Revisiting the past....

I have not been good a blogging for quite some time. As I've said before.....there are seasons to everything and for a time, it just wasn't my season to blog. I have lots to share though and I think the season for blogging must begin again!  Yes, I've said that many times in the past couple years but now the time is right because.........
Last week I took a trip home to Iowa then went on to Missouri. I enjoyed an awesome week of visiting with my cousins and visiting the town where my mother was born and going to places I went with my parents when I was a kid. It was one of the best weeks of my life, .......... emotional, inspirational, joyful, just wonderful!  
I met several quilters while I was there as I was near Hamilton, MO and Missouri Star Quilt Company. Events from last week have inspired me with oodles of quilty, crafty ideas. To get the ball rolling, I got to thinking that I'd like to share a challenge. I haven't done a giveaway in ages but I'm thinking I need to do just that. The challenge will involve a project I shared here on my blog quite some time ago. This project is the one that will be part of the challenge.......

http://alegacyofstitches.blogspot.com/2010/08/blog-post.html

I'm putting together my idea and will post details later this week. I'm still unpacking quilts and stuff I took along on my trip. That should all be done by mid-week and I'll post about my little challenge. Till then.......
Have a beautiful Sunday!

Sandi

EDIT!  Shortly after I did this post, my health took a nose-dive. This project is "on the back burner" but I'll be back soon.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all dads near and far, those who are step-dads or who stepped up when needed, even mom's who had to be dads. It's all family and that's all good! This is a photo I've shared many times..........my dad, Melvin, covered with a quilt that he bought at an auction in Dayton, Iowa in about 1999. He and my mom gave it to me for Christmas then. The quilt is almost identical to one that his mother, my Grandma Goldie made sometime in the 1950's. It's a cool bit of coincidence! I remain ever thankful for my dad. He was a sweet guy with a great smile and always a cheery hello for everyone. He and my mom are together now. Gone but never, ever forgotten.
Today is also my husband Steve's birthday. We had a good day and we were going to enjoy eating out on the deck. He had grilled up a steak and I had set out potato salad and other fixings. And just as he put the steaks on our plates..........raindrops began to fall as sun broke out! Too funny. So we put everything on the tray and headed inside to the kitchen table. There'll be another day for outdoor dining!
Tomorrow is Monday. Looking forward to a good week! Hope it is a good one for all of you!
Sandi

Flag Day, 2017

It's Flag Day, a day to celebrate our nation's flag! and it's also the day of my dad's birth. He would have been 91 years old this day. Seems like only yesterday that he was still with us and yet it has been nine years since he passed. It was because of my dad and how much I missed him that I started blogging. He passed April 29th of 2008 and just a few weeks later on Memorial Day, May 26th, I started blogging. I had read that blogging was as good as therapy. It turned out that was so true.
I still miss my dad a lot. He was such a good guy, had a kind heart and a sweet smile. He loved his family and was proud to have served his country in the U.S. Army in the final months of WWII. One of the things he enjoyed was building and making things with wood. I came across the photo above that was taken a few years ago. He made that cute little wooden bear that is holding the Red, White and Blue! Happy Birthday, Daddy! And Happy Flag Day to all of you!
Sandi

National Sewing Machine Day!

I was planning to post today about my weekend project and about the great little sewing machine that I used for that project. Then today, I learned from my quilting friends that it's National Sewing Machine Day! How perfect to share these photos today! This is my newest sewing machine.....a Juki and what a great little machine it is! I was hemming/altering drapes for my daughter's daycare and this little workhorse handled the task perfectly! I don't usually sew in my dining room but I needed to spread out because of the length of the drapes. My heavy duty portable is at my daughter's house because I left it there after working on a mug rug project with my grandson, Jacob. I was only sewing straight seams so I knew this should work but I was pleasantly surprised at the way this machine handled thicknesses of the drapery fabric. It is awesome! Drapes are done and I'm a happy camper. So is daughter Collette as they keep the sun out of her office and off her computer screen. ;-)

I have six sewing machines......they all work, even the antique treadle that my Great Aunt Bell used to sew clothes for my mother and that my mother used to sew baby clothes for me. My husband replaced the belt and it works! However, I use it just for display. Then there is my Singer Touch and Sew that my husband bought for me at the Base Exchange when he was in the Air Force and stationed in Japan. That sewing machine was my close friend during the time we were so far away from home. I made baby clothes, my clothes, drapes, and my first quilt on that machine. Then came the need for a portable machine to take to retreats so I bought a White Heavy Duty. It was portable but as well as being awesome at sewing through many layers of fabric, it wasn't all that "portable". So I bought a little Janome and it worked really well. Then I passed it on to my mother when she moved into her apartment. When she went to the Care Center, it was passed on to my niece. I missed having a little sewing machine to take to our quilting meetings so I bought another little Janome. I wasn't looking for another machine but then one day I was out-and-about with my grandson, Jacob. We over in Faribault last fall and had toured the old theater there and we were just "Christmas window shopping". We passed the window of a sewing machine shop and Jacob said "don't you want to go in, Grandma?" and I answered "no, I have enough sewing machines". And then I said..."well, maybe we should go in......".  And then I saw that little Juki and it was pink and white! And it was on sale because of the Sewing Expo going on in Minneapolis! Oh, I was caught. LOL!  I asked the sales lady if I could hear the machine sew. She sat down and I heard that nice "purrr" of a smooth little machine. I told her I wasn't looking for a machine, we were just having a Christmas window-shopping day but I would think about it. Well, guess what? I got home and I thought about it over night. Called B & J sewing the next morning and asked if they could hold a machine for me til I could get back to Faribault to pick it up. Of course, they said they could. I decided that I would buy myself a little Christmas gift.........I mean after all, we were "Christmas window-shopping" and I just happened to find something that I didn't know was on my list!

Since it was a Christmas gift to myself, I didn't open it til Christmas. My first project with it was to make some pretty pillow cases for my pink guest bedroom........

I wanted pillow cases that would blend with my quilt and with the tulip pillow I made some time ago. I had some pretty pink and green cottons so I made two floral pillowcases trimed in pink and green, then two white pillow cases trimmed in green with a pretty pink floral trim. The quilt on the bed is the one that I won at the Lehigh Historical Society raffle several years ago. I love it. It's a quilt from JCPenney but it is so nice! 

I've made a few other small projects with my little Juki but they are all in the half-done stage. Life got busy with some health issues but I'm back-on-track once again. Ready to work on some red, white and blue patriotic projects tomorrow so I'll be back again soon! 

Hope you all are enjoying this great day! 

Sandi 

Happy Mother's Day!

It's been a beautiful sunny weekend here in Minnesota. I picked up a sore throat flu bug, though, so I can't say it's been a "rosy" weekend. This morning, I was putting cotton balls dabbed with a bit of mineral oil in my ears because that's what my mother would do when I was a kid and had a sore throat and my ears hurt that's what she'd do to make it better. I doctor myself with cough drops and of course, there was Vick's Vaporub in use last night. All those things she did years ago, still seem to work today. Thanks goodness! Earlier today, I sounded like a frog and tonight I sound more like me. By tomorrow, I hope to feel even better!
So, with all those thoughts of my mom, I thought I'd share a photo that I've shared many times before. This one used to be the header for my blog until I had my son Devlin design a new one. You'll still find this one here on my blog under the heading for "Favorite Family Photo". And that is sure what this one is. These are the years that I so remember my mother sewing at her Kenmore sewing machine that sat in front of the window in our dining room. She made the dresses we are wearing in the photo and over the years she made everything from all our clothes to costumes for school plays, cheerleading outfits and wedding gowns and bridesmaids dresses. I sew because she sewed. In later years, I asked her when she taught me to sew. I only remember that I sewed doll clothes at a really young age. She couldn't remember either when she first started teaching me to sew. All we knew was that it was just sew.  ;-)

When it comes to my own kids, Collette and Devlin, this is one of my favorite photos of them taken in the late 1970's. They always enjoyed playing in the snow and we were fortunate that there were so many kids in our neighborhood. There was never a shortage of someone to play with or plan sleepovers with. We did lots of projects together when they were young and we all still enjoy doing projects together now that they're grown up. Makes me a Happy MOM!

Wishing all you Mother's a very happy day and to all of you, have a lovely Sunday!
Sandi

Happy Easter again....

I realized tonight as I was going through photos that I never shared these wreaths that I made a couple weeks ago. I made the one above for daughter Collette. Didn't want to share the photo til I had given her the wreath. And then I forgot to post it. Duh! I made the wreath below for me. And I took photos for a tutorial. Looks like I'll be ready with an early Easter project for next Spring!

These wreaths were not difficult to make but it was messy. That Easter grass goes everywhere and clings to everything! I'll be picking up some more eggs and bags of grass after Easter so I can make a couple more for special family and friends. In addition to a photo tutorial, my son Devlin is going to help me do a video tutorial. But for right now.....that's it for tonight.
Have an egg-select Easter Sunday!
Sandi

Happy Easter!

More wreaths and a wee bit of sewing..........

It's only been a little over a week and here I am back again. Wow! Maybe I will finally get back in the groove of blogging!
After I "refreshed" my front porch wreath, I was inspired to make a couple more grapevine wreaths for gifts. I had seen these crosses at Hobby Lobby and thought......"oh, those would look so pretty on a small grapevine wreath". And so last Monday, that's what I did.......made these two wreaths........
I made this one for our Family Room next to the kitchen. It's a 10" wreath so it's more petite than it looks in the photo. 

And I made this one for our pastor, Rev. Deb Meyer, here at St. Paul's UCC in Henderson. This wreath is about 12" in diameter.

I've bought supplies to make more wreaths because I just find it very soothing. I've made many wreaths over the years and it's been fun to find that creative spark they offer when choosing the flowers, the ribbons that make the wreath turn out just right! I find that in quilting, too, or making penny rugs, or clay crafting. Let's face it, I just like to craft and sew. LOL! 

Speaking of sewing, I did some of that this past week. I made curtains for my grandson Jacob's bedroom. He's a soccer fan and we found some fabric at Hobby Lobby. Just realized I haven't loaded that photo so will have to share it later. Also worked on some pretty pink and green pillow cases for my pink guest bedroom. I had plans to work on a couple of small Easter quilt projects this weekend, but wasn't feeling all that well so I just "laid low" .... translation~lounged on the couch and scrolled through Facebook posts and Pinterest. Oh, and I did get the laundry done. Tomorrow may be a day to make the Easter quilt projects. And I might make another little wreath. It's amazing what creative energy it gives me to make a little wreath and call it "done" so quickly!  Til next time........Have a great Monday and an awesome week!

Sandi

No foolin', I'm posting to my BLOG!

It's April Fool's Day and what better day to do a blogpost?  I have left my poor blog unattended for so long. The blogging spirit just wasn't there for me. I think I understand "writer's block". Words that once came easy, just didn't come easy anymore. But last night, I really had the urge to write. And then I realized what today is so I had to write. ;-)

Life has been busy with lots of things since I last wrote in July of 2016. That was when I shared my quilts in a program at a quilt show held during the Allis Chalmers 25th Anniversary Tractor event over in Hutchinson, MN. My program went so well, everyone enjoyed all the quilts and pretties that I brought and the stories I shared. However, it was so hot that day that we felt like we were going to melt, but it was still a great afternoon. 

Fast forward to today and another great afternoon. For the second day in a row, we had sunshine and temps in the low 60's. Spring is in the air and neighbors were out trimming bushes and getting gardens ready for planting. My plan for the afternoon was to "refresh" the wreath that hangs by our front door. It's the wreath that the robins have nested in this past couple years. I took off all the worn and faded flowers and ribbon, dusted the wreath vines, then gave them a coat of stain to make them look new. Actually, I did all that yesterday. That way, this afternoon I could decorate the wreath with new flowers and a new bow. And here it is.............

It's ready for the robins to arrive and take up residence in the base of my wreath. I do hope they come back this year. When we first discovered that robins were building a nest, we were amazed. It had never happened before and so we watched as the robin couple built their nest. And when the nest was finished, mama began to sit upon the nest. Soon there were eggs, almost always four of them, beautiful robin's egg blue eggs!  The wait for the eggs to bear little birds seemed to take forever but finally one would hatch........and then another, and another, til all the little babies were born. Their little beaks were as big as their bodies and momma and papa robin were kept busy feeding the little birdies. They had almost no feathers when first born but in no time, they fluffed out and were a mass of downy feathers that overflowed the nest. And then came the time to fly. They were like watching little airplanes take off. Absolutely amazing! The strange thing was that momma and papa didn't mind if we watched as long as we didn't get too close to the nest. This spring, if the robins return, I'm going to get a little video of them. Keep your fingers crossed that they return because then I'll share and it means I'll post to my blog again. ;-)  Actually, I'll post again soon. I've made a number of projects and I have plans for more, plus some events to share. 

Here are a couple photos from the year that the robins made their nest in my Christmas wreath (didn't take it down soon enough and the Robin family moved in!). Hopefully, this is what we will have to look forward to this Spring!

Here's hoping you had a great Saturday wherever you are and that nobody fooled you too much today! Have a lovely Sunday!

Sandi