Fall Into Fall Blog Giveaway...Comment on this post to enter...

So I'm going to participate in the Fall Into Fall Blog Giveaway (see the picture of the scarecrow to the side?)....I believe I am supposed to show what I'm giving away and then my loyal readers (all 3 of you) will post a comment and I'll use the "random number generator" to select a winner on October 15th.

I am giving away a Bliss jelly roll....tada!  I love the reds and aqua and pink...So really I bought you the gift that I want...isn't that what shopping is all about?? LOL!  Anyhow, all you have to do to enter the giveaway is leave a comment ON THIS POST.  Only one comment, please.  I'll likely go on sensory overload and SNAP if people leave multiple comments in an attempt to increase their probability of winning...so one comment is all you get!  Thanks.  The math teacher in me wants to keep it all fair and square :-D 

Once the winner is selected, on October 15th, I'll hope the winner checks back in and I can get an address so that I can send the jelly roll and pattern for the quilt that I want you to make and send back to me by Christmas....hahaha...well, sort of....OK, you can do with it what you want!!  LOL....

Work stinks...

So I posted like a madwoman all summer...and now my blog is as dry as a bone.  Sadly, the kids at school demand my attenion ALL THE TIME.  What is up with that?  And they are actually nice kids, doing their homework...more papers to grade.  Seriously.  Don't they know I have a life?  LOL....

Anyhow, what have I been up to lately?  I sewed part of the Christmas quilt for the quilt along.  Not much, but still....I'll save a pic of that for Saturday.

I went to Universal Studios for Ryan's 10th birthday...we all stayed in Hollywood then at my sister's in CA for the weekend.  Some drunken bowling at the Rock and Roll lanes occurred...but I'm not naming any names (you both know who you are!).  Here are the kids with that role model we all love...Spongebob!

Sadly, due to the fabric buying moratorium, I came away empty handed from the Quilter's Studio.  Oh my, how are these stores going to remain in business if I really stop buying for a year?  OMG....

Oh yeah, I guess I can preview what I'm giving away for the Fall Into Fall blog giveaway.  Shhh.....it is a Bliss jelly roll.  Yes, I want it so bad that I hope nobody actually posts a comment and I'm forced to keep it for myself.  Hmmmm....that could happen.  ???  I was allowed to purchase this at Quiltique specifically for the giveaway.  But I really want it for myself.  I'll make a post on October 1st and then pick the winner randomly from the comments on October 15th.  I think those are the rules.  And don't worry, dear followers, I won't make you do a bunch of weird crap to be considered for the giveaway!

Denise is going to bring by her Seuss quilt as soon as she gets the courage to wash it.  I cautioned her about the red possibly bleeding and now it seems she isn't that gung-ho about about possibly ruining it.  I doubt it will run though...but I recommended cold water and the Shout color catchers...and prayer...lots of prayer! 

:-D

Denise's Dr. Seuss Rag Quilt...

OMG, it seems like I'm always posting about somebody else's quilt!  Anyhow, today my friend Denise came by to make a rag quilt for a friend who is having a baby of unknown sex.  Denise bought the fabric last week at Quiltique and took it home to cut....she then made her little stacks of quilt sandwiches and came by this morning to sew.  Here she is...at the machine...

Denise is also a guard at a local rehabilitation center.  Doesn't she look crafty?

After a couple of hours of sewing, lunch, and both Grease and Grease 2, she finished putting the quilt together...isn't it adorable?  And so perfect for a "mystery" baby...

She was going to rush home today and begin cutting the edges.  Denise promised a picture after it is washed...I can't wait to see it done!!  Yeah...she has two other friends who are pregnant so there could be a couple more quilts in the future.  :-D  Super job, Denise!

Christmas Cut Along...

Yes, I know it is a Quilt Along...but how can I quilt or sew anything if the quilt top still needs to be cut out???  So I ironed a bunch of shirt parts and spent probably EIGHT hours cutting Saturday.  To make a 60 x 75 wall quilt for Christmas.  All day long...and I just finished.  It is 11:00 pm Saturday night.  On SundayI will take some pictures in the daylight and show you proof that I'm taking this Christmas idea seriously!!  Ok, here at the pics...before:  a big pile of shirt fronts, backs and sleeves.  Maybe a few yokes...

After, hundreds of pieces so that next Saturday (well, not next Sat. because I'll be in CA for Ryan's birthday) I can piece for Christmas....

Here is Buddy giving me the pathetic look because I've been cutting all day while he wastes away on the couch waiting for some affection.  He did get 2 hours worth of walks today, and some fresh chicken from Sunflower market, and part of my egg muffin this morning.  How much more spoiled can he get? 

Well, did I mention that I feed him homemade dog food?  Yes, last winter, after having Buddy for about 6 months, I realized that canned dog food was disgusting.  And he wouldn't eat dry food.  He would starve, I swear, if I didn't feed him occasional pizza and soft serve ice cream (all of which is bad for dogs, I know, but he was going to die of skinny-ness).  He only weighed about 8 pounds...

So I looked online for homemade dog food recipes and adapted them all to make Buddy's Chicken Slop (not such an appetizing name, but it stuck).  It involves lots of chicken, boiling chicken carcasses to make broth, Jasmine rice (his favorite), brown rice, carrots, zucchini, broccoli, corn, potatoes, oats and a little orzo.  The whole mess is boiled on the stove for an hour and comes out sort of like....thick oatmeal?  But chicken flavored.  It is then mixed on a small plate with rotisserie chicken and warmed up in the microwave for exactly 35 seconds.  It smells like chicken pot pie, but my daughter Allison tried a spoonful one day and said it was OK, but kind of bland..  Don't be alarmed, it is totally human food and great quality, I swear!!  Because Buddy is a snotty part-chihuahua mix, he frequently turns up his nose at the slop and walks away from the plate totally disguted at my efforts.  So then, a few hours later, we dump it in the trash and make him a new plate.  Max: 2 plates per day. 

I have to make the slop every 4 to 5 days so I spend lots of time cooking broth and slop.  Way more than any normal woman should ...but I worry about the fiber he gets, his veggies, protien allowance per day, etc.   Sadly, I then feed my kids Kraft Mac n Cheese and corn dogs.  I think makes me a good dog mom and a not so good mom mom....Hmmm.  But both are alive, and a healthy weight so I must be doing something right....Buddy is up to about 10 pounds and holding steady!!

Well, it is Sunday morning and I need to clean my hobby area because my friend Denise is coming over to make a rag quilt...more on that later!!

Sunshine Award

Well, I don't know what to say....Someone passed along the Sunshine Award to my blog.  Shell Creations is doing the Christmas Quilt Along and she passed this along to 12 of us participating in it....I've never gotten an award before, and certainly not one that indicated I was any sort of "Sunshine" so I don't really know what to do!  But I can pass along 12 blogs that I love to follow...

Well, I'm trying not to repeat ones that I've seen get this award, so here it goes:

1.  Nifty Quilts--vintage clothing turned into quilts!

2.  Kate Kwiltz--her organic, kwitzing (sort of straight/crooked line quilting) is very cool

3.  Quilt Times--where the Christmas Quilt Along began

4.  Crap I've Made--just because the blog name makes me laugh uncontrollably, and her stuff isn't crap

5.  Quiltville--the queen of making do with vintage clothing!  Because of Bonnie I have about 300 cut up shirts blocking my son's vision of his Wii gaming system!

6.  Material Obsession--love these Australians and their total abandonment when using color.  She makes me feel positively puritan in my color choices...Someday I'm going to grow up and be Australian!!

7.  Cluck Cluck Sew--How cute is that!  Great blog....lots of tutorials!

8.  Making Scrap Quilts from Stash--Mary is the epitome of quilting queen/charity volunteer.  And she has a website with patterns...

9.  Red Pepper Quilts--love her photos!  Delicious to look at the pics...another one from "Down Under"...

10.  Lazy Gal Quilting--her free-form pieced letters and tutorial about letter are fantastic

11.  Crazy Mom Quilts--What a busy Mom!  She quilts, she Moms, then she quilts some more!!!  Love her tutorials!

12.  1934 Chevrolet--I've got to give a shout out to my Dad who started blogging about his passion for antique cars (ones that he fixes up).  He learned to blog...so you can teach an old dog new tricks!!  LOL...

**All of you who were selected are supposed to put the picture of the flower into your blog when you list your 12 blogs....I think.  I've never done this before...

Blogging is a wonderful way to connect to people you otherwise might not have gotten to know....I love the blog world and am thankful for the Sunshine Award.  ;-)  Thanks....all 5 of you who now read my blog!  LOL....

Christmas Tree Skirt...

Well, this Christmas Quilt Along really gets me motivated to do some Christmas stuff that I've been putting off for years...I've followed Crazy Mom Quilts tutorial and I now have the top done....I used Ivory/Beige solid fabric instead of white.  And all vintage shirts.  I worked on it this week since I have a  busy day today--but here it is!

An up close view....

And here is a pic of Buddy relaxing with Alli....

On a funny note, I found a blog that I'm going to follow called "Crap I've Made".  I think that the name of this blog is so freakin' funny...I can't stop laughing about it.  Why didn't I think of something like that???  Anyhow, a typical Mom making stuff around the house!  This week I'm going to work on binding my big leaf quilt, cutting out some Christmas pieces for a wall quilt...and maybe some aqua and purple?  Hopefully...

By the way, work is much better this year.  The prisoners are actually so nice that I can barely call them prisoners and me the guard...but I will anyhow!! LOL...Happy quilting!

Christmas rag quilt and Buddy....

So here is a Christmas rag quilt that Joyce made for the charity auction and Rebecca "ragged"....cut the edges?  Trimmed?  Washed?  Anyhow, it turned out great and I'm not above putting other people's stuff on my blog...

And here is Buddy.  We were playing afterschool--he loves the braided fabric pull toy I made for him.  I used some old scraps of Christmas fabric and braided them together....you see, Buddy only weighs 10 pounds so it had to be small.  The diameter is about that of your finger.  Unfortunately, it begins to smell, so I wash it, and then we play again!!  But it is a nice way to reward your dog, and use some scraps from your stash!! He thinks he hears the car...but it isn't there...

Then he decided that having me take pictures of him wasn't as much fun as playing so I got the pathetic look.  What a player!!!  Tonight I'm going to work on my Christmas project for Saturday (I might not have the time then so I'm going to do my "homework" early, if you know what I mean).  I'll blog about it on Saturday, though, like I did it on time!!!  LOL...

Sarah's Quilt...

Well, blue and purple is quite a stunning combination, in my opinion (check out this quilt from Kate Kwiltz--scroll past the flower pics).  Currently, it is right up there with aqua and red as a "must do" for my classroom....but right now I'm working on Rebecca's nieces quilt. She bought the fabrics in New York and I've been washing, ironing, and cutting all week.  I'm going to make a wonky squares type of quilt--like the Dream On quilt.  I'll post a bit more about how to do this for my sister Gwen since she might want to do one someday.....yeah, right!!!

I've been using the Juki...turns out it has a foot on it with a guide (like a featherweight) and it seems to be 1/4".  This type of piecing doesn't require that kind of accuracy (since you trim down the blocks to the desired size in the end) but I think it is fantastic.  If I oil the race (in the bobbin area) after each bobbin, the machine runs super smooth!!  There will be 80 large triple border squares...and 72 mini squares with only two borders that will made into units of 4...I'll take pictures as soon as it gets lighter outside!!  I haven't had my coffee yet and Rebecca is "blah, blah, blahing" me about something I "blah, blah, blahed" her about last night.  Let me go drink my coffee...I'll be back.

OK, I had my coffee and sewed for a while (new episodes of the Kardashians kept me company)...This is what my work area looks like now....

 

Up top, I'm sewing three different stacks at once.  They are all in a different stage so it isn't too difficult to keep track of which is which.  In the case are the ones I've finished.  On the left side you can see what I meant by four small ones together.  All the blocks are being squared up to 8 1/2".  Once all four of the little ones are together they will be 8 1/2" as well.  This is going to be twin size so I've got a lot more sewing to do.  Maybe it will be together by the end of Sept???  LOL....Or Christmas???....

The thing with this method is that it seems so fast at first (no special cutting for the pieces)...but then you pay for it later by having to trim all the blocks at EVERY stage....after you have applied each and every border!!  But I love how they turn out...kind of funky and fun!!

Oh yeah, I have a great pic of Buddy.  So some background story....I re-did my backyard last year to put in grass for the dog.  There is a small part of the yard that has river rock and stepping stones that remains unfinished.  Why?  Because I'd rather quilt.  Anyhow, Buddy likes to lay in the dirt where I haven't finished laying the rock.  Then he gets dirty, takes a bath, and lays in it again.  You'd think I'd just get out there and finish it...maybe in October or November.  Well, we ordered Buddy a little cot to lay on so he wouldn't be in the dirt.  It came from a doggy magazine and cost probably $40.  What a waste, we thought.  It has been sitting in the backyard for months...and he never used it.  But today, we caught a glipse of Buddy taking a suntan on his cot....it isn't a great picture, but it is all I could get before he jumped off....

How funny.  It must be 105 degrees out there right now....Silly chihuahua....

Christmas Quilt Along...

As you know, I had to start back to work this week.  But I still managed to cut out a purple and blue quilt for Rebecca's neice (to be shown tomorrow)...and I worked on my Christmas tree skirt project.  I am going to make the tree skirt from Crazy Mom Quilts' blog tutorial.  Check out hers.....I've made my log cabin blocks (all from vintage plaid shirts)....tomorrow I will buy the fabric for the background.  I'm leaning towards a beige/light tan.  But maybe it will end up being white...we'll see.  Anyhow, here is my proof that I worked on Christmas today....

Ideally I'll end up quilting it myself....once I learn how to stipple.  I've been practicing in my head--does that count??  LOL....Anyhow, I've got to clean up for tonight, but expect some pics of the fabric squares for the other quilt....Happy Quilting!!