Studio Bling is here!

 This is what I've been so busy with.... Studio Bling - is a really fun new product that I just released. Studio Bling is my line of  reusable FABRIC stickers that you can use to "bling" your sewing machine and just about anything else in your studio. The stickers come of clean with no sticky residue and you can use them over and over again. They make a great gift for your quilty/crafty pals and of course as a gift to yourself.

You can bling your sewing machine.......(they leave no residue)

 Your OTT light......

your storage bins, your computer, even your shoes......

Perk up your studio with some Studio Bling and if your mood changes, just change your bling. Available in 2 styles with more new designs in the works. 

Each sheet has at least 20 sticker designs to use.
You can get even more creative and embellish your bling! Add buttons, glitter, rhinestones or even draw on them with colorful markers. Because they're fabric they're durable and reusable!

Click here to see the full collections and order now.

 Now it's back into my studio (blinged of course) to stitch.

Today's the day....

Sorry I have made you wait, but I was out in the lawn pulling weeds this morning. Doesn't that sound exciting and glamorous????
Actually, it can be very meditative - in small doses!
So anyway, thanks so much to all of you for your sweet comments, your  mentions and links and I am sorry I can only choose one winner.

The winner of the Sweet Vintage giveaway, by random pick, is Miniature Quilter. Congratulations!

I hope you will find good use for your vintage fabrics, trims and what-nots.
This is a mini four patch I made with some feedsack scraps....

Watch your e-mail from me so I can get your shipping address to send your prize out to you.
I enjoyed discovering  great new blogs from some of my new visitors and I hope you will stop by again to see what I have to share with you.
I do have a really fun new product to share with you later but I didn't want to delay this post any longer.
I also tried to get a picture of a really cool dragonfly that settled on the deck earlier but when I came back out with the camera he had taken off already. I think it was a Florida green pondhawk - very striking and quite large - it looked a lot like this one...

 

I'll keep my eyes open for it again. This is a little quilt I made of a dragonfly using angleina fibers on the wings.
Hope your day is filled with a bit of wonder.......

you say tomato....

I say - wow do I have tomatoes!
My Roma tomatoes have really taken off since the weather warmed up. Fortunately, my mom shared this yummy recipe with me and so I will share it with you. My DH really liked it too.

Skillet tomato/zucchini melt

2 cloves garlic minced

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

2 T olive oil

2 zucchini  - peeled

2 tomatoes  - sliced

1-1/2 tsp. basil

salt and pepper

1/4 to 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

approx. 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

In a 9" skillet saute the onion and garlic in olive oil until slightly opaque, don't burn the garlic!

With slotted spoon remove the mixture from skillet and set aside.

Slice the zucchini and arrange in bottom of skillet. Add the onion/garlic mixture on top of the zucchini.

Sprinkle with the basil, red pepper, dash of salt and pepper. Cover and cook over medium heat until zucchini is just tender (not mushy).

Place sliced tomatoes over the cooked zucchini and cover the skillet again. Cook about 1 to 2 minutes. Add the shredded cheese and cover again until cheese is melted. 

mmmmmm, good!

I'm going to make this again tonight along with BBQ chicken.

I have another great tomato recipe I'll share soon. Now I have to go get some work done.

I will be posting the winner of the Sweet Vintage giveaway this Sunday, you have until midnight on Saturday to leave your comment on my April 9th  blog post to be entered.

plum crazy!

Those crazy squirrels are at it again! Well, okay we may encourage them a bit.
We finished off a jar of peanut butter (yes, making cookies again) and we thought the squirrels might enjoy cleaning out the jar.....we were right.

I missed getting our buddy "Spot" while she was enjoying the jar, but I was laughing too hard to think about the camera. This other little fella came along and was more than happy indulge while being photographed. Needless to say there were some skirmishes going on over the jar. They are just plum crazy. Speaking of plum crazy...

Our neighbor called ( no - she's not crazy) with some water heater problems and so my dh and I  headed over to check it out. While we were there I noticed some fruit of some sort on one her large trees that I hadn't seen before. Turns out they are Japanese plum trees. I've never had Japanese plum...are they tasty!!! I am now plum crazy! (not exactly a state secret)

She sent me home with the ripe ones we could reach and told me to come back for all I want as they ripen. I will surely take her up on that.
It also seems my dh got her water heater working again. Yay!
It's been a rainy day so far and so no sun printing for me today.....I did put some printed squares and kits up for sale in my etsy store.
I guess I will do some dusting - oh fun - and some laundry - more fun - and then hopefully get into the studio for some stitching time. Oh - here's some more craziness....
Look what my hubby found out in the garage while he was cleaning up out there.
Yikes -  it's a black widow spider, now deceased.

Thankfully our garage is away from the house and I have never seen one in the house - you would have heard the scream. Well, enough craziness for now, I need another yum yum plum.

In case you missed it...there is still time to enter my Sweet Vintage Giveaway. You have until April 24th to post a comment to my April 9th blog post to be entered. If you blog about it or facebook about it, leave a separate comment for each and get more chances to win. 

One of my FB friends (Robin) is having a fun giveaway at her blog  - check it out !

a quilt facing technique

Hi, I just finished up a little quilt I've been playing with and I didn't want to use a binding on this piece so I used a facing instead. I also used this technique on my little Migration quilt, where I also did not want to use a visible binding. Here's how I did it...... Doesn't mean there aren't other ways to do it, this is just how I did mine for what it's worth......

First, I cut the facing fabric the same size as the trimmed and finished quilt.

Then I drew a square about 1-1/2" in from the outside edge of the facing fabric.
I then rounded the corners of the drawn square using a large circle template, a small plate also works well. :)

Once drawn, I then cut out the center of the fabric.

Pin the facing to the quilt, right sides together. Stitch all the way around with a 1/4" seam. Trim the bulk in the corners....

Turn the facing to the back and use a point turner to turn out the corners.  Press along the edge for a smooth finish. You may have to use a bit of steam but don't get too carried away with it  or you could distort the quilt......

Once you have the facing turned to the back and pressed, then turn under the raw edge and applique the turned edge to the back of the quilt......

And here is the quilt. It's only about 8" square.

Easy Peasy isn't it? Give it a try sometime when a binding just won't do.

 Just to recap....the Sweet Vintage Giveaway is going on until April 24th so to enter leave a comment on the April 9th post. You can comment here on today's post too.... but you won't get entered into the giveaway.

Skunk???

Cleaning out a closet this week and can't decide whether or not to keep all the games we have up on the shelf.
Not  electronic or computer based games like PS2 or Xbox, we don't even have any of those...but old fashioned board games.
Games like Scrabble, Yahtzee, Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit, Clue ( it was Col. Mustard)  and do any of you remember Skunk????

That's an oldie but a goody. Actually they all are.... and I don't know that i can part with any of them.
How about Password???? I have the one my parents bought. Maybe it's considered an antique by now LOL
We even have a set of Pickup Sticks!

I was raised in Wisconsin and I guess we always had board games on hand to while away the hours during blizzards and such. Some of these made the move with us when we came to Florida where we don't have to worry about blizzards. (maybe a hurricane now and then).

What's your favorite old fashioned game, and when was the last time you played????
Do you have game night???

Well enough fun and games for now....except don't forget the Sweet Vintage Giveaway is still in progress.....

To be entered to win leave a comment on the previous post (April 9th) you can enter until April 24th.

Sweet Vintage Giveaway

I know, I know,
I have been so bad about blogging with you lately - I think I was suffering from blog block and I think it's becaue I've been buried under loads of paperwork and tax prep.
Hey  -  I still have 6 days. LOL
I told you I was a recovering procrastinator :)
But anyway, while I was working, I was gazing longingly out the window and I was thinking spring and flowers and sweet things like that. So I went into my super special secret cupboard and pulled out some feedsack treasures to share with you. I love feedsacks and have been collecting them for some time. My hubby's aunt sends me some now and then. Leftovers from the family farm and I am so honored to get them. His grandma made him and his cousins all matching pajamas made from identical feedsacks. (I'll try to find the picture) I was also given a box of quilt pieces she had started. They were tumbling blocks and I went to work setting them together in some sort of order and then I added borders. Now I just need to get off my duff and quilt it!

I also made this small wall quilt with my feedsacks using one of Darlene Zimmerman's patterns. This too needs to be quilted. Gosh, I hope I live to be really old so I get these done.

So, on to the giveaway..... If you win the Sweet Vintage Giveaway you will get these eight 8" genuine feedsack charm squares, these asst. vintage look trims (about 1/2 to 1 yard pieces), a few little crocheted flowers, a pretty flowered quilt label, a cute mini quilt hanger, my recipe for yummilicious old fashioned sugar cookies (see April 4th blog) and of course a vintage scottie dog cookie cutter.
Here's how to enter......

To enter the giveaway,  post a comment to this post. If you want to increase your chances of winning.... blog about it or share it on facebook and leave me yet another comment telling me about it. I will be announcing the lucky winner on Saturday April 24th so you have until then to leave your comments.
Good luck everyone!
Now it's time to get into the studio to accomplish some stitching :)

Easter Eye candy

Happy Easter everyone! I figured we're all getting enough sugary sweets today..... so I decided to share some eye candy with you. These were taken at the Naples Botanical Gardens. We went there recently while my parents were visiting. This first pic is of the wall you see from the parking lot to the entrance and the blooming bougainvillea were just incredible. I just love the colors against the bright green wall.



These arrangements were hanging in the children's garden, depicting how one can recycle cast offs into planters - like these cute planted totes.

This large mosaic was a new addition to the garden and is just so striking and so quilty! Don't you think?
I wonder if the artist could have been inspired by a quilt?

I just loved the happy little group of flowers. I tried getting some butterfly pictures in the butterfly house but they were NOT cooperating.
But they were beautiful.

Oh-oh!  I snuck some sweets in here after all....
My dh commented at Christmas that I needed to make sugar cookies more often and so for Easter I made him some....of course he's nice and sharing them with me :)









This was a stone pillar of an arbor in the Carribean section of the gardens, I'm not sure what the vine is ... but it is such a beautiful shade of lavender.

I hope you all have an egg-stra special Easter, whether it's with a crowd or by yourself - Rejoice!

 John 11:25-26   Happy Easter!