My Past Weekend and Two Finishes

This past weekend I went on another quilt shop hop with my best friends.  We always have a great time together and I would really be disappointed to miss these outings.  We went to eight shops and each one gave us a different pattern sheet for a block that they used in the quilts that they were offering as kits.  I did not buy a kit but I took some pictures and this would be my favorite hands down.

I bought some fabrics for projects I have been collecting for but I did not take a picture of them this time around.  I also bought two more patterns, I just cannot seem to help myself.

I used the pattern for the Fat Quarter Bag this past weekend that I picked up two weekends ago.

I had bought a 6 pack of fat quarters this past December not really knowing what I would do with them.  I kept thinking of my Mom in Love because they are some of her favorite shades of pink.  At the last minute I realized that I needed exactly 6 fat quarters to put this tote together and I managed to get it done a couple hours after the birthday gathering.

I was so close to having it done before we went to my sister in laws home for dinner but I ended up returning home to finish it and ran it over to Mom in Loves home later that afternoon.  I really planned on taking a picture of Mom in Love with her tote bag but I got wrapped up in conversation and forgot.  This is how it turned out.

Side one, outside of bag.

Side two, outside of tote bag.

The bag is reversible, side one.

I missed taking a picture of the other side (reversible side) of the bag.   I had picked up a box of chocolates just in case I did not get the bag made.  They are mom's favorite, puddles, most people would call them  turtles.  Every time I think or say "box of chocolates", I think of Forest Gump. It was the first movie hubs took me to when we were dating.  "Life is like a box of Chocolates."  Can't you just hear Forest's voice?
 I am trying to continue hand making as many gifts as possible this year.   I have three grandchildren with birthdays the month of April though, and I have gone out and bought some toys to give them along with the afghans I have been working on.  Sorry to say I just could not help but fill some wishes.  I also finished my oldest daughters pillowcases out of the fabric she picked out when we spent an afternoon together.  She has moved in with a new roommate and needs some new things to make her room her own.

 So these are the things I have been doing this past week.  Tomorrow I am picking up my granddaughters to spend the weekend.  They have not visited since the first of the year, which seems so far removed already.  What are you all doing this coming weekend?  I hope it is a good one!  Blessings!

Sunday Praise

Have a blessed Sunday!   Sing your praises along with these words.

Quilt Blocks

I finished my second block for the Things We Love BOM with the Gum Tree Designers.  Here is block number 2 finished.

 I am really enjoying making these blocks.  The Gum Tree Designers are designing 10 blocks in this series but the quilt top is set up with a total of 16 blocks and we are suppose to design 6 of our own blocks to add to the quilt.  As you know or may not know I own a Scottie.  She and my blog share the same name.  So of coarse one of the things I love and cannot leave out of this quilt would be Ladybug.

 This is the first time I have designed my own block, how do you like it?  I found the image for the Scottie at the Bustle and Sew  site.  Ellie has a number of free patterns on her site that includes a pillow top using this applique. 
Here the three blocks I have done so far:

 I bought a new tool this past weekend on the shop hop that helped cut the inner blocks down to the correct size.  It worked like a charm.

 The weekend is just around the corner, have a great one!  Blessings.

Cindy Bee, Where is Spring?

Monday I came home from work and decided it was time to clean out the feathered ladies hen house.  It was gloomy and it was not very warm, but the snow had melted away with Sunday night's thunderstorm which made it easier to move the wheelbarrow full of chicken poo over to the raspberry patch.  It was too chilly to scrub the hen house out, but I scraped and swept and it is so much more pleasant to enter now.

The feathered ladies also were able to get out in the yard to get some much wanted scratching in.  Some of the ladies still are missing some feathers from their first molt.

They have been enjoying some time in their run for about a week.  I throw down some scratch grain to keep them busy in there.

And now I am calling you out Cindy Bee of The Bee Lady from Hilltop Farm, because you have been promising spring and have been posting pictures of crocuses and bees, the picture below shows you what kind of weather we have been having for about 24 hours.

This picture was taken yesterday afternoon.  I got up this morning to 2-3 inches of snow covering a sheet of ice.  I managed to get my car out on the road and crawl to work and back home again safely but it is not my kind of driving at all.  I finished two quilt blocks yesterday evening and I will get a post up showing them to you all tomorrow since this post is starting to get lengthy.  Hope if you are getting some spring weather you are enjoying it and if you are in the same boat as me, I hope you are making the best of it as possible. I am trying to despite my spring fever.  Have a great evening!  Blessings!

P.S. Don't worry Cindy Bee I am just having some fun with you I know you are not in charge of the weather. 

Sunday Praise

Oh Glorious Day!  Have a wonderful Sunday, blessings.

Good News Bad News

The good news it that I spent half of yesterday and all of today with my best friend forever.  We participated in a quilt shop hop that started here in my neck of the woods and covered quite a lot of the north western part of the state.  We had a great time.  We managed to get to three shops yesterday after work that were not aligned with the other shops for easy driving.  Made it back to my house had pizza from my brother-in-laws pizzeria and watched a really sweet movie called Life as we Know It.  Got up this morning, hubs made us some breakfast burritos and we hit the road again and made it to the other five shops.
Really excited that I found a lot of the fabric for daughter number three's quilt at two different shops.

 At one shop if you bought four fat quarters they gave you instructions for a great looking table runner that takes four fat quarters.  My friend and I picked these.

And we also got this bag pattern that can be made out of six fat quarters and is reversible.

 I also bought this bag pattern.

I had picked up some Scottie fabric this past week at Fields Fabric that had been marked on clearance.  Loved it and wanted to make a tote out of it.  Showed it to one of the quilt shop owners and she suggested the above bag pattern.  I thought it was a great idea and then found this black with white polka dots fabric to use for the handle area.

What do you think?  I think we have added a lot of new projects to our list this weekend but it was just so much fun!
Now the bad news.  BFF and I were planning on sewing last night.  We talked, we thought about what we would work on, we talked and then we decided that we would just watch the movie.  I had signed up for Friday Night Sew In just in case we did get around to sewing.  But you could still go check out what the other participants worked on.




 I'll have a lot of sewing to do and I will join up again when I do not have other plans because I would not trade the time I spent with my friend for all the sewing in the world.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend.  Blessings!

What happened to Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday?

Really, what happened to the first part of the week?  I have plans for Friday and Saturday and the week is just flying.  That is good and it is bad.  I have things that I have been trying to get done before I go off to have a ton of fun.  I have visited my middle daughter to help her learn how to thread her sewing machine and give her some simple sewing lessons and tomorrow I am driving down to the city to spend time with my grand daughters while my youngest daughter goes to a church function. 
There has not been a lot of finishing going on here this week.  Actually there has been no finishing going on here this week.  But I do have something that I did finish this past weekend to show you.  I have the first set of Barbie cloths finished that I am making for the grands and nieces for this coming Christmas.

For certain since it is March I should be working on the third set, but no I am behind.  I think I will be switching over to some sewing from some vintage patterns that I used when my daughters were children.   I have made some progress on my grand daughters afghan these past few days.

This is the Mile a Minute pattern.  It is somewhat like Granny Squares but in strips that you crochet together.  I cannot get a good picture of the color of this yarn.  I think I will need to take it outside when I finish it for a picture.
I am sure I have told you all that I live outside a small town in the middle of the woods.  But I do not think I have told you that I work even further away from town.  I work for a home appraisal company that covers quite a few counties in mid to northern part of the state of Michigan.  I am not an appraiser though, I man the phones and review reports among other office type of duties.  But I wanted to give you an idea of what the area is like around the office I work at.  The property owner behind the office has many feathered fowl.  Chickens, Roosters, Guineas and Turkeys.  And they all start roaming around the parking lot when the weather starts warming up.   I remembered to take my camera into work the other day so I could take  pictures of some of them.  Unfortunately they move fast when I step out of the door so only 1 out of 10 pictures are any good.

Domesticated Turkeys, and we still have a lot of this snow left on the ground.

 Just thought I would let you know I am thinking of you and hope to have something else to share with you soon.  Have a great week and many blessings!

Sunday Praise

I am late with Sunday Praise this week but I hope you will listen to the lyrics of this song.  I heard this on the radio this week for the first time even though it is not a new song.  The YouTube versions do not have a lot of hits but the words really are true to heart so I hope you enjoy it!

You May Want to Check This Out

If you like to stitch and like free patterns to support your habit go visit Debbie at Busy As Can Be.
http://busyascanbe.blogspot.com/

 She has a really cute kitschy pattern to share that looks great on a dish towel.  And she has it stitched in red, my very favorite color!

Some Finishes

I have been trying not to start anything new unless I finish something first.  My word for the year is finish and I am planning on finishing a lot of older projects throughout the year.   I had collected some fabrics last year to make throw pillows for my living room.  The fabric just sat until I came across this post and I wanted to make the pillow in the tutorial and did not want to buy new fabric.  It was a fun project but the fabric I used stretched a little when I machine quilted the top.

 I made two and they were originally intended for my living room but I have moved them into the bedroom the colors just work in there best.
But the big reveal this week is grandson number two's afghan.  Done.

 And look at the fringe in the next picture.  I do not really like fringe but this afghan is a self fringe afghan which means you cut the yarn at the end of each row and you do not turn the afghan over while working on it.  So, I remembered that Hooked on Needles gave a great tip on cutting the fringe after finishing the afghan.  You can see her tip here. 
And here is my new start.

The lighting was not right when I took this picture so the colors are not showing up well.  the other yarns are purple and pink.  This will be for grand daughter number one.  Her birthday is in April, two weeks after grand son number two's birthday.  I am going to have to step it up on this one. 
Received my favorite magazine in the mail this week.

See the "Chicken Pets For the Soul" article.  I love this magazine.  I have let a lot of my magazine subscriptions run out but this one I need.  It just makes my day when I pull it out of the mailbox.   So what are you all working on?  Where are you getting your creative muses from lately?  I would love to visit some new sites, always looking for new ideas and love seeing every one's creativity.   Blessings!

Sunday Praise

We have been enjoying our two oldest grandsons that are spending the weekend.  I hope you are having a blessed weekend and a wonderful Sunday!

Recipes to Share

First off I want to update you on my weight loss.  I did not mention it last week because I lost nothing and this week I put 1/2-1 pound back on.  It may or may not be because I just needed a break from the dieting and wanted to cook, really cook.  I have been coming across recipes that I print out for when I felt I could eat this sort of food again and I just wanted to make a couple. 
First off I made this Cheesy Italian Crescent Casserole that I found on the Saltbox Farms blog.  Sharon is a neighbor of mine.  She literally lives down the road and around the corner and has the most wonderful primitive shop across the drive from her house.  I have not made it over to see what new spring items she has in yet but I will, I promise I will. 

Doesn't this look yummy?  You can get the recipe here.
I had a small slice along with a salad.  Hubs ate a couple of large slices and has been eating the leftovers.  Now if I would have stopped there it might have been OK but,  Happy Mrs. C mentioned a wonderful food sight called the Southern Plate and I subscribed to her site and have been getting some wonderful recipes in my e-mail.  So on to desert:

This would be Mama Reed's Southern Style Rice Pudding.  Yummy!!!!  I had a small portion of this, yes I did.  You can find the recipe here.  Here is what it looked like in the center.

 So that is my story of my weight gain this week.  I would like to say it was sad but I sure enjoyed the food so it is not entirely sad.  I am going to try and step it up again the start of this next week.  I now have 11  instead of 10 more pounds to loose.  Hope you stop in for a visit at each of these sites and try out these recipes I know you will like them!  Blessings!