I finally got my HQSixteen down in the cabinet in the basement. I still need to get the acrylic insert. The glass store was closed the last three days for the holiday. I love it. I designed the basics of what I wanted. It is the perfect height. I am looking down on the needle, and my arms will be at a comfortable level. Bill also has to attach the swing up table on the side and back. This room isn't clean, because it is mostly a storage area. Please excuse the floor. I am slowly cleaning it out and tossing the junk that has accumulate in it over the years. I will be happy when I can finally use it.


Bill has also been busy in the workshop for me cutting OSB for pressing boards ala Sharon Schramber. I took a class from her in Paducah last year and I bought one of her boards. She told us how they were made, and has instructions in her latest book. So I am making a bunch of them. Some for me, some for friends. Maybe I will even sell what's left over. The way they are made, the provide a hard, non-warping pressing surface that is not deeply padded. Pressing into deeper padding distorts blocks and applique. I really like the board I bought from her, and now I will have a size that will exactly fit my travel tote.

We were going to go see The Mist today. Luckily, they changed the movie times which gave me the chance to read reviews. I knew it was a Stephen King movie, but I guess I was naive to think that it wasn't going to be blood and gore. When most of the reviews said it is, I decided to stay home and work on laundry and other projects instead. Hope you had a good weekend. For me tomorrow means back to work. Later gators..

I have been out taking advantage of great sales. What can I say? I admit it, I spent money on myself. First, the day before Thanksgiving, I got a great deal on a Kitchen Aid mixer
It was on sale, and I had a 15% coupon that could be used on the sale price. That took $50.00 off of the total price. When I checked out, I got $50.00 worth of Kohl's bucks that I can go back to use next week. I plan to buy more acessories for my mixer. I have always wanted one, but couldn't see spending money on stuff for cooking. My bread machine doesn't work right, and I have started making bread the normal way. This mixer will knead the dough. I have already used it once and it was awesome. I also made mashed potatoes with it. I only had to dump the cooked potatoes into the bowl ane the paddle blade did all of the rest. I'm glad that I have it now.


I had a Starbucks gift card, and I used it to buy this cute little 3 cup coffee press. I have never had pressed coffee, but it is supposed to be good. I will let you know.
I bought this fabric when I was at Mary Jo's in Charlotte. There are some Batiks, some Kauffmans, a brown and white and black and white paisley. I like to buy black and white fabrics to over dye. Just some extras for my stash.
When I was at JoAnns last night, I overheard someone ask for this. It is a portable bobbin winder. I thought that she said the price was $7.44 so I took 2 to the register. It turns out that the price was $17.44. I purchased both thinking that I would use one at home and keep one for travel. When I got home and tried it out I was unimpressed enough to take one back. I will keep the other only for travel. They turned out to be a good price. The regular price is $30.00. I have seen them lately in quilting magazines. It runs on batteries, and has a power cord. I guess they are all the rage. In my opinion, while they are cute, they aren't worth $30.00 and I am glad that I didn't order one and spend that much money for it.

So, instead of taking the money from the returned bobbin winder and leaving, I bought this cool knitting book that shows you how to knit shapes like triangles, rectangles etc.. and put them together to look like QUILT BLOCKS! Ahh.. the best of both worlds. I am putting together my bag with just travel notions for when I get together with friends to sew. There is the green needle threader to match my bag, ditto the magnetic pincushion with a little groove to make it easier to pick up the pins. The bottom comes off to use as a cover. I also bought two little Art Bin totes. I love these little totes. Everything was 50% off!!
No, I do not have a notions buying problem...

WHAT I'M THANKFUL FOR...

OLD LOVES

YOUNG LOVES

OLD FAMILY




NEW FAMILY

OLD FRIENDS

NEW FRIENDS



FAITH

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE

BET YA DIDN'T EVEN MISS ME

HI Everyone,

I just returned from a short 1200 mile drive taking me to North and South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. We drove my daughter down to attend a Marine Corp Ball. Her boyfriend drove her back home as he live near us. In the meantime, Bill and I went to a few local attractions.


The first place that we went to was The Billy Graham Library. It was absloutely beautiful. They moved his boyhood home to the site and constructed a barn that houses a bookstore, cafeteria and a walk through of how Reverend Graham grew to be a Christian religious leader. Please look through my album and see all some of the interesting things that were in the library. I took photos of some of the letters that have been mailed to him through the years. I don't know how they ever got to him the way they were addressed .
Ruth Bell Graham is buried in a tree lined garden that views the library. There are ground speakers that pipe in softly playing hymns


The big cross in the barn is actually a huge window with a door at the bottom.
In the album you will see what looks like a appliance store window loaded with old TV sets playing different news throughout the past 50 years, Vietnam, Terrorist attack on 9/11, Iraq,
All in all, it was very moving, and I would highly encourage if you are ever in the area, you should go to visit
On the way down we stopped at TAMARAK ARTS which features creations from West Virginia artisans. It is a lovely place. We stopped on the way back so that I could buy a hand blown glass paperweight that I passed up on the way down. I always get stuck in the bookstore. On the way down I bought a book on quilting history in Appalachia, and on the way back, I bought a book the history of Scots/Irish in Appalachia. Along with the PBS special and companion book. I have always been interested in all of this history because my family is Scots/Irish. There was a weird statue in the front that look like the top half of a man checking out his arm pit.. I figure that probably wasn't what the artist was going for but, what do you think?
They have in house artisans. A blacksmith, glassblower,potter, a textile artist, a woodworker
While in North/South Carolina we visited King's Mountain Battlefield Site
This is where a defining turn in the American Revolutionary War took place. An English Officer named Ferguson made the mistake of insulting and threatening the Scots/Irish who had settled in the Appalachians, telling them that the should show their loyalty to the King or else. The or else turned out that the Scots/Irish left their homes and came out of the mountains and wiped the English out on this battlefield. This turned the tide of the Revolution when people decided that they had better fight if they wanted to be free from English rule. Pretty interesting stuff. It took place in October.. I think 1780. There is a monument for the fallen British Officer and several other monuments that were too high up to reach for me. And it was almost closing time at the park and we had to leave.
On the way out, we spotted a cabin. I wanted to stop and have Bill take a picture, because I thought they have a wonderful view from their back porch. There were a couple of hounds on the front porch that were so excited that we stopped in the road out front, they clamored all over themselves to get to our car, jump up with their heads in the windows. It was so funny. Great way to be stealthy in taking a picture of someone else's house.
It was a beautiful trip. We were surrounded by tree filled mountains, which I love. I get starved for them because it is so flat in this part of Ohio. I took a lot of pictures of the mountains, but I couldn't truly capture their beauty. Here is one of a series of photos of a beautiful valley we came across near Fancy Gap Virginia.. at least that is what the roadside sign said.

MAPLE CARAMEL POPCORN

3 Bags of Microwave popcorn - prepared (or 1-2 gallons of prepared popcorn)
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1/2 cup maple syrup
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup nuts (walnuts, pecans, honey roasted peanuts.. whatever you like or a combination
***********************************
Preheat oven to 250
Prepare popcorn and set aside
In a saucepan, bring to a boil, brown sugar, butter and syrup
Boil at a slow boil for 5 minutes. Do not stir.
Remove from heat and add vanilla, baking soda, salt and nuts. Pour over popcorn and toss.
Place in roasting pan sprayed with Pam and bake for 1 hour stirring every 20 minutes.
Yum.

This is the reason that I stay away from felting things. Okay, I totally guessed at everything, because I didn't have a pattern, and it almost fits me. But I don't want to make another that doesn't fit so it matches this one. I'll just keep it as a reminder of what not to do. I am knitting normal heavy socks with the rest of my kettle dyed navy and green yarn..

I'm working on a shawl with my silk yarn. It is so soft, and drapes beautifully. If you want to know more about my knitting, visit my knitting blog. The link is on the right.

In the quilting front, as soon as DH gets the new front door in, and my son gets home, we will bring down my new sewing table. I am itching to quilt. I think that I would like to make some of those 12x12 quilts mentioned by some art quilters on one of the other blogs. They have a theme, and I think the next one is "Chocolate". It looks like fun, and won't take a lot of time to do.

It's a might on the chilly side here. I have a pot of chili on the stove, and some Italian Bread dough in the bread machine. I really had a lot to do around here today, and I didn't want to go out, so I put 2 cans of baked beans in the chili. I also didn't have any celery or peppers.. Oh well, I'm sure it will be okay.

I am really jonesing for quilting. I have been on a vacation from real quiltmaking for a few months, but now I really would like to get back to it. The clutter in my sewing room puts a kabash on my creativity. I have to make a lot of it disappear.

I can't do that playing on the computer, so I will talk to all of you again soon!