If you are a "non-responder or OpenID-er" which to me means I have no way of responding to a comment that you've left, please leave a way for me to get in touch with you, especially if you're participating in a blog give-away or if you are asking for information or links. By leaving your email within your comment, I can find you. I realize that this is sometimes a scary thing to do with scams and all but if you disguise the email as say..... me at yahoo dot com this is the perfect way to hide from the unwanted eye. So please help me out if you are one of the non-responders. Thank you, in advance.....Ravelly Rhonda!!
This is the last Design Wall Monday of 2012....WOW...Thanks Judy for allowing us to do show & tell via your fantastic blog!!
Here's the latest Mug Rug that I've been working on.
It roughly measures 12" by 10". I bought a FQ of the bark-like fabric with no real idea of what I'd use it for but was happy that it worked in this project.
It's always a wonderful challenge to use difficult colors, designs, & patterns in projects.
To see what others are doing, pop over to JUDY's for Design Wall Monday.
In no certain order of any kind, here are the projects I managed for the year
2012.
Ten inch square radiating star hot-plates which are my first tries with this method and I
love how they turned out.
This is my new BOW (Block of the Week) which starts January 3rd, so stay tuned.
This is a hand embroidery project that is still in progress. It's a block of the week (BOW) for twelve weeks. I decided on a Attic Window setting to complete it. It measures 33 inches by 42 inches.
Mug Rug/Give-away
Diamond String Quilt made in September with a mitered piano key outer border.
Two birthday quilts for Ayden
Log Cabin variation measuring 64 inches square.
Strung Out Cowboys quilt
Measures 30 by 60 inches
Scrappy strip piecing with piano keys
Finished sewing together my row challenge for 2010.
The 2 quilts above are where I used some of my 2 1/2 inch squares.
Scrappy foundation quilt.... design "fractured diamond"
Texas Seal ...... this design is my own interpretation. I used hand embroidery, silk purse, half fractured diamond and needle turn applique. I then added a thin red stop-border and four inch black border. Leaves and acorns finished the look. Sorry about the tilted photo.
Scrappy wall hanging measuring 17 1/2 by 21 inches.
Hope everyone is having a great holiday time. I can't believe that this year is almost over.
It's freezing here in central Texas, around 25 degrees at night which is rare for this time of year. The temperature isn't much higher during the day.....burrrrrrrr, great sewing and reading weather.
So that's what I've been doing. I'm stopping at nine shoes, I think. Now I just need to figure out how I want to stitch the blocks together. Any suggestions???? I'd love your input!
On a different note.....
Meet little Buzzard Bait!
He's a newbie in the herd, about 10 days old and unfortunately a color easily seen from the sky by buzzards. The other day we were feeding the cows and noticed a bunch of buzzards circling to land near this little one. They were very close to pecking her alive. Luckily we got there in time to do a quick rescue and a move closer to her mommy who was busy munching on hay.
After all that drama, for several nights the temperature dropped to freezing and when we fed again little Buzzard Bait was nowhere to be found. Where had that mama cow hidden the little critter? We look everywhere, hoping that the little goober made it through the cold nights.
Believe me we looked high and low, near bushes, fence rows, tall grass. How hard would it be to spot her with that near white coat?
Oh dear, she must be a goner but her mama was not worried, in fact the mama was stuffing her face with more hay and range cubes.
Then late yesterday, here she stood amongst the others.....thank goodness.
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulders: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6
Merry Christmas Everyone!
A turkey for block #11. I used several colors for this "TOM" and what fun that was to create.
Here's my latest finished quilt top. It's a hand embroidery "black work" design project I've had in my head for several weeks. The animal print fabrics have been sitting in my stash for "years" just waiting for a chance to cheer up a quilt.
Since I come from an elementary science background, animals have always intrigued me, not to mention, I have an abundance of wildlife in my yard as some of you have read about.
I'm always practicing my hand embroidery skills which are nearly non-existent ...... no really!
I decided to share my designs with everyone who wants to get in some practice and have a great child's quilt at the end of the process, as well.
Starting in January, I'll be posting, weekly (BOW = Block of the Week),
the designs and doing a few give-aways to my "FOLLOWERS", as well. I love give-aways and always try to give great fabrics, book and patterns. So if you're into that sort of thing, make sure to become a "FOLLOWER". But you do not have to be a "FOLLOWER" to participate in the BOW.
It took me about two to three hours on each block which measures 6 1/2 inches unfinished .... but more about all that in January.
below are a few blocks to wetter your appetites.
I chose critters from the Animal Kingdom rather than just domesticated or wild animals.
I named the quilt "A is for Aardvark" because (1) I love aardvarks which are amazing animals (check out this link for more info); & (2) it was the first block on the quilt.
On a personal note......
My heart is still heavy and prayerful for the families, children, teachers, first responders and community of Newtown, Connecticut. To aid in the healing, Becky at Quilters Corner in New Milford, CT is asking for donations of PILLOWCASES for the 600 or so children of Sandy Hook Elementary. If you would care to join this effort simply make a pillowcase or cases
and mail them to:
Quilters Corner
312 Danbury Rd.
New Milford, CT 06776
Here's a tutorial video on How-To make a pillowcase. Certainly there are plenty of ways to make them but this is one of my favorites.
I want to apologize to my readers and followers. Lately, I've been swamped with family and life in general so when one of my readers asked about my BOWs (we talked via email), I misstated some information. I am so sorry. It wasn't anything terrible but it appeared to her and to myself that I didn't know what I was talking about.....imagine that. We were talking about Block #7 which is a watermelon but I might have told her it was some other fruit.
It just seems that my thoughts get fuzzy(ier) during the holidays. Does that happen to anyone else?
I did manage to put those blocks on my BOM page which is more convenient for everyone.
Anyway, thank you all for being patient with me.
My wonderful neighbor gave me a bag of bell peppers the other day, and boy did they look delicious. She was talking about freezing her's but I immediately had thoughts of canning mine. So here's the results and the very quick recipe.
2 1/2 to 3 pounds of bell peppers ( I mixed in 1 large red bell pepper for coloring)
3 medium onions
3 large jalapeno peppers
5 cups cider vinegar
1 1/4 cup water
5 teaspoons canning salt
2 tablespoons celery seed
4 Tablespoons mustard seed
This is a "cold bath" type of canning method, so read up on the process because it really isn't any cold water involved.... LOL
I used pint jars and one quart jar just because I didn't want to buy more in this late season.
Prepare canning bath (meaning in very large pot boil water to place mason jar content into)
Clean and seed bell peppers and jalapeno peppers. Slice bell peppers into thin strips and jalapenos into rings.
Peel and slice onions into 1/2 inch thick slices to be placed in jar at very bottom and very top.
In a medium sauce pan, pour vinegar, canning salt and water. Bring to a boil.
Mix celery seed and mustard seed together
Make sure that mason jars are clean before packing veggies inside.
My method is:
onion slice
bell peppers strips packed tightly
jalapeno pepper slices
sprinkle 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of seed mixture
onion slice
Pour vinegar mixture over top leaving 1/4 inch at top of jars.
Process in water bath for approximately 20 minutes. Remove and allow to cool at room temp. When lids pop.... this is a good thing!!
Reminder!!
My little Mug Rug Give-away is still in progress. To get in on the action, just leave a comment and mention MUG RUG in the comment to be placed in the hat.
is what I've named my new project. I don't know what I'll do with these
except all a few more styles.
This year I've really tried to "not" purchase fabric and only use what I have.
That, surprisingly, has worked well. Yea, me!
On another note, I can't believe it's 12.12.12
I hadn't thought about events like this lately, other than, the first president I remember when I was little or where I was during 9-11 or the year I retired (LOL) and then there was Y2K.
While blog surfing the other day, I ran across a project that caught my eye. I bookmarked it or whatever it is you do to get back to that particular site. The project was stuck in my head and I dreamed about, woke up, did some housework and life took over. This morning I couldn't stand it any longer and went into my sewing studio to pull fabrics. Then I plunged into this thing with both feet. Here's my process.
The fabrics I chose and the order which they will appear.
Bad photo of the 10 inch square of fabric with directional lines drawn.
The beginnings of the star revealed. There's loads of folding but it's worth it.
The final project measuring 10 inches square. Again the photo is not good but here's
Noodles, pre-cooked (your favorite type) I used some leftovers from a spaghetti dinner
In a large skillet, melt butter. Add raw carrots, onions and bell peppers on low heat for about 5 minutes. Add shrimp plus seasonings. Cook for another 5 minutes. Finally, add the noodles and cook for another 5 minutes.
Sailing along in the sea on a cloudless day. That's what I think of when I was stitching out this pattern. Enjoy the sailboat which is number 8 in my hand embroidery series.
