A Green Finish

Between projects, I managed to complete the top of the green quilt (really need to come up with a better name). I had an idea in my head and again it seems to work. Here is is with two new sides.
One thing that will not work, leaves on the tree. What was I thinking? Does this quilt really need more green?! So now the new idea is a flowering tree, like a golden chain tree. I think that's what I mean. My MIL has one, a yellow flowering tree that looks like a weeping willow.

So that's the new plan, add more color in the form of a flowering tree. What do you think? Any tree suggests?

Oh and look at my great weekend find. Wonder Woman headphone to go with my skinned Ipod. Not that I'll use them, ear buds hurt my ears, but cool none the less. Ok, maybe just to me...
And I wanted to share with you this seasons hottest shoes (is it even cool to say hot?) and again this may only be me. Pumpkin spice Converse, that's the name I call them, much better than their name, rust. These will be my October to November fashion statement.
This weekend is our Quilt Show. I needed a comfy pair of shoes for the days of work ahead. I've been told I won't get to sit to often. I may be sneaking into the bathroom just to sit down! Also these shoes will help identify me. I'll be found easier with a flashy pair hooves.

Upon returning home with a few bags of goodies, this is the look I received from PugsLee.
Can you see the excitement in her eyes? This was a "is there any leftovers for me" look.
No... poor girl, she had to resort to chewing her lip.

Actually, there were fries in a pocket and she knew it, so don't call animal protective services on me. She received a treat and we all went to bed happy.

Till next time...

More Wings

I thought that the right side of the quilt was a little sparse, so I added a new friend. Dragonflies are one of my favorite things and I haven't put one on a quilt is quite a while. There was a time when every quilt had a bug. Another favorite is a spider and a web, but I don't think that would be appropriate on this quilt. But a damselfly is perfect, in my opinion.
Darn the light! I can't seem to get a good picture of the colors. Before the block was added to the rest of the quilt.

I then took the quilt outside and laid it on the car, where there was still a bit of sun overhead. Still not a true representation of the colors.
All day I've been thinking of another element to this quilt. Tomorrow I will try to see if it's something that will work.
So far these batiks have been working well together. Surprisingly after being in a basket for years there was very few wrinkles and no fraying. Don't you just love batiks!

I stopped for the day because I just started to fight the blocks. Right around the damselfly, the blocks are not matching up. I guess that's good if I only just now came to a problem. So a little work and measuring is going to be required before I go on.

After a (hopefully) good nights sleep, I'll dive in and try to complete the top, tomorrow.

Have a happy evening!

Take care, Brandie

Happy Things

So far so good. I haven't achieved too much, but I'm happy with the look, so far. Now hopefully as it grows I don't ruin it. Still a lot of greens. Unfortunately the greens just do not show their true colors on the camera. Just so you know, the light greens are a celadon color that I adore. Then they just go crazy from there. All greens are included, from lime to forest.
I am partial to green. I always give Thanks for the color green. There are more colors of green in nature then I can count. Even my green stash is larger than any other color in my stash.

I'm in constant amazement at what I see in nature.

Just this afternoon, there was a spot of sun shining down on a lovely fern in the fairy garden. I ran back inside for the camera to try to catch it. Just look at this lovely fern getting a sun tan, soaking up the sun, letting it dry the rain. How lush and happy it looks.

One thing I can't live without, the color green. It makes me happy!

What else makes me happy? The smell of fall. What is the smell of fall? Apples, spices, yeast, fireplaces and even mud. But specially spices. Cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice and ginger. Mix in leftover apples and cook for 10 plus hours, equal apple butter. YUM!
I may have finally duplicated my Grandmother's recipe. Over the years I lived with her, I finished all the apple butter she had in her basement. I loved the stuff! To my utter dismay, she didn't make me a lifetime supply! And unfortunately she didn't leave a recipe. I suffered through years of store bought apple butter. Very disappointing. Not spicy enough! Than I found a replacement at our local orchard, but it became a challenge! I had to reproduce my Grandmother's recipe. Now I think I've done it, or at least a close second. But I'm happy with it and happy with myself for completing the challenge. My Grandmother live on in these little jars, with each bite.

Now back to the greens...

Take care, Brandie

Green Day 2

Those green fabric have now turned into green block strips. I've spent as much time as I could this weekend, cutting, sewing and cutting again. I now have lots and lots of strips. Next I need to add these to the blocks and turn those blocks into a quilt top.
I also worked on another block to add to Flora's quilt. Because I'm just making it up as I go, this may take longer.

There are now a small colony of koi who live in Flora's pond.
I'm super happy with the koi. They still need work, but I'm thinking that up as I go too. I figured when I get to the quilting part, I'll add scales with metallic thread. And bubbles. I must have bubbles.


It's not your imagination, their tail fins are 3-dimensional. I don't know what they fabric is, but it feels a bit like a cotton but with lots of shimmer.

I feel a bit proud of myself. I put this quilt away because of the koi. I had the picture in my mind and I couldn't draw a koi, or thought I couldn't. I siced myself out and keep Flora in the UFO basket for about three years.

Then this weekend I sat down and just did it. Really not too hard. (Just don't tell me they aren't proportional or something)
So someday soon, I hope to turn these blocks into a very green quilt. Fun how the mind come up with things or how we under estimate ourselves. But who knows, this could be the ugliest quilt ever. I mean it, look at all those greens, what was I thinking?

My goal this year (yes I know this is October) is to finish as many of those UFOs as possible. When I made the UFO list last year, there were 20 UFOs to finish. I am now on my tenth. So I'm a little behind, but while the juice is still flowing, I'll continue to finish as many as I can. And sure I've added at least 6 more to the basket, I'm just more motivated at this moment. Maybe it's the cooler weather? Whatever it is, I'm going with it and I wish you all the same.

Take care, Brandie

Green Day

I'm working with a bunch of collected greens today. These have been in a bag for a special project for too long. When done, this will be a very green quilt.
I'm cutting them into strips of various sizes, to then sewn into more strips and then cut into cubes.

Flora needs to be put together instead of hanging on the wall. She is making me chilly just looking at her. Right now in Paradise, the weather is a chilly 52 degrees. But I'm all warm and cozy by the fire. Flora is not. I think I can see goose pimples on her back. And her bottom is looking a little rosy. That lily pad is not doing any good at warming her bottom.
I don't know if this frog is friend or foe, but he's cold blooded too so Flora will get no comfort from him.
Maybe this will become a quilt in the near future, as I figure out how to manage my time correctly. Living in the UFO basket is a cruel life. So wish me luck.

I have to make 17 paper pieced stars and I'm try to break that up with something fun. I have some time to complete the stars, so I thought if I make two stars a day, I'll be good.

Then work on Flora for a while.

Then work on some patterns.

This is just not the way I'm used to working. I would just keep on one project till I burned out. Was is because I'm too lazy to change my thread in the machine? Do I only have a one-track mind?

Whatever it is, I'm going to try a new way and hope to accomplish more and hopefully less burn-out equals less UFOs.

Take care, Brandie

Useless Trivia

Imagine my surprise to find that I was awarded ...
As I was eating my breakfast, fueling up for the day. I had opened my email from Sandie from Crazy'boutquilts and she picked me to tell 7 unknown things about myself.

Do you really want to her me rant? I could go on for days!

(Daily breakfast of a toasted bagel topped with homemade pumpkin butter. Yes, it's a bagel without a belly button)
Ok, here it goes.

1. By the time I was 13, I had already traveled through 16 states. Ending in Arkansas, where we lived for about a year. My bio-mom was a flighty person when younger.

2. When I came to live with my Grandmother, we traveled some more, to Canada. We spent three months traveling my Grandmother's roots and re-kindling with cousins.

We spent so much time in Canada, that I picked up a few French words for everyday things. Silly words, like "serviette", "petit" and my personal favorite "Merde!" (not so PG)

3. Back in 1999, our family lived in Sydney Australia for about a year. Hubby was working at the new Star City casino at the time and his wonderful boss flew me and my kiddies out to be with him. This was a wonderful experience and the kids were just old enough to make some amazing memories while there.
4. I'm a bit clumsy (as you might have guessed). There were a couple of years that I was in and out of the ER for a fall.

Learned that walking a barrel requires attention to your surroundings.

I have scars to show my mistakes. A broken nose for running into a wall. But that was all. I did end up with a few stitches, but this is a PG blog, so use your imagination. Just know, I wasn't clumsy that time!

(The healed burn)
5. I wore a back brace for about three years, four less then was thought necessary. No not because I'm clumsy. I was diagnosed with scoliosis and lordosis. I was told that I would probably need to wear that brace till I was 18. It was Christmas, three years later , when the DR told me I was as good as new and I was free from living in that braces 24 hours a day. What a great gift that was!

6. As a punishment my bio-mom made me read a novel. Well that back fired on her! Now she complains that I read too much. Huh? Too much, no such thing.

7. For years I've entertained the idea of writing my own novel. I've started so many stories, but never have finished one. I have list of characters. Sometimes when I see something fun, I write it down to be used in a book. I also write down many of a certain cousin's conversations, because she has no idea how amusing she can be, in the right context.

I really do mean it when I say, I'll put you in my novel!

This was one of the reasons I started this blog. Practice, for that some day novel.

So now that I've told you more about me, leave me a comment telling me ONE silly thing about you. Let me know if you have too many toes. If you have a ring in your nose. I'm curious about you. Here's you chance to inform me of your odd behaviors.

Oh and one more thing. I now need to award 15 other bloggers. But I think I'll cheat and just award 7. So here they are. Other blogs that inspire me. Can't wait to hear what they have to say about themselves!

1. Lori from Humble Quilts, one of my first blogging friends and inspiration to me in many ways!

2. Linda from The Quilted Pineapple, check out her quilting!

3. Barbara of Diamant-Solitaire, this lady has embroidery skills to be envious of.

4. Kim for Kim's Big Quilting Adventure, she is a hoot! And she shares my love of Halloween.

5. Paulette from Sweet P, this is one busy lady!

6. Pam from Library Gals, one of my local gals with some great ideas.

7. Mandy of M and M Plus 3, she is master of applique.

These girls are the first on my list for me to check out everyday. If I can learn something from each of them, I'll be a well rounded quilter.

Thank you girls, for letting me pick on you. Can't wait to hear your stories!

Take care, Brandie

Apple Weekend

I was an apple-y weekend. That basket of apples is slowly reducing.

We started the weekend with chicken,cabbage and applesauce.

Followed by an apple waffle breakfast, complete with apple syrup.
Then we ended the day with an apple cake.
Not too pretty, but we didn't let that stop us!
Even what we cleaned out of the pan was a yummy moist morsel.

I may be appled out at this moment, but I still have half a basket. I see more applesauce in the future. Maybe even some apple butter.

I may be taking time off this month, for the Quilt Show. I also have some really work to do, so I may be showing up at night. I going to try and see now far I can push my creativity.

Take care, till next time.

Brandie