Less Than Thrilled

Would someone like a cat?

Yippee!

Look at this…

It’s a whole roll of quilt batting. A whole roll!! A sweet lady that works with my hubby actually had this just laying around in her basement. Can you believe it? Not giving it a second thought? And guess what else?? She’s not even a quilter. What? Quilt batting in the home of a non-quilter?? I know!!

I can’t believe my luck!

Thank you Destiny!!! I heart you!

♥

It’s Funny Now

A while back I told the story about a very poor kitty who’d lost his home and was found by a very happy little girl.. Well, Poor Kitty has now been renamed “Pepper” and has gone from pauper to prince virtually over night. In other words, he lives with us now. It turns out that Pepper is the very best of hunters. He’s killed countless moles, several mice, every bird insight, and a flying squirrel. Here’s the morbid picture to prove it…

Well, as I was telling Goose for the 14th time this morning to sit down, drink her orange juice, eat her banana, and don’t forget your vitamins (we’ve had a cold for a week), Pepper comes prancing through the kitchen with his latest catch..a mouse..which is still alive…… Hmmm, I think to myself, I can handle this..I open the back door and try to coach him and his prey out.. Not working. Pepper then begins to swat the mouse around..showin’ him who’s boss, I guess. Just as I open my mouth to tell Goose to sit down that mouse takes off running..Goose’s eyes get as big around as eggs and the mouse heads straight up her pant leg. AHHHH!!!! We’re both yelling and jumping up and down frantic stricken. Luckily he came right back out and Pepper grabbed him up. Poor ol’ Goose burst into tears and I’m yelling, “Did it bite you? Did it bite you?” Again, we were lucky..it only scared her. It was then I started to laugh…how funny we must have looked..jumping up and down and screaming at the top of our lungs.. and how funny this story will be years from now when Goose retells it to her kids. Of course Goose found no humor whatsoever in this event. Actually, She went off to school mad. I’m sure at this very moment, she’s telling all her little friends how mean her mama is…But I’m still giggling. It was a crazy morning.

Thinking It Through

My Craft Hope quilt is finally finished. I hope to get her in the mail tomorrow. A lot of thought when into this quilt. I knew I was on a time line so I wanted it to be as easy as possible but it didn’t seem as though that was what was going to happen.  At first I was going to use one of the free patterns provided by Craft Hope but I kept running in to trouble with my fabric choices. First I had issues with the online checkout process.. then I spent over an hour in my local fabric shop only to come up empty handed. So I scaped that route and focused on the Charlie Brown fabric. From that came the reverse applique idea. After I completed that I felt moved to do the circular quilting idea.

I love the applique.. not so crazy about the circular quilting though. Perhaps if the circles where tighter ??? I don’t know.. sometime my ideas and outcomes don’t match. Goose thinks it looks cool though.. so hopefully the child who receives it will too.

One Groovy Chic

I’m not exactly sure how or when Goose came up with the idea of being a Hippie for halloween but this is the outcome to her thoughts…

This was all her idea: Cute little braids with colorful beads.. a ribbon headband.. tie-dyed fleece shawl.. peace purse.. blue jean bell-bottoms with painted graffiti.. and of course, peace necklace and earrings. I find myself asking, when did she become such an expert on 60s fashion? Scary!!

I made the jeans out of an old shower curtain, drew on a few 60s themed icons with chalk, and then let her at the with some paint.

Here she is..the graffiti queen.

All and all I think her ideas came together perfectly… It is definitely the easiest outfit she’s had to date.

I hope ya’ll have a very scary, candy-filled, Happy Halloween!!

 

How I Succeeded In Reverse Applique

I had a little time this weekend to work on my Craft Hope quilt. I’ve never done reverse applique before so I’ve been enjoying the process…planning it out in my head..pinning it down and visualizing how it will hold together once it’s sewn. So far so good. It’s really quite easy. If you’ve never attempted it, let me encourage you to go for it. You can totally do this.
This is how I went about it..

First I picked an easy shape..the circle. Duh, cause who can go wrong with a circle. Then I pulled out two plates..one slightly bigger than the other.

I traced the smaller of the two plates with chalk right on to the reverse side of my quilt top. I did this several times to give me the desired look I was going for.

Once I was happy with the layout I traced the larger of the two plates on to the back of my print fabric and cut out.. you don’t have to be exact with your cutting.. the excess fabric will be hidden between the top and the back of your quilt.

Then I pinned the print fabric to the backside on my quilt top using my first set of chalk outlines to line it up.

I flipped it and again traced the smaller of the two plates in the same place on the front of my quilt. (You’ll use your pins as a guide line.) This gives you a sewing line.

Cut your top circle out leaving about a 1/4 inch for turning under. Be sure not to cut your print fabric when doing this.
Cut out full circle.

Then cut small slits in the extra 1/4 inch so that there will be no puckering.

Turn under and pin. Remove underside pins.

Take it to your sewing machine and sew around your circle as close to its edge as possible.

Repeat until you’re happy with the look.

My applique is done.. maybe I’ll have a finished quilt to show you in my next post… hopefully.  edit – below..The Quilt

A Slight Detour

If you haven’t stopped by to see what Craft Hope has going on you need to. This time they’re collecting quilts for the homeless. Jade said she was hoping for 200+ volunteers.. when I stopped in she had 199.. I saw it as a sign from above and immediately signed up. It makes me happy to help someone in need. I know I’ve been talking about working on my Ice cream quilt but there will be time for that later. And besides, this Craft Hope quilt shouldn’t take too long to finish. I have the quilt layout in my head and my supplies are bought..now I’ve got to put it all together and get it sent off before Nov 15th. Nov. 15th?? I know! That’s pushing it a bit.. at least it is for me.

Creative Packaging

Christmas isn’t really that far off.. a little over two months away, so I’m not working too far in advance, am I? You see, I decided several months ago that I was going to crochet an apple for Goose’s teacher’s Christmas gift.. attached to the apple would be the real present, a gift card to Applebees. Cute, I thought. So, yesterday I was moved to work on it..and guess what? It is cute.

Though, I wish the stuffing could have been red to match the yarn. Can you dye that stuff with food coloring? I don’t know but I should have tried it. I think it would have looked much nicer without the white peeking through. Also, when it’s time to give her the gift I’m going to add a couple drops of apple-spice fragrant oil to the bottom.. that way the apple will have a little more purpose than just “cute packaging” for a gift card.

Now I have two gifts complete..the apple and Aaron’s blanket. I really need to get working on that Ice Cream quilt. I’m thinking about it but for some reason I can’t pick it up. I think the problem lies with my hooks. Too much crochet on the brain.

BOM #10

I love this little block with its cute little kitty and chubby ole witch. So much creativity went into designing these blocks. I’m so grateful to Anne at Bunny Hill for sharing them with all of us. It’s hard to believe that there are only two left.

This year has flown by. I’m not a big fan of Fall or Winter. Cold weather and short days make me a bit depressed. I much prefer the beautiful colors of Spring flowers to those of Fall leaves. And Hubby has already gotten on to me for turning on the heat in the house. I totally get why bears hibernate.

Am I sounding a little whiny? I feel it. It’s cold and wet and poor Goose is sick with the combo crud..walking pneumonia and a stomach bug. Blah.

Last weekend I tried to shake my blues with cake and a book. It helped a little…I mean, it’s cake, right? Perhaps this weekend, if there’s time, I’ll make myself a new scarf and a big pot of potato soup.

If there’s one positive to cool weather it’s soup!

Knowing When To Say When

Measuring in at a little over 7ft x 12ft and taking just at a month to get her into shape.. Introducing..

“Big Bad Bertha”!!!

Okay, so she’s a bit much..but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. My first mistake was made when I failed to measure another blanket’s dimensions to use as a guide. You see, I specialize in “eye-balling” it (a trait I both love and hate about myself.. We’ll save that for a later post). And my second mistake? Loving these colors too much.

Red Heart Super Saver
Green – 0406 Med. Thyme
Blue – 0380 Windsor Blue
Red – 0332 Ranch Red
Beige – 0330 Linen
Dk. Brown – 0365 Coffee
Orange – 0256 Canst
Med. Brown – 0360 Cafe

You see, I had this quirky pattern in my head that had to be completed before I could stop adding rows. You can’t see it in the blanket..again, it only makes sense in my head.
Sorry, I’m a weirdo.

And lastly, the border. Should I add one, should I not? Yes. No. Yes. I started with one round..and then two.. Probably three more rounds would have looked nicer, but it’s good to know when to fasten off and call it a day. So, I stopped at two..and I have to say it’s so nice to have her done!!