Purple 9-patches, the kitchen, and Tupperware

Were you in a PURPLE CHARM SWAP a few years ago?  Here is one that has made them up into 9-patches, set with other purple fabrics.

Quilted with Line Dancing, freehand flowers, and wiggly lines.

We don't have cable so I have never been able to purchase stuff from the Shopping Channel.  Some bad bad friend told me they were on line too.  Uh oh.  And so it begins.

If they have a new STOVE on the Shopping Channel, that may be the next thing UPS drops off.  This is the second set of drip pans I am cooking my way through.

I unloaded the dishwasher this morning since the lovely dishwasher fairy magically cleaned everything last night.  As I was putting away the Tupperware sandwich container it brought to mind the conversation I had with DH yesterday.

DH:  "Now I know why I couldn't find it for my lunch."

ME:  "We have two of these containers."

DH:  "I know that.  I couldn't find the lid for the other one."

ME:  "Which is no wonder.  YOU emptied the dishwasher last time."

He is a graduate of the 'stand back and throw' school of dishwasher emptying.  Even Kreskin couldn't find the lid.  About once a month I have to get on a chair and totally empty out the Tupperware section of the cupboards and resort everything into nice little organized piles.  It seems that men have a real problem with Tupperware.  I have two friends who threw out all their Tupperware because their husbands did so much bitching about the Tupperware cupboard.  OMG - I almost had an apoplexy when I heard that.  I LOVE my Tupperware and the stuff costs a friggin' fortune.  Oy yoy yoy.  If there is ever a competition between DH and my Tupperware I cannot guarantee who will win.  After all, Tupperware is guaranteed for life.  Marriage???... not so much.

Sunflower Quilt and more laundry stories (sigh...)

Pretty quilt, but hard to photograph.

The quilting shows up really nicely on the back.




Laundry (sigh.  I'm so grateful Mom brought me up to laugh at myself.)
Today was unseasonably warm and VERY windy so I was trying to catch up on  laundry, since I could hang it outside to dry.  Frugal is the new black, dontcha know?
Load #1 - reds/pinks/oranges.  If they are not washed separately they leave icky fuzz/lint all over everything.  All mine.
Load #2 - DH's manly stuff, dark.  In your best interest, details will  not be provided.
Load #3 - My dark stuff.
Load #4 - white sheets & other white-ish laundry.
So, I'm hanging up the FLAT bed sheet in basket #4, thinking to myself "hmm, the basket is empty.  What happened to the fitted sheet?"  I check the clothesline, thinking I've gone totally stupid and forgotten that I hung it up, like, 5 seconds ago.  Hmm.  Nope, not there.  "Well", I think to myself, "it must still be in the basket".  Even though I just looked there, I look again.  Nope, definitely still empty.  "Hmm", I think to myself, "I must have left it in the washing machine.  Or dropped it on the floor on my way up with the wet laundry."  So I go back in the house and down the stairs to the dungeon and check the washing machine.  All the while I'm wondering how in the hell I could miss a fitted sheet in the washer.  Or not break my neck tripping over a fitted sheet as I drop it on the floor.  But hey, stranger things have happened.  Surprise surprise, there is no sheet anywhere on the floor, nor did I miss it in the washer.  "What the hell???" I'm thinking.  I check the laundry hamper, thinking that maybe I forgot to throw it in the basket, but that is empty - no sheet there.  Then my little brain goes back to Monday morning when I changed the sheets.  I remember taking the quilts off.  I remember taking the blanket off.  I remember taking the flat sheet off.  I remember (can you see where this is going?) taking the pillows off.  I do NOT remember taking off the fitted sheet.  I've now gone back up the stairs to the bedroom and I'm delayering the bed again.  Off come the quilts.  Off comes the blanket.  Off with the flat sheet and the pillows.  Pull up one corner of the fitted sheet to take a peek and what do I find?  Another fitted sheet.  What a freaking idiot.  The end of the story is I had to run a FIFTH load of laundry (a very tiny load).  So the next time you are beating yourself up for some dumb thing you've done, remember me. 

Tobermory Retreat

Deb tried to fool me by arriving to pick me up 15 minutes early.  Hah!  I was ready.

It took no time at all for us to cover two tables with sewing machines, OTT lights and alcoholic beverages.  We were evenly split:  3 Pfaffs and 3 antique Featherweights.

 Spike was reading the latest Jennifer Chiaverini novel.

A Kodak moment.  We decided to have afternoon cocktails on the lower deck.

It was a gorgeous day and the deck was wind-free long enough to enjoy one drink. 

We're a funny bunch of six longarm quilters who have been friends for, like, ten years now.  I came home with a beaded bracelet, a wee lunch box filled with sewing supplies, a new handbag, a lovely glass pear shaped candy dish, and a few extra pounds.  I'm making Santa Fe Chicken for supper tonight since Carol Anne kindly sent out her recipe tout suite (that is French for quick-as-a-wink).  During the week I went for two walks (on the lookout for rattlesnakes.  Yes.), finished two blocks from the local quilt shop's $10 quilt, made a pair of mittens, and completed a Mile-a-Minute quilt top I've been working on for the past year.  Oh yeah, I had to make the beaded bracelet.  Also (with a bit of assistance) finished off one bottle of Pink Bikini-tini, one bottle of Smirnoff Grand Cosmopolitan, and one bottle of my home made hooch.  Really though, I think what killed me was the night of the three cheesecakes.  I'm now on two-meal days for a while until I can do my pants up again.

On the road again...

On the road again - for a week in Tobermory with the girls.  Yaaaayy.  I'm leaving DH and Sadie in charge.  I'm pretty sure the bed won't be made until the day I return.  I have packed up the SAME project I took with me last year, that I never got started.  And another one that I've been working on throughout this past year - a Mile-A-Minute quilt from a box of scraps.  Plus a couple of t-shirts and a pair of pants that need to be shortened (seriously - who takes their mending on retreat?  I've gotta get a life.)  I will definitely get the alterations done because they are planned to be part of my wardrobe for the week.  I am pretty sure the girls don't want to see me walking around in my knickers. 

Jinny Beyer Moonglow, and the Sally Ann Store

Jinny Beyer Moonglow Quilt.  The paper pieced blocks were all quilted with stitch in the ditch and an arc-ey type of background fill in black thread.  Impossible to photograph, at least by me.  The feathers in variegated thread turned out quite lovely, though, and very visible.  This is a gorgeous quilt.

 I hit the local Salvation Army Thrift Store today in search of wool sweaters for a little craft project I'm planning to teach at Morning Out.  I'll save you the time - there is no such thing as wool sweaters.  They were almost all Acrylic.  I found a few that were blends, with only 10 or 20% wool.  Finally after 20 minutes of riffling through racks of sweaters, I got one that is mostly wool, so it will hopefully felt nicely in the washing machine.  However, after that little find, for some reason I decided to check out the rest of the store.  I ended up at the small appliances (boy, people get rid of a lot of toasters!).  Look at my EXCELLENT $10 bonus item.

DH looked askance at me, and I have to admit I was worried about the grease that had never been cleaned out of it (hopefully not from someone frying up possum burgers... aarrgh...).

But it folds up into a nice little travel package, too!  Now it can come along with me on retreats and cook up my oat pancakes.  Yum yum.

 When I first saw it I had a brief moment of unbridled joy when I thought it might be a panini press.  I AM encouraged however, and may hit the thrift shops a bit more frequently if I can find great stuff like this.  That panini press may be out there somewhere...

Happy Thanksgiving

We had our Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday at Luke & Mel's house.  For which I was very thankful.  :-)  You will see a link to their food blog in the sidebar.  Mel's parents & her granddad were there too so it was a nice not-too-big crowd.  I brought dessert - Darlene's Pumpkin Squares and an Autumn Fruit Flan.  As you can see from the photo, I had to check the squares and make sure they were safe to eat.  Yup.  Good.  I would happily eat this whole pan and not come up for air until Thursday.  Darlene is my co-aunt and shared her recipe last year (when I ate most of HER pan of squares).  I have altered the recipe a wee bit to make it (hah!!) a wee bit healthier.

Darlene's Pumpkin Squares

Ingredients:

1 - 18 ½ oz (510 gm) box yellow cake mix
½ cup butter (melted)
4 eggs
1 - 16 oz (473 ml) can pumpkin
½ cup sugar
½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
2/3 cup carnation milk
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ginger
½ tsp cloves
½ tsp nutmeg
=================
½ cup oatmeal
½ cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)
1/4 cup butter (slightly softened)
===================
pre-heat oven to 350* (or 325* for glass pan)

grease 13 x 9 baking pan

•    Reserve 1 cup cake mix in a small bowl.
•    Lightly beat one egg in a larger bowl and stir together with remaining cake mix, and melted butter.
•    Press into prepared pan.
•    In a large bowl blend remaining 3 eggs, pumpkin, sugar, brown sugar, milk and spices.
•    Pour over cake mixture in pan.
•    To the 1 cup reserved cake mix add oatmeal, pecans, and softened butter, sprinkle on top of pumpkin layer.

Bake for 50-60 minutes.  Serve warm or cold.

Quilts, quilts & more quilts

As my former neighbour used to say:  "I have been busier'n a fart in a windstorm".  When I get a bit more time, whenever that might be, I will give you the poop on what all I've been up to.  In the meantime, since Ginger has already entertained you (I hope), here are photos of some of the quilts that have passed through my hands in the last week.

Quilt top donated by a customer of mine for the Quilts of Valour program.

A great, bright Stack 'n Whack.  Lots of fun quilting this one.
A top donated by a local lady which I've finished up and sent on to the women's shelter.

A quilt I put together for my friend who (are you KIDDING ME???) does not have a quilt.

Breakfast at Ginger's