Sorry that I just disappeared like that. Spring has arrived and I have been busy. (grin) Not sure what happened last week to prevent me from posting. Fridays through Mondays are my busiest days around here. I spend Fridays getting ready for the weekend. The weekends are spent with my dh. Mondays are spent cleaning up all the messes we made on the weekend. LOL We both got our eyes checked last Saturday and will both be getting new glasses. Wow! That was expensive. Since I am diabetic, I had to have my eyes dialated. I hate that, but it is necessary. I was so relieved when she told me I had no problems. I will be getting transition lenses since I have dry eye and the sun kills me. After our eye exams, we had to get groceries for my MIL. Dh was driving. I had to wear these lovely things. 
Aren't they stylish? LOL They also hurt my ears, but I had to wear them for a couple of hours because the sun was so bright and it was giving me a headache. Believe me, I tried just wearing sunglasses, but these wrapped around so the sun didn't get in the sides. So I had to wear this fashion statement through Sam's, Aldis, and Wal Mart. I did take them off inside the stores, but did lots of squinting until I just gave up and put them back on. I am glad that chore is done for another year. Now I look forward to getting my new glasses. Kevin wanted to take a picture of me wearing these, but I wouldn't let him. (grin) Anyway, we dropped the groceries by my MIL's and I put things away for her. Kevin spent the rest of the day watching movies and I worked on my Peter Rabbit challenge by Milah. I now have my top all done, but you will have to wait till Easter to see it. LOL I might even have it quilted by then.
Sunday was spent doing some laundry and maintenance on the vehicles. Our daughter, Carolyn and her husband Bob came by for a visit. We always love seeing any of the kids. I forgot to get my camera out. I need to get used to carrying the camera so I can become a good blogger. LOL Anyway, here is a picture of Carolyn from last summer. 
Here is Bob, also last summer. We hadn't seen them since Christmas, so it was good to see them.
Here is Bob, also last summer. We hadn't seen them since Christmas, so it was good to see them.
I think I promised about a week ago to show you some change purses I have made. I found a tutorial for making them here. These are the first 3 I made. I called them change purses, then a friend told me she uses hers for a verse keeper. She cuts 3X5 cards down to fit in them and writes Bible verses that she is memorizing on them. She can then carry the verses around in her 'keeper'. I thought that was a neat idea. 
Here is the inside of the chicken change purses/verse keepers. 
The inside of the pumpkin purse/keeper. 
I made these one day last week. 
I opened them up so you could see the lining.
Guess what I did yesterday? Give up? LOL It was such a gorgeous day with a nice wind. I stripped the bed and washed everything, even the comforter. I hung all this outside. They smell so good when you can hang them on the line. Yesterday afternoon when I made the bed up, I decided it is getting too warm to keep the comforter on the bed. So I folded it up and put my Thimbleberries Village quilt on the bed. So for the first time ever, we slept under a quilt that I had made. Ahhh, it felt good. I told Kevin there was no point in making quilts and just saving them. What am I saving them for? LOL This is the first big quilt that I made. I have made lap and twin size before, but this one was huge compared to them. Of course, the cats approve. They are both laying on it right now. Aeris was on it when I took the picture. Callie soon joined her.
Doesn't it look good on the bed? Something very satisfying, sleeping under a quilt that you made and hand quilted yourself. (grin)
Here is the inside of the chicken change purses/verse keepers. The inside of the pumpkin purse/keeper. I made these one day last week. I opened them up so you could see the lining.
Guess what I did yesterday? Give up? LOL It was such a gorgeous day with a nice wind. I stripped the bed and washed everything, even the comforter. I hung all this outside. They smell so good when you can hang them on the line. Yesterday afternoon when I made the bed up, I decided it is getting too warm to keep the comforter on the bed. So I folded it up and put my Thimbleberries Village quilt on the bed. So for the first time ever, we slept under a quilt that I had made. Ahhh, it felt good. I told Kevin there was no point in making quilts and just saving them. What am I saving them for? LOL This is the first big quilt that I made. I have made lap and twin size before, but this one was huge compared to them. Of course, the cats approve. They are both laying on it right now. Aeris was on it when I took the picture. Callie soon joined her.
Doesn't it look good on the bed? Something very satisfying, sleeping under a quilt that you made and hand quilted yourself. (grin)We get groceries every other Saturday. This Saturday is the week to get them. I am making my list. I have an idea. My husband loves ketchup. We cannot find any around here that does not contain high fructose corn syrup. In my opinion, that stuff is slowly killing us. It is so hard to buy groceries any more. I have to constantly read labels. I just put it back on the shelf if it has that nasty stuff in it. We are trying to eat more natural. Anyway, I can buy a gallon of tomato sauce at Sam's without any of the nasty stuff in it. Do you think it would work to use the sauce and add the spices and honey to make some ketchup for us? I don't eat much of it, but Kevin really likes it. If I just make up a gallon at a time, I should be able to keep it in the fridge. I am sure K can eat that much before it would go bad. LOL Actually I wouldn't even mind adding sugar to it instead of honey if the honey makes it taste too strong. We do like barbeque sauce made with honey, so I figured the ketchup wouldn't be bad with it. It would definitely cost more than buying it already made, but we would avoid the nasty stuff. I hope to have a good garden this year, so I can make and can my own ketchup, tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce, salsa, and even pizza sauce. As you can see, we love tomato products. LOL I would love to have your opinions on this. I will probably try it. If so, I'll let you know how it turns out. We are trying to cut out 3 nasties from our diets. They are high fructose corn syrup, of course, monosodium glutamate, and partially hydrogenated oils. (Not real sure about all the spellings here, but I am sure you all know what I mean.) These 3 things are just not necessary in our diets.
Tonight is Biggest Loser, so you know where I will be. Planted in my rocker, watching tv, with a quilt on my lap. LOL I may not get a chance to post tomorrow. My MIL has asked me to come up and help her some tomorrow. She is in a power chair and finding it harder and harder to get things done, so I offered to come help her. I was surprised when she called me last night and told me she wanted to take me up on my offer. She has always helped everyone else out, but it is hard for her to sit back and let us help her now. I told her it was her season to take it easy and let us help. Anyway, not sure how long I will be there. Now I need to go make some laundry soap for MIL. I made some up a while ago and took it to her. She loved it and had me get the stuff to make her some, but she just isn't strong enough anymore to grate the soap. So I will do that in a bit so I can take it with me. I also offered to do her washing. As I said, she always was there to help me each and every time I had a baby. It is my turn to repay her for all of her help. She also taught me how to sew, crochet, cook, and can. She just lives 3 miles up the road from us, so I can help her alot if she will let me. She will be 80 on her birthday and is now very feeble. I am glad to help her.
Everyone have a great day. Thanks for visiting and please come again.
They have really bushed out. Too bad the other sweet potato never did take off. It had some little leaves, but no roots and the leaves never did grow. It was getting smelly, so I tossed it. I have 2 more started, but I think this one will give us all the slips we will need. What are slips, you ask? hehe They are the little plants that I twist off of the sw. potato. I just grab the stem firmly down next to the sw. potato and twist and pull. Here they are all laid out. Most are about 6-8 inches tall, a few shorter.
Here is the poor, almost bald sweet potato after I robbed it of its pretty slips. I never strip it of all of its slips. I am afraid it will rebel and quit putting on more. LOL
After I twist the strips off, I remove the bottom inch or 2 of leaves. This part of them will be in water to grow roots. If you leave the bottom leaves on they get slimey and foul the water. Rotten sweet potato water smells really bad. You don't want that in your house. Here they are, all ready to go join their siblings in the jar of water. 
Just look at that root system of the first slips I twisted off. Too bad it isn't warm enough to plant these. I still have 2 months till they can be planted. I am afraid I might have started these too soon. Usually it takes a long time for the leaves and roots to develop, but this potato was just made for reproducing. (grin) I think if I change the water on them regularly, they will be ok. I hope anyway. 
Here they are, in the jar and ready to sit in the window. They love that sun. This concludes the update to the sweet potato saga. I hope it was worth your wait. LOL
I don't have anything to show today about quilting. I have been quilting on the Savannah Star. I'm about 3/4 done with it, so no pictures. I did finish 2 wallets and 3 change purses yesterday. I posted a link yesterday to the wallet tutorial. I'll post is again, because it really is a great tutorial. It is 
This is the inside of them. Card slots at the bottom, of course. The corn lining is on the back of the pumpkin wallet and the orange on back of the wild wallet. (grin)
Here is the back side of them all opened out. I am getting better with those snaps. They come in a little kit and I have to use the hammer to get them in place. Even though, I had done a few before, I guess I had lost my touch. By the time I got all of these in, they were looking better. 
I think I will wait till tomorrow to share the change purses with you. Otherwise, I might not have anything to share. (grin) Tonight is Biggest Loser. I hope they don't do the cliff hanger thing any more. I didn't enjoy waiting a week to see if 2 people had to go home or if they were all safe for another week. It is cold and windy here today. We had lots of rain again last night. Some of the area rivers are reaching flood stage. Well, I guess that is all for me today. I want to eat a bowl of soup, then get back to my quilting. Everyone have a nice day. Thank you for visiting and please come back.
Saturday we ran errands and got groceries which at least got me out of the house for a while. I didn't need alot, so that was a relief. I also got all the laundry done up, so we can start the week clean. LOL Friday, I cleaned the litter box and guinea pig cage. I like to do all of that just before the weekend starts. So I did not have a lot of computer time Friday-Sunday. 
The snap should have been lower, oh well, they are done. LOL I made some of these for Christmas gifts last year, so decided to make up a few more. They actually are pretty easy once you figure out the first one. I found these on a wonderful tutorial 
This is two of them side by side in case you can't tell from my photography. LOL Here is the back. Not much to see here, but I'll show it anyway.
I also finished up a tote bag I had been working on for a few days, off and on. It is huge, like 18 inches square. I am thinking if I fill it up, I won't be able to carry it. LOL
I used a new to me method to applique the tulip in the center. I used freezer paper ironed on the back. Then I sprayed some starch in a small bowl and added a few drops of water. I used a small paint brush to put this on the seam allowance only. Then ironed the seam allowance over where it belonged. Then I removed the freezer paper and appliqued it on. It was so much easier than just needle turn, at least it was for me. LOL I found this method on a blog. So sorry that I cannot remember who the wonderful lady was that posted this technique, so I could give her credit. Here is a closeup of the tulip.
The inside has 2 pockets that I made with some of the leftover squares .
I have been working on the Savannah Star as well. I am over half done. I already have the binding made for this quilt, so as soon as I get the quilting done, I can go right to the binding. I also have 2 more wallets and 3 change purses partially done. I should have them ready to show tomorrow. Also, I know how excited you all are going to be.... I pulled some more slips off of the sweet potatoes. I have several pictures to show of them tomorrow. LOL Sometime this week, I also need to start my tomato, cabbage, pepper and eggplant seeds. I hope to have a good garden this year. I broke down and bought a few tomatoes a couple of weeks ago. Oh my, it was kind of like eating watery cardboard. I am so ready for a homegrown, juicy red tomato! Well, that is it for me today. I do apologize for the negative beginning of this post, but I guess I just needed to do a little whining. I do feel better. LOL You all are cheap therapy. (grin) Everyone have a great day. Thank you for visiting and don't forget to come back tomorrow. More sweet potato news!LOL
Sorry for so many pictures of the beagle quilt, but I couldn't decide which ones to use, so I used them all. LOL I have been quilting away on the Savannah Star quilt. It is about half done now. I would like to get it done before I start quilting on another project, but I'll see. Sometimes I just have to start a new project. (grin)
I took a picture of it with my hand laying on it so you can see how huge this bag is. LOL
Here is the inside. I had this checked fabric in my stash. It was definitely not cotton. I melted part of it when I touched it with my iron. I suspected it had some polyester in it. So I had to turn the iron down for the lining and back up for the outer fabric. I am glad to get that checked fabric used up. I am not really happy with this bag, but it is done. (grin) 
Yesterday was an exciting day. I received a birthday gift from 
She even put some thread inside of it and it is Guterman. How sweet was this! Thank you so much, Bren. I love it and already have put some of the thread to use. (grin)
Well, I have about an hour till it gets dark. I really feel the need to get outside and walk around, so I am going to go ahead and post this. I hope you all have a great evening. Thanks for visiting and please come again. 
Ok, enough about the sweet potatoes. LOL Yesterday, I decided to try one of my new patterns. A new pattern is always harder until that first one is made. This took me pretty much all day. I picked out 4 coordinating fat quarters and went to work. I think it turned out pretty cute.
It would have looked better with a black zipper, but all I had was this navy blue, so I used what I had. (grin) Here is the top of it zipped closed. It looks lopsided in the photo, but it isn't. Photographer, I am not. LOL
If I make any more of these, I will change some things. There were several places in this pattern that I know it can be done easier. (grin) It has one pocket on the front. The pocket is deeper than it looks from this angle. Again, the photograher's fault. Well, what do you think? It called for quilted fabric, but since I didn't have any, I quilted it myself on the machine. I used a piece of quilting fleece on the back and quilted either 1 inch or 1 1/4 inch squares on it. (I can't remember right off hand.) I used my little quilting helper thingy. (Sorry, don't know what it is called, but it fastens to the foot holder and runs along the line of stitching you have just done so that you have even rows of stitching.) I sewed all the vertical lines first, then came back and sewed all the horizontal lines. I am sure this is much more than you wanted to know. Sorry.
Today I have cut out another bag. I call this a hobo bag, not sure what the official name is. I want to get it sewed together, but also want to work on the beagle quilt. I sure wish I didn't have to sleep. I also have not done any hand quilting in a week. Can you believe it? I really need to get back to that, but I am also having fun making purses and bags. LOL Here is what I am working on. I put a couple of scraps of the fabric around the picture on the pattern front. The outside of the bag will be the blue with daisies and the lining will be the blue/white checked.
I think I will try to get the beagle quilt ready to applique the little dogs around it. I can work on the bag while K is home, but I want his quilt to be a surprise. So I need to get off here and get to work. Everyone have a wonderful day. Thank you for visiting and please come again.
They had fat quarters for $.99 each, so of course I had to have some. LOL I can see some of these becoming purses. Can't you? 
I also bought some Warm and Natural cotton batting. It was on sale for $5.99 a yard when it is normally $10.99. So I got a few yards. I also picked up a couple of pieces of fabric for backgrounds. I am sadly lacking in background fabric. 
So, this is what I spent my birthday money on. (big grin) You are supposed to buy something you love with birthday money. Right? I spent $88, but my receipt said that I had saved $136. How cool is that!? 
Dh drove me yesterday because I hate driving on snow. We stopped by a deli on the way home and got some chicken strips, stuffed mushrooms, and jalapeno poppers. Oh my, those jalapeno poppers were good. I hate hot stuff, but was assured that they were not hot. I don't know why, but they weren't hot, but so good! I also picked up one piece of cake. I wanted a cake for my birthday, but not a whole one, so I bought myself one piece. I will eat it later. Dh didn't want any. I know I am not supposed to have it, but it just wouldn't be my birthday without a piece of cake. You know what I mean? This morning, my sweet K also handed me a Hershey's bar. He knows how much I love them. He said he only bought it for me because it was a special day. So can you see a sugar high for me today? LOL I had better do lots of walking around to burn it off. 
I love these books. The apron book has a few patterns, but lots of little short stories about aprons and beautiful pictures of them and some hints and tips about different things. I read it through in one sitting. I have already been planning some pot holders to make from the other book. It has some cute patterns. Now the mug is just the best. You probably can't read it, but it has my very favorite Bible verse on the front of it. It is Phil. 4:13 'I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.' I just love the inside of it as well. 
