Paul Revere Finally Got It Right!

Time to Shake Your Pom Poms!

Let me introduce my favorite little baker, Bentley. 

She is busy getting tea ready for her Grandma. 

When visiting recently, she found a scrap of material with "Lightening McQueen" on it in my sewing room. She got so excited. I was really struggling with what to make for the "Shake Your Pom Poms" and all of sudden Lightening struck!

I just wish Bentley was here to model her apron! Can't wait to see her expression when she opens her present. She'll have her own "Lightening McQueen". 

 If you are interested in making an apron for that special child in your life, go here.

Here's our new "favorite" dessert. 
I saw this on Facebook recently and if it has pineapple in it, I've got to try it!

Two Minute Hawaiian Pie
This pie actually does just take a few minutes to prepare.

1 20-oz can crushed pineapple, undrained

1 box instant vanilla pudding mix (3.4 oz)

8 oz sour creme

1 9-inch graham cracker crust

8 Maraschino Cherries

1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut

1 small container of Cool Whip for piping

In a large bowl, combine crushed pineapple with its syrup, dry pudding mix and sour creme. Mix well until well combined. Spoon into pie crust and decorate top with pineapple slices and cherries, sprinkle with coconut. 

Pipe with Cool Whip if so desired. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours before serving. 

I made my own graham cracker crust.  This is how I did it. 

Pre-Heat oven to 375 degrees. 

1 1/2 cups crushed graham crackers

1/3 cup sugar

6 tbsp butter, softened

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Mix ingredients and pat into pie pan.  Bake for 7 minutes. Cool before adding your pie ingredients. (After I tried this yesterday, I don't think I'll ever buy another graham cracker crust. It was that good!) 

Thanks to Madame Samm at Sew We Quilt 

for her time and effort to help us showcase our projects and talent. 

And to

Thearica at

 PigtalesandQuilts.com

An Awesome Cheerleader!  
Look at what I won!

I won this neat Clover Pom Pom Maker from Thearica! 
Woot Woot

Here's my first attempt. 

All I have is this pink yarn, so anxious to get over to the craft store to buy other colors. 
And practice on making better Pom Poms. The one above is a little on the thin side!

The Clover Pom Pom Maker makes short work in making Pom Poms
and sure beats using cardboard!

Be sure to visit everyone in the Blog Hop today, 

so you can get inspired to 

Shake Your Pom Poms!    

April 24

Pig Tales and Quilts

in stitches and seams

CherrysPrairiePrimitives

Blooming Where I am Planted

Needled Mom

Sew Many Yarns

Moosestash Quilting

Nutz4Redwork

Thanks for stopping by!

My List of Things To Do Flew Out the Window Today

Every morning I get up, do a quick run though of my emails and surf the net looking at blogs mentioned that relate to quilting. Much to my dismay (really to my delight -- do I really need another project?), I found a new Quilt Along at Beaquilter. This one caught my attention and my list of things to do today were thrown out the window! I love star blocks. This is what I whipped up this morning. 

Block One --- Quilt Along At Beaquilter

Block two has already been posted at Bea's blog. This block involves paper piecing. Always takes me a minute or two to figure out the first two pieces, but after that I'm good to go and enjoy how crisp and sharp the points turn out. Can't wait to sew block two, but I need to go and find where the wind blew that list of things to do. Be sure to visit Beaquilter's blog today and check out the other star blocks and Bea's giveaway. You have three chances to win:

1. Be a participant and link up.
2. Goes to linky with most votes (non-participants, you need to vote)
3. Goes to a Non- Participant. Just comment on post and say you voted.

The deadline is 3/11/13.

DH Saves The Day!

Once again, my husband had to help me out of trouble! I get all these bright ideas, jump in with both feet and then he has to bail me out because I get stuck.

But the tide was turned yesterday, when he got arrested at the Moose Lodge's Annual Western Days. He was accused of bad cooking and a public nuisance. He needed my help to bail him out of jail!

Glad I bailed him out after all, as I ended up needing his handy, dandy assistance to help me finish  the Hope Stitchery project today.

Adding the Borders

 Wrapping the fabric around the frame was easy. It was getting the design centered, now that was a challenge. Thank goodness for the internet. Was able to find the directions on how to place and pull the fabric on the corners so that it laid  flat.  Trimming the batting from the corners helped reduce the bulk.

Ta Da!

And the lucky recipient is of the giveaway is

Gina

 

"Your dresden's are beautiful! The mug rug is my favorite with the stitched butterflies! Gorgeous! Thanks for participating in the blog hop and inspiring us! I'm from Alexander, Arkansas".

Gina, please email me with your mailing address,

 so I can mail your prize to you early next week.

Believe me, all your wonderful comments inspired me to clean the sewing room

and start sewing again.The creative juices are flowing again. 

You have no idea how much I appreciate it!

 

Stay tuned for the spring flower tutorial.

It will include applique and embroidery.

 I may even add a Dresden flower or two!

 

Dare to Dresden

Who knew that the Dresden (aka as the Friendship Ring, Ester, Dahlia or the Sunflower block) could create so much eye candy this week? I am truly awed at all the creativity I have seen.  

I was first introduced to the Dresden Plate Quilt Pattern by Eleanor Burns when she was teaching and testing the blocks that were going into her book, Egg Money Quilts. We used a template to make the blades and she demo'd how to make a circle with non-woven interfacing. To this day, I still haven't mastered a decent circle with the interfacing method.

While looking for the block above from Eleanor's class, I found these lovely, beautifully hand sewn blocks. I had forgotten that I had them! My neighbor gave them to me a couple of years ago. There are twenty blocks! She thinks that one of her aunt's may have made the blocks, but wasn't sure.

Believe it or not, I did a quick press before I took the picture. I should have used starch! I'm afraid that I may have to remove the Dresdens from the background fabric. It is thin, flimsy, yellowed and stained. Hubby may like the "antique" look, but I think it will be a nightmare to put the top together.



Summer before last, I co-taught with my friend, Lisa, at our Fabric Floozies group. The members of the group take turns throughout the year teaching various techniques or projects.  You can view Lisa's blog here. Lisa’s  area of expertise (among others) are Quilted Jackets and they are exquisite! Lisa designed all her own projects for the class, while I found projects for the ladies to do off the internet. At the time, a lot of the members had no clue about all the wonderful projects and blogs online. One of my summer projects included the Dresden. I was inspired to make a wall hanging after I saw the online demo from the Missouri Quilt Company. At the monthly North County Quilters Association Guild's White Elephant Table, I found a Easy Dresden Ruler by Darlene Zimmerman. I got it for fifty cents! Not only a bargain, but it made short work preparing the blades below. Can you see the kitty cat?

Mug Rugs were quite the rage that summer. I demo'd another pattern using scraps

 and just for fun, I came up with the one below. 

 

The Dresden is definitely the perfect block in my book.
I prefer hand sewing over machine sewing and as you can see above,
once I got the blades put together, I could hand sew to my heart's delight.
The butterflies came from one of Val Laird's BOM projects. 

Be sure to visit all the other Dare to Dresden Participants!

January 30^th, 2013

Charlotte H @ “that Other Blog”

It Seems to be Sew

Merry Gay in Stitches

Water Penny

Granny Good Stuff

Under the Presser Foot

More Stars in Comanche

Sew Me Something Good

The Day Before This Day

Farm Road

Livin' Blue Quilter

I Piece 2 Mary
Kwilty Pleasures
Espritpatch
Nutz4Redwork

Looking for all the Dresden's from this blog hop?

Go over to Madame Samm's Pinterest page here

You will be so inspired! 

Thanks to Madame Samm at Sew We Quilt for her

time and effort to bring us together to

showcase our projects and talent.

And last, but not least,

 my heartfelt thanks to 

our Cheerleader

Christine

at Quilt Monster In My Closet

All your hard work and time is appreciated!!

And to you, dear reader, thank you for visiting! 

Although it has been a challenge to set up this blog, I am having a blast. It is really giving my mushy old brain a workout.  The San Diego Shop Hop is slated for the beginning of March. I already have my list ready for what I want to purchase. I have a particular fabric design in mind that I am  going to look for and hope to find (or I'll have to resort to Plan B). It will be part of a QAL I am planning later this spring. It will incorporate applique (freezer paper method) and embroidery. Be sure to sign up for the mailing list so you won't miss out on the announcement as to when we will start.

I found this in the same container as the Vintage Dresden blocks, so I am going to have a giveaway. I bought two and have never used this package. It contains 15 Screen-Printed 3-1/2" Quotes. It is recommended that you use a pressing sheet when ironing the quotes.

Please leave a comment and include where you are from 

(City & State and add your Country if you are outside of the United States). 

It will be fun to see where everyone is from. 

For a second chance, sign up for the mailing list and leave another comment to let me know. 

I will announce the winner here on this blog on February 8th.

Paper Dolls at the Baby Shower

Whenever I need a gift card, I make miniature quilt blocks or flowers and stick them on the outside of the card. A personalized message or a poem gets added to the inside. 

For the baby shower we attended last Saturday, I couldn't find the fabric I had originally in mind.  But I did find the Windham Fabric "Paper Dolls"by Sheryl Rae Marquez.

 

 This is what I came up with.

It Won't Be Long . . .

Until You Are Playing With Paper Dolls Again!

 

 

Loved All The Suggestions!

Oh my. I have enjoyed every single comment and suggestion. Thank you!

A few of you asked for the pattern. I found this on Facebook and I do not know who the artist is. All I ask is that you use this only as a gift for a friend, relative, or for yourself. Please do not use this for commercial purposes. It was shared via one of my friends  and it came from the Mesothelioma Center.

I so enjoyed all the projects on the hop and hope you did too. The stories behind the "words" were interesting and inspiring.  Not sure if I'll be getting to the sewing room anytime soon, but I promise to post a picture of the "finished" block soon.

I'm a gonna

 

I'm a gonna.....that should have been my choice of the words for this project.

Let me backtrack a bit. I own my business and things were a bit on the slow side what with the economic downturn a couple of years ago. Mentioned to one of my clients that I'd be interested in some part time work if he needed temporary help. Notice I said a couple of years ago.

Now let's fast forward to September, 2012. Still hanging on by a thread, business wise, but had enough coming in to keep busy around the first of the month. The rest of the month would be busy preparing for the Holiday Craft Fair at our Moose Lodge in October. I have never chaired an event of this magnitude before, so a lot of time went into research and reaching out to find vendors. We got a late start, but somehow managed to come up with twenty five vendors. (Phew!) 

And who calls in the middle of all this. The client! Hey, we got some work for you. Can you come in for 8-10 hrs a week? Heck yes! Oh, but can you start now? NOW? Aarrgh. Well, needless to say, I didn't end up in the local mental ward, but survived the Craft Fair, the Holidays and juggling two jobs. (By the way the 8-10 hours turned into about 20 hrs a week by the end of week two.)

Don't lose hope.

(You never know what

tomorrow will bring.)

In the middle of all this fun, I saw an email asking for people to participate in the In Your Words Blog Hop. Well, here it is, my turn to post and my project isn't finished (or pressed)! The stitch I used was the Stem Stitch. Originally, I was going to frame it, but now I'm thinking a miniature quilt? I saw this image on Facebook for the Mesothelioma Center. I am thinking that this would be a nice sentiment to give someone suffering from cancer or some other long term illness.

So how about some feedback? What would you do with this? And what colors would you use for the border? Can't wait until I see all your ideas and feedback! Now, being new to blogging, I'm a gonna go and see if I can figure out how to add some "stuff" to this blog...............thanks for visiting!

Friday, January 11

Jane's Fabrics (Jane R.)

Jane's Quilting (Jane C.)

Nuts 4 Redwork (Heide W.)

Cherry Blossoms Quilting Studio (Cherry G.)

Bits and Pieces (Martha R.)

Life in Every Breath (Jennifer B.)

Quilting Lines (Patricia L.)

Travel Thru Greece (Mara)

Meadowbrook  (Kristen K.)

Count It All Joy!  (Denise P.)

Sophie Junction (Sophie W.)

Many thanks to Linda at Buzzing and Bumbling  for hosting this Blog Hop. 

Be sure to go to Mdm. Samm's  page

each morning for the top picks of the day and additional chances to win prizes!

Countdown to In Your Words Blog Hop

HOPE

you will like my submission...

NEW to this blogging stuff

so it's taking me a while to 

figure out how to upload a picture

and add the links....