Good news and Even Better News

And I thought life would slow down!  Boy was I wrong.

Now with the holidays coming it is bound to get only more hectic.  I had planned to make a bunch of quilts and even do an Advent Tree quilt for Sawyer.  I knew I should never have put that off this summer.

My CRV is in the shop so we are working with one vehicle.  We picked up the police report today and sent it to the two insurance companies.  The other insurance cannot find the vehicle owner or the driver.  Imagine that.  There has got to be something illegal about that.   

The good news is that our photos from the Santa CAAWS event came out unbelievably gorgeous!  Even if he wasn't my flesh and blood I would still think this was the wicked cutest Santa shot ever in the entire space and time continuum.

I will show you Sawyer's and my own stinking cute dogs when it gets closer to Christmas.  But you really should spend the money on a trip down here next year to let Santa CAAWS do your dog photos, for sure!  And we could do a side trip of Swamp Tour and get some quilting in there too!

The day with Sawyer was fun.  The dogs were exhausted though!  They slept the deep sleep of those who are relieved of sentry duty for the night.  DiNozzo has to be the nursemaid dog and worries about Sawyer being safe.

We set up his tent and Sawyer played on quilts made by his grandma and great grandma.




They read books and he enjoyed a midday repast.  He is getting pretty good with that fork!

Even Better News is that while Frank was turning the sprinkler system off and preparing the faucets outside for the freeze tonight, he found my keys.

They were on the sill of the kitchen window.  Outside!  I am pretty sure I did not put them on the outside window sill.

 All this time I have been searching for my keys and they were just inches from me when I washed the dishes or cooked.  Amazing.

Challenge Bird and Improv Quilts

(I am linking up with a kokaquilts' Sew Stitch Snap Share #18) click here to go to see the post

Do you see this?

I love Rayna Gillman and her Improv Quilts!

My friend Patty the Quilt Lady has a quilt featured in Rayna's new book.  And somewhere in there She and Rayna discussed me and the flood........and there was a book headed in my direction!

Thank you Patty!




I spent a couple of wistful hours reading and looking at the pictures, as you know you would, right!  This is while I was waiting for my Guildmates who never showed up..........

Patty signed the page her quilt is on.  I totally love it. 


Bird Challenge?  You don't expect me to pass up a Challenge of any sort, do you?  Oh, wait.......

You probably knew that, huh?

OK.  Bird.

This is Sawyer in his new wheels.  It makes vvvrooom-ing sounds when he pulls that gearshift lever.  Which he finally figured out how to do.

And the various things light up.  It is bright and happy and he loves those yellow eye things on the front. He leans over and looks at them all the time.

So I took the colors from his walker to make a Sawyer Bird.

His beak is dark blue like the bottom bumper.  And the lip looking things on the wing reminded me of the eye things that fascinate the boy.

And the legs are fat........just like Sawyer's little fat legs!  LOL.  

I seem to have an issue with something on every bird.  See the 'square' head.  It is pretty accurate, because Sawyer's head is a bit flat in the back.....

But I went ahead and ripped it out and fixed it........hmmmm.

I guess it still can be a bit less square, but then it wouldn't be Sawyer-Accurate, would it......

You really can't tell unless you look at the kid sideways.  That is his other grandma he is talking to here.




Don't worry, I will fill his head with all kinds of trivia and it will pop out round like all the other kids........at least by first grade, huh?

Build A Barn - No Pattern Consruction by Julie Sefton

The books are finally here!!!  And it is a beautiful book!!!!!

Perfect, we all know I love buildings, industrial sites, and yes, even barns.  hen I saw the quilt blocks Julie was making a few years ago, I began following her blog story at Me And My Quilts.

As a child we had taken only one vacation.  We went to Washington DC and stopped in Rock City.  I vividly remember all the barns we passed along the way with See Rock City painted on their roofs.  (Yes, I actually looked up the plural of roof and it said rooves was accepted but was the "old" way of doing it.)

Julie created block by block and I would always comment, you need to write a book!  Well, she did.

Really, I do take full credit for that.

Really.


I can't keep track of how many awards See Rock City has won, but it is a lot.  So many others loved it too.

When Julie decided to take my advice and put together a book, she asked a bunch of her friends to form a Secret Society of Barn Builders or the SSOBB as we were affectionately called.  We used her process notes to test the pages making Barns of our own.  Those Barns grew into individual small quilts and now are traveling into some of the show circuits.

Could not get photo flipped!  Later will fix it

I know Julie will be in Paducah at the Author's Showcase.  She probably told me what time but since I can't remember, you will need to look her up there.  And I want you to tell her you know me.  She thinks I might be normal, but you need to assure her I am just as crazy as she is.

So we do have a blog hop.  Mine will be in May and I will have a give away of one of her beautiful books.  you will want to follow the progress of all the blog hops and get more chances to win.

Check out the blog Julie set up for the book.

Free Pieced  Barn Project

If you go there you can see the individual quilts made from the process notes.  they are pretty spectactular!

And mine can be found at:   Glenda Parks

And I have a project in the works, I am tweaking Julie's Barns a bit and making it quite my own.  But that is what this book is all about.

Go get it, you will love it.  ( I get no royalties or kickbacks, but maybe the Bad Basset Boyz will get a bone if  my followers buy a lot of them.)

The Tournament

Yesterday afternoon, I had only a few more minutes on this CD book by Matthew Reilly.  I love the historical dramas from Kings and Queens of Medieval times.  This one was about Elizabeth as a 13 year old girl in 1563.  She travels to Suleiman's Ottoman Kingdom to watch a Chess Tournament.  Michael Angelo makes an appearance.  And there are some murders.  I was on the phone to the Endodontist trying to make an appointment and on came this really (really really) steamy sex scene with Elizabeth's chaperon in the Sultan's harem room.  Oh, my!

Other than the 3 or 4 gratuitous sex scenes (which are like just stuck in the story and really have no bearing on it at all) the book is pretty good.  (Like the English Princess would actually be allowed to travel to the Middle East.)  And I always wonder why men think they can write so vividly about what they think women experience.  This is the Middle Ages people!

But I would recommend it as a good quilting CD read.  Think of me when you get to the sex scenes, I am Elsie!  LOL

Later          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


About 4:30 PM I finished the book and the quilting! Considering what happens in the end, maybe I won't be Elsie.  Although I wouldn't be that stupid.


Now I can put the back together for the Swissy Raffle Quilt and get it on the frame.

Not sure if you can see the quilting.  But here is a close up of a corner.

I need to get the binding done so I can wash it and see if all the markers come out. 

Off to the Endodontist.  I hope their  scheduler enjoyed the gratuitous sex scene! I might see it in her eye as she takes my insurance card!

New Book Recommendation

This is the most recent finish of the books on CD.  And I have another to tell when I get finished with it!  Just as good but in a totally different direction!

But first a story.....you know me, always with a story!

I wanted to listen to my books on CD in the dining room wherer the longarm is located.  The dining room is away from everything and everybody.  Everybody, becasue the bassets are not allowed in there.  Well, let me clarify, McGee is not allowed in there, DiNozzo behaves himself by looking out the window under the quilt frame while I quilt around him.  McGee eats stuff.

(ASIDE:  Sunday: McGee is lethargic today.  Which makes him about as active as the normal dog.  He has not wanted to eat more than a few bites of anything, his tummy is really wonky from the barium they made him take.  His bodily functions are normal, so that is good, no more throwing everything up.

I save that dog's life daily.  Hopefully by the time this posts he will be back to 100%)

I went to Best Buy to buy a CD Player and all the 20-somethings asked what that was!  When I told them, they all pondered a bit and said they didn't think that anything like that was made anymore.  Sigh.  Frank found on in the Clock Radio area of the store, in a dark unused corner that was dusty and full of ghosts of the past...........all the 20-Somethings were amazed that it still existed.

On to my Book Recommendaiton.

The Street of a Thousand Blossoms by Gail Tsukiyama
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/street-of-a-thousand-blossoms-gail-tsukiyama/1100357819

I loved the Japanese names and terms scattered through this book.  I wnated to say them all!  I have a tendency to predict (correctly) the outcome of most books, but this one was a bit different than I thought.  I loved all the characters, I could see the "movie" in my head as they performed the writer's words.  And once again, it gave me some insight of historical events from a non-American point of view.  I hated for this book to end.

I ordered it from the library and they sent it to the branch near me and I just picked it up and returned it at no charge.  Perfect.  She has written about 6 other novels but none are available at our library on CD.

Overview (Barnes and Noble)

It is Tokyo in 1939. On the Street of a Thousand Blossoms, two orphaned brothers dream of a future firmly rooted in tradition. The older boy, Hiroshi, shows early signs of promise at the national obsession of sumo wrestling, while Kenji is fascinated by the art of Noh theater masks. 

But as the ripples of war spread to their quiet neighborhood, the brothers must put their dreams on hold—and forge their own paths in a new Japan. Meanwhile, the two young daughters of a renowned sumo master find their lives increasingly intertwined with the fortunes of their father’s star pupil, Hiroshi.

The Street of a Thousand Blossoms is a powerfully moving masterpiece about tradition and change, loss and renewal, and love and family from a glorious storyteller at the height of her powers.

It Is Truly a Good Thing I Like This Dog.......

 One of these faces did this:







I went outside to open the gate for the termite inspector guy and walked back inside to see the book laying between the two boys.  Chloe was across the room barking at them.  Both faces were looking quite innocent......innocent.  Completely and totally innocent.  

The book arrived yesterday.  Yesterday!  Not even 24 hours old yet.

They need a shaming sign--------a BIG one!