Thursday, May 26, 2011

Tornado Relief in the Quilting Blogosphere

For anyone who might have missed them, there are two lovely people raising donations for victims of the tornado that hit Joplin, MO. Please check out the following blogs:

Jennifer Can Quilt @


http://jennifercanquilt.blogspot.com/2011/05/tornado-relief.html#disqus_thread


And also Dana's blog Old Red Barn Co. here:

http://oldredbarnco.blogspot.com/2011/05/every-little-thing-for-joplin-mo.htmlhttp://


Take a look- and do what you can if you can! I just wanted to put this out there because I missed an earlier effort by another blogger that I would have loved to participate in- so I'm spreading the word in my corner of the world! Thanks!

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

One of the prettiest giveaways ever!

Anyone popping by my blog must go visit http://cutiepinwheel.blogspot.com/2011/05/have-you-seen-sew-cherry-shhhh-giveaway.html for one of the sweetest giveaways I have ever seen!

She has made some of the cutest aprons ever! Since I am pretty much a newbie at all things sewing and quilting- I have a long way to go before I master such skills. Lori Holt's "Sew Cherry" fabrics are right up my alley- I love to collect vintage tablecloths and dishtowels from the 40's and this line of fabric brings all of that to mind.

Speaking of quilting- I am now working on piecing together my second quilt. The first one was a lap quilt for my computer room- and I'm just going to put it out there that is was "kinda" a mess. But I definitely learned a lot from the process, and my second attempt uses the same pattern with different fabric and is for a baby. I can honestly say the second time around is MUCH better! 75% of the seams actually match! HaHa! I already have a huge pile of 2.5" squares cut for my next quilt- and am waiting on an order of Kona solids in black & white to be delivered. One day I might actually post some pictures of what I am working on!

Monday, April 25, 2011

Picture Day- Ebay Finds

So it is an over-simplification to say that I love Ebay! I might be a bit obsessed with it actually. I have a lot of fun finding the kinds of things that I find beautiful or otherwise pleasing and bidding on them. One qualification here- I am not a "junk" or "clutter" person- I love to have fantastic things, but I don't like overdoing it. For example, if I were a big fan of Snowbabies then I would want 3 or 4 Snowbabies arranged on a shelf or in a cabinet to look at- not 100 of them all over the place to dust! That being said- I love "vintage" objects- depression glass, porcelain with cherubs and roses often referred to as "shabby chic," and esecially vintage textiles: tablecloths from the 40's & 50's, linen sheets and pillow cases that have been embroidered and funky tea towels, etc. I know that a lot of those things are not to everyone's taste, but I also know that there are quite a few of us there that adore the vintage look I am describing. I know this because we are all bidding against each other on Ebay and I've been sniped at the last second more than once. (You know who you are last second Ebay sniper!) So here are a couple of items I recently won!

















I had really been looking for a Pyrex mixing bowl like the one above for my bread baking and of course other ummm...well... mixing! I love how cornbread and brownie batter just slides right over the smooth surface and into the pan- and it's great for letting yeast breads rise.


The tablecloth is just gorgeous- in the photo you can see I have it spread out over a different flannel tablecloth- I have a big dining room table and the vintage cloth is square and really just sets in the middle. The biggest drawback to Ebay- in my opinion- are the shipping costs! It's always a bummer to find a great item for $5.00 only to have the shipping charges listed as $15! I have backed off of a lot of items for that reason alone.



Sunday, April 24, 2011

Happy Easter!

Aaah Easter- around here Easter includes a huge Italian meal of many courses and about a bazillion calories. All of the usual culprits show up: chicken cutlets, some sort of pasta and sauce, broccoli rabe, italian bread, a variety of cheeses and the wine flows freely! Then of course dessert(s) and coffee.

In other news, the quilt fabrics I've ordered have started showing up- yesterday 2 Moda charm packs in Hideaway and some fat quarters in Fandango arrived- I'm beyond excited to start putting these fabrics together and creating gorgeous quilts. The only thing standing in my way- research papers. I'm having a hard time digging in this semester. The courses I am currently taking are just not engaging my interest - last semester I had three of the greatest courses- this semester- uhhh- not so much. But we are getting to the close- only 2 weeks left and then a whole summer to regroup and recharge for my final semester (and my Master's THESIS /panic on).

Last night I was up past 2am watching one of the best movies I have seen in a very long time- Get Low. It stars Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Bill Murray and it's about a man who plans his own "funeral party" while he is still alive- he has a troubled past (of course) and complications arise (of course) but I definitely give the movie 5/5 hankies!

Friday, April 22, 2011

And so it begins...

I have had this blog for almost 2 years now- and this is my first actual post- how crazy is that? Over and over I kept meaning to put something- well, meaningful in this space- but somehow just never got to it. As anyone who actually reads this may notice, I have a long list of blogs that I follow- all of which concern quilting, sewing or other handicrafts- and baking. My other major hobby of note is genealogy, and I log a lot of hours at ancestry.com!

I have a lot of big plans for the upcoming Summer months- most of which involve a sewing machine. My sixteen-year-old daughter will be here for the summer, (from TX, where she lives with her father), and we both have the sewing of quilts on our minds! I have spent the last few weeks scouring patterns, fabrics, and blogs in preparation! Before I can even make the first cut or sew the first stitch, however, I have to finish two papers @ 20 pages each and get these classes out of the way! Then- the summer is all mine!

So to summarize- I have a camera and a lot of ambition to be productive in the coming months and I guess that equals a blog! Here goes!