Quilts, the early years…

Posted on January 19, 2011 by Sewfrench

I wonder if I can post most of the quilts I’ve ever made….  And considering I’ve given most of them away….

Not sure, but I will give it my best shot.  Some of you may need to help me out.

Grandma Ellis had a quilt on the back of her sofa for all the years I can remember.  She called it Uncle Sammy’s quilt.  It was wool squares, about 6 inches each, crocheted together with black yarn and all different colored pieces of wool.  Not your traditional quilt, but more of a coverlet.

When Paul was a youngster, about September 1980, just under 2 years old, and about to be forced out of the family crib because his little sister was due to be born and he got his own *big boy* bed.  At this point in time, we visited and spent a lot of time with Grandma Ellis and Granddaddy Sam. Oh, how Granddaddy Sam loved the little kids.  He also loved his afternoon naps.  Always.  Whether he was working or retired, he needed naps, not unlike other family members, I know….  In cooler weather, there was always a quilt draped over the back of the sofa, ready and willing for Grandaddy Sam’s naps.  He also got a big kick out of dragging that quilt over his head and scaring Paul.  Paul called it the Boogie man.  He was scared to death of the Boogie man.  But when introduced to the idea of moving into a *big boy* bed?  He wanted a Boogie Man quilt.  Why?  I don’t know, not a clue.  Because this was something he was scared to death of, I’m talking serious crying fits scared….

Grandma Ellis provided me with the fabrics for this quilt, my first. It was machine pieced and hand tied.  Looks like I probably used a white cotton sheet for the backing and purchased *silky* for the binding.

Silky was a favorite of Paul.  Yes, that was back in the day when we all wore slips…  It never took long for the women in his life to learn that they could not wear slips and be modest, at the same time, when Paul was around.

I actually had totally forgotten about this quilt until I came across this picture, while looking for a photo, of what I thought, was the first.  Obviously, photos make for the better memories….

Now, who knows what happened to this quilt or Uncle Sammy’s???

Posted in 1980 completes, fabric, Family, Quilting, Quilts and their History, Quilts with history, Sewing | 7 Comments

Miss you Mom….

Posted on January 18, 2011 by Sewfrench

Christmas Day 1981. Seems like yesterday..... Mom, Lisa, Kim, Todd, Tina, Ray, and myself.

Time passes, in the blink of an eye.  Hard to believe it’s been 6 years since Mom has left us all..

It’s fun hearing everyone’s different memories……..

I remember this picture as being the year of Strawberry Shortcake and the first battery operated motorcycle, for my kids………

And yes, Gloria Vanderbilt cords were hot, really hot, that year.   You are jealous aren’t you….  you should be……..

Yes, Chips was very hip that year, too.  And to have a real helmet, that was the ultimate cool.  And to have fruit wallpaper and gold flooring, we were really with it.  Really we were.  You remember, right?

Yes, that really is a handmade Strawberry Shortcake blouse Krystal is modeling, for real.  You are jealous, aren’t you, I know you are,  it’s okay, I am, too.  Grandma Ellis did good things, always.  And just look at that really cool table you got for Christmas.  It will show up in photos, for years to come!

You two kids were too hip!  Love the sweatshirt, curls and sunglasses, LOL!  Papa’s truck was never too shabby either…

 

Good times, good times….  Memories are everything.

Posted in Family | 11 Comments

New Placemats…

Posted on January 17, 2011 by Sewfrench

Finally.

I have been thinking about doing these for an entire year.  I rarely make things for myself, no aprons, no makeup bags, no pot holders, no napkins, you get the idea….Okay, I may have a quilt or two, I made, but for everyday living, not so much….

But when I opened my Christmas present, from Peter, commissioned especially for me, from a favorite *up North* potter, Benjamin Maier. Christmas 2009, **new dishes** I was beside myself.  Love, love, love them!  I couldn’t have designed them, shape, style and/or color, any better myself.  Surprise, surprise, he is good, always, and he did good, once again.  And apparently we took very few pictures that year….  Well, anyway…..  I knew I wanted to make placemats, for sure.  I had some that worked, but what fun to design and create…  You know?  Anyway, I got two finished sometime before Easter and quickly realized I did not have enough ideas ready to complete what I needed, for company, so I put them on hold.  Then I put a rush on it, thinking for Thanksgiving, finished another and then realized we would not be hosting Thanksgiving…. Finally, in a lull between projects, a friend created a new quilt, in a pattern I had been contemplating, and I decided that could be #4.  I could double dip.  Double dipping is good.  I could test the pattern for a quilt, as I made me #4 placement.  After than one, I quickly decided 4 was good enough, for now. Heck there are only two of us and who needs company to set a nice table?  Not us.  Ever.                                                        I can always do more as the creativity strikes…….

Kona Cotton Solids Placemats

With a Kona Color card and over 200 shades to choose from there is always the exact color available.

What do you think?  If I had only used the ruler and square to level this photo a little more accurately, for photography purposes???   Very Type 4 of me……  I know, I can’t help it….  I am what I am….

Whatcha think?  Any additional drawings/style or ideas out there???

Posted in Crafting, fabric, Quilting, Sewing | 13 Comments

Another sort of coffee maker

Posted on January 16, 2011 by Sewfrench

And it’s not a cabana boy, I promise you….

This is how I spend a down day, leasuirely quilting, watching old movies, today included Deliverence, (great actors, some who should have stopped after this one, if I do say so myself) and reading blogs and links to blogs, and links to links until my tray at the bottom is so full that my computer freezes.  You do that, too?  Right?  Right?  That’s normal, it really is………

It’s cold out there, we must stay warm, I say.  That’s where the laptop and quilting comes in to play….

Just one of the things I drooled over today…..  Guessing my wood loving, Barista experienced daughters and brother and brother in law and sister…  oh and nephews and nieces would probably appreciate this, too….  It’s a piece of art.

Is this not the coolest looking coffee maker ever?  Just look at the grain of that walnut. Fine, mighty fine grain, I say.  Look at the sheen of this board.  It has to be a curly walnut, right?  Does walnut do that?  All I know is that it is beautiful, in it’s simplicity. And mechanics.  I do know that….

Though we are not our parents, who bought every coffee maker known to man, this is an incredibly cool looking coffee maker, in my opinion.  I know the best coffee beans and where to get them.  And drip is the best method, you know.  Okay, well, French pressed is right up there, too, Illy, french pressed, in France, while sitting in a sidewalk coffee bar….

but still…….  I can’t be on the streets of Paris, every day.  Well, I could, no, I couldn’t.  I really couldn’t….  That wouldn’t be right….

This is pretty sweet.  I would adore this to take up counter space on my counters.

Now, if I only knew a woodworker, I could figure out the rest….  Then maybe we could spend more time in Paris.   Wouldn’t that be sweet?

Posted in coffee, woodworking | 2 Comments

Not your Grandma’s fish cakes…

Posted on January 15, 2011 by Sewfrench

We’ve been slacking in the fish department lately….  Not sure if we just got burned out or  just needed new recipes…..   But when Peter brought home and cooked up an awesome piece of cod for our New Year’s Eve dinner we knew we’d need to be doing something with cod again, soon, very soon.

So I set about gathering an idea and a grocery list.

A take off of Grandma’s salmon patties and our crab cakes and all together different, too.

Supplies are prepped

Fish is baked

Peter forming the patties. Love my new Williams-Sonoma biscuit cutters, so many great uses.

Spicy Sriracha Mayonnaise Dipping Sauce

1/4 c mayo

1 TBS or more of Sriracha sauce

Stir it up and enjoy.  Add more mayo or zip per your taste.  Personally I am planning on eating this whole loaf of bread schmeared with this spicy goodness.  You can have the butter.  That’s fine.  I’l take care of this……

Oven Fries

(for 2)

One sweet potato and one Idaho potato sliced  into 1/4″  *fries*

A mandolin works wonders for this.

Toss in olive oil, spread on a cookie sheet, sprinkle with your choice of seasonings.  I chose Penzey’s Southwest Seasoning.  Bake at 425° for 20-25 minutes or until browned.

Fish Patties

Start with one and a half pounds of fresh cod, salt, peppered and sprinkled with the juice of one lemon.  Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes, cool, then break up.

Mince 1 shallot, 1/2 onion, 1/2 jalapeno pepper, 1 stalk of celery, diced, 3 T red bell pepper, 3 T fresh parsley, 1 T fresh dill.  Saute up, just a bit, in a dab of butter and some olive oil.   Let cool, then mix the vegetables and the fish with 1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs, a dash of Worcestershire sauce and a triple dash of hot sauce, juice from 1/2 lemon, zest from 1/2 lemon, 3T mayo and 1 T dijon mustard and 1 egg (which we did not use this time, but will the next, as in our crab cakes, for a tad more body). Form into small patties, coat in Panko breadcrumbs and pan fry in olive oil until brown. Serve with the aforementioned spicy mayo sauce and enjoy.  Though the sauce was so totally not needed and to hear that from me? being a saucy sort of girl?  That’s huge.   That’s how good these are……..

Makes 10-12, serves 4.

Thanks to Christine for sharing the idea.  I just wish I’d seen her new and improved recipe before I set about creating…  Doesn’t matter.  Between her idea and our tweaks it was superb!  Will repeat!  Oh yeah.

Oh and let us not forget the inventory reduction fresh garlic, cayenne, sauteed, green onion sprinkled Brussel Sprouts.  Even Peter may decide to take these up, which would be a total pisser because then we would have to share….  I’m not good at sharing.  Brussel Sprouts, anyway……  Just ask my siblings.

Posted in cod, Cooking, Eating, fish, Recipes, Wellness | Tagged | 10 Comments

Smell o’web

Posted on January 14, 2011 by Sewfrench

(Almost) Vegan Pasty Pie ingredients

You wish, you had smell o’web, you would know just how heavenly it smells in here….

The sauteed up product. Can you smell it, can you smell it now???

Do I love my baby or what?  Just because we are overflowing with fresh veggies, working on an inventory reduction plan, and we need to meet up for a trade, does not mean she deserves this?  Does it?  Or does it not?   Just because she is a hard working, healthy eating, super smart, creative, a fabulous photographer, does not mean I should just hand it over.  I think she owes me.  I taught her all she knows, trained her in what is right and good…..  She owes me, like some graphic design work, like some art work, like graduating college with an art degree *and* a minor?  in 4 years?  with 2 internships?  and a job?  Wait, yeah, she’s doing/done all that and then some.  Dang.  She *is* good.  Check out my custom banner for one example……..  Check out her blog for another…  Yeah, she did teach me all I know about blogging…  I’ll give her that…  But…….. it smells awfully good in here and if it could buy *me* another night off of cooking, I wouldn’t hand it off to her………..

That’s how good it smells…

Another one of these…

It’s just a good thing, I have a dinner date tonight or this would be on our table.  Seriously.

Posted in Cooking, Eating | 3 Comments

Where I love to be….

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Sewfrench

I have been meaning to do this for years.  That’s how long I’ve been in this space.  When we bought this home 4 years ago, it had a beautiful, concrete shell of a space, destined to be mine.  We knew *this* was the house when *I* opened the double doors that led to this unfinished space.  It would be mine, all mine!!  Jump for joy, forget all those other houses we were considering and even the one we made an offer on (thank goodness it had inspection issues that allowed us to escape unscathed).  Remodeling was not something I was excited about, but neither was *he*, thank goodness!  So here we go!

Before.  What potential!  A studio with natural lighting!

Help arrives by the way of very talented carpenters.  We tell them what to do and they do it.  They are good!

We had done this before, so we had ideas, but this space was quite a bit bigger.  It is 30′ x 15′.  I believe my last space was 24′ x 12′, not too shabby either, similar, but different.  Peter had the walk-in closet idea, which I had never had before and which I adore!  It is designed and decked out for more storage than you can ever imagine.  All those UFOs, leftover scraps, things that have just not been taken care of, yet?!  Lots of projects in there.  I love to pull the pocket door closed and forget what is in there!  The single door at the far end leads up the stairs to the garage, so up and out for trash and easy down and in for supplies, no one else has to know about deliveries!  The double-doors lead to the family/game/theater/main downstairs area.

craft room

Same view, but we have now moved in. And yes that is Grandma Ellis’s Opryland U.S.A. yardstick on the table. And Ray, I use it daily. Isn’t its asymmetrical quality sweet?? Must be circa the 1970s.

craft room cutting table

I can not believe how this place cleans up!  A place for everything and everything in its place.  This table is huge, it’s 7′ x 5 1/2′ with a 1 foot cantilever on each end, if a person wanted to sit, they have plenty of knee room.  It is large enough to have mmm, 6 projects going at once?  But, I wouldn’t do that.  You know?  That would be way too cluttered and disorganized…. LOL! You see stools everywhere, but I am a stander, constantly kicking stools out of the way.  But, they do make great places to stack *stuff*.  The only time I sit in here, is when I am at a machine.  Standing burns more calories. You knew that, right?

my craft room cutting table storage

I am into gift wrapping, among other things, so lots of ribbon storage was needed.  Around the corner, under the table, is open shelving that stores all my gifts bags along with rolls and rolls of gift wrap.  The right side, of this table, is all drawers, (9), the left, (this side) is two drawer banks and a double-doored cabinet for larger items.

sewing space storage

Lots of project storage in the closet. That door only gets pulled at Christmas when there are snooping eyes in the house.

craft room storage cabinets

Batting, fabrics, thread and papers. Pretty organized, just a lot of it…  Thank goodness the double deep stacking and to the floor shelving isn’t visible…..

craft room storage

Photos, scrapbooking, books, Cricut machine and more paper. And paint and paint supplies, lots of supplies…..

sewing space layout

You can’t see the number of light banks here, but it is key to the success of this room. These photos were all taken under the light of the room, after dark, no flash. The color is pretty darn accurate, so very important in a studio space.

sewing room

One of my favorite places in all the world…. It look so nice and clean it makes me want to pull up a chair and get back to work!

natural lighting

and my view for most of the year… Isn’t it gorgeous out there?

Considering I started out sewing for the public, which allowed me to be a stay at home mom and professional volunteer, all the while sewing at the kitchen table, picking up then putting away, to cook dinner for five, to this space still awes me. I am grateful.

Thank you, Sue, my fabric pusher, for pushing me to get this job done…  Now on to the next one.

Posted in Crafting, Decorating, Design, fabric, organizing, Quilting, Sewing, studio | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 40 Comments

I’m so glad you’re back

Posted on January 12, 2011 by Sewfrench

I’ve missed you.  A lot.  I wasn’t sure where you went but it doesn’t matter now.  You are back.   Don’t leave me again.

Listening to my friend Gary talk about all the fabulous smoothies he’s been making, then reading my friend Casey’s blog and all about the green smoothie challenge, I got to tossing around the idea of bringing them back into my life.  I’ve got the Vita-mix, I’ve got the ingredients, I just need to get moving quicker, so that it doesn’t become my lunch…

So today was the day.  It was the slowest, most pitiful run since the beginning.  Maybe because I have run 5 out of the last 7 days?  Maybe because I’ve put on almost 27 miles on these shoes in the last 7 days???  Or maybe it was last nights dinner, sitting like fried food tends to do….  Maybe I need to start fueling, better, prior to working out…..

So a fresh start after that pitiful run.

1/2 of a beautiful Bosc pear

1/2 cup of our wonderful *Up North* frozen blueberries

1/2 scoop of protein powder, unflavored

a splash of almond milk, original

a double handful and then some of fresh spinach

a stalk of celery

a chunk of cucumber

a healthy sprinkling of cinnamon

a few almonds and

some flax seed for Omega 3 and fiber.

Heaven on Earth.  I feel reenergized.  And all is well with the world.

Posted in Eating, Fitness, Wellness | 17 Comments

Pay it Forward

Posted on January 11, 2011 by Sewfrench

A little Facebook challenge came along last week that I couldn’t help but join in on.   When Sostinkinhappy offered up the challenge I jumped on it.  I can’t wait to see what is in store from her.   She is so creative.  Busy, busy, busy with a young family, and very creative.  I wonder if she would come and make *me* a replica gingerbread house of our home???  Wouldn’t that be sweet?!  I must be patient, I must be patient, I must be patient….

Pay it Forward 2011: I promise to send something handmade to the first 5 people who leave a comment here. They must in turn post this and send something they make to the first 5 people who comment on their status. *The rules are that it must be handmade by you and it must be sent to your 5 people sometime in 2011.*

Anyway, I was shocked at how quickly I had 5 people signed up!  In under 7 minutes?  That is crazy.  Is it because I have too many friends?  I posted at a fabulous time?  Everyone was feeling extremely generous on January 4th???  Now I have new projects to think about!  I love it!  The challenge is the best part.  The perfect project for the person.  All will be different according to my perception.  Right or wrong, it’s what you get, LOL!

I ♥♥♥♥ surprises, no matter what they are!  I know, I know, I have to wait just like all my followers do….  Remember we have a year to think up just the right handmade surprise for each of you, no pressure there, LOL!

My first project is on the cutting board.  I love it!  Maybe I’ll keep it…… since I don’t have one  and the next project I Will itPay Forward…….  Can I do that???  Hmmm…….

Posted in Crafting, Sewing | 4 Comments

Camera strap

Posted on January 10, 2011 by Sewfrench

One of *our* projects, while A was home over Christmas break, was to make her a custom camera strap for her Nikon D3100, which she got for her birthday.  She scrounged around and found these coordinating scraps and off to Field’s we headed to find some coordinating suede.  Then we proceeded to deconstruct, for parts, an old Minolta strap.  We think it turned out pretty sweet, for a pretty sweet camera and a pretty and sweet photographer.  Just sayin’……..  I hear ya, I hear the groans…….  I’m okay with that….

Camera strap

Posted in Crafting, Sewing | 10 Comments