chickenfoot

liberated what??

these are the latest two blocks,  a bias binding vine and leaves(which arent actually appliqued on yet, but i am still working on it tonight) and a flying geese. i was really happy with how the geese turned out, i was afraid i wouldnt have nice points but all five have them! woohoo! tomorrow i am going to try liberated churn dash and shoofly.

 

this is what i have so far.

last nite i was able to go to wisconsin to visit with my niece(sisters daugher) and her little boy, then go to my nephews(brothers son) graduation. the class was rather small at 67 students but it was a really nice ceremony. afterward they had a little reception where the kids all had boards up with pix and accomplishments. after cruising the sweets buffet, i had a yummy pink cupcake and pink lemonade. we were just standing around taking pix and looking at the kids boards and i noticed something. my brother was the shortest one out of his son, and wife and him. i always thought he was kind of tall.... boy just goes to show you we are all aging, whether we like it or not. another thing i noticed, the older he gets the more he looks like my dad.  i was never close to my dad as my mom and him got a divorce when i was a baby, and i hold a grudge but good. when i had my daughter tho i realized its hard to be a parent and i had forgiven him, for whatever i thought he had done to me. we were starting to get close and have a relationship, but sadly he died when my daughter was two. i just wanted to say happy birthday daddy, i miss you and im sorry i missed your birthday. im off to go  blubber my eyes out now.

gas prices friday and self portrait friday all rolled into one!

i have been doing gas prices friday for a month now, and the price has gone up exactly .40, in the last few weeks i think it has started to really impact people. we are finally getting it!!  i guess the point at which people in the u.s. alter their habits is about $3.80!! i was curious yesterday when i was out running errands, i havent put gas in the car for awhile (we only have one car right now) so i wanted to see how much gas i would get for my $10( this is the amount i used to put in awhile back). turns out i got just shy of 2 1/2 gallons. the gauge was at about 1/8 of a tank. wow, i mean wow. for this coming week i am going to keep track of the gas we spend and see if we can spend just a little less each week. wont you join me??

ugh, self portrait friday...why i decided to do this i dont know. yes i do, it was the inspiration i felt when i saw lauras spf. its just that i am not good at taking pix of myself. i can take photos of other people but not me. that said....heres this weeks, spf

i finally got to play with a book i got a little while ago. its freddie moran and gwen marstons collaboration book. it really is a great book to have open in your sewing room and just have fun making a bunch of the blocks. which is what i did yesterday!!!

  

these blocks didnt really take any time at all, and it was so much fun to pull scraps from the bunch that sarah sent me and just have at it. i  especially like the zigzag one on the right. i love the little floral print with the black and white squares. i think i will be doing this combo more. the book has also helped me to realize i do love bright colors. i dont know why i always thought i was just limited to the 30's prints, but i realized i can embrace both!! while the craziness of the blocks in freddie and gwens quilts are a little chaotic for me, i love the notion of just piecing up a bunch of blocks and then trying to see how some of them work together later.

side note: doesnt the yellow and green block remind you of corn on the cob?? or is it just me???? hmm?

i have one other block i am playing with today but it uses a bias tube and some appliqued leaves, so i couldnt just whip it up and show you. also the book calls for you to just sew it down with the machine, but i dont like the way that looks so i am appliquing that bit too.

smooches

swappy love and a bear story

i love swaps, dont you?? there is just nothing like finding a lovely little(or not so little) package waiting for you in your mailbox. or in the case of a package that is too big to fit in the mailbox, and has to be dragged all the way to the front porch (at least this is the impression i get from my mail lady, who is usually none to pleased to have to exit her vehicle on the road and have to walk the 30 odd feet to my door) but i digress. today in the mail i received this huge lot of loveliness from sarah (krom_mama). i was overwhelmed with the amount of scrappage she sent me. me of large glass jar of her own scraps. i shall now have to find a larger container for my (mostly her) scraps. a good thing i must tell you. that wasnt all.....see that there in the pile??? why yes it is an adorable little 6" house quiltie!! eep! its is so so sweet. i am in awe of her work. the little logs in the log cabin about 1/2".just for scale i took a pic with a quarter....the star is about the size of a quarter and the house is two times the size. thank so much sarah, i will treasure this!!

i have an online friend that has a special needs son, and he is such a darling little boy. he likes to fixate on things and is loathe to change. i saw this little electronic gift card at target and i immediately thought of him. it has an adorable image of a little bear with a boy in a bed. the special thing about it is when you push a button, stars light up.

its kind of hard to tell in the picture. see that little bear sitting by his bed?? i thought, wouldnt he make a sweet bear??

shh! dont let him hear you, he's really shy. he is hiding, so dont let him know you can see him. i think he turned out cute, but i was thinking i really wanted the little boy i am making this for, to equate my little bear with the little bear on the card. so should i make another from a yellow minky fabric?? maybe make him a little pudgier?? not to mention daughter (teenage daughter i might add, she has no shame) wants to keep this one!! your thoughts please.......

oh and before i forget, we grilled out for memorial day, and lest you think that vegs dont eat that great, here is my supper....pssst thats a veg dog

and that mushy stuff in the front is potato salad...ok maybe it doesnt look so hot..  

 

gas prices friday, and mail goodies

 apparently typepad has a new compose screen and is having some issues, thats why i couldnt put a link in yesterday, i will try it again, but eh. who knows

you know what day it is....

we did it, we broke $4! to be honest, i thought we had at least one more week of under $4, but i guess i was wrong! quite the leap from last week.

today was one of those great days you love coming back from the mailbox on. i got mail love from two people!! first was my little 6"-12" quiltie from http://www.upstatelisa.blogspot.com/.  she really did a great job on it and i cant wait to put it up on my wall of little quilties

she is such a sweetie, she sent me a bunch of 30's squares and a block that she had made too

.

this was the first swap of the 6"-12" quilt swap group and i am happy to say it is going pretty well. over half have sent out their creations and we still have the long weekend to finish up and get them in the mail by tues.

i also got a package from a friend that saw these when she was out thrifting and thought of me, doesnt that make your day when you hear people are thinking of you???

the little girl is made out of paper,and my name is cut out. i just adore them. each one has different little flowers cut out and the rest is drawn in, super sweet! thanks chatty.

 

this sweet little thing is my cockatiel peaches. well actually its a portrait of him. i found http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5681702 on etsy and she made a this for me.  she captured him beautifully. it is a wee oil painting. im going to look for a vintage frame to frame it.

NOTE: edited to say i loathe the new compose page on typepad

abc meme

i am so not happy with typepad right now. they are messing with a new layout and i cant figure out how to add links.

i was tagged for the abc meme from laurajay, sorry no linkies!

accent: no i think people in the midwest are the only ones without an accent!!

breakfast or no breakfast: yes boring me usually has a raisin english muffin or raisin toast with hot tea

chore i dont care for: washing dishes, hands down!!

dog or cat: neither, i am allergic. altho i would love to have a kitty or a pug, or a tiny little teacup doggie

essential electronics: that would have to be my laptop and my digi

favorite cologne: none, asthma

gold or silver: both actually

handbag i carry most often: i like to switch them up often, right now i am carrying a bag my friend jill made for me

insomnia: sort of, i take melatonin at night because it takes me a long time to fall asleep, but i do

job title: mom, wife

kids: one teenager daughter, two grown stepdaughters

living arrangements: hubby, me, kid, bird

most admirable trait: i will do anything if you just ask

naughtiest childhood trait: gee laurajay we must be twins, on my report card it always said at the bottom, talks too much ,and is always in everybody's business!

overnite hospital stays: when i had my daughter, i hated it by the way

phobias: oh gosh, where to start....heights, flying, etc..

quote: be the change you wish to see in the world, mahatmas ghandi

reasons to smile: my daughters face when she is happy, doing something well, any body of water, sunsets, my honey riding a bike, visiting family

siblings: three sisters, and one brother, all older than me

time i wake up: late im afraid....

unusual talent or skill: i can wiggle my ears

vegetable i refuse to eat: um, that without a doubt has to be OKRA!!! furry vegetable? who came up with this??

worst habit: perfectionist

x-rays: yes, too many to count.

yummy stuff: caramel corn, raisins, maple walnut fudge, strawberry spinach salad, cucumber salad, fresh sweet corn, and ripe off the vine tomatoes!

zoo animal i like most: i am morally opposed to zoos, what a killjoy, huh??

i tag jillytacy

 

mail goodies

mr. chickenfoot and i went visiting the grandkids this weekend and we stopped off at a barn sale on the way there(mr. chickenfoots idea!). i lucked out, i think. i collect black laquered boxes, and this is very similar to a bigger one that i have. i paid $3 for it, it was in really good condition except for a bite taken out of one corner. the tin was a giddy moment for me. i just love this style of tin, especially when it has a black background. there was a big box of hummel like figurines. most were broken or chipped badly but i was able to find two that i liked. couldnt pass up the cookie cutters. i think i spent $8 for it all. uh, not bad. i was just excited to go to a barn sale, i havent gone to a single sale this year.

it was a great mail day. helen picked me to win the ugly hexagons!! (her words not mine) i am so happy to have them and cant wait to play with them. i already have two groupings set aside to put together to make something....thank you so much helen, you might just get an ugly something back!!! i also received my quilt from the lemonade stand quilt swap. i was really surprised by this one!! i saw it and just fell in love with the colors. i was hoping it would come to my house and it did! thank you so much wendy. heres another shot of it.

pretty, no?

no, we didnt bury anybody in our backyard. this is our garden plot. mr.chickenfoot tilled the soil for me today. we still need to add some organic matter but its ready to go. now we just need the weather to cooperate. its suppose to be chilly all week, and there is a 10% chance of frost until may 31, so we may put off planting  until then.  its hard to tell but its 4ft x 8ft

gardens and backs

i finished my hand quilting, yea! the color of the backing is a much deeper blue than the pic shows, altho i am loving the turquoise look of it! tomorrow we are going to work on the garden some more, but hopefully sometime during the day i will be able to do the binding.

today we went to jamaican gardens to buy some vegetable plants. we were able to get three different varieties of tomatoes, two varieties of cucumbers and seeds for several lettuces and cilantro.  a stop off at a friends house to pick up the teenager, ended with me walking away with a bunch of ground cover(a little purplish pink flower, but unsure as to what it is).  i was able to plant most of it before it got dark, but will need to find a home for the rest tomorrow. hubby has to manage some type of fencing for the garden as we have a lot of wildlife around here that would love to sup at our free buffet.  if i can get the plants planted tomorrow i will post a pic.

the teenager "borrowed" my camera to take pix while at her friends house. isnt it a lovely shot??  im afraid she is as addicted as i am when it comes to taking pix. by the time she was 5 i had taken soooooooooooo many pix of her it was scary!! i am really glad that digital cameras were invented, as it saves me a ton of money on developing.

linkies: today was a fabulous day on tipnut. they sent a link for 22 free patterns for pin cushions, and then you can click another link to even more free patterns. i found a couple cute ones for camera cases. i need to make a couple because i have an ugly case and hubby doesnt have one at all. not good.  here ya go.  tipnut

smooches

gas prices friday!!

we are just 4 cents away from hitting $4 a gallon. this is actually an improvement, as i noticed wed. that the price was $3.99. what are some of the prices around the country?  i have heard that chicagoland has some of the highest gas prices in the u.s, but i dont know....

i am feeling kind of strange right now, i dont have a swap that needs working on!  it feels kind of nice tho.  i have mailed out the last two swaps i entered this past week, both the lemonade stand doll quilt swap and the 6"-12" quilt swap. which leaves my little coin quilt that i started last month. it is the first quilt i have made especially for me. i am working on the hand quilting, and hope to be done tomorrow with that, and possibly get to binding it this weekend. i decided to quilt it with circles. i will post a pic when its done.

just a pic of the sun going down across the street.

jill tagged me for a meme, so here goes

The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

1. what was i doing ten years ago?

um geez. pretty much what i am doing now. homeschooling my, then, almost 5 yr old daughter.  doing some sort of craft or another. just you know, being a mom and a wife.

2.five things on my to do list today:

laundry, cleaning the bird cage/taking care of the bird, dishes, do the bills, work on my quilt

3.snacks i enjoy:

pasta salad, raisins, fruit, popsicles,fudgesicles

4. things i would do if i was a billionaire:

make sure that everyone in my family and close friends has the main things they need(cars, house, etc.). open my own shop, some sort of art/crafts/quilting store.buy that house that i love in lindenhurst. donate like crazy

5.five places i have lived:

racine, wi, kenosha,wi, mundelein,il, gurnee, il, altamonte springs, fl.

6. people that i want to know more about:

barbara, pasha, jacquie, laurajay, and sarah you have been officially tagged!

i wanted to give you this link, because i thought it was so pretty, at lionbrand. the way they have it set up tho makes it look like a bikini bottom a normal person would not be caught dead wearing!

done!

it took longer then i thought it would but i finished my three little dresses. they all turned out well, except for the one that i was going to put in my etsy shop or use as a giveaway. the problem is when i was sewing the binding on, i had to take out some stitches. and they show. badly.

granted it is hard to tell in this pic, but almost one half of a side of binding area is affected. any suggestions on something i could do to save this? it really turned out nicely otherwise. i would keep this one for myself and give away the other, but i made the other one for me, and besides i used my hubby's old boxers on it! the area is at the bottom of the dress, the pic is upside down.

i bribed the teenager to do manual labor and it worked! i now have my garden dug. i just need to rototill it. altho we dont have a rototiller so i will be using one of those big fork like things. that is to say, said teenager will be using the big fork like thing.  it looks like i might get some seeds/plants in the ground this weekend. IF the weather cooperates. do you have a garden?? what kinds of things do you have in it?we will mainly have tomatoes, cucumbers, and lots of lettuce. i will be putting in some herbs too, but i havent decided which yet, altho i think cilantro would be a goodie. i am trying to talk the teenager into planting some pumpkins and watermelons, but we will see...

The Dresses, finished(altho they still need a washing).

today something scary happened. i almost killed my bird. no not on purpose. i had my lovely little blue vase of lily of the valleys sitting on my desk. peaches likes to be helpful with the typing so of course he was on my desk. he started nibbling on the lily, and ate one of the flowers. after he had eaten it, (which i was not worried about because i let him nibble plants and leaves) i started to think, maybe i should check the toxicity of lily of the valleys. guess what..... they are highly toxic to pets. all lilies are as a matter of fact, but lily of the valley are the worst. they act like digitalis (fox glove) in the system. luckily nothing happened, which i credit to the fact that they had been sitting on my desk for over a week and were dried out. i was sick for a few hours tho worrying about him. it has been about 7 hours with no ill effects so i think we're in the clear. phew

a few days ago i received something super gorgeous in the mail, from a fellow bloggerthat is from turkey, eda suner. she sent it just because. isnt that sweet?? dont look at my dry skin, pleasssse. the center stone is turquoise, and it has some charms and crystal danglies, with a leather strap. it is so me! she made it so the clasp hooks on to the side of the center stone, so there is no "back". clever. 

i wanted to give you a link to this. because that has to be one of the most creative and beautiful things i have ever seen. i cant believe what this woman can do with a bar of soap or a watermelon.

toodles

 

prints charming 2 and wip

today was a happy day. =) i have been saving my change for the past two months and i was finally able to get to the quilt store that i havent been to in over a year! i was really excited because their newsletter said they had gotten in fresh squeezed in charms, and i have been hunting for them for about a month.

thats chez moi on the right. i dont have any collections of designer fabrics, so i thought i would get 6 fat quarters of this and maybe make myself something pretty! about a week ago, while i was reading blogs i ran across this sweet little quilt on hedgehogquilts and she mentioned that the pattern was in the april issue of american patchwork. i was able to pick up the back issue at the shop for half off. gotta love that!

and of course the latest shop hop!! i love looking to see what delish stores everyone else gets to shop at.i also grabbed this block of the month kit too. i just loved the packaging, you know i am all about the cover!! it has gorgeous flower applique patterns that i cant wait to try.

i was able to grab a pack of some 1/2" hexagons too, which is great because i only had about 25 that i had cut out by hand. not fun let me tell you.after i finish up my block for the 6"-12" quiltie swap i am going to mess around with some more hex's. i have this book that has such yummy eye candy, that i really need to make something soon.

i am working on two more dress blocks. the first one has flown off to sarah. i was having a hard time trying to find tiny buttons in my button stash that were in the right color, so i decided that i am going to make little beaded necklaces instead. i am hoping that the little green seed beads look like a tiny little pearl necklace. ok, i have to ask, how many times would you have to sew, rip and sew before you realize you are sewing one piece upright and one piece not? apparently it takes me almost three. starting my third attempt, and not understanding why the block looked so wonky...it finally hit me. duh! turn it around.... thats better.