I've lost my followers!

I am a new blogger, so I am still learning how this all works.  I added "followers" and it showed a picture of each follower. (grand total, 11!)  When I recently logged back on, I see it says "followers", but it no longer shows a little picture of each one.  I don't recall making any changes to this section. This am, I restarted my PC and also uninstalled the "followers" and then reinstalled.  It still is not showing the pictures as before. I want my blog to be like it was, showing a little picture of each follower.  Does anyone know how to fix this?  thanks in advance,    debbie

Ironing Board Cover

Hi everyone,

Have you ever tried making your own ironing board cover?  It is really pretty easy to do, when you just use your old one as a pattern.  Here is my first attempt.  I used one fq (strawberry fabric) and the dots are yardage.  I also added some nice batting to replace the horrible foam it came with.    Here are a few pics:   
debbie

A Quilt From The Past

Hi Everyone,

No finishes today,  so I am posting a picture of a quilt I made a few years back.   This is a Dresden Plate quilt.  This block is traditionally done by needleturn, but I used Eleanor Burns' method.  She is the lady famous for the "Quilt in A Day" series.  Her directions are to make the plate, then sew it right sides together to iron on interfacing (I used plain muslin), then trim and turn the plate through the hole, then applique it to the block.  I covered each hole with a yoyo.  The center of each yoyo and nine patch has a button attached with floss. The main colours are navy, tan, olive green, and mustard.  There is a heart hand quilted in each corner of the plate blocks.  This quilt was made as a thank you for dear De.   You can click on the photo for a better look, if you like.      debbie

A Very Fun Friday

Friday morning started with a message from dear De letting me know the sign up for FNSI was open.  This is my first time joining in the fun, although I have been following along  for awhile.  After I signed up,  I went over to De's and we went  here for morning tea and a lesson in how to make fabric flowers.

They are made by cutting out circles of fabrics that look like they might melt well, such as fine tulle, curtain lace, satin, etc.  You then hold the fabric over a candle flame and the heat either makes the edges curl beautifully, or catches it on fire.  Don't ask me how I know that :) Which fabrics work is really trial and error.  These will have a bit more ribbon or lace added  now that I am home and have access to more supplies. You can see more examples here .

Next, we went to the Endeavour store, which is an op shop. There I found two pretties!  First,

 

this lacy  white skirt.  It is a tiny little size 10 (I think that waist is smaller than that tho, seriously!), but each tier has a different kind of lace, and the bottom row is that gorgeous eyelet.  I think it was well worth the $9.95,  for all that gorgeous lace that will be used in future projects.

I have a few newborn size dolls at my house, so I am always on the lookout for cute little dresses at the op shops too.  This is my newest one.  It is the perfect shade of pink and has the cutest embroidery on the collar. Sweet!

Next, we went to this fabric store in Lawnton.  We were on a mission to find more fabrics that look like they would melt, haha.  There are two young ladies working there that are super friendly. Great customer service.  There was also this really nice little old lady that had brought in some machine embroidered blocks for a quilt, and she was asking for help with choosing background and border fabric.  De and I couldn't help ourselves and we were soon holding up bolts  to audition fabrics and help her pick!  The little old lady even gave me a hug for helping her.  So nice.  While there, I bought some pink tulle, because I've never had pink tulle, ever, along with a sparkly fabric that looked like it would melt (or burn) , and a piece of lace fabric to try as well.

For FNSI,  I planned to try again with the ruffler attachment  I recently bought. Arrgh!! I've given up for now and decided to make ruffles the old fashioned way until I can sort it out.  The ruffles are for a new curtain for my bathroom window.  Here it is before FNSI, about halfway  done.  I have done another 4 or 5 rows and will see how it looks tomorrow. 

It really was a most excellent day.  Thank you De, for inviting me.
debbie

The Pincushion Story

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This is the pincushion story.  A very average looking pincushion, it is....but...it is
part of my life history and means so much to me.
Back in 1973,  I was 12 years old.  My Dad was serving in the military, and we
moved from Okinawa, Japan, to Minot, North Dakota.  We lived at  the military
base there in North Dakota, and not long after, a new family moved in two doors down.  There was
a daughter around my age that I became friends with.  That is another story, but for
now, the story is about my friendship with her mother named Barbara.  Barbara
made this pincushion for me all those years ago, and I still have it, use it and think
of her every single time I see it.  It is full of beautiful memories for me.

Barbara had seven children, so she had nine mouths to feed (really 10, because I
was at their house for a lot of meals).  Anyway, she sewed a lot, because she had  to
save wherever she could.  Money was tight with all those children.  She also cooked in
bulk and recycled everything, long before it was fashionable to do so.  I  still  blame her
for some of my hoarding--ummm  (recycling) tendancies.....

Barbara loved to make quilts, but she could sew other things too.    She  patiently taught  me how to trace a square on an old cereal box  to make a pattern for a patchwork block.  There was no such thing as a mat or
a rotary cutter.  We sat for hours and traced each block around our cardboard square, then cut
them all out.  Then we sewed each square together to make our quilts.  She also showed
me how to do gathers, buttonholes, and make clothes. It was early on that  she gave
me the gift of this pincushion.   It has been with me ever since, from North Dakota, to Oklahoma, to California,  Texas, and now here with me in Queensland, Australia.

We  met in 1973, and our friendship went strong till around 2000.   Somehow, life kept us together for most of that time, and we
lived near each other in 3 states:  North Dakota,  Oklahoma, California.

There was a place in the garment district of Los Angeles, California that we visited together often, and I don't think it was called the  "pound store", but that was our name for it.  We would spend hours there,
picking out LOTS of fabric,  much of it straight from the manufacturers.   We would carefully balance our pile of treasures to be weighed, because that is how we paid for the fabric.  To this day, I still have fabric from there in my stash.
At the time, we didn't know how to machine quilt.  We were both very prolific quilters though.    We made lots of quilts between us, and we helped each other when it came time to put them together.  We used to crawl around on our knees for hours doing the basting, then we tied the corner of each square with dmc floss or yarn.
Sadly, I lost contact with her some years ago, I think around 2000.   I hope to find her someday again.  Teaching me how to make quilts turned out to be her  lifelong gift to me.  Whenever I see that
little pincushion,  I remember her too.  
debbie

Thank you

Hi.
I would like to thank Peg  for sending me all the new visitors. I promise I will post some more interesting pictures very soon.  I worked over the weekend, so I have not been back online for a couple days.  It was lovely to see all the new messages.  I noticed there are some from faraway places too.  Thank you for all of  your kind words.  It was like a big hug from the whole world :)   I will be checking out each blog in the messages  so I can get to know you too.  I find blogs very inspiring and I love to see what everyone else is making.  No pictures tonight, but in the next couple days I will post a picture and story about my favourite pincushion and why it is so special to me.   I will also post pictures of my current projects, in hopes that you might  be inspired too.
debbie

welcome

Hi, I'm Debbie.  Welcome to my new blog.  Please bear with me as I am still (very) slowly  trying to figure this all out.  I am hopeful that you will also be able to see a "test" photo of  some of my tomatoes, just for your amusement. :)