December

I took this week off to get something done for Christmas. It of course hasn't worked out as I had planned but I have managed to finish a few thing.

Here's the carry on bags for our trip. I finished mine (the one without the monogram) back in Sept for my trip to Texas. The other 3 are for my 2 girls and my niece. I am proud of myself thought that not only are they done in time but I mastered monograms on my embroidery machine. I bought the machine used and have had to teach myself to use it.






I am hoping to post my daily progress but we will see what happens. My favorite saying is "I make plans...God laughs." It sort of puts things in perspective for me. Keeps me from overwhelming myself. I am following some of my favorite blogs and wanting to try some of the wonderful projects I'm seeing.

Back to the sewing machine for me. I am working on table runners for my SILs.

Blessings,
Rhonda

Not bad for a Quarter

Yep paid 25 cents for the kit which included all the fabric to make the top. We have a "store" of gently used or cast offs at our quilting retreat. It was originally marked $9.25 and it's all Thimbleberries fabric. I had a small piece of batting and backing already here. Done!!!



Another Fall project finished.

Blessings,
Rhonda

Quilt Retreat

Last weekend I had the great fortune to be included in a quilter's retreat. My good fortune was unfortunately at the misfortune of another who could not attend. But I had a really great time. I find it amazing that you can enter a room with 11 other quilters (knowing only one of them) and leave knowing like you've been friends forever.

The setting was spectacular.


This is where we ate our meals. Which were prepared by a chef and were out of this world.


This is where we slept. For those of us who went to bed.


The sewing area was in a building next to the dorm. we each had a 6 foot table to ourselves ........Plenty of room to work.



This was a quilt that one of the girls brought for show and tell. These pictures don't do it justice.






This was a finished quilt from the weekend. All the blocks were already made and 2 of the rows were put together when she came but she had a finished top to go home.

That's what these weekends are for me. I finish up my projects. I made 2 backs so I could take the tops to my machine quilter. One was my Halloween quilt which she is basting for me and I will hand quilt. The other was Tori's Flip Flop quilt. So I can cross those off my list.


I will take pictures of my other finished project and post them tomorrow.

Blessings,
Rhonda

Another Finish

I finished another banner while I was visiting in Texas last week. The first banner I made was out of fabric and I gave it to a friend to use in her classroom. This one is made from various papers in a style I saw on Creative Breathing. I used images from my and my SIL"s childhood. I went looking for these favorite images and found out that they were originally manufactured in Pittsburgh,PA. Imagine that!!!! Wish I lived here then. Maybe I could have had some originals. a friend did bring me some decorations that her mom still has so I could scan them for the image. Most of the other images came from various sources. They are reproducing these images but I'm not sure if they are still made in Pittsburgh. I am still researching this.

I remember my teachers having them as classroom decorations. My mom owned a few too. Of course the more research I did I found the astronomical prices they are going for on sites like Ebay. I guess there's a whole sector of "my" age group wanting to enjoy them.

I warn you this post is picture heavy. But this was a labor of love for me. My SIL loves Halloween.

The "o" was my favorite and it was the unclearest picture. It was more vibrant than it shows. See "pride goeth before the fall". Shouldn't have been so "proud" of my O

The researching for images has been so much fun. I learned a lot in the process too. I tell my girls " a day without learning anything new is a wasted day. There is so much out there to learn."

Blessings,
Rhonda

Finishes

I found the most wonderful blog a couple of weeks ago, Creative Breathing. She is definetly not prim but her creativity is outstanding. She had made a fall banner and was hosting a Halloween banner swap with some of her friends. I looked at it and thought of all the Halloween prints I had left over from making my Halloween quilt. It got the old creative juices flowing.

It is definetly not prim but I was really happy with it. It will go to a friend of mine. She will use it in her classroom then at home. She will really like it.

Here are the close ups.



I was doubly proud of this banner because I purchased nothing new for it. I had all the Halloween fabrics and I used only what I had. The ribbon I had purchased some time ago at a garage sale so for practically nothing I have a cute finished project.

I am flying to Texas to visit my brother and sister and their families next week and am taking supplies to make paper banners. Wait till you see the images I've printed to use on them. I will be spending time with my SIL while my brother is at work. It will be the perfect creative time. This is a total R&R break for me. I am going alone. Just to sit and visit with Theresa. Of course Ron has a project or 2 lined up for us as well.

You must check out Elizabeth's blog and see her completed banners and tags. Her writing is also wonderful. It took me 2 weeks of reading but I started at her first post and worked forward. Her writing style is so interesting. And the stories she tells. It's a must read. One of the most important things I took away from her was it's OK to be creative and enjoying it. I needed to hear that and start working again.

I finished a table runner for me. I have a similar one in Christmas fabrics I love so I tried this one in Reproduction Civil War prints. I love how it turned out.



The sun has made it appear more pastel but it really has more rich coloring. I hadn't machine quilted in awhile so this was a nice refresher.

It is starting to cool off so I will be returning to projects. One a day finished would be nice but that would require doing nothing for hubby or the girls. Fat chance of that.

So no matter what you medium just keep on creating (and sharing of course) we in blogland love to see what others are doing.

Blessings,
Rhonda

R & R

Hard to imagine what just 24 hours away from your "normal" life can do for ones attitude. DH and I went to Berlin for an impromptu overnight. We stayed here.
That's just the beginning. We (DH really) built us a fire


and


roasted us some corn

and


Tbones over the open flame.




How's that for a little R&R?????

Happy Friday. Be back with a couple treasures I found while antiquing with DH the next day.
He's a keeper. Knows just what a girl needs.

Blessings,
Rhonda

Dyeing Hydrangeas

What a productive Saturday I had. Getting something done and posted however is another story.
I dug out my Hydrangeas that I dried from last year.

They were from a friends tree. They dried nicely hanging in the rafters of the Olde Stone House. I leave a long stem on them to hang them.


I wanted Royal Blue Hydrangeas.

This is where the experimenting began. I boiled water and mixed in a box of Rit dye. The directions on the Internet didn't give specifics for ratios of dye to water so I made up my own.

The really long stems came in handy. Some I laid in the bucket for a long time and others I just dipped till they took on color. I wanted varying shades of blue.

I wound rubber bands around the stems and hung them to dry. My old Amish drying rack came in handy. Too bad someone broke a dowel rod with their football......Jason.
But it worked. They didn't take long to dry either. Now they are ready to use in a wreath or arrangement.

Next I have Scarlet Red for the other bag of blooms.

A couple of things I learned.

1. Less water or more dye.

2. It was really fun and they turned out very pretty for not much effort.

3. Don't go for your pedicure after dyeing Royal Blue Hydrangeas in your bare feet. You might not have gotten all the blue spots off your legs and feet before you went.

Here's pool silliness.

How many floats does one teenager need??????????

And of course...............



ABU.......6 months. Notice he has his own quilt already. Spoiled.....Not??????



Enjoy your summer.
Blessings,
Rhonda

New addition

It's hard to believe that I've been gone from here for more than 2 months. Shortly after my last post we got a new addition to our house. We got a new puppy.
Here he is at his foster moms.

A friend of ours fosters for the Humane Society here in Pittsburgh. She called and said she had the perfect dog for us. She couldn't have been more correct. He is amazing (even if I do say so myself). We had never had a dog before and he certainly is a great first dog. No one can believe what a good personality he has. He's part Black lab and we think Chow cause he has blue on his tongue.

This one is from the babysitter while we were away at a wedding.

I can't believe it's like having a 2 yr old again.

Have to constantly watching where he's going.

Potty training.

Sleepless nights.
Just really needing constant attention right now. But it is a constant learning experience for all of us.
The girls love him except when he needs to be up in the mornings.

You know teenagers..... sleeping till noon.........
We named him Abu,the monkey from Aladdin.

Em found a site with the names of every Disney character form every movie. Didn't know every one of the 101 Dalmatians has a name!!! Wow we weeded through that to about 4 and chose from there. It suits him.

He is a welcome addition to our home. And now that he's settling in it's time to return to my other past times. Be back with more projects.

Blessings,
Rhonda

These are always a sure sign that spring is here.



My MIL knows a riddle about the bleeding heart she used to tell my girls as she opened it and took them apart. The only part I remember is the slipper at the end. Sadly dementia has robbed us of her. If anyone knows this riddle I would love to have it.

This was last weeks' project. I had started them last summer when I was in Texas. I put them away when I got home and they have sat in a box on my dryer (don't ask me why there..... IDK). It was time to get them out and finished. I love how they turned out. They are firecracker bowl fillers form a tutorial form Char.


They will look great in my "redo" bowl.



I have a hard time working with blue. I always imagine it a certain shade of blue and it never works out that way. This time it worked. I wish I had a before pic. This was a wooden salad bowl with ball feet and flowers on the inside. Love how it turned out. Won't pass on another one of this type again.

This is how we spend spring at our house. Girls fast pitch softball. Tori's been in softball for about 9 years now.

Notice the number Uncle Ron??????? It's a traditional number for my brothers when they played sports.

Have a great Wednesday.
Blessings,


Rhonda

Treasures

I went to my first garage sales of the 2010 season. It was freezing this past Sat but I braved the weather looking for that elusive treasure.I did find a couple of treasures (at least I think they are)

Here's for you Lisa

I found a yard of plaid wool for 50 cents that will felt up nicely. It's blue and cream and I already can see something patriotic in a penny rug for summer.

The thread is a find because I always prefer to use old for a couple reasons.....First it's Made in the USA, second the colors and quality are better,and when making reproductions I think the older looking the better.


The little red book has great patina but I will probably recover it in fabric and prim it up. It's the perfect size for the shelf in my living room.


Do you have traditions that can't be broken?? My youngest daughter Emily is a stickler for tradition. I love that memories we built while they were little stay with her. For instance i didn't have the time or the energy to decorate for Easter this year. I got the Easter bin down and she did it all by herself. She wanted it decorated for our company.

These are the traditional napkin rings I made years ago. Not very prim are they?? But she loves them and insisted we use them. They are made from a piece of miniature fence I cut apart and just wired to the size I wanted. I then hot glued on miniature Easter characters. They were so quick and so fun.




Of course we have 2 traditional tablecloths I made also. We use the larger egg one for everyday and the jelly bean one for Easter Sunday. No real rhyme or reason except that we have 12 purple napkins that look better with the jelly bean tablecloth.


I know the Easter pictures are a little late but I was fixing some of the miniatures tonight to finish packing it away for next year and I couldn't resist sharing them. It was neat for me to think about all Emily did to get ready for Easter this year and reflect on the person my "little" girl is becoming. Tradition will always play a big part in her life I'm sure. I will treasure these times.

Blessings,
Rhonda