Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Low-sugar Peanut Butter Balls

Here is a good easy recipe for a low-sugar no-bake cookie, I made some for guild snack last night and the girls seemed to enjoy them:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup honey
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2-3 cups crispy rice cereal

Combine 1st 3 ingredients. Stir in enough cereal to make balls. (Hint: moisten hands before rolling balls; I made mine about 1".) Place balls on wax paper and chill.

These are really yummy, and as they're no-bake and kinda messy, let the kids do them! (Dont 'tell them they're good for you. ^_^)

Monday, June 14, 2010

Quiltmania




Have you seen the new Special Spring 2010 issue of Quiltmania magazine? There are such cute projects in here, and I am truly blessed to be included in this issue! Look closely and you'll see my little bird pincushions on their cover, and how-to directions inside, they did an incredible job with the projects. Lots of great designs to be enjoyed in this magazine, a little hard to find but I've seen it at our local Barnes & Noble; I'll be ordering some this fall so if you can't find it let me know and I'll be sure to save you one.




I met the editor and her lovely assistant at Houston Quilt Market last fall, and they really liked my pincushions, I was so honored! So much fun, they would come by my booth dressed to kill, with the latest fashions and accessories from France - I want to go to Paris and shop! I'll be returning this fall to vend and also teach at the Houston Quilt Festival, I'm pretty excited about that; I'll be teaching my Wool Beads Bracelet class as well as my Wet-felted Wool Flowers to use as accessories or embellishments; I'll also be doing a demo at the Saturday Sampler on Tips & Tricks for Needle-felting. It's gonna be a blast, be sure and come see me if you're there!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

My "Desert Rose" Ensemble


Look what I found as I was cruising the 'net this morning! I was so busy at the Charlotte symposium, I didn't get to take any pictures, and was bumming I hadn't gotten a shot of my outfit on display, but somebody else did - thanks, Yankee Quilter at http://scrapsandthreadtales.blogspot.com/

Monday, June 7, 2010

Crocheted Button Necklace


Spring Quilt Shows

I have to say, our NC quilters just keep getting better and better! At the recent "Garden of Quilts" Show hosted by the Gate City Quilters' Guild in Greensboro, I had the good fortune to have my booth directly across from the 2 top-ranking quilts in the show, absolutely amazing! There was a wealth of talent showcased that weekend, with quilts spilling over even onto the sidewalks of this church's beautiful garden. It was great to catch up with so many folks I knew, and the guild really pampered us vendors, with delectable muffins and good strong coffee every morning, yum!



My friend Audrey Flock came to the show one day and was telling me about a class she was going to teach the following week on a Crocheted Button Necklace. It just so happened that the thread you use is what I carry, size 5 pearl cotton, I usually have both solids and variegated colorways. Audrey was sweet enough to invite me to come to her class, and I did, it was so much fun! I hadn't crocheted since I was a teenager, my grandma had tried to teach me in her later years, but I never could seem to keep my stitches even. With Audrey's help I was able to get through almost half the necklace during our class, and came home and finished it, you can see it in the photo, I was just thrilled! What a great class, and Audrey was just a wonderful teacher.



Of course then I had to order more patterns, pearl cotton and buttons to share with my customers at the NC Quilt Symposium in Charlotte, and they liked it as much as me! That was another amazing show, so many gorgeous quilts, a very high caliber of work...I even won a little ribbon for my "Desert Rose" Wearable Ensemble. I ran into folks I'd met in VA and even NJ, and made some new friends too, all in all a great time. Can't wait for next year's symposium in Raleigh.