A Thanksgiving Day Blog

  I hope all of my US friends are having a good Turkey day filled with food and fun. And to those of you that don’t celebrate it, I hope you are having a most wonderful day as well.

  Thanksgiving at my home in Pennsylvania was a big deal. There was the yearly argument between my mother and my grandmother about the turkey. We always got our turkey from a Turkey Farm. And yes, I even had a t shirt with their logo on it. My grandmother ( we called her Mamam) would get a turkey from the restaurant where she worked. My mother refused to make Mamam’s turkey. She may have been stubborn as I think that trait runs in my family- hahahahaha. One year, she told Mamam she made her turkey- and Mamam went on and on about how much moister the turkey was, etc. Guess what? My mother cooked the same old damn bird she bought every year- Mamam’s turkey was still in the freezer. 

 

    We also always had Mamams’ sister over for the day. She lived in a cool apartment above a hotel in the neighboring town. She was a school teacher back in the day. Now, this woman could not have been sweeter to me. I loved her-but according to some of my friends she was NOT the nicest teacher. And that is the nicest way I can say that.  Funny how that all works- but who knows what my little friends acted like in school- but I am sure they were all angels like me. (You can laugh now- that was supposed to be funny as I lived in the corner in kindergarten).

  It also meant that mom would get creative with the food. One year my dad gave her a ton of grief when he caught her putting an ice cream pie in the oven. “What the hell, Arlene- too many bloody marys?” Anyway, she had the last laugh as her Baked  Alaska turned out beautifully- and there was not a bite left. If I tried to bake one there would be a huge mess in the bottom of the oven. I suck at cooking- just ask my poor kids.

  Sometimes one of my siblings would be able to come- which was a giant treat for me. All of my siblings are quite a bit older than I and most of the time lived far away. It was like Elvis was arriving.

 

  My favorite part of dinner was my mom’s filling- yes, in my neck of the woods in PA it is called filling, not stuffing as most normal people call it. The base is bread and potatoes and it was seasoned with poultry seasoning, a ton of sage, and one other spice I cannot think of at the moment.  I have found out not everyone likes this wonderful concoction! As my family is not a fan, I do not make it. For years I tried to shove it down their throats but it just got sad. (They like good ole Stove Top- for crying out loud it kills me to make that crap) Plus, I cannot figure out how to make this filling in a small batch. My mother’s recipe starts with 10 pounds of potatoes and goes from there.  (well,  prob not 10 pounds but her worst fear was to not have enough food for everyone- and believe me that NEVER happened).

  Anyhoo, I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday- or not!

Chip and Dale Designs!

                                                        Fun Weekend

 This past Saturday, B Right On, a quilt shop in Brighton, Colorado had a make and take event. We had 5 stations set up, and customers could sit down and make any or all of the 5 items offered, for only $5 each! They also had the option of purchasing additional kits to take home. We were so pleased with the turnout- our weather had been very cold and it started to snow late that morning. But you know quilters- that doesn’t stop them!

   Here is Elaine with sweet Harriet getting her ready to sew!

 

  First up was a Ten Minute Table Runner- taught by Dawn, an awesome teacher of our quilting 101, 102 and many other classes!  The runner the customers were making was smaller than the one in the top picture, but one of our savvy customers (Jan) pointed out that the smaller one fits perfectly on top of a toilet tank! What a quick way to spruce up the bathroom! She is pictured below with her little ten minute runner and her mug mat.

 

Next up was a sewing machine applique mug mat, taught by Kathy. She is our Accu Quilt goddess, and was using the Accu Cut to cut all of the little sewing machines out of fabric. Such a great project!

  The next project was a wonderful little magnetic pin ring, and for some awful reason I did not get any pics of these. Our wonderful Jazz Cat instructor Irene had kits ready to go- no machines were needed for this project. Everyone seemed to enjoy these! She had plenty of kits ready to go!

  Next on the to do list was Elaine’s pin cushion chickens. She had many many kits ready to go to make these little cuties. Judy had a great idea and turned hers into turkey! Elaine is the most patient teacher, and everyone enjoyed her directions while making their new little friends. Elaine is going to make some even smaller- she is amazing! (or insane- we aren't sure which)

 

Susan, a wonderful teacher and talented long-armer. For those of you that are not quilt savvy, this does not mean she has long arms. She has a machine that is called a long arm and quilts for people:).  Susan was demonstrating how to use the Bloc Loc rulers while welcoming everyone into the event. You can find her here if you need your quilt quilted-

http://modernprairiequilting.com/index.html

 If you are not familiar with these rulers, get familiar with them now! In my opinion, it is the only way to trim up half square triangles! Bloc Loc also makes flying geese rulers and now have drunkards’ path rulers as well! Go here for more info-fast!

http://blocloc.com/

Below is a pic of our youngest make and taker, Zoey, and our instructor, Susan.  Zoey had a great time, and really knew how to run the sewing machine. I am sure her sweet grandma Judy has been an inspiration to her!

 

Last , but hopefully not least,  I was manning  (notice the Broncos reference-haha) the tissue holder station. There are several versions out there. I enjoy  making this version- it has a little bit of accent showing on each side- theses make great stocking stuffers and really go together quickly!

 

  I also got a little bit of my own sewing done this weekend.  I had been stitching on these little pin cushions at night while curled up with the dogs.  I can get 2 of these little embroideries done in one evening. Remember, Sunday is marathon tv night. Of course I don’t get much done during The Walking Dead- I have to watch to keep track of Darryl-ooh la la. They better get Beth out of that looney bin of a hospital- the season is almost over- yikes! And holy cow Homeland!  Get Saul the hell out of there! And the chick on The Affair is a drug dealer??? I did not see that coming. But I digress. Oh look, a squirrel-

 

   I love Gail Pan designs, and her Christmas book is on my wish list. The pattern for these little beauties is out of her book Patchwork Loves Embroidery. You can ask for it at your local quilt shop.  Check out her other patterns and her blog-

http://gailpandesigns.typepad.com/

 

 

  I put a layer of walnut shells in the pin cushions before I started to stuff it. I noticed the date on the walnut shell package- 07.  And they came from a quilt shop that has been closed for years. Once again it pays to be a hoarder!  I even knew where the shells were when I was ready for them. That was an early Christmas miracle!

 I hope this blog finds you all well, my friends.

Court

                                                                         Busy  Busy

   Hi All! Well, like usual I did get time in my woman cave this weekend!  I did have my cousins down for lunch on Saturday- it is always so great to visit with them!  Bob made us a wonderful lunch, and a cake for dessert with berry medley stuff on the bottom. Do not call it raspberry- just ask him, ha ha. Last week I worked on a quilt for my daughter’s friend. Her nursery colors are pink and cheetah!  I did not want to share pictures of the quilt until the recipient got the quilt, and of course I did not get a picture of it quilted- dork. But here is the top-

 

   It was made almost totally from my stash. The only thing I had to purchase was the cheetah print for the letters. While pulling fabric for this quilt I did discover while I do not have an aversion to pink, I really did not have any in my stash. Luckily the 2 pink fabrics I had yardage of worked together! Guess I need to shop- J

  My friend Terry got me hooked on this pattern from Crabapple Hill- it is one of the new ones. Her quilt top was wonderful- she used a pale variegated thread and turned hers into a wall hanging-

 

   I had a great spider web fabric in my stash from years ago- and I also had some great variegated floss on hand. Sometimes it pays to be a hoarder!  I decided to make mine bigger, but stole her border idea- thanks Terry! And I had an 18” pillow form on hand- hoarding once again pays off- so I turned mine into a pillow. I think it is going to my daughter- she was almost drooling on it this weekend.

  Sunday I was torn- I have a quilt that needed to be quilted for a friend, but really wasn’t in the mood to quilt. So, I pulled out my Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler crap and pieced a few blocks. This quilt has been an ongoing project for at least 5 years. I did get  7 or 8 more blocks done. I am now at 32- a little more than 25% done. I am unsure about the lime green one in the 4th row. I will wait until I have them all done to decide if I need to re-make it.Good God why did I come up with the insane idea to make this? Dumbass-

 

  A helpful hint - if you are doing a big project from a book with a lot of different patterns, I have found it helpful to put the patterns into a 3 ring binder, or in this case, have the book spiral bound. It sure makes it easier to handle and prevents losing a pattern here and there. You can either do this yourself if you have one of those little bindy machines or have it done at any Fed EX/Kinkos, Staples, Office Depot or Binders R Us.

 

 

  I did pull out a snowman quilt to baste, but since I moved the furniture around in the living room I have not one space big enough for the quilt- not even on my flannel wall. Oh well, I will bring to work one day this week and baste it. I keep telling my bosses to quit filling up the damn showroom with doors – it is taking up my basting floor! But do they listen- NOOOO. JK, I Love you guys!

     I did run to one of my favorite shops Sunday to get 2 more blocks for my Bear Paw quilt. I did not get there in October- so I need to get those pieced this week. When I got back I started on another little project that I can’t share until next week.

   Hope you all got to sew this weekend- or do whatever it is that makes you smile!

Court