Internet Laryngitis

Our internet connection has been on the fritz a few times lately, including much of this evening.  Hubby will call our service provider tomorrow to see if there's a problem on their end or on ours.  Since I was in bed (reading) when we retained connectivity, I just wanted to briefly post that I'm here, life is okay, and hopefully things will be back to normal before long.  I hope it's not contagious!

In Like a Lion . . .

There's a saying about March:  It comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.  Well, I can't say our March here in the Sacramento area came in like a lion--in fact, it's been pretty nice out with temperatures around the low 70s for our highs.  I think the only thing ferocious and wild around here in the past few days was probably my spending at the quilt show!  But I guess when I thought about the saying, I was mostly thinking about the "lamb" part, because I finished the March sheep blanket today:

I like the more spring-like colors in this one--it perfectly matches the feel of the Easter decorations around my home.  This is the third blanket I've made now:  January was the cabin, and February was the blackbird with the heart.

I decided to sew buttons to the sheep's back and add ribbons to the blankets; that way, I can just tie the blanket to the buttons, and it's worked out pretty well.

What's next on my project agenda?  Good question.  I've sat in the Sweat Shop all evening looking at the different projects I WANT to make, but I was unable to decide which one to start next.  Most of them are Easter-themed projects.  How about you?  Are you working on anything for Easter?

Blast From The Past

Last year several members of my stitchery group had a great time visiting the quilt show in Manteca.  On Friday, I realized the annual quilt show was this weekend, and since our group intended to go on a field trip anyway, we quickly made plans to head south to Manteca on Saturday morning.

As before, we had a really fun time even in the face of some seriously discouraging rules.

I only took one photo of a quilt at the show; I think what appealed to me most about the quilt was the fairly simple applique.

And by "simple" I just mean that it was simple in comparison to some really beautiful but elaborate applique quilts that were shown.  But, since I'm more of a country/prim gal at heart, this one "spoke" to me in ways the others didn't.

I always love the vendors, don't you?  Quilt shows often have vendors who sell quilt-related items that can't be found at the local quilt shops, so they're a treat to visit.  THIS show seemed to have more vendors who dealt in vintage/antique items than any other show I can recall.  There was one booth that had a big clothing carousel hung with quilt tops--apparently an elderly woman had passed away and many of these quilt tops were found in her storage space.  My stitchery friend Gran found one she just couldn't pass up--it's a beautiful pastel trip around the world made from 1930's style fabrics--perfect for spring!

I had forgotten until I got to the show, but last year I purchased some old embroidery blocks, and this year I found three more at the same vendor booth.  (I need to remember where I put last year's blocks!)  At another booth, I found the darning egg and some vintage florist's Easter cards.

I also bought a few fat quarters and squares of wool, but I didn't get a photo of those.  However, we all visited the boutique, where they sold items made by quilters and items no longer wanted by quilters, and I made several purchases there.

For $12 I found this faded, vintage whole cloth/panel quilt.  The binding is a bright blue, and I imagine the colors in the quilt were much darker at one time.  It's hand quilted and not very worn aside from the fading.  For now, it's draped across the back of the bench in the Wild Child's former bedroom.  Using it to make small items such as stuffed animals and book/binder covers would be an option for the future too.

I found an Australian Homespun magazine featuring American quilt designer Tracy Souza, who was one of the vendors at last year's show.  We were hoping to see her again this year but she wasn't a vendor.  I also found a pattern of a little bunny in a seed packet--I'll have to see if I can make that one up pretty quick so I can put it out with my other Easter decorations.

Finally, I found a cute owl pin in the boutique.  In fact, there were a LOT of owl things, but I tried to restrain myself.

There's one more day of the quilt show--on Sunday.  If you're in Northern California, you might want to head to Manteca.  We left a few things there for you to buy, and of course there are a bunch of beautiful quilts to look at as well.

Bunny Kit Winner!

I think it's probably a fact that the first few entries in any contest have a lesser chance to win, but that's not the case this time.  The first entrant, Shelia, won the bunny pillow kit.  Congratulations!

The pattern for the pillow was from a wool class I taught, and it includes the pattern for all three of the projects in the photo above, but the kit is just for the bunny--

Shelia commented, "Would love to win your kit. The rabbit is so cute. I have been wanting to tell you I also have a son that was born Feb. 9th. Have a good one."  What a coincidence about our sons!  Please email me your address, Shelia, and I'll get the kit in the mail.  Thanks to all of you for playing!

A Bit Sheepish

Here it is, the tail end of February, and I've FINALLY finished the February blanket for my sheep.

This is the wool BOM (which in this case stands for BLANKET of the month!) project I'm doing with my stitchery friends, and I'm supposed to be leading the group.  I'm not setting a very good example for timeliness, am I?  Of course, one could excuse the late finish by pointing out that it IS, after all, still February, and that would be true, but we'll be getting together on Saturday and I'll be giving everyone wool kits for the March blankets.  I guess I'd better get busy on March's block--yikes!

(By the way, if you didn't see my post about this pattern before, or if you're becoming more interested as you see me show these here, the pattern is by Buttermilk Basin and can be found on their website under the New Basin Arrivals tab--just scroll almost to the bottom of the page.  The pattern includes directions for making the sheep and 12 blankets, one for each month.)

Bunny Hop

Easter's been showing up around my home the last few days.  I still have some tweeking/embellishing left to do, but the "bones" of the decorations are up and I took a few photos to share.

Just inside the front door is this small catch-all table.

The livingroom:

Another view--the small hanging was made from a vintage image printed onto cloth from Olde America Antiques--love their stuff!

In the entry way from the livingroom to the kitchen and the rest of the house hangs Rabbit Transit.  I want to put something--greenery or something--up at the top along the rod but I don't seem to have anything quite "right."  I guess I'll need to take a little shopping trip . . . .

Between Rabbit Transit and the kitchen . . .

I'm a little conflicted with the shamrock tabletopper--I really want to put my Easter tabletopper on, but shamrocks will do for now.  See the carrots in the hutch?  Remember when I did the tutorial to make those?

More of those carrots there in the rail station clock.  I'm not quite satisfied with this display yet but I'm not sure where I'll go with it.  It just looks a little bare to me.

The Spring! quilt--this one always makes me smile!  I think it was the first pattern I designed and published.  A couple quilters who made it eliminated the tulip stems and used green rickrack instead--what a great idea!

Yep, there are the creepy rabbits.  I didn't realize until now, but Mrs. Rabbit isn't sitting in a very ladylike manner.  I'll need to go adjust her posture.

I made this quilt as a picnic quilt but it works just great as a spring time cover for the Wild Child's bed--can you see Spike sleeping on top of the pillows?  She was ignoring me!  I need to make a couple pillow shams to match the quilt--the border is Lecien fabric and I know I have more.

Seeing these quilts and projects around the house inspired me to list a few patterns, kits, and fabric in my Etsy shop today, and when I was going through my stock, it occurred to me it might be a good time for a little giveaway.  Would you like to win a kit containing all the wool and embellishments needed to make a little rabbit pillow?

Leave me a comment telling me you want me to enter your name.  I'll pick a winner Thursday night to be announced on Friday's blog post.  Good luck!  (If you don't trust your luck and want a sure thing, I have a couple more kits listed in my Etsy shop--just click the link in my sidebar.)

Agoraphobia

Sometimes I wonder whether I could become agoraphobic.  It's not that I have a fear of going out in public but simply that it's very easy for me to stay home for days on end.  And left to my own hermit-like devices for a long period of time, would I eventually start to feel uneasy when I DID venture out?  Well, I don't suppose I'll ever know since I'm sure I'll be forced to leave the house to go to work into the foreseeable future, but can you believe I came home from work Friday night and I still haven't gone out again since except to walk down to the mailbox a couple times?

I added the borders to the house quilt today--and, by the way, I found fabric I liked in my stash, so I didn't need to go out to the quilt shop.  I used a jumbo blue rick rack between the sashing and outer border.

I was thinking I might pin it for quilting tomorrow, but maybe not.  I already have another quilt pinned and if I decide to test my arm out on a quilting project, I suppose I can try that one.  My arm seems a little better today, I think, but it might also be that I just didn't use it as much.

I've almost gotten all the things done around the house that I wanted to do while I was off work.  I just have a couple things left to tackle tomorrow.  Most of my Easter things are out, and I'll get a couple photos to share in the next few days.  Do you remember the creepy bunnies?  I unpacked them this year and they're sitting on the bench in the Wild Child's former bedroom.  Oddly enough, when I came out of the Sweat Shop tonight and checked on our two cats, both of them were sleeping in the same room with them; one on the bed and one on the floor by the bench.  I guess the cats don't think the bunny pair are creepy at all!

I'll be meeting a couple friends late in the day tomorrow, so I suppose I'll finally have to leave the house.  I guess it had to happen someday!

Mind Over Matter . . .

My arm was still aching something fierce today--probably worse today since I'd done some housecleaning yesterday--but how long can a person sit around and do nothing?  Especially when that person is in the middle of a little four-day holiday?  Did I tell you I took Monday and Tuesday off work, by the way?  Yes, I took a couple days off to enjoy a little "me time" while Hubby's away, but instead it's turned into "oh, my aching arm time."  Figures, eh?  I refuse to let it defeat me though.

So, I finished the fourth and final house.  Happily I found rotary cutting didn't seem to bother my arm  much, if at all--it's only in some positions, doing some things that it really hurts.  Here's today's block:

And here are all four together:

I've surveyed my stash, and I'm not sure I have what I'd like for sashing and borders; I'll look again in the morning, but I might need to make a run to a local quilt shop to see if I can find something I like better than what I have.

Besides making this last block, I spent a considerable amount of time working around the house at taking down the last of the winter and Valentine's decorations and getting out the spring quilts and wallhangings.  There's still a lot more to do, but I think I've made some good progress.  And I still have two more days before I have to go back to work--wooo-hoooo!

The Third House

I finished the third house--

But I've been making slow progress.  It seems I've pinched a nerve in my shoulder or neck or strained something, because my upper arm and shoulder have been bothering me for the past couple days and so I haven't done very much sewing.  Still, here are the three houses so far--

I pieced these first three sometime ago, but I'll need to make the fourth one from scratch--and I'll probably work on it tomorrow.  In the meantime, I've been doing a little reading and puttering around the house a bit.  It's time to take down the Valentine's Day decorations and start thinking about Easter.  I haven't gotten very far on that yet, but I did a little house cleaning, and that's the first step!

I stopped at the grocery store the other night to get a couple things, and while I was there, I thought, "What do I like to eat that Hubby doesn't like?"  Because, of course, he's gone and I just have myself to please.  I ended up making a pot of hamhock and bean soup today--yum!  Of course, I'll probably get tired of it in a couple days, but having it on hand will make food preparation simple for now.

Time to take a hot bath and some Tylenol PM and hope my arm feels better tomorrow.  After all, I've got a lot of sewing to do!

Happy Birthday, George!

As I suspected, I don't have a finished house block to show you tonight, so we'll celebrate George Washington's birthday instead--it's much tastier anyway.

Did you know that February 22nd is George's birthday?  I know--we celebrated it last Monday, but the 22nd is the REAL day; besides that, I see no reason why we shouldn't celebrate for a week at least.  After all, he WAS the first president.  And what better way is there to celebrate a birthday than by having cake?

Of course you know the story about George and the cherry tree, so it will not come as a surprise that George's cake has cherries in it.  After all, once the tree came down, somebody had to eat those cherries!

I baked my cake in a glass pan, so I reduced the heat by 25 degrees, but you can use a metal pan instead.  With a metal pan, preheat the oven to 350 degrees (325 for glass) and grease and flour a 9" x 13" pan (about 2" deep).

In a bowl, combine a commercial chocolate cake mix, three eggs, and a can of cherry pie filling--just use a large spoon to stir the ingredients together until the batter is evenly moist.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread it to the edges; bake the cake for 35 to 40 minutes.

Can you see the cherry peeking out of the cut side?

As I was preparing the cake, it occurred to me that it's probably a lot lower in fat than if it had been prepared according to the directions on the cake mix box, because the pie filling takes the place of the vegetable oil (and water).  I would imagine if you don't care for cherries, apple pie filling would work too, but whatever you do, make sure you use pie filling and not just canned fruit--it would probably be too runny and not sweet enough.

The recipe I have recommends topping the cake with whipped cream, but since I didn't have any, I added a scoop of vanilla ice cream to mine; but it's also nice just eaten plain as a snack cake.  Yum!

So, chocolate cherry cake for George's birthday--it's downright patriotic!