A finish or two, and more in the works!

I wanted to make a little friend for my Bubbles pillow, and here she is! It's gloomy today so I couldn't get the colors right in the photo, but it's close. And here they are together on the couch! Making friends.

And their backsides too! I love using shirts for the backs. It's SO FAST! and tidy.

Last week I finished my portrait. I posted about it over on the Say Cheese! blog. Check out everyone's portraits over there.

This was a very new experience for me. I don't think of myself as artistic so I'm thrilled that I pulled it off. I started with a photo of myself, enlarged it, traced parts, and took it from there. Noses are tricky and I'm not certain of my thread painting skills so I just did little slivers. It worked out ok. And it's possible that little birdies are becoming my trademark. We'll have to wait and see. Yesterday, I worked hard on a UFO that I've had for 4 years. Yup, FOUR years. And I
mean to finish it this week. Oh yeah, baby!! I better get off this computer and git back to work. Toodles!

I'm a Winner (again!) and a correction.

My happy little pillow, Bubbles, won a prize at Brown Paper Packages in the SYTYCQ contest. I actually had a little competition this time and still won. Yahoo!! Now I have to make a little correction: Quilt Dad did make a pillow like this but I used Ryan's tutorial to make this. Guess I got my guy quilters a little mixed up. Sorry Ryan!! I have some fun things to show you this week. I promise some more regular posts. I do, really, no fooling! Stay tuned peeps!

Alive and well!

I'm alive! Actually starting to feel human too.
Look what I finished. I finally cut into my Cherrywood fabrics and made a runner using a Kathie Alyce pattern and template. It's hard to tell in my photos but the wall color is a pale lime, spring green. I LOVE it! It's so clean, fresh, and bright.If you have never had any Cherrywood hand-dyed fabrics, you should consider getting some. They cost more than a few pennies but, my gosh, the colors are rich and gorgeous.

This was a fun and easy pattern to 'whip up'. Using the template, and following Kathie's directions, it was easy to get the curves to go together. I have wanted to do some quilting like this. All lines. I followed the curves in the pattern and just 'eyeballed' each row of stitches. No marking. I am really kind of a lazy quilter. But I do love how this turned out, and I'm thrilled with it in my front hall. So mod in my frumpy old house, lol.

Hopefully, I will get some more finishes done in the next few weeks. Woo hoo!

This is your e-vite to my Pity Party!

Only mostly joking!! I had some surgery last week and I am disappointed in my recovery. You know you're a quilter when............you hear, 'you need to have that surgically fixed.' and you think, 'yahoo! time off for quilting!!'. Just think what a quilter can do with 6 weeks away from the 'real' job! Anyway, I'm sorta creeping around the house planning for better days. AND, guess what?! I am almost to 100 posts! I think I'll have a giveaway to celebrate when I get there. Hmmm? What should it be? I made something cute last week, a drawstring bag to take to the hospital with me for my toiletries. The housekeeping lady went nuts over it and now I'm making her one for her church collections. Maybe I'll whip two up (that is when I can whip up anything) and then I can fill one up with goodies for one of my bloggy friends. Well, stay tuned folks, I have a few posts to go then I'll have a bit of fun for you.
Meanwhile, here are a few pictures of some Baltimore fun. Every spring the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore has a big Kinetic Sculpture race. My friend, and fellow nurse, Tony, has entered for the last 5 years. This year his float was 'Chessie' (the Chesapeake Bay equivalent to the Loch Ness monster). Apparently Chessie is not happy about all of the snow that got dumped into the Baltimore Harbor this past February, and she has emerged to roam the streets of Baltimore. Chessie has 99 styrofoam teeth (one has a gold grill!), a jaw that opens and closes, eyes made from garbage can lids, and a LOT of glitter!! Also, there is a little blue/purple poodle dangling in front of Chessie. I think it's to try to entice her back to the Bay.
Look carefully in her mouth and you can see Tony who powers Chessie with a bicycle.

This is another of the floats, the Candy Haus. Those big lollipops were used as paddles as the float entered the harbor for the water feature. The race was great fun. My husband and I
sat in the sun and watched all of the floats as they entered the water and attempted to get out by their own steam. After that, the race headed to Patterson Park for the obstacle course and the sand/mud pit. If you are intrigued, google' kinetic sculpture race, baltimore' and read more.

In other news, here is a picture of the cute pillow I got from my friend Chris in the Wild Thread pillow swap. I had to have it because of the ice cream. Oh my gosh, I love ice cream!! I can't remember the last time I had some because I've been on a diet. I think I should get some though. What good is a pity party without ice cream?

And last of all, here's my Daisy napping on the windowsill. We have had some NICE weather. Have you ever noticed how a hot day is like a drug for a cat? She usually sleeps in a basket on the shelf in my sewing room, but this gorgeous day, she couldn't resist the hot sun! Okay, I guess the party is over. Allow me to formally apologize for any whining that may have occurred. Be assured that it was nothing compared to the offline whining, lol. Now, if you will excuse me, I must go adjust my attitude!

I forgot to show you the back of my circles pillow (by the way I am naming it 'Bubbles'). Here it is, I used a men's shirt from the thrift store. It didn't photograph well so I put a pen in the pocket for reference. This picture is a little better. I love the thrift shop!

Remember those silks that I won from 'I Have a Notion'? Here is a scarf I made using some of them. I used a little Kaffe as the lining. I love Kaffe.
My very first yo-yo's, and made out of silk to boot!

I like my scarf. (Try not to stare at the gum in my mouth, it's not polite.) Years ago, I made a New Year's resolution that was a big flop. It was to accessorize more, lol. I think maybe I'll try again.

Circles!! Delicious circles!

Remember this little tease last week? My scraps from a secret project? Welllllll..........

Check this out!! I am completely in love with this pillow. I saw something similiar on a blog (I'm pretty sure it was Quilt Dad) and knew I was going to have to try something like it. Here's my version. I made a bunch of circles and then snipped and trimmed and started building my little masterpiece.
My little love affair with solids continues. The background is shot cotton from Kaffe and the circles are ombre with little scratches on them.

I just feel like drooling when I look at this. I am really thrilled with it. I have an idea for a companion pillow. Not circles. Have you seen any of the ticker tape designs out there? I'll use the same fabrics, just different shapes.

Here's a picture of how I packed my batiks last weekend. Mmmmmm! I love how I can pick through it and see all of my different batiks.

Oooooo, lordy! I just want to drool and roll around with these.

Now, let's see if anyone is still with me. When I was sorting through all of my fabrics last weekend, I found quite a bit of flannel. Check out these pics.
Who can resist dots and stripes?

I'm really not in the mood to make a raggy quilt but does anyone have any suggestions for some simple quilts I can make these into. I've been thinking about just making some kids' quilts with simple squares. What do you think? Any other ideas for a quick and easy quilt?

ps Don't you just love Fridays? I can't wait til bedtime! I sure love my bed!!!! Goodnight peeps.

Spring Fever!

I have spent the entire weekend in my sewing room and haven't even turned on my machine. Nope, haven't cut any fabric or plugged in the iron either. I have been organizing. Do you need a minute to catch your breath or get up off the floor? I sense you may be laughing hard. It had to be done, I am fed up with the clutter in here. It is so hard to get any work done when I have to clear a workspace every time. Sadly, the cutting table and the sewing table are still completely buried. But honestly, I am really getting somewhere. I have been sorting and folding my stash. I also packed up quite a bit of fabric into banker's boxes. I labeled them and put them in a closet. This was the wools, flannels, homespuns, xmas fabric, and batiks. I am having second thought about the batiks going into the closet though. I love the way they are in the box though, all in a row so I can just flip through them. I really should have taken a picture. Very soon I am going to make the back for my batik quilt though, so I'll nab a photo then. I organized my ribbons, buttons, notions, trims, patterns, and fat quarters. Tomorrow, I will clear everything off the tables and sort through it. My kitchen counter and island are rarely cluttered (maybe cuz I don't cook much, lol), and my goal is for this room to look the same. I'll ask you again, do you need a minute?

So anyway, last weekend the Wild Threads had a pillow swap and here is the little sweetie, I made. I just can't resist Kelly's designs from Don't Look Now. I mixed and matched from her patterns to make this little pillow.

Tweet! The birdies are always my favorite. I think the next pillow or mini I make might just have to have a dozen of these babies.
I knew I bought the heart shaped shell buttons for a good reason. I've have them for probably 5 years.

Hi Ladybug! I'm glad to see you on this pretty pillow instead of crawling aroung my bedroom and bathroom.

Last weekend I made something new and special..... but I can't show you yet. It has to wait until next weekend. But I will show you this, I used the scraps from my secret project and threw this together. It's about 6 X 8 inches and I'll probably make it into a mini wallquilt or pillow. It's on my design wall for now. I like it there. It's cheery.

Next weekend, I'll unveil my little secret project. Bye bye!

Whoa! I need to catch my breath!!!!

Look look look!! I won some gorgeous silk. Can you believe it? I can't. I am so excited. I mentioned before that I Have A Notion was having a month of giveaways to celebrate their one year anniversary. Today was the announcement of the winners. There were so many prizes, all of them awesome! I read down the list looking for my name. Patterns, AccuQuilt Go ,books, Mod Podge, an iron, threads, lots and lots of rulers, fabric, DVD's, notions, paint sticks, etc etc......nope nope nope. After over 80 prizes, the VERY LAST ONE goes to.........9patchnurse! Unbelievable! That's me! I would've been excited to win anything (please don't tell them that), but OMG ....16 gorgeous fat quarters! The first thing I am going to do with it is make a patchwork scarf and I'm going to put some beads on it too. Then I think some nice pillows for my sofa. The good sofa from Pottery Barn with the sage green velvet slipcover. Don't you think some pillows out of these colors would look good on that? Whew! I've had a hard week and this was a really nice bright spot. Now, I think I'll go to bed and get a good night's sleep. I hope you have a great weekend too.

My pyjamas and Heather Ross

I can't tell you how much I love Heather Ross' fabrics. I love them more than........ well almost more than my kitties! I have been known to bid ridiculous amounts of $$ on ebay to get a scrap of fabric from one of her discontinued lines. Part of that is just determination not to be outbid, I get a little competitive. Here are a few shots of my PJ bottoms. Sometimes I buy munki munki poplin PJ's just to get a Heather Ross fix. I like to write captions for these fabrics, such as......
"Look! Mom, look! All those kids are getting ice cream. Can I have some? Can I? Huh? Huh? Mom!?" "Oh! Honey, don't let the doggie have your ice cream!"
"I love you!"

"Waaaaait!!!!"

My plan was to wear the bottoms and cut up the tops for fabric. I haven't been able to cut into the tops yet. In fact, I have a box of Heather Ross fabrics that I just pull out once in a while to look at. Every day brings me a little closer to using it in a quilt or pillow of something. Some day soon. I just know it!

Check out this giveaway!

I Have a Notion is having a month of giveaways to celebrate their one year blogaversary! Check it out, one of the prizes is an AccuQuilt Go. Awesome!!! If you don't win, (cuz maybe I will, lol) you can always get one at their store. Good luck!

Testing the new computer!

On Friday I was online before leaving for work and I heard a 'bzzt!'. The screen turned off. My lime green laptop went dark, died, expired, belly up, 6 feet under, GONE! I have heard rumors of something called a motherboard. Well I think I cooked mine. I had noticed the laptop heating up, too bad I didn't pay more attention. So now I have a new laptop (and I got it a little cooling seat of it's own!).
I wanted to get so much done this weekend and I have spent too much time trying to get my old info onto the new computer. The Geek Squad helped me salvage everything onto an external hard drive. This post is a test to make sure I can download and transfer pictures etc. Looks like it's working! This fabric on the left was for an 'ugly fabric' challenge that the Wild Threads had last year. I was into handpiecing some hexies at the time.

This is what I came up with. I saw something like it online somewhere and it looked like fun. So I now have a fabric tree sculture. The trunk and branches are embroidered corduroy. It's been stuck up on my design wall for at least a year because I have no idea what to do with it. Any ideas? I am thinking of designating a wall somewhere in this house (still to be decided) and just put this and lots of other mini quilts up.

I think. I don't know. Maybe. We'll see.

Ok, now the test is over. It appears the new computer is up and running for the most part. It's not lime green, sigh, but I think I'll put some stickers on it, lol. Enjoy your sunday everybody, I'm going to get busy here. Buh-bye!

Vintage (noun) - a period of origin or manufacture

I started this on retreat and finished it yesterday. Leisel has a great competition, So you think you can quilt, going at her blog. This month's theme is vintage. Now, if you ask me what I think vintage means, I immediately think of old linens and such. Aprons on June Cleaver etc. I was so excited when it dawned on me to use this little lady that I've had on my design wall for so long. Isn't she pretty? And such a pretty little apron. I made the apron a few years ago for a family Xmas exchange. It wasn't the big hit that I thought it would be.....oh well.

Vintage quilts make me think of blocks like these little bow ties or shoofly blocks. These blocks are about 3 inches square, so darn cute! I really have to make a quilt with bow tie blocks.

Several years ago I got a package of '30's solids' and this was a fun time to use them, even that poopy brown one.

So, this is my vintage entry. I'm going to go play with Mr Linky and hook it up with Leisel's blog. Last month, I won a nice quilt pattern for my entry on 'Love'. The problem was that I was the only one who posted a link. This time I would love to win again but I would like a little (just a tiny bit) of competition. And I really hope that last month's win doesn't diminish my chances this month. Ok Leisel? Huh, Ok? Check out her blog everybody! It's really nice. G'nite!

Snob (noun) - one who tends to rebuff, avoid, or ignore those regarded as inferior.

Snobbishness.... snobbery.... being a snob.... acting snooty or hoity-toity.... being a complete snootypants. It's all so easy. I don't think it's very nice to be a snob but it is a character flaw of mine that I struggle with. I fight the urge, and when I fail, I at least try to hide my dark side.
My mom taught me how to knit when I was a kid. Knitting is for sweaters, sassy scarfs, intricate intarsia and fair-isle designs, striped socks, Christmas stockings, and oh-so-snuggly baby sweaters. Knitting is cool, hip, and classic. Crochet is not. Crochet is for grannies, retirees, afghans, and toilet roll covers.
So why have I just begun to crochet? Well, first I stumbled across Beata, who has a blog called rosehip. She makes wonderful things including gorgeous, tasty, colorful, and just plain precious pillowcases with crocheted trims. I drooled over these cases for a while and then Cassie at You Go Girl posted a tutorial for these fantabulistic cases. It has been a slippery slope ever since! So far, I have only made these two cases. I think the cotton yarn I used is a little thick for this project.

It doesn't have the lacey quality that I had hoped for and it is a touch 'bunchy', but I still love it. Of course, yarn is like fabric. You can never have too much. I started with the Sugar'n Cream (isn't that a great name?). Yesterday I bought two colors of the Royal crochet thread. I want to see how the thinner thread/yarn looks. I also now have 3 different sizes of crochet needles. Mmmm, actually I think they are called 'hooks'.

Oh gosh!! Look! It seems I also bought a book. So far, I haven't really been able to figure out the directions, but I also had a little trouble with Cassie's tutorial. I didn't know what a 'double crochet' was or how to do it. Don't you just love Google? A couple of clicks and I had a video tutorial of the double crochet stitch. Ta-daa!

I have already pulled some more fabrics out to make more cases. I hope Macy's, Kohls, Target or SOMEBODY has a sale on pillows soon. It would really help me out. Did I really need a new passion? I think not. Thanks Beata and Cassie!

Check out this little bit of sweetness!! A while back, I won a giveaway from Arctic Mum. Mali lives in Norway, near the North Pole. I think she's related to Santa because she sent me this gorgeous pillow (she calls it a cushion, isn't that cool?!). It is made with a Norwegian style of embroidery called Hardanger. You can read her post about it here. I really love this 'cushion' and I will be auditioning it in several places around the house for just the right spot. I want to make sure it gets noticed but I would rather the kitties don't nap on it. My friends are right when they tell me I'm a 'wiener'! I really should buy a lottery ticket. I can't believe I haven't won the HGTV dream house yet. Maybe next year, huh?
I hope you all had a nice Easter. We slept with the windows open last night. I LOVE that! I have something special to show you soon, just have a little finishing up to do. Toodles!

Wanna know what keeps me from posting more often?

Lack of pictures ready to go. I can always think of something to say but I like to have something for you to look at. So tomorrow I am going to load up lots of photos in my folder so I always have something. Anything inside or outside of my house is fair game. Warning! Warning 9patch family!! I may be pointing the camera your way! If 9patchboy sleeps too late, he'll be photographed looking lazy.
Look what I won on retreat! The small tin of Guterman thread was from winning our 'loud and crazy' bingo game. The other YLI iris thread was a Fabulous prize. Throughout the retreat weekend, Nancy hands us tickets. The last one to go to bed and the first one up usually get extra tickets. We also ask constantly (beg, really) for extras. "Hey Nancy, Chris is picking on me. Shouldn't I get a ticket for sitting next to her?" "Nancy, I finished a row, can I get a ticket?" and so on, and so on. She draws tickets on the last day for 'Fabulous' prizes. You can only win once and wasn't I excited to get this colorful thread. I have just the project for it, I'll show you soon. This! was a $3 blouse from the Thrift shop. I cut it up and the front with the button closures will be the back of a pillow that I'm making. I can't show it yet. The Wild Threads are having a pillow swap in a couple weeks and this might be my donation. Although I found a new blog with an awesome pillow tutorial today, I might want to make that one. More on that later, I want to keep a lid on what I'm doing. Anyway, I saw this idea of using a shirt somewhere on a blog. I'm so sorry that I can't remember which one. It's a great idea though and a great way to recycle old shirts from family or thrifting. I found that the women's shirts were priced lower than the men's and they are certainly more colorful. I got about 5 or 6. A couple of them fit me and my daughter said I should keep them, we'll see.

Look what came in the mail yesterday!! This was my inspiration for the border on my retreat quilt, and I decided to just go ahead and get the book. Judy's quilts are so colorful, I can't wait to make one. The backgrounds take a lot of fabric though, and I'm not sure that I have any cuts that big. I'll have to check. I gained 9 yards of fabric this month and really need to start using my stash. The back of my retreat quilt should help though. I'm going to work on that soon. Judy also has a cooking blog and she put some of her recipes in the back of this book. Easy recipes for dishes that will be cooking while you are sewing on the weekend. She's a smart lady! Check out her blogs here and here. Her stories about her chickens are hilarious.

Last but not least, here is an item that is perfect for retreats and sewing marathons. I took an old TV table and covered it with batting and fabric to make a small portable ironing table. My friend, Chris, went one step further and made the cover removable. That way she can still use it as a TV table and she can wash the cover. I was lazy and just cut up an old bedsheet and took the staple gun to it.

I haven't done any egg dyeing for Easter this year and wouldn't you know I saw the cutest tutorial today for easy fabric eggs from scraps. No time today because I have to work, boo hoo. And it's way to late to try to make and send some to my niece and nephew in California. Darn it!! Wouldn't that have been the cutest little package to send? A basket of eggs? Awww!

Have a great Easter everyone! Our weather is gorgeous, hope yours is too. Bye-bye!