Row of the Month Quilt - Sept 2012

At the Cotton Mill Quilt Guild, we are working on a Row of the Month Quilt.   The first month is the Trees.   I have it fused, and next is the stitching around the trees.  I think I will use black thread and use the blanket stitch on my sewing machine. 

Joan B. who is leading the Row of the month activity at the guild did her project using up scrappy, and non-Christmas fabrics.  I love her quilt, so I'm doing that too. 

 

If you want to see Joan's Quilt, and get the link to the free pattern that we are using, just hop over to the Cotton Mill Quilt Guild Blog and the link is here.   We will get assigned the next row at our guild meeting on October 15th.  Stay tuned.

 

Vanilla smells so Good

Aurora was here helping me make chocolate chip cookies yesterday.  

She was taking a big whiff of my special pure vanilla that I bought in Costa Rica last year.      "Ahh, it smells so good", she says, "it smells just like a candle!! "    

It made me smile.

Who are you running for?

When you run in the Run for the Cure marathon, everyone wears a Marathon Tag on their shirt that is pre-printed with "Who are you running for?" on it.   I've run and walked the marathon many times, and those little signs attached to the runners backs or fronts get me every time.  Some have the word Mom or Sister written on them, and others have the names of friends.  

To add to my fundraising this year, I made up a hand stitching/Embroidery kit and had a mini raffle at each of the quilt guilds that I belong to.    The kit included a two marked pieces, ready for stitching.  One would be a practice piece just in case the winner of the kits were a little rusty on their hand embroidery.  By the time they finished the little practice piece, they would be confident and anxious to start the larger stitchery.    The kit also included a needle case with needles, a threader, scissors and a sparkly scissor charm.   Also included was a perfectly sized 5" spring hoop, and a large spool of Sulky Christmas Red 12 wt thread.  These were given to me by Diane at Country Crafts and Curtains.  (Thanks Dianne).  

My two guilds are awesome.  They are always so good at supporting me.   Between the two guilds, I raised $225 dollars for Breast Cancer in our area.   I'm so pleased.

So, who are you running for this Sunday, September 30th?    See you there.

Apple Cores

I'm really excited to get a new quilting die for my Sizzix.  It took seconds to cut out eight apple cores.  Love the notches for easy piecing. 

Redwork Bag

As you know, I've been doing some simple hand embroidery lately.    I made up this little bag to keep my stitching project and supplies in.  This one is a little different than my travel pouch - which I love.  I'm not sure I'll  like this one as much... I really need a window, but I'll give this a try.  I just love the color. For some added bling I also added a little floss charm and crystal to pull the zipper.

So here's what I'm thinking.  I used machine embroidery to stitch redwork on my handwork bag.  Hmm...Is that a little contradictory?   Too bad, I really like it and it was pretty quick to make.  I'll use it to keep my TV-watching project organized.

Some will ask about a pattern, but no particular pattern was used.  I loosely used a couple of free tutorials to make it, but not bad for my prototype.  I have a Zippy pattern on order which should make my next one easier.  I like it for the way the zipper ends are finished.

   

 

Star Light Quilt - Weekend 2

Last weekend I showed you some sewing I did at the cottage.  The first sewing all summer because the weather has been so good.    It's September and the cooler weather is here.  So, that means I will sew on the cooler mornings.   Last weekend I stitched up the 12 main blocks.  This weekend, I finished stitching the 31 sashing blocks and a small number of smaller blocks .  This is definitely a quick quilt to sew up.    

Next weekend, I'll be doing the layout, and starting to sew it all together.

 I love the scrappy beiges and reds.    I just think that Red just might be my new favorite color.

Guild night soon

With our first guild meeting night just over a week away, I'm focussed on finishing a community quilt.  At our closing meeting in June, there were kits all cut and packaged with a pattern.  They were just to easy to pick up. 

This one has bright fun colors and would be for a girl.   I don't know who will get it, but while sewing it up all alone in my sewing room, I think about a young girl who would be going through a difficult time.  I wonder how a quilt can make a difference.    I hope it gives a bit of comfort.

So, are you working on any community quilts?

Sewing at the Cottage

We just got back from a fabulous weekend at the cottage.  Sunday was beautiful and all the kids and kiddos were there with us enjoying the day.

Saturday was a sunny but breezy day. I thought I'd dig out the sewing machine for the first time all summer.  I cut a sweet kit that I cut last spring and it's been waiting for a rainy or breezy day.

The pattern is called Star Light and is from a June 2005 McCalls Quilting Magazine.  It's simple and with my limited room at the cottage, is just the right size.   In a couple of hours, I got the first step done,  which was pieciing the 12 main blocks.     Maybe next weekend, if the weather is cool in the mornings, I'll get step two done.  That's the sashing blocks which make the red stars.

Fall

Tomorrow is Sept 1st....  already!

Just in the past few days, it seems like the weather is changing.  I'm starting to wear long sleeves for my morning walks.   The sun is still strong, the air is cooler.  There is dew in the grass every morning now.    Time passes so quickly.   The kiddos are getting ready to go back to school after a fabulous summer...

I'm looking forward to all the things I have planned this fall.   Are you?

Cucumber Jelly Recipe

While I was cleaning out my sewing room, which included my sewing basket, I came across a handwritten recipe for Cucumber Jelly.  It was given to me last year while at our hand-quilting group at church.   My notes were sketchy, and I can't quite remember which quilter gave it to me, but I have it narrowed down to 3 people. I think it was Doris K.    My daughter buys cucumber jelly at craft fairs and loves it on crackers..   So with the help of my friend Linda H. who gave me a few of her big overgrown cukes, I made a batch of jelly today.

I researched other recipes for cucumber jelly, and it's not very popular.  Maybe it's a maritime dish?  The recipes that I did find say to serve it with smoked salmon and cream cheese.  So guess what I'm serving at my next get together.

It is still setting as I write this, so I haven't tasted it, but it looks and smells so good.  I'll share the recipe with you in case you have a few big cukes you want to use.

Cucumber Jelly - Yield 7 - 8oz jam jars.

• 3 - 4 big cukes,  shredded and ground up with peel on.  Strain through cheese cloth or sieve.  Don't push too much, or the juice will be cloudy.
• 2.5 cups of strained cucumber juice (from the step above)
• 7 cups of sugar
• 1 cup of white vinegar
• 2 pouches of Certo Pectin

Mix cucumber juice, sugar and vinegar in a big pot.  Stir, and bring to a boil  for 2 minutes.  Then remove from heat and stir in the 2 pouches of Certo.   Continue to boil for another half minute, and remove from heat again.  Stir and skim off any foam for 4 or 5 minutes.  The jelly will be a light green.  If you want more color, add two or three drops of green food coloring.   Bottle in jelly jars and let the jars set.  Be sure to check the seals.  If one doesn't seal, keep it in the fridge and use it first.    Serve with crackers and cream cheese.

Snowflakes Stitchery finished

I'm looking at my fall calendar of things to do, and I know I have to start getting back in my sewing room.   It's been a mess, and just not nice to go into.   I know if I spend 30 minutes just sorting and and putting things away, it would go a long way to getting back into the swing of things.

It didn't take me long to clear off most of my sewing table.  I have several partly finished projects.  So I thought, let's just finish them rather than move them. 

Here's the first one finished.  This little snowflake snowman didn't take very long to finish. I only had to machine quilt the border, then apply the binding.   A total of 45 minutes.    For a while I had a bit of a problem with the old question "Do you think it's ok to mix hand stitching, with machine quilting?"

But I'm over it and I think it's just darling.  

If you want to know the pattern, it's the "S" from Crab Apple Hill Designs,  Snowmen, A to Zzzz.    

And the good thing is,  I have something for show and tell at my September Quilt Guild Meetings.  Ahh, I'm starting to feel good!    

An Inside view of a Hornet's Nest

View of the bathroom window.

A few weeks ago, when we went to the cottage, we noticed that hornets had started building a nest on the outside of our bathroom window.   A few weeks went by and it got quite large.   The good thing is that, the hornets kept to the back side of the cottage until just recently.     It looks like a halloween ghost or something, doesn't it!

Close up.  Looks scary, doesn't it!

   

When the hornets started coming to our side of the cottage, we decided we had better take action to remove them.  We hung a trap, and within days, most of the hornets had been captured.    When the next was mostly vacated, we sprayed the nest, and in a few hours, there was no activity.  It came off the bathroom window with an old egg lifter.   It's gone now.     Just a few homeless hornets around, but I'm sure they'll find another home, or find their way into the trap.

Very interesting to watch the hornets hard at work inside the nest.