Suzy made a 'friend'

Suzy, our dog, tried to make friends with a skunk....enough said.

She goes out in the evening with hubby to put wood in the stove for the night. last night she wandered behind the woodshed and came back with her tail between her legs. LOL

I had been smelling skunk for a couple days so knew one was out there somewhere...but haven't seen it yet. apparently Suzy knows where it is.

She stunk up the whole house last night....but never moved from her bed. i think she was ashamed that she got caught. if it had been warmer....she would have spent the night outside.

This morning the stink woke me at 5 and i couldn't stand it any longer. so i put her outside to do her duty and got the preparations under way. luckily she likes taking a bath...and likes the shower. we had us a good ole time in the shower this morning and i'm afraid she had to listen to my sermon regarding skunks. she looked ashamed.

The recipe to remove skunk from dogs that works for me is:

1/4 cup baking soda
1 qt. peroxide
1 T dish soap

Wear rubber gloves. wet down your dog and rub the concoction through her coat and leave on for 3 or 4 minutes. then rinse off...wash with doggie shampoo, rinse again....and you are done.

Then go and wash the quilts on the dog couch and fabreeze the whole house.

And give yet another lecture regarding skunks.

Gotta go find that skunk and dispatch it to skunk heaven. see ya

Later

I won the January prize

Every month a winner is chosen from the entries to that months Color Pallette Challenge being sponsored by Judy Laquidara and Vicki Welsh. and i won for January!   how cool is that.

Vicki dyes the most luscious fabrics and i could choose any fat quarter pack that i liked in her Etsy shop. wow...the decision was HARD.

But then...Vicki gave me a choice....i could have a scrap bag instead....hahahaha....no contest. anyone who knows me knows that i love scraps. i got a package today.....26 little morsels of hand dyed goodness.

There were all sizes and colors and i oohed and aahed over every single one of them.

Aren't they all yummy?  and THEN.....while i was admiring them...and folding....guess what!!! some of them had selvages.

So, the first thing i did was cut off all the selvages.....bonus!

There were 12 pieces of selvages. so, i not only won a prize....but i got an awesome prize of Vicki's hand dyed fabrics AND selvages to boot.

It doesn't get much better than that. thank you, Vicki   (and Judy)

I have to go pet them some more and see if they can tell me what they want to become. i'll talk to ya

Later

I got a present from Thailand

My friend, Laurie, and her family went on a vacation to dream of...they went to Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. before she left i told her she just HAD to get some fabric.

She is now back and came to class yesterday...and brought all of us a fabric package from Thailand.

Isn't it gorgeous? it's a 2 meter (about 2 yards) piece of batik. she had lots of colors to choose from...purple, green, pink, orange, blue. first i chose the blue....then i switched to purple...and finally decided on the pink. it was very had to decide.

I don't know what i will make yet but it will be beautiful.  i was cutting selvages today but couldn't cut them off of this piece. i can't cut it yet. LOL

It had this label on it. although she bought it in Thailand...it was made in Indonesia.  i don't know what the rest of the label reads or what it means. i just know this piece is beautiful.

Tell me....what would you do with it???

I can't cut it up yet.....maybe

Later

March CQJP section

I have gotten my March crazy quilt section together. this is the one i warned you about....you might need sunglasses...it's red.

I'm having a good time with these sections. it uses a lot of scraps....and also creates a lot of smaller scraps. sigh!!

Here are all the individual blocks....left to right....top to bottom. i had a piece of dark purple large fringe...so it had to go in the corner. the piece on the right that has green, light purple and orange is a silk tie. and there is a bit of purple trim to the right of that.

This has some little red picot trim in the top left corner and a piece of white lace with red flowers on the bottom right. the bottom left orange piece is almost like a shag carpet..LOL..it came from a child's sweater found in a thrift store...and the darker piece in the middle is a corduroy. i love the gold piece in the middle. that bright red and white piece might be out of place but i figure it will get lost in the whole quilt...i hope.

This one has a bit of red rickrack in the top right corner and a piece of red lace doily in the bottom right. more of that gold floral in the middle. the orange and red stripe next to the gold is a flannel. and the bottom left corner got some red lace. all the laces were dyed to go into this quilt.

The pink piece in the middle is silk. there are brown trims in the top right corner and left corner. the bottom left corner has a marroon and light blue trim but it is kind of hard to see. it is next to the marroon corduroy.

And this is the middle that i have shown you earlier. i did add a piece of marroon fabric over some of the corner on the top left...it seemed too large and bright. and then i added a piece of red doily over it.

This one didn't get much trim...just a wide piece of red lace at the bottom left. that little yellowish gold piece in the middle has a spider web with spiders on it....but unfortunately it was a small piece so doesn't show up a lot. the gold next to that is an upholstery fabric that is kind of velour. feels good. LOL

The top left here has a stretchy brown ruffle with variegated crochet on the end. and a bronze color trim down the right side and more red lace on the bottom left. and another piece of that bright red and white.

This one has a red and green stripe ribbon on the top left. toward the bottom in the middle, just above the three leaves is a piece of orange netting. inside of it i placed a bunch of white beads. i closed the opening with the 3 flocked leaves. the orange and red geometric on the right is an upholstery fabric.  i like the red flower in the middle on the orange background...that piece is in this section 2 or 3 times.

That brown and white dot is a fuzzy piece of something. LOL  i found a child's coat in a thrift store and cut it up. it is soft and nice to feel. more red lace at the bottom and red trim in the top right corner. the yellow bisecting the piece about the middle is a narrow ribbon.

And there you have it....my March section of the crazy quilt journal project. i was a bit concerned that i wouldn't have enough reds but it turned out ok once i added orange and some pink and brown.

My April block is going to be green.....at least a bit calmer. LOL

I have almost given up piecing traditional quilts. the crazy quilt blocks and selvages just talk to me more....in fact they scream at me.

Gotta go quilt now....talk to ya

Later

February's Pallette...finally....a plan

I have the February Pallette for our challenge from Vicki W and Judy L.  it is a picture of figs. good thing someone told me what they were....i didn't know.

There are 10 colors...quite a bit. but i didn't have much trouble pulling my fabrics. they are...right to left...pear, lime, grass green, avocado, nutmeg, coral, paprika, berry, raisin, black. these are Kona solids.

Now...the design. whooo!!   i worked on it for a while a few days ago and had to quit. i couldn't decide and couldn't come up with something that i really liked. in the back of my head i kept thinking bargello....i've never made one.  might be fun since it will only be about 18x24.

So today i got back in EQ to review what i had....and deleted it all. LOL   and came up with this.

There are 8 blocks and i reversed and turned and switched to get the pattern....and gave myself a headache in the process.  i printed it out and will paper piece each block. i sincerely hope i have marked them correctly. i have no margin for error. i only have a FQ of each fabric. Arrrkk!!   

I really want to get started on this but actually need to finish up a couple other things first. i am leaving it at the studio when i go to the house so i am not tempted to start it tonight. hahahaha

I have a couple things at the house that need attention first. AND...my home and harvest hand applique is sitting in a corner waiting for me, too. i am once again getting in the 'too many ongoing projects' mode. got to finish up a couple so i have some breathing room.

So, off to the house to sew and have some dinner. hopefully there is dinner ready....and the super bowl didn't suck the cook into the game. LOL

Talk to ya

Later

March CQJP block

I have finished my March block for the CQJP. it doesn't have as much bling as the last 2 months but i just couldn't come up with anything else to do with it. i have been looking at it for days and finally decided to just call it done.

Perhaps because it is red.

I like the focus piece of dyed lace medallion but it seems like it needs something more and whatever i tried just didn't seem right.

I added a couple of cat buttons that i liked. the cat seems to be eying the crazed spider that is hanging down from the web above. i think she wants to kill it. i don't blame her. LOL

There is some red velour rickrack to the left of the marroon lace piece. nothing seemed to stand out and say 'this is good'.  i put some stitching but really was not inspired.

I do like this huge orange and yellow square flower. it was made with waste canvas. it seemed to be a bit wobbly so i tacked down the ends a bit and placed the button in the middle. and added another cute cat and about 5 gold stars.

This is a dark purple piece of lace trim that i dyed and added and then put a bit of chain stitch under it. it needs something....but what?

This purple piece has raised seams criss-crossing it so i embroidered next to them and then added the gold piece and a couple beads to the middle. it, too, needs something, i think...but don't know what. i did a bit of embroidery along 2 sides and added some small purple glass beads.

This bit of lace with tassels was put into the red dye but came out a very pale pink... so it was not cotton. i braided a bit of yarn in the top of it. the red piece of fabric above it didn't get any embellishment because nothing i tried seemed right. this block this month just gave me fits all the way around.

This is another couple of rows of purple flowers using waste canvas. i think i have finally figured out how to use it properly and i like these flowers.

Another further look at the block with the white cat. i tacked down the pale yellow silk ribbon with french knots. and used the full thickness of some watercolor embrodiery thread for the embroidery on the edge side. i like the multi colored trim on the top....i don't have too much of that left.

I guess every block can't be a winner. i struggled with this one and it probably won't get any better than this....unless i get a brain fart somewhere along the line. i have started making the blocks to surround it for the March section and have 4 of them finished.

So, as far as i am concerned...March is history. i am moving on to April....it is in greens. surely that will be better.

Keep stitching and stay safe....talk to ya

Later

Trunk show and class

I got an invitation to show my selvage quilts and teach a selvage class a few days ago. it was at a guild that is about 45 miles away. i don't belong to this guild but know several people who do belong.

It was a bit of a drive and the show was at night. i don't normally drive at night....not that i CAN"T...just that i don't like to. so they put me up in the Best Western for Thursday night and my friend, Brenda, stayed there with me so she didn't have to drive home even further for the night and come back the next day for the class. and she was going to help me with the class if there were a lot of people signed up.

We went out to eat at The Great Wall....a Chinese buffett. about 10 or 12 guild members showed up for dinner. it was very nice. it was a huge buffett but i stuck with things that i knew that i liked....there were some strange things there. LOL

I got to talk for about an hour and show about a dozen selvage quilts. someone was taking pictures and there were many questions. and some oohhing and aahhing...that's always good. LOL  some folks took my business card and lots of ladies came up after the meeting to speak with me further. along with my selvage quilts i also showed my selvage  jackets, shorts and bathmat.

I also took a crazy quilt and my Dear Jane partially finished quilt and my box of crumb blocks. there were about 50 members at the guild meeting and they all seemed to appreciate the whole show. i got lots of lovely comments. oh....and they gave me a gift, too. a great lap size quilt with yellow ducks. i love it. and there was a potholder, too....with chenille on the back. i have used both items already.

On Friday we had class from 10 to 3. there were 6 at the class. enthusiasm was high and everyone did a good job making their projects. there was a table runner and several potholders. Linda put blocks together and made a frame that was lovely and trimmed it out with Razzle Dazzle thread. there were blocks made to take home and decide what to do with them. and Becky even made a crumb block along with her selvage blocks. 

All in all it was a great time. while i was stitching with selvages i made 2 more different blocks that i hadn't made before. one of them will become a baby quilt....will show you when it is further along.

There was a lady upstairs teaching beginning sewing to some ladies...i believe her name was Martha.  at the end of their class she brought her students down to see what we were up to. i brought out a few selvage quilts so they could see them, too. We stopped about 12:30 and went to Pandera Bread Co for lunch.

Unfortunately, i didn't take photos so you will just have to believe that there was lots of sewing and laughter.



When i got home i had to take a nap....that was tiring work. LOL

Later