Fabric and pots

When you shop at second hand shops...

You find things!!!

It's tempting to PURCHASE unneccesary things....  ;/

I LOVED this quirky quilt top.

THis time....

I only kept a PICTURE!

It is definitely inspiration for my next quilt!!!!

I DID bring this home though.

Brand new and ready to be used.

During the day I play with fabric....

at night I play with POTS.

;)

Snippets

The last few days have been full!

Made a little bag at the very last minute for a friends birthday. That's when I usually get things done. ;)

The hand quilting didn't take very long at all and adds so much.

Worked on a knit dishcloth for my daughter as we drove all day for a short visit. Busy hands helped the miles go by.

She lives in a beautiful part of Northern California.

One highlight was a visit to a farm.

Lots of vegetables and flowers. Oh my ! I love country living!

I even snagged a recipe from my daughter's friend.

Mmmmm......

This Dutch oven recipe has me intrigued!

Gotta love fresh baked bread!

Sweet Sweater

I've finished a SWEET sweet SWEATER.

Super tiny.

Super CUTE!

 

The beautiful yarn was purchased 1/2 price

at a fancy yarn shop.

(yarn is classic elite, liberty wool)

There was only ONE ball, of course.

But I bought it ANYWAY!

 

I added some PINK from my stash to the sleeves

and some more to the bottom.

I LOVE the way this project turned out.

NOW....

to figure out how to do some kind of closure on this thing.

 

The pattern is called

5 hour sweater.

HAH!!

 

It took me that long to READ/FIGURE out the knitting LINGO!

Knitting patterns are written in

a language I haven't MASTERED yet!

;)

And...

there's so much COUNTING!

That slows me down sometimes.

LOL!

Hope you're enjoying your summer!

 

I am.

The Barbecue is BUSY at my house

and we eat OUTSIDE every eve.

 

Zucchini, hamburgers

and Eggplant burgers for the adults!

YUM!

Housekeeping

This little shade and sheer curtain is LONG overdue.

I'm happy to say

"I USED what I HAD!"

That's why there's a little bit

of white eyelet on the sides of the sheer curtain.

 

Did I mention

I'm trying to USE WHAT I HAVE all this year???

It's now October

and I've done a PRETTY good job.

Not PERFECT....

but I'm making a little dent in my STASH!

Woo hoo!!!

The bottom of the shade is the BEST part!!!

This is what it was like BEFORE!

 

I just trimmed that OFF

and hand stitched some fabric onto the bottom of the shade.

I would have used my machine

but....

Didn't want to take the shade OFF of the roller.

;)

yes.

I'm lazy.

When the shade is up

the sun shines in without ALL of the

YUCKY view my daughter has.

When the shade is DOWN

I admire my little bit of handiwork!!!

I'm also going handmade in the kitchen.

 

Applesauce from scratch!!

MMMM.....

SO easy and So good.

 

Add a little water to the cut up apples and simmer.

Eat as soon as it cools off enough!

;)

Mine is cooking NOW

and....

It'll be GONE before I post again!

 

Susie Homemaker

Taking some garden things....

and making some DRY things.

Taking some old t-shirts...

and Making a memory quilt for a client.

'

The little name block here on back

was a little bag

that came with the t-shirts.

It makes the PERFECT label!!!!

 

I've been juggling over here.

Drying, sewing, drying, jellying,

sewing some more!!!

Raisins.

banana chips.

Jars and Jars.....

Of something!!!

 

Hopefully my grape juice will be JELLY

when I unscrew those lids....

and not SYRUP!

 

???

 

Ah well....

If it's syrup...

We'll be eating LOTS of pancakes!!!

 

Not a BAD thought.

;)

 

Summertime

Summertime is ALWAYS full of tomatoes at my house!

It's a TRICK figuring out WHAT I'm going to use them in!

Tonight I enjoyed

Bruschetta Chicken.

YUM! YUM!

 

I substituted FRESH tomatoes for the canned

Plus some water....

and added ZUCCHINI.

Zucchini is added to EVERYTHING this time of year.

;)

I actually think this recipe would be GREAT

without the CHICKEN!

Just add a bunch of vegetables!

My meal was complete with some melon.

Gotta LOVE summertime MEALS!

 

I also did some painting on the patio.

Another fun SUMMERTIME activity!



I painted a simple STILL LIFE on some old white fabric.

When was the last time you SKETCHED a picture???

On FABRIC???

 

Wonder what it will look like QUILTED???
Oh, the fun NEVER stops over here!

 

 

 

 

mail call

My BIG order of batting was delivered yesterday.

I never dreamed it would come wrapped in plastic!

Sure easier than driving to the store and

lugging it to my car!!!  ;)

 

This roll was on sale and they only charged me 10 cents

for the shipping.

My need for batting came at the RIGHT time!

 

So...

I'm swirling away.

Free and easy swirls.

 

I first did a TEST run with my finger...

swirling around the blocks

trying to imagine a good motif.

Then...

I DOVE in!

Swirling and swirling.....

 

I like it so far.

I have TWO  matching quilts to quilt.

Getting CLOSE to that GRADUATION

deadline!

Woo hoo!!!

 

The new batting is behaving.

Seems very similar to warm and natural.

I'm glad I took the chance

and bought it!

 

I'm trying to match up the fabric blocks

with the appropriate thread.

Not too much trouble

and it's actually looking pretty good!

 

Easy meal tonight after all that swirling.

My husband's favorite.

:)

SO happy he likes an easy meal.

I squeeze a lemon on the fish

add some olive oil

and barbecue right before we eat!

 

 

Thoughts on Labels

Another quilt is quilted.

WHEW!!!!

This one was a biggy!!!

Please remind me to say "NO" when asked to make

a queen sized monster....o.k.???

I wanted to get this labeled and OFF quickly...

but found out this past week

that my handy dandy label pens are not holding up!!!

When I spied this quilt last week I noticed

the print on the label I had written had all WASHED away!!

EEeeeK!!!

I did a little research thinking maybe I'd buy some

pre-printed labels for future quilts.

They are almost $1 a piece.

(maybe YOU know a good source???)

I began to brainstorm!

I have a quilting/darning foot....

and I have DARK thread!!!

I made one myself.

It's my first try...so don't be too hard on me.....;)

I figure my stitching will probably last longer than

the pens I had been using!!!!

And my Dad who's getting this one...

won't care that my penmanship is not

TOP notch! ;)

I used freezer paper on the back and peeled it off.

DON'T do that.

In the future I will use an interfacing.

;)

After attaching this label...

We're going to eat!!!

One of my favorite simple recipes....

Cheeseburger pie!!!

I split the meat in half ....

Double the recipe....

and sneak in some zucchini!!!

I'm always trying to find places to put THAT!!!

The quilt is quilted and bound.

The label is DONE.

And dinner AWAITS!

;)

Summer

I finished a little mini quilt!

Isn't it sweet???

I didn't realize how much I'd LOVE it!!

All those SOLIDS really make me SMILE!

Since I'm sending this away...

I'll just have to make another one...

for me!

This will be going to The House Quilt Project.

A great program that is serving

Wounded soldiers

and providing housing through Habitat for Humanity.

When I'm not sewing...

I'm Harvesting

and.....

 trying to figure out WHAT to do with the HARVEST!

My husband has an amazing "city garden"

and we have an ABUNDANCE!!!

Lots of cucumbers...

That I used in this salad.

I even added fresh corn off of one of these cobs!

MMMmmmm....It was so good!

There are LOTS of smaller flowers to put on the table!

and...

BIG ones to enjoy!

Some of these.....

that I barbequed on the grill.

As I've mentioned before....

I add zucchini/squash to almost every meal!!!

It's usually HIDDEN. ;)

Beets are a NEW vegetable in our garden this year...

and I think I'll request we keep adding them!!!

WOW! Are they great!

We'll soon have LOTS of these babies!!!!

Then you KNOW I'll be busy!!!!

Tomatoes grow by the bushelful....

and need to be DEALT with!!!

 Salsa, tomato sauce, Tomato sandwich....

HERE I COME!!!