Quilting Lessons, Custom Jeans, Awards, and other tidbits...

The past couple of weeks have been very hectic for me. Basketball season is over for my daughter, she has officially had her final game as a high school student. That's the bittersweet part of it. However, the good thing is HER TEAM WON THE STATE CHAMPIONSHIP! That makes 3 state championships in a row for her high school team. They were undefeated, and in her 4 years of high school they had over 104 wins and only 4 loses!

Here's a picture from the newspaper website.
Now me and my husband are preparing for the final prom and her high school graduation.


I've been busy with work. I've been working to get a project done, which I'm happy to say is complete, and I got it thru testing, YEAH! Now to hand it off to the next set of folks in the chain.

On the sewing front, I"ve started teaching a quilt class to a group I belong to. I thought I'd end up with only about 4 or 5 interested, but wound up with 13 women signing up. 2 of the women in the group have quilting/sewing experience so they have graciously offered to help me.

Also, I signed up for a pants fitting class at the my Bernina dealership (Studio Bernina). It goes for 8 weeks. At the completion, I will have a "oak tag" pattern that I can use, and also hope to have drafted a "jeans" pants that I can use to make custom jeans with. I typically don't wear pants, primarily because I can't find them to fit (I need a 36 - 37" inseam) plus the fact that I have a curvy figure, which makes it difficult for me to avoid the "gap-oses" at the waistline. I have a difficult time making them because I have to do some serious alterations to the patterns.
When we took my measurements, it was a very eye-opening experience trying to map them to the pattern. It just reconfirmed why I never liked doing pants! But I am looking forward to the aspect of finally having some jeans that are "made to fit" me.

Oh, I was just looking in a quilting magazine, and found a solution for my collection of rotary rulers. In case any of you are interested, it's a metal vertical sorter from Office Max, it's only $3.00, and a very cost effective solution to my ruler storage problem.I received this award from Paco, Thanks Paco! Its so difficult for me to pick nominees, since I love reading all of the blogs I come across. I'm going to nominate every single one that's in my blogs I read list.
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Marilyn Monroe did not live in Colorado!

Well, today I discovered why Marilyn Monroe didn't live in Colorado. Today, I was wearing one of my "vintage" Butterick 5033(see my version of B5033) dresses, you know the kind with the full skirt. I love these style patterns.

Anyway, I decided to go out to get some lunch. I mean it's over 70 degrees in early March, come on, no way was I going to pass up a nice day. As I'm heading to the little
restaurant a not-so-unusual gust of wind came. Up went my dress. Envision Marilyn standing over the steam grate, and her dress billowing up around her legs; now envision me in the middle of a parking lot during the lunch break. I manage to grab the full hem of my skirt, and place my hands and purse in strategic locations!

I now have a totally new found respect for my Mother's generation, and am convinced that they must have worn pantaloons or something under these dresses (Believe me I'll be asking her when I talk to her on the phone!).

My son's quilt top

Well here it is, the top for my son's quilt. It's got alternating strips of railway block with solid stripes. The quilt measures 90 x 72. On to the quilting phase I go.....

It's been awhile....

Well, its been a while since I've posted. I've been working on my to do list for this year. First of all I've gotten my daughter's Basketball scrapbook well on its way. This is her senior year of high school and seems like it's going by quickly these last couple of months. Her team is in the sweet 16 of the high school playoffs. They've won the state championship the past 2 years. So keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

I've got a Cricut machine, and just recently bought the SCAL (Sure Cuts A Lot) software. I'm so excited I just created my first cutout using it for my daughter's scrapbook:



On to my sewing, I've been busy. I've been working on my first block of the Christmas quilt. I'll post it when I am done.

I've also gotten the quilt top done for my son's quilt. I had a bunch of African print scraps that I wanted to use; so I did the rail fence pattern. I'll have to post the picture later since the quilt is queen size (my son is 6'5"), I've got to find a place to hang it up first. But its coming.

Also, I've decided to teach a beginning sewing class (actually quilting) to a group of my lady friends. We start next weekend.

Oh and this is a snapshot of a outfit I did for the Christmas celebration at work. I was supposed to represent the Kwanza Holiday. So I made this skirt set. The skirt is elastic and goes to the floor. The top is Simplicity 2702. I just shortened it to be a top.

Well that's it for now.

I need these, like I need......

Yes, I need these like I need a whole in my head! But I'm really liking these new patterns from Butterick. So here's what's on my list when the next sale happens at JoAnne's or Hancock:

I think this dress is just adorable. I've got some fabric in my stash slated for this.

This reminds me of the dress that Michelle Obama wore; I believe it was on the View. But I'm actually liking the two piece (view B and view D).

In the meantime since my last post I've been busy. I've got a couple of garments done, and have been working on the quilt for my son.

Oh yes, I met the most amazing lady at the quilt shop this month. She and I have made a pact to complete the following "monthly block" quilt:
This is a design by Sue Garmen, called "The Night Before Christmas". What better way to keep the Christmas spirit year round, than to work on a Christmas quilt! So wish me luck on this one. I'm excited. I'm planning to use a lot of those scraps that I just can't seem to throw away. I'm making a vow to myself to each month post the completed block on my blog. Between my quilting partner and my commitment to the blog, I think this should keep me accountable.

I'm also going to be teaching our community ladies group how to sew. We'll be starting at the end of February. I've decided to do a lap-size quilt, just to introduce the women to the basics.

I also got the local scrapbook store to agree to do an intro class for our group. Scrapbooking is another vice for me.

Well, this is it for now.

Something quick to cook

This is indirectly sewing related. The other day I had decided to sew, but of course that was interrupted by the fact that my family was hungry (how dare they interrupt my sewing and have the audacity to use the excuse of hunger!). Anyway, being the good mother that I am I stopped to fix something to eat. I found this recipe in the Sunday coupon section and decided
it was the perfect time to try it. The recipe was "Spaghetti with Szechuan Peanut Sauce"

• 12 oz of spaghetti
• 1 lb boneless chicken breast, cooked
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 cup sweet chili Thai sauce
• 4 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp dried red pepper flakes
• 2 tbsp finely chopped green onions
• 5 garlic cloves minced
• 2 tbsp chopped cilantro

1. Cook and drain spaghetti
2. Cut cooked chicken into cubes
3. Combine remaining ingredients in a bowl and stir until smooth. Add sauce and chicken to spaghetti and mix until evenly coated. Garnish with additional cilantro if you desire.

The family really liked it. We were all pleasantly surprised that it tasted so good. The longest part of the preparation was cooking the chicken breast. I chose to cut up the chicken breast prior to cooking, this cut down on the cooking time. Ive decided to post the recipe here so that I don't loose it.

Well off to more sewing.....

Pillows and the fabric stash

Well as I said earlier its amazing what you find in your stash when you actually can see it. I had 4 pillow forms in my stash, along with some upholstery fabric.


So from these:





I made 4 of these:

My daughter was happy to see them, she said she was tired of lugging bed pillows from upstairs when she wanted to lay on the couch to watch television. Although, I know she got worried after she saw me bring her a 4th one. I assured her that was all the pillows I had in my stash!