Appleton Dance

I got this wonderful holiday message from my friend, Virginia in Iowa:  Thank you for the Gorgeous felt Corsage !  I think it will Rejuvenate my Aura! - Which, by the way, desperately Needed rejuvenation.  I look forward to the opportunity to dress up and wear it.  You are Way too sweet! And the Pepper Streak * sounds Yummy.  I think I have fixed a similar dish - don't remember what we called it, but it was tasty. Thanks for the reminder. Funny thing about crock-pots.  There was a chili cook-off at church toward the end of October. I was not going to take chili  - just corn sticks. But about noon, I decided to make a batch. My chili is nothing to brag about, but I felt obligated to participate. I made it on the stove, but transferred it to the crock-pot to take to church and to keep it hot through the evening. Went early to plug in the pot and get it good and hot again. There were no outlets at the serving table, so a neighbor took it into the kitchen to plug in.  We sat, cha

I saw these cute felt pins in a holiday catalog and wanted to try to make some. The ones in the catalog were all different. Some were layers of felt cut in the shape of petals, some were loops of felt that looked like crysanthemums, some were rolls of felt that looked like rosebuds. Some were a little of each. I made this poinsettia as a trial effort, but it seems to me that you could while away a winter afternoon cutting shapes, embellishing and building flowers to your heart's content. For ideas to spark your creativity, search for "felt flower pins" on Etsy . Equipment: Needle Scissors Materials: Standard copy paper for pattern cutting Heavy felt squares or yardage, as desired (For poinsettia buy dark green, burgundy, and bright red.) Variety of large (1-1/4 inch diameter), fancy buttons or large beads for flower center Beads and sequins (if desired) Large safety pins or stick pin with safety cap (clutch), or jewelry finding pin back available from jewelry fi

I posted a story on our local LivingstonTALK.com website about a new enthusiasm -- Contract Bridge. Check it out at  Get in the Game: Contract Bridge .

F lannel binding and pocket detail of "manly" quilt From Janet D.: I wanted to make a "manly" quilt of my husband's favorite fabrics -- worn denim and soft, old flannel and I wanted it "sofa" sized because that is where he naps. I thought I had enough old blue jeans and flannel shirts and bathrobes around the house to do it which appealed to my frugal leanings.  No batting needed Virginia had told me not to put in batting as it would be too heavy and I took her advice. I cut 8 x 8-inch squares of denim, using all the parts of blue jeans that were salvagable including the pocket parts, both front and back.  I had various colors of blue including some striped. I backed them with flannel, about five different varieties, all plaid. I sewed flannel and denim squares together differently depending on what the denim was like and according to my whims. Many were with an X, some followed the pattern or seam of a pocket, some with a square and one wit

A ghost from the past visited me today when I discovered that the Google newspaper archive came up with the directions for a heart-shaped box I wrote about in the  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette March 5, 1981, titled "Fiber box: A versatile artifact" . I no longer have that box -- but those prissy directions and anthropological background are all mine.

I had dinner with my friends Tom and Joy T. last night and Joy had the cutest purse ever. She said it is called a Trixie purse and she bought the pattern from Purse Strings : Unique Patterns for Unique Women . She plans to make the Scottsdale Satchel next. Joy also recommends the online fabric store at Hancock’s of Paducah , where they have (fabric) jelly rolls, layer cakes, charm square, and more, and equally great sales.

Here is another version of the Cato purse, this time with some directions for how to put it together. I saw this charm square trick on Moda’s Bake Shop blog and wanted to try it. I used nine “Fresh Squeezed” charm squares and followed the Moda directions , seaming together three rows of three, then cutting the resulting square into four pieces and rearranging the pieces into a new square and seaming them together to get my exterior bag bottom. For the exterior of the bag top, I seamed nine more charm squares into a nine-patch, cut the square into four equal pieces and seamed the four cut pieces together side by side to make my exterior bag top. Directions for the bag are given below for using a fat quarter or cut yardage. Materials: Fabric for bag exterior -- one fat quarter OR 1/2 yard fabric or pieced goods Fabric for bag lining -- one fat quarter OR 1/2 yard fabric Thread to match fabric 3/4 yard matching or contrasting grosgrain ribbon trim Optional: fabric-covered cardboard ins

A friend's daughter made a cute purse for her several years ago and I tried to duplicate it. The pattern is fairly simple, just make the bag and lining for the bottom and a loop of fabric and a lining for the top with holes cut out and bound; then slip the top loop with the handholds between the bag and the lining and topstitch the two pieces together. I used fabrics from Moda's "Fresh Squeezed" collection designed by Sandy Gervais. I bound the handholds with self bias binding and I bound the seam between the top and the bottom with orange grosgrain ribbon with a loop for keys. I plan to make another one and document the process sometime this summer or fall. Front Back

On the way home from seeing Teddy Tahu Rhodes as Mozart's count at Cinty Opera , we stopped at Jungle Jim's where I saw a cute purse made out of silk and satin crazy quilting with a lovely fringe of looped ribbons set inside the bottom seam. I thought I'd like to give it a try but -- as seen in the photo above -- it didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped. Materials: I made two 10 x 12-inch pieces of random patchwork triangle squares from four-inch charm squares. I used of Moda 's "Fresh Squeezed" cotton print fabric designed by Sandy Gervais . (Round the bottom corners of the fabric,  and cut both pieces into identical bag shapes that you desire.) Cut two pieces of matching or contrasting lining fabric the same size and shape as the patchwork pieces. For the ribbon trim, purchase a box of four to six yard-long, mixed-color, fabric ribbon to match or contrast with your fabric. I bought mine in the scrapbooking section of a craft store, Hobby Lobby, t

Ind y walks the Howell  labyrinth at 1 p.m. Blue skies on World Labyrinth Day in Howell, Michigan -- Indy, Diane, Annette, Kathy & Tom T. and I all celebrated the lovely spring day. We retired afterwards for PG Tips and banana-nut bread into which some chocolate chips had fallen. I love the old Fannie Farmer recipe -- fast and easy and delicious. Next morning I found the labyrinth dripping with dew, lit by the sun.

It has been raining all week and I haven't been able to mow the labyrinth for World Labyrinth Day  tomorrow. It is a mud bog, fit only for toads. But the white violets are blooming in the mire.

I learned how to make pysanki --  Ukrainian, colored eggs -- in a class at Old Economy Village in Ambridge, Pennsylvania about 35 years ago. Traditional pysanki are made with poisonous dyes that must be handled carefully and kept away from food and food preparation areas. To make the designs, a stylus called a kistka holds melted beeswax in a tiny funnel. The beeswax is used to create a design by blocking dye with  successive layers of wax. When the egg is finished, the wax is removed by heating the egg in a candle flame and wiping the eggshell to reveal the design. My teacher said it is not necessary to remove the egg from the shell before making pysanki , but many practitioners do this. Real pysanki are nothing like the eggs you see here. Pysanki are incredibly detailed, complex and beautiful. You can learn more about pysanki at  http://www.learnpysanky.com . For my pysanki -style egg dying I used food coloring instead of poisonous dye, paraffin instead of beeswax, and a smal

That was fun!  Who'd have thought making a pillow case could be so amusing! I stopped by Jennifer's Quilt Shop in Pinckney last week and found they were in the midst of a pillow-case art show. They had dozens of pillow cases hanging from the ceiling and walls all created by customers according to their obsessions from bunnies to zebras. I picked up the Valori Wells Pillow Cases sewing card 'cause I even though you probably don't need a pattern for a pillow-case, I like information. Plus, these cute, note-sized cards would make nice greeting cards for crafty friends.  Brandi picked some fabrics from my stash -- the pillow case only takes 3/4 of a yard of body fabric, 1/4 of a yard of fabric for the edging band, and 1-1/8 yard of trimming or remnant for trim. I whipped her up a new pillow case in about 30 minutes. The tulips on Brandi's pillow case are quite spring-y -- a good choice.

I made this design after our quilt retreat a couple years ago when we all made the quilt-as-you-go Christmas tree quilt designed by Karla Alexander of Saginaw St. Quilt Co. I wanted to see what the possibilities of those diagonal squares might be and designed a Valentine’s quilt with heart motifs. When Janet said her daughter was having a February baby, I thought I’d like to make a baby Valentine quilt for her, but the quilt didn’t turn out very babyish because the fabric I chose for the hearts was too sophisticated and the background choice I made was too dark. I think she will like it, anyway ‘cause it was made with love for her baby.  The quilt has ten columns and 14 rows of 4.5-inch squares. Each square is sandwiched with a 3.5-inch square of batting and stitched diagonally from corner to corner through the center of the block. Some of the squares are made of 5-inch blocks that are made by placing the heart fabric and the background fabric  right-sides-together, and running a

Labyrinth in Howell, Michigan on Inauguration Day Winter day -- our new president, Obama Obama inauguration speech   Pat C. Blythe P. Geri M. and Jackie M. on Inauguration Day!