Finally finished...

This is the block of the month quilt from Cabbage Rose I started last year. This photo is a bit overexposed...the colors are actually much richer. I had it machine quilted and managed to get the binding on in time to give it to my mother for her 80th birthday last Friday. Of course she loved it!

Inspired Ideas

Check out this fabulous ezine from Amy at Inspire Co.

Open publication - Free publishing - More happy

Turkey and Greece

Click here to view this photo book larger

Mom's gotta brag

I know I have been MIA for a while.  We recently returned from 2+ weeks in Turkey and Greece!  We flew to Istanbul, where Mike visited MD Anderson's Radiation Therapy facility at the American Hospital.  We spent three days in Istanbul, then took a Windstar Cruise from Istanbul to Athens, stopping at Ephesus, Rhodes, Bodrum, Santorini and Mykonos along the way.  It was fabulous! After two days in Athens (the Acropolis is amazing), we flew back to Istanbul for two more days of sight-seeing.  It was really a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  I have 600+ unedited photos on Flickr, if you want to plod through them...this one of us was taken on the Bosphorus, under the bridge from Europe to Asia. 

When we returned, I found this book awaiting me.  I had pre-ordered it from Amazon because my beautiful and very talented daughter did all the photography for it!  Pretty awesome, huh?

Fall color

My best friend recently moved from the Chicago area to Jacksonville, Florida, kind of like how I moved from Milwaukee to Houston 8 years ago.  She loves acorns and all things autumn, so for her birthday (today) I made this little piece from a Fat Quarter Shop kit.  I hate to break it to her that it is probably the only fall color she will see living down here in the south...

Block of the Month finish...well, almost

Remember these? Well, I finally got around to finishing all the blocks and piecing them into a quilt top. Just need to find something for the backing and this one will be off to the quilter!

Inked

I have been in love with Paris for as long as I can remember.  My favorite book as a young child was Madeline.  I still have my copy of it from 1954.  I have only actually been there once to visit, although I have flown through CDG a few times.  I'm hoping that we will spend our 20th anniversary there next March.  I have been contemplating a new tattoo for a while.  I have a 30 year old ladybug on my hip, but I will spare you that sight.  It took me a while to decide what image I wanted indelibly etched on my aging body, but once I had the idea of the Eiffel Tower, I couldn't get it out of my head.  I have been motivated to do the tattoo thing this year.  I usually donate blood every three months, but you can't donate for a year after getting inked.  I learned that I can't donate this year because we traveled to India last November, so I thought this would be a perfect time.  Last weekend we were visiting our kids in Minneapolis and there is a tattoo parlor very near my daughter's house that she and my son-in-law have both patronized.  So with at little encouragement from her and assurance from my husband that he wouldn't divorce me, I got this work of art by Miss Kitty on my right ankle.  It's a little bigger than I had originally envisioned, but she was able to get remarkably fine detail into it.  What do you think?

Before & after

I bought this chaise lounge about 10 years ago at my favorite consignment shop in Milwaukee. I had my eye on it for a while and waited till it got marked down the second time. I don't remember how much I paid for it...less than $200 I'm sure. I was able to see past the ugly red Stewart plaid to the down filled cushion and the carved wooden legs. I remember hauling it home in our minivan and my daughter being terrified that someone would see us bringing it into the house. I fully intended to have it reupholstered, but in the meantime just draped it with an old Bates bedspread.

We recently had our bedroom painted and I was finally motivated to have it done. I found this great fabric at High Fashion Home and had the work done at Alief Upholstery, a local shop. I am really pleased at how it turned out, and so are Purrkins and Graycie.

Fabric giveaway!

Although I certainly could (and probably should) give some fabric away, what I'm referring to is the giveaway at everyday beautiful...check it out!

Another graduation quilt

My niece Olivia graduated from high school a few weeks ago, and guess what she got as a present from me? I made her this quilt out of Birds on a Whim 2 by Amy Schimler. It is the same Yellow Brick Road pattern that I used for my brother's 50th birthday quilt.

I have a panel of cute Susan Branch labels and used one on this project (click on the photo for a close-up). We were in Toronto so we didn't make it to the graduation, but I was told that she likes it, by others as well as in her thank-you note.

I have been out of town for the last three weekends, so just trying to get back into the swing. We missed our CSA delivery on Sunday but was able to pick it up on Wednesday. I have been told that no one wants to look at photos of frozen meat, but here is the latest addition...eggs! This will appease my desire to raise chickens in our backyard...I can always go and visit our grandchickens.

Another blog giveaway

The Vintage Workshop is having a great giveaway over on their blog...check it out. Really cute stuff!

A little quilt for a big accomplishment

Last Friday I went up to Lawton, Oklahoma to witness my baby sister receive her master's degree hood. She completed this accomplishment in 3 years while working full time as a middle school teacher, wife and mother of 2 teenagers...no small feat! Here she is receiving her hood from one of the professors whom she admired most.

Here she is with her beautiful family.


And with my mom...

And with my mom, my brother and me. We are all so proud of her.


I only realized about a month ago the this was happening now, so I decided to finish one of several works in progress to give her as a gift. She is a big Mary Engelbreit fan, too, so I thought this one would fit the bill. You may recognize the fabric from a decade or so ago.



The ME page a day calendar had this illustration on it a few days earlier for Teachers' Day, so I scanned it in and printed it on some fabric to make the label. So true...

MEHC Workshop in St. Louis

You all must know that I am a huge Mary Engelbreit fan, so when the first (hopefully annual) Home Companion Workshop was announced last year, I immediately signed up for it. I had hoped some other people I know would have gone, but that didn't happen. The theme of the workshop was "Bring a friend, make a friend," and while I didn't bring one, I made several! I found a roommate on the Yahoo Group that had been set up ahead of time. Jen and I got along fabulously. She is one very talented lady!


The first thing on the agenda was a tour of the Mary Engelbreit studios. I had toured her old studio back in the 90s. This one is much smaller, but still very cute.



I felt honored to sit on the Queen's throne!


This is the print that Mary did to benefit the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. I bought one as soon as it was released and received number 2/250. I found 1/250 in the studio! I have a lot more pictures of the studio on Flickr if you are interested.

We had the opportunity to take four workshops with some very talented instructors. My favorite one was Charlotte Lyons.

This picture of me was taken in her workshop when Mary came around to inspect our work. This is what I made...I love how it turned out. Who would guess it was made from a corn flake box? I was pretty excited to see it (and my nametag) on Mary's blog!


And this is the bracelet I made with a kit from Kaari Meng. You may be familiar with her Rouenneries fabric from Moda.




There was a panel discussion entitled "The Future of Handmade" during lunch on Saturday, followed by a book signing and photo ops.


Amy Butler was just a sweet as can be...it was a thrill to meet someone whose art you admire.

Mary was very gracious about signing books and posing for the camera.



And this was the "goody bag" everyone received. It was a fabulous weekend...can't wait for next year!

Had to share...

I just bought this at Shirt.Woot. I have long been a fan of Wonder Woman (at one time I had a WW Halloween costume) and this just tickled my fancy. I'm sure I will never wear it, but couldn't help but buy it.

The quilt's out of the bag

My older nephew got married last Saturday in Dallas, where the high on Friday had been 73º. The ceremony was held outside, during which snow flurries began. Fortunately, the reception was held inside and it was a lovely affair.

I made this quilt as a wedding present, and while I'm fairly sure neither he nor his bride even know this blog exists, I didn't want to risk spoiling the surprise by showing a work in progress. I used the same Just a Piece of Cake pattern that I made my sister's 50th birthday quilt from last year, this time using a Moda Basic Grey Blush layer cake. Due to time constraints (aka my own procrastination), I machine quilted it myself. One of these years I am going to learn to do something besides stitch in the ditch!

Machine embroidery on the border...

And a cute Susan Branch label...

The newlyweds are off to Maui for their honeymoon...hope they have a fabulous time!

Valentine's dinner...and flowers

As I previously mentioned, Mike made dinner on Valentine's Day. Here he is, looking a little grumpy, probably because of my comments...

...on how he is so messy when he cooks. He only had 4 of the 5 burners going here.

I broke out one of the tablecloths we bought in India.

And the flowers? Not for Valentine's Day. I got 3 books, one about the Wizard of Oz (one of my favorite movies) and two about Istanbul, where we hope to go later this year. The flowers to which I refer are the camellias blooming in my front yard. Although we have had record setting cold this winter, these lovelies are a sure sign of spring.



Unfortunately, after spring comes summer...

Happy Valentine's Day

I made dinner last year on Valentine's Day, but since it is on Sunday this year, Mike is cooking. Since it is also Chinese New Year, he is making a Chinese inspired dish that was in the Houston Chronicle last Wednesday, Sesame Salmon with Bok Choy. No photos yet...

Always a Northerner: Le Creuset Giveaway (or, I may as well use this blog for something!)

Jackie is having a Le Creuset giveaway, and by blogging about it, I get another chance to win. And since I don't appear to be doing anything else with this blog of mine...of course if you enter, you have a chance too!

Always a Northerner: Le Creuset Giveaway

Just like Seinfeld...a post about nothing

I know it has been a month since my last post, I just don't know where the month has gone! I keep thinking that I should post something, but haven't really had anything to post about. We had the kids here for Christmas, which was great. I must admit that the only Christmas gifts I made this year were a hat and scarf out of Green Bay Packer fleece that I found on clearance at my local Hancock Fabrics. I still haven't figured our why they even had Green Bay Packer fleece! I haven't been very productive as of late. I have 3 unmade blocks of the month, still working on blind stitching the binding on my last quilt and have started another quilt as wedding gift for my nephew, who is getting married in March.

We cooked a delicious free range turkey for Christmas dinner, but I failed to take pictures...I was just enjoying having everyone here! My daughter, Kate, did take some pictures in my kitchen. I do have some pictures in my camera that I need upload. I know that a blog post without any pictures is even more boring than a blog post about nothing, so here is a shot of Mike and me at the Amber Fort in Jaipur.