Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Monday, December 30, 2013

I Gave Myself the Best Christmas/Birthday Gift . . .


This is a gorgeous book even if one only wants to look through it over and over and over and never even try Judi's wonderful methods!!  It comes with a CD of patterns and I have promised myself that in 2014 I am going to practice, practice, practice my FMQ.  Maybe by the time I am 74 I can quilt like Judi - hey, I did say maybe.  If you have never seen any of her work, you can see it HERE on her blog, Green Fairy Quilts!!  You certainly won't be sorry - her blog is eye candy to the max!!

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Friday, December 27, 2013

Happy Birthday . . .

to me!!

WOW!!  I'm 64!!

Remember this song??



Well, heck, I am there!!  Hope you all have a wonderful day!!

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Merry Christmas!!


For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, 
which is Christ the Lord.  
                                              Luke 2:11

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

A Couple of Fun Finishes!!

It seems like I have been so busy with life and sometimes that does not include quilting.  But I was able to get these two darling baby quilts finished in time for Christmas!

"Golden Flowers"

"Dancing Brown Bunnies"

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Well, Helloooooooo!!

Oh, my, it has been such a long time since I actually posted anything other than my Saturday's Smile - and I bearly had time to post this past Saturday's Smile.

I have just been busy keeping busy for the holidays but I did want to share this darling project that a friend asked me to do for her employees and her family members - I will be making 40 total but 15 of them left here today!!



They are microwave bowls so your little fingers don't get burned when you heat a bowl of something in your microwave.  You can get a cute tutorial HERE.  Ok, next Christmas project here I come!!

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Saturday's Smile!!

Day after Thanksgiving??  :-))

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving . . .

to all my wonderful friends and family for whom I am sooooooooooo grateful!!

Enjoy the day - eat lots, nap lots and if you get a minute, 
do a little quilting!!

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Saturday's Smile!!




May you have
Enough happiness to make you sweet,
Enough trials to make you strong,
Enough sorrow to keep you human,
And enough hope to make you happy.

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Monday, November 11, 2013

Thank You to All Who Served and to Their Supporting Families!!


I have been involved in the Quilts of Valor program for a couple of years now.  If you have not yet heard of it, it is a fabulous group of all volunteers who donate their time, fabric and their hearts to making quilts for Veterans of past and present American Wars.  This year, the members of our guild, Needles & Friends, are making blocks each month for a new Quilts of Valor quilt - we will be making 6 all total.

I am just finishing up the binding on the October quilt that will be shown at our Guild Meeting tomorrow and so I thought today was the perfect day to post it here ~
 If you look right above the quilt on the right hand side, you can see the picture of me and my brothers when we were young, young, young.  Both of my older brothers were in the military, my older brother, Barry, rest his soul, was a Marine and my brother Greg was in the Army and spent almost two years in Vietnam.
In this picture, you can see that many of the gals signed their blocks, making it so much more special for the soldiers who receive these quilts.

The Quilts of Valor program is very close to my heart, especially since Greg was exposed to Agent Orange while in Vietnam and the health issues he has been dealing with over the past decade or so will most likely end his life in the next few years - he is only 66 years old.  I love you, Greg and thank you so much!!

I think this song - Some Gave All - says it so well!!
God bless all who served and are still serving and their families who have given up so much for the liberties we cherish!!

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

I Couldn't Resist!!


Saltine Toffee
Ingredients
  • 40 saltine crackers (I recommend using Nabisco Saltines with Sea Salt)
  • 1 cup unsalted butter
  • 1 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
  • 2 cups chocolate chips (whichever you prefer, milk, semi or bittersweet. I used half milk chocolate half semi-sweet)
  • 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla
  • 3/4 cup chopped, toasted nuts of choice - pecans, walnuts, almonds, cashews, hazelnuts (optional)*
  • Sprinkles (optional)

  • Directions
  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a rimmed cookie sheet with parchment paper. Align crackers side by side in a single layer along baking sheet, set aside.
  • In a medium saucepan combined butter and brown sugar. Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently. Once it reaches a boil stop stirring and allow to boil 3 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla bean paste then immediately and carefully pour mixture over crackers in an even layer (spread out as needed). Transfer to oven and bake 5 to 6 minutes until bubbly.
  • Remove from oven and sprinkle top evenly with chocolate chips. Let rest 5 minutes then spread chocolate into a smooth even layer. Sprinkle with nuts or sprinkles. Transfer to freezer and allow to chill 20 minutes or until chocolate has set. Remove from freezer and break or cut into pieces. Store in an airtight container.
  • *I just toasted the nuts in a skillet over medium heat several minutes until fragrant and toasted (while the crackers were baking). Toasting them is optional though.
  • Recipe Source: adapted from allrecipes.com

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Does This Mean I Am An Addict??

Ok, so a couple of hours ago, I decided to clean up my work space in my livingroom where I do so much of my quilting and embroidery and sewing so that I would have a nice clean work space for my Slow Stitchin' Sunday when I get home from Church tomorrow.

As I was moving things around and putting things away, I ran into some of these ~


As I was getting ready to put them in the trash, I thought, oh what a waste of good fabric.  Now, these are the cut off ends from one of my strip quilts that I sewed each strip on a 45 degree angle and then cut off these little Schnibbles.

Then a lightbulb went off and almost blinded me!!  I'll make a pincushion out these little pieces.  First I sewed all the ones I found together like so ~


I pressed them open ~


Squared them all off ~  Oh, that's a penny sitting amongst my new blocks!!  :-))


Started sewing them together!


Ended up with this little cutie~


And then finally after about two hours after getting ready to throw these valuable pieces of fabric away, just in time for bed mind you, I ended up with a cute new pincushion for my pincushion collection!!


And of course, I had to make a cute back too!!


And darn, now the straightening up will just have to wait until Monday!!

'Night all, and have a wonderful Sunday!!

Saturday's Smile!!


Thursday, October 24, 2013

Quilts of Valor Quilt

Quilts of Valor is a new project we are doing in our Quilt Guild this year.  Many of the gals made a block or two for the first quilt and I had the privilage of piecing the double size top.

This is just a sneekie peek as it is on it's way to the quilter and then back to me for binding.


This picture shows one of the blocks and then the two borders.  I had never done a mitered corner on a border before but I thought with this directional fabric, it would really be cool.  So, I looked at several Youtubes, found one that made sense to me and by the time I got to the 4th corner, I was getting the hang of it!!  You can kind of see it on the right side of the picture!!  After the quilt is bound and the label is attached, I'll take pictures of the whole quilt.  It is awesome!!

We are going to try to get enough blocks to make a QOV quilt each month and hopefully they will be awarded to some of the guild members' loved ones - so we keep it local.

Then, there was an amazing segment on NBC nightly News about the Quilts of Valor program.  Click on the link below the picture to watch ~


This is an amazing program - are any of you involved??

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Friday, October 18, 2013

Cute, Cute Baby Quilt . . .

but I am not sure I like working with Minky!!



A friend asked me to make this cute quilt for her to give to her new grandson.  It is a pre-pieced panel and she wanted the Minky around the edges.  Now, I am thinking she wanted me to do it because she didn't want to mess with the Minky!!  LOL!!  And this was the first time I worked with flannel - back and front!!

It turned out great but I was winging the edging/border right from the start!!  Anyone have any Minky secrets??

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

You Just Have to See This . . .

and read the post Gay wrote!!  What an amazing woman she is!!

As many of you may know, Brenda Papadakis, is the author of the Dear Jane book and software.  Pete, Brenda's husband, passed away earlier this year. A secret request was made for 'blocks of love' to be made in his memory for a quilt for Brenda. The block used was Dear Jane block I-8, Pete's Paintbox. The quilt was recently finished and delivered to Brenda.




You can go read the whole story about this fabulous quilt right here - Sentimental Stitches.  It will inspire you and make you so happy and proud to be part of the amazing community we call quilters!!  Thank you Gay and Tammy and all the great gals who sent a block!!  And it's done all in my fave - Kaffe!!  How perfect is that??

Sample of the Dear Jane Quilt made by Shar Snellman ~


Thursday, October 10, 2013

I Found This Pillow . . .

. . . and was wondering if anyone had a pattern for a pillow like it!!


Saturday, October 5, 2013

Friday, October 4, 2013

God's Work!!

As I was coming home from a wedding I took these pictures of the beauty that the autumn brings to the wonderful place that I call home ~
















This last one I took with the camera hanging out the window - how fun is the blurry look!!  
Oh, it was such a gorgeous trip home.  
Got a bit of rain and a bit of snow and all the glory of God's work!!