Awards and Give Aways

I'm probably too late for this, but want you to know that Brenda over at Acorn Quilts is having a little give-away to celebrate her new book!Hope you can get there in time and check out her new blog. I thought I'd lost her!

I tell ya I haven't had my head on straight, my blogging buddie Sharon bestowed an award to MOI!!! I'm so thrilled and honored. Thank you Sharon! Ya know if Sharon is quiet, something must be wrong, so please email her!!!!

As for awarding who makes my day?? who who who... you, you, & you!!!

xoxomar

No, Not A Rebel

Thank you Kim, for showing us the light. I'm not a rebel, no no no.... I'm a PATRIOT! I'm doing my part to stimulate the economy in my own small way. I'm wondering if it was something in that Los Angeles water that gave me the urge buy fabric? I have no excuses for my purchases, other than that Roman Holiday piece was 50% off, it will be the backing for my All Things Christmas. Oh and I'm really wanting to do a hexagon quilt out of Fig Tree fabrics and then there is the swap that I need stuff for. On the stash busting side I did manage to turn the charm pack that Darlene sent me into a little table runner. Note, that I have the backing up there. I'll machine quilt it next weekend.

I also finished the 2nd block of the Piece and Plenty Moda U Mystery. This basket is designed by Joanna of Fig Tree fame. Love doing these blocks, I'm going to start prepping the next one tomorrow nite. Have a good week everyone, hope you get some stitches in! xoxomar

A Rebel?

I thought I would slip this stash busting report in here quickly, before the next one is due. Yup, I'm late again. That's because I'm feeling like a rebel. There is a song from the 60's that keeps going through my head and I did a little research on it. It's called He's A Rebel by the Crystals. I wasn't even a teenager when this came out, but I remember it just the same. So in my research I found that the Crystals didn't even record the version that became a number one tune. It was the Blossoms. Just a little bit of Trivia for you. And if you watched the video in the link for He's A Rebel, who does that remind you of? First thing I thought of was Heath Ledger. I don't know if Heath was a rebel, but I would think for a straight guy to play a gay man in a movie, he would have to have a little bit of a rebel in him. I really liked Heath, I thought he was a great actor. I loved watching him in " A Knights Tale" or "Cassanova" and "The Patriot". What a sad loss. Oh yeah, this is supposed to be my stash report.... I have only acquisitions to report. As I mentioned in my last post 28.5 yards of Vicky's stash followed me home. It all happened quite innocently. She plopped some bags of fabric on the table and told Judy and I to go through it and take want we wanted. It sat there for 2 days and finally I started to look through it thinking I would take the neutrals for a swap that I'm in. Once I was done, Judy said she didn't have room in her suitcase to take it home. Well, I couldn't say I didn't want it, could I? This just doesn't look like 28.5 yards, but it really is! Do I get any points for taking it off of Vicky's hands? And this trip was all about going to one of the biggest quilt shows in California right? So a girl has to shop a little! We also went to a couple of quilt shops in our travels. Ginger's and Bolts In the Bathtub. So here is a pic of another 10.25 yards that came home north with me and the other stuff I acquired. Sharon you must be special, cause I didn't get a fat quarter in my goodie bag from Kris like you did! Ok, so it's Saturday, and tomorrow is time for another stash report, I need to go accomplish something so that I will have more to report than my fabric gluttony! I such a rebel!

Home Again Home Again Jiggity Jig

And exhausted!! But a good kind of tired. What a fun trip with such a good group of friends. The Debs are the perfect travel companions and Vicky is a wonderful hostess. And Judy, what I can I say, if you ever get a chance to meet her, you will love her just like I do! The show was fantastic. I didn't get to meet up with all of the bloggers that I wanted to, but at the Calico Horse booth I was able to say hi to Donna and Cheryl. I also whispered the secret password to Kris over at Cozy Cottage Fabrics & Yarn booth and got a special gift. I didn't buy much either, but a certain 28.5 + yards of fabric seemed to follow me home. I'll do another post about that. Just wanted to say.. HONEY I"M HOME!

Before I left a little special something from Darlene arrived in the mail, cute huh? I plan to make a table runner with the charm pack. I'll need to think a little about the flowers, but can't wait to try this out, cause they sure are cute! Thank you Darlene!

BUH BYE!

Well I'm packing it up and going on a road trip with the Deb's. We are driving down to LA to meet up with our BFF Vicky and I'll get to meet Judy. Road 2 California, here we come!! This trip looks like it will be a great one. Hopes of turning a great quilt show into a bloggers convention is high. I'm sure you will hear about it before I even get home! You know Sharon, she isn't the quiet one! Of course she may be having too much to blog? We'll see. This is quick post, I still have to pack and run to the bank and gas up the car. I wanted to leave you with a couple of pictures. Remember I said I was always late? Well Nicole put out a challenge for all to show their work table. I'm too late for the competition but here's mine.. at least a corner of it and yup there is at least fifteen things, but I don't have time to list them all.

And here is the other little critter that leaves hair all over the place.I pulled out the top drawer of the tower to dig thru patterns and when she saw a cozy place I guess it was just too irresistible!

And I have a mystery gadget. This came with my order from the Fabric Shack.

WHAT IS IT? IMWTK!

Until Sunday.....

Muse? What Muse? I don't see a-muse..

I've read on some of the designers blogs that at times they've lost their muse. MY creative muse needs a GPS. Do you think they sell Tom Toms for creative muses? I have a tendency to AMUSE... myself that is. I have the hardest time making up my mind. Even when I've taken polls and asked everyone that could have an opinion. Case in point.. The turtle quilt. Do you remember when this started back in the summer. This is what it started off as Here. I didn't get around to even thinking about it again until after Christmas. The baby was due 12/31/07. Did I tell you that I always wait till the last minute? After thinking about the fabric I bought, I didn't like it. It was for a baby girl and I wanted something sweet and cute and girly. Looking at what I had in my closet, I decided to use 30's repros. Pink and Green to be exact. A friend suggested, what I thought was a good idea, to strip my pink and greens. Off I go, cutting up all the pinks and greens I have. Must go shopping for a background! Found a sweet print. Right away I made a big error in cutting the strip sets! I cut the setting triangles too small. Hmmm maybe I'll just use the strips for the border. I know! I'll go shopping! I'll use just greens for the turtles, my sweet print for the backgrounds and all I need is a fabric for the setting triangles. I Found two fabrics, couldn't decide, buy both....... one did work. Now the turtle blocks are made and I remember why I don't like 30's pink. So far I've named this quilt "Turtles On Antacid" and "Pepto Turtles". Yup, 30's pink reminds me of Pepto Bismo... ewwwww. Now I'm having trouble deciding on borders, I asked one of my online groups to help me decide. These are the choices:

The majority liked the one with the green inner border and the stripped outter border. I like that one, but it doesn't give that sweet girly look. I've been looking at this quilt for 3 days now. The baby was born a week ago, so I guess I should make a decision. I think I know what I'm going to do. Next time you see it, it'll be done!

Stash Busting?

Well, I didn't buy any fabric this week, I just finished this block that I already had. Does that count? Does it count that those little filler blocks are paperpieced and I wasted a bunch of fabric cutting my pieces out to small? Not to mention that it took me all day yesterday to make these five little blocks! I'm such a doofus, thinking I'm so smart. I haven't pp'd in a long time and it took me a while to get back in the swing of it. I had just enough to get the job done!

This is the first block of the Piece and Plenty Mystery from The Fat Quarter Shop. I love that they are using this fabric line, it's Madeira by Blackbird Designs from Moda. So far each block is a basket by a different designer. This block is by Amy Bradley. Can't wait to start the next one!

Good Saturday Morning to You!

I haven't had much to post about this week. Work has been busy and I've had a couple of trips to the dentist. No more heavy rain so I haven't had to bail out my patio! Now that I started my focus list, I'm working on at least two projects at the moment (baby turtles and P&P#1) so I don't have any pictures. I'm off work until the 22nd so hopefully soon I'll be showing what I've accomplished.

In the meantime, I remember that question that was going around "What's On Your Bed"? This is whats on mine when I don't get it made in a timely manner.

The way this little princess sheds, it makes perfect sense for me to dream that I rented my son's two cats their own apartment!!

This what my bed looks like when I get it made in time!

The Storm

Yesterday, like any other work day, I got up with my alarm, made coffee, turned on the computer and started reading my emails. I got to the comment from Kim about keeping dry. (Kim is located about an hour north of me) Hmm that's right, this is supposed to be a big storm! I think ohhh how I wish I could stay home, call in sick, but I'm a supervisor and I really need to set a good example for my staff. I leisurely finish my e-mail and go get ready for work. As I was leaving I look on my patio. OMG!!! my patio was under a good two inches of water and it was still raining fast and heavy! At least it was casual Friday and I had my jeans on, sheesh, I spent the next 4 hours sweeping water off my patio. At one time the water kept returning from the side yard I was sweeping it into, so I had to go out and dig a ditch so the water could disperse. Here I am, blisters on my hand from the broom, in my little red poncho, drenched from my toes to my knees out digging ditches! Who would have thought? (Kim? did you get a Voodoo doll?) All I wished for was to stay home so I could build a fire and applique in a nice cozy condo! Careful what you wish for! I guess I need to be more specific with my wishes.

I have no pictures of all of this, I was a little too busy. I finally got a hold of the property management and they sent a landscaper out to see if they could help. The rain had slowed by then and most of the water OUTSIDE of my patio had drained. He dug out a little more and showed me why and where the outside drained so quickly. He also confirmed what I thought was happening. I share a common wall to the left of me and have another neighbor above me. The left side of my patio is the low end! So basically I was getting the run off from 3 other patios. I tell you that water just kept coming!!! The landscaper will report to the property manager that a drain needs to be installed to prevent this from happening again.

By 1:30 all looked like it would be ok, it stopped enough to sweep most of the water off and the worst of the storm was over. Off to work I went. I didn't want to, but I'm glad I did. My staff were all having the day from hell too and really needed help.

So that is my stormy tale of woe. I feel badly for all of those that got it worse. No rain yet today, I don't think it will get as bad as yesterday. Before it starts I need to go to the post office and drop off my old TV at the e-waste site. I'm going to make a pot of soup out of my left over turkey breast and work on my focus list. Enjoy your weekend! xoxomar

Happy New Year!!!

So what are you doing on the first day of the new year? What are you cooking? Me? I'm going to roast a turkey breast, yummmm. I've been spending the morning working on some redwork and watching the Parade on my new TV. I've found that Monk is doing an all day marathon and and he's very light weight and a good background for sewing. Remember that baby quilt that I bought the fabric for a couple of months ago? Well, I finally started it, but it's now a totally different quilt. Yep, I changed my mind. I've got two little turtles done and 6 more to go. Today I'm also going to start my Piece and Plenty BOM. A dear and thoughtful friend gave this to me for a Christmas/birthday gift. Can't think of a better way to start the year!

You may have noticed my new list the the right. Instead of a to do list, I've labeled it a FOCUS list. It's a list to help me stay focused on the projects I really want to work on. I sometimes find myself doing nothing for no good reason. My plan is to focus on category 1 projects first, as they get done I will promote items from category 2. We all know that new projects will pop up unexpectedly, so I will cagegorize those as needed. I have no limitations as to how many projects are in each category. I'm just trying to help myself stay more focused and not forget all of the wonderful projects that are here, waiting to be done. I haven't done very well with the stash busting, but I think this list will definetely help me use what I have.

So my dear blogging buddies, what are your goals?

Wishing you the best year ever!!!....xoxomar