Thursday, December 6, 2012

We're Moving

We, as in me and the voices in my head, are fed up with Blogger and gettin' the hell outta Dodge.  I'll be setting up shop over at Wordpress where, hopefully, the only parts of me jumping through hoops will be my fingertips.  I hope you'll make the jump with me.

Here's my new blog address:

http://bowenstephanie74.wordpress.com

Drop by and see me!

Monday, December 3, 2012

I Have Found My Price

I always knew I could be bought and for years thought it would be in copious quantities of quality quilting fabric.  Say that last part real fast five times.  Apparently, I was wrong. 

I can be bought for homemade toffee.

Julianne, my friend, you are fifty shades of utter awesomeness!

I whined 'Where's mine?!' when she posted about making toffee for a work bake sale.  I was just kidding, but she twisted my arm and put me in a head lock and whammo...there was toffee in the mailbox today, y'all!  I'm sure passing motorists thought I was insane because I shook, shimmied and whooped my way across the driveway.  So undignified...and excited!!


I'd show you a picture of me sampling it, but it's too racy for Blogger.  The Diva, the little turd, loves it..naturally so I have to share it.  Captain Studly took a nibble and turned up his nose...what a communist.  How can you not love chocolate and nuts?!  Oh, wait...he's male.  All my fat cells yelled 'YIPPEEE!' and are still shimmying like mad.  Girls, this stuff is da bomb!

And to 'pad the toffee' (her exact words) she included these...


Aren't they scrumptious?  Such beautiful Fall colors.  I am so happy!  How did she know I'd had the worst weekend on record and needed a pick-me-up this bad?

Thank you, Julianne!  I am blessed to have you as a friend even though we've never met (and considering how my children have been behaving, that's probably a good thing) and I'm glad I can make you laugh when you need it.

Check out her blog Quilting with Calicos for everything quilting, calicos and grandbaby!

Monday, November 26, 2012

I Can Be Trained




Don't tell Himself.

This is the post where an old dog attempted to learn a new trick.  It worked; I'm happy.

Here's a mega-batch of felt roll-ups I made yesterday...my hands are killing me.  I'll make them into a garland for my sewing corner.  The smaller roll-ups I'll use in place of beads.  Aren't I clever?  Frankly, I think the big ones look like the psychedelic swirls I used to see in old Looney Toons cartoons.  Maybe I just need a glass of red...

It's Monday...big whoop.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Felt's Up

No, not that kind of felt up.  I mean felt like the fabric.  Dirty birds!

Look what Wonder Mom and I learned to make at Hip Stitch Studio yesterday as part of their Small Business Saturday makeshop!  Not sure where the idea came from, but thanks to whomever thought it up.


They're meant to resemble a string of peppermint candy, but you could make them any color to match the season or holiday.

Here's how we did it...

You need felt (duh), a harpoon-sized needle and either twine (what we used at the shop) or perle cotton (what I used at home).  Beads are optional.


For the class, the felt was cut in 1/2 inch by 9 inch strips.  You can adjust the measurements to suit your project.  Start by layering the desired number of strips one on top of the other.  For class, we used three but I personally liked using just two strips.  When you start trying to shove the harpoon needle through, you'll understand why.  A word to the wise:  do not apply lotion to your hands prior to doing this.  Yep, I'm raising my hand here.


Then you start the 'candy' by rolling the the strips into a tight coil.


When you're done, it'll look something like this...


...just cut the uneven strips at the end so that they're even with the top strip.

Shove a pin down the center through all the layers to hold the coil in place OR start stringing them right away like I did below (needle-nose pliers work well for this..cursing helps too).

Pinning a gob of them means you'll have something to do while sitting through yet another episode of 'Duck Dynasty'.  Ask me how I know.  Here's my stash...


Then you can string to your heart's content.  I had enough strings to turn my dining room chandelier festive.  I briefly contemplated making enough to trim the tree, but popped a Xanax and I'm all better now.


Have fun getting your felt on!

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Doing My Civic Duty




It's Small Business Saturday!  Why not support your local quilt shop by dropping a chunk of change at their establishment and carting home some fabric loveliness to boot?  I'm dragging taking The Co-Defendants kicking and screaming with me to Hip Stitich Studio in Waco to show Miss J how much I love her shop and support her efforts to bring some modern funk to our local quilting scene.

Have fun and buy local!!