Small Projects

For someone who is retired, I seem to have very little time to actually sew or putter in my sewing room. Today, I tried to steal some minutes here and there to sew something. I had a small gifty project that I've been wanting to try. My SIL makes  burp cloths for newborns out of cloth diapers and fabric. My cousin Peg was blessed this month with her first grandchild. I thought it would be fun to try and do some of these burp cloths for her new grandson. I dug through my novelty fabrics. Some of the prints I choose to use for the burp cloths were some of the oldest fabrics in my stash (Yahoo!) 

I purchased a package of cloth diapers from Walmart, then  washed and dried them. Before sewing the fabric, I ironed the diapers. 

The novelty print fabric was turned under on the raw edges, then topstitched along the sides and bottom to secure it to the diaper. Flannel is especially good to use as well as soft cotton prints. I used the scrap pieces that I had, but tried to make sure there was the same amount of diaper showing on the left and right sides.

I was happy to use some of the truck fabric I purchased for Michael (age 19) when he was a toddler, some frog prints, and especially some dog prints. My cousin Peg is a true dog lover. She has several golden retrievers. Her son has exquisite taste in dogs; he has a daschshund like my Rusty. His doxie is called "Gizmo."

I think the above print with Einstein the doxie is a perfect fix for "these boys."

This is my favorite picture of the newest member of the family with his "big brother, Gizmo."

Calendars for the New Year

One of my best memories of New Year's Day was buying a new calendar or weekly planner and transfering the important dates from one year to the next. It was a chance to reflect on the past year, to think about the people and happenings of that year. Well, I still do love calendars. Every year I request calendars from my family on my Christmas list. This year, my friend Brenda at Quilting Cowgirl gave me a beautiful calendar from That Patchwork Place. It is living in my sewing room. It's already open to January with a stunning winter quilt.

 My boys gave me Dachshund calendars. Two different Dachshund calendars to be exact. One is now living in our master bathroom. Each day has pictures of different Doxies. Michael, my son, has a January birthday. The doxie on his date, January 21st looks lots like our Rusty. The second Doxie calendar will live in my office at school. It has big numbers that I can see from my computer.

I also like to have a calendar on our refrigerator. Everyone in the family adds their schedule to the dates so we can keep up with each other. The Chick-Fil-A cow calendar has become our favorite for this job. The coupons on the calendar come in handy, too.
  I also have a PDA that I carry in my purse. It's great for scheduling appointments without having to carry a big planner around. The planner exists, too. It lives in my school bookbag.

Guess, I have a calendar obsession, too.

Achoo!

What a week! Correction. What a two weeks it's been at our house! I don't ever remember all four of us being sick at the same time or one after the other. I do remember years ago, Michael having a touch of a virus and Marion and I getting after him. We were sick for a day. Michael was sick last week. Jason came down with it on Thursday. Marion had symptoms on Sunday. By Wednesday, I waved the white flag. We all had different versions, but everyone had upper respiratory virus/cold/bug/flu/crude. I am so thankful for a job with wonderful sick-leave benefits. Thankful for a team at work that takes care of my responsibilities. Thankful for a friend who steps in to substitute in my place. Thankful for a boss wants us to stay home and heal! Also, thankful that we took turns being down. My boys and hubbie were fabulous nurses. The best nurse was my faithful companion, my dachshund Rusty.