Nice weather finally

Good afternoon,

We had such a nice day yesterday. For the first time during this month, it got up into the 70's. Of course, with the good, you have to take the bad. LOL The bean bugs are out in force. These are the fake lady bugs that smell horrible when you touch them and that bite when they get under your clothes. We have soy beans planted all around us. They are beginning to harvest them. So the bugs are swarming. They were so bad yesterday, that I just gave up and came back into the house. They land all over you and are so annoying.

Oh well, I still had a good day. I spent it cooking for the freezer. Now my freezer is full and meals are a snap to prepare. I cooked up the wrinkled apples, boiled eggs, cooked spaghetti, cooked brown rice in my rice cooker, cooked beans in the crock pot, and baked 2 batches of corn bread, 1 batch of biscuits, and a large batch of muffins. Most of this is now divided into meal sizes and in my freezer. This makes it much easier to fix Kevin's lunch. I usually fix extra for our lunch and put some in his thermos then grab some corn bread or a muffin from the freezer. His lunch is then ready. I am glad to have all that cooking done. Now I can play today. LOL

I finished this little stitchery a couple of days ago. I used DMC #115 for it. I love this pattern. It is a free pattern from Kaaren . I enjoyed working on it, and it only took a couple of evenings.

I also finished a small red work mini quilt. I just call this one Cherry Pie. I know I got the pattern online somewhere, but I printed it off a while ago, so don't remember where I got it. So please forgive me for not giving credit to the creator. I love to take these red work projects and turn them into mini quilts. They are quick and cute projects.

I had a friend ask me to create some place mats for her. She asked me to do this in the spring. I finally got them done. The cherries in the middle are fused on and hand blanket stitched. The stems are done with a stem stitch. I really don't like this stitch. I much prefer the back stitch. I decided to machine quilt a crosshatch on them since they will probably be washed a lot. I just quilted right over the applique. Don't know if that is a no-no or not, but that is how I did it. LOL

 I kind of like the way the backs turned out. I guess these could be considered reversible.

I received this in the mail last Friday. I won this pattern on Linda's blog. Isn't it cute. She creates some really cute patterns.  I hope to make a bag from it soon.

This is what I found on my ironing board this morning. Please forgive the horrible ironing board cover. I desperately need a new cover. It is even torn. All in good time.LOL Oh, before I forget....I have decided to just stick with the cheap irons. I had one of the expensive ones. It didn't last as long as the cheap ones. As soon as the warranty was up, so was the iron. So I will just buy a cheapie, use it till it quits, and buy another one.

Since Callie was taking over my ironing board, I thought I would go sit in my rocker and do some hand quilting. Hmmm..... this is what was in my rocking chair.

Well, seems Aeris has taken over my rocking chair. So I decided to get on the computer. So far, they haven't taken over my computer, but give them time. LOL

We have been trying to eat healthier. It sure is hard to buy groceries when you have to spend so much time reading labels. Now we have to worry about the genetically engineered food. (Big Sigh) I wish I was rich and could afford to hire someone to do all of my shopping, only buying organic things, no GMO at all. Anyway, a friend put this link on a forum I am on this morning. I thought it was good, so I am sharing it with anyone who wants to avoid GMO. Why don't they just leave the veggies to grow the way God intended?

Well, thank you for visiting and listening to me ramble. Have a good day.

I Went Shopping!

Good afternoon,

I had such a fun morning. I went to the JoAnn's Columbus Day sale. I really went because I was getting so low on fusible interfacing and wonder under. Then I got in there and saw all of the beautiful fabrics that they had marked down. Most of these were nice quality fabric. Well, you know already that I just couldn't resist.
Here is my haul for the day. I came home about broke, but flying high. LOL

Look at these gorgeous fabrics. Do you see why I couldn't resist? LOL

 

I have been looking for a variegated red DMC floss #115. Of course Wal Mart no longer carries floss. I checked at JoAnn's and Michael's. Neither one of them had this particular number. So today I checked at Hobby Lobby. Success! Isn't this pretty? It will make some lovely redwork projects. I bought 12 skeins. So I should be good to go for a while. LOL

As you can tell from the first picture, I got all my fusibles. I bought a few yards of Wonder Under, 4 yards of Heat and Bond (I have never used this brand, so I hope it works good.), some fusible interfacing, insul-bright, 2 packages of sewing machine needles and 2 marking pencils (They were on sale, buy one, get one free.), and several yards of tea stained muslin. I have started using muslin for the backing on my small quilts. I love how it turns out. I think Bren suggested this. Thanks Bren.

I made a couple of purses this week. I thought I'd share the first one with you today. I found some coordinating blues in my stash and went to work. First I machine quilted the front and back. I used Warm and Natural batting. After that, I used a variety of different fusibles on the pockets, sides, and the lining. It turned out pretty good, but took me all day to make. So I changed the second one and it went much faster. I will share it next time.

 

That little pocket on the front is perfect for putting your keys in. I am notorious for laying my keys down and forgetting where I put them. I can't tell the number of times I have had to retrace my steps in a store, looking for my keys.

Here is the back of it.

Finally, the inside. It has two pockets sewn onto the lining. Then I had to put that zipper in. Of course, the very first thing I did was break a needle, which flew up and hit me in the cheek. Let's just say, I was glad to get this purse done. LOL

Well, that is enough for today. Things seem to be going faster and easier since I switched to Firefox.. Doing a blog post is no longer so time consuming. Maybe, just maybe, I will post more often. LOL Everyone have a great weekend. Thank you for visiting.

Working on Fall Projects

Hello,

It looks like I will be doing good to make one blog post a week. It has been a long week. We have had some really windy days. Today it has rained pretty much off and on all day. It is supposed to be cold, windy, and rainy this weekend. We even have chances of snow on Sunday! I am so not ready for winter, but I guess my opinion doesn't count. LOL I love fall, but as soon as it turns cold, I am ready for spring. 

I guess I will share a few pictures of some of my projects in the past month. This is called Autumn Splendor. It is, of course, a Thimbleberries pattern. I have wanted to make this table runner ever since I saw it in Lynette Jensen's book 'Quilting for Harvest.' So one day, I decided I was just going to do it. I made the nine patches, fused the applique pieces on, then machine blanket stitched around them and sewed the whole thing together. I really can measure, but I was really surprised at how large this is. It is a table runner, but is 28 X 52 inches.

You can see how large it is in this picture with Aeris beside it. She just had to test it out. LOL
I have this all marked and sandwiched, ready to hand quilt. It has to wait in line. (grin)

Please excuse any weirdness in this blog post. I am still trying to learn about Firefox and I have updated something on blogger. Pictures aren't going exactly where I wanted, but at least I don't have to edit HTML. That was a pain. 

This is a wall quilt called Pumpkin Patch. You guessed it. It is another Lynette Jensen pattern from 'Quilting for Harvest'. I really love this book. This quilt was supposed to have another 5 inch border all around it, but I decided to leave it off. I just couldn't find anything in my stash that I liked with this black border fabric. I think it is big enough anyway. It also is marked and sandwiched, waiting to be quilted. 

 

 I also wanted to share what my sweet husband made for me. He knows how much I enjoy redwork, but I have to struggle to get the designs traced on to my fabric. I have been using a bin turned over a desk lamp, but it is awkward and gets hot. So he decided to make me a light box. He asked how big I wanted it. I think it ended up about 14 inches square. He bought a small florescent under cabinet light. Then he took some scrap lumber and built a box. He fastened the light to the bottom of the box and drilled a hole for the cord. He sent me to town to buy a 14 inch square piece of plexi-glass. I love it. It works great and doesn't get hot. If you don't count the cost for the scrap lumber, it cost him about $14 to make this for me. What a guy! He said we can take the top off , turn the light around and add another light if needed, but this puts out plenty of light. I may paint it some day, but for now it is just fine for me.

 

 I will share the last two blocks for A Quilter's Garden, then I am off to bed. This is block number 11 called Starburst. 

 

Block # 12 is called Tulips. I have all twelve flower blocks done now, but probably won't get the top together till after Christmas. I guess it depends on how I get along with my Christmas sewing and quilting. LOL

 

Well, I hope this all worked, because I need to get to bed. I think I am going to JoAnn's in the morning. Their Columbus Day sale starts tomorrow or rather later this morning. LOL I have really gone through my fusibles the past couple of weeks. I have fused a trout, eagle, 3 chickens, and a calico cat. They are all waiting to be machine blanket stitched. I also made 2 purses this week and finished another redwork mini-quilt. I have the pieced borders all waiting for my Birds and Blooms quilt and just about have all the needle turned applique done on it. I have found that I really get a lot done when I don't spend so much time on the computer. Bren, if you are reading this, I tried to comment on your blog post earlier, but there must have been a glitch. It wouldn't let me. I'll try again tomorrow. I forgot, our internet service was down for 2 days this week too. I really miss it when I don't have it. Everyone have a great day. Thank you for visiting.  

No More Blogging Goals!

Good afternoon,

I made a blog goal to make at least 15 posts in the month of September. Hmmmm! I made five. So no more making goals for how many posts I will make. I don't know what is going to happen in life and sometimes it takes so long to load pictures, that I just don't want to do it. So I will make a post when I can, and that will be ok with me. While I have not been blogging, I have been really busy quilting. (grin) I have several pictures to share, and just hope I can. We switched to Firefox as a web browser instead of Internet Explorer. So far I have really liked Firefox, but this is my first time to try to blog since the switch. I will see how this works.

I mentioned before about taking some of my redwork projects and turning them into wall quilts. These were lots of fun. I made this one in a log cabin style with red and blue fabrics from my scrap bin. I think I will call this 'Primitive Doll'. This one quilted up really fast.Here is a closeup of the original redwork project.

This is another fun one. I am calling this 'Welcome Fall'.




Ok, I still like Firefox better, but it is different to move my pictures in the post. I am having to cut and paste the Html code instead of just clicking and dragging the pictures where I want them to be. So this is taking me longer than I thought. Posts may be shorter from now on. LOL Before I leave, though, I will share the next two pictures from The Quilter's Garden. Block #9 is called Verbena.
Block #10 is called Fan Flower.

I am going to do some more research and see if I can speed the uploading of pictures. I think I would post more often if it didn't take so long to upload the pictures. The sun just poked out. It has been raining all day. Good to see the sun.

Thank you all for visiting. I have more pictures to share, maybe tomorrow. No promises, though, since tomorrow is grocery day. I hope you all have a blessed day. Not sure what happened to my signature. LOL

Winona

Tinkerbell and other projects!

Good evening,

I don't normally have time to post on my blog on the weekends, but find myself piddling on the computer tonight and decided I might as well make a post! (grin) Thank you all for the birthday wishes for our daughter. Cath, glad you got to have a meal without needing a bath afterwards. LOL I am sure you and Jeremy had a wonderful time!

I have been really busy this month. I have pieced together 3 wall quilts and a table runner. Yesterday, I took 2 of my redwork projects and added borders around them. I made them about 20" or so. They can be wall quilts also. Today I got all of the quilting lines drawn on these. I hope to get them sandwiched tomorrow after my Bible study. Whew! I am almost dizzy! LOL I will share pictures in the next few posts. I forgot to take pictures of the redwork quilts. Now they have the quilt markings on them, so I will wait till they are done to share. I am going full steam ahead, working on Christmas projects.

This little quilt is called Snow Treats. I just love it. I am usually only really 'in' to fall quilts, but this little winter quilt just won my heart. I machine appliqued the snowmen, then hand embroidered the faces, buttons down the front, and twig arms. I love how all the colors come together on this. It measures about 21" square. After I get it quilted, I will try to get a closeup of one of the snowmen. I can't figure out how to make my pictures so that you can click on them and make them bigger. Anyone have a simple (really simple) explanation on how to do this?

Our granddaughter, Ava Beth, wanted a Tinkerbell costume. Her mama couldn't find a costume that Ava liked, so she called and asked me if I would make Ava a costume. Well, of course, I will make my grandbaby anything she wants. LOL So Cath got everything and sent it to me. My first thought when I opened the mailer was, 'What have I gotten myself into?' LOL All of this for one costume! So I drug out the pattern instructions and started reading. Ok, not as bad as feared. I have never worked with satin. Oh goodness! That is the hardest fabric that I have ever tried to press, pin, cut out, and/or sew. It ravels and runs. It tries to slide all over the sewing machine. The iron must be set 'just right' or it either doesn't iron or 'well, I think you can figure out what happens when it is too hot.' Let's just say I am really glad I tested things on scraps first. LOL Anyway, I got the pattern pieces cut from the huge sheets of tissue paper. Folded it all up and put the unused pieces back in the envelope. Wouldn't you know, I missed one piece. (eye roll here) So I drug the tissue paper back out, found the missing piece and got it cut out. Then I heavily pinned the pattern to the fabric and carefully cut it out. Sewing it wasn't too bad. I think it turned out pretty good. It is supposed to have a sheer skirt under the pedals, but Cathryn didn't want it, so I made bloomers and figured out how to do away with the skirt. I changed a few things to make it work for me. This comes from years of sewing clothes for our kids. I will say, that if I had been new to sewing, the pattern directions would have lost me. Sometimes whole steps were left out. Here is the back. Here is a closeup of the belt. It has grommets added. This the first time I have ever put those in anything, but I figured it out pretty quick. This project took most of Thursday to complete, but it was so worth it. I emailed these pictures to Cathryn. She showed Ava. A few minutes later my phone rang. I answered it to hear Ava say, "Tinkerbell! Thank you grandma. I love you. Bye!" LOL That made all of my frustrations disappear in a blink. (grin) You grandmas out there know just what I am talking about. Ava is happy with her costume. That is all that matters! Before I go, I will share the next two blocks of the Quilter's Garden. I haven't worked any more on it for a couple of weeks. This is block # 7 called Windflower.
Block #8 is called Zinnia. Well that is it for this evening. I hope to be back next week for some more posts, but no promises. Sometimes life is just too busy to be on the computer. Everyone have a great weekend. Thank you for visiting.

Happy Birthday Cathryn!

Today is our daughter, Cathryn's birthday. She is our second child. I had a hard time finding pictures of her. She is always on the move. I found very few pictures of her that did not include a child, either hers or her niece and nephew. (smile) She has always been drawn to children and they to her. She has such a love for children and they sense it.This is Cath and her daughter, Ava in May 2007. Cath and Ava again in late 2007.
Cathryn and her nephew, Noah in Jan. 2008.
Cath and her son, Ashton Jan. 2008.

See, I told you it is hard to find a picture of her without children around. Here she is scuffling with Ashton. Cathryn with Ashton and Noah, Easter 2008.

Cathryn holding her niece, Izabella, a few weeks ago.
And finally, this was taken a couple of weeks ago. Ashton really loves his mama.
I think you can tell by this post how proud I am of Cath. She has grown into a lovely woman and an awesome mama. So Cath, if you are reading this, your dad and I hope you had a great day. We love you.

Well, life got in the way and I won't be making my goal of 15 blog posts this month. I do have lots of projects to share, but they may have to wait till next week. Everyone have a great weekend. Thanks for visiting.