Christmas Decorations and House by the Bay for Neighborhood Block Party

"Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment."      ---Benjamin Franklin   I am joining Beth at Love Laugh Quilt for her 3rd annual "Neighborhood Block Party".  We each make a house block and it will go into a lotto.  Depending on how many enter, there will be several winners of enough blocks to make a quilt!  Here is my entry;  "House by the Bay".....      I also got some of my Christmas Decorating done.....I always put up my little Christmas houses and skating rink.....    and more houses below.......    My two year old grandson will be visiting after Christmas this year......won't he have fun with those! The Christmas tree is up but still have more ornaments to get on it................and I still have some Christmas projects to complete but not today.......I am on my way to work so  Ta-Ta for now......talk to you next time.......

One Flower Wednesday.....Under the Rainbow in Kansas......

"Someone who thinks the world is always cheating him is right.  He is missing that wonderful feeling of trust in someone or something."― Eric Hoffer

Hope all my American friends had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday and to all by bloggy friends hope you are all looking forward to a fabulous Christmas holiday.............

Today I have another Kansas flower to show you..........this one also comes from the "Under the Rainbow" series by Timeless Treasures............I don't know if I have mentioned this before but when I first started making the Oz flowers I didn't know that Timeless Treasures had made 6 different Oz fabric series........But as I began looking I found them and was able to make the fussy cut flowers I have been making..........so all the sepia tones I have found come from the "Under the Rainbow" series...........here it is...........the tornado!

Since this is so small, it will go somewhere near the upper left to mid center of the Kansas side..........I will still have lots of "tornado-ish" skies with stuff flying through the air on that side and the sky will eventually transition from brown to yellow to green and then to blue as it reaches the right side of the hanging to the Oz side............I see it in my head but we shall see how it looks when it finally makes it to the quilt.........lol..........

 Just a reminder to all of you that Karen at Journey of a Quilter hosts her One Flower Wednesday linky each week and you can see more hexagon flowers there by following the LINK.....  

Today I will start getting the rest of the Christmas decorations down from the attic.........maybe will have my tree up by the end of the day........I also need to finish up a couple of swap blocks and sort out the PS charms I received in a swap and.......well I won't get any of that done if I don't get this post finished so I will just say "see you next time..........and Ta-Ta for now!
 

"Mid-Week" Post......with nice mail.....and 3rd Annual Neighborhood Block Party

 "It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them."   ― Ralph Waldo Emerson 


I thought I would post something in the middle of MY work week......I've worked half my week already.....will work Monday and Tuesday and then I'm off!!  With that I will get a chance to catch my breath again after returning from vacation last week and going directly back to work the next day........

So here is what I wanted to show you was waiting in the mail when I got home! 

  I won these beautiful appliqued kitchen towels on a giveaway at one of my favorite blogs, "Needled Mom".  Mary also included that yummy green FQ with the Inspirational words too!  Thanks, Mary....I so love all of it!

I entered a postage stamp swap at the Curious Quilter also and had 6 envelopes with 100 charms each waiting!  With this swap I will have well over 1000 charms for my quilt...........I think with all the finishes I need to get done by Christmas this might be a project for next year................

  I also joined Beth Shibley's 3rd annual Neighborhood Block Party..............This is a lotto..........we will make one house block and hope to win several.............this year Beth at Love, Laugh, Quilt  is also asking for an extra block or orphan block to use for a charity quilt............if you are interested .......check out the link............ I noticed several of my followers and bloggers that I follow have already entered also!
 

 Ok I am going to wind this up because I have to be to work before 7:00 tomorrow morning.......so I will talk to you again on Wednesday for OFW...........and just say Ta-Ta for now.............


 









http://lovelaughquilt.blogspot.com/2012/11/3rd-annual-neighborhood-party.html

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence.”             ― Erma Bombeck

One Flower Wednesday, Tornados, Witches, and Headed Home....Oh My!

“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.”      ― Ralph Waldo Emerson  Before I left to go on vacation I worked on a couple of flowers for the Kansas side of the Oz hanging............these came from the same fabric as Miss Gulch on the bicycle and Professor Marvel that I showed you before..............I had a FQ of the fabric but then I found and bought a whole half yard which allowed me to make several more flowers out of that sepia tone fabric which is perfect for the Kansas side ............. Well, yes I made two but I'm only going to show you ONE since this is ONE flower Wednesday.....hahaha........there is a method to my madness;  I am actually driving home on Wednesday and then back to work on Thursday and Friday, Monday and Tuesday so I wanted to be sure I had something to show you next week.......... So here is Dorothy after she woke up inside her house as it was being taken away by the tornado...........        see the Wicked Witch flying by the window??? Me thinks her flight will be short-lived when Dorothy's house lands in Oz................. So today Nana and her best cooking buddy made some jello and banana treats...........the hardest thing is waiting for them to be ready! and our snow globes are having a little bit of problem with the glue setting so we are waiting on that too before we add the water and glitter to them..................... so I'm going to get the very last bit of Nana time before it is time to go to bed and get some rest for that long ride home...........so I will talk to you next time and just say Ta-Ta for now...............

Vacation Fun; Thrift Stores, Fabric Warehouses, and other Cool Stuff.....

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”     ― George Bernard Shaw   I had a couple of great days visiting with Irene at the ranch and now am having another wonderful time with my kids...... My son and I went to a few Thrift Stores, garage sales and fabric warehouses and today my DIL's parents will come up and we will go to some craft fairs.........I am in my element! We went to one thrift store and it seemed like almost everything we bought there cost $2.87.....I'm thinking their prices somehow were geared to total up a whole number when the bill was totaled because we both bought items totaling up to $18 even............well anyway.........I found some real fabric bargains there............someone had worked so hard on this crazy quilt made of old neckties........even embroidering the seams with some beautiful stitching..................       so sad that it ended up in somebody's "trash" but I'm going to take good care of it....I will probably take the old backing off of it and do something different but I love the top....... I also found this drunkard's path top that somebody had never finished with a backing................... p  It is made of denim and homespun plaid together with a yellow mottled cotton print.  It is really beautiful but not something that is really "me" so  I think I will finish it with a homespun backing and make it a charity quilt......again, a shame that someone "threw it out" but nice that Ida found it......lol I also found a 4 yard piece of nice flannel and a gorgeous rayon cover-up scarf that I thought would make a great table cover since I haven't had the nerve to put a bathing suit on in quite awhile.....haha    and, yes.........................all of these treasures cost me $2.87 each! Today we will be making some stepping stones so Nana can have some handprints from the Grands to take home with her......and also we are going to make some snow globes for Christmas..............I love this "Nana time"............................ Ok then I am going to say Ta-Ta for now........I started this post yesterday and if I don't publish it now it may not make it for another day........... so I will talk to you next time.................

One Flower Wednesday....And the Monkey Business Winner Is.......

You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.         --A.A. Milne


So last week I showed you the "Not Flying" Monkeys and asked for opinions on what I should use for the center.............and here is what I decided on..................

 

 Yes, I think Miss Gulch is the perfect center for these sock monkeys who will go on the Kansas Side of the Oz hanging.....somewhere in the tornado..............Yes, I know in the story there were no sock monkeys in Kansas but I am taking "poetic license" or "artistic license" or some kind of license to put them over there since I'm in charge of making this quilt.....LOL.....

And I have to say that I just couldn't leave it alone.....my apologies to my friend, Sunny, but the hanging just NEEDS some flying Monkeys...........so I spent a little time with my fabric pens and came up with this............

 Amazing how some flaring nostrils and straight eyebrows can make some cute sock monkeys look so mean!  But..... where there's a will there's a way............these winged guys will go on the Oz side.....somewhere near the dark forest and witches castle....................Oh....don't forget to go check out the other flowers growing in Karen's OFW at her Journey of a Quilter Blog............click here!

Last week I finished one more tote bag.....this one for my SIL, who loves animals but especially doggies...............

 I used the same pattern that I had used for a couple of the totes I made before but I wanted this one a little larger so I added a few inches..., and well, it turned out quite a bit larger.......I tried to get Ally to show you all just how large this bag is......

  .....but she was having none of that.....lol.....she made a very quick getaway.......usually you can't get your animal "helpers" to stay out of the way of your quilty photos....unless you specifically want them IN the photos!

I made this post in advance of my little break from work so all I have to do is hit the "publish" tab on Wednesday morning.  I will be visiting family for a few days but I will try to post again while I'm on the road.....I usually have a project to make for the Grands.....I try to show you something then ............

Oh...one more thing before I go.....I am at visiting my Sis and her husband at their little ranch right now and having a wonderful time....so we will both just say "Ta-Ta for Now"

 
  

Lest We Forget.......

Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die.   ---G. K. Chesterton

Killing 2 birds with One Stone......and happy mail......

“The test of success is not what you do when you are on top. Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.”    ― George S. Patton  Well....."she's" making me do stuff again.......My sis knew I had been making lots of totes and bags and when she came across Carol Doak's "It's in the Bag Challenge" she started trying to talk me into entering...........I already know by now that it's no use to argue and give all the reasons why I'm not going to enter......because she will relentlessly continue until I decide to do it....... I explained to her that I had seen the "UR Priceless Blog Hop" and decided I was going to make one of those instead.......well guess what.....(I am so smart sometimes I can't stand myself.....lol) I decided to kill 2 birds with one stone and do a UR Priceless coin bag with a Carol Doak Paper Pieced pattern!    There is a PP Block on each side and I used some Mary Englebreit fabric to coordinate with it, and then used the Englebreit on the inside too....... This is such a cute pattern......I have two more frames left but I'm still deciding what fabrics to use.......  You should see all the other cute UR Priceless Bags on the Blog Hop......you can check them out by following the link above or clicking the following button:  Before I continue, let me assure you that my Sis never nags me unless she really thinks I will do the thing she is suggesting.......she knows me so well by now that she knows when I will and when I won't.......LOL.....(I just let her think she talked me into it.....) Ok before I get myself in any more trouble let me tell you about my happy mail..........I got this beautiful block from my Swap partner, Lori Marie and she included a pack of these sweet Postage Stamp Charms! Thanks so much, Lori Marie.  I love all of it. Well let me just finish up here and I have to change gears into work mode...........two more graveyards and then hopefully I will get a few days off to go visit my kids and grandkids.....and even a couple of days with Irene on the ranch......(smile).... So you know what I'm going to say now.........yep,  "Ta-Ta for now"...............see you next time............

One Flower Wednesday...."FLYING?"Monkeys and some Swap Stuff

“Experience enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.”   ― Franklin P. Jones     Several of my followers have mentioned that they don't like the Wicked Witch's flying monkeys....or that they are "scary" or "creepy"........and for some reason there has been very little Oz fabric made that shows them....maybe more people agree with that.....in fact, I've only found one print which is a panel and ,I think, I probably won't get it......but I do have some monkeys for the Oz hanging I'm just not sure what to use for the center  yet.......   well if we "imagined" some wings on them maybe they could fly.....lol....   so anyway............here are some "maybe's"...........

I'm liking the three on the left......what do you all think??
 While you all are thinking about it why don't you hop over to Karen's OFW page where she has more lovely flowers for you to see......click HERE.....
 

Ok, so I'm off to finish one more bag......I remembered one more person who needs one......here are some things I sent off last week for a swap....both were pieced and lots of fun....

 

 Ok I am off to make another tote bag.....Ta-ta for now......


 

Mystery QAL and a Mug Rug and Fall Back

Laugh when you can, apologize when you should, and let go of what you can't change. Kiss slowly, play hard, forgive quickly, take chances, give everything and have no regrets. Life's too short to be anything but happy.   ----Unknown

This weekend we "fall back" here in El Paso and that means that I get to work an extra hour tomorrow night while all of YOU get to sleep an extra hour!  Well...somebody has to do it, right?? LOL.........actually it really isn't that bad and to be honest with you it is much harder in the Springtime when we "Spring Forward" and lose an hour.  Sometimes we get behind and have an hour less to catch up!  So anyway......no more whining.....lets see what I can show you today..........

I joined a Mystery QAL and last week we completed our blocks.....the quilt is called "Jack of Hearts" and named after the recipient of the QAL's proceeds.....

  we had a few guesses as to how the blocks were going to be stitched together.......................here are two of the possibilities.....

 We got the 5th clue today which calls for stitching the blocks together into rows it looks like the winner is the second layout although I really like the first better.  We have not been told to stitch the rows together yet, and being the rebel that I am.......I think I am going to sew mine up using the first layout so I haven't stitched my blocks together like the directions we got today say to do............

There are, evidently, also some borders..........the final quilt, according to the fabric requirements will be 60x60........

but I might be even more rebellious and make another row...........lol............we get to keep the quilt when we are finished so why not??? I do have a tendency to sometimes get ahead of myself and end up with dates with my seam ripper  doing that famous "frog stitching" so maybe I will just hold up there instead.....we still have one more clue left for next week....lol...........

So now, instead, let me just show you a mug rug I got done for a swap.......... 

"The Eyes of Texas are Upon You"....................

  

Guess that's it for now..........time to go get ready for work............see you again on Wednesday for One Flower Wednesday.............Ta-Ta for now.......................