My Mug Rugs arrived!!!!!

Isn't it great to get mail???  There I was snipping along at this apron pattern and the lovely Miss V brings me the mail.  Whoopee a package!! and looks what is inside!!!  My mug rugs and a cute card and chocolate!  wow, does it get any better than that?  

Here are the fronts!  I love coffee, and by that I mean I consider coffee to be one of the basic gifts of life.  The bright fun one says "enjoy"  well I sure will!  Thanks to Robin from Robin Quilts Etc.  can visit her  http://robingallagher.blogspot.com/

and here are the backs of them!  aren't those birdies cute as can be????  They are the logo on her card and her blogspot.  Super cute!!

Thank you so much Robin!!!

Snowstorm Dana

Here is the start of snowstorm Dana yesterday.  I was going to be very diligent and take pictures every hour or so to show you the build up, but not too long after this picture the wind started in and nothing stayed anywhere except me!  We ended up with huge drifts sculpted like modern art, and bare spots on the lawn so it's pretty hard to tell how much we actually got.  Enough for a school delay which I have already morphed into a snow day since the driveway drifted shut an hour after it was plowed.

This is the cat on a snow day......

and no, I haven't gotten any further on the wine bottle wall hanging, thank you so much for pointing that out!

And the dog on a snow day.......

And lucky lucky me on the snow day!  I got mail 2 days ago which didn't get opened!!!  WOOT!

My newest book by Laura!!!!  yippeee!  I want to try some of her cool stitching on some of my smaller things.  I love the vibrant colors soooooooo MUCH!  And the whimsy of her designs, so fun!

And I got this adorable apron pattern too!  I had planned to open it up and use it, but it's in such lovely shape and protected so well................  yeah, I went back on etsy and ordered a more used one for me to cut up!  Can you say ridiculous? 

Well I'm off to ignore the wind and do some sewing.  Hopefully there will be pictures later!

Inspiration or mess?

I don't seem to be getting much done in my sewing room tonight, so I thought I'd share my cork boards with you.  I tend to collage on them so every few months I need to take everything down and start over.

kind of a little of everything huh?  The sodoku are supposed to become quilt patterns for me.  We'll see....

The yellow and ivory satin are wedding colors for daughter number 3, the leaves are because I really love leaves.  Someday I am going to finish the applique on the left.  I got some lovely hand dyed threads for more quilting on it, they are made by my second cousin once removed Laura Wasilowski.  My second claim to fame!  I'm related to a famous quilter!!!  how cool is THAT????

Board number two............

Rather eclectic isn't it?

It could be an eye spy actually.

I don't need to take it all down yet, you can still see some of the cork board!

There is the note that Laura included in my thread order.  I wish I could be her when I grow up, doing what you totally love to make a living!  She even does quilting cruises. sigh!

Whats on your cork board?

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Behold a portrait of the yummiest chocolate cake ever.

EVER.

And I made it.

Yes, me, myself, moi. 

If it's birthday time for you, let me know 1 day in advance and then come on over so I can make this fabulous cake for you.  Oh and bring some fabric so we can play too?

Things that make me smile

At last I found a spot for my tin doll house.  I spent many many hours playing with this when I was a young un!  It's in pretty good shape for all that time, just missing the tin porch canopy.  I notice these at antique shops and none of those houses have the tin canopy left either, must have been something easy to lose.  I did let the girls play with it when they were young too, but now it's back to me and as you can see I'm using it for special fabric storage and my journals.  Oh and some lovely hand cream and lip balm that I find totally necessary all the time!

Here is a bit of a close up of the "sewing room"!  I love that when I was small.  I actually had a little plastic sewing machine cabinet that went under the window there. 

here is the nursery and a peek into the bathroom.  the pictures on the walls are just too precious!

Mug Rug winners!

So, I think there were 14 comments on my mug rug blog for entries, and since I really like all of you and I made so many I think if I just pop out a couple more I can give you each one, so.......... email me with your snail addresses and I'll get your mug rug in the mail to you!  Now, Skippy mom, just because you left two comments doesn't mean you get two of them though!

Here is my assortment of them, some are pieced some are scrappy, some are silly, but they are all certainly good enough to put your cups or glasses on and spill crumbs and drips from your drinks!  So let me hear from you!!!

oh, this one is not pieced but it's kind of my favorite!!!  the chickens are so funky and the fabric is called Red Licorice Chicken.  I love red licorice!!! 

there's a first time for everything isn't there?

Does everyone around you have super bowl fever?  Living near Green Bay you can imagine what it's like around here......

Originally, I come from a small town on the very western edge of WI near the St Croix River and as close as you can get to MN without actually living there.  My entire family comes from MN.  Around there the Packer fan - Viking fan ratio is about 3-1.  So it was not unusual that I grew up as a Purple People Eater.   Then I went to college and met the big guy.  His family is from the east side of the state, where EVERYTHING  is sort of under the shadow of Lambeau.  Needless to say we have a mixed marriage.  One year for Christmas, in front of his entire family he gave me an official Packer jersey, it has our name on it Green.  Well the Green is for some Packer guy, but of course this could not be passed up in his mind.   I told him he shouldn't have.  No, really, he shouldn't have.  Does he listen? of course not, cheeseheads are like that.  However, since my team is out of it (and has been for much of the season, thanks a lot!) I now cheer for the Pack.

which leads me to today's picture.  Of course it's Packer spirit week at work so we are supposed to wear the green and gold. 

So here I am, excuse the picture, miss V is much better at self portraits than I am........ wearing my jersey for work.  sigh.

Think anyone will notice my "gold" has a viking on it?

shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.  You're my friends you have to keep my secret! 

Some Pretties

Today, since we had yet another snow day (poor us huh, wink wink)  I

decided to share with you some random pretties from our house..............

Isn't this fabric just so adorable?  Lady Lee would say it is "stinkin cute"

of course a totebag comes to mind.........

and this fabric............ What to do, what to do....

probably yet another totebag?

Aren't these vintage spice jars the cutest things?  My mother used so many fresh spices and herbs that she never bothered with these cuties that I'm sure she got for a wedding present, therefore I got to have them in my play kitchen.  Fortunately I didn't destroy or lose them as a child so I have them on my shelf now.  ;-)  please ignore the horrible paneling on the wall- it will disappear like magic some day.

My last pretty for the day.  Those are real Robins eggs in the nest, three precious ones.  We found them over the past couple of years after windy spring storms.  I just leave them alone in my china cabinet for several months and they dry up on the inside.  Miss V found the feathers last spring and we could not bear to toss them.  As a child I was told "A feather is a letter from a bird."  I have no idea where that little gem is from, but I think of it every time I find a feather.

300 posts give-away and a snow day!!!!

Early this morning.......... lake effect snow.  Doesn't hurt my feelings much!

We were supposed to get about 8 inches of lake effect, however we got at least 10 and it'still coming down.

I'll have to do something about the sidewalk later.........

much later..............

After all, there is sewing to do!  See this Andy Warhol style fabric?  Little miss V and I are going to make this into an art bag for her today.

and see these adorable karate monkeys?  Those are going to become a padded bag for a friends daughters karate stick.  I'm sure it has a name, but I don't know what it's called.

And now for the 300 post part, I feel the need to host a give-away in honor of 300 posts!  The mug rug you see here is NOT the give-away.  Sorry, that one was a lovely surprise gift several years ago from an online quilter friend from Japan!  It sits next to my sewing machine all the time. Thanks Yuki, wherever you are! 

However, I am going to give away a mug rug.  I joined an online mug rug swap and of course I made waaaaaaaay too many mug rugs because they are so much fun!  I used to just make mug mats, but mug rugs are wider so there is room for your muffin, or donut or whatever yumminess you plan to snack on with your coffee or tea or wine......... yes, they can be used with a wine glass or a beer mug too!  How versatile!!!  So, if you want to be in my drawing- leave me a comment and I'll figure out the details by Friday.  Scouts honor!