Warm Woolen Mittens

You need them today - winter seems to have returned, although tomorrow is the first day of spring.  I had to unpack my winter coat again!  Although yesterday, I saw a gal go into the Dairy Queen in the shortest shorts I've ever seen in my life.  Typical Michigander.

Since it's chilly, I pulled out a project that requires the iron.



Nothing like summer colors and a hot iron on a cold winter day.  I started re-making my Whirly Twirly Garden.  I didn't have any fabrics I liked, so I went shopping at my best friend's sewing studio and found a perfect charm pack.    But because you can't wash a charm pack to get the sizing out, it doesn't want to stick as well as it should, so I'm ironing then stitching one piece at a time.  And LOVING it.

I added a new page, Useful Links, at the top.  if you have any to add feel free to let me know!  They're not tutorials to specific projects, but rather different techniques.  I've used quite a few of them.  I'm sure I'll be adding more as I find them!

It feels good to be working with fabric again, I've been in such a slump the past couple of weeks.  Lots of trouble getting to sleep, then sleeping for 12 hours.  I'm almost regretting giving mum my exercise bike, as I really need to exercise, but she's doing so well now that I couldn't think of taking it back!  I'll just go up and down the stairs as many times as I can.  

I hope you're enjoying your weekend, too - 

Love,
Allie

Sloppy Saturday

More snow today, big fat fluffy flakes coming down, but it's melting on the roads.  Very pretty!  And warm enough that I enjoyed cleaning it all off my car this morning.  I was wishing I had someone to throw a snowball at to.

I only got 3 hours of sleep last night - my lovely neighbor decided to regale the neighborhood with a concert at 8am this morning, while he cleaned off his car.  [And again at 9:30, and 11:15.]  So I got up, made a pot of coffee, got dressed and headed off to Walmart.

I got a BIG box of crayons.  I've had this pattern hanging around for 2 years - drawings completed, even started stitching it, but decided I wanted to add color.  I think it's time this thing gets off the paper and onto fabric.  I don't know if it will ever become a pattern - there's 9 blocks.  But I'm sure having fun with it.  I'm already stitching this block, yay!


And speaking of having fun, look what a reader has made - my Spring pattern!

I LOVE the red flowers, and am now wishing I'd made mine a different color, so they'd stand out more!  Brilliant!  I love the elegant look to this!

Not much else is new, I'm just waiting for bedtime now - it's almost 7pm and I know I could sleep, but don't really want to be up at 3am.  I'm going to play at my friend Cathy's sewing studio tomorrow...I don't think she'd appreciate me coming at 4am, even with coffee. 

As I close this post, I'd like to ask for prayer for mum.  Her foot [the one she almost lost] is giving her a great deal of pain and making her an angry little elf.  We're not sure what's wrong with it, but she's been breaking down crying with it.  It's probably diabetic nerve pain, which is no joke.  We'd sure appreciate your prayers!

Enjoy what's left of the weekend - see ya soon!

Love,

Allie

Hello March!

Wow is it coming down out there....



And once again, Thing 2 was called off work.  Much worse north of us, white-out conditions and accidents everywhere.  Thing 1 was trying to scrape his windshield when he got out of work, and as fast as he scraped it off, it iced up again.  Most of what you see in that pic is ice.  But we had fun in it, when *I* drove!    That's a pic of mum's street, we had to get groceries for her.

I have to show you some squishy mail, from Sunny at Quilting Dreams.....



Vintage sheets!!  My fave!  I have a collection that is going into a summer quilt, and now I really can't wait to get started!  Thank you Sunny!

Sunny recently went on a quilt retreat [lucky gal] and I was so excited, she took my Fair Winds for Milady pattern with her....



Head on over to her blog HERE to see the final reveal!  She also made a wall hanging for her room at the retreat!  

I have to show you something else.



See those 3 baskets?  A brand new purchase, from the Dollar Store - I'm getting organized!  Each basket holds a quilt-in-progress.  Everything from the drawings, notes, fabrics, floss, everything I need for that particular pattern.  For some reason, I'm working on four patterns at once, and needed some way to keep them straight.  I've finally wised up and paid attention to all you prolific quilters, who get so much done - and it's paid off already!  I got so much done yesterday I didn't know what to do with myself, lol.  The only thing I lost was my glasses, and they were on top of my head.  I am my mother.

Got something else too, I made my very first ever [under my own name, lol] ebay purchase.  I got a new foot pedal for my Featherweight.



See the foot pedal on the left?  It's the original Bakelite foot pedal, and I just love it, but it doesn't love me.  I have a hard time using it.  My feet are so bad, and it hurts to try to use that button.  You rest your toe on the button on the left, then rock your foot to press the button on the right.  I wasn't using my Featherweight like I wanted to, because it hurt!  So I found a new one on ebay, and it works wonderfully.

I'll keep the old one, because she's original and vintage, like me.

Whew - I think that's all - I'm going to go put on my fleecy jammies, and relish the fact that I'm not leaving the house tomorrow.  I think I'll stitch the rest of the evening, watch an old movie, and listen to the muffled sounds of the city as the snow falls and falls...so lovely.

I hope you have a wonderful evening too!

Love,
Allie

Postcards From Heaven, Block 3, BOM

It's Jenny's month to gift you a Postcard!  And it's a beauty!

Gorgeous, yes?  I love all the added touches she does.  Nobody stitches quite like Jenny!

I've chosen to do my blocks in redwork - 

And also, to use the King James bible verses exactly, while Jenny is paraphrasing to be more like a conversation between Father and daughter.  That means you get a choice - you can use either!  Get over to Jenny's blog and download Block 3 HERE.   If you want to use the King James, you can download my version [words ONLY] from my craftsy shop HERE.  We would dearly love to see your finished blocks, so email either one of us with your pics!


Be blessed!!!

Love,
Allie

Spring

Spring is here!!!  Well, not really, but let's pretend, ok?  We're expecting 6-10" of snow tomorrow, so I need this.

I have finished my little wall-hanging, and as promised, it's free in my shop - just click HERE.  It's only free until the spring equinox though, so get it while winter lasts!  [The equinox is March 20th].

This little wall-hanging measures 9" x 18 1/2", a good size to put just about anywhere.  Put it on your front door and tell Mother Nature to get it together.  I think that's what I'm going to do.

I used a charm pack and a fat quarter for this, but you can easily bust some scraps on it!  The flower stems can be done by machine very quickly, although I did mine by hand, and appliqued by hand.

Not to mention the quilting by hand. [My favorite part.]

A very satisfying project, especially considering what we're facing tomorrow.  I'm going to look out the window and laugh.

Until I remember that Thing 2 will be riding around in a car for 300+ miles, and will have to drive home when work is done.  Then I'll look out the window and pray.  So glad he's with professional drivers.

I hope you enjoy stitching "Spring"!

Love,

Allie

Post #595

Can't say I mind making dinner, when Thing 1 makes dessert -

Those are called Death By Oreo Cupcakes, and they are delish.  You can get the recipe HERE.
It doesn't say how many it makes - I believe we got 24 cupcakes.  However - it says to put a full-size oreo on the bottom of the cupcake liners, then fill with cake mix, and I personally did not care for the oreo on the bottom.  The boys liked them though.  If you leave the oreo on the bottom out, you may not get as many cupcakes.

Quilting has been going swimmingly, until I broke my needle!

There were a few moments of intense panic when I couldn't find the rest of it - I didn't move or breathe while I looked, and found the tip in my lap.  You can imagine the relief when I found it!

Back to quilting.....

Love,
Allie