It's all fun and games until one of your kitties "deposits" a hairball on the quilt that you're working on and causes the cancellation of Work In Progress Wednesday. Soooo.....since I have no quilt pictures to show off today I'll distract you with a picture of the "suspects" instead.
Sweet little Daisy (left) celebrated her 16th birthday yesterday! And after that huge health scare last summer I really wasn't sure if we'd see this day. And before we make any of those jokes about Daisy being old enough to get her driver's license I should mention something.....Daisy is on blood pressure medication that specifically says it may impair her ability to drive or operate heavy machinery. It always makes me giggle when I see that label on her pill bottle. The pharmacy knows the medication is for a cat. But they still diligently put that sticker on every time!
The quilt did survive it's roller coaster ride in the washing machine and is now happily air drying out of reach of the kitties. Hopefully I'll be back to work on a dry and stain free quilt tomorrow!
Happy Sewing,
Jenny
P.S. That's Bailey, formerly known as the sour puss cat on the right.
P.S. #2 - Cassi, my good ol', almost 19 year old cat is still doing great. She just wasn't in the mood to have her photo taken today!
Back to reality! Such a nice feeling after months and months of a mind-numbing website/computer project.
My post-website redesign weekend consisted of running.....and baking.....and quilting....and playing with the pets....and sipping wine with friends in front of an outdoor fire....and watching Netflix....and soaking in the hot tub and just doing normal stuff that didn't involve any computer code!
I finished the sashing on the Going Coastal Granny Square quilt over the weekend. And now I'm playing with border options. I'm thinking of a blue inner border to match the sashing and an outer border of Going Coastal Bottlecaps - that's the fabric I used for the fussy cut squares in the blocks. I like how the Bottlecaps fabric adds so much color and a touch of fun and I think it really pulls everything together.
What do you think? Did you do any fun sewing this weekend?
Happy Sewing,
Jenny
Yesterday was a good day. A very good day.
After months and months of work that has been boring at times.....frustrating at times.....with occasional bouts of jump up and down level happiness due to the smallest of victories in my battle with the computer......I can now say....
I have created a brand new and totally improved Sew Fabulous Quilt Shop.
Yup. That's the big, huge, secret project I've been working on FOREVER. Well.....since November. But it feels like forever. I know, I know.....a lot of you were expecting to hear me say that I'd designed a line of fabric or that I was launching a line of patterns or something much more fun and fabulous. And maybe one day that will be the reveal after a big, huge secret project is announced. But for now, this will have to do!
And this isn't just a website "makeover." This is a completely NEW website. And that means that every single category.....every single product....every single image....every single description....had to be moved over, re-organized and re-written ONE. AT. A. TIME. And I had to learn a completely new website management system. And then I double checked every single category and product. Because that's how I roll. Yeah......it took a while.
I still have some work to do. I'm still putting some finishing touches on it and making it better and better but the moment it was at the 90% point (remember my 90% rule) I made her live to the world.
It was a scary moment when I did it. It was the kind of moment where you feel like you're about to jump off of a cliff! My heart was racing. My blood pressure must have been sky high. I watched a video on how to "flip the switch" to make the old website go away and the new website take it's place about five times. I took notes. I did a dry run to make sure I knew exactly what words were supposed to go in what boxes to make this computer magic happen. And then I did it. I entered the magic words in the magic boxes and hit "save." And guess what....
Nothing happened.
That's when I got the pop-up message that it usually takes an hour but sometimes up to 24-48 hours for the new website to "flip on." Are you kidding me? Seriously? I'm about to have a heart attack here and you're telling me I may have to wait TWO whole days???!!!
Fortunately, my website went live about 45 hand wringing, pacing, nerve wracking minutes later. What. A. Relief. And then we popped the champagne!
So now that this life sucking force type project is DONE I can get back to other things. Like quilting. And dollhouses. And quilting. And cleaning the house. And quilting. And Illustrator classes. And quilting. And more huge, super secret projects that will be more fun than this one was! I think you get the idea.
So hop on over to the new website and let me know what you think! I always love to hear what you have to say!
Happy Sewing,
Jenny
P.S. If you had an account with the old website I'm so sorry to say you'll have to set up a new account on the new website. Shouldn't take more than a minute the next time you decide to do some shopping!
P.S. 2 - Constructive criticism is very welcome! If something about the website is confusing or hard to figure out please tell me! I want to know all of your thoughts so I can make everything as perfect as possible!!!
My sweet puppers celebrated her 7th birthday yesterday and she partied like a little rock star! Every year we try to meet up with Emma's doggy family and her breeders at the dog park for a little celebratory reunion and it causes some serious cuteness overload!
Left to Right: Nikki - littermate, Kerry - biological father, Pearl - littermate, Doug - friend, Lisa- littermate, Emma Jane!
And because a birthday isn't complete without cake and presents we also stopped by PetSmart to pick out a new toy and the doggy bakery to pick up her cake.
Then it was time to collapse and spend the rest of the day snoozing and snoring because partying like a rock star is some seriously hard work!
And this concludes your Daily Dose of Cute!
Hugs,
Jenny
Hey there! I've missed you guys. I'm so glad to be back after a very eventful week!
It all started the first weekend of March when I went on a little road trip up to Atlanta for a dollhouse show. The show wasn't quite as fun as I had hoped it would be....well....to be honest I've been to tons of dollhouse shows that were overwhelmingly awesome and huge and left my head spinning in a sea of cuteness but there were only TWO vendors that caught my eye at this show. Oh well. It was still a fun little adventure.
I bought some adorable rooster and leaping bunny topiaries for the French Winery/Boutique and when Col. Sew Fab saw them he "claimed" them and said they would live on his desk until I had the new dollhouse built for them. Um.....well.....o.k......I'm not going to argue with a man that wants tiny animal topiaries on his desk.
And I bought some adorable French themed kits from a shop called True 2 Scale (vase with flowers, hat box and plates, pillows and notebooks/journals). These will look sooo adorable in the French boutique......
And then I saw this little beauty and my heart skipped a beat. It's an extra small dollhouse (it's done in 1/4" scale) that's only about 9" wide. It would fit in your hands! I didn't get it at the show but Suzanne and Andrew's Miniatures will probably be getting an online order from me for a "Picket Hill" kit in the near future.....
And here's what happened the rest of the week....
-When I returned home from my road trip it was like a scene from the movie "Mr. Mom."
-Emma held a grudge for FOUR days after I got back from my road trip. There was some serious puppy pouting going on!
-I ran 10 miles for the FIRST. TIME. EVER. So excited about that accomplishment. I have been wanting to hit the 10 mile mark since I first started running a year and a half ago.
-I came down with a bad cold for a few days last week and took a few sick days.
-While I was browsing the internet on one of my sick days I came across some pictures of a dollhouse quilt shop!!! Why on earth didn't I think of that?! Why don't I have a dollhouse quilt shop?!
-Realized that the dollhouse bakery that I'm building could sometimes be a bakery and then sometimes I could redecorate it and turn it into a quilt shop. Isn't that a brilliant idea?! That way I wouldn't have to build a whole new dollhouse to be the quilt shop and we wouldn't have to sleep in the backyard because the dollhouses had taken over the house!
-And there were a whole bunch of functions I attended last week with Col. Sew Fab as Tyndall Air Force Base said goodbye to one commander and welcomed a new one.
-And the closest I came to sewing was when I looked at pictures of dollhouse quilt shops. I'll have to try to make up for that this week, won't I?!
Happy Sewing,
Jenny
P.S. Quick dollhouse lesson for anyone who's interested. Most dollhouses are 1" scale. That means that 1" in dollhouse world equals 1' in the real world. The 1" scale houses are what most people would consider to be a "normal"
dollhouse and the type of dollhouse that little girls would play with. The little dollhouse I almost bought at the show was 1/4" scale. That means 1/4" in dollhouse world equals 1' in the real world. So, the teeny, tiny 1/4" scale houses are perfect for people who are running out of room because all of their fabrics and crafts are taking over the house.
I was hungry. I saw the words "sausage quiche" on twitter. And I am now on a Quiche Kick. Do you ever get on food kicks where you become obsessed with a certain type of food? I went through a phase for a few years in my 20s where I would put blue cheese dressing on EVERYTHING. I was obsessed. And then one day....just as quickly as it started....it was over and I was on to the next thing. My love affair with blue cheese was over. But right now....I'm all about quiche.
I made this beauty today for lunch and it was sooooo easy and it tasted so amazingly good. Quiche heaven.
But I was so hungry after running 7 miles before lunch that I forgot to take a picture before I started eating. And all I was getting were blurry pictures. But I just had to keep eating....it was so yummy.....and I was famished.....so this is the blurry, non-beautiful beauty shot of the quiche with one bite removed from the "Quiche Photo-Shoot Outtakes Reel."
You'll just have to trust me on this one - it tastes WAY better than it looks in the picture and you should totally try it!
And now I'm fantasizing about future quiches......maybe proscuitto, parmesan and pesto......or bits of steak and red potato and cheddar.....or Col. Sew Fab's suggestion of sausage, bacon and steak! I think we'd have to call that one the "Manly Meat Lover's Quiche." What do you think? Any great quiche combination ideas?
Hugs,
Jenny
Jenny's Sausage and Spinach Quiche:
1/2 lb sausage
1/2 package frozen spinach (thawed)
1 cup shredded cheddar
4 eggs
1 cup half n' half
Frozen pie crust
Preheat over to 425. Brown the sausage and crumble it. Put the pie crust in the oven for about 5 minutes while you brown the sausage. Pre-baking the pie crust helps prevent "crust sogginess." Put sausage in bottom of pie crust. Lay spinach on top. Whisk eggs. Add half n' half and cheese to eggs and whisk again. Pour over top of sausage and spinach. Bake for 15 minutes at 425, then lower the temperature to 350 and bake for 20 more minutes or until quiche is set. Let it rest for 5 minutes before cutting it.
And I actually made two quiches. It just made more sense to use the whole package of sausage and spinach and the frozen pie crusts came two to a package. So I couldn't NOT make a second quiche! One for now and one for later!
