Design wall 1-30-12

It is almost the end of January, my birthday month is over for another year, that is always sad. I have accomplished a lot, quilting wise and life wise. 2012 is turning out to be so much better than 2011, and that is something I am very grateful for. I am surrounded by wonderful friends who share my love of quilts and dogs and biking, and the time we spend together.  My design wall is filled with projects I love and I haven't killed DiNozzo yet, although he may not make it through the week.  See him hiding from me after the toilet paper incident?

This week my design wall is filled with my mystery quilt for my local guild, River City, so I can't exactly show you that one. I am Beta Testing it!  But I am also working on the Tiny Tiny Houses and found the most wonderful sashing material. I started putting together some blocks of houses. Kind of a double meaning. I really mean blocks like subdivision blocks. Check out my first block block! LOL!!


So I am off to a great start in this first month of 2012.   And I am planning on a great rest of the year too!  I feel good for the first time in months.

I hope yours is a wonderful and forward looking.

Albondigas to all!

glen

Stash Report 1-29-12 and a very very very bad dog

I did well this week considering I had to purchase the material for the Tiny Tiny Houses sashing.  But that was a total necessity as I had nothing here that would do.  So I don't feel guilty about that purchase!

I did, however, NOT purchase several things I did want this week.  No plans for any of them, but I held back and made no extraneous purcvhases of fabrics I did not need.  Aren't you proud of me????

Here is the damge this week:

Oh, I thought you might enjoy seeing the little dog in his last hours of life.  He is hiding from the Wrath of Mom because he did this:

 (to a whole new toilet paper package I had just brought home from the store.  All 12 of them now have fancy edges.)

Stash Report:

I used scraps and fabric I had around here to cut up for the Neighborhood Quilt, the Tiny Tiny Houses, and the Mystery Quilt I cant' show you, then I purchased the sashing and two dotty fat quarters for the Houses (FQs were not for the houses, just for fun!) and the total for the month is:

Used this week:  -11.75 yards
Used this Month:  -29.3 yards
Used totoal 2012:  -29.3

Purchased this week:  3 yards
Purchased this Month:  3 yards
Purchased this year:  3 yards

Grand total REDUCTION of 26.3 yards

 And I still don't have space on my shelves!  LOL.

glen

Biking week 2

After the toilet paper incident, I needed to ride.  We knew we needed to ride Saturday because of all the stuff we need to do tomorrow.  The four of us headed out toward White Oak Lakes again.  We wanted to see what the water was doing, remember last week it was high up against the weir, which was unusual.

Last week bridge and bench

And WOW!  The water was even higher in the Amite River.  You can see it ponding in places I have not seen water before.  Even during the Mississippi Floods last year.

Last week Amite River

Here is the Last Week/This Week comparison.

This week near bridge and bench

This week Amite River 

And notice the gorgeous day we had.  about 62 temps and not a cloud in the sky!  The pictures look so bright and beautiful from this week.  Funny how much a difference a bit of sun makes.

This week Amite River near trail

We rode 12.7 miles this week, a mile more than last for some reason, and we went the same route I thought. Dan asked me last week, for $100 would you do that again right now?  No way I said, $1,000,000 maybe.

This week he asked again, and my price was down to $1000!

glen:  Tammany Trace plans are in progress, and the group is growing.

Can you salvage a half eaten toilet paper? No wait, four?

Do you see that dog hiding in there?  He thinks I can't see him.  And he is hiding for good reason.  A VERY good reason. He thinks he has only moments to live, and he may well.  He'd better be saying his doggy prayers.

I just got back from the grocery store whereupon I purchased toilet paper....because, well, it is one of the necessities of life.  And I had a bunch of other bags to carry in, so I put it down on the floor in the kitchen.  Put my groceries away and then went to check my emails.

I hear a noise, and with DiNozzo noises are ALWAYS bad.  I go out and see this:

The photo does not do the scene justice.  Here are some close-ups of his romp with the toilet paper.

I have no idea why the toilet paper attracted him, it never has before.  There is no smell to it.  And he does not get to play with the empty rolls like Max loved to do.

I asked him "WHY??"

He replied, "Because it was there.  Yup."

I go into the yard to find him, and look at what he has now!  The SEVENTY TWO CENT CUCUMBER!  Aughhhh!

I need a whole 'nother blog to chronicle what this dog destroys in a day.



If he lives through the weekend, he will be one lucky little dog.

The Quilt The Swamp Show - you gotta see this report!

http://beta.lpb.org/index.php?/swi/swi_episode/quilt_the_swamp

Michael, Sally and Mary did a FANTASTIC job on this segment.  Makes me proud to rub shoulders with these talented people!

glen

PS: this is a piece I did in 2006 taking a piece of black fabric and doing a sort of reverse discharge.  It was one of my earlier experiements with this technique.  Michael told me that the resulting red fabric was highly prized by dischargers and not always easy to get.

Shopping

We went sewing machine shopping today. We looked at three or four machines and I think there might have actually been one sure winner, the husquvarna of course! glen

A "Block" of Tiny Tiny Houses

Wow!  It wasn't until I actually put that title in that I realized those words had a double meaning!  I made a quilt block.  And the houses formed a block - like a neighborhood block.  Get it?

Anyway, since the Mystery Quilt blocks are all together and just need to be sewn together, I decided to treat myself to what I REALLY wanted to be doing--Tiny Tiny Houses!

I cut the sashing up and auditioned 4 fabrics for the cornerstones.  Then I made my decision and cut out the cornerstone pieces.  They are tinier then the houses at 1 1/2 inch by 1 1/2 inch!  Wow.

And this:







Became this:











Which became this:

(I don't know why they look all weird, they really are perfectly square)








Which turned into this beauty!

Only 9,999,999 to go!