Happy 4th of July!

Go out and CELEBRATE!

But don't forget what I said about the glow-in-the-dark-stars, okay? Be safe out there!

Goodbye Billy!

Sadly, Billy Mays, the direct marketing powerhouse many of us loved to hate (or at least dislike!), is being laid to rest today in his hometown near Pittsburgh.

* * * * *

"Where are you going after the funeral, Billy?"

"BILLY MAYS HERE, AND I'M GOING UP THERE."

"What do you mean? To Heaven?"

"YES! THE ANGELS ARE HAVING TROUBLE KEEPING THEIR ROBES SPARKLY WHITE, AND OXYCLEAN WILL DO THE JOB. KABOOM!"

"Why are you so sure you're going to Heaven, Billy?"

"BECAUSE HELL ALREADY HAS A PITCHMAN!"

Rest in peace Billy.

CSI

Can you guess what THIS is?

If you were a CSI, I bet you could. Particularly if you were a CSI looking at a photograph taken by another CSI with better camera skills than I have--or a better camera. Or something.

Let me give you a hint. This is my birthday month. I'll soon be 53. Any guesses?

No? Okay, I'll tell you. It's a freaking WHITE eyebrow hair! And you know what? I found another one in the other eyebrow! ARGH!

Seriously, I'd always planned to grow old gracefully. Why does it feel more like I'm plunging headlong into a horror flick?

God must have a sense of humor--that's all I can figure. Why else would he give me white eyebrow hairs and black chin hairs, both at the same time? Either that, or the facial hair fairy lost her GPS and can't figure out what goes where.

I know a couple of you have suggested I should do another Day of Beauty post, but at this point, I think a day's not nearly enough--it would probably take at least a MONTH, a lot of money, a face transplant, and a camera lens that softens one's image. And that's just ABOVE the neck--the rest doesn't bear thinking about, but at least it can be covered with clothing. Thank goodness, though, that my close-up vision's failing!

By the way, does anyone know of a good eyebrow substitute, or am I just going to have to DRAW them on my face at some point, once they've all turned white and I've plucked them out?

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!
From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

I wanted to take this time to wish all our neighbours to the north a very happy Canada Day! And although I usually reserve this annual warning for my "sisters" here in the US on the 4th of July, I suspect there are some of you up north who may benefit from a timely cautionary word.

No matter how patriotic you may feel and no matter how much celebrating you may do today, DO NOT--I repeat, DO NOT place these glow in the dark stars on your nipples and dance around. Not unless you never want to take them off again.

Quilts, Embroidery, and Meg

The power of the internet is an amazing thing for quilting and crafts. Back in the B.I. age (before internet), a quilter might go into a shop and find a great pattern, buy it, and show it to a friend, who would then have to get the pattern as well. They'd show other friends and before long, many of the quilters in a community would have the same pattern. But it wasn't global like it is now that we've entered the internet age--unless a manufacturer advertised a product in a national publication. Now we can just post a great find on our blogs and other like-minded quilters see it and go out and buy it--or, better yet, order it off an internet website. That's GOTTA be good for the economy, doesn't it? Maybe someone should do a study.

Speaking of studies, I saw a headline the other day that said, "study reveals women don't like to look at deformed babies." Or something like that. I knew I should bookmark it but I forgot. Anyway, a couple questions came to mind. As usual one of my first thoughts was "Gee, they needed a study for that? How much did they spend on the study?" And the second question was "So MEN like looking at deformed babies? Or is this a really sexist study?" Anyway, like I said, I forgot to bookmark the site and never did read the article, so maybe I'm waaaay off base--maybe the article would have justified the study. But I'm rambling. Back to the subject.

The other day, Dianne Flamingo Feet posted the first block she'd completed of a 12-block stitchery by Crabapple Hill called Hocuspocusville. Really cute. It's a Halloween pattern, and each block is a different "store" in town--for instance, Dianne showed her finished quilt shop block. And, having recently discovered the wonders of embroidery--yet another craft to spend money on--and being a complete sucker for any type of "house" pattern, I had to buy it. She megged me.

(Do you know about megging? If not, check out this old post of Vicky's. I love the term! Up until I saw Vicky's explanation, "megging" to me--me being the typical soccer mom--meant tricking someone in soccer by kicking the ball through their legs. Which is kind of similar when you think about it!)

So, anyway, here's a photo of my brand spanking new pattern:

Have I megged anyone yet?

If not, well it's kind of hard to see the pattern and then there's that glare on the packaging. If you'd like you can go HERE and see it at the Crabapple Hill website. Click on the image to enlarge it. (By the way, if you're feeling a bit megged, let me help you out here: I found mine on sale at Over the Rainbow.)

I like the way some designers have used stitcheries in quilts, but sometimes I feel the pieced portions of a quilt overwhelm the stitchery parts--and since the stitcheries take the most time, that doesn't seem fair. If/when I make this, I think I'll at least want to change the colors used in the pieced portion of the quilt. Maybe I'd use something like that Michael Miller spider web fabric in place of the black squares to lighten it up some.

I think, though, that Helen got it right in designing this Christmas quilt:

To my eye, it looks much better balanced, and the stitcheries hold their own. Have you gotten hooked on embroidery yet? What do you think about using it in a quilt? Inquiring minds . . . .

The other question in my mind involves quilting a quilt that has a lot of embroidery. How do you quilt it? That's a bridge I haven't come to yet, but I'm sure I will some day. Are there any "rules"? In the photo for this Crabapple Hill pattern I just bought, the quilting on the stitchery blocks is just a kind of meandering in the background that looks a bit like clouds. I think it works pretty well. But what about where the embroidered block is words, like the block above that says "Merry Christmas to all . . ."?

Maybe someone should do a study. Let me know if you come across one, okay?

Death of an Icon

It was another extremely HOT, HOT day here in Sac Town--in fact, the TV news reported tonight that our little part of town got up to 112 degrees. I think there are parts of me that will stay damp now until October, and then I'll probably discover I'm growing fungus or mold or something. I'm very grateful for the air conditioning, but even the air conditioning couldn't keep up with the heat, and this will be the second night in a row that we'll sleep with the windows closed and the air conditioning on--I really hate it when it gets like this!

I DID, in fact, make it to the grocery store and home again this morning before the temperatures got past 90 degrees, so that's one chore that's done for now. The rest of the day, I stayed indoors and, for the most part, "played" in the Sweat Shop.

Remember I mentioned that I was making a 4th of July crafty thing? Here it is:

A little patriotic fabric star "floral" bouquet.

Then I spent the rest of the day working on this month's Jo's Little Women Club project--I added an extra strip of stars to make it a little wider than the pattern.

It's quilted, but it still needs a binding.

Hubby was deeply saddened today when the USA men's soccer team lost to Brazil in the final game of the Confederations Cup, although USA did pretty well, losing by only one goal with a score of 3 to 2.

In other news, Pabst, a boxer mix owned by a local man, won the World's Ugliest Dog contest.

A face, I think, that only a mother could love.

Finally, there's the subject of my post title. Did you think I was going to talk about Michael? Farrah? Ed? Nope! If you haven't already heard, TV pitchman Billy Mays died.

This seems to have been the week for odd deaths, and Billy's is no exception. This morning, his wife found him unresponsive and a fire rescue crew pronounced him dead. It's unknown right now what caused his death, but he had been on a plane on Saturday that had a rough landing when a tire or tires blew out, and he was struck on the head. He claimed he was alright, but then he wasn't feeling well later in the evening.

You know what this means? Vince, the Sham WOW guy, will probably be getting a lot more work. And those hot temperatures we're having? Maybe this IS aitch-E-double L!

Home Repairs, Day 4

Finally! Finally our little area of dry rot is repaired. Not so, though, the board Hubby and Soccer Son damaged at the beginning of their repairs. I don't think they've figured out how to fix that yet. Well, something for them to do another day, but at least we have sound siding on the house again.

It's been miserably hot here in Sacramento, up into the triple digits with no relief in sight for at least the next several days. Sunday will be even hotter. I'd like to do some grocery shopping, but I don't think that's going to happen unless I get up and out early--and that's not something I like to do on weekends! Yes, this is the time of the year when I start dreaming about fall and cooler temperatures.

While the "boys" were outside, working up a sweat on the home repairs, I stayed indoors, in the air conditioned Sweat Shop. I finished the last block of the Back Home Again BOM pattern and re-made one I'd made a few months back--I wasn't satisfied with the lack of good contrast between the star and the background. I've put the blocks up on the design wall, although I'll probably want to move them around a bit still--

Next month, we'll add setting triangles and vertical sashing between the columns. Maybe the outside borders too--I'm not sure. But I really like it so far--the colors are yummy!

The Wild Child came through Sacramento today, on her way to Los Angeles. She arrived just in time to take a shower and join us for dinner. It was really nice to see her--I think it's been a couple months. She's been working two jobs: her bartending job at the restaurant she's worked at the last couple of years, and a waitressing job at a local resort. Her goal is to work her way out of debt by the end of summer. I admire her determination! Her band has had some problems and is in search of a new bass player, but she's still enjoying her music. She participated in an open mike night at a local bar and grill a week or so ago, singing a cappella, and it sounds like she did pretty well. Gosh, and I have a hard time even speaking in public!

This evening I started working on a little 4th of July sewing/crafting project--photos tomorrow if all goes well.

I'm glad you stopped by for a visit! I hope your weekend is fun and restful!

Home Repairs, Day 3

It's Friday night--a night to celebrate the beginning of the weekend--and I'm yawning so widely I may dislocate my jaw. I don't know why, but I've been particularly unmotivated, lazy, and somewhat tired all week; I've barely made it into the Sweat Shop at all!

Day three of our home repairs ended with no additional progress having been made. Soccer Son was without transportation this morning, and so a plan was made for him to come over in the late afternoon (after our sleeping neighbor woke from his slumbers) to work on the house. As an extra bonus, he would bring the lovely Ms. S (photo below), and the two of them would join me and Hubby for barbecued chicken and corn on the cobb.

It was a very nice plan--a happy way to begin the weekend--until the lovely Ms. S went to the doctor this afternoon for an ear complaint. The doctor administered some type of test that left her in a great deal of pain, and he diagnosed a torn eardrum. Quite understandably, Soccer Son took Ms. S home, and all construction and dining plans were cancelled for the evening.

We'll try again tomorrow morning.

Since dinner was a no-go, I took the opportunity to stop by the thrift store on the way home and found a couple treasures.

Well, to be honest, I'd stopped by a different thrift store on the way home last night too. The framed blackboard was from last night's excursion. Tonight I found the wooden Shaker-style box and two older quilt books: Fairmeadow by Jeana Kimball (an applique quilt) and Scrap Quilts by Judy Martin. I'm QUITE pleased with both of them. Of course, I found a few other things as well: an olive-ish green plaid wool blazer for deconstruction and felting, another white teapot with a copper insulated cover (this makes THREE for my collection--I really SHOULD stop!), a crock with a lid that matches a larger one I already have, and a secret something for Hubby whose birthday is on Monday. Plus a few other odds and ends that will either be fancied up someday or used in fancing up something else--stuff like a couple of small, unfinished wooden boxes and a few books with illustrations that can be used for decoupage, a nice quality scrapbook-type of book with a cover that's ripe for some type of artistic embellishment, etc.

I guess it's time for me to head to bed. That area of the house that's being repaired tomorrow morning? Right underneath my bedroom window. And since Soccer Son is doing the repairs for OUR benefit, I guess I can't be all cranky and snippy at him if I can't sleep through the noise--not like SOME people we know!

I hope you've had a happy start to your weekend!

* * * * *

BONUS POST: Okay, so here I am still, about an hour later, still yawning and still blog surfing, and that boy of mine is going to be pounding on my house in not-enough-hours harder than the Big Bad Wolf pounded on the houses of the Three Little Pigs! But--I just had to share this:

You can find it on Helen's blog, Hugs From Helen.

It's a seven-month BOM and Helen has a link so you can click right over from her blog and buy the pattern. I'm also supposed to mention that Helen is having a giveaway of the pattern too, but I'd really prefer that you just BUY THE DARN THING and don't enter the giveaway because I don't want you to dilute MY chances of winning. Okay? Thanks! I knew I could count on you!

Home Repairs, Day 2

If you read yesterday's post, then you already know that the first day of repairs to fix an area of presumed dry rot on the outside of our home didn't really go so well. Well, not that it went BADLY--it just didn't go at all, because the "workers" were distracted by the USA/Spain soccer match and never made it outside! But that was okay--I didn't mind too much.

So today was the second day--the day when hopefully more would be done.

Soccer Son came over early--for him--around 9 a.m., set up all his power tools, and got down to business. As it turned out, there wasn't too much damage at all. Once the siding was off of the suspicious section, all the studs were found to be in good shape and only some minor repairs and replacement of the small section of siding was found to be necessary. Unfortunately, in the process, another random, uninvolved board was damaged.

To complicate matters, a couple hours into the job, our neighbor stuck his head out the window and asked that Hubby and Soccer Son stop making noise because he was trying to sleep. You see, he works nights driving truck. Now seriously, how can a person get anything done in the way of repairs when there's a day-sleeper next door? I feel for the guy and all, but what are we supposed to do?

So tomorrow morning, Soccer Son will return and will try to complete all of the noisy bits early in the day so as not to interrupt our neighbor's beauty sleep. Hubby and Soccer Son couldn't find a board to replace the one they damaged, and as Hubby pointed out, pulling the damaged board off would likely damage MORE boards. So I don't know what they'll do. I just hope it doesn't end up looking goofy. And Soccer Son will put a new piece of siding over what is now bare studs and insulation. And hopefully, everyone will live happily ever after.

Until Saturday. When our neighbors head out to work in their back garden at 8 a.m., turn on their moldy-oldies radio station--LOUD--and start up the lawn mower and weed wacker. And then their two tiny, yippy-yappy dogs start barking. And I wake up much, much too early for a weekend. And then I kill them all. And if that happens? At least now I won't feel too bad for having committed murder. I'm thinking that "what's good for the goose, is good for the gander" in this instance translates into justifiable homicide.

Giddiness Abounds Here

Sometimes BIG achievements bring about giddiness. Like the USA men's soccer team beating Spain 2 to 0 in the Confederations Cup semi-final today. How BIG is that? Here's a little excerpt from the news story:

"Goals from Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey ended Spain's world record run of 15 successive victories and their 35-match unbeaten sequence, a world record streak they share with Brazil, and caused one of the biggest soccer upsets in years."

Soccer Son came over today--he and Hubby were going to pull a section of siding off the house and start repairs on a small area of dry rot. Instead they watched the soccer game. Can I blame them? Nope! For these two devoted soccer fans, seeing USA win against Spain was like going to Disneyland without having to travel. Yep, they were GIDDY! And I bet I know what we'll be doing on Sunday when USA plays either Brazil or South Africa in the final match!

And as for me? Well, I was working while they were watching the game, but I had my share of giddiness today too. I went to the office supply store during my lunch hour to pick up a couple ink cartridges for our printer.

Yes, as a matter of fact, office supply stores DO make me a bit giddy--I LOVE, love, luv paper and other office stuff. Weird, huh? But here's the BEST part. I got my ink right away and decided to wander through the store and take in the whole "new office supply" atmosphere when what did I see?

A 64-crayon box of Crayolas waiting JUST FOR ME! Yep, my heart started to race and with trembling hand, I reached out and SNATCHED those Crayolas off the shelf before anyone else could beat me to them!

And if I hadn't thought people might think me odd, I would have opened the box and inhaled that new, waxy paper smell right then and there! But, being mindful of appearances, I restrained myself until I got back to my office--ahhhhhh! That's a smell I remember from childhood. The rest of the afternoon, that box of 64 marvelous, wonderous colors sat right next to me on my desk. And every now and then? I'd pick it up, turn it around, and admire the "built-in perfect-tip sharpener" on the back. I've always felt a brand new box of Crayolas represented endless possibilities. Heaven!

Ah! Did I hear someone ask what I planned to DO with this divine 64-crayon box of Crayolas? Well, my friend Gran knows! Click over HERE and see!

I had yet another quilt class tonight, and when I arrived at Bearpaws & Hollyhocks, clutching my bag of Crayolas (because it was much too hot to leave them in the car), I ran into Gran. When I showed her my brand spankin' new box of 64 Crayolas, the first thing she did was open the box and inhale the waxy paper smell. We really and truly ARE kindred spirits!

When I got home after work and class, Hubby and our friend Terry came home from dinner out. Of course, Terry admired my Crayolas and said his wife--my BFF Lisa--would be extremely envious. When Lisa was a kid, she could always tell when her family either had money or was pinching pennies, because when they were doing well, she got the 64-crayon box of Crayolas, and when things were tighter, she got a box of 12 off-brand crayons. It's funny how so many of us have stories to tell about our childhood and Crayola crayons! What's your story?