DUCT TAPE DUMMY

I lost 25 pounds and my duct tape dummy didn't fit my size anymore.  I used to weigh this amount before and she fitted fine but then I gained some weight and cut her up the back and restuffed to add a few more inches here and there.  Now she is to big.  YEAH!!

Since my husband and I have been home stuck in the house and I have been asking him to help me make another duct tape dummy.  He always says the same thing.  "How about next Monday, or next Tuesday etc."  But it just never happens and I miss her.  Well I finally pinned him down and we did get a new one made.  Here she is:

Now I did end up with a few scratches on my back when he cut it off of me.  I was being jabbed with the points of the scissors,  but it was worth the price to get my double back.    He always does an excellent job.  He even marked my lines for the waist, hips, and center of my body.  If I can ever get out of the house again, I am going to get some of that pretty colored tape and put it on my drawn in lines.

 Now, I also wanted to show you what didn't go into my new double.

That must be my 25 pounds of fat that I lost.  It filled a whole garbage bag.  That made me feel really good!!  I have met my Weight Watcher goal, but I would like to lose another 20 if that is possible.  It seems to not want to come off anymore.  It will take a while because I am only dropping about 1 pound a month now.  This is slow-moving.  Maybe summer will help!!  Anyone else out there on Weight Watchers?  How are you doing now with the pandemic?

P.S. A lot of people are asking, but no news to report on our new great grandbaby yet!

BABY IS COMING SOON!!! I THINK!!

I have been making blankets now for our new baby on its way.  My granddaughter is due May 31 so he could probably come any time now.    We ran into a little snag with the baby because we had to cancel the shower.  You know you kind of expect to get a few things to help out on everything that you need for a baby.  Well, this put a real crunch into what she needed.  This is her first baby, so she needs everything.  I have been sewing, trying to help get her ready.  Here are a couple of the blankets that I have been making.

My granddaughter just went to the doctor and I really thought, to me, that she looks like she has dropped, so I wanted to hear what the doctor had to say.  I asked her if she was dilated yet?  She said, I don't know they didn't check.  I said, well did they tell you about how much he weighs?  She said, no they didn't say.  I asked her well what did they say and they just asked her how she was feeling!  Now, she is due in two weeks and I find this strange!  I might be comparing this back to forty years ago when it was me having babies, but what is up with this?  Is this the new norm???  Someone please help this old grandma out here!

A FEW THINGS I HAVE BEEN DOING!

I have been doing a little sewing.  A few things that I have been wanting to do for a while and some baby sewing items.

I made some baby receiving blankets so our little darling can be snuggled up.  I always make mine with a double layer of flannel.  They always turn out a little bit heavier and nice.

Next, I saw this on some featherweight machines and I loved this little thread holder and finally had time to make one.

Now, onto the hard one.  I am really just a crochet beginner.  I saw these little booties that I knew my granddaughter would love so I bought the pattern.  They are a little bit over my head and I had to constantly look up how to do this stitch and that stitch.  Then I could not remember them when it was time again to use that stitch, so I had to look them up again.  It took me a week to do my practice bootie which turned out ok, but I just used that to learn the stitches.  Here is my first finished bootie.  Now I am sure you pros will see lots of mistakes, but it was made with love.  I have to make the other one now.  It was hard mostly because it is so small, and the yarn is dark that I had trouble seeing my stitches.  I wish I could of went out and got me a pair of cheater glasses that would have magnified it a little closed for me.  Hopefully, this next one will go a little bit faster!

Anyone else working on anything new or finishing up some ufo's?

RED & WHITE QUILT - 13

This will be the last post on the Red & White Quilt!  It is finally finished!  I have the binding all sewn on.  I will be moving onto some baby items now since I will soon become a great-grandma!  Doesn't that sound terrible!!  Here are the last pictures of the quilt.  Thank you for hanging in with me for the last four months.  I think I am going to have to go shopping for some more material.  With the medication that I am on for this arthritis,  my immune system is compromised and not as strong as it should be.  I will probably be mostly staying in the house for a while and I am going to have to have something to sew!  Talk soon!  Cindy

RED & WHITE QUILT 12

I have the quilt all sewn and quilted.  All that is left now is the binding.  This also took me quite some time.  I had some trouble with my Singer sewing machine which was my mother-in-laws.  I just could not part with that and my husband had it stretched into a longarm.  I don't use this often enough and it was working fine and then I wound a bobbin and then it just would not sew a stitch.  I ended up taking apart the clutch on the machine and I cleaned it out really well and put in new grease.  I noticed that the one-piece inside might not be original.  The little silver locking ring that has the three little knobs that stick out doesn't look like an original part.  I put it back together and it still would not run.  I had read some articles on it and it said if you put it together and it won't run try putting on that locking ring and giving it a turn.  Now with the three knobs, it can set in place three different ways. I could not believe this would make a difference, but I opened it back up and turned the locking ring one turn and put it back together and then it ran perfectly again.  I know some of you ladies won't understand anything I just said, but there might be a few out there that will take their machines apart.  I would of never guessed this would work.  For the rest of the quilt, I filled the bobbins on my Janome 10,000 because I didn't want this to happen again.  I didn't know if that would work either, but this also worked great.

It actually turned out prettier than I expected and I am very happy with it!!  The other side is actually just as beautiful as the front, I will probably flip it from time to time.   If you watched my previous post on how to stop thread knots when you start to sew, this really works great.  I am so glad I saw this tip before I started quilting this because there are very few on the back of my quilt.  Now onto the binding!  My hubby says it looks like a German quilt and that could be why it caught my eye!  I am a German girl!!  Please let me know what you think!

The Best Sewing Tip Ever In My Opinion!!

Wow!  I have been sewing, lets see, it will be 52 years this year and I just learned the greatest tip!  I would think this video tip would work on any machine.  You absolutely must watch this very short video!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5YV1iBMTRQ&feature=youtu.be

RED & WHITE QUILT 11

I was having trouble with some of the embroidery in the center of the quilt.  Please watch the new video to see the work around I designed to fix the problem with very little expense.

https://youtu.be/Hglot6paj3Q