Tuesday, October 30, 2012

it's about time!

Yesterday I was cleaning rummaging in my sewing room closet and I came across these blocks which I had forgotten all about. Go ahead and look, I'll wait. Cute huh? and did you notice the date on that post? Yup, it was TWO YEARS AGO! Oops. I probably should have put these together by now!

So, that's what I did. Quilt top ready to be quilted. Just in time for Halloween!
Do you ever find half finished projects that you've forgotten about? Please tell me I am not alone!

Hoping all of my bloggy friends who live back east are safe and dry. You are in my prayers....

Monday, October 29, 2012

happy birthday...



My handsome son turns 20 today! So proud of him and all that he has accomplished already. Happy Birthday Steve! Love you so much.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

ticker tape parade

I can finally show you my finished ticker tape quilt! A whole year of work and I love it!
Today we had a "ticker tape parade" at The Quilt Asylum. All of us who had finished our quilts brought them to share. We looked at all of them and voted for our favorite. That was HARD! They are all so beautiful, and, once again, very different.....










 In the end, Lois won the vote with this gorgeous quilt!
Oh, there was another prize too. Every month, if you didn't finish your blocks, you paid money into a kitty (actually it was a tin with Joan Jetson on it. Do you remember the Jetsons?) If you DID finish your blocks, you got to put your name in the drawing. Well guess who won Joan Jetson? ME! I was shocked!

What a fun project. We've started on our next monthly challenge, a row quilt along. I'll share that with you as we go. Congrats to Lois, your quilt is so awesome!

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Kaffe swap block show and tell


What a good time I had at The Quilt Asylum today, seeing everyone's Kaffe quilts. It's hard to believe we all started with the same stack of blocks (basically!). I love love love to see how everyone puts them together differently. Bonnie said this is the first time she's done a pieced back (top right) and I think it came out just beautiful. Amazing what different sashings, setting blocks and borders can do to create totally different quilts. So much inspiration!

We're taking a break from our block swaps until after the first of the year. I'm so glad I got involved in this group this year. It has pushed my creativity one step farther!

Friday, October 26, 2012

a new love...

Look what came to live at my house!
 It's a Janome Memory Craft 6600 that has been well loved and cared for by a friend of mine. She is getting a different machine so she put this one up for adoption (ok, she's selling it, but doesn't putting it up for adoption sound kinder? Maybe?). She was nice enough to let me take it home yesterday to take it for a test drive and I'm in love. I've decided to keep it! Aren't I lucky?
 Today I made another church ladies apron, my first project on my new machine.
 Look! I even tried out one of the fancy stitches on the pockets...
 This will be hopping in the box with the stockings I showed you the other day.

I'm feeling very very lucky right now! Happy weekend everyone!

Monday, October 22, 2012

Christmas stitching

First off, I never showed you the beautiful potholder I received in the swap at The Quilt Asylum. Thank you Lois! This is a wonderful addition to my Christmas decorations. I will think of you every year when I hang it for the holidays.
 I have been working hard to fill orders for customers (who also happen to be special friends!) I made these to send to Sue....
 They were fun to create. Maybe I will actually make new stockings for my family this year?

And look what my sweet hubby brought me back from a business trip to Germany! A gorgeous porcelain thimble. Love that man! And my thimble too.
Are you doing any Christmas crafting yet?

Saturday, October 20, 2012

a fabulous dinner....

 Check out the new cookbook I found yesterday...

Can you see who the authors are? Jilly Lagasse and Jessie Lagasse Swanson, Emeril's daughters. I never knew he had two daughters who are gluten free. Can you imagine being the child of a great chef like Emeril and not being able to eat a lot of what he makes? Yikes! These two gals have put together an awesome collection of recipes, many of them gluten free recreations of their dad's favorite dishes. I had a wonderful time leafing through it today and marking many recipes that I want to try.

First up, beef stroganoff. Remember when Emeril used to say "I wish you had smellovision so you could smell how good this is"? Yeah, that's how I feel right now!
This dish was not hard to make, but took a little time. I did cut the amount of onions in half & there were still plenty. I also learned about "creme fraiche" a new to me ingredient (kind of like an upscale sour cream). Oh, and I left out the peas. Peas in beef stroganoff? No thanks.

Here's mine, served over gluten free noodles. I should have taken a picture of my empty plate. And hubby's empty plate. And Ally's empty plate. A win! We'll be making this again.

Monday, October 15, 2012

winner!


The traveling stash box is ready to move on! So I turned to my friend the random number generator this morning....

Random number between 1 and 8:              5

#5 is Barb! Congratulations Barb! Barb said:
Wow! Look at how stuffed that box is. How fun! I've just learned about the traveling stash boxes this morning, and that sound like a lot of fun. Would love to play along. This week I'm working on a Halloween wall hanging - for myself!

I have emailed Barb and will ship the box off to her before the week is out (as soon as I get my car back from the shop. sigh. don't ask)

The good news is, without a car I am stuck in my sewing room... not a bad thing! 

Friday, October 12, 2012

fusion blanket... FINISHED!

Wow. This one took longer than I expected. But my fusion blanket is DONE! It ended up being about 34 x 46 inches, perfect baby size. 
 and the other side...
 I decided to put a ruffly border all the way around and I'm really glad I did. It just finishes it off. All I did was put 4 double crochets into each stitch all the way around (8 in each corner) and it ruffled itself up nicely. I had one of those giant skeins of baby sport yarn and I ended up with 12 inches left at the end! Talk about planning (or luck!)
Check that off the list....

Have you entered my traveling stash box giveaway? There's still time!

Thursday, October 11, 2012

traveling stash box... are you next?

Remember this box I showed you the other day? I received it from Jen over at Miss Punkie Pie...
Well I took a few things out that I really like and think I might use. A few fabrics (of course the polka dots called my name!), a pattern and a couple of zippers (free zippers! Yay!)

 Then I found some things in my stash to pass along and I put them into the already-overflowing-box...
 And now it is ready to pass on to one of you! I can only ship this very heavy box in the US. I'm sorry international readers. Only US readers can compete for this one.

Here's what you need to do:
Leave a comment on this post. Tell me what you are working on this week. Or tell me what you are hoping to find in the box.

For a second entry, follow my blog. Then leave a second comment telling me that you are a follower.

I will choose a random winner on Monday, October 15 and ship the box off to you next week! Good luck!



Tuesday, October 9, 2012

in my mail today

Last week I was the lucky winner over on Jen's blog of the traveling stash box. Today it arrived on my doorstep....

You might wonder what a traveling stash box is? Well, it's exactly like it sounds! This box has been traveling for nearly 2 years. It is jam packed full of fabric, patterns, notions and doodads (that's code for "the rest of the stuff") that other people have decided they no longer need in their stash. Fun stuff! If it arrives at your house, you dig through and find things you love to keep, replace them with things from your own stash, blog about the box, pick a winner to receive it next, and send it on. I'm not kidding you, this box is bursting at the seams!

Keep your eye on this space. In a few days I will show you what I have decided to keep from the box then we'll have a little contest to determine the next recipient.

Saturday, October 6, 2012

learning to sew - lesson two

Two weeks ago, three fun gals from my junior high Sunday School class came over to begin learning to sew. We focused on sewing buttons that day. You can read about our first adventure here. Well they must have enjoyed it because they all came back today! They had asked if they could make drawstring backsacks, which I thought would be a terrific first machine sewing project. They each brought 1/2 yard of fabric and 3 yards of cording of their choice. I was so amazed at how quickly they took to the sewing machine!

I let them all use my Janome which has some nice features like a slow down/speed up lever (we stuck with "slow down mode" today) and a needle down...

The girls learned about fabric today, like what a selvage is, how to rotary cut straight edges, what a stash is (no we do not throw  away that extra piece we cut off!) They learned how to box the bottom corners and they did all their own pressing too...

By the end of the morning, there were three completed backsacks! Great job girls.

 We even made time to repair a torn pocket on a hoodie....

The girls want to make pillowcases next time. I'm so glad they are enjoying learning to sew!

Thursday, October 4, 2012

potholder to swap

Next Monday is our next swap at The Quilt Asylum. It's a potholder swap. So I thought I'd better whip up a potholder. I had several blocks left over from our Kaffe swap, and they are so pretty I can't let them go to waste. So I took one of my Kaffe blocks and some extra Kaffe scraps and made a double disappearing nine patch block. Quilted it with some insulbright and....
 Hmmm. It's a potholder but it's kind of boring I think. Useful but not very swap worthy. Especially when I started seeing some that others had made posted on Facebook. Boo. So I started again.

I used some of the Halloween scraps I had left from my lil twister quilt and this tutorial and I like this much better. Here's the front...
 and a cool pocket on the back for your hand.....
Now I'm ready to swap!

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Crafty Tuesday October

October? Really? How the heck did that happen? Well I'm not sure, but it is indeed October! The first Tuesday in October which means... you guessed it... it's 

Crafty Tuesday!

We had a big group today. Five of us crafting, chatting, munching... you get the picture. Trae was working away at her row for her row quilt (more on that later in the week).

 Joellen was stitching away on her Birdie Stitches blocks...
 Cheryl was scrapbooking looking through her youngest daughter (age 11)s baby pictures and chatting with Melissa, who was making journals for an upcoming women's retreat that she is leading.
 And I was sewing the binding on my Kaffe swap block quilt. It's done! And since I had these lovely assistants to help me, we all went outside for a photo shoot...
 And Kaffe on the back too....
What did you do to celebrate Crafty Tuesday?

Monday, October 1, 2012

pattern review.... Church Ladies' Apron

A friend of mine asked me to make her a couple of aprons for Christmas gifts. After the two of us perused Pinterest for a while, she decided she really loved these aprons. I thought the pattern looked really great so I ordered it online. It's the Church Ladies' Apron pattern. 
 I must say that this pattern did not disappoint! The whole pattern takes just one yard of 2 coordinating fabrics (I used some Denyse Schmidt fabrics I had on hand from Joanns). It went together in just a couple of hours. I love the contrasting pockets and the fun scalloped edge on the bottom.
 The really cool thing is that the apron is completely reversible! All of the seams are totally encased so there are no raw edges anywhere. Sweet!
I'll be keeping this one for myself (no, it doesn't match my kitchen, but really? It's so pretty!) and can't wait to make some more.

The Church Ladies' Apron Pattern gets 2 thumbs up from this girl!