Finished :) Will post later :D

Maggie's CLASSY Hooch Press {Grapefruit Scented} Tutorial

Are you giggling?  Are you wondering if I have LOST MY MARBLES???  Are you just reading this post out of a seriously morbid sense of curiosity?  Are you ever going to visit my blog again?

[The answer should be a resounding "YES" to all of those :)]

I have to say I am SO excited to share this recipe with you :)  Maggie (our sweet little Short Cookie) made this AWESOME discovery possible.  All Hail To MAGGIE!!!  She not only researched out the best version of this recipe (kudos to Google), but crawled around on the floor of the liquor store to find the CHEAPEST Vodka available!  Again, ALL HAIL TO MAGGIE!!!!!!

SO, in honor of Maggie, we had to name "it" after her!!!  Hence is born and forever shall be named,

[To tell you the truth, I don't recall where the "hooch" came from, but it stuck.  I believe I added the "CLASSY" because it just needed it ;D  Don't you agree?  April designed the FABULOUS label :)]

***UPDATE FROM MAGGIE- "And by the way, "hooch" is slang for booze, particularly cheap booze!"  I learn something new everyday :)

Now, I am SURE that you are just dying to find out what all of this hype is all about?

Spray starch :)

We all love Best Press but hate to pay for it.  ...well, I do.  Maggie over heard some ladies talking about making spray starch out of Vodka.  These were non-drinking Mormon ladies, so she figured if they would step foot into a liquor store to buy Vodka, it must be good ;)

You can read all about Maggie's liquor store adventures HERE.

You are going to need CHEAP Vodka!  (the kind that will burn out your insides).  Maggie says the cheap stuff is always on the bottom shelf.  It should run about $6 for a liter and about $10-$11 for a gallon of the garbage vodka.

Are you ready for the recipe????  Without further ado, may I present...

Maggie's Classy Hooch Press
1 part Vodka to 2 parts water :)  ie- 1 C vodka mixed with 2 C water.
Scent of choice.

Tada!!!

Now for my special part of the formula.  I LOVE grapefruit scented things.  I scent my sugar scrub with grapefruit zest, so why not Vodka?

I got up yesterday morning and zested this grapefruit with my handy dandy zester :)  First you want to wash and scrub your grapefruit with hot soapy water.  I use my scotch brite sponge.  Now it's zesting time!!! The trick to zesting is to only get the colored part!  None of the white pithy stuff :p

Now, take your zest and add it to your mixture of water and vodka.  

DO NOT do this part in the spray bottle.  The zest will clog up your spray nozzle :/

Let it sit for a few hours.

Give it a shake every once in a while.

[This is the brand of yucky vodka we used.]

Now, using a very fine strainer and a funnel that will fit your spray bottle, 

pour in your yummy smelling concoction ;)

[See how nicely mine nest together :)]

I only poured a little bit in, to make sure that I would like it and to make sure that it wouldn't spot the fabric.

I test sprayed it on 2 Kona white squares and pressed the tar out of them ;)

 Then I laid them on my Kona bolt in my very light living room.

No color difference that I could tell :D

Now, to try it out on an entire quilt top...

I have to say that it looks pretty darn slick!!!

Friday, I made a whole quilt top and pieced back using Maggie's Classy Hooch Press and, so far, I REALLY REALLY like it!!!  It works like a DREAM!!!

Thank you, Maggie!!! xoxo

Medallion Quilt Fabric

As I was going through my fabric for this quilt, it became clear that I needed a little more pink :)

The Fat Quarter shop had a few pinks on sale that would be PERFECT!!!

Aren't they happy?

Here is everyone just waiting to get chopped up :D

...into something like this...

This is a serial killer sketch of the dreams I keep having about this quilts borders.

I have a few other borders sketched on the page opposite this one.   Maybe I will show you more of my crazy sketches another day ;D

On Thursday I spent the day shopping with Emily (CrazyOldLadies) in SLC.  We had the BEST TIME!!!

I was officially looking for more Medallion Quilt fabric, but I found some other goodies too...

Our first stop was at Thimbles & Threads in Draper, Utah.

...see, there is some green and pink in this batch...

...and these three cuts were irresistible!!! ...yes, three cuts with 6 colors on each :)

Soon we realized it was 11:36am, so we went to Cafe Rio for lunch :)  YUMMY!

After lunch we went to a place that I can't remember the name of and Emily has sworn me to secrecy about...

...I bought these fqs at the "secret" store.

Then we headed over to Pine Needles at Gardner Village to meet up with Suzanne.  

[Their new store is AWESOME!!!]

...my fqb from Pine Needles :)  

[I couldn't resist the orange Jacks and the Pezzy's]

Lastly, since we had a few minutes, we stopped at Material Girls.  SO MUCH FUN!!!

LOVE LOVE LOVE

I think my Medallion quilt bundle is looking pretty good!

Happy, in love and all together :)

What do you think?

Annette's Pillow

*** If you are looking for Operation Sunshine click HERE :)  Thank you!!!***

Last fall, my friend Annette's mother passed away. [This is my non-sewing friend Annette]   For Christmas, Annette hired me to take apart one of her mothers quilts and make pillows for all of the grandchildren.  Blogged HERE

As it turned out, there was one block too many.  One block that didn't belong to anyone in particular.  I held this one back to make a special pillow for Annette.

With all of the wedding madness, I didn't get around to it until Tuesday :)

I used left over hst's from THIS quilt.

I had the exact right number of hst's to make the border :)

I had to toss in a bit of fun fabric to make the border fit ;)

The back is an envelope closure.  

The pillow is 18".

Letters to My Daughter Update

*** If you are looking for Operation Sunshine click HERE :)  Thank you!!!***

Once a month our church has a quilting night.  We sew from about 6 pm until the cows come home ;)

For our project this year, we are using a BOM by Becky Morganson of Stitches & Sew Forth.  Becky is an AMAZING quilt designer and we are SO lucky that she lives and works right in our own back yard!

Now, not only to we get to partake of Becky's tremendous talent, but Konda Lukau from Moose on the Porch Quilts is our quilting groups fearless leader and teacher!!!  Talk about LUCKY!!! :)

We started the quilting group last September.  I did the first two blocks and then have not worked on the quilt since then :(

For the February meeting I finished four. :)

I am committed to working on the blocks each month!  I have to have this quilt finished before my next daughter gets married.  Here's to hoping I have a LONG time to work on this one :)

Feb finish

Last September finish.

Feb finish

Operation Sunshine

HEY QUILTERS!!!  I NEED YOUR HELP!!!

I just received word of a family in crisis in our community.  To protect the children involved, I'm not going to share too much information about them.  Due to some horrible circumstances, a mother and her 6 children had to leave their home with little more than the clothes on their back.  Some wonderful friends and community members are helping the family with new living arrangements, clothes and other household needs. 

One of my oldest and dearest friends, Myra, over at She Taught Me to Love It is organizing a collection of new quilts for each of the family members as they are in need of bedding.  She asked me if I would help get the word out.

We are looking for new, pieced and quilted, twin size quilts for each of the children, and their mother. There are three girls ages 16, 10 and 4, and three boys ages 14, 12 and 6, so seven quilts in all. If you would like to help out, please leave a comment below so we can get back to you.  (If you are a "no reply blogger," please include your email in your comment :))

We understand that making a whole quilt may not be possible for everyone, so if you would like to help by making part of a quilt, please let me know.  Many hands make light work :)

PS- If you are not a quilter and want to help out, please me leave a comment.  I am certain we can find something for you to do to help :) 

xo-

Marion

UPDATE- I am in need of batting(thin Warn & Natural type) and a soft blue backing :)  Let me know if you can help with that :)

I Know What I Am Going To-Do Today

*** If you are looking for Operation Sunshine click HERE :)  Thank you!!!***

Sitting here thinking about the past week makes me a bit tired ;)  I am so glad that I blog my exploits or I would never remember what I do :)

Here are my giant lists and the things I have been working on!

WIP's -in some form of progress...

Challenge quilt for next year's quilt show
"Letters to my Daughter" block of the month 6 finished out of 25.  Will be blogged HERE on Wednesday :)

Baste and quilt star quilt DONE! Blogged HERE

Hadley's receiving blanket DONE!!! Blogged HERE

For Hire Projects

MaryAnne's jean quilt

Annette's pillow
Mandy's quilt
2 pair of slippers for Aly One sole is finished.
Bind a quilt for Emily DONE! ...no blogging about this one .. :)  This is Emily holding the quilt that I bound for her :)  I am almost finished in this picture.

Back Burner Purgatory... lol!!! ;) (I've got the materials for these, but no chop chop yet)

White booties for Hadley
Knitted socks for my girls

2 Twin Size applique quilts for my nieces

The June $29 quilt
July $29 Quilt

My green and white bed quilt This has become merged with my Medallion Quilt :)

Medallion Quilt for the Modern Quilt Group (I'm thinking a monogram for the center)  I got the center made for this :)  I am SO excited!  Blogged HERE

***Bonus Finishes- Booties for Hadley, blogged HERE

So, what are you up to this week?  PLEASE share with me :)

Will be linking up with Amanda Jean over at Crazy Mom Quilts, Quilt Story  and Lee

Presents For Hadley

*** If you are looking for Operation Sunshine click HERE :)  Thank you!!!***

My sweet baby niece is finally home from the hospital :)  

She is healthy and SO DARN CUTE!!!

Being the good auntie that I am, I had to make her some "Welcome Home" gifts :)

A receiving blanket with a crocheted edge.

My grandmother used to make these for each new baby, and so now I try to do it.

I am named after her, so it only makes sense ;)

"This blanket will NOT make me go to sleep!"

"Zzzzzzzzzzzzz" 

(My blankets and swaddling are MAGIC!)

AND, to go with this cute little blankie, I had to make these AWESOME booties.

"OK, the booties ROCK, but the clothes are HORRIFIC!!!"

"I am SERIOUS!!!  Please don't make me dress like a color blind Scott!"

(The booties fit perfectly :)

So where did the booty idea come from?

Well, April made some booties for her granddaughter, and they turned out SO cool, I had to copy cat her :)

I took a BAZILLION pictures because I LOVE them and want some for myself!

My kids all want some now too ;)

The pattern is Crocodile Stitch Booties by Lianka Azulay of Bonita Patterns and you can purchase the pattern HERE on Etsy.

I am pattern reading disabled and I had no problem making these :) ...well, no more than is usual for me ;)

The first booty only took me 6 hours to make and the second just a mere hour and a half ;)

One of these days I'll figure out how to understand patterns.

This is the 0-6 mo. size.  I used extra fine sock yarn from the clearance section at Hobby Lobby.

The end!

PS- for those of you who hung on to the end of the post....

"Being burped makes for such an awkward photo!  But don't I have such pretty big eyes, not to mention my pinchable cheeks?"