Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Milo's first Howl-aween!

Milo is brash and full of energy... and he barks a lot.
What a little pumpkin!
But...
He's a scaredy-cat!
We recently took a trip up to CT (avoiding what I hope was finally the last of the mosquito spray) and stopped along the way in Mt. Holly NJ.
This town goes all out! Milo was plenty spooked!
Enjoy some pics

Very imaginative store fronts!
We saw lots of decorations in Wethersfield CT including the skeletons scaling this house. How creative! They were all over the place!

Look at this awesome home!!! Now look closer, closer into the parlor...

 The scariest thing to milo is a statue... with a face... he approaches with back feet waaaaay back, and telescopes his neck out, like he did with this poodle
He spied it first, stopped causing us to fall over him like Keystone Kops...
Yesssss very suspect. No REAL poodle would be this still!
Milo: That thing ain't normal! It's a ghost-poodle. I have never, in all my 7 months, seen a poodle so still!" 

Approach. Back up. Approach closer. Back up startled...
Milo: I saw it move I tell ya! It moved, for reals! My pawrents didn't believe me!

Anyway, I needed a break to recover from the fear! 
 Nom nom   this stick isn't quite big enough to take the edge off. 

after all the ghost poodle angst, he spied another dangerous item...
I couldn't get a picture as there was a lot of shaking and barking going on. 
Image result for child's moccasin with fringe
from the minitonka shoe site

There were two of them! Lying there looking like some kind of spooky poodle nightmare! 
Approach
back up
approach with loud barking! 
back up startled and run for mama's legs while never never taking your eyes off them! 

Hope you enjoyed our Halloween walk. As the sign says


Saturday, October 28, 2017

Pink Hexie stars and a bathroom

A long car ride allowed me to make a few stars from scraps. Forgive me, I have given the link before to the pattern but can't find it. I got it from Twiggy and Opal who got it from the designer's site.
laughing pigs, they're pink. And eating pizza and hot dogs (hopefully all beef) A plaid scrap for center hexie has pink stripes.
in progress. All are from scraps, all 'white" star points are from different fabrics.
I like the tone difference in white/cream/beige/taupe
 speaking of pink (for Rainbow Scrap challenge this month was to use pink scraps) Look at the cool bathroom I saw in an antique store. The store was in a victorian home built around 1890's but this bath was added/updated in the 50's betcha!
 sink was pink

Everything was pink. Pink tiles, sink, toilet, tub hamper, flamingo tiles, toilet paper, curtains. OMG I wanted to move in.
it was a very quilterly design on the bathroom floor tiles.

yup, picture doesn't look like it but those were pink too. It's a bit disturbing to see an antique store with items in it I grew up with...
Linking to http://superscrappy.blogspot.com/
sewcanshe Saturdays

Thursday, October 26, 2017

I Like Thursday # 60

Welcome to another week of likes. It's a small list as it's been a very difficult week.

I Like the dolls I've made including this pair of fallen leaves girls!
Like my pin cushions, they give me a sculptural sense, and are a great place for beads and tiny extras.
I get to choose fabrics, play with scraps, sew, turn and stuff, needle sculpt, paint faces and bead!


They are sitting on the front porch amid real leaves, but they live on the banister above my antique sewing machine, amid flamingo lights.














Just look at their pretty faces! Acorn buttons ae perfect along with the sunflower button and dangling beadwork
Look at the fringe along their ankles... who doesn't love an ankle bracelet??
see the tree like fabrics?
so pretty. I tell you, each face is different. I don't know why, but the angle of a nose, the eyebrow, a quirk of a lip changes the entire expression. The best written tute on doll faces was on the florabunda pattern.

I like watercolor painting
My friend in PA at Pinkadot quilts is doing watercolor painting. I recently found my old painting supplies and paintings from my early life and remembered how much I love painting. So one Saturday morning I checked this video...

I was mesmerized by the additive colors, the process and the music. See if you don't enjoy watching paint dry too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bsv0rzU7Dc

I Like these Flannel Halloween pants I made and found, that had become too big but now fit again (wah!)
 They were too large, so I sewed pleats down the fronts of both legs, so they now have a cool texture!
And I put a ruffle on the bottom of them. Look at the skulls
I'm so glad I kept them! I mean you can't keep it all but I am finding treasures.


last but not least
I like Gold Bond foot cream and healing cream. I've tried so many on my poor dry feet that crack under the pressure of holding me up. This is really different. Doesn't smell, or feel greasy at all.
 Image result for gold bond foot cream
 Milo says he is into hunting at the moment.
He practices his stalking all week, even when meeting up with a friend. It scares the heck out of everyone. He goes still, stares, then bolts at them wagging his tail and as Diane in Texas puts it, wagging his teeth around. He plays and hops and by then just about every creature is scared of my puppy who's just got more pent-up energy than is healthy. He is also using this at squirrels who stand and mock him.

He has also learned about marking. He now pees about 4 times on each walk instead of once. Mostly aimed at his front legs.

He went to the sugarloaf Craft show with us for the first time this weekend and he was a pure angel! He met so many dogs and had such a good time with everyone and their baby. I forgot my camera, sorry, but he was a happy happy boy. The only mischief was he grabbed one wool hat on his way by a booth, and we grabbed it from him and put it back so quickly I don't think the artist noticed... sorry!
Image result for fair food
Milo here: " I loved that! I didn't know my people could move so fast! I also like fair food found by my own nose smushed into the ground. Whee! I don't know what it used to be, but I ate it and fast enough my peeps couldn't drag it outta my mouth! Hee hee!"

Please enjoy these fine people also doing I Like posts!!
New this week:       http://pugmomquilts.
1. http://whataboutrheema.blogspot.com/2017/10/i-like-thursday-2.html
2..http://homesewnbyus
3.http://littlepenguinquilts
4http://imworkingonaproject
5.http://3poodlesandanana
6.maryinpeoriahandmade.blogspot.com
7. craftscaviescontras
8.https://canadianneedlenana.blogspot.com/

9.http://www.mmmquilts.com/
 

linking to some of these
http://asoutherndaydreamer
Thankful Thursdays pet parade
http://goodrandomfun.blogspot.com
http://itsasmalltownlife.blogspot.com/
http://shabbyartboutique.com
willy nilly Friday (random images)
habbyartboutique fridays
pet parade Fridays    

design wall Mondays at smallquiltsanddollquilts
lovelaughquilt.mondays
Main Crush Monday
the mop link party mondays

http://www.sewcando.com/

Monday, October 23, 2017

pumpkin pin cushion


DC Beltway Travelin' Pumpkin

I couldn't take the "where to move" problems any more, so when I saw a pumpkin pin cushion tutorial,  I knew I wanted to try it.  I really like making soft sculptures and pin cushions fall into that.

I like whimsy and scraps. I like orange, I like pumpkins, so I finished the handwork on the way to the craft show yesterday. 

The tutorial is so easy to follow and the link is:
 http://theinboxjaunt.com


I used my circle templates and marked around one that fell within the 4 patch size. I poured in some ground walnut shells first then stuffed with polyfill. I didn't really want a real twig, so I took a 1/4" X3" strip of peltex and a 1/2" fraying edge scrap strip of a multi color (brown/orange/blue) to make one.

I wound the strip around the peltex on the diagonal, round and round til it was used up. It has a wonderful texture and color mix. The leaves were made with peltex and a green scrap. I just quilted in leaf lines, used pinking sheers to cut a wavy leaf shape.

Insert all three into the opening and stitch closed. Then I added a button at the bottom for stability, thick orange thread to shape it and a long sturdy needle. I think I might add some beads around the leaf edge with a buttonhole stitch just because.

I could make a dozen if I had time. So cute!

While reorganizing my stuff/quilts this week I found this little runner made in 1999.

It's a simple applique, and I put the pumpkins onto a border print. It's on the front sofa for a bit to bring some fall color into the chaos.
I love a cute print! 
linking to a few sites:
design wall Mondays at smallquiltsanddollquilts
lovelaughquilt.mondays
Main Crush Monday
sew can do mondays
http://keepingitrreal.blogspot.com/








Thursday, October 19, 2017

I Like Thursday # 59

Welcome to another I Like Thursday post!
Let's get started shall we?

I like Mums in the Fall! These were on sale today at ACE for $2 a pot. I got 4 colors!

I liked this Halloween display on a house near me
 Simple really large spiders!

I Like finding treasures while excavating the basement.
Like...
this shirt I made before I was really into art quilting. It was a way to express myself before I studied painting.
9 things to love about Tampa... all that and a flamingo on the shoulder! 

And this one made for Christmas


And this one because not only do I love the image
It reminds me of being in a Cajun//zydeco dance group in Tampa. We danced the nights away in Ybor City, Tampa's latin quarter. I held a little alligator once... it was about 5 inches long and so strong it almost got away from me. Respect the gator.



I like seeing some "negative space" in the basement again, and in the upstairs, as we get rid of stuff we no longer need. It's hard to accept a "mis-purchase" so I just store the item instead of admitting it didn't pan out. We no longer have that luxury so we gave lots away, sent better stuff to donations including Habitat for Humanity. We had a yard sale...

OMG! After the last yard sale bust my husband had me swear on a Bernina that I would never put him through that again. Then I said one more... gotta try. It is a sad 5 hours, putting stuff from inside your home that you bought and liked, out on the lawn for random strangers to paw through... and often reject. We made 10's of dollars but the important thing was, we moved stuff we couldn't move to Colorado out, and someone took it that wanted it.

For instance an art teacher took 12 stencils for 3 bucks... never used, each one probably cost at least $5 but she will use them with students. Someone was elated to see a set of flatware in a holder for $5. We under charged but then we are exhausted and wanted someone to have it. We've stored it for maybe 10 years!

We met some lovely people and because I chat and want to know everyone's "story" it was fun to meet some very entertaining sorts. We boxed up a load for goodwill and put the rest in the front yard again. It all disappeared except for a few items.

Milo had a great time visiting. He is too mouthy though and scares people. He doesn't bite down but he puts his mouth on them, and if you know how to break him of that, please tell me.

I liked this flat bread by itself or holding sandwich fixin's

Monika let me know the Durells of Corfu was starting on PBS, so I watched a favorite show again! Yea!
Image result for durrells of corfu
I was excited to see "finding your roots" also back on PBS.
Image result for finding your roots
 http://www.pbs.org/weta/finding-your-roots/home/
I love an ancestry show,. and this one takes three well known personalities and traces their roots back often to each other! Last night Mary Steenbergen and William H Macy found out they were 6th cousins!

I'm still reading the same book because I read at night and fall asleep after three pages.

I did check this scrap quilting book out of the library and absolutely love it.


I like the cooler temps we've had this week.

I liked watching most of season 4 Great British Sewing Bee shows and look forward to tomorrow morning and the finale. You have to google it as it's not all in one site.  I couldn't find them all but found many.

Milo showed his real spirit this week
wearing his sun hat. Here he is throwing a party of one...
that's it for this week... please visit these other people keeping it positive
Remember, if you ever do an I LIKE post let me know in comments or email and I'll add you in!

New this week is:
 http://whataboutrheema.blogspot.com/
  1.http://homesewnbyus
2.http://littlepenguinquilts
3http://imworkingonaproject
4.http://3poodlesandanana
5.maryinpeoriahandmade.blogspot.com
6. craftscaviescontras
7.https://canadianneedlenana.blogspot.com/
8.http://lavenderdreamstoo.blogspot.com/
9.http://faithtrustandbreastcancer.blogspot.com/  


linking to some of these
http://asoutherndaydreamer
Thankful Thursdays pet parade
http://goodrandomfun.blogspot.com
http://itsasmalltownlife.blogspot.com/
http://shabbyartboutique.com
willy nilly Friday (random images)
habbyartboutique fridays
pet parade Fridays