Picture This Post That

I have been working on designing this pattern for awhile now and I finally finished it. Since it's a holder for both 4x6 photos and fabric postcards I thought the name Picture This Post That was very fitting. The folded fabric corners hold the pictures and postcards in place, so it makes it very easy to change them out.

One more row done

I finished another row for the row quilt that our locals quilt guild is doing. I went off on my own a little. The first block we were supposed to make 3 12 inch blocks but I wasn't happy with my row of shoo fly blocks, so I made 6 double monkey wrench blocks and changed it up so the shoe fly is every other block. The rows will be separated by a 2 inch spacer row, but I think I will sew these two rows together and that can be my 12 inch block.This is the original shoo fly row. Can you see why I don't like it?

Then I really got crackin' and made the presidents block for our out-going president. When the president of our guild full fills her duties for the year, we have the option of making her a block with the quilt block pattern and colors of her choice. Kim's choice was a variation long cabin, any homespun or flannel with a black center.

Fun with Friends

I took a road trip with friends, Jeanette and Kathy yesterday. Kathy beat me to the post, so you can hop over to her blog and read about the trip here. Then hop back and see pictures of good times, good food and some of my purchases,
The first stop was at Bay Window Quilts in Perham where we all found a few things we just couldn't live without. Then we headed across the street and though the alley to a wonderful little coffee shop/cafe for a fantastic lunch.

My plate is the one without the soup, I skipped the soup but there is a piece of chocolate dessert on the other side of my plate.

It was there I gave them their little gifts and made them model their 'bikinis', I mean applique pin cushions made with bobbin bikinis.
On the way home we stopped at the Cafe Bella for a scrumptious Italian dinner.

It rained off and on all day but we got to enjoy a picture perfect rainbow.

This is just a sample of a few of my purchases. I also bought a little fabric for some future projects that will be showing up later on my blog.

Applique Pin Cushions

I ran across a wonderful tutorial for making these adorable little rings. The instructions say to use a ring back, but I could not find any within a hundred mile radius of my house, although I do live in the middle of nowhere. I didn't want to order off the internet and pay more in postage than the ring backs cost so I racked my brain trying to come up with something else to use. Then it hit me, I had a couple of Bobbin Bikinis that I had gotten as samples at my local quilt shop, so I attached those to the back and they work fantastic.The great tutorial can be found here

I went shopping

We went to a family reunion in Hastings, MN on Saturday, so on Sunday that left me with spare time. I didn't want to go shopping, but what else was there to do? We hit a couple of antique shops and there were a couple of things I just couldn't afford to not buy.



There are 16 of these adorable blocks, four of each pattern and it set me back $12.00. Two of them have a scotch tape stain on the edge and I'm not sure how to go about getting that off but if I can't I guess it will just add to the charm.


This little table topper was $8.00. My original plan was to cut it up and make post cards, but it appears to be in perfect condition with no stains, so I don't think I can bring myself to do that.

And this little number is a gorgeous table cloth I thought was a steal for $10.00. I didn't take a picture of the full table cloth because it desperately needs to be ironed and it would have been a terrible injustice to this beautiful cloth to post it unironed.

Pie - My Way

My neighbor makes the best apple pie I have ever tasted, so for her birthday I decided to make her my version of a cherry pie. I used a mini pie tin to create this little pin cushion.

Flowers not from my garden

These are flowers from my neighbors garden. I thought they were really cool.

Flowers

These are glads and a little asparagus from my garden.

Pattern holder

It seems I'm always scheping my patterns around, whether it's just to show someone or bring them along to gather the perfect fabric, but they always seem to get scrunched or end up less than perfect. I decided to make something to hold them and this is what I came up with. I did a little pleat in the pocket so I would have room if I want to pack several patterns. For the inside I wanted something that wasn't going to bend, so I went to a hobby store and brought two 8x10 Gessoed Artist Panels.

It was going to be a tote bag

My daughter had picked out some fabric so I could make her a new tote but I needed to make a prototype for a pattern I'm developing so I decided to use the tote bag fabric and make this cute little wall hanging for her dorm room.

I'm ready to go back to my real job

This weekend to headed to Fargo to 'help' my son move to a different place in Fargo. We left of Friday afternoon and the the plan was to drop off our Tahoe and trailer with him, take his car, and his big strong friends would do all the work. It was a very good plan, I got to go to Nordic Needle then we took a pontoon ride down the Red River, and all was right with the world. These are my wonderful purchases.


We took these fine young men out for supper to reward them for all their hard work.

They are just as nice and sweet as they look.
We knew somethings wouldn't fit in his new place and we would be taking some things back home but we had no idea what we were in for. We arrived home very late Saturday night so we went right to bed and decided to deal with it in the morning. I knew I would have to make room in my basement and for a few hours forgot my age and limitations. So to make a long story short, six hours later we had carried down to our basement, an oak table, six chairs, a couch, and an overstuffed Lazy boy. And out from the basement and going to Good Will was, a pool table, a huge chair, a dresser and six boxes of stuff. I can hardly wait for work tomorrow.