My last post in 2006 (I think)

Well, last night, I finally "emptied" the last tub of fabric & sorted it by color onto my last shelf in the closet! YAY! & Where/When did I get that or that or even THAT? Very sad & a tad bit scary. (That was a goal for November - I think.)


I also took that time to "inventory" (Minimal glance, nothing substantial that included opening the tubs on my book case....) of my UFO's, WIPS, & PIGS. (UFO = UnFinished Object, WIPS = Work In ProgresS, PIGS = Project In Grocery Sack) Those definitions vary by the person but for me a WIPS is something that I am actually working on right now, A UFO is something that I have worked on in the past - incl. about 4 items that just need BORDERS, and a PIGS is something that I haven't actually started beyond gathering patterns and fabric.


During my lunch hours on Wednesday & Thursday, I made a begining spreadsheet - listing the things that I could think of right away... I even color coded it & included hidden notes....


Which brought me to the question:


What does it mean when I do not remember my BAQ? (I took a class with Mimi Dietrich for a whole year on it, I completed no less than 11 blocks on it, etc.) (BAQ = Baltimore Album Quilt)


I was also saddened by the fact that I know that I have some patterns, books, & magazines with projects that I like, that are not on my list....


Anyone interested in the number of projects on my spreadsheet? I have already logically minimized my list, because some of the items on my list are secondary & tertiary projects - those will be made using the scraps of other projects! Therefore, I could logically only work with Pink, Brown, taupe, hot pink, orange, & Raspberry (My text color selections are far to limited...) and make about 13 quilts! You see, I plan to make Quiltville's Star Struck with pink, brown & cream and then use those scraps to make a Lady of the Lake quilt (only simpler than that one & maybe less scrappy - oh I probably should have warned you about that, huh?) & a charm style quilt & maybe even use the scraps I generate form those with some of my taupe scraps to make a HST quilt like this one seen last year the the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show. Note: Taupe is a style of fabric not a color - you can see what I mean at Pinwheels.


Oh yeah, back to the number.... 80 Including one that will be repurposed into probably 2 quilts - maybe only one, we'll see & a couple very general concept pieces - not to mention the 12x12x12 project that I am allowing my muse to dictate monthly... I know what I am doing for January. I did not; however, list my flimsys. (I send my quilts out for quilting - so for me & my quilts, they are done once they are tops with borders, ahem - I know I mentioned that I have at least 4 that only need borders..... There are a few on my list that I will try to do myself, but not many - most will be or are too big!)


This might suprise some of you (not many) but the cat theme takes up the most of my projects. And includes everything from 4 store bought kits to a charm quilt! I even have some (at least 5) that are not in the cat column, but will feature cats! Many others will have some cat fabrics - just not prominently (I use them as "blue" if they read "blue".)


My list also includes 1 "YEAH RIGHT" project (complete kit) that I purchased at Jinny Beyer's shop. You can see it here: Barcelona. And a NOT YET that you can see here: Wheel of Mystery (I got the pre-cut kit & the "I'm still afraid of curves" on that one.) Oh and quite a few "Why isn't that done yet?" projects... Like a floating 4 patch - easy peasy & probably completely cut out. I know the 4 patches are sewn together...


HMMMM Something to think about while my inner dandylion takes flight to another project/idea/theme/etc.


Wishing you all a happy & safe transition to 2007! I'll sleep through it & I am off work until 01-03-07. So I'll see you all (unless you comment or e-mail me) on Thursday. Hopefully I will be quilting since I won't be blogging...

the out come - so far

I replied to a few of you already, but to solidify the idea in my mind & to let others of you know....

For my first question about the Jan Mullen prints & the Turning Twenty around the Block pattern, I auditioned a few cat fabrics. The bright & funky ones look best. I will frame them with a black print to help separate the cats from the other fabrics... I am going to do the 30 block layout & I have at least 30 bright & funky cat prints!

On the Flea Market question, I am going with the white muslin. I doubt that I will use her templates though - they are only minimally curved & I think that I will be happy with the general concept/look with wedges instead....

Oh and quite a while ago now, I listed & pondered over what to do with my pink, brown, & cream fabrics - I am going to do Bonnie's Star Struck first & Lady of the Lake second. (At least that is what I wrote in my spreadsheet.)

Thanks for all of the opinions - I really like the sounding board & query on my blog to have something to blog about & to help formulate the idea in my mind. (Kind of like talking out loud, doodling on scratch paper, or outlining a paper...) Give it a try - you are not stuck with using any of the opinions that will be given, heck you are not even obligated to follow through with your own ideas! worst case scenario, it is something (quilty) to blog about...

What would you do?

Ideas needed/wanted being solicited.

Background - many of you may be aware of the fact that hands down Jan Mullen is my favorite fabric designer. One of her fabric lines is Bohemian Melodiez. (I have 7 pieces - including 10 yards of one for a King back.) I was thinking about doing a Turning Twenty Around the Block by: Tricia Cribbs quilt. As you can see, there is a space for a fussy cut fabric or block within each TT block. You may also have noticed the brightness of the fabrics in question....

Here is (are) my question (s):

What would you put in the centers?
1. Naturally colored cats - fussy cut fabric - high contrast
2. pieced cats - again naturally colored
3. a variety of cats that sort of match like this one, or this one?
4. cats pieced out of similar fabrics
5. a variety of fussy cut black & white cats
6. black on white pieced cats
7 something else...

Also....
I got a copy of Denyse Schmidts Quilts (I blogged a copy of her free pattern earlier.) I got 6 of her fabrics with which I am going to make that free quilt (Flea Market Fancy or Hop, Skip & Jump - dpeneding on whether or not you bought the book - tee hee.) - makes you wonder why I bought the book, huh? (I really like the soft sculpture cat - not that I plan on making it anytime soon. & a couple of her other quilts.)
I got this fabric brown with small flowers & 5 to go with it - including this one with a lot of white (I hope those hyperlinks show two different fabrics.), so my pondering is this - in the book she mixed reds (pre-fabric line apparently) with plain white muslin & it is very effective; however, as you can see in the free pattern, she mixed limes & turquoises with brown prints. If you did not have the limes and turquoises & your mix of prints was on the brown side including this one in gold - what would you use with it? Muslin? Would that be o.k. with the polka dots on white?
(FYI I was originally going to do a YBR by Atkinson Designs & be done with it.... But now I have the book....)

Anyone else "into" the Flea Market Fancy "look?" (I file Amy Butler & Kaffe Fasset in that same group.)

Yes, once again this is more just me yakking about my dandylion ideas.... You see while the Jan Mullen fabrics are so me - the Flea Market Fancy was purchased because I saw other people like Jan at Be*Mused had some... So I wanted some too... (I can say the same thing about Robyn Pandolf, and a few others...) Sigh, it is a hard life...

heat.....

With our weather all a flutter - we have been in or near the 60's one day and close to 40 the next...

So I have no idea how to dress...

When I am home I like the internal temp. to be on the cool side of comfortable so that I can snuggle in a quilt (not exactly conducive to quilting, but....) with a couple of heat seeking cats!

Yesterday, I worked while my husband stayed home. When I got home it was like a blast form a furnace! (Our condo fees cover the heating and air conditioning - so there is no direct correlation between 80 degrees in the condo and $400 on the bill. Thankfully from a budget standpoint but unfortunate also...) So the thermostat was adjusted and we went to bed.

My boy cat will burrow under the blankets in any weather...

Over the period of sleep, the condo cooled measurably. It took serious hunger to get one kitty out of bed and at the trough. I was still in bed - it was too cold to get out from under my quilt & too early (I have some snooze time built in...)

Once RB got done eating, he ran back for some more "knee tent" time under my quilt. How can I get up with him so comfy? At the last possible minute, we awoke from our slumber & plodded along for a shower...

What did he get for Hanukkah? He got an episode ot Star Trek (The original one) "Trouble with Tribbles" in the form of a bucket of sparkly balls! Sensory overload for my little boy, but cute none the less.

On a quilty note, at my LQS they sell a coupon book in January for the full year. The first coupon will pay for itself - it is a "Create your own Special Day" (Save 25% off all regularly priced merchandise.) coupon... YAY!
But the last coupon is similar - save 25% on 1 item over $100. I am on the precipise of the latter coupon for 2006... I also have about $75 in gift cards.
You know where this is going don't you?
I was in "shopping" for how to use my last coupon - (I missed the $100 bit & was actually haveing fun figuring out how I would use my coupon.) Once I got to the $100 - I had a harder time... It is not so easy to spend $100 on 1 item in a quilt shop...
I could have easily spent $3200 on a table or a new sewing machine, but $100 on something - not so easy...
Maybe a rolling tote for my sewing machine - (@$150) - X
Maybe a nice chair - (Did not get a quote) - X
Maybe a task light - (again @$150) - X
1 cut of fabric - MAYBE
So here I am the day before I can use my coupon wondering about whether or not I should get several yards of 1 piece of fabric - backing & binding for probably 2 quilts - or extra wide backing for 3 or 4 quilts...

The more I think on it the more I think I will pass on using it (this year). So I can hold onto my GC's for the summer time when I want/need some inspiration or just some retail therapy!

What would you do?

I wasn't going to do it....

I really wasn't...

But I am going to make some resolutions. (I know a bit early, this is only germinal not concrete.)

Before 01/01/07 I am going to make a spreadsheet of all of my quilting projects. I will then concentrate on working on & completing those in 2007. Hopefully limiting my quilty purchases greatly. Not completely, but significantly.

The dandylion in me has gotten me in so much trouble stashwise. One example, I really do not care for homespuns - I now have a nice mound of them thanks to the "masculine quilt" that I gave my BIL for Hanukkah. (I have only added a tiny be to the original stash for a use the rest of it quilt.)

I do plan on going to the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show in February & will make some purchases there - maybe some more taupes. (Do they come in green - I sure hope so!) Oh & I want the taupe charm pack to augment the fabrics that I already have without purchaseing a lot of fat quarters...

We already have hotel reservations in nearby Yorktown, Va. as an anniversary gift from my friend. We are also going to use restaurant gift cards on the way home at a fancy schmancy place on Maryland's Eastern Shore, in St. Michaels.

Hopefully my speadsheet will also illuminate those areas in my stash that do not need enhancing, so that my little dandylion shopper will not buy them just because, "I really like blues & yellows."

Kits - maybe I am a glutton, but I have several kits - that I either bought as a complete kit or that I kitted myself. I need to actually start & complete them...
(I say this regularly, but I also like to keep them all together for a "rainy day" or retirement - I won't retire for a few decades, so that reationale is a bit far fetched....)
I liked them when I bought them!
(Luckily when I looked at them last, I still did!)

I know this post if anything was flittery fluttery from here to there and back - its the dandylion in me!

Hoffman Challenge

Anyone ever entered? Anyone planning on trying this year...

Hoffman Challenge

I had a GREAT idea when I saw the fabric online. In real life, the scale is about 1/2 of what I though it was based upon the photograph... So "plan A" will soooooo not work. (I though I could fussy cut blues big enough for a template - they are not that big & I am not minimizing - because the scale to too tiny for minimizing the pattern.)

In the mean time, in a dream last night a new idea popped into my head - reminiscent of those old mystery quilts where you end up with a background that you would not have chosen for a background...

So I may be buying a FQ to play with a bit... (Maybe not based upon my UFO load, but I am a dandylion & like to flit about from one project to another.....)

What will they think of next?

We'll have to thank Barbie for this one... (I'll first add some background - running around those forever forwarded e-mails are the directions for making slippers out of maxi-pads - you have probably seen them, no?)

In that vent.....

What will they think of next? tampon crafts apparently. (The link will bring you to Hanukkah, but this is an equal opportunity craft, complete with "on-point" captions - take a look it is not as gross as you "think.") Be sure to click on all of the highlighted words!

"Hey What are you looking at?"

(The letter shown on the Dreidel is - "Hey") Outside of Israel, the other letters are Nun, Gimmel, & Shin. The represent the Hebrew words - Nes, Gadol, Haya, Sham. In English that means, "A great miracle happened there." In Israel, they substitute the Shin with a Pay which then represents the word Po for "here."

No, RB is not allowed in the hutch, but when I was unpacking, he hopped in to check it out....

Do you Utube? (Is that how they spell it?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7JiDBi_v4c

I hope that link works... It is timely at any rate.

I was going to share some more photos today, but I forgot the camera... (Gee that sounds familiar!)

Another post from my e-mail testing the flicker photo posting option EDITED

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/65592515@N00/328068398/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/141/328068398_86b0466761_m.jpg" width="180" height="240" alt="Hanukkah Bed Quilt" /></a>

I forgot to mention that my quilt is also scrappy & bright - just the way I like em! (Which reminds my of my dandylion ways - because right now I am working on a CW repro quilt & a homespun plaid quilt. Not to mention that I want to work on my Taupe quilt and something in pink, cream, & brown.)

Completely not what I wanted/had in mind, but it would work in a pinch.

Get ready for some photos.... Novel Idea, I know

To begin, No this is not a new quilt. Rather it is a seasonal quilt. With it being Hanukkah, there is no better time to display/share/use a Chanukah Quilt.

Where have the pictures been? That is a good question. You see I bought Heavy Duty batteries - my camera did not like them... So I got "digital" batteries instead. Viola - it works! Yes, I have rechargeable batteries - yes I think I know where they are and where the adapter is too - I just don't get all of those things together to actually charge the batteries until I want to use them & then it is too late....

I'll start with the back - well just a corner of the back - it is all made out of this lovely cat flannel. Meow! Cool binding too, huh? I love to use stripes as bindings - especially when that are not "regular" like a perfect pin stripe.

A couple blocks - sorry about the off-color... My red looks very orangey....This pattern was inspired by Pat Speth's Millenium Star. I like this secondary pattern better.... Speacking of secondary pattern, on this quilt I did something that I rearely if ever do - I only used 1 background fabric. (I only had one 2.5 inch WOF strip left over!)

A corner shot - Yes, those are coordinating fabrics! (2 points for those of you out there saying, "Is that Hanukah print in a multi-color - not just blue & yellow or blue & white.)

Hanukkah Sameach - Happy Hanukkah in Hebrew - TOO COOL! I was so excited when I saw that.

The whole quilt being held up by my tall husband who is standing on our ottoman...

Quilting online....

Do you have a piece of fabric that you LOVE but have no idea on how to use it. (Like a large scale cat, just as an example.) Check out these ideas from QNM.
QNM's only line site is chock full of resources. You can see many quilts many of which are located right here in the Winners circle. Enjoy! OOPS! Those are only winner's lists.....

Once upon a time ago, I had a subscription to the magazine, but it was not "me" - it still isn't, but everyonce in a while there is something that catches my fancy... I really like the condensed version online - it is kind of a "best of" version. Hey we all know the best part - it's free online!

So if you find your self browsing online and find an inspirational site - great photographs & free stuff do share with the rest of us in bloggerville. (I guess my lunch break is over & yes, I did find what I was looking for! Yet another copy of Rachel's Star.)

Indulge me.....

Not unlike Morah & Nancy, not much is going on in this corner of bloggerville.

On Sunday, my sew-n-tell group got together where I actually met my goal of pressing all of my units! YIPPEE! We also had a nice gift exchange, we all got the neatest pair of tiny scissors & a hand dyed fat quarter - many other non-quilty items too. Like a book of those quilt stamps - which is just as well because I used all of mine... :o)

I have been in the stewdio - I pressed those plaids that I am toying with.

Oh & I figured it out - officially I am a dandylion - I flit from one thing to another and from one genre to another all the time!

Which again reminds me of a Nancy post where she is talking about "stashbusting" her UFOs. (Stashbusters is a Yahoo group - apparently many of us are members - I used to be very chatty there, but now I blog.) Which made me think back on my "goals" HA! HA! HA! I was high on Nickles (As in Nickel Quilts by Pat Speth) I have quite a few of those patterns as UFO's and enough nickels (5 inch squares of fabric) to carpet a rather large house...

How many did I do? Well, I am not sure - I have two that are at the flimsy stage, but were they at the flimsy stage pre-2006? I think so... I have a few others that are either all cut or almost all cut...

Basically what I am saying is that writing down my goals did not help..... (Maybe if I could figure out that list thing that a lot of ya'll bloggers have going - complete with the strike outs....) Maybe if I was less like a dandylion skitting from one thing to another.... That would include some "Prioritizing." Since only one of my UFO's is an official gift - that priorties would only be in my head & easily "moved around" thus again allowing my to flit to & fro.

Finally, I leave you with a JOKE.

Miriam was on vacation in Israel and decided to go to the local post office to buy stamps for her Hanukkah cards.

"I'd like, please, 100 hanukkah stamps," she told the clerk.

"Not a problem. So what denominations?" he asked.

"Oy Vay!" she exclaimed, "It's come to this already? Okay," she said, after giving the matter due consideration. "I'll take forty Reform, forty Conservative, and twenty Orthodox."

(That would be roughtly equavalent to forty Baptist, forty Catholic, & twenty Greek Orthodox.) See it is a funny joke.

Happy Haunkkah - the old fashioned way...

So to get this to post, I had to save it and upload it from blogger...

I am thinking that the Dutch version wouls make a nice "art" quilt... (Then again , I have several Hanukkah UFO's....)

Happy Hanukkah (second try)

Nop actually "forwarding" does not work either...

Sorry for all of the shenanigan's, but I am trying out quite a few things just to see what my (our) options are!

Happy Hanukkah (I hope this works...)

Well that did not work... While I can post from my e-mail (& you can too....) I can not "forward" actually "reply" & change the recipient address to share an attachment! Back to the drafting board!

blogging from my MAC

This is just a test to see if I can blog from my MAC (old) laptop... I tried before & was unsuccessful. I just switched to the Mozilla Firefox browser - maybe that will help.

test

I am just testing the ability to post a blog from
e-mail.

Happy Hanukkah!

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Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around

http://mail.yahoo.com

All day.... (WIP on Wednesday)

O.K. it only took me all day to figure-out what to blog about. So here it is...

Once upon a time ago, some of us participated in "Project Spectrum."

BTW all of these can be considered WIP on Wednesday, because they are essentially at the same state of undone... (Only the batik bricks is a flimsy - the others are all still blocks.)
At that time, I shared some of my blue kitties (click to see them).
I also shared some of my yellow kitties (click again to see them).

My original plan was to make a French Provencial quilt and call it "Les Chats." To me French Provencial is blue & yellow. I made FAR too many kitties. (click for the free pattern) I still plan to make a French Provencial quilt out of my kitties - but it will probably be made with only the cats who are blue & yellow, not those that are blue or yellow.

I made enough to use the ones made with a Judaic print in a quilt by themselves and call it "Chatoolim" - Hebrew for cats.

You see I easily have enough for 4 quilts... I pieced them out of all of my prints that are blue, yellow or blue & yellow - which is a lot because that is one of my favorite color combinations.

My solid blue cats will be called.....

Are you ready....

I am feeling super creative here....

I am owned by two cats, one of whom is called Rhapsody, the other is Rhythm & Blues....

That was your hint....

The title will be....



"Raps Kitty in Blue"

(I am a tiny bit excited to pull these babies out & get going on them again.... I have several kitties cut out but not sewn yet. & new blues & yellows that need to be added to the mix - because I am "Hyper Scrappy" as I admitted to Karen at Sewprimitive Quilter this morning.)

Party! Party! (Next Party on Wednesday & then 2 on Thursday)

Since a few of you asked....

The party was great!
The first one was my friend's work party - she's not married or dating, so she brought me.

I went to the same party last year - somethings were the same some were different. But it was still enjoyable! Oh yeah - we lucked out and got a suite at the hotel wher the party was located - so no driving afterwards. (We only had 3 beverages each, but the last one was right as we were leaving & it's just not a good idea to drive tired and tipsy.)

One thing to remember when you go to a party - don't sit with the event coordinator. I'm just saying.

(Another person not to talk to at a party - wedding reception in particular - is a bride to be who is considering that venue... I don't go to many weddings (parties) and it was such a drag to hear, "If we choose this place, the coffee pot will not be there...")

The other party was a "Blue State Virginia" party... Lively political discussion comingled with foodstuffs in blue - blue cheese pizza, blue champagne, Labatt's Blue, etc.

Also very nice.

The next one is for my (small) office & it is pot luck. I bring that up because, I thought it was last week & brought my dish in last week accordingly... Now I am going to have to make something different... (I don't "have" to but I definately want to bring something different.) Then on Thursday is my (BIG) office party to which I do not have to bring anything - YAY! & Finally my husband's office party on Thursday night is catered. (Since I am a civil servant, our parties are only for the office folks, so my husband does not get to come to mind and hear the "yay us" speaches.) My hubby also has a (small) office party by himself too.

Any holiday parties going on in bloggerville? work parties? (get out of work for a couple hours parties?)

If there are - you guys stay safe!

ASIDE - I almost forgot again - no my paper is not done... I have some time between work and class tonight & again tomorrow - if I need that much time...

I forgot again...

I swear whenever I sit down to blog more than 1 thing I forget half of what I want to say & soemtimes I forget that I forgot something... Case in point:

Barb at Woofnanny, shared a recipe (that she found on yet another blog - I have gotten severly lost in blogville!) for pumpkin bars... I only tried them becasue they only needed the 1 cup of pumpkin that I had leftover from my pumpkin pie recipe! They are yumm-o!

I think that was all that I wanted to share.... (Who knows.)

Have I mentioned lately that I am ready to PARTY? :o)

An update....

Project A (Homework assignment 1) is completed & turned in! Now I just need to present it on Monday.

Project B (Homework Assignment 2) is further along... Up from 6 pages to 8 & I still have ideas/notes on how/where to add more. Which is a good thing!

Project C (Gift purchasing) My husband asked for 1 specific Hanukkah present & was already disappointed when his brother got him something similar but different. (I got him what he asked for & the best part - I got it a Filene's Basement with a coupon! ROCK ON!)

Project D (More gift pruchasing) I know what & where & even when to get the gifties for my mini-group members! This afternoon at the LQS where we meet every 3rd Sunday of the month.

Project E (Quilt) I forgot the pieces that I need to press - & My GF & I are staying at the hotel where her party is located - so I could have been pressing while she was doing registration... Oh well...

I am ready to PARTY!

Just wondering (hoping for some lively discussion)

What is a Jewish Quilt? (You can easily substitute Native American, African American, Japanese, Norwegian, Welsh, etc. for Jewish.)

Is it a quilt made by a Jewish person?

Or is it a Quilt with Judaic prints?

For example, May Britt sent me one of her Norwegian Cat quilt patterns. When I make it will it be a Norwegian quilt?

Or If I were to do one of those whole quilts that the Welsh are known for, would it still be a Welsh quilt?

Conversely, if an Amish lady used Hanukkah prints to make a Quilt, would it be a Jewish quilt?

Or if a Jewish lady make a Christmas quilt as a gift, would it be a Jewish quilt? What is a Jewish lady made a quilt using Kente cloth - would that be Jewish quilt? Would it be an African Quilt?

Any ideas? (I know in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter - but it something that I have been pondering...)

WIP on Wednesday & I've done it to myself now....

Well, My WIP(s) on Wednesday are not ready for blogger eyes. I have been working on my Arty Meme's! (Nothing like getting mine in the mail to motivate me to work on the ones I need to send out.) Or they are piles of pieces sewn together but not pressed yet... Although, I could have taken a picture of me working on my paper - BWAH HAHAHA (That would be assuming that I actually worked on my paper at all since Saturday!)

Yes, that is how I did it to myself... I have procrastinated the heck out of my assignments. (I hope to do my budget presentation during my lunch hours, since I do not have power point at home.) & Now I have an opportunity to see an old friend whom I have not seen in ages for dinner tonight. (I am on the fence about going, but closer to going than not....) I have a holiday party Friday night (sleep over at my GF's afterwards) & a "Blue" state Virginia Party on Saturday night.

All in all, I still "see" time to work on my papers with all of those commitments, but... If they are anything like last night, I could just be up till 1 a.m. watching TV with two cats on my lap!
(Yes, I am functioning remarkably well for -4 hours sleep.)

service project....

Any one out there a scout leader or some other philanthropic group....

Here is an easy way to even get the smallest kids involved.

Thoughtful Treasures That should be a direct link - the main URL can be accessed by clicking here NIH Children's Inn.

One other though for the day - in light of my list of "quilts to make" etc.

"If you want to give G-d a good laugh, tell Him your plans."

hmmmm

I wonder if it is a "new" hiccough for blogger, but....

I just did something that I almost never do. I went back and looked at someones comments where I left a comment. I only did this because that blog listed 25 messages on my blog lines - usually a sign that they recently moved over to beta... I was listed as anonymous. I know I signed in as a beta blogger & I checked to make sure that my message posted before moving on... 2 days later, my message is now from anonymous.

Makes me say, "hmmmm."

In the mean time, I got my arty meme & love it! So I got on my rotary cutter and sewing machine & started mine so that I can send them out soon - my goal is next Monday...

I also sewed on some homespun flannel (HEY my ability to hyper link is back - yay!). I was first inspired by a quilt that was in Patti's guilds show that she shared with us way back in April (tehone with the vines) & with Juliann's quilt that is similar but different. Have a look & you will see what I mean. Mine will have 1 row of applique like Julianns, but the vine will twist around a plaid that the one on Patti's site. Mine will be rectangles like on Patti's blog, but scrappy like on Juliann's blog.... (I am not looking a the photos while working, just using what I see in my mind. - When I actually went back to "look" at the quilt that I remembered from Patti's blog, I was amazed at how my mind rembered it verses how it is in real life! That is when I realized that I was also inspired by Julianns version too.)

All I have right now are a pile of rectangles sewn into pairs, so no photos & my ideas my evolve some more.

Oh yeah, one more thing, my rectangles are mostly subdued plaids - my vine & leaves will be LIME!

I am also making 4-patches from the scraps - maybe a border....

I got a tiny bit further along with my homework... (Yes, I apparently need some nagging!)

No it is not Monday

UGH - What the hell happened to Blogger? I can't do a hyperlink & I found a freebee for those embroiderers out there...
Here it is anyway:

http://weewonderfuls.typepad.com
/wee_wonderfuls/2006/12/freebie_elf_sti.html

(I broke the link because it messed up my template.)

That isn't the pattern, rather the blog link - which does have a hyper link to the free pattern.

I am avoiding my homework in case you can't tell. I have about 6 pages done on my "policy" class paper. My other class is budget & cost analysis - I need to do a 15 minute power point presentation on the Dulles Metrorail extension. YAY. (I have never used Powerpoint...)

In the meantime, I sewed last night! YES I DID! I am doing a faux log cabin (free pattern, you can google it - I can't hyperlink it.) I did the first seams last night, now to press and cut and sew again.
My friend bought the fabric quite a while ago... I was feeling guilty & told myself that once I got this done, then I could work in pink & brown. & with my winter break fast approaching... & hopefully a snow day or several in my future...

Happy December!

Wow the realization that it is December really hit me fast & hard! I have two big projects due for school on the 11th & the 12th! UGH. So you know what I will be doing tomorrow. (I hope!)

I found a couple of quilt shops that I "NEED" to visit...

http://www.shopcat.com/blackcat/misskitty.htm
http://www.shopcat.com/nakedquilt/hoffman.htm
http://www.shopcat.com/quiltersjunction/muffin.htm

I bet you can't tell why...

I also need to get busy on a faux log cabin for my friend Vanessa... She bought the fabric a while ago...

I am catching up on the "over-night" blogs, but I will be quiet over the weekend. See you all on Monday! Keep warm (We are finally supposed to get some cold weather - past several days we have had 60's & 70's temps.! Nice, but too warm for the end of November!)