Ho Ho Ho with Me Me Me!

Hi hi!  Happy Ho Ho Ho Blog Hop!!!  Thank you so much for hopping with us :o)  First off, thank you to Carol, our Cheery Cheerleader and our Fearless Leader, Madame Samm.  Have you been checking out the other blogs?  Today is the last day and everyone's posts have been fabulous!  Here are the links to the last of us hoppers:
 

 Moose Stash Quilting

Cathy’s Chatter

Darlington Delights

Life in the Scrapatch

Quilt n Queen

Forget-Me-Not Stitches

Quilted Delights

AnnieOak Designs WOOF

Sew Peace to Peace

Wips & Tuts

Just Keep Swimming

Sew We Quilt

 

Now, on to my little piece.  I drink a lot of water at night - a lot.  The cat loves to get on my nightstand, with her tail straight up in the air and rub up against the lamp, hitting the light pull with her tail and clanking it in the middle of the night.  If I leave my water bottle where it is handy, she knocks it down, usually in the direction of my face, usually early in the wee hours of the morning.  Sweet, sweet child.

 

So, to help me find a place out of the precious pet's way, I needed something to tell me I had put the water bottle down in the right place in the dark.  So, a mug rug was called for.  If I don't hear a clunk when I put the bottle down, I know I've placed it in the right place and can go back to sleep without worrying the little evil elf will try to give me a bath in the dark.

 

This is what happened when I sat down with my scrap bin and embroidery floss.

 

 

Fun huh?  Here's another shot of it under my favorite mug from work (the water bottle is ugly ;) so the mug was brought home for a prettier picture).

 

 

And what is that little glass orb you see?  This one here?

 

 

It is a paperweight I made over at the coast in Lincoln City a few weeks ago when my Mom came up for a visit.  It is all glass and I made it!  There are instructors at the gallery and you can work the glass under their supervision - too fun!  Here is another shot of my mug rug and the paperweight:

 

 

I hope you enjoyed hopping here, I love my mug rug - it is already back in its place :o)  Here is some Molly Cat love.

 

 

woof woof meow

What I've Been Up To...

Hi hi!  When it gets hot outside, it gets hot in my sewing room - no matter that the AC is on.  Plus, when it is hot, it isn't raining so in Oregon, you don't stay in much.  I know I haven't.  I dumped my iPhone pictures and have a picture heavy post for you to catch you up on what I have been up to (mostly).  Warning: these are phone photos so they aren't the clearest.

 

Put in the irrigation for 9 raised beds and 4 half barrels.

 

Put together two Lifetime Adirondack chairs for the patio.

 

Molly helped.

 

Put together an applique I found at Marbled Arts.

 

Finished piecing the center for Little A's quilt - borders to come.

 

Made vegan samosa filling from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen.

 

Made beefless stew from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen.

 

Ran into Kat VonD at PDX on my way to visit my Mom.

 

Waited in line at the Cheese Board Collective in Berkeley.

 

That line was for this.

 

And this was 5 minutes later.

This was dinner from the Cheese Board - 6 hours in traffic there and back, totally worth it.

 

Made an apple tart.

 

Had some Two Towns Ciderhouse "Rhubarbarian" while watching Game of Thrones - You know nothing Jon Snow!

 

Had a layover in Baltimore.

 

On our way to here.  Emerald Isle, North Carolina.

 

Played in the surf with the kiddos the first night.

 

Ate breakfast like this every day - for a week (ignore the beer cans the boys have).

 

Went to bed with this every night.

 

Made a retirement gift - messenger bag of my own design with the pony pattern from Regina.

 

Went to the beach (in Oregon) with Josh and the girls - they're waaaaaay back there.

 

Here they come.

 

Almost here!

 

Here we come Mom!

 

Oh wait, the water!

 

Ok, cold enough.

 

Throw the bumper Dad!

 

Sat while the dogs watched us eat lunch.

 

Ate ice cream while O passed out in our laps.

 

Made Veggie Ramen.

 

Picked 33 pounds of blueberries at Springbank Farm here in Lebanon.

 

Dug up a ton of roots and bark dust.

 

To put down sand and lay stone.

 

Shamed Annie - not even ripe yet!!!

 

Made a blueberry pie.

 

Made a glass paperweight at Jennifer L Sears Glass Art Studio in Lincoln City.

And more.  Just gonna have to find the pictures.  Here's a little bit of what Molly does when I work in the yard.

You'd think I put these chairs together for her.  She did help I guess...

woof woof meow!

Modern Mini Mystery Round Robin REVEAL DAY!

Hi hi!  How are you?  I am busy!  It has consistently been in the 80s-90s here and that is just TOO HOT for me to be in my sewing room.  So, I've been working in the yard, playing at the coast and getting some good time in with my girls.  Mom came up for another visit - that was fun too!

 

Enough about all those things, I'll post about them in a day or so.  Today, you are here for the Modern Mini Mystery Round Robin Reveal Day!  First, a big Big BIG THANK  YOU to Michele of Quilts From My Crayon Box for hosting the MMMRR for 2013.  I saw that I missed it last year and was very intrigued.  I participated in the Quilt U Be Mine Round Robin she hosted and had a blast, but I almost overdid myself, I did two spots - AGHHHHHH!  I was just going to sit out and drool over this round but Michele asked if I would like to participate and that was the kicker, I was in!

 

 

There were 6 of us in each group, at least one international participant.  I shared my round with these lovely ladies:

Diane

Kim

Bea

Ann

Laurel

 

All five of these lovelies sent me awesome pieces to work on and I hope I did them justice.  I did try to keep the "modern" part of the MMMRR with what I did, one of the blocks I just did plain borders with a flange, I was totally stumped as to where to go with it.  For some reason I didn't take ANY pictures of what I did to Laurel's block which is a bummer because I really enjoyed working on it.  Here is what I did (outer border of each - minus Laurel's block).

 

Upper Left - Ann's was free-form applique; Upper Right - Bea's was just straight up lines;
Lower Left - Diane's was from a pattern called "London Tube"; Lower Right - Kim's was a fun butterfly print and flange

When I sent my block off I asked the ladies of the group to keep it with the browns and gold tones.  And they did!  I was inspired by the pictures I saw over at Fabric Mutt, you can see the original explanation here.  Here is what I sent off to the group.

 

 

Fun huh?  I love, love, love that giraffe print in the middle.  Well, what I got back was even more fun - these 5 ladies are amazing.  AH-MAY-ZING (Zing Bot couldn't say it better BB fans!)  Check it out.  The is the first 4 rounds, my center block and the magic they swirled around it. 

 

 

Trust me, what you're gonna see next will knock your socks off.  Here are some close ups of the fifth round - appliqued Masai and goats. 

 

  

 

 

Totally pulls that giraffe print into an African theme and POW.  Right?  Right?  Finally, here is the finished piece, the final round pulling everything in and making it nice and tidy - just my style :o)

 

 

I love this piece!  I got it the first week of June and it has been hanging on my bedroom wall ever since, every time I walk by it I smile.  I still haven't figured out how to quilt it.  I'll definitely do it on the longarm, I think I prefer it over FMQ on my Juki.  Any ideas?  I know I want to mimic the patterns in African print fabrics - geometrics and lots of repeats. Back onto the bedroom wall with it!

 

Thanks for visiting and don't forget to make sure and visit the others linking up with Michele for the MMMRR Reveal Day!

 

Here is some Molly love.

 

 

woof woof meow