I have been Tagged!!

Susan tagged me. Here are the rules:

1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post THE RULES on your blog.
3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 people and link to them.
5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

OK -Most of the people that I know have already been tagged so we'll skip the tagging other people part and maybe revisit this a few months down the road. We might get some different stories then.

1. I have 4 brothers and No sisters unless you count sister inlaws. Can you blame me being considered "One of the Guys"? I have to actually try to fit in with the girls.

2. Last year the navy Doctors moved my ulnar nerve (the funny bone nerve) from my elbow to the inside of my arm because it was rubbing against the bones and being damaged. They say if I had let it go I would have lost use of my hand all together.

3. My first quilt was a baby YBR, its still just a top with out borders, backing or binding. I have 4 or 5 other quilts that are JUST tops.

4. When I was in young my dad bought a new 94’ Chevy Silverado that was supposed to be HIS new truck because the Suburban was Mom’s. He reminded me that I would never drive it all the time. After I joined the navy he sold it to me and wouldn’t you know when I had paid it off someone ran a red and totaled my beautiful truck. A couple weeks later I bought a new one.

5. While in High School I worked at Mc Donalds (and Baskin Robbins) and my dad once came through my drive thru screeming cheese burger, cheese burger, cheese burger.. Like the Saturday night live skit. Oh and when we were giving out dalmation happy meal toys my mom made me a dalmation costume from white sweats that we sewed black felt spots all over. My brother was my rival he worked at Burger King :-)

6. I was Quartz Hill High School’s FFA Chapter Sweetheart. I was on the Florticulture judging team, Parlimentary Procedure team, Ag Marketing team, Opening and Closing ceremonies team.. Some were in there I earned my State Farmer Degree, judged soil, cattle, sheep, and pigs. I also showed pigs at the fair with my brother. One year their names were lunch and dinner and another they were Porky and Petunia.

7. I have been to Japan, Siapan, Guam, Thailand, Baharain, Hong Kong, Australia and Thailand. Probably a few other places that I have forgotten. The Opera House in Sydney is amazing.

I know they aren't weird and some probably aren't that interesting but I have no idea where my list of things went from the last time that I typed it.

Time out..

Well yesterday was quite productive. I wanted to sit down and blog but just couldn't get my thoughts together to get something out here. The onsite manager here left me a note yesterday to say that she would be through for a walk through... I thought that it was for my initial inspection .. So I of course was in a panic to try to get things all cleaned up before they came through. No it turns out that it was so that she could check the smoke detector and the general care of the apartment but, she did her walk through at the same time. Now I can relax a little but I still need to get the rest of this stuff packed... I'm almost at the point where I'm just going to throw it in a box and label it CRAP.




Anyway I was looking at some things online and I came across a neat idea. We have all done BOM's and some of us are probably in a BOM right now. There are so many out there it's unbelievable. I was looking for a couple specific ones because I think they are absolutely adorable and found something that I had never thought of before. I know its not any where close to Christmas yet but if you are like me if you don't do little by little now it will never get done. So here it is a BOM treeskirt... Have you seen one of these?

It was listed under the BOMs. I thought it was a neat idea. One that I will have to file away until I have the time to think about it and decide if that is what I want to with my christmas tree. I thought I would pass it along.. I know that this one is applique but I had some other ideas in mind.

I don't think I ever told you about Thimbleberries club last week. I think we have all decided to do a round/row robin as a group only you don't give your quilt to some one else to add a row/round. We are all going to start off with a Medallion or Block that we pick and then at the meeting we are going to pick a block out of a hat. lets say that the block picked was a friendship star.. then I would have to decide how I wanted to add a friendship star block to my quilt weither it be in a corner stone or as some sort of a border. I won't be able to participate like the others but think that I will try to follow along the best I can even if its just in EQ.

Well I am off to get back to cleaning this stuff up .. I'm so wiped out and need a nap.. LOL

Procrastinating

Once again I am supposed to be packing and cleaning and doing things to prepare for Thursday when I pick up my brother and Friday when we pick up the moving truck and move my things up north to Corcoran.
But I would much rather surf the internet for anything having to do with quilting and sewing. In past posts I talked about wanting to learn to Paper Piece. I am even a member of Carol Doak’s Paper piecing yahoo group but have yet to sit down and try to figure it out.
Today I decided to do some reading and on the Quilters World website there is a section called Favorite find of the week. This week they have shown “Paper Pieced Mini Quilts” by Wendy Vosters.




I have looked at this book many times in my LQS but have yet to buy it. I have thought more and more about it and think that I might just add this one to my Top 5 most wanted books. What a better way to learn to paper piece and finish little projects at the same time. Don't forget to look at their Pattern of the week (POW) its really pretty this week.

Yesterday after my Thimbleberries club meeting I went to Joanns to use my coupons of course and take advantage of their 40% off on quilting books and picked up this book..



I have yet to read all the way through it but I thought that picking up holiday books at after the holiday sales would be a great way to get an early start on Christmas gifts and decorations for my new place. I’m really excited about this new town house there are just so many more things that I can do to decorate. Did I tell you that the new house has a fire place? There really isn’t a mantle above it like most fire places but I will work with that.

Well enough procrastinating today I’m off to do some of the things that I have to do so that I can play later.

NEW BOOKS!!

Okay Okay I know that I should be sewing and packing and getting things done and not looking on the internet but here's my excuse. The last couple of days (about the last week or so) I have pulled out my Jennifer Chiaverini books and begun reading them again .. I can't believe how really far behind I really was!!

So once I realized that I was so far behind I also realised that I was missing a book in the middle so I jumped online to figure out what the title was so I could go buy it and GUESS WHAT.. Jennifer Chiaverini has 2 new books coming out (1 pattern, one novel) and it is posted on her website. These are new posts from the last time that I looked last week and realised how far behind I was.

So here is her new book:

The Winding Ways Quilt

And the Pattern Book:

More Elm Creek Quilts

So everyone mark your calendars for April!! In my case I am going to tell mom and dad that is what I want for my birthday. Smiles. Back to work!!

Wasted Saterday

Well today has been almost a complete waste. I have gotten absolutely nothing done. I started out the day with the best of intentions got up at 0530 and finished cutting my Thimbleberries blocks and started sewing them. I was hoping that I would get them done before club this morning but it didn't happen.

I had planned on running a few errands down in town and coming back home, but got a text from a friend that wanted to meet for lunch.. Long story short.. I waited and killed time down in town until I finally decided I didn't want to wait for him any more.. Buy that time the day was pretty much gone.

So I came home, returned and rented more movies, picked up a few groceries and am going to take a quick nap.. since I didn't sleep well, and then I will be up to get some things done. I should be able to get some pictures up later this evening.

Hope everyone else's day has been more productive than mine. Goal for tonight those Thmbleberries trees.

Happy Valentines to everyone!!

I wanted to stop in and wish everyone a very late Happy Valentines Day!! I had plans of spending time with my girls having a nice dinner and then watching a movie. I went out and bought No Reservations today because blockbuster was all out the other day when I went. I sat down to watch that but fell asleep.. ugh

Well as you could tell from the last post the last couple of days have been really busy and filled mostly with driving. I know I promised that I would post some pictures and things so in honor of valentines here is what my secret pal from one of my groups sent me

There is a beautiful table runner, a red towel that has been embroidered, some pink hear fabric, yardage tags to put on my fabric stash and some yummy M&M's. I think the table runner was actually a charm pack pattern.. smiles.

I wish that charm packs were like Red Heart yarn.. when you buy yarn there used to be a pattern on the back side of the label. Wouldn't it be neat if charm packs or Fat Quarter packs for that matter came with a pattern?

Here is a picture of Lilly, I saw that Mark Lipinski's kitties name was Lilly too.. good think mine is actually Lillybeth... smiles.. doesn't she look innocent?

I am exhausted

So yesterday I drove the 6 hours from San Diego to Lemoore to look at and put a deposit down on the new place.. I love it!! I wish that everyone could come and visit me and hang out! First I have to figure out where the Quilt shops are.. Well and the grocery store.. LOL. I picked a town house about 30 miles from the base surrounded by farms.. Lots of cows.. smiles... Mom thinks this is great says that I should meet some nice people there.. I hope so.

I forgot to take my camera with me so I don't have any pictures yet but will get some taken when I go back up north to move my things in next week. I was going to pick up a disposable one but was running short for time and forgot that too.

So I drove all the way up there and then back down to my parents house. Spent the night at mom and dads so that I could help mom in the morning and then went and ate lunch with my brother before driving back to san diego.

OH!! and who decided they wanted to send the snow my way?? I know you are thinking yea right, but it was snowing here in Ramona tonight. The drive home was really bad mainly because everyone else was in a panic.. Ugh.. it really was nothing.. at least nothing close to the snow in Colorado.. smiles.

I did find a cord that would download the other pictures that were on my camera so I can post some of those in the next couple of days.

Here is one to make you laugh.. Gotta love Thelma she so funny

Sleep.. My Pillow is calling me

Goodness .. So much going on so little time to catch up. First things first a couple of my bloging friends are celebrating their 200th posts this week so Jill.. Moneik.. Happy 2ooth post.

If you get the chance you should go and check out Jill's blog. Jill is currently working on and completing alot of fantastic projects as well as organizing the Second Annual St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Quilt Retreat she has done some really amazing things. Jill is in the process of gathering donations for the retreat so stop by her blog and look at all the goodies. Also I am hearing that there are still openings at the retreat so if your in the area and want to meet some really great people Jen (another blogger) and Jill will be there.

Moneik.. Moneik.. Moneik. She is truly a girl after my own heart. Ever since I can remember my mom and I have talked about how we were going to make my wedding home made. We thought about mom designing a wedding dress (mom does beautiful lace crochet) but decided that that would be too heavy and decided that she would crochet little flowers or motifs to attach to it.. NOW well I'll be lucky if I even where a dress.. I'm seeing boots and jeans and a big BBQ. Anyway got browse through Moneiks blog to see her amazing projects and hear all about the goodies that she is sewing for her wedding.

On to my day. I ran a bunch of errands finally straightened out the pay situation with work, was going to try to sit down to sew but walking through my apartment realised that there were some things that I could work on to pack and get things ready to go. I still feel like I have a never ending battle here. I know I have been talking about packing, packing, and more packing and I'm sure that your thinking .. isn't she done yet? No and here is why.. I don't think that I ever re-organized and unpacked from the last move (an emergency move due to the Landlord changing their mind about my kitties and I wasn't going to give them up) Being a quick move alot of things just got stuffed in boxes and brought here. I have been TRYING to spring clean as well as packing to hopefully to organize things and make the unpacking easier. Then I got stuck playing video games with my brother for a little while (I'll tell you about that later... yes I tend to be a computer nerd when I figure things out)

Tomorrow morning i will be up early to drive to mom and dad's the kitties were going to go as well but I have decided that I will wait until next thursday to take them. If I can afford the tranquilizer I will wait long enough to get it.. Louise gets sick and it makes me sick to see her hurting.

So I'm sorry about the LONG BORING no picture post but when i figure out where in this mess I put my cord to connect my camera card reader to my computer I will get some up here.. I have lots in fact may camera is full and needs to be downloaded before I can take more. I think I took pictures of every quilt top that I have (without borders) before I packed them.. Lots of pictures of my kitties.. Tell you what I will take my camera to moms and download it there if i remember and put them on CD.

It may be a couple of days before I can write again so everyone have a great week and I will update you when I can.

Monday Monday

Well after about 4 hours sleep and a fight with Louise that it just wasn't time to get up yet (boy is she persistant. I am up and moving. I already talked to DMV that should be taken care of but then again knowing the problems I had the last time that is no a for sure thing either. Personnel told me to wait until this afternoon to call them so I will call them at about 330 or so.

I ended up cleaning up both bathrooms yesterday as well as both kitty bathrooms they were giving me that look you know the "EWE do I have to step in this?" look. I change the litter twice a week and scoop several times a day but some times it just needs an extra changing.

I don't know if I mentioned it last night but I cleaned the kitchen floor, did the dishes emptied the dishwasher, and vacuumed the living room. I was even going to bake some muffins for breakfast this morning but realised last night that I didn't have any eggs. So if I get to the store and get the eggs maybe that will work out for dinner.. Hamburger Helper or Tuna Helper and muffins? As a kid thats what mom did tuna helper and big crumb top blueberry muffins.. yummy.. She must have made those to help her mask the taste of the tuna since she hates fish and peas which I always remember being in the tuna helper.

I hope to complete one (actually 2 of the same) project today. I will need to dig through my boxes and find a fabric, and some elastic for it.. have I got you thinking? I'm not telling what it is until I get it done and can take pictures to model it.. Maybe you'll think that its crazy me on the other had think its great.

Until later.. Have a great quilty day.

WOW..that is all I can say to describe those scrubbing bubble things.. I absolutely hate cleaning but when I used those things to scrub my shower and tub.. after I rinsed and let it dry it was shiny and soap scum free.. I love it!! This will make cleaning my apartment before moving out so much better.. now to find something to clean the kitchen and the carpets.. LOL.. the rest is taken care of those mr clean magic erasers work wonders on all sorts of things.

I think that I might just have some time to sew tonight if I get a few more things done tonight then I will reward myself with some sewing and another movie. Or maybe I should just go to bed early.. hmm.. I thought about taking a nice warm bath but then that would ruin all that I had cleaned.. Smiles

Well I think I have finished my chores for the evening. Do you ever walk around your house and have ideas on things that you could design? I had a couple while I was cleaning. I am going to take a few measurements and see what I can come up with. I will be sure to let you guys know how things went and post pictures. I'm off to have some relaxing time and then head to bed..

Tomorrow brings an arguement with california DMV (It always is), discussions with personel at the squadron and hopefully a trip tomorrow evening to mom and dads. I have to confirm that I have an apartment to rent and then get back here to finish cleaning up.

Sunday

Well today was an absolute waste of time... I did absolutely nothing well nothing productive anyway. I watched a movie called "The Kid" its a Disney movie with Bruce Willis.. TOO CUTE. I thought that I had seen it before infact I'm pretty sure I own it (it was on TV). But once I got into it I realized that had never watched it. Its a shame too because it was a good movie different to see Bruce Willis in a family movie rather than the Die Hard movies.

I talked to Dad on the internet.. helped him find some part time job search engines.. I guess that was productive. My parents are always amazed at the sites that I send them. The always ask "where did you get those sites" I usually tell them how to find things.. next time I'll just tell them its magic. He talked about being a door greeter at walmart but now says he doesn't want to deal with the public.. Some days I want to ask him where he left his trash can (Oscar the grouch).. but he is so much better than while he was working.. smiles

I talked to my youger brother on the phone he seemed kind of distraught about some things, said he was price shopping for special food for his cat and some other things. If anyone comes across IAMS or Science diet coupons.. Let me know that stuff is sooo expensive. His cat seems to not be able to tolerate regular cat food and has to have special food that is low in magnesium. Apparently you have to buy science diet or Iams to insure that its kind of a pain if you ask me but when you grow attached to your fur kids it's hard to see them in pain.. So I watch for coupons for him I found one in my newspaper today yeah. Yes I spent about an hour cutting coupons for him.. found all sorts of great stuff.. you know whats worse?? All I could think about was I should make hime a coupon carrier and give it to him. I think I packed all his Nascar fabric but it might be worth digging it out.. might cheer him up a little.

I found some great coupons for me this week too... Its amazing what you find when you actually cut coupons.. I found lots of cleaning supply coupons.. some of which I bought today.. UGH how frustrating is that? LOL thats okay a couple were new products and if I like them then I can get more with the coupons right?

Well now I am off to see what I can clean up after all I did buy some cleaning supplies to use right. I'm hoping to get some things sparkly clean. The more I scrub now the easier it will be at the end of the month to touch things up before handing the keys back over.. I got one of those new (or new to me) scrubbing bubbles action scrubbers. I just saw it advertised this past week.. it looked like it would make cleaning the tub and shower easier and since I have 2 of them I'm all for that.

Second Wind

This morning started out really lazy. I didn't want to get out of bed my girls were all cuddled up next to me sleeping so peacefully. But eventually I had to get out of bed I just couldn't sit there any more and kept hearing my computer make noises.

I must have come across my second wind because I have packed a couple boxes (which meant that I cleaned up and got rid of some things), had my taxes done, washed the dishes, cleaned up my kitchen, gathered the laundry for tomorrow (its not open late enough to do it tonight), returned and picked up a couple of movies, picked up dinner and am now playing fetch with Lilly ( yup she will actually brings the toys back).

I'm off to clean some more things up.. I'm hoping to get rid of alot of stuff so that I don't have to move so much.. that and it will be easier to unpack once I get a new place.

Gone with the Wind... Jen

I thought I would take Jens quiz.. its fun to see how alike we are but yet at the same time how different..

Which Character from 'Gone With The Wind' are you?

You are Melanie Hamilton. A true lady. You are generous, loyal, giving and can see only the best in people. You are willing to go out of your way to help anyone, even if it's against public opinion. You can be surprising firm if the occasion calls for it.
Take this quiz!








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Secret Cupid Swap

I don't know if I mentioned it before oor not, but my SillyGal's group had a Secret Cupid Swap this month. We have had al sorts of swaps in this group but this year we are doing things different. Most of the swaps this year are already planned and listed in the files section to allow people to work on things ahead of time. I liked this idea mainly because there are so many things going on that the extra time to be able to think things over in my head and prepare is great.

The group has done things several ways but this year the swaps are a little more structured. There is a list of 5 or 6 things that you have to send and then extras are not required but alot of us send them.

So here were this swaps inclusions:

1. Valentine Fat Quarter
2. Candy Treat
3. Hand sewn tea towel (you may purchase the towel to embellish)
4. Heart Project (hand sewn project……pink/red/purple or valentine print, your choice – use your imagination
5. a surprise from the $ store, flea market, small hand sewn item, a sewing notion or whatever…..anything goes

I tend to send 1/2 yards instead of Fat Quarters. The Candy treats we have a "Getting to know your gal pals database on group that gives us some hints on what they like.. chocolate is usually a
winner. The tea Towel I actually sent a kitchen towel that I embelished because it is not always easy to find a tea towel with out having to order them. The heart project was anything that we wanted.. mine I sent coasters but I have more to mail as a RAQ (random act of Quiltiness) later because I forgot somethings and didn't have time for others. Last a suprise from the store.. that is anything that you want to send some times I re-gift books or buy magazines.. little kits you pick up at the quilt shop.. any thing fun.

Here is a picture of the goodies that I sent to my secret cupid...

Fabric, hand towel w/ hand sewn strip, Cheesecake Hershey Kisses, chocolate hearts and a little Russell Stover box, Valentines coffee cup, hot chocolate (swiss miss special flavors), Vallentines socks, fons and porter quilt tags, coasters, and a heart sandwich cutter (that was so cool I found it at walmart). I think that was all I sent some times I forget and its just as big a suprise to me as it is to them.. LOL

Karens Block

I realized that I had yet to post a picture of the block that won our group challenge. Here it is though it is so pretty.

She is the reason that I want to learn to paper piece. Our group used to do a block of the month one rotary cut one paper piece so that we could practice but that stopped a long time ago. Maybe I should do that again one block a month to practice and then I could use them for other projects like potholders and stuff.

Just another day.. Ugh

Well I am going to choose to forget about the fact that the squadron messed up my pay and decided to surf the net and do the things that make me happy. I haven't decided what I am going to sew today but I am going to sew! I am determined to do it.

So I thought about sewing my thimbleberries blocks for this months club project but realized just how many half square triangles there was and have decided to eat lunch first before I get knee deep in sewing.

I was looking at my thimbleberries news letter and read about their new Thimbleberries care collection. These are definately on my grocery list once I get all settled.. I am a big fan of thimbleberries fabrics.. I think that its because they are comfy warm fabrics.

I know you can't tell by the pictures but they are hand lotion, fabric wash, and linen spray. I have some chamomile spray that I use on the sheets after I have changed them. It really does help when I have restless nights.. its a calming smell.. I bought it at Bath and body works I believe and I'm not sure that they even sell it anymore.

Good Morning

Well good for me anyway. I don't have to work for a few weeks unless you count the packing and moving. My biggest worry right now is the wonderful paperwork issue at work. I have yet to see my advance pay (not sure how I'm supposed to put a deposite on a place with out that) but I'm not stressing yet as I still have my tax refund to work with that should help a little. I do have to go in today to sign out on househunting leave but when I left last night my paperwork was not ready (go figure) and I have decided to call rather than drive the 30 miles to work to sit and wait. I called once and was told the Navy guys aren't at work yet so call back in 5.. not sure how that works either.. must be nice to go into work when ever you feel like it.

Anyway I had some time to play on the computer. Mainly because I couldn't sleep and I came up with some more EQ stuff.



I should have put some borders on it or something .. its just a start

Challenge winner Named!

Well the challenge winner was named! It was a lady named Karen and she made a super awesome paper piece block. Thus the reason that I need to lern to paper piece it opens a whole new world of possabilities.

So I had a thought and I am going to jump on this when I get everything moved up north. Notice I didn't say unpacked and settled? I don't think that I can wait that long. I am going to issue a challenge out there to everyone. Pick one fabric from your stash and and create your own challenge quilt... pick just random quilt blocks that you like and figure out how to incorporate your stash fabric into it. I have packed most of my fabric but I have some ideas that I want to try to use.

I have a bunch of western fabric that I want to make things for my new apartment when I get the chance and honestly can't wait. I want to start creating and making things again.

If this challenge doesn't suit your fancy but your interested in a challenge like my group did let me know and I'll see about getting one started once I get up north. I would be happy to be the swap moderator if people were interested. My group usually does 12 1/2 in blocks but we can do what ever we want 6 inch.. 8 inch.. we ould use them to make wall hangings or table runners.. heck if we did table runners and only got 3 or 4 participants maybe depending on the fabric we could just do a table runner challenge... I have all these great ideas this morning .. primaraly because I'm trying to procrastinate going to work just that much longer.

Well I really have to get going so I will write again soon. Today is my last WORKING day at the squadron so I am hoping that I can skate out of there super early but think that I have one more investigation to finish before they will let me leave.

Challenge Block Completed!!

I don't know if I ever mentioned my group that periodically does challenge quilt blocks? But we had a challenge this last month and I completed my block and actually took a picture to share this time before mailing it in. I had to use our camera at work because mine the battery died and I couldn't find my spare and didn't have time to wait for it to charge.

So here is the challenge concept. A central person chooses a fabric depending on how many people join/ sign up will depend on how much fabric you'll need (or if your using from your stash will determine how big a piece each person gets to work with). Everyone gets their square in the mail and you use that fabric to make a quilt block. Usually its any block you want but the last few challenges we have done different one it was any block that was considered to be 9- patch, another it was anything that was a star, and the last one the background fabric was white on white and we had to choose 2 other fabrics to go with the challenge fabric that was sent. Let me tell you the challenge fabric was very pretty. Once you have made your block you send it back (With a few stamps to offset the cost of the swap moderator mailing the squares to you and the winner) to the central person and they have a NON-quilty person/ friend choose from the blocks participating which one is their favorite. The person that made the favorite block gets all the blocks and any remaining fabric to put together for a quilt. Pretty neat huh? I won one last year I was so excited.

Here is my block. I thought I picked a pretty neat one. I even had enough fabric to make 2 so the lucky winner of these blocks will get another one from me to add to the mix. The yellow fabric with the flowers was the challenge. The picture really doesn't do the fabric justice the flowers are pink, purple and blue and of course the greenery.