Alphabe Thursday, S is for Stupid

Mrs. Matlock, I am early this time....Are you surprised? I couldn't miss the letter S and we are going camping and leaving in the morning, so here I am....I didn't even have an S post in mind until I did something really stupid...Let me share it with you...
First of all, being the girly kind of girl that I am, I get pedicures....I like polish on my toes and I love the foot massage...However things have been down and dirty around here for the last week and time got away from me...I garden barefoot, I walk outside barefoot, and I have been painting the outside of the trailer we are redoing and doing all kinds of projects...What does this mean? My feet are ugly right now....really ugly...I start to think about wearing flip flops and I freak out....I know I am going to wear them while we are camping...Unfortunately, I didn't think about it until tonight when it was too late to do anything about it...So I soaked my nasty feet and used cuticle remover and got ready for the polish...Now keep in mind that I am an artist....(kinda) I can paint and draw things I see....I do a lot of it.
Here are my toes when they get polished by a professional.....







And here are my toes on drugs........just kidding, really! This was done by me, you know, the artist?






lovely, just lovely....A big blob fell on one toenail and my pj bottoms hit it and it went everywhere...and honestly it looked a mess before that...Flexibility isn't the issue, I can reach fine...I really have no excuse and I also have no polish remover which is where the stupid comes in...I am stuck this way...I told my new husband that we would need to go to a store in the morning for polish remover and he suggested paint thinner....I think the honeymoon is over....I may wake him up at 3 am to have a serious discussion about this "Ala Jenny Matlock"..Stupid me, stupid toes....sigh....Happy Memorial Weekend everyone.........

The deadline is near.....

We leave Thursday morning for our first camp out in The new and improved Tumbleweed! (our vintage trailer)We worked long and hard today with the little ones under our feet and got a whole lot done.....
I painted a little wrangler on the side of the trailer....








Added some horse hide spots on the top of the trailer to match.














Don and I got all our yard work done...Andrew and I weeded and fertilized the garden and Grandpa mowed and did the weed eater thingie....
I washed a couple of quilts and hung them on the line.....(I love pictures of quilts hanging on a clothesline, it makes me happy!)













I also put the recovered couch into the trailer...yes, it was a beast, but I got it done! I made more cowgirl pillows and two chenille pillow shams...







In between these things, I gave hugs, changed diapers, made lunch and dinner and cleaned the house.....Tomorrow, believe it or not, the pace will be more frantic but mama has the day off so we have no little kidlets running around......

The big trailer reveal, inside and out will be after our camp out. I am sure I am not going to have time until then...Then I can go back to things like sewing aprons and quilting.......YeeHaw! Y'all come back now, ya hear....

self portrait in fabric....

A while back, I decided to participate in a quilted self portrait challenge. There are a lot of really talented ladies doing it and I have enjoyed seeing what everyone comes up with. Because of the trailer and all the work, I havent taken the time to put something together...Tonight I finally decided to play and have a go at it. Here is the picture I used....








Don took this of me in Hawaii...I was mid sip of some intoxicating drink when he asked me if it was good...I looked up and snap......I didnt want the straw in the portrait so I just used from the bottom of my nose up.....Here is the quilted version:





I put words to describe myself all around the edges. I laid pieces of fabric down and free motioned the details...I havent done a lot of people portraits. This was a fun challenge and I hope to do more...You can see a lot of the other portraits at
http://saycheesebumblebeans.blogspot.com

AlphabeThursday, R is for remember this?

Good afternoon Mrs. Matlock...Once again I am here in class to talk about the letter R...I brought you a nice piece of rhubarb pie to enjoy while you read my essay...The pie is really good. Rhubarb pie always reminds me of my mom. It was one of her favorites. That brings me to the topic of this R post. It is all about remembering being a child and a teenager in the 70's. I had fun thinking about it, putting it together and yes, remembering....I hope you enjoy it too!
R is for remembering...Smell is one of our most powerful memory triggers. One of my favorite things when I was really small were Kiddles dolls...The ones I had came in lockets and perfume bottles and they have a very distinctive smell....






A friend of mine has one and a few years back I got a whiff and instantly was seven years old again.....I actually went on ebay to try to find one. They have them but these little babies are a fortune now! I would love to buy one, but how do I justify it.....A whiff of childhood maybe? It sounds pretty good to me.
I also remember when TV shows were a whole lot different than now.......









The Brady Bunch was Friday night prime time....Hard to believe but I remember it......I cant even imagine turning on the TV as a kid and seeing what I see now...I know my eyeballs would've been glued to it, but I cant say it would've been good for me.....The Partridge Family was cutting edge for having a single mom raising a family.....






And David Cassidy? what a fox! (remember when people were foxes? lol) Although at the time, I didn't appreciate that he was a fox....it is funny that most of the 70's guys were kind of effeminate looking when you think about it......


At the school I went to, girls still wore dresses except on Fridays you could wear pants....Pants, not jeans....That changed in sixth grade...My standard outfit became smock tops with 501's and earth shoes....oh yeah, the age of earth shoes.....and long straight hair parted in the middle...Mine was down to my rear end....and there were no flat irons...instead you ironed your hair with an iron....soot, we didn't even have blow dryers.....yet. A long dress was a maxi and a short dress was a mini and a midi was totally out of style.
In high school I used this shampoo.....





My hair really did smell terrific! I love this smell, another big memory trigger and they still sell this online....I got a bottle for Christmas one year and every time I washed my hair, I was fifteen again...The fountain of youth in a shampoo....
Two of my other staples?








Gotta have the root beer lip smackers......and Bonne Bell 1006 to clean your face.....(liquid fire in a bottle).
Two more memory triggers in a bottle and a compact....my two favorite perfumes, no longer made....






Coty, Sweet earth compact, and Love's Soft Rain......They both remind me of getting ready to go to meet my first boyfriend with my friend Kathy....We always sprayed ourselves down with Soft Rain......I saw a Sweet Earth compact on Ebay for 175.00 on Ebay today...Can you believe it?
For dances the best dress to have?








Oh yeah, a Gunne Sax dress by Jessica McClintock.....They were about 75.00 which was a HUGE amount then...I had one that looked just like this.......






I about screamed when I found this picture today...Talk about remembering! I had this exact dress and wore it for Homecoming when I was fifteen.......
And then there is the music.I still have two favorite songs...the one that was playing the first time I kissed a boy, and the song that I first danced to with the father of my kids....I won't put you through it though....lol
Now this post will either bore the heck out of you, or if you are a child of the seventies too, it will make you do some remembering of your own! What brings back memories for you? Thanks for joining me for this walk down remembering lane!

Quilt done, lettuce and funky chickens.....

The cowboy quilt is done....Can I hear a big Yee Haw? I am glad, because it is one more thing to check off the list as we get nearer to our camping deadline...Today we almost had a huge accident...We had to jack the trailer way up on both sides to flip the axle back into a normal position. The people who had it before had it flipped so the trailer sat really high up in the air so they had clearance for hunting roads....We had four heavy duty jacks going and Don was lowering one side and the trailer on one side fell off the jacks and fell sideways....I screamed and we both ran...what do you do? try to catch the thing? What saved the side of the garage and my new car and the trailer was the trailer step....it went against the concrete and stopped the whole thing.....But now all is well and the adrenaline rush is over and I didn't wet my pants so life is good.





Isn't it cute? I used a thrifted yellow gingham sheet for the backing...the colors are all soft and so is the sheet from wear......
Here is the graphic I am going to paint on the side of the trailer.....










I also have the garden all planted....Peas, green beans, carrots, radishes, beets and pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers, basil and zucchinis....I have planted no annual flowers except for cosmos...We also planted two plum trees, raspberries and three lilacs...the plan is to add to the trees and perennials every year. Oh and I cant forget the lettuce that will taste like chocolate according to Andrew our resident lettuce expert...We weren't sure it was going to survive the transplanting from peat pots, but it did and it is growing...I know because he gives a progress report at least three times a day....Here is a picture....









I had to post this because he must have taken it on my camera. He is so fascinated by the whole garden. So cute!

I joined the Potholder Pass round three and worked on and finished my potholders too....They are called the Funky Chickens....I really had fun with them.






My secret partner that I am sewing for has no color preference, just wanted chickens so I let loose in the color department...I also used my embroidery machine to do the chickens and rooster in the centers....I hadn't used it in a while and had to relearn, but once I got going it was fun...I just did it in between the quilting...






I think they are bright and cheerful....Tonight I am going to tackle the BEAST....What beast you ask? The trailers sofa/ bed cushion....I am going to sew a new cover for it...I figure I will bribe myself by working on things I like to work on in between...like an oven mitt to go with the chickens....wish me luck.

Alphabe Thursday Q is for......

It is that time again Mrs. Matlock and I am here all ready for class....I brought you a jar of homemade Quince jelly to quell your sweet tooth...
I know the class knows I am a Quilter so my essay is going to be Q is for quilts, right? Wrong! That would just be to easy and expected. Because I am a Quirky kind of gal...You know, queer as in funny ha-ha....So my q is Q is for Q-tips....Why Q-tips?








Because we all have dirty ears and they need to be cleaned quickly and quietly. So with out further quibbel or quarrel, I bring you the Q-tip.




First of all, since U always comes after Q, shouldnt it be a QU tip? Well, duh.....Who decided the U after Q rule anyway? As Mrs. Matlock says, I am off on a tangent....ok, back on track....The person who invented these to clean babies ears first called them "baby gays" ....Then he changed them to Q tips...and the q stands for Quality...I always wondered what the darn Q was for....In Europe they are called cotton buds and in South Africa ear buds.....which brings me to a story....(tangent)
I dated a man from New Zealand for 7 years and one morning he yelled from the bathroom..."we are out of ear buds"...I was half asleep and what I heard was "mumble, mumble, mumble ear bugs....." I have a phobia about earwigs and freaked out. Ran in the kitchen, got a can of Raid bug spray, ripped open the bathroom door, held my breath and shut my eyes and sprayed for all I was worth....I dang near killed the man. It is funny now....and he learned to call them Q tips very quickly...Now wasnt that a quaint and quirky post about Q tips....Oh yeah, you are not supposed to put them in your ear canal, which leads me to another Quick digression...(tangent)




If you are not supposed to put them in your ears, why make them to fit the inside of your ears? HELLO? Goodbye.....

post script: Dont forget to scroll down and take a look at my vintage trailer pictures that I just posted!!!!!

Tumbleweed trailer redo, part one.......

The interior of out vintage 1961 trailer is all pulling together and I am so excited and thrilled that I have to show a peek or two....or three....The theme is Cowgirl Glam and I really have had fun with it so far! So without further ado, I give you the dinette area of the Tumbleweed..........















The miracle of it all, is it used to look like this.....Just a few short weeks ago....

















A lot of carpentry, paint and sewing has given her a whole new life.




















I can just picture myself eating breakfast at this sweet little table.....

















Our maiden voyage begins on the 27th...We still have to finish the outside as in painting and prepping, and I need to finish curtains and pillows for the bed/ couch area. Quilt the bed quilt, and reupholster the couch...On the outside, we are just waiting for a couple of really dry days and then we can knock it out....What do you think?

Mothers day and great mail...

Our bbq was so much fun....We all had a great time and the food was really good....I found a recipe for the best fresh fruit salad. I will definitely make it again and I will take a picture and post the recipe. I was so excited to have everyone over and I didn't even have any expectations of gifts..Don and I both got spoiled! It was all a surprise....








Cards from my kids, one of them had a Joanns gift card in it!






pink roses from Don and a cyclamen from my friend Angela...The roses are a little worse for wear, I put them out on the picnic table and the sun got to them. Still, to me they are beautiful! Lisa got me a big yard ornament that are longhorns to hang up on the outside of our trailer...I guess when she bought them everyone teased her at Loews about buying them for me for Mothers Day....and the best present of all?













My little miniature bunny Donalds.....He is the cutest little thing I have ever seen and he just loves to be held.....He is my present from the little kids but the big kids did ask first. When I was a kid myself, I always had a pet rabbit. They are really fun!
I also have gotten some cool stuff in the mail the last few days.......










some retro pinup fabric that I am going to use to make my apron for the pin up Hot Mama apron swap......








I got all the fabric to make a quilt for the "No sew red white and blue swap"...Cecilia is the hostess and she also sent this cute little quilt charm....You will be seeing the blocks as I make them. There are some really cute fabrics and it is all going to look wonderful in my trailer!










Then I received my Enchanted for a year ornament swap from Jenny...I posted about my package for her earlier...The theme was songbirds...She sent me Christmas ribbon and jingle bells, a sweet little pair of bird earrings on a glittered star, two vintage bird ornaments and a vintage paper ornament and a bird composition book...Isn't it all fun? I have really enjoyed these packages every month and I have quite the enchanted collection happening! Thanks Jenny for the goodies, I love them.






I also got this sweet little charm pack in the mail...I won it on Jamie's blog!
http://modifiedmix.blogspot.com
I cant wait to use it to make up something cute....I am thinking about a table runner...She is also hostessing the pillow swap that I am in....Thanks so much Jamie.
I have the kids again today. Yesterday I had the day off and we worked in the yard. I also made lined cowgirl curtains, turned one of the cabinet doors in the trailer into a ribbon bulletin board and I made a fabric banner for above the cupboards...Today I am going to finish the curtains....I hope.....I still have to quilt the quilt, but it will get there....It is all a labor of love so it makes it fun! Have a great day everyone....

Happy Mothers Day!

I hope it is spent with your loved ones and you feel special and appreciated...Today not only is it Mother's Day, but it is my husbands birthday so we are having a big backyard bbq celebration...I have been cooking all morning and having fun putting it all together...The weather is gorgeous and I am so happy!Everyone will be here at 5, but I wanted to post first....I participated in the Mothers Day Bottle Swap hostessed by Miss Molly...Click on the button on the sidebar to see other participants...She has lost her mom too and found a unique way to honor them today anyway. We were assigned a partner and we filled up a bottle with things that represented our moms and told about them....My partner is Christina......She included a note telling me about her special Mom...
She read Harlequins and watched her soaps" at the same time....She had safety pins all over the house. She has always been very supportive of Christina's art and she encouraged her when she was ill at 17 to paint...It helped her get thru her illness...She was a homemaker and loved to sew and garden.....Here is a picture of the things that Christina sent me.....





you can see the letter in the background and she also included some beautiful atc's that she made me...The one of the lady in the green is a portrait of her mother...She also sent me a package of Cosmo seeds which made me smile because my own mom loved them.........The other thing that made me smile is in one of the necklaces, there are safety pins...how cute is that? Thank you so much Christina for letting me get to know your wonderful mom through you!
Here is what I mailed Christina......









Lots of little goodies that made me think of my beloved mother! I also made a bra postcard in pink to symbolize her fight against breast cancer....














And from me, just cause I like making them, a set of criss cross coasters.......









I love you mom....I cant wait to see you again!!!!! your Mindy....

playing catch up.....

After being sick, I finally felt well enough to do some sewing...We hoped to have the interior of the trailer done last Sunday but that got put on hold....Today I finished the quilt top, made privacy curtains for the back where our bed will be and I made place mats. Don got the new tile in and hung curtain rods...We are almost there! It is really exciting to see it start to come together.
Here is the quilt top....






It is almost a queen size....I just randomly cut fabric strips and sewed them around the hankies....I didn't measure anything or try to make anything line up....I want a kind of a country look and I think I got it....I am hoping to have it quilted by Monday......Here are the place mats.....





I found the cowgirl fabric on clearance in Oregon and snagged it up...The two mats are stacked on top of each other but each one has different cowgirls....the outside fabric is leftover from the quilt.
Tomorrow I am going to make curtains and get them hung.....We are having a Mothers Day BBQ so it is going to be a busy day!

P is for .....alphabe Thursday....

It is Alphabe Thursday once again hosted by Jenny Matlock and I am here...kind of.

Mrs. Matlock, I would love to offer you some Pleasing treat that starts with P', but I am too Pooped. There wont be any Pictures either...Why? Because once again we are Plagued with the Plague..(flu) Personally, this is my fourth time in five weeks...Pretty huh? I have been sicker than a Puppy with Parvo. This is not a pleasant way to lose those last Pounds...Promise....Enough said....we are here, we are sick, we could use your Prayers.....peace out.