Quilt Shop Hop

Saturday I went on my first quilt shop hop, my husband drove me around.  I got some great deals on fabric.  Fabric in these small Missouri towns are much more reasonably priced then the bigger stores!

There was two hours driving one way from Ava, to Spring Willow, to Birch Tree to West Plains, and then one and half hours home from West Plains.  My husband even took the initiative to buy me a Quilter's calculator!

 My husband and I finished the baker's rack!  It was originally black with green flecks.

 I wanted to include some pictures of my kitties.  Oreo and Cupcake are sharing a basket here. Brother and sister holding hands!

 Pippi commandeered my pile of folded quilts before I could put them up.

 My husband works from home and the cats kept trying to sleep on his laptop while he was working.  I suggested he put a cat bed on his desk.  The cats love it, here is Custard sound asleep out of his way.  LOL

We are in the fourth quarter of school and boy is there a lot of paper work this quarter, I have been super busy and have not had much time for quilting.  So far it has taken me three days to make one flower box block for the Sew Sweet Bee!  Tonight I cut a wrong piece, the material was foldeed under, so I need to cut that piece again and sew it again.  I have Friday off, but I have to drive all the way to Springfield for an ultrasound.  It is an hour away and I really do not want to drive it by myself, or go to the doctor by myself, but that's okay.  Chris says he can take off if I need him to, I'm just trying to decide if I am being a baby or not.  LOL

Happy Spring everyone!
Missy

Painting!

I have decided I need new dining room furniture, but I do not have any money to buy some.  What is a girl gonna do?  I started with painting my $5 table shabby chic!
This is my "office"  corner in the dining room.  That is Squeeky under the table, she is usually pretty quiet so you don't see her much.

 Recovering my husband's old office chair is on my list too.  Cupcake and Oreo think it is their chair.

Right now I am painting my baker's rack, it was black with dark green specks.  All my husband needs to do now is Sand it and then apply a coat of polyurethane.

I spent Tuesday evening, baking, decorating and packaging over 100 cupcakes for a fundraiser at school.

Sunday night I asked my husband to help me move my industrial treadle to the living room so I can finish quilting my quilt.  I have not had a chance to touch it I have been so busy!  But Oreo is enjoying the quilt.

Yes, I'm keeping it real in this picture.  That is a huge mound of clothes waiting to be put up.  At least they are clean!  The cats have also strewn their toys everywhere.


Pretty tired today,
Missy

Spring Tea

I had a Spring Tea on Saturday, it was a lot of fun!  I invited a few ladies to come over and we wore our Spring dresses and hats.  Of course I had to wear one of my vintage hostess aprons!

 My friend Clarissa gave me the carnations and my friend Carol gave me the lacey mat under them!  That was so sweet!

I used my mug rugs under the tea cups and gave one to each of my friends who came.

 For dessert I made Cherry meringue dessert, I got the recipe from Taste of Home years ago and made individual desserts with the meringue.  (recipe here) I only had four green napkins so my napkin was yellow.  :)

 I loved the bacon wrapped asparagus!  (recipe here)

There were five of us.  Clarissa said next time to ask people to help with the food, that would make it easier and cheaper!  LOL

 This was my food table.

I did not really like the cucumber sandwiches but did like the pineapple, pecan cream cheese sandwiches, they just needed some more pecans.  4 oz cream cheese, a drained small can of crushed pineapple and I would put at least 1/2 cup to 1 cup of chopped pecans.  I also made balsamic strawberries with whipped cream.  Yum!  (recipe here)

 Of course I had to make Earl Grey Tea cookies!  (recipe here)

I have decided to have a tea every Spring and Fall.  I think the one in the fall might be a whimsical Mad Hatter party.

Did you do anything to celebrate Spring?

Missy

Mug Rugs!

I made nine of my butterflies!  I went ahead and added a trim to them so I can make mug rugs!  That blue butterflies is the fabric I'm using for the backing.

They ended up being about 5 1/2 and 7 inches big.

When I am cutting out a pattern from a book or papers, I use my ruler holder to hold my pattern for me off the cutting table.  It works great and it holds my place.

Back to the butterflies.  I cut one side of my backing smaller then I meant to, but made it work.  I pined them simply and since I really don't have any time to do fancy quilting (I need them done by Saturday), I am just following the butterfly.

 I am thinking the bottom picture might look better, I did not outline the body on it, just the wings, what do you think?  I am just using the backing for my binding to help reduce bulk and to save time.

Why do I need them by Saturday you ask?  I am having a tea party and want to send everyone home with something Springy!

 Mug Rugs are a great way to use up batting you trim off your quilts, this piece was the perfect size!

I wan a $25 gift card from What About Rheema?  to the Fat Quarter Shop!  I was so excited!  I have to admit, I did spend more then my gift card, but I got some fabric I had really been wanting!

My husband decided he wanted me to make him a mug rug when he saw the ones I was making.  I'll use some of his RTE 66 fabrics for his!  LOL

Missy

The Soda Fountain Book Review

I recently read The Soda Fountain by  Gia Giasullo and Peter Freeman.   I loved this book!  It was very well written and included a lot of history about soda fountains and the foods and drinks you would find at an old fashioned soda fountain.  Not only is the history great but the recipes are also great!
This book would be a great gift, coffee table book or recipe book!  It would be a great resource for a soda fountain themed party!

You can get the book here:  http://www.amazon.com/Soda-Fountain-More--Stories-American-Original-ebook/dp/B00GL3RMOW/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426646801&sr=1-1&keywords=the+soda+fountain

Blogging for Books provided me with a free copy of this book to review.

Missy

More Pinwheels!

I finished five more pinwheels!  When I cut out my fabric, it was random and I did not do any counting.  I laid out my blocks to see how many more I will need.

 If i want to keep this design, I need four more yellow with ladybugs and three more yellow with bees.  I have exactly enough bees cut, but only enough ladybugs for two more blocks and no more lady bug material.  I looked and I have enough blue already cut to make two more blocks, it will throw off the design a tad but a least I won't have to cut more and I'll use all but two buggy yellow triangles!

Cupcake brought me her ball and was staring at me expectantly waiting for me to throw it for her so she could fetch it for me.

 She will only fetch the sparkly pom poms but does not care if it is blue or pink!

Muffin was helping also!

I'm thinking it will look good having the extra blues!

Seven more blocks and I am done!

Missy

Shopping in Branson!

Saturday I went to Quilts and Quilts in Branson.  I think it is the biggest quilt shop I have ever been in!  Here is the link to their website.  http://www.quiltsandquilts.com/  I did not buy much, I got a yard of Rte 66 fabric for my husband's quilt, a small piece of pretty fabric for me and two pairs of scissors.  I'm not sure how well you can see the scissors though.

We went to an Antique store in Historic downtown Branson and for $10 I bought several quilt blocks.  A row of fans, I'm not sure what to do with these though.

There were also several bowties and some of them are a different size.  Maybe I can make a table topper with these.  Would it work to cut the bigger ones down to the same size as the smaller ones?

There were six spool blocks.

Then the miscellaneous blocks:  maple leaf, oak leaf, and two grandmother's flowers blocks.

I wish I had bought the other bag of blocks also!   If you have any suggestions for these blocks, please share!

Missy

Pinwheels, Snow and Cats!

 I made four more yellow pinwheels!  These ones have bumble bees, every picnic has to have bees!  I have a total of 17 made so far!

 The quilt is getting big for a throw and I still have several more triangles cut.  It does not look like I'll need to cut any green pinwheels, I can always use it on the back though!

We have had a lot of snow and my husband asked me to make him an orange meringue pie that he saw on the internet.

Oreo checking out the snow

My babies have been keeping warm snuggled in their beds and quilts.

Oreo and Cupcake, brother and sister

Pippi

My front yard while it was still snowing!

So far we have only had school on Tuesday this week, I'll find out later if we have school tomorrow.  I live in a rural community, which means even if the roads are clear in town, there are still teachers and students who cannot get out of their driveways who live in the country.  Next week is Spring Break, I have to take time away from quilting to clean my house.  I am having a tea party the 21st and I need my house spotless!

Have a great day!
Missy