Making 2026: Week # 20

 Hello 'maker' friends!  Welcome to week #20!

(If  you're looking for weeks 11 -19, they don't exist!)

I am so far behind on journaling the things I create here, I'll try to get caught up over the next few posts.  To tell you the truth, life has been happening, plus traveling, plus trying to get the garden in, plus hubby getting himself an injury that has slowed things down considerably.  All is well though, hubby is making progress and while life continues to happen, I just have to confess that I'm getting really antsy for some sewing time!!!

While we were traveling, we visited a Mennonite community and was told about a sewing shop in the community that was owned and operated by a Menn0nite lady.  Of course, I couldn't wait to go and I wasn't disappointed once I got there.  The owner was exceptionally nice.  I like the style of apron that this particular community of Mennonite women were wearing and wanted to purchase a pattern so I could make a couple for myself.  Not having any for sale, she offered to draft one for me.  After completing the pattern, she fit it to me and gave me all sorts of sewing hints and helps for stitching one up.  Oh, how I want to get to that project!

That's it for this week! I really just wanted to get back to posting here and welcome our new subscribers.  To all of you, I'd love to hear what your working on and or 'making!'

If life holds together, I hope to have something to show and share in the next post!

 Until the next week!

mrs. patsi @ Grandma's Got a Sewing Machine

My other blogs:

A Working Pantry

From This Heart of Mine

Making 2026: Week #10

 Hello 'maker' friends!  Welcome to week #10!

let's see what I got up to this week ...

 What I recycled and or repurposed:  

I started recycling another dress that doesn't fit into a skirt.  This is the last dress I have to repurpose from something I won't or can't wear into something I can and will wear!

Progress on a 'work in progress' or unfinished project:

Nothing this week ... I've not had much time to sew ... some weeks will be that way, but with every UFO completed, I'm getting closer to the end of the stack.  And yes, I'm trying not to add to it!

 Quilting project:  

I completed block #7 in the patriotic quilt I'm doing.

A sewing channel/video I watched this week:  

If I were going to tell someone how to sew to fit their body, the information this woman gives in her tutorial is what I would give, but she does such an excellent job that I'm just going to send you over to her channel.

That's it for this week!  I'd love to hear what your working on and or 'making!'

 Until the next week!

mrs. patsi @ Grandma's Got a Sewing Machine

My other blogs:

A Working Pantry

From This Heart of Mine

Making 2026: Week #9

Hello 'maker' friends!  Welcome to week #9!

 What I recycled and or repurposed:  

I wore the skirt I repurposed from last week's post and it was too big around the waist so, this week I redid the waist by removing about 4 inches of the elastic and then I shortened the skirt a bit as well.  Sometimes it takes wearing a repurposed garment to get the fit right.

I have one more dress that I have been planning to turn into a summer skirt and I began that process this week as well.  I hope to have it completed to share next week.

Progress on a 'work in progress' or unfinished project:

Here's another one of my unfinished cross-stitch mini pillow projects.  This week I finished, stuffed and packed it away with my winter decor.

 Quilting project:  

I completed a 6th block in my patriot quilt ... bottom row, right hand side.  I have 10 more blocks to go!

I worked a small amount on my log cabin Christmas quilt as well.  When baby steps is all you can manage, that's what you do ... and that includes sewing!

A sewing channel/video I watched this week:  

I watched this quilting video.  I can't say I liked the pattern she used, I can't say that I dislike it either.  What I did like though and will incorporate into our lives is the concept of a 'car' quilt.  It's exactly what it sounds like, a quilt made for and kept exclusively in your vehicle.  I like that idea!  A future project for sure!

That's it for this week!  I'd love to hear what your working on and or 'making!'

 Until the next week!

mrs. patsi @ Grandma's Got a Sewing Machine

My other blogs:

A Working Pantry

From This Heart of Mine

Making 2026: Week #8

Hello 'maker' Friends!

I've got a little bit of a new format I'm going to try this week that will hopefully help keep me focused on the things I want to get done ...

Let's give it a try ...

What I recycled and or repurposed:  This skirt was repurposed from a dress that had way too many ruffles in all the wrong places for my taste, so I turned it into a skirt.  I paired it with a black pullover sweater that I had and turned it into what I think is a really cute outfit.

Progress on a 'work in progress' or unfinished project.  (If I've laid a project aside for at least a month, it is being categorized as a work in progress or unfinished project.):  This project is way past the one month qualifier that makes it an unfinished project!!!  In fact this project is way past the one year mark and the only thing it needed to be finished was I need to stuff it ... that's all!  I did that today!

I love little mini cross-stitched pillows.  I have several I've done over the years and bring out according to the season.  This obviously is a Christmas one ... that is now finished!!  Hoot!  Hoot!  One down ... several more to go!

Quilting project:  I completed block #5 in my patriotic quilt!

A sewing channel/video I watched this week:  This week I watched this Youtube video by Dorothy's Daughter.  She and I think alike when it comes to our sewing stash!  Do you have a sewing channel you could recommend?

That's it for this week!  I'd love to hear what your working on and or 'making!'

 Until the next week!

mrs. patsi @ Grandma's Got a Sewing Machine

My other blogs:

A Working Pantry

From This Heart of Mine

Making 2026: week # 7

Hello sewing friends!  This week I'm back in my sewing nook working on a couple of different projects ... both to be future quilts ... 

I shared this picture last week ... block cut out and ready to be marked and stitched ...

Ta-da ... all stitched up!  It's hard to imagine that those small squares and rectangles could be turned into the above, isn't it!

Here it is added to the other 3 I've completed thus far.

Reminder:  these blocks are part of a free sew-along with Jessica Dayon - Quilting and More.

Remember that stack of Christmas themed log cabin blocks I showed you last week that I had finished stitching up?  This week I trimmed them to the same size and decided on the pattern I wanted to use.  The log cabin blog is so versatile and can be laid out in many different ways creating many different looks.  Next week, I hope to be able to start sewing the blocks together, now that the planning and prep part is over.

That's it for this week!  I'd love to hear what your working on and or 'making!'

 Until the next week!

mrs. patsi @ Grandma's Got a Sewing Machine

My other blogs:

A Working Pantry

From This Heart of Mine

Making 2026: Weeks 4, 5, & 6

 Hello, my sewing friends!  With the 12 inches of snow we got, prepping for that and life in general, I've not had time to sit down and bring everyone up to date on my many projects.  I plan to change that in today's post, let's get started ...

The doll blanket I was crocheting turned into a real life baby blanket!  I got carried away crocheting and to be honest, not paying attention to what I was doing.  Once I realized I had made it much bigger than I planned I had several rows done and decided not to undo it.   Not to worry, it will be used as a gift in early summer for a real live baby.  I have enough of this pink Bernat Baby Blanket yarn  left to do a baby doll blanket.  This time I will be more mindful of my crocheting!  

All 3 of these pieces of fabric are slated to become aprons ... two for me (I wear aprons quite a lot and as a result they wear out and or get so stained that I can't get them clean.  This is the time of year that I like to inventory my aprons and replace any that need replacing.)  The third piece of fabric (the puppy one) is for an apron for a grand.  Grandma is making aprons for all the grands this year for Christmas.  This puppy fabric is perfect for one of them!  This fabric has been washed and is waiting to be cut out ... then I'll batch sew them!

These are the pieces for the 4th block in my patriot quilt.  I got behind on this project, but as you can see 'getting behind' doesn't mean giving up!

And last, but certainly not least, I pulled out these log cabin blocks that are now over a year old and finished them up.  This is my current WIP project, one of my sewing goals this year is to work on my Work-In-Progress projects that are 6 months old or older.  Please tell me you have WIP's that are as old as mine!

One more thing, I haven't forgotten about the request to show how I made my sewing labels.  I hope to get that done this coming week!

That's it for this week!  I'd love to hear what your 'making!'

 Until the next week!

mrs. patsi @ Grandma's Got a Sewing Machine

My other blogs:

A Working Pantry

From This Heart of Mine

Making 2026: Week #3

Hello sewing friends, are you ready for another week of my sewing and creating adventures!

Let's get started!

I totally went off my sewing plan for this past week and instead decided I would do a sew-along with Jessica Dayon - Quilting and More.

Like I had time to add anything else to my plate, but I did it anyway. Here are the first two blocks ... I am making this one scrappy blue and will add a backing that is predominately red. The idea is to make the quilt in honor of our country's 250th birthday this year using what I have on hand if at all possible. I think this sew-along is targeted to end somewhere around the end of March, so I'm telling myself, it's only for 3 months and that I can do that!

I made sewing labels for my handmade creations! I've wanted to do this for a long time, but lacked the confidence.

Fast forward to this week ... I can't believe how easy it was ... I don't know why I was so intimidated. Special thanks to Stephanie for her encouragement and help!

This is my version of block #1 in Erica Arndt's Sew With Me 2026 series I mentioned in last week's post.  Looking through my 'fabric pantry,' I decided that I wanted to do this one in earth tones and as you can see in the picture, that's what I've done.   To me, earth tones are soothing and calming.  There are some 'oops' in this block, but the final block size was right, so I trimmed it up and called it good!  I look at my 'oops' as me personalizing my quilts!!!  It's all good!

 This sew-along only has one block per month stretching it out over the entire year.  That's the only reason I decided to take it on ... that and the fact that the pattern is free for a specified length of time, I like Erica's patterns and I enjoy making quilts!

This drawstring bag has been in the works for a couple of weeks and this week, I finished it!

The outer fabric came from a shirt my hubby no longer wore and I cut it in such a way that I could include the pocket.  Can you spot one of my 'new' labels?  I thought it fitting that the first label I used went on a shirt that belonged to my hubby before it was repurposed!

This bag will be used in gifting to someone in our immediate family as the legacy that comes with it will mean something to the recipient.

That's it for this week, I hope you've had a productive week at your sewing machine!

 Until the next week!

mrs. patsi @ Grandma's Got a Sewing Machine

My other blogs:

A Working Pantry

From This Heart of Mine