I love the shadows the afternoon sun made on the sewing room wall.

The room is almost finished.  I need to hang some things and put a few more items in their proper places.  Oh, and vacuum.  This little room requires a very thorough vacuum job.  It amazed me how many threads were on the floor once I cleaned up all the other stuff covering it.  But I digress....The room is coming together nicely.  I smile every time I walk in there.  It's going to be a very happy place.

The machine?  Well, that is an entirely different story.  The new parts came in and were installed successfully.  Hooray!  It just needs more new parts.  Yup, more.  These are covered by warranty (a pleasant surprise) and have been ordered.  So I wait...

The weather this weekend was beautiful.  The girls had soccer games and spent tons of time playing outside.  Fatty and I pulled our deck furniture out, I oiled it all and we celebrating by eating dinner outside.

I was in the mood for a summery dinner and was so happy to find corn at the market.  Kate and I shucked it (or shuffled it, as she says), Fatty grilled some chicken, Jane helped set the table and the four of us enjoyed our first outdoor meal of the year.  It was great and, even better, we had Papa (my dad) here to share it with us.

Good food and family - it doesn't get much better than this.

I had my hair cut this morning.  It is such a nice way to start the weekend.  Enjoy!

Do you ever make something and it just doesn't turn out how you had hoped?  I am certainly guilty of that.  Remember those tiny yo-yo's I made back in the fall?  Those were a bad idea - just too small.  They sat forgotten under a mound of fabric until this week.  Then I shifted the pile to my table and looked at them each time I went in there to clean.    So this is what I did:

I strung them on a piece of embroidery floss.  Why?  I don't know, really.  I didn't want to throw them away, but I don't have a use for them at the moment.  I kind of like them strung up like that.  And where did the lone red one come from?  I can't even remember why I have that.

I think I am going to hang them on my inspiration board, once I make it, that is.  Maybe they will inspire a project.  A doll quilt, perhaps?

The good news...some pattern filing and some memo boards to make for the sewing room and I will be 98% finished.  The other 2% - well, it requires a sewing machine.  That's the bad news...I am still waiting.

 

I dumped my box of vintage buttons onto the kitchen counter a couple of days ago so I could find the perfect ones to send to my swap partner, Kirsty.  The girls have been fascinated by them ever since.  They are sorting them constantly and get very excited if they find a match.

With all the trashing out and organizing going on in the sewing room, I got the great idea to put my kids to work for me.

My willing apprentices are putting them in jars, sorted by color.  I've been wanting to do this for awhile, but they want to do it even more.  The way I look at it, it's a win-win situation:  fun for them and lucky for me.  Now if they would just wrap the swap package and take it to the post office....Oh well, I will do that tomorrow.  I promise, Kirsty!

Happy Wednesday!

While traveling last week I worked on some embroidery.

This was the perfect craft for me to take along.  It didn't take up much room in the suitcase and it was small enough that I could sit and stitch by the pool or in front of the TV.  It's easy to pick up and put down as needed and I can still carry on a conversation while stitching along.  I find it to be extremely calming also.  And who couldn't use a bit more calm in their lives?  I certainly can. 

Hillary has published 3 groups of stitchettes....I have 10 of the 12 done.  What do you bet I get the other two finished while I am waiting for my machine?  Waiting is the hardest part.

Spring break is over, the kiddos are back in school and I am without a sewing machine.  Yes, that's right - without a machine.  I took it in for a tune-up before I left and apparently, it need a little more than just TLC.  It requires a couple of new parts and lucky me, I get a big repair bill.  Yikes.  And of course, this all happens as my mind is racing with ideas and I have a huge urge to get sewing.  There are so many things I want to make, but just can't without my machine.  What to do?

The obvious choice was to go in here and tackle the mess.  I spent a good chunk of time on Friday and Saturday folding fabric, organizing and trashing out.

This is what's left.  Scary, huh?  The rest of the room is pretty well done and the table has been the dumping ground for all the little things that are still homeless.  It will get cleaned up and organized or there won't be anywhere to put the machine when it comes home.  And that would be very sad because I want it to come home.  Soon.

On another note, thanks for all your nice comments about my photo posts last week.   I always enjoy a week where I do more showing than telling.

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