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Monday, August 29, 2011

Goodie Swap 2011

I have to tell you about the current swap I'm participating in.
is hosting this fun event.
Cindy is from Ireland.
Which I think is wonderful!
Ireland and Scotland are on my bucket list.
Scotland, of course, because I'm part Scotish
and Ireland (and you're probably going to laugh) because
ever since I saw PS I Love You,
I have been in love with Ireland.
I look at pictures all the time and just feel so at peace
whenever I look at them.
It's beautiful!
Some day....

So, what I love about this swap is the fact that I have no idea
who has my name.  And I love that the names I have
also have no idea I'm their secret 'stalker'.
We each get two swap partners.
I'm taking this week to get to 'know' my partners
to make sure I come up with the best swap goodies I can for them.
We will each make a mug rug and a 'goodie' (pin cushion, bag, pillow, etc
just some fun goodie that's  handmade).

Here's my mosaic I created with a few of the things that tickle my fancy

But to be honest, I will be happy with anything.
Any time someone takes time out of their day
to do something just for you,
well, that's pretty special all in itself.

So, THANK YOU, Cindy for hosting such a great swap!
This is going to be a great time!

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Thank you, Melissa!!

I have to say 
that I am pretty blessed.
Through blogging, I have met a great friend.

She continually inspires me to think outside the box.
I'm such a rule follower that it's hard for me to
'color outside the lines' 
so to speak.
But reading Melissa's blog inspires me
to get a little crazy.
(Plus she is a huge animal lover like myself)
Though I 'm not ready to post any of my craziness yet,
I can show you what she sent me in the mail!


All these lovely Sis Boom scraps to welcome me to
Sis Boom Sisterhood!!
I just purchased
Girl's World by Jennifer Paganelli
(of Sis Boom).
Now, mind you, I don't have any little girls,
but this book was too cute to pass up!
And I do have little nieces I can sew for as well.
Hopefully, I will one day have granddaughters too.
But I had to take a picture of the book with all the luscious scraps
Melissa sent to me.
What a nice surprise!!  Melissa, you completely made my day!

Here's something I whipped up last night from some of the scraps.


I'm not quite sold on the button yet.  
I think because it's a bit off center.
We'll see if I keep it.

And I realized I needed something
trustworthy to guard all this precious fabric
when I'm not in my sewing room.
Lucky for me, the book had a pattern for this cute little gal.


And of course, she had to be pink
and made out of Sis Boom fabric that I recently purchased.
So what girl isn't complete without her bling?


That keeps her on her toes while she guards all the fabric.
She is stationed on the shelf to keep watch.


I think thieves will be afraid of her, should they come in and try and steal my fabric.
She is rough and tough.
What should I name her?

I took a picture of her on my phone and sent it to my sister and my cousin.
They both want a guard dog now.
I did make them each one, but since this post is dedicated to Sis Boom,
and the dogs are made out of other material from my stash,
they will be posted at a later date.
:o)
I will end this post with a picture of the opposite side of the pillow I made from
the fabric Melissa sent me along with my dog.


Now if you're interested in learning more about Sis Boom
you can click here.
Trust me, you will get hooked.
This is all so scrumptious
that you will have a  hard time saying, "NO".
Check out stores in Etsy
if you would like to purchase
the fabrics.  Just search either Sis Boom,
or Jennifer Paganelli and you'll get all kinds of stores
to lure you in.
I purchased Girl's World from Amazon, if you're interested.
It truly is a great book.  Beautifully designed,
great patterns and pages among pages of inspiration!

Melissa,
Thank you for just being you.
I think you are pretty darn awesome.

Until the next adventure!
xoxo
Cindy

PS  
This posting was not sponsored by anyone.
This is my own free will review.
I'm kind of like that.
When I believe in something,
I just share it with no expectation.
It's kind of one of those things that makes the world go round
in an old fashioned way.
:o)

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Exciting Stuff

Before I forget, I need to post the mug rug
I received from my swap partner, Lissy.
The swap was hosted by Jenna at

Isn't it pretty?  And she sent me a lovely postcard from where she lives too.
I was pretty lucky!

I participated in my first Friday Night Sew-In last night.
(as mentioned in the post below)
This is hosted monthly by Heidi.
I highly recommend doing this.  It was fun just knowing
there were other quilters, crafters and creators out there
doing their own thing.

There's a groups of us ladies at work that joined Weight Watchers.
It's going GREAT!
But we all needed something to carry all the information in.
Things like our points calculators, weekly pamphlets, etc.
So I utilized my Friday Night Sew-In to make the last of the
bags and pouches to finish our group.
(Yeah...they are lucky to have me!)
KIDDING!

Here's the pouch & bag I made
for the last of my group.

I also had a bridal shower today for my cousin.  I wanted to put
something handmade in the gift, so I made her these appliqued tea towels.
I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.
I think she liked them.  :o)


Now...if any of you are interested in participating in a fun swap,
head on over here. It looks to be a good one!
You'll have two partners to send to.  (and 2 will send to you) Each will receive a mug rug 
along with another homemade goodie.
The fun is that you have no idea who will be sending to you!
It won't be the same one's you're assigned to gift.
I love the mysteriousness of it all.
Sign up end August 26th.

Later, Gater!
xoxo
Cindy

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Friday Night Sew-In

First, if some of you just received an email update,
I apologize for the confusion.
I hit 'publish' when I meant to delete.
So I'm sure it made absolutely no sense.
Ugh...

For anyone that's interested,
I just found this AWESOME idea
from another blogger.
I signed up.
It's going to be fun!

Click the Friday Night Sew-In button on my right side bar.
Check it out and join the fun!

Heidi's website is here.

Have fun!!

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Recipe Time with the Pioneer Woman


First - this photo is from the Pioneer Woman website.
Does this Greek salad not look absolutely scrumptious?! 
I have a family reunion today and this is what I'm going to take.
You can find the recipe here.

I would post the recipe on here, but incase you haven't checked out
Ree Drummond, you really need to, so I'm kind of forcing you to visit her.
You will love me for this.
I promise.
The link to her website is here.
You will NOT be disappointed.
She is hilarious!

Enjoy browsing her site and have a GREAT day!

Until the next adventure...
xoxo
Cindy

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Country Living

Hey everybody!!
And WELCOME to the new followers!
Thank you so much for thinking I'm interesting enough to hang out with.
I just think that is so sweet!
xoxo 

You know, I get asked a lot why I like living in the middle of nowhere.
But I LOVE it.
It's quiet.
It's welcoming.
It's just me and my family.
(and I know that's not proper English, but we're among friends, right?)
But we're never alone long.
People have found our secret.
And like to come enjoy our paradise.
But we absolutely love to share it.

I get to wake up to beautiful skies like this
(and for a better view of the picture, just click to enlarge)

I get to hang my 'grannie panties' out if I want to and no one will know!
No worries...I saved your eyes....I didn't hang them on the line today.

I can look out my kitchen window and see my 'friends'

I can let this random squash grow that my little (big) dog, Sadie, plants for me.
(This is the second year it's happened)
And no nosey neighbors stop by to 'remind' me I have a squash growing out of place.

I can sit out on the front porch and watch the beauty of nature unfold

I can enjoy putting random groupings together of 'old' things and it fits right in.

I can look out any window and have the perfect view

And when I lift up my prayers at night
to give thanks for such a loving place to live
I can look up in the sky and know that we'll always be taken care of
no matter where we live.

Now, we don't live in a big, fancy house.
It's an old farm house we've been working on for the last 13 years.
But it's turned into our paradise.
It's a continual work in progress
and we love every minute of it.
And my cousin, Mary, wasn't kidding when she first saw it
and said, "This is the money pit!"
Yep...sure is!
I think I will put a tin can at the end of the lane and ask for donations.
JUST KIDDING!!!

Until the next adventure!
XOXO
Cindy

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Doll Quilt, Sewing Room & Corn!

Did you think I fell off the face of the earth?
Almost!
LOL

 It seems to never stop being busy.
But I know I need to just stop
and s.l.o.w. down.
First, I have to post my doll quilt that I received
from Wendy.  I absolutely LOVE this
and I love the fact that she made it to match my sewing room.
This swap was sponsored by Christine at
Thank you, Christine, for hosting such a fun & fabulous swap!
And thank you, Wendy, for this amazing quilt!

I don't believe I ever posted pictures from my "almost" finished
sewing room.  I still have a few things in mind, but I'll show you
what I current have going on with this.

My sewing area:

My cutting table:

My fabric center.
Okay...fabric is here and in baskets all over the room.
But, fortunately, pictures can hide what you don't want
the world to see...if you angle your camera right.
LOL

And more storage, and of course,
exercise ball information,
cause a girls gotta look good!
It's hanging on my closet door...
...in hopes that one day....
I'll do it
*wink*

And what girl's room isn't complete without
an amazing selection of chic flicks to watch while she's creating.
There are very few flicks I'll purchase at full price.
Normally, I wait for them to go on the $5 rack at WalMart.
Yeah...I can be cheap.
But these....I am on the waiting list for each new movie that comes out:

GO TEAM EDWARD!!!
Can y'all wait for November for the first movie from Breaking Dawn?
I CAN'T!!!
(Okay..I'm from Iowa, but every now and then, my southern accent comes out from my previous life)
LOL

So I missed getting in the drawing for Rachel's (from PS I Quilt) giveaway on her
synchronized square quilt along, but I have done all of her quilt along's 
and didn't want to be left out of this one.  So here's my finished quilt top.

If you notice, on the chair, is the Postage Stamp quilt from Rachel's last quilt along.
My sweet cousin, Mary, quilted it for me and she did an AWESOME job.
I just have to put the binding on it and it's finished!  :o)

And now on to the corn.
(Have you ever seen the movie, Children of the Corn?  Yeah...freaky!)
My most wonderful friend, Julie S. has a brother
that grew some sweet corn.  This stuff tastes AMAZING!
And take note of the time on my oven clock.
That is PM.
I was up until almost 2:00 AM freezing corn.
But it was SO worth it.
It's  THAT good!
Thank you, Julie!

And here's a handy trick I learned from a website I found. 
I highly recommend checking this website out 
if you're preparing your own stash of homegrown goodies!

And how did I cut it off the cob?  Well, my husband thinks
I need to get one of the fancy schmancy corn cob cutters,
but I'm all about saving space.
Okay...Okay....those of you that know me
understand that I am a bit of a hoarder,
 BUT I'm working on that.  :o)
So, I use this to get the kernels off the cob whenever I freeze corn:

Yep...my good 'ol electric knife.
Great stress reliever. 
:o)

And here is the start of the finished product.
When all was said and done, I ended up with 26 quart bags to put in the freezer.
Life is good.

I hope all is going well in your life.
Until the next adventure....
xoxo
Cindy