Graham Cracker Quilt

Finally, some pictures!

I don't know why I make such a hard job of uploading photos...

I found some cherry fabric for the backing...not in the Oh Cherry Oh line but close enough.

Now I need to decide if I want to quilt it myself or get someone to longarm quilt it? I'm thinking longarm it!

Next up is a rag quilt for my mom to go with the new lazyboy my sisters and brother and I got her for Christmas.

Big Mama Giveaway!

Big Mama is having a giveaway of a $100.00 Visa card here: http://thebigmamablog.com/reviews/
All you have to do is post your favorite holiday tradition.
I could use that card to buy more fabric!

Two finishes, sort of and peace and quiet!

Hunting season, I love it! I'm enjoying some testostorone free living while the men and boys are all at the Hunting Cabin, aka the He-Man Woman Hater's Club! (Not really, we just like to joke!) I choose not to go there! They cook Thanksgiving dinner on the cookstove the Sunday before opening day which here happens to be the Monday after Thanksgiving. I stay away...far, far away! I did my time at the stove on Thursday!

I finished this at the guild retreat last weekend. This is to date the biggest quilt top I've done and I think it still needs borders. It's the Quilt Along from the Old Red Barn blog. The picture isn't that great, it looks way better in person!

I also finished my Graham Cracker quilt from a class I took from my friend Nancy, Patchwork Penquin, at the LQS but couldn't get a good picture of it. I'll try to get a good one when I can find a good place to put it.

So I'm off to enjoy more P&Q!

Faux Chenille, Part Three, The Finish

At long last the final result of my faux chenille blanket. After the washing and drying, I'm pleased with how it turned out.

Except for the shapes I thought would show up much better than they do. I tried to show them in this picture but they just do not show up very well. This one is a bear...

The pictures don't do it justice, it's a really heavy, nice little blanket for a baby.

I was going to give this one to my niece who is due in December, but I like it so much I may have to make her another one.

This is my favorite side. Reminds me of sprinkles on a cupcake.

Faux Chenille, Part Two

I drew what seemed like hundreds of lines...not all of them are uniformly 1/2 " apart! Then I spent hours sewing each individual line...then cutting between them. Got some help from the teacher cutting a bias binding. I also found a video on this on this website: http://www.ehow.com/video_4433309_cut-bias-binding.html#

It was exactly as the teacher, Linda, showed me. I attached the binding in class and then it was time to go home. Now all I need to do is finish the binding and throw it into the washer and dryer...and keep an eye on the lint trap! Hopefully tomorrow I can get that done. I'm really anxious to see how it turns out. We also received directions to make a scarf. I want to try that next.

Faux Chenille

I'm taking a faux chenille class at the LQS. If I had not seen the actual blanket, I would never have considered doing this. My mom had a chenille blanket on her bed when I was a little girl and I remember she'd kind of boast about it to her friends. Apparently, back in the day having a chenille bedspread was a status symbol of...something! She was quite proud of it. I never liked it!

But I did get to see the store sample and knew I had to learn this technique! It's surprisingly easy(always a requirement for me!)but it is very labor-intensive. Lots of lines to draw then sew.

Here are the flannel fabrics I chose. The polka dot one is for a couple of shapes I'm adding into the mix. One bear and two hearts. It was going to be three bears but, dang, those bears are a pain to cut out.

I'm at the cutting stage now. After trying several of the tools designed specifically for cutting chenille at the last class, I went straight to Walmart and picked up a set of Black & Decker electric scissors. Wonder of wonders, they were on sale for $15.00! That was a pleasant surprise! Stuff like that hardly ever happens, so when it does I like to mention it!

I plan on working on it tomorrow all day if need be!
Pics will follow! Unless it looks like crap then this never happened!

Taking Inventory...

Let's see:

• one dog scratch on my hip that resulted in a huge bruise and eventually a scar and hurt really bad


• one dog bite about 5 inches below the aforementioned dog scratch that resulted in a huge bruise and eventually a scar and also hurt really bad(I'm getting the feeling that I'm a magnet for dogs)


• numerous yellowjacket stings on me and just about every member of my family including almost one-year-old grandson


• one very bad barn fire that resulted in the loss of a summer's worth of nice feed hay...

I love summertime: the sun, the heat(not the humidity), wearing shorts, swimming pools. But I must say that...

Yes, I am ready for fall!

Yellowjackets!

This is the second time in two weeks I've gotten stung by a yellowjacket. The first time on my ring finger. I took my rings off as soon as it happened. I knew my finger would swell up and it did. Pain, redness, swelling, itchy...I even took a picture of my hand because it was so ugly and swollen. Then I deleted the picture of my hand because it was so ugly and swollen! Made me sick looking at it!
This time I got stung under my arm...uh...no pictures of that, thank you very much!

Where was I?

On 9/11?

I was visiting my grandmother after doing my banking. I think I left the nursing home about 9 or 9:30 to head to Walmart At that time I never listened to the radio but for some reason I had it on. I started hearing about the planes going into the towers(hick that I am I did not know what they were) and then I heard of the ones going into the Pentagon and also the PA field...which hits close to home.

I stopped in at my SIL's garden center and was talking to her about it and some woman came into the store just ripping her two kids up one side and down the other. I remarked to my SIL that with what was going on I couldn't believe someone could still act like that.

I then headed to Walmart and as I went through the store, I and everyone else there kept stopping to watch the tv's. I think everyone was in some kind of shock. The store was quiet, people were polite.

When I got home, of course the first thing I did was to turn on the tv. That's when I was able to fully understand the events taking place. We just could not stop watching those towers fall.

One thing I remember the most was how quiet and empty the skies were with no planes leaving their jet trails to mark the sky.

Sept. 11 also happens to be my birthday and that day I'm sure I never once thought of it.

But now we can never forget...

What's on Your Camera?

I noticed an extra video when I uploaded my pictures the other week...all I can say is BOYS!

I love the sound effects, the footsteps on the stones, the ding ding ding of the truck door being open, and of course all that Power baby!

A Trip to Sam's

It's not fun, in fact I put it off for as long as possible, usually until I can't stand going for groceries anymore!

See that giant pack of toilet paper? I got three of them altogether!

I really dislike going to the store for stuff like TP, detergent and the like...
Paper towels...never have enough!

Now when I go to our local "Wal-China" I wonder why I'm there, I don't need anything!

Well, not as much as before!

Fire

We had a barn fire on Wednesday and lost the whole barn full of hay. About 50 tractor/trailer loads.
I have pictures but really don't feel like posting them! Maybe someday...

Second to Last First Day of School

This post is a day late, my ISP was experiencing 'technical difficulties" yesterday!

I've always tried to get pictures of my boys on their first day of school every year...

This is the youngest's first day of 11th grade, I only have one more first day of school to go through!

I had to sneak the pictures, he's not a very willing subject! Hence the poor photos!

It's the little neighbor boy's first day of riding the highschool bus...hard to believe, I met him when he was a baby!

Tomato Juice Cocktail

Take some of these...lots of these...and wash them up, cut them up

Then, take a few of each of these and wash them and chop them up.

Stick them all in a pot like this and cook till tender...

Run them through your handy dandy Velox Tomato Press

Skins and seeds go out one place and the good stuff goes out another.

I run the seed/skin stuff through a second time, it gives you a little more thickness to your sauce.

Add some sugar, salt, and lemon juice and cook a little more then fill your jars and add them to the canner.

If all goes well, they all will seal and you get these to add to your shelves. Great for chili, vegetable soup, BBQ sauce...As an added inspiration I thought I'd show you one last benefit to this whole process...

I really appreciate my dishwasher, gas stovetop, running water, air conditioner...all the things our foremothers did without and they HAD to do this or they wouldn't have much to eat in the winter.

Can you imagine having to wash and sterilize jars with no dishwasher or running water, having to keep a woodburning cookstove going in the middle of a hot summer with no air conditioning and probably not even a fan. And wearing a long dress on top of all that!

My grandmother told me of canning over 200 quarts of peaches every summer as a girl back during the depression. She came from a family of seven kids and her father died when she was 12 so times were especially hard for them.

We are so spoiled...

A Give Away for a Beautiful Quilt and More...

Found a cool giveaway at Heather Mulder Peterson

She's giving away a quilt...sorry, I'm going to win! But there are a few other prizes as well for the rest of you!!!

It's All About Me! (today anyway)

Enjoying a day to myself! Doesn't happen very often. Most of my crew went to Penn State's Ag Progress Days...hours away from here. Hard to tell what kind of equipment they'll come back with! But I'm sure we'll need what ever it is!HA!

I'm doing a little reading, a little eating, maybe a little quilting, and lots of uninterrupted computer time!

Not a whole lot going on...

Well, there is but it just didn't seem blog-worthy!

I do love summertime(wishing I had an inground swimming pool!) but it leaves no time for quilting around here. I did manage to sorta, kinda clean my almost sewing room...I've packed away all my paper scrapbooking stuff. I just don't get into it as much as I do digital scrapbooking, which is way neater! I'd rather be cutting fabric than paper! I can take the laptop anywhere and digital scrapbook.

Anyway, the tomatoes are starting to ripen finally so there'll be that to contend with. Why do I plant so many plants? I still have juice from last year.

My grass hasn't been mowed for over two weeks! We have one mower to do 4 different farms and apparently it isn't my turn for it! Soon they'll be able to make hay in the backyard.

He Makes Me Laugh!

Trying to get some pictures to make a birthday card for my MIL in Wyoming

#1...The Snoot

#2...The Wave
#3...The Stick Out Your Tongue

I took lots more...all of them cute! But these really make me laugh!

Corn Dog

Summer time means corn on the cob...for more than just people, apparently.

Having a dog means never leaving anything lying around!

Little Farmer Boy

Wheat harvest is in full swing and we've called in the expert! He loves equipment, watching it, riding in it, doesn't matter to him!

Return of the Prodigal Dog

My SIL sent me a FaceBook message that someone saw a dog in a local animal shelter, turned in on the very same day ours went missing. From our area too. So DH and DS Jake went to get him. He's got a microchip now, but hopefully he won't take off again!

See how happy he is to be back!

We've Only Just Begun...

To make hay...not sure how many acres they've gotten done, with all the rain they are late getting into the fields. These pictures show my oldest son's farm.
Now only about 2,000 more acres to go...and that's only first cutting...

Here goes Jake heading out to make more hay. This picture is really bad but when they're heading out to make hay, there's no stopping for photo shoots!

Quilting Game

I've not seen too many games about quilting but Big Fish Games has just released this one...

http://www.bigfishgames.com/download-games/5693/quilting-time/index.html?src=bfg12y0xenl0666

They have a game club which will get you the games cheaper. One thing I'm kind of addicted to is computer games! The hidden object games are fun too...a good way to unwind, if you turn off the timer in the games that is!

Quilt Along blocks

A few of my Quilt Along blocks from Old Red Barn Quilt Along(See the side bar for the link). I'm getting further behind...I still have strip sets to do and then cut those blocks, then sew the blocks together, then get the backing fabric and batting together...I'd better get busy!

RUNNOFT!

Our dog(actually our son's dog)went missing June 10th, the butthead! He can't be blamed however, the guys let him loose in the morning and got busy and next thing you know, he's gone. I put signs up in the local stores but since he's a chocolate lab, he's probably someone else's pet by now. He's about 8 months old and just not that smart or I think he'd find his way home by now. I just got done watching O Brother Where Art Thou? so that explains the title. It's one of my favorite movies.

Johnny Cash Computer

I've got a Johnny Cash computer-One Piece at a Time...in the last couple of months, I've replaced most of my computer setup...keyboard, printer, monitor and now the tower is acting up...So I've got a Microsoft keyboard, Canon printer, HP monitor and now the Gateway tower is acting up. I think it's the video card but what do I know?! I replaced what was probably a perfectly good monitor because one day it looked like this and wouldn't go away...

Kinda pretty but not very useful! (and how many weird people other than myself would even take a picture of this?!). So now I've got to decide whether to replace the tower or just the video card..Johnny would be proud!

My DSL 'thingey' quit...two whole days of no internet! I'm still trying to recover, funny how much we depend on it!

I tried to get some work done while I could so I managed to finish my mom's purse. Her birthday is tomorrow!

Now I'm working on the Quilt-Along from the Old Red Barn bloghttp://oldredbarnco.blogspot.com/ . I really would love to win that machine!

Twiddlestails Giveaway

Another giveaway at Twiddletails http://http//twiddletails.blogspot.com/2009/06/just-because.html

Just found this link on http://patchworkpenguin.blogspot.com/ to a giveaway for a bundle of fabric...I just wish I knew how to make the links better looking. Click below to visit the link and post your comment for a chance to win!

http://laniejane.typepad.com/see_jane_run_go_jane_go/2009/05/a-sunburn-and-sand-in-my-pockets.html

The "Put Away The Camera" Look

I get this look a lot. Because I usually have a camera in my hand.

We went fishing the last two Sundays...I use the term 'we' very loosely! I don't fish...I take a book and try to read but end up half asleep. Which is hard to do when you only have a little seat to sit in. Dozing is not an option. I don't want to end up falling in.

Back to the camera face...

Once in a while, I do get this...

He got the truck...first thing he did was take the "Pap Cap" off!(his term, not mine!)

Got A Project To Finish!

Phase one is done at least.

The picture doesn't really show the colors but this will be a purse like the one in the next two pictures. I made it in a class at the LQS and showed it to my mom. She really liked it so I promised her one for her birthday in June. I sent her to the LQS to pick out the material so it's exactly what she wants. Just hope I can remember all the directions!

Sorry for the blurry picture.