Something About Nothing

The weather here has been very wet and snowy this spring. I'm not complaining, just stating a fact, and using it as my excuse as to why I haven't put everything in the ground two weeks ago.  Here it is May 31st and I've finally managed to get everything in. Actually I done worse - I remember planting tomatoes the second week of June one year and I still got plenty of tomatoes. I bought these zuchinni, yellow squash and bell peppers right before the last snow fell this month and other than a few frozen tips they seem to have made it through okay. Here are the bags of soil which I opened up, punched a bunch of holes in and planted with lettuce, cukes and beans.  I will need to keep an extra eye on them for drying out with all this black plastic around. And here is the side yard on the south side of the house. Do you grow your own?  Veggies I mean! What have you planted this year?

Bubba, my 10 year old Maine Coon mix, passed away Monday evening.  We believe he had a heart attack.  Bubba was a big part of our life and will be deeply missed. Bubba loved climbing up on my shoulder for loves when I was sitting at the computer. He had fabulous green eyes. Bubba loved outdoor adventure on the occassions I let him outside. He was a great cuddler if I wanted to take a nap. He learned to open the blinds so he could see what was going on in the world. I will miss you greatly, Bubba my boy.

Thank you to everyone for your kind comments.  I am overwhelmed by the number of responses I received.  I received lots of fabulous ideas for summer fun and I hope to impliment most of them. =D Thank you! I am also so touched that the random generator chose number #35 as the winner of this happy garland and Garland Galore Pattern and you probably will be too once you read it. Congratulations to Beth Beth said... Cute giveaway! That red,white,and blue one would be perfect for when my brother comes home from Afganistan in July! I've had a number of friends serve in Afganistan and Iraq and I'm honored to have my garland welcome one of  the troops home.  Congratulations Beth!  Please email me your address at:  something_clever at msn dot com and I will mail out your garland and pattern on Monday. Thanks again everyone for playing along! I hope you will all stop by again soon for more sewing, patterns, crafts, gardening and whatever else I can ...

Good Morning!  I just want to say "Hello" and welcome to my regular readers as well as anyone linking over from Se w, Mama, Sew 's May Giveaway Day. I am very excited to be participating in this fun giveaway. Bloggers across the internet are giving away homemade items this week. I am giving away this festive handmade red, white and blue basic garland as well as a copy of my pattern "Garland Galore" which retails for $9 (US). If you would like an opportunity to win these two prizes please leave a comment telling me what is your favorite thing to do in the Summer.  The contest will remain open through Midnight (central time) May 20th.  I will use a random number selector to pick a winner from the many comments and post the winners name on my blog May 21st.  Please make sure I have an email address to contact you either through your profile or in your comment. If you would like to purchase a "Garland Galore" patte...

Please ignore the weeds in the background because that is what I do! Well at least for now they are avoiding a "death by pulling" sentence. I planted eight tomatoes and some parsley here and one Jetstar tomato and rosemary in the flower garden. The next step will be pulling some grass that has taken over in the other vegetable bed and getting some other plants in.  I need to plant zucchini, bell peppers, carrots and green beans. Oh and pumpkins too!  I discovered that I really do like roasted pumpkin seeds last year and I must have more! What will you be planting this year?

1) Finish sewing this. . . I've actually finished sewing the insides of this quilt and just need to add the borders.  Or 2) Sew this: A sample for my new pattern so I can finally photograph the covershot and get the pattern published! Or 3) Weed in the garden so I can plant this years crop of tomatoes: Or 4) Blog. Oops I guess blogging won this time. What to do next?

Here is a wonderful hamburger that will be in the Quilting Arts 2011 calendar.  http://quiltingarts.com/media/p/18443.aspx My hamburger can't even hold a fry to this one.  I love Diane Marie Chaudiere's work.  I have a LOT to learn still.

The Mini-quilts from The 12x12 Project , which I am a participant in, are now on display at the Home Machine Quilting Show at South Towne Center in Salt Lake City. We have participants in the project from across the United States. If, by chance, you aren't able to fly or drive into Salt Lake City this weekend you can take a virtual tour of our display by clicking here. Here are the quilts I've made that are now on display: Comfort:  Words of Comfort Sandstone Peace:  The Price of Peace Frog:  Midge Meditation Cold:  Brrr, Baby it's Cold Outside. Chaos:  Black Friday Chaos Blue:  Deep Blue Sea

Let the voting begin!  Here is a link to the place to vote for my quilt on the Quilting Arts website: http://www.quiltingarts.com/media/p/17982.aspx You may have to become a member of Quilting Arts in order to vote. Click here to read my blog entry about the quilt.

When we remodeled the basement we put in lovely cabinets and a desk area for me to use as a sewing room.  The arrangement worked fairly well but the laundry kept getting in my way of sewing or my sewing would get in the way of the laundry.  There wasn't a spare wall to put up a design wall and so when I started my Eclipse quilt I put a flannel sheet up on one of the walls in the family room.  This led to me moving my sewing machine in to the family room, followed by my cutting board, rulers, rotary cutters, thread drawers, and on and on.  I soon learned that I loved being in the family room because of the DVR.  I love being able to watch recorded TV shows while I sew, however my sewing often made the room very messy and difficult for others wanting to watch TV in there (aka - my husband).  After a day of rearranging last week I belive I have found a solution.  I don't have photos of the "before" but here are some "after" shots.

Quilting Arts Magazine sponsors a number of quilting challenges each year and I enjoy entering.  I haven't been selected for anything yet but I keep trying because, well, it challenges me as an artist. The latest challenge I've entered involves this photo and a new Bernina sewing machine. The winner of the challenge will recieve a brand new Bernina Aurora 440QE.  I've stitched on one of these babies and they are pretty sweet!  The challenge is to interpret the image however you like and create an 11 x 14" quilt using plenty of machine stitching.  Here is my interpretation. Momma Swan has just discovered that her little cygnets have invited some friends for a sleepover and she is not having any of it! There will be voting on the Quilting Arts website after May 3rd.  I'll post a link later if mine is on the site.