Bracelets and Blankets for Craft Hope

A while back I bought the book Craft Hope.  It has some wonderful ideas in it for sewing for charities which I think is a great idea.  I try to teach my children good values and thinking about others is one of them.  The other day I stopped by Craft Hopes' blog to discover that they are running two projects this time around because of the recent tornadoes that have hit in the USA.  My step daughter lives in Missouri and the tornadoes have come within three miles of her house but gratefully her family has been safe.  Still I am moved by the struggles that others are facing. So, for the last week the kids and I have been making bracelets for an orphanage in Russia, "project #12 and blankets for the States affected by Tornadoes, "project #13".  The kids had a great time making a variety of bracelets and encouraging their friends to help and I got to use some fabric from my stash to make some blankets.  So here are the results to date!

There are about 40 bracelets ready to ship tomorrow and the blankets will ship not long after.  I still have a few that I would like to put together so I may ship them on the weekend.

I hope you all have a safe and happy weekend!

Thanks for visiting.

Penny

Some things that I have been up to.

Well it was an interesting week and since blogger was down I couldn't amuse myself reading my favourite blogs nor could I update mine!  So I went sewing!  I finished a few things but I don't have pictures of all of them but here are a few:

The embellished onesie and pants match a burp pad I made for my granddaughter at Easter.  And then there are a few more that were just to cute to not make!  I love those mini pom poms!


I also visited some organizing sites and played a long one afternoon when I couldn't make my drawers close nicely!

Before

After!

It looks like we eat a ton of candy at our house!  That however, is the problem!   No one ever "eats" it so it gets shoved in this drawer and takes up my space!  The marshmallows are divided equally between the fire pit for roasting and Rice Crispy Squares!

Then I spent some time with the kids.  We set up the trampoline and jumped for an afternoon.  I even took pictures and what's more, I let them take pictures of me!  I never do that, but I was inspired while reading Sugar Bee Crafts blog. She was saying that we should make sure that the kids have memories of us on film.  We Mom's are so often behind the camera that when we are gone......there aren't many pictures with us in them. So for memories sake, here are a couple of shots of me so there is proof that I actually existed!

Mamma

Moo, Mamma, Bean.

I hope everyone is doing well.  Have a great week.

Great Giveaway!

Little Bluebell is having a giveaway for the new DS Quilts Collection fabric!  It looks like very nice fabric but I may never know because it is carried at Joann's and we don't have them in Canada!  I did make two trips to Michigan to check it out at the Joann's there but they weren't selected to carry it.....sigh.....
This giveaway is open until the 5th of May so quick, quick go check it out!  And while you are there check out some of her very cool quilts!  Love the colours!

Not a whole lot of sewing here this week, hubby had a bad reaction to some medication and well...that took all of my attention!  This weekend though, should be good for at least a few good stitches!  Until then, here is one of my favourite pictures from Easter.

What a great Auntie and Uncle!  They were so wonderful with her...I was a proud Nanna!
Have a great weekend.

Happy Easter!

We had the cutest little bunny at our house this year!  Better than any eggs or chocolate!! We loved finally getting to see our newest grandchild.

The quilt looks so much better with a beautiful baby on it!  Her Mamma loved it and we think she liked it too. Bean is shaping up to be a great Uncle, he was quite smitten with his niece!

 I quickly whipped up some burp pads to accommodate a fussy tummy that came with the long car ride.

The best thing that came from this visit was the lift to my hubbies spirits.  Just having his baby here, with her baby was the best medicine.
It is going to be a long journey for us with chemotherapy and radiation treatments so he really needed this boost.  There is just something magical about a baby that makes you realize how special life is.

I hope every one is having a great Easter!

I thought it was spring!?

Well, last week we had beautiful spring weather.  The kids and I went for a lovely walk and took lots of great pictures of the arrival of spring.  These two are my favourites:

This is a pond near our house and we love feeding the ducks here all summer.

These are winter berries covering a grate with run off water rushing underneath it.

                                    
Now however......we are completely covered in about 6 inches of snow which is covered with a sheet of frozen rain and another dusting of snow is falling as we speak!  So much for my daffodils that we peaking through the ground!

On the other hand, the nasty storm had me held up inside so at least I got somethings done.  Most importantly of course was my granddaughters quilt.  It was waiting for a label and a wash.  This is my first rag quilt and the first time using my new Accuquilt GO! fabric cutter.  It was cut using the 8" rag die which made it much simpler than using snips to cut it afterwards.  I had no idea how it would turn out but everyone loves it in my house so I hope that she loves it too! Figuring out the label was the hardest part but now that it is done I love it! I labelled it this morning and my hubby took it to the laundry mat this afternoon to wash it..... he wanted to have some part in this gift!

This is the front

This is the back.  Can you see my little mistake? One of the heart squares is the wrong way!  I  was sooooo cautious with this part of the quilt....yet a square is still side ways!  So, I am leaving it because obviously that is how it was supposed to be!  Quilts are not "supposed" to be perfect. 

This is the label before the wash.

This is after the wash!

I love the border behind the label!

Look at how fluffy!! I love it!

Well, that is it for the baby quilt until there is a baby on or under it!  Thanks for sharing it with me.

Have a great week!

Penny

Is it blogger or is it me!?

I am not sure what happened but when I opened my blog this morning, all my followers pictures were gone! They still showed up in my dashboard but not in the blog view.  Sometimes it is blogger, but maybe it was me!  At least they are back now, whew, I hate feeling like I am talking to myself!

I made one of our favourite snacks the other day and it is so simple that I thought I would share it with you.   It stores well and travels well in case you like to keep a snack in the car for those days when the kids are starved and you are not at home to feed them.

So here is a very easy recipe for Nuts and Bolts:  (measurements don't have to be precise)

1- 400gram box Cheerios cereal (454 grams is 1 pound)

1- 350 gram box of Crispix cereal

1 450 gram bag of mini pretzel twists (I don't use the whole bag)

450 grams of cashews (approximate)

1 pkg Hidden Valley Ranch (dry) dressing mix

1 cup oil (I use canola)

 1 large roasting pan

Heat oven to 250 degrees.  In a two cup measuring cup mix one cup of oil and the dressing mix powder, stir with a whisk and set aside.  In the roaster, place a small layer of each cereal, nuts and pretzels then drizzle with the well mixed oil mixture, stir.  Repeat until all ingredients are used or roaster is full!  Cover and place into oven so pan is in the middle (I have to take out my top rack).  Cook for 1 hour in total but  every 15 minutes you need to take the covered pan out and shake it to mix the ingredients around so no part gets too toasted.  I leave the lid on and just look like I am doing the "shake, shake, shake", all around the kitchen! Anyone who laughs doesn't get in on the first round of taste testing!!! These are so good, NO ONE says anything!)

I let them cool in the pan and then I store them in glass preserving jars.  They last a long time stored like that (if I hide them well enough!)  For the car I put some in a large Tupperware or Rubbermaid container and those ones never last very long.

Well I am off to sew up a bag I wanted to get done at Christmas!  My granddaughter's quilt is done and I will post that as soon as I get a good picture of it!

Have a great day!

Some fun things I have been up to.

Well, Hubby is home from the hospital and although the recovery is slow, it is steady.  I haven't been able to do a lot of sewing while he was in the hospital but now that he is home I am back at it.

 This is my first attempt at using my new GO! fabric cutter. Over all it was great for cutting the rag squares and clipping all at one time.  The downside of course is that threads get caught in the cutter and they have to be picked out.  I'll just say that picking is easier on my hands than clipping!

These are some of the squares that I have cut out and I am working on an arrangement (2 sided).  Let's just say after midnight is not the time to be assessing for placement! I am almost done and I will post a picture of the final project.

While hubby was in the hospital I have to say that I did a little retail therapy to reduce the stress.  I tried to be cautious with money so I hit Value Village between visiting hours.  Some times they have fabric or  other sewing gadgets.  This particular day I got really lucky....

This is a 1968 Kenmore.  It is beautiful and the machine itself is in pristine condition.  I took it in for servicing and a cleaning and it purrs like a kitten!  Just straight stitch and zig zag but the feed dogs drop with the turn of a button and I found a free motion foot that fits it so I can practice free motion quilting on it easily.  I am so excited about this because it was only $5.99!  Technically I bought it for Bean because his sewing machine is a little off balance since he sewed through his finger.  This one is so smooth he is not scared of it at all and besides, it is green, his favourite colour.

Well, I better get back to that quilt or my granddaughter is going to be an adult before she gets it!
Happy Monday!