Do You Love a Mystery... Quilt?

I've never tried a 'mystery quilt'-- one where you gather your fabrics and follow direction to piece the blocks or top with no idea of what it is supposed to look like. Oh heck, I have enough trouble creating stuff when I know what it's supposed to look like. But the ever-clever Beth over at Quilting Hottie Haven has twisted my arm into trying my first mystery project. Oh heck-- she didn't twist anything. I'm just attempting to justify why I jumped on this when I am already working on two shows, UFO's, Christmas gifts, Doll Quilter's Monthly and the usual house and schoolwork. Want to play along? Details here !

On the show front, "Portrait of a Nude" opens today (Break a Leg, Jacie!) so at least the bulk work on that one is done. Now it's just maintenance for the run of the show. This is a good show-- sometimes I'm sick of them by the time they open but I am enjoying this one. Makes you think about art, what is art and what role censorship should play.  The big fall project, "Aida" is coming along. I'm not where I hoped to be but that's why you shouldn't schedule two shows together! Expect me to be loopy in the spring when "Avenue Q", Summer Shakespeare and "Rent" all come back-to-back!

My August Doll Quilter's Monthly quilt to Leonie, pictured here , has apparently been lost on it's way to her in Germany. I think I messed up when I wrote her address and is sitting in some dark corner of a German post office because of this dumb American. So I'll be sending her something new this week-- I just can't re-make that particular one. :(   I also sent off these lil' fall quilts~~

To Loretta for September (theme 'fall') :

(I actually made two of these and sent the other one in to a Sewing Mamas doll quilt exchange.)

To Judee for October (theme 'spooky'):

I called that one "I Want My Mummy"~ can you find the strip I put on backwards? ;) I also did a  quilt-as-you-go technique and added a spider web when it was done for more quilting. I'm slowly tiptoeing into free motion quilting on my machine. Still don't trust myself with big areas, though.

I received these beauties this week too! From Judee, for October. She very thoughtfully remembered my family doesn't "do" the spooky side of Halloween (but we sure do the candy!) I love the colors and 16 y/o Philip, who only has eyes for comic books, remarked "Hey! It looks like a wonky pinwheel!" Gives a mother hope. *wipes tear*

 

And this one arrived from Loretta for September--just beautiful! It is now residing proudly on the homeschool/dining room table.

 

Thank you, Ladies! I am so loving this group!

Riddle me this~

Blogging time has been nil since it's the fall theater season. "Portrait of a Nude" opens Wednesday with Jacie in her first 'real'; role. She's doing a great job and mama is (obviously) proud of her little thespian. "Aida" is huge but coming along. I spent some time this sleepless AM catching up on some of my favorite blogs~~ so much great stuff out there!
Here is my 'riddle'--- I tried to leave comments on a few blogs that have the 'prove you're not a robot' code on them. Despite careful typing, making sure I was copying exactly, it would say it was wrong and give me a new code. I'd try several times but eventually gave up. What am I doing wrong? Is it something I have to enable or turn on/off? I really wanted to take time to compliment some wonderful quilts!

One year~

 Seems not too long ago I was writing about Kal-El's first birthday...

Today it's Leia Elise's turn~

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart. Can't remember what life was like without you!

Nannie loves you!

It's a quilted first for me~

 Back in March I was a pattern tester for Cindy (Quilt Doodle Doodles) and I made two versions of her sweet "Bear Tracks" pattern, one in flannel and one in Civil War cottons. They were my largest tops to that date and I really didn't want to deal with the quilting so I saved my pennies to pay a longarm quilter. There are so many wonderful quilters out there! I chose Mary at Quilt Hollow to quilt the flannel . Something about her work just pulled me in and I'm so happy it did! Her communication is awesome and turnaround and price were just great! Because of the straight lines and 'blockiness' of Bear Tracks, I asked for an allover swirl to soften the look a bit. I am just so pleased with how it came out!
Now I'm looking forward to some pleasant fall evenings on the porch to sew on the binding.
I've already started saving for the next one!

These pictures were taken by Mary before she sent it back to me:

Now I know what I want to do when I grow up...

A different kind o'Pinterest post~

 I have never tried pinning anything to Pinterest that hasn't already been pinned but I quickly learned how in order to try to win a great fat quarter pack from Randi at (Etsy Shop) Fresh Squeezed Fabrics. I read about her giveaway and when I realized Randi's shop was already one of my favorites I jumped in. Help a gal (me!) win by re-pinning my pin here:
http://pinterest.com/pin/161003755399746976/?timeline=1

And maybe you'd like to play too! Details here:

http://ihavetosay.typepad.com/randi/2012/09/pin-it-to-win-it.html

Scrap... vomit?

Yeah. It caught my eye, too.

One blogger I follow, Cindy over at Quilt Doodle Doodles, posted about a new swap she found at GnomeAngel. Inspired by I'm a Ginger Monkey, the scrap vomit quilt is what we old folks call a charm quilt made with 2.5" squares in all different fabrics. Gnome Angel used SwapBot to set up a swap for said 2.5" squares. I have a plethora of 2.5" squares, or the fabric to make some, so I signed up. Can't say for sure it's a DUFUS--  after all, I'm getting back as much as I send out. But I'm more likely to do something with all those scraps so that'll lead to the eventual DUFUS---yes?

 Besides, how fun is it to say "scrap vomit" several times?

Click on GnomeAngel^ to get sign-up information if you'd like to play too.

Pinworks

 I'd bet most of you are familiar with Pinterest, that website of inspiration that can make you feel eternally crafty or woefully inadequate at all things...life. What started as a place to gather ideas and useful information has evoleved into a mecca of food, craft, style and humor that ranges from innocent photos of sleeping babies to obscene references to Justin Beiber. (Which may be totally justified. We're not here to debate that, though.) Like any popular site on the web, however, it has gone from great idea links (still some) to 'how can I lure people away from the good stuff and shove my crap into their cookies so I can rake up big hits and maybe plant a virus' links. Photography wizards post beautiful pictures of yummy food or cool crafts and you are intrigued. Awesome captions and frequent use of the words 'simple', 'easy', or 'quick' lure us into a false sense of "I can do this!" And so you pin and plan to have the most incredibly decorated house with the yummiest dishes at the fantastic themed party and won't that just put Martha Stewart in her place!
 But do you ever try any of the stuff you pinned? Lately, I've been reading a couple of blogs that are devoted to 'testing' popular pins and seeing how well they turn out. I enjoy the humor, although often the language is a bit off-putting and I especially enjoy it when a pin proves disastrous. I guess that's the cynic in me that wants to say--"See? I'm not lazy-- I just never tried it 'cause I knew that wouldn't work...".  Actually, the more pins I read, the easier it gets to pick out the phonies and I don't even bother with them. Like this one for baked apples:

                         Even a culinary catastrophe like me can tell those apples are not baked.
But then there are projects that are appealing enough to think--"Hey, that's cool and I don't think I need to even look at the original directions to make it!" Like this:

 I was immediately drawn to it because:
1. It's a rainbow;
2. Even Jacie wanted to make one right away and
3.-- It's. A. RAINBOW. I am a sucker for most things rainbow.
 So we bought a two-pack of 16 X 20 canvasses on sale at A.C. Moore, a bunch of crayons at the back-to-school sales, tacky glue and commenced our projects. We played with different layouts, glued the crayons in place and let them dry. Jacie asked to put a caption on hers. I thought it a great idea so I stole it. So, after a lovely warm evening on our front steps with our only hair dryer going for about an hour, we were left with these works of art:

                                                 Jacie's caption reads " live life in color".

   Mine. The caption is from the Harry Chapin song "Flowers are Red". This song is why I love rainbows.

 

Jacie and her art. Don't tell her I 'showed her off'.

 

It's a Pin-Win! Go for it. But look for a real baked apple recipe for your baked apples and ice cream.