My birthday gifts from a friend....

Thought I would share my birthday gifts from my quilting friend at home! Doesn't take much to make me happy! (Oh and yes you see my "mess" on my sewing table!) Lynn made the little scissors case out of wool.

And inside the little scissors case.... Brand new WONDERFUL Dovo scissors! I've wanted a really good pair of little scissors forever, and then Patti talked about how wonderful the Dovo scissors were and I had hoped maybe I would find some down at Paducah this year to treat myself. Well, when Lynn and I went shopping 2 weeks ago, the one shop we stopped at had them! And I fell in LOVE with this pair. I love the just a bit of design, but not gaudy. Aren't they just the prettiest little things? And oh baby are they sharp! Now I know why Patti talked about them! They have tons of designs, but this pair is the one that screamed at me.

Not much to show for a weekend of sewing...

I feel like I sewed and sewed and sewed this weekend, and look at what I have to show for it! Doesn't seem like much does it. Boy are these pieces small. For those of you who haven't seen the previous post about these, the blocks finish to 3-1/4" square!

I think it takes longer to make these miniature blocks than normal size blocks! I did however get all 36 mini 9-patches made that this needed - those are killers. The 9-patches finish to 3/4" square!

Will you all help me hassle Darcie...... (REVISED)

REVISED - Darcie shared some photo's! And it is marvelous! Go check them out!

Please - will you all help me hassle Darcie! I just got the most fantastic news from her - she finished a quilt of mine! I've had a terrible rotten week at work, and she is holding out on pictures until I get it in the mail next week.

I say we see pictures on her blog now for it - what do you say?

By the way, the quilt pictured above is the one she quilted for me..... (only with a different block in the bottom right corner.

I must be Nuts!!!!!

OK, so I thought those blocks I shared in the last post were tiny - ha - not so!

At my small quilt group that meets Monday nights decided a few weeks ago that we LOVED this mini quilt that was in a book one of the gals just bought. So we decided to each make one in our own style of fabric/colors! Kind of a challenge, but fun project to do. Well.... I didn't really look at the sizes too closely until this weekend when I went to cut out the pieces to sew Monday night! YIKES! But I did it! This block will finish to be 3-1/4" square. I didn't do too bad, only that one little pucker and the more I tried to redo it the more it got stretched so I finally just left it. I think when it gets with the other blocks and quilted it won't be so noticeable. So I have 1 of 12 blocks done!
I'm doing 1800's repro's. One lady is doing 30's and another batiks with a black background. Another is thinking of using just her stash (which I am doing too!) but enlarging the blocks, and the 5th hasn't decided yet. So this is really fun. I'll share pics next month when I see what kind of progress they've made.

And I thought Dear Jane blocks were bad!

On another note my sister who lives out east sent me some really cool pictures from the ice storm they had last week. I"ve just been too busy to really write much lately so I'm finally getting to it! Anyway, look in the above picture - can you see the bird! The first thing I asked is - "Please don't tell me the bird was iced over"! She said she didn't even know the bird was in the picture when she took it - she saw it after she downloaded the pictures! But she did go out to check and yes the bird has flown away - wheh!

And notice in this picture the nest at the top of the tree. The wind and the ice bent the tree limb over so much the nest is now sideways instead of facing up.

And she took a closeup of a tree to show how much ice they had!


And on topic #3 - Baked Oatmeal!

MMMMM, it is soooo good. Very sweet you don't even need to sweeten it - although we put fresh strawberries on it and that was really good! I had a few ask for the recipe so here it is! Enjoy!

Baked Oatmeal

2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
4 cups oatmeal
3 teasp. baking powder
1/2 teasp. salt
1-1/2 cups milk


1. Beat oil, sugar & eggs together.
2. Add remaining ingredients.
3. Put into greased 9 x 13 baking pan and bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes. (Or you can cut it in half and put in an 8 x 8 pan and bake about 15-20 mins).

I did some sewing....

I did some quilt shopping on Friday with my friend who has been gone for about 9 months! It was so much fun. I didn't buy as much as I would have as my husband said "your not spending any money, give me your credit card".... Sooo I made a mad dash to the bank to get some cash, but only $100. I did however manage to spend that!

So the above blocks are what I started this weekend from that trip. I had the repro fabrics in my stash, I just bought the pattern and background fabric. These blocks finish to 3" so they are tiny!!!! These are all I have completely done, but see all the tiny HST's in the bowl! I have all of those to iron and tear paper off yet, and then sew. That will bring me up to about 36 blocks I think, and I need 48! YIKES! But they are just so gosh darn cute! Lynn and I sewed all day on Monday with our "new" stuff. I made baked oatmeal to eat in the morning and then we went out for mexican for lunch and to a fun craft store for beads and wool at lunch time. So it was a very busy but fun weekend!

And yes, work continues to pull at my time so I'm sorry but this is the only picture I have to share at this point! Just not enough time in my day lately for everything I want to do!

Just for Fun

(and because I've been so busy I still have NO sewing projects to share with you.....)


HOW SMART IS YOUR RIGHT FOOT ?


This is so funny that it will boggle your mind and you will keep trying at least 50 more times to see if you can outsmart your foot. But you can't!!!


1. While sitting at your desk, lift your right foot off the floorand make clockwise circles with it.

2. Now, while doing this, draw the number "6" in the air with your right hand.

Your foot will change direction!!! I told you so... And there is nothing you can do about it.

Snow Day

Says it all.....

Nothing new going on....

Not much new going on, or to show you. I"ve been sewing down bindings on quilts you've seen already and started hand quilting my strippy coins quilt - so nothing to show you. Work has been busy so I"ve mostly been on my computer working away - another reason nothing is getting done!
So, I"m bringing back a few quilts, but new pictures. The top one is the quilt that Bonnie quilted for me back in October. But here it is all washed and crinkly! It is hanging up in my family room right now which brightens the room. And I have a closeup of the crinkly look around the quilting.

It has been snowing out and Chloe loves the snow. I wanted to get a picture of her playing in it - but my camera lens gets all full of snow! But it is so funny, she goes to pick up the frisbee and flips up the powdery snow all over her face and then looks at you like "who did that?"! Yesterday Jenna caught her taking a nap on Emily's bed so that picture was too cute not to share! (Chloe is not allowed on the beds in our house except for Emily's - she knows!)

An Early Birthday Surprise!

I was shopping today with my youngest Emily (Freshman in HS) and 2 of her friends and got home mid afternoon to find an early birthday surprise laying on my bed - a package from Lucy!!!

I had no idea what she could have sent me. Well I opened it up and found some drunkard path blocks for our exchange! Don't they look great! We have no timing on these, and I don't really even have a desired finished size. We just make them when we have time or fabric for them and then ship a bunch! These are the ones Lucy sent me - she had posted not too far back a picture of the ones I sent her.

BUT - do you know what else I found in the package? A panel I have been wanting from Den Haan & Wagenmakers! And 2 other pieces of fabric from there! Are these not gorgeous! I"ve been drooling over them for awhile but they are pricey - and with 2 kids in college and a 3rd to go next year, this was one area I've been trying to be good. And now I have some! Already I"ve emailed Lucy with all kinds of ideas of a quilt to make with them. I want it to look Dutch when I"m done. Or at least I hope so!

Thank you Lucy! You made my day!

Horse Feathers

One more quilt that got finished this year! Yup, I started the New Year by getting some tops quilted that were just laying around. Now before you think I did all the work to get them quilted - NOPE. Here is the other quilt that Bonnie so lovingly quilted for me!

The name of this pattern was Horse Feathers, so of course I told her this quilt had to have feathers! Otherwise work her magic! And magic she did! Isn't it wonderful! I still need to sew down the binding on the back, I can't wait to get that done so I can wash it and get it all crinkly! But I wanted to take advantage of the sunshine and working from home the other day and get a picture. Oh and I forgot to take a picture of the back. But what would you put on the back of a quilt called Horse Feathers? Funky Chickens of course!

Folk Art Threads Quilt

Just wanted to share a picture of a quilt that was a UFO for a few years until I finally sent it to Bonnie to quilt fans on it! I just got it back and doesn't it look wonderful! I actually have had it for about a week, but the lighting has been so bad until today! Plus I got the sleeve sewn down to hang it up! Doesn't she just do a wonderful job! I can't wait to get the binding sewn down so that I can wash it and make it all crinkly! I love that crinkly look!

And here was my helper today as I hung up quilts for pics. (Yes I'll have a few more to share in the next few days).

Repro strippy coin Quilt

I found a perfect border fabric (or should I say borders) while on retreat last week! So this week I got the borders on! Doesn't it look great! Now to get it quilted! I think I"m going to do this one by hand also - in what else - fans!

Piping and Featherweight Mat

Some of you wanted to see a closer shot of the piping on the leavez quilt. It is kind of hard to get a good look, but here you go. It really is a neat way of doing it.

I also finished a little mat/organizer for my featherweight last night. I got the idea from my retreat weekend. Linda had one they made years ago at quilt camp, and I thought they were so cute I wanted one too. So I got some pre-quilted fabric and traced Linda's to make my own! Just something fun to do. Oh and the cute little table? That idea came from this last weekend too. Most of them had them and they adjust in height so if you go away and the tables are high you can put your machine on this at a lower height and then use the higher table to hold your stuff! I ran to Menards and picked myself one up too! Aren't I just a little followerer!!!