I'm Back!!

Wow! I can't believe I am finally able to post here again. Due to a glitch with Google I have been shut out of my blog and Google acct for almost 3 years! Everything Google related, including my You Tube favs, Friend Connect etc.

I finally figured out how to get back in, but the user name was changed and now I have to login under a different email which is a long story in itself. I won't bore you with the details.

I'm crossing my fingers that there won't be any more problems with it. I can tell you, though, that if you have a problem like I had, you won't get much help from Google. I had to figure it out on my own. If you haven't added someone else to your admin for your Google acct/blog you should do that pronto!

I hope you all have a great day!
It's good to be back among the bloggers! : )

P.S. Check out this from Quiltsy Team:

The Great Quiltsy Destash Party

Starting Date: January 15th, 2016

The party ends when its all gone! (BTW they are still adding listings!)

Place: The Quiltsy Team Pages on Etsy

We are a team of quilting entrepreneurs dedicated to making quality products, advancing our love of quilting, and supporting each other. In 2016 we will be working to showcase new products and ideas, promoting our shops, and changing the way you think about quilting! All this creativity means we are opening our quilting studios up to you. Fabrics, Patterns, Quilt Books, and Kits are all available for the taking. We welcome you to start your shopping and browsing at any time by clicking on the links below.

https://www.etsy.com/pages/quiltsyteam/destash-quilt-books
https://www.etsy.com/…/quiltsyteam/destash-patterns-and-kits
https://www.etsy.com/pages/quiltsyteam/destash-fabric
https://www.etsy.com/…/exciting-new-fabrics-patterns-and-to…
https://www.etsy.com/…/quiltsy…/gifts-for-sewing-enthusiasts

Please also feel free to browse our handmade items as well at:
https://www.etsy.com/pages/quiltsyteam

Find us on Facebook here:
https://www.facebook.com/QuiltsyTeam

Thanks for stopping by and giving us a look. Happy Shopping!

Last Chance To Win!

The Giveaway
Today is the last day of the Quiltsy Giveaway!! The contest ends at midnight Central time. Don't miss your chance to win some great handmade items and get a good start on your Christmas gift list! You don't have to purchase anything or be a quilter or know how to sew to enter this contest. Below is a photo of some of the prizes you could win. Table runners, pot holders, make-up pouches, card holders, e-reader covers, purses and more.

See the button at the top right? That will take you to the team blog where you'll see how to enter. (or click on The Giveaway ) The prizes total $500. Prizes include a $100 gift card as well as many items handmade by Quiltsy members.
Take a few minutes to enter and check out the Quiltsy shops while you're at it. I hope you win something!!

About Quiltsy
I stole this next part from a previous post : )
Quiltsy is a team of quilters/sewers who make a variety of quilted and sewn items to sell on Etsy. From business card holders to king size quilts, there's something for everyone. Quiltsy members are so talented and we have several members who have been published and others who are award winning quilters. If you want something created with quilting or sewing, someone on the team can most likely do it for you. Many Quiltsy members love a challenge and take custom orders. The name Quiltsy is synonymous with quality.

Quiltsy is not just a team who promote and support each other in our Etsy shops. For those who are comfortable with sharing their personal lives, we support each other in the ups and downs of daily life. Quiltsy members are always ready to help each other. If someone has a question there is usually another member who has the answer or knows where to find it.

When you visit the Quiltsy blog you'll find stories about activities we've been involved in, including donating the proceeds from the sale of a bra quilt, made by team members, to Breast Cancer Research. Come on over to the team blog and get to know Quiltsy Team.

When you shop on Etsy, I invite you to shop Quiltsy first. Just type quiltsyteam into the search bar on Etsy. : )

Have a great day!
P.S. You can also find Quiltsy here:

http://pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=Quiltsy
http://www.facebook.com/QuiltsyTeam

Evolving On Etsy and A Quiltsy Giveaway

When I opened my Etsy shop I didn't know how to make good photos. I opened with an inventory of tea cozies, fabric postcards and burp cloths. The pics of the burp cloths were horrible. I'm surprised I even sold any. The pics of the postcards were OK, since I just scanned them into the computer and cropped them

My photos are much improved since the kids gave me a camera about three years ago. It took me a little while to learn how to edit them, but now they look pretty good. See My Etsy Shop to the right.

My shop has evolved over the past two-three years. I started making hooded towel sets that include two burp cloths and a couple of washcloths like the one you see below. They have been a good addition to my shop.

I've had more sales this past year than in previous years. That is due in part to a wonderful group of people called Quiltsy Team.  As members of Quiltsy, we support each other and help promote each other's shops.

Quiltsy is a team of quilters/sewers who make a variety of quilted and sewn items to sell on Etsy. From business card holders to king size quilts, there's something for everyone. Quiltsy members are so talented and we have several members who have been published and others who are award winning quilters. If you want something created with quilting or sewing, someone on the team can most likely do it for you. Many Quiltsy members love a challenge and take custom orders. The name Quiltsy is synonymous with quality.

Here's the fun part! This week Quiltsy is having a Giveaway Contest, the 15th-21st. See the button at the top right. That will take you to the team blog where you'll see how to enter. (or click here http://teamquiltsy.blogspot.com/ ) The prizes total $500. Prizes include a $100 gift card as well as many items handmade by Quiltsy members.

Take a few minutes to enter and check out the Quiltsy shops while you're at it. I hope you win something!!

Have a great day!

Meet Miss Lucy and Gracie

I promised to come back and post photos of some of my vintage machines (see previous blog post titled "My Collection"). So here I am, but first I want to tell you a little story.

I planned the trip to pick up the machines so that I would be picking up the Janome Sew Mini first. I had a twenty dollar bill ready to pay for it. Then I was going to go to the bank on the way to get the vintage machine and get change for a $100 bill so I could pay $40 for the vintage machine.

Life being what it is I got a late start that day and decided I'd better go and get the vintage machine first since that lady had plans later and I was afraid I wouldn't get there in time if I went there last.

So off I go with my older sister and my little three year old granddaughter along for the ride. We get to the house where the vintage machine is and the lady is such a nice person. We loaded the machine in my trunk and talked for about twenty minutes about Etsy and that she has a booth where she sells antiques. She took some of my cards to hand out, gave my granddaughter a Barbie doll and we started to leave.

As I turned to get in my car, the lady said "you need to pay me". Oh no! I forgot to pay her! So I apologized PROFUSELY and got the money out of my purse. You guessed it...the twenty dollar bill. Then she said "it was $40." So there I was, apologizing profusely AGAIN! I was SO embarrassed!  How uncomfortable it must have been for her to have to remind me to pay her and then to also have to remind me to pay the right amount! I must say, she was very gracious about it. I felt so bad that I gave her a business card with a 10% discount code on it.

All I can say is that it was a senior moment. I guess my brain was still in plan A mode and didn't get the memo that there was a change in plan. I was all set to pay that $20 to the first person I went to. geez!

OK, now for the fun part. Let me introduce you....

                                                to Miss Lucy.
Miss Lucy was made by Southern Pride. Her cabinet is in very nice condition and there are some spaces in the door on the front for spools, bobbins and other small items. I'm not sure how old she is since I haven't found much information about her yet, but I'll keep looking. Miss Lucy is the vintage machine that I bought on Thursday...the one I forgot to pay for. : /

This is Gracie. She is a Singer 99K and was born in 1955. She's a year younger than me! Gracie is between a full size and a featherweight.  She needs to be serviced, but is such a pretty little machine. Gracie is one of the six machines my husband bought for me for a birthday present a couple of years ago. I'll have to come back another day and show you some of the others.

I am really having fun with all these vintage machines. If you have vintage machines I'd love to hear about them.

Have a great day! Happy sewing!

My Collection

Some women collect teapots, cookbooks, dolls, bottles, books, friends on FaceBook, shoes and clothes. Some women even collect husbands. What do I collect? I love old sewing machines. Yeah, those old vintage sewing machines. I have at least 16 vintage machines. I can't tell you off the top of my head what all of them are, but most of them are from 40-75 years old. I don't have them all up and running, but that is my goal when I retire.

To name a few, I have a black Singer 99K, a green Singer 185J and there is one treadle machine among them. The majority of them are Singers. No they don't sing, they are made by the Singer Sewing Machine Co.  Sorry, I couldn't resist!

 I also have two that are from the '80s and one sewing/embroidery machine that was manufactured in 2005. I could've bought a car for what I paid for that one. The least expensive one is a Singer 401 that I bought at a yard sale for $5. Yeah, $5. It doesn't have a cord, but I turned the wheel by hand and it does sew. I just have to get a cord for it and have it serviced.

I particularly like the old black sewing machines. I guess that's because that's what my Mama had, an old black Singer. I believe it is a model 66. One of my sisters has it.

My husband bought 6 of the vintage machines for me for my birthday a couple of years ago. I haven't looked at Craig's list since then because I know I can't resist the old machines. : )

Then a couple of days ago, I looked...and found two machines that I HAD to have. A full size Southern Pride (black with gold decorations) in a cabinet and a Janome Sew Mini still in the box. The Sew Mini is one that you can buy new, but this one was a steal! It has never been opened and I thought it would be a good one to use in teaching our granddaughter to sew when she's a little older. What to do....Would hubby let me have more? Where would we put them? Who cares! I HAVE to have them! LOL Just kidding, but you know what I mean. : ) Update: As I learn more about sewing machines, I know that I would never buy one of these plastic machine again. The old girls are so much better, even for teaching little ones to sew. Live and learn.)

I emailed and found that they were both still available, made arrangements to pick up the Southern Pride. I decided that maybe I would sneak it in and tell hubby later. (insert evil laugh and rubbing hands together)

I had saved the web pages for the two machines on my desktop. Then I decided I'd hide them til I got up the nerve to talk to hubby about them...after I bought them. : )  I mean, really, what man in his right mind would want 19 sewing machines in the house?

Too late! He'd already seen them. Oh no! He came in, sat down at the computer and said "I thought you had some sewing machines on here" I said "I did, I put them in a folder."(I showed him where they were) He clicked on the black and gold one and said "this one looks really good and it's a good price too. You need to get this one. What about the other one?" I told him about the Sew Mini and he said "I'll pay for them if you'll pick them up."

That's when it went all warm and fuzzy. Don't you just love it when they "get" you? He really gets that I have this passion for vintage sewing machines and supports me all the way. I LOVE that man! I think I'll keep him another 39 years.

I'll post some photos in a few days. This post is a little long already. I have a tendency to ramble...like now. Anyway, I have a quilting retreat going on at my house for a few days starting tomorrow.  I'll tell you about that next time.

Have a great day!

Long Over Due

I am SO tardy in getting back here to report on the pear wine. It's been over a year since we made it. We didn't much like it to drink. I don't think there's enough flavor in pears to make good wine. We should know..we're experts by now...I mean...we've made it twice! 

In the last few months I have been adding some baby items to my Etsy shop and sales have started to pick up. I love making baby things, so it doesn't seem like work when I am sewing for the shop. The part I dread is making and editing the photos, writing descriptions, etc. All the things you have to do to list an item. It's very time consuming. I'd rather be sewing. : )

Last year I made purses for our girls for their birthdays. Three of them are Alabama fans and so I made theirs with black and white houndstooth with either red or crimson lining and lots of pockets.

Actually I've only made two of those.  I still have one more Bama purse to make for our oldest. Her birthday was December 23rd. She's very patient. Bless her heart. The other daughter wanted a brown canvas messenger style bag. I used an argyle print for the lining and added an adjustable strap.

Currently I am working on a custom order for pacifier clips. I just listed the samples in my shop this evening. The buyer is in New York and is working with a designer. It is potentially a large order. Maybe it will lead to other things. I could certainly use the work.

I'll try to get back soon and blog about something interesting. Maybe something exciting will happen and I won't be able to sit still til I blog about it. You think? : )

Have a great day!

Pear Wine

Our grape wine turned out so well I decided to make some pear wine. A lady in our area gave us some pears to make preserves with, but they weren't the right kind for preserves. No one in the family wanted to eat them and we don't like pear butter. Wine was the only other thing I could think of to make with them.

I have the pears in jars fermenting, along with the yeast and water. It will be ready on November 20th, just in time for Thanksgiving. It's a small batch and should yield about 1 gallon. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Have a great day!

Blogging Neglect and Making Homemade Wine

As I feared I would do, I have neglected this blog. I have had some problems with a big space between my header and the posts and didn't know how to fix it. I am very blog illerate. LOL I finally went to Blogger help and found an answer to my problem. Why didn't I think of that before?!

On a lighter note, my husband and I decided to try making wine with some grapes he was given at work. I'm not sure, but I think they may have been concorde grapes. Our wine turned out well and is really good!

The recipe he was given by a co-worker had a little too much sugar for our taste (we tried some made with the original amount, too sweet!) so we used a bit less in ours. Below you will see the"winery".  LOL

                                   

The grapes were put into a blender and then into jars. The jars each hold 2.5 qts. We then added the sugar, yeast and required amount of water. A rubber glove was placed on the jars to allow the mixture to ferment without letting any air enter the jars. We cracked quite a few jokes about our "winery" with the gloves waving at us! : D

The fermentation took 30 days. We ended up with about 1.5 gallons of beautiful red wine. The grapes we used were such a dark purple that they looked black. The wine has a beautiful magenta color....the picture below doesn't quite do justice to the color.

  

Recipe For

HomemadeWine

5c. crushed fruit

5 c. sugar

1 pkt of yeast

Place all ingredients in a gallon jar and finish filling with water. Place a rubber glove over the top of the jar to allow fermentation without letting air into the jar. You might want to duct tape the glove to the jar. Let mixture sit for 30 days. The fermentation should be finished by then and the gloves will no longer be standing at attention. : ) 

NOTE: If the glove goes flat before the 30 days is up, replace it with a new glove, it may have developed a leak or become too loose.

Strain thru several layers of cheese cloth or other cloth of your preference. We strained ours a couple of times. After straining out the fruit let it sit for a couple of days, then strain and pour it into jars or bottles. If you are careful you can pour it up without having to strain it again until the last of it where the sediment is at the bottom. We used a clean white pillow case which, of course, is no longer white. : )

Your wine can be bottled or put into canning jars like we did. Ours is not sealed since it won't be around for long. We have given some of it away and have the rest in the fridge.

This wine is VERY potent!! I found out for myself the other night when my husband poured us each a glass to drink while watching TV. I've never been drunk, tipsy or even had a buzz til that night.

I got up from the sofa to go and do some laundry and found that I had to walk slowly since I was a bit dizzy. It took a minute to realize that it was from the wine. I only drank about 8 oz, but then I'm not a drinker.

We buy a bottle of wine 2 or 3 times a year, usually Boone's Farm Fuzzy Navel. Some people laugh when Boone's Farm wine is mentioned, but we don't care, we like it. I guess that's because we don't know anything about fine wines. : )

Ok, I'm off to work on drapes, baby quilts and other such things. Have a great day!

Project Quilting Challenge "Road Trip"

It's time to vote again on Project Quilting. The challenge this time was a fun one for those who entered. and also for those of us who love to look! What am I saying??!! It's ALWAYS fun!

Again the talent displayed in this challenge is top notch. The creativity and workmanship gets better and better with each challenge.

I didn't have time to participate this time, but those who did deserve much praise and applause from the rest of us.

Click on the title of this post to check it out for yourself and please vote for and comment on  your favorite!
Public commenters have a chance to win great prizes as well. Just follow the instructions posted after the challenge entries.

Project Quilting Judges' Critiques

I received my critiques from Kim yesterday. I've never been judged before, so I was excited about this part of being in the Project Quilting Challenge. Here's what they said, along with Kim's comments.

DownHomeDesigns
Judge 1: Very nice. I would have liked to see a colored border to frame it. It looks kind of unfinished to me. 8.5 **Kim’s Comment*** I think the back you show in your etsy listing is fantastic – I like how you made it reversible so the buyer can choose – I think if this judge saw that she would think it looked finished - jmho

Judge 2: Lovely hand painted fabrics. A simple, but effective design. Some quilting in the white area would really add to the look. 6.5

Judge 3: I love your hand dyed fabrics, great shades! Having a white binding is unusual, and I think it works for this quilt. There is definitely a light, tropical feel to it, which is very pleasing. 6.75
Average Score: 7.25
**********
I really appreciate their insight and hope to learn from these challenges. I sort of limited myself in what I could do with the binding. I challenged myself to use ALL of the fabrics we were allowed to use for this project. That left me with only white for the binding after doing what I wanted to do for the front and back.

I was back and forth about using a few of the leftover 3x5s in the binding...a little touch of color here and there as it went around the quilt. Then I decided to use those few colored pieces on the back across the top and bottom, seen in this photo. They sort of gave the design a stopping place. I guess that's why I should have used the this side for the front. I actually liked it better, but listened to someone else, who shall remain nameless : P, and used the more planned design for the front. I have since regretted that decision. Oh well, we live and learn, die and forget it all, as my dear MIL used to say. : )

Can't wait to see what the next challenge will be! I'm hoping to be a little more imaginative with my next entry. : )
You can see Tropical Rainbow in my Etsy shop where it is now for sale.