Quilt Testers In Action

Quilt Testers In Action

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Wednesday, November 30, 2011

A Fine Wednesday

Hi, everybun. What do you know, we actually had a few hours of sunshine today! I went to sit next to the black cabinet, 'cause it's so warm in the sunshine.


I quickly realized that I had work to do. Mom never cleans, so I had to bathe the cabinet myself. Lucky for Mom, the cabinet tastes good, so I like to do this job. Of course then I had to bathe myself, also. You can see for yourself what a good job I did. Mom actually held the camera correctly this week. I'm proud of her. 




Finally,, I was able to get down to some serious napping.


Hope your Wednesday was as nice as mine. See you next week.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Finally Awake After Eating All That Turkey

OK, I'm a little slow getting started post-Thanksgiving. There is a lot of comment answering, and blog reading that needs to be done. What I have been doing, is enjoying the unseasonably warm weather outside. I even took some sewing outside on Sunday!

I finished this little quilt. It was for the Three Creative Studios Color Palette Challenge, for July. Just a little late, but at least it's done. I used the same "tile" technique that I've been using for these quilts, but didn't fill in all the space. Carousels are an important part of the history of Broome County, NY, which is where I grew up.

Carousel, 12" square

The thread sketch is the Older Daughter, with a horse she trained while in high school.

Carousel, detail

The second quilt that I finished was also for a Color Palette Challenge, this time for October. To commemorate our trip to Maine, I made a moose.

Maine Moose, 12" square

For the thread sketch on this one, I added pine boughs. I haven't done much thread sketching on dark fabric, and I didn't realize how much lighter the thread would look once the stabilizer was dissolved. What looked like very strong branches, pretty much disappeared against the dark fabric. I'd like to say I learned my lesson, but probably I will forget by the next time I work on dark fabric....

Maine Moose, detail

I've been working on some other moose, also. This is a rather colorful herd. 


Should have them finished up tomorrow. Then I'm thinking about hauling out a UFO in colors that remind me of the sunrise we had yesterday.It was an amazing sight to wake up to.


Today's sunrise was almost as beautiful, but the clouds quickly filled in the sky. Looks like it will be another wet Wednesday tomorrow for Weasley.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

What Else I'm Thankful For

Hi, all you buns, and everybunny else. Weasley here, for the second day in a row. On this Thanksgiving Day, I wanted to let all my Internet Buddies now how thankful I am to know you all. I really like getting compliments from the humans out there, and being able to communicate with other buns who understand what being a house bun is like. You are all amazing and generous creatures.

And I want to send a particular shout out to the crowd over at the Fab Furs , who recently surprised me (and Mom) with a present.  It was a box full of amazing treats. I ripped into the box right away, which surprised Mom, 'cause I usually ignore boxes. But I could smell what was inside.



Look at all this stuff. The shiny bags are full of good smelling herbs that Mom calls "tea". She won't share them with me, and she  ruins them anyway by pouring hot water on them.


Fargo sent us this really cool thing that Mom wouldn't let me chew on. 


Mom laughs every time she looks at it, whatever it is.


These bags were my favorite. A willow wreath, and banana chips. My head fit in the willow wreath bag, so I was able to chow down right away. I had to wait for Mom to open the bananas, though.



Mom thought I looked funny checking out the bags, so she took these videos.

(Karen's note:  I got excited again, making the first video, and had the camera sideways, so sorry about that. One of these days I'll figure it out-maybe! Also, sorry for the NPR in the background. It's always on around here, and I forget to turn it off when I film.)

First, the willow wreath.




And then the banana chips. Had a hard time getting my nose into this one, but it was soooo good!




So, Mom and I want to say thank you to our friends at Fab Fur for the exciting, and unexpected package. And thank you to all our Internet friends who visit us on this blog. You are all wonderful company as we go through our daily lives.Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the USA, and Happy Thursday to everyone else. Nose rubs to you all.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

A Couple Things I'm Thankful For

What is up with Wednesdays? Here it is dark, gloomy, and pouring rain for yet another Wednesday. What is this, like three or four in a row now? I'm not thankful for the weather, that's for sure.

But I am glad that the Younger Daughter is home. She likes me better now that she's been to college. Know how I can tell? (By the way, you can see sun in these pictures because Mom took them on the weekend when the Kid came home for an overnight to see a friend be in something called "Rocky Horror Picture Show. Sounds weird, huh?)

  1. She pets me more, even though I make her sneeze. She makes me sneeze, too.


2. She let me snuggle up to her puppy. Its great, because it smells like her. Mom says the Kid has had it since she was a baby.


3. She let me lick her backpack, which tastes really good. She didn't even mind that I made a huge wet spot.


I mean seriously, this thing tastes really good. I'm glad the kid is home. And that my grandparents are coming to visit. I wish the other Kid were here too, but Mom says she is in good hands in Pittsburgh.


Something else I'm thankful  for? Mom crunched her knee a couple of weeks ago (that's not the good part). Because she can't kneel, Dad has been cleaning my crate. He's a good guy, he talks to me sometimes, and pets me some, and gives me some treats, but mostly he lets Mom take care of me, unless she is away. But since he was doing my crate, he realized that some of my towels were in pretty bad shape (thanks to Ginny), and told Mom maybe I should have new ones. She got rid of a couple old ones, and got me a couple new green towels, that are so soft on my old feet. She picked the color out special to enhance my fur, too. Don't I look good?



There are more things I'm thankful for too, but this post is getting long. Mom says I can make another special  one tomorrow, to finish my list. See you then!






A Little Quilt Tease

I had intended to post the images of two small finished quilts yesterday. But then, the Younger Daughter came home from college, and commandeered my sewing machine, to start making a few gifts. How could I say no to that?  So, I was making and attaching bindings late last night. I'll be stitching them down in any free (!) moments that I find over the next few days. Here is a little sneak peak.


I'll show you the finished quilts on Friday. And Weasley will be back a little later today, with his Wednesday post.



Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Its Another Gloomy Wednesday...


and I'm not coming out! No use finding my way to the other room, if there are no sunny spots.


Today is one of those days meant only for napping. Sorry, Mom, but I don't care if my crate is gross.Come back next Wednesday. Maybe it will be sunny then.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

A Clothesline of Deliciousness

This past weekend, I was lucky enough to participate in a screen printing class given by Linda B. Dunn. I've admired her work, and followed her blog, for several years now, so I was very excited about taking the class.  My anticipation was rewarded with a terrific class. Linda is a very generous teacher, sharing both tools and information, in a quiet but very positive way.  I came away from the class feeling that  screen printing will definitely have a part to play in my future quilting.

Some people in the class produced  gorgeous yardage, that I was thinking about running off with (probably wouldn't have gotten too far). I worked on small pieces, which you can see here on my clothesline.


Some of the images might look a little familiar to you, if you are a regular reader.


This piece is an old, sheer curtain, with one of Linda's tree screens printed on it. Its very interesting, but I don't know what I will do with it.


This is the same tree, with some words, and a bird, also from Linda's screens. I used newspaper masks to keep the birds showing, as I added the trees last.


Linda also made some screens for us on her Thermofax machine using our designs. This was from a drawing I made from an old photo of the Youngest Daughter. I first used it in the August Color Palette Challenge Quilt that I showed you here. The background for this was a drop cloth for an earlier dying session. Guess I'll have to look for a picture of the Older One to use for a future screen.


Finally, I used the rabbit that I drew after my recent lesson in Zentangling to make another screen. I printed a bunch of these guys, in both red and brown, on a variety of backgrounds.This one happens to be on a snow-dyed fabric from last winter, but there are some on bright purple and brown, too.


Isn't he cool? I have a blogoversary coming up at the end of December. I was thinking that I could make something from one of these rabbits for a celebration giveaway. How does that sound? Maybe a notebook, or a bag of some kind.... How about a tote for when you go to the grocery store to buy greens for your favorite Disapprover? That would probably need to be a BIG bag!

Happy Late Anniversary

This is a post I should have been making last Friday, but unforeseen circumstances kept that from happening. On that day, the very lucky 11/11/11, my parents celebrated their 50th anniversary. Aren't they a happy looking couple?


Never a pair to slow down, they have added regular biking to their busy schedule in the last couple of years. Its probably not a traditional gift, but thanks to the efforts of one of my brothers, we were able to provide them with some fine new bikes for their anniversary.


Well, I guess my Dad's bike could be called "gold".

 

And, you can see how happy my Mom is with her new ride. They've already been putting the miles on these wheels. I'm so glad they are enjoying their gifts, and so happy that they are my parents. Mom, Dad, I hope you enjoy many more anniversaries together. What do you think, snowboards for the 60th?

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

And So The Prize For Best Use Of Arugula In A Snack Goes To....

I always say that


Arugula makes a fine seat,


while you are eating your other greens.


Especially the tasty,  


long fronds of 


the carrot tops.


Don't you agree?


Monday, November 7, 2011

Before And After

We spent a good share of the weekend involved in storm-related clean-up. This was the stuff that I couldn't do on my own earlier in the week. Here's a little bit of what happened.

This is the hedgerow to the north of my house. The neighbor's Bradford pear is on the left, on top of my lilac. The Maple-leafed Viburnums in the middle are flattened. On the right is a Washington Hawthorne that is snapped in half.


Looking down the row today, you can see the stump of the pear tree. The neighbors took the branches off, but left the larger parts for us to deal with. We will keep the wood. By the shadow of my head is the stump of another pear that went down earlier this year, onto the Viburnums.


I expected the Viburnums to stand back up, but they did not. When I tried to encourage them, they started snapping off. They must have been weakened when the tree fell on them earlier in the year. Now they are just the sticks that you see on the left in this picture. I think they will survive the winter, but we won't get to enjoy the sight of their red berries.

On the right, is the remains of the Hawthorne. Getting that down was a two person job, and we both sustained injuries. The husband had it worse, though, as he seems to be having a bad reaction to the puncture wounds.  This tree may survive the winter, but it will probably grow into a very odd shape.


In the center of this picture is Weasley's precious crabapple tree. It was not pretty. Behind it on the right are the old pear and apple. To the center is a large birch that just bent this time. We've lost parts of it before. On the left, a smaller birch, snapped in half.


As you can see, two thirds of the crabapple's branches were broken off. Another large piece may have to come off the back for balance, but I'm going to wait on that. What really has me worried is a large portion on the right that was split, but not to the extent of being removed. It may heal, but if we get another heavy, wet, or icy mess, it may split and take the tree with it.

The old pear and apple tree behind the crabapple didn't do too badly. The old apple did get slightly tipped, so we took a large limb off the back, in hopes that it wouldn't go any farther over. 


This is the birch that snapped. It will survive, but will probably grow strangely from the break. When I first planted this, it was a twig, 12 inches tall.


The front garden, completely buried. The lump in the center is a very flat Rose-of-Sharon.


The Rose-of-Sharon stood back up, sort of. It had already been tipping downhill after the hard rains of the early fall. Its tipping more now. I'll probably take some branches off the back, so that another storm won't bring it over for good.


This is out back, where the trees from the neighbor's woodlot have bent over, or broken off, into our yard. We chopped up the broken ones. The cherry leaning all the way to the left actually stood back up. Unfortunately, it broke as it stood up, and is dangling like a guillotine over the path here. We'll be doing something about this, soon.


And just for fun, the willow out front. Its a weird little tree, but it looks terrific in the snow. Like some fairytale hideout. And as a bonus, nothing really seems to bother it. It always pops back up!


Now that most of the chopping down and chopping up is done, things should be getting back to normal here. I did have some e-mail issues during the snow adventure, so if I have missed responding to some of you, I apologize. And, as if in repayment for last week, its warm and sunny here this week. Perfect New England fall weather. I hope it is fine where you are, too. Don't you just love Mother Nature?

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Back In Business

The power came back on late yesterday. The first thing I had to do was deal with the refrigerator and freezer. We lost about half of what was in the refrigerator/freezer in the kitchen. When I went to check on the freezer in the basement, there was a little red puddle leaking out of the bottom panel. If this had been an episode of CSI, that eternally pissed looking red-head would have dipped a swab into the puddle, and held it up, watching it turn purple, and glaring at me. Then one of her flunkies would open the freezer door, to reveal my husband, with icicles hanging off his eyebrows, despite the fact that I had been telling the neighbors that he had run away to some South Sea Island with a blonde co-ed. Luckily for all of us, it was just a blackberry pie on the top shelf that had tipped, thawed, and poured its contents over everything below. What a mess. We are having our revenge, though. There is pie for dessert tonight!

Time to get back to the real business of this blog. Weasley. I wanted to get his  help drawing the name of the winner of the Moose-tacular Giveaway. He was sleeping in the sun. My first mistake was waking him up.



I tried adding some papaya to the bowl, hoping to get him to show a little more interest.



He barely moved the paper while extracting the treats. How can bunny lips be this dexterous? He went back to sleep after munching, so I had to do the job myself.


I closed my eyes, stirred the papers, and picked one out.


Congratulations to our friends over at Fab Furs! Fargo is going to be a very happy Kitty! Please e-mail me with mailing information, so I can get the package out to you. And a big Thank you to everyone who participated. This has been a lot of fun. I think we'll have to do it again. Maybe if I rub banana on the slips of paper, I can get Weasley to pick the name next time!

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Technical Difficulties...

This is Daughter Number Two... Mom has been out of power since Saturday. She is currently sitting in the dark throwing logs on the fire to keep Weasley warm. Today was supposed to be the post of who won the give-away, and she will do that as soon as she gets power back. If you want to enter and you haven't yet, check out the post on October 20th with the details.
Weasley REALLY hopes he will be seeing you tomorrow for his Weasley on Wednesday post.

P.S.  Jade and Mickey Mom hopes that you have power, and that you are staying warm.

Hey Mom! Guess what? The downside of having me do this was now I know your password!!! :D