Live a Colorful Life

It Takes a Village: I have a new neighbor!

2012-01-29T10:24:00.000-08:00

Do you remember a couple of weeks ago when I moved into a new housing development?

I think it's fun to move to a new place. You can kind of reinvent yourself and how you want to live. I decided to go all "green" and "save the environment," so I bought a bike and started hanging my laundry on the line.

Well, yesterday, my friend, Dotty, moved next door. I'm so excited. We have been friends for a long time. We share a love of reading, and in fact, she even formally started me on my quilting journey.

I really like her new home. Dotty and her husband, Al, have four kids, all married, with lots of cool grandchildren. So when they moved next door, they decided to get a snazzy new sports car. And Al is a Master Gardener, so it looks like they are starting their landscaping project with wildflowers.

Here is a funny true-life story. Years ago when they built their home, they were on the outskirts of Fresno, with lots of acreage around them. A nearby neighbor had peacocks. Al and Dotty hated the peacocks. The peacocks would come into their yard, make a big mess, eat the vegetables in their garden. Really. They are not fans of the peacock.

So imagine my surprise when they decided to build a fancy new fence on the side of their house and then decided to have a peacock as a pet!! Very odd...

Oh, and I think another new neighbor's house will be done today. The interesting things you find out about your friends when they move next door. Just like Dotty, she is making some "interesting" decisions...

And in case you were wondering...do you live in a neighborhood that has a lot of CC&R codes? Stuff like the color you are allowed to paint your front door, or how many cars you can park at your house? Well, this particular housing development has only one: it is a requirement that you wear a kerchief at all times...

Farmer's Wife Friday: The Brightest and Happiest Place on Earth (Take 2) and Partners

2012-01-27T03:00:00.000-08:00

Last week, my sewing room was not the brightest and happiest place on earth, at least not once I attempted #43, Garden Path. Whew. Some of you made very kind comments. Apparently you failed to enlarge the photo, otherwise you would not have been so nice.

In case you forgot what it looked like, here is Take 1. See all the puckers? None of the burgundy strips match. Ugh. Y-seams galore.

The problem was that I wasn't sure how to correct the problems. I downloaded the paper piecing template, and saw that the construction was completely different than the exploded diagram in the book. I didn't paper piece this block, but I did follow a different "path" through this garden. Ultimately, it didn't lessen the number of Y seams, but I was able to make a block that is "good enough." And much better than last week's attempt.

#43, Garden Path. Take 2. The seams don't come together properly at the points on each side, but I figure they will be so close to the seam allowance when the blocks are sewn together that it won't be so obvious. Like I said--"good enough."

The other block from last week was #37, Flower Pot.

Oh, and before I forget. The farmer's wife from last week was from Oklahoma. She started by mentioning that "home economics have been put within the reach of every farm girl, so that even though a mother may be a poor cook or an indifferent housekeeper, her daughter need not be...courses include cooking, baking, canning, preserving and general household management." I think schools have made a big mistake by taking home economics classes out of the curriculum.

This week's letter writer is also from Oklahoma. And this farmer's wife was an independent and forward-thinking woman. "Born on a farm, I hated everything pertaining to farm life as I knew it as a child." And then she met a young farmer...and they came to an understanding, the first thing, that "she needs new modern implements as well as he. Also the 'chore' question should be settled early in the action. I have never milked a cow. Why? Because I told my husband I wouldn't and he doesn't expect it."

And he probably didn't want to argue with her! In any case, this farming couple worked together as partners, and planned their work schedule so they could spend time together as a family.

#11, Broken Dishes

#19, Checkerboard

I was really happy with the beach glass colors in this block

The blocks together from last week and this week:

And just a peak at all the blocks together:

Don't forget to see what Carla thinks about this week's letter and see her interpretation of these blocks.

Really Random, 1/26/12

2012-01-26T03:00:00.000-08:00

How is that I just found Goodreads? It will be simple to keep track of all the books I'm planning to read this year.

It's good when random things find me, instead of the other way around. This truck was parked in front of the office building where I pick up my medical transcription. Coffee on wheels. This is the first cafe2u franchise in the United States. Right here in Fresno! The new owner saw it when he was in Australia (hi, Bob...). And it's very social media oriented. Call, email, tweet--Bob does it all. You can preorder and Bob will start making your order "straight away"--isn't that an Australian phrase? Love it. And he has pastries too.

My usual order at Starbucks is simple and boring: tall coffee, no room. Unless I'm there with my daughter-in-law. She always orders something yummy. In which case I say the classic line from my favorite movie, When Harry Met Sally, (but without all the suggestive moaning in the background): "I'll have what she's having..."

But I went out on a limb and ordered a latte today. It was fun watching the milk frothing there in the back of the van, in Bob's state-of-the-art coffee machine. It's the first cafe2u in the United States. Did I already mention that? If you are here in Fresno, twitter @cafe2uclovis and add them for a FREE coffee.

I already have my loyalty card. Eight more to go and I get a free coffee!

My stash of crochet yarn. Just waiting for a refresher crochet course from my friend, Deborah.

Deborah made me this fabulous pillowcase.See the crocheted edging? It's almost too cute to put on my pillow.

We had dinner with these three little ones last night. Well, we had enchiladas. They have not yet expanded their menu options beyond milk.

The one on the left is Gabriel, our newest grandson, three months. He was 9 lbs 11 oz at birth. The middle one is Charlie. Would you believe he is only seven months? I think he was 11 lbs 6 oz at birth. And the cutie on the right is the newest (more details on her later): Ruby, five days old, 6 lbs and 10 ounces. (NOTE: Gabriel belongs to our son and daughter-in-law Christa, Charlie is the second son of good friends, John and Katie, and Ruby is the first child for Jason, whom we consider another son, and his wife, Jill. And Charlie and Ruby are first cousins. Got all that?)

I ordered some hard-to-find kerchief girl fabric from Ayumi. It arrived yesterday. From Japan! And I just placed the order on January 15! It takes twice that long to get things from Canada. Go figure.

Now my collection is complete:

Have you ever heard of Drinkify? Thanks to Jessica of How About Orange, who keeps up on all kinds of valuable and necessary information, you can make sure the adult beverage you are drinking and the music you are listening to are compatible: Lady Gaga. James Taylor. Rachmaninoff (my all-time favorite classical composer). Carrie Underwood. Linkin Park (I added that one for you, Terri...). Looks like they have everything covered--Rachmaninoff was the test, but they delivered.

Have you ever ordered fabric from Cherrywood? Hand dyed. Beautiful. It has kind of a suede-like finish. When I was at the Road2California quilt show last weekend (more on that later too), we spent some time in the Cherrywood booth. The owner comes from Minnesota and we have known her for quite a few years--she is good friends with Mark's cousins. I had a plan formulated for a new quilt, but needed an eight-step gradation, in four different colors. Cherrywood had exactly what I needed. I can hardly wait to get started.

I'm a bit of a thread geek--the whole process is kind of fascinating to me. And the colors. *sigh* Wouldn't you love to try some of this thread? You should stay tuned. Your wish could come true.

Most people read blogs 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., noon and 3 p.m. I read that little tidbit here. At 9 p.m.

Hmmm. I bet you just glanced at the clock.

And finally...

(photo from here)

The Name Game: 13 Woodhouse Road

2012-01-23T03:00:00.000-08:00

I'm thrilled to have Shruti Dandekar here from 13 Woodhouse Road. All the way from India! By way of introduction, I "borrowed" her profile bio. Get ready for a fascinating story. And LOTS of color!

Hi. I am Shruti. Born in India. Studied to be an Architect. Started my practice. Took a break. Got married. Started practice again. Took a break. Had a lovely kid - Aadi. Started job. Took a break. Learnt to quilt. And now nothing breaks except my thread..

How did you choose the name for your blog?

When I first started blogging I was on wordpress. I used another name. But I was not quite fond of it. Since most of my fellow quilters are not in India, but scattered across the globe, I wanted a name that would make me one with the crowd but yet, keep me different. That was the time I remembered an incident from the past.

I was newly married, mine was an arranged marriage, totally unsure, living with my in-laws like all the nice Daughters-in-law do... I had not yet started working (come on, it was barely a month since we had got married!) And I had so much of leisure time (oh! how I miss it) that I even read the phonebook! You want the proof, the name of my blog is the proof!!! I came across my MIL's name with this address and the home phone number listed in the phonebook. When I asked my FIL, he informed me that this was the old address of this place. Pre-independence! Wow!

I loved the address. 13 Woodhouse Road.

The search for a name for my blog ended right there. I had found a perfect one. Something that had a touch of awe and oomph! Also, in the past things that were considered normally unlucky for others proved to be lucky for me. I decided to go on and use the "13" for me!

So, 13 Woodhouse Road - it was!

Were there other names you considered, and can you share any of them with us?

Actually, I thought of this one almost immediately after I started, so there were no others. My old blog on wordpress was called Shrutiz though.

Now that you are recognized by your blog name, are you happy with it, or do you wish you could change it to something else?

Oh no. I just love this name. I cannot even think of parting with it. I am even considering keeping the name for my fabric and pattern design company that I intend to start later on!

Please head over to Shruti's blog and say hi. She has a lot going on. She is currently running a series called the ABC of Quilting. Lots of valuable information there.

She has been a contributor twice to Fat Quarterly--the first was a really interesting article on color and the second was a tutorial on how to make those adorable samosa wristlets.

She is doing a twelve-month series where she will be making things designed by Elizabeth Hartman of Oh Fransson! I was amazed when I read this: I had never even heard the word "quilt" (I live in a non-English speaking nation!) before January 2010! Shruti has gotten much inspiration from Elizabeth (as many of us have...) and it's amazing what she has accomplished in two years!

And...she belongs to the India Modern Quilt Guild! I'm impressed. We don't even have a chapter here in Fresno, California (although we are current working on that...)

Whew! Shruti has a lot going on. But I know she will have plenty of time to say hi, so please stop by. Thanks, Shruti. It has been awesome having you share your fascinating quilting life.

Farmer's Wife Friday: The Brightest and Happiest Place on Earth

2012-01-20T03:00:00.000-08:00

My sewing room was not the brightest and happiest place on earth this week. At least not when it came to the Farmer's Wife blocks.

Rather than give a little synopsis of a farmer's wife letter today, I'm going to share an email I received this week from a good friend:

"I want to know why everything I sew I have to unsew. It seems that it's really tough this week. Maybe I should just go back to bed with the covers over my head."

She sent a picture of what she was working on, and I sent back a sympathetic email, and went on with my week. I started working on a project I was really enjoying, but knew I needed to do the blocks for Farmer's Wife Friday. Feeling glad that there were only two blocks this week rather than four, I ~~never learn my lesson and start earlier in the week~~ waited until Thursday night. What a mistake.

#37, Flower Pot. This had some wonky pieces, but didn't really go as poorly as anticipated. I ~~pressed it into submission~~ carefully did some pressing, and in the scheme of the whole quilt, it will be good enough.

#43, Garden Path. At first glance, my thought was that there were a lot of pieces, but cutting would be the most time-consuming aspect. Other than that, the actual piecing should be fairly straight forward. Major error in judgment. Lots of little pieces. Y-seams that weren't really obvious in the "exploded" diagram. There is just no energy to start over, or try to fix this block. So there you have it. I went to the Yahoo group to find the paper piecing template. I'll give that a shot. Next week. We'll see what the farmer's wife from Grady County, Oklahoma, has to say, along with the farmer's wife from Canadian County, Oklahoma. I figure they won't mind sharing since they are both from the same state.

In the meantime, I'm not going to give it another thought. Because I'm on my way to a quilt show, Road2California. I have always wanted to attend but it just never worked out. I'll take lots of pictures.

Have a wonderful and productive weekend. I'm sure the farmer's wives and I will get along great next week! But I'm kind of curious--do you ever have weeks where all you do is undo
and redo?

It takes a village...

2012-01-17T03:00:00.000-08:00

I moved into my new house today. Even did the laundry and hung it up to dry. I still need to plant the flowers in my front garden. Later in the week, I'll go explore the rest of my small village.

Farmer's Wife Friday: Live a Successful Life

2012-01-13T03:00:00.000-08:00

The farmer's wife is finally back after a relaxing holiday season. I hope she had a restful time before it was time to go back to work.

This week's farmer's wife is from Shawnee County, Kansas. She begins her letter with a quote from George Washington: "The tilling of the soil is the most healthful, the most useful and the most noble occupation of man." She asks, "What other position requires the knowledge and skill as does that of the farmer's wife? She must be a home-maker, that is, she must be skilled in cooking, sewing, washing, ironing, making beds, setting tables, sweeping, dusting, cleaning, buying, nursing, educating the children, as well as social manager and anything else her hand finds to do indoors."

Okay. Maybe she did not have a relaxing holiday season...

"Then outside she must be a livestock breeder, that is, raise chickens, turkeys and so forth..."

#28, Duck & Ducklings. So let's just pretend that this farmer's wife jumped on the Pantone Color of the Year bandwagon, Tangerine Tango, to make this block. It's not quite the deep reddish orange of tangerine, but she worked with what she had on hand. Good for her.

"...she must be a gardener, know how to can, preserve and store her fruits and vegetables, how to care for her meat in winter, how to make soap and many other things...she is a financier, a bookkeeper, a home-maker, a manufacturer...."

I have to admit that just reading the list made me a little weary.

#87, Star Gardener. This 6" block has 57 pieces! And making this block made me a little more weary.

But yet, after that list, she goes on to say that the "so-called privileges of city life are few in comparison to the contentment and love for nature we enjoy in the country....men have deeds to land, but the beautiful view they do not own." That was an interesting thought. "Even night in the country with its stars and its dews is a wonderful blessing...."

I can say for certain that the stars do not shine as brightly here in the city where I live. There is competition with street lights, neon signs, buildings.... When we are out of the city,away from all the artificial light, the stars are almost blindingly bright. I am literally "star-struck" by the sheer number of stars that we don't see in the city.

#31, Evening Star. This block was a walk in the park. I have usually called this block "sawtooth star." Whatever its name, it has always been one of my favorites. And it was nice to have a block go together quickly after Star Gardener.

"The memory of the farm home will be treasured long, long after the screen artist has married and divorced her fourth husband, or been murdered...so I want my girl to marry a farmer that she may have the best chance to live a successful life and of being a real home-maker."

#47, Homemaker. It's a good thing Evening Star was quick and easy. Because Homemaker, in my opinion, is the toughest block I have made so far in this sampler. After you do the corner segments (the green and Kona snow), the rest of the block construction involves set-in seams. Don't look closely. I finally pressed this block into submission.

Here are this week's four blocks together:

They have such a different look when set on point.

Here is the whole group of 54 (54!) completed so far. Nearly half done.

It's good to be spending time with the farmer's wives again. I'm looking forward to seeing what Carla has to say about this week's letter...and how she feels about that Homemaker block!

Really Random, 1/12/12

2012-01-12T03:00:00.000-08:00

I'm never sure where to start. I guess it doesn't matter--it's all just random stuff anyway.

By now, the Pantone color of the year, Tangerine Tango, is making the rounds. There is Tangerine Tango challenge on flickr. Fabric bundles available for purchase from a lot of different places. I probably don't need one (see below). There was an article in our local newspaper last week: "The color czars have issued a decree for 2012: Tangerine Tango is the hot hue for this year. What about 2011's Honeysuckle?...or Turquoise in 2010? Well, they're on the color crap heap, people. Move on....Sophisticated but at the same time dramatic and seductive, Tangerine Tango is an orange with a lot of depth to it."

Now I know for a lot of people, orange, no matter what it is called, is not a favorite. But you won't fine me complaining. In fact, I'm feeling hopeful about 2012. And prepared. Covering all my bases.

For when I need to leave the house:

Reading: This was the first book I finished in January, borrowed from my DIL.

I didn't want to mess up the cover, took it off and found this beautiful hard cover underneath.

On the wall in my sewing room (made by my glass artist husband--I named it "cremesicle."

New towels in the bathroom:

Actually I saw a picture in a magazine that had these colors. I told Mark I would like a bowl or something in these very colors.

Asked. And received:

See? Scraps aren't just useful for quilters! Most of my favorite things made by Mark involve scraps of glass.

He recently finished working on a kitchen remodel. The owners chose countertops with imbedded recycled glass. Really beautiful.

He enjoyed working with the homeowners, so he made a bowl out of glass scraps for them.

I think he's on to something here...

Oh. I wouldn't want to forget this (see above). My stack of tangerine fabric. Just waiting for a project. Maybe the Tangerine Tango challenge...

Out of curiosity. Would you want to live on this corner? I'm not so sure. Their story didn't end very well...

WIP Wednesday, 1/11/12

2012-01-10T22:27:00.000-08:00

This will be short and sweet. Before Christmas and after Christmas I have been working on the same project, my Colorbox quilt (formerly known as Crazy Traditions). The quilt top is finished and it is on its way to Washington State for excellent machine quilting. So since it is not technically finished...here it is. From a couple of different angles. It is 107 by 107 inches. I don't have clear space that large anywhere in my house to take better photographs.

I've been knitting. Halfway done. With the log cabin blocks, that is. Then there will be a lot of sashing, which apparently requires lots of circular needles. All in the same size. These haven't been blocked yet and the extra tail hasn't been woven in...And that extra large block on the bottom? It was my first one. Before I bought a counter to keep track of my rows. Oops. I'm sure once it is blocked and knitted into the rest of the afghan, it will be just fine...

When you are finished with a large project, do you just jump right into the next one? I always have to decompress a little bit. This usually involves cleaning/organizing. I have found some treasures (some Basic Grey, some "Posh" by Chez Moi) and I'm almost ready to destash, so you might want to stay tuned .And cleaning a sewing room counts as a Work in Progress, right? Of course it does.

It feels really good to get back into the quilting groove after the holidays. Thanks, Lee, for hosting this each week. It's such a good way to stay accountable.

P.S. Have you ever watched The Quilt Show with Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson? Have you ever wanted to give it a try? I have a gift certificate for half a season that I will give away to the first person who wants it. Given to Marls.

The Name Game: Love Affair With My Brother

2012-01-10T03:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the first edition of the Name Game for 2012.

When I first envisioned a series like this, it was because I noticed that I would often click on the profile name of someone who had left a comment on a blog I was reading, not only because they might have left an interesting comment, but also because their profile name was so interesting. It made me curious about the writer.

I'm thrilled that Sunni from Love Affair With My Brother is here for the first spotlight of the new year. You've gotta be curious about how she decided to name her blog. If you are a regular reader of Sunni's blog, you already know she is very creative and does beautiful work. I can almost guarantee that the first time your read "Love affair with my brother...." your first thought was "Um.....what???"

How did you choose the name for your blog?

I came to love Brothers because of my Grandma. She taught me to sew when I was only 6 or 7, and instilled in me a certain degree of product loyalty. She always told me "You only ever sew on a Brother or a Bernina."

That advice stuck with me and the first machine I ever purchased for myself was a Brother HE-120.

(want the tutorial for this awesome quilt? It's right here)

And I'm always saying "I'm in love..." or "I'm having a love affair with...." usually referring to wine or chocolate or a new fabric line. One evening, I had a moment of cleverness and posted on Facebook "If I ever start a blog, I'll call it Love Affair with my Brother." Most everyone thought I was off my rocker because I have 2 older brothers! Friends and family that sew are the only ones that got it.

It was only meant as a joke, but it stuck in my head and lit a fire in me to actually start a blog.

To negate the need for an explanation, my tagline is ...and my Janome, and my Bernina, and my Singer. I have received more than a few comments and e-mails from readers who came to my blog because of the concerning title and then laughed when they figured out what I truly meant!

Were there other names you considered and can you share any of them with us?

The only other name I considered was Love Affair for the blog title and ...with my Brother as the tagline. Really just an alternate of the same name. I have a dark sense of humor and I felt compelled to put down the whole thing.

Now that you are recognized by Love Affair With My Brother, are you happy with it, or do you wish you could change it to something else?

I am completely happy with it! It's a little shocking, a little funny and very memorable. Which describes me, too!

I hope you will head over to Sunni's blog and look around.I'm pretty sure if you aren't already a regular reader, you will become one now.

When a quilt top talks....and your husband understands what it is saying...

2012-01-09T03:00:00.000-08:00

I'm glad my husband is a visual person. He designs kitchens and his design expertise comes in handy when it comes to quilts as well.

I've been working on this quilt that will be auctioned off a a charity quilt auction in April. Sixteen large blocks. The blocks were completed on Friday night and it was time for the sashing. Done. (Please excuse the table--this thing is huge and I have no place for proper photography...). I love the "breathing room" that the Kona snow gives the blocks but it needed something to frame in all that snow around the outside of the blocks. And something that wouldn't take a lot of time.

I make one of these donation quilts every other year, and reach a point about this time that a couple of things happen.

Elation: "I can't believe I have made all these gorgeous blocks. I love this quilt!"

Impatience: "I'm so ready to be done and move on to another project."

Complacency: "It's a charitable donation. It's already 'good enough.'"

Self-admonishment: "This is for a cause near and dear to my heart. This needs to be my very best effort."

So Mark and I discussed border options. My first thought was to make a border using strips of the colors in the 12 outside blocks, making the strips a little longer than the block and just butting them up against each other. Mark's idea was to continue the Kona snow sashing in the border as well.

I'm so glad he made that suggestion. And that I listened to him.

Funny guy. He took this picture of me while I was trying to take pictures of the quilt.

All these little threads were trimmed from the back of the quilt, so they won't show through on the front. I could have kept trimming. I finally stopped... Today it goes in the mail to Mark's cousin, Ione, who will work magic with her machine quilting.

My sewing room looks like this.

But it's time to say I'm done.

And amen!

Really Random: 1/5/12

2012-01-05T03:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the first bit of randomness of 2012.

Did anyone other than me briefly considering asking Santa for some incandescent lightbulbs for Christmas? I kind of panicked there for awhile when I heard that starting January 1, it would be illegal to sell incandescent lightbulbs. I'm all for living "green" and conserving. We try to reuse, recycle, and reduce with the best of them. But I just can't imagine those pigtail lightbulbs in my dining room light:

I guess we got a reprieve. At least for awhile.

We have no snow in Fresno. In fact, for the whole month of December we didn't even have any rain. Not a good thing. So this cute little card from Tammy is the closest we got to snow. And the red velvet fudge? Highly recommended.

Last week Mark and I needed to have something recorded at the county recorder's office. We made our first trip downtown, only to find out that the form we had used (and had notarized) was obsolete. Ack. Talk about your taxes at work. We were the ones who did all the work! Why? Here's why:

Really? The recorder's office biggest job is the recording of forms. Um, thanks for not being able to advise which forms are needed! Supposedly you can pick up legal forms at stationery stores. But not the form we needed. I finally found it online. For $20. Another trip back downtown to get it recorded. The posted recording fee is $26, so when the recorder guy told us $48 we almost choked! Can someone out there tell me what a SS redaction fee is? We paid $2.00 for that. In addition, $2.00 ERDS, $6.00 modernization fee, $2.00 micrograph fee, $5.88 DA fraud fee, $.12 GF fraud fee and $4.00 trial court fund fee. Sheesh...

Isn't this the cutest laminate raincoat? I was a little freaked out to sew an actual item of laminate clothing myself so someone else made it. And it's looking like this will be the year when we don't get any rain. Figures...

Charlotte gave us a concert of Christmas music.

I love seeing these two together: my granddaughter and my mother (her piano teacher).

Mark had an email exchange with one of our dear friends in Kansas. Part of her email included this sentence:

Stephanie has taught all her boys to cook and bake plus they also learned to knit and crochet!

Cool. This was his reply:

What a gift Stephanie has given her family cooking, knitting and crocheting . actually I learned to knit when I was young and haven’t done it since.

What?? I have recently taken up knitting again and he never mentioned this to me! He asked for a refresher course and of course I caught it on film.

Maybe he'll help me with this afghan!

When Mark and I were first married, we had very little money. When special occasions rolled around, we didn't have money to spend on cards. So we would go to the store, each choose the card we would buy IF we had the money, read each other's card, and then put them back in the rack. It has become kind of a joke over the years. Our family knows about it, our friends know about it. We got this, um, envelope from Mark's brother and his wife. Haha!

Our son, Aaron, is an optometrist. I saw this mug on someone's blog (sorry--can't remember which one) and knew I had to have one for myself. They also had a similar mug about coffee. So I bought that one for Aaron and this one for me.

Can't read that bottom line? Email me. I'll book you an appointment with our son, the optometrist. (BTW, it says, "beyond all measure").

Oh the things you will find...when you decide to do a massive clean-up and reorganization of your living space--cabinets, drawers, shelves, closets. I found things I had lost/misplaced. Tossed lots of things and wondered why they hadn't been tossed long ago. And added to my button collection. What do you do with all the extra buttons that come with a new garment? I threw all those little envelopes in a drawer. I decided to release them all from their envelopes. Wow, that's a lot of buttons. I don't even own most of these garments anymore.

I'm starting 2012 in a colorful way, with these note cards.

By now you must certainly be aware that Pantone has declared the 2012 color of the year to be Tangerine Tango. I have been collecting lots of random pictures of orange and tangerine (so you probably know what that means--a post of really random orange things...) I'm thrilled with the choice. How about you? Does another color seem more appropriate for 2012? Do tell...

May the Force Be With You

2012-01-03T16:53:00.000-08:00

We got this cool calendar from our State Farm insurance agent. Each month it has our name in a really cool setting. Expect to see one at the beginning of each month.

So it is 2012. About mid December, I stepped away from the computer, other than what was necessary to do my job as a medical transcriber. No reading blogs, no writing posts. Now I'm finding it a bit hard to get back into the groove. So I'll just kind of ease into it.

I have enjoyed seeing "year in review" posts. You won't see one here. One of the things I dislike most about myself is that I'm great at starting new projects, but not so great with follow-through. There are a lot of "starts" I could show you from 2011. My goal for 2012 is to become better with the follow-through. Maybe at the end of this year I will have enough for my own "year in review" post.

What I did accomplish in December was some sewing for my grandchildren. Other than the three of them, we didn't exchange gifts with anyone else in the family. It was low-key and relaxing. My parents went to see my brother in Texas, leaving on Christmas morning. Early Christmas morning, like we picked them up at 5 a.m. to take them to the airport. So the rest of us had Christmas dinner at our favorite restaurant, which is always open on Christmas day. While we were waiting to be seated, these two kept me company, and finally consented to have their picture taken by the huge outdoor Christmas tree.

When we got home, they opened their presents. Levi, 3 1/2, is totally ~~entranced~~ obsessed by all things Star Wars. He has never seen more than 10 minutes of one movie, yet he knows all the characters by name. We got him a set of Star Wars Legos, and I made a tote to put them in. At the beginning of December I was thrilled to get some scraps of Mechanical Genius from Mo Bedell, before it was even available for purchase. She had just posted a tutorial for a great tote bag and this was the obviously perfect gift for this little Star Wars guy:

(I used a fat quarter that I scored from ebay for the back pocket)

We added a Legos book, some t-shirts, a pillowcase, and some jammies. Do you think we overdid it?

I had always wanted to make a Topsy Turvy doll for Charlotte, the kind of doll that you flip upside and she turns into an entirely different doll. Wee Wonderfuls by Hillary Lang had a really cute pattern. It also made me realize that I am not a doll maker.

Charlotte loves purple, so that's what I chose for each outfit, and gave her dark hair and brown eyes.

This is the "dressed up" version. The scalloped fabric has little music notes on it, perfect because Charlotte just started taking piano lessons from my mother in fall. The dressed up version has coiled braids and a ribbon in her hair.

The "dressed down" version has braids. I even found a selvage with Charlotte's name on it.

This doll was much more time-consuming than I had anticipated. There was SO much hand sewing, and the hair took forever. But I think she will be well loved. And that's all that matters to me.

So what's ahead for 2012? The Name Game will have a lot of interesting bloggers making an appearance, maybe a quilt-along, some tutorials, LOTS of really random stuff. And some quilt finishes. May the force be with me...and you. Happy 2012.

Blog Hop Giveaway Winner

2011-12-17T12:28:00.000-08:00

Thanks to everyone who stopped by the Blog Hop Party giveaway. In retrospect, I kind of wish I had chosen a different topic for commenting. But no, I chose to ask about your favorite holiday treat. Consequently, I have been hungry all week. So last night when Mark asked what I wanted for supper, I promptly answered, "Cookies!"

The winner of the Jovial charm pack is #97 Dona, who said...

I love the Gingerbread loaf from Starbucks!

December 10, 2011 5:29 PM

When I emailed to get her contact information, I also checked out her blog. What a happy surprise in this season of giving to find that Dona is actively involved in a group that makes charity quilts.

Until the start of the new year, blogging will be really random. The elves are calling me from my sewing room.

I sure hope they have a plate of cookies and a mug of hot cocoa waiting for me...

The Name Game: Charm About You

2011-12-12T03:00:00.000-08:00

I love Lucy. Really. She is charming. Her blog is charming. She is from Manchester, United Kingdom. I'm a complete sucker for all my good friends in the Unified Kingdom. So of course I was thrilled when Lucy agreed to play the Name Game.

So here is the very charming Lucy.

How did you choose the name for your blog, Charm About You?

I wanted to pick a name that meant something to me and had a positive association. Although the reason is a bit cheesy, I chose Charm About You because every night since my son was born I have sung 'Cheek to Cheek' (sung by Fred Astaire) to him at bedtime. Sometimes now he even sings it to me! 'The charm about you' is one of the lyrics, I love the song and it always makes me smile. It also helped that it had a link with quilting because of those little charm squares, which also make me smile!

Were there other names you considered, and can you share any of them with us?

Originally I had set up a blog called 'Living Off Pasta and Love' but I never wrote anything!! I knew I wanted to share my quilting/sewing and wanted to blog but I felt so nervous. One day when money was tight I told my husband that for the rest of the month we'd have to live off pasta, to which he replied 'We'll be living off pasta and love'. He's such a romantic!! That sparked the name. I really liked it and it made me smile because I know as long as we're together we can get through anything. It didn't stick though because I realised it would be a better name for a food blog, which mine definitely isn't (really, pasta for a month? no one wants my cooking advice)! Also who wants to be reminded about being broke!

If I'm honest I spent ages thinking about a name, I asked my friends, sister, husband, anyone that would listen! I came up with lots of options but Charm About You won out in the end.

Now that you are recognized by Charm About You, are you happy with it, or do you wish you could change it to something else?

I love it! I'm happy that it makes me think about my family and the hobby I love. I'd also like to think that people smile when they read it, all the bloggers I've 'met' have plenty of charm (well, most of them!) and I'm charmed to have become part of such a wonderful bloggy community :)

Please stop by Charm About You, say hi to Lucy, and spend some time looking around.

If you want to enter this giveaway, I'd still like to hear about your favorite holiday treat.

Blog Hop Party: Feeling Jovial

2011-12-09T03:00:00.000-08:00

Since Farmer's Wife has decided to take a little break as she prepares for a country Christmas (at least, I assume that's what she is doing!), I thought it would be fun to join a blog hop and offer a little Christmas cheer of my own, a charm pack of "Jovial" by Basic Grey.

So if you are feeling jovial, let me know what your favorite holiday treat is. A special cookie made with an old family recipe? Fudge? Hot spiced cider? Do tell. The Random Number Generator elf will choose a winner on December 16 so you have plenty of time to ~~give me your secret recipe~~ tell me what treat says "Christmas" to you.

And don't forget to join the hop for a chance at some other festive treats.

ETA: Thanks for playing, everyone! Comments are now closed.

Really Random, 12/8/11

2011-12-08T03:00:00.000-08:00

We were at the coast last weekend. I ~~hate to keep rubbing it in~~ may have already mentioned it.

Day:

Night:

One of my favorite quilt shops is in this little seaside town, Quiltin' Cousins.The owner, Shawn Lombardo, is awesome and funny. I could talk to her for hours. And sometimes, if the shop is not busy, I do visit for hours. Her shop was originally a cottage. A little cottage. 900 square feet.

But she knows how to purchase the best variety of fabric in her little gem of a shop. Here she is, cutting some fabulous Tammis Keefe Christmas fabric for me.

I came home with a nice little stack of fabric:

She also made this super cool miniature of her shop. It is about a foot in size. The detail is amazing.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...I was able to purchase a whole bolt of Kona snow from Tammy at Marmalade Fabrics. Awesome.

So what are the holidays like on the Central Coast of California?

Let's see...they have to import the snow from somewhere else (see the little kid in the santa hat and shorts?)

They decorate the fish:

And sunbathing means a bikini, a jacket and a stocking cap!

The end.

WIP Wednesday: 12/7/11

2011-12-07T03:00:00.000-08:00

The good news: sewing progress was made this week.

The bad news: none of it involved Christmas sewing.

The good news: this was my view:

The bad news: we weren't there nearly long enough!

Now for the sewing pictures. I'm cranking away at my Crazy Traditions donation quilt because I want to get it off to Mark's cousin for machine quilting by the beginning of January. Twelve blocks completed. Only four more to go!

Shimmering Star:

Hole in the Wheel:

My friend, Carla, sent me a lovely little gift for my birthday, and it arrived at the exact time I started on this block. It was the perfect color and you can see it right in the center of this triangle. Thanks, Carla!

Celtic Boxes:

Big Bang:

When I got to this luscious orange block, I thought it would be my favorite. But instead I wish I had changed some things around. And I still might. The center kinda bugs me.

Garden Maze:

When I started on this drab olive green block, I was anxious to be done with it. Turns out it is one of my favorites of the whole group!

And Gabriel turns two months today. Man, I hope I don't scar my grandchildren with the ~~poetry~~ rhyming lines on these fabric postcards.

See what I mean?

Really Random, 12/1/11

2011-12-01T03:00:00.000-08:00

It's December! Wow...already having trouble catching my breath, thinking about what I want to do in 24 short days and still be able to slow down and enjoy the season.

First of all, remember this picture?

Our friends, Derek and Lisa, got married on 11/11/11 (um....obvious). I had added the picture to the Flickr 11/11/11 group. Last week I got this flickr mail:

"My name is Danielle and the reason I am contacting you is because Marie Claire Magazine is publishing an article about the 11Eleven Project (www.11elevenproject.com). People worldwide participated in the largest collaborative storytelling event in human history...The 11Eleven Project is quintessentially “a day in the life of the world” told by the people of earth. The reason I am contacting you is I have wonderful news; we would love to use your image to contribute to the article! "

Eeek! She wanted my picture in the highest resolution possible. I sent her what I had. Not sure if the resolution will be good enough or not. But, wow. What a fun opportunity!

Best burp rags ever. Easy peasy to make. Some fun fabric, a little chenille and minkie on the back. Anyone interested in the dimensions? Did I mention that my son is an Oregon Ducks fan? (Again...obvious.)

Is it true things happen in threes? Then we still have one more thing to break. Our built-in microwave quit the other day.

We have a small spare microwave that we used up at the rental cabins, but at least two times a day I go to the built-in, open the door, stare at a little bowl in there with some screws (for the faceframe--so we don't lose them), wonder why there is a bowl with screws in the microwave, and then remember, oh yeah, it's broken, and then walk over to the spare microwave.

The other thing? The battery was so dead in my car yesterday that the remote portion of my key wouldn't work to unlock the door.

My two favorite pictures from Thanksgiving day:

This year, my dad has been making everyone in the family a pen and pencil set from wood for their birthday present. Seriously. He makes them on his lathe. I think I got the most beautiful set for my birthday. Thanks, Dad.

My magnetic snowman always makes me smile. I leave him up through the end of January.

Do you like Christmas music? I sure do. We have collected a lot of Christmas CDs over the years.

We probably don't need another one. Especially one by Justin Bieber. But then I read this Associated Press review. "Parents are likely to buy Justin Bieber's Christmas album for their kids and pray that their young ones will only play it through their headphones. But the elders would be missing out...Even if you don't have kids, 'Under the Mistletoe' should be under your Christmas tree."

Really? Do you have this CD? Would you recommend it? In the interest of full disclosure, maybe I should mention that we are owners of the following Christmas CDs: A Toolbox Christmas (everything performed with hand and power tools) and A Wild Christmas ("all animals and ambient sounds recorded by Bernie Krause with the exception of the fish--courtesy of the U.S. Navy). Kinda makes you wonder why I would even question if JB would be a good addition or not...

And finally, just a little peak at the progress so far on Crazy Traditions. Half of the blocks are completed!

Until January, things will be a little sporadic around here. The Name Game may or may not make an appearance, and the Farmer's Wife has said she is taking a break until after Christmas and I'm not arguing with her.

I hope you take some random moments to savor the lights and music of the season.

The Reason for the Season

2011-11-29T03:00:00.000-08:00

Did you survive Black Friday? Cyber Monday? I admit that shopping among the throngs the day after Thanksgiving held absolutely no allure for me at all. But if that was something that made you smile, then I say more power to ya. Although I found the reports of isolated violence a little distressing, didn't you? I did let my fingers do the shopping today, however.

If you are looking for something that adds the Christian spirit back to the holidays, the reason for the season for many of us, our daughter-in-law, Christa, has something in her etsy shop (Fairytale Pumpkin) which might be just the thing you are looking for. (Note: Don't you think Fairytale Pumpkin would be a great addition to the Name Game? Help me convince her!)

The first is a Christian Advent Calendar kit. This is a kit with everything you need to fill your own advent calendar with objects that will teach your family about the Bible. There are 25 different objects, each accompanied by a note with a corresponding Bible story. This will help you and your family focus on what Christmas is really about.

These kits have been flying out of her shop--I think she only has a couple of them left.

She also has created an Advent Calendar Kit PDF. This file contains the 25 scripture references and the master list of objects to put in your calendar. These files allow you to create your own kits for personal use or for gifts.

Mark and I bought one of these kits last year, and each evening we spent a few minutes reading the Bible verse for the day and reflecting on what Christmas means to us. With all the hustle and bustle of the season, it's a nice way to spend a few minutes by the tree.

The Name Game: Archie the Wonder Dog

2011-11-28T03:00:00.000-08:00

I'm really happy to have Helen here today from Archie the Wonder Dog. I've been friends with Helen for awhile now, and during that time I've become acquainted with Archie as well, and always wondered how she ended up naming her blog after her beloved dog.

How did you choose the name for your blog?

My blog name is the same as my Flickr name, which I chose first. When I first created a Blogger account my user name was the same as the initial part of the email address I had created for the account as I hadn't considered any other options and didn't realise that you couldn't change it later. A few years later I joined Flickr and wanted a different name. As I was pondering what name to use Archie barked at a noise outside and I thought 'Oh, I could use Archie's name - a photo of him would make a great buddy icon'. At that time he had a raised bed (an old footstool) and he was lying in what I always thought of as his Superman (dog!) pose and the name 'Archie the wonder dog' bashed me on the head and demanded to be used!

After a few months having two identities became confusing as I would comment on blogs under one name and then on photos under another and people didn't realise they were talking to the same person so I closed my old account and opened a new one under ATWD. At that point I had absolutely no intention of ever starting a blog but a certain someone (Nicky at http://mrsssewandsow.blogspot.com/) talked me into it in August of this year and I'm so glad she did as I love it! As I'd grown to love the name and felt it suited me (and it's always nice to have a pet to hide behind!) it felt like an obvious choice. Also, I couldn't think of a clever name so I stuck with what I knew!

Were there other names you considered, and can you share any of them with us?

Not when I was starting my blog as I already had the name from Flickr. I can't remember any specific names that I considered when creating my Flickr account but at the time I thought I was going to use a photo of a fabric fairy postcard I had created a few weeks before so names with fairy (or fairy elephant) were probably considered and discounted. Once I thought of ATWD I knew I had a name I'd love!

Now that you are recognized by Archie the Wonder Dog, are you happy with it, or do you wish you could change it to something else?

I'd never change it - I love being known as ATWD! What also makes me happy is knowing that there are other people who love Archie just as much as I do. It was love at first sight when I saw him in the rescue centre a little over ten years ago and he seems to still capture people's hearts as quickly! Who could resist a dog this cute?!

I also like the fact that it's different from a lot of quilting/stitching blog names and although it may not be an obvious choice of name for a blog about an obsession with fabric and thread it works for me.

Thank you for asking me to take part in The Name Game - I love this feature and it's an honour to take part!

It's been a pleasure having you (and Archie), Helen. Please head over to Helen's blog, take a look around and say hi to Archie. I'm sure he'll love all the attention!

Really Random: 11/24/11, The Gobble Gobble Edition

2011-11-24T10:57:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone here in the U.S. This is my very favorite holiday. Fun times with the family. Great food. No gifts to worry about.

So this morning, we rolled out of bed at 6 a.m. to go to the local park for the two-mile Turkey Trot. Aaron and Charlotte picked us up at 6:30, thinking it started at 7 a.m., and off we went. Checked in and got our official "bibs."

Found out the official start time was 8 a.m. Bummer. We walked the two-mile course, just the four of us, and went to Starbucks.

(Yes, that guy in the background has on a fur suit. Lots of people with feathers or pilgrim hats. Last year we saw a couple dressed as the "rabbit and the hare." )

This beautiful Double Delight rosebud was in my rose garden this morning.

Mark celebrated his birthday in August, and one of our friends promised to bake him his favorite pie, banana cream. It was delivered yesterday. Yum! Totally worth the wait. Thanks, Tracy!

Last week Charlotte and Levi spent the night. We had movie night, with popcorn and hot chocolate. How did I know a 5-year-old would have such a discriminating palate already that she would turn up her nose at Carnation instant hot chocolate?(Oh, the things I am willing to consume when counting points on Weight Watchers...) Only the real thing for her. Of course there is no contest as to which tastes better. It was just funny that she tried to spare my feelings when I had to leave the room for a minute, and she whispered to Grandpa, "It doesn't even smell good. Can I just have some water?" And Levi has gone from a super slowpoke eater to eating a lot and eating it quickly. He calls himself a "fastpoke."

The beautiful fall colors continue. Mark took this picture this week. Not an official "drive-by shooting"--he actually got out of his truck this time.

Have a wonderful weekend.If I can get things together, there might be a little random Black Friday sale going on here too.

WIP Wednesday

2011-11-22T23:02:00.000-08:00

When you have lots of projects on your "to do" list, what do you end up doing? Sometimes I actually work on the list. Sometimes I become like a procrastinator on steroids and do anything but what is on my list. That is kinda what happened this weekend. Instead of sewing, I rearranged my sewing room. I'm counting this as this week's Work in Progress. Because it is sewing related. And it is still in progress. And sewing, lots of sewing, will be taking place. With the holidays just around the corner, I can't procrastinate too much longer!

Here is a series of before and after pictures.

Before:
This isn't a bad arrangement except I have no place for a large enough design wall. I had framed a piece of batting (on the left side of the window) but it was way too small. So then I ended up hanging two design walls from cup hooks, one on top of the other, covering the very pretty armoire.

After:
We moved the theater chairs from one side of the room to the other.

Before: See the little design wall? Those are just 8 inch blocks. Too small...

After: The picture of the little Amish girl with the quilt is one of my favorites.

Before: Theater seats and a shelving unit against the only nice-sized wall in the room.

After:
Fabulous! Instead of two design walls, one on top of the other, I have them side by side. Lots of really nice design room.

Before:

After:
We moved the shelving unit that was next to the French door (actually behind the door because I always keep it open) to this side of the room. It's a little crowded. But now I can open the French door all the way, even though it covers up the design wall just a bit. That's okay. Even though it is a glass door, I spend so much time at my computer in my office(the adjoining room) and I feel claustrophobic when the door is closed. Weird...

Bonus: This stayed the same except for the addition of Felicity's fabulous quilt--with a peek into my office where I do all my medical transcription. You can see the door is open. Yes. Because, like I said, that clear glass makes me claustrophobic. It might as well be a solid wooden door. Such is the state of my mind sometimes...

I still have some organizing to do but rearranging solved a couple of problems. The first, of course, is that I have more design space. The second was that we moved the sewing tables over more toward the design wall side of the room. Last year when Mark installed the flourescent lighting over the sewing/cutting, it was great to have more light, but it caused a huge amount of unanticipated glare that was really bothersome when I tried cutting anything. By moving the sewing/cutting tables over about 1 1/2 feet, it solved the glare problem. Plenty of light, but because it isn't directly over the cutting table, there is no glare.

The bottom line: this is the only sewing I really got done this week, a measly half a block.

And these two Farmer's Wife blocks:

They are stacking up nicely:

Oh, and another problem solved: I have an "issue" with rulers because I am in constant search for the perfect ruler, in other words, a replacement for my beloved, but nearly worn out, 7x19 inch ruler. I had a couple of Creative Grids rulers that I kind of liked but they were both 24 inches, way too unwieldly for me. First I thought Mark, being quite handy and also the owner of some nice saws, could saw off the ends of each of them to make them 19 inches. But then he said he would just drop them off at the local plastics company and have it professionally done.

*sigh* I love having a husband with so much common sense and good ideas.

So a whopping $4.00 later, voila! Two nearly ideal rulers, 6 1/2 x 19 inches, and 8 1/2 x 19 inches.

They even made the leftover ends nice and smooth so I have usable smaller rulers as well.

Now if you go to Lee's, I'm pretty sure you will find lots of links with actual sewing...

The Name Game: That Girl...That Quilt

2011-11-21T03:00:00.000-08:00

This week I am so happy to have Jennifer here from That Girl...That Quilt. Jennifer and I have been friends for quite awhile, sharing some of the more personal details about our lives, along with the passion for quilting that we both share. It's so easy to share things with her--very comfortable--and I'm sure that's the way she is in real life too. Jennifer lives in the Dallas area, and so does my brother, so I am looking forward to meeting her in person soon.

How did you choose the name for That Girl...That Quilt?

It's silly how I chose the name, That Girl... That Quilt. My husband, Steve, and I like to joke around a lot. Early on when we were dating, I would tell him funny things that happened throughout my day and I would say, "I was almost that girl who..." or "I was that girl". In return when he would {and still does} tease me and say, "you are so that girl" or "don't be that girl". So when I fell in love with quilting I became That Girl who is covered in thread... That Girl who buys more fabric than clothes... That Girl who wishes she could sew while sitting in church... That Girl who free motion quilts her sleeve to her quilt... etc.

Were there other names you considered, and can you share any of them with us?

I don't recall thinking about other names. When I set my blog up one late night I typed it and liked the way it looked. I didn't put much thought into because I never really planned on my blog being much; I just knew that I loved to write and wanted a place to keep an online journal of my quilts and thoughts.

Jennifer's Moda Bake Shop patterns: here and here

Now that you are recognized by That Girl...That Quilt, are you happy with it, or do you wish you could change it to something else?

I am happy with the name and don't think I could ever change it. It fits me and my personality. I am That Girl... my daughter even knows me by that name and freely shares it with her friends, teachers and anyone else she thinks should know!

If you aren't already a big fan of Jennifer, I hope you will go over to her blog and say hello. You will not disappointed so plan on spending some time looking around. Not only is she a great designer, she is a wonderful writer.

And, if you are looking for a project, That Girl is hosting a quilt-along. It's called Chasing Chevrons.

Jennifer is always organized and full of helpful information so this will be a great quilt-along, even if you are fairly new to quilting. So think about joining in--it's going to be a lot of fun.

Really Random, 11/19/11: The Color Edition

2011-11-19T08:48:00.000-08:00

Are you ready for a little color?

I stopped by the church quilting group the other day to drop something off. Snapped some pictures of quilts that will eventually be ready for auction in April.

Personally, I'm feeling kinda "grungy." A remedy for that will involve cutting into some of this:

This is the Gelaskin cover on my new phone. Wouldn't it make a great quilt?

Fall arrives here in the central valley of California a bit later than everywhere else. But when it finally gets here, it is beautiful:

A display of tea seen at Barnes and Noble. I would like one of each color to display on a shelf in my kitchen.

This mini-sized Darth Vader is just a teensy bit obsessed about all things Star Wars.

I found fabric on Ebay. Some will be used to make a pillow case. He needs some kind of bag to hold the Star Wars Legos he will be getting for Christmas. I know for a fact he will be receiving Legos because his Grandpa and I have already had that conversation with Santa. In fact, Santa gave me his personal okay to do a little bit of sewing to help him out. This fat quarter is just the thing to start with.

Then I was poking around Mo Bedell's blog and saw her newest line of fabric, sadly not coming out until after the first of the year. I told her my plans involving an adorable 3 1/2-year-old, and then ~~groveled and begged~~ politely asked if she had any scraps. Wow! Look what arrived in the mail this week!

Absolutely perfect colors and design. Thanks, Mo!

I've started knitting. Skeins of Noro Kureyon yarn arrived at my doorstep the other day. I borrowed some "props" from my daughter-in-law and had a little photo session.

Mark and I just had a picture taken for the new church directory the other night. The photographer spent most of the time saying things like, "Can you tilt your head a little to the left, okay now lift your chin, okay now look toward me, okay now twist yourself like a pretzel." Well, maybe not that last part.... These luscious little balls of yarn let me do whatever I pleased without a peep.

I took 66 pictures in all. Consider yourself lucky that I only chose a few "random" shots. :)

Have a colorful weekend.

Farmer's Wife Friday: Independence and Charm

2011-11-18T03:00:00.000-08:00

After an absence of a few weeks, we have a farmer's wife today from Jasper County, Missouri. I really enjoyed this letter. It almost made me want to pack up and move to the farm. "There is spring time, blossom time, fruit time, harvest time and the long winter evenings by the fireside. There's a flower for every month of the year." This is a farmer's wife who works hard, but with careful planning she can find "a number of hours for reading, writing and social pleasures and in this day of autos and good roads, has time and opportunity for movies, concerts and lectures."

I liked her next sentences the most: "The woman who is a drudge on a farm will be a drudge wherever you put her. It is lack of management, lack of order and lack of backbone and brains that make drudgery." I'm sure there is a lot of truth to that.

By her definition, I most certainly have at least moments of drudgery, especially as I look at my sewing room, which has no semblance of order at the present time. Right now I'm okay with that because it means things are being accomplished in the sewing room.

Both blocks this week have names inspired by birds.

No. 27, Darting Birds:

No. 52, Hovering Hawks:

Neither the names of the blocks nor the letter itself gave me any color inspiration, and Darting Birds had a few too many pieces for my taste in a 6" block. I have found that the 6x6 grid in a block this size with so many HSTs kinda makes me grouchy. Hovering Hawks, which had slightly larger pieces, put me in a much better mood.

I didn't count how many blocks I've made so far, but it's getting to be a nice little stack!

See what Carla thought of this week's farmer's wife.

Really Random, 11/17/11

2011-11-17T03:00:00.000-08:00

Recap of the most important Vertical Day in the century: 11/11/11.

Our niece, Becky, her husband, Eric, Simon and Norah, had lunch at Eleven City Diner and went up the tallest vertical building in Chicago.

While they were at lunch, we were in the car, but we shared a vertical minute. Nice!

Mark and I attended Lisa and Derek's wedding. Tiny little chapel in Harmony, California. It was pouring rain.

The rain stopped long enough for them to take some pictures on the beach, next to this sign,

and under this one.

I saw this parked on the street.

Um, when I think of limousines, this is usually what comes to my mind...But I give the Cypress Tree "luxury limo" extra points for being red and shiny.

While Charlotte was taking a piano lesson from my mother the other day, Levi was putting puzzles together with my father.It's priceless to me that my grandchildren are able to spend quality time with their great grandparents!

My mother with Gabriel. She looks so happy to be holding him, doesn't she? He kind of has that effect on you.

While some parts of the country are experiencing snow, this was freshly picked from their garden.

Seen at the office where I pick up my medical transcription. Can you say "frosting overload"? Who even knows how many cupcakes are under there?

I'm married to a man who made homemade tortillas last night!

Yum!

Carry on with whatever randomness comes your way today. And tune in Saturday for an extra edition of Really Random. I have a lot of "colorful" pictures so come back and take a look.

WIP Wednesday

2011-11-15T22:15:00.000-08:00

Progress on only one project this week:

Quilt Name: Crazy Traditions
Block: Dutchman's Puzzle
Color: Kona Ocean (and we were actually attending a wedding in a small coastal town by the Pacific Ocean--so it was an appropriate color choice)

I'm sure there are a lot of great projects here:

The Name Game: Blue Elephant Stitches

2011-11-14T03:00:00.000-08:00

I'm thrilled to have Jolene from Blue Elephant Stitches here today. I've been reading her blog for a long time. Her creative style speaks so deeply to me--her use of color and her design, her writing and, wow, her photography. Everything is clean, cohesive and colorful. It always cheers me up to spend some time there.

Jolene, how did you choose the name for Blue Elephant Stitches?

Here’s a page from my little journal, put together about 8 years ago. I saved this little elephant from a 1970’s birthday card and here’s part of what I wrote beside him.

“My dream has always been to name my future?! business Blue Elephant something-or-other.”

At that point, I had no idea what, or even IF, that business would be. But as far back as I can remember, I’ve always like elephants (the cute motifs, not so much real elephants!). So when I decided to open a little Etsy shop selling a few baby quilts, I never even questioned this part of the name.

Were there other names you considered, and can you share them with us?

I never questioned the Blue Elephant part of my name, but I remember debating what to finish it off with. Blue Elephant Quilts? Blue Elephant Designs? Blue Elephant Studio? In the end I went with Blue Elephant Stitches. I think it was a nice compromise, because it still implies sewing, yet doesn’t box me in with just quilts.

Now that you are recognized by Blue Elephant Stitches, are you happy with it, or do you wish you could change it to something else?

I like the name from the standpoint that it stems from my dreams as a teenager, so it feels quite authentic that way. But to be honest, I’d change it right now if I could! Why? For one thing, it feels a bit cutesy – babyish. I’d really like something a bit more classy! For some reason I always feel a bit silly when I actually say it out loud. It’s quite long and a bit unusual. I often have to repeat it for people.

(of course I couldn't resist adding a picture with selvages!)

I love names that have numbers as part of their name, or even using full names as a brand. I wouldn’t want my own name, but I’d love to use my daughter’s name… ok, why am I torturing myself by thinking about all the possibilities?! I wonder how much effort it would take to change? Would it be worth it? I’d love to hear from those of you who have!

(there is something about this picture that just draws me in...)

If you aren't already a faithful reader of Blue Elephant Stitches, I encourage you to head over, say hi, and be sure to spend some time looking around. And by all means, if you have changed blog or business names, please share your thoughts.

Thanks, Jolene. It's been an honor to have you here this week.

Vertical Day!!

2011-11-11T01:11:00.000-08:00

While most people here in the States consider this to be Veteran's Day, and veterans are without a doubt worthy of a celebration, in our family it is also Vertical Day, 11/11. Get it? To quickly recap, it started years ago. Every time the clock turned to 11:11, our niece Becky called it a vertical minute and she would think of us. November 11 is a vertical day, very special, so I try to call her at 11:11 California time, which is 1:11 Chicago time, and we share the vertical minute, on the vertical day.

Only THIS year it is like Vertical Day on steroids, a once in a lifetime. 11/11/11!!

Are you one of those people who is extremely clever? Ideas just overflow? You are fabulous when it comes to giving gifts? You use your creativity rather than your wallet?

I am not one of those people. However, Becky IS one of those people. Actually, Mark and I had planned to fly to Chicago this weekend to celebrate Vertical Day together, eating lunch at a place called the Eleven City Diner. Funny--their address is 1112 Wabash. Guess the city planner who assigned that address didn't know about Vertical Day... But instead, we are attending a wedding on the coast.

Anyway, this box arrived the other day. Becky had decided to put something special together for us, using her creativity (she calls is "resourcefulness") and no more than $11.11, not counting shipping. It started on its journey from Chicago to California on 11/1. We were going to be gone on 11/11. We couldn't wait. We opened it early.

On top of the presents was this adorable picture of Becky, and her kids, Simon and Norah, doing their version of 11-11-11.

Want to see a close-up of that top picture, with the word they made in the sand?

This did not cost Becky a lot of money. She used her amazing unending creativity.

#1. Fabric. A cute panel that can be used as labels, and lots of postcard-sized fabrics left over from fabric postcards she has made using my tutorial.

#2. She crochets, so she used some of her leftover yarn and made this tic-tac-toe game that willb e fun to play with Charlotte and Levi.

#3. Keeping with the vertical theme, an extra ice cream/cookie dough scoop.

#4.Very special pictures taken at the Minnesota State Fair, one of Mark's favorite!

#5. Items she picked up at the Minnesota State Fair, especially to share with her Uncle Mark.

Including a pair of these dandy paper "fish" hats.

#6. She knows we often have friends over to watch football, and she found this at a garage sale. Perfect!

#7. A CD of some of her favorite songs, 11 songs plus an extra.

#8. Some extra Christmas ornament kits--she thought Levi and Charlotte would enjoy making them--

and a cute ornament I will put in my sewing room. After Thanksgiving...

#9. Eleven rocks she gathered on the shores of Lake Michigan, and some info about a trail she would like to visit.

#10. A pink and orange toothbrush! Awesome color combination.

#11. A very cute crocheted bag, in another one of my fave color combos--red and aqua.

What a spectacular array of gifts. Made and collected with love.

I love the whole concept of the vertical minute and Vertical Day. No matter where I am, if I happen to look at the clock at 11:11 or 1:11, I always think of Becky, think of how much I love her and am thankful she is in my life. Think about adding a vertical minute to your life.

Thank you, Becky. You made us feel extra special. The only thing better would be celebrating with you at Eleven City Diner.

Really Random, 11/10/11

2011-11-10T03:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Vertical Day Eve, everybody. What is Vertical Day? Find out here and here. It's a BIG day in our family. Just a small hint: a box just arrived and this was on the front.

Mark has been shopping. He is not a person who does a lot of shopping, because he is someone who doesn't need a lot of "stuff." However, when he does part with his money, it is either for something he has been wanting for a long time (a heater like they have outside restaurants, because we can eat outside nearly all year long with one of these close by..and he could get it for a fraction of its original price from someone who has been indicted for running an illegal "medical"marijuana business not too far from where he works...)

or an "interesting" spur-of-the-moment purchase (from the same sale--because apparently their security was not very top-notch...don't worry--it's new and the tags were still on it)

A note to my very good Canadian friends (you know who you are): I have a good friend here in Fresno who grew up in Canada. Notice I did not say she is a "former Canadian" because she probably considers herself a Canadian who just happens to live in California. Anyway, she sent this via FB to our minister, who also grew up in British Columbia. Beyond that, I make no judgments...

Yesterday I received a very nice package from Canada. Jolene and I did a little fabric exchange, and she added an extra treat. Thanks, Jolene!

Does this disturb anyone but me?

It is November 10. Decorations are up and the mall was playing Christmas music already! Um, could I please just enjoy my very favorite holiday, Thanksgiving, before we jump into the next holiday?

Do you fuyu? If not, I highly recommend it!

A word like "fuyu" is kind of a hard act to follow. So that ends the randomness for today.

She's a winner!

2011-11-09T20:17:00.000-08:00

The winner of Randi's generous giveaway of Ruby fat quarters is #56 Chicken Julie, who said:

I know I say "Let's Skidaddle" when it's time to leave, since I hear my 3 year old saying the very same thing to me when it's time for me to drop her off at school. Thanks for the great giveaway!!

November 7, 2011 4:33 PM

Thanks again to Randi for playing the Name Game! I hope you will all think of Randi and

Fresh-Squeezed Fabrics for any fabric needs. Because we always need more fabric, right?

WIP Wednesday

2011-11-08T23:20:00.000-08:00

Our newest grandson, Gabriel, is already one month old. During Charlotte and Levi's first year, every month I made a fabric postcard (tutorial here). With Charlotte, I didn't really have a "theme," other than trying to make something appropriate to the month. She was born in September so it was nearly Halloween when she turned a month old. Sports seemed like a good theme for Levi, and when he turned a month old, baseball season was just starting (have I mentioned that his daddy is a Dodgers fan--I'm pretty sure "Dodgers" was the first word each of them said...)

These are the cards they received when they were one month old.

When it was time for Charlotte's April card, I found the cutest paper piecing pattern of a little person in a rain slicker.

After making this card, each month I found a little paper-piecing pattern for her card.

Now it's Gabriel's turn.

I thought and thought about the theme for the coming year. I had already settled on animals, and then realized that his first and last name has 12 letters in it. Awesome.

And the "poetry", along with this year-long Work in Progress, continues...

The work continues on Crazy Traditions and Ticker Tape Parade. The plum block is so pretty.

Crazy Traditions so far:

Ticker Tape Parade so far:

Azekura (Japanese log cabin) so far:

The color progression in each skein of Noro Kureyon yarn is amazing!

So that's what I have been up to in the last week. Check out other great projects here:

The Name Game: I have to say.../Fresh-Squeezed Fabrics

2011-11-07T03:00:00.000-08:00

Do you purchase fabric online? I sure do. I look for excellent selection and superb customer service. And that is why I'm thrilled to have Randi here today, sharing the background on both her blog, i have to say..., and her etsy shop, Fresh-Squeezed Fabrics.

How did you choose the name for "I have to say..."?

When I first decided to start a blog, I wasn't crafting or sewing at the time (it took me a while to discover the wonderful world of craft blogs) so the blog name I chose was more about "me". A friend of mine had noticed that I often used the words "I have to say" when I was summing up something that I was saying, so it seemed a fun name for my blog. At first my blog was more about books and homeschooling and exploring ideas, so in a way the name fit better back then. Now my blog is more geared towards crafting, family and whatever I am doing at the moment, but I do think it still fits. It's kind of funny to think that when you start up a blog you pick a name that will stick with you, most likely for a long time, but it's not until you start blogging that you realize the direction things will go. I suppose it's that way with anything in life, right?

Were there other names you considered, and can you share any of them with us?

Hmmm...the other names I picked seem rather silly now! One idea was "A Room of My Own" based on Virginia's Woolf's essay and the idea that a woman needed space and freedom to create. Although I agree with and like that idea, that name for a blog seems a little lofty and I am glad I didn't choose it. Also, I considered "The View From Where I Sit". That one makes me laugh now. I guess at the time I was very interested in my blog being a place for me to create, express myself and be heard. All of those are good things, of course!

Now that you are recognized by "I have to say...," are you happy with it, and do you wish you could change it to something else?

I am generally happy with my blog name, but I do occasionally wish I could change it to something more "crafty". "Seams to Me" would be a good blog name, and I do realize that it is just a crafty version of the name I already have. I also wish it matched my shop name a little bit better, but at the time of starting my blog, I had no idea that owning a fabric store was in my future!

I have purchased a lot of fabric from Randi, and the thing that never fails to impress me is her excellent customer service. Lots of times she will receive an email from me, asking for a custom order, something like this: "Randi, could you make a custom order for 1/2 yard of all the dots in the 'Ruby' line." She pulls it all together and sends me the link.

So, Randi, how did you choose the name, Fresh-Squeezed Fabrics?

The name Fresh-Squeezed Fabrics came from, well, my imagination. I was dreaming of opening a shop, and I was sitting around trying to think of what I would name it, and Fresh-Squeezed Fabrics popped into my head. It seemed fun, modern and "bouncy". By bouncy I simply mean rhythmic.

Were there other names you considered, and can you share any of them with us?

My other ideas were Candy Shop Fabrics (too childlike), Shadow Mountain Fabrics (kind of boring), and Fresh Cut Fabrics (too close to the name of Heather Bailey's collection).

Now that your shop is recognized by Fresh-Squeezed Fabrics, are you happy with it or do you wish you could change it to something else?

Fresh-Squeezed Fabrics seems fun to me, although I do find myself having to explain the name quite often--mostly to men. The shop name says "fresh, modern, and new" to me. Kind of like a fresh-squeezed glass of lemonade.

Please go to Randi's blog, say hi and spend some time looking around. And then be sure to check out the store too. You will definitely find something to add to your stash.

Want to add some Ruby to your stash?

Here's all you have to do. Leave a comment here answering one of these questions:

Is there a phrase that you say a lot? Mine is: "Here's the thing...," which actually would be a pretty good blog name, too.

Or What is your favorite fruit? Mine is a toss-up between fresh raspberries or those yummy fuyu persimmons that are finally available this time of year--the ones you can eat like an apple. Soooo good.

Answer one of the questions for a chance to win four Ruby fat quarters, generously donated by Randi, from her shop. Random Number Generator will choose the winner on Wednesday, 11/9, at noon PST.

Randi, thanks so much for playing the Name Game this week!

Really Random 11/3/11

2011-11-03T03:00:00.000-07:00

I'm not back to my regularly scheduled programming quite yet. For various reasons, some of my old software needs to work better with the new computer. But not to worry. I've hired ~~Tim Gunn~~ a great tech to just make it work!

One of my best friend's daughter is Jessica Jones from How About Orange. Jessica designs some of my favorite fabric. This is Calliope from one of her earlier lines, Amusement Park.

(Purse made by Jessica's mother using the Buttercup Bag pattern)

Last Sunday, Mark was doing some measurements at a new housing tract sales office and I was wandering through some of the model homes when I saw this bedroom. This interior designer clearly knew what she was doing!

Here's a DIY idea if you have a lot of pencils lying around.

One of the women in our church just turned 50. She came out of the church service to find her car parked in the handicapped stall, filled with balloons and covered with stickers.

I have been doing a lot of paper piecing, and I use the method where you have to fold the stitching line over a post card so you can trim your fabric. My friend, Terri, makes amazing pouches (and lots of other cool things), and she sent me this postcard with my last order. This is the postcard I'm using while I paper piece. I think of her with every fold of the paper. It's almost like she is there sewing with me. Almost. Really having her in my sewing room would be so much better!

One night Mark was googling my name to see if anything would pop up related to my name and Live a Colorful Life.He found something totally unexpected--a winery with our name!

This is not a design-it-yourself wine label. It is a real winery in southern California!

Two things I have learned recently while paper piecing and then making a corresponding ticker tape quilt block. When I first started the ticker tape blocks, I would trim my ticker tapes with a rotary cutter and then cut them again with a pinking shears. It seemed like a lot of extra work and they weren't always as straight as I wanted. (Not that I'm planning on redoing it, that's for sure.)

So I switched to a rotary cutter with a pinking blade on it. My ticker tapes are more even, it takes less time and it's a lot easier on my hands. Highly recommended.

The other thing I learned when doing the ruby block: for all the little pieces used in the crazy quilt portion of the block, variety is important. I got too matchy-matchy in terms of trying to really match the Kona ruby. Consequently, all the little pieces moosh together.

I changed my strategy with the purple block and used more variation in value, also trying not to match the Kona solid too closely or worry about the fabric placement. I like it much better. Good thing I learned that lesson on block number 4 so I can put it to good use on the remaining 12 blocks.

My advice for the week: Throw caution to the wind and be a little more random.

Apply that advice in whatever way you see fit.

We interrupt this program...

2011-10-31T12:37:00.000-07:00

Wondering what happened to Farmer's Wife Friday and The Name Game?

I'm getting a new computer and am currently in the process of migrating the old hard drive to the new hard drive. And lest you think that makes it sound like I'm actually the one capable of doing that, not so much. There are professionals for that. But wow, does it take a loooooong time to transfer pictures from one place to another!

Both The Name Game and Farmer's Wife Friday will return soon to their regular programming schedule. In the meantime, spend some quality time here: Bloggers' Quilt Festival Fall 2011.

Bloggers' Quilt Festival, Fall 2011

2011-10-28T06:13:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Fall 2011 Bloggers' Quilt Festival. I'm so happy you stopped by!

The name of this quilt is California Ice Crystals.

I have always enjoyed kaleidoscope blocks. This quilt was inspired by a single piece of fabric designed by Paula Nadelstern:

All of the blocks were made by placing the kaleidoscope template on the same identical portion of the fabric eight times per block, and then positioning the template in another part of the fabric for the next block.

The spectacular machine quilting was done by my husband's cousin, Ione.

It was then donated to a quilt auction which raises money for Third World relief.

I'm not a "blue" person but I really love this quilt.

Thanks, Amy, for hosting this amazing show-and-tell twice a year.

Really Random, 10/27/11

2011-10-27T03:00:00.000-07:00

It's almost Halloween. A couple of years ago, our daughter-in-law made the coolest calendar with handprints of Charlotte and Levi, a different work of art each month. I love the calendar so much, so I keep it updated even though it is a over a year old. This is the page for October.

Boo!

I made Halloween pillowcases for each of them. The little googly eyes in the narrow border glow in the dark. Briefly. If you shine a flashlight on them and then quickly turn off all the lights in the room.

I'm kind of nerdy sometimes. While you should never give me directions that involve telling me to go east, and then turn north--it's always safer to tell me to right until I reach a certain spot and then turn right--I happen to love maps. Especially when I'm reading a book and want to visualize the location of the characters. For the longest time I have wanted a globe. I was in Costco the other day. I now have a globe. Early Happy Birthday to me. It is kind of a globe on steroids. See that base? It has a wand kind of thing so the globe is interactive. It will even play the national anthem of each country. Yeah. I'm happy...

We used to watch "Who Wants to be a Millionaire." At one point there was a contestant named Brad Herzog, and he happened to mention on air that he had written a book, States of Mind, a travelogue that was "a search for Faith, Hope, Inspiration, Harmony, Unity, Friendship, Love, Pride, Wisdom, Honor, Comfort, Joy, Bliss, Freedom, Justice, Glory, Triumph, and Truth or Consequences in America." He and his wife traveled all over the United States to towns with those names. They were searching for the answer to questions such as "Is there really honor in Honor, pride in Pride, wisdom in Wisdom?" Well, you get the idea.

Our friend, Lisa, is getting married on November 11. In Harmony.

Yes, population 18.
There are nineteen pages devoted to Harmony in that book. More than the population. On at least one occasion, the entire town has been for sale. At one point, in 1981, a couple bought the entire town for $650,000. It was probably sold again after that. I'm not sure who owns it now. There is a pottery shop, a shop selling stained and fused glass, a chapel...

Lisa is starting her married life in Harmony, in that tiny little chapel. Mark is going to do some videotaping so we went to check things out.

So how many people will fit in this chapel? While they were trying to figure things out, I wandered around with my camera.

We had lunch in nearby Cayucos, right on the ocean.We had cookies. Because who doesn't believe in this philosophy?

The cookies were being made right there by the front counter, by the ~~Keebler~~ Brown Butter Cookie elves.

I had some yummy fish tacos. While we were eating our lunch, we happened to notice this sign on the street corner.Really? What would you do if you saw this sign?

Yeah, I thought so.

Okay, now everyone turn and face the camera.

Seriously? Am I the only one who can follow directions??

Okay, that's better. Not too bad for a 30-something, a 40-something, and a nearly 60-something. Um, yeah, that would be me...

The "End"

WIP Wednesday, 10/26/11

2011-10-25T23:06:00.000-07:00

Paper piecing and ticker tape.

And a little knitting. I'm using a Japanese yarn called Noro Kureyon. The name of this afghan will be Azekura, which is Japanese for a very old, traditional type of Japanese log cabin house (thanks for the translation, Ayumi!)

I wonder if there will ever be a completed project to show. Although I guess completed projects belong to another day and place.

See what everyone else has been up to in the past week.

Tuesday Odd-Angle Paper-Piecing Tutorial...and a Giveaway!!

2011-10-25T03:00:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to give you a tutorial on how to paper piece. There are lots of them, and Kerry has a very helpful list here. This is the great thing about paper piecing--aside from its accuracy. There are several different methods, all of which will get you from Point A to Point B, so you are sure to find one that is most comfortable for you.

Since I have been working on my donation quilt, I'm going to show you how I started cutting my fabric for those really odd angles.

At first I wasn't really paying attention so much. I would just cut a bit hunk of fabric and then trim it down later.

The largest scraps went into a special box for Amanda Jean, who makes fabulous quilts out of teensy pieces.

But after awhile, even I, who has no shortage of fabric, was feeling the need to be more frugal. Part of my problem was that the pattern has been enlarged by 133 percent, to make a 16" block.So because some of the pieces were quite large, no matter how careful I was, pinning my fabric down, invariably it would flip and I would sew it. Grrr.

If you have paper pieced before, then you know that sometimes it seems you are sewing upside down and backwards. Because, in a sense, that is exactly what you are doing! I don't know about you, but just when I think I have the right amount of fabric for the next piece, after I sew the seam I realize that it doesn't fit at all because the angle is all wrong. And then I have to do what I just read somewhere is called "froggy" sewing: rip it, rip it, rip it. Finally I remembered how I handled that problem when I was in a block exchange involving paper-pieced birds. I chose to make the scissor-tailed flycatcher. When I was little we lived in Oklahoma and that is the state bird. But mostly I chose it because it is fun to say. Go ahead. Say it out loud. Scissor-tailed flycatcher.

Enter the paper piecer's friend, freezer paper. And being super organized, of course it took me awhile to locate where I had stored it. Kerry uses freezer paper when she paper pieces as well, but we have slightly different techniques. This link gives the basics of how I learned to paper piece and it is the most comfortable process for me.

I use freezer paper just for those pieces of the pattern that have the odd angles.In fact, I don't even use this method for all the pieces--you can pick and choose where you need it.

The first thing I do is make a quick sketch of the pattern on the non-shiny side.. Really. The lines don't even have to be perfectly straight, just close. Then cut them apart on the lines. No need to add seam allowance.

We'll use example of pieces #1 and #2. #1 will be pinned to the back side of your paper pattern (if you are following the method that I use...)

The next thing is to iron the freezer paper template to the wrong side of the fabric and cut a generous 1/2 inch around each side.

Now on the back side of your pattern, (the one without the lines), you can line it up with piece #1, right sides together, removing the freezer paper template, and pin if you want to. Carefully turn it back to the front side, the side with the sewing lines.

Stitch on this side on the line between #1 and #2.

Then flip it back to the fabric side, and start the process over for piece #3.

This method was really helpful when I got to #7 in this particular pattern, which was a large piece with odd angles.

Before I started with the freezer paper templates I would just have cut a big piece of fabric and hoped for the best. This works SO much better. And the extra time it takes is really miniscule. My pattern happens to be constructed in four quadrants and the freezer paper templates are easily reusable at least four times, if not more.

Pile of scraps before freezer paper templates:

Pile of scraps after using the freezer paper templates:

So while Amanda Jean is probably sobbing now because these scraps are too small even for her, at the same time, through her tears, she is probably applauding my fabric frugality.

If I have just confused you beyond belief, please email me (liveacolorfullife@comcast.net)and I'll try to do a better job of clarifying things.

And guess what? It's giveaway day. Again! Kerry designed the most awesome paper pieced pattern, Winter Woolies. So cute.

Here is my version (I still have to do the mittens). But I couldn't wait to post a picture because of the fabric that looks like actual knitting is just too fabulous! (It looks kinda stiff because the paper it still attached...)

The pattern is available in her etsy shop.

OR you could win a pattern here. All you have to do is leave a comment. So tell me: are you a "summer" person or a "winter" person? Personally I'm kind of a "rainy day" person. You know. The kind who loves rain for days on end...So I should actually be paper piecing an umbrella!

Just leave a comment and Random Number Generator will choose a winner on Thursday, October 27, at noon PDT.

The Name Game: My Crafty Crap

2011-10-24T03:00:00.000-07:00

Today, I'm so happy to have Bree from My Crafty Crap. The name of her blog has been intriguing to me for a really long time, mostly because having read most of her posts, I know for a fact that she does not make crafty, um..."crap."

So, Bree, how did you choose the name for your blog?

I started out with a personal blog just to share basic day-to-day stuff. Before too long though, it was turning into nothing but crafting projects (mostly crochet at the time), so I decided to move just the crafting stuff over to a new blog & keep the personal stuff separate. I called the new blog something along the lines of Crafting in Spare Time (I can't remember now exactly what it was!). Around the same time, I was sharing pictures of my crochet stuff on Facebook, but then borrowed a sewing machine from a friend & made my first Pillow Cover bag

I wanted to share the pictures on Facebook, but obviously it didn't belong in the crochet album, so I named a new album "Other Crafty Crap," so it could be kind of a catch-all for everything that didn't fit in the crochet album. My husband will ask me sometimes what I'm going to work on or what I'm doing, and I usually respond with "Oh, just some crafty crap." The name seemed perfect for the album. Then it hit me that it was also a perfect name for the blog, and it was available, so I switched it right away.

Were there other names you considered,and can you share any of them with us?

Like I said, I originally used a personal blog, so it was something along the lines of our family name. Then when I switched it to the craft blog, it had something to do with crafting in my spare time, or not enough hours in the day, or something along those lines. I do wish I could remember what it was exactly. I just remember trying to think of something catchy & memorable, but failing miserably!

The quilt Bree made for her son

Isn't he adorable?

And she is hand quilting his quilt!

Now that you are recognized by your blog name, are you happy with it, or do you wish you could change it to something else?

I still love it! It still makes me chuckle, and I get a lot of comments about other people getting a kick out of it. I also get a lot of people who will come visit after seeing the link on other blogs just because the name made them laugh. I certainly can't argue with that! I can't think of anything that would fit better, and can't imagine changing it. I especially like it since I like to do all types of crafts (although I've certainly stuck with sewing much longer than anything else lately!), so it covers pretty much everything I might decide to try.

I hope you will head over to Bree's blog, say hi, and check out all her crafty crap. Thanks, Bree. It was fun having you play the Name Game today.

Farmer's Wife Friday: Country Home Life

2011-10-21T03:00:00.000-07:00

The writer this week is from Cascade County, Montana, and she would definitely wish her two young daughters, not yet of marriageable age, to marry farmers "...because the country home life is more nearly complete in itself, and therefore productive of real happiness...The city draws from the home, not toward it."

She enjoys the social gatherings at the school or community hall.

I haven't done this before--adding some personal thoughts this week. I didn't grow up on a farm. I was raised in the city. I was born in Los Angeles. My father was a minister and when I was about 2 1/2 we moved to Enid, Oklahoma, a good-sized town at that time. From there, when I was in fifth grade, we moved to Phoenix, and then right before my junior year in high school we moved to Seattle.

I married someone who was raised on a farm, and he didn't move to the "city," Butterfield, Minnesota, a metroprolis of 600+, until the summer before his junior year. As much as I loved Seattle, my high school graduating class was larger than the town of Butterfield, and I longed for a smaller college. We both went to a small college in Kansas, where we met. We spent the first five years of our married life in Scott City, Kansas, a farming community in western Kansas. It had a population of about 5,000. I cried.

But what I remember are some of the social gatherings. Mark was a P.E. teacher in the only grade school in town, but he also traveled to three very rural schools each week. We often attended pancake suppers in those rural schools and I remember the sense of "community" that thrived there.

#39 Friendship

I mentioned the fact that my father was a minister. We were fairly conservative in our social beliefs, and dancing was something that I wasn't allowed to do. I remember in grade school resenting the fact that I couldn't dance, because I could never really explain to my friends the reasoning behind it. However, for some reason, square dancing was not forbidden, probably because there was so much movement involved that you were never with one person for very long before you were moving on to the next partner.

#85 Square Dance

I vowed that our children would be able to go to school dances. And then we had a son who wasn't really interested. When senior prom time came around, we told him that missing it was not an option. You know, I still think about the fact that I never got a chance to shop for a prom dress of my own.

I couldn't get all the blocks into one picture. 46! Can you believe it??

I really need to start working on next week's blocks--four of them--and each one looks like it will take a bit of time.

The winner of my charm pack giveway celebrating 500 blog posts (still can't believe I wrote that much. Really if you met me, you wouldn't believe it either--I'm not a chatty person...) is #23.

Carla, the winner, didn't tell me whether she lived in the city or the country, or whether she wanted to move somewhere else, but she did say this very appropriate comment for Farmer's Wife Friday:

I like the farmers wife blocks. I just posted my first blocks today! Thanks for the inspiration.

Speaking of Carla, but a different Carla, go check out her thoughts on this week's farmer's wife, and I know her blocks will be lots of fun as well.

Really Random

2011-10-20T03:00:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure even where to start today. Which is the point of "really random," I suppose. So it's okay to jump around, right?

I own a fat quarter of every single print in the Fossil Fern line. Yes, I belonged to the Fossil Fern club and would get ten fat quarters every month.

They have been sitting on a shelf. I'm trying to use a little bit in each block of Crazy Traditions.Can you find it?

Here is Kerry's new paper piecing pattern, Winter Woolies. It's available for download in her etsy shop.Isn't it adorable? Next week I'll show my version. I have fabric that looks like actual knitting. Perfect. (There might even be a chance to win a pattern!)

Say this three times, really fast.

Have you started making your list? I feel like Sarah came up with this idea with me specifically in mind. Nah. There are probably a lot of you out there that would benefit from a little accountability, right?

Have you ever seen a lake that has been drained? Shaver Lake, about an hour from where we live, has a dam that requires maintenance, so they have nearly completely drained the lake. It is kind of eerie, like a moonscape.

I'm reading this book. Highly recommended.

When I took this picture, my mother complained that her hands looked so old. She is 83. Gabriel's one-week-old hand on top of hers just about makes my heart burst with love for them both.

This one gives me the same reaction as well. Mark surrounded by three loves in his life. Does it ever amaze you how much power little people can have over you?

And the little guy in the corner with that big smile? The other day he said to me, "Grandma, I love you too much to argue." Hmm. There is the possibility that he has heard that from his mommy. But I'm not about to argue with him...

WIP Wednesday

2011-10-18T23:08:00.000-07:00

It's Wednesday again. Already. And we are half-way through October. Already!

I have spent most of my sewing time working on my donation quilt. I finished the first block. Love it. Until I can figure out a better name, it will remain the same as the pattern, Crazy Traditions.

I can feel myself getting attached to a quilt that will belong to someone else. So here is how I am solving the problem: Ticker Tape Parade (color palette borders based on Bottled Rainbows, but see the original Ticker Tape quilt here).

I made myself some rules.
*There has to be a piece of every single fabric included in Crazy Traditions.

*I can expand the color palette and include some other favorite fabrics, and I'm okay with white space.

(See the tiny houses and the Sandi Henderson Henna Garden?)

*And at least one selvage has to be included in every block.

That should do the trick and it will be easier to let go of Crazy Traditions
.
Four blocks were completed for Farmer's Wife Friday.

That makes 46 blocks so far.

And I started this today, when I took my granddaughter to her piano lesson, the beginning of a knitted log cabin block.

Be sure to see what everyone else has done in the past week. Thanks, Lee, as always, for hosting this.

But wait. There is more. Unbelievably this is my 500th blog post! Even I can't believe I have had that much to say! So how about a little giveaway to celebrate? The winner can choose a charm pack--either Dream On or City Weekend. Random Number Generator will work its magic on Thursday, the 20th, at noon PDT. I'm super close to 500 colorful friends too. But you don't have to jump through hoops to get a chance to win. You just have to leave one comment, and make sure I can contact you.

Let's see. How about this: Are you happy with where you live, in the city or in the country? Or do you dream on about living somewhere else?

The Name Game: Cut to Pieces

2011-10-17T03:00:00.000-07:00

Angela is here today from Cut to Pieces. I'm sure many of you are well acquainted with her. And if not, you will love all the pictures, just a small sampling of what Angela has to show you on her blog. Not only is she a quilter, she is a "chef" at Moda Bake Shop. So let's start with her most current pattern, Picket Fences.

Angela, how did you choose the name for your blog?

Choosing a name was difficult. I struggled with it for a long time. I knew that I wanted to be able to keep the name indefinitely and I needed something that I felt represented ME. I didn't want to use a name that others expected from me.

I already had an Etsy shop which I had started a couple of years earlier, named Tweedledee Designs. But at that point I was focusing on making baby items for sale. So the whimsical name was very appropriate for that "company". I joined Flickr with that name as well. But it became clear to me about a year ago that I was no longer focusing on baby items and wanted to have a name with broader appeal.

There were some other things I thought of as well. I didn't want the name to be too "cutesy" for ME. I love it with others, but I didn't think that it was the right fit for me. So I stayed away from anything with "Sew" in it...despite the fact that when I asked friends on facebook what name they liked the best all the ones that used "sew" were wildly popular. lol.

I'm a bit of a dork though and I still wanted to use something that has a play on words. Cut to pieces could mean how I felt, what I was doing, or has the sweet way of sounding like Cut 2 Pieces...which is what I also do! I liked that the name has a bit of an edge to it with the word "cut" because I'm not always feeling "Sew" wonderful. ;) And this name gave me the opportunity to be able to morph my content into whatever I chose. I'm not locked into being a quilting ONLY blog. I could suddenly become a scrapbooker or clothing designer and the name would still be perfect!

Were there other names you considered, and can you share any of them with us?

Yes, as mentioned above, I considered a lot of names with "Sew" and many with "Quilting/Quilter/Quilts" in them. These were all the blog names that family and friends actually liked. But for some reason that made me want to do "Cut to Pieces" even more. I liked that they didn't quite get why it was a name for me. After all, Tweedledee Designs was so "sweet". I considered that as well, but as I mentioned above, I wanted to step away from the overly juvenile nature of that name. Though I still adore it! (And it's still the name of my occasionally running Etsy shop.) Just to be ornery I even considered Tweedledum...the slightly off version of Tweedledee. ;)

Now that you are recognized by your blog name, Cut to Pieces,are you happy with it, or do you wish you could change it to something else?

Am I recognized by my blog name? That's fun! Yes, I do still like it. I'm working on developing a logo for the blog and redoing it so that it is even more ME. The only hard thing has been switching my flickr name over to match my blog. I became one of those people with too many names...so I had to change my flickr name to be a hybrid of my previous Tweedledee Designs and my current Cut to Pieces. Tweedledee Designs was too hard for everyone write out anyway, so it always got shortened to Twee...so that's the part I kept. And I threw in the Cut to Pieces with some scissors, just to make things even harder to write out. lol

(Another Moda Bake Shop design)

My one regret is that there is a small online company in Australia maybe that makes something that has the dot com version of my name. So I can't switch over. My computer savvy brother always gives me a hard time for that. But thankfully, blogs are pretty much an industry standard in the quilting world right now, so I'm good. I'll figure something out later if I NEED a dot com.

This book just arrived in the mail the other day.

Angela has two blocks on the cover! I think she has eleven blocks altogether in the book. Awesome design skills!

I hope you will head over to Cut to Pieces, say hi to Angela, and check out all the awesome designs she has to share (and her new blog design is easy to navigate, so spend plenty of time looking around).]

Thanks for stopping by, Angela. It was lots of fun having you here this week!

Farmer's Wife Friday: The Threads of Life

2011-10-14T03:00:00.000-07:00

This week's writer is a farmer's wife from Wood County, West Virginia. Eight of her twenty married years were spent in the "National Capital," where she and her husband "lived the comfortable lives of the great, middle-class." Her husband worked long office hours, and she was not happy about her lack of family life.

#105 Wild Goose Chase. There was no question that the colors in this block needed to grey, against a sky of blue.

Other than those eight years, she was born on the farm where she currently lived. When she returned to that farm, she and her family "took up the threads of life again, in the old homestead--which, though homey and substantial, lacked all the improvements of our recent modern home." Perhaps there was a spider web or two.

#83, Spider Web. I chose kind of a silvery grey, the color of a web in the sunlight.

But she was happy to be in a place where "the birds sang, the flowers blossomed everywhere and the trees whispered their soothing secrets." Sounds idyllic.

#42, Fruit Basket. I changed the color scheme just a bit so there is a definite basket, filled with blackberries.

She raised two farmer's daughters, girls who "grew, with God's wonderful outdoors and dominant influence...too busy with the real things of life, and with their education, to be frivolous or superficial or artificial, as are so many modern girls."

#32 Farmer's Daughter. The color choice for this block seemed obvious--it had to be pink!

I'm really happy with how the blocks are progressing and love the look of them together.

Getting closer to the midway point--46 blocks so far!

See what fun and cheery fabric Carla chose for these four blocks. And enjoy her observations--they are always insightful and interesting!

Really Random

2011-10-13T03:00:00.000-07:00

Mark's cousin, Ione, is a phenomenal longarm quilter. Every other year we work in tandem. I piece a quilt for a quilt auction, the proceeds of which go to Third World relief, and Ione works her magic by doing the machine quilting.

Doug, her husband, has a family history of early-onset Alzheimer's. So Doug, and their children Brian and Karen, have been part of a study on genetically transmitted Alzheimer's disease. They were in a segment which aired on CBS Early Morning. Looking for answers and working toward a cure, and this video is well worth watching.

Breast cancer: something else that needs a cure. Mark has been making these fused glass trivets for a few years. His mother was a breast cancer survivor for many years, and when she finally passed away in 2008, it was not from breast cancer. But there is so much more research that still needs to be done.

Last week I gave a short tutorial in checking your 1/4 inch seam for accuracy. I wasn't able to locate the little plastic gadget that I used, but I found something similar. It's available from several different places, including amazon.com.

Also available from amazon.com, for all you Orla Kiely fans, she has two board books.

And speaking of books.

When my friend, Deborah, and I were at Barnes and Noble not too long ago, there in the magazine rack was this magazine. How often is it that you see a really cute girl on the cover of a shooting magazine? and then what are the chances that you find out that she, Georgia Pellegrini, is the girlfriend of your friend's nephew??

And imagine finding out that not only does she shoot, but she cooks! And then you find out she is a writer!

And available for pre-order:

Deborah had Food Heroes delivered to our door by amazon.com. (And no, I'm not a paid spokesperson, even though I keep mentioning amazon.com every paragraph!) Here is part of Georgia's bio on the dust jacket. Does this sound like an idyllic life or what? "She currently roams the world, tasting good food and meeting the good people who make it--and writing about them on her popular blog: http://georgiapellegrini.com." I ask you: Is it fair that you can hunt, cook, write...and still look that beautiful? I think not...

We received this wedding invitation in the mail. I don't normally give grades to wedding invitations. However...
Color choice:A+
Design:A+
Pinwheel: A+
Inspiration for a future quilt: A+++

This came in the mail as well, from Amy (During Quiet Time). It was wrapped in her fabulous handscreened fabric. I would love to show you what it is, but there are a couple of Christmas gifts inside. Let me be clear: inside the fabric are the gifts, wrapped in bubble wrap. It had to be unwrapped anyway. So I'm "gifting" the fabric to...me. Don't judge.

It was a good mail week! These tags from gutentags also arrived. I would order from Cassie based on the name alone, which I think is genius. And the fact that she lives in Minneapolis, so of course Mark said, "Buy, buy, buy!" Or at least he said something that sounded like that. I think...

I'll end all the randomness with this picture. Because these kids are so cute. 'Nuf said.

WIP Wednesday

2011-10-11T23:00:00.000-07:00

I'm starting this WIP post with an update, a completed WIP which I had absolutely nothing to do with. You might remember this picture from two weeks ago:

I would like to introduce Gabriel Joshua, 9 pounds and 11 ounces.

He is completely adorable.

Lots of dark hair, just like his siblings.

The happy family:

And totally smitten Grandma:

Okay, let's be honest. Every other WIP in this post is going to pale in comparison to Gabriel. But let's forge ahead.

Because I worked ahead (whew--that was a good decision!), I was still able to do my Farmer's Wife Friday post.

Last night I started working on a king-sized quilt that will be donated to the MCC quilt auction next April, with funds going to Third World relief. You will be seeing a lot more of this quilt. Let's just start by saying that last night three rooms in my house looked like "scrap vomit" (did anyone do I'm a Ginger Monkey's "scrap vomit" quiltalong--very cool quilts, and the name always makes me chuckle). But instead, let's call it a "color explosion."

I have wanted to do the blocks in this quilt for over ten years, from a now-defunct magazine called Foundation Piecer. It will also require some advice along the way as I'm doing 16 blocks but only have the patterns for 12. The basic color structure is based on Stitched in Color's Bottled Rainbows, which never saw much progress in my sewing room, other than getting the borders sewn on the blocks. But it was the jumping off point for this quilt.

In an ideal quilting world, I would simultaneously ~~complete~~ at least get started on Bottled Rainbows, too.But how many of us really live in an "ideal quilting world."

Each block is
based on a single color. The blocks will be 16" without the solid color border, each block paper pieced in four quadrants, and each block will feature a block different design. With me so far?

Each quadrant will have a segment that is kind of a crazy quilt of scraps.

Here is the first block, called Crazy Whirligig. The four quadrants aren't sewn together yet, because I'm tossing one out (upper right quadrant). It takes me a while to get into the groove of paper piecing if I haven't done it for awhile. The first one has some major errors (toner ink on some of the Kona snow because I forgot it can transfer to your fabric when you press unless you are really careful, and some of the segments have little pleats. oops).

I'd love to say that this is going to be a stash-buster quilt. But alas, you just use little scraps, so the stash isn't going to experience a significant busting.

I had to set up an additional table with my cutting/ironing board because there was no way I was going to go back and forth to my office (where my ironing board lives) after each seam. Although the exercise would be good for me.

And Mark was kind enough to point out the serger sitting on the table, the serger that I "had to have" last December but I haven't used yet. Thanks, honey, for pointing that out...

I'm excited about this project. And now I'm off to see some some other WIPs. As always, thanks, Lee, for hosting this weekly event. It keeps me motivated.

To Knit...or (K)not...

2011-10-11T03:00:00.000-07:00

Long before I became a quilter, I had a knitting phase. Mostly in high school and college. A couple of sweaters, lots of afghans. This one still lives with my parents:

Several weeks ago this book arrived in the mail: The Gentle Art of Knitting by Jane Brocket.

Jane's style of writing and beautiful photos alone are worthy of the purchase. I flipped through the pages and she had fascinating sidebars, like this one

and this one

and beautiful pictures like this

and even some crochet:

These were projects you would make without a huge commitment of time or finances. Suddenly, there it was: the desire to pick up my knitting needles once again.

I made a craft caddy

and a needle roll.

I enlisted a knitting partner. I made her a craft caddy

and a needle roll.

So now we have matching containers for our supplies.

I didn't think I would ever knit again. But maybe. Maybe just a little. Just a couple balls of yarn. Just a couple...

That thud you just heard? Um, that could have been Mark.I think he started banging his head against the wall when I said, "Honey, really, it's only a couple balls of yarn. Really. Only a couple..."

The Name Game: Fluffy Sheep Quilting

2011-10-10T03:00:00.000-07:00

When Sarah was here from Fairy Face Designs, I might have mentioned that the place at the top of my list for international travel is Ireland. Featured today is a fellow Irish quilter, Cindy from Fluffy Sheep Quilting. How did she pick such an interesting blog name? Let's find out!

How did you choose your blog name?

I did not plan to start a blog.

I was beginning my online search for a community of quilters, so I was following a few blogs. I did not realize that the quilting/blogging world was so huge, but I was dipping my toe in the water. Anyway, one night I was bored and looking for something to do. I started writing my first blog post entitled “Why Not Me Too?” (http://fluffysheepquilting.blogspot.com/2011/03/why-not-me-too.html) Well, once you have a blog post you’re going to need a blog.

What to name this new blog of mine? Well, I wanted it to be a happy place. What makes me happy? Quilting, obviously. What else? This whole process was happening during spring, a time of year that Ireland is just chock full of little playful, bouncy, warm, cuddly lambs. Sheep in a field always brings a smile to my face. Fluffy Sheep Quilting was born.

See what lack of sleep can get you into?

Were there other names you considered, and can you share any of them with us?

No, there were no other names in the running. I didn’t plan this at all, so there was no list to choose from. Boring, I know.

Now that you are recognized by Fluffy Sheep Quilting, are you happy with it, or do you wish you could change it to something else?

I like the name Fluffy Sheep Quilting, so I think I will keep it. I do, however, get awfully tired of typing it. Writing the full http://fluffysheepquilting.blogspot.com or fluffysheepquilting(at)gmail(dot)com is a lot to take when signing up for linky parties. By the time you get the name and the contact information on a business card, half of the printable area is gone! I wish I had cindy(at)gmail(dot)com or quilts(at)gmail(dot)com to make life easier, but I did not think that through. It’s too late now because Fluffy Sheep Quilting is here to stay.

Thanks so much for letting me play along, Cindy! This was fun!

How to fun to get to know a little more about the creative person behind the name Fluffy Sheep Quilting. Please head over to say hi to Cindy and look around. If you are interested in improving your free motion quilting skills, you will want to check out Free Motion Friday! Each Friday Cindy is posting a free motion video and an example photo. Practice your skills for a week and then come back and post on Cindy's linky. What a great way to practice FMQ skills and learn some new design ideas.

Farmer's Wife Friday: Militia of Arguments

2011-10-07T03:00:00.000-07:00

This week's farmer's wife is from again from Wisconsin, this time Milwaukee County. She decided to "muster out my militia of arguments," hoping to "trounce the opposition with eight shots."

She argues for farms being safe investments, citing the ever-increasing value of the land. There is the opportunity for free enterprise and experimentation, mentioning other specialties for income, including honey.

#50 Honey's Choice

She cites the conveniences that rural families enjoy along with their city co-parts, but they have "the added enjoyment of unobstructed sunlight, blossoming trees, stimulating breezes...." They enjoy fresh air, fresh milk, eggs and butter, along with the daily exertion of farmwork.

Her sixth point was amusing. "On the farm, you are quite independent of fads and fashions. Cotton stockings, sun-bonnets, bloomers and overalls are all right, and you feel happier than the walking fashion-plate."

Like other writers, she also mentions the different roles a farmer's wife plays, including teacher, business woman, mother and wife. These writers often mention the fact that their city sister is at the mercy of her husband, maybe having to "beg and wheedle" for extra money.

#95 Temperance Tree

For some reason, this block looks wrinkly--it looks much better in actuality

She ends her letter by mentioning that her daughter's husband and her growing boys "are more aloof from vicious allurements. Instead of vaudeville and moonshine, they have the box-social and friendly games of skat. Vamping is very uncommon, and the necessity of birth control is not so apparent."

This week I don't have much to add. This morning, our daughter-in-law is at the hospital scheduled to be induced because New Baby is two weeks overdue. My mind is somewhere else...but I'm sure Carla will have some interesting insights on this week's letter.

Forty-two blocks so far: