Rag Egg Tutorial

I am lovin' these rag eggs and the most talented Melissa from Cornbreadandbeansquilting's Weblog has posted a little tutorial for those of us who are, shall we say..."not so creative"?
I have to confess I have tried these before and I have never tried making them the way she made them, hence, mine have never looked quite as cool as hers. First, let me tell you, I never thought to use a glue gun, duh! Second, I was wrapping them the other way, width-wise. Both of these little issues could have something to do with my "failure to launch" my eggs for Easter.
I LOVE homespun and save every little but I can. I use it to tie stuff, wrap fabric bundles and dress up my mason jars... I can't wait to try these. Now go get your own directions over at Melissa's blog. And LMK if you have some cool tutorial I should be checking out. God knows I need all the help I can get!

One More Peep!

I told you I had two Peeps on make this weekend. Here's the second one:This one has a homespun backing and binding along with a Woolly Flower and Teeny-Weeny hand dyed buttons. And that concludes my crafting operations for this weekend. Now I have to get to work...bummer! But two little quilts in as many days is not bad. Now I have to make one for myself though because I already mailed out Peep#1 and this one is leaving tomorrow....hmmm, maybe I can make one after homeschool tomorrow, that would be cool. Oh, I think I have a plan! Woo-HOO!

Weekend Wonder, Done!

This week's Weekend Wonder is Peep. If you subscribe to my newsletter you'll be seeing him n your Inbox later today. Weekend Wonders are kits for quilts that can be completed in a weekend. A few hours of quilting fun that will help you get you quilting fix without consuming all your weekend. You start in and finish it, no UFO at the end. Is that the greatest idea or what?
This cutie measures 10"x12" and is made up using Dandelion Girls prints by Fig Tree Quits and wonderful Woolly flannels by Maywood. I had to use hand dyed wool for the beak because I just could not find the right shade in the flannel bundles.
My first finished Peep:I think it's the cutest! I have a second one all cut and ready for tomorrow too. One to keep and one to give away. You know how that goes...
I just posted the kits, so if you need a little quilting fix and love my Peep you know you can make one just like it for under $20! Woo-HOO!

It's the Little Things...

Today GP invited me to Legal Seafood in Burlington, MA. We have been introducing him to new foods and he has decided he likes lobster. Fortunately, LS not only had a kids size lobster meal but it also has a Lunch menu which means that you can eat like a queen, as long as you do it before 4PM, LOL.
Right in front of LS is Eddie Bauer, one of GP's favorite stores. And because if the changing season's he was due for a new Spring vest and Summer raincoat. They have the best of both and the warm vests are half off because someone thinks the Winter is over (Obviously these people do not live in the North East!) Well, I bought him the coolest vest and found a great bright orange raincoat (for security reasons he has always had orange raincoats since he ran off into the trees and I located him only as the bright little orange speck moving onward and upward on the hill...I think once he did have a bright yellow one, but always a bright color of sorts...) Anyway, I was psyched. I had what I needed and ...wait...Where's GP? "Gene? Gene Paul?" I run off into the back of the store and sure enough he is in the back. He has on this cap with lights, no kidding...look at this:and yes, he turned out all the lights in the kitchen so I could get a "good shot" of his new hat. Those are two LED lights glaring at you and that's a "Isn't this cool?" smile he is sporting along with it. I swear the hat was more than his dinner, hahaha! But it gets better. He bought a backpack "for camping, walking in the woods and more", and yes, that is a quote. In the car he told me he could fit five bears in the backpack! (He is referring to plushie bears, mind you!),LOL! You just had to be there.... I'm such a sucker. This is the backpack he chose:GP the explorer, who knew? I just had to share. Maybe tomorrow he'll let me take a pic of him n his gear. He was all geared up when I found him. He had a vest, the cap (with the lights ON) and the backpack and he was so excited...you just had to be there! I think he might be stuffing his toys in his backpack as I write....better go check on that. See ya' later!

We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Programming...

It was too good to be true, I had spent the week in bliss and it came back to bite me in the tushy! Go figure...look what I found when I opened the door to take GP to get his haircut:Oh, to say he was not pleased would be such an understatement. You see, to GP these boxes are
nothing but trouble. He doesn't feel the excitement of what is to come. The thrill of the wait finally coming to an end. He doesn't feel the urge to rip them open and cut them up into kits (and there is a really cute pattern that I will be kitting...woo-hoo! OOps, getting off topic here!LOL!) To him his trip to get a haircut has been delayed and his trip to the sushi bar is even further away than the haircut. Those stupid boxes stand between him and the barbecue eel sushi he has been waiting for all day... Had I not run out of batteries I would have taken a pic of the process. Oh, I might have even recorded the event. My Prince could have been an alcoholic for all the whine he had. "Oh, it's too heavy", "Oh, Mom can do it", "I can't carry more than four at a time", "Five is too heavy" Can you see me rolling my eyes? Did you know that GP grew to 5'2" this year, making him two full inches taller than I am? He weighs in at 180lb. and he can't handle five bolts of fabric at a time? Who does he think he's fooling? LOL! What a kid; I tell you...he's autistic but he is not stupid! The boxes weighed more than 70 pounds each so carrying them in was out of the question but I opened them up and we were done in no more than 15 minutes. But the moaning and whining...woe, you would have thought he had hours of work ahead. Again, I roll my eyes, LOL!
So anyway, the great fabrics are in and now I just have to log them in and get them posted. That'll take a day or two but I already have the slide show going so everyone can see the great new prints. Did you see that? I'm so fancy!
And it's not a bad thing to take a break from my runner. When I dried myself off after my shower tonight I saw this: those white spots are shreds of skin! Hello! No wonder my fingers were so sore. I'm such a bad quilter, I swear I don't know how to quilt without stabbing myself raw. I used a band-aid but the needle would get all gunky from stabbing through the tape. I tried the leather thimble but the needle kept getting caught in it...any suggestion? this is the hand that goes under the quilt (I don't use a hoop, just hold it in my hands and quilt. I think I need to use a stone to rub off all that ugly stuff. Wonder if my Pet Egg would work? HMMM... I might just try that before I get a callous!

I'm Alive!

And I'm working on some great new projects. I had to take some "Mental Health" days because I was beginning to loose my mind. A note to all: the first sign that you are losing your mind is when you start to take life WAY too seriously. Remember, if you are healthy and your kids are safe at home...what could possibly be that bad? Hello!

Anyway, I am on the mend. Or so I think. I might have to take another mental health holiday if my thermostat doesn't hit forty soon! But that's another story.
So here's one of the projects I am working on.It's a runner~ a big fat one...I have to say that it will be perfect for a big coffee table, ahem!

I'll have you all know that TChoco (my non-quilter sister) was taught to rotary cut and did all the stripping for this one. She also helped with all the applique pieces (tracing and cutting all the pieces and matching all the flowers...) oh wait till you see it, it's the bomb! (OOps, did I date myself? Do people still say that? Should I have said,"It's fierce?" HMMM...I need to keep up with the times, better check on my euphemisms... they might be outdated, LOL!

Anyway, I already did half of the binding and half of the quilting. Once I finish all the quilting I'll put the applique on and Whala, off to TX! I'm so excited! oh, take a look at the flowers....they are so cute!So there you go... what'cha think? The pics are crummy but you know...

I try! More to follow....
I just realized I didn't tell you that I was in TX and all the fabrics in the top were snatched from Sandy's stash. I bought the pattern at the Quilt Show she took me to and will soon carry it in my shoppe. It is so easy, even I could piece it, LOL! Oh and Sandy, thanks for allowing me to raid your stash... you're the best!

Pincushion, Done!

Here's the disclaimer; this is my idea of a pincushion but it might not necessarily be one for everyone. It measures 2-6/8"x 2". Yep, that's two and six eighths by two INCHES, LOL! It has twelve teeny-weeny buttons (shades of scarlet!) and is filled with weighted poly pellets.Here's the front:and then here's the back:One side has lighter buttons than the other because the pack had "shades", so what I did was keep all the buttons the same per side. Did you notice how my piecing is super fab? And to think it only took FOUR HOURS to make this cutie, LOL! Hence, I could never do piecing for a living...Oh, but I did match up all of my teeny weeny little blocks. Now that's not OCD, that's Sandy's fault! I live in fear of Sandy's wrath...,LOL. Wouldn't want to be on her "sloppy quilter" list! Too scary!
Now, I'm not really sure I can part with my handsome pinkeep and cute little pincushion. HMMM. I must do some serious soul searching. Can I part with them in the name of a swap? Oh dear, maybe I should try again and make another one that is not quite as cute....
I think I'm in a pickle of sorts now. I'll have to mull it over. ...

Needle Case, done!

I'm still working on my piecing! I even joined a piecing pincushion swap...JIC you missed that yesterday. Today I had planned on making a pincushion for my swap buddy but it was just not meant to be. I ended up making a needle case, again! I don't know what it is with me and needle cases. I think I secretly have a "thing" for them. They're just so cute!

Anyway, behold the "I'm so handsome" needle case!
The needles are for reference... see how tiny that thing is? It's just so cute!
Now let's see the inside:

Did you see my fancy piecing? The strips match up perfectly...just like Sandy taught me! Oh, and see that wonderful wool felt insert with the fancy stitching? Woo-HOO!And yes, that is a hand dyed button from Hillcreek Designs that I stitched there to close it
and I even found a tutorial online to learn how to make that buttonhole on the left...
Now isn't that fancy? I'm showing off, can you tell? LOL!
And before I lose your attention here's the back...notice how the button does NOT show on the outside????AHEM, just thought I'd point that out. Oh, I'm just on a roll aren't I? I'm so bad! Anyway. I just thought I'd share my crafty creation...my pieced, crafty creation that is! OK, now you can laugh, it's OK...you wont hurt my feelings...really. =)