WIP Wednesday and the continued quest for a homestead

I have finally managed to get some sewing done! Since DH is usually busy on the weekends doing projects around the house (which leaves me to be with the baby and not able to do much beyond taking care of him) I told him last weekend he was going to have tons of bonding time with the baby and the other boys while I spent a good deal of the weekend sewing. He agreed and I managed to get a lot of work done for a change!

My first accomplishment--I finished the Daisy Quilt top, here it is:
It took me quite a while to figure out all the settings for the blanket stitch on my Bernina. My book goes over all the different stitches and what lengths, balances, width and tensions to use for different effects--all but the blanket stitch. I went to the Bernina website and they have nothing for older machines (mine is a 1090 which I bought in 1994) After searching through message board posts that came up on my Google searches, I found enough information on other types of stitches to be able to use different buttons on my machine that I've never used before to achieve the perfect blanket stitch applique. It took a lot of tension adjusting and ripping out stitches, but I finally got it and it looks pretty good--not as good as I'd like but no one else could see the flaws I saw, LOL! I've never done much beyond a typical straight stitch or a zig zag and a few of the embroidery stitches---I never realized how much more I have to learn about using my machine! I found a "recipe" for a hand look quilting stitch, I'm going to try that out on the daisy quilt and try to free motion machine quilt it! I think I have to get a new foot, but at least it's not as expensive as the walking foot that I've been wanting forever, LOL! Still haven't been able to bring myself to spend the bucks on that foot.

While I was messing with my tension and buttons, I was watching episodes of Simply Quilts that I had DVR'ed a while ago and hadn't watched and I saw another project I am going to tackle, probably this weekend. Alex had on Wendy Etzel who has a book out called Log by Log and it's all different log cabins she's made. Now, it's not the log cabin quilt pattern, it's actual log cabins made from strips and appliques. I fell in love with her quilts and have decided to make one of my own, since I've always dreamed of living in a log cabin, since I was a child reading the Little House books! Anyway, her book is available at Amazon and I am purchasing it this weekend, although I've already planned out my log cabin and picked out all the fabrics for it, I just need to cut them out. I'm on a roll, LOL!


Fabrics picked for my log cabin.






Now, after I finished the top to the Daisy Quilt, I immediately started cutting out fabrics for a mystery quilt that my Ohio Quilters guild has been working on lately. I wasn't going to make it, I have a hard enough time working on the projects I already have started, but I just decided to go for it and I went through my fabrics and started cutting. The pattern is called Spring Stars---but I decided to do it in reds, whites and blues for the 4th. It was also supposed to be a lap quilt, I'm making it twin sized. I need 35 blocks, I've got 17 done so far---here's what I've got:

The original pattern has them in rows of 4 and 3 with edges on the rows of 3 to take the place of the 4th block. Instead, I am putting them on point with sashes in between the blocks---probably a blue sash with a red border and a blue binding or vice versa. The blocks are simple and quick, it's a fun quilt to work on! I should hopefully have the top done by the end of the weekend, I am going to have to get more red fabric to finish it off and I'll probably do a backing of 2 strips of blue with a red strip in the middle. Or not, LOL!

I got my 30's strips from the swap I was in with the Ohio Quilters group---they are so cute! I have to admit, I really didn't care for 30's fabrics before I entered this swap. Now I love them and I joined another 30's swap, this time fat quarters! We also have another quilter in a bottle swap for the summer, so I am really looking forward to that one! I love swaps, LOL! Here are my 30's strips:

Aren't they pretty????








We're still looking for our homestead. We looked at a bunch of houses a week ago, nearly made an offer on one until we found out that that house comes with a neighbor from hell! At least we found out BEFORE we signed anything, LOL! We are going to go power look at 6 houses on Friday, I'm kinda not looking forward to it because it's going to take all day, it's projected to be in the 90's and we have to take all the kids because we can't leave them home that long and while we are that far away. My 15 year old can handle my jaunts to the store, close to home, but the baby is too much of a handful for an all day job! The good news is that there are actually some really good possibilities and hopefully, maybe, we'll be in a new house by mid-summer. I am going to get my planter boxes ready for some veggies this weekend, but nothing to go in the ground since we don't know where we will be.

It's been an emotional week for me. My oldest baby went to her prom. She was so beautiful and grown up in her gown and her BF was very handsome in his tux. I have to admit, I cried when they left---geez, I hope I can make it through her last concert this weekend and her graduation next week! I can't believe she's graduating high school. Time really did fly!!!

Ok, I'm off to bed---hopefully I'll continue to have a productive week and I'll have more stuff to actually show off next week! Have a good week!

Heartbroken and WIP Wednesday (way at the bottom)

Well, it happened. Last night, I was just looking at Realtor.com like I do, always looking for that other perfect homestead (other than this one that we already found and so desperately want) and I decided to check on the one we've been looking at---and it's gone. Someone has made an offer on it. I was stunned, this house has been on the market for a year now and barely anyone has looked at it---but when they considerably lowered the price of it, I knew someone else would see what we see in it and snatch it up--and that has happened. You know what the worst part is? We got pre-approved for a loan, and we'll have our certificate on Thursday. We missed it by 3 days. The realtor is going to look into the offer and see what is going on, if there is a chance for us to make an offer of our own or something. In the meantime, I've been spending hours looking at properties for sale, I can't find anything that is even close to perfect, or as perfect as that property was for us. C'est la vie.

No progress on the quilts as of yet. Seamus is SO active nowadays that I can't even read email without him getting into something. I have to be right on top of him at all times, which leaves little time for anything else. I was going to work on it last night, but after seeing our "home" was sold, I was overcome with sadness and I didn't do a thing. I just can't believe it is gone, I've dreamed of this property, we've drawn up plans on how we'd fix up the house, I had my gardens planned out in the yard and plans for someday building a log cabin in the woods over by the river. I knew there was a chance someone could get it and purchase it before we did, but since it hadn't happened in a year, I never imagined it would happen 3 days before we were ready to make an offer. Wow.

I did have a productive day in the kitchen, though! I made two loaves of white and 2 loaves of rye bread. The boys and I made 2 batches of soft pretzels. I made an Amazon cake (chocolate, eggless cake.) I also made sausage rolls, like the ones we used to buy at Gaelic Imports, where I used to go to buy Scottish meat pies. When I was a teenager, my mom was dating this Scottish man (who was only 6 years older than me---that kinda creeped me out, but he was really nice and cool AND he gave me his electric guitar!) ANYWAY....... He used to bring over these Scottish meat pies for us and he said they were just like the ones he would eat back home. Needless to say we loved them and every once in a while my mom would make a trip to Gaelic Imports to get some for us. When I got married and had kids of my own, I decided to find out where this place was (my mom couldn't remember) and get the meat pies for my own kids. After searching around Cleveland (we didn't even have the name of the place, she couldn't remember that, either) I finally found Gaelic Imports and we became regulars there. Every few months or so, I'd buy 2 dozen meat pies at a time to keep stocked up. Over the years, they have gotten to be very expensive. I used to get 24 for around $15, now they are $1.25 a piece and I just can't justify spending that kind of money on them. SO, I decided to learn how to make them myself. I searched the internet for meat pie recipes. I would find recipes but the meat inside would be different, or it would call for mutton, or it wouldn't be the right type of shell. I found RampantScotland.com and it was chock full of traditional Scottish recipes but nothing for the meat pies I was craving. I needed to find a recipe for the meat inside the pie, and a recipe for the pie shells. I spoke to someone at the Irish food booth at the West Side Market, and she told me that they stuff the pies with seasoned ground beef and they have a special press that makes the pie shells. Well, that didn't worry me, I just used a tuna can as a mold and then made a lid to fit it. I tried using her suggestions and the pies I made were good, but the meat still wasn't right. It was too coarse and the flavor wasn't quite right yet. The pie shell is made from a basic hot water pastry recipe, very simple to make. I got the pastry down immediately and while my shells aren't as perfect or as pretty as the ones in the store (they are made with a press) they taste exactly the same! Now, I still haven't found the correct meat recipe. I didn't want to use mutton, as most traditional recipes called for, because the pies I've always had were made with ground beef, so I was told. I kept trying, changing the spices I used in the meat and we'd keep getting closer, but never exact. So, this past weekend when we went shopping, I had picked up a 5 pound bag of ground pork to make my own sausages. I had made Irish sausages for St. Patricks' Day so I was thinking of trying to make some Italian or breakfast sausages. As I was busy baking everything yesterday, I got a craving for the sausage rolls we used to get at Gaelic Imports, so I decided to try to make those. I got on Google and stated searching for Scottish sausage recipes, I had the ones I had tried for the meat pies, but I knew those weren't quite right as well. I came across a recipe for what is called Lorne sausage. This is a common and well loved sausage eaten in Scotland, it was certainly simple---a combo of pork and beef, mixed with oatmeal, fresh breadcrumbs, salt, white and black pepper, ground coriander and freshly grated nutmeg. I mixed some up, cooked up a little bit to see how it tasted and everyone said it was good. So, I figured this would work for the sausage rolls. I had some puff pastry in the freezer, so I just used that and wrapped up the sausages in the puff pastry and tossed them in the oven. I figured even if they didn't taste exactly right, they'd still be good. In the meantime, I grabbed the bowl of leftover mashed potatoes, mixed in a couple eggs, some flour and some sauted onions and scallions and made up some tasty potato pancakes to go with the sausage rolls. As we're all sitting at the dinner table, and I am handing out sausage rolls to everyone, my 11 year old son takes a bite and loudly proclaims---MOM, this meat takes JUST LIKE the meat from the Scottish meat pies that you buy! I look at him, look at DH and grabbed my sausage roll and take a bite---and he was right! It was perfect! I had considered that they possibly used the same meat in the sausage rolls as they used in the meat pies, but since I could never get anyone to actually tell me what was what, I never pressed for answers. But I've now found it and I am very pleased! The funny thing is, Lorne sausage is traditionally made in a loaf pan, they put it raw into the pan, freeze it slightly and then slice it into easy to cook slices that can be tossed on a slice of bread. It never occurred to me that this would be the same stuff that goes into the meat pies.

Traditional Scottish Recipes
- Lorne/Sliced Sausage

Here is a recipe for square sliced sausage - often called Lorne sausage.

---

Ingredients:
2 lbs Ground/minced Beef
2 lbs Ground Pork
3 Cups Fine Bread Crumbs
2 tsp Pepper
2 tsp Nutmeg
3 tsp Coriander
3 tsp Salt
1 Cup of water.
Method:
The beef and pork should not be too lean or the sausage may be too dry.
Mix really well by hand then place in an oblong pan about 10" x 4" x 3". You might need two pans. Place in the freezer for a little while till it's just starting to set. Remove it and cut them to the thicknes you like and put them into freezer bags and put them back in the freezer. When required, defrost and fry in a little fat or oil until brown and cooked through.
For the sausage rolls, I made the Lorne Sausage recipe above and I used Pepperidge Farms Puff Pastry.
After mixing the sausage meat and letting it sit for 30 minutes to mix the flavors, I took a sheet of thawed out puff pastry and rolled it out to be around 9 X 9 inches. I cut it in half, across the 2 folds. I took some of the sausage meat, rolled it into a long roll, the same length as the pastry and set it on the half sheet of pastry. I took some milk and brushed it on the edges and pulled the two long edges together over the sausage and pinched them together. I layed them down on an ungreased cookie sheet, seam side down. I baked them for 15 minutes at 400 degrees and then 15 minutes at 350 degrees, until golden brown.

I did not use all the Lorne Sausage recipe for the rolls, so I lined a loaf pan with plastic wrap and put the rest in the pan, covered it with plastic wrap and froze it. I'll just slice it, fry it and put it on bread for breakfast, just like they do in Scotland! YUM!

Here is a recipe for the meat pies, I have made it like it is (with beef instead of mutton) and it was good, but in the future I will use the Lorne sausage for the meat since that tastes exactly like the meat pies I have eaten.

Traditional Scottish Recipes
- Scotch Pie
Large numbers of Scotch Pies are sold in Scotland every day - they are an original "fast food" and are often sold at the half-time interval at football (soccer) matches. The pies are made in special straight-sided moulds, roughly 3-3½ inches (7.5-8.5cm) in diameter and about 1½ inches (4cm) deep. A pastry lid, inside the pie, covers the meat about ½ inch (1cm) below the rim. This leaves a space at the top of the pie which can be filled, if required - with hot gravy, baked beans, mashed (creamed) potatoes etc. The meat is usually mutton (sometimes of varying quality). Many bakers have their own recipes and add spices to give additional flavour - there is now an annual competition for the best Scotch Pie.
Grannie Black, in Candleriggs in Glasgow, was a character who had such a reputation for such good mutton pies that people came from far and wide - the pub named after her (pictured here) has, unfortunately, been demolished.
The quantities below should make roughly 8/10 pies.
Ingredients for the Meat Filling:

1 pound (500g or two cups) lean lamb, minced (ground)
Pinch of mace or nutmeg
Salt and pepper
Quarter pint (150ml) gravy
Ingredients for the Hot Water Pastry:
1 pound (500g or four cups) plain flour
6 ounces (175g or ¾ cup) lard
6 fluid ounces (225ml or ¾ cup) approximately of water
Pinch of salt
Milk for glazing
You will also need glasses or jars, approximately 3-3½ inches (7.5-8.5cm) in diameter to shape the pie.
Method:
Create the filling by mixing the minced (ground) lamb, spice and seasoning.
Make the pastry by sifting the flour and salt into a warm bowl. Make a well in the centre of the flour. Melt the lard in a scant measure of water and, when it is bubbling, add to the flour and mix thoroughly. Take a small amount (remember the mixture should make 8/10 pies, with their tops) and form into a ball and keep the rest warm while making each pastry case. This is done by rolling a suitable amount for each pie and shaping the crust round the base of a glass or jar approximately 3-3½ inches (7.5-8.5cm) in diameter. Make sure there are no cracks in the pastry - you can trim round the top of the case to make it even. As the pastry cools and gets cool, remove the glass and continue until you have about a quarter of the pastry left to make the lids.
Fill the cases with the meat and add the gravy to make the meat moist.
Roll the remaining pastry and use the glass to cut the lids. Wet the edges of the lids, place over the meat and press down lightly over the filling. Pinch the edges and trim. Cut a small hole or vent in the centre of the lid (to allow the steam to escape).
Glaze with milk and bake for about 45 minutes at 275F/140C/Gas mark 1. If the pies are not eaten immediately, they can be stored in the 'fridge but always ensure they are properly reheated before being eaten.

All the recipes I have posted are from RampantScotland.com
Make sure you have some HP sauce to go with your meat pies and sausage rolls! It's like A-1 but sweeter, it tastes better on Scottish food than A-1!

Yes, I am of Scottish blood, actually Scotch-Irish on my mothers' side (with a touch of German in there) and Mexican and Mescalero Apache on my fathers' side. And I do make a lot of Mexican dishes as well, LOL!

UPDATE: DH talked again to the realtor, he said that nothing is even in writing as of yet for the people who made an offer on our dream house, so we could possibly wait a few weeks before doing anything to see if the deal goes through. I asked DH if he asked if we could make an offer of our own, but he didn't ask---so I expect him to call the realtor tomorrow to find out. I'll post any updates. I did find some other houses to look at, not as appealing all around as the other house, but I did find a really nice Amish house that is for sale with a kitchen that is as big as the whole first floor of my current house! I want that one, LOL! I am not as depressed as I was last night, I know that we will get the house we are meant to get and it'll happen when it's supposed to happen. I've just been dreaming about living at that other house for so long now, I had already thought of it as mine! I am extremely excited that we finally got approval for financing, that is WONDERFUL news! It was overshadowed by the loss of the house we never had, LOL, but it really is time to get excited! We may still yet get the other house, who knows.

I'm in the mood to sew now, so for my WIP Wednesday, I am going to be putting the black and white borders on the Daisy quilt and then I will start appliquing the daisies on the top.

I am involved in a 30's strip swap from my Ohio Quilters group, I found some cute 30's reproduction fabrics at my LQS and most of them were 1/2 off! I was only going to get 6 different fabrics, but with the sale going on and all, I had to add 3 more. I just can't pass up a good sale!

Here are the fabrics I found, cute, huh?
They are all cut into 3, 3" strips so I am sending 27 strips and will get 27 different ones back. Then, with the strips I have leftover, I should have enough to make a full/queen sized log cabin or strip quilt! That's exciting!

Ok, that's it for me today! Have a good week and I'll post any news about the house hunt business!

The dream of being a homesteader and my WIP

I've been using this blog almost exclusively to post about my quilting ventures, but when I created it I had planned on using it to describe my life in whole. I guess I should do more of that, especially since my quilting adventures have been slim to none, LOL!



We are still working on getting financing to buy the house. It certainly is much more difficult nowadays, we have been working month after month to pay off DH's debts---which really aren't many compared to the average American these days. I think his total debt was around $2500. We've been paying it off month by month for the last few months, but the houses we've looked at and wanted are being sold---it's very depressing. The house that I posted links for a while ago is still on the market---with its 5 acres of beautiful land (mostly wooded, but that's ok with us!) They lowered the asking price by $20,000 and I am scared that someone is gonna snatch it up before we get approval for a loan. I am so scared, I wake up in the middle of the night in covered in sweat and shaking---I REALLY want this property. I've been trying to let it go---the other property that we were looking at and loved that had a much better house on it sold a couple of weeks ago and I was crushed, but not too badly. I really want the property with the 5 acres, it's more secluded than the other one and just beautful. How does one let that urgency go? I know things will happen when the time is right but I've never been a patient person.

Not knowing what is going on with our life---I didn't order any seeds for a garden. Now I know (or assume) we're gonna be here for at least the summer so I want to have at least a small vegetable garden and my herb garden. I'm thinking of doing it all in containers in case we happen to get the house, and then we can take the garden with us. I was planning on planting a bunch of tomato plants in the front yard since it gets a southern exposure there, although I was also interested in trying out some of those hanging bag tomato planters. I am just torn on whether to invest the time and energy into something when we could still possibly be moving. Of course, if we don't move I'll be upset not to have grown my own veggies. It's dizzying, being in my head these days, LOL!

I am so eager to get to my own homestead and really start working towards self-sufficiency. I'm tired of neighbors who are so close they can hear our conversations in our home when they are outside. I'm tired of the neighbor kids teasing our puppy to make her bark when I am working hard to train her not to bark at them. I'm tired of being on a busy street where I have to worry about my kids safety--not just from traffic but from the child preditors that have been out in droves lately trying to pluck young kids on their way to or from school (thank goodness mine are homeschooled!) My younger boys are 11 and almost 9 and I barely let them out of their yard---that isn't right but there is so much wrong around here that I don't feel safe letting them go further than a couple of houses from our house. We live in the suburbs, but I don't feel safe here---cars in the neighborhood are always being broke into (ours was a few years ago) lately there have been a rash of house robberies in my neighborhood. I know these things can happen anywhere, but I have this desperate need to get out of the city, into the country, where I can have some peace and possibly not have to worry as much as I do now.

I've been reading so much about chickens and goats, I am SO eager to have some of my own. I got a copy of the Encyclopedia of Country Living and I've been reading it from cover to cover--I am eager to build a chicken tractor, have a garden bigger than 1 X 3, have goats following me around like my dogs and giving us fresh milk that I may actually be able to drink (I'm lactose intolerant after a gastric bypass surgery). Living here is easy, keeping house, keeping our small yard nice---I want hard work and to be so tired from working to live that I pass out everynight when my head hits the pillow.

Well, I've whined enough for one post---this is what I am doing while we're waiting for financing:

reading anything and everything about country life
learning about solar, wind and hydro power---we are going to be off grid someday
I will plant a small, portable garden---just in case.....
I will buy local, organic produce until I can grow my own
I will experiment to learn, make a small compost pile, anything I grow will be grown totally organic
look for local farms for fresh eggs and meat
use my huge gas guzzler-van as little as possible
keep working with my kids on recycling
go through stuff in the house and freecycle all we don't need/want

We will have our own homestead someday, hopefully sooner rather than later! I'm not getting any younger, LOL!

Ok, now onto my newest WIP, I started the Daisy Summer quilt, I've got the top done and I need to square it up, put on the black and white border and then applique the daisies onto the top. Here is what I've done so far. I am still practising the free-style machine quilting. Dh is building me a quilting frame for hand quilting, so I don't have to hold it while stitching and it'll be easier on my carpal tunnel. That's it for me for now, I'll post more pictures as I get more done! Have a good week!

Getting somewhere, finally!

Well, I still haven't quilted the baby quilt---I know, surprise, LOL! I'm thinking of finding someone to quilt it for me, I am obviously overwhelmed by it or something. I always put off quilting---I can piece like what, but when it comes to the actual quilting---I'll put it off for years! Since I'd actually like the baby to get his quilt while he is still a "baby", I'm going to look into finding someone who has a long arm machine and can quilt it in an afternoon or something, LOL!

I tried practicing free motion quilting over the last week, but I can't get my tension set right and I can't get my stitches even. The bottom thread keeps showing up on top or if I adjust the bobbin tension so the stitches don't show up on top--the stitches are angled instead of straight and the top stitches are way too tight. Believe me, I played with the tension on top and on bottom for hours. I was practicing with the same thread on top and on bottom, so the weights were the same. The thing is, I wasn't having any tension problems before I started free motion quilting---when I tried to adjust the tensions to work for the free motion, I messed it up overall. I had marked my bobbin case to know where the screw was, but even when I put things back to where they were, the tension is still messed up. Then on top of that, when I was practicing, I can't seem to get a consistent movement where the stitches are the right length instead of these tight, barely seen stitches. I practiced with the feed dogs up and down--no difference. I'll still practice---but in the meantime, I'll look for someone else to do the quilting for me!

I did manage to get another top cut out and I started piecing it together. It's a nine patch in bright colors, with daisies appliqued on top---it's a pattern from the recent Fon's and Porter's Love of Quilting magazine called "Summer Daisies" I wanted a bright quilt for my livingroom wall for spring/summer. I suppose I'll have to send it out to be quilted as well, LOL! You know, I've had my Bernina for 13 years now. I've used it to make many quilts---countless pieces of medieval garb, Hallloween costumes, home accessories---you name it, I've made it. I have machine quilted the majority of the quilts I have made---mostly in the ditch or in grid patterns. For some reason, going beyond that is really messing me up! I've never shied away from a challenge, heck, most of the sewing I've done I've completely taught myself. I really don't know why I can't handle machine quilting--beyond the simple stuff. It's really irritating the heck out of me!!!

That's it for me today! I'll hopefully have the new top done by next week and maybe I'll have a breakthrough with my machine quilting! In the meantime, have a great week everyone!

Busy, busy, busy!!

I have been busy. With what, I'm not sure I really remember to tell you but I haven't been on the computer all that much, certainly much less than usual and I no matter what I do, how far in advance I plan or what I tell the family---I never seem to manage to get to my quilt or even to cutting fabric. But, all is not lost, it's been a good quilting month---I got a gift subscription to Fon's and Porter's Love of Quilting magazine from DH, I was in a bottle swap for one of my online quilting groups and I got a box of awesome scraps for my scrappy quilt that is in the works! With a birthday coming up, Easter just passing---prom shopping coming up, graduation and then the graduation party---and that's just for one of the kids---there just doesn't ever seem to be enough time in the day! When I started quilting, back in the early 90's, I had 3 kids at the time who were toddlers or younger so I was able to quilt while they napped and then I quilted after they went to bed and into the wee hours of the morning---never really getting more than 4 hours of sleep a day. And I was fine. I was also in my mid 20's!!! Now, with 6 kids, one a toddler---and being well ensconced into the 4th decade of my life, I just can't do it anymore!!! When I did some marathon sewing sessions around Christmas last to finish up gifts, I stayed up all night for a few nights---I got around 4 hours of sleep each night and I was dead tired for DAYS!!! Ah, the joys of getting older, LOL!

Ok, so I joined the bottle swap for my Ohio Quilters group---I had never heard of such a swap and this was also to be my first online swap. Needless to say, I was excited! My partner listed that she liked bright colors, frogs and Jelly Bellys. I looked through my stash and found some great bright FQ's that I had but the frog fabrics that I had for the baby quilt were all used up, just some scraps and not even a whole frog on a scrap!! I went to my LQS, hoping they'd still have that fabric but they didn't. It didn't seem they had any frogs so just as I was ripping myself away from the fabrics to go look elsewhere, there was a FQ bundle of 5, and on top was a great froggie fabric surround by 4 brights! It was within the allotted budget for the swap so I scooped it up! What a find, LOL! I stuffed that into my 2 liter bottle, along with the brights I found in my stash, a some bags of Jelly Bellys that she loves. Here is a picture of the stuffed bottle:

Needless to say, the people at the post office thought this was pretty nifty. One lady just kept exclaiming, "I've never heard of such a thing, imagine, sending a gift in a soda bottle!" LOL! Unfortunately, no one in the group has heard from my partner, as to whether she got my bottle, or sent out hers. Hers was due to be delivered around the 3rd or 4th, so she must have gotten it! I just hope everything is ok with her, since she hasn't been heard from in a while!

My bottle arrived on the 31st, the day after I mailed mine out. I had been watching for the mailman everyday and was ready for him when he got here, looking to see if he was holding a bottle. Of course, he came while I was in the bathroom that day, so I didn't realize he had come. 2 hours after his usual delivery time, I checked the mail box for mail and it was full (ours is a slot that goes into the house) and my mailman always knocks on the door when he has something that won't fit in the box, so I didn't bother looking outside. DH gets home hours later and he's like---I found this bottle on the porch, they must have decided it wasn't deliverable or maybe it needs more postage. (thinking it was the one I sent out) I knew it was the one I was waiting for and needless to say I squealed with excitement and went running for knives or scissors (I felt like a little kid, LOL!) My partner sent me some beautiful fabrics, it was certainly worth the wait! Here's a pic:

Of course, I didn't think or wasn't patient enough to take a pic before I opened it, LOL! Thanks Dianna, what a nice Easter treat!

A while back, I happened to be chatting with some quilting friends, talking about wanting to make a scrappy quilt but I no longer had my bags of scraps and it would take me years to save up that many again (basically, I was whining!) Of course, you don't have to wait to have scraps for a scrappy quilt---but to me, that is part of the charm of a scrappy quilt---using leftovers, not buying fabrics for it. Anyway, one of my friends suggested that I put a request out on my blog, and those of you that read me regularly know that I did do that. I wasn't going to at first, I thought that maybe it was tacky--but then I decided that I could actually help someone clear out some much needed space in her studio---so in asking for scraps, I could be helping someone as well! Hey, it makes sense!!! Ok, well I'm just being silly---but I decided I had nothing to lose and I put out the request--and people responded!!! The Thursday before Easter I got a box in the mail, filled up with so many wonderful, beautiful scraps! It took my breath away! Thank you again, Vicki, you really made my month!! Debra also offered but I haven't been able to get my emails to her--so Debra, if you happen to pop by, anything I send to you bounces back (my emails bounce at Yahoo regularly, even on the groups) so if you have another email addy I can send you my info, or if you are on yahoo messenger, I can IM you the info, LOL! Whatever happens, thanks for offering to send scraps as well!
Box o' scraps!








My daughter (the senior in high school) is in the musical Aida so this weekend we're gonna be going to see her perform. I can't believe this will be her last musical and in a month, she'll be graduating. Wow, time flies! DH was up in the attic, rummaging around for an old TV for one of the kids, and he found two little baskets of quilting stuff that somehow got put up there--probably during a spring cleaning. While looking through the baskets, I found project that Jessica had made while I was working on the Debbie Mum Santa wallhanging that I finally finished for my mom this past Christmas---I started it probably 8 years ago---she would have been around 10. She just used scraps leftover from my quilts I was working on and put this together herself, designed it and sewed it---using the machine for the first time. I think it's beautiful!! I had forgotten about it, I think she has too so I am going to frame it as is and give it to her on her birthday. That way, she can finish it if she wants to---or if she isn't interested in it, I'll keep it, LOL! She used to help me make garb for our SCA personas, usually cutting fabric for me, or patterns. On the other Debbie Mum Santa wallhanging that I made for me, there is a teeny patchwork quilt hanging out of the sled---she made that when she was 7, all hand stitched. She was always afraid to use the sewing machine---but she finally sat down and use it for this project of hers. She just grabbed the scraps lying around, cut them into pieces and made her own creation. Then she became a teenager and was no longer interested in sewing with mom. Maybe someday, the bug will get her again, in the meantime, this is a beautiful memory. I think I want to keep it now, instead of giving it to her!!!!


Ok, that's it for me for today, I will try not to fall so behind and I promise to have something accomplished (SOMETHING!) by next WIP Wednesday!

Haven't had time for much......

Life caught up with me and took over. I haven't picked up my quilt or my knitting in probably 3 weeks, at least. I don't know about you, but I feel so---bored, lifeless, tired---when I can't work on my creative outlets. My carpal tunnel flared up and I just can't hand sew or even hold onto the hoop for longer than 5 minutes without some major pain and knitting is just out. Needless to say, I had to cut down on my computer time as well, since typing and mousing makes it hurt as well. I've gained a few pounds over the last few months which is why it is flaring up---due to a lot of water weight gain, so I have to cut out salts and sugars to get back down and the doc said my carpal tunnel should go away after that. For some reason, with each of my children I gained weight after childbirth instead of losing, even though I haven't changed my eating habits or my exercise habits. My thyroid levels are messed up so we are adjusting my meds as well---once all this is taken care of, the carpal tunnel should go away again and I'll be hunky dory again. I tried cutting out some squares of denim for my denim rag quilts and even that messed me up---so I'm taking a break for a bit.

While I was sitting in my living room looking at my snowman wallhanging on the wall, I realized that it is time to put it away, so I need something to take its place. My quest while I am getting back to normal, is to find a cute, easy pattern for a spring wall hanging. Back in November, I saw a lady on my local Freecycle list advertise that she had tons and tons of old quilting magazines to give away---I went to her house and she had probably around 150, I took 80 (there was another lady who had replied to her, but since I replied first I got first dibs and she said I could take them all if I wanted to since she hadn't contacted the other lady yet--but I made sure to leave her a bunch, too---I tried not to be TOO greedy, LOL!) These magazines are all from the early 80's--some late 70's and a few from the early to mid 90's---but they are fabulous! The one thing about them is that nearly all pics are in black and white---and they don't always have pics--BUT I don't see that as a negative, it forces me to use my OWN ideas of colors and fabric patterns instead of trying to easily duplicate what the pattern maker used---which I prefer, over all. So, for the next 5-7 days I will be perusing these old mags to see if I can find a cool spring pattern or at least get some ideas for something I can design on my own. If you have any suggestions or ideas, feel free to let me know them!!!

As you may or may not know, I am asking for donations of scraps---useless scraps to you that could help me for my scrappy strip quilt I am planning. I will gladly pay the postage, I can send it via paypal or in the snail mail! I will gladly accept any fabrics--my only request that it be natural fibers---any colors or patterns and no preference on size or shape. The reason I am asking is because my scraps were all thrown out, either unknowingly or stupidly, over the years and the only ones I have now are from the last 4 quilts I made---not much there. As I build up my stash again and make more quilts, I plan on doing the same for someone else someday!

I am afraid of free motion quilting. I haven't really tried it in years, but I have a hard enough time machine quilting a straight line without my tension going kaplooey or my stitches being too close together or too big because I am not getting it over the feeddogs in a consistent manner. I have a really good machine, it was just serviced and when I was piecing I had no problems with tension or stitch size---it's just when I try and put a quilt on it that it all gets messed up. I was going to take a machine quilting class at my LQS but I wasn't able to sign up this time around. I saw a Linda Schmidt, Alex's guest on Simply Quilts make a quilt from a photograph (Art Quilts: Parisian Nine-Patch Miniature), using fabric painting techniques, some applique, and she was creating trees using thread and water soluable stabilizer. She drew the tree out on the stabilizer, put it into a hoop and then free motion sewed the stabilizer, making sure to cross all lines to ensure that the tree would stay together once the stabilizer was dissolved. I really want to try that, but once again, I am afraid of free motion quilting/sewing. She did keep her feed dogs up, which I kinda don't understand how unless she just kept going forward and using the back button, I don't know but my goal for this year is to learn how to do this---and to learn to free motion and machine quilt. While I am a traditional quilter in my heart, my head is telling me to make an art quilt, so I need to learn a whole slew of new techniques so I can at least make a small wallhanging by the end of the year.



That's it for me today, hopefully if I am a good girl and follow my doctor's instructions faithfully, my swelling should go down soon enough so I can get back to work! I should get a wrist brace, but to me, that is like admitting that I have a problem, LOL! He said if I lost 10 pounds, I should be good to go since I didn't have a problem 10 pounds ago, LOL! Of course, I'd rather lose 40---time to up my metabolism and hit the sidewalk with my walking shoes!!

Have a good week, hopefully I'll talk to you all soon!

WIP Wednesday and projects to be...

I was looking through the photos section on one of my Yahoo Groups quilt groups I belong to and I came across a quilt that I MUST MAKE!!!! It looks very complicated to me, but the talented woman who made it said it was actually pretty easy. It's called 3rd Weekend in October.

OMG, I absolutely love this quilt! Since fall colors are my favorites anyway, I think this is the perfect quilt for me--plus the fact that I've always wanted to make a leaf quilt. The design is from Innovations and the designer is Ruth Powers and she has quite a few patterns I would like to make---given the time and the money, I'd have them all done by the end of the year, LOL! Her website is called: INNOVATIONS Quilting patterns designed by Ruth Powers
Ms Powers is a very talented designer and I look forward to bulking up my stash to make some of her quilts!!!


I'm still working on the baby quilt, I'm wishing I had machine quilted it instead, I just don't seem motivated to hand quilt it, with all that is going on in the home with my son and all the other kids, it's been hard mustering up some energy to work on this quilt. As I've always said, I'm more of a piecer than a quilter.




I was searching all over for flannel plaids for the snowman quilt I wanted to make from Fon's and Porter's Love of Quilting magazine. Their website did not have a kit, even though it was advertised to have one in the magazine---which I didn't mind so much as I'd rather pick my own fabrics, but when I spent 3 days online looking for plaid flannels and coming up empty, I was getting very discouraged and I had wished I could have gotten a kit. My local quilt shop had nothing, lots of kiddie flannels and floral flannels, no plaids. I went to Jo-Anns and they had a few flannels, nothing to write home about, though. I picked up the few I found there and I figured that it's just gonna take a couple of years to gather enough flannel plaids to make this darn quilt, since no one seemed to be making them this year. Then, I went to Wal-Mart. Now, I've been pretty much boycotting Wal-Mart---partly due to the layaway fiasco, and then I hear they are getting rid of the fabric/craft section and so I decided that I am no longer going to shop there. Part of their reasoning to getting rid of the fabric department is, according to a Wal-Mart higher up, Wal-Mart is trying to appeal to an upper class of people and rich people don't sew. WHAT?????? But, I digress.....

Anyway, I had to go to Wal-Mart for canning supplies, since no one else around sells them and I stopped in the fabric section and what did I find???? FQ bundles of plaid flannels and tons more flannels on the rack!!! They were all quilt shop quality fabrics, too!!! You wanna see my flannels? LOL!

Geesh, don't ya just love fabric????!!!!






Homespuns have always been my favorite fabrics but I think plaid flannels are now joining them in the favorites list!!!

Now, here is the time for a shameless plug/request. Do you have too many scraps laying around and not enough room for them? Would you like to clear some room for some new yardages or FQ's? Do you have lots of scraps and just no ideas of what you may ever want to do with them? Let me take them off your hands and help you clear up some more storage space! I am looking to make a scrappy string quilt in the near future but my scrap stash is very, very small. Over the years, stuff has gotten thrown out during moves and spring cleanings and I have been left with very little quilting fabrics scraps (yet I have tons of scraps from my costuming fabrics, none of them got thrown out :-(!! ) So, if you would like me to help you and therefore help me, just write to me at marsaili at cox dot net and I would be glad to help clear some space for you!!!!

Ok, shameless plug/request over!

Another project I am looking to make soon, which should be fast and easy, is to make a few denim rag quilts. The nice thing is that I don't have to quilt it if I don't want to and I can probably make 3 or 4 of them in a week. I've been saving all of the kids outgrown jeans--and with 2 pre-teens and 3 teens, they grow out of their jeans FAST!!! Even the baby's outgrown jeans can help towards his rag quilt. What I will do is get backing fabrics that go with each kid---Hello Kitty for my 19 year old daughter, something rock and roll for my 17 year old son, Pokemon or Sonic the Hedgehog for the two youngsters and something Garfield for the 15 year old. I love the look of the frayed blocks and it goes with the homey look I'm trying for in the house. Plus, I think the kids would all like one, as well! The quilt in the picture is from Patchwork-and-Quilting.com

Ok, that's it for me this week! Hopefully I'll have my current WIP done by next week---but that is a tall order, we'll see!