snack attack

i have been collecting food fabric for a loooooong time ... and i've always wanted to actually use some of it in a quilt instead of just feeding my fabric addiction ... but i was never inspired enough by a pattern to actually cut into any of it...

i was surfing blogs a few weeks ago and read that Sio at Scraps and Threadtales was distracted by a challenge using linen tea towels as a center medallion...

oooo!!! linen tea towels!!! 

something of which i have absolutely not even one

a medallion quilt!!!

something i have not even one clue of how to make

and of course i went looking for the blog that presented the challenge ... and tripped over it on Mama Spark's blog list ... 15 minutes play

and i thought

hmmm...

and then i spent the better part of an evening or two ... or five searching the Internet for linen tea towels ... there are a LOT out there, lemmetellya ... and it was impossible to decide on just one... 

so i decided to narrow the search by looking for linen tea towels that are also calendars...

specifically calendars for the years my children were born... 

yeah... 

cuz i don't have enough quilt ideas running around inside my head

 and committed to graphite and paper

 and scribbled with crayons on grocery receipts

 anywho, while stumbling around looking for a calendar dated 1982, i found one that said 

Shields Tavern

it was NOT dated 1982 

it was weird colors

and it was not at all what i had decided on in my head

but it DID say Shields... 

and so i bid on it...

and won

and it came in the mail

and when i opened the package i KNEW...

yep...

this is gonna be perfect for Michael Myson whose surname is actually Shields in real life

and then i put it away for a couple of days because i had not one single clue of what i could possibly do with those colors that was gonna be something that i thought he would want

mull ... mull ... mull

taverns have food and drink ... i have food fabric 

there's a black and white checkerboard on the towel ... the food fabric has black backgrounds 

Mike loves beer ... i know i can find beer fabric

okay ... maybe a checkerboard of food surrounding the tea towel ... so i took out the towel and found some fabrics for inner borders to stabilize it a bit ... and then i gulped down some air and cut into the food fabric... 

gulp!!!

 cut cut cut

sew sew sew

press press press

i'm thinking that it is kinda cool!!!

i got this far when i realized that just 14 different foods was not gonna be enough ... so another seven fat quarters are on their way ... nachos and goldfish crackers and pizza bagels and corn dogs and onion rings and buffalo wings and waffles...

i'm hungry...

man of steal

my heart has been stolen by my own personal Super Man

  here are some gratuitous pictures of the little thief guy...

this what he looked like a few months ago...

don't worry, Lois!!! i'm coming for you!!!

 a couple of weeks ago i was changing his diaper and all i could read on his onesie was "ucke" ... he modeled the rest of it for me...

makes you wonder which one of the uncles decided that onesie was appropriate reading material for a baby or a nonna, huh?!?

LuLu loves to hold him ... but that makes Auntia and me very, very nervous...

see Auntia's arm - ready to catch the bouncing baby boy?!?

and one final picture of his bald little head...

not all guys are willing to share their binkies!

he is the sweetest baby boy in my World!!!

wind power

back to the Old School Saturday Sampler BOM ... this month's assignment is pinwheel blocks

simple enough, huh?!?

but...

yes, there IS always a but

the pattern calls for two pinwheel blocks ... each made with four HSTs that finish at 4.5 inches... 

and (here's the but) that would have left no room for the fairies...

so... 

i made two modified Clay's Choice blocks...

one little fairy is giving her pinwheel a twirl ... and the other little fairy is huffing and puffing for all she's worth

 here they are with last month's block...

not at all like the pattern ... but not too shabby

and here is a picture of some of the other BOMers' blocks for last month...

there are a few other rebels in the group ... do you see Auntia's dog house up there?!?

and now i'm gonna go put on a pot of water to cook some pasta... 

i shouldn't take too much credit for all its shininess - it's a self-cleaning oven ... but i DO hafta pay the electric bill

cuz there's no way i'm gonna mess up that sparkling clean oven...

yipes!!!

stripes!!!

think pink

take three charm packs of Kissing Booth

and some yardage of light pink grunge by Basic Grey

add Mama Spark's

Sliced Apples Quilt Along and/or

Moda Bakeshop Charmalade pattern and tutorial

slice and dice and stitch and press

and this is what you'll get...

oooo!!! a flimsy ready to send off to Liz!!!

tada!!! 

and i have 365 days to finish it in time for Valentine's Day 

next year...

I might wear my pink Speedo. I think I should.

Ryan Lochte

"I like pink."
Lucius sniffed. "It's just red's sorry, weak cousin."

Beth Fantaskey

Almost all words do have color and nothing is more pleasant than to utter a pink word and see some one's eyes light up and know it is a pink word for him or her, too.

Gladys Taber

walking the dawgs

Auntia gave Super Man a pair of slippers... 

Super Man ... two months old 

Super Man ... six months old ... his dawgs are barkin'

i've been trying to teach him some dog jokes...

man to dog trainer, "Every time a bell rings, my dog goes into a corner."

dog trainer to man, "That's okay. He's a boxer."

two dogs walk into a bar and order beers ... they look around and realize that they are the only dogs wearing collars

the first dog says, "Oh my gosh!!! I think we're in a stray bar!!!"

a three-legged dog walks into a bar and says, "I'm looking for the guy who shot my paw."

conversation between two dogs overheard at a dog obedience school, "The thing I hate about obedience school is you learn ALL THIS STUFF that you will NEVER use in the Real World."

but he doesn't think i'm funny...

where there's smoke

there's fire...

i decided on a pineapple upside down cake for my birthday ... and then i thought that i should make an extra little one because Mrs. Moth likes pineapple upside down cake, too ... and i hadn't made a cake for her birthday on the 19th... 

yeah ... she was my early birthday present back in the days when rocks were soft and mist was in the air...

i know what Chef Ramsay would be shouting ... dirty bowl!!! dirty bowl!!!

and then he'd be wondering, you donkey!!!what the eff happened to the cherry in the center?!? i know that Auntia was ... to which i said, if i was gonna steal a cherry, it wouldn't be the one in the middle - it would be the rest of the jar in the fridge!!!

anywho ... the thing i love best about pineapple upside down cake besides extra cherries is all that caramelized brown sugar and butter surrounding the  pineapple ... and more is better than less, right?!?

so...

i ignored  the recipe and doubled the butter and sugar ... which immediately became hot and bubbly in the oven ... rising up the edges of the cast iron skillets and...

do you know where i'm going with this?

splatter ... splash ... splatter ... smoke and flames ... and more smoke

cough ... gasp ... cough cough

guess i'm gonna hafta clean that puppy, eh?!?

not to mention that the cakes were swimming in hot liquid caramel as they came out of the skillets and onto the plates ... slip sliding away ... definitely NOT the presentation i was hoping for...

oh so yummy, though!!!