Stars and Stripes

I finished the Patriotic table runner for my upcoming ceramics Christmas party grab bag present swap this coming Saturday. I know, it's not Christmas themed but I'm tired of Christmas stuff. I have a ton of it and I know others do too so I thought out of the box and made something for the 4th of July. I think it came out pretty good. Again, I chickened out on doing a real pieced binding and instead did the quilt back wrap around trick. Yeah, I think I'm done with that trick. I ripped out stitches 3 times with this runner. Other than that and a few mistakes that I know are there, it didn't come out half bad and I'm pretty proud of it.

Here's a picture of Amelia helping bake cookies for Santa. She insisted that the cookies needed sprinkles. Who am I to argue?

We went to the local auction house Monday night and got a few things. I'm not into antiques at all so I normally done go to the auctions. This is the 2nd time I've ever been. But a local furniture/country decorating/all kinds of stuff store closed its doors over the summer and the local auction house in my area got the leftover goods so I had to check it out. I ended up with a pretty cool metal plant stand for $40.00; it's going to live out on my front porch come Springtime. The best steal of the night for us? A solid maple bunk bed for... wanna guess how much?? TWENTY BUCKS. You heard me right. Brand new, perfect condition, solid maple bunk bed for $20.00. It's going to go to my in-laws house in New Hampshire in Punkie's room as two twin beds instead of the bunk bed so that they can be pushed together to make one big bed if needed. There was a king size mattress and box spring that went for $200.00. A king size head and foot board, cherry wood, I think... $200.00. If I had the room, I was going to get a new bed. I'm just happy with our awesome score! And my husband came got home and told me he got me a another plant stand for the porch. A little wagon. I'll take a picture of everything tomorrow and post it.

One more thought... I got a catalog in the mail yesterday; The Stitchery. I have no idea how I got on their mailing list. I glanced through it before dinner. Some of the things are a bit too much for me but one pattern caught my eye.... it's called Up, Up and Away or Balloon Glow.

I just LOVE it. I think it's all cross stitched and not stamped so that's a LOT of thread. I'm going to think about it a couple of days but I think I may order it. So I guess I'm now going to do cross-stitching again. Of course I start BIG when I start a new hobby!

Okay, my husband is bugging me for the computer...

Enjoy your day!
Jen :)

Pretty Productive Weekend

My husband and Punkie (along with the in-laws) went to New Hampshire this weekend. I had to stay behind because I had to work a full day on Friday and who was going to feed the pigs and goats?! Since everyone was gone (and still are; they will be home sometime tomorrow), I took this weekend for myself.

I went and did a little fabric shopping at a semi-local fabric store Saturday morning. Did a little bit of damage to the credit card, not much. I stayed to my list as best as I wanted to. Only things extra I picked up were a couple of patterns (like I need them) and two different fabrics to make Punkie a pillow case.

Then I made a quick stop at home to write out my grocery list and took a ride to check out a new Target and grocery store that opened about 20 minutes from my house. While at Target, I started my Christmas shopping. Quick stop at the grocery store for the week and home I went. I got home about 2:00 on Saturday afternoon and I haven't left since then.

I've done some sewing. I completely pieced together the stars and stripes table runner for my ceramics Christmas grab bag and I completed 2 coloring bags for gifts. I wanted to get more done but my machine was giving me issues earlier today. Everything "fixed" itself. Good thing because the sewing machine was going to get pitched out the window at about 1:00 this afternoon. It was also slow going because I practiced my free motion quilting lack of skills on one of the coloring bags. I used monofliment thread so at least my quilting isn't too noticeable on that one.

I really wanted to get more sewing done. I had a long list in my head. But that's alright. I got a few things done and off my list. OH! I also finished my Polka Dot swap stuff. So now I have to locate a box and get my stuff in my mail to my secret partner this week. I also started laying out the Butterfly Fling wallhanging that I want to get done for Punkie for Chrismas.

Got caught up on all my movie watching while sewing too. I watched:

Enchanted

Mad Money (only the beginning; the disc is scratched so I'm getting a new one from Netflix)

Sherk the Third

Charlie Bartlett

Hairspray

Talladega Nights (repeat watch)

North and South TV mini series

Maybe all that movie watching is the reason I didn't get as much sewing done as I wanted too?! LOL!

That's all for now. I need to get off this computer and get my breakfast and lunch ready for work tomorrow... oh, and I should probably eat something for dinner.

Enjoy your night!

Jen :)

MOOOOOOO!

We live about 15 minutes from the UCONN campus and we took Punkie there on Sunday to see their dairy cows. We usually go up about twice a year to check them out. They always have a few baby calves and if we plan it right, we can see them doing the milking process with the larger cows - we missed it on this trip. The UCONN campus makes ice cream from the milk from their cows and it's delicious! I don't know what else they do with the milk. I'm sure they sell it or something.

Here are a few pictures... every time I see the babies, I want one. Then I turn around and see (and SMELL) the big cows and quickly change my mind! My husband is desperate for a cow. He had a few growing up. I think pigs and goats are enough!

My husband was itching the above calf's chin. I think the baby wanted more!

Loads of big cows eating. I have several more pictures but you get the idea.

Been doing some sewing too now that my new area is all set up. I love walking in there, sewing a bit and walking away. It's great! I'm working on a table runner for my ceramics Christmas party grab bag. Last year we agreed to TRY and stay away from Christmas decoration type grab bag gifts as we all have a ton of decorations. Hopefully we agree on the same thing this year but if we don't, oh well. This is what the grab bag is getting from me.

And here are the blocks that I've gotten done so far.

I did machine applique. I'm sure I did it all wrong but I'm happy with my results. I see plenty of mistakes but I think once this is all quilted, it won't look half bad!

Enjoy your day!

Jen :)

Trophy Winner!

Every year the ceramics studio I go to competes in the Pioneer Valley Ceramics Association's (PVCA) ceramics competition. I have been doing ceramics for about 7 years now. My friend Julie has been doing ceramics at the same studio for over 20 years. I wanted to do the craft back in high school but Julie refused to tell me where she was going... but that's a story for another day. LOL. Once we got back in touch as adults, she invited me to join her and I've been going ever since.

My very first piece won a blue ribbon and I've been winning blue ribbons ever since but I've never won a trophy. This year, I entered 5 pieces in the competition. One of them being my glazed pumpkin. I was really hoping I would get high marks for the pumpkin because I just love it and I glazed it really well. I won a first place blue ribbon. Not bad. I was hoping for a high blue ribbon or a trophy but I'll take first place. My ceramics teacher then presents me with a box. In the box is a TROPHY! I won the "Judge's Award" which means regardless of my marks and the ribbon placement the piece did, the judges felt the piece was trophy worthy. I was so excited.

Ready to see my pumpkin??

It's glazed with a special pottery coat glaze - several different coats and then a white cobblestone glaze is put on top before it is fired to get that crackled look. Or as my friend Julie would say - the moldy look.

Here's a pic with my very first trophy...
Amelia and I painted some pumpkins over the weekend as well. She enjoyed it. Here are a couple of pictures.

Enjoy your day!

Jen :)

Mail Time!

I just wanted to share with you the prize I won from Vickie's 200th post giveaway. I got home late last night from my ceramics class... yeah, that's another hobby I do. I've been taking this ceramics class for 6 years now. It more of a "get together with friends-stress reliever-and if you want to clean/paint/stain/glaze your piece, go right ahead" type of class.

But I digress - I got home about 10 p.m. and there was a package for me on the table from Vickie. Look what I got!

A flower-shaped pin cushion (very cute!)

Mary Engelbreit stickers and soap

mini note pad

little box of buttons

Thanks Vickie! I love my prize!

Jen :)