**IT Just Got Real

All day the dog has been MIA…hiding under tables, laying on the floor in rooms he never ventures to…he is traumatized and has been trying to hide from the bedlam, the noise and the terror….oh I wish I was him, I wish I could hide, go lay down, anywhere, even on the floor…………..

My daughter and her hubby have gone to Barbados for the week …

AND LEFT ME THE KIDS!

The youngest is in bed and the oldest is watching the game with Dear Hubby. I’m sitting in a chair with the dog…there is safety in numbers…he’s out like a light, running from the chaos all day. This is the view from the chair where I now sit in shear paralysis… I don’t have the energy to even move, nor pet the dog ….I’m fearful he would take my hand off in retribution.

And the week won’t get much better…I just looked at the calendar and it’s fuller than Dolly Parton’s Double G bra.

We have the HT’s (holy terrors) Huggable Treasures all week, the only godsend is that they are at school and nursery school 5 out of the 7 days.  Monday looks about the best day, Tuesday night I teach at the quilt shop, Wednesday I teach at the quilt shop, Thursday I have my consult for my colonoscopy(and at this point that would appear to be the highlight of my week!), Friday night I teach at the quilt shop, Saturday I teach all day at the quilt shop, and Sunday afternoon I teach at the quilt shop……and Michelle wants me to learn cash*)*!_#*_!*_$&_1….LOL, LMAO, LIH, SHIT…..no you read the last two acronyms wrong…LIH(laughing in hysterics) SHIT(sobbing hysterically in tears). I’m so tired, I’m exhausted and it’s only the first day.

We did manage to do some fun things today, although you wouldn’t think so based on the look of the family room! I picked up these cute little Christmas craft packages at Hobby Lobby and the boys did both have fun putting them together.

We had fun with Rudolph noses and antlers, trying to get a picture for Mom and Dad’s Christmas frames….that was fun.

Look how sweet they are!  Who wouldn’t want them for a whole week!

LAMLIR(laughing at my life in ruins)

The Dog!

In the nick of time

I love this story…and this quilt…Donna took this pumpkin runner class with me a few weeks before Halloween and when she left class she had the runner top completed, it sandwiched together with batting and backing and had done a couple of machine quilted rows. Literally the day after Halloween I get a message and here’s what she said along with this wonderful picture of her quilt….

“Done in the nick of time. One hour before treaters come a knocking and take my chocolate bars that are left!”

Now that’s a true quilter…..get er done!

Lego Man

Block by block, piece by piece and he’s done and out of my sewing room on his way to the birthday boy. I love the way it turned out…maybe a little bigger than I expected but Ayden can grow into it.

He looks just like all the little Lego men that Ayden collects…so cute. I have a small stash of these “P.S. I love You” labels that I save to put on special quilts for special people in my life like grandsons….and it’s securely attached in the binding so he will never ever forget!

Shea’s Big Girl Quilt

My friend Pat’s granddaughter Shea just got a new big girl quilt. It’s so pretty in browns and pinks. I love the star blocks…so cute.

It was quilted with the pantograph Angel Wings which shows up wonderfully on the backing.

Dress up your dish soap

Who likes a naked soap bottle on your kitchen counter. To be quite frank…who likes anything naked on your kitchen counter. These adorable little aprons are perfect for dressing up your bottles. They make great gifts when you just want to give a little smile to someone.

I didn’t even try to get “perk me up” centered on the apron…don’t you just love the way things turn out sometimes!

I’ve got a new guy

And he’s living in my sewing room….for now anyway.

My grandson Ayden is a huge Lego fiend…..just crazy for Lego. When I saw this quilt pattern designed by Jenny, you can find the link here http://designedbymom.blogspot.ca/2012/01/lego-quilt-some-people-have-asked-me.html#more I just knew I had to make it for him.  Once completed, it will be for his birthday.

Apples…..delicious

The ladies in my Shabby Fabrics Apple Runner class did a  “Gala” job of competing their runners. Carol, Marlene, Merla, Marylynn and Candy show off their “pickings”

Had a great tip from Marlene…for your applique templates, buy plastic cutting mats from the dollar store, trace and cut out your pattern pieces with them.

Give that gift another thought

My friend Pat is a wonderful quilter….she has a few unquilted quilts in her stash. Recently she asked me to quilt  one of these for a wedding gift.

It’s a simple quilt, but absolutely gorgeous. It looked amazing quilted in the pantograph called Mandarin Lace.

When I gave it to her finished, she was amazing at how beautifully it had turned out. Quilting just seems to bring a quilt alive. In our discussions we agreed that perhaps it was a keeper and she would need to rethink giving it as a gift.

Have you hugged your mug lately

I love these little Mug Huggers….they are super simple to make and are a great little gift idea. This one was made from the fabric Love Sewing Words by Kanvas.  Perfect for quilters.

These are quick and easy to put together…just a simple velcro closure on the back.

Getting tied up

Doing everything but quilting…

These scarfs ( by Sassy Fabric) are quite different….made with fabric that has little slots cut out of it. You use a crochet hook to link the slots together resulting in a really wonderful ruffled scarf. They take virtually no time at all to complete…good thing cause  I bought 5 packages of them!

Pineapple Runners

Donna, Marylynn and Jean all did a gorgeous job of completing their Pineapple runners.

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I am so proud of these ladies….they are relatively new quilters and the Pineapple runner is not for the faint of heart.

MaryLynn has an in with a longarm quilter and managed to get hers quilted. Looks wonderful completed finished.

Hey Baby

I had fun making these little bibs for my son in law’s sister’s new baby…Macy. I had lots of sample pieces of fabric that came in really handy to mix and match when putting them together.

A little machine embroidery….

A little polka dot binding…

A little mix and match of co-ordinated fabric equals a really cute gift to give.

Sometimes I learn a new trick or tip

I’m always amazed at how I can learn a few tricks of the trade from my students when I teach…..Janet had this great idea for making a complicated piecing diagram easier to view row by row.

While making the Labyrinth quilt, you can loose track of what row you are on, very easily…..Janet came up with a great idea to just focus on the row you are working on by taping two pieces of paper together while leaving just the row exposed. You can move the paper up or down depending on what row you are working  on…..awesome.

Janet, Susan and Kallie’s Labyrinth’s quilts turned out fabulous. This pattern is always so striking no matter what the fabric choice.

Quilter’s I Phone Hang up

I had a cute panel of fabric called Made with Love by Kanvas ….little blocks geared to quilters with pincushions, needles, scissors, thread, buttons and sewing machines…..and they just happened to be about the right size for my IPhone Hang up pattern. With a little tweaking  I was able to make the little blocks work. these will be great little gifts for all my quilting friends.

Egg-citing

Separating yolks from the whites…

I would not have believed this had I not tried it myself. I found this tutorial on Pintrest and thought …interesting. I have had so many fails from Pintrest stuff that I was pessimistic …so I wanted to see for myself and my goodness it really worked.

Step 1…crack an egg into a bowl

Step 2… get yourself and empty plastic water bottle

Step 3… gently squeeze the bottle, not too much pressure

Step 4…gently touch the squeezed bottle to the surface of the yolk

Step 5…gently release the pressure and the yolk miraculously slides inside the bottle, no whites attached.

Step 6…squeeze out the yolk into a separate bowl…