New Sink & Faucet!!!!!!

I finally have the new sink and faucet installed!! Ed was such a sweetheart and got it all done for me last night just in time for me to host my quilting mini group tomorrow. This has been about a month long ordeal with us having to use a broken faucet.

The last time I was in Springfield I found the faucet I wanted at very good price at the Habitat Resale Store. About a week later our old kitchen faucet broke, so Ed attempted to replace it, but the new faucet was missing a couple small parts and he couldn't get the old faucet off the old sink as it was a rusted mess. So... I called Moen and ordered the two parts for the new faucet then went to Lowes and bought a new stainless steal sink. They didn't have what I really wanted so I settled for something that would work. When we took it out of the box the sink was bent and it sounded like a tin can when you touched it. So, back to Lowes I we went and returned the the sink.

Ed talked to a friend of his who is a contractor so we looked up the sink I wanted and ordered it over the Internet, which we got considerably cheaper then buying it from Lowes or direct from Kohler. I also ordered two soap dispensers to match the faucet, one for dish soap and one for hand soap!! Awesome.

In the meantime the parts for the faucet arrived, but they were the wrong parts!! So I looked up the part numbers from the Moen web site and ordered them again. Yesterday everything arrived, my new sink and the correct parts. WooHoo!!! I love it. Of course now Katy can't accidentally shoot water at Jared and the stove since we're not using the broken hose from the old faucet anymore, but we had our memorable laugh over that one already.

Now I have a beautiful sink and faucet. I didn't care for the redneck broken faucet look, which I might add was better than washing the dishes in the bathtub!!

Wedding Quilt

A few months ago my friend Ken and his wife Karen asked me to design a wall hanging for their nieces wedding. Karen wanted their engagement picture in a large heart with pictures of each of them as a child below. She also wanted the quilt to have the teal color from the wedding, to incorporate some camo and nature for the groom and have have the wedding date on the quilt. So I went to work designing the quilt and let my imagination got to work. I like to try new ideas and really don't let anything stop me, the original quilters of long ago made beautiful quilts from basically nothing but scraps so with everything available to me now I can do about anything.

I found the quote "When two heart unite the road is short and the burden light" and knew I had to embroidery it in the quilt too because what could be a better quote for a wedding. Finding the perfect fabric was so much fun, I mean what better excuse to go to all my favorite shops looking for fabric! The flowers I think I changed a dozen times before I was happy with the arrangements and then quilted around the flowers with metallic thread. Probably the most difficult part was making sure the embroidered words were all centered which involved a lot of re-hooping and measuring and piecing, but I love the way it turned out. I wanted to make sure the quilting motifs fit the quilt so it is quilted with leaves, flowers, doves and of course hearts.

Ken and Karen loved the quilt and gave it to the happy couple before their wedding. Here is what Ken said about it.

"Kathy, Here are some photos of Ashley and Nathan with their quilt. We decided to give it to them the night before the wedding and it was hung up at the reception. It was quite the talk of the evening both nights and the bride and groom loved it. We received a lot of positive comments about the quality of work and the uniqueness of the project, everyone loved it.............Thanks for all the work and obvious love you put into the project..........."

I love giving somthing that makes people happy just as much as I love quilting and creating!

Visit to Springfield, MO

I was in Springfield a couple weeks ago visiting one of my very best friends Kathy (Yes, we Kathy's stick together) We have both lost weight and are becoming very fashionable now in our mature age. Here we are sporting our new skorts and ready for a day of shopping at our favorite thrift stores. I am amazed at what I can find at the thrift shops and I love every minute of searching through all the stuff they have. I buy most of my clothes from the thrift shops now and I love it because I can have so many fun clothes and spend very little. I find all sorts of things to use as garden art and great books for my niece and nephew.

I am now starting on the fourth month of my weight maintenance and "WOOHOO" I have maintained my weight and not gained any of the 70 lbs back!!!! This is a mile stone for me because any other diet I've been on the weight has come right back on once I stopped the diet.

Cucumber Tomato Salad

Cucumber Tomato Salad

Here is a great salad for all of you that have an abundance of tomatoes and cucumbers this year. Did you also know that cucumbers add vitamin C and minerals, and feta cheese adds protein and calcium.

2 cucumbers, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 cup red onion thinly sliced
2 large tomatoes, cut into small wedges
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/3 cup red wine vinegar or raspberry vinaigrette
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp chopped fresh oregano
salt and pepper to taste

In a large bowl combine the cucumber, onion, tomato, and feta cheese. In a small bowl whisk together the garlic, vinegar, oil, oregano, salt, and pepper. Add this to the cucumbers and tomatoes and toss. Cover and refrigerate until you're ready to serve.

This is about 4 servings and each serving is 126 calories. It is 2g of fiber and 3g of protein.

Lab Jacket

Here is my latest embroidery project and learning experience. I did this lab jacket for a friend of mine and with this project I learned to line up the embroidery when the design involves multiple re-hooping. It turned out quite good and I think she is going to like it. It will be obvious which lab jacket is hers and maybe now her husband (bless his heart) will quit grabbing the wrong jacket!