Spring '12 Blogger's Quilt Festival

It's time!!  And I'm excited!!  Here is my entry to the Spring 2012 Blogger's Quilt Festival!

This is my very first quilt that I made.  And..... I donated it.... To our local Annual Breast Cancer Awareness Dinner and Auction.

I used any fabric I could find that had an association with breast cancer awareness.  I also added some filler fabrics to get it balanced out.

The picture above is the quilt - done!!  The picture below is right before I put the border on it.  I guess I didn't take a picture of the full quilt when it was done, just shots of it laying on chairs.  What was I thinking?

So I need to share some things with you.  The reason I made it?  Well, my dad and my brother both passed away from Multiple Myeloma, three years apart.  I figure if I can help raise money for cancer treatment and cure, for any kind of cancer, that might help lead to treatment and cure for other cancer, like Multiple Myeloma ~ right? 

The thing that I feared most about doing this quilt was quilting it.  The thought of hand quilting just...... scared me.  It would take me forever, right?  Nope, it actually went very quickly and hand quilting it was my favorite part!!  I just stitched around every square and rectangle about 1/4" from the seam.  I loved doing it!!



I love the back, too!!

Ok - - one BIG thing I learned was TAKE TONS OF PICTURES!!  And just when you think you have enough - - take more!!!

You can go see all the entries to the festival here, at Amy's Creative Side!

Happy Quilting!

Hugs ~~ Suz



Carpet Cleaning - NOT For the Faint of Heart!

If you have a squeemish tummy, please don't read this post.  Graphic pictures!!


Ok - - You've been warned......

We took Lucy to the shed yesterday and apparently she ingested something that didn't quite agree with her.  Mr. Inspiring and I have not figured it out, but.....  she's still not feeling 100% yet.

Last night she threw up in our bedroom 4 times.  Not all at once, mind you, but through out the night.  I don't know about you, but I don't clean those kinds of messes up so well in the middle of the night.  I do what I think is good enough and then go back to sleep with the plan to take care of it in the morning.

Well, (remember you were warned) I have never seen a mess like this come from a human or a feline.  Actually, I've not seen it at all............. EVER.   Dark, almost black ooze.......  weird.......

Here's a picture of the worst spot. 

At this point, we had wiped up all that we could and sprayed carpet cleaner on it and let it soak in.  Then I vacuumed it.

Well, thank God for Pinterest!!  And for Jillee!!!  This is Jillee's blog!  I was very skeptical!!

Ammonia, hot water, a spray bottle, cotton towels and a steam iron.......... Really??

In your spray bottle, mix equal amounts of ammonia and hot water.  Spray your stain.  Cover with the cotton towel, and steam iron it.  Press down and really get the steam in there, but, it does stink......  so try not to breathe in the steam.  Yuck!!

Jillee says you don't need to scrub, but I found that after I sprayed it, before I steamed it, if I worked the solution in with a scrub brush, it did even better!!

Still steaming.........

Getting lighter..........

Just about gone!!!  Actually, at this point I stopped.  It's still damp.  I want to try it again in a day or too, but I wanted to see how it looks dry.

There you have it!!  Thank you, Jillee!! 

Hugs ~~ Suz

 

The Kitchen Sink!!

I know - - Right?  Two posts in one weekend after such a long absence!!  Cool!!!

I didn't exactly come clean with ya'll yesterday.......  part of my absence has been due to Pinterest.....  I admit it......  I'm ssooo addicted!!  BUT  Admitting your addiction is the first step, right??

On thing I've pinned is a home made soap scum remover (you can see the pin here!!)  The recipe is one cup of baking soda, 1 teaspoon of liquid soap (I used Dawn), a few drops of essential oil (I used Young Living Peppermint oil in my bathroom and Young Living Thieves oil in my kitchen), and some water.  That's it!!!

Ok, here's my kitchen sink before:

Ok, I know - - GROSS - - right?  That's a combination of tea and coffee and soda.  YUCK!!

Here are my ingredients:

Mix them together to make a paste:  (first picture is without the water aded yet)

(After I added a little water and stirred)

I plopped some down in the sink, and spread it around using a scrub brush.  (Here's during)

And here's the after!!



Ok, here's the before shot again:

Mr. Inspiring just commented that it looks like we got a new sink today!!

(I also tried it on my glass top stove and it worked like a dream there, too!!)

Thank you http://www.marthastewart.com/!!  And Pinterest!!!

Thanks for visiting!!!  Let me know how this works for you, too!!

Hugs ~~ Suz

I'm sharing at these awesome parties: