The Sewing Mom

I woke up today not overly enthused and really felt like staying in my pajamas the entire day.  The only thing on my agenda was a follow up doctor’s appointment and that wasn’t until after lunch, so, I figured what the heck and sat down at the computer to do some sewing supply shopping.  Oh what a happy day this turned out to be and for you guys who are reading this, equate this to something like finding the elusive but high quality Volvo Parts or something along those lines!

I have become completely hooked on Nancy Halverson’s designs.  I am currently working on a block of the month quilt called “Beattitudes” and I also made the “Countdown to Christmas” which she designed.  I recently purchased her latest book, “Cider Mill Road” and have several items I’d like to make.  I’ve been purchasing fabric and have been hunting down the cutest buttons she uses in her designs.  Noone around here seems to have them, so this morning I started looking online.  I went to the website of the button manufacturer and clicked on a link that took me to retailers in my area and I couldn’t believe it, but there was a quilt shop I’d never seen or heard of and it was only 13 miles from my house!

Well, I have to tell you, I was so excited I hopped right into the shower and got myself spiffied up so that I could head out.  I grabbed my GPS and headed on down the road.  In about 25 minutes after leaving my house I was standing in the middle of fabric heaven, aka located in historic downtown Garland, TX.

This store was filled with so many fabrics it was difficult to contain myself! I loved all of the colors and selections, they even have one whole section dedicated to Civil War era fabrics and they are beautiful. They also had an entire section with nothing but sewing and quilting supplies, just about anything you could possibly need was there. I ran across a few fabrics I had been looking for from my Christmas collection and I did buy those as well as some quilt inspired notecards. Sadly, the buttons I was searching for they did not have so I will probably order them online tomorrow.

Besides all the fabrics and supplies, they have a full schedule of classes that they offer. I am currently considering one for next Saturday, but, as it turns out, my husband may need to have knee surgery next Friday, so my class may have to wait. I am certainly looking forward to the next time my Mom comes to visit as I know she will also enjoy this shop.

This is not the best photograph, but I wanted to showcase this beautiful table topper. I did not create this, it was a gift from my Mom. She made this quilted table topper at a gathering with my 2 sisters. They were all very busy buying fabric, sewing and creating beautiful projects, all while I was stuck at home, unable to participate.

My Mom stopped by on her way from Indiana to Arizona a few weeks ago and left this beautiful quilted Christmas table topper on my counter for me. The fabrics are all so pretty and many have flecks of gold in them. She quilted it using a metallic gold thread making it sparkle even more. I absolutely love it and am so happy she chose to give it to me.

I’m pretty proud of my latest project. Not only did I complete this in a timely fashion, but I created it entirely from leftover fabrics and scraps that I all ready had in my stash. You see, after finishing my Countdown to Christmas, I had fabric remaining that I wanted to use, so I found this cute wall hanging to make. The quilt block itself is pretty simple, it’s the applique that takes quite a bit of time. There were quite a few pieces to cut draw, cut out and assemble. Once the pieces were all ironed onto the block, I had to do a blanket stitch (on my machine) around each and every piece. Then it came down to completing the block, attaching the backing, batting and loops and then quilting it, which I also did on my machine.

This is my latest completed project, a Partridge in a Pear Tree.

Over the last several weeks I’ve posted several Tackle It Tuesday projects and wanted to finally give some updates on how I’ve been progressing. To begin with, I have posted a couple of times about tackling this particular sewing project and, I finally finished my Countdown to Christmas project. There are a total of 13 individual blocks, each one with its own applique, each is also machine quilted. The Santa block also had some additional detail work including painting the blush on the cheeks, hand embroidering the eyes and sewing on all the decorative buttons. I am very proud of this project and am thrilled with how it turned out! It is now on display in my family room.

While this project did not take as much time, it still seemed like it would never end, the holiday decorating. The bins sat out for way longer than I would’ve liked, but finally, it’s done. My mantle needs some adjusting because I’ve moved things around, but it will be completed soon. Our stocking holders that we’ve always used on our mantel wouldn’t fit in this house because of the mantel design, so I had to find a different way to hang them. Thankfully I found this great little rack at Kirkland’s which looks so pretty when the fire is burning behind it.

Here are a few photos of my family room, including the tree. On the shelves you’ll see my Countdown to Christmas and the table show my holiday card holder and nativity set given to me by my sister many years ago.

This is the second quilted Advent Calendar I’ve made and it’s made from a fun, whimsical 100% cotton fabric. It measure approximately 19″w x 22 1/2″h and has plenty of little pockets for hiding wonderful little surprises. I’ve added a snowflake decorative stitch to the top of each pocket using a gold metallic thread to make it sparkle. The backing fabric is cream in color with fun red stars.

Price is $17 + shipping. If interested, please leave me a comment and I will get you the details.