Granny Square Quilt Block! Really?

I have been seeing this quilt block on various other blogs around the internet and since I have that 'shoe box" full of 2 1/2 inch squares, I thought well here's a chance to use up some of those squares...

This box of squares never seems to diminish!  Which is of course my own fault, because whenever there is less than a fat quarter of any of my fabrics I tend to spend a few minutes and cut that piece down to either 2.5 inch or 3.5 inch squares -- so you know, somewhere in the background is ANOTHER shoe box full of 3.5 inch square...

It really doesn't take long to do a batch of these "Granny Square Blocks"  which I think may also be called, Many Trips Around the World (but you will have to go google that to verify it if you want)

Instead of doing these blocks (as suggested on another site) in rows, I found it to be easier to make a stack of nine patch blocks to start with.   Then I made the 'frame' which was a print fabric and 3 plain white squares and sewed that piece (I shoulda taken a picture but forgot) onto the nine patch. Pressed the whole thing and trimmed it up square...

I managed 20 blocks in about 4 -5 hours...  Kept me occupied and made a dent in the shoe box of 2.5 inch squares.  That is until I checked around the sewing room and discovered a half dozen scrap ends of other projects and proceeded to cut them into squares which I'm sure added more to the box than I started with!

Well, maybe tomorrow I will work on another stack of these blocks, because this set is going into my ETSY shop.

Now for a change of pace, I am going to go into the kitchen and see about creating a batch of cookies... Its been a couple of months since this house has seen home made cookies....

Knit Mitts and Crochet Sweater

Whew!  My sewing machine has been sitting idle this past week, but I have kept my hands busy, and my bum in a comfortable chair -- its favourite place, actually!

Well, truthfully, the organizational and clean-up bug came to visit so everyday this past week, I was pulling things out of corners and drawers and shelves and piling them in the middle of whatever room I happened to get the urge to work on... The main bedroom, the kitchen, the upstairs bath and the 'linen' closet...   I am most impressed by my progress in my bedroom, tho.  But I am not showing you a picture, cause it is just a bedroom...

In between these frenzied bouts of organizing, I sat quietly and either finished up those grey mittens I dreamed about last week...

Which, I just might send to my brother Joe in Winnipeg, even though winter is coming to an end, there are still some cold days ahead, I'm sure...

And also crocheting two short sleeve cardigans, which I am hoping will suit my twin great neices in Victoria, BC, Greta and Lucy who are soon to be celebrating another birthday. It is hard to keep track of kids in the family who live in a different city, so these two cardi's are a guess at about a childs size 6/7... They were fun and easy to make up - well, the green one, which I finished up on Saturday was easy and now I am about half way on the pink one

I used a baby sweater free instruction I found on the internet and instead of baby yarn, I used a fairly new yarn, Waverly by Bernat which is almost a chunky, but is really soft and I am hoping the girls  will like it.  I increased the number of stitches by about 20%, added a button tab to the front for a three button closure instead of a neck ribbon as on the original, and used a "V" stitch for the lower body of the cardigan.  I am quite pleased with my adjustments but of course the ultimate test will be once the girls get these, if they fit properly and if they like them...

 And of course, Walter must make his appearance in the blog story, so here he sits, overseeing the progress, so far made on the pink short sleeve cardi.   Walter does like to help with any unnecessary unravelling of crocheted rows, which he tends to do unsupervised and without any care as to how far back he undoes the crocheted work that I just did.  

I am thinking, I will work a bit in the sewing room, it seems there is a "thing" going around quilting blogland of a "granny square" quilt block, so I am going to play around with making a few blocks -- even tho I have no particular project in mind.... Remember the shoe box full of 2 1/2 inch squares?  That is the box I am going to pull out again for a couple of hours of play...

Enjoy your Monday!  and if you just can't, think about Saturday, it is coming!! (and so is Christmas)

Work in Progress - French General

An organized and somewhat planned out project!  Since I won that jelly roll and charm pack at my quilt guild retreat a few weeks back of French General from Moda the wheels and cogs have been turning and my fingers have been itching to get started.  

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have decided to go with making a quilt which will be lap size, because that is about what the available strips and squares will allow unless I go hunting up some extra yardage of this fabric design.  So it is Boxy Stars as the pattern I am using...

Now after getting a few of these blocks made up, I am not sure that the amount of fabric is quite enough for 12 blocks with sashing... I may have to settle for 9 blocks...   Which might leave enough to make a piano key outside border?   Do you plan out every step to a quilt?  Or do you "wing it"?  I find I am the kind of person to " wing it" and sometimes I certainly don't end up with what I imagined at the beginning.   I keep doing things that way though, so I must find it to work well enough for me.   I should be further along later in the week and can show you how it is coming together.

In the meantime and inbetween the Boxy Squares and knitting mittens --- which reminds me --- I had a dream about knitting these mittens --- I dreamt I was knitting these mittens, grey and fuzzy, for my brother who lives in  COLD COLD Winnipeg.  Now, in the dream I heard on the tv weather channel that the tempurature in Winnipeg would be +22 C (that is about +70 F)  so I thought, why am I knitting mittens for him?  He needs a palm tree in his back yard! --- Now do you have weird dreams like that?  Should I continue with the mittens?  Today, for real, the tempurature is supposed to be -5C (which is 26 F)...

So as I was saying, inbetween sewing and knitting, I made a fabric postcard, as part of a monthly exchange I am in; the theme for the month of February was Your favourite Love Song...  It was an easy choice for me...  My favourite love song...

Can you guess?

Wild Horses by the Rolling Stones  1971, but I also love Susan Boyle's version of the song done on her first album a couple of years ago...

Now, I think I will go work on the last few rows of those mittens and perhaps get them finished up, because I am thinking I would like to get back to learning to knit socks!

Gee, there are alot of "to do" things on my list of aspirations...

Pinterest for Crafty People

Today, I have something special!  I have a guest blogger to tell you about one the the BIG internet sensations!  Rebecca Vaughn is a 'social media' guru, so I will let her tell you all about Pinterest...

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Nearly everyone is on social media nowadays, with the most recent estimation being that there are over 483 million daily active users on Facebook, and over 100 million daily users on Twitter. But the latest – and according to many, the most fun social media tool taking the online world by storm right now is Pinterest.

Pinterest is a site that allows users to create “boards” where they can “pin” images to create visual collections to share. You can follow other users and you can follow specific boards they are sharing. You can also “like” other people’s pins, and even re-pin them to your own boards.

So where do these photos and images come from? They’re all linked from commercial websites, blogs, personal web albums, news sites, and all kinds of online sources. If there is an image on the page, it can usually be pinned. Add a “Pin It” button to your browser (it’s super easy to do from the Pinterest site under the “About” menu), and whenever you stumble on to something you love while you’re surfing the Internet, hit the “Pin It” button and you can immediately pin it to your Pinterest boards.


Once you sign up and start discovering all the gorgeous things people have to share, the beautiful photography, and the links to fantastic sites, you’ll find that suddenly an hour (or more) has gone by and you want to keep looking! (Trust me, just playing on Pinterest for this article had me losing track of time!)

So what’s so fun about Pinterest?

Find what you love. For crafty types, it’s the opportunity to discover and share beautiful finds. Love knitted crafts? There are thousands of pictures of beautiful and creative projects, all with links to the original site where you can discover how to make it or where you can buy it.

Connect with others who love the same. You’re not the only one who loves the gorgeous colours in the quilts and afghans you found on Pinterest. There are others who have liked and re-pinned, and you can comment and follow one another. What better way to find new friends with similar interests?

Find out where to get it. Love a product you found on Pinterest? Since the images are linked, you just click on the image and you’ll go straight to the original site where it was posted. You can get all the info you need and possibly even purchase the item there too.

Discover how-tos and tutorials. From beautiful knitted projects to creative ideas for organizing your craft materials, Pinterest users are sharing the interesting things they know how to do – and you can save it to your boards to look at later or share with your friends and followers.

Create and share collections of your own. You can create boards for whatever you like. If you want to collect photos of ideas for redecorating your living room, you can put all those photos in one place. If you are planning a trip, you can pin photos from travel sites so your whole itinerary is right there on your Pinterest board. And of course if you are planning a new craft project, you can even share step-by-step photos from your blog and bring traffic to your site. There are tons of possibilities for nearly every kind of interest.

Currently, to join the site you have to get an invite, so request one from a friend or request one from Pinterest – but be warned, you’ll get in faster if you get an invite from a friend. Pinterest is experiencing so much growth that if you request an invite from them, you might be waiting a while!

So go ahead and look around Pinterest and start discovering all the creative, beautiful finds there. But be warned, you might be there for a while!

Rebecca Vaughan is one of The Social Chicks – three marketing and communications professionals who support individuals and organizations in “going social” – making connections through both social media and offline. (Look for workshops by The Social Chicks about Pinterest, coming soon to the Fraser Valley of British Columbia, Canada!)

Eclectic - Little Things

Now, while I have been unwell with that flu I have managed to do a few little things -- and the best part of little things is that evenually they add up to bigger and bigger things.

While I was at our guild retreat a couple of weekends back, I did some piecing of 2 1/2 inch squares -- and like I have said before when I complete a project, I often cut up the left over fabric into squares or strips to be used sometime later.  Well like the shoe box full of 3 1/2 inch squares, I have a shoebox full (and overflowing) of 2 1/2 inch squares!   I took those squares with me to the retreat weekend and put together most of these 30 blocks and pressed and squared up the edges this morning -- the block is called a Five Patch Chain and are a 10 inch square block.  These 30 blocks have barely made a dent in the shoebox!  These blocks will be listed in my etsy shop in the next day or so at a VERY good price...

The other day, I blogged about  a few links, one from the blog Crochet with Raymond about crochet flowers, so I have been busily making  few of the flowers (I haven't got to making the leaves because I have no green yarn!) so my progress in the 5 pointed flowers are looking alot like stars aren't they?

One of the "gifts" that I received as a participant at my guild's retreat was a personalized mug rug!  I totally forgot to mention it when I wrote about the retreat.   One of the organizing group for the retreat spent alot of time putting together these great little "rugs" and I use it every morning beside my keyboard!   Wouldn't a little "protector" like this make you feel DARN special?  So to the maker, THANK-YOU so much for this!

This week, I will be featuring a GUEST BLOGGER!  I have never had anyone as a guest on my blog, so I hope you enjoy what she has to say!  She is not a quilter, but is an EXPERT and a wonderful writer... Come back on Wednesday for her feature, please.

Now to get back to playing around with little things...

Not Quite... up to Par

I did say that I would post something for Saturday, particularly on the subject on Inventory...  Well, like the title there says, I really haven't got myself up to par yet and did not even go into the sewing room for any length of time in the past few days...

But I have found a few things that made me smile and got my "creative juices" going (although I haven't done much about it)...

Here is a blog that I visit regularly, Snowcatcher, that is mainly about making crochet stars and ornaments, but this time she has posted a 1923 video (direct from Paris!) about rollerblading?

Check this out, you can't help but smile and be amazed...

http://www.snowcatcher.net/2012/02/friday-funny_17.html

And if you are wanting to start on Christmas 2012 decorations, read back in her blog and start a few thread crochet tree ornaments...

Here is a bit of crochet, that I have been working on lately, from another blog that I read regularly -- Crochet With Raymond (raymond is a cat and they live in New Zealand...

This is a tutorial for 5 petal flower and leaves and how to make them into a brooch -- I have found this to be an easy and relaxing project and speaking of Christmas AGAIN -- this is still only February isn't it?  Well, I have in mind these little brooches, slightly adjusted with my own "take on it" as Christmas wrap decorations...

Check out these little flowers -- especially if you have bits of yarn scraps laying about...

http://crochethealingandraymond.wordpress.com/2011/01/05/pointy-petal-flower/

Here's another little flower; this time made with fabric, glue and beads or buttons. So if there is not yarn in your crafty inventory, this flower is what you can make with some of those lovely scraps from your last quilt, or from your last 10 quilts for that matter.

Go to http://www.womansday.com/home/craft-ideas/diy-style-fabric-flower-charm-85151?click=main_sr  for a bit of charming inspiration!

Have a great Inspirational Sunday!

Cough, Cough, Snort, Echtttt...

I am on the recovery side of a nasty flu, the annual flu shot did not help me this year...

Even though I have not written for a week, the little wheels and cogs in my brain have been turning and spinning and creating projects that I am itching to get started on...

I also am thinking of working on a series -- and if you know me by now, you will possibly have guessed that I will not promise a beginning or an end or even a contents list!   Suffice to say, instead of a few features about ORGANIZING, which seems to be the big topic to start this year, I am planning to talk about INVENTORY....

So once I stop coughing and snorting and making weird wheezy sounds, I have some work to get on with here on the BLOG...

See you on Saturday....

I know Archie is waiting patiently beside my Janome for the rhythmic click of the needle to lull him into a curled up furry ball beside the machine or ontop of a stack of fabric...(he is not allowed in the sewing room unless I am there too).  It is the sunniest room in the house and you know how cats love a sunbeam in winter!

After Retreat

This past weekend I spent at Rosemary Heights Retreat Centre in Surrey, BC (south of #10 Hwy at 152nd St). This is the third time I have attended our guild retreat and for me, the BEST one yet!!

As you can see, Walter is doing a last inspection of my sewing box, before I pack it up to go to the retreat!

The Retreat Centre has become quite familar to me, but without our guild's fantastic organizing committee, nothing would run quite so smoothly and seem like an effortless process. (Tho we do know it takes months of planning ahead of time!)

 When we start to arrive on Friday afternoon, it is not long before everyone is set up at their (preassigned) sewing stations and everyone gets busy with the projects they brought along to work on.  Lynne W.  had a tablerunner project to teach which included some TRICKY piecing and extra techniques -- I don't know how i forgot to take photos of it!  HMMMM....

Now, when you get to take part in a Quilting Retreat, it is not ALL about quilting and sewing.  FOOD is, as always on our minds and this year Rosemary Heights kitchen chefs and staff served up some excellent meals!  Saturday's lunch was especially fine.  It was a build it yourself salad with all sorts of goodies piled ontop of fine fresh romaine! MMMMM.... MMMMM... MMMM.... Good!

Surrounding Rosemary Heights meeting rooms, kitchens and accommodations (which also by the way are individual rooms -- small but very comfy beds) is the natural setting of wooded and open lawn and meadow areas.  When I arrived there were about 6 deer just off the lawn area, but of course moved out of range of the camera, by the time I got it out of my bag!

 The above photo was taken looking north west toward Vancouver and if you are eagle eyed you will see the busy street leading to the busy city centre...

Now, not only do we spend our hours working on projects that we brought but we are very priviledged to have the support of the quilt shops from Chilliwack to Vancouver to offer up discount coupons for a SHOP HOP on our way to the retreat centre but also to donate door prizes for some extra excitement during the 3 day weekend at Retreat.  I was so very lucky to receive a drawn door prize donated by the QUILTED STITCH in Ft Langley.

The other shops that helped out with coupons, gift certificates and prizes were:
A Great Notion's Quiltworks 103 - 19289 Langley Bypass, Surrey BC

A Great Notion's Quiltworks  32526 Dahlstrom Ave, Abbotsford, BC

A Quilted Stitch 110 - 23343 Mavis Ave  Ft Langley, BC

Castle Sewing Centre 18543 Fraser Hwy  Surrey, BC

Hamels Fabrics and Quilting  5843 Lickman Rd  Chilliwack, BC

Laura's Fashion Fabrics  1552 Johnston Rd.  White Rock, BC

My Little Quilt Shop in the Woods  26935 199A Ave Maple Ridge, BC

Toews Sewing 2518A Clearbrook RD  Abbotsford, BC

Tom's Sewing 109 -8318 120th Street Surrey BC (but they had a fire on Feb 2, so check on line for info about the store)

Wineberry Fabrics 202 - 6355 152 St Surrey BC

And Carola's Quilt Shop at 7 - 1161 Sunshine Coast Hwy Gibsons, BC who came to our retreat and set up a booth on Saturday morning for a few hours so that some of us could do a bit of shopping within walking distance of our sewing station!

It was a fantastic weekend with lots of laughing and learning!  If you get a chance to be part of such an event -- I would say, Don't pass it by. 

Now, What can I do with my prize of a Jelly Roll and matching Charm Pack?  I am thinking perhaps a Block Pattern called Boxy Stars  check it out here http://quiltville.com/boxystars.shtml  What do you think?  I'll try to get some progress in the next few days with some pictures of my version of these blocks.... Come back and visit!

Or, sign up on the email notifications and the blog will automatically be sent to the email you submit -- you can cancel anytime, tho I hope you don't...

Useful Quilt Related Links

I am off to Quilt Retreat this weekend at a beautiful facility in the wilds of Surrey, BC!

I signed up and paid for the retreat that is organized by my guild (Abbotsford Quilters' Guild) way back in October 2011 and one of the things I of course didn't even consider at the time was that Retreat Weekend for me was Super Bowl weekend for many others.  Now how could I be so LUCKY to not have to be exposed to those well-padded, football throwing warriors?   There could be no better weekend to be on a retreat weekend, unless of course it was Stanley Cup weekend!  Maybe I can get my Guild to arrange two weekends a year?? 

A weekend of NO sports and All Sewing!

In the meantime, if you just are not able to get to a sewing, quilting or other type of retreat this weekend, I shall leave you with a couple of links where you can drop in and think about and maybe learn more about Quilting!

Here is a great one, that I actually discovered thro StumbleUpon (remember I said I would Introduce you to some computer stuff that would increase your quilting explorations)  StumbleUpon is one of those 'sources".

Anyway go and check out this blog post by Melody Johnson, a well known quilt artist.  This particular blog post was done in 2005 but as you read you will know why she repeated it on her blog.   A very enlightening and informative "lecture" on using fusing techniques for your quilting.   Go to  http://fibermania.blogspot.com/2012/01/fusing-101.html  then check out some of the other entries on her blog, if you can't read it now, bookmark her blog so that you can keep up with her facinating projects!

And, GEE! we are always looking for quilt patterns, right?  Well, here is a web site that is FULL of free ones!  When you click on the link it takes you to a page where as you scroll down you will see various quilts or projects that might interest you.  You then click where it says "Get this Free Pattern" and you will be taken to a page with a large picture of the project and on the left hand side are further links to the written instructions and cutting details or templates...  If you can't find a new project here, well, I guess you just gotta go out and buy a new quilting book for $40 bucks (not that theres anything wrong with a good book)   So head on over to http://www.freequiltpatterns.info/  and see what you can find.

Now, hopefully those two sites will keep you busy for a few days! 

One more thing that I have to pass along to those of you with smart phones or things like ipad or itouch.   And again, i discovered this by following a "tweet"...   On your phone go to where you can search and download new apps.  Search for Robert Kaufman and you should come up with Robert Kaufman fabrics.  It is a FREE download and this is a Fantastic! (with fireworks fantastic) app.  It is a quilting calculator.  It will calculate how much fabric you need for a particular size backing, it will calculate how many of a particular size piece you can cut in say 1 yard/meter of fabric.  Need 1000  2 1/2 inch squares, it will tell you that it will take 4. (I can't remember the fraction) yards of fabric!  Have to make binding for a quilt that measures 52 inches by 70 inches?  punch in the numbers and it will tell you how long to make the binding!  Cool huh?  Rush right to your phone and look for and download the app.  You will thank me and especially you will thank Robert Kaufman fabrics for such a GREAT FREE APP...

Enjoy your weekend!  I am off to sew and sew and sew and sew and then talk and talk and talk and talk at the quilt retreat!

Your Privacy

Lately I have been thinking about writing information on my blog about some computer/internet things that some of my readers might have some use for.  I don't want to bore you with alot of technical details, but when you use email, internet, and online social media, there are things that everyone should be aware of, and make the best use of....

Even though you prefer to quilt or crochet or do other sorts of crafting, I am sure that you use your computer and its connections to the world wide web. Many of you have cell phones of various types that can keep you online even when you are away from your home computer.   The world is changing, and it is changing FAST!  You can't really ignore some of this stuff...

As of March 1, 2012, GOOGLE, the big search engine and the entity that manages things like gmail, yahoo, you tube, maps and many other applications is changing it's privacy policy.   I was made aware of one of these changes because I was watching the CTV newscast from Winnipeg, Manitoba (even tho i live on the west coast, I have a cable option of what is called time shift channels, so I can watch tv from Newfoundland, Ontario, Manitoba, and Alberta along with my own local channels). 

One thing that I learned is that if you have a gmail account, and it happens to be open, and at the same time (in a seperate screen) you do a search on google -- by some magic, that we mere mortals do not have the time or inclination to understand for the most part - Google can LINK your search request to your personal gmail account.  Now basically what this means is if I do a search on GOOGLE and type in say OHIO STAR -- which is a type of quilt block -- GOOGLE will LINK that request to commercial enterprises (who pay for ad space) to your email.   That means that a company that say is OHIO STAR Car Repair will send a advertising email to your personal email account (or any thing that relates to commercial enterprises that use OHIO STAR as a "tag").   Now remember, it can only do this if your email account is open at the same time as you are doing other things on the internet...  Don't Panic!   The main thing to remember is that YOU have options.   First you should go to http://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/  where you can learn more than you want to know about these new policies...

It is not my job to bore you -- well, just this little bit, but I hope that you can say I am giving you some needed information, even tho it has nothing to do with quilting or crochet or going for rides in the country, or funny little black and white cats with their matching dog.  (had to put a photo in there to lighten up a serious subject)

Check out that privacy policy page, and once you get to the page, read  the section "Information we collect and how we use it".   Then there is on the right hand side of the page a little section that says "Privacy Resources"  click on the "Privacy Tools" and that will explain how you can OPT OUT of some of the automatic (underhanded big brother links) LINKS that you may have connected to your emails that you never thought could happen...

It is up to you to check out these things now that you are aware.  If there are things you don't understand about it, read it again, ask a friend to help you, ask your kids if they know what to do -- kids know so much more about the electronic world, don't they? 

So please, if you can't do it now, write yourself a note and set aside an hour or so to read about these new policies, take the time to understand them and do the things necessary for your own peace of mind to adjust your own privacy settings.  If you do nothing, you will soon be wondering WHAT?? or WHY??? or WHO's This???

Now, back to our regularly scheduled quilting, crochet, and crafty stuff!!  Tomorrow....

PS  I try to use language that we all understand but I just realized I used a word "tag" that may mean something different to many of you...  A 'Tag" in computerese is "is a non-hierarchical keyword or term assigned to a piece of information (such as an internet bookmark, digital image, or computer file). This helps describe an item and allows it to be found again by browsing or searching. Tags are generally chosen informally and personally by the item's creator or by its viewer, depending on the system. 

A Few Useful Links for Quilters

The last few days I have come across some interesting subjects that apply to quilters and can teach us a few lessons.  Lessons that cost nothing!  My favourite thing about the internet.  When you look for information on the internet and when you look at BLOGS it rarely costs a penny!

On Ellen Ann Eddy's blog is an explaination of the colour wheel -- not about the colours but about which colour wheel to use, depending on what you are looking at...

http://www.ellenanneeddy.com/weblog/?p=480

Susie Monday (quilt artist) has a very useful post on her blog about What Writers need for focus.  Pretty much the same rules apply to quilt making or for that matter EVERYDAY LIFE -- I know I break the first rule regularly and now I know that rule is the biggest challenge for most everybody...

Check out   http://susiemonday.squarespace.com/journal/2012/1/30/what-henry-miller-said-writers-read-artists-you-need-for-foc.html

And here is another ART Quilter's Blog that is just completely fun to look at!  Not just one entry, if you read not one word, the photos of quilts (not just her own) will keep your eyes moving as you scroll down the page!  Are you thinking you might want to create a COW Quilt after taking a look at her images?

http://marylouweidman.blogspot.com/

And even though I have the "button" over on my right hand side bar, I am going to suggest you go check out the Needle and Thread network.  Every Wednesday is a "LINK-UP" of Canadian Blogs with something new every week...  Just click on the red 'button' over there to explore a set of Canadian quilters and crafters.... 

Cooking like Gramma House

First I should explain that House was not my Gramma's real name.  I grew up calling her that because she lived in a house, while my other Gramma was Gramma Choo Choo -- Yep! you got it she lived and worked as Cook on a Train!

So, as I said Gramma Choo Choo was a professional Cook -- and good enough to create menu's for the upper classes travelling by train -- back in the 1940's and 50's there was not much travel by plane and train travel was quite elegant, apparently.

ANYWAY.  Gramma House was just a regular family cook, mind you for 10 children and a husband!

I cook more like Gramma House than like Gramma Choo Choo...  In fact I doubt that I am even close to being as competent as either, but I try, sort of...

I know that Gramma House had very few recipes, most of her cooking was meat, either roasted or boiled or fried along with potatoes -- I don't think she ever made any kind of noodles or rice.   But she did love beans, Beans in everything and every kind of beans she could find.  Fresh Green Beans, fresh yellow string beans, dried white beans, kidney beans!

Well, last night I decided to cook like Gramma House.  I got out the slow cooker and checked out the pantry and freezer.  I am calling it Meatball Chili...

The Men thought it was one of those GREAT meals!  Tho you must take into consideration that they both worked a 8 hour day at their job and a pot of hot and ready food is number one on their list when they walk in the door at 6pm...

So.

Meatball Chili (in the slow cooker)

dump each ingredient in the slow cooker and turn on LOW for 6 hours.  Eat

20 frozen Turkey Meatballs - thats what I had but I am sure beef, pork or chicken would work quite as well...  and it is 20 because I get 4 meatballs and the men each get 8 -- if you have a different count, go ahead and put in what you need -- same as the carrots, I make them eat a carrot for every meatball!

20 baby carrots, whole

1 middling size zuchinni chopped up, skin on.

3 stalks celery, chopped

1/2 medium onion chopped fairly fine

2 tablespoons honey garlic BBQ sauce, your favourite brand

1 can kidney beans rinsed

1 can diced tomatoes  14 oz or 400 gr

2 big tablespoons chili powder

1 tsp cumin

a few drops tabasco, depending how much "heat" you like

And I know the consensus is to add salt and pepper, but i am supposed to watch the salt intake and my son doesn't like salt on things, so each person in my house adds their own salt as desired...

 
Now, I know that when writing about a recipe you should show a lovely enticing photo of the food, just before you serve it up.  BUT.  I didn't expect it to be quite so appreciated!  And I must add, tho, there is a problem with having Meatballs in Chili....

They picked out all the meatballs!  So the few spoonfulls left at the bottom of the pot doesn't have a meatball in it...  It is a good thing that in my house, THE COOK always gets first dibs on the food or I would have been eating vegetarian chili!

Thanks to Gramma House and her style of improvisational cooking I can create my own masterpieces (and terrible failures too)!

Stacks of 3 1/2 inch Squares

I grew up in farm country, North of Winnipeg, Manitoba.  The worst blizzard ever recorded was part of my early teen years...  The snow blew from Friday afternoon (of course) til Monday morning (wouldn't you know it!) 

I really dislike snow!

I now live where it doesn't snow so much and it certainly doesn't get the prolonged freezing temperatures that happens in Manitoba.

Oh, by the way, the background photo that you see on my blog here was taken by my sister-in-law, Karen and is a view from near their cottage at Winnipeg Beach, MB.   It looks so cold and yet it is somewhat compelling and you wish you could stand out there and watch the wisps of snow drift across the frozen lake.

So the last few days we have had snow -- and I have not been out, other than my back yard since the snow started...

From my sewing room window I can look out across the neighbours property and watch the snow pile up.  The Crows congregate in a tree with red berries for their lunch, while the chickadees and juncos take turns at the bird feeders in the backyard...

I have too many UFO's to count but I also have a shoebox full of squares cut at 3 1/2 inches from the scrappy bits from other projects.  I started cutting the leftover bits way back in Y2K...  I use some but mostly they stack up.  With no real intention I started to arrange and re arrange some of the squares...

So, what else to do except start to sew 3 1/2 inch squares together.  With a Plan, sort of...

I put togther 20 - 16 patch blocks.  I had been thinking perhaps a Trip Around the World, but when I got to 20 blocks, I realized that really wouldn't work there were not enough of some fabrics and the quilt would need to be square. To do it properly I would have to continue til I had 36 blocks and I didn't want to make such a big quilt, even though there are still alot of 3 1/2 inch squares in those shoe boxes!

So after a couple hours of playing with placement, this is what is on the design wall now...

Today it has started to rain and the snow is almost gone.  I should get out into the world...

I think I will wait a bit and perhaps go think up another project.  Ya Think?

How to BE Together for 40 years Without Really Trying or Love the One Your With

Valentine's Day will be upon us in just a month.

Everybody loves Hearts and there are so many ways to create crafty hearts to symbolize the feelings and idea of being in Love.

40 years in a partnership is symbolized by the RUBY gemstone, so perhaps the red ruby heart carries even more meaning when you have lived and worked and laughed and cried and struggled and dreamed with the same person for that length of time...

When we started out on this journey we had no thought or goal or plan to get this far!  When you are 19 years old and your partner only 22, what can be on your mind but LOVE -- and that is LOVE in really big letters.

It surely has not been an easy journey and we never thought it would be, we never thought about it at all, really.  We woke up every morning together and we took care of the things that presented themselves each day.

Sure, we had dreams and plans but we never believed that those things were just my dream or his dream.  We always worked together.  We replicated ourselves in the form of two very satisfactory boys (now, well grown men).  We worked together and believed together.   And we always told people that what he says is what I mean and what I say is what he wants. 

We always stood up for each other.  We always respected each other.  We never called the other one names and we never swore at each other, even in rather heated 'discussions'.  We always figured out a way.   We never gave up on each other, even though there were disappointments, we worked to understand and repair the things we could.

We have always been ONE.

We got married in the front room of this little house at the corner of Dalton St and Mountain Ave in Winnipeg, Manitoba on a bitterly cold day in January.  The 22nd day to be exact.  It was a small wedding in my Mom and Dad's house with only our closest family there to witness.  I wore a short lace dress that cost less than 10 dollars and he wore a brown suit that came from the 2nd hand store.  Our rings came from the jewellery counter in the Woolworth's store downtown on Portage Avenue and were not real gold...

We shared a meal at the Shanghai Restaurant in Winnipeg's Old Downtown that hosted 35 friends and family and cost my dad 96 dollars for the whole thing.

It was the most stressful day of my life!  I can honestly say, I did not particularly enjoy the day.  In fact, I fainted half way through the wedding ceremony.  My Mom thought I was being dramatic!

I was just scared sh*tl#ss!

I cannot say there has been a day in those 40 years that I regretted.

We have come from being teenagers together to being old foggies.

It was an easy thing to do and yet it is something that not everyone can do.  Life treats you how you expect it to and there is no way to stop it from passing by.  You grab what you can, and hold on to what you need and want.

You don't throw things away just cause they get old, you find a new use for it or a way to revamp it or accept it.   I am pretty good at reusing and recycling things, so treating a relationship that way is not so far fetched.

I cannot imagine life without, Chris Barker,  the man I have spent my life with and I would never wish I had a different life.  The best part is there is still time to learn and be more and do more and just be TOGETHER.

Don't ask me how it's done, and don't ask me how you can do it as my only answer is what you have heard many times before.  One step at a time.  It's like making a quilt, I guess, you sew all the pieces together and stitch the layers so they become so knotted together it is impossible to rip it apart and eventually it becomes ONE big thing.

Triangles

I have this thing about sewing triangles.  I love to sew triangles.  I sew triangles when I can't think of anything else to make!  I have a shoe box full of triangles, sometimes alot of the same and sometimes not so many -- depends on the fabric that I have at the end of bigger pieces to make into triangles and sometimes it just depends on how much I am craving a certain colour.

I made these blocks from triangles in the bright blue, green, orange and red, each with white after seeing a really bright beautifully made granny square afghan.  Do they look like granny squares to you?

These navy blue and white quarter square triangles were done quite a while ago, mainly because I was trying to figure out if my particular sewing style needed to have the starting squares cut a little larger than the actual requirement.  I was reading some instructions that said if you make the starting square 6" inches and trimmed the block down after it was sewn, you would always have the right size.  So these were an exercise in accuracy.  Do you practice sewing, just to improve your sport?  You don't always have to be "playing a game" -- time to practice is just as useful.

 I wanted to make 4" quarter square triangles (4 1/2 inch unfinished) and if the starting square was 6", that became alot of waste!  I mean alot! Like 5/8 inch on two sides!

 So I made the square at 5 3/8 -- technically to sew it perfectly you add 1 1/4 inch to what you want the finished square to be when you are sewing this type of triangle.  I decided to add an extra 1/8 inch for varience.

 I discovered that I do sew a pretty accurate 1/4 inch seam allowance and that extra 1/8 inch extra was most often trimmed off -- thus a bit of waste. The few triangles I sewed with a slight difference in the seam allowance made the 1/8 inch extra worth the time that it took to trim the piece, because there would be the occasional one that would have sewn up just a tad too small to have a perfectly pieced complete block.

So adding that 1/8 inch leeway works for me, but adding 3/4 inch leeway is far too wasteful...

These practice triangle have been combined with that lovely deep red to create the traditional 12 inch square Ohio Star Block.

How do you put together triangles?  Do you find them to be as soothing to create as I do?  Do you use sewing of any sort to calm your nerves and ease the stress in your life?

I love sewing triangles!

PS.  These sets of blocks will be in the Etsy shop early in the week, just in case you are looking for a quick way to get started on a quilt AND in case you find making triangles troublesome...

Fabric Piles -- Organizing

Seems to me, the big theme for this new year is to Organize.  Everything from Whole Laundry Room Redo's at Mini Manor Blog to a tutorial for wall organizers made from stretched canvas (the stuff artists paint on) at Craft:

I have had my own system of fabric organizing for quite a while -- probably about 8 years actually.  I know that because a dollar store went out of business in our downtown, that my son worked at and I got a great deal on the baskets that the store used to keep small items in to display on the open shelves.  The baskets were like 10 cents each at the time and I bought about 20!  Over the years though with handling they have developed cracks and breaks and I have disposed of at least one third of the ones I have.  I don't know how much longer these will last me, but for now they are quite adequete and I am going to continue using them.  Except, in a slightly different manner than I have been doing.

It's one of those "Why didn't I think of that before?", things!

Everytime I wanted a fabric, or to try to combine various fabrics I would be digging through these baskets to see what was in there.

It was very easy to miss something or completely forget some of the smaller pieces.

The difference is small but changes the whole view of things!  Now, there is no digging.  I can see what is in a particular basket as it sits on my shelves.   I have only done the roll up and stack to two of my baskets as you can see in this photo.  The difference is HUGE!  The baskets of fabric below are over stacked, but when tidied and rolled, I don't think the basket will overflow -- those floral fabrics on the left of the photo were over flowing their basket but now they fit quite nicely...

Well, this project is one that will take a few days, I still need to sew!  I tell myself a half hour to organize the baskets, then get on with the sewing!

So, have you decided to take on an New Year organization? What is it?

Crochet Floor Sweeper Cover

About a week ago I came across this tutorial about how to make a reuseable and reverseable swiffer sweeper cover.  Heres the link if you want to try it for yourself.  http://www.craftstylish.com/item/44816/how-to-make-a-reversible-swiffer-sock

 I don't have a Swiffer -- but a similar floor cleaning tool. 

Mine came with reusable and washable pad made of a microfibre cloth.  The cloth (actually 2 of them) have proved to be excellent for most floor cleaning jobs, washing and wiping up spills and for dry sweeping too.

But now with a constantly shedding border collie and two cats about the house, it seems hair has multiplied in corners, expotentionally.  The short, sort of terry cloth of the purchased pads really just moved the hair around and didn't pick it up.

So when I saw this tutorial on the Craftstylish web page, I decided to try it out with some of my one ball acrylic yarns that had been waiting to be used for SOMETHING.

This project does take a fair amount of yarn because you are making quite a loopy fabric -- I had about 1/2 of a large skein of "I don't know what, cause the label was lost long ago" and an full ball of a baby yarn that was in a bag of 2nd hand store yarns that just didn't belong.  So these two yarns are what I used and came within a few inches of the end of the baby yarn skein.

I had to adjust the number of stitches slightly for my floor tool as I think it must be a bit bigger than the Swiffer brand tool.

I will tell you, this sweeper pad is GREAT!  It grabs those animal hair and dustballs from every corner and under all the furniture like it was a magnet, and because of the loopy things it holds it to the tool instead of just pushing it around.

Now to clean it off, you could hold it out the door and give it a shake, but I live in a townhouse and such a disposal of household dirt is quite frowned upon, so I just use my hands to pull off the hair and dustballs and put it all in the garbage bin.

This was a very successful creation and if you need an inordinate amount of dry dirt picked up, instead of pushed around, this is your next crochet project!

The tutorial link I gave you at the start of this post is easy to read and the instructions are clear.  I had never done this particular kind of loopy stitch but it was easy to figure out and once done a few times you did not need to refer back to the instructions.

Have a great weekend -- perhaps you will have a new sweeper pad by the time you need to use it on Monday!

Free Quilt Patterns!

Years ago there was a book called "Free Stuff on the Internet... For Quilters"

Things change so quickly on the internet that publishing a book about the Free Stuff would be outdated before they finished the print run!

But there is still an amazing amount of Free Stuff, especially for quilters!   Actually no matter what your interest there is free stuff and that includes free instructions.   When we want to learn new stuff about our hobbies we can go to our Local Quilt Shop and take a class.  The environment of learning along with like minded individuals is something that cannot be replaced.  We love to socialize and make new friends at the same time as learning and doing.

This year, I am going to be posting or rather trying to post a few regular features on my blog...  One of those features is to help you find Free Patterns, Free Ideas, Free Instructions, all about Quilting and sometimes about other needle crafts like Crochet, Knitting, Embroidery and using items, whether it be an old coat or an old shampoo bottle to create reused, recycled or reclaimed things that are USEFUL.

So Today  Free Quilt Patterns...

This is a great web site maintained by Windham Fabrics.  There are 26 pages of complete quilt patterns, with a couple of 'stuffies' and a few Bags amongst the wonderful designs.   You will need to have Adobe Reader on your computer to download the patterns.  

Now, don't print them all out today!  You know how we quilters have great intentions for making the next quilt?  Well, try to refrain from printing out too many!  These patterns are on the site for some time and should be available for awhile -- and in a few months your idea of making the next quilt may have changed, so there are still dozens to choose from.

Go check out the free patterns on the Windham Fabrics site here.

http://www.windhamfabrics.net/projects/ 

   And heres just one of many -- maybe named for our own Darcey, of the Holly Jolly Bingo Game??  (a local quilt guild member for those not familiar with my town)...

Stop by and take your time looking through the 200 or so patterns.  Is there a special one for you?

Added

Just a short note to let you know to look over on the side panel.  Yep, right there at the top.

A search box.

I just discovered that there was such a thing that could be added to a blog and truth be told, I have been wondering myself, "How do I go back and find specific things I wrote about?"  

Well, there it is!  A search box.  Now, not only does it search my blog for particular subjects but it will also search for previous links to other blogs that I have posted about.

Now, I won't feel quite so lost -- after a few years of posting about things it is so easy to loose some of those ideas...

I learned about the search box and some other great tips on a blog I discovered today.  Check out Crystal & Co. a blog about family life with alot of interesting tips and ideas...

Try it out!  I'm hoping it will make things a bit easier for both you and me.

Try To ___ This Year

This is a boring post.

I am just posting a couple of thoughts for 2012, might they be called resolutions?

Well, okay, yeah I guess they could be called that.

1.  I am going to think about the food I eat, meaning a bit more careful about the sweet stuff, the greasy stuff and the highly processed stuff....

2.  I am going to work on using the water colour pencils I bought a few months back and have barely opened, except to discover that watercolours work best on watercolour paper.  So I have to go get some of that to actually paint a picture...

3.  I am going to make a list of my DVD's so that I can remember to watch some of the movies I have sitting on the shelves, instead of renting or "on demanding" movies...

4.  I am going to set aside a few dollars -- into a savings account - and plan a trip.  I think I would like to go to the South of the USA, Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisianna, Florida -- I particularly want to ride on a Paddlewheel boat on the Mississippi and go to New Orleans.

Thats my list.

Oh, and a word of the year -- I did not post last years word, but I do think I accomplished it to some extent -- the word was Recovery.

Now this year I am thinking the word to strive for is Robust!

PS - I wanted to add that a comment from another person (it was actually a tweet) who says that making resolutions are an admission of impending failure...
What do you think about that thought?  Now you know I have to put my 2 bits in on that -- I think that failure is part of life and we learn most and best by failing and trying again.  If a person is afraid to admit they failed at an endeavour, could you or would you trust that person?  A perfectionist even has to fail, maybe more times that you know, to get to the point of perfection. 

Have you thought of any new goals?