A Daisy Garden

Fun with Fabric!

April 28, 2014 by adaisygarden

This week, there’s a great sale going on in one of my local fabric stores (JoAnn Fabrics).

I think of Birthday and Christmas gifts all year long…
(whether for me or a loved one) 🙂
and when sales come up,
I take advantage of them.

This (above photo) is a group of coordinating fabrics
that I think will make a very nice quilt!

These stacks are sometimes over $100 if you buy them as a set.
But I’m too much of a tight-wad —
(it sounds nicer when I say “thrifty” so that’s what I’ll say from now on)
— to spend that much… why, that’s just plumb crazy!

So…
I chose a pretty fabric that I thought was cheerful and fun…

and then began choosing coordinating fabrics that looked good together.

They’re going to be living together forever in this quilt,
so I have to make sure they can all get along, right?

Choosing the fabrics is so much fun for me!!
Looking through all those pretty colors & prints…
it’s actually therapeutic…
I hadn’t been feeling well, but by the time I finished choosing all the fabrics,
I realized I felt much better.
Some of these prints just make me smile and “ooh” and “ahh”
so I guess that takes my mind off everything else.

Here’s a close up:

And here’s the stack.
I bought a yard of the background fabric,
but all the others are half-yards.

In those $100 stacks, they’re only fat quarters (18″ x 21″)

All these fabrics were 50% off, so
I ended up spending only $17.75 for this entire stack!

That’s a whole lot better than $100!
And now I get to either use it in a beautiful quilt,
or give it away for someone else to have fun with quilting.

Happy quilting, folks!

Daisy

Posted in Gifts, Quilting, Sewing | Tagged Fabric, Gifts, quilt, Quilting, Sewing | 14 Comments »

Sanctuary

April 25, 2014 by adaisygarden

Do you ever feel like you just need some quiet time?

(Photo taken inside an 1800s church)
There were no microphones here, no Powerpoint, … not even electricity.

Yet,
the people gathered here and worshipped God.
All they had was each other and the Bible.
They read. They prayed together. They encouraged one another.
Made me realize once again…
we don’t need all the “bells and whistles” we feel so necessary today.

I guess all we need is a hunger for God.

Just thinking…

Have a blessed weekend everybody.
Love to you all,
Daisy

Posted in Photography, Reflection, Uncategorized | Tagged Country LIfe, inspirational, photography, Reflection | 13 Comments »

Corn Casserole

April 15, 2014 by adaisygarden

This is a good, old-fashioned recipe…

My family loves it, and I wanted to share it with you.

If you don’t already have a good corn casserole recipe, try this one… You won’t be disappointed.

Here are the simple ingredients.

You can add a small can of jalapenos or green chilies if you want some heat in it.
Some recipes also call for grated cheddar cheese (I tried it, but even though I love cheese, I prefer this recipe).

Ingredients:

1 c sour cream
1 14 oz can corn, drained
1 14 oz can creamed corn
1/2 c butter, melted
1 egg, beaten
1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.
Mix first 7 ingredients.
Pour into buttered 9″ square pan
(I use a slightly larger rectangle ceramic country dish)
Bake 1 hour.
Serve with heated maple syrup, if desired.
Enjoy! 🙂
Daisy

Posted in Baking, Cooking | Tagged Baking, Cooking, Food | 20 Comments »

Easter Week

April 14, 2014 by adaisygarden

Now I make known to you, brethren,
the gospel which I preached to you,
which also you received, in which also you stand,
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received,
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
and that He was buried,
and that He was raised on the third day
according to the Scriptures,
1 Corinthians 15:1, 3-4

Have a blessed Easter week!

Daisy

Posted in Photography, Reflection | Tagged inspirational, photography, Scripture | 12 Comments »

Mother/Daughter Trip

April 12, 2014 by adaisygarden

My daughter & I recently took a trip together.
It was so much fun!

We wanted to make it a history/quilting/sewing/fun trip.
We planned to visit historical places during the day and in the evenings
we’d quilt or sew. (We had to go up & down on steep mountain roads,
so we decided we’d rather not do that while it was dark!)
Can you tell we grew up in the city?!

We were able to stay in a friend’s cabin up in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains.
Close to the cabin was a beautiful waterfall. It wasn’t easy taking a “selfie”, but here we are. 🙂

The third day we were there, it snowed!!
We were in a cozy cabin, with a nice fireplace, so we were happy, quilting…

It was kind of like going on our own Quilting Retreat! 🙂

It wasn’t a lot of snow, but it was beautiful!!
The mountains in the distance and the woods all around us were
covered in a nice blanket of snow.
We were inside, cooking, quilting…
I felt a little like the frontier women of the 1800’s…
quilting, tending the fire, roasting a nice chicken in the oven. 🙂

Thankfully, I didn’t have to kill the chicken myself.
Some of the modern conveniences I am totally ok with.

This is the quilt top my daughter was able to put together.
She didn’t get to finish it (she still has to add the borders and quilt it).
But she did get a lot of it done and I think it looks so pretty!
I love the fabrics and colors in this.

These are the two mini charm packs I took with me.
I wanted to make something small, like a table runner.

These little packs were $3.75 each, there’s 42 squares, 1 1/2 in. each.
I got them from Missouri Star Quilt Co. They have great prices.
They also have a great daily deal program.

I used the 1 1/2 in squares in strips of four across and then in the border,
I made half triangles for the border using a tutorial.
It made it go so much faster, and much more fun.

I didn’t have a pattern to follow, but I just used what I had on hand.
I like how it turned out and can’t wait to finish it.

We had a lot of fun on our trip
and I’ll be posting more of our “adventures” in the next posts.

Have a blessed weekend,
Daisy

Posted in Photography, Quilting, Travel | Tagged Fabric, Family, Mountains, photography, quilt, Quilting, Travel | 22 Comments »

Fun with Beads

March 14, 2014 by adaisygarden

One of the things I enjoy making for gifts
is beaded jewelry…

This is a set I made for a friend.
She likes chunky bracelets
so I decided to make her a set of three bracelets
that she can wear together.
(I love these colors, too!)

Note…
I decided in early December of last year,
that I’d work on 2-3 Christmas gifts every month.
That way, I’d still have fun making personal gifts
and not be stressed out by Christmas.

This (below) is one of the trioo:

It goes fast!
I made the bracelets on elastic beading cord
which you can get at any craft store
for around $2 a roll (each roll has many yards).

Most of the beads I use are glass
so they feel great when you’re wearing them!!

These square beads are fun.
They didn’t need much… I just used some
small round spacers to separate them.
It gives the bracelet a touch of class. 🙂

These are my favorite…
They sparkle!
They look like crystals,
catching all the light.

This is the “trio”.
I think my friend will like it.

I usually put a pretty ribbon around them
and place them in a nice box.
All ready for Christmas!

Here’s a second gift set I made…
This one in pretty pink!

These were fun to make!
I hope they’ll bring joy
to the recipients as well!

Happy Crafting!

Daisy

Posted in Crafts, Gifts | Tagged Beads, Gifts, Jewelry | 10 Comments »

Christmas Quilt

March 5, 2014 by adaisygarden

I’m either very late or
very, very early…

I’ve been working on a quilt I started at the end of last year.

I bought Christmas fabric at 60-75% off!
It’s been a lot of fun piecing these squares together.
It goes fast!

Here’s a few of the blocks I’ve pieced together:

I haven’t trimmed these yet, and
keep in mind
I’m only a beginner.
Not all the points are perfect,
but I figure that in the large quilt,
it won’t be too obvious. (I hope!)

I am hoping to have this one done
before Christmas this year! 🙂

Happy Quilting,

Daisy

Posted in Quilting, Sewing | Tagged Christmas, quilt, Quilting, Sewing | 15 Comments »

Cornish Hens

March 3, 2014 by adaisygarden

When you’re craving a nice
home-cooked meal but don’t have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen…
May I suggest…

I had never made Cornish Hens before.

There were two in the package and they were much smaller than a chicken.

I was busy cleaning and didn’t have a lot of time to spend making dinner at the stove. I wanted something I could just put in the oven and forget about for an hour or so.

I cut some potatoes, onions, sweet peppers, and carrots, and placed them on a baking sheet along with the hens.

I made a rub/dressing with garlic, onion powder, paprika, salt, thyme, olive oil, red wine vinegar, splash of hot sauce, and rubbed everything with it.

The house smelled great and before I knew it, dinner was ready!

A one-pot dinner. Easy & simple.
If you like, you can make a salad to go with it, or some rice.

It was delicious.

Have a great week everyone!
Daisy

Posted in Cooking | Tagged Cooking | 9 Comments »

Art Journal

February 27, 2014 by adaisygarden

I’ve been wanting to start an art journal for a while now.

I want to combine journaling, art, scrapbooking…

I tried not to complicate it or overthink it too much, (I usually do)…
Just wanted to have fun with it.

I love putting little cards inside small envelopes with pretty pics and a quote on the back. (Like in the picture above)

This first entry was on Life…
Embracing that abundant life that Jesus talked about.

Every day is part of the journey.
Every day should be cherished.

Journaling is therapeutic for me. So is doodling, art, coloring, gluing little pieces of fabric/paper/beads…
I was the kid who looked forward to buying school supplies every year. (I still am!!)

Have a fantastic day everybody!
May your journey be a blessed one!
Love to you all,
Daisy

Posted in Crafts, Reflection | Tagged Art Journal, Journal, Reflection, Scrapbooking, Scripture | 15 Comments »

Spring is Here!! (almost?)

February 20, 2014 by adaisygarden

While temperatures continue to go up and down around here, it seems that Spring has arrived at my neighborhood Walmart!

Stepping into the garden section was like finding myself in another world…

A pretty world with lots and lots of flowers, all different colors!

I was smiling the entire time I was there…

I know I’ve seen these all before but they are just so beautiful, I couldn’t help but smile and think, “How am I ever going to choose?!”

It was a cold day outside (at least for this part of the country), but it felt more like summer in the mountains… Cool air and gorgeous flowers everywhere!

I haven’t yet planted what I bought, but I can’t wait to see how they’ll look!

There were tulips in different colors for $.98 each. I bought yellow, orange and red, and put them in our little front entrance. They make me smile every time I come home!