For Speckle

a certain partner in mini crime

(who hasn't made any blog appearances in a while :P)

 has discovered her sewing machine.

and i know i am the devil, but i wanted to share this

super easy fun block. she has tons of fabric swatches

and she doesn't want to get full blown into quilting

as she is already a craft master of knitting and

minis (and now super adorable pouches)

but with this block she won't have to buy any

fabric except for the backing and batting.

and a great way to use up all those swatches!

you can find this pattern here.

they also have any block ever made.

awesome site.

sew on gurl friend, sew on!

and, speaking of sewing,guess who

went auctioning friday?!

nothing says date night like a good ole auction.

i am the proud new owner of a Betsy Ross

kids sewing machine. and it WORKS!!!

i don't understand the bobbin..... i dunno

if it is missing or what. everything else seems

to be in order....well except the handle on the crank.

and just to give you an idea of how tiny...

its damn near the right size for my dollhouse!

i had no idea how small they were.

(the auction peeps post pix to lure in the crowd.)

there were 3 total, all different.... but i am too 

tight for all that. this tiny toy did not have a tiny price.

but according to ebay i got quite a steal!

how cute is this?

perhaps i can break it in with a new hen saddle.

mmm...chicken fashion.

Mad as a hatter!

so i am a little behind the times...

i jut saw Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland

a few days ago. and i was inspired by the Hatters attire.

so i have made my own pin cushion ring in his honor!

not very practical for me, but i just wanted to

make something.

so here's how you can make yours too!

Supplies:

material of choice, lace, good ole fiber fill

and a sparkely ring from the dollar store.

step 1:

gut your ring.

dos:

cut out  a circle from your fabric

to make a "large" yo-yo. i used a 

candy tin. (mmmm....choxie)

C:

make your yo yo and stuff it with

pollyfill. pull it tight and sew it up.

four:

glue the lace around your ring base and 

glue the "cushion" into place.

add pins and TA DA!!!! your very own

mad hatter ring :)

hope you guys make one in celebration of being mad.

lemme know if you do! I'd love to see your

very own photo shoot :)

show off your muchness!

Blue bird in a purple dress

this is blue bird, she is a blue rock.

and no, she is NOT blue, but in the chicken world,

grey means blue. which is great for the hub,

he is color blind so chicken colors are more true

for him. she found her way back into

the breeding pen with her hub, Bart. which is great

now that she is protected with her stylish

saddle. sweet girl! (i think it looked better on harry).

and she LOVES my hub. she goes up to him and 

lets him pet her and everything. just to give you an idea

of how much she loves me; when we first got the

breeding pen up we had to rustle up blue and bart

in the evening before they went to roost.

well i finally got her cornered and picked her right up,

she didn't scream or kick or anything. i just

picked her right up and put her under my arm

and petted her and gave her a hug.

then she turns around, looks right at me, and

BITES ME ON THE LIP!!!

this chicken actually tried to bite my face off.

so, she is last on my list

(well, right above blanche, anyway.)

good thing she has hub.

but i guess it makes us even.

Harry always growls at hub, but finds me food.

Why I am not allowed to have kids

so this is my 2nd hen saddle. we put it on blue bird

a few nights ago and it needed to be longer, so 

i took the liberty of adding a little frill......

and i do believe i have gone one toke over the line.

so i went out and rustled up Blue Bird...

once i pulled out the saddle she knew what

was up and she started flipping out.

i didn't have any back up so she got away...

but i REALLY wanted to take a pic to show yall.....

sooooo.......

...poor harry.  he is SUCH a good sport.

he lets me do whatever i want.

he did act like a cat with clothes on...

trying to back his way out of it.

at one point he finally gave up and 

just sat down in the middle of the yard and

started crowing. lmao.

"I'm a rooster damn it!!"

sweet boy!

we are gonna have to give him some extra treats

this evening for dinner.

so in short, if i ever had a boy

i am afraid i would have to dress him

like a girl until he new what was going on....

reason #15785 why i shouldn't have kids.

I finished my quilt top today too!

have you ever had those days where

you really wanna do stuff, but you

really don't have any drive?

that's me. i have tried to make things

for the dollhouse like 17 times today,

but i just can't get it together.

all i wanna do is sit and watch movies.

sooo... mission accomplished.

(watching Disney's Hercules now)

yes, i am 7. we've been over this before. 

peace out yall!

moving along

Ta da! Delia's table runner. 

I sent it off on Monday; i haven't heard from her but i am

sure it has made it there by now; and i just can't

hold back the pictures anymore! :)

so there you have it folks. the "ragged ribbons"

table runner... this is a version of what i call

ragged ribbons. my original pattern looked like this:

but after i had all the pieces cut and thought the quilting part

i obviously made some changes.

Hope you like it Delia! :)

And while working on my Civil War quilt

i realize something. The patterns are BEAUTIFUL!

like i mentioned before, i have 2 CW charm packs.

and i never really have been a fan of the material

but when placing them around the center for the border

i found a few that i absolutely love. 

how Sweet are these 2?

these are from the Civil War Home Front by

Barbara Brackman. i really love a lot of her

patterns. i made sure to let hubby know which i liked.

after all we have started our Christmas Shopping already.

and here is how my CW is coming along:

that didn't take long.

like a week? 

of course the border isn't sewn together yet.

i should have just let you think i am that awesome. 

ha

i aspire to have the whole top done tomorrow.

so you know there will be a picture show on that.

and i just wanted to share with you

the lovely gifts from our

lovely ladies:

well, i best get started.

Happy weekend everyone!!!

Round 2.....and 3

ta da! this quilt is coming along faster than anything i've done.

i only have the outer border and then sewing the charms together.

wicked fast. i think i love it so much because

its not tedious. i don't like repetition, its mind numbing, and

even tho my Garden Geese quilt is pretty, 48 pin wheels - each made of

8 flying geese units, is NOT my idea of fun.....

i figured that out the hard way.

but this one has a BUTT LOAD of math....

evil. just evil.

in my world everything should only be in 1/4's. none of this

3/8 crap. and i have trimmed off more on this to make an

entire quilt! EQ6 is not awesome at helping you cheat on

making a pattern easy. like it tells you per piece individually,

instead of giving you measure to make a fg unit.

if Mac can make facial recognition software for your

pictures, there is no reason why EQ can't give you

the short cut ways of cutting material.

i just have really high standards.....and i want to do as little

math and thinking as possible.....

anyhow, the tip of the day is

MEASURE, MEASURE, MEASURE!

take the time and even when it looks worse that

you think it should, it somehow magically all comes together.

see u in the sewing room!

Family threads

the middle of the hubs quilt. i have all but 8 pieces cut

and i just had to get something done today.

i will most likely be going back for the next round

when i am done posting.

nothing says "manly" like a big 'ole star!

i wanted to brag on my mom. this is her civil war

sampler quilt. i got her "the Farmer's Wife" for Christmas

so she took to making her next project out of it.

she is super old school, still quilts by hand.

her color choices are awesome, seeing the material

by itself you think "no way", but they are perfect

together. i can't w8 to take it on a photo shoot

when she is done.

mawmaw made this star. i have mad respect for

anyone that can make these wretched things!

i tried a few times and i drove my self nuts. 

i need to take a class on it, there must be an easier way!

mom said most of mawmaw's quilts are made from

old shirts and sheets. the sewing is unbelievable. i wish i

could have learned more from her.

i finished Delia's runner, and took it out for my infamous

photo shoots. here is the final sneaky peaky! 

i can't wait to share the pix with you guys!

it will be on its way home on Monday!

and the stash grows on

go on, sing the title, you know u want to!

so i have been drooling over this for quite some time.

and it is NOT a very easy thing to find, well,

for a good price that is. and i got BOTH of these

(including shipping) for what the normal price

of 1 jelly roll is, so i think i did ok.

good things come to those who w8.

i did have a pattern set aside for just this material...

but now that i have a charm pack too, i will have

to kick it up a notch. *BAM*

and, this is my new project:

i made this in EQ6 (and i can't take full credit, i saw

the middle star pattern as part of another quilt i saw

in a mail order catalog). i have gotten rather

skilled at figuring out how pieces go together.

(the secret is: always make it about squares)

well, for the easier ones any way, applique and 

crazy lines do not apply here. :P

so in short, i know nothing!

anywho, i have 2 charm pks that the hub

has given me which he loves (me not so much)

so i think it is about time he had a quilt of his own

so here it be. he LOVES civil war quilts, in fact he

can point out civil war motif anywhere.

(its ok honey, ur ultra manly 

civil war quilt secret is safe with us ;)

isn't he awesome *swoon*

i have started cutting the pieces.

it will be kewl to see morph from 2d to "3d".

stay tuned...

(hey look, no chickens in this one!)

The rightful owner

it just looks better on her, doesn't it?

 i am ashamed to admit it, but she doesn't have a name :(

anyone want to name her for us?

she is much more appreciative of her gift

than fluffers was. :P

when the hub was out feeding them this morning

my dad came over and asked

"why does that chicken have bib overalls?"

here is where the singer lives.

now i just need to replace that screaming white

outlet plate with a more antique looking one.

and i just can't help myself: here's another peek at

the secret table runner. (and also proof that

i am actually working on it :P )

i am really kinda excited about it. it is by far the most

quilted thing i have ever made.

i also got some Christmas shopping done today! 

Go Amazon!

i just gotta keep it going so that nothing

sneaks up on me. the only kicker is

that i basically have to wait till the last minute

to get anything for the hub because he

changes his interest every 10 min. and

if he wants something he usually gets it.

anywho,

guess i'll bump into you at Ebay :)

Hen Saddle

it is exactly what it sounds like. 

and you might ask your self... "what can ride a chicken?"

quite simply, the answer is this:

a rooster!

the hub has been after me to make one of these for 

oh i dunno, EVER. my grand plan was to make a 

whole box full for his bday present but i was tired

of hearing it. lol. how wifey does that sound?

lmao. fluffernutter showing of her new threads.

you know how cats are when you put clothes on them?

well this was not nearly as hilarious, but she was shaking

it out an awful lot :) hub found a tutorial on BYC

(back yard chickens forum) and even went as far as

to cut out the pattern for me, AND went on a solo trip

to JoAnnes to get the fusable backing.... that's rite, 

a man all alone in JoAnnes, this tells you how serious he is.

Fluffers will not be sporting this one long, she was the only

one we could catch when we went out for the photo shoot.

we have a sad little Americana that has damn near all

her rear back feathers pulled out, and this will hopefully

help her to grow some back. (turns out chicken like chicken

as much as we do). lol, mean but true.

also i have a surprise for blanche. ::insert evil laughter here::

she is a white americana, one of our original 4 birds and she is

a brat!!!! so i have this uber hippie flower-power fabric 

set aside just for her. she doesn't need it, but oh man how

funny is that gonna be!!

enough about the kids....

ain't done jack with the doll house. started some things

but finished nothing. and i am almost done with the

secret table runner! i will start quilting it this weekend.

see ya in the coop!

Chickens and Sewing machines

i thought i'd share some more of our family with you.

i just thought this was an awesome pic. it captures the truth...

 chickens are THE WORST subjects for a photo shoot.

it takes 100000000 shots to get a good one. most of the time i give up.

this butt belongs to a Malay (sp?) they are creepy looking teridactle 

looking creatures that are very muscle-y and basically

stand up right like a human, and can get about 3' tall.

freaky. real freaky.

when a chicken is taller than me, we have a problem!

once they are more grown i'll get a better picture of how they

are "all legs". but their feathers are BEAUTIFUL. very colorful in the sun.

Mr. Polish. he is the same age as our gurl that i have

neglected for the last 2 weeks. he is 9 weeks. pretty calm little guy.

and how cute is this?! i mean really. look at that face!!!!

this little silkie is also 9 weeks. she grew up with the polish.

"i will name him squishy and he shall be mine",

(from Dori in finding nemo, when she finds the baby jelly fish....)

Yes, i am 7.

so i hope this is a she and i have named her squishy

(and she shall be mine.)

i can't believe i didn't squeeze her to death, i mean how cute is that?!

you have no idea.

and speaking of chicken:

mmmmm...... chicken.....BBQ. 

my hubby made this magical bbq, like no recipe,

just throwing crap in a crock pot.

it is OUT.OF.THIS.WORLD. seriously.

and we didn't have any slaw in the house

(i know, i am sure it is a law that all southerners must have slaw

on the premises....don't tell the 5-0.) so i called mom

to see if she had any... she didn't. :( but then she says

"i can make some if you give me a few minuets".

Hot Damn!!

so within 15 min. we had fresh country slaw.

my mother is the best ever!! seriously. ever. 

anyhow, its the perfect 4th of July weekend food.

It doesn't get more American than this: BBQ & Slaw.

*and don't worry, the chickens involved were MEAN roosters.

chasing the hens around and fighting and kicking them off the roost....

is that anyway to treat a lady? the answer is quite obviously, no.

oh!, and just in case you were wondering, we did the math

(who am i kidding, the hub did the math) and this bbq averages

out to $8.00 per lb. so if you are thinking about raising chicken to save $:

wrong again!

annnndddd....

craigs list strikes again!

i got this little beauty for $20. she came with a metal box

with just about every attachment ever, the original literature

and a whole box full of old parts and stuff

i will never know what they are. how cool is that?

there wasn't a date on the manual, but i think it is around 1917,

but it may be as far as the 30's. i am doing more research.

so it is officially a collection! i have been scouting.... i am addicted now, there is no turning back.

see yall 'round the yard sales.