another paper pieced project

Paper piecing can be addictive.  Having done a few pieces in the past year, my comfort level has increased.  However...there comes a time when you think is it worth the time to do all the intricate steps.

When I was looking at the Fandominstitches website with the Sherlock Holmes patterns, Elise saw one for Ariel the mermaid that she wanted.  I told her that would make a good mug rug and she agreed. Here's their picture of her:

I took my time and got through almost all of her, except the eyelashes.  They looked so tedious.  I made an executive decision and decided to embroider her lashes instead, and really think it was an excellent move.  Here's my version:

There is a little mistake in it where I missed one little triangle of flesh color, but Elise likes it and I do too.   She took it home to use because she said they didn't have any mug rugs at home.  This one came out about 10"x10".

And in case you're interested, see my new area rug that she's on?  I decided it was time to switch out so I got it this past weekend.

The second prompt for my art journal has been posted.  It is "Somewhere, a Simple Place".  I've got one or two ideas floating around in my head, we'll see what I come up with.  In the meantime, the journal will hold more than just the prompts.  Last week I worked on a collage while Elise was painting, and the collage made it into the journal. 

Okay, that's it for now.  I hope to be back before the next prompt is up to show what I came up with.
 

early January

I forgot to mention last time the important news that Lily is learning how to sew.  She's very creative, and she's eleven.  Because she's shown an interest in making outfits for some of her stuffed or plastic toys, for Christmas I gave her 2 books... one geared to tween-age sewing and the other to help get her familiar with a sewing machine.   A few days later we worked on her first steps.  She practiced sewing straight and curvy lines, and pivoting for a turn.  Then so we could wrap up the session with an actual project, she made a chicken pin cushion.   We both had a good time.  :)

The nice thing about this age is the lack of inhibition.  As we looked at fabric for the project, she asked if she could use green and blue, her favorite colors.  Of course!  There are no quilt police!  Then she chose buttons for the eyes, one yellow and one red.  Yep, she's going to do just fine.

I mentioned last week about the art journal project I've joined in on.  My cover is still a work in progress, but it's coming along.  Here's how I'm progressing.   You can see I'm using a composition book.  After watching several youtube videos, it looks like it will work fine.  I learned to open the book flat, and tie a ribbon all the way around the binding, then repeat that process at intervals to have about 5 or 6 ribbons.  This helps secure the binding, to keep it from separating from the pages as they become heavier with content.

Next I inserted some little pages to go underneath those ribbons.  I took newspaper inserts, and trimmed them down where they would have a staple intact.  I slipped that under the ribbon.  As I use those pages, I will gesso the insert to cover up the advertising as well as give it a base for whatever I decide to do.  I'm totally winging this (after viewing the videos) because I do not come with a scrapbooking background.

Next I gesso-ed the cover.  This covered up the design and gave me a blank canvas.

I've not finished the cover yet, so I'll show that later.

We received our first prompt.  Remember there will be 52 prompts, one given weekly.  No right or wrong, we do as we please.  The first was Up, Up, and Away...as in soaring into the new year.  Several have posted theirs on Facebook, and there are a lot of talented people.  Lots of balloons, hot air balloons, wings, etc.  I saw them, and knowing I'm not a particularly "airy" person, I took a different little spin.   Picture a little ant farm with all the trails that ants make.  Picture one little ant on his journey to the top.  Then picture him going further, and climbing up a tree.  Going out on a limb, he hops on a leaf, and "soars" through the air.  "Whee!  We all want to soar..."

I know, I have a long way to go.  But, thankfully this is a journey and there are not expectations of perfection anywhere along the way. 

Until the next time, have fun and express yourself!

another mug rug swapped

This month over on the HGTV message boards there was another mug rug swap.  The theme for this one was country fairs.

I had several things in mind when I embroidered the 1^st place ribbon, and started off with the idea of a crazy quilt pattern to get in chickens, cows, horses, fruit/vegetables, sewing, and cooking…whew!  As you can imagine, that was just too busy looking for me to be able to pull off on a little mug rug.  Instead, I just looked at my western gal, and pictured her big win in the rodeo. 

I have to say that fairs are near and dear to my heart.  My dad was one of four year-round employees at the Antelope Valley Fair and Alfalfa Festival in Lancaster, California.  Yes, I was raised in southern California.  In fact, his job as the maintenance man provided us with a house on the fairgrounds, so I grew up playing among the barns, grandstand arena, and even learned to drive a car on the streets of the fair.  Later on, I worked in the office 3 or 4 summers while going to school.  Can you picture all the little entrant cards for every pie, cake, jar of jelly, and who knows what else…all typed by hand because we didn’t have computers back in the late 60’s.  That was part of my job. 

As a youngster, I followed in my sisters’ footsteps, and entered a Chocolate Vinegar Cake in the junior division.  I was so proud of that first place ribbon.   From what I understand, it’s also known as a depression cake.  Whether because the original instructions call for making three depressions in the dry ingredients to add the wet ingredients, or because it didn’t use eggs and is inexpensive to make, your guess is as good as mine.   This recipe actually makes a small cake, maybe one layer or an 8x8x2” square pan.  It’s moist too.  (Now I just mix in a bowl and put in cake pan, but this was the original version)

Chocolate Vinegar Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Sift dry ingredients into ungreased 8x8x2” pan

1 ½ cup flour

1 cup sugar

3 Tbsp cocoa

½ tsp salt

Make 3 depressions with spoon in dry ingredients, and add these:

1 tsp vanilla                1 Tbsp white vinegar              6 Tbsp melted butter

Pour 1 cup water over all, stir together until well mixed.

Bake 30-35 minutes

Note:  batter will be thin

 In other news, Robert had a birthday this past week.  I think he was about 2 or 3 in this picture.  Time just keeps flying by!  I went over and stayed with the kids while he and Angela went to dinner.  I took my camera, but we got busy with "projects" and I didn't get any pictures taken...darn.

 Elise was over the other night and we made some cookies.  She's turning into quite the little helper.  :)

That's it for now.  Have a good week!

birthdays and gnomes, oh my

July is rolling right along, isn't it?

Lily's birthday was this past week, and she had a roller skating party to commemorate turning 11 years old.  Needless to say, a good time was had by all.  Its been years since I've been to a roller rink.  It was nice to see the little supports like you see that Ashlynn has in front of her.  While Elise and cousins Cage and Echo couldn't quite maneuver it real well, it was a big hit with several of the kids who were still new to roller skating.

I participated in another mug rug swap this month, and the theme was "In the Garden".  I had in mind to find fabric with gnomes on it, but no luck.  However, in my search this pattern for a paper pieced gnome kept popping up.  I've done very little paper piecing, but decided to give it a try.   Here's the pattern's picture:

I was really pleased with how it came out.  In fact, I had to make another one so I could have one too!  

These little guys have different hats, beards, and bindings, otherwise they're pretty much the same.  Not knowing quite how to choose which one to part with I put them in a sack and pulled one out.  My swap partner got the white bearded gnome, and I've kept the gray bearded fellow.  I used a batik for the background, and really like the shaded look.  It sets the tone for being in the underbelly of the garden, don't you think?

I liked the paper piecing so much I can see more of it in the near future.  First though, I have a baby quilt to complete for an upcoming shower.  You'll see pictures of it in 2 or 3 weeks.

That's it for now.  Have fun summer days...

more stuff

I decided I wanted to paint the bedroom that Elise sleeps in, also known as the toy room, and for a long time my "office".  I painted it a few years ago, but can't say I was ever completely satisfied with it, plus I didn't like the popcorn ceilings. 

Since Elise has a bit of a claim to the room, she helped choose the color...purple.  So in the color family, I chose Behr's Lavender Bouquet for 3 walls, and an accent wall of Lilac Bloom.  As it turns out, the accent wall was just a shade or two darker, so it's not really a noticeable difference unless you happen to paint a bit on the other wall by mistake (ask me how I know).   

Elise wanted to help, and she happened to be staying with me for a couple of days shortly after I scraped the popcorn ceiling and got some cutting in done.  We got her set up with a brush, and she enjoyed herself. 

Previously it had been yellow, and most of the wall accents were in wood stains, or darker colors.  I decided I wanted it air-ier, and painted most of them white.  I have a bulletin board on another wall that will eventually get painted.  I lucked out on the curtains, finding 4 sheers hanging in a closet that I had forgotten about.  The clock was a garage sale find that I also painted.   Nice to have this project done.  And I won't be scraping anymore popcorn ceilings. 


I forgot to post a picture of a storm cloud that came up on my trip to Arkansas recently.  Shortly after I took the picture just outside of Greenville, it poured for several hours of my trip.  I've always said that I can count on a rain either coming or going when I go to Sue's.  I thought these clouds were amazing.

Ashlynn had her birthday party last weekend, 7 years old!   It was fun, and while I didn't get any particularly special pics, I got enough to get a feel of the activity. 

Elizabeth sent me a picture of one of Elise's adventures.  She went with a friend, and took a ride just sitting in the chair...it had a video and the chair shook at appropriate places.  I don't know that she knows quite what to think of it!

Well, that's the "stuff" in my life this time around.  Have a good week everyone.

a bug got me

All I can think of is that a cleaning bug must have bitten me.  It was a small one though, because I've not tackled anything major. 

Earlier this week for some reason I decided to clean my dining room windows.  Is this something I do regularly?  No, far from it.  But awhile back I had to spray at a wasp that managed to get in the house, and he was on the window, so you now have a visual of the dried wasp spray that had dripped down the window.  I could have just taken the windex and squirt the one area and been done with it, but no, I took off the screens so I could clean down in the "gutter" part of the window, as well as getting the inside and out.   I was fortunate this week that I had a helper, which made the job much more enjoyable.

I can well remember years ago that window washing was one of our chores assigned by Mom.  And I'm talking all around the house.  Fortunately those windows had a little mechanism that opened them out away from the house, and it was easy enough to clean both sides while standing outside.  And you know, I actually kind of enjoyed it.  Instant gratification in being able to see a job well done, one that made a difference.

This morning the bug either bit again or the virus was reactivated.  As I was looking at my spices to see if I needed more of one particular item, I noticed an out-of-date container.  Then another one.  Then another one.  You get the idea.  I don't cook a whole lot, and it's not unusual to pick up a spice when I need it, especially with holiday cooking.  Well...as I started pulling things off the turntable, I was dismayed at how much needed to be tossed.  But I was ruthless, and jars started flying.  Well actually the contents started flying into the trash, the containers themselves will be rinsed off and into the recycling tub.

In other news, I recently went bowling with Robert and the kids while Angela had a  Bunco night with some friends.   We went to an older bowling alley in Cleburne, and had a great time.  I even dragged out and dusted off my bowling ball and shoes that have been sitting in their bag patiently waiting for me the last ten years or so.  I did realize my body ain't what she used to be as I tried to be graceful in my swing.  Oh well, I didn't want to outshine everyone too bad, so it worked out fine.   As we were getting set up, we noticed a plastic dinosaur off to the side.  We took a closer look, and they're for the kids to set the ball on top and push it down, rather than trying to swing or heft the ball.  Between that and the gutter rails, we all did pretty good!

I don't know why their pictures came out in different sizes, I still haven't figured out getting pictures from my phone onto the blog in a really good format.

Okay, better get around.  Have a good week!

milestone time again

Another family milestone day has come and passed...Elizabeth had a birthday!  She took the day off work, and I was able to spend a good part of the day with her.  

We went to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History and out to lunch, then later had birthday pizza and cake.  Great day!   I came across this picture of Elizabeth on her third birthday.  I think its appropriate to show it since Elise just had her third birthday.  :)

and here's Elise on her third birthday:

I'm editing this to add a little side note.  When we were at the museum yesterday, we were outside with Elise at one of the other exhibits.  It turns out one of the other little girls was named Elise as well.  The moms talked about the names, and how they each spelled Elise.  Then the other mom made the comment that people sometimes ask her if the child's name is Elsie.  "Can you imagine?  Who would name their child Elsie???"   Elizabeth and I just looked at each other with a bit of a smile.  Later I thought (isn't it often later, when it's too late to do anything about it) I should have introduced myself by saying, "oh, I'm Elsie".  Ah well. 

let's see now...

The ironing cover on my tv tray needed replacing, so I made a new one in the last couple of weeks.  Forgot to show it last week.  It sure comes in handy.

I've continued to work on my ufo's.  I started this "Through a Winter Window" either last winter or the winter before. I finally have gotten it ready to be sandwiched and quilted.  The problem with taking awhile to finish is I sometimes forget things...I think I must have worked this up with the background bigger than it should have been with the intent of trimming it down, then forgot to trim it when I got to that point.  Oh well, it's still cute, and I'll know for next time.  Oh, and to give credit where credit is due, the pattern was in the 2004 Quilting for Christmas magazine, by Pearl Louise Krush.  I think the pattern is probably still available at LQS if you don't happen to have the magazine.

The Friday night PJ parties have resumed on the HGTV quilting/needlework forum.  This week was Artist Trading Cards (ATC's), which I've not done before, taught by toryam.  Now the class started out with the premise of "drawing" a flower, but you know art sometimes takes it's own direction.  Mine resembles more of a gnome, but hey, I'm fine with that.  I still need to complete some stitching on the side, and maybe add a bit of bling, but here's what I came up with.  I look forward to trying more of these.  Care to offer an idea for inspiration?

And on a different note.  I usually sing a little song to Elise before her naptime, "you are my sunshine, my only sunshine..."  Its one Ashlynn liked when she was about Elise's age.   Elizabeth downloaded a few songs to her IPod recently, and this happened to be one of them.  She sent me a text, telling me how Elise heard it and was happy saying, "just like Gaga sings", and then just a short time later was crying because "I miss Gaga".  I had to blink my eyes a few times on that, they started getting kind of wet.  And yes, while I'm Grams to all my grandkids, Elise has stuck with Gaga.  Somtimes its Gaga Grams, or Gaga Mommy (which I consider her version of grandmother).  Its all good.  I think it also qualifies me as another version of Lady Gaga.

Remember my challenge quilt?  All entries have been submitted, and voting started today.  I think it closes on the 27th, so after that I can show pictures and tell you about it.  I'm sure your enquiring minds want to know.  I've got some heavy competition out there, as I knew there would be.

I'm editing this to add one other new thing I learned recently.  You know, with the advent of debit cards and on-line bill pay, I rarely write checks these days.  Occasionally I'll stop in at the credit union and they'll print up a sheet or two of temporary checks for a nominal charge.  This last time I asked what was the smallest amount I could order of the pre-printed checks.  She scratched her brain a  bit remembering something about this, and made a phone call.  They offer a package of 50 checks at no charge!  You have no choice in the design, and they come in a variety pack.  Probably samples of what's available.  I don't think this is something you see on the check re-order form, so if you're interested in saving a few dollars, ask about it at your local bank or credit union.

Guess that's it for now.  Have a good week!

mad monkey changes

Elise has several sock monkeys now, and enjoys playing with them.  She even got a new one for her birthday.  In the last week she decided one of them was mad, and it bothered her, so she asked GaGa Grams to fix him.

The eyebrows were her main concern.  They were pointy, along with his nose.

It didn't take long to make things right in her little world again.  Snip away the old stitches, and with her help on design, stitch on the new.   "I lub him so much!"

The Birds and other news

You might remember that last month I went to a Fathom event to see Singin' in the Rain.  This month they presented Alfred Hitchcock's thriller, The Birds.  Well, it was a thriller in the 60's.  I admit I was a bit hesitant about seeing the show because I had heard it was so scary back in the day, but I'd say there were quite a few laughs and just 2 or 3 "gasp" moments.

You see this lady's hair?  It pretty well stayed just like that all through the show, which covered about a 3-day period.  She drove a convertible along the coast, not a hair out of place.  She maneuvered a small boat across the open waters, and again, not a hair out of place.  Well, except for the one-bird attack on her hairline.  It did get a bit mussed up while the blood was being wiped away, but within minutes it was back to its original smoothness.  She wore it down overnight, but it was immediately back up for the rest of the show.

Since she was an unexpected overnight guest, she didn't have a change of clothes.  Poor thing.  But her suit didn't show a smudge until the end of the show...as well as her nylons had no runs and were not bagging around her ankles.  Completely unrealistic.

There were some stupid moments too. I suppose it was intended to add to the suspense, and put the characters in harm's way of the birds, but sheesh.  Still, those moments did add to the enjoyment, because everybody was laughing at them.

And as a sign of times changing, I found myself surprised to see so many people smoking throughout the movie.  In a restaurant.  Sitting on a bench killing time.  Sitting in the living room chatting. You sure won't see that happening now, and that's a good thing.

I enjoyed Jessica Tandy and Suzanne Pleshette.  But then, you can't go wrong with either one.

I see in their upcoming events are Lawrence of Arabia, To Kill a Mockingbird, and ET, as well as several operas.  I'm sure I'll be going again.

Moving on, I'll be doing the hand-sewing on the challenge quilt's binding tomorrow, and it will be finished.  There's a possibility the deadline may be extended two weeks.  At first I thought, aargh, but as I thought about it, I'd rather be in competition with as many people as possible.  If two weeks will allow some of those with more pressures and distractions than I have to complete their projects, so be it. 

I've also sewn a few potholders.  The brown one was made with scraps, and the other two were started last winter and just needed the binding.  Feels good to get a couple more little ufo's out of the way.  I also sent a quilt top to be quilted, one that I started a good 5 or 6 years ago.

 
And to close off, here's Elise with her birthday cake.  3 years old!  Her party will be Sunday, but I'm glad to see she got to have celebration on her actual birthday too.  

just bein' Grams

Lately my days have been filled with my favorite things...grandkids.  I think this is the best thing about retirement, that I can spend time with these wonderful little people.  (and here's an apology at the very beginning for the quality of the pictures...Elizabeth will be helping me see if I have my settings right to see if I can do better next time)

Recently I went to lunch with Robert and his family.  He wanted to try out a bbq place his co-workers had recommended because they have good queso.  Rhett loves his cheese sauce, so we found Bone Daddy's and went on in.  Now, their food was fine, but we didn't realize it was one of those places where the waitresses are in their little short shorts and form fitting tops.  Oh well, we laughed about it and had a good time.  They were certainly generous with their serving sizes.  When I saw the size of Robert and Angela's platters, I was really pleased I ordered off the kids menu.  My sandwich and fries were plenty.

After lunch, we headed over to Dave and Busters.  I'd not been there, but they have video games for the kids.  The kids were playing Ninja Fruit, where they swipe their fingers across the screen and slice watermelons, lemons, limes, and any other fruit that comes up.  I liked it myself, and ended up visiting the app store to get it on my phone and IPad.

I'm enjoying keeping Elise again since school has started up.  She's getting a little older now, so I've realized I need to step up and have more activities for her.  I got some Play Doh, and gathered together several things to use for shaping and molding.  We've played that a couple of times this week, and have gone to the library for story time.  I also got some dry erase markers and a book designed to be used with them, and a plain dry erase board.  We may expand to finger paints as well.  If I get brave enough.  :)  These pictures were actually on my camera, so they came out better...more in focus.

Yesterday was Grandparents Day at Rhett and Ashlynn's school, and I was able to join them for lunch, then we went to the library for a book fair.

I did good to get Ashlynn's picture.  Normally she's all for getting her picture taken, but this time she kept covering her face.  I got it though.  :)

And here we are together.

In other news, I'm still working on my Stash to Treasure quilt challenge.  The top is finished, and I'm working on the quilting now.  I know everyone is excited to see what it will look like.  Hold on, it won't be long till mid-October and I can show pictures.

That's it for now.  Have a good weekend.