That Awful Four Letter Word.......DIET!

         Yep.......I am on a diet again. However this is the first time I have ever posted about it. First off, I must say I eat a pretty well balanced diet. The only thing I might lack in is enough protein. I am not much of a meat eater. Usually the only time I eat meat is the 1 day a week when we go out to a restaurant. While in middle school I was a vegetarian for 2 years. I love veggies. These make up most of my diet and I snack on nuts, and too much sweets.
        Last week I watched Dr. Oz . I liked him in the beginning, but then it seemed he pushed suppliments too much. But this day was different. he was discussing the results of his 2 Week Rapid Weight Loss Diet. He made a good sense by allowing unlimited quantities of low glycemic vegetables. It also eliminates foods that can make you sick or be toxic to the body. Such as wheat,gluten, diet sweeteners sugar,and dairy. It does however allow 1/2 cup greek yogurt and 1 cup almond milk. The video of this show can be found HERE. He showed scans of the brain of a person using wheat, carbs, gluten and sugar and one without. The brain on these things seemed to be inflamed and he said along with other problems, it caused one to crave more food.The people in his audience lost an average 9 lbs in 2 weeks. Some were losing 26 lbs in 2 weeks.
        I started on Monday. The first day was a breeze,The second day I had to take my son to the hospital for a test so was gone half of the day. So I didnt get my breakfast smoothie. For lunch I then had the Bourbon Chicken Skillet but subbed out the red potatoes for more of the broccoli. Then chicken stir fry for supper with cashews. On the first day I lost 2.6 lbs. A total of 4.6 lbs in 3 days. I am thrilled. I just hope this continues and that I can stick to it. Here is a printable sheet on the diet

My First Needle Book Completed

   Remember is THIS post I showed you the pages I created or my needle book. This is a special project for me for a few reasons. One, this is my very first needle book. Now i have a place to keep all my needles together and they are labeled. Two, This is the first time I used my nicer supplies for myself instead of gifts. Three, the idea for this project was brought up to me by an online friend. She has generously given me some pieces of very pretty fabrics, ribbons, etc. The crushed velvet cover was one of her gifts, plus the beautiful button and hand dyed ribbons.
     I lightly padded the cover and used a piece of acid free board to slip into the covers to stiffen them some. The pages were then opened up and stitched into the binding one at a time. One stacked on top of the other. There is also a narrow pocket running up the edge of the inside covers to hold needle threaders etc. Some of the roses were embroidered. The two large dusty plum colored ones were done using a folded technique. The large leaves were wire edged silk ribbon. The cream colored hand crocheted lace trim running along the edge of the front was made by me a few months ago when I was practicing a new stitch. This was an after thought and not initially made for this project but i loved the look. My roses still need a lot of work. I have been practicing my hand embroidery off and on for a few months now, but have done very little ribbon embroidery.

I noticed that flower that shows up as a bright true blue really isnt. It has a color range from dark blue thru some deep purple.The flowers that look brown, are more a deep copper color, and the crochet lace is more a cream.
Here is the inside:

The inside pocket is a horizontal one running up the left side and inside right side of cover.
This might be a little more accurate representation of the color:

UPDATE

The wonderful teacher helping me develop my embroidery skills advised me to add some greenery to my cover. So here is the updated pic.

Needle Book Update

         I sent my friend the picture of my needle book page. She gave me several good ideas to make it look better. Here is how it is now:

I have to admit my bullion's are getting better. I think I might have preferred to have made the inch worm head to be the same green as the body. I may still change that.

Needle Book......What The Heck Is That?

        That's exactly what i said to an internet friend a couple of months ago. I have been a sewer most of my life. Many years ago I bought an embroidery machine, so I havent done much hand embroidery, but I enjoy learning new skills. Last year by chance,  a wonderfully talented lady contacted me about a crochet project, and we have been friends ever since. She is very knowledgeable and skilled when it comes to sewing, embroidery, and other skills. I have been learning a lot from her. She is an excellent teacher. A few months ago she mentioned about needle books. I have never heard of them or even seen one before. She explained how it was used to store all your needles in one safe place. I usually tended to just stick them in my projects, stick them in pin cushions to be lost among my straight pins etc. We are at opposite ends of the spectrum. I tend to just rush into things headlong, and figure it out as i go. I am also very disorganized. She is extremely organized and plans about making plans for a project.  She is slowly rubbing off on me. Maybe one of these days when I go looking for a certain tool or pattern, I will know exactly where its at,lol.
       She suggested I should make a needle book. At first I wasnt real enthused about the idea. I wasnt sure I would even use one. so I started researching these online. Looking through pinterest and Google at all the beautiful books created by others. It wasnt long before I was hooked. I had to have one. Another thing she has taught me is that when I plan a project for myself  dont be afraid to use your nice materials. I have always saved the good things for when I was working on something for someone else. Sadly to say my pin cushion is one I threw together using a plastic  container and padded the lid. I used old scraps that werent very attractive. So now its time to take car of ME.
       I saw cute needle books online that were pieced from cute prints, and had easy felt pages. Some had hand embroidery on the covers, and ribbon embroidery. Some were shaped like apples. My  teacher/friend sent me some beautiful ,purple  crushed velvet. I decided I was going to use this for my book cover. I also plan on some ribbon embroidery on the cover. She discussed using wool felt or flannel for the pages. I liked the simplicity and ease of using the felt, but when she showed me a pic of how she stitches around the edges of her flannel pages, I was in love. I tried linen, but just didnt get the look I wanted. So I used some white felt. I cut my pages 4.5" x 6". These will then be folded in half to a 4.5" x 3".I found some cute little trim in my storage and decided to use it rather than hand embroidery the flowers, but it could certainly be done either way. I used dark purple embroidery floss to make a french knot in the center of each flower to hold the trim in place.

Then I found some purple rick rack. I thought this would look pretty and add some color in the center of the page. I will stick the needles in under this. I used some cream color floss to couch it to my flannel page. i also took some matching thread to stitch the ends down and prevent raveling.  I wanted some labels on the pages to try and keep me a little more organized. I tried free-handing them on ribbon. Like I said "no plans", just "jump in" and go for it.....Didnt work. The letters were all different sizes. I didnt want to fool with the embroidery machine. I also didnt want to print them out on my printer. So I remembered I had some cross stitch fabric. So I first embroidered the letters on then cut it out. I took some more matching thread and whipped stitched the edges down to my flannel. I liked this look. I think i am done with these, and now on to the cover. Check back here for more pics and instructions on putting this whole thing together.
   

Vintage Strawberry Shortcake Baby Quilt

         My niece who is now about 8 months pregnant, asked if I could make her quilt with the vintage/original Strawberry Shortcake girl. I made her sister a baby quilt a yr ago, and now its her turn.  I had a time finding the original strawberry though. Even online. Then she told me she saw it at our local Walmart. I bought it and 3 other fabrics I thought would go. I really struggled over this one tho. I wanted some soft looking. Not too bright, but the colors I chose just didnt work when I started making the blocks. So with the help of my daughter we found a print from Michael Miller Strawberry Teatime line, and another dusty green. So I started over again.
       Since the Strawberry print was small, and I wanted a focal point in the center. I decided to hand embroidery the girl on a large block in the center. I used a coloring book image and traced her onto my white block.

She turned out pretty wel. I havent done much hand embroidery in my life. Most of its been with the machine, but I thought this gave it more of a vintage look. I was enjoying the hand work so much, that I made another block with freehand drawn cupcakes topped with a strawberry in the corners. 

      Here is the block that its all tying into:

Not wanting to stop all the fun just yet, I decided to embroider a block on the top with the words "Berry Sweet", and added some flowery vines, a teeny little butterfly, and a strawberry.

Here is the final product minus the binding. I just finished machine quilting it. Talk about instant gratification.

Now I need to decide on a binding color.  I auditions a few different colors in the pic below. Got any recommendations to help me out ?  :)

Handmade Ric Rac

      Well it snowed all day yesterday, and was bitterly cold. Much colder this morning tho. News said it was -5 degrees but feels like -22 degrees. Too cold for me. I got bored yesterday, and thinking about my planned crazy quilted pillow. I started thinking about the samples I have seen done that used the wide ric rac then embroidered over it. Couching, I believe its called. I dont have any large ric rac on hand.  My crochet hook ,however was handy. So I got to work on my version of ric rac. I think it worked out pretty well. It will however require a little guesswork for length. I think I crocheted a chain about double the length I wanted finished.

I used a size 6 crochet hook and size 10 crochet thread. It is slightly less than 1/4" wide. About 1/2" overall.

I simply made my chain. Then turn, and sc in second chain from hook. Then sc in next 2 chains. Now do 2 more sc in the same space as that third sc. You will have 3 sc in same chain.

Now sc in next 2 chains.  Then skip next 2 chains, and sc in next.  Sc in next 2 chains. Now for the top peak again, do 2 more sc in same space as last sc.

Basically, to form your peaks you will have 3 sc in one chain, then to form the valleys you skip two chains and sc in the next. Cute Huh?

Pretty Crochet Heart & Crazy Quilitng

        I have decided to finally give crazy quilting a try. I thought about it many times in the past, but always shied away because it seemed like to much work for a quilt. All the beautiful hand stitches people put on these are just stunning. I love doing handwork in front of the TV of an evening, but this just seemed like way too much work.
         I dont know why I didnt think of it before, Looking back on it, I was "crazy" for not thinking of it. Yea, pun intended. I was emailing back and forth with an internet friend who is extremely talented. She is the one that mentioned trying crazy quilting on a small pillow. Duh! I should have thought of that. This was about a month ago. Since then she has frequently been sending me emails with wonderful tips. I have been saving those, and hitting Pinterest, pinning all the beautiful pieces I seen, embroidery stitches, and ribbon embroidery. Check out my pins HERE. For ideas check out  my boards titled Crochet, Crazy Quilting and Embroidery, and Ribbon Embroidery.
         Now that the holidays is over, I have buckled down and started thinking of things I want to add to my pillow block. During one of my many pinning sessions I found this pattern: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/chalklegs/heart-in-crochet
You may have to sign into ravelry to get it. However its simply the pattern found here:  http://www.freecraftunlimited.com/heart-crochet-hot-pad.html
With a different border. The lady on ravelry has you sc, ch 2, sc in each loop around the edge. I wanted a little more ruffled look so I chained 3. Here is my cute little block. It measures about 3" wide by 4" high. It was done is crochet thread that was size 12 I think.

  

Handmade Country Apple Kitchen Towel

       Right after Christmas, I got in the mood to do some hand stitching. I didnt want to use my embroidery machine. I kind of wanted a country, or vintage look to my new towel. I bought a piece of fabric from a store in Berlin, Ohio. I believe this is the largest Amish area in the nation. This fabric had a nice stiff weight, so I hope it wont bunch up in the wash as my Joann fabric does.
      I cut out 3 apples from some country looking fabric, and turned the edge under and placed them in the center of the towel. Then I slipped the stem pieces under the apples, and the leaves in place. Then I hand stitched the pieces in place. For the apples and leaves I decided to do a blanket stitch with 3 strands of embroidery floss. I then sewed on the border fabric. I cut it  5 inches wide by the length of the towel. I stitched the back side of this border on the towel, then folded it to the front, turned the other edge under and top stitched in down from the front side.
     For the embroidered trim between these two pieces, I used the tutorial found HERE. For the crochet border I used the tutorial HERE. Here is the results:

Learning A New Craft

        For the about the past month, I have been researching a new interest. I plan on trying out Crazy Quilting for the first time.  friend peaked my interest in it. I had thought about it before, but just didnt think I would have the patience to do all the stitching that would be required in doing a quilt. I had a  "duh" moment when she mentioned just doing a pillow. I dont know why I never thought of that before, but i got excited over the prospect. Here is her webpage.
   During my time researching crazy quilting, I seen several pinned samples of blocks done with tatted pieces. Tatting is another thing I once thought of trying many years ago, but never got around to buying a shuttle. To be honest , it seemed a little difficult when I seen pictures of someone working with a shuttle. Then I came upon a youtube video HERE. I couldnt understand a thing she was saying. Well maybe a word here and there. But her video was excellent to follow. What I noticed was that you could also tat with a needle. I didnt need to learn to use a shuttle! She  made the needle tatting look very easy. Plus I love the delicate look of the lace. She is making earrings, but I thought these pieces would look very nice on my crazy quilt block.
     Then , I found this series of videos HERE. I liked her finger positioning technique. She was able to move very quickly. So with her  video's and the other's I watched, I managed to start a piece. This is only a segment of the earring piece, but it is coming along nicely. Especially considering this is my very first attempt at tatting.

What I Have Been Working On

    For the past month I have been putting together 4 diaper bag sets for my grand daughters. They include a diaper bag, plastic case with baby wipes, bib, diapers in 2 sizes, and a burping towel. Plus a magic sippy and bottle. I cant wait for them t open them. My girls just love their babies.

I made up the diaper bag pattern myself. The diaper and bib pattern came from here: http://beeinmybonnetco.blogspot.com/2012/01/new-outfit-for-dolly.html

I believe I played with the percent of full size settings in my printer to get just the right size to fit my granddaughters dolls.

For the wipes I simply cut a 6" square piece of flannel, and turned the edges over once and did a decorative stitch. However, later I seen to use the plastic travel soap dishes as a wipes case. These would be best done about and inch smaller to fit the boxes easier. I also cut a peanut shape out of 2 pieces of flannel and with right sides facing stitched the edges together. Be sure and leave a small opening on a striaght of way for turning. Clip the curves, turn, and press. Then top stitch clear around.

I think a small doll size sling would also be adorable. Here is a great tutorial I will be using if I get time to make them: http://www.pinterest.com/offsite/?token=486-205&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.oursevendwarfs.com%2F2011%2F07%2Fbaby-sling-tutorial.html&pin=131519251591473810

What Happened To My Sweet Little Kitty?

Last year my son rescued a sweet little kitty from some animal that was feeding on the litter a little at a time. The litter was where he worked. This little thing was so grateful he would love to climb on my shoulder and cuddle. he was so sweet. What happened to this gentle, loving kitty?

Remember this post: Porch Paint Job

And remember the culprit:

Yep! This is the same guy, only much bigger. Except now he is cocky, hyper, a terrorizer of the other animals, and sometimes a little psycho!

There is times he will run thru the house in hyper-mode like something out of the movie Matrix. Running full speed, sideways across the back of the couch, from one object to the next then out the doggy door. he has sat to the side of the doggy door out of site of the innocent family member coming thru the door. Then when they get thru , he pounces on them, rolling with them across the floor.I have made a mad dash to the bathroom (you antique women know how that it), sit down on the toilet in a hurried rush, to realize the seat is wet. Then when I get up I see muddy footprints on the seat and down inside. We now have to keep the seat down because he likes to play.

       For over 30 yrs we have kept cats. Since then, we no longer had a problem with mice in the house. UNTIL NOW! About a month ago, I was getting something out of a little cabinet. I kept smelling something.  So I pulled out the cabinet,and found a dead mouse to the right corner. Yea, I knew who did it. he probably brought it in to play, and hid it for later. So I swept him up in my dustpan, tossed it out, then mopped the floor. Then I noticed a piece of paper that had fell behind on the left corner. I picked it up, and there was another one under it. Except this one was so far gone, tufts of hair was around it, and coming  loose when I swept him up. I mopped again. 

        Now fast forward to yesterday afternoon, I am walking into the kitchen to start supper, and sitting in the middle of the floor is another small mouse. Now i hate mice and bugs, and if this critter had taken off running, I would have run screaming in the other direction. Probably looking for the nearest chair. But I grabbed a broom, and tried to hold him in place with the bristles. he was very slow moving, and seemed very weak. I guess another of Joey's playmates. He is hard on friends. Just as I had him trapped my husband came in and I quickly relinquished the handle. He held it, then I got the dust pan and he was able to scoop him in and throw him out. Then later that evening, another weak, and barely moving mouse was found in the bathroom floor. My son got him out.

                 What ever happened to cats keeping the mice OUT?!

                              Not bringing them in to play!

Western Style Handmade Homespun Kitchen Towel Tutorial

        I just finished this towel this morning, and I think it turned out pretty well. There are a few changes in measurements I have decided to make after seeing it. It went together really easy and quick. Use your own embroidery designs, or just stitch on a band of contrasting fabric instead. These would make great Christmas gifts as well. To purchase the machine embroidery design I used for this towel, then go to:
http://stitchthisdesigns.blogspot.com/2013/10/lost-horse-western-design.html

Go here to download towel topper pattern for free. Be sure your printed dimensions are approx 7 and 1/4" tall  x 5 and /8" wide at the widest point at the bottom.
DOWNLOAD TOPPER

Here is the tutorial for the towel.
1. cut desired fabric for the body of the towel 13" long, and 21" wide
2.Cut out 2 pieces for the towel topper. be sure and add in seam allowances to patern piece all the way around. Iron on stabilizer to one piece. This piece will be your TOP piece.. Cut a piece of velcro about 1" long and stitch onto top of topper, and on bottom about 1" up from folded edge of topper. Stitch these onto the TOP piece of topper only. be sure to center them.

3. Place topper pieces with right sides together. Stitch around, leaving bottom open. Clip curves, and turn right sides out. Press well.
4 Turn up edges on bottom towards inside and press well.

5. Cut decorative band 3" wide by 21" long. Stitch embroidery design in center, and fold over long edges approx 1/4" and press.
6. Place band on towel 3" up from bottom on towel, and stitch long edges down. press well again. Trim edges of band that meat sides of towel to same width of towel if needed.

7. With a narrow 1/4" hem, hem sides of towel (13" sides), and lower edge of towel. Leave top edge un-hemmed.
8. find center of towel and mark it at the top edge. Then measure over 3/4" from center, and then 3/4" over from that mark. Then do the same on the other side of center.

9. With back of towel facing you, Pinch up fabric at second mark and fold over to meet center. Fold should line up on 1st mark from center. Do the same with the opposite side. Pin well. ( pen in pic indicates center mark)

(these folds are shown from the TOP or RIGHT side of towel)

10. Now fold sides of towel over to back to meet in center. Form a pleat in each side as needed to make towel width same width as your topper. Pin in place.
11. Now slip upper edge of towel into bottom of topper. Pin and stitch all the way around edges  of topper.

(the above pic shows pleat from the back side)

Notice velcro side of topper is on the right side of towel, same side as decorative band.

Enjoy!

GMO seed and a Trip To Amish Country

     Last year my husband and I took our very first trip to an Amish area. We went to Berlin, Ohio, and visited Sugar Creek,and other local areas. we stayed in our camper and traveled everywhere on our Honda Gold Wing. We loved the trip. It was time to relax, enjoy the scenery, and each other. We enjoyed the buggies, watching the Amish kids playing in the school yard.  Laundry hanging in the sunshine , their shades of blue waving in the breeze. We visited the local eating places, toured the shops admiring their handwork.
     We just got back from our second trip to the same area on Sunday. It was another wonderful trip, but this time, my eyes were more observant to other things. Things that were slightly depressing. Everywhere we went , we saw miles and miles of  corn fields. i assume this late in the year it was more than likely field corn, but may have been for people to enjoy to. Anyway, this corn was every bit of 10 feet tall. ears packed in closely, as far as the eye could see. The disturbing part came when we saw the occasional small signs along the road in front of the corn fields, bragging about it being from Great Lakes Hybrid, Chemgro, and a few other names that are escaping my memory at the moment. All from GMO seed. Genetically modified! I have read only bad about this stuff. One article I read said scientist modify the seed for different traits. One was kind of like a time bomb in the DNA of the seed so that farmers can not save the seed to use from year to year. The plants produce sterile seed. This is called a "terminator seed". Other seeds  with the chemical Round Up gene.
    Monsanto is the largest producer of these GMO seeds. They have also been the manufacturer of chemicals that have been the most destructive to mankind. Such as Agent Orange. The toxins these seed produce are even found in fetal tissue. SCARY! huh? Read the article found at this link:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/10/05/has-any-company-ever-harmed-the-planet-more-than-this.aspx
    Do your on research, and be informed. The health of our loved ones are at stake. I was really expecting the Amish would save their own seed from year to year as the old farmers of our past did. I never dreamed they had gotten as commercialized as most of the farmers providing our foods now-a-days. Dont take me wrong. I am not just coming down on the Amish, its just that I expecting them of all people to be different. This eye opener is going to make me work even harder at using only open pollinated seed, and save my own. However, all in all, I still love the area.

A New Toddler Quilt

   My son's girlfriend wanted a quilt for her two year old daughter that was small enough for her to drag around, but big enough to cover her. She picked out a Dresden plate design she seen on the internet. It was one large plate, so wouldn't be big enough by itself. So I added some borders and corner treatments. Here is what I came up with:

Remember you can click on it to enlarge. Her name is Cadence, so I added her name in the bottom right corner.

I still don't have my markings washed out yet. The quilt is far from perfect. I am sorry to say, most times I am not a perfectionist at heart. I started this by cutting out the pieces before we went  to Pigeon Forge, TN for our yearly trip to the car show. I pieced and quilted it entirely by hand. I started piecing on the way down the 9 hr trip. Then worked on it of an evening while sitting outside on the patio in front of our fifth wheel. Then finished it just yesterday by applying the binding and stitching her name.

I like how the quilting on the dresden plate makes it look almost rounded, and more like a Dahlia. I loved working on this pattern. A Dresden plate is quite fun to do, and works up fairly quickly. My kind of quilt,lol

 A lot of the time, I was stressing these ol eyes out by working in low light conditions. Sometimes straying from my markings. However this isnt too noticeable unless one looks close. This is the first time I have  used multiple quilting designs. Most of the time it was an overall shadow quilting, etc. She is getting this for her 2nd  birthday in a few days.