Featured Friday

This weeks Treasury Features for SimpleBlue:

Pink Napkins in
honeysuckle 2011... by menzocollection


Ruby Wine Napkins in
Maroon to Make You Swoon by TeacupTeddies


Black Napkins in
It's All So Simple by SimplyCutebyKarin


Hawaii Origami in
Under a Pink Moon by lookonmytreasures


Yellow Handstitched Napkins in
Simple! by suebhoney



Treasuries I created:

Houndstooth

It's the Thought that Counts

Argyle

Dressing Up for Breakfast

I Wanted to Make a Treasury About Sub-Thing

Quilt Cookies

My mom is a quilter and prefers cookies to cake so for her birthday I made her some quilt cookies.

Now, having done this, I have a few things that I would have done differently. I would have rolled the dough out on the tray and then cut the squares out so they would sit more uniformly next to each other. I also would have made it so the border could have fit all on one cookie sheet so I didn't have to use pieces. I also would have decorated it on the tray I was presenting it on. There was a lot of cookie shuffling going on.

When Life (or the Food Co-op) Gives You Lemons...

I got 10 lemons from the food co-op and my mom was about to toss her five out so I grabbed them. My children love lemonade so I made lemonade. I've only made it from concentrate before so I was happy to try it fresh.

I cut the lemons in half.

I have an automatic juicer but I lent it to my sister when she had a million and a half apples to deal with so I had to borrow my mom's not so automatic juicer. In the end, because I only had 15 lemons, it was probably just as fast to do it this way because I didn't have to peel them all. I first squeezed as much juice as I could out of a half over the top of the juicer to collect any seeds that may have fallen out and then I stuck it on the juicer and pushed while twisting it back and forth.

While I was doing this, I was thinking of an episode of Caillou where he makes juice with his grandma. I think they had a grapefruit and a lemon they were going to use. What kid wants to drink grapefruit and lemon juice?! Good thing Caillou decided he wanted orange in it too. Really, I was thinking that I wished I had paid more attention to the show so I would know the proper way to use the juicer. It worked out okay though because as I was thinking those deep thought about a children's educational cartoon these

turned into these


There were a few times when the juicer started looking like this:

so I emptied it out in my compost bucket.

Next I disolved sugar in some boiling water (1:1)


to create a syrup. This was supposed to make it so the sugar didn't drop to the bottom. It worked much better than just adding straight sugar.

I then added the same amount of lemon juice to the syrup (1 part sugar, 1 part water, 1 part lemon juice) I also tried a bit of the straight lemon juice to see if I could taste a difference between fresh and concentrate. :{ I couldn't. It was to sour to taste anything. I won't do that again.

After mixing that, I added four more parts water.

It almost felt like summer again.

I composted the pulp, seeds and peels but I got to thinking that I could probably have actually used them too. I could have used the zest - although that is a lot of zest and I don't know how to preserve it - or I could have boiled the peels with some spices to scent and humidify the air. Do you have any other ideas of ways I could have used them?

Felt Valentines for Girls

I got my pile of Valentine clips done for my daughter and neices. Cute!



I have a neice that likes green so I threw that in the mix.

I love keeping my hands busy while watching a movie. This was the perfect project. I was watching Music and Lyrics and enjoying it so much that I wasn't paying as much attention to what I was doing. I overshot the mark. I have an extra set in my shop.

Featured Friday

Gelfling Gifts featured my Goose Orange Napkins in her treasury Duck, Duck, Duck, Goose. My napkins were the goose!

Here is my treasury: Self-Portrait
Go see what I look like!

Treasuries

I like having been featured in treasuries. I decided it would be a good thing to make a treasury every time I was featured in one to return the favor. Here are the links to those I've created.

Zip Your Lips
It's So Late
Garden Plans
Clean Up Your Act

It turns out that it's a bit addictive and I may not be able to wait to be featured again before I create another...we'll see.

Love Begins at Home

My Love Red napkins were featured in the treasurey "Love Begins at Home" by AuntCarriesCottage

Thank Heaven for Little Boys...

There is a little boy that lives at my house.
Oh how I love finding his little boy finishing touches.

Glorious Green

My Green Vines and Leaves napkins were featured in a treasury put together by Eldorado Soap.
It's called Glorious Green. Go see it! It's so exciting!

Faux Chenille Blanket

I had a few days that I wasn't feeling well. It's hard for me to sit and just rest. My mind thinks of lots of things that should be done and my fingers don't like to be still. Luckily, I found a project that helped me stay down - well sitting anyway. This blanket takes some time to make - which was to my advantage. It's not hard but it is a little tedious but oh, it is so beautiful! And, because it gets washed a few times at the end anyway, it didn't matter that I made it while I was sick! Or that I used upcycled fabric. Who can tell after a few washings? - I gave it to my cousin and her new baby. I used a skirt that our grandma wore for one of the layers so of course I told her where the fabric came from. I also used some pieces that were a few large pieces instead of one block of fabric for two of the layers and you can't tell a difference between them and the layers that were full sheets of fabric.

So, I found this project with a complete tutorial at Made. Hop on over there for really beautiful photos and easy to follow, step by step directions. And look at everything else she has to offer. I've spent hours and hours looking at her tutorials and wonderful photos. You won't be disappointed for stopping by!