stompity stomp stomp

the buffalo found their way outta the Great Pile of Stuff... 

i put it all away last year

when i couldn't find any beads that i thought would work for buffalo horns 

cuz we all KNOW that i am not gonna applique itty bitty horns onto a gazillion buffalo 

and then, when i DID find beads

 they had to swim all the way from the Philippines

 and got stuck in Customs for a couple of months...

anywho...

here's the word on the herd...

after redrafting this pattern from Golden Quilt Company's 2016 Row by Row, i've paper-pieced one hundred little buffalo...

and used thirty-two of them to surround the white buffalo calf...

which leaves sixty-eight to roam the quilt prairie

and that oughta be enough little guys...

they won't get their horns or tails (from embroidery floss or perle cotton) till after they are quilted

and that won't happen for a loooong time...

 i'm gonna work on paper-piecing MEDIUM-sized buffalo for the rest of the month 

and then put all the buffalo away in the Great Pile of Stuff cuz this...

is calling my name...

Keep Calm 

and... 

SKWIRL!!!

anonymous

i am groot

it's no secret that i LURVE Guardians of the Galaxy...

and it's no secret that my favorite Guardian is Groot...

when Melissa was going through her twisted phase (more on that another time) she decided to twist Baby Groot for me... 

she found a pattern (on etsy, maybe?) for a simple cross stitch of Baby Groot

 and pieced him together with fabric 

instead of stitching him with floss... 

she cut him apart with the Lil' Twister tool...

 put him all back together...

and sent him off to Liz the Quilting Wizard (who lives in Milan, Michigan with my most favorite donkeys in the Whole Wide World) to quilt with vines and leaves...

and now he hangs out in the Space room...

 across from the computer 

so i can see my big little buddy when i sit here 

and compute...

I ... AM ... GROOT!!!

Groot / Guardians of the Galaxy

on again ... off again

on again...

embroidery is one of my favorite ways to use my hours 

and i can get lost in it

 just like getting lost in a book...

but...

i have delusional optimism about embroidered quilts that totally defies my Reality...

 an embroidered quilt around here, anyway is gonna be years 

not months

 in the making...

i KNOW this...

when i started working on Crab-apple Hill's Susan's Dresden Garden 

i should have known...

i traced out all the embroidery and started with the petal outlines...

one hundred forty-four petal outlines...

it was tedious and boring

and i wanted to get on with the fun stitching

but i ALSO wanted all of the outlines to be the same 

so i plodded along till the outlines were done 

and then i put it all away in the Great Pile of Stuff...

fast forward...

i was looking through the Great Pile of Stuff for something else when i stumbled across the Dresden petals...

ooo!!! the tedious and boring stitching is done!

and i started the plaid petals...

they were tedious and boring, too

but i wanted all of the plaids to be the same

so i plodded along till the plaids were done

and then i put it all away in the Great Pile of Stuff...

fast forward...

i was looking through the Great Pile of Stuff for something else when i stumbled across the Dresden petals...

ooo!!! the tedious and boring stitching is done!

and i started the lily of the valley petals...

they were tedious and boring, too

i wanted all the lilies to be the same

but i didn't want it enough to actually plod through them

i put it all away in the Great Pile of Stuff...

fast forward...

i was looking through the Great Pile of Stuff for something else when i stumbled across the Dresden petals...

ugh!!! these are tedious and boring ... i don't think i'll EVER get these stitched ... do i even WANT this quilt anymore?!?

yes.

yes, i do...

it is gonna take years 

and i will get bored with it 

and when it becomes so tedious and boring that i just can't look at it anymore...

i'll put it away

and that's okay ...

eventually i will be looking through the Great Pile of Stuff 

and stumble across the Dresden petals...

Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.

Philip K. Dick

hand me down

it was Cyber Monday...
there was a cyber sale at a cyber site
 on air fryers... 
and i bought one... 
a glossy black air fryer that sat on one of the kitchen counters and collected dust when it wasn't frying french fries or egg rolls... 
so i decided that it needed a cover... 
i found the box labeled "kitchen appliance covers" in the Great Pile of Stuff
looked over the patterns and decided the one that might fit it was the same pattern that i'd used for the Monster in the Kitchen...

just to be sure, i slipped the Monster's cover off...
 slid it over the top of the air fryer...
and it fit! 

woo hoo! 

so i tugged the cover back over the Monster...
and grumbled about it being a bit too tight and a lot too short...
and had a light bulb moment...

if i was gonna make a new cover, why not make it for the Monster?!? 

and make it FIT this time?!?

so i did...

i made a little mat with a tab on it so i can slide the Monster out from the corner without it screeching like a banshee... 

and made the pockets a little taller so they don't sag with the weight of the paddle and the dough hook...

the air fryer is wearing the Monster's hand me down cover...

and the little mat was such an improvement that i used up all the rest of the quilted fabric making little slider mats for the blender

 and the air fryer

 and the food processor...

and everything was hunky dory... 

till Michael Myson gave me a waffle maker for Christmas... 

a glossy black waffle maker that collects dust when it's not making waffles...

sigh...

anywho...

someone celebrated a birthday this week...

which meant that Melissa baked someone's favorite little muffins...

and since the oven was already hot, someone baked herself a LXVth birthday cake...

and it was SO GOOD!!!

The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes.

Frank Lloyd Wright