Summer Recipe!

My favorite summer recipe is fresh homemade lemonade! Yummy, refreshing & easy to make!

You will need:
· 4 lemons, peeled & quartered
· ¾ cup sugar
· 6 cups water
· Ice cubes & lemon slices to serve

To make:
1) Place the lemons in a blender or food processor with all the sugar and 1 cup of the water. Processes for a few minutes until the lemons are finely chopped.
2) Pour the mixture through a strainer into a pitcher. Add the remaining water and stir well. Add ice cubes and a few extra lemon slices before serving.
3) Enjoy!

New Windows!

2009 seems to be the year of changes in my life. So far this year I worked for my mom during the tax season, came home again, got pregnant, got a new sewing room, and got new windows.

We finally replaced half of the 60 year old windows in our home. The backside of our house is fairly unprotected by the elements and the windows had severely deteriorated. They were also single paned windows. Imagine how hard that is on our heating and cooling bill! We opted to replace those windows this year and take advantage of the economic stimulus package. Our budget allowed us to replace half of the windows this year and the other half in a year or 2 to come. It feels strange but I’m so excited about the new windows! I can’t imagine why. LOL I can already feel the temperature difference and that’s a big deal with the heat index being around 110 degrees these past few days.

I opted to keep the window casement style but change the layout from a 3 window unit to a 2 window unit. All the hardware works, unlike the old windows where half the handles were missing and I had to use a pair of pliers to open them or they just wouldn’t open. The new windows are double paned glass, a huge improvement from the single glass. All the windows sills were also replaced because the previous owners had a large dog that destroyed them. I’m going to either stain the sills to match the other woodwork or paint all the trim to match the new windows. I haven’t decided yet and I’m already arguing with my husband who balks at any mention of painting wood of any kind.

We purchased the windows through Home Depot. They were very professional throughout the whole process. They are very serious about doing good work and making the customer happy. And I’m happy!

I took a ton of photos of each window for my husband who’s been out of town these past 3 weeks attending his annual training with the National Guard. He always seems to be gone when major projects like this happen. That’s just a minor hazard of being in the military I guess.

I’m only going to post a few of those photos because it takes forever to upload them.

Before:

During:
(Of course, Ian had to help.)

After:

My New Sewing Room!

All the hard work has finally paid off! My new sewing room is complete!

We started off with a messy basement corner…

After it was cleared out, we put down sub-flooring and built a couple walls with doors.
Here I painted a test patch on the ceiling. I was trying to envision what the whole thing would look like painted.
Once I’d completed the drywall I primer painted them white.
New carpet was installed June 12, 2009. It feels great under my feet!
Once I bought the paint I painted a test patch. I chose pale yellow for on the walls with a little darker shade of yellow for the doors and trim work.
My dad came over the weekend after the carpet was installed & sprayed the ceiling white. That was a huge job! The first coat went on Saturday and the second coat went on Sunday. I also painted the doors over the weekend.
Monday, June 15th, I painted the walls and trim work in the morning. Luckily, one coat was enough. Once that was done I moved all my sewing things into the basement. My brother-in-law and a friend came over in the evening to move all my heavy furniture into the new room. He also moved all the baby furniture up into what is now the baby’s room.

Moving out of the baby’s room…
Moving into the new sewing room…
The next few days I spent putting all my sewing stuff away. I got rid of a few things and did my best to organize everything else.
This past weekend I bought a folding table to serve as my sewing table. The other table will now be just for computer stuff. I love having so much extra room! The room is much larger then my old sewing room and I now have more of an ideal place for my sewing!
The last few things that will need to be finished up are extra lighting and electrical outlets. My dad plans to do that in the near future. The lighting isn’t too bad as it reflects off of the nice white ceiling and I’m making due with an extension cord to run my sewing machine. I’ve already put the space to good use!

Next on the to-do list is the baby’s room…

Garden Bouquet Quilt: Month 7- Canterbury Bells

Canterbury bells are always popular on quilts. One of the Nancy Page quilt club members told of a quilt or spread she had made which has a large spray of Canterbury bells appliquéd in the center of the spread. The flowers were held together with a large and graceful bow knot of blue.

Because Canterbury bells come in various colors Nancy suggested that these be made either in pale blue, in pale pink or lavender or that one flower be made one color and the other flower be of a different hue. A most literal minded member objected to having two flowers of different colors growing from the same stem, but Nancy reminded her that once more she was using an artist’s privilege.

Then too, she recalled the Magic Vine quilt, which has as many as eleven different flowers growing from one vine.

The block is ready for the appliqué when the large white triangle, cut 12 ½ by 12 ½ by 17 ½, had been seamed on to the triangle made of the pieced urn. The white triangle is plain until the birds and flowers have been appliquéd upon it. They are placed according to the small inset drawing. The meek bird is almost hiding his head beneath one of the blossoms, but no so the saucy bird. He is pertly surveying his world and finding it good. The members followed the usual procedure.

First, they cut the pattern and directions from today’s paper.

Second, they traced the flower lightly in the correct placement on the white triangle.

Third, they made another tracing on a piece of light weight cardboard.

Fourth, they pasted the original with directions into their Nancy Page Scrap book.

Fifth, they cut the pasteboard pattern into its various parts.

Sixth, they laid these on the right pieces of material and cut them out, allowing one-quarter inch for turning under on all sides.

The bells are alike, so only one pattern need be cut.

The stem may be made from bias tape or green material similar to that used in the leaves.

After turning under edges, basting and pressing, the pieces are pinned in place according to the light tracery made on the white triangle.

They are then appliquéd with slanting, invisible hemming stitches. The birds are appliquéd. And a sixth block is finished for the beautiful and increasingly admired garden bouquet quilt.

Here is the pattern for the Canterbury bells. Just copy and paste it onto your computer & print it out. Make sure the 1” square that I’ve drawn on is actually 1” after you print it out. You may have to fiddle with the size settings on your printer to get it the correct size.

I haven’t been able to work on my Canterbury bells block so I don’t have anything to show off. I will update this when I do get the chance!

Do you have any Garden Bouquet Quilt blocks to show off? Leave a link to your blog post about it in the comment section or email me a photo at heathers_custom_sewing{at}yahoo.com so I can share with everyone!

I hope you are enjoying this series!
~Heather

Quick Links to:

Month 1: Beginning Instructions, Urn, and Basket Instructions
Month 2, Part 1: The Tulip
Month 2, Part 2: The Saucy Bird
Month 2, Part 3: The Meek Bird
Month 3: The Cactus
Month 4: Lily of the Valley
Month 5: The Wild Rose
Month 6: The Trillium
Hand Appliqué
Machine Appliqué
Alternate Method of Appliqué Tutorial
Biased Binding Tutorial