ALMOST HAPPY 4TH of JULY

I have to say, this may be almost too late but I had to share.  I made this for a church Bazaar at the end of April but it is the technique I wanted to share.  This pattern is called Land of Liberty by Debbie Mumm.  It can be downloaded for free from her website.  Look under free projects.  You might want to browse a bit there also!

Anyway, what I did for the wavy part of the flag is I just used red and white striped fabric and fan folded it a bit off kilter into a piece that would be large enough to accommodate that part of the pattern. I ironed it very well to hold the creases and then I used a bit of Unique Stitch glue here and there to hold in place.  I didn’t want it totally stuck together because I wanted it to look like it was waving in the breeze and give a little texture to the wall hanging.  Once it was cut out according to the pattern directions I just sewed it in as if it were one solid piece.  I loved the way it turned out and the lady that bought it, really looked it over trying to figure out how I did it.  It sold for $45 and I was thrilled to be able to contribute. 

I also made two quick table runners that were so simple using the same red and white stripes.  I had a couple Friendship Star blocks left over from a project and put them on the ends of a piece of that striped fabric, put a little sashing around it to make it bigger  and then quilted it and binded it. Sewed on 4 star buttons in the corners and WALA…instant table runner.  The other one is just scrap pieces sewed together and quilted.  These also sold for $45 each.  WooHoo 

This is on the display board along with many wonderful things for the bazaar.

Here is the quilt I made also for the Bazaar.  I made it queen size and included the Pillow Shams and also the pillow for them.  They sold raffle tickets on it.  I have no idea how many tickets they sold but they were happy.  I am always excited to help some organization make money.

This is actually being displayed on my dining room table before we took it to the bazaar.

AND for my electronic cutting machine friends...here is a simple little SVG for the 4th of July.  This will come in 4 pieces on your mat when you upload the SVG.  The red part has the star holes cut into it so whatever color  you use as a background is what will show through the stars.  Don't forget to keep those little stars that are cut out!  

CLICK HERE to download SVG

Have a very safe and wonderful holiday!

LET'S GO CAMPING!

I guess this is the time of year to go camping.  To tell you the truth, no matter how cute a camper is...I do not like camping.  Give me a nice motel and have someone cook and do the dishes for me and I will be just fine.  That is my idea of a relaxing vacation or weekend.  Otherwise...I will do my own cooking and dish washing from the comforts of my own kitchen.   I cannot in my wildest imagination think why I would want to get food and supplies, pack up the camper with all sorts of things, pack some more, then finally drive and drive to get to the campsite. unpack everything, cook all the meals...bitching complaining about the mosquitoes and how hot it is and then pack it all back up again and drive and drive just to get home and unpack everything...and it all stinks like mildew!    Oh, boy...what fun we had. 


I know you can hear the sarcasm but really we can have fun right in our own back yard and we do!  We have a fire pit surrounded by flowers which do attract bees but DH sprays for all those nasty things.  We grill right outside the front door on the deck.  I can eat at the table by the AC if I want to or out on the deck.  I can sleep in my own bed, sit in my own chair and if I really truly want to scare the coyotes...I can sing around the campfire.  The coffee is always hot and the beer is always cold.


Our girls love to come home and actually stay home when they are here.  They love "camping" at home.  Hmmmmm...maybe they haven't caught on to us yet.  

Now this wasn't always easy to pull off.  Nope...not when you have young children.  You have to expose them to all the fun things in life.  You have to allow them to experience life.  This is how we went camping "MOMMA STYLE" around 25 years ago.



OK, girls....aren't we having fun at the lake!  You just eat those Popsicles and make sure to wash off when you're done.







Well, girls that was quite a day at the lake, you settle down in those tomato ketchup sleeping bags and Dad will take care of those nasty snakes and mosquitoes.  You never know how many there are in the dining room!

As the girls got older we even let them fill their own lake!  Can it get any more fun camping?

 

Oops, girls, you will have to take turns in that lake!  Play nice.
Learn to share.  Not everyone can go for a dip in the lake at once.



That's better.  Big sister let little sister in first.  What a life...cooling off AND camping in North Dakota...MOMMA STYLE

 Well, after telling you and showing you how we camp, (I camp?) I thought I would share this little camper design for those that have electronic cutting machines.   I did this one for a lady on one of my boards. 

CLICK HERE to download SVG.

TRASHING THE DECK

I have a friend that loves to mosaic anything and everything. If her grandkids would slow down I am sure their little behinds would have bits and pieces glued all over them....probably do anyway!
Her latest endeavor was buying bowling balls. She says she bought 11 of them which rolled around in her van for a few days before she was able to unload them. I wonder if every time she turned a corner she yelled, "Strike"! 

Anyway, she is one talented lady with whom I have went to garage sales with.  We definitely needed a bus to take home all the things she found last time.  We had to cut her back a little or we would have had to tie her to the top of the Blazer to get home. This year we might have to! 

I want to share some of the neat things she has on her deck and in her apartment.  She has a true gift for repurposing things...hence Trash to Treasure!  She lives on the second floor of a beautiful old building on Main Street of her small town.  She has it decorated just so adorable.  She loves gardening but she did not have the room to do that so she had a deck added on to her apartment.  It is about 16 x 25 and she recently also put a roof over it.  It is cozy!



This is an old lampshade that is now a
planter hanging from the ceiling on her deck. 
Did you notice how she also has lights strung thru the rafters?




This is one little corner of her paradise.



This was an old table she found and now it has
fabric squares decoupaged on top of it.
How cute is that to have a permanent
table cloth on your outdoor table?
You can use Outdoor Modge Podge for a project like this.



This is an old baby crib made into a vanity to
hold the old kitchen sink she found.   So yes, she has
everything, including the kitchen sink!
She does use it for potting her plants.



I see someone is just NUTS about getting mail.



These strange orbs keep showing up everywhere!




Interesting ceiling!  Believe it or not, it's big sheets
of cardboard that were discarded from her employer. 
She nailed it to the ceiling and did some fancy
painting on it.  Who knew!
Those windows are between two rooms in her
apartment.   It apparently held several offices at
one time.



This is a little dresser that she did mosaic on.  She has a nice tea set sitting on it.

She put just the edges of little plates
all over the top of the dresser. 
I wish everyone could see it up close and real...it is
very beautiful!

I have a lot of family and friends that

seem to like old junk and old things

and are always ready to fix them up. 

I am one lucky person to be

surrounded with people like that. 

They treat me the same way!

THE SUITCASE

Someone was looking for a suitcase to use as a cover for a book.  This was the best I could come up with.  All the pieces are separate.


CLICK HERE for to download SVG.



THE TREE

I made this tree for someone on my boards asking for a vintage Weeping Willow.  I have no idea what a vintage Weeping Willow would look like but I have seen something similar to this somewhere.  I hope someone can use it.

CLICK HERE to download SVG

FLYING DUCKS

All right…I am alive. My Goodness I have not blogged since February. That was the last time just after I had been stranded in a snow bank and was rescued by DH. A lot has happened since then and maybe I will let you in on all that someday when I am seeking pity.


OK…and why do I have so much time on my hands tonight? I am sitting here trying to keep dry. I am glad that DH took me for a little ride down our roads to see if they were even open. Well, they all had water rushing over them and we could not tell if there was a road under them or not. We had just gotten our only other way out of our farm fixed 1 week ago. We were thrilled to know we had another way out again if the east road finally gave out. Hmmm…what were we thinking to be so optimistic? I for one will NOT drive through rushing water late at night just to get to work. Not that I don’t want to be there…I just happen to enjoy my life a little better than I like my job.


The local sheriff said on the news tonight that all rural roads were supposed to be closed. That would definitely be me.


I don’t have it as bad as western ND. There are 12,000 people being evacuated from their homes and they are not sure when they will be back. Thank Goodness our National Guard will be watching the place for them. If we only had a way of channeling all that water down to AZ, most of our problems would be solved. Well, at least a good portion of them.


What finally prompted me to finally blog was 1. I had the night off and 2. Someone on one of my boards asked for a cutting design of a duck flying out of the water. Well, how appropriate because I see ducks flying out of water trying to find dry land right now.

Here is the SVG of the Flying Ducks. Both of these ducks are in one SVG. Just split them and delete the one you don’t want...or use both. Please email me if this doesn't work. I am trying Windows Live to share my files. 

CLICK HERE to download SVG