Food Revolution

This is both frightening and enlightening.



I wrote about this movie a bit back, but I still haven't seen it. I've been anti-processed foods for a while now, but I'm going to try harder. Sorry, kids. It's for your own good! ;)  I made this baked goat cheese marinara last night and it was so good! A great way to use leftover marinara sauce. Eat well, everyone!

Wordy Wednesday

I finished a little doll size quilt for a swap. The fabrics were from a honey bun of something. I have the worst time remembering fabric collections! Soiree, maybe? Yes, Lila Tueller! All I need is a label on the back and to see if a wash will settle down the quilting.

I finished the top of my Waverunner at our guild's Sew Day. Just had a chance to press it today. I may try to quilt this one myself. V's quilting is what I'd love to do, but that is probably beyond my ability. At least the blocks are off the dining room table. A formal Easter dinner may be possible now. Yeah, right!

Playing around with batik scraps. This mini is only 10" x 10". I was trying to do a mini each day starting Monday, but I've only made two. It's just too pretty to sit inside once the work is done! I did just see a snake, so now I'm in for a while. Stupid snakes. That was one good thing about the cold weather. Have I ever told you what a snake magnet I am? It's bad, I tell ya!

My baby turns 16 tomorrow. How the heck did that happen? Stay off the roads, she wants to get her driver's license after school. Oh my. I'll be stocking up on hair color!

Monday Madness

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I spent Saturday with the Orlando Modern Quilt Guild gals for a Sew Day. It was so much fun sewing with others and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing everyone's projects. What a talented group! I'm going to learn tons! The rest of the weekend was spent going out to dinner, making this pie, laundry, and I even managed to get a few projects complete.

Pincushion idea from Karen at Sew Many Ways. She's a clever gal. And see, family, I'm not the only person that saves trash! I'm going to start saving egg cartons and cottage cheese containers next. Just kidding. Or until I find a clever idea for egg cartons or cottage cheese containers! I'm hopeless!

And guess what? I finally got how to do continuous binding. I always cheated and tucked the raw edge in before. I'm not going to be too smug about my ability, because the second time I tried it, I messed up and had to remove the binding entirely and start over. This tutorial helped me get it. I've tried the continuous binding method before but could never get it to work correctly. I get it now! And it's easy!

Luckily, it was this little mini (7.5" x 11.25") that I messed up on the binding. I would have cried if it was a bigger quilt! And here I am playing with those houses again. I can't stop. I'm only blog writing because I really want to make houses.

Ever get color inspiration from odd places? I opened my drawer and saw these colors. I may have to play with this color combo today. After I rush through work!

Found this fun matryoshka doll tutorial this morning. Sure beat rushing into a work day! I'll probably use her for The Toy Society, which is where I saw her in the first place. Blogs can be very distracting! Have you noticed?

I hope everyone is having a fun Monday and finding inspiration in unusual (or usual) places! Have fun!

I Got Nothing

Some eye candy maybe?

Gifts from Japan

My friend Yumi from Japan made me a beautiful bag. I wish you could see how beautifully it's made. The fabrics are really fun and it's reversible too! I've already started using it. She also tucked in more of my favorite cheese crackers. Now I need to go get some brie and bleu to go with them! ;)

Amish Squares

Not the best photo, but I was trying to skew it in Photoshop. It's really a straight little quilt!

Black and White

Playing with black and white geese. I love that crossword puzzle print! Someone gave me a scrap of it. I have so much black and white fabric. I really love black and white prints. The funkier, the better!

My friend Yumi sends me these Cheeza crackers from Japan. They come in the best flavors! Brie, bleu cheese, cheddar. My favorite is the brie. And what better to eat with the crackers? Brie cheese! And we wonder why Americans are fat! LOL! I find it hilarious that the bag of crackers has a zip lock closure. Yeah, like I couldn't eat two bags of these things in one sitting!

And speaking of calories, we're eating here tonight. Yum! I've been frequenting this joint since I was two years old. It's so good! Now to narrow down what I want to eat. Bon appetit, ya'll!

A Little Amish

I need to add some borders and play around with some quilting. If it wasn't so rainy here today, I'd shoot the other tops I worked on this week and show them. Maybe the sun will come out tomorrow. I'm not bettin' my bottom dollar! We need the rain though! I'd like to see this book. Can anyone recommend it?

Baby Needs New Shoes

I always get so distracted reading blogs. Luckily my friend Kathy's daughter is having a baby. It's giving me all kinds of excuses to avoid housework and make silly stuff! To make the baby shoes, go here. I got a little turned around and meant for the sole to be the lining, but oh well. I know what to do next time! And it's me, not the tutorial. I just don't normally sew "stuff." I made the little businessman onesie from inspiration all over the web. I couldn't find an actual pattern for the tie, so I had to eyeball it. I modified it after the fact, but I ran out of onesies. I'm thinking of making a pocket protector version next. Nerd baby.

I also finished my final Pay It Forward gift. Not exactly my usual style, but these fabrics were part of an ex-quilter's collection. Can you imagine being an ex-quilter?! For my Pay It Forward gift I was lucky to receive a beautiful piece made by my art professor V at Bumble Beans. I hope my recipients enjoy their little pieces as much as I enjoy V's.

Here's a neat blog with awesome photography of children and Kenya. I've sometimes wondered about those organizations that sponsor children. Like whether the children ever benefited. Apparently they do! Having my faith in mankind renewed is just what I need when I obsess over horrid things that happen in the world.

Happy Friday!

I hope everyone is having a fun and creative week! I attended my first quilting guild meeting Wednesday. What a fun group of very creative and talented modern quilters. I'm going to learn bunches! Thanks Rene' for spearheading the guild and getting everyone together. We have our first Sew Day on March 20, which is National Quilting Day. It will be my first sew day too. Lots of firsts for me this month!

Work has slowed a little, so I had some time to quilt and play. I made this little mini from some scraps someone gave me and from a "tea" tea towel my friend Yumi in Japan sent me. It was really hard to cut the tea towel for the front applique! I was able to use more of the towel for the backing.

The winner of my very first sponsored giveaway received her pans this week. Woo hoo! She loves them! They're really a great deal if you need some new pans. Thank you CSN Stores for providing such a great giveaway.

I hope you don't mind, but I plan to recommend items from time to time. I know I don't need much encouragement when someone recommends something, so maybe you won't mind hearing my recommendations. Help keep me in fabric, folks. It's getting dicey around here! If you have ever wanted to do some funky piecing with scraps, check out the Liberated Quilting II book on my blog. Wow. It's amazing. And if you ever run across the first book at a reasonable price, buy it! You can send your kid to college if you sell it on Amazon! ;)

Continue the greatness people. And be good.