Roses Are Red . . .

Or any other color you want them to be when you make them from your scraps! Tracey has a nice tutorial for making roses--if you haven't seen it yet, check it out HERE.

I've been making the occasional rose for the last few years too. The only real difference between mine and Tracey's is that she continues on with the piecing to make a block while I stop when I'm happy with the way the rose looks and then I applique it onto a background.

With summer coming in a few months, wouldn't this be a good time to play around with some scraps and make yourself a few roses?

Cats and Blackbirds

The rest of the Blackbird Jubilee fabric I ordered arrived yesterday! Woo-hoo! I took a photo because I thought you'd want to see it. My assistant got in the way a bit though.

Here she is again, keeping a close eye on me while I try to sew and guarding the appliqued cherry center--by laying on it.

Of course, if you know cats, you know they like to lay on stuff. The other night I was sewing and heard a crash. Since it wasn't a very loud crash and didn't sound like breaking glass, I ignored it for a bit. When I went out to the kitchen awhile later, though, I found the crash had been the sound of a wooden holder we use for napkins, miscellaneous papers and pads hitting the floor. And here she is, laying on all the papers--probably to make sure they didn't get away. A live paperweight, if you will.

I had noticed over the past month that although she doesn't like to sleep on the bed with us, she does want to stay close by and had taken to sleeping on any of my dirty laundry that may have ended up on the floor near the bed. And if there WAS no dirty laundry on the floor, she would dig around my shoes and stare at me until I PUT some of my clothes on the floor for her to sleep on. Because I simply had no laundry for her Monday night, she meowed at me until I threw my robe on the floor. Being a reasonably easy-to-train human, I thought maybe she'd like a bed--so Tuesday night after work I went to a local pet superstore and plunked out some of my hard earned cash on a cat bed. As you can see, she's very pleased with her new bed.

So pleased, in fact, that now if I stay up late on the computer, she gets up on the bed and meows at me, telling me to turn off the lights because it's her bedtime. Considering the fact that cats can't speak English, they sure don't seem to have too much trouble communicating sometimes!

Pictorial Tutorial

I just had to "say" that again! I think even if a few of you hadn't asked me, I would still have had to show you how to use mylar templates for applique so I could use the phrase "pictorial tutorial" a few times. Of course, I could just take a bunch of photos illustrating my method for plucking stray chin hairs instead of demonstrating this applique technique and use the same phrase, but I think I'll save that one for another time.

But while I'm thinking about stuff like health and beauty, here's a tip for women over 45: Fill the bathtub with bubbles and bathe by candlelight. It will help to keep you from catching a glimpse of your middle-aged, saggy, pudgy, naked body reflected in the chrome bath fixtures. Works for me. Otherwise, I'd scare the hell out of myself, have a heart attack right there, and drown in the bathtub.

But enough about me. Here's how to prepare cherries and other simple rounded shapes for applique. First of all, you'll need a sheet of no-melt mylar template plastic. I usually buy mine at JoAnn's; your local quilt shop may also carry it. It's important that it be no-melt because you'll need to use the iron on it, and if you just use the regular plastic template material, it may warp.

I find that a thin point permanent marker works best for drawing shapes, but if you don't have one, try whatever you have on hand. For drawing my circles for the cherries, I traced around a spool of thread. I've also been known to use shot glasses. Whatever works, right?! (You can see some of my shapes drawn on the plastic in the upper right corner.) You can reuse your shapes at least several times, but I'll usually cut several so I can prepare my pieces in batches. I took a class from Robert Callaham once and he actually uses a nail file to get his circles perfectly smooth and round--too anal for me! I just use a bit of care in cutting and I find that's good enough. In this instance, I cut a larger circle out of a stiffer file folder-type paper--that's what I used to trace around to cut my fabric circles. You want to make a pattern that's at least 1/4" larger than your mylar circles all the way around--in other words, at least an extra 1/2" across at the widest point.

Next, trace and cut your fabric circles. Baste with contrasting thread all the way around your circle, using fairly small stitches as this will give you a smoother edge.

Once you've basted around the circle, leave yourself two "tails" of thread for tying. Place one of your plastic circles in the center and draw the fabric tight around the plastic. Tie the tails in a knot. Sometimes the thread may slip while tying, but do the best you can with this.

Once you have a little pile of basted "cherries"--or whatever you're making--you'll want to heat up the iron and get yourself some spray starch. You may also want to use something to keep from getting starch all over your ironing board--I just use a kitchen towel and toss it in the wash when I'm done.

Lay your pieces on your ironing board with the plastic side up and use enough spray starch to saturate the fabric fairly well--you'll see it bead up a bit on the plastic. Press without steam, moving the iron around, until the fabric's nearly dry. If you didn't tie the knot of the basting thread tight enough, you can pull the threads a bit before pressing but make sure not to iron your fingers!--that should be enough to hold it. Flip your pieces over so the "good" side is up and spray and press as before.

Set your pieces aside and wait a bit for them to completely dry. This would be a good time to run down to Starbucks or pluck your chin hairs. Once the pieces are completely dry, you can clip the basting thread at the knot and, being careful not to pull the piece out of shape, slip the plastic out of your "cherry"--or whatever you're making. Usually I'll then give them one last press with the iron because no matter how careful you are getting the plastic out, they tend to not lay quite flat afterward.

Eventually, you'll end up with a nice pile of pieces all ready to be appliqued onto something.

You can use the same method to make leaves, flower petals, or any other simple, rounded shapes.

Once I have my pieces ready, I just pin them onto the background and start sewing.

I hope this helps inspire you to try making a few cherries along with me! And while you're catching up, I think I'll go take my candlelit bubblebath.

Catching Up

Sometimes in life, it seems like not much has happened until you look back a couple days and see what you've been up to. Of course, when you hit your middle years, sometimes it's hard to remember what you had for breakfast that morning, let alone what you might have done a couple days before. Luckily, unlike our parents, we have digital cameras and computers and can engage in a little photographic flashback when necessary. So indulge me here in a brief trip down short-term memory lane.

Before my body tried to turn itself inside out on Sunday morning and when I wasn't digging through people's cast-off stuff at the flea market on Saturday, I was busy finishing the box for the Wild Child. Here are a couple photos--outside and inside. The "outside" photo doesn't really show the box as well as the couple I've posted previously, but I wanted to try to get the "feet" into this shot, so it's not full on. Of course, my photography lack-of-ability meant the feet didn't show up all that well either. Oh well.

The Wild Child seemed delighted with the box--at least that was my impression during what little quality time I was able to spend outside of the bathroom while she was here.

Of course, the rest of the weekend was mostly just a nauseous blur. On Monday evening, I started thinking about my Jo's Little Women Club meeting that was coming up on Wednesday night. Then I started feeling kind of guilty that I hadn't done any of the Jo's projects this session--and I think we're on the third or fourth meeting of a six-month session. So I pulled out my Jo's packet and looked at the project. I don't recall the name of it, but it's designed to be worked on over two months; the first month is an appliqued center and the second month is a gazillion relatively small hourglass blocks that go around it.

Oh, a slight detour in the narrative here. Look what came in the mail on Monday:

Okay, so that's what I was doing--looking at what came in the mail on Monday. And looking at the Jo's project. And feeling guilty. And thinking about cherries. Yep, multi-tasking at its finest. And what resulted from all those jumbled thoughts reminds me of that commercial that goes something like, "you got chocolate in my peanut butter!" Except in this case, I got cherries in my 1800s repro project. So, this is what the Jo's project was supposed to look like--it's that one down in the right hand bottom corner.

Instead, this is what my appliqued center looks like.

When I showed it at Jo's tonight, everyone laughed. Ha! Scoff they may, but just wait! Yes, I will add the gazillion hourglass blocks--sort of--but they'll be in the Blackbird Jubilee fabric. As soon as the rest arrives--a FQ of each fabric and then some. Waiting is hard, though. Still, making this little appliqued center gave me a chance to test out a few ideas for the BIGGER cherry quilt project I'm starting. I see a few things I'll do differently on that one--like make the stems narrower and alter the leaves a bit.

In the meantime, I think I said something about working on cherries the other night while recovering from my near-death stomach flu experience. Now I have 39 cherries all prepped and waiting to be appliqued to something, but I didn't have the right background. At the quilt shop tonight, though, I found the PERFECT background. Unfortunately, I've now discovered that I rather short-sightedly failed to check my stash for the perfect leaf fabric(s). Nope--the perfect leaf fabric is not in the house. It's always something, isn't it?

So tomorrow I think I'll need to make a great sacrifice of both time and money and treck on down to the quilt shop during my lunch hour. You guys know I can do some serious power shopping during my lunch hour, right?

Oh, that reminds me--I wanted to ask if you know how to make appliqued shapes using no-melt mylar templates. If you don't, do you care? Do you feel a great void in your life? If so, I can share with you some photos I took while I was prepping the cherries and leaves for my Not-So-Jo's-Little-Women project and I could do a little pictorial tutorial, but I don't want to bore you if this isn't something you're interested in. ("Pictorial tutorial"--Love those words together! Reminds me of tutti-frutti!)

And for those of you who may be disappointed in my greatly updated version of an 1800's quilt, I thought I'd placate you with a couple photos before I say goodnight. One of the gals brought two blue and cream quilts to Jo's Club for show and tell, and Lindy (the owner of Bear Paws & Hollyhocks) dated them to around the first couple decades of the 1900s.

Bedtime for me! Goodnight!

The Joke's on Who?

I had to share with all of you my April Fools' Day experience. My Blogland buddy Yvonne thought I was playing an April Fools' Day joke on her--but I WASN'T! It took a few email exchanges before she believed I wasn't just pulling her leg. Check out her blog HERE. And if you want to read the original post, you can find it HERE. Isn't that the funniest thing?!

Happy April Fools' Day!

You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm.
- Colette (1873 - 1954), in New York World-Telegram and Sun, 1961

So, rather than appear foolish afterward, I renounce seeming clever now.
- William of Baskerville in 'The Name of the Rose'

APRIL FOOLS!

I just love a good practical joke! Well, I love impractical jokes too. In fact, I enjoy just about any kind of joke. Except maybe knock-knock jokes--most of them, anyway. So I thought and thought (for about 10 minutes in the car on the way home from work) about what I could do on my blog as an April Fools' joke, and everything I could come up with seemed (1) dumb, (2) mean, or (3) guaranteed to worry some of my readers. So I don't have a good April Fools' joke for you. Bummer!

Instead, I thought I'd share with you some April Fools' info. Here's some general background that you probably already know:

April Fools' Day takes place in many western countries every April 1st, and is traditionally known as April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day (aka Poissond'Avril ("April Fish") in France). It is a day when humor reigns and harmless pranks, practical jokes, and hoaxes are sanctioned. Customary practices range from simple tricks played on friends, family, and coworkers to elaborate media hoaxes concocted for mass consumption.

I think some of the media hoaxes are worth mentioning, and you may NOT know about some of these. I found a site that listed quite a few, but I thought I'd repeat for you what they list as the top five:

#1: The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest

In 1957 the respected BBC news show Panorama announced that thanks to a very mild winter and the virtual elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop. It accompanied this announcement with footage of Swiss peasants pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees. Huge numbers of viewers were taken in. Many called the BBC wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. To this the BBC diplomatically replied that they should "place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best."

#2: Sidd Finch

In its April 1985 edition, Sports Illustrated published a story about a new rookie pitcher who planned to play for the Mets. His name was Sidd Finch, and he could reportedly throw a baseball at 168 mph with pinpoint accuracy. This was 65 mph faster than the previous record. Surprisingly, Sidd Finch had never even played the game before. Instead, he had mastered the "art of the pitch" in a Tibetan monastery under the guidance of the "great poet-saint Lama Milaraspa." Mets fans celebrated their teams' amazing luck at having found such a gifted player, and Sports Illustrated was flooded with requests for more information. But in reality this legendary player only existed in the imagination of the author of the article, George Plimpton.

#3: Instant Color TV

In 1962 there was only one tv channel in Sweden, and it broadcast in black and white. The station's technical expert, Kjell Stensson, appeared on the news to announce that, thanks to a new technology, viewers could convert their existing sets to display color reception. All they had to do was pull a nylon stocking over their tv screen. Stensson proceeded to demonstrate the process. Thousands of people were taken in. Regular color broadcasts only commenced in Sweden on April 1, 1970.

#4: The Taco Liberty Bell

In 1996 the Taco Bell Corporation announced that it had bought the Liberty Bell and was renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell. Hundreds of outraged citizens called the National Historic Park in Philadelphia where the bell was housed to express their anger. Their nerves were only calmed when Taco Bell revealed, a few hours later, that it was all a practical joke. The best line of the day came when White House press secretary Mike McCurry was asked about the sale. Thinking on his feet, he responded that the Lincoln Memorial had also been sold. It would now be known as the Ford Lincoln Mercury Memorial.

#5: San Serriffe

In 1977 the British newspaper The Guardian published a special seven-page supplement devoted to San Serriffe, a small republic located in the Indian Ocean consisting of several semi-colon-shaped islands. A series of articles affectionately described the geography and culture of this obscure nation. Its two main islands were named Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse. Its capital was Bodoni, and its leader was General Pica. The Guardian's phones rang all day as readers sought more information about the idyllic holiday spot. Few noticed that everything about the island was named after printer's terminology. The success of this hoax is widely credited with launching the enthusiasm for April Foolery that gripped the British tabloids in subsequent decades.

DO YOU HAVE ANY APRIL FOOLS' FUN PLANNED? I'd love to hear about any pranks you've planning, any pulled on you, and/or any memorable ones from years past! Have a Happy APRIL FOOLS' DAY!

Wasted Sunday

I don't much like being sick, but it's twice as bad when it happens on a weekend and cuts into my play time! I woke up this a.m. at 6:30 with stomach pains and shortly thereafter realized the day was not going to be improving a whole lot anytime soon. I don't know if it was a stomach bug or yesterday's meal out, but boy was I one sick puppy for several hours! My poor husband woke up because I was literally crying in the hallway trying to decide whether it was more important to get out to the kitchen for a glass of water or head the other way toward the bathroom.

The Wild Child was expected to arrive around 9:30 a.m., and we had planned a family dinner here. The chicken was marinading in the fridge and I was supposed to spend the morning making potato salad and dessert. Didn't happen. Instead, I spent most of the morning and into the afternoon alternating between sleeping and being ill. They ended up moving the dinner to my sister-in-law's house and left me in peace--by then, I was starting to feel like I just might live.

I spent part of the afternoon lying around reading, but I finally managed to get myself up, bathed, and dressed around late afternoon. Now, after a few hours in the Sweat Shop prepping some cherries for applique, I'm ready to call it a night. What a wimp! But I'm feeling better, and I hope to get a good night's sleep--after all, it's back to work again tomorrow. But I sure wish I could get my Sunday back!

Another Day, a Few Less Dollars

Did you catch where I said in my last post that I had plans for today? Well, as much as I would have loved to schlep around the house in my jammies all day and do a little quilting, hubby was getting tired of the standard weekend routine and wanted to get out of the house. He didn't care what we did, just so long as we did SOMETHING. Yes, he would even have been quite happy if I had dragged him back to the quilting and craft festival, but I know I wouldn't have been--he'd probably just follow me around, asking constantly why I needed to buy this or that and "don't you already have something just like that?" Nope, not my idea of a good time! Instead, we hit the road, stopped at the ATM, stopped at Starbucks, and ended up at Denio's flea market and farmer's market in nearby Roseville.

The skies were gray and cloudy today but it wasn't too cold. This was near the back of the grounds and the crowds were sparse. We found a couple "treasures" but it seemed like most of the sellers are getting waaaaay too saavy about what us junk collectors are looking for. Not that their prices were way above reasonable, but there were very few bargains to be found. And that's probably a good thing for the state of my bank account! Still, it really was nice to get out for a bit, and hubby was right. But don't tell him I said so--he doesn't read my blog, so he'll never know I admitted it!

Look at ALL that fabric! We saw this booth on our way out. Of course, I don't think there was any quilting fabric in there, but I would have loved to have a reason to go through it all. By this time, though, we were laden down with a quarter flat of fresh strawberries, several bags of fresh veggies, and a couple bags of "treasures," and I was on a mission to get our "stuff" to the car and out of my arms as quickly as possible. Besides that, our tummies were starting to rumble with hunger.

Lately we've been going to Carmelita's in Fair Oaks for dinners out when we get a craving for good Mexican food, and Carmelita's has another restaurant right in Roseville, so that's where we ended up for a late lunch. Yum! And one of the best parts is that since we ate "lunch" at 3:30 p.m., there was no need to cook dinner tonight. Besides, we both have leftovers in case hunger strikes!

So here are my purchases for today. We found a small booth with a lot of magazine advertisements and illustrations. I found three I liked. Well, actually I found MORE than three, but I decided three was plenty so I narrowed my choices down, struck a deal with the seller, and walked away a happy camper!

One of my favorite year-round vendors is the used book seller located in a covered building not too far from the farmer's market. Hubby helped me pick out two books with Norman Rockwell illustrations--these will work great in arty projects or just put in frames.

I also like to look for community or regional cookbooks--you know the ones where a group or organization gathers recipes from all their members, compiles them into a book, and then sells the books as a fundraiser? I usually find they have the best recipes--nothing fancy but just simple and good food! I found two such cookbooks today. I haven't had a chance to look through them thoroughly yet, but I'm sure I'll be trying a few things out in the coming weeks.

All in all, it was a good day! I hope yours was too!

Guess Where I Went Today!

The Quilt, Craft & Sewing Festival came to Sacramento, so I made a quick dash over there during my lunch hour! If only all lunch hours could be as exciting and stimulating, I'd be a happy, happy girl! Well, not that I'm not happy much of the time anyway, but I'm telling you, it was a much needed and welcome break from the daily grind. But I suppose I should be glad that not all lunch hours are quite so stimulating; otherwise, lunch hours would cost me more than I earn in a day's work!

To tell you the truth, I had heard that Bird Brain Designs had a booth and I really wanted to go see some of their cuteness in person. They had a wool needle felting table set up for teaching and experimentation, and I would have loved to hang around and try out the technique, but my time was limited. Still, I managed to do alright. Here's what they put in my bag--and on my credit card:

These red and white towels were whispering "cherries, cherries, cherries" to me. I have a couple ideas. And some nice quality muslin for some redwork as well as the Turkey Red perle cotton I'll need. And let's not forget the pattern for a couple really cute small wool purses!

I also bought two redwork patterns--but only one photographed half way decently. The other one came out looking tiny and blurred despite my best photographic attempts. So I've stolen a photo off their website--it's below this paragraph. If you'll go over there and buy something, maybe they won't sue me.

I guess they liked me, though, because they encouraged me to come back tomorrow. I have some other plans though. Besides, I'm sure it will be a madhouse over there on a Saturday!

After I left Bird Brain Designs and was racing past the rest of the vendor booths, I spied a rubber stamp/embossing/etc. booth, so I stopped in. I kinda needed to catch my breath from all that racing anyway. I love the Somerset crafting magazines and I saw they had some back issues on clearance at 30% off, so that was a "must buy." Then, and I don't know if you can really see them very well, but I found a small package of "gold" hearts and some "jewels" for embellishment and they're sitting on top of the magazine.

I love playing around with this stuff! Maybe not quite as much as quilting, but when my electricity is turned off because I can't pay the power bill because I've spent too much money at "festivals," then I can always fall back the old paper, scissors, paint, and glue. And don't forget the gold hearts and jewels. See, even if the economy's a little shaky, I'll be fine because I've thought it all through and I have a plan. It's kind of like a 401k retirement plan but different.

Oh, and speaking of money and the economy and all that nasty old stuff, you know what else? At the front gates of the venue where the festival was held, I ran into my neighbor, June, who just happened to have an extra VIP free admission ticket that she happily gave me. Kismet, yes?! A successful lunch hour, indeed!