Stashes

Stashes in the quilt world is just another word for obsession I think....at least it is in my case...man do I have a stash...or two if you count the different places I have fabric....or maybe three???

Ok...so I get on a roll and things just seem to keep going....made the one table topper...got it all done and made another table topper....top is finished but it isn't quilted yet......then saw a pattern and thot it would be perfect for the bright fat quarters I had...want to work my stash down somewhat..........that way I can buy more :) But really trying to not buy as much till I use some of what i have...problem is I buy these fat quarters or yardage and then can't seem to pull of color combos so they sit....HA!!!!!!!!!!!! No more....well.................

Getting back into my sewing room to quilt has brought out my most used tool lately....not sure why I am needing it so much but have used it a lot in the last few days....

the beloved seam ripper...man am I good at taking out seams :)

Here is the quilt I made out of the brights.....man did it go together fast.....pups are checking it out :)

So then I thot I would make a matching girls one out of these brights....but alas...I changed my mind

made this one instead of stripes and dots....so now there are two quilts and one table topper waiting to be finished...but I want to do something with those pink brights :)

Ok...on the other side of obsessive...how many rulers does one need??? I dug these out of my drawer...11 specialty type rulers....that I don't think I have used half of them............geez.......

and then here are more...but I use these...well at least most of them...

I hung all the others up except these 4...they went back in the drawer....no holes in them to hang them up :)

Ok...all caught up...now to go and make something more

Aaron

For those of you who don't have me as a friend on Facebook I thot I would post this on my blog too....My grandson, Aaron, is autistic. There is a lady in Florida who also has an autistic child and has made an offer to sell necklaces and key chains for autistic children to get them an ipad. The place is called the Puzzling Piece. This lady has taken up the challenge to help...I know several of you who are on fb have sent in your order and it is greatly appreciated...I do this not only as a plug to get Aaron an ipad but also for any of you who know a parent who has an autistic child and could benefit by this offer....
I also want to share a video and song. The song was written and sung by my son in law about his son. It makes me cry to see the video and listen to the words....It is hard being a parent of an autistic son who likes to leave his house but can't speak to let people know where he lives. Imagine how scary that would be for any parent to lose a child and know that there is no way that child communicates to let people know he is lost. Imagine having to be on duty 24/7 with a child that gets into all kinds of things that he wants to do but really aren't that good for you....or even down right dangerous. Normal children you can reason with......Aaron you can't....





Thanks for reading....this is near and dear to my heart!!!

I'm in LOVE!!!!

Well it isn't what you think....I discovered these Charm Packs...and I LOVE them. How easy is that...all precut and ready to use. Somehow in the process of looking through Paulette's blog I found the Missouri Quilt Company not sure exactly how I got there but she has a bunch of tutorials and one of them was this tumbler quilt using their template....Well being the very patient person that I am...I couldn't wait for a shipment of the template so I made my own out of cardboard...not as slick a theirs but it worked for me.
Sometimes using fabric you get a bunch of waste...and I don't like to waste my fabric...blame it on my Depression Era mother who ingrained in me the need to be frugal...So the first picture is a jumble of the waste...hardly anything that I need to put in a scrap pile and then never use :)

So the one packet was this All you Need is Love packet...not as many pieces as some of them but enough to make the table topper I wanted for February.
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I added this white solid pack for the outside border.....Ha I am a genius cuz I figured that if on the sides you only cut half of the tumbler pattern you wouldn't have to trim the sides and you had a border :) Darn I am smart :) Of course, I cut 4 too many of the tumblers cuz I didn't think my plan totally out..but heck...not bad

Finished product......works for my table for the month of February

with the happy face on the table

Now off to sew Hidden Nine Patches for another table topper....

Surprises

So I am in my sewing room working on tomorrows post and a delivery truck comes up with a black box...I haven't ordered anything and think that it is for my husband so I leave it there ;) He comes home and brings in the box and puts it on my sewing table....hum...again...I know I haven't ordered anything....so I look at this box and see...Yep it is addressed to me............????

Now I know where it came from but not who it came from..........so.....open the box to see who sent it...and what is in the box :)

Well one beautiful bouquet of flowers....from one very happy puppy owner. Love when this happens...not necessarily the gift as much as the knowledge that the people who get my pups are happy with the pups that I give them....

Isn't this yellow rose beautiful?

and this mummy :)

Tomorrow the post will be what I was doing before the surprise ;)

Band Concerts and such

Having grandkids is wonderful...and sometimes you need to sacrifice your night at home for a night on the town...or at least at the local school to hear the improvement in the bands as the year progresses....
So it was last night for my granddaughter, Madison and her beginning band winter concert. They had improved from the concert they had in November...wait that is only 2 months ago...hum....wonder how many more there will be this year :)
Any way....here is Miss Madison pre-concert....obviously she is a social animal and trying to get someones attention to watch her ;)

Happy girl waiting for the limelight to shine on her :)

Meanwhile back at the stands...cousins play with their Grum while waiting for the festivities to start

And then there are the other spectators...actually ones that have a daughter also in the band....telling stories of great importance to someone who was listening..well I think they were listening

and brothers of others playing...Olie likes his book better than interacting with the crowd.

Sister and daughter of above social butterfly dressed in the pink scarf :)

Aaron totally bored as his sister played in the concert....wishing he could be at home watching something on TV instead of having to sit still and be at the concert

Jason...ya gotta love that boy...he was so into the jazz band....didn't catch him bopping his head to the music too but he was enjoying it ;) Sorry Jas

Emma not wanting to be part of the picture taking process...put this over my shoulder and snapped....not sure why Stan has his hands over Torrey's ears....hum....musicians...strange lot they are

Cam came over and had to check out these drums....he was so eyeballing them so told him to stand by them like he was going to play them...hence the pose....gotta love the boy :)

And so...another band concert under my belt....maybe I should start adding up how much time I will spend at these concerts :) Nah...let it happen where it may :)

Normalacy...well almost

Wish I had taken 'real' before pictures....these are just of the counters while there are pups and right before they go home...where the table is back again were two kennels holding puppies with another one to the left.... :) The piece of paper hanging on the cupboards was the schedule for the week of pickup....
But today the last two went to their forever homes and so I start my post puppy cleanup. All the floors are mopped and counters are cleaned of all the accumulated stuff that happens when I have pups...

Here they are as of 5 minutes ago....back to being clean and without stuff piled a mile high

another view............I don't mind clutter but there is a point where it gets too much for me and I have to process everything :)

Inside of the living room were several ex-pens connected together where the pups could run and play....inside were a plethora of toys and a tarp covering the floor...usually I don't put the tarp down but with 18 puppies I didn't want to ruin my floor....but a good mop with some water and vinegar got it all clean...
I also put on the new slip covers to my couches...my $11 deal from Ikea....altho they are white I am hoping that they will work...cuz I have 4 more :)

Creativeness

Older meets newer....Some people came to pick up their new puppy and introduced the older pup they got from me to the new pup. All went well and I am assuming that they are getting along fabulously in their home. It is fun to have a repeat happy customer and this batch of a bazillion I had two repeats.

I have sorta been on the look out for a holder for my cell phone... I was tired of fishing it from the bottom of my purse so I made a little pocket for it to fit over the handle of my purse and hang so that my cell phone can always go in it. Remaking it I would do things a bit different but this works. My mother in law had given me a fat quarter of doggie fabric so it was bright and perfect for this project.

Can't see the strap on this one cuz of the phone blocking it but it is there....I can put it on the inside handle of my purse and it is easy access to my communication system :)

Here is is hanging through the handle of my current winter purse...hoping it works when I switch to a spring/summer purse too. The handle has a little piece of velcro on it so that it can come off...and even be washed if necessary. I put stiff interfacing so that it could almost stand up on it's own ;)

As of tomorrow I will be puppyless....till the next batch...first thing I am going to do is clean my countertop in the kitchen....before and after pictures coming tomorrow.

Cupcakes and Puppies

Madison came over today and we stopped at the new cupcake shop...Support your local businesses is my theory :) Money in their pockets and cupcake on my hips :) I must say that my chocolate raspberry cupcake was delicious!!!!

Then came playtime with the pups...while she played I tried to get pics...didn't get good ones of everyone but got some good pics

Love it when you can get good pics...except for the potty pad in the background :(

Madison had to hold each one and have her pic taken :)

goofy girl

better pic of girl not as good of puppy girl

good one of both ;)

and another one

wow...on a roll

my grandkids love playing with the pups...this is more manageable with only 7 instead of 18 :)

this bone is as big as the pup almost

nothing like puppy kisses

a little bit of belly rub

of course the big ones were jealous so the got some kissing time in also..a couple of the pics I took you couldn't even see Madison thru the fur :)

before they all go home have to get my other granddaughters over here to play

not so faux fur

I like to take the pups individually and sit with them...this sweet girl was the one that won out today for some alone time :) At first she was sitting nicely in my lap and then she crawled up on my shoulder and fell asleep...brings new meaning to fur collars :)

while i was down loading the top picture off my phone I saw that I had taken this one too....so typically male at my house...the heater was on and Cody was sprawled in front of the heater soaking up the warmth....if the heater is on you can count on Cody being in front of it...hum...kinda sounds like my husband..........but he doesn't assume this position ;)