Garden Crazy Quilt Block #1 Completed

Before I head over to mom's for the day, I wanted to share my first completed block for the Garden Quilt:



The little blue flowers in the bottom left-hand corner are from a vintage necklace that I took apart. The hummingbird is from a pair of earrings that a dear friend of mine sent to me awhile back. They're very pretty but a little too big for me and not really my style. I thought I could enjoy my friend's gift much more if I put them on this quilt rather than having them sit in my jewelry box. The companion will also go on this quilt.

Here is block #2:



The Iris hankie is one of my favorites in my collection! I'll be starting on this block sometime this weekend. At the rate I'm going, my garden will be in full bloom by January!

Judy asked me if I would share my Shortbread recipe that I mentioned in yesterday's post. Yes, Judy, I'll gladly share it. I plan to make another pan of them tomorrow so I'll post the recipe then along with a photo.

Finally for today, be sure to enter my drawing for a Mason Jar filled with my homemade Christmas Tea Cookies! Details are in yesterday's post.

Well, that's it for today. It's 7:45 am and I never really start feeling decent until about 10:30 am. My sense of humor hasn't kicked in yet so I'll leave you will well wishes for a nice Saturday!

Christmas Drawing!

As ya'll know, I've been baking up a storm lately! How did I make cookies before I bought my Kitchenaid? I've already made a pan of Chocolate Chip Shortbread and another batch of Raisin Applesauce. I'll spare you anymore of my applesauce photos. :) My mom loved that last batch I made over the weekend so I promised her some more.

Well, I mentioned earlier this week that I was going to host a Christmas Drawing! I will be filling this plain & simple Mason Jar with pretty little Christmas Tea Cookies and decorating it to suit the upcoming holiday:



To enter the drawing, simply leave a comment on this post. Please include your first name and first initial of your last name in your message. The names will put into a basket and my husband Scott will draw one name on Wednesday, December 9th. The winner will be announced that evening. Due to the cost of postage, this drawing is open only to USA residents. I will post a photo of the filled, decorated jar and will ship to the lucky winner on December 12th. I will ship Priority Mail via the USPS.

So that's the news on the Christmas drawing!

In other news, my little Garden Quilt continues to blossom:



I didn't make the little tatted flowers. I found a bagful of them at a flea market awhile back. They were cream color so dyed them and sewed them on.

Well, it's time to drizzle chocolate on my shortbread cookies. Don't forget to leave a comment so I can add your name to the basket!

And So My Garden Grows...

Finally, after what felt like a million French Knots, I completed the stitching on my vintage Vogart Dresser Scarf with the little black kitties:



As you can see in the bottom left-hand corner, my nose-y little Lucy just had to check it out!

Here's a closeup of one end:



Now, I'm going to coat it in "Spray & Wash" and run it through my washing machine. It's at least 50 years old and heaven only knows where it's been until it came into my possession. After that, mom will crochet a simple little border on it in pink variegated thread. Pink is my new favorite color!

With that project completed, my little Garden Quilt began to sprout:



Actually, this little corner of my garden grew pretty quickly! I'm trying to incorporate all the colors of the hankie flowers into each block. Stay tuned for progress photos.

I mentioned in my last post that I'm going to be doing a drawing for a mason jar filled with something nice! I'll post that announcement tomorrow so please stop by to enter the drawing.

I'd like to say thank you to everyone who leaves comments for me. Since I like to reply to everyone, but can't always find an email address, I'll reply here.

Tina, thank you for your comment. I don't envy you for what you deal with but I'm well aware of of challenge you face as I have someone in my life who also deals with that disorder.

Sheila, so glad to hear that you enjoyed the little Gingerbread Man design. I was very happy to send it to you.

Cheryl, thank you so much for all the kind things you say about me and my blog. I'm so happy to know that you enjoy it that much! And so glad you like the lamp that my dad made for me. It's one of my favorite things!

Sandy, no, I didn't make that doily. I don't have the patience for crocheting! My mom made that one. Occasionally, I buy unusual doilies at flea markets and antique shops but most of the ones I have were made by mom.

In other news, I've decided to expand my Etsy shop a bit. I won't go into too much detail at the moment, but for anyone who doesn't like to bake but wants to dig into my cookie jar, I'll be making that an option. More details on that coming soon.

Well, that's it for now! Have a great afternoon everyone!

Moldy, Oldy Stuff

For as long as I can remember, I have loved old things. Being a rather domestic, home-body, I tend to gravitate towards things from the 30's & 40's. I'm rather fond of the shabby chic cottage look and it works for me considering my house is a cottage that was built in 1937.

Oh, I had thought I wanted something bigger, newer and more extravagant. What was I thinking? I'm by no means stuffy & stiff. I'm very casual, laid back and down to earth. Well, I was down to earth before my breakdown last Christmas but I'm sure in time, my feet will re-anchor themselves to the planet! Any day now would be fine with me!

Many of my needlework followers feel that they need to address me as "Mrs. Kellogg". Please! I like it when the neighborhood children call me that but as for stitcher's who enjoy doing my designs, I really prefer to be called by my first name. I'm just a normal (I use that word loosely) everyday girl who just happens to have a knack for designing needlework and other creative things. I'm really no different than anyone else. Well, for the most part anyway.

Many times though, my readers have told me that they wish they could get into my head and have a bit of my creativity! I always say, "Oh no you don't!" My head is a crazy place. I have Attention Deficit Disorder and Anxiety that is off the charts! The creativity is a side effect (a benefit, supposedly) of the ADD. Over all, I do see it as a benefit but there are times when it's a curse. Too many ideas at once cause my mind to race out of control which then causes my anxiety to go up. On the other hand, stitching and designing quiet my mind. It's a vicious circle. Someday, I'll explain what it's really like to have ADD. Oh, and to live with it! My husband has ADD too. We always say we're together because no one else would put up with our crazy ADD behavior! Ha, ha, ha! Truthfully, my husband and I are kindred spirits. I do truly believe we were meant to be together.

Well, enough yaking on that stuff. The point I started to make was, I love "moldy oldy stuff" as my sister refers to it. Well, actually, she uses a different "s" word but I don't care to offend any of my readers so I'll go with "stuff".

I was talking over the weekend about things to do with mason jars. I thought I'd share this idea with you:



A few years back, I bought a vintage blue Ball Mason Jar to keep my Mother Of Pearl buttons in. Out of the blue, I had the idea that it would make a really cool lamp. Well, I ask my dad, who is quite gifted with electrical things, if he could make it into a lamp for me. And here it is! Filled to the brim with my MOP buttons. Right now, it's in my living room on my electric sewing machine but I'm thinking of getting a different lampshade for it and putting it on my Hoosier cabinet in the kitchen after the holidays.

Another great idea for mason jars is this:



When I do finishing, I usually wait until I have a few things to finish and then do it all at once. I usually need several different colors of thread so I buy those small sewing kits that have a ton of little spools of thread in them and I store those in a mason jar. That way, I can just grab the jar with all the different colors in it rather than digging through my big spools of thread every time I need a different color.

There's more mason jar ideas coming. Just thought I'd share those for today. In fact, be sure to check back later this week as I'm going to hold a drawing for a mason filled with something very nice! Like I said, more details later this week.

Onto some stitching news, I'm finally almost done with my Vintage Vogart Dresser Scarf with the kitties. I have about 50 more French Knots to do and then I can move onto to another project. I usually keep an embroidery project going that I can do in the car if I ever have to wait anywhere. Crazy Quilting doesn't travel well! So I'll be starting another embroidery project to take out and about with me but here at home, I'll be starting on my Floral Crazy Quilt:



This will hang in my living room when it's done. Here is block #1 up close:



The quilt will be very flowery, with vines and quite a bit of SRE. Stay tuned to see this garden grow! I know Allie, with her love for flowers, will be watching this one very closely!

Before I head out, I like to reply to everyone who leaves me comments. In some cases, I can't find an email address to respond to so I would like to take a moment to say thank you to Sandy, who is also looking forward to seeing this quilt progress, to Linda who sent me a very sweet and encouraging message regarding this depression nightmare that I've been going through and to Annie who is enjoying my new approach to blogging. In fact, I'm hearing from so many of you that you find my "domestic" approach to blogging rather refreshing. Honestly, I do too. I never did like hiding behind the facade of professionalism.

Mason Jar Gifts

I'm sure no one needs to see anymore photos of my homemade applesauce. (Today I made some with raisens.) However, I thought it would be nice to to share this idea for quick & easy gifts:



Everyone has heard of Gifts In A Mason Jar but this year, with economy the way it is, it's a pretty & inexpensive gift for neighbors or for folks who you'd just like do a little something for.

I made my own label using some cardstock and a "From My Kitchen" sticker:



I apologize for my blurry photo. My hands still shake a lot. I must have taken 10 photos and they all came out a little blurry.

Anyway, I added glitter to the label and some ribbons and do-do's and just tapped it to the jar.

Please remember, with "wet food" gifts, although this isn't technically "canning", you still have to boil the jar and lid for a few minutes.

So what else can one do with a Mason Jar? I have tons of cool ideas. Stay tuned!