Wednesday, March 28, 2018

I Like Thursday #20

Seriously I didn't think I would make it to 20 I like Thursday posts.

1.  I like to watch this young man's video blog daily.  Nas Daily --I could say his outlook could change the world.  He is very upbeat, fun, and it is interesting to see his perspective.

2.  I like being able to help people when possible.  One of the ladies at church has IIH - Intracranial Hypertension which is a  neurological disorders in which cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pressure within the skull is too high.  She is in one of those big mobility chairs and so it is difficult for her to get out of her home.  Recently her family found a used mobility van and purchased it. I went and learned how to operate it so that I could take her to the church charity sew day.  I don't mind driving the van, but it was originally set up for a paraplegic so there is a wee bit of a learning curve.  We have been out a couple of times and had a great time.


3.  I like old churches.  Our 2nd outing with the mobility van was to a house way out in the country.  At the cross roads was an old church.


 
Had to throw a bit of Cream in there.  :D

Isn't it sweet?  Look at the lovely bell tower with the arched openings, and arched stained glass window.

4.I like Fabric finds!   The house we visited was built in the 1890's, and has belonged to the same family the whole time.  The elderly mother was a quilter and the family is trying to dispose of her stash.  I was told at one time there were 3 rooms full of fabric. The fabric is a nice quality JAF, and they were selling it at a $1.00 per yard.  This is approximately 30 yards of fabric.  Oh my!

5.  I didn't take any pictures of all of the gorgeous antique glassware in the house, but this did catch my eye and I asked permission to take the picture.

A pink oven with french doors.  The family said the last time they checked it still worked!  They had purchased this type of oven because the kitchen was a shed kitchen (added on after the original house was built and it is long and very narrow!

6.  In front of the house scattered throughout the yard were these cute little blue/purple flowers.  Of course it had been raining that day.  How nice to start to see a pop of color.

Around the homefront....

7.  I love this cute postcard I got from Renee of Hand Stitched Treasure.  She had been participating in International Correspondence Writing Month (InCoWriMo) in February and I raised my hand to get one of her postcards.  Isn't it sweet?  Also if you want to see some incredible crazy quilting, visit her blog!

8.  I have shared that I am constantly finding things around the farm, when we dig, sometimes just walking.  I shared some of my finds once long ago in this 2013 post . I was feeding my chickens and saw something buried in the mud.  I picked it up and slipped it into my pocket. I remembered it later in the day, and took it out and tried to scrub some of the mud and muck off.

A dog license tag from 1940!  It says that this dog has had it's rabies shots.  I especially loved it because it had a heart shape.  I have been in a wee funk the past day or two missing Jeff and I felt like it was a sign.  Silly?  Maybe, but it cheered me up.

9.  I like when I win something, I won the weekly prize from River's Edge Antique and Quilt Loft in Hayward Wisconsin on Facebook.

A charm pack by Andover of A Splash of Color by Edyta Sitar.  So pretty!

10.  I have a lot of photos, some good, some not so good.  Jeff was not one to take pictures, but I have a very few that are special.  I am starting to be a firm believer that you should print the pics from your phone, camera, etc.  Just in case of a major tech fail.  Anyway I had been planning on printing a couple of pics when I saw an advertisement for canvas prints, with a coupon!

I ordered 3.  One of our wedding day, another by the same waterfall in the summer, and the one I took a couple of days before Jeff died.  So far I love them, and I smile when I look at them and think on those wonderful memories.  The smallest one is 8 X 8 and the largest is 11 X 14.  I purchased them from Easy Canvas. 

Now head over to LeeAnna's at Not Afraid of Color and check out the other I Like Thursday posts.

















Wednesday, March 21, 2018

I Like Thursday #19

Welcome to week #19 of I like Thursday, well at least for me it is week 19.  Check out LeeAnna's blog at Not Afraid of Color to check out the other I Like Thursday posts.

I have shared that I like Lily of the Valley flowers.  Jeff one time brought me a 5 gallon bucket full of Lily of the Valley pips.  Imagine my delight when I saw this gorgeous fabric.

I want to make a big tote with it.  When I ordered the fabric I also purchased a cone of Aurifil Mako 50 wt in Dove Gray, and I always get a cute free pattern when I order from this company. 

I like when I  order from a company and get something free with purchase.  Like the little pattern you see above.

I joined a Quilting Bee online and February I was the Queen Bee.  I chose a pattern called Wanta Fanta.  Simple paper piecing and I love the secondary pattern.

Here you can see a lot of my blocks.  Our swarm is making 2 blocks per Queen.  So including mine I had 24 blocks.  My theory is go big or go home, I just can't seem to make a small quilt.  I want to make at least 12 more blocks so I have a nice size square quilt which would be at least 72 inches square.

I like participating in charity sew days at church.

Many of the ladies do not sew, but they will tie the quilts. During the charity sew day I was making backings and finished 6.  Amazing I finished 3 completely, I had one more to finish and returned those Tuesday, but I ended up with 4 at home again.

I like the promise of warmer weather.  Sunday I sat on the deck, enjoyed the sun, and drank coffee.  I decided I was in need of a table.

Just a simple inexpensive plastic table that will fold up, but it will be nice to have it outside.

When I was growing up I played the piano.  I hadn't had an opportunity to own one for many years.  Jeff found me a free one, but when the Ancient Ones moved in the piano moved out.  (sad face)  Years ago the electric piano and electric keyboards came out, but only the ultra expensive could play chords, the keys played differently, and there were not 88 keys.  Boy have things changed!

I decided to get a keyboard.  The keys are weighted and it plays just like a piano.  My keyboard even has 3 pedals.  I like being able to play again, but boy am I out of practice, and I don't have the dexterity that I had when I was younger.

Thanks for stopping by, go check out the rest of the I like Thursday posts.











Wednesday, March 14, 2018

I Like Thursday #18

Time seems to fly between Thursdays for me for some reason.  After you check out my week of My Likes, head over to LeeAnna's at Not Afraid of Color to check out the other people who look for fun and beauty in our world.

I like the little toy box I bought for Bobbin's toys.  I pick them up, she takes them all out.

These toys have been picked up at least 20 times the day of this picture.

I buy about 200 lbs of chicken feed a month.  I get a lot of those little wrens, and sparrows in my chicken house.  They eat a lot of my chicken feed, even though there is a wild bird feeder.  I have seen these before, but they were kind of expensive.  I decided if I could cut back on all the feed I have to buy maybe it would be worth it.

It works with a plate.  The chicken stands on the plate, and the door opens and they can eat.  As soon as they step off it closes.  Keeps the small birds out.  But there is a training curve for the chickens. 

I like the tip that Dawn at SewYouQuilt2 gave me about coffee grounds and banana peels for my roses.  I dry the grounds and then put them into the ziploc bag.  I save my banana skins, dry them out a bit too, then cut them up into the coffee grounds. 


I spread it around the roots of my roses, and they  are always abundant, and gorgeous.


I like getting cute new hand towels for the kitchen for the upcoming holiday.

Love the old truck and see the little pink bunny driving.

I like repurposing things, such as a mug Jeff insisted that we keep.  While cleaning out the cabinets I decided to keep this one as a pen/pencil cup.

I like being out and seeing an old car.  I saw this one in the parking lot of a little restaurant that Jeff and I used go to eat.


I like dried strawberries in my cereal.  I really like the Honey Bunches of Oats with strawberries, but sometimes they are hard to find.  So I bought the Honey Bunches of Oats with almonds and a #10 can of dried strawberries. 

If you can't find it the way you want it, figure out another way.

Now head over and see what everyone else finds joy in this week.


Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Small, Smaller, Smallest Blog Hop Winner

I had 46 comments during the Small, Smaller, Smallest blog hop to win this super cute little pattern.

I used a random number generator.

The min was 1 and the max was 46.

The result was 8.  I had assigned it to Jan Snell.   I have sent her an e-mail and am awaiting her reply.  If I do not get a response by Friday I will draw a new number.

Congratulations Jan, and thank you everyone for visiting.


Thursday, March 8, 2018

I Like Thursday on Friday? #17

I am so sorry I missed the I like Thursday party, but I thought I would just be the ultimate party girl and go to the next day.  So welcome to my version of I Like Thursday.......The Walk of Shame.


 
I like that I see evidence that spring is coming.  I have something coming up.

I like charm packs.  Small samples of fabric lines I may not normally purchase.

I like that my lowfat milk from the dairy has cream in it.  See the white stuff in the handle.  That is cream.  Shake up the milk and it disperses.
I like my little thumb drive I got recently. 

I like old cars and when I was wandering up to Detroit I saw this one at the Mexican Market where I went to get some spices to make a new recipe.

I like when I find something I have been looking for. I have been searching for my cone of black Aurifil thread for several days.  I found it in a box with my parts for my awesome ocean quilt.


Finally with spring come new chicks.  I ordered Lacewing Wyandottes.  I had to pick them up at the post office. 

They are so cute and fluffy!

Thanks for stopping by.




Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Small, Smaller, Smallest Blog Hop Day 4

Welcome to the final day of the Small, Smaller, Smallest blog hop.  Thank you Carol for organizing and keeping us motivated and providing an excellent line up of blogger talent.  (If you're looking for an I like Thursday post this week, I am opting for an I like Friday, so come back tomorrow!)

In case you missed the previous 3 days.

March 5


March 6


March 7

When I decided to participate in this blog hop I had ulterior motives.  Since I am in charge of the 2018 Quilt Challenge for guild I thought I could make an example, because you know it isn't right for the chairman to participate.  Right?  The theme was simple. Words on quilts.  You could use one word or many words.  An inspirational word, or saying, a song....pretty simple.  It could be pieced, applique, preprinted panels.  It had to be bigger than 12 inches on a side but not larger than 36 inches on a side, and quilted, bound, and labeled.  
I chose Robert Kaufman's Effervescence line in the Rainbow colorway.  The word I chose was transformation, and I used 1001 Fonts.  Found a font I liked, blew it up in Microsoft word, transposed it, and traced it onto Thermo Web Heat N Bond Lite.  I used Craftsy's Boundless Ombre in a gray for the word.  I just love how there is so much movement in the background, and in the word.   But it also looks like it has too much light on it.  But from darkness comes the light. 

I wanted to use a caterpillar to a chrysalis to a butterfly, because what better way to show transformation?

I free handed it after looking at some pictures, then attempted to draw it with thread using my sewing machine.  I don't think it is too terrible.

My butterfly came out better I think.

I quilted with organic lines (translate to not straight) in a matchstick style to hold down my applique.

I quilted with Dove Gray Aurifil Mako 50.  My wall hanging finished at 12 X 18

LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color had challenged me to choose an inspirational word for the year.  Since the death of my husband Jeff last year on this day, I have had to transform, and remake myself once again.  I think about it and marvel at how far I have come.

Since I was unsure if I could get my idea to work I had 2 back up projects that I finished just in case-- which were small too.

I bought this pattern with the embellishments last year, but chose my fabrics from my stash.

I don't know why but whenever I do binding on a small project I always mess it up!  Grrrr.  My favorite-- Cardinals. They say when you see one your loved one from heaven is near.

My other project was a mystery quilt that was shared with me. 


I didn't try to  match or anything.  I just grabbed some green batiks I liked and ran with it.   Same thing with the reds.  I think it turned out alright.  I think my reds are too far apart on the spectrum.   I have been practicing my FMQ.

I used a sparkly silver sulky thread and did alright.

Now go and visit the other talented bloggers.

March 8


Oh wait there is more. To celebrate my 5th year blogging, my birthday, and a fun blog hop I have a prize.  This is open to anyone. 

This super cute pattern by primitive gatherings---it is small just 24 x 24.  Just leave a comment....about anything and your e-mail address.  My give away will be open until Monday, March 12, 2018.

Now go, visit the other blogs.