Monday, January 31, 2011

HOOOOOOOO HUMMMMMMM

I really don't feel like doing much today......hoooooo hummm

So....I am showing you a butter dish that was given to my mother for a wedding gift.
I have always loved her dishes and she said that one day they would be mine...well....I ended up with this one dish....and I so love it.



Next is....this...



I am going to take the plunge.... I have had several bloggers encourage me to do stitchery and for that I appreicate your faith in me..... I have picked some of your brains... Thanks Terry and Tudy!!!

Hope it didn't hurt to bad....



Betsy sent me this pattern....
I really want to do that BOM that is going around but I always always lose steam and never finish them.....sorry Jane...


but I might change my mind.



I found this book that was in my storage, it might give me some hints....



Then this was amoung the magazines...it is really old but looks like it might be great to glean information from.



I do have several other things on my design floor...but.....can't show just yet....in the thinking stage.....smell the fumes....my brain is on over drive....

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Finished!



My 4th son was going to be homeless for 10 days during Christmas....this caused me alot of stress and worry.... He kept telling me not to worry because he was going to sleep in a friends car....

I am his mom...how could I not worry and how could I enjoy my Christmas holiday knowing he would not have a home or even Christmas dinner.

The day before he was to become homeless one of his friends parents took him in. They treated him as one of their own and even had presents for him under the tree.

How can I ever thank the kindness of this family? It will be hard to repay them but maybe this quilt will be a form of thanks...hopefully, they will enjoy it and over look the bloopers....(smiling...ooopss).

Friday, January 28, 2011

WHAT DOES A PERSON DO AT FOUR IN THE MORNING AND THEY CAN'T SLEEP?

Well....I don't know about you but I do this!!!!! Been working on it all day!



This is my main diet while my husband had been gone. That stove had not been turned on and the microwave only twice.....whohoooooo....no dishes....no mess.....more free time! Hubby left Tuesday morning, now you know my silver lining from the flat tire...if it had happened while he was gone, I would have surely been in a pickle.


Wednesday, January 26, 2011

THIMBLEBERRIES SEW DAY !!!!

Sandy over at Crazy'bout quilts emailed me today to ask if I was still doing Thimbleberries Sew day. It is not that I dont want to, it is just I don't have my stuff....so I told her I would share these two books from storage.

I am so glad to have my books back and if the snow stops, I just my get my household goods...we have 3 inches right now.



Than Betsy over at quilting Fiesta(if you click on her blog name, it will take you to her table toppers)...anyways, she sent me one, it is listed below...so I decided to try my hand at it.... I made it reversible.



I took the lazy man's way out and just sewed and pulled through, instead of a binding. The guecko on the yellow is hiding the hole.



This was alot of fun...maybe I will tackle a binding for this soon???

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

FREE MOTION QUILTING - PRACTICE QUILT

If some of you remember, I started practicing my free motion quilting on this quilt the day the movers came to pick up our household goods in Samoa.

I also said I was not going to rip out no matter what but when I got a bunch in the back I just could not stand it and ripped it out.

This will go to my son who is now going to Airborne School. This is a quilt that I don't care what happens to it. I was also told that our servicemen and women should not take anything on deployment unless they are willing to leave it. Who cares if he leaves this one...



I will also say that I learned soooo much and had soooo much fun but there are a ton of bloopers...and oh well....I started this with that very intention...

I think he will appreciate it.



Our household goods are in...will be calling them tomorrow and see if they can bring the items on Thursday.... My husband is AWALL but I think I can handle it...I wanted to play this week but plans can change and well...we are talking about getting Mr. Pfaff back and my stash....oh yes.....

I might be AWALL myself for a few dsys....

Monday, January 24, 2011

LET THE STONING COMMENCE!!!

OH YES...just grab a stone for when you hear what I have to say you may want to stone me.



So....yesterday morning I decided to go to Hancocks to match some thread I need for finishing up a quilt and to buy some backing fabrics.

I am driving down the freeway and I hear this sound like a helecopter.....finally I realize that I have a flat tire. DUHHHHHHH....

When I tell you that I know how to get a flat...trust me....I did good.



Here is where the stoning comes in.....I am a woman in distress....it is soooo freezing outside my teeth are chattering. No one, I mean NO ONE stops to help me.

If I were in Texas, cowboys would come out of the wood work!

In Amerika Samoa I broke down and 3 hunking Samoans stopped and practically picked my truck up and moved it out of traffic.....now was that a sight!!

I am just saying....I don't think anyone has ever been stoned for speaking the truth but there will always be a first. My husbands boss told him later that he was not surprised that no one stopped...they just don't here....okay...I can accept that....each man for himself...

So my night in shining armor shows up in a pathfinder.....oh yes, my man (main squeeze, sugar daddy), he dropped everything to rescue me. Isn't he handsome????



There is no tire iron, the tire was completely blown out....took us two hours to take care of this car....and I am still without wheels. But...I have my man...
never did he complain about the inconvenience, the cold or just getting over a sickness....

I am glad I stayed up til 1:30 yesterday morning making cinnamon rolls for his office meeting today....I don't feel quite so bad.


Leaving on a good note...here is a different kind of wheat dish, I have about four of these... All the dishes except for the china did I buy at one place, it was over four years.



Also, for reason I can not say, there is a silver lining and next week if I remember, I will tell you the silver lining to my flat tire. I feel very blessed and I do use that term because the flat happened to day of all days of all days...will just leave it at that!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Miscellaneous Jabber!! ----free quilting book

If you would like this book, please leave a comment below....will choose a person tomorrow.


Some more dishes....


This is such a fun video for Valentines...enjoy!





Friday, January 21, 2011

The order of the day is Chocolate yumminess!!!

Look at this yummy goodness...

(please note that the picture does not show how vibrant the colors are). That is a sage green...

Learn to use my rolled hem foot....anyone have a secret for starting this process without causing such grief?

Four one inch strip cardboard (I know, there are only three) but you need four.

some magnets....and now you are asking yourselves.... "Just what is barb up to?"..........hummmm



I am obtaining privacy, that is what I am up to.

Can't a gal run from one room to the next in her skivies without being spotted?



Don't want to gross anyone out....or maybe I can just leave a stick by the door so they can just gouge their eyes out just incase....


stick is free of charge.


I am just trying to stay off any unecessary grief to any individual who just might be passing by...


This is a metal door...and the hallway is chocolate brown....




Tuesday, January 18, 2011

SOME DAYS ARE GOOD AND SOME DAYS ARE NOT SO GOOD!

Does this cup tell you what kind of day I have had sewing?



I am stealing SewCals vocabulary when I tell you that I did alot of reverse sewing today. I won't go into the details but trust me when I say that when my husband came home, I had ZERO progress on this quilt below.



I finished the two wall hangings. One is being auctioned below if you are interested.




I have never been one for threads, I always thought a thread was a thread....was I ever wrong when I discovered "Silky" threads....can't get enough of them.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Before I even get started, I wanted to thank all of those that have sent cards to Sandy, I apologize if I have not written to each of you individually to thanyou, this was an oversight on my part as they left the house. I truly do thank you and I know that Sandy will be so thrilled to get these letters. I have not heard from Sandy as to how she is doing but as soon as I get an update or Cyndi, we will let you know.

Now....as you walk into my home, you will see these stairs....my husband and I swore we would never get another house with stairs. Never say never.



Here is the bathroom off the entry way. Notice the three different colors. I actually like these colors. The hallways is a dark brown.



This is rather a dark picture but if you click on the picture you will be able to see the green (sage) color. I love this color. Notice no furniture...still waiting on household items.



Now here is the Lavender dining room, I didn't show all of it because it is a mess with items I haven't decided where to put. Remember the post that I said I was not a person of color for my walls...well..these walls are very colorful. I am slowly getting used to this lavender and kinda like it now. I will show you the rest of the walls at another date....don't want to bore you too long.



Next is a book I completed while waiting for the storage items to come.

Truly enjoyed this book.

On the 17th I am joining in on the auction for the Flooding in Queensland....hope you will join me. Right now I have two quilt books but I am going to add one more thing to make it more enticing.


Friday, January 14, 2011

My Grandmothers top and my ???? year old UFO wrapped up in one!

You can tell that this quilt has been folded up too long in storage.

My grandmother made each of her grandchildren a quilt top. I remember playing with this top as a child.

Then many moons ago my mother gave it to me to quilt. I had never quilted a quilt before...I dabbed in her quilts (I am sure she took out my stitches when I left) but.....

I took on the challenge. I started practicing on a pillow top,

I practiced by makeing each of my sons a quilt.

I even practiced on my own quilt for my bed...

When I felt I was ready I began quilting on this.......

Before I could even begin, I had to repair it...that was a task in itself...I could have made several quilts in the time it too me to repair this one.

Was it worth it...

you bet ya!!



You can see my inexperience....and I wish I had waited longer....but....I am going to try and finish this this year....don't quote me on that...notice I said try....



Then when we were in Texas my husband's aunt gave me these dishes. I told her to give them to her children but she said she knew I would love them. These are hand painted and I am so happy to have them back in my posession. (not a total set of eight).



Thursday, January 13, 2011

YOU CAN TAKE THE GIRL OUT OF SAMOA BUT YOU CANT TAKE THE SAMOAN OUT OF THE GIRL!!

You all have heard this statement so many times and I am sorry but I truly am an "ISLAND GIRL"......

Picture it...

back in Samoa
Beach
Mountains
Sunshine
Fresh air

oh yes....and bright colors.....

As you know, I have limited fabrics but I do have the Samoan Fabrics and Batiks that I literally hand carried from Hawaii to Texas.

Here is what I am doing with them.



I was going to do like the pattern and just put these squares side by side but it was just way to busy so I decided to use black to offset the bright busyness of the fabrics and I am here to tell you that this quilt even on my design floors is amazing (even if I say so myself). That black just sets off each fabric. I can't wait to get it all together....ran out of black....

Gotta go to JoAnn's....say it ain't so....



Then, Sandy before she became very ill was so worried that I would not have any fabric and so she had my sister send me some and this is what I received.....



My sister knows I love snowmen....ummm ummm happy days...now let us see if I can do something with these before Christmas of next year. Thanks Sandy!!