Whippersnappers

Whippersnappers are a popular cookie here because they have a little bit of everyone's favorites in them...oatmeal, peanut butter and chocolate!

Whippersnappers

3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups shortening
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 3/4 cups quick cooking oats
1 package chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, cream both sugars, shortening and peanut butter. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Add flour, baking soda and salt to sugar mixture. Stir in oats, chocolate chips and pecans. On baking sheet, drop dough by teaspoonfuls and bake 12 to 14 minutes or until cookies begin to brown on edges.

*Artwork provided courtesy of Miss Two.

I Need Help!

I need help. Oh boy, do I ever need help! Saturday the Selvage Blog featured a fantastic selvage wallet from A Spoonful of Sugar. I tried to resist, but by Sunday morning I was rummaging through my sewing room trash can for bits of discarded selvages, so I could make one for myself. Yes, I said rummaging through the trash for bits of selvages! What is to become of me???

Notice A Trend?

Yes, it's another selvage project, but did you notice that my selvage projects have gotten smaller as the week has worn on? There's a reason for that...I have just about depleted my selvage stash while on this stitching binge! It's not like I can run down to my local quilt shop and buy selvages, so I guess the only thing for me to do now is start collecting again. Which means lots of "plain old" sewing and piecing before I can get another selvage fix. Of course, there is another option...I could seek out a selvage dealer. I might be able to find one in the back ally behind Needles Quilt Shop or if I haven't already convinced you that you need to be sewing with your selvages you might consider helping to feed my addiction by sending them to me...in a plain brown wrapper of course!

Spring Is In The Air

Spring is in the air which means it's tissue time for me. I have made a lot of these travel tissue holders over the years and they come in very handy...especially during allergy season! I saw one made out of selvages featured on the Selvage Blog recently and just had to make one to go with my selvage bag.

@#$% Zippers!

I won't embarrass myself by telling how many tries it took me to make this selvage bag, but I'm sure you can tell by the tangled mess of threads on my sewing room floor that it was more than once...@#$% zippers! I wanted to make a simple selvage change purse to match my selvage bag and thought I could wing it on my own. That was my first mistake! After spending a little time searching the internet I found this Wristlet Tutorial which took the mystery out of the whole process. I can't say that I love zippers now, but they certainly aren't the enemy anymore thanks to Jody's great tutorial!

A Selvage Bag Of My Own!

It's finished...my very own selvage bag! I started out using a pattern called Charm Party by Penny Sturges from an old issue of McCall's Quilting (April 2007), but I modified it quite it bit by leaving the pocket off of the front of the tote and adding lots of pockets to the inside. I also made the handles a bit longer and added a button/tie closure. The finished bag size is about 18 inches wide x 12 inches high, so it has lots of room to hold all the things a quilter needs to take to a quilt show with room left over for a few purchases!

Who Influenced Whom?

Who influenced whom? The question has been raised and I feel I must clarify things a bit. Yes, it's true, I did make one little zippered bag out of selvages a couple of years ago for a guild Christmas gift exchange, but I was only experimenting when I made that! Then a few months ago I did make a teeny selvage key chain, but I don't really count that...it was so small and it only took a few minutes to make! There was no addiction and I could walk away from selvages at any time. Apparently since then, selvage use has hazed my memory and things aren't very clear (obviously selvage use is more potent than I first thought). Taking my selvage clouded mind into consideration, I think Anya and I may have been together at the Quilters' Heritage Celebration in Lancaster, PA a few years ago when we saw that first selvage quilt on display and I am pretty sure that quilt was made by Karen Griska herself, the woman who wrote the book on selvages! I believe that it was shortly after that when we discovered Karen's blog, Selvage Blog. I don't remember which one of us found Karen's blog first, but we have since had many discussions about the wonderful projects featured on her blog and talked about making selvage projects of our own. Now, here is the difference between Anya and myself...I tend to talk about projects where Anya actually makes them! If you read the Selvage Blog you will notice that several of Anya's beautiful selvage projects have been featured over the past few weeks. Not only that, but she has also made this adorable selvage bag to take along to the quilt show in Lancaster. Now I ask you, how could I also go along on the same trip and not have a selvage bag of my own to carry my purchases in? It's pretty obvious to me that my friend, Anya, is the one doing the influencing here!

All kidding and teasing aside, do be sure to check out Karen Griska's website and blog. There are amazing selvage projects made by a variety of quilters featured on Karen's blog almost daily. Karen's webpage also has tips for cutting and sewing with selvages as well as patterns. You can also find more detailed instructions and patterns in her book, Quilts from the Selvage Edge.

Under The Influence

I can't tell you how many times in my childhood I heard "If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you jump too?" Apparently, I am once again under the influence of a friend and she has me helplessly addicted...to selvages! Monday night at our monthly guild meeting I noticed several quilty friends handing Anya bags full of selvages and before the evening was over she had passed a big handful of selvages to me. I admit that I had some selvages of my own hidden in my closet and I had played with them a little, but I hadn't really sewn with them. Last night the temptation got the better of me and I had to stitch a bit...just to give them a try. I cut some foundation squares and made a couple blocks, then a couple more and even more. I was hooked within the hour! Even though sewing with selvages is terribly addictive, it is legal (no quilt police), free (unless you start buying yards of fabric just for the selvages) and non fattening (unless your husband is like mine and uses Moose Tracks ice-cream to lure you out of the sewing room)! I can think of worse things to be under the influence of, but I can see where this may cause some problems...what if all of our quilty friends start sewing with their selvages instead of passing them on to the addicts or even worse yet, do you think our quilty friends are going to figure out that they can sell their selvages to the highest bidder?

Happy Spring!

Today is the day that I have been waiting for all winter long...the first official day of SPRING! We are still a long way from from green grass, leaves and flowers here in Northern Pennsylvania, but the robins are back and there are a few other signs that warm weather will soon be here to stay. Woohoo and happy Spring!

(To those of you living in the southern hemisphere I wish you a wonderful Autumn!)