Marching along

 Another month has flown by.  I am getting so far behind in my posts.... When I returned from my trip to Arizona in February, we were very busy at work, preparing for St. Patrick's Day events, and no sooner are we finished setting them up and then taking them down, and BAM! Get ready for Easter events! I didn't have much time at all for sewing. I also have been trying to reorganize my sewing / cat / computer room.  I bought a new cabinet to put Bruce's overabundance of clothes into, but I have to wait for two of the shelves to be completed. I can't wait to get that out of the way. And get all my laundry baskets back!

For now, I am linking up to the NewFO Party for March. Hosted by Barbara at Cat Patches.

 The only thing I got started in March was finding and buying some of the fabric for projects I want to do. I did get to sew the beginning pieces together for the Hello Moon Quilt Along.  

I am looking forward to participating in this fun project. It will be my first Quilt Along.

I had planned on getting so much done last weekend. I started out on Friday night by getting our new cabinet assembled and then discovered it was short 2 shelves, which I am hoping will be here by Tuesday. Then I was all set to get my errands run and go to JoAnn's and maybe even a quilt shop to get some of the materials I wanted for projects I want to start. I got as far as depositing my paycheck into the ATM when I received a call from Bruce. He had gone to the storage yard and picked up the boat and towed it over to a friend's workshop to install some new electronics in it. When he unlocked the cabin, he discovered 5 furry surprises. 

I spent most of the weekend caring for the little loves. They were approximately 3-4 weeks old and needed to be fed about every 4 hours. I had to prepare formula and feed them and clean them. It took about an hour and a half each time, since there were 5 of them. Funny how Bruce found them, but I did all the work! Monday morning I finally found a rescue who had a nursing mom cat.  She took them in and they are doing great. It was very hard to let them go, after getting quite attached to them, with all the feeding and care.  I would have loved to keep one, but Bruce said "NO".  Insert big lip pout here.....  I know that I don't need another cat, with the six I already have (plus the two dogs), but when has need ever had anything to do with me getting another furry family member?  In the end I did what was best for the kittens and am keeping in communication with the rescue about possibly trapping the biological Momma cat (and any other strays in the vicinity of the storage lot) to get her spayed and released. 

So, in my defense, I was a little too busy to get any of my projects worked on.  Yesterday was all about getting my Jeep's issues straightened out. Today we slept in, and then after a lovely little boat ride and boat wash, I was finally able to work in my craft room for a while. I am hoping that this week, after work will be a little more productive and fun. I am currently hand sewing the binding on my Arizona souvenir quilt. How nice it will be to have something to post in the 2013 Finishes! 

Thanks for stopping in! ~Amy

February NEWFO

Wow, February is over! I know it was a short month, but it seems like it was shorter than short!

 I had a fun trip to Arizona. It was fantastic to see my longtime, good friend and see new things. I have started a post about my trip, but things have been quite busy around here since I got home. We spent the last 3 days battling fleas. Ugh. Dreadful little nuisances. So, I am trying to get this post done in time to participate in the February NewFO by Barbara at Cat Patches. 

While in Phoenix, Stella and I took a quilting class at a wonderful shop called etc. They are a quilting and scrap-booking store. Stella told me my head would probably explode when I went in and she was almost right! I am sad that I didn't take any pictures while we were there, but I was too busy having fun in the class and then shopping afterward! I am trying to learn to enjoy things I am doing and seeing, instead of just taking a zillion pictures.

It was a nice group of ladies and I think all seven of us completed our quilt tops in class. I've never gotten so much done in one class! We even learned a new trick for basting! Our instructor has an aversion to pinning her quilts together for quilting and introduced us to using the spray adhesive method. I have to say, that I am impressed with it. Since we didn't have quite enough time to do our quilting in class, I rolled and folded up my "sandwich" and put it in my suitcase. Three days later, when I got home and unpacked, it was still "basted" together and looked great! I started to quilt it the other day, but other things needed to be taken care of and I didn't get it finished yet. Here is my fun and useful Arizona vacation souvenir. 

As always, Riley and Oliver (that's his back half on the left), are always ready to inspect and help hold down my projects.

The lighting isn't the best, and the only place I had to take the pictures was on my bed. I will take better pictures when I finish it up this weekend. 

 My other little NewFO is a cute, little cross-stitch kit I picked up at one of the shops we visited in Arizona. I've been working on it a little as I watched TV the past few nights. Normally, I would have had it completed in one night, but with doing all the laundry and re-assembling rooms, and of course, cat wrangling after work, I've been pretty tired by the time I got to sit and sew. 

So that's all for my NewFOs this month! I'm hoping to get a couple of things finished this weekend and then I can start my March NewFOs!

 

Thanks for stopping in! ~Amy

January NEWFO

 Wahoo!! I actually did start a NEWFO this month! 

Bruce bought me a gift certificate to Country Quilts and Bears and this book

 

that I needed to take a paper piecing class.  I had a lot of fun and now I know how to paper piece! Once you get it, it's so easy! I see a lot of paper piecing in my future. 

Here's the project I started. 

 Looks kind of like a jigsaw puzzle, doesn't it? I started out putting a few of the pieces in the wrong places..... Apparently my understanding of the directions was not correct.

 After some frustration and measuring and more frustration and re-measuring.... I broke down and called our instructor, Lynn. This was huge for me because I truly hate to bother people with something I'm sure I can figure out, but I was ready to trim the pieces to make them fit and sense won over. Thankfully, she was very helpful and we laughed about it. I must point out that there are some errors in the book that she pointed out to us before we started. The publisher has apparently not been clued in to the errors and Lynn is going to send them all the ones she's found.  Here is the section after I fixed it (the right way).

And here is the block almost finished. I still have to do some embroidery and add the borders and back, but the hard part is done! 

 I did intend to post a bunch of stuff between my last post and this one, but I've been busy and trying to not be on the computer as much. I've written plenty of posts in my head. Maybe, now that I'm getting a few of my projects finished up and things around the house fixed, I will be able to update this more often.

I did finish assembling Bruce's flannel and denim blanket. I started to wash it to get the fringed edges to fray, but our washer drain is clogged and made a mess of the garage..... That will be addressed this weekend (I hope).The dirty laundry is piling up and I am not a big fan of laundromats.  It only took Bruce two months to fix the toilet. He just did it tonight when we got home from work. It was a big pain in the neck. Had to remove the whole toilet to replace the wax ring. Yuck and double yuck. 40 years of crud under there. Icky.Icky. Icky. Enough said.

  

Back to Bruce's blanket. I had a lot of help from Riley....

Yes Mom, I like the flannel you've selected.

Testing the comfort level of the flannel.

 I didn't want this section to run away, so I decided to hold it down for you.

It probably took longer than it should have to complete the blanket, with all the help I had, but I'm not one to turn down a helping hand or paw.

Thanks for stopping in! ~Amy

Nov. NewFo

Wow, my posts are getting few and far between. We had, I think, two days off for the whole month of October and I honestly have no clue where November went. Is tomorrow really the first of December? It just can't be. I mean, I know everyone is playing Christmas music and I see lights up already, albeit, not at my house, but I just can't get a handle on it being December yet. 

I wanted to be sure I didn't miss out on the November NewFo party!

Here are a few items I started  this month.  I actually started and finished 3 Christmas gifts this month! I know, they are simple pillowcases, but with all that's been going on here, that's still an accomplishment for me.

First are the pillowcases, for my two nephews and my niece (who don't read this blog). The oldest, Blake, is a senior in High School, but has a love affair with wolves. A boy after my own heart.

The other two are both University of Florida Gators fans (even though they were born and live in Tennessee). So I made them each a Gator pillowcase. 

This one is for Luke.

 

And this one is for Holly.

It's a little hard to see, but there is a blue trim piece and a green border.

This next one is a denim and flannel blanket I'm making for Bruce. I made one for my Brother and for a friend a few years back, and Bruce has been wanting one of his very own. It is made from old jeans, rather than bought denim and I had to break down and buy the flannel. The one I made for my brother was from old flannel shirts and pajamas.  I have to count the pieces, but I think I am still short of having all of what I need to make the blanket.  I know I have the denim. I have TONS of jeans from friends and family. It is just time consuming cutting them all.  It's called the Lazy Denim Quilt by Bonnie B Buttons.

It's a super easy (after the cutting) blanket to make. No batting needed and no quilting. It is also, quite heavy.  I would highly recommend a pair of these for snipping all the fringed parts.

 I did the first one with regular scissors and it was a painful and unpleasant experience.

 Here is the one I made for my brother. 

Here's the one I made for my friend, fellow Dal lover, and dog rescuer. 

Did you notice the green paint? those are his actual jeans he gave me to use, so I thought using some with the stains and paint gave it more character.  Now you may resume your oohing an ahhing over the dogs.

 On a sad note, my cat, Bob,f is missing since Monday night. He is the only indoor/outdoor cat of my bunch. That's how he came to me and despite my best efforts to convert him to indoor only, he refuses to use the litter box and will scream and claw at the doorknob to be let out. Or he will wait until he hears someone coming and and bolt out like a flash. I've posted signs, ads online, and done all the other things one should do to try and reclaim their beloved furry friends in a well populated area.  I'm still hoping he'll come home. I imagine he's charmed some other sucker into feeding him and maybe they took him in, assuming he's homeless, rather than the roaming rat killer that he truly is. I have never been fond of his non-returnable, and less than romantic offerings, but I would be a happy girl to find a decapitated rat in the yard in the morning.

 

 Thanks for stopping in! ~Amy

Foto Finish: Orange

 This week's theme for Foto Finish by Cat Patches was Orange. I guess I have to finally admit that I'm a crazy cat lady after all. The first thing I thought of were my two orange cats, Oliver and Lilly.  So here they are!

 First is a picture I absolutely love of Oliver as a kitten. He just looks like the definition of bliss to me!

This picture is of Lilly on top and Oliver when he was a baby. 

 I can't help it, I'm crazy about my cats. And my dogs too for that matter.  I'll be posting about Dal-loween and Diamond's award winning costume as soon as I get a chance.

Thanks for stopping in! ~Amy

Foto Finish: Leaves

 Thanks again for Cat Patches for her Foto Finish theme making me dig back through the digital archives.

 This photo was taken in Philadelphia in 2005, when I visited my friend Stella. I got up early one morning and walked around her neighborhood taking pictures. I loved the changing foliage. Being from central Florida, we don't have the privilege of visual season changes.

Yikes, It's been another couple of weeks since I've updated.  One of these days, I am going to sit here and update like I need to. It probably won't be until December at the rate I'm going. We're super busy at work and the rescue event season has started.  Most days I am too tired to do much more than scroll through the blogs I like to read and check on my Facebook friends. 

  I just got home from a rescue event with Diamond and I'm beat. I need to work on her Dal-loween costume for next Saturday's picnic.  If I get it done, I will post pictures. With that being said, I'm outta here for now.

 

Thanks for stopping in! ~Amy

Where did September go?

Holy smokes! I just looked at my last post and it was on September 1st. Today is October 1st. I went a whole month without posting anything. I've meant to post. I've had stuff to post. I've read other people's posts. The month just flew by.  I gave my niece, Noelani her quilt. I have some pictures of that to post. We went scalloping a few times, so of course, there are pictures of that. I have seven cats and two dogs, so of course I have critter pics. 

Of course, now that I actually have a few minutes to post, it's 11:30 and I need to get to bed, because October is one of our busiest months of the year at work. What do I do that could be so busy for one month in particular, you ask? Who am I kidding? Nobody reads this stuff. Well, for the few who may, for whatever, weird reason, find my life interesting enough to read about, that is, when I take the time to write about it, I work for a tent rental company. Holy moly, run-on sentence!!  I work for a small, family-owned, tent rental company. Here in Florida, the weather tends to get nice in October and then in the Spring, March and April. October and March (St. Patrick's Day!!) are our two busiest months of the year for us. Everyone and their brother has to have a festival or Octoberfest or some sort of gathering that they want a tent for in October. I'm not complaining. It's just one of those feast or famine things. All summer it's too hot to be outside, even under a tent, so we have barely enough business to pay the bills and then WHAM! It's October and there's almost more business than we can handle. It tends to get a little crazy and stressful. 

I also volunteer with Dalmatian Rescue of Tampa Bay and rescue event season is kicking off this weekend. I have an event to work both days this weekend. While I enjoy volunteering and helping out, sometimes, it can wear on you too. I won't have much time to do my crafty stuff on the weekends, so I have to try to do more at night after work. I am going to post tomorrow night with the pictures of Noelani and her quilt and maybe a few other things, if I get inspired. 

Just so there's at least one picture, here's one from last year's Jeeptoberfest. One of my other, larger hobby interests is Jeeps. I have a Cherokee that we lifted, painted bright green and refurbished the interior in a utilitarian style. This picture was taken by Bruce, from the passenger seat, as I drove through the off-road course. This was the beginning of the course. It was my first time and I had fun. My Dad was in the back seat, so I had two experienced guys to give me driving advice along the way. I hope to go again this year!

This was heading into the water near the end of the course.

Below is a better picture of my Jeep, taken at a job site.  Her name is Xtreme Green. Not only is she my off road toy and tool, but she is my Dalmatian (and any other critter) hauler. I use my Jeep for bringing dogs and equipment to our local rescue events too.

 

Barring any unforeseen distractions, I will post a proper update tomorrow after work. 

Thanks for stopping in! ~Amy