Taking Pictures of the Grandkids

Goodness. Trying to get a nice picture of the grand kids was a test in patience! First TJ...."smile nice for Grandma.""No, sweetie. Put your eyebrows down and don't flair your nostrils."
"*giggle* Don't try so hard. Just relax.""Better, but relax your neck too."
"OK. Good enough!!!"

Now Emerson's turn. After a chase, and a bribe of pretzels, I finally got her to come pose. "Look up at Grandma, honey." "No. Not at Sassy. Look at Grandma." "Yes, I see Sassy ran up the stairs. Hey! Show Grandma your pretty teeth. Did you brush them good today?" Whew!!!!!!!!!

Rachel got a part time job, so I have the pleasure of watching my grandchildren a couple of nights a week. What a joy they are!!!

I have been quilting on the sailboats. OMGoodness are they beautiful The quilting really adds to them! I am on block 9 out of 12...they are moving right along.I also began a new quilt top. Here is the center.... That is all you will see for a while. I can't show more until the pattern is printed, and the designer is not quite ready yet (though I have the directions and will continue to piece it).

I taught hand quilting on Saturday and made all the ladies a fall themed needle book.

That fabric was darling. Toadstools, acorns, and berries mixed in with autumn leaves. Too cute.

I shopped a bit after class. I get a nice discount on the day I teach. I was able to get some yardage of white for the new quilt...I need a total of 10 yards, and so far have 6. The owner cut the other 4 and set it aside for me. So sweet. Who can afford $100 in fabric at once??...well not me. I also picked up some colors for the new project. TOTALLY outside my color box!Charlotte LOVES these bright jewel toned colors. Me, not so much, but they will work beautifully in the quilt.....cut into teeny tiny pieces!

Our soap is curing nicely. It smells wonderful and has hardened up beautifully. Once it is cured, I will smooth it all out with a veggie peeler and make it even prettier. We got a total of 32 really good sized bars from that one batch.Tonight we made homemade pizza and watched a movie together. I am so glad this season is over. The Thanksgiving season will begin tomorrow, which is my FAVORITE time of year. Right now I am most thankful that Charlotte has made it through another year....a tough one, but we made it through.

His mercies are fresh every morning and so is His grace!!!!!

Making Lye Soap

Today was soap making day. We got all of our supplies and ingredients ready. We used the cold process (no cooking) recipe from Homestead Blessings DVD The Art of Soap Making. WELL worth the investment. We had our pans greased and our pot ready with the recipe written out for us.
It called for
4 c water (room temp)
48 oz lard
32 oz coconut oil
16 oz olive oil
and 12 oz lye
The lye was not easy to find. We ordered ours from Snowdrift Farms.
It is a scary process....my kids were allowed to watch, but I explained in DETAIL the dangers of lye and even the fumes. (we had vinegar standing by just incase of a splatter) What a day to make soap!!! We had 60 mph wind gusts out there and needed to open windows to ventilate the house....too late to go back. Zach ran to the garage and grabbed a mask....little stinker. The pic is blurry but it was so cute I had to show you all.
We dissolved our lye in the pot with the water. It got hot very fast and was steaming terribly. It settled down quickly though. I slowly added in the solid fats and they melted in the hot lye.
Like those flimsy gloves are going to protect me from lye!!!....I found the nice heavy ones I bought AFTER the soap was made.
Once all the fats were added, I used a stick blender to speed up the process. It began to trace nicely. See our "trails"??At this point we added in the oatmeal, essential oils, and spices. I am afraid it got too thick, but I got it in the waiting pans as fast as I could.
It smelled heavenly!!!! I put lids on them and covered them with a blanket, just as the instructions said to, and will cut them and set them to cure tomorrow.
It was an easy recipe to follow and I will certainly make more. My friend Kelley is a soap maker and I am hoping she can guide me in some more complicated recipes. Once they are cured, I will show you the finished product.
I will leave you with a conversation we had in the van today as we were leaving the supermarket.
Me: That old lady is backing out and is not even looking.
Sweetheart: She is probably thinking the same thing about you.
Me: I'm not an old lady!, she is! I have blond hair. She has gray hair.
Sweetheart: That's cause you get yours in a box.
Me: I won't have gray hair til I am 60 and then people can call me old.
Zachary: Aren't you already gonna be 60?
*Before I can answer (or slap him)* Charlotte: Mom's not 60. She's gonna be 50 and she still has some life in her.
Me: Gee. Thanks.
Have a blessed day!

The Art Of Crafting

Head over to Homestead Blessings for a chance to win their newest DVD, "The Art Of Crafting". I LOVE the 10 DVD set my dear friend Amy sent me.

Funnies

I saw these 2 "funnies" over at Girl Talk and just HAD to share them. They were posted separately, but they sure go well together!

A mom was concerned about her kindergarten son walking to school. He didn't want his mother to walk with him. She wanted to give him the feeling that he had some independence but yet know that he was safe. So she had an idea of how to handle it.
She asked a neighbor if she would please follow him to school in the mornings, staying at a distance, so he probably wouldn't notice her. She said that since she was up early with her toddler anyway, it would be a good way for them to get some exercise as well, so she agreed.
The next school day, the neighbor and her little girl set out following behind Timmy as he walked to school with another neighbor girl he knew. She did this for the whole week. As the two walked and chatted, kicking stones and twigs, Timmy's little friend noticed the same lady was following them as she seemed to do every day all week.
Finally she said to Timmy, 'Have you noticed that lady following us to school all week? Do you know her?'

Timmy nonchalantly replied, 'Yeah, I know who she is.

'The little girl said, 'Well, who is she?'

''That's just Shirley Goodnest,' Timmy replied, 'and her daughter Marcy.

''Shirley Goodnest? Who is she and why is she following us?

''Well,' Timmy explained, 'every night my Mom makes me say the 23rd Psalm with my prayers, 'cuz she worries about me so much. And in the Psalm, it says, 'Shirley Goodnest and Marcy shall follow me all the days of my life', so I guess I'll just have to get used to it!'

A New Look

It was time to give Life With A Little Sass a fresh new look. Zachary has 2 new friends (look close for Zach in the above pic). The blue Betta Fish is Rocky, and the Red one is Rascal. He is mesmerized with them. He spent his tooth money on them. As you can see from my new header, Sassy has made friends. She is just as enthralled with them as Zachary.

Lots of hand quilting on the sailboats, and piecing has begun on a new project. More on that later. Just wanted to show off the re-model and tell you all to have a wonderful weekend!

It's a Quilt

The Hidden Star is finished. Can you find the hidden star? I have it laid out so it is easier for you to see it....it was not the "star" you thought it was. ;) It has even been washed and dried to give it that crinkle effect. I am very surprised by how much I like this quilt. It was a booger to get through, but the end result is wonderful. I pray my son is as happy with it. The back even shows the dense quilting.
That's a lotta stitches!!!!
Quilting on the sailboats came to a grinding halt when I had an "Oh Crap" moment earlier today. While quilting the waves I saw something.....here is the stencil as drawn out on the quilt.

Looks ok, eh? Well as I was turning the quilt, I saw the waves from this angle.....Uh oh. Did I put those waves on upside down? It looked that way to me. It was too late, as 3 of the 12 are already hand quilted! I went back and looked at the stencil and saw the sticker with the directions....they show this..........which is exactly as I am quilting them. Whew! I have a feeling it is a dual stencil. One way for gentle waves and the other for torrential spiky waves. I am glad I caught the gentle ones!!!! The quilting continued on and all is well!

Sass is all laid out for her afternoon nap like the Queen of Sheba. She is sound asleep with her head up and her hind legs all sprawled out behind her. As long as I am sitting at the end of that couch, quilting, she is laying behind my head, purring in her sleep. Such a Mama's girl! She knows she better not touch that quilt again!

I had a wonderful time in my old home town yesterday. I was able to spend some time with Sue! I helped her baste part of a quilt. It was like old times. I just LOVE seeing her. I hugged her so tight, I did not want to let go! I will see her again in November.

Hoping for a quiet weekend. Life has a way of getting away from me, so I am not hanging on to that hope too tightly. I do have my quilting bee on Saturday, so that is always something to look forward to. Any hand quilter's in my area, come on down and join us!

Praying your weekend is enjoyable for you!

Making Waves

I ordered the wave stencil on Wednesday and it arrived on Saturday! I just love Quilting Creations International. I have never had anything but great service from them and they have the best stencils. Ok....enough commercial (of which I am not receiving anything...just passing on a great company). I already have 3 blocks and their surrounding sashing quilted. I just LOVE this quilt.
So....let's talk fabric organization. I have a crappy system for my fabrics. A 3 drawer bin system that I have been using for years. I am a fabric snob.....I buy mostly quilt shop fabric...so therefore I do not buy big yardage at once. Fat quarters and 1/2 yard cuts of fabrics I fall in love with that I do not have a purpose for. If I buy big yardage, I have it earmarked for something specific and usually immediate. The bins have worked for my small pieces....until now. I pulled fabric and found I had several larger "chunks" (how's that for fabric etiquette?) and decided anything 1/2 yard or larger would come out. I did end up pulling some fat quarters that have not been cut, but that I want to include in my Libby Quilts. I made lots of room in my bins and was able to sort and re organized what was in there.The larger pieces went on the shelves above my sewing/cutting table.
There was a stack of unwashed fabrics too, and those were later added once they were washed and dried. I always prewash and dry my new fabrics before I use them. Still not a wonderful system, but it will work for a while.
While cleaning and sorting I found a couple of items of interest (to me). Do you remember back in the late 80's/early 90's, it was so "in" for quilters to wear quilt related pins? I had several, but this one was my favorite....What a dork! It is now pinned to a quilted bear.....I still love that pin! Maybe I will wear it again....what do you think? I don't mind being a dork!
I also found, in the hutch, this little house made by my oldest. It is now almost 25 years old....those pretzels still look like new.....how is that possible?????I am making homemade lasagna and garlic bread for dinner. It is a chilly day and a hot, heavy meal should feel good.....that 15 pound block will have to wait another week ;)
Right now, I plan to make binding for the Hidden Star and get the machine part done. (I found my scissors and bought new fabric) I think I will set the Sailboats aside this evening and hand stitch binding. My quilting fingers need a rest. I am very concerned I will not be able to wait til Christmas to give this quilt to my son.....I am SO not good at waiting!!!!It is a nice laid back Sunday here. Praying it is the same for you......

Fall Into Fall Giveaway Winner

The winner of my Fall Into Fall Giveaway is Vickie!!!! Congratulations Vickie. I will be getting your prizes off to you as soon as I receive your address. Actually, Vickie was not my winner.....the "real" winner was a no reply, no email address, no profile, no blog, so I had NO way to get hold of her. So sorry....though it worked out well for Vickie. ;)
What a fun giveaway. I have enjoyed all your comments and, though I could not respond to them all, please know you are appreciated!

Ever Have One Of Those Days?

Yesterday was "one of those days". Anything that could go wrong, did go wrong. Not to be all negative, cause there were some good mixed in with all the bad, and I will look at yesterday as a learning experience!

The Hidden Star is completely quilted! I finished it a couple of days ago and got so thrilled to be able to put the binding on....one of my favorite things to do is binding, second after hand quilting! So I lay it all out and run down to get my Gingher Scissors to trim the edges and thought I would go ahead and make the binding while I was down there.
The first thing I notice is, my scissors are missing!!! They are ALWAYS in the ball jar. Always. No one is confessing anything at this point. I will look for them once I get the binding made. I find the fabric after 12 years....I was pretty proud of myself in that. What I did not remember was, that over that 12 years, I had cut into that fabric for several scrap projects. Hmmmm. Looking at it, it was not hard to see there would be no where near enough for binding. Good Grief! Well, I would get a binding fabric next week. In the meantime I will move on to my next project, cause there is NOTHING in my hoop, which is driving me insane!
I pull out the Sailboats and start marking. UGH!!! It did not go well. My freehand "wind" was a disaster. I decide to draw diagonal lines for movement.I messed that up too. Using a ruler I measured from the corner of the background fabric to the opposite corner of background fabric, totally forgetting that the water is part of the block....the lines looked cock-eyed. I figured it out and started over. In case you are wondering, that is what an eraser looks like in the home of a child who has PICA. ;) (I use a water soluable art pencil to mark light colored fabrics)
On to the waves.....GREAT! The small waves are too small and the large waves are too large.I head to the computer and order the correct sized waves...those will have to wait til the stencil arrives. I am not stopping....those 12 boat waves will have to be marked on a basted quilt.
Here is some "good". This border stencil was GORGEOUS! Lots of detail but it will make the quilt!There. All marked and it was relatively painless.Now to baste! My least favorite part of the quilting process is basting. Anyone who knows me for more than a minute has heard me complain about this part. I am a thread baster....I only use pins when machine quilting, which happens once every 12th of Never!!!! Sweetheart was getting ready to head out the door to spend the day working at the farm. I smooched him good-bye and turned my focus back to the quilt. A few minutes later he came back with a full days supply of Road Ranger Diet Coke!I LOVE THAT GUY!!!!!!!
I had washed and dried my backing fabric, and carefully laid it out in the living room so it would not wrinkle. I went in to get it and look what I found.....SASSY!!!!! What did you do???? That darn cat was curled up in a ball sleeping in the massive wrinkles she had created into a nest! She took off running when she saw me!!!! Great! Now I have to press it! I got it all pressed and laid out on the table. I went to get the batting....a very expensive Quilter's Dream bat, mind you...and there is a freakin HOLE in the corner of the package with batting hanging out. SASSAFRAS!!!!! That cat is gonna need a middle name!
I lay the batting out and position it where the hole is not going to be in the quilt. It is tricky but I get it to this.....Yes, it was that close. The whole time I am doing this process, that dang cat is under the table pulling on the backing fabric like I hung it there just for her. To the basement she goes!!!!!
Let the basting begin!Once I get it halfway basted, I realized that all that pulling on the backing with her claws had actually shifted that backing fabric a bit. CRAP! That is the nicer version of what I actually said! For a minute, I thought I would have to pull those 2 hours of basting stitches out and start all over! I was ready to cry! Instead, I barely made it work.......the backing was uneven on that side to begin with, so most of the side was ok....all except about 1/4 of it. This is the backing fabric. See that teal colored stitch?That is where the very edge of the quilt top comes to. There is about 1/16th of an inch of extra backing fabric there. Enough that I stitched it down so there will be no shifting and I could move on. *deep breath and exhale*
Grrrrrrr. I should have hissed at her!!!!She escaped the basement with the help of the kids who felt sorry for her. I kept my eye on her! Every time I looked at her she looked away! Brat Cat!
I finally got all the basting done and help arrived just in time to trim up the extra batting and backing.Little Emerson wore a "fimble" on her thumb all evening while I hand quilted on the first block of "You Float My Boat". The good in this quilt, is that the quilting shows up beautifully....it will be a very detailed quilt when it is done. The bad news is, that expensive batting is not the Quilter's Dream" I am use too. Though it is for hand and machine quilting, it is more of a machine quilting bat. Kinda tough to needle. I am hoping and praying it softens up to my needle as I handle it. Either way, I am relieved it is in the hoop and life can move on!!!
I am ready for an easy day!!!!! Praying you have one too!