I just love this...so I shared

Abraham - old

Jacob - insecure

Leah- unattractive

Joseph- abused & abandoned

Moses- stuttered

Gideon- poor

Samson- codependent

Rahab- immoral

David- murderer & adulterer

Elijah- suicidal

Jeremiah- depressed

Jonah- reluctant

Naomi- widow

John the Baptist- eccentric

Peter- impulsive & hot tempered

Martha- worried

Samaritan Woman- had many failed marriages

Zacchaeus- unpopular

Thomas- had doubts

Paul- poor health

Timithy- timid

This is quit a variety of misfits but God used each one and mightily too.

He can use you too, if you stop making excuses.

Look for a purpose in every situation.

Do not blame others...

copied

Blessings All,

Kathy

Look what I got...

For a while I have wanted a Singer Featherweight sewing machine but could just not justify the money for a third machine to use occasionally. Well, I received a call from an older gentleman who used to repair sewing machines at my school and he had one that he was trying to sell for a friend who needed some money to pay hospital bills....and the cost was $75...so you know I jumped on it.

Turns out it was a newer model Featherweight and NOT what I wanted. He could tell I was so sad  SO  he found me a real one...but I had to pay $125 which I still thought was a good deal. I had the $75 in cash from a recent sell so I stretched it a bit and purchased it.

Here it is,,,

It was in perfect running order and kinda "purrs" as I sew.

The model number is  AL 188732  which means it was made in 1955 (the year I was born) in the US.
The black carrying case was also in good condition and even included a bobbin, a few attachments  and a tube of oil in its original little box.

What I do not have is the original green box for the attachments as I am looking for one...

Michelle over at Life with Lou sent me a copy of the original instruction booklet..."THANKS Michelle!" and told me how to clean the machine and the case too. Still need to clean it...but it still looks pretty good.

Oh, also, the original cord had a nick and some wiring was exposed so I purchased a new cord and attached it to the foot pedal myself ( pat on back) BUT my daddy had to kinda stretch/loosen up the three prong plug where it plugs into the machine because it was too tight. Now, I can plug it in myself and am ready to GO!!!


Think I will make a pretty, quilted handle "coozie"....

All I need now is a workshop where I can take my newest machine and sew all day!!!

What do you think?
How many of you also own one?
How many of you would like to own one?
How many of you have NEVER heard of one????

I really want your thoughts and suggestions too. Thanks.

Blessings all,
Kathy

Quilting, quilting, quilting...

This is exactly what I have been doing...quilting!!

I have so much fun making items for my Etsy shop.

Take a peak...

and more...

By the way, I have been keeping up with you but have just not commented much.

I will get back to my chatty self soon!!

Blessings all,

Kathy

Give the Gift of a Meal......

What a wonderful gift to receive a meal when your home is out of order...
death, sickness, new baby, hospital duty, parent duty, or just too much going on...a gift is just that!!



Here is a wonderful site to help you organize your meals for a friend and it also has ideas for meals to take to that someone special. I have friends that have use this site and received meals from this wonderful plan too!

Take Them a Meal and here is an example of listed recipe all ready for you to prepare and take...

Crunchy Browm Rice Crust Chicken Pot Pie

Serves 6

This is a delicious alternative to traditional chicken pot pie. The Parmesan melts into the rice to create a tasty crust, but omit the cheese, if you like.

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, plus more for greasing 
• 1 tablespoon butter 
• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces 
• 1/4 pound sliced button mushrooms 
• 2 teaspoons chopped thyme, divided 
• 1 large carrot, chopped 
• 1 rib celery, thinly sliced 
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped 
• Salt and pepper to taste 
• 1/4 cup brown rice flour 
• 1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth 
• 1 cup whole milk 
• 1 cup cooked brown rice or brown and wild rice blend 
• 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika 
• 1/2 cup frozen peas

Preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly grease a 9-inch pie dish with oil; set aside

Heat oil and butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until no longer pink, 4 to 5 minutes. Add mushrooms, 1 teaspoon of the thyme, carrots, celery, onions, salt and pepper and cook until just tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Add broth and milk, stir well and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer until very thick, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, combine rice, cheese, paprika, remaining 1 teaspoon thyme, salt and pepper in a medium bowl.

Stir peas into chicken mixture then season with salt and pepper and transfer to prepared dish. Scatter rice mixture evenly over the top then arrange dish on a baking sheet to catch any drips. Bake until bubbly and crust is crisp, about 30 minutes.

Let me know if you have ever used this site OR if you are planning to use it to help coordinate meals for a friend...it will be fun to see the results!!

Blessings all for a healthy and gift giving week!!

Kathy

My Room with a View....and Give Away!!

This is the first house where I have had a room designated for sewing. Through the years, I have sewn on a card table, the bed, the floor, a desk...so I have truly enjoyed my sewing room which is an extra bedroom. It needs redecorating since I last did it 12 years ago, but what the heck, it is MINE!!!!!

I sit in my mama's recliner to use the computer, crochet, work on needlework and watch my small, did I day small, 5" B&W TV...NO, it is NOT a flat screen!!! I think it might have costs $25...

Well, also from this chair it get the joy of looking at may treasures from my life...

My most recent addition is my childhood pink and blue doll baby play pen. I so remember playing with it and all of my other doll accessories in my bedroom and many of those are still in my daddy's attic!!!

After I placed it there, I began to immediately fill it with other treasures...

The doll blankets that our maternal grand mama made for my sister and me,

my Raggedy Ann dolls...much in need of a good bath!!!.....her white pinafore is around her some where...

... well remember placing a marker on her mouth and watching it run.....notice I did NOT do it again to poor Andy...

a wall hanging I made for mama's 80th birthday...

Other items in this vignette  are, a wicker basket that was in my parent's house for many years, I think mama also fixed it up for my little niece with a pretty pink ribbon for a nursery item and I also remember it being in my grand mama's house as a child. Daddy reminded me one day that it was very old and belonged to my great grandmother, his grand mother Sula Heath. He said he never remembers it having another handle, so it has been with out for at least 80 plus years!!! I keep my patterns in it and that is exactly what she used it for.

Oh, and the newest treasure is the small wicker chair that I bought at an auction last Saturday night for $6...it does make a nice addition..

Don't you want to join me in my chair????

EDIT:

Great give away 44th StreetFabric  ...Lori Holt's fabric ......check it out!!!


Blessings all,
Kathy

Lovely little buttons...

I have had such fun creating my Etsy store and deciding what to make and what to sell...I really enjoy sewing  my little church bags...I have used these for my personal use and decided others might like them too!! The one I use most often is my hand bells bag that holds my notebook and gloves.

Most recently I have been selling buttons, some that I have cherished through the years and some newer. It just does not seem right to keep them all for myself...here are the latest cuties....

They were made in the 80's and are plastic not glass BUT they look like glass...with lovely hand painted pink  roses with green leaves and a white dotted border. They have metal shanks and there are four of them.

I also have some other hand painted ones that I will post later...

WELL, surprise of all surprises !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Guild did NOT select the easier Scrappy Heart for our "Block of the Quarter" but the lovely
North Carolina Lily!!! Isn't that great and what a lovely quilt top one of our members will receive.
So, I am off to the Thistlebee Quilt Shoppe in Goldsboro to select background fabric. Those interested members will receive color instructions and background fabric and select reds and greens from their own stashes to complete.

Here is the background fabric that I purchased...


If you are interested in the updated and modified instructions that I am giving them, let me know and I will send them to you...OR just

Fall is arriving a bit early...???

Well today is a wonderful day here in eastern NC...temp around 70!!!!!!!

Just cleaning up the garden, cutting back some flowers and potted plants and purchased our first yellow mum. Here is that cute little pumpkin from an earlier post and it is still in fine shape so I will put it on the front steps with the mums...may also need a BIG one too!!! Cliff really loves going to pick out the larger pumpkins.

What am I sewing?  Well here are two "block of the quarter" blocks that our guild is going to look and select which one they would like to make....

The scrappy heart...

OR

The North Carolina Lily...



I LoVe the lily and make some up just for me IF the guild decides not to make it...

It was featured in the  American Patchwork Magazine  and is also offered on line...


Have a good week and thanks for dropping by!!

Blessisngs,
Kathy

The end of my Guild Presidency...

For the past two years, I have served as president of the Neuse Quilters Guild in Kinston, North Carolina and have learned so much about how our guild functions. We are a small group with 36 members with 21 active members.  We meet weekly unlike most and so we get to know one another well. We still have 3-4 of our original members who take their memberships very seriously and serve as our guild "authoritarians!

I look forward to being a "regular" member again and sitting with my favs and doing some hand quilting...as my sunflower quilt still needs work...

On my last day as president, my sweet husband came and brought me these lovely flowers

and I was just thrilled and sooooo surprised. But he knows what a challenge this was for me serving ladies who are older than me, for the most part, and my first real challenge since retirement too.

The members make quilt blocks for the outgoing president and I choose this little 6" basket with rick rack handles so I can make it into a wall hanging to place on my sewing room wall...

Here are most of them with a few members who will bring them in a few weeks...

and here are a few close ups too...

Aren't they just beautiful!!!
I can hardly wait to get all of them and begin on the quilt.

Thank you Neuse Quilters

Blessings all,
Kathy

The Best $2.50 I Spend....

is paying for six ears of fresh corn in the early summer and at then end of summer.

This year I did not "put up" any frozen corn but I sure did cut a lot off the cob for stewed corn.It is just the two of us and you know it is a lot of work to cut it off and freeze, so I just make it when we want some.  It seems to be in the store all the year round now too, but NOT as good as local sweet corn in the summer. But to be perfectly honest with you, I do miss fixing it with my mama and her sisters and everybody taking some home to freeze and save for Thanksgiving and Christmas. That seems to be the two special occasions when we all expect and really want it, isn't it!!

Well, here in eastern North Carolina this is the way I leaned to make it...or watched it being made for many years by my mama and grand mamas...I kinda figured it out on my own about 5-6 years ago.

Stewed or Creamed Corn

Shuck and remove the silks from 6 ears of corn

Cut the corn off  of each cob but NOT too close

Next, go back and scrap each cob, on all sides,  with the edge of a smaller knife

and here is where the "cream" comes from.

My Aunt Bobbi would say "Kathy, you are cutting it too close"

EVERY time I cut, I can hear her telling me this as a reminder!!

A puddle of pure gold!!

Mix this all together and put in a frying pan and 1/2 cup water,

add salt and LOTS of black pepper

and the good stuff, bacon grease!!

YES, bacon grease.

I save the grease from frying bacon in the mornings and even blot it on paper towels...

isn't that funny...then I add it back!!!

Make a roux by adding about 1/8 cup of flour and putting about 1 T of grease

on top...it will melt in as it begins to cook.

I have found these three to be the key ingredients

and do not skimp on any one of them...

taste and add more salt & pepper as it cooks.

I think a lot of black pepper makes it perfect.

Stir and it will melt in as it cooks.

Here it is after cooking for about 30-40 minutes.

And here it is as we begin to eat our Sunday lunch.

One of our family favorites...

Blessings all,

Kathy

More progress...

I finished the kitchen windows treatments and put them up today and I like them. You know you never really know til they are up and then it is too late!!!

EWwwww..... ugly door....really must paint it when I do the two accent walls...agree????

Final canning for the season...not too many cukes this year for pickles but we did enjoy eating them fresh with onions, tomatoes in "sweet" vinegar...you know we live in the south!!  Only the second time I made squash pickles and they are not easy but good. And pear preserves in front...

Blessings,
Kathy