Sleeper

Sometimes the best gifts are things you didn't even know you needed or wanted. Like this teapot. I didn't even know I needed it, but now I don't know how I lived without it.
I used to use my Grandmother's teapot. But then I started thinking I was using it to much and it might break. So I put my Grandmother's aside and used a cheap $10 teapot I picked up somewhere. That worked out for awhile, till I broke the spout.

See I'm not really a coffee drinker. It makes me too hyper or jumpy. Yes occasionally I get a real big boost of energy, then a head ache. And this is with decaf. So I drink tea, all kinds.

From chai to oolong, it's all my favorite. Today as I sit here, it's a white tea with peaches.

So back to the teapot. You know how the first cup is always perfect and hot? And any cup after that is maybe warm or just plain tepid? Well with this pot, I just put it on my wood stove and I have hot tea all day long. The pot can't break as it's made of cast iron, so I might also be getting some vitamins?

This gift from my Husband was a sleeper, till I poured my fist cup of tea. And since I can't break it, it might become a family heirloom, just like Grandmas.

I may take a break for a couple of days. I don't have anything going on right this moment, but if I start something, I'll be back. Going to just take a couple days to myself and some books.

Take care, Brandie

And the Winners Are...

Oh what a long weekend! Every weekend I think I'm going to get so much done and every weekend, nada! I have such high hope and big plans. I just need to stop doing that!

I May have started another BIG project which has me scared and super excited about. It will probably consume my entire life for a couple of months, but I feel that I'm up for the challenge. In our little rural town, we have a week long celebration to commemorate the largest, at the time, gold nugget. In April of 1859, a 54 pound gold nugget was found just outside of the town limits. Did you see that? 54 lbs! Today that would be worth... about $800,000. That's a pretty penny!

We do silly things things like hiking with a donkey (Donkey Derby), a parade, a whisker growing contest and the best part of all, Gold Nugget Queen. Young girls in high school compete for the coveted roll of Gold Nugget Queen. They have to have an an authentic dress or gown, right down to the under garments. And we all know that most 16 year olds can't sew, this is where I come in. I was asked by a friend to help out her friend and well, now I'm hooked! I went with "my girl" to a 5 hour long, 1800's lecture and boy did it whet my whistle! At first I was too scared and not at all confident in my skills to do something this elaborate. But after looking at some past dresses, I was too excited to sit down again! You would have thought I was the one wearing a hoop skirt!

Ok, so enough about my weekend. I'm sure you are all here to see if you are a winner, so here it goes.

The first name pulled from a hat...
Lee (no blog). Congrats!
Debbie (one stitch off). Again Congrats!
And Sammy (english country garden in bags). Sammy makes her own bags and she still wants another. What a girl!

So congratulations to all you girls! I will put your bags in an envelope and you will be as surprised as me as to who gets what.

Thank you all who played, it makes me feel loved to have you all commenting and stopping by.

Take care, Brandie

All Girl

Before I left yesterday, I managed to finish up another diaper bag. I'm trying to keep it even. 2 boys bags, 2 girl bags.
And this one is definitely all girl! It's a reversible bag. This is the inside...
And this is the outside, or is it the other way around?

Hubby came up with another great idea. Reversible boy-girl bags. So that before they know what the gender is, they are prepared. I'm thinking on this one, I think it's a good idea, now I just need to find the perfect combo of fabrics.

Have a wonderful weekend. See you back here Monday with some winners!

Take care, Brandie

GRrrrr

I bought some colorful fabric from the shop I'm selling my bags in. Last week I was asked to make more boy oriented things. Do you think this foots the bill?
We thought fabric this was definitely boy, but what about the diaper bag aspect? Only one way to find out, so here it goes. Later today I will be taking this down there along with the Bucket totes.
I thought this poison green matched rather well, don't you?

Tonight is our Guild meeting and we will be having one of our own members doing a trunk show. These are always fun and exciting meetings. Hopefully I'll be inspired to start a real quilt. but if I can't do that, maybe I'll just make more bags.

Have a great day!

Take care, Brandie

Buckets of Totes

Here they are! I worked till after dark to finish up 2 more of the middle bag, that I'll call the teal crewel. I'll have you know that I broke 2 needles on those bags! Which is kind of scary! First I worry about myself, than I worry that I might have broke my machine and if that happened, I'd cry! What would I do without my machine!? Yeah, Yeah, I have others, but this is my favorite machine! It's so fast and it does everything, even the quilting. So I don't want to have to go without it.
So here is how it goes. I have 1 bag of each kind, pictured above. They are all a little different from the next.
The Black toile...
The Teal crewel...
And the Green crewel.

So leave me a message, on this post, and tell me your News Years resolution. I will pick 3 winners on Monday. Anyone can play, that means any of you overseas girls.

Good luck!

Take care, Brandie

Lemons and Crewel

As you recall, during Christmas, I made up at lot of jams and jellies. Then my MIL asked if I wanted more lemons to make lemon curd. I said I'd take as many as she wanted to give me.
Wrong choice of words! She showed up with 2 plastic grocery bags full of lemons. So guess what I've been doing?
You guess it. More curd. Now my only problem is jars. I keep running out of jars. I may just have to go buy more. But then the next question is, who is going to eat all this curd?
Since I was already cooking, I sautéed some leeks and added some potatoes and crispy bacon. It made a lovely soup and I love the gently green color. I feel it's important that our food looks as good as it tastes and color is so important.
After dinner I got back to those bags. I have been prepping and cutting out fabric for my bag production. Part of the prepping is quilting around all the raised crewel work. It also gives the bag more stability.
I'm waiting to have all the bags done before I show you. But guess what? I will have a couple of bags for a give away! So come back tomorrow to see where I'm at (hopefully done and on to something else).

Take care, Brandie

First Day of the Year

Waking up New Years Day, we had quite shock.
This is what we saw. This fluffy white stuff.
It was every where, even on my new car.
And my poor fairy garden, I hope it survives.

This was all there was and it did go away by the end of the day, Thank goodness!

As you can probably tell, I'm not a fan of this white stuff. It's messy and cold. I enjoy it only in pictures.

Take care and I'll be back tomorrow...