Catch

This mug rug was made from leftover scarps of another project. I can't seem to throw out even the smallest piece. I've named this "Catch" because of what's about to happen.

 It measures roughly 8 by 7 /12 inches.

Quilt Shops

Today my girlfriends and I went on a road trip. We visited two quilt shops; Lone Star Quiltworks in Bryan, Texas and A Cowgirl Quilt Shop near Jewett, Texas. 

Needless to say, we had a blast and purchased some great fabrics. Lone Star Quiltworks had excellent displays all around the store and it was well lighted.

After that we had lunch which revived us so we headed off the Jewett.

Kathy, our driver was, as Dustin Hoffman in "Rainman" once said, an excellent driver.

We made it to A Cowgirl Quilt Shop in time to do a little shopping. Brenda, the shop owner is a very friendly lady who has some great fabrics.  She will be participating in the Heart of Texas Shop Hop in January 2014. 

Check out

A Cowgirl Quilt Shop & Lone Star Quiltworks  

now.

I'd show you the fabrics I bought but I'm too busy drooling over them....hehehehe

 

Claiming.....Again.....Sigh

Follow">http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/1464024/?claim=kqdppakzrxu">Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Teapot #12 - A Day or Two Early

OMG! This is it! The last block.

A big thank you to those who took this journey with me. I'd love to see your teapots at any stage.

Gari posted about her progress. Click on her name to see.

 I love her color choices.

 

 

Block #12

Moss?

I noticed that my dead log needed something....

What to do......what to do??

 

Light bulb moment....

Moss....as in tree moss!

 

I used two different shades of green,  from my ever growing stash, to break up all that open space on the log fabric.

I know this seems trivial but sometimes it's the little things are make the difference.

 

 

A is for Aardvark - BOW - "Z"

Block "Z"

The winner of the Evening Grosbeak is

Gene

_________________________

Congratulations Gene!!

Just leave a comment & we'll get together via email.

 

Can you believe it, A is for Aardvark is just about over with this post.

 All that's left is the lettering "Animal Kingdom."

I had a blast hand embroidering each block and I hope you enjoyed making them, as well.

 

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This next mug rug is........

 

Peaches Mug Rug

 

This is not the end of the mug rug give-away. I will continue the give-away each

Thursday.

If you want a chance to win the Peaches mug rug, leave a comment to get in the "hat," and come back each week to see who wins or to participate.

I love making and giving these little bits of sunshine to brighten someone's day.

 

Grand Plan Part 2 & Reminder

I'm still in the "no sew or press" stage. I'm only auditioning things. Each time I really like something I'll take a photo of it to remember what I doing....LOL

I found a great oak wood looking fabric that I creatively cut into my interpretation of a dead log and placed it from one side of my piece. This helps to create foreground and background.

Here I've added cattails, a couple of dragonflies, a grasshopper and a frog to the mix.

I knew I wanted my catfish jumping out of the water to appear to be going for a dragonfly, so this is what I've come up with so far.

If you are thinking about participating in the "Gone Fishin' " BOW (Block of the Week), there's plenty of time. The designs are free provided by me and can be found each Monday which started last week, until August.

I've now decided to add a little fun to the scene by adding a crane who has he eye on that catfish going for the dragonfly.

If anyone is interested in the crane just leave a comment because I did not include him in the designs but will if there's enough interest.

Here's a close-up of the crane. I love him because of the orange batik I used for the beak. There was a darker orange line running through the fabric that I used to define the top and bottom beak area.

 

Here's the overall view of what I'm thinking is going to be the top of my

"Gone Fishin' " quilt.

And remember, this is only the auditioning stage. Nothing has been sewn down are pressed into place. I'm just playing!!

 

 

Reminder

The Grosbeak Mug Rug will be given away tomorrow so there's still time to place your name in the hat if you haven't already.

Just click HERE and leave a comment on that post to be eligible.

 

 

A Grand Plan

Wow! What a weekend I've had. I found the perfect fabric for my "Gone Fishin' " Block of the Week.

Obviously the photo does not do this piece justice but this is from the

 DAIWABO-E.E. Schenck Company. And yes, there is a "faded area down the very center of the piece which, to me, is great as a sun reflection.

There are other types of these fabrics out there if you are thinking of doing an overall fishing theme. But if this is not your thing, I do have other wonderful suggestions for the fish blocks so stay tuned.

 

From this point on, no sewing is involved yet. I'm just looking at all the possibilities for

"Gone Fishin' "

So, I staged two fabrics that I found in my stash to represent the sky. The first is too light.

Notice that I've added a different shade of green above the fabric I'll be using for the lake water area. That particular fabric will help with my tree line and background for some other things.

This light blue with clouds is perfect, don't you think!!

I decided to build a skyline. I found a fabric in my stash that looked like mountain colors but was too dark so I used the wrong side of the fabric and what do you know, it works well. So don't forget to audition the backside of your fabrics.

I've now added a tree line and to make sure that it looks realistic, the tree line is placed on top of that darker green fabric above the lake water fabric. I like these layers so far and remember I am only auditioning, not sewing or pressing anything down at this time.

Finally, I've added a shoreline with a rusty brown strip of fabric. The photo doesn't show it well but the shore is cut jaggedly rather than a straight line.

So that's what I've been up to.

 

 

DWM-BOW

It's Design Wall Monday again. Hey! Knowing I need to get something done to post keeps me on my toes. Go see what others are up to at Judy's.

 

Here's block #3 for my "Gone Fishin'" project.

 

I've used several Batiks with this fish and threw in a couple Thimbleberries as well.

 

Remember you can enlarge or shrink my designs to fit your needs and you all or any parts.

 

I have two staging photos to show today....

 

This first one, the background is one of my old Hoffman International fabrics, a screen print. There are subtle violets, purples, a hint of black in the veins and gray. This reminds me of water with reflections.

Turn that fabric on the back and add some lake weeds for a different look.

Remember the staging/audition process is just a way to see what you like best, so no pressing is involved at this point. You might change your mind so there's no hurry to get everything permanently in place.

 

And the other day I posted about my 90 degree turn discovery to use up some scraps. I was amazed and so happy to get rid of use up more scraps from my stash.

You can read all about it HERE.

 

 

Before They're All Gone...

Before they're all gone, I want to share my T-cake recipe with you. The one my Aunt Pinkie gave me many years ago can be found on my Recipe page but this one is fairly new and I've put my own spin on it.
The original recipe comes from Paula Dean.

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
•  1/2 to 3/4 cups buttermilk
• 2 sticks butter at room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon Allspice

1. In a large bow, sift all dry ingredients together then using large spoon, stir in the rest. As you work the dough, it will become soft and moist.
2. Shape into manageable balls, wrap in plastic and store in refrigerator for a hour or over night, if desired.
3. Preheat over at 350 degrees.
4. Roll out dough on slightly floured surface to about 1/4 inch thickness. 
5. Cut into cookie cutter shapes or round shapes as is the traditional shape of T-cakes.
6. Bake on greased cookie sheet for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.
7. Variation: Add a half pecan on each T-cake before baking or chopped pecans to the dough. This adds a surprising crunch to the T-cake. 
8. Depending on the shapes you use, makes 5 to 8 dozen T-cakes.

I took these to church to share with everyone and before I could blink, they had disappeared before coffee could be brewed!!
Luckily, I did save a few for me at home.
Whew!

90 Degree Turn

I sewed some of my scraps into a long string section......

........then I cut out 9 1/2 inch squares from the it, turned one square 90 degrees............

.......next I placed them right sides together and cut on the diagonal.............

..........and cut on the opposite diagonal.........

......this is the first design I could get from this particular cut or.....

.......this look, which I like better...... and still there are scraps left over.

Alright, who is dumping their scraps in my pile??

 

 

A is for Aardvark - BOW - "Y" & Two Winners

Block "Y"

 

The winner of the Avocado Mug Rug is

 

Laura

Congratulations!

Leave a comment & we'll connect via email.

 

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Next mug rug up is........

 

Evening Grosbeak Mug Rug

Just leave a comment to have a chance.

I'll announce a winner June 27th.

 

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One more announcement........

The winner of the these lovely ten inch squares is

 

Sandra

Congratulations to you. Just leave a comment and we'll get together via email.

 

 

 

Oatmeal - Mmmm Mmmm Good

If you like oatmeal or want your family to fall in love with this breakfast food, I'm recommending this Natural Foods oat product. It can be purchased at Natural Foods stores & over the Internet.

Full of Milk

This baby is full of Mother's milk.....see his milk mustache!

 

And here's little Buzzard Bait (AKA) Cream & Sugar posing for the camera.

"It's time for my close-up"

She weighs approximately 375 pounds. Can you believe it!

Staging Tutorial

What is staging? It's also known as auditioning fabrics for a project.

I'll be using, as examples, my fish BOW.

In my stash,  I have fabrics that can be used as backgrounds, foliage, landscape, etc. Usually I find these types of fabrics in scrap bins at the my local quilt store. A lot of them are at least an eighth to a fat quarter portion, which are great sizes for projects.

Look that this pebble fabric. Lots of interest there.

Then there's this grassy fabric and a motley blue. Great possibilities.

 

If you are following with my fish BOW (Block of the Week), you know that I use an adhesive (Steam-a-seam or Heat-n-bond) to adhere the fish parts and at this point I can move the fish to different fabrics to see what works best.

I like what I see but am not ready to press anything down. That will come "way" later!!

After adding a couple of dragonflies and cattails, it's starting to look pretty good but still not ready to press. That may happen in a couple of weeks. There is no hurry with pressing everything down. If you are satisfied with the look you're going for, I'd suggest taking a photo but do not press yet. This is important because at some point you will probably change your mind or want to add something behind one of your objects and would regret pressing too early.

Here's the second fish  which I posted on Monday and here's the staging for that one. You can see the pebbles that I've used cut in a jagged way to look more natural. Still no pressing. I also added that grass fabric but cut it to look like underwater weeds.

So this is the process I usually use when making scenic quilts.

If you are making the "fish" designs with me, maybe think about doing a different scene for each fish. The guy in your life will be so proud and want to show off his prized quilt to everyone.

Stay tuned for more "staging" very soon.

 

Also there's still time to get in on the 5 ten inch squares give-away. Just leave a comment to be counted.

 I'll announce the winner on Thursday.