Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Pawsitive Tails - Winter Woes

Mo-ommm.... I'm sooo bo-ored! When will Spring be here?!?!!!
Poor Lucy~


Friday, January 23, 2009

Reflections

An excerpt from A Well-Tended Soul - Staying Beautiful for the Rest of Your Life by Valerie Bell

How Did Mother Get into My Mirror?

Beauty Tips: For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day. For poise, walk with the knowledge that you'll never walk alone.

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed; never throw out anybody.

Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm.

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides. True beauty is reflected in a woman's soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows...
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Thursday, January 15, 2009

Another Fab Contest

A happy Thursday to everyone!

On this frigid and snowy day I am happy to inform you that progress is being made on the disasterous sewing room. All that needs to be done now is to make and hang the curtains. WOO-HOO! I must say that it looks and feels so much better. Well, DUH!!

But even at this stage I feel it will be okay to start on my exchange blocks and finish the quilt in progress without any pangs of guilt.

Before leaving though I have to let you in on another terrific contest. This one is an opportunity to win fat quarters... not-even-on-the-shelf-yet fat quarters... and lots of them!! Just go to Calico Carriage and follow the instructions.

Good luck!
Iva

Monday, January 12, 2009

Dinner Dilemmas

One of the things that I enjoy most about finally joining in on the blogging world is the discovery of the foodie blogs. There are some pretty talented and knowledgeable gourmets and gourmands whose sites have on occasion assisted me in determining what to prepare for dinner.

Personally, I get awfully tired of a making and eating meat and potato meals -- or as I call it "guy food" -- that my two guys are particularly fond of. And right now I am at that point. So tonight, thanks to one of those food blogs, I'm making a good old-fashioned New England-style corn chowder along with some of the Midwestern cornbread I was brought up on.

The chowder has potatoes in it. And it is hearty enough that my guys should be satisfied. Right?

But not only that, it's quick and easy to prepare. Which gives me more time to spend working on getting my sewing room organized.

And the sooner I get my sewing room organized, the sooner I can get to work on a quilt block exchange using these fun Mary Englebreit Recipe for Friendship fabrics!





I've never done a quilt block exchange... so I have no clue what I'm doing!! But I have been assured that it is fun and easy.

I may never be invited to participate again!

Friday, January 9, 2009

Great Giveaway!

Hopefully this awesome giveaway is still open to accept entries!! Jackie at Canton Village Quilt Works is giving away three great prizes to celebrate her 100th post. Go check it out today and leave a comment.

Happy Friday!!
Iva

Thursday, January 8, 2009

There's No Place Like Home

Happy New Year y'all!

After two weeks of celebrating the holidays with MFG's family and enjoying the warmer climes of coastal Mississippi, we arrived back to the bitter Kansas cold that we had happily left before Christmas.

Cold though the weather can sometimes get here, it does feel good to be home surrounded by all that is familiar, cooking in my own kitchen (where I know where everything is, what is stocked in the pantry and fridge, and can cook whatever I want, whenever I want), along with sleeping in my own bed.

At some point in the future we do plan to make Mississippi our home. A few years ago we purchased four and a half acres in a brand-spanking new development, and this is where we will build our dream home and live happily ever after. With the economy tanking, that "future" is being pushed further and further out. As I told MFG, by the time we are able to make the move we're going be too old to take care of all that land. I'm not sure why we need that much property anyway. Except that after living in condos and subdivisions where your neighbors are right in your back yard, having all that space is really very appealing.

As it is though this is how we spent a portion of our vacation:




Four and a half acres, Honey!



Not to worry... MFG didn't do all the work, or even most of it. While he was riding the tractor on the back half there was brush and fallen limbs to be removed from the front of the property that is visible from the street.

Only a handful of nice homes have been built in this subdivision so far. But there are other property owners just like us who come in periodically to clean and sit and dream...

While these owners installed a place to sit and dream, Mother Nature provided mine:

Isn't this just the coolest tree you have ever seen?!! That is MFG's baby sister enjoying a relaxing moment.... before I put her to work.... LOL.... Love ya, Sis, for all the work you do out there!

But now that vacation is over, there is work to be done here at home. Although I don't make resolutions I do make plans. And my plan for 2009 is to finish some UFOs. Some of these have been around way too long and they need to be put out of my misery!! The oldest is this Ohio Star quilt:



It was the very first quilt I made (has it really been 15 years ago?? WOW!). Yep, learned a few things since then -- notice how the center of my stars stand out and the points disappear? And just too many other things to mention? I made this for my daughter when she was a teenager and apparently she thought since it was for her she could go ahead and use the darned thing. After a while it became so stained that I couldn't stand to look at it any more. I've toyed with the idea of removing all the quilting that has been done so far and putting new batting and a new back on it. But it's so close to being done that I'm even more tempted to just finish it and give it a good soaking. Any thoughts???

Then there's my second quilt -- a Triple Irish Chain. I made this one and started the hand quilting about a year after the Ohio Star.

But with a house fire, a marriage, and a move (or three), this poor quilt was also pushed to the back of the quilting closet.

Next came my Maple Leaf quilt.

Started sewing this one about 6 years ago and again got a little sidetracked. I finally finished the last of the blocks about a year ago. But it really looks like a good one for Siriporn to do her magic with on her long arm quilter. Maybe... still contemplating hand quilting though. Also, should I add another (wider) border? I'm thinking yes.

Then there is this quilt:

What was I thinking?! I don't really like blues that much!! But I saw a gal on Simply Quilts (again several years ago) do these blocks and thought how fun it might be to make. It's all squares and half square triangles, with endless layout possibilities. It's a pretty cool lap quilt... if I can just get past the blue and get it quilted. Maybe this would be a good one to practice machine quilting on (another of my plans: learn machine quilting)!

And finally the quilt I made for my precious granddaughter.


Two years is long enough! I need to finish it so that she can enjoy snuggling under it. While on our Christmas vacation I did make pretty good progress and got about a third of it quilted. So this one will be done soon and on its way to Oklahoma!

And while working on UFOs and taking care of life, I seriously need to do something about my sewing room. It has been horribly neglected lately! What do you think?

See that on the floor? Another quilt in progress (along with other stuff... good grief)!

One would assume that with there being a sewing machine in the room and the fact that, obviously, there are fabrics in same said room, someone must know how to sew, right? Then WHY are there no real curtains on that window?!!! One more thing to add to my 2009 plans.

AND, I need to try to incorporate a design wall so that the next time I have a quilt to show y'all you won't have to be looking at what's on my floor, or pieces of my furniture!
I'll keep you posted on the progress. Till then...
Happy Quilting!
Iva