What Do You Think?

Feel like you're stuck in a bottle of Pepto-Bismol? I kind of like it! (The background, that is!) It seems happy to me. But is it hard to read?

Temporary Fix

A couple of you--including ME!--came to my blog and saw some type of boxed notice about exceeding bandwidth. Turns out that had to do with the site that hosted my blog background, so I've changed the background. I'll have to look at the background options later when I have more time, but isn't it funny I was JUST talking about computer issues and had something pop up? Literally?!

One Thing Leads to Another . . .

Sometimes Blogland reminds me of dropping a pebble in a pond and watching the ripples spread out. You know what I mean, I think--you visit one blog and that leads to another blog and that leads to another blog and before you know it, you've traveled quite a way and gotten interested in all sorts of other things--it's kind of weird, in a GOOD way!

So I was doing that--blog hopping, which kind of started with the Schnibbles thing--when I hopped onto Heidi's blog and found her Friday Night Sew In on January 15th. Basically, those of us who want to play along commit to settling down that Friday night in front of our sewing machines and doing some sewing. On Saturday, we show a couple photos on our blog of what we did. On Sunday, there's a chance we might win a prize. Cool, huh?!

Seriously, I sew nearly every night anyway, so why not join the Sew In? You can check out Heidi's blog post about the Sew In HERE. Sign up and join us! This will certainly be a good excuse for me to plan a "special" project--like maybe one of the Schnibbles quilts? (And, of course, a really excellent excuse to drink some "special" hot chocolate in a red and white polka dot cup with a few marshmallows and a candy cane because--you know--it IS a "special" night!)

By the way, this month's Year of Schnibbles quilt is Madeline--

I'm quite anxious to start it. And I have the Rouenneries charms. But do I want to make it with those, or do I want to get a little crazy and use Valentine's fabric? And do I want to work on it for the Sew In or do I want to get out another Schnibbles pattern the group's already done and work on IT? Decisions, decisions!

A a couple of you asked about joining A Year of Schnibbles this late--like me, you thought it was closed. Well, you can email Sinta (Pink Pincushion) or Sherri (A Quilting Life) and ask. I'm pretty sure they'd be happy to have you join, even this far into the year. I remember when I figured out what was going on back in September--late to the party as usual!--I thought the group was closed, too, so I didn't ask; besides that, I remember having too many other things going on at that time. Now, though, I'm really excited to start!

Finally, I wanted to touch again on some computer/blogging problems. Sinta is having problems with her blog--she has an issue with not being able to see her photos as she's composing her posts; also something in her layout has thrown everything from her sidebar down to the bottom of the page. If any of you think you might be able to suggest a solution, please go over to her blog and leave a comment. I have a feeling it has something to do with the photos in her post from a few days ago, but I'm not sure what. Can they be too large, pixel-wise, maybe? (EDITOR'S NOTE: SINCE WRITING AND POSTING THIS, SINTA SEEMS TO HAVE FIXED THE SIDEBAR ISSUE.)

Another thing--my mention yesterday about the comment concerning my blog jumping? "Anonymous" commented again today and apologized for any implied criticism of my blog. Seriously, I didn't take her comment as criticism at all and that's not why I posted the question--I truly want to find out if anyone has some insight that could help. You see, I knew in talking with Pink Flamingo Dianne that she had some problems with my blog before, when I had the countdown to Christmas posted, but she was able to get it to work okay by logging out of Mozilla and into IE--so if anyone has that kind of tip that would help, I'd be happy to share it. I COMPLETELY understand wanting to read a blog but not being able to because of computer issues--for some reason, I can't read Gran's blog and she's one of my best friends! She's on a Mac forum, and I think my computer doesn't have enough memory or just doesn't like it for some reason, because it takes about 10 minutes to load and I only have a one-minute attention span! (EDITOR'S NOTE: Someone commented the problem with my blog may be the falling snowflakes--do you think that's it? I could take those off easily!)

I'm sorry Anonymous thought her comment upset me in any way--it sure didn't. In fact, I appreciate it! I know you all take time out of your day to stop in and visit, and I want my blog to be worth the effort you take--and making it easy for most people to read is one of my goals. So if you have a problem, please let me know and if it seems reasonable and if there's a way to fix it, I'll try. I enjoy it when you visit me and leave comments--after all, it's why I blog!

ADDENDUM: Carol and Amanda are having a virtual quilt retreat on Saturday, March 13th, with games and prizes. I signed up for that one too! I hope you'll join us--you can check it out at their blogs!

Random Stuff

So I was wrong about the number of comments yesterday. I think you all did that on purpose! Ha! You made me laugh, though--especially Lady of the Cloth with her John Wayne toilet paper!

I wanted to follow up on a couple comments before I forget. First, Ruth S. left a comment on an old post about Kaye England's Progressive Patchwork, but she's no reply--Ruth, if you're reading this, please get in touch with Lindy at Bearpaws & Hollyhocks and she can help you find what you need for that program. Lindy will be away from the shop until around the middle of next week, but she said you can contact her then--just click HERE to get to the website with contact info.

An anonymous commenter mentioned my blog "jumping" around and hurting her eyes. I'm not sure what that's about except that some operating systems aren't very compatible so maybe that's where the problem is? All I know is that it doesn't do that for me at any of the computers I use. That reminds me, too, that I had another anonymous commenter who complained a couple times back in the fall about my "green" background color--at that time, my background color was actually a light brown/tan. The color I was using for the text (which I think was black) didn't show up well on the "green." I don't know if this might be a similar type of problem or whether it might be as simple as adjusting the color on the monitor, but I thought I'd mention these issues. Do any of you know what might cause them or have a solution to suggest?

For whatever reason, Gran has gone off on a Schnibbles tangent and dragged me along with her. You've probably seen the Year of Schnibbles group here and there across Blogland, haven't you? Well, Gran and I are getting in on a little Schnibbles action too--Sinta has said we can start with January or, if we're really industrious, we can go back to September and catch up with the rest of the group. I've put the logo thingamabob in my sidebar; now I just have to get busy making some little quilts!

If you've read my blog for a bit, you probably know that I'm fascinated by Schnibbles quilts and I usually make one every now and then. I've been thinking it would be fun to "teach" a Schnibbles club at the quilt shop and have the group meet every month or two. I think it could be a little like the Jo's Little Women Club, which also makes small quilts, but I think it would bring in quilters interested in more than just the 1800 reproduction fabrics. What do you think? Do you think quilters would be interested on a local quilt shop level?

And speaking of quilt shops, I've hinted that I've done a little fabric binge buying lately, right? When I came home tonight, Hubby mentioned I'd gotten a few packages in the mail. Want to see what I got?

First, a little Sherri Berry Holiday goodness!

I thought this fabric was cute before Christmas but I couldn't figure out what I'd make with it. Then I saw a quilt someone else made and I KNEW I NEEDED SOME. So, after Christmas, I found a bunch on sale and placed an order, but they didn't have any of these focus fabrics; I ended up buying these pieces "full price" to go with the other fabric I ordered.

Then there was this from the Fat Quarter Shop:

I can't remember the name of the line, but it was with the Christmas sale stuff. I just think it's a terrific fabric for a Valentine quilt with all that red and pink and green! It doesn't look at all Christmassy to me!

Finally, the L'Amour fabric I've mentioned recently as well as another piece of Valentine fabric there on the bottom. I think I need to get some serious sewing on!

BUT--tonight, I'm trying to get to bed a little early. Because you know what? Besides the fabric packages, I had a couple BOOK packages too! Yep, it's reading time! Thanks for stopping in to visit.

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!