BUSY BEE

Howdy, folks, as we say in the south. Hope your day was good. I've been a busy bee trying to catch up with some of my projects before I tackle Christmas. Here is the quilt I started before the "Enbrel drama" interrupted my crafting for a while. Originally I started out going for a sweet and soft, kinda shabby chic look. But then I found some bright colors and patterns which looked good together and I just couldn't resist. I wish this picture were better. Click on the photo to make it larger. Actually when it was said and done, it turned out prettier than I expected. I think the pink border helped. Now on to finishing it which I haven't decided quite what I'm doing yet. Here's something unusual I found and whipped up. The Happy Zombie has a website with quilting, sewing, family, etc. She also has several free patterns. I saw this one of St. Joseph and knew I had to make it. I love St Joseph and I also love redwork. It worked up very quickly and now he's sitting on a shelf, hopefully bringing blessings to our home.

This weekend is a busy time. I'm going to a Christmas open house with my sister, Gail, on Saturday. We'll see how I do. She promised not to get mad if I was tired and we had to leave. ha
I'm also making daughter Amy a Christmas stocking which I should finish up in a day or two that I'll show you. It's so much fun to be getting so much done.

Have a great weekend and we'll talk soon. Nerm

THANKSGIVING IS WHEN?

I heard a dirty rumor today...that Thanksgiving Day is three short weeks away! Please say it isn't so. Please. Oh, my!

Here is what my dining room table looked like this afternoon. Can't see it? Believe me, it's really under all that fabric. I had shared about a lap quilt I was working on before the Enbrel medicine fiasco cut me down in my prime! I have been back at it and finished all the blocks today. Now on to the sashing. I think it's going to be pretty.

More later on this project. Also I'll show you the table when it's cleared and decorated for Thanksgiving.

I can't show you a photo of poor ole Fluffarina. Her mats were worse than we thought and her entire torso is shaved. She is so embarassed that she adamantly refused to be photographed. Who could blame the girl? Have a great weekend. Nerm

BACK TO WORK

Hi folks! Did everyone have a restful and fun Labor Day holiday? Mine was kinda quiet, but nevertheless, very nice. We had the family cookout on Sunday since Monday was really more of a work/school night. We gave our dogs baths-now don't laugh-that's quite the undertaking. And, as promised, I bought some quilt fabric. I have started a little lap quilt for me for the long, winter nights to come. That's a joke since I live in Tennessee and it hasn't snowed here to speak of in the last 3-4 years! Hope springs eternal, because I love a good snow.
Anyway, here's the beginning of that little quilt. I have tried to restrain my love of color and make this a little softer in line with my idea of my newly redecorated bonus/rec room. (still in progress).

This is the fabric for the backing, kind of a shabby chic, muted print. Much prettier than shown here. I'm working diligently on it, so hopefully I'll have the finished product to show you soon.

Thanks for all your sweet words of encouragement to me because of non-vacation. You're the best support I know. It was nice to have a laid back time to spend with my husband and sleep late, so all was not lost. Have a good week. We'll talk soon. Nerm

HAPPY BELATED B'DAY, AMY!

Well, I finally finished Part A of Amy's gift. Maybe Part B will be completed by Christmas! ha
My camera didn't take a very good picture of this pillow's detail. It's appliqued and outline stitched. The interesting part of this pillow is the back (below) Here is the back of pillow: It's made from part of an antique quilt. I bought this at one of my yard sales. The lady selling it didn't know what she had. I bought it $3.00! She told me that her mother had bought it years ago at an antique store and was told it was 100 years old! It sure smelled like it too. At any rate it was in shambles. Full of holes and tears. So I gently washed it and put it out on my deck to dry. I knew I wanted to salvage as much of it as I could. I mended a few ripped seams and cut out enough for the backing. I think it looks great.

I love you, baby girl! Nerm

HUMP DAY

Good evening, friends. Hope the week's progressing well for you all. It's been a busy week for me with nothing much interesting to report. More babysitting for Tanner who started half-day kindergarten this week. I've been keeping him in afternoons--mainly because I'm available and the school IS just right across the street from my subdivision! Let me take this opportunity to say that I'm not a very good boy grandmother. I had three girls who had more girls and this one boy. Boys are so different...active, busy, not cuddly. They don't want to talk, read, sew, etc.
But I am trying... ha, ha.l
This isn't my lawn, but nevertheless, it gives you a picture of a dying lawn. Mine is much browner. We have not had measureable rain in August. Maybe an afternoon quickie shower, but nothing substantial. We have managed to keep our bushes, et al, watered, but we are in a water conservation area, so we have to watch it. Now we're hoping some of Hurricane Fay's rain comes this far over. Tomorrow I am hoping to sew, sew, sew. I am trying to finish daughter Amy's birthday gift. Yes, her birthday WAS in July! If you don't know by now, please know that I am notorious to being late, behind and otherwise time challenged. My intentions are always good, but you know about the road to h--- being paved with good intentions. I'm hoping to give it to her on Saturday (we're going shopping together) so I can't show it yet. Here's a hint: Barbara Bradeburg. But, no, no, no, it's not a quilt! Yikes, I don't have that much free time! I'll take a picture of it to show and tell later.
Have a good night's sleep, my dears. Nerm

GLAD TO BE HOME

I feel like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz--'there's no place like home, there's no place like home'. I was only gone five (5) days, but it sure seemed longer. Taking my 86 yr. old mother to visit my 90 yr old aunt was certainly an adventure. It did make me feel VERY young so that's a good thing-ha.
I picked up these old (1950's) issues of Workbasket magazines. How fun is that? For those of you who don't know, they are needlecraft magazines with instructions on doilie making, crocheting, tatting, home economics, etc. The ads are hilarious. I got them for a bargain of $5.00.
My aunt lives in a tiny place called Oblong, Illinois. Population: 1600 http://www.theonlyoblong.com/. I used to love going there when I was a child to visit her & my uncle and my grandparents. They lived out in the country and owned a Porter Paint store in "town". Every summer my sister and I would go spend one or two weeks up there and it is full of memories. My aunt is the only one left and she moved into town many years ago, but we drove out to the old farm. It was sad to see my grandparents' house had been torn down and replaced with another one. It probably would have been better to remember it the way it had been.
The good news was that there's a great little quilt shop in Oblong, believe it or not.
http://www.villagestitchery.com . They have a great selection of fabrics, patterns, etc. The funny part is the store is now located in what used to be the five and dime I visited as a child. Oh, the memories of toys and candy I bought there! But fabric is much, much better-ha.




After we finished our visit in Oblong, we drove south to Paducah, Ky. This is where my mother lived before moving in with us. I grew up there and graduated high school there. We spent the night and visited some friends of Mother's.
Excitement: I got to go to the world famous http://www.hancocks-paducah.com. This is one ginormous quilt store. The American Quilt Society has its headquarters here and this store has something like 30,000 bolts of fabric! I'm sure it's not that much, but it's alot. I was in heaven. You can see what all I got between Oblong and Paducah, I'm set for quilting and sewing for quite a while


Can you tell I love bright colors? No antique, dull ones for me!

And finally, I had to get some of the Kitty Cucumber print for one of my little people. I have loved Kitty Cucumber for years and was so excited to see her in fabric. I even have a Christmas ornament of her. I am hopeless, I know!

Have I bored you all to death? Well, it was fun to kind of re-shop all my finds and bargains.

Now I can dream about what they're gonna be. Luv, Nerm

I LOVE PAPER DOLLS!

I have always loved paper dolls. When I was a little girl I collected them and kept them in a suitcase (which I still have). I think that was the beginning of my paper obsession. I bought comic books with paperdolls, regular books of paperdolls; kept the paperdolls which came in gum, home permanents, and my mother's magazines. I still love them and that 's why when I saw this quilt pattern, I HAD to make it. It's for the youngest, Morgan, who's two yrs. old. I've already made all the rest a quilt, so she wins by default and being a girl doesn't hurt either.

I started laying out the rows and appliques-it was so much fun! Here is the beginning. I hope to have more done soon. I had to take a day or two off because the ole arthritis is really hurting my wrists and hands. I guess it was all the cutting, but who knows? What a bummer. I was all primed and ready to finish the appliques and, as I said, it was fun, fun. I am not a good sport at sitting quietly nursing my aching hand. I have a dr's appt tomorrow, so maybe he'll give me a magic potion-ha! But never fear, I am not a quitter and I shall prevail. ha ha Nerm

FIRED UP!!!

I had several errands to run today of the boring variety, so I thought I'd make it worth my while and went by a quilt shop I had never been in before. Oh, boy, aren't I glad I did! They were having a sale and I reasoned that I deserved a few more yards of fabric. After all it's always for a project for someone else, so why not? This great fabric here (by Michael Miller) is for a darling quilt I'm going to make for Morgan (2 yrs old). Just ordered the pattern from Sandy Berry at her Etsy shop. Don't know if you can tell, but it's a leafy green w/chocolate background.
Sweet. Can't wait to get the pattern.





Then there was this Amy Butler fabric on sale for 50% off! Can you believe it? I'm making Mekenzie (10 yrs. old) a Twirly Skirt from Erin's pattern here. The little round things are misc. fat quarters which were $1.00 ea.-buy 12, get one free. So you KNOW I did that, right?

Must get busy-I will report back to you soon (I hope). Luv, Nerm

Help Me! I'm Crafting and I Can't Stop!

Well, here is the latest, but not greatest, project completed. The pictures are backward since you should see the outside and then the inside pocket. I am still learning this blogging thing!
This is a tote bag made for my middle daughter, Amy. She needed something to put her lunch, books, misc. in to take to work. I think the colors are great-it's "Summer in the City" by Urban Chick for Moda Fabric. I LOVE color-you should see my house!
I am really getting in the mood to do a quilt--not a big, bed quilt. I like to make lap and wall quilts. We are blessed to have several "real" quilts handed down from parents & grandparents, so I don't really need big quilts. My daughters are too young to want anything so quaint on their beds as patchwork-ha! There just seems to be so many projects and not enough time. My biggest problem I will confess is my scattered nature. I enjoy doing too many things: knitting, crocheting, sewing, paper crafts & scrapbooking. How to choose the next project? I am my own worse enemy in that I keep buying books and magazines with more ideas. I get Idea overload!
Anyway, as my favorite expression goes, "chip, chip".
Inside pocket of tote with rick rack trim.

Completed tote shown on Big Tom's leather chair which isn't the best background-ha.

Hope you all are well and happy-bye for now! Nerm