AND THE WINNER'S ARE~~~~

and the winners are~~~~ it ain't me

I entered the Piece O Cake Block contest last month. Becky and Linda offered one of their unpublished blocks for free and ask for projects to be made from the block. Winners would be published in their new book (now I understand they will be included in their Block of the Month).

First I made a pillow--wool applique on Piece O Cake fabric with an underlay of burlap. I embroidered with buttonhole stitch and then quilted it with embroidery thread. I finishedit off with vintage tatting and button.

My PinKeeper is made similar using again wool applique on POC fabric and bulap underlay. I edged it with antique cotton lace and two vintage buttons tied on with embroidery thread.

This photo shows the place for your thimble.

They announced the winners today. You can find them here. There are many many beautiful entries. ENJOY!

Today was a "GOOD" Day--Welcome Fall

Well, temperatures dropped in my part of Texas today. It is now 56 degrees. The high today was near 80 so as you can see once again--"IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE WEATHER IN TEXAS-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------JUST WAIT A MINUTE.

As I sit here blogging, I can hear the wind howling and the wreath on the front door bumping. Rain did fall for a short time this evening before dark, so all all my plants got a much needed drink. I ran out onto the porches and put all my plants out into the rain and then put them back into their places after the rain. The electricity keeps popping on and off---

I love it when the seasons change and so does your mood. Kinda like God's way of keeping you motivated about living. Always something to look forward to. All the memories of days gone by come flooding into your mind triggered by the sights, smells, and feelings around you. Halloween was a real special time for us all as children. I lived in tiny town USA where I attende d 2 room school house. Halloween meant a carnival where we bobbed for apples, won tiny plastic prizes at a fish pond and were scared out of minds in the haunted house. I have walked our dirt streets "Trick or Treating" with my friends, unchaperoned. We knew everyone in town and they gave homemade goodies or storebought choc0late candy (I am sure that this and the fact that my dad owned the general store were the start of my weight problem.) Enough of this-------

My box of goodies from Quilter's Club came today. It includes the first of 3 issues of Easy Quilts by Fons and Porter. A charm pack of Madder Red's and a spool of thread from Connecting Threads., a DVD of Tips and discount coupons from some other companys. A pretty cool collection. I got a really good offer through the mail to join, it actually cost me only about $30. A year's subscription is worth that. Hey, just the programs are worth that and then I got a charm pack on top of that!! Hey I am happy~

My embroidery is still progressing. I have been searching the web for stitchery blogs. There are some fantastically talented people out there who must stitch constantly as they have produced some fantastic work. The heart pincushion you see here is my own design. Again, I stitch just as I quilt. I would rather do my own thing than follow directions and produce a duplicate of someone elses design. OR--maybe I am incapable of following directions. I think that might be the case. But whatever the case, I am what I am and I will continue to beat my own drum (so to speak). You cannot tell from this photo, but this pincushion is attached to a glass heart shaped dish that I found at a garage sale.

I did get my yard mowed today before the "norther" hit. Actually, I finished just before the rain. My DH and DS came home from a trip to West Texas where they were visiting their deer lease. They went to clean, put up feeders and stands, and generally get things ready for the year's hunt. I will never understand the love, but hey, maybe they don't understand my love for quilting and all it's aspects. To each his own, I always say.

I knew these hunters would be hungry when they got home--not really but eating fast food for days always makes them look forward to getting home, sssssssssoooooooo. I cooked. I am an "old fashioned", "country" cook. No gourmet here. I cooked turnip greens, cream peas with corn on the cob, Meatloaf patties with peppercorn gravy, and hot water cornbread. I was not going to fry hot water cornbread, but when DS came in and saw those turnip greens he started begging me. OKKK ----For those of you who do not know about hot water cornbread. It is cornmeal that is cooked by pouring boiling water into meal. Then patties are patted out and fried. The result is something soft on the inside and crispy on the outside. So delicious that you cannot eat just one and not two. Many, many, many--that is how many you eat. This is the reason I hate to cook them. I eat too many. This recipe came from my DMIL. She was a fantastic country cook. I think some people put baking powder in thier HWC, but not me. I mean you can, but you get a differnet product.

Sorry, I didn't mean to make you hungry----LOL. I also cannot believe I have rattled on and on and it is now 12.20 am! OHMYGOSH! I must go to bed. I do love this weather. GGGOOOOODD sleeping weather. Sleep tight! See ya tomorrow~

Another One!

Finished the one with the medication bottle base. I tried some stitch combinations. I need to go shopping to buy some seed beads. That would be a nice addition. GREAT STITCHIN DAY!!

Another Stitchy Day?

What a great day, OUTSIDE! And all I want to do is stitch. I think I will take it all outside. If you have been following you know that I have been having fun with hand embroidering pincushions. Here is #2------with #1 in the background.

I have been searching for more base containers. A garage sale turned up a heart shaped glass container that I think would make a great base. Sorry about the picture. You cannot tell how pretty it is. The felt is cut and ready for stitching. I cut down two medication bottles and also found tops of hair products would be good. Bigger than cola bottle caps, but still small. The larger ones would also be good as the insert could hold the top up into place (I have been stuffing with quilt batting).

I have to get my blocks from Lynette's BOM transferred to fabric and begin on them so that I can get on her blog list of people who have actually DONE something. So check back and see if I have----done something that is. Seems telling YOU that I will do something makes me do it. How crazy is that. I guess I don't want to let you down, my friends. Most of you I don't even know. How is that for closeness of quilters/stitchers. Thanks again to all who visit my blog. I love it when someone in interested enough to do so. My Wacky Pac friends and I have talked about the "Blogger Followers" and have made sure that we at least "follow" each other (see "Followers" on my sidebar. We have said that it is very embarrassing to only have 1 or 2 "followers". I now have FIVE. with one NOT being a member of our group (but is one who we have retreated with). Oh well--I know that you all are visiting. I can tell by the numbers and that is all that matters. I just do not know if you are the SAME visitors. LOL

I am doing more quilting stitching these days. Since I quit my part-time job, I have had a hard time not feeling guilty quilting/stitching. I guess I feel I am wasting time. I don't know---I have just never had the time to just do what I want to do. I guess "work" is what I have always done and it is hard to change habits. I am relaxing a bit these days. Staying up late is what I love and then of course "sleeping in"--I know--not good.

Have a great Sunday, my friends. Keep Stitching--and stitching--and stitching. It's good for the soul-------------------~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Addition to this post----just made this tiny pincushion from a cola bottle cap. I swear I made it in 10 minutes with a felt bottom, trim sides, and fabric top. It took me longer to take the picture than to make it---truth!! (I must purchase a new camera!)

Another Pincushion

AFter finding these darling embroidered pincushions here, I wanted to try my hand at one. These are made of 2 liter bottle tops which means they are very tiny. I wanted to make a larger version. I went shopping in my kitchen and what I found in the shape I wanted was a Kool-aid canister that single servings came in. The canister was about 2 inch in radius and about 7 inches tall. I cut the bottom and top and had a base for two pincushions. It was a perfect shape. I used the same instructions, just enlarging the pieces. I stayed up until 1 a.m. this morning. No, I couldn't stop. I already have pieces for another one cut out for tonights TV watching session.
Here is my masterpiece. They look better in a group and I can't wait to get #2 started.

Pincushions and Daddy's Ties

Working with ties that I have had in my closet forEVER! I decided to retrieve them and at least get them in a condition to consider making something with them. Some were my dad's and some were bought at garage sales. I clipped the tacking threads and they actually came apart fairly easy. Some are silk and some are poly blends. HEY--the pincushion swap that we have coming up for Christmas------maybe I could experiment with the ties-------. First I will get the ties pressed and organized.-----
THEN--my first attempt at a pincushion~~

Can do better next time--the word PINS needs to be bigger--

Another try at a pincushion--this time with felt and cotton fabric and trims:

I think I will remove the button trim and do some embroidery. At any rate, I am on a roll. I will post more progress later.

Here is another Paper pieced block using the ties.