Loose Threads

I had a couple things I wanted to follow up on. First of all, Ranette posted a comment asking about the Homespun magazine. Ranette is "no-reply" so I couldn't answer her questions, but I thought maybe there were others wondering the same thing--what issue is it and where can you get it in the US--so I thought I'd give you a little more info. The issue is 9-7 and it's the Christmas issue.

Instructions for the stitchery quilt by Bronwyn Hayes will appear in issues 9-7, 9-8, and 9-9--it's a three-parter. I have bought Homespun a few times online from Erica's--they have a pretty good selection of Australian magazines. The latest issue they have right now is the issue before this one but they will probably have the Christmas Issue before too long.

Second, some of you asked about the Kaye England block of the month and suitcase program I had signed up for. I did some internet checking and found it's called Wilmington Prints--Kaye England Progressive Patchwork Program. If you click HERE, you can see the fabrics that will come packed in the suitcase. Unfortunately, I didn't find a photo of the quilt, but from what I understand, the way the program works is that you can chose whatever fabrics you want to use for a particular block from the fabrics in your suitcase, and there are finishing kits in two colorways--blue or brown. (I think that quilt hanging behind the suitcase might be one of the extra projects.) If you're looking for a shop offering the class, you might try contacting Wilmington Prints to see if they can give you any information.

I've also been trying to tie up a few loose threads in the Sweat Shop. Monday is my next Christmas List class, and I was determined to get caught up, so I've been working toward that end. Finally, I think I've done all I can for now.

Sorry this photo is a bit dark, but it was night time. There are three more main blocks that will fit into the open spaces--Build a Snowman, Watch for Santa, and Enjoy the Season. In theory, assuming I keep up with the last three blocks, I think I might be able to finish the piecing/applique in October and actually have it completely done by Christmas--in theory anyway.

I hope you're enjoying your weekend! I'll be spending what's left of mine quilting the Thimbleberries Lakeside quilt. Thanks for stopping in to visit!

Friday Fiesta!

Not exactly.

Don't judge.

Our dog thought it was wonderful!

I Think My Thermostat's Broken

I'm guessing it's probably hormones, but I've really noticed lately that the temperature at which I'm comfortable has been swinging quite wildly.

In Sacramento during the summer months, even without any formal training in the field of meteorology, I can predict that the temperature highs will be between 95 degrees and 100 degrees, and I'd be correct about 98 percent of the time. Needless to say, the air conditioning runs a lot. Most of the time, I feel quite comfortable around 73 degrees. Lately, though, I can turn the air conditioning down to 70 degrees and stand in front of the vent and still be uncomfortably warm. Or, at other times, I can turn it up to 75 degrees and if I walk by a vent, I'm shivering with goosebumps. Tonight I'm chilly. Go figure.

Maybe it's just because I'm starting to think about autumn and then Christmas which comes so quickly after. Remember that secret mini I made for someone in my Thimbleberries Yahoo group? Tonight I opened a box that came in the mail containing a mini made by my good friend Pammysue for me. I had the pleasure of meeting Pammysue and her dear husband Fred a couple years ago when our group had a little retreat in Utah--I just wish they lived closer.

Here's a photo of the snowman wallhanging Pammysue made--I'm not sure how I'm going to wait another couple months before I can hang it, but it's definitely got me thinking about the fall and winter months ahead!

Pammysue and I have a mutual love of Starbucks too. It was not unusual at the retreat for Fred to make emergency Starbucks runs while we sewed. Pammysue said she wanted to send me a latte but didn't think it would travel well, so she sent along a Starbucks gift card instead. Well, you all KNOW that will be put to good use around here!

Last night I went to Bear Paws & Hollyhocks for the monthly meeting of Jo's Little Women Club. I brought my hollyhock quilt for show and tell and ended up leaving it with Lindy--she wants to hang it in the shop for awhile if she can find room. I found myself signing up for a new six-month BOM designed by Kaye England too--it should start in January or February.

See that little suitcase there? We will each get one filled with fat quarters to make a quilt. We'll make two blocks each month and there will be additional projects along the way. The fabrics are awfully yummy--1800s repros--and Lindy was closely guarding her advance samples. No, I didn't take this photo, by the way--I "borrowed" it from someone's blog from Quilt Market.

Elaine, the gal who made the quilt near the bottom of THIS post, had made a pink and brown quilt similar to this one from American Patchwork and Quilting:

Elaine's quilt was hanging on the wall in the repro section, and it was only after I left the shop that I realized I hadn't taken a photo--ARGH! Her quilt is just wonderful! She had downsized the blocks a bit and used a scrappy assortment of pink and brown fabrics. In fact, I was so inspired, I left the shop with a few pink and brown fat quarters myself. I also left the shop with some blue and red fabrics. Can that have been because Elaine was piling up blue and red bolts to be cut for a new project she's working on? I bet it could be! I'll try to remember to take more photos next time.

When I left Bear Paws and Hollyhocks, the sun was setting and the clouds in the sky were lit up with different colors. I couldn't resist taking a couple photos, although the photos really don't do it justice.

By the time I was almost home, the sky was looking even better--I REALLY wanted to take a photo from the top of an overpass, but that didn't seem very wise, so I waited until I was stopped at a light. I wish you could have been with me to see it though!

The weekend is nearly here, and I'm inspired now to spend a great part of it in the Sweat Shop. I hope you, too, find inspiration--and the ideal temperature for your internal thermostat!

Personal Care Issues

When it comes to hygiene and personal care, are you ever puzzled by your family members' habits?

Hubby and Q-Tips. How many Q-Tips does a person need to clean their ears? This morning I noticed something like 6 to 8 Q-Tips in the wastepaper basket in the bathroom, looking all bent up and mangled. How many ears does the man have for goodness sake, and what can he possibly be digging for that requires that many Q-Tips and that much force? One Q-Tip usually works just fine for me.

Sometimes I wonder whether he's purposely trying to make himself deaf so he doesn't have to listen to me. Sometimes I think I should just move my lips without emitting sound and see what happens. Sometimes I think I shouldn't bother to ask him stuff like, "Do you want any ice cream, honey"? And then when he asks why I didn't offer him any, I'll say, "But I DID! Didn't you hear me?!" Maybe after 28 years of marriage and shoving as many Q-Tips in his ears as will fit, little pieces of cotton have broken off and accumulated and, quite possibly, are being shoved into his brain as well--that would certainly explain a lot of things. As you can see, I've given this quite a bit of thought.

The Wild Child and the Shampoo. Okay, this isn't really something she does over and over, but you gotta wonder what she was thinking.

This morning I turned on the bath water and went off to do something or other. When I came back, my bath looked a little like this--

(No, I didn't really take this picture--I just "borrowed" it off the internet. I'm totally incapable of taking photos in the morning. Besides, this bathroom looks much cleaner and shinier than mine.) The Wild Child was the last person to use the bath, and I figured she must have left some shower gel or something in the tub. When I sat down, I realized one area of the tub was pretty darn slick--luckily it wasn't where I had stepped in! When it came time to shampoo my hair, I realized all that gooey gel was actually shampoo.

The bottle of shampoo was nearly empty, so for the past several days, I had set the bottle upside down. I'm guessing the Wild Child used my shampoo and very kindly returned it to its upside-down position; the only problem was that she forgot to close the top first.

But I know how to return the favor when she visits again. She absolutely freaks out if there's any shaved-leg-hair stubble in the bathtub, so next time she comes for a visit, I'll be sure to shave first.

The Boy Child and Just About Everything. Well, he's a boy--what more do I need to say? It's all weird. Remember his Peel Off Masque? Yeah, I rest my case.

Two Down, Three To Go . . .

Work days until the weekend that is. I try not to wish away the days--Lord knows they pass quickly enough as it is! But both yesterday and today were busy and slightly stressful days at work, and I feel like the weekend ought to be here by now. But it's not.

Before leaving for work this morning, I readied the backing and batting for the Thimbleberries quilt and cleaned off the tables I have set up on the patio. I don't normally leave them up, but when I pinned that last quilt a couple weeks ago, I knew I wanted to pin at least one more before I put them away.

I was planning to work on appliqueing the letters on the Christmas List block during my lunch hour today, but as it turned out, I worked on a rush work project instead and didn't get more than about ten minutes to eat. Oh, well, some days are like that!

When I got home from work tonight, I quickly assembled a casserole and stuck it in the oven to bake while I pinned the quilt. I'm happy to say the weather wasn't too hot outside--something I was a little apprehensive about because our evenings don't cool down very fast--and the quilt was pinned in less than an hour, just in time for the casserole to come out of the oven.

By the time we finished eating, it was around 8:30. Did I want to start quilting that quilt? Did I want to go to bed early and read? Did I want to applique the letters I didn't work on during my lunch hour? Decisions, decisions! I decided to mull over my options while paging through the new Hancock's of Paducah catalogue--yummy!

Before long, I was in a relaxed and happy frame of mind, so I decided it was the perfect time to open a box that arrived in yesterday's mail.

I'm kind of funny about opening packages. I know lots of you probably can't stand to wait to tear into packages, but I like to savor them. In my mind, I know the perfect time will come to truly enjoy whatever the package contains. And, in the case of yesterday's box, the right time was tonight. Even Spike was feeling relaxed and happy, laying right next to my chair in the Sweat Shop. (And no, that's not some kind of spear sticking out of her head--she was laying on her "feather" that she carries around and demands we play with--you should see her spring into action if anyone even seems to be reaching toward it! This pose is all just a ruse to make us think she's not paying attention.)

This box came to me from my Blogland friend Lorraine in Australia. Several weeks ago, we agreed to a magazine swap: I would send her a few Fons & Porter magazines and she would send me an Australian Homespun magazine.

Well, sweet Lorraine sent more than just the Homespun magazine! In fact, she sent quite a pile of magazines! And just in case I got so busy looking at all those magazines and forgot to eat, she sent me a little sustenance to keep on hand.

You know what's really, really excellent about treats made and packaged in another country? I can pretend I have no idea how fattening they are! For instance, they list "energy" rather than "calories." Energy is a good thing, right?! And grams instead of ounces--gosh, who knows how much a gram is? I don't! It's almost like the old days, before they had to put all that discouraging and depressing information on packaged food!

Lorraine tucked in a couple of postcards of her part of Australia. She and I have talked before about how similar our weather is--except that the seasons are reversed--and the postcard with the vineyards and the hot air balloon looks like it could have been taken in our Napa Valley, about an hour or so east of here toward San Francisco.

My absolute favorite, though, is this Homespun magazine:

Can you see that red and white quilt hanging there in the background? It's a Bronwyn Hayes design--part one of three parts is in this magazine. I really think I need to make it, don't you?! I just wish work wouldn't interfere so much with my time to quilt!

Tomorrow--day three of the work week--will be a better day, I think. It's about time for a lunch hour excursion to the thrift store, and then after work I'll have my Jo's Little Women Club meeting at the quilt shop. I have a good idea I'll be spending whatever bit of overtime pay I earned the last two days and then some!

Thanks again Lorraine for filling my evening with happy surprises! Blogland friends are the BEST!

Block Du Jour

I think I'm still suffering from a touch of that stomach flu because although my stomach seems fine again, I'm feeling a little more tired than usual. Funny thing was that I mentioned being sick over the weekend to someone at work and she said her husband had been sick with the same symptoms. Another gal was standing nearby and heard our conversation, and she said she had been sick the night before. Both of them thought maybe it was something to do with the food they ate, but I'm guessing this thing is just going around. It certainly would be more convenient, though, if it wouldn't hit on a weekend--I'd much rather have my work days ruined than my days off!

Anyway, I was hoping to get a backing made for the Thimbleberries quilt and get it pinned and ready for quilting after work tonight, but I ended up having to stay at work an extra hour, and with feeling kind of tired and having less daylight out on the patio to pin the quilt, I decided to postpone that little job until tomorrow night. Instead I shut myself into the Sweat Shop and worked on the next Christmas List block, Bake the Cookies. My next Christmas List class is a week from tonight, and after this block, I'll have just one more to make to catch up with the class. For this block, I still have to stitch down the red letters--they are just pinned in place right now--but the rest of the applique is done.

Block of the month quilts are nice in theory, but sometimes I get too caught up in other projects to stop and do a single block. Does that happen to you? And then tonight I was looking for the red embroidery floss I had used in the first block with red letters, and after color-matching several different red flosses, I looked closer and realized I had used regular thread. ARGH! See, that's the other problem--I forget some of the details from one month to the next! And, silly me, the whole time I was looking for the right colored floss, I was berating myself for not having stuck that particular floss with the rest of my class materials! Sheesh!

Bedtime for me--tomorrow's another work day and it's only Tuesday--still plenty of days to go until the next weekend rolls around. Happy quilting!

Ta Da!

Next comes the quilting!

I'm Back!

I'm feeling much better this a.m.--just in time to be well enough to clean house, too. So I figured I'd procrastinate and write to you instead!

Friday night, when I first felt sick, I had plans to go out to dinner with my friends, Kathy and Lisa, to celebrate my birthday--bet you thought that was over, didn't you? Nope! I stretch it out as long as I can! Anyway, we were meeting at a good Mexican restaurant and we all arrived separately to find it incredibly crowded. By then, I wasn't feeling too much like eating anyway, so we moved the "party" down the road about a mile to a little deli that Kathy said makes some pretty darn good tri tip sandwiches on Friday nights. I guess I should mention that the deli is attached to a bar and while we were sitting in the deli eating, we saw one of my brothers-in-law go into the bar--he had no idea we were there. When we were done eating, Lisa surprised him by playing waitress and carrying two of our leftover half sandwiches and a side of pasta salad into the bar and serving him. It was pretty funny! We then wound up the festivities at a nearby Starbucks. I knew before I left the house that I wasn't feeling very well, but I just couldn't pass up a date with two of my best friends, and I'm glad we were able to get together.

Lisa had brought me a birthday present, and the card said that the gift combined three of my favorite hobbies. Hummm. What could it be? Turned out she had gotten me three quilting books from Goodwill and a Starbucks card! She actually went to Goodwill hoping they might have gift cards, but no dice. Lisa's pretty funny!

By the time I got home Friday night, that stomach bug really hit hard.

On Saturday, I made a purse. Lisa had admired my red wool and black and white polka dot purse awhile back and asked if I would make a similar one for her daughter for her birthday in August, so that's what I worked on. I got a photo of it, but it came out awfully dark, and now the purse has been sent on its way, so I can't get another photo. Argh!

Oh, I have to back up a bit to my birthday again. Late Thursday, I think, I got a package in the mail from Red Geranium Sharon. I opened it Friday morning to find a whole bunch of goodies! She and I have this cow thing going on, so she sent me a couple cow-themed funny gifts and some lavender dryer bags that smell heavenly! The gift I'm most excited about, though, is three charm packs of the Nantucket line from Moda/Minick & Simpson. She can't possibly know, but I've recently been picking up a couple pieces of fabric from that line here and there because I really like it and never did get very much to begin with, so now, with those three charm packs, I have enough to make something fun!

The Wild Child came into town late last night. Lisa's mechanic husband Terry will be working on her car and that's the reason for the trip. She and Hubby are dropping the car off this morning and then visiting various relatives, so I have the house to myself--so I can clean it. The Wild Child will be here until Monday night. I guess that means I should actually COOK dinner tonight. No rest for the wicked, eh?!

The mail this weekend also brought a large envelope full of scraps all the way from Faith in England. What fun this scrap swap has been! The envelope contained some fun pieces and some really lovely sherbet colored scraps. It was so nice of Nancy to make all these arrangements for us!

Finally, before I go clean house, I'll show you where I am on the Thimbleberries BOM. I received yet another package yesterday, and this one contained the Thimbleberries fabric order I had placed, so once the purse was done, I started back on this project.

I still need to add a couple final borders, but I'm excited it's nearing completion. And aside from just not enjoying house cleaning quite as much as quilting, THIS project is really making me just want to chuck the cleaning and finish it up. I think the next border will be more of the zig-zag flying geese-type blocks and then a last simple border of the blue sailing fabric from the line.

I guess I can't keep putting it off, so I'll say goodbye for now and go clean the darn house. Thanks for your well wishes over the past couple days and thanks, too, for stopping in to visit!

Sick Day

I'm taking a sick day from blogging. Don't worry though--I'm not actually dying or anything! It's just a stomach bug that I'm pretty sure Hubby had last weekend. I was kind of annoyed at the time that he had three days off and did nothing but sit in his recliner and take naps, but now I understand, 'cause that's just about what I'd like to do. Except for those times--which seem to be more frequent than I would wish--when I have to run to the bathroom. Too much information?! See, that's why I need to take a blogging sick day. No telling what gory details I might go into if I sat here chatting with you much longer!

Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow. But if not, you'll know I'm just still feeling a little under the weather and haven't figured out a way to move the computer to the bathroom yet, right?! Well, gotta run. Literally.

I Sure Talk Alot!

I was looking for a photo in some back posts--probably about a year ago--and realized I sure do talk alot! Well, actually I think Blogger's telling me this is something like my 544th post, so that should tell me something, huh? Well, but it's fun chatting with you!

I'm having another lazy night of no sewing. I don't know if I'm in a slump or just preferring to be lazy, but it's all good--I'm doing what I feel like doing. Still, I have a couple things I wanted to mention.

If you read my post yesterday, you'll have noticed the story had me thinking of Jace. Chances are you won't have read the comment Jace left later in the day, so I'll stick it right here--

"Ah yes... the old "nipples on fire" thing. Been there done that one already, still got the flashbacks. Oddly enough, with y'all associating me with this story, I used to sell these things when I was in the gun business. Your next question is "Did you try 'em out?" My answer... hesitantly is "yes". It was 2 days before I quit scraping my tongue on my front teeth and another 3 days before the Tourettes completely stopped. Let me tell you sometime 'bout the self indulgence of pepper spray, just to test it you know. Thanks for the laugh Kim. I like you. :-) Jace"

See, was I wrong about it reminding me of Jace? One can only hope that back when he was in the gun business, he didn't try the guns out on himself too! And if you haven't read Jace's story about Vicky (LA Quilter) and her trip to the hardware store, click HERE.

Second, let me introduce you to Jack.

Jack is Boy Boss's boy and he now has a name. Jack and momma went home today and both are doing well. Boy Boss came into the office a bit at the end of the day and seemed tired but pleased. Look at those eyes! What a cutie, huh?! Oh, and that reminds me--did you see that the night I posted saying Boy Boss had gone to get his baby but we hadn't heard anything, he posted a comment at around 1 a.m. saying the baby was born? Well, I knew he read my blog sometimes, but I didn't really think he'd go home after having a baby and read my blog in the middle of the night!

And Girl Boss? She finished taking the Nevada bar exam today and called me as she was leaving Reno. She said it was pretty rough, but I'm sure she's glad it's over now, but for the waiting. Results should come out around October, I think. She'll be back to work again on Monday.

Finally, remember the mystery minis I was working on and couldn't show you? Well, today was "Christmas" over in Quilters Hollow, my Thimbleberries internet group, and everyone was supposed to open their "present." I haven't heard that my gal opened hers yet, but hopefully she'll open it before she ever sees this post, so I'll finally share with you what I've been doing.

This is an older Thimbleberries pattern and I've always liked it, so I had to make myself one too. Then, since I was making two already, I decided to make a third. The center appliqued portion is wool. I think I may donate the third one to our local hospital's breast cancer quilt auction to raise money. They have the auction every two or three years and I've been meaning to make a quilt but hadn't gotten to it yet; then it occured to me this would work quite well for the purpose. I quilted all three slightly different and there are a couple other minor differences but they're pretty subtle.

Time to get off the computer and get back to the serious business of vegging out on the couch in front of the television. Thanks for dropping by!