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http://stephaniecastrodesigns.blogspot.com/

Down in Texas

Hi to all my friends and family from "yee-haw" Texas!
So far we have kept pretty busy with family especially helping with Grson A's friend B-day party which was a Monkey theme.

DD and I used her Cricut and my new Life's A Beach to create palm trees and leaves for a vine, then the New Arrival cart to create many monkeys from cereal box cardboard doing our version of "being green" LOL (the fact that they were free chipboard was the main plus).

I will post pics later if I can get some from the camera but the kids all had a wonderful time playing on the toys then having lunch and monkey cupcakes which dd allowed me to decorate. Good thing she had found a great image from Google so we could just copy the idea...I am good at that! LOL

Yesterday we went on the hunt for a screen room/tent that she could put on her porch so that she and baby A could spend time out there keeping him safe from falling off the porch and also safe from mosquitoes too but so far no luck on one that will fit. We will keep on looking for something that will work and hopefully find the perfect thing.

I have been trying to do some hand piecing on a quilt project that I had great intentions for until I discovered I printed and cut the "wrong" diamonds for a six pointed star but printed diamonds for a Lemoyne star...OK I am not sure where my head was but maybe I can plead getting ready for a trip? sooooo
Now I have all these great stars cut out but NO squares or triangles to complete the blocks except....it is a free program and I hope to get dd to allow me to download the files to her computer and print them right here as soon as I buy some freezer paper.
For some reason I had the feeling I was going to need some background fabric so it got packed! Miracle of miracles!

So tomorrow I need to go to Walmart and get the freezer paper and get those parts printed and cut so I can finish the blocks. I have also learned I need to improve my hand piecing skills. I am mostly self taught and could use some improvement but that is why I started this project (well at least partly along with hopefully getting some Christmas gifts started )

Hope everyone is enjoying spring as we are experiencing humidity and nice warm weather so far! And that is better than snow any day!

Bye to Utah

For a few weeks! LOL
DH and I are almost ready to leave and we are very excited to see our DD B, Grandson A and of course SIL B too!
I will continue posting our adventures when I can! LOL

Look out Texas here we come!

My Newest Quilting Adventure (Update)

How many of you were like me and said I will never hand piece a quilt! WAY too much effort needed!
I have been whole hog into the world of rotary cutters and rulers and quick and easy just like most quilters but....
One day I was blog hopping and ran upon a lady who seemed to be hand piecing everything and bragging on how easy it was( Cathi's blog) with this new method called Inklingo by Linda Franz.

Ok yeah right I thought...but I have to admit was was intrigued enough to do some research and since it was close to a gift occasion I asked DH to get me one of her "collections" and of course he was grateful for the suggestion LOL

Now that CD arrived in the mail eons ago and has been sitting patiently waiting for me to "get the bug" and try it out. Since I have been on the "no more new until I have made a dent in the old" I didn't imagine I would be trying it soon until I realized I was going to be away from my sewing machine for 3 whole weeks and I had only stitchery projects to bring along and I know I would get tired of those LOL. So I took the plunge and uploaded Linda's free Lemoyne Star shapes and opened that CD to see what I might be able to get ready in a hurry.

I decided on a project which will have to remain a "secret" for a while but I can show you what I did Sunday after church. I pulled out some hand dyes my friend and I did a few years ago and then I have a lovely piece of Fossil Fern that I think will make a good background. Inklingo is a unique way of creating the pieces you need by printing on your fabric with an ordinary printer so that you can cut them apart and you have bunches of shapes ready for stitching with no tracing of templates.

Check out Linda's site and download the free Lemoyne Star and maybe you will find a new quilt technique you love!

Here you see my fabrics cut (mostly) ready to stitch

The opening page of my binder downloaded from Linda's site

The printed fabric close up ready to cut into my pieces for the project. This is the Fossil Fern I am using.

OH yeah there is a Yahoogroup for Inklingo you can join for help and encouragement too!

Update: All the background is cut and I am ready to piece...on the plane or in the airport LOL...However I need to figure how to cut the half hexagons to help set the pieces...

Easter with our family

Still doing some catch up from last week and the weekend. What a pain trying to get all four kids looking at the camera LOL

You can see there was a successful egg hunt.

Gahhhh lovely picture of me (not) but then again I is the main subject LOL

Everyone ready to eat

Some random pics...grson I with his ducky whistle, son D doing the meat carving honors, What was supposed to be a bunny but everyone decided it was too much like a mouse (LOL) and youngest son A ready to dig in.

With all the family traditions and "rules" it's great to see them move to the next generation. I have made Bunny Rolls for Easter since DH and I had our first Easter together in 1977. I found the recipe in a cookbook and how to make them into a twisted bunny shape and except for a few years they have appeared on our Easter table for dinner. The kids expect them and now we can pass that down to our grand children. DD B called me and told me that she was thinking about Easter dinner and was looking forward to having ham, funeral potatoes and Bunny Rolls at Mom and Dad's when she remembered that THIS year she was NOT coming home for dinner but was going to have to prepare them on her own! LOL Good thing she got a breadmachine to make the dough as I am not sure she would want to take the time to make it without. LOL

The other passing down thing is having my oldest DS carve the ham and turkey breast. I think he was pleased to be given that task sort of proving that he indeed was grown up after 31 years.

We Got Up This Morning to....

Yep this was taken just an hour or so ago as DH was leaving for work! Sigh...

Please stop laughing in your cornflakes and pity us please! LOL

More Quilt-y-ness

A bit more from today
Sorry Nanette (Freda's Hive) I caught her looking like she is mad but actually we were talking at a distance about Easter Eggs and I just snapped at the wrong time but I still wanted to show you her darling quilts and designs!

A few more pics from today with our hospitality table, another lovely finish and as you see something terrible happned while I was in the meeting
Yep that is wet spring snow on the ground and cars and street! Not a happy thing for us and part two is supposed to hit tonight and tomorrow but then we are looking forward to a nice sunny weekend?

Quilt-wise what is going on>>>

I have a lot of updating to do for the past week's activities around here. I thought I would start with the easiest! LOL
I am back to my machine and also took in a couple of great quilter's meetings lately.

I was scheduled to teach a machine applique workshop/class with the New Friends Night Group on Tues and since we were all still recovering from our yuck I wasn't really as prepared as I usually try to be. I had ideas for something different allowing us to try out 3 methods of machine applique and seeing if we had a preference but racing against the clock to be ready I changed courses in the middle LOL and remembered how much the ladies liked the Bunny Hill Designs free pattern block of the month so I took the liberty of using this April block as my sample to teach with.

Long story short we experimented with a freezer paper technique that had us fusing 3 layers together, cutting our patterns out and then using a spray starch method to hold the allowances to the backside so that when you removed the template you had a ready to go fabric applique.

I then let them try the Appli-Glue developed by Jill Finley. Some of it worked well and some of it wasn't so great. LOL Some of my fabric was very resistant to the freezer paper because it still had it's original finish on the fabric. It made it hard to keep the basket handle in place on the freezer paper. I also showed that you can also use a regular glue stick to adhere the turn under part to the paper too.

So I get home relax a bit and get the bug to start the actual applique and by 2 AM it was done LOL You can tell it was late because I forgot to change my bobbin thread on the bunny and little tiny specks of cream shows but I plan to take a brown marker and attempt to hide them...the chick needs her eye and little feet embroidered and the bunny needs his color and eye too but I kind of like they way it turned out in the end.

This is the Carol Doak Yahoo group's March BOM all designed by Carol for us exclusively. You can join the Yahoo group and get in on the fun. This isn't my favorite block I must say. Here in Utah March is an up and down month and I tried to portray that with the browns and greens, snow on the mountain and the foothills and so it's kind of depressing LOL Maybe I should have gone for March in Texas where DD says it was nice and sunny and warm.

The next few pics were taken today a the Utah Valley Quilt Guild meeting in Provo. Several people brought quilts that were "finished" projects from their QIQ piles. Some call them UFO's.

This quilter (I don't know her name) does what she calls "doodle quilts" where she translates her doodles to beautiful applique quilts. She called this her Sunday Doodles as she does them while in church LOL. She then heat set 1000 crystals on the top and it is a beautiful shimmering quilt.

The Utah Scottish Association's TartanBall

So...here we are in all our finery ready to attend the Tartan Ball. I got to wear my fancy cruise top once again and DH looked handsome in his kilt and formal shirt and vest. It's kind of funny because you saw everything from "ball gowns" on the younger women to a pretty casual pantsuit and everything in between. Lot's of kilts and dress Prince Charlie jackets on the men and some suits with tartan ties.

This year's event was held in SLC at the Joseph Smith Memorial building (formerly the Hotel Utah), luckily covered parking so we didn't get wet in the rain. Dinner was very good but not really very "Scottish"...no haggis alas...and the band was quite good playing mostly jazzy versions of standards to dance to.

DH H and I dated by dancing...no movies for us, LOL... and he is a great dancer. We did a lot of foxtrot and no waltzing but got complimented on our dancing as old as we are now. Later in the evening they through in some Scottish party dances and H and I enjoyed and even a group dance which allowed ladies without dancing partners to enjoy too. We had some fine table mates from Clan McGreggor and got to eat with the band! Now back in the day we ladies would have been swooning LOL

WE had a good time and managed to get home before 10 pm as you can see were aren't exactly party animals! LOL

Coloring Eggs

Nana and Papa left the egg coloring to the grandchildren this year as the Tartan Ball was Sat night and that was the night they could come and help. The children's Mom P and youngest son A were in charge and they did a great job!

Nana only boiled 16 eggs but everyone said that was quite enough this year LOL

Blog Candy from Sonia

Sonia from Scraps 4 Fun blog is giving away some lovely scrapbooking/cardmaking/papercrafting goodies this month.
visit her blog and say hello for a chance!

Since I was sick....

And could only do a little bit at a time the past few days...I used yesterday to make 5 of these darling Easter Eggs I found blog hopping the other day. I had printed off the instructions and template but they sat on the "pile" for about a week tempting me.

Yesterday as my earache was at it's worst I didn't want to do much but sleep and in between naps I first traced and then cut out parts for 5 eggs. Since I have a nice little stash of 30's repros with Easter-y themed prints I decided to make them with some of the prints that would work nice together. Ya' know that almost all those repros go pretty much together so it was just a matter of finding the bunnies and then matching them with another print. However the little birdie print matched with the daisy and turquoise print is vintage given to me by Nanette from Freda's Hive blog when she did a trunk show for the Utah Valley Quilt guild last summer. I thought it was perfect for the little eggs.

Here is the first one partly stuffed and the second ready to stuff...guess what?
I was OUT of stuffing so I had to wait until today to stuff them all! LOL

Here you see my 5 eggs on a vintage glass cake stand

Here they are with the cake stand, and a vintage egg plate along with some pretty paper mache eggs and a few "real" eggs to fill in!
If you look in the center you see my DH's egg cup from who knows how long ago but he is going to be 58 so it is probably at least52 or 53 years old. I am so glad his Mom was a saver of things like that.

I remember eating soft boiled eggs with my Daddy watching him use the spoon to "remove" the top of the eggs and then eating them with toast. I am sure my Mom probably made them often as it is a strong memory for me.

Table Runner-pa-looza!

So the rule was supposed to be....

NO NEW QUILT PROJECTS UNTIL I DID AT LEAST ONE OLDIE WAITING IN THE QUE!

Well as "they say" (I always wondered who they were?), rules are made to be broken. LOL
Well the new rule has to be
Unless I can finish it with-in two weeks then I can't do it!

Of course being on the board I had to support our Mystery Quilt teacher so when she asked what size we wanted to do our project my answer was as small as you can design it! LOL C came through for me and made a 4 block instruction so I could make a table topper or runner and here it is...FINISHED!
I took the minimalist approach and did a quick turn, no borders, no binding, rick-rack trimming and just a little bit of quilting so it wouldn't end up in the unfinished pile. I love it as it is bright and cheery and will be a nice addition to my summer kitchen table.

In the night quilt group we had planned this project almost a year ago and oops I guess I better support THIS teacher too so...here we are with table runner #2 (which actually was finished last weekend). We traded rectangles for the background and randomly pieced them into a long strip (which later we decided we could had done a whole bunch of 4-sies and a few 3-sies), quilting the background as we added them to a prepared batting and backing. I got that part done at our meeting in about 2 1/2 hrs. I also traced the applique pieces earlier in the day for maybe an hour? Last Sat I fused the fabric and cut then later that evening I added the borders and the appliques.
Sunday I stitched the binding by hand and it was DONE!

My applique baskets came from the book Seasons of Love by Brandywine Designs.

Web Chat

When DS D and most of his family rode bikes to our house this afternoon DH got the idea to do a web chat with his sister B and her family.
A great idea!
Everyone really enjoyed the chance to meet up online since the last time we were together was Christmas time. As you can see grson I was fascinated with seeing first himself then at Uncle B and Aunt B and his baby cousin A talking to him on the computer. It was a short chat but I didn't want to stop, he was so fascinated LOL
We all blew "online" kisses and say bye after a bit.

What an amazing blessing to be able to not only talk to each other on the phone but like the Jetsons have video chats too! God has blessed us in this time with so many miracles and advancements and it is up to us to use them wisely and not corrupt them. DH H has been able to advance our family tree with information that we would have had to travel all over the USA and then to England, Germany, Canada and Scotland to get, not that I would mind traveling there too! LOL

Family Wall and a card

I wanted to put all my favorite family photos in the same place so I remembered the vinyl quote I bought at the Scrapbook USA expo a year or so ago and thought I could use it a way to pull all the photos together and add the baby cross stitch that my Mom had made for my babies when they were born. With DH H's help, I got the words on the wall then started planning where the photos etc would work. I bought all new frames for the pics buying black to tie everything together except for the little stitcheries, leaving them in the frames they came in originally.

I arranged and rearranged the pictures making sure each of my three children had their own special spot! LOL

A family photo in the middle (minus our youngest grson for right now) and then each child in their own frame, then a large portrait of my family from my parent's 50th anniversary and a photo of just my parents, sister and brother. Last but best of all my two youngest grandsons...in two of my favorite pictures I had so far.

I still want to add something on the left side and also below our family picture but that can come. LOL

I promised my DD and sister I would show them the gallery so here it is girls!

I made this card for a challenge from my CTMH (stamps) lady who gave us that cute little flower and challenged us to create something with it. I used a card and some paper from my expo goodie bag, ribbon, brads and some glitter glue from my stash. I also used a phrase stamp and ink from CTMH.
A quick fun project.

Nana's Blessings

Several years ago I was in a page kit swap. I can't even remember what the theme of the swap was but of course I still have probably 75% of those kits still to this day. I decided that it was time to use at least ONE of those kits and this page is the result.

Usually I have my photos and then I pick out paper and embellishments to go along with the photos. This time I started with the kit and went from there. I had two entirely different photos to start with but when I was almost ready to adhere them I changed my mind and remembered I had recent photos (from this week) and thought...why not? I had also picked a different background paper but it wasn't working so, I dug once more into my baby boy stash and I like how this one works much better. Then sitting in a basket were those "skittles" (which are clear plastic disks that scrappers are using on their pages) that someone donated at a crop last summer and the perfect color for this page,

I stamped and wrote on the tags, did some journaling and as quick as that it was done.
I have to say it is one of my favorite pages with two of my favorite subjects!

Supplies tags, title, and frame swap page kit, background pp from Big Lots baby paper kit, letter stamps CTMH, ink Stampin Up skittles stash

Civil War Love Letter Blocks March Finished!

I never could find the right "mojo" to work on much of anything quilty but since next week is our monthly get together I figured I had better get these finished. Had plans to work on them Wed. but DS D needed me to watch grson I (really hard duty LOL) and pick up two of the other three from school so those plans kind of got put on the back burner so to speak. I did finish the top row by bedtime last night and when I got up started working on the remaining until they were done and here they all are.

The nice thing about this quilt is that you really can choose to take it in any direction you want...I have heard of quilters doing a patriotic red white and blue, one of my friends is going mostly muted browns and colors in that direction. Another of our group is trying to follow the colors and fabrics from the book. There is no right and wrong and I like that! For me...I am just choosing what I like together. AS you can see it can go from the garish to the very subtle. My only avoidance is using solids most particularly white and even though some of the fabrics look solid they are patterned.

This time I can't pick a favorite...I really like them all for different reasons. I love the red gold and black in the lower left but also one of my all time favorite color combos is pink and green...ask my Dad about that! LOL the "t" block turned our much different than I thought and I love that madder red and turquoise combo. and on and on.

I am glad they are done and yes I know that red, gold and black one has a "problem sashing" and it will be fixed later.

Some New Scrapbook Pages

Sometimes I think I need to be locked in my scrapbook room and not let out until I get some pages done! LOL
No reason these took me so long and the second and third were done at the swarm a few weeks ago.
Anyway...

Boyhood Dream
Pictures are of DH H at the Strassburg PA train museum from our trip in 06. I really loved how much he enjoyed the simulator even though it's not a "real" train engine to drive. LOL I converted the pictures to black and white which worked well with the papers and stuff I had picked. We loved spending time with all the trains and seeing the huge collection that has been pulled together. There are big plans to one day restore many of the unique cars/engines but I know it will be many many years before they can do that as it takes lots of money and expertise.
supplies
PP Basic Gray, Storytellers, card stock, MM paint, title cut with my Cricut and Design Studio with My Community and Doodletype carts

Gotta love kids at the park! Grson I when he was just a little guy at the park near his home in Lehi.

Supplies
Storytellers kit, glitter glue on the flowers, Title cut with my Cricut...not sure of the cart but I did slant and weld it with the DS

Grson I again at Nana's house as he was playing mostly with a broom. I just thought he was so cute trying to sweep with that big old broom. Loved his green outfit with this paper and accents

PP Storytellers, ribbons from stash, cardstock and accents from Storytellers