I Don't Think Anyone Will Notice...

Hello Pfaff! How was your day? What's that you're chewing on? 

Is that... Is that the pink and green Dixie quilt?

Why yes, I think it is. 

Did you know how much I love doing bindings? 

A lot. As much as I DON'T like doing the quilting, I like binding that much and more. 

Not bad, Pfaffey. Not bad at all.

Hey! What's going on here?

Is THAT why they say you should clean up one project before powering into the next one?

Good to know, my friend. Good to know.

If You Try To Pin A Pisces Down... We Just Swim Away...

So I have this friend. 

I do!

She's the most wonderful person you could ever want to meet. When we were little girls writing in our diaries with different colored pens, she was the friend we all wished for. I wish I had a picture of her, but I don't, so I'll just give you the link to her blog instead. You'll learn more about her by reading her eloquent words than looking at her face anyway, although it is quite the beautiful face.

We met at work, and became friends when the Princess came to live with me, and Miss Shata came to live with her. We would swap dog stories,

 and commiserate with each other when our little friends did incomprehensible things. 

We were dog moms together. 

Then she left and went on to work in other places, but we stayed in touch. We would lunch together, and antique shop together, and compare projects that we were working on. We had some truly wonderful times, just some of the best in my life. It's starting to sound like she's passed on, so let me assure you that she is alive and well and kicking (kickboxing) in Arizona. 

I bring her up because today is her birthday! 

We always used to have a thing, because it would be my birthday, then one week later another girl we know, then one week after that, it's Lisa's birthday! We're co-Pisces's  together, warm and wonderful and funny and kind. Ok, I made that up, I'm not sure if those are particularly Pisces traits, but they are traits that she has.

 If you met her; if you were lucky enough to meet her, you would be impressed by her aura of calm. She always seems to have this bubble of peace around her. I know her brain is tied up in all the anxieties we all have, but you wouldn't know it by looking at her. There's only a couple of people that I've met who have this, (not me, certainly). One is Lisa, and another is my Father. No matter what was going on around, he always gave you the impression that you had his undivided attention, that nothing could be more important than what you were doing right then. Lisa has that. I was at her house once, when her son came in and breathlessly explained that he and his friend wanted to bike down to the park, and they wouldn't be gone long, and they were going to meet friends that everyone knew, and it would all be perfectly safe and can we go? 

Lisa gazed at him for a long moment, and then replied... 

"Hmm."

I was blown away! You see, I had witnessed this reaction at work, when people jumped her with those all important at-least-right-now situations, but I had attributed it to her being the supervisor, and thought it was some sort of technique that she had learned in some "Who ate my cheese" sort of class. But no! It was just her! Purely Lisa. In her bubble of calm. A ship on the ocean, but not influenced by the force of the waves. She has always seemed to know her course, and stays on it. True to herself. Authentic. And isn't that what we all wish for? 

Happy Birthday Lisa. 

I love you so.

 

Is There A Support Group?

Hello. My name is Janice... and I'm addicted to sewing. 

(HI JANICE!)

I just can't stop! It's all I want to do! And usually, when I'm work, all I want to do is go home and sew, but once I GET home, all I want to do is watch TV. Project Runway, Top Chef, Make Me A Supermodel. Anything where I have absolutely no expertise, but can be completely judgemental. I'll be laid out on the couch, covered in stray popcorn, saying things like "I knew that Trout Almandine wouldn't get him to the finals." Or "She lost her neck in that pose, what was she thinking?" 

But instead, I've been sewing up a proverbial storm! I'm on a roll lately, and I'm not complaining! I have gotten so much done in the past couple of weeks. Is 'gotten' a word? I use it when I'm talking, but I never like to write it out. Let's see what Spellcheck thinks of it... 

Nope. I guess we're good. Or else I'm using the ghetto version of spellcheck.

Let's see if it has a problem with hootchie mama. Ok, it wants me to change that to hootch mama. All right, I done gotten a lot of sewing done! 

Let's take a look, shall we?

I finished the binding on the "I-Spy" quilt for little Baby Reese! Sure, Baby Reese is probably like twelve now. Don't judge me. I have commitment issues. I have problems finishing things. I have an active, busy lifestyle. Now I sound like a Pepto commercial. 

Auditioned a few different choices for binding, but this multi colored flame pattern won out by two votes. Mine and Sweet Baboo's. Pepper abstained. She has issues too. 

You remember what it looks like, don't you? It looks like this.

 Only with a multi colored flame binding. Whew! Cross one thing off the list! Woo hoo! Crack the champagne! Or, you know, the sparkling cider, since I gave up drinking for Lent. What was I thinking? This had better get me into heaven, that's all I gotta say. Or at least some karma points. In case I rob a bank or something. Then I die in a shoot out with police, and when I show up at the gates, Saint Peter's all, what are you doing here? and I'm all Dude! I gave up drinking! FOR FORTY DAYS! Let me in! And then he'd just open the gate and hand me a frosty glass of something. 

Ahhhh... Heaven tastes delicious!

Humuhumunukunukuapua'a anyone?

I locked myself in my sewing cave and sewed, sewed, sewed last weekend! Sure, my back spasmed so bad afterwards that my Sweet Baboo ended up wrapping me in heating pads, but it was totally worth it! Here's some pics of my Hawaiian quilt...

What do you think?

It's all fabrics from Hawaiian shirts. 

I made a few mistakes, like this square, where I accidentally sewed an extra flap of fabric in, making a little pocket. 

TWICE!! I had to rip that row out, SAW THAT I HAD DONE IT, AND DID IT AGAIN!

And this one, which has the back of the fabric.

Ask me if I'm going to change it. No, I am not. Thank you for asking. I figure this is just the way the quilt wanted to be, and who am I to argue? If pressed, I will quote that Japanese concept of intentionally including some flaws, so as to not mock God with it's perfectness. Yeah, that's what I'm sticking with. 

My original plan was to applique a giant hibiscus or two, or three, and maybe some giant leaves in one corner. Now I'm not so sure. I kind of like it as it is.

What do you think? 

When I finished the top I laid it out on the bed and just stood there and looked at it for like five minutes. The pictures just aren't doing it justice, because it's really awesome in person. I like how some of the stripes are really contrast-y and pronounced, and others sort of blend together. 

And, since I'm nowhere near finished, I mean, almost finished with this one, I've started a new one. Of course! This one will be lots of white, with green and blue and orange. Very current. Very fresh. So fresh you'll want to slap it's face.

I promise.