a hard week

I've had a bit of a hard week this week. My 85 year old mum has been in hospital and, although she isn't "ill" as such, she's no longer able to look after herself at home so we're now trying to get her into a care home where she can be looked after 24 hours a day. With all the thinking and planning we need to do for this to happen, it feels like my head has been spinning all week. I just want things to go smoothly and quickly for mum's sake - as well as, selfishly, my own.

As a result of all that head spinning, I haven't done much sewing at all this week other than a couple of oven gloves for myself. I made some spotty bias first -

and used it on the new gloves.

I've already used them in the kitchen and am really pleased with them.

On Monday, Joanna left Tilly with us to go to the dentist and I took the opportunity to take a photo of her in a (rare) quiet moment. Isn't she adorable?

blouses, empty crates and "but where are they?"

I finally finished the three blouses! Yay! Go me!

They're made with one of my favouritest (!) blouse patterns - McCalls 5359.

Here they are. I'm so happy with them all.

After I'd tidied up the blouse sewing mess, I looked in my crate to see what else was in there waiting to be sewn. Nothing!

And in Joanna's crate? Nothing! She had gone through the stuff in the crate last week to see if she really did want those summer dresses made out of that fabric. She didn't so she took it all home with her! Another empty crate! Yay!

And, in Debbie's crate? A quilt pattern waiting to be cut out. She bought this the first time we visited her in Canada - in June 2010. I don't think it's going to get cut out any time soon so we'll just leave that in her crate for now!

What am I going to sew next? I haven't a clue! I have tons of dressmaking I could be doing. Tons of patchworking I could be doing. Tons of dog toys I could be sewing. Tons of sewing I could be doing for the tartan bee shop. Tons of tidying and tossing I could be doing. We'll just have to wait and see! :o)

And finally a Tilly movie. Douglas and I had been iChatting with Joanna and Tilly last night and she - Tilly - just couldn't understand how she could see us and hear us but we weren't there. She rushed to the front door to see if we would come in that way like we had the other day! Bless!

miscellaneous sewing

I've made a few things in the last few days. First of all, I made a new cover for one of my pin cushions.

I made a wee toy for Tilly out of some leftover fleece and bits of ribbon.

It quickly became one of her favourite toys!

I finished off a jacket for Debbie which she had started but had given up on when the sleeves were too tight. I cut new sleeves, sewed them in and finished it all off. I hope it fits her now!

This is the last 3 of the blouses which I cut out way back in October. I decided that, since they would all be sewn with white thread, I would just sew them all at once. This is where I am with them at the moment. It doesn't look like I'm getting on very well but it always feels like that when I sew multiple things at a time.

And finally, I went to a local hardware department this morning and bought a 4 foot wardrobe rail complete with fittings and 8 S hooks. I put the rail up myself under my sewing table and hung up my scissors on the hooks. I LOVE it!

clearing out - and Tilly with the slipper

I've spent the last few days in my sewing room just have a good clear out of some things. I have a long way to go but I'm trying to be sensible about what I keep and what I toss. I mean, if I needed an iron-on denim patch, would I even remember I had a 2" x 1" square of it in one of the drawers or would I just go to the shop and buy a new one?

My honest answer would be, I probably wouldn't even use an iron-on denim patch and, if I decided I needed one, the chances are it would need to be bigger than 2" x 1"! And it would, no doubt, need to be a different colour of denim to the one I have. And, yes, I would probably just go and buy a new one. So, do I keep said 2" x 1" patch or not? What a dilemma! :oD

In the midst of all this clearing out, my sister asked me to make my mum some new oven gloves but not the type that I usually made. They had to be the gauntlet type. Well I did make them but, oh, I did not enjoy the process. Turning that thumb was a nightmare! Anyway, they're done - even though I only remembered to take a photo of one of them!

Another bit of clearing out that I've done is this.

Debbie had cut up some old towels of hers with the intention of me teaching her to use my overlocker so she could make them into cloths. Well, the basket of unoverlocked cloths has been sitting in the sewing room for months so I just went ahead and overlocked them yesterday. Next time she visits, I'll be handing her 36 cloths!

You can imagine the mess after overlocking all that towelling so I took my overlocker apart and cleaned it. I even went as far as to get the special mini cleaning hose for my vacuum cleaner and sooked up tons of fluff. It felt really satisfying to see all that fluff disappear up that hose. The overlocker is now sparkling and raring to go again ... but, please, no more towelling cloths for a while! :o)

And now, because it would feel wrong not to show Tilly, here's a short video of her antics with a slipper!

bags of progress ... and Tilly

I've been making headway getting through the pile of bags I cut out who-knows-when. There are these two:

And three like this:

And two like this:

After I'd made these last two, I noticed that the fabric had a flaw in it. Och well, I'll just have to keep these ones for myself. Yay! :oD

And now for today's photo of Tilly. She can actually pick up that ball and walk with it! Amazing! :o)

meet Tilly

Joanna got a new puppy yesterday. I'd like to introduce you to Tilly. Isn't she just adorable?

I have no doubt that there will be millions more photos of Tilly appearing on here. I just won't be able to resist sharing her with you all! :o)

clearing the decks

I decided that, before I started doing some dressmaking, I'd try and clear the decks. By that I mean, I want to make all the shopping bags I've had cut out and ready to sew for a long time. So, yesterday I made up these 3 grocery bags made from Michelle's grocery bag pattern:

And today I started on the last bundle of 10 shopping bags from my own made-up pattern.

I don't know if I'll get all 10 made before I change my mind about finishing them all but, at least I've made a start to clearing those decks. :o)

ageisms

Happy 2014 to you all! :o)

Here are some more things I found on my computer. I found myself agreeing with most all of them! :oD

1. You are only young once, but you can stay immature indefinitely.

2. Of course I'm in shape. Isn't Round a shape?

3. There’s only one thing worse than an old fogey - a young fogey.

4. I have found, at my age, going bra-less pulls all the wrinkles out of my face.

5. A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

6. You know your getting older when - your get up and go has got up and went.

7. Growing old is mandatory - acting old is optional!

8. The older I get, the better I was!

9. You're getting old when your wife gives up sex for Lent, and you don't know till the 4th of July.

10. At my age, "getting a little action" means I don't need to take a laxative.

11. H lp! S m b d st l ll th v w ls fr m m k yb rd!

12. The probability of someone watching you is proportional to the stupidity of your action.

13. Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.

14. I cna ytpe 300 wrods pre mniuet!!!

I also found this pic which made me snort with laughter! I'm subtitling it "Douglas's New Year's Resolution"! :oD