Blog Archives - Lots of Knots

New Sewing Room

1/29/2010

I had the best time yesterday. It was one of those days where nothing is on the calendar (very rare), and I didn't have to get out of the house. I spent the entire day setting up my sewing room. I moved my grandmother's antique sewing machine in a spare bedroom and will use that as my sewing machine desk. My grandmother's machine is the first machine I learned to sew on, and the one that I made my first dress on too many years ago to remember. It has the pedal on the floor and my brother and I used to love to play with that pedal when we were little. Looking back, it's a miracle one of us didn't get hurt.

Anyway, I am preparing for my rag quilt class at Buttons and Bows. I can't wait to learn how to make this simple rag quilt. Jodie is also going to give us lessons on how to make a different pattern of rag quilt. I saw the one she made and it is beautiful. We will be arranging that class soon. I am waiting to see if the class at B&B will be canceled due to not enough people signing up. If not, I have to attend because the classes are non-refundable. If that happens, I will be able to learn two different patterns of rag quilts, so either way it will be OK.

I'm very excited about my new room. I totally cleaned out the closet and put shelves on both sides. On one side is all of the fleece that I have purchased to make blankets (my husband says I should open a store--I hit the JoAnn's sale pretty hard) and on the other side is yarn and knitting supplies. I also have two large plastic crates--one full of blankets already made and ready for delivery, and one filled with scarves already made and ready for delivery. I hung pictures on all of the walls, organized the bookcase in there, set up the sewing machine table, put my grandmother's rocker in the corner (some of you may remember it from the library), and set up the TV in the corner. This room also has my treadmill and Pilates machine, so I can exercise or make crafts while watching TV or just relaxing. I also put a couple of colorful lamps in there and it looks great. Now I just have to figure out how to use my sewing machine again! It has been at least ten years since it has been out of the case. I was pleased to see that it makes several different kinds of stitches and that I still have the instruction book. I am ready to go. I would love to have someone go to the classes with me. They are on February 9 and 16 from 2-4 and when the class is finished, we will have a finished product. After that, we will schedule Jodie's class. I know that several people are interested in coming to that one and I want to thank Jodie for volunteering to teach us. She knows how to make anything and everything!

BookPage of the Day

1/28/2010

I hope some of you signed up for the BookPageXTRA Book of the Day (see January 24 posting). They send a book review to your inbox every day, and I have to tell you, it will make you want to read more books. I am saving the ones that sound really interesting in a folder so that I will have a list of books to refer to when I want to read something new. Of course, that means I have to get through the list of books stacked on my "to be read" bookshelf first. Anyway, it is a quick way to find out about books that are being published, and if that day's selection doesn't sound good to you, all you have to do is delete it. I am enjoying the service. Try it. I think you will too. Hopefully someone will get an idea and suggest something for our May book selection.

Houston Low Vision Support Group

1/27/2010

Lee and I finally had a chance to talk after our January meetings, and she wants me to attend the Houston Low Vision Support Group in Bayland Park to talk to them about making blankets and possibly reading books to them. This group formed when Lee was a student at University of Houston and saw a need for people with low vision to form a group to help each other. The group became large enough to break off into a Southwest Houston Group and that is the group I will talk too. The initial visit will be just to show them the blankets and talk about what we do. They will then have some time to think about if they want to make blankets individually, in a small group, or wait awhile before deciding. They meet on the 2nd Friday of the month at Bayland Park, 6400 Bissonnet. This is another opportunity to have someone help us make more blankets while letting them know how wonderful it feels to help the community. I am looking forward to this new challenge.

Sign up for BookPageXTRA e-newsletter or BookPage Book of the Day e-newsletter

1/24/2010

I just signed up for the newsletter that BookPageXTRA sends out. It gives current information on books and reviews. I have copied the following information in case you want to subscribe. They have two different newsletters:

1) the regular newsletter will come to your inbox on the first and third Tuesday of the month

http://www.bookpage.com/infopage.php?type=Newsletter%20Signup

2) you can also receive Book Page Book of the Day - a book review will come every day to your inbox

https://app.e2ma.net/app/view:Join/signupId:52077/acctId:28888

You may sign up for both, which is what I did. I want to see which one (or maybe both) I enjoy or use the most. They have contests and book giveaways with each edition.

*** If you decide to subscribe, they will send a confirmation to your e-mail address. There is a link that you will need to click on to verify that you want it to be sent to you. It's that easy! There is even a link below to view a sample of BookPageXTRA.

Don't miss the two newsletters from the editors of BookPage!

BookPageXTRA sends reviews of hot new titles (or hits you may have missed), exclusive author interviews and sneak previews of upcoming issues of BookPage right to your inbox on the first and third Tuesday of every month! Every edition includes contests and book giveaways. Click here to view a sample of BookPageXTRA.

A Friend Lost

1/23/2010

Today I attended a funeral of someone that I wished I had known longer, and I wish I'd known better. It was a beautiful, uplifting service for a wonderful woman that touched many lives. She was one of the kindest, nicest, and most generous women that I have ever known. I don't know how she did it, but she was always positive and upbeat - always. She was a member of our group, although she had not been able to attend meetings due to her health problems. I am so sorry that all of our members didn't get a chance to spend time with her. She was excited about attending the meetings and making items for others. She was a very giving person in all areas of her life. When she called to tell me she was not going to be able to make the November meeting because she just didn't feel well, I worried a little bit. She said that she was going to the doctor the next day, but I didn't think that she would be put through more trials and tribulations. I prayed for her to be OK, made and delivered her a blanket, and knew that I would be seeing her soon. Unfortunately that was not the case. She was taken much too quickly. My heart goes out to her wonderful family. It was so obvious today that she made this huge impression on everyone she knew - not just me. I know she is finally at peace and out of pain. God bless you.

Notes from January Evening Meeting

1/22/2010

The Beginning of a Blanket Lesson

We had a fabulous meeting this evening. It was a good mixture of personalities, great opinions and discussions about the book, and someone (I won't say who) learned to make her first no-sew blanket. Now she has agreed to make three for us. I experimented with making sangria, (I was going to make it the usual way, but didn't have the ingredients, so I just used what I had). It must have been OK, because the pitcher was emptied during the first hour. Welcome to two new members - Amy S. and Cindy L. We hope to see you again at the February meeting. We were delighted to find out that Cindy is becoming a grandmother of twins! She is now going to make a boy quilt and a girl quilt and we are looking forward to watching the progress.

For a few comments about the book, and to read about our next selection, check out the Book Club Blog. Thank you to Tanya T. for supplying a link to BookPageXTRA. There is so much information on this website that you won't know where to begin. Explore it yourself when you want to find out about great books. Our book club has selected 3 of the top 5 books to read and we didn't even know it! Check it out and let me know some suggestions for following months.

https://app.e2ma.net/app/view:CampaignPublic/id:28888.2768022589/rid:d17f16b0ed4cb3c26a612f1e8d3f0651

We received some donations from other people outside of our group. Sherry J. brought two beautiful flannel baby blankets that had been donated by her church, my neighbor brought a crocheted baby blanket that a lady in Arlington, Texas gave him to donate (he was telling her about this group while on a business trip!), and we had two blankets donated that were made by children of members of the group - both 5th graders at MWE. I am so proud of them for doing this. I sent a note to the Star of Hope Mission Center (Women's and Children's Unit) and we will be arranging delivery soon.

I met a lady at the Common Thread Circle meeting Tuesday that is interested in joining our morning group. I hope that she will come in February. Her son is an Eagle Scout and is collecting children's books for the library at the Star of Hope, so we had a lot to talk about. She was very excited about doing other work for them and learning to make something new. She also knew another one of our members because her children went to elementary school in SBISD, and she was a library volunteer. It's a small world!

As far as the rest of the meeting with the CTC, I think we have decided that we will continue to make our items, and they will continue to make theirs. They have a very specific purpose, and we are trying to meet several needs in the community. It was a nice meeting, and I think they really appreciated the blankets, scarves, and hats that we donated.

Once again, thank you for coming and helping out. The group was great and really meshed well. Since no one there was tied to the SBISD calendar, we will leave the March meeting on the schedule as is. That will make it easier than having to reschedule. Have a great weekend!

Update On Low Vision Book Group

1/17/2010

I attended the Low Vision Support Group Meeting at The Terrace Friday afternoon. It was their first group meeting, and there were many items of discussion that needed to be ironed out (when to meet, what to do, etc.). The lady leading the group did not live at The Terrace, but was volunteering to lead this first group session. Her name is Leigh Boncher (hope I am spelling that correctly). She was excited about my ideas of reading aloud to them, but we discovered that many of them already listen to audio books and were not sure if they would be able to agree on a book to be read aloud. Later, in another conversation, we decided that perhaps a book was too large of a task to tackle this early on in the group. Many of the members expressed that they were not able to read the monthly newsletter and calendar of events that was published each month, so I may start off by reading this to them. In the meantime, Leigh called me and asked me if I would go and talk to a few other low vision groups that she is involved with. She thinks that they would be very interested in making some blankets, and she wondered if I thought I would be able to teach them how to do it. We have agreed to talk again after the Common Thread Meeting and make plans to schedule some blanket lessons. How exciting that would be! Now there is the problem of supplying the fleece, but I'm sure we will be able to figure something out in time.

Reminder of Meeting this week

1/16/2010

These are the dates for the meetings over the next few months. I believe that the March meeting is during spring break, so when we meet on Thursday we need to decide if we want to push the date back a week. I hope to see most of you this Thursday. By that time, I will be able to tell you all about the Common Thread Circle meeting.

January 21, 2010
February 18, 2010
March 18, 2010
April 15, 2010
May 20, 2010

Notes from Meeting Yesterday

1/13/2010

We had two new guests at our meeting yesterday, and that is always exciting! We get to show off all of our handmade items and share what we are trying to do. Welcome to Judi and Marilyn. We hope to see you again very soon. Jodie shared a beautiful quilted wall hanging that she just finished. She picked up the kit in Alaska a couple of years ago, and now she has finished it and is ready to hang it above the aquarium in her home. The colors were gorgeous and the salmon reminded me of Alaska. She has also volunteered to give us Rag Quilt lessons (it's really more like a sewn blanket). We will try to plan it for a Sunday afternoon, because she says that we will need just a couple of consecutive hours to get the hang of it. I am so excited about. I love the one at Buttons and Bows, so if you have a chance, stop by and see it so you will know what we are planning to do. These will make excellent items to add to our list of growing blankets, hats, scarves, etc. It is supposed to be fast and easy, so I can't wait. You do need a sewing machine to do it, but all you have to do is be able to sew in a straight line and cut material in a straight line. I think I am up for it! More details to follow.

We are also going to attend the Common Thread Circle meeting at Memorial Drive Methodist Church next Tuesday. They meet in Room D220 at 9:30. I am anxious to deliver some of our items to them to distribute to the hospitals around town, and I want to hear about the products that they make. Anyone interested is welcome to meet us there. We believe that it is the building on the left side of the church (when facing the church), so park in the east lot. I am hoping that some of the people there might be willing to help us with our group. I know that I am interested in finding out what they do and trying to help them.

Please start keeping your receipts for materials, etc. that you are contributing/donating to our group. We are in the process of filing papers to make this a non-profit organization. I am very committed to this cause, and I hope that you are too. There are many people in need, in many ways, and it is such a great feeling to be able to help. If we all start this new year with a commitment to make a blanket and a hat, or a blanket and a scarf, or even two blankets, by the end of the year we will have 20-30 of each item. If you are able to make more, that's even better. We have to start now to build up inventory for the end of the year. I wish that we had already been able to make our donations for this year, because I am sure that many people could have used our warm, soft blankets and scarves last week in the freezing cold weather. Please make the commitment with me to continue working on this in 2010.

Thank you Rachael for bringing lunch. We all had a great time sharing ideas, working hard, and then sitting down to a entertaining lunch. There was a lot of laughter and some very good stories being told. I can't get the idea of a wasp out of my head! Anyway, thank everyone again for participating, and I hope to see most of you at the Thursday evening meeting on January 21. If you have anything to donate, please bring it then. I am bringing things to the Methodist church next week, and will bring things to the Star of Hope Mission after our last meeting in January. Thank you again so much.

Come join me and learn how to make a Rail Fence Rag Quilt

1/8/2010

I can't wait to learn how to make this "quilt/blanket." I stopped by Buttons 'n Bows the other day after getting my haircut (they are in the same shopping center), and I saw this beautiful blanket on the counter. It looked simple, but it was as soft as the fleece ones that we make. I talked to the lady about it and she said that it was called a Rag Quilt and that they were very easy to make. They are going to have lessons in February, so I am going to sign up for them. The lessons are only 2 hours for 2 sessions and the dates are Tuesday, February 9 and 16 from 2:00-4:00. I am going to take my mom to see the quilt (I think of it as more of a blanket) over the weekend and see if she will go with me. I would love to have some of you join us. It looks super simple, they are super soft (she made hers out of flannel), and they are made on the machine (super quick). If you get a chance, stop by and look at it and see what you think. I know that I will never make a real quilt, so this is as close as I will come to it. You even have a finished product when you finish the two class sessions.

Looking forward to seeing the morning group next Tuesday. It seems like forever since we have seen each other. Please bring anything that you have to donate to the meeting. That way I can photograph it and then deliver it the following week. Have a great day and bundle up and stay warm.