Wanda's B-day

 I just finished this quilt top for my MIL's birthday the 10th. I made the blocks on the embroidery machine and took them to my Mom's house to make the top. Somewhere between home and there I lost one block, didn't realize it until I had it almost all put together, so I put it away while searching for the block. Never did find it so last week I made another block, it's the one with her name on it in the bottom right corner. Then I forgot I was going to make it 3x4 not 4x3 as in the picture, so I added top and bottom 4 patches to add a bit of length.

 I had a 2x4 inch piece of white/blue fabric left when I was done with my design change.

I'm hoping to get the quilting done sometime this week or she will be getting a quilt top for her B-day. It's 48x67, a great size to cover up with in the Lazy Boy. I know cause I sat down and tested it out after I got the top assembled. Sometimes that's the only way to know if somethings good while sewing, test it out and see for yourself.

Something finished

 My granny square baby afgan has been an ongoing project. I only worked on it during TV time. I like to make the blocks but the assembly is a real struggle for me. I have a quilt planned to match it eventually........

 I made two masks the other night, finished up backing and elastic bands today at my Mom's. I think I'm sending them to my daughter, maybe she needs to wear them at college?

Last weekend I whipped up this Fall wallhang. Thanks to my Mom and her binding I hung it in my hallway tonight. I was kind of going for a banner but it's just not skinny enough to be called that. I liked that it was an afternoon project and I could quilt it on the regular sewing machine.

Friday

 I have Fridays off with my new job most of the time now so today I played a little. I have a bunch of jewelry I've been meaning to make for a long time so today I spent a couple hours and this is what I came up with. The top one is a bracelet for Halloween and the red heart and key are for Sara. She picked it out a long time ago on one of our shopping trips, I finally got around to making it for her.

One the left is jalapenos, on the right is hot peppers. I ran the hot peppers thru the food processor so I didn't have to touch them much, there is nothing worse than pepper/skin contact! Got 6 jars of each done.
 

Halloween

 Just a few of my new Halloween decorations. I bought these cool posters at Dollar General last year for a buck each but I really didn't want to hang posters in my kitchen. So I found frames that I could reimagine into wooden signs. I really planned on painting them black and mounting the posters but I laid them on the frames over the original artwork and liked it.

The top painting was a ship on the water with the sunset in the background. The second was an old Home Interiors plaque. I hung them in my kitchen and hallway, nobody has made any comments yet so I'm thinking either they never noticed the change or they just know I'm weird and hang pictures of zombies in my house just because. (or that second pic is a selfie)

I'm tossing it

 I'm tossing this quilt. Gone, get, goodbye.  My son Brad trashed his Christmas quilt.

 I was being a good Mom and doing his laundry, well I was washing what was in the laundry room anyway.....after a wash and dry this is what I found.

 I love my son and I'm not going to kill him or anything but............

 Well this is why when I say I give a quilt away it's gone. Not mine and no matter how it's used it's not a reflection of the maker. So whether it's a dog bed, floormat, paint tarp or a furniture pad it's gone.

Not going to say a thing to him...........but.............nope............not............a..............thing..............

Last project

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays to decorate for. I love spooky and cute so when this fabric was being ordered at the Quilter's Candy Shoppe I said I would put together a table runner and throw size quilt from the line. Well with being so busy at work, then no patterns at the Shoppe, etc....I finally got a sample made this weekend. I'm sure there will be kits made sometime in the next week or so if your interested........I don't think I will be making any more samples for the Shoppe so now it's time to make things for myself!


On another note, I am no longer at Fed Ex. No more long hours and slick roads. Oh I did say I would work Saturdays at peak but I'm thinking by then I will welcome the extra cash for Christmas. I really did like the job but it was just to far away from home, no one should be on the road for 14-16 hours. I am getting to old to work 60-70 hours a week.    I got a job with Central Nebraska Community Services and the Early Head Start program. I am now a Family Consultant and working with family's that have birth to three year olds. It's 40 hours a week, 10 hour days with Friday off if that's what I choose. Benefits and only a half an hour drive! I've made it thru my first week and so far so good, next week I will start meeting family's and doing lots of paper work!

I really enjoyed my three day weekend and got a few things done so now that I found my camera again maybe I will share them on here. Ok I'm off to work on tomato's and peppers!

Foody Weekend

 I had a few things from the garden to add to my baked beans so I decided to make a huge batch. Oh my did I overdo it! Kevin helped me can over 10 pounds of dried beans, I had four of these pots on the cooktop. Half of the baked beans are made with navy beans , one forth pinto beans and the other fourth is plain pinto beans. I started out trying to make something similar to Bush's Baked Beans but I mixed up that recipe and one to make sweet and sour sauce so I just started dumping and mixing and hoping for the best. I will have to wait to make the S&S another time as I'm out of green peppers now. I printed off 4 or 5 recipes this morning early of things that sounded good, then I went back to bed. So this afternoon I read the papers then started chopping............oh well the beans  tasted good when I finished.

 Kev also put a pot of applesause on to cook while 5 quart of beans were processing.

 He also broke out the giant canner and we put 20 jars in it. Tried to keep some of the heat outside.

 I will end up with 30 jars of beans! I think this will be plenty for just the two of us this coming year. (Kev suggested pint jars next time)

 I have two large trays of chives drying and ready to pop into the freezer. I'm hoping I use them better out of the freezer than dried.   The cukes in the bowl will have to wait...........I'm tired!

These jars are called Cowboy Candy. Pineapple with jalapenos. I did add a few onions cause my guys like them. I made to much sauce and my peppers really shrunk up so if I ever make them again I know to really pack the jars.
  We enjoyed steak and corn on the cob cooked on the grill for dinner while waiting for the canners to finish and it's been a marathon day of NCIS on the TV. Now if the last 5 jars will finish cooling so I can take them out of the canner............I can go to bed.

I found a quilted heart

 I saw this on Pintrest. I Found a Quilted Heart is a random  project I read about and thought it sounded like fun. Make a heart, attach a tag and place somewhere it will be found. No money involved, just a few rules and a chance to make someones day just a little bit nicer.

I Found a Quilted Heart is on Facebook and they have a sight where you can download labels to attach easily to your hearts. One tag says "I need a home" and the other is a" report me to Facebook" label.

  In other quilty news.........I finished all the pencil bag kits today, whew.....glad to have them done. I got just a bit bored making that many. I broke my serger, off to the repair man it goes. I broke my sewing machine earlier this week so that makes two mistakes.......ughhhhhh! I finished quilting a friends quilt she made for her daughter's college room this fall, and I made a pillowcase to match, it's going in the mail tomorrow. Kristin has been here from Washington and she helped me finish up her friends quilt that was stuck in my quilting machine, we ended up tying it because the machine would not quilt t-shirts and batik. Poor old machine, guess I need to be nicer to it..........and all the machines I broke this week.......kind of  scared to do any embroidery, really don't want to break that machine too.

Finished

I just finished this small afghan this week. I saw on Pintrest how to do a granny stripe so I tried it out with these soft baby colors. I really enjoyed this small project except for changing yarn every row, guess I'm lazy when it comes to yarn. I used a big hook so it grew fast and after the first two rows it was easy counting. I started another just like it but with a smaller hook and variegated baby yarn, so no changing every row. It's definitely going to take longer but it will be sweet when finished.

  I started using cheater glasses these last two months or so, not happy about it but it's better than squinting at my close up work. I can also see to play mahjong on my Kindle now too.

Quilts

 I can finally post a pic of this sample from the Quilt Shoppe. Mom finished the binding for me last week. It hung at the shop as a top until the kits sold. Sorry the pic is so bad, it just would not let me get a better shot because it was so light colored. The pattern is Yellow Brick Road I believe.

 I got a Layer Cake on a sidewalk sale last year. It finally turned into a baby quilt.

 Same with this quilt, it was the same line only a charm pack.

 I was a super big Hello Kitty fan when I was young. I might still be.............just a pre print panel ran thru the quilting machine and on the way to my Mom's for binding.

 

Denim and fleece

 I was in charge of Quilt group the other day. I made up kits for pencil cases and put the girls to work. They were great and we got a bunch done to give to the local school. I know the kids will love them!

 Mom thought fleece headbands would be great for little girls so here's the first one finished. I have 6 or 7 sewn and turned. Now to finish with the top stitching.

 I am working on hats, scarves and dog toys from a bag of fleece scraps my friend Angel gave me a few years ago. Her boy scout group made fleece blankets and she saved the scraps. I am giving a few to some kids I know and the rest will be going in the Rez box.

I made this set special for my niece Rylee for Christmas. Whoooooooooohoooooooooooo I have one sewn present done!!!!!!

Hats....again....

 I found a really easy basic childs hat pattern a couple weeks ago. Give me an hour in front of the TV and I give back a hat. I am using up random bits of yarn with a few new one's thrown in for variety. (couldn't resist the blue variegated from Hobby Lobby)

 I use two strands held together for most of these so sport or baby yarn is great, if I use regular yarn I always pair it up with a lighter yarn. I found two strands of regular yarn makes a stiff hat and way to heavy for a young child. This pile of hats will be donated. More than likely to Pine Ridge Reservation.

 Sometimes I do make something for myself, this is an infinity scarf. I will make a brown headband out of fleece to wear with it. I really like brown with pink and it will look good with my brown coat.  This is just a double crochet joined at the ends with a twist in the loop to make it hang nice without fussing while putting it on. Two balls of yarn and an evenings worth of work.

I finished a few "travel" projects also. Two round washcloths and a hotpad. I used up bits of yarn in the washcloths but my dishes won't mind the funky design.

pencil bags

I made a few pencil bags this last week. No I don't have any kids who need bags but when has that stopped me from making something? I am sending some to Pine Ridge Reservation in So. Dakota, one to my niece and I am giving one of the Green Eggs and Ham bags to my little brother for his 41st B-day. He drove everyone in the family crazy reading that book to him when he was little. He knew it by heart and could recite it start to finish.
  I used scraps from other projects so they are all different sizes, the blue denim one will even hold a ruler.
  I can't seem to get my camera to be seen by the computer so no more pic's of anything, in fact the last few pic's I stole from my Moms blog. Thanks Mom!

Happy 4th

 My Mom gave me her tablerunner she made for an online contest. She got 2nd place! It now lives on my kitchen table with some red candles as a centerpiece.
  I had a housefull on the 4th, mostly family. Everyone was well behaved and we had a good time.

My little flag was also made by my Mom. This is the second flag she made for a different online contest. I hung it on the side of my refrigerator. I like a touch of RWB in the summertime, I usually start with Memorial Day Weekend, include Flag Day, ramp up with the 4th and coast thru July and August with the theme and finish with Labor Day Weekend. I think RWB is more of a season than a singular holiday.

Cherries are done!

 Sara and I spent the afternoon doing cherries. The jars in the front are cherry sauce. Or icecream topping is what we use it for. The jars in the back are cherry jam. First time for making cherry jam around here, it turned out yummy! The large gallon jar in the back of the pic is Amaretto Cherry Liquor. I love it mixed with coke! I also made 2 quarts of cherry juice, sweetened to make Cherry Coke's.

 Sara also made her first homemade pie today, sorry no pic's, we taste tested it tonight and it was fantastic. I've never made cherry pie so I told her to look in the cookbook, well after searching 3 different books she googled it. I thought for sure the church cookbook would have it, or the 4-H book, or the state fair winners cookbook............hmmmmm they must of thought cherry pie was to basic to include in their books.

Here's the pits I'm planning to put in my Hot/cold bags, all dried out and ready to be sewn into bags. Sara has been playing with them to get all the cherry bits off the pits. Would be easier to just grab a bag of rice or beans off the shelf but not near as much fun as using every bit of those wonderful cherries.

Little girl dresses

 This afternoon I took my serger and a basket full of unfinished dresses to my Moms. This is what we got finished.

 Sara and I started these at least 7 years ago, she helped me cut, and pick out trim while at work one day at the quilt shoppe. I know we got the fabric from a garage sale and probably the bias tape and lace too. We finished 2 of the dresses that day so long ago. We made a lot of size 12 dresses, I'm guessing that was the size she was at the time we made these.

 I finished 6 of them today. They look more like nightgowns to me than dresses.

 The blue one I finished special for my niece Rylee, it got a thumbs up!

 And now shes ready for the 4th of July in her blue dress with red trim.

The rest of the dresses will get sent to Pine Ridge Reservation along with some hair bands and a couple more pencil bags. I have stuff ready for 6 more dresses I think......wow I was feeling optimistic about my sewing skills when I assembled those kits!
  I learned today how to apply bias tape (finally got it right on the last dress) and that I dislike threading my serger. I must of been more patient 25 years ago when I bought it. Oh well, maybe the next one will be an easy thread model.