Popped.....

I FOUND IT!!! When I wasn't hunting in drawers, cabinets and under fabric it popped up...just like that!!

This whole time it was sitting on the floor of the backseat of my car. My camera case is orange on one side, black on the other. It must have fallen out of my purse, landed black side up (on dark gray floor) and I missed it every time I searched that blasted car. Come on...it's a VW Bug...how many places are there to hide?

As soon as I finish cleaning,which could be tomorrow since I only have the laundry room done, I will post photos for all!

Yippee......celebrate with me!!

Happy Snapping,
Nancy

well, crap.

Image from google images


I can't find my camera anywhere. I had it last Monday at my nieces house taking photos of her weeks old baby. I kind of remember putting it in my purse, but it's not there...or anywhere else for that matter. I actually stopped by her house yesterday to ask if I could search under her couch. No luck. I miss my camera. Blogging is boring without photos. I can't show you the doll quilt I am working on for that special little girl. I can't show you the cute tote bag with the "K" appliqued on it and some rick rack. I can't show you the weeks old baby photos I took.

Maybe I should stop searching and it will show up?

I know it will be in the last place I look.... because then I will stop looking...

So, I am off to clean. Maybe it will pop up somewhere...

Happy Sewing,
Nancy
Wish me luck....

Hubby's new project....

I am a really lucky wife... My hubby loves to do woodworking and as soon as he finishes one project he is onto the next. The last project was a small wooden box.
Now he has decided to build new bedroom furniture for us.

First up are the night stands. He is using poplar and will stain them a dark oak color. He is working on the two (actually 4) drawers now. He does really good work and loves to do it. He is also quick. These were started 2 weekends ago and it will only be a couple of more weekends and he will be finished. Then I will have to find something to do with my side tables I am using now.




Aren't they nice?

The Rock Star and I woke up to a problem this morning. Actually I knew about it last night, but at 11:45pm there isn't a whole lot you can do with a flat tire. So this morning, he used the air compressor to air it up and we flew up to WallyWorld to get it fixed. At the same time I had some items to mail to the grandkids.

ANYWAY!!!

This young girl was in front of me at the post office. Let's listen in....\

first off the YG is on the phone and continues to talk on her phone even after she realizes it is her turn in line and the POE is staring at her.... (so rude!!)

YG (young girl)... I need a box.
POE (post off employee) ... what size of box do you need?
YG for my camera
POE Do you want to mail the camera priority? or parcel post?
YG um.. it needs to get there tomorrow
POE You will need to send it express (POE leaves to get the appropriate box)
YG - How much will it cost?
POE - The box is free, you just pay for postage.
YG - How much will postage be?
POE - Where is it going?

YG - (are you ready?) Church camp

silence...

POE - Where is church camp?
YG - Um...I don't know.
POE - Do you have the address?
YG - No
POE - Well, do you know what city or state?
YG - Um...it's not far. About 2 hours from here... How much would that cost?
POE - I really need the address to give you a price.
YG - oh.
POE - is there anything else?
YG - no.

at this point the POE reaches for my packages and starts to weigh them. The YG is still standing there. The POE looks over at her. The YG says - um....can I take the box home and bring it back?

WOW....maybe next time she needs to be more informed? Maybe she just doesn't understand that the PO uses address's to figure cost?

We are still waiting for the call to say the flat tire is fixed. I have once again lost the camera... I got the little tote bag/purse finished last night and I only have a bit of quilting to do on the baby quilt so maybe I will edit this post before tomorrow and have some photos...

If not, I will take a photo of the fixed tire. how about that?

Nancy

In exile...

It is 10:05pm as I write this and I have been living on the second floor since 7:45pm. So far I have made a little tote bag and almost finished a doll quilt. These are for a very special little girl that is going through a rough time in her young life. Sometimes life just isn't fair....

I would take a photo, but I am not allowed downstairs.

I have cleaned the sewing room.

I would really like a nice glass of ice water, but I am not allowed downstairs.

I have ironed all of my hubby's dress shirts.

I think I need my computer, so I gather my courage and go downstairs. The living room light is on. Otherwise it is pitch black.

My son and his "friend that happens to be a girl" are watching TV in the family room. I must quickly get some ice water, gather up my book and the computer and run up the steps. No talking is allowed. (although I do tell him to be home by 11:30pm after taking her home)

I am in exile in my own house.

For the first time in 38 years, I wish we had a TV in the bedroom......

Nancy

Sorry no photos. The camera is downstairs. Come back tomorrow and hopefully I will have photos of the doll quilt, tote bag and the furniture that hubby is building...

if I am allowed to go downstairs tomorrow.

yummmm........

Saturday while heading into the local home store to get more wood for a project hubby is making, I made him stop at a crappy little side store to buy some Calhoun peaches... By crappy, I mean that somebody bought a little hut, painted it blue and white striped and planted in on the side of the street and they are selling hub cabs, windows, you name it they got it kind of stuff....

So Sunday I used a recipe that we got at one of my group meetings and made a peach pie. Doesn't it look good? And it's easy...really....easy as PIE!! LOL



Want the recipe?

I aim to please....

Peach Pie by Sally

10 fresh peaches, pitted and sliced (I peeled mine
1/3 C AP flour
1/2 C white sugar
1/2 C brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/2 t cinnamon
top and bottom crust... (I used Pillsbury refrigerated crust)

Mix flour, sugars and butter into crumb stage.
Place one crust in the bottom of a 9 inch pie plate and add a layer of peaches.
Sprinkle some of the butter mixture over the top of the peaches, then put more peaches and more crumb mix and continue to layer until all the peaches and all the crumb mixture is gone.
Top with lattice strips of pie crust
Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until crust is golden. (I had to add 10 minutes)

ENJOY!!!

Off to sew!!
Happy day,
Nancy

It's Christmas in Missouri...

Did you see the snow in Missouri yesterday? Did you hear sleigh bells? Could you smell gingerbread?

No?

Well, you should have been at my house.

You see, the mail lady left a HUGE package in my mailbox and when I opened it I could see snow, hear sleigh bells and smell gingerbread... How, you ask? Well, my package from the Christmas In July swap arrived..... Linda and Stephanie co-hosted a Christmas in July swap. It was by invitation only and by some weird twist of cosmic fate I got an invitation....

Back to the goodies....

The first thing I saw when I opened the package was this beautiful tote bag. This is the perfect size to take to quilt guild. It will hold my note book, pen, BOM block, camera, water and anything else I need to haul there. It is perfect and I love it.



Inside there were 3 packages (or was it four? or more?) All wrapped in Christmas tissue paper...



First opened (was it wrapped?, I can't remember) was an Aussie quilt magazine. I love Aussie quilt mags and I have already devoured this one from front to back. It has great patterns in it and there are more than a few I would like to add to my to-do list.



Then I unwrapped these three beauties. A FQ of Christmas fabric with the cutest Santa and Sleigh.UPDATE - FABRIC IS CHRISTMAS MAGIC BY LYNETTE ANDERSON. Then a stitchery pattern (iron-on even!) from Rosalie Quinlan Designs. And it's her Christmas Blessings pattern with BIRDS....now how did my swap partner know I love birds...???.... Then the nicest needle keeper. Again with a bird theme. I love it and it will be well used. It even has a pocket inside for a packet of needles and my scissors. Everything I need to take my stitching with me...



And then the last package. It was certainly a funny shape. Kind of square but there was this point sticking out that was very intriguing.... Then I just ripped into it. OH MY.....

OH MY.....

OH MY.....

Look at that... a table topper. In reds, greens and creams. My favorite colors. This is my kitchen table and it fits and looks perfectly... I absolutely am over the moon for this. I love it.... We will be eating in the family room from now on cause I don't want to remove it from the table. LOL



As nice as it looks on my table, look at it up close.....go ahead, double click that photo and look at those colors and that quilting. I'll just sit here all smug while you are green with jealousy...



Yea....I hit the jackpot.

My swap partner was Lynda of Heavens to Bettsy. There are no words to express my surprise, gratitude, thanks, and excitement. Thank you Lynda....I love everything...

Coming this week....
Hubby woodworking projects
retreat photos
and today I am watching my great-nephew while his mom (my niece) helps my other niece move. He is only 7 1/2 weeks old and I can't wait!! I hope I remember the camera.


Happy Sewing,
Nancy

For Jan in Arizona.....

Nancy no blog made this fantastic horse wall hanging for her son's girlfriend. Nancy no blog used to live in Arizona and her friend wanted to see this quilt so I am featuring it here for Jan's pleasure (and of course all of you)... She bought a kit with the pattern, but wasn't keen on all the fabrics so she also went shopping and added some batiks... She did fusible raw edge applique and then quilted it. She did a wonderful job. It's hard to tell the size from the photo, but it is about 23"x28....

That date is NOT a mistake. Yes, it was for Christmas 2008....me thinks Nancy needs to get going on this year so she won't be so behind this Christmas...








I have photos from my retreat, but I can't find my camera. I know it is in the house somewhere, but dang if I can put my hands on it. As soon as I find it, I will show you all what we worked on. We did have a beautiful weekend. We drove down Thursday night after dinner and sewed all day Friday and Saturday...

I promise to look for the camera tomorrow.

really...

Happy Sewing,
Nancy

Fun....

I spent the last few days with this sweetie..



Her mother (my oldest daughter) is suffering with a herniated disc so I drove out to help with the baby. FUN!!


Now I have this stuff sitting by the front door as I pace, waiting to be picked up by Bev and Veronica...



Three days in a condo with sewing machines and good (no cook)stuff to eat.
Even more FUN!!!

Be back Tuesday with photos (if they let me!)

Happy weekend,
Nancy

What's in a number............

What is the significance of a number.

Yesterday I was one number and today I am another.

I don't look any different. I haven't gotten any more gray hairs.. (well maybe ONE!!)
I am not wealthier, or prettier, or smarter.
I am not younger OR older.

I am just me....

So what's in a number?



Well, today the magic numbers are 13 and 86 and 70....

What is the significance of these numbers?

13 - Today is my birthday... YEA ME!!

86 - Is Doreen's lucky number as she is my first winner...

and

because I am old enough to make my own decision and no one can tell me NO!!

70 - Is FreeIndeed's lucky number as I decided to have a second winner.

SO Doreen will get first pick of either the sewing notions pattern bag or the pink one.....and FreeIndeed will get the other one.

Email me your mailing address girls... and Doreen don't forget to tell me which bag you want....

Off to have some cereal and maybe cause it's my birthday I will make bacon....

Tonight is Chinese!! YIPPEE!!

Happy Sewing,
Nancy

Parade of Quilts.....

Camille over at Simplify got together with a friend, Carrie of LaVieEnRosie and cooked up this marvelous idea for quilters everywhere to show their first and last quilt. I am game, are you???

My first quilt was made around 1998. It was a Quilt-in-a-day that turned into a Quilt-in-a-Month or longer. I took a class at a local Technical School and knew no one in class. I didn't know anything about rotary cutters or mats or rulers and showed up with the bare minimum of supplies. Somehow I managed to finish it and get it to a long arm quilter...

I think it's always best to show quilts in their natural habitat. I could have taken this quilt outside and hung it precariously on a nice wood fence and draped it just so. Instead here it is...



So much blue and I am not a blue person. That little red square kept me going. I love red still. Here is a close up of one block. Can you see that every piece of fabric has a star of some kind in it? I thought that was clever back then.



Yes, my son uses it every night. Even in 90 degree heat, it is on his bed. He has had it since 1998 so it is well loved. And frayed. And he is finally requesting a new one for Christmas this year. BUT...he wants it as soft as this one and the batting in this one feels like flannel now. I might need to make it now and wash and dry the heck out of it until Christmas to get it soft.

And here is my last quilt. Well, not my LAST quilt, cause I have a few in the planning, drawing, sewing stage... But it is the last quilt that is almost finished. It needs the binding sewn on yet. This was a Mystery BOM with my quilt guild. Bev found the pattern and each month would give us our instructions for the month. We always had multiple blocks to make. It was supposed to use up some scraps and I must say I like this one and it is the first mystery quilt that I like and will keep. I have always donated the others to my Aunt's church for them to finish, quilt and raffle. We are supposed to have it to "top stage" by the August meeting. Mine of course is already quilted and will have the binding on by then. I know I won't be the only one that is finished. We have some Type A people in the guild... I am not a Type A, but I did want this one finished so the August deadline worked well for me. This was a free pattern by Claudia's Quilt Shoppe. It's not free anymore, but there are other free BOM on her web site. Bev did write and get permission to reproduce it as a mystery for our guild. I can't wait to get it bound and send her a photo.



And here is the label. I put it on the front instead of the back using one of the blocks that was supposed to have a heart star in middle and used some Bubble Jet Set to print it out on my computer right onto the fabric. My son loves to use desktop publisher so I gave him the wording I wanted and he designed the label. Pat (no blog) quilted it for me and I just got it back Wednesday... Didn't she do a good job. I usually let her decide the quilt pattern (she knows NOT to use any hearts) and it always turns out perfect. (I also got to use my 20% off Christmas gift coupon!)



So that is my first and my last quilt. Of course remember I have a couple in the planning stages. Here is a sneak peak of one...



See I even got a little red in this one....

Have you guessed my birthday yet? It could be soon.... I'm just saying....

If you are commenting as No-Reply then you better leave me an email address. If you are logged in and I can email you, I will tell you whether your guess is correct or not. You can guess as many times as you want until you get a right answer...

Happy Sewing,
Nancy

anything, everything and nothing...

I have been busy behind the scenes working on a secret project. The powers that be say I can't share quite yet.

Yesterday I took the Rock Star (his car was in the shop) to a job interview. Since it was at a local discount store I took the opportunity to walk around and shop. Well, I am not a shopper so after 1/2 hour I checked out and went to the car to wait. He came out, sat down and said...."I need a drug test". OK!!! We got a JOB!!! YIPPEE!! Of course there was that Mom in me that came out and wondered out loud "um...will there be any problem passing the drug test?".... He assured me that his drug test would be as clean as mine would be, so off we went....

He was appalled that a lady stood outside the door while he peed in a cup. He also didn't like the fact that he couldn't flush and couldn't wash his hands. I tried to warn him, but he is 17 and doesn't pay attention to what this old lady says. I just laughed..

Today was Patchwork & Pie at my LQS. The lecture today was on quilts from the 30's and it was very interesting. One of the speakers was Ann Hazelwood
and she brought her collection of doll quilts from the 30's. The other speaker was Terry David and she had quilt patterns from the KC Star and Mountain Mist from the 30's. It was very interesting and one of the members brought a fabulous peach pie... Unfortunately I forgot the camera so no photos. I will try to remember next month when the program will be about linens and kitchen utensils.

I am working on getting some quilts cut out and ready to sew. Two friends and I are taking off next weekend on a short sewing retreat and I prefer to have most of the cutting down beforehand so I can just sit and start sewing. I have no idea at this point what I will even work on. I have some Christmas gift ideas and might get those together and I have a niece that is pregnant and need to get a baby quilt finished. I have a HUMONGOUS quilt to bind so I think I will take that and then again I might just work on some charity quilts or take my redwork.

Don't forget the birthday contest. There might not be too much time left to guess.
Click Here to go to the contest post, guess my birth date and be in the running to win a zipper sack.

After rereading this post it seems it is about anything, everything and nothing. Maybe tomorrow will be more interesting? Maybe not...

Happy Sewing,
Nancy

ah....friday evening....

And the kids are all bathed and ready for bed. i stopped at Walmart this afternoon and bought 4 yards of black twill and made room darkening panels for the guest bedroom. Do you think they might sleep longer than 5am?? I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Right now this is their quiet activity before going to bed....



Ava's favorite movie of all time is on TV tonight. Da Wizzer of the Oz....

What the kids are saying as the movie starts....

Did you know that Dorfe has ruby slibbers??

Toto is the better dog...

I'm gonna get a new dog and name it toto. did you know that gramma?

My snowman doesn't have a face. (she is using the winter pillowcase lol)

I brought my princess nightlight. can we use it tonight in the dark...

Oh Oh the tornado is starting....better get back to the movie...

Nancy

Happy 4th of July
have a great weekend

grandkids will be here this weekend, so I will return on Monday....

Nancy

Update on Birthday Contest...

Please make all guesses as comments from the last post. I am replying to all emails and telling you whether you are correct or not. DO NOT REPLY TO MY EMAIL WITH MORE GUESSES... I delete all comments from my email inbox (otherwise my inbox would be overflowing!!)

So, go back to the original post and keep guessing.

There will only be one winner picked from all the correct guesses. That winner will have a choice of either the pink bag or the sewing notions bag. (if you beg for the red and white one, I might relent!, but I will not give away my orange one...LOL)

Get it?

Got it?

Good....

Nancy

Hello, My name is Nancy....

and I am addicted to making these sock sacks!!!

I need some serious help here folks. It started innocently enough reading a blog and following directions. Then it became FUN!! These are so much FUN to make!!

It started with this....



progressed onto this one...



today it started with this...



and then I pulled out the scraps... I only had a little bit of Katie's Jump Rope fabric left.. Is this not the cutest thing.... I LOVE IT...



So guess what?...My birthday is this month. On THIS post only guess the day of my birthday. If you are correct, I will put your name in the hat for your choice of bag. You can pick the pink one or the sewing notion one. Sorry, you can't pick the orange one. I am not giving up my Katie's Jump Rope bag. You can guess as many times as you want. I will draw on the day of my actual birthday...so get those guesses in quick!!

Now I need to find another Atkinson design pattern. OR maybe I need to make more bags?? LOL

Happy Sewing,
Nancy

I need more zippers....

Have you been following the Minnesota Designer Blog Hop? Each day for two weeks a designer will post a free pattern. This is week two and yesterday was Terry Atkinson's post. If you have ever made a Yellow Brick Road quilt (and who hasn't!) then you know Terry's patterns. I love her patterns. Last Christmas I made quilts for 5 grandkids. Four of the patterns were Terry's. Yesterday she posted a tutorial for the cutest little bag. She calls it a sock sack and you are supposed to use it for knitting and such. I really liked the bag. Very simple, very adaptable. BUT.... I don't knit. I don't crochet. Well, you know us quilters, we repurpose everything!! I figured I needed to make one of these.

Tomorrow is Redwork Club and we are supposed to have our red/white cup bag challenge finished for show-n-tell. I hadn't even started mine yet. Until yesterday. I stopped pressing DH dress shirts and made one...and then two....



I used scraps for the red and white one and there wasn't enough extra fabric for ties, so I used some ribbon. I think it needs some red ribbon...

Wouldn't these make cute bags for gifts. You can use them for camera bags, cell phones, embroidery, toys.. You can put a toy in the bag and a gift card in the zipper pocket for Birthdays, Christmas, Easter.... so many ways to use this quick bag. I think I need to stock up on zippers.

Today it's Shelly from Cedar Canyon Textiles. Go on over and see what she has for us...

If you hopped over here from Terry's blog thanks for visiting. Come back soon. I have a special day this month. There might be presents for some of you....and you know me...I don't like to advertise my giveaways. I just pull winners from comments without notice... :- )

More sewing today...

Nancy