Icing FAIL

I'm just going to count it all as practice. It was either that or break all the cookies and eat them. I wanted to make cookies for my niece who is turning 21 on Wednesday. Well I made them and sent them but they are definitely not what I was hoping for. I just could NOT get the icing to cooperate. Each time I have made cookies now the icing has been different. You'd think I would be getting better at it but that isn't happening yet. Sort of keeping it real here. Just sort of. I'm not showing you the full assortment because I was so unhappy with them.


I would love to be able to do the fancy lace work with the royal icing so I practiced a bit.


I had some sunshine streaming into my sewing room window so I thought I would try a better picture of the Bliss baby quilt.


Praise - Praise, Praise, Praise! My friend from church who was diagnosed with bone cancer heard from her doctor today that they believe she is going to go into remission much sooner than expected!!!!

Prayers - for my friend, that she is much more optimistic now. Prayers for the treatments that she still has to endure.

Stash Report - week ending 2/27

Nice to report some more fabric going OUT again this week! Not much but anything is a move in the right direction. I had the fabric for the Bliss baby quilt, the mug rug, and what I forgot to calculate in for the Origins placemats. I didn't count the t-shirt used for the pillow since it wasn't fabric in my stash.

0 yards in week ending 2/27
3.625 yards out week ending 2/27
9.75 yards YTD IN
18.625 yards YTD OUT

8.875 yards TOTAL BUSTED 2011

I am linking up here with my stash report.

I'm working on finishing up two, almost identical quilts. The tops have been done for quite awhile, one of the backs is done. Another back to piece, sandwiches to make, binding to make, put it all together and more yardage OUT. Soon, very soon.

I was so excited to see my pillow as one of the 9 finalist at the Blogger's Pillow Party!!! I was in very good company. Rita of Red Pepper Quilts has chosen the winner. You should go see which pillow she chose.

Praise - The wonderful progress made by Joanne and Grant.

Prayers - for both Joanne and Grant. They are not out of the woods by a long shot.

February Pillow Party

Linking up my entry for the

This isn't what I thought I was going to make when February started but as the deadline to enter drew closer I knew I couldn't get my first idea finished. So I switched gears and made a pillow that I have been wanting to try. Hubby just so happened to clean out his closet the other day and I grabbed two of his t-shirts for future projects.

I took a lot of pictures, trying to get the color to be true and dealing with another overcast day. When I was ready to come put them on the computer I passed the Bliss baby quilt and thought they would go great together.


I'm pretty happy with it and keep playing with the ruffles.

Yesterday I made this mug rug, 'close to mirror image' from the one that I made in January for College Girl. She works in mailing services on campus and when she opened her package one of her co-workers fell in love with the mug rug. She said something along the lines of wishing that I would make one for her. College Girl asked if she was serious and she said, "yes!". She may have given up hope or forgotten about it by now. I hope she will be surprised when the package arrives later this week.


Linking up with AmyLouWho's February Sew & Tell.



Praise - my nephew's friend, Grant, appears to have had a restful night, his fever broke and his heart rate normalized.

Prayers - for a miracle for Grant.

Daisy's Bliss

We got new snow!! I even went OUTSIDE to take some pictures today. New snow and sunshine, how could I resist?

This to me is TRUE Bliss - snow and a quilt using Moda's Bliss. Have you seen the peeks of Camille & Bonnie's new line? RUBY looks like she would play quite nicely with Bliss.



Quilt was made using Elizabeth Hartman's tutorial that was featured on Sew Mama Sew.

Linking up to Quiltstory for Fabric Tuesday and also Made By You Mondays.


I decided to sew the binding by machine. I used the same method that I used for College Girl's mug rug. Tutorial found here. I actually combine Jennifer's method with Sharon Schamber's binding method (which is my favorite). I'm thinking I will do the machine binding on baby quilts from now on. Not only is it much quicker but I think it will be more durable and hold up to multiple washings and whatever else might get thrown its way.

Praise - for SNOW! For College Girl's safe travel back to school and for College Boy's safe weekend and travels.

Prayers - for the best friend of one of my nephews. Grant is a senior in high school and is now in a coma. Doctors aren't offering up much hope right now. Pray for God's will in this situation. Of course we would love to see Grant's health restored.

Stash Report 2/7-2/20

This report is for two weeks. Nothing went in or out between the 6th and the 13th so I didn't even bother to post. This week I have the yardage for the Moda Origins Placemats OUT.

0 yards in week ending 2/20
3.66 yards out week ending 2/20
9.75 yards YTD IN
15 yards YTD OUT

5.25 yards TOTAL BUSTED 2011

I am linking up here with my stash report.

College Girl came home on Friday for the long weekend. It is SO wonderful to have her home. This evening, while she is visiting with friends, I am doing some mending for her. No sewing will get done today but I will be back at it after she leaves tomorrow.

Praise - friend from church with bone cancer was feeling well enough to attend church and our potluck today!

Prayers - young lady from church (who happens to be College Boy's girlfriend) is headed to China on Friday. She will be there for 10 months (with a weekend back to be at her brother's wedding in May) to teach music and English, share the Gospel and learn Chinese. Sooo many prayers - for her travels, her health, her witness, her safety.

On to the next thing

I just packaged up this set of 6 placemats, made for an internet friend in TN. Each mat has a different set of prints on the side, making them each unique. She was impatient and wanted to see a picture of them and she said they are just what she wanted! YEAH!
Basic Grey's Origins for Moda.


I took the pictures above before I washed, dried and ironed them and then realized I had forgotten a picture of the back.

The back of each placemat is this same print.


So I'm thinking about what my next project will be. I am pretty sure I will sandwich and quilt the Bliss baby quilt top that I finished back in the fall. I'm going to give it to that new baby girl at our church. You know, Daisy!

Praise - That College Girl gets to come home for the long weekend and so far has had safe travel. College Boy is playing in the snow at a mountain horse get together and having a great time.

Prayers - For College Girl's travels home and then back again. That College Boy would remain safe this weekend.

Happy Valentine's Day

Here is a sampling of the cookies I made last week and mailed off to my college kids.



Taking pictures of cookies at night just isn't a good idea. The flash pictures were even worse. I shall keep practicing. The cookie decorating and the picture taking.

Praise - Hubby and I are celebrating today - it is our BIRTHDAY! 16 years ago on Valentine's Day we accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior! HE showed us the very best expression of Love.

Prayers - that we would continue to grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ, first and foremost.

Thank you Benjamin Franklin

Most of all for standing out in a thunderstorm and flying a kite. I love me some electricity. Blow dryers, curling irons, heaters, air-conditioners, sewing machines - all of my essentials, powered by electricity.

I don't know how that same guy figured out that a free public library would be a good idea. It doesn't even seem the sort of thing an inventor would come up with. Maybe he wanted to read what others had found out while they were flying kites in thunderstorms. Just look what I got from our little podunk library in the last two weeks;




The Modern Quilt Workshop and Simplify were brought in by my request. I like to help the library stock their shelves. Now I know for sure I am going to get my own copy of Simplify, it is just beautiful and I can see myself making many of the projects. I haven't looked at the other books in depth yet.

These books are just a small sampling of what's available under quilting or sewing. Have you checked your library for these titles? Maybe you could request that they get them. I like to think about all the people who will benefit from just one book. Our podunk library has an online catalog where I can create lists of books I want to read at some point or put books on hold. They just send me an email and let me know when they are ready to be picked up. When I lived in Washington, at one point in time they would even mail the books right to your house!

A book to borrow and the light to read it by brought to you by Benjamin Franklin. What a guy.

Praise - Joanne's progress! Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord!

Prayers - Praying BIG for Joanne's complete healing and restoration!

Fruit of the Spirit

The church I attend had their women's retreat this past weekend and the theme was the Fruit of the Spirit. I decided to surprise the gals with a dessert based on the theme. I got LOTS of help from Cookie Crazie's blog and flickr account as well as Callye from The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle's blog. They both have links to recipes, videos, FAQs and so on.

I was taking most of the pictures at night so the lighting isn't the greatest - story of my life lately. This was a fun project although it took me longer than I expected. I think I underestimated the time it takes to make and tint all the icing the most. Once that was all done the decorating actually went pretty quickly. Considering I decorated 76 cookies! Lots of colors, two different icing consistencies for each color. Hubby was a verrrry smart man on Thursday offering to bring home some dinner.










The ladies loved them. I learned a few things and I know I need more practice.

Praise - for a fun new hobby that I can use to bless others. For the newest baby to join our church family - born Friday. Her name is Daisy!

Prayers - for the young family with the new baby, that they would raise her to love and fear the Lord.

Stash Report 2/6

This is an easy one this week - no math required

0 in week ending 2/6
0 out week ending 2/6
9.75 YTD IN
11.33 YTD OUT

1.5 TOTAL BUSTED 2011

Linking up here with my stash report.

Praise - for the wonderful time spent at the Women's Retreat this weekend. Such wonderful sisters in the Lord and a BIG Praise for the newest 'sister', Melissa.

Prayers - for Melissa, a babe in the Lord, the only believer in her home. Pray for her growth, for her witness to her family.

More of January

Just a few more things I wanted to share with you about January before it is a distant memory for all of us.

I knew what I wanted for a Christmas ornament in 2010 once the tree was up but I didn't spend any time looking for it until after Christmas. I found dearjes on Etsy and fell in love with her little nests. We had a few conversations via Etsy messages and she was able to personalize an empty nest just for me! It has a great clip on the bottom so it can be attached to the tree.
Isn't it adorable? An empty nest to commemorate that my children are both off to college.

One of the things on my list of goals - learn to decorate sugar cookies. With some of the money that I received for Christmas I have been buying some supplies to help with that goal. Here is my first attempt.

I was pretty pleased with how it went. I shipped the majority of these off to the kids. They were really excited about them. I love that about my kids.

Here was my second attempt. Uhhhhh, not as nice. I had leftover icing and so I made up another batch of cookies to practice. I brought the refrigerated icing to room temperature and boy, oh boy! It was all I could do to keep it on the cookies! So different from the first experience. Hubby has the job of eating all of these. I know they aren't pretty, just keeping it real!


To go along with College Girl's cookies I made this Mug Rug for her. I have seen these all around blog land, wasn't really sure of them then something clicked and I wanted to make one. I played with my design for awhile, on the back of envelopes and on some scratch paper. I got all of the pieces cut out and applied to the background and then I just stalled. I was afraid of messing it up with the free motion quilting to outline the figures. I finally decided to go with the same color thread on each piece rather than a black/charcoal sketchy look. I was pretty sure my stitching would be such a mess and that I would hate the dark thread.


I even surprised myself by 'coloring outside the lines' and making the bird's little top knot.


I actually liked creating the tree bark effect. The little clumps of snow were the hardest since they were so small.


I even liked how the back looked! But I did cover it with a piece of the blue w/snowflakes like the front just to keep those stitches protected.


With a mug to give you an idea of the size. I used a tutorial I found at That girl... That quilt for applying the binding by machine. Thanks, Jennifer! What a time saver that was! I cut the binding at 2" wide so there wouldn't be so much overlap on such a small project.

I'm linking up to the Quiltstory blog for Fabric Tuesday. Their button is on the right at the top if you want to link up too!

I did also do some reading this month. Two non-fiction books. One of them called HOME by Julie Andrews. It didn't thrill me at all. Slow, too many details that didn't interest me at all. Sorry, Julie. You sing pretty though!

The other was a fantastic page turner called In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer by Irene Opdyke. Just incredible what she went through. I can't imagine doing any of the things she did, it takes a certain kind of courage for sure. I highly recommend this book.

For January I also memorized two verses of scripture. Psalm 65:11 to start the year off and then Psalm 46:1.

No scrapbooking, not a lot of exercise, the eating was healthier than December!

Okay, bring on February!

Praise - for the family that God has given me, individuals who love and appreciate one another and the things we do for each other.

Prayers - for Joanne of The Simple Wife, Sandi of my online scrapping friends, and Katy from church, who all need continued prayer for the health struggles they are facing.