MichelleSews

Pigs in a Blanket

2010-06-18T09:46:00.000-07:00

I'm sure that I've asked this question before - but why is it that there are some quilts that we start and immediately finish, and there are some quilts that languish forever as UFO's?

For some reason, I decided to make Oh, Fransson!'s New Wave Quilt. Since I didn't blog about it right away, we'll never know the real reason for sure, either! However, I did make it. And finish it.

I started out with that cool Alexander Henry Owl fabric. Then I started adding some of the Japanese pig fabrics that I've been ~~hoarding~~ buying. I love them! (If you ever see those marching pigs in blue, please tell me where - I really need some!) I used Kona Ash as the sashing.

It went together really quickly and I love the muted, subtle colors of it.

Since I knew that it was going to live here, I added this funky flannel backing. If you ignore the fuzzy slippers and crowns, it does really go well with this quilt. It has the same colors, and the same diagonal striped pattern going on.

Three Thanksgivings ago I went to an after Thanksgiving sale with my girlfriend at JoAnn's. I bought flannel. I'm STILL using that flannel - this was some of it.

I just did a simple outline quilting stitch on it. Then I bound it in Kona Charcoal (I think). I really wanted a color that was the same as the background of the owls, and this is close. Not as close as I wanted it to be, but not really worth going who knows where to find the exact color.

Some of the Japanese pig fabrics were a heavy linen. It really adds a nice weight to this quilt. I was pleasantly surprised.

Now, I have a boy graduating high school. Next week. He needs a new quilt, dontcha think? Yes, I'm working on it. Not very danged fast, though. And I'm thinking that it will need to be quilted while he's spending way too much time hanging out at home - because apparently Seniors don't need a lot of schooling the last week of their high school academic life. We know that I CAN do it - but will I?

Geez

2010-05-28T10:50:00.000-07:00

Louise. I guess it's been awhile. Funny thing is - I've actually been pretty productive!

I made this quilt for my girlfriend from Colorado. She came out and visited me for a couple of days. Of course, I waited until the last minute to make it. I started it on Thursday - and she got here on Tuesday.

I picked a really easy pattern, though, so it went together really quickly. I used mostly Flirt by Robyn Pandolph. I really love that fabric. It is just so girly and soft. I'm really a sucker for soft fabric. It needed a bit something else, so I added some Amy Butler to it.

I backed it with a soft, striped, green flannel. I also added those fabric squares on the back. I have to say - I really love the way it looks with those squares added on the back. I think that's the first time that I've done anything like that - but it won't be the last time.

I bound it in Amy Butler Moon Dots. I'm not sure, but I think that every quilt I've finished recently has been backed with flannel and bound with Moon Dots. But it just looks so great and feels so great - how can you not do it?

And, of course, it wouldn't be complete without a crochet edged (crocheted edge?) pillowcase to go with it. This pillowcase was made with more Amy Butler fabric, but the truth is, I've been making most of these pillowcases with flannel. Everyone seems to love the flannel. I just love the crisp look of regular fabric, though.

My girlfriend loved it. She cried when I gave it to her (although she is a bit of a crier). She has since let me know how much she loves it and how it makes her feel when she uses it.

Which brings me to a couple of blog posts that have been circulating the blogosphere lately. You can find the links to the posts here (even though I'm sure you've already seen them) (and how happy are we that crazy mom is back? Very, VERY happy!). I'm not really sure I agree with all that they have to say. Why do we quilt? I think that answer is very different for everyone. I think that answer probably changes even for ourselves over the years.

I quilt because I love fabrics, because it is a creative outlet that results in something that can be used and loved. My taste in fabric has changed over the years - and even my taste in patterns has changed. While I enjoy and appreciate more complex quilt patterns (and even enjoy working on them, although I do tend to get bored with them and ultimately stop working on them), I also love being able to get a quilt done in a few days and giving it to someone to show them how very much I love them. I want them to be able to use the quilt and wrap themselves up in it and feel loved. If in a few years the quilt is worn out - all the better. Then I'll know that it was used and loved.

Some other people might quilt so that they have something to blog about. I don't think that's wrong - it's what's right for them. And let's face it, it has worked fabulously for many bloggers and they've become very popular because of it.

I think sometimes, too we want to get too wrapped up in terminology. Modern, contemporary, geometric, whatever. It is still a quilt.

So no, as far as this quilt goes, "it isn't art, it isn't design," and you might not find it interesting. But I made it with love, it was given with love, it was received with love, and it is loved every day. That was my goal with this quilt, and I believe that goal was fulfilled.

Love

2010-01-19T11:21:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to blog about my Love quilt for some time. I actually finished it in 2009.

Do you ever wonder why there are some quilts that you start that you feel compelled to finish immediately? This was one of those quilts for me.

Way back in October I saw this post on Red Pepper Quilts and almost immediately had to buy myself a fat quarter pack of Love (I'm such a follower!). After I received it, I had to make something with it right away. With Red Pepper Quilts ~~obviously~~ still on my mind, I decided to make a version of this quilt. It seemed like a match made in heaven - fat quarters, that quilt! I figured out that with the fat quarters I could cut a 2 1/2 inch strip off the top of the fat quarter - so it would be 2 1/2" by 18" - then cut that strip into fours making pieces 2 1/2" by 4 1/2". I would then have one "block." Easy Peasy, right?

Wrong. Unfortunately, the fat quarters were not accurate fat quarters. Some (I would say 3/4) were off by a 1/4" to a 1/2". That's not a lot - and I agree. However, if you are quilting that 1/4" or 1/2" makes all the difference. I didn't ask for more than my fat quarter - I just wanted my full fat quarter. So, what should have been an extremely easy quilt to make, became a huge pain in the ass. Okay, so it was probably more of a pain because I was just so irritated. Do you ever check to see that you've gotten full cuts of the fabric that you order? Maybe I'm obsessive, but I do sometimes measure (not always). I once ordered a bunch of 1/2 yard cuts from a highly advertised shop on etsy (who has their own website, too), and every. single. cut. was short. Even though she has great fabric, I have refused to order from her again. So now, I check. If the cut is short, I must say, I don't order from them again. I have gotten in contact with the some of them - but the resolution was not satisfactory, so I just don't order from them again. Dang. Sorry for that rant - moving on.

Even though the quilt was not as easy to cut as I would have liked, I did persevere and get it together. I had some wonderful Valori Wells flannel that I put on the back.

Then I decided to use the wine spots for the binding because it matched the back so fabulously. I got those wine spots from Kerri whose an incredible shop, and great customer service!

The one thing that I regret is that I didn't make it longer. It's about 58" square. I've never been a big fan of square quilts to use - unless they're really big - they just seem too awkward. However, by the time I got to this point, I just wanted to be finished with it. And that's what it is - finished! The flannel on the back makes it nice and warm, too.

Penny asked me how much fabric I used. I used all 26 fabrics in the Love line, and of the fat quarters that I had, I used up all but about 10" of the fat quarter.

And, just to show that yes, I am working on other things, here's a tasty little pic of my (too small) design wall.

Blogger's Quilt Festival

2009-10-09T09:27:00.000-07:00

The quilt that I'm choosing to post for the Blogger's Quilt Festival is this one.

The pattern is Picture This from the Happy Hour book by Atkinson Designs. I have seen so many variations of this pattern, and I just love them all. (I've linked to some of those quilts in this blog post). You can see where I messed up on the placement of the squares. There are 3 that are facing the same way in the middle of the quilt, and they shouldn't be.

I didn't do a very good job on the quilting either, as you can see here.

I was trying to channel Mrs. Schmenkman and her quilting abilities - but she wasn't coming through very clearly - so I gave up. *sigh* I just finished it up by stippling it.

And the back. Yes, the back.

No, it doesn't go all that well with the front. But I had the fabric and decided to use it. My girls gave me a hard time about using that backing fabric.

But the binding - ah, the binding. Even though I don't have a good picture of it, the pieced binding is just wonderful.

Why did I choose this quilt? I'm choosing it because I sleep under it every night. Now, keep in mind, even though I do share a bed with my husband, only I sleep under this quilt - because it's not big enough to fit over our whole king sized bed. And at night when I'm laying in bed watching tv I tend to look at the quilt once in awhile, and when I do, I just love it every single time. I think it's the colors. They are so girly and so soothing. All I know is that even with all of its faults, this is my favorite quilt (right now).

Thanks Amy for hosting another Blogger's Quilt Fesitval!

DQS7

2009-09-16T09:36:00.000-07:00

I joined the DQS7 on Flickr. This was my first time and I was so thrilled that they let me join in on the fun. The partner that I got said, "I love modern, improv quilts with lots of bright colors and solids." Can I just say, "Eeeeek"! Well, I DID just say Eeeek! I can't say that is in the realm of what I usually do.

When I was still trying to figure out what I was going to do, I ran across this post by Cherry House Quilts. I was inspired to try to make those flowers and use those in my quilt.

I can't say they were easy! I know they should be, but I had a tough time getting them to look the way I wanted them to look. And I'm not really sure they come across as flowers, either. Which is okay.

I have to say, I can totally understand why people make two doll quilts - one to send and one to keep. You can become quite attached to these little babies.

Especially after we spent a few hours bonding while I ripped out about ~~a million~~ 6 or 7 rows of echo quilting that looked like crap.

I really enjoyed the different types of quilting. I've never done the water effect in the blue, or the pebble quilting, but they were really easy to fall into a quilting groove with. The pebble quilting was inspired by crazy mom quilts, specifically, these pillows.

Okay,two more pictures. The back.

And ready to be sent.

I certainly hope that my partner likes it. I already told her that if she hates it, she can return it - no questions asked! Heck, I'll even pay for return shipping.

Now, I can hardly wait to see what quilt I get to replace it!

What I Did During Summer Vacation, Part 2

2009-09-11T09:13:00.000-07:00

Summer is officially over. School started on Wednesday. My son is a senior this year, so this is our last year with all the kids still in middle or high school. As much as the schools drive me crazy and I can hardly wait until the kids are out, it's also very bittersweet.

My son and husband went back to D.C. for a few days this summer. While my son was gone, the girls and I rearranged his room. Part of rearranging the room meant putting his bed in the corner of the room. However, he doesn't have a headboard. So, to make up for that a little, and to make his room look a little cozier, I decided that I needed to make some pillow covers. I wanted them to fit two standard pillows. This is what I came up with. (I had to take pictures outside since I couldn't get good light in his room.)

Front

Back

Front

Back

The lines and the log cabins were supposed to be wonky. *sigh* Not too much wonk going on there if you ask me.

I made the pillows to match this quilt (which looks really bad since it was wadded up in a big heap on his bed):

I think some of the solids that put in the pillows make it so much brighter than the actual quilt. Oh well. I still like it and it makes a very cozy looking bed.

Even if his bed never really looks like this.

What I Did During Summer Vacation, Part I

2009-08-24T09:45:00.001-07:00

We have had a great summer vacation, so far. It keeps on going because the kids don't go back to school this year until September 9! It has been nice this summer, because the kids are older and have lots of activities, and I don't feel that I have to be taking them somewhere all the time. And, I even got some things accomplished this summer.

First off - remember the sneak peak? Oh, you don't? But it was only 4 months ago. *sigh* Yes, that baby blanket was on my design wall forEVer. But I finally finished it - and here it is.

I'm not sure if you can see it - but I stitched her name in the blanket. I hope that they see it one day.

For the back, I used one of Valori Wells Urban Flannels.

LOVE it.

And I got a little bit tricky with the signature block.

I think it looks cute. And I love the happy little heart that I ~~accidentally~~ stitched in. (You'll probably have to enlarge the pic the see that.)

Of course, there is one truly sad thing. We hand delivered this blanket to it's recipient - and I didn't get. one. picture. I don't even know what I was thinking. Well, I guess I wasn't thinking.

Okay, that's it for now. I'll be back soon with more summer vacation projects.

Placemat Swap

2009-07-08T09:48:00.000-07:00

Both Marit and I received our placemats - so it's safe to post about them.

Here is the fabulous placemat that I received from Marit.

LOVE it! I admired that girl in one of Marit's other quilts, and I'm so glad that I got one of my own! I love everything about this placemat - the colors, the fabric, the girl. It's wonderful!

Here's the back.

I think that we can all agree that you can never go wrong with Katie Jump Rope fabric! Even her signature block is fabulous.

Here is the placemat that I sent to Marit.

She posted more about it here. She really said such sweet things. I think that she made me blush.

I really enjoyed making this placemat. I'm really not very good improv piecing. While some of this is improv, certainly most of the main blocks are traditional blocks. And I loved, LOVED working with the linen (the white part of the placemat is linen). I think I have a new addiction.

There have been lots of circle quilts floating around blogland. I used Elisa's Back Porch templates, that are mentioned by Rachel, for the circle block. LOVE those templates.

In other news, I mailed in my blocks for the Three by Three Swap. A day late. *sigh* Of course.

We're doing another month for July, and then I have a couple of private 9 patch swaps going on, too. One of those swappers has already finished her blocks. *double sigh* But let's face it, Emily is a huge overachiever. She does fabulously wonderful things, while travelling all over to more weddings in a year than I think I've been to in my whole life! The other private swapper, my namesake Michelle, lives fairly close to me, so I might make her meet me somewhere to get her blocks. Gotta love blackmail.

I received my Kaleidoscope book, which, as you can guess, is incredible! I can hardly wait to get started on it.

Okay, off to work on my ever growing to do list. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer.

Gloating and Finishing

2009-06-25T09:49:00.001-07:00

Okay, first the gloat. Because really, this is such a good gloat.

I'm sure everyone's knows about Melly & Me (and if you don't, what are you waiting for? Go check them out!). And, if you're familiar with them, then you know that they came out with a new book.

Would you just look at all the fabulousness inside this book?

Go here to see bigger and better pictures.

Have you guessed yet? I won a copy of that book! Yes! Me! Can you believe it? Well, I couldn't. When I looked at the winning post and saw the name Michelle I was sure that it wasn't "me" Michelle, because we know there are so many Michelle's out there. But then I put my cursor on the name and guess which Michelle it was? Me Michelle. MichelleSews' Michelle. I seriously had to check 3 or 4 times just to make sure it was really me. Then I had to email Melly & Me just to make sure it was really me. Because really. I was the winner of such a fabulous book? Out of over 250 entries? And not just a book - oh no! A signed copy of the book. Ah, bliss.

Okay, I'll stop gloating. For now.

As for the finishing. I joined the Placemat Quilt Swap on Flickr. My partner is the wonderful Marit of Quilt It. She has done some fabulous things and I was so excited to get her as a partner. She asked for something summery, and I hope I succeeded in making her that. I can only post a sneak peak since I have to get it in the mail to her before I can show it. Here's the sneak peak.

The fabrics that I used in it are from Malka Dubrawsky of A Stitch in Dye. It was one of those serendipitous moments when I was on the computer at the right time, right after she had listed some scraps and fabric squares for sale on Etsy. Okay, okay. Maybe spending far too much time on the computer had a litle to do with it, too. HOWEVER, in this case all the computer time apent was totally worth it! The fabrics were really fun to work with.

Okay, off to try to get some more things finished. I hope summer is treating everyone well.

No Mojo May

2009-06-03T14:45:00.000-07:00

Okay, I kind of didn't have much sewing mojo going on in May, so I didn't post. Also, the emotional roller coaster of teenagedom has been a bit much for me lately. Excuses, excuses. I'm full of them lately.

I have managed to get a few things done. I got my blocks done for the Three by Three Swap that Anina is hosting. I was lucky enough to get in (and didn't have to worry about an invite, thank goodness).

I was so happy that I got into this swap, since I just love the way my 9 patch quilt turned out (although I still need to quilt that baby), and would love to have another 9 patch quilt.

I also got some strips cut for the Quilt Along hosted by the Old Red Barn Co. I'm not going to officially "enter" the Old Red Barn contest, but I thought the quilt looked like a fun project.

These are Flirt by Robyn Pandolph fabrics. I fell in love with them and was lucky enough to get a lot of them at half off. Not everybody loved them as much as I did, apparently.

I've also been doing some knitting. I started a February Lady Sweater (Ravelry link), because Carrie suggested it. And she was right on. I'm loving it. I hope to get it finished soon.

I also met up with my girlfriend in early May and knit up this set for her.

I won the bag pattern from Marie at Permission to Unwind. It's such a cute pattern and knit up so fast. My girlfriend loved it.

And, because so many of you loved the alligator in my last post, I thought I'd post a picture that proves just how close we could get to them.

That's my baby in the picture. And no, I did not take this picture. I didn't even know about the picture until I was looking through the pictures on the camera and saw this one. Her older brother took the picture because he wanted to show how close you could get to the alligators. I just love my children.

April's Post

2009-04-30T13:00:00.000-07:00

Boy, go on vacation for a week, and you forget that you have a blog! We went to Florida for a week at the beginning of the month and had a fabulous time. (No, that's not a picture of me, although there were times on the trip that I felt a bit snappish.) When I got back I had over 550 new blog posts to read in my Reader (do you think I'm following too many blogs? Nah! I just added more recently.). It took me awhile to get through them all, but I did.

I've been having a bit of trouble getting back into the swing of things - I think I should still be on vacation! Ah well. I do have a few things to show.

This was my vacation project. The Monkey sock.

Yeah, baby. Let me tell you - I can't even count all the times I had to rip this sucker out. I kept dropping stitches for some reason.

The yarn is ShiBui, and I have to say, I'm not sold on that yarn. It just doesn't seem all that stretchy. I know that when Carrie tried on the sock that she knit with this yarn in class, her sock was a little tight, and not very stretchy. I found the same thing with my Monkey sock. I actually finished the dang thing, and then had to rip out my finishing stitches and make it longer. *sigh* Not that I blame that on the yarn. I'm pretty sure that was user error.

And also, thanks again to Carrie, I have a second one started.

She is some taskmaster. And she has this crazy notion that it's great to finish up projects. Imagine.

Of course, I had to make a new project bag to carry my project to Florida in.

This is my favorite bag so far! Those bunnies are so stinken' cute. I saw them on Nanette's blog and had to get them. Then I had to make a bag out of them. LOVE them.

I've also make a couple of totes.

Nothing spectacular. My Middle Child loved this fabric when I made my knitting bag, and wanted something made from it. So I had to make her a tote bag, because she was using a store. bought. tote bag.

She had some crazy excuse that she liked the store. bought. tote bag because her friend gave it to her and she likes her friend. Well, my jealousy kicked in and I had to make her something that she would ~~hopefully~~ use.

I made another similar one. I'm not sure what I'll do with this one.

I just think this fabric is so pretty. I'm not sure that everyone in my house agrees, however.

I do have a sneak peak here. It's for a baby that was born in February. I really need to get it done.

Before the baby is grown.

And I just have to say, I'm in love with this Lizzy House fabric. I want it all.

Where have I been

2009-03-30T11:07:00.001-07:00

and what have I been doing? Well, I've been here. I've been Quilting Along with Judy.

I've been sewing
These bags are my latest obsession.

I want to keep making them.

And then keep filling them

with new projects.

This one inspired by Lily. (The scarf was frogged for this new project.)

I am taking a sock class from the fabulous Stephannie and finally making a respectable looking sock.

One that I would even wear. And meeting blogger pals at that class. (Carrie is so great!)

Winning a couple of wonderful give aways. One from Quilt Taffy (Love them!)
Is that not the sweetest Minny Muu fabric?

One from Niesz Vintage Home.
Packaged so pretty!

Wonderful fabrics!

This is my favorite. So sweet.

And, of course, being a little distracted.
Which I do so well.

Last, but certainly not least. Have you seen the give away at Calamity Kim's? I love Kim and her blog. She is so inspiring. Her art is so whimsical and fun. Congratulations to her apron being published in the new Apronology Magazine.

9 Patch Finished

2009-02-26T08:52:00.000-08:00

I really can't believe this quilt took this long. I'm not sure that it really should have. It was going to be a quick project and be done in a week. (Insert loud laugh here.) Yeah, right. Obviously it wasn't. But the top is finished now.

Seriously? I really didn't think it would be this big. Yes, I had the measurements, but still. I couldn't even hang it up the right way, which would have been this way.

I must say. I do love it. I can hardly wait to get it quilted.

And my love affair with 9 patches? It has not diminished. This is what's on my design wall.

I started with the patches on the left, but then saw Tonya's tiny patches. It was love. I had to make mine smaller. I'm not sure how big Tonya's are, but mine are three inches finished.

And did you see this quilt? Oh yeah, baby. You can bet that I immediately ordered some Kaffe Fassett fabric and went out and got the book that has this pattern in it (I had just received a 40% off coupon from Borders - it was kismet). I can hardly wait to get started.

Of course, I'll get started on those other projects after I've finished the 192 half square triangles that I need to make for Judy.

Quilt Along

2009-02-17T10:43:00.000-08:00

I saw this quilt on Patchwork Times, and fell in love with it. I think it was the stripes that got to me. When she decided to do a Quilt Along, I had to join. Judy is quite the taskmaster, however. In order to do the Quilt Along and get the instructions, you have to actually do the Quilt Along. *gasp* Okay, I know I can do this. So, the first task, is that I have to show the fabric that I'm going to use. Here it is.

Don't you LOVE those stripes? I do. I got them at Quilt Taffy (FABULOUS customer service). Now, sssshhhhhh, don't tell Judy, but I might be using a different pink for the sashing. We were supposed to use fabric from our stash, but I found some fabric that I HAD to have, and might use that instead. We'll see. I will definitely be using scraps for the "toes".

Have you ever seen the Applepop Quilt? Holy Smack! The first time I saw it, which I'm sure was on the amazingly talented Amy's blog, I fell in love. Here's a picture of the whole quilt that Amy did. She talks more about it on her blog. Well, I recently found a quilt kit for it on eBay! Hooray! You know I had to get it. I also got the template that Terry recommended on her blog. I decided to play with it a bit, and here's what I came up with.

I used the fabrics that my middle child used in her quilt. Along with some ~~fabulously ugly~~ much loved wild pink fabric. I figured I can make it into a pillow. I can quilt it and see if it will, indeed, ever lay flat. Then I'll know what to do before I actually cut into the ApplePop fabric.

I finally finished up all of the 9 patch squares. I'm now just ~~hyper~~focusing on getting them laid out so I can get them stitched up.

A kind of stash report

2009-02-05T09:32:00.000-08:00

There seems to have been lots of talk about stashes on blogs recently. I saw today on Sew Mama Sew that they're asking about stashes, as well. I read through some of the answers and found them interesting. Of course, I love the ones with lots of pictures the most.

Last week amandajean linked to this quilt. Holy Cow! I immediately fell in love with it and decided that I had to make one like it that. very. minute. And, in a moment of sheer ~~stupidity~~ revelation I decided to make it using a different fabric in every block. There are 70 blocks. That means 140 different fabrics. And, I was just going to cut bits off of fabric in my stash - meaning, not use scraps.

I now have 52 blocks either completed, partially sewn, or cut. And I have plenty more fabric to choose from so that there will be no repeats.

I don't know what to say.

In my defense, I have thrown some scraps in there.

I usually don't buy more than a yard of fabric, and there are lots of half yards in my stash too.

I buy some fabric at JoAnns - usually with a coupon. I'm always hunting for online sales as well.

The Fat Quarter Shop sometimes reduces it's price to half! And I'm all over those sales.

But yes, I agree. I need to stop. If not completely stop (because I really don't think I can do that), at least slow down.

And sew. I need to sew a lot more. I also need to get over not wanting to cut into certain fabrics. There will always be something out there that I just can't live without.

A Knitting Post

2009-01-23T10:52:00.000-08:00

Okay, I was supposed to post this last week. I'm not sure what happened!

I went to my top down sweater knitting class on Tuesday (last week, not last night). What a great night. I admit to being a bit overwhelmed, but Stephannie (the teacher) and Cathy (the owner of the store where the class is being taught) are both wonderful.

This is the yarn that I chose. It's so beautiful! It's a malabrigo and called Pink Frost. There is quite a color variation in the yarn in the same dye lot, but I think it will be fine. I'm going to try the Simple Knitted Bodice pattern. I'm really lucky because Carrie is also making the same sweater. Her classes started before mine, so she is further along on it. So, I get to benefit from everything she has learned about the pattern before I have to do it.

I made this bag to carry some of my knitting in because I've been carrying my knitting in a plastic bag (yes, I know. Horrors!). I used the Lovely and Fabulous and Talented Monica's bag pattern. I made it longer, but I wished I'd lined it in something a bit heavier. To accomodate the embroidery design, I also put the handles on a bit wider than the pattern said, so I should have also made them longer. And can I tell you something? This is BRIGHT. So bright that my middle child loved it. So, I'm just not sure that I can use it. *sigh* I think I need to try again.

Yes, I do know this is a crappy picture. However, I knitted up this little beauty. It is called Fetching. It was really pretty easy, although I had thumb issues. Mine thumb's a little fat and doesn't look all that great. I'll finish the second one in the same way that I knit the first, but I think if I make another pair I'll make the distance from the thumb up to the end a little longer, and knit more rows on the thumb. I'd like more thumb and finger coverage.

I used the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran yarn that they recommended in the pattern, and I loved LOVED working with it. It is fabulous. I definitely want to use this yarn again.

I almost forgot! I'm also working on this Noro Scarf. The colors really are so much more vibrant than I can catch in any picture.

I kept seeing this beautiful scarf all over, and the wonderful Amy gave me the much needed encouragement to get started on it. I did start and then rip out the thing probably 12 times before I really got going on it. I had an "ah ha" moment when I was watching a You Tube video of how to knit, and she showed me what a purl stich looks like from the back side! Wow. Let me tell you, that helped me SOOO much. I'm sure that I could not have gotten through my Fetching gloves if I hand't known that little tidbit.

Now I need to get started with my sweater swatch. Well, after I get some sewing done.

Whirlygiggle with No Trimming

2009-01-19T12:06:00.000-08:00

Okay, I just saw Jodi's post about the Whirlygiggle. I was playing with the template yesterday and had the same dilemma. I must say, I was a bit upset. I wanted the template to use with charm squares, because I didn't want to trim the charm squares. Had I wanted to trim, I would have gotten the Omnigrid Windmill Template. Which is a perfectly FINE template! I just figured that we buy these charm squares because they are precut. I'd prefer to not do a lot more cutting to them - especially not cut off only half an inch. Cutting in half or another shape is a whole other story.

So, I decided to try to figure out what I could come up, and I figured out a way to use the Whirlygiggle template AND NOT TRIM!

**Edited to add: This works when you're using Jodi's template and 5" charm squares (which was my goal). It doesn't seem to work with other sizes.

Here's what you do:

For your white fabric (or fabric that is not the giggle fabric), cut a piece that is one inch bigger on one side than the original whirlygiggle piece. For instance, I was using charm squares that are 5x5, so I cut a piece of white fabric 5x6.

Now, you want to cut that piece of fabric. So, put your ruler next to the edge of the rectangle 1/2 inch (I can't think of good way to explain that, hopefully the picture helps). Then put the template next to the ruler and cut.

You can see how the giggle fabric is smaller than the white fabric.

Here's a better picture.

Sew the giggle fabric to the white fabric.

As you can see, after it is sewn, the squares are the same size.

Here is the sewing layout.

And here is the finished square! No trimming needed for a ~~lazy~~ time oriented gal like me!

Here's one I did yesterday with 4 blocks. Just to test this theory out further. The finished blocks are 9".

How fun, and how quick! Now, I might just need to convince Jodi to make another template so I don't have to use my ruler for that half inch. (Further evidence of my laziness.)

Michelle at greetingarts has the original block tutorial on her site. Thank you so much, Michelle, for the idea for this wonderful block - in all of its variations.

Also, since I did this post so quick, I might go back and edit it. I hate when I have typos and things not explained well.

Totes

2009-01-07T09:30:00.000-08:00

Okay, I didn't finish all my Christmas goodies. *sigh* I would still like to finish them soon, but we'll see if I can manage that.

I have been sewing - but it's been totes that I've been making. My middle child's best friend had a birthday right before Christmas. Since I love that girl, I asked my middle child if I could make her friend a tote. Well, my middle child didn't really care. Which was PERFECT for me. That meant that I could do whatever I wanted for a tote. This is what I came up with.

This is the front and is the best picture as far as color goes. I finished this at night, and we had to give it to her that night, so I didn't get great pictures of it.

This is the back.

The inside.

I loved this fabric, and really loved this tote.

My youngest wanted me to make a tote for her best friend. This is harder, because she has in mind what she wants and I don't get free creative license. I would have done something completely different for this girl, but this is what my daughter wanted me to do.

This is the front, and this is a pocket. I did some free motion quilting around the bamboo - but I'm not sure if you can see that.

The back.

An inside hidden pocket.

Another inside pocket.

Her friend liked it, and is using it! So, I guess it was a success.

I also made this little purse for a Christmas gift exchange for my youngest.

I thought this came out really cute! I hope the girl that got it uses it.

We had a wonderful Christmas, and New Year's. I got a new camera from a very generous Santa - so I'm hoping to have better pictures of my things!

Although I didn't really make any resolutions, I hope to get some UFO's finished this year, and get on the treadmill more often. And posting a bit more often on here would be a great goal, too. I look forward to seeing and being inspired by everything all you creative bloggers come up with this year. I also appreciate all of the comments that you leave for me. As you all know (from your own blogs), it really makes my day!

Knitting update: I almost finished a sock - I didn't get the very end of the toe done because the sock just did not make me happy. I have a couple of scarves started - but they really aren't floating my boat either, so I'm not working very hard on them. I AM going to take a knitting class - it's a class for a top down sweater. I'm really looking forward to that. Hopefully, if I can learn to do a bit more intricate designs, I'll actually finish something. I really need a nice pair of warm socks.

I have been busy

2008-12-08T10:02:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to show that I have been doing things. I'm not as caught up as I'd like to be - I wanted to be finished with these projects this weekend - but, as you can see, that didn't happen.

I first saw this quilt on Kim's blog and knew I had to make one for myself. When I found out that Sandy Gervais was going to do another Christmas fabric this year in similar colors to last year's Holly Jolly fabric, I was thrilled. She came up with Merry & Bright, and I got some of that fabric as soon as it came out.

Here's the quilt. The pattern is called "It's a Wrap" from Pieces from the Heart. I wish I had followed Kim's lead and made the background all one fabric. The truth is, I screwed up and didn't follow the pattern when I did the background. I made it work, and figured I wasn't going to stress over it, since this is a seasonal quilt and will not be out that much anyway. And, as we all know, I'm pretty much going to be the only one that is going to see the mistakes.

I also did a table runner.

This pattern is "Table Attire" from Pieces from my Heart. I modified it by adding another ornament, because I wanted a longer runner.

While making the packages and bows on the quilt, there were a lot of half square triangles that needed to be made. Usually when I make half square triangles, I throw away those extra triangles that are left over, because you know how much I hate making triangles. But, I always feel guilty throwing away all of that fabric. Well, this time I decided to make those half square triangle left overs into triangles before I cut them off. Then I sewing them into squares as I was sewing up the rest the quilt. I wasn't really careful about making them or sewing them up - I just did it. Let me tell you, I came up with 32 of the cutest darn 3" pinwheel squares. I just loved them! I used them when I made these.

These are going to be pillow covers for my couch. I think I am most thrilled with these darn covers! I got the ornament block instructions from this blog, and then figured out how I was going to use all of my little pinwheels to make a cover. I put the covers on my makeshift design wall, and I can't stop looking at them! I just love them.

Okay, I really have to get all of this stuff finished and quilted so that I get on to (and hopefully finish before Christmas) my other projects. I also have to get John's and Amy's winnings to them. Sorry it's not in the mail yet.

Who won?

2008-12-05T18:49:00.000-08:00

Okay, I'm closing this give-away.

I have to say I was very impressed! 15 people wanted my little embroideries. Thanks guys! That makes me feel great! Anyway, I used the random integer finder, and here's what it came up with.

Which happens to be Amy and John. Congratulations!

Thank you every one for entering! I hope that you keep coming back to visit. I might just have some more of these give aways. I have so many embroidery designs, and I would love to share them.

I'm hoping to get these out in the mail tomorrow, if not, they will for sure go out Monday.

Give-Away

2008-12-03T09:27:00.000-08:00

Okay, I didn't sign up for the Sew Mama Sew give away. But after reading about it, I decided to join in the spirit of it.

This is what I'm giving away.

The picture really doesn't do it justice, they are pretty cute.

They are machine (not hand, machine) embroidered squares. They are embroidered on Kona Cotton Snow fabric. They are about 5 1/2 inches square. I figured that was a good size that could be used with charm squares (if you wanted). There will be at least four of them, but there might be more! It's just the squares, not the fabric underneath.

Oh yeah, I'm keeping my drawing open until Friday evening. That way I can get them out on Saturday.

I hope at least a couple of people want them! Good luck!

Adventures in Knitting

2008-11-21T12:42:00.000-08:00

After seeing all of the wonderful socks being knitted in blogland, I decided, once again, to try my hand at knitting a pair of socks.

I found this book at JoAnn's

and thought that the instructions looked like something even I could follow.

So, acting like I knew what I doing, I started knitting. I got some stitches cast on and then knit for little while. I picked a random pattern and just started moving.

I was not unhappy with my progress, and I really kind of liked the yarn. Even though it was just some stuff that I got from JoAnns. Stuff that if I never finished knitting the socks I wouldn't be that upset about buying - because it fairly ~~cheap~~ inexpensive. I worked last night on them as diligently as I could, seeing as how I was catching up with some of my TV programming at the same time. I actually got pretty far (okay, far for ME).

(Please ignore any stray leg hair that you might come across in this picture)

And then, AND THEN! I realized something. The wonderful author of this book was going to walk me through, yes, I said walk me through, the knitting of an actual sock(!). How did I miss that (when I looked through the book at least 5 times before actually starting to knit)? Who the heck knows. So, I did what all beginning knitters should do when someone offers to walk. them. through. the knitting of an actual sock. I ripped out everything that I had previously knitted.

So now, I'm ready to start all over again.

And I think it's just in time. Because I'm going to see Twilight. This afternoon. On opening day. And I'm pretty sure that I'll have time, while waiting in line to get into the theater, to get a little something going on my next try at getting me some socks knitted.

This blog break brought to you by

2008-11-10T14:09:00.001-08:00

the Beautiful Gypsy!

This was The Costume that caused me such heartache. In retrospect, it really wasn't that hard - it was just that I didn't want to make it. And because I didn't want to make it, I didn't really do anything as far as sewing. I had to make some alterations to the pattern because it was a women's size XS costume, and my daughter is petite for her age. I got the corset pattern off of Threadbanger. I made one corset, and it didn't fit, so I had to make another. Then, after wearing the corset to school, she said that I had to make straps for it.

With that being finished, I had to finish the quilt for my girlfriend. She was coming on November 6, so I had a dealine to meet.

After discussions with my middle child and her girlfriend, I decided to just do a straight stitch on the diagonal for the quilting.

I have to say I was quite pleased with the result. It was fairly easy to do, and it adds an "old fashioned touch" (according to my daughter) to the whole quilt. I think the quilt looks much nicer in person. Everyone who has seen it really likes it. The pictures just don't show the warmth of it.

The girls also helped me choose the binding - which I have to say, I love. I used Don't Look Now's tutorial for matching stripes. And it worked! And even better, at the end of the binding, the quilting gods were with me - and the stripes matched there, too! I sure wished I had a quilting friend nearby so that I could have shown them all of my matching stripes on my binding! It was rather exciting.

I used a green fabric for the background, since my girlfriend loves green. I also did something different - I quilted the signature block into the quilt. I remember reading somewhere that if you quilt the signature block into the quilt, then if someone steals the quilt, they can't easily remove the signature block. Now, I'm sure this sage wisdom was meant for heirloom quilts - I can't really imagine someone stealing this quilt! But it was still kind of fun.

To top it all off, we went to see the play Wicked. It's leaving Los Angeles in January, so I thought that it was high time that we saw it! My girls and my girlfriend and I all loved it. It was wonderful. I am now trying to read the book. I say trying, because I tried to read it about 7 years ago and didn't get very far. I think, however, that this time I might make it through.

My next quick project is a dog bed for my (not spoiled) dog. It's getting cold, and I think she needs a new soft bed to plop her beautiful little body in.

More Finishes

2008-10-14T12:08:00.000-07:00

Some things are getting finished around here. The Costume is not one of them.

I finished this top for my girlfriend.

Originally, I was going to make this quilt for her. But since I ended up not really liking that quilt, I decided that I needed to make her another one. I had an ME Friends and Flowers Jelly Roll, so I decided to make this quilt. Since my girlfriend loves green, I used a green panel, and switched out the red borders for green borders. I have to say, after looking at this picture, that I'm too happy with the green that I used for the borders. I wish I would have used a green solid, or one of the greens that shows more as a solid. Oh well. I don't think that I'm willing to rip out those borders and redo them. Plus, I'd really like to have this done by November 6, when she's coming to visit.

I also completely finished this quilt.

It's from the Atkinson Quilt Book Happy Hour, and it's the Picture This quilt pattern. AmandaJean has made a few of these quilts. (Oh. My. Goodness. Is she fantastic, or what?) I loved this pattern when I first saw it, and after making a quilt with it, I am even more in love with it. I made this top back in August, because I wanted to make a top that I could practice some quilting on. I really wanted to try this quilt motif that Amy did. However, besides not being the ~~freaking incredible~~ wonderful quilter that Amy is, I realized that I was using the wrong thread. I used a Guterman 50 wt. thread, and it just blended right in to the quilt. It didn't stand out like a heavier thread would have.

You can see on the right where I was trying to use that motif, and I just couldn't see it well enough to make it work (well, that's the excuse that I'm using!), so I decided to just go with regular stippling. I had also decided that I was going to use my Bernina Stitch Regulator to quilt this quilt too (I'd not used it up to this point). So, trying to do two new things at once was just too much for me.

All that being said, I really do love this quilt. I finally finished the binding on Sunday night, and it ended up being cool enough that night that I could sleep with it. I washed it on Monday, and that gave it all of its crinkly goodness. It also seems to be much more pliable than the other quilt I recently finished. I'm not sure if the weight of the thread made a difference or not.

I did the binding with leftover pieces of fabric from the quilt. I LOVE how that turned out too.

You can see the backing here, too. I used this backing because I had it. It was some fabric that I was going to get rid of, and then I thought - why not just use it! It's just a practice quilt! It kind of reminded of using a vintage sheet, so I though it would work. My girls, however, gave me ~~sh*t~~ a hard time about using it, because they thought it didn't match well enough. Oh well. *sigh* And I also see that there are 3 squares up there going in the same direction. I wish I had caught that, but since I'll be the one using this quilt, I think it will be just fine.

Jealous Much?

2008-10-10T10:30:00.000-07:00

Well, you should be. I know that I told you about my winnings from Anna, but what I didn't tell you is that I also won at Stephanie's. Look what arrived in my mailbox yesterday.

How cute did she package it? She said that she got the keychain from Amish Country.

And look at my loot! The bag is adorable! And let me tell you, she hand stitched the fabric around the handles, and you CANNOT see a stitch! Wow! I was so impressed. Wonderful workmanship. Thank you again, Stephanie!

Now for sneak peak. I told you that I started this quilt on the weekend, and got all of the middle part of it pieced.

I have to admit, after getting to this point, I wasn't sure if I really liked it. It was a bear to piece. I had to lay out all of the pieces on a flannel board, which I really don't have, but had improvise with a piece of flannel that really wasn't big enough. I then took the pieces off of the flannel one by one and pinned in a long strip, because I was afraid that I wouldn't get them sewn in the right order unless I did that. I'm not very good at keeping pieces in order, and this quilt really requires that they stay in the right order.

Then I got the borders on.

And I am in hot love. I know that this picture does not do it justice. It such a great top, however, that I wish you could see it in person! The colors are just fabulous. Here's a close up of the borders, I think the colors are better in this picture.

It is just so wonderful!

I used the Oak Street Stacked Cakes pattern (the picture on my pattern, however, is different that the picture in this link). I also used (as most of you knew) Urban Chiks' 1974 fabric. I used a jelly roll and some additional fabric that I got from Z&S Fabrics (LOVE that store).

Now that I finished the top, I have to start on The Costume. Wish me luck.

My Winnings

2008-10-06T09:45:00.000-07:00

Did you know that I won! Yes, I won over on Thimbleanna's blog. How lucky am I? Well, let's be honest. It wasn't all luck, there was skill involved! I had to guess what Anna was making - and I did! It was only a drawing between me and two other people - which also upped the odds in my favor. Look what I won!

The Vera Bradley Travel Organizer is really cute. I think I need to travel more to get good use out of it! Anna also sent me chocolate (always appreciated), some cute Mary Engelbreit notecards, and a very sweet note. Thanks Anna!

I spent a lot of time this weekend sewing. Much to the consternation of my youngest child. She didn't mind that I was sewing - she minded that I wasn't sewing her Halloween costume! The thought of which (sewing that costume) scares the heck out of me! Me and costume sewing don't have a good track record. In fact, my track record is so bad that my middle child said, "Mom, why did you agree to sew her costume? You shouldn't have." Now, I have to admit, part of the reason for having so many issues in costume sewing is that I generally wait until the last minute to make them. Last. minute. As in October 29 or later. I'm NOT going to do that this time. Really. I'm not.

Here's a sneak peek at was I was working on this weekend.

I hope to get it mostly finished today or tomorrow. Then I'm going to start working on that costume. Yes, yes, I am.

Selvage

2008-09-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

I love all of the little selvage crafts out there. I keep throwing away my little bits of selvage, and then find wonderful little crafts done with them - and then vow that I'll not throw away my little bits of selvage. However, I have yet to make anything with them.

While reading some blogs, I came across this little lovely (the pincushions on her blog header - what an extremely talented lady she is!). Well, it inspired me to do my first selvage craft. This is what I came up with.

I'm not really sure how user friendly as a pin cushion mine is. I'm thinking of putting something heavy inthe bottom and just using it as a container.

I'm really enjoying just having it sitting there, though. I thought I might try to do a square one next.

Back Again

2008-09-18T08:41:00.000-07:00

Remember this quilt? It was made from a jelly roll, and is not a large quilt (only 50 x 58), so there were lots of scraps left. I got it in my head that I needed to use every. single. scrap. to make the backing. It sounded like a great idea, and I thought that it would be pretty easy. Wrong.

I think that maybe I'm just not good at free piecing. I admire those bloggers that can do it - they make spectacular quilts. Crazy Mom Quilts and Tallgrass Prairie Studio both come to mind - I'm sure there are others out there that I haven't mentioned. My attempts at it, however, just seem to take forever and make my brain hurt a little with all of the math. And I really needed to use math for this back, because I wanted it to be a few inches bigger than the top.

Okay, here's what I came up with.

It actually looks okay. It is a few inches bigger than the top. The problem? It's a few inches too much bigger. See the the top and bottom? When I get it all sewn up, I will have to cut off some of the top and bottom of the back, and I think it will make the back look weird. *sigh* Obviously my math skills were severely lacking. So, I think I have two options. 1) I can hack off some of the backing; or 2) I can make the top bigger. I think I might go for option 2. It is a rather small quilt.

Here are some of the blocks up close.

The block on the left was left over fabric from the rows that wasn't used. That narrow strip of Fresh Squeezed fabric on the right started out as tiny 1 x 6 inch strips that I cut off of bigger blocks. I had so many that I thought it would be fun(!) to use them. Yeah. Fun.

One thing I am rather pleased about is that I decided that I would NOT start a new project until I finished this ~~hideous monster~~ wonderful back. And I didn't! Hooray!

Depending on what I decide to do on this quilt, I will probably have to get cozy with my seam ripper. And if I have to, I found something on television a couple of nights ago that I could watch. It was called Whatever, Martha! It's Martha's daughter and another lady that dish on Martha episodes. I was in hysterics. I watched an episode where they were capping on Martha and her guest clown, Peanut Butter. I laughed the first time through, and then replayed it for my husband, because he didn't quite understand what I was laughing about, and I laughed even harder the second time through.

I'll leave you with a picture of us rafting this summer. We rafted on the American River in Northern California. It was two days of rafting, and two nights of tent camp sleeping (Eeek!). But my kids absolutely loved it.

From left to right - Hubby, Me, (another child on the trip), Middle Child, Youngest, and My Son. We had an absolutely FABULOUS time, and I highly recommend rafting to everyone. We only lost one passenger, once. It was the other child's mother (she's behind my Middle Child). Thank goodness it wasn't me. We definitely plan on going again next year.

Getting Things Done

2008-09-11T09:50:00.000-07:00

I went on vacation on August 6 and finally finished vacationing on August 24, but I have had a tough time getting back into the swing of things. Monica used the term "de-vacationing" - and I think that's what I've been doing for the past few weeks. Well, plus the kids went back to school, so there was that whirlwind of activity going on. I now have one 11th grade, 9th grade, and 7th grade. We're odd this year. LOL I always get a kick out of saying that! But I think I appreciate more than anyone else. *sigh*

I have been a busy bee, however. I finally finished - absolutely finished, binding and everything - this quilt. I quilted it on my MegaQuilter (man, I forgot how dang heavy that thing is!).

Here's an action shot. That puppy was on my dining room table for 4 days! I wanted to use Kim's quilting pattern. It took me awhile to get it going so that it looked okay.

This is what it looked like when I first started quilting it. Pretty crappy.

By the time I finished, it started looking much better. I then did some swirly things in the borders. Those came out okay, however, it's very obvious that I need a lot of practice!

The blue that I quilted with was a Sulky 30 wt. thread. The yellow that I used was a Sulky 12 wt. thread. I didn't even realize it when I bought it. That 12 wt. was much heavier, and my machine fussed much more with the heavier (12 wt.) thread. It was also noticeably thicker on the quilt.

Here's a picture of the finished quilt:

It's not bad. I'm still not sure that I'm thrilled with it. And really? The quilting is pretty bad, but I figured it was better to practice on a quilt top that I didn't absolutely LOVE.
Here's the back. Remember the borders that I was going to use? Well, I had a bunch of that fabric left and decided to use it on the back. It's actually not a bad fabric on the back! However, in retrospect, I would not have used the blue quilting thread in the bobbin. I'm not sure what I was thinking. (That's MaryJane - my son's cat - she wanted to be in the picture, too.) The yellow thread that I used on the front blends in much better.

And last, the binding. I used two different fabrics for the binding. They are so close in color, however, that it doesn't really show up.

But I still like the red binding.

Cookie Love

2008-08-04T09:19:00.000-07:00

I think I'm in cookie love. Which is not as good as mailbox love, but it's still love.

We got these little babies at Trader Joes last week. We had watched one of those Food Network shows that showed how they made meringues, so my youngest saw these and wanted to try them. I, of course, agreed that we should try them. Boy, am I glad.

My middle child accused me of like them because she said they taste like the marshmallows in Lucky Charms (my fave cereal) (even though I never buy it - because, really, do KNOW how much sugar is in there???). I'm not sure that I think that they taste like Lucky Charms marshmallows. But, they are tasty.

Speaking of tasty, I went to Material Obsession by way of Calamity Kim, and immediately fell in love with these GFG blocks. OMG They seriously made me swoon. I now want to immediately start making some. However, I've got some quilts to finish quilting. Yes, FINISH quilting. We're going on vacation soon, and I want to take them so I can bind them. However, GFG blocks would be a much more portable project . . .

Another Finish

2008-07-30T12:50:00.000-07:00

I've got another finish to show. This is my Flutterby the Way quilt. I made this with two charm packs of Tula Pink's Flutterby fabric. I used the Disappearing 9 Patch pattern. I just used the fabric in the pack as it was (without cutting them) and the blocks went together very quickly.

If I had made the quilt exactly as the ATC did in her tutorial, I would have ended up with a square quilt. I decided that I wanted to make the quilt into more of a rectangle. So, after cutting the 9 patches into 4 squares, I laid out those squares 5 across, and 7 down. This worked out perfectly because I ended up with just the right amount squares.

My last 9 patch looked like this. Okay, I guess it's technically an 8 patch. But I could still sew it, and still cut it. It gave me 3 squares, instead of 4 - but that was all that I needed.

For the borders, I decided on using the turquoise color - to bring out that color in the quilt. I, of course, needed to buy more border fabric. *sigh* The things we quilters must do. I got the border fabric at Someart Fabric. She shipped the fabric right away. She made a mistake and sent me the wrong fabric - but replaced it almost immediately when I told her. I will definitely be shopping there again.

For the first border I used the plainish looking turquoise, and for the next border I used the stripe. There is actually a caterpillar on this stripe. I used that as the center for the border. The dimensions of the stripe worked out perfectly. They were 3 1/2 inch strips, and after sewing them on, I got that neat little edge of polka dots. In fact, I only had to cut off the caterpillar and then I got my next border strip. I used the last border to try to tie in all of the colors of the quilt.

I decided to sew on the strips so that the bees were circling around the quilt. Now all I have to do is decide what color thread I'm going to use to quilt this baby. Oh, and then actually quilt it.

I really ended up liking this quilt! My husband and middle daughter both said that they really liked it too.

Boy, what a dry quilt description this was! I just wanted to get in details. I don't really know why. LOL

If you've made it this far, to liven things up, I'll tell you that, yes, we did feel the earthquake yesterday. We're about 40 miles from the epicenter, so it wasn't too bad. We felt the initial shake, and then the ground just kept move - like it was rolling. I've been through many earthquakes, but this was the first time I experience that rolling motion. And I swear it lasted for about 45 seconds - which isn't a long time, unless you're experiencing an earthquake (or some other such disaster). The girls were home with me and thought it was cool. That was the first earthquake that really remember feeling. My son was at school and they evacuated the school. My husband was at work - and get this for practicality. He said he was in the cafeteria eating lunch when they felt the earthquake. He knew what was coming, so he scarfed down the rest of his lunch really fast. And sure enough, they evacuated the buildings. He said a bunch of people around him were saying, "what should I do with my lunch?", but his was already finished. I guess this is one of times when it paid for him to learn to eat really fast when he was in the Marine Corp.

Organization - or just an excuse to make something cute

2008-07-17T09:22:00.000-07:00

I'm in the process of trying to finish a charm square quilt using two packs of Flutterby charms by Tula Pink. Well, I got the middle finished, and then realized that I needed to do borders - lots of borders - so I would have a decent sized quilt. I grabbed a used sheet of paper and used the back to do my calculations. At some point, however, I realized that I do this a lot. Just grab a sheet of paper, or a scrap of paper, and do my calculations. Unfortunately there are (far too many) times when I don't actually finish the project. And not being the neatest or most organized of gals, the paper gets separated from the project. *sigh*

So I had a great idea! I'd keep my calculations in a spiral notebook. And, to keep me wanting to use said notebook, I'd make a notebook cover! I used this tutorial. Easy Peasy.Isn't that fabric adorable! I love those owls. I got some in browns, too.
This is the inside, and shows what the flaps look like.And, industrious me, I even made a spot for pencil or pen on the front. Okay, so it really doesn't work great - it kind of pulls the fabric a bit. But that's okay.

Will this really keep me organized? Will I really use it? Who knows. But it sure was fun, and it sure came out cute.

And while I was blogging to day, I came across this tutorial. Uh oh, there just might be another cover or two in my future.

Flannel Yummy

2008-07-09T16:20:00.000-07:00

So, at one of my fabric forays I let my girls get some fabric. I'm always amazed at their choices. My 14 year old (then 13) got Dora the Explorer, Care Bears, and other very young type fabrics. I guess after they get past the looking young part of being young (and now look like 18 year olds - *oh my hell!*), they can then start liking babyish things again. That being said, we got some "interesting" fabric that she picked out. She wanted a quilt, so she told me what she wanted and I drew up the (very simple pattern) and we got it sewn up. I believe I did most of the sewing - although that was not the original intention.

We decided that we would use flannel for the batting - so it wouldn't be quite so heavy. After having the top finished for quite some time, I finally got it quilted! Again, not the original intention. She was supposed to do the quilting. However, she picked a stitch on my Bernina that needed a bit of finessing to make it through all of the layers.

What do I see? Dora, Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake, Blues Clues, etc. The panel in the middle are embroidery designs that she wanted.

They came from Embroidery Library. I believe they are designs by this wonderful artist. She just started a new store Urban Threads and it has some great designs that younger and fresher than most machine embroidery design. I love them.

I know this quilt isn't going to win any beauty contests, but here's a photo the blanket already in use. We still have to put the binding on, but obviously it's mighty cozy just the way it is.

Friday Finish

2008-07-07T10:52:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I actually finished it on Thursday. And I'm posting it on Monday. But I love the Friday Finishes that Nicole has. She is so talented! And isn't it a GREAT title?

Here it is:

The pattern is Jelly Sandwich by Me and My Sister Designs. I used a Fresh Squeezed Jelly Roll. It is really bright and pretty. I'm not sure that this picture does it justice.

I forced myself to finish it because I really wanted to work on the Wee Spin quilt. It is similar to the Merry Go Round quilt pattern by American Jane, but it only has two rounds instead of three. I have to say, I got the Equilateral Triangle Rulers from American Jane, but I'm not real thrilled with them. I'd like for there to be some lines on them so that I could line up the strips to cut easier. While it's worked out okay, I just feel like it's not as exact as I'd like for it to be. Here's a bit of what I have so far.

The colors are different from the Fresh Squeezed, but I really love them. I got a couple more Jelly Rolls of American Jane Fabric - the Look and Learn fabric ones. I'm going to try the Merry Go Round quilt pattern with those. At least I think I am. We'll see how easy the Wee Spin goes together!

I'm officially pretty far behind AmandaJean's Quilt Along. I'm going to try to get caught up on that, too.

And let's remember, it is summer. I have one child taking summer school (to make next year easier), and two children at home. Making me feel guilty. Because we're not doing anything. Geez. So, my girls had each done (mostly on their own) flannel quilt tops. I got one of the tops (spray) basted and started quilting it. I'll get that done, and then get the other one basted. My youngest will (hopefully) want to quilt that one on her own. Well, she'll probably start, and then I'll "help" finish it. So I can stop feeling quite so guilty, right?

Quilt Along Blocks 5, 6, and 7

2008-06-17T12:43:00.000-07:00

Well, except for this week's block, I'm caught up with AmandaJean's quilt along.

I am madly in love with

these fabrics. I think the

blocks are just coming out so cute.

But I might have mentioned that already.

I can't say that all of my points are perfect - and I'm thinking that I might lose some more when I sew the squares together, but I'm sure that I'm the one that's going to notice that the most.

I got this in the mail a couple of weeks ago.

Along with this lucious jelly roll.

I'm hoping that by doing a quilt with just a jelly roll, I won't feel compelled to go buy at least of yard of each of these fabulous fabrics. Because, really, as much as I want more fabric, I probably shouldn't get more. Yes, Judy does make a compelling argument for getting more fabric. An argument which I have already used to justify a small purchase from eCrack. But honestly. Really. I should not get anymore fabric for awhile.

But, of course, trying not to buy new fabric will have to wait until after I get some of this fabric, to make this pattern, or maybe this pattern. *sigh*

The Tablerunner

2008-06-16T09:50:00.000-07:00

I finished the table runner. You know, I must say, the problem with blogging about this stuff is that you have an actual record of how long you've been working on something. Seriously. I finished the top of this in MARCH. I just can't believe that it has been that long. Well, it's finished now.The quilting on it was inspired by Sharon, specifically this post where she shows the flowers that she quilted. Yes, I realize that my flowers don't look nearly as good as hers, or, truthfully, even like hers. But still. That post got my brain rattling around and I decided what I wanted to quilt on this quilt.

Here's a close up of the back which shows the quilting better. I did a flower in the squares, and then a figure 8 in the rectangles between the squares. The figure 8's look almost like leaves. Almost. Then I just did some stippling in the rectangles between the blacks stars - with no quilting whatsoever on the black stars.
Here's the back. I tried to do one of those free form type backs that so many wonderful quilting bloggers do and make them look so wonderful. I'm not sure that mine looks wonderful, and I also know that it seemed to take forever to do. I must not be "free" enough.

I haven't washed it yet. I did so much laundry this weekend, am still doing laundry, and I just didn't really feel like making more laundry.

Also, Jackie is having a great giveaway going on. If you win, she'll quilt a quilt for you! How fabulous is that! I could really use this. Especially since I'm think about joining this challenge along with Jacquie (Jacquie's quilts are incredible - I even got some fabric so that I can shamelessly "copy" one of them). Blogging gets me in such trouble.

Borders

2008-06-03T19:27:00.000-07:00

So, I decided that I wanted to finished the quilt that I started over a year ago! Wow, time sure flies. Anyway. I originally got the pattern and idea from Allsorts. I had gotten some fabric that I thought would work great for the border.

Well, I got the border on two sides, and realized that it did NOT work at all. The green in the border was too much for the rest the quilt.

So, that required a trip to the fabric store. And not just any fabric store, I had to go to M&L Fabrics in Anaheim - where they have great fabric for $2.98 a yard! Unless, of course, you're looking for something specific, and then you pay $7.98 a yard. Guess how much I paid. *sigh* Anaheim is not really close to me (about 35 minutes away), but it can be worth it to go that store if you can find fabric for $2.98 a yard. And I did find some stuff that eQuilter had on sale for more than $2.98.

So, I got home ripped out the borders that I had already put on, and sewed on the new fabric that I got. It's an Aunt Sukey's Choice fabric. I think that it really livens up the quilt.

I also pieced the backing - using fabric similar to what I had originally put on the borders. I screwed up the size of the borders - the top and bottom border are just a tad too big. I think it's a 1/2 inch (if I now realize correctly what I did wrong in my calculations). *heavy sigh*

I really liked this quilt when I first started. Now, not so much. However, I do have it pinned and ready to quilt. I'm going to try out Kim's quilting pattern. Not having done that pattern before, it might be just as well that I'm going to try it on a quilt that I don't love.

I really wanted to give this quilt to a girlfriend of mine, but I just don't think that I can. We'll see how it comes out in the end.

Quilt Block, Week 4

2008-05-22T08:58:00.000-07:00

I finished the block for Week 4 in the quilt along. I love these pinks.

I'm pretty happy with the way this one came out. I tried to be really accurate with cutting and sewing

I made some more of the setting blocks and laid out what I have finished. Looking good (if I do say so myself).

Quilt Along Blocks

2008-05-19T20:36:00.000-07:00

I'm doing the Quilt Along that Crazy Mom Quilts is hosting. I'm actually all caught up! I've already shown you the fabric that I'm using. So, here are the blocks.

Of course, my points aren't perfect. *sigh* I aspire to perfect points, but ~~don't always~~ rarely achieve them. I wish I knew the secret. I'm sure there must be one. I swear I've done everything that I can to get them, and it still seems like it's hit or miss as to whether they come out or not.

Love the fabric in this block.

I was looking at some of the other quilters doing the quilt along, and Amy posted a website for making Flying Geese from squares. Thank you Amy! I like making triangles from squares much better than cutting triangles and trying to sew them. I can hardly wait to try it.

Here I've laid them out with the setting blocks. I think this is going to be a great looking quilt.

I've done more setting blocks and I'm going to get started on this weeks blocks, so hopefully I'll have more pictures of soon.

Finished Another Top

2008-05-12T10:39:00.000-07:00

I finished piecing my orange and pink quilt! Hooray! Here's what it looks like:

I'm really happy with the way it came out. It's so bright and pretty. Almost all of the seams and corners match and look great. I finally figured out that if I move my sewing needle one click to the right, I can get much more true 1/4 inch seams.

After I layed the quilt out, I used post it labels to make sure that I sewed the blocks up in the SAME way that I had it layed out. Wow! I can't believe how much easier that made it. And in the beginning, I was really glad - because something had happened to my brain and was sewing the blocks together wrong. I can't tell you how many seams I ripped before I got in the groove of what I was supposed to be doing.

I keep thinking that I should name this quilt, but the reality is that I haven't ever named my quilts. I'm not sure if it's something I should start, or not. However, it is rather boring calling it the pink and orange quilt. Something to ponder.

Here's another, close up shot of some blocks:

Now, I'm determined to finish this quilt. I got some great fabric at JoAnn's that has both pink and orange in it for the backing.

First, however, I'm going to get caught up on the Quilt Along. I finally got my Kona Snow in, so I'm ready to go!

Insanity

2008-05-01T08:38:00.000-07:00

I signed up to do the quilt along that Crazy Mom Quilts is doing (I LOVE her quilts). No, that's not the insane part.

I found some fabric that I bought at JoAnn's - because I loved it. Then, while searching for some of my Amy Butler fabric (which I have yet to find), I came across some Moda Summer in the City fabric that I bought last year, and realized that the the fabric from JoAnn's would be PERFECT as the setting blocks for the Crazy Mom quilt along, while using some of the Moda Summer in the City fabric for the blocks!

The JoAnn's fabric (setting blocks) is in the center, the other fabric is the Moda. This picture doesn't really do it justice - this fabric is lucious. Now, I'm not sure the fabric has really properly aged enough to use, but I'm going to cut into it anyway. I figure I won't be using much of each fabric. And no, that's not the insanity either (although it DOES borderline on insanity).

I decided that I was going to use Kaufman Kona Snow for the background fabric. I learned about this fabric from The Happy Zombie - and we all know how wonderful she is! I was pretty sure that I some of that fabric in my stash. I went to JoAnn's, and while I was there I got some Kona White, just to see if I might want to use the White, instead of the Snow. But no, after much debate, I decided to go with the Snow. I went online and ordered a bolt of the Snow. Having that decided, I thought that this morning I would go ahead and make the first block, using the Snow from my stash. However, when I got the fabric that I'm almost positive is the Snow, the color is different from the other fabric that I thought was Snow. The fabric that I used to debate whether I wanted to use White or Snow. So, basically, here's the insanity:

These are the three fabrics that I'm agonizing over, trying to figure out what it is, and what I'm going to use for the background fabric. The top fabric is White (that I know - I just bought it), I'm almost positive the middle is Snow - but what is the bottom fabric? I thought it was Snow - but now I don't think it is. So, do I use the middle fabric, assuming it's the Snow, or wait until I get the Snow in the mail? Are there different dye lots of the Kona fabric - like there are of yarn? Are, in fact, both the middle and the bottom fabric Snow, but with different dye lots? So maybe I should wait until I get the fabric in the mail, so the whole thing will all be the same color?

And, of course, the real question is, does it really matter? As you can see from the picture, the colors that I'm stressing over really aren't that much different.

I Made a Top!

2008-04-28T10:03:00.000-07:00

I saw this post - a pattern that Jona made (can you believe that woman has 5 children and still looks so wonderful!) and fell in love with it. When I looked at my stash of recently purchased patterns, I saw that I! had! that! pattern! I was thrilled. Of course, the pattern I had was smaller one (sizes 4-12), because at the time, there wasn't a larger pattern at the store. According to the measurements, I was pretty sure that the 12 wouldn't fit, but I thought I would try to sew it anyway. I haven't sewn many clothes, and most of the ones that I have sewn have come out looking like crap. So, I figured that even if it didn't fit, it would still be good practice.

I had also gotten some fabric when I got the pattern, so I was all set.

I started and finished on Sunday. Before 2:30 p.m. The whole thing! I was very impressed - mostly with myself because I got finished in a relatively short amount of time, and because I started and finished (yes, finished!) something. Here it is:

The biggest problem with is that it's a bit too small. I can get it on, and it doesn't look too terrible, but I'm not sure that I could wear it comfortably. And, if I wash it, I'm betting that it will shrink. It's also a little short, too. Of course, now I'm not sure if I need to make another one (because I'd love to make another one) one size, or two sizes bigger.

I also finished the blocks on my pink and orange quilt, and got it all laid out. Now I just need to stitch them up!

I'm also looking forward to starting this quilt. Because really, we all know that I need another project to start.

Pink and Orange

2008-04-22T18:17:00.000-07:00

My latest project is a pink and orange quilt. It was first inspired to this by this quilt. I started collecting some oranges and pinks while I was still living in Colorado - so more than two years ago. Yes, I know. I have two girls, but I still don't have all that many pinks. What's up with that? Anyway, then Pink Chalk Studio came up with her pink and orange quilt, and I figured it was time to get in gear and get my pink and orange top done. And after reading about the Bento Box pattern on other blogs, I decided to totally copy Pink Chalk Studio and use the same pattern. In the same colors. I hope she doesn't mind too much.

Here's what I have done so far.

I had to search for my stash for awhile, and use darker shades of orange than I had originally intended, but I have the rest of the fabric picked out. Did I tell you that I'm kind of short in the pink fabric department?

I'm totally loving these colors.

Starbucks Cups

2008-04-21T08:14:00.000-07:00

I like Starbucks coffee, really I do. I can't say that I go there all that often, though. Maybe once or twice a month. But what I really ~~obsess over~~ like is their cups. You can run through them the dishwasher countless time and the colors never fade. The cups don't chip easily, either. They are very durable. Plus, coffee tastes much better out of a good coffee cup - and I do have to have my coffee every morning.

The last cups I got from there were Valentine's Day cups. I got one for me and my hubby. He's much more tolerant of my ~~obsession~~ getting these cups if I get one for both of us. Plus they were on sale! Two for one! How could I resist.

Anyway, I felt it was time for a new cup. Hubby was gone this weekend and I needed to go my daughter's lacrosse game alone. I felt I would be fortified to do so with a cup of coffee to take with me. So I went to Starbucks, and this is my latest acquisition.

I also think this color combination is great, and the style is great inspiration for a quilt! One of those Denyse Schmidt inspired ones.

And my coffee tastes great in it.

Yummy Book Cover

2008-04-01T09:27:00.001-07:00

Okay, we're getting ready to go to Kauai on Friday. I figured that I would bring The Pillars of the Earth to read, since it's a huge book (about 1,000 pages), and it should last me the whole time that we're there. However, since it's so big, it's also kind of awkward to hold. So, yesterday, I got the great idea to make a book cover for it! I searched for some book cover tutorials online, but wasn't real satisfied with most of them. I ended up mostly using this one, but it was really hard for me to wrap my head around it, so there was a lot of seam ripping going on. In the end, I figured it out, and here's how it came out:

Yummy! I love the fabric and got it on sale at eQuilter. Now, mind you, this is NEW fabric, it hasn't really aged properly, but I STILL cut into it. You should be very impressed with that.

Here's another view of the side with the cute little tie for keeping the book closed.

Now this cover is very specific to this book. I'm not sure that it will fit on another book, so after I finish reading the book, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the cover. I'm almost positive that my husband will NOT read the book with this cover on it. So, I might have to give the cover away.

Here's a last look at the cover, with the cute little ribbon book mark in it. (Thanks, Rebecca, for reminding to put that in!)

I'm dying to make another one, now. And I think I've figured out how to one that's adjustable for thickness.

Grandmother's Flower Garden

2008-03-27T14:38:00.000-07:00

I'm supposed to be cleaning out my garage.* There are still so many boxes out there, still, from our move 1 1/2 years ago. It's stuff that has been in boxes for years and years, and stuff from our old house that I have lived without for 1 1/2 years. When you go from a house 4,800 sq. ft. house, to a 2,800 sq. ft. house - there is excess stuff. And I have a very hard time getting rid of stuff.

Anyway, while I was out there cleaning I came across these.

I am totally digging these orange and blue ones.

I have a note on an envelope that I started this quilt in March of 1995. That was more than a year before my youngest was born. So, I'm assuming that I spent a lot of pregnancy and baby time working on these.

If you look close, you can see that some of the fabric is dated. I hadn't been quilting long at that point, and I think I went more for "thrift" rather than beauty and feel. But I think the overall look of it will still be okay. You can also see my stitches in some of them - white stitches, which are not all that attractive.

But, we know that we are our own worst critics. So, hopefully, I'll notice it more than others. And, once it's quilted and washed it might not be noticeable at all. Well, until I point it out to people. Which I'm bound to do.

I think I'm going to edge all of the flowers in white - like this one. I really like the way that looks.

I also need to figure out how to back the whole thing. The normal way? Boy, binding could be quite a challenge. Well, I won't worry myself about that little problem until I get closer to actually getting the thing done.

* This project is not going well at all. I just really don't want to be out there doing it. And then I just get so overwhelmed with all of the ~~shit~~ wonderful treasures that I just can't get rid of.

Tootsie Toasties

2008-03-18T08:25:00.000-07:00

Following this tutorial, I made this foot warmer.

I love this thing. I love how my piping matches my fabric. I love how my flower pattern matches so well (which was done completely by accident). I love how warm it keeps my feet. It's a rice bag inside of a cover (in case you didn't look at the tutorial). I warm up the rice bag and put it in the cover, then I stick it in my bed where my feet go.

I've used rice bags to warm my feet before, but because this thing is in the cover (which has batting in it), it stays warm for MUCH longer than just a plain rice bag. It whips up really quick, too. If you have cold feet, you should definitely make one!

I made some for my girls, too. No piping for them!

I also used a tad bit more rice than she used - I used a pound and a half of rice (24 oz), instead of only 18 oz.

Jolly Jingle Runner

2008-03-13T10:37:00.000-07:00

I had a charm pack that I got some time ago and decided to try Monica's Jingle Jolly Runner pattern.

Here's what I came up with:

While the colors are really cute, me and triangles get into such fights. The result of one such fight being this wonky part of the runner.

See the scottie square wrinkling up? I think it might have happened because I was being fanatical about having nice points, so I unstitched and then restitched quite a few blocks to get nice points. But, I only unstitched where the points were. Even though there was no way I could get that blue block above the scotties to have a point. *sigh*

I figured I'll quilt the heck out of the runner, then wash it, and see what happens with all of my wonkiness.

I Finally Made Something

2007-10-03T09:37:00.000-07:00

Okay, I finally made something that I can post here. It seems like I've been so damn busy lately, and I've just been neglectful of my blog and blog friends. I don't like it. Anyway, on to what I made:

Tessa, my lovely daughter, is being a shit. I told her that I wouldn't buy her a new backpack this year for school, because I bought her one at the end of the school year last year and that backpack was barely used and perfectly good. Well, of course, she refuses to use it. Something about someone else at school having a similar one. Who knows? So what is she using? The kitty messenger bag that I made her. The only problem with that, is that it doesn't look so good anymore. I didn't really make it with the intention that she would be using it as a school bag - so it's not super sturdy. Plus it's really dirty and icky looking because, well, because Tessa is just so hard on everything!

So, I'm enabling her. Of course. What else should a mother who refuses to buy her daughter a backpack do, but the MAKE her another bag so she really DOESN'T have to use said backpack.
Geez, someone grow me a brain. Anyway, here it is:

This is the front of it. I had made the front plain, but she wanted it jazzed up a bit.

This is the back. I didn't want her name super prominant, but LOVE this font.

Here the back side of the front flap and a peek of the inside.

I made this one out of denim and some leftover home dec type fabric. Hopefully this one will be a bit sturdier.

Colorado

2007-09-22T19:45:00.000-07:00

I got back from Colorado on Thursday. I was there for ten days. It was very bittersweet.

We went to Colorado Springs first, because Dan had a Board of Trustees meeting and was "officially" opening the Colorado Springs building that he built. We stayed at the Garden of the God Club. What a spectacular place! Damn, was it beautiful. The rooms were wonderful, and this was my view:

It's called Garden of the Gods Club, because it overlooks the Garden of the Gods - what a beautiful place. I wish we had had more time to spend walking around there.

The first day, after we got in, I was starving and I convinced Dan to take me to Sonic. OMG Have you ever had one of their cream pie shakes? Holy Shit. Pure heaven. A slice of pie in a cup. We had a nice dinner at the club that night. (BTW, it's a "club", not a "hotel" - they will correct you if you get it wrong.)

The next day, we went to the ribbon cutting ceremony of the new building. It wasn't too bad because they kept the talking to only 1/2 an hour. I then got to had lunch with the "wives" - which is always very exciting. Okay, it wasn't too bad because I got to talk to one of the only "husbands", and he is very entertaining. Dinner that night was at the golf course part of the club. It was a very good dinner - and I always love the drinking. Great gin and tonics with great wine.

The next day I went on the Royal Gorge Route, which included lunch. This is the train car that we were on.

I'm not sure how great the train ride was. You basically go up the valley on the train at 12 mph, and then back down the valley on the train at 12 mph. We also had a very nice lunch, too. However, the company was great. I was with the "husband" again, and a wife that I liked very much. She is very down to earth and fun to talk to.

Dinner that night was the Board of Trustees dinner and was very good. Dan got lots of kudos for building a great building that was finished early and under budget.

Friday, I left to go visit my girlfriend.

Laundry Room Issues

2007-08-02T10:12:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I mentioned we're doing this laundry room in my house. Just a laundry room. A room approximately 56" by 63". Seriously, 4 1/2 feet by 6 feet. All I can say is, I would never want to remodel a house. I'm not sure all of this angst is worth it.

This is a before picture. Now, remember. We're making a laundry room and another closet out of this space. The inside of the closet is the laundry room and the outside - that little jog in the wall - will be the closet.

So last night before last I start freaking out about the whole thing. It's going to be too small. The door won't open. Carra's closet is going to be too small. It will make her room too small. The new washer and dryer that I want won't fit in the room. The door won't be able to open.

Well, Dan is gone on business, and I expressed this concern to him. He didn't get it. He did nothing to allay my fears and then had to listen to me go off on him after he said, "well, let me know when you DO know what to say." (Obviously he made that remark after I tried to convey my angst to him, didn't do it well enough, and said, I don't know what to say.) At that point I had PLENTY to say.

Luckily my kids know to only look at me strangely and wonder silently if I'm in my right mind when I go into their rooms at 9:30 with my tape measure and start measuring the sizes of their rooms. Well, I just had to make sure that I wasn't taking away a ton of space from Carra's room by making the closet come out into the room. It helped. I'm not so freaked about it now.

But there is the door on the room to consider. Holy Shit. Consider every which way from Sunday. If it opens into the room, will it open too far into the room? Will it hit my precious washer and dryer? Dan wants a pocket door. How the hell much will that cost? Is it really feasible. What about a bifold door? Oh, no. We can't possibly be that ghetto. It's enough to make me want to scream.

Well, I spoke with the builder said there wasn't enough room for a pocket door (whew!). He, of course, thinks a regular door will work fine. I'm still not so sure. I think it will intrude on the space too much. I looked online and Home Depot had these bi-fold doors, and other ones similar. Now, if you ask me (which, obviously, no one is) these are damned fine looking doors - all wood, more expensive than regular doors, wouldn't intrude into the space too much. Dan says we can look when he gets home. We'll see. What the hell do I know? I'm only the one that does the stupid laundry.

I'll tell you what I do know. I'm going to be so fricken glad when this project is finished.

Bountiful Harvest

2007-07-28T20:30:00.000-07:00

Okay, maybe not so bountiful. Those are all of the lemon cucumbers that I got before the plants bit the dust. I think some pest got to them, and I'm not sure they got enough water while I was gone. However, that's what a lemon cucumber looks like - and they taste exactly like a cucumber - no lemony flavor whatsoever. The cherry tomatoes are very tasty.

I have some other tomatoes and some basil - not a very good harvest of basil (Thanks for asking Angelina - you are the BEST). Again, we have some critters that are eating a lot of our stuff. I think it might be moths. Anyway, I had enough basil to make some pesto (alas, only one batch) and some great Bruschetta. I'm hoping I might get some more basil. It is only the end of July. I know that last year I had basil into September at least.

I also got a quilt top done! Here it is.

I used all of my skull fabrics that I collected. I really like the way it came out - if I do say so myself.

I took my Tessa to the airport and sent her away (again). She went to Colorado to visit her girlfriend. It was quite the ordeal because she was travelling on a buddy pass - therefore, travelling standby. I took her to LAX (which, I hope you remember, is right by me). However, on the day that she was travelling, there were too many people deciding that was the day to go to Denver. So, the gate agent said that she would be better off flying out of John Wayne Airport. In Orange County. Yes, I live right. next. to. LAX. But I had to drive to Orange County to send my daughter somewhere that I (truthfully) didn't want her to go. Luckily for both of us there was no traffic. And I was able to send her away with no problems whatsoever. ::sigh:: Yeah. No problems. She seems to be having a great time.

And some great news. I'm getting an indoor laundry room! Yes! I will no longer have to go outside and walk into the garage in order to do my laundry! This might not seem that exciting to some of you. However, I've had indoor laundry rooms ever since we moved out of our apartment 15 years ago. I now live in a ridiculously expensive home (it's L.A., remember?), and my laundry room is in the garage. In. The. Garage. It sucks big time. We're taking a big closet that is in Carra's room (and that she hates because it's big and scary) and converting it into an indoor laundry room. Again, I'm very excited. I'll keep you updated.

Meeting The Chicken Lady aka Cindy

2007-07-02T08:47:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been almost a week - but I got to meet Cindy from The Chicken Coop. My and my girls met her and her chicks at M&L Fabric in Anaheim. Now, I didn't take pictures of this place, but maybe Cindy did. It was really fabulous! Lots and lots of fabric for 2.98. There was more fabric for $1.69 - but it was flat fold and in huge stacks. We couldn't figure out how you would get that fabric out to buy it!

Cindy said that The Fabric Depot was much bigger - and I was very jealous that I wasn't going up there with her and meeting Monica and Angela, and whoever else is going to meet there. My girls and I managed to get some fabric, but not tons. It's definitely a place that I'll be returning to!

Cindy is just the sweetest person around. It was so great talking to her. And my girls liked her chicks. The told me later that they had a great time. They were worried that Cindy's chicks might have known a lot more about fabric than them - but that wasn't the case.

We ate lunch at Coco's - in the shadow of Disneyland. We found out that each of us were going to Disneyland the next day - and were hoping to see each other, but, sadly, we didn't. We did however, have a GREAT time at Disneyland.

Here's a great picture of all of us!

Aren't we all just so happy! They are just the best!

We're now in Santa Rosa visiting my mother. It's been a nice trip so far. Next we're off to Sacramento to visit my girlfriend.

Seriously Cute

2007-06-20T08:29:00.000-07:00

I got some new pajamas yesterday - and damn, are they CUTE! I even took a picture of them so you could see them. Sorry about the pointing fingers - I was trying to make sure that Tessa got my feet so that you could see how long the bottoms were.

They are Nick and Nora pj's from Target. They have a cute little ruffle around the sleeves and the bottom. The arms and legs are 3/4's length. When I saw them, they screamed MONICA, what with the cherries and the colors and all, so I had to get them. Makes sense, huh? They are so bright and cheery and cool and comfortable.

I'm very picky about the pajamas I wear - I know - weird. My family won't buy them for me anymore. However, a few years back they did pick out some flannel pj's with coffee designs all over them - and I love them, but it's getting a little to warm to wear flannel pj's. Now I have these and I love them and think I should go buy some more.

Birthday Sleepover

2007-06-17T20:28:00.000-07:00

Carra's birthday is at the end of the month, but we usually do a birthday party for her before the end of school. So, her Birthday party was Friday night. Lucky me, only her and 3 other girls.

Now, I find parties very stressful because I'm such a horrible housekeeper. I know, I know, but still. I want things to be clean, especially if people are coming over, and things are usually not clean. Luckily this house is much smaller that our other house, and much easier to clean. I did manage to get it cleaned.

I had to do party gifts for the girls. Here's what I came up with:

They are sleep shirts, headbands, and more of the covered flip flops. The girls wore most of the stuff, so I'm assuming that they like it. Here's a picture of the girls in some of the stuff - t-shirts and headbands.

They swam, watched movies, and ate too much junk food. I don't think they ever slept. The living room is above our bedroom, and I heard feet running all night. At 1:00 a.m., Carra came down and told us that Faith didn't feel well and was calling her mom. Then we heard that Faith threw up. Great. Unfortunately Dan got puke duty. At least it landed on the indoor/outdoor carpet and we were able to take the carpet out the next morning and hose it down.

I'm pretty sure they only slept from 3:00 to 5:30. The next morning I convinced them to go swimming, so they burned off what little energy they had left. The other two girls left at 10:00 a.m., and we had the rest of the day to recover. Geez.

Pictures, Picture, and More Pictures

2007-06-12T09:08:00.001-07:00

Okay, I'm not sure if anyone read Angela's post on taking pictures. If you haven't, you should. It's great. What most you can't see, is that in the article it says, "Michelle, go buy a new camera!" Seriously. It does. You see, I haven't been thrilled with the one I have. It takes forever to take a picture and I miss out on pictures - you should have seen me at Carra's bad concert. It wasn't a happy sight. Here's one of the lovely pictures my camera took.

Look at the cutie up there all blurry and with evil eyes. So, as you can see, I needed a new camera.

Well, lucky for me, when I was at Costco last week, there was a camera that called my name when I walked by. And, even more lucky for me, it was one similar to the one that Angela talked about in her post. This is the little baby that I got. Not TOO expensive, and it came with almost everything that I need (carrying case, battery charger, etc.) - with the exception of more memory. So, I had to get it out and try it. This time I'm going to try this sucker and make sure it is exactly what I want. If not, I can take it back. So, here are some pictures I've taken, exploring the wonders of this camera.My garden. I recently planted another tomato plant, some peppers, and some more herbs - thyme, sage, and tarragon. You know, finding veggies to plant in this town is not easy. Next year I'll need to get some seeds.Look how nicely my basil is doing! I thinned it a little after this picture. I have these little seedlings all over the place. I think I need to plant some more!Here's Tessa's room. I think there was too much sunshine going on - this one didn't come out that great. You don't get the true essense of the orange. The one wall is pink and the other three are orange. When it's clean, it really is a pretty great room.

Okay, that's all the pictures for now. But I'll be finding some more to take and post. I really have to make sure that I like this camera!

Disney Bag

2007-06-04T20:51:00.000-07:00

Okay, I did it. And damn, it's nice. Excuse me for being impressed with myself. I could point out the mistakes, but I'm not going to. I'm going to revel in my handiwork. And Tessa likes it, too.

I put in a zipper so she can keep her stuff in her bag; and check out that snazzy little cell phone pocket. Keep in mind the purple is the SAME purple as the shirt she is going to wear. I hope to get a picture of that.

Tagged

2007-06-03T21:11:00.000-07:00

Monica tagged me to do a To Do list. Oh Monica - it's so long, but here goes.

1) Do a tote bag for Tessa to take to Disney on Tuesday. The Honor Roll kids get to go - and she wants to tote to match her outfit.

2) I need to finish the quilt for my friend, and do my wrap.

3) I have some Mailbox Love that I need to finish, get together and send out. Lots of Mailbox Love - like my Sunbonnet Sues.

4) Make some end of the year teacher's gifts.

5) Make doctors, dentist, and eye appointments.

6) And really, I'm going to need to clean because Carra's having a sleepover for her birthday party.

However, Dan has a Board of Trustees dinner that we need to attend on Thursday. Therefore, here's what I'll really get done.

1) Monday - Make Tessa's tote bag. All this week Carra has band practice at the "other" school, so I need make sure that she gets there and home every day after school. Monday night is also Carra's gymnastics.

2) Tuesday - I'm going to Disneyland with a mom of Tessa's friend.

3) Get my hair done on Wednesday. Wednesday is Tessa's volleyball practice.

4) Thursday - Make sure I have something to wear that I can fit in - go out and get something if I don't.

5) Thursday - Get a manicure/pedicure and have lunch with my girlfriend.

6) Friday - Carra's concert.

7) Saturday - Last volleyball game and "party". A candle party that I promised my girlfriend I'd attend.

More than anyone wants to know.

Some more memes:

3) We moved into our house on September 1, 2006 - and I just used the pool for the first time on Memorial Day.

4) I have major Scrapbooking Guilt. I started scrapbooking a number of years ago - okay, so maybe it has been 12 or so years. I bought all of the ~~shit~~ wonderful items that you use to scrapbook. Boxes of it, I have boxes and boxes of the stuff. I also have boxes and boxes of pictures. But I can't scrapbook. Because then I would have to go through those pictures of my babies - when they were babies. And it's far too emotional for me. I miss my kids as babies, and it kills me to see their baby pictures and know they are not babies anymore. It was a part of my life that I really wasn't ready to give up - but was forced to. I love my children now - I love being able to talk to them and relate to them on a whole other level. But damn, I adored my babies.

The Latest

2007-06-01T20:43:00.000-07:00

My son has a friend at school - "We're JUST friends, just friends." - that he has lunch with every day. He was invited to her birthday party - "Her parents are are making her have a birthday party." I've never met this girl, and my son is not very forthcoming. However, he has made mention of some things - like her birth mother abandoned her, her step mother died, and she lives with her dad and his sister. My son is very choosy, so I'm know she must be a good person. How tall is she, Wyatt? Is she as tall as your sister? Is she taller - like my height? "I have no idea. I think she's as tall as Tessa." Okay. What does she want for her birthday? "Well, she said a gift card. Or cash - she wouldn't mind cash." Okay then. "And she has a wrist problem, and I was wondering if you could make rice bags that fit around her wrists. Here, here's the design we came up with" (handing me the Taco Bell wrapper that has been folded and putting it around his wrist) "and here's the picture she drew that we thought would work." Okay. "But she said she really wants it, and if you can't get it done before her birthday, that's okay." Okay. "And here's her wrist guard, and she was wondering if you could make a little pocket to put this hard thing in." Okay. "And she wants it blue with a lime green stripe." Okay. If you sew, your kids never stop thinking that you're a miracle worker. But her birthday, Wyatt, what about that. I thought I'd just make her a tote, and maybe some flip flops, too. Didn't you say she liked skulls? "Skulls? She doesn't like skulls. No, that's another friend." Okay, then, blue, we'll go with blue and lime green.

Here's what I came up with .

And I made some flip flops to go with it (I got size 9). Because I love this pattern. Now, because I finished this tote and flip flops 5 minutes before I had to take him, I didn't put a yo-yo on them - which I wanted to do. Wyatt, do you think she'll think it's weird that I'm making this stuff for her? "She might." What???? I'd make this stuff for Tessa's friends. I helped Amanda make a tote, and she's still using it. "Really?" Why do I bother?

By the way? This girl is taller than me. Probably 5'9". I sure hope those flip flops fit.

Sneak Preview Revealed

2007-05-27T20:34:00.000-07:00

I'm in love. I finished my Sneak Preview. Are you ready for the big reveal? Okay, here we go!

Once again, I will complain about the colors in my picture, because it's just so much better in person! It's like a ray of sunshine! So, I'm going to call it my Sunshine Wrap. See, I get so cold in the winter when I'm sitting at the computer and I just needed something for my shoulders. Wrapping myself up in a quilt was just too awkward, so I thought of making a wrap.

I had that paisley fabric with all of the other matching fabrics in one of my lovely FOLDED stacks. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, but it was all there, together. Then I saw this great flannel that I had gotten at JoAnn's at Christmas - and it hit me! I can make me a wrap! When I first sketched out the pattern, I didn't have the center symbols on them. But, it was a rather dark time for me, so when I came across the Hamsa design I thought that was what I needed to protect me from the evil eye of this town. The paisleys on either side of the Hamsa are fabric protectors, I guess. LOL I then came across the Spiral Goddess and other designs and added them. The green has a Green Man embroidered in it. The first tme that I did the design the color was too close, so I had to do it again so it would stand out a little. Having all that worked out, I figured I would be wrapped and warm and protected.

Here's a close up of the center design. Yes, some of the embroidery caused the fabric to get a bit wonky. I have a tough time embroidering on cotton fabric. It always bunches on me. Now I need to get this baby finished.

Crafter ADD

2007-05-24T20:39:00.000-07:00

I have to tell you, I got that term from Laurie at ArtSmith. She thought she had Crafter ADD because she had nine projects started. Nine. NINE. Yes, only nine. I unceremoniously called her a wimp. Ppffffftttt. Only nine. Can you imagine? I have a couple more than that. But I worked on my Sneak Preview today and it's almost ready to reveal. I'm very pleased with it. It looks great.

And I did do the Leader and Ender Madness while I worked on my Sneak Preview. I got a couple more Mimi squares done with the leader/ender method! I need more Mimi squares because my Mimi project is not small. Oh no. I had to get ambitious and make a big quilt. Here's what I have done so far. Can you see the Mimi squares in there? Or are they lost in there?

I don't know why I can't do a small quilt. When others do them they are so cute, and look so great. Look at Monica's, behind the celery bag. But I always think - what am I going to do with that? Other people hang them and again, they look great! I always think that mine would look stupid. I saw on WhipUp a Whiplash challenge to do a miniature quilt. Maybe I should challenge myself to do that.

In the meantime, I'm going to finish my Mimi quilt and my Sneak Preview - mostly so I can stop calling it a Sneak Preview, for goodness sakes.

Meme #2 I love popcorn. If I have it around, I won't stop eating it. I eat a whole bag of the microwave stuff (I usually buy the small 100 calorie bags). If I go the movies and buy one of those big ass buckets of popcorn - it will be gone by the end of the movie. And if I get a refill? I will. I love kettle corn the most. And Downtown Disney has CARAMEL kettle corn. OMG To die for.

My Purse

2007-05-22T19:59:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know that I've already posted today, but I have to post again to show off the purse I made today. I went for a walk with my girlfriend yesterday and needed to take my phone, tissue (because my eyes always water), and a starbucks gift card - just in case. Usually I just carry the stuff, and cram it into my pockets. But this time I thought I'd bring a little bag I made last year. Well, it just didn't work because it was a little too big and not quite long enough to go over my whole body and rest on my hip. The solution? A new purse, of course.

I decided on black and white so that I would be color coordinated when I walk. I tend to wear black and white on my little walks - so I needed my purse to match my outfits. Yes, yes. All is vanity. The pattern is based on Autum's purse tutorial. I only used four strips, however, and made them smaller than hers. I also wanted a flap. Since the purse was black and white, I decided to use some of my skull fabric from my collection for the flap. Okay, that was not easy - I had to cut into my PRECIOUS fabric. I even fussy cut it - and you know how much fabric THAT wastes. But it wasn't too bad, because I found those two skulls next the edge of the fabric. And, I really think it looks great.

The inside. Yes, it's wonky. I decided at the last minute to put in one of those little inside pockets that's tucked into the lining. Autum has a tutorial for a pocket like this with a zipper - but I didn't have a zipper (or, more truthfully, a zipper that I could find easily), so I thought I would be a Miss Smarty Pants and make one without a zipper. Well, as you can see, it didn't turn out spectacular. But, what the hell. I overcame my perfectionism and decided to keep the wonky pocket, since I WAS making it for me.

Here's a shot for size, next to my phone.

After I sewed it all together, I saw that I had not caught the top of the lining in the top seam. Also, I hadn't lined the flap with anything and it didn't look good. The strap wasn't long enough, either. So, I ripped out the top stitching at the top of the purse, and ripped out the top stitching on the flap. I put Craft Bond on the flap and resewed it. I added an extra 10 inches to the strap, and then resewed the whole shebang together - this time catching the lining in the top stitching.

More, I'm sure, than you really care to know about my purse. I will leave you with a rather hideous action shot.

Meme #1

2007-05-22T11:19:00.000-07:00

Cindy at The Chicken Coop tagged me to do 7 Random Things About Me. I'm going to do them in separate posts, like Kim did (although I guarantee mine won't be as wonderful as hers). Mostly because I'm lame and can't think of 7 all at once. I've been thinking about it since I've been tagged, and have only come up with three. Lame.

#1 I love fabric. I love the feel of it, I love to touch it, I love look at it. I don't like to cut it and use it. Because then if I use it, it will be gone, and I won't have it any more. Yes, I know that I'll have it in the projects that I've used it for, but still. Some of it I can use right away, if I've gotten it for a specific project. But the fabric that I buy just because I LOVED it and had to have it, that's that stuff that I have the most trouble with. I see projects that people have made with some of the fabric that I love, and I'm shocked that they could ACTUALLY have used that fabric. How could they do that?

I think this really shows that I'm rather strange. And I'm also sure that if I keep buying fabric, I'll get over this problem one day. Yeah, I just know it.

Got a couple more SBS's finished.

Don't you love that chubby little girl in the yellow hat? I do. She is so cute. The other one has a skull on her shoe - that's because we had a whole discussion on our skull shoes. Okay, okay, I know you want to see them, so here they are.

And last, an update on my garden. It's looking good! Although I don't have any basil sprouts yet. I'm very disappointed about that.

More Mailbox Love

2007-05-17T10:13:00.000-07:00

Mailbox Love. I just love that term! I heard it from Monica (who is her own little circle of love all by herself) and it is definitely something that should be spread.

Anyway, here's my latest Mailbox Love (wow, two in one week). This is from Brenda, who I'm making the SBS's for.

I had mentioned that I love Atkinson quilt designs, and specifically thought this one (a new one) was great. And the next thing I know, totally unexpected, it showed up in the mail! How great is that? I don't think it could get any better. Of course, now she thinks that I'll actually make AND finish something. It's so nice to know that people still have faith in me. If not, I know that I'm in good company, because I found someone else who has seems to have a wee bit of a problem finishing things, and who can stop shopping for fabric at any time, just like me.

Here's my latest Sunbonnet Sue. I'm getting the patterns from here.

She's pretty cute. The next one I'm working on has black shoes. I hope it doesn't over power her. I had to stop working on the new SBS last night because Bones (an episode from three weeks ago that I TiVo'd) was requiring my full attention.

Now everybody takes these wonderful pictures of their flowers and plants - and I want to, as well. Alas, my pictures never turn out as wonderful as everyone elses. However, this rose is just so pretty, I had to take a picture.

I bought some basil seeds yesterday at Target. I'm going to try to plant them in intervals - a few seeds every couple of weeks. I'm hoping that will keep in basil for the summer. Well, if I can get them to grow. If I can remember to keep them watered. If I can't do any of that, I'm going to go visit the wonderful Angelina and beg her for some - because, have you seen the buttload of basil that she intends to grow? And I'm sure her thumb is a lot greener than mine.

As Promised

2007-05-15T09:38:00.000-07:00

Here's my winnings! Is it cute, or what?

Now I'm going to have to decide what to do with it. An apron sure would be cute!

I've got another Sunbonnet Sue almost finished. I'm not sure how many I'm going to do. I would love to 12 - but I'm not sure that my Crafter ADD will allow that. Hopefully I can get 6 done before I'm on to something else.

Mother's Day

2007-05-14T09:07:00.000-07:00

Tessa made me a cake for Mother's Day. I loved it - I thought it was so cute.

Each of my girls made me two sweet cards. Neither of my boys (DH and DS) got me a card. I don't think it evens out, somehow. Tessa went to the local Farmers Market on Thursday and got me some candied almonds, some kettle corn, some dark chocolate, and a candle. That girl knows me well, and it was so sweet of her to that. I also got a larger memory card for my camera, and everyone made me a very nice breakfast. I never got out of my pajamas - which at this point I don't think was a good thing.

Dan and I watched the Survivor Season Finale. I must admit that I was disappointed. Even though I thought that Dreamz was not a very good person, it was still sad to see him prove that. And also sad for Yau - who trusted in him.

While watching Survivor I finished some mailbox love. I'm going to send this to one of my Bad Girl friends. She's a quilter and loves Sunbonnet Sue. But she doesn't like handwork, and I don't think she has any SBS blocks. She's deaf and we've been IM'ing. She also lost her mother unexpectedly a few years back and still misses her. I'm hoping to make some more SBS's for her - this one went together really quick. I had started to do it on muslin, but muslin just isn't thick enough. So, I went to JoAnns and got some Kona cotton - I think this color is Ivory. Thanks Monica, for turning my onto Kona cotton. It is really wonderful. Carra has gymnastics tonight, so I should be able to get another block mostly done.

I WON, I WON

2007-05-11T13:53:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it? I WON SOMETHING.

Over at the Happy Zombie, Monica had a blogiversary drawing, and I put my name in at the last minute, convinced I wouldn't win. But Bob, wonderful Bob, DREW MY NAME. How dang lucky is THAT. And, yes, I am SCREAMING. I'm just so thrilled.

I'll post pictures when it comes.

Blogger MIA

2007-05-08T17:04:00.000-07:00

Okay, I haven't posted anything in awhile. But I've been busy crafting away! I'm not going to post about that yet, though. What I'm going to post is my little garden. Well, some of it was already planted by the previous owner, and I guess I just didn't realize it.

There are a couple of types of lavender. Some rosemary, and I think thyme. That's what my girlfriend said. It has this pretty little flower, so if anyone knows more about thyme than me and can let me know if this is really thyme, that would be great.

You'll also notice that I planted a couple of tomato plants and a couple of lemon cucumber plants. I couldn't find the regular cucumber plants, and I've planted lemon cucumber before. We'll see if I can get them to grow. I intend on planting a few more things. Unfortunately, I don't really plan, I just go and buy what looks good at the time. My girlfriend really thinks that I should plant some peppers. Maybe I will.

Mostly what I need to do is make sure that it gets watered. I tend to forget to water my plants, which means that they don't do very well. I do much better when we have a drip system in place.

I'll keep you updated.

Girlfriend

2007-05-07T18:56:00.000-07:00

My girlfriend, that I've known since we were 3 or 4, came to visit me this weekend. She is having marital issues. Her birthday is today, their 25th wedding is tomorrow.

But, she came to see me this weekend. We had a great time. We didn't end up doing much. We went to the beach - she flew a kite with my DD, while Dan and I sat on the beach.

We spent a lot of time talking - which is always nice.

I've found some before and after pictures of us.

That's her in the middle, and me on the right (in the white shirt). In the grown up version, that's her on the left, and me on the right (in the glasses). I kept getting taller, she didn't. I always remind my youngest DD when she's complaining of her smallness that I was once smaller than Nancy!

Quilting with Mimi

2007-04-19T10:05:00.000-07:00

Okay, because I don't have enough started (the most recent being my blocks, which I am going to make into a quilt for a very good friend that I've known since we were 3 or 4; and my sneak preview, which I really need to finish; not to mention the 250 sachets that I need to sew out of tulle and have finished by Monday for Renaissance Day at the Middle School - which I have not started), I decided to sew along with Mimi and Monica of The Happy Zombie. This is what I came up with.I'm not sure if I'll sew them together this way. I'm not sure what I'm going to make with it either. But it sure is cute. I have some more squares to sew up, too. So I'll have some more blocks

Here's an up close look at them.

And, I'm so proud of myself, all the fabric was from my stash! Well, except for the Kona Snow. I had to go to the LQS to get some of that. Most of the fabric is Flea Market Fancy by Denyse Schmidt. Except for the red, that's Building Blocks by American Jane.

Remember that wonderful chocolate bar that I received? Well, there is a little spot of chocolate on the back of one of my Kona Snow squares! I was going to try to get it off, and then I thought, nah! When I see it, it will remind me of the wonderful chocolate bar that I received from the wonderful Rebecca.

Purple Room

2007-04-19T10:01:00.000-07:00

Okay, here's the purple room. I'm not sure that you can really appreciate the true purpley essence of this room from the picture.

Three walls are the lighter color, and the one wall is the darker color. Goes pretty well with the quilt, eh?

A Pillow

2007-04-16T22:12:00.000-07:00

I made a cover for Tessa's pillow. It's not spectacular, but it's better than the pillow that I covered! And it now matches her room.

Can you see the bling in the flowers? Cute, eh?

I got this card in the mail today from one of my Bad Girls. She drew it herself!

Is that not the cutest thing! And sweet! My gosh, what a sweet thing to do. She also sent me one of those yummy dark chocolate candy bars with the nuts and fruit in them. They are SOOOO good.

This week is fixup, clean up week, so we got rid of two mattress, one box springs, and 3 bunk boards (all twin sized) from our garage! WooHoo!

All in all, a good day.

Happy Birthday, Baby Boy

2007-04-15T22:15:00.000-07:00

My Baby Boy is 15 today. How do they grow from 8 lbs 10 oz. to 6' and 173 lbs. in just 15 years?

He's doing really well - I'm very proud of him. His "girl" friend, which is NOT his "girlfriend", that he eats lunch with every day, called him to wish him a Happy Birthday. How cute is that! His grades are good, and he has friends. Not bad for being a Freshman in a new school.

Tessa made it home today.

A tad bit full of herself.

I spent all day cleaning her room - and it looks great. I'm pretty sure that if she doesn't actually spend any time in there, it will stay clean.

Carra and I got our plants planted. I bought some Columbines - my reminder of Colorado - some fuchsias, and a tiny little cherry tomato plant. Carra planted some Phlox and a California Poppy - she loves poppies.

Now we need to keep them watered so that they grow.

Still No Tessa

2007-04-14T22:39:00.000-07:00

Well, Tessa called us and said that they might be in Florida until Monday. She said that the airlines had bought her a bathing suit, and the group were busy washing their clothes because they only had the one set of clothes, since their luggage made it to LAX.

We went to Home Depot and got paint for the accent wall in Carra's room. It looks good. Very purple. We also bought some plants so that Carra and I can start to grow some things. Of course, we didn't get them in the ground, yet.

This Week

2007-04-13T22:00:00.000-07:00

The kids have been on Spring Break this week. Tessa went to Florida with her school. Wyatt and Carra have been home with me. We didn't do as much as I would have liked, but we did get some things done.

Tuesday

I did this - it's part my Sneak Preview. Truthfully? I want to redo it because the design pulls. I'm not sure I will - it takes 67 minutes to stitch out, and that's not including thread changes. I can't tell you how many HOURS I spent getting this design together. I wanted the Hamsa - I love that. It's going to protect me from the evil eyes in this town. (Laugh insanely) The side designs that I first had were freebie candlewicking designs - and I couldn't get them to read on my embroidery machine. So, after endless hours, and not getting the first design to work, I bought the new side design at Embroidery Library. It looked great. But, I couldn't get it onto my embroidery card, so I had to get out my embroidery machine memory stick. Well, not having used that before, I had to get that figured out. Finally got the design downloaded on the stick, and my embroidery machine said yes, it could read the design, and I got to stitching. Well, the machine got to stitching. I'm sure I was doing constructive while it was stitching. But, then I was disappointed with the pulling. However, I have a lot to do in the next couple of weeks, so I'm not sure that I will redo it. I think the Hamsa will still protect me, even with pulled stitches.

Then, in the mail, I got this little package.

This is from the Get Crafty quilt square swap. Don't you just love her tape? It is always so cute. These were the quilt squares that I got. Aren't they cute? They'll look great with the squares that I already have.

And to top off the day, we went to Home Depot and got Carra some purple paint for bedroom. Hosta Flower.

Wednesday

Dan took the day off and we went to Sea World San Diego. It was about a two hour drive. Not bad. Dan told us stories about Camp Pendleton as we drove through there. We enjoyed watching all of the shows.

My favorite show was the show that the dogs and cats and birds and pigs in it. I never knew you could train cats! Wow! Okay, I didn't get that many pictures of the shows because 1) I have a crappy camera, and 2) I was so busy watching the shows that I couldn't take the pictures too, and 3) I take crappy pictures. The last the kids did was go on a ride where they got soaked! We got Carra a new shirt, and Wyatt used a sweatshirt of his dads. But their pants and shoes were wet until we got home.

Then we went to Anthony's Fish Grotto on the water for dinner. It was very good - they had some GREAT calamari, and wonderful porter (I think it was Black Marlin). The ride home was wonderful - I slept.

Thursday

I took the kids to get their hair cut and then we started painting. Painting is so much fun.

Friday

More painting. We decided to do an accent wall, but will have to go back and get more paint to do that.

Tessa was supposed to come home tonight, but their flight was cancelled. The group was on two different flights and the Delta Airlines kids got home, but the American Airlines kids are still there. Her teacher and her husband and 15 kids are staying in Florida tonight. Wouldn't you hate to be that teacher right about now? We'll find out more tomorrow what's going on.

Off to Florida

2007-04-09T20:43:00.000-07:00

Well, we sent our middle child off to Florida this morning at 2:30 a.m.

This was the only picture I was "allowed" to snap. It's a tough thing to let your child go off to the other end of the country. You completely relinquish control.

I must admit, the way she's been acting the last week, I wasn't even sure if I should let her go. Obviously she was anxious about going - which meant she took out all of her anxieties on her family. She had her phone taken away, and it still didn't stop her mouth from running when it shouldn't have been. Or stop the venomous poison that spilled out of it. I love that child, but I really wanted to harm her.

I've spoken to her and she made it there safe and sound and so far she's having a good time. They went to the Everglades and saw alligators/crocodiles (I can't remember what she said). I hope she has a wonderful time.

Blocks

2007-03-28T20:35:00.000-07:00

I've been working on my blocks. Remember the fabric that I got to go between the blocks? Here's a sample of how it looks.

Really, I need to get a better camera, or take a picture outside, because it looks so much more rich in person.

Then I got sidetracked. I started another project.

And my taxes. I'm still doing them. Yuck.

Colonial Day

2007-03-25T20:23:00.000-07:00

Well, I got the costume finished. Hooray! She looked so cute. I spent the day there volunteering - and did talk to one or two nice moms. I helped the kids weave with straws - it was really quite unique. People really go overboard with this thing. One couple rented their costumes and their daughter's costumes - and spent over $100. One lady bought her daughter's costume for her for a Christmas present - spending $60. And let me tell you, my little girl was definitely a farmer's daughter - most of the other girls were ready for a dance.

I still thought she looked cute. And she was happy. What more could you ask?

We went to the beach today and flew kites. We bought froze our butts off. And I forgot to bring my camera. Damn.

Ah Geez

2007-03-21T20:25:00.000-07:00

I've been feeling out of sorts with this town that I live in, with this town that I grew up in. The people are unfriendly, the store clerks are rude, all the women are nasty. Okay, okay. I'm exaggerating. It's not all of them, it's just certain ones, but it still gets to me. Because I'm NICE dammit, and they're not. I loved Colorado because I had so many friends so quickly - and I was always making new ones.

So, I've been in kind of a funk about the whole thing. I don't really know that it's THIS town - I've moved enough to know that people are pretty similar in most places. There are the same cliques, the same people who have to impress other people, the same bitches, and the same nice people. But I'm still pissed because I don't want to have to make new friends AGAIN, and I don't feel like putting forth the effort - because I DO need to do my taxes - and I'm just sure it's because they're the same as they were in high school. Did I tell you that I hated high school?

Then I read Michelle's post. Which tells me what? Get over myself and invite the town in for tea and buttered bread. In other words, be nice and they'll probably be nice back. Ah geez!

Costume

2007-03-21T19:47:00.000-07:00

I'm supposed to be doing taxes (no, I haven't finished my "homework" yet). I've also been working on Carra's Colonial Day costume. However, instead of just DOING it, I get sidetracked. I get on the computer, I emptied a couple of boxes, etc.

I HAD to go to Jo-Anns to get some interfacing for her costume. It cost me $40. Well, the interfacing cost $2, the rest of the fabric that I had to buy cost the rest. However, I got some great fabric to go with my blocks.

I got the lighter blue thinking of it for the border, but then realized that I had wanted yellow for the border. So, it's back to JoAnns! Maybe tomorrow. I've got most the costume finished - just need to do the bonnet and some finishing work - hemming, a button or two, some elastic. Great, then I can get started on the quilt! I'm going to put Tonya's letters in the borders.

Huge Pain in My Ass

2007-03-20T20:04:00.000-07:00

I was taking Carra to gymnastics and there was so much traffic getting out of town! Plus there were people on the side of the hill with cameras. I couldn't figure it out, until Carra started talking about the plane that everyone was talking about at school. The I realized that THAT was the plane. And that was what people were so interested in. The Airbus. In my backyard. I meant to try to be looking outside when it was supposed to land - but, of course, forgot.

I must say, that sitting there on the runway it didn't look too impressive - there wasn't anything by it to show it's scale. However, in looking at this picture you can see another plane next to it, and the Airbus does dwarf that plane. Which, while not a jet, is still a decent sized airplane.

However, I had to take Dan to the airport today. Something which really only takes 5-6 minutes there, and 5-6 minutes back. Well, today they had the Southbound exit out of the airport blocked off because there was so much traffic. WHY was there so much traffic, you ask? Because everyone wanted to see the fricken' Airbus, that's why! Like I said, Pain in My Ass.

Here's another shot. I took it while driving - well I took both while driving - that's why it's so crappy. Crappier. It was really overcast today, too, has been for a few days. Not that I mind, I don't, but it doesn't make for great pictures. Or maybe it's the photographer that doesn't make great pictures. I think that's more likely the case.

Fabric Folding and Sewing Room

2007-03-14T10:04:00.000-07:00

Okay, I have to expand on my last post about the fabric folding. As I said, my folded fabric is just an oasis is a sea of confusion. Here's an oasis:

Here's the sea that it lives in:

You'll notice a lot of boxes. Well, believe me, there are a lot more. You'll notice a cutting table. How do I cut on that with all of that (shit) very important stuff on there? Well, I've managed. Have you seen the blocks I've done?

If you look closely, you'll see this oasis in the above picture:Here is my latest and greatest oasis. These fabrics are just SO yummy. This fabric folding was done while I was supposed to be doing my taxes.

And here is it's Sea of Confusion:This Sea is actually worse than it looks - I've cut off some of the boxes and stuff next to it. And yes, that's my sewing table on the left.

So, you see, even though I've been folding, I still have a mass of STUFF everywhere. Plus, I share my sewing room with our computers. So, many times, there are five of us in here. Wouldn't it be great if I could make this room into a REAL oasis? Wouldn't it be great if I could make it a Posy Heaven? Or, hell, like Monica's room, or Autum's, or Elizabeth's, or any other room that I covet (there are plenty)?

Maybe one day. In the meantime, Sammi will be very happy if I never get rid of these boxes.

Busy Weekend

2007-03-12T21:41:00.000-07:00

Well, the kids had Friday off - so we went to Disneyland. It was great - the lines were very minimal. Unfortunately, Carra wasn't feeling well, so her and Wyatt, and I left early. Tessa and her girlfriend stayed with another friend and her family.

I got some sewing done. I finished my blocks for my Get Crafty block swap. Here's what I came up with.

I also did a block for the April BOM on ThreadStop. We're going to do a signature block swap, so I figured that I would make April's BOM a signature block - but use my BOM fabrics in it.

These are the blocks that I'm going to use the coffee words on.

I also figured out a plan for my other blocks - I've got the quilt all sketched out. Of course, I need to go and get more fabric for it.

And, I've had some more fabric folding Kool-Aid and been folding, folding. I love it.

I Drank the Kool-aid

2007-03-07T12:54:00.000-08:00

Okay, Monica said the drink the fabric folding Kool-aid, and I did. Damn, it's so addicting. I'm going to drink more.

Now, this is just the beginning, and they're not color sorted, and not put away, but look at that. Just LOOK at that beauty. Okay, it doesn't look as good as Monica's, or Autum's. Heavy Sigh. But, you know I do have Posy Envy and maybe one day my room can look even remotely like one of theirs.

Still working on my blocks.

I couldn't do it the way Allsorts did it. I just couldn't have blocks that didn't have NINE DIFFERENT FABRICS in them. So, I just cut all the blocks first, then rearranged the squares, and then sewed. And would you believe it - just look at those two blocks! I screwed it up! Yes, 9 different fabrics - the seams match a little better - but the POSITION of the colored blocks are wrong.

I'm not going to rip them apart. I'm not going to rip them apart. I'm not going to rip them apart.

Blocks

2007-03-01T19:44:00.000-08:00

I've got 18 blocks done. I did Allsorts' blocks. However, I didn't want mine to be in strips of all yellow, all red, all blue. So I mixed them up. And, to my mathematically challenged mind, if there are 9 fabrics, 9 blocks and 9 patches in each block, then each block should have all 9 different fabrics. However, I just couldn't get it to come out. Frustrating. Anyway, here's what I came up with. Also, in some of the blocks I used a yellow that was too bright. And it really bugged me that I couldn't get all of the seams to match - cutting through 9 blocks with seams just doesn't make for matching seams. However, I was proud of myself - not only did I let the non matching seams go (meaning I didn't rip them out and redo them), but I also let the blocks have some patches that were the same. I was so tempted to undo seams. But I didn't. I let it go.

I think I'm going to use some of these blocks for my block swap.

What I Miss

2007-03-01T11:10:00.000-08:00

While there are a lot of little things that I miss about Colorado, there are two things that I miss the most. The first is my girlfriend, Mary. We used to spend so much time together, and it was always fun. Man I miss her.

The second is the music. Yes, the radio stations in L.A. SUCK. Not just a little, but hugely, enormously, GIGANTICALLY. They bite. Luckily, I can stream music online from KBCO. I know, it's Colorado, but damn, they play great music. Oldies and new music mixed together. Something that was a hit five years ago, they WILL play again. I can hear Led Zepplin, Bob Dylan, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Keane. All mixed up. It's great.

Now, if only I could do something about the music in my car.

This Weekend

2007-02-25T19:42:00.000-08:00

My girls made cupcakes. Aren't they pretty?

My husband bought a car. My son got his hair cut. And I did a lesson on learning to digitize.

I'm not sure that I got much done this weekend.

Both girls are going to school tomorrow! Tessa was out sick all week last week. Carra was out Thursday and Friday. I'm supposed to meet a friend and walk. I want to sew. I will sew. I have to do my squares - I signed up again for the swap at Get Crafty. Fun, fun. I've got some great fabric I'm going to use, and I'm going to do these squares.

And I gotta make me a pair of those Mary Janes.

Mary Jane Slippers

2007-02-25T15:05:00.000-08:00

Well, since Angelina received them, I'll post them here. These are the "things" I made for Angelina which really got me in trouble at JoAnns. But really, they look cuter on her feet - so go look at her pictures.

I got the idea from Craftster. Here's the link. They took me quite a bit longer than 20 minutes, but I also used a smaller crochet hook, and had to rip out a few stitches and start over. But that's the damn perfectionist that comes out in me. Mostly I'm happy Angelina liked them, and I'm going to make another pair. Soon. I will. I really will. I want to live the Posy life.

Out of Control

2007-02-23T20:05:00.000-08:00

Well, Michelle and Angelina wanted my chicken. Bless them. How wonderful is THAT! So, I felt obligated to do a drawing, which Michelle won. However, I had to send a little something to Angelina too, because, let's face it - she LIKED my chicken. Of course, said thing that I sent caused me to go more crazy at JoAnns'. Because, I can't be satisfied with just fabric. Oh, no. I have to venture into the yarn section. And two 40% off coupons only work for two skeins of yarn. I am out of control.

Have you ever read Artsy Craftsy Babe's Bio? OMG, it was perfect. Here's what she says: "I like to buy stuff. I'm really weak when it comes to fabric, craft supplies, and craft related books. I usually buy stuff because I HAVE TO HAVE IT, then it just sits there. This is a bad habit that needs improvement. I honestly have enough fabric and supplies to keep me occupied for years." Thank you! I know that I'm not alone in this world of craft mania.

I "had" to go to JoAnns because I needed fabric for Carra's Colonial Day costume. Yeah. That was $20 worth of fabric. I spent $120. And only $1.20 of that was for the two bags of conversation hearts that I had to buy because they were 75% off.

Like I said, Out. Of. Control.

Carra's Quilt

2007-02-21T11:03:00.000-08:00

I finally finished Carra's quilt. Here's her cat, Sammi, helping to break it in while I was working on it.

I know, I know, too many pictures of her. But she's such a sweetie! And she talks to you. She's also a little heifer - over 10 lbs and she's not even a year old.

I'll have another post dedicated to these quilts - made one for each of the kids, and hand quilted them. Fun, fun.

I have a chicken . . .

2007-02-20T09:49:00.000-08:00

that needs a new home. I'm not sure that anyone would really want this, but if you do, let me know, it's yours.

I crocheted it - not sure when, not sure why. It was supposed to be a pot holder. It's a little wonky. It's about six inches wide. If more than one person wants it, which I can't imagine, I'll do a drawing.

Heaven

2007-02-19T17:35:00.000-08:00

That's what Posy entitled this post. I would have to agree. If I could, I would live there. In those slippers. Doesn't it just look so comforting and inviting. And she's crocheting! Did you see that? I spent years crocheting, and then stopped - it just wasn't the thing to do anymore. Nobody wanted a crocheted blanket. And now, it seems to be the thing again.

I'm almost finished with Carra's quilt. Hooray! I just need to put some more ties in - and then I'm finished. I'll get someone to hold up the quilts and I'll take pictures and put them up here.

I also told quornflour that I'd do another Get Crafty block swap. I'm going to do these lucious little blocks. I'm not sure if I like her blocks or just want to spend more time on her site. It's a wonderful little place.

Off to tie off more of the quilt and watch some Tivo'd Ghost Whisperer. I never watched the season finale last season and can't believe that they killed off Andrea (Melinda's shop partner)! I was totally shocked. Bastards. I liked her. Well, we'll see how this season is.

Pin Cushions

2007-02-16T19:48:00.000-08:00

Here are the pin cushions that I finally finished and go sent out.

Ths one was for Rebecca.

This one was for Millie.

This one was for Jessica.

I loved the bottlecap pin cushions - they are great. I really didn't want to send Millie hers - M is such a great initial!

Bittersweet

2007-02-15T19:22:00.000-08:00

Our house in Colorado closed today. I told my husband that the proceeds were in the bank, and he said, "kind of sad." Damn him. It's so hard, and emotional anyway, and to have him feel emotional about it, too, just makes it harder on me. He's supposed to be my rock.

The positives are - no more double mortgage payment, no more water and gas and electric and homeowners associations fee for a house that we don't live in. We don't have to worry about anything going wrong on a house that is two states away.

It's the dreams that we had to give up that are so hard. We were going to live there forever. We moved there and were never going to move. I said over and over, I'm not going to move. Even after Dan got his job offer, I went to lunch with a girlfriend, and said, I'm not moving! She said, I believe you. But the offer was just too good. And Dan really wanted the job. He has to go to work everyday - shouldn't he be happy going there? I think he should. It's only fair. It's just the mind set that got to me - I'm never going to move! Why would I think that? We've always moved. I thought it because that's what he told me - and I believed him. No more.

I'm on the five year plan now. We've never lived any place longer than five years, so that's the plan I'm on. When we talk about doing something to this house I say, will we get our money out of it by using it for five years, or will it increase our house value in five years. But, mostly, it's the emotional toll on me that I'm trying to save. That's what killed me in the Colorado move. Because I was never going to move. Now, I know that we'll move again, so I won't become as emotionally attached as I did there. I can move if I know that it's coming.

And I do know that it is. Dan is only 41! Well, 42 in a couple of months. Hell, if he retires at 62 - that's 20 more years of careers! Will he move on? Guarantee it. He can only go so far where he's at, and if he can go farther in his career somewhere else, he'll want to. I'd love to get the kids through school first - but that's 8 more years - not sure if we can do that.

If my kids are happy, I'm happy. I can be happy anywhere, as long as I have my family. I would love to travel more, to move to new, different places. It's an adventure! I'm having issues here, but that's because I grew up here. And I had so many self-esteem issues growing up. And I obviously still have them. Geez. Get over it, Michelle.

Valentine

2007-02-14T19:11:00.000-08:00

I got my pot holder swap today! Oh, what fun!Cute, eh?

Oh yeah, I got chocolates with it too. They didn't make it to the picture. Damn, they were good!

Dan got me a card, too. I'm pretty sure that by 5:00 p.m. yesterday, Ralphs was all out of good cards. That's the only thing reason I can come up with for that card.

Big W, Little W

2007-02-12T19:00:00.000-08:00

Big W, little w - what the hell? Does it matter?

Dr. Seuss - I love Dr. Seuss. I read it to my kids over and over when they were little. Here's what he says about big W, little w.

W..w..W
Willy Waterloo
washes Warren Wiggins
who is
washing Waldo Woo.

Could you possibly say any more?

Changing Rooms

2007-02-11T20:59:00.000-08:00

We spent the day switching our girls' bedrooms. My God. What a Royal. Pain. In. The. Ass. We have only lived here 5 1/2 months, and those rooms were horrible! And the arguing and bossiness. And let's not forget the tears! Oh, yeah. Well, those tears were mine. I had a bit of a pity party during the whole thing. Tessa was being a major Miss Attitude SmartAss. Dan raised his voice to me - and that was it. Pity Party! I hate this fucking place. I'm still pissed we moved. I don't want to be here. Well, that was the joy in the party that I was having. I guess I'm over it now. I'm speaking to both my husband and my daughter - and my girl's rooms are now switched. Well, except for my youngest daughter's shit that's still in the living room. Sigh.

Now we have the joy of going to IKEA to redecorate their rooms. I'm sure it will be great. I will try not to shed any tears.

I wish I lived in Autum's house. I can't imagine having pom poms on my mouse pad. I would be living in a dream. A place where I didn't tell my daughter that I didn't care if the whole fucking neighborhood heard me screaming at her. How could I do that?

Spiders on my Toes

2007-02-10T21:07:00.000-08:00

In October I had a pedicure.

I loved my spiders. I wish I still had them.

And yes, I have hairy toes.

M&M

2007-02-09T20:57:00.000-08:00

Make yourself into an M&M. Here's me:Well, I wish I had boots like that.

And that I had the balls to wear them.

Girl Drama

2007-02-03T18:12:00.000-08:00

Tessa, 13, spent the night at a friend's house last night. There were four of them all together. Most of them spent the day together today. Then, at about 5:00, I get a phone call - Tessa sobbing, asking me to come pick her up. No questions asked - I did.

Girl Drama - A boy from their school was over, someone called someone else, not nice things were said, someone blamed someone, blah, blah, blah. Tears. Phone calls. Friends over. She's not going to the play tonight, she is going to the play tonight. Sweet Jumping Jesus. I'm not ready for Girl Drama.

The mama in me wants to protect my baby. The woman in me wants her to learn to get along with other women - and to learn to pick the good ones, the ones that can be good friends - not High Drama, High Maintenance girls/women. It's hard to keep in mind that it's her life, that she will end up living it as she sees fit - not as her wonderful mother just KNOWS would be best for her.

In the meantime - I guess I must be prepared for more Girl Drama. Heavy Sigh.