Keeping Busy

I've never had to spend a long amount of time housebound, at least not since I had little kids. I've been trying to keep busy.

I knitted a dishcloth.















I did some hand quilting...















I crocheted a prayer shawl...



















I've just cast on a simple garter knit scarf for some mindless knitting. I tried working on a sock and the knit 2, purl 2 ribbing was just more than I could handle. I don't seem to have much of an attention span for knitting!

The girls go back to school this week and I'm out on medical leave until October 22nd. I'm thinking I'll be spending some time in my sewing room once they're in school...can't wait!

What was I thinking?

I decided that the trim in my sewing room needed painting and the closet doors needed replacing. Took the doors to the curb, then decided that the disgusting old carpet would look much nicer in the trash. I cut the carpeting away from the places I needed to paint and yesterday got two coats of paint on the trim. The trim looks much crisper against the green walls than the dark wood did, but do I have a mess to clean up now!

I still have to remove the rest of the carpeting, padding and all of the staples and tack strips. We're going to be putting a vinyl floor in here that looks like wood. I did something similar in the old sewing room, now my daughter's bedroom, and you'd never know it wasn't a wood floor. We hope to spend Labor Day weekend installing the floor.

Can you tell no sewing is being done? I did finish another prayer shawl (pictures later) and I've cast on a very sweet cable knit scarf that I (hope) plan to have done by winter. Pictures of that once it's big enough to tell what it is!

I've had two people sign up for my Pay It Forward. Rebecca (RatedC), please contact me. Your email address is not in your response and your profile is not available to the public. Thanks!

My youngest is taking her first guitar lesson this afternoon. She's so excited!

Prayer Shawl

Last night I finished my first prayer shawl. I totally enjoyed knitting it and can't wait to get another one on my needles. It was so relaxing to make this and I know that it will be greatly appreciated by the lady here in town who will receive it. The pattern was simple and I only messed it up in one spot. Of course I didn't find it until it was completely finished, fringe and all! If quilters make humility blocks for their quilts, do knitters make humility rows? :o)

It's Wednesday Already?

It's amazing how having a day off can completely throw you off for the rest of the week. We enjoyed our Memorial Day. Somehow we wound up with no kids at home for the majority of the day...one was with friends, another working and the oldest is in Florida with a few of his fraternity brothers. We almost didn't know what to do with ourselves since it was so quiet! :o)

My husband fired up our big green egg and smoked two pork butts. We shredded part of one and had pulled pork sandwiches for dinner. The remaining meat was put into the freezer to be pulled out on Friday and served Saturday night to our float group. While that was smoking, I finished hand stitching down the binding on my Underground Railroad quilt. Since it's been washed, it's hard to see the quilting in this picture, but I used my Baptist Fans template on it...that design just looks great on everything! I'm so happy to have it done.


Over the weekend, JoAnn's was having a huge sale, so I ran over and picked up two more colors of yarn to make prayer shawls with. These two colors are supposed to be "painterly colors" and will have a soft, gradual striping through the shawls. I'm anxious to start, but won't until I finish the one I have started. Hopefully that will be done soon and I'll post a picture. The book is for the Bible Study I'll be participating in come June. We're studying the book of Esther, I'm looking forward to it since I've never been to a Bible Study before.

I've seen some beautiful work as I head through blogland...I'm trying to be better about commenting, but it's slow progress. But I'm visiting and reading...

Only 15 more days of school here, 13 for me and then I'm heading to Virginia with my daughter to look at the University of Mary Washington. We're looking forward to a little rest and relaxation on the trip, but since we'll only be gone two days, I'm not sure we'll get it. Are there any "must see" places in Fredericksburg we should visit once we're done our campus tour?

Caps and Laps and other ministries

For a long time I've been looking for a place to donate my quilts, quilting and other (and I use the term loosely!) talents. For a few years I quilted for Camp Reach for the Sky which is a camp in California for children with cancer. It made me feel good to do this, but as time passed I wanted to find a way to make a difference closer to home.

At the beginning of the year, Mary started the Heartstrings Quilt Project. I signed up, hoping to find the time to make blocks and send them off. So far I've sent a total of 30 blocks to the project. Then I realized that I could donate quilts in the name of Heartstrings locally, so that's what I've decided to do.

Last week I stopped in at the meeting of my church's Caps and Laps program. They make hats and blankets for babies, lap robes for for those in wheelchairs and the elderly and they donate to many different organizations. I brought them two quilts which I had made in the last year and the two baby hats I'd knitted. The women were so sweet! First off, they could not understand why I would be giving away these quilts until I reminded them that they were there, making these beautiful baby layettes and blankets and were giving them away because it was the right thing to do. I couldn't stay because I had a meeting to go to, so they insisted that I come back next month and spend some time with them. I hope to be able to make a Chinese Coins quilt for them in the next month as a response to the challenge on the Heartstrings website.

While there, they told me about a Prayer Shawl Ministry that they hoped to start between them and the Daughters of the King chapter at our church, which I belong to. I decided to start a Prayer Shawl for a lady at church who was instrumental in my becoming a charter member of our chapter. I found the pattern on the internet, although the ladies did give me a book of patterns that I could choose from. I'm enjoying knitting it and praying for this lovely lady as I go. I'm sure it will take me forever to finish it, I'm not a very fast knitter! :o)

I did manage to quilt half a quilt on my machine today, but my back was protesting and I had to stop. Apparently I'm going to have to live with some back pain until it gets bad enough for medical intervention beyond muscle relaxants and anti-inflammatories. I also removed sleeves and hemmed the armholes from an old dress that my daughter wanted made into a sundress, and fixed another dress that I had made years ago which my youngest will wear in her school play. I still have a shop sample to make by April 25, several quilts to quilt for customers...the list never ends, does it? We've all been there, done that!!! It's a good thing we love it!