A Fantastic Bloggy Giveaway!

So the two of you who read this blog are going to be soooo excited that you dropped by! My friends over at Sibling Craftery are celebrating a one year bloggy anniversary! And to celebrate, they are giving away some really great prizes...among them a book by the awesome Jenny Hart!

While you're there be sure to check out all thecrafty goodness and free patterns to be had! I'm totally diggin' the Robots in Spring design and hope to eventually put them on some tea towels...perhaps the ones in the giveaway!

Alright, make your way to Sibling Craftery, sign up for the giveaway and get your craft on!

Whew! October Swap Blocks Done!

And not a moment too soon. My deadline was....TODAY! Finished them up last night.

Given my procrastinate-y nature, it came as no surprise that I finshed these the night before the deadline. However, in my defense, I was a bit scared to get going, because:

• My partner asked for log cabin type blocks and I'd never tried one before.
  
• She requested a combination of florals and solids and I didn't have much of either.

So I made up two very different floral and solid blocks using the log cabin style pattern and ended up w/these.OK, so the brown/pink combo didn't look at all like a log cabin, even though I used a log cabin tutorial to go by . Still, I thought it was funky and cute and had decided to send it anyway. Or so I thought...

When I opened my email to get her mailing info, I discovered that I had misread it. My partner requested any print(not specifically floral) w/solids and she likes red, green, purple and yellow. Oops. SO, back to the drawing board for me.

These were the final finished blocks. The colors aren't showing true at all here due to crappy lighting conditions...however, I am pretty satisfied w/the way they came out and was happy that I was able to incorporate all four colors into one block. I hope my partner will be happy with them.This (above) is actually a dark purple, not navy, solid with a lavender/dark purple print. The gray looking dot print, is really a nice soft vintagey green.
Best thing...I've got this log cabin block down...I see a log cabin quilt in my future.

The aftermath of quilt block making.

***5 min. after typing this, I had a thought***

UMMM......ARE these log cabins? I mean, I put them together following a log cabin pattern I found here....but should they have been dark side/light side and if so, are these courthouse steps...I think they are! CRAP.

Friendship Bag

Our first Material Girls get together was last month. I wanted to take a project that I could finish in the 2 hour time frame. I've been somewhat obsessed with lunch bags lately. I scoured online sites looking for the perfect pattern/tutorial. And settled on the Friendship bag. In the photos it looked adorable...and lunch sized. Of course, once I started cutting it out, I realized that looks can be deceiving! It's TINY! ...but it is, in fact, ADORABLE! I'll be using some of these as gift bags this Christmas!
The next Material Girls is this week. I've adjusted the instructions for the friendship bag into what I hope will make a lunch sized bag and am going to give it a whirl.

The tutorial for the adorable, Lilliputian bag is here.

A New Development!

SO, there's a group of gals at work who are at various levels in our sewing skills as well as some who don't sew but want to learn. We've decided to start a monthly group to sew and snack and shoot the breeze! Those who are skilled seamstresses will mentor those of us who are still getting started and those of us who have at least a few skills will be able to help the utterly clueless. Lots of sharing of knowledge and experiences! I am SOOO excited about it!

I have a lot sewing projects in mind for our "Material Girls" club...aprons, bags, Christmas gifts, Toy Society projects and the like. I may also use this time to do some quilting too! I'm suddenly feeling more sewing motivation than I have in months!

I want to make this:
(I have the kit, fabrics and all, ready...and waiting)

Or this...
I've been hanging on to some 30's repro prints that I think would be perfect for this quilt.

OR

a quilt using the wonky log cabin scrap blocks that I've been making here and there. Note to self: Make more wonky log cabin blocks so you'll have enough for an actual quilt rather than a throw pillow.

Did I mention I'm excited?!

In a quilting slump

Anyone remember when I said this was going to be my Quilty Year? Well folks here were are at September and I hate to admit it, but it hasn't been a quilty year yet. I've finished three quilt tops...and that's it. This one, this one, and this one(which I LOVE). I've yet to quilt or have any of them quilted. Sigh.

The BOTM meetings that I was attending with my mother and sister got canceled when the local quilt shop went out of business. Boo! Then they re-opened, so at least I can still buy fabric and sign up for NEW classes.

So here I sit in a quilty slump before I ever really got a good start at making a quilty year of it.

I blame my recent lack of productivity on three things: Grease, adopting a goat disguised as a dog who requires more of my attention than I ever imagined, and starting back to school.

Any suggestions for how to get my quilting groove on?

However, despite the lack of any ACTUAL quilting, I have been reading quilt magazines, DVRing the Fonz & Porter show on PBS, buying fabric, and searching online for quilty inspiration. That counts for something right?

...and speaking of quilty inspiration...
1. Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto, 2. the whirly pinwheel~ finished!, 3. Flying Geese Quilt, 4. AppliqueEmbroideredCentre AntiqueSciFi a, 5. circus in central park quilt top, 6. Baby Irish Chain Front Completed, 7. Ginger's Quilt - Quilted!, 8. amelie horse quilt, 9. Mini Quilt in a Bag Swap from lucysquilts, 10. child., 11. front of baby quilt, 12. For the Birds, 13. Love the points, 14. Log Cabin Baby Quilt, 15. baby quilt: "Adelaide's birds"

Vote for My Dog! Vote for My Dog!!

...cause she is stinkin' cute!

Goat-Dog Unleashes Wrath Upon Unsuspecting Teddy Bear

Mark and I have come to terms with the fact that we've adopted not a puppy, but a goat-dog hybrid. This dog will eat anything and everything that she can get into her mouth.

Here's a sampling of a few things she's managed to annihilate...

1. My New Balance sneakers
2. My only pair of nice brown sandals
3. TWO leashes
4. TWO harnesses
5. A pillow
6. Countless dog toys
7. Socks galore
8. A mouse in Rural King that may or may not have already been dead when she found it.

This afternoon, I leave her alone for 5 minutes. When I find her, she was chomping on this teddy bear(my first and only effort @ making a teddy).Sadly, I didn't come to his rescue in time. Sorry, Ted.


I scolded her and pried Ted from her mouth, replacing him w/a pig ear. But I don't think Mya was terribly upset over what she'd done to the poor guy...she gave me one of her usual looks ....which was kinda like this...

Zippy Pouches Finished for Friday!

It's been a while since I've done much sewing. Just seems like I've had everything else in the world to do and yet I haven't accomplished much(except GREASE) this summer. Spinning my wheels, maybe.

Despite that, I did finish up some zippy pouches that were meant to be used for PIF & FB chain craft gifts this week. I threw away at least two of these while they were in progress...zippers are hard for me, y'all! I also got bent out of shape over the fact that my pouches weren't coming out perfectly...but then I realized that if I try to make the perfect zippy pouch, the recipients will get zilch from me because 1. nothing handmade is ever going to be perfect and 2. even if they were perfect I'm waaay critical of myself and so they still wouldn't be perfect. I think I need therapy.

Here they are...excuse the crappy photography. I hope the recipients enjoy their less than perfect but made with love anyway zippy pouches!





...this last one is my favorite...I love that bird print.

Grease is the word ...OR... How I Spent My Summer Vacation

My Facebook friends are undoubtedly sick and tired of my Grease postings, so if any of you happen to stop by, feel free to roll your eyes and move along.

I have always been a big fan of musicals. If it involves singing and dancing, I love it. Many of my favorite movies are adaptations of musicals.

The first live musical play I remember seeing(besides those shows at theme parks)was Little Abner my Sophomore year of high school. I was totally and completely caught up in it. The music, the dancing and the fact that it was all being done by kids I knew and walked the halls with daily was fascinating to me. And I wanted to be a part of it.

The next year the musical was Hello Dolly. I went to auditions...and then I left without trying....mortified to actually have to speak and sing in front of "people", I chickened out. Despite the fact that I was a very outgoing kid who would enter talent shows and beg for speaking parts in school plays, as a teenager, I became "backwards" as my Grandmother might say...extremely shy when it came to having to talk to or in front of people outside of my small circle of friends. I watched Hello Dolly from the audience, secretly wishing to be up on the stage singing and dancing.

In college, I went to two auditions, only to chicken out again. I actually made it up onto the stage for Bye Bye Birdie. They told me to sing and I said "I can't do that" and walked away. What did I think I was going to have to do at an audition for a MUSICAL? Sheesh.

That last audition was nearly 15 years ago. We have a very active community theater and whenever I'd hear of auditions for the latest Summer musicals, I'd always want to to go, but never would.

This summer, the theater advertised auditions for Grease. With the encouragement of a friend and my sister(who both also went to auditions). I made up my mind that I was going to audition for this play if it killed me. I was thinking "I'm 40 dang it...I can do this! I've wanted to do this since I was 16 years old and now I'm tired of worrying about embarrassing myself or what people think!"

So, I did it! I went with my sister and my friend Emily, took a number(37) and auditioned. I was terrified...but I DID IT! I felt silly reading the part of a high school student(I read w/some of the girls as both Jan and Marty) but I DID IT! I sang a wobbly, nerved out version of Happy Birthday for my audition...but I DID IT! And I survived. And I even enjoyed it! Call me corny, but I cried a little on the way home. I was just so proud of myself for FINALLY having the courage to go through with something I'd wanted to do for so long.

I got a part in the chorus(which was all I wanted...just let me sing and dance)as a teacher. Frankly, I wouldn't have cared if I didn't get a part, it was such a personal accomplishment for me to go through with an audition!

But I did get a part and I had a great time! It took up a lot of my summer vacation, but it was worth every minute! I met so many wonderful people, made some great new friends and I got to spend most of the summer with my sister. There were a couple of times when I thought "WHY did I want to do this???" like when I found out I had to wear a slip on stage in front of the entire town. However, the good far outweighed the bad! And being onstage with an audience...it was exhilarating...even for plain old Delores in the Chorus. I can't imagine what it must be like for the lead actors! So much fun...I regret not going through with it all those years ago!

And that's how I spent my summer vacation.

The performances were last weekend and I miss it so much! I miss the rehearsals and I miss the friends that I made there. I miss singing and dancing every other night! I can't stop singing the songs and frequently catch myself singing "Born to Hand Jive Baby!" At 5:30p.m. during the week, I still feel like I should be out at the Glema Mahr Center warming up my voice with some "Zigga Zigga Zuuus".

A few photos...
...new friends...That's my sister Jackie wearing our mother's wedding dress! I made my outfit...the teachers were all dressed Hawaiian style for the "Moonlight in the Tropics" prom scene.
My lil sis again (on the right) was a featured singer. She was a backup singer for the song Grease, which opened the show.
My hair was HUGE that night....and this is how it got so big!
My fellow Rydell high teacher. Shelley's hair is even bigger than mine...it was fantastic!
Opening scene/Alma Matter
Beauty School Drop Out
That's my sis in the hairdryer on the left(me pushing her)
Next summer? South Pacific!

Song for Saturday Morning

Chris Isaak is one of my favorite artists. Songwriter, singer, musician, actor...is there anything this guy can't do?

Sad thing is, he's performing at the Ryman in Nashville next month...and I'm not going. I'll just heave a big sigh, watch this video, and pretend I'm there...