Scrapbook Squirrel

 

Hi everyone!! First of all I want to give a big thank you to Pam from The Paper Outpost (she's on YouTube) for introducing me to "Junk Scrapbooking!"  Then there's Natasha from Treasure Books (also on YouTube) & Curio By B-Spoke Designs (sorry I've not caught his name & he's on YouTube as well).

Today I was working on 3 cover pages from Natasha.

Here are the 3 sets of items I pulled out to work on.  At one point Mr. Cowboy came in needing breakfast.....sign!!!!!!

    

And then here they are all glued down. I really love how they all turned out and the tutorial was easy to follow. I did pause and rewind many, many times though.  I may add more another day but at this point I've worn myself out!!

To My Blogger Friends

 Thank you all for responding to my cries of woes on the comment thingy. So far I've tried all the suggestions with no success. I'll keep trying though. I'm sure I'm not doing something correctly.....(Mr. Cowboy says it's me anyway)!  Sigh.............In the mean time.........it's back to the hay fields for me.

Thank You Shasta!!

One of my blogger friends, Shasta, is doing a very interesting project which she got the idea from Daisy Yellow. It is so interesting and I'm wool gathering at the moment with the house situation, so I'm late to the party but happy to be doing something.....anything.....other than twittling my thumbs.
I'm going at this full steam ahead!!! Many thanks to Shasta for posting about this and sharing it

A Big Thank You & More

Greetings Everyone!!

I want to thank you for wishing me a Happy Birthday (twice) in some cases because I couldn't remember how old I am.....hehehehehehehehehehehe!!

I've been very busy celebrating and visiting with the little people. Let's just say, this old girl could barely keep up with Buzz Woody and the Firecracker!!! And yes, she is a girl and extremely active. I'm going to have to take more vitamins or something.

 

Also, thank you for your comments from "What's That, You Asked?" I laughed a lot especially when reading the comments from Chantal, Diane and Joyce.

As for my memory, it comes and goes. I swear I can walk from one room to another and forget why I went in there. But, hey, this started years ago so I can't blame it on the age thing. LOL!!!

Hope everyone is enjoying their week. Take care until my next adventure or fiasco.

It's Wild Around Here

Warning!!!   Warning!!!   Warning, Will Robinson!!!!  Okay, sorry I couldn't help myself with that opening from Lost In Space which was one of my favorite TV shows way back when. But seriously, if you're squeamish, look away NOW!!!

All the photos were taken with my iPhone. It's a handle thing since my camera is always misplaced.

 

As most of you know who follow me, I live in the country where there are plenty of wild things lurking about. In the above photo you are seeing a mole.......dead, thanks to my cousin Clark. This critter had been wrecking my yard for weeks leaving giant mole mounds. Clark is the local mole exterminator & he offered to "take him out" so to speak.

He did it!!! The mole was very crafty but Clark was patient. Look at the teeth on this thing....OMG!!!

I'm sure this isn't the end of my mole problem but it sure feels good to know that the granddaddy of all moles is no longer.  Thank You Clark!!!

Update:  Here's the latest photo of little "Show Girl," Showee for short. She stopped, posed for me, even started towards me in curiosity, then backed up. She's so funny to watch. Fairly soon afterwards she realized that her mom had moved off so off she dashed with her little tail in the air.

This beauty was fluttering about as I was gathering up some fallen branches after the big storm the other night. I was able to get quite close for the pic. This photo doesn't lend the beautiful coloring.

Finally, this is a photo of a branch/creek that fun thru the back forty. I'm thinking of doing a mini quilt from this pic.....if I have enough energy after all the hay baling.  We'll see.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and a nice Mother's Day.

Mini Wednesday

Hi there! It seems I'm only able to post mid week these days.

First, desertskyquilts helped me name this mini. Many thanks to my wonderful blogger friend!!

Meet "Green Pastures"

Here's the latest creation.

 & a bit of the process.

I'm so happy to be using even the smallest scraps.

I've used a sky background & fussy cut clouds from another scrap.

Finally, and you really have to squint, I added tiny birds to make things a bit more interesting.

I'm naming this one "Long Journey Home."

Me-Huntress

No, not that kind of "huntress"......hehehehehehe, but I have been known to go a-hunting for snakes in the yard.

I'm talking about hunting in the garden, of course.....hehehehe

I have a very small garden this year, so much so that all the cucumber vines are entangled as they run together. Believe it or not, I love poking through all those vines looking for cucumbers, tomatoes and bell peppers every day. It's rather cathartic.

 Those cucumbers grow quickly and tend to hide out under the shade of the leafy foliage.

I have a fence around my little garden to keep the rabbits out. Every morning, we go

 through the same routine.....I walk out the back door, spot two rabbits nibbling around the fence

 and start the chase. Around and around and around we go until I get dizzy and the rabbits

 make a break for the bird feeder to harass the poor birdies and eat their seeds

 that has fallen to the dirt.....sigh

It take me a few minutes to catch my breath before I start picking veggies. You'd think

 I'd be able to stop myself from chasing them but, alas, I've not broken myself

 from this habit.

These days I'm into canning the cucumbers into sweet pickles which take about 3 days

 but it's well worth the effort.

There are many recipes on the Internet that are inspiring and I have tried a couple. 

Mom and Cowboy love the pickles and so do all my neighbors.

Well, I'm off to rinse the cucumbers and begin the next step in the process.

On another note: I'd like to thank everyone who participated in my "big give-away." I didn't get to respond to all the comments yesterday so this is a great big THANK YOU ALL.

I'll be doing another give away in the fall, so stay tuned for that. 

Monday, Monday

Judy at Patchworktimes, is a fantastic hostess. Each Monday she allows any quilter who wishes to participate, to show off his/her work or home projects. Sometimes I forget to just say thank you to her and that I really appreciate the space she allows us to share with one another.
Make sure you pop over so that you can see what others are up to on the wonderful Design Wall Monday!!

Another finish for me!!

I started this hand embroidery quilt when my mom had heart surgery about 2 years ago. The work kept me sane while she recovered after being released. That was a hair-raising experience but the doctors are excellent and she is now doing very well for the age of 80. 

Anyway, the other day I ran across the quilt top, decided to add a border and quilted it with black thread. I'll be donating it to my helping hands group next week. Maybe some child will become inspired and study Insects in Science or something.

And, hey, no teasing me about making this quilt when I'm so not into anything that flies, flutters, slithers, hops, crawls, meanders.......well you get the picture.....LOL!!

Words of Encouragement

Your words of encouragement really warmed my heart and boosted my will to continue making and sharing mug rugs.
I really wanted to but was unsure of what I'd make for 2014.  After reading all the warm comments ideas started to ping pong around in my head.
I took some meds to stop the headache and have gotten to work sketching out some ideas.
I can hardly wait for the new year to get here.
Thank you, everyone, for playing along each week. I hope everyone has a great December!! 

What, another move?

 

Buzzard Bait (AKA Sugar and Cream) and her friends are moving yet again. She was not happy about the move but had little choice in the matter.

If you aren't familiar with cows/cattle, they need to graze often so they need to be moved from pasture to pasture so that there's little over grazing.

Goodbye BB. I'll see you soon!!

 

A big Thank You

 to those who voted for my

Barn Lovers quilt

over at Quilting Gallery. I came in second place with 92 points. There were quilts from

all around the world. All the entries were beautiful and I was very happy to place.

Again, thank you for your votes!!

 

DWM-BOW

#6 of Gone Fishin is here.

My favorite fabric is the underbelly geometric scrap. I only had a little bit of it so I don't

know the designer.

 

 

 Next, another finish. You remember this little quilt "In These Shoes"

Well I was very busy sewing and binding all weekend.
I used Gene's method of basting: hairspray!!
It worked like a charm. Thank you Gene for that fantastic suggestion. It worked like a charm!
 

Here are a few close-ups. I did tiny meandering throughout the quilt.

I bound the quilt in black.

 

Judy is our hostess for DWM so pop over and say Howdy!!

Compilation

As some of you know, I'm on a quest to find a quick and easy way to baste a quilt. In a couple of previous posts I asked for suggestions and received some great one which I wanted to compile and repost so I'd know exactly where all the info was stored. (In other words, this is the only way I can keep up with it)

 

• Marla's Crafts says that she uses pinmoors which I will have to research a little more before I purchase any. She stated that the pinmoors are a bit pricey but she likes them more than safety pins.
• Deb uses 505 spray on her projects and only pins when she runs out of spray.  I have, in the past used 505 spray so Deb jogged my memory.
• Tammy said that she uses pins to baste her quilts and has yet to find an easy and less time consuming way.
• Dena uses Sulky's kk2000 adhesive spray. She likes it because you only use a small amount and it doesn't harm the environment.
• Paula likes to thread baste her quilts. She uses a water soluble thread. I think that's neat and will have to try that one myself.
• Lefuntz uses 505 spray adhesive on small quilts and had never tried it on large quilt. She will also going to try out the pinmoors very soon.
• Doniene uses a spray to baste and then pins her quilts.
• Gene uses hairspray to baste his quilts and has a video to show how it's done.

Many thanks to everyone for your help. I have enjoyed hearing about your techniques and Gene's video which I hope everyone will take time to watch.

Now here's my first finish of July......machine quilted and bound. Can I get a whoop, whoop!!

 

 

OMG

My friend Bea sent me these fantastic fabrics that brought a big smile to my heart. Thank you so very much.

Visit Bea at

http://beahive-bea.blogspot.com/

To see all the wonderful dolls, their clothing, her butterfly quilt & loads more.

Again, thank you Bea. I'm already plotting something to sew!!

There's No Place Like Home....... There's No.....

Mom clicked her heels three times (well not literally) so we're finally home. Can you believe it!!! My mom is 78 years young and had valve replacement this past Tuesday week and is home now sorting through her giant stack of mail.  I am so proud of her. We know what really helped was our strong belief in God..... that's number one and we had a great orientation a few days before surgery explaining what to expect, what she'd need to do to get better sooner and some of the setbacks to looks for.  Usually this is explained "right" before the patient goes into surgery...... well as you can imagine.... no one retains that kind of information when you're in the throws of surgery prep. 
Mom also had a very positive attitude and wonderful family support.  I really want to thank all of you who've been sending warm thoughts and prayers our way. We felt everyone of them!!!!!

So, I haven't forgotten the little matter of the give away which I will do a drawing in a day or so and one lucky person will get 20 great nine inch squares to add to their stash!!!

Grab Buttons

Hooray!

Have you ever visited blogs with those great "grab buttons" on the sidebar? You know the ones where there's a great BOM or swap going on and you want to participate and "not" forget each month.... well, I've always wanted to learn how to place the buttons on my sidebar and actually tried many times and failed terribly.  The other day, my friend Betsy suggested that I try again what with my new BOM - Leafing Through The Year just starting.  I thought about it and decided to try again. I googled "how to....." and started my search.  Oh brother, did I mention that I'm very, very bad at understanding and following instructions.... very, very bad. After a frustrating hour of trying, I stumbled upon THIS LINK and was happy to discover that I had only to type in a few commands and widget in an HTML and TaDa...... my button appeared on my sidebar. This site makes it so easy, that even I can manage it.
I just had to share this with everyone because I know that there are a few of you who are just like me.... you know who you are!
A huge Thanks to Betsy. You lit a fire under me. Now, if that would just carry over to my sewing projects......  SMILES!
Happy BUTTON making!

Lazy Hearts December BOM

WOW!
I can't believe that this year is almost over. Happy Pre-December everyone and thank you for participating in
Lazy Hearts. This was my first BOM endeavor and I had a blast. I hope you did too. I learned a lot thanks to your Kind Comments and suggestions.
I would love it if you all would send me a photo or link to your finished project whenever you have time to get them finished... even if it's only the quilt top. I'd love to see what you've come up with.