hbty

happy birthday to you

happy birthday to you

happy BIRTHDAY, dear Auntia

happy birthday to YOU!!!

p.s. - there are 26 white candles and one red one to grow on

big cake (bundt) is white chocolate raspberry

little cakes (bundtinis) are lemon and carrot

frosting is ALL cream cheese

thank you, Nothing Bundt Cakes

quilt by association

Mama Spark is hosting a quilt along called Christmas Fence... 

take a jelly roll, a charm pack, and some yardage ... do some cutting and some seaming and some pressing and you get some blocks that look like this...

i know ... i know ... not Christmas fabric ... but i already had the jelly roll

i have learned a few things from making those blocks ... 

1) a jelly roll and a charm pack may very well NOT have exactly the same fabrics, even though they are the same fabric line and

secondly) precuts are very, very messy ... little bitty bits of thread everywhere and 

c) i drag my feet when i don't have a destination in mind

i was off to a slow start because, while i DID have the jelly roll, i did NOT have the charm pack ... and i WAS going to use white instead of black, but i didn't know which white to order because i don't have one of those nifty sample charts of Moda Bella Solids which would have been a great help... 

Meadow Friends by Deb Strain

anywho ... when everything finally arrived, i still didn't want to start because i had no end destination in mind ... why am i making these blocks? what am i gonna do with 40 blocks from fabric that has bugs shudder and lizards double shudder printed on it?!?

and then i remembered that i need to make a baby quilt for a wee lassie who is due in the World next february ... the jelly roll looked like it had a lot of pink ... but what about the black? is black okay as an accent for a baby's quilt?  i dunno... 

i asked LuLu and she told me that black is her FAVORITE color ... except for pink and green and purple and orange and cerulean blue and red and periwinkle and yellow and... 

wait ... what?!? 

cerulean blue ... periwinkle ... seriously?!? 

yes, seriously ... i took out a box of crayons and asked her to show me cerulean blue and periwinkle...

she did.

anywho ... the first twenty blocks are done and they should make a nice little crib-sized quilt ... the other 20 blocks are in bits and pieces in a pizza box, waiting for me to get around to them ... and when they are together, they will make a nice little crib-sized quilt for a little boy... 

someday... 

maybe...

thank you

to our veterans ... from me, a grateful citizen

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

with great power

comes great responsibility...

oooooh!!! the right to vote ... and cookies, too!

celebrate the nineteenth amendment by exercising it...

Girls Night Out

also known as 

HPV not the virus is almost* finished...

 the Quilt Formerly Known as HPV not the virus

embroidered and pieced by me

quilted by longarm quilter extraordinaire Liz Bowman

Hocuspocusville embroidery pattern by Meg Hawkey of Crab-apple Hill

center panel adapted from Jane Kennedy's Winter Trees

five years of having to listen to me whining and beeotching was suffered in silence by Auntia

i've been told that i have a twisted sense of humor

so ... whaddya think?

*hidden somewhere in the house is another package of black leaf beads that Auntia gave to me ... so Girls Night Out won't be done till i sew on the 125 missing beads**

 **unless i never find them ... oh gee darn that would be a shame!!! 

long ago...

peace, baby

 me ... forty years ago today

my mother made my wedding dress for me...

it was white velvet with little lace butterflies that were each sewn on with three pale blue elongated pearl beads all over the bodice and cuffs

the butterflies were $1 for each yard

each yard had 36 butterflies

i kept going back to buy more and more yards

it took 100 of them...

yards, that is...  

by the time she'd sewn the last of three thousand

 my mom was done with those lace butterflies and told me to make the veil myself... 

and so i did... 

it was yards and yards of layered tulle with tiny lace sewn all around the edges 

and then gathered onto a white velvet and satin juliette cap that was covered with those same butterflies and beads... 

but it smushed down my hair and i took it off as soon as the ceremony was over...

if you look closely to the far right you will see the eXMan...

 and my sister in her blue velvet dress that made her eyes as blue as the deep blue sea...

the eXMan and i were engaged on monday and married on friday...

yes ... friday the thirteenth 

i thought it would make for an easy explanation if things happened to go wrong...

which they did... 

frequently... 

and permanently twenty-three years later... 

no one can say that i gave up easily...

it wasn't a shotgun wedding ... but the dress had been in the works for nine months... 

the eXMan was on a ship off the coast of North Vietnam...

and i was here...

not engaged... 

but i figured that odds were good that i'd eventually marry somebody

and when i did, i wanted my sister to be my matron of honor

 and i wanted her to wear blue velvet

which meant that my dress had to be velvet, too... 

i was working as a clerk at AT&sTink for seventy-eight dollars a week 

velvet was expensive

 and there were those yards and yards of lace to pay for

  it was a lot of money for a working stiff

so i bought the fabrics and notions over those nine months and my mom worked in starts and stops till she had everything she needed... 

my dad had just died and the dress gave both of us something to focus on in our grief...

she did beautiful work...

"It is not uncommon for slight acquaintances to get married, but a couple really have to know each other to get divorced."

anonymous

long story long

so ... Blogger has gone all new format on me and won't let me use the old interface ... sheesh ... i already overused my brain today trying to figure out the math for a border on the quilt i'm trying to piece ... and now Blogger expects me to use my brain again?!?

anywho ... about the dragon in pieces ... once upon an autumn looooong ago (less than seventeen years, but more than a dozen) i stopped at my favorite garden center in longmont (i don't remember the name - and they didn't reopen the next spring) on my way home ... i was on the Pity Pot ... spending money i didn't have sounded like a great idea ... and everything was on sale ... yeah, sure it was ... i wandered around with a credit card burning a hole in my pocket ... i went up and down every aisle, looking for a mood changer ... nothing ... nothing ... nothing ... then i went outside and wandered around the trees and ornamental grasses and patio furniture ... nothing ... nothing ... nothing ... dragon fountain ... nothing ... nothing ... wait ... back up ... dragon fountain?!? 

dragon fountain?!? shards!!! he's gorgeous!!!

deep breath ... deep breath ... look at the price tag ... gasp!!!

no way you are spending that kind of money that you don't have on a fountain that you can't even drink out of ... no way, dianne ... no.

i got back in the car without spending one penny and drove home.

the next day i drove back, handed over my credit card, and had the big burly garden center guys load him in my car ... i was ecstatic all the way home ... i backed into the driveway, raised the garage door, popped up the window and lowered the tailgate ... i took out his neck - piece of cake ... and his head - groan - kinda heavy ... started to scoot the basin and realized that i was gonna have to take a break before i tried to lower it ... and then came his body ... Oh. My. Aching. Back.

i managed to scoot and rock and slide all of the pieces into the garage ... i hadn't taken into account that i had no place for him in the front yard ... or the back yard ... and no power for the pump that i don't know how to use ... and no money to rectify any of those things ... so i proceeded to stack stuff on top of him for the next umpty-ump years...

this spring i decided that it was time to start fixing the back yard ... i've waited seventeen summers for it to fix itself and it just wasn't happening ... so i hired a couple of hungry people to hurry it along ... out with the old concrete and in with the new ... stack up some landscape blocks and build a couple of walls ... fill them with dirt ... wire an outlet ... and now we have a little patio ... and raised beds for an herb garden and a vegetable garden ... and power ... so i spent a saturday morning digging a hole and filling it with sand and bricks until i had a level surface for my dragon to rest upon ... i borrowed a two wheeler and rolled my dragon's body into the back yard ... but the two wheeler didn't like the dirt and i couldn't find a board wide enough for a ramp, so i had to drag him through the dirt and then lift him onto his foundation ... groan ... and that's as far as i got before my brain got this message from my back...

 No. More.

so my dragon is in bits and pieces ... but he's outta the dark garage ... and that's a start, right?!?

penniless women's paradise

in pieces

happy anniversary

on september 18, 1945...

these two people married each other in Oakland, California

gone ... but not forgotten

oompa loompa

Carrie Nelson of La Vie en Rosie has been busy creating new patterns for Moda Candy ... and last week she had a giveaway ... the only question that needed to be answered was...

What is your favorite kind of candy?

sounds simple, huh?!? 

but...

yes ... there IS always a but...

 nothing is EVER simple ... i think that might be one of the Wizard's Rules ... different circumstances call for different candy ...  i couldn't pick just one ... my comment took a while to type ... and i needed some help remembering some of them...

Auntia knows what she likes ... her comment took about ten seconds for her to type ... and she let the World know that she was wondering if i was EVER gonna finish my list...

which was kinda funny in a disrespectful stinkpot kinda way... 

anywho ... Carrie Nelson thought our comments were funny enough to send BOTH of us some Candy...

Moda Candy and Miss Rosie's Little Bites and other way cool stuff!!!

really way cool!!!

and ... since Auntia cinched it for both of us ... thank you to Carrie and to Auntia!!!

even if what Auntia said was kinda bratty ... i'm just sayin'...

oompa loompa doom pa dee do

i have another puzzle for you

oompa loompa doom pa da dee

if you are wise you will listen to me

who do you blame when your kid is a brat?

pampered and spoiled like a Siamese cat

blaming the kid is a lie and a shame

you know exactly who is to blame...

no ... no ... no ... not the mother!!!

and then...

looooong ago i posted about a quilt flimsy made with
Wintergraphix 2 by Jason Yenter fabric ... waaaaay back here ... anywho ... i wanted to quilt snowflakes all over it ... three years later i finally figured out that i'm just not up to it ... so ... a couple of months ago i sent it off to Liz the Longarm Quilting Wizard ... she worked her magick on it and sent it back ... i trimmed it and did the machine sewing for the binding ... and then...

and then...

 and then i decided it was just too doggone hot to hand sew the binding on a quilt and i put all of it away again... 

and then we had one cool day a month or so ago and i sewed down the binding ... so i actually have a finish...

World, meet Polaris...

i am the holder, not the photographer ... Auntia is the photographer and she wasn't terribly interested in taking the picture cuz she was missing Swift Justice ... go figure

the quilting is lovely, but you probably can't see it ... the pattern is Fireworks! by the famous Kim of  Kim's Big Quilting Adventure ... she writes a swell pattern, lemmetellya!

so swell, in fact, that i am gonna make another quilt someday with the same pattern but different fabric ...

and then...

and then i'll tell you all about it...

slatty bench

catch of the day

no fish were harmed in the making of this flimsy... 

just keep swimming ... swimming ... swimming

i think the little strips of water that made the fish fit the sides are gonna be okay ... i decided to not worry about water placement when i started piecing the flying geese ... i'm blaming it all on the ocean currents...

see those fish at the top? ugly ugly ugly!!!

no cleaning was managed this weekend ... so no place to sit or stand ... stuff everywhere ... and that doesn't include the stuff that is still in the garage ... it's making me cuh-razy...

 in the past month i have eaten my way through a dozen packages six to a package of Klondike bars ... the Originals ... cuz if it ain't broke they shouldn't try to fix it by adding toffee or mint or fewer calories ... we need to return to eating things that are not ice cream good for us especially since both of us are lactose intolerant ... so i had to grill tonight cuz there's no room on the kitchen counters to place anydamnthing ... i am not a fan of cooking with fire ... anywho ... while i was waiting for the coals to make ashes of themselves, i cleaned snippets off the flimsy, and now it is ready for quilting ... and i used what was left of the scattered fish fabric cuz it is so ugly and the leftover pieced fish to piece a backing ... after i sew the binding strips together and press them i can take a break from this little guppy...

gone fishin'

it's been a month of sundays ... and i've decided to get off the Pity Pot

about this time last year, i asked my sister-in-law what kind of quilt she wanted for her sixtieth birthday ... i figured that if i gave myself a year, i might actually get it done ... she told me that she really, really  likes dolphins ... which made my eyes light up cuz i HAVE dolphin fabric... 

but i didn't use what i had cuz something better came along - Jody Bersgma released a fabric panel with dolphins and orcas and turtles ... and i thought oooo!!! perfect!!! 

but when the fabric arrived ... well ... i didn't like it so much ... too many turtles and really, really ugly fish ... and not enough dolphins ... still ... hard-earned money was spent and i decided to make it work ... besides, what could be easier than a panel?!? slap on some borders and call it done, right?!? 

seriously?!?

you don't know me better than that?!?

this is what i've come up with so far...

i've spent the past few hours trying to get those pieced fish to fit ... fourteen? not enough... fifteen? too many... even when i pressed them flat and we all know how opposed i am to pressing triangles before i have to they refused to cooperate ... they just don't fit ... i'm thinking i'll add some water fabric to both ends and fuhgeddaboudit...

totally off topic...

is it any wonder i've lost interest in dolphins, fish and quilting?!?

bear-headed

this is Super Man, LuLu's baby brother ... he was born on july 9

which makes him one month old today!

i dunno why he's in that furry blanket - it's not like he doesn't have a quilt or three!!!

i love to smooch that little nose...

welcome home

my mother died today

i know that she has been welcomed Home by the souls of the people she loved who left before her 

and i am happy for her

but i miss her

guest blogger

i'm thinking my nonna is not gonna get around to blogging for a month of sundays ... i told her i was tired of looking at my brother's hands holding that ball ... she told me to go ahead and write a post myself if i was bored with the World...

so i am

lots and lots of stuff has happened since the first of the year ... but not as much as is gonna happen in a month or so ... i'm gonna be a big sister ... my baby brother is busy growing in mommy's tummy and i love to feel him squirming around in there ... Auntia and Nona are gonna give my baby brother a party next sunday and i think i should get to open all of his presents cuz he's too little ... another thing is i am now THREE and i am unusually bright for my age ... i know cuz everybody tells me

 LuLu, you are unusually bright for a three year old! 

 i have an excellent vocabulary, too - i know how to use the word appropriate...

come on ... be honest ... do YOU know another just-barely three year old who uses the word appropriate appropriately?!?

no?!? i didn't think so ... anywho ... i guess i am done for now ... someone keeps moving the letters around on this keyboard and i am not one bit happy about that...

xoxo,

LuLu

p.s. - see, Nona - it wasn't that hard, now was it?!?

in good hands

“The best things in life are nearest: Breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life.”  

Robert Louis Stevenson

i have some questions to answer and thoughts to think and things to do that won't wait any longer ... i will be gone for a while ... take care