I Love My Kenmore

Today was sewing class and we worked on burp cloths.  When I got back to sewing about a year ago, I wanted to trash my Kenmore sewing machine that I bought in 1973. 

I wanted something brand spanking new.  I wanted to sew fancy topstitching.  But the machines I looked at were all plastic and my Kenmore is pure metal and bears the weight to prove it.  When I started fooling around with it, I couldn't believe the stitches I can create from it.

I am sorry that they are a little or a lot blurry but I am sure you get the idea.  These two are only a small sampling of the topstitching that I am capable of creating.  I have fallen in love with my Kenmore again.  Shame on me for even thinking about getting rid of it.

The Yarn Has Arrived

Today has been an exciting day.  First thing this morning, I took the the Halloween Delivery to Cooper Hospital.  I wanted to take pics but I arrived at 7:50am which is when the shift changes.  Nurses were getting ready to leave as other nurses were coming to start.  In the middle of the rush, I delivered the boxes and left. 

My yarn arrived today.  I am back to finishing my scarf.

 Isn't this pattern pretty and doesn't it look hard.  It is one of the easiest scarfs that I have ever made.

Sarah Burton from Verdigris Knits has graciously granted permission for me to post her scarf.  You can get the pattern from her blog at http://verdigrisknits.blogspot.com/  As I mentioned before, this is being made for a nurse at Cooper Hospital.  Our group will be making about 80 scarfs for the NICU nurses for the Christmas delivery 

Gotta go!!  Working on a talk I have to give to township clerks tonight.  There's that work getting in the way again.  But I will eventually get home and start up on the scarf.

Tomorrow is Saturday which is sewing class.

What shall I do?????

My yarn hasn't arrived yet and I have no other projects.  I made a promise to myself a couple of years ago that I would not start a project until the current project was done.  At one point, I had a whole closet filled with incomplete projects and tossed every single one.  Oh, oh, how will I get through tonight?  Rules are made to be broken.  I think I will sew something.  More tomorrow.

Shortage of Stash

As you know, we will never, ever run out of stash but there is one thing that, at least for me, happens quite often.  I started my "Hash Marks" scarf.  I loved the pattern and grabbed two colors from my stash.  It never, ever occurs to me to be sure to check the yardage.  So, LOL LOL, I ran out of a color.  Sometimes I think it is my subconscious way of ordering more yarn.  In the meantime, I dug out some ribbon and am working on a tutu skirt for the Fall season for my 3 year old Granddaughter, Maddy for ballet class.

Sewing Class

Every Saturday from 9:30 until 11:30, I take a sewing class.  I know just enough about sewing to make me dangerous but can't set in sleeves, do buttonholes or sew in zippers.  I pay for sewing class because I want to sew and can't find the time at home or don't want to drag everything out.  During this sewing class, my instructor, Phyllis, and I sew isolette blankets, burb cloths, bibs and flannel pants.  We have quite a stash going on and I think within the next couple of weeks we will start on baby clothes.  My pants need shirts or onesies.  I am getting excited thinking about it.  I never ventured with sewing clothes before.

Just Another Day

During the work week at my hour lunch, I usually spend 1/2 hour walking.  Today for the first time I realized how nice the trees are turning.  They seem to be at their peak and with the sun shining through they were absolutely gorgeous.  Somone once told me when I really see something beautiful take the color combination and use them when creating.  Today I was thinking about a scarf in brown, orange and yellow.  Doesn't it even sound pretty?

The designer from Verdigris Knits gave me permission to post her pattern.  I am really excited about this because when I saw the pattern I thought how hard it was and it is very, very easy.  And I really wanted to share it with you.  I will post this on Sunday.  I am going to try to figure out how to post pics because I want to show you the progress on my scarf.

Why Do We Have To Work

I love my job but it takes up a lot of time during the day when I would rather sew, knit or crochet.  LOL LOL  That's life and it pays the bills.  My favorite time to craft is in front of the TV.  I LOVE.... TV but by nature I am an antsy person so I always have something on the needles or hoop.  Every year my yahoo group for Cooper's NICU unit does holiday gifts for the nurses.  These usual consist of scarfs, mittens, socks, etc.  Whatever the individual enjoys creating.  DH and I organize the donations and make the deliveries.   We make enough for 80 nurses.  I use this opportunity to experiment with patterns to make scarfs.  I love the one I am working on now.  It is coprighted (if that is a word) but I am going to request from the designer to share this pattern with you for charity purposes.

Starting My Blog Today

My daughter has two blogs and has been talking to me about starting a blog about my favorite topic - doing charity sewing, knitting and crocheting, in particular, for babies.  When an organization has a certain need, I will go on the internet and search and search and search and a lot of times I can't find a nice simple pattern to do.  There are tons of great sites but usually I look for something nice and simple to do.  I have two favorite charities:  Cooper Hospital in Camden, NJ and Afghans for Afghans.  Cooper Hospital is a local hospital that has a large NICU unit.  For this unit we make hats, blankets, isolette covers and blankets,etc.  For the newborn unit, we make sweater sets, blankets, bibs, isolette blankets, burb cloths, etc.  There are times that the donation is the only clothing that the baby has to go home.  Right now there is a drive going on for the A4A group for children from the ages of 7 - 14 for sweaters, hats, mittens, socks and blankets.  There are areas in Afghanistan that really get cold.  I like these two groups because the hospital only accepts acrylic yarn and the Afghan group only accepts wool yarn.  In between these two groups, I always find a nursing home or cancer center that can use lap blanket or chemo caps.  No matter what I am in the mood to make, there is a person who can truly use it.

I finally decided to write this blog for two reasons:  share and inspire.........   I want to share with you what I am working on as well as fnding out what others are doing for charities.  I want to inspire you to create something  for someone else and knowing that it will be enjoyed and used.