Bitties and Calendar panel....

 Gosh, it's been a long time.  I haven't done much of anything lately but I have read a lot of books this winter!  Nothing exciting enough to recommend, but they kept me entertained while I huddled around the wood stove during our long cold spells.

I did sew a little- the bitty theme was "sewing" so I made this for group 1, a sewing bird, it's an antique gizmo also referred to as a 3rd hand.  The beak opens up in a real metal one and pinches onto your fabric, while the base clamps to your table.  This gives you a 3rd hand, basically.  Google it if you want to see a real one.  :)

 For group 2, I made a cat stealing fabric off the cutting mat.  

This has happened to me several times!

 I owed Kimmie a block so I made her a scarecrow for her Oz theme and 

thought he turned out pretty well.  

 Next up was the laundry theme- I made tiny little feedsack clothespin bags and hung them from a piece of rattail cording with 2 tiny clothespins.

 As you can see, it's March (banner above) and I made these 8 bitties for the new panel. These bitties came from all over the world, UK, Brazil, US, etc. 

 And this is the event tag for St. Patrick's Day on the 17th.

 Other than that, there's not much going on around here.  It's a warm sunny day today, in the 70's, but dropping down to freezing tonight and maybe a few snow flurries.  Spring can take it's time, I'd rather have a long, cool spring than jump right into summer!

Oh, and I joined a group on Facebook for decluttering the house, so I've been having lots of fun going thru things and getting rid of junk and donating good stuff to the doggie store!  That's time-consuming but rewarding!  I love simplifying the house.  Still have lots to do, but I have really pared down my clothing and the kitchen junk. It's like Spring Cleaning, only different.  That'll be later, after all the extra stuff is gone!

Rearranging in more ways than one....

 So since I really hated for the perpetual calendar/bitty block project to end, I came up with a way to show off a few more of them every month.  :)  I made an accompanying piece to hang next to it, and finished some of the extra Halloween bitties that didn't make it into the small banner on the top.  I love this, I get to look at 8-10 more fun bitties every month.  I just sewed them together with a single piece of batting in the center of the sandwich and then finished the edges by couching on a piece of rattail cording. 

 I also made an event tag for the holiday and surrounded it with a few of my cute Halloween pins that were given to me by a friend.

Now I'm pulling out bitties for November/Fall/Thanksgiving to finish.  I had to order different colors of rattail cording, my bright ones weren't going to work at all.  Gosh, I love Etsy, you can find almost anything there.

And I've been a little busy reorganizing the craft/guest room.  I bought this handsome walnut chest for a SONG at an indoor flea market and with some strong man-help, got it up 2 flights of stairs to the hall between the 2 rooms.  I then moved 2 other chests that I had into the hall so I have a line of them now and a place for some much needed lamps.  Those drawers are all filled with sewing/crafting/quilting supplies (except for one that holds extra towels and soap for the guest bath which is right across from the chests) and it's very nice looking and much better than the old metal shelving unit and all the stuff that accumulated next to it.  Love this so much!  I was trying to get built in cabinets there in that hall, but this is even better. 

It was fun rearranging, I don't get to do that much in this little house, so I had a great time. 

 

The cats all like it, too.  The youngest one thinks it's great fun to stand up and smack at that little drape while he hides behind it.  They just love it when you move stuff around, it's so exciting for them.  

So that's what I've been up to.  Hope you're having a nice autumn, too!

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.  

The Perpetual Project- :)

 Long time, no blog!  Life's been a little busy around here lately, my mom is not doing very well, she's 92 and having major issues so I've been spending a lot of time over there helping out my dad, and trying to help her.  She's had appointments and exams and an MRI and a neuro-psychological exam.  Still waiting to see the neurologist, but the preliminary diagnosis is Alzheimer's, but maybe with Parkinson's thrown in.  Home Health Care is doing a great job by sending over therapists to help us learn how to deal with the physical issues and troubles with swallowing, weakness, etc.  It's very heartbreaking to see her going thru all this and it's exhausting for all of us.  Needless to say, free time has dwindled away so while it seems like there isn't too much to show off right now, I haven't blogged in so long, that there turns out to be quite a bit.  

Here's the newest big project, I started this a couple of months ago- a perpetual  calendar using some of my precious bitty blocks from the group I'm in on Flickr, The Bitty Block Committee.  I made one big background piece and then made a monthly banner for each month and an extra one for birthdays.

 This is how I'll denote special days, with a wire embellishment.  I need to add some beads to it!

 I had so much fun with 2 girlfriends when I was with them last, going thru all the bitties I have accumulated and picking out 5 for each month's banner.  We were up til about 2 AM going thru them over and over, then willowing the bunches down, it was wonderful seeing all the bitties together like that, I have hundreds and hundreds of them, and I broke up a lot of sets but it's worth it. 

I'll make a new post soon to show you what else I've been working on in my sparse free time.  I received a great package in a swap called FLiRTS- Fab Little Random Treasures Swap, where we pick a difficulty level and then choose 5 things from that level that we might like to receive, then our partner picks one thing and makes it- I SCORED big time and got a great tote bag, I'll show you soon!  Can't tell or show you what I made yet, as it's still in transit.  

Anyway, I hope you like my calendar!  I have it hanging in my office near the computer and I love looking at it.  It's an original design, I kind of made it up as I went along and built it from the inside out, to fit the banners.  Big thanks to all my fellow Bitty Blockheads, I couldn't have made this without them!

Long time, no post, lots of photos!

 We had a new round of pincushions in our FLiPS swap, this is the one I made for my partner, craktpot/Teri...

 It's a little caravan/trailer and I used a tutorial from The Quilted Fish      

to start it off and then made some changes.  I altered the shape just a little, then

 I added a rear bumper and a license plate and "tail lights" and made the door so it could open, it's now a needle holder. 

 The little hitch thing on the front is actually a small pair of scissors that slides into a 

pocket and supports the trailer.  Car not included.  LOL

 The scissors work, just slide them out of the wire wrap.

 It even has a tiny TV antenna for those lonely nights at the campground.  ;)

 I received this wonderful rainbow turkey pincushion from my partner, andrcarl!  She also included a beautiful coordinating dishtowel that she crocheted for me.  Love that, too.

 One of my pincushion bebes didn't receive the pincushion that was sent to her, so I made her this one, totally copying it from one made by Little Miss Shabby.  I changed it slightly- made it taller, added ground walnut shells, etc, but it's so not original by me, but she liked it.  :)

In the mug rug swap, I made and sent off this one, which started with a bitty block...

... and this one- my partner liked "Kitschy" things....

 And I received this one from Jan/Stampqnjlr, isn't it cute?

 The Bitty Block Bee Queen is my friend Kimmie, and she loves The Wizard of Oz. 

 I made her this Horse of a Different Color... heavily inspired from a photo of an embroidered horse.  I used embroidery floss in 8 or 10 colors for the tail and mane.

 

...and the Medal of Courage.   This little medal was a real challenge, because it's so small, about the size of a half-dollar, maybe.  It's 3D and hangs loose from the ribbon. 

 The month before, the theme was sewing so I made a large fabric button and put it on 

sewing themed print fabric, and a steam iron.

 Did some bitties for winter and some for aliens...

 And some pelicans for a bird theme....

 And Medusas for the Fantasy theme....

 And Bizbee made a full and complete recovery from his illness and is doing great, but breaking things a lot and acting like a one-man demolition derby!  We love him madly.  :)  On a sadder note, we lost Shanzie Fyne, our last remaining collie, in early November to an enlarged heart.  Poor silly thing, we miss her.  She'd had lots of physical ailments in her 8 year life span, but she was a dear dog and lots of fun.

And now I think we're all caught up!  Phew.  If you read all this and looked at all the photos, give yourself a reward, you earned it!