Shirley Anne’s Heart

Posted By drsao on January 31, 2010

During the past two days of being SNOWED IN I had fun – I made a little SOUP (it was YUMMY) and I made homemade bread (it fell apart but it was WARM and ever so good) – I cleaned out some kitchen cabinets (such a feeling of accomplishment) and I SEWED……..YEAH.

I finished my latest CUTTING BEE project – my SECOND MILKY WAY QUILT!  This one is for my grandangel Blake’s High School graduation this year.  I was going to make all of the stars blue but at the last minute I decided to add a few burgundy and red stars in as well……TA DA…..  (I know, I know – my FIRST MILKY WAY had blue and red stars in it too – OK – SO I LIKE RED AND BLUE STARS….and in my defense, this one has a BLUE outside border and my first one has a RED outside border!)  LOL.  Does anyone recognize any of their fabric in this quilt?

Blake's MILKY WAY

And I finished putting together my New Year’s Eve 2009 Mystery Quilt (Fabricaholics – designed by Ann Smith) – I am trying to decide on borders right now – but I am thinking one black small border, one orange medium border, and one large butterfly border……I am THINKING about it as we speak…..  This one will be donated to the ICU Unit  – via my Country Piecemaker’s Quilt Guild.  I actually like the colors in this quilt – I just have this thing about butterflies.  I know it is STRANGE but they look and ACT LIKE BUGS and this automatically puts them on my LIST OF NOT SO FAVORITE THINGS  ….  I am TRYING to like them……really TRYING!  My friend, Catherine LOVES butterflies – I am trying but when I look at this quilt it just makes my stomach flip….honestly, it gives me REAL BUTTERFLIES IN MY STOMACH!

 And….while I was thinking about borders, I made four more star blocks for my 30’s Club Quilt.  It would have been finished, but I decided not to put in the PLAIN blocks but instead to put in more small star blocks…….so here you go – four more star blocks.

Four 30's Club Star Blocks

SO there you have the WHOLE STORY – what I did while it snowed!  🙂

Category: 30's Club Star Quilt, Ann Smith NYE Mystery09, Blake's Milky Way, My NOT so Favorite Things, Quilts in Progress | No Comments »
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Posted By drsao on January 31, 2010

I may be the ONLY ONE  in all of  VIRGINIA who is thrilled – absolutely thrilled – with the latest WINTER WONDERLAND.  I absolutely go into a HAPPY TRANCE when I see the snowflakes drifting down.  You may have even noticed that “SNOW” is falling when you look at my blog – and this NEVER STOPS year round.  Snow is one of my favorite things!

Friday night Grandangels Cooper and Sarah slept with their pj’s wrong side out – both of them had AND have the same first grade teacher – and SHE TOLD THEM that that was a sure way to bring on the snow!

Sarah and Cooper WISHING FOR SNOW Friday night

OK – so enough TALK – here you go – all 11 1/2″ inches of our white glory!

Category: Life Comments, My Favorite Things, SAO's Family, SAO's Grandangels | No Comments »
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Posted By drsao on January 31, 2010

Agave Syrup

I have been searching my brain for possibilities – where can I find AGAVE SYRUP?  ……not at Food Lion, I looked today. 

I am not familiar with agave – but it has a low glycemic index – and should be an excellent sweetener for those persons who might be concerned about gaining weight or increasing their blood sugar levels!

Agave sounds so exotic – doesn’t it?  I thought I was going to have to go to World Market, Trader Joes, or even Fresh Market to find it…..but I was actually guessing that I would have to pay mucho buckos to ship it in from some online source.  BUT GUESS WHERE MY DAUGHTER FOUND IT FOR ME TONIGHT?  COSTCO.  Who would have thought!!!!!

Why do I NEED Agave Syrup?  Well, I love Dr. Oz and while watching his show I saw some diet friendly brownies made with black beans and agave syrup – and I just HAD TO MAKE SOME!!!!!  (The recipe is on the Dr. Oz website!!)

I am going to make the brownies soon – and I will let you know if it gets a THUMBS UP!  (Of course it is probably a GOOD IDEA not to mention that they are made with black beans!!!!!  That might bias the taste assessment, don’t you think!??)

But, after this post, I probably won’t be able to get anyone to taste my brownies.  LOL!

Category: Agave Brownies, Life Comments | No Comments »
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Posted By drsao on January 27, 2010

I love Bonnie Hunter’s new book LEADERS AND ENDERS.  I looked at every page and as I did I realized that I wanted to make EVERYTHING that I saw – but the one quilt that REALLY REALLY REALLY grabbed my attention was MAD CITY MAMA.  I have to make this one.

You see, I have this absolute PASSION for 1 1/2″ squares – ever since I made my BIRTH OF A SAMPLER QUILT in 2008 with Sherry Whitford!  So, as a diligent Bonnie fan, for the past two years,  I have been cutting all of my tiniest scraps into 1 1/2″ squares or 1 1/2″ strips in anticipation of a new project and now I have a WHOLE BOX full.  TA DA…..Mad City Mama just screamed at me – PICK ME – and so I have been sewing 1 1/2″ squares and strips together  for 3 days.  Tonight I decided to put some pieces together so that I could ooh and ahh over  my first block.

Mad City Grandmama

Pretty cute, huh – and it only took me three days!!!  LOL.  I renamed mine MAD CITY GRANDMAMA because my block  is a variation of Bonnie’s Mad City Mama – I am not putting the 2 1/2″ square on the outer corners of the strip blocks to form a complete SNOWBALL BLOCK – I am just putting mine on the inside to make the STAR POP.

OK – so that is my excitement for the day – I am LOVING THIS !!!!  It was SO HARD for me to make my first scrappy quilt – but now it is my favorite.  There are so many STORIES in this block – left over twosies and four patches from my Birth of a Sampler and blue and white Piece and Plenty quilts – bits and pieces from Thimbleberry and Moda BOM quilts  and some from leftover fabric that I used to make quilts for my parents,  brothers and grandangels too.    There are 129 pieces in this ONE BLOCK and every fabric represents an sao memory – now that is what I call FUN!!!

I decided to make this into a MATH PROBLEM for my grandangels – so I asked them HOW LONG they thought it would take me to make this quilt if it took me 3 days to make one block.  The conclusion – at least two months!!!  🙂  STAY TUNED!

Category: Mad City Grandmama, Quilts in Progress | 7 Comments »
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Posted By drsao on January 25, 2010

Just when I am CERTAIN that I cannot muster another laugh out of my weary body, day three of the marathon of fun began and I am SURE that Catherine, Carmen and I did not stop laughing for more than a minute or two the entire day!  Have you ever had a day like this when EVERYTHING was funny???

The DAY began with lunch – and oh my was it a lunch to remember for all time!  We went to Panera’s where Catherine, Carmen and I had visions of YUMMINESS swarming through our heads.  We laughed about the CUSTOMER SERVICE – or lack thereof – all the way through our meal.  First the two women (girls) were so busy talking that it took them a bit to finish their conversation in order to take our orders.  Really, it was funny and I EVEN APOLOGIZED for interrupting them – but even that little hint didn’t stop them.  We waited patiently……and after they finished their conversation we ordered.

Then they got our orders all wrong and several orders were partially spread out on other plates.  The person doing the plate presentation must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed and was clearly irritated and frustrated with us for wanting our orders corrected.  My order was sans the apple that I ordered,  and when I mentioned that I ordered an apple  SHE GRABBED an apple off another tray and somehow splashed it a bit  in my soup…..no kidding.  She forgot my pickle too and so Catherine went back to get my pickle for me  (AWWW – IS THAT NICE OR WHAT!)

 I repaid Catherine’s kindness by TRYING TO SHARE MY APPLE WITH HER.  I borrowed Catherine’s knife  – you guessed it, they forgot to give me one – and in the process of cutting the apple I squirted Catherine – NOT ONCE BUT WITH EACH CUT OF THE APPLE – yes, she was quilte adorned with multiple sprays of  apple juice.  WHO EVER HEARD OF AN APPLE SQUIRTING ITS JUICE!!!!!

The lunch was quite enjoyable albeit we had to endure multiple obstacles…but ya know – it just made it ALL THE MORE FUN.  I did worry a bit that I had been abandoned though because after lunch, Carmen and Catherine got separated from me and they were admiring brownies or cookies somewhere and we  went out DIFFERENT DOORS *I didn’t have my GPS WITH ME – and I walked ALL AROUND THE PARKING LOT OUTSIDE PANERA trying to find Carmen’s car…..but it all ended well!  I found them before they got away!!!!!

Catherine took us to witness an ATC Exchange at Quilting Adventure and I have to say that I was absolutely awed by the artistic creativity of the members of this group.  Catherine is CERTAIN that Carmen and sao are going to continue with this artistic group – but to tell you the truth, I don’t think I am in this league of artistry!  I really was so impressed with the 2 x 3 1/2″ artists trading cards though and the MEMBERS were so nice as to gift Carmen and I with their mini-works of art!  It was obvious that they had spent HOURS making these miniature masterpieces…..I took LOTS of pictures!!!!

After the ATC Exchange Carmen took us into Richmond to see a quilt and art exhibit at ART WORKS.  Wow, I didn’t even know the place existed – but it was quite interesting to see the art quilts and other things on display there.  WHAT FUN WE HAD.

I hope you enjoy the pictures!  I really had a good time and I only hope that the apple juice doesn’t permanently stain Catherine’s shirt!  I think Carmen may have made a mental note to make sure that sao’s isn’t invited along on any future outings that involves eating!  🙂

Category: ATC EXCHANGE, CATHERINE, Life Comments, Quilting Adventure | 1 Comment »
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