Look what I found!It's a blue jean quilt that I started a hundred years ago. It's a simple design, but I think it's pretty cool too. You cut circles out of the denim, then sew them together as a square. That didn't make any sense at all, did it? First you get a can of coffee, then sew the circles into squares, but don't sew them closed... So you've got your denim circle, and you draw a square that fits inside of that size circle and sew on that line. Let's see if I can find a tutorial that explains it better. Here you go...  http://www.equilters.com/library/jeans/jeans_gallbaros.html

It's not a Cathedral Windows design, but more like Cathedral Window's white trash cousin, showing up at the family reunion in her cut off jeans with the pockets hanging out, having only brought one bag of Fritos to the potluck. Cathedral Windows are hard. There's origami involved, and a lot of layers, and folding curves and baking soda and walnuts. I don't know the recipe, I'm just saying. This one is much easier. 

I'm thinking that I got frustrated that I was doing SUCH a horrible job sewing it together and stuck it away,  thank God I've mellowed over the years and have come to appreciate that done is better than perfect. And I'm thinking I was making it some sort of scrappy memory quilt, because there's a lot of fabrics out of other quilts that I've made, like this one, from a baby quilt I made...And this one, from a beloved co-worker who passed away...
And this was a piece of one of my favorite outfits when I was a kid...

And this one too. What can I say? I was a stylin' kid! It WAS the 70's after all!Wanna know what the back looks like? There ya go. And when you're done - you're ALL done! No finishing, no quilting, no tieing. Just throw it on the dog and it's good to go. And speaking of da puppers, she stunk had to get a bath.

Awww! Poor baby. Is there anything more pathetic?

She would tell you "No". 

Boidies

What do you think about this little gem? I call it "Bird With a Broken Toe" or perhaps "Broken Toed Bird", or "Ow! My Claw Hurts!" 

Something along those lines. 

He's a prototype, to be sure. That teeney little black wire was a little iffy. Maybe some piping instead? I kind of like him though. See how I cut him so that the swirl kind of makes a wing? Oh, the possibilities. 

This one's for you, Lisa.

Happy Labor Day!

Good evening Cats and Kittens! Happy Labor Day! And what better way to celebrate than by laboring? So here we are with the fruits of my weekend labors! As you may remember, when we last saw our plucky heroine, she was in a complete quandary, a pickle if you will, about how to arrange the blocks for Lil' Olivia's Olivia -the-Pig quilt. Well, the votes are in; check out the winner! 

POW! Like THAT! 

You see what we did there? You see how the dark background blocks sort of anchor the corners and how the sashings are all mixed up? 

I wanted it to be totally crazy-nutty-koo-koo, but I guess this is as nuts as it's going to get.

 I tinkered with adding piping in between the blocks, but it really didn't add anything, so pphftt to that. But wait! Act now and we'll double your offer! 

POW POW!

Here's a little summpin that I threw together out of scraps and leftovers, old tin cans and dryer lint. That old thing? Oh no, t'wernt nothing. I had fifteen minutes between Project Runway reruns, so I just threw it all together and stirred. It's destined to go to Reese, the grandson of good friends of ours

. He smiled at me when I talked baby talk to him, and that's really the only thing I ask for. I'm sure if I saw him now he wouldn't give me the time of day, but hey. He smiled at me once, and that's good enough. 

How much would you expect to spend for this fabulous offer? $99.99? $299.99? Well if you call in the next five minutes, we'll sweeten the offer with THIS! 

(Sweet Baboo's hand not included)

How awesome is that? I can't tell you how much I love these colors. Mark's niece Lisa had a sweet lil' baby recently. Little Dixie Lee will love it, I'm sure. How could she not? It's fabulous. It's clashy and exuberant, like overblown, blousey homegrown roses. Like Ethyl Merman at cocktail hour. Like the Southern lady that I'm sure she'll be, with a name like Dixie Lee. 

My Mother would tell me the story of when they moved to Georgia, and she was so excited to meet honest-to-God Southern belles. She pictured afternoon teas and beautiful well coiffed women in big skirts, hot summer evenings fanning themselves on the veranda. Well she met one, all right, in her next-door neighbor who would sit on the porch in her shorts, (scandalous!) with a full glass of whiskey and her spittoon at the ready. And apparently, she never missed. She and Mom became good friends, but I'm sure she still wished for the occasional afternoon tea.

Hope you have a wonderful holiday! 

Janice