Being thankful

photo from aglaw.blogspot.com

I'm thankful for family and friends who have enriched my life so much in the last year. Wishing you all a relaxing day.

The value of value

As a quilter, it is always amazing to me how much colors change in relationship to what they are paired with. They can become prima donnas or wallflowers--it all depends on who they are playing with.

I am in the process of ordering woven labels to add to some items that will be offered in our etsy shop. I was pretty sure of the colors I wanted for the words. Look how much the same colors change depending on the background:

When everything is medium in value, it all looks washed out to me.

This was a serious contender, but then I decided I really didn't like the words agains the brown background.

After some definite tweaking with the green to make it brighter so it pops more against the dark background, this one gets the go-ahead.

It's so hard to make the decision based on my computer monitor. I could visualize what I wanted, and then they sent me the Pantone color chart. Yikes. Did I pick the right colors? If I didn't, don't tell me...it's too late.

Ah......

The other night Mark and I watched Charlotte and Levi while Aaron and Christa went to see "so you think you can dance." I had already fed the kids when Mark showed up after work. He had just sat down at the kitchen table when Charlotte looks at him and says in a very grown-up voice (remember, she is only 3), "So, Grandpa...how was your day?"

So smart, and so cute.

Here is a picture of the pink princess pillowcase I made for her bed, complete with the green border of frogs. I am posting it here because the fabric is so cute, Charlotte loves pink and princesses, and this is a good way to make something fast that doesn't involve making an entire quilt!

Would you like a little whine with that wine?

Back in September when we were vendors at Quilting in the Garden, it was over 100 degrees. We melted. Today we were vendors for the Madera Wine Trail. This is what we wore: long johns (tops and bottoms for me), t-shirt, denim shirt, fleece jacket, gloves. And except for the gloves, I wore it all...all day.

Knowing my friend, Candy, who lives in Minnesota where it gets authentically cold, would get a chuckle, of course I emailed her. Her response: "I'm amazed you can type with such frozen fingers! Hope the 'cold' isn't keeping the customers away and that you're having sales success." Do I detect a slightly sarcastic tone to that reply? Nah....I'll admit it. We're weather wimps here in California.

But about those sales....Most of the people were more intent on making sure they didn't miss a single glass of free wine at any of the wineries. Buying something? Uh, not so much...

Even so, we're not whining about our sales. I purchased a couple of gifts from a friend who is a gifted potter, and he thanked me for doubling his sales for the day. So yeah, we're not whining...

Mess Mass Production

Mark and I never seem to learn our lesson. After vending a show, and going nuts for a couple of weeks right before the show because we're trying to get too much done in too short a time, and saying we will NEVER do that again, and will be "extremely organized from now on," we almost immediately lapse back into our old behavior. You know...."we have plenty of time to get ready for the next show." Pfffft.

It wasn't even that long ago. End of September. And here we are, in the same predicament. Only this time we have shows on back-to-back weekends. Yikes! What were we thinking?

The first is the Madera Wine Trail's Holiday Spirit Weekend. We have never vended for a wine trail weekend before. We haven't even attended a wine trail weekend before. Not really knowing what to expect, but based on the assumption that there will be a lot of people who are going from one winery to another, we are making a lot of wine charms, wine bottle stoppers, slumped wine bottles with cute little knives for serving cheese.

This is what it looks like around our house.

Kitchen counter:


Inside our oven. (Because we have to rinse out all those alcohol bottles, so we dry them in the oven before we put them in the kiln.)

In case you were wondering, we don't fuse or slump our glass work in the oven, even though Mark likes to tell people that we fuse and slump in our microwave. He says it takes about fourteen hours in the microwave. You wouldn't think anybody would fall for that, but you'd be surprised how many people say, "Really?" Maybe you have to actually know him. He gets that reaction a lot. Even from those of us who know him well. He says it with such a straight face, and then you I end up feeling so dumb after I fall for it, after all these years. Yeah, anyway...

(Side note to Mom and Dad: Mark doesn't drink anything stronger than diet coke, and while I like my glass of wine every night, I was not responsible for drinking my way through all these bottles. Although lately we have become friends with many a bartender.)

On top of the washing machine,
and the dryer.
Until after our second show next weekend--our annual open house--this is my new motto:

My new favorite Number 2 quilt

That title may be a little convoluted, and the explanation probably won't clear things up much.

The plan for each of my grandchildren was to spend a bit more time on their first quilt, a few more details. Not necessarily an heirloom that they couldn't touch, because really, what would be the point of that? Quilts are meant to be loved....and touched. But just a little more time spent planning and making. Then their second quilt would be one to drag around, snuggle under, play on, wrap around and read a book, toss in the laundry.

Here is the back of Levi's second quilt. And it's really the reason I even made this quilt. Rows of wild animal Minkee. Have you ever felt this stuff? *sigh* If only you could feel it through the computer monitor. I think everyone should carry round a little scrap of this stuff to touch when you're feeling stressed out.

And I had no idea when I purchased the Minkee that Levi would turn out to be so tactile. He loves anything soft, so I'm hoping this will be a big hit with him.

So then I had to find an idea for the front, to go with the back. And for a Number 2 quilt, the front actually took a lot of time than I had anticipated. All those little pawprints....

You may be wondering: what does his Number 1 quilt look like? And that would be a really good question. Let's just say that it's all planned out, and involves a bit of Los Angeles Dodgers fabric and a label from a pair of old Levi's jeans, and a lot of detail (which will qualify it for a Number 1 quilt).

Is this making any sense yet? The back of the quilt was priority over the front, and the "second"quilt was made before the first.

Eventually you will see the Number 1 quilt, which I haven't even started yet.

See what I meant about "convoluted"?

True Confession Tuesday: You can call me Cynthia

For as long as I can remember, I haven't liked my full name, Cynthia (sorry, Mom and Dad...). Growing up, it always conjured up pictures of a completely obnoxious, hoity-toity society girl with blond hair, someone who thought she was better than anyone else. Where did I get that idea? Books? TV? I don't know. Anyway... I have always preferred to be called Cindy, with a "y" except in seventh grade when I spelled it Cindi.

Then along came the whole security thing, you know, having your legal name on things, like your credit cards, which needed to match the name on your ID, like your driver's license. And I realized we had been filing our tax returns for years with my nonlegal name, Cindy. Although the IRS apparently didn't care about that as long as they got their money on a yearly basis.

Then I noticed that people started calling me Cynthia because that is what it said on my credit cards. And my Borders rewards card, where the barista would say, "Cynthia, we'll call you when your bagel is ready," at which point I usually said, "Yeah, I know that's what it says but please call me Cindy." Whatever. Like they actually cared what they called me.

And then for some unexplained reason, Mark has started calling me Cynthia. Huh? And it's been catching on with a couple of my close friends.

I also noticed that my favorite fabric vendor's name is Cynthia. Cynthia. Not Cindy. "Hmmmmm," I'm thinking to myself, "She likes it and she's young and really cool."

So go ahead. It's okay. You can call me Cynthia. I'm kinda starting to get attached to it.

L.O.V.E. It, Part 3

It's a giveaway and I SOOOO want this fabric (completely obsessed with the paint-by-number and it is hard impossible to find).



But I would be just about as happy with this fabric.


Lately I have also been obsessed with quilt-alongs, virtual quilting bees, online block exchanges. Probably because I have so much extra time that I need to fill...hah!


So, Block Party, sign me up!

L.O.V.E. It, Part 2

This book is now sitting on my kitchen counter, for two reasons:

1. 40% off coupon at Borders.

2. I love to cook Mark loves to cook.

L.O.V.E. It

In the early years of our marriage, we had very little money. We lived in a small town in western Kansas, which had very little selection when it came to clothing, at least something we were able to afford, so I sewed nearly everything I wore. One memorable exception: in the neighboring larger town, we found a fabulous (hey--it was the '70s) navy blue leisure suit for Mark. It had rows of baby blue and white topstitching. He needed something nice to wear when he coached basketball but it was really expensive, so we actually had to make monthly payments to the men's clothing store. But I digress.

I even made jeans for me and at least one sport coat for Mark.

Things got better. I swore off clothing construction.

Now Amy Butler has a new fabric line, ("Love") and this new pattern ("the Liverpool").

I may have to reconsider.