Learning to sew costumes

I know this may not sound exciting to some but for me it is very exciting. I'm learning to piece costumes for our play "Oklahoma". I know how to do basic things for garment sewing, but reading those patterns are difficult to me. I still enjoy quilting, but I need to learn to do this task of sewing garments. I'm thinking I might want to make myself a skirt. If it was cost effective I might think even harder about it! LOL
I will post pictures later, I must get ready for today's IEW class. Tomorrow I will get to sew!
Till later....

Time is flying by

Yep, time is flying by!
Steve is now 16!
Spring is coming...I know it is coming...even though we have 8 inches of snow on the ground, spring is coming! Life is extremely busy right now, it is actually too busy. I feel like I need about a 2 week break just to relax, relax? what is that? Actually with the stomach virus coming through the family it has slowed us/me down. Now I'm playing catch up.
We are in the throws of the new play for this year: Oklahoma! I have lots to do this year, helping with sewing the costumes, in charge of the bake sale, getting the boys' costumes and helping with props. All the families have to help gather their kid's costumes and props. Glad I'm not in charge of that! LOL

Lots going on at church too. I opened my mouth and now I'm teaching a teen girl Bible study. I have 3 other moms that have stepped up to help! Praise the Lord for them!!

Quilting: I'm working on several projects at once. I need a variety, I really need to learn to focus! I get bored sometimes when I am working on the longarm machine and I have to walk away and play with fabric. So I did. The quilt on the longarm machine is coming along ok, I just needed to look at something different. I decided to begin piecing Bonnie Hunter's (quiltville.com) pattern "Jared Takes a Wife". I'm using greens, brown, rusty orange and creams. for some reason I am into using greens right now, can't explain it. I have another quilt that is a green quilt, and green is not one of my favorite colors....so what is up with that? LOL

School: well, I'm ready to end the school year. Lots of responsibility with having a high school co-op and a middle school co-op meeting her plus play practice two to three times a week, then our other co-op that meets every other week....

One of my best friends is moving next month. I'm gonna miss her! I don't get to see her much now due to work and she and her hubby are running down to Ohio to look for a house. Their entire family is going to be missed! I think we will have to go down and visit them! She is not moving far, but she is moving.
Well, I need to get off the computer and get myself a movin'
till later, y'all......

I just remembered...

I just remembered, I do have some pictures to post of my quilt projects that are just sitting out on my tables.... the picture with all the blue blocks...there are more than a thousand pieces with this quilt and if I had realized how the author was putting those hst together I would have done it a different way!

The picture with the green unit together is how the blue hst will go together. There is also gold and burgandy units to assemble...oh joy....then there is the red and gold unit. That is from Bonnie Hunter's Carolina Christmas Mystery quilt. So is the the picture of the green and cream hst units. I had to call it quilts on this quilt for just a while. Too many other things that I had to do... well I feel better now, I actually had pictures! LOL....later....

Ah the new year is here

Yes, the new year is here and we are back into the swing of things. Everything has started back up after having 2 weeks off. And ol'man winter has hit the USA hard! Lots of places are bitterly cold, including us...I don't like the cold!
Not much is going on in the sewing room. I have Roanoke's quilt on the longarm. I'm sewing tiny little circles that are about the size of a pencil eraser head...my wrist hurts...I'm procrastinating again on finishing it. I need to finish it because I have 2 more quilts of her's and then 1 from another person. I've managed to design the whole cloth quilt that my chiropractor has ordered...that is going to take a long time to finish, but it will be gorgeous! I also have 3 quilt patterns that I need to work on. I need to get the math down and get these patterns submitted, I just don't know which magazine to contact yet.
Bible study was great last night. I was nervous, but everything went well. The study is "for women only" by Shaunti Feldhaun. When we finish this study we are going to do Beth Moore's "The Inheritance". I will be hosting these studies until the last week of April.
A new responsibility has been added to my plate, I'm co-leading women's ministry at church. I'm hoping that Bonnie and I can get one more person to come on board to share the responsibility. Need to pray about that. Bonnie and I are meeting tomorrow morning over breakfast to start planning our women's banquet. I'm looking forward to this!! I think it is going to be great! Now to find all the supplies we need for decoration. Bonnie has some great ideas, I'm looking forward to working with her this year!
Next week the boys have their audition for Oklahoma. Our drama club, which is with our homeschool co-op, is gearing up for our next play. Last year's play was Fiddler on the Roof. Chris has already gotten his part, he is playing Jude. Steve and John have to audition. I went to the library yesterday to get the movie for them to watch again and someone has it checked out...bummer. I need to go back there tomorrow and see if it has been turned back in.
The weekend of January 15 my family and I are heading up to Bambi Lake, 3 hours north of here. Our praise team, at church, has been asked to play at the youth winter retreat. Joe and I are on the praise team. It is going to be interesting to see us 40+yr olds playing for the youth! We have been told we need "to rock it out"! Oh yeah right! We have some rocking songs though!!
Time for me to go prepare for the high school kids to arrive for our class today....I need to get off the computer. I wish I had pictures to post of the latest quilt projects, but I don't..bummer. Till next time....

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve, I can't believe it is here and I'm not really in the "spirit of Christmas". I don't know why either. I wanted to decorate more, but we can't figure out where the rest of the deocrations went...hahaha...that is funny though. I don't want to go spend money on something we truly don't need, other things must be taken care of first. Presents this year are lean, we spent the money on the boys...they wanted larger presents this year...and John no longer wants toys. I officially am a mom to teenagers!

Today I do have to begin cooking. We have our big dinner today! We are having dinner with the Nichols family, Larry, Melissa, Marissa and Bryce. Their other two children, Cody and Myiah will be with their mom until later on in the evening. So prime rib is on the menu! I'm looking forward to our day together.

Joe took two weeks off from work this time. He spent his first two days off doing not much of anything. He needed to just rest. Yesterday he worked on a couple of projects, some repairs on the house, that kept him busy.

I've been dealing with somethings and I need to figure out if this is how to handle the situation. This will be a huge year for education on dealing with women, being a part of the leadership of our church's women minisitry. I'm somewhat nervous and overwhelmed. Prayers are needed. I know that when something wonderful is going to happen that satan can't stand it and he gets his dirty little hands in wherever he can and causes chaos...and he did just that. Lord, please give us guidance!

My sewing has been kind of well...not so much these last few days. I've had to keep myself occupied with other things and today will be cleaning and cooking. Tomorrow after the kids open their presents I will be able to play with fabric. I think I'm going to rip the quilt apart that I pieced together and place the blocks in another direction/pattern.

The week after Christmas I have several tasks that I need to do. I have to read for school, trying to figure out the biblical allusions for our 2nd semester, prepare the high school kids for the term paper, get the middle school kids writing more and catch them up in their workbooks (the books arrived about a month late) and finish planning the school year. I need to find some great essay topics too.

I have a quilt project though that is going to require some attention. My chiropractor has ordered a whole cloth quilt from me. I have the fabric, now I have to lay the pattern out, basically draw it on a regular sheet of paper then transfe the design to fabric....except the fabric is dark green...you can't see the drawing lines which will become the stitiching lines...this is going to be fun!

Speaking of quilting, I'm going to upload my latest blocks. I've been working on the mystery quilt "Carolina Christmas" from Bonnie Hunter of quiltville.com Bonnie designs fantastic scrappy quilts and she has outdone herself again!

Falling behind and snowflakes are falling

Winter is arriving and I am falling further behind with my sewing projects. This school year has played a huge role in my falling behind in quilting, along with church activities. But I am enjoying this year. It has been a stressful year but very enjoyable so far.
I'm now seeing a podiatrist and have learned that I have 3 neuroma (3 pinched nerves in each foot) and my arches are falling. So now I have orthodic inserts in my new shoes, joy! I'm also seeing a chiropractor, my bones and muscles are not too terribly bad, just a few adjustments. I'm basically really tight in my mid back from all the sewing!
I'm going to make this a simple entry today, I will have to upload pictures later!

Auntumn is in the air...and so is winter

Autumn is in the air and so is winter...we are waking up to frost in the morning and the heat is on in the house. I'm feeling the need to get the yard ready for the winter. I will have to close up my "passion pit" (side screened in porch that my sister named passion pit). We will have to put the glass back into the window openings, take the screens and store them in the basement. Plants will have to be brought in that I would like to attempt to save over the winter and hopefully they can live in the house. I'm going to have the boys bring in the wicker furniture and store it in one of the rooms in the basement too.
I'm also ready to paint more rooms in my home! My friend's husband is going to paint our foyer for us, it is a 2 story foyer. They need the money so I don't mind helping them out at all. They are a great family! Speaking of painting, there are other rooms that need to be painted. Chris' room is ready and so is his bathroom. That will probably be first on my list, then paint the stairwell to the basement. My plan is while my friend's husband is painting the foyer, I can paint the hallway that comes off the foyer. That would be nice to have that all done at once!
Quilting: not much going on in the quilt world for me. I did manage to finish 2 quilt tops that I gave away and a friend's quilt. I have about 10 quilts now that need to go on the machine, I'm glad I have no deadlines for those quilts! This Saturday, my quilting group is coming over. We are going to head over to the Village Quilt Shoppe for the quilt show, then come back here for lunch and head down to the basement for a day of sewing! Some of us are going to begin piecing a "weaver fever" quilt. Yep, starting another project when I have not finished the other one....that would be Steve's quilt that should have been finish over a year ago...oops! I get distracted very easily.
My weeks are so busy right now. Monday is the middle school level co-op, every other Tuesday is Meadows co-op, Tuesday night I host a women's bible study here, Wednesday is the high school co-op, afterwards we all rush out of the house to head for church. There we have youth praise band practice and bible study classes. Man when Thursday gets here I am absolutely exhuasted! I look forward to sitting in my bed wrapped up in blankets, door closed and I watch Grey's Anatomy! I noticed in the last show that they have Meredith in bed...she is pregnant...you could tell. Funny. oh well that is Hollywood.
Today though, after our Meadows group, I am taking my son Chris to the doctor. He has lost 40lbs in about 3 months. I've noticed that he is tiring very easily, some days he is so pale. I'm hoping it is because he grew. He is already over 6ft, but he looks like he could be almost 6'3" now! Praying there is nothing wrong with him and that it was only a growth spurt.
Last night I hosted a Premier Jewelry party. I had a blast and made a new friend at church. She is the rep. for PJewelry. Glenda is her name, and she is so nice! Learned a lot about her last night, I really like her!
Well, I have to get moving now, time to go get my day moving.
~till next time....taking it one~stitch~at~a~time Nancy