a giveaway squishie!

one of the blogs i follow is nancy's and recently she was having a give-away; lucky me, my name was drawn!  i got this adorable little chicken pincushion, volume 2 of 100 blocks and some other little patterns i had not seen before.  all of this arrived on a fabulous friday after 3 weeks of work AND on friday night sew-in day too!  i love these little chickens and always wanted to make them; perhaps i will now.  **** as for FNSI, i finished sewing down the binding on my little dresden plates quilt.  now for a label and a quick dunk in cold water to remove the quilting lines and voila!  another finish! watch tomorrow for a photo.  ***** and what is so delish as a day off in spring when winter has been nearly nonexistent?

FNSI

yes, it's Friday Night Sew-In once again!  i'm going to finish up my little dresden plates quilt and who knows what else....plenty of UFOs on my list so no problem finding one.  **** today ends my FT job; my PT job starts on sunday.  it's payday, spring and friday...how good is that?

ready to fly....

finished my little swap quilt last night, now ready to fly away to its recipient.  made entirely from stash on hand per the recipient's choices.  entirely paper pieced (thank you queen carol!) which i never would have attempted before my excellent instruction at maine quilts!  it is hand quilted and binding is sewn on by hand as well.  nearly depleted my small stash of black/white fabrics so a trip to marden's may be in my future very soon.  now i can get back to my own UFOs.  ***** it is seasonably cold here today (and yesterday) for a change.  no snow and it's going to warm up again this weekend.  and guess what...tomorrow is payday! 

thank you, bonnie!

a couple of weeks ago, bonnie posted a photo of this book on her blog.  at her recommendation, i went to amazon and found it practically free!  i know, it says $9.99 but it was waaaaay less than that.  i am sooo glad i found it; lots of basic information as expected, but the tons of glorious color photos are simply over the top!  many, many antique quilt photos and many others as well.  i took it to work to glance through and had to put it down, i was drooling way too much...LOL!  **** tonight i have to finish up my swap piece and then i can get back to my own stuff, and not a moment too soon.  after drooling over this book, i am super motivated, maybe toooo motivated.  so, buyer beware. *** hoping our totally wacky winter is over; plenty of near-beach temps this week and for the forseeable future, which is absolutely fine with me.

curiouser and curiouser...

sometime early in the week my cell phone went AWOL.  i was pretty sure i brought it home from work in my pocket and from there i probably put it on the kitchen table or someplace in the bedroom.  i went looking for it thursday and checked all my slacks pockets in the laundry basket, under the bed, under other furniture, behind sewing tables, etc.  no cell phone.  today i went out in the hallway to wash/dry clothes.  when i went to check on the dryer, the door was open, my clothes were still wet and what do you think was there....right, the cell phone.  so, the cell phone is now kaput, obviously.  question is....how did it get in the dryer?  that is just one of the many mysteries at this complex.  the maintenance staff is top notch, the grounds are kept immaculate, driveways and parking lots plowed promptly, steps cleared for safety and the rent is affordable for our anemic income.  it's just things like this happen much too frequently; there's definitely a gremlin here someplace.  regarding the phone, i HOPE i brought it home from work.  what if it went missing while i was AT work?  that's another issue altogether, a fairly unpleasant one.  hmmm....a mystery indeed. 

nest drama

if you've been reading this blog for a while, you know i follow the eagle's nest at the norfolk (VA) botanical garden.  this year the dad had to find a new mate.  he has courted 3 females so far and #3 was getting settled into the nest; sleeping there at night, eating when he brought food and generally considering it "home."  however, #4 female came on the scene a couple of days ago and was chased off by dad.  problem is, #3 hasn't been seen at the nest for 2 days and #4 is trying to get the male to cozy up to her.  on thursday #3 and #4 had an altercation and locked talons but no serious injury to either.  the male has yet to mate with #4 but she is getting pretty comfy around and in the nest the male has prepared for eggs.  it's getting late for eggs to be laid--end of march is usually the latest--so unless things settle down soon, there probably won't be any eggs in this nest this year.  today there are over 13,000 people watching this drama play out in nature that is better than any hollywood script. 

snippets fun

what do you do when you have only little snippets of time here and there?  why, you work on your hexies of course!  and not those itty, bitty, teeny, weeny, under 1 inch things either; mine measure 3" across the middle and i wouldn't have it any other way.  these are for an amish-y honeycomb twin size quilt in the works.  as for when it will be a flimsy is anyone's guess.  these are mostly hand-dyed solids from cherrywood fabrics and are they luscious both in color and quality.  they advertise a suede-like feel and they are so right.  i can recommend them highly.  i can't afford the yardage--it's pricey--but these are from one of their grab bags of small pieces.  i need a total of 202 of these hexies, 12 half hexies and some little triangles (not sure which kind) to make it rectangular.  it's an ideal grab and go project....for the time being anyway.  ***** back to cold temps today but not for long.  if we don't get anymore snow, it won't bother me a bit.  easter is late this year--mid april--and i've seen fast-moving blizzard-type conditions on easter sunday before, so we can't rest easy yet.  ***** national quilting day is one week from today.  it's not a hallmark holiday at all but no less celebratory to us of the quilty persuasion.  lots of related events going on of which to partake and enjoy, not the least of which are the online retail therapy kind.  web surfers beware!

would you believe?

picture it:  midnight - march - maine - 50 degrees, that's right 50 at midnight in maine in march!  simply unheard of.  in the daytime it was 60+ degrees, the record being 60 back in 1878.  that means in our 1970s era cluster apartments it was quite warm.  that's how it is.  when it's bitter cold out, the place is freezing; when it's warm out it's also warm inside.  the promise of "control your own heat" is a complete fallacy. and tonight?  a mere 24 hours later?  the weather heads are talking snow.   

a few more

though i'm primarily sewing the little swap piece, i did have a few moments to finish up more little baskets.  i think they are sooo cute!  with all the repro fabrics i have, there are endless combinations.  i know i'll be making more of these, though i doubt they will end up as a full-size or bed-size quilt.  ***** my little dresden plate quilt is nearly ready to bind, so i guess i'll have another finish in march as well.  i have 3 bed-size quilts basted and the center diamond that just needs the last border quilted, so i've plenty of projects to choose from to be tackled next. 

a handy item resurfaces

when new, the old viking came with this handy dandy extension table.  i admit it has been hardly used.  last week i saw someone with a newer viking using her extension table and thought, hmmm, i have one of those.  today i was working on a small quilt so decided to pull it out and am glad i did.  it is useful indeed.  and, as you can see, my little quilt project is paper pieced.  i printed the pattern from the computer onto my carol doak foundation papers.  i can't show you yet, it's a swap gift, but rest assured it'll go on display as soon as possible.  and the magnetic poetry?  it reads, "my still sweet friend and apparatus always"  and "winter sings as tiny bitter diamonds,"  what can i say...i'm an English major....LOL  **** am i the only one who feels terribly rich just watching the devastation from those tornadoes?  i doubt it.  my loved ones are the real riches here, not the stuff i use or collect.  it isn't that i don't know that absolutely, but it's easy to forget sometimes.  i am humbled by those who are persevering in spite of this terrible destruction and devastation.  if you feel the same, send your donation to The Salvation Army, the tangible face of caring in any disaster.