Introducing...Rowan

If you have been following me recently you know that I have been lamenting the death of my home lap top computer.  I have an amazing MAC that I use at work and she is my first love, but my home lap top was an old PC that DD1 bought about 6 years ago.  It worked fine for what I needed it for...until one day it didn't!  Funny how it goes like that isn't it?  So I have been struggling with the purchase of a new lap top.  Do I fix the old hard drive?  Buy a new PC?  New MAC?  OMG too many choices!  Well, my DD1 talked me into ordering a new Dell laptop.  So let me introduce you to my newest love...her name is

Rowan

She is an Inspiron and that's about all I can tell you. DD1 created her for me on the Dell website. I would have loved a new MAC laptop but just could not justify the cost at this time. Look how cute this is...

When she boots up she asks me for my password. I like to password protect my computers so the men in my life can't junk them up by adding things they think I "need".  Thanks, guys!  NOT.  So now I should be able to keep up on your blogs better and not get so behind in my own posting.  If things are busy at work I end up not getting the time to post and then, no posts for me at home either.  No more!!

Both DD's were home last night so we went out for dinner, DS couldn't be bothered to come so it was just DH, me and the girls.  That was a rare treat!  I am not looking forward to DD2 leaving for NC in August.  I know she will love it but I will miss her terribly!  When we got home I convinced DH to help me make the rest of the dirt for my second SFG.  Got that all filled and ready to plant!  He is making the coolest removable side panels to keep out the critters that think this was planted for their dining pleasure.  Once they are complete I will show them to you.

Just a couple of gratuitous cat pics too, so you won't forget I have them, LOL.
Here is Hallie. She likes to follow me around the garden. I think she is hoping I will put off some catnip for her. She finds great pleasure walking along the rocks.

Next up Aiden, aka Fatty McFatty. She loves to lay on top of my sewing basket.  I know, I know,she completely covers the entire thing, but shhhh she is kinda sensitive about being a little chubby.

Then there is Mosen. One of the two boys in the furry family. (Jack being the other one). Mosen loves to be by me too. If I am not paying enough attention, he calls out to me, "Mama". No for real, he really does! Check it out here. Anyway, I was doing something in the living room/sewing room and he was just hanging out under my sewing table just content to be in my presence. Awe, Mose man, I love you too!

Enough about the silly furry babies. I hope to have some kind of quilty, fabricy goodness to share with you all soon. I am itching to get into my sewing room, but alas the garden is still singing her siren song! (and the garage is getting into the mix as well with his, "hey, I need some attention too, if you ever expect to get your boat out ever again." Well, and don't get me started on that boat! She just yammers on and on about wanting out now that the weather is nice. Sheesh what's a gal supposed to do?

One last thing. I have some super, duper cool and exciting news that I am not sure if I am allowed to share, (what again? I know right?) but I am going to ask nicely and see if I can share soon, just for you, my bloggy friends, cuz' that's just how I roll! Talk to you soon ~XOP~

Project Special Delivery Quilt Finished!! (And a Giveaway!!)

You may remember the Project Special Delivery quilt that a group of people from Flickr had made improv blocks for. It is for a very special person that we all admire and that is expecting her first baby in July. I got the top put together and sent it off to LTW to work her magic on, and then off to PTM to do her amazing binding. Well, this quilt is all finished and is she ever a BEAUTY! Wanna see her??

Seriously people, I could not be happier with it! Look at that amazing circle quilting! I wanted something to soften the geometric look and not be too dense since it is for a baby. You can really see this on the back.

PTM did the embroidery on the label. Her work is always amazing!! I designed the label and did the improv work and she did all the hand embroidery.

Here are a few random close ups, more over in my Flickr.

I will have to make a quilt like this one for myself. I am in LOVE with this style now that I have done it. Here is my block and PTM's block too.

When I was outside trying to photograph the quilt my cat, Autumn decided she needed to "help". She told me the quilt looked yummy!

Then she was rolling and rolling on the grass being a complete attention whore and wanting her belly scratched. Now how could I resist this face??

One last thing, my friend Cori, Crazy Quilt Girl Fabric Shop, is doing a giveaway over on her blog of a Jelly Roll of Hullabaloo by Urban Chicks. She and PTM show you how to make a couple of little quilts using the same jelly roll and there are even directions for one of them. All you need to do is leave her a comment! After you do that, you should go and check out her shop. Her prices are amazing and her customer service is the BEST!! (and I am not just saying that b/c we are friends either!!) She is drawing for the JR on Monday the 13th so hurry on over and tell her Mama Spark sent you!! ~XOP~

I am Melting, M-E-L-T-I-N-GGGGG!

It is so HOT here right now and going to get hotter.  UGH!  I went to Zumba last night and almost died it was soo hot there.  Then I came home and planted my Square Foot Garden, well one of them anyway.  For those of you who don't know SFG is a special way of gardening.  There are several books out there on the subject so I won't bore you with the details but the Rearer's Digest condensed version is you build a 4' x4' box, line it with weed guard, fill it with "Mel's mix", put a lattice over the top breaking it into 16 one foot square boxes and plant your plants according to the diagram.  So for all of you who are like me and can't visualize here ya go, one of mine is all planted, andI even remembered to take this picture for you.

While I was at it, I thought I would take a picture of my fairy garden to show you too. I LOVE this little garden.

Now, lest you think I didn't do anything quilty (you are kind of right) but I kind of did. I am slowly taking my fabric sample cards apart so I thought I would show you some of what I got, ready?
Some amazing Opal Owl, including the book panel, which I did not photograph.

Don't you just love her little face??
Then the rest are kind of a mish mash, Halloween, a neat prayer panel with coordinating fabrics some with owls and heggies and some I put up on Flickr for trading. Take the link in my sidebar to check those out.



I have some more but have not had time to take them apart yet. I did pick up some Lincoln fabrics. I would like to make a log cabin for my DH (our last name is Lincoln) so I thought that would be neat. Not really my colors but he will like it.

So go and check out my Flickr to see what I have for swap then let me know if you are interested. I am looking for Heather Ross fabrics, or Munki Munki or oh just try me I have a long list, LOL! ~XOP~

I'm a WINNER!!

I think many of you know who Sweetwater is right?  Well, they just joined Facebook recently.  They asked if we would go to FB and "like" them.  So I did that.  Up for grabs were some of their darling charms found here.  I got to choose 3!!  How exciting is that??

                                          I chose Hope, House and  Hometown.

Oh, and did you happen to notice the new button on my side board?  Well, I am joining in the Zig Zag quilt-a-long that Angela over at Cut to Pieces is going to be doing.  Why don't you join me?  It looks like a fun quilt and I have always wanted to do a zig zag quilt!  C'mon...you know you want to!!

Last week I went out with my BFF and we went to Checker to pick up some stuff for LTW and Crazy Quilt Girl's shop.  One of the BEST things about going is getting to go through the fabric sample cards they are getting rid of.  I love it!!  I only got one pic so far but will take more as I take them apart and share them with you.  I managed to get a little Flour Sugar, as well as some AMH voiles (which I am swapping out at the moment, so no pictures of those here although you can see them on my Flickr if you really want to).

I did manage to have DH help me to mix the dirt for one of the Square Foot Gardens this weekend. It is in the box and the box now has the grids and it is ready for me to go home and plant tonight!! We still have one more to do but DH said he wants to make it more level on the bottom first. I will

try to remember to take pictures of them too, should have done when we were mixing the dirt. Boy was that a lot of work! I got a lot of stuff planted and weeded and such. It sure was a hot one this weekend though. I don't even know how many gallons of water I drank while working out in the sun!

I did some cleaning up in my sewing area too.  Filed all my patterns and put some fabrics away, tore out what I wanted to keep in my magazines, recycled the rest, then filed those in notebooks.  It took me a long time but I think it will help me find things when I need them again.

How was your weekend??  ~XOP~

Who Doesn't Love a Sale??

Some of you may already know this but my friend Tasha, over at A Little Sweetness, is having a sale in her ETSY shop.  30 % off everything in her ETSY shop, all her embroidery patterns, illustrations and I think even her fabrics!!  The code is Friends30.  She just finished a new illustration in a series of 3 that you all might need to get.  She let me borrow the pics for this post.

 

So if you get a minute, pop over to Tasha's blog and introduce yourself, visit her ETSY and pick up a little something for yourself or your friends!  She is a sweetheart, you will not be sorry you went for a visit, but don't blame me if you end up spending a lot of time and money while you are there.  Her work is just that awesome!!!  ~XOP~

Castle Peeps Is Almost Finished

I just got Castle Peeps back from LTW and man-o-man did she do a fantastic job!  I won't post *all* the photos I took but I am just tickled with how it came out.  I hope the mom of the baby this one is for doesn't read my blog (I don't think she does), cuz the baby's name is quilted right into the quilt.  I got the pattern free from Lizzy House's website.  She designed the fabric and the pattern and I am in love with BOTH!!  Thanks Lizzy!!  If you have not found her please stop by her website and check her out.  Her new line 1001 Peeps should be out soon and she has another line called Outfoxed that is supposed to be out in October.  Yeah Lizzy!!!  So now you know the background.

In addition, once I had the quilt finished I needed to decide how I wanted it quilted.  It is such a simple quilt but an adorable one and it is for a very dear friend who had a baby at the end of January.  Now the top was done in *plenty* of time and I found the perfect quilt patterns BUT, and this is a biggy, they needed to be digitized, and it took FOREVER!!  As soon as they were done, LTW did the quilt and I have to say it was well worth the wait!  She did some free handing on the castle and I love it!!

Without further ado here is Castle Peeps in all it's glory (more on my Flickr). This is the whole quilt so you have a frame of reference.

This is the top and bottom of the tower.

The panto for the center of the quilt was from Medowlyon and it is little kids riding dragons!!!
You can see it much better from the back so here are a few of them:

Just look at how LTW got this one with the little boy and the head of the dragon to look like it is behind the tower, genius!

I found a great castle for the border too.

Here you can see how some of the dragon riders look on the front.

OK, so Karen if you have read this far and have not guessed who it is for it is for:

PTM is binding it and then it will be headed off to live with some new peeps. I sure hope they like it as much as I do!  I would love to know what you all think of this one!  I am in LOVE with it!!!

12 Days Designer BOM

I know, two posts in one day, but I have a lot to say (which should not surprise anyone that knows me! LOL).  I did manage to work on my block 12 for the 12 Days of Christmas Designer BOM and got my block and LTW's block all finished.  You know what that means right?  Time for me to break out the finishing kit(s) and get some cutting done too (UGH).  I love all the blocks for this quilt and can't wait to see it all put together though so maybe that will spur me on.

Aren't these ornaments too cute? I was able to get 2 from the package again using one additional strip of the white that I had bought JIC. I need to pull the finishing kit out, maybe this weekend and see what I have to do to get er' done!

I don't know about you but this has been the second wettest spring in the Detroit area (over 14 inches so far, and the biggest was 16 inches). I think it has been the most rainy days though so there's that. Why am I talking about this? I have sooo much neglected yard work to do since I couldn't get outside to work until the rain let up. This puts a serious strain on my sewing time, see where I'm going with this??

My DH has decided he wants to do Square Foot Gardening. Great, I say, but you know what that means for me right? He built the garden "walls" and EVERYTHING else is up to me. OMG really? I was happy to put in a regular ole garden but no, not mister *I* want to have a garden. So I sat down and read the book, ok, ok, I skimmed the book and read the important parts (I have other things to do you know, laundry doesn't do itself!)

It needs certain things for the soil. Vermiculite for instance. HUH? Where do I find that? Home Depot said in the fireplace section but the other HD had no idea what I was talking about so... Still looking. And how many of you know that Peat Moss is NOT a renewable resource? I didn't until I read the book. Anyway, it looks like an interesting concept, but why do these things *he* wants to do end up falling to me to finish? Does this happen to any of you guys?? What do you do about it? I love him to pieces but his "hobbies" are going to be the death of me!

I will keep you posted about the SFG and how it goes, maybe I will even take some pictures so you will know what I am talking about. Would you like that? I'm pretty sure misery loves company so c'mon, share with me. Pretty please? ~XOP~

Happy Birthday DD1

I told you I had a few more things to blog about now didn't I?  Well I wanted to tell you a little bit about my daughter, the oldest one.  She turned 26 yesterday.  She and I have been on a weight loss journey together and she has been sooo successful!  She started out at a size 18 looking like this:

She had a wedding to attend last weekend with her boyfriend and I found a dress that I had stashed in the closet, just knowing that someday she would wear it. Well Saturday was the day. She asked me to do her hair, I found her a necklace and earrings and she had bought some shoes. She has always been a pretty girl but she was radiant and just amazingly beautiful!


She is one of the loves of my life and I just wanted to tell her how much she means to me and how proud I am of her. It's hard to believe she came into this world 26 years ago, I can't remember my life without her and I wouldn't want to.

Happy Birthday, Shelby!! I love you very much!!
XOXO Mom