Tiny Tiny Houses

I now have 16 houses done.  I should have 17 but one had a tragic accident.  In fact I think I have made every mistake possible about now.

Like I said, the learning curve was steep.  But I do have a nice system worked out.  And when I was at Office Depot making copies of my Lotto Block entry for Block Lotto, I came upon the most wonderful find.  It was the perfect case to keep all my tiny tiny tiny pieces for the Tiny Tiny Tiny Houses. 

And it was in the Clearance Shelf.  I asked the copy people to price it for me and it was $4.00!  I ran back and got the other one as well.  Can't beat that with a stick, as they say.  See the sections?  I have the sections labeled with sky, door, window, etc, so I have them separate and contained.  The large section in the front is where the scraps go so I can riffle through them for the gables and such.

 

My system is to pin together sections so it is easy to just grab a window section and match a door section to it.  Then I put them in the appropriate section in the carrying case.  When I run out of pinned sections I can sit in front of the TV and make more.

 I can tell you a funny story about the carrying case.....now.  It was certainly not funny when it happened.  I must admit, I did say a few bad words.  The case has a top section and a section that opens from the bottom   The idea is that you can turn it over and open it up.  The bottom section is perfect for finished blocks that can lie flat.  So I tossed my completed houses in there.  Well, I picked the case up, and wouldn't you know, I had not made sure it was totally and completely secure. 

Every piece of scrap and window unit and door unit and sky and roof and thread and lost earring fell out.  All over the table, my lap, into the trash can and all over the floor. 

I was not a happy girl.  But I picked them all up and got them back into their respective sections.  Every once in a while I do find a door in the window section, or a sky in the roof section.  But most are happily living within their own sections. 

I had to show you this Tiny Tiny Tiny House section.  See that Basset in the window?  It looks like my house!  (except that the window is 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch.

glen

The Three Legged Dog, Dinosaurs and a Serious Sinus Shutdown

Will 2011 ever end?  Pleeeeeeeease??????

It is a good thing I have lots of patience.  When I left to run some errands 4 days ago, I put DiNozzo in his crate and tossed in a Milkbone.  Normal procedure.  DiNozzo uses the crate Dutch had when we were on the show circuit.  It is huge!  Dutch, as 120 lbs, could stand up and turn around comfortable so I know DiNozzo at 55 lbs and short as a stump is way comfortable.  But when I got home and opened up the crate, he came out on 3 legs.  What??????



Chloe is now sleeping on Dutch's bed



Is it some unwritten law around here that a dog can only have three good legs?  Bonnie Doon had bad hips and her left one sometimes gave her a bit of trouble.  Dutch had a right front leg in which he tore a shoulder muscle when stadium jumping.  And Chloe the Smelly Basset has that torn ACL from when I fell over her and ended up with my own knee surgery.  Three good legs, all of them.



Is that not pathetic looking?



Now DiNozzo.  So I did when I always do for dogs.  I treat for 1 to 2 days and if it isn't better, head out to the vet.  In fact, I knew already the vet would say, Rimadyl twice a day and rest.  So that is what we did. 

DiNozzo did get better.  He was no longer limping on day 3 so I stopped the Rimadyl to see what would happen.  I really had no idea where he was hurting.  His patella was not moving, he had no tenderness in any leg part, nothing wrong with his foot or toes or pads.  I was stumped.  So off to the vet.

Vet laughs at me.  He always laughs at me and my three good legged dogs.  He pushes and prods and pulls and pokes.  All the P's.  Then he runs his fingers down DiNozzo's back.  In the lower back section he is weakness.  Sciatica.  Can you believe that?  Yep.  So he is on......let's hear it......Rimadyl and rest!

I have my first actual finish on a UFO for 2012.  Even though it is in 2011 on Dec 29, it is actually for 2012.  I needed to get it off my floor because it involves more than just a quilt.  It involves a whole sack full of dinosaurs.  I bought the dinos from a garage sale for $8 and the quilt is from my stash.  I don't really have too many kid fabrics, but most of them went into this effort.  A great stash buster and UFO finish.  Oh, can I claim this on my stash busting report maybe???????

last but not least, not least at all, because of all the cleaning and sweeping and moving of stuff it stirs up all the dust and fabric fibers.  Which in turn causes my sinuses to object.  To top that off, yesterday, and he swears he did not do this, I picked up the Windex Vinegar Cleaner I was using to clean surfaces and blinds and shelves as I went.  The top sprayer thingy stayed in my hand but the bottle with ALL the liquid fell to the floor.  I was on the stepladder and it poured out over a large area of the floor and stuff.  So the smell was quite strong despite the fan and an open window.

So I can't breathe, I have another three legged dog but I have a dinosaur finish! 

 glen:  2012 where are you?????

Stuff I can't show you........

I have been cleaning my room, you would be so proud of me! I actually cleaned off a corner of my quilt table!  This piece of my table has not seen daylight in, like, three years!  It was soooo happy. 

Then I organized my shelves.  I took projects that were coordinated fabrics and a pattern (whether it was a pattern or a magazine with the pattern in it) and put them in plastic boxes and shoe boxes.  The boxes fit on the top shelf up to the ceiling.  That moved a lot of stuff

 from the floor by the door where you could barely get into the room!

I can't show my houses yet.  Not until the first of January.  But I have 8 in progress and 4 or 6 finished.  I spent yesterday working on cutting out tiny pieces to make it easier to paper piece the bottom part of the house.  I think I got this conquered.....I think.

Aren't these windows too cute?  A lion and a hippo are looking out of their houses!  LOL.  

I also can't show you the center block I made for the Cotton Robin.  It is too cute!  So instead, you can enjoy this one I did for the 100 Blocks from Quiltmaker Magazine.  Well, I tested the block for them, I didn't design it!  It is in Volume 3.  It is my most favorite block I have done for them.  I really love it. 

I have been piling up a bunch of stuff to give away.  So everyone who responded to the last post, send me your address and I will send you something in a package.  It will probably be next week before I get back to the post office to mail things, but that should be OK. 



You are ALL winners!  Yeah!

My email is obed101(at) cox (dot) net

It feels so good to be back in the world after Dutch, my mom, and all the other crap that has happened recently.  I am quilting with 2 separate groups a couple of times a month, I am doing the Cotton Robin, I created the Mystery Quilt for one of my guilds.  I am in two local guilds.  A group of friends are planning a quilting cruise this year and we have a couple of retreats in the works. 

2012 doesn't have to work all that hard to be better than 2011 !

glen:  Paula and I said we were going to stay drunk until 2011 ended...........

A Giveaway!

I have another Giveaway!  It makes me feel like I am actually de-cluttering when I give stuff away.  But I think deep in my brain I realize this is not really solving my problem.  I would need to fill about 5 large shipping boxes to make any difference.  But that is not the point.  And you have to trust me for pictures.  My camera is dead because I left it plugged in to the computer last night.

To win something leave me a comment and please tell me what you do to keep your sewing room clean.  I really need that advice.  Then of course, the random number generator will pick for distribution.  There is always lagniappe in the boxes.  So you definitely come out ahead just by commenting on my blog. 

So.....WAKE UP OUT THERE!  LOL


I have a pattern from Calico Carriage called Post and Beam.  It is interesting and takes fat quarters for the center.   The whole quilt is 60 x 60.  I won this in the auction probably last year rather than this year.  Maybe even two years ago.

I have a pattern called "A Charming Farmhouse Kitchen Scene for Machine or Hand Applique in an 18" Hoop".  Oh wait, tht is the description.  It is called Morning Coffee.  It is cute and I really like it, but I will never do applique.

Then there is the Mystikal Mardi Gras King Cake table runner pattern from The Quilt Cottage in New Orleans.  This is a valuable commodity because The Quilt Cottage is no longer around.  It is 21 x 52 inches.

Then I have a grouping of 11 patterns I have collected from books, stores and shows.  They were all free and two were from books checked out from the library.  Bad Me!  I really can't toss them!  They are so cute, all of them.  Daisy Crazy quilt, Butterfly Garden Party, Indonesian Floral Star, Debbie Mumm's Seasons, Robin Pandolpf's Tickled Pink, Joanne Porter's Spring Flowers, Quilt For The Cure and Bonnie Benn Stratton's Thanks Be to Auntie Lue, A Star Gazing Santa, some paper pieced hearts, Falling Leaves Quilt and Flying Flags Quilt.  Is that more than 11.  I might split these up and  make them go with some of the others so more than one would go to a couple of people.

I also have a Quilter's 100 Block Coffee Mug.

I am sure I can dig up some more stuff as well.



.

The Amazing and Astonishing Tiny Tiny Tiny Scrappy Houses

Yes, as Charlene said, they are tiny!  LOL.  I didn't realize just how tiny until I sat down to put on together.  Don't let their size fool you either, it took me nearly an hour to finish one tiny little house.

Let me tell you, the learning curve was very steep.

But I worked out a lot of kinks.  I am not allowed to show you any of the houses until the first of the year.  So I will show you bits of what I did and tell you how I fixed it.

First, I had a problem getting the pattern right.  I printed out, well, attempted to print out, a 3 inch block.  I got a 2 1/2 inc block, a 2 3/4 inch  block, a 3 1/4 inch block, a 5 1/3 inch block and a 4 7/8 inch block.  Even a 10 inch one.  But I could not hit the 3 inch block.  So I decided there should be one in EQ that would work. 

No such animal.  So I tried redoing some of the houses in EQ to look like this one, no dice.  The measurements just weren't working.  I even tried to draft one on my own.  And decided to work to maybe anther size like a 4 or 5 inch block. 



Too many of not the right size



I found some blocks in two of my miniature quilt books that would work, one even looked like it was where Jeanneke's block came from.  But after inadequately tracing a couple I gave that idea up.

So I went back to working on the block she provided.  And finally I got that printed out at a perfect 3 inches.  Problem solved......whoa!  Wait......NOOOOOOO! I printed 10 copies of the entire post.........Augh!

So now I have my 3 inch block.  I decided to paperpiece it.  I modified one part to make it easier to piece.  And I began to cut some fabrics for the sizes.  Only cut one wrong and had to rip only two pieces out.  I always mess up the very first piece for some reason.



Pre-sorting the scraps



I was really proud of my little tiny tiny tiny house.  I showed it to Frank.  He looked at it and said, it doesn't look like hers on the computer here.  How are you going to fix it?  Aughhh!

The second one was easier, and the third was much better.  It will be a lot easier to chain piece the sections.  So I spent a couple of hours going through my Bonnie Hunter Scrap System and cutting up some scrap pieces to make about 100 of these tiny babies. 



Pieces cut for about 100



It will be an impressive quilt.  Maybe one that will make everyone at the quilt go, "Ahhhhhhhhh!"  during show and tell.  I can see it now, when I unfold the quilt, they all collectively gasp in amazement at the beauty of my tiny tiny houses.  And they are all astonished at my ability to sew such tiny tiny houses.  It will be a wonderful feeling, standing up there, basking in the glory of the collective amazement.......oh, but I digress.

I cannot just do one a day, I will do more.  I can see how people are hand piecing these, they are so tiny!  I love them though.

This is my last design wall of 2011.  Next week I will gladly enter 2012 and cross my fingers for a much better year!

glen

Build a Scrappy House in 2012

"Friends are the fruit cake of life - some nutty, some soaked in alcohol, some sweet - but mix them together and they're my friends."


I read this the other day, can't remember where now, but I loved it.  And in honor of my friends I thought me might just play together a bit every day. 


We sit and watch Whose Line Is It Anyway every night.  I have seen them a thousand times but they are still hilariously funny.  When I watch TV however, I must be doing something else.  I used to crochet with cotton thread the little things like doilies and edgings.  But I can't see that close anymore. 

I have done quilling with paper, cutting up my scrap leftovers, studying, reading and cooking while watching TV.  Paying bills, massaging a dog or two or three.  But I digress.

 



Lately, I would do handwork like bindings.  I had several quilts stacked up waiting to be bound.  Then last year I hand quilted the Lemon Lime Quilt.  All done now, I put the Blue Jean Quilt together and got red cotton to hand quilt it with.  But I can't seem to find the red.

So now I use my IPad to surf the quilting sites or play word games while I watch.  And I came across this fabulous blog about building houses out of scraps in 2012.  Jeanneke is from the Netherlands and came up with the idea of doing a house a day and a larger house on Leap Day.  Her quilt is fabulous.  And I immediately lusted after one like it.  I am SOOOOO in this project.

If anyone would like to join me in this I can set up a linky thing to allow you to link your houses for the week to one place and we could show off our work on a set day each week.  Like Judy L does with her Stash Report and the Design Wall. 

The blocks are 3 inches by 3 inches and are just regular houses.  Some people are paper piecing them, some are hand sewing them, some are doing it the machine way.  Some are making them a bit larger.  I think you should practice on a couple and see if you like them this small.  One person said she could not work with that size and upped hers to 5 inches using EQ technology. 

Jeanneke said if you do a three inch block, you can get all 5 house piece from a 5 inch charm square.  That is an incentive to do it small. 

The houses can be done in any fashion you want them.  Scrappy like this one.  All one color, it would be breathtaking in rainbow pattern or even one color on brilliant white.  You decide.  Controlled colors, or not.  You are the contractor. 

If you want to sashing and cornerstones to be all the same fabric then you can set it aside now or wait till you get a grouping and see what you want it to be.  I am unsure right now, so I guess I will wait.  I do like her black sashing though......

If you want to be WOWed, check out her quilt.  That is what I am lusting after!

http://buildinghousesfromscraps.blogspot.com/

Jeanneke will start on Jan 1, 2012.  I plan to follow along and group with you here, because the end date to sign up on her blog was 12-15-11.  I can post back to her blog with our main link so we will be involved.  Do you have any idea how many people are in her group?  over 1200.  Yes.  All those zeros!

You can get her pattern in a link on the side bar and she does have an English translation pattern. 

So, join me in building a house a day for the next year.  It will be spectacular!  You bet!

glen

Christmas is Over

            There is always a sadness in the air when the sun sets on Christmas Day.  I remember one year I was in 5th grade.  My beloved Ganny had died the year before and Papa was in Houston with his mistress, whom he had kept hidden for all those years before.  He came to New Orleans and brought some presents for Kenny and me.  His presents were usually stuff he






had rounded up from old houses and junk shops and reworked.  This year it was radio units for both of us.  I was in my bed, my parents came in to tuck me in and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was playing on that radio.  My dad wanted to turn it off, but my mother said, let it finish.  Christmas is over when you turn it off.


I have never forgotten that moment.  And now, Christmas is over.  And I always feel sad.
We were at Carrie's house for lunch/dinner with Andrew's parents Bobby and Fayne, and his brother and wife Michael and Amanda.  No Tristan this year, so his present went home with Amanda. 
Carrie's house was beautifully decorated. The table was elegant. Everything was wonderful. She has such a way with putting things together, her house looks like a picture in a magazine.  I guess that is what she is good at doing, such a creative and artistic mind. 
She had Brussels sprouts, collard greens cooked in bourbon, au gratin potatoes, green bean casserole, bow tie broccoli salad.  Fayne brought spiral ham, spaghetti and cheese and sweets.  I supplied some chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin pie and biscotti.  It was a fine feast.
After dinner we gathered and distributed presents.  Andrew opened his BBQ grill (we all pitched in and bought him a really nice one), Carrie opened pearls from Andrew and a Kitchenaid Mixer from me. 

Our present from Carrie was interesting.  She told me when I opened it I was going to feel violated.  I was totally intrigued at that statement.  I opened the wrapping to find the oil painting of the plantation that hangs in my dining room.  She had "stolen" it from the house and we had no clue!  Taped to the frame was a voucher for a weekend in that very same plantation!

And now Christmas is over.  The sun has set on the day.  And I am sad.  The worst part is my brother has not even called or sent a Christmas card or contacted me about our mother.  I wonder where his kharma is sitting tonight.

Merry Christmas until next year, glen

Happy Holidays to all

My street in snow

This year we did not put up a tree because this is not a happy year.  Frank did put up some lights on the outside of the trees for me must to let people know we were still in here.

Here is  a tree from some year in the past.

Spillway opens due to massive flooding

I hope your Holidays are fun and all you want them to be.  Let's look to 2012 for a new beginning.

Here are some photos from the year past.

LOts of CAAWS activities



Easter at the Plantation







glen, Frank, Chloe the Smelly Basset and DiNozzo the Over Effusive Basset



My beautiful friend Diane from Early School

The loss of Ralphie Tebbe

Losing my beautiful boy Dutch

Matt wins the Regional Science Fair

Tropical Storm LEE

Lighting the way for Papa Noel and DiNozzo is Jewish

In Louisiana, we have a lot of traditions that separate us from the rest of the world.  And most are designed to encourage drinking and partying till the wee hours of the morning.  One such traditions are the bonfires on Christmas Eve along the river.  Mississippi River, that is, the ONLY river of any importance.

So the Cajuns build these mighty structures on the levee and on Christmas Eve, they light them.  Drinking and dancing and playing music as only Cajuns can do!  The purpose of the bonfires is to light the way for Papa Noel to come to their homes. 



Huey P. Long's
Sunshine Bridge to Nowhere behind



These structures are magnificent and huge and now require a permit to build.  Every once in a while one will collapse and kill a couple of people so they build them often in memory of someone.  Like this one.  Most are pyramid shaped but some do get quite elaborate.

What precipitated this was a picture in the paper showing 5 structures on the levee in Convent, east of us.  Frank travels the plants all along the river so he knew just where these were.  We tossed the bassets in the car and headed out.  I have no idea where Convent is, so I took along a DiNozzo Throw Up Kit just in case he did the nasty like when we went to the Santa pictures in New Roads in the rain.  We never found the bonfires.

We found only these two structures, but we found that DiNozzo cannot ride in a car for more than PetsMart distance.  The dog park is closer than PetsMart, so he is fine going there.

And we decided that since he tossed his cookies both times related to a Christian Festival, he must be Jewish.  We knew that Dutch was a Baptist. 

Just look at how pathetic DiNozzo looks.  Chloe was trying to soothe him by laying her head on him.  We had to stop and clean out the car in Burnside.  We turned around and took DiNozzo home after that.  He looks so bad, I felt so sorry for him.  You know, he is definitely related to Frank!  Too bad they both can't drive

Happy Hanukkah all you Bassets out there!

glen