Grandson's Scout Badge Vest

My grandson called me the other day to ask me if I would make him a vest to put his Boy Scout badges on. It needed to be red and his mom wanted it a couple sizes larger for growth. I mailed it Friday. I hope he likes it.

I've been sewing on my daughter's quilt, still. It's as if I'll never get done. Actually, it looking nice. I think she'll like it. I'll have to put it on the back burner till after Christmas. I want to make the grandkids (4) each something for gifts. I'm thinking of either fleece vests, pillowcases or pjs. It'll be a surprise to me as well.

Design Wall

Here's my design wall. It's slow going but I may have a completed quilt in a couple of months. The inside block is 9 inches and the whole block is 18 inches. I have about 24 to make. This will eventually become a king size quilt for my daughter. Here's how is started. Here's my design in EQ6:

You can see I have a ways to go yet. I'll keep you posted. Check out Judy's blog to see what everyone else is up to. Have a great day!

Ramen Cabbage Salad and Giveaway

I read Chickens in the Road daily. Suzanne has so much to blog about and her dailies are so interesting. Today she's having a Giveaway for a cast iron dutch oven if you submit a summer recipe. Here's mine:

Ramen Cabbage Salad
1 head of cabbage, sliced thinly
1 green pepper, sliced thinly, optional
1 package Chicken flavored Ramen
1 package toasted sliced almonds

2 T. sugar
1/2 cup oil
1 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
2T. vinegar
1 packet chicken flavor

Put in a jar with lid. Shake to mix. Reserve.
Break up package of Ramen noodles

When ready to eat, mix all together and serve immediately.

Don't mix ahead of time. It will get soggy.

I usually put the ramens in a baggie and another baggie for the cabbage.

This is simple but delicious.

I Can't Believe It!

I've been silent for over a month. I read the blogs daily but think that I don't really have a lot to say that anyone would be interested in.

We're getting ready for a surprise birthday weekend for my DBs sister. She turns 60 this weekend. Her daughter and oldest sister are planning a get together on Sunday and we're having the primer on Saturday. Food, family, horseshoes, music, whatever. I'm just thankful that the weather will be great. Our lawn is still a little soggy but that won't stop the horseshoe competition.

I've been cooking. The BBQ beans are in the oven, the potato salad is made and in the fridge soaking up all the flavors. I've made brownies for desert. I still have my coleslaw to make. That needs a trip to the store for the cabbage and whatever else we need.

Since I didn't take any pictures of the food prep, here are some pics I have taken this last month.

Here's one grosbeak. We have several male and females.

The goldfinches are in abundance. I'm going to put some thistle out for this weekend. Our family loves all the birds we have here.

Wonderful Saturday

This is a beautiful day. I couldn't ask for a better one. I refilled the hummingbird feeders. They go through about 2 cups of juice a day. They are great entertainment. I planted some Alyssum, pink and purple next to our birdbath. The smell is wonderful. And because my clothesline looked so lonely, I hung up some wash. I love clotheslines. I grew up with them.

The irises are really starting to bloom. We should be getting some purple ones soon.

Just some fun pictures of a couple of my flowers:

I haven't had a chance to sew lately. I got my rush gifts done and in the mail for my Mother for Mother's Day. I need to clean the wheels on my HQ16 before I can do anything in there. On top of all that we are getting ready for a yard sale next weekend. Man I hate getting ready for those.

First Oriole of the Year

Our first Bullock's Oriole landed on our feeder just a half hour ago. We didn't think they visited feeders. Oh well, I'm not complaining.

Last year he visited our Red Hot Pokers everyday for a couple of weeks. Someone forgot to tell him that they aren't ready yet.

Mother's Day-Ahead of Schedule

My mom mentioned a while back that the apron she got from my paternal grandmother was wearing out. She wasn't able to button it anymore because the fabric was so worn. I had my daughter take some pictures on her phone and send them to me. I had seen the apron but hadn't paid a lot of attention to the details of it. After I got the pictures, I started surfing the net for the "right" apron. I found it at MOMSPatterns. After getting the apron, I thought this would be great out of 30's fabrics. The pattern is Simplicity 9206, probably from the 70's.

I made her two. I still need to put the bias tape on the arms and buttons and buttonholes.

I'll iron them before I put them in the mail. I figure I need to send them Tuesday in order for her to get them by Mother's Day.

EQ7 is coming soon. Preorder now

Electric Quilt has announced the details of EQ7 on their website, including pre-order prices. Great pre-order prices!

Spring Flowers

Aren't they pretty? We must have gotton 200 free irises last year from DB's sister, Sandy, and a friend from work. We planted every last one of them. They are yellow and purple. Now they're starting to bloom. Thanks Sandy! The rhodies are starting to burst also. We have red, pink and purple. The red hot pokers are coming up and will start coloring soon. I hopt the Bullock's Oriole stops for a visit. Finally, my rosemary. I've had this plant for about 12 years. Last year it took a hit with the cold and we had to trim it down. But all winter it bloomed. It's been blooming for a couple years now non-stop.

I'm working on EQ6 today. I am putting the finishing touches on my floating star. I hope to get it done soon. Pictures later.

It's Spring

I forgot to post this on the 12th, so here it is. Well it's spring, but only in bits and pieces. One nice day and several rainy and windy. I took these Saturday. My DB started feeding the finches out of my plant hanger. He doesn't particularly like feeding the red wings because they just scatter the seed on the ground, then the feeder is empty. This way we get to see them up close. They are starting to know that we aren't predators and are feeling a little more comfortable around us.

We've had 3 hummingbirds this past week, but today we saw several. Rufous and Anna's. We love watching them and their antics. This time of year we start buying more sugar because they go through it fast.
Our cherry tree is in bloom. We are hoping the bee population will pick up soon so we have cherries to eat. Edited: We now have around 12 hummers. They're so fast it's hard to count. We know that we are refilling the feeders three times a day on the weekends.
We noticed that the weeds my DB has been pulling have started to disappear. We looked up in our carport and noticed a nest being started. Not sure yet what it is. Edited: Well the nest blew down and the finches didn't want to rebuild in the same location.

EQ6 - No pictures

I've been taking the lesson that the EQ6 User Manual has. I can get through them fine but can't seem to but them into use. What I want to do is work with this quilt. I want to create a center medallion of one of the squares but enlarged. One of the borders will be the squares I've already sewn. I decided I need a class so I've signed up for a beginner EQ6 class on Tuesday. I'm hoping since I've read and done some of the lessons, I'll be able to absorb more info.


I am fixing BBQ chicken sandwiches and coleslaw for this evening. I got the recipes from Picky Palate. They look delicious and I'm hungry for coleslaw. I'll let you know how it turns out.

I won!

THANK YOU so much Keryn from My Country Blog for the really colorful measuring cups and spoons. I've put the to use many times already.

EQ

I broke down and ordered EQ6 last week. It arrived and I'm playing/learning. I tried to dive right in but found out that I should probably go through at least some of the lessons. Guess you know what I'm doing today. That is until DB and DS get here and then my day is not my own. Oh well, it could be worse. I could be cleaning bathrooms!

Fishing

No quilting today. It was so nice we went fishing for the first time last Sunday. The weather was gorgeous and we had to get out. We didn't catch anything, not even any bites. But we enjoyed the sun and the ducks and geese.

Canadian Geese

Coots.

Mallards. The male has something wrong with his left foot. See how's he listing. He's not using it at all.

No fish for dinner but we enjoyed our day and fun in the sun.

Practice Feathers

I finally got my tension correct and practiced on my feathers. I don't know what I'm going to do with this, probably bind it and hang it on my wall.

I was practicing Kimmy Brunner's Twirly Whirly Feathers. I was having trouble and getting confused when starting my feathers to get the correct direction. It will get better and I'm hyped to practice more. I love feathers.

My Progress

Well it's Sunday evening and I need to quit and start dinner. I got more accomplished than I thought I would.

Thank you Judy for another great Quiltathon. Here's what I got done. What do you think?

Sue from Alderwood has a Giveaway!

Check out Sue's blog. She has a Giveaway. She'll be drawing the lucky winner March 1.

Quiltathon Update

I finally managed to get some quilting done. YEAH! I've been working on Judy L's "Out of the Bag" quilt. Here's what mine looks like so far. I need to root through my stash and see if I have enough for the backgroud. I usually only buy yard cuts.

See what everyone else has been doing.

For dinner last night we had stuffed peppers, asparagus, artisan bread, pickled beets. It was wonderful.

My camera doesn't do justice for the colors on the plate.

Quilting?

I really really want to participate this weekend in Judy L Quiltathon. Seems like everything has come before quilting lately. I really MISS it. I'am going to work on one of Judy's stash projects. It will look something like her Out of the Bag quilt when I get finished. I didn't have enough light value fabrics so I had to breakdown and buy some. Wish me luck that I don't get sidetracked today.

I also have a practice quilt on the frame to practice feathers. I've been practicing alot on paper and on my whiteboard.

I have dinner ready. Stuffed Green Peppers from the garden last summer with fresh asparagus and some Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I've been making this bread for only about 3 weeks now. We love it. I can pull off a chunk for one meal and not have any leftovers. This is a good thing. It doesn't get stale, dry or moldy. AND we don't overindulge our waistlines. I looked for this book at a major brick and mortar store and found it was almost $11 more. I decided to wait for the shipping and save my money. We made pizza last night from it (didn't get a picture fast enough). I'll definately be making that more.

Judy's Quiltathon 2010

I kinda of participated in Judy's Quiltathon. I started Friday and got this practice quilt squared up and ready to quilt. I wanted to try out Judy's Feather Video

Here's what I'm using for my backing:

I got it on the LA and then started looking for the right thread. I wanted to match the backing with a solid bobbin thread. I couldn't find anything to work. So I got online and ordered some thread. I went to Columbia River Quilters for it. Well, so I can't work on that so now what. I have my daughter's batik floating star on the design wall, but I'm really kinda bored with it right now so now what?

I printed out a Stash Busting project "Out of the Bag" from Judy's blog last February. I had a lot of it cut out. So this is what I worked on Sunday. I'm going to continue to work on it today.

For dinner tonight, I've put a whole chicken in the crock pot and we're going to have my DB's rendition of Chicken and Dumplings. He likes his dumplings made out of yeast bread dough and not a biscuit type dumpling. They really are good.

Windy Night

According to our weatherman, we sustained 55 mile an hour winds last night and early this morning. It woke me up from all the noise. I glanced at the clock and it was blinking. So the most important thing in our morning is to have fresh coffee already brewed and just waiting for us. I needed to get up and reprogram our coffeepot. I did that and then decided to turn our the porch light and take a look at our "poor shed". Remember our shed last spring? Now look at our shed. Lucky we cleaned it out this summer and took a load to the dump.

Here's what's in the shed and - - - - -

Here's the shell. It's across the garden leaning against a tree and fence.

Feather Fun

I started making a top that I can practice on using Judy's video feather technique (http://www.patchworktimes.com/2009/12/30/a-feather-video/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PatchworkTimes+%28Patchwork+Times+by+Judy+Laquidara%29). I wish I could add a link without the link showing and just a word to represent it. I will hang it in my quilt room when it's finished.

I'm going to add these to it and some borders so I can practice. I used all scrap from my stash. I'm looking forward to it.

Last Project of the Year

Here it is. My first applique project was started about 3 years ago. I did the crosshatching with my sewing machine. I didn't have my LA yet. I still have to do some quilting in the applique areas and forgot to do then when it was on the longarm. So I'll do them on the sewing machine.

What do you think? It's (applique and quilting) are very beginner but it'll get better.

I'm so directionally challanged, I had to turn my wallhanging to do the feathers. I already had the feathers done when I saw a video that Judy from Patchwork Times did for her blog. http://www.patchworktimes.com/2009/12/30/a-feather-video/? I'm going do put something together today so I can practice her method.