Bette, Betty Nuggs

Awwww, look at that. A new little dog. :) Like my new doggie? I do. She went two days here without a name. She came with the name Star. Which wasn't so bad because it made me want to sing "you must be my lucky star" but not so much that I loved it. This morning I told my friend, Brad, about the name problem and he suggested Ethel because I already have a Lucy. Ethel didn't quite fit, but I had been thinking Gracie, Bette, or Asta. Can you tell I watch a lot of movies from the 30s/40s? lol. Bette is what stuck today - so Bette it is. Added bonus is: I can sing "Bette Davis eyes" to her.

Bette's four and not "really" a rescue. I say not really because I paid money for her from a local breeder. Though the breeder had at least 7 dogs inside her house and, according to her, about 70 dogs in her kennel. 70? In Mandeville? So, I kinda feel like I rescued her. Kinda.

We intended to get a rescue, but somehow I found myself on the breeder's web-site and she had a couple of adults for sale. I still felt I should rescue though. But, there was something about this dog, some pull, and I listen to those abstract hints from the universe. Call me nutty, hippie, whatever, it probably fits. But you know, those hints from the universe have never steered me wrong. So, I embrace my inner hippie.

Speaking of inner hippie; there's no bag I love for summer vacations more than I love a hobo bag. So, I made myself one for the summer. ;)


Isn't it cute! Ya, I know. :)

I almost have Hello Pickles completed! I found a great brown dot in my stash that I thought was a good candidate for the binding. I loved it. But I don't have quite enough fabric. I ordered more but I couldn't wait to see what it would look like. So, I bound most of the quilt with what I had this morning and when the ordered fabric comes in I'll finish up the binding. Then it's off to Robin, who better love it or I'm stealing it back. ;)

Quilting Pickles

Well looky looky here who's on the quilting frame. It's Hello Pickles! It was kinda grey and crappy out this afternoon/evening after work was done, which explains the crappy lighting, but perfect for getting some work done. :) Besides, the colors in this quilt are enough to keep my mood bright and sunny. Oh, Hello Pickles, how I love you. It's going to be hard parting with you... :(


I haven't yet started my Bottled Rainbows quilt. I've got tomorrow afternoon and Friday to get working on it though - so I'm not behind, really.

There are still some old projects running around here that I need to complete. Scratch 'n Sniff is one of those uncompleted projects. I'm not sure if I've posted about Scratch 'n Sniff. So, maybe I'll get some work done on SnS and post about that quilt next time. ;)

Bottled Rainbows

It's Angela's fault. Really. lol. OK - it's not Angela's fault. There isn't a person in the world that can make me do something I don't really want to do, so it's really my own decision to join along in the Bottled Rainbows quilt along.

Keeping in fashion with my rebel personality, however, I'm not "following directions". lol. Directions are overrated. Try everything once, keep true to yourself, and bend the rules at every opportunity. That's me!

I'm quilting along but here's where I'm changing it up: I wanted to use as much from my stash as possible, so I'm using a Kona Roll-Up. Because the roll-up won't allow me to make the blocks the same size as directed mine will be square and in the colorway of the roll-up. The only thing I've had to purchase was the background fabric, and I had just used up the end of my Kona snow so I was ordering more of that anyways. ;)

Basically - I'm following the technique only and the rest of the directions loosely. :) Surprised? You shouldn't be.

Look at this yumminess:

Double rainbow, what does it mean??? lol.

Besides this new project I'm finishing up the Hello Pickles quilt top and another little "between" project that I keep picking at occasionally.

Bee Busy

I've been busy sewing...I promise! I've been working on Bee Modern Too blocks. My friend Angela asked me to join the group when one of the original members left. I'm having fun, but I haven't spent too much time on my own projects lately. I'm not complaining - just sayin'. :)

Here are January's blocks - grey and wonky. Bran asked me if they were supposed to be "weird". lol. I said yes and he told me he really liked them and that I should make him a quilt of wonky blocks. :D

February's blocks are Greek mythology inspired. Don't tell Mary but this was the first time I paper pieced. eeek. You can probably tell I'm a paper piecing novice from the back - but really who's gonna see the back? I was surprised by the amount of seam bulk, I really shouldn't have been, but I was.


Besides the bee blocks I quilted and bound two lap quilts for my mom. Ya, the ones she sent me that she only did the piecing on. I'd charge her for the work, but she's my mom...how do you bill your own mom?

March is my month in the bee, so I'll have some time to work on my own projects. I'm currently making a hobo bag with Echino - oooooh, it's gonna be fab-O! I was frustrated cutting and didn't spend the time I should have to straighten the print for the lining. I figured it really wouldn't matter since it's the lining, but now I'm like wth was I thinking? And Robin's "Hello Pickles" quilt? I've got all the blocks done. All I've got to do is finish the top, then I can get it quilted up. :)

Merry Christmas Whiskers!

Well, I've finally finished my Christmas Mod Bento Box! Its scraptacular - and I think, under threat of pain, that I might keep it! Bwaaahahahahhhaaaaa. Kaelin might sic Sir Whiskers MacTavish on me if I kept it. (I sure hope I got Whiskers' name correct or he might sic me himself!) I had originally thought I might keep leading Kaelin on with, "no - the quilt isn't for you". Only to gift it to Whiskers when it was complete, but I can't keep those kinds of secrets...gift giving is WAY to exciting! :D

So, now that the Christmas quilt is complete - what's next? Well, I sat down earlier this morning and tried to list all the projects I've got to finish. First, I have to quilt and bind two quilts for my mom in the next two weeks. Mom sent me a couple lap sized quilt tops she wanted quilted. After calling her (I love you mom!) to review what she wanted I discovered that not only did she want me to quilt them but she also wanted me to add a border to one of the tops, supply the batting and backings, and bind them both. lol - I'm doing all the work! Good thing I like all the steps of quilting and not just the piecing part. She did do the one step I don't love so much - cutting. However, all this work is distracting me from getting my other projects completed. Good thing Robin's birthday is in April, I can gift "Hello Pickles" to her for her birthday!

Besides "Hello Pickles" and mom's "old lady quilts" I have a list of other quilts I need to complete. I may add a the list to my sidebar to help me keep on task. One of the other quilts I need to complete is my Munki Goodness quilt. It is too big to quilt on my little quilting frame so I've had the top sitting around. I've debated sending it out to be quilted, but I really wanted the satisfaction of doing all the work myself. Well, guess what?! There's a local sewing machine shop that is renting out time on their long arm! Yippee! I took the silly little class and am now "certified" (ya - in more ways than one) to rent their machine. Munki Goodness will be complete before the end of March! Yipeeeeee!

Oh, I almost forgot - I'd like to send a shout out to my friend Marika who loaned me some frakkin' awesome creeptastic cross-stitch charts! Halloween stitching will commence shortly! Marika, you're the bomb!

Productive Saturday

It's Saturday and I'm getting stuff done. Woohoo! :)

All the squares for Robin's quilt have been pieced. 88 squares total. I'm totally looking forward to getting this top completed. Can you see why? Look how fabulous it's going to be! All bright and ready for spring. I've nick-named this quilt the Hello Pickles quilt. Robin HATES pickles. The hate is so strong that I've chased her with pickles while she runs screaming in horror since we were six. Great fun for me - less fun for her.

Besides finishing the blocks for the Hello Pickles quilt, I got the Christmas quilt I've been working on since November on the quilting frame and started the quilting process. I love these Mod Bento Box Christmas quilts. I'm thinking about making a Halloween version.

This Saturday has been pretty productive, but not productive enough. I've got to work on some Bee Modern Too blocks, both this month's and last month's need to be completed. I'm still waiting on some fabric for January's blocks, that's a pretty good excuse for being late, right? OK, maybe not, but the fabric I'm waiting for is a linen blend that should give the blocks some great texture, so I'm still waiting. For this month's blocks I just haven't gotten the spur of inspiration I've been waiting for. I hate to start before the inspiration hits, but I can't wait too long...

Spring and Christmas (Quilts)

I'm starting a new quilt top! It's going to be a gift for and old friend. Not that the friend is old - because if I call her old then I'm calling myself old and I know I'm not old. lol. No, old as in we've known each other since we were six. She and I have had our ups and downs - actually recently we had a pretty serious down. I came to my own realization recently that I did want her in my life as a friend. Not only because she'd do anything for a friend, but also because she's one of a very small group of people that know just about everything there is to know about me. Despite that, she still calls me a friend. That alone speaks volumes.

So enough mushy crap.

I pulled the fabric for the new quilt on Monday and just started cutting last night. I've got all the small pieces cut. Now I've got to cut the larger pieces and the sashing. The plan is to have all my cutting done today so that I can sit down and start in on the sewing part. :)



Before I start cutting the rest of the fabric this afternoon though, I'm going to get my quilting frame set up so that I can quilt the Christmas Bento top I just completed. I'd really like to get the Christmas Bento quilted up by tomorrow evening. If that happens then I can work on the binding during the Super Bowl. :)

Oh, and today is my daddy's birthday. Happy Birthday Daddy!