simple pleasures.

My life is full of simple pleasures!!

Yesterday it was making these

teeny.tiny.itsy-bitsy. pillows.

The larger pillow is 3" square.

The Smaller ones are 1 1/2" square.

I had fun filling my little chair

with Christmas.

I also had to make a matching quilt!!

4 1/2" square. :)

You can see I'm hand quilting it!!

Not quite done with that part yet!

Don't think it will take long....

do you???

Here's the back of the quilt!

Vintage flannel!!!

Woo Hoo!!!

The other simple pleasure I enjoy.....

The last piece of coconut pie!!

I might even eat it out of the pie pan!! :o

Here's the easy recipe from an old

Taste of Home magazine (Dec/Jan. '98)

Coconut Pie

2 C. milk

1 C. sugar

4 eggs

1/2 C. flour

6 T. butter or margarine

1 t. vanilla

1/2 t. salt

1 C. coconut

Mix all the above in a blender.

Pour into greased pie plate.

Bake 350 for 1 hour.

serve warm.....

or cold like I'm doing now!!

If you like coconut macaroons...you'll love this one.

What are YOUR simple pleasures today???

Enjoy them!!

They are what make life so beautiful!

today and yesterday.

Today:

A great fabric find!!!

An extra large wrap around skirt from the thrift store....

Love that place!!!

What do you think??? Will a linen/cotton blend work in a quilt?

I'm going to find out!

Yesterday:

Lots going on at my dining room table!!!

First of all, I think I've discovered
a "soon to be famous" seamstress!!!
She made this skirt without a pattern....
with only a little help from me!

We talked about...
biases, the grain of the fabric, seam sizes, stitch length.....
Our conversation buzzed with
sewing terminology!!!


Then she began a simple quilt!!!
woo hoo!!!

This was the only scary part for me.

A rotary cutter in the hands of a 14 year old!!

I fussed a little bit....

and worried a little bit.....

and fussed JUST a little bit more. ;)

Can you guess what I was saying???

"Close the blade!"

She caught on real quick!!

I am SOOOO excited to see this young friend

begin her creative journey!!!

Another friend at the dining room table

clicked away.....

She's going to make a mate for this slipper.

It's HUGE!!

I guess that's what happens when you want to

felt with wool...

It's got to begin really....really.....big!!

I think her son's foot is pretty big too!!!

Jenn was working on a table topper.

She added a flannel backing and will

hopefully get to begin hand quilting with

embroidery floss real soon!

I was so happy to work away with these friends.

Talking....

sewing.....

aahhhh!!!!

I am so thankful for these simple pleasures!!!

a good friend

A few years ago I fell in love with quilting.

I started in making quilts for everyone on

every occassion!!

Well, you can guess that I run into these

old friends on occassion.

I ran into one today!

This little 2'x3' wall hanging lives in my

mother-in-law's bedroom. So I seldom see it!

When I saw it today...

I thought...

"Well, hello friend. We spent a lot of time together, didn't we?"

I hand appliqued it and hand quilted it.

So it wasn't a rush job.

There are the quilts that live with us

that we see every day.

And there are those quilts that are JUST as special

that we bump into only now and then.

BUT they're all good friends.

last minute

As I was working on some Christmas projects yesterday,

I saw this cute fabric in my pile and.....I had an idea:

"Wouldn't it be nice to make a little something for the director of

the Christmas play that we're having tonight?"

The director even writes the play and spends many hours with

the children practicing for the BIG night.

I help out at the piano, so I know how much work she puts in!

Well....I had this GREAT idea at the VERY LAST MOMENT!

I "fussy cut" that cute fabric.

Added a simple red border.

Layered...

1. top.

2. batting.

3. white backing (so I can write a message).

I quickly quilted that and put a binding on!

We're almost done...and it's almost time to go perform!

I stuck some wire through the top of the binding and curled it a little!

oh no! Do I have time to wrap it???

Yes. 5 minutes!

Next time I have a good idea...I sure hope I have it

SOONER!