I've gotten new eye glasses and nobody noticed:

Perhaps all eyes were on Ginger's new purse.....

or the matching outfits in eggplant color that she and Lil are wearing

Or, just maybe they wanted to see more of the journal cover Ginger's sweet friend gifted to her! 

could it have been that all eyes were on the new Quilters Ruler Holder that Bobby has made for Linda?

Or, they couldn't concentrate on my new glasses because of the free stuff table or the eye glasses that everyone else had on

Okay, I know....it was the food and games and -

gifts and

Christie's Christmas table runner...it definitely was an eye catcher!

I can just see it now.  When next we meet....they'll hover over me and disclaim how good I look and why didn't I do this sooner and oh my where did I get those designer rims and gush and gush and gush!  They will....won't they! 

Water Sunshine

Don't you know....you think the world owes you....she don't owe you damn thing
It's given all it can
The rest you must invent
You want it
Go get it

A market tote: blue stripe ticking: in the works

I wanted to make an everyday market tote:  a little larger than the ones of my past -

Simply done - added to the length and width of my existing pattern....thinking I had plenty of fabric for the tote.....wrong!

Oops!  Okay...let's move on to alternate plan B.  I did find this blue, about the same weight as the ticking fabric.  This will do nicely (she says) for the gusset/straps

almost finished - just the top stitching left....then I'll add a button closure.   Yes, I'm a pinner!

 

all done and posted in my shop: For Sale 

The girl can't help it.....she's happy!

SunDried Tomatoes:

Just another day in the sun

But if I put an e-book on my Christmas wish list.....what will I do

with all my favorite bookmarks?

a bookmark collection - handmade:  some fabric....some watercolor....some photography.....based

flowers stitched into a 'fabric vase'

 watercolor and pen/ink

but I really want another battery to charge! I'm told the e-book batteries last and last...but then so do my favorite book markers!  Life:  it's tough:

'In My Room' A modern art quilted wall hanging for sale

I'm just not going to apologize for staying in my room today....making a modern art wall hanging....with straight line quilting and some free-motion pebbles added. 

8" x 40"

$75

Music Monday on Sunday

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Killing the Blues by dami1621

This unlikely pair....make great music!

first you make the brush

My V photoshop brush!

Used to make a poster:

Vee also stands for victory, viewfinder and vole! 

Ocean Waves: with red and white half square triangles:

It's the ocean waves pattern and it's a whole lot of half-square triangle love.....these four 16 1/2" blocks contain 192 half-square triangles.  I chose to make mine with all my little red scraps.   I found an absolutely supurb free pattern at Quilt Inspiration.  Cindy Carter provides very detail cutting, placement and pressing directions to make this one not quite as complicated as it could have been. 

and kitty likes it too

A bridge:

I opened a picture folder this morning that I had labeled "Quebec 2010" and found this bridge over the St. Lawrence River

I had forgotten

A Halloween Storyboard - somewhat after the fact:

Just practicing making storyboards and using clipping masks: (makes sense to me!)

HuMan brought back these pictures from his visit with his daughter and grandson and I decided they would make a great little storyboard.....

Gotta put some bounce in my step:

Another HST quilt sampler is off the design wall and in the hands of long arm quilter  Kathy's Fancy Stitching.  She is only a hop, skip and jump away.....but I decided to put it in the mail to her!   Kathy's custom work is always wonderful, so I can't wait to see what she comes up with for this wall hanging - it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 32" square:  Not pictured is the sampler with two more borders added!  It's from a Calico Carriage pattern.  I just made the inner labyrinth.....there was another labyrinth in the quilt design but I didn't want to make a very large quilt, so stopped here.   I think this size gave me enough bounce for my buck!   Now, I'm off and running:

Lucy and Linus ooops it's Linus and Lucy - Andrew York

 

 

 

Two of a Kind:

Some of my sewing buddies poke fun at me because I like to make two: as in two pillow cases.  But, you see, often times, two is/are required.....case in point:  I made one regular size pillow case to stuff a Christmas quilt in for the four year old niece.....but since I've also made her  little baby doll a quilt, I decided that a mini-pillow case was required to stuff  the doll quilt into!  Makes since to me! snicker

Today's the HuMan's Birthday:

and here is his birthday card ~  Yes....he's old enough to remember who Elaine is and remembers her doing her TV happy dance!  Well, today I'm doing my happy dance, 'cause he is now as old as I am!  What an original idea for an original card for his birthday~

I'm still smiling

Red Stripe Ticking: Potholders

I needed some potholders:  Four just finished and ready to lift the pot of stew off the fire!

Just wait 'til I get you home:



Finley and Jamison

It's been reported that the baby boy is home and doing well.  Big sister hasn't yet learned that she's going to get less attention for the next few years!   But as of this picture taking, she's still loving the little tyke.   Welcome home Jamison Paul, aka The Little Boy.....

Just Concentrate....on whatever you do:

and a good time was had by all

Now head over to The Blogger Quilt Festival

....a semi-annual event hosted by Amy's Creative Side. 

Here's my entry in her happy event - one of my all-time favorites because I used up so many little left over pieces from other quilting projects.  And to top that, all the asterisk blocks were set in white.....just the right fabric to lighten my mood! 

Punctuate with an Asterisk

whatever floats your pinwheels:

Between the front and the back of this little 20" x 26" doll quilt....now valued at approximately $65, if I factor in my modest hourly labor rate.....I spent the entire afternoon deliberating about how to use the fabric Mary had given me.  She just handed me a little handful of fabric with the remark...."I thought these would make a cute baby quilt....."  and I took them from her hands and put them in mine!   Truly, it can be said that just because an offer is made, it doesn't have to be accepted.  But anyway, back to my deliberations.....what I finally did was discard all but three of the fabrics, made pinwheels, floated them in white. 

Well, almost discarded all - I cut and re-stitched two more pieces  from Mary's hand offs then reclaimed one more piece for the binding.    Not sure it was worth the entire afternoon....but, whatever floats your pinwheels:  I always say! 

Paid Hannah a visit yesterday!

and came away with this: 

 Birdhouse fabric and yellow/black stripe fabric for a crib size quilt for Jamison....he's the little baby boy!

Yellow dot for back of quilt and binding in the blue birdhouse fabric ~  Shop with Hannah's Quilts and the butterflies are free.....

Life is my oyster: a collage

And today is my pearl ~

Start here:

and continue on!

I promise:  life is good

My Turning Twenty: Just Got Better!

In my quest to find even more possibilities for using half-square triangles ~ I found Tricia Cribbs Turning Twenty updated version - it all just got better! The original turning twenty block is still there; however, once that block is made, then you draw the diagonal line through the center, sew 1/4" on either side of the line, cut on the line! Yep.....it's now a half-square triangle block. I chose to do this one in dark and light fabric for diagonal contrast. And I could find no better way to use these big prints: 

It's not quilted yet, but!  look at the statement it makes draped on my patio table! 

There's a madness to my method!  of making yardage for a quilt back.  I measure the quilt top, add a few inches, then multiply the width by the length.  For instance, this quilt top is 70" x 84".  I decided to make the backing 75" x 90"....good round numbers.   Multiply w x l =  6,750 sq inches!  Now, the madness comes into play.  I don't have a single fabric that even  begins to qualify as large enough so I must - therefore - make yardage.  I gather all the fabric left from the quilt top...add more coordinating fabric from my stash, measure and multiply - until I get 6,750 sq inches....and then some. 

Draft a paper road map....then sew up.  I now have approximately 6 yards of fabric all used up and this baby is ready to go to one of my favorite long-arm quilters!

Hope your days are as fun-filled as mine: 

Great dance routine by some (not so old) old timers.....