Sandy's Quilter's Block

TGIF

2012-01-13T15:24:00.000Z

Yeah, it's Friday! Being Friday the 13th doesn't bother me in the least, just that it's Friday and the weekend is just a short few hours ahead. We are blessed with sunshine, so I am soaking some of it up by sitting near the sunniest window in the house.

I want to touch on a subject today and that is COLOR!! Why do so many people have trouble with color? Just the mere mention of color (like yellow) sends some people running for cover. I LOVE yellow! Actually, there is no color I don't like. If you like a particular color, what is wrong with using it?

Does Orange bother you? My fall pumpkins attic window quilt is full of orange.

How about blue? Or the center squiggle, an orangey red? Do these colors make you cringe? Especially when they are put together like this?

Do you like black and white? This has a bit of yellow/gold, and yes, it hangs this way so the bargello stripes are vertical instead of horizontal. Probably another of my "mistakes", but hey, I love it.

My surprise boxes quilt was made using whatever was in my scrap bag at the time. It's a mix matched selection of great colors. It's tremendous freedom to just reach in and pick whatever is on top for each one.

The colorful stripey squares around the first border were already cut pieces in my scrap bag from the

"Color My World" quilt.

"Color My World" won a design competition in July 2000

Do these colors make you scream?

This one is full of texture in the quilting and just that thin blue line of color makes this quilt.

Jinny Beyer's "Sport" pattern. To add interest to my quilts, sometimes I infuse just a spot of unexpected color. Notice that the bridles on the horse heads are not all the same color? Next time you make a monocromatic quilt or one using just 3 colorways, try an element of surprise in color and see if it works for you, if not proceed with your original design or pattern.

Years ago I took a color class with Jinny and I bought 3 of her books one of them was "Designing Tesselations". It is a wonderful book. I have taken other color classes with different teachers and they were all great resources. The best tool you can make or buy is a color wheel which will help you make some decisions on color choice, but ultimately if you love a color don't be afraid to use it.

2012-01-12T11:14:00.000Z

This is my portrait quilt I did last year for the green and white challenge I participated in. It was my first attempt at this monocromatic and portrait type of quilting. I don't take step by step pictures of each quilt I do, as you've noticed. It just takes me too much time to locate the camera and have enough lighting and space to lay everything out. So, if I'm lucky and make an effort, I usually only take one shot of the quilt when I'm finished with it. Sorry, but that's just the way I work.
We had set instructions for size and color, but after that anything goes. Our dimentions were 6"X24". Strange, I know. It limited me to making a wall-hanging or a table runner. Really, I didn't need another one of either of those. But, my thoughts have drifted back to my love of photography and how I like to frame photos to hang. Way back in the 1970's and 80's tole/folk painting was very popular. You could find family plaques at nearly all the craft stalls where there would be a nice folk painting in the center and on top would be a family name and the bottom would read something like "est. 1974". So using that idea and the fact that I wanted to practice my machine's capability of sewing the alphabet, I used that on this piece. Of course, don't look too close, as a couple of them are slanty and my binding strip pulled slightly at the end so it hangs slanty as well. All these little mistakes gives it my homemade flair and I will not rip it apart to fix it to make it perfect.
There are quite a few publications out there on portrait quilting. Here are 2 that I have used.

Fabric Photo Play: Love to Quilt Series by Julia C. Wood

Faces and Places: Images in Applique by Charlotte Warr Andersen

I am going to do another challenge this year, however, it is my own personal challenge. I have done a red and white quilt for my mother before, but this time I want to use red and white a little differently. So, I will try to keep you posted on my progress.

Rave On

2012-01-11T10:56:00.000Z

Happy New Year! What happened to December? I blinked and it was gone. Honestly, I know I'm getting older....thankfully, everyone is. But, time for me has always been an issue. Its careless fleeting cosmic course sends me reeling from one edge of my existence to the other. Although I would rather blame time itself, I realize I am to blame for not being an expert at time management. I sometimes brag to my DH about how I can multi-task by balancing a huge arm-load of folded laundry with a mouth full of papers to shred and my treasurers notebook tucked under my arm, up the stairs to the bedroom to unload the clothing and then the office to dump the notebook and shredding on my desk. Back tracking only once to put the clothing away, then into my office where I'll spend the next 2.5 hours either reading emails, shredding or doing other necessary office related tasks. It's boring work, but if I don't do it and at intervals so I can tolerate the boredom, it will never get done. Stay at home wives or husbands have been short changed for years. I absolutely despise the term "Stay at home wife". Being called a "Lady of Leisure" is hardly the proper term to use in this country as well. Only the very rich and elite who wouldn't do one chore to risk breaking a nail should be called this. It's insulting to those of us who actually work at home and don't get paid to do it. It's also the most important work anyone can ever do, and that is taking full care and responsibility of a household. In the 1950's it was expected that women would stay home to raise their children and be there for them after school and the wives were happy to do it. They made meals from scratch, hung the laundry on the line, washed dishes by hand, made minor repairs, sewed everything from clothing to curtains, and helped the children with their homework. Call me old-fashioned, I don't mind at all. But, don't ever call me a "Lady of Leisure"! If I need a title, then it should be "Household Director/Manager", thank you very much.

Motivation

2011-11-16T09:35:00.001Z

Maybe these pictures can offer some inspiration.

Thank you to our service members now and past who have honorably served our country.

Frieze in St. Mary's Church at Fountains Abbey

I'm in the middle of decorating for Christmas. The house is cluttered with full and empty boxes. We have the same dilemma every year...where to put things. It just isn't big enough to set decorations out. Somewhere in the attic, I have a set of Christmas dishes. They haven't seen the light of day in about 7 years. Why have them, you say? Because I love them and if I had to buy them today, they would be too expensive. So, there they stay for the time being.

My pumpkin yielded 3 pies and I still have about 1 1/2 cups of pulp left to use. Maybe soup today? Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Scotland

2011-11-06T14:30:00.021Z

How about these for motivation??

Ben Nevis

Eilean Donan Castle

Glamis Castle

Finished

2011-10-26T09:23:00.001+01:00

When my machine is not in use, I like to cover it to keep the dust off. It came with a carry bag when I bought it, but I don't want to take it out of my sewing table and put it in the bag each time, so I came up with this cover/cozy. It was an easy pattern, however, I had to alter the calculations just a bit on the instructions for the angled pieces in the spool and under the arm. The back is the exact same as the front. The embellishments include 2 black buttons for the knobs and 2 buttons sewn together on the very top so it's easy to pull off. This is another one of my "fly by the seat of my pants" type projects. I roughly sized up my machine by noting the height, length and width and chose the pieced sewing machine block that I found online at the fabshophop.com website. This is a 12" finished size block, so I made 2, one for the front and one for the back. I added the black strips to each side of the blocks to get to my length measurement. The black and white diamond fabric for the gussett was measured according to the width measurement. I sandwiched each section (front, back and gussett) with batting and backing and quilted each piece. Then, I sewed the sections together and bound the edge with a black binding strip and finished with the embellishments.

Something Sweet

2011-10-26T08:43:00.004+01:00

There is something about Bisquick. I've used it for nearly 30 years. As a newly wed, it was a quick solution to making easy meals. In a pinch, I sometimes bought the cheaper brand, but it just wasn't the same. Years ago, I used to send away for the little cook booklet with a box top and postage that many brands offered. I remember it coming in the mail and always being surprised at how thick the booklet was and marveling at all the great recipes inside. I wore the Bisquick booklet out completely and had to throw it away. Deeply regretting this move, I emailed the company and asked about a particular recipe, but they didn't have it in their archives. So I searched and searched through my recipe box as sometimes I would write a card out and put it in my box just in case I ever lost a really good recipe or couldn't find it again in the booklets I had accumulated. I am glad I did this routinely as I found the missing recipe misfiled and would like to share it here with you so you can give it a go and see if you think it's worth treasuring. I still have some of the booklets and recently my DH has bought me this wonderful Bisquick cookbook. Now to make some coffee and enjoy some easy homemade danish pastry. ;o)

Bisquick Raspberry Braid
3 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup butter or margarine, room temperature
2 cups Bisquick mix (regular or reduced fat)
1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup raspberry jam (or any favorite jam or preserve but not jelly)
egg wash - 1 egg whisked with a dash of water
Icing - recipe follows
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Or 200 degrees C.
In a mixing bowl, combine cream cheese and butter. Cut in Bisquick until crumbly. Stir in milk until combined. Turn out onto a floured board and knead 8 to 10 times. Roll dough to a 12"X8" rectangle. Turn onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Spread the preserves down the center of the rectangle of dough. Make 2 1/2" cuts at 1" intervals on both long sides of the dough. Do not touch the preserves. Fold strips over the filling which will look like a braid. Brush with egg wash. Bake in the center of the oven for 12-14 minutes or until lightly browned and done in the center. Cool slightly then drizzle with icing. Store covered in the refrigerator.
Icing: 1 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract, 1 Tbsp. soft butter, 1-2Tbsp. milk or enough to thinly drizzle over the top. Blend all ingredients together in a small bowl.

On Retreat

2011-10-13T13:45:00.000+01:00

Quiltworks is the best place to stay for quilt retreats or taking classes on offer. DH and I just got home from a 5 day retreat. I spent nearly every moment at my machine while DH found himself immersed in his novel or off on a hike. There is plenty to do in the area and is a central location to the Lakes District. Please go here to find this wonderful studio in the beautiful county of Cumbria.

I worked on my own UFO's and was inspired by other talented ladies. In August, I took a Kate Dowty class and made this pebble wall hanging which I call Sweet Wells. Sweet wells is one of the many becks in this area.

At retreat I started and nearly completed a sewing machine cover; and a 12" square block which will be a calendar top. There will be several more of these made and will be changed with the months. A small doll size pillow/sample which has applique, piping and a ruffled edge, but it's not finished yet. I also started quilting the maple leaf quilt I've shown in a previous post. It is so good to just think sewing/quilting the entire time and not have to drop it all to make a phone call, go shopping or prepare meals. There are no distractions here if you don't want them and plenty of inspiration. If you've never been on a retreat, I highly recommend finding one in your area and meeting other talented people or go with your own group. It's therapeutic. ;o)

Tiles

2011-08-25T08:17:00.013+01:00

I've always loved tile mosaics old and new. In grade school, our class had to make mosaic plaques and remember it being so much fun. Seeing mosaic floors in churches, museums and Roman ruins has given me inspiration and the desire to try out the technique in quilts. I bought the book "Tile Quilt Revival" by Carol Gilham Jones and Bobbi Finley. It contains a brief history and instructions on making the projects in the book along with patterns. I am making the quilt "All in a Dream" which I thought would be an easy project to get my feet wet. My "grout" lines don't look perfect, but I really like the look of this quilt. The idea was to make each block with a warm and cold side as well as mixing dark and light.

The borders will be a yellow stripe all around. Juliet will long-arm quilt for me and when it returns I will post a final picture.

This Asian square quilt is also finished. My son likes the outcome and has hung it in his bedroom. I dismantled the entire thing and took out the glaring white and added the black and red sashing strips. The green cornerstones were also added. My son loves the center symbol, which is thread painted. Look back a few posts to "Time Out" and you will see how this top was returned to me from the round robin. Since this was always meant to be for my son, he had the final say in what it should look like, so I don't feel bad that it was dismantled and redone. He has to live with it afterall.

Have an inspiring day ;o)

Row quilt

2011-06-12T12:29:00.001+01:00

Blogger doesn't like me. I can't get my pictures to load properly and they always import cropped or turned the wrong way. Any help would be appreciated as I find this extremely frustrating. Anyway, here is my row quilt and I LOVE it! Months ago I wouldn't have said that at all about this quilt, but now that it's done and quilted I absolutely love it. Juliet did a fantastic job quilting it with a continuous line bumble bee pattern. So on to the next UFO to finish.

Here are more pictures of my "ugly" quilt after Juliet long arm quilted it for me. The pattern is a continuous line design and called "Coxcombe" (sorry it's not easy to see, partly due to the colorful patterned fabrics I used).

A little treat to leave you with:

Ahhh, a nice cool strawberry smoothie! Simple and delicious.

1 cup frozen strawberries

1 banana

1- 11/2 cups milk

1 tbsp. sugar

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Enjoy! ;o)

Time Out

2011-06-08T11:09:00.001+01:00

I love this orange poppy. It was taken with my Canon Power Shot SX210IS pocket camera.

Being stuck at home recovering from my surgery hasn't been an easy road and certainly not the "free" time I thought I would have to work on my UFO's. But the baby steps to getting better has given me a few minutes each day to spend in my sewing room at the very least contemplating what to do on the UFO's and making notes for when I am well enough to sit, bend, stretch, get up and down to iron and so on.

Juliet long arm quilted my Ugly quilt and did a stellar job of it. It's brilliant and I love it!

This is the Round Robin piece that my Friday quilt group was doing for the past 8 months. Each person works on one step then it gets passed to the next person to work on. My top was using my fabrics which were washed and ironed to start with. My starting block was the lantern in the upper right corner. Since this wall quilt was for my son, who loves all things Asian, we have discussed the top and he wants to make some changes. So, I will be busy unpicking some of the things and adding what he wants to it. I will post some pictures later as I progress on this project.

Before surgery, I finished the row quilt! YEAH!!! I can't believe it took me nearly 10 years to complete. Too many times I set that top aside and moved on to something else. Well, I am happy to say it is off to Juliet to quilt for me. I will post pictures as soon as I get it back from her.

Make some time today to do something you love.......peace. ;o)

UGLY quilt

2011-02-25T12:18:00.000Z

This is my ugly quilt. While I was sewing it up, I wasn't too fond of it. But I put it away to the bottom of my UFO basket. Two and a half years later, I dug it out and laid it down on the floor,hence the odd angles of the picture. This is where I put all my quilts to ponder what to do next to them. It only took a few minutes to decide what to do for the borders and before I knew it, it was done. This quilt is a large full size bed quilt and not quite a queen. Off to Juliet it went for her to long-arm quilt for me. I can't wait to get it back. I call it my UGLY quilt only because I don't think anyone would choose all these wild patterns and colors for one quilt.

My Friday quilt group is doing a challenge and is due in March. It is a green and muslin/calico challenge. I don't like the muslin part of it and am thinking about trying to paint, stencil, dye, or somehow change the look of the muslin. The piece only has to be 6" X 24" which actually sounds like a table runner to me. What else will I do with this when it's completed? I also had a thought about trying the portrait technique and doing the three of us (DH, DS and myself). The good thing about using the muslin is it's extremely cheap compared to better quilting fabric so if it doesn't turn out it can just go in the bin.

The next quilt to finish in my UFO basket is this maple leaf wall hanging. These blocks were won 12 years ago when I belonged to a guild group. Yes, 12 years ago. After resizing each block I added the sashing strips and will machine quilt it. There are no outer borders, I just don't think it needs anyting more. Today I will sandwich and ready it for my machine. My DH didn't like the yellow leaf. It's the unexpected element and gives it more interest, so it's staying as is. ;o)

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T14:11:00.000Z

Make a postcard design

Gallery

2011-02-05T10:50:00.002Z

Ok, time for some pictures. I realized that I haven't been showing you what I've been doing.

Friend's quilt - small wallhanging

This is the finished log cabin inspired quilt I talked about here. My friend loved it and by the way, I wrapped it in zebra tissue paper with a big wired silver bow.

Pre-printed Valentine Postcards

These are actually pre-printed fabric Valentine postcards that I embellished with stamping, pigma pens, stitches and buttons. I hope they make it through the mail. The only bad part about them is that the size is 5"X7" and I think that is just too large.
I am still having some trouble on my row quilt which has been in my UFO pile way too long. I have worked slowly on it and posted some of that work which is here . The houses didn't look right so they're out. I tried a teacup and don't like it so it's out. Now what? I will keep looking for some applique blocks or paper pieced blocks. I've been trying to keep them all about the same size which is + or - 51/2 " to nearly 61/2" square. Please give me some ideas, links or whatever advise you can offer me. I only wanted 2 more rows and then 2 outer borders. I already know what I will do for those.

Hugs and Hearts work in progress

Remember this one? It was suppose to be a hugs and kisses, but if you notice I only have one X on this top.
I omitted the others because I thought they were just too dark and off. The blocks are sewn into rows but the rest is just laying on my floor, I'm deciding on borders and/or applique in the borders.

Love paper - pieced block

I found this cute little paper pieced block online. Was thinking of a postcard, but it is a little large at nearly 6" square. So, I will save this and use it in a future project.
Yesterday I was working on my portion of the round robin my group is doing. I am making flying geese blocks, so I have 1" half square triangles all over my workspace. Maybe I just have too many things in progress? But, at least it's forward progress.

Present-ing a Quilt

2011-01-19T08:40:00.000Z

My studio is always so cluttered and messy. Yesterday, I spent a lot of time cleaning up and putting away so that today I can get in there and sew the day away.   I have to finish the friend's log cabin feel quilt and get it wrapped up. How do you wrap your quilts for transport? Whether it's going to the long-arm quilter or your
best friend across the street, how do you present it?   When my mother got her birthday quilt in the mail 4 years ago, she was surprized by a beautifully wrapped red foil box with red tissue covering her red and white wall quilt. Of course, red is her favorite color, so I just had to go overboard with it. She loved it.

The poppy quilt in a previous post was presented to a friend who has since moved to Texas. She was surprized with a mail tube covered in rose flowered gift wrap. Inside I had rolled the wall size quilt to fit.   She loved it, and could easily mail it if she needed to.

This will be my dilemma today...how to present this quilt to my friend....any suggestions? ;o)

New in the New Year

2011-01-12T10:46:00.000Z

My last post was all about finishing what I've started. Here we are, a week into the new year and I can't keep that resolution. However, I did sew up a wall hanging top yesterday. This is a gift for someone, so I will not post a picture here or tell you much about it. But it is not a cheater quilt. It has a log cabin feel to it.

The quilt group I belong to make "quilted" postcards every other month and sent to other members who have made one. I am starting on this as well. They have to be completed by the first week in February, so if I
don't move on it now, they just won't get done.

Sigh.....

2010-12-28T21:10:00.000Z

Today I am making a list of all my UFOs as my ongoing New Years resolution. Only this time around I really want to finish these and not just work on them and shove them back in the UFO basket.
1. 9 patch squares - fall leaves
2. Green and Blue strip pieced top
3. Love and Kisses top
4. 30's row top
5. Pretty floral (Cath Kidston prints) top
All these are tops in progress and I have nothing to quilt or sandwich together. I also have a couple crafty projects in the making.
1. beaded ornaments
2. felt and beaded ornaments
3. embroidered eyeglass case
4. cross-stitch Santa ornaments
5. strip jean rug
I have finished the square for the round robin I'm involved in with my quilt group. It has been fairly easy so far with making 3 squares to go with the original owners square. The next steps will be a little more challenging. These will be passed around for about 5 more months and will get back to the original owner in June. Then, they are suppose to be entered into our local quilt show in August. We'll see if that really happens. I am optimistic so far.

White frosty day

2010-11-28T17:02:00.001Z

We got hit with snow this afternoon which added to the covering we already had on the ground from 2 days before. Children were out with their sleds, dogs had their little jackets on, and we headed to the Knitting and Stitching show here in Harrogate. It was just wonderful. I love this show more so than the Great British Quilting show. The work presented was just amazing. I have nothing to prove this to you as they do not allow pictures. My DH and I had a great time and we didn't break the bank buying any unnecessary items. I found 2 books on crocheting and a spool of invisible thread.
When I was a teen, I learned how to crochet on my own and made several useful items like afghans, slippers, scarves and such. My sister was in college and I wanted to make her something for her graduation, so I made a ripple crocheted afghan in her school's colors. I believe she still has the afghan. Now, I would like to learn more beautiful stitches for hats, scarves and even try making gloves.
With the winter months ahead, I will have plenty of time indoors to try my skills and with the new books to help me it should be a breeze, at least I hope.

That's No Turkey

2010-11-22T19:47:00.016Z

Chickens and Rooster from a friend's farm in Michigan

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Our turkey will be eaten on Wednesday this year. Yep, there's just too much going on this weekend to have to tackle dinner, too. The turkey is defrosting in the fridge and is almost ready to be cooked. Not stuffing the turkey this year, instead we will cook the stuffing seperate.
I bought a 10.4 lb. turkey on Friday and it's been defrosting ever since. I'm doing some things the easy way, like a frozen Mrs. Callendars pie and frozen vegetables. The potatoes are real as are the gravy and the stuffing. These are the most important elements of the Thanksgiving dinner. We will also have sparkling wine and sparkling apple. I have been making the same stuffing twice every year (Thanksgiving and Christmas) for at least 15 years.   It's been tweaked ever so slightly over the years and one Thanksgiving I made it with fresh herbs.....it just wasn't the same. The flavor wasn't as intense as the dried herbs.

Just in case you would like to try my recipe, here it is:
Sandy's Stuffing
1 yellow onion, diced
4 ribs celery, diced
10 slices of day old white and/or brown bread, dried in oven, crumbled
1 baked cornbread recipe from the corn meal container or from a mix, dried in the oven, crumbled
1 cup craisins (I used the pomegranate flavor)
3/4 cup pecans, chopped
1 lb. cooked pork sausage, sage flavor (if you can get it)
         I have also used the reduced fat sausage
1-2 TBSP. dried sage
1 TBSP. poultry seasoning
1 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
2-3 cups chicken or turkey broth
Saute the onion and celery in 3 TBSP. unsalted butter until soft and translucent. Place all the breads, craisins, nuts and seasonings in a large bowl. Stir in the cooked onion and celery. Stir in the sausage. Gently pour enough broth into the bowl to make it the consistency you like it may be more or less than I've listed. Stir and pour all the stuffing in a greased dish. Cover with foil and place in a preheated 350 degree F oven for about 45 minutes. You can also stuff the bird, but be sure to stuff loosely. DO NOT pack the bird and use a little less broth. Sew the opening closed with kitchen twine or use skewers to close. Cooked in the bird, the stuffing temperature should reach 165 degrees. The meat on the bird should reach 180 degrees F. Serve the bird seperate from the stuffing on the table for up to 2 hours. This recipe will serve 8-10 people.
Enjoy!   ;o)

Fall all around

2010-10-20T13:03:00.000+01:00

Here it is the middle of October and something in my UFO basket got done! Just in case you've never heard
of the term UFO in sewing/quilting. It means: Un Finished Object

My son's quilt needed some mending, again. So I had to whack off a row from the top and the bottom of his quilt. I cut off all the binding and rebound the entire thing. Though it's about a foot shorter, it looks great and he will get a few more years out of it. He's decided to use it as a throw on top of his bed. I'm glad.

Months ago I decided to nix the house block for my row quilt. So, I found this teacup in a friend's

book and gave it a go. What do you think of this one?

This is a black and white poppy quilt I almost have finished. It's less than 30" square, so it won't be too hard to machine quilt. This picture looks kinda funky because of the available light in the room.

My UFO basket still has fall leaf blocks waiting to

be put together from .....uhh.......9 years ago?....

yes, I will say 9 years ago. Ugghh.

I guess for me, it's a slow boring process. But, I am

confident that one day everything will be done.

Hope you're meeting deadlines, sewing like mad, and quite possibly adding and subtracting from your UFO pile like me. ;o)

Boars Spotted Here

2010-09-14T17:17:00.000+01:00

Scarecrow Boars from the 2010 fall season in the village of Ripley

Witch Boar-a-lot

Mrs. Boar-ing laundress

Mr.Fox-n-Boar watching over boars pen

Von Boar-man

Alice 'n ' Boar in Wonderland

This one is a little morbid and it was on display in the Church....sick

Franken-boar in the cemetary

Fun day out for all the family. I had to buy a homemade knitted boar. It called my name and of course,

anything made by human hands I couldn't pass up. Isn't she cute?

I need to name her, any suggestions?

Have a Boar-filled day. ;o)

Grand Finale

2010-09-03T10:24:00.000+01:00

There's something about fall that excites me. Summer's winding down and the air is getting

thinner and chilly. Mornings are filled with a foggy mist that doesn't quite clear until after mid-day.

The colors of fall are spectacular. Landscapes of pure majesty unlike the subtleness of summer

flower beds in full bloom. It's the grand finale in our carpet of this fleeting season. I just love this time of year.

I took these pictures on a hike recently and couldn't pass up on the opportunity to capture the complex
colors and textures of real life. I could never recreate this on a blank piece of paper from memory. That's why even if I don't get to creating something with it now, I can look back at these later and be inspired all
over again. Photography helps me in so many ways from the use of colors, textures, composure, forms and sometimes even the medium in which I work with it. There's so much to see out there and I don't want to miss any part of the wonderful Mother Earth Show.

Between the Moon and Mars

2010-08-19T14:40:00.000+01:00

Last night my son told me to be on the lookout for Mars in the night sky. It will be big and brighter than all the other stars but not quite as large as the moon. So, DH and I headed outside in our PJ's and jackets (it was only 54 degrees Farenheit) and stared into the sky. After scaring away the bats that fly around our house and hearing the two resident owls in the distance, all was quiet. It was just gorgeous watching the twinkling stars with the occassional "falling star" which was actually a meteror shower. We spotted Mars without the use of a telescope. We recalled seeing the Hale-Bob comet years back with our telescope and what a fine night that was. It's hard to see the night sky anymore. There's just too many lights from cities and towns nearby, but I remember when..............

Pillowcases

2010-08-10T17:08:00.000+01:00

I have been working on some pillowcases for the 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge.

These have been tallied and mailed to the charity of my choice. Make some and donate, don't forget to go to the website and enter the amount of pillowcases you've donated. The target is 1 Million by the end of the year.

Time for a Picnic?

2010-08-06T09:59:00.000+01:00

On opening my picnic basket, I realised the silverware was in need of a roll to keep it from being strewn all over and scratching up everything it came in contact with. So, I had some remnants in my stash to choose from. I love this pink dotty fabric by Cath Kidston. It's a heavy canvas which works really well for this project. Simple shape and simple to sew and I was done with it in under 30 minutes. We've used it once and are planning another picnic as soon as we get some better weather. It was only 48 degrees this morning. What do you think?

Almost Fall

2010-07-27T17:33:00.000+01:00

I always hate listening to people hurry the seasons away by saying things like "Fall's almost here", or "It's time to Christmas shop". Oh for heaven's sake! Can't we just enjoy each and every day as it comes? I ignore these statements from people because maybe they just don't have anything else to say or they are anxious for the winter season to come again. I am LOVING this summer. We have done so many things since the start of the summer season. Some of the highlights..... 2 open air Shakespeare plays, "As you like it" and "A Mid-Summer's Night Dream". Both of these were excellent along with the picnics we packed for the events.
We also spent a week in Scotland near Perth, Scone Palace, Balmoral Castle and stayed on Loch Tummel. Beautiful area. We drove up to Whitby and stayed for 2 days. Love this seaside town. All the gardens I've been to have been awesome! I'm even impressed with my own garden this year. It seems to be doing better than last year. We're slowing down a bit for August, but we are planning some back yard barbeques, flea markets, more gardens, and going to Proms and seeing their fireworks this September. I just hope it doesn't rain this year. DH and I usually like to grab something for a "car picnic" and escape work for a while and just drive somewhere. The weather could be good or bad, it doesn't matter with the car picnic.

Whitby Bay

Whitby Abbey

I'm not sure what I've done wrong but my pictures don't want to center over the background. I don't use blogger enough to know how to edit, I guess. Sorry. Anyway, my DH has had some laptop trouble so I haven't been able to download all the pictures I've taken. These were from our Whitby trip. I'll get some uploaded and try to post them soon. Enjoy these nice llloooooonnnggg summer days. I'm off to enjoy an icy A&W rootbeer, my favorite when it's HOT and sometimes I have to make it a float with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Yummy. :o)

Getting Out and About

2010-04-24T07:46:00.003+01:00

Last Saturday was one of the first bright warm beautiful days of spring here, so we all decided to load up the car with cameras and a picnic lunch and head north.

Bowes Museum, County Durham, England

As you enter this beautiful building, you start thinking about the fortune this couple that founded and donated all the items had. They traveled Europe and beyond collecting everything from porcelain and furniture to fine art paintings and fine metal works like this silver swan.

This wonderful piece of art and automaton was built by a French watchmaker in the 18th century and is the main attraction at Bowes museum. At precisely 2:00 pm everyday this gem is wound only once and put into motion. The swans head turns from side to side as the glass "water" and fish gently moves below him and plays a tune. In the final motion he swoops his head downward picking up a fish from the water. The entire show lasts only about a minute, but it is truly captivating. It is made of pure silver and is approximately 4'X2' in length and width. You can get close to it as it is encased in glass and stands on a pedestal.

There is a lot to do in the same area as the museum. Within a few miles there are 3 ruined castles and an Abbey. A few more miles and you come to Raby castle, one of the finest in the country. By the time we were done in the museum and roaming around one of the ruined castles, we ran out of time and headed back home.

I am sewing when I get a little free time. The projects I am working on are for charities. I still have pillowcases in the works and I've started on making bags to donate. Both these links to the sites have patterns and instructions. Sometime I'll get some pictures of what I've finished posted. For now though, have a great weekend and try to get out and about. ;o)

Catching Up

2010-02-15T20:59:00.000Z

Time to catch up on my blog. I've been sewing when I get an hour to spare, but I find it more difficult to sit down and write a post. The challenge I started a month ago has started very slow for me. Sometimes I start on a fabric and have to let it dry or think about what I want to do on it next, so it may take me days to get back to it. So far, though, I've been able to work on 2 or 3 at a time.

For this one, I took a scrap piece of flowery fabric, used bleach to lighten some of the areas as it was a bright print. Next, I used fabric paints and a styrofoam net from the blood oranges I bought to stencil paint the purple on. I also used oil pastels and rubbing plates to make the flowers more pronounced. Lastly, I used gutta "lead" to paint on the outlines of the flowers.

I did this one for my son. I like the final result, but while it was in the process, I had thought of trashing it a few times. The first thing I did was paint the background of plain muslin with blue and purple cran'dache water soluable oil pastels. Next, I used rubbing plates and a gold shiva paint stick. I used a fleur de'lis stamp, a transfer, netting, grosgrain ribbon and found objects to add.

This last one is a lot like one I did before except I didn't do the love letter in the background and I added a strip at the top. Speaking of the very first 3 I did, I am getting slightly concerned that I haven't received them in the mail yet. Since our mail is usually slow, especially around Federal holidays, I'm only slightly concerned.

On the backs of these tiny creations I've written briefly the techniques used along with my name, date and that it's a post card challenge. I will start numbering them so I can keep track.

The other sewing projects I've been working on are pillowcases for the 1 million pillowcase challenge. There's a lot at this site along with pillowcase patterns. This should keep me busy until the weather gets better and I start itching to get out and do some hiking. Until next time.....keep quilting.

I won, I won, I won!!!

2010-02-15T20:15:00.000Z

NOTE: I apologize for posting this one at such a late date. It was written on January 27, 2010.

"Why it's a major award! That's what it is....."

There is something so wonderful about winning! It's exhilirating, exciting, exhausting, and embarrassing all at the same time. Yes, last night my DH and I won a bowling doubles tournament. The prize was a Scottish theme hamper with all these goodies. DH and I had recorded the football playoffs previously, so we sat at home last evening watching the games and sipping our Scotch. It was almost as much fun as the bowling tournament. I was sad to see the Jets AND the Vikings lose. Oh well, it was fun anyway.

Not your Grandmother's Button Box

2010-01-11T16:49:00.034Z

I never showed the progress on my button box. I had a real hard time finding the right colors and type of button. So one day I decided to seperate my buttons and put them in plastic bags. It is so much neater and easier to find what I need.

When it came to the red and white buttons, I just couldn't resist on making this jar. All it took was a scrap of fabric, a little batting, ric-rac, buttons, a string of craft pearls, and craft glue.

The next thing I want to share with you is my first postcard in my challenge. It took me about 6 hours to complete it, only because I was interrupted 3 times by the phone. I finally hid the d@#n phone in the couch!

Maybe I'll conveniently forget where I hid it, mahhahhahaaaa!

I used a scrap piece of black velvet, did some random smocking all around and bleached out some areas. Then I added some seed stitches with rayon threads. I really like the result even though the size of this one is a bit off. That's OK, I'm the only one that will see it or care anyway. To me, this looks like oooey gooey chocolate smothered over ice cream and fudge cake with sprinkles. Gotta have sprinkles.

The snowflakes are still rambling around in my mind, maybe I will still do something with that later. I am always changing my mind about something and to me, this is why......excellent results!

Postcards

2010-01-06T10:04:00.000Z

I have always loved postcards. Whenever we go anywhere, I head straight for the postcard racks. We take hundreds of pictures per subject, thanks to digital technology and DH using the button that snaps 3 frames at a time, but I somehow feel compelled to purchase handfuls of postcards. Sending some off to friends or family, but mostly to keep as a reminder of where we've been.
Last month I read about the FiberArts Valentine Postcard Challenge in the Nov/Dec 2009 issue. You make a postcard to be mailed through the postal system, pre-stamp and pre-address it, mail it to Interweave Press where they will judge them and photograph some of them for their magazine. After all that, they will deliver them to the Loveland, CO post office where they will add a special cancellation and poem to your postcard and send it back to you. Apparently, FiberArts has been doing this for the last 3 years.
Here are my entries:

This blue one is my favorite, of course, blue is my favorite color anyway.

This one is a variation on a technique from the Quilting Arts TV series 400. The DVD was a gift to myself.

When DH was in the USAF, I used to write love letters to him and draw the mouse at the end of my letter holding a bunch of flowers because DH always gave me flowers (he still does on occassion).

This one is my least favorite only because it is so shiny. Pictures don't do it justice anyway, but I did try some different techniques on this one with some surprisingly good results. The shiny stuff is Textiva fusible film that's been heated on stamps, then sewen to the background. The gold around the heart is not paint, but gold chocolate wrapper. I was amazed at how easy gold foil was to sew through and not rip to pieces. The red background "fabric" is a used colorfast sheet from a wash load of red towels over the holidays.

These little works of art were so much fun that I am continuing the challenge, only it is a personal challenge to do at least one a week for the entire year. Trying new techniques and ideas as I go. Years ago I started a series of postcards with the theme of places we've been, but that grew old for me and I only finished 5. So, this being a bit different and no theme attached gives me some freedom to create as I go which is what I love to do. No rules, no restrictions, no instructions or patterns.

Today, I will be working on this weeks postcard. Since we've had sooo much snow, I am thinking about snowflakes....... Happy creating! ;o)

Winter Wonderland

2009-12-27T16:41:00.000Z

We've had a real winter wonderland here in the north parts of England. The snow is still around after 10 days and that is very unusual.

I don't know what kind of tree this is, but the birds love to eat the berries off it.

Christmas day was beautiful with the sun shining on all the snow.

We had fun making a snowman. In two days time he keeled over and killed himself by decappitation on my garden bench. We had temperatures above freezing and he just couldn't take the "heat" wave.

One of the many Robins around our house.

Hope you enjoyed my pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them. I want to leave you now with a recipe for super easy holiday fudge. I used to make mediocre fudge the hard way years ago, then I read a can of

Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed milk which had this recipe on it. It's the best fudge I've ever had. No more dry, grainy, sugary, hard fudge......who knew? Now you know. Happy Holidays!

Easy Fudge

Ingredients:

2 cups milk chocolate chips

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk

1/4 cup butter

1 cup chopped walnuts

1/8 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

Place chocolate chips, milk, butter, salt and vanilla in a double boiler over low simmering water. Stir until chips have melted and the ingredients have been incorporated. Stir in the nuts.

Pour into an 8" X 8" pan that has been lined with foil and coated with cooking spray. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours to set. Remove the foil and fudge from the pan, cut into squares and enjoy!

Merry Christmas

2009-12-20T20:22:00.000Z

It's so beautiful around here all covered in fresh snow. Just like that great old Christmas song, "It's beginning

to look a lot like Christmas."

My village is set up in the window. Some pieces I've had since I was really young. My Godparents gave me the first set. I remember it being in a gold colored mesh bag tied with a string.

These pieces are newer, but I like how they all kinda go together no matter how old they are.

In this photo, the blue church on the right,The 2 tiny people on the right bottom, the light green tree in the center and the animals in the center with the picket looking fence were the pieces from that first set given to me 42 Christmas' ago. WOW, I never dated it like that before... scary

I talked about restoring a friend's quilt in my last post and that I would get some pictures. Here they are, finally. There were a lot of tears in the fabrics and along seam lines. I tried to keep as many of the original fabrics as possible. Some like the thin light colored fabric near the center of the quilt, had to be replaced completely.
As you can see, under the thin light colored fabric is a pink striped blanket the quiltmaker used for the batting. This was a very heavy quilt. The fabrics used were from old scraps of aprons, curtains, flour sacks, shirtings, ticking maybe from a pillow, and a couple table cloths. I think the entire backing was a table cloth. It is tied using floss in two colors. I replaced a lot of the ties as they had worked loose and some were missing altogether.
This is the finished quilt.
One more picture of the finished quilt. Where we are holding the corner up, you can see that I added a label. I asked for a picture of the quiltmaker and used my computer to print onto fabric that is treated and prepared to go through a printer. I use june tailor Colorfast inkjet fabric sheets. It's very easy to use.

I am off now to relax for a while, watch the fire burn down in the fireplace and an old movie to fall asleep to. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas! ;o)

Ideas

2009-12-10T08:32:00.000Z

Working on my friend's heirloom quilt has inspired me to make one of my own. I don't want it to be elaborate or beyond my skill set. Just a bed topper that says "SANDY". Something my son (and possibly his future family) will be able to look at it and know what I was all about. Maybe some photographs printed on fabrics of my first car, high school graduation, pets, etc.... Some of the items can be pieced blocks or applique blocks. I'll use my favourite colors and motifs in the quilting. These are my ideas, anyway, and I will have to get them down in my sketchbook before they leave my brain all together. When I made this quilt for my mother, I had her favourite color and family photos in mind.

So, I don't want it to look too much like this. Some of the elements I really like about it, like the frames around each picture and the way they are placed and not quite centered or straight.

Today I will be starting work on a label for my friend's quilt. When it's finished, I will post some pictures.

Giving Thanks

2009-11-26T07:46:00.001Z

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Later when the turkey is reduced to a bare carcuss and all that's left in the pie pans are crumbs, I will be getting back to working on my friend's heirloom quilt. I'm hoping to surprise him with it's completion by December 2nd.

The holidays are upon us and Santa's warming up his sleigh. Every year for the last 18, I have been writing a letter with our Christmas cards. This year, however, I am thinking about skipping it. Do you read your relatives and friends Christmas letters? How interested are you in their pursuits over the year? I've tried different formats, from one line sentences, mostly pictures and comic book style, third person perspective, poem styles, regular letter formats, etc.....just trying to make it different and interesting every year. It's hard to begin with simply because you don't want to bore the readers with your accomplishments or seek their sympathies for all your failures. What is a happy medium? Just a simple "Merry Christmas" in my opinion.

Books and more

2009-11-22T19:01:00.001Z

I wanted a couple pictures for my post, so I dug through some oldies but goodies for today.

This picture was taken 2 years ago at the Henry Ford museum in Detroit Michigan. On display were the "Stars cars and gitars", it was a memorable show.

There is something so wonderful about buying a new book. Is it the smell of the freshly printed pages, or opening the book for the first time and hearing the faint crack of the spine? Whenever I buy a new book I just have to look through all the pages, not necessarily reading anything, but visually "getting an eyeful" of all the colors, graphs, tables, charts, patterns and finished pictures of the project I could make in the future. I do the same thing with my magazine subscriptions, however, it is a little different. The advertising for drugs between almost ever page or so is extremely distracting and I find it a bit intrusive. Trying to sell me something completely unrelated to the how-to article I am reading about prairie points or how to make the perfect apple pie is just rude. I am convinced that people with emotional problems, insomnia, ED sufferers, and diabetics read Better Homes and Gardens, Redbook and Women's Day. I usually end up ripping these pages from the magazine in disgust. Sometimes my DH will enter the room and see pages strewn all over the floor and wonder if the cat has gotten to my magazines.

Anyway, back to my brand new books!
"Inspired to Quilt"......yes I have high hopes for this one to help me with my stalled creativity at the moment.
"Paper, Metal & Stitch"......this one should be a good one with the multimedia work I want to do.
"1000 Artist Trading Cards"......love the idea of this one. It's like a shot of espresso, isn't it? You get a creative fix from making just one tiny card. These titles and so much more can be found here.

November already?

2009-08-25T07:35:00.009+01:00

I have taken quite a few fall walks, enjoying the beautiful color show.

Believe it or not, I had 5 big beautiful sunflowers in my garden this year. Three weeks ago, high

winds came through and ripped every petal from them and they hung close to the ground before

DH chopped them down.

The heather in August was just glorious!

So, what have I been doing for the last 3 months? Is it just me, or does anyone else think that time has sped up over the last couple years. I can't believe it's nearly the middle of November already. If I look back at the year as a whole, I feel very inadequate as far as quilting goes. What do I have to show for it? Last year about this time, I joined a challenge to finish my projects before the New Year began. That didn't happen. I finished 2 of the 6 items I had in my basket. However, I can safely say that I haven't added to the pile. DH's pants were hemmed, 4 sets of shoe fresheners were crafted and given as presents, 1 table runner was completed and gifted, 1 large quilt top was gifted to a charity, a cheater quilt was completed, and blocks were sewn. A pretty meager count, I may be forgetting the odd thing or two, but close enough to all that I did this year. I am hoping to do much better in the next year. There's always room to improve! ;o)

Bonnie Scotland

2009-08-13T11:05:00.010+01:00

We had a fabulous holiday in Scotland. The weather was better than we expected, dry for the most part and partly cloudy most days. The Military Tattoo in Edinburgh was the absolute highlight of our holiday and it was the perfect day for it. Even the sun setting behind the Castle was spectacular.

As far as quilting interest goes, there is a lot going on this fall in the UK and Europe. Purchasing tickets beforehand will save you a couple quid. Go here to find out more.

Juliet sent me some wonderful fabrics for my birthday, thank you so much. Now I must find time to sew and quilt this fall.
My Schoolhouse block is still on hold. To solve my problem with the block it would involve a lot of ripping out or setting these aside and re-piecing the same block in a different layout of colors. I hate to rip out seams so now I am thinking about scrapping the entire block and choosing a different one. Possibly an applique block. I love the thistle picture at the top of this posting, so maybe I will play with that image a bit and see if it's something worth doing. I can't help thinking that I am turning this row quilt into a complicated nightmare and it has stopped me from sewing anything else. Have a good week everyone :o)

Cheater quilts....... Who's cheating?

2009-07-22T14:51:00.006+01:00

Love this 50's painting scene, so I just had to start my blog today with it.

I don't take credit on making any cheater quilts I've ever bought. I only praise their beauty and functional qualities. About 11 years ago, I decided to buy one for our bed. It was gorgeous and lasted about 9 years and went through at least that many washes in my home machine. Recently, I saw one in the store and thought how nice it would be to have one again. I bought the king size (yes, we are one of the few couples who still sleep on a full size bed) since my DH and I usually fight over the covers at night. This one goes to the floor and is like a coverlet so that when I make the bed, the pillows get tucked in at the head of the bed. I also bought the shams for our extra pillows. It is just wonderful and there is no way I could've made one so cheap. The quilting is very elaborate with hearts and vines and swirls all over it. The blue and white colors look great next to my dark furniture. I am very proud of my find and I am hoping it will last for another 9 or 10 or maybe more years! Have you ever bought a cheater quilt or wish you had?

Ok, remember my last post I talked about working on my row quilt. Here it is. I did in fact get some houses done. After sewing the first one, I made an adjustment to the pattern that I found for free on-line. The next picture shows it better, but I combined a step and took out one of the 90 degree triangles. This was an easy paper pieced block. Before I go any further with this row, I would like some opinions about what you think about the layout of this pattern. Maybe the white strip at the top of the windows doesn't look right?

So the yellow one on the left shows the triangle on the roof and the purple one on the right shows the triangle taken away with the front roof being one odd shape piece. However, the more I look at these blocks, the more I am unsure of the white strip above the windows. Maybe I should remove that as well?

Well, it's been overcast all day and it has finally decided to rain. And I mean raining buckets. Before we get any thunder and lightening, I think I will post this and power down my computer.

Perfect Day

2009-06-02T20:26:00.003+01:00

Today was, in fact, the perfect day. My DH hurried and got his work done, came home around noon and we skipped off to take pictures of the countryside and have a picnic. We have to cherish our summer days as we don't get very many of them. We couldn't travel too far from home as DH had to go back into work and meet with some people. But, I will take any time my hubby will spend with me. I don't have any pictures to share at this time. The camera I used today was a Canon Rebel II and it's old.....I think 18 years old. So it uses 35mm print film. Now the challenge will be to find somewhere that will print not only the color film, but I also have black and white film to be developed. It's a good little camera, but I am thinking of selling it. I have a 3 year old Canon digital that I absolutely love, so there's no need to keep the old one.

I couldn't end this post without a flower picture, so I chose this beautiful poppy. These flowers are so delicate and the petals look like crepe paper to me. Tomorrow I plan on staying home for a change and working on my row quilt. No, I mean it this time. Definitely. It's a done deal. For sure. No, really. REALLY!..........really.

Angel Wears Prada

2009-05-27T09:26:00.017+01:00

The beginning of this month brought the annual Angel Festival in the city near us. It was so much fun strolling through the streets looking in the shop windows spotting these creative handmade angels. This one was in an art gallery which is made of paper and cardboard.

Sorry about the shadows on this window, it was a hard one to capture. This was in a florist window and is made from gauze materials, twig framing and a garland of silk flowers.
This one was near the top of the city hall building and looks to be made with tin foil and celophane for the wings.
Here's a unique one. It was in a bay type window and one one side it read, " The Angel Wears
Prada". She looked to be wearing a wig and made from cardboard, foil wings, and fancy fabrics and trims. Though you can't see her feet, she had crafted cardboard shoes on and held several shopping bags. I didn't get a picture of the right window pane, but it had a crafted pair of shoes on display. It was very creative. This whole event was to generate money for the local church, not the cathedral. We purchased a street map with the location of all angels entered.
These are just a fraction of the entries.

A few weeks ago, DH and I went driving and discovered a Chocolate shop where you can go in and watch them create handmade chocolates. Go here to see what they sell. Check out the chocolate shoes, they are awesome in reality. I literally felt like a kid in a candy store, only difference is that I actually have money now that I am somewhat older, and can buy anything I want to. When you're a kid and only have 25 cents, you're pretty limited. Chocolate was a bit cheaper in my kid years. DH remembers 5 cent candy. I don't think my parents let me have sweets until I was a bit older. I remember my Dad bringing me candy cigarettes once. Boy, my mother didn't like that one bit. She thought it would encourage me to smoke later on.

DH and I worked all weekend in our garden. There was just too much to do, however, I can say it looks 100% better and I am sure the plants are loving it. We have a pick-up truck so we packed the bed full of ivy. We pulled out what looked like years of over growth. We didn't pull anything out when we moved here last summer. Seems like everywhere we've lived, we had to pull out tons of ivy. I personally can't stand the stuff. I don't even like it appliqued on quilts or printed on fabrics. I am sure there are people that love ivy, but I am definitely not one of them.
I actually got something sewn yesterday. My son had a reuseable grocery bag that needed mending and a pair of pants that needed a button. Yep, both jobs took about 10 minutes in total. UUUGGHH. I really need to schedule some time for my projects. Today, however, is another one of those busy days where I am in and out most of the time.
Have a good day and I hope you have time to create! ;o)

Flowers everywhere

2009-04-28T14:52:00.010+01:00

I made it to my favorite garden spot to get some pictures of the tulips in bloom. These were just gorgeous, even though the sun didn't want to shine that day.

Here's some more! This purple is my favorite!

I don't have a clue as to what these are, but they were blooming as well. Here's some more flowers in bloom. Love this one, it looks like a lamp shade to me. The tiny blue ones are just adorable, but again, I have no clue as to what they are. Periwinkle, maybe?

"So much time and so little to do....... strike that reverse it!" As Gene Wilder said in the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. That's the way I feel today. There must be at least 100 thoughts going through my mind today with so much I need to do. Being the treasurer for our morning bowling league has just taken all my energy. This is our final week for the season, so I will be tying all the loose ends up and getting everything ready for the presentation of prizes next week. Do I want to do this again next season? Right now, I'm thinking NO. However, I am sure come next week when we go to vote for officers I will volunteer again.

Needless to say once again, I haven't had any time to do any quilting. My sewing room is near the back door, so everyday I breeze through there without stopping, practically. I was able to sew up hems in 2 pairs of my DH pants last week, but that's it. It comes down to prioritizing my time, so usually quilting loses out. Hope you enjoyed looking at my pictures. Have a great day.

Beautiful Spring

2009-04-15T11:59:00.011+01:00

What a wonderful time of year! Everything is blooming and beautiful. Needless to say I cannot be bothered with staying indoors working on my sewing projects. I guess I should, but I'll reserve those gray dreary dark days for that. So, I will share with you some of the pictures my son and I have been taking over the past 2 months. The snowdrops were everywhere in February and March.

Soon after followed the crocuses which were in gorgeous colors of purple, white and yellow. There were carpets of these in the village. They've died off and have given way to the daffodils.

The grape hyacinths are blooming.
And I even found some regular hyacinths.
The tulips are blooming now, but I haven't had a chance to go out and get some pictures. Maybe next weekend. I hope you've enjoyed looking at only a small fraction of our pictures. I just love all these vibrant cheerful colors. Enjoy the rest of our spring season.

dreary day ahead

2009-02-14T09:41:00.003Z

This gorgeous flower was taken in 2006 in St. Stephen's Green, Dublin, Ireland. DH and I took a vacation there. It's so bright and cheerful, something I need on a dreary dark day like today.

A friend of mine asked me "what is my row quilt theme?" Not sure I have an answer other than using 30's fabrics and my favorite old fashioned looking blocks. Summer also comes to mind, but that might just be due to the colors in these fabrics.

Yesterday, I drew up a schoolhouse block and tried to scan it into my computer. The scanner didn't want to work so I searched the web for some free paper piecing patterns. Found one I really liked and it was similar to the one I had drawn earlier, so I'll use that one. My goal today is to sew up a couple of these schoolhouses.

Monday, Monday

2009-02-02T13:23:00.004Z

Yes, I did it! I actually sewed for about 6 hours straight yesterday. So all the posys' are done and the row is sewn on. Next will be the school house block which is paper pieced.

We woke up to SNOW! Lots of it and it's been snowing on and off all day. London has been hit really hard and transportation has nearly come to a stand still, even the tubes are only running one now. It's suppose to continue to be cold and nasty, so it's a good time to be inside sewing.

Didn't the SuperBowl game end with some excitement? The Cards tried to come alive in the last minutes of the 4th quarter, but they just couldn't hold their meager lead. Holmes was awesome when he caught the Steelers winning TD in the end zone. Way to go Pittsburg!
On that happy note, I am retreating to my sewing room to get those school houses drawn up.
Have a great Monday!

Where did it go?

2009-01-30T13:48:00.006Z

I just love this statue of a horse's head made from bronze with a very pretty patina. Very surreal. My son took this picture in July last year at one of those parks and gardens that showcases students work. Some of these were for sale, however I don't think we could afford these beautiful pieces.
Here's another statue made from marble.

January is gone already. Where did it go? I don't have much acccomplished for the first month of 2009. But, I am working on getting those posy's done. I have 2 made and 9 to go before sewing them into a row and onto the row quilt. Here is a picture so far.

They look a little boring at the moment, but maybe when they're all in a row and on the quilt they'll come to life. I've decided on a row of pieced teacups AND the schoolhouse. Afterwards I will measure the top and see if it needs more rows before putting on the borders. It's a haphazard way, no exact measurements, but that's the way I've always done things. It only has to roughly be a queen size to fit my bed.

Hopefully, if all goes well, this weekend will be my sewing marathon weekend. If so, I'll post on Monday as to my progress. Have a great weekend.

Inspired

2009-01-16T14:05:00.008Z

Believe it or not, I've actually been sewing! Yep, I finished up the kimono blocks for my row quilt and added some sashings to them and got them on the quilt. Whew! I must be slacking after being out of it so long as I had to rip out 3 times before it was right. Here's a picture so far.

Here's the top so far. The backing will be a violet color with a floral pattern. The outer borders will be a random brick type pattern. I'm sorry my picture is so wonky looking. It was laid out on the floor when I took the picture. Oh well, this gives you an idea anyway. If you can't tell what the blocks are in each row, they are; kimono, sailboats, hearts, scotties/westies, pinwheel, butterfly, courthouse steps, basket, and sunbonnet sue (holding an umbrella).

The next 2 rows will consist of a posey applique block and a pieced block. The pieced block was going to be a paper-pieced school house, but now I'm not quite sure about it. Maybe something else pieced. Any suggestions? I will spend the weekend drawing up the posey and cutting those out. UUUGGHHH! I am anxious to get this thing done and am hoping to mail it off to be long-arm quilted by the start of February. The finished size will be somewhere close to a queen size.

Everyone have a wonderful weekend :o)

Short post

2008-12-29T11:46:00.010Z

I hope everyone had a joyous Christmas with loads of merry making and pressie giving.

We had some snow during the first week of December. Our front gate looks more inviting snow covered,so I had to start off my post with it. We didn't have a White Christmas, however.

This is our tabletop tree. Our livingroom is a bit too small for our big tree, so we'll store it while we live here. No problem....we have several small table size trees to scatter around the house, just to be festive.

I have a confession to make....I didn't get back to sewing up my UFO's, so I still have 3 to go before New Years Day. I was able to work on some blocks, but there's so much more to do. Maybe that's my problem, I am looking at the whole instead of one task at a time. It just feels like a mountain of work I can't deal with right now. I will continue to plug away at it slowly, just not before New Years is over with, sorry Finn.

Have a very Happy New Year everyone!

It's Freezing!

2008-12-03T08:27:00.009Z

A butterfly block from my row quilt.

Paper pieced Kimono block I am working on now for the row quilt.

It is freezing outside! Our driveway is a sheet of ice. The garbage had to go to the curb, so out I went to brave the cold. I hung on to everything in my path- the house, the truck, the gate-just praying the whole time I wouldn't fall on my bum. Chucked the bag by the side of the road and made my way back following the same path. Finally, the back door. AH, I made it without falling. I act older than I am, just in my nature, I'm a very cautious person. The garbage man, however, didn't make it. :o( Through the window, I watched him pull up, jump out of the truck, looking confident, threw me a wave, then he disappeared under the hedgerow. Poor man....he got up and gave me a half smile, tossed the bag in the back of his truck and hobbled back.

I keep saying I'm not ready for the winter months. Like it or not, ready or not, they are here!

A week ago, I went to the Knitting and Stitching show in Harrogate. It was a good distraction. So many wonderfully talented people out there. I just love to see what the artists are up to in their work. Everywhere I looked were signs saying that photography is prohibited. Yet, all around me were people holding cell phone cameras and pocket cameras. It put me off. Being a little rude, I got in a few of their shots on purpose. I'm bad.

Why can't people respect the artist?

The vendor halls were so crowded, I felt like a lost sheep trying to get out of the herd. Finally, I came upon the Bernina stall. Drooling with anticipation, I asked the salesperson about the 440QE machine. This machine is so awesome, it's been on the market for 4 or 5 years. Unlike computer stores. You would never go up to an HP or Dell dealer and say to your hubby, "honey, I want this, I wont leave this hall until I have it". I look at computers and say, "I guess if we NEED it, we'll HAVE to get it, but there are strings, we can't get the extras (and under my breath, it will be out of date in a couple years, money not well spent)" . There's just no love in buying a computer or anything else as far as that goes..........uuuhhh except fabric! hahaha

Back to the Bernina stall, the salesperson showed me all the cool stuff on the machine, quizzed me about my Bernina, it's a 160 Virtuosa almost 11 years old now, and really didn't have to pitch me much of a sale. Once I actually tried out the BSR, I knew I had to have it. I've been reading about it for 4 years! AND the machine came with some free extras, like the really wide acrylic table, the walking foot, and a free gift! Now we're talkin' !

In just 3 LONG days, it came to my door. Yeah, it was an expense or should I say an investment, but at least it lasts a lot longer than that stupid HP! I could possibly sew on this machine until I'm in my 80's, if I live that long!

I sewed and sewed yesterday and didn't even realize how late it was when I finally took a break.

My older Bernina was the same way, I could sew for hours without a care in the world.

Now if I can get my mind straight on what to work on and stick to it. I am going back and forth between finishing the 30's row quilt I've had in my UFO pile for uummmm......6 years, and working on the art work for my new series of postcards. I want to make them using the phrases and silly sayings I talked about in my last post. By the way, thank you to those of you who have given me some interesting and surprizing suggestions.

Now I'm off. It's actually sunny outside and the ice is starting to melt. Happy sewing to you all. ;o)

Rainy Sunday

2008-10-24T09:58:00.009+01:00

I love this picture. It reminds me of a Koosh ball. It also looks like flowers you would see Dr. Suess put in his books. The colors are almost unreal, but believe me this was not altered.

It's raining cats and dogs today! Why do we say that phrase anyway? Anybody know? Our English is riddled with all sorts of crazy phrases that we seem to carry on for no particular reason other than it sticks in your mind as something you heard one time or more often at some point in your childhood. My mother said all kinds of wacky phrases that I really couldn't put a logical reason to. Like these:

"For Pete's Sake"

"For Crying In the Sink"

"Were you raised in a Barn?"

"For the Love of Pete"

"Honest Sakes" - This was my Grandmother's favorite phrase

"Come Hell or High Water"

"The Squeaky Wheel Gets The Grease" - This was my Father-In-Law's phrase

"One Man's Junk is Another Man's Treasure" - This was also my Father-In-Law's phrase

I am sure you can think of so many more that you've heard or even caught yourself saying. Sometimes a phrase will slip out and I'll think "why did I say that?", and there's no going back once it's out there, you've proved how old you are. Luckily, these phrases won't be passed to my son, he's never said anything remotely close to a cliche/catch phrase.

If you have a great old catch phrase, then please send it to me. I am thinking of making a collage/quilt out of some phrases.

We have a mole problem in our yard. He is just making a mess! I think we've tried everything to get rid of him, including pouring urine down his tunnels. We have tried drowning him, although it's nearly always wet here anyway, so he is immune to that anyway. We bought a trap that didn't work at all. He actually dragged it down further and buried it. Maybe he thought it would make a great decorative piece in his comfy home? The sonic pulse contraptions work, but you need probably a dozen of them to line the entire perimeter of the yard. He has just worked his way around them. My husband thinks it's funny. I think HE'S funny. So, here we are at an impass. What to do now? No, we won't be blowing holes in the ground like the "Caddyshack" movie.

Time to throw away the rotten pumpkins and start on something Christmassy! Have a wonderful autumn day! :o)

Tired Aching Feet

2008-09-19T14:08:00.013+01:00

I love this picture my son took. He is extremely good at this kind of thing. Anyway I just thought I would share this one with you as it has beautiful orangey tones reminding me that it will soon be, what we Michiganians call, an Indian Summer! Here in England we are going through some of our last days of summer with warmer temps and some bright sun here and there. The colors are starting to come out with the ivy turning a beautiful red velvet color. A lot of houses and pubs have old ivy vines climbing up the walls and it is just beautiful to see it in the red colors.

Yesterday I went with the hiking club to Hebden (which I believe is Patrick Stewarts home town). We had a gorgeous day in a very beautiful setting. We hiked for 5.3 miles. It was not the farthest I've ever hiked, but my feet were extremely sore and this morning I couldn't get out of bed. I think I may have pulled something in the bottom of my foot extending through the heel and up to the ankle. Every time I put pressure or my body weight on it, I just feel extreme pain. If there's anyone out there who may have gone through this before, please leave me a comment on your experience. I've taken Aleve and Tylenol with no relief. Today I am staying off it and hoping it clears up. Sorry about being so whiny!

The country wall hanging I am working on for the New Years Challenge is not going too well. As I suspected before, it's a piece I absolutely hate and really don't want to continue on. I think the best thing I can do now is just finish it and get it out of my way. Donating it to someone or giving it as a gift would make me feel better. If I finish the row I am working on and not go any further with it, is there anyone out there who would want it? Here is a picture of it so far............

And here is the row I am working on. It is not the right length so it needs some bars or something to make it fit, however if someone gets it, they can add whatever they want or take off anything they don't like because the entire top is constructed in rows. The blank rectangle was suppose to be for some embroidery I was going to add.

It measures 42+" across and 34" down with the spool row another 6+ " in length ( width will be the same 42+" across, so it isn't quite square and there are no borders, yet? This project was started 5 years ago as a row robin quilt. There were 5 of us, I think, and we each started with a row and passed it around adding a row to it.
Everyone have a wonderful Indian Summer weekend!

T-G-I-F

2008-09-05T16:49:00.002+01:00

Too bad we have wet weather today. DH and I didn't care much we still went out in it and splashed around doing errands and then went gallery hopping, dripping with rain and sloshing in mud from the streets. Saw some gorgeous original art from local artists. Would love to own one of them! Lots of great talent out there. It was so wet today that I left my camera at home, so I have nothing to show you. This weekend is the Great Northern Needlecraft Show. DH and I will go on Sunday and maybe it won't be so wet.
Off to rest my weary feet! Have a great weekend everyone. :o)

One Down......

2008-09-04T08:37:00.002+01:00

Here's the first one down with 3 to go. This was the easy one to finish as it is just a small table runner. These fabrics remind me of the civil war type colors.
The next project is more frustrating. I started it 4 years +ago! Three of the rows have been ripped out and tossed, so I am going to be brainstorming today and sketching it all out. There are 5 rows that are definitely staying, but 2 are getting the boot. It was originally suppose to be a wall size, but it is turning out to be quite large. As I progress on it, I will get some pictures posted. Time to get going!

The New Year's Eve Challenge

2008-09-02T07:22:00.002+01:00

I am taking part in Finns Challenge to finish your UFO's by New Years Eve. I have 4 projects picked out. There are two that will be harder for me to complete. She explains that "finish" is what you consider it to be like completed blocks, or a completed top, or all the way to a completed quilt. My projects are at different stages. So here is my list:

1) Civil War color/fabrics table runner. It is currently a top needing borders, sandwiching, quilting and finishing.

2) Country themed wall size. A partial top needing more blocks, borders, and embroidery. I want to complete it to the very end, so it will also need sandwiching, quilting and finishing.

3) Autumn leaves wall size or lap size. This is currently just a few completed blocks. They will need resizing, the addition of more blocks, sewn to a top, borders or no borders (I haven't decided) and then to a complete finish....I hope.

4) 30's Queen size Row Quilt. This is also a partial top needing more blocks, rows, and borders which I want to finish to a completed top. I will ship this one off to be quilted on a long arm.

Good luck to everyone whose joined in...... :o)

Insomnia

2008-08-29T05:36:00.005+01:00

Can't sleep, so there's no doubt I'll be dragging my feet later on. Sometimes it's just hard to get to sleep and stay asleep. Maybe it's the thousand or so thoughts racing through my mind. You know, scattered thoughts about what didn't get finished that day. Or what will get accomplished tomorrow. Seems like I have a running "to do" list in my mind at all times. Exercise, especailly yoga, is great to get myself relaxed, but usually it's just more quiet time for me to concentrate on "the list". Shopping is also a great get-away for a few hours, I end up buying things I need on "the list". Vacations and holidays are always great, but then I find myself longing for the list and feeling guilty that I couldn't check something off it that day. Even though the list grows and shrinks constantly, I'm convinced I will never be rid of the list. It's attached to me and to be honest I would be lost without it. Ordered these fabrics before our move and I just love them. They will make a really fun quilt, but I'm stuck on what pattern to use. I want to show off the larger print fabrics and minimize the smaller print wild ones. Any suggestions? I also bought this group of fabrics:

Aren't these fabrics yummy? I love them.....so much that I'm afraid to cut into them. So, really, give me your suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it. :o)

Finally, I'm back

2008-08-18T08:22:00.002+01:00

I can't believe how long it took me to get hooked up again after our move. BT and Sky don't work well together that's all I have to say about that. It's done with and I am back. Yeah!!

Isn't this flower gorgeous? I love it with the dew on the petals. My son took this one with his video camera. We were wandering around Valley Gardens one June morning and we just had to stop and gaze at these beauties. Of all the pictures I have, I would like to take my favorites and make mini quilts out of them one day.

My sewing room is all set up waiting for me to get to work. The movers did a horrible job of mixing up everything they possibly could. It took me days to find the legs to my cabinets and I had to find them before putting the fabrics in. My fabrics are jumbled as well, so one day I will have to sort out everything into their proper color groups. It's a good week to stay in and do all this as we have predicted weather of rain until Friday.

I hope to get back in the swing of things and visit the blogs I've neglected over the last few months. It will be nice to catch up with you all again. Cheers!

Beautiful Season

2008-04-30T09:05:00.002+01:00

This is truly the beautiful season. Everything is in bloom and the air is filled with the sweet scent of spring flowers. My lilac tree is just beautiful this year. I love this color of purple. Just glancing across the yard and seeing this tree in full bloom is relaxing to me, then the scent hits my nose and fills my head with memories from years gone too swiftly. It's an escape I need right now, as this is also the moving season for my family. The past couple days, my heart has been heavy with emotion. My son will be leaving the nest. It's comforting to know that both DH and I have taught him things he will need to know on his own. He is taking my love of cooking and his Dad's work ethics. He's got talent in storytelling and writing. He has the tools to succeed, yet in these uncertain times, I do worry.

Since I have been helping my son pack out, I haven't had time for myself. There are so many projects I would like to start and finish. However, it will have to wait until after we move.
Germany has been a lovely experience. My German language skills are minimal after 4 years. I tried hard, but it just didn't sink in good enough to carry on a conversation.
Gutentag - good day (or hello)
Danke - thank you
Bitte - please
Ich mawkta ein mal schnitzel mit pommes, bitte - I would like 1 schnitzel with fries, please
Ich ben Americaneran - I am American (female)
Ich ben Americaner - I am American (male)
tsooes (choose)- informal good by
Auf Wiedersahen - formal good by
These basic words and phrases helped, but I guess I didn't feel confident enough with it and would usually end up saying this along with a desperate expression on my face:
Bitte, sprecken zie English? - please, speak you English?
Most of the time I would get a smile or laugh from them and they would break out with way more knowlege of English than I could ever know of the German language.

My son had 2 years of German in high school and 2 semesters of German here, so his skills are better than mine by far. When you get a doctor bill in your post box with a payment slip to take to your bank that throws me off a lot. I couldn't read the bills at all. The telephone company was the worst by far. I could never get anyone from customer service who could speak English.
Finally, we had to find someone at work who knew enough German to help us. The post here really needs a liason to work with everyone. If there is one around, we never knew it.

Maybe there's a quilt idea in here somewhere. Will have to dwell on it and maybe get my sketchbook out. Have a wonderful day. ;o)

Snow? Not Now

2008-03-26T06:16:00.011Z

Look what we woke up to this morning! SNOW and it keeps coming. My tulips are now buried under a thick blanket of fresh snow. Why didn't we get this in January or February? Nature has waited until Spring to give it to us here in Europe. Oh well, it won't last and we do need the precipitation. Sigh..... Good day to stay in and get some work done.

Yesterday I went shopping and had to buy some cheery flowers for my living room. The flower shop had mums, tulips, Gerber Daisy's, and lots of bouquets with springy flowers, but when I laid my eyes on these roses, I just couldn't resist. They are so beautiful. Roses are my absolute favorite flower and there isn't one variety I don't like.

In my country phase, I made a queen size quilt for my son's bed. This was about 9 years ago. He's used it everyday since then and I've washed it probably a dozen times. The binding is the plaid fabrics you used to see a lot of. They are a looser woven fabric compared to the quilting cottons today. Well, I should have known this would happen, but it's showing a lot of wear and tear. So, someday soon I will have to take the binding off and replace it with something else. Probably a solid double bias cut binding as the corners are rounded.

Here's the back of the quilt.
Here's a couple pictures of the tears.

Now this is only a couple edges. I would have to say that 80% of the binding is still in excellent condition, however, this is disheartening and I will have to fix it. My lesson for today, do not use loosely woven fabrics for the binding even if they are a double thickness. :o)

Spring has sprung

2008-03-18T14:15:00.007Z

Oh my gosh, it's been forever since I posted something! UUGGGHH! I feel bad as I have nothing to show for my being MIA either! Well, let me tell you that I have been busy with

packing boxes up, inventorying everything, and tying up those loose ends before our move.

Moving is extremely time consuming, however, I would like to darken my sewing room door
a few more times before that inevitable day when it all gets packed into boxes, then crates and shipped off to the final destination. Such a process!

This is a wall quilt I made a couple years ago from scraps I had lingering in my scrap basket. I really like the way this turned out and now am sorry I didn't make it into a lap size quilt.

Here's another wall quilt I love. It was a challenge for me with all the set in seams. Go here http://www.jinnybeyer.com/ to visit Jinny Beyer's site. However, I don't think she has this pattern there. You can find out how to recreate it in her book; "Designing Tessellations". Wonderful book that I don't spend enough time with. I'm not sure if it is out of print. Anyway, here it is:

The sun is finally shining today. Even if it is still chilly, the sun is a much welcome sight. The daffodils and tulips are blooming here. The fruit trees and forsythias are in full bloom as well.

The picture at the top is from last May. I love taking pictures of flowers and trying to recreate them in a quilt. Here is a quilt I made a couple years back for a family auction, so everything in it is family related.

And a close-up of the center.....oops! kinda dark, sorry. It it a bright blue and white quilt. I loved the dark navy fabrics in this with the blue and white toile.

The pansy's in the center are appliqued and I used fabric pens to paint on the centers. One day I'll try this again and keep it for myself. I am a firm believer in making quilts and samples to keep. My sample book is heaving, so I will have to make another one one day.

Here is another family quilt I made for my mother this time. She loves red and white. Again, sorry it's so dark. I didn't get a very good picture of this one before sending it off to her 3 Valentine days ago. I have been to her house since, and she did have it hanging.....do you ever wonder how appreciative people who receive your blood, sweat and tears of a quilt you made just for them is treated? Most gifts I give for weddings or graduations or birthdays....I don't care what they do with "they know where the garbage is" if they don't like it and I don't mind (now this is a gift I am talking about like a coffee maker). BUT, if I make a quilt.....that's a different story all together. I don't make quilts willy-nilly. They take a tremendous amount of time and patience (and a lot of other things, I assure you), of course you all know this. So I really care if it is thrown into a closet on the floor, or is being used to sop up water from a leaky clothes washer. If anyone gets a quilt from me, I won't say it, but you better appreciate it. Otherwise, they won't get another gift from me.......ever. They could very well hang it only while I'm around and neatly and properly put it away when I leave, that's fine and that makes me happy....thrilled as a matter of fact. OK, so I said my peace!

Moving on...... I just finished Robin McGraw's book, yes, Dr. Phil's wife. It's titled "Inside My Heart". It's pretty good, however, I think a lot of it is, DUH, no kidding....who is she trying to get through to here, young 20 somethings who have just gotten involved with a significant other? She repeats herself quite a bit, too and I find that very irritating. My son is reading "The Mist" by Stephen King. We saw the movie a few weeks ago. It was disturbing in a way and I didn't remember it being that bad in the story.

Signs of spring

2008-02-25T10:23:00.006Z

I've completed this post card for my husband's nephew. It's early, his wedding isn't until the end of June. However, with our impending move, I knew I wouldn't be able to get something accomplished until fall. And the way my mind works, if I don't get it at least started it will just become a memory or lost idea. So, here it is all finished.

The words are written with a pigma pen. Appliques and background fabrics are all silk. The embellishments are glass beads and small metal beads. Finished is standard postcard size, 4"X6". It was great fun doing this one.

I've set the Valentine lap quilt aside for now and probably won't get back to it until later on in the year. Huh, along with about 7 other projects in different phases of progress. Usually I keep a log on each project and notes or ideas of its direction. It's somewhat an organized system. Haven't lost or forgotten about anything yet.

Speaking of organization, my sewing room used to consist of an awkward table and everything else crammed in a closet in milk crates. And I had to share the room with my husband who loves to tinker with electronic things and take them apart. About 5 years ago, I told my DH that I've had it and I need proper storage space and would like my own room. So, we were moving anyway and searched for a bigger house. Ikea is my favorite store and I have lots of their furniture throughout my house. In the sewing room, I have 2 tall Ikea cabinets with shelves and drawers and 1 Ikea bookcase to match. My sewing machine sits on a 6 foot long Ikea table with a 2 drawer unit on the far end for my thread spools. Here are some pictures.

This is the best workspace now and I have so much room to spread out. My pictures don't do the room justice, it is larger than it looks and I didn't get over half the room in the pictures as I have my Valentine project still laid out on the floor. To the left of my machine is a cutting mat, so when I need to cut something I don't have to jump up and find a space on another table. The ironing board is also in this room. Will have to consider all the spaces we need for our next move and hope we will find a house with large enough rooms for the furniture.

Took a hike yesterday and noticed my neighbors have lots of great spring flowers coming up. There were pretty purple crocus's, carpets dainty snowdrops, and loads of sprouting tulips! Even the trees look like there are tiny buds making an appearance. The weather has been ideal and I hope it lasts with the threat of frost a distant memory. My neighbors have much prettier yards than mine. I planted 100 tulip bulbs 2 autumns ago. Some will come up, but they always look sickly. Maybe my dirt isn't as healthy. The only plants that look healthy in my garden are the weeds and there are lots of them. Oh well, at least I can grow something! :o)

Painful Memories

2008-02-18T08:35:00.007Z

This week I had a final dental appointment before our move. It was sad, really. After 45 years, I have finally found an excellent dentist! My childhood memories of dental visits were always traumatic. Oh how I hated climbing up into that funky chair. After the initial "And how are we today" by the children's dentist, I knew pain would inevitably follow. Now when I was growing up, sweets were a rare thing. My sis and I only got candy at Halloween and maybe a handful of taffy at Christmas. No exaggeration, it's true. Yet my teeth are appalling. Not quite as horrifying as seeing metal mouth in a James Bond flick, but I assure you, I can count on one hand the number of teeth I have that do NOT have a filling or crown. My husband is the same way, although he has fewer fillings than I. One dentist told him once that he has good spit (saliva). What does that mean? Is there such a thing as good and bad spit?

Anyway, when I was 7 years old a dentist told my Mother and I that I would need braces. And would have to wear them for at least 2 years AND that I may need them when my permanent teeth come in. Really, no joking here, he really told us this.....

UHH, NO was my response. My teeth weren't crooked, I just had bad spit that made my teeth rot. OK, maybe it was the cheap inadequate toothpaste? Or the way I brushed my teeth? Whatever was causing the cavities, I KNOW it wasn't that my teeth were crooked! Needless to say, I didn't get the braces, thankfully, and we found ourselves a new dentist.

By the way, my mother also suffers from bad spit and lots of cavities, crowns and whatnot (she once had a gold tooth). My father was no exception either, he had a full set of falsies by the time he was 23. I blamed his bad teeth on the fact that he started smoking at the ripe old age of 13 and his family was very poor and couldn't afford check-ups for 10 children.

My son, has good spit. He has the best spit on the planet! He's going to be 25 soon and has not had one bad check-up (knock on wood and whatever else is around). EVER. No, not one cavity! How did that happen? Well, I'm not going to question a good thing! I am just so happy and overjoyed for him. He's been blessed with a wonderful set of teeth. Now let me tell you his routine (secret). Since he could eat solid food, he's had an apple everyday. Yeah, maybe an apple a day does keep the doctor/dentist away? When he was a baby, we had to give him fluoride drops every day and later he drank fluoridated water. He never had soda pop, still doesn't drink them. However, he had inherited my chocoholic gene.

Now, I made a comment about cheap toothpaste. Over the years, I think they've improved the formula. Not just the hype about whitening and blah, blah, blah. It's the paste or gel itself, way better than the stuff they used to pass off. Do you remember the stuff? It was like flavored paste that turns to foam, no substance whatsoever. And what was with that red tablet stuff we had to chew up in school? OOHH, it was horrible.

What made my dentist better than the rest was that I found him to be honest, firm yet caring. After all, he pulled 2 wisdom teeth for me 2 years ago (yeah, I'm "lucky" because I didn't have them out when I was 20, go figure. This is what my sis used to say to me all the time). He didn't "put me out" for this, no, just a local and yank, cracking sounds (my skull), yeah I could hear it all. And it's a little alarming when he says "hummm, I've never seen that before". He gave them to me as a memento. I have them in a tiny jar on my desk. Weird, I know. Now, when will those other 2 come in? UUGGGHH....

It's an experience I won't forget anytime soon, but I am still going to keep the teeth. My son had all 4 of his out about 3 weeks before I did. Maybe I was just waiting to have someone to go through it with me? My great dentist said that this was nothing, he had a patient who was in her 80's finally getting her wisdoms out. I wondered if the whole experience of hearing her teeth breaking away from your jaw shocked her so much it killed her or at least gives her nightmares? He also told me they sometimes can grow back? Is this possible? One dentist told me that if I haven't had my wisdoms out by now (I was only 25) then they weren't ever going to grow in. RIGHT, good-bye! Another quack.

Soon I will be on the hunt for a good dentist, maybe even a great one. At least I've had enough to know what to look for. In the meantime, keep brushing and flossing! :o)

More Progress

2008-02-06T06:35:00.000Z

This was taken on BEAUTIFUL Sunday morning. The village square had these wonderful scraps hanging for decoration and celebration of Fasching and Rose Monday.

I am making slow steady progress on the Valentine lap quilt. Seems like I can only sew for about 2 hours before I switch gears and move on to something domesticated...yuck.....like cooking, cleaning, or HAVING to go grocery shopping. If it was possible for me, I would not ever go shopping....any kind of shopping. Nope, don't like it at all. Clothes shopping is always a disappointment. Absolutely everything I try on (and have actually bought) looks hideous on me from socks to sunglasses. Do you ever have those days?

Grocery shopping is another story entirely. I always feel as if I am in everyone's way and even though I shop at the same grocery store every month (yes, I only shop once a month) it seems like I have trouble finding everything I need, so I end up cruising the aisles at least twice. After 2 hours of this, I stand in line for what seems like an eternity and everything is starting to melt or defrost before it's bagged. This is why sewing/crafting/quilting is important to me. It's the ME time to create something I like. It can also be the stress outlet I need.

So without further ado, here it is so far:

I need to make more X's and O's and start on the words, "Be My Valentine". When completed, I am hoping to get it around 50"X 60". That seems to be the ideal size for a lap quilt.

My DH has already seen this in progress and I told him it was for him. His response, "Groovy, with the green and pink it looks like a 70's quilt". At least he doesn't come right out with, "I hate it". He respects me and my work, so, OK, I love him......today. HaHaHa, just kidding.

A Few More

2008-01-30T11:16:00.001Z

OK, I've had days to do some sewing and only have a few more to show, boohoo! No whining, I did change my sketch and have done a clean out so that I have space to move now in my "studio". So, here they are, the X's and O's plus a few hearts. I am trying to get the hearts to look like the conversation heart candies. Haven't started on the white ones yet and am uncertain about the thread color, maybe I'll just stick with the magenta color as shown here.

SOOO many more blocks to go. Seems daunting even if it will just be a lap size quilt. Off I go.

Slow going

2008-01-25T15:26:00.000Z

Yep, only 7 blocks to show you. It's slow going for me here. I've drawn out my sketch for the Valentine lap size quilt, but now I'm having second thoughts about it. I started here with the X's and O's (or hugs and kisses). I like the pink one in the right bottom corner......just a little tiny hug. I may even change the way I am doing these as they are starting to look more like funky boxes instead of O's. Time to take a breather.

The sun shone all day today! What a shocker! And it really wasn't that cold. The jacket of choice was my zip front fleece. Usually I have to wear my fat coat, as I call it, it's an overstuffed box stitched down coat the zips all the way up to the chin. Boy, that sun felt so good. The farmers were out clipping back the dead grapevines and putting them in neat little piles in each row.

In 2 short miles I came across 4 crucifixes all being just a little bit different from the next.

This picture was taken last fall and is the most different of all the crucifixes I have seen before, but this one is my favorite. Love the grapes and vines along the edges of this one. It's carved stone, not painted.

My son and hubby want to see the film "Beowulf", maybe I spelled it wrong, sorry. I am just not at all interested in this movie. My DH wanted to see the series "Rome", so I put them on my Netflix queue. It's just too brutal for me, so I haven't been watching that either.

I've been reading lately instead. My mother sent me a book on Menopause, "The Wisdom of Menopause" by Christiane Northrup, M.D., don't like that one. I don't have a closed mind about what she is trying to say, she's just too cynical for me. I've only read the first 100 pages, so maybe it will get better. I have 2 others I have been reading as well, "Menopause without Medicine" by Linda Ojeda, Ph.D. and "The New Menopause Book" edited by Mary Tagliaferri, M.D., Isaac Cohen, OMD, and Debu Tripathy, M.D. These 2 I am finding to be more resourceful which is what I want.

Sunset is gorgeous, so I'm going to go and try to capture it on my camera. Have a good day. :o)

Something New

2008-01-16T10:13:00.001Z

Here it is, all finished. It only measures 30 inches square. I like it but it does have mistakes, of course, it wouldn't be my quilt if it didn't have at least 1 mistake! The pattern or technique was taken from Ricky Tims' book "Convergence Quilts". Here is a picture from the book of what the quilt should have looked like.

I found the book to be easy to read and it was just packed with pictures not only of each step to take, but also how to get different looks and styles. When I am interrupted just for a second this is what ends up happening. I cut the stips from the wrong direction, so I got a totally different result.

Now, I do like the outcome, however I am going to try the technique again at a later date. Probably with some of my wilder prints.

On to something new, I have received my order of wonderful cheery fabrics from equilter and was wondering what to do with them. The free piecing class that Tonya gave was so inspiring to me that I not only finished my "Let It Snow" quilt, but that I wanted to do a lap size quilt as a Valentine gift to my DH. So, here are the fabrics I've chosen, some of them are brand new and some are from my stash.

My ideas for the words have gone from Conversation heart type sayings like, "Be Mine", "hugs", "you're hot", "kiss me" and these would be inside heart shaped blocks. To the X's and O's blocks with words at the top, bottom or both saying "Be My Valentine". Maybe I can do a mixture of both these things since it will be large enough in the end.

It's another dreary winter day here, so good time to stay in and sketch out these ideas. Have a great day! :o)

Off and Running

2008-01-10T07:42:00.000Z

Yesterday was my cleaning day so I didn't get any sewing done. But that's OK because today I am free to sew all day and that's what I am going to do! One of the Christmas presents from my DH was a digital photo frame so I played with that yesterday as well. When I opened it I was wondering if I would really use this thing, but after loading on some pictures and watching it......I love it. It's almost mesmerizing. It also has the capability to play MP3s so I will have to figure that out later. It's a frame, it's a clock, it's a calendar, it's an MP3 player.......no, it's all of those things. What a great present and believe it or not my darling hubby bought it for me and only me. Who knew? Sometimes he buys a gift for me, but really he's buying it for himself because he knows I won't like it and I will just say "oh, that's OK you can use it/have it, I don't know what I would do with that anyway". NOT THIS TIME, buddy.
It's mine...all mine and you can't have it or use it! NNNAA.

So I am off now to sew to my hearts content. In the coming days I will have something to show you for sure!
Happy Thread Trails to you.

Putting it Away

2008-01-07T12:10:00.000Z

This is the weekend we put all our Christmas decorations away until next year. I would have had it all done in 2 days in past years, however, this year I am extra careful with wrapping each item as we will be moving later in the year. I am also sifting through ornaments and decorations I no longer want, so those items will go to charity.

I have taken a break from the packing to bake some wonderful Oatmeal cookies. I can't remember where I got this recipe, but it's my favorite and if you like soft cookies you gotta try this.

Oatmeal Cookies:

1 cup softened butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup light brown sugar

2 eggs

1 Tablespoon Molasses

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups quick oats

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup raisins

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

1/2 cup mini- chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars. Add eggs, molasses and vanilla beating well. In a medium bowl, combine all dry ingredients. Stir 1 cup at a time into the butter mixture, beat well. Stir in the raisins, nuts and chocolate chips. Drop by Tablespoonfuls onto baking sheets and bake for 9-10 minutes. Cool and remove from the baking sheets. Makes about 3 dozen.

As soon as I am finished with the packing I will continue with the quilt I am currently working on which at the moment is waiting at my sewing machine ready to be quilted. Here is a picture of it before the sandwiching.

I am just going to free motion quilt this top. It's not very large, maybe 38 inches square so it won't take me long to complete it. Yeah, I'm on the right track so far this year with my resolutions of finishing the UFO's. I have finished the Let It Snow quilt and it is packed away already. So only 8 more to go, not too bad. The sun just came out and it's a beautiful day.

Happy New Year!!

2008-01-01T12:19:00.000Z

I had such lofty ideas of doing nothing but sitting at my machine and quilting over the holidays. Of course, that didn't happen due to getting a cold the day after Christmas. It hit me like a brick wall and I'm just now feeling better.

My New Year's resolution is to organize myself and my time so that I can get more things done especially finding more time for quilting.

This was my precious cat "Charlie". She passed away almost 24 years ago, but I often think about her. Tonya's cat "Lily" reminds me so much of her. Not just that they are similar in coat, but in their personalities. Since my DH is now allergic to dander/cats and dogs, we don't have pets. Two years ago I made a quilted book about my cat. Here are some pictures of that project. It was a lot of fun to do. I started with the concept of a soft book of only 4 to 6 pages. I came up with a poem as my story. This is the front cover.

This is the first page. The mouse has leather ears and tail. The bird's wing is stuffed and has a bead eye. This is page 2 which has fake fur, velvet and buttons.
Page 3 has embroidery and velvet.

Page 4 is applique with a stuffed heart that's removeable.

This is the back cover. It was mostly machine sewn and quilted. I added tabs to my pages and put gromets in each then threaded a ribbon through to hold the pages together. It opens flat.

The pictures of my cats were printed onto treated fabric sheets you can buy. It was extremely easy to do after an intial trial and error period. I'm glad I could share this with you and it makes a wonderful keepsake for me.

Christmas Everywhere

2007-12-13T11:52:00.001Z

I am posting more photos of the Strasbourg Christmas Market. Isn't this tree beautiful? It was better in person, believe me. There were crowds and crowds of people, so I cropped the bottom to get most of the heads out of the picture. The air was filled with scents of spices, incense, and food booths selling crepes, pizza, and cookies and of course, Gluewein or mulled wine (spices like cloves, cinnamon stick, and orange peel is added to red wine, warmed, then served in a cup). So good, I look forward to this every year.

Walking through the streets was sometimes a task as there were thousands of people to weave through. We would stop briefly to admire the shop keepers wares. Here is some of the windows we passed. These cows are awesome. They really put a smile on my face. Unfortunately, when we passed by, this formage shop was closed. Otherwise, I never pass up a good hunk of cheese! The cow on the right shows a city scape all over her body. It was more impressive in person. I love it!

Another food group I rarely pass up is Chocolate! These Santas were so good looking, however,

I found them to be pretty pricey. They are marked in euros and the US dollar is not fairing well right now.

My son informs me that these treats are awesome. Wierd looking, but awesome. Of course, he loves marzipan and chocolate. I still can't figure out what they are suppose to look like? Maybe alien treats?

This picture doesn't do justice either. Close up these candies looked like gems or little rocks.

Here's the last one. I thought these stockings looked so cute. I think they were only 4 or 5 inches in length, but certainly big enough for an important gift like earrings or a bracelet? Maybe that ever important gift.......Chocolate!

Today I am sorting through my button box. The pile of brown buttons is the largest, and each color will go in its own baggie. This will help me better find what I need in the future.

Wrapped a few gifts this morning and thought too late about making some sort of button ornaments. Martha Stewart's website has lots of great crafty ideas and I saw some button ornaments there. Maybe next year! Gotta write that in my journal so the ideas don't escape me by February. HaHa Enjoy your day!

Visions of Sugar Plums

2007-12-11T06:59:00.000Z

On Sunday, my son and I took a bus trip to Strasbourg France. It is in the Alsace region and on the border of Germany and France. We had so so weather. It rained for a bit, then cleared up and we saw the sun and blue patches for a bit, then it rained, and so on. We did a lot of walking. Most of our walking was on the cobbled streets near Little France and the Cathedral.

The Christmas market was scattered between streets near the Cathedral. It was so beautiful and when the sun went down and all the lights went on......WOW! Lots and lots of gorgeous lights. More than I've ever seen in one city.

This picture was taken between two streets on Gutenberg Square. Blue panel lights to the right and Angel Star lights to the left.

This one was on the corner near the Cathedral.

Yes, I cropped a bit off the bottom to get every one's heads out of the pictures. It was incredibly crowded on Sunday....... all day no let up. We got there quite early around 10am and it was already crowded.

Here are some more pictures. This one of the Cathedral was a hard shot to capture. It was darker than this picture shows and lights within the Cathedral were on. Since it was darker I had a hard time keeping my hands steady enough for the shutter speed. That's why it looks a little blurry.

Does anyone know what this one is about? Any ideas? There was a shop along a street leading up to the Cathedral and above were these 2 windows. The streamers were blowing around, it looked spooky, and on these chairs are crowns and on the backs are what looks like angel wings. With the lighting and the bluish lighting to the right side it looked more spooky and Halloweenish than festive and Christmasy.

Blogger won't let me add anymore photos now, so I will save some for my next post. It was a great day out and I would recommend going to the market if you've never been. We are going to the Mainz Germany market this week. So I need to rest my tired feet.

One more UFO

2007-12-02T10:40:00.000Z

Ahh ha, I have finished the top and am so pleased. Glad I only took, in a matter of speaking, 5 minutes break from this then plowed right through to the end. If I hadn't listened to you all, I would have tossed it aside and moved on to something else. Thanks for not letting me rest. Now it is officially added to my UFO pile to be completed later. Could be only a day later or possibly up to years later. However, that won't happen as I am sure my New Year's resolution will be, once again, to finish all that I have started in the year. That doesn't mean I can't start something new. Otherwise how could I carry on my little tradition for New Years 2009??? AAHHH Hemm...

Anyway, here it is in all its glory:

I don't think I will add another border. Am thinking about just adding red binding after machine quilting it and calling it a day. This is undoubtedly the quickest top I've ever put together. Thank you, Tonya. You're a sweetheart. I have some more ideas kicking around in my head for the not too distant future. Like using your X's and O's in a kisses quilt for Valentine's day. Maybe in Chocolate and red colors like kisses candy. Possibly something with a 3-D effect to it as well. Quite a few years ago, I made some sketches in my book for a Nutcracker Suite quilt. Didn't get far with the idea, but your technique has sparked a few new elements I might develop further for that idea. This would be a good one to start around October 08!

We haven't seen sun here in days and days. I wish it would at least snow. Then we would have the illusion of some brightness in the day. It's a good day to work on some UFO's that are gathering dust bunnies and watching football. Come on, Lions, I know you got it in ya! My favorite player is of course, Jason Hansen, he's the only scorer at times (in case you're not up with football, he's the kicker). UUGGGHH, every year it's the same. Maybe your team will win today, good luck!

Sew, Sew, Sew

2007-11-27T12:33:00.000Z

I am starting to get bored of this top. It's not taking shape like I thought it would. Maybe I will just set it aside for a while.

The houses don't look right. One of them has a side missing. Even though my husband likes the wrap-around window look, it just doesn't .......... to me. I am not trying to be perfect with this project. But, I would like to be proud of it. Otherwise, why finish it? It may just end up at the bottom of my UFO basket. My frustration level is rising, so for some relief I will just take a break. Maybe move on to some Christmas craft project.

I send my nephew handmade ornaments for Christmas every year. He is 10 now and it's getting harder for me to find a crafty ornaments that he would like. I've done beaded, felted, quilted, and folded star balls over the years so far. This year he is getting gingerbread men beaded ornaments. They were a lot of hard work. I can't tell you how many tiny seed beads I lost in the carpet and under the couch making these.

Speaking of my couch..........why do couches EAT everything that falls to the floor? It doesn't matter what it is. My couch likes the newspaper, beads, keys, bottle tops, you name it-- if it falls to the floor that couch will learch forward to grab whatever it is and roll it to the back near the wall. It sits back laughing and mocking me as I get on all fours searching for the lost items. If my husband is trying to find something, the first thing I ask him is "Did you look under the couch?, I think it fell on the floor". It's not funny, seriously.

I am in the middle of watching the X files season 6. I loved that show. Even if it was corny and unreal. Hey, what isn't these days. TV really stinks. My DH watches the reality TV shows. Come on, once you've seen one you've seen them all......too boring for me.

Wow, what a rush

2007-11-24T09:19:00.000Z

Thanksgiving....what a great holiday! Anytime there is a holiday to celebrate food or the eating of food and the gathering of food, it just can't get any better than that. Like any worthy awards ceremony, I would like to take this opportunity to Thank my husband and my son for all the help setting up, cleaning up, taking down, and laughs afterward we shared. I want to Thank my mother for her wit and wisdom in the kitchen that she has gratiously handed down to me. Thanks be to the turkey, the stuffing, and the cranberry sauce, may they never grow moldy or lose their place at our table. And one last thing, Thank God there are after T-Day sales so my guys get out of the house which in turn frees up time for me to sew. Amen. OK, nuff said about T-Day!

So, after a few hours of sewing, I've come this far. I have been dwelling on the words for this wall hanging, but haven't come up with anything solid yet. Maybe just a few simple words at the top like; Let It Snow; Winter Wonderland; or how about Over the River and Through the Woods?

My mind is blank right now, but with some embroidery work on the snowman and maybe a holiday movie this afternoon, something will come to mind.

So, I'm keeping it short today.

Here is what I have so far:

Check'n the list

2007-11-19T15:05:00.000Z

This year we are making the Thanksgiving holiday easy (for me, thankfully) by going out and buying a ready made pre-cooked turkey! This frees up time and saves a little oven electricity.

YEAH. After making Thanksgiving dinner for the past 25 years from scratch, this will be a new thing for me. One Thanksgiving, a long, long time ago, we were soooo poor that we didn't have turkey or the fixings. We had a sad looking scrawny chicken and a few sad carrots to go along with it. But, I remember it so vividly because we were so poor and yet so happy AND most of all thankful for that scrawny chicken.

Since the cleaning is done, shopping is done, and the turkey's done, I am going to lock myself in my sewing room and get some projects done! So hopefully, I will have something more to post in the next week or so.

The sunrise this morning was just gorgeous. By the time I figured out where my camera was, the wonderful colors had faded. There are just some colors that are undescribeable. If only I could get the same feeling in my quilts. Some of my more arty quilts come out ok, but most of the time I look at it as a stepping stone and where I can make room for improvement.

Here's a quilt I did for an family member in-law. It's only slightly larger than, say, a regular size computer keyboard.

I had fun doing it and I like the turnout, but I would change things if I did another one. I should use my sketchbook and sample skills better. My City and Guilds teacher would be appalled if she knew I wasn't keeping up with my sketchbook. Oh well, my loss I guess.

Snuck in an hour of sewing before the boys come home. So, made a few snowflakes for my winter wall hanging.

I have run out of both backgrounds. I know they look the same, but one has silver stars, which I really like. Looked online for more, but can't remember where I got it from to begin with. Not sure what color I will make the letters in. Am thinking about something brighter. I'm scared to use the red I have. It might look like blood or something. Green seems too dark. Any suggestions from you? Please make some as I am having a mental block. All the Christmas quilts I have ever done did not include blue and silver, but I have had this fabric for a few years and wanted to use it.....now what will go with it?

Blah, Blah, Blah Day

2007-11-14T12:41:00.000Z

It's time to clean my house today. Dirt and stuff everywhere, so I absolutely HAVE to clean up so I can sew tomorrow. I have gotten myself in a mess since last weekend. Let me explain. On the 3rd I put away the Halloween decorations and thought as long as I am in the storage room... get the Christmas decorations out. I always decorate early anyway so I can enjoy them and it puts me in a good mood, very festive. Well, I have literally 17 boxes of Christmas decorations, so they are everywhere. The three trees (fake) are up, but only 1 is fully decorated. The other 2 are naked with the ornament boxes surrounding them. My son put the garland on the stairwell along with a string of lights, so that looks marvelous. Guess I will just shuffle the boxes to be emptied against the wall and put away the empties for now. At least it will look like I cleaned. HaHaHaaaa!

My attention span must be getting shorter with old (er) age. I have 2 queen size quilt tops partially finished in my basket and oh, I don't know, maybe 5 or 6 wallhanging size tops in there as well. The projects I am more likely to finish are small mini quilts or postcard size quilts. I have way more fun in the designing process than any other except of course finishing the dang things.

This is a picture of a mini wall hanging I did last summer. I wanted to make it look like a framed picture with a white matboard and black frame......well, I like it ok.

Here is a close up.

So, will I be able to finish Tonya's Winter class? I am hoping to, but will not promise anything. I am so glad she has tutorials to follow or I would really be lost.

Back to the housework and dreaming the impossible (quilt) dream.

Fruitcake and Trees

2007-11-13T14:33:00.000Z

I am in the spirit today. I am making fruitcake to start the holiday season off right. And I have joined Tonya's Winter Class, so am making trees. This is the first time for me with the wonky free piecing. My trees are surely wonky, maybe one or two are a little too wonky? One problem I'm having is getting my head around how much fabric I will eventually go through. All I have in my stash are fat quarters, so I guess I will have to break down and buy more fabric.....yeah, real heartbreak there (sarcasm)..... or make it scrappy. HMmmm, will have to ponder that decision some more.

Here is a picture of my progress today.

And here's 3 more trees.

I didn't take a picture of the fruitcake, but boy does it smell good! I had to nick a piece from one of the loaves already. A little more rum sprinkled over the top shouldn't hurt. Thank you, cousin Peggy, for giving me the recipe. Honestly the only ingredients I changed was the addition of rum, can't get enough rum in the diet, and omitting allspice and cloves. Don't like those spices, so left those at the store. Haven't bought them in years.

Here's the recipe if anyone is interested:

Christmas Fruitcake

1 cup canola oil

1 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

4 eggs, room temperature and slightly beaten

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour + 1 cup more

1 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1 cup pure pineapple juice

1 cup golden raisins

1 cup dried cherries

2 cups macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped

2-8 Tbsp. Rum, NOT extract, the real stuff (optional)

Preheat oven to 275 degrees f. Grease 2 regular loaf pans, set aside. Combine oil, sugar and eggs. Beat well for 2 minutes. Sift the 2 cups flour with the baking powder, salt and spices. Stir in juice. Mix the last cup flour with the fruits and nuts, then gently fold into the batter. Pour batter evenly into the prepared pans. Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely. Start with 2 Tbsp. rum and sprinkle over the loaves. Add more rum if you feel you need to. Wrap tightly in foil. Can be frozen for up to 1 month.

My mother used to make fruitcake when I was growing up. I hated it, Sis hated it, and I think my Dad hated it. Just the smell of the citron fruit made me sick to my stomach and then Ma would dowse the whole thing in brandy after it baked, then she would wrap it in cheesecloth. Everyday until Christmas, she would pour what seemed like another bottle of that cheap brandy over the cake, which by now had looked like a rock. It reeked the entire house of alcohol. I guess they just don't make it like they used to. Thank goodness! She doesn't make fruitcake anymore. After so many years of rejection from our family, she finally threw in her apron. We, of course, were saddened outwardly, but our hearts and pallets were rejoicing!

Welcome to my Quilt Block

2007-11-12T09:22:00.000Z

Hello and welcome. I am 45 years young and have been quilting for 25 years. I still feel there is a lot I don't know about the art and have a lot to learn. I am hoping to connect and learn a lot from you all. Please keep me inspired!

I have a tendancy to give up in the middle of things and veer into another direction if I don't feel the quilt is going the way it should. Sometimes that's a good thing, but most times it ends up in the bottom of my unfinished basket. Out of sight out of mind.....move on, big failure, nothing to see here!

My son informs me I have done a lot of interesting sucesses. Here is my favorite quilt.

You can't see much of the stitches in the photo, but it is heavily quilted using my machine.

Currently, I am decorating for the holidays, so I have taken it down and put up another favorite quilt I finished last year. It is also machine quilted. You'll find that I do a lot of machine sewing and quilting, otherwise I would get nothing finished.

Here is a close-up of this quilt.

I am glad I got to share a few of my quilts at this time. Check back and I will add some more.

Today is definately a November day. It's gray, cold and wet so great weather to stay inside and get some quilting done.