My Ironing board cover

I am usually a day late and a buck short when it comes to everything - LOL!! But I thought I would jump on the ironing board bandwagon. As you can see I just bought a brand new cover - barely been used because the other one was getting covered in sticky stuff from the iron on interfacing after making the bag. I have been putting a piece of flannel on the cover to protect it from further sticky stuff. Too bad I can't do the same for my iron!!



The very first ironing board I ever owned was found in the basement of a little old house I rented in 1977. It needed to be held together with bits of twine to keep it from collapsing. I used that ironing board until 2004 when Jim's mum died and I inherited her ironing board. It is an old wooden board from who knows when. The top is wood and the main structure of the board is wood except for the metal supports. It stands on it's own without any twine! The problem with these old boards as they are designed for much shorter people. I put a light at the end in hopes that would help - but when it comes to ironing those little itty bitty Dear Jane pieces you need to see them! I have a table top ironing board that is in need of a new cover (it is covered with sticky stuff) and it is also covered in other stuff -LOL



So I went off to Linens and Things and got the bed risers to put under the legs. Now you certainly can't do this with most ironing boards but with this design it worked perfectly. The ironing board is now at the right height for me. And I still leave the light there. I find the older I get - the darker everything is!!

A little trip down memory lane

I sometime has a hard time decided what title to put to a post.

I just got off two night shifts - so I am a little tired here, but awake and just finished watching the Academy Awards. So just in case my rambling makes very little sense - I have an excuse!

I got Jessica to send me a picture of this little bunny wall hanging I had made years and years ago - long before digital cameras and blogs. I gave it to Jessica about 4 years ago. Karen from Passionate Quilter has the same one that she was just recently showing on her blog. I did not do the half square triangle border that the pattern called for - I started it that way and didn't like the way it was going with the fabric I had chosen so I changed it to just scrappy squares. It is funny that I just couldn't seem to make the half square triangle border work for me. You can see the border it is supposed to have on Karen's blog.

Jessica had told me that she was planning to put this little wall hanging up in the baby's room -- although it looks like it could use a bit of an iron first!




So, that is when I thought that this "Little Quilt" sampler from 19...... would be perfect to finish up and send down for her as well.


The sampler pattern had a different border -- pieced with bowtie blocks. But I chose to use the same blue with yellow stars fabric as the bunny. The two pieces together will make a really cute set for the baby's room. Jessica got the crib and dresser a few days ago -- very lovely oak finish.

Of course I have the sock monkey quilt - which is a completely different theme altogether. But I really like this little sampler quilt and I am glad that it will finally have a home. And don't you think it will look so cute in a little oak crib with a little bunny wall hanging on the wall over the crib. I am just finishing up hand stitching the binding on now.

Tomorrow I am going to get my hair cut again. That seems to be the problem with getting your hair cut and coloured -- once you start you have to keep going back and back. I think it might be a bit easier to just let it grow long again - LOL.

And finally -- today is Andrew's 22nd Birthday!! Happy Birthday to my youngest child. He decided he would go off and celebrate with his girlfriend and his brother tonight and we will go out for dinner tomorrow. Andrew and I were both working night shifts last night so I sent him a Birthday text message at 0200 this morning. I can't for the life of me remember what time of the day he was born.... I remember when Jessica and Eric were born. I will have to ask my mother - she would know. I think it was daytime, it was Monday. Jessica was born on a Saturday and Eric was born on a Sunday.

Monday's child is fair of face,
Tuesday's child is full of grace,
Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go.
Friday's child is loving and giving,
Saturday's child works hard for a living,
But the child born on the Sabbath Day,
Is fair and wise and good and gay.

I'm thinking that it is going to be fun being a grandmother. I remember seeing a bumper stick once that said -- "If I knew how much I was going to enjoy my Grandchildren - I would have had them first"

Well I think I might be rambling...................

A lovely little gift in the mail

Isn't he just the cutest little bear. I got this in the mail from Teodo - Appunti Patch in honor of becoming a first time grandmother ( Nana) That was so sweet of her. He came all the way from Italy and he is just the cutest little guy - tucked away in his little blue hearts. Linda does such beautiful crafts besides quilting, Christmas crafts etc, - and now she is making these great little Easter decorations. She is very talented!!

Thank you so much for the bear!!!! He certainly will be cherished.

It's been a while since I posted

It has been a fairly busy week here but I did completely finish the diaper bag and it turned out really well. I bought some more Pellon and I plan to make one more at least - I figure I need one for myself now.

I also made this little bag from the Winsome Baby - Art to Heart pattern book. This is a little bag to hold a couple of diapers and some wet nappys -- isn't it cute. I am going to make a little changing pad as well with the blue and green fabric.



But I decided I need a little change of pace for a while. I started on this little Japanese fabric wall hanging. It isn't that big - 14" x 36" So I pulled out all my Japanese fat quarters and such and scanned the pattern into the computer. It is all going to be hand appliqued - so something I can work on instead of the Dear Jane -LOL!!


I don't usually post recipes on my blog but I made the best muffins last weekend. I like to have some muffins to take to work with me for morning coffee. I have a terrible time finding the exact recipe that I like and for the things that I have in the cupboard, so I made up my own recipe to use a couple of old bananas and some oat bran and ground flax, and to use up some really hard crunchy Kashi cereal that Jim bought at Costco. The Kashi cereal is like a granola - so I would think any old granola would work - just to add a bit of crunch instead of adding nuts. So - since it is my own recipe I thought I would share it.


Pam's Muffins

2 cups flour
1/2 cup Oat bran
1/2 cup ground flax
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup sugar

Mix dry ingredients well together

Add to dry ingredients
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots or raisins
1 cup Kashi cereal

Mix wet ingredients

2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup oil
2 tsp Vanilla
3 mashed bananas

Combine wet and dry ingredients
Add some frozen berries

Bake in muffin tins at 350 for 20 minutes

Almost Finished

I have been very busy with the bag. I think I have "unsewn" as many seams as I have sewn!! I can't believe how much work it is. But I think that now that I have made one I will make at least one more. I can't imagine anyone making 6 or 7 or them!!! (fingers pointing across the world to Australia -LOL)




Here is the completed outside. The green is still not photographing the right colour, even without a flash. I decided to make the little ties for the side pockets out of fabric instead of using the purple covered elastic that I had bought. I also ran out of the Pellon and used a bit of very thin iron on batting for a couple of the pockets. It worked out okay for the pockets but I can see that you wouldn't want to use batting for the whole bag as it would be way to thick. Some of the seams have 6 layers in them.



Here is the inside of the bag, completed and basted in place, waiting for the last section to be sewn on to it. I have finished the top zipper section and I will sew that in place today. I had ordered 2 yards of light cream butterfly fabric for the lining when I ordered the purple butterfly fabric, but when I got them I found that the lining was not light cream and it was not a good match for the bag - so I bought this light blue. So I wonder when I figure out how much this bag cost me if I should add up the stuff I bought and didn't use as well - LOL Although it all goes into the stash. Well if I finish it this morning I can head out and get some more Pellon for my next one!!! I was thinking you could actually make one a bit scrappy with some co-ordinating Moda or Amy Butler fabrics - so the inside pockets were all different --- oh no I hope I don't get addicted to these things.

A busy weekend - but a start to the bag

I worked an 8 hour shift on Friday - a 12 hour shift on Saturday and a 16 hour shift on Sunday!! That was a full work week in three days. Boy was I tired yesterday - so I didn't start the bag yesterday like I was hoping. I also had to go get a 7 inch zipper before I could start.

The big thing that Jim and I did yesterday was --- we went to the travel agent and booked the Alaskan Cruise we are going to take for my birthday at the end of May. We booked on Royal Caribbean Cruise Line -- "Serenade of the Seas". It is a 7 day cruise that is a round trip from Vancouver to Hubbard Glacier, Skagway and Juneau. I am going to have to find out where the quilt shops are in Skagway and Juneau. It should be a fun trip. We have not been on a Cruise before - so I guess I need to get some "cruise wear" --LOL. I think the Royal Caribbean Cruises are fairly casual - but I guess I am going to have to get a couple of nice "evening wear" outfits for a formal dinner or two. Anyone have hints and tips about cruising to Alaska please pass them on!!

So I did work on the bag for most of today. It is going fairly well - this is the front sections and I have started on the back pocket and handles section as well now. Heidi is a very big help to me - I've had a few questions so far.



The green fabric in the bag is not photographing true. The contrasting fabric is a true green with the blue chrysanthemums very light and the two colours have very little contrast. In the photos the green shows up as almost a gold and the blue is very bright with a much higher contrast. Unfortunately you can't see in the photos how well the two fabrics actually look together -- the green of the fabric is the same green as the leaves in the butterfly fabric and just the slight touch of blue blends with the blue in the butterflies as well as there is a slight touch of blue in the leaves as well. Anyway -- I have done quite a bit today and I am quite happy with how it is going together so far. Although I have a long, long way to go!!

I thought I would throw in a picture of the goofy dog. She loves to lie in her basket on her back with her feet in the air - and she loves to play with her Hedgehog.

She got the Hedgehog for Christmas and promptly pulled off one leg and started pulling out the stuffing. We took it away from her and I perform emergency surgery and closed the gaping wound - and she has been very good since and not pulled any more limbs off Hedgehog. She will carry him around from room to room like he is her puppy.



And finally a picture Jim took this weekend - apparently it was sunny at some point this weekend, but I missed it. This is a picture of the backside of "The Lions" They are behind our house - we don't have a view of them from the house, you have to go up the street to get a good view of them. It is a nice picture of them I thought.