A Quickie

So sorry ladies, I've been very busy finishing up the Red Queen's gown and baking. I have just enough time to say a quick "Hello" and to wish you all a Happy Halloween.

Now I must get back to the bowls of flour and bags of frosting.

Take care, Brandie

Witchy Wednesday

Have you ever been afraid to cut into a fabric? Well it's happening to me. I'm afraid of making a mistake and having to start all over. Last week when we bought this fabric, it was half price. So if I make a mistake today, I'll have to pay extra to fix it. So I'm stalling.

That deep ruby red is a beautiful piece, even if it's just a polyester knock-off of velvet. The main dress will be made of this, with accents of the beige fabric. My Daughter sure knows how to manipulate me into doing things outside my comfort zone. That girl...

In other news. I made a new hat for Witchy Poo last night. She use to have a beautiful hat with a big metal buckle that made all others envious. Then she did a stupid thing and loaned it out (to a better witch than she). Well she never did get back that perfect hat so she asked me to make her a new one. This is all we have come up with. She wanted this new hat to be even better that the last hat.
Sorry for the bad pics. We are trying out that sparkly brooch. But we may have to come up with another plan.
There may be too much black. Witchy Poo thinks I should add another color and she adds that it needs to go with her gorgeous lavender hair and not clash. So I've got my work cut out for me, Witchy Poo and Bridgette and both breathing down my neck for the completion of the outfits, and soon! What prima-donna's!

If you have any idea's, let me know and I'll run them by Witchy Poo.

Have a Wonderful Wednesday!

Take care, Brandie

More Pillows

A pillow pile. This is how I sent my evening, making a pile of non-matching pillows. Well almost non-matching. There were 2 dark purples and 2 periwinkles. That second purple one doesn't seem to be in the pic. I think PugsLee was using it. I think she was a wee bit jealous of her sister getting more attention and all theses pillows.
PugsLee is a princess. Her little bottom does not, I repeat, does not touch anything but carpet. Also her blanket has to be laid on top of a pillow, even on the couch. If a pillow is laying flat, she claims it as her own, which is probably what happened to Bridgette's purple pillow. A true princess. She could probably even feel a pea under that pillow! Or smell it!

The next few days will be sent making costumes. Bridgette has decided that I need to make a full on gown, hurray! And because we couldn't find an exact pattern, I'm making it up as we go, so wish me luck! The fabric we picked is Fabulous, tomorrow I'll show it to you.

So take care for now,

Brandie

Not Your Average Pillows

I'm so glad to be back. I still have a mild soreness or achyness in one thumb, but that is much better. I've babied them long enough. It took me all weekend to complete my pillows. Two days to cut the fabric and two evenings to complete each pillow. Even the stuffing was taking forever. Who knew that pulling the stuffing apart would take so much thumb strength. And sewing up the hole! That I put off till last night. It looks terrible, but who's going to turn these beautiful pillows over?
The big pillow measures at 19" and the small one at 13". I've been try to figure out a unique pumpkin pillow, but my thumbs are just not into it. Maybe next year. These sunflowers may not be true halloween decorations, but I love them! I just wish I had more yellow-gold fabrics to make more. But I'm trying to use things up, not collect more!
Of course I quilted them. They are each two layers. That's just the top and batting, then filled with stuffing. I love this dot fabric as a sunflower middle, so I quilted around each and every dot to enhance the seed look.
Even the little one has the same treatment. I can just see an entire bed covered with these. OK, maybe a twin bed. What little girl wouldn't love that? (I need grandchildren!)

Well I have more pillows to make, just the regular kind, you know, the square kind. I made a mistake and meet my Daughter at the fabric store, and now I have about 6 pillows to make for her studio. KIDS!

Take care, Brandie

2 Thumbs Down

Sorry Ladies, I don't have much to say and no pictures to show you. I did complete one of my accent pillows, but I want to wait till I have the others done before showing you.

I'm taking a little break, just till Monday. You see, I have very sore thumbs. I think I may have stained them with the power tools. I don't think power tools were made with women's hands in mind. All I know is that they have been very sore and painful since last weekend.

So come back Monday and I hope to have pillows done to show you, taking it quite easy of course, not using my thumbs.

Take care, Brandie

The Big Reveal

A big finish! I'm so happy with it. Last night I finished the last cushion, which of course is the best one. After practicing on the other two, the last cushion is perfect. I applied 5 coats of clear coat. It is now smooth as butter! The only problem I have with it is, that the wood on the bottom isn't as high a quality as the birch on top. I'm telling myself that the bottom will be covered by those leather boxes and over-sized books. So no one will know, except that I just told you.
Now to make those accent pillows. They will probably take just as long as these cushions did, you know Murphy's law. So that's my plan today. Pillows! Plus a cousin gave me some fabric to make her a couple of pillows, so I might as well make a day of it.

(Just to be on the safe side, I'm going to wait at least a week before putting any quilts behind those doors. I don't want all my hard work smelling or heaven forbid, get stained)

Take care , Brandie

Yard Art

I didn't get a lick of sewing done yesterday. Shame on me! I was fooling around in the yard. I planted about 20 bulbs and have about 30 more to plant. I thought that the little rain we had would have softened the ground, but no. So I had to water the yard before I could dig in it. Of course I came up with this idea after digging half the holes. So while I waited, I played with my pumpkin friends. I tried stacking several different ones together, but I think this is the best stack. I told Hubby that I didn't have enough pumpkins and he said, 9 was too many.
I don't think 9 is too many, I still have bare ares that could do with a little orange pop of color.

Years ago I "borrowed" this little wheelbarrow from our church. Don't worry, my Grandpa told me I could, borrow it anyway. We over the years, it has become a rusty eyesore that couldn't hold water of even the deer food is was suppose to. I thought about taking it back to church, but never got around to it. What do you think of it's new job? At least these guys can't fall though the rusted bottom.
It's a good thing that I watered, do you see how bad my mums look?
I love this guy! It was seriously, love at first sight! A blackish-green pumpkin! Oh My! And just look at all his warty character! Beautiful!

I do feel a little guilty, because I know that pumpkins are meant to be eaten, but I keep my so long, that I sometimes have to use a shovel to remove them. When I look at this guy above, I think he must taste wonderful!

Oh and yesterday, I stained and added the extra supports to my "pew". That is what Hubby has been calling it, specially now that the stain smell is permeating the house. But I'm going to make you wait to see the finish, after I add the clear coat. It's worth the wait, it looks great!

Take care, Brandie

More Cushions

Looky what I finished up this weekend. Usually my weekends are not when I complete anything, but the rain keep us in and I completed one...
... no, two cushions for the window seat. 2 cushions! They may not be perfect, not they are comfy to seat on and that is very important.
And I even got my molding on. Isn't it cute? I did the same molding top and bottom. Now all that's left, is to stain it. And I think I may add another vertical piece on either side, for extra strength. I think it will also look better to have a divider between Hubbies leather boxes.
My goal is to have this useable by Halloween as extra seating. Specially since the love seat went to live with Bridgette. I'm not complaining, this is much better looking, even unstained, then that couch even was!

I'm also thinking of making some throw pillows for it. Just wait till you see these. You know they will be theme appropriate.

Take care, Brandie

A Pile Question

Somehow the day passed and I didn't do any sewing. I did housework, baked bread and put some stain on the window seat, but no sewing( Sorry I can't show you the window seat yet. It still needs molding and cushions).

While I was cleaning house, I wondered, How do you clean an area rug. I mean shampoo? Do you take it in to a dry-cleaner? Do you just use a shampooer on it?
The rug in question needs some work. I would love to be able to lift the pile and make it fluffy again, like under the coffee table. Please send me your suggestions.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Take care, Brandie

A Scary Finish

I finished something! I'm so excited! I really wasn't sure where this quilt was taking me. You see it started out as something entirely different.
This is how it started. As a stuffed dinosaur. But I knew I'd never make him. My SIL give this fabric to me years ago and I put it away in the box that holds all the fabric that I don't know what to do with. So it sat there all crumbled up, waiting.

Then my children's best-friends had a baby, and they were using dinosaurs as their theme. Perfect! It only took me about 9 months to complete it.
From that to this. I'm pretty happy with the end results. Anyone else would think that it was too scary, but not these parents.

I even quilted a city scape in the background. And I used up even more scraps! How exciting is that? I love being frugal. Sure part of that was because I'm still grounded at home, but it's nice using up scraps. I even strip pieced the back with scraps and leftover blocks.
And I even found the time to attach the arco circles to the quilt. This quilt is definitely more attractive! Now I move on to even more applique. I may be finished with this quilt in a couple of years.
I think this quilt may be the mate to my red work pillow. But we'll see when I finish it.

Take care, Brandie

Circles of Red

Late last night, I finally finished the last arco circle. So Today I'll get them trimmed up and attach them to the rest of the quilt.
Then on to another project. I did start a baby quilt, but I'm having issues with it. Maybe tomorrow I'll let you all see it. I usually do needle turn applique, but for this baby quilt I used "Steam-a-seam". I really don't like the feel of that stuff or any stabilizer. But this job called for it and I'm trying to get it done ASAP. Also because it's coming out of my head, it takes a little longer to get it on the fabric.

By the way, did you see what Witchy Poo did to my curtains? She let one of those cats into the house and it totally shredded them up! And don't get me started on her messes. She set up a laboratory right on my fireplace. She has test tubes and jars of things that make my skin crawl. That woman is getting harder to live with than my Hubby!

Oh Well, there are only 18 more days till Halloween, then she will pack up and move out, till next year.

Take care, Brandie

Oh and check out these super cute necklaces my friends Debbiehttp://onestitchoff.blogspot.com/ and Pam http://librarygalquilts.blogspot.com/made.

Sometimes I hate Blogger! I haven't been able to add a link without some serious issues. Does anyone else out there use Safari and Blogger? If so , why doesn't the link button hind the link behind the name? And what can I do about it?

A Favorite Thing

As most of you know, it has been hard to find canned or tinned pumpkin. Well I think that the shortage might be over. Last week my SIL found a huge display of cans and called me and wanted to know if I wanted any. OF COURSE! Without pumpkin, how are we the make yummy cakes, like this?
There is defiantly no shortage at my house anymore! I thought she found the 15 ounce cans.

Nope, these babies are 29 ounces! Do you know what that means? Twice as much!

Now I don't have to worry about making moist, spicy cakes. Or even everyday bread. Hurray!

And of course I had a cube of cream cheese sitting around in the frig, just waiting to be whipped up and spread onto that ever so delicious cake.
So Thanks to Ranette and Susan for the pumpkin. Life is back to normal now.

Get to your stores and check their shelves, there may be pumpkin sitting there waiting to go home with you. Good Luck! And if anyone can't find it, let me know, I'd be happy to Pay-it-Forward.

Take care, Brandie

A Little More

Every corner of my home has been taken over by Witchy Poo. She has even started at the front door. This was the before, well a little before, she got to the web throwing before I took the pic.
This little bench has always been by the front door to help hold things or just to stop and take of your shoes. Witchy Poo thought it needed a different look for the season. So she hounded me and than she even went though my stash and found some fabric. (don't you hate when people go though your stash thinking that it's just sitting there wanting for them to come up with ways to use it? It's has to be one of my pet peeves!)
So she found (not that it was hiding, come-on, it was folded on the shelf where everyone could see it) these fabrics and gave them to me to sew into a cushion. That's another of my peeves. I quilt, therefor I must love to sew and even mend.
We were even lucky enough to find a matching zipper in the right length. Where did I get it? From Grandma's stuff of course!
So here is the after. I guess it's better. I don't know... maybe it should have been appliqued with something more?
And an extreme close-up. Now the stray cats will have a clean cushion to sleep on. Or are they strays? Maybe they belong to Witchy Poo, as I only see them in the fall, Hmmmm...

I will try to stay with you this week. Last week passed without much being done. I hope to do better this week. And I just might, because my car is broken so I may be grounded to my house for quite a while. So while I'm grounded, I may as well get as much done as possible.

Take care, Brandie

A Boring Post

I was a little sore from all that construction. So I took a rest, yes I was still in my PJs. This is what I saw most of the day. If I laid on the couch to rest my back, PugsLee had to be there to make sure I was alright. I did manage to get some housework done, but that's boring stuff.
The rest of this week doesn't look much better. I'm so sorry I have nothing interesting to show you. I will try harder, maybe I'll finish those Arco signs while waiting around at appointments.

I do only have 7 more to complete before I can sew them together. Hmmm, I will try.

See you all tomorrow. Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Take care, Brandie

Special Little Doors

Want to see what I did yesterday? You all know when Hubby goes out of town, I like to do projects that he might get in the way of. So for years, I've wanted to put a window seat here, right under this enormous window. This is where the love seat sat for years, till Bridgette took it to her place, The Treehouse. Boy was I happy, till that turtle, Lucky, moved right into this space! I even had the wood cut, all that was holding me back was the actual space, it keep get filled. So here is how it was...
This is how it will be. There are still some finishing touches, stain and molding, but there's enough done that you can see the big picture.
See those little doors? They also came from my Grandmother. You are all probably really tired of all this stuff from my Grandmother, but I love it. Not only do I have something to remember her by, I'm also making use of it. Granted some of her treasures may not be used as she would, but I know she would still be glad I used them.

Those little doors were so dirty! I think I cleaned off 50 years of grime. But they were totally worth saving. Those little knobs are original to the doors. That was another reason to save them, if the doors didn't work out, the knobs could be used elsewhere.

I'm still think about stain or paint. That may take a couple of days. But when I have it all finished, I show you, because those doors will house my finished quilts! How cool will that be?!

Have a wonderful day!

Take care, Brandie

Weekend Fun

Lucky, the turtle, moved out this weekend. We'll miss her, but not the large tank. She moved in with my Daughter and hopefully they will spend many years together. It took most of the day to set up her tank and to teach Bridgette how to clean it and such. I will miss the gentle tinkle of the water, just not the enormous tank! I have plans for the area that the tank was in.
While we were in Chico, I had enough time to stop by a pumpkin stand. I was super excited! They had tables and tables covered in many sizes of pumpkins and gourds. They were being sold by a local farmer that told me he had a small pumpkin patch. A plot of a 100 x 100. WOW! it must have been impressive! And did I take pictures? No, I was so over whelmed by all the pretty pumpkins that I forgot! But I did just go outside in the dark to take a pic for you of some of the ones I did buy. The prices were very reasonable. Large pumpkins were $5 and small ones were $3. I had $30 cash on me and no matter how I try to figure it, I seem to have more than I paid for. I was just so excited I was pointing to "that warty one, that white one, oh and I need that black warty one." Then they showed me the gourds. I ended up with 4 of those too.
When I got home and unloaded the car, I had 6 various pumpkins and 4 gourds. I feel that I totally got my moneys worth. Too bad I don't know where that farmer lives, I would love to buy more!

Our relocated Michael's opened this weekend. Bridgette and I went in to check it out and I ended up spending over a $100. What did we buy? I don't have a clue, but it was fun! I've missed going into that store, which may be a good idea to avoid, too many visits will make me poor.

Some of the things we did buy, were scarp booking papers (several books) and items to make invitations for Halloween.

This is what we did. The funny thing was, after we packaged up the invites, we realized that some people may not know who Witchy Poo and her little dog Boo, are. We laughed and laughed! So if you receive and invite and it looks like one of these, it's from me, sent by my alias, Witchy Poo. Bridgette and I are still laughing at our stupidity!

What kind of trouble did you cause this weekend? Witchy Poo would love to hear and I would love to hear too.

Hubby is off, finally, on a day trip. Wonder what I can do while he's gone? Stay tuned...

Take care, and I'll see you tomorrow,

Brandie

Red work Finish

I finished the quilting on the red work and I couldn't be happier. I always count my time quilt by how many bobbins are used and this time was no different. I used 2 and a half bobbins on this 16 x 16 pillow. All that is left is to make a envelope closure and I can call this done. Cousin Linda may have the antique, but mine is personalized and I think I did a better quilting job!
It's really hard to get pictures of the quilting, as you all know.
An extreme close up of the cathedral windows. I went in and scribbled inside the windows to make them show up better.
This did start on an old sheet of my Grandmother's, so in a sense, it is also an antique. Sure it may not be linen, but I'm very happy with it and it will look great on my bed. Now I just need to make a red bed quilt. I have been collecting reds for about 3 years now, with the intention of making a red and white schoolhouse quilt. Every quilt show I pick up at least 3, so I should be set. Now I just need to complete a few more UFOs and then I can start something new. This will be really hard, but I'm really going to try.

Have a wonderful weekend and I'll see you back here next week!

Take care, Brandie