One Flower Wednesday--Professor Marvel!

"Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage."    - Maya Angelou

When Dorothy ran away from home after mean Miss Gulch had taken Toto away from her she came across a traveling wagon emblazoned with the words, "Professor Marvel....Acclaimed by the crowned heads of Europe...Let him read your past, present, and future....."  And then she met Professor Marvel!  (Professor Marvel was the same person she would see in Oz as the Wonderful Wizard, the Gatekeeper, the Driver of the wagon pulled by the horse of a different color.......and a few more characters......

Here is "My" Professor Marvel..............

See the professor's crystal ball down at the lower left petal?  This flower will go on the "Kansas" side of the wall hanging..........

Each week you can come with me to Karen's One Flower Wednesday at Journey of a Quilter............just click on the link and lets go see a whole garden of flowers!

Last week I posted some photos of the tote I made for my little sis, the teacher............yesterday I finished it up with her initials.........Now it is done and ready to send!

Today I bought some Japanese prints to made a block for Raelene, my swap partner for the Block Swap Adventure........can't wait to get started............I still don't know what block I will make but I do know what fabric I'll use..........and I'm going to go upstairs to the sewing room and get started.........so TaTa for now.................

Little Sister's Tote and the Woes of "Knowing what You're Doing"..........

The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on, or blame. The gift is yours - it is an amazing journey - and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. This is the day your life really begins. -Bob Moawad

Well it's done and I am sure she is going to love it! This is the front of the bag..........

There are 2 pockets on this side--a smaller one on the left side just under the flying geese and a larger one that starts at the left side of the Teacher's frame and extends to include the flying geese on the right.  I tacked the top of it down so it wouldn't sag but you can still slip larger items into that side.............

And here is the back.......no pockets on this side........just the teacher and a row of books.............

I know I keep saying this but I just love the Loralie panels!
Oh yes.............what about those woes you might ask???
Well the tote is my own design..........I just looked at some patterns (and the tote my Sis made me) to see what size to cut the back and front because I knew more or less what I wanted to do with it.........
and since I have been sewing for years ( and "know what I'm doing").........sometimes I get a little ahead of myself or maybe do things a little backwards.....or inside out???..........Here is my first attempt at sandwiching my stabilizer between the pocket and pocket backing:

Nice.........if I wanted the stabilizer to be the backing and the backing to be the stabilizer......................(where is that seam ripper???)
Ok then I wanted to be sure the tote straps were on before I sewed the pocket on......so I did that..........but instead of sewing each handle to one side of the bag I sewed them from one side to the other..........(no I didn't undo it all because I had sewed them down with LOTS of decorative stitching........the straps have a seam at the top of them)
And as if that wasn't enough..........after I basted the pocket down so that I wouldn't have any puckers when I sewed the bottom and sides together I realized it was sewn too low and would become part of the bottom of the bag instead..........(Paging Mr. Seam Ripper to aisle 1)

Finally after all my little fiascos......the bag was finished.........I might add a little embroidery to personalize it before sending it.........BTW......my little sister is a Kindergarten teacher............

Oh!..........I had some luck yesterday..........I had to attend an inservice at work.......about Leadership........and there were some door prizes ranging from movie tickets to the grand prize which was a book written by Ken Blanchard (it was the book from which our inservice was based ).........and I won the book so after reading it I will know "The Secret"................

and I'd really like to tell you about it when I'm done

..........But It's A Secret

TaTa For Now!

Roll Call Update............

"Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother."  - Khalil Gibran

I am working on my little sister's tote today...........dreamed about it all night seems like, so HAD to get up and get to work on it straight away.......

I used some of Cherie's gift squares and made flying geese........and I am so glad that I decided to photograph the sneak preview because after I saw the photo I decided I didn't like the two sides
"flying" in different directions:

I was going to ask you all to let me off the hook and tell me it looked ok but in the end I couldn't even convince myself that it looked ok so Mr. Seam Ripper and I got together and it didn't take long at all to change the one side...............

I am much happier now...........this piece will form a pocket on one side of the tote bag...........I will do something a little different for the other side which will not have a pocket............

I love the Loralie panels....they are all so clever.............and this "Roll Call" is no exception.  Here is the mug rug I sent to my Swap partner last week...

Liz is a science teacher.....hope she likes this.  I sure had fun making it.........

So I will work on finishing up the tote today and then get myself back to work on my Dresden State Bird WIP........started on the quilting last week.......it turned out to be 86 x 102 so wish me luck on my trusty little Singer!

TaTa for Now!

One Flower Wednesday and a Nice Surprise

Keep on going, and the chances are that you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I never heard of anyone ever stumbling on something sitting down. -Charles F. Kettering


Well, obviously Mr. Kettering was NOT a quilter..........as I have stumbled on many many things while sitting down in front of my sewing machine.....how about you?

I was able to get my flower of the week made early this time and it's a good thing because I am accompanying my sister and my niece to a little day surgery tomorrow............This week I have for you some items from the castle of the Wicked Witch of the West:

This is the hourglass that she turned over and warned Dorothy when the sand was gone that her dog, Toto would be gone too if she didn't surrender the ruby slippers.  Around the hourglass are compasses also from the witch's castle..... 

There are many more flowers growing at Karen's "Journey of a Quilter" ........just click on the link to go there..........

I got a sweet package in the mail all the way from England last week from my friend Cherie of IBe'sCheraldine

I had commented on a post she made showing some gorgeous HST patches in beautiful red and cream..........well what did she say??

"I don't like red very much........you can have them"..............so she bundled them up and just look at what she sent..........

Count them.........20 patches.....and she included some extra fabric too.........look at the beautiful swirls in that fabric on the upper left.......I already have them earmarked for a totebag that I'm making for somebody I know that's a teacher.........

I also got some cute Loralie fabric I had ordered the same day Cherie's packet came in the mail................

This is an out of print design called "Roll Call" by Loralie....I already used the science teacher holding the beaker on a mug rug I made for a swap last week............I will use some more of this on the teacher tote.....................

Well it is way past my bedtime..........we have leave for the hospital in 5 hours!  Good thing tomorrow is my day off........
ta-ta for now.................

Happy Father's Day!

Any man can be a father. It takes someone special to be a dad~ Anonymous

Our Daddy

with (on Left) Irene from Hilachas and (on Right) Ida from My Sister Made Me do It

Circa 1956

What List??? I don't know anything about a list.............

"A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer." - Bruce Lee

Has is only been a day since my last post?  In the past I have noticed that the more things I do or the more that I get done.....(yes there's a difference) the slower the time seems to go.........for some reason today feels like Friday instead of Thursday..........so does that mean I got a lot done today???

Ok, ok...........I made a list yesterday:

1.    Make my flower for One Flower Wednesday

2.    Make 2 mug rugs for my swap (I already have fabric ready)

3.    Make my block for the Block Swap Adventure (got the pattern)

4.   Start quilting the Dresden State Bird quilt which will be a Christmas present for my son, Patrick (already sandwiched)

.......and now I'm thinking that maybe I should have made it my "two day list" because I'm going to need tomorrow to get close to finishing it............but anyway.....

#1:  I did get the flower done, in fact, I got 2 flowers done so I am already ready for next week.....(not showing you yet...you have to wait)
#2:  I finished one mug rug.......(had the fabric for one but still waiting for the fabric for the other)
#3:  Finished the block for Block Swap Adventure.
#4:  Quilting the Dresden State Bird  Quilt.........ummmm...can I have tomorrow to get to this one????

Here is the birthday mug rug I made for my partner, who is a Leo, like me....I had a little trouble with the binding but in the end it turned out "ok".........which translates to "I'm not changing it"

and here is the block I made for my partner at Block Swap Adventure...................she asked for the Signature Star in reds (or burgundy) and black............
I was so pleasantly surprised at how easy this was to make.  The directions were great and everything fit perfectly down to the quarter inch seams on the edges..........the pattern comes from Quilter's Cache if anyone is interested in it.....

Oh!  I nearly forgot...........I went to the cemetery this morning and took some photographs...........that's where some of my time went today!
I volunteer on the Find a Grave website (a genealogy web site).  Yesterday I received some emails requesting that I visit the cemetery to check on 3 names and photograph their tombstones........
I wanted to get out there before the day got too hot so went out there about mid morning............
I stood in an ant hill on the first plot and found out how quickly I can move when I need to...............
found the second without too much difficulty but had to go ask directions for the 3rd one, which was right in the middle of a couple of sprinklers during watering time..... 
I managed to get a good photo right before the sprinklers got me!

So now I am going to go night night so I can get up early and hopefully start quilting the Dresden State Bird quilt...................
TaTa For Now...................

One Flower Wednesday and ONWARD!

Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul.  -Democritus


Finally..............my body and internal clock are "back to normal" after my 10 day vacation at the end of last month.........and so, saying........I present to you my Wednesday masterpiece........the Wicked Witch of the West in flight..................

I was really pleased with how this flower turned out.........when I got the fabric I wasn't sure if I would just have the witch's head on each petal or maybe just the head in the middle and a hat for each petal but in the end I decided to make something that would be more of an "action" flower that would be a dynamic part of the scene.  I envision this flower going right about the middle of the wall hanging........sort of somewhere between the Kansas side and the Oz side of the scene......................Please hop on over to Karen's OFW page where there are beautiful gardens of flowers for you to ooh and ahh over........Click HERE.....see you there!

I have made myself a list today:

1.    Make my flower for One Flower Wednesday (check)

2.    Make 2 mug rugs for my swap (I already have fabric ready)

3.    Make my block for the Block Swap Adventure (got the pattern)

3.    Start quilting the Dresden State Bird quilt which will be Christmas present for my son, Patrick (already sandwiched)

So anyway I guess I will get to it!  TaTaForNow   

  
 

Good-bye Presentation....Hello Quilting!

"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for." -Epicurus



Yay!  I just got home from my 1 hour talk to the Rio Grande Imaging Society, having made good on my commitment to provide a continuing education presentation for them.  Every two years, all registered Imaging Technologists must attend 24 hours of continuing education seminars or online courses in order to maintain their national registry.  Every year the RGIS has 4 seminars with 4 speakers and I somehow manage to commit myself to them once during that year.  I am always happy AFTER I finish because I have done a good thing, while at the same time, I have learned the information I present much better than anyone else in the room!  During the "last minute", (where I so often find myself) I am probably not so happy.  Seems like no matter how many times I do this......(This is my 4th or 5th presentation for them....I loose track).........my procrastinating nature will not let me start early.........well anyway.........I'm done!.......(UPDATE....I just found out that there were 104 people in the audience....... and this was the first time I wasn't nervous)

............and now I can get back to my State Bird Dresden quilt......

or maybe my Little Apples Quilt?????

                                    

It is almost 4th of July and I still have to finish quilting my Americana Tablecloth.............

---------------ahhhhhh.........and Dorothy and Oz are still calling me to lay out  my  flower garden.........

However..... what I'm going to do now is take a nap because I am working graveyard shift again tonight............but tomorrow..........tomorrow I belong to my SINGER!  There will be some action up in the sewing room on Sunday!.............

So TaTaForNow......

One Flower Wednesday-----Tada!

Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don't wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it's at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savored.   -unknown


Here is the update on the "oops I did it again" post yesterday.....I managed to get 6 slides done on my powerpoint presentation.....(only forty-something to go....lol) and this evening I finished my flower for OFW................

Dorothy and her friends were going to the Emerald City to ask the Wizard to get Dorothy back home, give the Scarecrow a brain, the Tin Man a heart, and the Lion some courage................

After defeating the Wicked Witch of the West and bringing back her broom to the Wizard, he "awarded" the 3 friends the gifts they had asked for:  The Scarecrow received a diploma, which certified he was very smart, the Tinman received a heart shaped clock which was inserted into the Tinman's chest, and the Lion received a medal, which proved he was brave!   Above are the awards which will go into the upper right hand side of the wall hanging where the Emerald City flowers will be..................Please remember to go to Karen's blog at OFW and see all the other pretty flowers growing there................click HERE


Before I sign off I wanted to show you the fabulous book I won on May for Me B-I-N-G-O last week..........

It is called "Sunday Morning Quilts".......it has 16 modern Scrap projects and even includes instructions on sorting scraps, ideas for strings, selvages, and much more.  The book was donated by Annie from Annie's Ruby Slipperz, one of the BINGO sponsors.......if you get a chance please check out her blog.........she has some great stuff......Thanks, Annie!
I also want to thank Tonya from Hillbilly Handiworks, Marcia from Marcias Crafty Sewing and Quilting, and Sharon from Vrooman's Quilts for coordinating the game..........thanks ladies for all your hard work!

 
So now I'd better go to bed and get some rest because I have a long day ahead............onward!               

Oops, I did it again..........and Hilachas 200th post giveaway.............

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.           -Ralph Waldo Emerson
 



Yes, I did it again.........  ......I just can't seem to be able to say "No" sometimes..........and I have, once again, volunteered to do a presentation at my local Imaging Society's quarterly meeting.....and, once again, I am running short of time because I have to present on this coming Saturday morning...........I am, however,  in better shape than last time I presented for them.....when I managed to get it all together the  day after I returned from vacation........this time I have a couple of extra days to work on it............
So with the disclaimer above I will make my excuses beg your pardon if I don't get my One Flower Wednesday post done this week..........but don't count me out for sure.........I am great with deadlines.........LOL............


I also want to mention that my sister at Hilachas is having her 200th post giveaway..........and just look at the wonderful prizes!  You will have a chance to win one of 3 prizes from her sponsor, Connecting Threads, who has generously agreed to give away a fat quarter bundle of their Sweetgrass Prairie Collection. 

 Irene is dividing the collection into three groups of FQ's and you can enter the giveaway by clicking HERE


And I have one more giveaway to tell you about;  my friend, Cherie, at I Be's Cheraldine is having a 150th post giveaway with great prizes...........Click HERE for Cheries giveaway!

Ok........that's all for this post.........TTFN!