A little trip

A few weeks ago my daughters and I took a day-trip to NYC's famous Garment District. Boarding the bus early in the morning, and shopping until we dropped, we had a wonderful time. Even I was on fabric overload by that evening. If you ever get the chance to go - do it!

Emerging from the Port Authority bus terminal...

Our first stop was at Mood Fabrics of Project Runway fame...

Fabric everywhere!

Finding the giant needle and button!

There is a small Visitor's Center, but it is only open M-F - we were there on a Saturday. Beyond your basic maps and brochures, they will sell you a souvenir t-shirt, too!

Squeezing as much in as we could, we also did a little sight-seeing.
The NY Public Library...

The Empire State Building...only in the lobby, though. The line wrapped half-way around the block!

Rockefeller Center...

And, of course, Times Square in the late afternoon...

It was a great trip,and one we hope to repeat in the near future! I was so thankful for the Shop the Garment District blog for all of her helpful hints and great maps! It made the entire trip soooo easy! Oh, and I was fairly restrained with my purchases...mostly because I didn't want to have to carry it around all day! Next time I'll bring a much bigger bag! Here's what came home with me...

Now I'm off to (hopefully!) do some summer sewing this afternoon between snacks and the Harry Potter countdown hysteria that has invaded the Morning Glory household this week. I am fearful it may reach fever pitch within the next few hours!

Happy Summer,
Elizabeth

Summer doll

A sweet doll for a sweet niece. She will be popped in the mail tomorrow and winging her way west.

Sweet, summer wishes,
-Elizabeth

A Quilt, Some Geese, and Corn Chowder – oh my!

I’ve been working on the backing for a quilt top I finished waaay back when, and I am getting excited to finally see the end result.

My original thought was to use these free-form blocks as part of a “strip” across the backing, and that’s just what I ended up doing.  As they were all different sizes, I added cream color strips on two sides to make them all equal 8 inch squares.  Then I played around with the arrangement until I came up with one I liked, and added the appropriate sized sashing between each one.  I am still mulling over my binding options.  I also need to get some more batting – I am forever running out of batting! It’s the one thing I don’t keep large pieces of on hand.  I just don’t have the room to store it, and it can be pricey to buy large quantities at one time.

Last week ds#1 and I took a quick lunch time trip to a local park to feed the ducks and geese.  What started out as just a few…

quickly turned into this…

Once we ran out of food, we had to run back to the car!  They kept close to our heels all the way to the parking lot!   It made us laugh, but also glad we didn’t get nipped by their beaks!

I’ve got lots on my list to accomplish the rest of this week.  I’m  thinking of ways to streamline the evening meals to give me some more time.  I have a feeling this will likely be on the menu tomorrow or Friday.

Corn Chowder

1/4 lb. bacon

1 cup onion, sliced

1 cup celery, sliced

2 Tablespoons butter

4 cups finely chopped potatoes

1 cup water

2 (1 lb. each) cans creamed corn

2 cups milk

1 (14.5 oz.) can evaporated milk

salt and pepper

Chop and cook bacon in soup kettle.  Remove bacon and set aside to drain.  Add butter to bacon drippings and saute onion and celery until tender.  Add and cook potatoes with the water.  Once potatoes are tender, add bacon, corn, milk, evaporated milk, and salt and pepper to taste.  Heat to boiling point, remove from heat, and serve.

With warm wishes,

Elizabeth

Pedaling forward

I haven’t disappeared, I’ve just been busy, busy, busy.  But aren’t all our lives like that sometimes?  So I just keep pedaling forward.  Some of my “busyness” has been in the creating department, which always feels good – much better than housework!  (Although, housework, I have to admit feels good after its done, just not while I’m in the midst of it!)  I decided to have a go at some crocheted baby booties last week at our neighborhood craft night.  For my first pair, I was pretty pleased.

 

I think I will save them for a future baby gift. 

 

 

 

Spring is here and the crocuses are up!  As we have just moved into this house in the fall, we have been pleasantly surprised by the spots of spring color throughout our front yard.  They are so nice to come home to.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am looking forward to Easter, how about you?!

-Elizabeth

Vintage lace

 

I pulled a few pieces of vintage lace  and trimmings from my stash today and just played around.  I found them inspiring, and thought I would share them with you.    Vintage lace is just amazing.   It had to be so time consuming to make, yet many were made by hand.  So inspiring in so many ways. 

Wishing you an evening of abounding inspiration,

Elizabeth

Sweet Baby Hats

Like so many parents with school age children, I spend a lot of time in the car waiting.  Dropping off and picking up the kids are part of my daily routine in this season of my life.  I try to have portable projects to work on while I wait, and that usually means something yarn related.  These last few weeks I have been working on some knitted and crocheted baby hats for a local charity.  It’s fun to use some of the vintage patterns in my stash that I have picked up here and there, and also to hunt down free patterns on the internet.  I especially love Crochet Pattern Central and Knitting Pattern Central.  Both are such great resources! 

Last week I donated two knitted hats as well as three sewn hats made from some soft stretchy terry. (I squeezed in a little night-time sewing at the machine for those!) This week I switched it up, and traded my needles for a hook and have been working in crochet.  I’ve got two made and another on the hook.  Baby hats are so tiny and sweet.  They just make you feel good - to make them, to look at them, and especially to gift them.

In keeping with an “orange” theme, I will leave you with an orange cake recipe I am thinking of trying out for Easter.  If you decide to try it out too, let me know what you think!

Orange Coconut Cake

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 Tablespoon grated orange rind

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup grated coconut

1 cup chopped dates (optional)

In large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar and add eggs.   In another bowl, combine flour and baking soda.  Add flour/soda mixture to creamed mixture alternately with the buttermilk.  Add remaining ingredients.  Pour into greased tube pan.  Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour and 45 minutes or until tests done.  Can sprinkle with powdered sugar or use topping below.

Topping:

2 cups powdered sugar

1 cup orange juice

In saucepan, mix sugar and juice.  Bring to a full boil.  Remove from heat.  With a table knife or chopstick, puncture top of cake in several places.  Pour topping over cake and let stand, covered, overnight.

With Sweet Thoughts,

-Elizabeth

A little shopping

I just bought this book on ebay, and it’s filled with some great stuff!

I am beginning to practice my hand-quilting skills, and this has some really, easy-to-grasp ideas and techniques.  Ami Simms has a great conversation-style voice that is easy to follow and understand.  I highly recommend this book if you are interested in taking the plunge into hand quilting.  Anybody have any others?

Now I’m off on a mission to find a perfect thimble!

-Elizabeth