Old photos

I asked my lovely husband to scan a photo of me to use for our upcoming Guild challenge: to "interpret" a state in a quilt, and to use red, white, and blue in "a noticeable amount."

I will base mine on this picture of me, about 11, at the beach:


TMOTH seems to have color-corrected that one; this is a close-up of the same photo in the current coloration:


He also started scanning our other old pictures. This is one of my favorites - my mom (far left) with some other relatives and their dolls:


Take a good look at that doll she's holding in her right hand. Here's a close-up if you're not horrified enough:


Most. Hideous. Doll. EVER.

This is me, age 6, as an angel:


I love old pictures - I just need to remember to ask Mom who the heck else is in them.

Catching up

Boy, I've just been buried.

The latest is that the hound-from-hell seems to be having stone issues again.


A couple of days ago Cletus ate up a big bunch of oil off the stove. He puked most of it up, which may have dehydrated him a bit. We've given him lots of extra water today, and I gave him a dose of Prazosin we had left over from the last bout tonight - I'm afraid if he's not better tomorrow, we'll have to make a vet trip.

The lovely daughter has had TWO projects that she "forgot" about until the day before they were due.

I spent last weekend dealing with disgusting stuff. The upstairs bathroom litter box suddenly had flies, and the pantry had become infested with something horrible. Little maggoty larvae about a cm long ALL OVER the pantry. It seems to have started in some bags of nuts and spread. At any rate, anything that could possibly have been infested got tossed. We also have mice. I caught 3 last night, and will likely catch more tonight. I also got most of the bins of material sorted out and put back into the playroom, so we have walking-around room in the bedroom again.

I do, however, have an idea for the guild challenge. I just need to find a couple of images to sketch from and pull some material. (And probably go shopping. Of course. Because I won't have just the right shade of turquoise-y blue that I neeed.)

It's official

We have a teenager:



The birthday girl is blowing out the candles on her birthday pie (grasshopper pie). Yum.

Wish me luck!

Quilt Shoes

Really, now, how could I NOT buy these?



It doesn't hurt that they were 40% off and less than $20. And cute!

Long catch-up, with pictures

Still don't have my head completely out from under...

These are my lovely kids at Bushkill Falls in the Poconos:


Work, work, work early in the week, then the day off on Thursday to finish Halloween costumes.
Small Man originally wanted to be a "little horse" so I made him a horse costume:


On Halloween, he wanted to be "a dragon." I thought he was talking about this costume (which he did eventually wear):


However, as he informed me that morning- "Mommy, this is a dinosaur, not a dragon. Dragons have WINGS!"

The mid-kid was Link (from the Zelda game) and the not-quite-teen was a fox, here with the other kids they trick-or-treated with:


Saturday, did a hike with the Cub Scouts. Absolutely beautiful day:












Then home to play in the yard. Fun.

Tonight was quilt guild. The speaker was Jennie Rayment: http://www.jennierayment.com/
Loads of fun, a recommended speaker, definitely. And I have the best Secret Sister, ever, so far.

ALSO - I made Beth's (BZQLTR's) dinner rolls - her post with recipe here: http://bzyqltr.blogspot.com/2008/10/roll-recipe.html
You HAVE to try these. Absolutely fabulous!

Happy day!

1. Farmer's market today - romanesco cauliflower, broccoli, radishes, potatoes

2. Dentist visit not too bad - no gum work needed right now!

3. I found a dress!!! This is a biggie - I'm going to a wedding this weekend - my boss's son - in the Poconos. I literally had NOTHING to wear. The last wedding I went to, I was 7 months pregnant with my not-quite-13-year-old. Any fancy stuff I do have is red or black, and this Southern girl is NOT wearing black or red (or white, for that matter) to a wedding. It's great, and I got a great deal at Nordstrom Rack. Originally priced at $160 and marked down to less than $30. Green silk chiffon over satin, ruched bodice, shoulder construction somewhere between a strap and a sleeve, tied at the back of the neck...and it fits wonderfully. I just need to buy a present, and I'm pretty much set.

4. New bras! One marked way down and pretty, and one with NO WIRE!! (and pretty, too.) Yippee!!

For dog lovers

Completely not crafty, but a sweet video:

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=147_1223108811

Secret Sister booty

I got a package from my quilt guild secret sister yesterday. It had a birthday card in it, so...wait for my birthday, or not?

Since one item wasn't birthday-wrapped, just in plain paper, I decided that it was my belated guild-meeting goody bag, and it was!! A couple of fat quarters, some coffee, some chocolate (!!!) and a cool fiber art pin. If I could find the camera, I could show you photographs.

AND, still 3 wrapped little packages for my birthday!! How cool is that!

Another guild's quilt show is this Friday and Saturday. It's the one that meets close to work during the day. At some point I may try to join, but something always seems to come up on that Thursday.

I've started working on the ripple afghan for the mid-kid again. It's over a foot now, but still a long way to go.

My Quilty Name is...

Conquering Lioness Drooler over Vintage Fabrics.

(Very true, actually.)

Thanks, Jill!!!

(Quilty Name Generator)

EEK! I'm still here...

Over a month!
Not a whole lotta quilting going on. My boss had emergency surgery almost a month ago, so I've been the de facto boss instead. Lots of stress. And a vacation weekend at the beach as well.

Great guild meeting tonight - June Colburn. http://www.junecolburn.com/
Wonderful design ideas, very well presented. Just a solid talk.

Jumbles

Too much stuff to post - but decided I needed to post something ;^)

We spent a week at the beach week before last. A few photos:
Where we were - North Topsail Island, NC:


Playing in a tide pool:


Waiting to go into the sea turtle hospital:


My tween's mermaid sand sculpture:




The mid-kid turned 10 the Saturday we were there:


We got him guitar hero, but he doesn't much like it - the tween and I are having much more fun with it. I will probably take him out tomorrow for a new game that *he* picks out.

I took the tween shopping yesterday. New pierced ears, new jeans, new undergarments. Mother-daughter bonding time, definitely.

Today we went to a picnic at the local state park, a combination end-of-summer/start-of-school/going-away-of-friends party thrown by the parents of one of the tween's friends. We had a great time - good food, some time on the paddleboats.

Just not much crafty going on here. I did make some chocolate chip cheesecake brownies for the picnic, but I'm not sure that counts!

Photos from the fair last weekend

Not much quilty going on here - working on the chess quilt, and packing up stuff to work on during vacation at the beach.

This is a "highlight" of our fair - the decorated toilets. It seems as though they all get a ribbon - and they all have places. So, you can get a 13th-place ribbon in the toilet contest!


The farm equipment was a HUGE hit with the Small Man.








Hard working boy!


And with the mid-kid as well:


They had a combine set up with a slide:


Award-winning Christmas trees:


Lots of animals, of course.
Chickens! I love chickens!






Eggs hatching:


Bunnies:




Kids petting something - goats, I think.



Petting the buffalo:


Sheep:


Riding the rides:








This year, we were there at the right place and the right time for the pig races. There were also goat races and duck races.
Finish line for the pigs:


Goats - they pretty much ambled around the track.


Yum! Funnel cakes!


Leaving the fair: My daughter is almost as tall as my husband.