Yesterday I went for some of my well-woman tests and also got a flu shot. Today I feel a little 'off', so I'll be taking life easy and spending most of the day in my sewing room. Flu shots always make me feel crummy for a day or so, but the protection I get from them makes it worth it.
When I got home yesterday a package from Missouri Star was waiting for me on the front porch. I love front door surprises and there's nothing quite like new fabric!
I received a gorgeous layer cake of Vin du Jour fabric. I had ordered a charm pack of the same fabric a week or so ago and liked it so much I jumped at the chance to also buy a layer cake that was on sale.
I love the colors of this fabric line ~~ dark plums that are vintage looking. I'm thinking of making a framed square with posts in the corners. So far just thinking. Pictures will follow after my mind settles on what to make. This fabric would be gorgeous in the You've Got Mail pattern, but I already have one of those going.
I will meet you here again soon.
I hope your Tuesday is filled with Peace & Plenty!!
Yesterday was the Piney River Quilt Guild's bi-annual quilt show in Houston, Missouri, about 12 miles south of here. It was a lovely pre-Fall day and Hubby offered to go with me. The show is held in the Methodist church and every possible spot and room was bursting with beautiful quilts, many of them very old hand-quilted treasures. One room was dedicated to hand-made items for sale. There was everything from quilts and table runners to pincushions, Kindle covers, coasters, burp pads, tote bags etc. In another room they were selling and giving away bags of scraps and quilt patterns and magazines.
The lighting in the sanctuary was perfect. Quilts adorned every wall and were also draped over the backs of the pews. We were given plastic gloves at the door to wear if we wanted to touch the quilts. I was happy to see there were quilts made by oldsters and youngsters.
Taking pictures was a bit difficult because other than in the sanctuary the lighting was dim and the aisles were so close together it was impossible to capture whole quilts ~~ just snippets here and there.
Just inside the sanctuary was a display of patriotic quilts mixed in with military uniforms and memorabilia.
1940's music was playing softly in the background. This really felt like a step back in history.
At the top of a flight of stairs was a vignette with a Singer treadle machine, an old Double Wedding Ring quilt and photos in tribute to a beloved quilter ~~
This gorgeous Farmer's Wife quilt was made by Mary Joens, the first President of the Guild. Mary does beautiful piecing and gorgeous hand quilting ~~~
Another quilt that also caught my eye was a Tea Cup quilt made by Bev Flowers. Her fabric selections are gorgeous! The machine quilting in a geometric pattern compliments this quilt perfectly. Bev has really grown as a quilter over the years.
My pictures don't do justice to the gorgeous quilts.
I can't think of a nicer way to spend a Saturday afternoon than being surrounded by quilts, quilters and quilty friends!
Yesterday I was cleaning out a drawer and ran across a little handprint in a circle of pink Play Dough my daughter made me when she was 4 ~~ she's now 48. It's as hard as petrified wood and is in near perfect condition after all these years.
I can remember the hours she would spend shaping, rolling, squeezing and cutting out her Play Dough creations. Her projects really came to life when she figured out she could make hair by squeezing some PD through a garlic press. The world was full of wonder and imagination and she ran with it. We had PD handprints, ornaments, little dough people, jewelry, etc. Her hands could barely keep up with her imagination.
Sometimes I wonder what state my imagination is in. Even in quilting I seem to turn to tried and true patterns rather than to imagine and create my own. I hope I'm not totally being satisfied by the status quo. With this in mind, I took a tour of some of the quilts on Pinterest this morning. What a source of inspiration! If you have never done this, set aside 15 minutes and enjoy the creativity and imagination of other quilters.
Okay, where's my sketch pad and colored pencils......
Wishing you a day filled with Peace & Plenty.
There is a nip of early Fall in the air lately. If I look closely I can see the maple trees beginning to turn red and the sumac has turned red to purple already. It's much more comfortable to be outdoors and this is the perfect time to work with the flowers. It will soon be cool enough for sweatshirts, flannel jammies and socks!
Fall is my favorite season. We love sitting around our burn pit with friends with a huge pot of chili and pans of cornbread and brownies set out. Sometimes we also put out baked potatoes and all the trimmings. Chili and cheese are great on baked potatoes. You should give it a try. There's nothing quite like the combination of good friends and simple good food and a cozy fire.
I have been looking at a few new soup recipes that I will give a try as soon as the time is right. We love homemade soup and homemade bread as a full meal. I will share a few recipes as I go. I'm attracted to recipes with different types of greens and squash as ingredients. The one time I made squash soup Hubby wasn't thrilled. I think I just need to find the right recipe.
The impatiens in the containers across the front of the garage are still thriving. Everything else is pretty much done except for banana peppers in the veggie area.
My sewing room has been left undisturbed for several days. I managed to get a few of the Love Letters blocks done that I mentioned in a previous post. My sewing sure has taken a lot of ups and downs this year.
My prayers continue for those affected by the ravages of the flooding in Colorado.
Wishing You Peace & Plenty wherever you are.....
Over the weekend I watched a new tutorial at Missouri Star for a pattern called You've Got Mail. It's a clever block that looks like an envelope when finished. Jenny made her quilt from a fabulous new fabric line and it turned out gorgeous!
I have decided to try the block with a line of romantic fabric from the Josephine line from French General by Moda. I will call my quilt Love Letters From Jeff. It has an easy construction technique for the triangles that works up fast. If you would like to see Jenny's quilt visit the Missouri Star Quilt Company site or their YouTube channel.
This morning I cut out the 10" squares to go with the Josephine layer cake. I see many happy hours of sewing on this project.
I will post pictures of this project as I go. I think this pattern would also work up well in holiday prints and would look like Christmas cards! Something to think about....Christmas is just around the corner.
Happy Sewing!!!
I was sitting outdoors this morning enjoying the sunrise, a cup of tea and the birds when I heard a major rumbling noise on our lane. The trencher man and his helper showed up to trench the ground for utility lines for the garage Hubby is building.
Goodbye tea, goodbye birds, Hello Bill! I'm not sure what the rest of the day will bring us. I know that a short trip to Wal-Mart is on the table...possibly lots of shoveling for me to help cover up the trenches and pull out the rocks.
I hope you have something happy and fun to do this weekend. I may be able to get into the sewing room this afternoon. I'm feeling very inspired to sew right now...I guess I must feel Fall and the holidays in the air.
Blessings & Peace ~~~ Barb
I have been intending to make a pressing board for my sewing table for quite some time. Now that we have Dottie & Olive, who both love to lounge in the sewing room, I thought it would be a good idea to get rid of the old ironing board and the danger of the iron falling on one of the Girls if they should bump the board.
Yesterday was the day! I found a wonderful scrap of birch plywood at Lowe's (24" x 24"). We used our sander to round the corners a bit, added two layers of low-loft cotton batting and a layer of canvas stapled to the back of the board. There is a great tutorial for making such a board at: www.sewmuchlikemom.com/search/label/Pressing%20Board. The instructions are super simple. We used staples in our nail gun, but any heavy duty stapler can be used.
I stretched the canvas as much as I could and after it was finished I sprayed water over the top and rubbed it in a little. This caused the canvas to shrink a bit and it's super tight now.
A hard surface is wonderful for pressing quilt blocks...stretching and distortion are minimized, especially if your press (up and down movements) rather than iron (back and forth).
It cost $11 and about 20 minutes to make. I love it!!!
Blessings To You!
Most of you know that Hubby and I are caring for my daughter's two Scottie dogs....Dottie & Olive. They are the sweetest and most adorable pups you could wish for.
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| DOTTIE & OLIVE |
Scottie dogs have their unique profile due to the skill of an experienced groomer. Our groomer, Auntie Claudia, has groomed my dogs (all Scotties) for the past 22 years. Today was Dottie & Olive's beauty day. Auntie Claudia requires the dogs to be checked in at her shop no later than 6 am, which is quite a trick for me since I live one town over. I got up extra early this morning, fed the Girls, got Jeff's lunch ready for him and off I went to Auntie Claudia's with my little darlings in the back seat.
The trip to Auntie Claudia's was uneventful...that is until it came time to get the Girls into the shop. Dottie jumped out of the car on command with no problem, but Sweet Olive declined. Once she was extracted from the car she put her ears back and with a push extracted her head from her collar and she took off running around the back of the car. Fortunately she didn't head for the highway. Mind you it was still totally dark. A propane gas company shares the parking lot with Auntie Claudia, so I spent about 20 minutes chasing Olive round and round propane tanks in knee-high grass and weeds wearing a pair of flip-flops. Talk about frustration!!
Both darlings were totally exhausted from their beauty day when they got home. All three of us collapsed and took nice long naps! Olive had her big adventure for the day, Dottie looks so sleek and glamorous and I'm worn to a frazzle!!
This surely isn't what's meant by Dog Days of Summer!!
May Peace & Plenty Abound in Your Life!
Occasionally I take a foray into the world of crafting and most times I regret it. I'm not a crafter and the whole glue gun thing reminds me of that every time I heat it up! I am a quilter and I need to remind myself next time I'm tempted to craft!
The little tidbit that lured me toward the glue gun is an accessory for quilting. These are golf tee pincushions. You just pop one into a spool of thread when you are hand sewing. The flower center will hold a few pins and a needle. I thought they would be a literal breeze to whip up, but I found them tedious. I managed to complete 8 pincushions, thinking they might make good tuck-in gifts for a few of my quilty friends.
Petals are sewn and gathered and glued onto a golf tee. Next a circle is gathered and stuffed for the pincushion center. Lastly, a circle of felt us cut and glued to the underside to hide the gathering stitches. Should you decide to give this craft a try, you can find the pattern here: www.mousechirpy-polkadotpineapple.blogspot.com.
Until next time, I wish you loads of Peace & Plenty!
It's Labor Day weekend in the US, a holiday where we honor hardworking Americans who keep our country up and running and provide for their families. Normally this is a day of rest but many Americans don't get a day off.
I have been resting after two long dental appointments last week. I thought two in one week would be okay, but I now know that given the chance for an extra appointment I will decline. I guess the work will get done in time. I believe I'm about half done with the restoration of my old dental work.
I have a craft project and plans to start a new quilt mulling in my head. For the rest of today and tomorrow I will enjoy my Hubby's company.
I will be back online the first of next week. I hope you are enjoying your weekend!
