Thanks so much, everyone.... and I'm ready to move forward, to quote a friend...

I very much appreciated all the kind comments from you all, I hope you can understand why it's taken me so long to get back to you and say thank you.  Honestly, I spent so much time here bragging on my Nosey Parker, I feel like this blog was more about her than anything else.  But I'm going to try to get back to doing things like I did, even though it won't ever be the same, not even close.  

OK.  

I've been a little busy these days with helping with my mother, but I've also had some time to sew.  I've made a few bitties and a lunch bag and a couple of mug totes.  Let me show you.  Bitty Block Committee is on hiatus for the summer, so I don't have as many as usual to show you.  

We did another go-round of the beach/underwater theme- I think this one fits quite well, since it's half underwater.  The message is their last will and testament and leaves ME all their fabric and quilting supplies.  Heh!

We also did a Farmer's Market theme and I made zucchini- you know how you get so many that you can't hardly give them away?  LOL  And I made one block to commemorate a funny occurrence I had with my mother at the store once when the clerk had spelled cucumbers as "cucmumbers" on the sign.  The laughter from my mother could be heard throughout the entire store.  ;)

 We also did a side swap called "Bitter Bitties" and I made a "You are the spinach in my teeth" block....

 and another one- "You are the gum on my shoe."  I did this one especially because Kimmie and Ruthie love the Wizard of Oz so much, and I thought it was pretty funny that Dorothy would step in it, even more than she already had.  LOL

 I made a couple of mug totes, for someone who goes to classes or work and wants to bring her own favorite mug with her.  This one turned out really well.... from this tutorial- by {me} and my thoughts....  I added the inside pocket.

 And this one is just adorable, from this tutorial- by Red Brolly, but honestly I think it would be better as a little purse for a kid, it seems awkward for a mug, too cube-like. The butterfly wasn't on the flap once a mug was inside, it covered part of the top of the bag.  I guess the flap could be made longer, but it would still be very deep at the top, not tapered like it is in this photo. 

I sent the first one to my partner in FLiRTS, she wanted  a mug tote or a lunch bag... So I made her a lunch bag, too, using this cute Edgy Veggy material that I had.  I found this pattern on Etsy. 

And I included a matching condiment wallet... I've sold tons of them in my own Etsy shop.

 

 I also made myself a new bag out of selvages.  I had worn my old one out, it was threadbare and shabby.  It has pockets on the outside but it's plain inside, since I use a purse organizer that fits right in it. I did this in a "quilt-as-you-go" style so I wouldn't have to make a lining.  I covered the inside seams with binding.

Thank you all again for understanding our loss and sympathizing with us.  We do appreciate you all very much.  Bizbee and Gravey have been getting a tremendous amount of attention lately and we really are treasuring them even more than ever.  A smooch/rub/head-butt from a cat is a gift, one we need and really enjoy.  

Consumed by bittes and other fun stuff...

 Alice in Wonderland bitty blocks, only this time I went a little bigger- 3.5" x 5.5", to accommodate her height, so I wouldn't be cutting out even tinier pieces of fabric. 

 

 It was hard enough as it was!  First I had to trace each piece of  her onto the paper side of Soft-Fuse by Shades,  this is the BEST fusible out there, IMO.  The paper always peels off easily and it never mangles the piece of fabric.  It's a delight to use. 

Then I ironed the fusibles onto fabric and then I spent several evenings while watching TV, cutting all the pieces out.  There are 18 pieces in each Alice.  Times 12 Alices.  Oy.  Phew.

 Several hours at the ironing board to get this- because so many pieces are overlaying the other pieces, I couldn't do this my normal way which is from the bottom layer up, no- this is a big jumble of layers and it's going to be a nightmare to stitch them all down using matching thread.

First I sewed all the pink colored pieces down, using newsprint paper (plain, no ink, from the craft shop art dept) as my stabilizer- no backstitching, I pulled all the thread to the back and tied them off using knots that were at least quadruple knots, because the thread was slippery.  That took an entire evening.  Then I did the flesh colored bits- another entire evening tying knots and pulling off new newspaper.  Then the blue, another evening.  Finally the white, the 4th evening.  

By the time I got to the hair and beak, I was pretty sick of Alice and her croquet mallet friend!  LOL

I had asked my fellow swappers what color hair they preferred, most of them wanted a dirty blonde as opposed to a brunette, so only Kandra and I get the cool dark-haired Alices.  :)

 I managed to get my 2nd set of Alice bitty blocks done a lot faster- psychedelic mushrooms!  I had some great Red Rooster fabric called "Oodles of Doodles" that was perfect for these.  All those different large mushrooms came from ONE piece of fabric!  The small ones came from one piece of coordinating fabric in the same line. 

 I love how they turned out!  I auditioned everything I had for the background, that dark blue won because it was so dramatic and eye-catching.  And using the checkerboard for the photo worked well, too, as it really set them off.  I gotta say, this is one my better photographs- the blocks look even better in the photo than they seem to in person!  Ha! 

 I made a little grass shack block just for fun- I whipped this up really fast, which is odd for me, I usually dither and waste a lot of time making decisions, but this one just came to me.  It's a normal size- 12.5" with the white border.  My husband used to scuba dive a lot, so there's a dive float in it.

 And here's a fun little spoofy bitty- can you figure out what it is?

If you guessed "a ham radio", you are correct!  My dad is a ham radio operator, he drove my poor mother insane on their travels by spending every evening trying to raise someone to talk to, by repeating over and over "C.Q, C.Q", like- 100's of times a night.  She couldn't block him out or get away, so after a few trips like that, she said "NO MORE!" and refused to go anymore.  So he got a smaller trailer and went alone!  They do like their apart time, but now that she's 91, that's coming to an end.  Every time he goes away, he's 88, she has some kind of an issue, health-wise, and it worries me sick, so I'm trying to get him to stay the heck home.  It's just not safe for her to be alone at night and even during the day, sometimes.  

Anyhoo, I'm about caught up on my projects but we just started a new pincushion swap so I'll be busy designing and making one of those pretty soon.  I have an idea, we'll see if I can pull it off.

Have a great weekend, everybody!  Do something FUN.  It's cold here this morning, we have a fire in the woodstove, it was 38º when I got up at 7.  My best friend is in Maui right now, I think I hate her guts!