Giving and Receiving

Okay so I had a birthday and kept it quiet and simple.  My sister made the cutest little cake that was delicious as well as cute, and we went out to dinner with the whole gang.  It was a very fun time had by all.  Thanks Philina!

 

Today we spent some time in my garden harvesting squash and planting beans.  The tomatoes are doing fine, but just not turning red yet.  With all the heat that we are having this week though they should be turning any day now.  I am most happy with the flowers in the garden.  One of my favorites vignettes I accidentally made was to combine some Versailles Cosmos with a  Blue Spires sage.  Nice combinations seem to happen by accident in my garden.  I just plant anything that is new to me to try it out and see what it does.  I have a lot of different varieties of upright Phlox.  I am noticing that sage really doesn’t shop in this picture, that seems to happen a lot with blue in the garden though I could really use a photography class.

I also have some flowers that seem to come from no where.  I forget that I planted them then they make an appearance and bloom as if to say “Remember Me!”.  One of those was this true Geranium I believe it is Rozanne.   It is mostly white with the tiniest little blue streaks looking as if they were painted on by some little flower fairy. 

Now to see if I can get some sewing and cooking worked into my day!  We are going to make a Blueberry Pie, Cucumber salad and maybe even some tapioca pudding!  Guess I should put on that new apron I made!

Speaking of aprons…I tried to give away some aprons or patterns for the Paying it Forward thing I am taking part in, but since I got no response I am going to pick a few recipients that I think are deserving of nice surprise and I will let you know who I gave to that way no one feels obligated to have to repay the favor.  The apron pattern I am using for the give away was designed by Barbara Brandeburg.   I made one apron so far and it was a fun and simple project so I can’t wait to whip up a few more!

May your day be full of pleasant surprises!

Ferne

Windows Live Writer Test

I am trying out this program to write posts on my blog that I read about on Anne Sutton’s blog this morning.  I am not quite a ‘techy’, but after some research and playing around I got this far.  Now let’s see if I can figure out more.  I wanted to try it because Blogger doesn’t let me see my post as it is going to post and sometimes I have a real hard time getting it too look the way I want.  This program is letting me see it just as it will appear in my blog and has some other feature also…let’s try a few…

A picture of a quilt in progress. 

Wow lots more fonts available here!

WIP	Stage of Progress
Jelly Stars	needs outside border
Ferne’s Sampler	piecing the blocks together
Irish Chain	get backing together

Well, I can see I could have a lot of fun just playing with the fonts and colors and tables…so much more to figure out though…like how to do the special effects with the pictures…this could be too much fun!

this has been fun and will add a lot more pizzaz to my blog in the future!  Thanks for sharing Anne of Bunny Tales!

Paying It Forward

I’ve seen Pay It Forward on a lot of blogs lately. Candace of Squash House Quilts decided to join in, and I was one of her first three commenter's. So now I’m going to Pay it Forward. Here are the Rules:

1. Be one of the first 3 bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade 'Sassy Little Apron' or a pattern for a 'Sassy Little Apron' from me!

2. Winners must post this challenge on their blog, meaning that they will Pay It Forward, creating a handmade gift -anything!- for the first 3 bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!

3. The gift that you send to your 3 friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And remember: It’s the Spirit and the Thought that Counts!

4. When you receive your gift, please feel free to blog about it, sharing appropriate Linky Love! If you are not one of the Top 3 Commenters on this post, you can still play along. Go ahead and start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same.
REMEMBER... Pay It Forward!

I am going to give away your choice of an apron from the pattern Sassy Little Aprons by Barbara Brandeburg or I will send you a free pattern so that you can make several of these cute aprons...remember the holidays are coming up and they make really cute gifts! Check Barabara's blog to see how much fun she has been having with this pattern. I would swear she has made it with about a dozen different fabric combinations. I am just about done sewing my first one and her directions really make it easy, plus the pattern is printed on really nice paper!

Comment away and let's get Sassy!

Ferne

A Quilt Shop Visit

We took a little trip last weekend to Burney Falls and visited some fishing spots and a quilt shop and a bakeryin Shingletown. You can read about the fishing at the fisherman's blog here, but I am going to blog about the visit to JJ's Log Cabin Quilt shop. I LOVE this quilt shop and the people! JJ was so friendly and eager to share anything about quilting and Shingletown that I might want to know. Her helper, whose name I have forgotten, shared fishing information with the fisherman. JJ told me the story about how she went to the Cinnamon Bear Bakery next door and then came in the quilt shop to find out it was for sale and she bought it! "That was one expensive donut!" she said, but you can tell that she is loving what she is doing and the locals are loving her.

In the classroom they were learning how to make pine needle baskets. These were so adorable I bought one for myself to hold my thimbles. Iit is amazing to me that you could turn pine needles into anything besides compost. To top it off I think she used a walnut for the bottom. They coat the whole thing with varnish so it is really durable. Talk about using what you have on hand.

I really wish I had taken more pictures of the projects in this shop because there were some amazing quilts hanging up and quite a collection of gifty items. There were several bargello quilts hanging up that I couldn't take my eyes off of...maybe someday I will attempt one. They must have had a class on these or maybe there is one coming up. There is a nursery for sale down the street...I might just have to buy it so I can sign up for classes at JJ's, only then I probably wouldn't have time for sewing...better rethink that plan. We did love the town of Shingletown though and plan to return soon.

One of my favorite quilt patterns is the Lone Star and I found one folded up in a pile in the store. I had to have a picture of it so the fisherman held it up for me...you can't see him, but he is the man behind the quilt. I love the way the applique was used in the corners. See this shop was full of inspiration for me...now I just need time to put it all to good use. I'll have to work on that part.

I actually am starting to work on a star quilt, but not a Lone Star. I am making Fig TreeQuilts Jelly Stars. I saw this hanging in Prairie Queens quilt shop and just had to give it a try. Joanna uses a method that makes it look so easy by sewing it in strips then cutting the angles. I didn't have any jelly rolls so I cut my fabric into 2 1/2" strips. It is all cut and labeled, now to tackle that time factor and get it going. The giant pincushion from a previous post has turned out to be quite handy! You can always find it when you need it that is for sure.

Find a little inspiration in every day!

Ferne

Why or 'Y' Not

My curiosity got the best of me and I enjoyed every minute of it! I spent some time trying to figure out WHY you need to paper piece hexagons. All that cutting out wax paper and hand basting seemed so time consuming. Sooo...

I had tried hand piecing hexagons and found it very relaxing and enjoyable. I did it so that I could try English paper piecing and I knew that my Grandmother had done them that way so I wanted to do it too. I saw other quilters do it so I had to do it too.

Hmmm...time for something new!

I decided to see if I could piece them on the sewing machine and after thinking it through I gave it a go. I found a template that I had bought a while back and never used. I cut out lots of hexagons with a rotary cutter (not scissors...gasp!) from some Charm packs that I had of April Cornell fabric. My template had a hole at the quarter inch seam that I used to mark the corners. I laid out all of my pieces for the hexagon flower I was going to piece for a pin cushion. I started with the center block and put right sides together, marked the two corners that I was going to sew to and from, put the needle down right on the marked dot and sewed to the next dot. Next I picked up the next hexagon and continue marking the corners as I went, to save time I marked the corners that I needed to as I went. When I got to a 'Y' seam I folded the center hexagon in half to move it out of the way of the stitching. I did have to do a lot of concentrating on which way the seams needed to be folded, but soon I was on a roll.

After I got the first ring done I ironed all of the seams around the edge in one direction and then ironed the center hexagon out. This method layed out very nice and flat. I put one more ring of hexagons on to the outside of that.

The project that I was making these for turned out to be a bit larger than I was anticipating. It is a pincushion that measures 6" across. I found it on the Moda Fabrics Free Patterns page. I haven't finished it yet because I was thinking of a way to make it smaller, but decided that a large pincushion could be quite useful and I am liking the way it is turning out. I have chosen not to add the prairie points that the pattern calls for. I will stuff it with walnut hulls and lavender with a little batting in the center.

I'm not sure which is the best way to put together hexagons, but I found this to be simple enough with a little thought and I think it saved some time. Hand piecing hexagons does make for a nice small project that you can take anywhere and hand piecing 'Y' seams might make them a little less intimidating, but I did find the machine method to work out well for me and I had fun trying!

While wondering "Why?" I found a new project and an answer..."why not!?"