dolly gets a new dress

...and shoes!

 

 

I love all the details in the patterns.

The buttons, lace, rick rack, top stitching and more.

 

 

I think I may just call her Laura.

 

 

~b



jolly friends

I was pretty much glued to my little sewing sweatshop this weekend.

Thank goodness our refrigerator always contains lots of left-overs.

 

 

This dolly was definitely a challenge.

Foreign instructions will throw off even a veteran.

 

 

I am so happy I still have a couple of

 granddaughters that play with dolls.

 

 

Hey, hey, oh playmate,
Come out and play with me.
You’ll bring your dollies three,
Climb up my apple tree.
Cry down my rain barrel,
Slide down my cellar door.
And we’ll be jolly friends
Forever more.

 

My mom sang this song to us

when were little girls playing with our dollies.

 

 

Now I need to make a couple more dolls

which may include one for myself.

 

~b



Friday post card

 

THOSE WHO WISH

to sing, always

FIND A SONG.

         - Swedish proverb

 

 

mother's flowers

I closed up my little sewing sweatshop for a few days

which for me means wandering around aimlessly at times.

 

 

I picked up a couple of pillowcases that my mother had started embroidering.

Like me...she never liked having to do two of the same thing back to back.

I always tried to encourage her to do them in different colors if that helped.

I suppose no one even uses hand-embroidered pillowcases anymore.

I treat them like valuable artifacts not be touched or used.

 

 

I hope my granddaughters like them someday

 because I have a closet full of beautiful hand stitched items

 from three generations.

 

~b

 



in the kitchen

Another quilt as you go project I enjoyed making recently...

potholders.

 

 

The instructions said to reach into your scrap bin

and use what you grab.

So, that's what I did.

 

 

I am fussy about my potholders...

they have to be smaller than average and not to thick.

Mine are 5.25" square.

 

 

Warning: They are addictive to make.

 

 

Now what's cooking at your house?

 

~b

 

 



chicken fever

I finished my sweet little chicken quilt this weekend.

 

 

It is the size of a throw.

 

 

You would think I would be tired of looking at chickens by now

but no...I have a chicken quilt kit I purchased that I am dying to start.

 

 

But not until I have finished up at least three older projects.

Goals are always a good thing right?

 

~b



Friday post card

I have many things to thank my mother for...

 

 

Line-dried sheets are high on the list.

She hung her clothes on the line as did her mother and grandmother.

 

internet image

 

If you don't have a clothesline...GET ONE!

You will never sleep better than on line-dried sheets.

 

~b



best in show

Sewing Room Shelfie

 

 

Most of it made right here...

candle, rabbits, pincushion and zipper pouch.

 

~b



monkeying around

I spent the morning monkeying around with this travel bag

after seeing them on the news this morning.

They called theirs a necklace purse for traveling.

 

 

This wasn't new to me as I have made a dozen or sew

 in my little sewing sweatshop.

They always sell well for me.

 

 

 

There was monkey bread to go with my coffee when I was finished.

My recipe calls for ice cream...the best!

 

~b

chicken dinner

Go ahead and call me a chicken...

I would be flattered.

 

 

I have been working on a chicken quilt and it's finished

 all except the quilting and binding.

I wanted to do a test quilt and decided a table runner

would be the best way to do that.

 

 

While I love the quilt pattern I know

 I can't do this myself with a large quilt on a small machine.

Long arm quilting is expensive and I try to do my own when I think I can.

 

 

I made chicken pot pie soup and homemade biscuits last weekend.

Mr. b is walking around the house yelling, "WHERE'S THE BEEF!"

 

 

Today I am making 30-minute chicken noodle soup.

I call it 50-ways with a rotisserie chicken.

Could there be a cookbook in my future?

 

~b



Friday post card

 

~b

cowgirls

 

I told myself that I was going to do nothing today

 while a snowstorm raged outside.

But...then I went out to my little sewing sweatshop

for something or other and saw this

 fabric on the shelf just looking too cute.

 

 

Needless to say lots of hours later I am done with this bag.

 

 

Maybe tomorrow I'll do nothing...

but no, I need to clean my kitchen.

 

~b

call 911

More quilt as you go pouches...

If you don't have a cute zipper pouch in your bag

give me a call and I will help you out.

~b



as you go

Quilt as you go pouches...

 

 

Fun to make using small scraps.

 

 

We are tucked in for yet another blizzard.

Our last I hope!

 

 

Tomorrow may be another scrappy day.

 

~b



Friday post card

 

Follow that wine truck!

 

~b

say cheese

I told Mr. b I wanted a divided box

 about the size of a cheese box.

 

He made this sample for me.

Next he will do a few out of barn wood.

 

But not until we've returned from our spring camping trip.

 

~b



Mom

 

We lost our Mother last week...

it was a tough week for us.

 

Life was good...

I saw robins in the spring...

watched a shooting star or two...

enjoyed the snows of winter,

walked under a harvest moon...

and stood a time or two on top of a high hill

 and watched the flickering lights of a town.

 

My Mother enjoyed life,

every day was a new challenge for her.

 

Nothing can happen more beautiful than death.

                                  ~ Walt Whitman

 

~b