Weekend

I woke up early for a Saturday – 8:00.

Guest bathroom – Fixed the 2-3 year-old water damage on the ceiling.  Still have to paint it.  The bathroom was all clean and shiny until I looked at the trim.  I’ve been meaning to repaint the trim for years but never got around to it.  Until Saturday. Done.

Washed, dried, folded, and put away two loads of laundry.

Made cornbread and soup for lunch.

cornbread

Hung the garland on the front porch with Mr. Aitch.  Finished taking in all the porch and deck furniture.  Rolled up the rug from the front porch.  All put neatly away for the winter.  Mr. Aitch swept the porch.

Cut the fabric for one of the quilt tops.

Jambalaya with chicken (no sausage) for dinner).

Cut more fabric for the second quilt top.

Went to bed.

Sunday morning – church.  It started snowing during Mass and when we left the church, about 2 inches had fallen.

Went to the market.  It was crowded for a Sunday morning when I arrived but quickly cleared out as the snow kept piling up outside.

snowy-drive

Groceries put away.

Pancakes and sausage for lunch.

Roast beef with carrots, celery, and onions in the oven.  It smelled so good.

Pieced one quilt top together.  No photo as it was a dark dreary day.

Added potatoes to the roast beef concoction in the oven.

Watched a part of “The Crossing” with Mr. Aitch until dinner was ready.

crossing

Lovely roast beef and vegetables.  And a bottle of wine, of course.

Finished watching “The Crossing” with Mr. Aitch.

Checked email.

Pinterest.

pinterest_logo_red

Did an Internet search for a free knitted pattern for a newsboy cap aka bakers cap, golf cap, ivy cap, English driving cap for a small child.  No luck.  Found crocheted patterns.  Don’t crochet.

cap-2

Turned on the dishwasher and went to bed with a book, “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak.  Couldn’t stop reading until my eyes got too tired.

The_Book_Thief_by_Markus_Zusak_book_cover

The alarm clock went off at 6:00 this morning.  I turned it off and fell back asleep for 45 more minutes.  That happens more often than I care to admit.

The schools and colleges were closed today due to the snow storm and freezing rain.  I had no trouble getting to work.

And so it goes.

Catching some z’s

I try to get enough sleep at night but sometimes I just want to take a nap.  It must be the after-breakfast-carb-crash that makes me sleepy around 9:00 in the morning.  I have on occasion fallen asleep at my computer at work.  Just for a couple of seconds and wake up abruptly when my head starts to drop to my chest.

Z-z-z-z Whiplash!

I’m making some felt ornaments for my grandchildren.

z-1

I need to trim this one a bit more as the Z is not centered.  I think I’m going to stitch beads around the edge.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I feel a three-second nap coming on…. z-z-z-z

A 33-cent Pillow

Last weekend I found some upholstery samples I had from my Mom.  One was a beautiful crewel floral pattern that  I intended to make into a pillow but forgot about it for a few years.  That is until I found it again.

It was simple construction.

pillow-001

The entire piece of fabric was used for the front.  Cost = Free

pillow-pillow

The “wrong” side of another sample was the backing.  The “right” side was blue.  I’m a green person.  Cost = Free

pillow-003 

A zipper was inserted in one of the short sides.  (I purchase zippers in bulk.)  Cost = 33-cents 

pillow-004

I also used a piece of a flat sheet left over from another project for the pillow liner holding the stuffing.  (You can see some of the blue “right” side in the photo below.)   Cost = Free

pillow-005

The stuffing was a freshly laundered old mattress pad folded and rolled to fit inside the liner.  Cost = Free

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My 33-cent pillow.

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Sewing machine question

I may be in the market for a new sewing machine.

I plan to do some quilting as well as home decor and some clothing.  The machine I have now is designed for occasional and light sewing though I’ve done some extensive sewing projects in the past several years.  It’s just not keeping up with the demands I’m placing on it.  Mostly because it’s not designed to.

I want to machine quilt twin-sized (or larger) quilts, which are a bit larger than the 15 x 24 inch items I’ve been doing.

For all you quilters (or non-quilters) out there: What sewing machine do you use or would recommend for machine quilting?  Pros and cons?