Assignment. Write to your dream reader……well, I wish I could. I would write to my grandmother and share my creations with her and maybe learn some valuable lessons through her years of experience. How wonderful to share something you love with the person who inspired you. I missed that opportunity….but she still inspires me and I am fortunate to have her travel sewing machine….a singer featherweight.
My current sewing project is the Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt by Bonnie Hunter. I am a little behind on that but I did have my daughters wedding and then the holidays to get through. And a week ago 56 boxes arrived from Singapore that I am trying to unpack. (We moved back to the states). Just finding my way through the house is a challenge. As my Dad likes to remind me, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Tackle any project that way….just one box at a time….or one block at a time….one clue at a time. Till it’s done.
Quilt blocks so far….and homework for blogging. Embedding an instagram photo.
Today was a gorgeous day here in Alabama. Took this picture on a little adventure ….more on that later. Getting on track and staying there!
Assignment two. Edit your tagline and title. Ok, but only a little. I am sharing my quilting and sewing adventures along with whatever life happens and my name is Susan, so for now it works. Here’s my inspiration….
I like vintage (I am vintage) and I have one of these needle cases that was my grandmother’s.
Next assignment. Explore WordPress. Working on that now! The world is my oyster…..blogging leads to such pearls of wisdom.
Starting over. It’s been forever since I posted. Lots has happened….Good and not so good. I am not going to cover old ground here, just starting from this point on…. A little about life, but mostly about getting back in my sewing and quilting groove, aka therapy! Hoping that writing this blog will keep me motivated, develop discipline, and accomplish goals I have set. Hopefully, this will also overflow into other areas of my life.
So here’s to new beginnings and a fresh start….may the New Year bring you good health, happiness, love, joy and all the blessings in life. And since no blog post is complete without a picture …..
Found this on the beach….Someone else had a good day too!
It’s been awhile since I have posted. It has been hectic and crazy here. My oldest daughter graduated from Auburn and we moved her home. My husband was able to get home from Singapore for the ceremony.
We had a little party for her and then moved her home… a 3 1/2 hour trip. Then to the airport to get my mom back home and back to unpack. I am not going to even show you a picture of the garage or her room.
I finally completely finished all the pillows and a table runner for the apartment in Singapore. These pictures were taken in a hurry cause they had to go into a suitcase!
The table runner makes me happy …it’s reversible. One side is a zig zag …tutorial found at crazymom quilts.
The other side is a disappearing nine patch. PS I quilt has a good tutorial on her blog for this one….and lots of cute quilts. I used some Alexander Henry fabric that I found at JoAnne’s and some Denyse Schmidt that I found there too.
The pillows are all reversible and have a zipper closure. I used some of my favorite fabrics for the pinwheels and flying geese…reunion by sweetwater for moda. Love it. I raided the stash for the backings. I love the chair fabric but can’t remember where I got it or the designer.
There is a great tutorial at SewMamaSew but created by creative little daisy on putting a zipper in a pillow with a flap to cover it. I like that option because you can use a coordinating fabric and make it reversible. Two for one!
The next time I see these they will be getting unpacked in our apartment in Singapore. The four of us are traveling there for two months. First we are stopping in Germany for a few days. We don’t have internet access in our hotel so I’ll see you once we get to Singapore. Excited and nervous. Keep us in your prayers.
It’s a new thing for me to be at the beach alone. We have always come as a family…but the family is spread out right now. Thank goodness for the Internet …it’s so easy to keep up with my husband in Singapore, my girls in Auburn (War Eagle!) and my son at home in Mobile. So even though I am enjoying this sunrise alone with my coffee, which is my best friend at this time of the morning, I am still able to share this with them wherever they are.
Up with the sun and out to the beach early. If you had told me before I moved here that Alabama has a beautiful beach I would not have believed it! Seeing is believing.
The weather is perfect.. The gulf is that perfect green emerald color and the sand is white as sugar.
And then I can work on my little projects I brought with me. Since we will be living soon in Singapore I have been making some pillows and wall hangings from some of Sweetwater’s Reunion line from Moda.
I bought 3 charm packs and have used all of them! I used most of them in this wall hanging..
One last walk on the beach.
Trying to learn a few things….
Last nights sunset was beautiful. I walked over to the little lagoon and out onto to the pier to take a few shots. Wanted to take them in raw and jpeg but then realized I don’t have software to merge three pictures so I better just concentrate on the basics.
I just need to practice composition, and learn the camera and how to take a sunset photo and what aperture and shutter speed. I wish this all came natural to me but right now it feels very foreign like being in a country where you don’t speak the language.
I am just going to have to practice, practice, practice. Keep taking photos and keep reading and learning. I wish it was possible to just absorb it into your skin. Put it on like sun tan lotion!
So after the sun went down I went back to the condo and practiced my other love…sewing, quilting…something else I am not particularly gifted at but am learning and enjoying and I’m okay with that. That’s what it’s all about. Here is the block called the Le Moyne star. It probably has other names. I am taking a class through my local quilting guild and we learned how to make y seams.
Where three seams meet…that is a y seam…where the cream blocks meet the star diamonds, they weren’t hard to do, you just have to be precise in cutting and marking the 1/4 inch seam allowance and pin! I thought the block came out pretty good. And of course I had my seam ripper at the ready! If you mess up you can just rip it out and try again.
Same thing with your photo.. If it isn’t good just delete it. I delete more than I keep. It was much harder in the film days…and more expensive. The beach has cleared off and it’s the perfect time of day. I need to go practice!
Gulf shores, Alabama has a beautiful beach and I have been coming here for years with my family. This year I have come alone although the kids have joined me for the weekend. It’s very different going down to the beach alone. Yesterday a good friend came over for the day, we went for a long walk on the beach and I did a little sewing on this baby.
I love this featherweight. Sews like a dream and better yet it was my grandmothers. She bought it around 1950 to take on the train to California where she was going to visit some family. I love it that she was sewing on her trip so I guess I am just following in her footsteps. She would love that!
I made this little quilt which I think will become a pillow out of some leftover reunion charm squares. Love that fabric.
Hope you have a great day wherever you are….I gotta get to the beach!
So it was raining last night. Perfect sewing weather. Making a little something for my sweetie.
A little scrap pile of Reunion. By Sweetwater for Moda. Isn’t it cute?
Lots of cutting. Lots of little pieces of cuteness.
First time I have made something from my favorite quilt book.
I’m back on track….sort of. It feels a little different around here with my husband in Singapore and my girls back to school but I am trying to get the new normal to feel normal. It won’t be long before normal is not normal again… You know how time magically disappears…I will also be in Singapore soon.
This will be the view from the 29th floor of our apartment in The Rochester apartments. It’s actually already the view for John!
I have powered up the Bernina and am trying to be productive in between work and going out of town on weekends. Through the Azalea City Quilt Guild I am taking a class on machine quilting and have learned quite a bit so far. Like how to convert half square and quarter square triangles, a little math, a little sewing, cool tools and techniques in fabric selection. It’s fun!
We have made a block or two each month which gives you plenty of time to work on other projects.
This is going to end up being a sampler quilt. So I picked from my stash some fabric I had purchased on sale somewhere…fat quarters of Sandi Henderson’s Ginger Blossoms.
I added some dark brown and a cream solid because I needed some fabrics to give it contrast.
All the values were in the medium range.
We are about half way through the class. I hope I can finish before I leave. Interesting, there are no two fabrics that are the same in the class and all the ladies share fabric if one of theirs will be perfect in someone else’s block. Quilter ladies are the best!