Added to My Fruits and Vegetable Collection

Yesterday the other half of Two Wacky Women, Marilyn and I took some time to visit a few local quilt shops and, of course, have lunch.   It had been awhile so it was a fun day. 

Although all my blocks are made for my new fruits and vegetable quilt, I couldn’t resist adding to my collection.

Hmmmmmm, I wonder what I’ll do with my new collection?

Enjoy,

Design Wall Monday – 8/30/10

Not real exciting at this point but it’s the parts for a Letty’s Bag.  Find out what others are up to over at Judy’s Patchwork Times Blog.

Enjoy,

Blog Hop

While doing my afternoon cruising of blogs, I came across a Blog Hop.  What fun!  So, I decided to participate.  Take some time and visit the other blogs that are participating. 

But wait……. before you go, I thought I’d do a mini give-away.   35 charm squares of Beach House by Robyn Pandolf and RJR fabrics.  Here’s just a few of the fabrics. 

To enter, simply leave a comment with “Pick Me” in it and be sure I have a way of getting in touch with you.  I will announce the winner on Friday, September 3rd.   Don’t worry if you live outside the United States, I love you too, please enter. 

Enjoy!

Pat B.’s Letty’s Bag and more…….

One of my wonderful friendship group member’s had her Letty’s Bag with her at the guild retreat we attended last weekend. 

I love the polka dots on the pocket. 

Pat carried her bag into the local quilt store in Temecula, Quilter’s Coop and once the owner Joann saw it she immediately placed a pattern order.  Yea, Pat!  Your a great ambassador. 

The order is large enough that I agreed to make the store sample for them so I better get off my duff and get to it. 

Here are the fabrics Joann selected.

I’ve made enough Letty’s Bags that it really doesn’t take me all that long so I guess I better get going.  I’ll post a picture once it’s completed. 

Enjoy,

Design Wall Monday – 8/23/10

Progress . . . .

And it feels good!

Check out other design walls over at Judy’s Patchwork Times. 

Enjoy,

“LLB” Report

Yesterday I received the following email.

Thanks for the Letty's Little Bag pattern.  It is so much fun to make.  I am attaching a photo of one of the two purses I made. I put the grommets a little farther apart than suggested.  My daughter wanted it that way.
Will send more another photo shortly of another one I made.  I have a bunch to make now :o)
--
Jo Paula Lantier
Charter Member Fabricaholics Anonymous (FA)
FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS BUY FABRIC

Followed by this:

This was the first one I made.  It is hard to believe how easy it is to make.  People are so impressed :o)
--
Jo Paula Lantier
Charter Member Fabricaholics Anonymous (FA)
FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS BUY FABRIC

Thank you Jo Paula for sharing you photos.  I love them both!

If you’d like to make your own “LLB” click on the pattern link at the top of the page.  It will take you to my website where the pattern is sold.

Enjoy,

I Love Oil Cloth

Yesterday there were a lot of things I should have been doing but I had a bunch of oil cloth that was calling my name. 

What to do?   Make a Letty’s Bag of course. 

The piece of oil cloth I had for the outside was 19” x 38” so that is the size I used to make the bag.  I normally put fusible fleece on the back of both the outside fabric and the lining, but in this case I only used it on the lining which is 100% cotton.   BTW, the polka dot strap is also made out of oil cloth.

A couple of things I’ve learned about sewing on oil cloth.  It can be both sticky (the outside) and slippery (the inside) at the same time and you can’t iron it.  Making the strap started out being a real challenge.  The way I make them is to fold them several times and then sewing along both sides and down the middle.  Normally I just iron the strap and then take it to the sewing machine and sew.  Not so easy with oil cloth.  I didn’t want to use pins to hold it in place so after pondering the problem for a while and rejecting the idea of tape I finally came up with the perfect solution.  See the picture below, is that brilliant or what?

I have a zillion of these clips that are used for binding just sitting in a drawer.  When sewing on binding I only use one or two.    But for sewing on oil cloth they are a perfect substitution for pins.  I used them every step of the way to hold the seams in place while sewing.  

I decided not to put a pocket on the outside.  I didn’t want to cover up any of the print but now I’m not sure, maybe I should have added it.  Oh well it’s finished now and as you can see, it has lots of pockets on the inside.

I’m happy, happy, happy with it. 

Enjoy,

Design Wall Monday – 8/16/10

Not exactly a design wall, more like a design floor, but this is what I’ve been working on.

These are all part of my “Small Projects” workshop that I’ll be teaching next month at the South Bay Quilt Guild.  Most of them I already had but I couldn’t find my picture frame sample so I made a new one. 

Check out Judy’s Patchwork Times Blog to see what others are up to. 

Enjoy,

Medium Letty’s Bag

I’ve been asked by several people if I’m going to design a medium size Letty’s Bag.  I guess the simple answer is, probably not.  But I did make this one.  Using my “Letty’s Bag” pattern, I made it a little bit smaller and used the smaller grommets.  The only problem is that I installed the grommets too  close to the sides of the bag and it seemed awkward so my immediate solution was to simply set it aside. 

After thinking about it for a couple of months, I pulled it back out and sat and starred at it for awhile.  I finally came up with a simple solution that I think works.  I took a little pleat about an inch in from each of the grommets and low and behold it worked.  I think it looks great now.

Kinda cute don’t you think?  

Enjoy,

Recipe – Weight Watcher Friendly – Easy Salad?

I’ve been a Weight Watcher off and on for many years.  Right now I’m back on.  Whenever I get serious about watching what I eat my husband is thrilled.  No…..not because I’ll loose weight……but because I get back to cooking more.  Now don’t get me wrong, I cook quite a bit normally but when I’m on Weight Watcher’s I definitely cook a lot more.  

However…….this recipe has absolutely no cooking involved.   I first started making this at least 25 years ago and I still love it.  It funny but I don’t like cottage cheese at all and certainly not with pineapple on it.  However, I love this.  My Mother ate cottage cheese with pineapple on it for lunch almost every single day for lunch. 

This recipe was originally called “Easy Salad”.  Why?  I have no idea.  I love to have it for breakfast or desert.  All I can say is…….Try it!  You’ll like it!

First up, gather all your ingredients.

20 oz. Canned Crushed Pineapple

8 oz. Fat Free Whipped Topping (like Cool Whip)

16 oz. Fat Free Cottage Cheese

1 pkg. Sugar-free Strawberry Jell-O

Drain the pineapple.  Try to get as much moisture out as you can by squeezing it in a colander.

Dump everything in to a mixing bowl.

Mix it all together until it’s a pretty pink.

 

I use an ice cream scoop to put 2 scoops in every cup (their plastic, that way I can just toss them when after I gobble up what’s inside). 

This recipe makes 8 perfect size servings.

I cover them with plastic wrap.

Then pop them in the refrigerator to get nice and cold.

Yum!

According to my unofficial calculations this recipe makes 8 servings and is 2 points each. 

Enjoy,