Buffy the Mighty Huntress

so hubby calls me at work the other night, which is a little unusual, because i rarely get calls at work.
i was hoping  nothing was wrong.
he just had to tell me, "Buffy got a BIRD!" 
now, this is funny, because; a. buffy is a chubby ball of fluff; b. she has no claws.
how she managed to pounce on that poor little bird is beyond me!  she's not exactly graceful. my neighbor makes fun of her because her belly wobbles when she walks!
she was quite proud of herself, though.  although the bird managed to  fly away, he did it without a few tail feathers!   

Christmas 2009 

then she came inside ate and took a nap. those are her usual daily activities!

Vickie

What Quilt to Finish Next?

since i finally finished my fall quilt, i seem to have some of my "quilting mojo" back! that's a good thing, since i've hardly sewn anything since february or march. i really miss not having a sewing room. it really does make a big difference when you can just leave stuff out. sewing in the dining room is not as ideal, since we eat there, so everything has to be put away!  i really need a house with about 6 or 7 bedrooms, so i'd be sure to always have one for me! hahaha
anyway, i think my flower pot quilt will be next in line to finish.  this is another one that i started machine quilting, but was undecided how i wanted to quilt around the flower pots. this was another block swap from Pat Sloan's group. we used the same pot template, and the background was to be blue, but the flowers could be anything we wanted. all the flowers were so cute, and so different.

this is my top before i did any quilting. i wanted to do something different in each block, but i'm stuck as to what to do.  i haven't even looked at the quilt for a while, it's still folded up from where i left off. i'm determined to get it back out this week and see where i am and what i need to do next.  i'll post updates when i have them!

Vickie

Finished!

well, i gave up the idea of trying to be too artistic, in favor of "just get it done"!  my "Fall" quilt is now all quilted!

i'm excited to have something actually finished after such a long time.  i just  need to do a little more trimming, and put the binding on. at least it's nice and flat, and i only saw one small-ish pucker on the back. not too bad at all, i think.  
the picture came out a little blurry.  i don't quite have the hang of hub's camera. 
i have no real idea what to do with this quilt now.  it's an odd size, 41"x50".  too small  for my usual lap quilt, and kind of big for a wall hanging.  i don't normally make wall hangings anyway.  i like quilts for people to use, the walls are on their own, imho! 
i'm really happy to have this quilt done, though. it's been too long waiting its turn!  i will have to send a picture to Pat Sloan, to show that i actually got one of my Sloanie ufos done!  Yay !!  (you would not believe how many of those i have!lol!!)

Vickie

Stuck!

i'm trying to get this darn quilt finished, but i'm stuck.  i can't figure out how to quilt the borders. i'm by no means an expert quilter, but i do my best. i can muddle through the body of the quilt most of the time, but the borders always stop me in my tracks! i usually end up doing a big meander or stipple, but that gets boring. i wish i could do leaves and vines. that would actually be perfect for this quilt, since it's all fall fabrics.  I sure wish I had the room and the money for a long-arm machine!  it looks so much easier to quilt big areas on one.  when i win the lottery!! haha!

Vickie

Pictures!

here are a couple of pictures so far:

the "weekend quilt" is banished to the closet, so here's a pic of the pattern-

here's the log cabin quilt top. i think i'm calling it "chickens in the cabins".

can't see all of the border, but it turned out well!

close-up of the cute chicken fabrics

still plugging away on the "fall" quilt. i think i have a picture on here somewhere...
nope, couldn't find it. will take one later.


Vickie

Vacation Progress

well, i'm trying to make some progress on some of my quilt ufos this week while i'm off. so far i've managed to 1.complete the top of my "Weekend Quilt", which has taken many, many weekends!  i bought this pattern, i don't remember how many years ago, intending to use all irish, or st. patrick's fabrics. it sat in a bin for a few years, and i finally got it back out a few months ago and finally got all the strips sewn together. then it hung on the design wall until this week. i really wanted it off of there so i could finish something else, and i was tired of looking at it up there mocking me!  so it's done. i'm not crazy about it, so i hung it up in the closet until i'm ready to look at it again.  

2. the one i really wanted to finish was the log cabin "chicken" quilt. this one has chicken fabrics that i found a few years ago with a special relative in mind as soon as i saw the fabrics. good thing i never told that person i was making a quilt for them!  this one went together really well, and i really like it a lot. it's just hanging in the dining room so i can admire it for now!  i'll need to get it basted somehow. since i lost my sewing space i'm sewing in the dining room, and i don't have good space for basting quilts now.  i'll figure something out, i guess.

3. right now i'm taking a break from quilting my "fall" quilt. this was from a "round robin" swap on Pat Sloan's group a few years ago. it was partially quilted, but set aside. maybe this fall i'll actually get to use it!

the actually quilting is what's driving me nuts today!  i'm not good at making decisions on how to quilt .  so i'll keep plugging along, and maybe i'll have some pictures to add later.  

break's over, now back to work!

Vickie

Two More Babies Added to the Family

Last october when son#3 left ohio for la, he had to leave his cats behind. he was staying with son#1 before he left, so the kitties were there, too. forward to december, son#1 needs to move back in with us, which means kitties come, too. no way would i not take them all! so that's how we ended up with Jasper and Lulu. things were a bit rough for a while. our 2 cats weren't too sure about 2 new cats around. they were finally getting used to the dog! 
jasper and lulu are such sweet babies, though, and so cute. jasper has the prettiest, silky fur i've ever seen, and lulu has perfect coloring. jasper is still very leery around sasha, since sasha always wants to chase him up the stairs, but things are calming down quite a bit. everybody finally is settling down into their routines, and getting along much better. thankfully!

VACATION!

i wish i could say i was jetting sailing off to some exotic,warm tropical island somewhere, but of course i'm not!!
just knowing i don't have to go to work and deal with people for a week is a good thing!  sometimes one just needs to re-charge and re-focus.  i have a long list of wanna-dos for this week, which i won't list here, but my main focus will be cleaning up the house and getting some of this clutter under control!
things aren't super bad, but mainly i need to get my sewing stuff somewhat manageable.  since my sewing stuff got moved to a corner of the dining room, it never really got as organized as i would like it to be.
i also NEED to sew something! i have several (too many) quilts that need attention that i've put off for far too long. if i could get just one quilt completed this week, it would be a big accomplishment!
wish me luck!

Vickie

Too Darn Hot!

i don't know if anybody has even seen any of my posts yet, but i just wanted to say i just haven't been much in the mood to post lately.  it's just been so darn hot and muggy, i just can't seem to get motivated to do much of anything.  i did finally get some new cute pictures of my furry babies, so those will be coming soon!
it really IS "Hot in Cleveland!!" :D    (too hot for me, though!)

Vickie