Sew and Tell Friday on Thursday

Wow..After missing several, I actually have a finished project for Friday's Sew and Tell!

This originally started out as a gift...but upon reflection and discussion with Hubby, it was decided that the other idea we had would be appreciated more and so the completed top went into the "thought about finishing it" pile.

Last night I was feeling a bit "crafty" and was in the mood for handwork. I could have cross stitched, and I should more often, but instead I decided to pin and quilt this runner so I could hand sew the binding on.

I have to say that I'm glad I did.




The top is my own design using using a few cuts from a Crazy eights turnover from Moda and an ivory/cream solid.



The binding is the same Fabric Traditions print that was pieced with the ivory for the back of the runner.



I am still trying to find my quilting style..Stippling works for now, but I honestly think this would have been awesome quilted in pebble quilting. I did write my pattern as I made it, so I will be able to duplicate it in non holiday fabrics. The plan is to practice pebble quilting a lot so I can try it on this design :)



I love how the swirls in the triangles show so well on the back, I hope I didn't under/over quilt it, I want a nice crinkly finish without it being too "bunched" to use on my table.

Meet Harold..

Harold is the newest member of our household. He was "born" in the wee hours of the morning and was originally intended to be available for purchase. Until I heard the simple and sweet "Can I keep him?" from my youngest son. I, of course, could not even think of saying no. He's growing so quickly, and has reached that age when they start losing interest in the simple joy of a stuffed friend.

My husband and I are fortunate that our children have a very well defined sense of sentimentality and Family. It makes me proud to see them conversing with the older members of our family, to know they are well and truly interested in what their elders have to say, and knowing the history that is being passed verbally from old to young.

This same trait is what makes a 17 year old take an active interest in his Great Grandma , a 14 yr old to look for links to anyone with the same last name because they may be family, and an eleven yr old boy use a sunbonnet sue quilt, because his Dad's Granny made it, or have a crocheted rose because his Mom's Mom made it, and adopt a sock monkey and name him Harold because his Mom made it "From socks? just 1 pair? really? cool!".

Truly, I am blessed.

Super easy fruit turnovers

I whipped some of these up last night and while they aren't french pastry quality, they are a good quick and easy substitute.

I was kind of winging it, so you won't get any precise measurements or times or even pictures in this recipe, I'll save those for when I've got the longer version of the recipe down ;)


For these you will need:
Pillsbury Crescent *sheets* (these are fairly new..but awesome!!)

fruit pie filling (I used apple and cherry..shh..don't tell but it was canned!)

Powdered sugar
vanilla
milk

dusting of flour

each can of "crust" will make 2 large OR 8 small turnovers.

I opted for the small size so that I could have a taste without going overboard, so that is what I will write the instructions for.

1.Preheat oven according to 350f

2.If necessary spray a cookie sheet with non stick cooking spray. My wonderful husband got me the most fantastic Kenmore brand cookie sheet..I've used it just about every day for the last week bare (this includes making 5 of those small frozen pizzas that sticks to everything!) and food still just slides off.

moving on LOL!

3.Lightly dust your working surface with flour, this is just to keep your dough from sticking.

4.lay your sheet out flat, you should have a long rectangle, cut in half to create 2 as equal as possible "squares". If you were making the large turnover you would stop here and add filling, but we want to go ahead and cut each of those squares into fourths.

5.Spoon just shy of a tablespoon of pie filling onto the crust about 3/4 of an inch from the edges of the bottom left corner(for the cherry it was 3 cherries..beware the syrup, it tends to gush out the sides when you fold the crust over!)

6.Pull the top right corner up and fold over to meet the bottom left corner, matching side edges and finger crimping to seal. Move to prepared cookie sheet. Repeat this process until all 8 are ready for baking.


7. Bake until light golden brown. Transfer to platter and drizzle with powder sugar glazing icing.

The icing is something that is just done to taste. I started with about 1 cup of powdered sugar (for 3 batches of turnovers..and I had WAY too much) and a splash of vanilla. add a bit of milk and mix. add either more milk or more powdered sugar until you get your desired taste and consistency. transfer to a baggie and cut one of the bottom "tips". drizzle over turnovers.


8. Enjoy!!!

Merry Christmas!

May your best moments be the worst you experience this Holiday season!

New stash?

Originally I bought most of these prints for my store, but now that they are here, I just don't think I want to sell any of them!

A compromise may just be in order here..I'm sure that a yard or 2 making it's way into my personal fabric stash wouldn't be missed, would it?

While I mull it over, I should get to pinning..note the "should" in that sentence. Since Minion 2 has a Doc's appointment smack in the middle of my day today I'm *not* going to pin, instead I'm going to cut and piece a topper for my coffee table, that will match my new living room quilt that I will be making using Amanda Jean's Tute from yesterday.

I'll be using mostly flights of fancy by Paula Prass. For the center panels of both the quilt and the quilt inspired topper, I will be using Ocean Par Avion. Of course, I only have a 1 yard cut of the par avion in my stash, so while I'm waiting for the 2 yard cut needed for the quilt I'm going to start on the topper.



I'm not entirely sold on the brown for the background..I may end up popping over to Hobby Lobby to grab some Espresso Kona..It will depend on how it looks when my pieces are all cut.

So time to get at it, hopefully I'll have a table topper to share with you soon!

Ok, so it's been

a few weeks since my last post. I have no defense, I'm easily distracted..and Facebook is very addicting. I have still been sewing a bit from time to time, but mainly I've just been trying to clean up and out some of the unecessary things we seemed to have accumulated over the years.

Of course, sometimes you just have to get a little something new....ish.

Hubby and I were out shopping last Friday and we stopped by the local thrift shop to pick up this revolving slat board rack I'd found there the week before.


While there, I spotted this fantastic iron chair..for $9.98!!!


Hubby, (sweet, sweet man that he is) bought it for me with a shake of his head..he doesn't understand my compulsion to aquire furniture, nor does he know where on earth we'll find room for it, but then, neither do I LOL!!

I'm thinking it just needs a white wash, and maybe an Ava Rose or Darla..hmm..or Flights of fancy..maybe some fairy tip toes? I guess I need to either think about it some more, or just make some slip covers so I can change it out LOL.

Now for some textile love..how about a couple of sneak peeks? I can't show all of them, as they are gifts for readers of my blog here, but here's a couple of just about finished Gifts..



And this isn't a gift, but I just finished this quilt top today..I used Amanda Jean's tutorial here

This is my "test" quilt, before I cut into my Flights Of Fancy or Be Merry prints I wanted to make sure I liked it in person as much as I like Amanda Jean's. So far so good :). I did change it up just a bit. Instead of mixing up the 2 1/2" strips for a randomness, I elected to plan these to "fade" from blue to lavender and back up to pink, back down to lavender, and so on. I really like the effect for this particular fabric collection.

I'm hoping to get it pinned and quilted before the weekend so I will still have time to get a Be Merry one made, but I have to finish the gifts first!!

Flea Market Fancy Give away!!

Oh the little devil on my shoulder wants me to keep this to myself..But I won't.

Click on the button to head over to the Flea Market Fancy Freaks blog to enter to win one of 5 OMG fantastic prizes, Including a donation from Denyse herself!!



I am so hoping to win this one!

I'll admit I've been Slacking...

In the blog post department. All I can say is that I've been extremely busy, and I have thought about posting several times.

So I'm taking 5 minutes to check in between sewing and picking Minion 2 up from his after school program.

I've got new designs in the works, but no pictures so I'll leave you with a couple of finished orders from the past week and a half :)

And the Winner is....

#3!
ivoryspring said...
Your bag is lovely.

A mistake I made: Not checking to make sure scraps were thrown away, and I accidentally quilted a piece of scrap onto the back of my quilt.

Thank you for visiting and leaving the kind comment


I'll be contacting you shortly!

Thanks to everyone for sharing your "mistakes" :)

Fabric goodness..And another give away!!!

I love playing in fabrics..It gets the juices going to be creative..I just wish I could sew as quickly as I get ideas!


A small mix of old and new stash:




And now for the give away!

Jackie over at Canton Village Quiltworks is having a HUGE Quilt Market Giveaway!
Make sure to head over and enter!

And There's still time to enter my give away for the Peppermint Twist pattern..I'll draw the lucky winner tomorrow evening!

Why it's important..

to read the directions, even on your own design.



See those ties? They're supposed to be about 1.25" higher than they are.

*sigh*
I am not taking it apart to fix it. If I had noticed it sooner I'd have fixed them...maybe.

I'm fairly happy with the bag other than that..



and I'm loving the paisley applique :)




In other news, I just finished this new bag in Hot Blossom, coming soon to an Artfire, Etsy or eBay store near you!




So, How about a giveaway!
I have a copy of Peppermint Twist Tree skirt by Briarwood Cottage that I will send to a lucky person.



How do you enter?
Leave a comment here with a sewing mistake you've made that you *didn't* fix!

That's it!
A winner will be selected using Random.org on Thursday and will be announced in the Sew and Tell Fridays post.

Good Luck and even better sewing!

It's the simple things..

that can make a big impact. Updating your curtains for example, can completely change the look of a room. While I was cleaning my kitchen windows yesterday (Gasp, yes, I did my windows!!) I decided I needed to wash my valance. Upon taking it down I noticed that it was looking a bit worn and faded..and after all it has been in use for a few (5) years now.

So off I went to my studio to get the fabric I'd cut a year ago for that window, and then changed my mind about, and with a snap of my rolled hem foot and bit of pressing, My window is now newly dressed..And I am ever so glad I changed my mind about those pears again!


Next up? Placemats and napkins to match methinks :)


Fabric by Kokka

Sew & Tell Fridays

Today I find myself in a bit of a quandry..I have a finish, kind of.
That is to say, I have finished sewing my newest design, but I still have to finish the pattern.

This has developed into the hardest part of pattern making. Right now I've got 5 patterns written up with pictures of the finished product. But so far only 1 pattern has the how to photos to go with the instructions, and while minion 1 didn't mind taking those while I worked (ok, ok, so I bribed him..I would have had to pay a pro 10x what I paid him hehe)Now that he has a steady, I'm not sure it will be so easy to get him off his cell long enough to repeat the process once, let alone another 5 times.

So with the hopes that this will count as a finish, here's my newest bag design, Joy:



I just love the quilt-y goodness..I still can't believe the difference having the correct foot makes when it comes to doing free motion! I just always thought I couldn't do it ;)



She can have her sides tied tightly together for 1 look, or loosely for another..Don't worry, the gathered sides keep her from seeming too boxy either way!



Oh..and did I mention the pockets inside?!?! She has 12 (!) counting a credit card pocket stashed behind a side pocket, and 3 pen pockets.

The only bad thing about Joy is that since I made her in the scrumptious Be Merry fabrics (Riley Blake Designs)that inspired her design, I can't carry her yet! Well, I probably could, but I think that would be rushing winter a bit ;)


Oh!! Don't forget to check out what everyone else has been finishing up..and join us for sew & tell Fridays..Click the button to head over to Amylouwho's blog to see the list of participants!

crazy mom quilts: how to make a ragged squares quilt

For those of you who aren't familiar with Amandajean's Blog:

crazy mom quilts: how to make a ragged squares quilt

When I grow up I wanna be Amandajean ;)

Blogging...

Is harder than it seems. Not the writing, nor the having something to share, it's the remembering to do it!!

So this time I'm going to try something a little different. We'll see if it works :)

Please don't mind the dust, I'm still working out the kinks and getting buttons and links etc for the quilt alongs, challenges and yummy blog land goodness that I'm trying to keep up with ;)

In the meantime, my First sew & tell Friday post (make sure you head over to join in!!)..a few days early I know, But hubby has been in Kentucky since Monday night so I've gotten a LOT done!

First up, my version of Crazy Mom quilts ragged squares quilt.



The back, This is my favorite..I am so going to make a quilt like this. I'm thinking probably for our bedroom! Also on my favorite list is that scrumptious pink fabric..It's an odd pink and hard to match but it just appeals.



and I'm ashamed to admit, my first "correctly" applied binding. It was machine sewn on the front and hand sewn down on the back, complete with mitered corners :)



Also on the finished table today, goodies for my upcoming craft show, and not pictured, is an apron order that has been delivered and a rag quilt that is currently being washed.