Block Number One and Other Quilty Projects

I have signed up to do a block of the month. I don't usually like doing these since I can't be the one to choose the fabric but I jumped and here is block #1.

I like the bright colors in these fabrics and think it will make a nice quilt. In the meantime I have been painting my daughter's old bedroom to get ready for the first grandchild. I am actually going to be babysitting him or her for a month while my daughter in law goes back to work until summer vacation. She is due in early April so will have to go back to work in her school district before the end of the school year but didn't want to start the baby in day care quite yet. So in the meantime I am getting the room cleaned and painted and the crib will be put in there eventually. I cannot believe how many holes in the walls there were. I know as a teen my daughter had many posters but did she have to use 20 tacks on each poster?? Here is the fabric for a baby quilt I started cutting up this weekend. The one with the bows and off white background will also be made into a crib dust ruffle. These fabrics along with lots of more solid looking scraps from my fabric stash will make up a scrappy looking quilt. I just love the turquoise blues and reds together. The walls are a very pale yellow. Then it's off to the thrift, consignment and antique stores to look for some fun accessories to add. That's the fun part!

A New Thrift Find for the Sewing Room

I found the little mason jar lamp recently filled with old thread on wooden spools and old button cards. Remember when all thread came on wooden spools-I do-wait a minute, I'm dating myself here! Anyways, I just loved it and took it home with me from my favorite consignment store. The thread colors are all bright colors and the button cards still have prices on them. The one showing has a price of 10 cents. It is sitting on my cupboard in my sewing room next to the cross stitch that my sister gave me for Christmas. Just try to ignore the ugly wallpaper in the background that has been in this room since we bought the house 23 years ago. One of these days I'll change it.

I've Been Tagged!

Here I was having a nice quiet day while hubby is at a conference and when I check my blog I find that I have been tagged by the fabulous Kim at Daisy Cottage! So here are the rules and read them carefully because 6 of you will be tagged by moi. Each player of this game starts with "6 weird things about you". Each person who gets tagged needs to write a blog post of their own 6 weird things as well as clearly state this rule. After you state your 6 weird things, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says "you're tagged" in their comments and tell them to read your blog for information as to what it means.


1- In the 70's I was in a bowling league with John Denver's Mom, Erma Dueschendorf! I was a newlywed and hubby was in the Air Force and we were stationed at the now closed Lowry Air Force Base in Denver, Colorado. John Denver's father was retired Air Force and they lived near the base where they participated in activities, one of them being bowling.


2- I have an artificial knee. Yes, that is correct, I have a metal left knee. I got it last June. I hurt that knee in a car accident when I was a teen and it has bothered me ever since. It got so bad last year that I could barely walk so I had a total knee replacement. It is a really hard surgery with a year long recovery but I am getting there and the knee feels great! I am the Bionic Woman! And yes, I do set off the metal detector at airports.


3- I love college hockey. I have have been a season ticket holder for UNH hockey for many years and I love going to games. I don't like NHL hockey-too much fighting. College hockey is fast with no fighting allowed and I love it. BTW, UNH is number 2 in the country right now.


4- I married a man I went to Kindergarten with. But I really didn't know him then. I have known him since 7th grade and we got married right after college. It's been almost 32 years and two kids now with a grandchild on the way.


5- I met Spiro Agnew. I was in college in Massachusetts and I was working at a restaurant as a coat check and he was giving a speech and I met him. This was the early 70's before he was forced to resign and Gerald Ford became VP.


6- I was at one time a "Mystery Shopper". I was employed by a company that paid me to shop and then I would write up reports critiquing the store and the employees. Everyone thinks it was a dream job-being paid to shop-but it was hard, the reports were a lot of work and the pay was lousy.


OK so I think I will tag Libby, Rosemary, Deb, The Old Painted Cottage, Judy, The Calico Cat. Oscar and Penny say you're it!

I took this picture out my office window today. The ice on the tree is from the ice storm that happenned here on Monday so you can see we are still encased in ice here in NH several days later. As destructive as ice is, it is so beautiful on the trees. I need to get out and take some more images but it's in the single digits for temperature so being the weeny that I am I'll stay in my nice warm office.

Color Inspiration

I am usually one who does not agonize much on paint colors for rooms like I know some of my friends do. I have friends who will buy many, many quarts of paint deciding on a color. I will take months to make a color decision but that's usually because I can't envision what I want out of the final project but once I've got a vision in my mind I'm off and running. I don't buy a lot of quarts during this process but it just takes me a while to get where I'm going. And that's where I found myself this past weekend.

My son and daughter in law are expecting their first baby in April-my first grandchild! So I have been wanting to paint and decorate, for the baby, my daughter's old bedroom that she's been out of for a couple of years since she got married but I have just not been able to figure out what to do. It was yellow, not a soft, nice yellow but a McDonald's arches, bright yellow that I have always hated but she picked it out as a teen and loved it. But I finally got my mind around the project and I am off and running.

My daughter was horrified that I was going to paint her room over so she wanted it to stay yellow and since we will not know if it is going to be a girl or a boy until it is born, yellow was fine with me. So I found a soft very pale yellow called Wicker Mat in Ralph Lauren paints which I love and use often. That is as far as I got. Then I found this fabric above and knew it would be perfect as part of the quilt I am making for the baby to use at my house so now I have a color palette to go with! I am going to use lots of reds and teals and soft yellows. I have several cottage accessories that will look good in there in these colors so I am dying to get started now. The room got painted yesterday and now it's on the the fun part of the actual decorating. I'll post pictures soon of the room and the quilt. I'm going to be a Grandma!!!!

Back to Work

I've been on vacation these last few weeks from my job outside the home and unfortunately my vacation comes to an end as of Monday. I'm lucky enough to have a job that gives me generous time off around Christmas and during the summer but it's back to work for me now. As you can see my supervisor, Penny, has been keeping an eye on me. She is a very social cat and she follows me around the house pretty much all day long if I am home. I wish I could bring her to work with me. Or even better-I wish I could just stay home all the time. I used to be a stay at home Mom but once the kids were in High School I went back to work part time and I've been working ever since. But there's that part of me that loves being at my outside job and visiting with my friends at lunch everyday. We have a name for our lunch group too-we are the "Ladies of the Round Table" only because we are women and we sit at a round table! We solve the world's problems from 12-1 Monday through Friday. I thoroughly enjoy being with these creative women at lunch everyday. The numbers vary from day to day but it is usually about a dozen of us. Most of us work in different departments at work so we don't see each other during the work day but at 12:00 it's fun to get together and just talk and commiserate. Talking and commiserating with creative people-hey it's sort of like all of you out there in blogger world!

Starting a New Project

I don't usually like doing commercial Block of the Month projects but this Harvest Home one caught my eye and the fabric arrived yesterday for the first basket block. These bright colors are a little out of the box for me as far as quilts go but I am trying to do something different this year. I have a lot of bright colors in my home but for some reason I stick to the more muted fabrics in my quilts. So I will post the blocks as they are completed and by the end of the year, theoretically if I keep up with it, I will have a queen size quilt. The last time I did this it was a Christmas quilt and I did not keep up with it but I did finally finish it a couple of years later and gave it to my daughter who loves it. The plan is to re-do our bedroom to go with this quilt but I don't know what the heck color walls I would do! Any suggestions are welcome.

The Green Obsession Continues!

I don't know what it is about green right now but I see it everywhere. I was out today looking for a treasure for the Pink and Brown Swap and I found the small plate. I already had the green bowl which came from my MIL's house which I acquired about a year ago when she was moving out of her home that she had lived in for 53 years. Anyways, I love the bowl-the holiday M & M's looked great in this over Christmas so I am sure I'll find a way to use the little plate next Christmas or at Easter. I really need to find a new color to obsess about.

I am Loving Green in January!

Since I bought those green buttons I seem to see green everywhere! I stopped in a thrift shop this morning while out running some errands and found this great green platter for $6. I just love the color and simple style and can picture so many things on it. I seriously think I am obsessed with green lately because it is so green outside in NH right now. Usually by now we are buried in feet of snow but it is in the mid 60's today and raining! Unheard of here. I glanced out a window this morning and noticed that the forsythia bushes seem to be budding out. They think it's Spring. I know we'll be hit with freezing cold and snow soon but for now I am loving the green in January!

First Thrifty Find of the New Year

I made a trip to my favorite consignment store and the jar of buttons is what I found. I don't need this many green buttons but they were so cute all together in this little canning jar. I love red but my next favorite color I have liberally sprinkled throughout my home is green. Must be why I love Christmas too!

Speaking of Christmas, all the decorations, except the tree, are put away. I can't seem to get myself to take the tree down. I love looking at the ornaments and love having it lit up when I am in my family room. My Mom used to leave our tree up until the 12th day of Christmas, January 6th, so that's what I think I'll do too. Hopefully the motivation to take it down will be here by then!

I've Mastered the Camera!

Finally I have mastered the camera! I usually embrace change but when you get comfortable with a piece of technology and then get that piece of technology changed there is definitely a learning curve. But this is what I asked Santa to bring so I have myself to blame.

It has been a restful time away from work so I have been getting caught up on some of my sewing projects and one of the ones I did was to use more of the Apron Fabric I bought to make this table runner which I have on my kitchen island now. I just love this runner and had fun making it. The red floral fabric is gone but I have more of the red check so that will probably show up in something else along the way. The green fabric is the exact color of the paint in my kitchen and living room and one of my favorites-Ralph Lauren Pueblo. Something new to start the new year with.

Update-I have heard from enough people about a pattern for the table runner so I am posting the link here. It is a free pattern that I got online from Quilt Bus. Enjoy!!