Like it...

or not, I have quite a bit of this fabric. Apparently, I liked it enough to buy it...twice! It all started when Sarah and I went to a little quilt shop in Pendleton. They had this fabric on the clearance table. Hmm... wonder why? ohh, I do like it. It was half-off and so I bought a few yards. I remember Sarah rolling her eyes. About 6 months later, it was still on the clearance table. Hmm... wonder why? Ahhh... I still like it. It was half-off the clearance price so I bought the rest of the bolt. Now I have a tub half full of this fabric. About 8 yards. It is a rather large print- and I think it is one of those unusual civil war reproduction fabrics. I have always been a sucker for brown and turquoise, but I don't have a clue of what to do with it- that funny green is really hard to match.

If it isn't too late to show my pincushions, I thought I'd share mine. The little crow is the one I take with me when I am appliqueing and only need a few pins- and there is a little "under-wing" to hold the needles. The chicken I made from Darcie's pattern- I admit to feeling a bit... queasily guilty, every time I stick her with a pin! (I used to rotate the dolls I slept with- to keep from hurting any of their feelings- such an emotional pushover!) I thought Finn would especially like my rocking chair pincushion. It is quite old and needs some repair work. Those pins are permanantly embedded into the "cushion." It must be sawdust- but it is hard as a rock and you can't use the pins after they have been dulled by it. I have some real vintage fabric that I'll try to get around to replacing it with a little bean bag. The little lace pillow is covering a silk pillow and the tomato is my favorite standby. The rulers- my mom got me the 6" square- I can't tell you how much easier it makes making postcards- I have made about 35 in the last couple days- getting ready for Xmas. The Kaleidoscope ruler I treated myself to- I think my mom needs one!

Retreeeeat!!!! When I was a little girl, my sister and I used to go up on the mountain behind our house and pick blackberries. It was a pretty good hike and once we were there, we would head into the brambles... if you don't know about blackberries- well, they grow on briar canes. They are really quite vicious. They recommend that you wear long-sleeved shirts so that you don't get scratched, but then the briars snag you and you can barely move. My sister went down into a particularly thick patch of blackberry canes. Deeper she went, until I couldn't see her from up on the ridge behind her. Occasionally the brush would move, and then, eventually, one quivering hand came out from the green leaves, with one finger pointed into the air, a faint cry of, "Retreeeeat!" floated up the mountain. Sometimes you got to know when to get out of a sticky situation.

Well, I hollered my own little, "Run away!" chant yesterday! I had this huge mess in the quilting room. The tables were all covered and the shelves were all disheveled. Fabric had exploded and settled on every horizontal surface. Time to retreat and regroup. The power was out all day- high winds. And so I cleaned and organized and sorted and reclaimed. Ahh... now doesn't that feel good? Well, it should, anyway. Oh you guys know me, I am not one to need a clean slate in order to muddle through. If I waited until I cleared a space, I would rarely get the opportunity to create. And when everything is so clean and neat... well, I just don't feel at home. I am conditioned to mayhem and confusion! I took it as a challenge to make something after all that cleaning. I did find 2 of my favorite pieces of fabric in the process, you know! And I had this new 45* ruler... and there it is. It fills in a blank space on the wall that was buggin' me- I don't do "places to rest your eye." Close your eyes, if you want to rest them!

The following pix is of my bedside table- I didn't clear here, can ya tell? I just thought it was a funny sight. Maybe I have a problem. Well, water bottles on the bedside table are better than candybar wrappers, right? I look like I have that malady suffered by that girl in "Signs." (Remember her need to have water all around- hers was always contaminated.) I am reading this book about water- and our vital need for it and I guess, I am taking it all to heart. After every 10 bottles of water, I am allowing myself a sugar-free orange juice. I guess I really need a wastebasket by the bed. Or maybe a trash compactor.


PS Mom... Maybe you should
reconsider and give that picnic on Mars
another chance. I found that if I cut the
corner triangle considerably larger
than the pattern says and square up
after sewing- much much easier than
trying to find the center if those wedges
to place the center of the triangles.

Floating from the past...


No, silly, no ghosts here! Bill will sometimes say, with tongue in cheek, "No good deed goes unpunished." But ya know, sometimes good things happen when you least expect it!

I had a ton of errands to run one day, last week. I made 7 stops and I was really beat. I looked in the back of the Jeep and noticed 2 bags of fabric that Tanya- at the quilt shop- had been bequeathed for charity. My friend Jeanie, had been telling me how her preacher had asked her to start a ladies' sewing circle to make quilts for their Heart to Heart program. I understand that this is for unwed mothers. She was buying all of the fabric, herself, and then I thought of the fabric in Tanya's basement... So the two things came together. I was so tired, and I thought of waiting to deliver it until another day. But I hated the thought of her being able to use it and not having it... So I dropped by her house, like Santa, with these 2 big garbage bags on my shoulders. As always, Jeanie was so thrilled with her surprise and says, how she was just thinking of me- and there sat a bag by the door to prove it! In this bag were all these wonderful undies of her Mom's. Jeanie is one of those timeless people and I really couldn't guess how old she is, but I know she has a grandson in college. These clothes have to be over 100 years old!! Jeanie said that she couldn't think of anyone who would appreciate her old things more...than ME!! I was blown away!! In the top picture are a pair of bloomers- see the buttons on the bottom of the left garment? And a really delicate and beautiful petticoat- which I wore to church, Sunday! No kidding! Under my skirt- but I had to keep lifting up my hem to show everybody!! Probably a Bible verse about that kind of thing!! (It went beautifully under a "new" skirt I had found at Goodwill. Jeanie said that her Mom always said, "It's not what you have... it's what people think you have!!" I laughed so hard!) And a chemise. There was also a nightgown- with lots of little tucks and a gorgeous piano scarf of real battenburg lace. Needless to say, I left Jeanie's considerably more energized!! I am thinking that I will crochet-cover some wire hangers and line up all the pretties down the length of an 8-foot quilt rack that is hanging on my bedroom wall. Could be kinda romantic. I plan on painting the walls a dark color- eventually- so that'll set them off nicely, eh?

Keeping Mom busy...



My Mom and Dad have come for a short visit. I've been showing her how to make postcards. She has made at least 8, herself. I don't know how she can be creative in that mess she's made!! Giggle. That's the way it is- things start to pile up and at some point you need to put it all back so you can figure out what you have! I think she's having fun. My Dad has given my furnace a complete check up and cleaning- a job which I figure would have taken an hour seemed to stretch to a solid 3 hours as he was busy talking and explaining each peice of mechanics to my 2 oldest boys. I am wondering if he is going to quiz them today and have them dissassemble the whole thing and put it back together!! (Dh Bill is determined to put off firing it up for real until November. Which is funny, because he is the coldest natured of all of us! And it snowed just a tiny bit, today. We baked a turkey and that kept the house toasty. I suppose that as long as we are using the oven often and long, we might be able to keep the heating bills down! Of course, we'll also be adding lots of fat to keep us warm. I don't think that is a viable solution; ) Dad also has a weedwacker back in tip-top shape. See? We'll break anything just to keep the repair man happy!


These are 3 of the 4 slates that my Mom painted and gave to me to sell at the craft show in December. The pictures really don't do them justice. It was dark and gloomy most of the day, and I had to snap the pictures at an angle to keep the flash from reflecting and hiding the actual painting. The colors and the detail are amazing! These slates used to be on an old friend's barn roof, but he gave a bunch to my Mom and she paints them up- leaving lots of the natural slate still showing. My Dad put a really nice clear coat on them so they are outdoor friendly, too. I have one in my living room that she painted a few years back and Sarah has one she painted for her- blue, of course. I know I will have a hard time parting with these. And what kind of price could you put on them? I have no idea about that. I'll need to do some shopping "research"... yeah, that's what I'll call it!

Ding-dong, the Witch is Dead...

Confession time. I despise Halloween. I didn't used to hate it so. But I clearly did not think out the quantity of children that I have and the number of costumes to round up. Usually, when I hear that some one would like to have a large family, someday, I just like to point out that they better like to cook, 'cause you do a whole lot of that with a large family. But I guess, I might need to say, "Hey! Make sure you like sewing capes!" Whoda thunk? I used to make a lot of costumes in high school and college... and it is one of those activities that leave me feeling frustrated. I want things to last longer and be useful for more than just one night! So I am sewing, sewing, lots of black fabric. A few ruffles of lace, some satin, A cape that needs sleeves- I point out that it isn't a cape if it has sleeves. But it all got done. Finally. The only good thing about Halloween is that their costume party came a week early this year! Now I can put up my feet- put the witch to rest until next year! I just don't get into the plastic pumpkins- love the real ones, the fake spider webs-hate the real ones, or all the cheap junk that gets piled in the yards and messes up a perfectly beautiful scene of changing leaves and such. My own yard looks way too much like that on an ordinary day- can't imagine why any one who choose to do that to their yard! One or two pumpkins should do me- maybe a few corn shocks... a hay bale. But please, nothing cute. Cute... it just isn't something I'd do, voluntarily. But the kids love it, and so it is all worth it!

But aren't the kids cute?!! Abe loves the Phantom of the Opera. If I pop the soundtrack into the stereo, he will lay down in front of it and listen to the whole thing. Quite an attention span for a 3 year old. The big boys were cowboys(Dan was a silly cowboy- in case you didn't guess from the stick horse. And his hair is a wig- Bill says , "Now you know why we keep our hair short- scary!") and the 3 younger boys were... well, I am not sure. They are big fans of Lord of The Rings, so I am sure that is where they found their inspiration. Each year I ask if they wouldn't mind being something... nicer... like anything that doesn't involve armor and swords. Every year I get the same blank looks. What fun would that be? The girls were a ballerina- "a modest one" and Little Bo-Peep- see her crying over her lost sheep? They had a great time at the bonfire and Bill just looks at me and smiles- knowing what a trial all that sewing was and how much the children enjoyed every minute of their big evening. Next year, I'll try to keep that in mind just a little more.

Happiness is...

30 postcards done before the kids get up! I had already stitched the "tops" of these postcards, so they just needed mounted and bound. But still, it took me a couple hours! The goofy Halloween print I won as a door prize at a quilt show. Not my thing, but kinda cute. In a very remote kinda way. I sure didn't want it in my stash for another year. I just fussy cut them, appliqued them down, sewed on some fiber frames. We have a lot of college kids here at church and I figure they might like getting a little something in the mail. I know I did when I was in college. The homespun stuff... well, what do you do with a fat quarter of fabric with barns and pumpkins and scarecrows on it? I admit to being puzzled. I teamed it up with some homespun that I had left from a project I worked on last week. With the black and the red framing... I kinda like 'em. The African-esque cards I love! I found some of these fabrics on clearence at a LQS. I remember a friend of mine- who used to live in Africa- had a lot of copper in their tourist art, so that's what I did and I really like the effect. Out of all the metalic threads I have used, the copper seems to be the least tempermental. I used a whole spool on 10 cards. You can't really see it in the pictures, but it is a nice change from the gold.

Well, I have bunch of productive things to do- rather than just playing in the quilting room! My Mom and Dad are coming for a visit, Sunday. It has been a long time since they have been here and I need to get my spring cleaning done. Better late than never! Maybe I'm just early. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

Timber!!!!


... The guys were practicing their lumber jack skills, yesterday. Nothing like a little demolition in the morning to get the guys in a good mood. We had this huge electrical pole in our yard since we bought our house- it had been set there to help keep vandalism down- our house had been abandoned for several years before we bought it. Well, dh Bill and I figure that if we wanted bright light shining in our windows at night we'd move back into town. So we had it removed right after we moved in- but the post remained. I was trying to figure out a way to fit it into the landscaping plans I had, but honestly, a 25 foot post isn't the easiest thing to disguise. Turns out some friends needed a new one by their barn- in time for their Autumn weenie roast. So down came ours. The boys had spent the morning digging out around the pole, Bill took the chain saw to it and the boys pulled it down. I thought this was a funny picture of the guys- both boys are considerably taller than their dad, but Bill had placed himself on the tallest side of the pole, and on his tippy toes- he's still the top man!

The lamp on my piano makes the quilting on this quilt show up so pretty, don't you think? Some people were wondering what random Baptist fans look like, and here are what mine look like- they just sort of go in every direction and are a lot of different sizes. It makes a nice texturing effect.

Post Script...
You guys would not believe the wails of "Foul" arising from this last post!! First, we had to measure all the boys and their Dad. To be perfectly honest, I have to say that I was mistaken. Dan is only 1/2" taller than his Dad and Joe is only 2 1/2" taller than Bill. The term "considerably" was called into question and I am now confessing that I was using an inaccurate term. Maybe "slightly" would be more appropriate. The boys are slightly taller than their Dad. I still maintain that Bill is standing on his tippy toes. He says that I needn't point that out as the picture is blurry. But we are all about being completely accurate, here, right? Bill is a faithful reader of my blog- even if it is mostly about quilts. It's nice to have such a supportive spouse...