Mug Rugs again....

I adore swaps!  I suppose that's pretty apparent, huh?  I was really going to take it easy now that I have Toby and entertainment of my own, but I just can't seem to help myself when I read of a new swap starting.  Alas, the mug rug swap is not new, but one of my favorites!  This time it has a new spin.  We must write a haiku to accompany our mug rugs which pertain to our partner.  Now.....you KNOW I can't tell you who she is, but I will tell you that she has a very unique Flickr name.  She also wanted something simple.

I wanted to really do a raw edged applique (and I just might do this one anyway and enclose it just for fun):



But then, I thought maybe I should do something more to her liking so I did this.  I took a picture of the process cause I thought you might like that too!



And all finished at 6 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches:



I threw it in the middle of my Rose Tree of Sharron to try to get the blooms to show....but it didn't work. The coolest thing about that mug rug is that I pieced the letters of her name on the back and that's the big surprise!  I sure wish I could show you, but that would ruin the fun!  (I will give you a hint though and admit to contacting the administrator of the swap ahead of time to ask for a partner with a name shorter than 6 letters.)  How sneaky of me, huh?

Two things......

First, I want to show you the little quilt I made for Kimmie who was my partner this month in the STUD group.  The theme was "Rainbows-one shape".



I actually made her two, but the other one was the original that I copied for an angel quilt for the new DQS group.  I'll show you anyway:



Now for the good stuff.  I reviewed all your marvelous comments and suggestions on what you all would do with the leftover flower circles and I'm sure you will agree that I have picked a very unique winner.  Thank you all ever so much for commenting.  It was really fun.  I'm thinking that as soon as I get back to my LQS, I will pick up another surprise in the same vein for another giveaway real soon!  (Right now, they probably think I'm dead since I haven't been there since getting the puppy.  LOL)

And the winner is:  martinmosaics   Ta-da!  Here is the comment:
"I would love to use them to create a village!  I would put roof tops on them and create roads and trees to go around them.  It would be so fun to make houses from something round.  My mind is running with creative ideas right now."

Now....how fun is that?  Who would think to make houses out of something round?  Not me!   I can hardly wait to see this village come to life so please, "martinmosaics", please e-mail me with your name and address so I can send out your circles to you pronto.

Christmas in July?

I'm telling you, lately I have to strike when the iron is hot!  My little guy doesn't give me lots of time, so when I get a "fire", I go!  A few weeks ago, I bought some awesome fabric by a local artist, Kim Schaefer, who designs for Andover Fabrics at my LQS.  I thought the flowers would be perfect to add to a solid and make them into pot holders for hostess gifts for the holidays.  

I got out my solids and a bowl (in this case 7 1/2 inches) traced some circles on some solids to match the flowers and started.  I applied steam a seam to the flowers, and ironed them to the middles of the solid circles.  Then, I found the coordinating fabric I bought for the backing, doubled some batting, made the quilt sandwiches and went to town.  I button hole stitched the flowers down, cut the circles and applied bias binding to them and in no time I had 12 done.  Pretty cute too if I do say so myself.  What do you think?

The cool part of this whole thing is that I have 10 flowers left.  Anyone want them?  They're up for grabs.  Just tell me what you would do with them and I will pick a winner on Monday!  

Guess who's running the household?

There is a reason that God doesn't let old people have babies!  There should also be a reason that old people shouldn't get puppies!  E-gads, we are tired!  Our legs feel like jelly from hurdling all these dumb baby gates all over and doing it while carrying a sewing machine, is even worse, believe me!  AND, once I am in position to sew, I have watch this little guy every minute so he doesn't "eat" my cords.  My computer cord already has teeth marks!  I'm wondering when I will be out of "juice" because of that.  Perhaps I should go to the Apple store now and buy another power cord, just in case.

We do love him though.  He has brought such life (if that's what you want to call it when you fall asleep on the couch at 7:30 pm from sheer exhaustion) to this household.  Last night we thought we wore him out.  He was sleeping at 8:30 and we sighed a sign of relief just to have our eyes free for a minute.  Needless to say, we had no idea he'd wake at 11:30 and howl and cry until I finally came in the kitchen to get him at 2 am to bring him to bed with us.  Then, not a peep out of him until 6:30.  Can you say, spoiled?  

What fun to watch an ant crawl across the floor, huh?

Mr. Rip-roaring 3 lbs 12 ozs!  (We've eaten chickens bigger than him.)  LOL

I think I forgot.....

I think I forgot to show you these t-shirts that I appliqued for my granddaughter and great niece last Christmas........(yes, Christmas!!)  Duh, where is my brain????



Probably the only reason I remembered is because I've been seeing them on the kids this summer!

THEN, I've still been sewing for the doll swap.  I so do LOVE, LOVE, LOVE making doll sized quilts AND because my partner never commented on the pinwheel one, I figured I should try to make something she "might???" like.  Thankfully, this one made the grade, so I'm pretty sure this is the one she will get:



See all those crazy knots in all those different colors?  Just about put me over the edge, let me tell you!



I shoulda counted how many and then had a contest.  That might have been fun!  I'll have to remember that for next time!

Mini Pinwheel

I might have a few pictures mixed up here, so please forgive me.  I'm not quite myself with the crying during the night from our new baby, you know!  And, I thought you'd appreciate this before I take my afternoon nap!

As you might have heard, the doll swap is well underway and this time the rules state that all quilts must be pieced or needle turned applique to try to resemble a mini type bed covering.  Since I am not, and I repeat....AM NOT, the worlds greatest piecer, I tried to devise a way to impress and get tiny without sewing my fingers off.   Squares have never been a problem for me, but half squares is another story.  I thought a mini pinwheel quilt might be fun so I started with 2 inch squares in the typical fashion with a line down the middle of the white one and sewing down the sides of the line.  I'm sure you know what I'm talking about!  I got all done and trimmed and cut the tiny corners.......

Not a bad macro shot for my 6 year old Canon, don't you think?  Anyway, I continued and discovered that if I'd make the pinwheels in a normal size, I could always take my 2 1/2 inch template square, find the middle, and trim them down.  Duh!  

Seams aren't the best when you sew these little things together, but you do as well as you can and spray them and press them until they behave!!!

And when you're done......wa-la............



12 1/2 by 14 1/2 inches with 2 inch finished pinwheels!  Problem is that my partner didn't comment, so I think it's back to the drawing board for me.  Poop!  I guess this might end up as another angel quilt.  Good thing my new baby, Toby, is letting me sew without chewing the cords.  That's a miracle in itself!



Not only is the 2 ltr bottle of Pepsi bigger than him, it weighs much more too!

Who'd guess?

Yup!  Who'd ever guess that a 3# 4 oz puppy could so completely exhaust me?  I am pooped and we

are only on our 3rd day together.  Actually, on Tuesday, we came home with two of them......a boy and girl and thought they could become great friends.  She was the assertive one.  On Wednesday morning when I thought perhaps I should comb them out and perhaps trim the bottom of their pads (the breeder didn't even cut their nails once and I figured she didn't teach them the fine points of behaving for grooming either), I picked up the boy and combed him out and he made nothing of it.  When I did the girl though, she fought and scratched and growled and that's when I knew I'd have a problem on my hands if she stayed.  I put up with one dog like that for 12 years and never again.  Originally, when we took them home, I told the lady that I didn't know if 2 would work and she told me to see how it went for a few days since she had tons of calls and would let me return one if I wanted.  A wonderful gesture to be sure!  So, the girl is gone and my baby boy has grown into his own without her just fine although I am the new playmate instead of her.

A bit of runny eyes, but he's teething so I'm hoping that will stop, especially when I give him filtered water which makes all the difference in the world sometimes:

I'm hoping he won't get much bigger than 10 lbs.  As you can see, he loves laying in the sun.

Say "hi" to Toby!  The newest member of our family and hopefully not the death of me!  LOL

So how much sewing do you think I'll be able to do now???????

Happy Birthday America!

I hope everyone in America has their flag flying today!  It is a marvelous thing to be an American in the home of the free and land of the brave. So many people in the world would give their eye teeth to live here and so few of us really understand how good we have it.  This day has always been special to me just because of that!  I am blessed and I know it!  Here is our flag proudly displayed on our garage.  (Had to throw a picture of my day lilies in there too though since they're really looking pretty now.)

Well, the trial is over and now we just have to wait for the verdict and it's none too soon.  Even my charge card company misses me.  The other day, my Yahoo Flickr pro account was due and when I tried paying for it with my charge card, it just wouldn't work.  I thought that odd, so I asked hubby for his and sure enough, it worked like a charm!  Well, what's up with that I thought!  So I called my charge card customer service line to complain (although I didn't really know if it was yahoo's fault or my card since I'm a real dummy on this goofy computer) and discovered that my card was on a fraud alert due to non use.  Non use?  Get out!  You have to be kidding?  Me, the MasterCharge mama?  So, I thought back and since this goofy trial started 4-6 weeks ago, the only places I've really gone is the grocery store and the quilt shop where I wrote checks in both places.  Too funny!  Well, Mr. India (I'm sure he was from there or Pakistan) fixed it pronto and I'm happy to say that the next day when I put gas in my car, I had no problem!  Too funny though!  Fraud alert!!??

You'll never guess where I'm going tomorrow.  Last week Sunday there was an ad in our local paper for Havanese puppies for $1100 and they were ready NOW!  So, I called, and had to leave a message because no one answered.  So, by Wednesday, after I hadn't heard from anyone, I'm thinkin' that either they sold all the puppies or their kids really didn't want them to leave and erased the message so their parents didn't hear it.  So......I call again, and again I have to leave a message.  By now I'm wondering what the hell is up!  So, this Sunday, again in our paper is the SAME exact ad only now they are advertising the pups for $900.  Hey, this is getting better and better and now I'm wondering if perhaps I should wait until next week to call because maybe they might only be $700?  I can use a deal just as much as the next guy, ya know?!  What I didn't tell you was that after Wednesday, I got curious and did a reverse search on the internet and discovered their last name and address.  I thought of stalking, but know the neighborhood and figured they'd never have the puppies in the front yard anyway so why bother?  So, yesterday, I'm intent on watching the closing arguments of the trial and low and behold what shows on my TV when the phone rings but their last name.  Well let me tell you, I flipped that TV off like nothing flat!  Long story short, the lady is sad to see the 6 (yes, 6) puppies go, so she ignored the calls from the week before.  Problem is though that her DH got wind of the new price and had a "royal" that she never followed up on the original price.  (I think my DH would do the same thing.)  So.......tomorrow at 10 am CST, my hubby and I will be playing with 10 week old white with tan Havanese puppies.  AND........I just might bring one home....maybe 2, who knows?  I hope I'm doing the right thing.  Ya know, if my DH was more entertaining, I wouldn't need a dog......but he's boring as heck, and I've had him close to 39 years already.  A new man in my life might be fun!

I'm hoping that they'll be as cute as those babies.  Ever since yesterday, it's all I can think about!  I'll let you know!

Sewin' and Stuffin'

Yup, I'm still sewing doll quilts!  (That's 'cause the televised capital murder trial isn't over yet, although I'm thinking that there are probably only two days left.......and then what will I listen to while I'm sewing?  I might have to go back to the "oldie tunes".  Heavenly days!!!!  LOL)  I think I'm going to make one more quilt today and tomorrow and then I'm thinking I will have plenty in case I need lots of angel quilts for the doll swap (like maybe forever???)  I think I'm up to 6 now.

Here's a cool 13 x 17 inch one:



Then, yesterday I didn't have much time, but wanted to sew something so I made a miniature checkerboard 8 inches square, but with 64 3/4 inch pieces:



You might actually be able to play checkers too if you use different colored popcorn for pieces.  LOL

Then....................wa-la!  Something many of you have been waiting for:



Yup, the new patterns are done and waiting to be sold.  And I have plenty:



The pattern includes both lap sizes and 40 inch square baby quilt size and can be adapted for smaller things too once you realize the procedure.  It's really simple and you will love it!  Actually, my quilt shop talked me into writing this pattern because many of their customers couldn't figure out the simple solution when my quilts were in that gallery showing a few weeks ago.

Just like always, when I release a new pattern, these will be on "special" for all of July at a reduced price of $10 and I will pay the shipping right to your door.  I take paypal or will wait for a check once you get the pattern so there is no reason you can't have one as early as next week.  Send your request to:  turznik@execpc.com with your name and address and how many you might want.  I can't wait to "talk" to you!  Thank you ever so much!  I know some of you have been waiting for this one, and I'm pretty sure that this is going to be "it" for this year.  Nothing else is swimming around in my head bursting to get out!  LOL  Happy sewing, my friends!