Happy 4th of July!!

Happy 4th of July!

Today we've been invited to our neighbors house for a fish fry. It's the neighbor that is building the two story dream garage for Steve: William.

William and his family love everything I bake. When I asked them what I could bring to the party, in unison, they said, "Chocolate Chip cookies, No-Bake Chocolate Oatmeal cookies, and Chocolate Cake". Then they all looked at each other funny and said, "Huh??" Hunter said he could become a fat boy eating my no-bake chocolate oatmeal cookies.

So, that's what I'm doing today: baking two kinds of cookies and a chocolate cake. My neighbors behind me have family visiting, so I'll be baking cookies for them, too.

My neighbors are spoiled. rotten. I love it!

I did a little bit of patriotic decorating.

This is my Hoosier Cabinet I bought at a flea market. Doesn't she look adorable with her patriotic banner draping aross her neck? Yeah, I think so, too. Vanessa had a banner tutorial on her blog. Talk about easy peasy!

The top of the cabinet holds a couple of roosters, some red geraniums, and my little red tea pot and blue sifter.





You know me; there's a "story" for everything, so here's the story of the red teapot. I found this red teapot at the antique store one day. It was in my favorite booth. I carried it all around the store with me the whole time asking myself if I really needed it. So, I put it down, walked away, and tried to forget about it. I think I told Terry (best friend) about it. She's the queen of "Buy it even if you don't need it 'cause you'll find a place for it eventually".

Several months later my sewing group,"The Girls", got together to sew. Terry walked over to me with a bag. In it were some coffee themed dishtowels, a package of Mary Englebreit thank you notes, and the red teapot. My mouth dropped wide open. She knows my favorite color is red. She said that after she got off the phone with me the day I told her that I left the red teapot there, she went to the antique store and bought it for me because I needed it. I love her!!!!

The blue sifter doesn't have a story other than I've never seen a blue sifter. It was cheap so it came home with me that day.


This litte tablerunner I made back in 1999 fit perfectly on Miss Hoosier's little pull out table. It is a Terry Atkinson design in her book Lessons from Mama.

This table runner sits on my kitchen table.

It can be a wall quilt, too, but I like it on my table. It is a Pat Sloan design in her book Quilt the Seasons.

Terry made this quilt for me in 2000.
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There is millennium fabric in the star. That's how I know it was made in 2000. It was in McCall's Quick Quilts magazine.

This little quilt I won in a silent auction in 1998.

I'm not really sure what book it is in, but it looks like a "Little Quilts" design.

This quilt I made in 2001. After 9-11, I needed a big patriotic quilt. I didn't have time to wait on someone to quilt it for me, so I quilted it myself on my Bernina.

It is "Northern Star" from Quilt in a Day.

Edit: Check out this giveaway from Lori Holt!!!

The deadline for the drawing is tonight (July 4th), so go see what she's giving away!!! It's something adorable that would be cute hanging on my Hoosier Cabinet!!

It's time to start baking cookies and my chocolate cake. I'll share the chocolate cake recipe with you tomorrow. It's easy, and it's good.

Until then, I hope you have a great 4th of July!

Amanda

I was so excited when I checked my blog to see that a few of you Quilt in a Day girls stopped by to say "hi"! That was the icing on the cake after having such a fun afternoon with Patricia. Thank you!

Yes, my Guild's "Afternoon with Patricia" went great. You know, when you chair an event you sort of worry and wonder if anyone will come. After all, I was with my quilting friends on Thursday. Out of the ten of us, only 4 were planning to come, and one of those 4 was me!

I worried for nothing, as usual. Sixty people came! More than half of them weren't from our Guild. I had never seen these people before! You should have seen me all giddy and being nosy asking questions like "Where are you from?" "Do you belong to a Quilt Guild?" "How long have you been quilting?". For some reason asking someone to join the Quilt Guild feels like inviting them to church telling them things like: "We meet here the first Thursday at 9:30, but be sure to get there early so you can socialize!", "Yes, it's a business meeting, but the best part is Show and Tell!!", "On the third Thursday of the month we teach workshops so you can learn to quilt!!" I know they're not the same, but quilting does keep our hands busy and we all know that idle hands aren't a good thing! I digress.

Margaret was my helper. Here we are standing on the sidelines while Patricia introduces us.

Margaret and I being introduced.

I was "Vanna" and Margaret was the quilt folder upper. Patricia shows lots of quilts in her demos, and Margaret was great at keeping the quilts organized and neatly folded so they would be ready for Patricia's next show.

Demonstrating "Day and Night", their newest publication.


Demonstrating how the scraps can be used to make a table runner.

No you can't make that purse with the scraps, but you can make a table runner! Patricia had bought her black and white fabrics from one of the vendors at our quilt show last June. A lady on the front row had bought the same fat quarters and made herself a bag. Both the table runner and the bag match my dress!

After the demos were done, the people could shop at the little Quilt in a Day store set up in the back of the room. There were books, rulers, patterns, charm squares and more. Patricia autographed books and visited with people.

I bought this pattern and a scallop ruler.
I have lots of charm squares to make this pattern, and the scallop ruler will help me make beautiful scallops, waves, or vines. I just realized that the designer of this pattern is one of the Quilt in a Day girls that left me a comment the other day. How cool is that?! Her name is Anne and she has a blog at Sew Blessed.

I couldn't do events for the Quilt Guild if I didn't have wonderful ladies willing to help me.

Margaret, Patricia, me, Jean, and Eula

As I said, Margaret helped by folding quilts and keeping Patricia's projects organized. Jean and Eula worked in the "store". They've been doing this for the past 25 years. No wonder Patricia feels like we're family. We feel the same about her.

Have a great day!

Amanda

A Special Friend is Coming to Town

Hi! It's been crazy, busy around here, but I wanted to stop in and say hello.
There's so much to tell you about, and so little time!

I've been helping these guys with our new two story garage.

Steve and William hard at work.

Let's just say a construction worker I am not! The other day they needed help moving the trusses to an area where the crane operator could easily lift them. I didn't realize trusses were so heavy! When I went to lift one end of the truss, I lost my grip and fell! The guys didn't realize I fell and they dragged me along with them! Talk about funny!!!

I am so happy for Steve that his dream of having a shop is coming true. He loves to sit under the oak tree and stare at it.
Isn't he cute?

I would be the same way if someone would build me a two story quilting studio. Hint. Hint.

I do have lots of things to blog about. It seems like there's something going on every day like the antique quilt auction I helped Terry with, a wedding reception for Terry's niece that I helped Terry decorate, a fat quarter basket that I made, and lots of mailbox love from bloggy friends.

The exciting thing happening today is that I am hosting an event for my Quilt Guild, and I get to see a very dear friend at the same time! Patricia Knoechel, Eleanor Burns' sister from Quilt in a Day, has been a friend of our Guild for the past 25 years. She is our special guest at our quilt shows and does quilting demonstrations from their latest publications. I always have the honor of being Patricia's helper.

Terry, Patricia, and me at our 2008 Quilt Show.

That photo is a little blurry (because I'm not the photographer). Here's a better photo of her with my friends, Deanna, and Nell, the President of our Guild.

Deanna, Patricia, and Nell

About a month ago Patricia called me and said she had nothing to do this weekend. She was going to be in the area and was wondering if I could find a place for her to do quilting demos for our Guild and community. I found a place and it's today!!!! Yay!!! I can't wait!!!

I'll shoot lots of photos, and yes there might possibly be a blurry photo of me and Patricia, but that's okay. I'm used to it.

Until then, have a great weekend!!

Amanda

Teaching a Quilting Workshop

Yesterday I taught a quilting workshop for my Quilt Guild. My Guild has a workshop every month where a quild member teaches how to make a certain quilt. The quilt I chose to teach was Late Bloomer's, "Butterfly Love". If you scroll down to the next post you can see my quilt and some of the blocks. It is designed by Elizabeth Scott of The Late Bloomer.

I can't remember if I ever told any of you this; I probably did. Anyway, I have a degree in Elementary Education, but I never went to work. My husband and I started moving around with his job when our oldest two children, Laura and Wade, were 4 and 18 months. We decided it was best for me to be at home with them until they started school. But guess what happened when Wade started Kindergarten? I had another baby! She's in High School now, and I'm still a stay-at-home mom.

To make sure all those dollars spent on my education don't go to waste, I use some of the same teaching techniques, while in college, when I teach a quilting class. No, I don't treat them like Kindergartners, and I don't turn the lights out when they start talking too loud. I do, however, some times use flannel story boards and demonstrate with my sewing machine.

Yesterday I decided to not use the flannel board and instead laid everything out on the table.

Demo on how to do fusible applique is on the table.

Demo on how to do the button hole stitch by machine.

I knew it was going to be a large class (28 signed up and bought the pattern, but 24 came to class), so I planned on dividing the class time up into three sections: learning to fuse and applique, learning to stem-stitch embroidery, and learning how to piece the cute little borders in between the butterflies. We would also do small group demonstrations for each.

I have to tell you this: The night before I practice my quilting demos to make sure I have all the steps in the correct order and my thoughts are together. Poor Wade is usually the one who gets to be my guinea pig. After I was done, he said, "Yep. I think I can do that now. It all makes sense to me!"

It surprised me at how many of the ladies didn't know how to applique or use fusible webbing. I love teaching people new techniques that will make their quilting experience more fun! Heck, after that class they'll know how to applique and do red work embroidery!

Here's Janet and Ila coming back for a second demo on fusible applique.

Janet and Ila learning how to place their applique design on the background fabric.

Not everyone used 30's prints for their butterflies like mine, and I love that!

Pretty pink and green butterflies!

I love these pinks and greens that Anna used. Tracey used Civil War prints, and Starr used Asian fabrics. Several people used fun bright prints.

I feel bad, though. I told Elizabeth that I would shoot lots of pictures. I have more, but it shows detailed demos, and if you saw them you wouldn't need to buy the pattern! By the looks of it, only two ladies came to my class, but I promise there were 24! I was a "busy little quilting teacher" helping those that needed me. I'll shoot pictures when they bring them to the July meeting at Show and Tell. I'm sure more than half of them will have them completed.

Thank you to Elizabeth for designing such a sweet quilt. All of her designs are beautiful. The butterfly was perfect for a summer class. Thanks, too, to Betty, the owner of my favorite quilt shop, The Village Mercantile for ordering the patterns for us.

Oh, and if you happen to be going on the Southern Indiana Shop Hop, be sure to visit The Village Mercantile. They've been busy getting everything ready and the shop is bursting at the seams! Tell Betty and the girls I sent you!

And, there's more!!! I just visited Terry Atkinson at her blog. She and several other Minnesota Quilt Designers are hosting a Blog Hop starting Monday, June 22. You can read more about it at Terry's blog. Each designer is giving a free pattern, a demo, and you can win prizes! So, if Southern Indiana is too far to drive, you can sit in the comfort of your own home and blog hop!

Amanda

Butterfly Quilts and a Winner

Going to the dentist was not fun today. An unexpected root canal, and a few pain pills later, have made me a little goofy! Please forgive me for posting the winner so late.

Since I have your attention, though, I thought we could talk butterfly quilts for a little bit. A lot of you have asked me about the butterfly quilt in my header and have asked if there is a pattern. Well there is and there isn't. I'll show you what I mean.

"Butterfly Garden" from the June 2001 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting.
Designed by Becky Goldsmith and Linda Jenkins of Piece O' Cake Designs

This quilt was on the front cover of the magazine and I fell in love. My grand-daughter was about to be born and I needed to make her a "coming home from the hospital" quilt. And since I love butterflies and have a butterfly garden, I thought she should have her own butterfly garden, too. Although I love the butterflies and the flowers in this quilt, I wanted mine to be different. So I searched through my quilting books and came up with my own little version of this quilt. I machine pieced and machine appliqued each little butterfly and flower. My friend, Judy Laquidara, machine quilted it so beautifully for me.

My other butterfly quilt was found while I was thrift shopping with my best friend, Terry. We had taken a little vacation to Washington, IN to spend a few days sewing and shopping at the quilt shop behind the hotel. It was perfect. We totally rearranged the hotel room, set up our Sew Ezi tables, and sewed for three days. For breaks we would shop at the quilt shop, come back, and sew some more. There were several little antique stores near by so we shopped those, as well. You can't imagine how excited I was to find this:





It was in a box with a lot of scrap fabrics. (I was shooting pictures of the fabrics and my camera died, so I'll have to post those in the next few days.) Knowing me, I probably squealed (and jumped up and down).

Each butterfly is hand appliqued and


hand painted. Hand painted???



Yes, hand painted! I think it's so cute! My guess is that the quilter didn't know how to do the button hole stitch by hand, so she hand painted the little stiches. She knew she loved the look, but didn't know how to do it, so she decided to get a little artsy! I love that!!! I don't like her taste in sashing, but looking at the butterflies and their bright fabrics, I think someone else added that dreadful looking sashing. I'm just sayin'.

Like I told you before, I am teaching Butterfly Love at my Quilt Guild's June workshop. I chose 1930's reproduction fabrics because I knew that a lot of the ladies in my Guild either have those fabrics in their stash, will share with each other, or they could buy some from the local shops.

I decided to do a little research on butterfly quilts and I found out something interesting. In the 1930's the butterfly quilt block was popular. The butterfly represented new life and hope during the Great Depression. Quilters would make their butterflies out of their bright feed sacks. With that in mind, and considering our nation's current economic situation, my idea of making the quilt in 30's reproductions was perfect.













Hmmm. I really should have pressed this quilt before I flung it over the fence and shot it's picture!! You'll forgive me, right???

If you're the winner, you'll be getting (15) 6 1/2" squares of 1930's reproductions just like the ones I used in my butterflies plus the pattern!

Okay, so enough of my rambling about butterfly quilts. Now to announce the winner!!! The random number generator chose #32, Connie W! Congratulations, Connie!!!

Thanks to everyone who entered the drawing. Be sure to visit the Sewn website. It's up and running and it's amazing!!!

Amanda

Breaking Ground

Here is my husband, breaking ground for his new two story garage. It's going to be huge! I guess it's the closet we're ever going to get to having our own barn. Monica will be so happy for me!

What I'm excited about is that everything that is in the garage connected to our house will go in his garage. This includes his 1965 Mustang, his 1988 Jeep Wrangler, and his woodworking tools. This means that I get my own garage! His and her garages; I like the sound of that! This will give me plenty of room to paint, make wreaths, have my own little potting shed, and a place to keep stuff that I find when I go thrifting.

Here is the latest thrifting find that lived in the garage for a few weeks.

It's a Hoosier Cabinet.

I'll tell you all about the Hoosier Cabinet in a later post. I know you're here to see if you won the giveaway.

See all of that grass? See that little machine that's supposed to cut layers of grass and roll it as it goes? It didn't work so well. Yes, it cut the grass, but rolling it into this cute little circle...not so much. So, Steve cut rectangles of grass, and we lifted them out of there. I knew I needed to add some strength training to my exercise routine, but not that way!

Last night I was so exhausted, I went to bed early. This morning I have a dentist appointment and a check up with my gynecologist. So, I'll hit the random number generator and be back later to announce the winner.

Have a great day!

Amanda

Sewn Launch Party Giveaway!!!

Call me fashionably late, but I'd rather be that than have missed the boat! So, what am I talking about? The Sewn Launch Party of course!

It's this great new website that's starting up Tuesday, June 9!! To celebrate, there are lots of blogs hosting giveaways, and I want to be in on the fun and host my own giveaway!

First things first, though. I finally finished my butterfly quilt top! Woo Hoo!!!

I won the pattern from Elizabeth last fall. When my Quilt Guild asked me to teach a class this summer, I automatically thought of Butterfly Love. I have a large stash of 1930's prints, so I mixed and matched little prints, fused them on my background, machine blanket stitched around each one of them, and embroidered their little antenna's with a cute little french knot at the end! Aren't they sweet? Twenty eight people signed up to take my class. I guess they all loved it, too!!

I have one pattern left, so that is what I am giving away. I'll even add 15, 6 1/2" 1930's squares so you can get started on your own little butterfly quilt.

So, to enter my giveaway go visit Sarah's blog, come back here and leave me a comment telling me what you think you will benefit the most from the website. My giveaway will end Monday, June 8 at 11:30 pm central time.

Have fun and good luck!!!

Amanda

Edit: For those of you who have your blogs email set to "no-reply" or if you don't have a blog and are commenting anomalously, please be sure to leave me your e-mail address in your comment so that I can contact you if you win!

Congratulations to Connie! She was the winner of the Butterfly Love pattern and (15) 6 1/2" squares!

Spring to Finish

Jacquie at Tall Grass Prairie Studio challenged her blog readers to a Spring to Finish where we would challenge ourselves to finish at least one quilting project this Spring.

The deadline is midnight May 31. That's tonight in almost 3 hours central time. I had hoped to get my butterfly quilt borders on today, but I kept changing my mind on the border fabrics. I finally made a decision, but I knew I wouldn't finish by midnight. Instead, I decided to make a monogrammed pillow for the rocking chair on my front porch.

Before monogrammed pillow

After

That looks so much better!

Thanks to Jacquie for inspiring me to finish something. I love my little pillow! If you would like a little pillow, too, I'll be giving a tutorial on how you can make one for yourself later on this week.

Until then, I'll be adding ripping out the borders I added today only to change my mind, againborders to my butterfly quilt.

Amanda

So, you were probably thinking my blog had gone to the birds! Well, I am a little bird brained, from time to time, but that's another story!

Scroll down a little; there's quilty stuff at the bottom after birds and grand kids. Oh, and there's a giveaway(s) to tell you about!

Speaking of birds, Mrs. Robin had 5 babies! No wonder she built a two story house! She and the dad (I didn't realize the dad's helped) have been taking turns feeding them.

Mr. bird helping feed the babies.

I teased my oldest daughter (the one with 4 children) that the other bird must be the Grandmother. I mean, afterall, I do my fair share of helping with the kiddos from time to time. That's the best part spoil them and send them home of being a grand mother !

Alexis and Brayden "driving" the tractor.

Alexis and Brayden stayed with us for a few days while their parents went on a short vacation. We enjoyed them being here. They were perfect, which we knew they would be.

Brayden watching neighbor and Steve (the one in front) plant vegetables in our garden.

Alexis standing by the garden bench with the large garden in the background.

On the quilting front, I've been working on this quilt, Butterfly Love by Late Bloomer Quilts.



I won the pattern from Elizabeth this past fall. At this time I'm trying to choose borders. I think I am going to go with the pink polka dot for the inner border and the green for the outer border. I've "auditioned" fabrics many times, and I keep going back to this. As of right now this is what I'm doing, but my mind could change by tomorrow. This is when I wish that I would have spent the time to learn EQ6. I could "audition" fabrics there on my computer screen! I know it's not to late to learn, but I need to get this quilt finished 3 weeks ago this week!

There are tons of giveaways in blogland these days. Here's one I know you'll love. Camille Roskelley of Thimbleblossoms is giving away a jelly roll of her new fabric line Simple Abundance. She's back from Quilt Market, and she has a ton of pictures. She's not joking!

More giveaways can be found at Sew Mama Sew's blog (it's May giveaway days and there are tons of giveaways to enter), and you can go to Jodi's, and Vanessa's. Today is the last day, so you better hurry!

Have fun!

Amanda

Sew Along

The Old Red Barn Quilt Company is hosting a Sew Along. We're making a quilt! All you need are 12 half yard cuts of 12 different fabrics. The fabric line I'm using is Chez Moi by Sentimental Journey for Moda.

It's been sitting on my shelf for 2 years. For some reason I bought 2 fat quarter packs. I'm glad I did.

We're only into our second week. I just joined a couple of days ago, so I'm sure it's fine if you join, too. And there's really nice giveaway each week.

It's about time I figured out what to make with my Chez Moi.

Amanda

Memorial Day

Becky, at Sweet Cottage Dreams, has a beautiful post about Memorial Day, and I'm sure there are many more out there sharing what Memorial Day means to them.

Thank you to my great grand-father, my uncles, my father in law, my cousin, and my neice's husband, John, who recently returned home safely after serving in Afghanistan and Iraq, and to the many who have served and are serving our country. Your sacrifices mean so much.

Hi, It's me, again, Robin posting for Amanda. I know my photo hasn't changed much. This is my best pose considering this is how I sit day and night except when I fly around and stretch a bit.

Okay, so where was I? Oh, yeah....

Well, Amanda drools every time she visits Simply Libby and sees the vegetables she grows, not to mention her beautiful quilts. She even has a compost pile and worms! I love worms, too! How cool is that?

Okay, so one day, while discussing "garden facts" with the neighbors behind them, Steve and Amanda learned that there are certain vegetables that don't grow in their garden, but they do in the neighbors garden and vice versa.

It's has something to do with part of Amanda's garden is in the shade and some of it is in the sun and theirs is always in the sun. I don't know. All I know is that I love it here in the shady part of Amanda's garden.

After much talk and going back and forth about what grows where, they had this great idea to share vegetable gardens. They would take care of each others gardens planting, watering, weeding, weeding, and more weeding. It sounds like a lot of work to me, but they're excited.

Steve planted some seeds in pots, and just like the flower seeds he planted, those things sprouted up overnight!

Then he pulled out his tractor and tilled the neighbors garden. That was pretty cool to watch.

I just love sitting here in my nest looking at that beautiful sight. Now all Amanda needs is a barn and life would be even better, well after my babies hatch, that is.

I flew away from the nest again to get a little break. It looks like there are more Quilt Market updates. Holly Holderman, the designer of Lakehouse Fabrics, has a new line of fabrics coming out. Tea anyone? And check out her flower garden gate. I'm telling you, that's one creative girl! Camille of Thimbleblossoms is such a cutie! She designs quilts and fabric. She has tons of pictures from market.

I heard Amanda say that two of the grand kids will be spending a week with her. It's always fun to have happy little kids around and, come to think of it, some happy little birdies would be nice, too!

Until next time, have a great weekend!

Hi, there. Ms. Robin here. Yes, I'm the one who built a two story nest the Mr. and Mrs. Cardnial told you about in yesterday's post. The Nester would be so proud of me. Yes, it may not be perfect, but it is beautiful. I used what I had on hand. It's mainly from straw from Amanda's pine trees, and some dead vines left over from last year's flowers. She left out some little fabric strips hoping that we who build nests would build our homes out of her scraps, but that didn't happen. If only I had Vanessa's tutorial.... Maybe next year.

Sitting up here in this trellis on top of my eggs in my two story nest I get a birds eye view of all the things that are going on in Amanda's garden. Lots of fun things happen here, so I'll share a few with you over the next few days.

Looking down into their little garden I can see that Steve planted some seeds of all different kinds of flowers. He and Amanda were talking one day about how it would be less expensive to buy seeds and plant them instead of going to the garden center and buying everything. Click on the pictures to see a larger view.

Gee. Steve planted those seeds a little over a week ago and look how much they've grown! As you can see here, there are Zinnia's, Cosmos, and several kinds of Sunflowers. Here's a sunflower growing here right beside their mailbox.

I heard Steve say to Amanda, "Wonder how that got there!" Amanda said, "A bird probably planted it." Yes, we're really good at dropping seeds in weird places. They'll dig it up and plant it here in their "community flower garden", a little joke between them and the neighbors around them.

Oh look! There's a bird feeder, a bird bath, and a bird house! There's also lots of lillies, shasta daisies, black eyed susans, and purple cone flowers ready to bloom. The backyards connect to each other, so the neighbors enjoy each others flowers. Often times you will see the neighbors sitting on the bench Steve built enjoying the view. This year the plants have multiplied and had babies(there's babies everywhere!) and the neighbors have had fun coming to the garden and digging up fun things for their flower beds.

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Amanda did a little tutorial on how to make that cute little flower pot in case you want to make one, too! You can find it here.

It's almost time for me to go, but, before I do, when I was out of the nest today (I do get a little sore sitting here warming up these eggs and I have to fly away to strech) it looks like there are a few more Quilt Market updates. Pat Sloan (she's so adorable)has fun wherever she goes. Jocelynilla from Fat Quarter Shop has market up dates. Let's just say their "coming soon" section of their online shop is overflowing. Kimberly had to stay home in her "nest" because she is having twins. Girl, I know how you feel! Linda Lum Debono has a new fabric line coming out soon, so be sure to check out her market updates. She also has a link to one of her quilt designs that you can make. It's free! Jona went to Quilt Market, too. She has some great photos and giveaways! Go visit their blogs and be sure to tell them another little birdie sent you!

Until next time...have a great day!

A Little Bird Talk

Hi, there! This is Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal. Amanda's been busy working hard in her flower beds and sewing on her little "sneak peek" she showed you a couple of weeks ago. She hasn't had much time to blog, so she asked us to stop in and say hello for her. We told her we would be happy to, and here we are!

Most of you know that Amanda lives in Kentucky. We cardinals are the state bird of Kentucky, just in case you didn't know. A couple of weeks ago we were flying around in the neighborhood looking for food. It's been raining here an awful lot, so you can imagine how happy we were when we flew by Amanda's house and saw this:

Amanda bought this finch feeder one day while shopping with her grand daughter, Alexis. She explained to Alexis that certain birds like certain kinds of birdseed. So they bought the feeder and the birdseed, came home, and set it up in front of Amanda's kitchen window under the Red Bud tree. She then told Alexis that a yellow finch would fly by, notice the feeder, go back and tell all of his friends, and soon they would gather to eat at the finch feeder. Sure enough, that's what happened.



I guess Amanda learned a lesson, too, because little did she know us cardinals like that stuff, too. Amanda's never been that much "into" birds. The past few years she has become a bird watcher, so she's learning.

Speaking of birds, Robin built her a two story nest.

You go girl! Just look at her sitting there on top of the trellis that Steve built that sits against the wall in their garden. She watches Amanda every day planting flowers, digging weeds, taking the dog for a walk, running Julia to guitar, soccer, softball practice, and drinking her coffee while sitting on her little couch enjoying a few minutes of quiet time.


It looks like this photo used to be Amanda's blog header. Hmmm.

And look here...another nest.



That bird must have been a little goofy. She built a nest in the middle of Amanda's climbing rose that grows over the entrance in her garden.



It's not the first time this has happened. Here's one from last year.



If you look real close you can see a baby bird with it's little head lifted. He was probably waiting for his mom to bring him a worm. Ewwww. Finch food is so much better. Oh well, Robins aren't known for being very smart, but they are good mothers. I guess you could say they're smarter than what humans think they are.

Oh, and by the way a little kitty told me all about her trip to Pittsburgh to Quilt Market. It looks like she and The Late Bloomer had a great time. I visited a Bunny today, too! And Amanda's favorite quilt shop to visit at quilt shows has some exciting news! Go visit them and tell them a little birdie sent you! Make that two little birdies!

Nice Day

Yesterday was a nice relaxing day. After I ate my muffin (s) and blogged about the quilt my mother made me, I went to my sewing room and started ironing all of my pink and purple scraps.


See, Terry came over a few weeks ago and said I needed to use some of this fabric. She's been talking about making a two color quilt(white or off white with another color) out of each of the colors of her scraps and 6 1/2" squares that we have been collecting from an exchange group in our Quilt Guild. She has a quilt pattern in mind, so I thought I might join in on the fun. The problem is, though, I got bored ironing pink and purple fabric. To be honest, I didn't even get to the purple and I didn't finish all of the pink. I have a very short attention span especially when it comes to ironing. That's not good considering how many baskets of scraps I have (red, black, orange, yellow/brown, green, blue, pink/purple).

Soon after that, Laura and the grandkids came over.

They're such little sweeties. Laura is enjoying planting flowers in her flower beds, so I gave her a watering can and a pair of cute gardening gloves.

The food was good. Laura brought sushi for the appetizer (I swear I think they put something in that stuff to make people crave it), and Steve made his chicken/spinach stromboli and chicken pizza. Everything was great, and I didn't have to cook! That's even better!


Here's Wade,me, Julia, and Laura. They're sweeties, too.
Laura and the grand kids gave me a planter. I love how it looks like a pitcher on a saucer.

Julia gave me two quilting books. Vanessa has talked about this book on her blog, and maybe with a Christmas quilting idea book I won't be waiting until the last minute to make gifts and decorations.

Wade gave me a $25 gift card to Books A Million.

I can't decide if I want to get Mary Higgins Clark's new book on cd, or use it several times to buy quilting magazines. I'll probably buy quilting magazines, knowing me.

Thanks to everyone who left a comment about my mothers quilt. You know, until I blogged about it and heard from you, it never dawned on me that this is the only thing I have that has my mother's hand stitching on it. Not only did she try to hand quilt it, but she hand stitched the binding down, too. Even though it bothered Mom that the quilt was never finished, it takes on a new meaning since she is no longer with me. I'm sure she wouldn't mind it if I finished it for her, but to go over her applique stitches or to tear the quilt apart, no way! What was I thinking? I think I might just leave it alone, and enjoy it the way it is. I do love it because she made it especially for me. Thanks for being honest and giving me your heartfelt opinions. {{Big Hugs}}

I hope you had a wonderful day celebrating the women that are special to you.

Amanda

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

Julia just made me blueberry muffins for breakfast.


Normally I would have grabbed a paper plate and gulped it down at the kitchen table, but with it being such a special day and all, it deserved to be served on my mother's Dessert Rose dessert plate on my dining room table. It looks so pretty on my antique Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt. I just love quilts on my dining room table!

You know, I would love it if they wouldn't call it "Mother's Day" and just called it some kind of name that celebrated women. I have so many women in my life are so special to me. Although they didn't give birth to me, they still "mother" me whether they are my sister, my sister in law, my dad's girlfriend, my friends, my Aunts, or my many blogging friends. I have been blessed by them (and you) all.

If you have been reading my blog a while, you probably already know that my mom went to heaven about 20 years ago. That's probably the reason why I wish "Mother's Day" was called something else. I blogged about her here. I still don't have a great photo of her, but I do have one of her apron.

I love to wear it while I'm baking my chocolate chip cookies or Italian Cream cake. She loved everything about baking. She wasn't much into cooking dinners, although what she did cook it always tasted good. I know I never went hungry. She just enjoyed baking.

She loved sewing, too, which she also passed down to me. It's funny, but she didn't quilt. She tried, though. Here is the only quilt my mother made. It's a Sunbonnet Sue. She made it for me when I was 7 or 8 which means it was made in 1970 or 1971. The little dresses are cotton fabric, but the yellow and white gingham is a poly/cotton blend. The quilt itself feels really soft, so I'm not sure what kind of batting she used.

I don't remember much about her making it, but I do remember her using stitch witchery to fuse it down. What I do remember though, is that she tried really hard to get someone to hand quilt it for her. I guess she gave up on that idea, and tried it herself.
You can see where she handquilted, and machine quilted.

Then she gave up on handquiting and tried machine quilting. That didn't work either, so I guess she gave up all together and bound it the best way she could. I know this had to be frustrating to her because everything Mom made looked professional.

I have thought seriously about taking everything apart. I would applique the edges a little more around the dresses. Then I would buy some 100% cotton yellow and white gingham and just basically start over. So what do you think? Mom really wanted this to be quilted the right way, and since now I am a quilter (which she would be so excited about) I could give this quilt what it deserves. Would you use the same setting or would you do sashings and cornerstones and maybe have a border?

Laura and the grand babies are on their way over. Steve is cooking dinner for all of us. I have requested his spinach/chicken stromboli and Julia wants his chicken pizza. Laura is bringing Sushi, which I have been craving. We're also having strawberry shortcake for dessert. Wade is on a diet, so he'll have to figure out what he's eating! That's not very "motherly" of me is it?

Have a great day celebrating the women that are special to you!

A Little Peek and Diet Challenge

Here's a little peek into what I'll be working on this week. I'm supposed to have the quilt top made by Thursday to show to my Quilt Guild for a June workshop that I am teaching.

I'm such a procrastinator.

Well, not really (maybe a little bit). Sometimes other things get in the way of sewing such as getting ready for a garage sale, spring cleaning, and gettting the house ready to be appraised for refinancing. The good thing about doing all of that hard work is that my house is clean, which means my sewing room is clean, and now I can go play with my little butterflies and not have that little voice in my head yelling at me again like I told you about here.

Now for the diet challenge. Everything is going well. I've been getting lots of exercise cleaning, moving things around, going up and down the stairs a million times a day, and everything else that goes into getting rid of things. I'm in between sizes which means that the clothes that did fit me are too big and the new ones I try on are a little too small. So, I'm looking a little baggy these days and having to sew darts in my waistbands. Do you know how long it has been since I've sewn a dart?

Now, on to the exciting stuff. All of you Weight Watcher fans are really going to love this, and those of you that aren't on Weight Watchers, well , you're gonna love it, too! Remember how I told you that when I think I'm hungry, but I'm not really sure, I chew gum? It really does help, but one night, while my hubby and I were at the book store, I was looking for a diet cookbook. I was chewing gum and my stomach was growling really loud. I was looking at books then all of the sudden I spotted a diet cookbook called Hungry Girl. I said to myself, "Hey! That's me!!!" So I grabbed the book off the shelf, sat down in one of their comfortable chairs, and was blown away by what I was reading.


The photos of the recipes looked really great, and, although it's not Weight Watchers endorsed, it is Weight Watcher friendly (the author Lisa Lillien has worked with Weight Watchers on some of their recipes, so she knows what she's talking about when it comes to "points".)

I cooked some of the recipes for my family and so far they have loved everything I have cooked. Amazing!!! Usually things taste blah or they don't look remotely anything like the receipe book photos. This isn't so with Hungry Girl.

And, here's the best part. Well there's several "best parts". Can you tell I'm excited??!! Even though the Weight Watcher points aren't in the book, you can go to her website and find the points value of each of the recipes. She even has photos of each recipe on her website, too! She also has a daily e-mail that she sends out with recipes and fun facts about new food products that are diet friendly. What I love about all of it is that she educates you on how to cook healthy. And she even teaches you on how to eat healthy when you go out to dinner. Afterall, it's those fun things in life (eating lunch with my quilting friends after the Guild meeting or when we're at each others houses for our sewing group, birthdays, or just going out to dinner with my family) that have been a big part of me gaining the 20 or so pounds that I have gained. I won't count the hours I spend quilting or blogging. Nope....not going to. That has probably saved me from going bonkers. Besides that, I can't eat and blog/quilt at the same time!

A few weeks ago Lisa came out with another book called Hungry Girl's 200 under 200. It's 200 recipes under 200 calories. Again, the recipes are easy to make, and my family likes them, too.
If you want to know more, click here. It's a video of Lisa, the author, on Good Morning America talking about the new book.

The next few days I'll be sewing little butterflies and organizing my garage sale for this weekend. Wish me luck in finishing the top by Wednesday night! Good luck to all of you in the diet challenge!

Amanda