Cross Stitch Quilt

I went to the local quilting bee at the senior citizens center, unfortunately I got a phone call and was not able to stay.  A friend needed a ride to the chiropractor.  However, I did get a picture of this great quilt!

She said it came in a kit and the pictures were printed on the quilt and she just did counted cross stitch on it.  I've tried to do cross stitch before, but have never finished anything!  This entire quilt is done strictly by hand!  Didn't she do a great job?

We went to some thrift stores in Forsyth today.  I bought a small box of sewing machine attachments which had a shuttle and bobbin in it, for $4!  I also got this very unique pin cushion for $2!  I took a picture of it by my hand so you can get an idea of the size.

Colette from What About Rheema? sent me four more blocks today!  Thank you very much!

The thing about my sewing room is that this is a temporary rental and I am not painting or buying curtains or anything for it.  I am also not unpacking all of my fabric and everything else.  I piled all the boxes up in a little alcove in the sun room which is my sewing room.  The cats love it in the afternoon when the sun is out and shining in there, since I threw a quilt over the boxes, they think it is their bed!

You can tell the walls aren't great and the cats knocked down the curtain, but they sure love that sun!

Squeeky has her own spot to sleep in there.

I got that apron last week.  My friends kidnapped me for a late 40th birthday weekend (they had to wait for me to move here!)  We went to Springfield and went thrift store shopping and to see the play "Romeo and Juliet".  I also bought a new hat!  It was a blast!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!  I am thankful for good friends!

Missy

Cutting Table Setup

 Happy Thanksgiving week everyone!  I would like to think everyone who has responded and are helping to make blocks!  I got the first three blocks in the mail yesterday for the prayer quilt.  If you missed the post about the prayer quilt, you can get that information here.  I am loving the red and white!  Some of ya'll have asked about prints, prints are just fine!  The white fabric I am using is white on white, but you can use any white fabric you have.  These blocks came from Lee Anne at Podunk Pretties I really enjoy her blog, so be sure to stop by and say hi!  If you are sending me blocks, please be sure to include your blog if you have one so I can let everyone know!

 

 We found this ruler organizer at a craft shop in Mountain Home, AR.  It was only like $7!  I have been wanting one for a while and my husband saw this and asked me if I wanted it!  Of course the answer was yes!

 I finally found all of my rulers, scissors and rotary cutters today!  I was so excited!  Now I can start on my blocks for the prayer quilt!

I never did tell ya'll what my husband bought me for my birthday back in September.  He bought me a 9 1/2 inch ruler, 6 1/2 inch ruler and a rotating cutting mat(the yellow one).  Don't I have an awesome husband?  Here is my cutting table for now.  When we buy our house, I'll probably get a new dining room table, so the old one will come into my sewing room to use.  Up top there with the green fabric is a quilting frame my friend Judy donated to the prayer quilt ministry!  Isn't that awesome?  The legs are in the closet.

We are going to a friends house for Thanksgiving, I am bringing a cake, pecan pie (my first), sweet potato casserole and cream style corn.  Good thing I have a big toaster oven because the oven in this rental does not work and the landlord does not want to put any money into the house.
I am thankful I have a house that allows my cats even if I'm not very happy with the house!  LOL

Have a very happy Thanksgiving ya'll!
Missy

"Strait of Hormuz" Book review

I got another great book from Davis Bunn.  The best way to describe this book is that the main character, Marc Royce, is a modern day James Bond who is a Christian and the book does not have all of the sex and gore that James Bond would.  This is the third book in the series, but you do not have to read the other two books to know what is going on.  Here is the plot of the of the book:

An under-the-radar phone call from the U.S. State Department puts Marc Royce once again on assignment—ferreting out rumors of a clandestine operation stretching from Asia to the Mideast. At stake is Iran’s threat to blockade the narrow Strait of Hormuz, cutting off vital shipping routes and escalating global tensions beyond the breaking point.

Under the guise of investigating money laundering via high-end art purchases in Europe, Royce finds himself in Switzerland with only sketchy information, no backup, and without a single weapon other than his wits.

His appointment with a gallery owner in Geneva is a dead end--the man is on the floor with a bullet through his chest. But it turns out Royce does have backup. The Mossad has sent someone to keep an eye on this undercover op, which is of more than casual interest to the Israelis. And it's someone Royce knows...

I know you want to start reading the book, you can read the first three chapters here!

Davis and Isabella Bunn

Davis's website and blog are at www.davisbunn.com

Subscribe to his blog’s feed (to get his latest posts via e-mail or through your feed reader) at http://feeds.feedburner.com/DavisBunn

Sign up for his e-newsletter (for subscriber-only giveaways and advance notice of my upcoming novels): http://www.davisbunn.com/news.htm

Facebook Author Page: facebook.com/davisbunnauthor

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/davisbunn/ -- check outhis “Strait of Hormuz” board at http://www.pinterest.com/davisbunn/strait-of-hormuz/

Twitter: @davisbunn - http://twitter.com/davisbunn

He is also having a fantastic sweepstakes where you can win a set of his and hers Swiss watches!  I kow my husband would love a new watch for Christmas!  LOL

http://woobox.com/ipi8wk

I received a complimentary copy of Strait of Hormuz from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for my honest review.

I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did!

Missy

Prayer Quilt - Rail Fence

Hi everybody!

I have my sewing room almost ready to go, I just need to finish put the thread on the thread rack on the wall and put the belts on my treadles and I'm ready to sew!  Yeah!!
Just because every post needs a picture, here is Cupcake and Custard all curled up on Chris's office chair, they were disapointed when he took it to the office - LOL.

Tomorrow I am going to go to a quilting group at the local senior citizens center, they work together quilting people's quilts and the money they get for it goes back into the senior citizen's center,  What a great way to learn how to hand quilt!  I'm pretty excited, they showed me a picture of the quilt they are working on, the whole thing is bright colored embroidery and gorgeous!  I'll have to see if they will let me take a picture of it to share with ya'll!

I have a very dear friend who is going through a trial and needs a prayer quilt, she has some tough decisions to make and needs the Lord's guidance.  I have felt a burden of making her a quilt for a couple of months but with the move have not been able to act on that burden.

I would like to make her a rail fence quilt, if you could help make quilt blocks I would really appreciate it.  Just email me and I will send you my new MO address.  I would like the blocks by Dec. 21, I know it is a busy month with the holidays, but if you can just sew up a few blocks or even one block I would appreciate it!

The quilt will be red and white, I want the outside and middle strips red, with the second and fourth strips white.  I want to do five 2.5" inch strips for each block.   With 5 of the 2.5" strips sewn together the strip set will be 10.5" tall (if you use 1/4" seams).  So to make a square block you would cut the sewn strip set into 10.5" widths as well.  (Thank you Dorthy for helping me with the math!)  

Here is a video tutorial on making the blocks, she is using 4 strips instead 5 though making a different size block.   http://quiltingtutorials.com/all/fence-rail-quilting-block-beginner/

Here is a picture of a pretty red rail fence quilt from Creative Chicks.  http://creativechicksatplay.blogspot.com/2012/12/red-rail-fence-quilt.html

Here is another one:  http://www.alidiza.com/2010/10/building-my-street-cred.html

If you could help, I would really appreciate it!  Remember 2 1/2 inch strips, we are sewing five together, 3 red and 2 white,  then cutting them into 10 1/2 inch blocks.  The easiest way is to just get either a jelly roll or cut your strips the length of the fabric and sew them together and then cut them into your blocks.  Is that clear as mud?

Please make sure I have your email add. if you are not sure if you are a no reply blogger.  I have to check emails on my phone, but I'm not sure if people are getting my replies, so I will probably wait to answer your email until I go to the office with my husband next and have access to the internet.

I hope everything is going great on your end!

Missy

Another new machine!

Hey everybody!  Boy have I missed all of my bloggy friends!  My husband may have found a way to get me internet at home, wouldn’t that be great?  Right now I check emails and facebook on my phone and got my husband’s office 2-3 times a week to do extra internet stuff and maybe get a few blogs read.

The sunroom is very warm in the afternoons and all of the cats end up in there soaking up the sun!

I’m almost finished with setting it up as my sewing room,  I’m hoping to be able to ge back to sewing next week.

I got a new machine!  I do not know anything about it, but I think it might be a Japanese 15 clone.  Her badge name is Premier.

She is what I call an Army green.  She came from a very dear friend who took me into her home when I was 17 and let me live with her family.  It was her mother’s machine and she learned how to sew on it and sewed all of her clothes on it.  This is a special machine to me for that reason.

In honor of my new machine, I painted my nails to match it! 

I have not had time to clean and oil her yet, I can’t plug her in though unless my husband is home because the plug is duct taped and my husband is always afraid I'll start a fire!  LOL

Does anyone know if there is a database for serial numbers for the Japanese machines?  I would like to know how old it is.

Serial Number:  C 104550

Have you ever seen a machine this dark green before?  I haven’t!  I think it is a Japanese 15 clone because of the bobbin case, I like the way the slide plate folds up.

I have an unspoken prayer request that is very heavy on my heart that I would like for you to pray about please.  Thank you!

Have a great day ya'll!

Missy

Thanksgiving Recipes

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Thursday is Thanksgiving! This is my husband's favorite holiday and sometimes his birthday falls on Thanksgiving! Here is a turkey cake I made him one year:










Here is a post about our first turkey dinner when we were married 17 years ago!


Here's a great recipe, my apple/cranberry relish, it is delicious!


My favorite cupcake recipe is my pumpkin spice cupcakes here:


Here is last year's Thanksgiving dinner, even seasoned cooks have mishaps!

This year we are going to a friend's house.

My spiced pumpkin custard pie!


Of course my buttery sourdough rolls I shared with ya'll last week.


If you use any of my recipes let me know how they turn out!

Have a great day of thankfulness!
Missy

My move to MO

I am finally here!  Our move was not as smooth as we were hoping though.  Here is our dining room before we moved.

 We were supposed to leave at 7 am on Thursday, but were running behind.  We left at 4:30 pm and got there at 6:30 am.  We got up at 4:30 am on Thursday and did not go to bed until 8:45 pm on Friday night!  We slept until 9:15 Sat. morning we were so tired!  We are so thankful for good friends who helped us with the move!

It was stacked to the ceiling with boxes and the cats thought it was a great jungle gym!
I was working hard getting stuff packed and clean, but my husband did catch me checking my emails!

The cats love the cat carriers, they were "safety zones" for them in the midst of all of the chaos.

Pippi and Tiger would not come out of the carrier at the new house for a whole day!

This is Tiger at the old house trying to hide, but there was nothing left for him to hide behind!

Here's my sewing room.  It is extremely dirty, so it will need a good scrubbing in addition to setting it up.

Here is a picture taken to the side of my house, just as the sun was rising.

And here is a picture of my driveway  from the front porch.

The house is just a rental and not great, it needs a lot of cleaning and work, but it is just until I can find a house to buy.

I'm not always able to reply to your comments and still have not had a chance to read any blogs yet.  But hey, I have a great view and it is very peaceful.  I have a huge kitchen and living room!  

Talk to you soon!

Missy

Here is another old recipe I wanted to share with you again, since I moved last week, I'm pretty busy right now!

Here is the original recipe, I changed it a little.
http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/10/day-299.html

I made a lot so I could can it, only to find out, after I had it in the water bath canner, that it HAS to be done in a pressure canner!  I put them in the freezer after they cooled down.  Make sure you leave plenty of room for expansion if you freeze your jars, or they will break the jars!  Ask me how I know!  LOL

-4 15 oz cans or 6 cups of pumpkin.  I used organic pumpkin puree.
-4 cups vegetable broth, I used one box you can also use chicken broth.  Go for the organic, stores like Whole Foods, Central Market and HEB have it for $2!  I stock up when I go to one of those stores.
-3 cups water
2 yams or sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped

since sweet potatoes are so hard to cut, I used my mandolin slicer and then chopped it.
-3-4 chopped garlic cloves, I used my garlic press
1 T sugar (I used palm)
1 tsp ginger
3 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 chopped onion (optional)
heavy whipping cream

Put it all in the crock pot.
Cover and cook on low for 8 hrs (if you don't have that much much time you can cook it on high for one hour to get it started, then turn it to low.
If you have in immersible blender use that (I really want one of these!) I scooped out the chunks and put them in my blender and blended until smooth.  Don't put the lid all of the way on the hot liquid, or it might explode, I tilted the middle insert of the lid to let steam escape.

I made a mess, but it sure is delicious.  I also have extra made and in my freezer for future lunches!  Not to mention how healthy this soup is.  With sweet potatoes, pumpkin and garlic - you can't go wrong!
My friend Marie told me that she does not like pumpkin, but after tasting my soup she changed her mind.
I hope you enjoy this much as I do!
Enjoy this cool weather with some soup!
Missy