Winter Wonderland - hand stitching done

It's been 10 months since I started hand-stitching this project.  For about 6 of those months, I have to admit, that it sat on the coffee table without any work done on it.   So now that I'm on a roll again,  my next step is to add an inner border, then make piece the individual blocks in the border.      

Left over DMC 12 wt Perle cotton.   Whew

Just in case you want to do this project using DMC 12 wt Perle cotton, this is what is left from two spools.  About two needles full.  Whew, that was close.    There maybe just enough to stitch a label.      I really like this Perle.  Much better than two strands of floss, in my humble opinion.

Now, on to the borders...   Stay Tuned..

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Quilt Canda - Seams like Home

Hey,  I might see you at Quilt Canada's NJS in Halifax this week.  I'll be there today and tomorrow visiting the shows and markets.    I can tell you that I'll be overloaded with inspiration and ideas.   I may even have to take sleeping pills for a few nights.  If I don't, I sew and think all night about projects.   Do you get like that when you go to big quilt shows?

If you need more information on the shows, click here.    And I'll see you there!!

Reusable Snack Bag

My daughter was here on the weekend and showed me a cute reusable snack bag that she bought.  It was the perfect size to hold a sandwich.   I have seen a number of tutorials for these so, while at Fabricville yesterday, I bought some nylon fabric, Velcro and cute patches.

Here is my prototype.  It's cute.    I'll definitely make more for the kids to use.

Nylon envelope for a sandwich.  Nylon is washable, but not that breathable so it will hold freshness for hours.

Fits two slices of smart bread nicely.

Closes securely with Velcro

Got a set of 9 little patches to sew on the sandwich bags from Fabricville.  They are all sweet.  I'll use them all.

Cloud Nine Biscuits

I've been having trouble making tea biscuits for the past couple of years.  My sister can come up and whip up a batch, and they are delicious.  When I use her recipe, and mine come out heavy and hard...

I was mentioning this while hand-quilting at the church yesterday, and my friend Doris K. said that ever since she started using this Cloud Nine recipe (from the Leo Hays High School cookbook), she's been pleased with her biscuit results.  She said they are like her mother used to make.

Well, I couldn't wait to try them.   I made them this morning.  They came out fabulous.  They rose nice and high and they were great with a bit of jam.   My friend Lucy came for a coffee this morning, and she tried them out... She agreed... they're delicious.

Cloud Nine Biscuits

2 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter or marg.
1/3 cup milk
1 egg

Sift dry ingredients.  Cut the butter or marg into the flower with a fork or pastry cutter.   Combine egg and milk, then add to flour mix.  Stir gently into a ball and turn on to a floured board.  Kneed 20 strokes.  Pat to 3/4" and cut out using a cookie or biscuit cutter.  While not necessary, I place my biscuits close together so they are touching.   Bake on an ungreased pan at 450 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Before baking, you can chill them in the fridge for up to 3 hours before baking.

Perle Cotton - Do I have enough?

The fly stitching on my Winter Wonderland is coming along nicely.   It probably is taking me a longer time that it would you, but I don't mind.  I'm doing it while watching all the season finales of the Idol and Dancing shows. 

I like how my four meeting corners came out.  I didn't realize that there was four corners meeting....If I had of looked ahead, I would have spent time pre-planning for it.. I probably would have a worried a bit about it... Hmm, funny how some things just turn out good. 

There's just one little thing I'm starting to worry about.   Will I have enough perle cotton to complete the stitching.  I have two long horizontal seams to stitch over.   I think each line will take about 4 or 5 needles.... What do you think... Enough? 

Stir and Skim

In another few weeks, and we'll be seeing local strawberries at the market.  Oh my mouth is watering already.     

This means it's a great time to make jam out of the last of last year's berries that we froze.     I've been using the same recipe out of the Certo package for years.  It's a easy no-fail recipe and very popular in our house.

And since we're expecting company next weekend, we plan to make a strawberry-rhubarb pie out of another package of the frozen berries.

What will you make with your frozen berries from last year?

Cookies Anyone?

We had a great holiday weekend.  We've been waiting all spring for these warm days.  

In addition to a fun visit with my sister, nice and baby Jack this morning, we had Caitlin and Aurora visit us this afternoon.    Aurora doesn't get  in the house for 10 seconds now, and asks  "Wanna make cookies Grammie?"    So guess what we did..  Caitlin did most of the work, while Aurora sampled the cookie dough. 

Mmmm.... love cookie dough.

Cooking Cousins

Oh, she's going to have a belly ache!

One for me, one for you, one for Grampie... one for me, one for you.....

Blue Beach Glass

I processed another batch of beach glass this week.  Two bottles from my friend Pat.  One bottle was very dark.  I thought it was blue.  Now that it`s broken, and frosted, I think it`s green..... It`s beautiful just the same.  And the other bottle was light blue fading to dark blue at the neck of the bottle.  I love how I have many shades of blue glass from that one bottle.

I love the look of the colored glass with pearls and crystals.   I can`t wait for Grammie camp this summer to do our jewelry crafts. 

Making quilt kits for Charity - This is a good idea.

I went to our final guild meeting of the year the other night.  It was a pot luck and you can imagine the delicious supper we had.   Because of snowbirding and other travel, it's been a few months since being there.   I've been a little low on the sewing mojo lately. 

But one of the things that our "Community Projects Team" did, was to make up quilt kits for members to take home.   It's like our summer homework.    These kits had everything in them... the fabrics were cut, the pattern was simple.   We even got to take a batt and backing.   So because I was early, I got my choice of over 20 kits.  They were all very nice, and I chose one that would be good for a teen girl.

It was just to easy to get up this morning, and open the kit and just start sewing.... Within an hour, I had 40 of the 80 blocks completed.   Easy peasy...

Ahh, I feel like my mojo is starting to come around....

Winter Wonderland Stitching

It's Monday.   I'm working on stitching the blocks together on my Winter Wonderland quilt.  I started this last July, never dreaming it would take me this long.    So, I decided it's time.  I need to keep working at this, even if it's a little bit, so it will get done.  I guess, I'd like to have it done by this July. 

The center hand-stitched blocks are sewn together, and now I'll be hand-stitching over the seams to define the blocks.   I plan to do this hand work in the evenings, I'm sure it's going to take a week or more. 

Mother's Day 2012

We had an awful nice day today.  My daughter ran a 10k run today.  We were all up early to go out and cheer her on.  The day started out bright but cool... about 2 degrees C and then became overcast with light sprinkles..   Poor Patience's hands were so cold when she crossed the finish line.   Little Aurora was so proud of her mommy (and I was too).  Aurora was waving and clapping and cheering with her arms n the air, as Patience crossed the finished line.  A fun Mother's Day for us all.  Great run P. 

 

My first batch Sea Glass

While at the beach this winter, we spent countless hours on the beach.  In all that time, we never came across one piece of beach glass.   For some time now, I've been thinking of making simple sea glass jewelry projects with the kids... So before the kids grow up on me,  I've decided to make my own sea glass.    I purchased a small rock tumbler from Harbour Freight while snowbirding in the states.   Now that our travelling is done, for a few months anyway, it's time to make sea glass.

For my first batch,  and very carefully, I smashed a very light green bottle and a clear bottle to do my sea glass experiment with. 

Harbour Freight 3 lb rock tumbler.

Fill tumbler half full of broken glass.  Be Careful! Sharp! Then add 1/2 cup of beach sand, and fill with water to almost cover glass.  Add a couple of marble sized rocks.   Put the cover on the tumbler tightly, and tumble for 2 days.

Here is my first batch.  It'll be fun to make some Sea Glass jewelery with the kids this summer.  Maybe at Grammie Camp.

Isn't it beautiful, and look how nice it'll be when put with a silver chain and maybe a pearl or two.

Oh, I'm hooked now.  I can't wait to find some colored glass.  I have my next batch on already.  Brown glass and thicker light green glass.   I can't wait to see it.    My friend has a blue wine bottle for me.  I'm so anxious to get it for my third batch.  I'll be searching this week for a red or purple, or another color bottle to put with it.