I'm baa-aaack!

Here is my scruffy boy at 7 months old. I love his little fuzzy self. He's been a pretty good dog, all things considered. I need to get his hair cut but I love it scraggly.

I've signed up for two swaps on Craftster to get my crafty mojo agoin' again. The lap quilt swap, where I will send fabric to people they send to me. We all make a 12 1/2 inch block out of the fabric we receive and send it back. I'm heading to the cutting table to get it all fixed up for mailing and will post a pic of my choices when it's ready.

The other swap, which I'm incredibly excited about, is a Christmas stocking swap. I'm paired with the amazing kittykill, who I adore. I swapped with her in the bird swap and loved it. I have a huge list of things I want to make for her. The stocking will be for her DH and it is already designed in my head. I can't wait to get started. I need some projects to take to all these football practices and games.

Speaking of football, OH MAN OH MAN OH MAN! My oldest son's high school varsity team is 4-0. FOUR AND O. They played a killer game last night and the score was

At one point the score was 6-7 and it wasn't looking too good for our team. Then we had an incredible push to the endzone and our tough defense held off a touchdown by the other team. My ol' ticker can't take much more of this! This is one of the best starts by our school's teams in many years. So much fun to be a part of it and feed the boys afterwards. I love 'em all and am called "mom" by many. Cheesy I know, and I love it.

My big guy is #78

My other guy't team is 1-1. He is number 77 on the left of your screen

He plays both offense and defense and rarely gets a break in the game. He loves every minute, except when we lose like the last game. Their first game was awesome, and they won a tough battle in the last minutes.

So proud of both my football players!

The girls are both in college. Oldest dd is home for the weekend. She met us at her brother's game last night and we are going shopping soon. Younger dd is three hours away! ug, I miss the little darling. Her daddy is on his way there today. He decided to design his own "Dad's Weekend" since Miami doesn't have one like OU does. I made pumpkin muffins and chocolate chip cookies for her and her roomies.

Off I go to put together lap quilt packages and make Christmas surprises! The first set of goodies will be crocheted. Shhh, no more hints though!

Peaceful piecing,

Jenni

Slacker!

Such a busy summer! I have no pictures to post today. The puppy is 6 months old now and looks completely different than the picture posted last. Since I last posted:

• My daughter graduated from high school and we had a huge party at the house
• My other daughter moved out of the dorm and into an apartment and started summer school
• Hubby and I went to Las Vegas with his sister and her hubby
• We took the kids whitewater rafting in West Virginia for a weekend
• Hubby and I celebrated his birthday weekend in Put-in-Bay with some great friends (and missed the ones that didn't make it horribly)
• Hubby had back surgery (and is recovering nicely - going back to work today)
• My dear niece got married in Michigan to a fabulous guy. The kids and I went so hubby could recover from surgery and had fun seeing family and cousins and dancing the night away
• We went to a big family reunion for hubby's side and got to visit with his sister and her hubby, son and DIL.

Hubby goes back to work today, finally. It's actually only been two weeks, which is hard to believe. The first week was rough for him but he's doing well now and can walk pain free. His neurosurgeon is a superstar!

Hubby bought a "scooter". I can't tell how it differs from a motorcycle, but oh well. He can't tell my serger from my other machine, lol. I'm not letting him ride until he gets the okay from his doctor. He can't play golf for a few months so I hope he can ride before winter.

The boys are playing football, therefore so am I! As a team mom I am helping feed the high school boys almost daily during two a days. So far injuries to the team have been minimal. We had a huge group of football players and friends here Saturday for "the fight" on HBO. I would further show my ignorance if I tried to explain what the fight(s) are called or are about but I really enjoyed having the kids here and keep realizing that I'll only have them for a little bit longer.

My baby girl goes to college in 10 days. MY college, the one I hold dear sweet memories of. Where I met her daddy. Where her grandpa and her uncles went. I'm so excited for her to begin this phase of her life but I miss her already.

I'm gonna cry.

Craftwise the only swap I've done is a "44 cent" swap on craftster. We had to fill an envelope with craft supplies and homemade goodies and have it weigh less than an ounce and be PO machine friendly. I hope mine make it. I'm sorry to say that I'm not as overly excited and consumed by swapping as I once was. I'd really like to swap with people that do more fabric and fiber things like quilting and felting I think. Must be time to get over it and move on to other types of swaps or do more projects just for me. I think I'll look for some fabric ATC or some quilty ones.

Off to feed the team. I got my embroidery module for my machine for my birthday and haven't used it much. I won enough money in Vegas to buy a laptop to hook it up to. Yeah! Now when school starts I hope to practice a little more. I'd like to make some early Christmas things.

Off to feed the team. My no-bake cookies didn't come out right this time. I must have been off on the boiling part. Oh well, they'll still eat them. It's so insanely hot that I think I'll take a box of popsicles too.

Here's hoping someone is stitching and I can get up to my sewing area soon to do the same!

Jenni

Cricket is here!

We've had the little dickens for a couple weeks now.  He is 10 1/2 weeks old and keeping me pretty busy!  Happy, our 8 year old lab, is very stressed about his existence.  She is constantly growling at him to keep him in line.  Good thing I watched Cesar Milan of the Dog Whisperer!  What an amazing person.  I love his show.  I've definitely learned a lot by watching it.  I think he is so kind to the owners and great with the dogs.  I've learned enough to know that my little stinker's growling when he has to have his paws wiped needs to be nipped in the bud NOW before he gets aggressive.  Housetraining is getting there.  We go outside MOST of the time.  He is doing well in his crate.  We also have a doggie playpen, a portable thing that he can go in when we can't watch him constantly.  

The cat is getting a lot of chase time.  I was initially worried until I saw her come back for more OVER and OVER again.  When he is in his playpen she hisses at him at teases him.  He learned to go UP stairs by chasing her.  Still too little, at 5 1/4 pounds, to come down.

On the crafty front, I made more houses in the chunky swap.  I had a flash of inspiration and made them all from neckties.  It was much less involved than the last sets, other than prepping the bases for them, but I loved the results!

Here are the houses I made:

I used the labels as doors and the tie ends as chimneys.  Here are the ones I received from my partners:

I just love them!  They are from stunnedbanana, WYOKrista, playswithneedles and alteredmommy.  They are really different and look great on my mantle.

I also made costumes for my youngest DS middle school play.  They did a "jr" version of Willy Wonka.  I gussied up a jacket I had for Willy (a girl in our version) by making it bigger and adding sparkles.  It was an old silk jacket I had dyed purple years ago for oldest DD to wear in horse shows.  I also made squirrel tails and ears and the giant blueberry suit.  Unfortunately the suit was stuffed with newspaper and used in between scenes as a bean bag chair by the other cast members.  The only pic I have is of it squashed down with the paper fallen to the bottom and not distributed evenly.  She only had a minute to get into it off stage.  It worked and all was well.  Here is a somewhat blurry shot of the Violet in the blueberry suit and Willy in her jacket.
The kids were great and I helped do makeup which was fun.  My son was "Mr. Bucket", Charlie"s father.

The most fun I've had in the last week was playing with MY NEW EMBROIDERY MODULE! Hubby got it for me as an early birthday present.  The dealer was offering them half off so I took advantage of the sale.  Now my Bernina 440QE can embroider too!  There is quite a learning curve and I need to take the classes but I managed to make a little doggie embroidery to make a bed for Cricket and made two hooded baby towels using a tutorial I found on the net. I already gave them to the momma to be without taking a good pic, unfortunately.  The momma is my dd #2's friend and is having a boy in June.  Oh, speaking of DD#2, she is headed to Miami U, my alma mater!  Hubby went there too, as did my dad and two of my brothers.  She is very excited and I'm proud of her for getting in.  Now we're planning the high school grad party and gearing up for her first year of college (sniff!).

DS#1 got his license!  It's a mixed blessing. He can take his little brother to football and to school but I don't see as much of him!  Good thing he's always hungry - he finds me when he wants to eat!

I'm looking for a laptop now so I don't have to haul my sewing machine from the third floor (my sewing area) to the first floor where the computer is.  My machine needs to be hooked up to the computer as it embroiders.  I also am starting to finally get my serger in operating order. I took a class at the Sewing Expo in Cleveland last March and it inspired me to take it out of the box (three+ years after I got it, shame shame!).

Gotta take care of my new baby.   Peaceful piecing to all!

Jenni

Chunky Houses two

Here are the fronts of the little quilted chunky houses I made for my partners on Craftster for the chunky house swap.

And here are the backs of them.

I used different techniques on each house. The green on the left was pinwoven on the front and then stitched. The black and white was kind of a mismash of things to get the ying yang affect I wanted. The little hut had a roof woven of ripped fabric strips, that was fun. The one on the right was pieced and then I loved the idea of the backyard tree with a swing. It was made on a very cloudy blah day when I was yearning for spring weather.

(Yes, I really wrote "yearning"!)

I received some lovely houses as well. The swap gallery is well worth a peek if you have some MORE time to waste.

I'm also posting a pic here of the quilt I made for a flickr swap. It had to go to Australia and I'm really not sure if it made it through the fires or if the mail REALLY takes 6 weeks!! Crazy! The theme was favorite things and my partners favorites were red, yellow, ricrac, birds, flowers and trees. (If I remember correctly). I'm not happy with the quality of my handquilting but I thoroughly enjoyed the process. I love love love stitching!

I hope it makes it to its new home soon!

In other news, I keep looking at the picture below (it's our background on the computer and on my cell phone). I've fallen in love with that ootsy cootsy widdle face. (Puppy's bring out the baby talk, sorry). We have a list of names on the fridge. My son still likes "Cricket" even with major opposition on most fronts. I like "Gus" and "Rudy". Time will tell. We will visit the little bugger again when oldest DD is home on Spring Break. We can't take him from his mama until the 4th or 5th of April. In the meantime I have learned that his black and tan coloring is called "phantom" coloring and am slowly bringing in supplies we need for him. (And many we don't!). We still need a crate and maybe a playpen type pen to keep our things safe from him and him safe from Happy until we know if she will accept him. I'm still convinced he will be "her" baby and she'll love the company. Dream on Pollyanna!

SPRING is coming! I saw a Robin last Thursday. It was the morning of the funeral service for one of my best friends' dad. He would have loved any extra celebration of his life and would have appreciated the Robin showing up at that moment. I know I did. RIP Ed!

Off to work on projects of the non sewing variety, unfortunately.

Peace and piece! Jenni

New addition

We will be adding a new member to our family in April!  Today Mac (youngest DS) and I went to Croton, about an hour away, and put a deposit on a cockapoo.  They were only 3 weeks old and the momma was the sweetest most gentle thing!  She didn't mind us handling her babies at all and was very lovable herself.  Mac, in true Mac fashion, fell in love with the first little critter she put in his arms!  It was hard to choose but that it "his" new puppy, and he is naming him "Cricket".  He can't leave his mommy until he's 7 weeks old which will give us time to get things ready and get a crate, food, dishes, etc.  We also need to study up on introducing a puppy to an older dog.  Happy may not be so happy when she has competition for our affection!  Mainly my affection I think.  Anyway, we researched that cockers and poodles are not really territorial and don't get "little dog" syndrome where they try to be the leader or the boss.    I think Happy will be fine.  DH thinks we just put a deposit on a very expensive "Happy snack".  He said the same thing about the kitty last year at this time, that she would be a snack but they very peacefully coexist giving me hope that puppy and Happy will do the same.  I personally think she will love having something to baby.  I hope I'm right!  Anyone with any tips, they're welcome!  

Amaryllisroze wanted a sacred heart quilt in the craftster IYP swap we were doing. The only twist, she wanted it in the immaculate heart style, with a knife through it. I enjoyed the challenge and had lots of fun coming up with this version. I made the heart separately with lots of trims and stitchings couched to it, then finished the edge so it could have stood by itself. Then I made button hole type openings for the knife, which was sewn to heavy peltex stuff. A few roses, some embellishments and there you have it! I had wanted to make a fun border with crazy quilting or charms in it but ran out of time. The background was reverse appliqued but I did a crummy job so I ended up zig zagging it. Everything was from my rather extensive stash, too.

A close up version of the flames

And of the handle:

And a picture of the great triptych she sent to me:

Isn't it great?! It matches my living room well. I love the little paper doll clowns on strings.

On the diet front, I had a lot of "fun" between Christmas and February. So much that it added up to gaining 15 pounds since Thanksgiving! I decided to join Weight Watchers with a friend. We go to meetings on Thursday nights so today is weigh in day. As of last week I had lost 7 of my 15 fun pounds and am hoping I had a good week this week, too. I'm still trying to follow the basic principles I learned in South Beach, mainly eat lots of whole grains, fiber, lean protein and fruit. I'm trying to avoid sugar, the devil's food, because it usually sets me off and makes me want to eat more of it. I need the portion control and points counting of Weight Watchers PLUS I like that you can allow yourself some of the good stuff once in a while, as long as you account for it.

Being a grown-up and accountability. Bleh. I need to get my big butt moving, too. Happy and I have been trying to walk more. It will be easier when it stays warmer. Here she is sporting the same "Hey I just wanna lay here" attitude that I have!



I'm off to make some more chunky houses and get my hair cut today.

Piecefully,
Jenni

Chunky House Love

Oops, I originally posted the chunky houses I made for the first chunky swap but realize now I did that earlier so I've taken them off. Sorry!
See below for the houses from the last chunky house swap on craftser.org. I am currently working on the houses for the next swap, which are due to go out Saturday (yikes!).

Anyway, I did two mini quilts for the 6-12" mini quilt swap on flickr. The first hasn't been received yet by dearfii in Australia (it takes forever for the mail to get there!). They've had all those terrible fires there, I hope it survived! Here is a sneak peek (DON'T LOOK fii!)

And a gees bend inspired quilt for cecysg, which she HAS received.

Tomorrow I will post pictures of the wonderful triptych I received from amaryllisroze and the quilty (which I hope she gets by then) I sent her.

Off to work on more chunky houses!


Piecefully,
Jenni