Sewing – Page 2 – TooBusyForWork

Ely, MN – Canoe capitol of the world

We arrived in Ely after a short 3 hour trip from Askov. Roads were good without much traffic. We were set up in the Forest Service campground at Fall Lake by 1:00. The site is very deep, but the entry road is narrow. Luckily Kevin got us tucked in just right with room for the Jeep up front. The site has 30 amp electric. Water is available at random spigots or when you check in (we came in full), but the dump is in town at the visitor center for a $5 fee.

Lighting was bad, but the shade is lovely

We headed to town for the Blueberry Festival. This is one of Ely’s big activities, and parking was crowded. There are vendors for food (we had a great gyro) and artisans of all types. I ended up buying a lovely silver necklace and matching earrings with a dragonfly design.

We also stopped by Piragis, a local outfitter, to buy a new daypack. Turns out we left mine at home. I won’t complain if that is the only thing we ended up forgetting.

Saturday evening we met friends at a party. Some of these folks I met online 20 plus years ago, so it was nice to catch up. Sunday we had breakfast at Britton’s, an institution. We also went to the local Presbyterian Church, nice! We then went back to the Blueberry Festival. This time the food was Indian fry bread, another yummy. We also saw Pat Surface do two sets. He is a local standout singer/songwriter even though the sets were mostly covers of other artists. Monday we had lunch at Boathouse Brewpub. In keeping with the Blueberry Festival theme, we had nice burgers and blueberry beer which was quite good. we hung around the campground. I also sewed much of the day – a cute little bubble for the new grand baby. The sewing that day went fine, but I am ready to tear my hair out today! I am learning to make buttonholes on the new Viking, and I am fairly frustrated. We will see what I feel like tomorrow! Either I will finish the bubble, or I will throw it in the trash. The odds favor the trash right now.

Tuesday we went to Duluth. Lovely trip, but I didn’t take many pictures. We have been there so many times that it just doesn’t seem necessary.

Wednesday day we had breakfast and chai teas at The Front Porch, a local coffee place. We had a lovely lunch at the new Insulated restaurant. Definitely a nice upscale option. I also did some cooking for friends who came over in the evening – Dutch Oven cobbler with fresh gala apples, flan in the Instant Pot, and two types of dip along with store bought chips. As usual, I made too much! I also had some very interested fauna.

Thursday we got out by 8:00 am and headed to Grand Portage National Monument, a long 150 miles away. The drive was nice though, either through a mixed deciduous forest or along the shore of Lake Superior.

I wish the pictures showed the hillsides better. Besides the green of the forest there were riots of wild flowers – yellow, white, shades of pink.

One of the highlights of the trip was lunch at the historic Naniboujou Lodge. It started out as an exclusive hunting and fishing resort, but now is a public facility. Oh my the colors! They advertise the fireplace as weighing over 200 tons, and it is huge! Oh, and the food was very good, much like it would be in an upscale eatery at a national park – lots of locally sourced items.

The National Monument was pretty good too, and well worth the drive. Native history interspersed with European history, primarily about the fur trade that drove the Grand Portage. I thought I had taken a number of pictures, but I was sadly quite wrong. I would like to spend a lot more time both at the monument and the towns we went through along the shore. Oh well, there is always time for another trip!

Today we again had breakfast and a chai at The Front Porch before I came back to sew. Ugh. I decided to quit for a while and update the blog while deciding to not cut everything up! Hope for a better mood tomorrow.

Down to the wire for our upcoming trip

The weather has been so horribly hot and humid, I have been spending a lot of time in my lovely, cool basement. Nothing like finishing things at the last minute! I finally got my granddaughter’s baptism gown completed, and I am quite pleased with it.

The bottom of the gown showing the silk ribbon through the beading

The slip is pink broadcloth, the dress is Imperial batiste, and the bonnet is Nelona batiste. The bonnet I finished a few years back in an heirloom sewing class, and this is the first girl born since then. Ribbons are used to tie the sleeves and the back, very traditional. I got it done 8 days before the baptism!

Next big project was finishing the quilt we will be using in the motorhome. I had finished the basic top at 72×72, all batiks in browns, blues, greens, and golds. However the bed is 72×80, plus it needed a drop to come down the side of the mattress. I decided to add an extra row of 6” blocks plus a 3” border to give the correct length while 3 sides got a 3” border in a solid color, a 6” border in a coordinating batik, and then another 3” border in the solid. I also ran to the local quilt shop to look for the solid color border fabric and the quilt backing. Luckily I found fabrics that will work since I am running out of time! I finished adding the borders, and Kevin helped me pin baste the top, wool batting, and backing together. I am now quilting it with a meander in the main quilt. I will decide how to quilt the borders later. I need to get all the quilting done on my quilting machine at home, though I could finish the binding in the motorhome if I need to.

Don’t you just love the colors? This is the biggest quilt I have ever done, but it is going well so far. I am using a greenish brown 50 weight thread for the top and a similar (but not identical) greenish brown for the back. The back is a brown to cream shaded fabric. Since the fabrics are batiks, I am using a size 16 needle, and everything is going much better than I expected. I love the look of batiks, but they can be a bear to quilt because they are so tightly woven.

Oh, and a Kevin was a darling and bought dozens of stackable plastic totes to use instead of the horrid collection of cardboard boxes my stuff had been in. He even packed them up while I was sewing. We also rearranged the entire sewing area to take advantage of the electrical outlets we had installed in April. Lovely! I can reach all the outlets without crawling on the floor or moving furniture now.

I also got to the allergist today for my new immunotherapy drops. I am allergic to corn pollen, and it is July in Iowa, meaning I am on every allergy medicine possible without using an inhaler or steroids! I take the generic equivalent of Flonase, Singulair, and Zyrtec every day right now. I have a step down pack of steroids the doctor gave me for backup if those aren’t enough. The drops take the place of the old allergy shots, so maybe in 2-3 years I will be really better.

Friday we are making a major shopping trip to Stringtown Grocery near Kalona to stock up on seasonings and some dried veggies. We will be packing the motorhome on Saturday, and my granddaughter’s baptism is Sunday. Monday we take off. I better go back to quilting!

More sewing and lots of doctors

Sadly we didn’t get all the business handled in Stillwater before we needed to leave. We still have some mineral rights to transfer into our trust, but the attorney did get the land itself transferred. We did have time to go to Sand Spring, OK to a lovely little heirloom sewing shop, Delicate Stitches. I found some more lace, entredeux, and a gorgeous Swiss embroidery I decided to use for the edge of the baptism gown. We left Stillwater a Friday morning, and we spent the night at Clinton Lake again. Lovely place!

See how big the site is? Long enough to easily park the Jeep behind us too.

Then it was back to wet, wet Iowa. I sewed quite a bit. I decided to sew the skirt next because of that beautiful Swiss embroidery. Heirloom sewing isn’t hard, but it is picky and slow. I did finish the skirt lace work though. I made a slip in bright pink to shadow through the fine batiste and the laces.

Isn’t that edging gorgeous? It is about 6” wide. The entire skirt panel is about 55” wide by 30” long. I will need to trim the width just a bit to even things up, but it will be a very full gathered skirt for the gown.

I stopped by my daughter’s house to measure the baby against the pattern pieces for the bodice. I think I will make the bodice about 1” wider, and I was also able to figure out what size of placket to use so it can fit over her head easily (3” if you are curious). I will start on the bodice tomorrow. The lacework will be pretty simple, just 3 rows of vertical lace. Then I can start the real construction.

I did my allergy testing today in Cedar Rapids. It turns out I am allergic to corn and dust. Not a good combination in Iowa! I will be starting immunotherapy sublingual drops in a couple of weeks. I will need to do that for a number of years, but it should help. I am also going to be on Flonase, Singulair, and Zyrtec, or at least their generic equivalents. The doctor also gave me a Rx for a steroid step down pack if I do come down with another dreadful sinus infection. Hopefully I can keep it under control. I am so tired of getting these sinus infections two or three times a year.

Oh, and I have become addicted to streaming BritBox and Acorn TV. All my favorite British, Canadian, and Australian shows seem to be available. I will listen to them on the iPad while sewing. And my new little sewing machine, a Viking Opal 650, is sewing all this like a champ!

History in Kansas, making our way to Stillwater, OK, and starting some heirloom sewing

On Saturday we decided to go to the Atchison, KS rail museum. On the way we saw an historical marker for the town of Lecompton. We decided to stop at the museum, and we were so glad we did! This little town was actually the territorial capital of Kansas from 1855-1861, and it was a major player in the Civil War. The first proposed Constitution of Kansas was written in Lecompton, and it was firmly a pro-slavery document. The free-staters believed the Legislature that wrote the Constitution had been elected in 1855 illegally, and there were all kinds of battles, verbal fights, arrests on both sides, and general mayhem. During the election in 1857, the new Leislature was firmly free-stagers by a 5-1 margin, and the Constitution that was finally approved by the US Congress allowed Kansas into the Union as a free state, thereby ending the “great compromise” that Stephen Douglas favored where every free state that entered the US would also have a slave state entering. It was a major contribution to Lincoln winning the 1861 election. Fascinating stuff. We wandered through the museum, staffed by an incredibly knowledgeable and passionate history buff, then went to the old Constitution Hall, a state historic site. We met another ardent historian there who gave a great overview of the history. I highly recommend a trip if you are in the area. We never made it to Atchison.

National Historic Site and State Historic Monument

Constitution Hall is probably the oldest frame building in Kansas.

On Sunday we headed to Stillwater, OK. We are staying at Sunset Ridge RV Park. It is advertised as the nicest RV park in Stillwater, but that isn’t saying much. Flat level pads, some trees, close sites, and almost everyone here is obviously a long-term resident. The place is clean and quiet though. We got in early enough to visit family in the area which was nice.

Monday we went to Arkansas City, KS to handle some property business. I liked the attorney, and with any luck we can get everything signed by Wednesday. Turns out he is leaving Wednesday afternoon, so he is motivated. I also spent time with my new travel sewing machine, a Viking Opal 650. I am using it to sew a baptism gown for my granddaughter, and I got the insertion done on both sleeves. Imperial batiste fabric and imported entredeux with insertion. It looks pretty good if I say so myself! I like the machine.

I hope to get the bodice lace work done tomorrow. I am still waiting for another set of baby measurements before I do a final cut of the fabric.

Busy in Iowa

Last time I posted about medical stuff I was going to do. Now I can say I have done it. One cataract removed, and the next one scheduled in a week and a half. Dermatologist burned and cut a great big hole in my leg! Painful and slow healing because it is on my shin. I had a bad reaction to the tape too, so I ended up wrapping my leg in gauze then securing the gauze with Coban. However I did get to do some fun things.

I attended a Preemie Project sewing day to make G-tube pads for babies and children. The results will go to the University of Iowa hospital. We had 750 of them to do, and we got most of those completed. We were also working on tracheotomy pads, and we only got 75-100 of those done. It was still pretty fruitful, and I had a blast as usual.

As you can see, these are made out of the cutest fabrics! Flannel, hemp, and bamboo make up the layers, bamboo on the skin side since it is supposed to have some germicidal action. I just realized the completed ones don’t have the plastic snaps on them. Those got added at the end.

I also made some more things for my daughter and her soon to arrive daughter.

Two gauze swaddles with a gorgeous fabric

I also made three crib sheets, but I didn’t get pictures.

We were lucky enough to score some free tickets for the University of Northern Iowa orchestra and combined choirs performing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Kevin was not initially thrilled, but he did agree it was very good afterwards. It is a university orchestra, and there were a few issues with balance, but it was still quite good. The soloists were all faculty members (the tenor sings in my church choir). Even though the tickets were on the back row of the first floor, the sound was great.

We have a housekeeper once a month, and while she was here Friday, we decided to take off on a short road trip. We headed to McGregor, a small town on the Mississippi River. We stopped for lunch at River View on the north side of town. I had a wonderful mushroom burger and home made cottage friends (they were really potato wedges), and Kevin had very good fish and chips. I will be back there again! The restaurant is right on the river next to a marina, and they usually have boats tied up nearby. The water was so high! The proprietor said he didn’t expect anyone to be able to tie up until late June or into July. They have been in flood stage for over 40 days so far.

We crossed the river into Prairie du Chien and drove up the Great River Road. I don’t think I have ever seen the river this high. The last time it was this high was 1993, and I know we were on vacation. My pictures aren’t very good since they were taken on a dreary day with my phone, but it can give you a feel of the water.

The shore is generally much closer than this!

I also finished up the embroidery classes at my local Bernina dealer. I get so frustrated with them! I know they make their money by selling things, but I think they really mislead naive people into believing that only (very expensive) items X, Y, and Z will work on their new machines, and it just isn’t right! Oh well. I learned how to use my machine, and I will not have to go back much.

Getting the hang of this

We have now been at Pleasant Creek Recreation Area for 8 nights. It was lovely. Some of my kids came out a few times for dinner and boating, and we were close enough to home to pick up a bunch of things we needed for the motorhome. I made two racks of beef ribs in the Instant Pot one night that my son in law finished on the grill. We also grilled burgers one night. It has been nice!

One of the things I have gotten organized is my sewing area. I tried using the machine on the dining table, but that just didn’t work. It was the wrong height, and the chair just wasn’t right there. I brought my little Gadget table from home, and it is perfect sitting in front of the TV. I will put my supplies on one end of the sofa, and the machine can travel on the sofa using the seat belt there.

Notice the little Ott light on the left and the purple Sip and Snip on the right. I love both of them! The Ott light provides just enough light from the back of the machine to make sewing much easier. It just sits wherever I want it. The Sip and Snip has a big cup holder and a trash bag for thread and other items. It is clamped on the edge of the table. I not only finished a baby quilt top but I also made some bowl cozies for the coach using some Native American pot fabric I bought in Arizona near Ft. Huachuca. I slightly rounded the corners of these, and they were easier to sew that sharp corners.

The site here is really lovely. There was hardly anyone here until the weekend. Three fourths of the sites accept reservations, and they are pretty empty during the week. We took one of the 7 non-reservation sites which were luckily not occupied.

The last picture shows the motorhome in a much truer color than the other one I posted. Most Tiffin paint schemes have black on the top. The lighter red should be somewhat cooler. Besides we like bright colors!

We are headed back home today. We won’t head out again until a couple of days after the 4th when we see friends in Ely, MN for a week then head west to Gillette, WY for a FMCA rally. It will be fun!

Back in Iowa in the motorhome

We left Alabama intending on staying at Cuivre State Park in Missouri, basically between St. Louis and Hannibal. We got there, but we didn’t fit! The park website said we did, and the reviews on RVParkReview.com said we would, but that must have been before they stopped trimming the trees above and next to the road. We actually scratched the coach, something that made me very sad. We then headed back north, but we couldn’t find a nice campground with openings. The campgrounds in the Hannibal don’t have good reviews, and Mark Twain Lake, a great place, was just too far off the road. We ended up staying in the Hannibal Walmart parking lot, running the generator pretty solid because it was so hot. I didn’t feel too bad because everyone else was doing the same thing!

We stopped at Center Point, Iowa, about 45 miles from home, to dump the tanks at the Travel Plaza. After we finished, we realized we were within 5 miles of one of our favorite camping spots – Pleasant Creek State Recreation Area. We decided to stop there for 6 days. Luckily it was Monday so the few no-reservation campsites had openings. It is a huge pull through site with 50 amp service at the princely cost of $16 a night. We decided to stay here until Sunday morning.

It was miserably hot on Monday, and Tuesday and Wednesday were rainy and hot. My daughter, her husband and son, and my second son came last night for dinner. I used the Instant Pot to make pulled pork (cut into 1 pound chunks, use vegetable broth, garlic, and onions as liquid, pressure cook 70 minutes, natural pressure release after 10 minutes – delicious). I also made my daughter’s favorite chocolate cherry dump cake. I usually make it in a Dutch Oven, but the rain put a kabosh on that. I made it in a 6×10 baking pan I had. Put 2 cans of high quality cherry pie filling in the pan, spread about 1/2 a package of chocolate cake mix, and apply liquid margarine in a cross hatch pattern. I baked in the convection oven for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

Today it was absolutely lovely most of the day with mild temperatures and just a bit of wind off and on. I tried to sew just to see where things would work best. I have already decided I don’t like seeing at the dinette table, so tomorrow we will pick up my little portable sewing table and see how that works.

In summary, it was awfully nice to have a comfortable place to really try out the coach. We are close enough to home we can pick up things, and we have packed a number of things we will be wanting to take with us.

Sewing Presents

It is getting close to Christmas, and I am way behind on my Christmas sewing. Yesterday I finally got cranking. I decided to make some microwave bowl cozies, and I got six of them done. It requires a special batting that is 100% cotton, no polyester at all. The 42 x 36” piece I had was cut into 12 squares, 10” each. Each cozie needs 2 pieces of batting and 2 pieces of fabric. See how the bowl fits? I made 3 of the green/orange fabrics and 3 of the coffee fabrics.

26B0B04B-0057-44FC-915A-041662E285D2 5E96E599-57A2-48C9-8E12-9A15DD0B5EFF F05B0321-12C3-4850-9813-F78EB162A12A

I also made some bibs for my grandson. These should have been made months ago, but I was having trouble finding the ribbing that goes around the neckline. I finally found some at a local quilt store of all places!

C2E99C1A-4EE7-4ACC-B5D9-9F118CAE3914

I am going to write my directions down here because I modify the ones I have found online. I use hand towels, not finger tip towels. I fold them of the way to make the center of the neckline. In this case, it was 10”. I then cut a circle out using the a CD for a pattern. I also cut 13” of ribbing. The ribbing is sewn into a circle using a 1/4” seam. I then quarter mark both the ribbing and the towel, applying the ribbing with a faux serger stitch on the Bernina. I used to use my serger, but the sewing machine is much easier for the small openings. I also top stitch the ribbing to make sure it stays turned over correctly.

I will take one of the bibs and one of the cozies for tonight’s American Sewing Guild meeting. We are having a holiday dinner instead of a regular meeting, but Sew and Tell always happens! Over the next few days I will make some more cozies, and that should do for Christmas sewing.

Grand Teton National Park

We left Baker’s Hole on Sunday the 8th. We have been camped at Gros Ventre campground in Grand Teton National Park since then. We intend on staying until Friday. It might snow then, so that means it is time to leave! We have been enjoying it here. We took the bikes into Jackson and peddled to the Fish Hatchery, a round trip of only 7 miles or so. We also did such exciting things as laundry and grocery shopping. There is a new laundromat in Jackson that we tried. It is all front loaders (four different sizes!), very clean, and lots of big dryers. The only disadvantage is that it is expensive for the washers, but the clothes were really clean so I guess it was worth it. We have had dinner in town at Bubba’s BBQ which was pretty good. Of course, being as it is in Jackson it cost more than it would in any other place.

One of the treats we gave ourselves was an evening at the Bar J Chuckwagon. We had a blast. The food was good, but the show was tremendous! It was an hour and a half of comedy and music. It was soooo much better than the one we went to in South Dakota.

I was also able to do some sewing. We have had trouble with inverters (changing 12v to 110v), but we actually found a Radio Shack with a nice selection. That let me connect my Bernina 440 to the electrical power in the trailer without using the generator, a big plus. However using the iron requires the generator, so I haven’t pressed the borders on this one. It is an appliqué kit from AQS called “Lunar.” I used a fusible backing then used a button hole stitch with invisible thread. I like it!

Ignore the unpressed borders. And it is straight – promise!

Today we went to Jenny Lake and took the scenic boat tour. As many times as we have been to GTNP, we have never taken the boat so it was a new experience. The smoke has disappeared mostly so I got some great pictures of the mountains.

The top of Grand Teton is covered in clouds but still gorgeous.

We are having scattered showers which has cooled things off. The solar is still keeping things charged nicely.

Sew and resew and resew again

I am making a baptism outfit for my grandson in preparation for his baptism in July. I bought some gorgeous fabric from a local store called Tissu’ – wonderful, fine denier broadcloth that is just slightly transparent. It is a bit heavier than the Swiss batiste I made other gowns with, but this outfit will be a romper with a button on skirt. I am doing lots and lots of pintucks since those are so lovely without being “fussy.” However things have not all gone well. First I got out the romper not quite on grain. Of course I didn’t figure this out until I had 10 or so rows of the pin tucking done. It is really important that pintucks be done on a straight grain since they have a tendency to wrinkle if off grain. Ok, toss that one away and cut another. I was extra careful with the grain line this time, and the pintucks (21 of them), and I got as far as putting the back and front together. The next step was to put the neckband on. I had cut it per the pattern, but it was about a 1/2″ too short! Cut another neckband, and I have a hassle putting it on because the instructions say to use a 5/8″ seam then trim to 1/4″. It is much harder to apply a bias strip with that large of seam allowance. Then I found out the width wasn’t enough to finish the application! Signal much cussing and gnashing of teeth. There is no way I was going to be able to take the band off so I cut another romper front and started from the pintuck step again (the third time!). Last night I got this far.

Excuse the pins. I was using them to hold the neck binding together while I hand stitched it. Today I put the sleeves on. It sounds like such a small job but it took me almost two hours, but the sleeves and side of the romper top are done.

I love the little cuffs on the sleeves. Next comes the placket on the romper bottom followed by putting the top and bottom together with the waistband between them. I will stop then. I will be seeing the grandson next week, and I will try it on him before I finish it completely.

Not much else got done today. I am being quite lazy. Kevin has been working on the sprinkler system. He finally decided that an additional sprinkler was needed on the north side of the house, so he dug into the line and did it. He is also working on the drip system in the rose bed at the front of the house. He is definitely NOT being lazy.