wip wed. & 12x12x4 peek

Here are some things I'm playing with for my 12x12x4 April piece. I have the basic design down so I can't show that but these are a few of the fabrics that are in the piece. I started out with this challenge wanting to keep to the Asian theme but frankly I got bogged down by the whole "shoes & handbags" category. I kept coming back to the seasonal virtues of Asian design and because right now is the season of cherry blossoms and Hina Matsuri or girls day, these issues kept popping up in my head instead. Hina Matsuri is the festival derived from very ancient times in Japan where families would make paper dolls and, when burned, the dolls would symbolically take all bad fortune and illness with them up in smoke. I will explain more about this ancient custom when I show my piece. I decided to make something representing women preparing for these festivals. One of the popular ways they use is to have hair decorations appropriate to the time of year and drawing attention to the neck when the head is turned. The neck of a woman is particularly sensual to men in Japan. They devise wonderful hair ornaments of both fake and real flowers and tiny jewels attached to combs that are worn to celebrate the beauty of both woman and season. Here are 2 pictures of wonderful Hina Matsuri doll smade by a master artisan. One is just a doll in general the other is a doll representing the Emperor. I would give a lot to own one of these beauties. Maybe someday. They are very expensive so for now I just enjoy the pics. These stand about a foot high or so. The last is a shot of an antique display used by wealthy families. They would have these settings made up and over the years they became more and more elaborate. This one is really fancy and very large. Several feet high. Unfortunately these pics are not clickable.

Well, I should get back to work. It's another lovely day here so the weather is distracting me-I must focus.

Spring fling and book stuff

As you can see, I have some books. I think it was yesterday that DebR of Red Shoe Ramblings asked us to show our stuff-books that is!

Here are three shelves of many. Some of these are my very favorites that I would read again and again. I'm not organized like DebR who has all of her stuff by genre and author. I've got books everywhere-everywhere... Years ago there was a great bookstore in the town nearby and I would go there to see what they had on the used book isles. They often bought collections from the wealthier folks around who buy books for decoration. That was fun. I found a lot of really wonderful books by great authors for next to nothing and began a collection. Steinbeck, E.B. White, Brendan Gill, Dos Passos, Updike..and my collection of George Sand, Flaubert, the Bronte's, Proust, and the great American writers, William Carlos Williams, Faulkner, Fitzgerald etc. I wanted to experience what their writing was about. I thought if I liked it-it was a gift. If I didn't-nothing lost. I can't really say I disliked any of the ones I just mentioned. I have tried to pick up Dickens several times and just got sleepy reading him. I never get sleepy with a book that interests me. I will try again some day. To my everlasting joy I also found Isabel Allende and read everything she has written. "House of the Spirits" is my very favorite. I loved the "Stories of Eva Luna" as well. There is almost no greater writer and chronicler of the NY experience than Pete Hamill.

A friend of mine owned the bookstore in town and I worked a few hours there-got paid in books and discovered a passion for mystery and murder-Carl Hiaasen, Michael Connelly, and my great find in James Lee Burke. He wrote a book called "In the Electric Mist with the Confederate Dead" that I have given over and over to people just so they can know what it is to hear music when you read the written word. His books are not for the faint of heart. They are down and dirty southern murder mysteries but he can write like a poet and bring tears to your eyes with his description of a vanishing South and all of it's beauty as well as it's under belly. I've made a convert out of my BIL Bob and his friend Joe and a number of others. A movie was made a few years ago from his book called "Heaven's Prisoners" staring Alec Baldwin. It was O.K. but I had always had my heart set on Tommy Lee Jones as Dave Robicheaux. I still think it was written for him. It's a good movie and a departure roll for Terry Hatcher. Of course the book is better but it's interesting to see how the characters you have grown with come alive in film.

Well, that's my story for today- I've been waiting for Martha to pull up with the moving van and she hasn't shown again. That means I have to put on some cleanin' clothes. It has jumped right past spring here and gone to nearly summer in a day. The temps are heading for 65-70. That's time for ceiling fans and since I can't turn them on without dusting them first-off I go to the ladder and vacuum duty. All the windows are open and the birds are singing, mmmmmmmspring

If Martha Lived Next Door

I got tagged by Dorothy of Morning Pages to do this. The truth is that, in a way, Martha already lives very nearby. She has two houses south of us in, what else, Southampton. I understand that she sold one of her houses in but I think she still kept the one where she had a long standing feud with the next door neighbor. It's on Georgica Pond, which is a very upscale place where people like Steven Spielberg have houses. Sadly, even though the place is still very beautiful. it is now famous for other sights such as the parties where one can, unfortunately, see such dreadful things as the perpetually drunken Paris Hilton and her hideous underwear(or not- her underwear that is). Gag....

Anyway there was a lawsuit between Martha and her next door neighbor regarding the shrubbery that separated their driveways. He claimed that she ruined the hedges and that she tried to run him over with her big-assed SUV. I thought it would provide much amusement if they had a "War of the Roses" thing where she chopped down the hedge and he ran over her perfect flower gardens. People in the Hamptons have to much time and money on their hands.

So anyway...5 facts of life if Martha lived next door.

1-I think Martha is a little anal so she would probably complain to the town about the state of our land. Up on our hillside there are a number of trees that have fallen and, frankly, just lay there. It's no-man's land up there are covered in places with poison ivy so we just leave it alone. It's too steep to build on and covered over with vines and such so that it becomes very dense with growth quickly in spring thus removing any possible people problems for us. Out of sight out of mind is the going phrase around here. It has one really great side effect- No one from way up on the hill will trample through it thus removing the annoyance of the unruly, screaming, children that live up there. I think all of that would not sit well with Martha as it is far from, how you say, Perfect.

2-Martha living on one side of me would be fine-on the other, not so much. There is a large plot of land that is unobstructed on one side but the other is on a hill that would make life with Martha around just too close for comfort and again, the issues of perfection would arise.

3-Having Martha next door would insure a bunch of changes like Dorothy wrote about. Better roads and some basic sprucing up. Maybe they would put in sidewalks. The sidewalks stop about a quarter mile from me. It's a really tricky thing to try and walk on the road running in front of us-frost heaves and broken blacktop etc. I'm sure Martha would get right on that.

4-Martha would probably come over with muffins and see that I desperately need a decorator and make my house the next project-immediately. That would, indeed, be a very good thing. Maybe I'd be famous for the segment on her show where they do a before and after and you hear an audible intake of breath from the audience when they show the before and after. I would like that because, frankly, I'm sick of everything in the house-just bring in the dumpster Martha!

5-I agree with Dorothy about the quality of food stores and such as well. Currently, I have to go to 3 different places to get good fruit, meat, and bakery. I know that Martha would have a profound effect on the state of food around here and we know where food is on my scale of "things that are important from one to ten". Even though I find Martha annoying in many respects and anal retentive in many others, I would like to get to know her. I'm a people watcher-I like to figure out what makes people tick and it looks to me like Martha has a whole big ol' bag o' snakes in her head. The Donald thing was sort of amusing but I think Martha needs a writer to respond to The Donald. Sometimes it seems that she is uncomfortable in her own skin and not good at extemporaneous quips. Verbal sparring is my forte and I would be able to help Martha so we would be friends and then she would arrange everything in my life and make it run smoothly whereupon I would run screaming from the house and be unable to speak for long periods-only able to blink to be understood. Blink... blink.....

So there you have it-that's the whole bag of Martha for today.

I got a kid quilt from Nicky to bind and it will go in the mail to Amy tomorrow. Now I would like to have some time to work on a few ideas I have that I just never get to. My 12x12x4 piece and some other stuff. My adorable niece was here for the weekend with my brother and we had a good time. Now I better get to work. See ya.........

I forgot to tag 3 people-geez I hate tagging so if you're interested-tag! you're IT!

Spring Break

Can't take any more pictures of ice and snow so here's how I wish it looked. Really, the icky stuff is almost gone and we have now entered the gray and brown phase. Colors will appear soon-but for the time all is gray and brown with a side of dirty snow. Bleah.....

Sorry I have been a poor blogger lately-several things going on that just took time away from it. No sewing going on & too many Dr.s appts. Hubby is still getting up at dawn to make early physical therapy appts for his shoulder-the son had an appt this week to touch base with our new and wonderful Family Dr.-- Love him! We all love him. I had to have the mamo re-done and then a sonogram to make sure. Apparently I not only have large boobage-but it is also very dense(shut up) Anyway!!!! Tah Dah!!!! Happy to say all is clear and fine. Phew...

My brother is coming to visit this weekend and bringing my adorable 11 year old niece so I must clean the house since I don't want to scar the child for life with the horror.

I started to put the heart donation quilt and backing in a package to mail to DebG. yesterday when I noticed that one of the heart appliques was coming away from the surrounding fabric. I will fix it as soon as I can and ship it off next week. Sorry about that Deb.

Well, I must be off to do battle with scrubbers and sponges and vacuums Oh My! I got 2 interesting books from the Library this week-One is called "Private Lives of the Impressionists" and the other is "The Yellow House" and that is about Van Gogh and Gauguin and there brief time together in said house. Maybe because my mind has been too distracted to concentrate this week-I'm having trouble getting into them. They are both such interesting subjects but seem to be written by veddy, veddy, serious arty types(read dry and boring). I thought it would be full of great stuff about the artists and their....welll...private lives. Nah, so far they are so dry I have trouble keeping my eyes open. The Van Gogh is better than the other but not much. Like I said, maybe it's just the mood this week. I'll give them another shot next week. Sorry for the lack of quilty stuff-I'll give that a better shot next week as well.

See you soon

Bright Shiny Day

Oh Happy Day! The sun is shining and the ice is melting. The kid quilts are on the way to Amy and the quilt for the woman soldier, Molly, is on the way to Fran in Colorado. Very productive day and a delicious weekend. Chinese for dinner last night so I had the whole day without cooking or even thinking about it. Hooray!I will get the heart donation quilt top into the mail later in the week. I'm sort of involved with a number of nuisance things this week and the house is seriously filthy-feh!

Thanks for leaving me all the nice comments. It really makes my day to hear from you.

Here's a picture of what a sad young man, without his girlfriend, looks like after 5 hours outside chipping and shoveling. James couldn't even get his car up the icy drive covered over by the glacier. Dani couldn't get up here so it was a-gahd!!!"stuck in the house with us" kind of day. He watched a bunch of DVDs and I watched all 6 episodes of Elizabeth I. Roger did taxes. We left a wide swath around him. It's so sad when he whimpers and moans. Poor soul.

In case you're wondering what the sign in back of James says and you have forgotten your Latin-It says Hic Habitat Felicitas- or happiness dwells here. I gave it to Roger on our anniversary way back when we were just starting out. We saw it on a Charles Kuralt, Sunday Morning biography about a very poor black man in Georgia. This man had nothing, barely a roof over his head, but he loved to read and had educated himself in this way. He was a laborer and all he really owned were the books that lined the walls of what literally was a shack with few everyday conveniences that we all take for granted. He had, other than the hundreds of books, this sign on his wall . It makes me smile every time I see it and sometimes reminds me of what is really meaningful in my life.

It's on to the grocery store and, as always, laundry had managed to multiply alarmingly overnight. Shenanigans in the night? I think so. See you tomorrow.

REALITY SHOW

Just thought I'd let you see what's really happening in my world......Bleah....That's BIL Bob taking a break from chipping through the ice. It took him 20 minutes to get out his door and to this spot. Now the temps are rising and hope springs eternal. It's pulled pork and coleslaw for dinner and for desert-Advil all around.

Get the picture?No you don't.

If only it were so. I found these pics of spring in the yard to take my mind off of the awful reality outside. Mother Nature is, how you say, pissed. There is about 3 inches of very icy, slushy, snow outside and it came down in tiny ice pellets-sideways all day yesterday and through the night. It snowed, and poured and sleeted. Today my guys will attempt to remove some of the crust and hopefully by Monday we will return to something resembling normal. James and BIL Bob couldn't even get their cars up the icy driveway. They have to dig the mess out up here to get to the mess down there. This weather pattern we are in is such a nuisance. We have the mighty snow blower in the basement and when big snow does come down, it is easily gotten rid of-not so with this stuff. First of all, it weighs a ton and has to be chipped away blah blah blah....Remind me of why we live on this blasted island again??????Oh! that's right-the beaches, the ambiance, the pretty little village by the bay, offshore breezes in summer, and tah dah..the the muck and mold the other three quarters of the year.

Above this rant you can see pansies and a shot of my favorite little bush in the yard. I don't know what it's called but I would plant it everywhere if I could. It flowers with these little pink darlings in spring and then sets green berries which turn bright red in the fall and go all the way till December. The other pic is of the lovely pansies my husband fills the porch planters with in spring. Please look past the molding wood of the porch that is due for replacement.

Yesterday there was no going anywhere and my library connection and best friend gave me the complete set of the BBC version of "Elizabeth I" with the great Glenda Jackson. All 6 VHS tapes at 90 minutes each. I really appreciated having them. On a more amusing note, my friend said that she would be attending a meeting today regarding violence in the workplace-I often wonder who will strangle who first in our Library. Will it be The Patrons vs Librarians or a grudge match of the Librarians vs The Clerks? Final scores to follow.

I am sorry I was unable to get the donation quilt in the mail to Fran in Colorado due to the ice, etc. It will go out Monday. The kids quilts will also go Mon. or Tues and while I'm at it the Heart quilt and backing should be going to Deb G. as well. It will be nice to clear up this batch and get to some work of my own. Even though I've been busy with this stuff, I haven't accomplished a thing myself. I hope to work on the 12x12x12 challenge soon. This months entries are really wonderful. It's such fun to see what everyone comes up with.

Well, I must go feed Nanuck of the North.

lizards and Dinos and bears, Oh MY!

I'm all about the borders today. We are also having problems with the Internet server or something geeky like that so I don't know how long I'll be able to chat with y'all(Hi JaneAnn)

I've also decided to donate the appliqued hearts top that has been languishing in the aforementioned CLOSET which is swiftly becoming shameless. It's a rainy day here so I won't miss the spring-like outings I've been taking.

This top, along with a number of others, was made as a learning experience and, like the other one, made during the height of menopausal mania. I needed something to do while I took care of my friend's children. She spent most days at the hospital with her husband who needed a kidney transplant and was very ill. He died not long after and every time I look at this I think of those sad days. She re-married a couple of years later to a shockingly horrid man who would have made her late husband angry just thinking about him. I'm not good at hiding my feelings about this type of thing and our friendship sort of came to a sad end. It's better that this top goes toward something good-thus removing the icky vibes every time I see it. It's going to the lovely Deb G. who performed miracles last time and I know it will be re-incarnated into something cheerful.
My husband went to physical therapy for his arm and we are hoping it will help. I was so wiped out last night I took a Benadryl and lapsed into a coma until this morning. Yay to sleeping through the night-Woohoo
I would like to thank the Academy...Oh, wrong speech-paper shuffling.......Thanks to you great ladies who left comments yesterday. Mel made me think about Hugh Grant as the lead in A Good Year. That could have worked-he kind of played that type in Bridget Jones Diary. I find it difficult to think of British actors without imagining Colin Firth in everything just so I can sigh....sigh. It made me laugh that Jeri uses the Feh. Feh is a term that gets thrown off the tongue like a spit but nicer. It's one of those Yiddish phrases that I learned at the feet of my Jewish co-workers in retailing. It has many purposes. Feh can mean whatever, with attitude and annoyance. I used it because when they sweep the beach they take away all the beachy stuff-shells, wood bits and my personal fav-beach glass.
A couple of years ago my friend and I were on the way to the Mall for a dress she needed for a wedding. As I was discussing a particularly unflattering style, I referred to it as a schmata, or Yiddish for rag. I thought she was going to loose control of the vehicle. She, a life-long New Yorker, never heard the word schmata before and thought it was the funniest word and best sounding description- now my waspy friend throws schmata into the conversation like she's been using it all her life. Great influence I am huh?Perfectly pleasant librarian type liberally sprinkling the Yiddish. I did have to explain that putz was a word she was using incorrectly. I don't remember what she thought it meant but it means men's manly bits(say that 3 times fast) and that's not the message she was looking to send. One must be careful of the correct usage when swearing in dialects(hee)
Hope you come back tomorrow for more fun with Dee. I need some caffeine...

Peekaboo& Wip-less Wed.

Sorry I've been away so long. Life gets in the way. Here you can see the donation quilt all bound and ready. All except for a label and a note to include to the lovely young woman soldier who will be receiving it. She is in a rehab facility in Colorado where she is recuperating from a gunshot wound to the eye. I hope this will bring her some comfort.

The handsome man holding the other side is James. Since he was off school and work and Roger was home we all trooped off the Sweet Mama's for lunch. Delish! I got absolutely nothing accomplished but it was a beautiful spring-like day. Sunshine and 56-yay!

Over the weekend I made Rian's braised short rib recipe which won rave reviews. Boy is that good eats! I watched "Marie Antoinette" which was all quirky and fun(until the end, of course) and drooled over the costumes. I had read the book by Antonia Frasier and I thought that Sophia Coppola's use of modern music was interesting. The costumes...well.....the shoes.....OMG. I'd watch again just for the rich fabrics and shoes. Of course the real Marie was a chunky little German like me so that was all wrong. Kirsten Dunst didn't have much to say and there wasn't really that much dialog. In fact it was a videolog of pre-revolutionary France and the disconnect between the royals and the common folk.

Then on Sunday, while the beef was braising, I watched "A Good Year" with Russell Crowe. I expected to dislike this movie based on reviews-all bad.That doesn't usually matter that much to me because I've liked some movies that get bad press and vice versa. I don't know if it was because I just wanted some light and frivolous comedy or what but I really enjoyed it. What's not to like about inheriting a vineyard in Provence? Russell did look a bit overblown like he had indulged in a bit too much of the grape-blowzy-but then I think that's just him. I do wish the trend to look hungover with a two day growth of beard would end though. He looked a bit like he needed a bath. I rated it on my Gladometer-"glad I didn't pay $10 bucks in the theater but happy I saw it."

I was not able to get in Little Miss Sunshine-maybe this week some time.

I am putting the binding on two kid quilts for Bethesda so I really don't have any Wips for today. Later, James and I are headed for Trader Joe's-he wants some soy stuff and I am after edamame and whatever. I have a lot of work to do for the Pantry but the weather is luring me out of my cave-like existence. Perhaps a little walk on the beach later? This is the time of year when you can find interesting shells and beach junk. Soon they will sweep everything clean-feh!

Eggplant Parm, flicks, and a snarky book revue

Here's what I've been up to today. Eggplant Parmesan ready to go into the oven. Nice red Montepulciano smelling delicious in the glass. Three movies and a book. I've been trying to keep busy and not think too much. Monday, I have my mammography early in the morning. I don't think there is something wrong but I guess I'm enough of a pessimist to not be so sure. It's that whole hubris thing again. Never be too sure of anything. Fate lies in wait. I'll be able to relax when they say I'm O.K. Until then, I'm great at worrying and keeping busy staves off the demons. Eggplant parm helps a lot. I guess the thing I really hate the most is being squished and scrunched to take the pics. I am, how you say, buxom with the fullness of the boobage.

I got this great book about Venice from the Library as well as a biography of Kathryn Hepburn and Audrey Hepburn. A veritable Hepburn festival. The Audrey book is clearly written by a man in love with his subject and is very gentle and sweet- not too much depth. The Kathryn is really bitchy. The guy has taken everything that everyone ever said about Kate and Spencer and Kate's life and slashed and burned his way through all of it mostly with conjecture. He writes with the premise of "if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck etc." regarding her sexuality and relationship with Spencer. All of the stuff may very well be true but the manner in which he writes is...well...bitchy and down right mean. Not a nice book. I tried to glean the stuff I hadn't read before about her and just sift away all the crap. I really couldn't care less about their sexuality- so what if she was bi-sexual and Spencer was a falling down nasty drunk. None of it came as a surprise but it's written with such venom. Anyway, it would have been great to know more about the events of her life and less about what he thinks might have been. Now- in a total turn around I was bored for something really fun to read last week and picked up a copy of Tammy Hoag's paperback "Prior Bad Acts"-what a fun, fast, read. Maybe it's just that I have read a lot of heavier stuff lately but it is light and well written murder mystery. I have to say I've read a couple of her books and she gets better with each book. Me likey! Fun stuff not much effort required...perfect for the mood right now.

I got Marie Antoinette just for the costumes and I heard that Little Miss Sunshine is pretty good. I got a good year despite it's horrible press because right now I would kill to see anything that takes place in Provence or any other wine country for that matter. I'm just so ready for the sun to keep shining and the flowers to start blooming C'mon spring! I'll be back with quilty content soon. On tomorrow's menu is Rian's recipe for beef short ribs. I hope I do her proud.

Addendum:If you haven't checked out the horoscopes on Crazy Aunt Purl(sidebar) you should. She has captured the Gemini so well. Also the story of her cats and their personalities makes soda come out of my nose from laughing.

WIP Wed & more of the hawk

These photos are really not great but it's snowing and the light is awful. I hope you get a better idea by clicking and enlarging. I made these blocks a while back. I had a misguided moment where I thought I would make them for a quilt for my son as a graduation present-Gad! what the hell was I thinking???? Well...I was thinking that he loves black and white checks and purples and such. Of course I soon came to my senses and realised that white....welll...WHITE anything for a young man. So I stopped at about 20 or so blocks and put them away for future consideration. I really like the graphic back and white mixed with the purples and deep pumpkin color. Wish I had more of that pumpkin fabric.

Yesterday I sewed the squares together. That's the extent of my sewing this past week. At least I managed to get something done and hopefully escape those winter blahs or blues. As I go around some of the blogs I notice I'm not alone in my disconnect from things artistic. A lot of really talented folks have been complaining about the same vague feelings. I don't recall feeling this way in winters past. Maybe it's a kind of defensive amnesia but I really used to like the whole inside working on quilts cavelike feeling. This year, in a winter with less snow and bad weather than usual, I feel all out of sorts. Well, this too will pass. I think my friend the hawk remained in whatever enclosure he hangs out in when the weather is not good. Just as well, I can waste a lot of time on standing chipmunk watch. My brilliant husband(hi Honey!) blew-up one of the pics and took out most of the glare for you to see more of the bird. I'll be back with better pics tomorrow. Here's a closer shot of the blocks.

I hear throught the grapevine that there are some quilts coming my way to bind for the QOV that the Quilt Studio is donating. I can't wait to see them in person. I promise to take better pictures when they're done.

Feeling hawkish

Here's what I've been up to for the last few days. We have a number of hawks in the neighborhood who unfortunately feast on such things as my beloved chipmunks and squirrels. Now and again you will see giant wings swooping down and making off with a fuzzy gray or brown thing and so it goes with the circle of life-Ugh! The raptors themselves are magnificent to see though. This one has a wing span of about 3 or so feet. I think you can enlarge by clicking the pics.

These last few days he has decided to make his perch on the front porch-directly over the little cinder block where the chipmunks launch themselves across the yard and where the squirrels feed on birdseed we put out for the mourning doves. You can tell when he's around because there isn't a living thing moving in the air or on the ground. I am fascinated my his size and patience. He let me open the door and move the camera around to get out of the glare of the door glass-well almost. He was getting a little skittish so this was as far as I could go. I'm about three feet from him. That's amazing and unfortunate at the same time. I think he belongs to our neighbor who has raised a number of raptors. He used to have peregrine falcons as well. The sun will be gone from this part of the porch soon and since it's 17 degrees out this morning(hello...where's my springy temps?) I suspect he will be on his way. I keep referring to the bird as a him when it very likely could be a female searching for food for the young. It just looks like bird who could kick the crap out of another bird and thus makes it male-like in my eyes. Silly really, since I could kick the crap out of a number of people myself. I would do this while frying up some bacon and bringing home the bread...cause I'm a woman W O M A N....Oh wait...where was I? The bird, yes...anyway, my fallow quilting period seems to be lessening and after a week of not sleeping but a few hours a night, I got a full night sleep last night.

I will be back tomorrow with something new to show for WIP Wed. For now I will follow the tale of the bird a few minutes more. I'm torn between not wanting it to leave and not wanting it to leave with anything cute and furry. I stand ever vigilant in defense of the chipmunk population.....This thing is actually big enough to carry off the neighbors cat.....meow

Even my WIPs have the blahs

I got some fabric from the Keepsake Medley mailing-it's a selection of Kansas Troubles fabric line. A little dull for this time of year-I wish they would consider the dark winter moods that prevail and perhaps they could send something that makes me go Yippee. The fabric is , however, beautiful-it's Moda and has a wonderful hand. I'm sure whatever I put it in will look lovely. I need to stop whining-sorry. I can't even stand the soound of my own inner voice(suck it up, Dee). I will not whine, I will not whine....
As you can see I'm still plugging along on the nine-patch. I really love the way those look. No matter what fabric you make them out of they're happy little blocks. I may set this on point and keep it simple-not sure yet. That is my style though. It will come to me as I work along. I don't often set out to make a copy of anyone's patterns. I kinda find this boring. It has to have a twist to it or I get ADD and will flit off to another project. For a girl that liked coloring inside the lines I have an amazingly short attention span.
The good news is that the temps are rising and the sun will make an appearance today. I have some errands and some Food Pantry work to catch up with so my day is kind of pre-planned already.
I hope you have some fun with your day.

building things-two ways

Not sure if I ever showed this- I made it for my husband last year. When he went on a trip with my BIL Bob to Alaska-I cut out the strips and sewed like crazy. I think he likes it. It certainly keeps him warm. I just picked out every blue fabric I owned and cut strips from all of them for the log cabin blocks-I set them in a barn raising pattern because we often visit Amish country in Pa. and he has always loved the actual act of barn raising where all the families come together to build for a person. If you've seen the movie Witness, you will know what I mean. They make a party, of sorts, out of the work and it speaks strongly of community and family. Two very important things to my husband. He's a wonderful man-I am a fortunate woman.

I have to go grocery shopping today. We are out of a number of things. It's gray outside but warmish. The snow will be gone in a few days with these temps-fine with me.

My son is cleaning out his closet. There are no clothes in there-only huge bins of Legos-He still thinks we bought them for him-truth be told-I bought them for me. The other night he was down on the floor putting together a boat and he made me laugh. We will put them away in the attic or basement for the grandchild to be---someday. I signed James up for the Lego Maniacs Club years ago and he has some very expensive sets-like the space shuttle and Ferrari and a fabulous pirate ship. Some pneumatic pieces as well.

The reason I mention this is that he has the same bad habits that his Mom has namely-Packratitis. This is only a very small portion of his collection. I think since they were all in his closet-we have a new member of the Closet of Shame Club in our house. I just never really thought about it much before. Oh well, I guess there are much worse things you can see in your kids. Like mother like son...I'm ok with that this time.

Regarding yesterday and the Oscar dress-up fun. thanks for the nice comments. I'm never sure which way to answer so I think I'll try to replay in the comments themselves. If you get a chance go over to the link on the right and click on Red Shoe Ramblings where Deb has a link to her interview with my dear friend Gerrie Congdon-fiber artist extraordinare..and all around smart cookie. Yay Deb and Gerrie. Anther link you should not miss is Kristen LaFlamme-one of the most original artists working in fiber today. She lives in Germany, for the time being, and also has many great photos of the wonderful festivals taking place there regularly. Kristen just did an exchange of art with Terry of And so It Goes-another great site. I'm not sure who got the best of the bargan-I would kill to have a piece by either of them. Terry's "Bird & Rice Bowl" is an all time fav of mine. Well I'll leave you with these assignments for today(hee) and get to the store-I'm hungry(big surprise there).

Playin' Dress-up

Here is the outfit I wore to the Oscars last night. What? You didn't see me?? How very un-observant of you. This came about because Deb of Red Shoe Ramblings (link on the right)asked us to play along and pick outfits we would wear if we were attending the show and we were the perfect Hollywood body type and could wear anything- I found a number of beautiful things but frankly-red looks Mahhvelous on me. Just ask my husband. I won his heart in the little red summer dress. Yesseree!! So I had fun doing something girly-girly. I live with 3 guys and so girly girly things are far and few between. If I were wealthy-I would buy these shoes just to look at them. Deb will understand...shoe fetish here! Can't walk in them but who cares.

I seem to be in the doldrums-much like a lot of other blog friends. As a skip around the blogging universe I notice that a bunch of people are feeling as blah as I am. Still working on the nine-patch piece and looking for a pattern for some very special fabric I have been saving for a quilt for myself which my generous husband has said he will pay to have quilted in the far off future when I finish it. (Whew-runonsentence) I have collected fat quarters of really lovely Robyn Pandolph fabric for a couple of years. I just can't decide what to make them into. They are pretty, soft, florals. I have a couple of ideas I may play around with.

Yesterday we attended a birthday coffee hour for my late MIL Dot's best friend, Evie. She is known as Aunt Evie to us and she's very well known in our village. It was nice to see her. We don't get to visit with her nearly enough and she's so thoughtful and funny. After that we all came home and vegged out for the rest of the day. Woke up this morning to 3+ inches of fresh powdery snow. It's warm so I hope it will go away soon. I'm ready for spring. Here's my other outfit and, of course-my Manolos. Oh Baby!

Going to play with fabric possibilities-see you soon.

A welcome touch of spring & WIPs

Not sure why it always amazes me how much the weather affects my mood. Yesterday we had a delightful taste of spring. It was 57 in the afternoon and I went to the store in a sweatshirt. Very lovely.

This is what I'm up to lately. Ever since I donated the quilt to QOV and Deb Geyer was nice enough to quilt it so beautifully, I have been searching for the extra blocks I made and put away. I knew they were in there somewhere. When I finished the quilt top I was in that mood that I didn't want to see the stuff for a while so I tucked away the left-overs. I think when I made the quilt I must have been in the throws of a major menopausal frenzy. I made so many nine patches I couldn't believe how many.... anyway, I'm working on putting together something out of them. There may be enough nine patches for two somethings. Now if only I could work up some of that frenzy energy-wise. Also, when you enlarge you will see how the blocks are very wonky and that's what happened to the quilt top WONKY-pretty, but no matching corners. I'm just going to ignore that and use them anyway and fudge the results.

I have decided to put a binding on this mini and call it a table topper and done. It was made by using up pieces of fabric that were left from other things I made. I just randomly put together any two pieces I picked up and so there you have it. It was also a trial run for that fusible batting. I wanted to see how the stuff worked and, apart from making it very stiff, which may be good for keeping it in place, it seems to work well. We'll see what happens when it is washed. I hope you all have a productive day. I'm going to go out and breath some fresh air and stand in the sunshine while we have it. It's a rare day in Feb. One last thing, I want to say how much I am enjoying going through the Studio list and seeing all the new people and their sites. What fun. Try it when you have a few moments.

February Blahs.....

We had a problem with our heating system around here for the last 2 days. I deleted the post from yesterday since it wouldn't play anymore. I hope you got a chance to hear it. If not-go get you a copy of Josh Groben-February Song- I'm not sure what album but there can't be that many. Look for it. I am a late convert to Josh. My friends have been on the Josh bandwagon for a while and Pam even went to a concert in the fall. That guy can sing a song. I love the crystal clear tone of his voice. No funny stuff just clear and beautiful. Sort of like Frank Sinatra way back in the day. I know-I'm old. I love music though-all kinds and it affects my moods in a big way. I can across the cut from Josh on some other blog and, sad to say, I can't remember where or I would go back and re-load. Drat!

I'm doing a bunch of work for the Pantry today and some much needed house cleaning (bleah) Nothing like a bright sunny day to bring the horror to your attention. I would dearly love to get back to some sewing but I probably will have to wait until another day. I notice that most of you all have not posted anything lately either so I don't feel too bad about my lack of quilty content. Maybe a walk in the sunshine will lift me out of this. I really hate February. I'm not fond of its cousin August either. they are the extreme times. Contrasting in extremes but nevertheless awful. I wonder how it ight be to live in a more temperate climate? When we were in Hawaii-we used to laugh at the weather reports on t.v.- blah blah blah...another day in paradise, yadda yadda. I think I might like to be bored with terminal prettiness-weatherwise about now.

Above are some of the things I've been reading these past weeks. If you get Vanity Fair as I have for 25 years-and you like old movies and film noir, this months Hollywood issue has a fabulous section where they have told a visual noir tale with all famous actors in 40s costumes and make-up as if it was a black&white movie. It's worth the price of the mag. The photos are so great. Very well done and fun to read and look at. The Julia Child book was great. It's the story of her life in France learning to cook as a young bride and mostly told in pieces of her own diary. Very amusing and fun read. The other book is a tale of a woman traveling through China by various methods of travel and the stark realities of that journey. It's a cautionary tale of how you can be in love with the idea of a place and then get smacked in the face with the truth of how it really is. Fun read as well. I will send it to the first person who would like it and tells me so in the comments.

The Better Homes quilting mag is changing its ways-I like it. It's a bit up-dated from the usual traditional stuff and a welcome change. I may give them another try at some point. I cancelled them along with Quilters Newsletter, which now can't possibly suck enough. Anyway....have fun &

See you soon.

Ice Storm halts WIP progress

I did manage to finish my son's quilt and he slept under it last night. No pics though. I've shown it many times already. Some more pictures of the harbor a few days ago. I will probably have some pics of today's ice storm later this week. Right now I have one eye on the chicken soup, one eye on the boys slip-sliding away outside, and one eye on the blog(Oh wait!-that's one eye too many) We have not had a bad ice storm for a long time. I'm writing this as I pray that all the twinkling little branches outside and power lines stay right where they are and don't fall-I've lived through a number of these things and it's not pretty. I live pretty near one of the power plants on the Island, so it usually gets up and running fairly soon, but I hope we stay lit-power-wise,that is. We may get lit, otherwise as well, but I'd like to be able to see the stairs as I trip up them.

I got a great haircut-It's a good time of year for bangs and I definitely needed something to perk me up. All of the pictures we took in N.C. have me looking as if my forehead is THIS BIG. So I asked Diane to give me a little wispy bang thingy. It looks smashing if I do say so. A little less of the helmet head thing and more chunky pixie. Yep, that's me-chunky pixie. My friends Gerrie & Rian made me laugh with tales of their haircuts. I can relate to Rian's in particular. When I worked in the cosmetic business I did a lot of work on runway models at first and then print models. They would often come in needing a quick snip here and there. One day I didn't have time for my own cut(electrician with no lights syndrome)and I took a scissor to my own head. I cut here and there and had a little cocktail and cut here and there-until I had a very, very interesting do. At the time, I got my hair done once a month at Vidal Sassoon. When the guy saw me he yelped and then decided to make it work for me, in the words of Tim Gunn. I had a Twiggy haircut. It was about two inches long and if anyone remembers Mia Farrow in her Frank Sinatra days-that's what I'm talkin' about. Interestingly enough-it became the rage with a lot of models and folks. Recently, I saw a photo of Dame Judy Dench(love her) and she had the same hairdo. Unfortunatley, I have too many chins now. Back then I was a mere slip of a thing at size 8 and 5'2'' It does seem appealing though. I'm also very much interested in the white hair thing that Meryl Streep had going in The Devil Wears Prada- I love that hair color and wonder what it would be like.

Hmmm, things to think about when you're waiting for the sun. Keep a good thought for my guys out there with sleet falling sideways and 17 degrees. They are putting down snow melt which we only do as a last resort. The door are frozen on our cars and the trees are cracking-Brrrr

Walking on water&more stuff from the closet

Here's a picture of the harbor iced over nicely. I'm told that it hasn't happened in a number of years. Funny, but I can't remember. I used to live right on Main St. that leads down to here and I can remember those days and the big freezes but I guess I haven't gotten out in the dead of winter much lately.

Here is a nice little sailboat belonging to some poor hapless soul who probably went away thinking that the harbor never really freezes and breaks your boat in two. There's one or two every year this happens. It's big news for the rag in town they call a newspaper.

Last but not least, we have quilting content for the day. I have spent some time in the closet these past few days for a number of reasons. Not the least of which is that I know there is a box in there with many more nine-patch blocks like the ones in the donation quilt that Deb Geyer quilted for our QOV for a woman. Anyway, this turned up. With it were a few more foundation papers to make some more. The thing is I have to get some more Kona cotton. It's got a really nice texture and feel and believe it or not other cottons look different when the blocks are done. You can tell that a different fabric has been used. It's probably the reason I put them in the closet to begin with.

Well, I'm off to the salon to get a cut. I was desperate for a haircut and my usual appointment was probably going to get cancelled tomorrow because of the snow and ice-The woman who cuts my hair is a treasure and she's booked weeks in advance so I would have had to wait patiently(not) for another time. Lo and behold-I called today to see if anyone had cancelled and YOWSA!! some poor soul did. I will feel much better when I get home. I can take a lot of stuff happening to me but my hair looking horrible is one thing that makes me very cranky. It's all grown out of it's shape and on my neck. You know what I mean. Men never understand these things, my husband was laughing at me because I was be-moaning the foul weather tomorrow and cancelled appt. Now at least I can feel perky.

A raspberry to February & 6 Wierd things

My son will kill me when he finds out I posted this but I had to laugh when we came across it. I used to blow raspberries on his tummy and feet and one day he blew them back at me. It just made me happy to look back at. He still makes me happy, thank goodness.

I think I've done the 6 weird things before but I'll play along again, since there are many more than 6-shut up. Anyway-you're supposed to tell 6 weird things about yourself that your freinds will probably not know already. and the tag a bunch of people-

1-My feet are two different sizes- the right is slightly smaller than the left and I'm blessed with a second toe that is long so it hits up against my shoe and drives me crazy(Oh that's why) I also have restless leg syndrome-didn't know what it was for years that made my legs tingle and strange pinpoint pains and such. I love my husband even more because he has to put up with me constantly re-arranging my legs in bed.It's har d to find a comfortable position and takes a long time to get to sleep. They have meds for it but they are of a sedative nature and I don't like feeling like that. The last thing I need it to be more inactive. I do find walking on the treadmill helps just a little. I always thought it was just the result of having jobs where I stood on my feet for 10-12 hours a day in high heels and such. I'm sure it didn't help. I'll live with it.

2-I'm a history nut. I love all types of history and since I'm also a bookaholic you will find many volumes of many types of history on my shelves.I think it stems from not having much of a history myself. Mainly I'm into Asian, and American Indian and right now I'm reading The Mayflower which is the true story of the years following the landing and founding of Plymouth and surrounding areas. I've probably read about thirty books on Asian(mostly Chinese) history. We had, years ago, a book on the history of the town I live in which included court records of trials of various people-many famous around here-for really interesting offenses, like riding horses on Sunday, an offense which used to get you the stocks. I think a member of a family around here got their hands on it and now I can't find it again.Public drunkenness was big in the early 1700s I'm also reading a book right now called "The United States of Arugula"about the history of the foodie movement in the USA-very good.

3-Unlike some of my friends who shall remain nameless(ahem)I have never been arrested(there's still time for that and only because they never caught me) but I have had a serious addiction. I was addicted to 12-hour nasal spray. You know how they say on the box "do not use for more than 7 days"? I used it for 25 years. So much so that it became such a problem that I had to have the inside of my nose cauterized because I got nosebleeds that wouldn't stop. The second time the ENT did it-I was in such pain that I told my husband if it didn't take and my nose bled-just let me die. I'm never going through that again. Like a hot poker to the brain. Yeah....like that! Again, such are the wages of sin....(hee)

4-I sense things. It's not like esp but sort of an image that comes to me. I think a lot of people have this. It happens, unfortunately, a lot with regard to people dying. I will think of someone who I haven't heard about for a long time for seen-or maybe a famous person, and suddenly within a day that person has died. Its companion is my exceptional BS detector(never fails me) and my superstition about saying things out loud. I have a thing where I get a sense of dread or fear or something that is off-putting about someone or something. It's like a bell going off. I believe that it saved my life more than once when I was single and I find it is very strong with regard to my family, particularly my son.

5-I only drink one kind of tea-It's PG-tips from England and my husband orders it for me by the package of a thousand from Amazon. He's a good soul that man. All other black tea tastes like pisswah(pardon)and is unfit for consumption.

6-I'm a stationery nut. I love papers and pens and cards etc. I must have hundreds of things like that. I can't seem to help myself, and I do eventually use the stuff. The thing is I use the excuse that I'm buying it for someone when I know full well that I don't want to part with it-it being cards note cards etc. I'm currently on a Tuesday Morning Hatbox craze-in which I will store fabric(wheee)

Well there you have the 6 weird things for now- I'll be back with quilt-art news soon. I'm not tagging anyone cause I think I've read everyones already that I could tag. Please feel free to play along if you haven't.

Heat Wave & something old - something new

The temperature is above single digits-for now. I got the itch to start something new yesterday. Cabin fever or something like that. Almost finished tying James's quilt and wow did I cut that back close. If it were being hand or machine quilted I think I would have had to take it apart and re-do. It just makes it by a hair.

I am bound and determined to use some of the fabric in my unwieldy stash. I'm not doing that crazy fabric diet because quilting and fabric are my joyful art and I can't imagine why anyone would swear off fabric. I think it must be a sort of Catholic thing because my friend thinks it's a great idea and she's one of the long suffering. She's the one who can't say the word NO, like when she allowed her MIL put that beautiful miniature masterpiece in the coffin when her FIL died last fall. I'm still thinking of ways to bribe the cemetery workers with regard to retrieval. Don't get me wrong and don't slam me regarding the Catholic remark-I'm married to one, albeit one who has drifted some from the flock. It's just that I get so mad sometimes when people spend their lives bitching and complaining about what they have to do because they can't manage to eek out the words "NO-I'm sorry I can't this time." These said friends are left with the moaning and groaning about how hard life is. I have a hard time saying no too but I'm finally at a place where I've decided to be good to myself first. I'm not saying that helping others is a bad thing, I do quite a bit of that myself, but my friend goes so far that it infringes on her personal life and relationships because, I think, someone once told her that she wasn't worthy or deserving of happiness. I feel particularly bad lately since all of this has affected our friendship in some ways. There are days when I really just want to connect and have a few laughs like we used to(no one can make me laugh like her) then I get there & she's almost the most bitter person I have ever met. I think much of this may have something to do with menopause and so I am quiet and try to be comforting having been there and done that. It gets exhausting sometimes as well as depressing-I hope she comes back to us soon. Have you ever met one of those people who asks you for advice-you give it and they NEVER, EVER follow any of it? So why ask? If all you want is a "Poor Baby" I can do that too and it requires less effort all around. Everyone is entitled to "Poor Baby" moments.

OK, I'll quit bitchin' at you all now if you're even still there....you are there aren't you????? Hey come back!!!

The houses are two I made around the same time I made the donation quilt and from the same material . I wish I had so much more of that stuff. It was such a pleasing color palette to work with-very Provence-like I loved it. I found them while I was looking for scraps in the closet. While I was doodling away time in there I came across a number of fat quarters I tucked away to use in a nine-patch something someday. They are also that same type of palette. So while I was making Chili yesterday I got them out and made some blocks. Cute, no?? Just doodling around avoiding confronting my artistic demons. That's my cross to bear. Ugh!

Stay warm and come back, I promise not to yell next time. Really..

Warm weather dreams & reality

These are some of the things that remind me of the seasons to come. Warmer ones...and could they be soon?Please??

I found these mangoes at the grocery the other day. They taste like summer to me. I know they're an acquired taste to some people but I grew up in a house with direct access to unusual food. Consequentially, I've never met a food that I don't like-except Brussels sprouts(they don't like me) and beef liver-ick. Yesterday just got away from me so I didn't have a WIP to show. Work on James's quilt is coming along nicely. I'm getting sore fingers from all the tying but that's almost done. After that, I'll bind it and throw it over my very cold son who is, sadly, working outside in 15 degree weather. He's an ice cube when he gets home. Even in layers and some heat inside the building-it's a long, cold day.

I am managing to get a lot of house work done-amazing what you can do when you have little alternative. It's a bit of a hibernation.

Lots of Jasmine tea on the menu today. Some sort of soup as well-probably chicken corn chowder. Hope you are all staying warm-more tomorrow.

Things to do when it's 9 degrees

My last post got Roger thinking about our Honeymoon in Hawaii and the state of the pictures. He thought they weren't as bad as I remembered. So we went on a search. While we had out the album, James mentioned that scanning the pictures into the computer might be a good thing for Dad to do.

This is an unfortunate shot of me when I was going through my permed and colored hair phase. Things have changed a little in 23 years. Here I am on the north shore of Oahu. I forgot how big glasses were then.

For this shot, we had to trade services with another couple who had no one to take their picture either. This is one of the pics that faded. This place is on the volcano Haleakala on Maui in a protea garden. It was a breathtaking place and this was in February. We get a kick out of this one because Roger says it's when we had matching bellies. He tells how I gave birth to mine but he's still carrying his.

That's enough reminiscing today. I just thought maybe you might like something warm and fuzzy to look at. It's up to 10 degrees out right now. We're looking at a high of 17 today. Shudddderrrr.

I have my son's quilt sandwiched together and am working on it. I'll post a picture later or tomorrow. Other than that there is a major clean-up going on here. Not much else one can do on these frigid days. Early spring cleaning-but for what year? Every time I try to get started on something artistic-I'm faced with a mess of stuff and no room to work. It's time! Not to mention the dust Bunnies which have become so large that I am naming them. It was good to throw out a bunch of stuff this past weekend. I had bits and pieces of stuff that were around for years in plastic bags. Nothing that anyone would want and many things I wondered out loud at what the hell I was thinking when I bought some of that stuff. We used to have a fabric store near us that had dollar a yard fabric and it was worth every penny. UGH! When I first started it was all I could afford and I didn't know any better. Why I saved strips as small as 1/2 in. I will never know. It's great to purge!

Deb Geyer sent me an e-mail that my quilt is on the way to me to put the binding on. Can't wait to see it. I should look for something to bind it with. Talk to you later. Stay warm

Dreams to Remember

This is a picture of a Hawaiian grotto. I'm not sure which one-the place is covered with them. Somewhere around 23 years ago, Roger and I trampled trough vines and undergrowth trying to get to a place just like this-we were on our honeymoon in Hawaii.
Memories fade and rearrange themselves in little packages in our minds but this one stays fresh for me. Most of the pictures we took did not age well. It was a time when putting your film through those electronic checkpoints did something funny to the film. Had wwe known we would have developed it in Hawaii. As it is-many or most of the pictures are a little pale and misty looking. We'll have to go back and take them again. At least that's what we always say.
Im not sure if that trip will ever happen, and frankly, there are so many places I want to see that maybe another trip to Hawaii will wait a long time. It doesn't matter-I have the most important part right here in my head and heart. Last night at dinner, we were kidding around with James and his girlfriend, Dani about our long-ago trip. The conversation was funny and now that my son is 22 1/2 he can figure out that he was around for the trip. I'm a fortunate woman. With great memories. My life has been a trip. Great things come to those that open their eyes, minds and heart to loves possibilities. All good things come in time and with faith. Happy Anniversary Honey!