She's so corny!

As I said earlier, I'm doing another mini-quilt swap with a book theme. My partner, Rachel, picked Harry Potter or the Narnia books for me to work from. After much deliberation, I decided on Harry Potter and the Flying Ford Anglia. The Whomping Willow is an integral part of the scene, too. It was fun to make and Rachel and her kids like it.

The label on the back is a lightning bolt, to go with the scar on Harry's forehead that he got as an infant. The scar that burns when Voldemort is nearby!

This is Nosey Parker being corny- cuddling up with my ear of corn pincushion, a gift from a friend. I had given her a book I no longer wanted, a book of fancy pincushions and I knew I'd never make any of them. This one was in the book and it was my favorite. She made me this as a thank you for the book! I love it. Apparently, so does NP! lol Makes a great little pillow.

Oh, and the doll quilt I made, the blue spiderweb? It made its way to Australia and is now living with its new owner, Kate, from One Flew Over...

Now I have to wait to see what I receive from a different partner! I kind of love the wait, it stretches the fun out longer. There are some beautiful things being made and shown every day and it's so exciting to see who gets what!

I WON a doll quilt!

I don't win a lot of stuff, probably because if I see a giveaway that already has 400 people signed up, I don't bother, but sometimes I just have to join in! I got really lucky and won this little beauty, made by Carol, mamacjt, from Flickr. I am so tickled with it, it's just perfect and so cheery. I hung it in the stairwell going up to the craft room. Be sure to go to Carol's blog, she has so much talent and such a great sense of humor, it really shines thru in everything she makes. She is the resident Angel Mama for several swaps, which means she makes quilts and pincushions and all kinds of things to send to people who didn't get what they were supposed to get because their partner "flaked" on them and reneged on the deal. She is priceless and such a dear, kind friend to have and to have a piece of her in my house is a real treat! Thanks so much, Carol! I just love this pinwheel flower quilt, it's incredible!

Here it is hanging next to the placemat that I received from Sudi Laura. Looks good, hey?

I'm in another mini quilt swap, this month's theme is book-related. I can't reveal much yet, but this is a sneak peek of what I'm making for my partner, Rachel. She just happens to love green and purple. :) I should have it finished by tonight but can't show it to you until she's received it. She's supposed to be making me something from the book "Coraline". I've never actually read that book, but I LOVED the creepy movie!

My baby has gotten so big, she doesn't camouflage too well on her quilt anymore!

And this is what Nosey Parker's bite looks like now that it's healed. Temporary (we hope) hair loss. She's feeling great, though. The other day I was on the phone and looked out the laundry room window to see her about 10 feet up in the tulip tree. Next time I looked, there was no sign of her in or under the tree, which was good. I didn't think too much about it after that until an hour later when I went upstairs to find her up on the balcony, in 90º heat! Gleeps, she climbed the tulip tree about 20 feet up and crawled over as far as she could and then she must have jumped the rest of the way to the balcony, I'm so glad that I didn't see that! The branches that get close to the balcony are SMALL! Brittle, even. If she had fallen, it's at least 15 feet down to the ground and part of that is concrete driveway under the balcony. OMG. I hope she never does that again! She's such a daredevil. She does NOT get that from me!

Is an original idea even possible anymore?

I was in my local quilt shop Saturday and they had some used quilting books for sale. I scored a great one for $4, called "Shoreline Quilts", compiled by Cyndy Rymer. $4, what a deal! Anyway, I'm in the shop, browsing thru the book before I realized the incredibly low price and what do I see? A beach quilt with a bottle with a message in it. *gasp* Hey, that's MY idea! I did it on a placemat for a swap a few months ago! I flip to the front of the book to see when it was published- 2003. Ooops. OK, so it wasn't my idea! In fact, my idea wasn't so clever after all, was it? Someone else did it years and years ago. Well, shoot! lol

Here's a shot of the one in the book-

And here's the one I did-

Pretty amazing, huh? I just don't want anyone to think that I copied this idea from the book and then claimed it as my own. I had not seen the book or those photos at the time I made my label in a bottle. Honest!

It's a great book, too, filled with unique ideas and uses of items in the quilts that I would have never (at least, I don't THINK, ever) thought of! :) Apparently, the local used book store saves up quilting books for the local quilt shop and gives them first crack at 'em. I (and you, if you quilt) need to start going to used book stores, the price was great on this one and the others I saw, too.

And there you have today's public service announcement. As you were!

The mini quilt swap, part 2!

Remember I showed you the piece I made, the mermaid looking thru the porthole? That's what I sent to Liz, and then a few days later, I received this from her. She does the most incredible work and she totally nailed my likes.... pirates, 3D, the beach, fabric, color, cleverness, everything! And, as you can see, she sent more! A set of coasters, 2 magnetic bookmarks and a really sweet beachy card. Booty, mates, that is what I found when I opened up the chest, er, package!

The most fabulous Capt. Jack Sparrow, check out the beads in his hair, the key in his hand, the ship on the water.....

...standing on the beach, glaring at the treasure chest...

...which is full of bolts of FABRIC! Is that clever or what??? I was dying, I thought that was so funny and unique and just incredible! The entire quilt is done with the most beautiful batik fabrics, and so many different ones. I just love this quilt, and I adore Liz for making it for me. The cleverness continues.....

To hang the quilt- 2 precious little keys that peek out over the top, they are so in theme, such attention to detail!

On the back, a little map is folded up and held closed with a dear little lobster claw clasp. SO precious. Unfurled, it reveals all the details of our swap.

Details blurred to protect the info from falling into
other treasure seekers' hands!

Big, huge thanks to Liz for totally making my day and week, for spending so much of her time designing and constructing this most wonderous piece for me, a piece that I will treasure forever! Thanks, sweet lady! I love your sense of humor and attention to detail!

Nosey Parker 0, Copperhead 1.....

It's that horrible time of year again- when it's so hot out that the snakes come out of wherever they normally lurk and bite my cats on their legs. Of course, the cat probably asked for it by dabbling at it like a toy, but I would still like to kill that bugger for hurting my baby. No, we didn't kill the snake but only because we never saw it. Our first clue was NP crying in the laundry room, near the door she uses to come and go. Blood was dripping off her right front leg and she was in so much pain. We first thought broken leg, then we found fang holes. Chit! This was about 1 PM.

From previous experience and vet recommendation, we gave her about half of a benadryl (mixed with water, in a syringe, by mouth) and hoped she would sleep the worst of it off. She didn't sleep for a long time, but finally she conked out, getting up about every hour to seek a new spot- under our bed, under the guest bed, by the balcony door, up on my work table, on a dog bed- she was very restless.

The swelling got worse after this photo, but I didn't want to stress her by taking more photos. Her paw got so big, I was worried, it got really fat and thick then it started going up her leg, but it peaked and finally started to come down. She was a little better by bed time, drinking water and ate a bit.

This morning, she is taking it real easy, up on my desk on top of a bunch of fabric that is waiting to be washed. Her daddy went to the vet's office to pick up antibiotics (liquid, won't this be FUN?) and to get Paisley's ashes. I feel another cry coming on. Nosey Parker is going to be OK, thank goodness. We were so worried because we weren't sure what kind of snake it was, we're lucky it was only a copperhead. I doubt that she's learned anything though, because the other cats never did. If it moves, it's fair game, as far as they're concerned. Beez has been bitten at least twice and Freddie Wheat, twice also.

I hate $%*&ing poisonous snakes, I'll tell ya that. I sure wish we didn't have any here. Baskets!

On a lighter note, I got the first hexie top assembled. I like it! My points cooperated really well, I only chopped the tip off of a couple of them and because I pinned the snot of it when I sewed the rows together, they all lined nicely. A couple of the edges are a little bit full, I'll have to beat it into submission when I quilt it, but I think it's going to be a great little lap quilt. I need some backing material, though. It measures about 46" x 54" or something like that.

I have another one the same size and shape to do, next. I'm a little sick of doing it, but I'm forcing myself. I have too many unfinished quilts right now, I don't need another!

A mini quilt swap....

I made this for a new friend in Canada, Liz. We are both in the Mini QT swap at Flickr and were partnered up for the month of July in the beach/underwater catagory. It was a great match-up- we have a lot in common and like so many of the very same things. She received it yesterday so I can post photos of it now. And she likes it, yay, that's always nice!

It's a mermaid looking thru the imaginary porthole on a submarine. :) Just imagine the shock the submariners would be in if they saw this for real! Hence the ship name- USS Mirage. My husband, the sailor, needed to remind me that REAL subs don't have portholes. Well, duh! (OK, I didn't really know that, but I pretended I did.) lol I sewed the bottom half of way too many snaps onto the circle to imitate hardware and then I snapped the top part onto them, so the stitching is hidden pretty much.

Close up of her face. I used Kaffe Fassett fabrics for her hair and shell-top, they just seemed so perfect with the coloring and pattern in them. I used some eyelash yarn for her seaweed headband and stitched some seed beads onto it for a bit of glitz. Also, some beaded bracelets for that fun 3D effect. She's wearing a shell top because she's going to a home with a teenage boy in it. :) I didn't want her to get ogled or cause any problems.

I had this fish fabric and just loved it so I used it for the back. I failed to consider how the binding would look with it, though! Ugh. Oh, well. At least the front looks good. I'm pretty sure this is the first round quiltie I've ever done.... it was fun. It's an original design and you'd believe that if you saw my trash basket full of rejected sketches!

Now, I wait for what Liz has made for me, I'm so excited. This week has been so fun between receiving fabulous things and sending things out to be received. I'm loving these swaps and we are keeping the post office solvent, I'm sure of it!

Yesterday was a fun day..... and thank you all....

Let me start first by saying thank you to everyone for all the sweet

condolences on the loss of our dog, Paisley. It's been a week now and
we're getting used to the fact that she's gone but it still feels weird
without her in our lives. It was so kind of you all to respond and offer your sympathies, I tried to thank you all personally but wasn't able
to for some of the anon or "no-reply" peeps.
Please just know that I appreciated every single one of them.

Now, to yesterday- the mail lady brought 2 packages to the house! One was a quilt book I had ordered thru Ebay, saving over $10, which I liked. It's "Greetings from Tucsadelphia" by Lizzie B. Cre8tive. It's got lots of fun applique patterns in it and even a recipe or 2. But the other box- well, let's just say "WOWEE WOW WOW", shall we? It came all the way from Buenos Aires, Argentina from a friend named Sandy. I didn't know it, but she had my name in a scrappy pincushion swap over at Flickr! I made and sent the turtle, remember? I thought that was cute. Sandy taught me all about CUTE with a capital C!

This is what I found when I opened the biggest package in the box- a little white cat in a pink bikini and a rainbow colored pincushion with a velcro dot in the middle. Interesting, yes? Wonder what that velcro is for?

OH! It's to attach it to the next largest piece in the box, turned out to be a tree trunk on a piece of sand!

Now, tell the truth- is this not the cutest thing EVER????? Sandy made me a little miniature Nosey Parker Goes to Florida pincushion set! It's a rainbow palm tree on a bit of beach! Un-freakin'-believable. She even has her own little towel which doubles as a needle case. Sandy made this up all on her own, she had no pattern and she had to work it out so that it was sturdy and would support the tree top and built it an underwire frame and everything. This was no easy feat! I am so totally impressed. And grateful!

She also sent me some fabulous Kaffe Fassett fabric, 3D rainbow stickers and a lovely handmade, custom card with a long hand-written note about how this came to fruition. You wouldn't believe how giddy and happy I was- I needed this morale boost- it showed me what a lovely friend Sandy is to me and what a kind and dear lady she must be, to go to all this trouble for me! AND- I got what has to be the best pincushion in the entire swap.

For size perspective, you can see the real NP checking out her newest competition. The little fabric NP is quite tiny and so dear! I just love this and keep pinching myself because it's so dreamy. I love things with pieces parts, I adore things that are rainbow colored and I love all things tropical. And of course, I love Nosey Parker to bits, so you tie them all together into one package and I damn near fainted!


I tried to stay busy last week, to distract myself and I ended up finishing 2 little quilts.

No bees, no honey..... No work, no money..... that's a saying from somewhere, don't know where, but I like it. :) It's also the name of this little quilt.

It measures about 12" square and is for me and the other one, below, is for the Doll Quilt Swap. It's about 24" x 16". It's called a spiderweb quilt.


The recipient's name is blocked out so she can't accidentally find out that it's for her before it arrives in her mailbox in about another month.


And what's a spiderweb quilt without a spider? :) Don't freak, it's rubber and squishy and fun to squeeze. This spider is my friend, he eats scary snakes!

I also finished up 9 more sewing caddies and they're all in my Etsy shop. And I made 9 cat collars, but that was no big deal. Murphy and Parker both lost one this week, those rotten kids.

So this week has been better than last week. Thank you all again, very much, for the kindness you've shown me.