A year+ in the making....fabric book is done!

This is the fabric journal that I did for the group "Color me Silly"....I did the cover, the back page, a two page spread and the sign in pages and then the other 11 artists did their layout. The theme was " to be a woman"....and from there, I left it open to interpretation. This is the book that spent about three months lost in Canadian customs....Boy was it worth the wait...it is wonderful and I am beyond thrilled with it and man, is it big, as in thick!!!! The pages are 9x12 and I made all the pages of timtex covered with muslin and then I made buttonholes on the pages...then each finished page was glued to the back of the prior page....I had no idea how I was going to bind it all together, but I figured when it came back, something would come to me....Little did I know how big this book was going to get!!!! Finally the other day, I decided to look for something to use in the hardware store and I found the perfect solution....in the plumbing section....metal hose clamps! I spray painted them pink with metal paint and then threaded them thru the pages, tightened em up with a butter knife....(too lazy to look for a screwdriver) and wa la! I did cut off the edges and bind them with electricians tape and then I covered the tape with yarn...the edges were too sharp to leave uncovered....I love how it looks...just like a real book. I am showing a picture of the cover and the sign in pages...On the sign in, I had everyones photo in atc size and then each person decorated it and wrote a note or two....The sign in pages I just love! I styled it after a french memory board. The front cover I used all kinds of vintage stuff including a bit from a 40's cookbook that is a riot....I will post more of my treasure later!

baby quilt done!

I redid the borders and then finished tonight. I think the other version had too much blue for a girl and I had one of the circle blocks in the wrong place anyway so I decided to go ahead and change it to an orange and red border. I like it, it's very bold....Now I need to make a label and then it is off to the new baby....

Summer Swap arrived and a Birthday Girl.....

Yesterday I had Olivia's birthday party at the park. It was a whole lot of fun and there was a whole lot of wind but we did good. She loved being the center of attention, and a good time was had by all....The kids and I came home and took a nice long nap...No coaxing needed, not this time anyway. She didn't want a "store " cake, she wanted pretty pink cupcakes, so that is what she got. I sang happy birthday to her about a hundred times. She actually asked me to stop at one point. I know I can be obnoxious. The other great thing happened today! I got my summer swap package from Sherry. HOLY COW! I feel like the luckiest person in the swap! She made some beautiful tags that I love and a couple of summer cards that I am going to hoard, she sent me some charm squares that Liv is eyeing, a pack of note cards in organza and a beautiful bag that I am sure she made herself...I love this bag!!!!! In fact I put all my junk in it and it feels right at home. Look at the picture of this loot...I felt like it was my birthday. You can find Sherry at http;//ificouldsetmysoulfree.blogspot.com

First Day of Summer!

Olivia has been asking and asking when summer is...I told her it is officially summer today and she wanted to know if we could go to the lake and swim tomorrow...Sure, in 60 degree weather. I will just sit and watch. We are all anxious for the sun and hot days. Today was nice though, just not nice enough to swim. I found the cutest elephant cookie jar at a garage sale and had a great moment of deja vous! My grandma had him when I was a kid and she always kept treats in him for my sister and I. He is in perfect condition and I got him for three dollars...Liv and I made cookies and filled his little tummy right up. I am also showing a picture of an atc that my friend Helen sent me to cheer me up...I love it! She knows all about my love of all things pink, so of course it is pink....and it cheered me up and was a nice surprise! Thank you Helen. Last of all , today I pieced a baby quilt top for another internet friend who has a new grand daughter on the way. I love this fabric...It is called cats on the loose and it is by Nancy Woolf....I love the bright colors! Saundra picked the pattern, it is a free pattern called "Baby Bright Quilt" and it is on the Robert Kauffman website. I am going to quilt it and bind it tomorrow.

Petals quilt done and talk with a two year old....

Well for this little family, today was the start of summer vacation...I know a lot of moms get nervous and prefer when school is going...I like having the kids home...For one thing, I get to sleep in! Woohoo! Olivia was all sad about leaving her first grade teacher...I just love when a child gets a really great teacher. It makes all the difference in the world as far as school goes. She took her a card and flowers and was so excited to give them to her. I signed her up for a day camp today so she still gets to play with other kids...We are a little bit isolated in our neighborhood and I want her to keep her friendships over the summer. I got the petal quilt done too and that felt pretty good....I free motioned the heck out of it and just played around with different patterns...also used buttons for the center of the flowers. Even though the colors are not really "my kind of thing" I like how it looks... Andrew has three favorite new words lately...WHY, BECAUSE and Nutting (nothing)....You wonder where this comes from, and then we have a conversation that goes like this...(..me:)"Andrew, you need to get your shoes on."( him: )"Why?"

(me:)"Because we are going to the store, where are your shoes?" (him) Why?" ( me:) "Because" "where did you last see your shoes?"( him: )"nutting" What do you mean nothing, why don't you know where they are?" (him:) (you guessed it...) "because".......the moral of this story is "don't ask, just go look and save your breath....."

petals on the edge....

that is the name of this quilt pattern.....I think I bought it a while back and it ended up with my friend Laura...She brought it over and said " this is a definite Melinda style quilt, and I think it must be yours..." . The cover of the pattern shows it all done in batiks with lots of nice hot colors and it does look like me...This example that I have made up does not...I challenged myself to think out of my color box and to use only scraps and I did both. It gave me something to do, what more can I say. Tomorrow I am going to put on borders and then quilt it up...I might do some embellishing too...What am I going to do with it? I have no clue...really. Yesterday the kids and I had a fun day. We pulled weeds in the weed patch (they thought it was fun....dirt and bugs and idle chatter...) and then took a picnic to the keystone ferry park. It is right on the water and the ferry goes right into the cove. Andrew was thrilled as he loves any kind of vehicle, boats included. We threw the stick in the water a zillion times for Cooper and built sandcastles... I have learned to appreciate every second of sun and blue sky we get and to get out and do something in it...Today I spent the day getting ready for Olivia's birthday...she is all excited about having a party. We are going to have it on Sunday at the park/ playground, so hopefully we will see some sunshine that day. tonight I got an email from my sister Julie sending me pictures of her baby shower...The one that my invitation said wasn't until This coming Saturday...The one that I mailed her crown and quilt for today! AAAARGGGHHH...I was so proud of myself getting it out on time too...darn it. I sent her a picture of her crown anyway and she laughed her head off and said she loves it. She says that she is going to wear it when she is in labor..That would be worth a trip to Utah to see! haha....

Journal pages....

These are for Janis's "snow and ice' themed book...This really took me a long time all the way around. From the idea phase to actually putting it together. I had fun though and I like how it looks really journally. Besides, I just adored this story as a kid!

Thank you all for your kind words!

After sharing my heartbreak, to get your messages and emails was very thoughtful of all of you and I really appreciate it...

I got my sisters baby quilt finished and ready to mail on Monday. Also tried to make a crazy quilt atc with hand embroidery. Extreme emphasis on the word "tried"! I also am posting a picture of the pink swap goodies I got in the mail yesterday from Carla J. There is some Laura Ashley stationary and a pink art glass necklace on silver...It is very pretty and in the light the glass is beautiful..Thanks Carla...

Baby shower by mail....

I have been working on my little sister, Julie's baby shower gift. A quilt of course...She is due the twenty fifth of August but the shower is next week in Utah. Obviously her present is going to be mailed. She is having a little boy which she is pretty excited about. I made her a crown too since she is such a little queen bee. I am going to make her friend, the hostess promise that I get a picture of her crabby little face wearing it. You have to know her to understand. I have been busy around here with boy scouts and brownies and hall painting and a little sewing but mostly I have been hiding away. Tomorrow is my daughters birthday. My baby who I don't even know how to get a hold of. ...the drug addict. This is such a heart breaking subject and awful personal for a blog post but it is weighing on my heart and mind. I have almost had the kids a year now and I guess I was hoping that they, of all things, would bring her around. Guess I was wrong. I walk around feeling like instead of a heart I have a sack of cement in my chest. It never goes away, sometimes I just can hide it better than others...Not doing so good today I guess....Sometimes being a mother is the saddest job in the world....

A sandbox and a summer package

It has been a long week. We are once again battling coughs and fevers and rainy, icky days. Where or where art thou summer? I am about ready to burn an offering to the sun gods....hehee.. Andrew and I were going to go to walmart on Saturday to get him a "little tykes" turtle sandbox and we were on our way when I saw a big garage sale and we stopped and there one was...for four bucks! Woo-hoo....He thinks it is pretty darn cool. I put it on the deck right by the slider so he can play and I can see him. He has only dumped a bucket of sand over Coopers head once! The little troll....I also fixed up my package for Sherry who is my summer swap partner and will get it in the mail today...I used all recycle stuff...I think it looks ok...I am not the best gift wrapper out there. I also have been making tags, which I like doing. They are quick, easy and pink...How do you beat that combo? I was double tagged by Marva and Fanny to list six unimportant things about myself...so here goes.

1. I tried out for Jeopardy and was one of three who made it...I chickened out about going on the show though..

2. I memorized trivial pursuit cards to study for the try outs...I have a good memory

3.I hate wearing shoes, though I don't mind flip flops.

4.In my adult life, I have never lived anywhere for more than three years. I don't redecorate, I move...I think I have nomadic blood and I actually like to move into a new house.

5. In keeping with the nomadic theme, if I was rich, I would travel to obscure places all over the world and never settle down anywhere. (it's my dream, the kids can go with me right?) I would mingle with the real "people".

6. when I was a kid, I either wanted to be a missionary in Morocco or a scientist like Marie Curie..

Now I am supposed to tag six people...I like being tagged but I don't like the tagging part.....So I tag everyone on my "blogs I visit " list on the sidebar...Go see em', see what they write or if they write at all!

Memorial day weekend...

It was a fun one and a busy one and the weather was sweet...for the most part. Saturday, the kids and I hit some garage sales. It is the season, they were everywhere. Liv was on the lookout for "the big score" according to Liv which means stuffed animals, her passion. She found them. Andrew found a "hot wheels size' school bus and I found some cool crafty stuff and a new keyboard as my old one is a sorry looking beast. It now as a new home in the garbage. The kids dad, Mark, came up on Saturday Evening and they were happy about that. Yesterday it was a group effort in the garden, we finally planted tomatoes and some flower seeds, then off to the beach. There was a pretty good breeze going or otherwise it would have been darn right hot. We all got in the water anyway and had a good splash and then the kids and I built fairy houses out of little pieces of wood and dried seaweed...A clam dig and bbq followed....Today was a pretty quiet day as we were up late last night. The kids watched a movie and I sewed...The other day I made a skirt for Liv from the new Better homes and Gardens "Quilts and More" issue and today I made a very pink quilted pillow....It is 18" and really pretty....I also cut out a couple pairs of shorts to sew up for Daniel. He is growing like crazy right now and eating like a horse or maybe two...So anyway, Happy Memorial Day everyone..........

finishing a quilt top........

I worked on my Washington shop hop 06' quilt top today....I just cant seem to get the thing finished! I have told myself I can't go to this years shop hop, unless this quilt is done. I did make some progress today and thought I would post pictures...I have a blue and red big border to add to all sides and of course it needs to be quilted and bound, but I thought I would show my progress so far. Maybe it will inspire me to finish the darn thing, who knows? I didn't use any kind of a pattern, just built it around the blocks...I have said before that I am about charm, not about being precise...After looking at it, I realized that if I had planned, I probably could've had matching points all over the place but sadly, I am not much of a planner either...Oh well, maybe in my next life...

second atc....

the first post didn't include this picture for some reason! Darn thing!

Flower Atc's....

Olivia had a big Brownie (girl scout) camp out this weekend and Andrew and I tagged along. We had so much fun and the weather was just perfect...I have been washing clothes and putting things away all day, but I did take time to make a couple of Atc's. We are having a flower themed challenge on Fab atc's....I just used free motion sewing and jazzed them up with crystals...We sure get some beautiful cards out there in our group! Once I get caught up on the laundry, I am going to start a skirt for Liv. There is a really cute and simple pattern in the "quilts and More" Better homes and gardens this month....back to the washer and dryer!

garden pages for Heather H.

I am in the second year of a round robin for my "color me silly" group...This year we are just mailing out pages for others books instead of the whole books...I think in part it is because my book and another persons book got lost in Canada for quite a while and then the postal expense...it IS easier, but I miss seeing every ones books...This layout is for a garden themed "Mary Mary Quite Contrary,"book...I stumbled around a bit trying to think about what to do but in the end I just started playing and quit thinking...I used organza to print the vintage girls on.I like the look of it.

Summer Swap....See icon on the sidebar!

I am playing in a Summer Swap hosted by Karla...We are supposed to swap a ten dollar limit summer themed gift with another player..I finished mine today...It is a Tussie Mussie with Dried rosemary and lavender in it and I have a couple of surprise summer goodies to include and wrap all pretty...It has vintage bathing beauties on it, old sheet music and beads and buttons...I had fun making it. This is the second one I have made...the first has been given as a gift...If you click on the sidebar for the summer swap you can find out more info about the swap.

Oh, to be a princess......

I got the best book and have had so much fun looking at it! It is called "Crowns and Tiara's". I saw it, and had to get it off Amazon. Once I got it and paged thru it a couple of times, I got all kinds of crazy ideas spinning around. I am a child at heart still and what little girl doesn't like a crown now and then. Saturday I hit the mother lode of all garage sales and got all kinds of crafting loot! (I guess the stars were aligned in my favor cause this usually does not happen!) When I was paging thru the book and looking at supplies needed I realized I didn't have a lot of them...rats! After the garage sale I had pretty much everything so I came home went downstairs and a crown was made....Olivia adores it and wore it all day on Saturday..She is envisioning it with a princess skirt for her birthday party. We will see if she gets one!

Cupcakes (kinda) and the color blue..

The cupcakes are more little bottlecap pincushions...I think they are so cheery and cute. I really don't know any embroidery stitches and am probably to lazy to learn, so they are simple and sweet...These are for a swap where I will get three in return. I also have a friend who had surgery and she loves the colors blue and yellow about as much as I love pink! She also loves cabinet cards so I altered one for her and am going to mail it out. This lady, I thought was of the homely sort and she actually looks better altered....I love the saying about the shoes and if you look close, you will see a pair of shoes on the card. Today I made a list of things I want to get done and it is huge! I would like to say that it is mostly art and sewing but I think household chores are dominating the list. Better get going on it!

sewing and fishing.....

Today was opening trout day for fishing in our lakes here so the kids and I went. We had a blast and caught a whole bunch of trout. Andrew was just screaming with joy he was having so much fun....He screams' "pish on, pish on!"...Liv was the official netter. We came home all tired but I still managed to sew up a couple of things. I made an embellished postcard for a trade on Fabric ATC"S and an itty bitty 3x3 for my new blog friend Pearl. Both are all fabric and incorporate some felting around the images. I like how they turned out and there is that pink again..What do you know. We may go do some more fishing tomorrow, so time to go burn some zzzzzzzz's....

This is my 100th post....

Woohoo! I have stuck with this blogging thing, way longer than I thought I would. Especially with all my distractions. I wanted to do a giveaway but I am going to do it when I have planned it. What is planning you ask? I don't really know, that is why there is not a giveaway now. I have been working on two big quilts and hope to get them done soon and I cleaned the pigsty downstairs...(the art, sewing and laundry room)..it was so bad I didn't even want to go in there and try to find something to work on. YIKES! Last night , after I had cleaned up, I made another dress postcard....Here it is. She (the postcard) is called feminine...