Teacup Zipper Pouch! Sandal Upcycle! Brownwood Quilt Pattern! Drawer Organizers! Applique Face Cloths! Glow in the Dark Stepping Stones! Vintage Sign Making! PLUS . . . Recipes, Jokes, Art, Design & Memories

---

---

If you’re liking this blog Please tell your friends about it!

I’d really appreciate it!  xoxom

 

YOKE DU YOUR 

 

Question:  What does an old woman have that a young woman doesn’t?

Answer: A belly button between her boobs.

 

ARTspiration

Artists or art that turns me on and feeds my muse! Like it or dislike it, what about this art inspires your own art or creativity? By artist, Daniel Catalano.  http://www.catalanofineart.com/home.html

 

DESIGNspiration

Look around you. Design is everywhere! How can you incorporate the beauty that surrounds you into your art or craft?  Panthéon, Paris.

 

 

IDEA I LOVE

  

The marriage of painting and stitching equals this super cute zippered pouch for all of your secret and portable stitching projects.  This pairing on fabric before stitching, is  good technique to learn.  Give it a shot.  Start here:

 http://www.minkikim.com/?p=755

IDEA I LOVE

Your garden path can light up with the help of glow in the dark paint and the daylight hours of the sun.  The paint soaks up the sun’s energy during the day then reflects it back at night.  Now you won’t have to worry about breaking a hip when you’re trying to find your way across the yard after your nightly one-too-many gin and tonics.  Rust-Olem Glow in the Dark Brush-on Paint also works besides what is suggested in the following tutorial.  Check it out:

http://www.ehow.com/way_5839117_diy-glow-dark-stepping-stones.html

IDEA I LOVE

 

 

Give an old pair of sandals a new lease on life with just a little nip and tuck when you affix flowers galore onto them.  This is a no-brainer.  These beefed up posey-power sandals will rock your world and clearly have the neighborhood dogs sitting between your legs.  Here’s where you start:

http://www.mysocalledcraftylife.com

YUM

SUMMER TOMATO ORECCHIETTE WITH BRIE AND BASIL

Brie cheese acts as a creamy sauce when melted by the warm pasta. For the most flavorful results, use tomatoes and basil in summer, at the height of their season.

• 12 ounces orecchiette pasta
• 2 large tomatoes, chopped
• 4 ounces brie cheese, sliced
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, sliced

Preparation

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and return to pot. Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine.

Source:  Colleen Clark, Loveland, CO, Sunset , JULY 2010

IDEA I LOVE

 

I have always loved the vintage-look signs.  No, “cherries” would not be my choice in words to etch onto a piece of wood.  I’m more into the ‘reals.’  I might paint “Shove it”  “Move out” or  “Who asked you?” onto my wooden art pieces.  Then again, once I hung those, I might not have a place to live for very much longer.  Extra bedroom anybody?   Start here with a list of your own divinely-inspired words:

http://diddledumpling.blogspot.com/2010/05/tutorial-vintage-looking-painted-sign.html

WORDS TO LIVE BY

PATCHWORK, BABY! 

This quilt, Road to Brownwood,  was originally presented an steps on a blog over a period of time.  As drawn, the quilt will measure 80″ x 90″ but can easily be made larger or smaller.

Now, as you can see, it’s a pretty traditional quilt designed by Patchwork Times’ blogger, Judy Laquidara.   As a traditional quilt, it has a couple secondary patterns and layers that I can see — I like that in a quilt (and a meal).  Here’s the link to the free pattern:

http://www.patchworktimes.com/patterns/road-to-brownwood/

MEMBA DIS?

Hans Christian Anderson starring Danny Kaye.

DESSERT! 

 VERY CHERRY NUT BREAD

Maraschino cherries and almonds fill this quick bread loaf with color and flavor.                                                   It’s a favorite from the National Cherry Festival cookbook.

ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  
• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
• 1 egg
  
• 1 1/4 cups milk
  
• 3 tablespoons cooking oil
  
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
  
• 1 10 – ounce jar (1 cup) maraschino cherries, well drained and coarsely chopped
  
• 2/3 cup chopped almonds
  

 directions

1. Lightly grease a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, stir together egg, milk, cooking oil, and almond extract until well combined.
3. Add egg mixture to flour mixture all at once. Stir until just moistened. Fold in the maraschino cherries and chopped almonds. Pour batter into prepared pan.
4. Bake in a 350 degree F oven about 1 hour or until a wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in loaf pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove loaf from pan. Cool completely on the wire rack. Wrap and store overnight before slicing. Makes 1 loaf (16 servings).

Source: http://www.midwestliving.com/recipe/breads/very-cherry-nut-bread

 

MUST HAVE

Well, as many of you know, I spent the last part of the week and into the weekend in Grafton, Vermont with a part of the Board of Directors for the Quilt Alliance.   While there, fellow board member, Nancy Bavor, recommended that I read Sue Monk Kidd’s book, The Invention of Wings (which I later found was also an Oprah Book Club pick). Nancy ‘read’ the book, like many of us do, on ‘tape,’  and thought that it would dovetail nicely with what I’m working on for The Slow Stitching Movement.

I logged onto Amazon to buy a copy for my Kindle.  I was horrified to find (in the reader reviews) that the Kindle version has Oprah’s comments and Oprah’s blue underlined text though out the book on the  Kindle version!  What a fricking nightmare — Can we talk about the narcissism of someone who thinks we all might want to read what they think about somebody else’s art/work ?  Had Sue Monk Kidd, lost her senses and any last ounce of creative integrity to  have allowed that? As for  SMK’s publisher/agent … ummm,  where exactly when all of this was being negotiated?  BLECH!

Now maybe you might appreciate OPRAH’S comments and underlining popping up all over your eBook, but sure as heck not me!  I don’t give a crap about Big-O’s interpretation or her opinion when I read a work of fiction (or anything for that matter).  While I’m dying to buy a copy of this novel, Sue Monk Kidd will have to do without my paltry dollars. I’m not biting.  Shame on both she and her publisher to subject us to this bastardization of both her work, and to the entire art of creative writing.  It’s and the affront to creative writers everywhere.

Yes, I like Oprah very, very much — personally.  Do I want her underlining my text and having to read and be distracted by her  editorial comments popping up in my eReader?  Oh, hell to the no.

If any of you know how I can find and purchase  a CLEAN eBook copy of The Invention of Wings, let me know! xoxom

Not familiar with  Nancy Bavor, by the way?

Nancy has been a quilt maker, teacher and collector for over twenty years. Nancy holds a Bachelors degree in art history from Northwestern University and a Masters degree from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln in the History of Textiles/Quilt Studies Emphasis. Her Masters thesis explores the origins and development of the art quilt in California. She lectures nationally on quilts and quilt history and is also an American Quilter’s Society Certified Appraiser of Quilted Textiles.

ORGANIZING I LOVE

 

Some  All of my drawers look like a herd of gerbils charged through them — but I really do like organized drawers.  By the way, do you know who was a champion drawer cleaner and most anal organizer?  My mother.  (Wait, on second thought, I’ll keep the messy drawers.)  But you don’t have to, cupcake!  Here’s how to make your drawers neat as a pin and keep them that way.  Why not give it a try?  Start here:

http://www.projectsimplehome.com/2013/08/09/diy-drawer-organizers/ 

SHOEspiration

Chrissie Morris Collection.  Rosa Sandals, $775

SNIFF, SNIFF. I smell piecing and applique . . .  jussayin’

 

IDEA I LOVE

 

Ahhhhhh, BEEP!  BEEP! uh-uh

You bad girl you sad girL

Your such a dirty bad girl

Beep-Beep, uh-uh

I like that this facecloth up-cycle gives you some creative time at appliqué and binding on a small, small-scale.  Won’t it be fun to be on the lookout for the perfect fabrics to transform a plain terry cloth square?   There is a fabric line with a typewriter design that is calling my name.  What will you choose?   Here’s how you do it:

http://aspoonfulofsugardesigns.com/2014/07/easy-wash-cloth-sew/ 

Have you checked out …

THE SLOW STITCHING MOVEMENT WEBSITE?

The new Slow Stitching Movement blog has been posted. This blog is about “Creating and Participating in a Slow Stitching Salon.” I’d love for you to take a look at it and give me any feedback. Thanks! xooxm

Just CLICK on the SLOW STITCHING BLOG box on the Slow Stitching Movement website: http://www.slowstitching.com/    (please subscribe while you’re there)

ANSWER THE POLL!

 

DON’T MISS A THING, MISS THANG! 

---