Did you say snow?

Well it has been snowing on and off since last Fri night. Stopped on Mon and hit again Tue evening and yesterday. On Sat. I took a picture of my bike in the back yard. Today I took another. Look at the difference in the amount of snow.

No Tatting to Show and snow

Well.......been too long since I blogged. I have done some tatting, but forgot to take a picture before it went off for my ss.

Mostly I have been knitting scarfs to give to a group of college students that have been coming to our church. Last Sunday we were going to hand them out with cookies and it snowed so hard, church was cancelled. I have also been knitting Prayer Shawls. Love them. I love working with the homespun yarn. It is so soft and squishy.

Today it started snowing again. All day!!!! So now our quilt guild Christmas party was cancelled.

My golden retriever, Jack has not been out as much as he likes. The temperatures have been very chilly. On one website, they said if the snow makes crunchy sounds when you walk on it and your dog keeps holding his feet up.....it is too cold. The website has a pattern for making simple fleece dog boots. I had seen it before, but figured Jack would not keep them on. At first he rejected them and now he loves them. I found another website that says you can make them from upholstery fabrics. I was given lots of fleece fabrics and lots of the upholstery fabrics, so I can make quite a few. When he comes in out of the snow, he does not have all that compact snow between his toes. I just take off the boots and hang them on a hanger to dry. I think I will make them for muddy weather and rain also. A lot less mess to my floors. Here is the website and a picture of Jack in his. http://domestikgoddess.com/sew-your-own-winter-dog-boots/

Candy Corn Cookies

Well I made these cookies for the first time, last year. They were such a big hit at the last year Halloween Outreach, so I made them again. They are so much fun.

Corn? & Quilting

Well, last year I shared with you a picture of my broccoli growing experience. Ha Ha. This year I decided to plant some corn. We did not have a very long growing period and produce did not do well this year. First off, only one corn stock grew. I was told since only one grew, I would not get any corn because the stocks cross pollinate. I decided to let it grow anyways because it added a fun look to the yard. It only reach about 2 feet tall, but it did grow a ear. We left it alone till the first frost came and then picked it. Here is a picture. I plan to have a full garden next year. I hope I can find something I can grow.

Usually when I am working on a quilt, I try to match the bobbin thread to the backing. I decided with this one to use matching top and bottom thread. I like how the front and the back turned out.

Busy Weeks

Boy of boy, have I been busy.

Last weekend was our annual town festival. I was not too busy with quilting, so I decided to have a booth again this year. Well when it got near that time, the quilts were coming in like crazy. I took a couple of days to make things for my booth. I also got my husband a gig, taking pictures at it. We set up a area at the library. Used a green screen and let customers pick their background from a select few. I did lots of promoting for him, and did the computer work, collecting the money and email addresses, and printed out the pictures. A friend and I did our booth together. Her and I worked it on Friday, and I worked with my hubby on Sat.

By the end I was exhusted. Monday started quilting again, then got sick. I spent all day in bed on Tue, most of Wed, and then did quilting and resting on Thur and Fri. Hubby feels I over did it and took too much on. Won't repeat that again.

Well yesterday I finished a quilt I had been working on while resting last week. I love the way it turned out. Since the fabric had tulips in it, I purchased patterns at digi-tech http://stores.digitechpatterns.com/ that went along with it. I quilted them into the open squares and triangles, and then added outlining and feathers to fill up the space. I traced the large black pineapple diamonds in center and the tips, then traced part of the designs into that template to create the quilting pattern. Here is a close up of one of the squares. Go to my webshots http://community.webshots.com/user/tamidra to see the whole quilt and a close up of the triangle.

Blue Star Banner

Well this week I did some quilting, but mainly got all my stuff ready for the fair.

I made six of these Blue Star Banners. You can read the history of them at http://www.legion.org/national/supporttroops/bluestarbanner . They are for immediate family members to have in their window when they have a military member in harms way when we are at war. My niece's husband just left to go over there, so one is for her and one is for my sister. Then our middle son is over there, so one is for us and one is for our daughter-in-law. One is for my friend Teresa, who's son is over there also.

I did not tell my friend about it, I entered hers into the fair with a information sheet that will be posted on the wall next to it. It tells about the banner and then at the bottom tells who it was made for. So I only told her that when she goes there to look at the quilts and read all the facts about them. I hope she will like it.

The ones I made are quilted ones and the pattern is at http://www.quilterscache.com/H/howtomakeanarmedservicesflag.html

Yesterday, I spent the day at the fair grounds entering mine and my husbands things, and taking in others entries. I am the department head of the Knitting, Crochet, and Lace Department. It gets your juices going to see all the things they bring in. Spend time visiting with those who I only see at fair time.

Usually today I would be there already, handing items to the judges and putting the ribbons on. But, the judge came late last night, so I got to stay home a little longer. My friend Alex and I will be out today putting the ribbons on, and decorating and laying out our area, then hanging the quilts tonight, with my quilt guild.

I love fair time.

Some Stuff

Well hubby has been on vacation this last week, so I did not get too much quilting done.

Last night I finished the Beaded Candle holder I was working on. I sure wish the camera would show how pretty the beads are. They are iridescent and show different shades of color.

I also made a couple of these Aero Pacs. One is for my mother and the other...... Just have to wait and see which one my mom wants. They are great. The back side has 2 vinyl pockets for your ticket and your passport. The front has two pockets for other things. It just hangs around your neck. I found the pattern at http://www.studiokatdesigns.com/. They have a lot of wonderful patterns. This one is a free one, but there are several bag patterns I want to buy.

Here is a picture of a customer's quilt I quilted this week.

Taking It Easy

Well it has been so busy, that I have had to take a break. I am working on the Beaded Tea Candle Holder by Sabina Carden-Madden at http://paradisetreasures.com/. I have a little boo boo in it that I need to fix. I did not do any quilting in the last few days. Start that again today. Started reading and interesting book called "The Truth About Beauty" Transform your looks and your life from the inside out. It is very interesting and makes sense, so far. If you want to read more about it go to http://www.informedbeauty.com/

The weekend before last, we had to drive to a family wedding 3 hours away. My husband was the photographer so we were quite busy. Had lots of fun at the wedding and lots of dancing. Next morning we had a large family breakfast at the lodge we were staying at.

Congratulations Lisa and Justin!

Last Saturday we went to they Fairchild Airforce Base "SkyFest". That was great. We got to see the Blue angels perform. I also got to sit on this Sheriffs Bike. My brother new him, so my s-i-l said "She wants to know if she can sit on your bike" He said sure. N I C E!

On Sunday we had another long drive to see our grand babies. They were in Sandpoint for a wedding at their family lake place. Here is a picture of hubbie with our grandsons and our granddaughter with her first birthday cake. We had a birthday party for the 1 year old and 3 year old.

Power-Pops

Here is a video about one of my favorite treats. They don't cause me to gain weight, they give me energy and vitamins and they have chocolate flavored ones. We also have kids vitamin pops. It is a fun way to get them to take their vitamins.

To order or read more about it, go to http://www.power-pops.com/tld

Lavender and Quilting

Well, of course, I have been quilting. It has slowed down some, so I have been able to play a little.

A friend was looking at my lavender, and told me about lavender wands she had made. I had never heard of that, but as soon as she left, I looked it up on the Internet. I tried to make one, and failed. I gave up for about a week. Tried again one night while watching a movie. Nope. The next day I sat on my porch with a bunch of lavender and tried again. Here is a picture of my success. The white one is the first I made. Then each one in the row.

On Monday I rode with my husband all day. He drives truck. On Tuesday afternoon, I finally got together with a friend to do some fabric coloring. I have been intrigued with Irean Blums quilts, and had purchased her book and kit. http://site.irenabluhmscreations.com/index.html My friend purchased a kit also. I have been waiting to have some time to work on it. The kit comes with a 11x11 piece of quilted fabric. I decided I did not want to practice on that one, so I embroidered out a couple of different designs to work with. One is a Holice Turnbow design. The other is from some clip art I purchased from http://www.designstitch.com/ It is a butterfly and flower. I digitized it in my Bernina embroidery software and then embroidered it out. We had lots of fun, but my friend exceeds at it. You should see how hers turned out. But she is an art major. Here is a before and after of the one I did.

I was able to get only 15 of the crosses done for the young lady going to Africa. She left on Tuesday. She was happy to get them.

Busy Week and Weekend

I need to get organized!!

Quilting: Quilted 6 customer quilts and 1 QOV quilt that I pieced

Here is a picture of one of the QOV quilts I have finished, except the binding. I still need to sew the bind to the back. I love this pattern and will be teaching a group of women at our church so we can make many. The pattern is by Alycia at http://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/2008/05/not-so-top-secret-project-intro.html08/05/not-so-top-secret-project-intro.html. I have another done in blue, beige and green. Still need to quilt that one.

Tatting: I completed another wedding hanky. This was for a young women that I had worked with. I was still sewing the tatting onto the hanky as we drove to the church. Did not plan that well. So no pictures.

I also played around with a edging pattern that is called Entwined Hearts Edging. It is by Barbara Hevener. It is a pattern that is being used for the 2008 Tat-off at Palmetto. http://www.palmettotatters.org/ Here is a picture of what my attempt looks like.

I have also been working on the crosses for a young lady who is going on a missions trip to Africa. I looked up the country and found that their flags are Black, Red and Yellow. So I am trying to get as many of them done as I can before she leaves in 2 weeks.

Jack keeping Cool

Well, today has started out hot. It is quite muggy. Jack has decided he likes to be outside more and more on his leash. I decided today I would set up his pool and fill it. Last year he had to be coaxed into it and then he would be in it for a little while. Today he just jumped right in as I was filling it. I actually had to keep getting him out of it, so I could get it placed where I wanted it.

He was so cute playing with his soccer ball, that I decided to video him. HERE IT IS!

Lions and Tigers and Sewing...oh my!

Well it has been a busy week! Hubby was on vacation, but I still managed to get 6 quilts quilted.

Friday we decided to head up to Spokane, and go to Cat Tails. You can see more about it at http://www.cattales.org/ We had so much fun. Seeing all the large cats and learning their history. They have a lion there that has been in the movies and is now retired there. The people are so friendly. There is a school there and it is a year long. If anyone is interested. I told them I was too old and they said no we have 40 something mother of 2 here. I said well I am a 40 something grandmother. Tempting........no time. They have 4 baby tigers there that are 7 months old. So cute. Here are some pictures.

On Sat we ran around from town to town delivering the quilts I had finished.

On Sunday....our historical society, had their annual Ice Cream Social. It is held at the first house in our Town. It is a lot of fun. Their is a band and singers, old cars, demonstrations, ice cream & homemade pies, etc. Some are dressed in periodic cloths and their is a fashion show. This year our quilt guild decided to participate. We had some red white and blue quilts, some where hand piecing, one was hand quilting, and I brought my treadle down. I was piecing and QOV. We passed out information about the QOV organization. http://www.qovf.org/ It was a lot of fun. Here are a couple of pictures of us.

Another Wedding Down

Well I have been busy quilting and getting ready for my nieces wedding. It was a beautiful wedding. It decided to rain during the ceremony. The place it was at had umbrellas. At least it was not a downpour. We had fun with family and and met knew people. I actually got to dance and have fun. My back did not give me one once of trouble. Yahoo!!!!!

Here are pictures of her wedding hanky and card I made her. The edging on the hanky is tatted. Also, I made her a bag for the wedding dance. It is made with satin on the outside and cotton for the lining. I used my embroidery machine to embroider the design and added their initials. I sewed on 164 silver beads. Added 20 crystals. Sewed cording up the 4 seams. I did not have the right size cording for the straps, so took the small cording I used on the seams, with a length silver thread and made a twisted cord, doubling it. It worked perfect.

Finished the Tat it and See

Well I finished her. They are so cute. You will have to go to Jane's blog and see all the other finished darlings.

Tatting? Knitting? Quilting Yes

Well as usual, I have been busy quilting. My back has been doing great, so I have been able to get a lot finished. The quilt I finished this week was quite the challenge. The blocks where machine embroidered blocks & heirloom sewing technique blocks. It is a wedding quilt. I did not make the quilt, a customer did. I had fun trying to figure out how to quilt each block. Here is a teaser picture. You will have to go to my webshots and see the rest. http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/562883335bdGzuF?start=24

Since my back was bad there for awhile, I was reading some books a friend gave me to read. They are murder mysteries with knitting thrown in. Author is Maggie Sefton. Titles "Knit One Kill Two", "A Deadly Yarn" & "Needled to Death". There are patterns and recipes in the book, also. Gave me the knitting bug, and I have been working on a scarf while watching TV. http://www.maggiesefton.com/knitting.html

I have managed to do a little tatting. I am still working on my nieces wedding hanky. I have tatted up some more of the crosses from Patty's book. These will be for giving away.

Also, am working on Jane Eborall's newest Tat it and See. http://tatitandsee.blogspot.com/ She is on Day 9, I am still working on Day 8. Don't know what it is yet?

I get bored easily so work on many projects at a time.

Using embossing powder on art from your printer?!?!

Last Sunday we had a women's tea and luncheon. This was put on and attended by women from all the Churches in town. This was the second year we have done it. It is always wonderful. My Pastor's wife was the speaker this year and she did a wonderful job. She was in charge of getting ladies to host tables and all the other things that went on.

I hosted one of the tables. When you host the table, you bring plates, napkins, table cloth, pitcher, teapot, teacups and saucers, a center piece, and small party favors for your guests. You never know who will be sitting at your table till that day. I had purchased a silver teapot at an antique show, last month. Instead of a center piece, I made some more of the votive covers. I love making these. This time I did not have rubber stamps for the look I wanted, so found clip art. When I printed the teacups on the velum, I decided to see if the embossing powder would stick to it. What do you know, it worked! You have to be right at the printer with the powder and be sprinkling it on as it comes out. Be careful not to get any in the printer. Then use your gun to melt it into place.

For the party favors, I made a little book, that can be used as a bookmark or hang from something. It actually has a poem in it. I found the directions for making these at http://shala.addr.com/print/minis/index.html I then embroidered and made these key chain flip flops. They were a lot of fun. Directions and the design for these is at http://www.pawdesigns2.com/. Here is a picture of my finished projects.

Tatted Seahorse

With every thing else, I have not been able to tat. I am working on a wedding hanky for my niece, but wanted to do something just for fun. I decided to make one of Jane's seahorses. I have been going through withdrawals. NEED TO TAT.....

Long Time No Posting

Well I have been so busy, I have not posted.

After my steroid shot, I had three wonderful weeks with no pain. Then one morning, my back went pop pop, but no pain. Had an hour drive to a meeting, and when I got out, I could hardly move and so much pain. So one week in a lot of pain and using a walker to get around the house. Next week less pain. This week has started out better.

During the last few weeks, I have been making things for my nieces bridal shower and a baby shower. I have also been doing lots of quilting. My nieces has always been petite. I have called her my little mouse, so I have embroidered cute mice on different things throughout the years. So, part of her decorations where crochet lace mice. I crochet them with white thread then stiffened them over their molds. Then glued the pieces together and tied black bows on their tales. I forgot to take pictures. Then I made these votive decorations for the table also.

I was in charge of the games for both the bridal shower (for a lady at church) and my nieces bridal shower. For the prizes, I decided to make cards. I love to make cards and ad the teabag folded designs. I ended up making 17 cards. I packaged them in sets of 4 with the envelopes for the prizes. The designs for the cards came from http://pages.prodigy.net/rubyburns/ This is my favorite Teabag folding site. If you have not tried it, you should. It is addicting. Here is a picture of the cards I made for it.

I also crochet this cute thong for my niece. She is so funny. Every Christmas my mom would put undies in all the grandkids stockings. Bre would get this funny look on her face and sit on them as quick as she could. She would do the same when I started embroidering their girls' thongs and the guys boxers. I draped the thong over her presents on the table. She walked past it a few times and then did a double take. She said "A u n t T a m i". She knew who had done them. She thought they were a decoration. I told her no the pattern says they are real. They are to wear. Who knows. It was fun and was quite the conversational piece.

One of the games that I did at both showers, was bingo. You make a bingo card, and then have the guest number it 1 - 24. As the gifts come in, you put a number on them. As the bride or mother-to-be is handed a gift, the number is read off of it. First to get a bingo wins. Here are the bingo cards I made.

I had never done games for a baby shower, so I looked them up on the Internet. As you can tell, I like to do things funny, or weird, how ever you look at it. So I decided on a game that is the dirty diaper game. You buy a package of disposable diapers. You use 4 for the game and give the rest to the m-2-b. On the 4 you kept, you put a letter on each, A-D. In each diaper you will open it and put in a piece of candy bar. Use 4 different ones. Melt them in the microwave. Give each guest a piece of paper and have them put the 4 letters on it. Then pass the diapers around one at a time so that they can guess what candy bar is in each diaper. It is so funny to watch. We took pictures of the ladies smelling this dirty diapers to figure out what was in them. They looks so realistic. Here is a picture of one to prove it.

Etsy Store

Well I decided to start a Etsy Store. It is a place where you can sell patterns and handmade items. I only have one thing listed, so far.

I few years ago, I had told my husband that I wanted a small bird house that could go into my house plants. He did some drawings and then made me a bird house. I loved it. I took his drawings, and did up the pattern. We then made several of the birdhouses in different colors and glued little mushroom birds on them. I sold them at craft fairs and to a local florist. They were a big hit.

I had printed up many copies of the pattern, but never did anything with them. I decided to try selling them on Etsy. We shall see how it goes. http://TamiDra.etsy.com

2nd WS Sampler Quilt & Four Legged Grandchild

Well this week, I finished quilting the 2nd WS Sampler Quilt. This one belongs to Jill. It was a big hit at quilt guild on Wed. The quilt was too big for hubby to hold it, so that you could see the whole quilt.

Some fabric was given to the guild. We were each able to choose the fabrics we wanted. We are to make a charity quilt, and then do what ever we want with the rest. There were even some fur fabrics, so now I will attempt to make miniature fabric bears.........when life slows down. I have 43 quilts on my list and more coming each day.

Here is a picture of my 4 legged grandson. His mom has him very spoiled. He gets all excited to come and see me. One day my daughter came over with him to see me. I was not home. She said that he was upset that I was not there. When she took him home, he pouted for the rest of the night. This is a picture at my place. Daughter was using the computer for a job search. Dicoti got tired of his mom not holding him. He kept whining, so I put him in the hood of her sweatshirt. He is so cute.

Tatting and Quilting

Since Martha has shown pictures from her new book, her are some of her new designs that I tatted. This was a lot of fun. I have her new book and will now have something to tat for each season. I have a teenager at church who wants to learn to tat. I think these would inspire her. Hope that I can teach her.

I have been busy quilting. In a earlier post, I shared with you pictures of the quilt blocks we did as an exchange. 2 of the 17 who participated in this, have brought their finished quilt tops for me to quilt. I have just posted pictures of the first one I quilted. Here are a couple of tease pictures....... to see the rest of the pictures of this quilt, go to my webshots http://community.webshots.com/user/tamidra look in the Customer Quilts 2008 folder.