Thursday, January 31, 2013

{Post 1,113} Life Has Been So Daily


This past couple of weeks has been sooooo extremely busy.  Won't bore you with all the details.

I finished machine quilting my daughter's baby quilt.  First grandchild due in a few weeks!

My parents came down last week and stayed a few days, then went to FL to visit a few days with Emily, then came back and stayed a few more days.  My sister's embroidery machine came with them and stayed with me the whole time.  So I played on that some.  That meant several trips to buy threads, stabilizer, etc.  The only things I embroidered were some burp cloths (aka white cloth diapers) and bibs-to-be.  I am not an embroidery lover, but I think I could be. Since I used to sell fabric, quilt kits, etc., I have tons of fabric and likely won't even use it all before I die (not that that's in the plans for this week, but we never know, do we?).  I do not have the time, money, or energy to start a new hobby.  I'll never make all the quilts I have planned now!

Anyway, here are some pics of a few of the things I made.  I embroidered the monogram (or in some cases the name) on the burp cloth then used some specialty stitches on my Janome sewing machine to outline the edges (using embroidery thread).




The last day I would be able to use the machine, I had the (I thought at the time) bright idea of making some bibs.  When my children were small (I had 8 children in 10 years, so there was quite a procession of them), I made some bibs from small towels.  I just flipped down the top, cut a semi-circle for a neck opening, and used bias tape for a tie and to line the cut edge.  Those bibs lasted through all my children, and I'm sure hundreds of washings.  As it was on the spur of the moment, I didn't know the best place to buy small towels.  I stopped in a place I thought would be good, but they didn't have the type of towels I wanted.  I bought some largish wash cloths instead.  I bought a $1 bib to use for a pattern since I don't have a baby model in the house ;)

My plan is to line the bibs with a piece of fabric, sew them right sides together and leave an opening, flip them right side out, topstitch, then add Velcro like the one in the picture.  The terrycloth side will catch and absorb spills better than plain fabric, I'm thinking.

BTW, Bryan is my grandson's last name.

~Joan