Round n round n round the turntable goes

I have this song from Deanna Durbin (click link to hear it) stuck in my head inspired by the pillow I'm working on for my Poofy Pillow Swap partner.  She likes orange and circles. I took it as a challenge to try curved piecing.  I found loads of tutorials to "cheat"  and applique the circles. Which I *did* do for the smaller circles in the center. I want to quilt in a circle and didn't want to stitch around the appliques and I definitely didn't want to do raw edge - it's a pillow and the idea of unraveling stitches didn't appeal to me. I do like the look of raw edge, but not this time.  I used this tutorial and did Ok- a little bit ripply in a couple spots.  I learned to use the shorter pins on the ends instead of my favorite long ones.  I will be making this block again for my FTFYA quilt. 
I used some precuts that arrived in a ziploc from one of CA Mom's eBay excursions. There are 2 sizes:  6.5 inches and  close to 5 inches.  I don't know what the fabric line is.  I've used bits here and there - Lissys owl bag,  my beach house block etc.  They are fun prints! The orange swirly circles, are actually a Halloween print I bought to go with a cute Fox print but I will have to get more for that project.  :)
I hope to have the pillow ready to mail Monday as well as some other swap projects.
I have so many going on right now I'm having trouble keeping track so I made a wipe off project frame from an old picture frame.  I just used one that was in the closet but I need a larger one. 
My swaps:
Poofy pillows WIP
Getting to know you envelope WIP
#magicalforestmugrugswap- ideas forming
We Bee With it - not assigned yet
Placemat swap - not assigned yet
Tote bag swap - needs tweaking
Other WIPs
FTFYA quilt - 2 blocks started
Wild and wonderful - slowly but surely
Cozy Afternoon BOM - block 1 complete, block 2 this week
Christmas cozy afternoon - still thinking about it
Bruce's quilt - I had fabric and used it for another project
Snapshots - still collecting fabric
Disappearing hourglass - it's for me so going slow

Obviously I won't run out of things to sew!  But this morning's project is not sewing. I have Put on my plumbing hat. I am putting a new Rookiesnythuter in the toilet.  (the flusher contraption) and then I will be cleaning up the mess. 
Hope your Saturday is fabulous!

I *can* share this!

I am working on a major projects and really wanted to share with you, however,  it's a surprise and the recipient may or may not read my blog.  Phooey!  But I realized that I *can* share parts of the quilt because they aren't as revealing.  Other features of the quilt would scream "I'm making this for <insert recipient's name here>" 
I am writing about the rest of the blocks and will post them after the gifting is completed. 
The center block of this quilt is 16 inches  and when I sketched it out I had 12 blocks around it. But that made the 12 blocks rather small and most of them are applique - so I added a border around the center block and made the blocks 8.5. 
The first block is a fruit is the Spirit tree adapted from an embroidery I saw on Pinterest.  I used Stonehenge for the tree and scrappy greens for the leaves. Today I will be stitching everything and a friend is going to embroider the Fruits on the tree for me. 
I'm very happy with the way the pattern is coming together.  I am having fun making it.  Hopefully it looks as pretty in fabric as it does in my head!

Father's day

I have been blessed with many father figures in my life.  The Lord knew I'd need each one of them!  Dad (the one I'm named after) raised me till I was 3 then I got my Daddy Iain until I was 14, then Pasan (and my brothers too)  took over.  When I was  27 I got  my Dad back and I also got Fredly. 
Wow I'm blessed!  I also have some extra "dads"  that I borrowed.  Uncle Tom, Mr. Ted, Papa Bear Garrett,  John Waterloo, Dick Dekoning, Jim Delhotal, Rex Sr. Pastor Fritz.
These men have had an impact on my life and I wish them all a very happy Father's day!

Cozy Afternoon begins tomorrow!

I am super excited to start Jacquelynn Steves cozy afternoon quilt tomorrow! I have all my fabric awaiting me in a little tote.  I mistakenly thought this started on the first of June and I believe I signed up for it at the end of April.... So  my anticipation is running high speed!  This is the first time I've begun a BOM at the very beginning, and had all my fabric picked out and ready to sew.  I've been collecting raspberry and greens for a long while and I think this will be the perfect time to  use them.  

Raspberry and Greens
-sorry for the  horrible picture

someone suggested I make a quilt out
 of this picture... maybe someday soon!!!

This week I had the privilege and pleasure of  baby sitting my niece - I was able to do some s summer fun things that I had on my Pinterest board.  I told Emma Bean that I had a list and it has at least 111 things on it.  We flew kites,  had a picnic,  started reading Pippi Longstocking, 

one foot two foot purple foot yellow foot

 practiced painting with our feet (for a fun footprint gift later) built a fort (camped and roasted imaginary marshmallows), colored, made pink pancakes,  splashed through every Puddle we could find,  danced,  made up silly songs,  took walks and had a ton of fun. 
My list hasn't really shrunk much-I think it's like a hydra: cross off one project and two more appear!  Tomorrow I get to play at Bean's   again and  start a quilt!  Sounds like a fabulous Monday to me!

You can sign up for this free BOM Here

puddle jumping fun

From This : old mailbox To That: fun Letter box

I said the other day that I was working on my mailbox.  My original plan was to just spray paint  it with Rustoleum textured paint  and leave it just dark gray and classy.  However,  the paint....  Hmm....  It was probably me...  But it's much easier to blame the paint....  When I sprayed the paint, oh twas gorgeous.....
for a minute and then it was like piles of sand on the beach but only on one side. Maybe it was the wind..  Any how it wasn't pretty and since it's textured paint it wasn't too keen on being smoothed out either.  So I grabbed an envelope (it was in the mail pile just inside the door - had to move fast before the paint dried,  no time to Google "how to smooth piles of sand in your paint")  and scraped the piles of sand off the mailbox.  Kinda fitting to use an envelope. :p
Then I tried again and turned so the wind wasn't a factor.  Still had piles of  sand...  But not as bad,  scraped some more with my envelope. Then sprayed the top of the mailbox... Oops! not only do I have piles of sand but now I am out of paint!  Okay,  tried to fall back on sponge painting techniques (with my envelope)  but there wasn't enough sand in my pile.  Guess I'll  have to wait. 
Day 2 Hey! I have a can of black spray paint -  I can spray the top  and the legs with that and make it look better.  Shake it up and start to spray... Nooo!  It was more like spray spray, sputter, spurt then nada, ok we'll just clean the nozzle - it won't come off..  OK just pour the stuff on the nozzle and let it sit...  Hours later... Still nada. 
Okay time for plan B, no I guess this is plan C. My poor mail box is partially painted but I don't want to put it back up on the house cause it looks terrible.  Meanwhile my mail lady is having to place the mail in the box that is lying in the grass.  I have to get this finished.
I decided to disguise the sand piles with a design.  So off to Pinterest (thank you People Who Invented Pinterest - I love you) to search for painted mailboxes. I'm in a summer mood and loved the beachy ones but decided that I needed something less seasonal.  I sketched out my design, picked up my paintbrush and painted something totally different than what I sketched - sometimes the paint brush has a mind of its own.  I was liking it and almost ruined it because a little earwig AKA pincher bug climbed out of the mail box.  I had brush in my left hand, mailbox in the right and a palette full of paint in my lap! I kinda screamed (interesting sound when you have laryngitis) and jumped.  Swooped a bit  of paint across my postmark but it was fixable.  Now if said insect had possessed a couple more legs... Well imagine some splatter painting across my bedroom. 
I wanted something  *inside* the mailbox to make the postman smile so back to Pinterest I went. At first I searched for "mail quotes"  and up came a bunch of quotes from "You've Got Mail"  which means I will be viewing the movie later today.  "Don't you just love New York in the fall. Makes me want to run out and buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils..." ✏✏✏✏
So I searched for "letter mail quotes"  and came up with some neat ones. So many that I started a new pinterest board.  You can see it here. I just used my Sharpie to write the quote inside the lid and then drew an envelope with my name and address on it. 
My mail lady came just as I had finished spraying Magic spray on it.  She smiled.  Mission accomplished!
Now I'm gonna write a letter. 

Undeserved and unexpected

"An undeserved and unexpected gift is the most pleasant to give and to receive " this quote was on my calendar  and this morning I received a most pleasant gift from my swap angel! I love it!  There fabric is fabulous - there's a placemat (quilted AND  embroidered)  a coffee Cozy - with rick rack, heart head pins and the cutest fabric!  I am swooning!  Valentine's is my favorite.  The Embroidery reminds me of a picture of my sister when she was little  - I love embroidery but don't want to do it! I've been working on a project for my mom  since 1998. But I sure love it when some one else does it!  Thank you thank you thank you! (if you walk by my window you may see someone dancing around with a placemat)
Today I am making a list of all the projects I am working on and need to do.   I probably should make a list of blog posts too. I decided I need a white board in my studio so I can cross things off and remember others.  I started my list and got distracted by my squishy package.  I had to go to the door tho get the mail because I am painting my mail box and it's lying in the grass.  I should have videoed the look of confusion when the mail lady realized the mailbox was gone.  :) I will post a "from this to that" picture as soon as I have a "to that"
Have a great Monday 

Update! Today must be angel day!  Remember the person dancing around the room with a placemat?  Well now she's dancing around with a fat  quarter bundle and a mini quilt! I couldn't believe my eyes when the DHL truck stopped next door (no one lives there, it's under construction)  and proceeded to my house!  This package came all the way from Malaysia!   The lovely fat  quarters are  Zoey in lemon chiffon -  gorgeous!  And a mini quilt  that even matches my studio. I'm astounded at the generosity of our angels!  Quilters are good folk!