Ohhhh, but I have been sewing!

It's no secret that I love a good yard sale! It's great fun to drive around, and finding bargains for pratically nothing! Like these little dresses for Addi! They were skirts, and too big to wear as skirts for her. I paid a dollar each. I knew I wasn't going to put them up forever, waiting for her to grow into them. A little ribbon for strap, a few stitches, and ta dah! Summer dresses to play in. Ms Addi is all about the dresses. I made her a matching hair bow too!

Then there is progress on the bag. I made a couple of fancy pockets for the inside. and finished the side panels. It's being finished up now. The sides and bottom are sewn on, and binding is in progress. It's a really big bag! Maybe too big for work, but I'll carry it once to show it off. I used the Accuquilt Go! to cut out the flower applique. Mostly I'm just testing out my Ruby, to see what all she can do. I'm really loving this machine! It sews like a dream, and has no problems sewing the mutiple layes of the bag together. I especially love the appliques stitches on Ms Ruby, and definitely have some applique quilts planned!

Last, but not least...There's a zombie boy loose in my house! He's growling, and biting everyone in sight! LOL...It's Aiden in Zombie makeup! His NuNu has been playing with makeup again! I think she's has the zombie makeup down pat!

Just thought I'd share a bit of beauty!!!!

I just thought I'd share a bit of beauty with you! My mother's day lillies are opeing up! Oh how fragrant and lovely they are! I have them setting on my sewing cabinet so I can admire them as I sew!

Here's one blossom that could stand on it's own! Is this not the most perfect lilly you've ever seen?

And finally...My Georgia O'Keefe moment! What an artist our Lord is! Perfection! God Bless you momma's out there everywhere! I hope your mother's day was as joyous as mine! Now I have to go and play with my new digital picture frame that my DD Sarah got me. It's just such a kewl present! I've always wanted one of these!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Hope all you gals have the best mother's day ever! Mine started today! I'm so thrilled! Lillies, and fat quarters! LOOK!!! The lillies are from my oldest DD, Susan, and the fat quarters from the two youngest, Amy and Angela. What a great mother's day! (I still have Sunday to go too!) Today also happens to be my youngest DD's birthday too! Happy birthday Angela! Momma loves you, my little mother's day present!

Happily Tired, Taking it Easy!!!

Happily tired! What do I mean by this? It's the tired that comes from doing two days of satisfying work. Knowing you took care of your patients to the best of your ability, you did your job with relish. I felt love, and gave love in return. I feel my care improved the outcome of my patients, and I was able to convey to both them and their families that I genuinely care.

So I have a couple of nights off now. I've come home to my family, surrounded by love. I'm tired, but not to tired to make a big pot of Pho',(Vietnamese beef noodle soup). Supper is done. Our tummies are full, and I'm happily tired...content...satisfied! I feel surrounded by love.  I have hugged and loved on grandkids, spent time with DDs, and have retired to my little room, ready to relax and finish my bag.
(Yes, I am truly thankful to be so blessed!)

 I have the inside pockets complete, and one side panel embroidered with a patch pocket attached. One side to go, handles, bottom, and it will be complete. So I shall get off this computer, and go sew my little heart out!

Snail's trails, Snail's trails! Almost complete!

 Yippee!!! I finally have my snail's trail peiced together! I'm pleased with it too! It's very colorful and happy. I had problems along the way. I didn't have a 4 inch half square triangle die for my Go! Baby, so I used a 4 7/8"quarter square triangle die instead for the last set of triangles. Well, it took me a bit to figure out how to fix my error. So the blocks sat in the naughty corner for a while. I knew I had to trim them up, but wasn't sure how much. (But we're much better now!)

 Now to figure out how I'm going to finish this border wise. It'll be a comfy throw size. I showed the DDs, and the first question was,"Is this an Addi quilt?" Ummm, well yeah, Addi will probably claim it for her own. It's pink with flowers and little Japanese girls on it. I was really just wanting to make some colorful throws for the couch, but if Addi takes it, that'll be ok too. It does look very Addi-ish.

Have you seen these? I've been wanting to get one of these for a while. I seen it in a quilting magazine, and it's a Guidelines4quilting ruler for no math cutting. It's pretty neat really. The guides on the side of the ruler slides and locks to the measurement you want, then you attach the seam allowance guides to add 1/4" seam allowances for squares,half square triangles, and quarter square triangles. Anyway, go see the site for a better description. www.guidelines4quilting.com . It's worth a look see. It's so neat, I got an extra set for my friend Ms.Julie. (I'm making her a goodie basket to say thankyou for the Go!) Shush...don't you tell her!

Gumbo, quilting, and Dear Jane...It's been a satisfying week!

First of all, there is gumbo. It's the good stuff chocked full of shrimp, chicken, sausage, and okra. There's not, pursay, a written recipe of my gumbo. I've been making it the same way now for awhile. It always comes out really yummy! I made it mild this time for the grandbabies. The least little hot, and they fuss at me. ( Yeap, I am ruled by the grandbabies!) I always start off with 3 tablespoons of vegatable oil in a soup pan. I add 2 good heaping cups of the Pictosweet mixed seasoning veggies I get at Walmart.(or two cups of onions,celery,bell pepper red and green). While the seasoning veggies are sauting on high, I add several chopped fresh garlic cloves. When transluscent, I add 1 pound of chopped boneless chicken breast, 1 package of chopped smoked sausage and let it brown. Add several good shakes of Emeril's Essence seasoning. I also add 3 tablespoons of oyster sauce, 3 tablespoons of worstershire sauce, 3 tablespoons of soy sauce or Bragg's amino sauce. A couple packages of frozen okra goes in and 1 large can of crushed tomatoes and 1 large can of Rotel. ( except this time...remember the grandbabies? I just used 2 large cans of crushed tomatoes this time.) You can either add a can of chicken broth or some chicken bouillon and a cup of water. Turn it down to medium, and go sew for an hour or so. Come back and in a separate skillet, brown 1/3 of a cup of flour in 3 tablespoons of vegatable oil. I make my roux peanut butter color. Add to the gumbo mixture and stir well. While it's all hot and bubbly, cut down the heat to warm and add 2 lbs of cleaned,shelled, deveined, detailed shrimp. I get this at walmart as well. I usually get the medium shrimp. Now stir and mix well, put the lid on. It's hot enough to cooke the shrimp instantly, but I leave the lid on and let it set for another 15 mins. Serve with hot white buttered rice. This makes a giant pot of gumbo that feeds 8 people with some left overs. My soup pot is the size of a small washtub. It probably holds 3 gallons easy. So for 4 or 5 folks, I'd half the recipe. Addy tells me that the gumbo was,"Really yummy!" So if the picky grandkids loved it, it must have been pretty good!(Nana loves it!)

I've made a lot of progress on my quilted bag. I have the front panel complete and quilted...

And the back panel is quilted and completed. I'll probably finish up the sides, bottom,and get some handles on it the next couple of days. I'm totally enchanted with this bag. The colors and embroidery patern are happy! I love happy bright colorful things!

Last, but no means least...Dear Jane block. I have completed one block. (Don't laugh...it's not the easiest thing to peice such a small block!) Mine will be a neon Jane, I love bright colors! I've started block 2, and it's going a bit easier than block 1, now that I've figured out a technique that works for me. Well, that's all I have for now. I am going to be finishing up my Snail's Trail quilt soon too. Problems arose and were overcome. Next post will be about it and my completed bag!

PS- Here's block two! See, I told you it was half finished!

 

Darling Friend!!!!

My darling friend, Ms Julie, gave me a present the other day! Ok, hold your breath!!! She gifted me with an Accuquilt Go! along with some choice dies!!! I've been doing the happy foot dance every since! How generous the gifts! Thank you Ms Julie!!! I love you girl! (sniff, sniff!)

 I'm making progress with the first embroidery from my new machine. I've decided to showcase it by making it the center of a new quilted bag. I have a couple of nights off to work on it. (Hurray!)

 Last, but by no means least....My grandbabies Addy and Aiden! Aiden said, "Hey, take my picture too, Nana!" So I got one of them both. They are growing up so fast! Don't you just want to kiss they're little faces? MuuuWahhhh! The little lights of my life!

Ring Pincushion!

Isn't this clever!!! How handy for quilting! I'd love to take credit for this idea;but, the idea isn't mine. I was over on the quiltville blog, www.quiltville.blogspot.com and Bonnie was commenting about her friend's idea for a Ring Pincushion. Her friend, Linda, has a 1 minute video on her blog to make these adorable Ring Pincushions. Go see her site, http://www.lindafranz.com/blog/how-to-make-finger-pincushions/ and you too can have a Ring Pincushion! Too easy, too cute, so handy!

Is it OCD????

Now why is it when your working on a project, not just necessarily quilting, that you feel the need to start another???? Is it OCD? Here I am, in the final stretch of the Snail's Trail quilt with only 3 sets of 3 blocks to go, and I find myself wanting to do something else!!! Craziness, simply crazy! At least it isn't a completely new project.

Back in 2004, I found a quilting shop that I loved, and joined a block of the month club. It was a Thimbleberries Hidden Stars quilt, and I was in love with the muted colors. I completed 2 blocks.
They are 12 1/2 inch blocks. It uses the Marti Michell templates, and was so easy to peice.Then, darn it, I moved! Too far to go the quilt shop anymore. I still have the templates, and have the kits for 3 more blocks.

The fabric was generous enough to make 2 or 3 blocks from one kit. And I was so enamoured by the muted colors, I had purchased some more coordinating peices in half yard increments.  So I am trying to figure out how I want to go about finishing the quilt. I've searched the internet, and can not find one picture of the Thimbleberries Hidden Stars quilt finished. UGH! So I will have to be creative here. I have the Marti Mitchell sample book, so I can find other blocks to match the star theme.

The blocks are kinda of sentimental. They've gone with me from Texas to Arizona and back. I have thought about making them into pot holders.(God forbid!) I have come close to throwing them out, but when I looked at them, I find I'm just in love with the muted colors all over again, and want to finish it out. Sigh...I have two appliqued blocks with the same story too! I think I'll save that one for the next post. Then there is the two complete quilt tops in my closet, begging to be quilted. My new year's resolution was to finish what I started. I plan to finish these things this year. (Let's not go into the knitting, Okay?)

So enough blogging, my Snail's Trail beckons...I think I will knock out the last 9 blocks by tommorow. I'm going to find me a netflix to watch, and sew the rest of the night away!

Growing a Little Snail's Trail

 First of all, my DD Amy make me the most wonderful steak and baked potato dinner! The steak was cooked to perfection and most very succulent! YUMMY!!! Thanks Amy! You rock! What a great beginning to my 8 days off from work! Yes, I have 8 wonderful days off to sew,quilt, and go fishing with grandkids. I plan to teach them the fine art of fishing, just like my Dady did when I was a little girl of 4. I caught my first fish in the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. It was a 5 pound black bass that broke my little fishing pole. My Dady wouldn't let me lose my first fish, he pulled that line in by hand, it it cut his hands too. But he brought in my fish, and made me scale it. We had that fish for dinner the next day. I was very proud of my first fish! (Dady didn't catch anything that day either!)

Ok, I am making progress of the Snail's Trail quilt. This isn't the actual layout, but just a pic of the blocks I have so far. 9 blocks down, only 21 more to go in 7 more color changes. I'm doing good with it. I've only had to rip out one block so far. It's a fun little quilt to piece. The next quilt top I do will be applique. I want to test out all the different stitches on my machine. Maybe a applique/crazy quilt. I really love crazy quilts.

Addi keeps saying, "When are you going to make us something, Nana!". Demanding little toddler, isn't she? I told her, "I'm making a quilt, isn't that enough?". She says,"Noooooo! Make me something!". I assume she wants a dress. So I may have to take a slight detour and make her a simple dress. Any how, I'm off this computer and getting back to my blocks. That quilt isn't going to sew itself!