Nativity Goodness

Original Here

Oh yum. I could totally pull this off with ingredients found in my kitchen. And this actually looks like my oven. I did a double take thinking my kids had been playing with food without me. Note the charred ash in the bottom. I always forget to wipe out the ash after I self clean the oven. Funny that the ash caught my eye before the Lil' Smokie Jesus. Sure wish there was a cooked version of this masterpiece. Please pass the mustard.

My produce market is still producing wonderful fruits and veggies. The bunch of dill I bought was huge! I've been "dilling" everything. I made this simple pasta dish with the peppers, parsley and dill on meatless night. It was really good and so quick and easy. I braised the fresh kale for a side dish.

And made another loaf of homemade bread to go along with pasta and kale. This loaf was super easy. Water, yeast, salt and flour. Let rise twice. The darker bits are spices I threw in the dough. I always forget they burn. The bread was delicious though. The kids have been eating paninis out of it all week. My husband gave me a Griddler for an early Christmas present. My improvisational pressed sandwich set-up (bricks on dinner plates) must have finally got to him. So much for ingenuity.

I found a nice use for some flannel fabrics I had. I made two wheelchair lap robes for our guild's nursing home visit next week. They're very cozy. It's been so stinkin' cold here, I should have made one for my office. It's supposed to warm up this weekend and then get even colder next week. I might have to move to the Bahamas. Or at least buy some warm duds.

Look what else I found buried in my linen closet. I added embroidery and rick rack to this old huck cloth towel a long, long time ago. I really need to clean my linen closet. No telling what treasures or potential rags are in there!

Tie One On!

I've had these Anna Maria Horner cotton voile fabrics for a while. They're so soft and a bit sheer. I loved these scarves that Twin Fibers whipped up last January, but never got around to making them. You know how the "list" grows and grows for quilters and crafters.

I decided to chop into one of the voiles and craft a simple scarf. The contrasting ends are regular quilting weight cotton (Anna Maria Horner again) which gives them a nice drape.

My buddy Rene' made a gorgeous scarf with a soft corduroy backing. I adore the fabrics she used for the front too. I was able to see it in person on Sew Day, it's very elegant and stylish. So of course I had to try some corduroy backing and some patchwork. I'm not sure about this one, but it was fun to make. The black corduroy side has machine embroidery of roses and I tried to matchy-matchy that too much. Should have just shut my eyes as usual when choosing the fabrics.

I also loves these Echino fabric scarves by Spotted Stone. There's no shortage of inspiration out there! I might make another scarf out the fabrics below. The darker purple is a lightweight silk dupioni that changes color in the light. And I just remembered I have some sturdier dupionis that might be fun to use for another scarf. Gotta find those.

It looks like I don't have scarf making out of my system quite yet. Hopefully you've been inspired too!

Roll, Roll, Cotton, Boll. I'm Rolling!

Note: Please ignore this post if you don't want the latest Quiltville mystery quilt spoiled.

Neutrals, browns, greens and pinks

I thought I was going to pass on Bonnie's latest mystery quilt, Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll, but I started looking through my gifted subdued stash and I think I have enough fabric to make the mystery. The quilt is huge (87" x 102"), gulp. That size should put a good dent in those fabrics I would have never bought myself. I'll be doing a happy dance to put them to good use and practice some piecing skills at the same time.

I cut my quilting teeth using Bonnie's helpful tutorials and joining in on three of her mystery quilts. As usual, her instructions are clear and concise and so far, none of the steps have been beyond my comfort zone. In fact, once I saw step three's string blocks, that's what hooked me. I love me some string blocks! I'm eager to see what Bonnie does with them.

Step one was 2" strips of green sandwiched with pinks and then sub-cut into 2" units. Scrappy is best because you'll need 172 of these. Yawn.

Step two was 3.5" half square triangles in pinks and browns. 120 of these babies went together quickly.

Step three, the one that hooked me in, is 60 string blocks that measure 8.5" square. Bonnie used telephone book pages for the foundation, but like everything, our telephone books have shrunk and the pages aren't big enough. I hemmed and hawed and finally just cut one sheet of copy paper 8.5" x 8.5" and used it as a guide to make sure my strips were long enough. Easy peasy and no pesky paper to rip off. I have 10 of these complete. Only 50 more to go. They may get much more scrappy toward the end. My stash is not bursting at the seams with neutral yardage. Oh well, what's a mystery without a little challenge?

I'd love to hear and see your progress if you've started this mystery. 

Look what one of my doll quilt swappers sent me. She knows I love playing with selvages. I think she does too! I love that my name is on the stocking. It must be a Michele D'Amore fabric selvage. The cute little stocking was stuffed full of selvages.

Maybe They Should Have Let It Be.

Odd, huh? I found this on Awkward Family Photos, which makes complete sense to me. Enjoy? It's still a great song, anyway you cut it. That Tonya Harding scares me though. I'm gonna go take my skates off.

Time for Mug Rugs

There hasn't been a lot of time or ideas for larger quilts, but I have been playing with Mug Rugs. Keeps me out of the malls!

I did get a little more interested in Bonnie's Mystery Quilt today when she started making fun string blocks, but I'm still sitting on the fence on that one. I need to check to see if I have have enough scrap stash to make that huge 87" X 102" monster. Anyone else tackling that mystery?

I fell in love with this Linden baby quilt on Flickr. Isn't it wonderful? I was too chicken to try the curved piecing, but maybe I'll get braver on the the second leaf. I'm not sure how the stem works, but maybe it will come to me.

This pouch pattern is fun and easy.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

The elves aren't the only ones busy making toys. I spent some time making a glove bunny from this tutorial featured on the Martha Stewart show. These adorable toys are the creation of by Miyako Kanamori, author of Sock and Glove.

I snagged several pairs of gloves on the clearance rack at Target. It was so cold last year, the kids wore a couple of pairs of them, but I did find two pairs that escaped teenager grasp. It's not easy to find gloves in Florida. I still have an orange pair leftover, so a dog might be next.

If you're looking for some neato patterns for softies, this link has several options. I plan on using the bunny for The Toy Society's World Wide Christmas Drop.

The felt owl was an experiment. He's only four inches. Maybe a pincushion? My daughter has a thing for owls, so maybe I'll use him as a stocking stuffer. She'll probably like him better than the neti pot I got her. I know, I know, mother of the year. I'm hoping it will help with her allergies. It should provide entertainment at the very least.

Intruder!

It was all rainbows and unicorns before the "incident."

It's a wonder I've lived to tell this story. Thank goodness, my son saw the SNAKE in my studio before I did. I had worked in there all morning, the useless dog had passed through a couple of times, and all was calm as usual in my happy little world. Then I went to take a shower.

My son came banging on my door shouting something about a snake in the house? WHAAAAA?!!! It seems a small rat snake had found its way inside and decided to take a stroll (slither) around my casa. Austin just happened to walk through my studio and see it.

Ya'll know what a snake magnet I am. If you're not convinced, go here, or here, here or even here.

Anyhoo, we had to tear my studio apart to find the stupid scared snake. He preferred being behind my built-in desks with the electrical and computer cords that look amazingly like...snakes. Go figure. We spent an hour poking him with a yardstick, broom, dust mop, feather duster, and batting-wrapped barbecue tongs. Anything under the desks (alot!) had to come out because the snake kept hiding under stuff. Then we'd shake the item and out would drop the snake who would quickly slither away or try to strike at whatever we were poking him with. I'm sure my screaming didn't help.

We used boxes to seal off the rest of the house and the other side of my studio. I stayed outside of the barriers and offered verbal assistance and tools to college boy. Thank goodness he was home or I'd be touching down in Ireland right about now.

Eventually, we trapped the snake in a Tupperware lettuce crisper and released him into the wild of our neighborhood. Ha ha, you believe that ending? That sucker got bashed to death with a broom handle. And then I nailed his carcass to the front door so all the other snakes in the hood could see. Okay, the carcass-nailing part is not true, but that might have been a good idea.

I'm off to scatter some mothballs.