One more down..

One more item on my "to do" list is done!!
Peyton's "quilt" which is now a duvet cover, is FINALLY done.


I had to re-work it, and re-work it again, into something that would work, and fit my vision.. I am more than happy with it, and she is too. :)
I think I am going to have to tally how many feet of stitching that is....


I am happy to say that there are more projects in store for her little room.
I also managed to scrap a couple of pages as well with my two hands and new paper trimmer.

Using the good, old fashioned scrap stuff is good for the soul.


Love these stickers I bought a while ago from Making Memories.
I am off to crochet a little on a hat for this project..
Will you be joining us?

My review..

This is the spray adhesive that is supposed to make a huge shortcut in quilting.. a "cheat" of sorts.
Grandma is probably shaking her head..
Regular price on this little can of "cheater spray" was $14.99, but that, my friends, is what coupons are for!
The idea was to adhere the squares onto the top of my quilt-to-be and machine quilt it without the worry of pins. I still wanted to be sure that my batting, backing, and top piece stayed where I intended them to, so I left one pin in the center of each of my squares.


I folded the squares, sprayed the back of each one, and stuck them back down.
I did notice that some over spray was getting onto the quilt top, didn't worry about it, until...
I actually started sewing, what I thought might take me the afternoon on my machine, turned out to be not that, at all.
The over spray is sticky.
Check out my fingers...

It sticks fantastically to the presser-foot on my machine, which makes for little to no sewing actually getting accomplished. I finished one side and not even half of the top before I called it quits.
Perhaps, if I had taken each square off, taken them to a separate location, sprayed them, then brought them back and placed them, I wouldn't have this issue. But I already marked it out, pinned them down, and wasn't in love with the prospect of re-placing 204 4x4 inch squares after I had already done it.
Meanwhile, I am sewing each one on, by hand, the way I was taught..
I am sure Grandma was smiling down when I went to the craft room to retrieve her quilting kit.
She probably smiled a little bigger when I slipped her thimble onto my finger.
So much for short-cuts!

Sunday dinner.. Homemade Pizza.

Yesterday, we enjoyed a totally non-traditional Sunday dinner..
No chuck roast or ham here.. no chickens were roasted.
We were layin' back taking it easy..


We made pizza!
Our (my) favorite dough recipe involves 6 ingredients:
- yeast
- water
- sugar
- flour
- salt
- olive oil
You take a cup of warm water, and add a tablespoon of yeast. Add a teaspoon of sugar and let it activate.
Meanwhile, mix two cups of flour with abut a tablespoon of salt.
Add your yeast/sugar/water mixture to the flour and salt, and mix well.
After it is well combined, drizzle about a tablespoon and a half of olive oil, and knead until smooth.
Let raise for 30 minutes. Bake at 500. It cooks fast, so watch out!
Depending on how thick you like your crust, it will make between one and two 13 inch pizzas.
We like it thin around here, so we get two pizzas.
We buy our mozzarella in a big block, and slice it, none of that puny grated stuff, that makes a nice cheesy layer of melted goodness...
Our toppings usually stay the same, I was bummed cause we didn't have any black olives in food storage.. Merrill wasn't too broken-hearted.
Meanwhile..


I am working on Peyton's quilt.
I'll share details on that soon. :)

Memory Quilt...

So, I know I am safe to post this... mom isn't on the "blog scene" very much, if at all...
This is her Christmas gift... em and my "sisters" (sisters-in-law, really... I have ALL brothers...) put together...
Let me explain..
In October, mom, dad, Kevin & Randee, went on a little trip to Yellowstone. While there, it was cold and rainy, and thus, icy. They took a little drive and soon came upon a woman, waving them down in the middle of the road. As mom was trying to slide to a stop, Kev jumped out of the car; there were two vehicles upside down in the river. He helped people out of their vehicles and up the steep river bank. Dad was up the road stopping on coming vehicles, and mom and Randee were wrapping what blankets thery had around those who were coming out of the freezing water. When the people were transported to the hospital, the blankets went with, one was a memory quilt that mom made for Christmas a couple of years age. She made one for each of us, and one for her.
The idea behind the memory quilt, is to find patterned fabrics that represent memories. She called all of our spouses parents to get some memories, and added to our own, and made the quilts. On the quilt that she made, there is a square with kids in capes, I think we all loved to pretend to be superheroes at one point in time; cherries, for grandpa and grandma's cherry tree we loved to climb and eat cherries from; Elvis, that's for me! A Christmas square to represent Christmas our individual memories; a soccer square for Randee; peppers for mom and dad's salsa making ventures; Strawberry Shortcake, me, again, well, granddaughters now too... so you get the idea?
We made her one to try and replace the one she lost. We made it with a twist though... the grandchildren drew a picture on some of the squares of something they love to do with grammy... and what fabric I could find, was incorporated in it. I know mom did some major hunting... I had a hard time finding more than I did.