Snippet of the second try

I made a second attempt at my center block for the Spring Fling Round Robin 2 quilt. I like this second attempt much better than the first.

Miniature Booty Swap 2

When I received my swap partner's preferences I thought polka dots and cherries. I had been wanting to try these fun little pieced flowers, and I thought this was the perfect opportunity to do so. The cherries ended up on the back but I added gingham to the front, and I think it turned out cute! I made a similar one for myself, and will hang it in my kitchen.

Oh Yoo Hoo Nellie Girl!

Looky looky what I finished today! I love how it turned out. I hope you love it too. It is drying right now, but will be dry in no time with today's heat.
Love you,
Mom

(Pattern is Happy Hour by Atkinson's Designs)

Summons!

That is what it said on the outside of the envelope I received yesterday. Summons to Jury Duty. Drag..... I hate this. I know I should feel privileged to participate in the system, but truly its a pita. Having to call in all the time. Going in and sitting while they draw numbers, having to answer a bunch of questions. I don't get paid at work for being at jury duty. Its a financial drag as well as in other respects. I don't want to. (that was my whiniest voice)

Fun and Easy!

My old clothespin holder was rotting away, and getting holes in it. I searched for patterns and tutorials online until I found the easiest one I could find. I hit the thrift store, and found a cute little osh kosh blouse for 50 cents. Lickety split here's what I ended up with.



Re-purposing at its finest!

It is my first!

Tonight after a long long day, I thought I would unwind in my usual way, reading blogs of quilters, and just enjoying the eye candy. Lately I've seen a surge in blog awards being handed out left and right, and tonight I've been awarded my first. Thanks Betsy (aka Fiesta) I appreciate you too!
I believe I am to nominate those blogs I read now. I read a lot of blogs. Here are some of my favorites, I will pass this award onto. I hope you stop by their blogs and see what I see.
Grace at Cityquilter's blog. I love how she is all about what is going on in her life. Ups and downs both.
Kim and her big quilting adventures are always fun. She has addicted me to thrifting for wonderful objects that I surely can't live without.
Lisa Jo at Life at the blackbear cabin. I love her take on mountain life. Bears and all, and of course there is wonderful eye candy to be had as well.
Desi at Go to your studio and make stuff. I love the title of her blog, and she is always inspiring me to make stuff, as it were. :)
And last but definately not least, Sophie at Sophie Junction, my first blog I ever read, and truly someone who always inspires.
Thanks Betsy, Its nice to know someone is out there reading the blog, I sometimes wonder if its just me and my family reading it.
Colene

Misc.

What a fun quilty day today. It was the guild picnic and we had a great time. We exchanged bags in brown paper bags, I ended up with 2. The person had purchased this really cool bag made of a great big long zipper, and then found out we were to make the bag, so she made the second bag and put it inside the purchased bag.




We also played bingo and won lots of fabric and stuff like black and white yo yo's. I'm trying to figure out what I can do with the yo yo's, any great ideas?



Then when I got home, I had a message from a friend telling me she was at a yard sale that had a whole yard full of fabric. Of course the message was 6 hours old. I went anyway. There was a ton of holiday fabric, but I found some others I liked, and you can't beat $1 yard. Some was even Kaufman fabric.





And now for what I've really been wanting to show..... My apron for the apron swap is done. I waited for my daughter Nellie to get here today and she modeled it for me. I love how it turned out, and I really hope the recipient likes it also. I can't mail until August though, so I will just have to admire it until then.

Four Seasons Summer Quilt Swap

I have received another gorgeous quilt from a swap today. It is awesome! Made by Betsy at Quilting Fiesta. This one is from the Four Seasons Summer swap hosted by Margaret. The details are incredible, beautiful quilting, and cute little embellishments. Even beading on the dragon fly. Thanks so much Betsy, its absolutely wonderful. I've already hung it in my bedroom.
Colene












Isn't it SO me?

More Weekend Excitement

Last weekend I purchased what I call a clothesline, apparently the new terminology is outdoor clothes dryer. LOL too funny! Anyway, my husband put it in the ground with concrete yesterday, and voila today I am drying clothes outside. Yay! I'm thrilled. I love the smell of clothes dried outside.

I've been wanting to purchase a scooter for some time now. My sister and her partner each purchased one recently. They love them. I went to buy one today, but they are sold out! The guy said maybe in a week. I'm hoping just in time for my birthday on Friday. We'll see, I guess.

Surprise Visit!

Last night about 8:00 my sister called to let me know she and her family were on their way here from Denver. Leave the door unlocked we will be there about 4a.m. Yay! They made it here safely. We've been snuggling babies ever since. Here's Janet and baby Naomi.

Great Mail Days

I've had two great mail days in a row. Yesterday I received this wonderful little quilt from the Doll Quilt Swap III on about.com quilting forum. It was made special for me by BonnieH, and I fell in love with it immediately. She also sent me a piece of the beautfiul batik fabric she used in it, and I loved that too.

Then today I received a package (ALQS) all the way from Australia from TracyD. She sent me a really beautiful mariner's compass quilt, in my favorite colors. It is gorgeous and unlike anything else I own. She also sent along some extras like a visitor's guide about her town, and 3 beautiful fabrics. I feel extremely spoiled this week. thanks to both of you wonderful ladies.

It Is Official!

When my kids were little, I honestly never thought the day would come. And... I really thought when the day did come, if ever, I would be all excited! But... really its a bummer, and lonely. I guess I will have to get used to the empty nest.

I did see them both today. I helped Nellie pick up and deliver her new frig to her newly purchased house. It was scary driving it down the road, but I went slow. The answer to the age old question, is your refrigerator running, was NO, IT IS CRAWLING, and making lots of people behind me not so happy to be crawling. We made it there safely though. I thought this refrigerator pic I borrowed on flickr was too cute! I saw Cody and Brooke when they came over to get some more of Cody's things. I was feeling nostalgic, and told him to leave the basket of dirty clothes, and I would wash them for him. What a sucker I am sometimes for nostalgia. LOL

Apron Obsession

I don't know about anyone else out there in blog land, but I have been bitten by the apron bug. I remember my grandmother always had on an apron. My farm grandma anyway. My city grandma, I don't remember her wearing them, but I'm sure she did. Anyway, they have been making a come back. I see apron patterns everywhere. I've actually made a couple for myself recently. To spread the apron joy I've decided to host an apron swap. This will be different for me, as I usually host block swaps. Come join the fun! You can find the swap here.

Colene

Fabric Binge

I have to say that I have been really good about not buying fabric recently. But... Today I stopped at the lqs on my way home from work to pick up a couple yards of black on black fabric for a batik and black swap I am participating in on the about.com quilting forum. Wow, did I have fun buying fabric today.


Starting on the left is a pretty yellow coordinating print that came in the same line as the paisley print right next to it. The one on the left looks like dots, but it is actually little flowers all in rows. Both from Anna Griffin's Lulu Collection for Wyndham Fabrics. I love her stuff, really modern, but retro at the same time. These will become my next bag/purse/tote for me, I'm not sure what pattern I will choose yet. I got about 2 yds of each. The beautiful blue on brown flowers, I purchased 3 yds of this. This is a Robert Kaufman fabric, the selvage just says screen print D# BKT 6004. I love it! I'm thinking it would make a cute messenger bag for my very secret recipient person not to be named here as she reads my blog. shhh. (no beggin, its already been decided) And last, but not least the black on black I went shopping for to begin with. LOL 2 yds of that. I would tell you who makes it, but I can't read the black writing on the black selvedge. I am set for the weekend, as today is my Friday. Yay!
Oh, and on another note: Murphy had another seizure last Friday when I was home. The vet put him on meds on Monday when she got in. This is his fourth seizure in about 8 months, so I think it best to get the meds going. Its so horrible to see him have a seizure. People seizures are horrible, and in my line of work I've seen a lot of them, but seeing my dog have one is horrible horrible also. He is liking the meds as I sneak them into a piece of velveeta each morning and night, and he thinks he's been so good to get such a treat, and twice a day too! Good boy!


He looks so funny after playing in the sprinklers.

Summer Totes

Today I spent doing yucky stuff like laundry and housecleaning, and answering the crisis line. I did get some fun sewing in though, and made two totes. One for me to keep and one to exchange at my guild picnic next month. We are to make a tote bag, and put it inside a brown paper bag, close it up and bring it to the guild picnic. Then, we all put the bags of bags, on a table, and then everyone takes a random brown bag with a bag and they get to keep the bag they chose. I made the bags using Lazy Girl's Summer Tote pattern. I love how they turned out. I had this pattern for about a year, but was chicken to try it. It was fun, and different and it turned out great! Thanks to Lazy Girl. (I watched her video also for help)

This one is for me.



This one is for the swap

Almost Finished

I need to sew the binding down by hand, and then this one is finished. I believe the block is called Puss in the Corner. I used scraps to make it, and I love how it turned out. I tried a panto on it for the quilting. My first try at a panto. Its definately not perfect, I need to work on lining the rows up without as much space between rows of quilting, but its okay for my first try. The quilting itself turned out nice. Any tips or tricks to using a panto? I'd love to have tips.





The panto is called Simply Roses by Anne Bright, BZQuilting.com

Getting My Groove Back?

I used to play in the block lotto on about.com quilting forum every month. Then somewhere along the line I lost my motivation, but this month was too cute to resist, and I made these two blocks up for the june lotto. I love how they are so bright and cheerful.


I was also able to finish my doll swap this week. This swap was also on about.com We aren't to send these out for a couple of more weeks, but at least it is done. The picture is a bit washed out from the flash, its much clearer fabrics in reality. I made a duplicate for myself. I believe the recipient will be open to the patriotic colors, even though she didn't actually say so. The pattern is from American Doll Quilts by Kathleen Tracy.

Other stuff this week. A few years ago my eye doc suggested bi-focals. I bought them, but never could get used to them no matter how many times they changed them. I went for another visit yesterday, and ended up with a different doc as mine was on vacation. This doc said I should be wearing contacts for far away, and reader glasses for close up. I have lazy eye (luckily you can't tell by looking at me) but the result is my eyes are opposite, so when I would wear the glasses they made me very very dizzy. Anyway, I had previously tried contacts about 6 years ago, but could never get them in my eyes. I came home yesterday with a pair of trial contacts. This morning dh helped me by telling me up or down or whatever, and coached me and I was able to get them in both eyes. I love being able to see street signs etc. We went to a family reunion about 1 1/2 hrs away and I drove and could actually see well. It snowed on us at the reunion btw. It was outside and cold. That's the way it is in Idaho sometimes. I recall being snowed on, on the fourth of July one year.

I also went to the family cemetery while there, and did my cemetery thing. Not so much fun, but not too horrible either, dh was with me.

Irons

I hit the thrift store near my work today in search of an iron. I hit the jackpot. I found a cute little folding travel iron by durabilt for the grand sum of $1.75 that puppy gets HOT! and FAST! I also bought a regular old iron for $3.75 it gets plenty hot too, but needs a scrubbing as it doesn't run smooth across the fabric. Here's a pic of one just like the folding one I got.



Strange thing, that picture I lifted from the internet yesterday of the iron looks just like the one I found today. How is that for coincidence?

What an ending to a great sewing weekend

I had a great weekend, and got a lot of sewing time in. I worked on my doll quilt for the about.com doll quilt III swap. I got the binding ready for a quilt, I quilted on Friday. I started a new scrap quilt. There I was going along cutting fabric, pressing, cutting, pressing, and I realized the pressing part wasn't going so well. HMMMM what is this? My iron isn't hot. That's strange the power light is on, it was working a minute ago. Kapoot! All of a sudden, I have no heat! I guess its time to buy a new iron, this one lasted 2 1/2 years. I hate the thought of spending money on an iron when I could be spending it on pretty fabric. Oh Well! Maybe the thrift store will have one. LOL

Fun Stuff to Share

I copy catted Kim this past week and hit the thrift stores for some cheap fun. I hit the jackpot! I purchased this cool ceramic house, and I am using it for a coffee canister at home. I found a smaller cottage one at a different thrift store on my lunch break, and I am using it for a sugar container at my office, along with a cute saucer/bowl/lid combo I found at the same store. It is now a powdered creamer holder for my office. Much cuter than the original containers they came in from the store.


From the second thrift store along with the house canister I found 3 pantos for $8. I tried the first one the other night, but haven't mastered lining the rows up as the quilt progresses, and so I am not happy with my work on that, but am trying to imagine how cool it will be once I get the hang of the pantos. I also found these two ceramic baskets at a 3rd thrift store.


I loved these green bowls at the 3rd store


Two retro serving dishes, and a little yellow bowl like my Mom had, round out my collection for the day.




This morning I rearranged my little quilt collection and put it on a different wall


I took creative license and hung them crooked. I hope the makers don't mind.

Then I used the old quilt wall for this arrangement