Cool Blanket

I was visiting Pittsburgh a week ago and stayed with my friend Maya. She had this great blanket in her guest room. It is basically an incredibly simple quilt with no batting and very large stitches, but the stitch pattern was really pretty and looked great on both the pattern side and the solid back side. Thought you all might like it!

In need of some ideas...

In addition to fabric, I have been collecting yarn, buttons, and ribbons galore! I need some ideas for things to make out of them! Not that I don't have enough projects to work on, but I keep coming home from flea markets and discount stores and house sales with more raw materials. I was thinking of making some jewelry with some of my buttons, but don't really know how to do that. I tried browsing some of the craft websites, but I found Craftster hard to navigate, and I've pretty much exhausted Martha Stewart's site. In addition to the things pictured, I have a drawer full of wool felt, which I love, but I don't have any good ideas of what to make out of that either! So help me out with some ideas/patterns/websites or something, please!

Frozen Apple Pie

I was a little over-zealous and purchesed way too many Maryland apples last week. They're ripe and there's no way I can finish them before they get too ripe. I already made an apple cake and wonder if anybody has that frozen apple pie recipe. I think it was Grandma's. Help?

Baltimore Update

I haven't posted in awhile mainly because I haven't made anything worth looking at in awhile. This weekend, though, I bought a sewing machine! It's a very simple (and cheap) Kenmore almost exactly the same as the one my mom has had for 30+ years. I haven't sewn a single stitch yet, but bought fabric for some curtains at Ikea and will hopefully create something soon.
During my craft hiatus, I've had a lot of fun with Brian and Izzy discovering new hiking trails near the city. We found a huge network of state park trails this weekend that will be fun to explore as long as Izzy doesn't see any deer. She likes to run off in pursuit, leaving Brian and me wondering if she'll be back.
The morning glories are blooming on our back porch, making it a lovely place to have a cup of coffee or read the paper in the mornings.
The last picture is our new art aquisition. There's an African art dealer in the neighborhood and he sold Brian this nail fetish. It's a wooden sculpture with nails and antelope bones. I'm a little afraid of it, but it's a cool addition to the living room.

Shameless Knockoffs

Here's my latest craft. I saw something similar (but not as nice) in Anthropologie. They were $12.00 for a card of four. I made them from my quilting scraps. I made about 30 just last night while watching the Republican convention. I was a bit agitated. Aren't they cute? I need to find a place to sell them now, because I have a lot.

What do you think?

This is a quilt I made from a Kaffe Fassett pattern. It's called pastel handkerchief squares. The stripes are folded and sewn at an angle to make the two-sided "frame" effect for the flower squares. Anyway, when I got it done, I wasn't really happy with it. I have a hard time with these bright Kaffe Fassett patterns. I love them, but when I put my fabrics together to make one, it ends up too busy or something. In this one, I think I used too many different fabrics. Maybe I should have used fewer different stripes and/or fewer different florals in the squares. One thing I think might help is a design wall - it's hard for me to get the overall effect of these quilts until everything is sewn together and I can look at it from a distance.
When Pam and Kathy and I were fabric shopping in the Cleveland area, we saw one of these quilts made up in the Canton fabric shop that we all liked.
Input and constructive criticism is welcome! I'm working on another quilt using a lot of Kaffe Fassett fabrics and I'm afraid I'm getting carried away with all the beautiful big floral prints again!

Speaking of Giant Purses

This weekend I cleaned out the giant fake Prada purse that I bought on the street in Rome last year. I emptied it out and washed the liner, which had gotten really dirty, in the sink and noticed that the "empty" purse had an awful lot of change floating around inside. The change was caught between the leather outside and the cloth inside. When I finally found the hole in the liner, I dumped out over $5 in change along with my favorite lip gloss and a pen.