Down.. But Not Out!!

Well,  This turkey holiday was for the birds!! I stayed home in bed with the flu while my family went elsewhere for food love.

My 26 year old son hosted at his house with his wonderful girlfriend. They really went all out. His siblings were fed and proud. His turkey was AMAZING..I got a doggie bag. He layered bacon over the breast before he roasted, YUMMMMMMM!!! It was the juiciest turkey I have ever tasted.

And ,I have to say I roast a doggone good turkey. I really need to talk with him about showing up his mother. Ha Ha!

So,we cooked on Friday here. It was all I could do. By the time dinner was served I could barely hold my head up to eat.( I did manage though). I have so much to be thankful for....especially this veiw.

By Saturday I was out of it again. So, I sat in my chair and knitted this dishcloth.

I haven't knitted in ages. I felt really good. The pattern knitted up really fast. And boy howdy is it a little scrubber. I had forgotten how much I love knitted dishcloths . Everyone should have a few!!

While sitting in my chair knitting and feeling sorry for my self ..My 8 year old daughter found my Knifty Knitter loom in the basket of yarn stuff. And asked if she could give a try. I did not expect her to be at it long. But low and behold ..She spent the rest of the weekend ..non-stop...Knitting this scarf and matching arm warmers.

What a hoot. She LOVES them.

Her sister joined in and knitted a scarf also.

 

I love the loose weave texture.

This is the loom.

The funniest thing about this is the pink yarn. I purchased it to knit her a baby blanket

when I was preggers with her. Ha Ha...

So, if have a little one you need to keep busy for a while .I highly recommend a knitting loom!!!

Here is hoping I am back to the sewing machine soon!! I miss her so!!

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I Want to Wish Everyone a Very Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

Hello, to all you out there in Blogland.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!

This year I am cooking for just my little family(ha ha not so little).So I am going to be pretty laid back.

I am making this Pumpkin Cheesecake Recipe. I made this last year and the kiddo's went crazy for it. I use gingersnapsfor the crust. And no toppings. It is so simple and yummy on its own.

Don't get me wrong ..we still ate pie!!   But they are much more forgiving of the leftovers, When there is Cheesecake !!!

Also..A little tip for ya.. I Love the flavor of Marsala basted turkey. If any one out there likes Chicken Marsala you will LOVE this!! Just melt a stick of butter with 1 1/2 cup Marsala wine.(This is for a 20 lb. turkey) Pour 1/2 on turkey before you put it in the oven. Baste every hour with the rest. Finish basting a least an hour before your turkey is done to cook off the alcohol.

You can find Marsala wine in the wine section of any grocer.It's inexpensive and makes your turkey and gravy taste AMAZING!!! Just remeber to skim of the fat before you make the gravy.

Happy Cookin'

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Little Show Off !!

 My 12 year old daughter an I decided a while back to quilt along in the Modify Tradition Quilt Along together. She has been sewing since she could reach the peddle and lately had caught the quilting bug.
Since this quilting thing is new to me also, I thought a quilt-along would be perfect teaching tool. I thought she could use up some of the scraps I have around as a bit of a bonus.............Well..... SuperGirl went another direction. We pieced the first block together, a pinwheel , then she was off. She decided she loved that pinwheel so much she would make 3. Then she found my Kona Cotton stash. There was no stopping her.
She had rainbow on her mind (So much for using up scraps). Pretty soon I looked up and she had sewn eleventy-seven ( as said by the 4 year old sister).
I think it is beautiful.  She is finishing the last few seams on this baby as I type. She has really done an amazing job. Little stinker... She is making this quilt for her bed, and has her eyes set on making these pinwheels in matching fabric for her walls.

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Cutting Tutorial for Lamplight Quilt

First try at a Tutorial. I hope this makes sense.

You will need 1 Moda layer cake. ( or 4 charm packs ) you will need 40 prints.

Plus 2 10x10 inch coordinating squares of fabric. ( this will give 42 total prints)

I used 1 5/8 yards for the border.

First lay out a 10x10 cut of fabric, make a horizontal cut to make

it measure 5x10,Then in half again so you end up with 2 5x5 cuts on the right and 2 5x5 cuts on the left.

From there you are going to make these cuts.

By measuring 2 inches over on the top of the left stack , mark, and 3 inches over on the bottom left ,mark,

With your ruler line up on the marks and cut.

Doing the opposite for the for the left stack.

       

After you have cut all 42 prints you will have a nice pile.

     Sort these out , you will have 2 lamplight shapes out of every print.

Now comes the tricky part......Laying them all out.

I purchased a cheap set of king flannel sheets ( Target 19.99 or less)

Stapled it to a wall.( I am using the rest of the set to back quilts).

But anywhere you can get it all laid out will be best.

Lay them out shape by shape in rows.

Until you have your desired effect.

As I hope you can see you end up with 1/2 of a print (shape) on top and the other 1/2 on the bottom of

every other row. And vertical 1/2 and 1/2 on the sides. That makes it square.

You will be sewing in blocks.

 

1 block at a time.

I pressed seams open to make a nice flat block.

I sewed all the blocks in a row. Then lined up and sewed each row together.

I threw a border on to make for a nice 70x75 inch lap quilt.

Ta Da!! 

              

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Super Awesome Giveaway!!

Flea Market Fancy Freaks is having an amazing giveaway. You don't want to miss this. Just click on the FMF button on the right of my blog.
Good Luck ( I say that with a sheepish grin) Pin It

Weekend Sewing

I have been playing catch up with the folks over at the
Modify Tradition Quilt Along.

This one is my favorite. It is called a Churn Dash Block.

Amish Diamond

Bowtie

Star Flower

 

9 Patch

Pin Wheel

It has been a blast . Hats off to the Gals putting so much work into this Quilt along!!!

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Lamplight Quilt Top Done... Yippee!!

Wow! It is finally pieced. This was a lot of sewing. I can't believe it matched up as well as it did.
There was alot of drama with this little baby. But I am pretty happy with the results.
My teens love this top. I am surprised by that since it looks a little old lady.
My son called dibbs. Ha. Well...... That was before the floral border.

I used 1 Moda Tranquility layer cake and 2 matching 10 in. x 10 in scraps for the center . I also used 1 5/8 yards of
coordinating fabric for the border. The wierd inserts on the sides came from a cutting mishap. Grrrrr.
It measures 70 x 75. Great size for cuddling.

Now to sandwich and quilt. Any suggestions??? I want to free motion . I only have the orange and red fabric left for the binding.
I don't love my choices. But.... whatever.

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Because I Don't Like to Iron...

I made this ironing board cover. It makes me smile everytime I lug it out.
Hope it doesn't offend. But it's what I think everytime I iron.

It's also why I use this little seam roller. If you don't have one ....get one.
It makes pressing your seams open so easy( no steam burned fingers.) . I don't have to get up and head over to the ironing board so often.
I keep this little wonder tool right next to the machine. Sew ,roll, repeat. Then I get up and iron when my block is done.



You can find one in your local DIY store. It was made to roll wallpaper seams flat.
I bought mine on ebay for $5.
I bet you could find one in your Aunt's, who really loves flowered wallpaper,garage or tool box.
It will go to much better use..don't ya think.

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Do you love reading quilting blogs????

I do. Here is a great list. The people at Quilter Blogs also have a awesome list of online- quilting stores.
Check them out.
Happy Reading Pin It

Her Favorite Outfit.

This is Stinkerbell's favorite outfit. I thought I would share. It is still warm in the afternoon here in the desert,So it works!
It took less than an hour to whip up. She got the cute lil' jeans of the sale rack at Old Navy .I love the patches.

Let's face it .It is all about the fabric. Amy Butler's Wall Flower in cherry.
I used Simplicity's 5119 pattern as a base pattern. I lengthened it to a tunic . And only put elastic in the neck.
Now all we need is a long sleeve tee to go under for when the weather cools.

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Quilting Goddesses I Love........

In a purely wanna be a quilter to a really amazing quilter way of course!!!
As I have been teaching myself to quilt .I have run across a few amazing women and their blogs of wisdom.So I thought I would share . Maybe there's one you don't know about. Here goes......

Oh, fransson has the most beautiful modern quilts. I have learned free motion quilting here. Her mitered corners and joining of the binding are genius.

Crazy Mom Quilts is the most inspiring read. I don't know how she gets all those quilts done. She has the most informative tutorials. So much to glean from her wisdom!!!

Missouri Star Quilt Co. is a MUST see for beginners. Thier library of videos is priceless. If you don't know how to start your first quilt. Go to MSQC.

Cluck Cluck Sew has some great tutorials. And seriously beautiful quilts to gaze at.

The Girls at Purl Bee are an amazing fountain of patchwork knowledge.

This wonderful lady is a free motion encyclopedia ....SuperQuilter  Leah Day.

Well I hope you love'em as much as I do.

Happy Learning!!!! Pin It

A Coat to Sew??

I really want to sew a coat for little lady # 5. All the girls love coats. Living in the desert makes wearing them out of the question except for early in the morning,  late at night and that is  maybe 3 months out of the year. I suppose it seems silly to put all the effort in for such little wear.....call me crazy. I am thinking if I make one out of a yummy solid quilting cotton and line it with a cute pattern print maybe it will be light weight enough to get some fashonista time.
I love this one. Possibly with polka dot lining???? Amy over at Angry Chicken inspired me with these cute coats she whipped up. 

This is the materials from the stash I have so far. I'm not sure about thee prints.But I love the retro sailor/anchor buttons.

                                                        This is the vintage pattern I found.

Anyone out there sewing coats for kiddos?????                                  Pin It

Naughty , Naughty Kitty!!!

Isn't she sweet and cute to boot.
Ruby loves to sit here and watch me sew.

But this is what I woke up to. She climbed the design wall.
NAUGHTY KITTY!!

I could have cried. My WIP is now on 2.0.
All I could do is hunker down and rebuild.
Anyone else have a kitty who likes to climb the design wall???

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