Cute Baby Animals & "Poodles" that aren't what they seem.....

This is a "cheater" post, folks. That's right- just a bunch of cute and/or strange photos shamelessly parading as actual content for a blog post.

First, just to get the ball rolling, baby porcupines:

(everyone all together: awwwwwwe!!!)

Next, a dwarf miniature pony. That's right, as if miniature ponies weren't cute enough, Koda also happened to be born as a dwarf:

Read the full story here.

Finally, this story was recently in the news: a man in Argentina was duped into paying $150 each for what he thought were poodles, but were actually ferrets pumped up on steroids and groomed to look like poodles (or not- you decide.)

Read the full story here.

Have a happy week :)

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The Great Cat-sby

Daughter and guest blogger Samantha is introducing her new kitten, aka my Grand-kitten, today! Isn't he sweet? And when you get short on ideas for a blog post, photos of babies, kittens, and puppies always seem to do the trick, somehow....

As you heard last week, we have a new addition to our little family.  Gatsby has been such a sweet boy to us these past few weeks, and I have to admit I love having him around, even if he makes a few messes and unpleasant smells...

I don't really consider myself a cat person (my heart is truly for any kind of puppy), but my husband has had cats since he was a child, and when we were killing time at a pet store he made me take a look at the kittens for adoption.  And once we looked, well, we had to ask to pet one.... and then once we pet one, we had to fill out an adoption application... It's the "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" phenomenon (did you ever read that book? It was one of my very favorites when I was little).

And before we knew it, we were thinking of names, picking out toys and treats and preparing for the trip back to the adoption center to pick up our "son."  I even joked with my friends about having "a baby on the way," which they did not appreciate once they figured out what I was really talking about...



And now Gatsby has been with us for three weeks.  He has had a little bit of a digestive issue, that got so bad at one point, we wondered if we would have to take him back to the shelter, but things seem to be looking up.  He is playful and inquisitive, const]ant[uil1q finding new things to do, as evidenced by that typo, which he "helped" Mommy type.  I miss being away from him while I'm at work, but we make up for it when I get home.

I made these little bowls for him really quickly by drawing with a sharpie onto the bowls, and then baking them at 400 degrees for 40 minutes, letting the bowls heat up and cool down with the oven.  They've survived through 2 hand washings with no sign of wear yet.

What's new in your lives? Pets? Babies? Weddings? Dishes? (I think new dishes are almost as important as new babies. Right?)  Let us know what's making you smile right now...

Happy Weekend!
Samantha

Oh Happy Day!

We have a big announcement of a personal nature here. As you may know, our oldest daughter Samantha got married in June. No, we are not expecting a grandchild yet, but we do have a new grand-kitten named Gatsby:

Isn't he cute??

Anyway, that's not the big news I wanted to share. Our new son-in-law Jeff has been hired as the new Youth Pastor at our church! We are so happy and proud of Jeff and Sam. Without getting into all of the details, I will tell you that Jeff has been looking for a job for several months, and there were lots of false leads and disappointments. Just when it seemed that nothing was going to materialize, the current Youth Pastor of our church was offered a job that he felt that he had to take. This happened quite out of the blue- on my birthday (what a great birthday gift!) my husband called to tell me that he had just spoken with our Senior Pastor who told him that the Youth Pastor would be leaving very soon and they wanted to offer Jeff the job. There are lots of other details to the story, but suffice it to say that the way everything worked out, we know that God had truly orchestrated this..... We are so grateful that everything worked out, we know that Jeff and Sam are going to be excellent Youth Pastors!

Jeff was introduced to the church at yesterday's service and he gave a wonderful sermon, then we had cake ('cause if there's one thing that church people and quilters have in common- it's that we do food really really well, and with little provocation!!)

Congratulations Jeff and Sam :)

In The Studio This Week....

Last week was a busy week- I spent Wednesday at a local quilt shop for a Quilts for Kids charity event. I started work on 2 quilt tops... but I am a slow cutter and sew-er (not to be confused with a sewer, if you know what I mean.) In between chatting and eating snacks, I got my blocks cut- that is all! Never even took out the sewing machine. I spent much of Thursday and Friday sewing, Saturday morning machine quilting them, and Sunday binding them. This morning, I washed and dried them and Ta-da! they are ready to be dropped off. (I made the quilts using my A Beautiful Day fabric line. The soft pastel colors made up some really pretty quilts for a hospitalized baby/toddler somewhere.)

 The blocks. 

The tops, ready to be quilted.

What do you think of my "artsy" photos? They were all taken with my iPad. The family has been dragging me, once again kicking and screaming, into the technological age! I am now on Instagram, if you would like to see some of my other photos. I have to admit, begrudgingly, that I am really liking Instagram. Oh no- more social media to suck up my time! (I found myself lost in Pinterest for hours yesterday. The to-do list went out the window.)

Here is how I made these quilts so quickly: I chose an assortment of fabrics, and just started cutting 10" squares. When I had a pile, I started pairing them up into half square triangle units (no rhyme or reason here, just started sewing.) Then daughter arranged the blocks for me, and I ended up with enough to make 2 child size quilts (somewhere around 45-50"). To quilt them, I stitched in the ditch, and then stitched diagonally  (I didn't mark the quilts- just "eyeballed" the stitching from corner to corner of each block.) I did not add borders. As I said- these are the quickest quilts I've ever made, but it was quite therapeutic, as I was having kind of a hard week last week. I find it is always helpful to do something for someone else when I want to get my mind off of my own problems (you know when sometimes you just get sick of yourself?...... yeah.) It was a good distraction, thinking about how some little kid in the hospital was really going to love snuggling up with my quilt.

In between all of that, I did a little bit of work for my next fabric line (mostly computer stuff- carpel tunnel setting in....) And our family visited the County Fair- one of my very favorite events for the whole year. I love seeing the animals- and every year I insist that my husband build me a chicken coop and fence for goats.... maybe this will be the year that we do it? Who knows?

Pile o' Piggies!

 Me and my new friend.

My daughter's friend Kayla ended her reign as 2012 Fair Queen.

In addition to the animals, we also like the tractors. I have a thing for Red Farmall Tractors. I can't explain it....

The fair, as everything else, is always a source of inspiration....

OK I think I'd better get to work now. Have a Marvelous Monday!

My Cat, My Pantone Color Bridge, and Other Random Thoughts.....

We have had a cat named Maddie for about 4 years. She was supposed to be my daughter's cat. You know, daughter would take care of her and then someday when she moved out- take cat with her. But, you can guess what happened: since I am the one who is here all day, and I am the one who usually feeds her, she has become my cat, whether I like it or not....  When I walk into the kitchen, cat cries for treats. When I stop moving for more than 5 seconds, cat plops herself on my feet- and then I feel guilty for moving! I will actually stand somewhere longer than I need to be there so I don't disturb her... Same thing goes for the chair in my office- I will find myself standing to work for a couple of hours because she is sleeping there, and then it finally dawns on me- Hey! that's MY chair! And she will be dismissed.... but not before I have an aching back from all of the standing and bending over my desk. Sometimes she is naughty and gets into the papers and files on my desk, wrinkling them and putting claw marks in them. How in the world did this 11 pound furry thing take over the house??? (In the photo above, she is making herself comfortable in my studio, her favorite bed is a couple of quilts I have completed for my next book.... I can't fight her so I just fold them wrong-side-out and let her have her way...) But for all of my grumbling and complaining and saying that she is NOT my cat- I kind of like her now. I guess she IS my cat. sigh.

I am working on the computer most of today. My work falls into several categories: drawing and painting artwork for fabric lines, books, and other projects (a NEW one which I am really excited about and I will be showing you this summer!); sewing samples and projects for patterns; and working on the computer, either writing patterns, books, blog posts etc. or using Photoshop to lay out fabric/surface designs and other fun stuff. 

It seems that when I am working on the computer for several days in a row, I can't wait to start drawing and painting again. Today I would like to be sewing, but I'm not. In a couple of weeks when I am busy sewing up samples for Quilt Market in May, I will probably wish I was just sitting at my computer! I guess I'm lucky to have a "job" that doesn't feel like a job at all (until it's time for paperwork- that's another story) and that allows me to do a lot of different things. Sometimes, though, it makes it really hard to focus. I have so many things going on, often times I'm really not sure what to work on next- and that is a real time killer!

Focus, focus, focus! It is definitely something I need to focus more on! Ha! But seriously, it's so easy to be distracted.... I start painting and then think of something else I have to do, a block I wanted to design or a blog post I wanted to write.... or I get an email or 2 or 3 that I feel I have to attend to immediately.... or I decide to throw in a load of laundry....  Lists help me, but I feel like I need much more, like someone standing over me with a whip forcing me to just do one thing at a time.... my brain oftentimes feels like a ping pong ball just going back and forth and everywhere. Can anyone else relate?? I'm sure many of you can. Any suggestions? Sometimes (oftentimes) I actually feel guilty because I think that if I were more focused I'd make better use of my time and get lots more done. (Is the guilt just a female thing? I have a hard time imagining my husband feeling guilty about something like that....)

So anyhow.... where was I? Oh yeah. Working on the computer today, and playing with colors. I am importing some recent artwork into Photoshop, and I am "playing" with my Pantone Color Bridge. Oooooh- it's kind of like paint chips on steroids. The best thing about using a Pantone Color System is that it is standardized so I can tell a manufacturer EXACTLY the green or orange or pink I want. I just say "Pantone 376U, please!" and that's (hopefully) what I get. (You may remember I started working on this artwork a few weeks ago. Also note that in that post, I talked about feeling scattered. Obviously, things have not changed.)

I am loving the hot oranges and pinks in this art. So spring-y/summer-y. My favorite colors seem to change a little bit with the seasons, how about you? What are your favorite colors right now?

And don't forget, I need advice on how to focus and not get distra...... oooh look: a bird!!

OK so I feel like my train of thought for this post totally derailed.... so you see what I mean.... OK I need to go do something now.

The Art of Procrastination.....

Saturday I didn't have to BE anywhere, and had no deadlines looming, so what did I do with my valuable free time? Cruised the interwebs, of course.

So sorry I missed out on these for Valentine's Day:

(Click here for larger image.)

Time to play with color. I created this palette at Kuler from a photo that I took last summer. It is really easy and fun (i.e. addictive...)

Perhaps dream about the places you'd like to visit someday.... Here is a site I can get lost in....

Cute animal photos, anyone? Try this.

OK I'm done. Time to get some work done.

P.S. The March newsletter will come out on Thursday- look for the sneak peek here on Wednesday. If you would like to sign up, there is a form at top right bar of this blog. It's gonna be a good one!

Milo's Visit

My brother and his family are in Florida this week, so we get to have Milo here for a visit. He is a good little boy, a very excellent furry nephew!

He keeps me company in the studio, and we go for walks and visit the horses in the pasture behind our property. He has energy to burn- it is not very often that you find him resting....

It has been nice having him around. We haven't had a dog in the house for a year and a half, since we lost our Daisy. I still have not gotten over that. At this point, I don't know if I'll have another dog... Daisy just occupies a very special place in my heart, and even now sometimes I am gripped by grief and can't believe that she is gone.....

But for now, we are enjoying Milo. He settled in quickly, and I think he thinks this is his new permanent home! But I am sure that he will be happy to get back to his family and his kids in a couple of days... I hope they bring him a nice souvenir... maybe a little tiny Disney World T-shirt???

What a Face!

How are we feeling this Monday morning? I am exhausted....

But this video cheered me up. What a face!!!
Maybe he could use some orthodontia (killer underbite there) and a face lift?  (Maybe not a full face lift, just the "Lifestyle Lift"- I'm sure he wouldn't want to look overdone....)

Happy Monday.

This Week's Recap...

You know those weeks when you are super busy, but it still seems like there's nothing interesting going on? Yep, it was one of those. Mostly, I spent my time finishing up a couple of quilts using my Joy, Love, Peace, Noel fabric line and writing patterns (blech! on the pattern writing!)
Last night I dropped off a pile for my machine quilter:

 One of the quilts has embroidered blocks to match the motifs in the novelty fabric:

The quilt patterns will be available in about a month.

Maddie was her usual helpful self. Not. What is it about cats that they have to be right in the middle of whatever it is you're trying to do? But if you're not busy, they can't be bothered with you??

I also had a valuable learning experience this week. Never try to iron ribbon with the iron on the cotton/linen setting. Bad move.

 And this week I also finished up a really cute project which will be in the next online issue of Dream, Laugh, Create magazine put out by the girls at LizzieBCreative. I will let you know when the issue is available. Oh and it's FREE! Yay!

Thursday I had lunch at California Pizza Kitchen with daughter and an old college friend (let me clarify: WE are not old, just our friendship :D). You know by now that you shouldn't expect food photos from me. I am usually too busy eating it to remember to snap a photo first.

Ok, so in hindsight, it wasn't a completely uninteresting week- in fact, it was a pretty good one! Have a great weekend!

Sewing, Sewing, Sewing...

If you follow more than one quilt/fabric designer's blog, you are probably aware that many of us currently find ourselves in the undertow of preparations for International Quilt Market, a trade show which will be held in Houston at the end of October. For the past couple of weeks, I have been sewing, sewing, sewing some more, and writing/tweaking/correcting patterns. Here is a peek at some projects that are underway, featuring my fabric line Sewing Room Social for Henry Glass Fabrics (available in shops and online in October):

The above is a border I am working on.

I know this doesn't look like much in the photo, but it will be sweet and simple, and done in 2 colorways, perfect for a little boy or little girl.

I did the above applique for a quilt, and I liked it so much I am doing another one for use in a companion project. It came out prettier than I'd hoped!

Maddie has been "helping" in the studio- which I really appreciate because I really do love having all of my fabric and projects covered with globs of black fur. Makes it all so much more interesting. These are pretty good photos of her- usually, because she is so dark, in photos she just comes out looking like a big black blob. At least in these she actually looks like a cat.

And if anyone has recently contacted me, and I have not responded in a timely manner, I do apologize. It's just that I have been sucked under lately, drowning in fabric (not a bad way to go, I guess.) I hope to come up for air soon....

Have a great weekend.