Blessed Beyond Belief

What puppy pads aren't for

2012-01-27T20:24:00.000-08:00

People often ask me if they should puppy pad train their new additions...my answer is always NO! Not only cuz you want the puppy learning where you ultimately want it to go but because things happen to them that you really don't want to have to clean up

More info for those still wondering if puppy pad training is for them :)

One more snow day

2012-01-19T10:06:00.000-08:00

So the snow continues to fall today....we are luckier than some places who are having freezing rain mixed with snow making the roads skating rinks for cars.......they are urging everyone to stay home and just enjoy the day off instead of braving the roads (if you need a laugh there are videos of cars playing pinball--funny unless you are in one of those cars)

Yesterday I took and swept off part of the accumulation to see how much we would continue to get....well not much...the flakes are really small and powdery....but not dense like the first snow fall we got

Thot this one would show the snow falling but it just shows Zoey out there enjoying it...wish I had gotten a video of her hopping through the snow along the fence :) Very cute

Just in case you doubt...or needed to see the temps....

And for those who love to see puppies playing...here they are...can't take them outside as it is way too cold for their little feet but they had fun running in the living room

Pacific Northwest

2012-01-17T19:55:00.000-08:00

We had a snow day today...altho we got less than some areas...we had our share...and supposedly there is more coming tomorrow.

Isn't this beautiful? The white snow against the green of the trees....loverly

And of course the fur babies totally LOVE playing in the white stuff

I have flying bunnies in the yard :)

And here they are in their snow finery.........

Reese looked like she had on decorative Ugg boots

Amy has a much more refined version :)

And then it started to melt....but it will be back tomorrow

So I will say good night :)

what started it......

2012-01-04T15:58:00.000-08:00

Some days my "job" is so much fun..............not that I really do much...but man can I pick up puppy poop quickly...before they all come to me and jump into it and all over me :)
A little boy came with his family and got to pick a puppy...he was sad that he couldn't take Lucky home with him.......I get emails from him all the time telling me how he misses his puppy....Then....I got this letter...so

SO I sent him a letter back and sent him this photo...thot he would enjoy getting a physical picture of the pup he CAN'T wait to bring home

Meanwhile, in another cage, another pup..................she has learned a new trick.....how to scale the walls of her 'enclosure' and jump out...or into another cage :) Naughty puppy ;)

On the second day of.....................

2012-01-02T17:14:00.000-08:00

2012
If today was any indicagtion of what is to come this year.........I should have a very clean house ;)
I cleaned this cupboard first...well kinda...
I felt like the dogs on "UP". I kept seeing squirrels :) I would start a project and then get sidetracked to another place. But at the end of the day...I got quite a bit accomplished.
This was the first completed project. There are actually 2 shelves that have room to put things. AND a couple of the puppy blankets had holes in them that also got fixed and folded and put back where they belong

One of the squirrels.....I got this cupboard and counter cleaned too...seeing it now it looks like those pens on the side need to be put in the cupboard...............ah....there is always tomorrow

This was a minor squirrel..........I have all my hot pads in the wash right now and they will be put in the drawer once they are dry.........

This might have been my favorite of the projects. I threw out a bunch of containers that don't have lids or lids that don't have bottoms........now...every container has a top and bottom and they are in specific places...........will see how long the hubby will be able to keep everything together. I also took out ones that had lids but there were two sizes of lids and I kept pulling the wrong one.....so they went bye bye!

This cupboard looks like it really isn't done but it is...well sorta....that box had a bunch of things that I haven't used in the 5 years we have lived here so off they are going to the local thrift store when the box is full.

The bottom drawer of the cupboard. When I need to take everything out for the new countertops I think I am going to put my pots and pans in these drawers in the cupboard

I didn't take a picture of all the fodder that still needs to find a home :) Or visit the round file :)
But this is the start of the box of things that are going to the thrift store.........WOOHOO!

Happy 2012 to you all

2011-12-31T19:20:00.000-08:00

Sadie wishes all of you a very Happy and safe New Year!

Pups and other things

2011-12-15T17:09:00.000-08:00

One of these things is not like the other.
Bailey is getting in the crate and taking care of these pups :) The funniest thing is that she growls at Zoey (the real mom) as she comes to see her puppies.
These pups are 4 weeks + old

Got this pic of Spencer....my routy little man who lets me know at least an hour before, that dinner is coming and he wants his food....NOW!!!!! He is such a goofy little boy

And this is my newest member...Amy...she is such a pretty red color. And such a sweetie!

Now on to puppies...these are Cassidy's at almost 2 weeks old

And Reese's pups at 3 weeks +. They are moving all over the place and playing with toys

Merry Christmas to me

2011-12-07T14:05:00.000-08:00

Or should I say Happy Black Friday buying? I sometimes can't resist a sale...and this time I couldn't resist from three different places. YIKES!
This is the stash I got..

From one place :)

Another place

Aren't the colors in this jelly roll cool?

The stack of charm packs I got

All the jelly rolls

Another plethora from another store :)

Ah...maybe I should go sew instead of typing............bye ;)

Newest Project

2011-12-04T19:03:00.000-08:00

Here is the newest project that I did...well I did part of it....not most of it but some of...Does coming up with the idea count for a lot of it?

Here it is almost complete...well one of them..............can you guess what I did with it?

Here it is almost done...wait didn't I just say that?

Here it is totally done. I have a bunch of vintage ornaments that I got from my mom...and I saw a commercial from Home Depot and using a picture frame they made a cool ornament hanger. My thot was to change that and also put my vintage nativities on the shelf...well that didn't work so put them somewhere else and just did the ornament on this

Here is one

and the other....

I am very happy with the way they turned out and can show off these special ornaments.

Sales :) and Scissors :(

2011-11-27T11:10:00.000-08:00

This is what happens when you leave your scissors where little mouths can get to them............

I found Izzy chewing on my good shears....darn her...how did she get them and why did she decide they needed some work on them...luckily I am right handed and I can put them on my hand and they don't feel real yucky!

I went to the airport to get Amy and while going down there I stopped at one of the fabric stores and found some great sale fabrics
Here are some of the pieces I got...these even go together :)

Oh...this piece is just too cute....might take them and cut them apart and make a couple of quilts instead of just one ;) Can't wait!

And here is just a small piece of fabric that will make its way into a quilt :)

These...wow...the camera doesn't show the cool color that they are. Ty Pennington fabric for pillowcases???? or maybe a cool boys quilt????

Another day another store...... :)
I got all of these at my local quilt store...........for 60% off....................WOOHOO!!!!!

here they are separated out.......hum...quilts or pillowcases

got these for pillow cases............

these just add to my stash..have lots of Robyn Pandolf and these will just add to them :)

A dozen minus one

2011-11-19T15:30:00.000-08:00

Ok...so I topped my all time number of puppies in one litter this morning...well I actually had nothing to do with it other than be there to help first time mom, Reese, have her pups. Within 2 hours she had 10 pups and number 11 came an hour later and then she was done....or at least I haven't seen any more this afternoon, which is a very good thing. Three of them are very small so am keeping a close eye on them to make sure mom is letting them feed. Zoey has three of them that she is surrogating to help Reese out...well she probably doesn't think like that but I put three on her to help the little ones get some food and not have to compete as much.

Here they all are...YIKES!!!!!

Amended..........at 4 pm....Reese had another male puppy bringing the total to a full dozen...just hoping she isn't having a bakers dozen!

There is....................

2011-11-12T16:29:00.000-08:00

..............a new "girl" in town
I got myself a new dog :) Her name right now is Amy but not sure that is going to stay...she is a deep carrot top red...gorgeous! The camera kinda fades her out and photoshopping this didn't help a lot but this is kinda her color

This one is much closer to her color..she is in need of a grooming but want her to settle in before I put her though that also...the black isn't black but her beard and feet are totally wet from running in the yard sniffing all the new smells

Love it when a sale comes together....

2011-11-09T16:09:00.001-08:00

For Hannibal Smith....who remembers who that is???? I have paraphrased or repurposed that phrase so that it works for me.
The local quilt store is having a sale...and not just a sale....but a 60% off clearance fabric sale...dem is sweet words to my pocketbook....oh that dates me too...pocketbook????
So on the first day of the sale I got these

Stayed away on the second day of the sale...got this on the third day of the sale....there is new stuff added daily so I have to go check it out don't I????

Suzie (not quite) Homemaker

2011-11-09T15:58:00.000-08:00

Got the baking bug today.....decided to try some different Chex mixes and zucchini bread without the added fat................
First the zucchini bread...............little bit on the flatter side...I also only added 1/2 the sugar figuring the applesauce that I added instead of the oil would be sweeter...
The verdict.....would add maybe 3/4 of the sugar, a bit more stuff to make it rise but add the applesauce again instead of the 1 cup of oil that the recipe calls for.
.
Basically a winner tho..........

Then the Chex mix.....top one is the sweet one made with Chex, some nuts and chocolate balls from Winco and round pretzel bites...will add the m&m's I bought too once it is cooled. Also added a couple of pineapple rings cut up to it...and have dried banana to add also
The bottom one is the original recipe with Cheezits added, the pretzel balls and peanuts. My husband should thank me when he gets these in his lunch ;)

Topping befores.......

2011-10-31T19:02:00.000-07:00

Last year at this time we had a great Halloween trick for the kids. You can read all about it here. I just couldn't think of anything to top it this year so we did nothing ;)
As to Trick or Treaters...we only had the grandkids come over so it was nice and easy. So hope all of your Halloween was great.

Babies and Puppies

2011-10-29T12:41:00.001-07:00

I don't usually get pictures of the hats that I give to "unknown" to me babies....in just a past post I had done some pumpkin hats and made my husband take them in so that they could be distributed to some little "punkins" that were born this season..........
Well he came home with a picture of this little "punkin" sporting his new hat.......it looks huge on the baby :) Oh well...the parents were thrilled with the hat and I am hoping this baby will soon be able to go home and grow into the hat

Ant then today Cindy and Annette came to get Fred and Ginger...surprisingly I remembered to take a picture...I really should do this with everyone who comes and gets a pup...more for me so that when I get emails from them years from now I can pull up the family picture and remember who they are ;) Surprisingly a lot of people think I remember them...Ha...they forget my failing memory and I really don't have a clue...I have found lots of great homes for puppies but I don't always remember the people that went with the pup.

Then this little sweetie is left and goes home on Tuesday....She is doing really well being the only "puppy" here.........between me playing with her and the older dogs playing with her we will keep her entertained until her new parents come for her.

Oops...speaking of playing...I had better go get her out of the crate and play with her for a bit :)

Happy Fall Y'all!

2011-10-25T14:23:00.000-07:00

Well Drackie made it on the porch finally before Halloween is totally over....I am missing his pumpkin that normally goes in his hand but am guessing it is in the fall box which is behind some closet doors that we took off from my sewing room....

He is sporting a new doo for a bit....wanted to put the hats on the picket fence Dave made to hold back the bleeding heart but figured it wouldn't be good if a splinter got in the inside of the hats...but there were 8 pickets and 8 hats...darn :(

made these hats for the newborn babies that will come around this season and figured a good way might be to put one on Drackie and show them off.....
Figured out the pattern from a picture...man Pinterest is taking way too much time :)

here is a cluster of them....they turned out really cute.....one is already in the hands of a new mama to be who hasn't had her baby quite yet....just a few days left and baby Caden can wear his pumpkin hat :)

Sleepy is good....

2011-10-18T13:48:00.000-07:00

Every week I strive to get some nice pictures of the puppies for my web site and their new owners...by this time I am trying to get additional pictures to send to the new owners....today opposite of what is normally true the pups were too tired :) HA!!!! Now that is totally different. I grabbed them from the crate where they were sleeping and took them to the block wall and all of them cooperated :) But that means I didn't get additional pictures...guess I will have to get my camera out again when they are running around

Loved the cocked head of Fred here.....doesn't he just look so cute!

This one actually backed up off the block...but it made for a great picture of her.

On to quilt stuff...this airplane has been sitting on my bulletin board for years...and I do mean years...I always knew what I wanted to do with it but just never did anything with it. I actually made a full quilt of airplanes..that was in my pattern making days...they were short lived as I figured it was easier to do things than to explain how to do them for others.
Well it got finished...totally finished with everything that I have been thinking about doing for years....In the white part there are clouds embroidered.....and then just a stitch in the ditch around the flying geese.

So another one done...this one is for Conner...altho Conner's mom doesn't know it yet :)

Blankies

2011-10-14T15:22:00.000-07:00

What do you get when you have a friend who likes to sew but doesn't really like to quilt? And that said friend wanted to try a new pattern to her so she made a ton of blocks in said pattern only to realize after they had sat and aged at her house for a while that she was never going to complete the project? You get LUCKY!!!!
My friend gave me this great score of blocks and all I needed to do was finish them into blankies.
So here are a couple that I did.
This one has opposite blocks...Had put all the blocks into what kinda went together with other colors and figured I would do them with four squares...one would be with the lighter squares on the outside and the other would be with the lighter squares on the inside

these two you can see the different squares and the matching ones below

this pink one matches the one above to the right

and then I didn't have enough of the purple to do the backing and said above mentioned friend had also given me the heart fabric which I didn't have enough of to do a back...so I sewed the heart into the purple and got two backs :)

These two were blocks that didn't match any other blocks when I got done matching so I made them single block quilts...I really like the way that these turned out so going to do more of them...might even finish the rest of the blocks like this...

here is the back of the black/white/red quilts

and then these goldfish were just too cute to pass up in the fabric aisle...well actually the virtual fabric aisle of an online shop :)

and they got bubbles for their embroidery :)

Working on a couple of orange squares like the above ones.....Halloween is coming...Wonder if there will be two sets of twins to use Halloween colored quilts?

Perpetual Motion :)

2011-10-13T14:36:00.000-07:00

It comes as no surprise unless you are new to my blog that I breed cockapoos...People think this is an easy job...well it is but I won't tell anyone if you don't....at least it is easy for the first 4-5 weeks....then I really begin to have to work.
One of those back breaking duties is to take pictures *insert "sigh" and wiping of the brow* ....
What an easy task you say.......HA!!!!
Here are some pictures that didn't make the Puppy Page on my web site...perpetual movement isn't easy to photograph when you are wanting a still :)

another one blurred by movement

ok...so altho blurry this is really a cute picture

hop hop...thot these were puppies and not bunnies

this is probably the best of the moving ones...all you got was a little bit of lifted leg

Just a quick shake of the head takes part of the picture out of focus

two trouble makers

Oh wait...here is a still...too bad you can't see the puppy :)

Oh another still...but not a puppy :)

and my favorite....this girl never seems to slow down...got tons of her but she is always moving

In my hoop

2011-10-11T13:43:00.000-07:00

Big HOOP, little hoop...what to do with hoops :)
Been finishing some projects here lately...wish I could do free hand quilting but it looks like it was done by a 2 year old on meds :) Well maybe not that bad but it surely needs tons more practice for it to look ok...I do have a serious case of Long Arm Envy...those people who can turn out quilts that are works of art in the finishing department...
Well I will stick to what works for me and practice the other ........when I remember :)
A friend gave me a bunch of these double pinwheel blocks cuz she said she wasn't ever going to use them and seeing as I do small quilts....well....
So they are in the hoop...and out of the hoop and waiting for binding.

Sometimes I get too creative...well not really too creative but too confident....of my skills that is

This didn't exactly work...altho in my head it should have...so the next one I did I simplified it and took out the extra "arms" of it and just did the middle part and it looks better cuz it doesn't look like I am trying to put it in there to connect.

Then there is this one....all quilted on the face and the borders....ready for binding......

Don't look at previous posts cuz to bind these four quilts I actually need to get more fabric...if you look back and see my sewing room you will be amazed that I could need any color, texture, pattern of fabric...but I seriously don't have the colors to bind these....darn :(

On a different note...I was outside with the pups and had my hand on the deck...and darn it if I didn't get stung...for no reason!!!! I wasn't moving or irritating the bee........it just decided he didn't like me and told me so...do you think I should put it in a sling...my arm that is not the bee.

Honey Dude

2011-10-09T15:55:00.000-07:00

My husband thot he would be funny and put up a reminder to do something that I had asked him to do several weeks...months ago....I needed a partition in the doggie bed cuz there was wailing and gnashing of teeth...well not exactly but a couple of the dogs weren't getting along so figured I needed go separate a few of them..mainly Spencer and Cody cuz Cody was telling the younger pup that he was the resident stud and to knock off even thinking about anything ;)
So here is the list as it got to be

Anyway I was just thinking a partition that could be removed and put in place...well that isn't exactly what I got but I guess it is close enough...it can be lifted up but with a ton of work so my guess is that it will stay like this for quite a while and will just use it to separate dogs :)
I think my husband has secret stock in the 2x4 lumber industry cuz that is his lumber of choice for sure....

But I kept adding to his silly list cuz there were things I wanted him to do but I kept forgetting what they were so I decided to continue as I thot of something that I wanted him to do. One of the things I had written I thot I had duplicated what I wanted...my husband told me all he had to do was wait 48 hours and his list would get shorter cuz I would forget what it was that I wrote...well I did remember and made him do both things :)
He got great pleasure in marking off the list :)

One of the things he did was hang this picture holder for me...I want to get some vintagey type frames and put them under this shelf like picture holder

Another thing he did was hang this other shelf I bought to finish off my room remodel...and hang the picture my mom did with scratch art

The shelf quickly got filled up with my precuts and that freed up a shelf in another place...so voila...I made more room for myself :)

Then to finish off his being "funny" he made another list...He thinks he is so clever...the problem is...when he hung this list all he did was put things on it that were already done...well almost all of them were done..the ones left undone were the smarty things he put on there

Guess this gives you a glimpse into him....smarty smarty went to a party :) oh but that is a family joke....never mind ;)

Completed

2011-09-29T19:07:00.000-07:00

Well it is done...all the fabric is folded and put away...all but the stuff that can't fit on the shelves right now ;)
There are bins of fabric on the shelves too but those are my UFO's that now I can see and finish...and some are just bins of scraps but ones that I want to use and again...they can be seen ;)
So here is my photo journal of my new and improved room....
This is as you walk in the door to the right...my shelves that had the doors taken off and everything is visible

Continuing around the room...my sewing machine... or should I say sewing machines.........yikes I am spoiled

Put the chest in the room and it holds my stabilizers and some odd assortment of fabrics...like dress fabric and some terry cloth etc
On the wall is my collection of Attic Babies that sat for a long time in a box in the garage...now they oversee my sewing ;)

and then the biggest change is the closet...it got gutted of the shelves that were in there as well as the closet bar. A new shelf holds my sewing machine cases, some fleece, some lace and bolts of fabric. My peg board got put back up and today it finally got the stuff put back on it....

Here are the few things I need to get done...a rice bag that needs the seam resewed after it got emptied and washed, a button to sew back on for the shower curtain and a doggie bed cover that needs a new back...but I do have plenty of fabric to fix that with :)

Thanks for stopping and seeing my tour...now to get in there and actually sew..........

Before, After and In Between

2011-09-23T19:00:00.000-07:00

I think I will start with the in-between :)
Got a couple of pictures of a couple of the other dogs...so up first is
Cody...posing for me

A good one of Zoey

Now for the before and after....
Mr Spencer needed to get his first haircut...and I remembered to get some pictures of him....I hated to take his cute little puppy hair off but he needed to get it done...
Look how dark he is on top

I stuck this one in cuz Spencer looks so funny

They had been running around and his tongue was sticking out in every picture...again...he looks so dark with those black tips

One more before and we are done...no more little baby boy

Here he is with his big boy cut....

and voila.....he is almost red with a black streak up his back...isn't he a cutie :)

Been a bit MIA lately

2011-09-19T16:45:00.000-07:00

Well all the older puppies have gone to their forever homes so life here is a bit quieter. Still have 5 pups here but they are only 3 weeks old so they don't make too much noise or demand too much of me right now.............
So while I have had a bit of a hiatus I decided to tackle the infamous sewing room and see if I could get a bit of it organized....had this brilliant idea to take the closet doors off and put shelves in there to handle the little bit......I mean the vast amounts of fabrics that I have accumulated. It was all jumbled in several spots and hard to see what I had and what I needed.......Well really don't NEED any more but........gotta leave options open don't you?
So what I did was put the two shelving units I had together. Took off the doors so that you could see what there was and open it up.

Then I folded all the material that I had the same way and sorted it according to color/design/designer/fat quarters etc. Look how nicely it all fits on my shelves now. Every single piece of fabric that was mine is now where I can see it...woohoo! I still have a couple of boxes my daughter gave me but want to make sure that she really doesn't want it back now that she has a potential sewing room in the making. Beside...I don't think I can fit it in anywhere........oops...just remember I lied......I have two more bins of older fabric that I just stuck under my bed...there is no way they are going to fit on the shelves until I get myself in gear and make some more blankets or doll clothes!!!
See how pretty :)

This side has got my precuts on the top shelf and all my UFO's on the shelves below....will get those finished now that I can see them :) And then flannel on the bottom...woohoo...I am so organized..well till I start a project that is :)

This is stuff that I still need to get into the room....hopefully a shelf is going into the closet today to put the fleece that I have and lace and anything else I don't use all the time up there. It got painted yesterday and I bought the shelf and brackets today.........hopefully hubby will be able to get it up before he goes to work...then my bedroom will be cleaned and will have a organized sewing room.........

Now to sew, sew, sew

trying again

2011-09-12T06:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I got a blog post all ready and dog gone...it wouldn't post to blogger so now I have to redo it.........
This is "Moose"....he is gonna be a big boy but man is he a cutie....he is inquisitive and very friendly

I have named him "Curly Joe"...man does this boy love to give kisses :)

Reese....love the coloring that she has

Another one of Curly Joe

This is Izzy....hum....she keeps crawling under the couch...and then she can't get out...you have to lift the couch up so she can crawl down. You would think after she did it once and got stuck she would think twice....or maybe did it twice? or three times??? Nope...she keeps doing it. Someday when I don't need her out from under the couch will see if she can figure it out...I can be hopeful can't I?

And this sweet boy is going home to new parents soon....he is such a sweetie!

Ok..enough puppy pictures..hopefully it will post

Would you...or wouldn't you?

2011-09-03T13:47:00.000-07:00

So I took my car to the car wash today...not an exceptional thing to do but I saw something that made me wonder.......but there is NO way!!!!! Car wash can't do things like this

Just an ordinary bike rack right????

Well normally it was....but when I got out of my car and went behind I saw something really odd....thot the car wash could have done this...but then logic stepped in..There is no was a simple car wash can bend metal

Now I have been known to alter things but if I had altered this it would have been bent the other way.....totally mysterious!!!!!

This used to be flush with the tire....not anymore!

So my question is...other than what really happened...or what the other car looked like that somehow managed to be stopped by my bike rack...Would you or wouldn't you leave a note after doing something like this to someones car???? At least tell me how you did it cuz it probably wasn't easy to do this

Picking process

2011-09-02T20:05:00.000-07:00

Had the nicest people come and try and pick a puppy...now that seems like an easy task but it isn't always.
But first...how to grow a puppy
Put in the multi-pack planter and let them rest

and soon they multiply

Pups love to run in the yard

the people told me that the pup picked them...they thot that only one would come up to them and that would be the one....

well that theory didn't work...as they all came up to them

mom enters the process of selection

getting the right puppy can be such a hard choice

the final decision

here he is by himself

the happy family with their new member

pups pooped from playing so much

and then there were four

Puppy Videos

2011-08-15T19:42:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of videos of the pups on my deck playing....aren't they cute :) They are running around like they are really enjoying the being outside with this amount of space.

Here is another one...I followed one puppy so that their new owner could meet them through the eyes of the camera :)

Retail therapy

2011-08-08T17:55:00.001-07:00

I did some retail therapy today ;) Well not really but it sounded good :)
It really started today when I needed meat tenderizer....and needed to start looking for another pair of shoes...that is a long story but I had success...well double success. Not only were the shoes marked down...it was a buy one get one 1/2 price......SCORE! So I have one for now and one for later

And then here is where I got into a bit of trouble....only a little bit :) At the outlet mall there is a shop called Cottage Rose...my kind of store ;)
I found this "J"...and I had sign about the Queen...but I put the sign back and got something else

I got this........for 1/2 off.......still paid a little bit too much for it but it is really cute. It turns...a bit wobbly but the fixit man around here can probably glue the right piece and it will be as stable as it needs to be......

Both are gonna look so cute in my sewing room

Play time

2011-08-06T18:55:00.000-07:00

The pups got out on the deck twice today ;) They do love to be out there running around...it affords them a lot more room than their pens do. So they ran around for a longer time than normal today...and wiped themselves out.
But first here is one before the wipe out

wipe out

another wipe out

they totally played hard and crashed hard

here is one crashed with her mother

this one looks like it is smiling but totally asleep

asleep with Spencer

one asleep in the tube

second wind

well out of the over 250 pictures I took today I will only bore you with these :)

Visible made Invisible....

2011-08-02T08:43:00.001-07:00

One of the projects around here now that summer seems to have come.......is to finish the fence. I really liked it not totally done in wood but the dogs think that anyone coming to the shop is fair game to bark at...and bark at...and bark at...and bark at...well you get the picture. I am hoping by taking away the visual that the amount of noise will also be reduced. They are good and I can get them to come and stop but..........then one 'woofs' and all the others join the chorus and it starts all over........hopefully I am not dreaming of pie in the sky with this project.

Here you can see the openness to the shop...and if there were anyone standing there you would also see the dogs in greet mode asking for them to come over and pay attention to them

here the mr is rolling up the old wire fence from the part that he has already done......soon the fence will be wired again but with the kind of wire that keeps them from deciding to go explore the rest of the world

here is part done...looks really nice but am missing my visibility :(

here you can see where the two meet...the old and the new....in a couple of years you won't even be able to tell that they weren't done at the same time

I am hoping I like it totally done...yes I will like the same fence around the place but will miss being able to see...but then the dogs aren't going to see the cats that use that as a thoroughfare, or the racoons that come by...or even the squirrel that runs the other fence and taunts the dogs :) Maybe sweet peace will reign here soon

Grace...my love.....

2011-08-01T18:19:00.000-07:00

I woke up to this...darn those doggies :) It ended up hot wiring the bottom of the cages so they can't get to the puppy pads....the older dogs know the sound of the hot wire cuz we also have it along our fence cuz the little buggers were digging out and wreaking havoc in the neighborhood.

and then later this happened...I guess a bird flew into the house and...well........

Grace caught it and took it outside

Poor baby bird

birdie? What birdie? I didn't eat any birdie?

tastes like chicken.................

and then she caught another one later in the day..............

Where were you in......

2011-07-30T13:48:00.001-07:00

October 2010? I thot I had a good story until I googled it...darn it all...had to do with 5 Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays....and their brief occurrences...the next time it happens in July will be in 2016...so that is a long way off from 823 years....
But the other interesting thing i found was.....

2011 does feature the unique (for this century)
calendar dates 1/1/11, 1/11/11, 11/1/11, and 11/11/11, and that's not all...

Take the last two digits of the year in which you were born - now add the age you will be this year, (75 + 36 = 111) (76 + 35= 111) (78 + 33 = 111) (79 + 32 = 111)

The results will be 111 for everyone in whole world.

and.... when you add the year you were born to the age you turn in the current year, the sum will equal the current year: 1982 + 29 = 2011

So there is your trivia for today ;) Hope you are enjoying the nice weather...at least we are getting nice weather here in the Northwest

Look what I found....

2011-07-24T16:41:00.000-07:00

I just came to this computer to look at something else........and I found this to be published post....oh my....losing my mind? Sucks to get old :)
I got a few books at Joann's while they had a coupon bonanza going.....Have been eyeing the Scrap Basket one for a while...tried to win one in a giveaway but....oh well........so I got it and another book on blocks...figure I can make a quilt out of one block by just making them bigger :)

Also got a couple of patterns...altho the one was a normal star ...it is made with 10" squares....
the other is a scrappy quilt..the problem with it is that the directions SUCK! They don't make sense...they tell you to cut certain pieces and then they give you a picture...which neither of them make sense together. Oh well.....maybe I will return that one...darn cuz it is cute

and then........another set of doubles...

I have lost my mojo and haven't sewn other than a ruffle for my chair.........need to get back in there for quilting...........sigh.............gotta slow down my days ;)

Surprise....

2011-07-22T16:49:00.000-07:00

Went looking for a quilt that I had done and couldn't find it...that must mean that I have given it to someone and can't remember who :) Oh well...but in the process I found these gems....three of them already done and one that need quilting.......hum.......maybe old timers is really setting in bad! :)

Loved doing the stack and whacks....this one is bright and fun....Hippos and Elephants and........???

close up of a couple of the blocks....blurry of course so that you really can't tell that they are...think the wind was blowing when I took the picture

another one...Attic Windows Bee style...........funny how you can't see the pattern as well with the eye but through the eye of the camera they pop out :)

Close up of the bees...now doesn't that just make you smile???

and this one...I swore I sent this to my niece when she had her baby...Her baby is now almost 10....

close up of the blocks....

and then there is this one not complete...the top is done but the sandwiching has not started. These are really dark tones set off in white and really kind of cool....again the camera isn't catching the color tones for real...darn it

here is a better shot that gives more of the color tones...altho it is really purple tones instead of blue...good thing I don't want to be a professional photographer when I grow up :)

Dontcha just wish....

2011-07-19T16:27:00.000-07:00

........you could lay around on your back enjoying the heat and the comfort of being totally taken care of???

and then there is Bailey enjoying the couch.....but......

not as much as Cassidy is...........I kept calling her and she was zonked

got this one with one with my phone cuz it would have been hard to get the card out of the computer and into the camera before she got off the chair ;)

what an easy life :)

Another Double

2011-07-17T14:55:00.001-07:00

Got another set done...actually got four of these done...each a bit different but only quilted these two. Figured I would turn them in and then do the others in a bit...
Lost my mojo today...have time to quilt and can't figure out what pattern to use...like using simple to get the project done............sigh................

here is a close up of the quilt pattern I used

but I did order two books...didn't even try Joann's cuz wasn't sure they would have them...they are simple patterns with the ugliest combos of fabrics but the quilts themselves are very good...somewhere I have both of those books but they aren't where I can find them which means I probably loaned them out :(

OOPS!

2011-07-15T19:10:00.000-07:00

This little guy, named Judah, came for a visit today...he is going to be a future stud muffin for me. He had fun playing with the other dogs and then it was time to leave..............

that is where the problem came in :) Judah's mother was backing up but forgot to look that the drive wasn't behind her but the ditch was. This is the second time someone backed in the ditch...well sorta...the other one we were able to pull out with my car.

this one wasn't going to be pulled out easily :) If you can see the back tire...well there is nothing underneath it....

this rock is what is holding the car from falling over :) Also the thing that was going to make it hard to get out without the damaging the car.

spectator seats :)

so between my husband and the tow truck guy they got it figured out....not an easy thot process to get the car out but they did do it

woohoo...the car is out of danger

during the process they broke the stem off the tire so it went flat...then another project...trying to figure out how to get the tire out of the back of the car...then how to get the tire off...it was stuck tight....

Judah figured he would be a helper...or maybe just telling Dave how to fix the tire ....or learning a skill that might come in handy later????

Note to self...

2011-07-13T18:26:00.000-07:00

Rethink what you are doing ;)
Today I called my daughter and asked if she wanted me to take "The Boy" for a bit...thot I could take him to the beach for a bit and entertain him.......HA :)
It started with a time with the hose....Aaron had a blast playing with the hose and getting water everywhere. Only thing I wouldn't let him water was the house....my windows were open ;)

he proceeded to wet his feet with the hose

included this one because Izzy was following Aaron everywhere

here is a skip ahead picture...of Izzy bothering Aaron again....

he was having so much fun with the hose

getting himself all wet

and everything else in sight....figured I would take him to the beach....what was wrong with that idea???? He loves the sand and the water

so he gets there and promptly goes into the water

and wouldn't listen when I called him back...so he just kept going out further and further and further...I was just about to go and get him......however...enter his rescuers....I should say my rescuers.....this man and his son went and got Aaron....and because he didn't want to get out they drug him though the water...the man said he was afraid Aaron didn't want to stand up cuz e was cold...I told him it was more like he didn't want to get out of the water.....
So they drug the poor bog closer to the shore and then he would listen to me...well cuz the guy blocked his way from going out again

well rescued (not like he thot he needed it) and back on dry land...Aaron did what I expected of him in the first place......laid down and played in the sand

totally covered in sand...including in his mouth

up close he kept saying "cheese" to me....this is after some of the sand was wiped off ;)

Whew...what a day...and his mom lives with this every day :) Blessings to you Danica

Bearly quilts

2011-07-10T17:43:00.001-07:00

Just a couple of singles today.....the stash would go down if I kept NOT
adding to it :)
Bear one

Bear two

We interupt this irregularly scheduled program.....

2011-07-09T20:35:00.000-07:00

Have been posting a lot of quilts lately....figured I would take a break and put some puppy pictures in here instead of quilts today.
This is Spencer right after I got him.....he was enjoying the yard and running all over the place...it was hard to get a picture of him at first cuz he was always on the move.

Here he is now sleeping on his favorite bed...can't wait to see what color he ends up when he is grown up...........

Here is Zoey and Bailey...love the way Zoey is using Bailey as her pillow ;) These two have a love/hate relationship...well not exactly but they are always trying to tell the other that they are on top of the other in pecking order :) It is really quite funny...
They don't look like this anymore tho as both got a summer shave and are quite naked now

and this one is for comic relief...well if you understand what is going on here....
Cassidy is the one sitting....Grace is the one laying...there are puppies in the pen........they are Cassidy's pups and Grace is letting them nurse....my guess is that is what started her labor altho I am really not sure...but right after I took this picture and got Grace out so Cass could take care of her pups...well...I saw that Grace was in labor........so much for my getting to bed at a decent hour that night :) Bet Cass was glad to have her pups back as her own....crazy the way my dogs will share their pups with each other.

Thanks for indulging me while I talk about my dogs instead of quilts :)

Seeing doubles...

2011-07-08T20:29:00.000-07:00

I really had a cool title for this post but it just didn't work..........mostly cuz I forgot to take a picture of one of the sets of quilts....oh well.....if I had noticed that I would have posted some of these sooner...but oh well.......
Here are some more of the 'twin' quilts I got done
Dino's....got this material when I was in California and just finished these two...still have more material but will redigitize the dinos on it...they had some eye issues that I had to fix as I sewed them but if I do it again will fix it first

Pinwheels are fun to do...I like taking pics and putting them here because I can see what patterns worked...sometimes with fabric that I only have --so much of--I have to be creative to get a couple of quilts out of it...this was the last of this line that I got...and I make the twin quilts almost the same but a bit different....guess so each twin can have something different than the other one...not that they care at this age???/

the back of the pinwheels

I made ones somewhat like this for girls that I had already sent to the hospital...but the boys ones finally got done also.....

the back was a really simple design but worked well with the front of the quilt

and here is the finished one from the post yesterday about the flying geese no wasteroonie blocks. They made up really quick...I have some green flying geese almost done and it will probably be the reverse of this with the big blocks being pink and the middle blocks being green...then I still have some blue in this fabric too but am really low on the center of the star...hum...improvise?

here is the block quilted.......

Waste not...want more????

2011-07-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

the old adage doesn't always work huh? One of the things in quilting that I don't like is to make corner triangles and then cut off the edge triangle and ACK! throw it away...I usually don't throw them away but keep them for a bit till I remind myself that I am not going to sew them so why am I saving them???? Guess it is the...hum...Polish in me? I don't like waste when I quilt.
In comes this tutorial...nope I am not going to do it........why reinvent the flying gooses :) Here is the link...Sophie did a great job explaining so I won't even try...will just show you my progression
Start with a bunch of squares....4 of the smaller ones and one of the larger ones... (the tutorial tells who the size to cut them)

After you cut them they will look like this...........hum....

then you sew another square on

cut them and press and this is what you get........a flying goose ;) And the major thing...beside being easy is no waste...well just a bit..but will show that later

put all together you get 4 flying geese blocks out of the 4 small squares and the one big one...how cool is that?

here is my pile of flying geese

and here is the waste :) totally a no waste flying geese

so cool to just cut off the tips of the block and not have to cut the corner and ...sob...throw it away..........or sew it and have a bunch of teeny tiny triangles that you don't know what to do with cuz they won't even fit under the presserfoot well :)

Happy Birthday to our country..and my son :)

2011-07-04T19:15:00.000-07:00

Today is our country's 236th birthday ...and my youngest son's birthday too...but won't tell you how old he is. He might read this :)
He did think that the fireworks were for him when he was younger :) But has grown out of that now............
Well he asked me for a quilt one day....so tried to figure out what would work for him...he has a very formal house..........lots of very nice stuff...but not quiltish....well not what I could figure...so I settled on colors that would work with what he has......whew...it is done....will be put in the mail tomorrow but he got the picture preview and like it :) So figured I could share it now on my blog cuz he has already seen it ;)

went with a pinwheel...mostly cuz I saw one with this embroidery on it done not on the pinwheel but on the opposite fabric and on parts of the wheels....

here is the almost full picture of the quilt...also the bar that I just had hung to hang quilts...doesn't work well for ones with all the batting but it will work great for keeping the quilt tops from needing to be ironed before they are sandwiched :)

Happy Birthday Jason...I love you!

Something new

2011-06-30T21:06:00.000-07:00

I had never even heard about this thing......wow.......would be wonderful for applique...it is the Slice Fabrique and someone is giving one away.....can you believe that...Natasha of Joy of Quilting is generously having a give away of this little machine.....wow...go check it out...there is a video of it...but don't enter...only cuz I really want to win this one ;) and the fewer people entering the better my chances will be ;)

Grown up doo...

2011-06-29T11:08:00.000-07:00

Izzy Bella....she is 5 months old now and looking kinda scruffy...this picture is from out impromptu trip to the Olympic Peninsula in May....but her baby fine hair finally cried out to me to be off so she got a new doo today..........

through all that hair you couldn't see what she would end up like....she has lots of red coloring to her now that the scruffy chocolate tips are off :)

funny angled picture but sometimes hard to take pics of a moving target so you take what you can get :)

Seeing Double?

2011-06-14T15:03:00.001-07:00

I have been trying to find contacts that would work for me...My distance is really still pretty good...a bit blurry out there but not bad...my computer and up close are the same but trying to find a contact that would do distance and computer isn't as easy as you would think...Have been through multiple trials and so far a monovision type works the best...but today I switched them..on purpose that is ;) to see what would happen and I can actually see better....altho for close I am still needing the cheaters to really see...wondering if it is worth going with contacts or just keep the cheaters or get glasses that do a trifocal instead of a bifocal...not progressives as they don't seem to work in the mid range for me......geez...getting old sucks!!! :)
I am a bit disappointed in these pics but not gonna take new ones...they are really washed out and I don't have a picture fixer on this computer yet...maybe I should do that instead of sewing????
Anyway....the hospital that I make quilts for has asked for "twin" quilts...so I sat down and did a couple for them
Here is a set for boys :)

and a set for girls

I don't make them exactly alike...I usually make something different with them.....these had different embroideries on them

the other one

and then these butterfly ones...again the embroidery was different but the backing is really busy so it wouldn't show the stitching...........darn :(

anyway...there are a couple more doubles but they aren't totally done so no pictures yet.

What did you do today???

2011-06-13T19:36:00.000-07:00

Why do I get that proverbial "bee in my bonnet?" and have to do something about it???? Is it like Monk where you are compulsive/obsessive......not with germs that is...at least not me with germs :)
I have been thinking about organizing...yep Dey...I am following once again in your footsteps :) I hit the jackpot with my daughter the other day and got two bins and a box...not small ones mind you...but rather large ones...of what you ask????

One had large pieces ...or bolts of fabric :)

the other bin had fat quarters....now Paulette....wipe the drool off your keyboard and screen :)

the other was a box of some scraps and flannel

but the major problem is...there is no room in the inn....can't fit another scrap in the room...so something had to change...been going through Creative Keepsakes new book on people's rooms...it is scrapbooking mostly but I got it cuz I have a cyber-friend who is in the book....well magazine really................about half way through it just looking at how others organize and keep their place looking neat and tidy....HA! the difference between paper scrap and fabric is that fabric takes more room up ;) and don't even start on accessories taking more room cuz that isn't true either :)
Well I thot I needed a quick trip to Ikea tomorrow to get some boxes...we are going to be without water for most of the day while they clean our wells holding tank so thot that would be a fun day...however I found what I needed at WalMart to day so no need to trip tomorrow....
I found these bigger boxes that will hold more but actually take less space so I got three....quickly filled them and thot...oh....9 will fit on the shelf....but alas they only had 4 more...but creative genius that I am....I got one big one which was also cheaper than 2 smaller ones and put my ribbon in it...well most of the ribbon I have :)
And if you notice below...I actually now have a shelf and half for more schtuff :) Maybe some of those fat quarters will be visiting my room on a more permanent basis tomorrow.

here are the bins that I emptied to make room for the newer ones to take their place...thinking I might fill them with fat quarters that would be easy to see off the shelf???? Not sure what to do...

Maybe I will just cut and sew fabric tomorrow into more tops...have 2 to finish just the borders being quilted and one to quilt...oh yeah...and another 3 that are done waiting quilting...hum...maybe need to finish those first......
have to see what tomorrow brings while I have no water :)

Hello, my name is....

2011-06-10T10:02:00.000-07:00

and I am a Fabri-holic...I have this urge to buy these wonderful fabrics and turn them into quilts for little ones.........now....it isn't like I know what I am going to do with all these gorgeous fabrics I got from 1 Choice 4 Quilting.....but that doesn't stop me from buying more...and more...did I mention that she is having a sale...and another giveaway (check it out here) ??? Man...I think this girl takes all her profit and gives it to people who follow her or buy from her...or maybe even think about buying from her....because I give away what I make I LOVE perusing her sale fabrics......makes my addiction go further :)
Well let us begin seeing the latest purchase ;)
Robyn Pandolf.....oh I so love her colors and fabrics!!!! Here is a pile of fat quarters to peruse in my spare time :)

More Robyn Pandolf yardage...again some compliments of the wonderful Shawna!

OH...so can't wait to do something with these "opposite" fabrics...thinking 3D pinwheels??? Any other suggestions?

Basic whites

this will finish the binding on my Jelly Roll Race quilts

Some basic yellow and a bit of pattern pink :)

these are the amazing things that Shawna sent along with my order....did I mention how generous she is???

Reuse, Recycle, Repurpose

2011-06-07T08:54:00.000-07:00

I am by no means a "green" lover....not what green has come to mean but the color green...at least for a main color....but I had couch covers that had gotten a bit.......worn? Well they got replaced with white covers.......YIKES...white with my dogs? well there are scat mats so they don't get on them but they are washable and really not too bad......honestly...the navy showed way more than the white does :)
Anyway..I digress.......I had navy couch covers that were a bit chewed on the ends...oh did I just say that? Long story but I learn my lesson in feeding my dogs and gradually decreasing their food after a litter of pups........fabric isn't a good filler :)
Yesterday was the day to take the love seat covers and redo them into chair covers..........and fix the corners that were taken out by my mistakes......first they had to be made smaller...had just had one thrown over the chair cuz as you can see my dogs use those chairs........but always wanted to make them 'fit' instead of just thrown over............
the back pillows on these chairs aren't on them cuz they get sat upon and squished...not that it would really matter cuz these are really dog chairs not people chairs...........
So here are the finished products........I basically just cut the love seat cover and sewed a seam down the middle....and then redid the corners

this one got a ruffle

and this one got fixed box corners......

altho not perfect it will do for the dogs...and look better when people come over to the house.......altho...anyone reading my blog and thinking about pups might think twice about my fabric eating dogs..........
But hopefully that is a fixed 'trait' as I now know why it was getting chomped on as a filler snack :)

A break from the recent posts

2011-05-31T18:58:00.000-07:00

Lately there have been lots of quilts posted...altho I have more that I need to picture and put here I figured it was time for a "cute break"....so today's posts are all about my other favorite thing...........PUPPIES!!
So hang on to your hats cuz there are a bunch of pictures of pups in this post

kissie kissie

now that's a tongue :)

one of the tubes for a sort of obstacle course for the pups

mama and an opportunist trying to siddle up to the dry bar

another of the playtoys

playing with Izzy

another one of the pipes

just a darn cute picture...but then I am prejudiced :)

caught in action of moving...hard to take pics of moving targets

hum...wonder what she was thinking???

saying Hi to Bailey who was tired and just wanted to rest :)

jungle gym Reese

the water bowl is almost as big as the pup drinking

another cute pic :)

hope you enjoyed the view from my side of the country for a bit

practice makes perfect?

2011-05-31T18:25:00.001-07:00

My blogger friend Paulette, was talking about a hint she got to practice machine quilting on paper towel...well I am too stingy to waste a roll of paper towel so I thot of going to the local thrift store and finding placemats...same consistency as a quilt almost and perfect to play with...so when my machine told me that I only had a little bit of thread left in the bobbin, I started playing...man do I suck...but the idea of practice which has not sounded appealing at all before is starting to take shape.
This placemat has lots of practice on it....I didn't care if I was perfect or if I went over what I had already done...just wanted to get a rhythm going...so over and over I played

here is the other side...........one of the nice things I found with this placemat was that there were quilted lines which gave a grid to play with...........ha...my mama didn't raise no fool :)

close up of the hearts I was playing with today

then I needed borders on this...the really cool feather is done by my machine...and the gap is where I needed to bite my nails and fill it in......

here is the second try of putting the machine one together....still a gap but a much smaller gap

altho there are threads everywhere cuz of the way I added the feathers to the program, there was only a little gap which I filled in free hand.......easy peasy...at least on this little gap

not as good on this one where there was a larger area to fill in....and the original machine one was triple stitched so I had to go over the area several times to get the heavier threads........

well...now that my nails are chewed down to the quick I need to trim this quilt and bind it...along with its almost matching one

Completion of the Jelly Roll Race

2011-05-30T15:00:00.000-07:00

Finished the quilt in the time frame and thot I would be smart and have them quilted in that time frame also...........not totally so...got all but one done...so came home and finished the last one.....they are awaiting binding that I ordered today from the lady who ran the race :) Shawna from 1 Choice 4 Quilting Blog ran a quick little Jelly Roll race...basically you sewed strips from the Jelly together and together and together....you get the picture.....and then posted them on her flicker account........when I saw the dimensions of her quilt I didn't want one that big but figured it would be great split up into two quilts....well I actually got three out of it...so I changed the rules a bit :)

Ran into a bit of trouble after the first one was quilted...wanted to get the second one done today so in a hurry I marked it...hooped it...sewed it...and then ripped it and resewed it.

This is what happens when you are in a hurry and forget to check and make sure that all fabrics under the hoop is not under the hoop...what is means is ripping...had to rip out the entire first run of the flower .......oh well.........

here are the three for my picture sent in to Shawna

I look at each as a learning experience...still working on this hooping thingy and every time I try something I learn something ;) So tried three different things on these three quilts

bubbles everywhere........except I should have started in the middle instead of the middle end....made me need to redigitize for the end pieces that weren't quite covered in the pattern

number 2...the one I screwed up on...this time I started in the middle and had to restart in the middle when I sewed a corner onto the back and couldn't get my hoop out

you can't see the spiral flowers too easily on this backing but it worked

last and not least is the one I decided to go against the lines and do perpendicular large feathery type quilting.....only 6 hoopings on this one...yippee

here is the back for that one but you can't see the direction I went on the lines of the quilt...oh well...you get the picture

they are all trimmed up and waiting the order of the binding..........made it on the extra percentage off sale so am a happy camper :)

Jelly Roll Race

2011-05-28T17:32:00.000-07:00

Hey guys....a new giveaway race is up tomorrow on 1 Choice 4 Quilting...not sure exactly what it is about but it involves a Jelly Roll into a quilt top...always up for a challenge :) So go to 1 Choice 4 Quilting and check out the details ;)
Shawna comes up with the best ideas......hurry on over...it starts tomorrow....get ready, set go!

while I am waiting...

2011-05-26T18:41:00.000-07:00

through some fluke, my new baby is visiting the doctors office...has been there for almost 2 weeks now...meanwhile I wait for her to get better and return to her place of honor. maybe the fluke was due to jealousy from my older baby not being used as much.......figure I will never know how 2 pieces of selvage edge got into my machine and caused it major problems..there seems to be no way in.........but somehow????
anyway...that hasn't stopped me from piecing tops...have been doing doubles because I had a request for twins blankets...so right now I have 5 sets waiting to be quilted...
here is one of the girlie ones....there is a match right below her :)

my favorite to date of the ones waiting is the one I just finished tonight....this is from the Schnibbles book....love that there are two sizes of each quilt because I make the little ones and this one was the perfect size....used up some of my fat quarters too...hum...this went together so well....well kinda...my friendly seam ripper came out several times cuz I kept sewing the wrong pieces together :) I didn't lay it out but did it on the fly........needless to say...I like the way it turned out.........and there is enough to do another one ;)

by then hopefully the new baby will be back and ready to finish what I have going......till then will just keep going..have another one started that I am going to use the lil' twister on.......

Belated Mother's day gift

2011-05-22T16:37:00.000-07:00

Several years ago my daughters and I went out for lunch for Mother's day......well they actually took me out...or so they said cuz I was the one that ended up paying the bill :) So last Thursday we went on our 3rd annual Mother's day luncheon...and I didn't pay :) My son actually picked up the tab for it.....how is that for special?......
When I got there the girls were already seated and in the booth with them was a stranger :) Actually it was my Mother's day gift........you see several years ago I got a chicken....and since then the yard art has been growing and multiplying in my yard.........I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!
One of my favorite lines from the movie "UP" is...... "squirrel?" I tend to say that whenever anyone is distracted or...well whenever it fits actually....so this year to add to the collection I got a squirrel :) I love the guy who does these..... :) What talent...so without further ado...here is the collection to date
The squirrel...the newest to the collection

a close up...he needs his eyes darkened in cuz they are kinda spooky in person :)

this is the piece that actually started it all...a friend gave this to me for doing something for her...can't remember what but I got this cute butterfly pick

a doggie pick

flowers...that have seen better days

the original chicken that started this craze

a piggy

a rabbit poke

another doggie

a flying pig

this has got to be my funniest pick

a friend bought this over one day :)

not sure what this is but it was cute

doggie pick

another doggie pick

another rooster

and the newest pic...another rooster

so the count is:
chicken/rooster-3
piggies-2
bunny-1
squirrel-1
funny bird-1
doggies-6 (guess they win!)

another giveaway

2011-05-22T16:24:00.000-07:00

I am passionate about what I do....and sometimes sharing that passion with others is very good....so I am telling you there is another giveaway..........OK...so by blogging about it I put my name in another drawing and giving myself another chance to WIN!!!!!!!!!!! After all I am a winner! :) At least I like to view myself as a winner even tho I don't get a chance often to win something......
So to up my chances of winning...........Shawna at 1 Choice 4 Quilting is having a spectacular giveaway...not only her but several others have joined with her and are being generous to some lucky winners.....here is the blog address to go and see the lovely things people have donated to this super duper giveaway
Thanks again Shawna for being so generous.

ps...when you order from her look for extra goodies...not only that but the care with which she packages your order makes you feel really special!!!! I *heart* Shawna and 1 Choice 4 Quilting

the day before the end...........

2011-05-21T12:37:00.000-07:00

One of the joys of living in the great Northwest is to have days in between the yuck that are absolutely gorgeous..........wanted to enjoy the day so we headed out for the Olympic peninsula and ultimately Hurricane Ridge.........didn't realize how much snow we would encounter but the weather wasn't cold even tho there were huge piles all around us...but wait...I get ahead of myself

walking the dogs after the long ride to the ferry and before the long ride after the ferry

here we are on the ferry waiting for it to get to our final destination

izzy...need I say more?

we temporarily take a break from all the doggie pics to show the beauty of where we ended up

another shot of being on top of Hurricane Ridge

following the leader :)

izzy loved the snow...she kept rolling and digging and running up and down this cliff
here she is at the top of it

here you can see how really high she is

reese contemplating the meaning of this white stuff

both girls paying attention to the one who is holding the camera

the snow-man and dogs

home again home again ziggity zig

reese was wanting this 'fun' ride to be over ;)

so now we are back to the grey skies and the liquid sun...but we had a fun day in the sun so will wait till the next one :)

Rainy days and Sundays

2011-05-15T15:41:00.000-07:00

Rainy days and Sundays....ah...it has been raining all day today...really coming down quite a lot...not hard just lots of it ....so what do you do when it rains???? You quilt and take pictures of puppies :) What else????
Here is a bit of chocolate to make your day :)

On to finishing another quilt top...you guys are always amazed that I get so many done...but it is cuz they are only about 30" square....easy to do tops and quilt..........

Ok....so when I saw this fabric I kinda had an idea of what I wanted to do with it....instead of normal piecing I used strips and then quilted the strips...not exactly what I envisioned but it worked...and then when the top was done I thot a cute little applique ducky would fit :) So while at another class I had the teacher help me figure out how to do a simple applique :)

I got the applique done yesterday before my machine decided to take a hiatus and see the repair guy :) You can see the bubbles that I used to quilt the sides too :) Totally fit this fabric

Love it when a plan comes together

2011-05-09T16:16:00.000-07:00

YEAH!!!! Blogger is finally back....tried to post this for a bit and with no luck...today they came back online so could post these pictures...
this first one is a friendship braid done with Moda marbles........kinda faked the top by cutting off the top and sewing it to the bottom....cuz I didn't want to waste any of that fabric :)
I am such a cheapsake!

here is the back quilted...I played a bit with free motion after I put the embroidered feathers on...not too bad :)

And here is my next pile of schtuff :) all cut and ready to sew

here the process :)

this shows the color the best...it is called peony and is a really cute dark pink

all bound and ready for some lucky little one

the 3D pinwheel

Finishes for today

2011-05-07T17:33:00.000-07:00

Today I finished some quilts...had one quilted but needed to finish with the binding and the other one needed to quilt it and then finish it ;)
This is the one that I quilted and bound today....you would think with a pattern so simple it would be easy to quilt...not so...the hooping seemed to take forever with this one even tho it is simple....digitized the hearts that went on two sides of the sashing cuz I was just a bit short on pattern :)
these are the materials I got from 1 Choice 4 Quilting :) Ok...so that was a shameless plug for Shawna and her quilt company :)

here is the back...you can see how simple the pattern was but darn it took forever :)

Here is the other one...actually finished this yesterday but who is counting??? You can't see but there are little stars and moons on the material

So I found a moon and digitized it :) Pretty proud of myself!

then took the stars off the moon man and made more for the other blocks..and the border

here is the back...a bit disappointed as the thread was really sloppy on the back....but this is a learning curve, right????

this is what I really wanted to work on between hoopings but it was too quick so this is tomorrow project...can't wait to see if the picture in my head is the same as this turns out :)

Oh...and the other thing I did that took a bit was give one of the babies a haircut.......she looks like a grownup now instead of the baby that she still is :(
kept taking pictures but she doesn't like to stay still...and if you say her name she comes running to you..........ah..the joys of motherhood :)
Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there!

Been busy :)

2011-05-03T15:23:00.000-07:00

Hope this isn't fuzzy cuz it looks like that to me :) Trying out new contacts to see if I can go without my readers stuck on the top of my head all the time....and last night I didn't quite get one of them in the little case or maybe it crawled out after I stuck it in there...I checked with my glasses and finger to make sure they were in the case but it must have stuck to my finger and popped off...............sigh...........
Anyway...have had this done for a few days but didn't get a pic of it till today.......I love this one...if I hadn't cut the binding I would have put a ruffle on it...it was just screaming for a ruffle but had already cut the binding so went with plan a
Love love love this fabric and how fun it went together

One of the fun things I did was to digitize the inchworm and the caterpillar and put them in the border......

here maybe you can see it better........ :) and tried different colors on the top too :)

this one I kinda did more things to today....I had embroidered a fan design on the colored part and in the middle sashing....couldn't figure out what to do with the borders so went with a diamond shape in lines...but there were spaces in the colored part...so...........

I decided to play with some free motion....not very good but the unpracticed eye couldn't see the poorness of it too well.......unless you really look...well you don't even have to look that hard :) but it is practice :)
Need to pick a binding color to finish the quilt

have two more of these done but not with sashing yet.......wonder how they will turn out

Perpetuating the lie...........

2011-04-26T15:49:00.000-07:00

there is a nasty rumor that it is always raining in Washington state....it is true...........or at least a lot of Washingtonians would have you believe...well not a lot but maybe some.......we have been here almost 19 years and it has grown by leaps and bounds since we have been here :) And in an effort to keep more people from moving here...well someone must have started the lie cuz there are days like this too...wish I could have caught the blue of the sky cuz this isn't even close....it was a beautifully blue...tried to fix it on some software but couldn't catch it with that wtithout making it look way fake...so trust me on how blue it was

Instead of enjoying the sun outside I have been playing in my room.....I can see the sun does that count????
Had a friend who wanted me to do a blanket with the name of her great niece? to be...she bought so much extra material that I made a couple of burp cloths too

had to include all of the bunny to make it count

and then sewed these together...using a handy dandy binding tool.......or at least that is how you make the strips and then sew them together...I am such a non-waster of fabric that I couldn't cut off the top and bottom to make a straight line.....so my ingenuity kicked in and I sewed the two strips together and then cut them from that.......so that there are straight edges without any wasted material....aren't I clever?

tomorrow want to get some material for the strips in the middle and sides.............oh and just had a binding idea..........yikes my brain isn't gonna sleep tonight :)

Completeness...

2011-04-25T15:14:00.000-07:00

Well it is finished...took the final stitches yesterday sewing the binding down by hand after I had put the serpentine stitch around the binding but it didn't totally put it down...so I hand stitched the thing down too.....

back of the quilt............where you can see the embroidery

Here is Reese...boy she needs a haircut but don't want to give her one.............took this as a before picture so when her locks do get cut off she will look like a totally different dog

Sweetness...

2011-04-23T14:32:00.000-07:00

Had a friend over and she helped me take pics of the puppies today...they are 3 days old today....and we got this sweet picture...love how mom is checking out her baby and making sure all is well....

here are all of them....don'tcha just love a bite or two of chocolate????

seeing as I already did two posts will wait till tomorrow to show the finished 'class' quilt...just have to sew down the binding

Befores and Afters

2011-04-23T11:26:00.000-07:00

It is officially feeling like spring today.....well kinda sorta...supposedly it is the warmest day of the year so far...I have 56 degrees on my thermometer but am sitting inside where it says it is 62 and I am cold...ha...and for the "ice queen" that is not normal :)
Working on my website and figured I would post these before and after pictures of the dogs faces before they got cut and after they did....they were really getting scruffy and I had hurt my knee so took them to the groomer to get a new doo...
Lucy with her top covering her eyes :)

wow she does have beautiful eyes when you can see them :)

now talk about no eyes...not sure Zoey has any...you for sure can't see them right now

wow.....amazingly big eyes when the hair isn't covering them :)

Bailey wasn't looking quite as scruffy but she got the chop too

what a difference a few hairs can make

and then poor Cody....I had clipped around his eyes cuz his hair grows so fast right there....so he wasn't looking as bad....but

His eyes almost look human here :)

And Cassidy who looks a bit bearish here :)

much better :)

and then there is Reese....who is a pup and I am having trouble thinking about cutting her cuz her color will change totally when all that sable puppy hair is gone :(

What I did today ;)

2011-04-22T18:02:00.000-07:00

What a lucky person I am that I get to do what I love doing ;) So much fun to be able to play......
With the business of this fabric it is hard to tell what is actually going on...but I finished my class...note that I didn't say finished the quilt :)....we did the last of the embroidery on the strips today...was going to sew on the ruffle and binding but just not feeling like it right now...
Love the things I learned in the class...I am so not a class person so this was different for me...but am glad that I took it...will try and get a pic tomorrow of the whole thing done

here is the back of that busy piece of fabric...aren't those feathers cool........

here are the yards of ruffle to be sewn on to complete the quilt

next up on the drawing board....oh wait I have one other one to finish the embroidery on...but not sure what I want to do so I might just take a pic tomorrow and then finish it when I know how I am going to finish the borders

tools, froggies and sneak peaks

2011-04-20T17:09:00.000-07:00

Ok....my favorite tool right now is this handy dandy really large hooper...was struggling with my hoop staying still while I tried to push a quilt into the hoop in a somewhat manner that I wanted it to go........tried this at class last week and it was amazing how quickly I could actually hoop the quilt...so I was hooked and bought ;) sigh :)

Wanted to make something new...again :) so got out this Girlie Girl fabric and figured would just do the plain charm...nothing fancy just sew the squares together.............

this is how it turned out.....the borders and binding are from the fabric that I got from winning that charity contest........thanks again Shawna at 1 Choice 4 Quilting. Because the material was a bit funky and fun I wanted the embroidery to be also....so did flowers all over it and a froggie in the middle

Here is a larger shot of the back.......truly funky ;)

Here is the froggie that I spent part--well a lot of the afternoon digitizing...he looks better on this side than on the other cuz wanted to turn him a bit and turned him a bit too much so he didn't go exactly where I wanted him too :) Thanks to Cyndi at Stitch, Stitch, Stitch for the pattern. It is meant to be hand done but...........then I couldn't have done what I wanted to...and isnt that more important??? ME? :)

and a blurry sneak peak at the other quilt I got the top done on....again the border fabric is from my quilting win from Shawna

What to do, what to do...........

2011-04-18T11:35:00.000-07:00

Dilemmas...don'tcha just love them? Well in this case I do....it involves choice..well I guess that is always the case isn't it? Man am I getting philosophical? Yikes...that is dangerous :)
The first one was which kit if I won would I choose...well that actually wasn't a hard choice...love blues and yellows together so chose this one below. But...I didn't win...at least not yet :) Shawna at 1 Choice 4 Quilting is having another drawing...she is so generous it amazes me :) She is doing a Quilting book club and is giving away a kit of choice to the winner....PICK ME!!!! Whew...with that said..........you can go see the two quilt kits I didn't choose over there....or if you are adventurous you can go to both her sites...be warned...you will find fabric that you love for a great price. On that site she also has details of the giveaway...so go and check them out.........
The second dilemma was which picture to post first...well guess Shawna won :)

Now on to daily life....
I stayed home and sewed all day yesterday...after church that is :) Well guess it wasn't all day sewing cuz I was perusing the web to find a fan pattern that was already digitized so I didn't have to do one myself...........and imagine that hours just flew by as I tried to make a choice of what to choose...hum...do I hear the trappings of another dilemma? But I did make a choice but you have to scroll down to see what it was :)
Wanted to start simple here so put a flower in the white on white squares then wanted something in the 9 patch too so I just made a star and put it in there....ok...nothing fancy or really worthy of too much talk but it worked

Here is the back where you can see the pattern.....I actually combined the two so that I didn't have to rehoop as much...they need to make a super duper extra gigantic mega ultra hoop so I could do the whole thing at once...or at least a couple more squares at a time........hum....sounds like a problem for a counselor to solve...me that is not the hoop size :)

Here is my favorite of the day...I had both these tops sewed waiting for finishing touches...actually had most of the embroidery done too but wanted something for this border that I made specially big for something big.........worked and worked to get it the right size, then used my handy dandy new skills of hooping to get it place right......so basically all I sewed yesterday was the border embroidery and the bindings on both quilts........whew...tired out :)

Here is the feather pattern I chose...a bit big for the smallness of the other pattern but I am happy with it...gotta learn by practice I guess :)

now on for the more nostalgic picture....while at Disney they have a drawing clinic (?) and it has a specific name that evades my brain right now....we drew Pluto....loved how they taught this....not too bad and I am not by any means an artist but was happy with pluto...he resides on the cupboard beside the picture my granddaughter gave me from Christmas

Have a great day and thanks for checking in on me ;)

This is what 12 looks like...

2011-04-17T21:02:00.000-07:00

This is my first granddaughter to hit 12..........wow where has the time gone? Seems like only yesterday she was born...This is making me too old..............next year there will be two teenage grandkids...YIKES!

Daddy and daughter..........love this picture of the two of them.......

The hit gift..this is what she really wanted ;)

ride like the wind little girl...no she doesn't have a cast on her foot...she made one duct tape boot...and wore it...she had the other one made and on today

now that truffle was decadent...........nummy!!!

three of the 4 granddaughters...the other one is just a wee babe in Japan...haven't seen a recent picture of her :)

Izzy taking someone for a walk :)

And as you can see the height difference is a bit...Pippin just laid down and these two were playing tug-o-war with the leash...well Izzy was at least.....Pippin? Monkey in the middle?

For some of you who helped Aaron get this Ipad....Thanks again....it is really helping him communicate in ways that we never imagined

Tomorrow will put another giveaway on the blog post :) Someday I am gonna win one of these things......well I guess I did win one but want to win more...I WANT IT ALL !!!! :)

Out of the ordinary....

2011-04-16T11:43:00.000-07:00

For me to win anything is very unusual.....but I entered my name into a giveaway from a site that does things for charity....I make baby quilts (really cuz that is the size I like to work with :) ) for the hospital my hubby works at...and various other things I do...anyway...all that to say I was one of the winners in the giveaway...........and Shawna from 1 Choice 4 Quilting had donated a gift certificate for the drawing...How lovely of her.......
When I got my package I got this lovely printed congrats and a handwritten congrats on a thank you card....

got two congrats from Shawna....her customer service is wonderful!!!! Not to mention that I won a gift cert from her.....Her prices are good and it was so hard to choose...kept adding and deleting...but think I am headed there again soon

Here is the stack that I chose with my gift certificate

aren't those turquoise fabs pretty?????

Moda lines...girlie girl and hideaway with the one in the middle being something else.......but it has light grey dots on it

White on whites...can't have too many of those huh???? You can't see them good but you can when they are in front of you

Here is what I did yesterday at class.............I did that all by hand.............NOT! :) My handy dandy new sewing machine did it........next week we do the flowered section with feathers and put on the ruffle......can't wait to see it finished.......

When done will show the back too :)

Complete...

2011-04-14T14:26:00.001-07:00

I still have been having fun playing with my machine and seeing what works and what doesn't work as well....
This was one of the doesn't work as well as you imagine in your brain it will...........
Quilt was fine...thot I would do butterflies on it...even had the already digitized outlines which is what I wanted.......well for some reason the program put really big stitches for the large ones and really little ones for the smaller butterflies.......not exactly what I wanted but am still in that awesome overwhelming learning curve
You can't see the design on the front of this

but on the back you can see the outlines........used a variegated purple on the front and back till I got to the little ones and then used a darker purple on the top and the variegated on the bottom...looking back I would have used the darker on everything...but this is the curve :)

This one I went way out of my normal comfort zone and did a variegated yellow and it showed up well on these darker colors.

and the variegated on the back also...........playing with combining patterns on this one...and pleased with how it turned out.....

then I did two more tops waiting for me to decide what pattern I want to choose for the embroidery :) Love having options :)

On a roll......

2011-04-12T08:13:00.001-07:00

I have a friend, Paulette....she is very very very bad for me...well not really but I spend hours not only looking at her blog, SweetP, but also the blogs she follows...mind you most of these I don't follow myself but that doesn't stop me from following virtually....or should I say...take a bunch of time :) My pastor was just saying something about making sure you take a rest day...I don't think I take a 'full' day resting but I do find moments each day to rest...albeit at my computer either through facebook or blogging...but to me it is rest and enjoyment....not exactly sure that is what he meant but it works for me ;)
Now on to what I actually was going to blog about today....another giveaway...again thanks Paulette for turning me on to this site...have already ordered fabric from this store but right now they are giving away 4 patterns from Cluck, Cluck, Sew...yep aonther contest.....one of the ways to win is to blog about it.....soooooo......here is the link to Burgundy Buttons and a possibility of winning these four patterns......go check them out at Burgundy Buttons

hum...maybe I shouldn't have posted..that is just more competition for me....darn ;)

Chances to win....

2011-04-10T17:55:00.000-07:00

Don'tcha just love a chance to win something???? For you quilters out there if you hurry there is a chance at 5...yep count them one, two, three, four and five prizes....1Choice 4 Quilting is having a grand opening and is giving away 5 different prizes...but it expires tonight...well the chance to win does at least.....but the shop is open with lovely fabrics, fat quarters, jelly rolls, charm packs and other yardage at really good prices......check them out 1 Choice 4 Quilting

Let me brag a bit :)

2011-04-09T09:48:00.000-07:00

I am a new grandma! My son and his wife had a baby....yesterday their time but today my time...HA does that make sense? They are in Japan so their day is a day earlier than our day...

This picture is really small but it shows my son and his new baby girl, Leia Shino Rusk

Here is an up close and personal pic of Leia...she looks like her mom in this picture...except with her daddy's eyelashes :)

What made me get my machine

2011-04-09T08:53:00.000-07:00

This is the quilt that convinced me to get my new machine....I didn't need a new machine...I wasn't really looking for a new machine....I hadn't been plotting how I could afford a new machine...it just kinda happened :)

I went to my local quilt store (Cotton Pickins in Stanwood) who sells Bernina machines and asked her to tell me what the machine could do....had seen this quilt she had done and loved it...but still wasn't convinced that it was something I could do easily. I wanted a way to finish the tops I had made and future tops that I wouldn't mind finishing...that was the least fun for me...to finish what I had started. Well Kathy spent a couple of hours -after hours- showing me what the machine could do....and that was only seeing samples...not actually even turning on the machine :) Soft sell???? But after a couple of hours I went home and thot about it...prayed about it and decided it was something that was worth persuing....and WHOA! it has exceeded my expectations.... It is totally different from my other machine and it does take a bit of getting used to cuz it doesn't do the same things in the same way but I do love it....
So I started trying to do things and realized I needed more instruction on how to do things that I wanted to do and was assured it was easy to do :) So all that to say, me a non-class person is taking a series of 3 classes to make the above quilt...the making of the top was easy...what could be easier than sewing a series of strips together? So the top is done in different colors as I wanted to use some of my stash....altho was drew me to the quilt was the colors Kathy picked :) Oh well...here is my top done and eagerly awaiting next weeks lesson on putting embroidery on it :) Might change my backing to be that lighter color where the embroidery will actually show...have a lighter blue flower like the dark blue flower that I was going to use but you won't be able to see the pattern on it as well....

wow...I was wordy on this post ;) But am having a lot of fun with my machine ;)

Today's pics

2011-04-08T09:43:00.001-07:00

Got a few pics of the newbies today.....want to put pics up on my website of the sable as she is in need of a grooming and all those tips will be gone after the cut :( But right now she is brushed out and looking very cute :)
Her name from the breeder is Finnegan but I am thinking of changing it to Reese???

this girl can run like the wind...she loves to play chase with the other dogs...and if I throw a ball she is the only one that will bring it back...wassup with that? all the others will run to the ball but no one has the brains to pick it up and bring it back so I can throw it again :)

I am so not a class goer.... I prefer to learn mostly by trial and error but I signed up for a three week class...YIKES! Usually I am way done before others are half done so it is frustrating to sit there and wait :) HA! But Cathy told me it is a self paced class so am gonna try it...what I really want to learn is the technique of combining embroidery designs....I will try and get a pic of the quilt that actually convinced me to get my machine instead of a long arm...and I must admit I am having fun playing with it...altho it is computer driven and likes to 'burp' every once in a while and do something it shouldn't or not do something it should :)

but there is a possibility that it is operator error too....just saying............

A beautiful giveaway

2011-04-06T20:02:00.000-07:00

Oh look at this wonderful stack of black and white materials.....They are being given away by a new shop.... Take a look at Tess's blog here

You might have a chance to win too

Out with the older...

2011-04-06T11:17:00.000-07:00

Today I finished all the quilt tops that have been sitting for over...well over a year but probably more like two or three years....the last of the bindings were put on and are ready to go to the hospital along with a few of the hats that are done too :)
It is so hard to see the pattern on this one...I decided to go simpler cuz I was having trouble getting the lining up of patterns so I just took the block and made a pattern fit it....can't wait for the class I am taking that is going to show me how to line up patterns...have a quilt planned that I can practice on already too :)

Here is the back of above quilt....it is a more boyish quilt and didn't want overly girlie pattern on it...and this one fit perfect

here is the last of the quilts to do.....it was really small so added a funky binding to it to make it a couple of inches bigger....didn't like the pattern I chose but it worked :)

here is the center of the above quilt....it double stitched the roses which I didn't want but oh well...live and learn :)

stack ready to go ...............now to finish the three that I just did :) flannel is in the washer getting preshrunk to finish them :)

The more the merrier?

2011-04-05T19:54:00.000-07:00

I think I am obsessed :) Seriously.....got an opportunity to get some more pups today and guess what??? I took it ;) Ok....so I am sick...very very sick :)
This is Zoey...she is due for a haircut next week...I like my dogs shaggy like this but can't keep them combed out so they have a grooming appointment....usually I do it but for one they all need it and for two my knee is hurting when I stand too long or walk so I thot it better to get them into a professional :)

This is Bailey...I am so bummed...I took a bunch of pictures and loaded them....or so I thot on my Mac...took the card out and deleted them on my camera...I had even renamed them so the computer would accept them......only I didn't transfer them from the card to the compy.....darn it...and I had some good ones...so I went back outside to get more but by now it is darker than it was so the flash kept thinking it needed to go off....double darn

This is Rudy....he is such a cutie...but I don't think he is staying....gonna find him a GREAT home

This is one of the new ones...they named her Finnegan but not sure she is gonna keep that name or get renamed with the 'y' sound at the end...my friend always makes fun of me when I do that...she says they won't know their name but all of my dogs respond to their name...and all of them have that 'y' sound at the end ;)
Anyway this is one of them that I got today

Here is the other one...man can she run...and run...and run...and run....and...you guessed it run.....her name was Reese...but not sure that is gonna stick either :)

these are actually sisters............gotta get a better shot of the sable...maybe tomorrow when it is lighter

another shot of the two of them...for those of you that don't know the sable one is going to change big time...all those chocolate tips are going to grow out and she might be this gorgeous golden color that I can see coming thru...or she will be a light tan...sables change so will see what she ends up like...she will keep dark tips on her ears tho...I love sables :)

pups and quilts

2011-04-04T18:24:00.001-07:00

This is the state of the evenings here right now :) When it is time to settle down we come to my chair and lay down...or I should say they lay down and I sit with my feet up....there is a bone that comes with us for their chewy times :)

This is their normal stance....one on top of the other playing

hippity hop this guy loves to hop and bounce and run

here he is again bothering Cody

Izzy Bella...isn't she a cutie?

and one blanket done....I do love my machine :) The flower pattern really was digitized poorly but was fun to stitch out....then the border pattern was just the same flower only smaller....fun :)

Done and other things :)

2011-04-02T16:15:00.000-07:00

Vacation is DONE....now on to the real world back home. Had a great time with my daughter and her family at Disneyland...there will be more pictures in a bit but have to go through them and decide on what you just "have" to see instead of all that I took....had the baby camera with me so couldn't tell if I got the shot so took multiple shots of the same thing to make sure I got at least one good one of what I was taking.
One of the things I did while on the second part of the trip is to shop :) How fun is that...found some local quilt stores and found some great deals...so I came home with way more than I left with but.....geez...couldn't help myself and a bargain :)
This will make wonderful vintagey type quilts...my idea is to take some of the animals and put them in outline form somewhere on the plainer parts of the quilt I want to make

with this fabric I want to take the head shapes and again put them on a plainer fabric with just a single stitch...wonder if I bit off more than I can choose :) Gotta make good use of this new machine I got :)

Got some plain white and white....I love a bargain on fabric.........but maybe I overdid???

I have lots of 'girlie' type fabric so got some blues to do some boy quilts

fell in love with this stuff....so cute for a little guy

While I was on vacation had a quilt store offer to let me come and sew....how cool is that?What I got done were the four squares done and then came home and finished the top up...can't wait to quilt it as I am going to try digitizing dinosaurs for the blank squares :)

While I was on vacation I had someone pick up a new pup for me...well by the time I was ready to leave my vacation spot I ended up with two pups....they multiplied :) Both are real cuties...
This is Izzy Bella....the lady who picked her up for me named her Bella and I added the Izzy to it :) For any who know me have to have that "y" sound at the end and Belly just didn't work :)
Here she is waving HI to all of you

This is the other one I got....this picture does not do him justice...he is a sable cutie...I have named him Rudy

this is the normal view I get of the two of them...running after each other

well I hear the little ones wanting out of their crate....so had better sign off for now....

Families and Fast Tracking

2011-03-23T20:15:00.000-07:00

So far the vacation has been great :) I got to see my brother and his wife and almost all of their kids and grandkids....was a surprise to me as I only expected my brother and wife :) We had a fun time of visiting and catching up with all of them...well most all of them. Their daughter and son in law live in Minnesota and weren't there ;)

Then off to Disney...we first had to return the car that we got to be able to go and see my brother and then we entered the hallowed gates of the happiest place on earth....love the pic of Danica and son walking shoulder to shoulder...and then Jason and Aaron walking hand in hand

First on the agenda was a ride for Aaron....his favorite movie character...To Infinity and Beyond...Aaron can even say that :)

so after that it was the Matterhorn...he is not real excited here to get on that ride at all...but he did :)

the happy family that I came with

the end of the day....yep it is raining and we succumbed to getting disney ponchos so that we didn't get soaked to the skin

that is all I will bore you with today.... enjoy the rest of your day

Nothing new under the sun

2011-03-18T17:15:00.000-07:00

Well I guess it really should be nothing new under the clouds...at least it isn't raining today....has been not too bad but the sun wasn't ready to shine her light today.
I have been working today at finishing projects...these quilts have been done for quite a while and today I got a couple of them finished...totally....
I took these pictures outside and being the amateur photographer that I am...it really washed out the colors of these quilts...and it wasn't even sunny :) And you can't really see the designs on them...oh well...they are done and ready to wrap a baby in.
Here is the top

and the bottom....have I mentioned that I love my sewing machine????

here is another top quilted...needs to be bound yet but am waiting till I finish one more in these same fabrics to see what I am going to bind them in.

here is the back...darn when you actually want the back to show :(

this one I played with my stitch regulator foot....let me just say that I won't show you the back cuz then you could really see what it looks like and it doesn't make me proud..but the word out there is that practice makes perfect...so will try again on another quilt...unless I like what the machine does better :)

and last but not least....four bibs all finished...I had done the embroidery a few days ago but tried a piping foot on my new machine and must say that I do like it...the piping is all nice and tight and looks really good :) (insert-pat on the back here :)

well one more to work on today...going to use the machine to make the pretties on it...maybe will be tomorrows post...or I might just get sick of this room and do something totally different? NOT! :)

JACKPOT!!!

2011-03-17T13:23:00.001-07:00

JACKPOT day...got two packages in the mail...amazingly my mail-lady got them both in the box....and I was able to get them out ...both feats that shouldn't have been accomplished.

what was in the packages :) can't wait to play...and then quilt :)

just had to show the luscious colors of this roll

I have two templates...not prone to buy them I saw the tutorials on them and thot...hum....that would be fun...so??? what else could I do?

these pens were from Paulette...(thanks Paulette :p ) they are supposed to disappear with the touch of an iron...but she had some comments about them reappearing with cold so I am gonna try them out...and then also wash the fabric and see if it truly does disappear totally

this is just a sneak peek...you dont get to see the rest until a week or so...until the person it was meant for gets it...well maybe a bit longer :)

Playing, Winning and Laughing

2011-03-13T18:48:00.000-07:00

Well I will start in the middle...WINNING!!!!!
I got an email from the lady who put on her blog to post on your blog about something you have done to help others...there were quite a few vendors who had promised gifts to some of the winners...and I am a WINNER!!!!! WOOHOO! So excited to go shopping and get some more fabric...geez cuz I hardly have any in my drawer...I mean bureau....I mean cupboard...or cupboards??? So fun to shop when you get free stuff :)
On to laughing....got this picture of the dogs...4 of them on this pillow that should really hold only one at the most two dogs...but no...four of them climbed onto it and decided to take a nap...only missing Cody from the bunch

Now on to the playing...well first it is ripping............the colored corner of this blanket is actually stitched down to the quilt...darn it all...lesson learned...well at least for now...check to make sure that nothing is under when you are sewing

but it did get done and bound and ready to ship to my son and his wife

here is a bit of the quilting detail....likin this machine :) (or could you tell that??)

here is the back...you can see it a bit better...I broke down and signed up for a class that will actually teach me what to do instead of winging it...but can't wait till April to play so will get another one sandwiched up and play more this week...hopefully...have a busy week ahead of me...

Multi tasking

2011-03-09T16:59:00.000-08:00

Ok....so I would never have thot I could multi-task so well...I was doing embroidery on my machine...winding a bobbin on that same machine and sewing binding on with the other machine...all at the same time...Wow...are you impressed?
Now it is time to show you some of the projects that I have been doing.......
First up......can't totally explain this one yet but you see it on the machine

and then finished...why blogger didn't change the way these pictures came in I am not sure...but it did it to a bunch...I took them right and they look right on my computer but blogger thot that they should be turned???? Computers!

Ok....my another first project...this was using a program that I transferred to my machine from my computer....there are mistakes but this is my learning curve :)

here is the back of the quilt that I had the same thread in the top and bobbin...so liking this....have to pry me out of my room :)

close up of the flowers on there :) I sized and resized them and took leaves off and left some on...so cool :)

then I did these bibs....the blue marker is still on but need it on till I cut them into individual bibs............I am on a roll

here they are individually...added woof to the dog

darn duck is sideways.....but too cute...love the sunglasses

oh a sweet bear...forgot the extra stabilizer on this one so he is a bit puckery

and one more fuzzy duck....

So that I don't get into any kind of trouble and if any of you have an embroidery machine the bib designs are from Bunnycup Embroidery ....love her designs...these above were from her retired sets...and guess what??? They were free! All the better to play and figure out what I am doing :)

Baldness

2011-03-08T20:53:00.000-08:00

Have I ever said how much I LOVE living where I do??? Well today I was driving to a friends to get eggs...yes 'fresh' eggs...laid by their chickens....and thot...wow..someone has a statue that looks like a real eagle..........when I actually passed it I realized it was a real eagle...so I swung the car around and got my phone camera ready...this guy was about 10 feet? from the road...he had fresh kill of something in his talons and he wasn't about to leave it...he tried flying a couple of times but it was too heavy to get airborne.........so I kinda followed him up someones drive trying to get a picture.....or two :) the picture is fuzzy but he was really close...and he was HUGE!

here he is eating part of his 'catch'....it was amazing to see him up that close and personal...only other time I saw one this close was when I was letting my dogs run the beach and we came around a corner and there was one sitting on a rock...I was too busy trying to get the dogs to come back to me to see the beauty of the beast....they are gorgeous...and freakingly big

A new girl in town....

2011-02-27T18:17:00.000-08:00

There is a new girl in town....here is her final resting place.....can you guess what or who it might be?????

there she is....Nina...........

in her full glory....can't believe that I actually bit the bullet and did the deed :) Can't wait to know how to use her fully....man she is way smarter than I am :)

the first project I actually sewed on her was a quilt top...but here was my first "play" project...want to really learn the embroidery part so that I can do this on the quilts that I make...so to practice I made a mug rug....I darkened it to see the thread that I used...got some variegated blue...but it was hard to see...ah the wonders of the techno world :)

oh had a fun weekend also perusing the embroidery sites :) oh my!!!!!!

Such Energy....

2011-02-23T07:59:00.000-08:00

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow....
We usually don't get a lot of snow here....but they are promising three days of snow here....
My dogs will love these days as they love the snow
As you can see them running like maniacs :)

Cody is jumping back onto the deck....check out the height :)

Zoey enjoying her bit of rest before running again

Cody loves the snow too

Lucy...isn't she a cutie :)

the snowman knocking heavy snow off the magnolia tree :)

ha :)

a far away of the lilac bush

this is a close up of our lilac bush...

Up in the air...junior birdman....

2011-02-21T17:58:00.000-08:00

Ok....now that you all have your goggles on and are humming the tune...here is a quilt that I found almost done in my box....I wanted to at least finish piecing the top...well actually just adding the last of the border pieces so that I could clean up more of my room...started this quilt a bazillion years ago...was going to make a pattern but realized I would never be able to explain what I had done...that and it was right around that time that my daughter and family moved into my 'studio' and all my sewing stuff was packed up...I think I started this for my youngest granddaughter whose dad is in the Navy and flies P-3's...she is too old for this thing now and more into princessey type things :)
It is huge and with all the white space I think I am going to have to have it quilted by some artistic long armed person :) Well, huge for what I normally do anyway...way bigger than a baby quilt....

here is a picture of the border too....loved the checkered flag look....what was I thinking when I did this over 9 years ago???? I need to find a boy who likes airplanes to give this to :)

Then I found this lonely block...way more manageable for my little brain....with the leftover fabric I might be able to stretch this to a bigger size...

there were also this pile of flying geese I was going to put around the outside border....man what was I thinking???? But they can go around the single airplane without as much busy-ness as if I put them on the bigger one :) Whew...made me tired already :)

a flat look at the smaller top to be

Out with the old.........

2011-02-20T19:19:00.000-08:00

Took down my Christmas and winter mini quilts...bye bye winter and Christmas...altho they are saying that snow is due later this week down to 300'.....hum....

Maybe will have to get the snowman back out for at least a couple of days :)

But did put up the springy tulips...maybe should change the title to "Think Spring" :)

one, two....and three

2011-02-19T12:07:00.001-08:00

got this picture of Cody and Zoey napping together....he did have his head on her side but when i got the camera he moved.....but this still is cute :)

and then Nellie had to get into the picture too cuz she was sleeping on poor Zoey too :)

Now...on to more important things...after at least 2 years in the garage I got my husband to hang up the map that the kids bought him for Christmas...several years ago :) for you old timers it is a classroom map of Europe as we grew up knowing it....now the names have been changed and I couldn't even begin to tell you what is what now :) Need to hang something on the sides because it kinda blends in with the walls at this point...or add a black border to it...hum...I do have some black paint???? kinda frame it and make it stand out???

here is a little bit closer look...it is really cool :)

Charity giving

2011-02-17T19:52:00.001-08:00

I ran across this blog post when I was perusing my blogging buddies....What an idea. As I am a quilter and love to share my stuff with others this appealed to me.... So, I am showing you the link Cara Quilts and see if any of you faithful blog readers would be interested in helping anyone in your area....Go read the story of how this started :)

We are family ... :)

2011-02-15T18:58:00.000-08:00

A family of water bottle holders that is :) I got all of them done for my daughters family for their trip........ssshhhh...it is a secret still to the kids :) I am hoping that they work out for their trip cuz it would be nice to have them a

this is my son in laws....took a pair of my husbands old jeans and made his...the pocket took up almost the entire thing...but I thot it was kinda cool...also didn't put the long strap on his but put a little taggie that he could attach to a belt loop with a carbean instead...clever aren't I :)

as I was coming all the dogs were lined up at the door....wish the door had actually been clean so you could have seen them better but there they all are waiting for me to come in ...aren't they just cute :)

Gotta stop looking....

2011-02-14T14:33:00.000-08:00

I just gotta stop looking.... :)
For a few months now I have been looking at a friends blog and seeing all the wonderful things she and the blogs that she has been following have been doing...I kept thinking I need to get back into my sewing room and start creating again...well kept thinking I needed to go through some of my stash before I added anything more........that lasted until I started looking at fabric again and now am adding again............ I just love fabric.
Went on Saturday to a local warehouse to "look" at fabric. It was quite a blustery day and they were afraid that the power would go out so they cautioned me and my friend and a couple of other ladies who were "looking" too that if the power went out to stay where we were and they would come and find us with flashlights :) I told them...no problem...I would just sit there and feel the material until they came and got me :) What is it about the texture and the visual eye candy that brings a sense of well being to me...not to mention the "GOTTA HAVE's"
So this is my purchase from Saturday :) Look at those colors....aren't they just yummy?

Here is the roll from the side instead of the top....lovin these jelly rolls as they are called....

From that store I also got some white fabric and some fabric books...oh and a minkie blanket....so yummy to touch...but it isn't for me so :(
Then my husband asked if there was some place I wanted to go later that day......... :) (make that a really big smiley face!) I was wanted to go to the other fabric store in town and get some "sale" fabric...but instead I got this.........aren't the colors wonderful???

And then today........well........what can I say...I am obsessed with sale fabric :)
These came in the mail...I had to wait a bit longer for them to be shipped because the ladies from the store were on a quilt retreat...but worth the wait ;)

Can you imagine they fit all this stuff in one box :)

These two rolls were just darn cheap :) They match the turnover triangles above....hum...wonder what I am going to do with them????

and more color.........maybe I won't do anything with these just enjoy the color.........

side view of the above jelly roll

and last but not least.......more of the Oasis fabric that I did a table topper for my table....just love these colors...

Whew.......think I need to sit down and maybe will shop with my fingers some more :) There is another sale going on that I might have to check out ;)

POTD...

2011-02-13T15:18:00.001-08:00

POTD???? WHAT? Hum...are you wondering what that is? Oh my dear Watson...so easy...Project Of The Day :)
My grandkids are planning a trip and I saw this tutorial and thot....that would be great...so after running it by mom to make sure it was something she thot would be great too I made this one....it is for my autistic grandson that loves Toy Story....and this fabric is definitely Toy Story :)

So what is it???? Here is a close up of it...any guesses?

TaDa....It is a water bottle carrier...you sling it over your shoulder and you can have water with you all the time and can stop at the nearest drinking fountain and refill...clever huh? Hopefully they will use them cuz I think it is a great idea....

Think I will make me one too but making it with a bigger water bottle.............
Here is the website with the tutorial--Pink Chalk Studio

Blonde moments

2011-02-11T20:10:00.000-08:00

I have been blog hoppin lately and saw this wonderful idea...you sew your rows in order and leave them attached...so each of these rows are connected with threads....the theory is that you can then just put the top row over the second row and sew them...I was so excited when I took this picture...right after I took it I realized that my brilliant idea wouldn't work cuz there were still two rows of sashing to do....so I needed to clip the threads and make them separate rows :(

here is the quilt with the other sashing put in....now to back it and bind it...

the picture of this didn't come out with the rich colors of this mini quilt but it is bound and finished...it is going on my dining room table as soon as Valentines day is over :)

going fabric shopping tomorrow........do I really need more fabric???? Of course :)