Decisions, decisions....

I've been flipping, twisting, and otherwise rearranging quilt blocks for just about a full day, now. I spent most of yesterday afternoon on the project, and a good part of this morning. The pattern is one that I created myself, so..... I can do whatever I want. :)

The problem was I wasn't sure what I wanted. I would think I had it the way I like it, then another idea would hit me, and I'd be back at it again, shifting squares, then standing back to look at it all with head cocked to one side and eyes squinted.

This morning I had the idea to take some photos so I could compare actual pictures, instead of relying on my memory to decide what arrangements I liked best. Sorry - I didn't take any of yesterday's trials. And these pictures are only a few of the ways I tried it today.

Just before lunch time, I settled on a pattern. Just for fun, I thought I'd upload these "finalist" photos, and see if you can guess which one I picked. I also want to know which one/s you like best!

So go ahead; leave a comment and cast your vote!

Entry #1

Entry #2

Entry #3

Entry #4

Entry #5

A Quilting Idea

I've been praying lately that the Lord would give me some ideas for creative ways to be frugal/earn money.

Yesterday, while sitting in the living room right before having my devotions, my eye fell on a JoAnn Fabric flyer, and I picked it up, intending to just skim it quickly.

And I did. I quickly got to the center section of the flyer, which held coupons for the coming Labor Day sale; the one that caught my eye was "10% off your entire purchase; sale or regular items."

A plan had been formulating in my mind for several weeks, and suddenly it all fell together yesterday morning when I saw that add.

There is a current fad in the quilting world of using "fat quarters" to make quilts. A fat quarter is 1/4 of a yard, but cut differently than if you simply went to the counter and asked for 1/4 a yard from a bolt. It is wider; more like a square. You could cut two of these yourself from 1/2 a yard.

Right now, I have a current quilting project in my sewing area that is made entirely of fat quarters:

This is the beginnings of a baby quilt. The picture is a little out-dated, because I now have the top together, and only need to do some embroidery before I quilt the layers.

Making this quilt was my first time using fat quarters, and I was pleased with how simple it is to work with them.

One thing was a drawback, however; the price! I got my fat quarters on sale for $1, but even that can run up there when you're talking about enough fabric for a quilt. Regular quilting fabric will often go on sale for $2 a yard, which means a 1/4 yard of that would be $0.50 - half the price of fat quarters on sale.

Amazing, how much they charge for pre-cut fabric!

So why not cut my own? I've been thinking about that a lot.

So here's what I've come up with:

On Labor Day, I hope to go to Joann's and pick out 20 separate yards of quilting fabric. That fabric should be on sale for $2-3 dollars a yard. Say it's all $2; that's $40. Then, if I use the %10 coupon, it will only be $36.

20 yards of fabric, cut into 80 fat quarters, is enough fabric for FOUR twin-size quilts. $36 divided by 4 is $9.

Nine dollars per quilt.

That is not a bad price for a quilt top; at least, not compared to what I've spent before. Of course, if I didn't want to invest $36, I could buy 10 yards of fabric, and make two quilts, just using the fabric twice in each quilt. After using the coupon, that would still be $9 a quilt, but I would have spent only $18 instead of $36.

But if I figure in the hours of time spent making the quilts, and remember that if I use assembly-line methods to piece them all, making four quilts is better use of my time than making two....

I don't know yet what I'll do. This is all still in the planning stage. Of course, the store also must have 20 separate fabrics that actually match each other. At our little store, that will be a challenge. I was hard pressed to find matching fabric for the baby quilt.

Then I must figure out if I can afford the backing and batting for 4 quilts.

All these things to consider.

But I thought the main concept was a pretty cool idea. Do any of you have ideas for tweaking the plan?

Oh, by the way click here to see if your area is having any good JoAnn sales.

A little bit of everything...

Today's post will hopefully be wonderful enough to last a few days, because I'm not sure I'll have the time to post in the next few days. My grandparents will be visiting us from out of state, for Mothers' Day and one sister's birthday, and I have a cousin graduating from college this weekend as well. ...All in all, I expect a busy weekend. ...A weekend which starts on Thursday. :)

First, though, I'd like to thank all those of you who contributed ideas for getting rid of ants. ...Though I did fall asleep last night imagining little ants curling up and dying in agony from indigestible food I provided for them. :( No, I haven't tried anything yet. There's so many ways to get rid of them, it seems! Now I must pick which one to suggest to my mother first.

Second, I thought I'd show another quilt picture from the quilt show back in April. One day soon I hope to share some pictures of the spring outfits I'm working on right now, but I've only completed one skirt so far, so that will have to wait. (Maybe I should do a post on NOT putting sewing projects off!)



I really liked the simplicity yet beauty of this quilt; it looks like it was meant to be used. The colors remind me of the 1950's, and the pattern reminds me of one my great grandmother used. The bottom photo is a close up of the wonderful hand quilting the maker did. Such tiny stitches! I believe the piecing was done on machine.


...And, next, I'd like to share some of those recipes I promised y'all.

Doughnuts. Who doesn't like them?

I know this is bad to say, since I took it, but isn't this photo beeaauutiful? The morning sunshine was falling through our kitchen window onto the table, making the chocolate topping on the doughnuts just sparkle. And I had just learned how to use the focus on Dad's camera, so I could get close-up pictures that weren't fuzzy.

Anyway, back to the topic of making doughnuts.

I've always wanted to try my hand at it, but was a little nervous because I've heard that making doughnuts is tricky.

Then my Grandma gave me a recipe for doughnuts that she's used, and her mother used, and I decided to try making it.

They were good old fashioned fried doughnuts. Putting the dough together was simple. I cut out the doughnuts and plopped them in the hot oil. (great way to splatter your clothes and get burned!) But oh how good they smelled! Half an hour, and several burns later, the kitchen smelled strongly of burnt oil, but the table had a lovely little heap of doughnuts cooling on it.

If you've never had fresh, warm, homemade doughnuts you can't imagine how good they are. I'd never tasted anything like them.

But there was the issue of using all that oil, and making the house smell like a fast-food place.

Then, someone told me that you can make baked doughnuts.

So I researched that on the Internet. Wala! Of course, I HAD to adapt the recipe I found. I fiddled with the amounts of some of the ingredients, changed a few things, and added the cream cheese filling and chocolate topping. Here's the results:

(By the way, you're free to make these doughnuts, but this recipe is copyrighted! :) I may want to send it in to Taste of Home someday! :) Isn't that the greatest magazine?)

Amber's Baked Doughnuts

Don't overbake these - if anything, underbake them; they will continue baking outside the oven for a few minutes. Also, if you decide to make Option#2, make sure the holes are big enough that they don't bake shut - these doughnuts rise! You can cut doughnuts out and place on baking sheets the night before, and store in the refrigerator. Pull out and let rise 1 hour, before baking the next morning.

1 1/3 cups warm milk (divided)
1 TBS active dry yeast
2 TBS butter
2/3 cup brown sugar (not packed)
2 eggs (fresh, if you can get them!)
5 cups flour (white whole wheat is what I use, and it tastes perfect!)
A pinch or two of nutmeg
1 tsp. Sea Salt

Place 1/3 cup of the warm milk in the bowl of an electric mixer. Stir in yeast and set aside for five minutes or so. (Be sure your milk is warm, not hot, or it will kill the yeast.) Stir butter and sugar into remaining cup of warm milk and add to yeast mixture. With fork, stir in the eggs, flour, nutmeg, and salt - just until flour is incorporated. With dough hook, beat lightly for a few minutes on medium speed. Now, look at your dough and add a few more TBS of flour or milk, is you need to. (Mine, if I remember right, usually is just right, and I don't need to add anything.) You want the dough to pull away from sides of bowl, and be smooth and supple. Now, knead just a few minutes longer, shape into a ball, put in a buttered or oiled bowl, and let rise for an hour in a warm place (like the inside of an oven, with the oven light on. The oven isn't on, of course!)

Punch down dough, and roll out to 1/2"-thick on your table or counter top. Cut out 2-inch circles with a biscuit-cutter (for filled doughnuts) or with a doughnut cutter (for doughnuts with holes). Transfer carefully to greased baking sheets, without stretching the circles out of shape.

If you plan to refrigerate over night, this is when you put them aside. If not...

...Cover with a clean cloth and let rise another 45 minutes. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven until bottoms are just golden - about 10 minutes, but you might want to check earlier.

Now, you have two options.
Option #1:
This is for filled doughnuts. With an electric mixer, cream about 1/2 a pack of cream cheese with some powdered sugar and milk, to make a stiff frosting. Put into some sort of decorator's tube.

Let the doughnuts cool a bit, then insert a knife sideways into it, and wiggle the knife around to make a pocket inside the doughnut. Remove knife, insert the tip of the decorating tube, and fill the doughnut with creme. (Don't bust it!)

Now, melt some chocolate chips until they are runny, and use a spoon to spread a thin layer on the top of each doughnut. This should harden fairly quickly.

Now...EAT!

Option #2:
This is for doughnuts with holes.
1/2 cup UNSALTED butter, melted (the UNSALTED part is very important! That's experience talking!)
1 cup sugar
1 TBS cinnamon

Melt the butter in one shallow bowl, and combine the sugar and cinnamon in another. While the doughnuts are still warm, dip first in the butter, then quickly into the sugar-cinnamon to coat.

Eat while still warm. (though they taste good cool, too!) Yum!



One more thing:

Grace at the Kitchen Sink

Do we, I wonder, stop to think
How we need God's grace at the kitchen sink?
It really isn't any fun when you can't get your dishes done.
For some folks need to fill their pans
And others want to wash their hands.
The cook brings vegetables to scrub.
One sister has a cloth to run.
Each little one keeps coming up for a cool drink in his small cup.
You try to keep the dishwater hot, but cold drips in, like as not.
It takes a lot of prayer, I think,
For the grace of God at the kitchen sink,
Yet - I am glad that I can live among dear ones who take and give.
There is a wondrous family link of love around the kitchen sink!
~ Anonymous ~

My Quilt

Sunny mornings are so lovely!

I'm thankful for all the rain we've had lately, but it's so nice to see a clear blue sky today. Saturdays are always busy around here, and I've gotten a head start already, by hanging out a load of towels to dry on the line.

I don't think anyone else in our neighborhood was outdoors yet. There was a noticeable absence of human-created sounds, except for the distant highway. Birds were scolding each other in a large tree several yards away, and our sweet dog, Midnight, was coming out of her doghouse and making "waking up" sounds. I could see our three rabbits wiggling their noses, and rattling the doors of their cages, thinking that I had come to feed them.

The combination of dewy grass, damp towels, smooth clothespins, and a faint breeze made my sense of touch come alive. I could smell someone's breakfast cooking - I think it was sausage. And so many other smells invaded my brain too. And down at the end of our yard, I could almost see our garden soaking in the sunshine and dew.

All in all, it's wonderful to be outdoors in the morning.

Now that I've spilled a little of my enthusiasm out, let me get to the real topic of this post.

I finally have a picture of my own quilt to show you. This is the one I displayed at the quilt show:

It is the first quilt I ever made. I started it on my 16th birthday. Mom took me shopping that day, and we picked out the fabric together. (That's a special memory...)

You can't see it very well from this picture, but the darker blue is solid, the yellow is really yellow and white tiny print, the lightest blue is also tiny blue and white print, and the print that sort of looks green is actually my largest print, that has all the colors in it together, including green, which was my border and backing for the quilt.

I like the idea of picking one "theme" fabric, with several colors in it, then matching everything to that fabric.

I can tell you more about this quilt than I could about the others, of course, since I made it. The entire quilt is pieced by hand. I didn't intend to do that, but after MANY tries with those angles on my machine, I gave up the idea of a machine-made quilt, and started threading my hand needle.

I found out later that this particular pattern is one "only for experienced quilters." Oh.

The white areas are each made from a single square or triangle. All the quilting was done by machine, and it really wasn't the greatest job of quilting I've ever seen. (understatement) There are several puckers on the back. Sigh.

Oh well. I had lots of fun doing this quilt, and I will treasure it always.

Another quilt...and other things

Here is another picture from the quilt show. I liked the color combinations on this, and the fact that is was patriotic. If I remember correctly, the quilt is all machine-made, and was designed by the quilter who made it.

...But, in all truth, I'm really not interested in quilts this morning. I have other things on my mind.

Sometimes, though I love to work with my hands, I look around at the people I know, and the world I see, and the problems that are there just overwhelm me. I think to myself that cooking, sewing, and cleaning are just wastes of time. They don't seem to solve the bigger problems.

And, by themselves, they don't solve any problems. I know that. So why bother? Why even blog about various skills of womanhood?

Because they are a means to an end.

Like I said a few posts ago, talents and skills are made to be used for the kingdom of God. They open doors for me.

They also help my personal walk with the Lord. No kidding. Do you remember the creation account, and then how Adam and Eve sinned, and then were cursed? Do you remember how God says to Adam that the ground will be cursed "for thy sake"? That's very interesting.

"For thy sake."

With sin came many things; thorns and thistles, and fightings and depression. That last thing is something I've struggled with personally. I only found out recently that depression is common amongst all people. 'Specially American women.

I've heard a preacher say that depression is caused 99% of the time by sin. Great. That was the last thing I wanted to hear. I was discouraged and depressed because of how often I sin and fail, and I wanted to do better. Telling me that I was depressed because I was sinful didn't seem to help any.

If there's some area where I'm not obeying the Lord, then I need to get it right, and sometimes that is what I need to brighten and encourage my life.

But other times, I'm just in the dumps, and I can't get a grip on myself. That's when skills help. That's when work helps.

Through trial and error, I have found that a great deal of movie-watching or novel reading causes me to give in to depression, and work helps me fight it. Work and music.

Work is God's cure.

Brain work doesn't work very well. Often, if I'm "in the dumps" I simply can't concentrate. But working up a sweat in the garden? Scrubbing the kitchen 'til it shines? Hanging laundry outdoors? Biking miles until I'm panting? Walking for miles in the quiet outdoors? Ahh. Now that works wonders.

Maybe depression is becoming rampant in America because we've got so many machines to take over our work for us.

Maybe God knew what He was doing when He cursed the ground for our sakes.

Of course He did.

Another Quilt

Whew! It's Monday again.

I had a lovely Sunday - hope y'all did as well. The sermons at church were excellent, and I could really feel the Lord working among His people. In Sunday School, Pastor spoke about how we must sow our seeds in life, and remember that we won't always see the results right away. If you read my Saturday post of this week, you'll know why I smiled when I heard Pastor say that.

I sure needed a good Lord's Day to get me ready for this week! This Monday has not been very....um, profitable, I guess I should say. I haven't done everything that I had on my mental "To Do" list. I did do the dishes and two loads of laundry, however! Here's another quilt picture from the quilt show:

Isn't that pattern something?

This quilt was made from a commercial pattern, by a very accomplished quilter. She had two quilts at the show - the other one was designed from scratch. I like the play on color in this quilt. I can't remember for sure, but I think this quilt was made entirely by machine.

Don't all these quilt pictures inspire you? I have so many projects I want to start! I must learn self-control!

Another Quilt

Look at the quilt I have to show today!

For those of you who missed my first "Quilt Show" post, if you scroll down just a bit, to a few posts ago, you will see that I've recently had the wonderful opportunity to participate in a quilt show. I took lots of pictures, and I'm sharing them with y'all, one quilt at a time.

This quilt, called "The Virginia Album Quilt" was my second favorite quilt at the show. (Of course, being a Virginian doesn't influence me in the least :))

All that applique! The lady who quilted it took me under her wing and gave me all sorts of quilting tips. She said this quilt was a "blue ribbon quilt" - she won a blue ribbon for it at some fair. I can believe it! Beautiful!The quilting was all done by machine, and I think the applique was done by hand, and the piecing by machine.

The quilter seemed to like adding pretty touches like these to her work. Those are little pearl beads in the center of each flower!

These swags are 3-D; really pleated and draped like that!

Ahh, what inspiration! Who wants to join me in making an applique quilt?

Quilts!!!

I've been to a quilting show!

Yesterday afternoon was so fun! Armed with a camera, I spent almost 2 hours snapping pictures, and talking with the quilters at this show.

The quilt show took place at our library. (Well, one of our libraries. We go to ...let me count...five or six...) We visit quite often, and we've been to one of their quilt shows before. When I saw the signs advertising their next show, I asked about entering a quilt, and....I entered a quilt!

This was a new experience for me, and it was tons of fun. I was a little nervous about letting my quilt out of my hands for a whole month (the length of the show), but felt better when I heard the other quilters tell the librarians "Take good care of our babies! These quilts are like our children; we like to know where they are, and we never feel quite right until they're home again."

So I had company.

Oh yes, the other quilters! Yesterday was the opening day of the show, and all the ladies who had made the quilts were suppose to be there. I, incidentally, was by far the youngest quilter there, but I didn't mind. It was actually very flattering and fun - all of these ladies coming up to me, taking me under their wing, giving me all sorts of quilting hints, and telling me how impressed they were that someone of my "vintage years" knew how to quilt!

One of the quilters had helped hang all the quilts, and she told me mine was right up front because of how young I was. Smile.

And these ladies were so gracious. Almost all of them were veteran quilters, with quilts far surpassing my own, but, as they stood around in circles discussing the virtues of each piece, and techniques they used, they welcomed me into their circles and made me feel quite at home. No wonder I had a good time!

Now, as I said, I spent 2 hours taking pictures, and I just can't load them all onto one post, so here's what I've decided to do:

For the next few weeks (or months :) ) I'll be featuring one quilt every day or so. I'll share the pictures I took, and what I learned about the quilt and quilter. Bear in mind that these aren't my quilts, so they're sort'av copyrighted. I did take the pictures, but all the credit goes to the ladies who did the work. I wish I could remember all their names!

I didn't get a picture of every quilt - there were just too many! You might notice my quilt style preferences as you look at each one; I seem to have taken pictures mostly of the full-sized patchwork and applique, and ignored the wall-hanging and picture quilts. There's nothing wrong with wall-hangings and picture quilts, but my own preference leans toward being practical (you can't really use a tiny quilt that hangs on the wall, can you?), and traditional (patchwork vs. modern colors and design, for instance)


The first quilt I've chosen to feature was my favorite, I think (it's so hard to decide!).

Isn't it beautiful? Some of the ladies called this "Virginia Reel," but the little white tag called it something different...I can't remember for sure, but "Jamestown" something. I REALLY like the fabrics used, but the photo doesn't do them justice. I believe this was a "quilt of the month" type of quilt. It is all machine-made. One lady pieced it, then sent it to another local lady to quilt it. The quilter wasn't at the show.

Here's a closer picture, where you can see the lovely color combinations, and the fine quilting.

And I couldn't resist taking a closer picture of this fabric. All fabrics used in this quilt - 36 kinds, all told - were reproduction fabrics. Maybe that's why I like it so much.

So that's our first quilt.

Oh - one more thing. The quilt that I showed....well, I forgot to take a picture of it! Good thing we'll be visiting the library again soon. :) If you look to the right of this quilt I've shown here, (in the full-sized picture of it), you can see the green border of my quilt, with the cream-colored fabric next to it.