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

So January is gone and most of February with out a blog post!  I so stink at this but really would like to get better!!

Let's see, since the New Year youngest DS has been in several basketball tournaments with his 6th grade team.  His last one is this weekend.  He also tried out for the school play "Willy Wonka" and will play the part of Charlie's dad.  I'm not familiar with the part but I'm sure it will be great!  I'm going to the parent meeting in a few minutes to try to get on the costume committee.  Who wouldn't want to outfit Willy and the Oompa Loompas?!!

Older DS has been working out for football (yes, ALREADY).  They had a powerlift competition last Saturday and he got fifth place (and there were more than five in the class!).  He also sang a beautiful solo (Yes I'm biased) in the solo and ensemble competition and received a ""1" which is a "superior" rating for a class A (most difficult) solo.  I'm proud, he seems to care less.  Typical almost 16 year old, right?

Younger DD has finished swimming, got accepted to Bowling Green and their school of Business and received a partial scholarship as well!  Very proud of her, sad she's graduating soon.  Seems impossible in a lot of ways.  We are starting to look for prom dresses and planning her graduation party.

Older DD is back at college and working hard.  She was home this past weekend for some R & R and family time.  I suspect part of the homesickness was also related to no clean laundry!  Both girls had pneumonia the week before Valentine's day so I'm very glad they are feeling better!

I'm off to the play meeting but will be back soon to post some quilt and chunky house pictures!

Piece out, Jenni

Time is running out!

Here it is already folks. The end of 2008. I did okay on my resolutions I guess. I mainly wanted to keep my weight off which I successfully did until the last two weeks! I have a biiig list of resolutions I'm working on for 2009. Mainly to stay fit, stretch my creativity and get some stuff done. I will post it in January.

Sitting on the edge of your chair just waiting with anticipation now, aren't you?! lol. I wonder if anyone reads this anyway! (I bet my mom and dad do!) Love ya!

Anyways, above is a clock I made last year from a cd and hair clips. The atc's were also tags for a 12 days of Christmas swap I did. I need to make another of those clocks! It's based on one made by my good friend rackycoo. I'd love to make one for myself and my girls both want one.

I finished some hand applique on my quilt for dearfii and our flickr swap. It is almost ready to go but I feel guilty that I didn't get it mailed in December. It will go out Friday though.

Friday is the open house of the new Studio 202 for Susan N and Susan S. They are moving locations and I can't wait to see it. What a dream, to have your own studio to work in daily!! Very cool.

I'm off to try to find the rick rack I misplaced and to try to clean around 5 sleeping teenagers that are crashed in my living room. Tonight we go to dinner with our friends and come back home to ring in the new year. My kids are all doing something elses. Em is celebrating her boyfriend's birthday (tomorrow, happy bday Mike!), Jill and Jake are hanging out with their boyfriend and girlfriend and Mac, poor guy, is babysitting for 10 kids. Oh well, he's 12 and doesn't know better! The parents will all be next door so it SHOULD be okay. Probably his first and last babysitting job and not worth the fifty bucks!