Yippee - 56 Finished Today

I totally amazed myself yesterday getting all 56 tags finished that I had prepared the day before. (Reported that I had 58 but I mis-counted and there were only 56.) After stitching so many they seem to go quicker all the time. I again stitched them all up then took them to the family room and put in a movie while I turned them all right side out.

I guess I was too fast or there were not enough of them as I got done before the movie was half over. I did pause the movie and went and pressed part of them, rewarded myself and went back to watch more of the move, back and forth until they were all ready for the plastic to be stitched on.

The walking foot does help a lot but I have still had to use the paper most of the time for the presser foot to run across. Think the sewing machine gets warmed up and therefor the plastic gets warmed up and it wants to stick. I have been using the paper most of the time as a buffer between the plastic and the presser foot then I know I will not have problems.

Am up to 139 finished now...am so happy to have that many done. I wonder how many my guild members will do. Sure would hate to have made too many but I guess I can always use them as gifts if I end up making too many. Not sure if I will make more today or take a break from making luggage tags. I hate to get out of the groove since I am on such a roll but to be honest I am getting tired of doing the same thing all day long. I would never have been good working in a factory would I?

It was so beautiful outside yesterday I just had to get out. I walked out to see the new calves but covered my nose and mouth so I wouldn't breath in any of the dust. Didn't think my sinus doctor would like that this soon after surgery.

This calf was very curious about me standing on the other side of the fence and it's mother was close by to make sure her baby was safe. Isn't it so cute?

The calf walked closer and the mother was right beside it and soon after I took this photo she turned in front of the calf to put her body between me and the calf. Notice the matching ear tag numbers - 309. We tag the calf with the mother's number so we know which calf belongs to which mother. John always likes to tease that the number in the calf's ear is so the mother can run around looking for her "kid" by the number. The cow knows which baby is hers but we can't tell the difference, especially when all 100+ cows have had their calves so the ear tag number system is for us not her.

So far a beautiful sunny day out even if it is a little windy. You have probably noticed I post a lot of weather stuff here on my blog. It is kind of the fist topic of conversation among farm folks because so much depends on weather for us. We like dry weather when we are calving, rain on planted crops, dry when we harvest, dry to damp when we plant, etc. If farmers could dial up the weather for the day depending on what activity they are doing I am sure they would figure out how to do it.

Here's to a brand new day!
Lynn

Luggage Tags Ready to Stitch

A couple of my quilt guild members donated fabric to make luggage tags so got them all cut out yesterday and prepared to start sewing today. I got fabric cut for 58 more tags from what they donated. I like to cut a bunch of the rectangles, press under the one end and cut the ribbons then stack them ready to sew.

All I have to do then is pin in the ribbon, lay in the interfacing and stitch them together. I got 34 stitched, pressed and plastic sewn to them yesterday, so another batch is done. Think I am up to around 80 tags finished now.

After I stitch the tags around the first time I take them into the family room and sit in my chair to trim corners and turn them right side out. That way I can take a break from the sewing machine for a while. By the time I got the 34 done yesterday I was pooped! Don't think I will get all 58 stitched today as that is a lot to work on at one time and I still get fatigued from the surgery so have to rest once in a while.

This silly photo below is what was left of that HUGE snow drift behind my sewing room. It finished melting yesterday but look at how ugly my brick patio/sidewalk is. Think I will have to take John's power washer and give it a good clean!

Sunshine today makes me happy. It was overcast yesterday again but we lucked out and didn't get any rain but it stayed cloudy all day anyway. Today is bright and clear and the temperature is up to 41 F (5C) and should get warmer by this afternoon.

Lynn

Luggage Tag Tip

Wanted to pass on a tip that is working for me when making the fabric luggage tags. I suggested using a piece of paper or extra piece of fabric to have the foot of the machine ride on to stitch the plastic because the foot would drag the plastic and cause pleats and all kinds of mess when stitching. I just found a better way to stitch the plastic - use your walking foot.

When I tried using the walking foot today to stitch the plastic there was no dragging, etc. and it stitched the plastic down like a dream. I will put these suggestions on my tutorial but in case you never go back to re-read that blog entry I wanted you all to know about it.

That is all for now....
Lynn

No Sewing Yesterday - Baby Quilt Photos

I hate to not post anything quilty so dug back into my photo archives and am posting photos of all 4 of the quilts I made for my grandchildren. The first was a girl, S. is now 9 and this is her quilt. It was machine appliqued with the invisible method and hand quilted. I was very proud to win a first place ribbon and top baby quilt on all 4 of my grandchildren's quilts at the Nebraska State Fair. I do need to get new photos of these quilts as I have a better camera now that would pick up more of the details, especially of this quilt below. We had just gotten our first digital camera the fall I entered the quilt in the State Fair so don't have any other digital photos of it. Somewhere stashed around this house I have printed photos but sure don't know where right now.

This next quilt was made for the sister D that arrived a year after S so I had to hustle to get it done. She is now 8 and a real cowgirl and loves anything with horses on it so her quilt is just right for her. This quilt was hand appliqued and hand quilted. Once I started hand quilting the grandchildren's quilts I had to do the same for the rest, at least that is what I thought at the time and did manage to do, although they seemed to take longer and longer to make.

A year and a half later our other daughter had a son C. who is now 7. This is the circus quilt I appliqued by hand and hand quilted for him. Was fun to do but it is a good idea to plan the sizes of the background squares to go together more easily than I did on this quilt. I just made a background block any size that I thought looked good with the animal or figure I drew. Took me forever to put them together and figure out how to get them to fit.

Mr. M was born 4 years ago to the mother of C so one of our daughters has two daughters and one has two sons. I just don't want Mr. M to grow up as I just love the way 4 year olds can tell a story. He makes me laugh so much. The girls are wanting to sew when they visit now and I am thrilled about that too. This last Christmas when the boys were here they saw S. stitching up a tote bag and think they want to sew this summer when they come for a visit so am glad to help them all to learn to sew.

His quilt was appliqued using the invisible machine method and hand quilted. I added a corded piece of fabric just to the inside of the binding on this quilt. Liked the little bit of bright color it added to the edge. Found some funky poke-a-dot fabric that I appliqued for the eyes of the bright fish which was fun.

All my good intentions of sitting down at my sewing machine left me after lunch yesterday. I was just too tired to do anything so took a nap instead. Guess the surgery took more out of me than I thought. Maybe today I will get there. I am feeling pretty good and am not having much discomfort at all so things are going pretty well for me post surgery.

Thought you might be interested in reading this article about a woman who was a child prisoner of war in Singapore during the second world war. Very touching that this woman got a chance to see the quilt she helped make so many years ago.

My Tenko Quilt

Just a few drips of rain so not too wet so far today which is good. Had a brisk wind yesterday to help dry things up a bit more too. We had a couple more calves overnight and I am anxious to see them when I heal a little more. Don't think it would be good for me to go out and get all that dust up my nose just yet.

Lynn