waiting for the cuckoo

On a recent trip to my mom’s, I brought back two old clocks that had been up there being fixed by the “clock man”.  I love my cuckoo clock.  It is one of the things that I got when we cleaned out my grandparent’s house.  The grands had never seen a cuckoo clock before so after it was hung on the wall and ticking away, they wanted to watch it cuckoo.  Unfortunately I couldn’t manage to get one good picture of the cuckoo bird – I mean he only cuckooed 12 times (I was tempted to say one or two but the picture would have given me away).  Anyway, the girls thought it was great

moda bakeshop strip skirt

I saw this “recipe at the Moda Bake Shop site  several months ago and wanted to try it.  Recently my local Bernina Shop had a class using the pattern for this.  I armed myself with a Jellyroll (the Moda Sunkissed line), my serger and sewing machine and took the class.  It was fun and I only had to finish the elastic and find some ribbon to finish the skirt when I got home.  I decided to get a t-shirt from target and put an applique on it and have an outfit instead of just a skirt.  Now, just five more granddaughters , so five more outfits to go. 
The skirt before total completion.
 
Finishing the hedgehog on the t-shirt.

A picture of the outfit “standing” on my sewing chair.

This size 6 skirt only used 12 of the 42 strips in the jellyroll which means you can get several skirts from just one jellyroll depending on what sizes you are making – and none of them will look exactly alike.

texas population has increased by ONE

William Tullus Neal. Born 2:47am. Weighed in at 9 lbs 5oz and 22 1/2 inches. Everyone is doing fine. Can't wait to see him.

GIBBS: extreme makeover edition

Before:

After:

I love it ---what do you think??

it's another vintage giveaway

Lora from the blog "Eager Hands" is giving away  50 five inch squares of vintage fabrics and a yard of backing.  She has more pictues of the fabrics included.  Check out the giveaway details here .  I've got my fingers crossed for ME :))

does this make me obsessive?

Awhile back (I'm ashamed to say how long) my good blog friend Polly had a giveaway that I won.  She sent me 5 really pretty Xmas fat quarters and a book.  I was doing some re organizing of my fabrics a couple of weeks ago and came across said FQs.  It dawned on me that they would make a really cute holiday throw for a family member who shall remain anonymous for now.  I just needed to find a few more FQs or the equivalent so I'd have enough to make the pattern "Crazy Eights".  So I looked through my stash and found just what I needed including backing.  Now to adress my post title.  I cut my eight fabrics into the appropriate squares and rectangles and then worked and worked until I got all my fabric divided among the blocks without using any fabric twice in the same.  Now that meant dividing 8 fabrics into 32 blocks.  It took me two tries -- the first time I didn't really have a method and ended up with too many pieces that would make repeats so I separated it all again and started over the next day.  So that's why I'm asking -- does that make me obsessive?  Here are:

My 32 blocks divided into four stacks so I can piece my four different squares -- A,B,C,D (only three stacks are in the picture)

The beginnings of my squares.  I pieced one of each of the four different squares and then decided to go on and work on just the D squares so that farthest stack is a little taller.

My stuffy nose and achy sinuses have encouraged me to call it quits for tonight.  So I'm on my way to join Gibbs really soon.

know what I love about my sister . . . . .

1.   She will always be older than me:))
2.   She shared a room with me for most of our growing up years and didn't kill me (although she did draw  a line down the middle of the room and I had to keep all my mess on my side .. she was neat -- I wasn't)
3.   She's raised seven kids and always had great tips that helped me with mine.
4.   She is a wonderful example to everyone who knows her
5.   She lets my dog stay in her house because she loves me
6.   She loves her "herd" of grand kids like no one else I know.
7.   She's a wonderful cook and loves to  share her great recipes
8.   She laughs at my silly jokes
9.   She likes to shop when we are together.
10.  She gets me the neatest Christmas presents.
11.  When I've needed her most, she didn't ask questions, she just came.

Happy Birthday Beth -- hope it's the best one yet

do you love vintage?

Jen from Little Scraps of Happiness is giving away a fat quarter bundle that includes 21 fqs from vintage sheets to celebrate the birthday of the "Alll Things Vintage Sheets" blog. I can't think of a more fun project than making a quilt from some vintage sheet fat quarters. What would you make? Hop on over and check out the giveaway  here.

a favorite foot of mine

I absolutely love the Bernina #64 foot.  It makes the prettiest finished edge ever.  It has taken me awhile to get it work easily every time I use it but since I made seven aprons recently and used it to finish all the long sides of the ties that I made, I got lots of practice and really found my groove.  I love, Love, LOVE it:))

where does the time go?

Its' been a couple of weeks since I've posted anything on my blog.  Seems like tome is just flying by.  I've spent time in my sewing room but haven't accomplished a whole lot.  Lots of small projects.  I'm putting together a box of stuff to go to TX for the new baby and the other grands too.   Hopefully I'll get it off to them this week sometime.

Here is a photo that shows several of the things I've worked on over the past week or so.

Not shown are the two Easter dresses for Jen but I've about finished all the handwork and will be putting them together .... hope to have them done by the end of the first week in April.  I will post pictures.  I am in awe of people who sit down and smock a dress in a couple of evenings and their work is gorgeous to boot.  I'm too easily distracted I guess:)

Vail and Kates modeling their aprons I made.  They will definitely be able to wear them for a l-o-n-g time.

another sewing giveaway -- fun applique patterns

Linda at Stray Stitches is having a giveaway.  She has two quilt patterns to give to some lucky winners.  If you enjoy sewing and applique in particular, hop on over and check it out.

my dog is as healthy as a horse

Gibbs visited with the vet today.  Everyone there thought he was the cutest short legged Australian Shepherd ever but I already knew that!  We went because it's time for another monthly dose of heart worm prevention.  They checked him over real well and said everything looks really healthy.  Tiny lymph nodes, strong heart, good lungs, eyes and ears looked great too.  He weighed in at 42 pounds.  He was a very good boy during all the prodding so he got some treats before we left.  When we got home he chased the ball for awhile but now he's worn out.

It's hard being the cutest short legged Australian Shepherd ever:)

gibbs and his duck

My neighbor got Gibbs a duck and brought it over to the house.  He really liked it.  He picked it up and put it in his toy basket.  A few times I noticed him carrying it around the house. I'm thinking the Gibbs/Duck honeymoon phase is over.

i

He doesn't look very sorry to me.  What's left of the duck is back in the basket.  I guess he thinks it will taste better with age.





Addendum:  Here is how I found Gibbs at bedtime.