Apes and Muffins . . .

Sipiweske Quilt Designs | 4 Sep 2010 - 11:08 am

I know!  I am such a bad blogger and a bad quilter too!

The extent of my “sewing” this past week has been to repair this wonderful character . . . a golf-club cover of all things!

Good news is that he is all set for his Fall appearance on the golf courses.  Sure glad that repairing things is not something most quilters need to do – but people always assume that because we know how to quilt that we will love fixing anything with a needle and thread.  Boy are they wrong!!!

I did manage to squeeze in some baking with my new ‘muffin top’ pans – pumpkin spice muffins even . . . wow the smell in the house was awesome.

A person needs to bake these every day of the week - trouble is someone would also need to eat that many in a week . . . not around here.  We’re not really '”sweet” eaters, so baking is a rare occurrence in this house.  Maybe I just need to bake them when I know that company is coming over :)

We also made some mini carrot cupcakes – obviously some were minier (is that a word!) than others.

K – enough with the food stuff, I’m off to do some machine quilting.  Have a great weekend everyone!

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Party Fun!

Pleasant Home | 4 Sep 2010 - 9:36 am

I have slowly been cleaning out files on my computer and reorganizing a bit. I came across these the other night and thought they would be fun to post.
One of my Magazine submissions from a few years ago. I love the Orange and Pink. I forgot about these cute cupcake toppers! I'll have to make some for Halloween in Halloweeny colors.

Somedays I miss playing with my paper and glue. But mostly I love playing with fabric and thread right now.

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Molly's Sketchbook: Lovely Liberty Coin Purse Kits!

Knitting Crochet Sewing Crafts Patterns and Ideas! | 4 Sep 2010 - 9:17 am

Coin purses are one of my favorite things to make because they are so useful and make such great gifts.  They are also amazingly easy to sew, which you might not know because usually their instructions are in Japanese! Sadly, I don’t speak Japanese but luckily purlsoho.com’s Mari does. A little while ago she helped translate the pattern for one of the purses for us and a whole new world opened up! The Cute Japaneses Coin Purse stands out as one of my all time favorite Purl Bee projects and I actually still use it to this day. I’ve made many more coin purses since then and I love giving them as gifts, people often can’t believe that I actually made them!

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My Friends in New Zealand

My Empty Nest is Full of Cat Hair | 4 Sep 2010 - 7:54 am

I want to send hugs and prayers to all the people of New Zealand. They suffered an earthquake during the night of similar magnitude as the one that struck Haiti.

Fox News Images
 
Amazingly, NO ONE was killed thanks to the strong building codes in New Zealand. The damage to property and infrastructure is still tremendous.









So while you are enjoying the last official weekend of summer in the northern hemisphere, please think of our friends in the southern hemisphere and send them your prayers and good wishes. They will need it!

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Three Dog Night and the Morning After

Blackberry Creek Home Arts | 4 Sep 2010 - 7:34 am

You should have seen us--and you might have if I'd thought to take my camera with me. But I have only two hands, and they were busy with leash and dog.

Miss Daisy has come to spend the weekend with us while her folks are out of town. It's amazing how many dogs three can feel like when they all are clamoring and barking to go outside.

I have to leash Skipper, especially with this many dogs to watch. If I let him walk free, he's liable to see a cat or a leaf blowing in the breeze and cause a stampede. I wasn't up for a dog stampede this morning.

So down the road we went, everyone at my heels--except for Sophie who refused to walk with the riffraff. She was well out ahead of us. Darby (the neighborhood free range dog) joined us before we got out of our yard. I swear, I looked like the neighborhood dog lady.

It was a pleasant walk in the cool morning air. But now we're inside and things have changed. Everyone is barking and running around as if danger is imminent. It's not. What is happening is that I have a young man outside preparing to pressure wash The Yellow House. Dirt and mildew have built up, and the lady needs a bath. The dogs don't like it.

Three Dogs Barking--Sounds like a fine Indian name, doesn't it? Sounds like the end of the world.

Well, anyway. Thank you all for your kindnesses and comments this past week. It has been a hard one. But how much harder it would have been without my friends and family. I got a letter from the hospice people, who warned me that the grief might come just as strongly as it did the day Vann died. And it did. I was not prepared for the pain that hit me. But I got through it and I think I'm stronger now for having done so. Thank you all. You have no idea how much I love my blogging friends--and how big a part of my life you have become.

A group from the neighborhood took me out to dinner Thursday night. There was hardly any weeping, just a little tearing up when we toasted Vann. Everyone had margaritas, a favorite of Vann's, except for me. I had a pina colada. I cannot tolerate the taste of tequila. Maybe it's the thought of that worm, I don't know. But it just tastes foul to me.

I hope you are all looking forward to a great holiday weekend. Have fun and be safe. Around here, Labor Day is regarded as the official end of summer, which I for one am not sad to see go.

This time of year is also the official start of football season. The Tide plays Somebody State tonight on pay per view. I won't be watching it, since Somebody State is not a big rival. But next week's game with Penn State will be covered by ESPN, so I'll be in attendance then.

Happy Weekend, Everyone!

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