Something is Brewing...

Two things actually. One is a surprise birthday party for my dad who is celebrating his 80th birthday tomorrow. There has been quite a lot of planning, cleaning, cooking, rearranging of furniture, and movie making going on over here! I was even able to find Happy 80 Birthday balloons at our local party store! My dad's siblings are coming in from out of town so he will be really surprised to see them!

The other thing brewing is a new batch of vanilla. I usually start a batch in May that is ready in December for Christmas presents. This year I decided to make a batch that will be ready in June to give as favors at our annual family reunion that my husband are hosting here in Maryland. It is really easy to make and taste so much better than store bought.   

1.  Ingredients - 2 1/2 gallon bottles of Vodka & a half pound of Madagascar Vanilla Beans.
2.  Cut the Vanilla beans lengthwise.
3.  Place cut Vanilla beans in a gallon size, glass jar. 
4.  Pour the 1st bottle of Vodka in.
5.  Pour the other bottle of Vodka in.
6.  Put the cover on and let brew for 6 months.

Ok, while the Vanilla brews I need to go finish 1 more tray of Baked Ziti for the party tomorrow!

Blessings friends!

2012 in Review

I've been reading lots of blogs the last few days with round ups of their year. As I was thinking about how creative I had been over the last year I wasn't coming up with much. Then as I was looking back on some of my posts I realized that hey! I did actually accomplish something this year and besides that I took 5 college classes and managed to get A's in every one. It's been a year full of challenges and change. My daughter graduated from college in May and moved to Pittsburgh in October and in November my husband was forced into an early retirement! 

This year I managed to do the following:

I made two table runners - one was a wedding gift for the daughter of one of my wild thread friends Dian and the other one was a fall runner that that I had wanted to make last year! I made a cute pin cushion as a gift for my friend Chris, one baby quilt for the daughter of one of my mom's friends, and six mug rugs as gifts for my aunts. I made a queen size quilt for my daughter as a graduation present that includes blocks made by my friends in my quilting group. I made a 'thankful' quilted picture, painted a tree for my family room wall, made a design wall for my new sewing room, started on a Snoopy quilt for my good friend Melanie, and FINALLY added my sweet daughter in love Megan to our Snowman family.

Praying that you have a blessed new year filled with all the things that make you happy.  Make time for the things that matter: family, friends, neighbors, and the strangers you meet along life's way. Love deeply, forgive quickly, laugh often, be kind and gracious, and pray for others.

Blessings,

My New Design Wall

I know not everyone has the luxury of their own sewing room but if you do you might want to consider making yourself a nice design wall. I purchased a 4 by 8 sheet of insulation at Home Depot for under $10.00. I had to cut mine down to about 6 1/2 feet because of an intake vent high up on the wall. I just measured it and cut it with an exacto knife.  First I bought a package of batting and put in on by taping in on the back with duct tape however I was not happy with it.  It was too fluffy and I wanted it to be more like felt or flannel. I took it off, went back to JoAnn's and I bought batting off the roll. It was very wide so I only needed a yard and 3/4's. I laid the foam insulation on my dining room table, laid the batting on top, and then trimmed it so it was about 4" longer on all sides than the foam sheet. Then I rolled one side up, used spray adhesive on the foam and then rolled out one ended, smoothing as I went. Then I repeated for the other end. 

       

I used duct tape on the back to anchor the edges before it was hung on the wall. My husband hung it for me using nails with a washer into the stud.  

I took a circle of batting (actually the corners that I trimmed from the batting as I was taping it to the back) and using a small screwdriver I just carefully pushed the edges under the washer to disguise them!

Different view of the design wall.   I still hadn't covered all the washers when I took this picture.   

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a happy and healthy new year!

Blessings,

How About Some Font Love?

I know I am a little crazy but I do love fonts. I came across Font Squirrel this morning and have been downloading to my hearts content. I am actually on a hunt for a manuscript font that has a tail on the q for a bingo game at the Montessori school where I work. I have not been able to find it so I will keep searching. Here are a few I downloaded today. Fun right?!

Hope you are enjoying the holidays! 
Blessings,

Snoopy 4 & 5

Here they are.  Numbers 4 and 5!  

 Friends!

Joe Cool!

I have pretty much decided to do a chevron zig zag at the top and bottom of the quilt to make it Charlie Brown'ish'.  And I think I will make it a nine patch. I am still in the planning stage. I do have a new sewing room which is very exciting!  I will post more about that later. 

Blessings!

Thankful Wall Art

I saw this adorable quilted 'Thankful' framed project over at The Three Sweet Peas blog and knew I had to make one. I found an old oil painting in a great frame at an awesome rummage sale in Pittsburgh last year with my daughter. 

I spray painted the frame black. The original at The Three Sweet Peas was square and used a mat but since my frame was rectangle and I didn't want to spend a fortune on getting a mat cut, I just used white fabric as a border to mimic the mat. 

  I used fall colors of red, orange, and yellow. After I sewed the block together I fused it to a lightweight fusible batting and then did some quilting on it. I used my cricut machine to cut out the letters backwards and adhered them directly to the back of the glass. I cut a piece of cardboard for the back.  I totally love it!

Happy Thanksgiving all. I hope you are able to spend time with friends and loved onesk over the holiday and reflect on all the things you are grateful for!

Blessings,

My Fall Table Runner

I bought this fabric last year and have finally used it to make a fall runner for my kitchen table!  This fabric is Gobble, Gobble by Moda.

 Here is it hanging on my deck.

 A close up of the appliqued leaves and my FMQ little leaves.

 On the table!

Happy Fall!

Blessings,