bearbear

Amigurumi You Say?

2010-06-13T23:09:00.005-05:00

Well, hello there!! You are such a cutie pie! Back in September last year, I finished crocheting and photographed this little fella. That's how long it's been since I've posted a "creation" on this blog! I don't think I'm repeating a post but it feels so good to be able to post things on my blog(s) again.

This is a Japanese form of crochet called amigurumi. I have no idea how to pronounce it. The book I am using for my patterns are all little animals or fruit and veggies. They are crocheted in the round without stopping and turning around to crochet in the other direction. You have to mark your rounds. Also their heads are bigger in proportion to the rest of their bodies which makes them the cutest little crocheted "pets" to play with or simply just adore.

This is seriously cute crochet folks!! And only will take a couple of hours to create a little friend for a child or an adult.

My next "ami" is in the works. It's an elephant. Yes, even though I'm an Auburn fan and not an Alabama fan, it's an elephant! ha! But Paige says her favorite zoo animal is the elephant and she wanted an elephant next.

With two more grandbabies coming, the possibilities are just endless in what I can create! The little ones are so easy to please:)

Here is a "profile" view. She is now in the toy bucket with all the other stuffed animals and well loved :)

The Latest

2009-12-03T18:57:00.009-06:00

Here are some of my latest sewing therapy projects. The flannel blanket above is a baby gift for an adopted child. My oldest daughter designed it and it turned out so cute, I think. I like the pink and purple together.

Here's a close-up.

When I look at this shirt I did for a friend's grandson for Christmas, I think the title of my post should be Paying My Dues!! I did this shirt three times before I got it right, and as I was working on this last one, I kept saying to myself "you gotta pay your dues, you gotta pay your dues." ha! On the first shirt, the design was just too small without a name or some type of lettering to go with it. On the second shirt, it was looking good until the satin stitching started on the tires. I was trying to take a short cut and not put spray adhesive on the fabric for the tires and the fabric slipped on one tire so there was a tiny little place where the fabric was not caught in the satin stitching and it would have raveled when washed. Hence, this third shirt. I took my time, didn't take any short cuts and it turned out good. I'm such a perfectionist anyway which drives me crazy!

Here's a blurred close-up. I tend to get the camera "shakes" with close-ups some of the time!

No camera shake here with the close-up but I didn't iron out the puckers. I was in a hurry on this one getting the photo done.

And the final photo. All was good therapy for me.

Now I'm working on yet another baby blanket in a soft green with hemstitched and crocheted edging. I haven't decided what I'll applique on it yet but will post it soon.

Something For A Baby Shower

2009-11-21T23:06:00.003-06:00

I began this baby receiving blanket two days ago and finished it in time to give at a baby shower today. It is white 100% cotton flannel with hemstitching done on my machine and two rows of hand crocheted border done in 100% cotton bedspread weight yarn. I used flannel for the cross and Minkee fabric for the lamb. The Minkee is very popular now but I won't use it again for a design as small as this. I only like sewing it with bigger projects like blankets. But I think it's sweet and this was a gender neutral receiving blanket since the parents decided not to find out whether they're having a boy or girl until he or she arrives.

I'm just so glad and thankful to be creating again. :)

Paige-isms

2009-11-03T18:42:00.002-06:00

Today I took Paige to school and came right back home to clean house. I got a LOT done. I may start doing this on Tuesdays! I didn't completely finish but I did get a lot of cleaning done.

When I went to pick her up after school, we went shopping just a wee bit for some blank Tshirts (of course!) to do designs on and I was just about ready to go home with her when she said she needed to go to the bathroom. I like the bathrooms in Books-A-Million so we went in there. When we were finished, we went to sit on the benchs where the magazine racks are and she looked up at me and said, "Bear Bear", I'm fruster - rated." ha! I asked her why and she said "because I want to see my Mama." Out of the mouths of babes. :)

More Tshirts!

2009-11-02T21:02:00.008-06:00

Just call me the Tshirt Lady!! That's all I do lately but I enjoy it and at least I'm in the sewing room. Here is a cute design I downloaded last night that I put on a Tshirt for a little boy. It was tedious because of all the little bitty pieces of fabric to be appliqued but I think it turned out cute.

Here's a close-up.

And here's a design I think I've posted on here before but just on a turtleneck and with the wording gobble gobble. In this particular set of designs, they had three choices of sayings - gobble gobble, happy thanksgiving, or my first thanksgiving - that were already in the design. Or you could just do a turkey or a turkey with an initial on his tummy.

A close-up of gobble gobble.

And here's the shirt I've posted before but I added the trim and wanted to show how cute it looks with the trim. Turkey time is coming!

Now I've got a little pilgrim boy and pilgrim girl I want to put on a shirt, jumper, overalls or something. And some Christmas designs.

Yep, I'll just keep on being the Tshirt Lady!

A Little Vintage Going On!

2009-10-29T21:31:00.003-05:00

This is the first vintage embroidery design I've done and it was quick and fun because it's so different. I would like to use some of the larger designs on a blanket or larger clothing. I just think it's so sweet.

Here's a close-up of the little chick or bird on a branch. The lace I sewed on the neckline is very old. This will be a gift for someone very special (and, no, it's not a grandchild! ha!).

I'm On A Tshirt Kick!

2009-10-28T20:45:00.005-05:00

I'm on a Tshirt kick lately, doing almost one a day. I love Thanksgiving and found this applique pattern and just had to do this for Paige. Isn't it cute?

Here's a close-up. I always told my girls that I feel sorry for Thanksgiving because it's kind of "looked over" being between Halloween and Christmas.

Ornament Tshirt

2009-10-27T21:10:00.003-05:00

I did this Tshirt for my little great niece for her to wear during the Christmas season. It's done in nontraditional colors but I think it's cute and sure will look cute on her!

Here's a close up. It needed ironing but was just too late when I photographed it. I mailed it to her today.

I'm just so happy to be doing some sort of sewing again!

Cute Little Doggie Blanket!

2009-10-26T15:50:00.004-05:00

Isn't this just one of the cutest little things you've seen?!? I just returned from a visit to the beach. A friend and I went to a new quilt shop that sold applique designs and I just couldn't wait to try one out. Just got home last night and started right away this morning. This is a gift for a special little someone:)

Here's a closer look. I've never sewn with Minkee fabric before. I like the feel and the look of it and it's just perfect for the blanket on this design but, boy, oh boy, does it ever "fuzz" up your needle. I can't imagine making a garment with it but I'm sure I will one day! ha!

Enjoyed this design so much! I hope the recipient likes it:)

It's That Time of Year!

2009-10-17T00:28:00.003-05:00

Finally I'm back in the sewing room! Oh it feels so good! I appliqued a little orange shirt for my great niece who's two with a ghost and her first initial, a very cute pattern and forgot to take a photo! When I made her shirt, it had been so long that I forgot how to start the applique, too - which button to push!

I made this for Paige to wear to the Auburn games when it's cool or she could just wear it to school or anywhere when it's cool. It's an embroidery design that really looks a lot like Auburn's mascot, Aubie, who is cute as can be. And she DOES love Aubie!

I wanted to put the same trim that's on the neck around the cuffs but was about 1/2 inch short of having enough! I'll have to go get some more tomorrow and finish it. I can't wait to see her in it. And it just feels so good to be creating something again, even if it is very simple.

Question

2009-09-20T22:44:00.004-05:00

I am finishing up going through my mother's sewing/craft things and putting them in place in my sewing room. I came across this "thing" pictured above. Does anyone know what this is?

It looks like it might be handmade. The thread is threaded through the bottom and comes up where these little nails are in the top and a pattern is weaved there. I really don't know what to do with it but kept it because it was so unusual and interesting.

I hope someone out there can tell me what it is!

2009-09-04T22:33:00.003-05:00

The colors aren't true in this photo but for you, dear blogging friends, who are ~~prodding~~ encouraging me to show what I'm creating, here IS something I've been working on from time to time. This is a needlepoint piece that was handpainted that I bought in New Orleans the last time I was there. I really cannot tell you when that was! ha! But it seems like a l o n g time ago. I am finally working on the background. I plan to make a pillow from it when I finish and I am stitching it in basketweave stitch.

I haven't needlepointed since our church kneelers were finished. See THIS POST. It is relaxing and mindless to do this and watch it develop before my eyes.

I also am creating a clean, organized "studio" for sewing and quilting and appliqueing and embroidery on the machine and all that jazz which will be fun again. Thanks to all of you for your encouragement and concern. I do appreciate it and it worked!

Paige-isms

2009-09-01T23:22:00.004-05:00

Haven't posted here in SO long because I'm still grouping, organizing, cleaning, just all kinds of things EXCEPT creating! But I have hope that I will get around to it soon. SO. . . here is a little Paige-ism that tugged at my heartstrings. :)

One day last week, my husband and I were to keep Paige and we planned to take her with us in the afternoon to visit his mother, take her to the bank and then to the park to feed the ducks and let Paige play on the playground, just spend some time with both of them. I guess we don't realize that she's listening to everything we say. My mother's grandmother/great grandmother name was Gann. My husband's grandmother/great grandmother name is Maw.

The next morning when we picked her up and we were talking to her about our plans, she said to me, "Bear Bear, I wish Gann could get out of heaven and go with us." :(

More Unbelievable Treasures!!

2009-07-20T22:43:00.004-05:00

I really did feel like I was looking in treasure chests as I went through my mother's sewing and crafting bags, boxes, etc. I remember when she ordered the fillet crochet pattern above for the Lord's Prayer. I remember thinking, what a unbelievable undertaking!

I found this first. This was the work she finished. I guess you work the pattern from the bottom up. If you click on the photo, you can see a much clearer photo of the words - the end of the Lord's Prayer. It is just beautiful.

At first, I couldn't decide what to do with it and then I decided to take it and try to finish it. I may be taking on too much with this AND the cathedral window quilt but I just couldn't let them go. It's too much work.

Here's a close-up of her work. I've done fillet crochet before but it's been a long time. I will have to practice a little scrap piece first but I know I can finish it. It's just taking the time to do it!

I saw this framed and hanging in the foyer of a church where I attended a wedding in Tennessee and it was so beautiful! My mother did phenomenal work and took on phenomenal projects!

If Not Me, Then My Mother!

2009-07-19T21:16:00.002-05:00

For right now, if I can't post my creations on here, then I'll show off my mother's. I call them Mama's treasures. :) When I was going through her crafts and sewing things, I came across this beginning of a cathedral quilt. I had seen it before and even asked her if she'd show me how to do the cathedral quilt method. She always said she would but another day when she felt better. :(

I really would like to continue this and make it quilt size. I do have a book that shows how to do the cathedral quilt and I've read and tried it but don't understand it. Maybe just those instructions are confusing and I can find some better instructions.

Also, I really don't know how it would look to continue with the fabrics I have. I did find some vintage fabrics in her things and could take those to finish it. I have a sister that has started doing some quilting, though, and I wouldn't want to take it unless she agreed. Maybe we could share the fabric.

This is a good close-up of the vintage fabrics used. These were probably fabrics she made our clothing from when we were children. A treasure, indeed!

Paige-isms

2009-07-17T19:30:00.002-05:00

A couple of days ago, I was keeping Paige while her mother worked and took her with me to have my driver's license renewed. You know you always have to wait so long in lines to have that done!

So we walk in the door and the security guard explained to us that we needed to take a number from this table he pointed to and then take a seat and wait for our number to be called, etc. I did as he said and we took a seat.

While we were sitting there, Paige was just jabbering and asking me why we had to take the number and why we had to sit where we were, etc. and I was trying to explain to her what we were doing and why and what was going on.

Then when I finished, she just looked up at me and said, "comprende"! ha! I asked her where did she learn that word? Was it on Dora the Explorer? And she said, "no, I just learned it!" ha!

I never fail to have a fun time with her when we're together! And she never ceases to amaze me. :)

My Mother's Things

2009-07-17T19:10:00.004-05:00

Since I'm not being very industrious at all with creating anything, I decided to share with you how industrious my mother was and the unusual things and various things she created (or at least to me they were!). When going through her things, I found this huge paper bag and a smaller box full of chewing gum wrappers she had collected. I think others from her office where she worked saved the wrappers for her as well as she saving them. I knew that she had in the past made trivets from these wrappers and she showed me how to make these chains from the wrappers as a child, which I thought was great fun! See how my love of creating came from her?

When I found this huge paper bag and little box of wrappers with some projects started, I just couldn't throw them away. They're still at her house and if no one else wants them, I will take them.

Then when I looked in her tiny little hall closet where she kept her sheets, blankets, etc., on the floor I found a vinyl blanket zippered container with four place mats (pretty large place mats, too!) in four different colors that were finished. I took two, this green and white Spearmint gum one and a yellow Juicy Fruit one. I am keeping the Spearmint one here for Paige to use and gave her mother the Juicy Fruit one since "lellow" is Paige's favorite color.

Here is a close-up of the mat. I plan to buy some of that decoupage-type liquid that you pour over puzzles to preserve them and make them "spill-proof".

I have seen purses made in this fashion from something that looks similar but didn't know what. I'm not talking about the Capris Sun bags. These looked very similar to what my mother did. One day I was shopping and saw a young mother with a bag like that and asked her about it. She told me that it was made from candy wrappers and they usually were priced in the $200-300 range! She said she got hers at market so got a better price and that everyone stops her and asks about her bag. So I guess my mother was ahead of her time, huh?

If only I could call her up and tell her :(

Surprise Still Hopefully to Come but Delayed Again.

2009-07-17T12:33:00.002-05:00

No photo. My mother sadly passed away on June 11. The past month has been filled with making her memorial arrangements, going through her things to sort, organize, remember, and grieve. But I keep remembering when I go through her things that SHE'S the reason I have this strong creative urge and I'm so thankful for that. She was a wonderfully smart, creative, and industrious woman. She had more patience than anyone on the planet!

I do plan to reveal a surprise but this has (and still is) taking a long time to tie up loose ends. And the way my mind works, I cannot work creatively with loose ends and clutter which is what I'm dealing with right now.

Thanks for all the support and love I feel coming from all of you! But watch out, I'll be back!!!!

Surprise!

2009-04-26T08:09:00.002-05:00

A surprise is coming May 1st!! I hope you'll be watching and waiting for it! I'm very excited!

Capris Day!

2009-04-25T19:54:00.003-05:00

I know this looks like a skirt but it's capris. I got these finished. It was a factory today. I cut out four more and need to put them together. The shirts to go with them are done.

I learned a lot about my ruffler (attachment) today doing these. It is SO quick using that attachment! Wonderful!

Such a beautiful day, though, I got distracted with my camera and spent a lot of time outside.

Red, White & Blue!

2009-04-20T19:36:00.003-05:00

I had this planned for today and after I cleaned house, I did have time to do it.

I guess I'm in the mood for red, white and blue because a very good friend's son came home from serving in Iraq Friday. His pic is on our frig and we have been constantly thinking about him and praying for his safe return.

So. . . I made Paige another Old Navy Toddler Grunge shirt in red, white and blue. It will be good to wear anytime while the weather's warm and will go with jeans, red, or white pants or shorts but I specifically had in mind some white capris. And with Memorial Day and July 4th around the corner, what a great shirt for those holidays, too! Hurray for the red, white and blue!

Busy, Busy, Busy Fun Day!

2009-04-18T19:11:00.005-05:00

I finished another flannel receiving blanket. Since Spring is here, I probably should stop making these in flannel and maybe try some lightweight fabrics like seersucker. But I really enjoy making them.

Now on to the shirts. I really worked on shirts today and the next sewing session will be spent on capris pants to go with them. I love this blue and yellow together. It just looks so beachy and summery.

These last two white shirts I found at Old Navy and I thought they were so cute with the smocking across the top. I decided since there was smocking across the top to put the design off-center on one side. I always pre-wash all my shirts before I applique them and after I did, the sleeves and bottoms curled up. They stayed curled up even after I ironed them! I considered putting a rickrack or ribbon trim on the sleeves and bottom to keep them from curling up but then decided against it. The more I looked at them that way, the more I thought it was cute and probably was meant to be that way. Maybe that's the Old Navy Toddler Grunge look?!? ha!

Here is another Toddler Grunge shirt with a cute little turtle and flower. Capris for all of these are on the way! Don't forget you can click on the photo to get a closer look:) Very, very enjoyable day for me.

Paige-isms

2009-04-12T21:00:00.002-05:00

Paige and her mommy came over yesterday to work on her Easter dress. While they were here, Paige wanted to go outside and help Paw Paw with all he was doing to get ready for Easter. We have a salt water pool and he was putting huge bags of salt into the pool. He told us that while he was pouring the salt into the water, she asked him if he was putting sugar into the pool! ha! So I told her that Paw Paw was getting the pool sweet so we could swim in it soon:)

Poor Little Wabbitt:(

2009-04-10T22:52:00.004-05:00

Boo boos do happen! My niece wanted a just a plain little Tshirt with a rabbit on it to wear on Easter to hunt eggs in and I had a few Tshirts on hand in her size. The one above is what I started with and we were having tornado-type storms here. I was sewing away and looked up for ONE SECOND to look at the weather map on TV and bam - a boo boo! The needle caught the Tshirt at the bottom where you see that little bump and I had to stop the process, take the sewing needle and presser foot off and untangle the mess. Then I went to the computer and tried to back my stitching up and it started sewing and was way off base. So. . .

This was what the poor little wabbit was supposed to look like. I didn't have another hot pink shirt in the right size but found a white one and did a baby pink rabbit. It's cute and sweet and the model wearing it is only two so the baby pink (to me) is so sweet. I can't wait to see a picture of her wearing this. Her mother is coming tomorrow to pick it up.

Remember this burp cloth in an earlier post? It's official now (meaning the ribbon is really sewn on!) and it's out the door, too, with my niece tomorrow headed for a baby shower. I just love the hungry caterpillar-look ribbon trim. Goodbye all.

Ladybugs Everywhere!

2009-04-09T22:58:00.006-05:00

I'm back from my vacation and got a better photo of the ladybug baby blanket. Isn't she cute? This is a close-up.

Here is the blanket with the hemstitched and crocheted edge on the pink polka dot cotton flannel.

And this is a close-up of the same little ladybug on a white Tshirt. I plan to make capris pants in the same pink for a cute little outfit for my great niece. I can't wait to see a photo of her in it!

Ladybugs are just popping up everywhere!

Baby Things and More!

2009-04-04T19:31:00.009-05:00

Finally, some projects to post! These baby blankets take a while to hemstitch and then crochet the edging and I appliqued the cute little animals last. Here is one blanket that could be used for boy or girl.

And one for a sweet little girl. These are 100% very soft cotton flannel with 100% cotton crochet thread. Notice the little pink one has a more frilly edge crocheted.

I see Farley's little back leg in the upper left-hand corner! ha!

These would be a wonderful set for twins, a boy and a girl!! I've got this thing for making blankets for twins, I guess. I've given two sets lately and this could be another set.

And another burp cloth from the colored diapers you can buy nowadays. I love the lime green with the hot pink. I've cheated a little for the photo. You can probably tell I really haven't sewn the ribbon on yet but just laid it across for the photo. But the ribbon reminds me so much of the children's book that is so popular now, The Very Hungry Caterpillar:)

And, finally, I did this little ladybug Tshirt in mind for my little great niece. It's kind of a pending thing:) I plan to make a little pair of pink capris to go with this Tshirt but I'm waiting on measurements.

I have another baby blanket with this same ladybug appliqued on it but could not get a good photo of it. Next time!

Hope you enjoyed my post. It's been a long time coming! I enjoyed doing all this work so much:) NOTE: Please click on the photos for a closer look at details.

Paige-isms

2009-04-01T23:14:00.002-05:00

Just a short, cute Paige-ism. She really notices what everybody drinks and, for some reason, really pays a lot of attention to that. One day a while back she asked me, "Bear Bear, do you like Dr. Coke?" ha!

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice :)

2009-03-25T23:08:00.002-05:00

Little girls are so much fun to sew for! I had some glitches in my sewing machine AFTER I took it in for servicing and updating a couple of weeks ago! But. . . we got the problem solved over the phone which saved me driving 60 miles! But I finally got to sew and do this butterfly applique on this little knit shirt I found at a good sale. I'm noticing that I should have photographed the knit pants a little further down because they have such cute little ruffles on the bottom, too.

This is photographed in Paige's playroom at our house with her tea set and her baby doll that she loves to play with so much (even though lately she's really into Minnie Mouse!).

I photographed both of these in such a hurry to get them posted and I'm so tired that they're both too blurry. Sorry about that. But here is a close-up of the butterfly and you can click on the pic to see it even better. It really is cute. All these designs in this set turn out cuter than the photo of them. She has a pair of yellow knit pants like these blue ones with ruffles, too, that would look cute so we can mix and match. Her favorite color is yellow so I HAD to put some yellow somewhere in the butterfly.

I learned something new by doing this design - adjusting it to a 45 degree angle. I like it that way instead of just putting it on the yoke. It gives a little variety. Happy Spring!

More Receiving Blankets

2009-03-19T23:05:00.001-05:00

No photos yet but I tore, hemstitched, and got 2 more receiving blankets ready to be appliqued and crocheted. I just like to have things on hand that are portable to take with me to sit in doctor's offices (been doing a lot of THAT lately! ha!) or just outside watching Paige play or in front of the TV or visiting with my mother.

So now I have two blankets to crochet and applique and one blanket with only the applique left for it to be finished. Photos to follow. All are polka dot flannel which is different from what I've been doing - the white flannel.

The "Secret" Project

2009-03-12T23:02:00.005-05:00

I've decided to go ahead and post pics of my "secret" project. I mailed these little flannel 36" x 36" baby receiving blankets to a friend of my daughter for her twin boys born on February 2 of this year. They live in Ft. Meyers, FL, and I mailed the package at least a week ago so I'm thinking surely they've received it.

I tore the flannel to the size I wanted, then hemstitched the edges, crocheted them, and appliqued the little frogs. I just love the little frogs with prince crowns on their heads!

On a earlier post I did another set of twin blankets like this but with giraffes. See December 3rd post.

I have another blanket finished except for the applique which I hope to do soon and I will post. It is off white flannel with off white hemstitching and crocheting and bright pink random polka dots on the flannel so I am going to applique a bright pink ladybug in the corner. Can't wait to finish it and I'll post.

Paige-isms

2009-03-09T21:25:00.002-05:00

After our trip to Auburn, I guess Miss Paige is in a football mode. She was at our house playing "tug of war" with our little Yorkie, Farley. Every time she would get the rope away from him, throw it for him to fetch and the moment he would pick it up in his mouth, she would yell "Touchdown Farley!!!"

Updates

2009-03-06T20:33:00.004-06:00

I know all these postings lately are probably so boring but I just have been so busy with other things and my sewing machine was in the "shop". Both the sewing machine and the embroidery module got a "tune-up" and were updated today and everything is fine for a year or two (hopefully!). So when I get some free sewing time, I can get upstairs and start sewing again. There are so many sewing projects I want to do. Also, I'm hoping I can post my pics of the "secret" project I mailed out. Hope it will be received either today or tomorrow.

Necessary Things

2009-03-04T16:38:00.003-06:00

Two days this week (yesterday and today) were taken up with a little "procedure" I needed - see this blog - so I thought this would be a good week to take my sewing machine in for a little check-up, too. So I am just cutting, cutting, cutting, and I'm sure photos of this would be boring. But I feel so productive doing this. Have some crocheting I'm doing, too.

"Secret" Project

2009-03-03T20:25:00.001-06:00

One of my two "secret" projects was mailed today so I will wait until I know it is received and then post the photos.

Scrap Therapy Continued

2009-03-02T19:43:00.004-06:00

This is a photo of my scrap therapy session. The first 45 min. or so was a sales pitch, I thought, but we finally started cutting and the teacher was very patient and very good. It seems that I won the prize for beginner. But I did learn so much and cut more when I got home. We cut 5, 3 1/2, 2, and 1 1/2 inch squares. We even got a button to wear! ha! There is a website, too, if you interested you can check this out. I am so excited that I am going to create those little charm packs of my own that I love so much! This should be a lesson in putting colors together and a lot of fun.

Scrap Therapy

2009-03-01T22:58:00.004-06:00

I'm too tired to post photos because it was such a busy day but I went to a class today after church at my quilt shop. It was called Scrap Therapy and it was a cheap class, only $10 and all we had to bring were scraps of fabric (no U-Hauls allowed, they said! ha!), two rulers, a rotary cutter, and a cutting mat. I got a very good lesson in rotary cutting and really got my money's worth for the class.

When I got home, I did not want to quit and just kept cutting. But it's very tiring because I have to stand up to make sure I'm cutting straight (I also noticed everyone else standing so I assumed I was doing it right! ha!). We cut 5 inch, 3 1/2 inch, 2 inch and 1 1/2 inch squares. They will offer another class to make a quilt from what you cut in the scrap therapy class. I haven't decided what I will do about that. I have to live from week to week with my schedule.

It was a wonderful way to organize your fabric, especially if you mainly quilt. The teacher in the class said that anything smaller than a fat quarter was considered a scrap so I didn't cut any fat quarters I had. After she made that statement, I was thinking as I was driving home that this is a good time for me to go thru all my fabric stash to organize it better. I am going to keep my yardage that's never been touched as is, keep my fat quarters, put them in color families, and then go thru the other fabric that's leftover from making garments and make fat quarters, and all the different square I can get from them and organize what's cut into color families and sizes. Then I can go right to what I need and I realized with the 5 inch squares, I'm really making my own charm packs. Also when I do the applique on the clothing, receiving blankets, burp pads and baby/children things, I can go straight to my square cuts or fat quarter or yardage and it will be organized.

This is a good time for me to do this since next week I have one doctor's appointment and am having a "procedure" done that will incapacitate me for 2 or three days from sewing. So since my machine is due for servicing, I am taking it tomorrow and leave it with them for the week to service and update it, if needed.

Maybe tomorrow I can post photos of our scrap therapy session! It was a lot of fun!

Patience

2009-02-27T18:54:00.002-06:00

I have to have patience tonight. I finished one of my "secret" projects but cannot post it yet because it is a gift and I have to wait until the recepient receives it. Then I will have a photo of it here. I finished it today and was so excited. I always get so excited when I finish a project because that means I can either move on to another UFO OR start a new one!!!!!!

More Pink Today!

2009-02-25T21:24:00.002-06:00

I'm on a pink kick. I bought this little pink sweatshirt at a consignment shop and had it stored away to put something on it. I decided to do a black and white zebra, envisioning a cute little black pair of leggings with it (or pants) and her little black shoes. It's getting so close to spring and warm weather now that she might not be able to wear it but it's a size 4 pre-loved sweatshirt and she might be able to wear it next year when it's cold again.

Pink, Pink, Pink!!

2009-02-24T22:53:00.004-06:00

I love pink! This was so much fun to do. These burp cloths are being sent pronto to my oldest daughter in Nashville. She needs a baby gift and I was glad to "oblige". I hope the recepients like them as much as I do. What a cute name!

My Surprise Package!

2009-02-23T22:35:00.004-06:00

Look at what audreypawdrey sent me today! A package with 50 (!) 3 1/2 inch squares already cut (and SO precisely, I might add!) for my I Spy quilt for my granddaughter! Thank you, thank you, thank you SO much Audrey. What a great gift and generous gift of your precious time. I have looked through them over and over and my granddaughter will just love these. You must have better fabric stores in your area than we do here. There's everything from airplanes, to trains to rocketships with a little Sesame St. and the Flintstones and even Scooby Doo thrown in. I saw tennis balls, butterflies, horses, flip flops, dresses, skates, even money! You name it - it's just wonderful. I have cut around 40 and now with these 50, I should be able to start arranging in my color groups and seeing how I'm going to start sewing this together. This will be so much fun. I just can't thank you enough Audrey. You're the greatest and I hope you don't mind that I shared this with everyone. Much love to you.

Problem Hopefully Solved!

2009-02-22T22:15:00.002-06:00

I played around with my software on my machine last night and think I have solved the monogramming density problem. There was a tab I could go to that had choices of automatic or manual on the satin stitch. It was set to manual when I saw this tab. I thought that was strange. There was also a photograph of how the zig zaggety stitches looked in a little frame to the right. When I clicked from manual to automatic, the stitches in the photo were closer together so I thought, aha! I stitched out another B and it still looked the same. I went back to the tab and it was still on manual. I clicked automatic again and noticed a tool bar-like thing at the bottom where you had to click ok and I had not done that so I clicked it, stitched another B and it looked great, SO much denser and fuller and better - not white towel showing through! So I stitched another style B and another and another and they all looked good.

I still am going to take my little sample of all these B's back to the sewing shop and show them on their computer what I did and ask if they think that's the problem just to be sure. Technology and me are getting along a little bit better :)

A Problem Solved

2009-02-20T21:47:00.005-06:00

If you are a follower of this blog and also read this one also, you will see this photo posted yesterday, the 19th, of these towels that I monogrammed for my oldest daughter for a (late) Christmas gift. I had such a problem with these. You can't tell from the photograph but the satin stitches were not dense enough and a lot of white towel was showing through and I was not happy at all with them, especially to give to my daughter or anyone for a gift. In fact, I would not be happy with them had I done them for myself. So I slept on it and decided to call the sewing shop this morning. I still was not satisfied and decided to take the towels along with a couple of other things I'd done that I WAS happy with using this same sewing machine. Long story short, they agreed with me after seeing the towels in person and asked me to try something in my program on an old towel. If that does not work, they think it's an update that needs to be performed on my software on the machine and they will do it at no charge.

In the meantime, they suggested that I take a Sharpie black marker and just fill in the white tiny towel marks showing through, saying it will look like stitching, is permanent and will not fade when the towels are washed because it's a permanent marker. So I did that tonight and it was very easy to do and it looks good. Now I will mail them to my daughter for her Christmas gift, bless her heart. She's been patiently waiting. And I will explain what I've done and what has happened. (She can just read about it here!) Then when she washes the towels, if they do fade or not look good for any reason to her, I will do them again for her. But I plan to have my machine updated so it performs as it should in the future. Sometimes technology is so frustrating.

Playing I Spy

2009-02-19T20:46:00.007-06:00

Well, I finally have some squares cut to post for the I Spy quilt. Paige chose what she wanted me to cut first but I still have quite a stack to cut. I just love this fabric. Aren't these cute little purses? Each one is different.

Of course, you know she would choose Pooh and friends! If you'll look closely, some are 6 1/2 inch rectangles in these groupings and some are 9 1/2 inch squares in order to get the entire design in the cutting. As long as it's divisible by 3, it's ok, according to the designer.

Here are just three random prints - a little dog that looks like Snoopy, Hello Kitty, and the Care Bears. I am trying not to repeat a square.

These little penguins are cute and even though I've cut more than one from the same fabric, no square (or rectangle) is exactly the same. One penguin is skiing, one is sledding, etc.

These are bright and cheery "under the sea" creatures. I think I was able to cut 3 different colorways of each one - 3 of the octopus, 3 of the fish, and 3 of the crab. This cutting is very tedious and slow because I am trying to center the design in the square. This is very different from anything I've ever done but it's fun. I'm just taking my time and having fun. Hope you enjoyed the tour so far!

When I get ready to start sewing the squares together, I will group them into lights, mediums and darks. I want to make a big square in the middle of the quilt with the lights, then use the mediums and darks for the borders.

Rotary Cutting

2009-02-18T22:41:00.002-06:00

I hope to have pics to post tomorrow but I AM rotary cutting for the I Spy quilt. It's a
"slow go" but I'm getting those little 3 1/2 inch squares cut. They're tedious to cut because of trying to center the motif. Also, I'm slowly working on my two "secret" projects :)

A Couple of Creations!

2009-02-14T22:12:00.003-06:00

I think I feel like I haven't been creating anything because I am working on two "secret" projects that are gifts and cannot post them until the recepients receive them. But I finally did some sewing today that I can post and they were so much fun to do. These little burp pads will be a gift, too, but the recepient does not see my blog. I love the baby blue and chocolate brown together and how the pattern shows the little dog wagging his tail. Tomorrow I will be back on my "secret" projects!

Paige-isms

2009-02-08T16:34:00.003-06:00

Thought all you "fabricholics" would enjoy this!! Last week, Paige and I were shopping for fabric for her I Spy quilt and she saw something she really liked. Since she was in a shopping cart, she asked if she could go "pet" it! ha! I told her yes, that was what I do with my fabrics most of the time - look at them and pet them! Another lady in the same aisle overheard our conversation and I could hear her giggling. I guess we're kindred spirits!

Toys, Toys, Toys!!!

2009-02-06T19:36:00.005-06:00

My productivity is badly suffering in the creating department. All I'm doing is dreaming, collecting, and buying, it seems. I'm getting my energy level back up from being sick with so many things for so long. I had a dental appointment today, went shopping afterwards, and just couldn't live without this book! I really have got to stop this and start creating with what I have. But aren't these the cutest little animals to crochet?!? Crocheting is so portable and these little creatures require so little yarn and should work up quickly. I have so much yarn on-hand, too. There's just nothing like starting a new project! It just thrills me to no end!

Also, I am still collecting the fabrics for the I Spy quilt. I found a little place that is going out of business and had Moda, Robert Kaufman, etc. (nice) fabrics 50% off. I get anywhere from 1/16 yd. to 1/4 yd. for this quilt, depending on the size of the design I will use and I spent $20 (including tax!) and got 20 pieces of fabric to use. I will have plenty leftover for other I Spy quilts because the designs run a 45 inch width and I am using a design only one time. Some of the fabrics have many designs I can use but they do repeat across this 45 inch width. I know, I know - I sound like I am trying so much to justify spending money in this economic crunch!
I do have a free weekend (unless something pops up) and I DO plan to get busy and go to work and hope to have some actual results to post on here!

Decision Made

2009-02-01T23:02:00.003-06:00

Have decided to make a doll quilt so I can hopefully make it quickly and practice my machine quilting and other skills since I'm fairly new to quilting. A couple of blogging friends have offered to send conversation prints to me from their collection and I am so happy with your generosity! Thank you so much. If anyone else is interested in contributing fabric to this community doll quilt, please let me know and we can get addresses, etc. This IS going to be fun! Maybe I can start cutting tomorrow. Have been on a babysitting marathon lately because of my daughter/husband going on a cruise vacation. We had fun keeping her though. NOTE: This is the very first post that I've used my spellcheck and there were no mistakes! ha!

A New Quilting Project!

2009-01-31T13:37:00.007-06:00

Remember this? My favorite quilt pattern of the quilting calendar giveaway? Well, I have started shopping for fabrics to make this quilt. The "hunt" is very much fun because I am looking for specific kinds of fabric that have pictures of recognizable objects, people, things that a child can play "I Spy" by finding these on the quilt. I originally wanted to make the quilt which is a finished size of 48 x 48 inches. Now I have decided to either make an "I Spy" big floor pillow or a doll quilt because I have only made about a half dozen or so quilts and they have all been baby quilts. I've never finished a big quilt although 48 x 48 is not really that big. My purpose in doing this is to practice all the skills of quilting but especially the machine quilting.

Here are some of the fabrics I found this week. I found out that some stores will cut as little as 1/16 yd. for you so some of these pieces are 1/16 yd, some 1/8, and some 1/4 yd. I will still have fabric leftover so I can save those for a bigger quilt. I think this quilt would be a great birthday gift for a child. This is not intended to be a "pretty" quilt and you don't have to worry about color coordinating and all that "stuff". You just need certain size squares and sort your fabrics by light, medium, and dark. I guess you really don't need to do that if you didn't want and could just put it together in a random manner. But I am going to try to make my center square with lights and my outer border with mediums and darks. Can you see the possibilities in the top photo? A spider, butterfly, dragonfly, ladybug, the Sesame Street characters of Baby Big Bird, Elmo, Oscar the Grouch, a frog, carrots, you get my drift! These colors will fall into my darks.

Here is an example of my mediums with the Pooh characters. The designer of the quilt calls for cutting 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 inch squares sewn to a 3 inch square but says you can use any size square or rectangle as long as it's divisible by 3. With these I could cut a 6 1/2 x 6 1/2 inch rectangle or a 9 1/2 x 9 1/2 inch square since I would need more room to get the entire design in.

Here is one for my lights group with all kinds of animals and other things - giraffes, zebras, lions, a moon, palm tree on a polka dot border. But I will use each fabric character or object only once in the quilt.

Here are some possibilities to put either in the medium or light category. I love the little Hello Kitty, heart, baby block, duck, Care Bears and a little dog that looks a lot like Snoopy. Paige helped me choose these so that will make the little doll quilt or TV pillow special to her. She will remember helping me "buy" these. I think I only spent between $4 to $5 on all this fabric. I only bought fabric on sale racks. My next step is to look through all my fabrics I have here at home (including my charm packs), then plan how big I want the pillow or doll quilt to be and begin making my measurements and the plan before I start cutting. I don't have to use 3 inch blocks. I could use 2 inch block but make all my rectangles or bigger squares divisible by 2. So I have some planning to do first. After I finish the first one, I can group all these fabrics in one container for future quilts and go right to it. But I have to admit, the fabric shopping is the most fun!!!

Paige-isms

2009-01-29T21:18:00.003-06:00

One night this week, Paige's daddy came to pick her up while she was eating pizza and watching The Backyardigans. A few minutes after he'd been here, her Paw Paw changed the channel on TV to watch the local news. She looked at me and said that she wanted to watch a movie. I told her that we would watch one later but right now her Paw Paw, Daddy, and I wanted to watch the news. She said, "but that's for boys!" ha!
I can remember when I was a child wondering what my parents thought was so fascinating about the news and how boring it was to me. Oh, to have the "not a care in the world" feelings of a child again. . . *sigh*

Finally, a Post Here!

2009-01-26T17:37:00.022-06:00

You may say, ok, you silly woman - why are you going to so much trouble to do this? I am going to show you how I make a double matt in a picture frame just using stock card. Yes, it is easy. Maybe I just wanted to do something besides read, lie in the bed or on the couch, watch TV, read other blogs, check email - get the picture? I had fun just playing with paper and my camera, and, yes, I used a rotary cutter on paper. So the photo above shows all my supplies. (Did I mention this is good practice for doing a tutorial later? A friend wants me to do one on making a pillowcase dress but I just wasn't in the mood to sew today.)

Also, I can't believe I haven't posted anything here in almost a week! So first of all, I looked through my 12 x 12 papers and narrowed it down to these four - a blue pattern, a green with huge polka dot pattern, and two solids, a hot pink and a blue.

I eliminated the green immediately for two reasons - the walls in her playroom (where I am going to hang these photos) are green and that's just too much green and the polka dots were so big they just wouldn't show up in the inside "matt". Now I've got the patterned blue, the solid blue and the solid hot pink. The photos were taken of little "pooh bear" last year at a new shopping mall in the northern part of our state where I went with her and her mommy to meet her aunt for a weekend of shopping, eating out and just being together - just a girls' weekend. She was about 18 months old.

This is really a "back burner" project so I feel good that I got it done today. I printed these 4 x 6 photos with the purpose of hanging them in a frame such as this. So I place the frame over the three different papers to try to help me decide which paper to use.

I decide to use the hot pink because it makes the photos "pop". There's already so much blue in her dress in the photos and the blue mod print just doesn't show up that much. So now I measure and decide how I'm going to cut the pink because I only have one 12 x 12 sheet. The openings are for 5 x 7 photos and I have 4 x 6 photos so I am going to cute three 5 x 7 pieces of the hot pink cardstock.

Here I am drawing the pieces to cut.

I heard that scrapbooking enthusiasts are using rotary cutters now so I got out my quilting rotary cutter and tried it for the first time on paper. It works great. I have seen different blades in the stores for this purpose in wavy patterns, etc. I always wondered why you would get a wavy blade and now I know that you can use them on paper as well as fabric. So here I have cut my three 5 x 7 pieces out of the 12 x 12 sheet.

Then I use the photo stickers and place them on the back side of the three pieces of hot pink cardstock. Another reason to post this was for the purpose of practicing using my camera in a manual mode. I changed my F stop and shutter speed in almost every photo because in some, I wanted shallow depth of field and some I wanted deep depth of field. This was good practice.

Here I just turned them over and placed them directly on the paper with photos that came in the frame.

Now I place the triple 5 x 7 matt on top of my pink cardstock to make sure all areas are covered and only pink paper is showing - just checking :)

Now I am just directly placing (temporarily) the photos on top of the pink cardstock to see what arrangement of the photos I like the best before I permanent affix them. I like this arrangement the best. I really would have liked the photo on the left for the middle but she is looking to the right and I would have needed to place a photo in the left hand side looking to the left which would mean it would look off-balance with her looking left picking the flowers or looking left standing. So I chose the outside photos to be looking toward the center and put the "picking flowers" (which is a really different photo) in the middle. I hope all this makes sense. It just all felt right to me and I liked it.

Now I permanently affix the photos in the arrangement I like directly on top of the cardstock, place that part into the frame and place the white matt on top. I also cleaned and dusted everything and made sure the Windex was dry ( I sprayed the Windex on the cloth, not on the glass ).

With everything in the frame, now it is turned over to the back ready for the chipboard back to be put in place.

The chipboard backing is put back in place and locked.

Now I turn it over to make sure everything looks even and see if any adjustments need to be made.

Then I go hang it on the wall. I just "eyeballed" it, used a medium-sized nail with a big head and could not find the hammer so used a shoe! I like it. The green color of the wall is a little brighter than the photo, there are ice pink sheers over plantation shutters in the room, and the area rug in the middle is the same color as the hot pink cardstock. Furniture is white. I'll take a photo of the entire room when it's cleaned up! This is the same room that had the beanie baby Christmas tree with pink fabric and pink tulle for the Christmas tree skirt.

I'm happy to have finished something on the "back burner" for almost a year and felt like at least part of my day was useful and a little crafty! (The frame, including the matt, I think I got at CVS. I watch when they put their frames on sale - buy one regular price and get the second 50% off.) I think they have cute frames. NOTE: I think the reason I got such cute little poses from her is because I used a telephoto lens, sat on a bench and she thought I was just watching her play. She didn't know I was photographing her. The telephoto lens is supposedly good for portraits, less distortion.

Thirteen Quilts

2009-01-20T21:18:00.019-06:00

Here are the thirteen quilts. One is out of order but that really doesn't matter. This one is called Holiday House Wall Quilt - is quick and easy. The book it came from also has tree skirts, table runners and more.

A Path Less Traveled is made with fat quarters.

Harlequin Carnival Quilt uses fat quarters and this particular one uses Mardis Gras colors.

A log cabin that says the designer shows her freehand, no-mark and no-stress techniques.

This one was my favorite, I Spy Squares Quilt, which the designer says you can never appreciate an I Spy quilt until you've seen a child play with one. Over 100 different fabrics were used for this one. Children discover and rediscover hidden pictures.

Sunflowers of Provence is an interpretation by the designer.

A Scrappy Nine Patch Quilt shows quilters basic skills needed to succeed at machine quilting and uses vintage fabrics.

I Spy Hearts Quilt - another I Spy quilt for children using heart shapes.

Butterfly Garden Quilt uses hand-dyed fabrics for the background and features decorative stitching and beads.

This was my second favorite, the Floral Fiesta Quilt, simply because it is easy to piece and is a good quilt to ease into machine quilting.

Bloomin' Hearts Quilt uses fusible applique.

Solar Twist Quilt supposedly teaches you to learn to hear what your quilt top is saying as far as how you quilt it.

This was the "extra" quilt pattern on the inside of the cover called Frosty Friends quilt. It is another fusible applique and uses a lot of buttons for details.

Remember you can click on the photo for a close-up look. Hope you enjoyed this tour of the thirteen quilts. And you might want to get your own calendar.

Would Love to Hear From You

2009-01-19T10:44:00.005-06:00

This is me. I've seen this done on a few blogs (in different ways) and I thought it would be fun to do this. I am going to list 16 facts about myself that I think others may not know but the purpose in doing this is NOT to tell you things about me as it is to read about you, dear blogger! So after reading, please comment and give me your list of 16 facts about YOU that I might be interested in learning. Also, you might be interested in doing this on your blog.
1. I play the piano.
2. I used to teach elementary school.
3. When I was in high school, one of my biggest dreams was to be a cheerleader and it never came true.
4. I wanted to become either a professional baseball player or a concert pianist when I was a child.
5. I used to hate having animals in the house. Now I have 1 dog and 3 cats.
6. My husband and I announced to our parents early in our marriage that we did not want to have children. I have two wonderful daughters that I would not trade for the world!
7. When I was in college, I desperately wanted to sing in a band.
8. I can get lost anywhere. I have no sense of direction.
9. I hate to cook.
10. I hate to do housework.
11. I have never read the entire Bible and I want to do that before I die.
12. I am an "underdog" kind of person.
13. I dearly love to be alone.
14. I truly believe I have a keener sense of "tension in the air" than others. (I don't really know another way of stating this. It is really difficult to describe. I hope you understand what I mean.)
15. I am a mother of two "girls" and have one granddaughter so I truly do not understand boys or men.
16. I hate to exercise and go on diets. The only exercise I enjoy is riding my bike.

The Quilt Calendar

2009-01-18T17:58:00.002-06:00

MamaB got her calendar and loved it :) She suggested I put photos of each quilt from the calendar on my blog so I will photograph tomorrow outside (they look so much better photographed outside in natural light ( I'm becoming a BIG fan of natural light!) and will post them tomorrow. I think the quilt lovers WILL enjoy seeing the different quilts. You might want to make a trip to BAM (or wherever) and get you a copy of the calendar. I think it's a great deal.

And the WINNER IS . . .

2009-01-14T20:55:00.003-06:00

Today was the deadline on the quilt calendar giveaway. It was a little strange what happened. I checked and double-checked and I had 6 people guessing and told everyone they could have as many as 3 guesses. Not everybody took 3 guesses. We had 13 quilts to guess from and three people guessed the same quilt so there were still two quilts left that had not been guessed. They were Frosty Friends and I Spy Squares. (Someone DID guess I Spy Hearts) My favorite was I Spy Squares because the notes inside the calendar describing this quilt (it's the month of September, by the way) say that you can't truly appreciate an "I Spy" quilt until you've seen a child play with one. A child discovers and rediscovers the hidden pictures. This version is supposed to be fast and fun to make, with scraps from over 100 different fabrics!
Anyway - since no one guessed it, my husband drew a name out of my cupped hand :) and the winner is: MamaB!!!!! Congratulations! I will get the calendar to you pronto! I think you will really enjoy it! Thanks everybody. This was more fun for me, I think, than for anyone.

ANOTHER ONE??? You Say!

2009-01-14T07:28:00.002-06:00

I know. I know. I'm addicted to blogging. It's ridiculous but I have yet another blog. If you're interested or curious or both, go here and check it out!

Better Photos, Better Explanation

2009-01-13T22:11:00.007-06:00

I had a beautiful day of sunshine today and was able to photograph outside without freezing to death! I think these photos are much better. This is the cute vintage-style pattern.

This is the fabric I'm using to make the dress for a little girl who lives near Chicago.
I love the kitties!

Here's the fabric with the little snails that I want to do for Paige and I've begun to cut it out with the rotary cutter!

I hope these two photos show how you cut out a child's dress with the rotary cutter. It's really different. You fold the fabric and use a quilter's ruler to angle the fold on the right side. Then you use the pattern at the top to just cut off the un-needed fabric and also there's a little pattern piece to cut off un-needed fabric at the bottom (not shown) to curve the bottom of the skirt. So instead of placing a tissue pattern on top of a fold of fabric, you just have one pattern piece to use and cut away unwanted fabric to shape your front and back. I hope I have explained this so you understand.

Here is the front of the dress done the same way. The other pattern pieces for the top and bottom trim I'll do with the chocolate brown solid cotton and will just be cut out as you would a regular pattern.

Another Paige-ism

2009-01-13T09:16:00.002-06:00

I hope I get this one right as far as the details go because this one her mommy told me over the phone. But if I don't, the basic premise is right. Mommy said that she was at home with Paige on an off-day. Mommy is a nurse and Daddy is a cattle farmer. Paige got two tutus for Christmas. She put on her tutu and her boots (I think). She has some cute little green frog boots. I don't think she put on any other clothing. Then she said, "OK mommy, I'm ready to go to work. I'm ready to feed the cows". ha! Can't you see her feeding the cows in a tutu and green frog boots?!?

Thinking About Spring Sewing

2009-01-12T23:10:00.006-06:00

Isn't this the cutest little dress pattern for spring and summer? I ordered it from that *darn* kat on Etsy and have already chosen fabrics to sew up two dresses.

It's late and I tried my best to get a close-up of the fabric on this one because the little snails are SO cute! This will be the main body of the dress and the top and bottom trims will be in a chocolate brown.

Here are the two fabrics together but as I said, it's late, and I didn't get a very good shot of them but I have started cutting it out. It's cut out with a rotary cutter. I've never cut a little girl's dress with a rotary cutter but I like it. It's different. I'll keep you posted on the progress although I'm trying to plan a SECRET 60th birthday party for my hubby this weekend and will probably not get to the sewing machine until that is done! I'll post a photo of the fabric for the second dress I'm making from this pattern tomorrow. I'm making it as a gift for a little girl who lives close to Chicago.
(I'm sorry but I think these are the worst photos I've ever taken! ha!)

Keep Guessing!

2009-01-11T20:35:00.002-06:00

I've decided to set a deadline for guesses on this quilt pattern because I really want someone to receive this before the month is over! lol Please forgive me - I've never done a giveaway before and it may seem haphazard to everyone. If those of you who have either never guessed at all would like to make your guesses (up to 3 guesses) and the others who haven't guessed 3 times would like to finish yours all by Wednesday, the 14th of this month, then if no one has guessed, I will just draw a name out the hat and announce the winner and send it on. Does all this make sense? I hope so! Just keep guessing!

Second Guesses

2009-01-10T18:03:00.003-06:00

No one has guessed my favorite quilt on the first guess yet. audreypawdrey asked about second guesses. If you would like to give it a second try, give me a second guess, and even a third one. I'd like to mail it out to someone early next week so I'll wait until I get second and third guesses and if no one has hit it yet, I'll just draw a name out of the hat! I do think a quilter would enjoy this calendar and it's a shame to have two sitting around here when I can only use one and someone else would enjoy the second one.

Making Organizing Fun!

2009-01-09T19:41:00.006-06:00

GOING FROM THIS

TO THIS

is my goal in my sewing room. During the Christmas season, I looked in all the dollar stores, Wal-Mart, Big Lots, Target for these wonderful acrylic containers and I finally came across them in Michael's and they were 40% off! I was so excited! Paige and I played in ribbon today while her mommy monogrammed and we had so much fun. Now I hope to organize my ribbon, trims and buttons for the New Year. I think it will make my sewing go much faster to be better organized. I seem to spend half my time looking for things. Does anyone else have this problem?!?

Giveaway!

2009-01-08T12:35:00.003-06:00

Do any of you buy yourself something when you're Christmas shopping? I seem to do that every year and this Quilts calendar is the item I bought myself this year. I needed a new calendar and when I was looking in BAM, I came across this one that has instructions and patterns for 13 quilts so I thought it was quite a bargain. Well, guess what? My oldest, Erin, also gave me this same calendar as one of my Christmas gifts from her! I see all these bloggers having "giveaways" so I thought that's what I would do with my extra calendar. This is how it works for all you quilt lovers out there. I will list the name of each of the 13 quilts and if you can guess which is my favorite, the calendar is yours! If there's a tie, I will just draw names. How about that? So here is the list of the 13 quilt instructions and patterns:
1. Frosty Friends Quilt
2. Solar Twist Quilt
3. Bloomin Hearts Quilt
4. A Path Less Traveled Quilt
5. Floral Fiesta Quilt
6. Butterfly Garden Quilt
7. I Spy Hearts Quilt
8. Scrappy Nine Patch Quilt
9. Sunflowers of Provence Quilt
10. I Spy Squares Quilt
11. Tahoe Retreat Quilt
12. Harlequin Carnival Quilt
13. Holiday House Wall Quilt

HOPE TO HEAR FROM YOU!!

A New Paige-ism

2009-01-07T18:04:00.003-06:00

"Paw Paw" thought it would be cute to teach Paige a new term, "No Way Jose" and lately, she's been using it a lot. When she's in a joking mood and you ask her if she wants something or wants to do something, she'll say "No Way Who-Say"! ha!

The Second New Blog

2009-01-01T20:23:00.004-06:00

For those interested, please go to http://asourceofwonder.blogspot.com/ to follow my second new blog. I think this blogging thing is an addiction! But hopefully, it will be my motivator, too, for this new year to accomplish some things I've always wanted to accomplish. Time is getting short!

New Blogs

2008-12-29T22:33:00.002-06:00

I have decided to start two new blogs for 2009 if any of you are interested at taking a peek. I've only started the set-up on one http://Exposure2009.blogspot.com. Please have a look! I plan to begin January 1, 2009. I have an idea for the second one but haven't come up with a title yet.

Our 37th Anniversary

2008-12-26T21:36:00.002-06:00

Today is our 37th wedding anniversary and we celebrated by going out to eat and to a movie. We went to see Marley and Me and it just made me want to come home and love, love, love my little doggie, Farley. I wanted to post a photo of him, too. He is a sweet little dog. My husband and I just couldn't wait to get home to him tonight after seeing the movie :)

LINKING

2008-12-17T22:47:00.010-06:00

Hey guys! I'm practicing learning how to do links. So here's a cool website I've found. Let's see if this works. Go to http://elfontheshelf.com/ and check it out. (I think I did it!) Yay! I'm learning and all of you are so sweet to encourage me. I'm doing it on my own by trial and error!

A PHOTO CHALLENGE

2008-12-16T23:01:00.004-06:00

I was tagged by audreypawdrey.blogspot.com for a Photo Challenge which sounds like a lot of fun. I was instructed to go to my fourth folder in my pictures and to the fourth photo, post it with a description of the photo. I went to my fourth folder and it had only two photos so I decided to go on to the fifth folder and go to the second photo. Does that make sense and sound fair?!? ha! The photo is of my 2 yr. old granddaughter (did you expect anything else? ha!). She is posing for a photo outside her Mothers' Day Out after their Thanksgiving Feast. Her mother made her cute little dress and they did some Thanksgiving carroling that day which was a very new and creative concept to me. Her mother and I were invited to the party and a good time was had by all! Now I pass on this challenge to four fellow bloggers who are to pass theirs on to four more bloggers.

I pass this challenge to:

Mercy kemevans.blogspot.com

Cotton chaseleannesavannahcrews.blogspot.com

justhereformysister jipssy.blogspot.com

celebrateCREATIVITYinallitsforms lisatutmanoglesby.typepad.com

Have fun and I can't wait to see your photos. I'll be checking in :)

Happy Anniversary!

2008-12-15T15:58:00.002-06:00

Today is my youngest daughter, Emily's, and husband, Garrett's 7th anniversary. Happy Anniversary you two! I love you!

Quotations to Stir Heart and Mind

2008-12-15T15:41:00.002-06:00

"The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time." - James Taylor
(Been listening to a lot of James Taylor lately!)

Making Our Own Snow!!

2008-12-15T15:01:00.007-06:00

OK, this grandmother had a great idea for a "photo shoot" for a Christmas card.

We've got the cute little girl, the cute little Christmas coat, the cute little silver star basket and some "fake" snow. Good, right?

Now, let's take some snow and sprinkle it above your head and let it fall down while you're looking up and we'll title this card "Scatter Joy"!

Oh, heck, let's just dump the entire basket. That's a lot more fun!

But look what cute pictures we got and what fun we had and what great memories! We made our own snow on a cold, rainy day and had a great time!

Christmas Time's A'Comin! - THE TREES!!

2008-12-15T14:07:00.011-06:00

First came the Gingerbread Tree in the kitchen. It was easy because when I put it away last year, I put it away like a "kit" so I just got out my "kit" and voila, a gingerbread tree!

This is a cute little fiber-optic gingerbread house I found a couple of years ago that I thought Paige would like - good excuse to buy, huh? It sits underneath the gingerbread tree every year on a table that belonged to my favorite uncle. This table and a December 7, 1941 Birmingham (AL) News newspaper with headlines about the Pearl Harbor bombing are the two belongings of his I inherited so this table reminds me of him every Christmas. He was quite a character and this table looks like he just glued two tables together, one on top of the other. When I got them, they were painted pink! ha!

Next up was the Auburn tree which I would put in my husband's office every year for him until he retired so it's now in our bedroom. Even though Auburn had a tough year this year and last year, we still love dear old Auburn so much. I usually try to find a new ornament each year for this tree but haven't shopped for that yet this year. WAR EAGLE!!

Here's a close-up of one of the Auburn ornaments, a cute little birdhouse in dear old orange and blue.

This is the main tree which took a while to get situated. We moved it around quite a bit but finally decided to put it between the foyer and the dining room so the train could go around the tree and be visible from all angles. I have discovered that photographing a Christmas tree is not an easy task. I read up on it but it was an old article describing how to do it with film and really didn't take the time to research photographing a tree with a digital camera so just said "to heck with it" and took a photo! This year we have a Beanie Baby tree for Paige. Remember those? We had a Beanie Baby tree for our girls when they were at home one year during that craze and they loved it. Just colored lights and Beanie Babies and that's it. Paige likes it and especially the ones with "Mommy and Baby"

Then I finally got up a cute little pink and white tree in Paige's playroom. This is a close-up of the classic Pooh. I just love the classic Pooh characters and had some of them to put on this tree along with a lot of pink, white and black Beanie Babies.

And here is the tree with a pink tulle "tutu" tree skirt! ha! I could not photograph the entire room because we had a little visitor, a mouse, that the cat brought into her room and we have just recently captured him. If You Give A Mouse A Cookie?!?
Hope you have enjoyed my "tour of our trees"!

Exciting News!!!

2008-12-03T06:35:00.003-06:00

I think I mentioned earlier here that I lost a camera card a few months ago. It was a 2 GB card and I knew I had photos of my granddaughter's 1st and 2nd birthdays, my mother's 80th birthday, Easter and just a lot of photos that were precious to me. I dropped the card between the console and the passenger seat. My husband and I searched and searched. We even vacuumed that area and surrounding areas with a new vacuum bag, tore open the bag and still - no card. So I had the idea of taking my vehicle to a body shop, let them take the passenger seat out and see if the card was under there somewhere. My husband took it to the body shop for me on Monday (this week) and voila, it was there! I cannot tell you how happy this made me and it was so much fun looking over the 459 images (!) that were on that card. So here's one I wanted to share. These are flannel baby blankets that I hemstitched on my machine, appliqued the cute little giraffes, and then crocheted the edging for a baby gift for twin boys. They are in Jackson, MS, now so I could not photograph them again. They're so soft and cuddly and I just love the cute little giraffes. Hope you enjoy baby things. I love them.

Quotations to Stir Heart and Mind

2008-11-30T23:08:00.007-06:00

Here is my oldest daughter and her husband, both graduates of Auburn University, dressed and ready to go to a game and posing first with their niece.

Here is my youngest daughter and her husband, both graduates of Auburn University also, with their daughter at a game.

So my husband and myself make SIX graduates of Auburn University. We still all love "dear old Auburn". There's just no place like it.

A QUOTE TO SUIT THE FOOTBALL SEASON!
I found this quote tonight while looking around on the web and thought it suits the season, especially for women.

"Our lives really do parallel the game of football - women spend more time "rushing" than any running back in the NFL." - Nicole Johnson

Too Much Celebrating!

2008-11-29T19:05:00.002-06:00

As I was putting yet another dirty kitchen towel into the washing machine in the evening on Thanksgiving Day, this is the surprise I found. Rudi, one of our cats, had enough of this celebrating and hid himself away in the laundry room!

Turkey Cookies

2008-11-27T17:41:00.004-06:00

These are turkey cookies that my granddaughter and her mommy made for Thanksgiving today. Aren't they cute?

The turkey's head, is a chocolate-covered almond. His eyes and nose are made from a tube of white cake icing. Arrange the Oreo cookies as seen and the feathers are jelly beans. The one above was made by Paige along with three others "all by me-self"!

TA-DA! A masterpiece for Thanksgiving!

Quotations to Stir the Heart and Mind

2008-11-26T13:05:00.002-06:00

IN HONOR OF THANKSGIVING

Keep the light on, the door open, an extra log on the hearth, an extra potato in the soup. For never do we have so much as when we're sharing. - Anonymous

Happy Thanksgiving to All!

2008-11-26T12:33:00.004-06:00

This day I wish all of you who come here a blessed and happy Thanksgiving tomorrow. I love Thanksgiving. When my girls were younger, I used to tell them that I felt "sorry" for Thanksgiving because it seems to be overlooked or skipped, at least in the retail world. We seem to just go from Halloween to Christmas. This is our table set and ready for those in our family who can be here to join us, although I have to tell you we will be eating on pretty paper plates! The furniture belonged to my husband's grandmother and grandfather and is very old. We love it and have enjoyed it for almost all our married life - 37 years this December!

My decorations are old but I still love them.

I love the candlelight and the colors of autumn.

I love the different shapes of the pumpkins and have always been a fan of Mary Engelbreit.

This is a needleroll that I cross stitched back in 2001. I have patterns for all the seasons and would like to cross stitch the other three one day and make those needlerolls.

My granddaughter loves these little figurines placed here and there and I let her play with them.

Even little things are on the refrigerator. Thanksgiving magnets are difficult to find.

Quotations to Stir Heart and Mind

2008-11-25T21:09:00.002-06:00

This one suits me to a T!

I was trying to daydream, but my mind kept wandering. - Steven Wright

A New Outfit for Paige

2008-11-25T20:50:00.004-06:00

Today was a babysitting day for me but she was an angel and let me sew in spurts. I made the pants today that go with the top/dress. The top is so long that it could be worn as a short dress or as a long top with pants as shown. This is a Children's Corner pattern called Abbie. Although I didn't do any embroidery or applique, it took some time because of piping, collars, lining and a very different styling in the top.

I love the colors and the paisley print. And I think it has an oriental flavor to the styling. The top was a little bit of a challenge for me but I'm glad I did it and learned something new. I love to sew for my little angel!

Another Old Quilt Project

2008-11-24T20:18:00.017-06:00

This is another old quilt project I started years ago in a class with a friend. This is so old, I can't even find instructions or a pattern but I think I can finish it from observing what I've done thus far. My mother calls this a string quilt. The squares above are squares of muslin. After the squares and strips are cut, you draw lines with a pencil onto the muslin the same distance from the point (zoom in to see close-up) and sew the strips onto the muslin, beginning with sewing the first strip on each side at the pencil line, right sides together. You can use any dimensions or measurements for the squares and strips that you want depending on the size you want your finished quilt square (and quilt) to be when finished.

This first strip is turned to the right side and pressed. Then the next strip is sewn, right sides together and raw edges together to this strip and continue until it looks like the photo below.

Here are four square units ready to be sewn together into a block.

This is a close-up of one unit finished after strip piecing.

I took my four units and put them together in this order for my block. There are so many possibilities in designing your quilt block with these units as you'll see below. It all depends on the direction you sew your units together to get a different look. This is the only geometry I like!

See the three other possibilities of designing your quilt square? I've only sewn one together and now I need to decide which design I like the most or do I mix it up? I definitely want to update it by adding pink, pink, pink to the browns and blacks. So many projects, so little time :) NOTE: This was NOT intended to be a tutorial! Just a description (and not a very good one - I"m sorry!) of how I started and plan to finish this quilt. I will probably add the pinks in the borders, binding, etc. Sometimes I just fly by the seat of my pants!

Quotations to Stir Heart and Mind

2008-11-24T06:28:00.002-06:00

I know all of you are probably familiar with this one but it's one of my favorites and thought this would be a good quote to start the day.

When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life in such a way so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice. - Indian Proverb

Quotations to Stir Heart and Mind

2008-11-23T17:01:00.004-06:00

One of my favorite things to do from time to time is to collect quotations. I think a blog is a wonderful place to keep them. Hope you enjoy this one.

We mostly spend [our] lives conjugating three verbs: to Want, to Have, and to Do . . . forgetting that none of these verbs have any ultimate significance, except so far as they are transcended by and included in the fundamental verb, to Be. - Evelyn Underhill, The Spiritual Life

A Beautiful Sunday Outing

2008-11-23T16:50:00.005-06:00

My husband and I went to the 70th birthday celebration of a friend from church this afternoon.

The weather was wonderful and the leaves were just beautiful.

Just wanted to share some of the beauty of the historic area of our city.

Quotations to Stir Heart and Mind

2008-11-23T00:05:00.006-06:00

It's been a very good day except for spending SO many hours fooling around with iTunes. I do wish I understood computers better! But to end the day, I wanted to leave you with a quote I found. I have been inspired by so many of you as I have spent hours just looking at your work shared through your blogs. Your sewing, quilting, cooking, reading, tutorials, writing about your lives, and the beautiful photography! Thank you for enriching my days.

We are, in truth, more than half what we are by imitation. The great point is to choose good models and to study them with care. - Lord Chesterfield, Lord Chesterfield's Worldly Wisdom

My Adorable Little Creatures

2008-11-22T09:56:00.008-06:00

These are some adorable little creatures I have on a disc and can applique with my fairly new sewing machine. At first I was so scared to try doing this kind of thing because I thought I was incapable. But I just kept plugging along trying to sync my sewing machine with this thing called a computer and figured it out at least this far! LOL There are 20 little creatures on the disc and I stitched the ones above just for practice and to watch what order they stitch and make notes. Then one day I was at my sewing shop and a CUSTOMER, not the owners, told me there was a feature in my software called Slow Redraw and it's wonderful. Now I can just pull up the design on the computer and click on Slow Redraw and watch it stitch on the computer and make notes. This works especially well if the designs don't have a text you can print with directions. For these practice pieces, I've decided to save them and go ahead and applique the others on white and make a little quilt with them. I used as few colors on each one as possible so I wouldn't have to keep changing the thread so they do look kind of monotone. The possibilities with using these designs are just endless. Look below for individual photos of each design.

I love the little cat and so does my granddaughter. I already have plans for my first use of this design. I have hemstitched a bright pink and white polka dot flannel blanket and am crocheting a white edging around it now. There are four rows of edging and I'm on the last row. Then I'll applique little kitty in the corner in bright pink and the blanket will be done. I was going to save it for a baby gift but my granddaughter watches me work on it and says, "that's mine!" ha! You know who will get it, don't you?

Mr. Bunny will probably have to wait until Spring and Easter although he would work well any time of the year for some sort of baby gift or children's clothing.

This little fellow I've seen on a burp cloth and it is so adorable. I'd love to do one of those. It's quite a large burp cloth and it's hemstitched around the edges and then crocheted with bedspread-weight yarn just like the baby blankets.

This little octopus is definitely headed for a hooded towel or just a towel or bath mitt or something for the bath.

And, lastly, this cute little zebra has lots of possibilities! I just love them all. I love whimsical things and tiny things and baby things.

After I got comfortable doing the applique, I used this little giraffe on two flannel receiving blankets with the hemstitching and crocheted edging. They looked just like the little fellow above and traveled to Jackson, MS, to twin boys, the first and only great grandchildren of an angel of a lady in my church. I took photos of the blankets but don't have them to publish here (yet - see note below!). This was my practice piece which I did on the white flannel instead of the white broadcloth as all the other designs above, and, not wanting to "waste" anything, I decided to make a bib with this practice piece. I squeezed the biggest bib I could out of it and crocheted around it. If I made it fasten as it is, it would probably only fit a doll or teddy bear's neck so I'm looking for ideas so that a baby could use it. Or it could go on a doll or teddy bear! Some people have suggested ribbon and I may do that. I could put little buttonholes on the two ends and run the ribbon through knot it on the front and the other end and it could be tied at the back. Any ideas from anyone?
I hope you have enjoyed meeting my little creatures and there will be more to come as I use them in projects. Ideas are churning around in my head.
***NOTE: Lately I have had a terrible time with losing things. One day about a month ago, my husband and I were in my vehicle going somewhere and I had my camera card with me and had used it (out of the camera). I was trying to put it back in the camera and dropped it between the console and the passenger seat in the front of the vehicle. I SAW it drop! This was a 2 GB card. There's no guessing as to how many photos were on that card! We have done everything trying to retrieve (or even see) that card. We have even put a new bag in our vacuum cleaner and vacuumed that area and all around and then tore the bag open and - no card! We have looked and looked and looked. I am tempted to go to my dealership and ask them to take the seat OUT to see if we can retrieve that card. I hate to lose all those photos!

My Very First Quilt

2008-11-21T22:20:00.005-06:00

This is the pattern for the very first quilt I stitched. I am thinking "out loud" now. I started this quilt when my children were in elementary school so that was probably about 20 years ago! I would sit by the pool and anchor everything down so the wind wouldn't carry it off and I hand-pieced the entire quilt while I watched them swim.

Here is a photo of the quilt "sandwiched" and ready to be quilted. At first I was going to hand stitch the quilt since I had hand-pieced it but now I have decided to machine quilt it. I did sew the borders on by machine. My machine does have a feature that makes the stitching look hand quilted and that will be fun to use that. I've begun stitching it and am going to rip it all out and start over. In fact, I almost decided to "ditch" the entire quilt because my tastes in quilt styles have changed so much in 20 years. But I decided to finish it. I'm too sentimental about remembering what was going on in my life to do that and have decided to finish it. It will remind me of that happy time in my life when my children were so young and I enjoyed watching them play.

Here is a close-up of the stitching. You can see the little french knots for the angels' hair and their little round mouths hand-stitched as they are singing :) It's really an old fashioned pattern (or vintage as the term is nowadays) and vintage is "in", right? It is a wallhanging size, a very small quilt. I've decided that it is charming and a keeper.

The Thanksgiving Feast

2008-11-20T15:32:00.011-06:00

My granddaughter had a big time today at her Mother's Day Out dancing, singing, eating and playing. The 2 yr. old class went to visit all the other classes and did some Thanksgiving "carolling" - a new concept. Parents and grandparents were invited to eat lunch with them and I went with her mother. We had a good time. Here she is dancing and enjoying herself.

Paige and her best friend, Madison.

She actually kept the bows tied on her gobble, gobble dress!

She's a hoot!! Her mother made the dress and she made the headdress!

Let Me Introduce You

2008-11-20T00:20:00.004-06:00

May I introduce you to our second cat? This is Peekie, shortened from his given name, Peek-A-Boo. The reason I named him this was because of how shy he was when I brought him home as a 4 month old kitten from our vet's office. He and his brother were looking for a home and I just fell in love with the little white fur on his nose. I remember the day I brought him into the house and put him on our bed, he hid behind our pillows - thus his name! But we call him Peekie. He is the sweetest, most laid back, laziest cat. He is so easy to take to the vet. He plays with the dog. His favorite thing is for you to pet him while he's eating. And in the winter, he is so big and fluffy, especially his beautiful fluffy tail. He only eats cat food and drinks water. He is low maintenance and only wants loving. Isnt' he precious?

A Stocking for Paige

2008-11-20T00:11:00.002-06:00

I found this stocking at Target today for Paige and I just want to personalize it. Any ideas from anyone?

Paige-isms

2008-11-19T23:36:00.004-06:00

I'm such a doting grandmother that I have to share another Paige-ism. Yesterday we saw Santa Claus on a whim - didn't plan it at all. He was just at this shopping center where we were and we went in to see him. He gave Paige a gold jingle bell necklace on a gold cord and a "Twas the Night Before Christmas" coloring book. So when we got home at lunchtime, I put her in her little booster chair to buckle in to eat and told her she could color in the coloring book that Santa gave her while I made her lunch. I gave her instructions NOT to color or mark on the countertops, only in the book. We've been through this many times and she always marks on the countertops at least a little (tee hee) but I really don't worry about it because we still have formica countertops and have never switched to the new granite tops and don't know much about cleaning the granite, etc. I was busy making her lunch and she was busy coloring. All of a sudden, I heard her say "Ta Da"! I looked over and she had created a really, really, big piece of art in blue and purple on the white countertop. At least the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser did its magic! I love it - a proud little budding artist - but don't want it on my walls or furniture! ha!

A Mammoth Project

2008-11-19T21:22:00.000-06:00

Fourteen Church Kneelers

This is a photograph of one of fourteen needlepoint church kneelers in our church. I was approached by a couple of ladies and our pastor about 7 or 8 years ago to head up a committee to make these kneelers. At the time, I was co-owner of a needlework shop and certainly had access to supplies to accomplish this. A lot of needlepoint is either printed or painted on the canvas and these painted canvases are very expensive before you even start stitching (or even buying your thread to stitch the canvas). We bought rolls of blank canvas, needles, paint, and wool thread and started from "scratch"! After our measurements were made and configurations were done as to what we needed, we determined we needed fourteen kneelers. So we cut the blank canvas, drew the designs onto the canvas with a pencil (all fourteen!) and then hand painted the canvases in the colors we needed. Then classes were held to teach those who didn't know how to needlepoint or to refresh those who did. These classes took about a year and the remaining seven years were spent actually stitching. As it turned out, we had fourteen stitchers who finished the "race"! What a coincidence! You will see initials on each kneeler. Some kneelers were completely finished by one person, some by two, some by three and some as many as four people working on the same kneeler but we got it done! It WAS a mammoth project!! It's the biggest project I've ever been involved in. They are beautiful and enhance the sanctuary. We dedicated our work and these kneelers in May of this year and it was such a celebration for all of us who worked so diligently to finish them.

Reading

2008-11-19T15:55:00.001-06:00

This is what I am currently reading and I think I am correct in saying that this is James Patterson's first non-fiction book. My husband has read every book this man has written and loves his books. He always has his name on the waiting list at the library for the next new one published and boy, oh boy, can this man "spit" out the books! My husband encouraged me to read his fiction but I just didn't enjoy it because I couldn't get through the "gore" in the beginning so I've never read one of his books. This one is different and about a family's struggle with a child who has Tourette's syndrome. I don't read as much as some of you do but I do like to keep something going.

Paige-isms

2008-11-19T07:04:00.000-06:00

As I am a fairly new grandmother of a one and only grandchild, a 2 yr. old precious little girl, right now, I am going to post what I call Paige-isms from time to time. These are just cute and funny little sayings or happenings her Paw Paw and I experience with her as we spend time with her.

Last week we were playing Christmas music on TV as we were having lunch or doing something around here with her and the song "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" was playing. Paw Paw and Paige LOVE to sing together and he was singing this new song to her. After a little bit of singing, he turned to her and said, "Paige, I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus" to which she said, "Uh Oh"! ha! Gotta love it!

Portrait of a Kitten

2008-11-19T06:35:00.001-06:00

This is a painting I did a few tears ago of one of our cats, Rudi. He really belongs to our youngest daughter but lives with us. She got him when she was in nursing school at Auburn and "nursed" him to life. He was abandoned by his mother and the vet guessed that he was about 5 days old when she got him. She bottle fed him and did other things to become his mother. This painting is done in pastels and was worked from a photograph I took of him when he was tiny, tiny, tiny. I think he is approximately 8 years old now. He did bite and scratch one of my sisters on a visit here about a year or two ago so he ended up in "jail" for 10 days at the vet's office. His personality has changed somewhat since he's been to jail! Our vet told us that a kitten that has a history like his and never had a mother cat to raise him could never be "dominated" and would always think he was not a cat, but a human, on the same "level" with us. But, really, if you think about it, have you ever known a cat that could be "dominated"?!? ha!

Do I Dare Share This?!?

2008-11-18T18:19:00.000-06:00

This is scary for me to share this. This is an unfinished painting but I'm seeing what comments I get on it. I went to Canvas 'n Corks with a group to paint a few months ago. We all painted a sunset and I hated mine. So I came home and painted over the entire canvas in brown and am trying to paint a huge painting of a grouping of three pears that I saw in the magazine art.com. I need to work on the pear in the back. The shape really doesn't look like a pear although I do like the colors in it. The painting is done in acrylics.

Beginning Christmas Crafts

2008-11-18T06:39:00.000-06:00

I embroidered and gave these kitchen towels to my mother to have for decorating this Christmas. I think they would look beautiful embroidered on some white linen with hemstitching and I plan to try that, too. The designs are so cute and trendy. I have already done all my Christmas shopping this year and now have time to craft, sew, bake, decorate and all those fun things to do at home. I have always wanted to do this and this year is the first year I've accomplished it. Yea for me!

My Latest Creations

2008-11-18T06:02:00.000-06:00

This is my granddaughter's snowman dress. I experimented with some "out of the box" color combinations but I like it and she does. I also took a hairbow class and this white hairbow is my first hairbow.

2008-11-18T05:44:00.000-06:00

This is a pillowcase dress - easy!