JoAnn's Trip

We had gift cards burning holes in our pockets, so off to JoAnn's.


I want to learn to knit...(with a few fat quarters thrown in, of course)

and I want a new lined skirt for winter.

My daughter found this track jacket on clearance and found iron-ons she liked for it. She loves this key fabric and I am teaching her to never leave without at least one fat quarter.

This is what I have been doing since we got home. I am totally enjoying myself and planning projects for snowy days that I know are coming.

I love field trips!

Happy Weekend Everyone!

Cold Hands No More

I found a box of old sweaters in the back of the closet.

One sweater became wrist and ear warmers.

I have 6 more to play with over the next few days. I think I may have a couple pillows to recover for the winter season.

Update - I got another pair made, but then I got distracted and did some rice bags...LOL!

Welcome to New Year, New Construction

Over the next week, I will be doing some construction on my blog. I am adding pages for some projects that I am beginning. I decided to add to this blog because these new pieces of my life are intertwined with the posts from the last year. I am excited and a little nervous about the path I have planted my feet upon for the second half of my life. I learned much about myself in 2011, including the facts that I really enjoy being creative in the sewing room, the kitchen, the garden and flower beds. I want to expand these creative processes. I will be reaching for new experiences in 2012. 

I want to thank my followers and the all the other people out there in blogland for stopping by and leaving a piece of themselves, I cherish every comment. 

Happy New Year and may the creative juices overflow in our little pieces of the world!

Happy New Year!

Best wishes to everyone in the coming year!

This is one of the goals presented to us by our daughter...LOL!

She has decided this is the fastest way to save for a full size piano.

We are going to work on proving her wrong!

Happy New Year!

Another Gift

My second prize from the Sew, Mama, Sew giveaway week arrived yesterday! I won a shopping bag and a produce bag from Teresa the Green Bag Lady.

This is a great site and a great idea! My bags came in the mail, just before I was heading to the store, so off they went with me! 

I love these bags! My shopping bag is numbered!

She has been really sending a lot of these out in the world! When you get a chance stop by and give Teresa some love!

My Gift

Last week I entered the Sew, Mama, Sew! giveaways. 

I won a cute fabric bowl from Debi. 

It came in the mail and she sent me a link to how she made it. 

When you get a chance to sit down, pop on over and give her some love. 

Thanks Debi, we love it!

Merry Christmas!

Last Minute Sewing

Last night we got a call from a friend of my daughter. She had found an old doll house at the thrift store that was the perfect gift for her 5 year old niece. It needed curtains.

She is a scrapbooker, so she was going to re-paper the walls and stopped by to drop off the one set of old dirty curtains that were in it. 

We went through the fabric stash and the girls found some that would match the paper. 

With a bit of help from my daughter, 

we got them done in a couple of hours, start to finish. 

As a side note, I did fix the wonky seams, I just didn't get a picture. We ran them over and the doll house was cleaned, wall papered and had a few pieces of furniture and new drapes. It is all ready for a little girl to dream.  

Merry Christmas!

Santa Soft Book

My daughter and I found this at the bottom of a bag of fabric. I remember buying it about 17 years ago, when she was 3, and then promptly losing it. I think I need an intervention on fabric hoarding...LOL!

I ironed it for about an hour and cut it out.

I found some batting scraps that were the perfect size and pinned it up.

I just did a quick stitch around the pictures and then the outside edge of  the pages. DD is so in love with the Rag Quilt texture, she wanted me to leave the page edges open.

Sew it together and square up the pages and...

Ta Da! 

It's cute under the tree and she says it is going in her cedar chest after Christmas.

She is very good at reminding me that it is the littlest things that can mean the most.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Christmas Tea Towels

Here is another "use up some stash" project. 

Cut fabric to the size you want the towels plus seam allowance.

Sew 1 1/2" or 2 1/2" strips together to a width a bit more than the towels.

Iron everything and check to see if you need to add or remove a strip.

Hem towels. I used red thread in keeping with the holiday theme.

Cut strips into 3" sections. Fold raw edges to middle and press.

Take a strip, fold ends in and press to width of towel. I put it just inside the hemmed edge. Turn strip over and pin in a few places to hold.

Sew strip down close to the edge.

I will be giving baskets to my neighbors with bread, cookies and a set of these towels.

These took me longer to press than to sew. It took two days to finish them because the family wanted to eat once in a while and the ironing board was set up in the middle of the kitchen.

Enjoy!

Olive Oil Mayonnaise

I  love olive oil mayo! I ran out in the middle of a yucky rainy day and decided to make my own, instead of going out in the damp. I looked through a few different cookbooks and took the best of each to come up with this recipe.

1 whole egg, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. sugar, dash of Old Bay Seasoning, 

2 TBSP vinegar or lemon juice, 1/2 cup vegetable oil and 1/2 cup olive oil in one measuring cup.

In blender add egg, salt, sugar, seasoning, vinegar and 2 TBSP of the oil. 

Pulse 5 or 6 times to blend smooth.

On the "blend" speed, SLOWLY DRIZZLE oil until thick and creamy.

You may have to stop and scrape, once, when it gets thick, 

so it will blend the rest of the oil.

Spoon into a jar and refrigerate immediately. It makes a little more than a cup. I don't know how long it will last, because we go through it in a week. 

I have made this every Saturday afternoon, lately. 

Sew Many Projects

Busy hands...

Dish cloths 

(had to do something with all the scraps from the rag quilt)

 Fall quilt top for DD

(She chose the fabric and helped cut)

 Rag bag for the garage

(DH loved this and worked on organizing the garage for a whole day)

 Rag quilt finally finished!

(I am still finding strings in the washer)

I have a few Christmas projects on the sewing table and will post about them when I can get DD to get the pics off my phone. The phone and my dinosaur laptop are nowhere near compatible...LOL! 

Have a great week!

Stashbuster Potholder

Just a quick little job to use up some leftover terrycloth from the rag quilt project, that I am procrastinating on finishing. This was my inspiration.

My DH is home for a week's worth of vacation, so I doubt much will get done around here...LOL!

Have a great week!

Breaking Needles

This is what I have broken a rotary blade and 4 needles on...

I should have it finished and ready to show early next week.

Green Tomato Strawberry Jam

This is a quick recipe and it really is good. I have the bread machine running and the family is excited to have this jam on toast for breakfast.


5 cups green tomatoes, cored and diced in blender
4 cups sugar
1 lg. package Strawberry Jello


Boil tomatoes and sugar in large sauce pan for 20-30 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in Jello for 3 minutes. Put in hot jars or freezer containers and refrigerate or freeze. 
Note: I used all the green tomatoes I picked that were too small to fry and a bunch of green cherry tomatoes. This was a great way to use the last of the harvest instead of wasting them.

Enjoy!