In be “tween” books

February 1, 2010 at 8:14 am · Filed under Books, Everyday Things

How was your weekend? I cried over the Black Eyed Peas this weekend. No, not at the Grammys. We got to see our first school orchestra concert on Saturday. The finale was a gymnasium filled with kids — from 9 to 18 — joined together in a wonderful arrangement of I Gotta Feeling (um, not that I’d ever heard the song before; I don’t get out much). I watched a video of it the next morning and wept. ::sniffle:: Oh, the possibilities in that room.

Anyhoo, dab your tears and put your tissues away now, I asked Young Miss Herself to keep track of her reading this year. I know she reads a lot, but I thought it would be informative for her to keep a list of what she’s read this year. I told her I would post her monthly reading “recommendations” here.

So, if you have a tween in the house who is looking for something to read, here are January’s recommendations from our house to yours.

The best book of the month was The Rising Star of Rusty Nail by Lesley M.M. Blume — set in 1953 about a 10-year-old piano prodigy from Rusty Nail, Minnesota. Dear daughter liked it because she could relate to the piano-playing heroine. We are always on the look-out for laugh-out-loud stories that are also touching.

Other recommendations from January are, in no particular order:

Junebug by Alice Mead

Benjamin Bartholomew Piff #3 Wishing Well by Jason Lethcoe (#1 and #2, also good)

The Secret Order of the Gumm Street Girls by Elise Primavera

and

The View From Saturday by E. L. Konigsburg (I had to force the issue with this one seeing as someone thought she couldn’t get it finished in time for her book club meeting — but she did and she liked it)

And those are the books from January. Wheee!

Oh, and I finished Spooner and highly recommend it. The 10 pages of acknowledgements at the end of the book are worth the price of admission!

Now, dusting off my third and fourth grade and fifth grade math memories to go help at school. That information is in a dark, dusty, bat-infested cavern…. Enjoy your Monday!

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That about sums it up

January 29, 2010 at 2:24 pm · Filed under Dollies Online, Fabric, Quilts, Whining

Good heavens. The week is coming to an end in the what-just-happened-here way. It’s all a blur. Good thing there is some fabricated evidence for the record.

I do know there was a whole lot of this:

I’m at the point in the cold that I can laugh about it. ha ha Well, let’s just say I can find the idiosyncracies of each individual cold funny. This one started in my right eye and pretty much focused itself on the right side of my head. ha ha

Nevertheless, there was work to be done:

In a more cogent moment:

You might not be able to tell but our printer is out of every color of ink but black, so it wasn’t helping me keep things straight.

Yesterday there was a little bit of this:

Today there is a pile like this:

I believe there was also another puppy-related quilt top and a lot of binding.

But, did you see it up there? Along with our frigid temperatures, we also have glorious sun. Ahhhh. If only I could feel it warming me somewhere… Well, I guess if it was also grey out, the tips of my fingers would be even colder. Enough said. I’ll take what I can get.

Off to press that last pile.

Hope your week was productive and virus-free!

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Selvage journal winner

January 20, 2010 at 9:58 am · Filed under Everyday Things, Fabric

By my count, Jenny McH’s comment is the winner of the selvage journal. I believe she commented on behalf of her friend Julz — how nice of her!!

I’ve emailed Jenny and will send the journal winging its way to its new home.

Thanks to everyone for commenting and thanks to Amy over at the Mod Podge Rocks blog for featuring my project (good heavens, there are so many fun things to look at over there!)!

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Selvage journal giveaway

January 16, 2010 at 7:00 am · Filed under Everyday Things, Fabric

I’m have a little giveaway today. Maybe you wandered over from the fun Mod Podge Rocks blog, maybe you’ve been here before. Everyone’s welcome to leave a comment and I’ll draw a winner for a selvage journal/sketch book:

I’ll be taking comments until Monday night — January 18 by 11:59 PM EST — and will announce a winner on Tuesday. Good luck!

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Feeling bookish

January 15, 2010 at 1:07 pm · Filed under Books

I’m planning to spend at least part of my evening with this book:

Wheeeee!!

And a little slice of the evening with this book:

Ohmygosh, hilarious! I borrowed it from the library but this may be one that needs to be in the personal collection. Yes, in addition to the screaming toddler, some strange lady kept busting out laughing at the public library.

Stop by tomorrow, I’m going to have a little giveaway!

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McScarf

January 13, 2010 at 8:25 am · Filed under Fabric

With a smile on my face, I put the last stitch into my new scarf.

And then I asked myself whether this might be the newest winter look for Ronald McDonald.

Eh, whatever. I wore it anyway.

Scarf pattern by Meg McElwee, Wool Wonderland Scarf in the fall 2009 Stitch magazine.

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That’s pretty cheesy

January 12, 2010 at 8:19 am · Filed under Everyday Things

Chelley asked about cheese spread recipes. I am happy to oblige…so as to addict you too. Helpful that way, aren’t I?

Port Wine Cheese Spread

1 cup crumbled blue cheese (your favorite kind — gorgonzola is delicious too)
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1 – 8 oz. package cream cheese (lite is fine)
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon port wine (I use a local mead instead)
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup pecans, toasted and finely chopped

Process all ingredients (except pecans) in food processor until smooth, about one minute. Dump the whole thing into a shallow decorative bowl and add chopped pecans to the top. If you are really brave, make it into a cheese ball. I don’t bother. Serve with your favorite crackers or crusty bread.

Horseradish Cheese Spread

2 – 8 oz. packages cream cheese, softened (lite is fine)
2/3 cup chopped green olives with pimiento (chopped salad olives are fine)
1/2 cup grated parmesan
2 teaspoons prepared horseradish (more or less to your taste)

Mix all ingredients together with a stand or hand mixer (can also use a food processor). Dump into a shallow decorative bowl and serve with your favorite crackers (this is really good with stoned wheat crackers).

I’d show you a pic of my favorite Waechtersbach Christmas tree dish saved especially for cheese spread, but, er, it’s still in use and not looking too festive at the moment. I think we’ll have one more round of horseradish cheese and then BE DONE WITH IT FOR THE YEAR, I TELL YOU.

Ahem.

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Local Gee’s Bend fans

January 11, 2010 at 12:39 pm · Filed under Field Trips, Quilts

The Flint (Michigan) Institute of Arts is hosting an exhibit of Mary Lee Bendolph’s quilts from January 23 to April 18, 2010. The museum is also hosting Gee’s Bend quilt and found object sculpture workshops January 22 – 24!

Exciting!

For info, visit the Flint Institute of Arts’ web site.

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My mind is blank

January 8, 2010 at 4:16 pm · Filed under Everyday Things, Fabric, Quilts

Pretty sad that I couldn’t come up with a decent title for this post. I thought of something weather related but I’m trying not to think about the cold weather (la la la, see, not thinking about it…sitting here in a silk long underwear top, a long sleeved t-shirt, a short sleeved t-shirt and two zip up hooded sweatshirts — all of which keeps me warm and camouflages the results of holiday over-indulgence (I really need to stop re-filling the Christmas cheese spread dish every few days) and makes me NOT think about the temperature dropping further for the weekend). Digress much?

Anyway. It is toasty in the sewing room. Today I made a block for Michele for the One Block Over bee:

While I was making Michele’s block, I was thinking that I don’t make a lot of blocks anymore. I’m usually working on the whole shebang — a quilt with everything pretty much planned out. It was fun to find pieces that go with Michele’s fabric choices and fit them into the block she chose. Fun, I tell ya! So, I’m thinking I may need to pull out my block books sometime soon and pick a block, gather up some fabrics (which I think I already have…) and make some blocks without a notion as to what I’ll do with them later. Let a quilt mystery unfold, as it were.

The mail carrier also brought some fun along today. I am the ecstatic recipient of this wee quilt:

Say it with me: ‘O. M. G. That’s a cute quilt!’ Sarah sent this along for Chrissie (did I use that right?). So very cute! The wee-ness of that star, for example, just kills me. Oh my!

Sarah also a wonderful journal made from an old book. I am a big fan of these and I don’t own any Enid Blyton books…until now:

Hey, maybe I need to make a wee quilt with an adorable house like the one on the front of the journal?!

So, stay warm (or cool depending on your hemisphere). I’m off to deal with some pizza dough which will hopefully succeed despite the fact that I didn’t use the right kind of yeast. Fingers crossed! Have a great weekend!

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I thought I was done and then I changed my mind

January 6, 2010 at 2:26 pm · Filed under Books, Dollies Online, Fabric, Quilts

Do your ideas ever slow you down? Just this one quick addition, just this one quick fix and I’ll be done. Days later when troubles have been shot (troubleshooted?) and type has been mirrored and you’re still not done? I’m not naming names but…

I guess this is just part and parcel of the flexible design process. It doesn’t look that complicated… Oh well, not quite done yet because I have some additional ideas after those letters get stitched down. Check back with me next month. Kidding!

Whilst keeping nose to grindstone on several projects, some additional inspiration arrived in the mail. Keiko Goke’s new book:

Makes me want to put colorful stitches EVERYWHERE!

Really great stuff!

And a little bit of pretty vintage fabric came in the mail:

OMG! It’s the cutest fabric! I don’t directly blame Miss Stephanie, but I clicked over here which led me over here where there were many lovely treasures to be considered. And Kim provides truly outstanding service! She even popped in a little something extra:

Lovely!

Before I go, and don’t yell at me for making you spend money, it’s purely for informational purposes… Did you know that you can now get home dec weight Rowan fabrics? Did you further know that you can get pink AUGUST ROSE home dec fabric? So, there you go.

Back to the stitchery with me. Those letters aren’t going to stitch themselves!

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