A Funny Thing happened from the Layout to the Sewing Machine....and Merlot in the Afternoon....

"A teacher affects eternity; he/she [sic] can never tell where his/her [sic] influence stops."    - Henry Adams

Hooray for the teachers!  I added the "her" to the quote above because I have two wonderful sisters who are teachers and I admire them so much................and I know Mr. Adams must have been including both genders when he made the quote above and if not, then he should have!

I am at this point now with my Terrain Apple quilt and it is a good thing I took a photo of the layout earlier so that I can see where I went wrong!  LOL........I did make one tiny little change from the photo but then something happened when I picked it up and sewed it.....Somehow what turned out doesn't look like the layout......All in all, though, I am happy with the way it looks and I didn't have to undo too many seams......I did have to take out one long seam because I sewed the row on backwards but that was the worst problem I encountered........

The top is a little smaller than I want....since the pattern is based on using a jelly roll (which I adapted to use a layercake instead) ..this is as large as the amount of fabric permits.  But I did buy some extra yardage so I will sew on some borders to make it the size I want....

and another one bites the dust!  Don't know how many spools I've actually gone through because some of them weren't brand new but this was a lot of sewing! LOL.......

Oh!  I am sure for some of you more seasoned and knowledgeable quilters this little tidbit is old news, but I got this little tip from a paper-piecing tutorial...............They suggested that you utilize one of those wallpaper seam rollers to "iron" your seams open..........and it really does work! 

I still press my seams afterward but it really helps when you are sewing a series of seams and don't want to get up from your sewing table to press.......

oh..........you may be wondering about the "Merlot in the Afternoon" part of this post.........well some of you may remember that I work graveyards on Fridays and Saturdays..........On Saturday I have absolutely NO PROBLEM sleeping during the day but for some reason this is difficult for me on Friday...........I just have too many things I want to do before I have to go to work......and just because my brain says I should sleep in since I'm working through the night........my INTERNAL clock says it's time to get up at 7:00 on Friday morning!   So once in awhile I decide maybe I should make that internal clock a little groggy and so I have a glass of wine or maybe a beer in hopes that it will make me sleepy enough to take a nap on Friday...........so now that I have had that glass of Merlot I'm going to go see if it worked!   I'll let you know on a subsequent post...............TaTa for now.....

Vintage Thingie Thursday......Some Glass and Crystal.....and Terrain Apple Update....

"Never give in, never give in, never; never; never; never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense."  -Winston Churchill

    

Today is Vintage Thingie Thursday over at Colorado Lady

so I am going to show you a few of my favorite glass and crystal Thingies..............

This is the first photo I took and it isn't showing everything very well so I attempted to "stage" it a little better and took this second photo.....

Alas, the second photo is not much better than the first......I'm sure I don't need to leave my day job to become a photographer....lol!
 But anyway.... what we have, from the left, is 3 little vintage bottles....I think the one with the shamrock lid was a shoe polish container, the tiny one in front was a toy baby bottle, and the other one in back.....not sure.  
Next to that is a vintage oil lamp, followed by a chandelier-like candle holder. 
In front of the lamp is a swan cream pitcher and in front of the swan is a little glass Scottie Dog who, I am told, was sold packaged full of candy. 
Behind the Scottie is a glass jar of some kind....the glass on this one has turned slightly purple now. 
On the far right is a pretty glass basket.....I use it to hold my makeup brushes.......and last but not least is another little glass dog.......not sure of its history.......
If any of you have some info on any of these items....I would love to hear it!
All these items have been in the family over 25 years some much older than others.......
Don't forget to go check out the other Vintage Thingies.....just click HERE

I'm on a roll............I stayed up last night til 3:00 this morning working on my Terrain Apple Quilt and have ALL the blocks made......and the bottom two rows stitched together.  Took FOREVER to get the layout like I wanted and now that I look at it I still think I could move a couple of blocks.....

But just as soon as I move one....I will have to move two more to make it fit right so this may just be it......
Have to work later today so I'm going to see what I can get done before I have to leave...............TaTa For now............

One Flower Wednesday, Liebster, and Cross Terrain Apple Update!

"In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure."    - Bill Cosby



This week I made 3 flowers for my forest garden!  I know I have one follower who has a special connection to these Oz characters because she used to have to polish them quite often!  These are the famous "Talking Trees"............

"Are you hinting my apples aren't what they ought to be?"

There is beautiful garden blooming at Karen's Journey of a Quilter Blog and One Flower Wednesdays........please click HERE to go there and smell the flowers.....

My friend, Rachel, over at Suz Made Me Do It......(that name has a familiar ring to it....lol.....or should that be a "similar" ring?) nominated me for the Liebster Blog Award. Thanks,Rachel....I appreciate it!

The Liebster is given to blogs that deserve to be recognized, but have less than 200 followers.  And, of course, the Award comes with just a few "rules", which are:

1) Post about your win on your blog.
2) Link back to the blogger who presented you with the award.
3) Copy and Paste the award to your blog.
4) Present the award to 5 blogs that have less than 200 followers that you think deserve to be recognized.
5) Let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
These are my nominations, I hope you all will go check out these cool blogs:

Jennifer at Hoodies and FlipFlops
Jann at Have a Daily Cup from Mrs. Olson
Julie at Having Fun Quilting
"B" at Billie Bee's Blog
Genevieve at Gigi's Quilty Treasures

............and last but not least.........here is the update on my Cross Terrain Apple quilt...........I have 18 of the 36 blocks for the top made........actually around the edge of the quilt the blocks will be half blocks and quarter blocks so there will only be 25 actual full blocks  .........I hope I remember that when I get to that point....lol.........don't relish the thought of having to book a date with my seam ripper!  Still trying to decide about using the little half square triangles (is that what they are called?  I'm not that up on all the "quilty lingo")......they are so small I'm not sure I will end up with good points if I use them on the quilt........I might save them for a smaller project and if I have enough fabric maybe make larger half square triangles of those thingies instead............

Ok off to Ida's Sewing room..........tata for now!

HE IS RISEN!

Cross Terrain Apples Quilt.............

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same." -Ronald Reagan

 After much dragging of feet (because I was dreading the cutting).... I have finally started what I call my "Cross Terrain Apple Quilt"..........I am using the Aneela Hoey Little Apples layer cake that I won over at Kelli's blog "Seriously I think it needs Stitches"  Thank you again, Kelli!


I found the pattern at Moda Bake Shop....the creator of the pattern, Lee, of Freshly Pieced named the pattern "Cross Terrain" because she used the Terrain line from Kate Spain. Here is Lee's quilt:

When I won the Little Apples I knew these were the colors I had been looking for to make the Cross Terrain Quilt.
As I mentioned before....I was dreading the cutting.....I had started cutting only two of the 10 x 10 squares and right off the get go I messed up!   And, of course, one of the squares happened to be one that was the ONLY one of that particular pattern..........

OK.......stop.......regroup.......

I bought a new, larger cutting mat and one of those 6 inch wide, 24 inches long cutting rulers that  hooks into the end of the mat so it doesn't move........and what a difference!  I had been using my little 12x18 cutting mat and my little 2 inch wide--18 inch long ruler..........
But with my new tools I was able to cut out my patches for 4 more blocks plus cut my own jelly roll out of the contrasting fabric quickly and I made those 6 blocks the first day! 

The other thing I did was strip piece..........there are 144 white squares and 144 white rectangles that are cut for this pattern for the background in addition to the 144 pieces total cut from the layer cake.........each color builds two identical patches and two opposite and I found that strip piecing really made things go quickly.

After I cut the corners off, I threw out the triangles until I realized I could probably sew them together and make some postage stamp squares........so I dug them all out of the trash can and......

Voila!

The pattern actually calls for a border of random pieces that are one and a half inches wide so I might just throw some of these into it.............

Ok then.......that's all I have to show you because I am going to see if I can finish the 12 blocks I have already cut out before I have to go to work tonight....  Once these are done I am halfway there!...........I love being on a roll...............TaTa For now.....

Vintage Thingie Thursday! Grandma Amanda's Montgomery Ward Stove

"A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. It's jolted by every pebble on the road."   - Henry Ward Beecher

I am so excited today to share with you a wonderful "Vintage Thingie" that has been in our family for a very long time.  This is my Grandma Amanda's Montgomery Ward Cook Stove.  I was fortunate enough to care for it for about 2 years when I was living in her old house in the 1980's.

Isn't it beautiful?  My Grandmother, my Daddy's mom, Amanda....(the grandchildren all called her "Mamanda").....made the best sugar cookies in the world on this stove.  They were almost like shortbread because they were soft and they just melted in your mouth.  I remember asking her for the recipe when I was a teenager.  Her measurements were not in cups and teaspoons but in handfuls and fingers.  (You can imagine what a teenager was able to do with that)
......Well after MaManda passed away and during the time that I was actually using her stove my Aunt Lucera, her daughter,  gave me the treasured recipe in measurements I could decipher and reminded me that it was a "Family Recipe" and that she had never given it to anyone else.  The cookies I made in that stove tasted just like the original!  When the house was sold my Dad moved the stove to my sisters house, where it still sits today.........waiting to bake some of those fabulous cookies! 

I have one more thing to show you..........I posted this on my blog once before but not for Vintage Thingie Thursdays.........but since I am posting appliances I think my Singer Treadle Sewing Machine is appropriate for today.  I inherited this beauty from my MIL, Ruth and it still works!

Well I am going to add just one more thing...........my own sewing machine that I've had since I was a teenager........an old Rockford that I purchased for about $10. 

It didn't have a cabinet for many years but when my son, Jeremy, was a teenager he found the cabinet at a garage sale.  He hid it in the garage, stripped all the paint and refinished it for my birthday!  I just love this cabinet........don't know who the maker is but it has a wonderful handle at one end that allows it to be pushed easily on its wheels.  This little machine has been working for me for many many years and I used it exclusively until about two years ago when I finally bought myself a new Singer..........
That's it for today........Thanks for dropping in.  Please hop over to Suzanne's place at Coloradolady and check out all the other Vintage Thursday Thingie treasures linked there.......I will see you all in blogland soon but...........ta-ta for now!

One Flower Wednesdays.........The Ruby Slippers and gifts in the mail!

"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young." -Henry Ford


 I was so happy to get a packet in the mail this week from the store where I ordered some Wizard of Oz fabric.....  I won't tell you all I received so I don't ruin the surprise but I will tell you that one of the fabrics I received was a gorgeous print of the famous Ruby Slippers.  I love how it looks like they sparkle.

This is my first attempt at fussy cutting the entire flower.....not a perfect job but I was, nonetheless, pleased with the result.....and if I use that old standard;  "Looking at it from a moving train"....it is nearly perfect! LOL....

There is a garden of beautiful flowers over at  Journey of aQuilter's One Flower Wednesdays .....please hop over there and check them out......

I am really starting to get excited about the Wizard of Oz Wallhanging.....in fact, I already have something started for next Wednesday!  I will be showing you at least 3 hexies next Wednesday because they will all go next to each other in said wall hanging.....I am beginning to sound like I have it all figured out, when in fact, I am sure that this, like many of my projects will just "evolve" into something resembling the idea in my head.....but then, I think that is probably half the fun......

Another wonderful surprise came in the mail this week from my DIL's parents.......my "Compadres" Janice and Bill.........In the Mexican culture the words "comadre" and "compadre" really have no word in English that is its equivalent......it is used when someone is a Godmother or Godfather to a child....he or she then becomes the parent's "Comadre or Compadre".......also when your child marries, you become his or her parent's "Comadre or Compadre" but it is used also to denote, for example....a BFF......and always used with positive conotations........the closest word I have heard maybe is the word, Comrade.
Well anyway..........my good friends and Compadres Janice and Bill and sent me this lovely sign which Janice said had my name all over it..........and she is right! Thanks Guys.....I love it.

This week I am working at my second job so I have to get as much accomplished today as possible since I won't be off tomorrow.........Going to try to work on my hexies and my stack of other projects........wish me luck!


 

B-I-N-G-O x Two and TGIF?

Inspiring quote for today:

"For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind."  -Ralph Waldo Emerson
  

Today I have not just one but Two (2)

B-I-N-G-O cards to show you.  Here is Number One:

In case you all haven't seen the May for Me celebration for 2012 I invite you to check it out at Marcia's Crafty Sewing and Quilting Blog.  Click on the image below and join up.....you'll be glad you did!

This year's celebration is a BINGO game with LOTS of prizes.  More information on joining and how to make the BINGO cards is here at Tonya's Hillbilly Handiworks.  Did I say LOTS of prizes?  You won't believe it!  Click on the image below and look for yourself:

And here is BINGO card number 2 that I finished last night...........they are so much fun!

.....................now for the TGIF? part of this post...........

some of you may remember that I work weekends so my work week STARTS on Friday.....therefore I can more appropriately say TGIT because Tuesday is my Friday and Friday is my Monday and I work 4 days instead of 5 so Monday is Wednesday and.......well nevermind..........

I am done with my post and off to wrap up an Easter Bunny package for my grandsons so it makes it there on time............now there is nothing left to say except....

One Flower Wednesday and I am a Versatile Blogger!

"If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair."   

 - C. S. Lewis 

Here is the next installment of my Wizard of Oz Hexie series..........finally we get to see Glinda, the Good Witch.......you can't see it too well in the photo but I found some wonderful powder blue fabric with just the tiniest hint of silver "magic" dust...........

   I have a smidgeon of an idea for what I'm going to do with all of these.....I know I want to do a smallish wall hanging.....no larger than maybe 24" x 32" ( I know, but this is "smallish" for me.....everything I make usually grows!)  and, of course, it will say "There's No Place Like Home" on it somewhere........still working out the details.................


Please check out all the other flowers linked from One Flower Wednesdays over at Karen's "Journey of a Quilter"..........there is a lovely garden over there..........

Oh Yes!  My new blogging friend Cherie over at "I Be's Cheraldine" nominated me for the Versatile Blogger Award.  Thanks Cherie!  Now I get to post this too cool button on my blog:

From what I understand, the Versatile Blogger Award was created to introduce bloggers to each other and to promote quality blogs that the nominated blogger and their followers may not have discovered otherwise.


If you are nominated, you are awarded the Versatile Blogger Award through that nomination.
 To continue the trend of this cool Award you should, in turn, nominate other fellow bloggers and in the same post add the Versatile Blogger Award Button and also thank the blogger who nominated you with a link back to their blog. 


Inform each of your own nominees by posting a comment on their blog.
Here is my list of nominees, I hope you will check out each of their blogs:


Josie Insanity Defense
Danette   Quilting Chemist 
Karen  Quilting, Losing, and Tea
Martha Living Life
Janet  Caribou Crossing Chronicles/of quilts, the weather and other fun stuff



The last thing I want to mention and I promise my faithful followers that this will be the last reminder because after tomorrow the signups will be closed.......is the Novelty and Solids Layer Cake Swap my Sis at Hilachas and I are hosting.  All info can be found by clicking on this button:

 

 You can check out some of the fabrics which will be a part of the swap on the flickr website:

So, as always, I leave you with a smile and will see you again soon in blogland so......

Novelty and Solids Layer Cake Swap Reminder

 Good Morning Everybody.........Just a quick reminder about the Novelty and Solids Layer Cake Swap my Sis at Hilachas and I are having............entries close tomorrow, Wednesday March 28 and I think we still have 3 more slots open..........

You can go check out some of the  fabulous fabrics already posted on

and if you just HAVE to have a 10 x 10 piece of those gorgeous novelties, hop on over by clicking on our button and join us!  All the details are at the Hilachas post.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!  I'm off to work.........

Winner! Winner!

Life is a song - sing it.
Life is a game - play it.
Life is a challenge - meet it.
Life is a dream - realize it.
Life is a sacrifice - offer it.
Life is love - enjoy it.
- Sai Baba

Well I don't know about you, but I had a fabulous time all week long blog hopping  on the St Patrick's Day Blog Hop Party!  I want to thank Michelle over at Quilting Gallery for hosting another fantastic Blog Hop Party.

I know what you're waiting to hear.........and I'm waiting to tell you..........LOL........no, silly, I'm not going to wait another minute to tell you that the lucky winner of my Blog Hop Giveaway is none other than the famous number 82!!!

See..........Mr. Random said so!

So if the lucky # 82 will step forward and claim her prize I will be most happy to mail it out to her on Monday!

No, I'm not going to make you go back to the Giveaway page and look up #82.........I'll show her to you right now.........it is the one, the only, Cassandra, who said, (and I quote)

Congratulations Cassandra!  I have already sent you an email and I am waiting to hear from you.

You know I'm not going to let you get away before I remind you about the cool Novelty and Solids Layer Cake Swap that my sis and I are hosting over at Hilachas:

There are still a few slots open.  Remember that signups will end next Wednesday, March 28th or whenever all slots are filled (whichever comes first).  There are already some cool fabrics posted on the 

page...hop over and see if any of them are "calling" you!

Ok I am going to end here because it is time to catch some zzzzzzzz's.................worked graveyard last night so