Oh Cath!

Is it wrong to want a $55.00 sewing basket????  When I have  perfectly functional one that my Grandma gave me (I'm terribly sentimental about gifts like that) when I was like 10?  Okay, so I saw the Cath Kidston sewing basket a few months ago on another blog and realllllly wanted it.  But thought, um no way in H-E-double hockey sticks am I ever going to pay that much for a sewing basket.  Ever.  I mean, I'm pefectly happy with the one I have, right?  Yep.  So, I keep my embroidery supplies in my sewing basket and so the other day when I was I think working on the tomte I noticed that the liner has come undone from the basket frame.  Now my question is, should I strip the existing sewing basket and fashion my own sewing basket house???  erm.  I don't know yet if I can do that.  Because then it won't be the same basket my Grandma gave me way back when, even though technically it will be still just refashioned. 
I must dash off to have lunch with a fairy princess - aka Charese at the Mermaid Cafe! 

while the snow falls

Look who followed me to work today!  Good thing too because it's snowy out and she adds a little color to the day :)  I made her last night whilst in a blue mood, to help cheer me.  It worked.  I find when I am feeling low that it helps to do something productive like make something cute out of my favorite fabric!  This little tomte is definitely smaller that the Christmas one, I just redrew it to be smaller and set to work.
What else I was thinking about today is all the nicknames that I have for the dogs.  Does anyone else do that?  Like for June, she could be June bug, June Balloon, Juney baby, Bucket (which evolved from Bugette), Bug dog and many many more.  Rocky could be called Runkus, Runkleby, Runk a chunk, Chunk, Chunkus.  Joey is Joe Bear, JoJo.  I also like to sing songs to the dogs - currently I sing to June "Sweet June Balloon, sweetest girl in the whole wide world" set to the tune of Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond.

Christmas recap

So, since the doctors I work for are out of the office they let us have Thursday last week and Thursday this coming week off so we have two long holiday weekends in a row.  Fridays the office is closed already.  OMG I don't think I can handle this much time not working.....jk, jk. I kid.  There's been lots of sleeping, reading, sewing, dog hang time and a little baking going on.  Oh and movie watching.  I rented the new Disney version of a Christmas Carol and I have to say that if I were a kid watching it I might have been scared in a couple of places, but I thought it was really good.  I baked a couple batches of deeee-lishus persimmon cookies.  They come out so very moist and yummy.  This is the recipe I used sans raisins.  I think today I will bake bread?  We'll see.
In the sewing department, I just can't seem to stay away from the pickledish.  I just love the look of a white backround with the Christmas colors.  So, I made a pillow.  It turned out sort of biggish 20 x 20".  I think I will need to make my own pillow form as the stardard I think is like 18".  No biggie.  Here it is unstuffed:

And the back is just a plain patchwork. I was feeling so, um, what's the word I want here??? Accomplished, proud, smug - I don't know. That I actually figured out measurements for squares to fit the final size - something that sort of eludes me I must admit. I usually cut out a bunch of squares I think will fit and then get them sewn together and then duh, must either trim or add more fabric in an odd amount. Does anyone else do that? Anywhoo, here I was all finished and then - ding dong! Realized that I am not a measuring genius as previously thought because I had not thought through an opening for the actual pillow. I'm not ready to even think about zippers yet! So, cut the whole thing in half and added a little fabric panel. yep, genius ;)

Christmas Eve I went to the candlelight service at church, it was very nice.  Seriously sometimes I can't handle listening to carols being sung in person, I get kind of choked up.  It's like all these songs that are so familiar, but maybe in the radio versions or whatnot some of the verses are cut out and then when you sing or hear them sung from the whole thing it just gets me.  I can't explain it.  It's just the way that the old school writers just nailed things.  In a good way.  Also, picked up the next book we will be reading for book club from the pastor's wife.  I have to say that I am already more than halfway through!  Geez.  I can't even help it. 
It seems a little weird to be going to work tomorrow?  After so much time off and sleeping til I please I hope I will not ignore the alarm!

scripture memory here I come!

Okay, so I know - two posts in one night????  But, this is different subject matter to the previous and will be short, I think.  So, like last week (?) I was looking at the Beth Moore blog and was thrilled to see that she made up a little spiral notebook for the upcoming year for scripture memory verses.  Eeeek!  I know I'm pretty much a dork -but a special spiral notebook?  With "Siesta" written on the cover?  I had to have one.  I've checked the mailbox like twice every day since I ordered it just in case I've gotten it that quickly.  The funny thing is that I'm not the only one who HAD to have a notebook - 6,000 other ladies have ordered them so far so they are on back order!  So either 6,000 other people just wanted a cool notebook or 6,000 other people are going to be memorizing scripture all together next year!  I'm hoping for the latter.  So I'm pretty stoked because I had just really gotten it in my head that this next year I need to memorize more scripture.  Then, I just popped over to her blog only to see that she will be hostessing the scripture memory verses again this year!  Perfect.  The accountability will be good.  That's it, just kind of excited to start a new year with a good purpose and a fun new notebook!

Klamath to Chico and back again

This past weekend I drove down to Chico to visit my Mom for an early Christmas.  I soooo didn't want to try and drive down on a holiday weekend!  So, picked the weekend before and that seemed to work well.  Not too much traffic on the way down and like none on Monday!  Perfect :)  We had a good time visiting and shopping and I gave her her gift - a scrapbook of our time in Florida.  Saturday we went to the mall and Kohl's and the grocery store.  Why would we go to the grocery store?  Well, I was on a mission to find persimmons!  And I did - loads of them, all pretty much perfectly ripe!!!!  Ya-hoooo.  So, the funny part was that I looked at the sign and it said .68 cents.  Dang, what a great price per pound!  So I filled the bag and had about 5lbs.  Got to the register and the girl asked me how many I had, hmmmm I don't know?  Ding, ding, ding!  I dawned on me that it was .68cents each, not per pound!  Oh, well - $8.16 for perfectly ripe beautiful orange persimmons - I've spent money on worse things.  I plan to make cookies and hopefully bread, yum.

Sunday we went to Barnes and Noble, grabbed a bunch of magazines and parked it in the Starbuck's. It was fab. We both love the UK and Australian magazines and there was no shortage of selection. Then, on to Olive Garden to meet her good friend Nelly for dinner. It was deeeeelish! I haven't been to OG in like over a year or more! There isn't one here and I hardly get over to Medford.
I also got to meet my best friend Jeannette for lunch, that was really nice as well. I hadn't seen her since Summer, I think?
Here is my Mom's cat, Minerva. Whenever we couldn't find her, we'd look in the guest room on my bed, and there she'd be! She was very reluctant to move.

Okay, so these next two pictures are for my Mom. It's hard to explain what "wet" snow is. On the drive home it snowed basically from Mt. Shasta city all the way past Weed, which really isn't too far. I could tell from the snow on the side of the road that it had definitely snowed over the weekend, but it wasn't bad on the road. So, here is the view while driving. Don't mind the crack in my old school car window :)

Looks yucky, but the road is just wet like it's been raining. Now, if I were driving on this at night it would possibly be black ice.
Then, as I drive through Weed towards Hwy 97 which will take me home, the skies start clearing and this is the view I have:

Wacky, huh??? I just looks like it may have rained at some point during the day, no snow in sight! Beautiful drive the rest of the way home.
So, it definitely dumped snow over the weekend while I was gone, because I left my yard grass and came home to snow:

and my walkway after shoveling:

So, truly you never can tell what the weather will do up here! Today was freezing and windy all day, as I type it is 34 degrees. It will for sure freeze and be icy tonight. I am so thankful for my heater!!!!

weekend finishes

So, here is the finished pickledish, from the quilt-a-long pattern from Comforstitching. I must say, very user friendly, easy to follow, way better than the wedding ring quilt square - erm, circle. Yesterday was my friend Jan's birthday and this was what I gave her. She decorates her house for each season and her theme for Christmas is "Who-ville" inspired.
Back view:

I was a little on the fence about the printed binding but I like the way it turned out!
Okay, so remember how I was going to make myself finish the squares for November and December??? Done and done. The November block was very tricky for me, my shoulders were soooo tense! But, it is finished. The whites don't match perfectly but frankly I can't figure out how to make them match.....so, this is what turned out.

After the stress of that block I really couldn't even make myself do another Saturday. I made a "tomte" instead :) I just drew out basically how I thought it should look, added seam allowances and went to work. Really not work at all though because it made me so happy to make him! And then I knitted him his little scarf. Here he is sitting on my little entryway table. Love.

Yesterday I got down to real business and made December's square. Actually not hard, very easy. She asked for color in the middle with white edges. Quilting as you go is a little time consuming and overall I'm not sure how it works, but I hope she likes it :)

BTW, isn't this the cutest picture ever of June Balloon????  She is always pretty much right next to me while I sew and I had to sneak this picture of her!

drizzly Saturday

Here's what I've decided:  I absolutely need to make one of these "tomte's".  It's from a book called Scandinavian Stitches, I looked for the book at Joann's and Michael's yesterday with no luck.  Her blog is also nice to look at.  But, I can't wait to order a book online so therefore I will do what I've been known to do in the past and WING it!  It shouldn't be too hard.  I don't know why but I've been hiding a little bit from doing my bee squares for last month and this month!  It could be that I'm a little intimidated by them.  Like I've let that stop me before, right?  I will make myself sew them before I can make a tomte.  Yeah, yeah that's the ticket.

So today is rainy and chilly and so I have a soup on in the crock pot :)  I love when I can get up and get something in the crock pot nice and early, and have all the ingredients on hand.  That's really the ticket there - no preplanning involved.

Friday ramblings

Okay, so you know how there's a million zillion tutorials on taking a shirt, skirt or whatever and you trace around it and allegedly it turns out brilliantly???  I haven't been too keen on those because mine doesn't ever turn out very well.  BUT, today I thought I'd take one of my fleece pullovers and trace around it and just see.  The front and back are on a fold - easy peasy.  The sleeves were easy enough to trace around and then I just added hems and ribbon around the neckline!  Sorry, no picts.  You'll just have to take my word for it that it turned out well.  In fact, I'm wearing it right now.  The other best part is that it only used like a yard and half of fleece!  Bonus!

So, since it is my birthday and I kind of count this as my new year instead of January 1st, I thought I'd share some of my resolutions. 

1.  Continue with the weight loss.  I got a little side tracked about August but thankfully have just stayed steady, no losing any more.  I think I might even consult the trainer at the gym since I think it is part of my membership fee about what kind of weight training I should add.  This week I had a sort of epiphany of sorts.  Sometimes it's hard to get out of work in time to make it to spin class, so I just didn't do anything.  Ding dong!  I realized I should at least go and do something, it's better than nothing.  Not the most brilliant epiphany, I'll admit :)

2.  Finish the quilt with all the squares I've received from the quilting bee.  I was sort of waiting for one more person who hasn't sent me her square, but you know what???  I think she's not sending it so I'm just moving on.  And, if she ever does send it, I'll just make it into a matching pillow.

3.  Maybe, maybe, maybe make stuff to participate in a craft fair/bazaar next year.  That's a BIG maybe. 

4.  Pray every day.  Several times.  And try not to get distracted by lists I start in my head, or what I will do when I get to work, or whatever else starts to distract me.

5.  Be better about keeping in touch with people.  I get so caught up with the day to day, and trust me I'm not even a very busy person - it just slips my mind.  Then, I rationalize that it's too late to call, or I have nothing to say so what's the point?  Really I just need to DO it because it's not about me.

That's it for now, what about you???  What are your plans for the weekend?

Keeping cozy

So, Thursday it literally snowed alllll day long!  Even with all that snow, the roads have not been too bad, mostly clear - hooray for snow plows!  This is what my car looked like when I went out to warm it up:

Brrrr.  Yesterday June and I took it easy, as we did today too.  Who am I kidding?  We'll probably chill out all weekend :)  So, what have I been working on?  You'll remember that I tried my hand at the single wedding ring, and was not too thrilled with the results although the ladies at work thought I had gone mental.  So, I tried the tutorial, quilt-a-long from Comfortstitching, the pickle dish.  Results very similar to the wedding ring square (circle?) but a little bit more user friendly.  Only tricky thing was pressing the seams away from the white - the seam automatically wants to go to the white part!

I haven't quilted or anything else yet, but here's what I have so far.  I have a nice bit of advice for someone trying the paper piecing type thing - I used old Joann's flyers for my templates.  The paper is easy to tear away once you've gotten done with it, and it's kind of like recycling a bit :)  So, what do you think?  Not comletely round, but not bad.  There is one spot that didn't want to match up, and I'm going to try reaaaalllly hard to not point it out. 

I put up some Christmas decorations this morning as well, that's always fun to do!   A couple weeks ago Jan invited me over to scrapbook, but I just couldn't scrapbook so I worked on this wreath instead :)  I think it turned out pretty good!  I LOVE these vintage deer and pick them up at the thrift or wherever whenever I can and thought it was pretty much perfect to do a little Christmas wreath vignette.

What about you?  Have you started to put up decorations yet???  Getting in the Christmas spirit?  I pretty much listen to Christmas music all year long, mostly Bing Crosby, so I'm thrilled that it's the proper season to listen to Christmas music!

In other news, I noticed that Beverly Lewis has a new book out!  I'm hoping that the library will get it.....or I might even break down and buy it! 

so nice

I just have to share the nicest thing that someone said to me today.  Whether or not she was just trying to be nice and not completely honest, at this point I really don't care!  lol.  I went to the doctor this morning and she was telling me about taking calcium with vitamin D and then said "you're fair but I can tell I don't have to tell you about sunscreen because there is not a line on your face".  What????  Pretty much, I know my wrinkles but I'm taking the compliment and running with it :)

baby it's cold outside!

So how was your Thanksgiving???  Mine was good, ate too much but it was fabulous!  Last night it snowed some more, and this morning.  I have no idea officially how much snow but there were at least 4-5 inches on top of my car this morning.  The dogs are loving playing in it, Joey runs and bites at the snow.  It's funny to watch.  June pretty much would rather stay on the couch where it's warm.
Here's an icicle hanging from the back porch, it sort of melts during the day, but then re-freezes over night.  Today it's 35 degrees which is pretty warm compared to last week!

I took this picture at work, the snow started to melt off the roof, but then by the time the sun started to go down behind the mountain it refroze!  Doesn't it sort of look like a snow wave???

So, since it's super cold and stuff, I have been sewing. What else is new? Like maybe a month or so ago Karlie gave me a giant stack of quilting magazines to look through. I picked out a few that had projects I'd like to try and took the rest to the library. In one of them there was a double wedding ring quilt instruction thing with a template. There's a pickledish quilt along going on over at Comfortstitching, which I thought about joining but haven't - didn't really want to do a whole quilt really. So, when I came across this article I thought - perfect! And, since it's almost Christmas I thought I'd make just one ring and possibly give it as a gift. So, the thing is that I really like it. BUT the corners are uber tricky so it doesn't really lay completely flat! I'm not sure how to remedy the situation and so I don't think I can give it to anyone, you know? Not that I ever make anything perfect, I just don't want to give something kind of sub-par.


So, what I think I'll do is check out the quilt along and maybe just do one pickledish circle thing.  Maybe that will be better?

because everyone wants a fairy tale, right?

Okay, not an official one, because I sure don't want to be eaten by a wolf or locked in a tower for prince charming to climb up my hair or anything!  But, maybe a little table runner type?  I think last year maybe at the rummage sale I snagged some books that had been discarded from a school that was shutting down here.  I love the illustrations in some of the old books.

This one I originally thought I'd like fo use for embroidery, like I love the little flowery things on the title lettering.  But I haven't been doing much embroidery lately.  I bought a fat quarter of Heather Ross' Far Far Away II owl and pussycat in lilac and have been wanting to use it in something but also feeling extremely stingy with it because I just have a teensy bit. I picked up the book a couple weeks ago and the backround of this page caught my attention:

I've loved the look of light/dark contrasting squares either in a log cabin or triangles. I started rummaging through my stash looking for jewel tones and picked out some of my faves.  What do you think?



That dark purple with the little blue flowers in the lefthand corner might be my favorite fabric right now.  The quilting is a little wonky, I think I was just kind of done and started hurrying through.  It's not terrible per se, just not perfect.

In other news, it is officially Winter here!  It has been snowing off and on all day, which is fine by me since I've been cleaning - ugg.  Unfortunately it must be done.  The good news is that I sorted through some more magazines to drop off at the library.  There is a table in the foyer where people dump off magazines or books to share with others.  I've often found some really great magazines to look at.

another runner...

So I mentioned last weekend that I made a Christmas table runner, and here it is:

back view:

folded up, so you can kind of see the quilting a little closer:

My machine was having major tension issues and the lighter green that I used on the border was thicker than usual so I don't think it was liking it very well.  Overall I think it turned out alright.  The fabric I used for the back I've literally had in my stash over 5 years.  I want to say I bought it when we first moved here which would've been at least 8 years ago!  I bought it with the intent of making a runner with it, before I started quilting I would have just sewn up a hem around the edges and called it good. 

So, in bible study we've been listening to CD's that Sherry has of So Long Insecurity by Beth Moore.  Of course, we all knew we have some insecurity to deal with, and in true Beth Moore style she nails it right on the head!!!  We've been listening to a couple of chapters at a time, and then discussing them.  It's interesting which insecurities we have in common and thinking about what my secret insecurities are that I would just never vocalize.  Not because they're creepy or gross but because sometimes I just don't want anyone to know everything about me.

It's definitely become crock pot weather here!  This past week it snowed again, has had frost every single morning and been under 30 degrees every night.  I know it's way colder but since I can't think of an exact number I'll just put it that way.  Keeping the chill in mind, I will be staying inside mostly this weekend.  5 things I'd like to do this weekend:

1. Finish the runner I started this week (big surprise!), it's in a theme of "fairy tales".  I buy older books sometimes at yard sales, thrifts and such and have this one book from the 70's that has the greatest illustrations that inspired this particular runner.
2. Make something yummy in the crock pot!  I was craving roast the other day, but today taco soup sounds yummy.  It doesn't matter what I make, it's always delish in the crock!
3. Find a new book to read!  I haven't wanted to read any of my books in my queue so I need to find something fun to read.
4. Scrapbook with Jan.  She invited me over Sunday afternoon to do a little cropping.  I have a project in the works so it will be perfect!
5. Start a Christmas wreath.  I had an idea that involves yarn and one of the vintage deer and possibly some flocking :)  Sounds good, yes?

blustery day

It is a very blustery fall day here today! But, the sun is out and it is fairly warm so I'm enjoying it! Yesterday I finally sewed up my block for the Vintage Sheet Quilting Bee for October! Yikes, I'm a little late, huh? So, October was Jennifer's month and she asked for pretty, shabby chic blocks with pink centers. So, this is what I came up with: 



I really like the way it turned out.  The aqua was actually the edge of a pillowcase! 
Last night Kristin had some ladies over for game night, we all used to work together in a billing office.  It was super fun!  This group of ladies were the best ever to work with, so supportive of each other and so much fun to be around.  We all brought a snack to share and laughed a ton and played board games, it was great!
This morning (and yesterday, too, for that matter) I really fought the urge to sleep in till noon like I did last Friday!  Even right now I could probably take a nap!  I have been working on another runner (surprise!) and this time it really is a Christmas one.  Here's a sneak peek.  I was quilting it and had to take a little break because I realized I had sewn the corner of the back to the back!  So, had to seam rip it loose and was about to undo the quilting on the far right square and decided I might need to walk away from it for awhile.  Does that happen to anyone else???  I might need buy some of those clip things to keep it rolled up whilst quilting.

So, that's what I've been up to, what about you???

weekend finishes

okay, so this post is for my Mom, to show her what I've been up to this weekend.  So, Friday night after the laziest day ever I worked on the quilt a little bit.  Mostly just made more leaf and stem squares.  This is what I have so far:

I was thinking about it, and it turns out that I don't think I'm going to add in butterflies in with the large flowers.  Instead, I was thinking I'd border the "garden" and then do a little border of tiny flowers alternating with little butterfly squares.  Then, maybe another border?  Who knows, I'll figure that part out a little later probably.  You can see June's little paws down in the righthand corner, isn't she cute?  I know she sooooo wants to lay right on the squares, but she knows she'll get in BIG trouble.  Heee, hee.

And, I finished up this wreath this morning:

of course, I don't actually watch football, or even really know what's going on!  In fact, I'm just hoping it's still football season!  lol.  It's a little confusing because on facebook my bf Jeannette keeps talking about baseball games, but I haven't heard about the Superbowl yet, so I'm pretty sure I'm good.  But, all said and done, I love the Steelers!  Pretty much have to since my Mom is from Pittsburgh and I still have family back there!  All growing up I just knew that I loved them.  One of the trips back there, right before my Grandpa died, we were in town when the Steelers went to a playoff game, and boy howdy!  you've never seen anything like the love and loyalty Pittsburgh has for "da Stillers!"  Seriously every single person had either yellow and black or some form of Steelers clothing, flag, jewelry you name it on. At the Carnegie museum there was a yellow and black scarf on one of the dinosaurs outside.  A dinosaur at the airport had a "terrible towel".  Very cool.

So, now I'm wondering where to hide tonight while it's "trick or treat" time.  I just don't do the whole Halloween thing.  I mean, yes, I decorate.  But, since I was little I've always hated trick or treating.  I felt funny going to strangers houses and asking for candy.  I felt weird dressing up.  And, candy is bad for teeth.  So, frankly I just don't feel like advocating the whole candy begging shenanigans.  That sounded really harsh!  Really, it's just awkward to be home and not have bought any candy to hand out and I don't really want to listen to someone knocking on the door and feel funny about not answering, you know?

so I....

Have a confession.  Today is the absolute laziest day ever.  Seriously I'm surprised I even took a shower.  Sorry if that grosses you out but I know I'm not the only one that sometimes is too lazy to even bathe.  I slept until NOON today!  Okay, really I woke up, made coffee, drank the coffee and then realized I was too sleepy to be awake one second longer so June and I went back to bed for 4 more hours.  I have not even been out to the craft house (yet) and you know that's an anomaly for  a Friday.
The good news is that I have some plans to actually do something - which is encouraging.  I bought some fabric and tulle with the intent of making a skirt similar to this.  But, I'm going to use a pattern I actually have because every time I follow a clothes making tuturial I am horribly disappointed and have wasted good fabric.
The other good news and probably the reason I was so tired this morning is that I think the work thing is going to resolve that I was so worried about this week.  I think it was something that I was making worse in my own head - does anyone else do that?  Sometimes I think I am my own worst enemy, my thoughts can sabotage and steal my peace.  So, figuring that out is a relief and I could finally sleep!
In other news I have an idea for a fun new wreath!  Once I finally get it together and get crafting I'll start it.  BTW if anyone is into felt it's 4 for $1 at Joann's right now!  I totally had to restock some of my colors so was very happy to happen upon a good sale!

snow already

This morning I woke up and looked outside and this is what I saw: SNOW! Ummm, yuck. Not ready for snow.

Boo to snow.  But, I suppose it sort of matched my mood the last couple days, cold and discouraged.  I've been a little stressed about something work related and it's got me down a little bit. 

But, I guess I'll just have to get over it a little bit because it's supposed to stick around for a bit. 

I'm a little hesitant to share the next item with you.  Because I brought her into work and it was a little of a mixed reception.  But, I think she's kind of silly, a little Coraline-ish.

Her name is Drucilla.  I made her Sunday night.  Mmmkay.  Let me explain.  I was browsing etsy and saw this doll.  And thought: I could make that and I should!  I tucked that in the back of my mind along with the million other projects I think I should make.  So Sunday I had finished the runner, the weather was ewwey and I didn't want to really work on anything serious.  and, let's face it - I love dolls!  I remembered the zombie doll from etsy and set about gathering supplies.  I have been making dolls since I was a little girl, and the thing I love about making them I finally realized this weekend.  As I make a doll, even just getting the fabric together, I start to think of their story, their personality, name, and usually a story comes along with it.  When I used to make the little dolls as a girl, let's say if it was boy doll.  I would think he might play baseball and what color eyes he'd have and who in my other dolls I'd made would be his friends and maybe he'd have a crush on a girl doll.  And on and on in my head it would go.  Sunday was one of those moments when I had to make a doll, no other craft would do.  I'm embarrassed that her shirt is made out of felt, but my other orange fabric I just could not figure out a pattern to fit her and I got lazy.  Plus this is just her halloween shirt.  I've decided that she will have other outfits.  I'm thinking I must make her a boyfriend, equally as eccentric.  I have a feeling they like rock concerts.

with marshmallows please

Here's the table runner I mentioned yesterday. I am actually going to name this one! I've been calling it "hot chocolate on a winter's day" in my head as I was sewing. Fabric all from my stash, which was pretty much all given to me by my Mom :) I had a project last year (?) that was an advent calendar that I needed Christmas fabric for. She gave me a TON of the tan gingerbread man fabric, I still have lots. So, another disappearing 9 patch runner.  I just quilted it with plain straight stitching in the mid section and then random wavy lines along the border. I've decided something, and here it is: Quilting is very like scrapbooking! I usually look at the pictures I'm working on, pick a theme or color scheme, put a color behind the pictures which go onto a bigger piece of paper, matching everything and then adding embellishments. For this table runner I picked the gingerbread man fabric and built from there. So, really, since I've been scrapbooking for years, maybe I was just practicing quilting???

BTW, and this is totally random - next time you make hot chocolate you should totally add cinnamon to it!  And maybe some vanilla extract.  I'm always adding those to my hot chocolate and coffee too, I highly recommend it!  It's delish.




I kind of feel like the brown with white dots is sort of like marshmallows :)  Back view:

By the way, I finished a book yesterday before making the table runner.  It was "The Telling," by Beverly Lewis.  This was the third book in a series about an Amish family whose mother disappears one night not telling anyone where she's going, and the subsequent fallout.  I have to say that there was one part towards the end when relationships are being mended that I cried, it was so tender and sweet.  I'll gladly cry over something like that instead of some of the books I read where it's heartbreaking!  I have to say I'm glad I finished it, I had started the book like over a month ago then set it down for whatever reason. 
I have a big box of books in the spare room that I really need to read.  A bunch of Debbie Macomber, the Traveling Pants series and some Karen Kingsbury.  I have to confess, though that they all seem too serious for me right now.  I'm really wanting something like Harry Potter or Percy Jackson - if only I hadn't already read them all!  Dang it.  Any suggestions???

chilly

Right, so I know that it's not even Halloween yet, but I started a Christmas runner this morning.  Sort of.  I mean, it's not entirely Christmas, like more of a winter runner.  Yeah, yeah, that's the ticket.  Maybe because it's freezing cold today and rainy-ish and overcast and the trees have all turned.  And, because I can just tell that Winter is lurking around the corner.  Especially because Hubs said it might even snow on Monday.  Seriously? I really hope not.  Because it's not even Halloween yet for crying in a bucket!

June the model

I think I mentioned that my Mom sent June this adorable neckerchief??? Well, here she is modeling it, she loves it! Here's an up close of the fabric, I love it!

And, then June was pretty much done with showing off her new duds!

So, I participated in a swap on Swap-Bot that was an amigurumi swap. We were to make any kind of ami and send it to our partner with a list of their "favorites". This is what I sent out, I hope my partner likes it!

Here's a close up of her little face! I think she turned out cute.

Here's what I received:

I totally squealed when I opened the box! This bear is stinkin' cute!!!! I haven't named her yet, it needs to be something earthy but cute. I love the little poof on the top of her head! And the little card with her favorites is so creative! Love.
So, last Friday I think? I made this wreath for the front door. It was so easy to make! I am totally digging wrapping wreaths in yarn and then decorating them, pretty much like the last 3 wreaths I've made that way. It's kind of a pain in the rumpus to wrap the wreath, your arm starts to get tired. But, the finished look I love.
So, here's what I'm wondering - do you ever have so many ideas in your head that you can't even stand it???  That's kind of what I've been feeling of late.  I have like 3 quilt ideas and a bunch of wreaths and table runners and and and and.  I'm so glad it's the weekend and I can work on some of them!

Oh, yeah!  This past Wednesday night I went to a concert, actually here in town!  10th Avenue North, Addison Road, and Matt Maher played in town.  It was a great concert and super fun!  We bought our tickets, all us bible study ladies like 3 months ago to get the group discount and we had the whole front row!!  I was totally cracking up the whole time because like maybe 4 rows back was this group of teenage girls who were screaming and going crazy when 10th Ave N was on stage, and I was thinking how much they would have just loved to be front row!  The message from all the bands was great, so real and applicable and funny too.  The lead singer of Addison Road was so stinkin cute!  She was wearing a cute dress with boots, I think it's great when ppl can pull that look off!  She also has a blog which I've added to my link list because I just loved reading it.  Her husband is the guitarist in the band and they have a little girl who they take out on the road with them, and her blog posts are just so honest!  All of the bands were fab, and our little town is lucky that they came to sing to us!

Scrapbook Retreat Eve

I know it's only 3 o'clock, but I can still refer to this as an "Eve", right?  Totally!  So, can I please tell you that I am super excited about the scrapbooking retreat I will be attending tomorrow with Jan???  Seriously, I can hardly wait!  This morning I was kind of worried about what exactly I am going to work on this weekend.  You see, funds are super low right now so I was thinking of all the things I need to buy for what I want to work on, and pictures to develop, and snacks and whatnot.  So, I was like "God, what should I do???"  Now, granted I don't normally pray about such trivial things as scrapbook supplies.  I guess I figure he's got more important stuff to take care of.  And, then I thought, holy cow, it's not like I don't already have pictures of a different event already printed out, and a TON of stuff in my rolling cart!
Then I heard the mailman walking up.  June started barking like a wild dog.  And then there was a knock.  Hmmmm, the mailman doesn't usually knock - ever.  Almost skeptically I opened the door, and he handed me a package!  June, of course, was wagging her tail by this point - I'm telling you there's no follow through!  What if it was an ax murderer????  Okay, back to the package.  From my Mom, so you know it's going to be fun..........The new book "Material Obsession 2"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  EEEEEEEEEk.  OMG, I was so surprised!  And, tucked inside the card was a check for me, with a note "to your creativity".  Can I please tell you that I started to cry right then and there.  It was such an answer to prayer, even a prayer I thought was a little ridiculous.  She even sent this super cute little denim and fabric dog kerchief for June!
I'm also looking forward to the drive up there.  It's definitely Fall here, and in between the evergreen trees the aspens and sycamores will be brightly colored and beautiful!  Hope you have a great weekend!

Fall Runners

Okay, so the bottom line this weekend is that stippling and I are not going to be friends for awhile.  Like a loooong while.  We just weren't seeing eye to eye, which is actually my fault since I still haven't bought the darning needle.  But, at least I can admit when I'm wrong ;)  I sure did try even with my regular foot since I finally found the part that covers the feed dogs.  But, I had to really pull the material and I don't think that's how it's supposed to go.  Anyways, on to the reveal! 
I'm on my way (after this post!) to deliver this to Savannah.  She had tried her hand at quilting and didn't totally love the outcome.  So, she gave me the fabric that she had bought to try it out.  So, I used some of the fabric she gave me, and some from my stash to make her this table runner:

I really like the way it turned out!  I really just made the pattern up as I went along.  So, then I thought I need a table runner!  And I really liked all the fabrics I used for hers except I pretty much used up all the light colored fabric in the pinwheels.  So, I went by the tutorial for the disappearing 9 patch on  p.s I quilt.  I used the same fabric as her backing and binding on the binding for mine, because I love it!

projection for the weekend

I'm thinking about what is on the "menu" for the weekend, and I'm thinking super low key, and lots of sewing!  I've been feeling like I'm about to get sick for a few days now, so I think I just need to chill out and be a homebody.  Which is kind of perfect timing since I was perusing flickr, as I regularly do and in one of came across this tutorial, which I think is also on Moda?  I've been wanting to try out a disappearing 9 patch pattern for awhile, and have also wanted to try again at stippling so I think this could be perfect.  A nice, smallish project to practice.  And I have a table in need of a pretty Fall table runner. 
I am also going to finish up another table runner that I started last weekend, and it will be a gift so no pics until it's given away.  I have to confess though that it's going to be hard to actually give it up!  I think she'll really like it, though, so it'll be worth it.  I'm also almost done with the HP wreath, just a few finishing touches.  Oh, yeah!  I did start another wreath this morning, I had like 1/2 hour to kill before meeting Charese for lunch at the Mermaid Cafe.  Which, can I please tell you - was ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS!!!!  I had the Med. Veg. wrap which has feta, calamata olives, cucumber, hummus, red onion, spinach and tomato and it's soooooo yummy.  And, I really shouldn't have eaten the whole thing because now I'm a tad uncomfortable ;)  I know you know what I mean!

big nerdy reveal

Okay, remember the post where I mentioned I had a super secret idea brewing??? So, are you ready for the reveal??? I have to warn you that it's super dorky, but I can't even help myself sometimes! In honor of the last Harry Potter movie coming out in November, I am working on a Harry Potter wreath!

It's not completely done yet, but I thought I'd share what I have so far. If you have read all the books (like I have) or watched all the movies (like I have) you'll recognize the hippogriff from the Prisoner of Azkaban, and there's the golden snitch from Quidditch, a broomstick, the Hogwarts castle, Harry's snowy white owl Hedwig. I'm going to fill in with some more flowers and a wand. I also might add a toadstool, because I'm just digging toadstools right now. I might try and figure out how to make the Sorting Hat, but I'm a little stuck there.