Friday, August 30, 2013

Beach Blanket Bingo


As a kick off to our  September "So Long  Summer" We held a Beach Blanket BINGO scavenger hunt  with the staff and residents. I scattered beach themed items around the facility- most things were in plain sight, but a couple were more challenging. I had the entire staff help residents (and the residents helping the staff) find them. The game is ongoing all day - so that 2nd & 3rd shift can play too. Thank You to Christine at Re-Creative Resources for the idea!
* I told the staff yesterday that it was beach day and it would be nice if the residents were dressed tropical. Some of the residents even became part of the game with what they were wearing.  I asked a few residents if they would wear a flower in their hair or on their hat. Because it is summer- some of the staff had tropical scrubs on as well and they also became part of the hunt!
*I wore my "beach skirt" - it has flip-flops, sailboats, bikinis, ice cream, umbrellas etc on it. I also put a flower in my hair.
*I have been hyping up this activity to the residents all week and explained it in detail to them yesterday. Repetition is key- that’s why they play commercials over and over again!
*I reminded staff this morning and told them there were prizes.
*I announced over the loudspeaker what was happening.
*In one living room I put on a CD that had songs like Surf City, Wipeout etc. In the other living room I put the movie Free Willy on- there is a killer whale on the Bingo Card :)  The history channel even had a show with sharks and other creatures and it was on in some of the residents rooms. Wasn't that nice of them to schedule it for me? :)
*Because I am excited, the residents got excited, and most of the staff got excited. There are always a couple party poopers- “I’m too busy working….” just ignore them. I started last year working with our staff to get them involved-  Whenever we have popcorn, smoothies or other treats- I make sure the staff gets a treat too.  I have special contests through out the year to go with the activities. Sometimes I will give out tickets for bringing residents to activities or when I catch them doing something nice. Later this month- I will be hiding flamingos around the facility for the staff to find- each time they find one they get a ticket. We draw for silly prizes- nothing expensive- sometimes its just a free pop- but the staff know that I appreciate them, so they do help me out when they can.  It is amazing what a little bit of appreciation can do!
*I handed out Bingo Cards to everyone- even if they were in their rooms and not “coming” to the activity. As they came out to lunch- they found items on the list- because most were in plain sight- and they got involved. I used “beachy” napkins that had some of the items on the list and put quite a few items in the dining room. I hid duplicates of a few items on either end of the building and if I didn't have the item I just printed a picture from the Publisher clip-art.
*Visitors and family members also got a Bingo card and were invited to play along.
*It was so much fun watching everyone searching for things- residents and staff were searching, laughing, and helping each other. I may have to do a different themed BINGO scavenger hunt in the near future....fall, Christmas, (hmm maybe with the kids) St Patrick's Day....there are a myriad of possibilities! 

If anyone wants to use our BINGO cards, I have a pdf of the BINGO card I made - I just haven't figured out how to post it here. Email me and I will send it to you!





Monday, August 19, 2013

Tie quilt completed and gifted!

Even a migraine wasn't going to keep me from finishing the quilt yesterday! Late Saturday Eve,I discovered that my math must be wrong because I was 18 inches short when I attached the binding! I Even gave myself an extra 22 inches to start with,so I don't know what I did. Anyhoo, I decided to wait to finish due to the head ache that was beginning and the irksomeness of bad math. after I fixed the binding length Sunday afternoon, the binding was a breeze! I used the tutorial from Emily at mommysnaptime (http://mommysnaptime.blogspot.com/2011/05/no-pins-no-handsewing-binding-tutorial.html?m=1) and I loved it! Binding used to be my least favorite part and side from my lack of math skills,I am not dreading the next one!
This quilt was made out of Dorothy's husband's ties, and two Susan Winget fabrics. The fabric helped tie the ties together. Dorothy was very surprised and couldn't wait to show her children. She kept saying,"so many memories"
Thanks Don and Pamela for spear heading this project and the challenge to try! It was alot of fun!

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Stanley thinks it's for him.

As I was trying to square up my Quilt today, my sweet kitty Earl Stanley Grey, decided that he needed to sleep on it. Everytime I moved him off the Quilt  and trimmed a bit, he would move right back. I moved him at least 10 times. He finally decided to sleep under the Quilt. :-)  I just finished the binding strips and plan to finish this Quilt tonight! I used the tutorial I found on Pinterest for the binding.

Vintage Quilt to gift bag

I went to a bridal shower yesterday.never met the bride before, all I knew was her name and liked vintage. (she is marrying a friend of mine) So I made a gift card holder from part of the vintage Quilt.

Monday, August 12, 2013

Ugly tie Quilt quilted!

Yay Yay Yay! All the quilting is done! Now I just have to bind it! I tried a few different designs and played around with fmq. My favorite was the pebbling, and the roses. My hearts are very misshapen and the squiggles are too.
I bought a new seam ripper,whose name is now Rupert, and had to use him alot. I should have used him on the hearts too....
I haven't quite decided what I am using for the binding-either ties or the backing fabric. Just depends on how much I have left of the fabric.

Pebbling

After visiting my wonderful, fantastic, marvelous chiropractor to get my hip back in place, (Hard to press the pedal with it out!)  :-) I am spending the day quilting the ugly tie quilt. I really like the pebbles and they were not as difficult as I thought. Circles are much smoother to sew than squares.

Have a fabulous day!!

Sunday sunflowers

Walking home from church tonight,I stopped to observe a busy little bumblebee on Pastor's sunflowers. I just did a bee program for the residents, and learned some interesting facts about Mr. Bumblebee. pestworldforkids.org has a cool program. There are 20000 kinds of bees!
What amazing creatures they are! What an amazing Creator!

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

"Presents" the puppy and other Ho Ho Holiday projects



I LOVE Christmas! Thank You to Carol and Madame Samm for giving me an extra incentive to get started ahead of time! I am a Last Minute Millie for sure!




I found this little puppy at our local grocery store just the other day and he was so cute with his little stocking in his mouth that I had to bring him home with me. (and he was only 99cents!) He became the inspiration for my mini quilt. He is a Jingle Beanie and his name is "Presents." I didn’t have any fuzzy fabric in the house and was unable to get to the store… then I remembered that I bought some stocking stuffers last year on clearance and they were fuzzy socks- but I wouldn’t have bought white ones. Thankfully the socks came in a two pair pack – one pack had a red pair and an off white pair! I just trimmed off the elastic at the top and Voila! had some very stretchy fuzzy fabric.



  After I found a similar puppy picture on Google, I cut him out and got to use my handy dandy new appliqué pressing mat- I LOVE THIS THING!  I used little squares from my stash for the background and did some fun FMQ in the checkerboard squares.  His stocking has a ball and a little present in it.




As I was auditioning squares for the puppy, I decided I really liked these squares together but not for the puppy. So I made these nine patch variation blocks-  I think they will be two table toppers some day. I used a tossed nine patch tutorial.
 

















This table runner is made from Verna’s Cutting Garden Runner recipe from Moda's BakeShop) I used part of a charm pack of Fruitcake by Basic Grey. This was a fun recipe to make!


This stocking is made from a very, old very holey quilt. I have been talking about making something out of it forever. It was very hard to take the scissors to it. At least now it can be displayed and enjoyed. The lace came from a blouse that I always wanted to fit into and never could.

 I lined the stocking with some fabric from my stash and machine quilted around the hexagons to give it some stability. As I stitched, I thought about the quilter who took the time to hand stitch this quilt. The colored pieces were probably well loved scraps of clothing. What an honor to be a part of preserving it for some one else to love! This will be a Christmas gift for a dear friend.

 I just saw on Pinterest this morning some Flowers made from old quilt scraps. I will definitely be using more of this quilt!  

Polly Elf
http://www.sewterific.com/sassyelves.htm



Once again Thank you to our Jolly Elves for ho ho ho hosting this blog hop. I have officially started shopping and planning for Christmas!