Author Archives: ginnyscraftbasket

The Dash

No pictures to post today of recent completed projects.  I have a number of un-completed projects for sure.  Instead I am just working on my “Some of My Creations” pages here tonight.  I seem to be in an “organizational” mode lately.  I have been working on getting my sewing studio organized and easier to find things in and I thought I’d take the time to organize pictures of my creations here too.

However, I do have something to share this evening.   I, sadly, had the occasion to attend a funeral a couple of weeks ago and the funeral director closed the service by reciting this poem.  Some people I know have heard it before but I never had and it really touched me.   It is called “The Dash” and it was written by Linda Ellis.   I found it to be very moving and thought provoking.  I will never look at a headstone in the same way again.

http://www.linda-ellis.com

I have included the link above if you would like to check it out and read it for yourself.

Enjoy the rest of your week and give thought to how you will live your Dash.

See you soon.

Ginny

P. S.   Spring is coming.               Image result for clip art free flowers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roller Coaster Winter

Christmas Eve we had temperatures in the low 70’s.  Then we go into a cold spell;  back into the 50’s and 60’s.  So the groundhog didn’t see his shadow — an early Spring.  Everyone cheers!  Well, truth be told, not me.  I enjoy winter and feel like I need it.  I need some “hibernation” time.     I still have winter decor around the house.

DSC03116          Snowmen & Santa   Love my snowmen.

But, I digress.  Back to the weather.   After temps in the 50’s,  in comes a blizzard.  The snowstorm last Friday really gave us some beautiful scenic views out our windows.  DSC03115   I guess that Mother Nature decided that if the Punxsutawny Phil wanted to have an early Spring, well, she would just give us a bunch of snow just to let us know that she would have a say in that.  Then, in comes some warmer temps for a day or two, then a few more inches of snow; a dusting more a few mornings after that and now here comes ………………..

…………  the Polar Vortex            polar vortex   .   So, time to hunker down and stay inside and stay warm and cozy for the weekend.   By Tuesday,  we will be warming up and getting heavy rain.  But, hold on, I saw snowflakes on the forecast map for next Friday.         I think I’m a little motion sick from this ride.

And while I am trying to stay in my “hibernation” state, I won’t be sleeping.  I actually will be looking towards Spring and Summer.  I will be working on some things for the next Craft Fair.  I will be making a bunch of these:  DSC03114   Microwave potholders.   I have made some sets of these and given them to a few people and they have been very well received and people have said they will be ordering a bunch of these.   I am also working on a couple of wallets.  Trying to work out an easier way of getting the twist lock into the flap with the padding that I want in it to give it some body.

I hope to work a bit on my lattice quilt.  It would be great if I was at the point of putting the binding on it.  I could sit with a nice, warm, cozy quilt on my lap while hand-stitching the binding down.  But, alas, I am not there yet.  I have other quilts to keep me snug.

We are also starting to talk about our gardens.  I think I want to try to grow potatoes this year using a method I read about on the Old World Garden blog.   If you are into gardening and  haven’t visited this blog, I encourage you to do so.  It’s been very interesting to follow along on their journey. 

If you are in the path of the Polar Vortex, have a warm and cozy weekend inside.  Make soup; maybe some chili, bake some bread.  Spend some time being creative,  read a good book, watch a good movie.  Just pick something that you have wanted to do and spend some time in your cave and “hibernate” for a bit.

Have a great weekend.  See you all soon.

Ginny

 

 

 

 

Great weekend

How different this weekend was from last weekend.  The snow is melting quickly.  And boy what an amazing sunset this evening.Sunset (2)

It was a very productive and fun weekend for us.  We got a lot of errands done yesterday and last night we watched the Documentary on The Eagles.  Very informative and great music.  Then today was a day to just be home and enjoy being here.   Nice easy morning with a leisurely breakfast.  After that dh and I set to getting a few things done in the kitchen.  He chopped, diced and peeled and I mixed, browned and stirred and in the end we had the sauce for today’s dinner  Simmering Sauce

Shepherd's Pie  Shepherd’s Pie for tomorrow night’s supper.

and some Banana Bread for a treat tonight while watching the Live Broadcast of Grease.

Banana Bread

After the kitchen was cleaned up, I was able to spend some time in my sewing room and I finished up 24 burp cloths 2 dozen burp cloths

 

 

 

hexagon tablerunner        and got the hexis all ready for stitching while watching tv.  I’ve got two more rows to add to get it to the right length for my dining room table and then I’ll fill in on the sides for the width.  I’m using this charm pack from Moda.  Charm pack for hexis

Some nights there is absolutely NOTHING worth watching and then tonight, there is Grease, Downton Abbey and Madam Secretary all overlapping.  Thank goodness for my DVR.

Have a wonderful evening and a great week all.

See you soon.

Ginny

Blizzard of 2016

6″-12″ is what we were supposed to get.  Ok, we’re ready.

Ice metl

Boots & Shovels Ice melt, boots and shovels all ready.

 

 

 

 

Checked outside before heading to bed late Friday night.  The storm begins    The snow had begun.  Very pretty.

Next morning’s view of the driveway:Morning on Day 2

Now they say more like 12″-18″.   Well, it kept on coming and this is what it looked like this morning at the front door  Front Door DriftFront Porch Drift #2

We wound up getting over 28″ and the drifts were amazing.  We had shoveled the front porch and driveway mid-afternoon on Saturday so I cannot even imagine how high the drift would have been if we hadn’t.

Other than the one time shoveling expedition, we had a nice day indoors yesterday.  We didn’t lose power so that was great.  I was able to spend some time in the sewing room, watched a movie and made some delicious Roasted Tomato Soup Roasted Tomato Soup

The backyard sure does look like a winter wonderland today

DSC03088

DSC03087

We’ve got the cars and driveway dug out thanks in large part to three of our neighbor’s sons.  He always make sure that they go around and help those of us who don’t have young able-bodied shovelers living at home and who are not as young as we used to be.

Cars Dug Out

Now let’s just hope the plow doesn’t block us in too badly when it comes around.

Too tired now to do much sewing or cutting.  I would probably mess something up if I tried so I will just watch the football game and either work on a knitted dishcloth or maybe some handwork (hexis).  Maybe a little bit of both.  I also have Madam Secretary and Downtown Abbey on the schedule tonight but since they are opposite each other, I am dvr’ing both of them and then I can choose which to watch tonight and which to watch either later tonight or tomorrow.

Hope everyone dealing with this storm is safe and warm tonight.

Have a great week.  See you soon.

Ginny

 

 

 

Snow is coming?

Ok, so they say we could get a good amount of snow.   The usual routine is to make sure we have everything we will need for a day going nowhere (except outside to shovel and clear off the car — and maybe throw a snowball at my hubby.)  penquin throwing snowball

Bread — check;  milk — check;  tea — check; wood for the fireplace — check; wine -check

So, it looks like we are set for everything we will need, right?   Oh contrar!   I will need to make sure I’ve got enough to keep me busy for the weekend in my sewing room because we know that I don’t have enough fabric and projects to keep me busy!

So, this evening after work, I headed to Michaels to get some yarn.  I have been waiting and waiting for it to go on sale either at Michael’s or A.C. Moore and this was the week.Cotton yarn

I see some knitted dishcloths in my future.

Yesterday I got a delivery from the M*QC  so I have some nice new fabric to play with and dream about the pretty things I can make with it.  And, while going through my fabric stash and organizing last week, I realized that I was in need of some flannel and was going to head out to get that on Saturday but that was probably not going to happen with the snow arriving.   I headed out to get that after dinner.fabric

 

Got gas on the way home and now I’m all set.   Let the snow begin.  snowflakes

Have fun everyone heading to those grocery stores to stock up on your bread and milk. I’ve got my supplies in.

See you soon.

Ginny

Hello Winter, you really are here

Snow 2       Snow

Wasn’t sure we would be seeing any snow this season.  But we had some nice soft snowflakes falling.   I enjoyed  the peaceful precipitation while watching football and working on taming my scraps.        Cutting tumblers

I was cutting tumblers for Bonnie Hunters’ Leader/Ender challenge. (check it out at quiltville.blogspot.com )  And whatever wasn’t big enough for my tumblers, that got cut into 2 1/2″ or 3 1/2″ strips or 2 1/2″ inch squares.  I have tons of scraps that aren’t in any usable shape at this point and it takes up so much more room storing them that way.  Here is the beginning of my  organized stacks Organizing scraps

I got a lot more cut and organized and will get all the different shapes settled into their own neat bins. One of my goals is to use a lot of these scraps for a Scrappy Irish Chain quilt from Bonnie’s book, “Adventures with Leaders and Enders”.

Day off tomorrow!  🙂   I will give my sewing machines a good cleaning and then we will see what I feel like working on.  I have lots of choices.

Have a good evening.  Bye for now.

Ginny

 

 

Un-decorating Day

Well, today was the day to take the Christmas decorations down.  The kitchen sounded hollow somehow and the rest of the house seemed so bare.   I miss my tree .  The space where it spent the last month shining brightly    Christmas Tree    was so empty        Empty space.

So it was time to rearrange things a bit and fill that void with something else that would make me smile and so this is what I moved there Filled space    I set up my guitar and music stand there and it’s time to get back to practicing.  I did learn to play Jingle Bells before the holidays but not well enough for me to play it for anyone but myself and the cat.  Oh, and does it surprise anyone who knows me that the first song I can play all the way through was a Christmas tune?  Probably not.

Time to get the Valentine’s Day decorations out and then, quickly right after that, there will be the St. Patrick’s Day green making an appearance. However, if you take a look around, you will see that Christmas hasn’t really gone completely away.  🙂    I left a few reminders around Countdown

These cute little guys are actually keeping track of how many months to go until Christmas, not days right now.   And if you look closely, you will see a few holiday friends still hanging around in this little cabinet   Snowmen & Santa

After un-decorating, a whole lot of vacuuming, rearranging and having some delish onion soup for dinner, I did get to spend some time in my sewing room organizing my fabric and working on a couple small projects. Tomorrow is going to be a rainy chilly day, so I will be spending a lot of time with my sewing machines.  I have a few projects on my to do list and I have been looking through quilt books and magazines and finding more things that are going to be going on my “I want to make that” list.

Have a good week everyone.  See you soon.

Ginny

The New Year has begun

And winter has arrived for a short visit.  Boy did we get spoiled with that warm weather in December.  As cold goes, I suppose it really wasn’t all that awful but it sure was a shock to the body for the last couple days. But, fear not, warmer temps are making a comeback and we will be in the 40’s again tomorrow.  However, I really want some snow!  We can’t have snow if it’s in the 40’s.

I have been getting my sewing room back into some semblance of order over the last few days and will be getting back to work in there soon.  I have a list of things that need to get done.  The list isn’t as long as it was a couple months ago but I do see it growing again.  Of course, my sewing machines need some TLC too before they get back into the swing of things.

Stay cozy and warm everyone.  See you soon.

Ginny

 

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

christmas-border-clip-art-christmas-clipart-free-downloads-christmasWhat a great time of the year.  It has been so very busy with shopping, wrapping, baking and wonderful family visits! I haven’t had any time to pop in here and wish you all Seasons Greetings. I hope you all have had a great few weeks from Thanksgiving on.  Mine was very busy indeed and I truly was quite tired by the time we got to the Christmas weekend but it was all well worth it.  I even fit in another craft fair.  I was a very busy elf. Elf    A few things that made their way from my cutting table to the sewing machine and out the door to new homes were:      Notebook holder open (August)  Some notebook holders.  These hold a medium notepad (5″ x 7″) and I am constantly using mine.

A friend had requested some Christmas kitchen curtains and I had a bit of leftover material so I surprised him with this tablerunner :Christmas Tablerunner for Ray  I really liked the way it came out and I hope to be able to make one for myself before next Christmas.

And then there were these adorable baby blocks for the new little princess in the family:     Lily's Blocks

So now, what will the new year bring?   We can only guess and hope and work towards what we would like to happen in 2016.  Time for setting goals — I don’t call them resolutions.   Time to take stock of what 2015 brought to our lives.  There will be good and there will be bad for sure but now it’s time to take what we have learned and head into the brand new year with renewed hope, renewed resolve and increased wisdom.   I will be cleaning up my sewing studio and starting work on some orders.  I will start planning what I’d like to make for the Spring craft fair and yes, I will even start planning out our vegetable and flower beds for the spring and summer.   We had a great garden and “farm” last year and the craft fairs and sales went well this year but I will try to use the “increased wisdom” that I garnered through the year and figure out what will work and also what will not work in both the craft fairs and the gardens and hopefully increase my success in both areas.

So many things I’d like to accomplish or at least work towards in the coming months but that is for another post.  For now I would like to wish you all the very best for 2016.  Health and happiness and a peaceful heart.

Happy New Year

See you in 2016

Ginny

 

 

 

 

 

Getting ready for the craft fair

I have been busy making these cute little “phone pillows”.  I found the tutorial on You Tube at “Sew Very Easy”.   And they really are!  I made one for myself so I could have something to stand my cell phone up on instead of laying it flat on something or trying to prop it up if I was watching something.   I liked  it so much, that I made this little owl one for my desk at work.

Jpeg

Jpeg

Jpeg

Jpeg

Then I decided that since they were so quick and easy,  I’d make some of them for the craft fair.   Always looking for something new and different.   Now I want to adjust the pattern a bit so that I can make one to use with my tablet.  Maybe I should make a few of them and keep them in the different parts of the house where I may need to prop up my tablet or even my Kindle.

And something else I made this week that I think came out super was beef stew.  I think it was the best one I ever made.  🙂  Do I sound too boastful?  Well, hubby said it too and since we ate every last bit of it between Monday and then tonight as leftovers, I guess it really was good.  Not sure whether it was adding the bit of merlot wine while browning the meat or putting cauliflower in this time but you can bet I will try to duplicate it the next time.

Hope you are all having a good week.  Have you created something cute, fun or delicious this week?  I’d love to hear about it if you have.

Bye for now.

Ginny