2009

Last year I attempted to curb my fabric purchases. All it did was make me feel awful each time I bought something. I also tried, and failed to use my stash and only my stash......I think I figured out why these things are wrong for me. So, I have a new thing I'd like to try this year. I have projects, loads and loads of projects. Book, patterns, magazines, internet photos, on and on. I have wanted to do many of these things for quite a long time. Well, this is the year I am going to do it. I have a goal, loose but a goal, to do as many of the projects as possible. I don't care if it is fabric wallets, wallhangings or full quilts. I just want to do the projects that inspired me to purchase, download or print. In addition, I promised my girls a gift a month for the year and this will help me to get so many things finished. I am done with Jan. and Feb. and am working on March. Anyone want to join me? Let's just get things done. UFO's, WIP, PIMM, Kits, whatever. Just do it! Be ready for lots of little projects being finished here.

Minkee the Explorer

I apologize in advance to those of you that could care less......I HAVE to give a Minkee update. This cat is so amusing that even DH is in love.

First, she loves to look outside. I have no intention of letting her go outside but she loves going on the patio with DH when he smokes a cigar. Well, at least that is how it started. Now, she goes and stands by the door and MEOWS untill we let her out there. She even trys to open the door herself! She stands on her back paws and batts at the door handle. When that doesn't work, she goes up on the end table and reaches across to the door knob and bats away at it. One day she reached a bit too far and bam! hit the floor!
She loves nooks and crannies. We couldn't stop laughing when we saw her in the small space between the equipment and the cabinet. She tried to get behind all of that equipement but it didn't work. She settled for right in the nook and just sat there and watched us play guitar hero!

She opened, OPENED the cabinet and walked into it. We watched her slowly disappear inside and then proceed to explore the dishes. After the amusement of this one I rattle the jars and scared her out. That was the last time for that!

The funniest is one that I don't have a picture. I was sewing and heard, scritch, scratch, scritch, scratch. I went into the bathroom and there she was, in the tub, rubbing and chewing the faucet and knob that turns on the shower. I shooed her out. A while later I hear scritch, scratch, scritch, scratch, kersplash! I jumped up and got to the bathroom just in time for her to dart out like a bat out of hell! The bathroom was soaked! That big ole' girl fell into the toilet!!!!!! OH my GOSH we couldn't stop laughing!!!! She on the other hand was rather indignant! No more fighting over up or down on toilet lids in this family!

PJ Pants

Here is one more photo of presents I gave. I made each of the kids and DH PJ pants. I only got photos of one set. It was too funny because they had to settle for whatever flannel I got on sale last year at Joanns. DH had tootsie roll pants, Mr. Fancy Pants got little tractor pants, C2 got Nascar/Coke pants, one girl had a childlike flower pattern and the other, fruits! They were all such good sports and didn't mind. Whew!

Where does time really go?

I know it's bad when a non quilty friend calls to ask if I'm ok. "You haven't posted on your blog since December 18th!!!!!" Let me go back and recap.

December 19th was our big Hanukkah Celebration at school. I arrange the entire day. The whole school (125 kids, 20 or so teachers ) cycle through various stations. The culmination of the event is a gathering (which I lead) with songs, candle lighting etc. My duties, in addition to arranging each station, setting up, shopping, finding volunteers (I had a great PTO helper with this one), included arranging an entertainment basket for a family in our school. ( The dad of the family has been deployed to Afghanistan. ) Now realize that I love doing all of this. As a matter of fact, it was all my idea. I just didn't know two things. One, was that either parents don't read school mail, the tough economic times were too much for families to be able to provide for another family (the entertainment basket was to be a school wide collection), or I didn't provide enough in the bombardment of information, but we only received 3 donations to the entertainment basket. There I was the day before the party, shopping, with my own money, and filling up the basket! Two was that I was going to be incredibly sick the day of the party!!!

Imagine my trying to oversee all of the activities, food and volunteers all the while trying desperately not to throw up all over everyone! (it was especially delightful picking up the 22 doz. donuts and smelling Krispy Kreme donuts all the way to school!) Luckily the volunteers were fantastic and ran the stations beautifully and the teachers just carried on. At one point, I went into the office, closed the door and laid down on the couch. Naturally, that was the exact moment my NEW BOSS chose to walk in the office!!!! Ugh! I was miserable, not sure if I was contagious and trying so hard to make it to the big gathering so I could lead songs, be cheery, and pretend like I was having fun! I didn't make it! Twenty minutes before the big gathering, I had to leave. It was awful. I had to leave my "baby", my gathering, the party I'd planned for so long and go home. I felt awful, just awful for one full day and not so great for about 5 more. Ms. Minkee the cat, never left my bedside the entire day I was sick. The next day, Ms. A and C2 arrived (after postponing their arrival by a day) and we created a new Hanukkah custom. Hanukkah Pizza! There was no way I was going to make latkas!

Before the Hanukkah sickness, I was furiously quilting and tying! I made 12, yes you read correctly, 12 fleece blankets.

After I'd made 11 I decided to make one for myself.

This is a pile of a few I made. All totalled, I made 4 Cleveland Browns blanket while the rest were various prints. Of the 12, 2 were 2 1/2 yds. instead of 2 and 3 were 2 1/4 yards. That's a lot of tying!!!! My next few posts will show the rest of the things I made for my family. I didn't buy them gifts this year. They were all handmade. The photos aren't grand. I was still half sick and could have cared less about taking pictures!!!!!!!

Still Alive

I'm still here and have loads of photos to share....no time to do so until after tomorrow.  Can't wait to get back and read everything you all have been up to!  Look for pictures soon!  Big Hanukkah party at school tomorrow, then family celebration on Saturday!!  I'm tired! Plus I have to finish tying 3! fleece blankets before tomorrow night !! OY!

Have you seen this

This is funny and worth the few minutes it takes to watch.

Mom Singing

From Sweet to Sassy

First off, I have been quilting. Well, I have been tying that is. A series of fabric events have led me down the road of fleece blankets. Nine of them to be exact! I may be wild and crazy, round it up to 10 and make myself one. I have 6 finished and 3, maybe 4 to go. Pictures of those later.

Right now, more important issues....the cat! I feed her every morning and evening. The vet told me the amount to feed her, the cat food bag agrees, and that is what I stick to. I have a leftover "kibbles" bag from the grocery store and a new bag of the fancy schmany stuff the vet recommended. The FS bag is made of that plasticy stuff and has a zip top. The kibbles bag is paper and I physically roll the top. I stopped giving her the kibbles once I bought the FS bag. I mixed them at first but then stopped. Why? I don't know, I just did. Tuesday, when I came home from work, I noticed that the kibbles bag was in the middle of the kitchen floor! Huh! Is the bag making a break for it? Did the rest of the junk it was sitting on wiggle it off and throw it? I think not. I do believe that the Sweet, Innocent, Minkee decided that Ididn't get home from work quickly enough and took matters into her own hands...or nose, and tried to open the bag herself! Fast Forward to Thursday. I am cooking dinner and hear, crunch, crunch, crunch turn around and see Sweet, Innocent ,Minkee sitting in the pantry, in front of the kibbles bag, eating out of the bag! I left it all the way it was and and waited for her to come back and do it again so I could get pictures. OMG! This was TOO funny!!!!!! I couldn't get her sitting in front of the bag. This time she stuck her entire head inside the bag! I wonder how long she worked on that rolled down bag before she actually got it open?!

Sewing room addition

I am always so envious of the cute things I see in other sewing rooms. When I saw this in Houston I knew it had to go home with me. I went back three times before I finally chose between this and the mouse pad that said "Fat Quarters are Not a Body Part." I still want something with that saying but no longer remember who I bought this from! Isn't this so cute?

Oh Poor Ms. Minkee

I'm so sorry to fill this blog with so many cat posts but........Aye, yae, yae! I took Ms. Minkee to the vet yesterday. She had 8 million shots and 45 million tests. (Oh BTW, the vet said she is Lynx Point Siamese Cat) . Because she was a stray, it was unknown whether she'd been vaccinated ect. and I needed to

A. Be sure she is healthy
B. Be sure she remains healthy

I needed to make sure that she wasn't deserted because she was sick. Ever since the shots, she has not been herself. She is miserable! She has been asleep or very, very lethargic. I even took her back to the vet this morning. I was so worried last night that I not only didn't sleep but woke DH up 2X to check her, and very nearly took her to the emergency vet! The vet this morning said that she is just reacting to the vaccines. She is not having an allergic reaction. Today she is slightly better but didn't eat or drink all day. She is utterly pitiful. She looks so helpless and is so listless.

DH aka,"I don't like cats," aka Mr. Bluff and Bluster, got caught trying to make the poor sick kitty feel better.

This is how she has spent most of today. She just looked so pitiful that I had to snap these pictures and share our misery.

She was curled up in a ball so tight that I thought maybe she was cold so I covered her up. I guess I need to go out and buy her a Minkee blanket!!!!

She actually stayed under the blanket so I guess she was cold. Gosh, this is worse than a sick baby! At least a baby cries. Cats just give you pitiful eyes.

Buttons, Buttons

Like my quilters art? One day a few weeks ago I decided to layer my buttons by color. Why? Because they were there of course! About 10 mins. into the separation activity I was sick of it. Mrs. S was helping me. After 20 mins. I was whining and after 30 mins....well, let's just say thank goodness Mrs. S is an adult. She kept saying to me "this was your idea!" Well we finally finished and I think it looks great. The very next day, literally, the very next day was the when I helped my friend . I not only brought home fabric but also loads of craft items for school and buttons. Lots of buttons! I nearly cried when I realized that I could have waited one day!!! I called Mrs. S to ask her to help again...........uhm.... fooled her once but it didn't work twice!! I put them in another container!

MINKEE THE CAT!

Ms. Rosaline has discovered the perfect name for Cat. I don't know if it will be Minkee Cat or Cat Minkee but the name Minkee will enter in there somewhere. Thank you so much for all of the wonderful, creative suggestions. Ms. Rosaline contact me. I'd like to send you a thank you!

Name the Cat Please!

DH and I are perfectly happy to call the cat "Cat." However, I am taking her to the vet on Friday and really need a real name. Help! Here are some suggestions so far...

DH said call her "Columbus" as she discovered us. I like this line of thinking the best but can't come up with a name.....I don't like Columbus.

Someone, in comment on this blog, suggested "Mooch." Mrs. S. loves this name the best.

Here are her attributes....

Purrs like a motorboat

chews on plastic

likes rubberbands??? HUH? but true EDIT! I DO NOT LET HER HAVE THE RUBBERBANDS.

SHE IS HOWEVER ATTRACTED TO THEM. PLEASE DON'T WORRY. EVEN NOT KNOWING ABOUT CATS, RUBBERBANDS SEEMED RATHER DANGEROUS TO PLAY WITH. SHE ALSO HAS ALREADY STOLEN A PLASTIC FLOWER HEAD PIN OUT OF A PROJECT I WAS WORKING ON, WHILE I WAS WORKING ON IT!!!! I PROMISE, PROMISE TO BE AS VILIGANT AS POSSIBLE. NOT SHOUTING HERE (ALTHOUGH IT KINDA LOOKS THAT WAY,. JUST HIT THE CAPS LOCK AND AM TOO LAZY TO RETYPE)

Prefers a wadded up piece of paper as a toy to a store bought one.

puts head on my pillow with me at night

Is cute as a button

won over Mr. Bluff & Bluster, DH

sits on top of my quilts as I am sewing and won't move. (ties in with walked in our garage and didn't leave)

I have no earthly idea of what name to give her. I'll know it when I hear it so suggest away.. Oh yeah, I need the name by Friday at noon so I don't go to the vet like a nincompoop calling the cat "Cat.

(if you are wondering what pig sty she is sitting in in the picture, it is a cabinet under the computer....it houses an old joy stick, mouse pads (ha, ha), ink cartridges....it is a mess but only has a 12" opening and noone can see inside it....except the Cat

Last of the snowmen

This is the last snowman panel I had to do. Working on the flat table was so very nice. The front looks like swirling snow but you can really see the quilting detail on the back.

I was practicing for the quilt that I am quilting tomorrow on CCCat's longarm. Then I threw in some doodly things. I really enjoy quilting on the DSM. I think that big piece of thread on the back is especially attractive......

Radar????

WHAT THE HECK? AM I SUDDENLY ON A CAT RADAR? I OPENED THE GARAGE DOOR THIS MORNING AND HEARD....MEOW!!!! THIS IS WHAT I SAW!!! NO, NO, NO I SAY! NO MORE CATS! I EVEN TOLD THE CAT "OH, NO, NO NO! YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING!!!!" I GOT IN THE CAR AS FAST AS I COULD AND WENT TO WORK. SHEESH!!!! THIS CAT LOOKS DEMONIC! MAYBE I HAVE IT'S BUDDY! MAYBE IT WANTED IN. GOOD GOLLY NO, NO, NO I SAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ENOUGH CATS. ENOUGH!!! AS IT IS "CAT" HAS TAKEN OVER MY SEWING ROOM AND LOOKS AT ME LIKE I'M INTRUDING WHEN I WANT TO SEW.....TAKE ME OFF THE RADAR!!!

More about Houston

I don't know if I posted these or not but here they are. I just couldn't walk away from the booth at School House Quilt Shoppe without buying them. As usual, there is a story.....

School House Quilt Shoppe is the home of Judie Rothermel. Don't know Judie? Perhaps you are familiar with Aunt Grace Fabrics? Civil War Repros? Well, she is the designer. Hers is also the first quilt shop I ever visited. School House Quilts was the first place I ever took a quilting lesson. I do have proof.....unfinished proof, but proof. The class I took was beginning quilting (mid 80's) and it was all templates and hand sewing. This is the one and only thing I semi finished in the class. It is hanging in my sewing room.
I loved that quilt store. They had this gorgeous six pointed star quilt hanging. I used to go in and hope that somehow the kit miraculously became more affordable (I was a young bride, a new mom and broke!) I almost cried when I went home to visit and they had closed the shop. I guess she got too busy. But, they are always in Houston and I always drool over the fabrics. Even though I don't use Civil War repros often, they are my very favorite fabrics. I think that the influence of going in School House Quilts really stuck with me. When I was in Houston, I told her that this entire obsession is her fault! I also asked her about that quilt. It seems it's hanging in her house. She said that she would take a photo of it for me and email it. Well, today I got brave and sent an email. I sure do hope that she is able to take that picture!

New Table

I finally got the table I bought in Houston. It came about 2 weeks ago but luckily UPS dropped it and it got here looking like thisLovely huh! The owners of Sew Perfect Tables were so nice. They immediately sent out another table. After a bit of grunting and groaning...deciphering of directions and whining....DH got the table together. There are 3 reasons I bought this as opposed to other tables out there.

1.)price. It is reasonable. I didn't need a loan or financing to be able to afford it! Plus it's the same price as the Janome table but a few inches bigger.
2.)it has an extension table that folds down. This is great in a small room. When I need it I can open it up. When I don't, it's down.


3.)it is adjustable!! whoohoo!! I am short and am so tired of stretching to sew. My feet never touch the ground as I have to raise my chair so high. I used to have my foot pedal on
books to reach it after I raised the chair high enough.

It is a bit industrial looking. To be honest though, I want something that works and don't necessarily need beauty. I quilted a panel on it last night and was thrilled to have a totally flat surface! WhooHOOO!

DH MUST love me

In this time of delicious looking food, I thought I'd post what I fed DH last week. You see, every once in a while I make "cream of green" soup. This is quite an arbitrary name. It is actually, cream of "whatever is in the bottom of the fridge" soup. I take all the "seen better days" veggies plus leftover canned vegis, an onion and maybe even some frozen vegis and saute them in a pan. After they are a bit soft, I add broth, water, wine.....whatever. I let it cook and then puree it. At this point it is very thick and I either freeze it or dilute a bit more and then add some cream, milk or cheese.

Now lets have a short science lesson here.....red and blue make purple, yellow and blue make green,.... carrots, parsley and tomatos.....uhm.......how do I say this without using my potty mouth........perhaps a picture will sufficiently describe the color and look.....


Luckily it tasted delicious. You just couldn't look at it while you ate. (I have been making this soup for a long time and this picture is way prettier than it actually looked!!) I asked my SIL, Mr. FancyPants if he wanted some ugly soup. He said that I'd served him ugly soup before and this couldn't be that bad.....untill he saw it. He said I outdid myself in the color and texture department this time. I couldnt' get Mrs. S to eat any. She couldn't get past the color.

The Blackmailing of Mr.FatQuarters

Mrs. S and Ms. A used to ask if we could get a cat. No, no , no! DH convinced them that he was allergic. When this cat story "broke, " the girls couldn't raze DH fast enough. "HEY, YOU ARE ALLERGIC TO CATS DAD!" Since Saturday he has been full of bluff and bluster with contradictory comments like

"You are not keeping that cat" followed by , "Your cat is calling you."

"You are not keeping that cat" followed by, "What are you going to do if the owner comes to claim it?"

"You are not keeping that cat," followed by, "You better go buy that cat some food and a litter box."

"You are not keeping that cat" followed by, "Whatcha naming your cat?"

Sunday we caught him petting and cooing to the cat in the garage. Yesterday I got this picture. HA! It seemed blackmail was in order.....He received the following email

"If you want this photo to remain a secret you must deposit 5 yards of quilt shop fabric into my sewing room by noon (12 o'clock) today. Failure to do so will result in the instant publication of the photo. Your fate is in your hands..... (no fake sneezing!)"

His response.....(exactly the way he wrote it)

It looks like I was sleeping! I don’t even remember the event! (sigh) What color fabric do you want……?

We have a strange relationship! LOL!!

The new way to wake up

4:30 am - wake up for apparently no reason. Lay there pretending to be asleep

4:37 am hear a soft meow

4:45 am coffee pot begins grinding and brewing (someone didn't adjust the timer to "fall

back!"). The grinder sounds like a wood chipper at 4:45 am!

4:46 am cat begins walking over my head

4:47 am cat stops moving but PURRS like a lion in my ear.

4:48 am cat crawls back over my head, settles in in between my face and arm and and allows

me to breathe in cat hair, all the while shoving its nose in my face

4:49 am doze

5:10 am wake to cat licks on my arm

5:30 am sigh, give in and get up and feed the cat
7:43 am already cleaned and scrubbed the pantry,drank coffee, washed new set of dishes,
drank coffee, cleaned out the fridge, drank coffee..... all while the CAT NAPPED! Poor
bubella musta been tired after waking so early! Crimmeny!


.......I'm in deep, deep trouble here........

How exciting!!!

Uhhhmmmm......how did this post???? Look at the date at the top????? Did I lose an entire day during the last hour????????

I received this photo and letter from Maria about the luggage tag tutorial I posted a while back. It's so exciting that others are using what I created. I wish I were more creative as it a certain high knowing that others not only like what I created but want to share it with others. Below is the letter I received along with this great photo.

Hi Morah,

I am a fellow quilter who doesn't have a blog but lurks on other people's :)I loved your luggage tag tutorial and have made a few on my own andfor my church fair. I went on a quilt retreat last week and made afew more and before I knew it I was giving a class in making them (nopayment, just sharing as you did) and this is what everyone made. Afew more were made after this picture was taken and everyone thoughtit was just a great project! Thanks for sharing your idea!

Maria

Thanks Maria and friends. You made my day!!

Oh Bother!

The view from my lap last night. At one point I laid down on the couch and so did the cat!.....on my belly! Oh bother!! I think we are in deep, deep doo doo here!! DH insisted that the cat go in the garage overnight since we don't really "know' it. She is so very indignant this morning! MEOW! I'll call the lost pet dept. at the newspaper this morning. Someone MUST be missing this very loving creature.

Cats

It is no big secret that I don't like cats. To be fair, I'm not a lover of dogs, birds, fish, iguanas or any other animal that requires my attention. I've harbored a secret love for kittens and puppies but since they grow up to be cats and dogs, I've been able to refrain. (plus I have been a terrible pet owner in the past.) I have to say though, in all honesty, it's not that I don't like the cats, it's more that their owners are usually, .....well....cat crazy. They love everything cat, collect cat fabric, talk cat talk, call one another with cat antecdotes and are ....well....cat crazy! I just never, ever wanted to be cat crazy.

I guess nature had another idea for me.

Two days ago there was this cat in the backyard. Then later in the day I found her sitting on our little patio. Yesterday, DH told me that he shooed a cat out of the garage. Was it the same cat? He couldn't tell me any details only that it was a cat. Then last night as I was making dinner I hear this loud meowing. I asked DH if it was the tv. Nope. I went out in the garage and there was this cat. She was meowing to beat the band. I couldn't get her out of the garage! Finally I decided that she must be hungry and yup! She was starving. Not knowing a thing about cats, I gave her milk. I went in the house. When she was done, she came to the door and meowed and meowed and meowed. CCCat told me to give her some meat. All I had was chicken fajita meat. Thats what she got.

She ate and then rubbed and rubbed against my legs. Finally I got brave enough to pet her. Then Mrs. S came over and she pet her.

Every time we went back in the house, she stood outside the door and meowed and meowed. If we opened the door, she was right there trying to get inside! This is a picture of the cat trying to get in. I;m crouched on the floor with the camera pointed out of a crack in the door!

At one point we finally got the cat out of the garage and this is what happened at the front door!

To make a long story shorter, Mrs. S finally shamed DH into allowing me to keep the garage door cracked so the cat wouldn't be out in the rain. That silly cat stood just kept standing by the door and meowing and meowing. It wasn't loud just persistent.

We went to bed and everytime I got up in the night, I heard the meowing at the door. It was pitiful!

This morning it was back to ear piercing meows! Hungry? Yes!

This cat has adopted me. It is very, very loving and people friendly. It jumped in my lap after it ate, put its paws up on my shoulders and it's head on my chest! AHHH! I can't like this cat. I don't like cats.

To be fair I called a lost pet hotline and tomorrow will put an add in the paper. .... This cat must be a lost one. Noone would turn out such a loving animal. It's obviously not wild and is very clean and been well cared for. ....... I also bought a litter box, litter and food to keep it from "screaming " at me in the morning. .....I also pet it every few minutes....I don't like cats!

Right now it is in the garage. It can't come in until it "proves" that it is litter trained......Every time I go out there it purrs and purrs.......AHHHH! I DON'T LIKE CATS!!!! Every time I come in, DH asks how MY cat is......(uhmmm, he doesn't like cats either but when I came in the house I caught him petting the cat!!)

BIG BIG BIG BIG SIGH! WE DON'T LIKE CATS! But we may be new cat owners........How far away is the cat fabric, cat talk and cat antecdotes? Oh bother!