I have been a slacker. It's been since July that I have done an On the Needles post. I really did have good intentions but you know how that works out sometimes.  

After finishing the 2 pair of socks I had on the needles, I finally get to start 2 more pair. This pattern is call Fruit Strip Gum. Isn't it fun. Super easy and it will become my new to go project. I am not even concerned that the stripes don't match up. Because these are fun!

The next pair is called Groovy Socks. This is the original yarn I wanted to use for the Fruit Stripe Gum socks but the color runs are really short. This is the pair I keep by my chair. Again, it's an easy pattern to follow so I can kind of pay attention to what's on tv or what's happening around me. 

These Plain Janes were started in January on the way to the beach and were my to go project. I don't go much so these took a while to complete.

Glacier Lake Toe Up were finished also. These were started in March.......oiye! I am so slow. I did really good then had some trouble understanding the instructions until I sat down in total silence and read them out loud and talked my self through the gusset part. Then it was easy peasy! I'm not sure if I'll do another toe up pair or not. I'm kind of an old dog and like my tired and true, 2 socks on 2 circulars. I know I need 60 stitches on my size needles with the yarn I like to use. So I'll just stick with that for a while longer.

Check out what others have on their needles at Patchwork Times.

NSM Days 14-16

Despite the fact the flu possessed my body Monday and Tuesday, 

I was still able to get a wee bit of sewing done each day

I worked on Millefiore and have just a few hexagons to finish this rosette.

Today? Maybe.

Each round adds so much to the rosette.

I need to start thinking about the next one.

I tried to work on my Pearl wallet from Swoon Patterns

but I couldn't concentrate on it so I stopped.

Lori over at Humble Quilts is hosting Country Roads Mystery Quiltalong. 

I'd like to blame Katy when I read her Design Wall Monday post 

but I would have joined in anyhow.

I love Lori's quilt alongs.

I had to giggle this morning when I ready Kathy's Quilts post.

I have this conversation with myself quite often.

You can see from this new start that I don't listen to myself.

Well, sometimes I do,

but mostly I don't.

Design Wall Monday

I am on a mission to sew everyday during September. So far so good with only one day that looked sketchy. Today won't be a problem either since I have started on the newest design from Swoon Patterns. She is a wallet called Pearl. I'm using this fun flip flop fabric as the main fabric and the lime green as the accent. Everything is fused and I'm ready to start sewing this morning.

After last week's fabulous finishes of Tumalo Trails and Vivian, I am ready to some instant gratification. Then I plan to make the back for Tumalo trails and I have another project on my mind that I'd like to give some attention to. Stay tuned.......

In the mean time, I am going to check in at Patchwork Times to see what everyone else has on their design walls. I love Monday in Blogland.

NSM Days 7 - 13

Wow, I am a bit behind on my posting of my sew every day during National Sewing Month projects. I finished Tumalo Trails, not on Monday like I'd planned. It was finally finished on Thursday.

I sewed every day, just not much as I wanted to. Instead I canned beans and froze broccoli. I'm happy to have that finished.

Since finishing the quilt top, I've been Swooning. This is Vivian for daughter DeeDee. She wanted a cool bag to carry her work stuff in. She wants a cross body strap on it but I don't have the hardware for that. I'll give her the bag tomorrow and the strap when it's finished.

I love fun pockets. The pattern for Vivian calls for one inside pocket with a zipper. I put in a zipper pocket on each side. I used orange zippers and this fun fabric for the inside of the pockets. On Taylor's bag I used a fun print on one side and elk and deer on the other.  

In the evening I worked on Millefiore. Little by little It's getting there. Mostly this block spent time in my lap while I looked at it. ;)

I'm excited to see what this week brings. The next project is laying on the sewing table ready to start.

Design Wall Monday and NSM-Days 5 & 6

I am so close to adding borders that I am going to say that today Tumalo Trail will be a completed quilt top! How's that for confidence??? My original plan was to do a scrappy brown border but then I looked at the picture again in Scraps & Shirttails II. I knew that I had to go deep stash scrappy. It was so fun to use up a bunch of old strips and get into some new ones. If there was anything left of the strip it was cut into 1 1/2" squares.....this quilt used up every single little square. Time to refill that box.

Days 5 and 6 of National Sewing Month were spent sewing these borders. Day 7 will be spent sewing the borders on. We have no big plans for this Labor Day except to Labor. Me at the sewing machine, Hubby working on his woodshed.

Yesterday I spent some Slow Stitching time sewing on Millefiore. I've been ignoring her for several days now and she started making me feel a bit guilty so I what could I do but pay attention to her for a bit. This is rosette number 2. I have all the hexagons completed and I'm now anxious to complete this one. I'm already thinking about the next rosette colors even though I can't remember what the design looks like. I keep reminding myself--One at a time Judy!!! 

See what others have on their design wall at Patchwork Times-Design Wall Monday. I'm going to refill my cup and take a little stroll through Blogland.

NSM-Days 2, 3 & 4

I looked back on my blog and see this is my fourth year of celebrating National Sewing Month. Planning to sew every day and actually doing it is sometimes difficult.  To see so many of my projects that I worked on was fun but to see several that are now UFOs, not so fun.

On Wednesday I didn't sew but I helped my Binding Friends cutting fabric. They are taking a class and need to have all their pieces cut before hand. I think that counts. I depapered my Pineapple Crazy blocks and added them to my bin.

On Thursday I decided I need to work in my sewing room. Piles everywhere. Some things have been put away. Lost treasures were found. Fabric strips were cut in preparation for today's sewing. There are still piles for another day. Today I needed to sew.

Today I worked on Tumalo Trails. The rows and sashing are all sewn together to make a really nice looking center for my quilt. Now I'm working on the piano key border. Wowzers! I need 360 inches of piano keys. I sewed and sewed and sewed, first into pairs, then into 4s and now into 8s.  I counted them into groups of 10 8 piece sections. I have 23 sections. LOL I need 45 sections. It looks like I will be pulling more 1 1/2" strips and I need to be cutting some more. My scrap strips are dwindling fast. Time to replenish the bin! This is sure to add more variety to the border. It's so fun going into the deep stash for these strips.

Hello September!

I love September. I love the fall. I love to sew. Perfect!  It's National Sewing Month. I have a goal to sew every day and it doesn't happen every day. In September I really focus on that goal. I have a plan for some charity sewing. I have plans for Judy sewing. 

I started out the month by finishing up these 6 Pineapple Crazy blocks. They still need to be depapered and that will happen later tonight while watching tv.  My friend Marian finished her Pineapple Crazy and that has spurred me to really get cracking on mine. It's been in the works for long enough now. I want it to be a quilt but first I need to finish the last row for Tumalo Trail and get it attached to the body of the quilt. This quilt has a deadline. 

These 6 blocks each have the center booboos. And the center bottom block has a couple placement booboos. I don't care. I think it just shows my personality. My life has booboos, my quilts have booboos too. Whoopsie! I'm  not perfect. *wink, wink!! 

I hope you are celebrating National Sewing Month by doing something special.