A clothesline and a bicycle in one embroidery design – I had to make this. And I was able to use a lot of scrap fabric to finish it.
Jim and Lucy asked if I could figure out how to make a bag for the right side of Jim’s wheelchair – something to hold his wallet, a remote control, a special pocket for his cell phone. It was a fun project to figure out and took 3 fittings to get it right. And I used more scraps.
It’s always nice to see where something landed. This is Abbey in Virginia with the 50 Bikes for 50 Kids quilt.
Previously I shared the completion of the t-shirt quilt
and a very good Sunday watching football and finishing Sophia’s Christmas gift. *Note the blue fabric in the background.
In between, I finished an embroidered pillow for Adrienne – a thank you gift for all the Joe Pickett books and inviting me to Hawaii last fall –
and a blouse, which turned out (grrr) not to fit me, however it fit Terri just fine. And she liked the print and material.
Then it was time to finish project #5, a blouse that Phyl and I had cut out in January 2022 – ONE year ago – the blue material in the above picture. And nothing went right, I spent several hours trying to figure things out and finally called Phyl in frustration. Her advice was to set it aside and think about it. Whew! So, while I ponder a solution, I think I’ll adjust the blouse pattern and keep working on another little embroidery project. No idle hands in this house!
Today started by not going to Carson’s flag football game which happened “rain or shine.” Rain as it turned out. Next Avery’s basketball game. He scored:
Again:
The rest of the day. Starbucks mocha, NFL playoffs, and two sewing projects ready to go.
By the time the Cincinnati Bengals won their game, one project was finished – a Christmas gift request from Sophia, who chose the fabric.
The day after I got back from Montana, I got right to work on a project with a deadline. I needed to get started because I wasn’t sure how to make it happen. I started with a stack of t-shirts on Thursday morning.
The goal was to use one shirt from each year that 50 Bikes for 50 Kids occurred to eventually make a wall hanging. By the end of the day, I had this arrangement:
On Friday I went to a great nearby quilting store, Fabric Garden, and bought two fabrics, a white to narrowly frame each piece and a basic black cotton called “grunge” in the color “little black dress.” I cut, sewed, and pressed for the rest of the afternoon and evening.
Saturday, a second trip to Fabric Garden to buy more fabric for the backing and binding. I made great progress only to be stalled by not having a big enough piece of batting. I bought the batting on Sunday and started the minimal quilting by machine – LOTS of pinning.
On Monday, I sewed on the binding, folded it over and hand stitched it on the reverse side. Done!
Next, I will deliver to Becky at Jibe – it’s a gift for Abbey Stumpf who brought the 50 Bikes for 50 Kids idea to Jibe and organized the event each year it happened. She now lives in Virginia with her husband and children.
Not much going on last week beyond riding my bike – 122 miles! I decided to make some carrots after I found all the fabric in my stash. A week ago, I sent Phyl in Montana this picture:
She asked me what they were for. I have no idea. Yet. By this evening, I was almost done. So close to being done that the next project is waiting in the background.
When my flight on December 27 was postponed for 24 hours, I was at a loss for something to do to pass the time. Therefore, out came a jigsaw puzzle. I kept working on it after I got home, quite obsessively at times, but it was rather slow-going. Today, it went back in the box. I need my table back!
On the other hand, I did finish two t-shirts when I wasn’t trying to find another puzzle piece.
Just in case you think I only ride my bike, I have completed a few projects in between everything else. The following picture is a finished WIP – Work in Progress. If you sew or craft, you may have a few started but not finished items. I started collecting pins when I started bicycle touring in 2001. Since I can’t envision any more great cycling adventures in my future, I decided to conclude this project, 20 years later.
A garland of pie slices for Thanksgiving:
This WIP is a tree skirt started last year then put into a closet for 10 months, and finally improved significantly for the December 3 party (lol-no one even noticed it’s unfinished state). Maybe in 2022 it will be finished. Maybe.
I read Crochet with London Kaye “Projects and ideas to yarn bomb your life.” At the same time I found a hole in a bright yellow t-shirt and was given 3 bright orange t-shirts. In the back of a closet, I found a red t-shirt one of my Canadian cousins gave me many years ago. Working around the dining room table, I cut 1-inch wide strips and moved them into a pile to the right,
then folded the strip in half and sewed a seam.
The strip came out the back for crocheting with a size P hook.
The first installation.
Then the yellow M kept falling down. Followed by the R. Mounting putty was not going to work.
Many little nails later.
I won’t be quite as available this Halloween for costume creation, but Thais managed to get Carson to narrow down his request from “all the animals” to an okapi. After a little online research, the costume seemed fairly easy. The result:
arletelouise 