For some reason this picture kind of washed out (I'm going to try reposting it). At any rate, this is my first home vignette. My kids, a pot I purchased for $1 - don't you LOVE that!

Well, today is one of those days where I wonder how I squeeze in any paid work! :-) Missy C's class is having a field trip and Matey Moo and I can go along. So, we're all going over to the school at 10 with our picnic lunches for a day at ...well somewhere nature-y. Should be fun! It's going to be 78 degrees today...perfect in my eyes for "nature-y".

However, I have a client appt tomorrow that I have to get ready for and I haven't TOUCHED my "all that Jazz block". Anyway, hopefully tomorrow there will be pictures of all of the above (I can hope, can't I?)....oh, with the exception of the client meeting, might be weird to blog about that!

The above picture is from Missy C, she's learning to write her first and last name and I think it's a lovely picture of our family! :-) She always portrays Matey Moo's hair as spikey....not sure about that tho....hmmmmm......

This is my first experiment with posting from Flickr and a quick Self Portrait Tuesday. I'm filing, and working on about 10 things at once. Maybe I should post a picture of the quantity of computers in our office...Nah, it's TOO geeky!

I haven't blogged since last week and...UGH....too much to tell now! Don't you hate that! I think I'll blog about the Saturday evening Engagement party some other time...so you all will have to remain on the "hook" about that one, but we had a fantastic unique time!

Sunday we went to Idaho Springs to a wonderful bead store called Ornamental Resources that I have to say was like a mecca for anyone who does beading or embellishing of any kind. Here's my loot! :

A lot of the musical instruments are going into my "all that jazz" block...plus the lobsters (they aren't crabs, but aren't they CUTE?). Then I've been dying to do shisha (sp?) mirrors and so I got a few...they have a heap of cool sizes and they aren't too expensive...if any of you are looking for resources.The gals at the store were super knowlegable and sweet! So, that's a great endorsement!

What was really funny tho is that my husband lived through all of my purchases until this...I have dry foot issue (I'm NOT going to go into more detail) and this stuff should be fantastic for that. However, he BEYOND balked at the price. Men...aren't they funny!



Today I had to aide at my daughter's school...so I'm tired, but I swear I'll finish my applique saxophone and figure out how to use all my new charms. And I promise when I have more energy I'll go on and on about Saturday night. It was cool.

Oh, and for the grandparents, here's the obligatory CUTE picture of my kids in Idaho springs:



Hey, question for the blogphiles out there...I'm moving from Webshots to Flickr and planning on changing my domain/address for my blog (a big move), however, I'm not clear on how you post from flickr and still host a few of your own photos...any tips?

Well, I'm in ultra crafty mode today. Yesterday, went to my friend Tina's house and she's making some fantastic progress on her piecing...I hope you all pop over and give her encouragement...when she posts her next block. I've also found a new gal in the Denver area who's into quilting...looks like we have a lot in common. I'm working on a list for her to go buy beads (fun!!) and I think I've convinced her to attend the next Rocky Mountain Crazy Quilt meeting.

Then there are a heap of new folks on the "Bloggers Who Embellish" Ring, including Bitchin Stitchin Fiberworks, Creaworx , TextileNut and some other great new folks (depending on how often you check the ring! Hey, and ringmembers....say Hi on some of the new blogs....you remember how intimidating it is to post and never get any feedback? A few folks on the ring have commented that no one says anything. Maybe we should have a "comment on a blog Tuesday" or something...what does everyone think?

My husband sent me this last week: Posting and YOU! - any of you who post to boards will probably find it hysterical. I know both Rog and I did!

I'm busy piecing a third block to embellish...for the Rocky Mountain Crazy Quilters banner...and I've found a fantastic saxaphone that I'm going to applique and embellish on my New Orleans block. So, busy, busy and hopefully pictures....VERY SOON!

This was - believe it or not - taken by my 3 year old son while he was sitting on the potty! No better self portrait...is there?

Well this morning I felt domestic. Doesn't happen often, but occasionally. I had two bowls of tomatoes that we got out of the garden that needed to be used or something, so I cooked them up and made some tomato sauce out of them...it's in lovely jars (one for regular tomatoes and one for Roma's) in the fridge. Then I put some bread in the breadmaker, and then I planned out dinner for tonight (we had herb and Parmesan crusted chicken). Turned out to be nice....all of it.

I ran a heap of errands this afternoon and while I was at the store, I ran into Tina, who's been trying to work out how to crazy quilt from instructions on the net and my fairly lame emailed ones. I took her to one meeting of the Rocky Mountain Crazy quilters and hopefully she'll come back for more. Anyway, she's started a blog, so hop over for a visit and cheer her on (we have to encourage any new crazy quilters, don't we? ) !

Well on the note of "cooked tomatoes" I'm off to do nothing tonight! I must rest!

I spent most of yesterday piecing blocks - this is the basic block for the "All That Jazz" quilt...I'm fairly happy with it...obviously LOTS of embellishing to do now! The one trim embellishment on the left (the blue one) isn't tacked down yet, but the flower on the right is part of it already. I need to do a quick tack running stitch around the edge so I know where my border is (that's what I'm doing as I type this!) . I'm happy with the picture in the middle...it's the band going down the center of the Bourbon Street (I think...I'm assuming...I"m actually not that familiar with New Orleans). anyway, the color ties with the balloons, etc in the picture.


This block is for a banner the Rocky Mountain Crazy Quilters are putting together - we have a festival coming up in February that we're going to have a booth at, so it would be nice to have something to promote the group!

The two bits of lace (upper left) and the big piece in the middle I dyed last night using grape Kool aid...the really cool thing is that's the same batch of Kool-aid. The big piece is natural cotton and so it turned pink and the lace bit at the top is synthetic and so the color dyed the same color as the Kool Aid (interesting that it isn't the other way around). I'm quite happy with the big piece...it has some variation in color you can't see in the picture.

Just because I thought I'd work on all of them together, I have my black/white block out too (now with bits of pink and purple). It's coming along nicely. Still not done, but closer than any other block I have! Just a few more seams...I really need to dive into my stitch variation books!


On a personal note...the potty training is going, but slowly...I guess the best you can hope for!

So, I'm trying desperately to print one of these pictures on silk:


The pictures are from a band called: The Storyville Stompers (listen to their music, it's awesome). They do traditional New Orleans Funeral marches along with regular dixieland jazz. Good stuff. I thought their pictures were cool...with a little enhancement from Photoshop.
That will be the center of a block with this selection of fabric (so far)...but I'm still working on composition and of course...the photograph. I'm going for a blending of old and new (since I see myself a bit that way in crazy quilting).

So, here's my problem...Lazertran silk. I bought it a couple of days ago to play with and so far can't get it to work....at all. The stuff is even supposed to transfer onto metal, so I doubt it's my fabric choice. All I can think is I'm not ironing long enough. I read the "tutorial" on Joggles and she says to iron and iron, but she was using cotton. Anyway, I finally just attached my satin to freezer paper and ran it through the printer....worked fine and as a result here are my two block ideas....so far (since these pictures I picked out several more fabrics).


Anyway, we're also potty training (or attempting it) this weekend...wish us luck!

I thought this was an ADORABLE picture drawn by my darling Missy C...it kind of reminded me of Ward-O-Matic's Ava Tuesday (which I follow each week...it's really cute). Anyway, these are 3 monsters! Each of a different color!! I think they are awesome...one of her best works!

Following this is - WOW! My great honor of being selected as one of the "invitees" to the Australia/American crazy quilt to benefit the Katrina survivors. I read through the list of people and all I can say is - WOW! (I've already said that haven't I?). For those of you who aren't on the Crazy Quilting lists and have all the books, the group is pretty fantastic...I can't WAIT to see what everyone comes up with. ! Anyway, I'm thrilled and honored to be included and to hopefully benefit such a worthy cause!

I actually have an idea up my sleeve for my block and have sent out some interesting emails(going to buy the supplies tomorrow and I'm totally excited!...I'll let you all know more tomorrow what I find out). Anyway, I hope to have more thoughts on this tomorrow and THANKS! Whoever made the slip of the pen and wrote me on to that fantastic list......thank you!
I think this is going to be an amazing project - I can't wait to see what other people are putting together and I think the competition is fantastic! I know LOTS of you folks have posted to my blog saying you're trying crazy quilting....well, PLEASE try a block for this! It's an wonderful way to raise money for the Katrina survivors to rebuild and a great way to stretch yourself as a stitcher. Email me if you're going to work on it and I'll be happy to cheer and support everyone out there (I may need some oxygen while doing my block ocassionally too!). I can't wait!

Thanks to Sharon and Annie and Linda and everyone else! You all are fantastic!

For any of you other Aussie Crazy quilters out there, I also put out a bit of a challenge to the Southern Cross crazies to see if they want to do a swap Postcards with the Rocky Mountain Crazy Quilters in April or May sometime! Could make a WONDERFUL swap!

I have been lame on the blog front lately - so, the VERY first post will be one of Matey Moo on his first day at preschool (which he's loving now)
Doesn't he look just "pleased as punch"? He asks every day if we're going to preschool (he only goes 2 days a week), so I guess that's a good sign.
Back to the world of stitching...I have 2 blocks to do to contribute to a group sign for the Rocky Mountain Crazy quilters. Jewel tones (not really my favorite, but I have heaps of fabric). Should be interesting. I'm thinking I might dye a bunch of lace.
I was reading Sharon's post on the "bags of fun" group. My bag has totally stalled, but the bag she highlighted was SO fantastic, I can't wait to get started again. I also ran across this article: Dressing Up Denim - on About.com. It had some interesting suggestions if you're doing the "bags of fun challenge".
I got one website done today (whew) and have a couple more quick finished to do this week...good heavens, I might be getting things under control (NAH! :-))

Just under the wire. With a little "play" in photoshop. Not sure I like it, but I'm going to play for a few weeks with this shot in Photoshop. Maybe I'll come up with something better next week!

I've been working a lot and dealing with kids, etc. Seems we've either been sick or workslogged (is that a word?) and it's kind of been insane. I have 4 websites to finish this week and I'm going to get 3 out of 4 of them "out of here" or die trying!

But I think it's time to get back to stitching. I'm going to set a couple of projects around the house today and see what I can get done. I had my crazy quilting group meeting yesterday and realized that I didn't even blog about last month's class - and we had some fun dyeing lace (definately blog-worthy). This pictures is of more "traditional dyes"...bought off the net and painted on with brushes.


Being my rebel self, I brought instant coffee, tea and Kool-aid. We were all totally impressed with the Kool-aid...it did really bright colors and worked well on synthetics...better than on cottons. A great way to get rid of ugly synthetic lace (in my estimation anyway).


For those of you whole love Crazy quilting eye candy, I've posted some pictures of "other people's stuff" on our Rocky Mountain Crazy quilters flickr site...there are some lovely pieces up there. I need to get the gals to provide captions, so check back and I'll try to add more descriptions to all of them.

Well, I thought this was fitting of my first self portrait Tuesday for a LOT of reasons, I'm sitting here watching "Miami Ink" which is a show about a tattoo parlor in Miami, and I just read that Kath at Red Current was starting a new blog just for Self Portrait Tuesday, so I surfed on over and the theme is "body parts".

I have a HUGE file of Self-portraits, that I haven't been brave enough to post, however, the "body parts" theme hit a nerve (a good one)...I have a tattoo...top of the thigh so no one can readily see it. I love it. I have to say, I wish I had more but Rog is pretty grossed out when I mention getting a new one.

I got the current one before we were married to celebrate my 30th birthday, my friend who went with me got a little tiny Mickey Mouse. I had to actually go over two appointments to deal with the pain. I almost passed out during the black. I went back and had it colored in. And, yes, I still would love another one. It's weird, I know.

Sorry for the goofy picture, wanted to include something and I don't have any good stitching pictures right now (not new ones anyway). This is my first posting from Word….ok, I’m a geek, but when I saw that you could write your blog entries in word, I got excited. This will be a test, so I’m not sure how complicated it is but it’s fun to try. So, beyond things that happen in the background that all of you don’t care about (unless you blog and are interested in trying the Word thing out), I’ll shut up now! (

We’re having a nice holiday weekend…nothing too exciting, yesterday we went through all the kids toys and organized and purged. Now I really need to do that with their clothes. It never ends with clothes…kind of a revolving door of junk! Today I have to go stain the playground equiptment at the Cooperative preschool playground (ah the joys of a coop) and hopefully I can do some stitching.

However, my newest, and most necessary project is actually sewing the kids some pajamas. I’m going to copy the pattern today and try to cut out the material…I’ll try to take some pictures (not that most of you haven’t done this stuff a million times) but for me the whole pattern/clothing sewing thing is new.

Anyway, then maybe tonight I’ll start on some of my other projects – too many to name!

I love the internet, you go looking for a quote to sum up the week and you pull up something like that. Gave me a giggle...which was totally worth it! Well I've been working on a couple of websites and some other extraneous jobs this week, plus starting a couple of new sites, so that's kept me busy. I've meant all week to get down and get a WIP photo of the wedding dress quilt, but haven't gotten there yet (maybe tonight).

My son (that cute one with the adorable grin?) came down with what ended up to be croup and he and I got to ride together in an ambulance night before last.

By the time we got to the hospital and they'd given him oxygen and medicine, he was fine. Up to the point of being annoyed that I was taking him away from the "Ice Age" video they were showing him in his room. Right now he's walking into my room in his Superman Jammies and Missy C's Princess High heels begging for cereal....so all is back to normal! :-)

Then we're going through some changes in our child care routine. I'm convinced that working part time and finding the "right" childcare is more horrible than just picking out full time care, but maybe other Mom's would have something to say about that.

So, that's my week....more later! Maybe even some photos!