MY GRANDMA'S BUTTONHOLE SCISSORS, and Christmas Sewing

A couple years ago when I was visiting one of my cousins, she showed me Grandma's sewing cabinet that she has, and in the drawers were a lot of Grandma's sewing supplies.  She said I could have something from the cabinet, so I picked these buttonhole scissors, which I remember seeing my Grandma use.  I blogged about them once before.  

A couple days ago I was getting ready to put in some buttonholes, so it made me think of these scissors.  

I made a test buttonhole first.

Then I tried the buttonhole scissors to cut it open - and it worked great!  Of course, when my Grandma used them, she didn't have a sewing machine that made buttonholes with the push of a button, so she would cut the buttonhole and then by hand using the buttonhole stitch, she would sew around it.

Here I am cutting open a buttonhole on Eli's shirt.

I got this "wheel" fabric somewhere in Montana last summer and decided to make Eli a shirt out of it.  Hope it fits.  It will probably be too big, which is OK.

We bought Abigail an 18" doll for Christmas and we heard she wanted one with long hair, because she likes to comb hair.

This doll was cute and I think the hair is long enough.  When we were looking for dolls, the Disney dolls didn't have eyes that opened or closed (and they cost more).  So I was looking for a doll with eyes that could close and she had to have long hair.

I didn't really like her clothes too much, so I made her a fancy dress.  Next, I will make her some play clothes - overalls and a shirt.

I'm having fun!  I loved to play with dolls when I was a girl and my Mom used to make doll clothes for them, so it kind of takes me back to my childhood.  Are you getting ready for Christmas?

GETTING READY FOR CHRISTMAS

Starting to, that is.  I have done some shopping.  This week I finished Eli's Christmas stocking!  Yea!  I put out a few Christmas decorations, including some wall hangings.  We won't be home for Christmas as we are going to be visiting 2 DSs and their families for Christmas and birthdays.  Eli is turning one and Abigail will turn three right after Christmas.  I have a little Christmas tree that I'm going to take in the camper, plus a couple other little decorations.

Not long ago I saw this little quilt on someone's blog and now I can't remember which blog it was - sorry!  Correction:  I saw the quilt here and Kathie from Inspired by Antique Quilts had made it.  Anyway, I couldn't resist making it.  The HSTs finish at 2".  Yesterday I basted this, plus another small quilt and also put together and basted the teen-age boy donation quilt.  I want to get it finished before we leave and I quilted about 1/3 of it.

I love to browse through antique shops and last week in Glen Rose, TX, I found a few little items.
An old wood box, a tea towel and a potholder.

The linen tea towel has a name sewn onto it - Mrs. W A. Perryman.  I love the unusual design.  I wonder how old it is.

I HAD to buy this potholder as it is exactly like the ones my grandma used to make, except she didn't make the scalloped edge.

In the mornings I go for a walk down to the pond that is about 3/4 mile from our house, I walk around the pond and then to home.  This pictures shows some of our fall color.  It's not as good as up north, but we love it anyway.  There are usually ducks swimming in the pond and sometimes a heron.

Thanks for visiting!

BOOK REVIEW AND SPECIAL GIFT

Valley of Dreams by Lauraine Snelling

Valley of Dreams is the first of a series.  I don’t know how many books will be in the series, however.  I enjoyed this book immensely, but the end kind of left me hanging.  While the story did reach a conclusion, it wasn’t a very complete conclusion.  Cassie grew up in the Wild West Show in which her parents were partners.  After they died, the remaining partner couldn’t manage it very well and it closed down, leaving Cassie literally out in the cold.  Along with two good friends from the show, she takes off looking for the valley that her father dreamed about settling in.  The story takes you on their search from North to South Dakota as they camp in the wilderness and hunt for their food.  Cassie discovers some interesting papers hidden in the Wild West Show’s wagon in which she is traveling.  I plan to look for the next book in the series and recommend the book to you as well.  If you are interested in reviewing books for Bethany House Publishers, go to their website and sign up here. 

I received this amazing gift from Love recently and I plan to hang it in the new camper.  Since I won't be able to take a picture of it in the camper for a while I decided I needed to post some close up pictures of it now.  This is a crazy quilt of the State of Texas and is wonderfully detailed.  Check out the following pictures of some of the sections.

Western Texas....

 Southern Texas....

 The Panhandle....

 Northeastern Texas....

I can't wait to hang it in the camper and when I do, I will post a picture of it on the wall.  I have an idea of where I might put it.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!  Thanks for visiting!

A PILLOW AND OUR NEW CAMPER

Last summer when we were in Pennsylvania, I went to a small cross stitch shop looking for something for our new GS's Christmas stocking.  Instead I found a small cross stitch pattern with a log cabin on it.  I decided to make it for me and I finished stitching it last year.  Finally I got it made into a pillow.  The first picture is kind of dark but I think you can read the verse a little better - one word is light and doesn't show up very well in the second picture.

I made it into a pillow and it measures 12x12".  This picture shows up the HSTs a little better.  The fabric is red and green with pine branches on them.

We got a new camper and went camping in it so we could figure out how everything works and get anything adjusted before we take it on a longer trip.  We just went an hour and a half away to the town of Glen Rose, TX.  While we were camping I had some time to sew and I finished the cross stitching for Eli's Christmas stocking.  Yea!!  The stitches are tiny - 24 to an inch.  I don't think I'll do that again!!  Now I just have to make the stocking to put it on.

Here's our new (to us) camper!  It is a 29' fifth wheel and compared to our old camper, it is huge!  It is easy to unhook and hook up the truck so we can take side trips without taking the camper along.

Here is the bedroom with my new camping pillowcases and new homespun curtains that I made.

Little closer look at the curtains.

We can't believe how much storage space the camper has.  Plenty or room for my sewing supplies, sewing machine and anything else we want to bring.  It has a TV with a DVD player and a radio/CD player.  We love it and can't wait for Jonah to see it.  I hope he likes it as much as our other camper.

A FEW THINGS ACCOMPLISHED

This weekend I caught up on the Civil War blocks by making the last two of them.

I finally got enough string blocks to make a teenage boy's quilt for donation to the children's hospital.  Now I just need to remove the paper from the back, sew them together, quilt and bind.  I wonder when I will get it finished.

You will notice there are no feminine things in these blocks.  I had to dig deep to find more masculine fabric.  Uh Oh, I just saw a couple little flowers in the cow's mouths.  Hopefully, they will not be too noticeable.

Leaves are allowed, but not flowers (my GS let me know these things).

Here's the phone book paper on the back of one.  There are 63 8" blocks and the quilt will be 7 blocks wide by 9 blocks long.

I hope these fabrics will pass as masculine enough.  Hee Hee!  No pink or purple will be in this quilt.  Stars and golf bags are permissible.  Swirls are permissible.  There might be a couple tiny flowers on a block or two, but they are so miniscule as to not be noticeable, I hope.

This morning I got a pillow ready for binding and I'll show you that later.  No picture yet.    These pictures are taken with my iPhone, and are OK but seem darker than pictures taken with our old camera. Have a good week, everyone!

THE MERCY AND SOME SEWING

 The Mercy by Beverly Lewis

‘Tis a gift to be simple.  The Amish people have always fascinated me and I loved this book, which is book 3 of The Rose Trilogy.  Unfortunately, I hadn’t read the first two books, but that didn’t really matter as this book stands on it’s own and enough information was given about past events to be able to understand what is going on with the characters.  Rose is the main character, a devout Amish young woman, who feels she might end up never marrying.  The Amish usually marry in their late teens and she must be around 20 to 21.  She is happy living on the family farm with her parents and grandparents and she handles a lot of the household chores as her mother is paralyzed from the waist down due to a buggy accident.  Eventually, her brother and sister-in-law introduce her to a nice eligible Amish man who lives five miles from her and they start going out on buggy rides.  She wants to stay true to her Amish beliefs and is unhappy when she finds out that her boyfriend is enjoying some worldly pleasures such as owning a car.  Rose and her family go through many trials and tribulations during the course of this book.  The simple life can become as complicated as the life of the English people.    The story comes together nicely and I don’t want to give it away, so I will just recommend this book to you.   I received this book from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for writing a review.  

Sunday morning we discovered that someone had smashed out the driver's side window of our truck and stolen a tool box and our camera.  What a bum deal!  At first we didn't realize that our camera had been in the truck also, but it dawned on us the next day.  So, I scanned these pictures.  

We have been busy looking for a 5th wheel camper and Monday we found one!  Yesterday, we picked it up.  In the mean time, I decided it was about time I used this camping fabric (which I bought in California in June) and I made new pillowcases for our new (to us) 5th wheel.  

I had found a piece of some other camping fabric, so I am making a table topper with the camping fabric in the center.  I scanned it below so you can see what the fabric, corners and borders look like.

You can see 2/3 of this little item.  It is a toilet tank topper!  I made one of these for my bathroom earlier this year and now I made this one for the guest bathroom, which is decorated in a patriotic theme.

I also made several other sawtooth stars - they and the ones above measure 4" from point to point.  I love these stars.

Today will be another busy day.  We're going to take a bunch of stuff out to our new camper and try to figure out what other things we might need.  I plan to make new curtains for the bedroom.  The colors in the camper are grey and beige, so I need to look at my stash to see what I can come up with for curtains.  Maybe something with a little color to it!  We want to give it a test run next week for a few days.  I can't wait to see Jonah's reaction when we take it to his house!

BOOK REVIEW AND A WIN

This book is the second in a series about homicide detective Roland March and takes place in Houston, Texas.  It begins with the murder of a young woman who was stabbed  to death and then grotesquely stabbed after death.  The murder scene is similar to another murder that Roland March solved and he feels that it might be a copy cat murder.  He believes the murderer might have read the book written about the first murder.  Roland March has problems of his own to deal with as well:  getting along with his co-workers and adjusting to his wife’s conversion to Christianity.  His integrity is being questioned as well as his methods in solving the first murder.   This was a book that was hard to put down and I will look forward to other books in this series.  I enjoy mysteries and if you read books written by John Lescroart, I’m sure you will like this one also.  I received this book from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for writing a review.

I won these lady bug buttons from Barb.  The buttons are made in South Africa and you can learn more about them at Button Mad.  The making of the buttons helps to employ women in that country.  Thanks, to the people at Button Mad and Barb!

This is the latest Civil War Block, number 44, Union.  We're getting near the end!  Then what will I do with these 52 blocks!  I'll have to figure out a setting, which isn't my favorite job, but I will want it to be at least queen size.  Barbara Brackman suggests making 4 extra blocks for a total of 56 and lay them out 8 by 7.  With sashing and border that might come out to large enough.

Happy quilting!