Sometimes I Change My Mind . . .

Those of you who blog--do you find yourself thinking you're going to write about one thing and you end up writing about something totally different? Do things happen throughout the day that you think may end up being the subject of your next blog post, but then something else comes along? It's funny the way that happens!

This morning I was bugged about single roll toilet paper. Yeah, it's funny what my mind wanders off onto. The story there was that a couple weeks ago, Hubby had to get something at the grocery store, so he took our running grocery list with him and picked up everything we needed--except it turns out that he doesn't know anything about the finer points of buying toilet paper. So he brought home a HUGE package of 144 single rolls of toilet paper that need replacing about six times a day, and that annoys the heck out of me. (Okay, yes, I exaggerate a little but really--is there EVER an opportune time to run out of toilet paper?)

But the day moved on and I forgot all about the toilet paper (until I came home from work). In the meantime, late this afternoon I thought that after surviving a super busy day at work, I'd come home, take a nice bath, and go to bed and read a book. I thought maybe I'd even shoot the third in a series of nude self-portraits with me naked in bed holding a book which, of course, would prove that I'm not only creative and naked but I'm also literate. Cool, huh? Except when I got home, I found that the long stretch of television reruns seems to have ended, and an early night in bed would mean missing a couple of the shows that I normally enjoy--at least enough to quilt along with. So there went my second blog post idea.

What I did instead of reading was to baste the next basket block pieces, and that got me thinking again. (When you reach 50, the act of "thinking" is an event that I would liken to jump starting a car battery--it's kind of a big deal, at least when you remember doing it.) I never can predict when a blog post will elicit a lot of comments. Yesterday's post about the football cops, the Valentine topper, and the basket blocks got an amazing number of comments--I was quite surprised! So I thought I'd just write tonight's post in response to a few questions that were asked in the comments.

Yes, I might turn the basket quilt into a pattern for sale, but there's really no telling how long it will take me. I'm trying to remember to keep notes of what I'm doing. I'm also trying to keep the applique reasonably simple. The problem I envision is that quilters often want a layout of the positioning of the applique in each block, and I don't want to draw up 13 separate blocks when all that's really necessary is to move the pieces around and audition the positioning. Still, that's hard for some people. So I'll see how it goes and ponder that a bit.

The basket handles. Yep, it's red rick rack--I started with a thicker, larger rick rack when I laid out the first block, but it really dominated the block, so I switched to the medium size. I've been watching rick rack trends a little bit and looking at quilting magazines to see how different designers are using it in their quilts. I took the general feel of what I've seen and used white embroidery floss to sew down the rick rack in a way that would also look decorative. I like the way it's turning out!

Finally--how much fabric should a person should buy? I highly recommend that each of us purchase a quilt shop, but I realize that's not practical! Seriously, though, someone mentioned they wished they'd ordered three charm packs of L'Amore instead of two and how do you know how much to buy if you don't know what you're going to make? Yep, I understand completely. If you want to make the Valentine topper, just use your two packs and match up 25 of the squares for the diagonal cut triangles. For the center squares, use what's left. If there's not enough, look in your stash for colors and patterns to supplement what's in the charm packs. It's do-able. I only ordered two charm packs of L'Amore too and I don't know what I'll do with them, but I was just looking at my little "stash" of Schnibbles patterns, so maybe there's something there that I'll make with the L'Amore charms.

I wonder how many comments there will be on this post? My prediction is somewhere around 6. Unless several people want to mention their strong feelings about single roll toilet paper, future nude self-portraits, writing applique quilt patterns, rick rack, or buying fabric. And if you do, I'd love to hear from you! By the way, does anyone know why they even MAKE single roll toilet paper anymore?!

This, That, and the Other

I have a couple things to talk about and none of them go together! First, in the news . . .

Here in Sacramento there's an annual football game that takes place around Superbowl time, I think--it's called Guns and Hoses, and it's the police/sheriffs against the firefighters. The money raised goes to some kind of charity, I believe, but sadly I've never been very interested in going to one of the games. (Why? Why don't I want to go see a bunch of hunky-looking, heroic-type men in tights? Am I nuts?!! Note to self: Rethink this Guns and Hoses thing. Talk to Gran, Orcsmom, and Colleen. After all, it's for CHARITY!)

Today the law enforcement team was practicing on the field of a local high school--in fact, it's the high school my kids attended and within a couple miles of my home. As they were practicing, two men ran into the field, chased by a couple of uniformed officers. Yep, you probably guessed it already. The football player cops attempted to stop the running dudes and finally tackled them--turned out they were suspects in an attempted burglary and were trying to escape the uniformed cops. What a great stupid criminal story, huh?! You can see the news story HERE.

Now, on to the quilt stuff. A couple of you have left comments asking about the Valentine's tabletopper, so I thought I'd post some directions. It was super simple to make and probably took less than a weekend from starting it to getting it quilted, bound, and on the table.

I began with three matching charm packs with around 30 squares in each pack. I cut the squares in the first pack to 4-1/4". With the other two packs, I paired up the squares from each and cut them on the diagonal. Simple so far?

For each dark 4-1/4" center square, I paired it with four matching light triangles. For each light 4-1/4" center square, I paired it with four matching dark triangles. I then sewed the triangles (seam on bias edge of triangles) to the center squares and pressed open. I suspect I then trimmed them all a little bit to 6-1/2". For the setting, I arranged the blocks in five rows, five blocks in each row, for a total of 25 blocks. I alternated light center, dark center, etc. I pieced the leftover blocks into the back. Finally, I added a 4-1/4" border. Here's the photo again so you can see what I'm talking about:

When I quilted the topper, I just made free motion hearts in each block--I'm pretty sure we all knew how to draw hearts by the time we were 7 years old, so quilting them free motion is one of the simplest things! I started with a smallish heart in the center of each block and echoed the quilt line around and around until it filled the block--then I stopped the stitch line and moved to the next block.

At the Bearpaws open house yesterday, I mentioned the red and white baskets I was working on and I realized I hadn't posted a photo of my progress--three baskets appliqued; ten to go. Not too bad, I think! So, finally tonight, I thought I'd show you a photo--

If you look, you can probably see how I've used the same basic floral shapes but in different colors and different arrangements--I think this idea is working out pretty well to give the baskets variety without being too different from one another.

Time for bed--thanks for stopping in to visit!

Bearpaws & Hollyhock's Open House

and Meet the Teachers event was today--

It may be that I'm just suspicious by nature, but sometimes I wonder if Lindy, the shop owner, just holds these things every quarter to lure the teachers into the shop to pre-spend all the money they'll earn teaching!

By the way, I'm blaming Gran for the Rouenneries--I'd been resisting buying this line until she started asking me about a Schnibbles pattern that uses it in the pattern model. And that Miss Rosie pattern? The fabric used in that quilt on the cover was Beach House--which I swear I bought some of when I was in Tahoe, but can I find it now? Maybe I was dreaming? I remember touching it, carrying it around the shop, putting it down, picking it up, and lusting after it, but I wonder whether I finally put it back? Naaaaaaah! It's gotta be here somewhere--I just don't know if I'm looking for charm packs or jelly rolls. Of course, either way, it won't be enough.

I don't know about you--tell me if you do this too. I'll go a couple months without buying any fabric (other than the occasional fat quarter, which doesn't really count, does it?), and then I'll suddenly find myself out of control! I don't suppose there's anything like a stitch regular for fabric shopping, is there? Oh! Did someone say "budget?" Is that a French word? Sorry, I don't understand! (I'm sure glad I didn't make any of those silly New Year's resolutions about fabric buying!)

Christmas? Valentine's Day? Easter?

Does anyone know what holiday it is?! Well, yes, I actually DO, but tonight's post covers quite a few so it seems a little confusing! I thought I'd show you what I've been working on this evening--a wool bunny pillow:

Why a wool bunny pillow? Well, I'm going to teach a class about wool in early February, and since tomorrow (Sunday) is the open house at Bearpaws & Hollyhocks, I wanted to have something to show. In my class, I'll talk about working with wool, where to find it, and how to prepare it if it isn't already prepared. I'll also give the students a pattern and a kit to work with. I'm thinking about offering a choice of a couple kits, and this would be one of them.

Before Christmas gets away altogether, I wanted to show you the box my friend Missy gave me--the box was actually the gift although it was filled with lemons. She does a really nice job decorating these, doesn't she?

Now on to Valentine's Day--I promised to show you some of the quilts and decorations I put up yesterday, so here they are:

This is the quilt I taught in my first class last year--some of you even bought the class pattern--which makes it the first pattern I sold as well!

The kitchen hutch, above, and the chest of drawers area, below--with the Valentine tree.

The table, with a quilt made from charm packs--this was a quick and easy quilt to make.

And then there are the snowpeople occupying the guest bathroom. There are more than these guys, but this is the largest concentration.

If you're in the Sacramento area, and are out and about tomorrow afternoon, stop by Bearpaws & Hollyhocks' open house and say hi! Thanks for visiting.

See Ya Later, Christmas!

I thought I'd do a little cleaning on New Year's Day--just so I had a clean house for the rest of the weekend. What started out as a little cleaning turned into a much larger undertaking involving banishing Santa Claus and his friends to the garage for another 11 months.

Hubby took down the tree in the living room a couple days ago, so that was done, but I think I was just TIRED of Christmas and ready to do the rest. Sort of. You see, if you haven't been reading my blog since last Christmas, then you probably don't know that not all of the Christmassy things are banished right away--some linger on into late February.

It was hard, this year, trying to decide whether "peppermint" could translate to Valentine's. In some instances, I decided that it could, and in others, I decided it couldn't. But as near as I can tell, my kitchen is now ready for Valentine's Day. And yes, as a matter of fact, I DO have a Valentine's Day tree. I'll try to get photos to show you tomorrow when the lighting's better.

And the "guest" bathroom? It's still heavily populated by snowmen and snowwomen (are there two "w"s in snowwomen?). I know several people who leave their snowmen out after Christmas and some who don't even GET them out until after Christmas, so I think I'm in good company there. But they'll probably melt away in another few weeks--as will the snow village that's still on the mantle.

Following my family's tradition, we had tamales for New Year's Day. When I was growing up, my dad worked at a liquor store in a part of town that was heavily Hispanic and many of his customers would bring him tamales they'd made at Christmas, so that became our traditional New Year's meal--either on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. It was always fun to unwrap a tamale and see what was inside--usually beef, but sometimes pork or chicken--because the tamales came from several different families. Because I made all those tamales last weekend, I had plenty on hand, and they're so easy to heat up for a good and filling meal!

And speaking of tamales--Boy Boss's birthday was last Tuesday, and it's become tradition (three years now, I think!) for me to bring him a dozen tamales on his birthday, which is one of the reasons last weekend was my big tamale-making fest! Boy Boss got another birthday gift today--albeit a late one--when Ohio State (his alma mater) beat Oregon in the Rose Bowl. Go Buckeyes! The fun part of that match-up is that his wife's side of the family has ties to Oregon, so it's been quite a rivalry in the weeks leading up to today's game.

With having put Christmas behind me (quite literally when you consider the calorie- and fat-laden treats we've been enjoying!), my thoughts are turning now to Valentine's. I didn't THINK I needed to make any Valentine's Day quilts this year but now the bug's hit me and I ordered a couple charm packs of L'Amour by Sandy Gervais. How about you? Have you started to think about any Valentine's Day projects? Need any inspiration? If so, go visit Melissa HERE and she'll point you toward a project or two!

Tomorrow I'll be back with a few photos of my decorations and past Valentine's quilts. Happy stitching!

Start as You Mean to Go On

THEY say that what you spend your New Year's Eve doing, you'll do throughout the year. Or maybe it's what you spend your New Year's Day doing, you'll do throughout the year. THEY say a lot of things, and I've heard THEM say both. So what are YOU doing?

Our office closed a few hours early today, so I came home and took a little nap--stolen afternoon naps are the yummiest, aren't they?

Hubby cooked a simple but tasty dinner for us--grilled chicken breasts, green beans, and potatoes--and we've been spending a quiet New Year's Eve at home. We watched part of an older movie together and then I headed to the Sweat Shop and left him in the livingroom watching sports of some sort--hockey, maybe. I just took a cherry pie out of the oven, and we'll share some once it cools a little.

I also spent a little time this evening blog hopping, visiting many of my internet friends to wish everyone a happy New Year! If I missed you or didn't comment, please know I hope this year brings you all the best!

In my visits, I found that some of my bloggy friends were disappointed in 2009--some for personal reasons but more often than not because of the crazy happenings in the world. I wonder though--when HAVEN'T there been crazy happenings in the world? I'm not sure there will come a time when people, groups, and/or nations aren't creating havoc of some kind. And although we may suffer through their actions, we can't control them. Yes, the economy has been terrible and many of us were affected in 2009. I hope it gets better; and I believe it is starting to turn around. Yes, there are crazies out there. And bad people--politicians, celebrities, leaders of all kinds. But I think there are many good people and many good things to be happy and grateful about. Quite often, we just don't hear about them. We need to pay more attention and recognize the good for what it is.

In my own little world, 2009 brought unemployment to Hubby, and we had to scramble a little to regain our economic hold. We did, we learned a few lessons, and I think we're actually better off in some ways. 2009 also brought the beginning of my quilt teaching "career," as well as a start to my little pattern design business. A friend told me she's really noticed a change in me this year, and she thought it might be due to increased self-assurance and a happiness I've derived from teaching. I suspect it has something to do with my bloggy friends and my local quilting pals as well! Maybe one of the biggest steps I took in 2009 was to quit smoking just about six months ago. And Soccer Son asked his Lovely Wife-to-be-Someday to marry him--and she said yes! So all in all, 2009 hasn't been too bad.

And tonight, on New Year's Eve, I'm settled in with a few of my favorite things.

So, if it's true--that you should spend New Year's Eve/New Year's Day doing what you would like to be doing all year long--then I'm pretty well set. Drinking hot chocolate, reading your blogs, eating cherry pie, working on my basket blocks, spending a little time with Hubby, napping, and--yet to come--reading. Good stuff!

Happy New Year to you and your family! I'm wishing you the best in the year to come!

Red Tiddly Winks

A couple years ago when I was a little kid, I thought red tiddly winks were the coolest things! The smaller red "winks" were semi-see through while the blue and yellow "winks" weren't. And somehow, the red ones always looked good enough to eat--kind of like they should taste like candy. (They didn't, but that didn't keep me from "testing" them every so often.) I never really saw the point of PLAYING tiddly winks, but I could look at and touch those red tiddly winks for hours!

Now, here it is, a few years later, and I have that very same feeling about this--

Santa's gift that he had the Fat Quarter Shop help him with arrived--the kit for Frosted Windowpanes! Yes, it's a little bit late, having arrived a few days after Christmas, but that doesn't matter one little bit! I could look at and touch these red tiddly winks beautiful fabrics for hours! (And see the card from Santa? How cool is THAT?!)

I almost didn't unwrap the kit though--I kind of liked the way it looked in its shiny cellophane wrapping (and it surely kept me from doing any damage to the fabric in the event I was tempted to lick it to see if it tasted like candy!), but I noticed there was something in the kit that didn't look quite right. Guess what? Santa ALSO sent me a Moda tote!

I guess I WAS a very good girl this year!

I'm also kind of giddy tonight because not only have I ordered several of the books you've recommended, but I decided to make a run to Borders during my lunch hour and buy one--just to get me through until the others arrive in the mail. Somehow by the time I got to the checkout counter, I was carrying THREE books. And while I was being rung up? The cashier told me how good The Piano Teacher was--she just finished it before Christmas. Sheesh! So, here's what came home with me--someone left a comment about The Sugar Queen and it sounded good (besides--there are PEPPERMINTS on the cover!); I've looked at the Historian a few times, and the Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club sounded like it might be a decent book (even if I don't knit):

As far as hobby/pasttime supplies, I think I'm pretty well set for beginning 2010. Gosh, I feel just like I'm holding all the red tiddly winks!

Cool!

Thank you all so much for the good reading suggestions. It just tickles me to death when so many of you "participate" and leave comments. And if any of you are interested in finding a good book, check yesterday's comments for suggestions as well as a few below.

I had my applique and basket block out and the pieces positioned to work on tonight, but I've realized there's nothing on television I'm interested in watching! So, I think it's early to bed for me with the book I'm reading instead of working on applique.

Elaine mentioned in a comment that when she comes home from work, she's too tired to do much other than collapse, and I've heard the same thing from other people. And who doesn't understand that sort of tiredness? For me, quilting is my "play" time--it re-energizes me. I also think that quilting uses a different part of my brain--the creative side--than what I use all day long at work, so maybe that's the difference for me. I DO find that when I'm between projects, the thought of coming home after a day of work and STARTING something new is awfully daunting, so I'll often put it off. Maybe it's that big step that keeps some of us from quilting after work? Or maybe it's just the press of other duties and chores? But if you come home from work and collapse, and you're not happy with doing that, I'd suggest that after dinner, instead of heading to the couch, head to your sewing place--just for a half hour. A half hour a night isn't that long, and just think how much you can accomplish over the course of a week or a month. But more importantly, I bet you'll find that at the end of a half hour, you're having fun and not ready to stop. And I bet that once you get into a habit of being creative in some way each evening, it will become second nature. And no, I'm not advocating you abandon spouse and children each night. I suspect they won't really miss you in a half hour but if they do, find some hand work you enjoy that you can work on while you socialize with the family--embroidery, applique, working with wool, whatever. But if night time quilting isn't for you, then there's always the weekends for "play"! And on week nights? Well, there ARE books, of course!

Thanks to your suggestions, I've ordered The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and The Friday Night Knitting Club. I've read a few of the other books mentioned and I've added some to my "wish list" too. Tell me this, though: Have any of you read Olive Kitteridge? I started reading it and was bored to death--I felt like I just didn't "get it," so I set it aside. I think most of all, I didn't really like the characters much. The book is still on my nightstand and I wonder if I should pick it back up and read a little further or take it to the office and give someone else a chance? After all, reviews of the book suggest plenty of people enjoyed it--maybe it's just not for me. What do you think?

Another book I was wondering about: The Time Traveler's Wife. Someone loaned it to me ages ago and I haven't read it. I've heard some good things about it but I was worried it might be a little too Sci-Fi for my reading tastes. Any input?

Now here are a couple recommendations from me for good reading--as you may notice, I enjoy series books. First Will Thomas' series that begins with the book Some Danger Involved. I've mentioned the book before but it's worth mentioning again--kind of Sherlock Holmes meets Wild Wild West. I'm anxiously awaiting the sixth book in the series, but I think it will be a little while. Hubby likes this series too. Check it out.

Charles Todd's Inspector Ian Rutledge series that begins with A Test of Wills. The main character is a shell shocked WWI vet who returns to his Scotland Yard job accompanied by an imaginary "friend" of sorts--kind of a dark and quirky series but really well written and thought out. And, oddly enough, I believe this is the series that is written by a woman and her son, but they do it seamlessly!

Finally, along somewhat similar historical and genre lines, there's the Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear. I like Maisie!

Time now for bath, bed, and book. Oh, and maybe a little hot chocolate too! Thanks for visiting!

Moving Along . . .

I've been messing around with flowers tonight--I prepped some applique pieces for the baskets and I thought I'd show you.

As far as the design process goes, I took a cue from the floral fabric with the black background that I showed you the other day, and drew a few flowers in keeping with that feel.

I cut the pieces out of freezer paper and laid them out in position on the basket; then I started selecting fabrics for each piece, ironing the fabric to the paper, and basting each piece. I might move the pieces around a bit, but maybe not. Still, at this point these pieces are just roughly positioned.

So far, my plan is to use the same flower designs for each basket but move the flowers into different positions and use different fabrics. I might add another couple flowers to the mix as I go.

Enough of that though. Last week I mentioned going to bed with a good book and someone asked what I was reading. Around this time of the year, when there's a lot to do, I like to read "light" books--books that are entertaining enough but not so much so that I can't put them down to do the things that need to be done. Last week I was reading a Nora Roberts book called Tribute; this week I'm reading a Jonathan Kellerman book called True Detectives. Both are nice books but probably aren't something I'll be thinking about a month from now.

What have you read lately that you can recommend? Now that the holidays are nearly over, I'm ready to pick up something more attention-grabbing. And I really need to update the reading section in my sidebar, but I just haven't been enthusiastic about anything I've read lately. So what's new and good?

Ick!

Generally speaking, I'm a fairly tidy person. Tamale-making ISN'T a very tidy activity.

I've been making tamales all day long. It's almost 11 p.m. and the last batch is steaming on the stove. We have chicken tamales, pork tamales, and beef tamales. I've made probably something like seven or eight dozen, although I lost count after the first two.

My hands have been working with wet corn husks all day and my fingers are a little prune-like. From working with the masa dough and the cooked tamales, my hands are greasy. I suppose people pay good money to get their hands soft and moist, but I don't like it.

I feel like I have dried bits of masa dough stuck to my arms, here and there up to my elbows. My clothing is streaked with it. I'm wearing my oldest, most tattered clothes because I knew that by the end of the day, I'd be a mess. I held off on taking a bath and washing my hair because everything would just get worse and there was no point.

I probably have dried corn silks hanging from my clothing--maybe not too much of a change from the normal threads! My fingers hurt from tying string around the ends of the tamales (because folding the ends doesn't work for me--I'm just not that good). My neck, back, and shoulders ache.

All in all, I feel good though. My freezer is filled with meals--meals that can be served without much fuss so that I can keep sewing. And you know what? We had tamales for dinner and they're oh so goooooooood!

Time now to go soak in a nice, hot bath and wash off the eau de tamale.