A Sweet Blast from the Past

Back in the early 2000s, when my two grandbabies were born, I bought them each Barefoot Dreams Receiving Blankets from Nordstrom. These were the original Barefoot Dreams blankets. They were flannel on one side and a polyester satin on the other side. They were bound with satin piping, and my first babe loved to rub that satin while falling asleep. On the flannel side was a satin square, with the following words woven into the square: “Laugh With Me,” “Dream With Me,” “Grow With Me,” and “Cuddle With Me.” The receiving blankets measured 27″ x 36″. (How do I know … Continue reading

Two More Sidewinders

I wasn’t completely sold on the Sidewinder pattern that I made up for the Sew Sweetness Secret Santa exchange, but I had already cut the pattern out in another fabric, so went ahead and made it up, then made it up again. The third make was in a music-themed fabric, as I am a working musician. I thought I’d give it to one of the music professors I work with at Youngstown State University. But when it was all finished, on the morning I was taking my new half-sister (whom I discovered two-and-a-half years ago via Ancestry.com) to the Cleveland … Continue reading

Little Bags for Old Friends

In mid-March, I attended the 50th reunion of the Class of 1968 of Forest Lake Academy, near Apopka, FL (Orlando outskirts). I grew up in Orlando and attended Orlando Church School (now Orlando Junior Academy) from 1st through 8th grades, and Forest Lake Academy from 9th through the first six weeks of 12th grade, when I dropped out of high school and started college a semester early. I was a rather lost soul. It was the 60s. I had no clue what I wanted to be when I grew up. For years I’ve attended the reunions of the Class of … Continue reading

A Little Box Pouch

What to do when you realize you have all the necessary Christmas gifts for the family gathering except for one—your [virtual] sister-in-law? You dig into your treasured shibori stash, find a tutorial you like, and whip up that one last gift. The treasured shibori fabric was destashed by my friend, quilter MaryLou Alexander. MaryLou’s quilts all begin with high quality undyed fabric, which she scrunches and folds and stitches and dyes with either MX dyes or natural dyes, before cutting and piecing and machine quilting. (She’s currently in her natural dye period. Everything in my treasured stash comes from the … Continue reading

Keep Calm and Sew On

I hate how busy I’ve been this semester. I’m preparing a full-length “Cosi fan tutte” for late April. A kids’ version of Cosi, with its own abbreviated score, will be presented the morning of that event’s opening. I have not yet seen the kids’ cuts, but know that I am the orchestra for that production, where I believe I’m only accompanying the recitative (but the entire score for all the rehearsals over the entire semester) for the full evening opera. A 45-minute opera for kids, Billy Goats Gruff, is to be presented today at Stambaugh Auditorium and then five times … Continue reading

A Winning Tute

The Jazzman and I have little travel pillows that I got at Bed Bath & Beyond. We like knowing that whatever the hotel (or cruise ship) has to offer, we’ll have a pillow along that we know and love. Before we went to Mexico last winter, I bought the 12″ x 16″ pillows and made pillowcases to fit them. They were both a gold cotton sateen. I silkscreened my name on mine; his had nothing to indicate it was his. And then it disappeared. His pillow and the custom made pillowcase are nowhere to be found. So before we went … Continue reading

Gayley Girl Gift

My New Year’s resolution is to have only one project going at a time. And that translates to “finish what you start.” I can be a tad ADD, i.e. “Look at that pretty piece of fabric; I think I’ll sew that today.” And my Very Bad Habit is to throw each new pretty thing onto my cutting table. And the mess begins. If I can stick to my resolution—and 15 days into the year (half a month gone already?!), so far/so good—I can get rid of the clutter and mess and feel more at peace in my little basement haven. … Continue reading

Baby, It’s Cold Outside

It took the winter of 2014/15 a little while to set it, but it’s here now. Boy, is it here. The temperature for much of yesterday was right around 0°, with wind chill temps in the minus-teens. Tomorrow the wind chill temp is supposed to drop to about -24°. One does not go outside without gloves, even just to take the bag of used kitty litter to the garbage can! (TMI? Sorry!) At the Bernina/quilt store where I work worked until noon today, we’ve had two shelves of Shannon Cuddle just lingering on the shelves. Shoppers would come in and … Continue reading