I'm ready

Yesterday's vacuuming in the craft room turned into a full-blown cleaning. It's so nice to go in and not see a mound of fabric, a pile of papers, and have to worry about the stray straight pin.

Actual room to sew, a place to write notes and a handy dandy calendar.
This was the biggest dumping spot in the whole room. I haven't used this machine as much lately and it became a catch-all. Now I can see it and maybe even use it. I laid out a project so I wouldn't lose it.

Six more projects gathered up and put on the old ironing board so I don't lose them. I sure seem to lose a bunch of stuff when I'm crafting.

I'm going to challenge myself to use what I have and where possible use thrifted items. I really want some new fabric and the only way I can justify it is to use up what I have on hand. My stash isn't as large as what some people have, but I'm tired of it and it needs turned over.

So, who's with me? Sandra says she's going to give it a shot. I happen to know somebody that just bought a ton of fabric and wonder if she might play too.

Do what you can do and have fun. Set your own personal goals and share with us what you create.

National Sewing Month

Above logo shamelessly taken from here.

Yes! A whole month dedicated to one of my favorite past-times.

Now this is something I can get behind, on top of, under, and into. In other words, I'm all over it. HA!

So far I've got 21 projects lined up for September. Some of them are small, quick, and easy. Some are bigger and will take a couple of days. I'm shooting for sewing at least 30 minutes a day and more if I can squeeze it in. (Danged homework!)

These sewing projects are going to be all over the place, kind of like my mind. In other words, it's not just going to be quilts or aprons.

I'm off to oil machines, find fabric, and make sure I have plenty of needles and thread. I should probably vacuum the sewing room while I'm at it.

See you Monday!

Canning 2008

I'm about to start on a new adventure and need some side-bar space. See that canning nonsense over yonder on the left? It's about to go poof!

What I managed to get canned in 2008, though not nearly enough.
* Beef & veggie soup - 8 qts + 10 pints
* Beef soup base - 4 qts
* Black-eyed peas - 19 pints
* Bread and Butter pickles - 8 pints
* Chicken & Rice soup - 12 qts + 12 pints
* Cinnamon pickles - 10 pints
* Corn - 21 pints
* Green beans - 28 pints
* Green chili stew - 36 pints
* Peach jam - 17 half-pints
* Pickled okra - 6 pints
* Pickled peppers - 1 x 12 ounces
* Pinto beans - 7 quarts
* Purple hull peas - 15 pints
* Salsa - 4 x 12 ounces
* Spiced peaches - 2 quarts
* Strawberry jam - 12 half-pints
* Tomatoes - 6 half-pints

Let's see, 33 quarts, 165 pints, 35 half-pints, and 5 x 12 ounce jars.

Whew!

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful for my friends and family. Without them, I don't know where I'd be or what I'd be doing.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Mom!Sorry I caught you with your eyes closed and a napkin in front of your face. :)

Here's a little poem from me to you.

Roses are red
Violets are blue
You're my momma
And I love you!

I hope you had a great day.

Love,
your oldest daughter

Where does the time go?

Let's see. This weekend was the city-wide garage sale. I have to admit it was disappointing. I didn't find much of anything at all. Well, at least nothing I was really looking for anyway.
Out of 40 sales, this is all I bought. How sad. I think I may pass next year.

Here's what I ended up doing with my dressed up sunflowers. The basket and leaves are thrift store finds. The cat-tails were cut from the local fishing hole a couple of years ago and dried. The rust flowers were $1 from the dollar store. For very little money I've got a new centerpiece for the dining table.

I'm working on some stuff for September. Does anybody know what September is?

Tea-dyed quilt top

Here it is.
The effect is subtle until you plop a piece of undyed background on there. Then, you can really tell the difference. I prefer the muddy look as opposed to the glaring white.I have no idea when I'll get this quilted. The fall semester started today and I have homework and tests again.

We're still waiting to find out the sex of the baby so I'll know what to do for a baby quilt. She had an ultrasound Monday, but the baby had it's legs crossed. She goes back in two weeks. I'm thinking about doing Card Trick for the pattern. We'll see.

Dressed up Sunflowers

The other day we were out and about and saw some really cute sunflower bunches with a not-so-cute price tag. I thought to myself, I can do that. I say that a lot and then never do it.

So, grab a handful or three of sunflowers from your local dollar store. I paid $1 per bunch and got three. These are kind of blah and don't do much for me. Yet. ;)For this project you need fabric, a sunflower head, needle and thread, and a bit of stuffing.Grab one of your sunflowers and pull it's little head off. Go ahead, it won't hurt. Now, separate the center from the petals.Make a fabric yo-yo. Personally, I'm yo-yo challenged have to use a yo-yo maker. This is an extra large size. It works perfectly.Put a wad of stuffing in the center of your flower middle for an added bit of dimension and stick it inside the partially drawn up yo-yo. Pull the threads to close and tie off. Be sure to clip the threads and be sure the little stem is sticking out.
Take your new flower center and reassemble the sunflower. Sometimes it takes a little maneuvering to get it back together, but it's not too bad.
Tada! A brand new, super cute, sunflower with some personality and a little zing.
You can do them all the same or all different. Either way these sunflowers are dressed up and ready to participate in your fall decor.
The great thing about this is you can use polka dots this year and next year use homespun or what ever tickles your fancy.

Cost:
Flowers - $3
Fabric, thread, etc. - on hand
Time: about 20 minutes for the four I did.

Have fun!

Seeing Stars - quilt along

I finally got my top put together. I didn't have enough background fabric left over to do the big border, so for now it's without.

Three blocks into it I decided I don't care for the white and I'm tea-dying the top. I thought about doing it sooner, but decided the whole top would be easier and stain more evenly.

On the whole, I enjoyed this project immensely and would definitely do another quilt-along with Amanda Jean. Any problems I had were purely poor planning and not paying attention on my part.

Baking

Have I told you lately how much I love to bake?

Stuff like yeast bread...

or Angel food cake.Yum!

My favorite part of baking aside from the smell and obviously the taste is snitching a wad of dough or licking the beaters. Yes, it's true. I'm a dough-eater. It doesn't matter if it's cookies, bread, cake, or (gasp!) store-bought biscuits. I love dough!

Are there any other dough-eaters out there? Feel free to confess, I promise not to tell.

Sunday, Sunday

It's a beautiful day today. A little bit overcast, but beautiful nonetheless.

On our way home from church I spotted something interesting and had DH turn around and go down the alley.

Propped up next to the dumpster were three old windows and a nifty folding chair.DH fussed because I was trashing in my church clothes, but I didn't care. These must have been garage sale leftovers because they had price tags on them. The windows were marked $2 each and the chair was $5.

I don't know about you, but I'll get dirty to save $11.

Beef Stew

It's been cloudy and overcast most of the day. This is the kind of day that makes you think about Fall, turning leaves, hot chocolate, and snuggling.

In honor of the weather I made beef stew to can. DH is a lucky duck since he got beef stew for lunch. He shakes his head at my canning, but loves lunch time on the days I'm cranking out soup or stew. This is the first two canner loads.

Day before yesterday I made my granny's yeast bread recipe. Granny is a hard act to follow. It turned out okay, but next time I'll let it rise one more time.

I haven't worked on the quilt top any more. I'm one row away from being done. Instead, I've been sitting on my backside reading. I don't have a lot of time left to work on it so I'd better get busy and finish.

I hope everyone is having a fantastic Friday.

Rubber baby buggy bumpers

Or, a really cool porta-crib for $12. It looks like it might have been put up once.

I found this the day I ran away and stuck it in the garage, promptly forgetting about it. I remembered it yesterday when I caught my foot on the box and did a face plant on the concrete. Good times.

I can't wait to make a bumper pad, sheets, and figure out something for a better mattress. It fits perfectly in the downstairs guest room and now peanut has a place to sleep when they come visit.

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful for the rain we've received. It's thundering as I type this.

Stuff

A pretty yellow canna in my backyard. I've been working on the Seeing Stars quilt-along. I've got three rows put together and am about to start on the fourth row. I can't wait to get it done and see how it looks.

9 more bibs

I sewed 9 more bibs while away. I forgot my forceps and didn't want to turn them by hand so they still need finishing. Just a quick top-stitch and a snap and they'll be ready to go to their new home.

Dear Jane - 6 more blocks

The top three are appliquéd. I haven't ever done appliqué and so these were a challenge. I've figured out what works for me and now I'm raring to go.

The one on the bottom left is 40 pieces. That little bugger was fun.

Quilt along weeks 12 and 13

I finished my quilt along blocks. Hooray!
Now I just need to get everything joined and decide what to do with it.

I ran away from home

Wouldn't you know it. I decide to run away from home and three days in to it, I'm homesick and can't really come home. What a dork.
I got quite a bit of sewing done on my run-away and will share later. For now, I'm glad to be home and missed everyone terribly.