Sidelined

It's the New Moon, time for the Totally Useless Stitch A Long! Unfortunately, I have no ORTs at all. Zip.

Zilch.

Remember last New Moon, I was kinda griping about wasting time and such? I decided the biggest thing keeping me from crafting was the state of my house. I simply cannot feel "free to be me" if I have other obligations that need doing first. 

Objective One. Get the house cleaned up! Bright and early October 2nd I waded in, one room at a time. Everything got cleaned. Once I had the house clean, I started on my sewing studio. I had gotten about half way with the studio last week, when I had to take a break to go help my dad.

You see, my mom suffers from Lewy Body Dementia and cannot be left alone at all. Dad had some errands that needed running so my daughter and I went to spend the day visiting and watching out for mom. It was uneventful. Mom just slept. Jess and I sat at the kitchen table chatting. 

Then the bed alarm went off and I jumped up in a rush! Dad had warned us mom keeps ending up on the floor. Somehow, I tripped on air (there was nothing there) and face planted myself. Jess wrangled mom while I tried to sort myself out. We finally ended up calling my dad to come home so Jess could take me to the hospital. 

I broke my right (dominant) arm just below the shoulder. No cast, no surgery,  just a sling and pain pills while it heals. I also skinned both knees, both elbows and must have really wrenched my big toe because it’s black and blue.

I am in quite a lot of pain, grouchy and moody. My dog doesn’t understand I can’t play fetch. I feel like a toddler getting my meat cut up and eating clumsy with my left hand. In fact, this post was clumsily tapped out with my left hand, with many painful shift key applications by my right hand. My studio is in shambles and I can't do anything about it.

Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Quilt is kicking off soon, something I was looking forward to all year, and I might not be healed enough to do it.

Enough whinging! I will have to get by with vicarious crafting! Go blog people! It's all I have!

=^..^=

Now it is YOUR turn...we want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your October TUSAL post so we can come visit! If I hold a Totally Useless giveaway your comment will earn you an extra entry.

Wondering what a TUSAL is and why all these people are posting pictures of rubbish? Click here to learn more and join the fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Time Flies

It's already time for the Totally Useless Stitch A Long? It's the New Moon so I guess so! I have added a few ORTs to my jar but with all the "free" time I have now, I feel it isn't very much.

Yes, The Finery of Nature came out to play. The black fabric is so hard on my eyes it's slow going. If this had been worked on light colored fabric it would have been finished long ago!

Design ~ Pumpkin Flower Sampler

Designer ~ Bent Creek

Fabric ~ 28 count unknown evenweave

Fiber ~ called for Gentle Arts & DMC

I did finish the Bent Creek a couple weeks ago. The camera wouldn't capture the colors except in this odd angle photo. I don't like the "sampler" stitches that go between the letters in these BC sampler designs so I leave them out. Is that weird? It just looks cluttered and crowded with them to me. I have no thoughts on a finish-finish for this one.

 I have been trying to come up with a schedule for myself since becoming a Lady of Leisure but have been unable to set one. I keep losing track of the days! I am a little out of sorts as yet, getting used to not having to wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning, not having to be anywhere by a certain time...the entire unstructured chaos of it has me in limbo and I can get nothing done! Where is my order? I need to find it soon! 

=^..^=

Now it is YOUR turn...we want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your September TUSAL post so we can come visit! If I hold a Totally Useless giveaway your comment will earn you an extra entry.

Wondering what a TUSAL is and why all these people are posting pictures of rubbish? Click here to learn more and join the fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

ORTs Eclipsed

Woo! We made it through another Lunar Cycle and the New Moon is here again. Time to show off those ORTs for the Totally Useless Stitch A Long! My mojo is turned on full strength and I have loads of ORTs to share!

That is the most full that jar has been in ages. I have ORTs to spare!

I also have some trimmings in my wooden leaf bowl from making pinpillows.

But all my ORTs were eclipsed by today's event in the USA. A total solar eclipse passed through, although I live in the about 87% of totality area. I got to watch as it got darker and darker. It's rather creepy and I can see why ancient cultures were totally freaked out by the event! 

I made the Frosted Flakes box into a view using directions online. It worked Grrrreat! But, I found the paper on the ground and hole punched in an index card trick much easier, plus I could take pictures!

=^..^=

Now it is YOUR turn...we want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your August TUSAL post so we can come visit! If I hold a Totally Useless giveaway your comment will earn you an extra entry.

Wondering what a TUSAL is and why all these people are posting pictures of rubbish? Click here to learn more and join the fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Hot Hot Hot

We are in a stretch of ridiculously hot weather, 100 + degrees but I am keeping inside in the air conditioning and of course, sewing! Today it's the New Moon and time to share our Totally Useless Stitch A Long ORTs! I don't have many since I spent most of the last month working on restoring the 301 but I sewed a little and have a few threads to share:

There aren't enough ORTs to cover the ink stains in my wooden leaf. Maybe I already told you this bowl sat by the telephone when I was a girl, filled with pens and pencils?

The leaf bowl is sitting atop some little postage stamp blocks I have been practicing with. Why do I need practice? Well...I spent my Piggy Bank Savings on this:

A Singer 404, already fully restored. He arrived on Friday and I wasted no time putting him in my cabinet.

Then I grabbed my box of two patches and started sewing! He runs like a top and sews a really lovely seam. The two patches are what I've been using as leader/enders for two years now.

Have I mentioned how much I love this cabinet? I even love the thousands of teeny scratches caused from a seamstress putting her scissors down over the years. I plan on adding to those!

Dash said he looks just exactly like my other two. What can I say? I adore Palomino colored Singers!

I am used to sewing on a modern machine. Fern always stops with her needle down and her foot controller is completely different. There is no computer controlling the 404! I need practice to learn how to stop this one with his needle in the fabric. Soon, I had a stack of my two patches sewn into 16 patches. All the while I am learning to control that needle!

I sewed the sixteen patches together. Would you call this a 64 patch? Whatever! It came out to 12.5 inches square. Perfect! There is no better way to practice than with a giant stack of two inch squares. The scary thing is I have not made a dent in that box of two patches...

=^..^=

Now it is YOUR turn...we want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your July TUSAL post so we can come visit! If I hold a Totally Useless giveaway your comment will earn you an extra entry.

Wondering what a TUSAL is and why all these people are posting pictures of rubbish? Click here to learn more and join the fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox 

Quick ORT Snap

Today is the New Moon and time for the Totally Useless Stitch A Long! My ORTs are cluttered atop EVERYTHING in my studio because pest control is coming to do their yearly business in our house. Miss Molly is at the vet's getting vaccinated and toenails trimmed (I don't like getting growled at. Or bitten.) and there she will stay until the house is dry. While waiting, I will post lovely blue ORTs:

And a total crapload of CLUTTER. The pink Post It note is to remind me the throat plate is for straight stitch only...don't switch to a zigzag! Our house looks crazy with stuff pulled away from the walls and stacked on top of tables. The OCD in me is screaming to get everything back in ORDER. 

=^..^=

Now it is YOUR turn...we want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your June TUSAL post so we can come visit! If I hold a Totally Useless giveaway your comment will earn you an extra entry.

Wondering what a TUSAL is and why all these people are posting pictures of rubbish? Click here to learn more and join the fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox 

Testing Testing ORTs

Thursday was the New Moon and I am late once again for the Totally Useless Stitch A Long! My ORTs are a little sparse this month as I haven't been doing enough crafting! I have been playing with the machinery and learning it instead of creating. I've played some on the 301 and a lot on the 503. The ORTs in my bowl are a few cast off threads and really messed up leader/ender blocks. I do have a nice pile of finished half square triangles! The tiny feed dogs on the vintage machines lets me stick a sewing guide down and gives me precise 1/4 inch seams.

The really messed up blocks were caused by the presser foot pressure being set all the way down on the 301 and it took me a bit to figure out why it didn't want to feed the fabric. It was also frozen up and took me a long time of oiling and waiting and trying, then finally asking Dash to try unsticking it. Dash has strong fingers and got it loosened enough for me to get it thoroughly oiled and working freely! It sewed much better with the lighter touch on the presser foot!

After the 301, I got out the 503 and started playing. Since the 503 has zigzag capabilities I wanted to see what it can do. On the modern machines you push a button to set a different stitch but, on this 503, you open the top and insert a cam that moves the needlebar. I got out all the cams in order and sewed a line of stitches with each. Sometimes it took me a bit to figure out what stitch settings made the best looking stitches! A funny aside: I sewed for a long time that day in my stocking feet and wore a sore spot on my foot from the foot pedal button! 

=^..^=

Now it is YOUR turn...we want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your May TUSAL post so we can come visit! If I hold a Totally Useless giveaway your comment will earn you an extra entry.

Wondering what a TUSAL is and why all these people are posting pictures of rubbish? Click here to learn more and join the fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox 

Thready ORTs

Yesterday was the New Moon but I was so wiped after work I napped instead of blogging! We aren't too late to celebrate the Totally Useless Stitch A Long with piles of ORTs though!

My leaf bowl is filled with scraps from sewing the Dresden centers and the corner bits from joining binding strips for En Provence. The little pink cup was begged from my retreat hostess when I unpacked and realized I had arrived with NOTHING to save ORTs in! HORRORS! Doing Dresdens, it started filling up immediately, these are thread wasting blocks! 

My first Dresden at the retreat. Totally worth wasting thread. The mini iron and board came in mighty handy with all the pressing required to create these.

I think my favorite part is doing the Blanket Stitching!

A close second favorite was the blackberry cobbler they fed us for dessert one evening! Yum!

=^..^=

Now it is YOUR turn...we want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your April TUSAL post so we can come visit! If I hold a Totally Useless giveaway your comment will earn you an extra entry.

Wondering what a TUSAL is and why all these people are posting pictures of rubbish? Click here to learn more and join the fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox 

On Time

Woo! It's the New Moon and I am not late for the Totally Useless Stitch A Long! Go! Get out your camera and snap a photo of your gorgeous ORTs!

Can you believe I actually have some cross-stitching ORTs? I got a little bug and stitched a motif from one of my Blackbird Designs books. These are my first embroidery ORTs of the year!

My leaf bowl is stuffed with scraps and thread ends. Although I usually have a Leader/Ender pair under my needle, I mostly can't when sewing the Dresdens. It drives me batty to toss all that thread! The scraps are from cutting more 2 inch squares for Leader/Enders.

My Leader/Ender box was nearly empty before I cut up those scraps. I grab a pair of these (light+dark) and start it through the machine, followed by what ever blocks I am piecing and follow those with another pair. This keeps me from having wasted threads and if the machine is going to gobble up the starting piece it can gobble my scraps and not my important pieces. Lots of people use a little piece of folded fabric as a leader and just keep sewing on it over and over. That is still wasting thread! Why not use that Thread?

Here is the box of two patches I've completed. I need to start feeding pairs of these through to make four patches...this box is getting full! One day these will be a big postage stamp quilt, all sewn while sewing other quilts.

If you'd like to learn more about Leader/Ender quilts click here. You don't have to sew tiny squares as L&E...you can sew any second quilt.

=^..^=

Now it is YOUR turn...we want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your March TUSAL post so we can come visit! If I hold a Totally Useless giveaway your comment will earn you an extra entry.

Wondering what a TUSAL is and why all these people are posting pictures of rubbish? Click here to learn more and join the fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox 

Uglemor Isn't Crazy After All.

Yesterday, I received a very perplexing comment:

What? TUSAL isn't until next week. This girl is crazy! Then I go check the calendar and see I am a week late. Uglemor, my very abject apologies for my belief you had lost your mind! You seem to be the only one on top of things this month! Thank you for letting me know I forgot the Totally Useless Stitch A Long!

OMG I missed the New Moon! Did you? I was off in la la land with finishing one quilt and starting a new one. That means I cheated! I have added HANDFULS of ORTs into the leaf bowl since last Sunday.  I must say, they are beautiful ORTs:

I am working on cutting the background blocks of Kona Snow for the Dresden quilt. 

=^..^=

Now it is YOUR turn...we want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your February TUSAL post so we can come visit! If I hold a Totally Useless giveaway your comment will earn you an extra entry.

Wondering what a TUSAL is and why all these people are posting pictures of rubbish? Click here to learn more and join the fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox 

ORT Fest

Yesterday was the New Moon! Do you have your ORTs all polished up for inspection? I kept having to stuff mine flatter in the wooden leaf bowl. Especially when adding in those little clipped dog ear corners. I find dog ear confetti all over the house! Always a party around here! Here is my stuffed bowl sitting atop En Provence, which is waiting impatiently to be put together:

I also had another container to show you. Remember my Cash for Stash can for the Piggy Bank Challenge? I'm afraid that can was too small. When it got too full to add any coins I had to come up with a new plan. I found this great wine bottle and my friend, Lauren designed and cut vinyl lettering with her Cricut machine.

Isn't that totally awesome? Now I have lots more room for coin saving. On July 6th we empty our banks and report how much we saved to buy guilt free stash with. 

 =^..^=

Now it is YOUR turn...we want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your January TUSAL post so we can come visit! If I hold a Totally Useless giveaway your comment will earn you an extra entry.

Wondering what a TUSAL is and why all these people are posting pictures of rubbish? Click here to learn more and join the fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox 

Last ORT report for 2016

We've made it another year! Today marks the last New Moon and our last Totally Useless Stitch A Long post for 2016! It has been an off year for me and I'm cheering on 2017 in hopes of a grand upturn. 

I have been busy with the Mystery Quilt and my wooden bowl is overflowing. I was getting worried I would need a dumping between New Moons and that's just not done here.

The studio is trashed with all the Mystery Quilt goings-on and then the Christmas hullabaloo. I just plopped my ORT bowl into the middle of all the junk. I also have some photos from during creation but I'm afraid I get so caught up in sewing I forget to document!

You saw the first clue, neutral four patches, in last month's ORT photo the pieces above are for the second clue. These are triangle-in-a-square blocks. They only look hard!

They make fun bits when you get to trim dog-ears!

The third clue was purple and lavender four patches. You sew these units in the proper direction and all the seams spin the correct way. See they are all laid out so I don't mess up?

Neutral and purple triangle-in-a-squares were the fourth clue. I actually finished this clue by the weekend's end (the clue is revealed on Fridays) and was quite pleased with my abilities. Then...

Last Friday we were directed to sew purple and neutral half square triangles. Easy...but I didn't have the proper tool yet. It was coming in the mail! So I got behind a few days! It came in the mail on Tuesday. Alas! I have to work so I have only gotten to play with it a teeny bit, enough to complete one block.

A new clue comes out in the morning but I must get the 5th clue finished first. I am going to sew all weekend!!!

Here are all the clues I've completed so far. I am getting excited to see what the pattern will be!

There. ORT report dutifully posted. If I survive the severe case of stitch-ass I plan to acquire this weekend I will return to show you my completed clues 5 & 6!

 =^..^=

Now it is YOUR turn...we want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your December TUSAL post so we can come visit! If I hold a Totally Useless giveaway your comment will earn you an extra entry.

Wondering what a TUSAL is and why all these people are posting pictures of rubbish? Click here to learn more and join the fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox 

November ORT Report

A rough week at work so my Totally Useless Stitch A Long is posted waaaay late! I've got lots of trimmings from the teal quilt I was working on and from starting Bonnie Hunter's 2016 Mystery Quilt, "En Provence!" This is so much fun!

I have been working on the first clue, sewing neutral four patches. This clue calls for lots of them! The second clue was posted yesterday but I'm so far behind on the first I haven't started even cutting for the second! I hope to get some of the 2nd clue cut and at least a few sewn so I know what I'm about. These are triangle units and I am very inexperienced with them! I will catch up with everything when I end up having to wait for one of the rulers I need to arrive.

If you think you might want to do the En Provence! quilt...there is still time to start! Plus, you could always save Bonnie's PDFs to your computer to do at your leisure. Be sure to save them, they disappear from Bonnie's blog after a while and then you'd need to purchase the pattern.

I was so far behind on the first clue because I made myself finish the Folkloric Stars quilt top. Terrible photo! I still need to get the backing for this sewn and then have it quilted. The top turned out very nice although it is most certainly more teal than I really prefer!

 =^..^=

Now it is YOUR turn...we want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your November TUSAL post so we can come visit! If I hold a Totally Useless giveaway your comment will earn you an extra entry.

Wondering what a TUSAL is and why all these people are posting pictures of rubbish? Click here to learn more and join the fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox 

Getting Better All The Time

I wasn't feeling "up to snuff" when the New Moon rolled around last Sunday so our Totally Useless Stitch A Long did not get posted on time. I meant to make time during the week to get it done but work ended up a bear so I just rolled with it. I'd probably break the internet if I posted on time anyway!

My wooden leaf bowl got absolutely stuffed to the brim.

That is a pile of ORTs! Remember that pile of pretty fabrics I showed you awhile back?

Lots of corner cutting going on around here.

It was a chain-piecing marathon!

How do they all stay on the table?

I have the base of the quilt in three or four panels. Once I get them sewn together and pressed I can start creating borders. This is a truly fun pattern to sew. It is so repetitive I can just zone out and get soothed by the peacefulness of creating. Ahhhh!

=^..^=

Now it is YOUR turn...we want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your Second October TUSAL post so we can come visit! If I hold a Totally Useless giveaway your comment will earn you an extra entry.

Wondering what a TUSAL is and why all these people are posting pictures of rubbish? Click here to learn more and join the fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox 

I Got A Whole Bunch of Nothing

Today is the New Moon! I hope you have more to show than I have. My ORTs are sparse.

I realised too late that I dumped this bowl without getting a snap...it was overflowing. Since then, I've only changed the sewing machine needle, rethreaded and squared the end of a length of fabric. But in the dumped ORTs were bits from making...

...a checkerboard, checkers and a bag to hold them. I actually made three of these, one the same as this and one a size smaller. I just need to make the checkers and bags.

Then I made some insulated handle holders. These slip over the handle of an iron skillet, protecting your hands. My dad requested these...as he caught the one he had on fire! I'm going to mention (politely) one isn't supposed to leave the handle holder on whilst cooking.

Then I've bought some fabrics and pressed and folded them ready for cutting. No, I do not prewash fabrics. I admit I tried prewashing when I first began this hobby but I found it to be a tangled mess of a pointless job. If I was ever worried about the colorfastness of a fabric I could test a sample first.

=^..^=

Now it is YOUR turn...we want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your first October TUSAL post so we can come visit! If I hold a Totally Useless giveaway your comment will earn you an extra entry.

Wondering what a TUSAL is and why all these people are posting pictures of rubbish? Click here to learn more and join the fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox 

Almost On Time

The original title of this post was "Right On Time." I was quite chuffed! Unfortunately, when I looked at the calendar with more focus I realized it hadn't been turned to September. That means I am late with the Totally Useless Stitch A Long.

Again.

This is becoming a long running joke!

I have been plugging away at Finery of Nature. Slowly, I might add. Currently, I am working on the flowers and the border to the right of the dragonfly. The black fabric is getting easier (I'm making friends with it) and the more I do the more excited I get about the design. There is something about these jewel colors on the black fabric that enchants.

=^..^=

Now it is YOUR turn...we want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your September TUSAL post so we can come visit! If I hold a Totally Useless giveaway your comment will earn you an extra entry.

Wondering what a TUSAL is and why all these people are posting pictures of rubbish? Click here to learn more and join the fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox