Vacation - Day ???

Remember these? 

My poor little vintage bed sheet orphan blocks? Well, they got organized, started singing songs about tomorrow being sunny, and next thing I knew, POW! They sewed themselves into a quilt top.

Right now it's 58" wide, and about 75" long. A twin size is 54" by 90", so I may put another row at the bottom. Or maybe the bottom and the side. I want it to be big. Big enough to cover you while you're lying (laying?) in a hammock. Doesn't it look like it needs a hammock? I don't have a hammock, but maybe if I make a hammock quilt, a hammock will arrive. 

If you build it...

VACATION - Day One

Ok, that was actually yesterday, unless you count yesterday as a holiday, which I do, which makes today technically the first day of vacation. 

Woo hoo for me!

So last week I went into my friendly neighborhood quilt store, Judy's, just to see if they had anything that I needed, NEEDED for my vacation. I picked up a jelly roll, then put it down. Petted the batiks, but nooo... 

then I saw it. 

Almost walked right past, but I heard it call my name, softly, sweetly...

A fat quarter bundle of Metro Market by Robert Kaufman in blues, greens and brown. Our eyes met, I picked it up, we held hands and spun around in a circle on the beach. 

Oh yes, you shall be mine. 

The price was right, and I loved every single print in it. You know how sometimes you see a package of something, but there's one or two that you just don't like?You buy an album, but don't like all the songs? Yeah, that didn't happen here. 

Love it. Love it all. I picked it up and there was no possibility that it was not coming home with me. 

I got up to the register, and someone laughed. Apparently they had just set it out within the hour. Score! 

So yesterday I cut and cut and cut, and sewed and sewed and sewed, and this is what I ended up with.

Triangles! Lot's of triangles. I love it!  

Those beaters! Be still my heart!

The apples!  The "love beads"!!

That chicken! 

Ohhhhhh, so cute. Such nice prints. It needs a border, maybe in that chicken print, and that's that. Forgive the first two shots, they were taken at dusk last night. The close ups show truer color. Truer? Is that a word? Is now.

So that's Day One.

I had a lightening bolt moment, you know the kind. 

I think I've been approaching quilting as something that I 

A) needed an occasion for (Lisa's having a baby! Need to make a quilt) and also

B) needed to make something phenomenal, that would last through the ages.   

The lightening bolt hit me, and I realized that no! No I don't! I can make things just because! Just because I feel like it. Just because I want to. It doesn't have to be heirloom quality. It doesn't have to be dripping with meaning. 

It can just be pretty! 

It's like that story of the art class where one half was graded on quantity and the other half judged on quality. You know that story? 

So the first half threw pot after pot. 

Did I mention it was a pottery class? I think it was a pottery class. Pot after pot after pot. Not caring how they came out, just do it and move on to the next. 

And the second half, I did say it was a pottery class, right? Well, they researched, and drew out diagrams, and planned the perfect pot. Only going to the wheel once they had the perfect design. 

And then at the end of the class, the pottery class, it was a pottery class after all, 

it turned out that the people who threw a bazillion pots had a higher quality than the people who just threw one! 

That's how I remember the story anyway. 

So the moral of the story is that I'm off to the sewing cave again. 

Let's throw some pots.

Queen For A Day! (Princess for a Lifetime)

Thank you, thank you... hold your applause please! 

My dear, sweet, beloved friend over at A Fishes Beach Wishes has given me this AWESOME award, because yes, it's true, I am awesome. 

I'm sure you all agree, and need no further details. "We KNOW that, Janice!" I can hear you all saying, with accompanying eyerolls. 

But maybe there's one or two new people here who don't realize my awesomeness. "What makes you so awesome?" 

Well, let me tell you. 

REAONS THAT I AM AWESOME

(in no particular order)

1) I have a beautiful singing voice. 

It's true. Birds say "You sing like a Janice". And what I lack in tone and actual note-hitting-ability, I make up for in sheer enthusiasm. I sing longer and louder than anyone else in the room. I do my best singing in the car. If you ever pass me on the road, look over and admire my tonsils.

2) I never panic. 

Not ever. Never, never. I don't scream on roller coasters, I don't run around during earthquakes.  I was once driving a truck on the freeway, (and in California that means 90 miles an hour) and had the tire blow out and I calmly steered it over to the shoulder. Later my Sweet Babboo commented on how cool I stayed. I am good to have around in an emergency.

3) I love dogs. 

I mean, I LOVE dogs. I love dogs the way other people love babies, or - I don't know - Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Or the Pope. I can tell you what breed your dog is on sight, and if he or she is or mixed heritage, I can tell you what the parents were. I can tell you right now that if I met your dog, I would love it. Like LOVE it. Like baby talk, and butt scratching, and cooing and ear rubbing. And forever more, I would ask about your dog's health and well-being. 

4) I do a WICKED Ethel Merman impression. It's truly something to behold. It should be in that book. I used to have a job as a dispatcher that involved talking over a two-way radio, and I would entertain the boys with my Ethel. They all appreciated it tremendously. Who wouldn't?

5) I can do anything. 

I don't mean that in a Superman-leap-over-tall-buildings kind of way, I mean that my parents raised me to believe that I could do anything I wanted. Excel at anything I tried. For a suburban housewife, my Mother was pretty progressive. She supported me in any hair brained scheme I could dream up. For a girl with three older brothers and no sisters, there was rarely any "But you're a girl!" talk. I played drums in the high school band, I worked at an auto parts store and can change my own oil, brakes, tires, timing belts... just about anything. Because of their support, I approach things as a problem to be solved, not as an obstacle. 

6) I can cook. 

Not that I do it all that often, (it cuts into quilting time!) but I went to culinary school back in the day, and can still whip up a mean meal when I have to. My Chicken Cordon Bleu, my Curried Chicken Walnut Squares, my Lemon Bars will make you weep. From simple pasta dishes to complex desserts from scratch, you'll be coming back for more. I guarantee it. 

What else? Number seven, number seven... how to choose? There are soooo many reasons I deserve this award, how can I choose just seven? It's not fair to you, the reader. But if I have to pick, I guess I'll go with...

7) I have AWESOME friends! 

Every last one of them! I don't know what I did to deserve them, but I'm not going to question it. They keep me going, help me when I'm stuck, encourage me when I'm lost, and bring me back down to earth when my ego gets inflated! 

Thanks everyone! I love you all!

Act Now! Huge Bonus!

Ok, I got some better pictures. Sure, I could have just edited that last post, but come on. I'm lazy. So let's see how this works...

Of course, I started writing this before I saw the pictures, so if they're just as bad as the first, I will give you a... a bonus pelican. 

Promise.

I snuck in some flamingos...

All right. I guess they're not much better than before. Sorry! But never let it be said that would renege on a promise, so here's your pelican.

Just chilling. 

Hanging. Just hanging on the beach. Eating some fish.

That's right. Pelicans. You might have your Cardinals, and your - I don't know, Woodpeckers. But we got pelicans.  

We're lousy with pelicans around here. Knee deep in them. Can't throw a stick without having a pelican catch it in his enormous flappy gullet thing and swallow it. Which is why we don't throw sticks. Not ever. It's a California law. 

Dogs hate that law. 

Poor dogs. 

No more RockStar for me.

Dancing Like the Gopher at the end of Caddyshack...

Ok! I think it might be done! Woo hoo! 

Maybe. It might need one more border of white. I think it does. But that's easy-peesey, right? The only problem is that I'm almost out of white fabric, which is a little disturbing since I started with six yards. 

Ok, not the best pictures.

 A big thanks to my Sweet Baboo and my neighbor John for being my clothesline. I hope you can click on the pictures and make them bigger, because I think it's got a lot of nice detail. I like it! I really do. There were a few moments in the middle where I wasn't sure if I liked it, but now I think it's my favorite thing I've ever made! 

Now that I look at the pictures, it doesn't look that big at all, but I swear it is! I should go measure it. Let's pretend that I went just now and found my tape measure and say that it's queen bed sized. Woo! 

I really, really, really like it. Really. Really really. 

Hee hee hee! 

Ok, I might just be looped on RockStar and success, because I'm feeling a little giddy. Although before I pop the champagne, or rather, the Reisling, because that's what I have, I have to think about the backing, and that might end up being just as involved as the front! But still, let's bask in this moment for a bit, shall we? 

I'm glad you're here to share this with me. Ahh...

Care for a glass?  

Give me an F! Give me an A!

Well hello! Isn't it a beautiful day? It is in Cali. Ok, it's drizzly and foggy, but that's beautiful too, right? What could make this day any more beautiful? Wait, I know. FABRIC! Is anyone else addicted to fabric? The colors, the feel, the possibilities? I've been on a buying binge lately. Sweet Baboo and I made a deal, so my state tax refund is ALL MINE TO BUY FABRIC!! 

Mwaahaahaahaa! 

(ahem) Sorry. I got a little carried away. 

I meant, "Oh! How delightful." 

Better? So here are the fruits of my fabric buying labors! Some of them. A few of them. More will come in the mail, and I still have $47 to spend. And oh yes, I will spend it. I'm doing MY part as an American. 

So here's the first batch, some zebra print, to make something for my darling God-daughter. And some other graphic ones just because.

Cute, huh? 

I gave in and bought this bird fabric, even though I don't like to follow the trends too much. And shoes! How adorable.

Beaters, turtles and scissors! Don't you love it? Don't you just love them all? 

I had to get a jelly roll of Hello Betty. I adore this line. I already had a layer cake and have a project in the works. Needed some sashing, so here we are. 

My dear, sweet friend recently gave me this Oh Cherry Oh jelly roll. I loooooove it! (sing song voice) 

So I bought the turnover to match! I've never bought a turnover before. My idea is squares on point with appliqued cherries, with those turnovers on each side, and maybe... sort of... something with the jelly roll. It'll tell me. I'm not worried.  

And she also bought me DARLA!! I love, love, love Darla! Love it. LOVE IT! I love it so much, I want to kiss it and hug it and take it home to meet my parents.  

I want to take vacations with it, and sit on the beach and drink fruity drinks. I want to combine our bank accounts and pick schools for our children. Our cute little 40's tablecloth looking children. Girls please, I don't want the boys teased for looking so cute and girly! 

Love it. Mmm!

And I managed to do some sewing on the Terry Pratchett quilt! 

 Ok, yes, I DO own an iron. You don't have to sound so sarcastic. It's hard taking pictures in my sewing cave. I can't get far enough away to get the whole quilt. But this one is big. REALLY big. And it just keeps getting bigger! 

I argued with this quilt, and folded it up (wadded it up) and stuck it away because we just couldn't agree on borders. But it called to me, so I pulled it back out and had a lightening bolt moment. 

It's supposed to be fun!

I totally forgot. 

So we, the quilt and I, decided on a border of little squares, with the occasional long strip thrown in, followed by another border that will only be in two opposing corners. With lots of white in between everything. I'm really liking it! I can see the finish line off in the distance, and it's getting closer! 

Soon, my pet. Soon...