Who's cuter? Nora Jean, Mr. Evening Grosbeak or my sister?

November 1, 2012

I can't believe it's been so long since i've written! my mom is still hanging in there but was so bad that my sister flew out from wichita kansas for 2 weeks to help me and my mom cope with this. mom has made a feeble recovery for now but still remains pretty frail. it seems my sister's visit really bolstered her spirits and gave her the strength she needed to pull through this latest setback. if anyone wonders how much a visit to a loved one (friend or relative) means take it from me. it really helps. attitude is everything in life. keep a good one and you'll have a happy life.

 

 

i need everyone to tell me who they think is the cutest. #1 nora jean took her normal position on a pile of freshly laundered quilts (they were wallhangings and table runners) that i unpacked to use about the house. i left the room for 5 minutes and when i came back she had settled herself in for a nice nap. i have to tell you that she takes her job very seriously and if i (as politely as possible) remove her from the newest project she is totally insulted and sulks for quite a bit of the day. the second picture is of an adorable male evening grosbeak that spent 2 days at our feeder with 3 female grosbeaks. he would catch our eye in the window & tap on it before he hopped over to the feeder. he obviously is used to feeders and people and cats and kept us quite amused while he was here.#3 is my sister laughing at herself. we got up late (7:30!) one day but i insisted that we go by the beautiful covered bridge up the road from us to take pictures. her hair wasn't dry so she kept it in rollers for the 2 hour ride to visit our mother. i assured her that NOONE would care or probably even notice her rollers up here in the north country. we are all very casual. just as we parked our car to take pictures a tour bus of senior citizens pulled up. as people were getting off the bus my sister greeted each with a smile and pointing to her rollers, apologized for the state of her hair. people smiled and walked off to see the bridge.she didn't even realize that she was doing this until i pointed it out to her. she & i and the people getting off of the bus had a good laugh over this. she's going to kill me for putting this picture on the blog but it was too cute not to. besides, i'm her baby sister and she forgives me everything.

i haven't had much time to quilt but am determined to finish this one! this is the front and the backof my still unnamed modern-like? quilt. the back looks kind of like a modern quilt, don't you think? i'm going to try to sandwich it today and start quilting on it tomorrow. i have an hq16 which nora jean loves to sit on while i quilt. i haven't used it for some time and i'm afraid i'm going to be quite rusty.   i promise i'll show you the finished results.

going down to my sewing studio has been so calming for me. i can't wait until i can do a little bit (or a lot!) of sewing every day. in our old house, i had such a nice setup. i was able to just walk in the room and work on a project. some times it was only for a few minutes and other times longer but i didn't feel hurried when i was in my room. it always settled  me. hopefully when my studio is all put together i'll have the same sense of order. the mister and i have been planning how it will be when we start putting the finishing touches on it. it will be a while before it is done but i enjoy just daydreaming about it. one of the nice things about it not being finished is that it gives me time to decide how i want it set up. i don't plan on moving anything once it's done! i really hate decorating! it was nice to have my sister see my space because she does like putting a room together and has had several good ideas for me to follow. well, my bread just beeped and is done. time to get back to my chores.
today i love, my mother, the mister, nora jean and especially my sister who came out here when both our mother and i needed her the most. i love the fact that i didn't think of my sister and i as the same age as the senior citizens getting off of the tour bus.  i also love a good attitude and getting things done! have a great day and i will too! nancyb

my modern quilt (NOT!), making laundry soap

September 14, 2012

what a week! does anyone have elderly relatives/loved ones that they watch over? well, in our family we have my mother & chip's mother & aunt. my mother (who is in a nursing home) is not doing well so i have spent more time with her than usual. this cuts in to my quilting time! i like starting my quilt blog out with a picture of sweet nora jean. i can't believe i finally got a picture of her on my sewing machine! she got on it the day after my last blog and i had my camera right there. she is looking at me with disdain. she does not like to be disturbed when she is watching my thread go round and round.
while i'm looking at this picture i'm puzzled at how she can sit up there and not get tangled in the thread. i literally sew while she is up there. she never bothers anything and gets down only when i stop sewing. she's a smart cat!

i did finish the quilt top that i was talking about last time. you will see (and i have to smile every time i look at it) that it is a traditional quilt with some of the more "modern" colors. i think i will stick to what i like and know. i have always felt very comfortable doing what I like to do. if that means that i do what's new and popular or sticking to "the old way" then so be it. i remember my sister and i talking about getting older and she said what she liked so much about it was that she didn't worry so much about what other people's opinions were or if she was doing the right thing. that conversation was about ten years ago and i've tried to live by it ever since. the second quilt picture is going to be the back of the quilt. i'm going to have a scrap strip going down the center of it and amish black around it. that just may come out looking "modern"! i promise i'll show you when the whole quilt is done and quilted.

i emailed vistaprints and told them my complaint about the size of the lettering on my business cards. they replaced the whole order without batting an eyelash and i received the new cards yesterday. they also threw in some return address labels that i had wanted to get for chip & i. nice people, really nice products and i couldn't be happier. go on to www.vistaprints.com and see their products and get some free business cards to try. if my etsy shoppe gets going i'm going to order the tape measures for a gift for my customers.

well i finally made my own laundry soap and just did some laundry with it. it was GREAT! the stuff is easy to find in the grocery stores and is very inexpensive. what i like about it is that it is not only MUCH, MUCH cheaper but there are no additives for my sensitive skin. the naptha soap (it comes in bars) is the only thing i have to buy to make more. i have enough of the other ingredients to make 6-8 more batches. i was going to make the liquid version the the duggars use (19 kids and counting) but i found this tutorial using a dry powder in a much smaller amount. you can double or triple this amount and i will be doing this to make xmas gifts for the family. she even supplies a label you can print out to put on your container! sweet! her website is: http://www.sew-much-ado.com/2010/03/tutorial-homemade-laundry-detergent.html i don't know whether it is still active or not but i plan on finding out and thanking her for putting this on the web. it is very easy to make. after i grated the naptha soap i put it in my old blender and made it a fine powder. then i just mixed up the rest of the ingredients with the naptha soap and used 2 tblsps per wash. i taped her label on a coffee can and voila!!!! easy peasy is what i say!

well the mister and i have been apple picking and i've made homemade applesauce for my dear mom. she loved it and it cheered her up. of course i don't know if it was because i loaded it with cool whip (the light version but she doesn't have to know that) or because she actually liked the applesauce. chip and i enjoyed it though so maybe she liked both. this week i am loving apples, laundry soap, this wonderful weather we're having, and of course, my mom. have a great week and i will too. nancyb

UFO's, nora jean helps, business cards

September 6, 2012

hi everyone! it's been about 3 weeks since i blogged but i've been kind of bummed. is anyone out there reading this? i do love to write about things so i've decided to keep doing this. i'm also going to do a little more advertising. there are so many blogs out there that i don't know how any one finds any one!

 

i've finally ordered and received my business cards. i really like them but i enlarged the lettering and it doesn't seem to me that they did that. i've written them a note. we'll see how they respond. what do you think of them? the ones on the left were free! pretty nice, especially for free! i used vistaprints.com. which ones do you like better? i like them both!

well i've been trying to get my ufos under control. nora jean has (as usual) been helping me. she's such a big help!!! during this session she spent part of her time sitting on the top of my sewing machine watching the spool of thread. we've had her 11 years and she has always done this but never even attempted (even as a kitten) to put her paws under the needle. smart kitty! i do have to hold her considerable coon sized tail because she likes to flick it in my way as i'm sewing. she seems to like to have me hold it while i sew. what a helper cat she is!

well here are some of my ufo's. when i was working and my boys were in college/high school and things were crazy busy, i finished each project that i started. now i seem to be all over the place. this year, especially with my etsy shoppe up and running i really need to get organized! that will be my goal. the big block in the 2nd row was my attempt to make a "modern" quilt. i loved the block but when i put them all together they just weren't symetrical enough for me. i changed the block and added a plum and green square to an outside edge and now i have them lined up and looking woven. i should have taken a picture of the squares together before i changed them but i didn't think of it! i guess there's no changing the traditional quilter in me. i love some of the modern quilts tho! in the next blog i'll show you the finished product (i hope!).

well, our garden has produced a TON of zucchini and i have been making zucchini bread and zucchini brownies and we've had zucchini almost every night for supper! we're not complaining, we're just happy our efforts produced something! i have a freezer and i'm going to grate up and freeze some of the zucchini this week.
this week i love.........my cat, nora jean, zucchini, FINISHED ufos and my business cards. please check out my etsy shoppe some time at http://etsy.com/shop/sewingontheswift and tell me what you think. have a great day and i will too. it's beautiful up here in the white mountains.

I sewed up a storm!!!!

August 19, 2012

what a great vacation i had! my big sister is truly such a treasure. here she is with the serger chip and i bought her for her birthday (her birthday is in december but since i don't see her then i celebrate it with mine). we both LOVE it. we used it almost daily. now i'll feel more confident to use my very expensive and complicated one that i have had for 6 years but been too afraid to use! we made clothes for our granddaughters: 4 dresses, 2 skirts, 3 pillowcases, 2 bibs, 2 tutu's and doll skirts and blouses and tutus with the left over material for her granddaughter's american girl doll.

we also took a soap making class at "the Flying Pig". what fun that was! Danielle, the owner,  had the cutest shop with all kinds of homemade and antique goodies. there were 8 of us in the class. the scent i used was "brown sugar and fig". we made the soap using goat's milk and a ton of other ingredients. to buy all of the stuff isn't very expensive and i think i'll make up a batch or two for christmas presents. i'm letting my soap "cure" right now and i'll tell you in a week or two how i like it!

my sister and i also went to the musical "legally blonde". we had front row center seats (she is a long season ticket holder). the seats are about 2 feet from the symphony orchestra that plays during the play. it is so wonderful! we ate out a few times but mostly ate in. this fish was my favorite meal. it would have rivaled any 5 star restaurant, it was that good! she also made corned beef hash the way our mother made it and she made me pumpkin muffins. i got so spoiled! the only thing we didn't do was quilt! we had so much fun it didn't matter.

this week i:  LOVE my big sister, my big brother (who sent us each a check to spend celebrating our birthdays!), my husband chip for being such a great guy and not minding that i leave him every year for 2 weeks, my serger and the fact that i have time to enjoy my hobbies. yeah!!! see you next week. nancyb

happy birthday to me!

my wonderful granddaughter, kendall, made this cake for me! it was sooooo delicious and we all enjoyed every bite! the second picture shows kendall and her brother, paxton  (who also is no stranger to the kitchen) after they've lit the cake. i had a wonderful birthday party. there's nothing better than family! although i complain about only having 2 grandchildren, i have to say that they are so much fun that i should be embarrassed to complain. but then again, they're so much fun that i want more! grandchildren really are the gift to us parents. our only responsibility is to make them happy. we don't have to spend a ton of money on them, just spend time with them and love them.

i'm getting ready to go to kansas. i'll be leaving at 3am tuesday morning and will arrive at 11:30am. my sister and i have been skyping back and forth daily, planning our great vacation. we have so many projects and things we want to do! wichita is a very large and busy city. while i'll miss my hubby a great deal, i can't wait to spend one on one time with my big sister. i will try to do a blog while i'm out there but as i've told you, i can't always figure things out on the computer! i have improved a great deal and will honestly try to publish a blog.

it is a balmy 82 degrees here in new hampshire and a whopping 108 degrees in wichita! thank heavens for air conditioning! well, this week i love.............birthdays (especially mine), grandchildren, my sons and daughter in law, books, crossword puzzles and my ipod with my favorite podcasts downloaded and ready for the bus and plane ride. see you in a couple of weeks if not sooner! nancyb

new scrappy quilt & BLUEBERRIES!!!

July 19, 2012

what an unbelievably busy week i've had. the blueberries are out early this year and they are wonderful! i love, love, love the high bush blueberries. they are large and sweet and easy to pick. chip and i picked 6 quarts in an hour. i froze those and went back the next day and froze the next batch. yesterday i went by myself and picked 3 more quarts to have fresh. it was too hot to cook but i did make my blueberry sauce. this is so easy and soooooooo delicious! it is best on pancakes or ice cream but my friends put it on their cereal and over sweet biscuits with whipped cream on top. i also like to put it on my toast. it is a jam consistancy when it is cold. here's the recipe:
GRANDMA'S BLUEBERRY SAUCE:
2 cups blueberries
3 TBSP honey
1/2 c orange juice
1 TBSP cornstarch
mix 1.5 cups blueberries, honey & 1/4 cup oj in saucepan. cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil. mix the remaining 1/4 cup oj with the cornstarch and slowly stir it into the boiling mixture stirring constantly until the sauce is thickened (about 2-3 minutes). add remaining 1/2 cup blueberries and serve warm. refrigerate remaining sauce.....it reheats in microwave well.
i have canned this recipe and given it out as gifts throughout the year with great reviews.

now for the quilting news! i don't think i've told you that i really love making scrap quilts. i can't seem to help it. i try to follow a pattern and start throwing in more colors or different prints of the same colorway. this is what i've been working on: this quilt will be large so that it completely covers our bed. the top photo is the 16 blocks i've made up. they are finishing up at 12.5". i can't decide whether to put sashing in it or not. i think i won't but haven't committed to that yet. i'm also thinking of not adding a border......just keeping it all over scrappy. any opinions out there? the kitty is leftover from another project but i may applique some throughout the quilt top in honor of our wonderful nora jean. it dresses it up a bit i think. i've had this material quite a while but can't seem to remember where i bought it. since i had so much of the same line of fabric it was probably at a quilt show. i've cut this whole quilt out on my accuquilt. it really saves you so much time and wear and tear on the hands and elbows. i'm glad i like it so much but i really think the dies are way too expensive.

it has been very hot up here in northern nh. where we are, we get some wonderful cool breezes every evening from the woods in our backyard. it is so comfortable and feels better than airconditioning. its easy on the electric bill too!

this week i love: blueberries, quilting & nh mountains. have a great day and i will too! nancyb

Squirrel catching and still quilting in the mountains

July 10, 2012

how is everyone this week? we have, as usual, been busy but we're loving it up here. this week we've been catching squirrels. we got that very aggressive gray squirrel in our have a heart trap and let him go 3 miles up the road in the national forest. since then we've caught 2 of our little red squirrels. they've been literally climbing up the screen of our door trying to get in the house! we are marking our mileage hoping to let them out at about the same spot so that maybe they can find each other. i don't know if that's silly but we don't like to think they've been separated from their families. does anyone know if that's important to them? our killer cat nora jean, meanwhile, has been quite amused by these antics and quietly watches them as they make noise and holes in our screens. here's a picture of nora babysitting the one i caught this morning. she loved watching him and he didn't seem too scared of her! we've had lots of bear stories up here this year. there seems to be a little more than usual. i wouldn't say there's been a whole lot of construction up here in the last few years so that their homes are being displaced. i think from all the campsites they are learning that its easy to get people food. one woman was barbequeing and brought the meat in her kitchen. when she came out of the bathroom there was a bear in the kitchen eating her dinner! another just last night got up to see what the noise was about and there was a male black bear eating her dog's food! the biggest problem we are having with all this is that our bedroom windows are on the ground floor and we've been keeping the windows open to let that beautiful cool breeze in. i don't think it would be too big a problem for me if one decided to climb through the window.........i'm sure i'd have a heart attack and drop dead right there!!!!! and of course, nora (our attack cat) would probably be calmly sitting in the corner watching the whole fiasco wondering........well if mom's dead who's going to feed me?

i've been sewing this week getting ready for my sister visit to kansas. every year i go to kansas while her husband goes on his "guy" vacation and we just have the best time. we sew and cook together. we go to a play (she has front row center seats and the musical is always amazing) and watch girly shows and talk and talk. these are some of the things we made for her granddaughter. she has my middle name and started kindergarten last year. we made her jumpers, a backpack, a jacket and i can't remember what else! we also made pocketbooks and a vest and hat for my granddaughter and hers. it was so much fun. this year i am giving her more quilt lessons. i've fussy cut 5.5" squares to make samantha jean and my sister's little neighbor christopher(he's 4) each an I Spy in a Jar quilt. i bought her a serger for her birthday and we will be using that for sewing (not for quilting). i have a very intricate serger that i haven't used even close to its ability and we will both be learning how to use it. i've bought a cool pattern through nancy's notions for a one size fits all jacket that we can use the serger on. hopefully we'll have them made so that we can go to the musical in them. it is a very fancy affair and i don't dress up very often! we dress up similar so that we jive in our clothes. its a little hokey but we don't care. we want everyone to know we're sisters. it is nice when you have a sister who is not only nice but your best friend. i wish she lived closer!

well, i'm going down to my sewing studio (i've decided to call it a fancy name....it sounds good don't you think?). i've put 19 things on my etsy shoppe and am still adding more. my son, andrew,  is going to come over some time and hook up my blog to my etsy shoppe. if he doesn't, when i get back from kansas i will work on it. i'm also thinking of doing a podcast. i have so much to say! have a great day everyone.......it is another beautiful day and i know i'm going to enjoy it. my oldest son gregory and my 2 grandchildren are coming over for lunch tomorrow. i'm making them a new vegetarian dish. i'll tell you all how it comes out. i love to experiment with recipes and since most of them come out really great they don't mind in the least. by for now! nancyb of swiftriver quilting