Did You Know?

Did you know that chickens love bird seed?  I often will shake the bird seed container just to see them come running out of their pen.  I thought you might like to see it, too.  Chickens are just endlessly entertaining to me.  So much better than television!

I got a couple of my projects completed.  I wanted to make a little travel pillow for Ruthie to take on her trip, and here it is next to a full size pillow for comparison.

Of course it had to have a pillowcase with lots of purple.

One other thing I'd been wanting to make was a couple of full sized pillowcases out of this same fabric.  I found these other two fabrics that seem to go along well with it.  I made them according to the  Missouri Star Quilt tutorial.  It is really quick and easy.  You should try one, or several!

We've been promised some rain over the weekend, and I hope we get it!  I also hope you have a truly wonderful weekend!

Hugs and kisses,

Nail Day

I know, that's not very exciting, is it?  I got the shellac nail polish again, in my favorite RED!

And Miss Ru got her favorite purple in tips.  Not only are hers purple, they also have glitter.  Definitely Ru's kind of style!  Mr. Muddling and I wanted to treat her to a special manicure because she is going on a trip this weekend. 

 

Her oh-so-nice brother is treating her to a trip to Jamaica.  He and his sweet wife are going, her sister and brother-in-law, and our other daughter Mary is flying from New York and meeting them there.  Sounds like they'll have a fun family week, doesn't it?  I'm so glad they all will be there!  It's been a rough year for us in a lot of ways; I believe this will help make it all better.

Speaking of making it better, lunch at Culver's with Ruthie was really nice, too.

Back home. I had some new fabric in 1930's style that had come in the mail yesterday.  I washed it last night and hung it on the line in the garage to dry.  And now it is all folded and put away.  We'll have to see what will come of it all later.  I have three, no four, no - five projects I'm working on right now.  Oh my.  I guess I'd better get busy.

 

I hope there are lots of really good things happening in your life.

 

Hugs and kisses,

Pruned

 

 

 

If you look back by the fence in the open spot on the left you'll see what was left of our big fig tree after Mr. Muddling finished pruning it for me.  Our weather has been so strange this year that it just ruined the figs on that tree, so I decided to just prune it WAY back.  This picture was taken on July 27 of this year.

 

Now here we are, not quite two months later, and you can see that it has leafed back out quite well.

 

 

And not only that - there is fruit on that stubby old tree!

 

Obviously there are several lessons here.  One is that sometimes things need to be pruned.  Two is that even though pruning can be painful, there will be fruitfulness afterward.

 

My family has been through a season of very painful pruning the past few months.  Was it fun?  NO!  Was it profitable? Yes!  Resoundingly - yes.  Sometimes we stay on in a situation because we get too comfortable.  We become blinded to things that shouldn't be because it's easier to just keep doing what you've been doing than it is to make a change.  We needed to make a change.  Since we didn't do it for ourselves, we ended up having to go through a lot of pain and suffering.  But we have come out on the other side, and I believe we will all be more fruitful than ever.

 

May I encourage you to take a look at your own life.  Be sure that the direction you're traveling is the one the Lord would have you go.  And then, if you need to do it - do the pruning for yourself.  It's a lot less painful.  Trust me.

 

And on a much cuter note, these are the two little guys who have moved in next door.  He brought them home and she says they're not staying.  They sure are cute, though, aren't they?

 

Happy Saturday!

 

Hugs and kisses,

Designing (Muddling)

I have been having so much fun with this.  I had been inspired by a quilt on Mary Johnson's wonderful blog to use some brown.

Back in July I had used my Go cutter to cut a lot of parts for the star blocks.  When I start cranking them out I like to cut lots.  

I had cut a lot of these 6 1/2" squares from Kaffe Fassett fabric at the same time, so I just cut more from the solid brown, sewed them right sides together all around the edge, then cut corner to corner both ways.

Press open, and sew in groups of four to make pinwheels.

Then I had the scathingly brilliant (remember The Trouble with Angels?) idea to use some of the half square triangles I had cut for this quilt.  At the time I cut these I had also cut LOTS more from some Kaffe Liberty fabric I got at a wonderful price from Glorious Color. 

I think they look pretty good!

I know what I'll be doing later today/tonight.

Hope you have something fun in mind, too!

Hugs and kisses,

The Star Top is Finished

And I rather like it.  I had thought about putting another border on it but decided no.  I have backing ready, too, but I'm really not sure who this one will go to yet, so I'll wait to quilt it until I know.

Mr. Muddling completed the refurbishing of this little Singer 99.  This little cutie was born in 1927.  I think she is beautiful.  As you can see I was sewing the final borders on with it the other night.  And she did a marvelous job!

This is the machine that has the knee controller.  It works really well.

 

I am so glad that we are able to save some of these old machines and put them to use.  I bought this one from Goodwill.  That means that someone just gave it away. 

 

I am also glad that my Sweetie enjoys working on these old jewels.  He encourages me to buy more!  How neat is that!!!  No wonder I love him.

I've had these half yard cuts of young Mr. Paddington Bear for a while now.  He's been telling me it's time for him to make someone a nice quilt.

 

What?  Your fabrics don't talk to you?

 

It's good to have fun, and I truly hope you're having some - whatever you're doing!

 

Hugs and kisses,

New Projects

I've got exactly four more star blocks to make before I can put the sashing on and decide on a border.  So naturally I decided it would be a good time to start another project.  This is a pattern from Missouri Star Quilt Company, and as you can see it's pretty colorful with these fabrics.

It's made of 2 1/2 inch strips.  You can see the bright and colorful Dr. Seuss and oh-so-cute Melly and Me fabrics here.  I've been cutting these strips with the June Tailor Shape Cut ruler.  I wish I had known about this one long ago!  It cuts perfect strips, something I don't always do a good job of keeping uniform. I try, but somehow I have some little stinkers that don't stay the same width. Not any more!

And......after you've cut those strips, you can then sub-cut them into perfect squares with the same tool.  SCORE!

Look at this cute little pile of perfection.  And yes, that is for yet another new project I've started.  I know.  What can I say?

Last night Mr. Muddling and I had dinner at Cracker Barrel with our new pastors.  We had a good time getting to know each other and enjoying a good meal.  Before they got there we were doing a little shopping around in the store side and would you just look at this.  If our little girls were still little this would have definitely come home with us!  Ah, memories!

Hope you're finding plenty to keep you busy and happy.

Hugs and kisses,

I Totally Blame Bonnie Hunter

Well, not really.  It's just that I've been reading more of her posts lately.  And in the last few months she has had some of the most beautiful old sewing machines that she's found in various antique shops and malls in her teaching travels and brought home with her.  I found myself wanting some of those old machines, too.

Okay, this is not really threee machines, just three views of the same one - a Singer 99K made in 1927.  Isn't she a beauty!!!  Mr. Muddling got her all cleaned up and oiled today.  Soon he will have all the parts, including the motor, which is also in almost pristine condition, reassembled. 

And yes, I DO already have a Singer 99K, but it has the foot pedal.  (And it has been absent, off helping a friend survive until she got a new machine.) This one has a knee control!  This neat little part in the case is the controller motor and there is a knee control that fits there to the left on the outside of the case.  It is just the cutest thing ever.  And it works!  I can hardly wait to start sewing with it.  Soon.

 

Meanwhile, out in the back yard I spotted this monster.  It was almost four inches long!  I thought it looked pretty neat until I realized what it was - a hawk moth, which in turn becomes a tomato hornworm, one of the most destructive tomato chompers out there!  Of course there are no tomatoes in our garden any more, but it's the principle of the thing.  He had to go!

 

I've managed to get a few more of the star blocks made.  I'm past half way now!

I'll leave you with this little cartoon I got by email from a friend this morning.  I couldn't agree more!  Glory to God!

 

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend.

 

Hugs and kisses,

Colorwash Wall Hanging

The colorwash is complete and hanging in the den.  I love it.  I know it's imperfect.  I can see every flaw and every mistake I made and I just don't care.  I still love it.

Doesn't it just look happy there?  Thank you Wanda for your generosity of spirit in all the advice and in selling that wonderful kit.  I'm sorry I wasn't a better pupil.  But I still love it.

There are lots of star blocks laid out and ready to sew together.

And there in the background you can see that I exchanged the purple sashing strips for red.  Yep, I like it better!

I'm so happy with this colorwash.  I encourage you to give it a try if you haven't already.  It's just fun.

Hope you have a really happy-making project in the works, too!

Hugs and kisses,

Seeing Stars

I started playing around last night with these stars.  I've had the pieces cut out for a while now and it was time to make a start.

 

That's four blocks done.  I think I'm going to put more red in and change the sashing to red.  'Cause you know I like red.

 

 

Miss Ru and I went to her appointment on Thursday with a new doctor for her.  She has spent the last eight years of her life with the doctor who is supposed to be the tops in her field in Houston, and it has NOT been pretty.  As you can see from her smiling face, she likes the new guy.  Sometimes the best  is not the best.  Just saying.  And yeah, we celebrated at 59 Diner.  They have some of the best burgers and shakes around.

 

Hope you have a great weekend!

 

Hugs and kisses,