A Few Stitches

I've been doing very little sewing. No , I mean a little sewing on little things. I need to complete my "Brown Bag Challenge". It would be pretty bad to have the head of the project not complete her own quilt. I would be very embarrassed! The biggest problem is getting what's in my head, down on the fabric.

For the last two weeks, my machine has been sitting here doing nothing, till I sewed up this teeny-tiny apron. Appliquéing doesn't seem to hurt my hands as much as hand quilting, so the table runner is on the back burner. This little quilt still needs embellishment and quilting before it is entirely complete and I only have a couple of weeks till it's due. Shame on me for procrastinating!

I also worked on this part. I had left it laying on my sewing table this weekend. When Bridgette showed up, she happened to see this and she screamed and yelled " What Are You Doing?!". We all jumped and tried to get her to settle down, asking her what she was talking about (she ever scared her little puppy).
She held up this block and demanded to know (redheads have quite the attitude!) "How old are you? What's next? A quilted outfit? I didn't expect a CAT quilt till you were at least 60. This is too much!" Of course we were all laughing. Thank goodness Hubby intervened and told her it was just one block and that I haven't made and quilted clothes and that the closest I got was her "Red Queen" costume. Hehehehe, that shut her up!

So I'm not sure if my DD has something against cats or if she is embarrassed of me and my quilting or if she just has high standards of me. I'll go with the latter. So no more cats quilts and I'm going to shy away from the quilted vests for a couple of years.

Take care, Brandie

Honey Run Covered Bridge

This weekend we went to a craft fair in a small neighboring town. This is a very rural area that I live in and I couldn't be happier to share some of our historical spots with you all. This wooden bridge, being one of them. In the background of the bridge, you can see the bluffs above it. This bridge is no longer used for traffic but some of it's new uses are even better.
They held the craft fair inside the bridge. I think it looks amazing as a store. I also think that the atmosphere helped to make everything look better and hopefully made people buy more.
I did my share! I went with $60 and I spent it all! I was greedy and spent it all on me. I know, I know, I should have been thinking about Christmas but I was selfish.
The only thing I'd change, those ugly orange plastic fences. I know they put them out there for peoples safety, but they sure are ugly!
One of my quilt guild friend made this cobalt ornament. We all know how much I love glass cobalt. So I had to add this to my collection.
I also HAD to come home with this faucet soup dish. How cute it that!? And I had to buy the licorice soap, it smelled soooo good!
And who couldn't use another mixing bowl? I guess me. I loved the red glaze and the workman ship is excellent. The lady who made this bowl, really knows her stuff.

It was a beautiful day before our rain storm and I got to connect to some local artists. Now if I only had more money...

I'm going to try to get some sewing done today, but my hands! Oh I'm so frustrated! If I only knew what to do to keep them from hurting, without giving up hand sewing. My hands seem to be aging before their time. The rest of me is OK, just my hands are complaining. Oh well.

Take care, Brandie

A New Love

I'm going to tell you a secret, please don't hold it against and all of you out there with the same problem, please don't ridicule me.

It all started last Wednesday. I went into my local quilt shop (hurray for Morning Star) to look around, that was my first mistake. While there, Marsha threaten to do bodily harm to my backside if I missed another Applique night. I made some excuse about not have anything to do, or anything prepped or something to that effect. On that note, she lured me into her office to show me a potential item she was thinking about carrying (in retrospect, I should have known it was a trap!).

Can anyone guess what I was tricked into buying?
These cute little paper hezy cardboards. So that night at Appliqué club, I made all these hezies and was hooked. I Loved doing them! Marsha later said "You were an easy sell". Sheesh, this is why you shouldn't have personally relationships with quilt shop owners!

Over the weekend I had a lot of fun with those little pieces of paper and fabric. Every night I made up about 30 before bed. It was great fun and so easy to do in front of the TV.
Last night, this is what I had. A 125 pieced table runner just for the fall season. I also layered it and plan to hand quilt it. I will fit quite well in my purse and will be a great take along project.

So the moral to this story is, never to follow a quilt shop owner into their inner sanctum, there are things in there we shouldn't see!

Take care, Brandie

Drum Roll...

I'm so glad to be back! I've missed you all! I've visited some of you, but it's just not the same as running my own mouth. And another thing, I've made good use of my time and have some things to show you, throughout the week.

So enough about that, let's get on to the name-picken and give-away. Drum roll...
We have a winner! Thelma, fromhttp://cupcakesndaisies.blogspot.com/! If you haven't been to her blog, you must go! She has an amazing start quilt she just finished, that I'm trying to figure out how to get her to send it to me. I've come up with a devious plan, but she saw right through it.
Thelma, Congratulations! Trade you the gift for your quilt?

In other news, I have a grand...puppy! I'm so happy...ish! He is a 12 week old, almost 3 pounds of cuteness. His name is Maximus and he came to visit me last night. We had already meet, but he hadn't meet his big Aunt PugsLee.
In this pic it looks as if he has an enormous head, but it's just a funny angle. He loves his Mommy! He watches her every move. Every time she left the room, he stood up to follow her with his eyes ( that's because I was holding him).
Right now he's all legs. He walks and runs like a baby colt. Chasing his tail seems to be his favorite thing, that and sleeping in Moms bed, under all the blankets.

Today I feel old. I guess that happens when your older child, gets older. He is officially 23, in about 15 minutes. What a day, what a boy!

I think I'll start a new tradition of calling him at his exact time of birth and tell him all the gory details, like I wouldn't have had any stitches if he wouldn't have tried to get out on his own!

Too much? Sorry to leave you with that story, but I need to go make a call, wake that boy up and tell him.

Take care and I'll see you tomorrow, Brandie

Blog-aversary

Last week I had my blog-aversary. I made it a complete year. I wasn't sure I could do it, but I did and I even have followers. The followers was just a fringe benefit to my motor mouth. I started this journey to vent, meet new people and have an outlet to share my quilts and love of sewing. I have thoroughly enjoyed this last year. I have meet many new people and I have learned so many things from the blogging community. And best of all, the inspiration around each corner. I was sadly suffering from lack of inspiration. I felt like I had seen it all and read every book and that was it. Then I was introduced to a plethora of patterns, ideas and even Kaffes. And all you out there, Thank you! You have enriched my life with laughter, joy, ideas and fun. You are the best part!

So to show my Thanks, I do have a gift, but first I'd like to show you a simple idea that just came to me.

I have one shelf that I devote all my quilting books (OK, that's a lie, but I try to keep them all on one shelf). Said shelf gets a little stuffed at time, like now. I do go through my books occasionally, but I have a hard time getting rid of any as I am a Bibliophile: Bibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books. Accordingly a bibliophile is an individual who loves books. More commonly referred to as a bookworm, the individual loves books for their content, or otherwise loves reading. The -ia-suffixed form "bibliophilia" is sometimes considered^{[by whom?]} to be an incorrect usage; the older "bibliophilism" is considered^{[by whom?]} more correct. The adjective form of the term is bibliophilic. A bibliophile may be, but is not necessarily, a book collector.
I had an old yard stick sitting around and I put Velcro on both ends and used it to keep those book in oder. If I had a bunch of yard sticks, I'd make a frame around my bulletin board and maybe even these bookshelves. The ideas are endless. Just thought I should share, incase you also have an unruly shelf. (there I was just being punning, twice)

Lets get on to the good stuff. The gifts. I have here a Fig Tree book with some beautiful quilts, and some even have pumpkins and gourds in them. Which I think is perfect for this time of year.

Also there are 6 fat-quarters in yummy warm tones. And just because I went a little crazy with the coasters, there are a pack of 4 to grace your table.
So if you are interested, please leave a message for me here on this post And I want to hear what makes you Thankful. This isn't a contest to see who is the most Thankful, I just want to spread the joy and make those Negative Nellies out there see how good they have it. And because this is the season to be Thankful. I'll start, I'm Thankful to be living in a town that is surrounded in beauty. Every day I gives Thanks for the color green.

I will pick a name on Monday morning and announce the lucky person then. I will also be taking a break till Monday, to let everyone have a chance to enter, so goodbye till then.

Take care, Brandie

After Math

If I wasn't so embarrassed of the mess, I'd show you all the pics, but I'm not going to. I want you all to believe that my house is never messy and that I would never have a dirty dish in my sink. And I'm not going to tell you that all the Halloween decorations are still up.

In reality the after math of a party isn't pretty. Just like you don't instantly gain weight or even lose the weight. It all takes time. All these decorations didn't get put up in one day and they aren't going down in one day.

And some of the decorations are just too cute to take down, specially because they just arrived. I need time to admire them. Like these super adorable ghost cookies. Cousin Nikki brought these over Halloween night. Yeah you heard me, she bought treats to my house. How sweet is that. Of course she didn't take any away, so I'm still dealing with the leftovers.
She brought them over to share with my party, but I selfishly keep most of them. I think they will make some great decorations for next year. So when I start actually packing things up, I'll move these cute little guys into the freezer for next year.

Oh the perils of house work! And if you're still overly tired, it isn't fun. The way I'm feeling now, I might not have the Halloween decorations put away till Christmas! Oh woe is me!

Take care, Brandie

The Pumpkin Party

As you all probably have figured out by now, we like Halloween. And because my Neice and little Parker were coming to visit, we had to welcome the Great Pumpkin and celebrate with a big shindig. We all had a blast and I'll say it again, it was utter Chaos!
The little pumpkin checking out PugsLee. Ain't he cute!
A portion of the goodies. BTW, those are brain matter cupcakes. We had to strongly encourage the children to try the cupcakes. I think the gray frosting is a little gross looking to them.
I uploaded this pic to show you the sign that my Hubby made. But lets not overlook this adorable Strawberry Shortcake.

One of the kids asked Witchy Poo what it meant "fatten the children". She just handed him a candy bar and pinched his fingers for doneness.
This was the drink table. There were a few brave souls. Most seemed to prefer the "Zombie Virus".
Oh No, Witchy Poo caught a little helpless child!
Looks like that Zombie juice is already working! Someone should tell the Red Queen to look out.
At the last minute, a 49er and his squaw showed up. He was afraid to live his trap outside. He thought this end of town was a little iffy.
This little zombie was after PugsLee and any adult legs walking by. Ewww, scary!
This years fireplace display. It was used by Witchy Poo to stir up a few potions and Lots of trouble!

It was a great night, but the best part? It only comes once a year!

Take care, Brandie