Summer Reading

Looking for some good reads this summer?

You may want to consider these books by Patrick Taylor. I have only listened to part of The Wily O'Riley so far, but it reminds me of the James Harroit classics, except  they are tales about an Irish country doctor instead of an English counrty vet. VERY entertaining.

School Supplies for Quilters

I am addicted to school supplies.
It's true.
Just ask my girls. They'll tell ya.
Paper, pencils, crayons, paper clips, folders, tape dispensers.............oh boy.

Now in years past, this was not an issue. We had students. They needed school supplies. I had my addiction. It worked.

But now........eh?
No one is all that excited to get fun school-y stuff from moi.

I've had to make a few changes.
Like just buy it all for myself.
Me. The quilter. It's so great!

You should definitely get in on this!
You can stock your studio for the whole year for $10 or less.
But you have to do it during the back-to-school sales-blitz in August.

Here are some of my favorite things:

1. Binder Paper. You can usually get this for 25 cents or less. Use it to print paper piecing templates. It is the same weight as the special paper piecing paper, but oh so much cheaper. And the lines on the paper really won't interfere with what your doing. (I have NEVER had a problem with it.)

2. Notebooks. These are great for jotting down your ideas (like those amazing middle of the night layouts that you can never quite remember after the sun comes up). And if you get the graph paper kind, they work great for drafting designs.

3.Post-It notes. These are good for.....well, everything. But I like to use them to make notes about patterns. I stick them right on the book pages, so that the next time I look at that particular pattern I will remember any mistakes in the pattern or tangents I might want to pursue, or notes for friends who might be borrowing my book.

4. Pens. You gotta have something to write all of this stuff down with.

5. Sharpies. These are a common item on workshop supply lists. Get them in regular and fine tip, just to cover your bases.

6. Colored pencils and a sharpener. These go with the graph paper. Use them for drafting ideas and designs.

7. Mechanical Pencils with extra lead. These are great for marking. I like to use them LIGHTLY when I am marking blocks for applique (especially back basting).

8. Glue sticks. Another common supply list item. You also need these for making mock-ups of blocks.

9. Paper scissors. Not only are they good for cutting paper (like applique templates) they are also good for travel. Blunt nosed ones will almost always make it through TSA. But if they don't, at least you only paid 50 cents for them!

10. Calculator. For calculating, of course.

11. Paint brushes. If you want to mod podge some cute fabric onto......well, anything.

12. Poster board. Use this to make yourself a portable design board. You'll be super glad you did. Tutorial HERE.

13. Crayons and coloring books/doodle pads. Use these to occupy any little people who might be hanging out in your sewing room. Or make something like this, this  or this to give as gifts.

14. Elmer's Glue. I have no idea why you need this, but I do know that every now and then it comes up and I can't find any. And I think to myself..."How is it that a girl with a school supply addiction doesn't have any Elmer's glue". So I am just sayin'...you might want to get some.

15. Friction Pens. These are great for marking fabric. They put down a nice bold line of ink that is easy to see. And when you are done with it, you just put a hot iron on it and it disappears. (It will reappear if the fabric gets really cold, but you can just iron it off again.)

Well, that is all I can think of right now, but if anything else comes to me I will add it to the list.
Happy shopping.

Update on the uses of Elmer's glue: quilters who dye their own fabrics use it as a resist when creating dye patterns.

Stir Crazy

So here I am.
Still here resting.
So much resting.
Rest rest rest.

The body says yes. The mind says no.

Oh boy.
Fortunately I have Pinterest as a distraction.
If you happen to follow me on Pinterest...super sorry about ALL OF THOSE PINS!!
But I needed some distraction!!

My girls and I have made Summer Pinterest To Do Lists.
Mine is full of things like this:

via

via

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And it is getting longer by the minute.
You can check it out here, and if you want to join me for any of these fun/creative ventures just let me know!!

Lula Wins!!

I am finally going to post a few of the WINNING photos from our sock monkey bingo game.

Lula won, of course. By a lot.

And here are a few highlights.

And now, I am off to help Lula spend her prize money. TTFN

The Show Down

Sock Monkey Bingo 2012 is finally coming to an end tonight.

We played from Memorial Day to Labor Day, but we haven't been able to get together to determine a winner. Out of town, back to school, working late, sick, and the list goes on and on.

But tonight, tonight is the night. Finally, Lula will be crowned Sock Monkey Bingo Queen. Oh yes. She will be gracious. She will "pshaw" and "ah shucks". And she will look at all the other photos with great interest and joy. But then, when that $25 pot comes sliding her way, well then she is gonna crow a little bit. And maybe show off a few photos tomorrow on the blog. Maybe.

In the meantime here is a look at her most favorite picture of all. BEAUTIFUL! (BTW, that beautiful bride...loser. And the new hubby...goin' down. I'm just sayin'.)

Summer List

Since today is the official first day of summer, I thought it would be a great day to post our summer list. And by "our" I mean my. Pretty much. My guy will be doing a lot of the same stuff. But not all of it.
Like #12. He's not doing that. Or 8, 9, 10 and 11. He's out there too. And #3. He is definitely out on #3. That one belongs to Mama. (That's me. Actually, nobody calls me Mama except me. And I only refer to myself by that name when I am trying to act like the boss. The BIG BOSS. The "don't even" boss. Yup, when I start throwing that name around my people know that they had better (or had better not, as the case may be)...Well, it doesn't actually work out that way in real life. But in my head....oh yeah....the boss is in the house!!)

Anyway, back to the list. Which, btw, I have already started. That's right people, Mama already started. (See what I mean. You knew.)


I already finished #5. Becca and I planted these a couple of weeks ago, on her birthday.

Here's mine:

I planted it in an old piano bench. One that I got for free at a yard sale.
(Yup, #11 is also in full swing.)

Here's Becca's:

She planted hers in part of an old red wagon my guy hauled home from the dump.
He only wanted the wheels and the chassis, so it worked out great.

#4 is also going well. We moved our garden from the old garden spot (which never got enough sun) to the old horse coral. Now it gets all sun, all the time. And it is a lot bigger than the old garden. I am loving it. And by "loving it" I mean LOVING IT!!

We have our tickets for #2 and our reservations for #7 and I have a cute new dress for #1(Ariel) and right this very minute there are 175 cupcakes cooling on my counter top for #1 (Courtney). And tomorrow morning Courtney and I are going to finish the cupcake chandelier. Whew!

Oh, and #3. Are you wondering what that is?
It is similar to Flat Stanley, only you play with a sock monkey instead.
On Memorial Day, we had a little family summertime "kick-off". We had a BBQ and made our sock monkeys. It was a lot of fun...and a lot of funny! I wish you could have seen my guy and our almost-son-in-law with a needle and thread!!

The Monkeys:

From left to right, these monkeys belong to: Courtney, Kyle, Me, Becca and, my guy.

And, just so you are in the know, my guy plans on losing because he says his monkey looks too stupid to be seen with in public. Perfect! That will make it a little bit easier for me to win!!

And if you want to see where these monkey have to go, you can click here for a peek at our bingo cards. (The monkeys must be photographed in each of the locations. The person who photos the most sites wins. And the prize.... a $25 pot! Oh yeah, Mama is gonna win all of that moo-la!)