Needles Zing

Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T10:44:00.005-06:00

Merry Christmas!
The bread is baking in the oven. The Christmas tree is lit. The kids are outside raking leaves. What's up with that!!

My parents are visiting and decided to embark on clearing the front yard of leaves. So I kicked the kids out and told them to help their grandparents in this endeavor. There are a LOT of leaves out there. Mostly from the neighbors' trees!

We sack the leaves in brown paper bags that are for organic recycling. Our city has once-a-week pick up for organic materials.

Earlier this morning, I went through the package that Barbara from Ooodle and oodles had mailed me. I thought my parents would enjoy seeing the fun things that she shared. The shiny brites are items they are happy to remember from their childhood.

The book came in yesterday! All so awesome! Many, many thanks to Barbara for such a fun giveaway! I absolutely am thrilled.

I had scooted the red Macy's bag to the back of the pic for a red backdrop and to hide the patio furniture you can see thru the window. My husband, who had slept in, came to the kitchen and yelled "oh man!", grabbed the bag and went to hide it. Apparently it has one of my gifts inside, unwrapped. That's funny!

I'm not nosy at Christmas. I can wait. What is the fun in peeking?

I remember, once, as a child, my brother and I went peeking in the parents' closet and we saw the Star Wars toy that was there: An X-wing fighter.

Growing up, we only got one toy at Christmas so on Christmas morning, that one toy gift was opened, and that was that. Absolutely no fun! I never went peeking again!

So do you peek? Or do you wait?

December Bloom

2011-12-15T21:51:00.003-06:00

It's December 15 and I have this bloom--not totally unharmed by the recent hard freeze, but still looking very lovely.

Austin, Golden Celebration. And there's two more buds behind this bloom. Maybe they'll come out before Christmas. If the weather turns colder, then those two buds might need to come indoors. It's very pretty to see at the front of the house.

Today I also won a lovely prize over at Oodles and oodles. I won a book that looks like an warm and interesting read and a goodie bag. Barbara has many lovely things in her shop and I enjoy perusing it at leisure. She has many lovely vintage items and she writes about her home and shopping adventures on her blog. Thank you, Barbara!

What Would You Drive?

2011-10-11T22:13:00.001-05:00

...if you could "drive" your favorite fabric? Fab picture from The
Dallas Morning News.

Thank You Thelma!

2011-04-26T09:42:00.006-05:00

Thelma sent a bright and beautiful mug rug to participants that completed the Eventide quilt top.

It's so pretty! And went well with some Easter goodies.

I love post-it notes. And these are really pretty.

Are you planning to watch the royal wedding? We have friends gathering, to eat (of course!) and watch the wedding on DVR. And it's an opportunity to wear a hat.

I have a couple of smaller, vintage options, but I'm wanting a fuller hat. I'm totally inspired by Louise Green and love to look at the hats available on her website. But I really don't want to shell out the $300+ for a hat. But a girl can dream.

So maybe with what I have on hand--I can create something passable.

The hat is from Marshall's. The ribbon was $5 at Canton Trade days. And the bottles are from here, there, and yonder.

I'd better get busy!

Wishing You a Blessed Easter

2011-04-24T21:40:00.002-05:00

"I'm coming to tell you this, that the heavens of heavens can't contain Him, let alone some man explain Him. You can't get Him out of your mind. You can't get Him off of your hands. You can't outlive Him and you can't live without Him. The Pharisees couldn't stand Him, but they found out they couldn't stop Him. Pilate couldn't find any fault in Him. The witnesses couldn't get their testimonies to agree about Him. Herod couldn't kill Him. Death couldn't handle Him and the grave couldn't hold Him. That's my King. "

Dr. S. M. Lockeridge, 1976

Crazy Weather

2011-04-15T08:54:00.005-05:00

We were up late last night, listening to a hail storm pound everything outside. The roar in the house was unbelieveable. The hail hitting the roof was so loud--and just when we thought the hail might have passed, it would come down harder.

I waited 15 minutes after it was done to go outside to check the damage.

There were piles of ice on the patio.

And some larger pieces that were still lying around.

I'll need to check the roof today (strictly a ground viewing) and see what other damage there might be (that I can see in the daylight).

Some of the flowers took a beating. Some were close enough to the house that they escaped unscathed.

Trying to Show True Colors

2011-04-14T18:18:00.009-05:00

Here are some more pics of Eastertide. It's interesting how much lighter the colors look in photos.

These colors are fun but in photos, these pastel colors look, well...pastey.

I took these indoors with the windows wide-open and all the lights on.

I should have crawled around the floor and straightened the quilt top a bit more. But I wasn't really motivated to crawl any more than what I did! I'm tired today!

The quilt was ironed and pressed at one time but it's so big there's no place to really hang it to keep it straight.

So here it is, wrinkles and all. But are the colors truer? I think the blues show up better but the other colors don't look true. I still like it though!

All Done

2011-04-12T08:04:00.004-05:00

Here is the finished quilt top--only one week past the deadline. Ha!

The pic looks kind of blurry in the blog pic. Please click on it for a bigger and clearer view.

Since we're a litle ways from Easter, I'm thinking about calling it Eastertide. It does have the colors we think of when decorating for Easter.

This thing is big! My "assistant" is my husband. He's 6'4" and standing on a stool to hold the quilt. I was wanting to get a pic this morning and he graciously headed outside to help me find "the spot" to hold it and take a picture. Thanks hubby!

Ready for a Glamour Shot

2011-04-11T22:46:00.001-05:00

All finished! All I need now is some daylight.

Putting On The Rectangle Border

2011-04-11T14:37:00.000-05:00

Two sides down...two more to go!

I might actually finish today!

Time spent outside

2011-04-10T07:40:00.004-05:00

Yesterday I spent a bit of time outside. First a wind-blown soccer game and then some time in the yard at home.

The clematis is blooming.

And someone wanted me to throw the "ball".

That little blue lump of rubber is what's left of the ball. And Buttercup, on the left, loves to chase and retrieve it.

It does start out as a ball but eventually gets shredded. She's very happy to chase the bits that are left.

Brady, on the right, just sits and watches. He's very smart. But he'd prefer to watch Buttercup run and run out her energy.

Attaching The Red Strip

2011-04-09T15:35:00.002-05:00

My red strips are not attaching to the main quilt that easily. The
red strip is too long. I have been re-sewing the red and white blocks
to make them a tad smaller.

Did your strip go on smoothly?

Still working on Eventide

2011-04-05T21:58:00.003-05:00

Here's a "later" pic. I like the contrast of the vertical "sash".

I've been staying up past my bedtime, working on this Eventide pattern. I AM excited to see it come together.

Here's another "later" pic, the result of staying up too late.

Funny what you'll see when you're up late.

It's the Craig Ferguson nonexistent commerative plate. It's strange. It's funny. I find it really funny.

Are We There Yet?

2011-04-04T23:05:00.009-05:00

The sewing machine is hot--I'm not. Give me an advil (and a few more hours!)

When's the EXACT deadline? ha!

I'll keep sewing so please check back soon as I try to finish putting everything together!

I plan on taking some daylight pics and hope that will make a difference in showing the colors.

I like them. But I'm still critical of the way it looks. I do not dislike it but hope the colors will show more true with natural light instead of "in the middle of the night" light in the living room.

I've under-estimated HOW long it takes to re-cut everything. I mean, trim the pieces to size after I've sewn the squares. Did you "square" everything before you pieced the quilt?

I swear my right arm and forearme have gained twice as much muscle from all the cutting, trimming, and trimming!

Must...keep...sewing...

2011-04-03T11:42:00.001-05:00

Gotta keep on, keepin' on!

A looong way to before before I sleep....

And So April 1 is...

2011-04-01T22:04:00.006-05:00

April's Fools Day! Did you play any pranks today? My kids complained that I didn't make them an April Fools Day breakfast. An fake egg. Marshmellow creme with a yellow pudding "yolk".

But that didn't happen this morning.

So I gave them sponge cake after dinner.

They liked the icing.

Yuck! I wouldn't of even eaten the icing after the fork hit the sponge.

But I did make Hot Water Sponges.

Forgive the picture. It really is Hot Water Sponges and not fried chicken. Hot Water Sponges are a sponge cake, covered with a thin icing and then rolled in chopped-up peanuts. I have seen these cakes called Blarney Stones also.

Hot Water Sponge

1 1/2 C sugar
1 1/2 C flour
3 t baking powder
4 eggs
3/4 C boiling water

Beat eggs well then add sugar. Beat well.
Add flour, baking powder and stir until mixed. Add hot water then vanilla. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

So there you have it--two kinds of sponges.

One More Week...

2011-03-29T06:26:00.008-05:00

We have one more week until the deadline for tor the Eventide Quiltalong!

I've been cutting and cutting and organizing.

And I still have a long way to go!

I've been sewing in the evenings and darn if I don't get tired at my bedtime and have to go to bed! And there's the stops for dinner, for homework, for running kids to soccer and tutoring. The kitchen is piled high with dishes as I was sewing instead of doing dishes!

I have ONE more week! Are you almost done? Are you done?

There's nothing like a deadline to help you give a little extra push!

Cutting almost done...

2011-03-25T09:01:00.004-05:00

I have the the small Ohio Stars cut out and I'm looking at what I want to use for the big stars on the Eventide quilt.

I'm trying to think of a mix of mostly warm, medium colors for the small stars with some cool colors in the mix. And then use medium-light cool colors for the large stars.

I love the light blue! And the green next to it is pretty. The green though, is still debatable. I'll audition it and see how it works!

Is it better further away? The fabric, NOT the room! The room is only good in close-ups, extreme close-ups!

And outside the azalea is making me very happy! What a trooper. I didn't think it would do well after all the cold, freezing weather we had in February. (Remember the Super Bowl? The ice? The snow?)

And I'm behind in yard work. I have these lovely plants just rearin' to get planted.

Oh,and I have company coming over today. Yikes! Gotta work on the house because they won't be looking at it in those better-looking close ups. It will be Wide Shots! Gotta boogie!

Hi There

2011-03-23T09:06:00.009-05:00

Hi There.

Buttercup says "Hi".

This is an in-focus picture of Buttercup. The rest--pretty blurry. The back light from the window shows the pink in her ears. So sweet!

Buttercup doesn't like to get her picture taken. Especially close up. But she loves for the kids to hold her and she just is so relaxed when they pick her up. But you pull out the camera and she starts wiggling.

And here is more evidence of spring. There are more flowers in bloom in my yard and flowerbeds every day.

The azalea is ALMOST ready to burst! It is "the" azalea bush--I only have one.

I use to baby this azalea bush. I would feed it it's special diet of miracle grow azalea food in the fall. I would cover it any time the temperature dropped below freezing. And the result would be--no blooms. Maybe a dozen flowers at the bottom of the bush and that would be it!

But for the past five years I've ignored the silly thing and it's gone bloom crazy.

No complaints here. I love the purple-pink color and today, maybe today, the blooms will finish opening.

I planted Ajuga in the front flowerbed because I thought the leaves were an interesting dark purple contrast to the Lambs ear plant. I didn't know it bloomed! Duh! What a very pleasant surprise. My mom never planted Ajuga so I know nothing about it.

That's one of the fun things about gardening. There are so many different types of plants, that there is always something to learn. I think we tend to gravitate towards the plants we remember from our youth. The things that are familiar.

There are several plants that I love that do not grow here in North Texas especially peonies and lilacs. Those are some of my favorites. Some gardeners have had success with peonies but I haven't prepped a special bed for them yet. I'm still trying to decide where I could plant them and they might succeed.

What's blooming in your area?

What a Fabulous Spring Break!

2011-03-21T21:42:00.029-05:00

What a fabulous spring break!

It started with a trip the Quilt Guild of Dallas Quilt show. My youngest daughter went with me (she loves fabric—smart girl!) and my neighbor Randi went also. We had a fun time and saw some lovely quilts.

"Celtic Nine-Patches" by Jaynette Huff. Paper foundation pieced and hand-appliqued and –beaded.

"Hugs and Kisses" by Jay Conrad. It was an fun and colorful use of plaid.

"Three-inch Ohio Star" by Annie Rosser who claims she enjoyed every block. Beautiful work.

A bunny quilt! "Bunnies Running Amok" by Sally Brown.

When we go to quilt shows we think of a “motif” or “traditional pattern” that we play I Spy and look for in the show. When we walked the Dallas show we decided to look for bunnies! As this was our bunny quilt. So pretty!
There are even bunnies in the quilting.

It has a very pretty border and a lovely scalloped edge.

"Amish Go to Hawaii" by Pebble Rehm.

"Bubblicious" by Concetta Boscardin

“Millefiori Revival” by Rebecca Yarbrough. I’m in love with this. I’m fascinated by these diamond star hexagons. Absolutely beautiful!

“Stars Over America” by Joelen Mershon

“Star Light, Star Bright” by Iva Grant. This quilt was pieced by Judith Earp and hand-quilted by Iva. Amazing!

“Dots” by Sharon Chambers. Lots and lots of polka dots-so fun!

“Shannon’s Eye of the Storm” by Vicki Conley. Look for the Storm at Sea pattern.

Even Ellie gave the eye “the eye”.

And the grand prize winner – the aptly named “Icing on the Cake” my Linda M. Roy.

If Randi had moved a little bit to the right, she could have been Best of Show.

But we had to check out the vendors too. Ellie enjoyed hanging out with some well-dressed girls…

and tried on a lovely hat.

Ellie came home with some fabric for an new outfit and I came home with a portable design wall. Sigh. I said I wasn’t going to buy anything. But that didn’t last.

So with the new design wall up, I put up my meager blocks and started ironing. I’ve gotta get busy!

I may currently be a slacker, but now, at least, I look like a professional slacker!

Spring Break!

2011-03-14T19:41:00.002-05:00

No Eventude update but the kids, husband and I had a lovely time at the zoo.

Check back for an update soon.

Spring Break!

2011-03-14T17:45:00.000-05:00

I do not have an Eventide update! I went to a quilt show with my
youngest daughter this weekend. Then I took all three kids (with
hubby) to the zoo. We had a fun time.

More redbuds

2011-03-10T11:37:00.008-06:00

The redbuds are opening more and more each day.

It’s what says "spring" to me. I love seeing the purple-pink color in a stand of trees. We look for them along the creek areas.

Perhaps daffodils are what says spring to you? Here is my first daffodil. I think it is a “Full Throttle” variety. But there’s only one so far.

And I love blue. On cloudy days, they just seem so vibrant.

Slower Than Molasses in January...

2011-03-08T09:16:00.010-06:00

I'm slower than molasses in January (well, for the northern hemisphere).

It seems that I have gravely underestimated the time I need to spend in this project. I have two blocks done! Woo hoo!

But it’s slowly starting to make sense to my little mind. I thought I would make a block by itself so I could understand the process.

I sew in my living room, in front of the window seat. I like the natural lighting although today, it’s overcast, gray, and dark. Not the greatest light for picture taking—but it is time for an update!

I cut my fabric by the front door on top of a cabinet! So going back and forth from the sewing machine (see it in the background?) to the cutting area is not the quickest use of my time in putting a block together. But I am getting the hang of it and understand the sewing and cutting instructions the more I read them. Now that I've made a couple of blocks, I'll work and cut out all the necessary pieces. That will save time in the running back and forth!

I'm not that swift when it comes to reading and figuring out the pattern. I read them. I think I understand. I read them. I do a little cutting. I’m slowly getting the hang of it.

I have sewn a few of the Ohio Stars parts and pieces and it's lovely to see the colors together. They are just not an actual "star" yet! But "hope springs eternal"!

I have also underestimated the “lights” that I have for this project. I need to dig in the fabric stash for a lot more light fabrics to really get rolling.

I guess it looks like I’m working hard. At least it’s messy enough to look like I’m working!

It's Springing Forth

2011-03-07T11:40:00.008-06:00

The air feels softer.

It's warm, cool and moist, all at the same time.

There's a breeze. Then here's a gale. It feels like spring.

The redbuds are budding.

The hyacinths are blooming. They have returned from last year.

And a tiny, muscari grape hyacinth.

Of course, with all these blooms, come pollen and allergies. I think that the cedar and the oak pollen are the worst.

I'm trying out some herbs I bought at the health food store and they're actually working. When I take OTC allergy meds, I really dislike the side effects - drowsiness or hyperactivity. I feel like I'm constantly napping when I take the OTC meds or my heart is constantly racing. I don't care for feeling either way!

Are you enjoying spring? Or are you suffering from allergies? Do you have spring fever? Has spring sprung where you live?

I'm a Wiener!!

2011-03-03T12:41:00.011-06:00

I recently participated in Moda's Pillow Talk blog hop and visited the blogs of various Moda designers. I'm a big Moda fan and had visted several of these blogs already, but did discover a couple of new fabric designers.

The final visit was to the famous Moda Lissa and there I discovered that I was NOT the grand prize winner. But Lissa had very graciously picked 20 additional participants and she is set to mail them.... something. I don't know what it is--but I'm excited! I'll share my "surprise" as soon as it appears.

I made chocolate mousse from scratch this week. I found the recipe on Allrecipe.com. Have you used any of their recipes before? Any favorites?

I also like to use Tasty Kitchen recipes. But I'm usually using what Google finds for me. I also use Southern Living recipes but don't like their website because of the automatic videos and pop-ups that try evade my pop-up blocker. No fun!

But here are a couple of pics of the chocolate mousse in progress. At least the pics are calorie-free!

Here is the melted chocolate and cooked egg yolks side-by-side with the whipped cream.

And then fold the two together.

I used Baker's Chocolate that I bought at Walmart. The mousse was delicious! Ina Garten has a Lemon Mousse recipe that my kids want me to try. So maybe lemon will be next!

Digging out the fabric

2011-02-28T09:41:00.011-06:00

I do not have enough Tanya Whelan "Delilah" to make Eventide, so I'm audtioning some fabrics from the stash.

So I laid them all out on the window seat and thought I'd check them out.

Here are the darks.

And here are the some pinks.

And here's some ideas for the Ohio star backgrounds.

And of course the all important blues!

And some medium greens for interest.

One more look at the fabric:

I spy some Red Rose Farm fabric by Elizabeth Scott, some Quilt Soup, one piece of Holly Holderman, a little bit of Flower Sugar, and some bits of pieces of lines I do not know.

I'm nervous about just picking out colors and right now, I think everything is a bit matchy matchy. I need to add a bit more contrast so I'll be heading back to the fabric bins and digging for something to add a pop!

I meant to sew some this weekend but my machine had been put up and hubby is enjoying the clean living room and wasn't too keen on helping me drag the sewing machine out! I sew in the living room. It makes a huge mess (you know all about that) and I think he was enjoying the clutter-free feeling for the weekend.

But the weekend is over and I'm ready to tear things up. I need to ride this wave of energy and get something done! I usually stall and I'm not great about finishing up quilt projects. Do you have that problem? What's your least favortie part of the quilt-making process?

Binding? Bleh! Basting? Double bleh! Those are the parts I REALLY do not like.

But I worked on a donation quilt last week and those parts, while not my favorite, were really not that bad. I tried spray adhesive for the first time, and while stinky, it worked pretty easily. And binding? I watched a couple of "how-tos" on Youtube and had NO problems! I'll share those here in a post when I can post pics of the donation quilt. Those blocks were made by the students and were a bear! to put together.

Gotta dash! It's off to the Middle School library for a bit of volunteer work. The fabrics will just have to wait until later in the day.

Sign me up!

2011-02-24T18:21:00.004-06:00

I am loving the pattern Eventide by Carrie Nelson and Thelma, of Cupcakes and Daisies is doing a quilt along. Sign me up. Well, sign me up now that I haven't been selected for Jury duty. Whew! I had a lot on my plate this week and didn't want to add too much civic duty to it.

One of my favorite design elements of this pattern is the large, blue stars. And it is so pretty in the cover picture. I love the Luna Notte line; but I'm thinking of trying something different. But I will still have the pretty, blue that I can use for the large stars.

So I'm thinking of using "Delilah" by Tanya Whelan. It's very pretty and I could find some secondary fabrics from this inspiration fabric.

Do you have any of this fabric? What are your plans for "Delilah"?

Happy Birthday Emily

2011-01-27T12:09:00.004-06:00

I'm now the mother of three teenagers. My mother laughs and laughs. Surely I wasn't the typical teenager, was I mom? Mom?

So Happy 13th Birthday Emily Grace. You're pretty sweet...for a thirteen-year-old! (Just kidding) Maybe we'll make that trip to China before you turn 16 (I really don't remember saying I would take you to China but you swear it's true).

And of course Happy Birthday to my dear, sweet, generous husband. The same day. Two birthdays. Well, there's three birthdays in the family that day as my older brother's birthday is the same as Em's and hubby's. So Happy Birthday to all three!

Houston report!

2010-11-11T12:47:00.018-06:00

The road trip wasn't just "all quilts":

>

It's time to Vist the Big Armadillo!

2010-11-03T16:41:00.005-05:00

It's time to head to Houston for the International Quilt Festival. Mrs. D and I are heading south and this time we're taking passengers. Our DDs are in tow and heading to the quilt show with us. Sweet!

And of course, we'll have to introduce them to the Giant Armadillo.

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T11:43:00.006-05:00

We have several pumpkins to carve and some candy to get ready to hand out.

What will you be doing this Halloween?

Image from Bon Secours Orphanage Foundation.

Buttercup says "Hey"

2010-10-27T21:05:00.001-05:00

Silly girl.

Blue, blue, blue

2010-10-26T11:09:00.000-05:00

Morning glories have taken over my garden. They have re-seeded and gone crazy, growing and twisting around any other plant in the garden.

But, they are pretty. I love the blue variations that pop up.

So pretty! Too bad that they are not a flower that you can cut and bring inside. I enjoy walking out to visit them each morning.

And these are just a few of the too-many pics that I take. Blue, blue flowers. Click on the pics to get a bigger view of blue.

The little red, star flower is Cardinal Climber. It re-seeds also. And hummingbirds love it.

Happy belated birthday Easy E. Aw, you're now 17. I hope you had a fun weekend traveling and visiting family. Love you lots, sweet kid.

Happy 15th Birthday

2010-10-11T12:10:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday baby girl.

Wearer of cowboy boots. Artist. Awesome helper. Sweet. Nice. Doer of-your-own-thing.

Fifteen.

Fall-O-Ween

2010-09-26T21:23:00.000-05:00

Fall-O-Ween looks to be a fun event! Lots of Designers! Free projects! It will be fun to check out all the postings!

I'm mainly posting here so I'll be able to remember who is posting what day. How easy for me to visit my own blog to catch on up the last.

But here it is for you that are dropping by:

Sept. 27 Gudrun from GE Designs: http://www.gudrun.typepad.com/
Sept. 28 Sandy from Pieces from my Heart : http://www.piecesfrommyheart-sgervais.blogspot.com/
Sept. 29 Roseann from Rosebud's Cottage. http://www.rosebudscottage.typepad.com/
Sept. 30 Kari from New Leaf Stitches : www.newleafstitches.com/blog
Oct. 1 Terry from Atkinson Designs : http://www.terryatkinson.typepad.com/
Oct. 2 Heather from Anka's Treasures : http://www.ankastreasures.wordpress.com/
Oct. 3 Terri from Whimsicals : http://www.whimsicals.typepad.com/
Oct. 4 Carrie from Miss Rosie's Quilt Co: http://www.lavieenrosie.typepad.com/
Oct. 5 Linda from Linda Lum DeBono: http://www.lindalumdebono.blogspot.com/
Oct. 6 Pat from Pat Sloan & Co.: http://www.patsloan.typepad.com/

Topics
Day 1: color
Day 2: scents
Day 3: taste
Day 4: texture
Day 5: clothes
Day 6: decorations
Day 7: gatherings
Day 8: traditions
Day 9: haunts
Day 10: quilts

See you on the blogs!

Blocks #8 and #9

2010-06-30T11:44:00.000-05:00

Let's get straight to pics of Block #8:

Wow, that's a lot of pieces. It did go together easily with all the strip piecing. Hubby put in his 2 cents and asked, "Why did you make THAT?" Ah! He does not have the complete vision. And while it is busy, I know it will be lovely in the final quilt.

And now Block #9:

I think this was the the quickest block to put together--cutting and sewing. We're getting down to the nitty scraps of the jelly roll. It will be interesting to see how the final blocks transpire due to the smaller realm of choices.

I have a lot of neutrals and a small amount of mediums and darks. I really like the pinks and aqua in this jelly roll. And of course, that's the least amount of any colors in this jelly roll! But it is fun to see them as accents in some of the blocks.

My absense is caused by summer time travel and then a lovely cold I picked up toward the end of our family vacation. An upper respiratory infection sent me to the Doctor's office. And in viewing my records, I haven't been to the Dr. since 2004. I felt horrible if I actually went to see the Dr.!

I'm a Lucky Girl

2010-06-05T07:48:00.001-05:00

Don't you love it when UPS or USPS visits?

In the past week I've received these from Delta Patchwork out of Tennessee. They were super quick in shipping and check out the lovely wrapping. One is still wrapped nicely. The other one was ripped into before thinking of taking pictutes

A present? For me?! Of course (I ordered it). But it's wrapped so prettily!

I was able to find some fabulous LakeHouse fabrics by Holly Holderman. The dots are "frosted" in this line. Have you seen them? They are shiny and shimmer in the fabric. So cool! Click on the pics for an upclose look.

And some Flower Sugar by Lucien and some Robert Kaufman Elephant Parade and Animals.

I'm tickled to find the Flower Sugar. It's bright but soft. Fresh but vintage. It just really appeals to me. And I haven't found in the LQS or online stores in Texas that I peruse. I'm really pleased to find them. The florals are so pretty and polka dots are colorful and sweet.

And the elephants are for my youngest daughter, who is 12. She had (and still has) an elephant lovey as a toddler. We might be on replacement Ellie #3 (thank goodness for eBay) but she's still a treasured item. So when I see elephant fabric, I pick up a little bit for my daugher. She does like sewing and has pieced her own quilt. This will, perhaps, give her a summer project.

But wait, I ordered more (I was on a roll)

From the Quilted B I received a few more pieces of Lakehouse and some Lucien. Their shop is out of Washington, so their package had a little further to travel, but I received it very quickly.

Wrapped nicely in cellophane and wrapped with a "Quilted B" ribbon, this package included a present for me! See the little four-patch cushion? It is made with a brown button, a little piece of the "Quilted B" ribbon and stuffed with walnut hulls. It is also sweetly scented and so adorable. Even the little, attached tag with the Bee and hand-written "Thank You" is a really, lovely touch. Thanks Quilted B! Handwritten? Unbelieveable! When was the last time you received something written out? Me? It's been awhile and I do appreciate the personal touch.

I was still shopping and was looking some Moda for the Farmer's Wife Sampler (FWS) I'm working on. I ordered a Moda StashBag and an American Jane Snippets Layer Cake from the Quilt Shoppe (they're the hosts of the Spring Bingo). This package traveled from California and made it here speedy quick!

Included was a free, pretty floral fat quarter. The Moda pack is a lovely assortment that I'll definitely use for the FWS qult. Love the William Morris print on top. It also has pieces of fabric from Fig Tree line. There was one bright juvenile print-a pretty blue with bright butterflies. A good StashBag!

In ordering from all three shops, I found their online shops easy to browse and shop in. If some shops are confusing, I usually give up. As you can see by the bundles I received, that wasn't the case here. All were easy to look and search for fabrics and the check out carts were easy to maneuver and understand.

So there are my endorsements for The Quilt Shoppe, The Quilted B, and Delta Patchwork. Thank you for the lovely customer service. It is greatly appreciated.

Quilt block(s) update

2010-06-03T11:01:00.000-05:00

I've finished Block #7 on the Jelly Roll Quilt Along

And I've started the Farmer's Wife Sampler. Have you seen the book?

Mother's Dream #58

and Farmer's Daughter #32.

I've joined the Yahoo group and I've been scouring the wonderful hints they have there. I'm not a great piecer. But I'm practicing. And you know what they say about practice....

Today's the kids' last day of school. They are sooo excited! Me--all that extra cooking and cleaning will take away from any little sewing time I might have. But the company is good! I enjoy having them around. But two out of the three are teenagers, so their mood and mine can change at any moment!

Are you ready for some Bingo?

2010-05-23T10:08:00.000-05:00

The Quilt Shoppe is hosting a fun giveaway on their In Stiches blog.

But hurry! The deadline is midnight tonight! Good luck!

Block # 6

2010-05-18T21:10:00.001-05:00

Jelly Roll Quilt Along

What a fun block! It was quite the mission to scrounge through the fabric stash and come up with a fabric for the fussy cut in the center. Mr. Snowman fits perfectly! I'm very pleased with the results.

The end of school is fast approaching. It seems like they are twenty thousand activities scheduled between now and the end of school. Concerts, recitals, assemblies...just lots of events to attend.

But I found time to work on my block today with my neighbor, Designing Diva. Our fabric choices are very different. I enjoy seeing the results from both of us. We have decided this a great way to experiment with color and is excellent practice for our sewing and piecing.

Here are all 6 blocks:

You can see the blue tape in the corner of this picture.

I have a type of flannel that I was taping to the wall to make my design board. I bought it for 2.99 a yard (it's 54") from the decorator fabric store. It's an prep type of flannel that is used to cover furniture before the quality fabric is used.

I taped this cloth to the wall and it was interesting to see the blocks all together and at eye level (as opposed to being spread on the carpeted floor). The tape held the fabric for less than 30 minutes. It's a flannel puddle on the floor; blocks still attached!

I've just got to come up with a better way of attaching it to the wall. It's been a bit too humid, I guess, for the tape to stick well.

A Rose Bouquet

2010-05-06T09:53:00.000-05:00

It is starting to get hot here in North Texas. I'm sure we will see a bit more stress on the plants as summer starts to roll in.

I did go out and gather a few roses to make a bouquet. Husband was very proud of the bouquet--after all, they are HIS roses.

And another view of the same bouquet...

This vase worked well with the short-stemmed roses. It's from Southern LIving at Home collection and has a sort of "frog" that sits on the top of the vase. I haven't looked at the items they currently have available but I also have a couple of different versions of this vase--just longer, shorter and differnt colors. They really help if you're not comfortable in your flower arranging skills.

Wait! After a little more research, it appears that that vase is still available. Check out the Southern Living at Home website, click on catalog, and go to page 26. It is a lovely, simple vase that will compliment your arrangements.

Jelly Roll Quilt-A-Long Block #5

2010-05-04T19:04:00.000-05:00

Oh the mistakes that were made when putting this block together! I cut the 5 1/2 inch strips into the 1 1/2" widths. And then I didn't have enough of the same fabric to recut the same fabrics. Did that make sense?

I was suppose to cut the 3 1/2 inch strips into the 1 1/2 inch widths. Doh!

This is my explanation of why there are so many different fabrics in this block. It didn't start that way. But due to my goofy mistakes, the finished result is this:

But, since we're using a jelly roll, I didn't have to worry about the colors matching. It still matches!

And here are all five of the blocks together.

We've been doing some work on the side yard, putting in some flower beds. Husband has picked several roses to put in this area.

These was a couple of weeks ago. I need to post some "now" pictures to show the flowers in bloom. I'll try to do that soon!

Another block done...

2010-04-24T21:25:00.003-05:00

It's been done for over a week--but I'm just now posting the results.

I did a lazy cut and did the block the same from either end. And I think I like it. I wasn't sure what to do with this block and made my fabric choices last minute.

What do you think?

R.I.P. Favorite Spatula

2010-04-14T06:38:00.000-05:00

R.I.P. small, defenseless, Pampered Chef spatula. Some may have called you a scraper but I always called you "dependable" You were my favorite and you were there for me.

I should never have let husband misuse you.

The first time husband grabbed you and then walked towards the slush in the blender, I was able to intercept your fate by running ahead and turning off the blender.

But hubby would not be deterred.

The second attempt was your downfall. The motor on the blender was running. I could not get there in time. In one quick movement, hubby placed you in the running blender and you met your end.

And heartbreaken does not begin to described how I felt. How I still feel. I still feel a flash of white-hot anger in what he had done to you. You were gone. You were gone.

We had 12 good years together. Longer than some marriages last, actually.

But you are gone. He remains.

Now where is pampered chef online?

The tulips and Block #3

2010-03-30T14:25:00.000-05:00

The tulips are stretching and growing wonderfully. They're an annual here in North Texas--they will not come back next year. So I carefully selected my pink tulip bulbs, chilled them in the fridege for 6 week and placed them in the ground.

So here's the pink tulips--

Yes, a few are pink but the predominant color seems to be red.

Earlier this spinrg I made a couple of flower pot arrangements as gifts. The pots had lovely purple pansies and violas. I planted some tulips as a "surprise" for later. I'll have to find out if their surprise is pink. Purple and red wasn't what I was going for.

Speaking of pink, there is no pink in my Jelly Roll Quilt-A-Long Block #3.

I like this block. It was simple and easy to put together. And has interest even thought it seems simple.

Here's all three so far:

It's interesting to think that we don't know what the finished product will look like. But we keep pluggin' along! I'm definitely enjoying the process.

I really like the light blue and the pink fabrics in this fabric line. But there isn't much pink or light blue. Maybe they will end up being accent colors. I really do like them in the first block.

Jelly Roll Quilt-A-Long

2010-03-26T16:15:00.001-05:00

Here is another image of the two quilt blocks together. This one isn't perfect either, but it doesn't feel like I'm standing on my head.

Just please ignore the clutter.
Thank you.

Second Block, Jelly Roll Quilt Along

2010-03-25T14:58:00.001-05:00

Presenting Block #2...

It looks ok, but I like it better when it's along Block #1 ...

Hmm, that's not that great a photo. It kinda makes me feel like I'm standing on my head. Hey! Wouldn't that be like yoga?

See, blog-reading is exercise.

Well, pop in and visit me later and I'll post a better picture of the quilt blocks. Need more yoga? Drop on by.

Recently my son picked a recipe from Bakerella's website and we had a fun time making this lovely chocolate cake!

The ganache was very good.

The base for the recipe of the chocolate cake is a box mix. And while the cake was good, it wasn't great. But it definitely looks incredible!

And it did get eaten. So, I repeat, it was good!

Have you ever tried substituting melted butter for the vegetable oil in a cake mix? I was just wondering if that might give the box mix a richer flavor. I'll try that next time! Or if you've tried, let me know the results.

Tulips emerging.

2010-03-06T09:45:00.000-06:00

Tulips emerging.
Originally uploaded by Sharrieboberry

Aren't these interesting. Tiny little RED shoots coming up through the ground.

I actually chilled some tulip bulbs in the fridge and put 'em in the ground in February. And soon...tulips? We'll have to wait and see.

Jelly Roll Quilt-A-Long

2010-03-05T13:48:00.000-06:00

I was going to take a "before" picture of the "Crazy 8" jelly roll by Sandy Gervais. But we've seen jelly rolls before, right?

I attempted to re-roll the fabric. It's still pretty--just not as neat! Kinda brings to mind the saying about putting toothpaste back in the tube--it just doesn't work.

Look at the fun colors.

And when you put them together, what do you get?

Not perfect, but it's a start!

And another shot of Buttercup! She's recovering from her spay surgery and still full of energy!

Silly girl.

And...a shot of her looking like she's resting (she really isn't!) She's just a poser. She loves to jump and wrestle. We're still working with her on her puppy manners, so no jumping up on the family!

But I love it when she's in the "down" pose. It show her cute, short legs. And she does do the "down" command pretty well. She's very quick to hit the ground--she doesn't have far to go--bless those little legs!

More Snow Day pics!

2010-02-18T08:43:00.000-06:00

Just wanted to share what we did on our snow day...

A big, red (pink?) heart,

a snow bunny,

and...snow cones. (those were Em's idea!)

And where are the older two children? Absent from the snow, for certain. They did not participate in the revelry of the snow. They were happy to hang out inside where it was warm and DRY. This snow was so wet! It wasn't staying warm that was a problem, it was trying to stay dry.

But Em and I had fun.

Today, Buttercup went in for her spay surgery. Wow! She's six months already. It's quieter around here this morning without her playing and running around.

Aw, enough cuteness.

What's the opposite of cute? How about cleaning the fridge -shudder-. Ugh, well it's just gotta be done. Maybe I'll just have to look at puppy pics when I'm done.

Buttercup is suppose to ready to be picked up between 3-5. She'll need some down time to recover but I know the kids (and I) will be ready to have her back!

Snow day!

2010-02-11T21:42:00.000-06:00

So far today we have received 7.3 inches of snow. The record is 7.8 inches. It's still snowing. Who knows? Maybe we'll break the record!

These are kinda wimpy pictures but they do show the accumulation. We do not get snow in North Texas that often. Not every winter. Not every other winter. Just...sometimes. And this is our third snow this season.

Today wasn't a "snow day" at school. The temperature never dropped below freezing, despite the snow accumulating on unpaved surfaces. The roads were slushy, but not frozen. But that will change tonight. It is suppose to freeze tonight. Slush will become ice and tomorrow, school is on a two-hour start delay. The kids are happy for that though they'd prefer the whole day off!

Those snow days are fun--but you always have to make them up.

Sign me up!

2010-02-09T19:12:00.001-06:00

Sign me up for the Jelly Roll Quilt-A-Long!

Moose-On-The-Porch Quilts is hosting this fun event! I have a jelly roll of Sandy Gervais "Crazy 8" so maybe that will be the new project! Mrs. D has signed up too, so we'll see if we can get together to work on it. That'd be fun!

I tried to find a picture of the "Crazy 8" but it came out last June and I'm not finding the jelly roll online. Perhaps you saw it around Christmas? Or before? It is a Christmas design and very fun!

Wish me luck!

Masterpiece Theater...uh. Theatre

2010-01-17T21:40:00.000-06:00

I've enjoyed watching Return to Cranford on Masterpiece Theatre. Did you see the first Cranford series? The characters of Miss, Matty, Miss Pole, and Mrs. Forrester are charming, adorable, full of life!

If you follow the link above you can actually view the series online, for a limited time.

This series makes me laugh and smile and then throw my hands up in despair when then kill off another character! But finally, just finally, they killed off a person that was less-than-stellar in character! Whew!

And, in the end, Love Prevails. Doesn't that always make a girl happy?

And here's a face that makes me smile!

The puppy is doing better on house training. Finally!

I took the little tyke out every two hours when we first got her. And it was during the cold snap! And still, I'd take her and as soon as she got in the house, she would go. Little twerp.

So I gave up with the schedule. I started letting her run with the Big Dogs. And, I think she's finally getting it! She has her soft bed back in her crate as she has finally stopped peeing in her crate and she's getting a little bit more freedom around the house. Good job, Buttercup!

Brady and Buttercup enjoy a good wrestlin' match every day. Brady is so much bigger but he's very easy with her, no matter how ferocious he looks! He lays on his back and lets Buttercup be the upright wrestler.

It's pretty entertaining.

Just Something I Actually Made

2010-01-15T12:58:00.000-06:00

I have completed a project! I'm pretty excited!

It's a birthday present for my friend Christy. And I was inspired by a project I saw on Just Something I Made and I thought that Christy would like the vintage, garden graphics. We both share a love of gardening and an appreciation for vintage.

So I made two tote bags using graphics from Just Something I Made. And the program I used to put it all together? Printmaster V 17.0. Yes, an older version card program. And you know, it worked.

The card program does have it's limits, and you can see by the fonts used in the final product. I'm not very adept at manipulating them with this program, but it still turned out cute. I'm not complaining!

I used Tailor Iron-On Art-Wear for this project. This particular iron-on does not require that you mirror the image. I hadn't tried this brand before using it on this project. I actually bought a pack of plain totes and the iron-ons at Walmart.

For the first bag, I basically tried to copy the Cathe Holden design.

And it turned out thus:

And I struck out on my own design bent for the second bag. First I printed it in all black:

but I thought it was too dark. You couldn't really see the detail in the cucumber graphic. Very dark.

So I tried some color. And changed the drop-down shadows to grey.

I like green! I like it!

I think you can see more detail in the cucumber graphic and it's not just a solid black. Cool!

The iron-on process was simple.
1)Print out your design, not mirrored, just regular.
2)Iron the wrinkles out of the project you want to apply the iron-on to.
3)Lay a pillow case on a flat, hard surface (I used the kitchen table).
4)Make sure the iron is steam-free.
5)Place the included parchment paper over the iron-on.
6)Apply straight, steady pressure, don't slide the iron. Let the ironed area cool for 2 minutes.
7)Remove parchment.

It was fairly straight forward but the included parchment was TOO SMALL! It didn't cover the design surface and left some edges exposed to the iron. They melted!

I consoled myself and convinced myself that it's not too bad. Maybe even vintage-like?

But this was the first bag made. Did I learn from this mishap? This mistake? NOOOOO--I had to have a go at using the same piece of parchment paper and ruin the 2nd bag.

I thought I would just iron half the design at a time. I decided this at 11 p.m. At night. And my large iron did not just want to iron a half at a time; it wanted to iron just a bit more. And the 2nd bag (not pictured here) melted. Big holes in half of the design. I decided it was time to quit and went to bed!

But the next day I gave it another shot.

Soooo, after experiencing a too-small-piece-of-parchment with not one, but TWO bags, I finally realized that something needed to change (I'm not the speediest of learners sometimes). I decided to use my own parchment paper. Genius!

Remember when parchment paper was hard to find? Well, I mean, Walmart didn't carry it? But Martha Stewart changed all that. Thank you Martha! When she showed how she used it in baking and cooking in her earlier shows, the demand went up, and now, now...Walmart is a purveyor of parchment paper. Thank you Walmart!

The 2nd bag turned out great! No ragged edges! No holes! So remember--USE YOUR OWN PARCHMENT!

And finally, we present,

Bag 1 (with "vintage" edges)

and Bag 2.

Happy Birthday Christy! I hope you like your gift! XOXO

Mrs. D is having a Giveaway!

2010-01-05T19:57:00.000-06:00

Over at Diva Buzz, my friend Mrs. D is having a giveaway! She makes fun, beautiful, and colorful jewelry. Check out her blog for a chance to win:

this;

this;

or this!

What a fun way to start the New Year!

Thanks Randi-Sue!

Christmas Greetings!

2009-12-18T10:36:00.000-06:00

Finally! It's the last day of school before the Christmas break and it's starting to feel like Christmas! My kids are pumped. They have been doing tons of homework every night and they're excited about Christmas and about getting a break from homework!

I took DD2 to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular featuring the Rockettes last night and it was...Spectacular! It was a wonderful show and we had a lovely time!

The costumes, the sets, the dancing were all amazing.

I didn't know what to expect from the show--a lot of high kicks of course, but how many kicks can make up a show? It definitely wasn't overdone.

One of my favorite numbers was the 24 (25?) dancing Santas. Imagine a large, group of Santas, all dressed alike in bright red and white costumes. Now imageine them dancing in perfect precision on a mat black background. So striking! And the choreography was just fun, fun, fun!
I would definitely recommend this show as a fun, family outing.

Here's a lovely vintage graphic from Cyndy's site -- Bon Secours Orphange. You can see the other lovely e-cards she has posted and check out information for Bon Secours. Take a moment and drop by!

Dear Santa...

2009-12-15T22:31:00.001-06:00

Dear Santa,
I hope you have time to look at my list. I know you are very busy this time of year. I hope you and the Mrs. are feeling well and that you are not under too much stress.

I am trying to be good without complaint. Having two teenagers and one pre-teen is very trying at times, especially when trying to keep the homework in check right before Christmas break.

Hmm, what would I like for Christmas? I have given my husband a long list of fabric that I would love to have for Christmas this year. But you know how that goes. He only buys things that he likes and well, he's just not that into fabric. I'm not complaining, he's a great husband, and he makes some lovely choices, but to me, fabric is the perfect gift!

And Santa, I really like Holly's Lakehouse fabric from the Fat Quarter Shop. All the teatime florals in pink, the frosted dots, the pretty teacups--they make me smile when I see them. They look so lovely and our local quilt shop does not carry them. I would love an assortment of fat quarters to admire and sew!

Do you remember when I was a young girl, I asked many times for a hula hoop, but it did not appear? I often reasoned it was because maybe it was just too big to carry in your sleigh. I wish I could say I had forgotten and it wasn't a sad time in my youth, but it was. I didn't understand why. But fabric, fabric would make it all better!

So Santa, if you're able, please send me some Lakehouse fabric.

Sincerely,
Mrs. E

P.S. check out the Jolly Jabber for more Chrismtas wishes. But please put mine at the top of your list!

More dog pictures

2009-12-10T10:28:00.001-06:00

Here's a pic of Brady, Buttercup, and Delilah. They are all getting along very well and look at how well they pose! Better than the kids.

Buttercup loves to play, play, and play. And Delilah and Brady do play with her--just not all the time.

The New Puppy

2009-12-06T17:48:00.000-06:00

And here she is DD2 and Buttercup...

What I'd like to make today

2009-12-03T10:26:00.000-06:00

These are really cute~

And they are on Spoonful of Sugar.

Hmmm, but I really should do a little more house cleaning first. Maybe, maybe this afternoon...

Is your Christmas tree up? My sewing machine is where my Christmas tree should be. And the tree is still in the attic. Maybe the tree will come out later today!

PW in PC

2009-12-02T10:10:00.000-06:00

Pioneer Woman in Ponca City

When did you start reading the Pioneer Woman blog?

I started reading her blog in April of 2009. My dear friend, Mrs. C, had moved to Singapore and it was she that sent me a link to a PW recipe. How ironic! I'm state-side in Texas--I had no idea that the Pioneer Woman blog existed! So I became a faithful reader and started reading recipes and looking at photos and enjoying the tales of life in Oklahoma.

I could relate to life in the country in Oklahoma. I grew up in a small town in Oklahoma (population less than 200) and I enjoy the photos and info on country-living. The wide-open spaces. Cattle. Gardening. Canning.
Cooking with ingredients from Walmarts. Calf fries (I love calf fries). Photography. I enjoy my daily visits and reading her posts.

My current life is the oppostite of PW's. I'm a transplanted country girl in the suburbs of Dallas. (I can see my husband roll his eyes with that--he's 6'4" but when we had the possum in the yard, guess who removed it? I'm just saying....)

I love PW's new cookbook and was making plans to get it signed here in Dallas. Hmmm, book signing. There was a book signing in Ponca City, OK.

Look at the stats: Ponca City population - 26,000
DFW metroplex population - 6 million.
I thought Ponca City might have the shorter line. I made plans to go while I was in Oklahoma for Thanksgiving.

Bright and early (well, not that early) my mom and I hit the highway to Ponca City. Thanks to mom's deft driving skills (read: lead foot) we got to the book store before 10:00 a.m. Brace Books & More, anticipating a large crowd,decided to hand out numbers at 10:00. The parking lot was not filled to capacity. So far, so good!

We parked, went in, and stood in line. There were a few locals waiting for numbers and new friends from San Antonio and Wichita, KS. It was a pretty demure group!

I received number 22! Yes! I was pumped. Population stats of Ponca City (and surrounding areas) versus the Dallas numbers were working in my favor. Oh yeah!

So with number 22 in hand I did a little shopping at Brace Books, a very lovely place to shop. Local history books are an interest of mine. I like to read local history books covering the oil industry, cattle ranches, architecture, cowboys and cowgirls. Brace Books also carries fun gift items, decor, kitchen and a few toys. I just love book stores, so I had fun shopping. I now have a little Christmas reading with the purchase of The Filthy Thirteen.

But after shopping, mom and I had time to kill until the 1:00 book signing.

What to do in the city of Ponca City? Let's go visit the source of the Pioneer Woman's moniker The Pioneer Woman statue and museum!

Here's the entrance to the Pioneer Woman museum which is operated by the Oklahoma Historical Society. I worked for them in the 90's. That's a different blog entry.

The entrance was locked. There were no holiday hours posted but they were apparently closed for the Thanksgiving break. Bummer. But the statue was there for the photo-taking.

The Pioneer Woman was unveiled on April 22, 1930 and Will Rogers was there for the event. My mom told me that her mom had been to the unveiling. How interesting! I never knew that. It would have been interesting to hear Grandma's story of the event.

After the very short visit to the closed Pioneer Woman museum we drove the the Cann Memorial Garden. The flowers were on the way out but the garden was still very lovely.

We then drove thru the neigborhoods looking at the lovely, larger old homes. We then had lunch and shopped at The Walmarts. One o'clock was approaching. It was time for the book signing!

I had taken great care in preparing for this meeting.

Vintage silver jewelry, (purchased at the Rock show)

Cowboy (cowgirl) boots,

(Can you guess what kind of boots these are and what they are made of?)

And three cookbooks, one for me, one for Mrs. C and one for Mrs. D (check out their blogs -- links in the right column).

I was so excited! I've met authors before. I enjoy a good book signing. But I was really pumped!

PW made her entrance. The crowd was so polite. The lovely, elder Drummond daughter accompanied her mom. No MM or other family members.

(Please excuse blurry phone pic.)

"Hi, I'm from Oklahoma...."
"I live in the big city now..."
"Doh!"

I blabbed, I prattled, I gabbled. I got my books signed! PW was very gracious and charming (and very photogenic) Your hair is lovely.

Mom jumped in the photo.

And my book was signed after standing in line for 25 minutes. Thanks Pioneer Woman. Thanks Ponca City and Brace Books!

So now, books #2 and #3 will be making their way to Mrs. D (next door) and Mrs. C (now residing in Nanjing, China) as Christmas gifts.

Well-traveled books after their eventful trip to Ponca City, Oklahoma.

Later, as we driving home, discussing our adventure and meeting The Pioneer Woman (I still don't think mom knows exactly what a blog is), my mom turns to me and says, referring to PW, "She sure is a pretty girl..."

Rain and rain today

2009-11-20T22:10:00.000-06:00

I walked out into the yard this evening and the ground is absolutely soggy. A crepe myrtle we transplanted a couple weekends ago has fallen over on the ground. That should be fun to try and stake back up. The poor thing is dry and crunchy already and looks the worse for wear. I was just hoping it would go dormant and then Spring! to life in the spring. Only time will tell.

So are you getting ready for Thanksgiving? I talked to my older brother today and suggested to him that he fry a turkey this year! He has agreed to do it! I haven't had a fried turkey in several years. I bought a huge container of peanut oil at Costco and mom said she has a turkey in the freezer. We're set!

Here's a picture of both of the puppies. Delilah is the small fluffy dog (we're not really sure what kind of mix she is, but she's very soft and has an underbite) and Brady, introduced earlier, is on the right, a terrier, corgi mix. They're both good dogs and we enjoy their company immensely. We've had Brady one year now and Delilah for 10 months. We adopted each one from a pet-rescue group (two different ones). They are very sweet dogs and a fun addition to the family.

Tomorrow is the Rock Show! My husband loves rocks and minerals and the Dallas Gem and Mineral Society will have their show at the Resistol Arena in Mesquite. It's very kid-friendly and there are several games where the kids can win...what else?...rocks! The kids have been going since they were itty bitty and they enjoy it.

One of the attractions at the show is the Rock Table. Check out their website!

This isn't a picture of the whole exhibit. All the food items are actually stone, rocks or minerals. It's fun to see and the exhibitors are very nice and will answer any questions you may have. We've even donated rocks in the past (though we always forget to look for them).

It's fun to shop and meet the vendors. They are so friendly and offer lots of information on rocks and minerals.

I've received my swap partners (receivers?) for the two Christmas swaps I posted about earlier. I'll be working on projects this week. Some old stand-by crafts and perhaps a new one. I'll let you know how they turn out.

I Signed Up

2009-11-13T08:29:00.001-06:00

I've signed up for Christmas Gift exchange #2! If you recognize this little guy you've been reading Death By Quilting. I've blog-hopped to there from Pat Sloan's website.

I've been following the Cross Country Quilters circle where 12 designers are posting all sorts of fun writings on Christmas topics: fav food, best memory, best gift, etc.... It has been absolutely charming reading how everyone remembers the Christmas from their childhoods.

My only regret is that it's rather hard to navigate.

Here's the list from Pam Kitty Morning:
Gudren
Sandy
Pat
Terry
Heather
Kari
Terri
Sherri
Carrie
Roseann
Linda

So take a tour, see delightful vintage photos and read about some lovely women and their wonderfully fond (and quite humorous) memories.

Trying to focus...

2009-11-10T23:10:00.000-06:00

I pulled out these fabrics today and drafted a pattern.

I'm interested in putting this quilt together so I can take it to Whitesboro and have someone quilt it for me.

What's in Whitesboro?
1. Quilt Shop
2. Lovejoys
3. Franky, a beagle puppy.

But I emailed today and Franky has already been adopted. Hmm, will this derail the quilt project? No ulterior motive to get it finished! No puppy to visit, so no need to finish the quilt to take to quilter in Whitesboro. Nahhh, I'll work on it.

I went shopping for fabric today with Christy. She is looking for fabric to finish out some pre-made curtains. She'd like to add a contrasting band to the bottom to lengthen the ready-made curtains and I've offered to walk her thru it. I think we found a winner! And we saw some lovely curtain samples made with contrasting bands on the bottom. The visual was good because I can picture the end product now. I think Christy will be very pleased with the results!

So, there I was, in a fabric store and, yes, I didn't need more fabric. But... I purchased a yard of lovely, poison-green silk for $12. Yes, another project! The plan, make a long scarf to spruce up an outfit for the upcoming holidays. I love silk. It's so shimmery and has a lovely luminescence to it. And it was green.

Wait! There's more-- I've signed up for an ornament exchange. Make lovely items! Send them to people you don't know! Get a lovely ornament in return! Sounds like fun!

Click on the ad on the side and you can join! Add another project to your list!

Fall in Progress

2009-11-09T21:18:00.000-06:00

This tree is quite lovely in the fall.

It turns bright yellow and then immediately turns to this:

Same tree, three days later. Look at all the leaves on the ground!

And the best thing is...it's not my tree, it's the neighbor's.

But these are in my yard...

I've never had a clematis in November. October was very cool and mild. And you can see the little blue morning glory behind. They are such a lovely shade of blue this year. They kinda cross-pollinate and I end up with purple, light blue, purpley blue, and bluey purple.

These seem really BLUE. With purple-pink centers.

But no wide-angle shot of the garden. The morning glories, though pretty, are very aggressive and have TAKEN OVER the garden. But they're growing, they're pretty, and the color makes me really happy.

And another note of happy--DS finally let me cut his hair. No more busy mop-top. Now it's a choppy, stylish, head of hair. He is a wild man no more!

And Happy Birthday Brady! It's not really his birthday but we adopted him a year ago. And he celebrated by making a huge mess in his crate--at 4:00 this morning. Ugh! So today I got to give him a celebratory cold shower out in the back yard. I got to scrub the floor, scrub the kitchen walls (he did a doggie shake on the way to the backyard), scrub his crate, scrub the crate's plastic insert, and scrub the doggie bed. Eeeeew! And we'll celebrate again tomorrow when he gets to visit the vet for a yearly checkup! Happy adoption Brady!

Getting Started

2009-11-06T19:47:00.000-06:00

Getting started--that's a really difficult thing for me to do. I have fabric, I have some free time, and the two just don't seem to meet with any results.

Occasionally I get results. My friend, Mrs. D, and I recently went to the International Quilt Festival in Houston, TX and purchased copious amounts of fabric and projects. I have completed one project since then, a wool-felt, pumpkin applique. Very cute! Just 10 more projects to do! Well, I don't know how many, I didn't necessarily keep track! But I do daydream about the 2-3 quilt projects I have lined up, the 2 felt projects, 2 redwork projects, 3+ shibori ribbon projects, and 2 cross-stitch projects. Okay, that's more than 10l But I do THINK of them often (and fondly).

I am currently prepping one of the felt projects from Plum Creek Collectibles. You have to preshrink all the wool/rayon felt for the applique. Bummer. Not hard but not fun. But soon they will look like this:

Super cute! Mrs. D has a kit too--we're shrinking together!

Today, Mrs. D and I delivered some COMPLETED sewn hats to the Pediatric Hospital at Medical City Dallas. The Girl Scout troop that I'm leader of made hats for kids with cancer. We used polar fleece and sewed some darling caps. The girls originally wanted to crochet the caps, but our skills didn't advance quite that far. I crocheted some hats during the learning process and donated those along with the polar fleece hats. Good job, girls! It's great to help others and to be "considerate and caring" and "friendly and helpful"!

While we were in the Medical City area, I pointed out to Mrs. D that we were close to North Haven Gardens--one of my favorite nurseries! I wanted to show Mrs. D their vegetable gardens and see what they had growing for fall. We saw some Malabar Spinach, which resembled a Hyacinth Bean vine. It was lovely, with purple vines and glossy, edible green leaves. We got to try a sample (with assistance from an employee, of course) and it was spinachy, lemony, and had a bit more "tooth" than baby spinach--more of a succulent plant. But very tasty. The veggie beds were inspiring--maybe, maybe next spring, we'll get those raised beds installed.

The roses were on sale! The roses in the fiber, biodegradable pots were half off. Ten bucks for roses. So I purchase a Pink Promise, a Hot Cocoa, and a Kimberlina. They are not in the best of shape, but I have planted worse! I also purchased some pansies for the fall/winter season. I found some lovely orange ones and I also purchase some Johnny-Jump-Ups for some containers.

Do you know that Johnny-Jump-Ups are native to Spain and the Pyrenees Mountains? I wonder how you say or pronounce their original name?

And to celebrate my first blog posting, I now leave you with one of my favorite photos. It just absolutely makes me laugh every time I see it. And after 14 years, they both still exhibit this same relationship! Boy, it starts early doesn't it?