Templates from Carol Samples

This is a post for my crazy quilt friends…. I am bursting with excitement because last week I received my Carol Samples templates in the mail. I have spent a few days since getting it all organized into a notebook along with her instructions and some notes I have been making as well as some drawings of my own.

I purchased her book, Treasury of Crazy Quilt Stitches and I was so delighted with it that I just had to have her templates to further enhance my embellishing capabilities.

For those non-crazy quilters…. Carol Samples wrote a book that shows hundreds of stitch combinations so that anyone wanting to embellish a crazy quilt block will have absolutely no trouble at all finding stitches that will work for them. The templates are used as a guide to mark the fabric and then you basically connect the dots… ok, there may be a bit more to it, but that’s the general idea.

So I’m one happy camper now that I can easily thumb through Carol’s book when my creative energy needs a little jump start. Thanks Carol for all your help and for your creative geniusness! Carol suggested to me that I stitch a little bit every day… I am trying to do that so I can watch my work improve.

Happy stitching!!!

Painting Project

I painted today... I painted this little stand for Molly. I'm not sure exactly what she will use it for, maybe a night stand? Anyhow, I also painted a birdcage and a small watering can and a formerly wrought iron flag stand for my front yard. After I painted the handle to my shovel I decided I might be a bit over the top and that it was time to stop!

Did anyone else have a productive weekend?

Another Chapter in Life

My only child has signed a lease on her first apartment. She will be a junior at college next year and decided that since she works three jobs and will be juggling an internship this summer in the college town that she currently lives in, she would like to stay there for the summer. It is only about a half hour from our home and it sounds like a great idea for her to experience life and be a “big girl” so…. This summer I won’t be picking up her half empty soda cans or putting her dirty dishes in the dishwasher or tripping over a half dozen pairs of flip flops…. So that’s a good thing, right?

I’m kind of excited about the decorating process….well, I’m really trying to stay out of that, but I’m looking for a bed, dresser, and desk, etc. as well as other things she will need. I just purchased this set of Cuisinart pots and pans for my kitchen and am handing down the old ones that I’ve had for the past 30 years to her. Of course the old ones are good quality and I’m not really sure how these will work. I looked at the Rachael Ray set but they have a non-stick finish and on the occasion that my husband makes an egg in the fry pan, he fires up the stove to high heat and I would bet my new pots and pans that he does not care about the kind of utensil that he uses on the non-stick finish…I have had to throw out a couple small fry pans with non-stick finishes in the past, so I’ll sacrifice the bright blue color so that I don’t have to worry if Al suddenly decides to cook something.

Shabby Chair

I am getting ready to paint my bedroom furniture…this may be a bigger project than I am ready for…but gee if I never start, for sure it won’t happen….so I decided to practice with a chair. I can always use a white chair somewhere….

I’m working in the gardens and raking leaves, etc….then I have to mulch but when that is finished…..I think I’ll be ready to start painting furniuture…well realistically the painting may not happen till about the middle of the summer because I have vowed I will spend some time getting rid of junk in the attic and the basement!

Embellished pillow

Last weekend I was home alone and had a productive weekend planned but before I started the "work" I decided to play..... I had been to the dollar store a couple weeks ago and saw a pillow that I found interesting. I liked the colors and the pieced design of the pillow, but it needed something... like some embellishing. So last Friday night I went back to the store and bought the pillow, brought it home, unstuffed it, embellished it and then stuffed it again. I thought it would be entertaining for a couple evenings and a quick project that I could get on etsy... so look for it to appear on my etsy shop soon.

First Bouquet of the Season!

The weather was really nice today so I took advantage of that and raked leaves and did some garden clean up. There is not much going on with the gardens here in Central Pennsylvania yet, but I do have some crocus blooming and the daffodils are beginning to open, well just this one variety so far. I have other varieties that I enjoy but these are my early ones. I picked them and brought them inside to enjoy.

My mother rarely picked flowers to enjoy inside, she wanted to see them as a collection in her garden when she looked out her windows. I prefer to see them in a vase and will most likely have at least one vase full from now till the first frost. How about you? Do you have a new bouquet every week?

My Weekend

I look forward to the weekend when I have a day I can begin a project in the morning and have the whole day to be productive. I especially enjoy the weekends when my husband does his National Guard duty and I can work uninterupted. This weekend was one of those times, and I had a big productive weekend planned with lots of projects and no other plans.

I got a call on Friday afternoon from niece Megan who was going to stop by on Saturday afternoon on her way to another activity so I decided I better get the vacuum cleaner out and get the dog hair cleaned up before she got here. The rest of the evening was spent on a stitching project. It was very late when I went to bed, but that’s another thing I enjoy, staying up late and lounging in bed reading, etc. in the morning…. That was part of my plan as well.

Saturday morning came and I woke up with a pain in my back…. Hmmmm, wonder what that is? I must have twisted oddly in my sleep… but I had a day planned with projects so I got out of bed and went on with my day; painting the front door, visiting with Meg, washing some clothes…. The longer the day went on the worse my back felt… by 7:30 I took another advil and went to bed…. I NEVER go to bed early…

Sunday morning I skipped church and took another advil and by afternoon when my friend Jess called wanting to go to the movies I was feeling better and decided a movie would be a lot more fun than being productive.

So, this weekend I painted my front door white and little else got done!
The door was a dark blue and my blues really didn’t do anything for the porch. My plan is to use lots of pink flowers and accessories on my porch this summer. So now that it’s getting warmer, I’ll soon be accessorizing!

Cell Phone Case

I just finished this little cell phone case last night at crafts. I sewed the snap on as a closure. I love pink and think this case is cute... It might go in my etsy shop....

Blogging Friends

How many of you have really good friends that you met on a blog or another favorite internet spot? I have a very good friend, Joan who I met at least 10 years ago on the internet. Although she is a couple states away we have met, and I have met her family. One member of her family is new and I have never met her but everytime she visits her grandma Joan she hears me on the computer.

Because my friend and I talk every day on AIM she has her settings adjusted so that every time I come on line her AIM moos like a cow. I have talked to littly Lily on a couple occasions when she is visiting her grandmother, and when she hears the moo she always yells, “Hi Kay”. This week she was on spring break and visiting my friend and she asked if Kay was a cow or a person…. Isn’t that funny?

So this is for you Lily…. I am a real person and here is a photo of me and my family. I am usually behind the camera so I really had to look for a photo…this is not a good one because my husband has his eyes closed…but that was all I could find. But I wanted you to know who I am and that I live in a real house in Pennsylvania and I have 2 dogs and 2 cats. Come visit me sometime!