Cat Man Boo!

MeeeOOOw! I made these cute wool pillows last week! Every now and then I just need to do some hand stitching...before the arthritis sets in. Plus, I'm hoping to scare up some cool fall weather with my new pets.

Back to School!

Rise and shine! It's time for the kids to go back to school! Back in April, I promised my sister that I would make her a pin cushion for her new sewing area. I dutifully wrote a reminder on a little sticky note and stuck it to my computer monitor...Then, summer vacation started and the kids took a break from homework and I took a break from sewing. Until 2 days ago. I ripped that sticky note off my monitor and commensed making a pin cushion for my sister. I pulled out a much used pattern by Carrie Nelson from Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. and made a little chick for me and a wild and crazy teenager-chick for my vibrant sister. I wonder how long it will take for me to get this little treasure in the mail???

Beehives and Babies!

Make sure you scroll down to see my previous entry, from about 10 minutes ago....it was what I did in April.  May pretty much flew by.  However, I did take one afternoon to make a little wool project.  I'm not sure what to do with it, but I needed a quick something to make.  So, I had this laying around and decided to cancel all housework for the afternoon.  I can't remember if I made dinner that night or not...Sorry kids!  I hope we had some leftovers. 

Speaking of procrastinating...Months ago, maybe 6...or so, Ben told me it was time to make a little baby blanket for some friends.  Well, because of the Challenge Quilt {see below} I didn't get around to it.  Until yesterday afternoon.  Because the baby was born yesterday morning!  A and I raced to the fabric store to get some cute flannel.  It was hard to make up my mind, so I might have brought home several selections, but anyway, I settled on this cute blue and tan puppy print and some awesome shaggy/furry, brown minkee that is soooo incredibly soft and snuggly.  A was snuggling with it the whole way home!  {A and I have been complaining for 2 days now about not having baby blankets this snuggly when we were younguns.} 

The Challenge Quilt

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer.

O.K.  Here's the story...Last September in my quilt guilt I agreed to take a HUGE challenge.  The challenge was to design a quilt based on a work of art by one of the Masters and it would be judged at our meeting in May 2010.  After much squirming and procrastinating, I finally got started on it in March-ish.  There are lots of things I like about the painting {oh, and by the way, I picked the painting.  My youngest son and I both like Vermeer, so we just had to narrow the playing field down to one painting...of course, I narrowed it down to 3, not 1-until I actually started designing-in April.  Choices.  They are SO hard to make.  Sigh.}  To me the girl looks like a young teenager who is trying to look older and maybe even a little seductive.  I like that the painting isn't way colorful.  I like the mustardy tones with the blue band and the blush lips.  What I think of when I gaze at the innocent face is...flowers.  I challenged myself to use unconventional fabrics.  Soooo, because I wanted a textured, soft, black background, I used two different types of microfiber-along with the traditional cotton and also some wool.   AND don't forget the pearls!  AND don't forget the most important part...I used stuff from my stash.  So, once again, it didn't cost my anything!  Well, actually, I might have bought some stuff.  But I didn't end up using it.  So, it was still $0.  Right?   A little drumroll.......and here is my 3rd place little quilt......

Flying the coop!

Here's a little project I finished a few weeks ago...He is "something new" {an art quilt}. The pattern is by McKenna Ryan and I used batik fabrics. Which I've only done once before! He's going to find a new home at my "big" sister's house. I hope that he finds a home in the house and not the chicken coop. We'll see. Cock-a-doodle-do!

Cool April Fool's Joke

 

A&B are not happy about this joke that Mother Nature pulled on us. But, since I love snow, I think it's great! It's only 6 inches and it will be melted again by next week. Who wants to do yard work anyway!

Frustration

The awsome guitarist, Jake White, has a song entitled "Frustration" that I just love AND that is what I am feelin' right now! I still can't get my quilt picture to upload, but even more than that is the fact that my beloved iPod got the dreaded sad face icon Saturday night. I searched all of Googleopolis for a cure, but nothing worked for me.

You know, when the furnace quit working last Friday and it was snowing, I didn't even freak out. I just thought to myself, "Huh, guess I'd better call someone to come and fix this on Monday." But, my ipod quits working and I can hardly function! What am I going to do now? Listen to the radio? Commercials, yuck! I attribute my ipod to helping me keep my sanity when driving with the kids in the car. It's the only way we can find music or books to listen to that keep us from touching each other. Plus, music is woven into every thread of my life! That's why I have some soothing Celtic Woman playing on the cd player in the kitchen, right now.

O.K., enough said. I'm going to be fine now.

And, here I am! Having a great day with my Sweetheart at the Phoenix Open@the Skybox on the 16th hole. It's good to have these visual remembrances of carefree days. Thanks for listening/reading....again!

Final Month of the BOM

Ta Daaaaaah!! This is a bittersweet moment. Sniff, sniff. But it's over, finished. Until I start something new. The final installment of the Block of the Month (BOM) was to piece the triangle units and put the whole thing together. I actually did all this over two weeks ago, but I've been suffering with technical difficulties. The tape I normally use to stick my blocks on the wall was not strong enough to hold up this bad boy. So, I had to get some extra strength, extra manly, extra buff tape to get the job done. Speaking of men, my man says that he is going to win the drawing for this quilt. We shall see....I still have to quilt it and find some awsome baubles to embellish it with. Remember to check back peiodically. I still plan on getting some cute little projects finished to give away over the summer, or fall, or sometime. Thanks for all the support and encouragement you've given to this middle-aged hausfrau! {Speaking of technical difficulties, the picture won't upload to the blog post. Don't know why. It's just another Julie thing. I'll keep trying. Come back again in a couple days and see if I've figured it out. Sorry!} {Update: Apparently, the price of living in the country is not being able to get ample speed to send the information to Google? Got the picture to work with B's trusty Verizon connection.}

Oh where, oh where have the cake balls gone?

As usual, my photography skills are lacking, but these little numbers are fabulous! They are cake balls made with triple chocolate fudge cake {OOOOh, love chocolate} and cream cheese {cReam cheEse!} frosting all smooshed together and formed into balls that are dipped into cHocoLate {the REAL stuff}! So, it's a darn good thing I snapped this little picture before everyone got home, because somehow....You know what happened, don't you. The dog jumped up on the counter and ate them ALL! Just kidding!!! Actually, I think the eating was done by a combination of my three kids, my nephew Alex, and my Sweetheart. AND I might have had one-or two. Next time I think we will try carRot cake w/cReam cheEse frosting dipped in white cHocoLate!!!?! Sooooo Gooood!

Finally-The February BOM!!!

Hello! Well, what can I say...February was a busy month. I've had this month's flower blocks about half way done for weeks! Weeks!! Somehow I had a delay with the annual Triplet Birthday Weekend with Connie and Debbie and then I headed off to the Phoenix Open with Ben. And I must say, that was a blast! Who knew it could be so much fun watching other people golf. Anywho, March is the last installment of this BOM (Block of the Month). Then I just have to sew it all together and get it quilted. "No Problem." {Ahhh, the immortal words of Alf. Do you remember Alf-from the 80's t.v. show? Light brown, furry, sarcastic creature from Melmack? Gotta love him.} I have been making some plans for a few summer give away projects! So, stop in and visit once in a while or you may miss out on some projects full of awesomeness!

January BOM

Horray! I have this months blocks finished with over a week to spare! This month's blocks feature Spring Bunnies leaping for joy and jolly fish floating in a babbling brook. I'm SURE that there is a better way to photograph these, but the fish block is over 50" long! Feel free to leave me any photography comments you have! Stay tuned in for more...Also, here is a little lap quilt I made in 5 days {from cutting fabric to the final hand stitch on the binding}!