No Time for Stitching!

My hand stitching time has been a bit disjointed lately.

I know it is something that happens to all of us from time to time – we hit the proverbial brick wall.  We find ourselves busy with other things.  Or, as in my case – I hadn’t flown anywhere since December – and then the holidays happened and my ever present busy bag project began to languish.

On this trip – my early morning flight from Greensboro to Atlanta to Phoenix found me falling asleep on the Phoenix leg of the trip, my busy bag remaining unopened in my travel back pack tucked under the seat in front of me.  It never came out.  I never opened it.  I didn’t thread a needle, baste a piece, sew it to another – NADA.

I thought I’d have evening time while in Phoenix after workshop days at 35th Ave Sew & Vac were over, but instead I spent my evenings with friends and enjoying people.  It seemed the much better thing to do.  Stitching could wait.

While I’ve been here at Dad's, I stayed one night here, then the next night in Gilbert at Sharolyn’s, and then back here again – but the lighting situation is just not great.

We need to run to IKEA!  (Those floor lamps in the Hen Den at Quiltville Inn are the bomb and I’d love one here!) but that opportunity hasn’t come about because we’ve been knocking things off of dad’s to do list.

How far has my stitching gotten?

Well, does organizing your busy bag count?

Threads and dust between the pages is a sign of busy stitching!

I bought my Yazzii bag last spring when my previous bag finally gave up the ghost and could not be repaired any further.  one the clear plastic gets stiff and cracks, tears and leaves holes – there is ony so much you can do with clear packing tape to fix it.

This one I love!  It’s called the “OVAL” but it still looks more square to me.  It has several zippered pockets of various sizes.  It holds everything I need for travel and then some.

Including full size pockets for cords, chargers, ear buds – things that I need while flying.

I also keep ear plugs and a sleeping mask in here for overseas flights as well as gum for ear pressure.  And even after all of that – there is still plenty of room for my handwork project – fabric diamonds, paper diamonds, threads, snips, needle threader, needles, wonder clips, thread conditioner – and lip balm, hand lotion and Listerine spray.

Let me tell you – that Listerine pocket spray thing was originally for “long flight breath” but I have used it just under my nose a time or two when a “not quite recently showered and desperately in need of it” passenger was within nose range.

If you are in the market for a busy bag – do check out the Yazzii brand.  They come in many different styles, sizes and colors.  My busy bags tend to get a bit on the grungy side from much carrying around, so navy blue is my go to for hiding all that it may come in contact with.

This is a shout-out to Nancy Kendrick to thank her for the help she has given me in knowing what to tell YOU when it comes to finding your purchased digital patterns on an iPhone.

We’ve dealt with the Ipad situation before.  But the iPhone questions keep coming – and as I do not own an iPhone, it takes an iphone user to tell me what to tell you.

Nancy’s iPhone screen view.

Your own may be a different arrangement.

Second icon from the top on the left – do you see the files icon circled in yellow?  (I love that she has a massage envy app, as I go there too!)  CLICK FILES.

If you don’t know where your files icon is – find it – and move it to a page where you can access it more easily.

‘

Once you are in files – look for the downloads folder.

Here you can see her Good Fortune and Hunter’s String Star downloads.

And the ipad files pdf to tell her how to find files on the ipad -

And the PDF hints document that also comes with your download.

The thing is – if you don’t know WHERE your files go when you click download – you’ll never get to those files either!

So the best thing I can say to anyone who is not used to downloading documents or PDF files to their iPad or iPhone – perhaps it is better to download to a REAL computer first – because you have a CHOICE of where to put those files when you do it that way.  

On in iPhone or iPad – you don’t choose – it automatically goes just to where we showed you above.

Once you have saved the file to your real computer (where you know how to find it) you can transfer your files to your iPhone or iPad from there, still keeping your master file on your computer.

I will be adding this info to the iPad files document to join them into one – but I need to be home to my original files first.

Now that you know – wanna give it a go??

I had a hard time deciding just which pattern to put at 50% off for the month of January. And there is only today, and tomorrow left to grab it at this price!

 Irish Courthouse won out for many reasons -

The biggest one of all being NO TRIANGLES!!  LOL!

Sew SO Scrappy, Sew Much Fun!

This Irish Chain variation starts with a simple 9 patch and grows from there! Easy strip piecing and full color photos. Fat Quarter Friendly as well! Quilt size: 93’’ X 93’’.
You’ll love making this quilt block-by-block easily from strips.  It’s fast, it’s satisfying, and destined to chase away those winter blahs that tend to follow when the holidays are behind us but spring is still far off into the future.

Last evening I headed out toward Queen Creek to celebrate my niece Emilee's birthday!  

It’s not every day that a girl turns 30.

Bahama Buck’s for the win!

It was just the 3 of us – Emilee, Sharolyn and I enjoyed a yummy treat, much conversation and remembering over the past 30 years.

Emilee got a kick out of the story of when Sharolyn and I, both very pregnant at the time (Emilee and Jeff are 6 days apart in age.) toddled into the x-ray department at the hospital where I was working.  Ultrasound room vacant, we went in to explore just what (Or who!) was in these growing bellies of ours. (I worked as an ultrasound assistant and knew my way around the equipment.)

The screen revealed little Emilee just curled up and sleeping so peacefully within, while Jeff proceeded to do stretches resembling (and feeling like) jumping jacks – so very much a HE in everything we saw on that monitor!

And here we are 30 years later.  Emilee with two lovely babes of her own now.  And life goes on.

Today’s agenda – celebrating DAD’s 80th, even though it isn’t officially until the 11th of February.

There are some packages to mail home – so a drive by FedEx on our way anywhere – and some more relaxing time just spending our last hours of this visit together.

Will I thread up that needle and get some stitches in?

One can always hope!  (I really want that IKEA light!)

Quiltville Quote of the Day -

Antique applique poppy found in Pennsylvania.

Have you ever noticed how successful people are judged, resented and even cut down by those around them because they are standing too tall above their peers? ⁣
⁣
This is a phenomenon known as "Tall Poppy Syndrome." https://bit.ly/38LYE3I⁣
⁣
If you witness this, know that you need to stand tall over the rest - as tall as you can - no matter how much the world tries to bring you down. It's the only way to really enjoy the sunshine you worked so hard for! Those worth having around will stand with you and cheer you on.⁣
⁣
When you see this happening to others, stand up for them! Dare to be a tall poppy!