Banking the Mom Points

Happy 4th to my American readers. It was rainy here all day, which meant I could spend the day in the sewing room guilt-free. For dinner we (the menfolk) grilled steaks, salmon and broccoli. After dinner my sons lit off a few bombs fireworks in the yard in between raindrops. It was just the low-key kind of day I like.

Yesterday, I finished up the string quilting table runner for my mom. A few days late for the official challenge but who's counting. And mom will certainly be surprised when the package arrives at her house in a week or so.

Today I made 6 coordinating double-sided napkins and 6 coasters.





You would think that I would have made a dent in the scraps stash, but I can hardly tell anything is missing. Even worse, I added to it with the purchase of the backing fabric for the runner and the napkins. Sound familar?

These string blocks come together quickly so I'm thinking in the near (and far) future I'll work on additional blocks a little at a time to someday and eventually make into a more random and bigger scrappy quilt. No time limit. Just a casual plan for all those strips and larger scraps I have tucked into a bin.

Next, I've got to work on organizing my newest patterns. Anything I've bought in the last 6 months is still waiting to be added to my database and binders. I was sort of holding off because I needed a third binder and always forgot to get one. But I finally remembered and now I have no more excuses. Plus, the stacks of patterns are driving me NUTS. I'll stay up late doing this while watching TV tonight and then tomorrow the sewing room will be clean and fresh for whatever is next.

It Happened Again

This Swedish beauty is on its way to me. It's a Viking 2000 and pretty much a mechanical duplicate of its younger sister, my Viking 6010. But look at that lovely green metallic. How could I resist?

It doesn't have a foot pedal (my 6010's will fit) and I have no idea if it even really works. But for $25.85 plus shipping, it can just sit on a shelf and look pretty and I will be OK with that. It does match the walls and will make a lovely "accessory." Although I have a sneaking suspicion that it will work fine. These machines are tanks, after all, and this one looks fairly pristine.

Of course, I do need to get that shelf to house and display my little growing herd. I think if I get my mom's table runner & napkins finished, I'll reward myself with a trip to IKEA over the weekend.

Procrastination Rears Its Ugly Head Again

Some of you may have noticed the graphic below in my sidebar:



It's a badge for and link to a relatively easy Challenge/Quilt-A-Long on the Loft Creations blog that I joined in January, thinking I'd have plenty of time to finish *something* before it ended on June 30. Hah! I should have known better.

Well, at least I started, right? I may even finish the piecing before the deadline, but I don't think it's looking very good for me to finish the machine quilting by then. (But maybe if Stephanie at Loft Creations is reading, she'll consider my procrastinator's plea to extend for one more weekend so I can have the holiday weekend to finish it. I wonder if she accepts bribes?)

It's going to be a table runner for my mom, using scraps from various projects I've done for her in the past, plus a few other prints I've had kicking around. I plan to make 4 more blocks, trim all from 7" to 6", find a border/backing print locally, and also buy enough to back more 2-sided napkins I'll cut fronts from using some of the prints in the blocks. Mom keeps raving about the runner and napkins I made/sent her in December which is her way of asking me to make more.

I'm not sure how much I like it so far because these aren't color/print combinations I'd normally choose for something in my house, but I think mom will like it. And I think I'll like it better once a border print is included and I re-arrange the blocks. Right now, it's a little messy — which is the point of string piecing, I suppose. But more than messy, it's looking *too* symmetrical in some places for my eyes so I need to shuffle the blocks.

The piecing itself goes quickly (click on the link above for instructions), and it gave me a chance to dust off the Featherweight, which I just love for piecing (big quilt piecer that I am LOL!). And it is a great way to use up those scraps I've been accumulating. Plus I'll earn "daughter points" when mom receives it totally unexpected. Always good to have those in reserve.

"Quick" Pillows

I say "quick" instead of quick (no quotes) because these pillows *should* have been quick but I procrastinated so long that they took months and months to get a round tuit. ;-)

I bought the first of these stripey quilts a while ago. Then we got Dani and she liked to nibble little holes into the edges, and even in the middle. Bad dog! I patched them and decided to wait out the puppy phase beforel changing to a non-holey quilt. Then I found the same quilt again on sale (JC Penny) and bought two more. Yes, two. I'm planning for the worst.

That left me two good quilts and one holey mess. I also still had the big throw pillows from our last bedding set. So, I put the two together — making new envelope shams (for ease in removing for washing) from the old quilt and stuffing them with the old pillow forms. And, voila! Pillows for Dani to nibble on. NOT! Although I think I do see a certain gleam in her eye, don't you?

Maybe one of these days we'll paint this room, hang curtains and put in a floor. Sigh. Kind of depressing to look back at the old house and see how *finished* my last bedroom was vs. what an ungodly disaster the current one is. But then priorities and available time have changed a lot since then too. No one ever died or anything sleeping in an ugly bedroom, right? ;-)

In the meantime, I have a dog bed duvet to stitch up from the rest of this quilt, which I'll go do right now since everything is cut, ready, and waiting and then I can really scratch this quilt remake project off my list.

The "boys" are manning the grill for Father's Day dinner so I'm completely off kitchen duty tonight, which means more sewing room time. Isn't Father's Day great? LOL!

Blondies for a Rainy Afternoon

It's a gray rainy day here, which I think justifies a batch of something rich and gooey. And, of course, with chocolate! These will take the gloom away. (Now, if we could only do something about the humidity.)



Here's the recipe. My sons say milk is a mandatory beverage with these.

Ingredients:
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)
2/3 cup butter
2 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1-1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1-1/3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

1. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir in chopped nuts and set aside.

2. Melt butter (love the microwave for this!). Add brown sugar and mix well. Cool slightly.

3. In a large bowl, beat eggs and vanilla together and add sugar/butter mixture. Mix well.

4. Add flour mixture, a little at a time, mixing well.

5. Spread in 9 x 13 pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until edges are firm and golden and shrinking away from the pan.

Cool for about 15 minutes and cut. Let sit another 15 minutes if you can, and then remove from pan. Makes 16 if you cut squares, 20 if you cut smaller rectangles.

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And although I know Marjie is probably cringing, I have to share DS's blurry cellphone pic too. The pups always get to lick off the beaters around here. Don't worry - when they're done it goes through the dishwasher and all kooties are cleaned away. And they have much smaller tongues than Thor so fewer kooties, right? ;-)