A lady in my class had this cute notebook cover, with a pocket on the cover…
It was simple to make—so simple you don’t really need a pattern. She made it so that the ends of the cover slipped into pockets. This would be really cute to give kids who are their way back to school. I suppose Elanor might want one!
Susan (a blog reader) sent me this photo and I thought you all would enjoy seeing her first applique project!
Susan wrote: “I took parts of your blocks (from Applique With Attitude) and arranged them to suit the shapes of my pillows. I began quilting about a year and a half ago and came across your website quite by accident…..a lucky accident for me! I like applique better than any handwork I have ever done. Thank you for inspiring me…..wish I had your eye for color.
Your work is amazingly bright and beautiful and cheerful, and your website is so easy to navigate and packed with helpful information. Your tutorials got me off to a good start for the basics of needle turn applique (I “cheat” and use a toothpick.) [FYI—as I wrote to Susan, toothpicks are a great tool and it’s not cheating to use them. It’s just smart :-).]
The buttons on my pillows came from my grandmother’s button boxes,which were an old snuff can and an old baking powder can. She’s been gone for many years, but she is still with me. 🙂
Thank you for your long-distance help, Susan”
I have to say that I do enjoy getting emails like this. Seriously, who wouldn’t? I’m not saying that to get you all to write to me. No, it’s more of a reminder that we should all, me included, send notes of gratitude. That said, here’s one from me, to you:
Thank you all for taking the time to read what I post. Honestly, it makes my day to know that you all actually do that. I work from home most of the time and our online community is a very nice part of my life. I’ll do my best to not get boring :-).
Have a lovely day…
When I was teaching in Ft Wayne, I complimented one of my students on her lovely blue earrings. She said her daughter sold jewelry and often gave her pieces and would I like to have them. Well, yes, I did indeed like them enough to want them and I offered to buy them but she said no… and at the end of class she gave them to me! I love them and really appreciated Joan’s generosity.
FYI: These are made by Silpada and if you are interested, you can click here to contact Joan’s daughter, Amy.
The thing is that it’s especially nice to be generous, and it’s also nice to accept generosity. I try to do both well. In this case, I will remember Joan every time I wear these earrings, which will be often!
I did remember to take a before picture of a window sill to give you an idea of what some of the walls looked like before being painted. I do so love what a fresh coat of paint adds to a space!
There is an upstairs loft in this house…
Next year I’m going to paint the floor up here, and will probably give the wall that is currently painted a fresh coat of paint. We are going to ignore the sloped ceilings. It’s a cabin-like space, after all!
Rather than putting mattresses in the house, Steve is putting plywood into twin bed frames. He’s going to purchase inexpensive inflatable mattresses that folks who spend the night can use with bedding or sleeping bags. It’s seems cleaner to us to do it that way, less dusty. Wouldn’t you agree?
Here’s the view from over the railings. The living area looks happy. I had the chairs feet-up on the dining table and it’s not totally tidy, but you get the idea. I can tell already that I will want to clean the tops of the ceiling fan blades. I wonder how I can reach them…
The screened-in porch is just outside that big front door.
And, lastly, here’s one of the downstairs bedrooms, with one bed platform, a table, and reclaimed lamp… All we need are some more bed platforms and the Woods will be good to go!
This post is mainly for my Mom, who asked me this morning why I hadn’t show pictures of the outside. The property is not really visible from the road. As you drove over a small hill, from the road, this is what you see. There’s the new shed on the left. The Woods house is down in those trees. You can see the front of Steve’s pickup, which is backed up to the door of the screened-in porch…
Here are some recent before pictures of the porch. Trust me when I tell you that these before pictures are way better than it looked a few weeks ago. I should have taken pictures of it then. Sigh.
Today, Steve finished cleaning up the porch. Yay! All it needs is a welcome mat!
There is a bit of loose screen to fix—later, when it’s cooler out.
Piece O Cake Blog 