some great giveaways even some Accquilt Go contests

Nanbon's Corner is hosting a giveaway for a $ 50.00 gift card to CSN Stores

Pat at Silver Thimble is hosting a giveaway to celebrate her book process, thats right she is writing a book which will be out next fall. Put me first in line for a copy.  Congratulations Pat.

Accuquilt Go! Giveaways

1. A Quilting Life is hosting a giveaway for the Accuquilt GO!  ends Sept. 2
2 Carol's Crafty Creations is hosting a giveaway for the Accuquilt GO! ends Sept 4
3. Ryan Walsh at I'm just a guy who quilts site is hosting a Accuquilt GO! contest which will end on Sept. 5

More Accuquilt Giveaways listed on my Nanbon's Corner giveaway blog, but you better hurry as time is runnig out on some of the contests.

Allison in Wonderland Tea Party items

The wait is over, the Allison in Wonderland Tea Party themed decor is done and ready to delivery.  I promised to give you all a quick view of the decorations I have been working on for the past month or so. If you are new to the blog let me give you a little background.  My step daughter Jenny and her Husband Phillip are Jewish, they have 6 children. The oldest had her event two years ago, the next was this spring and now it is Allison's turn.   Emily's Theme was a Hawaiian Luau, Jack's Theme was Chinese, year of the Tiger , there are old posts you can check to see their decor. Allison is the third child and she is called to the Torah as a Bat Mitzvah in Sept.. Afterwards there will be a Tea Party which is also a celebration of her birthday. With the movie Alice in Wonderland in the theaters she wanted to change her Tea Party to a Mad Hatter's Tea Party. My mind has been in over drive coming up with all kinds of decorations for her event, Her Allison in Wonderland Tea Party.

Lavender Sachet favors in the shape of a strawberry w/roses,lace & pearl trim and they smell so good.

A White Wicker Basket full of the Sachet Favors. 

Mushroom containers for Children's Favors 

Mushrooms Favors filled with Tiny Beanie Babies 

Girls Favor boxes arranged in a wire basket.

 Plastic favor box, trimmed with felt flower and holding a little bracelet 

Soaps in the shape of Roses and Teapots for the restrooms

and as a favor as well, there is a box full

Fancy Tea Cups filled with Sweetheart Roses, Baby's Breath and a Heart, sitting on a whimsical polka dot base with a puppy, kitten and a old time shoe. I know why the puppy and kitten, well that was Ally's first theme, puppy's and Kitten's, I suggested the tea party and that was fine as long as there were puppies and kittens, this kid is such a animal lover. So theme was changed but the puppies and kitten's stayed. The boots were just neat, I had the mold for puppies, kittens and the boots and just made a bunch of them.

This is what I call a colorful table, it is filled with the centerpieces.

Very whimisical with all the base colors..

I was so lucky to have gotten this wonderful three sided store display, I covered the base in wrapping paper and added the title, "Allison in Wonderland" with the White Rabbit in his blue jacket and watch, gotta love that Johnny as the Mad Hatter

This is side 2, with the same title added,

I like this side the best 

The Third side of the display and yes that is a flamingo in the title.

They played Croquet with Flamingo Clubs.

I saw the Mad Hatter's Hat on the web and decided I needed to make one, I think this is so neat. 

Hubby really like the hat. The hat is made of cardboard, covered in dark gray fabric, black lace, with a blue silk band, a tag and of course the hat pins. (they are hard to see, a flower, snowflake and a old fashion button design)

This is one of my favorites, a rose topiary, with card men painting the Roses Red, on a painted board with felt flowers and the step stool.

 I just love the heart step stool my hubby made. The Card Men are white foam board, with red paper on the back, red hearts and numbers, they have pipecleaner arms and wrapped legs. Their shoes are wooden hearts hubby cut out, and they have a tiny paint can and brush made from posterboard.

I really like this one, The White Rabbit was a Ceramic Rabbit I found at a yard sale, I painted his jacket, added his bow tie and made him a clock, he sits in front of the tree stump that leads to Underland or Wonderland. The tree stump is a box, some cardboard and lots of paper mache, sitting on a painted board with moss and felt flowers. The nifty thing is!! This is a card holder, What, Where?? If you take the light hanging over the front door and lift it straight up, the wooden lid lifts up showing a slot for cards... NEAT>>  

Just another photo of the tree stump, so neat what you can make with some paper and glue and your imagination.

OH No,  this little card man's basket is empty, no roses to paint for him.  This basket will be filled a few days before the event. It will be filled with Chocolate Rose Buds in red and white. 

These are the Hershey Kiss Roses in red and white 

There are lots of Hershey Kiss Roses, but they are stored in a cool place,

don't want them to melt with the heat we have been having lately. 

That's all I can show, I did make something else but that is a secret and

I wouldn't want the secret to get out before the big event.

Did you notice the Card Men???  The event is on the 4th, Allison's Birthday, 

which is the Card Man by the basket

The Card Men painting the Roses are 1 & 2  which is how old she will be.....
 Happy 12th Birthday Allison.

There really aren't to many pattern's or instructions to share, I just made the stuff....

Kind of Hit or Miss so to speak...

That's, three kids, 2 Bat Mitzvah, 1 Bar Mitzvah down and three to go, but it will be awhile before the next one, and I am sure Heather wants a Fantastic Sweet Sixteen Party, but that will be in a few years...
Now you all know why I haven't been here for awhile, but family things are finished and I can get back to blogging and making quilts again, that is after I clean out my craft/sewing room again.

A Wilton cake story !!!

I have not been posting on my blogs as much as I would like, due to me being really busy working on some special events.  Grand daughter are the reason for my absence, One got married Saturday and I made her cakes, and the other grand daughter is Jewish and will be celebrating her Bat Mitzvah in Sept. and I have been making all kinds of wonderful decorations for her event, I will post more on  The Allison in Wonderland tea party next week.

This past week I was working on a wedding for Melanie's step daughter Nikki.  Mel was to provide the wedding cake and she came to me. Now normally her sister Jenny would be the cake maker, but Jenny was already committed to another wedding she was doing for the same day. Jenny makes cakes and her hubby photographs the wedding and then Jenny edits, they work well together.

Mel asked if I would make the cake, and she would help as she has never done fondant. Nikki sent photos of cakes she liked, which were beach themed.  So I planned, I made decorations and I baked tier after tier, Friday Mel came in and got a lesson on fondant. Poor Mel, she didn't know that kneading fondant was so much work.  Oh and did I mention that Nikki called Mel on Wednesday and told her she had cancelled the groom's cake which was to be a red fish, because it cost to much.  So she asked if I could make a groom's cake as well as the wedding cake. Lovely Nana that I am, I started planning the groom's cake too.  I had offered to make it months ago, but now I only had two days to come up with something, so A Tackle Box Cake with a small fish was my choice.
Here are the results,

The start of the cakes, some of my supplies, My poor kitchen is such a mess after the cake, I will be cleaning powder sugar off everything for a long time, that stuff goes everywhere.

The Groom's Cake

Chocolate cake tackle box and butter cake red fish with edible tackle

Mel and me with the Tackle box cake, Mel had so much fun making the tackle out of fondant. I know I look a fright, but I had ran in between raindrops, and just finished the assembly of the cakes. It is a lot of work putting together a big cake.  

The Beach Themed Wedding Cake, This is one big cake, The tiers were decorated with marshmallow fondant, butter cream details (dots), transported to the location and the cake was assembled on site, finished with butter cream icing borders and white chocolate sea shells and starfish. I think it is beautiful and I know Mel is proud of it because she helped decorate it. She did say so many people wanted to know the name of my cake shop, because they want to order cakes, The groom's cake was a really big hit to, do you think I watch to much of the food networks cake shows?  I am a big fan of the Ace of Cakes.

I do want to mention that The Wilton Company Web Site was a big part of my Cakes, I used the Wilton round cake pans, 16, 12, 9 and 6 for the wedding cake, I used Wilton tips and bags for decorating and I went to the Wilton web site and downloaded the recipes for  the Chocolate Cake, Butter Cake, Butter cream icing, Cream Cheese Icing, and the Marshmallow fondant. A big thank you to the folks at Wilton for their wonderful web site. If you are planning a cake, stop by Wilton.com and have a look around, there are recipes, tips and hints, instructions, and so many ideas.. Plus many great products, check out the new pillow cake pans, they will be my next Wilton purchase.  

I also want to Thank my wonderful husband for making the cake bases, driving so careful to deliver the cakes, bringing in the cakes and supplies and for helping by adding shells to the tackle box cake. You are the best.

disclosure: I did not receive any payment for my mention of the Wilton site, I just wanted to inform you of the site that I used for my recipes and my inspiration.  There are some blogs that are hosting Wilton giveaways but I don't know who or where they are.

what is it "A Moth ?"

I found this little creature hanging out in my screened in porch area this morning and I have no idea what it is.  I have lots of butterflies that visit and many moths, but I have never seen a moth that looked like this one. At least that is what I think it is, a moth of some kind, but I don't know.  Can someone help and identify this critter for me? It has stealth looking wings,  thick antenna and a upside down teardrop body and head. I took the best picture I could of it and here they are. It reminds me of a slug with wings....

Pets on a Quilt Contest

Darlene at SewCalGal blog has been hard at work again with yet another wonderful contest.  This one is Pets on a Quilt, you can enter your pets on a quilt or make a quilt with pets.  So without further ado here are my pets on my quilt. Enjoy.

We have pets, dogs to be exact, we have Maltese and  Pomeranian's. Our dogs are house dogs and they all love to share our bed and our quilts.

These are the Poms, our two adults and two puppies on my quilt. 

Of course the Maltese's needed their time on the quilt as well.

Just getting comfortable

Now for the babies, within the first hours of our puppies life they are laid on a soft scrap quilt of their own.

SOOOOO Soft,

 She kind of reminds me of the "Take me away Calgon commercials"

There is always a quilt to snuggle in

or to line the basket they are carried in, we grow so fast

and when they leave here, there is a scrap quilt made just for that puppy, if they are on hold for a new owner and we have been given their name, I will put it on their very own quilt. These tiny quilts are put in the bed with the puppy and her mother for a few days and then sent to her new home with her with the instructions not to wash the quilt for at least a week.  This way if the puppy gets a little homesick for her Mom and litter mates she has their scent on her quilt to calm her down.  Works every time.  See a quilt even comforts a puppy, this is Mitzi with her quilt the night before she left for her forever home.

New Puppy package

Hope you enjoyed my pets on a quilt.

Now is your chance, go to SewCalGal site and see all the wonderful pets on a quilt, and don't forget to vote for your favorite when the voting opens.  If you like my Pets on a quilt you can even vote for me. Best part you can win prizes just for voting.

Now I wouldn't want to influence you on your voting but don't forget the name SouthernStyle and vote (for me).

Nana Bonnie

EQ 7 and Cruise

Look what my wonderful Hubby bought me, Electric Quilt 7 software. I know I tried to win a version, I tried to have my blog chosen to host a giveaway, but no luck for any of those. I have been using the EQ Wizard to design the quilts I make for my charity group and I really liked it. EQ Wizard was a real help to me, making my job of designing and sewing these quilts go so smoothly. I just loved my EQ Wizard but I wanted more, I wanted to have all the whistles and bells there was, guess I am just a computer geek at heart. Now that I have the EQ 7, I need to get busy and learn how to use it, there are so many things this program can do. So I will be busy for quite some time with my eyes glued to this computer screen, learning my new software.

Now the reason for this post, EQ is planning a cruise, OH how I would love to be on that ship. Cruising is my favorite kind of vacation and a EQ Cruise well, lets just say that it will be simply fabulous. Here is the information if you are looking for THE VACATION of your dreams.

Register now for the EQ Cruise! If you're thinking of signing up for this late January cruise, now's the time. Really. The cruise is filling up, and we want to save room for you! Sign up now to join us on a 10 Day / 9 Night Caribbean Cruise - January 28-February 6, 2011. You'll have sun and EQ fun with top-notch teachers Barb Vlack & Mary Ellen Kranz. Come home knowing more about EQ7 and with small sewn projects featuring your own cruise photos. BONUS: You'll learn how easy it is to take better vacation (and quilt) photos with one of the quilt world's best photographers and teachers, Gregory Case. See more details about this first-ever EQ cruise.       http://www.electricquilt.com/

EQ site now has EQ7 Demo Videos too. Guess where I will be spending my time tonight.... watching informative videos, reading all I can and learning about my newest toy....

Made me smile

I was looking at some of my favorite cross stitch sites today and this designed jumped out at me. It made me smile, so I thought I would share with you.  I love this design, not for the looks so much but for the wording.  What do you think, cute????

If you want the pattern this is the site I found it on, http://www.crossstitchwonders.com/

In a few days I hope to be able to share with you the projects I have been working on, plus give you my review on the CSN item.  I know I have not posted here or on Nanbon's Corner for awhile but other things were keeping me busy..