may the fourth be with you ... and the fifth, too

this has been a really, really good weekend... 

i did lots of work outside that did NOT involve a snow shovel except for scooping up leaves and the front porch looks like this now...

no snow ... not even a little bit!!!

and then we ran errands which included... 

 Hallmark to turn in our wish lists

and Noodles - next door to Hallmark - for their famous rice krispie treats cuz i have an aversion to paying $9 for a bowl of noodles 

and Lowes where we spent waaaay too much money on plants because Spring has taken too long to arrive and we needed a fix from the Green Nation 

and Perkins for buy-three-get-three-free muffins

 and Diamond Shamrock for our monthly tank of gas

 and a garden center to look for a planter to replace the one that i broke

 and Wendy's for salads

and then we grilled yes - dianne cooked with fire!!! Auntia's birthday bacon-wrapped filet mignons that have been languishing in the freezer since december just waiting for a warm and sunny day 

and some not-that-great corn on the cob...

we watched Mission Impossible 3 meh while we ate the steaks and corn 

and apple caramel tartlets with vanilla ice cream for dessert...

and then both of us headed into the Magick Shoppe to work on our april blocks for the Old School Saturday Sampler BOM meeting next saturday...

a dandelion log cabin and two not-hot-pink flamingos

which are 

So. Not. Me.

this sampler has made me stretch way, way, way far out of my comfort zone... 

i think i might have pulled some muscles...

anywho... 

this morning Auntia was up-and-at-em really early before me - which almost never happens and we went to see Iron Man Three ... woo hootie hoo!!! 

i love me some Tony Stark smartassedness ... if you go, stay through the credits!!!

and now i'm gonna ignore the housework and laundry and all those dandelions calling my name and go spend the rest of the day in the Magick Shoppe...

"When we become comfortable, do you know what happens around us? Absolutely nothing. Each day becomes just like the one before. We do what we have always done, therefore we get what we have always gotten."

Kip Davis, A Comfortable Situation

may day!!! may day!!!

it has been doing this...

cuh-cuh-cuh-cold again!!!

all the live long day ... AGAIN!!!

there has been no shoveling, though - the streets and drives and sidewalks were heated up past 80 degrees on monday...

 and no snow day off from work and school... 

so much for the very merry month of may...

i'm just sayin'

from there to here

this picture... 

morning glories hidden in the zucchini

was NOT taken today... 

a looong time ago i won a giveaway at Kim's Big Quilting Adventure... 

Kim sent me lottsa goodies...

 including a packet of morning glory seeds - which i planted that spring... 

 promptly forgot... 

and was surprised by that blue blossom UNDER the squash plants... 

which was a waaaay cooler surprise than waking up this morning to this...

14 inches of snow between 5pm yesterday and 6am this morning

yeah... 

it was already starting to melt by the time i shoveled... 

thawed my fingers... 

and took the camera back outside... 

anywho... 

i have found myself pondering the seasons of Life In General...

 and of Things In Particular...

and how we move from there to here and back again...

last week i was worrying about how to get from the little leaves to the big leaves...

what was i thinking when i came up with 5 inch leaves and 7 inch leaves?!? how could i not know that it was gonna give me fits?!?

and found myself totally flummoxed... 

i needed to move from a 25" x 35" rectangle to a 35" x 42" rectangle without abandoning all hope of symmetry cuz we all know that dianne is diametrically opposed to asymmetry ... 

after two days and three nights of thinking and nightmaring i told Auntia that i was gonna give up...

 she made a profound suggestion...

why don't you draw it out?

draw what out?!?

the different parts ... draw it all out

and what good is THAT gonna do?!?

then you will see what you need to do...

mutter ... mutter ... mutter

so i took a big piece of graph paper... 

assigned one inch to each square... 

and guess what?!? 

i could see what i needed to do...

oh!!! i SEE!!!

Auntia was right... 

but don't tell her that i said that cuz there would be no living with her...

lady of leisure

it is snowing...

and the wind is blowing...

it is fuh-fuh-fuh-fuh-reeeeezing out there...

yesterday's high was 70sumpin...

today it is supposed to get all the way up to 21 degrees...

schools and businesses have been cancelled...

i have the day off...

whatever shall i do with myself?!?

oooooo!!! i know!!!

whilst sipping a cup of sumpin sumpin...

i shall read today's paper ... today 

which is a novel concept around here, lemmetellya...

and then i shall take myself into the Magick Shoppe and make some more aspen leaves...

that's it for the little leaves ... now on to the big ones!!!

that which we call a woobie

by any other name would feel as soft...

a woobie is an object that is used for its comforting characteristics ... this is Super Man and his woobie...

where's the baby?!? THERE he is!!!

and here he is, taking it for a stroll...

 

hey!!! how did you get over here?!?

Super Man is a little son/grandson/nephew/brother of Bronco fans, so his woobie is made from Bronco fleece ... the little ribbon tabs are triple stitched for safety ... he uses his woobie to play peekaboo and fetch and snuggle...

Isabelle of In This Life wouldn't call it a woobie ... i dunno what it would be called in Scotland but we should know in a few days... 

in Sundayville we call a crocheted or knitted blanket an afghan, but Isabelle would call it a shawl ... and a crib is called a cot ... and a diaper is a nappy ... a cookie is a biscuit ... and a biscuit is a scone ... i think that dessert is a pudding, but is not necessarily smooth and creamy ... a baked potato is a baked potato - but i dunno if Isabelle would call one "loaded" if it came with butter/bacon/sour cream/cheese/chives ... nine-ish is the back of nine  ... when something will happen in a fortnight, we call it two weeks ... and we say "okay" instead of fine ... unless we are talking about something that is fine in the finer sense of the word - then we say finer than frog fur...

 I understand that you little guys start out with your woobies and you think they're great ... and they are. They are terrific. But pretty soon a woobie isn't enough. You're out on the street trying to score an electric blanket, or maybe a quilt. And the next thing you know, you're strung out on bedspreads, Ken. That's serious.

Jack Butler from the movie  Mr. Mom

how's your aspen?!?

about those leaves...

my original thought was to make the leaves as black silhouettes, with cream fabric for the background ... so ... half black and half cream ... but Michael Myson's quilt was way too light for me with 50% cream and i ended up adding those darker borders... 

what to do? what to do? what to do?

i decided on gold leaves with a grey background ... which, of course, meant that the leaves HAD to be aspen leaves, right?!? 
the colorado rockies are KNOWN for their aspen gold!

i couldn't find a pattern for paper-pieced aspen leaves... 
i already knew that from when i had to draft leaves for Awesome! 
but i wasted a few hours searching the Net anyway...

and then i took out the graph paper and started drafting my OWN 5 inch finished aspen leaf... 

well... 

that was the plan, anyway... 

it took three attempts, but i finally managed a leaf that i can live with...

destined for trash ... destined for the orphan blocks bin ... destined for greatness - bwah ha ha!!!

the first one was very, very wonky ... the second one was okay, but had no room for error ... so i copied the second pattern at 105% and tried again for the third leaf ... it is pretty much what i was looking for...

this is the linen tea towel...

1978 ... it was a very good year

the plan is to surround the towel which is only 11" x 22" with some skinny borders, and then add a border of 5 inch aspen leaves... 

followed by a couple more little borders of some kind

and then some 7 inch aspen leaves... 

the 7 inch leaf pattern was much easier to draft because i'd already made the mistakes on the 5 inch leaves ... and i decided to test it with fabric from the Old School Saturday Sampler...

first try - very, very close call

it is a 9 inch finished block with the added borders ... but the leaf is just barely 7 inches - so this one will have to be copied at 105% too cuz i am NOT drawing it out again...

it snowed like a sonuvagun last saturday and we didn't make it to our monthly meeting for the Old School Saturday Sampler BOM ... which is okay cuz i wasn't gonna make their blocks whatever they might be anyway ... so i was able to test the pattern and complete a BOM block at the same time - woo hoo!!! 
  sometimes being snowed in is a good thing...

today the sky is wild and billowy ... we went to The Quilt Store to celebrate their birthday and spent a bunch of money we don't have ... i should be piecing little aspen leaves but i think i'll just take some ibuprofen and take a nap instead cuz i have been feeling puny all week...

onesie two

today is Super Man's 8 month birthday!!!

 to celebrate 

here's another picture of my World's 

cutest baby boy...

who loves you, baby?!?

we were playing pattycake ... he can play pattycake by himself ... but he loves me enough to humor me...

good grief, i love that little boy!!!

Nonnas are moms with lots of frosting.

author unknown

A grandmother is a babysitter who watches the kids instead of the television.

author unknown

The reason that grandchildren and grandparents get along so well is that they have a common enemy.

Sam Levenson