New Iron!

Recently during my Blog Anniversary Celebration I asked you
peeps what kind of iron you had,and your likes/dislikes about
them.  After reading your comments and doing some online research
This is the Iron that I decided on!

It is a T-Fal Ultraglide easycord 4476
I purchased it from Amazon.  It was out of stock,so I had to wait a while
until they were in stock again.
Today when I checked the mail box there it was :)

Since I haven't had a chance to use it I can't give you a review yet.
However it won't be long before I do and then will post a review
for you all :)

Hopefully I will have a much better picture then too.

Weekend sewing

First up is this little owlie bag that started out as a quilt block
which you can check out here
Last night I decided that it was going to be a bag,so set about
making that happen.
The inside is a dark brown herb fabric,I know that herbs and owl's
have nothing in common,but that was the only dark brown fabric
in my stash.  There is also a pocket inside,that will hold a cell
phone or keys or whatever.
This would make a great bag for taking a smaller craft/sewing
project with you on the go :)

Next up,something that has been on my "want to make"list for
a while now.
Love how both this and the one below turned out :)
Although I still have plenty of room for improvement in the
zipper department!
That being said,I am improving.

Notice the zipper pulls on these little cuties?
Well I have had these metal bobbins hanging around since I purchased
my Janome a few years ago.  Since it uses plastic bobbins I no longer
use these.  However,I did not want to throw them away.  I just kept
thinking that they could be useful again.
Sew when making the above bag it hit me!
Don't those sprockets on the fabric look like bobbins?  Or maybe they
are bobbins!
Anyway there are still 3 of these little bags awaiting my return to the sewing room.
Hope you all had a great weekend & have a even better week ahead :)

Meet Midas

Midas is my new BFF :)
He was on the Humane society's poster a couple weeks ago
when,I decided to cut through the pet department
to get around some customers blocking the main aisle.
Of course I glanced at the poster as I walked by!
(so it was meant to be,right?)
Yep,I thought so too!

Friday,yesterday,was one week since he came to live with us :)
When we let him out of the carrier he bolted for the nearest hiding
place!  Which was behind the furnace,when he finally ventured out
he then darted behind the refrigerator.

He spent mos of the week alternately hiding either
under the couch or under the bed.
About mid-week he started jumping up on the bed after
we had turned out all the lights!
But as soon as one of us would move he was off the bed in a
flash!
Finally last night he let me pet him! :)

However,he decides when,and then jumps down and runs and
hides.  LOL!
He is a little cutie tho,and I am sure that he will eventually
stop running and hiding!

Fabric cut & ornaments finished

Second ornament all finished and ready to go with the Christmas
block! 
This one is a dark wine/burgundy-ish color,with
a gold scroll like design on it.
I topped it with a resin Santa.

Here is the first one that I posted about last night.
This one is silver with red and green dots scattered here and
there.
I topped it with a green bow and red leaves.

After dinner I took on the seemingly daunting task of making a
decision on what fabric to cut and get ready to ship out to my
bee mates for my blocks next month.
I am glad to say that the task has been finished!
Whew!
Now I just have to quit freaking out about whether or not I
included enough fabric.

Happy Friday to everyone tomorrow :)

Just call me Dumplin!

I have been wanting to make one of these little "Dumpling"
bag/pouches for a while.
This evening I finally found the time :)
This was super easy and fast to sew!
I will definitely be making a whole lot more of these cute lil
zip pouches!
I added 2 pretty pink buttons on this one,I didn't have any ribbon
small enough to use on the zipper pull,so that will have to be added
later.

Another item on my to make list,this is the second luggage tag that
I made last night.  It turned out better than the first one,below.

Here is my first try at a luggage tag.
It wasn't bad,but not quite the finished size I was wanting.
This one will be going to live with my daughter soon.
So Sweetie,act surprised when you get it!  Wink,Wink ;)

This is my work in progress for the day.
It will be going to one of my Christmas Block
Swap partners for September!  Hopefully
tomorrow I will be able to get one more at least
this close to being finished.
As both blocks are now completed and I want to have
them both shipped by the weekend.

Tomorrow evening I have to get busy and make a decision
on exactly what fabric to send out to my bee mates for my
blocks.  Then it needs to be cut,put into envelopes and
shipped out by no later than Monday!

Some canning & a Winner!

I know this isn't really canning,but while waiting for my things
to finish in the pressure canner I made granola!
The jar on the right has the tomatoes that I dehydrated
last week.

Seven jars of salsa!
We still have about 4 or 5 left from last year to use up before
we dig into these.

The 4 jars in the back are tomato sauce.
The 6 smaller jars are tomato jam!
I know,I was thinking the same thing when reading the recipe
in my Ball Blue Book of Canning.
But I was pleasantly surprised :)
It was wonderful on my quesadilla  this afternoon :)

Vegetable soup just out of the pressure canner.

Here are the cutest lil pumpkins that I made in between batches
of canning!  You can find the tutorial here!

And now the moment you have all been waiting for!
Congratulations are in order for...
JuneBug  who said...
Sewing and crafting... it's the perfect combination at our house!
Sew,congratulations JuneBug!

A Big Thank You to everyone who entered  to win :)

She's got ,Sunflower Eyes?!

If you are a regular follower of my blog you probably know that
I joined the Sew Bee Blissful quilting Bee.
October is my month to be the queen bee! 
(excited & nervous about that)
Anyway I have been going bug-eyed looking at quilt blocks
trying to decide what block to have my bee mates make for me.

The owl block above is the one that I am leaning toward.  I found a
free tutorial at Buzzing and Bumbling for it!

Sew,what do you think?
I had to piece this first one together as I didn't quite understand
the instructions completely.  Then realized my mistake after cutting
out the pieces,that should have been one piece!
My next block will be correct :)   I didn't want to throw away
fabric,so decided to piece this one.

Now I just have to figure out how much fabric to send each of my bee mates!

Looking for my 4th & final giveaway?  You can enter to WIN here

Final blog anniversary giveaway!!!

Here it is,my final blog anniversary giveaway!

To win all these goodies,just leave me a comment!
Any comment will do :)
Good Luck!
Winner will be picked on Sunday evening the 18th & posted
on Monday the 19th :)

Bring on the comments....

2 sneak peeks & a Winner too!!!

This is a sneak peek for one of my Christmas Block Swap
partners for September.
The block is called Glitter,Glitter!

This one is for my second partner for September.
It is called Karlene's Fancy!
Hope they like them!

The winner of my 3rd giveaway is....

SUNNI,who said
My favorite time of year is Summer. I love the sun and the shine and the heat!!

Congratulations Sunni :)  Contact me so that I can get your snail mail info.

Thanks to everyone who entered.  If you haven't won yet you still have one more chance!
I will post my last blog anniversary giveaway Monday the 12th or Tuesday the 13th!

Twister

Yesterday evening I sewed together all 36 of the charm squares for this
sixter twister table mat.  Also had enough time to sew on all the
borders.
This evening I cut out all the squares,this time I got brave and just
used the rotary cutter instead of tracing out all the squares first.
The process went much quicker,and the squares turned out
quite nicely too.

A friend of mine brought me a bath towel a couple
weeks ago,and asked me to make her a curtain for
her back door window.
I decided to add some trim with tassels to the bottom
of the towel to add a little pizazz!
She was quite happy with it.

My still have the weekend to enter my giveaway !
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend :)

 

Pesto,tomatoes & placemats

Lots of garden goodness :)
5 containers of pesto are now in the freezer.
The zip bag on the right has dehydrated tomatoes in it.
A variety of tomatoes.
Cinnamon basil drying in the bowl off to the right.
Zucchini & yellow squash.

Here is a place mat top that is in progress.  This one will be
for Mr. P :)
Not sure that I like the fabric combo,but he does,and that is
what matters.

This one will be for me.
I took this photo on my kitchen table,and the colors blend
way to much :(
Now I need to pick out the fabric for the back sides of each one.

Looking for my current giveaway?  Go here

Giveaway # 3

Would you like to own these goodies??!
Well then,all you have to do is...

Tell me your favorite time of year and why it is your favorite!
That is all :)

My favorite time of year is Fall/Autumn.
~The air has that crisp feel to it~
~Harvest is in full swing~
~The Aspens are turning~
~We are canning,freezing & dehydrating~
~I don't mind having a quilt on my lap~

Winner # 2 is....

Karen,who said...
What a fun giveaway! I did a blog post about my search for the perfect iron and what I ended up with. And I still love love love it!

http://sewmuch2luv.blogspot.com/2011/03/7-new-aprons-and-iron-that-changed-my.html

Congratulations Karen! :)
Please leave me a comment & I will reply and get your
snail mail info.

Thank you to everyone who left me a comment about your iron :)
I will post as soon as I have my new iron!

This evening after work I went out to the garden and harvested
my Cinnamon Basil bush.  The tray above is about 12x8x2!
Tomorrow after work I will be making up a bunch of pesto
and freezing it for this winter :)

Here is a close up,the buds that form at the tops of each stem
are purple,and so aromatic!  Next year I am going to plant 2
bushes,because I just love this herb :)

Yesterday was a salsa canning and zucchini baking kind of day!
Sorry no pictures :(
Ended up with about a dozen pints of salsa and 6 more loaves
of zucchini bread!
I will post my next giveaway for my blog anniversary month
tomorrow evening :)
Hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day!

Baking update & recipe for Jolene :)

Just wanted to let everyone know that our first toys for tots
bake sale/cookout was a smashing success!
We ended up making $550.00!!!
Above is a photo of some zucchini bread I baked yesterday.
I actually baked 6 loves :)
Am hoping to get 6 more baked up today so that they can go into
the freezer too.

Here are some of the goodies that I baked up for the bake sale.
8 dozen cookies!
Also baked but not pictured were 2 loves of pumpkin bread &
2 cakes.

These are some yellow squash fritters that I made yesterday.
Mr. P was eating them as fast as I could make them.
So I had to tell him to stop long enough for a photo!

As promised,below is my recipe for home made Granola.
For You Sweetie :)  (Jolene)

Pecan & Cranberry Honey Granola

1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup orange juice
2 TBsp light brown sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups Old Fashioned Oats
1/2 cup raw pecan halves
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup toasted pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup coconut flakes
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup chopped apricots
1/4 cup dried cranberries
*NOTE*
You can use any dried fruit/nut combo that You like.

In a medium bowl,whisk together first four ingredients.
Add next five ingredients.  Toss to combine well.
Spread on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake at
350 degrees for 30 minutes,stirring every 10 minutes.
Remove from oven and cool 20 minutes.
Transfer to a large bowl,add all dried fruit and toss well.
Enjoy!

Baking up a Storm tonight :)

Since I have been to busy this evening to take any pictures
of my baked goodies (for a toys for tots fund raiser)
I thought that I would show you some of the goodies
from my garden instead :)

Top right~peppers
top left~yellow pear tomatos
Red tomatoes~ the one in the middle is a purple Cherokee
Yellow/orange tomatoes~Mr. Stripey

And here is my Modern V quilt top
All finished,now I need to find time to quilt it!

Want to enter my giveaway?  Go here

Will try to post some photos of all my baked
goodies tomorrow evening :)