Show and Tell

I just got a notice
 that I had new followers- and much to my chagrin I haven't posted in ForEVER! However, I have been sewing like a fiend ( how exactly do fiends sew? - They prolly don't have time in between being fiendish. ? ?)  So I decided to just do a quick show & tell today and save all the fun extras and whys and wherefores for later

 Get ready for picture overload!

Seatbelt pillows

Elijah's has a pocket for Dog Dog

Drawstring Backpacks

Splendid Sampler 2

Bags 

 UFO from 2015  that is now gifted!

Professional Tote Bag (my version) 

Can you guess what profession :)

Garment Bag! 

 There you have it! Actually I know there are quite a few projects missing from this show, I will have to search out the pictures and possibly have the gifted photographed- I'll try to post all the fun stuff soon!
Have a great day-
 back to sewing- Sherman and I have 2 more pillows and one more bag to make this week!

Rush Hour coming soon!

Wow! I've have been quite quiet on the bloggy front! I am sew glad Madame Samm has just the right hop to get me blogging again! This time its Rush Hour!

 and the way life has been it's been a constant rush hour 'round here! Hopefully things will get back to a normal ish schedule now that I have an assistant again. I have been toying with  ideas for the hop and just today a perfect idea popped into my email! YAY - I have the fabric just didn't know what I wanted to make! Stay tuned- I will be showing it off soon!

 I have been working on a quilt for EmmaBean (she is 5yo)- she was with me at the fabric store and I decided to make her a dress but couldn't decide which owl fabric I liked best so I asked her. She said- with that sweet sigh, "Aunt Bobbie, I'd rather have a blanket...." How can an Aunt Bobbie say no to that? Emma is the only one of my nieces and nephews that didn't get one when they were born. Emma picked out the rest of the fabric- with some veto power from Aunt Bobbie- and a few nudges the right direction.
 I spent a couple hours playing with the ideas for the pattern, and I am pleased with it so far. I forgot to buy binding and found the rosebud fabric in my stash and ended up using it for the back and a border- and didn't have enough to use for binding- soI got some white with dots- not that I'm ready for the binding yet, but...
I am using Warm and Natural batting- which I've not used before and WOW what a difference! I LOVE this stuff! I almost feel like I should apologize to all my other projects for not using it!

Have a fab day!  

Might I borrow your foot?

Photo from NiteOwlTX

Wowza- Last week I was MIA because I was having way too much fun entering giveaways from Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day Week. There were over 500 giveaways and I only made it to about 300! They are having another Giveaway Day in December and I will definitely start the entering sooner. (I didn't start until Wednesday.) I may even have a giveaway here!  In the midst of all that fun, I won FIVE giveaways! I will be sharing all the details right here when I have the prizes in my hot little hands. ( much easier to take the pictures that way!)

In other news, I received the notice for "my" day on the Red White and Blue Blog Hop- I am scheduled for  Friday, July 13th. I will be having a giveaway that day for sure! I already have my  Red White and Blue Blocks in Progress. I told my friend she couldn't have her birthday present because I had to get "unfinished" pictures of it for the hop. :)

They have started a Gang over at Art Gallery Fabrics!  A Fat Quarter Gang! If the first post is any indication, this is going to be hilarious and sew much fun! Check it out here!

Tonight Sherman and I will be feverishly finishing my project before the Christmas Train leaves the station tomorrow! I was going to quilt it last night and discovered the only piece of batting I had was too skinny and piecing it would require alot of pieces. I didn't really want to have to have a quilt in the middle of my quilt. Hopefully, I can find some during my lunch break, or I shall be finding a quick project to whip up in its place :) UPDATE at 4:47pm: I found some batting at the Hope Chest Thrift store- I think it will work! We shall see when I get home from church tonight!

 Sherman and I are getting along splendidly now that I have figured out some of his quirks and borrowed AbbyDoo's (excuse me "Louisa's" AbbyDoo had to name her machine too) 1/4 inch foot. Hence the title of this post. For some reason, Sherman didn't come with one and according to the fine folks at Brother's customer service, he wasn't supposed to. Poor guy, missing his foot! Not sure why Louisa came with one since Sherman is the exact same machine.  AbbyDoo is using a 1/2 " seam allowance for her raggy edge quilt so graciously allowed Sherman to borrow Louisa's foot until I get one ordered.

AbbyDoo and Louisa chain piecing with 1/2 inch seams.
Sistermine is chain piecing HST's with Shubal (her Singer)

Surprise Packages



Hmm... I wonder where I got my smile?



When I arrived home late Friday night after partying with MySweetMommie, I found a tag on my door from the UPS man stating that he had a package and had to have a signature so he would be back on Monday. I *knew* there was a surprise coming from UPS but I didn't know what it was and now I had to wait 3 whole days to find out what it was. Thankfully I had a busy weekend! I had to work a different shift on Saturday so after work Saturday night I prepped all the goodies for Mother's Day Dinner at Nelle's and Sunday morning I managed to get up early enough to bake the Key Lime Pie from Pioneer Woman and put the Chicken Alfredo Pasta Bake in the oven. I have never ever used the delay timer on my oven before but it worked GREAT! The Pasta Bake was ready when I arrived home, I took it out of my oven and ran over  popped it in Nelle's while we waited for the breadstix to bake. I will definitely be using it more often!

After lunch we played a crazy game of trivial pursuit. The sun shining on the game board inspired me to make a Trivial Pursuit style quilt, so I took a picture and filed it my "Someday I need to make one" file in my brain, and I am going to pin it on Pinterest so I can find the idea again. 

 Anyhow, I am rambling- Back to Mr. UPS man- Monday morning was spent on the phone with the cell phone company (for an HOUR and a HALF!) being shuffled from one rep to the next (grrrr snarl, COUGh! ) I had to explain the problem to each one, I now have my phone's serial number memorized. I was beginning to think they wanted me to talk to every employee in the building. I was coughing and blowing my nose and feeling horrible and trying so hard to be patient. I think the problem is being fixed but it was not a fun process! ( the poor reps probably didn't think it was fun either)  Sorry, I'm rambling again- I got off the phone and was playing around with my red white and blues for the blog hop and I heard the beautiful big brown truck at the end of my driveway.

My friend told me I should have
Mr. UPS bring me a daughter next time,
but I think  *that* might make people talk!

He doesn't pull in to my driveway because it is long (like this post) and I can see that he has a good sized box and it is pinkish- When he finally gets up to the house, he apologizes for not being able to leave it on Friday - (I love living in a small town.)  I told him I was going to teach the cat to sign for my packages. Can't you just imagine it...

What did Mr. UPS bring me? He brought me a new brother!- Wait a minute--- those come from the stork don't they?

© Dixie Allan

not *that* kind of  brother! This is the brother that Mr.UPS brought me:

I named him after the cartoon characters
Sherman and Mr.  Peabody

I'm not sure why... but I like it!
 My Simplicity machine is Simple Simon.

It was a good thing I had already told Sistermine that I wasn't coming over- I couldn't leave my new brother home all by himself on his first day!  I stayed home and played with my new toy! I worked on an improv log cabin and made a Red White and Blue block.

you will have to wait for the blog
hop to see the whole block

 I have a teal/blue quilt floating in my head but have yet to find the perfect fabric- I have a couple in mind but I'm not seeing what I want. Thank you CaMom for the wonderous surprise! Sherman, and I will have alot of fun together!
 

Can you tell I found a photo editor to replace picnik?
Check out PicMonkey It's way too fun!
This effect is Daugerreotype- I love it!

 Tune in tomorrow for more adventures with Sherman, a teacup and CaMom's  tablerunner!