Adventures of the Singing Quilter

Weight Loss Update and a Cutie

2012-02-01T22:07:00.000-06:00

Well, it's February 1st

and I promised I would post an update

the first of every month.

For the month of January

I lost 6 lbs.

I had already lost weight before I started blogging about it,

so now I'm officially down 16 lbs.

But it's not just the weight loss I'm focusing on.

I want to also focus on the changes going on

with my perspective on life.

I've realized that somewhere down the path,

I lost my fun side.

I've decided to become that fun person again.

So, I'll be going out more,

hanging out,

laughing,

releasing stress,

instead of forgetting how to have fun.

To be honest, I cannot believe

I forgot what it was like to go out and laugh so hard your belly hurts.

Never in my life time did I EVER think that would happen.

I also have felt the power of letting go.

It's very awakening.

I still have a lot of mountains to climb,

and I'm curious what I'll be writing about come March 1st,

but for now,

I'm feeling like I can do this.

So...in honor of my new adventure...

I tried some embroidery yesterday.

How cute is this?

I'm pretty much loving this little guy.

It may go on the pouch I'm making for the Mouth Stitches Swap

I'm participating in.

I think it could be pretty darn cute!

I hope you all are having the time of your life!

xoxo

Cindy

Make A Difference Monday - Goals

2012-01-31T00:20:00.000-06:00

Holy Smokes!

4 minutes to get this weeks

message written and posted

before it's Tuesday!

What happened to my day?

YIKES!

So I've been thinking a lot about what I wanted to

write about this Monday.

My main purpose this year

is to become a better person

and loose weight in the process.

I think those are pretty attainable goals.

I read this quote today

(author unknown)

"What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals. "

I think about what I've been working on this month.

I notice I think differently about things.

Before, my focus was food.

I know that may sound weird to you,

but to me, it's been my coping mechinism,

my best friend,

to get me through rough times,

sad times

and even happy times.

Now I have to look at reality.

And not bury my head in the sand

(or my mouth in the cake...so to speak. LOL)
I am blessed to have a strong faith.

But I am a stubborn person,

and think I can do things

'on my own'

most of the time,

which can leave me in trouble,

if ya know what I mean.

I've had to make some pretty tough decisions this week.

One decision broke my heart

and left me crying for several days,

but I know it was a decision that needed to be made

and I needed to let go.

Sometimes life throws those little curve balls

and we have to be the stronger person.

Maybe this time last year,

I would have been selfish

and not acknowledged what needed to be done.

I would have held on

and tried to control the situation.

But I am no longer that person.

I can let go.

I can move on.

I can stick to my goals.

The more I stick to my goals,

the more I hold myself accountable,

the better I feel about myself.

I can feel the difference taking place.

It's pretty awesome,

and I know that in the end,

I am going to rise above.

I'm going to look back

and be thankful for what this time has brought me.

No regrets.

Just gratitude.

So, I get the quote.

I have a long way to go,

but I think I'm liking what I'm becoming.

xoxo

Cindy

Favourite Things Friday

2012-01-27T21:33:00.001-06:00

Hey Everybody!

It's that time of week again,

to link up with Shay's

Favourite Things Friday.

(good gravy! I almost missed it!)

So this week

my favorite thing

really isn't a "thing" after all.

It's my boys

My brother had his annual

BLT birthday bash last Saturday.

(BLT are the initials of my brother and two others that have created this annual event)

Now that my boys are old enough to participate,

they joined the party.

Now don't get me wrong.

It's not a sloppy drunk kind of party.

Just a get-together,

have a few drinks,

eat some good food,

sing some good karaoke

and laugh a whole bunch.

Who seriously does not need that in their life?

This year both of my boys were a RIOT.

I laughed so hard.

It was just a great time

for all of us to be together and enjoy each other's company.

My oldest, Jesse.

My youngest, Justin

(do you think he was embarrassed to be with me?)

And both of them singing a good 'ol redneck country song

Anytime that we can just hang out is a great time.

All of us in my household are so busy

that these times are rare.

But when they happen,

we know how to have fun.

And that is my absolute favorite thing.

Just all of us having a great time

and enjoying each others company.

I may mention that my boys are the best huggers EVER!

I love a good 'ol bear hug.

Nothing puts a smile on my face

bigger than that.

I am so blessed.

(Hey mom....are you smiling? I lived up to my promise and did not post your picture)

LOL

May you find this much happiness in your favorite things every day!

xoxo

Cindy

Valentine Fun

2012-01-24T06:56:00.001-06:00

Hey!

I needed to make a little something

to fill a void in an area in our livingroom.

On our sister sewing weekend,

Sarah gave me this cute little charm pack.

I think she was bribing me,

but that's another story.

:o)

So I thought I would make a cute Valentine table topper with it.

I sewed the squares together and added a border

of Kona white.

Then I took this little ruler

placed it on the seams as such

and cut all of it into squares like this

Then...like a big puzzle

(I LOVE puzzles!)

I put all the pieces back together

to make this:

Added an outer border and it's now ready to be quilted.

All this in an afternoon.

A great, cute project!

But I find it funny that I sewed a bunch

of squares together, only to cut them

up and sew them together again.

Does that fall under the definition of insanity?

Hhhhmmmm.....

Things to ponder.

:o)

xoxo

Cindy

Make A Difference Monday

2012-01-23T10:19:00.000-06:00

Happy Monday!

As I was searching for the next topic for this

Make A Difference Monday,

I came across this article.

I couldn't say it better.

It's from Oprah's website,

so I am going to just copy and paste

for you to enjoy.

It's Not the Circumstances, It's You

By Mike Robbins
Original Content | February 19, 2010

Comments

Photo: Thinkstock

Imagine what your life would be like if you stopped blaming your circumstances on other people and things and took responsibility of your own life. Mike Robbins gives you the tools you need to take control of your life and become more aware of your experiences.

I recently read a great quote from Ben Franklin that I hadn't seen before. He said, "Joy doesn't exist in the world, it exists in us." While the quote was new to me, the concept wasn't. However, as I began to think it more, I realized that even though I "understand" this wisdom and do my best to live by it and remind others of it, more often than I'd like to admit, I find myself living as though I'm simply a victim of the things that go on around me and in the world—especially the stuff I don't particularly like, agree with, understand, feel like I'm on top of or enjoy.

The circumstances of our lives, especially when they seem stressful or intense (as is the case for many people I know and work with these days), do have an impact on us, for sure. However, all too often, we give away our power to these circumstances and situations. We act as though it's a foregone conclusion that we will feel a certain way, based on specific circumstances like the economy, the weather, our health, our level of activity, the state of our romantic relationship or lack thereof, the behavior of our children, our families, the state of our career or business or our environment at work.

Our experience of life (grateful, worried, peaceful, angry, excited, sad, alive, depressed, joyous or anything else) is much more of a reflection of us and what's going on within us, not a reaction to what's going on around us. We've all had many times in our lives when things were going great on the surface or we accomplished or experienced some wonderful external success, only to feel a sense of disappointment or sadness underneath because whatever it was didn't satisfy us at a deep level. And, on the flip side, most of us have had moments of incredible joy, excitement and bliss that weren't directly connected to anything worthy of these feelings externally.

Even though we know this dynamic to be true, we still seem to get caught in the hypnotic, erroneous notion that if we just got rid of some issues, altered some circumstances, manifested some increased success or changed some specific situations in our lives, then, we'd be happy, peaceful and relaxed (or whatever it is we say we want to experience).

Author and spiritual teacher Byron Katie says: "The definition of insanity is thinking that you need something you don't have. The mere fact that you exist right now without that which you think you need is proof that you don't need it."

What if we lived our lives with a deeper and more conscious awareness of the fact that we get to create our experience of life at any moment? Imagine what our lives, our careers and our relationships would look like if we stopped blaming our experience on other people or on external circumstances. We would free up so much positive energy and take back so much of our personal power.

Here are a few things you can do to enhance your capacity to own your experience of life in an empowering way:

Admit when you play victim and give away your power. As is always the case, "The truth will set you free." Take a look into your life, especially in the areas where you find the most pain, suffering and struggle right now. Without judging yourself, can you find places where you're acting like a victim of your current circumstances, as though it is simply "happening to you"? The more honest and specific you can be about this, the more freedom it will provide for you.
Acknowledge, own and express your underlying emotions. Whenever we go into victimhood, there is something we don't want to deal with, take responsibility for, experience or express emotionally. Even thought it can be a little painful and scary initially, by dealing directly with the emotions we're avoiding, we go to the source of the issue and address it at the root. Ironically, once we're able to acknowledge, own and express the emotions involved, much of the suffering and struggling go away—if we're willing to really take responsibility for and express what we're truly feeling.
Make a commitment to fully own your experience. Declare to yourself and those who are close to you that you're willing to take 100 percent responsibility for your experience of life. This doesn't mean that stuff won't happen, but it does mean that you make a commitment to live your life by design, not default. It's also likely that you'll forget, slip up and fall back into victimhood from time to time (or often). However, making a commitment to yourself and to others—and also asking them to hold you accountable with honesty and kindness—can create an environment, both within you and around you, that is conducive for you to enhance your capacity to live your life with power and responsibility.

Give yourself some space and have a lot of compassion with yourself and others on this. Most of us have been trained, educated and encouraged to live in "victim consciousness"—even though it doesn't work or give us what we want ultimately. When we're willing to tell the truth, express our real emotions and make a commitment to live as designers of our experience, we can literally transform our lives in miraculous ways.

Mike Robbins is a best-selling author, sought-after motivational keynote speaker and personal growth expert who works with people and groups of all kinds. Robbins is the author of the best- selling books Focus on the Good Stuff and Be Yourself: Everyone Else Is Already Taken . He and his work have been featured on ABC News , in Forbes , Ladies Home Journal , Self and many others.

Read more: http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Its-Not-the-Circumstances-Its-You/2#ixzz1kIa2jSuD

I could not have said this better myself.

I hope you are all finding some good things

in the Make A Difference Monday postings.

I would love to hear how you're doing!

xoxo

Cindy

Favourite Things Friday

2012-01-20T19:41:00.003-06:00

Oh my gosh!

It is FREEZING here in Iowa!

I'm surprised I can get my fingers moving to type.

I'm not going to try not to write much in this post because I have a lot of photos to share.

I'm linking up to Shay's Favorite Things Friday.

(I have told you how freaking awesome this gal is??)

I actually have two favorite things this week.

The first is a quilt I helped participate in making.

We have a wonderful online friend

that is so incredibly talented

and so marvelously sweet.

Her name is Jeannie.

I invite you to click on her name and look at her photostream in Flickr.

She is an inspiration to all who come into contact with her.

I dearly love this woman.

I won't go into the reasons why we made this for her,

but I can tell you we all did it with love in our hearts.

Amy, from During the Quiet Time coordinated all of this.

She contacted us to make blocks. A group of us made them

and sent them to her. When all was said and done, Amy quilted it and shipped it to Jeannie.

It was an absolute honor to participate in this.

New friendships were made and along with a beautiful quilt where every stitch was done in love.

Thank you so much again, Amy, for putting this together!

You are an angel!

Jeannie's quilt front, a photo by During Quiet Time (Amy) on Flickr.

The second thing is my first sister sew in with Sarah.

Here are a few pictures to show you our fun.

(and I am totally kicking myself because our friend, Cyndi, was there and I didn't get one stinkin picture of that!!)

Mary & Sarah

Sarah's Fascade quilt top

Sarah's cute market bag

Sarah's cute flower button

My cute market bag using some of my Happy Mochi Yum Yum fabric

A cute Break Buddy from a tutorial by Melissa.

It's great for carrying tea bags, Emergen-C packs ,

Crystal Lite packs, all those little goodies!

(Melissa - do you recognize the fabrics? wink wink)

And the inside

It was a great little goodie to make and super easy to put together.
I HIGHLY recommend you make one for yourself!
I have to make another one for me.
Little Miss Mary liked it so much that I just couldn't keep it.

So there you have my longgggggggggggg Favourite Things Friday post!
I hope I didn't bore you!

Until next time, keep the creative juices flowing!
XOXO
Cindy

Friday Night Sew-In and Mouthy Stitches Swap!

2012-01-17T06:50:00.000-06:00

Well hey there!

What are you doing Friday night?

Wanna hang out?

Wanna sew with me?

If sew (lol), then head on over to

Crafty Vegas Mom's blog

and sign up for:

It's a lot of fun

and there's also always a giveaway.

Who can pass that up?

Heck, the prize for me is just being able

to have an excuse to

"get my sew on".

Also, though sign ups are now closed,

I am in another swap,

Mouthy Stitches,

however, I don't have my partner

assigned to me yet.

(God help the person who gets me!)

Here's my little mosaic of goodies:

We'll be swaping a pouch and a fat quarters worth of scraps.

How fun is that?

And the baby in the mosaic?

Well...that's just for cutnes.

I always like to put one picture

just for fun

in my mosaics.

:o)

Hope you have a happy Tuesday!

xoxo

Cindy

Make A Difference Monday - Self Reflecting

2012-01-16T23:08:00.000-06:00

Hey!

I am sorry I'm so late getting this posted.

But first - in honor of Martin Luther King Jr today,

one of my favorite quotes:
“People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.”
As you've seen in the earlier post,

I spent the weekend with my crazy sister

for a good 'ol sewing weekend.

(more to come about that on my Friday post)

Well, I left the charger to my laptop at her house

and my battery died, so I couldn't do the post this morning.

If you are joining me on this journey,

then you are also doing a lot of self-reflecting.

I do want to make sure that you understand

where I'm coming from when I write about all this stuff,

and that is,

I am in the best place I have ever been in my life.

I used to beat myself up

continually if I did something

and it wasn't done perfectly, or...

did something wrong, or...

said something I shouldn't have, or...

ate something just to get rid of the bad feelings.

etc.

You name it,

if I wasn't perfect,

I wasn't good enough,

which explains why I'm such a rule follower.

God forbid I should try something on my own

and I fail.

That's not who I am anymore.

But I share these things....

these feelings...

because I want you to understand

where I was,

so you know the journey

I'm taking

to get to my goal.

Now...I'm not going to go spilling

the beans on my life,

or share dark, dirty secrets.

I'm talking strictly about how I feel about myself.

What kinds of things go on in my head

to make me react the way I do.

I am blessed in the fact that I have

amazing people in my life.

I have friends and family

with good heads on their shoulders,

who help me see life as it is today.

My mom sent me a beautiful email

and the last line of the email was

basically telling me I don't have to be perfect

(um...yes...I struggle with that...ugh)

and that there was only one perfect person on this earth

and He died on the cross for all those things

I'm not so perfect about.

And I have a friend at work

who reminds me

to love myself for who I am today.

That today, and every day, I am worthy of all things good,

and just because I don't look like a super model,

doesn't mean I'm not one 'hot mama'.

LOL

But it's those are the things

we all need to hear.

Because we are all worthy of feeling the best

about ourselves at whatever stage we are at

right now in our lives.

So this week,

really work on loving yourself

AS YOU ARE TODAY

because you are absolutely wonderful.

And for those of you that have different religious

beliefs then I do,

IT'S ALL GOOD!

I'm not a preacher.

I'm not judging.

That's not my place.

My place is to love

and live by the values and morals

of my life.

Each of us finds our own way in life

and our differences are what makes the world go round.

So I leave you with the goals of this week:
Love yourself as you are today.

Be accepting of yourself,

and just work on being the best 'you' that you can be.

Live by YOUR values.

Make sure you take care of you

and don't leave that up to someone else.

When all this comes together,

it's becomes easier and easier to

'spread the love'.

And the difference starts...

the love starts spreading...

and the ugly can be put to rest.

Here's a poem I received today:

May today there be peace within.

May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be.

May you not forget the infinite possibilities that

are born of faith in yourself and others.

May you use the gifts that you have received,

and pass on the love that has been given to you.

May you be content with yourself just the way you are.

Let this knowledge settle into your bones

and allow your soul the freedom

to sing, dance, praise and love.

It is there for each and every

one of us.

Enjoy YOU!

xoxo

Cindy

Sisters Sewing Weekend Update

2012-01-15T01:33:00.000-06:00

Yes...we are tired.

Our cousin Mary stopped by.

She was the first to fall asleep.

This is what happens

when you don't drink your

5 hour energy drink

when you're with Sarah & I.

So we had to do our own

little comedy show

while Mary took a Snooze.

And I'm pretty excited

that I figured out

how to use the video on my camera.

So whenever you are ready

to come hang with my sister and I

(PS...I'm the cute one....LOL)

Come on over!

But make sure you have plenty

of sleep before you stop by.

Who knows what will happen next!

xoxo

Cindy

Favorite Things Friday

2012-01-13T07:33:00.002-06:00

Here we are!

Another round of Shay's Favourite Things Friday!

YAY!

So here is something I've been holding back on.

I won a giveaway from my all time hero,

Monica Solorio-Snow

aka Happy Zombie.

I won this fabulous jelly roll to add to my stash of

Happy Mochi Yum Yum.

If you have not checked out Monica's blog yet, you really should.

She will

CRACK

YOUR

STUFF

UP.

I always tell her she's my hero.

I'm pretty sure she thinks I'm a psyco stalker,

but that's OK.

At least she knows how I feel.

:o)

I also took some 'me' time this week

and made a Valentine curtain for my kitchen window.

Melissa....you will be very proud of me.

I didn't use a pattern and

it's lined with an eyelet trim.

YAY me!

:o)

We have this local shop

that is so incredibly reasonable regarding their prices.

The heart

was only $7.

The flower ball

was only $4.

The old glass heart

was only $6.

Can you believe it?

What an awesome week it has been!

And to top it off,

I get to spend the weekend with my sister

(she has my very own bedroom for me,

thank goodness....because she snores.)

and we are going to sew...sew....sew.

Guess what my topic will be for next weeks

Favourite Things Friday?

:o)

Love to all!!

xoxo

Cindy

Make A Difference Monday - I Am Worth It

2012-01-09T06:20:00.000-06:00

Happy Make A Difference Monday!

I will say, I did have a couple of rough days this week.

I've been under a lot of stress at work, however,

I really paid attention to my surroundings

and kind of looked at things

as if I were watching someone else.

When stress & pressure get to me,

I need to keep my mouth moving.

So...

I kept wanting to find something to munch on.

Now, Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday

I was prepared.

I had healthy food

and made some pretty darn good choices.

But Thursday and Friday...

not so much.

I learned a lot in those two days.

I also started keeping a journal

of how I feel when I have those

'have to keep my mouth moving'

moments.

Those moments come when I feel I haven't

done my best,

or didn't pay attention,

or tried to hurry,

because someone wants and answer,

or something done ASAP.

They come when a friend or loved one needs me

and I just can't be a support system at the moment,

because I need to heal myself.

What am I going to do about this type

of self-sabotage?

I'm going to stop,

take a slow, deep breath in,

exhale slowly,

and repeat over and over

until I start to believe it,

"I AM WORTH IT".

I am worth being respectful to myself.

I am worth having my alone time.

I am worth an organized home.

I am worth not hurting my body

by eating something unhealthy.

I am worth taking time to exercise.

I am worth putting myself first from time to time.

And so are you!

You are worth all things good.

You are worth being good to yourself.

Respecting yourself.

Loving yourself.

So...for the month of January,

we'll continue to work on ourselves.

We'll put ourselves first,

so we can better be there for those that need us.

I don't know about you,

but I am so tired of feeling like the life has been sucked out of me.

So take time out,

just for you.

Enjoy it.

And when the ugly tries to creep it's way in,

just repeat this to yourself:

source

My New Thing for Favourite Things Friday

2012-01-06T07:03:00.001-06:00

Hey everybody!

Another one of my goals for this year is to

link up with Shay

for her Favourite Things Friday.

So....my favorite thing this week
is thinking out of my creative box.
I am such a rule follower
that patterns are perfect for me.
It tells me what to do,
how to do it,
when to do it,
etc.

I finally just did something on my own
right out of my scrap box.
I made this cute little gal
for Valentine's Day.

No pattern.

No templates.

No instruction.

Just a drawing I did on scratch paper,

and brought to life with fabric and thread.

Probably for a lot of you,

this isn't a big deal.

I can't BELIEVE the

talent I see out in blogland.

And it's been such an inspiration to me.

I'm even going to develop a new character

and build a series around it.

That's how much 'outside of the box'

thinking I've been doing.

So, for my Favourite Thing Friday,

I am celebrating creating something

of my very own.

This has already started out to be an awesome year.

I wonder what else it will bring?

If you have a favorite thing this week,

head on over and link up with

Shay of Quilting in My Pyjamas

xoxo

Cindy

Make A Difference Monday

2012-01-02T06:07:00.000-06:00

As promised...

the new direction of my blog.

Along with my everyday crafting,

cooking, and whatever else comes up,

I am starting a Make A Difference Monday.

This means every Monday I will be doing a post

on how to make a difference.

I have a photograph that I took hanging in my bathroom,

to which I photoshopped a quote onto it.

It's one of my most favorite quotes by Gandhi, which says,

"You must become the change you want to see in the world"

I totally love this quote.

So, for this first Make A Difference Monday,

I'm starting with me.

Now, you are welcome to join me on this journey,

or follow along,

or share ideas,

whatever wets your whistle.

But the first few posts will be how I can start with myself to make a difference.

The first change I am working on is my thought pattern,

my internal voice,

that most of the time isn't so nice to me.

It's the voice that sets me up for failure.

If I'm going to do this,
I have to be honest.

So, though I may always seem happy-go-lucky,

inside I have this old tape recording,

that lets me know I'm really not

"good enough".

Now, I will tell you, I do not like pity.

All of us are worth more than that,

so please don't think that's where I'm headed with this.

I am heading on the path which leads to great things!

But, in order to get to the 'great things', I have to be

honest with what my internal voice is doing

to sabatoge me from moving forward.

Why, do you ask, am I doing this?

Well, I have always felt that somewhere in life,

I would do something great.

But again, I have let that nasty voice

keep me from doing the things in life that I really want to do.

Once I became an adult, I have no one to blame

but myself for not achieving the things in life I wanted to achieve.

So, if you are coming on this journey with me,

look deep inside yourself.

What is your internal tape recording saying to you?

Is it telling you that you're a victim?

That the way your life is now, is because of someone, or something, else?

Where you are at, where I am at, is because of the choices we ourselves have made.

If you don't like what you see when you look in the mirror,
(meaning from the inside out)

fix it.

On July 7th, I will turn 50 years old.

And I am excited.

One of my biggest hurdles will be loosing weight.

I didn't get this way because I love food.

I got this way because I let the internal voice

take over and I stuff my feelings.

No more!

So....here I am today.

Yep....this is me in all my chubby cuteness! LOL

The first of every month

I will post a picture of myself

with my accomplishments from the prior month.
Not only the physical changes,
but also the internal changes
I hope to make.

Let me tell you...

this was a hard choice for me to make.

Now that I've made this public,

I HAVE to do something.

Keeping my word,

makes a difference.

Right?

Now, I am by no means a therapist,

or trying to be one.

I'm just trying to work on myself,

and because I know what's wrong,

I am choosing to fix it.

So, the first few weeks will about self-improvment.

Once I get the hang of that, I'll move

on to 'sharing the love'.

Referring to the lyrics of Michael Jackson's, "Man in the Mirror"

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
And No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
Take A Look At Yourself, And
Then Make A Change

So here we go, folks!
Whether it's loosing weight,
something inside stopping you from being truly happy,
your creativity is blocked,
whatever the case may be,

we can do it!
I'm, by no means, saying this is going to be easy,
but it is going to be worth it.

xoxo

Cindy

Happy 2012!!

2012-01-01T14:44:00.000-06:00

Wishing all of you much happiness and success in 2012.

Leave the past behind.

It doesn't have to go with you.

Take what you like and leave the rest.

Looking forward to all the adventures the new year has to offer.

Tune in tomorrow.

I have something new in store for my blog.

You are welcome to join me,

follow my progress,

or ignore it.

Any choice you make is fine!

I so appreciate all the new 'virtual' friends I've made in 2011.

Each of you have touched my life in a special way.

To my entire family, I love you all dearly

and I am so blessed to have the family I do.

To my 'real life' friends,

I couldn't live my life without you.

Thank you all.

I appreciate every single thing about you.

Much love & happiness.

xoxo

Cindy

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T12:33:00.000-06:00

May this Christmas season

bring you all the love and happiness

the world has to offer!

Friday Night Sew-In Goodies

2011-12-17T11:54:00.000-06:00

Hey!

So I FINALLY got some Christmas sewing done.

I was so happy that another

Friday Night Sew-In

was taking place in December.

It gives me a great excuse to

'get my sew on'.

:o)

I was able to complete one Christmas gift.

This great purse by Melissa of 100 Billion Stars.

You can find the pattern here.

I seriously love making this bag.

I hope Melissa never gets tired of my bragging her up.

But she is just so inspring.

The little pouch is a pattern by Atkinson Designs

called Cash and Carry.

Remember back when when I was going to rate

projects by the number of chocolates I either ate,

or wanted to eat?

Okay...if Iwould have had

a bag of chocolates in my sewing room,

they would be

No lie.

Period.

I broke 2 needles putting the zipper in that little pouch.

And the funny thing is,

I have made this bag a couple times before.

I had a zipper brainfart.

Here's another close up of the bag,

just because I love it.

And another......

And if you're looking closely,

yes, that is a button of Rudy Giuliani

on the shelf.

Even autographed.

That's all I'll say about that.

I'll just keep y'all guessing.

:o)

I did make this pillow too,

though not during the Friday Night Sew-In.

I made it to sell at the local craft store.

The total Diva pillow.

Just like the creator.......

No comments please.

So that was my Friday night.

You know, when I was younger,

I would have never, EVER pictured myself

sitting home on a Friday night playing with fabric.

I had too many people to see and too many parties to go to!

Where is that girl?

Safe with her sewing machine...

and very grateful.

:o)

Until the next adventure,

KEEP SMILING!

xoxo

Cindy

It's That Time of Year

2011-12-10T11:19:00.000-06:00

I didn't get as much sewing time as I wanted last night.

The men of the house were getting ready for their big hunting weekend.

Which means they need me to help organize

and keep them on track.

Ugh

But I did manage to get these few things done.

My husband has been hounding me for a pair of slippers

since his last pair acquired a nice sized hole in the bottom.

So I made him a pair for Christmas.

But ya wanna hear something funny?

I bought extra yarn and kept it in the back seat of my car.

He thinks I haven't even started them yet.

And the yarn will stay in the back seat of my car

until after Christmas.

He needs to learn a lesson,

don't you think?

:o)

So...this morning we did our annual tradition.

It's deer season.

Yes, I dispise this time of year.

I am an animal lover.

I could go on for ever and ever,

but I won't.

Anyhoo....the tradition is for all to

come to our house for breakfast.

I get up at 4:00 AM

(which is another reason I couldn't sew as long as I wanted)

to prepare breakfast and get their snacks ready for the day.

Men.

Need I say more?

So at 5:30 AM

this is what my dining room table was full of.

Yeah...the goofy kid...that's my youngest son, Justin.

Dear Lord...

Did you HAVE to bless me like this?

LOL

I love him.

We had a smaller group this year,

which was A-OK by me.

Less people I had to take care of.

(Just kidding...the 'regulars' were very missed this morning)

Jesse sat in the living room,

because I didn't extend the table.

Not sure why he's not smiling for this great picture.

He looks a bit crabby, doesn't he?

What the??

LOL

And this is Austen,

Justin's good friend since they were babies.

Um...yeah...can ya see why they are still friends 22 years later?

All of this at 5:00 this morning.

This is why I'm so happy all the time.

We always have crazy people hanging out

at our place.

A person just has to join in!

But poor Dusty

(my cousin)

He's praying...

"Please don't take my picture."

Oh no, Dusty,

at 5:00 on a Saturday morning

NO one is safe from the camera at my house.

With the exception of me,

cause that's just the law.

So...I'm praying that they all have a good time today,

but for the love, PLEASE KEEP THE DEER SAFE!!!

XOXO

Cindy

Friday Night Sew-In

2011-12-08T06:30:00.001-06:00

Hey!

If you haven't signed up yet,

make sure you do!

Friday Night Sew-In

is December 9th.

There's great giveaway's

and who seriously doesn't need to be sewing right now?

I have so many Christmas presents to get done

that I don't know where to start!

So click here to get signed up.
Or you can click the Friday Night Sew-In on my right side bar.

It's so much fun that you won't be able to wait for next month!

See you there! :o)

xoxo

Cindy

Modern Christmas Table Runner Swap

2011-12-05T07:23:00.000-06:00

Hello World!

(as Lady Antebellum would say)

I had to share a few photo's of the table runner I received from

Susan.

Can I just tell you that I was absolutely THRILLED to receive this!

I had my eye on this one from the minute she posted it in our group.

I even went so far as to send her a private message

telling her how much I loved it

and wanted it to deliver to my house.

I sent the message because, if she wasn't my partner,

I didn't want my 'real' partner to feel bad

because I loved this runner so much.

When the mail came,

I saw the address was from the UK.

My heart sank a bit,

but then I remembered that ALL of the runners

everyone worked on were BEAUTIFUL.

So, I opened it up,

the package was wrapped all pretty,

I was going to read the card before I opened the package,

then the ornaments fell out of the bag,

and the happiness started!!!!

Susan lives in the UK!

All this time, I thought she was from Canada.

I'm a dork!!

(but, honestly, how many times have I admitted that to you)

Her flickr name is canadianabroadSusan.

I thought it was canadianbroadSusan.

See...I missed the a.

Now I will remember to be very careful when reading Flickr names.

Sorry Susan!!

Everything about this runner, and the ornaments, I love.

I am the luckiest girl!

Thank you so much, Susan.

I hope you truly know how beautiful I think all of this is.

Have a great day!

xoxo

Cindy

My Memories Digital Scrapbook Winner!

2011-11-26T10:59:00.000-06:00

Time for the drawing of the My Memories software!!

Okay...so I seriously need to take the time to figure out how to do this correctly. I typed in 1 - 6, but it shows between 1 - 100 when I copy & paste. But truly it only selected between 1 and 6.

Enter a number:

I want a number between 1 and…

Result:

Comment #4 was Sarah, who said

:Sarah said...I like that she has educational video with a pdf file for you to learn how to use the product! That is great!

Well now you get to see how cool this really is for yourself! CONGRATULATIONS!!!

I plan on doing more giveaways in the future with My Memories. It truly is an awesome product that preserves your cherished memories. I've been having a lot of fun with the software I've received. It also makes me take more pictures of the projects I'm working on so I can digitally scrapbook the progress and appreciate all the work that goes into everything.

And I promise on the next giveaway, I'll have the whole random number thingy figured out. :o)

Have a great day all!!

xoxo

Cindy

Favorite Things Friday with Quilting in my Pyjamas

2011-11-25T08:38:00.001-06:00

Finally!

I'm participating!

If you have not been to Shay's blog,

Quilting in my Pyjamas,

I highly suggest you take a peak.

You are guarenteed a good laugh.

I love this gal!

So I'm finally participating in Shay's

Favourite Things Friday

linky party.

I actually have two things that are my favorite this week.

(besides being with my family for Thanksgiving, which was the bomb!)

Thanks, Mom!

First, this awesome pin cushion I made

using the beautiful scraps I received from

Melissa at 100 Billion Stars

When she left for market, being the most amazingly thoughtful person she is,

she left us with a tutorial to work on while she was away.

I love this!

Next, we are trying save energy costs. With the cost of gas being

so high, we invested in a pellet burner.

Our furnace has not kicked on once since we've installed this beauty.

This picture was taken right after it was installed,

so we hadn't cleaned anything up around the stove yet.

And the dogs made a home in front of it right away.

I love those furry little snuggle butts!

Our cat loves it too,

but as I've mentioned in a prior post,

she does not like any other animal,

so it's rare that she'll share a picture with the dogs.

I hope you find a lot of favorite things for your Friday!

xoxo

Cindy

2011-11-24T06:35:00.000-06:00

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.

It turns what we have into enough, and more.

It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.

It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.

Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.

~Melody Beattie~

I give thanks to all of you who help enrich my life

and inspire me to be a better person.

And I pray that the button doesn't pop off my pants today.

:o)

God Bless

xoxo

Cindy

Modern Christmas Table Runner Swap

2011-11-23T06:10:00.001-06:00

Hey there!

Just had to take a quick moment

to post my latest project.
I participated in the Modern Christmas Table Runner Swap on Flickr
hosted by Susan.
You can check out her awesome blog
here.

I am so loving this table runner

and I hope my partner does too!

It's shipping today,

so I'll keep my fingers crossed that

my partner will love it as much as I do.

I'm going to include some chocolate as well,

cause a quilter cannot be without chocolate

(right, Shay?)

LOL

And I think I'm going to make a few

of these ornaments for myself too.

Cause...you know...

they're cute.

:o)

And don't forget to enter the giveaway in the last post!

It's a VERY sweet package and I don't

want you to miss out!

Hope you're getting a lot of your holiday sewing done!

XOXO

Cindy

My Memories Digital Scrapbook Giveaway!

2011-11-12T18:23:00.000-06:00

Hello!!

As promised, I am the proud

blogger to host my first sponsored giveaway.

You really need to check the

My Memories website out.

It's amazing!

I started to do a digital scrapbook of the quilts

I've worked on in the past.

You're able to do journal entries on the

pages as well as add embellishments

and all kinds of fun things!

I swear this is my new 'tech' hobby.

I have had so much fun playing around with the software,

Wanna know something cool??

We have a special Share the Memories code

that provides a $10 discount

off the purchase of the

My Memories Suite Scrapbook software

and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store

a $20 value!

You can go to My Memories right now

and enter code

STMMMS23269

Just an FYI - it's a lot easier to

copy and paste the code then to try and type it.

To enter the giveaway,

just do one or all of the following:

1. Follow my blog and leave a comment. If you already follow, just leave a comment that you think I'm crazy (but in a nice way please)...LOL

2. Visit www.MyMemories.com and come back and leave a comment on
what you liked.

3. Sign up for the My Memories newsletter on their blog
by clicking here http://www.mymemoriesblog.com/

There's lots to check out, so when you have a moment
go look at all they have to offer.
The giveaway is for almost $40

of the My Memories digital scrapbooking software.

I'll be posting what I've been doing with it over the next
couple weeks. It is SO cool!
The winner will be drawn on Saturday November 26th.

Good luck!!
xoxo
Cindy

Scrappy Swap

2011-11-06T14:19:00.002-06:00

Oh my goodness!

After church today, I went to get groceries.

As I was filling my cart,

it dawned on me,

I never posted the swap items received

from one of my top 10 favorites,

Shay, from Quilting in My Pyjamas.

You really must check out Shay's blog.

She is as hilarious as she is creative

and I was so incredibly lucky that she was my secret partner.

I'm also giving her the title of my Chocolate Pimp,

because I am now a junkie of this Australian chocolate.

Absolutely, positively

L.O.V.E it.

End of story.

But seriously, didn't she do an amazing job on this fabric basket?

LOVE the colors and I love the fact that I now have one for myself.

And the scraps that she sent along...perfect!

Thank you so much, Shay!!

You made my day

in such a great way

and now I lay

in a chocolate coma

on a pile of hay.

OMG....

I'm a dork.

xoxo

Easy Street Bag & My Friend Linda

2011-11-06T06:45:00.000-06:00

Hello!

I just had to share this with you.

It's another pattern from

Melissa of 100 Billion Stars

The pattern is called

Easy Street Bag.

You can find this PDF download

in Melissa's Etsy shop

here

And here is the beauty!

The bag is perfect for a 'quick something' to go to.

It's small enough that things don't get lost in it,

but large enough to make a statement.

I made this bag in just a couple hours.

I plan on making several more

with fabrics that match my wardrobe.

I also think these will be great Christmas presents

with a matching zipper pouch to go with it.

The fabric I used was Camelot by Jason Yenter.

You can find this at one of my favorite shops,

FabricFascination

here

This is a beautiful, quick bag

that was a lot of fun to make.

You can never go wrong with one of Melissa's patterns.

I also had a sweet surprise in the mail this week!

My friend, Linda, from Scotland sent me these little goodies.

I am very proud to say I have a strong Scottish heritage on my mom's side of the family.

Linda was so sweet and sent me a package full of Scottish goodies

and a handmade ornament.

Thank you so much, Linda!

You'll never know how much this brightened my day!

You can check Linda's blog out

here.

Stop over and tell her hello.

She would love to hear from you!

So thank you to everyone involved with this post.

Melissa of 100 Billion Stars

Etsy shop here

Kym of FabricFascination

Etsy shop here

And Linda of Lawson Place

You all are so inspiring to me!

FYI - this was not a sponsored post.

I just believe in these gals.

However...on Saturday, November 12th,

I WILL be posting my first sponsored

blog post with an incredible giveaway,

so make sure to stay tuned!

Have a very blessed Sunday!

xoxo

Cindy

Halloween 2011

2011-11-05T08:36:00.001-05:00

Happy Belated Halloween!

I know I'm late.

No excuse other than life.

LOL

So as I mentioned in a previous post,

I invited some of my friends and family

to come over for trick-or-treat.

I had two families take me up on my offer,

so I was THRILLED!

I gave each of their little goblins

one of the pennie pockets, also shown in a

previous post,

filled with goodies.

Here are pictures of the little cutie pies that came to visit us.

Our sweet little niece, Cami.

(I just love this little gal)

And our special friends, Julie & Jared brought their beautiful girls.

How cute are all these little sweetie pies??

Having all these sweet little trick-or-treaters just made my day!

And here are Maddy & Kayla showing their true colors. LOL

(Julie....forgive me if I spelled their names wrong!!)

These crazy girls want to come spend the night with me.

How fun would that be?

After the holidays, I'm going to get something in the works.

My sister wants to join us too,

so we'll make it a fun, crafty, 'chic' night.

It will be great!

I also went to a Halloween party and brought

some pretty gross (but tasty!) snacks.

My 'puking pumpkin'.

So don't mind the poor drawing on what I 'thought' was a pumpkin.

It must have truly been a gourd of some sort.

No matter how hard I tried to get the knife in the darn thing to carve it

there was no budging with this monster!

So I had to go with my 'art' work,

and pound some Saran wrap on buy using very thin pins,

in order to get its 'puke' on

so to speak.

(which was actually the recipe off the back of Knorr's dry vegetable soup mix)

I also brought some severed fingers that I found laying around on the road.

KIDDING!

The recipe is from the most awesome Rachel Ray.

If you would like to try your 'hand' at these, you can find the recipe

here

And I can't leave you without this hilarious picture of my dad,

the 'wanna be Village People Person'

LOL

I swear I almost peed my pants when I pulled up.

I actually think he's trying to be some type of Harley guy,

but the Village People is the first thing that came to my mind when I saw him.

For those that celebrate, I hope you all had a great Halloween!

Mine was the bomb!

Make sure to check in tomorrow.

I'll have a post showing my latest project

along with a surprise package I got from my new

English friend who lives in Scotland, Linda.

And there might be a special announcement of what is going to

happen next week too.

:o)

xoxo

Cindy

Spooky!!

2011-10-23T13:36:00.001-05:00

I absolutely love country living.

There is one thing I miss about living in town.

(and this is the absolute only thing I miss)

Trick-or-Treat night.

When we lived in town, the street we lived on

was literally invaded by little ones

in all shapes, sizes, ugly, pretty,

scary, odd, everything you can imagine.

Sometimes the parents would dress up with their kids.

It was great.

So, because I miss it so much, I invited some family and friends

to bring their kids out to our 'haunted' house

to trick-or-treat us

(hopefully it's all treats!!)

So I made these little

pennie pockets

from my hero, Monica Solorio-Snow

aka Happy Zombie.

I'm going to fill them with Halloween goodies

to pass out to the little ~~monsters~~ kids.

(note: to see this picture better, click here. Blogger was giving me troubles uploading this properly)

I seriously love this woman.

She cracks me up like no other.

And when I say she's my hero,

I really mean it.

So check out her blog

to see what she's all about.

I guar-an-tee

What's New!

2011-10-22T13:09:00.000-05:00

So...it's been a busy, busy week.

I have my scrappy goodie done for the Scrappy Swap on Flickr.

I've always wanted to make one of those fabric baskets

I've been seeing everyone doing. Now I know what the buzz is all about!

They are FUN to make.

You can find the free tutorial

on Pink Penguin's blog.

I will be making lots of these. It was fun just digging through my scrap basket

to put this little bunch of goodness together.

And here it is!

I also made another Anywhere Bag by Melissa of 100 Billion Stars.

LOVE her!

It's OK for me to say that.

She knows.

~Hey Melissa!~

LOL

You can buy her pattern by clicking here

I made it out of pretty basic fabric this time to tone it down from

the skull bag I made previously.

Just depends on my mood as to what the bag will end up like.

And you can do the same!

This is a GREAT bag and I get compliments on the one I carry all the time.

So what are you reading this for?

Go out and get your pattern!

Work it people!

:o)

But seriously,

no pressure.

I just love this bag.

And I get a little overly excited when I love something that much.

Do you feel for my family now?

No wonder my boys hide from me when I walk in the room after not seeing them for a while.

And my oldest son turned 24 this month.

Can you believe it?

It seems just like yesterday I was holding my brand new 9 lb 15 oz baby boy.

What a great day that was.

Now I have to crank my neck to look up at him.

He's 6'3"

I'm 5'6"

And I am so very proud of the young man he's becoming.

My godson, Matt, is on the left.

He's my cousins oldest son.

Jesse & Matt are best friends

and have been since they were tiny tots.
I love them both dearly.

But boy, when the two of them are together,

they can drive me a bit nuts.
Just sayin...

I hope you find a lot to be grateful for on your list today!

Until the next adventure....

Happy Creating!!

xoxo

Cindy

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!!!

2011-10-14T06:01:00.000-05:00

Hello!!

And Happy Announcement Day!

And Happy Birthday to my mom!

You know, I'll admit, I don't know what I'm doing in blog land sometimes.

I wanted to make sure this was fair, so I used the Random Number Generator.

And when I copied the box, it didn't copy correctly, so there must be some code I'm not finding.

But anyway....it let me copy the most important part, with the exception it changed the 7 to 100.

Ugh...I really did have 1-7 in there, but for some reason it keeps changing it back to 100 when I copy.

I cross my heart I picked from 1-7.

If any of you know how this Random Number Generator works,

can you email me? I don't want this to happen again for any future giveaways.

In the meantime, I'll try and figure it out too.

True Random Number Generator

Min:

Max:

Result: 3

Congratulations, Sarah!!

And thank you to all who entered! I appreciate the time you take to read

about my 'not so exciting' life. LOL

HAPPY FRIDAY!!

XOXOXOX

Cindy

Recipe, Giveaway & More!

2011-10-09T18:22:00.001-05:00

Hey!

I'm sorry I'm late getting this posted.

I was in kind of a slump.

I don't think I ever mentioned this, but 2 1/2 years ago

my husband's job of almost 25 years was eliminated.

For the past 2 1/2 years he's been a 'temp' employee.

Anyhoo...he had an opportunity to apply for a pretty awesome job...and so he went for it.

He scored high on his test.

His interview went incredibly well.

They gave him a tour

(no one else had made it that far)

and for the first time in 2 1/2 years, we had hope.

Hope of a secure future.

You never know how much that means to you until you loose it.

Friday he came home from work.

He came up to my sewing room

and looked at me with those sad, brown eyes.

He had received a voice mail from this business.

He didn't get the job.

Ugh.

But we continue to have faith.

Heck, we aren't the only ones in this boat.

So God must have better plans for my little Skeeter.

He's a good man.

And I do believe deep in my heart

God has something great in store for him.

But if you are the praying kind,

and could keep my sweet hubby in your prayers,

along with everyone else out there looking for permanent employment,

we would greatly appreciate it.

Yeah...and the Iowa Hawkeye's lost the football game this weekend.

That was the icing on the cake, I tell ya!

Now on to happy thoughts!!

So here's what I worked on this week.

A cute dog and matching pillow case.

Hhhmmm....who could this be for?

And I made these to sell at our local craft shop.

Three Ghastlie pillows and two Iowa Hawkeye pillow cases

(I hope they sold before the game!)

And the recipe I told you I was going to post the other day?

Well...it's my own, made-up version of chicken roll-ups.

I was scrounging for something for supper.

I had some leftover lasagna noodles and a few pieces of boneless skinless chicken breasts.

I boiled the breasts in chicken broth.

Once they were done, I took the chicken out and shredded it,

then started cooking the noodles in the chicken broth.

(So far I had 8 noodles and 3-1/2 chicken breasts)

To the shredded chicken I added cream cheese (about 5 oz) and sour cream

(just enough to make it easily spreadable)

Then added some parsley flakes, garlic powder, salt & pepper.

(all to taste)

Set that aside.

In a skillet I melted some butter and added some flour.

By this time, the noodles are done, so I laid them out flat on a cookie sheet.

To the skillet mixture I added the broth from the chicken/noodles

( just to make it almost creamy...just keep adding by the spoonfuls until it turns into a thick, creamy mixture,

but not too runny)

Let this come to a boil and add your garlic powder (yeah...I'm a garlic junkie), salt & pepper to taste.

Once you've added that, pour in a 14 oz can of petite diced tomatoes - juice and all.

(this is why you don't want your mixture too runny - the juice from to tomatoes will finish it off)

Stir, turn the heat of, and get ready to prepare your noodles.

Spread the chicken mixture on each noodle, then sprinkle with shredded cheese (I used cheddar).

Roll them up and place them into a greased 9x13 pan.

Once you have all 8 roll-ups done, take your sauce and pour over the noodles.

Top with shredded cheese and cover the pan with foil.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes.

If you try this, let me know what you think!

And now on to the best part of this post!

As I've mentioned, I've been the very lucky winner of a few blog giveaway's, so I would like to return the favor.

Halloween is on of my favorite holiday's.

So in honor of that, I got you some of these cool little things.

This stuff is SO much fun!

The skull tray is a silicone one that you use to make ice cubes.

Then you have your Halloween cupcake cups with little happy toothpick decorations,

along with a set of test tubes filled with sprinkles for whatever you choose to sprinkle!

Here's a close up of the tray

Are these cute or what?

And all you have to do is leave me a comment telling me what you love about Halloween.

Any favorite traditions?

Any favorite costume?

Any favorite memory?

If you want to follow my blog, that's even better!

If you want to share this giveaway on your blog, or twitter, or whatever, that's ever better times 2!

But the only thing you HAVE to do is leave a comment and make sure you're not a "No Reply Blogger".

To make sure you're not,

click on this site.

Jodi, from Pleasant Home,

does a beautiful job of explaining this.

So I can't tell you if you've won, if you're a "No Reply Blogger".

This is open to my International friends too.

Only one comment per person.

The drawing will be held on my sweet mommy's birthday, October 14th, so you have until midnight

October 13th to leave me a comment for your chance at these cool Halloween goodies!

Good luck, my friends!!

xoxo

Cindy

Goodie Swap Package 2

2011-10-06T06:37:00.002-05:00

Hello!

I received my second mug rug and goodie package

from Linda.

I love it!

I was hoping I was going to get one of these thread catchers.

And let me tell you,

I started using is ASAP.

It's so much nicer then throwing the threads on the floor and sweeping them up later.

LOL

Thank you SO much, Linda for such a thoughtful package.

There was the CUTE cupcake mug rug,
a beautiful fat quarter

two thread catchers,

a needle case,

(thank you! I needed one!)

postcards,

and an Ireland calender.

(which I LOVE)

Ireland is on my bucket list

and these pictures make me want to get there FAST!

Did I win the jackpot or what?

I had two wonderful partners to send to,

along with receiving from 2 amazing partners.

It was the perfect swap.

So, I got to thinking,

"what am I going to do with all of these wonderful swap gifts?"

So I decided to use my sewing room wall

to help display them.

I didn't want to store them away.

I wanted to see them all the time!

So here's to the beginning of a beautiful, growing collection from all over the world.

From the USA I have Alabama & Illinois covered.

From other countries I now have Denmark, Ireland & Australia.

All this just makes my heart swell.

I have two things coming up this week, so make sure to keep a look out.

I have an awesome new recipe to post

AND........

I AM HAVING MY FIRST GIVEAWAY!

Yep.

Sure am!

I have been so blessed to win some pretty nice things from other blogger giveaways

that it's time for me to pass it on.

Stay tuned!

xoxo

Cindy

Good Swap Received!

2011-09-28T19:22:00.000-05:00

Who had a great day today?

This girl did!

I received my first package in the mail

from the Goodie Swap 2011

Hosted by the bestest person ever,

Cindy of Fluffy Sheep Quilting

Here are the goodies I received from

Svetlana. You can check out her blog

here.

It's truly a great blog.

I can't even begin to tell you how beautiful her work is, but I can show you!

Everything from the mugrug to the bag, to the pillow, pins, chocolate and card

were absolutely perfect!

Thank you so very much, Svetlana!!

I love this more than I can ever say!!

And for kicks and giggles, I had to show you what I whipped up last night.

The fabric is called The Ghastlies and you can find it

here.

I absolutely LOVE it!

The pink and black fabric are by Patrick Lose
(another one of my favorites)

I hope your day brought you lots of great things!

xoxo

Cindy

Mugrug World Tour

2011-09-27T06:11:00.000-05:00

I'm pretty excited.

I was contacted by Laura of Quokka Quilts blog.

She came up with an awesome idea.

That idea is to create a Mugrug World Tour

by posting pictures of mugrugs

representing the area you're from.

So, she asked if I would be interested in doing one

to represent Iowa.

HECK YEAH I WOULD!

So, I have been busy thinking and drawing

to come up with the best

representation of Iowa I can.

The designing part is easy.

Making it look like it does in my head

on the fabric will be another issue.

But I will do it!

If you would like more information on this, just click on the button

on the top right of my sidebar titled, "Mugrug World Tour".

(or just click here )

And if you're interested in participating for your state, or country, etc,

just contact Laura by going to her blog, see her "About Me" on the right

side bar, click on "View My Complete Profile", then click on her email.

I promise to do us Iowan's proud!

More to come....

xoxo

Cindy

Sign-Ups for Upcoming Swaps

2011-09-25T07:40:00.000-05:00

How cute is this? Pretty darn cute, I say!

It's my mosaic for the Modern Christmas Tablerunner Swap 2011 on Flickr.

There's still time to sign up!

Sign ups close on October 2nd, so click on the link and head on over.

It's another secret swap, so your partner won't know you have their name.

That makes it SO much fun.

And this mosaic I created is for another swap on Flickr

call the Scrappy Swap

This swap closes on September 30th,

so click on the link and join!

For kicks & giggles I had to have a picture of Edward & Bella from Twilight.

Yes...I am a Twilight junkie.

GO TEAM EDWARD!

It's also a 'secret' swap.

You won't be disappointed!

So...there you have it.

I gave you a couple of events to participate in.

You never know...

I might be your secret partner!

Enjoy your day!

xoxo

Cindy

Anywhere Bag, Goodie Swap 2011 & More!

2011-09-24T14:19:00.000-05:00

SURPRISE!!

How the heck have you been?

I have been crazy busy

putting in a lot of hours at the office.

Then....

Canning tomatoes.

Canning tomato juice.

Canning salsa.

And today, I'm canning spaghetti sauce.

It was a great year for tomatoes in the Smith house.

BUT... in between all of this,

I still found time to get some sewing in.

Like this amazing bag from my friend, Melissa.

If you are interested in purchasing the pattern for this,

you can find it here

I can promise that you will love it just as much as I do.

This is the second time I've made this bag.

I think this one would be perfect for a teenage girl.

Here's a close up of the ribbon

And the fabulously lined inside with a pocket to boot!

Thank you for creating such an awesome bag

Melissa!

I am sending the items below to my partners in the Goodie Swap 2011

hosted by the one and only Cindy of Fluffy Sheep Quilting.

Here is the mug rug and goodies I'm sending Partner #1. I can't show the

front of the rug yet until she receives the package.

This swap has all been a secret, so she doesn't know I'm her partner.

And I want to keep it that way until the package arrives! :o)

The money pouch is by Terri Atkinson (LOVE her stuff!).

The pattern by Terri is called Cash & Carry.

It's a pattern for 3 different zipper bags.

and the turtle pincushion (which I've posted before) is called Heneritta by Heather Bailey.

And here are all of her goodies wrapped up in a pretty fat quarter!

And for Partner #2

Technically we were to send a mug rug and one goodie (the goodie being something

made by you). I wanted to give Partner #2 a needle case.

So, I found a tutorial for one and when I wanted to add a little extra on it

(being the decorative stitch around the edges), my needle was skipping some of the flower petals.

Hhhhmmfffttthhh

So, while shopping with my sister one day, I found this pattern by Terri Atkinson with these cute bags.

I thought they would be handy to have, as you can hold money in the zipped part and put your debit/credit

cards in the pockets.

(there's a pocket in the outside front and back)

So that makes me feel better shipping this along with everything else.

So here's Partner #2's 'wrapped in a fat quarter' goodies

I can't WAIT until my partners get their goodies. I am crossing my fingers that they like them!

Tomorrow I will be posting links to two new swaps I signed up for.

Make sure to stop back and LOOK

Because there is still time for YOU

to join!

And they look to be just as much fun as the Goodie Swap.

And THAT swap was incredibly fun!

It was so much fun that I hope you sign up to the ones

I'm linking tomorrow.

Until tomorrow!

xoxo

Cindy

Goodie Swap 2011

2011-08-29T06:30:00.000-05:00

I have to tell you about the current swap I'm participating in.

Cindy from Fluffy Sheep Quilting

is hosting this fun event.

Cindy is from Ireland.

Which I think is wonderful!

Ireland and Scotland are on my bucket list.

Scotland, of course, because I'm part Scotish

and Ireland (and you're probably going to laugh) because

ever since I saw PS I Love You,

I have been in love with Ireland.

I look at pictures all the time and just feel so at peace

whenever I look at them.

It's beautiful!

Some day....

So, what I love about this swap is the fact that I have no idea

who has my name. And I love that the names I have

also have no idea I'm their secret 'stalker'.

We each get two swap partners.

I'm taking this week to get to 'know' my partners

to make sure I come up with the best swap goodies I can for them.

We will each make a mug rug and a 'goodie' (pin cushion, bag, pillow, etc

just some fun goodie that's handmade).

Here's my mosaic I created with a few of the things that tickle my fancy

But to be honest, I will be happy with anything.

Any time someone takes time out of their day

to do something just for you,

well, that's pretty special all in itself.

So, THANK YOU, Cindy for hosting such a great swap!

This is going to be a great time!

Thank you, Melissa!!

2011-08-28T12:10:00.000-05:00

I have to say

that I am pretty blessed.

Through blogging, I have met a great friend.

Melissa of 100 Billion Stars

She continually inspires me to think outside the box.

I'm such a rule follower that it's hard for me to

'color outside the lines'

so to speak.

But reading Melissa's blog inspires me

to get a little crazy.

(Plus she is a huge animal lover like myself)

Though I 'm not ready to post any of my craziness yet,

I can show you what she sent me in the mail!

All these lovely Sis Boom scraps to welcome me to

Sis Boom Sisterhood!!

I just purchased

Girl's World by Jennifer Paganelli

(of Sis Boom).

Now, mind you, I don't have any little girls,

but this book was too cute to pass up!

And I do have little nieces I can sew for as well.

Hopefully, I will one day have granddaughters too.

But I had to take a picture of the book with all the luscious scraps

Melissa sent to me.

What a nice surprise!! Melissa, you completely made my day!

Here's something I whipped up last night from some of the scraps.

I'm not quite sold on the button yet.

I think because it's a bit off center.

We'll see if I keep it.

And I realized I needed something

trustworthy to guard all this precious fabric

when I'm not in my sewing room.

Lucky for me, the book had a pattern for this cute little gal.

And of course, she had to be pink

and made out of Sis Boom fabric that I recently purchased.

So what girl isn't complete without her bling?

That keeps her on her toes while she guards all the fabric.

She is stationed on the shelf to keep watch.

I think thieves will be afraid of her, should they come in and try and steal my fabric.

She is rough and tough.

What should I name her?

I took a picture of her on my phone and sent it to my sister and my cousin.

They both want a guard dog now.

I did make them each one, but since this post is dedicated to Sis Boom,

and the dogs are made out of other material from my stash,

they will be posted at a later date.

:o)

I will end this post with a picture of the opposite side of the pillow I made from

the fabric Melissa sent me along with my dog.

Now if you're interested in learning more about Sis Boom

you can click here.

Trust me, you will get hooked.

This is all so scrumptious

that you will have a hard time saying, "NO".

Check out stores in Etsy

if you would like to purchase

the fabrics. Just search either Sis Boom,

or Jennifer Paganelli and you'll get all kinds of stores

to lure you in.

I purchased Girl's World from Amazon, if you're interested.

It truly is a great book. Beautifully designed,

great patterns and pages among pages of inspiration!

Melissa,

Thank you for just being you.

I think you are pretty darn awesome.

Until the next adventure!

xoxo

Cindy

This posting was not sponsored by anyone.

This is my own free will review.

I'm kind of like that.

When I believe in something,

I just share it with no expectation.

It's kind of one of those things that makes the world go round

in an old fashioned way.

:o)

Exciting Stuff

2011-08-20T17:19:00.000-05:00

Before I forget, I need to post the mug rug

I received from my swap partner, Lissy.

The swap was hosted by Jenna at

Sew Happy Geek's blog.

Isn't it pretty? And she sent me a lovely postcard from where she lives too.

I was pretty lucky!

I participated in my first Friday Night Sew-In last night.

(as mentioned in the post below)

This is hosted monthly by Heidi.

I highly recommend doing this. It was fun just knowing

there were other quilters, crafters and creators out there

doing their own thing.

There's a groups of us ladies at work that joined Weight Watchers.

It's going GREAT!

But we all needed something to carry all the information in.

Things like our points calculators, weekly pamphlets, etc.

So I utilized my Friday Night Sew-In to make the last of the

bags and pouches to finish our group.

(Yeah...they are lucky to have me!)
KIDDING!

Here's the pouch & bag I made

for the last of my group.

I also had a bridal shower today for my cousin. I wanted to put

something handmade in the gift, so I made her these appliqued tea towels.

I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.

I think she liked them. :o)

Now...if any of you are interested in participating in a fun swap,

head on over here. It looks to be a good one!

You'll have two partners to send to. (and 2 will send to you) Each will receive a mug rug

along with another homemade goodie.

The fun is that you have no idea who will be sending to you!

It won't be the same one's you're assigned to gift.
I love the mysteriousness of it all.

So head on over and join the fun!

Later, Gater!

xoxo

Cindy

Friday Night Sew-In

2011-08-16T17:03:00.000-05:00

First, if some of you just received an email update,

I apologize for the confusion.

I hit 'publish' when I meant to delete.

So I'm sure it made absolutely no sense.

Ugh...

For anyone that's interested,

I just found this AWESOME idea

from another blogger.

I signed up.

It's going to be fun!

Click the Friday Night Sew-In button on my right side bar.

Check it out and join the fun!

Heidi's website is here.

Have fun!!

Recipe Time with the Pioneer Woman

2011-08-13T06:08:00.001-05:00

First - this photo is from the Pioneer Woman website.

Does this Greek salad not look absolutely scrumptious?!

I have a family reunion today and this is what I'm going to take.

You can find the recipe here.

I would post the recipe on here, but incase you haven't checked out

Ree Drummond, you really need to, so I'm kind of forcing you to visit her.

Country Living

2011-08-11T22:21:00.000-05:00

Hey everybody!!

And WELCOME to the new followers!

Thank you so much for thinking I'm interesting enough to hang out with.

I just think that is so sweet!

xoxo

You know, I get asked a lot why I like living in the middle of nowhere.

But I LOVE it.

It's quiet.

It's welcoming.

It's just me and my family.

(and I know that's not proper English, but we're among friends, right?)

But we're never alone long.

People have found our secret.

And like to come enjoy our paradise.

But we absolutely love to share it.

I get to wake up to beautiful skies like this

(and for a better view of the picture, just click to enlarge)

I get to hang my 'grannie panties' out if I want to and no one will know!

No worries...I saved your eyes....I didn't hang them on the line today.

I can look out my kitchen window and see my 'friends'

I can let this random squash grow that my little (big) dog, Sadie, plants for me.

(This is the second year it's happened)

And no nosey neighbors stop by to 'remind' me I have a squash growing out of place.

I can sit out on the front porch and watch the beauty of nature unfold

I can enjoy putting random groupings together of 'old' things and it fits right in.

I can look out any window and have the perfect view

And when I lift up my prayers at night

to give thanks for such a loving place to live

I can look up in the sky and know that we'll always be taken care of

no matter where we live.

Now, we don't live in a big, fancy house.

It's an old farm house we've been working on for the last 13 years.

But it's turned into our paradise.

It's a continual work in progress

and we love every minute of it.

And my cousin, Mary, wasn't kidding when she first saw it

and said, "This is the money pit!"

Yep...sure is!

I think I will put a tin can at the end of the lane and ask for donations.

JUST KIDDING!!!

Until the next adventure!

XOXO

Cindy

Doll Quilt, Sewing Room & Corn!

2011-08-04T10:30:00.002-05:00

Did you think I fell off the face of the earth?

Almost!

LOL

It seems to never stop being busy.

But I know I need to just stop

and s.l.o.w. down.

First, I have to post my doll quilt that I received

from Wendy. I absolutely LOVE this

and I love the fact that she made it to match my sewing room.

This swap was sponsored by Christine at

Once Upon a Quilt.

Thank you, Christine, for hosting such a fun & fabulous swap!

And thank you, Wendy, for this amazing quilt!

I don't believe I ever posted pictures from my "almost" finished

sewing room. I still have a few things in mind, but I'll show you

what I current have going on with this.

My sewing area:

My cutting table:

My fabric center.

Okay...fabric is here and in baskets all over the room.

But, fortunately, pictures can hide what you don't want

the world to see...if you angle your camera right.

LOL

And more storage, and of course,

exercise ball information,

cause a girls gotta look good!

It's hanging on my closet door...

...in hopes that one day....

I'll do it
*wink*

And what girl's room isn't complete without

an amazing selection of chic flicks to watch while she's creating.

There are very few flicks I'll purchase at full price.

Normally, I wait for them to go on the $5 rack at WalMart.

Yeah...I can be cheap.

But these....I am on the waiting list for each new movie that comes out:

GO TEAM EDWARD!!!

Can y'all wait for November for the first movie from Breaking Dawn?

I CAN'T!!!

(Okay..I'm from Iowa, but every now and then, my southern accent comes out from my previous life)

LOL

So I missed getting in the drawing for Rachel's (from PS I Quilt) giveaway on her

synchronized square quilt along, but I have done all of her quilt along's

and didn't want to be left out of this one. So here's my finished quilt top.

If you notice, on the chair, is the Postage Stamp quilt from Rachel's last quilt along.

My sweet cousin, Mary, quilted it for me and she did an AWESOME job.

I just have to put the binding on it and it's finished! :o)

And now on to the corn.

(Have you ever seen the movie, Children of the Corn? Yeah...freaky!)

My most wonderful friend, Julie S. has a brother

that grew some sweet corn. This stuff tastes AMAZING!

And take note of the time on my oven clock.

That is PM.

I was up until almost 2:00 AM freezing corn.

But it was SO worth it.

It's THAT good!

Thank you, Julie!

And here's a handy trick I learned from a website I found.

I highly recommend checking this website out

if you're preparing your own stash of homegrown goodies!

And how did I cut it off the cob? Well, my husband thinks

I need to get one of the fancy schmancy corn cob cutters,

but I'm all about saving space.

Okay...Okay....those of you that know me

understand that I am a bit of a hoarder,

BUT I'm working on that. :o)

So, I use this to get the kernels off the cob whenever I freeze corn:

Yep...my good 'ol electric knife.

Great stress reliever.

:o)

And here is the start of the finished product.

When all was said and done, I ended up with 26 quart bags to put in the freezer.

Life is good.

I hope all is going well in your life.

Until the next adventure....

xoxo

Cindy

A Weekend of Sewing!

2011-07-17T22:39:00.001-05:00

So I really shouldn't have done this,

but I spent the entire weekend sewing.

I just shut myself away in my little paradise.

The heat outside was unbearable.

The cool air of my sewing room

beckoned me to come sit for a spell.

And sit for a spell I did!

I played, and played with

the fabric I won from Kate Spain's giveaway.

I finally finished this table runner

with Sadie snoring away, of course.

I had this pattern, Henrietta, by Heather Bailey for quite some time.

I will definitely make another one. I need more practice!!

But overall, I think it's pretty cute! I even gave her some bling.

And then I made this cute little mug rug.

It's actually supposed to be a Christmas one, however

I really wanted to make this using Terrain.

It's by Jodi from Pleasant Home. You can purchase it here.

And here is our sweet little K.C. We've had her now for 13 years, but she's as spry as an

8 week old kitten! If you're wondering what K.C. stands for it's
Killer Cat.

Seriously.

Sometimes she's

possessed.

If you have made her mad,

she will remember.

And she will plot revenge.

No lie.

Ask our dogs.

Even Sadie won't go near her.
K.C. tells YOU who's boss.

End of story.

LOL

And I just realized...this picture of K.C. is when I was sewing my

synchronized squares quilt

From ps i quilt.

And I didn't take a picture of my quilt top.

I guess that will come on my next post!

I hope you had some time just for you this weekend.

Seems like we just don't take enough of that.

xoxo

Cindy

Fun Little Updates

2011-07-02T09:32:00.000-05:00

Helllloooo!!!!

Just wanted to share a few things that have been going on.

First...have you ever had a friend

that fits you like a glove?

Well my friend like that is Julie.

And she just had a birthday on June 27th.

We are SO much alike it's not even funny.

EXCEPT she does not like the color

PINK.

What the???

But I overlook that because she is just amazing. :o)

And I'm making her supper on July 26th.

It will be a great night!

So, with all this said.

Heeeeerrrreeee's Julie!

(Think of Ed introducing Johnny Carson)

I she just not as cute as cute can be??

Love you, Julie!

So we had the Smith reunion at our house last weekend.

It was a GREAT turnout, however,

I didn't get pictures of the people here.

Yep, I'm a dork.

But my sister-in-law did, so I'll have to figure out

how to get them off Facebook.

Here's a few of the decorations I did.

I'm so glad the guys let me 'chic out' the man shed a bit.

hee hee

FYI - the man shed is still a work in process.

And one of the center pieces.

And the 4' x 8' food table

(which ended up being totally too small!)

But it was a GREAT day.

Wonderful company

Great food

Many, many blessings!

And here's just a random picture I took last night.

Jesse and I were watching the DVD

for season 2 of Dexter

(OMG this show is thrilling!!)

And I noticed the sunlight beaming in on the

hydrangea's that my good friend, Cyndi, grew for me.

I thought you might enjoy it.

(I LOVE dried hydrangea's like there's no tomorrow!)

And here's a view of what I planted this year and the end of our patio.

There's honeysuckle in the middle trellis and a clematis on each of the side trellis's.

The honeysuckle seems to be thriving.

So if the clematis decide they don't like it here,

I'll plant a couple more honeysuckle there next here.

Here's to honeysuckle!

Yarrow decided to randomly start growing by our wood pile.

I LOVE how this happened.

Mother Nature at her best.

And I'm sure you're wondering how pretty my lilies have opened up.

I mean,

what else do you have to think about?

LOL

I have to say that the wind has not been kind to them,

but I was able to capture a picture before they didn't look so well anymore.

So that's a little bit of stuff that's been happening at my place!

Hope you all have a great day!!

xoxo

Cindy

Flowers

2011-06-22T17:38:00.001-05:00

I enjoy working in my flowers.

I thought I would share a few of them with you.

I especially love looking around the farm to see what kinds of things I can

use for landscaping. I also like going to garage sales

to look for different containers to put flowers in,

or to display a birdhouse like the one below.

I purchased the chair at a garage sale a few years ago

and gave it a new coat of paint to brighten it up.

What do you think?

My lilies are just about ready to bloom. They are going

to be beautiful this year!

The barn door is from our barn.

It's day as a barn door is long gone,

but it sure looks lovely with a little painted sign,

a birdhouse and some grapevine!

Below is a fence that was hanging in the old hog barn.

This is what's behind the blue chair & barn door.

My husband took it down for me and we set

it up here to put in a new flower bed.

My mom gave me her hostas that she no longer wanted.

Of course, I had the perfect place for them!

I think they look beautiful!

More to come, but I thought I would

give you a brief tour of what I've been up to.

It's never a dull moment!

Enjoy your day!

xoxo

Cindy

Carrie Underwood with Vince Gill How Great thou Art - 720P HD - Standing...

2011-06-22T06:20:00.000-05:00

Family

2011-06-19T19:36:00.000-05:00

So I was messing around with some pictures

I had on my computer.

I found this one when I was younger

(I'm on the left)

with my mom, sister and ornery brother.

He's a redhead.

Yep...it's true what they say about redheads.

But he's the best brother I could ever ask for.

And you all know how I feel about my sister,

or rather, how she feels about me,

because you'll see the picture of the two of us on my side bar towards the bottom.

LOL

I love her.

And my mom may be mad because I posted a picture of her on here again.

But I think she's beautiful.

And I love her.

A lot.

So here we are today.

We grew up to be pretty great people.

And we all grew up together.

For crying out loud,

my mom was only 10 in the first picture.

JUST KIDDING MOM!!

(she's gonna kill me when she reads this)

But I think I have the best family a girl could ask for.

Now I have to get pictures of my husband and sons.

Cause they are super handsome

and

I know y'all will drool.

LOL

But while I'm on the subject of family

here is one of my most favorite pictures

E.V.E.R.

It's my Grandma & Grandpa.

My mom's parents.

I miss them every single day.

I hope you all have family

you can hug and love.

Cause that's what life is all about.

If not, you are welcome to be family with us.

We're just kind of like that.

We welcome anyone who wants to be

as crazy and fun as we are.

Now remember...nobody is perfect.

No family comes without trials and tribulations.

But at the end of the day,

they are who they are

and you are who you are.

So embrace them.

Love them.

And share all the goodness you can.

That's the start of what makes the world a better place.

xoxo

Cindy

My Dinner Guest

2011-06-18T18:29:00.000-05:00

Hey there!

I guess I didn't know

I was having company for dinner.

So I was very surprised!

My home is always open

to all living things.

....within reason that is

But this little fella

was too cute

not to share a little

bird seed with.

And he even washed his paws

when all was said and done.

Now how often does a polite squirrel

show up for dinner?

xoxo

Cindy

Doll Quilt Sneak Peak & Work in Process

2011-06-17T07:15:00.001-05:00

Well hello world!

Just a quick post today

to show you what this

crazy lady

has been up too.

First...I'm participating

in the Doll Quilt Swap

over at

Once Upon A Quilt

Christine has been

the most awesome hostess

of this event.

I sent my quilt off to

Wendy

on Monday

so she should get it any day.

Here's a sneak peak.

As far as projects I'm working on,

I really haven't had much time to sew.

But I've been sneaking in a bit in the mornings

before I go to work.

That work thing...

it sure gets in the way of my social life!

What the heck??

So, I'm posting the most AWESOME book

I recently won (when I won my FAVORITE

fabric line E.V.E.R. - Terrain by Kate Spain)

These are the fabrics from the giveaway (Terrain)

that I picked out to use

for my first project from the book.

Aren't they just beautiful!

And here is the book.

I absolutely LOVE this book!

It's full of amazing patterns

and very delicious recipes.

Oh my goodness!!

I am one lucky gal!

So I bet you're wondering

which project I started with.

Well here it is.

This pattern is a 'quilt as you go' one.

And it is AWESOME!

Just the few minutes I've

worked on it this week

I am done with everything

except putting the binding on.

I'll finish this weekend and post the final display.

I am in love.

So in love.

I feel like a soaring dove.

Terrain Terrain

You make me feel so vain

This fabric is so not lame!

And Table Talk

You make me walk the walk

And talk the talk

Or walk the talk

However it may be

To a finished project

That fills THIS girl with glee!

Is anyone a bigger dork than I am?

Cause I would love to hear your story.

LOL

Until next time!

XOXO

Cindy

Fun with Picnik

2011-06-07T23:03:00.000-05:00

So I've been having lots of fun with a

website (Picnik) suggested by SewHappyGeek.

It's great!

Now I can mark all of my photos.

Remember my pictures of the 2011 blizzard?

This one of our lane is showing

all the snow that made it impossible

for us to get any vehicle out to escape.

Well, here it is today.

I still can't get over how much snow we had.

And to think it was just a few months ago!

I am really loving the green,

even though it was 93 degrees today.

I am happy I can get in my car and leave if I choose,

rather than being held hostage by a gazillion snowflakes!

LOL

And my little bird sanctuary

that I look at every day out of my

kitchen window.

Here it is today.

All fresh with flowers,

clean water for the birds

and feeders that I just filled yesterday.

The little piglets!

And my sweet friend, Brenda, made me

this love canvas flower pot. She said the pattern is free on JoAnn's

website. I need to search for it,

because it is so cute!

She purchased the canvas at

JoAnn's as well.

Enjoy!

xoxo

Cindy

Kate Spain - I LOVE YOU!!

2011-06-04T07:51:00.000-05:00

I came home from work yesterday

Stopped at the end of the lane

to get the mail out of the mail box.

Inside was a HUGE package.

I mean HUGE!

Like it just ate way too

many chocolates and was about

ready to explode

(kind of how I feel after eating 20 chocolates working on a stressful project)

LOL

But this package was a whole lotta

nice chubbiness.

Kind of like me. :o)

REAL

N
I
C
E

It was my bag full of

yummy goodness!!

My giveaway prize from

Kate Spain's blog.

I haven't received the book yet

(It's coming from the author)

But when it gets here

I am ready to rock & roll

my way thru the patterns & recipes!!

Terrain comes out in September.

I cannot WAIT!

I am beyond thrilled having this in my sewing room right now!

Is it not one of the most beautiful creations E.V.E.R.?

I'm excited to post projects from the book I'll be making using this

most amazing fabric!

AND...I have a little plan to pay homage

to one of my hero's, Kate.

Cause she autographed my envelope.

I have a little cutie idea planned for this.

I know...I am a dork.

But I stand proud!

So thank you SO much, Kate!

You honestly have no idea how happy you made me!!

xoxo

Cindy

I WON!!!!!

2011-05-31T06:27:00.000-05:00

Good morning!

So...I start my day like I always do.

I grab a cup of coffee

and look at all the updates on the talented blogs I follow.

Well....this morning...

I read this.

OMG!
It's a book called
Table Talk.
It has 16 projects
along with the author's (Gudrun)
family recipes.
This book looks A...MA...ZING!!
If you would like to order this book
the author has several different sites
to do so.
You can find it here.
AND
(now this is my FAVORITE part)
Kate Spain
has a new line coming out that I am SO in love with.
It's called
Terrain.
You can preview the fabric
here.
It comes out in September,
which is why I am working
on getting my stash down
so I have room to add this line to it.
I will be the first in line
once it's available!

I hope you all have a great day.
Make sure to check out all the links
I provided in my post today.
It will sure get your creative
energy flowing!

xoxo
Cindy

Remembering on Memorial Day

2011-05-30T10:51:00.000-05:00

Anywhere Bag

2011-05-28T20:58:00.002-05:00

Once in a while you see that perfect bag

you KNOW is just right for you

the minute you lay eyes on it.

Well.....

I found that bag in the

Anywhere Bag pattern

by Melissa

100 Billion Stars.

And I kept ~~hounding~~ inquiring

Melissa as to when the pattern would

be ready.

I just had to have it.

Just like a pen needs ink,

or a needle needs thread.

I needed this pattern.

Close up of the Yo Yo & ~~Bling~~ Button

for a little pop of color

There's a very nice pocket on the inside too.

I wish I would have taken a picture of it.

The inside is very nicely lined

and the entire bag is making

me fall in love with it all over every time I look at it!

(Since I finished making it about 3 hours ago! LOL)

I cannot WAIT to make another one!

Sometimes people come into your life

and just make it better.

When I met Melissa through blogging

(we've never met face to face)

she became someone I truly admired.

Her creativity, generous heart

and informative blogging

have honestly enriched my life.

Once you read her blog,

you'll know what I'm talking about.
(Side note...she's also having a giveaway of some BEAUTIFUL fabric!)

She's just a great person.

Her patterns at her

Etsy store

are very reasonably priced.

They are VERY easy to read too.

As I mentioned in my previous post,

I am now rating patterns via the # of

chocolates I've either eaten, or wanted

to eat while making the item.

Anywhere Bag = 2 chocolates.

NOT because the pattern wasn't clear,

because it was AMAZINGLY clear.

My "instant gratification" mode was in full force

and I didn't clearly read the instructions.

Yep...that's a VERY important part of the

whole process...CLEARLY READ THE

INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE PROCEEDING!
LOL

Do I recommend you go and buy this pattern?
ABSOLUTELY!!

You will not be disappointed.

Anything from her shop will be

a welcome addition to your craft pallet.

Until the next chocolate rating...

xoxo

Cindy

Opposites Attract Update & Chocolate Count

2011-05-28T20:10:00.000-05:00

I now have the quilt top finished

from the wonderful

Opposites Attract pattern

by Julie of Jaybird Quilts .

I am so in love with this!

I have to get some batting and then

I'll be able to quilt it.

This pattern went together

so easy and came out so

beautiful! I think it would be

gorgeous to use black

with a white tone on tone fabric.

Hhhhmmmmm.....

Did I just give myself a new idea?

Cause I will most definitely make this pattern again.

I'm going to start rating patterns

by the number of chocolate I've either

eaten (on a scale of 1 to 10) while working on it

or THOUGHT about eating. (A quilter

and chocolate go together

like mashed potatoes and gravy, you know)

A high number means I was pretty stressed

trying to figure out the pattern

Opposites Attract = 0 chocolates.

It's just a great, amazing pattern.

If you would like to have this pattern

you can purchase it

here.

My next project of Julie's is Dance Floor.

But not until Opposites Attract

is quilted. :o)

Any suggestions as to where

you can purchase good, quality

batting online at a fair price?

Enjoy!!

xoxo

Spring Quilt Festival!

2011-05-18T21:13:00.000-05:00

Okay..this is my first time ever

joining a blogger's quilt festival

and I am so excited!

The hostess is Amy from

Amy's Creative Side.

You can see all the participants by clicking
on the Blogger's Quilt Festival
button on the right side bar.
Make sure to stop over and check out

all the AMAZING quilts!

The quilt I am sharing is the one from a quilt guild I used to belong to -

the Muscatine Melon Patcher's.

We did a round robin quilt where the quilt owner

made the first row, then it was passed around each month for 7 months

for another member to make a row.

The owner could leave everything up

to the other participants, or

they could leave instructions to follow.

The only instruction I gave was that the fabrics

should be 1930's reproduction fabrics.

At the end, all the rows came back to the owner

to put together however they would like.

I was thrilled with all the beautiful work

everyone put into this piece of art.

I enjoyed this project a lot because of all the other

quilts I got to work on as well. It was a great

way to use your imagination and creativity

while creating a row for all the different quilts

I worked on. But I have to say,

when I got mine back,

WOW!

I was in love!

But don't tell my husband that.

**wink**

Cause he's my only 'true' love.

Thanks for stopping over

for a visit! Next time I'll have some cookies.

xoxo

New Sewing Project

2011-05-18T07:00:00.003-05:00

HELLLOOOOO!!!!

I know it's been a while...and I'm really almost ready to post all the pictures of my new room. I just have a few final touches to add before I do. It's been so busy lately and it's hard to find time just for me. But trust me, when I do, I make the best of it!

I did realize I needed to get a little sewing therapy going on. That truly is my stress reliever. I'm almost finished with my quilt for the Doll Quilt Swap I'm doing over at Once Upon a Quilt. I really like it and hope my partner, Wendy. does too!

I have a pattern call Opposites Attract from Julie at Jaybird Quilts that I'm currently working on. If you are interested in purchasing this pattern, or any of Julie's other patterns, you can find them here at Pink Chalk Fabrics. I have a couple of Julie's patterns. Opposites Attract is the first one I'm making and the instructions are easy to follow and the pattern make-up itself is very nice quality. Black will be my other color with this, but here are the rest of the fabrics, most of which were purchased from my favorite person, Kym, at Fabric Fascination. She really is the bomb. And if you need something she doesn't have, just ask...a lot of times she will see what she can do. I honestly cannot say enough great things about her. There just aren't enough words in the dictionary!

I finished cutting the circles last night.

More to come on this as it progresses!

I thought I would share a couple of fun pictures from my room.

I work with some pretty awesome people.

Chris (one of my favs!)
is our Graphic Artist and he has a sign

company of his own.
I had him make a sign
special for my 'happy' place.
A girl has to mark her territory, you know.
If you have any ideas for a sign you would like
feel free to contact Chris at
signsource@iowatelecom.net
He'll be more than happy to assist you
in getting what you like!

Here's the sign he made for my new room:

L.O.V.E. it!!

Have you seen those little doors for children

that you can put up when they loose a tooth?

They call them a Tooth Fairy Portal?

Well...that gave me a fun idea and
I had so much fun making this little gem.
The little cupboard was something
my husband made years ago.
It was tucked away back in a closet.
I found it when I was moving into my new room.

So I painted it and Mod Podged some fabric on it.
And made the cute little sign.
I'm sure all of you other
fabric-holics will want to jump on the band wagon!

My husband always asks where on earth

I get all my fabric from.

I just tell him it's magic.

And now...I'm really not fibbing. :o)

Here's where it comes from:

And what is even more lovely,

when I have a sewing guest,

she leaves them a sweet little gift!

Yep...just ask my sister.

I know....now y'all want to come

sew with me, don't you?

You want to see what she'll leave you,

right?

Well come on over!

xoxo

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T07:06:00.000-05:00

Latestet Sewing Room Updates

2011-04-23T09:55:00.001-05:00

I thought I would show

a few things I've been working on

before the 'big reveal'.

This shelf was in

Justin's room

full of stickers

and trophy's and things.

(and I'm sorry...again..for the lopsided pics.

I have no idea why it does this)

And here is

what it looks like

now:

And again...sorry for making you crank your head!

I painted it white and glued on some

decorative wood pieces to

kind of dress it up.

I sprayed the handles

with a silver metallic spray paint.

I think it turned out

nicely.

Here are a few close ups of the shelves.

The beautiful cross stitch was done

by my sweet sister, Sarah.

And here is another shelf.

Some close-ups

While I was cleaning out

containers and other goodies,

I came across the old thread

spools I got from my grandparents auction

a few years ago. I put them in this

jar...but I have to say, I am

loving the little pin that was in there.

When I went to JoAnn's a few weeks ago

I bought the letter "C". Do you

think I should have bought a vowel? LOL

So...being so inspired by my

blogger friend, Melissa, to

break out the Mod Podge,

and a bit of glitter.

I turned my "C" into this:

This is my first attempt at

Mod Podge and I have

to say that I really enjoyed it!

I hope you've enjoyed the latest

tour! And I hope it inspires to bring

out some creativity in your day.

Thanks for visiting!

xoxo

Cindy

Sewing Room Upate

2011-04-17T11:14:00.000-05:00

Hello!

I thought I would let you know

that my room is finished.

But I'm thinking the fixing up part

is a whole lot easier

than the moving in part.

So these are the final photo's

I'll show until I'm all

moved in and decorated.

And just to show what I've moved in....

JUST FROM UNDER MY CUTTING TABLE!

YIKES!!!

It's always fun to redo something

in this house.

Our home was built in the 1870's,

so we keep hoping that someday

we'll find some awesome treasure.

You never know!

I also wanted to share this amazing

pancake recipe with you.

Since my family has been good

about helping me with my room,

I thought I would make them a

hearty Sunday morning breakfast

.(Yes...I did skip church, but I did

say my prayers!)

I found this in a magazine, however,

I don't remember which one!

It's Naomi Judd's blueberry pancakes.

2 eggs, separated

1-1/2 c sifted flour

2-1/4 baking powder

3 T sugar

3/4 tsp salt

1 c buttermilk

3 T butter, melted

1 cup fresh, or frozen thawed blueberries

In a small bowl, beat egg whites until stiff; set aside.

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder,

sugar and salt.

Beat egg yolks in a medium bowl;

add buttermilk and melted butter.

Stir egg mixture into dry ingredients; mix until batter is smooth,

and stir in blueberries. Fold in beaten egg whites.

Bake on a hot greased griddle.

Makes 12 pancakes

And of course, even though I'm trying hard

not to make a lot of processed foods,

you can have pancakes without:

Little Smokies are just a given.

Just so you know, the pancakes

are a bit time consuming,

however, they are very much worth the effort.

My husband normally eats

two pancakes at the most.

Today...he ate four!

Enjoy!

xoxo

Cindy

Sewing Room Update

2011-04-13T23:15:00.000-05:00

Hello!

We are almost done

with my new room.

I CANNOT WAIT!

But my husband reminded me

not to rush the finishing.

People get too excited for the finished product

and start to slack at the end.

So I will listen....ugh.

Here's another sneak peak of what's to come.

This is the old floor (that was underneath the carpet...YUCK!)

And here is what the new floor

is looking like.

I am completely in love

with everything that is taking place.

My sewing machine REALLY misses me.

But it will love it's new home.

So while the floor was bare

I thought I would go ahead and paint Justin's

old, old dresser.

It went from this

To this

And I'm sorry if you have to look at this

lop-sided. I rotated the pictures

before I downloaded them,

but for some reason

they decided to

fall over again.

Go figure....

But if you have any tidbits

on how to get this right side up,

I would sure appreciate it!

Hopefully by Monday

I'll have pictures of a finished room!

Keep your fingers crossed!

I promised you a recipe,

so here's one I think you will enjoy.

It's from Giada De Laurentis.

Photo and recipe are from

Foodnetwork.com.

Sweet Potato Fries with Basil Salt and Garlic Mayonnaise

Ingredients

5 sweet potatoes, cut into about 1 by 5-inch "fries"
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Place the sweet potato "fries" on a foil-lined baking sheet and toss with the olive oil. Bake until golden, about 45 minutes.

Meanwhile combine the basil, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. In another small bowl combine the mayonnaise, garlic, and lemon juice, and stir to combine.

When the sweet potato fries come out of the oven, sprinkle with the basil salt. Serve with the garlic mayonnaise alongside for dipping.

Doesn't that sound delish?

Let me know if you try it!

xoxo

Cindy

Sewing Room Sneak Peak & Doll Quilt Swap

2011-04-04T23:17:00.000-05:00

I'm sorry for the blurry picture here,

but remember this room?

At one time

it belonged to

my youngest son, Justin.

But he left for college.

It's now being transformed

into my new sewing room.

Here's a sneak peak of the same area:

What do you think?

I am SO loving it!

Tonight I finished all the painting.

My husband and son did the electrical work

(put additional outlets in and

a new ceiling fan).

Now we just have to

take care of the floor

then I can start to move in!

Below is the fabric I

purchased for my curtains.

Oh yeah....

Total chic room!

No boys allowed!

LOL

I also participated in a doll quilt swap

at Once Upon a Quilt. Here's the quilt I made

my swap partner, Kris:

I was very happy with how this came out.

But when I got mine,

I just didn't have words

for how much I love it.

All hand stitched.

Absolutely beautiful!!

This will definitely have

a special place in my new

sewing room.

I know I said I would be posting

a recipe, and one is coming.

I have just been driving

myself crazy working on my new room.

But I have a good one for you

in the next couple days.

I hope this finds you well

and happy!

xoxo

New Space in Progress & Freckled Whimsy!

2011-03-30T07:42:00.002-05:00

New Space in Progress & Freckled Whimsy!

Remember my sweet little sewing room?

This was my favorite space in the whole world.

Take note of the charm pack quilt along

from Freckled Whimsy.

This is an older picture,

cause that top is now sewn together. LOL

This is my sewing room now.

YIKES!

Because I moved all the stuff

from this space (below)

to my old sewing room,

cause I'm getting a new one!

YEEHAW!

Don't let these picture fool you.

Our youngest son left for college last summer.

He's going 3 years all year round.

We had a talk because I wanted

to make sure he was OK with the switch.

(who am I kidding? I wanted to make sure I was OK)

It took me a long time for that conversation.

Cause he's my baby.

And I don't want to see him grow up.

You know what I mean.

I do, but I don't.

But I am so proud of him.

So, my Mr. Neat Freak left me a mess when

he moved out.

Yep...sure did.

I didn't touch anything until over the weekend.

And moved all that I could to my 'old' sewing room.

So I can work on my 'new' sewing room.

Now it's all cleaned out and ready

to become a new, creative space.

I could have had everything look all

neat and tidy.

But then you wouldn't feel that sorry for me.

Because it wouldn't look like I had a lot

of work ahead of me.

LOL

I read the sign that's in my dining room

every time I walk by it.

Just to remind myself

I can handle this big task.

So I'll put my big girl panties on

and get my groove going.

Soon, I will have one

kick-butt space.

And Justin will have a new room

to snuggle in when he comes home

to visit.

And I have to give a shout out to my

sweet mommy.

For the last 3 weeks, she has made

my family supper every Thursday.

And I'm not talking like a pizza

or something like that.

I'm talkin cheesey potatoes,

lasagna, meatballs,

round steak, potato salad,

green bean casserole

and dessert

dessert

dessert.

It is has all been DELISH!

Thank you, mom!!!

AND...you'll have to check out my Midwest Hottie's blog, KarrieLyne at

Freckled Whimsy

She featured one of the ideas

I learned from our last quilting retreat!

Oh Yeah

(Picture the Kool-Aid guy here)

She's the bomb!!

And I also have to give kudos to

one of my other favorite's,

Melissa,
from 100billionstars.
She's just amazing.

More to come as my room progresses.
So keep checking back!
I also have some new recipes to share.
I'll have those up this weekend.
Please come back for a visit soon!
xoxo

Latest Happenings

2011-03-03T22:42:00.000-06:00

It's been a great week.

Tuesday night we went to take Justin

out for supper. He's a broke college student you know.

It was really a great family night

and we are all so proud of him.

Next month when we go visit him

we're going to the Flying Wienie.

Yep.

You read that right.

I guess they have really good hot dogs.

Pictures will follow after that visit!

Fo sho!

LOL

So one of our Christmas gifts from Jesse & Catie

was a home cooked meal.

You just can't beat that!

It was amazing.

They did this for us last year too.

As a matter of fact,

the stuffed pepper recipe

in the recipe tab

is from Catie.

Only her's were WAY better.

She is an outstanding cook.

Jesse is one lucky fella!

Here are a few pictures of them

preparing our meal, which was

Ham Balls

Y.U.M.M.Y.

and the shrimp& bacon appetizer Jesse made...

W.O.W.

We are lucky parents!!

And my little babies

just waiting

for something to drop

:o)

Until the next adventure

keep lookin up!

xoxo

Giveaway at 100 Billion Stars!

2011-03-03T05:50:00.000-06:00

Want a chance to win this fabric?

Head on over to Melissa's blog. She one of my favorites! And you'll enjoy reading all her postings. Trust me...you won't be disappointed!!

Good Luck!!

xoxo