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Monday, February 29, 2016

Weekend Recap


I had a busy weekend... but not too much to show for it!


I have been working on my Star Crossed blocks...


and the sashing 9-patches.


But my main focus was shopping!

I went with my DIL and her mom dress shopping for 
my other son's up-coming wedding. 

All though it took the entire day...
which was super fun... and the car was loaded 
on the trip home

but I didn't find THE dress,

The search continues!


Tuesday, February 23, 2016

New and in the News



I got this kit of Star Crossed with Strawberry Fields Revisited
fabrics last month. 
It is so so very sweet.
I drooled over it long enough... I decided over the weekend to 
cut into it and get a new quilt started!


News flash...

Medium Dottie Fat Quarter BundleCurated by Fat Quarter Shop

Before I go any further... (you have waited long enough)!
I need to announce the winner of the Polka Dot Leap Day giveaway!
Fat Quarter Shop generously donated the fabric...


and the winner was number 57... Vicki H.

Congratulations to you Vicki!

And thank you for playing... I enjoyed reading who your favorite's are!
I was surprised by some... some designers had fallen off my radar...
so it was a good reminder to check in on them!


I unburied this quilt top a couple weeks ago...
(speaking of things that have fallen off my radar)!
I  had used one of my all time favorite 
Minick and Simpson lines...
it was called Charlevoix...
it has a very sweet yellow assortment in the line as well.



So, when I found this plastic shoe box filled with half square
triangles... over 500 of them... all trimmed and ready to go...
I was one happy camper!

So... my wheels started turning and I thought of this sweet project...
by Lori Holt.

Bee In My Bonnet: My Farm Girl Vintage Book - YaY !!! ...:

(photo borrowed from Pinterest- I believe it was a photo shoot for the book)

Those HST's are ready to be made into pinwheels and all I need to do is add the 
tractor! 




I also made the first two blocks in the
Moda Spendid Sampler...
and as cute as they are...


I am wondering if I fully understood...
another newsflash...

there are going to be 100 blocks????

Argggg... just Splendid!

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Just One or Two... and a Leap Day Giveaway!


(photo borrowed from Fat Quarter Shop)

Well, because I was out shopping... on-line, scouting for 
a new project or two...
I decided that I couldn't pass up this quilt along.

Crossroads.


I know... I know!
Just ONE more sampler... Just one MORE quilt along!
But... it's Strawberry Fields Revisited fabric.


I have NO self control!
Absolutely NONE!

Another project that came arrived on my doorsteps was
this one by Fig Tree and Company...

Starcrossedchair72

(photo borrowed from Fig Tree and Co.)


I think it's d-r-e-a-m-y.

I will be  starting in on this one soon!

I was sick with a cold and feeling yucky all weekend.
What a waste of a holiday weekend.
I couldn't even watch my grand daughters on Valentine's Day 
like we had planned for fear of infecting them with what
THEY had infected me with!

But I am feeling better...
and it feels good to have a new plan... even if it's the middle of February.

Oh, and here is another project I intend on whipping up soon...


I am so ready for Spring and nothing depicts Spring more 
than Brenda's sweet floral fabrics...
so Shabby Chic... so me!

Check out Brenda's blog to see a photo of this made up on the table!
Once I spied it... I had to have it!


I made this one as a sample for Fat Quarter Shop last Spring.

So, Who is your favorite one or two Fabric/Pattern designers?

Let me know... and 
you will have a chance to win a
little Polka Dot bundle from the Fat Quarter Shop!

Medium Dottie Fat Quarter BundleCurated by Fat Quarter Shop

Because everyone loves Polka Dots right?

A winner will be picked and announced next Monday... and you could have this fun bundle
 in your hot little hands 
by the 29th, 
Leap Day!

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Out of the Sewing Room and Into the Kitchen!


One of my favorite things is my Pioneer Woman
It makes me smile just seeing it on the counter in my kitchen!

Between my DDIL and myself...
we have the entire collection of Ree's cookbooks.

So, at Christmas we vowed to
get together once a week in
2016 and plow through the recipes.
Tonight will be Week 4 for us.

We have grown from the four of us  (plus grand children)
to six, plus.

We each take a recipe...
one person makes the main dish, someone makes the 
side dishes and someone makes the dessert.
The first week we had the 
Pork Chops with Wine and Roasted Garlic
Roasted Carrots with Vinaigrette
and Stove Top Mashed Potatoes.

Tonight... Chicken Marsala
Peas and Carrots
Risotto
and
made from scratch... Vanilla Pudding!

Each and every recipe has been amazing!
I am making notes on each of the pages...
and there isn't one that I wouldn't make again...
and I wouldn't change any of the recipes either.




You can go to her site for fun recipes too.


I have been spending a lot of time in the kitchen lately!
I did that test run on Saturday for 
my soon to be DIL's birthday/wedding cake.

She turned 30! Woohoo!
My cake was basically one section of what will be the wedding cake...
in April.

Here is what we are really aiming for:

I had "too much" frosting on the test cake.
I have to remember that they call it a Naked Cake for a reason! lol
So, from now until the middle of April I will making layers of
sections and freezing the cake. I
blogged about it last week but I just wanted to talk out my plan to
"divide and conquer"!



These are some more of the Pioneer Woman 
dish collection.


I think I am obsessed!

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

The Lives We Share and Celebrate

I have a little mission that requires my 
attention...
so quilting is taking a backseat this week.

It will be my soon-to-be DIL's birthday this Saturday
and my plan is to use the occasion as an excuse to make a trial run at 
her (their) wedding cake.


Have you heard of Naked Cakes? 
I always hate how much frosting there is on wedding cakes…I love how this one looks rustic like a birch tree!:

That's what they want for their wedding.

We have a lot of birthdays between now and April...
so I have a feeling I will have it all mastered by then.

This was the wedding cake requested by my DDIL 5 years ago.


It turned out exactly like the photo.
But
am 
telling you
... I was stressed out!

I was certain that I was going to have a heart
attack just getting it to the site!

I'm anxious to play with this naked cake...

On a much sadder note...
we lost my husbands sister a couple weeks ago.
She was an angel. 
In life and now.
She will be dearly missed.

I want to share a photo that her daughter
took upon leaving her house to return to 
the hospital.


I hope you can see... 
maybe enlarge the photo more...
It just takes my breath away.
(do you see what looks like a dove at the top of
the photo over the sun)?
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Monday, February 1, 2016

Checked-in and Checked-off


Photobucket

Well, I made it through... 
through the first month of this year and
I actually completed my BOM rehab for January!

I have my first two Yuletide block of the month's completed!



It's kind of fun to be working on something "holiday" related...

I do like prolonging holidays!



This block was fun to make and so much easier than
the Coastal Lily block on my other quilt.



I did get to do a little embellishing on 
the wedding invitations for my son and soon to be DIL!


And I got them all in the mail today!

At first I but everything together like a left-hander.
Then I realized it... when I was half way through...
I un-assembled by work and put things together
as if I was a right handed person opening the 
invitation... 
you wouldn't think that there was a difference but there really is!
Instead of the flower part of the card exposed at the top...
the writing of the names were showing.



I have been working on my Bees Knees blocks too!
My group is making the main block and for everyone
that I get back in the mail I am making the alternate block
that will go into the quilt.
I now have 7 main blocks and 8 alternate.

And speaking of block of the month's...
I evidently signed up for one and perhaps,
 had forgotten about it. 
I am in the Fig Tree Mystery II BOM that
should be in my mailbox this week!
What a fun surprise!

(I seriously don't know how that happened...
maybe I was on a waiting list)?
Lucky me!