sweeps week

most of the slow stitching going on around here lately has been on this broom...

last sunday

the pattern is from Calendula Patterdrip's Cottage 
and is reduced by 50% with permission from Crab-apple Hill Studio
and
the fabric is a pale poison green that is utterly misrepresented in any photo i have taken...

after another week of sweep sweep sweeping

 anywho...

it's kicking my butt even more than sweeping real floors 
not that there's been a lotta that going on...

linking with other slow stitchers on Kathy's Quilts blog for Slow Sunday Stitching...

Grab the broom of anger and drive off the beast of fear.
Zora Neale Hurston

good intentions

yep...

totally lame in the blog posting department...

lottsa excuses reasons

 but nothing anyone wants to hear about...

anywho...

i've decided to write posts about whatever i coulda shoulda woulda had to say

and postdate

cuz that's how i roll...

so if you do happen by 

you'll understand why suddenly there might be posts that weren't there before...

Most of the evil in this world is done by people with good intentions.

T.S. Eliot

pruned back

blown up

there i sat on a sunday, innocently following Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching links, and saw this on The Polka Dot Chicken blog...

do i really need to say more?!?

an immediate online search was made for my very own hippopotamus for christmas...

meet Bluebert...

Is a hippopotamus a hippopotamus, or just a really cool Opotamus?
Mitch Hedberg

seriously, do i really need to say more?!?

There is an eagle in me that wants to soar, and there is a hippopotamus in me that wants to wallow in the mud.

Carl Sandburg

done and doner

 the last two of the Shepherd's Bush stockings are not only completely and totally finished...

for a blonde haired beauty 

and her dark haired little sister

ten years late and seven years late

they are signed, sealed, delivered...

Corbadoo, Peanut Butter Cup and Karebear

woo hootie hoo!!!

When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. 

Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs?

Gilbert K. Chesterton

twining vines

yard work

high tech

the oldest computer can be traced back to Adam and Eve...

it was an Apple....

but it had extremely limited memory - just one byte 

and then everything crashed...

meanwhile...

i ordered a chicken and an egg from Amazon...

i'll let you know...

disclaimer ... none of these thoughts are mine, originally

morning glories

star trekker

a couple of years ago there was a batik sale at Lyons Quilting and i wanted this...

oooo!!! purples and blues and teals!!!

the pattern is written in a Block of the Month format 

and all the fabric is supposed to be cut at the beginning...

which i find very, very scary...

so i delayed starting by drafting each of the blocks for paper-piecing...

and then waited a few months to Kinko them...

 it was a few more months before i drummed up the courage to actually cut into those lovely batiks...

 and even more time passed whilst messing up just about everything

including making a bunch of hour glass blocks and half square triangles that i didn't need

so LuLu designed a pillow topper for me...

she has the sweetest little feet

and an eye for symmetry

 stacks of batiks and blocks aged in the Magick Shoppe 

and my wanting a finished quilt waned...

but

there's the but - i knew it was somewhere 

then i found the perfect fabric for the backing

and it made me want to actually finish the flimsy and send it off to Liz the Magnificent for quilting with a gazillion Enterprises...

NCC1701

the United Star Ship Enterprise

to boldly go...

and she transformed it into this...

Star Trekker

if i ever get bored with the front, all i have to do is flip it over

and i can hang out with these guys...

and it didn't end up being a 5 year mission

pattern is Stars Over Capri by Cheryl Malkowski

quilted by Liz Bowman

pieced and bound by dianne

After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true.

Spock

 Star Trek, Season 2, Episode 1

not this time, Mr. Spock...

come hither, heather

is done!!!

look at that quilting!!! it is SO cool!!!

each thistle has its very own knot

and the borders have thistles all the way around

the center and borders are quilted with thistles 

the sashings and blocks are quilted with celtic knots

by Liz Bowman ... she is SO awesome!!!

what could be better?!?

well, how 'bout some hunky guys on the back...

ooo!!!

that's right, ORGANIC farmers!!!

this was the last of the tea towel quilts

 till Melissa went surfing and found THIS website...

sigh...

A man that hoards up riches and enjoys them not,

is like an ass that carries gold and eats thistles.

Richard Burton

that makes a dozen...

Earth Science, Mrs. Moth Queen Amidala, Michael Myson, Melissa, Corbadoo, NoJo, Gumdrop, Super Sam, my mom, my sister, me...
LuLu needed a stocking, too...

i had already started hers
a gazillion years ago 
and it took a LOT less time to finish stitching it...

but
there it is again
she didn't much like the colors 
or the fact that her angel was a baldy...

anywho...

her favorite color is teal green...

i have no idea what that actually is

but my mind told me it is a kinda turquoise-ish blue 
so...

 i took out some of the greyish blue stitches and replaced them with a turquoise-ish blue

 added some hair 

and a braid 

and some ribbon and charms...

is THIS teal green? i asked ... no, not really, she sighed

and finished it in time for Christmas...

and then she added, but it was a good try, Nonna.

so... 

twelve stockings done

 and two to go...

Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.

John Steinbeck

rule bender

every sunday

 Kathy at Kathy's Quilts hosts Slow Sunday Stitching with an InLinkz for other stitchers  to link up posts that show their slow stitching ... i have been following those links every sunday for a few years ... i always make sure that my Kindle is fully charged on saturday night so i won't miss anything ... and i have always INTENDED to actually write a post about my own slow stitching

 and then link up...

but...

yeah, THERE it is!!!

i haven't...

what USED to hold me back was that i didn't make my slow stitches on sundays

cuz that's what every other day of the week is for...

but...

there it is again!!!

 when the regular NFL season started, i realized that i DO stitch during Bronco games

 and that Bronco games are usually on sundays

 and i COULD post about slow stitches that were actually taken on sundays...

so...

before the first sunday game, i took a picture of what i was working on...

it was a Shepherd's Bush stocking and i needed to stitch and finish it before the end of november so Super Sam could hang it in time for a visit from the Man in the Red Suit on christmas eve...

easy peasy - this should take no time at all ... NOT!!!

but mmhmmm 

i didn't get around to writing the post...

before the next sunday, i realized that my stitches were in the wrong places and, by the time they were all undone and redone, i didn't write a post...

that's better

i kept taking pictures...

this does NOT look like a shepherd to me

and not posting...

he looks more like a wizard

and taking pictures...

even with the sheep, this is NOT a shepherd

and not posting...

over hill

et cetera...

over dale

et cetera...

it takes a village

et cetera...

is that ... KRYPTONITE?!?

et cetera...

T Rex and Superman and a Wizard ... weird

and by then it was time for the machine work

- which is still slow stitching for me cuz i hafta rethink how to make piping and how to make a lining with the shiny side out and how to turn a handle -

and it was too late to post about the slow stitching...

merry christmas, Super Sam!!!

cuz that would be breaking the rules...

or maybe i could bend them a little bit

 and post all of it at once...

yeah...

and so i am linking with other slow stitchers on Kathy's blog

Harry was speechless. Hermione was the last person to do anything against the rules, and here she was pretending she had to, to get them out of trouble. It was as if Snape had started handing out sweets.

J. K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

comma chameleon

this was gonna be a two words post

but i realized that i am the only person in the World who would have understood it...

backstory:

back in 1983 or so, i lurved listening to Boy George and the Culture Club singing Do You Really Want to Hurt Me and Karma Chameleon
this was waaaay before song lyrics and their meanings were accessible at our fingertips...
anywho... 

i thought he was singing 

Come-ah, come-ah come-ah, come-ah chameleon
yeah...

in my defense, it's a hummable tune
which is what i mostly do when i sing along with a song
and i didn't know what karma was anyway

a few years ago, Zen Chic came out with a fabric line named Comma...

i dunno if it's still available anywhere, but i thought it was pretty cool at the time and bought three charm packs and some yardage, thinking i would make it up using Mama Spark's Charmalade Quilt pattern at the Moda Bakeshop...

but i never did get it made...

 so it lived in its pizza box with a label that said COMMA...

i was looking through the Great Pile of Stuff and said to myself
self, make something with these COMMA charm packs and get them outta here 

so i put together a bunch of half square triangles 
and then some pinwheels
added some borders 
and came up with a flimsy that i thought would make a nice little summer quilt
 and i KNEW was gonna have comma in its name
if i ever found a backing for it...

Melissa thought i was nuts...

she said it was OBVIOUSLY a Halloween quilt

and when we went looking for backing fabric at one of those Joann sales - you know the kind - 40% off plus another 25% off the total purchase including sale and clearance items
 Melissa led me to a Marvel Halloween pumpkin bolt... 

i thought it was hideous...

but the price was right...

sigh...

here is Comma Chameleon:

does that look like Halloween to you?!?

and this is the hideous Marvel backing:

i lurve Marvel comics as much as The Next Guy, but that fabric is ugly...

pieced and bound by me
beautifully quilted with Halloween cats and bats and witches by Liz Bowman
and given to Melissa as soon as it was finished cuz the back changes it from a nice little summer quilt to an ugly Halloween quilt...


People generally fall into one of three groups: the few who make things happen, the many who watch things happen, and the overwhelming majority who have no notion of what happens. Every person is either a creator of fact or a creature of circumstance. He either puts color into his environment, or, like a chameleon, takes color from his environment.
Myles Munroe

three generations postscript

seven years ago...

 the Fat Quarter Shop had a Christmas Block of the Month available... 

 Everyone and Her Sisters were making the blocks and posting them each month... 

really cute blocks... 

and, of course, i drank the Kool Aid... 

the FQS kits were generous with fabric, and there were almost enough leftovers each month for Melissa to make a block, too... 

one of my Favorite Bloggers in the Whole Wide World offered us her scraps and leftovers...

 and Melissa and i were off to the races...

we made each of the blocks as the kits arrived...

yep, we actually kept up with the Rest of the World

 and had all twelve blocks (times two) finished In A Timely Manner...

Melissa wanted to finish hers just like the pattern, and ordered the finishing kit... 

 i wanted to use green instead of blue, so i ordered some yardage for the sashings and the borders...

since we were on a roll 

and it looked like we were actually gonna get the flimsies put together,

 we ordered backing and binding fabrics, too...

all of the goodies arrived

 and we ooohed and aaahed at them...

we put everything together with the binder of the monthly patterns and the finished blocks...

fast forward seven years...

 a couple of months ago we found all those Goodies in the Great Pile of Stuff...

i said

  i'm gonna put my blocks together and get mine outta here!

and Melissa said

i'm gonna finish mine before you finish yours!!!

a few hours later, we both had flimsies...

seriously, it couldn't have taken more than three or fours hours...

it was another hour or two to get the backings together and prep the bindings...

in the meantime...

LuLu added a few more squares to her Very First Ever flimsy 

and chose a sweet reindeer flannel for her backing and solid red for her binding...

my sweet LuLu and her sweet flimsy

we sent off all of them to Liz Bowman for quilting...

 and they came back from Michigan full of frosty quilted goodness...

a few more hours for the bindings...

dianne's FQS 2010 Christmas BOM finally finished in 2017

Melissa's FQS 2010 Christmas BOM  finally finished in 2017

LuLu's Very First Quilt Ever

LuLu is NOT fond of sewing down her own binding, so i helped

 and our three generations had three completely finished quilts in time for Christmas...

we were MADE FOR EACH OTHER!!!

woo hootie hoo!!!