A Penguin, A Bag Lady & A Lazy Cookie

The above picture is "A Penguin"! Is it beautiful or what?! My grandson TJ drew this penguin for his Grandma. (The lighter color drawing says "For the Grandma" in TJ writing) I am honored. It hangs on a wall by my desk. He has great detail for a 2 year old. I have a similar picture drawn by his father at almost 4 years old. The hands and feet are drawn the same way. Yesterday he stopped over and came up the stairs saying "I want to look at the Grandma". He has such a way with words! I am truly blessed by this grandchild of mine.

Now I want to introduce the newest bag lady on the block..... Rachel!! On Friday, we cut one bag and completed it, and today we began to assembly line, construct the other 8. We got everything cut and the bag fronts made. Pockets are on the inside of 5 bags and the other 3 are ready to go on. Straps are cut and have the interfacing pressed onto them...all 16! I am still using the same bag pattern provided by Margaret. I feel like I know it well! We just adapted it to be larger and used 1 fabric. I personally like it better with 2 and a 3rd for the lining. Here is the one I made for Charlotte. She uses it for her church bag. It carries her bible, offering and a pen and paper. Rachel's bags are larger and 1 fabric, longer straps (instead of handles) and also she added an inside pocket for a cell phone.Pressing is key to making ANYTHING I think. Ironing is not my favorite thing to do, though without it we would all look a mess. Quilting and sewing would not go as smoothly as it does with a trusty iron at hand!! One of my earliest memories is of my mother ironing. My dad worked nights, 11-7. I was 4 at the most, because I remember the duplex we lived in and we moved from there when I was 4. It was the same place we lived when I got soap in my mouth! My mother ironed everything. She did some strange ironing ritual though....she had a 7-up bottle that had a silver sprinkler cap on the top. I can see it in my mind even now. It looked something like this...
Mom's bottle was taller and had a silver cap. She would sprinkle my dad's shirts and my little dresses and I am sure her own dresses. She would then roll them and stick them in a clear plastic bag and put them in the refrigerator. After my sister and I were tucked in bed and dad had left for work, Mom would spend her nights ironing. We awoke in the morning, all the clothes would be perfectly pressed and hanging in our closet. I do not know the point of the pop bottle or the refrigerated damp clothing rolled so neatly and stacked in their bags, but we ALWAYS had nicely pressed clothes. Did anyone else do this, or have a mother who did this? It is a huge memory for me.

My cold is back with a VENGEANCE!! I have been up for 3 nights with a terrible sore throat, which does not hurt as bad during the day. This morning (my 4th Sunday missing Church because someone was sick) I am feeling beaten. I will rest today. I promise to get the last installment of the Table Topper Tutorial up soon. I planned on baking lots of Christmas cookies, but those will wait. I did manage to get some cookie bars made yesterday. The lazy baker's cookie.... These contain oatmeal, butterscotch chips and chocolate chunks. Very good! So I managed a post with sewing, baking, new treasures and old memories. Have a blessed Lord's Day!!