National No Phone Zone Day

I've taken the pledge, have you?




265430 Total Pledge Submissions as of this post. That is a good thing. It's amazing though that sometimes the most common sense things need a catalyst, thanks Oprah.

Jane

Back from the framers

Megg Jack, an artist from Australia gifted me with this painting when I won the drawing from her blog: Artnomadix. I mentioned it previously on this post.

It has been waiting for a frame. Since my local framers had a 60% off coupon, I literally ran down with it and selected the frame and setting. It just came home this afternoon so it's now proudly displayed on the wall. Gorgeous isn't it? Thanks Meg. LOVE IT!

Jane

A couple more ;~)

Yep, that's right. I finished 2 more projects this am before I went to visit and play with friends.
The first finish pictured is my first attempt at a flat fold. Thanks to Vonna from the twisted stitcher, her directions and tutorial were fantastic! I had tried to make my own twist to trim around the perimeter without any success. So while at Joanns this past weekend, I visited the trim rack and found one that would worked perfectly.


10 ct Betsy Ross Linen, 1/1 Perle Cotton #5 purple, pink and dark green; Splendor silk in light and dark pink 4/1 (a delight), and a DMC #52 varigated purple 4/1 ( the overdyed purple didn't have enough variation for my taste), a metal butterfly charm and a mill hill tulip bead.

I really like the finished effect. Would you believe the fabric that worked was actually in the stash. So one whole fat quarter got used. Glad to know how to do this too. It'll save plenty of money with not having to purchase so many frames. And speaking of frames, since Michaels was offering 60% off framing recently, I did bring in the painting that I received from Megg of Australia of the Calderra in her backyard. I can't wait until I get that back to see it. I hope I ordered something that will do it justice. Also brought in the winter whites Counted Cross stitch to get framed. But that would have been an additional $62.00 to get a simple frame for that. I'll wait, don't want DH to get heart failure with my framing expenses, for goodness sakes, it's expensive enough going to the grocery store without adding to the financial burden.

The second finish is the Patch Abilities Chocolate Bunny. Either I'm really, really late or really early. I think I'll just say I'm very early for Easter 2011. LOL What do you think?



I changed how they said to do the eye since many bunnies have a "Pinkish" look around the eye. I choose that color button for the eyeball and decided not to put buttons down his chest. Also, I played with Angelina fibers around the egg he's holding trying to immulate Easter grass with the luster of a colored egg.



Most chocolate bunnies I've eaten, ooops, I mean have seen didn't have buttons on their chocolate. So in their honor, that's how I am displaying this one. LOL
I know, I'm wicked!

Jane

Stash Report #17

Finally used a little bit of fabric this past week on a couple of bags. I was surprised they took up so much. But with the pockets and all the lining it was quite a bit, and I'm not counting all the fusible fleece I used either, that was over 3 yards by itself. I wonder, can it be counted? Afterall it was in my stash, oh well until I'm sure, it won't be counted.

My stash report for this week is:

So this week's report is:

Used this week: 2.5 yards
Used Year To date: 21.25 yds

Added This week: 0 yards
Added Year To Date: 49 yards

Net Fabric Gained (Loss or used): 27.75 yards
Check out Judy's sight to see how others are doing. If this was a race, I definitely could be compared more with the turtle rather than the hare. LOL

Jane

UFO Challenge

Last week while recovering from the flu (was down and out for 3 days, I can't remember the flu hitting me so violently before), my Mom called to let me know which number in the UFO challenge was next. The number drawn is number .......2.

That means I'll have to the second Tuesday in June to get my Alien Invasion Quilt done. The top is assembled and I've been petering away on the backing I 've envisioned, but ran into a stumbling block. Guess I'll have to do like Nancie or Ruth on stashbusters say and get to it. That "the dreading is worse than the doing".

Enjoy yourself in what ever strikes your fancy.

Jane

Chubby Charmer

The Chubby Charmer tote bag made with Moda Harmony charm pack and it is quite large. It is noted that a 9x11" baking dish will fit in the bottom, I took the picture with the pattern in the bottom so you could visualize the size. Since it used 3 layer of Pellon Fusible Fleece for it's structual integrity, it does stand on it's own. I did break 2 Universal Schmetz needles while sewing this, so had to change to a titanium needle. After that, I didn't get any more needle breaks.

It's done and also did the Maggie bag with coordinating fabrics. What a darling little bag and a very quick project. I tucked the cell phone into it so it was visible, but it does fit my phone well. I think if I made another for a sunglass case, I'll try to make it a bit wider and hair longer. It's a bit tight for some of my larger sunglasses. Note to self, this would make a nice little thinking of you gift.

So nice to get a couple of things done. I've had the chubby charmer kitted up for the past 6 months with the Moda Charm Pack, Harmony. About time it's done.

Jane

Catch Up

Since the last three days have been exclusively with grandchildren it was so nice to spend a day puttering and trying to catch up with the paperwork and other items from my never ending "to-do" lists. Scan and send a pattern to friends that have been waiting, check; made time to finish my chubby charmer bag that I started last Saturday, check (only have the hand stitching the bottom lining where it was turned to sew); Patch abilities Easter time Chocolate Bunny made - check (only hand sewing for this now too); Checkbook balanced- check; miscellaneous bills and paperwork attended too, check so I am feeling really good. I plan on hand sewing tonight while I watch the movie, The Blind Side.

Sometimes, it just so nice to nest!

Jane

ECHO and ELMO

The day started with a picnic next to the Winooski River waterfalls and then a short walk along the river boardwalk. What a gorgeous natural landscape followed by a bit of shopping in the used child's store. SO many great buys on designer clothes, DVDs and toys. After that Echo and Elmo and in that order.

Even though its was busy, it was pleasurable traveling to VT with daughter and her children for the ELMO show at the Flynn on Tuesday evening. Did a little shopping before hand and went to visit ECHO Center before dinner. This was my first visit and I was quite impressed.
Touching a star fish in the salt water tank. It was a great hands on museum for Ecological learning and aquarius themed happenings. Very scientific at a layman's level. Amphibians lectured and exhibited nicely with also some exhibits geared towards pollution and the havoc it can create. Of course sometimes you just have to be a bit silly for teachings to be learned.



Both grandchildren were wonderful and inspired to touch and see many things at the ECHO center in Burlington, Vermont. Afterwards a quiet but quick dinner followed by the main event of why we travelled there. ELMO and friends.

I was really surprised by the time this event took place. Starting at 7pm! What were the promoters thinking? With it being geared towards the younger crowd, it's a wonder there weren't more screaming kids on hand. Towards the beginning of the show, since it's PGS#3 usual bedtime, he had his pacifier. Being a bit disgruntled he hurled it away. YIKES! We were the first row in the balcony, so someone down below got boinked on the head with a juicy pacifier. Sorry! We didn't dare look over to see who got it though. PGS#3 was quite fidgety after that, so my daughter walked in the mezzanine area to comfort him with the backup pacifier while PGD#1 and I watched the rest of the show.

All in all it was a very pleasurable day.

Jane

Hurting

With having a back problem effecting my extremities, I try hard not to let it dictate my life and define who I am as a person BBI ( before back injury). But many times it's just difficult. For the past several months, I try not to talk about it. I don't want to be the sort of person who only talks about their maladities. Sometimes it's impossible to use my hands, arms and feet. Also it seems to be affecting my lower back and hip area too. Grrrrrr! The pain is constant and varies in it's depth. Thank goodness my doctors are so good. When I take meds, I'm asleep shortly thereafter, so to find a balance between functioning and pain monitoring is a very precarious thing.
Sorry for the whoa is me mentality but just needed to vent a bit.

Jane

Stash Report #16

Another week has gone by with nothing to report for usage. However, I did gain some fabric this week. Our little group of quilting friends gathered yesterday and had planned on doing the four patch posie. Since the 2 fabrics I had in my stash were prewashed, I purchased another fabric that I thought would work for this pattern, it's that colorful pink, orange and aqua one on the lower right, 4 7/8 yards. I also saw a nice black and white that could be used for some urns on another whimm in the future so grabbed a yard of that while I saw it. Purchased 2.25 yards for a bag, it's the teal and lime colored fabbies to the left. Besides all that, at a friend's shop Fibre Junction, I saw a fat quarter that will be perfect for my robin egg in another UFO that I've had around for ages. I'm rounding it up to an even 8.5 yards gained, another yelp. I seem to be going in the opposite direction! But I'm not going to beat myself up about it. I really enjoyed the SEX! aka-Stash Enhacing experience. LOL
Check out how others are doing in there quest for the 100 yard dash over at Judy Laquidera's blog.

So this week's report is:

Used this week: 0 yards
Used Year To date: 18.75 yds

Added This week: 8.5 yards
Added Year To Date: 49 yards

Net Fabric Gained (Loss or used): 30.25 yards


Here's the fabric I had in for doing the four patch posie before I realized you shouldn't wash your fabric. I always prewash everything when purchased, so when I'm inspired, I can just grab it sand start. I may still try to do it on these, time will tell. As it happened, I ran out of time to precut my squares so ended up bring some charms to work on an entirely different project altogether. Go figure. Well it was a wonderful day gathering with friends.

Jane

PS: The Eastern Star quilt we all made blocks for was positioned on Trudy's design wall. Talk about gorgeous! I won't show you any previews even though we took pictures until the quilt is done. But trust me, it's spectacular.

Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull

I won't recommend standing on the rim of an eruption though for a photo op.


The pictures of the Volcano eruption in Iceland are incredible and ones I grabbed off the yahoo news area. Imagine the power and the force of this natural but rarely captured occurance. Stay well and be safe.

Jane

Quick Chocolate Cocoa Cake

In a hurry? No time for elaborate cooking a dessert for friends, then I'll share my quickest cake recipe and it good, rich and chocolately. It's a Hershey's recipe that I've had for ages and fall to time and time again. It's called
crunchy topped cocoa cake.
Heat oven to 350 and grease and flour 8" cake pan.
In a bowl combine
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup Hershey's Cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Cup water
1/4 Cup plus 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon White vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat together unitl ingredients are well blended. Bake 35 to 40 minutes. During the last 5-10 minutes of this bake time mix together the broiled topping crunch.

Broiled Crunch topping
1/4 Cup (1 stick) butter or margarine softened
1/2 Cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 Cup coursely chopped nuts
1/2 Cup flaked Coconut
3 Tablespoons light cream or evaporated milk

Mix all together and gently spread on WARM cake. That's right, you don't have to wait for it to cool off, just layer it on and then broil it for about 3 minutes or until top is bubbly and golden brown.
Quick, tasty and your friends will marvel of how you found the time to make a cake from scratch. No box or premade stuff. When totally cool, enjoy.


Jane

Lemon Pound Cake

For Easter Dinner we had a nice menu. To finish it off, I tried a new recipe for a lemon pound cake. YUMMO! Didn't use the lemon curd though, but had some fresh berries smashed up with sugar for a topping for those who wanted it. It is wonderful on it's own though so it's hard to imagine how wonderful it would be with the lemon curd.







I got the photo and the recipe from Tanya at the honey suckle tree.

Lemon Bundt Cake

1 (18.25 ounce) package lemon cake mix

1 (3.4 ounce) package instant lemon pudding mix

3/4 Cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

1 Cup lemon-lime flavored carbonated beverage (SPRITE works best!)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan. In a large bowl, combine cake mix and pudding mix, then stir in the oil. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the lemon-lime soda. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool. Eat it plain, glazed or gussied up with berries, curd or whatever yo ufancy. Nicely tasting "spring time" on a fork. These next 2 recipes I found through Leigh Ann Wilkes from your home based mom blog.

You can Glaze it

1 1/4 C powdered sugar

2 tsp lemon juice

1-2 Tbsp. milk

Stir together powdered sugar, 2 tsp lemon juice and enough milk for desired glazing consistency in small bowl. Drizzle over cooled cake.

Or try it with Lemon Curd

4 large egg yolks

2 large eggs

1/2 C sugar

1/2 C fresh squeezed lemon juice.

Fill a medium pot 1/3 full of water and bring to a very low boil.

In a medium heatproof bowl or double broiler whisk together egg yolks, egg, sugar. Whisk in 1/2 cup lemon juice.

Set the bowl or double boiler over the pot of water making sure water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture is thick, about 10 minutes. Strain the curd into a bowl. Place plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the curd to prevent a skin from forming on the surface. Chill curd until ready to use.

Served with whipped cream sweetened with a little bit of powdered sugar and a hint of vanilla to top off the cake! Whichever way sttrikes your fancy, ENJOY!

Jane

Grrrr..

I'm trying to finish my first flat fold. The spring CXS piece is all assembled, so I'm just trying to fix the DMC 5 into a suitable twisted cord. It seems like when I'm trying to add 2 different colors together, the twists are varied throughout the length so it's not showing up uniform.

Its a first attempt for me. I've had the cord twistie thing from Kreinig for awhile and broke it out of the package tonight. I'm not sure how you calculate the length you need of raw threads in order to loop together before twisting singularly and then repeat that process to get a 2nd color and then be able to twist those 2 together evenly. Is that making since? If so and you have some secrets, I'll love you forever if you'd share. Well, Here I go again...

Jane

Stash Report #15

NADA! Nothing In Nothing OUT. I am so close to finishing several items though so watch out for the next week's numbers. (I can only HOPE!)

Used this week: 0 yards
Used Year To date: 18.75 yds

Added This week: 0 yards
Added Year To Date: 40.5 yards

Net Fabric Gained (Loss or used): 21.75 yards

If you are interested on how other Stashbusters are doing, check out Judy Laquidera's blog. So many participants have really moved some fabric. I'm hoping their diligence rubs off on me. Love all these cyber friends. They are such an inspiration and I'm continuously amazed at how many quilts they produce, especially Judy L. When I grow up, I want to be like her, even though I think we're similar in age. LOL But a girl has to have dreams.

DH is having his 57th Birthday today. Yippee! Who'd have thought 6 years ago that I'd still have him here especially with his heart condition. Cardiac Myopathy with heart failure several times now besides an improved mitral valve regurgition. His heart operates at a 15 ejection fraction. Many said I'd be lucky having him with me for 5years and thankfully he's surpassed that. (Thank you God.) His Doctors keep saying he is their "poster child", that whatever he's doing, to keep it up. I've told him I should get the credit because when I give him a back or chest rub, I pray over him and ask for help and healing. And because of my continiuously caring for him that has aided in his survival. (I know, I'm bad) On his last Doctor's visit, the young intern wrote the slip for blood work to get done and had an added diagnosis on the slip of cardiac pretransplant. Yikes! He didn't have any reactions to that but I did and actually still do. I just hope the longer we can put that off the better. With the marvels of medicine each day new ideas are invented and options available. He now has his second ICD/defribrilator pacemaker placed in his chest which helps regulate the rythums of his heart to optimize it. When I think of my Dad back in 1977, having to wait 30 days for a catherization report to get back from Texas, I am grateful for all the improvements in health care we have seen in the past several decades.

Well the 2 youngest grandchildren are here to day to help me bake a cake and enjoy our day. I hope you enjoy your day too and love those that share your life. It is so precious.

Jane

Friday....

The plentiful UFOs and whimms are proceeding nicely. I was able to finish stitching several counted cross stitch kits I had in. I purchased them last year via ebay. All three originated from the Silver Needle as a pattern per month program they offered. I bought these in hopes to learn more about the different textiles and fibers that many stitchers deal with so it's an education in process.

This one titled SPRING:
The kit included 11- ct Betsy Ross Linen,#5 perle cotton in 3 shades of green and 1 of pink, 2 shades of pink in Splendor silk (Yummo!), overdyed purple floss, a mill hill tulip treasure, with tiny pink bead and a metal butterfly charm. I stayed with all recomendations of this kit except for the purple floss. It wasn't shaded enough for my preferences so I used DMC 52 instead.

Hopefully today while PGD#1 is here I'll be able to attempt my first flat fold. Not sure if I have all the neccessary parts yet. I did shop my stash and pulled 2 possible complementary fabrics to go with it. They are pictured above, I'm leaning towards the more colorful one despite the other having tulips and a more springtime feel in the print. Wish me luck.

Jane

PS: I just happened across a blog with free designs for my Little Heart monthly SAL. Thanks Sylvia for such a great design.

Time is Life

Saw this quote this am and it struck a cord within me.

“Time is life. It is irreversible and irreplaceable. To waste your time is to waste your life, but to master your time is to master your life and make the most of it.”

It didn't mention the writer but it could be Neale Walsh, either way, it makes you think, doesn't it.

Enjoy your day and life,
Jane

Dutch Spiral Rope

Last year a group of my friends and I decided to make a beaded necklace as a group endeavor. Being very new to beading I went along even though it would be stretching any talents I had tremendously. Devon and Pauline, the bead shop owners, helped me with each stage of making the necklace- thanks so much guys! Once they tutored me, I could proceed until my next step. So now, 1 1/2 years later I finally finshed my necklace last night at the new bead shop A Mano with help from Devon. Check it out.


The pattern called for 11 and 15 beads, but with the colorway I wanted, only size 11 beads were available so I used those exclusively. It even traveled down to the keys with me last year, so I could strand more beads on while vegging out. It really wasn't hard to do, just time consuming. Since being on so many muscle relaxants and pain relievers during this time, the rope is a bit relaxed and doesn't keep a round demeanor and it's very fluid just like it's maker. But it'll be fine for my first one. There is a pendant I want to make for it too and when we get together later this month, I'll learn the brick stitch from Devon.

Enjoy your day,
Jane

Happy Easter

My you find happiness and a sense of peace during this holiday celebration. We picked up a couple of things for the littlest grandchildren and will be having a dinner together this afternoon. Got the hot tub going this weekend so perhaps in between cooking and other things needing attention, I'll be able to slip into it at some point today. Oh, the many blessings we have and are grateful for.

Easter greetings!
Jane

Stash Report #14

Happy to report, I did get some fabric used this past week. So now my report is finally moving just a bit.

Used this week: 2.5 yards
Used Year To date: 18.75 yds

Added This week: 0 yards
Added Year To Date: 40.5 yards

Net Fabric Gained (Loss or used): 21.75 yards

Still showing a gain of more fabric in than out, but am finally getting to some of the little projects that have been on my "want to do list" while I wait until the next UFO number is drawn on the 14th of April. On eof the projects is to make a hospital gown for a 5 year old pre-school mate of my granddaughter. She is dealing with a malignant cancer and is receiveng chemo and radiation treatments. She is in her 3rd week of treatments and my heart just hurts for her and her family. Being into princesses, I was able to find princess fabric at Walmart. Not a great quality to it so it won't last long. I called her grandfather to find out where the ports are located so I can sew in some convenient access points. While PG#1 is here today for Easter dinner, I'll be taking measurements for length and placement since they are very similiar. If you would, please say prayers for Princess Audrey and her family. We believe in miracles.

Where is Matt Harding?

This You tube has been around since 2008, but each time I see it, I smile. I hope it has the same effect on you. And just think it may be a way to get and keep World Peace, get all the leaders of the world out there dancing....just a simple idea.



Look at all those smiles. It just warms the heart.

Jane