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Free apron pattern using Meow Meow cat fabrics

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Apron made with cat fabric

Are you feeling a little catty? I just finished this easy-to-make and fun-to-wear apron using the Meow Meow cat fabric collection that I designed for Quilting Treasures. This free pattern is for you to use and enjoy.

I’ve also given instructions on how you can adjust the size of the apron pattern.  Sewing the apron is so easy, you can sew it then wear it in a couple of hours.   If you want to purchase any of the Meow Meow cat fabrics, check out these links for online stores.  Click for a link to download the insructions.

Enjoy and I would love to see what you make!

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New fabric collection coming soon!

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New fabric line I was very excited to see the final art for my next fabric collection with Quilting Treasures.  Everything was perfect and the colors turned out just like I wanted so I was able to give my approval for each fabric in the collection.  I can’t tell you much about the fabrics yet, but I’ve included a small, tiny sneak peak!  And they will be a nice compliment to my Meow Meow cat fabric collection.

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Happy National Women’s Friendship Day! Guest Blogger Debba Haupert of Girlfriendology.com

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 Sept. 21st, 2008, marks the 10th celebration of National Women’s Friendship Day (NWFD). The celebration day was created in 1999 by the Kappa Delta sorority to remind us to appreciate and celebrate our friendships. NWFD is a great ‘excuse’ to get the girls together and have some fun. While it might be too late to meet-up on the 21st, you really can celebrate this special occasion every day – so plan some fun events with your girlfriends!

Cincinnati Women Event

Check out these ideas for great girlfriend get togethers:

  • Happy hour, dinner, lunch, brunch or any opportunity to eat, drink and be merry with your very BFFs. Plan a GNO with your favorite gal pals for a little ‘girlfriend therapy!’ Reconnect with your friends and spend an evening laughing away all your concerns.
  • Mani, pedi, massage – the works! Grab the girls and head to a local spa or salon for some pampering together. Then ease back into the real world with an after-the-spa dinner together. Consider this: a recent study by Dove indicates that 70% of women feel prettier because of their girlfriends. So get your pretty on by spending time with your BFFs!
  • Go old school and pass some notes (real paper) with your girlfriends – take a class together! Learn how to knit, cook, bead or speak French together. Take a scrapbooking class, go to a wine tasting or do yoga together. Spend time and learn together – it’s guaranteed that girlfriends make learning much more fun!
  • Road trip! Autumn is a great time to go to an outlet mall or a fall festival. Celebrate Oktoberfest with the girls, there’s bound to be one close by, visit a nearby town for a fun weekend festival.
  • For starters…start a book club, a gardening group, a gourmet girlfriends monthly dinner. Plan a way to see each other more often and have fun on a regular basis. And invite some new women to the group – the more the merrier!
  • Start shopping! Remember when we got back-to-school clothes? Maybe we should start that tradition over for new fall fashions. Go shopping with your girlfriends. They always give the greatest shopping advice!
  • Surprise! It’s a girl’s get-together! At an early celebration of NWFD this week, a group of girlfriends told me that they have a monthly surprise get-together. They take turns planning the super-secret event. An email shares the date, time and meeting location – but no one is told what they are doing. Everyone shows up and just participates in whatever the host planned. Find some spontaneous girlfriends and have fun!
  • Beyond the fun, the laughter and the shopping treasures, here’s the real benefit of time spent with your gal pals. It reduces your stress, and positively impacts your health, happiness and longevity. So, make plans to spend time with your girlfriends and tell, or at least show, them how much you appreciate their friendship. Make memories together. Laugh. Cry. Then laugh some more. September 21st , or any day of the year, life really is better together – with your girlfriends!

Debba Haupert created GIRLFRIENDOLOGY – the online community for women based on female friendship. Inspiring semi-weekly podcasts, videos, blogs, contests, reviews and more can be found at www.girlfriendology.com. Join in the appreciation and celebration of the wonderful women whose friendships make us healthier, happier, less stressed, live longer and even feel prettier. Thanks girlfriends!

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Macro photo shown Wordless Wednesday – see below for the full photo.

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Cock\'s comb flower closeup

One person guessed that the macro photo that I posted yesterday for Wordless Wednesday could be a flower.  Most of the guesses were for various textiles.

As you can see, it was a flower, a Cock’s Comb.  The full bloom is over 3 times the size of my hand.  The plant is next to my front steps and draws comments from everyone who visits.  The blooms continue growing until the weather gets cold so they are really enormous by then.  There are hundreds of seeds on the throat of each bloom and they look like poppy seeds.  I scrap some off each fall and scatter them for the next spring’ plants as well as giving them to friends.

cock\'s comb plant filled with blooms

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A weekend in Atlanta – good friends and good food mix well with a business trip!

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I just returned from a terrific weekend as a house guest of my talented and gracious friend Brenda Pinnick.  I went to Atlanta for the gift market in addition to some brainstorming time with Brenda.  Brenda and her husband are wonderful hosts (and their kitties are just as gracious and friendly).

We attended the gift market, meeting up with artist friends Stella Violanto and Andy Mathis .  Andy exhibited at the market with his booth serving as our meeting point.  Unfortunately, he was located very close to the cash and carry section.  I’m afraid that we “cashed and carried” too much, but hey, I’m only human and who can pass up all the fun jewelry.

Brenda, Stella and I walked the market for trends and connections for our art licensing businesses.  We all went to dinner together at one of my favorite restaurants in downtown Atlanta, Azio, where we were able to catch up with our chatting since there was no “cash and carry” nearby to distract us.

Brenda and I stayed up late, trilled with the time to do some more talking and brainstorming, which was aided by a couple glasses of wine.  I also had a tour of Brenda’s studio, which was very organized and inspirational and filled with her gorgeous fine art paints (she is one very talented artist).

It was such a fun weekend and now its Monday, and back to earth and my own studio. 

My heart goes out to all of you in Texas and the gulf affected by Ike. 

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Blackberry trifle dessert – Easy, fast and delicious!

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Blackberry triffle dessertLast night was my turn to host my girls’ poker group. Its a fun, chatty night, and we do manage to play a few rounds of poker between eating and talking.  My husband says that for refreshments, we should do like guys – beer and chips.  But we consider food an important part of our socializing and go way beyond chips!  For my dessert last night, I made this blackberry trifle.  It was very easy and you’ve probably seen similiar recipes in magazines with cherries.

As I was grocery shopping for the ingredients, I had a can of cherry pie filling in my hand when I spotted blackberry pie filling.  For some reason,  I was in a blackberry kind of mood so I switched the cherries for blackberries. Good decision!

This recipe is so easy and simple and very high in the YUM factor.

Brownies

Cool whip (I used the lite version)

Blackberry pie filling

Nuts (optional)

 

I used a turtle brownie mix to make the brownies (it had nuts in it so I didn’t add more).  Crumble some brownies in the bottom of your dish.  Layer on top with the blackberry pie filling and then cool whip.  Sprinkle nuts (optional).  Repeat layers until you run out or the bowl is full. 

 

I had brownies left over and donated these to my husband who was standing by drooling.  I used one can of pie filling, and had some of the large size Cool Whip left over to enjoy later.  Since it has no calories, I can splurge. The blackberry triffle was a hit at poker and some even went back for seconds!

 

A BIG thanks to my friend Debba Haupert for her blog post on our poker night!  Check her Girlfriendology blog out.  Its dedicated to all you girlfriends out there! 

 

(By the way, I did win a little – up 60 cents at the end of the evening!)

 

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New quilting designs – Quilted Chair Cover and Curtain

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I just received a book,  Sew It in a Weekend that features 2 quilted items that I designed.  Quilted Chairback

The “Simple-to-Quilt Chair Cover” adds a decorative touch to a room.  Easy to make, it ties onto your chair.  The quilt batting adds a little cushion to the chairbck.

The window curtain panel was created with the Sweetheart Ballerinas fabric collection that I designed for Quilting Treasures.  For the batting, I used Warm & Safe TM by the Warm Company, which is flame retardant and a big plus for window treatments.  Sweetheart Ballerina curtain

 Sew It in a Weekend is published by House of White Birches and is edited by Julie Johnson, the editor for Sewing Savvy  magazine. I really like that the pages are spiral bound so that the book lays flat when opened.