A Few Odds and Ends

That's what I have to share with you today, bits and bobs.  

I was trying to get the binding on a quilt recently and had a little help.  

She was in such a state of bliss I could not bear to move her!

She just kept rolling around on the quilt and purring and purring. 

 There is some good vibrations (literally) going on with this quilt!

Over Labor Day weekend we went to my BIL and SIL house for a pool party.  

They just put this pool in a few weeks ago. 

 Isn't this a pretty shot?

You know that my son moved out the beginning of August.  

We have been working to get his room cleaned up (still working) 

but we did manage to get it cleaned enough to put in a guest bed. 

 A LONG time ago we bought this antique bed.  

It is made out of wrought iron.  

It had some paint on it and it really needed to have to paint taken off and rust removed then painted.  We did not get so far as to get it painted but it got sanded and ready for a new mattress. 

 I took the quilt off of my own bed and put it on this one.

DD2 came up from NC to stay last weekend and she now had a beautiful new bed to sleep in!

New sheets, new pillows and a homemade quilt. 

 Life is good!!

She also put us to work cleaning up the yard, trimming bushes and cleaning off the deck.  

Dang that girl is a force to be reckoned with!!  

I wonder where she gets that from?!

My hubby's sister and her husband could not use their tickets for the MSU football game on Sat 

and offered them to us.  

Well, thank you very much!  

We went and had a great time. 

 The seats were awesome and we parked about this close to Spartan stadium!

Hubby's other brother and family also have season tickets so we found them and did a little tailgating.  Look who joined us.  

It was a beautiful Red Tail Hawk and when it flew away it was breathtaking.

So there you have it. 

 Not much in the sewing department to report but life is busy and full.

~XOP~

Cats on Quilts

The 2012 Pets on Quilts show is going on right now. 

 As most of you know, I have 5 cats and at any given time one of them is on a quilt somewhere.  

I am officially entering this photo of Autumn in the show so once voting begins, 

please go here and vote for her.

Of course there are a few other photos that I really like at the moment too 

including this one of Fatty McFatty (Aiden)

I think I have the most photos of Jack though.  

He is the one that needs to be near me all the time.

I took this photo yesterday as it was what greeted me as I walked into the house.

Of course you can see everything I have been using on the table and Jack is just sprawled all over it!

I posted this pic to Flickr yesterday and guess who commented on it? 

 Laurie Wisburn!!! 

 I was so excited. 

 I just love her fabrics don't you??

I am currently lusting after Brr at the moment.  

So there you go! 

 Cats on quilts.  

More Cat-o-flauge if you will!!  

Please go to Lily Pad Quilting and vote for Autumn's photo. (122)

 She thinks she is the queen of everything and she would love confirmation of that!!

Here is what they said about voting:

"Our linky party will remain open for entries until August 9 --- that's a whole week for peeps to enter their quilts and their furbabies! At that point, the linkies will be closed, and voting will begin. We will leave the voting open through the weekend (through Sunday, the 12th) so that all of our friends can participate. Then, a couple of days later (probably the 14th or 15th) we will have our announcements of winners."

~XOP~

Quilt Inspectors

How many of you have your own personal "Quilt Inspectors" at home? 

 I have 5 of them. 

 There were 4 of them on high alert recently.  

Jack decided that he needed to inspect the quilt currently on my bed.

His arch nemesis, Mosen decided to take a well deserved break and was inspecting my laundry!

Thanks Mosen!!

Then I went to do some quilting on a project for Jacquie and had to clear QI Aiden off the table first.

She protested VERY loudly!

Finally, I got to do some quilting. 

 I was almost done, and feeling like I had managed to dodge the last and pickiest QI when 

she who must be obeyed showed up and laid right down on the top!  

As you can see from her expression 

she was not so sure my half inch lines were actually accurate enough for her tastes.  

Hey, I'm trying Autumn, this is first time I have done anything like this.

Can't wait to bind this one and send it on it's way!

Lastly, on the way in to work this morning we were driving around 6:15am and 

I looked up and saw this

I asked my DD1 if she thought this was a rainbow, and 

sure enough, in the bright pink sky was a beautiful, vibrant rainbow!! 

 It completely went from North to south. 

 My photo is not very good, she took it on my iPhone but trust me when I say it was beautiful.

There are more photos of this on my Flickr too.

Once we were closer to our work, I was stopped at a light and she took this video.

In this you can see the entire rainbow.  

What a way to begin my day!  

I hope you are having a great day too!!

~XOP~

Blogging Friends and More Cleaning At My Dad's

Blogging friends are so wonderful aren't they?  

I have a friend, Faith, that lives in the UK. 

 She sends me the most thoughtful and fantastic gifts! 

 Here is the latest gift send to me from Faith.

I have not eaten the chocolate yet but those little coconut babies on the left? 

Freaking AWESOME!!

I went to my dad's on Friday instead of going to work. 

 This is my life every other Friday. 

 I took him and my sister to see my other sister because he has not seen her in awhile. 

 She lives in a group home and has a lot of mental problems 

(born mentally retarded, cataracts on both eyes, schizophrenic and bipolar).

 I have not seen her in a very long time either. 

 Unfortunately, she did not really know any of us and did not talk to us.

 We stayed and visited as best we could and then I took them home. 

 She is on a lot of medication to keep her psychosis under control. 

 She also has to have ect (electro convulsive therapy) 

every other week, so I understand her not knowing us.

 I'm glad I could take my dad to see her though. 

 Then we came home and started cleaning his dining room table.

 See that clean half? 

That took  3 hours to do with both of us working!!

I also cleaned some of the front closet out, still more to do there but it's a start!

Lest you think I didn't do anything quilt related, I did. 

 I got the binding sewn on the Halloween Quilt. 

 Aiden approves!

I also worked on my dad's quilt some this weekend. 

 I got half of it sewn together. 

 I only have 1 more snowball to rip apart and re-sew then I can begin putting the last 4 rows together.

I hope you had a productive weekend too!

~XOP~

Brought to you by Quilt Inspector Autumn

I came home last night determined to sew the binding on my Halloween tumbler quilt when one of my quilt inspectors made a surprise appearance.
 Autumn needed to see if she could bathe on it and if it would be pass inspection.

"Not so sure it's ok mam" said the inspector.

"Oh never mind, it really is kind of yummy"

"Keep calm and carry on"

~XOP~

Today's Activities

It's often difficult to gauge how much to do or not to do when you are feeling well. 

I got up this morning and decided that I would try some sewing at my machine.

I had a chenille blanket all basted and ready to stitch so thought that would be a good choice to begin. 

No standing to press anything. 

So I sat down and sewed for 2 hours and made all the channels.

I got some of the cutting done too.

That takes so long but I finally got that finished too.

Then I thought about binding it. 

The fabric I wanted to use was in the basement and I was not allowed to climb those again today so I had to see what I could find in my sewing room that would work.

I came across some hot pink Free Spirit solid that was perfect!!

So soft! 

It would be perfect for a baby blanket.

I made the binding and attached it to the chenille.

DH decided that we should take a quick trip to the local market.

We ran into my daughter's old swim coach and his family.

It was very mice to catch up. 

We kept up our shopping and about 20 minutes into the trip I was getting very light headed. 

So we checked out and came home. 

This is what greeted me as I entered the house.

I love my cats!

Have a wonderful night!!

~XOP~

I'll Show You Mine If You Show Me Yours.

My sewing room that is! LOL.  I can't even remember who I promised this photo to but I had my Jelly Roll QAL quilt all spread out on my design wall couch and it hit me that I should take a photo of this insanity!   As usual, I have my kitty helpers.  I don't know how I manage to get anything done with out their help!  Hope you enjoy the pics!!

My quilting space is in the middle of my living room!  When you walk in my front door this is the sight that greets you.  Sad I know, but I love having the space.
I should have photos of Jessie's quilt tomorrow night and also, I got the tumbler quilt back so I should have some pics of that one for you too. 

Things are busy as I am gearing up to leave for spring market in 7 more sleeps!!!  ~XOP~

The Wedding and WIP Progress

Wow-wee it was a jam packed weekend!  Our friends, Karen and Cory got married on Saturday.  The reception was in my boss's back yard.  Here is a picture of me with my sweetie, we clean up well, huh?
This is my friend, Karen, the blushing bride.  She was beautiful and glowing.  We had such a good time at the reception.  They had a DJ and got a dance floor and we all danced until we could dance no more.  I can't remember having such fun!  I gave them the U of M quilt and they loved it (especially Cory!).  I had squares for them to sign to use on the back on another quilt that they will be able to put on their bed.  
Now then, I have been pretty restrained since Paducah but I could not help myself and did a little shopping at The Fat Quarter Shop.  They have an amazing site but I needed *special* help so had to call them and they were so nice and helpful!  You really must go and check them out.  So here is the package that I got in the mail on Monday.  It has the most wonderful Mystery sampler BOM.  Check it out, you will just love the designers (each one is doing a different block each month)  I also got a yard of the turquoise you see for the fresh squeezed fabric I bought in Paducah (no one had this and I want it for a border).  
Here is the fabric for the Mystery Sampler BOM.  The fabric collection is Peace on Earth by Three Sisters.  It is just beautiful!  This is the first block.  I plan to cut and sew it tonight.
Now I missed out on Holly Jolly last year and this is the same colors but the line is called Merry and Bright.  I just love it and bought a layer cake of this line.
I went ahead and bought the finishing kit for the BOM as well.  Please, of pretty please, do NOT tell DH about this package.  He would not understand, but I just *had* to buy these things!  I also wanted the Winter charm pack but restrained myself.  Those fabrics are so beautiful too.  Maybe later!
Isn't this a fine pile of blue strips?  I am making that strippy blue and yellow "M" quilt and have been busy making the blue blocks for it.  I need 120 of these, 52 yellow and 8 half and half.
The half and half ones are kind of cool.
Jack decided he needed to make the strips all furry, just in case someone else needed to make a cat from all his fur!
I had to show you how nicely DD's garden is growing.  Just look at those lilleys!
Aren't they stunning??
I think it looks so calm and peaceful.  Can you see the birdhouse hanging there?  It is Frankenstien's monster.  I should get a photo from the front to show you.
I am going to meet up with Jeanne at a quilt shop in Davidson on Thursday.  I am so excited that we will be getting to meet!  Have any of you that met while blogging actually met in real life?  Tell us your stories!

And Snow it Continues

Oh yes...this snow is what greeted me this morning as I went out to my car.  I shoveled a path to the car, then another path to the garage as it is garbage day, then a path down the driveway so I could get the cans to the curb.  This is my front walk way.

Then I had to scrape the drift off the car!  It was burried!!!
I just thought I would share some photos of our weather since many of you have been showing such beautiful warm, sunny weather.  Now here is Hallie, since she didn't get into the action with the last photos of Autumn and Aiden.  Jack was up on the Ugly quilt last night but I was too tired to look for the camera.  Isn't Hallie sweet?  She was a rescue cat brought home by DD1.  She is kind of a fraidy cat but she loves me!
I tried to cut the squares of the Ugly quilt up into their 4 parts but couldn't find my 24" ruler.  I have to check the car, as I think that is the last place I remember having it (for a class) .  Wish me luck or I will have to use one from the church.  I did put 2 smaller ones together but that was a pain.  I did like how the triangles look once those squares are cut up, the pattern will be cool.  

I hope you are all staying warm if you got hit by all that snow like I did.  At least it is sunny here now, and the snow is beautiful!!  

Several blogs that I read have recently been talking about menopause.  My friend, Robin, sent me a song about it that is hysterical, if any of you want to hear it email me and I will send the MP3 file to you.  It is really worth the listen!!  I don't know how to post it here but I can definately send it to you.