What not to do with an open bottle of Mountain Dew.

I learned what not to do with a bottle of Mountain Dew when you are not sure it is closed. You do not put it into your purse that holds your camera, cell phone, wallet and redwork stitchery you have been working on for two days. Yes I have to admit I did this. Yesterday I had a very long day, I got off of work at 7am, waited for the pet store to open at 9am and then went to volunteer at Natalie’s classroom, took Gordon to gymnastics at 6:30pm and as we were getting out of the car I threw the Mountain Dew bottle in my purse, I figured I needed the caffeine to keep me going. When we got inside we sat down and I put my purse on my lap. I thought, wow it feels wet. And then it began dripping all over the place, I ran it into the bathroom and emptied the contents in the sink, everything was soaked.

I was able to rinse the stitchery and iron it, it is fine now. But, the camera and cell phone are dead. So, I am pretty much screwed. We do not have the money to replace either one.  We just renewed our cell phones and got new ones so we still have another year before we can do that again. My old cell phone is somewhere in the house, Alice and Gordon play with our old ones, but  mine is missing and Gordon says he now is not sure where the other one is. Uggh! And I just got the camera back from having it repaired. Natalie was nice enough to say I could borrow hers if I needed to.

One sleep deprived mistake and it changes my world. I suppose it could be worse but I am a little bummed. I am going to the cell phone store tomorrow to see if the insurance we have on them will cover my mistake. Keep your fingers crossed!

Snowbound BOM

Block 4
Originally uploaded by stitchin.thyme

I bet you thought I forgot about this block of the month - well I didn't. I caught up just in time for the new one to come out. Do you like my purple tree?

I cleaned up my quilt room the other day - it looks so lovely. I traced up several of the blocks I need to get done for all these free blocks of the months in hopes of getting some done before I trash my room again. My husband was very impressed with how it looks - all except the big mushroom tent sitting in the middle of it. The kids thought it was so clean now there was room for the tent. Ugghh!

So back to these BOM's - do you know how many I print out each month? I will tell you - 26 - I will write it out for you to see if it sounds any more sane - twenty-six, sound any better. No - I didn't think so either. I have not started all of them, but they are all so cute. Besides the ones I have listed on my blog I will tell you about some cool designers who are sharing their talents for FREE!

http://www.creativityamongstchaos.blogspot.com for Blessings (nice for baby quilt!

http://www.lastingtreasure.com for the Sophia Favorite Things

http://www.TheRaspberryRabbits.com for A Sentimental Journey through the Months

http://www.BobbySocksqc.com for Fairy Tales

http://www.Tozzscorner.blogspot.com for Flirting with Flowers

The Homespun Website http://www.completecraft.com.au for the Give Thanks Stitch Along

http://val-laird.blogspot.com for Gifts of Grace

I could go one all day, that should give you something to look at. It is very gracious of these designers to share their talents with us for free. Plus, going to others blogs is a great way to find new ideas and patterns to buy, etc, etc.

Enjoy - I hope you find one or two or 26 you like!!

Thumbelina

Pretty little Thumbelina, isn't she adorable.  I sometimes wish I could fly with the birds like that.

This is the 7th block I have completed in the Melly & Me "Once Upon A Time" quilt. Two more to go and I can start piecing. I cannot wait to pick the fabrics out to go around it.  Here is what the finished quilt looks like:

The last three days have been such a drag, I worked all three nights and now I am ready to do nothing. But as we all know work is only a small part of life, I need to clean house and catch up on home life. I also have the big chore tonight of cleaning up my quilt room. Oh it is such a mess, fabric has been thrown all of the place and my patterns/papers are everywhere.  It is a nightmare in there

Some news about our porch guests, they have been busy growing into pretty little birds.

We had a very traumatic event happen yesterday with “Guinea” the Littlest Pet Shop guinea pig. He is the one on the left:  Gordon and Alice were playing in our woods and throwing them over the old creek bed when suddenly Guinea was lost. They searched for about an hour  in the ditch. Of course being leaf color they could not locate him in the ten inches of leaves that cover the ditch.

I made them come inside when it was time for me to go to work. They were covered with mosquito bites and had black feet from the leaves and dirt. I promised I would try to find him today. When they got out of school today we searched again and I couldn’t believe we actually found him. He was a bit dirty but otherwise in good condition. Funny thing is we found him near this pretty little thing. I guess he was using the mushroom as a cover. Smart little guinea pig.

So, off I go to try to invent something edible for dinner. Wish me luck, I am not the best cook in the world!

Redwork Quilt

Redwork Quilt
Originally uploaded by stitchin.thyme

I have finished up another block for my redwork quilt. I think I only have two more to complete but I keep seeing more designs I want to include in it. I cannot get enough of redwork. I have not planned out the quilt yet, I have a lot of ideas. I did not want to just put them together with sashing, I think they need a little more "something".

Hope everyone had a great weekend and is ready for the week to start!

Sweet Nostalgia Block 7

Sweet Nostalgia Block 7
Originally uploaded by stitchin.thyme

I finished up March's block from the Dorothy Baker Designs free block of the month. I was a little behind. Instead of snow I added rain. We don't get much snow here in March but we do get rain. I can't wait to start the next block with the cute little bunnies on it!!

Earth Day!

Okay I was a little confused. Thought Earth Day was Wednesday only to find out, after spending all day at the kids school, it was actually yesterday. Sorry – I am not sure if it is the age thing or the lack of sleep thing.

Hope everyone is having a great day. I am off to have lunch with Gordon today. Yesterday was Alice’s day. I was telling my friend Janet I saw Natalie in the cafeteria while eating with Alice and went over to say hello. I can tell she is growing up, she didn’t beg me to sit with her, all I got was “Why are you here?” Oh man, just the other day she asked me what makes kids not want to spend time with their parents, she said she didn’t understand that – I guess she does now. Boo-hoo. It was bound to happen. But, I still have two who want me around, at least for a little bit longer!! I will bug them until  I get the “Why are you here?”.

Bad Blogger, Bad, Bad Bad Blogger!

Life has taken a hold of me and will not let up. Where does the time go? So much I want to do and not enough time to do it all. Plus, not having batteries for my camera has left me feeling lost.

It is amazing how I have missed my camera. I was like an addict this morning waiting for 7am to come around to I could rush to the store to get batteries after work. I walked into the store and stared at all the batteries for some time, trying to find the best ones, the ones that would last more than four days. I really should invest in a better camera. I have tried the rechargeable batteries but they last such a short time it is not worth the fuss. With Earth Day just yesterday it should have been a reminder that all my battery usage is not good for the environment. I am sad and embarrassed to say it does not affect my thinking process when it comes to my batteries. Shame on me.

Speaking of environments, I wanted to show you some interesting characters that have been hanging around our house.

First I will gross you out. I do not like grubs, I am not scared of them, I just plain hate them. At our old house I was quite obsessed with growing Fescue grass in our yard. If anyone knows about grass, fescue is a cool weather grass, not a perfect fit for Central North Carolina. But I like green grass, all year long and I battled daily to get it to grow. It was easier there because our yard was so very tiny, not too much to work with. We had originally put sod down on our yard, the grubs totally infested it, we had plenty of plants/trees for the Japanese Beetles to munch on in our yard and some moron invented the little baggies to hang in your yard to catch them in. Never buy those things, if you do put them in your neighbors yard who doesn’t care about their grass. Why you ask?  Because they are an open invitation for the Japanese Beetles to come to your yard and lay there stinking little grubby eggs in your grass. So they ruined my yard, you could just pull the grass up in strips because they had chewed all the roots up. At our present home I still insist on fescue grass. The grass makers are coming up with these fancy new hybrid grasses that is actually making it a little easier to grow here. The other day Gordon and I were planting his tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers, and we came upon an entire settlement of the largest grubs I have ever seen. These suckers were like 4 inches long. I usually stab at them like a crazy person but I decided these guys were much to large. Gordon and I collected them and he through them in the woods across the street. I am sure we will be seeing them in their flying form around June or July. Anyway, I will make you wait no longer – here they are:

Pretty nasty aye. Now for a more pleasant picture. Gordon with his tomatoes. We have to put them in a bucket because our little bunny friend eats them if they are in the ground. They also enjoy cucumber plants as we found out. We will be purchasing more of those this weekend.

Then we have this little guy, well I should say big guy. He is about 7-8 inches long. Very hefty fellow. We have scads of lizards but this guy is the biggest by far. Then there are our new babies. Yes they have hatched. I surely hope I didn’t get too close for the picture. I don’t think I did, I hope I didn’t. Here they are – the cuties!

And since we are talking about gardening and stuff I finally finished my 1st block of the Gardeners Journal quilt I am doing with Chookyblue and all the other fantastic stitchers at http://stitch-a-long.blogspot.com/. It is from the book A Gardener’s Journal by Anni Downs.

Here is my first block":

I also finished up two little cuties this past week. I am working on their purses and when I finish they will be available on my Etsy shop. They are so cute!!

I am hoping to catch up on a few more things this week. I have to work several extra days this week so it will definitely cut into my sewing time, darn work! :)

 

 

 

Guess what I did today??

I will give you a hint:

Here is another hint: Yeah, I was bad. Janet and I went to a couple quilt shops in Fayetteville we had not been to. The first shop I was really good, only chose fat quarters from the sale room.

At the second shop we went to in downtown Fayetteville I was not so good. We went to Quilts ‘n Tiques and there was soooo many good things. As you can see I got a couple stitchery patterns from Lakadaisies, and look at the farm yard “toile like” fabric. Gorgeous. I have not been to a quilt store in soo long and it was great, they had all the fabrics I love, 30’s, 40’s, Civil War, Moda, Homespuns, and awesome patterns of all kinds, I could just go on and on. And everyone there was incredibly sweet. I cannot wait until I have money to go back, even though I do not need any more fabric it will be nice to visit. They also have a website for more info: http://www.quiltsntiques.com/ Go visit the shop and enjoy the yumminess!!!

It was funny when I walked in I thought I recognized someone in the back of the store and sure enough it was some friends of ours. I ran through the store before they saw me and jumped them from behind with a big hug. It was Sharon, Evette and Laura. Wow, how fun.

We had to cut the trip short though because we had to go pick the kids up from school. Of course we were a little late – but not the last ones in carpool – let me tell you we heard about it from them though.

So I did a load of laundry and cut the grass so I don’t feel too guilty about buying more fabric, plus my husband is so awesome, he said I shouldn’t feel guilty!! Love that man!!

Janet also gave me more homespuns – she is so generous – look at these pretty fabrics!!!   That’s all for today and what a great day it was. I am off to fondle my fabric and eat chicken wings, but not at the same time!! :)

 

Showing signs of age

Yesterday I was busy, too busy. I cut the grass, hand watered the gardens, power washed (3 times) the back screen porch.  We have not been using the screen porch, just the front. It has not been cleaned in the 3 years since the home was built. The porch sits in the shade so not only was it covered with an inch of pollen but also had mold on it. I was outside yesterday from 8 until about 1:30, and what a beautiful day it was. I cleaned the furniture from the front porch and put it on the back porch. I decided to let the little bird have some peace, every time we go out she flies away and I was thinking it was becoming quite stressful for her. Now we can hang out in the back and not bother her, plus summer is coming (it comes here quite early) and it gets pretty hot on the front side.

Now I am in pain. Carrying furniture, cleaning with the power washer, mowing, it has taken a toll on this old gal. My back hurts so bad I didn’t think I would be able to get up this morning. So now I will rest, I have work tonight so maybe just sitting all night will help to rest it.

Natalie’s “Pocket Gnomes” have been finished up for a couple nights. I took a picture of them this morning all lined up. They are cute, she did a great job, I am so proud of her.

Aren’t they adorable? So colorful!

All for now, my dolls did not get clothed last night, I was too pooped. Maybe tomorrow. Have a great day!!

We Have Eggs!!!

Our new resident has been sitting more in her next and not flying away as much so today we decided to check out the nest. I climbed the railing and put the camera close to the nest, I didn’t want to get too close because I thought she may attack me. She squawks at us if we stand near that side of the porch. And look what we have!!! We are so excited. Babies are on the way!!Alice decided to put her own little bird out the other day to keep her company. Alice’s bird also has her own eggs!

I also wanted to show you a picture of my friend Janet’s Kim Diehl quilt she is working on. She is so awesome! Isn’t  it beautiful!!!   Off to doll making!!! Have a great day!!!

 

Gnomes – Gnomes and more Gnomes!

Natalie has a project coming up in school where they have to make items for trade. They have to promote their items and make them most desirable so everyone will want to trade with them.

Yesterday instead of making the dolls I wanted to make she asked if we could work on her project. We had to figure out what we wanted to make and insure they didn’t take too long to make. We came up with the idea of gnomes. So we sat down and drew pictures and finally came up with the perfect one. It started out very elaborate with feet, hands, decorations on them, etc, but after sewing together thirty of them we decided to cut out the fanciness. We will make prettier ones to sell she said. She is excited because we consider it “our” pattern.  We gave them little felt faces.  Natalie did an awesome job sewing. Lots of scraps were flying. By the way, we tried to only use scraps for the gnomes.

Lots of sewing later:

We had these little guys:

We came up with a little jingle for what we call our “Pocket Gnomes”, it is sung to the rhythm from the song “So Yummy in my Tummy” on the kids show Yo Gabba Gabba. If you have never seen it – it is hilarious, I think the producers/actors are all on some type of serious hallucinogens or something.  Anyway it goes:

There’s a gnome in my pocket – so gnome-y – so gnome-y.

A Pocket Gnome in my pocket – so gnome-y – so gnome-y.

Okay that probably makes no sense unless you have seen the show but we are giggling.

Today we had to do some running around so on the journey we went into this new “thrift” type store. Apparently they say they buy overstock items but it is next door to the Guardian Angel Thrift Store so I think they just take the new items and items with tags and put it in this little store. Anyway, I heard from a friend they had brand new quilt shop fat quarters. The pickings were pretty slim but this is what I found, and they were only $1.05 each. Great way to soothe a fabric fix!  Have a super weekend!

Where Have I Been??

Nothing exciting has been happening around our house. Just been working. Today I am hoping to get starting on some dolls. I am telling myself right after this I will start.

We do have a new occupant on our front porch. On the top of one of our pillars a little “birdie” couple has been diligently making a nest. I am surprised since we use the porch a lot and there is always someone or some dog out there. But they are there.Thelma is not very excited about it! Louise wants no part of it – she wouldn’t even show up for the picture. I think they feel we have enough animals and children in the house already. There is always room for more!

More Finishes!!

I completed another “Dee Dee” dolphin that I was going to put on Etsy but my little Alice insisted on having her, since I did do her in her favorite colors.

I also finished up the next block in the Willowberry Designs free block of the month. Here is Sam and Sally Starfish!I am a little upset I cannot print the new blocks from all my block of the months I am following. My printer is out of ink and it is not something I want to spend the money on right now.I also broke out another Homespun magazine and couldn’t resist doing the pattern by Kate Henderson of Two Little Banshees called Pippa, Polly and Penny. They are platypus and they are so adorable. I believe I am going to put them on Etsy tonight.Of course Alice has a request in for one but she wants hers to be the same colors as “Perry” the Platypus from the show Phineas and Ferb on Disney Channel.On Thursday the kids school had a ceremony crowning all the Prince and Princess and Kings and Queens of the classes. Natalie was nominated as the Queen of her class. Of course my lovely camera does not like taking pictures in the gymnasium so none of my pictures turned out. A couple people said they would send me some so I hope to see them soon. After the ceremony was the Spring Fling where they have games and blow up slides and bouncing “thingys” for the kids to play on. The whole night Alice and I tried to win her a cake at the cake walk and bingo games but no go. Natalie decided to do the cake walk with her last ticket and she won a cake. She was so sweet about it, she let Alice pick out the cake and told her she won it for her. She is such a sweety.

  The painting to the right is Alice’s. She painted it in art class and it hung on the wall in the main hallway, she was so proud – and so am I!!!!

We had a busy day today. We all went out shopping and us girls all got haircuts. Natalie looks so grown up, and Alice looks as sweet as can be. And me, I got a really, really short cut. I use to wear my hair short all the time and then after having kids I never made the time to get it done. I usually just trim it myself, ugh. I like it now, at least  I know it is all even.

Hope everyone has a enjoyable Easter Holiday and is able to spend time with the family!!

Etsy

Well – I took the plunge. I have items listed on Etsy, look and click on the sidebar to the right to see what’s listed. I hope to add more items soon. I am so nervous. Yikes!!!