Quilts in Progress...Cruise Quilt

I have been sew busy in front of the sewing machine lately.  As you may know I do not even have my regular Viking at home right now.  I have been working on the featherweight that grandma gave me.  WOW!  That thing is tougher than you'd think! I have been working on 2 quilts and the plans for a third.

NUMBER ONE

 Panama Canal Cruise Quilt

In October 2001, right after the world was shocked into a fear of terrorists and flying, my Grandma Betty took me on a cruise through the Panama Canal.  Her sight had been starting to bother her and she needed someone to go with her.  She asked me to go.  It was GREAT.  We rode on the Sun Princess cruise ship.  Wow.  Long story short, I picked up 3 beautiful panels with the intention of making them into a quilt.  Grandma had made one about her cruise to Alaska a few years before.  (She's a cruise junkie!)






I had purchased coordinating fabrics not long after the trip that reminded me of the sea.  And then they waited for me.  They have been waiting for almost 11 years to be recreated into a quilt.  And now it's almost done...


Timothy helped me figure out how to make the waves look real.  Thanks buddy!  He also did quite a bit of sewing for me.  He's a pro now.  He will probably be designing his own quilts soon.  He even tries ironing and cutting but sewing is his favorite job.

My Life May Challenge at Paper Coterie

My life right now is mostly about playing with my kids.  

Here is Rebekah in a tent that has a train going through it.

Check out the May Challenge over at Paper Coterie.

They have the cutest tag books.  I made one for my son.

(I would post it but it has his friend in it too, and I don't have his mom's permission.)

 

They are also offering $15 off your purchase with this code: 

GIFTFAVES

Spread the LOVE...vote

Please head over HERE and vote in the Handmade Olympics. 

Although I love, and often visit more than a few of the the blogs listed...

please vote for Maureen Cracknell Handmade. 

Everything she does is beautiful including her.  Good luck Maureen!

She also posted a great fabric Giveaway today.

Sketchbook Challenge

I am challenging myself to fill a 100 page sketchbook with all doodles using BIC ultra thin permanent markers.  I love them!  I got a pack of 36 (I think) at Staples for about $20.  I have done about 70 pages and several of the markers have finally run out.  I replaced a few last week including the black (which I have replaced several times).  Obviously I use that one a lot!


I also found a Sketchbook Challenge blog HERE.  They have monthly themes for you to follow.  April's theme is open: as in flowers, doors, hands, whatever else you can open...your eyes.  So here are the pages that fit in the topic.

I am thinking about making some of them into greeting cards.  Any suggestions as to a site to use for that?

to can or not to can

I bought a share of winter root veggies from my friend Erin over at Mud Creek Farms last week. I got carrots, parsnips, beets and rutabagas. I planned to can most of the carrots. I started with Better Homes and Gardens Home Canning Cookbook from probably before I was born. Peeled, cut, and ready to go. Aren't they beautiful? They taste as good as they look.

If you have canned before you know what comes next. Fill jars, boil water. seal jars, put in water, wait till they pop. Easy Peasy!

NOT! If you read the chapter on low-acid veggies then you will learn that boiling is not enough. You have to use a pressure canner to bring everything to 240 degrees instead of the usual 212 degrees. This will kill the different bacteria found in these veggies. SWELL!

No problem, my mom has one of those...and it's missing the pressure gauge!  So that leaves me 2 choices.  1. eat all the carrots now or 2. un-can them and freeze instead.  I opted for freezing them all.

So now I have 3 large bags of frozen sliced carrots to eat later.

Kitchen re-do

Oh, I love yellow! It is as if the sun has actually risen IN my kitchen. It has been turtle shell green since we moved in and painted in February 2004; almost 8 years! I can't even find a digital picture of the before so you will just have to imagine it.

Here is over my sink view. I also made the valances. Can't tell here but they are yellowish, sage and red stripe. Lined with red velvet. They have little puckers in them. I wish I could remember the blog that had the directions. If I do, I will post it later.

All I have left to do is put in some remaining baseboard molding and fix the cupboard next to the dishwasher and it will be fabulous.

Here you can see the puckers in the valance over the table. You can see my stove on the right. It is old. Prbably been here almost as long as the house, but I LOVE it. It has a regular size oven on the right and a smaller one on the left. I can cook at 2 different temps at the same time. LOVE IT. The same thing today would cost a fortune!

Hope you enjoyed my kitchen as much as I do.

I need to try these

Some things around the blog land that I HAVE to try soon.

I found these cute coasters through pintrest. They were made by Jess at Twin Fibers. There is a full tutorial at Chasing Cottons. They will be great for using up scraps too.

How cool is this? I have so many crayon pieces that would love to be a part of a piece like this. I have also seen it done with a whole 96 pack of crayons in a rainbow. You use a hairdryer to melt them and they drip down the canvas.

Maybe I'll start with Jack Vettriano's painting. The crayons can rain down on that. Maybe more grey than blue. I wonder how that will turn out.

Lastly, what a cute headband this is. It is lace with a bit of elastic behind the head. Sew simple! I have tons of both. Also maybe a cute idea for my moms dolls.

Thank you all for sticking with me.