It's Sunday Night and the feeling is right!

I had a lot to do today. The biggest thing is that I had to clean my house as we are having company. DD1's BF is coming here all the way from California to see her and to meet us! They met online and this past spring she flew there to meet him in person. They talk *all the time* and hit it off right away. It seems weird, not how we did it in the olden days, eh? But it is 2009 and I need to adjust. I feel a little weird about it too, but am willing to give it a try for her sake. I hope he is what she thinks he is and that things work out for them.

Today as I was cleaning, I came downstairs to take a break and look at my email (thanks for all the nice comments about the giveaway!) and this is what I saw. Jack...sleeping int he window. I swear cats can make anywhere look comfortable!

Thanks too for all the nice comments on this little wall hanging. I finished it last night and the overwhelming number of you thought I should use the cats. So I did. I like it. I pieced the back (since I cut up the green before t.asking you all what you thought) but I like it.

I posted about the giveaway and that I will draw a name on September 1st. Good luck to all who entered. I appreciate all your comments.

Now, what did you do this weekend??

Decisions, Decisions

I was cleaning in the stash (yes I really, really was) and I unearthed this cute little wall hanging. I had the pattern and all the fabric together and thought, self, I though, you should do this today. It's all about avoidance of other stuff, isn't it??) Anyhoo, I cut it out. There are 2 fabrics I could choose for the outer border, the first picture is with the tossed cats.


The second option is with the green.


I thought I knew which one I liked, until I uploaded the photos and now I'm torn. Let me know what you think. Which border option number 1 - tossed cats, or option number 2-green plaid?
I need your help people!!

400th Post Give Away!!!

Comments are now closed for this post. I will choose a winner at noon today. Good Luck and thanks for stopping by!!


I told you that I was thinking about what to give away for my 400th post. The past was a few back but it takes me some time to decide what I want to do. I found this beautiful stack of Robyn Pandolph Folk Art Christmas 3 containing 21 Fat quarters and thought they would be perfect!!


If you are interested in the giveaway here is what you need to do. Leave a comment on this post telling me what you would do with these beautiful FQs if you won. If you would like a second chance to win blog about the give away on your blog and leave me an additional comment telling me you did so with a link to your blog.

400 posts, who knew I had so much to say!! Good Luck!

**Just a quick note, well, duh, I forgot to say when I would draw a name now didn't I. Silly me!!
I will draw the lucky winner September first at noon (EST, in the US). Thanks for all the nice comments!!**

Creepy, Crawly Spiders

I went over to my friend, Pauline's to help her work on the spiders for the Spooktacular swap. Sharon was a little behind so Pauline offered to help her out. I knew how much work it would be so I offered to help her help Sharon. It took us a little over 4 and a half hours but all the spider blocks are fused. Yep, not stitched around, just fused. That's how they will go to their new homes. We did not have enough time to stitch them down. I had designed these spiders but Pauline and I both traced, and cut and fused until they were all finished. They look pretty awesome as a group don't you think?


Since we took all this time to do them we decided we would just keep the 2 we wanted out. Pauline chose the green one and I chose the aqua one (shocker,yes, I know).



The 3 spiders are adorable too so I may just have to make tow more of these for myself, and Pauline too of course. I thought the purple one was cute too and the only purple one of that type. It was difficult to decide which one to keep.


I hope the ladies in the swap love them too. If any of the swappers want to trade a spider for something, let me know. The background may be different, but it will be some kind of a web.

I know that it is fun to be a part of a swap. I really like doing it, but it is a big time commitment too. As much as we all like to be a part, please consider the amount of time it takes to produce a quality product for others before you sign up for a swap. You would not want to send something you would not want to receive. This means you need to follow the rules of the swap as far as design and size of the blocks or whatever the rules for your swap are. This makes for a positive experience for everyone.

Give Away

Just a quick post to tell you to go over to visit Kelly's "Don't look Now" blog for a fabulous quilt give away. I just adore her work and you *need* to go and check it out. I'm sure you will become a fan if you do! Go NOW, you won't be sorry!!

Pauline's Crow Blocks

If you have been following my blog for any length of time you know that I am in the Spooktacular Swap over at Jane's blog. So is my friend Pauline. These are 2 of her blocks that she is sending for her crow block. I love these 2 a lot. She made some other ones too but these are the 2 I liked the best and, ready for this? If you are in the swap and in a different group from us if you want to swap one of your theme blocks with her she is willing to do one of these 2 designs to swap with you too! So if you are interested, please email me and I will give you her email address.



I know that several blogs have addressed the issue of copyrights too but I feel compelled to talk about it here. There are many free patterns available on the web. You can feel free to share them with your friends and they can share them with their friends. Now if you purchase a pattern you can share with a friend too but you are breaking the copyright of that pattern. I do share patterns occasionally with friends, but they are usually originals and they give them back when they are finished. I don't expect that when I share a pattern that I have purchased that the person I have shared with will make copies and share with multiple friends. Remember that the designer loses their share of the money you and your friends would have spent on that pattern, the quilt shop loses revenue from the sale of the pattern also. How sad would it be the next time you want to go to your favorite local quilt shop only to find the doors closed because everyone was sharing patterns and they weren't making enough money to stay open? Very sad indeed. By copying copyrighted patterns you are stealing from the designer, the shop owner and the person you "borrowed" the pattern from. Everyone is in the same pinch with the economy these days and the reality is that both designers and shops are in business to make money.

OK, now I am stepping off my soap box = )

Tuesday Night

I arrived home from work early as DD needed to go to a job interview. I decided to take a nap. I never take naps. I fell asleep with Jack laying right next to me purring away. When I woke up (2 hours later) I came downstairs to find Aiden laying on the couch on top of my fabric piles, while Mosen found his way to the top of my book basket. I love cats!


I had to finish my purple on the owl eyes so I got that done and loaded up the car with 4, count them 4 IKEA bags to deliver for LTW to the church. Amazing how productive she is. In addition, I thought I would show you one of her new quilting patterns. This quilt was done with different wine fabrics on the front and so she put these grapes all over for the quilting. I love how they looked!

I brought my flock of owls to show the CL's last night too. OK Jane, these bad babies are going to be packed and sent (along with Pauline's Crows) to you leaving on Thursday. We will be keeping one each of our own and I am going to let Pauline choose the one she wants and will put a note on that one so Jane can send it to her. I really like how they came out. Everyone was inspecting the backs. Why is that? Then they can see any of my mistakes, boo.

I haven't forgotten about the give away for me 400th post. I am gathering "stuff and things" to put into it and will be posting about it soon.

I did post the 2 newest house blocks in the My Neighborhood BOM on my website. So if you are ready for the next installment go and take a look. The link is also on my sidebar

Shopping with the girls

For those of you who don't know what LTW looks like that's her on the left and my friend Pauline on the right. Yep, we were bad and went back to the fabric warehouse for their annual open house today. Nope, I sure didn't go to work today. Instead I played in fabric! That cart only contained 1 bolt of mine the rest was theirs. I was pretty happy that I was so restrained.

At this open house many designers were there along with people selling their products. We all got a chance to meet Jodi Barrows, the inventor of the amazing square in a square ruler and many books (oh, yes, both a book and ruler came home with both Pauline and me) We also got to talk to Pat Sloan (she is as nice in person as she seems on her blog too, she even had her hubby take a photo of the 2 of us together, good thing I love you all so much or I wouldn't have shown myself. Can you believe I was up at 5:15 am to go and get Pauline by 6:15 ao we would be there at 8am? Me either!), we met Linda Franz from Inklingo too as well as Mckenna Ryan (not sure if I spelled that correctly) All were very nice people.

This is the cool ruler and book we both bought. You don't know it but you really *need* this ruler! Amazing!!

I had pre-ordered these Laundry Basket patterns and templates as well as the book and the 60 degree ruler. I love rulers!!

Isn't that Carrot Top pattern adorable? Pauline found a lacrosse pattern for me too. SWEET! By far one of my favorite things is the sample cards. We were digging in the boxes and I came home with quite a few (but not as many as Pauline!! LOL)



Since it was an open house they even fed us a wonderful BBQ lunch. A local place did the catering and it was spectacular! Pulled pork, BBQ chicken, salad, coleslaw, corn bread muffins, mac and cheese and green beans. I would gladly eat there again. YUMO!!

I was so excited to see this quilt all stitched up. I have this pattern and I have to say it is amazing when all finished. LOVE IT!!


I am home now and totally exhausted. I have laundry to do and I still need to finish stitching around the eyes of the last 4 owls (the purple). Then they need to be trimmed and then they can fly to Jane for the swap. I got to see Pauline's crows and they are super duper!

Anyway, off the catch up on my lost weekend! Lots to do before I can go to sleep tonight. I was pretty proud that I kept my spending under control today (although it was difficult) At least I won't have to wrap myself up before bed to make up for the overspending, *wink, wink*, I think you know what I mean! Off to do more laundry. Hope you all had a productive and fun weekend too!

Big Ten Quilt 09

Today was the day we put the Big Ten quilt together. I spent about 4 hours last night making the quarter square triangle units for today. Thank God I did that! It made out day sooo much easier! Not to say that there was any ripping out (I was the first one to do that!) but it was a little more stressful than usual. Matching points...nuff said! I like how the blocks turned out though. We did an Ohio star. WE decided that we will make 2 each year until we all have one. (one for the raffle and one for a keeper). Since Yuki is leaving after this year we decided this one would be hers. You see all of us at Robin's house here: LTW, Judith, Robin and Yuki (not me since I was taking the photo). See the star in the background? I made that! We met up at Robin's house at 8am to begin. She is an excellent cook so she had quiche and stuff ready for our breakfast. YUMMY!!


You can see our progress here. I appliqued all the middles and also all the emblems around the Bit Ten block. There is Judith and Yuki making the binding (which I had all cut for them, along with all the borders!!)



Here is what we had waiting for us when we finished. Wine and a beautiful spread of food. Thanks, Robin! (She even sent left overs home with us!)

Robin made these for Lizzy and Me for our birthdays! LTW is August 19 and I am July 11. (so mark that down!)

Here are the finished quilt tops! YEAH us!!! Juditn, Robin, LTW and me. Yuki was taking the picture. Hope your enjoyed our wonderful quilting day!

Tomorrow LTW and I are going to Checkers to shop (we are taking our friend Pauline too). So I should have some really great stuff to show you!

Oh and BTW, we told DD's friend about the bat so she doesn't have to *wonder* about her friend's parents strange bedroom habits! Just thought you might like to know.

Just Remember, It's NOT what you think!

Picture this, DH and I are going to bed late (not what you think) . because DD has a friend over and we spend time with them. We finally drag ourselves upstairs to bed around 12:30. We turn out the lights and try to go to sleep. I am almost asleep and DH LEAPS up out of bed and turns on the lights and tells me get under the covers! I get under the covers but not my head and he yells all the way under the covers!! OK, I say. He shuts the door and goes out of the room. What the heck? A few seconds later he comes back into the room carrying a lacrosse stick. Is there an intruder in the house? Well, yes, but not what you think. It was a BAT!! We keep out bedroom window open so the cats can come and go at night. (I know they are spoiled) We keep the screen out of that window and there is roof below the window so they have learned to climb on the roof and meow at the window until DH opens the window and then they come in. So he gets more sleep if he leaves it open. Anyway, I digress. So picture this, he is only in his undies chasing a bat around the bedroom with a lacrosse stick. Well the net on the stick had a hole in it so everytime he had the bat it climbed out! Finally he pinned it on the bed and it was crying and he finally was able to guide it out the window back to wherever it had come from. Well, that is the most excitement we have had ther in a long time!!! And I can say we have never had a bat in the house before last night.

Funny, but DD2 has had 3 bats in her room at college (she is living in a house) in the last 2 weeks. What is it with our family and bats?? And where were all the cats while we were trying to get the bat outside?

Tomorrow I will get up early and go to my friend Robin's house to work on the Big Ten quilt. I have been working all day on the owls and am almost finished. Just have the purple on Grumpy's eyes to finish and then trim them to size. I then decided I needed to do all the quarter square triangles for the BT quilt and am almost finished with those too. I finished my book on my iPod so need to see if I can get the next book in that series. Well, back to work, I just took a dinner break. DH smoked a chicken and I made a really tasty orzo salad to go with it.

Ever have one of those days?

I just have to take a minute to share something that happened to me today. I *know* I am getting older and I *know* I have gained some weight but please...have I really changed that much? Apparently, the answer must be YES!

I was minding my own business and going to turn in time cards for the students in our lab which necessitated a walk to another building. I got in the elevator and went down to the first floor where the elevator door opened. As the door opened there was a woman standing there (that I had known for over 15 years but had not seen in a long time) She said, "HI" so I said "HI" back. She then asked me what lab I worked in, which I thought was odd since she should know that already, but I told her. Then she looked me straight in the eyes and asked me if I knew Me! I looked at her like she was crazy and told her "I am _____". So obviously I must look drastically different. Arrrrghhh. How depressing! I know this is not nice but I hope she felt bad cuz it made me feel bad too.

On a brighter note Annemiek sent me a photo she took in Italy of Pam supermarcato! I have supermarkets named after me there. I guess the Italians still love me! Thanks for the photo Annemiek, you ROCK!

Have a great Friday night!!

Christmas Raffle Quilt

Well, life has been proceeding at the speed of, well, life and I have not posted for a few days. The funeral was very nice, in that the person presiding over the service seemed to know grandma quite well and did an excellent job. One of the nicest I've been to I think. Thank you all for your kind thoughts and expressions of sympathy. It really was a celebration of her life.

And as we all know life goes on. The CL's have been working on a quilt for our church's raffle. We don't have to pay to use the room or the storage facility at the church where our quilt group does our work. So when the person in charge of the Christmas craft show approached our group about donating a quilt they could use to raise money we decided this would be a good idea (may let us stay longer that way, you never know). Since it is usually me who decides what we are going to do I was so pleased that the youngest person in our group said she would look for a pattern that we could all agree on. She found a pattern but it was teeny, tiny and so she drafted this version of it. I think you would agree it came out very well.


We still need to decide on borders but I am so pleased with how it came out! Her original design. This was from someone that has only been quilting a short time too. I am also very proud of how far she has come! I think I may have to recruit her into my pattern designing desires! I am definately going to write this one up! Maybe under CL Designs? What do you think??

Sunday Night Wrap Up

I am thinking I will start a Sunday Night Wrap up with anything I didn't get a chance to blog about during the week. What do you think? First up. I received this pattern I had ordered. It is a disappearing 9 patch and I saw it done up in Neptune fabric line here and it was so awesome, I just have to make one too. Second of all I received this fabulous fabric in the mail this week. I am thinking owls. Maybe Snowy White owl? Another choice is to use snowflake fabric for her. Opinions?

The next thing I didn't get a chance to blog about was some gifts some of my friends have given me recently. My friend Ruth Ann was not around for my birthday. Some nerve going on vacation when it was my 50th but whatever. She got me this adorable bag and note book. Excellent, another notebook for to do lists. Good thing too as the other 2 I have are almost full! Thanks Ruth Ann! You are such a sweetie!!

Next up is LTW. She stopped by last week and brought me this adorable bat pattern. Eat your heart out Diane. These bats are too cute!

Then LTW just *happened* to see this adorable b&w cat fabric that she felt I just *had to have*. I think she was right! I could see using this with one cat colored in using that colored pencil technique. Wouldn't that be fun? She also snatched up this cute Halloween panel. I think it must have been the gigantic cat. He is the cutest and LTW is the BEST!! (Shhhh don't say anything but her birthday is on the 19th!! I'm gonna have to get her something great!)


We had a family gathering on Saturday. It took the entire day and night. We got up, I made food, we left and drove for 2 hours and got there around 2pm. I have no idea what time it was when we finally got home, but it was dark. I actually never looked at a clock (and I had a few adult beverages so I really didn't care, except that nothing was getting done that night, I'm just sayin'.)

That means I had to make up for it today. YIKES! I had to finish sewing around the NW cat logo for the center of the NW block. Remember the Penn State Logo? I thought that was a pain, welll, let me tell you that's because I hadn't done this one yet! I have one more to go but it is with LTW and I will get it back tomorrow. GREAT! When will this end? Oh yeah, next Sunday when we get together and make the quilt.

As I was preparing the little logos to go on the Big Ten block I had this sinking feeling that I may have appliqued the "W" on backwards. I guess you should trust your gut cuz, sure enough, I had to re-do that one too. Makes me a little mad at Wisconsin, why can't your W go either way??

So I made another 2 of those and began putting the Big Ten block together. I usually make this block because all the logos have to be appliqued around the block. The fun just never ends with this quilt. I'm wondering, if I have done all this pre work does that mean on assembly day I get to supervise and drink wine? Probably not! *sigh* Anyway, I finally got the points right, and the block assembled and the logos fused and stitched around and just the sashing left. No big deal huh? WRONG. Since we are making 2 of each block I had to end up cutting 2 more sashing strips. No big deal you say? It's only one block you say? Well, all the other kits needed 2 more strips cut for them too. I finally got the entire block finished around 9pm and I had been working on all of this since around noonish. I even forgot to eat dinner!

I'm really happy with how this block came out though. I was thinking that we will have 22 blocks to make on Sunday (I have 2 of this one done) I wonder if I should make all the QST units and trim them so we just have to assemble the "9 patch" units and sash. There are 5 of us and 3 are relatively new to all this. I am just beginning to panic about getting my owls finished. I thought you might like to see Mosen sleeping in the IKEA bag full of the Big Ten fabrics, Goofball!!

I think I mentioned that my MIL's mother passed away on Friday. The funeral is going to be Tuesday so I will be going to that with the family. Please keep my MIL and her family in your prayers. Even though her mum was 96 it still hurts to lose her! I hope you all have a productive and fun filled week! I appreciate you stopping by and leaving some comments. Kind of makes it all seem worthwhile! XOXO

Give Aways

I found t20 more fabulous give aways. One is at Quilt 'n' Stitch and is a Bunny Hill kit. I can't remember how I found this blog but it is attached to the Quilt 'n' Stitch Marketplace.

Also here is a $50.00 give away at p.s. i quilt's blog.

Both are things you should go and sign up for. go on get going. You can do it in the comfort of your own air conditioned home, hardly no effort at all!!

Have a great Saturday. I'm off to make Nicole's Pizza dip for a family get together!

Baby Shower

On Wednesday I attended a baby shower for my niece, Marilyn. I had a quilt for the new baby, of course. I happened to guess right about colors as they used multi colors for her room.


It was a princess shower and thus we all had tiaras to wear. That is Marilyn on the right and my MIL on the left.


This shows 4 generations of girls. Grandma Julie, Great grandma Barb, Mom Marilyn and baby Grace. She was adorable by the way.



This was my favorite photo of the day. Great grandma with Grace. Great grandma knitted the hat and the blanket. Both were beautiful.

It was a nice day. My DH lost his mother when he was a senior in college to cancer. He is the oldest of 7 kids. The youngest was 3. Hes father remarried Barb and so she is the only grandma our kids have ever known. I actually got to meet his real mom before she died as I was dating DH's roommate in college and he flew the 2 of us and a date of his to his house and I met her then. I wish I had paid more attention at the time. Oddly enough Barb's own mother, now 96 was quite ill and Barb had to leave the shower early. Her mom passed away on Friday morning. Seems like with death there is always a re-birth! We will miss Louise and we welcome Grace into the family.