It's Friday!

It's Friday!!! Yay!!!

We're going to an agility competition down in Phoenix this weekend with the parents-in-law.  Should be as interesting as the dog shows we like to see, only more active.  My husband has plans after he retires to participate in agility with a future dog that we'll have.  Not as a fiercely competitive do-or-die kinda thing, but for fun bond of working and training.  

So that's for future (near and far) but today's to-do list includes: brine the pork shoulder for Sunday's smoker, finish laundry, housework, and water the flower beds.  Oh--and deconstruct the wool skirts and jackets I got thrift shopping this week.  Wool!  Lovely wool. 

My change of focus from dolls to more of the textile arts is strange but refreshing, and to that end, I'm ready to quilt the Summer wall hanging (wool applique on cotton).  Here's a photo of finished "Spring"--a pattern I will have published in...um, some days.

I've gotten brave and started working toward actually sewing my antique Singer sewing machine.  So far I don't even know how to thread it.  Bought last summer, (with much eye rolling at self) and researched to discover: one of 25,000 machines of its type made in late January of 1931.  The cabinet is solid but neglected--a little (lot) of wood polish is in order. 

There is a local group here whose expertise extends to these machines, so I'll beg or barter for a little help, and then--off I go!  This machine was one that used to be in treadle cabinets, but was outfitted with motors in the 1930's--a crazy new innovation.  She's been refurbished and tuned up, and is patiently waiting for me to give her a try. 

So here are photos of Lady Singer...more on how it goes later.  (Wish me luck!)  :P

  I hope your weekend is lovely...whether your weather is cooperating or not.  Cheers, y'all.

Wednesday Words

 Ever have one of those weeks when you know in your head you're getting things done, but there doesn't seem to be any evidence of it? 

That's this week.  I know I've accomplished plenty--took the dog to the vet Monday, got groceries and a small yard job yesterday, got dinners done both nights and cooked the week's bacon for the husband.  I put down eight bags of mulch yesterday on my poor naked flower beds and walked the dog three times! 

But this morning I feel like there's a to-do list a mile long ahead of me and I've not even scratched the surface of it.  I'm sure I'm not alone in this, but it sure is baffling.  This week is the Primitive Handmades Mercantile update, and I need to be getting mine together today.  I think I have a case of want-to-crawl-back-in-bed.  Doesn't happen often, and usually I'm pretty dang chipper.  Hmph. 

So in order to "blow the stink off" (one of my favorite lines from Hope Floats), I am going to post silly pictures.  Hope they make you smile. 

So many new things in the shop!

It's Wednesday.  Groceries, working in the yard, and Cheeseburger Pie for supper. 

But at least I don't have to mess with making listings today!  I don't know why that chore pokes at me so bad, but it does.  It's a helluva lot more fun to MAKE the art than it is to list it.  Some of the listings I made a while back, but never did anything else with them. These are in the store now. 

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It's almost spring--even here in the desert--so the irises will be blooming in a month or so.  Time to feed them and feed and prune the roses.  This is the first year I've put a "Red, White, and Blue" bed out front along the street.  Interesting to see if enough are blooming at the same time to get the effect I'm after.  :~)  I try to live in the season I'm in, but dang, I am sooooo ready for Spring.  And we don't even have hard winters here!

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I mentioned a post ago about a crazy quilting class I went to, the one where I was bitten by yet another art bug?  The block in the top photo  below is one I made before the class--my first block--so I'd know what questions to ask.  You know how you just never know what to ask if you've never tried to do something?  So I wanted to know where the hard parts were to ask about.  Well, the ladies there liked it so much they wanted me to post it on a Crazy Quilt site on Facebook.  I did so, and the editor of Crazy Quilt Quarterly Magazine asked if she could put it in the summer issue!  Cool beans!  So it'll be there, along with a couple of my folk art pieces. Baby steps, baby.

The bottom photo is of two blocks I made in the class itself, and I have patches for two more just like them, which will all go on a big black tote-bag to carry a cutting mat and supplies to classes & stitching meets. 

Now I'm designing small crazy quilt projects, along with getting more things listed on Ebay and Etsy.  If you know anyone who needs doll wigs or eyeballs, there are some big lots on Ebay right about now.  I have to make some room!  :~P

Hope your Hump Day is spectacular, and your weekend even more so. 
Jan