October 29, 2008

I've been away!

I know, I know! This flu bug virus thing is just awful! It's been so hard keeping up on anything. I'm going into week three! And DH is worse if anything. He was stuck in bed all day yesterday and again today. It's really put a wrench in my quilting because I need him to help me baste!
The good news is that I have photos for you. At the Quilting Board, I am currently part of a Secret Santa, 70+ people strong this year, amazing hu? Well in spite being being poor, I went ahead and joined in. I'm not going to tell you anything about my person, because I don't want that person to guess their stuff! :) I made an advent calendar above you can see it rolled up (I figure it's so pretty it doesn't need wrapped), each little pocket has a stuffed Santa inside and as you count down the days the Santa for that day goes up at the top where you can see the Redwork Santas. I made it old fashioned in the sense that you see Santa getting up out of bed and then going out to deliver goodies to all the good girls and boys. I made my person one extra Santa for "just in case" who lives right up at the top until he is needed. There are five different Santa faces including one wearing sunglasses! I made five of each so there is a certain amount of opportunity to play with it. My person will also be getting five fat quarters, wont that make for a wonderful little package? For my embroideries, I have found a great website, called AnntheGran.com they have thousands of patterns, so far I've only been going there for redwork, but I'm telling you the stuff stitches out beautifully, just look at the details on the Santas, it looks hand stitched!
My thread order arrived already! I ordered it LATE Sunday night and it was here first thing this morning. What service! This is the second time I've ordered from allstitch.com and I continue to be pleased with their service. As you can see from my little photo I'm in the process of replacing my odds and ends of thread with Madeira's 1100 yard Polyneon, I like the strength and it's so silky. The navy blue and the Pink (on each end) are the worst matched of the two. One is dark-purpley-blue and the pink is NEON, not bold. Ah well I'm certain to use them, and perhaps this will make me happier needing to spend 5 bucks on a color chart that I didn't think I needed. In spite of all that the thread is here so I will soon be back to the Blue Christmas quilt, the blue colored redwork side borders are half done!
I also bought some DK5, after a near disaster trying to get the spray-on adhesive off the sewing machine, I thought I might give this a try. As with anything if I love it I'll let you know, and if I hate it, I'll be sure to mention that as well. Acetone worked well in getting what is called over spray off my hoops, but a true no-no for the sewing machine. As always they tell you to do a little test spot for a reason. Nov. 19th update: DK5 is amazing stuff! You spray the stuck on glue, you spray a paper towel, and count to ten. Then wipe. It's simply amazing how easily it wipes off, never again will I slave away with the rubbing alcohol trying to get glue off my table. This stuff only takes a minute. The smell is a bit different than anything I'm used to but it clears away, leaving a beautifully clean surface!
Today I'm including a photo of the new fridge. We happily call it the Cold Monster, as it's bigger than the old fridge and certainly seems to keep things cold, I've had to bump down the temp. twice! I heard somewhere that you can learn a thing or two about a person based on their fridge. I don't know what mine tells you, that I'm a family person perhaps? That I have a child? Or maybe it's like looking inside some one's medicine cabinet? You have to see inside to really know? Well unless you're coming over to my house you don't get to see inside. I'm not really used to owning a side-by-side, I'm always struggling with where to put stuff (in spite it being bigger). An entire shelf is my different kinds of flours! Crazy I know! I only have, Unbleached white, whole wheat, and self rising! LOL! I think the powered sugar and the bird food is up there too, oh and pickles. How's that for a self on a fridge?

You want to know about my medicine cabinet too? Okay well here's the scoop. It's not big enough to keep all my stuff, how about that? Sunny wanted to make sure you found your way out of the bathroom and back to the fridge.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Poor you and family! I do hope you will all get much better very soon.
You are right, your advent calendar looks great and it will make a lucky recipient I am sure.
How funny, the theme of our regional guild meeting next week-end is redwork! I am going to have a look at your link straight away. Take care.

Sand and Sunshine said...

Thanks Gwen, I have really enjoyed how pretty the redwork sews out. I think I'm well on my way to being a fan for life. I hope you'll enjoy your meeting and have a good time, I'd certainly like to be a fly on the wall in hopes of learning any new tips or tricks!

Heather Landry said...

Your new fridge totally rocks. I really love the advent calendar idea too. You've been a busy bee for sure!

Unknown said...

Yes, love the advent calendar idea. Do you have any more stuff that is done with machine embroidery? That's probably the only thing I can do. - Janie

Sand and Sunshine said...

I traded my embroidery machine for a mid arm quilting machine, but you can see all my old project by clicking on my Embroidery Link to the left.