Another Patch by AnotherPat

Kitchen Parking Pad

2011-01-25T17:17:00.001-05:00

We have a TV in the kitchen and I got tired of seeing this mess on the table … And … where’s the pen?

So, I decided to make a place for everything and everything in its place. I call it the “Parking Pad”.

I drew around each item on a piece of Freezer Paper:I took those rough measurements and came up with this layout in EQ7:The finished Parking Pad:
And how it looks with everything in its place:
What you don’t see is the little notes I can hide away underneath it. An added benefit – if I’m sitting across from the Parking Pad, I don’t have to get up to grab a control or the phone, I can just pull the Parking Pad towards me.

It’s the little things in life …

Living vicariously

2010-12-31T20:21:00.001-05:00

Today while I was at the grocery store, there was a young girl behind the counter in the bakery and she was talking to a fellow employee about going home to wash her face & put on new make-up and get ready to go out.

I said that I can’t remember the last time I’d talked to someone who said they were going out on New Year’s Eve and neither could all the other eavesdroppers!

I asked if she could let us know her plans for the evening. She said she was going to a Peruvian Restaurant with her boyfriend and his parents and then to Bayside in Miami for the rest of the evening. I told her I would be living vicariously through her evening!

I remember when I went out to a restaurant on New Year’s Eve with a young man & his parents. Fifty years later, that same young-at-heart man & I are staying home on this New Year’s Eve & will be lucky if we stay up as late as 10:30pm !

Oh, and at that restaurant of long ago – I had lobster. It was $4.50.

Hope you have some Happy New Year’s Eve memories, too.
Let’s all make a Happy New Year’s Eve memory …

Pretzel Jell-O Salad

2010-11-22T13:03:00.001-05:00

My younger sister sent me a recipe and I just had to share it. She said it’s an old recipe and had made the rounds in the Midwest about 10 years ago. I had never heard of it. Maybe you haven’t, either.

The tartness of the raspberries, the sweet of the Jell-O and sugar, the coolness of the cream cheese and the saltiness of the pretzels make a song in your mouth!

Pretzel Jell-O Salad

1. Spray or butter a 9 x 13 pan (you could cut recipe in half for an 8 x 8 size)
    2 CUPS CRUSHED PRETZELS (crush to the size of chopped pecans)
    3/4 cup of melted butter or margarine
    2 Tbsp. sugar
Blend together, press into bottom of pan. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.
Let cool.

2. Cream together:
    8 oz. cream cheese (room temp)
    1 c. sugar
     Fold in:
     8 oz. Cool Whip (room temp)
Spread on top of cooled crust. Put into freezer for an hour.

3. 2 small or 1 large package of Raspberry
    TWO    12 oz. packages of frozen raspberries
    2 cups boiling water
Mix Jell-O with boiling water. Mix in raspberries.
Chill a little until sort of set.
Spoon over cheese layer and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

You can use any kind of pretzels you have on hand. I used the skinny stick ones. But, twisted or rods will do fine.

Only in South Florida

2010-11-15T19:34:00.001-05:00

Interesting reading in this morning’s Miami Herald. Yes, I know you can get newspapers online, but I like the feel of the newspaper in my hand as I drink my cup of morning coffee with the other.

DH & I tend to switch between our local newspapers down here. We’ll get the Herald for a period of time and then switch over to the Sun-Sentinel for awhile. Since “the South Beach Scene” is in Miami Beach, the Herald is loaded with Celebrity Gossip.

But what I found very interesting this morning was the crazy headlines and crazy stories that, I suppose, if you wanted to write a book of fiction, no one would ever believe these things -- too preposterous. But, they are real life. I read them in the newspaper!

How about this one -- “Worker finds head, body parts near a canal” Not an everyday occurrence, eh? Did the worker quit his job? Or did he come back to work the next day, figuring the odds were good that this kind of thing would never happen again?

And then there was “The trial against a police officer accused of raping a family member while his allegedly drugged wife and 4-year-old child slept in the same bed begins” He also allegedly drugged the family member. Gives more meaning to “let’s keep it all in the family”.

And in Miami-Dade county, you can pay your property taxes online. But, they charge you $87.25 for the privilege. They call it a “non-refundable convenience fee”. I think writing out a check and putting a 44¢ stamp on an envelope would be much more convenient.

And the most bizarre of all. It seems that a book published this past summer, which didn’t really sell many copies, might have been possibly the inspiration for a recent murder. You’re just going to have to read this one for yourself – another book will probably come out about this whole thing.

Do these stories happen in your neck of the woods? Or is it just South Florida? -- “Things are different here” was a clever advertising phrase to sell tourism in South Florida, at one time. I don’t think it was intended to be a derogatory comment.

I know South Florida won’t disappoint. I know I’ll be back with some more “Only in South Florida” stories … all I have to do is open the local newspaper …

Radiator Cover

2010-09-12T16:41:00.001-04:00

It all started with this article in Quilters Newsletter Magazine, dated October 2003.

The fabric above was bought specifically for the making of a wallhanging. The fabric at top is a panel print and there are 4 fabrics below it.

After cutting the pieces for 1 block, I decided I didn't want to make a whole bunch more – a little too much fussy-cutting. So, I set the fabric and the block aside.

Then, came the winter of 2010. It was cold. More days in a row of cold than we've ever experienced living in South Florida for 38 years. We bought a portable room radiator and used it more times in January thru March than I care to think about.

I knew just by looking at that radiator that it was going to be a dust-catcher! It needed a cover. I remembered that fabric and the lonely block.

I went into my EQ7 with my measurements for the radiator cover and started to design. I even scanned my fabric so I could use it in the design in EQ7. In order to make what looks like the panel print, I took a digital picture of the actual fabric and brought the image into EQ7. If you do that, make sure the image is “square” so that the proportion will be correct. You end up with some real silly looking images if you use rectangle-shaped images.I took a screenshot of the upside-down back portion of design and brought it into MS Paint. I am delighted with Windows7 version of MS Paint. I can manipulate images with ease and it doesn’t have the learning curve that the high-end graphics programs do.

Here’s the layout, in progress, on the design wall.

Here's all the layers pinned together, ready to be quilted.

After a couple of movies on the Hallmark Movie Channel, the "bones" of the cover are quilted and now the "fun quilting" begins …

I used Sulky Blendable 12 wt cotton thread for the quilting. I like the heaviness of that thread. Makes the stitching stand out. I use a 90/14 Topstitch needle for the 12 wt. thread.

I find I get a better fit if I wash & dry the piece after quilting and before sewing the sides together. Especially if I use cotton batting as I did in this project.

Finished cover – front

Finished cover - back

Dolphins on a radiator?
In South Florida - but of course!

Convert WMV to iPad compatible file

2010-08-02T11:41:00.001-04:00

I like to combine digital photos with the movies that I take with my PureDigital Flip Camera and make them into slideshows using HP Memories Creator which came bundled with my HP printer.

Thought it would be nice to have a slideshow presentation like that on my iPad.

Well, I figured out how. And I didn’t have to buy any new programs to do it - the necessary programs were free.

I got the Windows Live Movie Maker program free from Microsoft.
Get yours here. It comes as part of the Live Essentials package. You have to have Windows 7 to run WLMM.

In Windows Live Movie Maker, I can combine photos, videos, music and have special effects and all kinds of cool stuff. It generates a WMV file. WMV files can be viewed in a Windows Media Player.

You cannot upload a WMV file to the iPad / iPodTouch.

You will need to convert that WMV file into a MP4, which is compatible with the iPad and iPod Touch. And to convert it, you need another free program - Any Video Converter. Get the “Any Video Converter Free”.

Once you convert the WMV to MP4, you upload the MP4 through iTunes, the usual way.

I’ve been looking for a WMV file convertor for a long time. The ones I’ve seen cost $40 to $50. Free is so much nicer! And you can convert WMV to AVI, also.

And Microsoft has another nice free program that does a nice slideshow of zooming in, out and across photos – Photo Story. It really makes a nice presentation of your quilts, with music. Or make a slideshow of the construction of a particular quilt (or gift) for a special occasion. It will generate a WMV file that you can convert to MP4 for iPad / iPodTouch.

An Innocent Quilt Block

2010-07-24T17:01:00.001-04:00

The above photo appeared in an article by Jenny Deam of the LATimes in my morning paper about the above quilt. It mentions that the “swastika block” is known by other names (aren’t all quilt blocks): Whirligig and Catch Me If You Can. After reading the article, I was intrigued and went on a quest.

I had to go and see what information Barbara Brackman had in her Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilted Patterns book and in the software program Block Base v2 about the above mentioned quilt blocks.

Blocks known as Whirligig
~ screenshot from BlockBase v2 ~

The blocks from the photo at top is not in image above.

Blocks known as Catch Me If You Can
~ screenshot from BlockBase v2 ~

There’s the block from the photo at top in the image above, block on right. But, there’s 2 borders around that block, a white one and a blue one which makes it a tad different than the blocks in the photo at the top.

So then I decided to do a search in BlockBase for “swastika”.

Blocks known as Swastika
~ screenshot from BlockBase v2 ~

I just don’t see how all the blocks in the first row could be named Swastika. They don’t even resemble one.

By the way – here’s a Swastika --

And here is a symbol for a Unit in the United States Army 45th Infantry Division in World War I which was mentioned in the article --

And this block (left) is not to be confused with the Rail Fence (right):

The block on the left is drawn on a 5x5 grid. The block on the right is drawn on a 6x6 grid.

I think I’m going to call the block on the left Catch Me If You Can. After all, it is not the block’s fault that a despicable little man chose that symbol and turned it into something hateful.

Will I ever use the Catch Me If You Can block in a quilt - no, I don’t think so. Would you?

I made the above image in EQ7, trying to duplicate what was in the photo at the top of this post. I wonder if the maker of the quilt meant for the blocks to be mirrored from one to the other. Maybe not, cuz there isn’t a pattern to the mirroring. Maybe that wasn’t a concern for the quilt maker.

Jenny of Elefantz (BOM)

2010-06-29T18:56:00.001-04:00

In the current issue of Quilters Newsletter Magazine, there is an article, page 28, Stitchery from Down Under. One of the quilters interviewed is Jenny Reynolds from Queensland, Australia. QNM did not list Jenny’s website, but it was easy enuf to goggle her --http://www.elefantz.blogspot.com/

I just love the way she combines quilting and simple embroidery. And she is so generous in giving away her designs for free. She makes them available for a while and then you have to go to her Etsy shop to purchase some of the older designs. Her prices are very reasonable.

Jenny has a Block of the Month coming up – Daisy Do on July 1. Her sneak peeks have got me hooked.

I love doing embroidery every once in a while. It calms the soul.

Hurricane Season, again

2010-06-01T18:53:00.001-04:00

June 1 to November 30 is Hurricane Season in my part of the world. This will be our 37th Hurricane season in South Florida. We’ve had to lower the awnings quite a few times over the years. The most devastating hurricanes we’ve been through were Hurricane Andrew in August 1992 and Hurricane Wilma, the end of October 2005.

The worst year for the whole state of Florida was 2004 when 4 hurricanes criss-crossed the state. That was also the year that my younger sister and her husband moved to the west coast of Florida! What a welcome that was. During Hurricane Charley, they hunkered down with martinis and popcorn in a big closet in their bathroom!

In 2005, there were 28 named storms: 15 of which were hurricanes. They had predicted 14 named storms (9 hurricanes)! I guess “they” didn’t see it coming …

The above pic is taken after Wilma visited our neighborhood in 2005. Our beautiful Pon Gam tree in the front yard has been uprooted and stripped of half its leaves. Lamppost had been blown over and is laying on its side. Leaves from a tree on side of the house litter the sidewalk. With the help of neighbors, the Pon Gam was pushed back into place. It is a still a good tree, but is not the same and I don’t expect it ever will be.

This year they are predicting 14 – 23 storms, which includes 8 – 14 hurricanes. Unless you have one of them Time Machines and go take a trip to the future and come back again, I really don’t think you can be an accurate predictor of hurricanes.

I hope the number of storms falls short of this year’s predictions. I have a feeling that we will be preparing for some storms in Florida. All we can do is be prepared. Keep a watch on the weather. And always respect Mother Nature.

Can’t move my fonts

2010-05-23T14:57:00.001-04:00

Okay, I thought I’d do the computer a favor and move some of the 1,339 fonts I have. I find I can’t. I can copy them, I can delete them, but I cannot move them.

Does anyone know how to move fonts from the Windows>Fonts directory to another directory?

Computer running slow?

2010-05-23T13:07:00.001-04:00

If your computer is running slow, it is time for a little bit of maintenance. If you’ve let it go for awhile, this maintenance might take more than a little while to complete. But, future maintenance will be a piece of cake.

I knew that fonts were probably causing my computer to boot up slowly. But, I was hesitant to remove them. Ya know, the fonts I throw out today are going to be the fonts I’ll need tomorrow!

Today AOL had this article that had some tips and links to getting your computer up to speed. It also gave me a link to Microsoft’s directions on adding fonts, removing fonts and deleting fonts. And in those directions, there’s directions to move fonts. Now, I didn’t know I could move fonts. That’s gonna work for me. I will see what fonts I can live without and move them to my external harddrive. That way they won’t boot up. And if I ever find I need them, I know where to find them.

When I went to C > Windows > Fonts > I was shocked to see that I had 1339 fonts on my computer! Just about every program you install seems to put in their own fonts – especially the publishing programs. I got a big moving job ahead of me. I’ll just do a little at a time, when I can spare the time.

And then there was a link to an article about what you should do at least once a month to improve your computer’s performance. I must say that I’m pretty good about doing the Disk Cleanup and Defragging. But, I will now add Disk Check to my list.

45” fabric ???

2010-05-22T19:46:00.002-04:00

Whatever happened to 44” – 45” wide fabric? I’ve put in some sewing time this week and had the occasion to follow directions that called for a cut of fabric that measured 41-1/2” of fabric across the width. I had to cut into part of the selvage to get 41-1/2” of fabric in that cut!

Now, this was “Quilt Shop” fabric. As opposed to “Big Box Store” fabric, which tends to be not as generous in their widths. Altho, some of the big box stores are carrying some high-end fabric and things are getting better on that front.

Being a quilter, I generally take big pieces of fabric and cut them into small pieces and then sew those small pieces into big pieces. I usually buy a little more fabric than my design calls for. And if sewing something created by others, I generally buy a little more, too. Doesn’t hurt to “feed the stash”. Plus, most times, I buy Fat Quarters. So, I really don’t concern myself with width of fabric. I buy what fabric grabs my heart, my senses.

Unless I am designing a pattern. Then, I am concerned with fabric width and that’s another story.

I wondered if other fabrics in my stash came close to being 44'” – 45” wide. Well, after measuring several fabrics from my stash – I did not have any that measured 44” wide. None at 43”. None at 42. I lucked out to find 41-1/2” wide fabric! That’s not anywhere near 44” – 45”! Karamba!

I went to simplicity.com to see if the newer patterns compensated for these narrower fabrics.

Nope, they were still using 45” as a “buyable” width. Even if you could buy 45” wide fabric, that width would include the selvage.

I went into EQ to see on what fabric widths they were basing their “yardage to buy”.

EQ had a 44” wide option. But, NOT a 45”. They must have measured their fabric, too! They also have 42” wide as an option. I use the 42” width for determining fabric yardage in EQ.

Now, why would a pattern company such as Simplicity still hold onto the notion that there is 45” wide “usable” fabric in the width? Never was. If fabric were 45”, that would include the selvage – selvage is NOT usable. With clothing patterns, you follow their directions to place your pattern pieces on the fabric and generally they don’t give you much “wiggle room”. And if that wide sleeve butts up against another pattern piece on a narrower width of fabric (less than 45”), you WILL have to piece that sleeve in the underarm area. Been there, done that.

I don’t think I have any 44” wide usable fabric. Do you?

Live Auctions: Exhilarating

2010-05-15T16:00:00.001-04:00

If seen auctions in movies and on TV, but I’ve never been to a live auction. Until today. Wow! What an experience.

We were in the market for some new kitchen floor tile and son said that there was a close-out sale at a place he does business with. Well, it turned out to be an auction, not a sale. With a fast-talking auctioneer who stood on a ladder as he moved from pallet to pallet of tile.

Luckily, I found a tile I liked and it was in a pile that was going to be auctioned off shortly. DH & son went and got us registered. You had to put down $100 cash to register and get a number. You could only bid if you had registered and had a number. The registration was refundable in case you didn’t bid on anything or if you wanted to charge your purchase.

Most of the palettes of tile were big lots – 500+ square feet and one I heard was 5,000 square feet and we only needed 131 square feet for our kitchen. And the tile I liked came 144 square foot in a pile.

When that auctioneer started doing his thing – my, you felt like you just had to buy something. It was fast & exciting. Would be easy to get caught up in a frenzy. The adrenaline was pumping. And please don’t raise your hand, unless you intend to bid.

DH did the bidding for our small pile of tile – got it for 45¢ a square foot. That tile originally sold for around $1.75 a square foot. I think we got a bargain! It was such a feeling of euphoria when we “won” our bid! Just a natural high.

I’ve signed up at the auctioneer’s website to get their newsletter. I wonder what other auctions will be coming up in the future that might have something I’d be interested in.

I see on their website that they have an auction that will be at a Moving & Storage - 110+ vaults of un-paid storage. “Vaults opened as they go. Be prepared to make immediate buying decisions.”

I wonder if any of those vaults hold anything of value? What are the odds of lucking out on a purchase? Like having something really good inside the vault. But, then, they have not paid their bill, so the items might not be that important, or that valuable. Hmmm, one can only wonder.

The price of sewing has gone up

2010-05-14T17:28:00.001-04:00

I save things. In some circles I might be known as a pack rat. I’d rather be referred to as a “keeper of important things.” In my container that has snaps, hooks & eyes and other closures is an old card that used to have snaps snapped to it.

If you will click on the above pic, you will see that the empty card on the left is from “Penneys” and the price printed right on the card is 13¢ ! I don’t know the year that those snaps were bought, but Pennys is now known as JC Penney and certainly does not sell snaps today. The card on the left has snaps made by Dritz and they sell for $2.29 today at JoAnn. Same amount of snaps – 12 of them – but very different pricing!

I did a search in Bing for “calculate percentage increase” and got a formula that gave me a price increase of 1661.54%. That’s One Thousand Six Hundred plus percent increase! That can’t be right! Anyone out there who knows their math? Let me know if that percentage is right.

Actually, I got the snaps from JoAnn on sale and only paid half-price $1.14. And using the same formula to calculate the percentage it was only a 776%+ increase. Such a deal …

Raccoons & Dinosaurs

2010-05-05T17:28:00.001-04:00

Another grandchild came to use the sewing machine on Sunday and Tuesday. This wasn’t the 1st time that Jessi has been here to sew/quilt. In fact, way before I started blogging, I wrote about our first Quilting Adventure together. Goodness, she was 5 then, is 17 now. Doesn’t seem like 12 years ago!

Along with pics of grandkid’s shoes, I like to take “back” shots --

Jessi is working on the planks in the boat.

We found that the “waves” fabric we liked didn’t show up too well on the fleece background. Soooo, fused “wave” to blue fleece and cut a margin of blue around & were able to use the fabric.

Looks like a tall chair with feet!

Aaaah, but it is only Jessi!

Jessi had bought the fleece & a Tshirt with a raccoon on it. Her mom sketched paw prints on the Tshirt and we were able to appliqué the paw prints down on the fleece, also. The boat fabric came from this grandma's stash. The blanket goes to a special friend.

There’s a raccoon on the other corner. There’s a story to this blanket & the appliqués, but it’s not mine to tell …

We have raccoons back in our neighborhood, again. The cold weather had kept them away, but they are back to digging in the flower beds and the mulch and knocking things around. So, my DH traps them & re-locates them. This guy is no longer in our neighborhood --

What a coincidence – a raccoon in a cage and a raccoon in the sewing room … I prefer the sewing room kind!

Bloggers can get EQ7 free!

2010-05-02T11:28:00.001-04:00

Bloggers – if you want a chance to give away a copy of EQ7 on your blog AND get a free copy for yourself, head on over to EQ’s blog for details. Scroll on down to April 26 entry.

Electric Quilt will even mail EQ7 to the winner.

Beta-testing EQ7

2010-04-30T19:50:00.001-04:00

Usually, I am not lucky. Someone else always wins the lottery. Someone else always wins the quilt that a local guild raffled off. Someone else always gets the best parking spot. But, this time, I got lucky! I was asked to Beta-test EQ7! How about that!

What exactly is "Beta-testing"? Well, let's say you've created a pattern for a quilt you designed and want to present it to a class or publish it. You'd want to be sure the pattern was accurate as accurate can be. So, you ask some friends if they would check thru the pattern for typographical errors. Spell-checkers do not know the difference between "their" and "there", but people do. Pattern has to be checked for accuracy in the measurements of the pieces to be cut to make the blocks, yardage required for the pattern must be accurate. And it would be best if some of the friends would make the quilt. That's the real, true test for patterns.

So, that's basically "Beta-Testing" -- checking and re-checking that the product is written correctly. In the case of computer programs, every click of every button has to produce the correct results.

How it all started --

At the end of Dec. 2009, I received an email from EQ asking if I'd like to test EQ7. Would I? You betcha! We were asked to keep this hush - hush. (On April 28, we found out from Ann that we could talk about or even blog about what we did.)

In our next email, we found out that we would be asked to spend 20 hours in EQ7, over a course of 4 weeks. Hey, I could do that.

We received a CD of EQ7 Beta in the postal mail. The note inside said to go ahead and install it and play with it, doing usual things and trying out new things. There were a few instructions on things to try. It also said that EQ6 project files would be created with this version. So that meant if we were to design, we would have EQ6 files after the testing was over – no need to use EQ6 during the testing period.

It was interesting working in a "beta" program. Things were incomplete. Some of the new features were so new they weren't included on the CD. There were only 3 block libraries in the program and 1 fabric library. The Help files weren't complete. There were notations in the Help files to remind the programmers about things they were yet to do in that area. I was surprised to see that some of the notations they used were the same things I do when re-vamping a webpage. Like putting 3 big X's at the top of the paragraph that needs further info. Can always search for "XXX" and find all the things that need attention.

Another email came and had an attached file that had "Beta Testing Instructions". We were asked to give info about our computers -- the make & model, operating system, screen resolution, etc. There were also tasks that we were asked to perform, covering every aspect of the program. Majority of the tasks involved working with the new features (the new features that were complete). And printing from the program. We were asked to report any problems we found. I found a few - very minor things. Everything was just working beautifully.

The CD had an expiration date of March 15 and on March 15, the program no longer worked. I had been using EQ7 for almost 2 months and when I went back into EQ 6, I found I was missing so many of the new features from EQ7. Drag & drop blocks, grid on the Custom Set Quilt, to name a couple.

I wasn’t expecting it, but near the end of March, another CD came in the postal mail from EQ – EQ7 Upgrade Beta 3. Wow, I got to play some more!

The note in the packaging asked us to try out the completed new features and test out the Help files which were now pretty much complete. The problems that the Beta-testers found, they had fixed. The libraries were still being worked on, so they still weren’t complete.

Also in the note was the 1st time we found out about the new activation/de-activation program. On EQ6, you were only allowed so many activations. EQ7 allows for having 2 activations at one time. If you get a new computer, you de-activate on the old computer and then you can activate on the new computer. Much better than a dongle would have been.

On April 10, we received an email with a ZIP file that contained some files to copy over to the program which would give new code to the way the program works. And some tasks to work through. Again, asking us to report any problems. EQ7 is addressing the netbook this time around. When EQ6 came out, there was no such thing as a netbook. I did not find any problems in my testing of this version.

I felt honored to have been asked to Beta-test EQ7. I enjoyed poking around in the program. And I had an excuse for all the time spent having fun – I was working – I was Beta-testing! LOL

Electric Quilt announced EQ7 on April 24 and they are running a fantastic pre-order sale price for a new program or an upgrade. EQ7 will be shipping June 7 (how clever). And while you’re there, you can read all about the new features.

If you’re going to jump in on the fun of EQ7, might I suggest joining the info-eq list for a while – you will pick up a lot of tips from all the new EQ7 users. And if you have any questions, that’s the place to get (almost) immediate answers.

What did I think of EQ7? I loved it and recommend it, but that’s fodder for another blog post.

Lists for iPod Touch

2010-04-27T10:53:00.001-04:00

Has this ever happened to you – you bring home a book from the library and when you start reading it, you realize you have read it before? The thought of dragging around a list of “books read” never appealed to me. Although I did meet a gentleman at the library who had a printed list (of many pages) of books he had read! It would have to be constantly re-printed, in order to keep it in alphabetical order, or sorted by author.

I do bring an envelope of clippings of articles on books to watch for when I go to the library. What a mess that is to look through!

So, I thought – how about putting the list on a page on my website and then I could look at the list at the library on my iPod Touch. Wow! What a great idea this is!

I can update it at any time and don’t have to print anything to have a current list at my finger tips.

I had a head start on a list of books I had read, as I had created one on a spreadsheet, years ago, but I never kept up on it. I was able to get names of some “books read” from the notes in the envelope. My list is not complete, but it I had to start somewhere and now was a good time.

I also have a list of books I want to read. And also a list of my favorite authors. I can hardly wait to try this out the next time I go to the library!

Then, I thought, why not put up a list of movies we’ve watched so that I can access them on my iPod Touch? So when someone asks me, “seen any good movies lately?”, I can just whip out my iPod Touch & flick through the list of movies to jog my memory.

It was easy to get up a list of movies, cuz I’ve been keeping track of the movies we’ve watched since we got Netflix in Dec. 2009.

We recently enjoyed “Fracture” with Anthony Hopkins. A good courtroom drama with suspense.

Another thing I have put on my website – for my own use – is a webpage that has a list of all my favorite links. So, it’s real easy to find all my “private pages” – all I have to do is remember the address of that one page.
I can do that …

Oscars 2010

2010-03-05T12:09:00.001-05:00

Image from http://oscar.go.com/

I love movies.
Can’t wait to see the glitz and glamour at Sunday’s Oscars.

Who’ll win Best Film this year? Avatar or Hurt Locker?

Will Jeff Bridges win Best Actor for his role in Crazy Heart? I hope so. I have enjoyed him in so many films over the years. Gonna have to watch him in Starman again. Starman is on my list of movies that I have to watch over & over again.

Hope Sandra Bullock gets Best Actress for The Blind Side.

My daily newspaper, the Sun-Sentinel, has a link to a one page ballot.
I printed one off for me and one for DH. I wonder who will get more right, DH or me? I wonder what the prize will be for guessing the most winners?

Here’s a link to a page that the Oscars has for Twitter.

I want to try Wolfgang Puck’s “Black Truffle Chicken Pot Pie” and Pastry Chef Sherry Yard’s “Baked Alaska” at the Governor’s Ball. I want one of the Goodie Bags that they give to the stars.

But, I will just have to be content watching from my living room. No fancy food or swag! I binged “swag” and it said it was an acronym for “stuff we all get”. Well, then, where’s mine?

Beef Taco Skillet

2010-03-03T07:32:00.001-05:00

Don’t you just love it when you find a recipe that’s quick & easy and tastes good? Well, this one fits the bill and since DH preferred noodles instead of strips of tortillas, there was no chopping!

Here’s a link to the recipe at CampbellKitchen - Beef Taco Skillet

Changes --
3 cups dry extra wide noodles for the tortillas. Cook the noodles while hamburger is browning.

Future Changes --
Next time, I will add more salsa. Will use 3/4 cup of salsa, instead of 1/2 cup. Used a favorite salsa from the Deli.

Served with a salad and a nice crusty Sour Dough French bread.

I look forward to the leftovers at lunch today.

Reading Pillow Cover

2010-03-01T20:03:00.001-05:00

Read on and you will see what I did with the fabric that gave me the scraps in the previous post.

I have some things that help to keep me "on track" when I quilt. Sometimes I use little patterns drawn on Freezer Paper and ironed on to the piece being quilted. Let me show you how I make ‘em.

I am using a block I found in Fons & Porter’s Love of Quilting magazine, Jan/Feb 2010, page 92, Star Rosette block by Nancy Mahoney. I drew the block in EQ6. I like to draw interesting blocks in EQ6, it gives me practice.

I use EQ6 to create quilting stencils --

Since I like to draw the stencil directly on the block, I need to bring the block back into EQ6 as an image that I can trace on. Use the "Export Image" tool and save the image (block I drew) to a Directory where you can find it. I created an IMAGES directory right off the EQ6 directory and put images in there that I will be using for tracing, etc.

Make a new block for drawing stencil motif
Block > New Block > PatchDraw Motif
Block > Import image for tracing (the quilt block I drew)

Using the Freehand tool on the Appliqué layer, draw out a design directly on the block. You will probably need to tweak it up some. Save to sketchbook.

Here's block with tweaked freehand
design drawn on it

Saved drawn appliqué without
the block image underneath it

If I were using multiple quilt blocks in a quilt, I could then place the saved drawn appliqué onto each block in the quilt, to see how it would look on the finished quilt.

The repeat in the drawn appliqué is 2 sizes of teardrops. Convert the drawn design into guides – Block > Convert to Guides and then draw a template of a teardrop for each of the 2 different sized loops
Save to sketchbook.

I then printed a 10" block of those 2 teardrops
Print > Templates

I could've printed the 8 teardrops templates onto Freezer Paper, but I was being conservative and find it easier to print one of a needed repeat and then trace it, staple it to layers of Freezer Paper for additional copies, having only to cut the template shape once.

Plus, I get to use up scraps of Freezer Paper.

Smaller teardrop traced to Freezer Paper
and stapled to sheets of more Freezer Paper

Teardrops cut out

Teardrops ironed onto quilt sandwich,
ready to be quilted around

Another favorite guide for quilting lines
is Contact Paper. It is repositionable
many times

And here’s my completed Reading Pillow, waiting in my Reading Chair. I use the pillow to prop up my book.

FYI, I always have a book in progress. I just finished “Just Take my Heart” by Mary Higgins Clark and will be starting “Promise Me” by Harlan Coben.

Monday is one of DH’s & my movie nights. We will be watching “The Painted Veil” from Netflix this evening.

To pitch or to keep

2010-02-17T20:06:00.001-05:00

It’s always a tough decision for me when it comes to the smaller pieces of fabric left over after all the patches for a project have been cut. Do I throw them out? Do I keep them? What’s considered small enuf to throw away. When you do PaperPiecing, the decision is more difficult as you can use really small pieces of fabric. How small? Now, that’s the question.

The scraps in the pic above are from a project that I will be blogging about in the next post. The spool of thread is there to show scale.

I already have a small drawer with small scraps of fabric in it. I don’t go into that drawer very often, so that should tell me something.

I have made a decision that I will no longer keep small pieces. Anything under 2-1/2” hits the trash. Starting with the scraps in the above pic. And also the scraps in the small drawer.

Now, watch – next week I will be needing one of those scraps that I threw away this week! Don’t you hate it when that happens? Well, if it does happen, I’ll just have to take a trip to the fabric store! ;-)

Bags under ironing board

2010-01-20T18:15:00.001-05:00

Sunnie from Patchwork Pie left a comment on my post yesterday --

How big is that cute bag?
Could you leave it hanging under the ironing board and keep spray starch, etc. in it?

The Little Georgia Tote Bag stands at 9” tall.
Here’s the bag holding a can of Spray Sizing. I could probably put a small spray bottle of water in the bag, too. Don’t think it will be too heavy for the bag. The other bag was made long ago for an item I no longer own. I put the packaging from the various feet I have (& will) purchase for my Janome 6600. The package always has some sort of necessary info I might want to refer to.

Even though it’s not a full-sized ironing board that I have in my sewing room, there is lots of room under there to hang bags from metal shower hooks. And I’ve got more bags and can always make bags I might need. So, I’ll just keep my eyes open for things that could be put into bags and hang them under there.

And the convenience of that space – I just swivel around in my chair and have access to all the hanging bags. And since I never fold up the ironing board, this makes quite the nice storage area. And I get to look at all the various bags a-hangin’.

Little Georgia Tote

2010-01-19T18:46:00.001-05:00

I followed PlanetPatchWork on Twitter during Houston’s Quilt Market 2009. They took pics of a lot of the new products and it was fun to see what they saw. Lynn Holland wrote a review of the trip and said that Pat Sloan's Georgia bag class seemed to be most in demand on the “class wanted” board.

So, of course, I had to go to Pat Sloan’s website and see what Lynn was talking about. I thought the tote was just the cutest thing and I had to order the kit. This particular kit had all the items necessary to complete the tote. Decorative threads were even included. The appliqués and rick-rack were already fused to the fabric. All the pieces were cut to size. And the bottom part was stitched to the front. Most of the grunt work done – all I had to do was start the fun part.

I had a good time choosing the various decorative stitches to hold those appliqués in place. And the background was a nice place to practice some quilting motifs.

I haven’t yet decided what purpose this bag is going to serve, I just like the looks of it and all the bright colors used. Right now it is hanging from a metal shower hook that is hooked under my ironing board. What a convenient, out of the way place, to hang things. And when I swivel around in my sewing chair, I can admire The Little Georgia Tote!

Cold Winter

2010-01-07T11:41:00.001-05:00

Around this time of year, the temperature in my hometown is the envy of my northern friends. They all wish they could be here to enjoy the balmy breezes of South Florida. Well, this year my temps are on par with a northern winter! 37, 41, 44 – those are not numbers we usually see on our thermometers in South Florida.

It is supposed to get up into the 70’s tomorrow (Thursday). Now, that’s more like it. BUT, then another cold front is supposed to come through for the weekend. Well, at least we don’t have to get out the snow shovel !

Memories

2009-12-23T19:54:00.001-05:00

The above little Sun Bonnet Sue animation comes from the December 18th EQ blog. Electric Quilt is offering it “free for the taking”. I’m guessing that we all have used Sun Bonnet Sue in our quilts, at one time or another.

I even made a Sun Bonnet Sue cake for a granddaughter.

It was for Jessica’s 1st birthday and it was “her” cake – the one that was set on her high chair tray for the birthday girl to eat - or demolish! Jessie did both! That picture brings back good memories. Jessie is 16 now.

Christmas is about memories. So my wish for all is to go out and make a good Christmas Memory …

Desktop Wallpaper WindowsXP

2009-12-14T19:32:00.001-05:00

I got bored with my desktop wallpaper – same old, same old. So, I went to National Geographic and found they have some wonderful photos to download for wallpaper. For free.

And, if you have trouble with WindowsXP and viewing the text below your desktop icons cuz the text is the wrong color to be easily seen – here’s the thing that worked for me – found the solution on a forum --

Right-click on your desktop
“Arrange icons by…”
”Lock web items on desktop”
It puts a colored box around the text and changes the default white text to black text. Then if the colored box is not to your liking, just change it to any color you wish with the “Color” field which brings up the whole color wheel. Choose a color to blend in with the wallpaper or contrast with it. In any event, you will have black text instead of white text.

Have some fun with a whole new desktop!

Desserts, Appetizers and more

2009-12-11T08:41:00.001-05:00

Saw a commercial the other day with all these wonderful desserts and appetizers. There was a website listed - pillsburycrescents.com. A whole website dedicated to Pillsbury crescent dough! The recipes are super simple. And from past experience with crescent dough, all are bound to turn out terrific.

The first recipe we are going to make is the Crescent Layer Bars, pictured above. Since we’re not fans of the vanilla chips, we are going to substitute peanut butter chips.

Gonna be mighty good with a cup of coffee.

Quilts made from blocks from others

2009-12-07T10:54:00.001-05:00

Reading Paula the quilter’s comment on my previous blog post:

That is such a wonderful idea to make a block like that. I suppose if one kept the background the same or similar a whole quilt would be the result. Our guild doesn't do blocks like yours does but cuts simple quilt kits for donations.

reminded me of a really neat setting for blocks that were contributed by many quilters. If you will go to the Electric Quilt blog
http://www.doyoueq.com/blog/?m=200910
and scroll down to Oct. 27 you will see the pic of a quilt that was made from blocks from quilters around the world. Each one of the contributed blocks is certainly made of fabrics that are different from one the other, so there is no way that those blocks would have the same background. Unless is was quite by accident.

The whole quilt comes together as a planned quilt because of that layout. My eyes are drawn to the diagonal setting and then I see each individual contributed block.

My block is the first block in the 5th row. Here’s a photo I took of it

The palm tree is thread-painted on top of appliquéd patches. The sun is turned under appliqué, hand stitched. Bottom row of 9patch background is paper-pieced. 9patch background is sewn together with bumpless intersections.

Perfect 1/4” seam

2009-12-03T12:47:00.002-05:00

The secret to getting a “perfect” block is a “perfect” 1/4” seam – or so they say. Well, I found out it’s true!

The above block is the first time I ever made a block with rotary cut patches (other than a square) and templates and it turned out to be the perfect size! I have always shied away from rotary cut blocks and templates cuz when I sewed the patches together, the completed block was always a little bit off. This one measures 12-1/2” square – as it is supposed to.

It has 29 patches and a whole bunch of points. Lots of places to make a teensy error that multiplies into a big error as more seams are sewn.

I usually make my blocks divided into Paper Piecing parts, which I then sew together. The only time I use rotary cut is for squares. HSTs - I make by sewing 2 oversized squares together on the diagonal. Odd sized patches are usually in the Paper Piecing parts.

My secret for the perfect block -- I used a new foot on my Janome 6600 - http://tinyurl.com/ykvasw2
It’s a “Clear View Quilting Foot and Guide Set”, $16. It gives the most accurate 1/4” seam I’ve ever done on this machine or any other machine.

The block is one I saw in Quilters Newsletter Magazine, July/August 2005. Starry Star was designed by Judy Martin. The article had lots of “blocks within blocks” that Judy designed.

I belong to the Sunshine State Quilters Association, Inc. and also am the webmaster of their website. SSQA is a statewide guild for the state of Florida. SSQA was collecting blocks for Quilts of Valor and then distributed the blocks to member guilds who will be making them into quilts for Quilts of Valor to give to wounded servicemen and servicewomen.

Whenever I make donation blocks, I like to make unusual blocks, such as this one. It’s good for a personal challenge and gets the block out of my system. Cuz, when I finish one of these unusual blocks, I usually find out I don’t want to make more than one!

Medical Insurance World Gone Mad

2009-11-30T19:01:00.001-05:00

I was catching up on some reading and ran across a very interesting article in the AARP magazine. A woman has ALS and uses an iPod Touch that has an app (Proloquo2go) that can interpret her slurred speech. Medicare will pay thousands of dollars for a device that will interpret her speech, but will not pay a couple of hundred for the iPod Touch which is compact and works just as well for the purpose.

Reason? Medicare says it cannot cover the cost of iPods and other handheld devices because they are designed for the public and not for a specific medical purpose. What an amazingly stupid reason!

Is Medicare afraid that along with using the iPod Touch for her infirmity, she might just use it to read a book, take notes, listen to music and keep track of her medication? Heavens, she just might download a free app or two and play a game to while away the time. The medically approved (more expensive) device does only one thing.

Is Medicare afraid to save some money?

Here’s the URL for the full article - http://tinyurl.com/yedm5v6

Then, in this morning’s paper, I read an interesting letter to the editor. It seems a woman went to her podiatrist to have a tiny spur on one of her toes removed. Doctor said it would take 5 minutes. BUT, first she had to

see a heart doctor and get an EKG
get a very detailed blood test
get a chest x-ray

3 separate doctors – thousands of dollars, paid by insurance – just for a 5-minute procedure? How many of those kinds of procedures are done daily? To the tune of what kind of money?

She decided to live with the spur.

I guess all those things have to be done that way – it’s called “covering your butt”. Let’s see – I think we have the lawyers to thank for that … Nothing funny, here.

Techlicious

2009-11-29T18:13:00.001-05:00

I think I first read about this website in the newspaper. I like the way they explain all things techy. They do it so I can understand what they’re talking about. And I like all the reviews they do – on so many different products.

Go and take a look at their website http://www.techlicious.com/ and see if anything interests you.

Techlicious also has a weekly newsletter that I look forward to reading. It always has some article (or two or more) that interest me. In order to sign up for the newsletter, go to their blog --
http://www.techlicious.com/blog/ and you can find the “sign up” field in the right hand column.

Little mini gifts

2009-11-19T17:48:00.001-05:00

I’ve been working, here & there, on some little gifts.The above is a “Travel Tray” from Angie’s site
http://ajpadilla.com/freebies
I think it will come in handy on trips to hold things that might otherwise get misplaced. There’s velcro in the corners which makes it possible for the tray to lay flat.

Once you make one, you can figure out how to make them in any size. Angie suggests to use a solid color fabric for the floor of the tray, but, I chose a fabric that “reads” solid and I like that.

And here’s Angie’s “15-minute Flower Brooch”. I must say, it took me a little longer! I am very pleased with the way it turned out, especially with the little beads I decided to sew to the center. This can be used as a brooch as there is a pin sewn to the back. And when you pin this brooch on your shirt, it becomes very handy to stick some pins in while hand sewing as the center is stuffed. Sure beats sticking pins in your shirt!

I wrapped a gift in a Fat Quarter and pinned it shut with the brooch. It made a nice presentation.

I made myself one of the Travel Trays, too. And am going to have to make a brooch for me, too. Or maybe I’ll try one of Angie’s “Finger Pincushions” made from a 3-1/2” fabric square. Or maybe both!

Many mini Projects from Angie

2009-10-24T18:43:00.001-04:00

Are you running out of ideas for little gifts to make for Christmas? Well, not Angie! She has got a whole slew of projects that will be just the thing.
http://ajpadilla.com/patterns/bom/christmas-all-year-round

Lots of the projects are free. Look around her website – Angie is some talented lady!

Sign up for Angie’s newsletter and she will send an email each time she puts up something new --
http://ajpadilla.com/newsletter/subscriptions

PopEater on iPod Touch

2009-10-22T17:01:00.001-04:00

OK, I admit it – I enjoy reading celebrity gossip & seeing the outrageous things that celebrities do and get away with. Now, PopEater (that online deliverer of all things gossip) has an app for the iPhone/iPodTouch.

Go to popeater.com for the download and to read all about this new app or go to iTunes and search the app store for PopEater.

I can read the juicy little tidbits right on my iPod Touch if I’m in a WiFi area. If I’m not, the app auto-saves the entries for me so that I can view them when I need to pass the time in a waiting room.

Oh – it’s a free app! I refuse to pay for any celebrity gossip …

Halloween Gift Bag

2009-10-21T19:39:00.001-04:00

This is not meant to be a Trick or Treat bag, it is a gift bag – to put in special “spooky” things for a special “trick or treater”. It could be used for a Trick or Treat bag if the treats aren’t real heavy.

Start off with a plain paper bag and iron on some shapes. I got the plain bag at Joann’s. I’m sure the Party Supply stores would have plain bags, also. The above bag was from last year for my grandson.

I found the above design by searching for “pumpkin carving stencils”. The design I downloaded was not the right size for the bag, so I took the image into EQ6 and drew (traced) it from the design. The beauty of EQ6 is that you can make the design to your specs and I could put the moon and bat where I wished. I made the windows and door “crookedy”. And could print out the templates any size I wished.

I cut the shapes from fabric fused to “Wonder Under” (or “Heat & Bond”). Same as you would if making an appliqué for a quilt. Then iron the cutout shapes to the bag – no sewing involved.

I’m going to make another decorated paper bag this year cuz last year’s was neat. I think I’m going to use the skull stencil I found at
www.sun-sentinel.com/halloween

Another source for images to use on the bag would be from a Desktop Publishing program on your computer.

Gift bags with ironed-on stencils can be used to decorate plain bags for any occasion. And makes them very personal.

Pumpkins in bushes!

2009-10-14T15:57:00.002-04:00

Happy Birthday, Tim!

Ya never know what’s lurking in the bushes these days! The little wool pumpkin above is something I picked up at Joann’s the other day – half price.

And the pumpkin that is in the header at the top of the page is a little something from DH. The fall season never gets off properly until I get a little pumpkin from him. I have it setting in the window above the kitchen sink, except when I took the pic of it. It makes me smile. Hope it does the same for you.

They’ll be Tweeting from Houston!

2009-10-12T17:50:00.002-04:00

Twitter is really good for some things and the Houston Quilt Market & Festival is one of them. I just found out PlanetPatchwork was tweeting from Houston’s Quilt Market last week and will start tweeting again for Quilt Festival which starts Wed. Oct 14. They really did a good job of sharing a lot of pics they took at Market of things they found interesting. Their Tweet Home is http://twitter.com/planetpatchwork. You don’t have to be a member of Twitter to read the tweets.

I liked the “Zipper Mouth Pillow Creatures” from Indygo Junction - http://znl.me/L048S

For those of you who are not familiar with Twitter, here’s a few hints – On http://twitter.com/planetpatchwork page, you will see a list of very short comments (tweets), usually having a red “http://…” link. Click on that link and you will see a photo for that tweet (comment).

Near the top of the page, you will see #quiltmarket in red, click on that link and it will take you to a page of tweets from different people from all over.

Also near the top of http://twitter.com/planetpatchwork page, you will see #quiltmarket in red, click on that link and you will see the beginnings of which I’m assuming will be a long list of tweeters at the Houston Quilt Festival starting Wed. Oct 14 thru Sun. Oct. 18.

Ami Simms will be tweeting from Houston, too. She said she will try & put up pics of the new owners of the ALZ Quilts that they will be selling and auctioning off.

Here’s Ami’s Tweet Home -- http://twitter.com/aaqiupdate
Here's a list of all the ALZ Quilts in Houston -- http://www.alzquilts.org/hoinqufeo15.html

The tweets are just so easy to read from my iPod Touch and a nice comfortable chair.

Do you know of anyone else who will be tweeting from Houston? I will put links at the end of this post.

Behind the scenes at a Quilt Show

2009-09-23T20:23:00.001-04:00

A good ole blogging buddy o’ mine - Sunnie, is taking us behind the scenes at the QuiltFest Quilt Show in Jacksonville, Florida, USA.

There is so much that goes on, that we don’t see – or aren’t aware of – that makes the quilt show that we love to spend time at.

Sunnie has conveniently named each of her blogs about QuiltFest with the prefix “Quilt Show Countdown”. You can start reading anywhere, but I would suggest starting with “Take In Day” .

If you’re anywhere near Jacksonville, you might want to take a run on over to the Prime Osborn Convention Center, 1000 Water Street and see what’s going on from Thursday the 24th through Saturday the 26th.

Credit Card Shenanigans

2009-09-22T18:55:00.001-04:00

Two years ago, my DH did a little Christmas Shopping at Sears. He wanted to charge an item on his Sears card but the clerk suggested he sign up for a new Sears Citibank Gold Master Card and would get 20% off his first purchase. DH thought that was a good deal and signed up. The clerk also said that this new Sears Citibank Gold Master Card would eventually be replacing the old Sears card. So, he now had 2 Sears charge cards!

We have never used that Sears Gold Master Card since then and in fact, when we got a new card in the mail this past July, we did not activate it and we cut it up and threw it away.

Then yesterday, we got a letter in the mail from Sears Credit Card Services and it said “Due to this challenging business and economic climate, the cost of doing business has dramatically increased. As a result, we are making rate and fee changes …”

Sears is now going to charge $45 a year as a “membership fee” for that Sears Citibank Gold Master Card. $45 for what – to have the privilege of buying something and charging it on their card? I don’t think so.

So, we called today to cancel the card. BUT, our credit score will probably be affected by the canceling of a credit card.

How are the credit card companies getting away with this? Cancel a card and they subtract points from your credit score?

Didn’t those banks get money from the government? Why do they now need to charge service fees for their cards? Aren’t the current percentage rates they are now charging enough to cover their expenses and then some?

The $20 savings that DH had on that initial purchase sure wasn’t the bargain he thought it was. He signed up for that credit card in good faith.

Oh, boy, people … be careful out there!

Food Safety

2009-09-15T18:59:00.001-04:00

I read about a most useful website in this morning’s paper --
http://foodsafety.gov

They even have charts telling you how long you can safely keep meats, poultry, eggs, dairy products, fruit and vegetables.

Lets you know how long you should hang on to that opened package of hot dogs.

It’s a very nice looking website and very navigable.

Portable Design Area

2009-09-13T17:40:00.001-04:00

My Feathered Star wallhanging is coming along nicely. I thought I'd let you know about the small design area that I made that I find very useful with smaller projects such as this.

In the photo above, the pieces of my wallhanging are either adhered to or pinned to the design area which is white. I've pinned some of the pieces to the design area cuz they have little pieces of paper that need to stay with the them cuz they are labels which tell me where the pieces go.

Most times when I use this design area, I just put the fabric pieces on it, no pins needed, cuz they adhere like magic. I also use this as a background when taking pics of items for the internet.

I got a piece of foam core board, 30" x 40", from the office supply store. I made a "pillowcase" for the foam core board of white sweatshirt fabric and brown broadcloth on the reverse side. I purposely made a light side and a dark side which enables me to use the side that shows up the items more clearly.

When cutting the fabric for the "pillowcase", I allowed 2-3" more at the top so that I could close it up. Be sure to cut ample fabric for the seam allowances. The 3 sides of the "pillowcase" are sewn on the sewing machine. Have the wrong side of sweatshirt fabric facing out, as items will adhere to the nice, soft, napped surface.

After the 3 sides are sewn, slip in the foam core board and then slipstitch the opening closed, remember, you’ve allowed ample extra fabric to do this.

Another thing about having the pinnable foam core board is that when taking pics of items, you can pin them to the board in a nice pleasing manner for a photo.

Recipe – Spatchcock Chicken

2009-09-05T11:22:00.001-04:00

I just knew I should have taken the pic of the chicken that we had the other day, it was much prettier than this one. But, by the time I thought of taking pic, much eating had gone on!

Here’s the link to spatchcocking a chicken --
http://www.nakedwhiz.com/spatch.htm
A spatchcock chicken is a butterflied chicken and the above link tells you how to cut it to make it lay flat. We tuck the wing tips under the bird so they aren’t poking up.

This is the only way we make chicken any more. It is so tender & juicy.

DH cooks it on a Weber Propane Grill on indirect heat, burners set at MOM – medium, off, medium. 350° for 55 minutes. No peeking! The secret is to keep that lid closed for 55 minutes. No turning.

We have tried it with marinades and rubs, but the best way we like it is little bit of salt & pepper. That’s it. How much easier can you get? Probably take-out, eh? But, then that wouldn’t be as good-tasting as this chicken is!

iPod Touch & Sewing

2009-08-25T16:07:00.001-04:00

I found another great use for the iPod Touch. I found the best way to keep track of my sewing stitches and the adjustments I make to the stitches on my new Janome 6600 is to take a close-up picture of the foot used and then type notes on the photo.

If you click on the pic above, you will be able to read the note better on the enlarged pic. My note tells me the Needle Position to use for a 1/4” seam when using the Open-Toe AccuFeed foot. And the red arrows remind me where to line up the raw edge of fabric with the foot.

Putting this in the IPod Touch saves on ink and paper as I don’t have to print it out. I bring my iPod Touch into my sewing room a lot.

Zipper on small purse

2009-08-23T18:28:00.001-04:00

Sherry had asked -- how did I add that extra outer zipper?

My purse consists of 3 sections –-
1) The Front, which continues up and over the top to the back for an inch. I created it that way so that I could take advantage of an uninterrupted design area for the front.
2) A 1-1/2” section between the upper and lower zippers.
3) A section which is below the lower zipper.

The section below the lower zipper (lined) is sewn to the bottom half of the lower zipper and it becomes the frontside of the outside pocket.

The backside (inside) of the lower zippered pocket is a piece of the lining which is sewn to the top half of the lower zipper.

The lining of the purse consists of 2 sections --
1) Back lining sewn to bottom half of top zipper (which also covers up the area of the lower zipper).
2) Front lining sewn to top half of top zipper.

After sections and lining of purse are sewn together and while it is still flat, the purse template is laid on top and cut around (See previous blog entry). After purse is cut out, I then stitch around the purse’s lower pocket at sides and bottom (defining pocket) to give the pocket sides and a bottom. If you don’t stitch around, defining the sides and bottom, stuff in pocket would move to parts of purse you don’t want stuff to move to.

When you look inside the finished purse, you do not see any sign of the lower zipper.

Hope this helps you Sherry (and others) to figure out how to make that lower zippered pocket. I think I initially figured out how to do it by looking at something that had that kind of construction. You can learn a lot about the construction of an item by looking inside or turning it wrong side out.

UFO complete – Purse with Trees scene!

2009-08-22T19:18:00.001-04:00

Here’s the pieces of my new purse all constructed and cut out and ready to be sewn together.

This is the 3rd time I’ve made this purse. Each one is different. I got the idea for it from a “Triangular Cosmetic Bag” on Craftster. One of those zippers on the back is for the main part of the purse – the place to put everything. The other zipper is a smaller outside pocket. There is also a pocket on the inside lining.

That’s the completed purse, all ready to go shopping!
And here’s the backside, showing the zippers --

Top zipper opens to main part of bag. Lower zipper is the small, but oh so convenient, outside pocket. It holds my library card, a pen and some paper and some eyeglass wipes.

I used to carry a big purse. One day I decided it was a nutty thing to do. The bigger the purse, the more junk you haul around. Now, that would make sense if you used half the stuff, but I found out I wasn’t. The first thing I downsized was my wallet. Went from a big leather thing with pictures in it and all kinds of stuff. Got a small wallet which carries coins and paper money and IDs.

One day, I laid out all the stuff from my big purse and only put back into it the very barest of essentials. I figured if I found I needed more stuff in the big purse, I could always put it in. What I found myself doing was eliminating more stuff from the big purse!

Went shopping for a smaller purse and at the time, couldn’t find anything I liked. So, went online and searched. I found wristlets and then the cosmetic bag instructions which I found suited my needs.

My small purse goes on my shoulder and lays under my arm, very close. They say that is the safe way to carry your purse – on a short strap, close to your body.

Besides what I normally carry in the purse, there is still room in it for my iPod Touch and earbuds and a cellphone. I’m one of those few people who does not always carry a cellphone! LOL If I ever need to carry stuff that doesn’t fit in my small purse, I then throw the small purse into a tote bag along with my camera and other odd assorted things.

WIP = UFO = WIP

2009-08-18T20:07:00.003-04:00

WIP = Work In Progess, UFO = UnFinished Object

Here’s the front section of a small purse (for me), WIP:Here’s the reverse side to show the quilting -- Did some Stitch-In-The-Ditch quilting around the scene in the middle. Added some curlicue wind to the scene. Bordered by overlapping tongue shapes.

What I found works good for purses is a 3-layer combo of fabric, 80- cotton/20-poly batting and non-fusible interfacing. The interfacing gives it some body.

I made the PaperPieced scene from the EQ CD “Town & Country Patchwork” by Cori Derksen & Myra Harder. I got inspired by those very same trees on that CD to make the Christmas Shopping Bag that I designed last winter.

I’m the type of quilter who likes to have several projects going all the time. So, I have a pile(s) of WIPs which turn into UFOs at some time or another and then back to being WIPS again. Right now, my UFOs outnumber WIPs! But, I do finish projects. Eventually.

Do you have more UFOs than WIPS?

You know, I’ve heard of quilters who start a project and stick with it until it’s complete! They never have UFOs. I’ve never actually met someone like that … just heard about them. Do those quilters really exist? Or did someone make that up to make the rest of us feel guilty!

Feathered Star Layouts

2009-08-13T11:40:00.001-04:00

I made a bunch of layouts in EQ6 and like these 2 and can’t decide which one I like better. Which do you like – 1 or 2?

Now, to go and see if I have enuf of the lighter green fabric to make either version! If I don’t, I will have to have another plan.

The setting triangles on the FS present an upcoming decision – what do I want to quilt there? It’s a pretty big area. Flowers? Leaves on a vine? Geometric? Abstract? I’m sure the quilt will talk to me as I work on it. It happens every time! The quilt seems to know what it wants.

Clover Needle Threader

2009-08-12T18:23:00.001-04:00

Something that really works the way it’s supposed to!

As eyes get older, they require all kinds help. Like eyeglasses, good lighting, magnifying glasses and needle threaders! While doing some handsewing the other day, I realized how I’ve come to really appreciate the Clover Needle Threader. It is such a simple, magical tool that works every time.

Insert needle eye down. Lay thread in the slot. Push button. Needle threaded! Works every time.

When my 9 year old grandson was over one day, the Needle Threader was out and he asked what it was. Told him it was a needle threader and told him what to do and he threaded a needle and got that wonderful look on his face that meant he was impressed. And he wanted to do it again. And he wanted his mom to do it! Takes a lot to impress these 9 year old tech-savvy kids these days … yahoo for the Clover Needle Threader!

My Feathered Star

2009-08-11T18:29:00.001-04:00

Wow! I’m happy with this block. There are over 200 pieces in it. And lots of match points!

It is a PaperPieced block and is from Sue Garman’s 2009 Block of the Month quilt from thequiltshow.com It is the center of the quilt. I did not want to commit to the whole quilt, but I sure liked this Feathered Star. I also made a block from Sue G’s 2008 Block of the Month quilt. It was appliqué. Made it into a one-block wallhanging.

Now to go into EQ6 and see what kind of layout I can come up with for this wonderful Feathered Star. I want to make a wallhanging and I know where I want to hang it, so I also know approximately what size WH I will be needing.

Now to go and have some fun playing in EQ6!

Christmas Shopping Bag & EZ shopping bag

2009-08-10T17:28:00.001-04:00

I wrote a tutorial for a Christmas Shopping bag last November. Thought I’d bring it back now, in case anyone would like to make one for this Christmas. They make nice gifts. The can be used to “wrap a gift”. Make one for yourself to put your Christmas shopping items in. http://anotherpatch.blogspot.com/2008/11/christmas-shopping-bag-tute.html

And if you want to make some super-easy-to-construct Shopping Bags that are good give-aways, here’s a link to my bloggin’ buddy Sunnie’s http://patchworkpie.blogspot.com/2009/08/fabric-bags-e-z-way.html tutorial.

NPN – NinePatchNews is back

2009-08-07T18:09:00.002-04:00

The AOL Quilting Community had a nice newsletter back when the AOL Quilting Community was up and running on America Online. Now, some volunteers have gotten together and have brought it back as a monthly newsletter.

It has computer tips, quilting help, stories, quilt projects, links and other interesting stuff. Here’s the link to go and join up -http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ninepatchnews/join After joining, you will get the newsletter in your emailbox every month.

How’d You Get So Rich?

2009-08-06T16:44:00.001-04:00

DH & I were pleasantly surprised to see Joan Rivers’ new TV show on the TVLand channel last night How’d You Get So Rich? It was very entertaining. The premise of the show is how many times have you driven by a beautiful (expensive) home & wondered what the owners did for a living to afford such a place.

Very close to our heart was the first segment about the inventor of Billy Bob Teeth. Yes, he made millions. DH bought a pair of those teeth many years ago and he enjoyed amusing the little grandchildren with those teeth.

One of our grandsons was so impressed with the teeth that he saved up his weekly allowance & bought his own pair of Billy Bob Teeth. When he had his school pic taken that year, he persuaded the photographer to take a second pic of him with his Billy Bob Teeth.

He proudly presented the pic to his Gpa! Aaaah, DH’s wild and wacky sense of humor gets passed on through the genes! LOL

My ordinary life - zentangles

2009-08-05T20:50:00.001-04:00

Life is being very ordinary, lately. I should be very happy about that -considering I’ve had a lot of very unordinary things happen in my life. Kept thinking that I’d blog when I had something interesting to blog about. Well, instead of never blogging again (cuz nothing interesting was happening) I think I should start blogging about my very ordinary life.

In my ordinary life, like a lot of you, I am interested in all different manner of this and that. Today I found Zentangles.

I don't know if you are aware of Zentangles. Robbie has some examples on her blog --
http://robbiespawprints.blogspot.com/2009/06/zentangle-time.html

Be sure and check out Robbie’s “wolves” -- her thread painting is awesome --
http://robbiespawprints.blogspot.com/2009/08/art-of-nature-quilt-pictures.html

She suggests to do a search on youtube for Zentangle. I did and was most fascinated by
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4Nlz4XMxcs -- how to do a Zentangle Mandala.

There are other Zentangle videos that I want to view.

I doodle when I am on the phone. Usually on the newspaper that is on the table. Or on a scratch pad. DH can usually determine how long I've been on the phone by the amount of doodle on paper!

This would be good practice for free motion quilting. I have heard to draw, or doodle, on paper, the design that you are going to be FMQing in order to get into the Zen. I guess Zentangles would get you into a Zen.

Lifetime and SciFi changes to SyFy

2009-07-26T19:48:00.001-04:00

When I’m sewing stuff that doesn’t require much concentration, I like to watch a movie in my sewing room. I’ve always enjoyed the movies on Lifetime (cable channel) while I sewed. The movies themselves don’t require much concentration. But, now Lifetime is no longer running movies on weekdays. They’ve got “lovely” programs such as 2 hours of “Wife Swap” in the time slot that used to have movies.

Evidently, people are watching that dreadful “Wife Swap”, otherwise they wouldn’t be airing it two hours in a row!

Then, SciFi (cable channel) changes its name to SyFy. (Grandson calls it “Siffee”) What’s up with that? How much did they pay for that name change? What a waste of money.

And I don’t think that SciFi is much of a science fiction movie channel anymore. (Guess that’s why they changed the name) They seem to run more horror movies than science fiction movies. Since when is “horror” to be considered science fiction?

And all of those whacky new programs that SciFi keeps spewing out. Another waste of time and money with programs that appeal to the short attention span of 14 year old boys.

At my age, I am no longer a demographic group that “they” would be interested in. But, hey … I still spend money and I think I spend way more than any 14 year old boy spends! Start running some programs that require some intelligence to follow.

Thank goodness for podcasts from NPR (National Public Radio). I find myself listening to more and more podcasts. I subscribe to “Fresh Air” and “The Diane Rehm Show”.

And I get quilting podcasts through my iPod Touch and iTunes. I subscribe to Annie Smith, Alex Anderson and Bonnie McCaffery.

What do you like to listen to/watch while you sew?

Project gone wrong!

2009-07-05T14:14:00.001-04:00

Did you ever have it in your mind to create something and then as the sewing progressed, you realized it just wasn’t working out?

Well, I had another one of those “project gone wrong” things happen to me. Yep, there’s been more than one! I wanted to make a couple of “Bah Humbug Bags” and I didn’t want any raw edges in the bag. Thought I’d like it to have a layer of batting. Well. That just didn’t work out. Tried Traditional Batt on the larger bag and it was way too bulky. Tried Cotton Batt on the smaller bag & it was still too much. And the added bulk of the batting made sewing thru some of the seams with all those layers a bit much.

I don’t have a pattern for the Humbug Bag, but I had made the bag years ago after seeing it on a “Sewing with Nancy” program that featured the bag. I made several of those, at the time. They make nice gifts. And also a nice cover-up for a gift. Had made one for myself, too.

Well, my 2nd try (bags 3 & 4) turned out better. There are no exposed raw edges anywhere in the bag. Got back to basics and used denim for its durability. No batting. Nice fabrics for lining and decorating the handle. The fabric & denim are quilted together with some deco stitches on my new sewing machine.

The bags look just a bit different, cuz I found that I had lots of bulk when stitching the handle in the same place with the zipper insert as on the smaller bag. So, I moved the zipper insert away from the middle on the larger bag and that did the trick – the zipper insert & the handle are sewn thru separately, rather than all on top of each other. I even made each end of the handle to be sewn side by side, rather than on top of each other, again, less bulk.

This was a good project to choose for sewing on my new Janome 6600p. Lots of practice on many techniques, including using the zipper foot. Even the original idea with the green bags that didn’t work out gave me some nice practice on quilting with the AccuFeed Foot.

The old dog IS learning new tricks! LOL

The denim bags are a gift for a niece who will be starting college in the fall. I know Holly will put them to good use, transporting any manner of goodies in them.

The original green bags I will finish up and know I will find some use for them around here.

6600p - feet & bobbin winding

2009-07-03T08:40:00.002-04:00

I thought I’d blog about the features of my new machine, in case anyone was in the market for a new machine, then they could see what’s a nice feature on the Janome 6600p.

The new 1/4” foot has a larger area where the needle goes into the fabric. See the red circles I drew on the photo? The old foot on left and new foot on right. That little bit of extra room in that area allows me to move my needle position, ever so slightly, to get the “perfect 1/4” seam”.

If you have an older model of a Janome machine and it doesn’t have the “wiggle room” in the 1/4” foot, I’d definitely go and buy this new foot. Thankfully, Janome has kept the same foot from model to model.

There is a separate bobbin winding motor, so you don’t have to unthread your machine to wind a new bobbin. That is, if you have another spool of thread of that color!

My old Janome 9000 had an annoying sound that let me know when my bobbin thread was low. It beeped frequently from a certain point and until the bobbin was empty. Evidently, there must have been others who complained about it, cuz the 6600p does not have the annoying sound to let me know about the bobbin being low. No sound at all to warn me the bobbin is low. So, guess who wasn’t paying attention to the bobbin and ran out of thread where I really would have preferred not to … careful what you wish for, you just might get it!

Knee lifts & noodles

2009-06-26T19:28:00.001-04:00

Ever think the knee lift on your sewing machine felt uncomfortable against your leg? I mentioned to my husband that while the knee lift was wonderful, it hurt the side of my leg as I wear shorts most of the time and that plastic handle was not comfortable against my skin.

He came up with a solution – pad the handle!

He cut a section from one of those noodles that you use in the pool and poked a knife down the middle, then slipped the purple noodle onto the handle.

I made it even more comfy by slipping a cotton footie (short sock) over the noodle.

It doesn’t look all that attractive, but boy oh boy, does it make a world of difference when I use that knee lift.

Isn’t it always the little things that make life easier?

Enjoying the new machine

2009-06-19T18:32:00.001-04:00

It was a breeze quilting on a small piece that will be made into a bag. Love that AccuFeed on the Janome 6600p. No more clunky noise as with a walking foot. In combination with the knee lift, the AccuFeed made quilting on the small piece easy. The small piece wasn’t big enough to test out the capabilities of the wide arm area.

The arm area is soooo wide, I can keep my small pincushion nearby as I sew.

This machine has a presser foot lifter that lifts the foot to a normal height and then you can lift it higher than normal – an “extra lift” position. That came in mighty handy when I was sewing on a zipper. When I came to the zipper tab, I did not have to finagle around the zipper tab to slide it into a different position. I was very happy with that.

Quilt Magazines in Spanish?

2009-06-17T18:00:00.001-04:00

Someone emailed me saying that her daughter is studying in Costa Rica and the local women love quilting and yearn for American Quilting Magazines but do not read English.

Does anyone out there in the Land of Blog know of a Quilt Magazine for Spanish speaking/reading quilters?

Stimulating the economy

2009-06-13T08:37:00.003-04:00

Sometimes you have to make a decision – repair or replace.Yesterday was replacement day!

I got me a new sewing machine!

It’s a Janome MC6600 Professional. Look at all that space in the arm area to push the quilt through. My old Janome (9000) had 7” of arm space. This new one has 9”. That 2” makes a huge difference.

Here’s a page with all the specs of the machine -
http://sunshinesewing.com/janome/6600.html I’ve bought machines from Sunshine Sewing Company for years now. I can remember buying my first embroidery machine, a Janome 8000, from Sunshine in 1993. That was when it was owned by someone else and before it had all the fabric that it has now. Faye (owner for last 12 years) has done a great job of seeing that the store is brimming with all the latest fabrics. They also have an online store.

The 6600 runs so smoothly and sounds so good as it hums along. It is a “professional” machine which means it is built “strong like bull”.

I’ve had 2 embroidery machines and truth be told, the big reason I got the 2nd embroidery machine was to get the knee lift. I really haven’t found much need for embroidery in recent years and never had the type of embroidery machine that connects to the computer.

I’m a quilter. And sometimes sewist. The 6600 is not an embroidery machine. It does have a lot of built in stitches. And it has the knee lift. I truly love my knee lift when doing some kinds of quilting and appliqué work. This machine is geared towards a quilter.

Faye said she likes to use the “on – off button” instead of the foot control when free motion quilting. I’m going to have to give that a try.

Just got it set up and familiar with it yesterday. Haven’t as yet tried the AcuFeed which is a built in walking foot. That’s a “job” for today!

Royal Pains & Army Wives

2009-06-06T08:51:00.001-04:00

Tom Jicha of the Sun-Sentinel in Ft. Lauderdale is a very harsh critic. So, when he wrote such a glowing review Thursday morning about the “Royal Pains” premiere (USA network), I just had to watch.

It’s on here at 10pm, so I recorded Thursday’s show to watch on Friday evening. DH watched it with me and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. Oh, those super-rich people in the Hamptons with all their excesses & false values, I liked seeing them in action!

There has to be some truth to their behavior as portrayed in the premiere episode. If there isn’t, I don’t care – storyline is good, the characters are fun, especially the “concierge doctor’s” brother. What a hoot he is.

If there are going to be more interesting characters in upcoming shows as there were in the first show, “Royal Pains” will have me as a regular viewer! As it is now, I look forward to next Thursday’s show.

New season of “Army Wives” is back again on this coming Sunday. I’ve missed it.

Oh, what fun viewing I will be having this summer.

Stuck on green & Joann coupons

2009-06-03T19:17:00.001-04:00

Lately, I have been coming home with green fabrics.

Today’s purchase included green zippers. To be made into a gift. Those greens go together much nicer than they look in the photo.

Here’s a Feathered Star in progress --

Greens on a neutral background.

I’m not the only one – a fellow shopper had a couple of greens. The gal who cut my fabrics said she’s into greens, too.

I haven’t been at my sewing machine for a while. Been busy with a website re-design. And now, my sewing machine is in the shop for regular maintenance. Isn’t that always the way?

Oh, and Joann coupons – did you know that you can turn in more than one Joann coupon (like the 40% off ones) at a time? As long as the coupons are not the “same”. They may all say “40% off”, but you have to get them from different circulars and/or online.

Today I turned in 3 Joann “40% off of one regular priced item” coupons. One from a circular that was mailed to my house, one printed from their website and one from a circular I got in the store.

A helpful clerk from Joann’s turned me on to that money-saving tip.

clubEQ challenge & recipes

2009-05-20T16:08:00.001-04:00

Happy 21st Birthday Jason!

They’ve got a real good challenge going on this month for those who have Electric Quilt versions 5 or 6. You design a quilt that illustrates a favorite recipe and Electric Quilt will use the illustration to publish a PDF cookbook that will be available to participants of the challenge only.

Barb Vlack has a couple of examples here.

Most quilters I know are pretty good cooks and know what tastes good and usually create easy, fast recipes, so I can hardly wait to see the recipes that will be coming my way!

I know what recipe I will be contributing. I know what fabrics I will be using. I even have a block in mind. Now to get into EQ6 and have some fun designing.

Oh and hurry. Deadline is Monday June 1.

More Fabric Bags

2009-05-18T19:26:00.001-04:00

Cute Pooh bag, eh? Angela from Country Scrap Quilts (blog) sent me this pic of Fabric Bag that she made from my directions. She’s made quite a few of these bags & if you’d like to see more bags from her and others, go to my Fabric Bag Gallery on my website. You can also find a link to the directions for the regular Fabric Bags and also a link to directions for a Christmas Shopping Bag on that webpage. Never too early to start in on that Christmas sewing.

Angela asked for my permission to sell some Fabric Bags that she made from my directions. She is now selling them in her Etsy shop and on her website – Country Scrap Quilts. Hope you sell oodles, Angela!

I like it when people send me pics of the bags they make. I love it that people are using the Fabric Bags instead of the ugly plastic things. Fabric Bags hold so much more and you feel so “green” using them!

I was chatting with a new checker at the grocery store the other day and she said - “I remember you, you’re the one with the pretty bags.” Yah, that’s me all right, pretty bags & all! LOL ;-)

Microwave explosion

2009-05-01T15:14:00.001-04:00

Who ever heard of water exploding?

I had read something about someone taking a cup of boiling water out of the microwave and sticking a spoon in the liquid and the water exploded & caused some serious burns.

Did not think too much about it. Thought it was was of those one-in-a-million occurrences

THEN it happened to me. I was lucky. The cup of water I was boiling was still in the microwave when it exploded. So, I was protected. I started out with 1 cup (measured) of water and after the explosion there was about 1/8 of a cup of water left in the cup.

Thought to myself what might have been. It is very scary when a close call like this happens. And an eye-opener.

I now boil water in a pan on the stove. No more microwaving to get boiling water for Jell-o. In an effort to save time, a serious injury could have happened. And, really, it doesn’t take all that much longer to boil water on the stove.

Practice safe boiling out there!

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

2009-04-26T12:42:00.001-04:00

Oh, the joy of a grilled cheese sandwich! It’s one of those things you eat that tends to bring back memories.

I remember my mom’s grilled cheese. She’d put a pat of butter in a frying pan and fry the sandwich in there, one at a time. Usually served with Campbell’s Tomato Soup on the side. She used Wonder bread or bakery bread. The kind of bread you can’t buy anymore cuz of my government’s idea of protecting me from trans-fat.

I spread margarine on the outside of the bread, cheese in the inside. Has to be Kraft American Cheese slices. Cooked on my griddle, stove top. Can fit 4 at a time on there. Serve with some potato chips on the side and a Kosher Dill Pickle from the crock at the Festival Flea Market.

My DH turned me on to this – sprinkle a bit of shredded Cheddar Cheese on the American Cheese before closing up the sandwich for grilling. What a difference that makes. He likes his sandwich cut into 4 pieces. Another comfort thing.

Sometimes, I like cooked bacon strips in the sandwich.
Sometimes, I like sliced tomato in the sandwich.

I bet there are more variations on a grilled cheese sandwich, but I always come back to the basic one – just grill it!

More Fabric Baskets, nice gifts

2009-04-18T10:32:00.001-04:00

I’ve been sewing away! Made some more fabric baskets that I first found out about at the Pink Penguin blog -- http://ayumills.blogspot.com/2008/05/tutorial-fabric-basket.html

I like the different looks you get when you pick different colors from the focus fabric for the checkerboard rows. Four fabrics used for each basket shown above.

If you click on the pic above, you will see a larger version of the pic and you will also see that I am in my “gridded wavy lines quilting” phase on my quilted pieces these days. The gentle wavy lines are so easy to stitch and so relaxing. No matter what you do, the quilting comes out looking great. Try it sometime. These fabric baskets are a good place on which to practice quilting.

I cut the striped fabric into squares for the checkerboard rows on the basket and when I laid out the rows, I rotated the squares so that a horizontal stripe was next to a vertical stripe. I forgot to take a pic of it in the flat, but here’s a drawing from EQ6 to show you what I mean --

When I first made a fabric basket --http://anotherpatch.blogspot.com/2008/11/its-lovely-day-after-election.html I cut the lining shorter so that it would lay better in the inside of basket.

On the stripes and dots basket, I experimented & cut the lining the same size as the quilted piece. I let the top seam allowance extend up. Did NOT turn the top seam allowance to the inside of basket. Much easier to stitch in the ditch through all the layers – no bulk.

In the pic below you can see that the lining fabric shows at the top cuz it is brought to the outside of basket, rather than being turned to the inside of basket.I like the “cut same size” method cuz I don’t have to do any figuring and the lining does lay nicely inside.

Here’s 3 finished baskets:Each of the baskets has a “secret pocket” in the lining bottom – a hiding place for secrets.

Angie Padilla has directions for a cute basket -- http://tinyurl.com/c46c2d I’m just going to have to make one of those!

I have a few more things that either haven’t been completed or haven’t been gifted and will put them up on the blog when I’ve made it so.

Sewing and LeAnn Rimes

2009-04-13T18:41:00.001-04:00

I haven’t put up any “quilty” things lately cuz I’ve been working on some items that will be gifts. The “giftees” just might visit this blog and I don’t want them to see those pics before the items are gifted.

I hope to be able to show the results of some of my sewing sessions by the end of the week.

LeAnn Rimes was on the Today Show this morning and she was plugging her new book “What I Cannot Change” which is also a tune on her CD and which is also a website.

You can see a video of LeAnn singing a brief portion of the song and then the interview with Kathie Lee & Hoda - http://tinyurl.com/cbb2q7

The lyrics to the song are poignant. Here’s a link to the lyrics -- http://tinyurl.com/dj64l6 Then, I went to the website -- http://www.leannrimesworld.com/wicc/ . There are posts from people who have had experiences in their life that they can’t change – haven’t we all – and they are having to learn to live through. Reading some of the heartfelt posts makes me feel as if I don’t have it quite so bad as I thought. There are a lot of people suffering with an awful lot of pain, caused by themselves or others.

I guess what makes us strong is learning how to cope with what we are dealt.

Sit or Squat

2009-04-08T16:05:00.002-04:00

I heard about www.sitorsquat.com on Today Show segment with Kathie Lee & Hoda. At first I thought it was amusing. But, then, I thought it to be a most useful thing. You type in a city - anywhere in the world and its map comes up with icons for available public toilets or restrooms. You can add a toilet if you happen to know about one that’s not on the map. See the legend down in the bottom right corner about the colors of the icons.

The iphone/ipodTouch has an app for sitorsquat. So, if you’re going to Paducah for the big quilt show week after next, you might want to remember that website – you might find it useful. You might find a new toilet to stick on the map.

Here’s a link to the segment with Kathie Lee & Hoda. http://tinyurl.com/demaht Skip to 4:17 for the item about SOS.

The website is sponsored by Charmin toilet paper. Isn’t that a hoot!

AOL Quilting Community Project #3

2009-04-06T08:52:00.002-04:00

AOL Quilting Community Project #3

I have put up another project from the old AOL Quilting Community. This time it’s a Mystery - “Case of the Progressive Units” by Billie Lauder that can be made into a quilt, a wallhanging or a table top -
www.anotherpat.com/qt/03LauderMystery.pdf

Several quilters have sent in pics of their finished items – http://www.anotherpat.com/qt/gallery03BL.htm

Here’s a list of Quilting Community projects -
http://www.anotherpat.com/qt/index.html with more to be coming.

Frugal bits holder

2009-03-27T20:52:00.001-04:00

Every once in the while, I like to do hand embroidery. It soothes the soul – at least, my soul! This pattern came from my American Patchwork & Quilting magazine, but it is available to all, online, at AP&Q’s website -- http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/projects-ideas/bags-pillows/sewing-caddy_1.html

I used some felted wool that I had in the stash. It is so pleasing to embroider on felted wool. I would recommend it, if you are looking for a relaxing stitching experience. You can get lost in your Zen. The stitches go thru like a knife thru softened butter. Used 2 strands of DMC floss. Yes, I have a stash of DMC, too!

Instead of making French Knots for the flowers that go up the sides of the appliqué, I used beads. I like to use beads instead of French Knots, cuz then it justifies the purchase of the beads. Yup, another stash! Aaaaah, but why are there threads hanging from the bottom of the caddy? Those threads are the Frugal Bits, of course.

I read (or saw) a sewing machine tip some time back that said to “floss” your thread guides each time you changed your spool thread. That is, instead of pulling the thread up and out when you remove the spool, clip the thread at the spool and pull it down and out and through, just before the needle.

That seemed like a waste of thread to me. So, instead of throwing away that 27” of thread, I save that Frugal Bit of thread and it drapes from a pin on the back of the caddy, until I’m ready to use it –

That Frugal Bit of thread is the perfect length for me, for hand sewing and basting. It is very easy to pull a thread out and away from all the others. Right now, there are lots of colors to choose from, as I haven’t had the occasion to use any. Sometimes, there is way less thread draped over that pin.

I’ve read where some sew-ers use a stuffed animal that they have beside their machine and drape the threads on it.

I like seeing that pretty embroidery that hangs from a pegboard hook, convenient to my sewing area.

Nothing is in that pouch on my caddy, but if I were to get some extra cash, that would be a good place to stash it! Nicely folded up bills. Oh, wouldn’t it be grand to have a stash of cash? That would require a much bigger pouch!

March clubEQ Challenge

2009-03-22T18:30:00.002-04:00

Have you ever looked at a quilt that was designed to showcase a new fabric line & thought “Gee, I could do that”? Well if you have EQ5 or EQ6, you can do just that.

This month’s Electric Quilt clubEQ challenge is to design a quilt from Erin McMorris’ new fabric line “Wildwood” by Free Spirit. I colored the above spring flower in 4 of 34 of Erin’s fabrics.

Here’s a link to the description of the challenge, the rules and a downloadable file of the fabrics. When you create a quilt, or two, and email it into the challenge, you’ll get a project file of all the other entries. It is interesting to see other designer’s techniques. Deadline is March 30.

I had a good time designing a quilt that would be nice for a young girl’s bedroom. I found Erin’s fabric to be perfect for this.

I have not entered every month, but my entries are listed on one of my webpages -- http://anotherpat.com/patfiles.html You can request project files of most of the entries.

Burying a short thread

2009-03-19T20:22:00.001-04:00

I don’t like to backstitch when machine quilting, unless it’s at the edges, within the seamline, where it won’t be seen. After knotting my threads, I like to bury the thread ends before cutting them off and make the knot disappear by tugging on it. Sometimes, my thread ends are not long enuf to thread through a needle very easily.

I either saw or read a hint about self-threading needles. I got a package at Joann’s. They were called “Easy Threading Needles” by Dritz.

No matter how short those threads are, they slip right in the slot in the needle! I put the empty needle in position in the fabric --

then slip the threads in the slot --

And pull the needle through, pull needle off --

Trim the excess thread ends close to the fabric, thread tail disappears in the batting --

Look, ma, no knot, no backstitching showing! Clean & neat!
And I didn’t have to contort around the needle and short thread to get the job done …

Quilt tip – Marking rows

2009-03-12T19:33:00.001-04:00

I’ve tried all sorts of methods of numbering rows for a quilt to keep the sewn rows in order. Most times, I use a small square of paper and put the row number on it and safety pin it in place. But, the paper usually curls and can’t re-use them too many times. I think I’ve thought of a clever way of numbering the rows.

I took 2 reinforcement labels - usually used for reinforcing the holes on loose leaf paper – stuck them together, put a number on both sides and used a pin to pin the marker to the row. I had some pins that don’t have that coil at the end of the pin. I like the way they work for this.

Seeing as how these are made from vinyl, they will probably last a long time. I seem to remember back when I did some knitting years ago, they had plastic row markers that might work for this purpose. The next time I go to JoAnn, I’m going to check out the knitting department to see if they have something that might be used instead of the reinforcements. If not, then I better be sure to have a good supply of the reinforcements on hand.

Crystal Light Deception

2009-03-08T19:26:00.001-04:00

Did they think we wouldn’t notice?

Container on left is an old one, on right the new one.
Old – makes 12 quarts. New – makes 10 quarts.
Old – 6 tubs in container. New 5 tubs in container.
Old – 3.2 oz. of powder. New 2.5 oz. of powder

Both containers are the same size and you would never notice the size of the tubs unless you had an old tub and a new, side by side.

The new tub on the right is just a smidge taller so that 5 tubs fill the container to the level that 6 tubs did.

Oh, the price? Price is the same. Less product for the same amount of money. And they wonder why we get angry! The food industry has been doing this for years.

Gotta hand it to KraftFoods, they are giving us “Great New Taste”. Hoo Boy …

Daylight Saving Time - Yuck

2009-03-04T17:59:00.002-05:00

I just realized that on Sunday March 8, we will be turning our clocks ahead, again. Ooh, this nonsense has got to stop. Those wonderful congressman in DC think we need to save daylight. If they could figure out how they could save money, then I’d be interested.

I found a website that is dedicated to ending Daylight Saving Time --http://www.standardtime.com/ They have links to contacting your congressman to let him/her know your feelings on DST. I will be doing that. They also have a petition you can sign. I did that.

I read an article today about politicians twittering and it mentioned Senator John McCain. I went to his twitter feed and read about the omnibus bill and all the pork attached to it. Is this what those politicians do for us? $1.7 million for pig odor research in Iowa? $1.4 million for genetic improvements of switchgrass? Those are a couple of the items I found interesting. The whole list sounds like a bunch of hogwash. Here’s the link to Sen. McCain’s statement about the omnibus appropriation.

I went to wikipedia and found out that an “Omnibus bill is a single document that is accepted in a single vote by a legislature but contains amendments to a number of other laws or even many entirely new laws. An example of these are the Omnibus spending bills regularly used by the American Congress to group together the budgets of all departments in one year.”

So, this happens every year. With all kinds of pork. I don’t think my household budget would allow for this kind of tinkering.

Politicians don’t know how to save money. What makes them think they can save daylight?

Urawaza

2009-03-02T19:14:00.002-05:00

That’s how the article in today’s Sun-Sentinel newspaper started out. Urawaza is the Japanese word for simple, clever lifestyle fixes for difficult problems. Funny, I had just heard about how to dry out a cell phone by putting it into uncooked rice on today’s “Today Show with Kathie Lee & Hoda” and that hint was in the article.

The article said to go to LifeHacker for more low-cost remedies. I stayed a while at LifeHacker! I put that site into my Favs. Tons of things to find out about. Says it is a “geek” site, but I found a lot of useful stuff which I did not consider “geeky”.

I found out about Google Analytics which comes with high recommendations as a great Stat Counter for websites and blogs from LifeHacker.

And I also found out about “Windows Live Writer” which is what I am using right now to write this blog entry. It’s the #3 Tool on their list of http://lifehacker.com/5161867/top-10-tools-for-your-blog-or-web-site

I’ve put in the pic above to see how it’s gonna handle graphics and if it will put the hyperlink on the pic so that it can be viewed larger. I like that the pic is put in place where it will appear – not at the top of the post, like Blogger does which requires me to move it to where it should be. There were several options for the borders of the pic – I chose to round the corners.

I do appreciate the spell checker in the program!
There’s even “strike-through” = ~~strike- through~~ if ever you need it.

I think Windows Live Writer is Urawaza!

Happy Birthday Deloris Smith wherever you are

2009-02-25T20:16:00.005-05:00

Isn’t it funny how things stick in our minds over the years? Deloris was my best friend in St. Casimir’s grade school. After all these many years, I still think of her on her birthday, which is the day after mine. Yes, I had a very nice birthday yesterday. Thank you Kim for a lovely lunch and such a beautiful bouquet. And so nice of all the friends and relatives with their phone calls and cards and good wishes. I thank you all for thinking of me.

Lately, I’ve been in the sewing room doing some (horrors) mending and repair. But, it does make me feel better getting some put-aside tasks completed. I have a saying tacked up in my sewing room:

Nothing is as fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of uncompleted tasks

Now if only I would pay more heed to that …

I have a recipe for you today.

Hocus Pocus Crispies
This is one I’ve been making since 1977; the photo is scanned from the old recipe I had cut out from a magazine. It’s a family favorite and a company favorite. I remember SIL Tammy really enjoying these when she came to visit and she has them in her favorite recipes.

I went to the pillsbury.com website and did a search for the recipe and was surprised to find that it was “not found”. And a google search was fruitless. I thought that would never do – so, I am putting it online. Here’s a link to the PDF – http://anotherpat.com/HocusPocusCrispies.pdf
Enjoy!

Hand soap and a smile

2009-02-20T16:44:00.003-05:00

We’re all looking to save money, eh? Well, this will cut your liquid hand soap expenses in half. We like the Foaming Hand Soaps and had read that you could make your own by mixing half liquid soap and half water. We’ve been using it for a few weeks, cuz I wanted to make sure that it worked before I blogged about it.

You have to have an empty bottle from foaming hand soap; it has a special dispenser. In a measuring cup, I poured in ½ cup of liquid hand soap and ½ cup of water and stirred it with a spoon. I poured the cup of liquid into the empty 7.5 fl oz bottle of foaming hand soap with the special dispenser. Works just as good as the original stuff.

I didn’t know they had this on youtube -- I saw this some time ago. If you don’t get a smile from this one, it ain’t my fault – Laughing Babies --

Found while looking for something else

2009-02-16T19:20:00.003-05:00

I just found the coolest place to subscribe to podcasts that are all about “things computer”. Years ago, there used to be a TV show called “Cnet Central” that had all kinds of tips for computer users and news about the latest “gotta haves”. In today’s paper there was an article about making your computer run faster - http://tinyurl.com/csuk5d

The article mentioned a video to watch on how to install more RAM in your computer. It said to go to cnettv.cnet.com , which I did and I found a ton of informational video podcasts that I could subscribe to. I immediately subscribed to Apple Byte, Insider Secrets, Cnet Top 5 and Quick Tips. It gave me the option to choose iTunes and they’re downloaded and waiting to go into my iPod Touch. They also had a little video that had 3 tips on how to make the most of AdAware, which I watched.

I will definitely be back to Cnet to see what else I might be missing! LOL

A Needlebook Saves My Needles

2009-02-13T18:00:00.005-05:00

I don’t know about other parts of the world, but I do know in South Florida that if my handsewing needles are exposed to air when they are stored, a corrosive-type thing happens to them. I like to keep them handy and out in the open, so I thought some kind of needlebook would work. And it does. Some time ago, I searched the WWW and found a few sites that had needlecases, books. I liked what I saw on http://www.thehappyzombie.com/blog/, click on “Strawberry Delight Needlebook”. I wanted to put it on the lamp base behind my serger and it wouldn’t fit, nor fill that space. So, I thought to make my own shape. A kidney shape would do rather well.
DD Kim saw it and asked if I’d make her one. She also liked the kidney shape, even though she didn’t need that shape. So, I went into EQ6 and designed one for her. It had to have a butterfly in it. The butterfly is a symbol of life, joy and hope. And those are the things I wish for my daughter. I have given her lots of butterflies over the years.
I do not attach the pretty embroidered cover to the needlebook. It would take more room to open out a hinged cover to get at the needles. With 4 layers of felt, the bottom half acts as a pincushion when it is in use. The black felt is stitched down the middle and either side opens like a book. And I haven’t had any corroded needles since I’ve been protecting them in the needlebook.

AOL Quilting Community Project #2

2009-02-10T17:30:00.002-05:00

I have put up another project from the old AOL Quilting Community. This one’s from Tish Douglas, again. Tish designed this one in the days after 9/11/2001. Complete instructions, with graphics, are available as a PDF--
http://anotherpat.com/qt/flagquilt.pdf

I have a list up with another project on it and more will be coming –
http://anotherpat.com/qt/index.html

Several quilters have sent in pics of their Flag Quilts – http://anotherpat.com/qt/gallery6.htm

An afternoon with a Monarch

2009-02-06T16:56:00.004-05:00

After spending a good part of the morning in the sewing room, I spent a couple more hours there this afternoon watching the Lifetime movie “The Queen” with Helen Mirren which I’ve seen before. Ms. Mirren was excellent in the role as the Queen. I love stories about the monarchy. I got hooked on the PBS series about the Royal Family that was on not too long ago. Loved the little details they told about what goes on in the Palace. Like the butlers who dust the loooong dining room tables by putting fluffy socks on their feet and dancing on the tables! And all the protocol that has to be followed. Was very interesting.

I like to watch a good movie when I am sewing. It can’t be an adventure where I have to actually watch every minute of the movie. Although I’ve been known to get to my sewing only during commercials. It’s surprising how much one can accomplish during commercials!

I’ve got a few things in the sewing room that are causing me anxiety. And anxiety is something that should never be in the sewing room. So, I figure when I finish them off, the anxiety will be relieved and then I can start a new project. I’ve treated myself to a Ricky Tims pattern & kit – “The Family Tree of Life” which has a Convergence Technique as the background. His hand-dyed fabrics are to die for! But, I am not going to start on it until I finish up a few things. And then I can blog about the things that I finish. LOL

Hope your day went well and maybe you were able to spend some time sewing, too.

Fabric shopping, EQ, iPod Touch

2009-02-02T19:19:00.003-05:00

I’d like to thank Penny & Andrea over at ElectricQuilt for creating a whole bunch of traffic to my blog today! I was mentioned on the EQ blog for my entry on Friday.

I had sent EQ an email saying I had found a good marriage between the iPod Touch and EQ and they agreed and posted my link today. In the EQ blog it said -- “She moves images from EQ to her IPod Touch and takes the IPod to the fabric store! Not only does she save paper, but going from computer screen to IPod screen, she doesn’t have to deal with the way printers and monitors are calibrated.”

There definitely is a difference between the colors I see on my monitor and the colors that print.

I've got a quilt that I will be making here in the not too far distant future and I will let you know how the iPod Touch helps me with my fabric selection.

Fabric shopping with iPodTouch

2009-01-30T11:07:00.008-05:00

Found out the coolest and greenest thing (no printing) to do with my iPod Touch. My method works with EQ6, but you might find other uses.

When I design a quilt in EQ6 and print out the Fabric Yardage to take with me to the store, I find the printout is “not exactly” what I viewed on my computer monitor in the design process. BUT if I view an exported image of the fabric, it looks “exactly” like what I saw on my computer. AND when I put that image in my iPod Touch, it gives me a much better idea of what fabrics I need to get. Can zoom in and out of the pic, too.

The fabrics I used to design the quilt might not be available when I go shopping. Why do fabric manufactures have to change their lines so often? I have some wonderful fabric in my stash that was purchased years ago and it is just as “current” as fabrics of today. And is sometimes just “exactly” what I need. I hate using up a favorite fabric, cuz I know I won’t be able to replace it.

So, if those desired fabrics are not available when I go shopping, when I view the fabric images on my iPod, I get a pretty close representation of what I need and can buy something that is “close enough”.

I found that creating 3 images covers all bases.

1) An exported pic of the quilt (a faraway look)

2) A “print screen” of the fabrics from the sketchbook (a close-up of fabrics)

3) A “print screen” of the fabric yardage page (yardage requirements)

2 & 3 were manipulated in PaintShopPro with some text added on 3. Actually, all you’d have to do is crop them and maybe add some text to 3 – like the date. And with the “zoom in” feature on the iPodTouch, you can view all of what you want to see.

If you have the current edition of “Stash” and used fabrics from there, you could probably find those fabrics still at your Local Quilt Shop. Then you might want to go the extra step and take a “print screen” of each fabric and its notecard. That way you would have the Manufacturer, the line and the numbers needed to purchase that fabric. No paper needed! Is this green or what!

I’m thinking that shopping at online shops would be easier by matching the iPod Touch image of fabric to an online image of fabric.

Jason Quilts – Day 16

2009-01-26T11:02:00.003-05:00

Jason is pointing to the last stitch in the quilt binding! Happened at 5:45pm on Saturday, January 24. when he finished sewing the binding to the quilt. The excess batting and backing then had to be trimmed away from the quilt. Since this is going to be a much-used quilt, chose to machine stitch-in-the-ditch to secure the folded-over binding to the back of the quilt. Used Steam-a-Seam ¼” iron-on tape to hold the binding to the back for easier stitching on the front. Did some hand-sewing to secure the binding at each corner. This was the 1st time that Jason did some hand-sewing.

Here’s the quilt after it came out of the washer & dryer. Used Fairfield’s Quilter’s 80/20 cotton batting. Did not pre-shrink the batting and love the way it shrank up and gave the quilt such character.

Whenever someone asked, “How long does it take to make a quilt?” I could never answer cuz I never really kept track in hours. But, now I have a pretty good idea. Jason had 16 sessions and estimating about 4 hours per session (includes the designing and shopping) can fairly say that this quilt took 64 hours. And how much is it worth? Priceless …

Jason Quilts – Day 15

2009-01-24T11:06:00.005-05:00

Friday January 23
Jason learned a few new things today which has been no different than any other day. It seems that just about the time he masters a new technique, we are on to learning another technique. One thing he has found is that things are easier the more you do them. The machine quilting went faster today.

He finished all the quilting lines. Cut the binding for the quilt. Learned how to sew diagonal seams necessary to piece together a long strip of binding. Learned how to sew binding to a quilt and make mitered corners in the binding.

More than half the binding sewn to the quilt. Trimmed up a portion of the sewn area so he could see how the binding would turn under and how nice those mitered corners looked!

Those wavy quilting lines really look good. This picture really doesn’t do the quilting justice. Used Sulky Blendable thread 30wt. for the quilting. Love the changing of the colors in that thread.

Inauguration Day – 3

2009-01-20T17:57:00.001-05:00

The sun has set in Washington DC. The parade is now being held in the dark. What brave souls they all are to march in this cold. But, at least they’re moving – the ones watching have got to be colder. I certainly think that the First Lady must have Chicago blood in her! How else could she tolerate the cold with her coat open all day long?

It was a good day. I’m glad I watched all the festivities.

Inauguration Day – 2

2009-01-20T13:21:00.002-05:00

All the powerful politicians, presidents past and present and Hollywood folk are gathered for this event. It always surprises me that some of these very wealthy people can’t seem to afford a decent hair stylist.

Sasha & Malia Obama (the president-elect’s daughters) had the prettiest coats, in the prettiest colors. Blue on Malia and peach on Sasha. Aretha Franklin, the queen of soul, had on a hat that was something else - a huge be-jeweled grey ribbon affair.

Through all the formal-ness of this event, it is nice to see the sincere hugs amongst people who are glad to see each other. I got a chill when Barack Obama walked out to the platform. This is history. How he must have felt looking out over the multitude of people who came to see him and hear him speak. They say over one and a half million people are in that crowd on the Mall.

Aretha Franklin sand “My Country Tis of Thee”. She did it like no other. There were tears in the audience while she sang.

At 12:05pm, it is now President Barack Obama.
The crowd went wild. A sea of waving flags. Such hope we all have. Hope was reflected on many of the faces in the crowd. Happy faces. Joyful faces.

While the newly-elected President spoke, he promised change. I think he will change things. Some of the things he said “ Remake America”, “Restore trust between people and their government”, “We are ready to leave once more”, “The world has changed and we will change with it”.

Enjoy your day, President Obama. The celebrations are all for you. Change has come.

According to this morning’s newspaper, the inaugural lunch will have wild game & root vegetables like in President Abraham Lincoln’s time. Pheasant fingers? No thank you, I’ll be happy with a nice Beef Pot Pie.

I’ve always wondered – as the incoming President says goodbye to the outgoing President and the outgoing President walks to the helicopter – what’s the outgoing President thinking? “Whew. It’s good to get out of there and start a normal life”. Maybe.

Inauguration Day

2009-01-20T11:05:00.002-05:00

10:54am
Today I am going to have a TV nearby. I want to watch this historic day. The day that Barack Obama will be inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States.

I hope to edit this post throughout the day.

Mrs. Obama wore a beautiful yellow-gold suit this morning. When she & President-elect Obama arrived at the White House for coffee with President & Mrs. Bush, she brought a gift. We were told it was a journal and pen for the departing First Lady’s memoirs. What a thoughtful gift.

The Mall in Washington DC is overwhelmed with people on this cold day.
Temperature is 26°. They have closed the Mall because it is full. People are now standing 1-1/2 miles from the Inauguration site. They will be able to see and hear everything on Jumbotrons that are set up all over the place. I think I have the best seat in front of my TV, tuned to ABC with Charlie Gibson, Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopolous providing the commentary.

At 11am the motorcade arrived at the Capitol for the Inauguration ceremony at noon.

Recipe – Brownie Waffles

2009-01-19T14:50:00.004-05:00

I have an old recipe box. It contains old recipes that I wrote on 3” x 5” cards and also contains recipes others have given me over the years – in their handwriting. I am so glad I kept those handwritten recipes over the years. Seeing the handwriting of dear friends who have passed on keeps them close to my heart when I read their recipes.

I have some of my mother’s recipes in her handwriting that I would never part with. The recipe itself might not be so terrific, but it was a recipe she enclosed in a letter, many years ago. Mom died in November 1993, but each time I read a recipe that she wrote makes me feel as if she’s close.

Also in the box are odd-assorted leaflets from past appliances. I don’t throw away many things! LOL

DH was looking thru the old recipe box and came across a leaflet that came with a waffle iron we were gifted with when we were first married. Now, we are coming up on 48 years of wedded bliss, so the leaflet is old! No longer have the waffle iron, but I do remember it. It was round and had an electrical cord that was wrapped with black & white threads. The recipe that interested him was “Brownies for the Waffle Iron”.

I suggested using a box of Brownie mix, rather than making the recipe from scratch. So, that’s what he did. Just follow the directions on the box. DH added a ½ to 1 cup of chopped walnuts to the batter. The Brownie Waffles were excellent!

If you make these waffles, here are some suggestions – Put a spoonful of batter on each quadrant of the waffle baker to get “Waffle Cookie Brownies”. They release easier and are easier to serve than if you made one big waffle. Remove the hot waffles with a spatula to a cooling rack or parchment paper. They firm up as they cool. I like to break up the Brownie Waffles & sprinkle over ice cream. You can also sprinkle some mini chocolate chips or mini M&Ms on the ice cream. MMMM delicious!

Jason Quilts – Day 14

2009-01-17T17:55:00.005-05:00

Happy Birthday, Rhonda!
Today was “Quilting the Sandwich Day”. Jason put on a CD of his music and enjoyed the rhythm of quilting – the sound of the walking foot and the natural rhythm that you get into after a few rows of quilting. It’s relaxing. But, you do have to remember to get up and walk around every 1/2 hour or so. Don’t want to get any stiff muscles. And rotate your shoulders and neck.

I think one of the most helpful tips for Jason has been the “cheater”.

That’s what we’ve been calling the little piece of fabric that you sew between 2 items that you are chain-piecing in case you don’t have another item (yet) to add to the chain.
It saves on thread and it also keeps the threads from getting pulled into the underneath that causes the rat’s nest of threads on the underside of your seam. I’m used to holding onto the threads when I start stitching. As a beginning sew-er, Jason was not used to doing that and sometimes the threads got pulled down into the needle hole. If he uses the “cheater”, that does not happen. He uses it all the time.

Jason Quilts - Day 13

2009-01-17T15:23:00.015-05:00

Friday Jan 16
Two pairs of shoes at the back door. Youngest grandson, Brian (almost 9) came to visit today. He was interested in seeing Jason’s quilt and kept Jason company while Jason was pin-basting the quilt sandwich together.

The quilt is all pinned and ready for machine quilting.

Here's the box of pins at the start of the pinning and what was left at the end.

Made up a quilt sandwich to practice machine quilting on. Jason did some straight lines and some wavy line stitching. He liked the wavy lines the best and he will be doing wavy lines on his quilt, following the straight seams vertically and horizontally.

Mother Nature has a sense of humor

2009-01-16T00:26:00.003-05:00

That’s our beautiful Pon Gam tree in the front yard. Actually, it’s half of what it originally was. It broke my heart when Hurricane Wilma 2005 blew her down and split her in two. I love the tree cuz it has such character.DH & some neighbors trimmed her up and righted her. We didn’t have too much hope for survival cuz the tree was really in bad shape. But, survive, it did! We bought one of those silly faces that you put on tree trunks. The “face” faces the house, not visible from the street. I smile when I see it.
See that “tuft of hair” above the face? Here’s a close-up. We did not put that air plant there. Mother Nature did that. A real sense of humor, I’d say. Perfectly placed. Probably apologizing for what Wilma did.

Recipe - Pumpkin French Toast Bake

2009-01-12T08:56:00.006-05:00

This recipe is going to fill your house with wonderful smells! I found the recipe in the coupon section of Sunday’s paper last Fall.
Link to Pumpkin French Toast Bake

When we make a recipe for the first time, we always follow the recipe to the letter. During the taste test, we make adjustments to the recipe, if necessary and I always write that down. Sometimes, the recipe stays the same. When we first tried this recipe, we felt that there wasn’t enough sausage. And there just was way too much bread for my 9” x 13” pan. So, I altered the recipe and used half of the pumpkin pie filling, half of the evaporated milk and half the bread. And added an apple. It now fits perfectly into my 9” x 13” glass pan

My altered recipe:
Pumpkin French Toast Bake
12 oz. Breakfast links
6 eggs
Use 15 oz. of 30 oz can pumpkin pie filling
Use 6 oz. of 12 oz. can evaporated milk

1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 slices white bread, cubed
1 apple, chopped
Confectioner’s sugar
Maple syrup

Makes 8 servings

DH cooked the sausages on the grill, which gave a real nice flavor. Used the altered recipe yesterday and we both thought it was excellent!

Jason Quilts – Day 12

2009-01-09T21:08:00.007-05:00

Had sent Jason home on Monday with stuff to create the quilt label. What with classes and school obligations and catching a bug, he was not able to design the label this week. After he arrived here, he sat at the kitchen table with paper & pencil and a photo on my iPod Touch of his cat Neko. He sketched out Neko on paper. Neko was to be a big part of the label! Then, he re-drew that sketch onto fabric. I was amazed how quickly he worked. Whilst I am good with a pencil and a ruler, I cannot “sketch” anything! I am in awe of an artist …

Another place was set at the lunch table today. Jason’s mom, DD Kim, joined us. She wanted to see how the quilt was coming along and we all had Gpa’s homemade Sloppy Joes. Gpa was there, too.

Jason added the Quilt Label to the strip that was needed to make the back wider. And we cut the backing fabric from top to bottom and he put in that strip. And here’s a close-up of the pic of the label.

We are nearing the end of this adventure …

Free book

2009-01-09T08:13:00.001-05:00

Have you heard about Suze Orman’s new book “2009 Action Plan – Keeping your Money Safe & Sound”? Oprah Winfrey’s show is offering a free download:
http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20081119_tows_bookdownload
Offer expires Thursday Jan. 15, 2009. Thanx to Jill for the link.

I like listening to Suze. She has common sense. Common sense seems to be missing in a lot of people’s thinking today. And whatever happened to saving up your pennies ‘til you could afford to buy a new item? Why is it people feel they are entitled to every new toy and gadget that comes out on the market? And they end up charging the new toy/gadget. If not used wisely, credit cards can get you in a lot of trouble. I’ve heard that the credit card companies are now changing some people’s interest rates to 32%!!! Isn’t that called “loan sharking”?

Recipe – Ham & Cheese Cornbread Supreme

2009-01-07T08:36:00.004-05:00

I’m always on the lookout for recipes for breakfast for overnite company. Of course, we have to try them out first! LOL I found this recipe in the Sunday paper coupon circular. It’s like a quiche cuz it has the eggs & cheese, but not like a quiche cuz it has the cornbread flour in it. We both really liked it. And we both thought it would taste good with syrup on it, of all things. I like it with maple syrup; DH likes it with blueberry syrup.

http://marthawhite.com/Recipes/Detail.aspx?recipeID=2605&mealtype==

I don’t have a cast iron skillet anymore, so I used my brown glass baking dish that measures 6-1/2” x 10”. I cooked the cutup bacon in the microwave while the Cornbread was baking in the oven.

Podcasts

2009-01-06T08:50:00.014-05:00

While Jason was here sewing, I was able to ask him all about podcasts for my new iPod Touch. Putting things into the iPod is so different from making files and directories in a computer. When I first got the it, I just couldn’t figure out how to get things into it. Was so glad to find their Forum. And then having a tech-savvy grandson in my house was even better!

If you have any favorite podcasts, please let me know so I check them out.

With the iPod, if any one asks if I have pics of my grandkids, or my latest quilt, I can really show them – plus have a tune playing while they view the slideshow! Technology – I love it! LOL

I've made a cover for the iPod Touch to slip in when not in use and can use it when carrying in my purse. And am working on a carrying bag for the iPod and accessories.