Knoxville, TN

I have spent the past week in Knoxville TN for the AQS Quilt show.  The weather has been WONDERFUL!  I sure wish I could take some of this rain back to Texas with me.  But alas, back to over 100 degree temps tomorrow.  Arrived in Knoxville on Monday, promptly got the booth set up and then it was time to play with friends!  Brint Fanizza and Sebastian Rivera of  http://www.famorecutlery.com/  (AWESOME scissors!!),
Cheri Meineke-Johnson and her niece of  http://www.cheriscrystals.com/  (SUPER crystals!!) and I headed over to Pigeon Forge for some fun.  First we went to a winery and stocked up on some wonderful wines:  http://www.applebarnwines.com/

After the winery we went and road Go Karts, Bumper Cars and played at the arcade.  Yep, we were just being big kids and it was a blast!

From there we went and had Thai food.  YUM!!  Talk about a perfect day!


FAST FORWARD TO FRIDAY:
After the show was over I wanted to take Jamie Walden of http://www.colouricious.com/ (REALLY cool blocks for stamping fabric!!) for some good traditional American food.  We found a super restaurant on the river.  Calhouns on the Tennessee River has delicious BBQ ribs!  With sides of Tennessee Corn Pudding and Spinach Loraine, it was pretty cold to the perfect meal.  Oh, and for appetizers, an array of different breads.  Can you say YUM???!!!!  Ok, I'm drooling now.  =)  If you are ever in Knoxville, you HAVE to put Calhouns on your list of MUSTS.

Splinters & Threads Asks a Crafter: Birthday Crown from TK Harrison

First, let me thank Gina Reddin of Splinters & Threads for asking me to start off as her "Thursday Ask a Crafter" guest blogger. My name is Tammy Harrison and my website is BOMquilts.com and my blog is Quilt Therapy!

A couple of years ago, I found out I shared a birthday with a sweet little girl at church and we decided that we needed to celebrate our birthdays together - and my job was to find a way for a kindergartner and a middle-aged woman to come together to find the joy of our special days.

I went into my sewing room and searched high and low for items that would be fun for my little friend and "adult" enough (well, as adult as I care to be) to be presentable in church.

I came up with birthday crowns for the two of us. I used Peltex, Wonder Under, quilt fabric, a template made from cardboard, some scrapbooking heart-shaped brads and some sticker foam letters. Once I cut two pieces of fabric with Wonder Under ironed on the back, then I cut out the template from the Peltex and pressed both sides of the fabric to the front and back of the Peltex. Once pressed, I used my sewing machine to zig-zag around all of the edges. I finished off the crowns with the "Happy Birthday" letters and the heart-shaped brads.


I made my crown (shown above) and then made a smaller one for my wee friend. The really fun thing is that my three daughters have enjoyed wearing the crown for their birthdays, too! It's become a family tradition at our family parties as well as something special for me and my little friend in August when we worship together.

Do you have a craft you have designed and made? If so, please submit it for consideration as a Splinters & Threads guest blogger to gina.reddin@gmail.com.