Slowly back to work..........

I did get a fair amount done yesterday considering that I also spent a lot of time visiting.

Let's just say that I need to get this recipe for the lentil soup and I should plan on making one big pot each Sunday afternoon. It's so easy to just whip that pot back on the stove and heat it up for lunch. I swear it gets better each time we heat it up!! And much better for me than store-bought. How hard can it be to cut up some veggies and throw in some lentils?

Those oatmeal cookies and the banana laced french toast was to die for! Oh yes - thank goodness James and M are only here for the holidays!

One last food item - as I was sitting here this morning eating my steel cut oats, with almond milk and a banana, I was thankful that I've finally found a really good breakfast. If you think your oatmeal is bland - try almond milk. I'm not kidding (OH M is going to love this) - it has a nice nutty flavor, has as many nutrients as real milk, and not a lot of calories (buy the unsweetened). It really, really makes for a yummy taste. Without it, my steel cut oats are extremely bland. Trust me - we ran out of almond milk one morning. Needless to say, I was at the grocery store to get some for the next day. I don't drink it - I just use it on my oatmeal.


OK - enough about food. Let's get to some quilting/sewing. I fired up the embroidery machine and it was working all day. I'll show you the end result tomorrow. I'm making something completely in the hoop and once it's off the machine, it needs a wee bit of work and then it's finished! I have four of 6 items completed. The last two will get finished today.

But while that was working, I was busy finishing some other stuff.

These little zippy pouches (Zippy Strippy by Atkinson Designs) were half complete and have been like that for years. The zippers were in, they were quilted and embellished with the rickrack. All that remained was to cut out the bottom corners to make the box corner and then serge them up. I dug out the closest thread color to the lining that I had and got out the serger. Had to rethread the serger which is a SNAP with the air threading. It doesn't matter how many times I use that serger, I'm still amazed at how easy it is to use. Threading takes seconds, not hours like I used to have with my old one. Yeah for the Baby Lock serger!!!!!  That was a good investment. I remember that day - I went in with my older serger to get help with the tension and walked out with this. Notice - there are NO tension dials - it's all automatic!!!! And perfect every time!

Enlighten serger by Baby Lock

Anyway, here are the four bags. All finished even with a nice little ribbon as the zipper pull. This is finish number 84 for the year. I felt guilty to count them individually so I counted this grouping as one. I'm OK with that - I'm the one making the rules.

Four zippered pouches - DONE

Then it was onto to finishing something else. These journal covers were made in the embroidery hoop. All you have to do when you remove them is trim them down and turn inside out and press. They are super cute. These are part of a Kimberbell Design collection that was created for SVP  (Singer, Viking, PFAFF).  The designs are called Kimberbell Designs Creative Journal Covers. The covers come in three sizes - small, medium and large. These are the five medium designs.

Medium sized journal covers from Kimberbell Designs

This is a design pack that you can buy from your PFAFF or Husqvarna Viking sewing machine dealer. It's available now. This grouping of five medium journal covers is finish number 85.
Then I was working on the next binding. This is the last large quilt for this year - well it's a lap size. I think the remaining two "big" ones are wall hangings so they will take even less time. And then there's a couple of much smaller items that need to be bound.

I only got one side stitched on before I ran out of time. And then I had to dig through the thread drawer to find matching threads for the top and bobbin for the final round of stitching.

Matching thread for the bobbin

I've never had to run out and buy thread to match any of the colors of the bindings I've been working on. That's because I have this amazing little thread drawer full of a variety of colors. I don't even know how these spools came about. I suppose over the years, I bought something that appealed to me, or someone gave a spool to me, or came in a grab bag or something like that. Anyway- it's a great little collection of thread. I decided to sort the colors this morning since they were all over the place in there.

Drawer of colored thread

I have spools of thread in several locations. In this little cabinet, there are six drawers of threads. This is only one of them. The others hold more speciality threads and I should be trying to find a way to use them!

I have quilting thread, embroidery thread, piecing thread, and serger thread - all in their respective locations. But the important thing - I know where ALL my thread is. And it's sorted by type or use. I should go in and have a better look at those five other drawers and sort it by type and see what I can start to use for my upcoming projects for top stitching or whatever it's to be used for.


I also finished that puzzle. Actually, I finished it on Christmas Day. It's now back in the box and will be winging its way to a new home somewhere. All the pieces are in the box. And that's going to be it for puzzle season for this year.

Diane Phalen quilt puzzle

There are too many other things to try and finish off and technically today - it's back to work!!!!

I looked around the studio last night and I've got three piles of things that I would like to finish off before the end of the year. I'm so close - I can make it to 100 if I really focus. There are five days left - that means I have to finish 3 things each day. Seriously - how long does it take to put a binding on a quilt? There are 10 wall hangings in that pile and let's say each one takes one hour (at most since the bindings are made and in most cases, sewn to the back of the quilt!) - well you see what I mean. And there are other things there that won't take long.

Today is going to be an insane day, but I have plans to get some work done later this afternoon.

As I was looking through stuff yesterday trying to find a set of 4.0 MM knitting needles, I found this book. I think we had bought it for Little Sammy, but I think it suits Murphy much better. It's very interesting how Lexi is so much like Sparky and Murphy is so like Little Sammy. Perhaps they have come back to us!!! No - I didn't find any 4.0 MM knitting needles. I think I have every size but that one. I might pop out to a store today to find some.

How to Live with a Neurotic Dog by Stephen Baker

It's getting to the end of the year and people have been making resolutions and challenges and thoughts and plans for the new year. I have been as well and will be sharing those over the next couple of days. And then I'll also be sharing all the classes lined up for next year. There are a lot and there are some really exciting ones. Well at least to me and hopefully to you!  Plus I've loads more tips and tricks to share. ACK - not enough time!

On that note, I'm out of here!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!