Feline Friday and Frivolous Food

I have always loved playing play-doh.  I think that is why I like modeling with fondant on cakes!  I know that I still have a lot to learn and need more experience, but it is still fun!  My student turned 12 yesterday and her grandmother ordered a cake for her.  She has talked about wanting a pink and black cake with zebra stripes for months.  She also loves fingernail polish.

I had fun making the fingernail polish bottles.

Yesterday the cats joined me in bed before I got up.  Here are five of seven cats.  

I had to take a closer picture of Cupcake who was sleeping on her back.

Right after I took that picture, Pippi decided to join them.

This did not last long, as soon as one woke up they started irritating each other.

Our hot water heater went out this morning so I had a very cold shower this morning.

Thanks for stopping by!
Missy

Book Review "Shine Like the Dawn"

I just read a great book, Shine Like the Dawn by Carrie Turansky.  It is was very well written, in fact, I finished it in less than a week.   Carrie is a new author to me.  I really liked her book and will read more.  She did a good job of coming up with a new plot for this book.  It is a Christian, historical romance.

Shine Like the Dawn is about a young girl who loses her family in a boating accident.  Years later she finds evidence that the accident might not have been an "accident" after all.  She needs to learn to trust God and let him take her bitterness away.  She needs to decide if her old friend can be trusted, even if facts start pointing to someone in his family being responsible.

I don't want to spoil the book for you because I know you want to read the book!

I highly recommend reading this book.  You can find more information about the book here.
You can find more information about Carrie Turansky here.

"I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."

Have you read any of her other books?  I really enjoyed them!

Missy

Sweet Sewing

I've been snatching a few minutes when I can, trying to get some quilting done.

I am doing all of my quilting on my Singer Industrial 16 treadle.  Remember last week that my darning foot broke?  The new foot works okay, but I had to lower the presser foot bar thingy as far as I could to make it work.  It is also not always easy to see where the foot is going either.

 I have been quilting one color at a time.

 I can't decide if I want to quilt the blank area around the cakes.  What color thread should I use, off white?  Any suggestions on the quilting?

 Pippi was my helper last night.

 She also likes to hang out in the back of dress form.

 Here are some pictures of my classroom in my basement.  I privately tutor a homeschooled sixth grader three days a week while her grandmother is working.  I found these banners in my fabric stash.  A friend and I had made them many years ago for old fashioned Sunday at church.

 I have two strands, so I hung them in both corners, across all three windows.  I used pipe cleaners to attach them to whatever was handy.  Yes, I purposely placed those shelves under windows and put cat beds on them.  The windows are level with the ground and the cats love cat tv down there.  Muffin is in the top picture.

I also like to hang things from the beams in the ceiling since it is an unfinished ceiling.
I hope you have a blessed day!

Missy

Ceiling Fan Makeover

Today I want to share something my husband made.  His ceiling fan in his office was outdated, boring and had only one light bulb.  He decided to order a piece to change the one light socket, to four light sockets.  He needed more light in his office.

He decided to go with a steam punk theme. 

My husband painted the fan blades, the light sockets, and added some candle lanterns he found at Hobby Lobby for half price.  He cut open the tops to be able to attach them to the light sockets.

I know that he is super excited about his fan.  It is huge!

Here is a close up before he added one more layer of paint to the light sockets to help it match the darker colors on the lanterns and blades. 

Pippi had to investigate it a little closer.   (Please excuse all of the cat toys on the floor.)

He is also building a steam punk themed bookshelf and matching cat tree for his office.  It will be made from wood and pipes.  I have to make the cat beds of course.

The below picture is what I got at Hobby Lobby.

 I can't wait to see his office when he is done with it.  It has a steampunk/Route 66 theme.  LOL
 We just like some of aesthetic design elements of  steampunk design, but are not steampunk ourselves.


Have a great day!
Missy

We are Christians and try to live our lives according to the standards set in the Bible, that is why I love my new sign!

A Harvest of Thorns

A Harvest of Thorns by Corban Addison was a book sent to me by Book Look Bloggers to review.

The book is about a garment factory in Bangladesh that burns down to the ground and the corporate executive who is trying to find the answers of why it happened.  An American corporation that the executive works for is trying to keep a secret they don't want the world to know.  It is all about the money to them.  The executive joins up with a disgraced journalist to expose that secret. The book covers the controversy of sweat shops owned by American corporations.

I thought the book was very well written, however it could not capture my attention.  I prefer to read Christian fiction and find it a lot more interesting.  I'm not saying it was a bad book, it just was not the type of book I like to read.

Thomas Nelson is supposed to be a Christian publishing company.  I read Christian books because I do not want to read, or hear foul language.  There was a curse word on page 36, so I stopped reading the book.  

You can see for yourself if you like the book, and read different reviews, here.

You can buy the book on Amazon here. 

Vintage Hats

We had our Valentine's Day banquet at church last night, Saturday night.  I figured it would be the perfect place to wear a vintage hat and matching purse.

 I borrowed the hat from my hair dresser.  She has a room full of vintage stuff, she says it is a thrift store, but most of the things aren't for sale.  LOL

 While I was waiting at the hair dresser, I was playing with her hats.  She wasn't selling them, but said I could borrow one anytime I wanted.  Please excuse my hair, like I said it was right before my appointment.  The one below was like an Egyptian style.

 My facial expressions are goofy!

 This one was my favorite!

 She even has the old fashioned hair dryers!  LOL

I gave myself a manicure for Valentine's Day.

I had a party at my Homemaker's Group on Thursday and baked a strawberry cake.  

 For the banquet I made a sherbet punch and made the hearts out of frozen Hawaiian punch.

Do you like vintage hats? I do!

Have a happy Valentine's Day!
Missy

"  Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;  Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;  Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."
I Corinthians 13:4-7
Charity is love

What a Day!

Have you ever had one of those days when quilting?  Tuesday night is my night in the sewing room.  My husband brings his computer in there and I sew while we have the TV on.  I keep an old quilt on top of the quilt I am quilting, because of the picture below.  They love to sit on my treadle. 

I decided to check my Instagram (I know, I'm easily distracted) and this happened!

I finally made both babies by moving them onto the rocking chair, in fact Pippi(calico) bit poor Muffin, show insisted she share the chair with him.  I sat down and could not find my quilting gloves!  Last week, I switched ,y tv cabinet with my treadle, and hung up the other half of my design wall.

I have no idea what I did with my quilting gloves!  Luckily I had a backup! I have these quilting pads I can use until I find them.  That is what happens when I clean my sewing room, I lose things! 

That crisis was averted, but then I was sewing along when I darning foot broke!  I admit the metal part at the top broke over a year ago, but I was still able to use it.  I found this foot in a secondhand shop years ago, so who knows how old that plastic was.  As you can tell, I did not get much quilting done, only about half of this cake stand.

After looking for about an hour, I finally found another foot!  I can't even remember where I picked this one up.  I bet it works better than that broken one did!

My quilt guild made a charity quilt to donate to the "Stop child Abuse Awareness" group here in Ava.  We presented it to the group yesterday.  I had my student take pictures with my phone, so sorry about the quality.  They will be asking for $1 donation for tickets for the opportunity to win this quilt.  They will start selling the tickets next month.  The colors are blue and pinwheels.

Here are some members of my quilt guild and the committee members.  The lady in pink, n the center, goes to my church.

Two other people donated another opportunity quilt.  This would be a super easy quilt to make also!

I have another super busy weekend coming up.  I have a cake to decorate for tomorrow.

Have a great weekend!
Missy

Valentine Victory!

I finished my block for February's Sew Sweet Bee Queen.  Amy from A Quilting Sheep designed this block and is calling it the Friendship Love block.  You can find the tutorial here.  

http://www.aquiltingsheep.com/2017/01/friendship-love-tutorial.html

 I was trying to multi-task this morning.  I was giving myself a manicure and thought I would make my block.  I had not put the clear coat on yet.  When I was ironing this part of the block the steam transferred the red nail polish onto the white fabric.  I tried getting it off, messed it up, and had to redo that part.

I finally finished my valentines for the Valentine's Day party!  I actually finished them five days ahead of time!  They were a lot of fun to make.

 We live in a small town an hour from Springfield.  We have to go to the city about once a month or so to visit some stores we don't have local.  (The only local stores we have are Walmart and the Dollar General Store)  I try to keep myself busy in the car and I brought some hand sewing along for the ride.

Have a great day!
Missy

Feline Friday

I finally got my new planner!  I got it at Mardel's and I love it.  It has monthly planners, weekly planners and runs from Sept. 2016 - Feb. 2018, which is good since I always wait until they go half price before buying a new one.

 It has a monthly devotions, scriptures, prayers requests, to do lists, and a whole lot more.

The best part is that it is pink, such a fun color!

This morning, I was siting in bed and doing my devotions and then reading.  The cats joined me, trying to stay warm.

Oreo, Pippi, Custard

Custard

Oreo

Cupcake

Do you have a favorite planner that you like?

Missy