A New Cookbook

Last week I bought a new cookbook, to go with the 500 I already have.   I love cookbooks!  They are so fun and yummy to look at.  This one I bought at a little bookstore that has my favorite cafe in it.  Hubby and I like to go there for lunch when he is home.  We both thought this one had a bunch of good looking recipes in it.

I made some Pecorino Crackers but forgot to take a picture.  And then I made some of these.

Watermelon, tomato and basil.  Hubby wasn't so sure but then he tried it and thought they were very good.  It is an unusual combination, but it works.  Once the husband is back home from work I plan on trying a few more recipes.

Last night I tried really hard to work on my FWQAL blocks.  But.... my daughter wanted to go on a run.  So I went with her and was so tired afterward that I was only able to get half a block done.  We ran 4 miles and I had already run 3 earlier in the day.  Whew.  We went for a shorter one tonight so I think I can get to the sewing machine and use it without the worry of hurting myself.
Happy Crafting and Have a Happy Weekend!!

FWQAL Week #5

Happy Thursday!!  I am sitting on my back deck enjoying the sun and listening to the boats on the Kenai River.  Fishing is still good so the fisherman and ladies are here in full force.  My baby (16 next week) is taking driving lessons and I never thought about how awful the traffic is at this time of the year.  If she can drive well enough in this, she can drive in just about anything.  It takes a good half an hour or more to just get out of the Safeway parking lot.
 Last night I made two blocks for the Farmer' Wife Quilt-a-Long.  These blocks are addicting, like potato chips.  I don't want to work on anything else.  I am trying to get caught up to the main group, they are on Week #9.
First I made block #9, Box.  I'm not sure why it is called box, doesn't look like a box to me. haha.

Then I thought, just one more and made #10, Bowtie.

Week Number 5 is Done!!!

I was excited to I went to get all the blocks and took a picture with them all together.   Pretty soon I will have to stand on a chair to do this.

On sunny days like this I wish I could bring my sewing machine outside to sew.  I just don't want to be inside!!
Happy Crafting!!!

Calling all Wantobe Quilters? 

"Hello friends and followers, I would love to welcome you

to a Wantobe Quilters Campaign over here. ( http://stashmanicure.blogspot.com)

 They are having quilting supplies to giveaway 5 x a week for 12 weeks. 

Supplies that will have you quilting

before you know it...From sewing machines to irons, to die cutters,

to mats, to rotary cutters, sewing baskets, scissors, batting, needles,

rolled sewing machine bags, patterns, books, magazines...everything

you could imagine to assist you in being a NEW Quilter. 

Even if you are already part of this community you can win

quilting stuff too...Tuesday and Thursday are days for us..

All you have to do is give me your name and phone number 

and email sew I can submit this to the organizer, because if you win

anything I can win something too. 

All you have to do is be my follower and a follower

over at Sew We Quilt @ Stash Manicure....

That is all! There are over 49 Sponsors involved.

I am pretty excited to be part of this, sew should you.

I love being a QUILTER! 

( p.s you will not be eligible to win anything if you do not register

with a blogger where you see this message)

FWQAL Week Four

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head....
That is what I was singing as I was taking pictures of my blocks.  Cloudy and rainy and this morning it was VERY foggy.  Felt like I was driving through pea soup.
Over the last few days I made block #7 and block #8.
This is how block #7 looked just a few days ago.

And here is how it looks now.

This block is called Birds in the Air. All those little triangles drove me crazy!!!

Then I finished Block #8

Bouquet

This one was much easier.  It had to have a little bath before it's photo shoot because my iron must have been dirty and one of the edges looked bad. And now it looks hairy!!

Both of them together.  I am really liking the blue.  I want to use blue in every block!!

The hubby has decided that he likes this quilt and has asked if I am making it for our bed.  Yes, but our bed is King sized so I have to pick a few blocks to make extra of.

I will do that once I get caught up.  

I also bought this magazine.  Molly Makes...  I love it!  So many cute, little, crafty ideas.  I want to make everything in there.  But like my Mom always said, "Your eyes are bigger than your stomach."  That fits me perfectly when it comes to crafting.  I want to do everything!

Happy Crafting!!

Jelly Rolls!!!!

A big Thank You to Madame Samm.  I was one of her winners over on Stash Manicure.  I received two, TWO, Moda Jellyrolls.
One is Wee Woodland by Keiki and the other is Bella Solids in a yummy cream.  They are so gorgeous that I fear to open them.  I will have to think of a great project to do.

She also included a couple of cute matching threads.  :)
I almost have another block done for the Farmer's Wife Quilt-a-long.  It just needs to be ironed nicely and squared up!  I am going to  do that now if I can stay awake.  We've been having some dreary weather and all I want to do is nap.
Happy Crafting!!!

What have I been doing?? No clue.

Do you ever have days or weeks that go by and you wonder what you have done?  That is me right now.  What have I been doing??
Yesterday it was beautifully sunny out and I noticed that my windows needed to be washed.  The reason they get so messy is because someone in our house thinks the best time to look outside for monsters is right after they have had a drink of water.  Meet Scruffy.  The Nosey Dog.

Scruffy likes to make a mess on my windows.

                                                                    Who me?????
Right now he is giving me the "It is 5:00" look. Dinner time for him.

I suppose I have been using my free time working on my Tour de Fleece spinning.

I spun and plied up both of these.  They are worsted weight and the yardage is about 200.  My goal is to some day be able to spin up sock weight because that is what I enjoy knitting with the most.

I started spinning up this fiber yesterday.  It is Ginny in a silk/merino from Sunshine Yarns.  The colors are very soft and I think it will be pretty when it is done.  The single has a bit of a halo to it.  Not sure if that is how it is supposed to be or that I am spinning the silk wrong.
I have done no sewing at all lately.   I need to get caught up on my Farmer's Wife Blocks and get a quilt top to the quilters.
Happy Crafting!!!  Time for me to feed the dog and the rest of the family.

FWKAL Ugh!

Two days ago I was working on the FWKAL blocks and tried making the Birds in the Air block.  #7.  UGH.  That says it all.  I don't know what I did but the block turned out awful.  It now lives in a ziplock bag until I try to make it again.  This UGH has made me lose my momentum.  As soon as I post this I am going to go work on another block.

I have been spinning a bit for Tour de Fleece.  I am almost done with the Cornish Pixies fiber.  I might be able to get it plied over the weekend.

I am making extremely slow progress on my Stricken sock for the KSL KAL over on Ravelry.  I try to work on it an hour a day and sometimes that is only 6 rows.  These are supposed to be done by the end of July but I don't think I can do it.  I'm still on the first sock!!

I'm off to the sewing room.  Happy Crafting!!

FWQAL Week Three, For Me!

I don't feel like I have been very crafty lately.  THINGS just kept coming up that needed to be done.  I had to mow the lawn (a two day project) and the flowers and veggies needed to be watered.  The weeds keep coming back too.  How inconsiderate!  Plus, I really needed to vacuum my house.  I even did both sets of stairs and I scrubbed the tubs and showers.  Mr. Clean Magic Eraser,  I love you!
However, I did find some time yesterday to work on the Farmer's Wife Blocks.  My 15 year old daughter had gone to coffee with a friend and when she came back home, I happened to watch 7 more girls walk up the steps with her.  They were going to make cookies.  So, while the flock of chickens, and one lone rooster who showed up about 10 minutes later, made cookies, I hid, um, went to my craft room and worked on the blocks.

I made #5, Bat Wing and #6, Big Dipper.
Since the idea of 111 blocks just hanging around gives me the shivers, I picked up an organizer yesterday.  It has three drawers and I am using one for the fabric, one for the templates and one for the completed blocks.

Pretty fabrics from Fig Tree.

All six blocks.

I am hoping that I will be caught up soon.

By the way, the cookies were delicious and they cleaned up the kitchen perfectly when they were done.

Happy Crafting!!

Thrifting Thursday and FWQAL

Today I went to one of my local thrift shops to look around.  I was on the look out for those blue canning jars (which I have never found !) or Fiestaware.  Today I happened to look at their linens and there were quite a few vintage? pillow cases.  I picked out my favorites and spent a whole $4.50.  I think it will be fun to make a quilt out of these.

Sorry, that the picture looks so dark.  It was cloudy today.

I also finished the second week (for me) of the Farmer's Wife Quilt-along.  I am trying to get caught up to everyone else.  I did block #3, Basket and block #4, Basket Weave.

This is the very first applique that I have ever done.  Starting off it doesn't look so great but I got better as I went along and... I loved it!!!  I really want to try more.
Here are all four blocks together.  I am really loving this fabric line from Fig Tree Quilts.

Looks like my next project should be to paint my deck!  We had some volcanic ash and it helped the paint to come off quicker.  And last summer it rained everyday and I was unable to work on it.
Happy Crafting!!!!

Tour de Fleece

The last few days I have been trying to spin for Tour de Fleece.  Today I spent an hour our on the back porch spinning away.  I started spinning some fiber from Sunshine Yarns.  Dani has some of the yummiest colors out there.  This fiber is a Harry Potter color called Cornish Pixies.

I finished plying the pink yarn yesterday.  Now I need to get it into a skein and then give it a bath.

Most of today was spent out in the back yard mowing and doing yard work.  Now it is time to settle down for the night to do a little knitting and sewing.
Happy Crafting!!

Cladonia!!!

My Cladonia is finished.  yah!!!  Camp Loopy Project 1.  I took her outside today for a photo shoot.  She thought it was great fun.  Wonder what the neighbors thought??

I used Fiberphile Squooshy Sock in the colors Graphite, Mithril and just a touch of Black Cherry around the lace.  The lace was done in Wollmeise 100% in natural.
Finished objects are so much fun!
Happy Crafting!

Happy 4th of July!!

Cake!!!  I was so nervous cutting this.  I wasn't sure that it would turn out.  It tastes yummy too.  This was not my idea. I saw it the other day at 17 and Baking.  What a cute idea.

I started on my Farmer's Wife Quilt-a-long yesterday using this yummy fabric.  It is Butterscotch by Fig Tree Quilts.  The Quilt-a-long is being hosted by Angela and Amanda.  I am so far behind because I had to wait for my book to be delivered from Amazon and then find time to work on them.  I did block #1 and #2 cause I always like to work in order.  I did print off the templates but some of them I just measured the block and cut it out with my rotary cutter.

I love them!!!!  There are 111 blocks in the book which makes a queen sized quilt.  I have a King sized bed, hmmmm.
Hope you had a great day and Happy Crafting!!!

Messy Day

 Today was a messy day.  I am making a cake for tomorrow and I wanted to do something fun.  Now I have blue and red fingers.  I hope all this mess turns into a fun cake tomorrow.


This quilt top is one I am making for my daughter's Jr. class to raffle off to raise money for the Prom.  I am not so sure about it.  It is a bit wild.  The large blocks are fabric from Barbara Lavalee.  It is called Blanket Toss. This one might have to live with me and I might make another one for the raffle.



Today was the second day of "Tour de Fleece" over on Ravelry.  I totally forgot yesterday and didn't get any spinning done.  I am not a great spinner so this is good for me.  Makes me spin a bit everyday(that I remember!).  This fiber is a merino wool that I dyed a few years ago.  It has some bits that are a little felted. I enjoyed sitting on the back porch spinning and listening to the sweet little birdies. I like to leave little bits of fluff as love offerings for them.  Makes me smile to think they might use it in their nests.  I have never seen them take any.  I've seen them take cat hair though!!!

The Stricken socks are coming along slowly.  I try to work on these when no one else is home.  This would not be a fun pattern to make a mistake on.  Only a few more rows of this chart and then on to the heel.
Happy Crafting!!!!!

A-longs

What happened to me??  I used to be a monogamous crafter.  I would happily knit away on a pair of socks until they were finished.  Sew on  a quilt until it was done.  I know what happened.  A-longs!!!!  Add those little words to anything and I get all silly to start a new project.  It doesn't matter that I have 5 pairs of socks on the needles.  I have to join the knit-a-long.  A quilt-a-long!!!  Yes!!!

This is my Cladonia that I am knitting for, yep! you guessed it, a knit-a-long.  Camp Loopy!  I'm loving this.  Even though I screwed up the edging last knit and had to tink it.  This has to be finished by July 15th.  No problem.

Here is my Stricken sock that I am knitting for the Knit Sock Love KAL on Ravelry.  Each month a new Cookie A sock is picked and we have two months to finish it.  Thank goodness cause my brain is fried after about a hour knitting this sock.  This yarn is from Springtree Road Fibers.  Such a gorgeous color, Frosted Orange.  Reminds me of orange sherbet.
I am also planning on joining the Farmer's Wife Quilt-a-long.  My book finally got here from Amazon and I ordered some sweet fabrics to use.  Can't wait to cut into it!!!
But, if I am planning on getting any of this done I had better get off the computer!!
Happy Crafting.

Camp Loopy

This is my first project from Camp Loopy.  We had to make a shawl or scarf using two colors.  I am making the Cladonia shawl.  I was planning on making it in the two grays but then I saw one that had added an extra color for YO's at the beginning and ending of the lace.  Love!!  I chose the color on the right, Black Cherry.

Sheri at the Loopy Ewe just let us know what the next Camp Loopy project will be. Socks, gloves or mittens with cables.  Hmmm, what to make?