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Update

Lots has happened. So where to start.

There has been a major shift in my crafting focus towards arts and away from sewing. I still sew a lot, but my main focus now is art journals, cardmaking, beading, painting, mixed media and other stuff like that. It makes organization in my craft room interesting.

We lost Clio and Dayton and now have Skittles. Check out her pics under Cats, Cats, Cats.

Grandson is growing by leaps and bounds and is pretty busy with his sports and after school and weekend activities.

Hubby had a battle with cancer, but has won so far.

I had cataract surgery in both eyes and have ditched the glasses.

And life goes on.

 

Milford Retreat

At the end of this month I will be teaching at Our House In Milford. I would like to invite you to join us. More info about the retreat center can be found at

http://www.ourhouseinmilford.com/

The dates are April 23 – 27, I am listed on the calendar as Organizing with Options. Fees include everything from patterns to meals and are $190 for arrival on Friday and $240 for arrival on Thursday. You just need to bring your sewing materials and supplies for making the items I am teaching. OR you can bring work of your own and choose to just listen in and take the pattern home with you to make at a later date. The supply list is on the right column of this blog.

It is a great retreat center that treats you like royalty. Meals are served three times a day in a separate dining room and these are cooked meals with great service. You are not allowed to carry your dishes to the sink even!

Each bedroom can hold up to three ladies, though usually there are only two assigned. Each pair of rooms shares a bathroom so that means generally there are four people sharing each bathroom. The craft room is huge with at least two four foot tables for each crafter if not more. There is a little kitchen area in the craft room with refrigerator, ice machine and sink and more. (Though you don’t need to use it much as the meals provided keep you full and happy.)

I will be teaching several things that weekend. One is an organizer bag that you customize to fit your needs. It basically is a “book” with pockets for pages. I blogged about it here:

http://scrappycats.com/blog/?p=1030

Also I will be teaching how to make some cute selvage ditties as I call them. They are little bags that are made out of selvages cut off your fabric.

Dittie Bags made with Selvage

Dittie Bags made with Selvage

In addition to the above,  I will also be teaching how to sew a cute turtle pincushion. I made one of these using crazy quilting to decorate it, but for the retreat we are just going to decorate it with a little applique. I call her Dottie.

Turtle Pincushion named Dottie

Turtle Pincushion named Dottie

You can choose to do all three projects, only one or none it is up to you.

Swappin’

I am an avid lurker and sometimes poster on a forum called Quilting Haven. There have been some retreats where I have met some of the ladies in person. It is a cool place to hangout while eating breakfast and to check in on the friends I have made in the quilt world who do not live close.

One of the things I love to do is join swaps. This year there have been several pincushion swaps so far and I have really enjoyed them. The pincushions I sent were crazy quilt items and it really gave me impetus to get those done. In return I got some nice items.

Today, I got an awesome set that totally blew me away. It is one of those little circle bags with the edges gathered on strings and pockets on the inside. BUT, in the middle of the bottom is a pincushion! PLUS included was a ring pincushion and a cool handmade threader. (That threader is made with beads and such and gives me some ideas for the next retreat gifties)

Already I have my current project loaded into the purse with the thread/floss in the pockets. The needles and pins I am using are in the pincushion and now I am ready to roll.

fromtheoutside

From the outside -love those rings on the ribbons

the inside - look at all those pockets

the inside – look at all those pockets

ring pincushion and threader

January Sew and Quilt Club

For those local who were unable to come Monday, here is the handout.

[download id=”1007″]

 

We had a great time though making the tied coasters was not as successful as it could have been. I had cut the strips just a little too wide at three quarters an inch. But the zipper creations were fun. Everyone went home with a sample I had made.

Pinterest Fail NOT

Lately I have been seeing posts on Facebook about Pinterest failures. That is, pics of what people did when trying out something they found on Pinterst. Well, I want to tell you that I have had lots of success with things I have tried off Pinterest. Basically, you have to know your limits.

When people post pics on Pinterest usually they are not your everyday simple items cause lets be honest, we post things to Pinterst that we are proud of and want to do a little  bragging about. I’m OK with that, I want to see what you have done and I want it to be the best you have done not some everyday ho-hum item.

BUT when we try to duplicate complicated items, we just might be stepping beyond our abilities and then we blame Pinterest or the pinner for our failure. Yes we need to push ourselves and no we should not quit before we even start. But we should be a little sensible about it also. There is no way I am going to be able to paint a masterpiece just because I saw it on Pinterest. But, I can paint a simple little image or graphic if I work at it a little.

It seems that we have been conditioned to expect success. Those little blue ribbons and trophies we get for just participating have made us complacent. They might make use feel that if we are not succeeding it is not our fault, there must be something wrong with the instructions or the materials used. Just a thought.

 

Anyway, here is my latest Pinterest fun. I found a pin with cute marshmallows that looked relatively easy to do. I wish I could find the web page of where I became aware of this delicious treats, but after searching for over an hour I figured it was not going to happen. But, basically, you put sticks of some kind in your marshmallows, roll them in melted almond bark and then pour some kind of sprinkles or candy over them. They really looked awesome in the photos and are easy to make. It just takes a little time.

The first batch I made for the ladies Christmas party at the quilt shop. I made them with the giant marshmallows like the recipe stated. Well, they really looked awesome and came out so pretty. BUT that giant marshmallow was too much. So the second batch I made, I used regular sized marshmallows and they really worked great. It took three hours to make three bags up. They were taken to the quilt retreat I went to in mid December. They were loved.

Marshmallow treats giant and regular

Marshmallow treats giant and regular

 

The

Marshmallow Treats getting ready to pack

Marshmallow Treats getting ready to pack

The hardest part was finding containers. I kept the tops bare so they could rest upside down in the containers but it took tall containers to hold them. After a hour or two they set up like candy and were not messy at all. After a day or two they still were great to eat and serve. I am going to try and remember these for the future as they make an impressive item to take somewhere.

Just because he was a snake, they thought he was a terrorist murderer

We live on a corner lot that is a little funny shaped. The corner where the two streets meets is shaped more like a peninsula instead of a quarter circle. Also on the side where our yard meets the neighbors we have two neighbors and none behind us. Anyway there is a bit of nature on the corner and on the sides. Part of that nature are mice and their predator, snakes. The snakes are not poisonous just bull snakes and the like.

Well, last month just before it started getting cold, we get someone at the door late in the evening. He tells us he saw a snake coming across the street into our yard and he chased it down, but does not have anything to kill it with. So he wants to know what to do with it. Hubby was irate and said leave it alone! After the stranger left, hubby went out and found the snake at the end of the driveway and brought it up to the side of the house and put it in a protected area. But it was too late and the next morning the snake was dead. All we can figure is the stranger had drove his car over the snake. Poor fella. Actually poor stranger to have such a hatred inside him.

Poor Snake

He did not have a chance

We see this all the time don’t we? Unreasonable hatred for people or things because of a label. Snakes are bad so lets hate them and kill them whenever we can. But some snakes are good, they keep the mice population down and take care of other issues. Some people are good no matter what label they have and should be judged by who they really are not who we think they are because of unfounded beliefs and labels we put on them.

New Year, maybe new leaf?

I am posting it here that I want to be better at blogging. Yes, you hear that all the time from lots of bloggers and then nothing changes. Let’s see if I can change a little.

To start the new year, we had an awesome dinner. Hubby put a ham in the smoker and I made homemade yeast rolls in addition to frying up some cabbage and opening up a can of black eye peas. Oh, and we had corn bread as well. It was an awesome meal and I totally ate too much!

New Year's Dinner

YUMMY

Let’s see if I can get it right. The black eye peas are for money, the corn bread for gold, cabbage for green cash – then add in the yeast to make it all grow and perhaps we might have a prosperous year –LOL

 

 

T-Day Tips

It came to me that I could share some of my “wisdom” gained the hard way. So as I gain this wisdom, I am going to write little one or two paragraph tips. Hopefully, I will keep up with this and after I get I few going, I will create  a page with a list and links. No, I don’t think of myself as some awesome genius or anything. It is just I have been sewing for over fifty years, have taught sewing for many years and have learned a few thing here and there.

Today is about using weights to hold your fabric when cutting. Do you constantly have to reposition your strips as you cut them up? perhaps you need to reposition your fabric as you cut the strips.

Most of us have heard of pattern weights, but I never really tried them. There was something about the idea of using weights to hold patterns to the fabric that did now seem so good to me. Perhaps it was the fact that once the pattern piece was cut out, the fabric and pattern would come apart and then you could not make all those tailor’s marks that were so important.

But when cutting for quilts we don’t usually even used paper patterns. We use the ruler and rotary cutter and cut over and over. Only it seems that each time we cut, the fabric moves and it then has to be straightened up again and again and again.

Well, I was not going to spend a lot of money on pattern weights, so I went looking at my favorite notions store – the hardware store. ACE Hardware has the neatest things and I love prowling through their aisles.

What I found were large washers. They were/are about four inches across and are heavy. Yet they slide smoothly when I need to move them. When I position a piece of fabric on my cutting board I place a few of these huge washers here and there on the fabric and that piece of fabric is not moving until I want it to. It sure saves me a bunch of time.

Huge Washer

Kitty Needs Your Help

demonainwindow

Please help me find a home for this precious kitty. She is so sweet to us, but our kitties just can’t stand sharing. My sweet Clio has turned into a monster bully and won’t leave her alone. I am afraid one of them is going to end up with serious injuries.

Mona just had her shots updated, is “fixed” and has her front two paws de-clawed.

I will drive to take her to a new home as far as 200 miles. Just let me know and I will get her to you some way.

We inherited Mona when her owner passed away and now it breaks my heart to have to find a new home for her. But, like I mentioned, I am worried about serious injuries.

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