Thimbleberries Quilt

It's finished! Wooo-hooo! I took this photo outside, and then I was wondering if I could get a photo that shows the quilting texture a little bit better when Ms. Spike came over to investigate and walked all over it with muddy paws. So I guess this photo will have to do. Now, did you want to see a photo of a dead cat?! Okay, just kidding! No cats were harmed in the making of today's blog post.

I'm posting early today because I have my Thimbleberries Club meeting tonight and will likely be home late. Today's my "Friday" since I have the next couple days off work--I'll go back next Tuesday. It's not looking good for getting my Valentine's quilt done on time, though! I wish I could just load it onto the longarm and finish it up real fast, but I got up this morning and looked around the house and it's just as I thought--the quilting fairies didn't deliver a longarm last night. I haven't decided whether to quilt it next anyway or go on to some other projects I have planned, but I suspect my short quilting attention deficit disorder will tell me to move on. I'm soooooo ready for spring, and I have several projects in mind as well as doing some spring decorating around the house while I'm off work. Hopefully I'll have some photos to share in the coming days, although I don't think I'll have much time for nude photography, so you'll have to wait on any more self-portraits. I know you're disappointed, but you'll just have to deal with it!

Ruth B. McDowell

Yesterday's post and the comments I received put me in mind of Ruth B. McDowell. If you ever have an opportunity to see her speak, jump on it--she's wonderfully entertaining, besides being a great quilt artist. A few years back, our quilt guild engaged her to speak, and it was one of the most enjoyable presentations I can remember. She's warm and witty and her quilts are marvelous! Even if you're not an "arty" quilter, I'm sure you'd enjoy her presentation and take something away that you can use in your own work.

When she came to lecture our group, Ruth brought real "live" quilts with her as well as a top rate slide show of her works. As she showed each slide, she talked about the piece and how it came into being. Near the end of her presentation, she told us that because she had been labeled an "artist," and many artists produce nude self-portraits, she had embarked on a series of quilts in that artistic vein. "Oh, Lord," I thought, "do I really want to see this?" As she clicked to the next slide, I'm sure that those around me had similar thoughts. Quickly, though, laughter broke out as we all saw that her first nude quilt "portrait" depicted her naked feet!

So, with Ruth's example in mind, you'll see in my sidebar that I've posted the first of MY series of nude self portraits! More will follow at some point, I'm sure!

By Popular Demand . . .

Gosh, but you ladies are a demanding bunch! It seems that for some reason, EVERYONE wants to see the results of "the box." Okay, here it is:

Satisfied now?! Just like the box, right?!

Remember KITT, the car from Knight Rider? I know they're bringing it back again for some reason that I can't quite fathom, so if you didn't catch the show waaaay back when, you'll get another chance.

My car's a lot like KITT, except "she" seems to have some kind of psycho-hormonal issues, and she doesn't keep herself up very well. Still, like KITT, she DOES have a mind of her own. Whenever she feels like it, for no apparent reason other than her own amusement, she sets off her alarm. It's embarrassing! I was going to lunch with a co-worker one day, and I was in the car with the engine running and the doors unlocked. When my friend reached for the door handle to get in, the alarm went off. What do you do then? Usually to deactivate the alarm, you put your key in the door lock, but my key was in the ignition with the car running! And it's never the same situation twice, so I can never anticipate when it's going to happen.

Tonight I stopped at Michael's on the way home from work to look for some spring decorating "stuff." I got out of the car and locked the doors, and just as I got about 20 feet away, the alarm started going off. Of course, I had to go back and unlock it and lock it again. It kind of made me wonder if my husband had equiped it with some kind of GPS unit/sensor device that activates the alarm every time I stop somewhere to spend money, but upon reflection, I don't think so. This is the guy who once rebuilt my carburetor and had parts left over. This is the guy who has absolutely no interest in computers. Nope, I don't think it's him. I suspect it's just that I'm the owner of a lonely psycho-hormonal she-car looking for a little attention. I wonder if she'd be happy with a poster of KITT taped to the inside of her trunk?

Beauty Delayed, But Not Forgotten

Those of you who follow my beauty routine are probably getting concerned at the lack of any kind of beauty treatments going on around here. Well, you'll be relieved to know that I achieved in my semi-annual leg shaving a couple days back--gotta get myself ready for Valentine's Day, after all!

And I WAS going to have a whole day-of-beauty experience yesterday, but with all the excitement over opening my Cute Pink Stuff reward after cleaning the house, personal beauty treatments were delayed until today.

As I was wandering down the grocery store aisle a week or so ago, I saw this box "Reduced for Quick Sale." Well, alrighty then! Blonde Chiffon. Just my shade--more or less. Close enough anyway. So here I am with beauty goop applied, waiting for the reveal:

Somewhat reassuringly, my hair didn't all fall out or anything, so I guess it was just "Reduced for Quick Sale" because the shade wasn't so popular or something, not because it causes hair to fall out. Whew! AND I saved myself an extra 50 cents or so to add to my fabric fund! And, by the way, I look JUST LIKE the front of that box now!

The only thing about home hair color treatments that I really don't like are those gloves they give you in the packages. I refuse to wear them. So far, my fingers haven't fallen off from the chemicals, and if someday my fingerprints get eaten away--well, that might lead to a whole other line of work that would add even more money to my fabric fund. It's all good!

Oh, and speaking of it all being good, I DID make use of those silly rubber gloves a little later when I put them on to hang onto the jalapeno pepper I was chopping up for my fresh, homemade salsa. Darn it, though, I kept almost cutting off the rubber tip off one of the gloves, but I think it turned out okay. You don't see any bits of rubber in that bowl, do you?

Saturday Reward

Around here, Saturday usually means I'm going to have to tear myself away from play time for a bit and do a little house cleaning. Since I was able to get the Thimbleberries quilt pinned and my Juki set up last night, that meant having to stop the quilting and start the cleaning--something I was less than excited about doing, I can tell you!

To provide myself a little motivation, I decided that once the house was cleaned, I would "let" myself open a box that arrived in yesterday's mail from Cute Pink Stuff. Well, the house got cleaned, so it was time to open my reward. Woo-hoo! I like rewards! Are you ready? Look! Even the box is cute!

Have you visited Cute Pink Stuff? If you like shabby chic, pink stuff, or even white stuff--heck, if you like anything cute!--Cute Pink Stuff just might have something for you. Last year, I bought a bunny holding a little tray. What did I buy this year?

Poor thing! It needs to get out of all that bubblewrap! Can you see it yet?

Ta-da! Yes, it's yet another bunny! Isn't he cute?!

Oh, and by the way, Cute Pink Stuff's owner, Cindy, has a contest/give away going on over at her blog--"hop" on over and check it out HERE.

House cleaned, "gift" unwrapped, and it's time to get back to quilting--and trying to figure out what kind of reward to give myself NEXT Saturday! I hope you're enjoying your weekend!

What Have I Been Doing This Week?

Everything! Nothing! Dreaming a lot!

Tomorrow (Saturday) is my son's birthday. He'll be 27. Sunday is my daughter's birthday. She'll be 24. It sure doesn't seem that long. Time flies when you're having fun! Earlier in the week, my husband baked a batch of cookies and we mailed the cookies and a few other little gifts (and a nice check) to my daughter, and she picked them up from the post office today. Her "real" gift, though, is something I'm making for her, and it's taking much, much longer than I anticipated, so she'll have to wait awhile for that one. I don't think she reads my blog, so here's a sneak peek:

I'm making this wooden "treasure" box for her. I finally got the top finished tonight, but I still have the sides and the inside to do, although I'm not anticipating them taking nearly as long as the top. Eventually, I'm going to add some kind of feet to the bottom to give it a little more substance. Creating these collage effects means building layer upon layer of paint, paper, ink, more paint, more paper--well, you get the idea. Most of the time is taken up in deciding what to add and how to add it and then waiting for everything to dry so you can move on to the next step. I haven't been playing with these techniques very long and I'm still a novice, but I'm pleased with it so far. I'll show you more as it progresses.

In the meantime, I have all these quilty and crafty ideas floating around in my head--actually, I think the ideas are getting more insistent--floating was fine for awhile, but now they seem to be bouncing off the inside of my skull (it's just a good thing there's nothing else in there to get in their way! ROFLOL!). I have next Thursday and Friday off work, and with the President's Day holiday on the following Monday, I'll have five days off--and enough ideas to keep me busy for five WEEKS!

And remember the Thimbleberries quilt top? And the Valentine dancing hearts quilt top? I really want to get those quilted too. SOON. I've been trying to clear some space on my sewing table to pin the Thimbleberries quilt--time to stop chatting with all of you, my Blogland friends, and get busy doing. The weekend's here, at last! Let the games begin!

But Seriously Folks . . .

Okay, enough fun: Madam Kim has decreed that the sillyness shall cease! But only for a few minutes.

Last night I went to our Jo's Little Women Club meeting. The shop owner, Lindy, surprised us with several treats, and amazingly I just happened to have my camera in my purse--something that's really pretty rare for me. And frankly, I don't remember why I had it, but I was glad I did so I could share a couple photos with you. YOU, of course, will probably be wishing I was a much better photographer, but these will have to do--you're stuck with me and my inadequacies!

First Lindy went next door to the Chinese restaurant and came back carrying tea and little teacups, and then she brought out a couple plates of scones from the Whole Foods store. Lindy figured tea was appropriate for the Chinese New Year celebrations and I think the scones just went with the tea. Or something like that. In any case, it was a nice treat. Sorry--no photos of those goodies, probably because we ate them too fast!

Now I guess I should mention that Lindy's a certified quilt appraiser, and most years, she's participated in our local museum's version of the Antiques Roadshow, doing quilt appraisals. Over the years--and she's been involved with quilting for quite a few--she's collected some old quilts, and she's worked on quilt history projects, like documenting pioneer quilts here in California. There's more to Lindy's background, but I think that gives you a bit of an idea. Anyway, because Jo's club members make small quilts using Civil War/1800s reproduction fabrics and traditional patterns, Lindy brought three of her old quilts for show and tell.

This first one is her oldest quilt, and I believe she said it was made in the mid-1800s. It's really in nice condition considering its age. And darned if I can remember the name of the pattern, but obviously it's appliqued.

The second one, a churn dash, is interesting. Judging by the fabrics in the churn dash blocks, the blocks themselves were made probably in the late 1800s or so (if I'm remembering correctly). Lindy dated the setting fabric, though, to around the 1930s, I think. I guess our generation of quilters aren't the first to make blocks and then fail to get around to piecing them together! Well, we knew THAT I'm sure, but it's reassuring to be reminded, isn't it?! Hey, it's actually TRADITION!

Finally, Lindy showed us a bear paw quilt using the ever-popular cheddar color (I think it came out a little darker in this photo than it actually was). I don't remember when she said it was made, but some of the fabrics have frayed, and the dyes are fading. Still, it's an interesting quilt. Sorry I didn't get a closer photo for you but you know I'm a photography dork! (And, by the way, that's Lindy on the right, holding the quilt and wearing the pink top.)

Okay, that's it! You can be silly again now! And in the "old(er) but still enjoying life" category--

Will Work For Fabric!

(Seriously, I'm not sure if this is a man or a woman, but I'm looking at the hat and scarves and thinking we'll go with "woman." In either case, obviously a person who appreciates fine fiber!)

Super Tuesday!

Yep, I voted. California held its primary election today. Since this isn't a political blog, I won't go into the details, but I will say that one of my criteria on choosing a candidate is who I think Saturday Night Live can get the most laughs with. Now, if they can only end the writer's strike by the November elections, we should have some fun! And speaking of having some fun--

I have no idea who these people are, but a friend of mine sent me some sexy "mature" folks photos, and since I know some of you knit . . . . Well, all I can say is that you ladies are obviously a lot wilder than I gave you credit for! (Just be glad I didn't post the photo of the 90-year-old woman wearing a thong bikini! Now that I think about it, she's probably the one who started the whole Valentine-nighties-in-the-middle-of-winter thing!)

Valentine Gifts

Who first came up with the idea of sexy nighties for Valentine's Day? It might be a nice thought for our friends in the southern hemisphere where it's nice and warm, but the northern hemisphere? Hey, have you looked outside lately? It's FEBRUARY for goodness sake! There's SNOW on the ground!

I'm pretty sure it was a man. I was thinking about it earlier tonight when I was cooking dinner (something also likely dreamed up by some man back in caveman days). If I try real hard, I think I can hear echos of that first Valentine nightie negotiation.

Man: "Hey, honey, if I give you flowers for Valentine's Day, would you wear this for me?"

Woman: "Are you out of your mind? It's the middle of WINTER! It's always the same thing with you, isn't it?!"

Man: "What if I give you flowers AND chocolates? Would you wear it then?"

Woman: "Well . . . What kind of chocolates?"

Man: "Uh, how about the ones in the heart shaped box that they sell down at the drug store?"

Woman: "No way! Absolutely not! Take that nightie and wear it yourself for awhile and see how YOU like it!"

Man: "Well, what kind of chocolates do you want?"

Woman: "Godiva. Godiva chocolates and two dozen roses."

Man: "Okay, I can do that. Is it a deal then?"

Woman: "Let me see that. Why are there pieces cut out of the fabric? You should take it back to the store and get a new one--there's something wrong with that one. I hope they gave you a discount for the damage. No, I don't think I can wear that one."

Man: "What if I give you two dozen roses, Godiva chocolates, and a pair of earrings?"

Woman: "It's February, you know. Winter?! Can I wear a robe over it?"

Man: "How about this: What if I give you two dozen roses, Godiva chocolates, a pair of DIAMOND earrings . . . ."

We should have held out for more. It's WINTER! It's COLD! And now I'm going to have to shave my legs again. Darn!