Kraft Lab Saturday

Hello all:

Snow a again today here in Maryland.   I found a pic of a beautiful sky to give me hope of spring.

Also, spent the day in my "Kraft Lab" prepping watercolor postcard by cutting them and using stampin up markers and water to give a color wash.    Played with dylusions by Ranger.  Take a look at theses pages in my handmade experimental journal.  Do you see any color variation?  What one will notice is that the page on the right is lighter due to the use of gesso ( as a foundation) along with homemade color sprays.  The page on the left used all dylusions with India ink added with green dylusions on the edge.  I actually like effect.  Keep using color!

Happy Valentine's Day 2014

I hope you are enjoying this day with all the special people in your life.  Take a few minutes to think about our Vets, children with disabiflities, and people suffering with illness.  

Enjoy my Mixed Media cards and tags.   

Mixed media Valentine's Day card

Handmade card really makes this day special.  Also, working your hands is healing to the soul.  A little paint, stencils, and fabric can leave a great feeling.

Try it today.

Mixed Media Crafting--Collages and Altered Face - Green LADY

Hello:

Collaging can be healing and relaxing.  

Spend some time cutting up paper and gluing it down.  It will decrease stress and make you happy!!!  Add a little paint and doodles...and BAM...you have Art.  Enjoy my collage and "Green Lady" below!

Art Journal Thursday

hello:

Here are pages from my Art Journal.   The first page is my "faith in Spring".   It is time for Winter to go.  The second page is about my depiction of my re-invention after losing 40 lbs.

  

Feeling Artie in February

Hello All:  I have been in my "Kraft lab" since the holidays ended.  Been experimenting with a inks, paints, and stencils.  Take alook:

Here is a collage on the cover of journal I created and sewed the spine with thread.  This is a mixed media collage with many textures.  How many can you locate?

V-Day 2014 - my perspective

It may just be me, but is this winter taking the fun out snow?  Not feeling very red and white for Valentine's Day.  My cards are reflecting my "so over snow" mood.  Take a look:

The first card has silver paint....I should get points for using dollar store hearts.  What do you think?  Any way back to the Kraft lab.

Happy New Year All

Everyone:


I am a little late, but Happy New Year.  I do not make new year resolutions.  I do make lists for the year.  In my review of 2012, I completed everything that I wanted to do.  I started my blogging and I got to take a trip.  I was able to complete many UFOs and complete sewing for others. 

In 2013, I am going push myself to complete a Lap size quilt from beginning to end including machine quilting on my home machine.  I want to learn how to make flying geese units.  My goal is to make a lap quilt for all the residents of an  assistant living center that I have worked with for over seven years. 

Take a look at the Macaroni and Cheese casserole I made on Sunday for Dinner......Yummy:

Recipe:

One box of macaroni noodles

3-4 bags of shredded cheese (your choices or what is on sale)

1 can of evaporated milk

1 stick of butter

1 egg (beaten)

3 tsp of paprika

Boil your macaroni noodles until soft, drain noodles, pour noodles into a Pyrex dish, add milk, butter, egg, incorporate all the ingredients using a large large spoon.  Add paprika over the top.

Bake in an 350 degree oven for 1 hour uncovered.

Enjoy!

String Quilting my Filler

Hello  All:
   
 I use my string quilting as "filler" for quilting projects.  When I do not feel like working on a UFO, I work on making string/crumb quilt patches.   I work on my string quilt blocks with fabric scraps.  I have about 10 blocks completed. I alternate between a male tie string patches and just fabric scrap patches.   I do not have a plan for the patchwork....it is just for relaxation.

String Quilting is really easy and great for new quilters or children learning to sewing.  I just finish reading Bonnie K. Hunter's Book

Bonnie K. Hunter's String Fling - Scrappy, Happy, and Loving It.

 

 

I my opinion, readability is very important in learning to do something new or  to increase knowledge of something already known.  I liked  that the discussions of the background and theory of string quilts was understandable.   I do dis-like the type face, though.  It seems a little small for those with glasses.  The quilt patterns and projects seem pretty challenging, but doable.  The use of color and patterns did give me many ideas for quilt tops that did not utilize strings.  All in all, a good book for learning a new craft.

Bye!

Myelodysplastic

Hello All:

Many of my students are asking me about the diagnosis of Robin Roberts.  Here is some information for everyone.

Myelodysplastic: 

The myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS, formerly known as preleukemia) is a diverse collection of hematological (blood-related) medical conditions that involve ineffective production (or dysplasia) of the meyloid class of blood cells.  Patients with MDS often develop severe anemia and require frequent blood transfusions. In most cases, the disease worsens and the patient develop cytopenias (low blood counts) caused by progressive bone marrow failure. In about one third of patients with MDS, the disease transforms into acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), usually within months to a few years.

 

Treatment involves killing of off the cells in the patient's bone marrow and replacing them with health cells from a donor.  Success is in the high percentages and the person can go on to lead a healthy life.  The treatment can be overwhelming on the patient's immunity and general health.  Precautions must be maintain to keep the patient away from infection and add on nutrition that increases general health and vitality. 

 

 

Sunday Morning French Toast- Low Phosphorus/Low Sodium .

Sunday Morning French Toast

 

• 4 eggs or 2 cup egg substitute •

1 tsp vanilla

 2. cups nondairy creamer plain or vanilla - liquid • .

 2 tsp rum extract

 1 Tbsp sugar • 12 slices white bread or substitute almost stale white bread

• .1 tsp nutmeg •

 ½ tsp of cinnamon

Splash/shaker of powdered sugar (optional)

 

Directions:

 

Grease 9×13-inch baking pan. In medium bowl, combine eggs, nondairy creamer, sugar, nutmeg, vanilla, and rum extract; beat until well blended. Arrange bread slices in greased baking pan.

Pour egg mixture over bread in pan, making sure all egg mixture is absorbed. Cover with foil and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Remove bread and mixture from refrigerator and remove foil.

Bake at 500°F for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve with syrup/low sugar syrup if desired.

 

Serves 6.: For each 2-slice (5 oz) serving: 252 calories, 10 g protein, 8 g fat,33 g carbohydrate, 290 mg sodium, 219 mg potassium, and 83 mg phosphorus.

 

Note:  To decrease Sodium intake – bake your own bread and eliminate optional ingredients.

Community Health - October -Health Literacy Month

All:

October is a month full of health observances.  But, everyday should be a day to observe and preserve your health.  Health Literacy is part of October  and it is important in maintaining adequate homeostasis - (your normal health).

What is Health Literacy? 

Health Literacy Month is a time for individuals to promote the importance of understandable and accurate health information.  Only research, review, and internalize information from expert web pages on the Internet.  Expert web pages are reviewed and updated by medical experts and clinicans in healthcare.  For instance, research an illness or problem at the Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins, Federal Government, and your local hospital web pages.  Most of all, contact your health professional for examinations and treatment interventions.

 

 

BBQ Fried Chicken

BBQ Fried Chicken - My family loves this dish.

Ingredients:

·2 cups of all purpose flour

·3 cloves garlic, minced

·2 teaspoons butter

·1 cup of vegetable oil

·1 cup Heinz ketchup (a must for us)

·1/4 cup packed brown sugar

·¼ teaspoon of liquid smoke

·1/4 cup chili sauce (Heinz is a good one)

·1/2-3/4 tablespoon celery seed

·1 tablespoon prepared mustard

·1/2 teaspoon salt

·½ teaspoon cinnamon

·2 dashes hot pepper sauce

·8 large chicken thighs s, bone-in with skin (a large family pack will usually have about 7-8 thighs

Directions

 

Pour vegetable oil in frying pan at a medium temperature.  Prepare a light coating of seasoned flour--or a roll in breadcrumbs or crushed saltines.  To get truly golden-brown and crispy chicken, use a cast iron skillet. You can't beat cast iron for even heat distribution and reliable frying. The fat should be about one inch deep in the skillet, coming about halfway up the food. Get the oil hot before adding the chicken: about 350 degrees F.

In a saucepan, sauté the garlic in butter until tender.

Add the next 8 ingredients.

Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.

Remove from the heat and set aside.

Add Fried chicken, covered over medium heat for 30 minutes, turning occasionally.Remove to large loaf pan and Baste with sauce.

Continue basting and turning during the last 15 minutes of cooking.

Serve with any extra sauce you set aside for dipping

Enjoy!!!

Holiday Crafting is Online

Hello All:

This has been a really "world wind" year.  I planned a trip to Honolulu on Christmas Day 2011.  It literally took over my life.  I did all the planning, scheduling, and organizing of the trip for my family.  Take a look at the video of the USS Arizona still underwater and leaking oil from WWII.  We went in late June for nearly ten days. 

While we were gone, Maryland had a terrible storm that caused a tree to fall down in front of our house.  Thank goodness, no one was hurt and there was only one car in the driveway.  It is missed that car by only inches.  Funny, once we returned from the trip.  I was "stumped".  I didn't have anything to do.  I really had withdrawal from the planning, worrying, and shopping for the trip.  Well, this year I decide to get a jump on my Holiday handmade gifting.  I started sewing patchwork like crazy.  I have come up with hundreds of ideas for gifts, research ideas, and raided my holiday stash for fabric.  My goal this year.....buy nothing. No new fabric.

I want to use everything up from prior years.  Ask me how that is really working for me.  Actually, I am keeping to my goal about the fabric (for the most part).  I only bought threads.... an embroidery sewing machine....stablizers....holiday digital designs for the embroidery sewing machine.  I guess I should have gotten more fabric....It would have been cheaper.

Enjoy a short Video of the USS Arizona

Singer Featherweight - I Got One!

Hello All:

I have to make a very real confession.  I am a gadget, toy, and new tool person.  I think it is a slight addiction.  I had to have a computer when people started using this tech at home.  My first computer was a Commodore 64.  I proceed to a IBM PC then to HPs.  I have now become a Apple Girl.  I have started with IPod and it keeps getting worst.

I am the same way with sewing machines.  I really can not help myself.  I started with a Sears Kenmore many years ago.  I thought that people were to keep the same machine for years.  I thought it was rule.  But, since I began to sew again, I found it is not a rule.  I have talked to many people that have many sewing machines and use them in rotation order.  Right now, I am into Singers.  I have wanted a vintage Singer for some time.  My sister and I have been trolling on Ebay for months looking for the right machine Singer featherweight.  Here is a link for more information about Singer Featherweight.

The Featherweight Model 221 was manufactured in various forms between 1933 and 1964 in both the US at Elizabethport, New Jersey and Kilbowie, Scotland. Machines for the Canadian market made in Scotland were exported to St. Johns, Quebec, Canada to be fitted with 110-120 volts AC motors to work on this side of the Atlantic Ocean.

Most Featherweights were painted a shiny black with gold decals, though there have been models manufactured in a beige color and a very pale green, actually a white color with a green tinge. These machines have a smaller fold-down shelf than the black ones. I have seen Featherweights for sale on eBay that have been repainted in metallic teal, red, orange, purple, and a bright pink.  Recently, I saw one that had been re-painted in burgundy.  It looked swell, but I prefer the original black and gold decal modals.

Well, my sister and I won bids on EBay for featherweight Singers.  They just arrived and Wow....I am in love.  We have taken them to be cleaned and serviced.  I cannot wait to start doing patchwork on this little baby   CHOW.

Enjoy a picture of the statue of King Kamehameha I taken on June 24, 2012 during my grand tour of Hawaii.

FYI:

The statue of Kamehameha I (original cast) is an outdoor sculpture  by American artist Thomas Ridgeway Gould, cast in 1880 and installed in 1883. The Kamehameha I sculpture is an over-sized painted brass casting of King Kamehameha I, the ruler credited with unifying the  Hawaiian islands in the early nineteenth century and establishing the  Kingdom of Hawaii in 1810. Though the surface of the sculpture was originally finished with a brown chemical patina and gold leaf, it has become local tradition to paint the statue with lifelike colors, and it appears as such to this day. Originally commissioned to celebrate the centennial of Captain Cook’s arrival to the Hawaiian Islands and to stand in front of the  Ali'iolani Hale government building in  Honolulu, extenuating circumstances during its delivery to Hawaiiʻi delayed its arrival, and resulted in its being placed instead in Kapaʻau, near Kamehameha I’s birthplace.  The statue represents an important cultural and spiritual object for the local community.

Crumb Quilts

I am mad about crumb quilting.  It is a real stash buster and uses all the those little strippy segments of fabric.  Waste not Want not.....or......use it up and buy some more.  Enjoy:

 

 

 

Crumb Quilts - View these photos of crumb quilts.....

 

http://quilting.about.com/od/foundationpiecing/ig/String-Quilt-Pictures/Super-Bowl-Crumb-Quilt.htm

String Quilting

Enjoy this video:

String Quilting from Fons and Porter

Need more information about string quilting.  Review Quiltville's Primer on the subject....again enjoy

http://quiltville.com/stringquiltingprimer.shtml

Holiday Cookbook 1991 to 2012

Hello All:

Food for Thought

In 1991, I created a Family Cookbook on a Commodore 64 and a dot-matrix printer.  I had it copied and bound in school presentation folder.  I was always coming up with something handmade for Christmas.  In 1991, my mother was still with us and we were all living in the same city.  In the twenty-two years that have followed there has been many changes.  My daughter is an adult (I can not even believe this statement), Mom is gone, and I no longer live in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

Last Christmas, my daughter was staying with my younger sister after her knee surgery.  She stayed at night and I came during the day.  It was  a good arrangement because my sister had a major complication.  She had a TIA - Trans Ischemic attack (mini stroke).  It was a real game changer for her rehabilitation and recovery. 

Anyway, my daughter found my sister's copy of the old family cookbook and made one of the recipes for whiskey cake.  It was really good.  I found my copy and decided to re-do the book for this year's holiday.  With all the technology advances in the last twenty years, this book will be very close to a professional job.  I can take book to Sam's or use an online publisher to have it bound for gifting.  I am going to use Photo Editing software to include pictures and even some videos for the interactive version.  Oh, did I forget to mention that I am going to really go high tech and publish it as an IBook with Apple.  Yes, indeed, times have really changed from that old "dot-matrix" printer days.


Enjoy the sewing Cat:

Scrap Bags

Hello All:

A few weeks ago, I found "Moda Scrap Bags" on Ebay.  I was looking for something else and some how I ended up with scap bags.  I had never heard of these little gems.  Let me tell what I found out.  Moda's scrap bags are:

Each bag contains varying width of strips, most are from 2" to 4" in width (some have selvage edge imprints on them). Strips vary in length, most are 32" or longer. Each bag of strips is color coordinated. Approximately 1/2 pound of scraps.   I read many reviews about the scap bags online and many people complained that the selvages are problem.  I decided to get one just see what I could with them.  The cost rangers from $9.99 to 14.99.  I found the ones on Ebay to be better choice for getting what you need instead of what is left over from the company. I have started to string and crumb quilt.  These strips within the scrap bags are great for this type of quilting.  I did not find the selvages inclusion a problem since I used the AccuQuilt Go strip cutter to eliminate them as a problem. So, try a scrap bag if you have time and money to do specialize quilting. Enjoy a picture from Hawaii - June 24, 2012 - Island Tour

Bloggers that make me Rave

Hello All:

I am not a person that "crushes" about  people or celebrities.  But, I have to Rave about two really outstanding  bloggers in the universe Bonnie K. Hunt and Jo of Jo's Country Junction.  These are two very different bloggers that really go out their way to inspire quilters and sewist in the crafting universe.  I found Jo online through her YouTube videos for the AcuuQuilt Go.   I, recently, was linked to her through Bonnie's blog.

First, Bonnie has changed my whole world about completing UFOs.  Check out her blog about "Leaders and Enders".  She has also written a book that explains the whole process.  What I like about Bonnie is that you can find the information on her blog.  She just does not save it for the book.


The sky and ocean of Honolulu, HI

 After reading her blog, I purchased the book for the quilt patterns and additional information.  And, her vintage sewing machine information on her blog is priceless.  If you can, you need to check out Bonnie's Quilt Cam's. Bonnie's is a traveling quilt teacher and she is literally going around the world teaching and showing quilts.  She went to Bali (hope I spelled it right) and sent back pictures and narratives of the trip along with blog entries that were pre-blogged.  Just read those entries to get a good fell for this region near Asia ( my lack of geography knowledge is showing).   She invites everyone that is viewing to join in on Quilt Cam nights and get their projects done while she is working on her own projects.  Bonnie gives you great information about many various quilting/ sewing subjects and takes questions from her comment section for the evening Quilt Cam. 

Second, Jo's Country Junctions review crafting books, links to many relevant quilting and crafting events.  She also has food recipes that anyone can make.  Her joy of crafting, cooking, and passing on the information to others really comes through on her blog.  Jo has an intelligent list of other bloggers on her blog that you can click on and get more information.  I enjoy just reading thoughts of many interesting people in the crafting universe.   It was Jo's videos that inspired me to get the AccuQuilt Go and the Go Baby with dies. I love it.  With my time being taken up with getting holiday gifts off the ground, the AccuQuilt Go and Go Baby are really helping to stream line my cutting.  These ladies and many others have inspired me to be a better blogger and crafter. 

Chow