Applique Block for Ratbone

I volunteered to make two of the holiday blocks for the Ratbone raffle quilt. Everyone pretty much makes applique blocks which are NOT my forte. I chose Thanksgiving and Mardi Gras.

If you are wondering what the green blob is at the head of the turkey (assuming you can tell this is a turkey, lol) it is supposed to be garnish. Every blocks is to have some medium green and I thought of something like parsley or kale.

Just as I finished the block and went to cut a thread I accidentally snipped a hole in the fabric! (cue the colorful language response) It's right above the fork. You can probably see my little patch. I need to test it to see if it still shows with fabric behind it (like when it is sandwiched with batting) and if it does I am thinking I will put a piece of "food" on the fork to cover it up. Too bad, the tines of the fork were a lot of work and I hate to cover them up.

One thing is missing from the photo. I have a little knot of fabric that I will tack on the side of Eddie's face so it looks like the bib is tied on him. Looks real cute with it but being a terrible photographer, I don't think of these details when I take photos.

Responsible Pet Owner

This woman has survived a 9.0 earthquake, a deadly tsunami, a nuclear disaster, home is gone, she is hungry and now cold but she still has her dog. This photo brings tears to my eyes and joy to my heart.

Those of us involved in dog rescue have heard it all and frankly, most of the time people's reasons for "getting rid" of their dog sound more like excuses to unburden themselves (and burden shelters and rescues) than unworkable issues. Let me share a few: moving, divorce, having a baby, grew big or not a puppy anymore, kids aren't playing with it, new house, boyfriend/girlfriend doesn't like dogs.......believe me, the list goes on and on.

PLEASE, PLEASE if you are considering getting a dog, do it for the long haul. Don't keep a dog through it's "good" years and then toss it out at the first signs of aging. It sees you as part of it's family and will grieve (if it even survives the shelter). By the way, many shelters kill owner surrenders dogs right away because they only have the resources to hold so many dogs and those are the strays whose owner might be looking for them. Dropping your dog off in a "rich" neighborhood doesn't mean ti will be adopted by a good family - it means it will likely starve on it's own.

If you can't say for certain that you are committed to that dog through it's entire life span, PLEASE consider a goldfish, a hampster, or something that won't live 9 - 20 years and consider you it's family.

Vickie

Prayers Needed

for my stepdad, Vern, who is undergoing surgery tomorrow and is in tough shape.

Trip To Arcadia

My mom and I drove over the Sunshine Skyway bridge today (really don't like that bridge) and headed to Arcadia to visit my cousin Bill & my Aunt Flossie.

Cousin bill with the new grandbaby.

Christian, Tamera, and their baby.

Bill's son Willie. He had fun showing me his arsenol of Nerf guns.

The guy in the tye-died shirt is my cousin Bob that I have not seen since probably I was a teenager. He's been staying with Bill for a while. To his right is Aunt Flossie - she is the last living sibling of my dad. The little boy in front is Willie again.

Christian's jeep got stuck in the mud.

Passed lots of trucks filled with oranges. There were enough oranges on the side of the road, that escaped from the confines of the trucks, you could have picked up enough of them to last a year!

We stopped at this road side stop because they had a big BBQ going outside and were advertising pulled pork and smoked sausages.

It turned out to be a biker bar. I went inside to buy us some cokes and a guy in a lot of black leather took my photo, lol.

Mom eating with the smoking bikers in the background. Inside was a live band - it was REALLY loud.

Oops! I should have taken a photo of my sandwhich BEFORE, lol.

Our final stop was the shops at Ellenton Prime Outlets. I bought two purses for summer. I really like handbags like some people love shoes - purse are my thang.

Who Do You Think You Are?

I'm watching my new favorite TV show. It's hard to remember to turn on the TV on a Friday night at 8pm but luckily it is also avaialble online.

Who Do You Think You Are is on NBC and it's a genealogical show. Each week they follow a celebrity as they trace their family history and uncover mysteries. Even if you aren't interested in genealogy, the show is interesting in terms of history. I've learned something every week!

Highly recommend.

Let Them Eat MORE Cake

Another birthday at work this week (two in one week) but this time I decided to make a cake. This was a MEAN cake.

First, I used brand new cake pans and they stuck! One layer actually broke as I pried it out of the pan :( I finally gave up on having a perfectly level and symetrical cake (as if I have ever had a perfect one) and just concentrated on keeping the crumbs and the strawberry juice/sauce on the inside of the frosting which, by the way, was way too soft and hard to form good flowers/stars.

I took a beginning cake decorating class about 30 years ago at Frederick & Nelson (anyone remember the HUGE kitchen shop they had in the Seattle store's basement back inthe 80's?) and I still have a collection of decorator tips I pull out every few years. Last night I broke down and bought a few more tools because I do enjoy cake decorating although I'm not well-practiced at it, yet. And, I sometimes watch those cake decorating shows and am in awe of those folks who make it look a lot easier than it really is.

But, What About.................

............the tents or webs they are spinning? (Click here)

Mardi Gras at Work

Today we celebrated a coworkers birthday Mardi Gras style.....................

We ate King Cake and..........

Wore masks for about 5 minutes. We had beads too but forgot to wear them for the photo. Dah.

Finally....Finished!

I finished sewing the last blocks today. Yippee! Thank you mom for the help.

These blocks are going to be alternated with applique blocks that represent different holidays. So, I added a few holiday/seasonal center squares to some of the blocks. I'm thinking Cindo De Mayo for this one.

You're getting sleepy............................................

Cute little Japanese bunnies...should be cute, the fabric was hard to work with. It kept stretching. Luckily I made blocks than needed so they can purge this one if needed.

Ghost in the middle of the block. This blocks doesn't photo well at all. It does look better in person.

This is a pieced star in the center square. I just wanted to use that fabric because I nothing in the teal/turquoise,aqua color and it's a scrappy quilt. The fabric looks like drips of metallic too.

And here are all the blocks lined up on the wall. Whew....now, how to mail them off to ensure they get to Kansas with no problems.

Green Thumb Sunday - The Return of the Green Worms/Catepillars

Ack! You might need to click on these photos to enlarge to understand my response. Every few years we have a worm/catepillar year - depends on who you ask as to what they really are. They hang down from silky threads and form tents around some objects much like a spider spinning a web. We were parked next to this car at breakfast this morning. Obviously there is an oak tree near their driveway. Yes, those lime green specs are living, crawling organisms.


Look close at the photo below and in the very center you will see one dangling. It was quite breezy so they were moving when I was taking photos. I didn't want to get too close or to the areas where they were really heavy because frankly I did not want them in my hair!

My next door neighbor's truck. They are in the midst of "webbing" it. The amaizing part is that this is happening so quickly. If this was a horror story.....well, I don't even want to think of what Stephen King could do to this!

Here is the tree between her house and mine and it's the culpret. It is covered and I meaned covered in pollen. Jerry is a mess with allergies right now. The neighbor on the other side has an oak tree too (these are live oaks) and isntead of pollen it bombards us with acorns. Covers the cars and driveway and I guarantee you that even as small as they are, when an acorn comes plumeting to the ground from the top of a large oak tree, you are gonna know when it whacks you on the noggen. Both the trees also bless us with millions of small leaves.

Enlarge and look closely at the bottom of this shrub/tree. Those things have created a giant cocoon. I should have got a photo of my neighbor's mailbox because it completely enveloped. I was trying when one of the green creepy things almost landed on me and quickly ran into the street to avoid being cocooned myself.

It will be interesting at work tomorrow to talk to the meter readers after they come in from their routes (they walk them). Lucky for me I have a cushy office job ;)

Back to Green Blocks

We're getting close! I may never use green fabric again, lol. Actually it was quite pleasant having mom to help. These things are usually solitary projects.

Applique Attempt

I took a break from making the pieced blocks for the Ratbone Rescue raffle quilt and started working on one of my two applique holiday blocks for the same. I'm a rookie at applique but am moving from the design concept to the making of the following block.

Hopefully you can tell that it is Eddie and the holiday I chose is Thanksgiving. (the paws & utensils are just paper, still deciding on poportion.

OK, you have to remember it is an "artistic rendition" and not a photo, lol.