Quilling Fun

Did you know that with just a few simple tools you and your children can have fun and make some sweet and beautiful artwork?

Quilling is the name of a centuries old paper craft also known as Paper Filigree. All quilling designs are based upon a handful of easily learned shapes. How you combine these basic shapes into a "picture" can be as simple or as fancy as your imagination allows.

Last night the children pulled out the Quilling Kit that I had bought awhile ago and, on their own, made a few little things. Son made this great flower, and daughter made the little bunny!

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These are very simple little designs, easily made with a little bit of care and patience.

The more intricate designs are just stunning -- I stare at them and think "That is PAPER?"

If you are interested in learning more about this great family craft, here are some resources to get you started:

• North American Quilling Guild
• Quilled Creations
• Lake City Craft Co.
• Quilling Information at Handcrafters Village
• Paper Quilling
• The Quilling Superstore
• Whimsiquills

The quilled calendar above is from the North American Quilling Guild Web-site.

This little duck on the water was created by daughter this morning from the Little Critters kit made by Lake City Craft Co. and purchased at Create-For-Less)

And I just couldn't resist putting up this fun "Quill-A-Day" calendar.

Please take a minute to browse through the sites above (and no, I am in no way affiliated with them and receive nothing from them) and even if you don't give Quilling a try, at least you will know what it is, and appreciate the work that goes into some of the beautiful artwork you may see in the future!

Blessings to you!

Create For Less

If you didn't know it already March is National Craft Month!!

In honor of that, I thought I would pass along the link for this really neat crafting site. Create-For-Less.

Do you Knit, Crochet? Yep, they got it. Latch hook and Punch Embroidery? Yep, that too. Felting, Quilling, Scrapbooking, and much more. If you can make it, they probably have the supplies for it.

So what are you making to celebrate?

Diary of Three Dresses, part 4

Hello again, Ladies! Henrietta and I have been busy, busy. We are making progress on our dresses, as well as a few other projects that have found their way to the sewing table! But our focus today is . . . . . Sleeves! Six of them to be exact!

Here we have the sleeve bands all pinned together and ready to be sewn.

They've been pressed and Henrietta has them all pinned in place on the proper sleeves. Back to the sewing machine!

Isn't Miss Hen so sweet? She watches over everything. Here she's making sure that the seam is straight and that the pins are pulled out before the needle sews over them.

Now it's time for the gathering stitches at the sleeve cap. Diligent Hen is there, too!

Pinning and Pressing is the name of this game. Luckily Henrietta is an experienced hedgehog. She learned to sew at her dear mothers' knee - well, little foot. (Do hedgehogs have knees?)

Ahhh . . . there now! The sleeve bands are all pressed and pinned and ready for sewing down by hand. That's a job we like to do in the evening. It's very restful and relaxing before climbing into bed! Is it just me, or does Miss Hen look a bit proud?

Here's what we have so far: Three lined bodices with banded collars, three banded sleeves and one pieced skirt edging.

Tomorrow we (Hen and I) will bring you up to date on all we've been doing -- sleeves, pockets and extra projects, too!

Green Chili and Hominy Soup

An easy and delicious soup that I made last week. I have a great Sunset Mexican Cook Book that I've used a few times already this year to make soups which kind of inspired this soup. Sunday, I was tired, we'd been out most of the day, and I wanted something easy for dinner. Luckily I had gotten some meat out of the freezer earlier that day. A quick check of the cupboard and the idea for this soup came to me -- similar to some others I've made, but then again not.

This recipe makes a full 6 quart stockpot of soup. Adjust as you see fit. Also, my husband likes meaty soups. You are free to use less meat or even no meat to suit your family/budget.

Hen's Green Chili & Hominy Soup

• 2.5 pounds boneless pork or beef, cut into 1" cubes
• vegetable oil or olive oil
• 6-10 cloves of garlic, chopped coarsely
• 1 large onion, chopped
• large can (28 oz.) each of Diced Tomatoes, Green Chili Enchilada Sauce, Hominy
• 1 quart water
• 1-2 t. Cumin, adjust to taste
• 1t. garlic powder
• 1 1/2 T. beef bouillion or beef soup base

Add a bit of oil to large stockpot and heat to med-high/high. Brown meat, a little at a time, in hot oil. (You want to sear and brown the meat quickly - this is why small batches are essential - keep it moving in the pot.) Remove browned meat from pan (place in bowl until later) and let pan get hot again before adding another batch of meat. Repeat until all meat is browned. Then, with all meat in reserved bowl, add the chopped garlic and onion to stockpot with just a bit of oil. Stir frequently for 2-3 minutes, until they start to brown. At this point, reduce heat to just above medium and add remaining ingredients, along with reserved meat, to stockpot. When it comes to a boil, reduce heat to med-low and allow to simmer uncovered for 1 hour. (You want it gently bubbling, not actively boiling) Taste the broth and add more seasonings if necessary.

The soup is shown sprinkled with cheddar cheese and the cornbread I made. Warmed corn or flour tortillas would also be nice.

Diary of Three Dresses, part 3

Day 2, continued.

Yes, yes, the pieced strip was sewn upside down! And, I hope you won't think less of me, but I actually threw myself down on the floor and cried/laughed! HOW could I not have noticed it? I think I was so pleased with myself for coming up with such a creative solution that I was in La-La-Land until I was pressing it at the ironing board. It was stitched AND the seam zig-zagged to finish it off, so I had quite a bit of time for reflection on my mistake while the seam ripper was busy doing it's job. Here is the comleted piece, sewn Correctly!

Okay - now that that trauma is over, let's have no more! (Stop! Reality check. I did cut out the doggie and the purple dresses the same way, so I'll have to piece a strip for the purple dress, too!! Note: I could go to the store and get more fabric for it, but friend liked the pieced doggie part and thought her daughter would enjoy a dress with that extra something on it as well - which is actually great because I haven't done anything "quilt-ey" for a few years and I really enjoyed the piecing part -- NOT the ripping apart - but getting out my mat and ruler and rotary cutter and planning the little squares was a fun way to spend the afternoon.)

On to the Collars!!

Sorry for the dark pictures, I was working on these at night and figured this was better than the picture with the flash which just washed everything out. These are the three collars with the first part of the contrast edging pinned in place. Off to the sewing machine!

Remaining contrast edge pieces now pinned in place. What's next?

The collar linings are pinned and sewn and now the collars are done! Aren't they sweet? Now, onto the the bodices and linings. (I like sewing several dresses at a time because I love doing it assembly-line style. I don't have to use as much brain power - and if you will note the above mistakes, I need all the brain power I can get! - and it is much more productive for me. I can get two or three dresses done in just a little bit more time than a single dress takes.)

These bodices are fully lined (It just makes a much nicer finished product even if I'm not following the pattern :-) so there are two bodice pieces for each dress.

I'm sorry I didn't get any pictures of pinning the bodice/collar/lining together, but friend was over for the evening and we were sewing and chatting and I forgot. :-(

When the bodices were done, I went to bed. Thank you, Henrietta, for keeping me on track!

Purple Bath

Yesterday was quite a day for daughter. Not that she had a lot to do, but we were generally busy and she tries hard to keep up with her brothers. Toward the afternoon, I could tell by her voice that she had had it and was in need of some refreshing.

But before I tell you the rest, I have to tell you a story. A few years ago, the LORD was so good to me and opened my eyes to the condition of my relationship with my daughter. I knew early on how different she was both in needs and personality from my sons. I noticed time and again how she was seeking attention, approval, and affection from others. It forced me to reason "why?" The simple, and very hard, truth was that she did not have a strong relationship with me. Certainly we were a family and I loved her dearly - but what was special about our relationship that was different from just family or from her brothers? She was placated with toys or videos while I worked with her brothers on school work. She was told she was too little when she would offer to help me, because I did not take the time or give that extra bit of patience that would have allowed her to help me and in the process know that she was worth that extra effort. Plain and simple, I did not have her heart. And without her heart, I would be unable to keep her as the precious jewel she is - I would not be able to prevent her from becoming a common cubic zirconia.

She is now eight years old, almost nine, and while we still struggle with selfishness and sharing (I still do too :-) I know now that I have her heart. She is my helper in all things and likes being mini-Mom. When she needs attention, affection, comfort , a snuggle, or help, she comes to me and knows that she will receive it. I set a goal for her and have used that to help me. I have to have a goal, otherwise how will I know if I am staying on the right path? How will I know which direction to take or be able to judge properly those things which so easily side-track me or us as a family? It isn't always easy, but I have learned to keep the goal in mind - the goal of keeping her heart safe until the day she is ready to give it to another in marriage.

So, yesterday when she was in need of refreshment, I gave her a hug and led her into the bathroom. With the warm water filling the tub, armed with her goggles and snokel, and the little color tablets making the water purple, she played for almost an hour. I was a bit envious, thinking how I'd like someone to make me a purple bath now and then. She knew she was loved. She knew she was important to me. She knew I cared enough about her to take the time to do something special for her. And the sweet hug and kiss I got when she was finally out and dressed was priceless.

Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. 1 Peter 5:7

Diary of Three Dresses, part 2

What a time we have had!!

You remember, of course, that we were short of fabric to cut the whole collar for daughter's doggie dress. What I ended up doing is just making two pattern pieces from the one and having the collar pieced instead of in one piece cut on fold. Just fine, nobody will really notice unless they look closely, and her hair will be covering it most of the time anyway. No problem!

Well, as I was cutting out the pink fabric, I discovered an even larger mistake I made! I believe I mentioned how I was going to just make the skirt longer to accomodate daughter's unstoppable growth -- and I did. At least on the back of the skirt. I cut the front just regular, on the pattern line. ARRGGHHHHH!!

What to do, what to do?? Brilliant flash of inspiration! I have plenty of scraps - I'll just do some fancy piecing around the bottom to make up for those three lost inches and it will be great! I got the new border/fill pieced and sewn onto the solid bottom edge of the skirt -- except do you notice another problem?

That's okay, I'll give you some time to figure it out.

Diary of Three Dresses, part 1

The time has come, oh children, to talk of other things; Of patterns and pinning, of sewing and seams . . . .

Two nights ago Hen and I started our new project - making two dresses (one for daughter and one for a friend.) We pinned and cut until both of our backs ached!

Henrietta was wonderful - working tirelessly - even though she was on the verge of losing all her pins! (Actually it was kind of a blessing that she was losing all her pins since Dear Son 2 had some time on his hands and decided to 'dress' Henrietta with a whole box full of pins arranged in a rainbow. But she really doesn't like to talk about it, so let's just forget I mentioned anything. ;-)

We did run into a little snag in that daughter is growing. (They do that, don't they?) And since I lengthened the dress skirt by a few inches, I did not have enough fabric for the collar, by a few inches. Grrrrr. Not a problem really - Off to the fabric store we go! I bought the fabric (blue doggie, above) several months ago, so I really knew the store would no longer have any - but I was hoping. And we both love it so much, I'm kicking myself for not automatically buying extra. (see How to Buy Fabric from A Dress A Day) But, we can't change yesterday, so we must deal with today.

As suspected, the store no longer had our sweet doggie fabric, but they did have this --

Too springy and delicious to resist. And at $7.99 a yard for the pink ($5.60 at 30% off) it was a bit of a splurge, since I am terribly frugal about fabric and generally never pay more than $4.00 a yard with sales and 40-50% off coupons. Most everything that I sew for daughter ends up costing less than $15. But I digress . . . . .

So now our count is up to three dresses - We'll cut out the pink, figure out something to do about daughter's doggie dress collar, and be back soon with our next installment.

Blanket for Baby K

The pictures don't nearly show how sweet this little blanket is! One side is the softest shade of pink fuzzy imprinted velvet-like fabric, the other is a bold pink nursery rhyme toile. I made it 36" square.

I finished the binding on it last night -- and the LORD was surely good to me! I didn't measure the binding as I was cutting the strips and piecing them. I never do. I just kind of eyeball "Yeah, that looks about enough" So I start pinning the binding onto the blanket, getting closer and closer to the other end and I start thinking "This isn't going to be enough!!" But I pressed on . . . . and wouldn't you know it, when I made it all the way around to the beginning again, my two ends overlapped by 1/4". Can you believe that? I think it's totally amazing!

And then dear husband, in his own sweet way, told me to put a label on it. ("Didn't you spend money for things to make labels? Then use it and put one on there!" "Yes, dear." ;-) I told the children that the label makes it look like somebody actually made it. LOL!!

The great label making tutorial that I used can be found at Fresh Vintage.

Showing Off

While taking pictures of the new blanket for Great-Niece KNW, I thought I would take some photos of a quilt I made for daughter a few years ago -- I love how it turned out so this goes under the category of purely showing off, but you'll bear with me, won't you?

Brights! Hot Pinks! Bright Green! Fabulous Turquoise! and a nice staid purple floral to anchor it all.

The pattern is Woven Ribbons from the book Fat Quarter Quilts . I made this during my lovely but brief stint as a member of the local quilting guild. As I recall, this was one of the All-Nighters -- bring your fabric and machine (and iron and all necessary cutting implements) and cut and piece until you're done or ready to go home. It was a LOT of fun. And like so many of the groups on-line, it is so interesting to see how so many different people "see" such differences in the same pattern.