Grinning here!

I just had the best day!!!

It's about time!!

Just wanted to share that!! LOL

This weekend I visit with Jane and clean house - because I want five days in a row next week to do nothing but get the giterdun done!

Grab Box

All right, who megged me with this?

The 12 lb. grab bag/box arrived from http://www.thefatquartershop.com/ today. I swannee, I could hardly lift it over the door jamb!

Not a great picture, but will give you an idea of all the goodies inside. Wide cuts by width of fabric, a great variety, even some labels! I've already pegged a lot of these for applique projects!

I think I need an intervention! No, I know I need one!

I crawled around so much playing with the contents of that box that I flattened the carpet out! You can't take me anywhere!

I'll definitely be looking for future grab bag offers on Kimberly's site! When this one gets used up! Really, only then! Quit laughing! I know you are! I can hear you! :)

Gratitudes:

~ Accounting computer disaster narrowly averted today,and figuring out the fix all by myself!

~ Take out from my favorite local Mexican restaurant!

~ It's hump day!

Blocks Done!

Oh, man, am I glad this part is over! I hated making these BORING things!

So I'm all ready to assemble, which I'll start doing this weekend. Then on to the pieced border!

The cream really looks brown in this picture.....


Happy dancing here!!!!!

Wouldn't you know it!

I was looking for a piece of fabric that I picked up last week at Ginger's, and figured it must be in the trunk of the car.

I knew I needed to clean the trunk out, but --

-- ELEVEN (11) bags of stuff. ELEVEN (11) bags from Ginger's.

I am miserably hopeless, and probably not worth the bullet it'd take to shoot me...........

Edit note: Okay, I took a picture last night after I emptied the bags. Mostly Christmas and Halloween. I'm just a kid at heart! :)

"Magic"

This is "Magic" - isn't he a handsome fellow?

He belongs to my boss. Magic is a champion field trial lab. He is currently the NUMBER ONE field trial point dog in the country. He now has five blue ribbons, one fourth place and a couple of jams out of only ten trials so far this year. But the season is only half over!

Magic has been home for a couple of weeks during this break in the field trial schedule. Yesterdy he was at the office for a hour or so. He loves me! As soon as he saw me, he was rolling on his back and talking and begging for belly scratches. Magic may be real rough and tough in a trial, but he's really just a big cream puff! Or at least he is with me!

I love this dog so much. He is one of ten or twelve that my boss owns, but, gosh, he's my favorite!

Just thought I'd share a little of my work life with everyone - the fun part!

Box!!

I'm like a kid in a candy store when I come home and find a box on my doorstep! I was poking order buttons one night - again! http://www.fatquartershop.com/ rules!

The Jelly Rolls are so neat. I'm kind of late getting on the bandwagon, but I'm trying to make up for lost time. These are Celebrate Spring by Sandy Gervais, Roman Holiday by 3 Sisters, and my favorite, Madeira by Blackbird Designs.

The patterns are Candy Cane Lane by Bunny Hill Designs, It's a Wrap by Pieces from My Heart, Jelly Braids by Calico Printworks, Wild Goose Chase by Whistlepig Creek Productions, and Roman Holiday by Swatches Pattern Co.

The books are Happy Hour by Atkinson Designs and Comfort & Joy by Acorn Quilts. Also a couple of yards of fish for the border of a string quilt I've got in the planning stages.

That's it for me. I was going to say 'for this month' -- lol. I decided one thing a couple of weeks ago. I work all the time, come home to my empty house and the Daisy dog, and have only one friend nearby to visit with on a regular basis. Quilty stuff is what makes me happy. If I never make a single thing out of any of this, just the pure joy of having it is enough. There, I've said it!

~ Hearing from a dear friend today via email! ILY!

~ Trying a new bar of hand made goat's milk soap! Heavenly! Thank you, B!!

I'm such an idiot!

The camera is "fixed." When the low battery light came on last weekend, I took out those batteries and put in new ones. Turns out those were rechargable batteries. The regular batteries took two pictures and drained. After going through eight (yes, eight) of them, I decided it was time to figure it all out. Time to break out the manual. Rechargable batteries? Whoever heard of such a thing! I'm just a country girl in a great big freaky city! Anyway, I picked up some more rechargable batteries and a charger, and I'm good to go. Well, that is until the next time!

This is a little kit I picked up a couple of weekends ago. I love Buggy Barn stuff. It's a small quilt, or large wallhanging. I'm so ready to start working on Christmas stuff! Daisy's little weenie dog is in the top of the picture. She ran over and dropped that there just as I stood up to snap the shot. So I had to leave it in!

Yesterday was a totally wasted day. I ran a few errands in the morning, and when I got home I had a splitting headache. Of course, it was nothing that 11 good hours of sleep couldn't take care of. Today is catch-up day.

I'm real torn about starting that new "All Things Christmas" BOM that I mentioned in my last post. No, I have to work on the giterdun. I have to.

Gratitudes:

~ Having such a friendly local quilt shop. I love just hanging out at Ginger's.

~ A cool house despite the heat outside.

~ Deciding to sign up for the next hand quilting class.

~ My headache has finally gone away.

Camera is still dead

I'm beginning to think I'm jinxed. Truthfully, I haven't had a chance to take it by the store. I think I'll just get a new one this weekend, and then worry about getting this one fixed. Can't be much wrong with it; I just got it last November.

No quilting this week. None at all. I've been too wiped out when I get home from work. It's finally gotten hot here -- 100 yesterday; 98 today. I think I heard (or maybe it was wishful thinking) that it was going to cool off a tad this weekend. I shouldn't complain because our "spring" has lasted longer than any of the 13 years I've been in SoCal. But I hate the heat!

Kimberly at http://www.thefatquartershop.com/ has a new BOM - it's the Bunny Hill Designs "All Things Christmas." Yes, I ordered it. Yes, I did. LOL. I'm real excited Kimberly will start doing these. The first block arrived today, and the fabric is wonderful. Good job, Kimberly!

I picked up a bunch of movies this week. The first one I watched was "Bobby." It wasn't much about him at all, but about some of his campaign workers and was set in the days leading up to his assassination. It was so-so. The next one I watched was "Babel." I was uncertain how to rate it, but the more I thought about it the next day, the more I liked it. There's one segment of it that I thought was really strange, and they could have left that whole section out. If you've seen it, you probably know the part I'm talking about. But all in all, I think it was a good movie. Last night I tried to watch "The Departed." I'll admit I fell asleep. I've heard really good things about it, so I'll try it again this weekend. A stellar cast. Oh, and I loved "Music and Lyrics." Who a-thunk Hugh Grant could sing? LOL. Very predictable, but just a happy movie.

I'm sitting here pondering that stack of quilty "stuff" on my cutting table. I wonder if it's possible for my stash room to come crashing down to the first floor? I'm not sewing fast enough, and that's a fact!

Gratitudes:

~ A good week, and it's almost over!

~ My mind is exploding with inspiration!

~ Smiling at the antics of friends!

Happy Shopping

I had such fun yesterday! I didn't buy everything I saw that I liked, which is a big improvement for me! But I did buy a lot, all with intentions of sewing them up when the "dun" part of the giterdun has been accomplished!

My camera died. I took this one picture, and then the battery light came on. So I put fresh batteries in it. When I press the button to take the picture, the camera goes dead. I really need to take this camera back to Office Depot and see if they can't tell me what's wrong with it or send it off to be fixed. I don't quite remember when I bought it but it hasn't been that long ago. Must pull out the purchase info, etc. When Matt was out to clean up the nasties on my computer, he tried to reload the disk that came with the camera and couldn't get it to work. So he worked around that and gave me another way to download my pix. This is a Fuji camera. I haven't liked it very much at all, so this might be the time to just bite the bullet and get another one. I really liked the older Olympus I had, so I guess I'll take another look at those.

The reason for this tower purchase is I am almost out of patriotic fabrics. I've had a quilt swirling around in the back of my mind (thanks, Jeanne!) and decided to look for those yesterday. So this tower along with other blues/red/tans from my stash will do the trick. This tower is the Coming Home line by Minick & Simpson for Moda. I like it because the light fabrics are tan instead of white.

I also picked up a lovely stitchery pillow pattern, "Spring Fling" by Flutterby Moments. Sorry, but I couldn't find a link on the web. It's adorable, and will give me a chance on a small project to refresh my embroidery skills before I tackle the Leanne's House quilt, http://leanneshouse.typepad.com. There's Leanne's House link on her blog site. I just purchased the patterns, but I'm scared of them already! LOL.

I also picked up a really cute pattern for a Christmas table runner from http://piecesfrommyheart.net. It's called Table Attire. I'm really not doing well on these links. I wish I could remember how to do them to get you right to the pattern. Again, sorry! Anyway, the table runner uses one charm pack and is adorable.

I splurged and got the new Crazy Snow Days book from http://www.buggybarnquilts.com, the fabrics for the Let it Snow quilt, and at another shop picked up a backing piece for it. I'm totally in love with Christmas stuff, as you can tell, especially with a small bit of folk art flavor thrown in for good measure.

And like the good Catholic, I'm going to confess the rest of my purchases here! LOL. I also picked up the Jelly Roll Diamonds pattern by Fig Tree Quilts, two jelly rolls - Holly Jolly by Sandy Gervais and Yule Tide Blessing by Fig Tree - and the book "More Joy to the World" by Nancy Smith and Lynda Milligan. Jane told me she has the original "Joy to the World" book. Can't wait to see that one! Oh, and two dish towels so I can try out a couple of the Art to Heart patterns on those.

As you can see from the above, I'm real ready to learn new techniques for my quilts. I think I'm getting a bit bored after only almost six years of quilting with just doing pieced and appliqued quilts. I have a wool bed rug project that I want to start when I get a little better at blanket stitches, and all the stuff to do a punchneedle project and a wool felt project. I need to constantly stimulate my brain - so all of these projects will do quite nicely!!

Gratitudes:

~ Getting out of bed at 5:45 and deciding that I didn't want to get up. Finally got up at 8:45!!

~ A nice dinner last night with friends!

~ Charm packs, jelly rolls and Jolly packs - a perfect way to try something without a huge investment!

~ Enjoying the awakening of my little community this morning - dogs on their walks, children's laughter, birds chirping, and the flowery aromas of sunny Southern California.

Calico Spools

*Someone* was asking me about these this morning. I didn't post these earlier when I posted the retreat blocks I made from www.quilterscache.com.

Now that *someone* has me thinking about making more of these. And since I've got that bin of 2.5" strips already cut up, it's definitely do-able in short order.

Missy, I'm going to get you for this!!! The giterdun HAS to get finished. If you're not careful, you're going to find it on your doorstep with a note, "Here, you finish it!!"

I'm going to call Don and Gail later and see if I can't talk them into coming out here for a week. We've already talked about it, but I wanted them to wait until I could have some time off. I've got my fingers crossed. I miss my brother so much.

Haircut (dip and clip) this morning, manicure, hopefully a car wash, and then off to Jane's to see what kind of trouble we can get into. I have a feeling there's going to be quilt shops and megging involved!

Gratitudes:

~ Two good nights of sleep this week. It's getting better.

~ Grits last night. LOL. Sometimes it's the little down-home stuff that makes a gal happy!

~ Emails that make me laugh!

Happy Birthday, Judy!

Thought you were going to sneak this one by us, did you? NOT!

Wishing you all the love, joy, happiness, and quilty things in the world!

Silk Thread and Blocks

Thank you all for your comments on my silk thread question. It was as I figured it would be -- a lot of choices out there. Thread, like thimbles, is personal.

My preferences are Gutermann silk (which is heavier and feels more like a cotton to me, but it slides beautifully) and Mettler 60 wt. cotton. I have probably every other brand of silk thread, and use them when it's a color I need. But I've pretty much been sticking to these two for my purchases the last couple of years. I can't find Gutermann silk locally, so I order it online. The Mettler 60 wt. is available locally, and I have a ton of it. I like YLI but it's really really fine. When I'm using it, I find out just how rough my fingers are! LOL. I remember needling one time on an airplane with YLI, and the static electricity had the end of my thread standing straight up. The stewardess thought it was a hoot -- she had to bat at it every time she passed.

About the blocks I posted - several of you have asked me which blocks on www.quilterscache.com. There's a lotto drawing for blocks at the annual retreat held by my online group. For the past three years, I have chosen the blocks. Since I've been thinking scrappy, I threw in a couple for just that purpose:

So here they are:

1. Sunny Lane Block - 12"

2. Crossroads 2 Block - 12"

3. Corner Star Block - 16"

4. Calico Spools Block - 6"

I tried to link them for you, but the links wouldn't work.

I really like the spools block. Super easy, and works out nicely from the 2.5" strip tub. I plan on making those in my spare time (ha-ha). I'd love to have a quilt of those.

Many Attempts

I don't know why I can't find my pictures this morning. I've tried everything. The camera is downloading them to the computer - but where? I didn't change any settings. I hate this thing. Okay, edited blog here! I found them, but suddenly they're going to a way weird place and I'm having to take tons of steps to edit/publish them. The computer gremlins have been at work again!

I don't have much to blog about - work and home. I'm going to work on the giterdun again today. Yesterday I made lotto blocks and it felt good to sew on something else. There's a fourth block that I forgot to put in the shot. A bowtie block. All of these blocks are from www.quilterscache.com. Marcia was kind enough to give us permission to use the four blocks for our Retreat in the Middle lotto. I won't be able to attend the retreat in Missouri in a couple of weeks. Shucks!

It was wonderful having those tubs of strips when I began making these blocks. Most of these fabrics came from those tubs, except for the WOW and the black. Waytago, Vicky! LOL. I need to get back to stripping that big bag of scraps. I can't ever seem to get to the bottom of it, but I need more variety in my strip tubs. I surely wish I had started those strips years ago!

There are very few comments on my blog for the past couple of months. Although it's nice to hear from folks, that's not the reason I blog. I do go around the ring every week and try to comment on everyone's blog. Oftentimes I check in for a minute or two from work while eating my lunch, and while I'm reading them sometimes I don't have time to leave comments. I need to do better on that score. I'm sorry that I have to block anonymous comments. I really hate doing that as there are close friends who read but can't comment. Please email me if something interests you. It's just that my world is so very tiny and it needs to stay a happy place. Nasty comments serve no purpose.

Gratitudes:

~ Once again, it's cool and moist feeling today. I know the hot weather is going to slam in and stay, but I sure am enjoying this coolness. Except for the curls that boink up in my hair! LOL

~ A relaxing weekend!

~ The Applique Club at Ginger's looks promising!

~ A reflective day while sewing yesterday. I need more of those kind of days.

~ I thought the daylilies were through, but not so! I miss my house and the collection of every daylily I could find. I hope the new owners didn't remove them, but I don't want to go by to look.

Hand applique thread question

I'd like to know your favorite hand applique thread. And your second favorite. And your least favorite.

Any help or comments will be appreciated!

Thanks!!