bless her heart

i did not write this poem
and i do not know who did write it
so if it was you
thank you for summing up what i should have done loooong ago...


he did not like the casserole
and he did not like the cake
he said the biscuits were too hard
not like his mother used to make

i did not perk the coffee right
he did not like the stew
i did not mend his socks
the way his mother used to do

i pondered for an answer
i was looking for a clue...
then i turned around and smacked him
like his mother used to do

the same ... but different

i wanted this pattern from Crab-apple Hill in the worst way ... so Auntia gave it to me for christmas last year...Over the River and Through the Woods

and i was ever so grateful ... and then i looked at it again and decided that i didn't like the colors which, i am sure, surprises everyone cuz they are neutral shudder and dark double shudder ... so i decided that when i started stitching - it was gonna be brighter and lighter ... and i wanted it to be more autumnal ... and i didn't like the words cuz my grandmother lived in california and it was over the mountains and through the desert ... and i didn't want the sleigh cuz i've never even ridden in a sleigh so why would i want to stitch one ... and 51 x 57 isn't big enough...
so ... brighter autumn colors ... with a different layout ... and not exactly the same stitchery ... and bigger
sigh
i wrote down the fabric requirements and kept the yellow sticky with me till i forgot to take it outta my pocket and washed it with my jeans for months...

when i saw Saltbox Harvest i knew i had found exactly the right fabric to autumn up the quilt ... and when we went shop hopping i looked for a charm pack of Saltbox Harvest so i could do some more planning ... Auntia found the perfect fabric for the embroidery and i took the bolt over to the charm packs and placed those lovely Saltbox Harvest prints on my chosen background ... and i thought

bleck - i don't like it. i don't like it at all. maybe i need a different background? wait ... what is this? Awesome! seriously? isn't this the one with the panel that has a squirrel shudder? i hate squirrels. it can't be the one with the squirrel. oooo! i really like these fabrics! seriously, i really do love these fabrics! this can't be the line that has the squirrel cuz these fabrics are .... well ... Awesome!

Awesome by Sandy Gervais
and so i bought the charm pack ... and i bought enough of the background fabric for the embroidery ... and i took it home and put them with the pattern...doesn't that background look like it was made to go with the charm pack?!?
oh ... wait ... it was made to go with the charm pack!
and then i went to the lqs that is closing its doors forever and found some yardage that was marked down a bit...
oooo! it's even prettier when it's in big pieces!
and i really, really liked it ... but ... why are there stars in the middle of the quilt instead of around the edge? and there are still those troublesome words ... what if i take out the middle embroidery ... and move the other two stitcheries to where the stars are ... and piece leaves for where the stitcheries used to be...ooo! batiks! i knew i would find a reason to buy batiks!
and keep the flying geese ... but make an outer border of stars for the top and bottom ... and i still want to replace the sleigh with a ... uhm ... five window wrap around pickup truck ... Auntia is collecting the supplies for this Crab-apple Hill design and it has a pickup truck that i could use ... and i'm gonna need more fabric...fat quarter bundle - score!!!
so i splurged and bought the fat quarter bundle ... this is the second fat quarter bundle that i've allowed myself to buy and it is ... well ... Awesome!
expensive, but Awesome!
a luxury, but Awesome!
frivolous, but Awesome!
and now i have everything i need to start ... except embroidery thread
and time

to dye for

there is a story behind this fat quarter bundle...Awesome!

but that is for another post ... this post is about prewashing ... i've heard and read lottsa advice about whether or not to prewash ... some people say that when you buy quality fabric prewashing is unnecessary and/or a waste of time ... other people say that all fabric should always be prewashed ... Auntia and i have a lotta allergies and brand new fabric fresh off the bolt makes our sinuses go crazy and irritates our skin ... with very few exceptions (charm packs and jelly rolls - cuz they disintegrate) i prewash my fabric before i put it in a quilt - and i'm not very nice about it ... i use hot water and Synthrapol for batiks - and if they're gonna be in the same quilt, they all get it at the same time since i'm all about learning to play nicely together ... fabric (including Synthrapoled batiks) gets the same treatment before i cut into it that it is likely to receive after it has grown up and become a quilt or an apron or a hooter hider or a whatever... all of it is thrown in the washer's normal cycle on warm/cold with laundry detergent and fabric softener if i remember ... after the washer has done its best to pulverize the fibers into submission it all gets hung on drying racks cuz we live in the high desert and the air can always use a little moisture - right?!? till it's almost dry ... it gets fluffed in the dryer and then it gets pressed ... for the past year or so i've been throwing a Dye Grabber in the washer ... a brand new Dye Grabber looks like a very white washcloth ... it sloshes around with the rest of the laundry and collects migrating dye...Dye Grabber - my new best friend
we don't always buy quilt shop quality fabric ... but this fat quarter bundle is quality fabric - look at the dye that migrated out of the bundle and into the Dye Grabber ... sheesh!

there go sunday afternoons

for the next five months ... and a monday evening ... in a previous post i wrote about the Broncos and how crazy excited Auntia gets when the NFL regular season starts ... a few weeks ago i found myself in the drive-thru lane so Auntia could get this...the official Wendy's Bronco 2010 Collectible Schedule cup

static ... Welcome to Wendstatic! Would you like to statitry our blah static blah blah?!? static

do you have the Bronco 2010 Collectible Schedule cup?

static ... Would you like to order now? static

well ... i dunno ... do you have the cup? i'm asking cuz last year we ordered and you didn't have the cup and we had to come back...

static we static static cup

was that a yes, we have the cup? or was that a no, we do not have the cup?

static we static the cup

sorry - i still didn't hear you

YES we static the cup

oh ... good ... then i want one of whatever i have to order to get the cup and one junior bacon cheeseburger

so you want a combo static and a junior staticon cheesestaticger

will that get me a cup?

yestatic

cool...

slacker

what i did for Friday Night Sew-In...when did these stop being fun?!?

i added a very small amount of embroidery to my ongoing HPV* and to the teapots for my PPSS BOM quilt ... i didn't do much done on any of them ... but i did watch the last disc of Stargate Universe 1.5 again ... Auntia was a lot more productive than i was ... i think it's cuz she has much younger hands ... my own hands are tired ... very, very tired

*edit - HPV is Hocuspocusville, not the virus!!!

fluff stuffing

eight or ten years ago i was looking for something that Auntia and i could do on her spring break that was 1) close by and b) inexpensive ... i searched on cheap entertainment within a 20 mile radius and found Celestial Seasonings free* tours of their factory ... i tried to find it without directions and we ended up at the Leanin' Tree Museum of Western Art, instead which also offers free* admission... after a looooong drive around and about everywhere in Boulder except Sleepytime Drive we went home and called my sister who knew exactly how to get there and gave us detailed directions ... we went to Boulder again on a gloomy spring morning and schlepped our way through the tour (including going into the infamous mint room) and sipped our free* sample of tea before pouring out with the rest of the crowd into the gift shop ... yeah - the tour ended in a gift shop - just like all the way cool rides at Disneyland ... and we told ourselves that we would return someday when we had some money to spend ... and then it all fell out of my head till i made those teabag wallets and i realized that we were gonna have to put something in them ... so i yahoo mapped Celestial Seasonings ... i didn't know if we would be leaving from Near Broomfield or from Longmont so i printed out both routes that would lead us to here...Auntia and Singe - no good can come of that combination

where we proceeded to oooooh!!! and aaaaaah!!! at teapots and tea sets and tea tins and tea tee shirts (i wanted the one with the dragon and Auntia wanted the one with the tiger - so neither of us bought one) and tea spoons and tea whatevers that filled the gift shop ... we found the wall of individually wrapped teabags and loaded up a basket ... it wasn't until we got back to the car that i realized i hadn't printed reverse directions to get back home and we almost ended up at the Leanin' Tree again ... it's a good thing there are mountains to the west and plains to the east - if i ever move to the Western Slope i'm gonna be in deep doodoo ...

someday when we have money to spend we're gonna go back and i'm gonna buy that dragon tea tee shirt...

*there is, of course, no such thing as a free anything ... you know that

more fluff

since one of you asked (thank you, Annemiek, for humoring me) here are some more baby shower pictures ... we decided to celebrate the expectant mom who is very excited that she is gonna have the little girl that she's always wanted with this party ... Mrs. Blakesmom's favorite color is purple and her favorite flowers are daisies ... oooo!!! a theme!!! i love themes!!!

messie tussie mussie
the party favors were placed inside cones (made from 12x12 scrapbook paper) ... for some reason, i couldn't fold a flat piece of paper into a cone shape to save my soul, so Auntia rolled the papers and i held the shape while she glued them down ... in the meantime, Mrs. Moth and Gumdrop were tying ribbons around tulle circles with Hershey's kisses inside and stuffing teabags into the tea wallets ... Auntia found a little poem about babies and seeds...

These little seeds are small like me
You can imagine what they will be
It won't be long before they sprout
And by that time I'll be out
So please enjoy as your flowers appear
And think of me when I get here!

she printed it on pretty purple paper and used little purple brads to attach the poem to packets of daisy seeds ... and, of course, we had to include a cup cozy...oooo!!! goodies!!!
we used REAL tablecloths ... the centerpieces were teapots filled with flowers and placed on doilies that were crocheted by my grandmother, my mother, and me and were languishing in the linen closest...get that stuff off of my plate - i'm hungry!!!
i baked pumpkin, zucchini, banana, and peach quick breads and some tea cakes ... Auntia baked cupcakes and the lavender daisy cake ... we were gonna make tea sandwiches, but we ran outta time ... did you know that Target's deli makes trays of roll ups and sandwiches and fruit? and if you did know, did you know that they actually taste pretty doggone good? Mrs. Blakesmom, someone i don't know, and Mrs. Moth
well, they do! and there are little chocolate-frosted eclairs in the freezer section and coconut macaroons in the bakery, too!!!
the drink station was set up with coffee, a selection of teas, and water...thirst quenchers
that little vase with the big B is for the new baby girl - her first and last names begin with B ... the little purple balls in the vase are Aqua Gems - they were a big squishy hit (thank you, Thelma - i would never have known what they were if you hadn't had them popping all over your table) ... there's a daisy for each of the most important people in her life - her mom and her dad and her big brother
and there was a table for presents...lottsa good stuff in those bags
with balloons and Auntia's diaper cake ... one of the guests thought the diaper cake was real and asked when we were gonna cut into it - ha ha ha!!! Mrs. Blakesmom's sisters and mother had some fun games for us to play ... i think that everyone enjoyed themselves
and in five weeks give or take a day or two we will get to hold a brand new baby girl...

we interrupt the serious news...

to bring you this bit of fluff ...... today this quilt...flower power

went to live in its new home ... it needed to be purple ... and it needed to have flowers ... and it needed to be girlie ... Auntia chose the fat quarters for me since i have a lotta trouble getting my fabric choices to quiet down and stop shouting ... it is a Happy Hour pattern and the piecing only took a few hours - the quilting and the binding were a totally different story...
and this afghan...totally impractical
blossomed from this ... and joined flower power...now jump into the gift bag and begone!!!
for the past few weeks, Auntia and i have been putting together fun stuff for the baby shower for Mrs. Blakesmom ... look at the beautiful diaper cake Auntia made...oooo!!! and no calories!!!
she found a tutorial here ... Auntia's version is pretty doggone impressive ... it was a LOT of work - diapers were not meant to be rolled up like that and it gave me a whole new appreciation for cigar-rollers letmetellya ... i only rolled twenty or thirty and i thought my hands were gonna fall off ... Auntia also made this pretty little daisy cake...basket weave is not for the faint of heart
it was a white layer cake with seedless raspberry jam filling and vanilla butter cream frosting ... the leaves are from the peppermint plant that lives in her room - who grows mint inside?!? the cake was dee-licious ...... and now that the baby shower (i have more pictures - do you want to see them?) is over, we will return to our regularly scheduled program ... i have really, really missed reading blogs and posting......