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.

oscar needs a makeover

Been watching the Oscars - Best part of the show was the Bob Hope Clip. Loved him, Johnny Carson and Billy Crystal when they hosted. Although, I don't think I ever saw Hope host the Oscars. I think my memories of him are from USO tours and such. Other good parts -- The "in memoriam" section, Sandra Bullock and Jeff Bridges as presenters and also Colin Firth's acceptance speech and the older man who won for writing the screenplay for that movie. Rest --Pretty B-o-r-i-n-g.

this is fun

I discovered how to schedule posts over the weekend so since this is a busy week and I'm leaving Thursday for a long weekend in MS I decided to write a few short posts and schedule them through the week.  I did a test one when I first discovered the secret of scheduling  and it worked great so hopefully these will work as well.  Anyway, I've been wanting to make the girls some aprons they can wear when helping me in the kitchen and thought kitchen towels would work well.  This is what I've got so far. 

They are embroidered and I've pinned the pleats.  I'm going to use some nice white muslin that I have to make the waistbands with ties long enough to make pretty little girl bows in the back.  They will be big on them now but these aprons should still be usable when they are teenagers and beyond. I hope they will like them.  Maybe they will model them when I get finished.

gibbs update

Gibbs is doing great!  He is getting really good about going in the crate if I need to put him up so I can leave the house for church or errands.  As long as I toss a treat in he is good to go.  He loves to chase his squeaky ball outside.  Since I don't practice my tossing skills on a regular basis, my long throws may be long or may not be either way he runs after the ball and then runs around making it squeak.   We are working on bringing it back to me and leaving it at my feet - still a ways to go.  Inside he likes to chew on his bones.  He will chew and chew and chew and then chew some more.  He's been here for a good week now so soon, he will be meeting Jed.  I'm not really worried because Jed likes to be the boss and Gibbs does not.  He will do whatever it takes not to create conflict so things should go very smoothly:))  So what is he doing right now??

I know -- I'm spoiling him already.  He wants to stay in the room where I am so if I'm on the computer, he naps on the bed or chews his bone at my feet.

He's got a big test this weekend.  We will see how well he does traveling to Cleveland, staying with a dog sitter and then traveling back to Nashvegas.  It will be interesting.

another finish

I got busy on Saturday and finished the table runner I had started. Everything I needed except batting and thread was included in the kit which made it nice.

I changed up the back a little by cutting the two strips of rectangles and ending up with four columns of blocks instead of just two.