Grands Wednesday!

From time to time, I share pictures and accomplishments of my grandchildren.  I have lots of pictures, but won't bore you, except to say that I will be posting about once a month on Wednesday, some of my favorite pictures of my grands!  Enjoy!

Today it is a couple of funny pictures of Kayleigh, our 16 yr old grand, an exchange student in Taiwan:

Faces in the Mirror!

Funny Glasses!

She's having a great time but I miss her!

Cute Christmas Fabric

 I found this great fabric with square vignettes of Christmas symbols.  This is a 2010 fabric from Blank Quilting.  I loved it because it is not the traditional colors.  It has some pinks, cinnamon, and green on a cream background. 

It is easy to cut away individual squares to make little pillow tasseled ornaments. 

 I also have used them as a focus point on some of my Christmas stockings for this year's craft show inventory. This one features great gold and cinnamon tassels with a snowman vignette on a light green snowman fabric.  

This new style was fashioned for the October monthly challenge by my favorite Etsy team, Blogging Business Artisans.  Visit our blog and have a look at what my teamees are up to. Thanks!

My Market Experience

The other day I went to the market.  I only had a budget of $20 dollars so I proceded to get  just the staples, you know: milk, bread, butter, eggs, some hamburger, and some fresh veggies.  I went to the dairy case, and . . . thought it was a little strange, when a lady approached me about my choice of milk. She said that I shouldn't buy 1% milk, that I should buy whole milk. I just smiled and moved farther down the isle to get my butter and eggs. At the meat counter, I encountered another customer giving me a frown, when I was picking out my hamburger. I don't know why, since I always buy the leanest meats that I can buy. After the produce department, while I was at the check-out counter, the clerk proceeded to tell me that I wasn't buying enough! She packed my bag with some nuts, cereal, and a big bag of apples. As she began ringing it all up, I protested, and she wouldn't listen to me! She just kept going on about how I needed to eat better, and care for myself better--I was outraged! She didn't know me! She didn't even know what I had at home in the refrigerator, nor what I liked, nor what I was able to eat! Continuing to protest, saying also, that I only had a budget of $20, she turned to the man at the end of the counter who informed me that I had to take ALL the items! And if I didn't, there would be a security officer at the door that would fine me! And further more, he said that when I come shopping next time, I was only to be allowed to shop on the left side of the store! I know you can guess that I will never shop at that store again!!! I don't live in a third world country, nor do I live in a communist country! Seriously! Allowing anyone to take away our personal freedoms, is positively Un-American!!

Anyone for Corn?

Sew Excited! Boot Stockings!

I'm sew excited!  I have been working on my inventory for the seasonal craft fairs---lots of Christmas stockings! I have talked about the process of making the stockings previously in this blog.  But I am so excited about a new design that I have come up with!!

One of my shows is in a rural area with lots of hobby farms, Christmas tree farms (lots of those in Oregon), and horse properties.  I was making stockings for these rural people in mind, when I decided to make sure that I had stockings in browns with horses on them.  Then I got a great idea!  I experimented with making them in the shape of boots, instead of stockings!  What do you think!

Thinking that I will put them in my shop as a custom item.  I can see them in different colors! Boots come in different colors, don't they?!  I'm so excited about this new product!  Unique and fun!

Breast Cancer Month

I would be remiss, if I didn't do a Breast Cancer Awareness post in October (Breast Cancer Awareness Month) since I AM a survivor!  I researched a few Etsy shops and found these great items to bring cheer to someone who may be going thru the healing process.

Personalized Initial Jewelry by BeautifulAsYou  

Awareness Soap by InfinitePossForYou

"Pinky"  -  PDF kintting pattern available by ButtermilkCottage

Embroidery design by jbsewblessed

Have a great month, and don't forget those monthly self breast exams! And make that yearly Mamo appointment!  It's good for you!

Coastal Bird House WW

Journal Cover

Recently I was invited by a friend to attend a craft class at the home of a friend.  She and I had attended a couple of quilt shows together and were introduced to the work of Angela McIntyre of Laughing Cat Designs Etc. 

We loved her work, so my friend decided to have a class in her home.  There were four of us and Angela for the Saturday class.  We took our machines, and supplies to make our own refillable Journal Covers!  For the sake of time, we made small covers for 4 X 6 inch spiral notebooks, but this same technique could be used on larger notebooks. The class price included the pattern and instruction.

Here is the selection of fabrics that I chose to take with me to my friend's house.  Not the best selection; I will tell you why later.

I was interested in the class, because Angela uses some techniques that I wanted to explore, mainly curved pieces and couching. Although, the curved pieces are not pieced together like normal quilting, they are sewn with an overlapping seam then covered with couched yarns.  If you look close, you can see the yarns are twisted and sewn down over the seams. (Check out the seam on the right side of the pink fabric and you will see several layers of yarn in different colors.) On the other side of the pink fabric, I used some twisted metallic thread and then layered on a lavender tatted trim.  This couching was done after the different fabric pieces were sewn together and quilted to a backing.  You can see some different colored stitching, besides stitching styles.

But, we were not finished yet.  All of this was further embellished with beading.

Angela gave us some tips on using invisible thread for beading.  Looks pretty good, uh?  Well I finished m little journal cover and I love it, except that I used some fancy ribbed satin fabrics that were a bit too thick for the cutting instructions. The extra bulk cause the cover to not fit correctly.  So I cut down the notebook's cover, and made it fit!  As you can see, the pages stick out a little beyond the cover, but I don't mind.  When I buy a new journal,  I will buy a 3 X 5 inch notebook and I think it will fit!   Other than that, I love my cover!

 Thanks, Ritha, for hosting the class!  

P.S.  I added a little ribbon to hold it snug. 

October hobgoblins, ghosts and fun!

It's that time again! Time for Shameless Promotion Day, which I don't often do in this blog, but since it is time for hobgoblins, ghosts, and fun . . . . I changed my Etsy banner on my Creations shop to reflect the fun!

 And in celebration, I'm having a sale on all my Halloween items.  Use the coupon code in the shop announcement to get a 15% discount on your purchases!

Fun paper bag art by pruittcreations

throw pillow for the season

Quilted Table Runner with Happy Pumpkins!

I've also linked to a unique blog hop at Aquariann's blog.  If you are looking for items for Halloween, you might want to hop over there and see what is available!  

Cobbler Apron

I recently made one of my cobbler aprons for my daughter-in-law!  She loved it!  

I had given her a half apron for Christmas last year, but when she cooks, she is often holding a baby (mommy to four of my grands!) so she wanted something to cover her shoulders to protect her clothing!     

When she was visiting some months ago, she loved this gray print, so I picked up some more of this particular fabric and made her one!  She was delighted!  Ain't she cute?!!!

She wore it when she went to help at the grand's pre-school and other mothers were raving about it!

BTW--this is one of the styles that I sell to my wholesale clients.  It can also be tied in the back.

Seattle Space Needle

Recently we took some visiting family members to the Space Needle in Seattle. I tried to take some photos that were not just "family photos" because the architecture was so interesting, not to mention the view.

The main floor (under the needle) is a large gift shop.  The observation deck is approximately 520 feet off the ground.  There is a fancy restaurant one floor under the deck that revolves slowly while you eat.  Of course, reservations required!! The needle was built for the 1962 World's Fair and there are other exhibits still on the grounds,  one of which I will share at the end of this post.

So on with the show!

Drop off and pick up from street level parking lot

?????

 No, I don't know what that odd shaped box level is, the elevator doesn't stop there!

Looking up!

Looking straight up from one of the "legs"

 .

City view

 Now for the grounds.  These other exhibits, we did not have time or energy for, but I snapped a few shots of the glass gardens just to wet your appetite a bit!

Building with glass "flowers"

Closer view

Outdoor '"flowers" taller than 20 feet!

When you are in the Pacific Northwest, make plans to visit the Space Needle and you will not be disappointed!

Reflections

Not really into blogging, or much of anything lately, so I thought I would share some pictures of a recent afternoon trip down the river--the Willamette River--just a little ways from our house.  Enjoy!

It was a lovely day, much like me lately, full of reflections.  Thinking about lots of possibilities and which direction to go.  Bear with me . . .