glorious, glorious fabric!

I've been planning a quilt project for a couple weeks now.  Well, today was the glorious day that I picked out fabric.  I spent an insane amount of time staring at bolts and bolts of fabric.  I declare, I think this is an obsession, my love of fabric.  I will buy it without a project in mind and hold on to it for months before I actually find something I want to use it for.  Is that a problem?  I also like the remnant bin, I'm a sucker for small rolls of discounted fabric.  It's clear, I have issues.  Don't judge.

I was still hooked on the yellow and gray theme and so I selected these for a quilt for my grandma.  There's less gray than I was looking for, but in the end, I was pleased with this selection.  And since I'm trying to do this "by the book" - I have a hard time with that you know - they are now happily getting acquainted with the washer and dryer.  I confess, I never prewash my fabric.  I know, it's a sin.

 

 

These will be baby quilts.  That's my hope at least.  I cheated and bought stacks for these.  They are enjoying time mingling in the craft room until I complete the quilt for my grandma.  Pending its success, they'll also meet with the washer and dryer and move on to life as a beloved quilt.  Pending its success, I say.

 

 

 

 

Coon huntin and headbands, whatta mix!

I'm back.  No woe is me.  Yay me!  And yay you!  Nana and K have taken off to let the dogs run at Uncle J's and get a caramel frappe while the man sleeps and I have two seconds of peace.  It promises to be a long week with C in Illinois and I'm thankful for just a few quiet minutes.  The calm before the storm.

Why is the man sleeping at 7:15pm, you ask?  Long story, made short (or maybe not so much) - we met some friends last night with their kids to do a summer family coon hunt.  The moon was bright and the weather was going to be pleasant.  We all enjoy coon hunting (even though it's not often that we get to go as a family, it's mostly a man thing.)  Plus, we ladies thought it would be a nice quick trip...we were going close to home, so we would be back at a decent hour.  Not so, friends, not so.

We park and make our way through the field and to the corner.  Big Boss is off, leaving Banjo and Daisy to wait their turn.  We wait a little.  Then, they go next, but Dais returns and hovers.   On the GPS, Boss is off and headed for the river, then the road.  Eventually, we find ourselves back in the trucks and parking on the side of a back road, trekking into the wild again.  We hike up and down the mountain and over large streams, through the briars and spider webs until we finally catch up to them.  We let Dais go again and she's off with the big boys huntin coons, or so we think.  Banjo comes back smelling some kinda bad!  It's obvious he hasn't treed a coon, but a schmelly-welly skunk.  At this point, it's decided, we're callin it a night.   Banjo rolls and scruffs himself in the field the entire time we're walking and the smell burns our noses and throats.  You can taste skunk in your mouth.  On the other hand, we now have to find our way to the trucks.  Thankful for C's GPS, (that also tracks the dogs' collars, yes, it is quite fancy and exciting, even if it is a boy toy!) we find our way out of the woods, but not before being stalked by some donkeys who are not in the least bit pleased that we are trespassing in their field.  They hee-haw their necks off for a few minutes until we find a fence to jump.  The kids are petrified and crying due to the crazed donkey scene and C gives them his best karate kick.  Which neither scares nor comes close to touching the insane donkey trio, it's just an act to frighten them off.  Safe and sound, we were hoofin' it on the pavement back to the trucks again.  We walk a total of 3 miles, even the munchkins!  We finally arrive home around midnight, give the kids and ourselves baths and hit the hay around 12:45. 

This morning was the normal routine.  Sunday school.  We skipped church service and had lunch out because C would be leaving after lunchtime for the airport.  Then, knowing they needed a catch-up, I told the natives it was time for a teensy, weensy nap.  Needless to say, that did not go over well and they never actually fell asleep.  I take that back, K did, but then the man woke her up.  Next, Nana came over to save the day and surprise us with some dinner.  We did the usual.  Tour the flowers, garden, chickens, played with the dogs, and decided we would watch a movie.  That all went pretty well, but the man was now fit to be tied and got himself in a bit of trouble that landed him in his room for a timeout where he cried his little eyes to sleep in two minutes.  That, is why he is sleeping at this time a'day or night, rather.  I'm praying he'll make it til morning without waking.

OK, now, onto some fun sewing stuff.  While the natives were supposed to be napping, I was working on this from foofanagle...

One of K's friends has a birthday coming up next weekend and we're thinking of making her a couple of these, accompanying some matching tank tops.  The instructions are so simple and there's even a template. 

I finally completed beading on the quilted table runner and it now looks like this...

Just a little beading here and a little beading there...

And then, there's this stack of fabric that I have BIG plans for.

I think it's gonna take a bit to complete this and I'm not yet saying just what that is.

 

Nonsense

I have been so busy in the last two weeks.

I will not recap, it'd be way too long - you and I both know it.

I have been sewing away.

I will try to post some pics tomorrow but, I'm not promising.

On that note, I must tell you about this place.

I was overwhelmed with all of the gorgeous fabric there.

For me, it's definitely a place where you already have to have in mind

what you're going for and they re-upholster furniture. 

We saw some of their work, ready to be picked up, nice!

I will tell you that as I was driving over some homemade lasagna, salad, and blackberry wine cake to my grandparents, I saw a beautiful winter sunset and couldn't help but thank God for the gorgeous day (with 64 as the high!  Can you even believe it?!  Wow!)

The sky was blue and purple with fluffy cotton candy pink clouds.

There were well-defined pink trails where jets had flown threw, breaking up the blueish-purple sky and it was absolutely stunning!

Also, another high for the day.

While I was waiting to pick up Caleb, I sat in my car reading.

It's one of those frugal movement things - saves gas if I stay in town.

At the 2.5 hour mark, I couldn't hack it anymore, I had to do something.

I'd already run errands and gotten groceries the day before.

So, I ran over to Target where I scored an entire outfit, completely on clearance!

Cute trousers = $17.50 (not exactly a bargain but, hey!)

Cute Sweater = $5.00

Cute Slip-ons = $4.98

I absolutely hate clothes shopping, with a passion!

So for me, this was outstanding!

You see, nothing ever fits right,

I have obscenely long legs and arms.  

Nothing ever fits in the waist that is long enough for the legs.

SO, if you buy a smaller size, the smaller the appendages are.

I'm in no way bragging but, I wear an XS or S in shirts,

and pants just depend on the brand but, they have to be LONG.

Neither set of limbs can find a good length of fabric.

All in all, it makes for an extremely frustrating shopping trip.

And my mom doesn't understand this at all.

Tomorrow, I will start a new book, as I finished another today.

My mom secretly got this as a gift and had it autographed at the 2010 3-Day.

She surprised me with it at Christmas and I can't wait to get into it.

Then, I have a laser appointment.  Oh joy.

I tell myself  it will be worth it soon!

I can handle 5 minutes or so of zaps.

See you tomorrow. or Friday. or the weekend?

Thanks for stickin' around, I'll try not to be gone for so long this time.