Sister's Choice Quilts

Frivols #5

I am just eeeaaasssiiinnnggg back into sewing by making up a little Frivols project.  I dived into Frivols #5, because I liked the French General fabrics.  Never mind that I haven't done Frivols #1, 2, 3 or 4.  I will get to them one of these days.

This is the primary pattern for Frivols #5, which I decided not to make.  Each Frivol comes with a little card offering an alternate block that one might consider using the fabric with instead.  I liked the look of the block on the card in the photo at the top of the post, which is called Maple Leaf.  The little card gives two different block size options as well---4 1/2" finished and 6" finished.  I decided to go with the 4 1/2".  No setting instructions are given, so I will have to figure that out on my own.

These are the flying geese units required for each block.  Right about now I am wishing I had opted to make the 6 " block. Very tiny pieces.  After some experimentation, I started pressing all the seams open and that helped quite a bit to achieve more square blocks.

Not sure how many blocks I will make.  I started out with nine of them.  I think the blocks are cute, and will keep you posted as to how it goes.  Baby steps.

Christmas Clutter: Gone

It's all cleared away.  It took my husband and I all day on Sunday to do it.  Cleared off counters, pared down decorations, no clutter to be seen.

Man, does that feel good.

I love getting out all the holiday decorations--tubs and tubs of them.  Two trees, garlands, santa and snowman collections, scented candles etc etc.  It was great, but by December 29, I wanted it gone.

I know.  Kind of bare.  My husband was trying to find his football game after we put things away, and commented that it looks like we are moving, things are so barren of decorations.  It's ok.  Whew, in fact, it's great.

Nothing red to be found anywhere.  Ahhhhh.

David's Tea

Well hey there.  Happy New Year!  I hope you all had a safe and healthy celebration to ring in 2016.  

I thought in keeping with the new year, goals, resolutions, and discovery I would share something with you that I am just loving.

David's Tea is a Canadian company that came to my attention recently.  They offered the most amazing little Advent calendar for the holidays, which I unfortunately missed out on, but have been making up for ever since.  David's Teas offers, as their name suggests, teas of all kinds.  You just won't believe the flavors and aromas of these teas.  

In an effort to be a bit more healthy this year, I want to drink more tea (instead of coffee and wine).  I bought a book called The Tea Cleanse by Kellly Choi, which has all sorts of interesting information on various types of teas and their benefits:  white tea to prevent premature aging, green tea for stress reduction, black tea to protect against infection, herbal teas for weight loss etc.

I was so excited to find out about David's.  I bought a lovely holiday cup that comes with an infuser that sits on the lip of the cup, and a lid to either set the infuser on or cover your cup to keep the tea warm.  On sale for  $13!  I was so happy to find that.  I also purchased some of their super fun tea collections, which give you a sampling of seasonal offerings.  The blue box above has 12 teas, each one a featured tea of the month in 2015.  The box on the right is their Thanksgiving collection, which I got for 40% off.

Here is a close up of the Thanksgiving collection.  Each tea blend is in a little metal container with a see through plastic lid.  The tea blends are simply beautiful to look at, and absolutely smell like what they are supposed to be.  This collection has Pumpkin Chai, Spiced Apple, Peanut Butter Cup (not sure how that will translate to tea), Nutty by Nature, Cranberry Orange Muffin, Spiced Pumpkin, Pumpkin Mate, and Honey Crisp Apple.

David's has a website: www.davidstea.com  If you want to order online, make sure you are on the US site, and not the Canadian site, or you will pay way too much postage.  It turns out they have US brick and mortar locations, so you can save on shipping within the US.  Of course if you are Canadian, lucky you!  You can probably visit a David's Tea shop in person and try things out before you buy.

David's didn't give me any of these products, I bought them with my own money.  I love sharing things with you as I discover them, and this ranks right up there with one of my better finds!  If you are a tea lover, you have got to check them out.