Holy Crap!!

Where am I??? I woke up freezing this morning...looked at the outside thermometer and it's 42 degrees!!!! Hello....this is south Florida...not supposed to be cold here.

Oh well, the sun is shining and by tomorrow we'll be back to the low 80's...Thank goodness!

Now, if I can just stay warm today.... maybe lounge around on the couch with a couple of heater cats???

Email me!

And now the quilt related stuff

My online class at MQR is winding down this week. We are finishing our quilt. Here are a few photos of mine . It is a little different than the last one I made. I'll probably donate one of them to the MQS education auction. Here is some painted cheesecloth. The background water and sand fabrics are printed using watercolors. The jellyfish is Angelina fibers, Angelina film and wool felt

the rocks and grasses are painted batting

The turtle is painted batting, and two types of tyvek

the sea fan is painted cheesecloth and painted craft foam.

Now, I have all the beading and other embellished to do by hand. Then I'll face it.

And this is a peek of what's on the frame now.

And I save the best for last! I have been using a portable design wall thingy. It works
ok, but is not ideal. I've been after Don for 4 years to make me a permanent design wall.

Well, today it was finished and attached to the wall! It is two 4'x8' pieces of foam
insulation board. I covered them in gray felt. It is wonderful!!!

And Mary, I took this picture sitting on 'your' bed!

Now, maybe I'll get some of those pieces finished...lol!

Have a great night!

Email me!

A lot to show you today

So much, that I'll do it in 2 posts. First, I showed you this postcard last week in progress. I finally got the beading done and it went off in the mail on Saturday. I really like the beaded edge, but it is very time consuming. The maple leaves are some cool brads I found. Then, I found a new supplier for bags to put finished customer quilts in. These are the same fabric as the ones I had before, but no zipper. They are also less expensive and the shipping is MUCH more reasonable. They come in loads of colors too. I think I'm also going to order them in orange,yellow,turquoise, and purple...that'll give me all the tropical colors to choose from. They are non woven cloth and are reusable AND biodegradable! Pretty AND environmentally responsible. How cool is that!

And you may remember a post a few weeks ago...the black and white yoyos? Well, I need large red buttons for those. I've looked everywhere...in town and on the net. Couldn't find what I wanted in the size and color I wanted. So guess what? I'm gonna make my own! Yep, you heard me. I got this cool stuff here from Joggles. It makes a flexible mold. You just knead equal parts of the 2 putty's together till they're all one color ~ 30 seconds. Then you just push in the item you want a mold of. 10 minutes later presto, bingo peel the mold off your object and you've got a flexible, reusable mold!

Then you can use all manner of mediums to make your button. I'm using air dry clay. very easy to work with, and I get great results for not a lot of effort. And since I need to make 168 of these 'buttons' easy is good!

So, my mold is made. now I take the item I want to use to make my button and I push it into the mold. I'm using a small scallop shell I picked up off the beach last week.

10 minutes later, I peel the mold off of my shell and wow----now I've got a mold for a scallop button!

Next, I push the clay down in the mold and then peel it right off. Use a toothpick to make the 'sewing' holes, trim the edges and set it aside to dry. After 24 hours, I can paint them.


That was so easy, I decided to make a couple other molds too.

Now, just 166 more scallop buttons to make!

Email me!

A special day

I was so lost after Sid and Ira died. I was not going to get another kitty for a long, long time.  I lasted 3 days before I knew I had to get another.  I started researching breeds.  Up to this point I had always had "rescue kitties".  But I found some information on this breed called 'Ragdolls'  I was hooked.  They are bred for size, beauty and temperament.  They are a 'needy' breed...they crave human interaction.  At that point in my life, it seemed like a perfect match... I found a breeder in the Tampa area, and within a couple weeks, Chloe came to live with us.  Our lives were transformed.  While our grief was still fresh, this new little one demanded our attention and love.  It was the best thing we could have done.  To this day, she (and Harry) are a constant source of joy.  Today our Chloe is 2 years old.  Happy birthday dear Chloe.And thank you for the unconditional love and pure joy you have returned to our lives.

And on a quilty note, yesterday, I received this beautiful quilted postcard from Mary.  It is for our October family exchange.  Beautiful silk ribbon embroidery with beaded accents.  Thank you Mary, I love it.

I, on the other hand am still working on my October card...almost done, just have to finish the beaded edge.  But that's OK...it'll be finished tonight and in tomorrow's mail....2 days before the due date!

Have a great night!

Email me!

An Award...I think

Grace was very kind and gave me this award...Thank you Grace....LOL.

Today I didn't get nearly half of my list accomplished, some days just don't go the way you had planned. A dear friend lost her husband to cancer yesterday...my heart is breaking for her. I can't even imagine the heartache she must be enduring right now. All I know, is that I am very thankful that my husband is here with me.

And to end on a positive note...how do you like my Halloween blog decorations? What out! The goblins are coming soon!

Have a great night!

Email me!

Still frogging, but another finish

I'm still frogging the borders on Mary's quilt...one done, one to go. I'm sooo glad I noticed the gold thread was too bold before I had done all 4 borders!!

In the meantime, I loaded this HUGE quilt. Feather meander ala Suzanne in the body of the quilt. And recently, a thread on MQR had lots of members sharing their freehand flowers. This one in the pink border is my variation of one of those that were shared. I just measured the border and marked out triangles. I started stitching the 'flowers' travelling from one to the next down the marked 'triangle' lines and in the ditches...so it flowed nicely and was continuous the length of the border. Cute, quick, and easy,peasy....just how I like it! Then I finished up the outer border with bead board. This client wanted custom, but also wanted to keep the cost down some, seeing this quilt is HUGE. Did I tell you it's HUGE!!! Anyway, I think she'll be pleased.

Off to Guild! Later gators!

Email me!

Birthdays Galore!

First, Today is my oldest granddaughter Kara's birthday. She is 13...WOW! Seems like just yesterday she was this tiny little bundle. Have a wonderful birthday sweetheart!

Today also marks the 25th birthday of my nephew Chris, Mary's oldest son. Hope you have a great day Chris!

And Saturday was my nephew Brian's 25th birthday also. Brian is my brother Kevin's oldest. Hope your day was fantastic too Brian!

Boy, my siblings sure are getting old! Glad I'm not ;-)

Email me!

The Red fabric

First, to today's mail. Many of you know we have a little postcard exchange going in my family. Well, one of my cousins (Mary Ann) has 2 young girls, who decided they wanted to be a part of this exchange too. So we added them to our exchange list. Well, I received this today. The theme for September was work. This is Ashley's card depicting her 'work' which is going to school. Now isn't that just too cool! Thank you Ashley, I love your card, but mostly I love that it is from you.
Then to the fabric I mentioned last night. This is the most gorgeous red I have seen in years, The photo does not begin to do it justice...in fact, the color in the back beside the bin is closer, but still not right. But as soon as I saw this fabric, I had an idea. You can see part of this idea in the photo.

This is going to be one dramatic quilt, in color at least! Have a great night!

Email me!

Where to start....

I have been very busy...I can hardly catch my breathe! So I'll try to catch you up a little. First my online class is keeping me busy. And then there are all those quilts waiting to be quilted.



I thought I was almost done with Mary's quilt. I took it off the frame to turn it for the last 2 borders. All I saw was the gold thread I used in the top and bottom border. Now it is a red with gold metallic Cristmas print...I thought the gold metallic thread would be very pretty....well it is pretty, but overpowering....that's all you see! Ugh!! So now, I am frogging those 2 borders; and when that's done I'll re do them in a Red So Fine thread...like I should have done from the beginning. Lesson: Always trust your first instincts.



And I have been very tied up with guild responsibilities of late too. Our Biennial show is coming up in February, so there is plenty to be done.



And, speaking of Christmas, I started my quilted postcards for the family exchange....yes I skipped Oct. and Nov.----don't worry, I'll get to them.

And then, I got this from Mother quite a while back and forgot to post it. Isn't this clever? The photo is Mother, me, and all my siblings from last December.

And then work....well this was panto week....7 all together. This is Debra G' s ocean critters...can't remember the name off hand, but if anyone wants to know, speak up and I'll go look.

This is leaf pile.

And this also is leaf pile .

And there were 2 others exactly the same that I did Debra G's Hibiscus on. It seems I had a run on pairs.....

There were also 2 others I didn't photograph...one was done with popcorn, and one with splash..both Jodi Beamish patterns.


And my only custom this past week was this oriental lanterns.
I always struggle with oriental theme quilts...not my forte. But I SID'd the lanterns, pumkin seed in the gold border, bead board in the black outer border and my I used my Circle Lord Ginkgo template for all the motifs. Just a medium stipple in the background, as the customer didn't want anything too tight.

I think she was happy, so I was happy.

The rest in waiting are all custom, and hopefully I'll get in some work on my own thrown in there too.

And speaking of my own,I started another quilt....yes I know I have several in various stages of undone. But, I bought this GORGEOUS red fabric...6 yards. Pictures soon...of the fabric at least.




And with that....have a great night!

Email me!