Scrapbook Christmas Gift

 I did take a photo of the cover just in case my Secret Pal goes surfing my blog. This is what I've added in the last couple of days. I need to stop because the Junk Book is getting to fat....hehehehehe!

Most of my ideas so far have come from Pat at The Paper Outpost and Natasha at Treasure Books.

Joyce Carter sent me a link to fabric and memories. (Thanks sooooooo much Joyce...this from Mr. Cowboy.....cause I kind of threw you under the bus for giving me the link). I managed to save the link to my bookmark pages before Mr. Cowboy blew his top. I think he was really a bit hungry so I fixed him a quick snack.  Anyway, look at these cute tiny envelops. They are so cute & very simlpe to make.

These tags were fun and quick to make as well.

On this page I threw in a little pocketbook calendar for 2023.

And finally, I made a dangly thingy for the back spine. I'm going to call it quits......maybe.

Remember, for some reason your comments do not show up in my email......trust me I've tried everything. So I've gone to responding in my comments. And thanks you all for the warm comments. I read each one as often as I can.

The Eyes Have It!

 Before I begin this post......does anyone have suggestions as to how I can respond to the comments left on each post. I'm at a loss. I use to get notifications via email but now.....NOTHING. It's frustrating because I really want to respond.  HELP!!!!!!!

Okay!

So, when I taught fourth graders, each Friday was art day. We had a blast. I'd stand at the chalkboard with a large piece of paper taped to it and all my pencils at hand. The kids were seated at their desks with all their pencils and colors. That's one of the things I miss greatly.  Anyway, I decided to pick up drawing again.  It will take some time to get back up to speed so I'm grateful for youTube lessons.

I was using Mr. Cowboy's golf pencils so the shading is not very good at all.  I'll need to practice these steps several time over until I'm happy with the look.

Until next time. Stay safe everyone!!!

  

My Soul is Conflicted

On January 1, 2020, I lost mom. It was quick but not unexpected. It hurts my heart but I know she is in a better place.
I told a cousin the other day that I knew her for 64 years (a private joke) and it will take a very long time to process it all.  I do have peace in my life through God, Jesus Christ & the Holy Spirit. And through my pain He is glorified.
I had pre-posted Eclectic Me and will try to keep that going. Please know that I appreciate your comments but am unable to respond for some reason but will do within my posts.  Thanks to Gene, A Left-Handed Quilter, Guilitta and Barb for your comments. You all lightened my heart.
Keep my in your prayers!

Another Tangent

As you've by now guessed, I love eagles and any chance I get, I love to play around with fabric making my interpretation of their majestic bodies. So I'll be making a small-ish quilt (45" to 60") from these beauties. I need to make a few more before deciding on placement but I'm sure Mr. Cowboy will need help with the feeding and such before I can get to do much more at this point. BTW, all the eagles, so far come from my scraps of fabric which seems to be growing instead to disappearing.....huummmmmm!!

 

Many thanks to the bloggers who responded to "One Of My Favorite Things.....NOT!! It was about binding quilts.

• Joyce commented that she doesn't like the cutting process of quilting.
• Mary commented that she didn't like the cutting when dealing with garment sewing.
• Barb doesn't like to stitch the one line of pieces one after the other.
• And Gene doesn't care for binding either.

Then there was my post about the Word Cloud or Old Dog New Trick. Thanks to Mary, Gene and Magpie for your warm comments. I am looking forward to doing more "word cloud" in the near future.

Why Not.....Well, Change of Plans

Ok, so after thinking and then sleeping on it, here's what I decided.....

Here's the Jack O' Lantern I chose but.......well you'll see.

Most of you know my methods of using Heat N' Bond or Steam A Seam to trace off the design pieces then fuse them onto the chosen fabrics so I won't go into that. But I will show pics.

I use the original design to see if I like the placement of the fabrics.

So far so good.

Here I've placed all the parts onto the black background. Now here's where I've changed my mind.....again!!!! I decided to make pumpkins instead of the Jacks. The grandbabies liked that idea more, so I'm going with what they suggested. I'll do a bit of handwork for the tendrils and the veins in the leaves later. 

What are your thoughts? I'd love to hear from you.  BTW, Mr. Cowboy is out in the hay fields doing more cutting. I thought this part was over. Thank goodness he has help and I'm not involved this time. I'm keeping my fingers crossed on this one. I've missed getting in the sewing room, fondling the fabric and making a good mess!!

And another thing. Since Blogger is sort of messed up with the comment thingy, I have started responding to comments on the comment pop-up. So if you needed an answer from me, I try to answer there.

 

Eeeeeeeeeeeeek!!!!!

Hi there! The old snake wrangler here. Not really! Can you say,' freaked out!'

I was out at our church running an errand when I happen to look down at the foot of the door I'd just walked through a couple of time already when I noticed a rather too thick of a tail to be a lizard. "Please let it be a lizard! Please let it be a lizard," I babbled as I was sure it wasn't. 

Of course I wasn't dressed for hunting snakes.

 

This is my normal attire for hunting critters.
Anyway, back to my dilemma.
As you could probably guess, there was no one, I mean, no one around to help me. So I grabbed the wasp spray thinking.....well, I wasn't really thinking very much at this point. I gave the snake two cans worth of the spray while chanting, "Please slither away," over and over. But alas, he didn't get that message. On two the next solution.....call everybody to help.
Wouldn't you know but the secretary was busy, my cousins had literally gone fishing, the neighbors were, I'm thinking hiding in their homes or something because absolutely no one was about.
I did manage to find a couple of garden tools but by this time, said snake had managed to wedge himself between two very heavy planters.
Praise be!!!! Two guys came along and I managed to flag them down and together we came up with a plan to slay the snake. Basically they told me to stand back and they'd handle things! That was all I need to hear. In a matter of moments the snake was dispatched as I watch on with frayed nerves. 
I actually thought about having a bit of Communion wine to steady my nerves.
No really!!
I thanked the guys profusely and offered them bottles of water before they went on their way. I did come home and took a couple of aspirin a little while ago.  I think I'll need a nap as well.....sigh!!
BTW, I am unable to respond your comments at this time. Blogger or someone needs to fix that situation but please know that I read & appreciate every comment!! 

Dug-out!

The other day a couple of my blogging friends asked about some projects I've been working on in the "comment" pop-up.

I went into my sewing studio/room and got to digging around for the designs. I'd just seen and used them, why in the world weren't they right where I'd put them???

Dig.......bump into a stack of book knocking them over.........look high and low........surely I didn't throw them away.........dig in the trash can.........look under the ironing board........look on top of the ironing board.........oh maybe I put them near my sewing machine.........nope.....nowhere to be found.......just when I was about to give up, I opened a shelf door and there they were right where I'd put them so I wouldn't forget where I put them.....did I mention that I've just turned 58 years old and the memory is not what it used to be....LOL
As Jeff Foxworthy would say, "They were in the last place it looked." If you aren't familiar with that little joke, it's a good one.

 

 The "Crazy Nine-Patch"

This design was published

 by

Fons and Porter's For the Love of Quilting

November/December 2000

 

It is one of my favorites because it's quick no matter how many blocks you make or how large each square is. I've made two already this week alone.

The one above was designed around a FQ of Fun with Dick & Jane fabric I've had for several years. The squares were nine 18 1/2 inches in varied colors that matches the Dick & Jane fabric. I only made the nine but the quilt in the magazine has 36 which are smaller than mine. I added cornerstones to each of my quilts because I wanted to use as much of my favorite fabrics as possible but the possibilities are endless.

Hopefully if you click on the photo of the instructions it should enlarge it enough to read. If not, let me know and I'll think of something...LOL

The Santa design is the one I used in the Ho Ho Ho Blog Hop and someone asked about it.

BTW, I will announce the winner of this wonderful Santa and a red FQ on

 Monday, August 12, 2013.

 

 

Cleaning Helps/Design Wall Monday

So I was cleaning out a couple of scrap boxes of what I thought were 2 inch fabrics and fat quarters when I ran across these blocks......which are now on my Design Wall.

I immediately remembered working on the blocks over a year ago....my, how times flies. All I need to do is do some filler blocks and strips to put this little quilt together. I'm not going to put them back in the box and hope to work on them "very, very soon"......you've heard here folks!!!

Then I ran upon this block....the log cabin I worked on about 6 months ago.......what was I thinking? where was this going? why didn't I finish it? who am I kidding?

Any thoughts????

I need help.......sign!

Which brings me to this little project.....the T-bird.....so far this is it but I do want to add so scenery, maybe a road.....we'll see, I hope.

 

What have you found while cleaning out some of your scraps, I'd love to hear about it???

Pop over to Judy's to see what others are up to.

 

A Note to.........

No-response bloggers.

 

Please know that I read each comment and respond to all except the no-response ones.

 Sometimes the blogger may not be aware that your response thingy

has to be activated via your SETTINGS but I understand if you don't wish to receive responses. I know I'm babbling but I just wanted you to know that I do thank each and everyone for leaving their comments.