boy oh boy!

So ... Christmas has come and gone. And although I had thought at one point that it might just be something to get through and then cross off of a list of "firsts"... it was actually quite lovely. With three of the fantastic four (children) and one of the amazing three (g-kids), melancholy was just not an option. For instance take a gander at Mr. Candy Cane pictured above with his new firehouse from Santa. Grinning was all we could muster up.

Later, Auntie Gee let him use her real camera which he used to take close-ups of the firehouse. Then he figured out on his own how to scroll back and view his handiwork. Clearly the "G" in Mr. Gee stands for Genius.

And here are my Bestest Boys. Sonny Boy (and Mrs. Boy, not pictured) tutored him on the art of the skateboard. I just love those boys.

Hope your holiday was just as Merry and Grin-ful. Do tell.

My Stars!

So ... I got the bright idea sometime in November, to add "Fancy Iced Cookies" to my repetoire of skills. And in the end, I gave myself a day and a half to perfect this particular skill ... which is basically impossible. But thirty hours or so later (+ only 2 advil) I am happy enough with the current product to give it to those friends and neighbors who have shown by prior performance that they will not openly mock me.

But just in case you are stymied by my gutsy ways, divert your attention below and the Spirit of Christmas will return in an instant.

When Miss Dub1 was told they would be seeing Mr. Claus at the mall, (she thought plane tickets had been purchased for a trip to the North Pole) she said, "Oh, I didn't know he had a station there." Miss Dub2 (yes, all 5 months of her) spent part of last week in a hospital crib, entertaining the nurses with her giggly ways and precious disposition. (She is home and fine and awaiting Santa with her big sis.)

Let's face it, I am not blogging again until after Christmas, so let me just add ...

Let Heaven and Nature Sing: Merry Christmas to All!!!

three twinkly trees, no partridge

So ... it was up to me to do the outside lights.

And I live in a pretty competitive neighborhood. Not "make the evening news" competitive, but competitive, none the less.

PDaddy was fond of keeping up ... to a point ... which involved lights strung along the outside eaves, which go to 2 stories high above the front door. I knew that my 5'2" frame was not up to the task, so I changed the game plan to involve three twinkly trees, one of which we had already. I added some lights around the front door and stood back to ooh and aah while simultaneously patting myself on the back.

So far the neighbors have been kind. Let's face it, their's only look brighter by comparison.

So how competitive is your neighborhood? Are you feeling Merry & Bright??

It's beginning to look a lot like ...

So ... I've done a bit of decorating this weekend. I will shop tomorrow to replenish my supply of Advil. In the meantime I will bask in the twinkly lights and try very hard not to move.

"S" stands for Santas in the Sunshine.

Yes, Virginia, it does snow in Arizona ... right on the kitchen table.

See ... a little bit landed in the living room and stuck to these trees.

Santa is not amused.

Turn on some Bing ... I promise it will cure the most aching of aching backs.

She is thankful for seashells at the sea shore!

So ... I had a lovely Thanksgiving. It involved delicious ... but not coma-inducing amounts of food. It involved two daughters, two cities and a fair amount of shopping. Mostly, it involved one precious little boy who looked suspiciously like the one in the photo above.

Oh yeah ... it also involved the Pacific Ocean.

Sigh.

How was your T-day?? Any sand in your toes??

shells

So ... I finally finished my quilt (wallhanging, truth be told) for my precious Miss Dub2. For some reason after I did all the leaf appliques, I took awhile before I threw out the "shells". I liked the way they looked on my cutting board. (Yes, and I like the way all those threads and scraps and what-not look like lying on the floor, in case you were wondering. You can thank me later for not taking pictures of them.)

The letters came courtesy of Carol Doak's 300 Paper-Pieced Patterns that comes with a CD. In. Val. U. Able.

I was very gutsy with the machine quilting ... when I didn't have a right to be ... because it really shows and it really could be better. But I know my little Dubbie loves me no matter what, and will love her quilt just because Nanny loves her.

So there.

blue plate special

So ... I took a blue platter that had been left in the reject box when I moved everything around last winter ...

Added what might be one of my all-time favorite quilts that I like to call A Study in Neutrals with a Blue Surprise ...

Bought some brown place mats because let's face it ... buying stuff is fun, and ...

Voila!! An entirely new breakfast nook.

Same ol' cereal.

Book Learnin'

So ... how do you learn stuff most efficiently?? Do you need it in print in order to understand it? Do you have to see it? Do you have to see it while simultaneously hearing someone narrate about it? Do you need that last one more than once? More than twice?

Then, welcome to my world.

I guess you could say that I am a visual person. But more accurately you could say that I'm a step by step kind of gal. Add to that "third time's a charm" and you would describe how I learn best. The worst way for me to learn something is just to be handed the manual. "EEK!" is usually my reaction to that one. Followed by walking away and eating something decadent. I am just that scared of manuals.

But life is funny. And here I am with a bunch of electronic equipment ... and a bunch of manuals. But ... even funnier ... I am making my way with them. I am staring manuals in the face and I am coming out the victor.

Oh ... I am woman, hear me roar.

Why, just the other day, I was faced with the daunting task of replacing the ink in a printer that is so new, I had not faced that task with it before. I did it. I read the manual. I replaced the ink. I did a dance.

And now I am the proud and humble owner of a camera that makes my old camera look like a wimpy girly-man. I tried on a few occasions to unload the pictures already on it and move on from there, but I was stuck. Even worse, I could find the "advanced" manual, but what I needed was the "basic" manual. I was headed straight for the left-over Halloween candy.

But noooo. Not only did I manage to find said 'basic' manual on the internet, (yes, the internet, children ... amazing but true) I unloaded the pictures, figured out how to work the swively display screen and took the above pictures. Of course by that time it was dark (when I started it was light) and I don't like to do 'flash', but I'm still feeling pretty good.

What about you?? Are you afraid of manuals?? What is your learning style?

And, most importantly ... are you still eating leftover Halloween candy?

blocks and blubbering

So ... I just want you to know that it was just barely November when I finally finished these two.

I haven't checked to see if the November block is out yet, but I'll try to keep on schedule with that one.*

Thanks to Miss Bunny Hill for providing me with these distractions all year long. I'm back to sewing and other projects that occupy my mind and heart. Since I don't use my blog to vent about personal issues, you will think that it's pretty much business as usual for me.

It's not.

But ... as far as my blog is concerned, it is. Thanks for your love and friendship and you're-a-total-stranger-but-what-the-heck-I'll-have-you-in-my-heart-anyway prayers. And even though it might seem like business as usual around here ... keep them up.

Definitely ... keep them up.

* Oh ... it's here all right. And you are correct in assuming that there is no rest for the weary.

I sewed today ...

I sewed today.

Gooooooooood.

Cheap Therapy.*

Thanks for all your kind thoughts ... they magically help.

* Ummm ... or not so cheap?

Ode to PDaddy

David aka PDaddy

July 27, 1949 - October 13, 2009

Thanks for making us laugh every single day.

That's what Friends are for ...

So ... I've been away for a bit.

Let's just say that after that l'il bout I had with salmonella, we had a week long hospital stay involving PDaddy and then just as we were bringing him home we discovered a "slab leak". For those not in the know ... "slab leak" = evil.

The good news is that all the grandkids are here with more children coming this weekend. The good-er news is that we have the most marvelous friends in the world, many of whom that have superb plumbing and drywall skills. Other friends have amazing cooking skills. Others have done our laundry without so much as a whimper. Thank you. Thank you, thank you.

The good-est news of all is that we are home, we have running water, and these grandkids are still keeping us in grins. Once again we have too many blessings to count.

p.s. The above picture was taken when one of their mothers discovered them in The Kingdom playing "office" with some sort of Business that involved thread spools and quilting gloves. When questioned where they found the quilting gloves, Miss Dub promptly replied, "In the glove aisle, of course."

p.p.s. Oddly enough, I won another give-away from this blog, through my friend at this blog. I know it's unfair, but what can I say?

I've got plenty of Somethin' ...

So ... having been a bad, bad blogger*, I might be tempted to use an excuse the fact that I've just got nothin'. Except that it's pretty clear here, that the somethin's I do have are ... quite something. Take Miss Dub2 for example, pictured above. She is clearly too scrumptious for words.

These two sisters are quite the pair and I miss them more than I can say. But every, every single day I look at these pictures (and more) and we send the most loving vibes back and forth. Can you feel them?

Here is Miss Dub1 last weekend as she excitedly prepared to go see a live production of "Cinderella". She absolutely loved it until half way through when she proclaimed, "I'm not so much into plays anymore." Now you've gotta admire a girl who knows what she wants.

And here is Mr. Gee making wishes in the fountain. If he wished he could come and see us, then that is one magical fountain. The Gees will be here this weekend (along with Ms. Vee ... er Gee ... er Are?). Li'l Gee and his mom will stay on through the next week. I will be a quarter past giddy.

So ... admit it ... I have definitely got somethin'.

*I will put it out there that part of my bad blogging ways can be attributed to a little case of salmonella that I had last week. Seriously.

Heaps O'Fun

So ... my sewing room (and possibly my life) is reduced to a series of Piles. Projects that are current, but not neccessarily urgent. Projects and Piles that are beginning to make it harder to work on the next Project and/or Pile. I've already show you a peek of P#1 (above) where it's clear I'm having a whale of a good time.

P#2 continues the beachy theme with some seashells gathered at the ... Stash. You might recognize the striped fabrics that later turned up as cupcake papers here. One cannot have enough pink stripes in their life, that's for sure.

P#3 was started just yesterday, although it's really the only P/P with any urgency. These paper-pieced beauties will be part of a quilt (wall hanging) for my beloved Miss Dub2. She is growing so very fast that I must get it done before she is hanging out in her room with her friends and having a quilt with her name on it seems embarassing. And just in case you are wondering ... her name isn't "MOE".

The funny thing is that these piles do not induce pressure ... only delight. I cannot say the same thing about the piles of papers in the Office.

And that pretty much sums up why I do what I do.

So ... apparently fabric is not the only thing I lose track of. It's not the only thing in my closet that has slipped into the realms of "what the heck?!?". About a week ago my fabbo sister-in-law was here with her family and the two of us spent a couple of hours up in the kingdom where she very graciously feigned interest while I showed her every little thing I had sewn since possibly the seventh grade.

What an interesting journey that turned out to be.

Take this quilt above, for example. I do believe I made it in early 2004 after PDaddy had given me a book for Christmas on New York Beauties by Valorie Wells + another one on paper piecing. It gave me the opportunity to practice my paper piecing skills and in my head (a very ... very ... dangerous place to be) I was taking a stab at "Art Quilting". My first and last stab, I might add.

I do have to say that I was more pleasantly suprised than horrified when I unearthed it last week, having never given it a single thought since mid-2004. It cools off the kingdom a tad what with the temperatures approaching 110 again.

So do tell ... What's in your closet? If you want to spill on what's in your wallet, I'll listen to that too.

smells fishy to me ...

So ... the PDaddy has been spending the morning going over his fishing ... stuff. He mutters phrases from time to time that sound vaguely familiar like "Wow, this is older than I thought" ... and ... "where the heck did this come from" and "I can't even remember buying this". I can not tell you how good that made me feel. I tried to confess to him that these are the very phrases that I mutter when I go through The Stash. I'm not sure he heard me.

I didn't repeat it.

As you can see, I have been doing a bit of fishing myself. These beauties from the deep blue sea are my latest hand applique project. I have a somewhat similar machine applique project in the works. I may or may not wear sun screen while working on them.

Does your husband have a hobby/sport/electronic obsession that helps you to justify your own crafty/sewing/paper obsession purchases? Do tell.

(Yes ... I would be the one who placed the package of goldfish to give him something to aim for. He has yet to catch one. You can't say I didn't try to help.)