Fun With Machine Applique

There is a class offered in March at my local quilt shop that I am considering taking. It's about machine applique. Specifically, it's about doing machine applique that looks like it is done by hand. I am skeptical that this is possible, but am interested in learning how. The class is for beginners and I am not a beginner at hand applique, but I certainly am with the machine.

Here is my attempt at some fun, little appliques done by machine. They are certainly not meant to look like they are done by hand. Nevertheless, I love the way they look. The are fun and whimsical. The snail and apple have some embroidery on them that I did by hand. I'm wondering if that's a little silly: machine applique and hand embroidery. Shouldn't it be all or nothing?

I don't follow rules. I just do what I like.

Make It Do, Or Do Without

Do you know what's really hard??? Taking a picture of your pants while you are still wearing them.

Anyway, I always seem to get a hole in the left knee of my blue jeans. Always the left. And I'm always patching them, although I'm constantly on the lookout for new and better ways to patch. This method comes from a book I got at the Thrift Store: Creative Activities ...Program (Sewing). I got it for my kids, when they're old enough. But it turns out, I'm not too old for it myself.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Simon and I made these Valentine "flowers" by painting heart cutouts from some cereal boxes. We then used some masking tape to attach them to some sticks we gathered outside. Now they are in a pretty vase on our kitchen table.

Little Bears

OK, I am going to attempt to resurrect the blog. The key, I think, is going to be to keep it short and simple.


Simon got a subscription to High Five Magazine from my mother-in-law and he LOVES it. This bear bread was a project in the magazine. He is a big fan of both cooking and eating, and he insisted he make this right away. The magazine calls for some store-bought bread dough, but we made some cranberry-wheat dough in the bread machine. Yum!