Progress on the design wall

Here is grumpy Cassie with my work in progress.

Such a look she can give!!

I did finish the top tonight and have a horrible picture to show for it. I tried to adjust the color when I downloaded the pictures, but I had very limited success.

sigh.

Still getting used to the new camera.

but if you sort of squint and tilt your head a bit, and then try not to let the overwhelming yellowness make you nauseous.......

well, you get the idea.

Then, of course, there were blocks I didn't use........... and more blocks sitting in the box.......... and they were awfully lonely.....

so of course, sigh, I have yet another work in progress.

I could just put it all back in the box and start one of the bazillion quilts that I have on this years list.

But, then would I feel guilty? hmm, I might but there might be something to help me get over that...............

yup,

I'm over it!

On my Design Wall

Look what I found in a box under my cutting table!

I had forgotten that I put some blocks in there that I never finished.

More of some scrappy fall colors.

I'm going to fill in the blanks with some more spare blocks I found.

and here is the big black cat napping near the new quilt since he can't actually nap on it yet. Zeller's nap surface is TWO full cases of batting.

Yes, TWO FULL CASES!!

A local quilt shop is going out of business, and I got them on sale. One is for me and one is for my favorite cousin who does quilting for me whenever I ask! now I need to get it to her................

I've thought about taking it on an airplane for a visit, but it's so big I'd probably have to buy it a ticket!

getting ready for Halloween

Please! excuse the quality of the picture!!! You would not believe what a person has to go through sometimes to get a picture on here! I have a lovely new camera which seems to be missing the patch cord to download the pictures to my laptop. so I took this one with my cell phone and sent it to the OCC (see guild notes at right) and sweet Flori emailed it back to me!!! the witch is more travelled than I am!!

The panel was a sweet gift from Kim... http://kimsbigquiltingadventure.blogspot.com/ for finishing 3 or more UFOs last month. sadly I have not done that well this month. I ended up taking a break from my overcrowded quilt rack to work on baby quilts. then this cute thing came so I thought I should get it quilted and hung and well, you know how it goes!

Do you journal?

Back when I was in grade school, someone gave me a diary, it had a flowered cover and a tiny little lock with a tiny little key. It could be more easily opened with the end of a nail file however. ;-) At that time I was told to name my diary, and write in it daily, something like "Dear Debbie Diary". Even at age 8 I thought this was a bit lame.

I couldn't understand putting something personal in a diary that could be opened and read by just anyone! I mean, think of the private things that happen to an 8 year old! GASP!

So of course I wrote occasionally and changed the names to protect the innocent.

Still, that cute little book with the pretty cover had a place in my mind.

since then I have had several notebooks that I jotted things down in. The first picture shows three of them, the second is my favorite.

I can take this journal anywhere and be entertained. Not by the secret stories, but by the quotes and pictures and thoughts and ideas and such that I put in it.

I thought I'd share some of my the pages with you, it's more of an inspiration notebook than journal, but here and there are some journal entries too.

Lots of quilt ideas.......

I cut out pictures that inspire me to make quilts or paintings or bags or really anything that catches my eye.

If a particular quote or passage in a book intrigues me, that goes in a journal too.

I know that if it caught my eye once, there must be a reason and I'll probably want to do something with it someday.

I like these smaller journal type notebooks because the pages are a bit thicker than normal and when I glue things onto them they don't tend to wrinkle.

Here we have some table runner ideas.............

I love this pottery, it could translate into a wallhanging, or a table runner or a bag or maybe a painting.....

On my design wall today

What fun, a baby quilt!
This is what I'm working on right now, I'm not sure how happy I am with it, some of the blocks, the lower left one in particular don't have quite enough contrast with the background, but it's okay. It's for a baby, and it's meant to be used, not hung up on the wall for me to critique.
Thanks Flori!!!!

Does anyone MIND- or Can I have a brain please???

Here in NE WI, it's a bit chilly. Which on Oct 1st translates to: "cover your plants cause there is gonna be a frost tonight!"

And since the big guy doesn't particularly believe in turning the furnace on any too early............. yeah, it's a tad cool in the house.

My favorite solution to that, besides sneaking to the basement and turning on the furnace myself, is to bake.

And bake I will! See my lovely new oven? As my girls would say "I heart this oven". It's so different from my old one, all the burners work! How cool is that? well, actually it's more like how HOT is that! AND! The oven door stays in whatever position I put it in! I don't have to worry about it flopping open half way through a baking session!!! So, bake to my quest for a brain.............

I thought the best thing to make tonight would be potato bread. Yummy stuff, and I can use the proof option in the oven and start heating things up sooner! I got the bread mixed up and went to heat something else in the microwave and realized that the butter I had melted for the bread dough was sitting there. Well, shucks I can mix that in now. Okay add the melted butter, then add a bit more flour since now the dough is sticky. Let the dough go and wait for it to rise.

Well, gosh, it should be bigger than that by now and it SHOULD be ready for the oven! hello?

oh,

wait.............

yeast! Bread dough NEEDS yeast, and guess what miss brilliant forgot to put in there?

yup, you are sure sharp tonight!

so I mixed the yeast with some warm water and made a paste and mixed THAT into the dough, along with a little more flour.................... sticky, yeah.

sigh. I hope this turns out.

I'll let you know. If not, could someone lend me a brain for a little while?