Stones

Killing a bird with more than one stone.

I finished up a few things today all relating to this little quilt above. Boy it feels good!

One, I needed something to take a long with me to sew while on vacation. Of course!

two, I finished up a little post, which you might get to see shortly somewhere else...(stay tuned)

three, it's an added picture for the flickr group TOE CATCHERS, that Amanda jean and Cheryl
Started. These two crack me up. go check it out.

and four, it gave me and B some good old quality mom and daughter creative time.

We went through my stash as I was packing it up, and we selected fabrics that we thought best fit and related to each other, to do two things. One to relate the artist, Robin Bruch's idea into our quilt and two put our own spin on it. it was a fun project that B totally enjoyed doing and, it will give me something totally different to work on! Applique!

So even if my freezer wrecked havoc on my day yesterday!
Even a failed transmission on my car and
a dead refrigerator in my city apartment, can't keep me down.

(although the stench left in my apartment after no one being there for a week to discover the broken fridge, could still knock you over)

It ain't keeping me down.

One more day and I leave it all behind for some quiet lake time... Yee HA!

grumble

How to get ON TOP of your work...literally. ;-)
Backings are done for the simply reds, and will be sent off tomorrow for quilting! yippeee!
done with those!


******Wanna be part of a quilting Bee?******
Tara at Tinkerfrog needs 6 more people...

Come on. It will be fun!

NEXT, I finished the main part of my zig zag and am playing with borders,
but it will have to wait til I return and back in NYC.
not quite right yet... got more play'n to do!

here's that little blue and brown stripey piece, I finished this morning. good for now.
But I like the Jennifer Paganelli loopy vintage fabric better.

**

I thought, that by this time today, I would be heading out with my daughter
and her pal to see You're a good man Charlie Brown!

Just before lunch I realized my freezer went on the fritz!
(I'm fit to be tied!...insert swear words here...)
Everything that I had frozen, carrots, beans, edamame, corn, zucchini, rhubarb all melted...
a few things still frozen so I figured it was yesterday or the day before....
So instead of being FINISHED in the kitchen....



I am now, making 8 quarts of vegetable stock and canning it.
Rhubarb became Strawberrry Rhubarb Jelly.
4 loaves of Zucchini bread
1 pan of strawberry muffins...

And as long as I am at it, I have a pile more of cucumbers, so I might do that as well...
Relish anyone?


DING! there goes another timer. gotta run.

stuff, lots and lots of stuff

2041-50 Benjamin Moore Flat Sea Mist green
here is the color of that cabinet/dresser I used... Many asked for the color and number.
I also have used this color in my bathroom for the ceiling. looks great.

I am on , what I HOPE, is my last batch of ketchup today.
I also started to clean up my studio here, and pack up some of the stuff I want to take back to NYC home and studio. We still come out here to our house on the weekends, so i am trying to decide what I can leave here to play with and won't miss,
when I am playing with stuff in the city...


I decided I would pack up all the tops from the summer,
(9 quilt tops and several blocks started) so I can get backs for most of them.
and then select fabrics by color combos,
that may perhaps become quilts...

here is what i have so far...

I decided I want to make a few more of my own Xmas blocks to match the two i got the other day(see last post) from the swap. I loved the brown in them so much. So I am taking all my little vintage reds and greens back with me and hope to find a few more browns so they go nicely with the other two blocks.

I love this bottom fabric, hot pinks, orange-y browns and maroon.
some combo huh? looks exciting!

I've had this stack sitting here as I plug away on my flying geese quilt...
I may add a few more when I get home to the city. I love the apple greens..

I just got the top three fabrics and I added the chocolate-y brown with it.... Have no idea what will become of them. but I love them and the prints together...
I do need to add some teal blues and lime greens... more of them in the city.

That's as far as I got. it's hard to not just break into them and cut cut cut!
I'm being good. Time to get organized. ;-)

testing one two three

Oh! so cool. I was just playing with my iphone so i could post while away the next couple weeks! I think I just figured it out. Yippee! I even got a little sewing done to day! woohoo!

round up

Your block here.

If you haven't sent in your Pixie Dust blocks,
please try to have them sent by August 31st.
THANK YOU!

Aren't they looking grand!
I just recvd Roseann's block's! she made three! the bottom corners, and the top right corner.
thanks Roseann!


Some of you have sent back your scraps. So not neccessary, but thanks.
I put them to good use, and am making a scrappy simple baby quilt out of them.
Another for donation! Anyone gathering baby quilts let me know, I can send it on to you when I get it finished, sometime in Sept or October. drop me a line.

Sorry the pics are bad. We are in the gray zone with Hurricane Danny
(or whoever it is now) looming...
hard to get a good shot.

I feel like I've neglected my quilting, and you must be sick of seeing my canning.
I sure am! This is what I did yesterday. 150lbs of tomatoes... Not done yet. but darn near...



When I get a chance to sit, I started quilting this little project out...
Anything larger exhausts me right now.
I made a lot of tops this summer, but not a lot of finishes... But I guess that's ok. When I am back to NYC on the 13th, I'll have more time to finish up some of what I started... I cant' bear to start anythng else right now... and am starting to pack stuff up for the summer.
boo.

I recvd my first two blocks of the Scrappy Xmas block swap from Megan. I just love them. I love the brown around the outer row. I need to make more like these... Thanks Megan!


ok, You know those puzzles where you have to spot the differences in the two pictures?
ok ... Here's your puzzle. What's the difference?

I thought at first they were messing with me...
So cute to be spooning that I took a picture, then I came back and I was like.
What! wait a minute! they flip flopped!

Silly dogs. Almost like Siamese twins...

But pretty darn cute silly dogs.

to do list

I spent yesterday getting a new tire on my motorcycle,
and having a nice ride...
Haven't done that much this summer!

****
Can you guess what I will be doing today?
There are three more boxes not in the picture...

And of course something for my itchy fingers so I

put this together for a table runner....
perhaps for on the dresser? perhaps a gift?
Maybe I'll make some place mats to go with it. I really like the fabrics and colors...

I should be working on my larger quilts,
but I find the small projects to be enough for now...
or perhaps I'll take this along wit me to MN...

I'm off to get all tomato-y!

OH! I got a shout on designspongeonline! go peak!

Wednesday post early

two Posts in one day.... Crazy, I know.
BUT!

I couldn't wait to show you.
I think my husband thought I was crazy.
I asked my daughter before I painted it, if we could put it in her room.
She said, NO WAY! YOU FOUND THAT ON A ROAD!
Even though the girl loves yard sales!

Sanded, primed, painted, and distressed.
I used paint that I already had. My GARAGE is actually painted this color!

I'm thinking, I'll keep it.
Do ya think whoever dropped on the side of the road
would like it back?
Tough Luck.
Now I need to go sew something for it out of that
FaBuLoUs Jennifer Paganelli loopy Vintage Floral fabric...

I put it in my entry way under the stairs... to go with my $15 yard sale antique mirrors.

It sort of matches the cross art!
Now maybe I will paint that unpainted handrail... sigh* It's only been three years!

packing it in...

One week left.
We start school very late. Sept 14th. So with one week left, I am really packing it in...
yesterday, I made ketchup, yum.

This morning I put a few rows of the zig zag together, still playing with how it will all go together. Am loving the fabrics! I should be working on the other commission, but I think I will start that when I get back to NYC. I need that one done for xmas... no problem.

Had to take B to do a little school shopping this a.m. as we bought a pair of shoes yesterday,
got them home and realized we had a BLUE and a BLACK one...
So, after we exchanged them this morning,
I surprised B by taking her to the Hampton Classic Horse Show.
She had been begging us to go for years, and deicded, this was the year.
It was very hot and not much shade, so we didn't last long. Yipppee!
Long enough to buy a t-shirt, and a fresh Limeade!

I picked up some paint and sand paper, so I am off to play now with my free dresser...

We head back to Minnesota for one last trip to the cabin on tuesday til sunday, then I am takign B and my mother adn we are driving across South Dakota to custer State Park to see the sites. I figure, since we dont' start school til the 14th, we shoudl do something that is usually packed with people... Since everyone else will be back in school. So that should be fun. It just cuts my end of summer here by one week, and I have the rest of the week to can more tomatoes, salsa, lima beans, butternut squash etc etc etc....

I better get cracking!

before...

Look what someone dumped on the side of the road.
We drove down to the ponds at the end of our road, to take the dogs for a walk on Sunday, and just past my driveway, somebody dumped this dresser along the road... Well, now.
I couldn't leave it just lay there!

;-)

Makes a great before and after project right?
The handles that fell off are in the drawer... One leg in the back is broken off, but totally fixable. Top needs a bit of glue. a good sanding and a fresh coat of paint... I love projects like this!

With pictures like this, you'd think my house was in MN... nope.
Eastern long island... who knew! When I get home sick for Northern MN landscapes,
I go for a walk here...

It was hot... can you tell?

Spent the rest of the day at the beach...ice cream and mini golf...
Quilting? What's that?

Nice lazy Sunday.

Support Women.

Pixiedust Gather friends! check it out.
Thank you Pixiedust fabrics for a shout out! ;-)

Guess whose a happy camper?
(X's and O's were a demand in the quilting across the bottom. ;-)
click to enlarge. No problemo!


See mom! That's why you had to add a dog in the bottom corner!
My radio covers the other one!
Thanks MOM!

you are so welcome. ;-)

As I waited for my strawberry muffins to be done, I was reading the New York Times Magazine article about Saving The Worlds WOMEN... It made me think a lot about what I try to teach my daughter, about who SHE is, who We are, and how we affect the world.

This is an amazing article, showing what a little can do for a lot of people... if you get the chance, please read it online or go pick it up today in the Sunday NY TIMES...

They list a bunch of places where you can sponsor a specific child, or woman, or give a loan to help someone find themselves, make money, live and empower.

Please check out these links.
I've supported the first two, and want to help out more with the others...
In particular, Globalgiving... go take a glance.

Womenforwomen.org
Helping women all ov er the world
Girlslearn.org
Help girls go to school
Globalgiving.com
choose a woman to give a loan to.
ednahospital.org
Help Edna run the maternity hospital she began with her life savings.
care.org
Helping to educate woman and others to support women.
Planusa.org
Sponsor a girl abroad



So as I sit and teach B to sew, or garden, or cook, or how to brush her teeth properly, I also need to teach her to be independent, and mindful of other girls & women, as we all need to work together and support each other, no matter where we are, what we have or don't, even whether we have money to give. We can teach others our skills, and be proud to be women.

How Can I help someone besides myself today.

I think I want to do more. Perhaps I can get some help from all of you...
Stay tuned. My brain is working...


Strawberry Muffins recipe is at my food blog.
try this yourself!

a little bit

I finished up quilting this piece, It's about 25" square.
The fabrics & colors were fun to play with.
I'm getting better about hand quilting. I am starting to enjoy it a bit more.
If it wasn't for Tonya, I'd still be whining about doing it! She does great hand quilting.

I dug out a little package of vintage scraps I bought last time in MN...
I thought I'd sew them together for a little piece for my daughter to go on her night stand.

She didn't like it.

oh well.
"Blues, browns oranges and turquoise mom! Those are my colors!"

Got it.

hows this?


Yep! Just add another dog in the corner please...

Deal.

Good?

Great!

Wonderful!

Pheew!

how my mind works.

One day done...
tomatoes next....

I did sneak in a little "THINKING" quilt time...
I ran down to my studio between timers...
to pick out fabrics for the Blue & Brown commission quilt...

Got side tracked cleaning up, and found this little picture of tiles below:

So of course I had to pick out some fabrics & cut a few to see if I liked it.

Then I started to play with the triangles...
hmmmm, I've never made a while zig zag quilt
even though I love them...

WOAH!
back to canning....
How easily I can get distracted!