The Quilting Depot

Posted on January 9, 2011 by Barb

There’s a new business in town……

 

In Grapevine, Texas to be exact.  And you need to visit.

You can be Sweet Sixteen again….. or at least quilt on a machine that says you are.

Meet Pam, the Owner of The Quilting Depot.  Oh, wait.  If you’ve paid any attention at all on this blog, you’ve already met her.  Several times, as a matter of fact.

You can go to The Quilting Depot and just hang out.  And take some stitchin’.  And learn how to quilt on a longarm machine.  And eat peanut brittle.  Just ask these gals.

Or you can move in like Karen.  And just make quilt tops all day long.  And then learn to quilt them and quilt them on Pam’s fancy machines.  And give them to all your friends.  I want one, Karen!

This is Karen’s bag.  See?  She’s moving in.  And I have it from a reliable source that she quilted there 3 days last week. 

You see, The Quilting Depot is a happening place.  And Karen didn’t want to miss a minute of the happenings.  I don’t blame her.  Next week I might move in too.

I can have coffee for breakfast.

And I can send out for a salad for lunch and kick back in a nice recliner and eat it.

And afterwards I can relax and read a magazine like Jackie did.

Look at this cute little ironing station!  And if you get bored at any time (not likely)…….

…. you can even watch a movie!  Or perhaps if you bring Dear Hubby along, he can watch a movie while you learn to quilt.   You’ll need him there so you can talk him into buying you one of these cool machines for your birthday.  I bet you didn’t even see the videos hiding under the ironing board.  You can’t hide anything from this blogger’s camera.

Pam was very focused on quilting as I flew around taking pictures.

She and Judy put their heads together on this quilt.

Sally helped too.  It takes a village sometimes.  Or maybe it’s just good to have friends around you when you open a new business.  It soothes your soul.

I think Pam just wanted this quilt to be finished.  It was a learning experience for her.  And last I heard it was off the frame and ready for binding.  You go, Pam! 

I even got a picture of the needle going up and down as it stitched.  But it’s a little hard to tell it’s moving from a single picture, isn’t it?  Just trust me.  It was movin’!

As soon as Pam gets the fake Christmas snow cleaned off the windows this will hang in one.  And you might want to run right over and test drive one of these fancy schmancy machines!  Before the sign goes in the window and every Tom, Dick and Mary stops by for a test drive and you have to get in line.  Just sayin’.

This quilt hangs at the top of the stairs.  Where the walls are pink and this matches so well.  But you’ve seen this quilt on the blog before.  In the ugly fabric challenge!  And I’d just like to say for the record….. there is not an ugly bone in this quilt’s body.  That’s one of the prettiest ugly quilts I’ve ever seen!

There are T-shirts waiting to become a quilt……

…………and I bet next time I stop in these cute spool lights will be hanging up somewhere.

There’s a nifty bobbin winder sitting in a window.

Look!  Even Just Sayin’ Sew is hangin’ out at The Quilting Depot!

And aren’t these flowers that Karen brought by beautiful?  Karen did move in, after all.  So it was good she brought some flowers to enjoy.  For everyone to enjoy!

Now you didn’t think I could show you some flowers and not make you endure a close-up, did you?  If you did think that, you haven’t been visiting this blog enough.

OK, one more.  Because I like close-ups of flowers.  Ever since I figured out how my camera could do them.  Aren’t they pretty?

When you stop by, watch out for this screwdriver that looks like it might bite you on the ankles as you walk by.  Or maybe it’s just all set to screw some very cute knobs onto the drawers behind.

So here are all the particulars:

The Quilting Depot
103 West Worth
Grapevine, Texas
Hours: 11-5 Mon-Fri
Sat by appointment only

You can buy a longarm quilting machine and take classes to learn to use it.  Or you can take classes and then rent time on one of Pam’s machines.  Or you can drop off a quilt and Pam will quilt it for you.  Or make you a T-shirt quilt.  But don’t ask for that one too soon.  Let Pam get settled a bit first!

And if you have any questions or want to make an appointment, call Pam at 214-415-2299.  She’d love to hear from you!

Be sure to tell her Barb sent you.  I’m hoping for a deal on rental time for referrals.  Or at least that I win the prize for Most Referrals when the millions who read this blog drop my name there.  It’s worth a shot, don’t ya think?

So have a great time at The Quilting Depot.  Meet your friends there.  Buy a Handi-Quilter of your own.  And tell Pam I said hi.

Happy Quilting!
Barb

Posted in quilts | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

Laughter, The Best Medicine

Posted on January 7, 2011 by Barb

Didn’t I just tell you that I thought laughter was terribly good medicine?  Don’t you need a dose of that today?  I recently got an email from a friend that gave me some mighty good laughs.  And then today I received another with a video link that nearly had me rolling on the floor.  So for today, I just thought I’d share.

First, since more and more Seniors are texting and tweeting, there seems to be a need for an STC (Senior Texting Code.)  Here are a few:

    ATD – At The Doctor
   BYOT – Bring Your Own Teeth
   BTW – Bring The Wheelchair
   CBM – Covered By Medicare
   CUATSC – See You At The Senior Center
   FWIW – Forgot Where I Was (I definitely need this one)
   GGPBL – Gotta Go!  Pacemaker Battery Low
   GHA – Got Heartburn Again
   IMHO – not In My Humble Opinion but, Is My Hearing-aid On?
   LMDO – Laughing My Dentures Out
   LOL – Living On Lipitor
   ROTFL……CGU – Rolling On The Floor Laughing……Can’t Get Up
   TTYL – Talk To Ya Louder
   WWNO – Walker Wheels Need Oil

And my personal favorite:

   OMSG – Oh, My!  Sorry.  Gas

The video link I received is of a sweet little elderly lady who was asked to give the invocation at a convention of retirement center managers.  This woman, Mary, is a friend of the couple who founded Home Instead Senior Care.  She has wonderful timing and great delivery.  I think you will enjoy her “prayer.”

Mary’s Invocation

Now don’t you feel better since you’ve had your laugh today?  

Preceding message brought to you by Dr. Barb.

Enjoy!

Posted in just stuff | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Happy New Year!

Posted on January 4, 2011 by Barb

OK, OK – I know I’m a bit late with the New Year greetings.  But I have a good excuse.  I was recovering from my New Year’s Eve hangover.  No?  How about…..  I’ve completed 5 quilts in the last three days and I couldn’t come up for air to blog?  You don’t believe that one either?  Ahhhhh, you know me too well through this blog, I fear.  My life is an open book blog!

I did have a fun New Year’s Day.  Even though I worked all day!  Yes, Quilter’s Dream was open for business and all who shopped had a great time.  You see, the shoppers that day were greeted with this:

 

Yep, that’s me on the right……in my pj’s and robe!  And Jean in her party hat too.  She said those velour comfy clothes were as close as we’d get to seeing her in pajamas.  And we’re holding our morning coffee.  I told everyone in December when they came to pick up their Saturday Sampler block that if I was going to work on New Year’s Day, I’d be working in my pj’s.  More than one person came in the door on Jan 1st saying, “You did wear your pj’s!”  I got more than a few funny looks from some kiddos who came with their Moms that day.  And hubbies.  Quilter’s Dream was a fun place to be on the first day of the year!

We also had Black Eyed Pea Salsa to share with everyone.  The Texas tradition to insure good luck all year.   Recipe from The Pioneer Woman.

And party hats and horns.  I blew a horn whenever someone walked in the door.  More than a few people jumped as we shouted, “Happy New Year!”  We’re a fun, silly group sometimes.  Most times, as a matter of fact.

And now for my……..

Annual Recap of Blog Statistics – First Edition

Please at least pretend that you care.  You wouldn’t want to bruise my fragile psyche, now would you?

Number of blog posts:  156
Number of comments: 1,124
Apparently you all had as much to say as I did.  Or maybe 721% more.

Weddings are quite popular, it seems.  The posting that got the most hits of all was “A Texas Wedding” with 572 hits.  In the top 10 all-time hits, 4 of them were posts about weddings!  And 2 of them were food postings with recipes (“World’s Best Easy Toffee Bars” & “Pumpkin Pie Cake“) – apparently we are not just about quilts, are we?  

The #3 post in number of hits was the very first blog posting entitled “What? Me, a Blogger?”  When I look at the small pics on that first posting, I can see how far we’ve come and how much I’ve learned.

When it comes to comments, it’s no surprise that the postings that received the most were the giveaways:  “My Same Fabric Challenge” received the most comments with 70 and the first giveaway, “A Talented Friend,” got 26 comments.  Another popular one for comments (16) was the recent one about Dear Hubby learning to quilt entitled “A New Quilter in Town” and our training video at retreat, “Nine Patch 101 – Take Two,” received 15.

When asked if you wanted more quilt pictures after my trip to Houston in October, 17 of you chimed in quickly with “More, More!” including one from Vienna, Austria! 

I got totally engrossed in reading comments last night as I was composing this blog.  You all made me laugh once again with some of your very witty comments.  Keep them coming.  They energize and motivate me to continue to write.

So my pledge to you in 2011 is to continue to bring you more adventures (like “My Bucket List“), more recipes, more quilts, more Boo & Miss Kitty, lots of pics and as much laughter as possible.  For I truly believe it is the best medicine.

Cheers!
Barb

Posted in just stuff, quilts | Tagged , | 7 Comments

DJ Stuff and Another Party!

Posted on December 31, 2010 by Barb

I’m cleaning out pics in my computer.  And finding things I didn’t blog about.  It’s my New Year gotta-get-organized mood.  It happens for me every year at about this time.  And the mood will pass about 45 minutes into the new year.  Even though I’d really like to hang onto the mood long enough to actually get something organized.  And hints would be appreciated.

So I came upon these pics from our Dear Jane group.  From November and December!  I was just sure you’d want to see them.  After all, there was another party!

In November, Bertha showed us this pretty appliqué quilt that she bought sashing for at the October DJ Club day.  And she got the whole thing together by November.  Can I come over for lessons in getting things done, Bertha?

You’ll notice that once again, DJ Club is certainly not all about DJ.  These gals are multi-talented.

Bertha showed us this beautiful redwork quilt too.  Again…. not about DJ.

Aren’t these redwork blocks great?  Bertha did a fabulous job.

I took a pic of this little DJ block at our Nov meeting and can’t remember who it belongs to.  So speak up if this is yours!  And I’ll update the blog when I know to whom it belongs.  Good job, Secret Block-Making Person.

Donna was working on this punchneedle project.  Isn’t it wonderful?

JoAnne was working on this cute little clamshell quilt.  This pic is in November…….

…… and this is in December.  She’s moving right along, isn’t she?  At this rate we might just see a finished quilt in January.

One more pic of this one.  Because I like these up close pics of the fabrics and thought you needed to see it.  You did need to see it, didn’t you?  I bet we’ll see this in a miniature category in at least one quilt show in 2011.  With ribbons hanging on it.

These Dear Jane blocks belong to Deb.  And you needed to see them.  Because this is a DJ blog posting so I thought I’d throw a bit of DJ in it.

Sandi brought her boot for show ‘n tell in November.  Well, actually she brought herself and the boot had to come along.  But I think she is boot free now and I’m sure she’s saying, “Hallelujah!”

Jenni’s carefully constructed scissors chatelaine was a big hit at the Nov DJ meeting.  We thought we’d all go home with specific instructions for making them for all our quilting friends for Christmas.  Not.  But it did give us a big laugh.

Jenni also bought these cool things that she found at the Houston Quilt Festival.  I really meant to go home and add them to my Christmas list but forgot.  Anyone in my family who is reading this, feel free to add them to my Birthday list.  You can find them at http://www.pinmoor.com/.  See how easy I made shopping for you?

Here’s how they work.  They basically turn pins into non-lethal poking things.  Not that pins are lethal, but you get the idea.  So they are more like safety pins.  Which is great when you’re pinning quilt layers together for quilting.  Easier to put on and take off than safety pins.  And you don’t end up a bloody mess from poking yourself with regular pins.  Or like you’ve been in a fight with your cat and you lost.  They have a cool video at their website showing how to use them.  And I’m sure we all need some.

Jenni also showed us this fabulous appliquéd medallion that she’s making to use with her Baltimore Album blocks.  She wanted some help with extra color/fabrics to throw into the basket.  And she got 48 different opinions about what to do.  That’s because there were only 12 women in the room.  We’re a big help, aren’t we, Jenni?

Deb worked on this neat embroidery at the Dec meeting.

And this is Jane’s DJ quilt.  Just to remind you that this posting is about Dear Jane.  In case you forgot for a minute there.  Jane is working on her last little border and then she can begin to add her triangle border.  So she can start on another DJ quilt any day now.  They are very addicting.

And because the December DJ was a Christmas party, I thought you might want to see the food.  Because you hadn’t seen any food on the blog for a few days.  Unless you count an unbaked potato in a potato bag.

Cream cheese with pecans and honey on crackers.  Because anything with cream cheese is very yummy in my opinion.

Homemade muffins.  Yum.

Haystack thingies with white chocolate and crunch.  Double yum.

This is a to live for bundt cake that you can purchase at The Corner Bakery.  (I’ve decided I like “to live for” better than “to die for.”  Don’t you think it sounds better?)  So if there’s a Corner Bakery near you, you need to run there right now and buy one of these.  It is the moistest, most delicious cake ever.  And they have locations all over the country, so find one and buy one of these cakes.  I promise you won’t be disappointed.  It’s fabulous with coffee for breakfast.  Or for dessert in the evening.  Or just because you’re hungry.  Or even if you’re not hungry.  In other words, you can eat it any ol’ time you want to.  And call me.  I’ll come right over and share it with you.  You can find a location here:

The Corner Bakery location finder

Yummy snackin’ stuff with cranberries and nuts.

Toffee Bars.  Remember them?

Many thanks to whoever brought these.  I needed some protein!  And they were yummy too.

Wonderful fresh fruit.  Because we needed something healthy.

Homemade marshmallows.  Look familiar?

Here’s my plate.  The wonderful Cinnamon Creme Cake is at about 1:00 on the plate.  You really do need some.  And The Corner Bakery has not paid me a thing to say that.  They don’t even know who I am.  Maybe I should go introduce myself?

I put two peppermint marshmallows in my coffee.  Because that’s just the kind of gal that I am.

After about 40 seconds in hot coffee they looked like this.  Yum.  Way to flavor up an already good cup of coffee in my opinion.

And each gal who was at the party took home one of these little coasters.  Made by me.  At 3:45 a.m. on the day of the party.  Because that’s just the kind of last minute gal that I am.

So in 2011 watch for new posts here all about organization and getting things done ahead of time.  I always have wonderful intentions as we turn over a new year on the calendar.  And those intentions last for…..oh, about 4 or 5 days.  Let’s see if I can break that record next year and make it a whole week.  Then in 2012 I can shoot for a month!  And I know each one of you will be there to cheer me on.

Happy New Year!
Barb

Posted in food, quilts | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Potato Bags

Posted on December 29, 2010 by Barb

Need a quick, easy gift sometime?  Several of my family members got these for Christmas. 

 

They are easy and quick.  And they cook baked potatoes like a dream in the microwave.  I will be making more in the future.  Including one for myself!

Some things to keep in mind.  Use only cotton materials for the entire bag.  That includes the fabric, the batting and the thread.  Polyester might melt or catch fire in the microwave.  And fires in the microwave just might ruin your day.  Melting will certainly ruin your potato.  Just sayin’.

I started with 9″ squares of fabric.  Two squares of muslin, two squares of batting and two squares of this fun potato fabric (or any fabric you like) for each potato bag.

Draw a circle on the muslin squares.  This is a handy way to make a circle.  Just cut out a rectangle of cardboard.  I save those pieces that come inside new calendars.  They are perfect for this technique!  Punch a small hole in one end of the rectangle and use your stiletto to hold the other end right in the middle of the fabric.  I fold the fabric twice to find the middle.  Then insert your marking pencil in the punched hole and twirl it around to draw the circle.  Works like a charm!  And you can make absolutely any size circle you want.  Even if the size you want is 8 7/32″ diameter.  Or some other obscure size.

Layer as follows:  100% cotton batting square, fun fabric square right side up (I used this potato chip fabric too), then muslin with the drawn circle up.

Pin to hold all the layers together as you sew.

Hand off the sandwich to the New Quilter in Town to stitch on the circle.  Ha!  If you don’t have a New Quilter in Town at your house, you’ll have to do the stitching yourself.  I highly recommend finding one of these quilters at your house to share in the Christmas project duties.  It was a fun day!

The NQIT can do the trimming after the circles are sewn too.  While you draw more circles and pin the next sandwiches to be stitched.  Potato Bag Sweat Shop here we come!  It’s good to have an assembly line when making multiple anythings.

We chose to not sew the circles all the way around and use that opening for then turning the circles right side out.  You could also sew all the way around and then cut a small slit just inside the stitching line for turning.  Either way works.

Turn inside out.  Actually it’s right side out.  And inside in.  Or wrong side in.  You get the picture.

I use my purple thang to smooth all the edges so it’s a perfect circle.  It’s a wonderful thing, that purple thang.  Or does that make it a wonderful thang?  And it’s only a perfect circle if NQIT sewed exactly on the drawn circle.  Which my NQIT had done.  Perfectly.  It’s a good thing.  Or a good thang.  And I refuse to share my NQIT.  Don’t even ask.

Press the circle on both sides with your iron after turning.

Layer two completed circle sandwiches together and pin to hold in place.  Stitch around (backstitching at beginning and end) leaving a fairly large open end for the potato to slide in.  Turn right side out again.  I then topstitched around so that there wasn’t any exposed batting anywhere.  The slit or opening is then caught within the stitching inside the bag and the bag can be thrown in the wash without worry of anything fraying or unraveling.

They work for warming tortillas too!  You just have to fold the tortillas in half to slide them in the opening.

After you slide them in, it’s easy to reach inside the bag and unfold them so they lay flat inside.  And they warm perfectly in only about 20 seconds in the microwave.  And are nice and moist too.  Yum!

Just slide a potato in the bag (washed and dried, but not pricked!) and microwave for 3-6 minutes.  Time will depend on the size of the potato and your microwave.  You’ll have to experiment.  And I also read on one site that you should wrap the potato in a paper towel before inserting into the bag to cook, but I’ve never done that.  Your choice.

Enjoy!
Barb

Posted in food | Tagged , , | 11 Comments