Zipper by the Yard and a Friday Finish

Inspiration comes from the darnedest places sometimes.

I was walking by a shop window the other day and saw a t-shirt decked out in red, white, and blue

with the saying:

,

Home of the Free

Because of the Brave

Wow, that really moved me.

That is soooo true.

I said to myself,

"Self, that ought to be a wall hanging for the 4th of July."

So I made myself a little wall hanging for the screened in porch.

I was a little lazy and had no desire to applique.

Sometimes I'm just not into it.

So, after a little practice, I free motioned the words with my domestic.

Because it is going to hang outside, I decided the binding could be machine stitched

and did that with a star decorative stitch.

I had a visitor this week and was able to send a cushion home

that he had asked me to make 6 months ago.  (I'm so speedy).

That's my dad sitting at my sewing machine and that is the cushion he wanted.

16" x 72"

and I put a zipper down the length of it!  Yeah me!

Did you know you can buy zipper by the yard?

Hobby Lobby had it and the little zip to go on it, too.

I also discovered that my machine isn't crazy about faux leather, but it was fun to sew something for my dad.

I just received this picture of the cushion in it's new home.

It fits!!!

Have a great weekend!

September Blog Hop and Gingham Style

If you plan on creating anything over the summer,
and surely you are...

you should consider joining the newest blog hop:

 

It can be anything... Be CREATIVE, 

your knitting, painting, QUILTING, stitching, needlepoint, cross stitch, sewing....

however

1 of those projects will have to be

RBD Gingham...only 1 project...the other projects

will be whatever you want

 

All the details are at

Sew We Quilt

 

Shari will be cheering for everyone

in this hop.

 

 

 

Have you heard?

Riley Blake Designs is considering pulling the plug on

GINGHAM CLASSIC COLLECTION.

 

How could they even consider it?

 

Join the campaign to save the R.B.D. Gingham.

 

All the details are HERE.

 

Have a great weekend.

 

 

The Other, Other Ladies Meet!

Today I was sooooo lucky.

We bloggers are always talking about the best part of blogging is the friends we make along the way.

Today it became more of a reality for me!

Remember this grocery bag dispenser?

I picked the fabric especially for that other, other lady.

Today I received this:

Photo by More Stars in Comanche

The April Showers jelly roll 

from

  Vickie at More Stars in Comanche

That other, other lady.

I was the winner of the Picnic Blog Hop Giveaway sponsored by Quilts With a Heart!

But that's not the BEST part...

Guess who delivered this pastry.

Vickie, herself, accompanied by the Ranch Man.

She's even prettier and sweeter in person.

(if that's possible)

Thank you, Ranch Man for letting us "other ladies" chat and 

quilt talk!

Connection

Made!

Thank you Vickie, for delivering April Showers and taking time to stop in.

Don't worry, my client's hair color looked great...lol

Safe travels, my friend.

Told you it was going to be a GREAT week!

I hope yours is as good as mine.

One Trick Pony, Yes

  Last week I shared grocery bag dispensers.

A few people really liked them 

so

 I agreed to make a few more.

I chose the fabric with each person in mind.

 Bet you can't guess who this one is for....

It's going to be a great week

THAT

is for sure.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day, Dad.

Even though we aren't together this weekend

I'm thinking of you.

My dad and I

I'm thinking

I still haven't finished that cushion you are waiting for, but I cleaned my sewing room.

I know you wouldn't want to think I was working in a messy room.

 I tried organizing some scraps and sewing a few together.

I'm thinking

I really only have a few huge tubs to go through...

I tried a new design for free motion quilting. 

I'm thinking

I may even use this one on that cushion...

I made a few more bag dispensers and 

I'm thinking

if you want one, dad, I'll make you one.

(I'll share these later this week)

I'm thinking I am one lucky daughter to have you for a dad

and can't wait to see you.

Love you,

Carla

PS - I'm pretty sure my dad doesn't read my blog, but if he did, this is what I would share with him.

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there!

Grocery Bag Dispenser...s

It is rare.

Yes, a rainy weekend here in the sticks.

You know what that means.

Lots of Java and Sewing.

When I saw Jen's post over at Glinda Quilts about her bag making

(She's almost a bag lady, in a good kind of way)

I knew exactly what I was going to sew up.

Thank you, Jen, for sharing.

A grocery (shopping) bag dispenser.

And if you are going to make one,

why not make 3?

I've needed one of these for a very long time.

I have bags stuffed in drawers, under cabinets, and in a trash bag in the garage for recycling.

(You could almost call me a bag lady)

But, now I'm an organized bag lady.

After I made one for my house following this tutorial at Moda Bake Shop,

I made my daughter one.

I used Pat Sloan's Eat Your Fruits and Veggies fabric by Moda for the first 2.

Then I decided I better make one more.

For my sewing room!

I decided to add a ruffle to the top of this one.

These are so much fun to make and the tutorial is easy to follow. 

 I love that they are quilted which is a good practice for my free motion skills.

So that was my weekend project..s.

Today was the last day of the

 Perfect Picnic Blog Hop.

You can still see all the beautiful picnics 

on the

PINTEREST BOARD

Linking up to:

Petal Plate Party - H2H Charity Quilt Challenge 2014

Sarah over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

is hosting

the

Hands2Help Charity Quilt Challenge.

 

 

"Petal Plate Party"

is my second contribution

for 2014.

 

With a bunch of solid Kona strips in a box,

I used this Jelly Roll Race Video

by Missouri Star Quilt Co.

as my inspiration to sew the quilt top.

 

 

Once all the strips were sewn together, it was an odd size.

I cut it in half to make two lap quilts.

This is the second one.

 

 

The first one, "Sunshine Travels" was blogged here.

Both quilts are 51" x 63"

Nice cuddle up throws.

 

 

I added Dresden to make it more pleasing to me.

 

 

(I really hated the way it looked before the green Dresden)

 

Now it's a bright, happy quilt

sent to put a party in some one's life.

 

 

I quilted this one with stipple in the background and zigzag swirl in the Dresden centers.

 

I am on the last hours of deadline here, but I made my goal of 2 quilts this year.

Now I need to decide which of the 3 charities will receive these.

 

 

If you would like to see all of the quilts being donated, you can see them

at the Big Reveal.

 

 

 

 

Have a great weekend,

 

 

 

 



Citronella Candlelit Picnic in the Sticks - A Country Romance

Welcome to the 
Creatin' in the Sticks 
Perfect Picnic .

Made in Kansas Ad Astra Ale and Lost Trail Root Beer.
The quilt was made in Kansas, too.  :)

We loaded up the quilt, food, and portable croquet set in the
 4 wheeler
and  headed over to the creek for a little fun.
 Just hubby and I.
 We even left the dogs behind.

We found our spot by the creek in a large grove of trees.

Let the picnic begin!

3 yards of laminated cotton fabric from Riley Blake designs arrived and I used it for the back of the quilt.
Red with white dots paired with denim.
Now THAT is country Love.

It is sooooo me.
No worries about laying this quilt on wet ground
and
the heavy duty denim can handle any other picnic mishaps...

Our picnic quilt carries everything from plates and napkins to bottle opener and hand wipes and folds up nicely for travel.

This is how the quilt unfolds revealing the plates, napkins, and flatware.

It's perfect for tabletop or remove the gear and lay on the ground.

I made a large square mat to place in the middle for drinks or dips.  The laminate makes it easy to wipe off.

Now, let's eat.

The Menu

Roast Beef Salad on (light) Rye Bread

Cucumber Salsa with chips

Mixed berry pound cake (sugar free)

and

Cold Beverages!

I'm afraid my picnic basket is on an around the world in 30 days tour, so food and beverages arrived in galvanized buckets and hand made bowls.

Cucumber Salsa

(aka 3,2,1)

3 Cucumbers chopped fine

2 10 oz cans of Rotel tomatoes (I use one mild and one regular)

1 pouch dry ranch dressing mix

Mix and chill for a few hours.

Serve with tortilla chips

The bowls were made from fabric strips and clothes line. I viewed the instructions on Quilting Arts TV.   I just lined the big bowl with a clean shower cap and filled it with chips.  The smaller ones were perfect to hold bowls of dip and fruit.

Mixed Berry Pound Cake

This makes 2 loaves

1 Box Yellow Cake Mix (I used Pillsbury Sugar Free)

Ingredients to mix the cake (mine called for water, oil, and 3 eggs)

1 small box instant pudding mix(I used sugar free cheesecake flavor) yummy.

1 cup chopped strawberries

1 cup blueberries

Preheat oven as directed on cake mix box.  Mix cake mix as directed and add the dry pudding mix.  Fold in the strawberries and blueberries.  Prepare 2 loaf pans by lining the bottom with waxed paper and spraying the pans with cooking spray.  Pour the mixture into the pans.  Bake as directed on the cake mix box.

Cool 10 minutes after baking and take out of pans.  Let cool completely before slicing.
 If you can. (wink)

We ate half of one loaf while we laid around on the blanket just talking and listening to coyotes.
Maybe the coyotes smelled our food.
Soon the turkeys started gobbling and the mosquitoes started eating us alive.
Citronella candles can only do so much.

Here is the quilt with no picnic equipment.  I love that it looks like a patchwork quilt (well it is)  but functions to store all the essentials for a picnic.

This picture shows the quilt with the insert in the middle.  This is the denim side with the laminate side down.

That is the biggest coaster I have ever made.

After laying around for a couple of hours listening to coyotes and turkeys and just catching up with one another, we decided to skip croquet. But hubby went and put our initials on a tree.
Romance is alive and well here in the sticks.

Why haven't we done this before?

Thank you Madame Samm for a wonderful excuse to have a romantic candlelit picnic in the sticks.



Here are the rest of my fellow picnickers of the day:

Wednesday June 4

Quilt Taffy

Pampered Pettit

Creatin' in the Sticks :>) ME

Miss Priss Quilts

Life in the Scrapatch

That's Sew Julie

Thanks to Mary of I Piece 2-Mary our lovely cheerleader

Mary has the full schedule for the hop HERE.

Thank you to our sponsors: 

Sew We Quilt
Riley Blake Designs 
Peterboro Baskets