another totebag??????

Tomorrow is one of my God-daughters 10th birthday. Which sounds kind of funny, but we have two of them and they are both 10 now. So, anyway, of course, I made her a tote bag. I firmly believe that any occasion is the perfect occasion for a totebag and I also firmly believe that one is never to young to receive one.

This particular sweetie has the same middle name as I do, which is a bit flattering.

She loves the colors red white and blue- always has. I made her tote reversible so she can decide if it's a red day or more of a blue feeling. Then I had fun filling it with stuff for her. I made sure include a sketch pad and some good colored pencils. It's never to early to color outside the lines.

My other quilty business for the week is a poem I plan to put on the back of my next scrap quilt:

Ahem,

Out in the fresh country air
Lived a quilter known as Mare
She had a husband who made her smile
4 daughters who lived with her a while
She had a dog, a cat, a bunny
Quilter friends who thought her funny
And 81,963 pieces of fabric

(curtsy, curtsy, bow)

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

I am NOT technically retarded, I can use my computers, my DVD player, my microwave, my programmable coffee maker, I've even managed to figure out my alarm clock.

So, WHY IS THIS STUPID PHONE KICKING MY BUTT??????

I understood my last 3 phones, I had them figured out. This Razr (is that a stupid spelling or what??) is not my cup of tea, I'd rather have one that shaves my legs.

This one makes me feel like an idiot! My kids have all programmed their pictures and specific ringtones. They have taken pictures of flowers, quilts, houses, each other, and even hot dogs for me. Yes, you read that right, it's a loooooooooong story.

But can I even use the darn thing?

I had to actually read the novel that came with it to figure out how to turn it off the first day. And then, how to turn it back on!

Every time I try to answer a call I end up accidentally turning on the speaker phone, I have messages that I can't access, occasionally the darn thing TALKS to me! Yes! It actually tells me to say something! I tried telling it to shut up, but that didn't work too well. I tried asking it nicely to HELP ME but it didn't understand that either.

My sweet husband (whose bright idea it was to get several of us these phones) has promised to give me some remedial cell phone lessons tomorrow night.

gosh, I sooooooooooo cannot wait.

yep, that was sarcasm.

quilting my flower beds

Here is our east flower bed that my sweet husband has been helping me with. He is wonderful at lifting heavy rocks! ;-)

I'm showing it from two angles so you can see both additions.

It used to be just the little strip quilt of peonies in the middle, then I added the little flap of lavender and the sundial, then came the rock section with the metal thingie and the hostas. The flower bed quilt is growing nicely!

I know it's not sewing or quilting, but it's funny because it's the same process, you have to plan it out a bit, figure out your balance with size (height), color, texture, and then sometimes you just have to cut to fit at assembly.

The other flower bed analogy I came up with is for this picture. Sort of bizarre looking I know, but I'm killing the grass before I start digging any more. This is my version of landscape applique! First I started digging a free form shape (can't stand things to be symmetrical) then I did the edge finish a bit, by convincing that same sweetie to pour some concrete in my trough. I did some "embroidery" with marbles in the top of the concrete. And once my outline is done I plan to fill it in with some pretty flowers, a nice second bird bath (no waiting in line) and anything else that strikes my fancy. This one will start out small here, like a wall hanging, and I plan to add on to it until it's more like king size. Adding in the manner of quilt as you go!

I'm always so amazed that quilting is such a metaphor for all the aspects of life.

Plus it seems to take over life so easily! There was a time when I would see something and think,
"there's a painting in that", and now my first thought is, "there's a quilt in that"!

Sewing?????????

Not much sewing has been getting done this week. I think a new job will have that effect sometimes. Or is it the fact that I keep coming home to dirty dishes and such??

I love having my girls home for the summer

I love having my girls home for the summer

I love having my girls home for the summer

So, or SEW! here is my ONE teeny weeny sewing bit for the WEEK!!!

I am on the committee for planning my guild picnic this year (another of those "what was I thinking moments") We always do a theme, and then blocks to go with it. Then we draw names for the blocks. This years theme is Oriental, and I had this kimono block pattern from several (like 5 or 6) years ago when I met a Japanese quilter online. About time I tried it out huh?

Guild is tomorrow night so it's not like I waited until the last minute or anything~

There are a lot of minutes left, except I think I want to sleep for some of them, and then there is work, and possibly hug my daughters that I am so glad to have home for the summer. ;-)

FLOWERS!

Happy Saturday everyone! Not much quilting getting done, but a teeny update on my flower gardens for you~ First is my pretty clematis. This would make a GREAT wall hanging! ;-)

Second is a pretty wild flower bouquet that my youngest daughter picked while we took our walk this morning.

Such a nice time when the air is so fresh, the breeze is nice, the sun is just coming up, a child and a dog to share it all with......To quote my favorite t-shirt... Life Is Good!

Next on our flower tour is our Mock Orange ... bush? tree? shrub? um, thingie? These smell good beyond belief! You can smell them all over our yard.

And last but not least is my budding photographer (who took all these gorgeous pictures for me) and one of my all time favorite flowers, a Peony.

I LOVE HOW THEY SMELL! Is there a flower that looks more lush? Okay, Hibiscus are gorgeous too, but the layers of ruffles on a Peony are just tooooooo incredible.

When I was growing up, we lived not far from a lake and there were quite a lot of summer people who had cabins, one lady in particular would come to our house and buy bouquets of Peonies because she loved how they scented her entire cabin.

Thanks for taking my flower tour!

another quilting tool!

I've been working on this jean quilt for a friend for quite some time. Now jean quilts are pretty easy and I can generally whip one out in a couple of days, including the cutting. But, this one was more specific, first he wanted only black jeans. So I waited until he had brought enough of them over, then when we talked about the backing and I suggested a plaid flannel, he said he would LOVE it if I could find his clan tartan. Well now, that was easier said than done. I found clan tartans online, 100% wool for LOTS of money per meter. So I started a search on eBay, this was a year and a half ago! Meanwhile I worked on the front and my husband helped me figure out the red and yellow strips to go with the clan colors.

Then, I found the plaid fabric after 6 months but there was only 2 yards of it. I would need to piece the back with something else, but nothing else really worked. So I continued to use my fabric search and another lot came up at 5 yards. I lost that one at the last minute to someone else. Woe was me! Finally yet a third lot of this plaid came up and I got it! wooooo hooooooo

So this past weekend I got it pieced and lay it out on our deck to pin together. I mentioned that this was going to be painful on my knees and my husband got out his knee pads for me! That worked great! In the picture you can see how foggy it was that day. I was only out there about 20 minutes but the quilt was damp when I got it back inside! Oh and you can see my "helper" there too, he got real excited thinking that I had made him a bed for the deck!

This is a picture of our youngest daughter next to the Iris bed that was making me smile a few posts ago. It is making me smile more now that they are blooming! See, it's making her smile too!