Winner!!

 

Thank you to everyone who entered my Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway. I really enjoyed reading what everyone likes to cook or bake. The overwhelming majority of you like to bake cookies, followed by bread and brownies.

I used the Random Number Generator to choose the winner, but for the life of me, can't figure out how to get the actual results to show up on this post!

 The winner is #63:
Deb@asimplelifequilts said...I'm not much of a baker but cookies are always welcome when I do get them made. Snickerdoodles are my favorite!~

Snickerdoodles just happen to be my favorite cookie too!

Congratulations, Deb!

Giveaway Day!

Oh my gosh! I can't believe I almost forgot to post this. As they say, better late than never.

Today is Giveaway Day, hosted by Sew, Mama, Sew! There are lots of wonderful items being given away. Head over to Sew, Mama,Sew and check out some of the fun things you could win.

Here's what I'm giving away:

A "Kitschy Corset" apron pattern from Brassy Apple and a yard of Art Gallery fabric.(Please note that this fabric has been prewashed.)

To enter, please leave a comment telling me what your favorite thing to cook/bake is. Sorry, but I can only ship to U.S. addresses. This giveaway will be open until Friday, May 10th at 5:00 pm PST.  I'll choose a random winner and notify the winner by email no later than May 12th. Please make sure that I can reach you by email.

Thanks for visiting. And Good Luck!

A quick fix

We bought our dining room set before our son was born. I can remember people commenting about the light color of the chair upholstery and the fact that we were expecting a child. We were told more than once that the two did not mix.

Of course, we found that to be very true. The cushions didn't hide much of anything in the way of spills or stains.

A few years ago, I found a great deal on a set of IKEA slipcovers and thought I could use them for the dining room chairs. I cut them up and stapled away.

But again, the fabric was light. It started out as a nice beige and over time, became a not so pretty grayish color.

I've been thinking about recovering these chairs again for quite a while. And the occasion of my mother-in-law coming to visit was just the push I needed to get the job done.

Our dining room chairs have been transformed......

from ewwww.....

to ooooohhh!

Before and After

Amazing what you can do with a screwdriver, a staple gun, and some pretty fabric. I love how they came out and can't believe I waited so long to do something that was so easy.

Zipping along

I thought I'd share a few zippered pouches that I've made and received in the last few months.

Way back in February, I wanted to make a quick little project and found the kit for this zippered pouch in a drawer. It was a little gift from the Strawberry Patches during the Heart of the Valley Shop Hop last May.

I liked that first pouch so much, I decided to make a slightly larger one to carry all my essentials when traveling to QuiltCon. The gray fabric on top matched the tote I carried around at the show.

This lovely pouch is the one I received in our guild swap. One of our newer members, Sharon made it. Isn't it great?!?

And this is the pouch I made for our swap.It's the medium sized Open Wide Pouch from Noodlehead. My friend Jane got this one. Everyone brought their finished pouches in plain paper bags and we chose without knowing what kind of pouch was in the bag or who made it. I was thrilled when Jane chose my plain brown bag because I made this pouch with her in mind!

A Not So Welcome Visitor

Oh the joys of living in a rural area! My husband found this guy lounging on our front porch a few nights ago.

Don't worry, it's only a gopher snake. He actually wasn't as big as he looks in the photo. Probably less than two feet long and no bigger around than my thumb. And it was cold, so he wasn't moving very fast.

I scooped him into a container and we took him for a little ride to a nearby orchard. I hope he lives a long, happy life there!

Critter Count:
1 pheasant
1 rabbit
1 skunk
3 snakes
2 adult possums
1 young possum
3 baby possums

Our Garden: The Beginning

The start of a great garden....

A trailer full of compost....

And a new tiller.

Now we're off to buy some tomato plants!

Madrona Road Challenge Quilt - Finished!

I actually finished this quilt a couple weeks ago and finally had the time (and decent weather) to take photos.

The print fabrics are all from the Madrona Road line, designed by Violet Craft for Michael Miller.

The challenge from The Modern Quilt guild was to use this fabric, along with any solids, to make something quilty.

I wanted to give a modern look to a traditional block, so I went with my favorite, the Log Cabin.

 My original quilt design was to put four of these Log Cabin blocks into a square and use sashing to look like a window. So, I tried that and did not like it at all.

I tried a couple other things with the blocks and ended up setting them on point, with corner triangles made from another of the Madrona Road fabrics. I sashed them with a lovely Bella Solid Blue and filled out the rest of the quilt with Kona Steel.

Front

Back

I used my leftover fabrics to piece the backing, which I really like. The quilt measures approximately 58"x65".