Is it a Surfboard, or is it a Table?

So ...

Voila.

White Whining

So ... have you ever read an article in a shelter magazine where the homeowner extols on the virtues of her white slipcovers and mentions dropping them into the washer with the amount of energy she might use to say ... brush her teeth? Yeah. Yeah. Let me just say that what she isn't mentioning is the back breaking work it takes to ...

1) Unbutton and unzip everything and then struggle to pull the cushions out of their hiding places as if live birth is taking place. (Getting the big piece off the couch is actually easy ... stuffing it into the washer is another matter. The seat cushions are not bad, but the back cushions are killers.) 2) After washing them and drying them enough to get drippy water off of them, I always like to stuff the "innards" back in while they are still damp so that they are sure to fit. More stuffing, pulling and groaning ensues. 3) I do this in the AZ summer so that the drying hours are fewer, but must live with them scattered and propped about so that the maximum amount of air can circulate. With a sofa and a loveseat, this is two full days of living with the upheaval.

The end of this (incredibly boring) story is that I was thrilled with how much whiter they look (thank you, Mr. Clorox) and I wanted them to be done so that they will best showcase my new coffee table. I found it at a thrift store and thought that a) it had very interesting lines and the longer, narrow-er shape I was looking for and b) would look fabulous with a coat of blue ... yes, blue ... paint.

I blame my friend Kelley aka Glamma Fabulous for sending me a map of thrift stores to peruse. I say "blame" because moving a table to the garage to make way for the old trunk which will make way for the new table ... caused me some back pain. Not to mention the aforementioned pain from the slipcovers.

Whine, whine, whine, whine, whine.

It was all absolutely worth it. I cannot wait to show you the finished product.

And, um, thank you my friend.

No Fat Pigs were involved in the production ...

So ... you're thinking about going to Market, are ya? (I'm talking Quilt Market in Houston at the end of October, but Safeway in August works just fine too.)

If you want to be the belle of the ball and make an ecological statement* at the same time ... you might just want to pick up one of these babies for all your shopping needs. You can find them here. I mentioned my status as president of the Riley Noehren fan club here. My partiality has nothing to do with my love of her products.

I also bought this print of a masted ship in the San Francisco Harbor. My partiality toward ship prints (see here) has everything to do with that purchase.

Check 'em out before Market. You'll be doing a jiggety Jig.

* if Vespas aren't green enough for you, they also come with horses on them. Doesn't get much greener than that.

Whale Rider

So ...

are you beginning to see a theme developing here?

Sibling Revelry

So ... here are some pictures of my perfectly precious grandchildren, showing some sibling love. In the above pic, we have Miss Dub1 and Miss Dub2 holding hands, with their fingers intertwined. (Mrs. Dub did point out that this pose is likely to lead to Miss Dub2 trying to bite Miss Dub1's hand) ... but for the moment, let's just enjoy it for what it is ... perfection.

And here we have L'il Gee striking a "this is how big my pregnant belly is" pose. For now (and for the next 6 weeks) this is the best kind of bonding I am going to see between L'il Gee and his L'il Sis.

They both make me just a L'il Teary-Eyed. How about you?

My Hand Basket Awaits ~

So ... I lied. Eh, it's probably not the first time. In my last post I made a big deal about how much I love hand applique and planned to do my next sample with just such a technique. It took me 2 hours to trace and cut out the pieces and about a minute and a half to figure out that this was not the project for beginners at hand applique. I immediately went upstairs and traced and fused the machine applique pieces in less than 45 minutes. The following day I sewed them on while in some sort of applique-ic trance. I am really thrilled with the results, but I am truly sorry/embarassed about having lied to you.

So, how big do you think this hand basket will need to be to transport me ... um ... you know where?

I may have also lied about the fabrics being bright and happy. It turns out they are more like ... pastel-ish ... and happy. But, by golly they are happy.

How about you?

Project: Every Which Way

So ... I have one or two (or three) projects on the table (and the floor.)
They pretty much all make me happy.

#1: Project Fun-Way: My next sample for BC Quilter's Club for September and October. I will be using hand applique. What makes me happy about this is that a) it's a very traditional pattern (normally seen in Civil War fabs and such) but I'm using some bright happies, and b) I really love hand applique.

#2: Project Stun-Way: I bought these new nautical looking sheets, and already had a duvet cover and shams (in foreground) with similarly matching stripes. Today I bought this (rather cheap-o) dust ruffle (on left) that I will now add some blue satin-stitched stripes to, which will complete the ensemble. Not so cheap-o anymore. (Ergo: happiness.)

3#: Project Un-Done-Way: I spent over 2 hours on Saturday adding these sashing strips to another quilt in progress. I wasn't thrilled. Today when I walked up and saw it on my wall and found myself still without thrill, I ripped those puppies off and will be starting anew with sashing that thrills me. What makes me happy about this? That I had the guts to just rip 'em off like a band-aid, before I went any further.

How about you? What Projects are sending you Running this Way and That?