Our House Was Built In 1921...

So... our house was built in 1921 and for some reason they took the wall out that separated the living room from a front bedroom... wish they would have left it alone. All it did was make a bowling alley living room with one end more narrow than the other, so you never knew what to put there. Well, I came up with a solution, my sewing room!

 My DH is such a good guy when I bring him a project. He came up with the idea of making a wall that we could take down if we wanted and it worked perfectly, a huge piece of blue Styrofoam board from Lowes and covered it with an olive green fabric on the side that faces the living room and I just used fabric pieces to cover the side that faces the sewing room. We will add some trim to it later this week.

 But anyway I finally have a sewing room that I can not see from my living room and I am so happy because sometimes I am a messy quilter. 
  

Here shows two of the machines I use mainly, but there is a Janome and a Singer 319W that I use as well. My board that you see in this photo is an old barn window screen that I found on top of my friend's wagon to go to the dump.  I covered it in batting and a gray calico. 

The black Singer is my 15-91 and what I did piecing and free motion quilting on before I got my Juki. Now I just use it to piece and regular sewing but it still cuts a mean free motion design if needed. 

 I love these plastic shelves, they are deep and wide. Another great contribution from the hubbs who found them in the trash.. I don't have a lot of stash yet but I am working on it! I have finally found a use for my Longaberger baskets (which I don't buy anymore).

 I covered the Styrofoam board with whatever big pieces of fabrics I could find and then pinned some "stuff" on them. The louvered doors open to a closet for coats. You can't see if very well in this photo but on top of the door molding is a wooden sign that says "sewing."

My little table is what I use to press on and underneath the pressing board are my cutting mats... which tells you  I cut on that table too.

I love old orphan blocks and have a ton of them to put on the board yet for a little inspiration (not saying I have the skills to make many of them... :-/

 My Juki from DH and my cabinet from an auction friend who is really good to me when it comes to sewing stuff. I have sold stuff for him on Ebay for about 6 years now, he let me pick one for my machine that we had in storage and I love it, it has an electric lift. It worked out great for my machine but I hope someday to have it on a frame.

Another goodie from another auction buddy, he brings me stuff from time to time to sell for him as well as cool sewing stuff for me. This really is supposed to sit on the floor but I thought it looked cool on the wall. I covered the backside of it with homespun and put my quilting thread on it and some of my rulers.

Well hope you enjoyed looking at my sewing room, now I should go sew huh!~

A lady name Frieda is AWESOME!

 A wonderful gal my husband works with is sooooo talented! She made this wonderful cake for our 42nd anniversary. Just look at the Juki sewing machine she made for the top of the cake!  She is awesome!  Thank you so much, what a surprise and a wonderful delight when my DH walked through the door with this. KUDOS! and many blessings! And the cake is absolutely delicious!
Gwen

Look what I found at the Antique Mall!

OMGOSH! I was so surprised to find this at an antique mall this morning. DH and I decided to take a look around the Markle antique mall and walla look what I found, HOMESPUNS galore. Just in the colors I needed for some more little wall quilts. The small ones on top are all fat quarters too... The rest is yardage, some are two yards and more. I am in heaven plus that sweet man says he is taking me to Roanoke to the quilt shop there where they have rooms and rooms of great fabrics and lots of Civil War fabs.... He is on the "vacay." So... I guess we will do some running around this week.

Blessings Yall!

Mine Mine Mine My Design..

I finally ventured out and just did one with out trying to copy somebody else's work. I have to say of all the little quilts I have made so far I kinda like mine the best. I think its the fabric I used and the colors. This is sooooo adictive! Pretty soon I won't have much stash left if I keep this up and I have big quilts to make! YIKES!

Happy Valentine's Day to My DH...

He was 16 and I was 14 and the year was 1968... We had been to Old Town in Chicago, he was visiting me from Indiana. The weekend was over way too soon...

Now I spend all my weekends with him, we have had 42 years of them... and they said it wouldn't last, what did they know.  These days this good man buys all the fabric I want and tolerates thread hanging off all my clothes. I hope he has the best Valentine's Day ever... and by the by, he had the original Beiber hair...
I love him still.

Here is the one I did... from quitlsbycheri "a little patchwork"

Its a good thing that Cheri said not to worry if yours didn't turn out the same! Because...mine looks really different, I believe I forgot a strip and one looks a little more crooked than called for... Oh well ya never know till you try. I sure love doing her sew- a-longs. I love primitive too. The only think I have not done to the little quilts yet is grunge them but I will before its over.  Its fun displaying them I just used a couple of tiny nails and pinned safety pins on the back of the little doobers and hung them that way. I guess I was too lazy to make a sleeve.  Not sure what kind I will make next but can't wait to get started. Everybody out there in blog land have a great week and don't forget to count your blessings!

And yet another little quilt...

Thank you Cheri from quiltsbycheri.blogspot.com/ for letting me use the design from a quilt she posted.  I have been practicing on these little quilts and now I am addicted to them!

Its not as easy as you would think to free motion that little. I am finding that I am tensing up my neck and distorting my face while I am quilting that little and its giving my little dog the willies! 

I might make another yet this weekend. I think I really am enjoying staying home on the weekend and sewing my brains out. However I may sneak out and make a fabric run occasionally... that goes without saying, right?

Hope you all are getting some sewing done this lovely late winter weekend. Spring is right around the corner!

Blessings! Gwen

Friday Finish: My 1st mini quilt...

My first little quilt I ever made. I used a Moda charm pack for most of it, can't remember the name. Blocks  that make the 9 patch are one inch each, I cut them an inch and a half for seam allowance. I tried to free motion as small as I could and I used an invisible thread in my Juki 2000, it did just fine with the thread on top and in the bobbin as well. I am really loving my new machine and hope to add a Grace frame one of these days, the sooner the better. 

I am still working on the blocks for DH's bow tie quilt, only about 120 more to piece! lol  I am slowly collecting stash for my Civil War quilt in red, whites and blues.  However I am throwing some mini quilts in the mix because it breaks up any boredom that comes with piecing the same block 120 times... It really helps me to stop and work on a fast finish project.  I am getting ready to start "a little patchwork" that I am following on quiltsbycheri blog. I just love her little projects. Its a cute little mini quilt, not sure what colors I will use but I know I will use fabrics with a primitive look.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
Blessings to all!

Friday Night Finishes...

Some might say I need to get a life but let me say this... I do have one. Matter of fact I am usually so busy I forget stuff. However here lately I have been making time to do things that I would like to do. Here are a couple of scrappy lappy wheel chair quilts I finished up tonight.

 I plan to begin working in the nursing home/ shut in ministry of our parish this June. This is my last year to teach CCD classes (7th grade). I have been teaching a long time and have just been feeling led to make some changes. I have been told there is a great need in this area. I thought I would see how many lap quilts and such I could get made by then using up some scraps.

 The crazy quilt one is the first time I have ever made a quilt in this style. I don't have an embroidery machine but do have a beautiful old black Singer 319W so I was able to make some stitching across it to mimic the old crazy quilt blocks.  I was not sure how to quilt it so I kind of drew with my Juki quilting machine and stippled on the sashing.

 So I used three different machines to make these little quilts and they are not even fancy! lol Hope you all got to do something you wanted this lovely Friday!

Look What I found...interesting quilty stuff...

Sometimes ya just wanna know what the name of a block is or was I should say because sometimes they have several names. I found these in an old 1981 quilt magazine that I was getting ready for the shredder. Hope these are helpful to somebody and I hope I made them big enough to read!
Blessings!

Blowing In The Warmer Than Usual Feb. Indiana Wind...

This one is Singer Sister Marilyn's"

This one is Singer Sister "Barb's"

These are their first quilts, they made them just the right size to use in their recliners... I quilted them (they have yet to learn free motion skills) and they are already for them when they come for their sewing day in the morning.

 I can't wait, even though they are small they will mean a lot to them I know... you gotta love quilting and the emotions that go along with it...

I am practicing my free motion skills on my NEW JUKI 2000qi!

Well I am still in the honeymoon period with my new Juki that the DH gave me for my 42nd... It arrived Tuesday and even though I was still a little under the weather I could not get it unpacked quick enough! I gotta say, I sure love this machine. If I could change one thing about it I would have made the bobbin hold more thread. It can go so fast that it runs out quicker than you want it to. Here is a couple of small chair quilts I am working on for two of my sewing buddys. I am trying to kind of Trapunto style with it but I still need many hours of practice. But that is what Leah Day says to do... practice practive PRACTICE!