This and That

 I have many projects in the works. Some are on the machine, some are hand work. This is a little round up of some of them.

The first is a sweet little stuffed bunny from Kiriki Press. They come in little kits with everything you need except an embroidery hoop. I get such a kick out of these.

Many on-line vendors carry these. I bought mine at Snuggly Monkey. This is an on-line shop that carries tons of stitching items. She has embroidery, sashiko, cross stitch and so much more. If you go to visit her, be sure you have plenty of time to browse. There's lots to see.

This is my collection so far. I am getting ready to start the Kangaroo and joey one soon. I bought it Saturday when Snuggly Monkey had an open studio day where locals can actually go in and shop in person.

I finally figured out what to make from this large block that I made about a year ago. I decided that instead of another small quilt to hang up, I would quilt it and make a pillow.

I had a chunk of this left over from a quilt backing a number of years ago. I had bought a 108 inch wide chunk for backing and there was a bit left over.

And here it sits on my bed. I used up all the stuffing I had, which made more room in the closet, YAY!

And as you can see, it is right at home here among all the quilts both on the bed and on the wall. I hope you have a lovely day. Talk to you soon.

I Made a Sandhill Sling!

 I have long been a fan of Anna at Noodlehead. I found her blog many years ago, and since then she has become a wonderful pattern designer. Most of her patterns are for bags, pouches, backpacks and the like. She does a lot of testing to make sure it's right before she releases new patterns. Her directions are spot on every time. 

The Sandhill Sling pattern came out a couple of years ago I think. I loved it then, but I knew I wouldn't use it, so I just admired it from afar. I also have a bit of a reticence to trying bag patterns, as I sometimes struggle with the bulkiness of them under my needle. 

Fast forward to a few weeks ago when my daughter saw a post on Instagram about the Sandhill Sling. She fell in love with it. She had purchased some canvas awhile back with the idea that she wanted me to make her a tote bag of some type. I told her that when she found a pattern she liked, to let me know. She purchased the pattern and the hardware kit on line and as I waited for that to arrive, along with some interior lining fabric, I read and reread the pattern.

Then, I discovered that there had been a sew along for the Sling and so there were videos of the steps to make it. I went ahead and watched all the videos before I started. As I am a visual learner, this was so valuable to me. Once I started sewing, I could do a step, and then stop the video and do the next step. It made the whole thing come together so easily.

This is the interior of the sling with the gathered pocket. The elastic gather really helps to hold things in.

My daughter chose the zipper colors to compliment the fabric. She chose to not have the zipper cover on the exterior pocket so you could see the two zippers that matched. The fabric is a Charley Harper print.

The strap and hardware also came from Anna's shop. She has exactly what you need to make this bag, which makes it so easy to get ready to sew.

When I finished, I could hardly wait to go and give it to my daughter. She loves it! And I have had a couple of other family members express an interest in having me make one for them. Also, my grandson wants me to make him a backpack from one of Anna's patterns. I hope I'm up to that!

I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed this make, especially having the videos to help me through the process. I know there will be more Noodlehead patterns in my future.

Around Town

 I love all the small towns around where we live. There are small businesses of every kind that we can and do patronize. Every small town has a farmer's market on the weekend and we have visited 4 of them in the past few weeks. The best part of the day on Saturday is just before the sun comes up when it is still cool and quiet...except for the birds. They are very noisy at this time of the year. 

The farmer's market in Carrboro is on the town commons. The commons sits right behind the town hall and the fire station.

There are many murals painted on buildings around town. This one was new to me. It is on the side of the fire station. Up close it looks so realistic.

This is one of my new favorites. I love the bees and the flowers. I wonder if it was chosen for this spot because of the market.

In addition to the wonderful fruits and vegetables and homemade cheeses and baked goods, you can find that many of the farmers sell bundle of wild flowers at their booths.

Each bouquet is unique. Right now sunflowers are in many of the bouquets due to their abundance. A few weeks ago it was peonies. For my money, this is the best way to spend an early Saturday morning. Talk to you soon.

Welcome Home

Home is many things to many people. It is often said that home is where the heart is. If that's true, I guess home really is North Carolina for me. When I drive down the back roads, I feel home. When I hear the thunderstorms, I feel home. So many moments that make me feel home. Sights, sounds and scents all evoke that feeling of home. Every time I get that feeling, I think "welcome home".

Fresh tomatoes from the farmer's market, made into sandwiches with mayo salt and pepper.

Local strawberries. Nothing tastes as good as a local strawberry, grown on a small family farm.

Fresh peaches. This was the first weekend there were fresh peaches at the farmer's market and I can't wait to cut into them later today.

The market also has bundles of fresh wild flowers at several booths. The colors are stunning and so many more fun types of flowers than at a florist.

Look at these gorgeous multi colored carrots. I could have stared at these all day long they were so pretty.

And I bought some cucumbers, again some of the first of the season, and made some bread and butter pickles. They should be ready to try tomorrow. I am so excited!

We have had several thunderstorms this spring and we love watching them roll in. The clouds seem so low you can almost touch them. The smell of rain in the air, and when it hits the hot pavement, is so evocative of summer to me.

This is my daughter's garden. She is in year three, and the garden is transitioning from flowers and veggies to mostly just flowers now. It is a delight to watch these interesting plants grow and change and develop.

And the bees and other pollinators are in love with all of the flowers and so fun to watch. There are also so many varieties of birds that come by for the bird feeders, but they are really waiting for the sunflowers to start producing. Then they will be in their hey day.

And for me, all this means home. My heart is happy. Life is good.

Talk to you soon.

Stuff That's Not About Sewing

Not too much sewing at the end of last week. My daughter and son-in-law went out of town for a couple of days and we went to stay with the kids. We had a bunch of fun. They are such good kids.

Saturday morning, the littles wanted waffles for breakfast. I thought, what the heck. It's not any harder than pancakes really. And after checking for all the ingredients, this is what we had. N likes lots of little containers of things to dip hers into. She was very interested in the making of whipped cream. Her brother tried to convince her that you just shake up the cow, but she didn't fall for it.

These are a few of the flowers in my daughter's garden. The lilies are stunning! I have never seen any like the ones with the dark centers. Right behind them is the Nasturtium. No flowers on that one yet.

Here, the Gladiolas are just beginning to open. They are such a bright beautiful red.

And this is the first Dahlia of the season. It is opening slowly. It seems to unfurl only a few petals a day.

And lastly, I baked some whole wheat bread. I found a really good recipe on line if you google it, look for "the very best whole wheat bread". It makes two loaves and this wat the best whole wheat bread I have ever made.

It rose high, and stayed soft on the inside. Very much the texture of store bought bread. Also had a very nice flavor.

Now, the recipe calls for vital wheat gluten, which helps with the rise. There is only one rise, in the bread pans which is nice. If you bake bread and are looking for a good recipe for whole wheat, this one is a winner in my book. Have a great day. See you soon.