Old Red Barn Co.

Just desserts

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:06:00 +0000

Over the last month my twelve year old daughter has been at the brunt end of two situations at school that have left her feeling hurt and confused.

Life isn't a fair game and that lesson hurts at any age. But at twelve it's not just a glancing swipe but a full on body blow.

And my heart breaks right there with hers.

-dana

P.S. These gorgeous desserts were made by this same beautiful twelve year old girl of mine. Am I lucky or what?

In Five More Titles

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:24:00 +0000

Today's title marks 795 posts that I've published here. So just four more and I'll hit 800. Hmm. One thing I know for sure is that I never imagined that. Nor the five 200+ page hardbound books that I've had printed from these posts.

It's all making me stop and think really.

It's making me stop and think deep, deep thoughts. Like, why does it bother blogger so much that I don't want to capitalize my name at the end of the post?

-dana

Total Room Overhaul Part II

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:41:00 +0000

Back in January we began a total room overhaul on Licious's room. This past weekend it was time to prime and paint.

Take a good, close look at this ceiling. Now you see it and soon you won't.

Of course Licious helped. So did her sister.

And after a few hours of painting we were all a little wacky and maniacal.

But check out the brilliant black and white stripe ceiling!

And light fixture.

This week cork flooring arrives so while one weekend we had our head in the clouds painting, next weekend we will be on hands and knees installing a new floor.

Stay tuned.

-dana

Granny Square Quilt Along

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:10:00 +0000

If you spend much time in blog land than you have no doubt run across pictures of this amazing Granny Square quilt from Blue Elephant Stitches. Something about it seems to resonate with me and many, many others. The scrappy patchwork-ness about it. The bright happy colors. The fact that it indeed looks like crocheted granny squares and yet it's a sewn patchwork quilt.

As we were kicking around ideas for the next quilt along over in my flickr group (By the way, to date we've made eleven quilts over there. My stars! Eleven!) Quilt Dad, John, suggested this quilt and we all immediately jumped on the idea. I contacted Jolene at Blue Elephant Stitches to see if she minded we do a quilt along with her block tutorial and she was gracious enough to encourage it.

Please say you'll join me and the 1,600 others in our flickr group as we start our Granny Square Quilt Along on March 1, 2012. There are already some options and fabric requirements listed so get on over there and check it out!

A special thank you to Jolene for letting our group attack this quilt like a bunch of hungry hyenas. It's going to be a blast.

-dana

Today I'm...

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:57:00 +0000

-- Slated to be a guest on American Patchwork & Quilting Radio with Pat Sloan. Today's show is all about the online quilting community and I hope you'll tune in at 4pm EST US (3pm Central, 2pm Mountain, 1pm Pacific.) You can listen online or download the podcast after the show on iTunes. I'll be locked in my office while my kids and dogs have free reign of the house for a full hour. Fingers crossed that all turns out okay.

-- Browsing through photos from the weekend Sweetheart Ball. My oldest had a date. My youngest was asked and politely said, "No thank you." They danced the night away while my husband sat, watched and wondered what the lyrics of today's pop music are all about.

-- Printing this pattern from this shop. Thinking I need to make it ASAP. Maybe then I wouldn't have little bits of thread strewn all across my house.

-- Feeling proud of these adorable valentines Licious and I made for her classmates. On the back they say, "I'd love to stay but I really mustache!" So much cuter than candy.

-- Randomly picking a winner of the adorable campfire pillow generously donated by Kristin at Woolly Petals. Mr. Random Number Generator picked number 42 which is: Regina Shoot me an email at dana at oldredbarnco dot com with your shipping address and I'll forward this info on to Kristin so that she can mail you the pillow. Congratulations Regina. You lucky duck you.

Happy Monday!

-dana

Bohemian Swoon

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:30:00 +0000

close up of the quilting

Pieced backing

Currently residing on our bed.

I should also mention that I'm binding quilt number five of five that I will soon offer for up for sale. I plan on putting them on my website soon. There you will find all the details (once I list them) but I'll be sure to mention it here once they are up and available. Thank you to each of you for your constant encouragement and support in this regard. It means more than you know.

-dana

More than one of us is confused

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:00:00 +0000

Winter boots and shorts?

Blooming daffodils in February?

Winter hats and tank tops?

This crazy, warm, winter weather has both my kids and my gardens confused.

-dana

Pinterest & A Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:41:00 +0000

I've been known to spend many hours over on Pinterest. You? My food board is jam packed and over the weekend I made these from a recipe that I pinned a few months back. You can get the recipe I followed here.

Baked Spiced Chickpeas

Almost two months ago I pinned this as well.

A pillow made to look like a campfire!!!

Eeppp!!!

I pinned it and then emailed the maker, Kristin of Woolly Petals, and started asking how she made it. Cause even though she made it as a toy for her adorable son, I imagined it on my bed. Whatever. To each their own. Not that it isn't the greatest idea for a toy. Cause it totally is. It's just that my kids are sort of past that stage and I still wanted one.

Does that make me weird?

Wait. Don't answer that.

Well, one thing led to another and then Kristin agreed to write up instructions on how she made it, post it as a tutorial over on her blog, AND give one away here!

Sweet!!

You can find the Campfire Pillow Tutorial here.

And after you check it out be sure to come back here and leave a comment to enter for a chance to win this, courtesy of Woolly Petals.

Leave a comment here for your chance to win the campfire pillow pictured above. One entry per person. International entries welcome. Entries accepted until Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 6:00pm EST US. Winner will be selected by random draw and announced soon thereafter.

Good luck. And if you've never been on pinterest before, don't say I didn't warn you.

-dana

A Thrift Store Story

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:06:00 +0000

I was at a thrift shop yesterday and spied this case. "Cool case!" said me.

I opened it and nearly fell down.

No joke.

Inside was this amazing Singer Featherweight sewing machine from 1954.

After I got my breathing under control I carried the machine and case to the cashier and asked if I could plug it in.

Wait for it.

Wait for it.

She worked! Even the light turned on and off.

::Squeal::

At that point, fast and furious picture taking and texting ensued. My mother-in-law is a Featherweight aficionado and I needed her opinion fast.

"How much?" I asked.

"50 bucks," said the cashier.

I waited to hear back from my mother-in-law while trying to casually walk around the store. Another employee sauntered over and whispered, "You should see if that's her best price. She'll often come down."

::gulp::

"I don't think I've hid my excitement well enough to get a better price. But thank you." I said with a smile.

This beauty is pristine! Anything that appears to be scratches in this photograph are, in fact, only reflections of light and lint. This vintage 1954 Singer was well used and well cared for.

So, I bought it.

The end.

Well, not completely the end because I plan on boxing it up and sending it to my sweet mother-in-law.

Just as soon as I'm done marveling in bewilderment at it.

-dana

Jinxed

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Around this time last year I rattled on about how evolved I was. The days of my youth were but mere preparation for the goodness, completeness and acceptance that I had found within myself.

Blech.

Seems I jinxed myself just as soon as I pushed publish.

Since then I've spent more time than I care to admit studying the fine lines around my eyes. And indignantly plucking gray hairs out of my eyebrows. Doggedly glancing at twenty-somethings at the gym and marveling at their muscle ripped midriffs. Shuffling around when I first wake in the morning trying to give my ankles time to warm up and get moving again. Realizing the world really does value/cater/pander to youth. And that in a group setting I'm no longer part of the "young" set.

I turned 40 in January and spent much of the year leading up to it worried and fretting. Never having been one to be concerned with aging this shocked me. And kind of pissed me off. And then made me madder because I wasn't able to turn off the fret.

It's an interesting thing when the invincibleness of our youth becomes the fragility of our age.

But, I'm happy to report that I'm moving past it.

After all, forty is the new twenty. Or so they say.

-dana

Weekend Postcards

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:15:00 +0000

Mild January temps.

Like minded friends.

Special forests with two of my favorite things to spy on a hike. Razor and Running Pine.

Yummy food.

Postcards from my weekend.

-dana

Outtakes

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:30:00 +0000

Happy weekend.
-dana

Total Room Overhaul

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:43:00 +0000

My youngest daughter, Licious, turned ten in November. In our family, when you turn ten it means that you can redecorate your room. Licious had anxiously waited the chance but when the calendar page flipped and she was all officially ten-ed up, she didn't have a clear plan as to what she wanted. That was kind of nice on her part cause November leads to December and both of those months are jam packed with weekend events that leave little time for room redecorating. Strangely enough, however, December leads to January and the busy social calendar lightens up and leaves free weekends.

Plus, Razor got some groovy tools for Christmas and was itching to put them to use.

Our house was built in 1950 and Licious's room used to be the front porch of the house. Somewhere along the line before we bought the place, this porch was closed in and made into an additional room. It's long and narrowish and has these half brick walls on each end.

The brick walls weren't ugly and, in fact, sort of gave the room some character. But, they were never intended as an exterior/interior wall-i-o deal-i-o so they left the room warm in the summer and cold in the winter. Since Licious had now come up with a plan for her room redo, Razor used it as an opportunity to insulate and box in those half brick walls.

You can see below that her once raised loft style bed is now gone and the brick wall on that side of the room is insulated and boxed in as well.

Next up will be new insulated flooring. Then painting. Then a newly built bed with clothing storage underneath. But we are saving money for the flooring so it won't be anytime super quick.

And I'm lucky that she's so sweet and understanding of that.

-dana

Winners!

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:01:00 +0000

#45 belongs to Heather A

#80 belongs to Jezibels~sproutbaby

#381 belongs to Dolores

I'm going to send each of you some handmade goodies. Contact me at dana at oldredbarnco dot com to claim your prize.

Now to reveal whether the photographs were taken with an iPad or Canon.

iPad of course. It's actually a photo of my reflection in my kitchen window at night. I'm working on a new self portrait -- cause I really need to change my Facebook photo. I think the tongue sticking out thing has worn out it's welcome. Don't worry, this isn't it's replacement.

iPad. I finally cut into this lovely Tula Pink for FreeSpirit fabric called Parisville. Hopefully I'll share my progress on that quilt soon.

iPad. As soon as I push "publish" on this here post I'm going to go watch last night's episode of Downton Abbey. If you're not watching this series on PBS, then you are missing out. Big time. You can find season one on Netflix and I think all of season two is still available on PBS.com.

iPad. Thanks for the enamelware love. These are big pots and work perfectly for soap making.

iPad. This is the door that separates our mudroom from our kitchen.

Canon. Moab, Utah.

iPad. I was happy to hear that we aren't the only folks that love pumpkin pie year round.

I'd like to think that this was an exercise in iPad photography improvement. But, images with the iPad won't ever be much more than blurry snapshots of the right now.

But blurry snapshots of the the right now sure can be fun. And goodness knows I post my fair share of those on Twitter!

-dana

Final challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:35:00 +0000

Well, I still don't have my desktop computer back but Razor has promised to camp out in front of their store until they complete it. Today.

It's been two weeks.

Sheesh.

This is the final iPad or Canon challenge. I'll keep comments open until tomorrow, Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 5:00pm EST US. After then, I will tally everyones' correct answers, throw them all into a pot and pick a random winner or two. Or maybe three. We'll just see how I'm feeling about getting my desktop back or not. And if there are any glitches in getting it back up and running.

On a side note, I just want to say that it's been fun seeing all the guesses come in. And it's made the frustration over missing my computer more bearable. And, it gave my family and I something to look at and giggle over while we were in the waiting room at the oral surgeon at my oldest daughter's appointment yesterday.

I'll announce the winner(s) on Monday.

Thank you friends.

-dana

P.S. If you don't know what the challenge is, go here first.

Making pie

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 23:17:00 +0000

This photo depicts the making of pumpkin pie. More logical that this would have been done in November. In November I didn't have an iPad so it would have been impossible to take a photo with it. However, it's a bit odd to be making pumpkin pie in January, no?

Or is it?

iPad or Canon?

-dana

Two-fer

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 13:50:00 +0000

iPad or Canon?

::snicker:: ::giggle:: ::snort::

-dana

Still playing?

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:50:00 +0000

This is what my stove looks like any time I'm making soap. I usually make 32 pounds at a time.

iPad or Canon?

-dana

P.S. What is all this about? See here for details.

Guess this

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:25:00 +0000

I stumbled upon Downton Abbey on PBS a few Sundays ago. It is season two so today I'm watching season one online.

iPad or Canon?

Don't know what I'm talking about? Go here.

-dana

Did I mention I still have a laptop?

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:25:00 +0000

And that said laptop has lots of photos loaded on it from long before my desktop troubles?

Which is this? iPad or Canon?

-dana

Let's play a little game, shall we?

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:20:00 +0000

The countdown is on for when my beloved desktop computer is back from the repair shop but until then I thought it would be fun to play a little game. You and I.

Me and you.

I'm going to post pictures several times a day until my computer is back safe and sound and you have to tell me either "iPad" or "Canon." That's all you have to say in your comment. Write "iPad" if you think the photo was taken with my iPad or "Canon" if you suspect it was taken with my Canon camera.

Do that each time I post a new photo which, again, I plan on doing a couple of times each day. Just once per photo is sufficient.

Then, upon completion of the game, I will tally up the number of correct answers each of you individually have had over the course of the few days of the game and then throw all those into a pot to draw a winner at random. Said winner will then be sent a surprise package from me.

How does that sound?

On your marks.

Get set!

GO!

-dana

P.S. I recognize that this one is easy peasy lemony squeezy, what with the actual iPad appearing in the photo and all. But, I like you. And I want you to play along so I thought I would start off easy.

Grainy view

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:22:00 +0000

Still no desktop computer so it's a grainy view for here. And that statement has me thinking about the last couple of weeks.

A grainy view.

That's all I really provide here anyway. It's true that usually the actual photos themselves are clear and sharp. (well most of the time) But I get the powerful position of editing exactly what . . . and what does not . . . appear here.

And with that powerful editing capability comes the ability to make our lives, my children's lives, appear to be flawless. One perfectly beautiful dream after the next. Almost as if the hurried days of getting to and from school, spreading homework across the kitchen table, taking the dogs out yet again in the freezing cold cause they are barking like they gotta go, bickering over the fairness of who did what first and whether or not it's fair, having to pick up rooms, clean up toys, make beds or clear the table don't exist.

For those things do. And many others.

But here it is with gratitude that I take time to notice the beautiful. The dreamy-ness. The perfectness that is our life.

-dana

Ebb & Flow

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:03:00 +0000

Still no computer.

Which means my camera is filling up with photos.

We shall call this an ebb in blogging.

Hopefully to be soon followed by flow.

-dana

Feeling stitchy

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 00:12:00 +0000

I've been following Amanda's blog, hey porkchop!, for several years. And I may or may not have kinda, sorta acted like a complete geek when I got to meet her in person at Sewing Summit this past October. I arrived in Salt Lake City and strolled into the hotel lobby after 2 am and immediately spotted her sitting in a big comfy couch in front of a large fireplace. Luckily I had enough sense not to run up to her right that instant. I waited until the next day and may or may not have blubbered some incomprehensible hello, self introduction and lengthy declaration of admiration.

Anyway.

I totally enjoy reading about all her knitting, cross stitching, quilting, cooking, baking and canning adventures and her tweets are always some of my favorites. Lucky for me, she has been kind enough to answer all my questions about where to buy supplies online since there isn't a place to buy supplies anywhere even remotely close to where I live. And I snuck in just under the wire on her and Ashleigh's Dessert of the Month Club at The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery. From now until January 10th, the sign up fee for all 12 months of pdfs (12 pdfs total- automatically delivered) is only $10. After the 10th the price will be $16.95 for the rest of the year.

I may be a total hey porkchop! groupie, but I know a good deal when I see one. And thought you might too.

-dana

Foiled again

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:24:00 +0000

So, we already know about the snow day on Tuesday.

Wednesday was a two hour delay to the start of school due to icy road conditions. And my car was in the shop. Thursday we had to take the desktop computer to the repair shop. It's still there. I do all my photo uploads and editing on said desktop. Hence the grainy photos in this post.

And today, my oldest is home sick.

I think I'm just going to pretend that 2012 starts next week. 'Kay?

And I'll be back then sharing happier news and lots of crafty projects.

Let's hope anyway.

-dana