No Sewing - But Lots of Family Fun

This was a NO SEW Weekend

Instead it was our Family's Annual Get-Together. 

Usually we go camping but we were droughted out.  Yep - I made that a word up.

Instead of being rained out, we were droughted out since the State of California turned off the water to the Campsites (meaning no flush toilets! Just those porta-pottys).

So we had a Park Adventure with Visiting, BBQing & Games.

And of course one great big group photo!

Two of my nephews are newly married/engaged so it was great to include the new gals into our group.  

Now on to my bad news - my sewing machine is still not fixed. The owner of the shop is working in a different city and his wife - who speaks limited English told me that it might be the computer.  I think that is what she said - she's very hard to understand.  So I'm waiting a bit longer to see what is going to happen. Will they fix it?  Will I have to go pick it up and take it somewhere else for service?  Will this be the end of my love of affair with my Babylock?

In the meanwhile I worked a bit on my cross-stitch.  

I did not keep up with my promise to work on it each day - just too hard with all the company from out of town at my house. 

I do hope you are doing better than me with your projects.

Happy Stitching,

Linda

Oh I almost forgot to say: I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced.

Doing Things the Turtle Way

I feel like I'm moving like a turtle with my Hawaiian Turtles - slowly!  And if that's not bad enough, my sewing machine needs fixing - again - before I can use it to machine applique the waves and turtles on. 

I've applied Heat and Bond to the turtles and cut them out.  This is the easiest way to do machine applique - in my opinion.  

I promised myself I would work on my bird cross stitch everyday, even if it's only a few stitches.  I've made it one week! 

There was one finish for this week;
Violet made her own bag.  
I love the chevron print she used for the pocket and the strap.  

Violet and her purse 4/18/15

All and all, it was a good week for sewing fun.  I hope to have my machine back tomorrow.

Happy Stitching!
Linda

Linking up with Freshy Pieced. 

Hawaiian Quilt - Loving that BLUE

Good thing I'm not in a race - cause I would LOSE big time.

I am in this to enjoy it, and I'm winning.

Here's my cut out of the "waves" for the Hawaiian Quilt. 

I have the sweetiest little Niece (she marred now but still little to me) and she says, in her sweet little sing-song voice:  "I love blue, light blue, dark blue, teal, aquamarine",....on and on as she describes every shade of blue under the sun. 

That is how I feel about this fabric.  

I love every shade of blue in it. 

I'm not going to hand applique this one.  I thought long and hard about this.  I had to explain to myself - that although Hawaiian Quilts are traditionally hand sew. I do not have that in me, my wrist and hands would hurt too much.  

So I will be stitching this on the machine.  

I'm thinking of buying applique pins so that I can pin it down nice & neatly.
(Usually I use Heat & Bond -  Great Suff!)

Happy Stitching,
Linda

I can't believe I had this good idea.

So I thought I would start working on the Hawaiian Turtle Quilt.

When one makes a Hawaiian Quilt the fabric is folded in such a way the one only needs to cut a portion of the whole pattern - sort of like cutting snowflakes or paper dolls.

Right before I started to cut - I remembered some story about a quilter cutting her good fabric and being upset that it didn't work.

Well - as you can see from the above picture that exactly what happened to me!

Only - I was smart enough to cut it from paper first.  I used one of those weekly grocery ads. 

I can't believe I had that good idea! 

My second try worked much better. (I paid closer attention to the instructions!  As you know that usually helps!  hahaha)

See?  One whole piece.  Next step to cut my fabric.  

Also I've been working on a cross stitch. I started this on the plane to Hawaii.  It is so little I can only do a little bit at a time and then my eyes hurt.

Happy Stitching,

Linda

Linking up with Freshly Pieced - WIP Wednesdays. 

Fun Times and Fun Pictures

Howdy Everyone!

I have to share this picture with you.

On Easter day I asked Lily for a hug - you know she's just over a year old and I didn't even know if she even knew how to hug - 

To my delight she did! She came right over to me, crawled in my lap and hugged me.

My daughter captured the moment.  

Lily is such a little doll. 

Over the weekend I worked on making a cover for our camping mattress.  

I just used some old sheets.  I wanted something easy to take off and clean, that wouldn't show the dirt. This will work. 

Glad to be rid of those crazy sheets!

I got a good laugh out of this; when we parked at our local restaurant for breakfast - it looked like the vehicle next to us was being driven by a dog - and the one next to it was being driven by a dog too! 

Just too funny.

And lastley - a picture of Lily - she has just started walking but she can kick that ball!!

Troy is so good with her - giving her all the time she needs to make a goal. 

Okay - so that's it for me, 

Show me your good times.

Happy Stitching,

Linda

Super Easy Cheese Broccoli Soup

I have to share with you this super yummy soup recipe.

My sister gave me the recipe.  As I was making this, I was looking into the pot and I realized that I don't really care for tomatoes. Neither does hubby.  Hmmm.... Why did I believe my sister when she said I would like it??

Well, because it so GOOD!  We both loved it and have made it again.  And it's so easy.

So here's her recipe

2 cans chicken broth.  (I used 3 cups of water and 3 bouillon cubes)

1 Can Rotel Tomatoes (Rotel has the green chile in with the tomatoes) 

Lots of broccoli flowerettes 

4 oz Velveeta cheese

Throw it together, let it simmer enough to cook the broccoli. (5 mins ?)

Eat and enjoy. 

Hubby was worried it would be too spicy  - but it wasn't .  

I do hope you try this and let me know if you like it.

Happy Soup Making,

Linda

Saving 20 Bucks - Hawaiian Place Mats

Yippie Kiyai!

Here are my Hawaiian Place Mats. 

Remember my hubby wanted to buy some for $37.00?

And Remember he had doubts I could make them?

I laid them out on top my tablecloth for the picture (and there's my daughter's birthday gift in the picture too).

Okay - admittedly, I did have to figure out how to make them.  But it was easy.  

I made a paper pattern - cut all my pieces out (including batting)

I sewed them up,  trimming the batting close the the seam and turned them inside out. Then I stitched up the opening and top stitched.  Yeah, it was that easy.  And fun too!

As I was stitching I was watching my bobbin thread and my spool of thread.  I ran out of bobbin, just as I finished sewing, and look how much was left on my top spool.

That's cutting it pretty close isn't it?  

The fabrics cost me about $17.00.  

So that's how I saved $20.00 - by making them instead of buying pre-made ones. 

And just so you know - Lily, my most sweetest little granddaughter turned 1 last month.

She's a cutie!!  She's in her birthday tutu.  Her Mama makes and sells them. 

Also it's Friday Night Sew-in! So now - let's go sew something else!

Happy Stitching, 

Linda