Sindy's Stuff

What's on my Desk

2012-01-28T16:20:00.000-06:00

I got an email back at the first of the year asking for some simple houses. Last weekend while I was visiting my friend Vikki we had fun dreaming up different houses. I now have the templates just the way I want them and am playing around with color placement. My personal preference would be brights or plaids, but solid colors show up so much better on the web.

2012

2012-01-03T17:04:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the lack of posts on here of late. Jon had a small bowel obstruction and surgery on November 23. It was a close call and has been a rough recovery. He took up a lot of my free time, lol. Now though things are getting back to normal and I feel like I can take a breath without breaking. We had an amazing Christmas together with family and close friends.
On the quilting side of things, I know I still have a sewing room out there, somewhere. There is a new block of the month up on the FatCat Patterns web site. Go check it out!

Quilter's Guilt

2011-11-12T08:18:00.000-06:00

OMGoodness, it is that time of year again. It struck me yesterday that I am woefully behind on my sewing goals for holiday gifts. The stockings, table runner, tree skirt and throw quilt, all for various family members. I had a panic attack, I didn't even know where in the rearranged sewing room the project boxes were, much less how much I had gotten accomplished on each one. I scrambled out to the sewing room and performed a frenzied clean up so I could access the situation. It looks grim. The quilt is finished blocks waiting to be assembled and quilted. I think I can get it finished. The tree skirt is fabric set aside in a box. Okay, I will just make that for next year. Table runner, crap, fabric in box all nicely cut up, still looking for the pattern I was going to use. Alright that one is a maybe. Stockings, gone, nadda, zip. Nowhere to be found. Did I imagine making them? I sit here frantically trying to remember if I had actually promised anyone these gifts, or had just made the commitment in my mind.
Next year, next year I will do better. Really I will :(

What's on My Desk?

2011-10-17T10:59:00.000-05:00

This week it is chickens. I have been in a bit of a slump, probably due to the emotional exhaustion of having my oldest baby move out and get married. (Love to both John and Vicky, I couldn't be happier for you). So I started doodling. Here a chick, there a chick, everywhere a chick chick. There are nine chickens done in EQ7 as of this morning, with a few more waiting to be hatched. I haven't decided if this will become a new BoM for 2012. There are so many ideas swirling around in my head right now.

I thought it would be fun to share a little preview with you on how they currently look. All chooks subject to change however!

What's on My Desk?

2011-09-09T09:45:00.000-05:00

This week it has been dogs. Boxers and Great Danes to be specific. I enjoy dogs in general and working with them in an applique setting is a bit of a challenge. The artist in me wants MORE detail, while the quilter in me is screaming keep it SIMPLE! I did have a wee bit of frustration when after a full day of playing around in EQ 7, I corrupted my project file. Lesson learned, do not allow applique patches to extend over the outside edge of the block, even for a minute. I guess the auto save kicked in while I was moving patches around, and the file will not open now. Oh well, at least when I remade the project I already knew what I wanted things to look like!

I won't complain though, EQ 7 is still the absolute best quilting tool I have!

Sewing Room Update

2011-08-17T09:53:00.000-05:00

I found the most amazing storage cabinets for my room at the local Salvation Army Store! The sewing / laundry room is looking so much bigger with out the counter top cabinets in there that I passed on to Jon. Spent the weekend putting things in place and had planned to spend Monday folding, petting and sorting my stash into its new home. Murphy had other ideas though. Sunday morning my washing machine made a horrifying noise. Sunday afternoon the refrigerator decided it wanted in on the action too and produced its own version of nasty noise. Lucky for me my dependable repair guy was able to come by Monday bright and early. Fridge was an easy fix, just a little slow drippy leak that had froze up the fan. The washing machine however was pronounced dead. I shouldn't complain, it had served faithfully for over 12 years. Time for a new washer, but there was just one little problem. 12 years ago, shortly after buying the old washer, we converted the garage. The only door was 24 inches wide. The old washer could not come out and a new one could not go in. My Super Hero Husband is very handy, but even he admits he is in no way a carpenter. Best Bud Larry had the tools and the know how though. Watching Jon saw through my house has got to be one of the most disturbing things I have ever experienced! He even found an electrical outlet that had been covered over at some point. Now we have the new doorway roughed in and the old washer moved out. Lowe's is delivering new washer after lunch, and the weekend project will be to frame the door and re panel the kitchen wall. Having a bigger doorway is going to be wonderful!

Summer

2011-07-27T09:51:00.000-05:00

This summer has been a real doozer for triple digit days. My outside time has become limited to early mornings and late evenings. Inside we are keeping things as cool as reasonably possible. That means most of the day I am bitching and moaning about being hot, lol. There has been little to none designing or sewing happening and that saddens me a bit. That does not mean I haven't been busy though. Johnny and Victoria will be moving into their new apartment next weekend. I have been teeter tottering between the being melancholy over my first little bird leaving the nest, and being giddy over Jon getting his own hobby room! Johnny will be taking the furniture from my sewing room, and Jon will be moving my cabinets and counters into his new "man cave". Jamie Lee and I are having run planning the "new" sewing room with an eye to having both our machines set up and running. Aren't I lucky that she wants to quilt!

1600 Fun

2011-06-20T16:11:00.000-05:00

Jamie and I were looking for quick and easy summer quilting projects. The gals over at the Scratchingpost Yahoo Group had been talking about a pattern they referred to as 1600 that used 40 different 2 1/2 inch strips. The perfect item for this project would have been a precut jelly roll, but we have an enforced budget here. So Jamie and I went stash shopping right here in the cabinets and drawers at home. I have been collecting (hoarding) plaid fabrics for years, it is time they became something! I pulled out enough to cut both a light and a dark quilt. And yes I have to confess that even after pulling 80 different plaids, there are still unused ones in the sewing room. Saturday we went out to Larry and Vicki's and I cut 2 1/2 inch strips. All day long.

We ended up with three home made jelly rolls of the lighter fabrics, and three of the darker ones. Today my intention was to just sew the strips into one long strip and roll them back up. Jamie has gone to camp for two weeks and really wants to play too. Sorry Jamie, I know your going to read this. I just couldn't help but put one, just one set all the way together. You can grumble at me later, lol.

It all went together very easy. Although somehow I got the stripes running in the wrong direction. I had wanted them running horizontal. Here is a picture of Stevie holding it up. Just big enough for a couch throw, or we can maybe sew two together and make a proper bed quilt. That brainstorming will happen later. I promise to wait till Jamie is home before I go hogging all the sewing fun to myself!

Clean Sewing Room

2011-06-05T19:36:00.000-05:00

This post is mainly for Marj and my Mom. I wanted to show Marj how I fitted her hand me down furniture into my sewing area. And Mom has never seen my space cleaned up! Look Mom! Cleaned counter!

Things are still a bit cramped in there, well alright, more than a bit. At least until Johnny is out on his own and Jon takes over his old room with his "Manly" stuff. Yes that is a nightstand sitting on my counter top :) right now it is housing my collection of plaids. Using some of them up is one of the projects I would like to accomplish this summer with Jamie.

In the second picture you can see the lovely furniture Marj gave me. It now houses all of my stash! And most of the sewing machines that are not in use. If you look closely you can see a 221, 201, 301, 400 and two 401. We won't discuss my fixation with old Singers.

And in this picture you can see that spoiled Mr. Waa Waa has a basket under both sewing cabinets. His basket of choice depends upon which machine I am using at that moment.

Summer has Arrived!

2011-05-31T16:33:00.000-05:00

And here in Texas that means porch time and BBQ. I have been trying hard to make our porch a bit more presentable, it always feel like a yard sale to me. This year I found some amazing build it yourself log chairs at Big Lots. Stevie was drafted into the project of building them for me and he did an amazing job of it. Jon had him assemble the chairs in my sewing room. All was dandy until they went to move them out! The door was too small! Yikes. Jon teased me and was saying he would just cut an inch off each leg. I got grumpy and laid down for a nap while they took the door jam apart.

The the chairs sat in the living room for two days while we had some strong storms. Some of us didn't mind that at all, can you guess who? Now the chairs and matching table are out where they belong and I just LOVE them! The flowers are blooming in the sidewalk bed, amazing, nothing lives there long. I have an assortment of potted tomatoes, eggplant and peppers.

Those of you who know me are falling off your seats right now. I have to include pictures as proof! I cannot grow anything, lol.You can also see my amazing thrift store bargain, the huge strawberry pot was only 14 dollars! Viki was the only one who understood my excitement here, the family just nodded and thought I was crazy squealing over a clay pot.

And last but not least, remember the Texas Lilac bushes I put in last year! They have doubled in size and are blooming!

What's on my Desk

2011-04-23T09:31:00.001-05:00

This weeks doodling in EQ7 started out as just a castle and has now evolved into many. This is still a work in progress, I envision a knight on a charger, a princess and perhaps even a coat of arms to add to the theme. Although I am not exactly sure how I will present it all in a single quilt. More than likely it will just be another collection of blocks.
I have also gotten a request for some Judaic designs. Jamie and I plan on making a trip to the local library today, me with sketch book in tow. Which reminds me! I really need a new sketch book!

What's on my Desk

2011-03-25T08:00:00.000-05:00

I have really been enjoying myself with EQ7 this past week. Easter Row x Row has finally made it out of my imagination and into a project! It also inspired a few place mat settings. These will go onto the website April 1st. I am still working on a couple of Princess themed blocks, hopefully they will be done by then also.

Vacation

2011-03-20T15:17:00.000-05:00

Friday March 11th Jon and I left on vacation with Vikki and Larry Freberg (kids God parents and our best friends) for a driving vacation. This was the first time in nearly 22 years that I have been away from the kids for more than a long weekend. Jamie stayed with Marj (Larry's momma and adopted Grandma), and the boys kept care of the house and animals. Our trip took place in the converted city bus that Larry and his Dad built. Here is a picture of Jon and Larry standing next to "Big Red". The guys had a plan on where we were going, Vikki and I were along for the ride and relaxation. Our first stop was in Durant Ok at the Choctaw casino. We spent the night in the parking lot! Then we headed into New Mexico. Our goal was to reach Albuquerque, so the guys could ride the Sandia Peak Tram. We tried to drive along as much of the old Rt 66 as we could. I have to admit though, that drive was depressing. So many abandoned buildings and homes.
There were many tourist traps along the way. I think the one I enjoyed the most was the Devil's Rope Museum I never imagined there were that many different types of barbed wire! Another treasure we found was the Fire and Ice Caves in Bandera. This is where it became very obvious that I was suffering from altitude sickness. I ended up sitting and waiting on a rough hewn bench while the others made the climb. Larry was quite concerned about leaving me. He showed me how to draw an arrow in the gravel with my toe in case I went back to the store. So they would know I had moved on and not been eaten by a bear, he is quite the jokester. About 5 minutes later my breathing had returned to normal and I could hear more than just myself gasping for air. The bird song was beautiful! I was sitting facing the way they would be returning when the bird song stopped...and I could hear something large scrunching up the trail behind me. All I could think of was Bear, because of Larry of course! I wasn't about to turn around and look, so I closed my eyes and kept as still as I could pretending I was imagining it all. The footsteps came closer, and soon I could hear a huffing puffing sound. I squinted my eyes open, thinking if it was a bear at least I would see what was about to eat me! Then the creature ran right up beside me and laid it's big shaggy head in my lap! I about wet myself, but was extremely happy to discover it was only a very friendly very large dog!
While in Albuquerque we visited the Sandia Resort Casino I lost and Jon won, so we broke even, lol. The guys got their Tram ride, right at sunset. Vikki and I stayed below.

The next leg of our trip was to Durango Colorado. We rode the train! Now that was fun! Such amazing scenery! The weather was beautiful. Here is a picture of me at the turn around point. You can see I look a bit peaked, still having problems breathing. One of the highlights of this bit was Larry walking into the ladies bathroom by mistake, it almost made up for his bear comments. Jon cooked us all a wonderful steak dinner and we discussed where to drive next. Vikki and I were tired and longing for our own beds at home, but the guys were still full of energy and ready to go.
The next morning we headed to the Great Sand Dune National Park. Guess what they had? Signs all over warning about Bears! We found a perfect camping site for the bus. Larry and Jon walked out onto the dunes. Us silly Texas folk couldn't stop ooohing and aaahing over the beauty of the dunes and mountains. We had hoped the sky would be clear for star gazing that evening, but at least the full moon was able to break through from time to time. We left the blinds up on the bus so we could watch out during the night. Vikki woke up in the morning to find a herd of deer surrounding the bus, she woke Larry who snuck outside and took pictures! Jon and I slept through that part, lol. Much to the guys dismay it was now time to head home to Texas. We were tired and running out of clean clothes. Larry wanted to end our journey with a BANG so he chose to drive through Wolf Creek Pass, in a bus mind you, now that was without a doubt the most frightening thing I have even done in my entire life! Beautiful. awe inspiring and nerve wracking all at the same time. After that excitement we drove through the Comanche National Grasslands heading back south. We were the only people on the road, it was a bit eerie. So open and desolate, I bet it looks a lot different in the spring or summer. We reentered Texas on Friday morning. Estimated time of arrival back home, 2am Saturday morning if we kept driving. You tend to forget just how big Texas is. Larry and Jon were determined to keep driving. Vikki and I of course fell asleep :) We didn't make it home though, Larry decided we needed one last hurrah and turned the bus back north to Oklahoma. He twisted our arms and forced Vikki and I to go to Choctaw again! Can you imagine that? LOL, we had a blast and played till dawn. Then it really was time to go home. We were ready. All in all it was a terrific time. You wouldn't think four people could live in a forty foot box for 9 days and still come out in good spirits, and closer friends! I wonder what the guys will dream up for next year?

What's on my Desk

2011-02-28T14:56:00.001-06:00

I have been busy playing around with Electric and some special requests that have come across my desk. Sunglasses, or maybe eyeglasses. I think these would look cool with black frames and multicolored fabric for the lenses...all I see is fabric! A coffee pot to go along with the Cup of Joe pattern. And my favorite so far I had a request for a doll or paper doll type pattern to be used for quilts intended for an orphanage overseas. In specific they wanted ethnic looking babies. I played around with it a bit and this is what I came up with. Look for these to go live on the FatCat Patterns site March 1st.

Brrr!

2011-02-01T13:39:00.001-06:00

Below freezing, snow, sleet and ice. That sure doesn't sound like a Texas winter to me. Everyone is home today all the schools are closed. The back yard is a sheet of ice. Panda in her nice thick coat thinks this is just the most fun she has ever had. Mr. Waa Waa thinks otherwise. He has been hiding under quilts on the couch shivering.

I asked the kids if any of them had a hoody that was ready to be retired. Lucky for Waa Waa, Stevie had one. Time for some home made doggie jammies.The first thing to do is cut the sleeve off the hoody. Cut it close to the shoulder and leave the cuff attached.

Then I slip it over Mr. Waa Waa's head and mark where his legs would be. We are not being fancy here, we want functionality. Use your scissors and cut an X on your mark. Pull it open a bit with your fingers to assure the little guys has enough freedom to walk without being bound up. Nobody likes tight jammies.

Try it on again placing pup's legs through the holes. Now fold up the back to the length you want and trim it again. I leave his a bit long, and fold them up over his chest when he runs outside. That way we avoid sprinkles!

Waa Waa loves his jammies and will actually bring them to me when he gets cold. Today though they just aren't enough. He finally stopped shivering after getting his new duds, his favorite fuzzy blanket and a pillow fort! Can you say...S.P.O.I.L.E.D?

What's on my Desk

2011-01-25T07:28:00.002-06:00

Mug Rug Fever seems to have over taken the cyber quilting world, have to admit I have been smitten too. I just love these quick and easy little rugs. I reworked a couple of my designs to fit onto a 6 x 10 rug for personal gifts, then decided I would share them. You can find them on the FatCat Patterns site Feb 1st. bet your sitting there thinking there is no way you would attempt applique that small, lol. This is definitely a project geared towards top stitch applique!
This week I finally added a Singer Featherweight to my collection. Needless to say I have spent a LOT of time on the web learning more about this little darling. One interesting thing I learned is that not all Featherweights are black! Feb 1st this sewing machine block will be added to the FatCat Patterns site. I thought it would be fun to show it in the different color ways here.

Happy Day!

2011-01-17T15:26:00.000-06:00

I am so excited I just have to share this. I was trolling through Craig's List looking for a sewing cabinet for Vicky, I intend to give her a machine and want it in a nice sturdy cabinet. Then I found this beauty! I felt kind of bad because the young man didn't know or appreciate what he had, but that didn't stop me from scooping it up for his 100 dollar asking price! The machine is a beaut, but her wiring all needs to be replaced, it actually crumbled apart in my hands. The wheel however turns smoothly and I am sure Jon and I can get it running right along. First job though is to clean up the cabinet. I will be keeping this one for myself (greedy me) and gifting Vicky with the cabinet I already had! The cabinet base opens up and has 3 drawers a cubby and a thread rack. Deeper inside the case are three small cupboards with closing doors. It has the original knee control lever! And the spring bar that pops out to support the extended sewing area.

Critter Update

2011-01-03T19:16:00.000-06:00

Many of you know we had a litter of puppies on Thanksgiving. These little buggers are now 6 weeks old and have free run of my kitchen. Housebreaking and socializing are moving along at a wonderful pace. We will be visiting Doc (our vet) quite a bit this week. The babies are due their second check up and first shots, and Mr. Waa Waa is scheduled to have his "Swagger" removed.Since everyone loves puppy pictures I figured I would share a couple.

Fart Cookies

2010-12-20T16:57:00.000-06:00

I have been asked to repost this. Merry Christmas all.

I nearly forgot! Today I am making Christmas cookies. I am not a traditional
cookie maker, that shouldn't surprise anyone! I make hundreds of gingerbread
boys each year, but the family favorite is what we call "Momma's Fart
Cookies".

This is a recipe that has been handed down in my family. It was originally
known as Wine Drop Cookies, no idea where that name came from. Every year as
children we would look forward to the cookie box that would arrive in the
mail from my Nanny (Momma's Mom). Inside would be a huge 10 inch gingerbread
boy for each of us kids, and a dozen Wine Drop's. This was a BIG event for
us. One of the things you treasure and want to carry on with your own
children.

So - - why has my version of this wonderful holiday tradition taken on such
a name change? Gluttony. Pure and simple. Nanny's cookies when consumed in
moderation - for instance, 12 cookies divided between 4 grandchildren - has
no noticeable effect on anyone. These same cookies when placed on a platter
by the dozens, and set out for unsuspecting by passers to munch on - can
have devastating results.

I have learned over the years that there are a couple of functions you do
NOT want to bring these cookies to. A teacher staff meeting at work, a baby
shower or Sunday school. Why you're asking? What can be so sneaky about a
simple brown lumpy cookie with powdered sugar on top? Molasses. Any of you
familiar with the Powers of molasses? LOL, next time you get constipated try
a wee bit in your coffee or tea as a sweetener! VAROOM!!! In a cookie, it
does not have such heroic effects, but it does cause gas - - lots of gas - -
No seriously, I mean LOTS of gas.

Every year I make these Fart Cookies. On each platter I wrap up for giving
away I include a little warning note - "Caution, these cookies contain
Molasses - a natural laxative. Eat sparingly." Every year I have folks
begging for the recipe and laughing over the fact that they did not heed my
warning :-) And everyone calls them Fart Cookies!

In a large mixing bowl combine -

2 cups of brown sugar

1 cup of Crisco

1 cup of molasses

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of cloves

1 teaspoon of salt

2 teaspoons of baking soda dissolved into 1 cup of water

1 cup of raisins (optional)

5 cups of flour

Mix it all up nice and good. Then drop by the spoonful onto your cookie
sheet. I use a large soup spoon for this. Bake at 350 for anywhere from
10-13 mins. It will depend upon how big you made your drops :-) Cookie will
be cake like in texture when done. While cookies are still warm sprinkle
generously with powdered sugar.

Fused Applique Patches for trades and swaps

2010-12-18T01:08:00.001-06:00

I never thought you would catch me making a tutorial but here goes. On the Scratching Post Yahoo Group we do quite a few swaps of fused applique patches. We do not swap the background squares, only the applique. This really cuts down on our postage costs and allows more international friends to participate. The concept of how to make the patches though can be a bit to wrap your brain around. I will show you how I made the FAPS (fused applique patches) for two of our current projects.

As you can see here I already have some coffee cup bits cut out. I am fusing the Heat Bond Lite onto the fabric I will use for a cupcake top.

Then I trace around my template directly onto the paper of the Heat Bond Lite.

Carefully trim along the lines.

Here you can easily see the separate patch elements of the coffee cups and cupcakes. Now our guidelines specify that you only need to assemble the coffee cups further if you have a large enough mailing envelope. The cupcakes though need to be completed. My envelopes are large enough so I will be completing both appliques here for you.

Start with the mug part of the coffee cup. Gently peel the fabric back from the Heat Bond.

Then position the handle pat of the cup so the edges are overlapping about 1/8 of an inch or so.

Lay the fabric from the mug section back down and iron back into place.

Do pretty much the same thing with the cupcake. This time gently peel the paper up from the bottom of the icing section.

Slide the base / cupcake holder section between the fabric and Heat Bond of the icing section.

Iron them together.

Now I have two complete FAPs all ready to mail.

The fusible holds the applique together and the paper backing gives it a bit of body. When the swapper receive their patches they have the excitement of getting one from all their quilting friends, without the stress of worrying if their machine applique skills are up to snuff. Each swapper sews her patches into blocks herself.

Sneak Peek!

2010-12-06T09:22:00.000-06:00

Hello Friends! I thought I would give you a sneak peek at the BoM I will be starting in January 2011. The working name for this one is "Fiesta!". I am not completely 100% set on the color placement yet, and intend to also work it up in a lighter version.

What's on my Desk

2010-11-30T10:00:00.000-06:00

I have been cooking up some fun and games for the Scratching Post (Yahoo Group). This year we will have a Weekly Joe, coffee mug exchange. And a Cup Cake birthday club. Since we have an international membership we trade the fused applique patches without the background fabrics. It cuts down on our postage costs and by using our own backgrounds all our blocks go together easier. The Scratching Post exchanges are scaled smaller to fit into standard sized envelopes. I will however be sharing a larger sized version of the patterns on the FatCat Patterns site.

Wally Waa Waa Update

2010-11-14T17:19:00.000-06:00

Mr. Waa Waa is 7 months old now. Accidents inside are pretty much a rare occurrence. It gets tricky when it is raining. I use a water spritzing bottle for bad dogs. When it rains, Waa Waa thinks the whole world is telling him he is a bad dog! He use to have a rather large collection of hand me down beanie babies to play with. Panda has played with them for 3 years now and been so so gentle with her babies. Waa Waa on the other hand loved them to bits; itty bitty bits. We had a beanie babie round up / toss away after we discovered somebody (guess who) had eaten the pellets. Now we are trying to find toys he will play with. EVERYTHING we give him gets chewed to shreds! He can sit, dance and understand No. All in all not bad progress. Panda loves him. The cats only tolerate him. We have had a bit of a cold snap here, that was motivation enough for Tigger to allow him some snuggles.

What's on My Desk

2010-10-30T13:18:00.000-05:00

Hi there! This has been a busy couple of weeks. I had a special request for a Chow Chow dog. My first attempt at that turned out looking more like a bear. So I went back to the drawing board and made the ears pointier and added a blue tongue. Things still didn't look right to me, so I added a bit more to the ruff. Now I am happy with it. On the bright side, even though this request gave me fits, I did end up creating two different patterns! Chow Dog and Grumble Bears. Then I got to playing around with Snowmen. All four of these new blocks will be posted on FatCat Patterns Sunday night.

Bedroom Done

2010-10-16T09:03:00.001-05:00

Jamie and I have had a project. We wanted to give her bedroom a fresh new look. The kids had shuffled bedrooms some time ago and she was making do with Blue. Blue wallpaper, Blue tile and Blue blinds. Now while that might have been good for the brother, we wanted a change. First we stripped all the old paper off. Then we primed. Then we put up paint-able wall paper and painted it a very bright white. The closets in this old house have ancient sliding doors that hang on a track at the top and wobble all around. We replaced that with a fabric shower curtain! Aunt Raenell gifted Jamie with a bedroom suite that had been her Grandmother's. And here is a peek at Jamie's fresh new bedroom! We found a great comforter for her to use until we can decide on a "grown up" quilt for me to make. Put in some new blinds and added a bit of home made wall art. At some point it will need new tile, for now there is a BRIGHT geometric rug that matches the comforter. I have to say it was a lot of hard work (and my wall paper stripping partner faded out on me, lol) but we are SO HAPPY with the end results. About the paint-able wall paper - It was easy to put up, but man oh man did it have a stink!

Family Fun

2010-10-15T06:30:00.001-05:00

Have I ever mentioned just how much fun my family has together? Recently we were asked for a family portrait (/wave Dad). Well that set off a very lively discussion and a picture shoot out at Larry & Vikki's place. Vikki was our photographer. Everyone was laughing, camera jiggling, teeth falling out..it was a blast! Teeth falling out??? Well yes. Stevie and I fed quarters to a gumball machine and got everyone "Bubba Teeth". Maybe next time we will behave and get proper photos.

Sewing Space

2010-09-29T22:00:00.000-05:00

This is it! For the moment at least my sewing area is organized and clean. I share my space with the washer and dryer in the laundry room. In this picture you can see my cutting counter with one of the older Singers in the corner waiting to be cleaned. You can also catch just a glimpse of the Mr. through the door to the kitchen.

Here is my cabinet and Singer 401. I sit snuggled between the dryer and the AC unit. Behind my chair is a laundry cart like what you find at laundromats, that was one of the BEST gifts I have ever gotten!

Here you have a good look at my Stash area. New and improved with see through storage bins! Not too bad considering all of this is hand -me-downs.

And finally, after all that hard work, Panda has just the right idea!

What's on My Desk

2010-09-14T09:13:00.000-05:00

I have been sitting here melting in the Texas heat wishing for fall weather. That translates into parking my bottom at the computer with the ac blowing on me! For some reason I always seem to miss Thanksgiving as far as designing anything. So here is a special attempt at a turkey that is in the works.

What's on my Desk

2010-07-25T19:14:00.000-05:00

On the Scratching Post list we have been chatting about what our next swap will be. One suggestion was snow globes. Now I do not know why but that really caught my fancy. So much so, I had to sit right down and play about with the idea in EQ7! I sure had fun picking and choosing my virtual fabrics, can you imagine how much fun it will be with real fabric?! There is no guarantee this will be the swap chosen by our group. It will however be posted on FatCat Patterns as one of the new free designs at the end of the week.

I get many special requests come through my mail. Some stymie me, others call to me and demand to be sketched out right then! Today that has been a Pug block.

Counting Blessings

2010-07-18T23:45:00.000-05:00

That is exactly what I am doing this evening. Bright and early this morning as I was sipping my coffee, there was a very loud and very strange noise. It set both the dogs to barking and it took me awhile to figure out what it was. At first I thought it was Jamie moving her bed across the floor, but she was still asleep. Then I thought maybe there had been a wreck out on the street. Nothing looked out of the ordinary. So I went to the back door to let the dogs out...and boy oh boy...I found what made the noise! One of the old Elm trees had snapped at the ground and fallen onto the house! The electric line was pulled to the breaking point below the tree and only about 3 foot off the ground. Thank goodness the power company decided that qualified as an emergency and they sent a truck right out. They were able to disconnect my line and reroute it over the top of the tree and reconnect the power. Then the Boys jumped into action. They spent the better pat of 4 hours in 100 degree weather carefully cutting the limbs off the roof top. I was worried. The Guys were champs though. The roof was cleared and no one was injured. There is still a LOT to clear up and haul out for the brush pick up, and a massive tree trunk to be cut into manipulable chunks. Can you guess what the Rodenmayer's will be doing this week?

What's on my Desk

2010-06-29T11:38:00.000-05:00

Life isn't only Puppies and plumbing problems here, but more on that later. I figured it was time to share again what I have been playing around with in EQ7. Dinosaurs are an often requested pattern. But they are also kind of difficult for me to get to come out looking respectable. Originally the plan was to have four different dinosaurs. Well that didn't work out, lol. Instead I ended up with two that I liked. I can imagine this for a little boy, all done up in really cool batiks. Just think of all the scale patterns you could create on them! OH! How about a matching valance! Ah, well I had better get back to work. You will find "Dino RAWR" posted to FatCat Patterns on July 1st.

Wally Update

2010-06-24T09:00:00.000-05:00

Everyone keeps asking, so here he is! Wally is three months old now and weighs in at a whopping 4 1/2 pounds. As you can tell we have had to put jingles on his collar because we keep misplacing him. He still sleeps in the port-a-crib set up in the kitchen. I am sure a "Big Boy" dog crate will have to be purchased in the near future. Twice I have attempted to let WaWa (our nick name for him) sleep in the bedroom with me. Both times had disastrous results. Since I do not allow potty mishaps in my bed, we continue to sleep in separate rooms!
Housebreaking has been a constant challenge. It has been years since a little dog has been part of our family, and honestly I had forgotten how fun (NOT) potty training them can be. Just yesterday we had an incident with Mr. WaWa. He made a whoopsie at the back door while I was doing the dishes. Now even though I felt bad about scolding him, I have to be consistent. In my stern Momma voice,"Oh Naughty Wally, Bad Wally, poops go outside Wally!" I show him his accident and let him outside. He was very contrite and I am sure most sorry for his slip up. Then we had a fairly uneventful poop free day. Jamie was sick and sleeping on the couch pretty much all day. About 10 pm last night I see WaWa leap up onto the couch and drop something in her lap, then look up at her expectantly. Jamie looks down and starts to scream! All she can do is scream mind you, as she was completely bundled up in a quilt at the time. I figured he had captured a little beasty and given her a present. This time of the year we get the occasional water bug come inside. Oh my goodness was I ever wrong. That little monster had done another poop on my floor.Only this time he figured he wasn't suppose to leave it on the floor (after all Mom keeps telling him Naughty) so he picked it up and gave it to Jamie! So Mr. WaWa may not be the most trainable pup we have had, but he sure wins the prize for the most creative.

Wasps?

2010-06-21T18:30:00.000-05:00

So the boys had been challenged with taking down the old swing set. I left to do the grocery shopping. Johnny calls me, "Mom, do we have any Wasp spray?"
"Yes, it is in the cupboard over the stove." "Thanks Mom, Bye."

About 4 minuets later my phone makes the 'you have a message' noise. I pull it out of my bag and find a picture message from Stevie. The caption was Wasps! Alright, I managed to contain my giggles and not disgrace myself in the middle of ALDI's. Once back in the car I called home.
"Johnny, everything alright there?"
"Holy Crap Mom! You should have seen it! It was like a Jet Hanger. I stood back and sprayed the wasps. They dropped down as a unit, shook it off and came STRAIGHT AT ME!"
I laughed all the way home.

Honey Do's

2010-06-19T21:41:00.000-05:00

I promised to share some pictures of the Honey Do's that have been accomplished here in the past few weeks. Lets start with the front yard. The Boys have been real troupers. Cutting, digging and hauling for me. Here is a picture of the front porch showing the wildly untamed Wisteria. For years this monster vine has been used to hide the lawn mower and yard equipment. It has never bloomed, is a Postal Worker's nightmare, and requires constant pruning. It also harbored quite a few mosquitoes.

The new improved Tamed wisteria is now a proper bush. It will still require work to keep in behaving but doesn't it look nicer! You can even see the windows and flower bed that were hiding behind it. The flower bed was just screaming for a bird bath, You can't have enough bird baths you know. I am experimenting with some ornamental grasses and hostas. Since I am not exactly sure how much sunshine this area will get, this will remain a work in progress.
We also added a border and some flowers to the small bed between the porch and sidewalk. I found some adorable little solar lights, cheap, under 4 dollars each. Jon's old toy box / junk hiding box was pitched to the trash and a little wire shelf rack put in. I can proudly say all of the tools are now properly in the tool box where they belonged to begin with.
It is so nice to be able to sit out on the porch of an evening now and not be eaten alive by bugs. Just amazing what a difference it has made. Jon and Panda give it a two paws up!

The other projects have been indoors. The bathroom has been repainted and paneled. The bathroom has always been the disaster area in our home. Too small, too old and too abused. Now at least we do not feel as if we have entered a disaster zone when in there.

You know how it is when you start painting in an old house. One room just leads into another. From the bathroom I worked into the hallway. The hallway led into the living room. At first the family was a bit skeptic of the buttery yellow I had chosen. Now everyone likes it and has voted that I continue on around the walls into the kitchen!

EQ7 - not only for quilting

2010-06-10T07:33:00.000-05:00

What in the world is this? This happens to be how I finally figured out my bathroom problem. Maybe I should start at the beginning.

Jamie is away visiting Grandparents. Boys are busy with work. Jon is busy with work. So I decided to start getting some of the home projects marked off the list. At the top of the list were the flower beds in front of the house. Neglect is too mild of a word for what has happened with them over the years. After two weeks of back breaking effort and one broken shutter (add more to the list) I am very pleased with how the house looks from the street. Next on my list was the bathroom. Our bathroom is in a constant state of chaos. To start with it is only 6 x 10. I know, go ahead and cry with me. The old peeling wallpaper came down. I spent an entire day measuring, cutting (need a new rotary blade now) and pasting the new paper. Oh My! That looked nice. Then it was nap time. Know what happened during my nap? The big kid came in and took a nice steamy shower. All that hard work of mine just curled right up off the wall. Maybe I should have announced that the bathroom could not be abused for 24 hours?. Took me a day to pull myself out of the grump I had slipped into. Then I began exploring other options. Come hell or high water that blasted bathroom was not going to continue to be something too shameful for company to use. The young men at Lowe's were very helpful and I went home with all kinds of ideas dancing around in my head. That night I dreamed of paneling.
Paneling, yep that would fix my problem! Hrm...I didn't have Jon or my Daddy at my side to cut and measure. They have always done that part of he improvements jobs (down at the River). This time I was on my own and on a budget! I had to make the most out of the sheets I bought. Graph paper, tape measure, pencil, I was on a roll. Then smashed right into a brick wall. I just could not get onto paper what I needed. It was like I had brain lock. Shazam! I had an epiphany, I opened up EQ7 and started designing a custom set quilt! I made each of the sections of paneling I needed into a block and began dragging and dropping them onto my paneling sheet sized Quilt! Used the add text tool on layer two and put in the measurements for each block. Printed it off and sped to Lowe's! I felt so empowered!!! The look on the young man's face that was doing the cutting for me was priceless. "You did this in what?"
Now the paneling is up. The walls that needed painting have a fresh coat, and today I will be pulling up the flooring and installing new. All that will be left is to put up the trim and add new fixtures. Woo Hoo! If all goes well I may be able to soak in a bubble bath tonight and not have to close my eyes to avoid looking at the wreck that WAS my bathroom.

What's on My Desk

2010-05-28T22:51:00.000-05:00

Yes I have been busy! This will be my second Holiday themed row by row. Have to admit this was a fun one to plan out. Expect to see this on the FatCat Patterns web site the first of June.

Blissfully Done

2010-05-19T05:57:00.000-05:00

I am without a doubt the worse when it comes to getting a quilt finished. I love the planning and designing. Then the peaceful process of the applique. At that point though often times my projects slow down. Normally I machine quilt on my old Singer. With Baltimore Bliss though I sent it off to Vicky to be professionally done.You would think that would motivate me to hurry up and finish it once it came back home, right? Sadly no. It sat on my sewing counter for months while I worked up the umph to do the binding. OMGosh I HATE doing bindings! This past weekend I buckled down and did the job. The quilt is now washed and on my bed! LOL, I feel such a weight of "Quilter's Guilt" lifted off my shoulders. Perhaps now I can get something else finished.

Electric Quilt 7

2010-04-28T17:36:00.003-05:00

Did the subject line catch your eye? I am very excited to be able to let you guys know that for the past couple of months I have been one the lucky people to have been beta testing the new Electric Quilt 7! It is part of the reason I have been so quiet on the list. So now let me blab all about it!

You know me, I dove right into the program and worked my way around without watching any of the tutorial videos. So I can safely say if you have a decent grasp on EQ6 you will have NO PROBLEM at all jumping into EQ7. Once I established I could find everything I was used to already having I watched the tutorials. WOW, those videos were so much more helpful to me than reading any book could have been. I have always been a “Show Me” type learner. There are just so many nifty new things, let’s see if I can list a few of my favorites.
Fabrics can be sorted by dragging and dropping in the sketch book and palette. Blocks can be sorted by dragging and dropping in the sketch book. Custom set quilts just drag and drop your block onto the quilt worktable and BOOM there it is the size you meant it to be! Images you’re using to create your appliqués are now saved in your sketch book. Ready for use the next time you sit down to play. You can save Photos and put them right into your quilt layout on ANY layer to see how your memory quilt will look. You can also edit resize and print your photos right from the EQ7 program. Oh and your Photos can be set on any layer of the quilt, And are saved in your sketch book! I was very excited about that feature. You’re already familiar with the Block and Quilt worktables; well EQ7 also has an Image worktable. In there you can do all kinds of fun things with your scanned images and photos. You can even change the colors to make a photo into an old time sepia look! I am going to have a blast with that one. Oh oh oh, and with printing, like with making quilt labels, you can now fit more than one on a page!

So what did I create with EQ7? How can I show you it was really that much fun to use? Chickie Me, Christmas Row x Row, Savanna Flair and Mother we all designed in the beta, and then I reworked them in EQ6 to be able to share with you. (Remember I had to keep mum about being in the beta test).

Girls, start saving your pennies now. This is a definite gotta have!

Big Excitement!

2010-04-26T14:33:00.002-05:00

The Rodenmayer household has had a new addition! Meet Waldo. Panda loves him, who can resist that face? The cats...well they haven't quite decided yet. Teddy was caught in the play pen sniffing Waldo while he was sleeping. Teddy still isn't sure exactly what Waldo is, or if he poses a serious threat to feline dominance.
Doc gave us a clean bill of health, and we have begun the process of turning a puppy into a well behaved member of the family.

Up Dates

2010-04-06T13:51:00.000-05:00

The newest additions of the Block of the Month projects are up and posted on FatCat Patterns You will also fine the the Mother's Day pattern I was chatting about earlier. My sketch book of design ideas has suffered an incurable mishap. Fell free to leave comments with idea suggestions of what you would like to see in the future on FatCat.

April Preview

2010-03-25T11:13:00.000-05:00

It has been a busy month here. Kids had Spring Break. We had more snow, in March! What is up with that? We also had a round of the flu, gross. Outside Cat is still living indoors. She refuses to stay outside more than a few mins. Life is settling into a routine without FatCat and CowDog. There has even been some interest in the adoption pages at the local animal shelters.
Thought I would try to get ahead of the game and create a design for Mother's Day. This is very simple (which I hope translates into quick). Scrappy log cabin type blocks with "Mother" in different languages appliqued on. It will be posted on the FatCat Patterns site on April 1.

Invasion of the JOES!

2010-02-24T07:11:00.000-06:00

My family has had a long standing game we play. We call it "Where's Joe?" You take a small GI Joe action figure and hide him someplace in the house, bedrooms are off limits. The person who finds Joe hollers out "I found Joe!" giggles are had and it is then their turn to hide Joe. The game has been on a bit of a hiatus, I honestly don't remember what casualty did in the last Joe. Yesterday Johnny was having a clean out in his room. You cannot imagine the excitement that erupted when he discovered not 1, not 2, not even 3, but 4! Yes 4 Joes in his accumulated treasures. The GAME is on again! Here is Joe enjoying a cup of coffee with me. And yes how sad is this, that is a mirror on my desk. I sit with my back to the telly here in the living room. I set the mirror up so I could work and watch the Olympics at the same time. Here is another shot of one of the Joes hiding inside one of my outhouses.
The most exciting Joe find? That would have been the team effort by Jon and I. It was a couple of summers ago. I forget which one of us was in possession of Joe at the time. Jon and I had gone to the store, on the way home we found a box turtle in the middle of the road. Jon brought the car to a screeching halt. Jumped out and grabbed the turtle. I was think, aww, he saved the turtle. What a hero :) He hands me the bewildered beast and grins. How can I get Joe to stick to the turtle he asked. What? Oh Geez. We ended up using duct tape and placing the Joe and his ride into the bath tub. Then we sat back and waited to see which child would discover Joe. I expected nothing to happen till bath time.
What did happen though was poor Johnny went in to use the bathroom.
"Mom..."
"MOM! There is something HISSING from the bath tub!"
"Holy Crap!"
"GUYS! Joe is riding a frigging TURTLE in the bath tub!"

Fame?

2010-02-16T08:15:00.001-06:00

Is it? It is! At least here in the Rodenmayer household. The current issue of Patch & Afins has featured two of my patterns. They had contacted me last year and I had forgotten all about giving them permission. Until the plain brown paper wrapped package arrived! They sent me a copy of the magazine! Now how cool is that? The patterns they chose were Mother Hen and Kicking Rooster, you can find the same patterns free here, FatCat Chickens.

This is a very attractive Brazilian quilting magazine. Even though I do not know Portuguese I had fun looking through it at the patterns and adds. Though I was saddened that they neglected to keep my pattern information intact. No mention of my website, Electric Quilt or any good stuff like that.

What's on my Desk

2010-02-16T06:51:00.000-06:00

The cold and snow have laid me up and I honestly haven't gotten much accomplished. I did learn one lesson worth remembering while helping the family clean up after the tree that fell. Mommas no matter how "fluffy" don't bounce!
The other day while driving I heard a commercial for Breast Cancer Awareness. This years theme "Pink Warrior" prickled my imagination. Later on today I will be sharing this block with you on FatCat Patterns. Now, even though I did this up in Pink, there is no reason the design cannot be used for other causes. Just change the coloring and be a warrior for your favorite!

On a more whimsical front - Some of us on the Scratching Post Yahoo group met a challenge to create a chicken block that would represent ourselves. Of course I have to share mine with you! She fell asleep at her computer while playing around with Electric Quilt. Visions of quilt blocks quickly turned into...chicken blocks of course!

More Snow Pictures

2010-02-12T07:36:00.000-06:00

Front yard with a droopy snowman.

Back yard view.

More front yard.

Uh Oh!

Snow in Texas

2010-02-12T04:13:00.000-06:00

Now that is a rare occurrence in and of itself, but we have broken records. Right now there is close to 10 inches of the white stuff in my yard. Jamie and Stevie got to see "Real" snow when we went to Missouri for New Years. Johnny on the other hand has just encountered more snow all at once than he has in his entire lifetime! So we made snow angles, snowmen and snowballs. The picture of the big kids and the snowman was taken yesterday mid morning, we only had about 3 inches of snow at that time. Poor Jamie had to go to school!

I went to bed thinking the snowfall was pretty, but I had enough of it now thank you. At about 2am our dogs went nuts demanding I wake up and let them outside. I was standing bleary eyed at the back door telling the dogs to hurry up, when all the bouncing red and blue lights registered. Wow! Trees in the neighborhood are starting to come down because of the ice and snow. One across the street brought down a power line. There were 4 firetrucks and assorted other rescue equipment out front! Dogs were barking, lights were flashing, then the chainsaws started up. Nothing left to do but make a pot of coffee, open the blinds and watch the show. Just before 4am they finished up and restored power. I did enjoy the impromptu snowball fight between the firemen. I guess none of us really outgrow the snow :)

What's on my Desk

2010-01-24T13:54:00.001-06:00

This past week I have been working on two different projects. The Chess Board quilt is a special request from a member of the Scratching Post Yahoo group. The other is a design influenced from a stay at my Dad and Step Mom's place. Their home is decorated in an Egyptian and African motif. I thought it would be neat to make them a quilt they would keep out and use. Designing it of course was the easy part. Now I need to find the time to actually get it sewn up! The Chess Board quilt pattern will be posted on the FatCat site on the first. I haven't made my mind up on the Savanna Flair yet. What do you think?

CATS!

2010-01-14T11:40:00.002-06:00

Fair warning, I am about to vent off some frustration here :)
For the past four years we have had an outside cat we call Chatty Cat (she chirps like a bird at us). She was left behind by a family that moved out. She has never been allowed inside because, well frankly, four inside cats was more than enough for me already. With FatCat’s passing and the record breaking freezing conditions I was out voted and Chatty has moved into the house. She still goes in and out with Jon when he goes to the porch to smoke. She is still as stand offish as she has always been. I can pick her up, but she has everyone else buffaloed. The dogs are terrified of her. They have never encountered a cat friend who would rather smack them across the nose than trade sniffs. The inside cats are not exactly sure what to make of her either. She hasn’t learned communal kitty living manners yet. Everything is HERS. Teddy is determined not to let Chatty fill the power vacuum left by FatCat. So I am having constant kitty power play games going on. To top this off Chatty is like the ultimate Ninja cat. I never see her till she pounces. She opens cupboards. She hides in closets. She can even hang from the bathroom door knob and open the door. She climbs onto my desk and drinks my COFFEE!!! I am beginning to wonder if her being left behind was intentional?
So this morning I cover my coffee cup up with a coaster and head to the bathroom. I actually lock the bathroom door so she cannot open it and walk in on me. And no, I do not trust her enough to have her in there with me while I have tender parts exposed. So here I am, family is still sleeping, I am safely cat proofed perhaps I can take care of business :) Sitting there I hear a NOISE. Good grief! A scratching scurrying sound in the wall behind the vanity. All I need is to have gotten vermin from the house next door. The noise gets more frantic and believe it or not louder. I hastily get myself put back together. Washing my hands when all hell breaks loose. YIKES! Something reaches out from under the sink. Something FURRY. And it wrapped itself around my feet.
Did you know that no matter how old, fat or sleepy you are it is still possible to jump scream and run all at the same time?
That blasted Chatty had opened the kitchen sink cupboard and gone into the plumbing crawl space between the kitchen and bathroom. She then crawled through the plumbing opening under the bathroom sink. And quite possibly frightened 10 years off me.
The jury is still out on this cat.

Happy 2010!

2010-01-09T20:14:00.000-06:00

Not only did I survive our holiday trip to Missouri, I came home and put together a new Row by Row quilt for us to play with. It has a definite Christmas theme to it. I will post 1 row a month through August. That should leave enough time to actually get it quilted in time to use or give as a gift this Christmas! Wow, what planning. You can find the PDF files at the FatCat Patterns site.

While in Missouri I met up with and had a grand time with my internet friend Dee. She showed me some amazing shops. I spent my yearly allotment of fabric monies and have a few new designs dancing around in my head. I am also saving my pennies so I can visit and shop more this summer! I had FUN!

Goodbye to my FatCat

2009-12-15T06:03:00.001-06:00

Hello Friends. Thank you everyone for the well wishes and cyber hugs.
It has been a long time since we have lost a fur baby, and of course FatCat (or Fatty as she was often called) was a special case. She came into my life when she was about 4-5 days old. My good friend Tammy is the gym teacher at the kid’s elementary school. She was walking down the hall way where the children had stacked their backpacks outside of the computer lab. One of the back packs “Mewed”. It seems one of the kids had found some feral kittens on the way to school and grabbed one. Tammy called me and I went and picked up the baby who started life being called Tammy-Linda. I went from the school to the vet’s office. Doc proclaimed “No Hope” and said she should be put down. Kittens that young did not thrive without the Momma. What he didn’t take into consideration was my determination and the fact that my Sophie had a litter of puppies at home. Between Sophie and I we pulled that scrawny kitten through. Sophie drew the line at letting the kitty sleep in the box with her puppies. I think she was afraid kitty cooties might rub off. You don’t want poodle puppies to pick up bad habits like purring and what not. So for weeks FatCat snuggled in the bib of my overalls. She ended up being a cat of small stature but wide girth, which explains the name change. At about the age of 5 she went blind. That was when I became not only her Momma but her security blanket. She followed me everywhere, was my constant shadow. I stopped moving furniture around so she would know where things were. When she lost me she would stand in the middle of the floor and wail until someone brought her to me, or laid her on something of mine. Oh and she was also a bit of a crank. Never afraid to grumble at kids, swipe or even bite offending fingers. Despite her handicaps there was no doubt who the Alpha cat in the house was.
When I got my first computer and found the internet FatCat was there. She had a shelf on top of my monitor; we called it the “FatCat Butt Rack”. Every couple of months she would sleep hard enough that she would slide off of it and onto my keyboard. 12 pound cats falling from space usually mean you get to go buy a new keyboard :) She also enjoyed sitting at the sewing machine. It is a wonder she never got injured there. One of FatCat’s shining moments was when Jon decided to dye her along with the Easter eggs. She showed great restraint in letting him keep his fingers!
Fatty lived 13 years longer than Doc expected her to. I count that as a gift. Teddy is helping me adjust to her being gone. I believe the other cats drew straws. Teddy is now following me around as my designated shadow, and sleeping on my desk. He is a bit harder to see around, but I will manage!

Happy Holidays

2009-11-21T13:36:00.000-06:00

As we go into the Holiday season I cannot help but sit here and count my Blessings. I have a healthy, happy, loving family. We have a roof over our heads and food on our table. I thank my Heavenly Father daily for this.

I also have my multitude of friends who have come to the FatCat site, looking for the perfect pattern for that "Special" quilt. I treasure your letters, emails and chats. Thank you so much for helping to make this site what it is today.

Through the end of the year this page will have some special offers and sharing on it. I wish you all Happy Holidays!

FatCat Pattern's Holiday Specials

Check this out!

2009-10-21T19:21:00.000-05:00

Normally I am not into internet give a ways and contests. But the fabrics over at Pumpkin Patch Primitives are taunting me horribly. Go check out the site and see what you think. Wouldn't those make a marvelous new FatCat design?

What's on my Desk

2009-10-21T09:50:00.000-05:00

Oh have I ever been having fun! The new computer has Electric Quilt running like a dream. It is a joy to be creating again. I had quite a few emails asking me to expand on the Zebra and Elephant blocks I posted to the site on the 15th. I am not sure I have finished, the critters keep coming, but I wanted to share a peek at what is in the works. I really love making designs that can be used in a baby quilt or nursery theme. Now to decide if these need to be 12 or 14 inch blocks.

Good News!

2009-10-12T06:34:00.000-05:00

As many of you, my friends are aware, at the first of the year Jon took a voluntary 25% cut in pay to help keep the company he works for afloat. Well last night we got the wonderful news that as of Nov.1, he will be getting 5% of that back!!! WOO HOO! You know the sound you make when you put on that pair of pants that has always been a bit too tight. Only to find you can put two fingers in the waistband? (Although I will admit I would normally check my backside in the mirror to assure I hadn't split the seam out to give me the extra room at the waist.) That is the same sound our household budget made, LOL!

Boys Night Out

2009-10-03T12:38:00.000-05:00

Last night the boys decided they needed "Bro"time. What is that exactly? Well in this case it was adventuring out to try a newly discovered sushi buffet a few towns over. Just the two of them, no one else. They had a great time! And stopped off at Fry's Electronics on the way home. Once there they could not pass up the matching helicopter beanie hats!

Snap Pops

2009-09-03T05:44:00.005-05:00

It is a small house and we are a close family. Momma suffers from what the rest of the family calls constipation. Did you know guys expect you to be able to poo every day?! I am too busy quilting and designing to make that a daily occurrence, lol. Seriously though, I am eating my bran cereal and hoping for at least a bi-weekly event. So now that you know my bathroom habits you have to be sitting there wondering why on earth this warrants a blog entry. This past weekend, because it has become such a family joke (okay and concern) I made the announcement that I was heading to the bathroom. As the house erupted in cheers and giggles I made my way down the hall. Teddy and FatCat raced on ahead of me, no one ever said I would have privacy. The cats jump into the bath tub and I plant my ample behind onto the throne. CRACK! There was this earsplitting sound that I swore was the seat cracking in half. Teddy launched over my head. FatCat clawed past my feet. Both of them now hiding in the towel cupboard. I sit there wondering if I was about to fall in. Thinking, Great, now i need to buy a new toilet seat. Soon (as business was frightened out of me) I was able to lift the seat and inspect it. Did I find a crack or a break? Nope not at all. Instead I found the remains of several carefully placed Snap Pops. Snap Pops for those of you who are not readily familiar with them are little twists of rocks and gunpowder. The kids get them on the 4th of July and have a blast tossing them at feet. When they hit the ground they make a POP and a small puff of smoke. Under a toilet seat I now know it becomes a CRACK instead. I wash my hands, reassure the hiding cats and make my way into the kitchen. Once there I holler at the kids, "Front and Center, Family Meeting!" The house erupts in panic. Kids are quietly sitting on couches. Jon is at his desk with a concerned look on his face. I hear mumblings of, "wasn't me", "well I sure didn't do anything". I instruct Jon to carefully watch kids faces as I make an announcement from the kitchen. The look he gave me was priceless. "Alright you guys, While I commend the ingenuity of who ever boobie trapped the toilet..." And that was as far as I got. Stevie is giggling and laughing so hard he can barely breath. It is obvious who the culprit is. I toss a stern look his way, and announce that he now has kitty poop duty for the week. Still laughing and gasping he lets all know it was well worth the punishment. The only thing he regretted was that he had upset CowDog so much with his test run, that Jon had to give her some of her medication to calm her down. "The acoustics in there were great for that, weren't they Mom?" Then quietly I hear "And you guys wonder why she can't poo..."

Grumpy Frogs!

2009-08-19T12:20:00.004-05:00

I honestly cannot decide which I want to do more the Happy Dance, or the Shuffle of Shame. I had promised Stevie a new quilt for graduation. Wouldn't you know it, I just finished his quilt this week. And he has his first day of college tomorrow! He says stop worrying, and just give him the quilt, lol! The blocks weer made up by swap members of the Scratching Post yahoo group. The pattern is one of my own that you can find here. Bull Frog. We just love the expressions on the froggy faces. Some are happy frogs with wide open eyes. Others are grumpy frogs with their lids half closed. I swear this is the last time I machine quilt anything this big myself. Especially in the peak of a Texas summer!

New Blocks posted

2009-08-02T14:11:00.001-05:00

For anyone who missed the announcement, the new BoM's and some Halloween place mats are up on FatCat Patterns.

Southern Gentleman

2009-07-25T21:08:00.003-05:00

Well here it is! This will be my next block of the month project on FatCat Patterns. Many of you have written and asked me to create a Baltimore type BoM with MORE blocks. The bigger the quilt the better. Well, this would be that. There will be 16 blocks in total! Look for the first block to be live on the web site August 1st.

2009-07-16T06:01:00.003-05:00

The next two days mark a milestone in my adventure as a Mom. Stevie and I are attending his Orientation at UTD. I missed out on this fun with Johnny, that was a Father and Son outing. Have to admit I have mixed feelings about this. Quality time with the Kid cannot be beat, but trucking my chubby behind all over campus in this Texas heat is going to make me cranky! Not to mention the worry about Johnny and Jamie Lee being home alone together, lol. My imagination makes me shudder at the images it can conjure up.
I also need to mention just how proud I am of both the boys. They both worked extremely hard through their school years and emerged ready for the collage experience at the top of their classes and with some wonderful scholarships. You cannot imagine what a Blessing that is. They both will continue to live here at home and commute by bus. Another funny image there, Johnny sitting not looking at anyone on the DART, Stevie making friends with anyone who comes close. That joke has Johnny so paranoid, "Stephen, you do NOT talk to people on the BUS!".

New upcoming BoM

2009-07-12T11:44:00.004-05:00

Those of you who follow the block of the month patterns know that the two pieced series have come to an end. I wanted to give you a sneak peak at the Chocolate Stars that will be beginning on August first. I haven't designed this one with any particular person in mind for receiving it, something very out of the norm for me. I am sure the quilt will speak to me as we work along and not go homeless.

What's on my desk

2009-07-08T11:43:00.002-05:00

Have you ever looked at floor tiles and wrought iron to get your quilting inspiration? Recently I have been letting floors and fences capture my fancy. So far I have created 13 blocks in this project. Yep that is enough for another "Baltimore" type series on FatCat Patterns. OMGoodness, did I just hear you groan? How can I do that to you when your right smack in the middle of the Baltimore Bliss? Honestly I have not 100% decided what I will do with this one. Everyone keeps telling me it is time I made a "for real for sale" pattern. Makes my brain hurt thinking about working with retail though. More than likely you will see this pop up on the web site as another BoM, maybe with the option to buy the blocks seperately. OR...I might just keep making more blocks!

The Monster in the box

2009-06-28T15:58:00.004-05:00

Today has been a marathon quilting session for me. I can now proudly say I all I have left is the binding on what I have for years been calling the "Monster in the Box". I started this quilt back in 1999, I think. It has met with many stumbling blocks along the way. I ran out of background fabric and friends came to the rescue rummaging through shops looking for the discontinued fabric. I would work on it, get frustrated and box it up again. Probably at the time of conception/creation it was a bit beyond my sewing skills, my ambition stretching beyond my abilities. My resolution to myself this year was to get it finished. Finished being better than perfect was my mantra. And it is by no means perfect. Not all the seams match, it has buckles and bumps (some creatively hidden with imaginative quilting) and it is not as big as my original plans called for. Know what? I don't care! I feel like such a weight of quilter's guilt has been lifted off my shoulders!!
For those of you who asked, yes this is an original pattern, but one you can easily do also. I used a standard DWR pattern, and drafted the stars in Electric Quilt. Once the star blocks were made up I just fussy cut them to be the center of the DWR sections.
Once the binding is on this quilt will reside on my couch top to be loved and cuddled with.

What's on my Desk?

2009-06-27T11:45:00.004-05:00

I can hear my sewing machine calling to me, I have projects that NEED to get done, instead I have lost another morning in Electric Quilt land. On the Scratchingpost yahoo group, we have been talking about how difficult it can be to find a pattern for the tween aged kids. Too old for the cute juvenile stuff, but not quite old enough to want something traditional. So I have been playing with Shapes! This one has met with approval from my resident tween and teens, expect it to be posted to the FatCat Patterns site on the 1st. Now much as I hate to close down the computerm I REALLY need to go sew!

Jamie Lee's quilt top

2009-06-21T19:29:00.002-05:00

Well here it is and oh aren't we proud of it! This is Jamie Lee's very first quilt top. Now we just need to quilt it, which she says is my department. We will be using teh left over bits to make a pillow topper. She doesn't know it yet but I expect her to learn free motion quilting on that project.

Jamie is Quilting!

2009-06-20T08:44:00.003-05:00

I was afraid this day would never come. I remember my Momma trying to get me interested in sewing, I resisted quite epically. Jamie received a surprise package in the mail from Marcia. Inside were two lovely quilt kits in yummy batiks. The fabrics instantly captivated and motivated the kid! I am in quilters heaven. We have been learning and sewing together all week. This weekend we should be able to start putting the blocks together. I have done the cutting and pinning, she has done the sewing and ironing. Of course I will be posting a picture of her finished quilt!
Sadly since I have been occupied out in the sewing room I have not gotten anything done in Electric Quilt this week. Do you see my hands shaking? Gonna have to get my EQ fix soon, lol. I did clean teh FatCat Patterns web site up some. It needed de-cluttering and consolidating. Also added a new EQ6 project file to the store.

Sneak Peek

2009-06-14T16:08:00.003-05:00

Can you believe I have sat here ALL day? My hands are screaming at me, but before I go to soak them I wanted to share a sneak peek at the finished "Native Flair" project. All the file conversions are done and I will have the blocks posted on
FatCat Patterns by morning.

What's on my desk?

2009-06-14T10:49:00.008-05:00

This has been a fun productive weekend so far. I have an EQ6 project I am working on, in my mind I refer to it as Indian Flair. Haven't made my mind up yet if I will post it one block at a time or WHAM all at once :) I often worry that I am overloading folks with ideas.
On a personal note my DWR is finally basted and ready to quilt. The Singer 99 is set up in her new cabinet in the den so I can still be part of the family. Just need to wind about 10 bobbins. Sheesh, one day I will get around to grabbing a Sidewinder! The DWR has been one of my quilting hobgoblins for over 8 years now. The poor thing has met with so many stumbling blocks along the way. It is far from perfect. Still I am determined that the thing is going to get DONE this summer. One less guilty quilty thing hanging over my head!
I have had many special requests come through for dogs. I promise I am still sketching and messing about with them. It is hard to create a project if it hasn't GRABBED me yet though. I do have a geomectric kind of Baltimore album thing I keep dreaming about. You guys REALLY want another BoM...right?

What we discovered on the first day of summer

2009-06-09T08:13:00.011-05:00

Actually we discovered a couple of things, one was just funnier than the others. The boys left early in the morning to pound the pavement for summer jobs. I was not at all surprised that they discovered it isn't as easy as they had imagined. They treated themselves to lunch out at their favorite Vietnamiese restaurant. Stevie (the adventurous one) talked Johnny into trying one of the shops specialty shakes. Now did they pick something yummy sounding like banana-strawberry, or maybe vanilla-mocha? Of course not! They chose Avocado-Tapioca. If you are like me, even though you adore avocados, just reading that made you a tad ill. Stevie loved it. Johnny about barfed in the restaurant. Which is exactly why he brought the nasty green slime filled cup home with him. Guys are strange creatures. And the ones here in our home probably exceed the norm. Are you familiar with the courtesy sniff practice? Bless you if you are not! That is the practice of when you find a smell that is so horrific you have to share it. Your fellow males sniff your disgusting find, then you in return owe them a sniff at a future date. This practice is much abused among the Rodenmayer men. The Rodenmayer women by the way do NOT participate. Unless of course you can get a really good laugh from it and not have to reciprocate! Back to my story. The guys get home and talk me into tasting the shake from hell. I can honestly say I have never experienced anything that foul. So what do we do? Why put it in the fridge of course! Something that nasty just begs to be shared. Now I thought they were planning on getting their Dad with it, but Jamie opened the fridge first. You know how girls are with sweets? The sugar deprived thing, she never saw it coming. "Ooo! Who left the shake in here?" "Oh the boys did, you can have it. They said they didn't want it." Now if her sweet tooth had slowed down for a moment it would have heard her brain screaming - boys never put anything GOOD up for grabsies. Even her self proclaimed Bad Mom grabbing the camera didn't slow her down. Poor poor Jamie.
"OMG MOM, what is THAT?" accompanied by some rather creative urk noises. So I tell her Avocado Shake from the Vietnamiese place the boys go to. "Eww! Okay, what are the little black things?" Remember, everyone knows I am a bad mom. Straight faced I reply "Doodlebugs". For a moment I really thought her eyes were going to pop out of her face. She grabbed a dishcloth and started to fouriously scrubb her tounge. Then she takes a deep breath and says, "Okay what is it really?" LOL, I tell her the truth. So what does she do then? She innocently turns to her Daddy who just came inside and says, "Here Dad, you should try this". I about pee'd myself.

Baltimore Bliss

2009-06-04T11:19:00.003-05:00

Finally! I have my Baltimore Bliss top finished. Use your imagination a little here. The boys were not tall enough to hold it up the right way. The pink outside border will not be that wide when finished. I wanted to give Vicky ( Finely Finished Longarm Quilting) lots of room to work with when she quilts it. I am planning on scalloping that border once I get it back home. I am just so happy to have gotten it this far. It was quite a challenge deciding on a color scheme that would make Jon and I both happy.

Summer?!?

2009-05-28T07:20:00.002-05:00

Where has the year gone? School lets out next week and there is no way I am ready. Although typing that I have to admit it will be a relief. Banquets, awards presentations and various school functions have had me running around like a chicken. We still have graduation to get through. Okay, I just changed my mind. YES! I am ready for summer!
Our weather is still mild here, although the cottonwood blowing has made me shut the windows and crank on the ac. The patio pots have already produced tomatoes and peppers for sandwiches. I have begun the yearly battle with the yard, neighbor dogs and fleas. Having been a groomer for so many years, I have a real hang up about fleas. All the fur babies here are on Program. During the warm months they also get regular baths. Dogs weekly, cats bi-monthly. bathing these poor creatures reminds me of how old they are all getting :( Cowdog is 12 now, and quite senile. Tex is 17, Tigger is 16.
Sewing? I haven't been able to sneak as much of that in as I wish. The laundry/sewing room is clean, but only because of company next week. I did find an electrical cord for the Elna. Hopefully Jon can get that wired up for me this weekend.

The New Kid

2009-05-05T17:23:00.004-05:00

As promised here are a couple pictures of the "New Kid". This Elna Supermatic and cabinet were looking for a home on my area FreeCycle. If you are not familiar with the FreeCycle concept have a look here http://www.freecycle.org/

So she didn't come with a power cord. I have been in contact with quite a few sewing repair shops and just may have tracked one down! Keep your fingers crossed!

The next BIG job is going to be cleaning out and organizing the garage closet. I need to be able to squeeze Jon's roll around tool box into there, so I will have enough floor space for the new sewing cabinet. The hard work will be well worth it. I have visions of Jamie and myself this summer. Sitting out there together sewing. Not having to take turns with the machine and chair! Who knows, this might even motivate me to finish the remodeling out there. Floor tiles and paint....woo hoo!

What's on my desk

2009-04-23T11:17:00.003-05:00

I am happy with the applique design I have done for a special request of a Maneki Neko. Choosing the "just right" fabrics for this to complete out the pattern design is giving me fits. Personally I want the kitty to be white. Alas white fabrics are NOT graphic creating friendly. At least not to my eye. I will keep playing with it and hopefully have it all completed and ready to throw onto the FatCat site by this afternoon. There seems to be quite an interest in oriental themed applique designs here lately. I still have a couple on my request lilst to play around with.

No Way!

2009-04-19T14:27:00.003-05:00

Last weekend Johnny turned 20. There is no way that can actually be possible, because I know in my heart I am still 20 myself! Thought I would share a couple of pictures of the kiddos. We had a cozy family dinner and cake. A very enjoyable and fun time had by all. First we have the "Bros" cutting the cake. Then in the bottom picture from left to right we have- Jamie Lee, Stevie, Johnny and Vicky.

Sneak Peek

2009-04-02T10:39:00.003-05:00

Today I am PLAYING! In EQ6 that is. I had a few quilters drop me an email with some special requests on applique. As you can see from my screen shot I have some Bluebonnets nearly done.

Rodenmayer Water Park

2009-03-30T18:15:00.006-05:00

You would think over the past month we have had enough with plumbing problems! Not so! Yesterday when I went to turn on the hose to water the baby maters I stepped in a swamp. Jon came to investigate and we soon had the water main shut off and he was digging. Pee-U! The smell coming from the muck he was shoveling away was truly awful. Our leak we found out was in the direct line from the city main to our home. Thank goodness we were home when it sprung! Another true Blessing was when little Brian from next door came over with his Daddy to ask if we needed help. With Brian acting as interpreter Jon explained what our trouble was. Brian grinned from ear to ear and said, "My Tio does that!" and ran back next door. Victor and Jon soon had a plan in place for repairing the flood. The kids got to pretend we were out at the River and have bucket baths. LOL, not nearly as exciting here at home as it is in the cabin with the coyotes singing. Victor and Big Brian spent the entire day digging up our yard and flower bed. My tiger lilies suffered tremendously, but you cannot believe the water pressure we now have! Oh, and the water line they dug up? It crumbled in their hands as they lifted it from the ground!!! Yikes! Our water fun could have been many many times less fun.

Old dogs and Storms

2009-03-27T14:06:00.002-05:00

It has been a very stormy week here in North Texas. I am happy. We needed the rain badly. It is storming again now as I sit here and type this. Jon comes home tonight after a week in Houston. That means today has been "Deep" cleaning around here. All the beds have been changed. Both dogs have been washed. The floors have been swept, vacc'd and mopped. Dishes are done. Desks are cleaned of clutter. Laundry is still in the works. I have the windows open with a lovely breeze coming through the house. So, what can be wrong with today? The storms of course. My faithful friend Cowdog is edging up to twelve years old now. She cannot see very well and doesn't move as much as she used to. She is also unreasonabbly afraid of rain and lightening. Day before yesterday I did not lock her in her bed when I went to get kids from school. I was afraid she would cause herself harm with her thrashing and clawing each time there was thunder. Instead we came home to a wreck! Cowdog had managed to scratch Jamie Lee's bedroom door open. Once in there it looks like she tried to hide in the slightly open bottom dresser drawer :( Now the mental image of a 50 pound dog (um, yes she is FAT) trying to squeeze into a drawer does cause giggles. Until you go into the room to retrieve all the items of clothing that WERE in the drawer and discover poor Cowdog had an accident in that same area. That did NOT make for a happy Jamie.
This afternoon has been just as bad. No matter what I do I cannot calm poor Cowdog. She has hidden in the bath tub, under the kitchen sink, under my sewing machine and inside the cubby of my desk. Well in all fairness only the front half of her fit under my desk. Looks like Cowdog and I are going to have a very long night.

Thimbles pattern

2009-03-13T14:25:00.005-05:00

I was on a roll yesterday with sewing, and I really should have gone back into the sewing room today. I could not help myself though. EQ6 kept calling my name. I had an idea last week while folding and sorting my stash that just HAD to be worked into a pattern. The pattern is up on the FatCat web site now, but I wanted to share two of the different color work ups I made. I had a lot of fun playing with all the different fabrics and cannot wait to actually get mine sewn up.

Baltimore Bliss Blocks

2009-03-13T10:11:00.003-05:00

I had a very productive day in the sewing room! I have all of my Baltimore Bliss blocks fused down and the first two blocks finished! I settled on pinks and browns for my color choices. The machine stitching is in a very light gold.

Cutting Back

2009-03-10T09:37:00.003-05:00

After a very hectic weekend we are now puddle free. I am so very thankful Jon is great at do-it-yourself repairs. We have a new water heater, new bathtub manifold, and a new kitchen faucet. What we no longer have is spare coin :-) And it looks like our budget will be squeezed even more. Yesterday there was a company wide 25% pay cut. I am very proud of both the boys who immediately made plans to go job hunting this weekend to help out. We also had a family meeting on ways to cut costs. The dryer is hibernating while the clothes line gets a new work out. Personally I love this option as nothing smells better than line dried. The dishwasher will also be getting a rest, as the drainboard has come out and most dishes can be washed by hand. Eating out will now be a special once a month treat. So we figure in more family time! Dominoes Hearts and Spades! LOL, and even Poker for pinto beans.

Water Woes

2009-03-07T19:49:00.002-06:00

I woke up this morning to a wet kitchen rug. I blamed CowDog and cleaned it up. Poor geriatric dog gets blamed for most damp messes. Then I ran the dish washer and discovered MORE water on the floor. Bummer. It is an old dishwaher, I am well aware that it is on it's last legs. So I pull out the dish board drainer and inform kids I am now washing by hand, so conserve dishes! I spend a nice productive day in my sewing room tracing templates for the Baltimore Bliss and doing laundry. All was well until I ventured back into the kitchen to make dinner. More water on the floor! Oh this is not good. After some detective work I discovered it is not the dishwasher, but the hot water heater that is making drippy messes :( Tomorrow's sewing is now on hold so I can help Jon install a new one.

Amber's Quilt

2009-02-22T22:34:00.006-06:00

Today I had a finish! Since I do not get to sew as often as I wish, this was a great accomplishment for me. This is a baby quilt for one of Jon's good friends who is expecting grand baby numero uno. Can you believe it is actually done and ready to be mailed BEFORE the baby is here?

Cats

2009-02-18T17:44:00.002-06:00

You know, I have decided I am not very good at this blogging thing. I keep forgetting about it! Well here goes another try. I have spent a few days now re-arranging my sewing area. New plastic bins for fabric storage prompted this. I am quite happy now with a wall of mostly empty fabric bins :) My sewing machine is right next to the window and all is well. Or rather it was, until I opened the window. We are a multi cat household. I have 4 indoor cats, and John has 1 outside cat. Outside cat adopted us 3 years ago when her family was evicted from the rental home they lived in. We feed and care for her (vet care too) but she has disputable house habits so is not allowed inside. So what does Chatty Cat (the outside one) have to do with my state of happiness? It seems that her poo poo place of preference is the flower bed right under the window of my sewing room. I found this out as I was stitching the binding on a baby quilt today. At first I blamed the putrid aroma on one of the geriatric indoor cats. I quickly clean the kitty box (also in my sewing area). I sit back down. Eww, nope nasty smell is still there. Then I hear Chatty under the window and it clicks what is going on :( This is not going to work. I guess I need to research a way to discourage her from that spot. Needless to say I finsihed the baby quilt with the window firmly shut!

Silly Car Quilt

2008-08-25T06:58:00.002-05:00

Today is the first day back to school here. I have to admit I am looking forward to the few hours a day of quiet time. With everyone home for the summer break not much sewing happened. I did get a Silly Car quilt made up for the son of a friend. This was a hard one to let go of, lol, everyone here wanted it!

Laundry

2008-03-24T07:31:00.002-05:00

Laundry has ruled my life the past few days. It happens whenever there is a hitch in the normal routine of things. I have a friend, who is unmarried without children, and is appalled at the amount of washing I do. We were chatting about it between wash loads as I was trying to explain life in the Rodenmayer house. There are 5 of us (yes they out number me 4 to 1). We live in a small one bath home which encourages more togetherness than the average family can survive. Each day I have a minimum of 2 loads of washing, 1 of towels and unmentionables, one of colors. "What!?" my friend squealed, "A load of towels every day!" Sadly yes. I know it is not this way in every family. In a normal household people who get out of a shower or bath ( let me just say that they are clean at this point) use a towel and hang it up to dry to be used again the next day. It makes sense, clean body comes into contact with a nice dry towel, the towel although now damp would remain clean. This is where you step into what I fondly call Rodenmayeritis. I am going to quote a statement I have had tossed my way more times than I can count ( yes it started with DH) "No, I cannot use that towel again. How would I know which side I had dried my butt off with?" Yeah the first time that had me giggling too, until the sentiment was mimicked by the offspring. I have tried various ploys to combat this train of thought. I purchased each of them special towels that were different colors on each side. Nope butt cooties might magically seep through to the other side. I suggested they use a hand towel just for butt drying, but that would cause cross contamination between butt cooties (oh the horrors!). My friend was dumbfounded. LOL, I was on a roll though and having fun explaining the joys of family life. So I shared another Rodenmayerism. How many bars of soap do you have? There are a minimum of 5 in my shower at all times. I have an unremembered comedian to thank for this. It was pointed out on a comedy show that most people wash their face first and their butt last. Guess what the next person to shower gets when they all use the same bar of soap? Yes! Once again the dreaded butt cooties! Now everyone agrees that soap is magic, and rinsing it off can tame butt cooties, but only if they are your OWN butt cooties. So, I buy bar soap in bulk and wash towels every day. After all, it is a Mother's job to keep her family safe from butt cooties :)

Marshall Sims

2008-03-18T09:15:00.001-05:00

This past Friday marked the passing of my Papa, or as my kids knew him Papadoodle. He was a Great man, one who had a lasting impact on all lives he came in contact with.

Marshall Sims, 86, of Waco, passed away Friday, March 14, 2008, at a local nursing facility. Graveside services will be 3 p.m. Monday, March 17, at Bosqueville Cemetery with Chaplain Ken James officiating. Visitation will be from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, at Connally/Compton Funeral Directors. Mr. Sims was born Oct. 11, 1921, in Moran, Texas, to James Monroe and Ethel Marshall Sims, and moved to Waco as an infant. He served during WWII with the 1st Cavalry Division in the Asiatic/Pacific Theatre and the occupation of Japan. He owned Sims Meat Market on N. 19th Street for many years and also drove a truck for Downing Brothers for 25 years. He married Mickie Lynn Mangum on July 15, 1959, in Waco, and she preceded him in death in 1999. Mr. Sims was known as a fighter and was proud of surviving cancer and hospice care 12 years ago. He was preceded in death by two sisters; and two brothers. Survivors include three children, Mary Ruth Newell and husband, Glenn of Forney, Kath Leah Owens and husband, Red of Arlington, and James Sims and wife, Gabrielle of Springfield, Mo.; a sister, Ethel Royer of Wilmington, N.C.; three brothers, Bill Sims of Ft. Smith, Ark., Bobby Sims of Hubbard, and Charles Ray Sims of Santa Maria, Calif.; 10 grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren; and two great-great-grandchildren. October 11, 1921 - March 14, 2008 Sign the Guest Book at www.wacotrib.com
Published in the Waco Tribune-Herald from 3/16/2008 - 3/17/2008.

Quilters can't be Strangers

2008-03-11T09:00:00.000-05:00

Last night I had the most enjoyable phone call. It was from a 74 year old quilter in Eugene, Oregon. Leslie was a hoot! She wanted to let me know how much she enjoys the patterns and web site, and she had a special request for some “Fun” houses. I sat there grinning through the whole call, my face still hurts. What a treat she was, and so full of pep and energy! She does not know much about computers, and could not tell me what her email address was :) but I did get her phone number and regular address.

Apparently we were having so much fun on the phone that I drew the attention of Jamie and Stevie. I hung up and they were both standing in the doorway. “Mom (stern looks) who were you talking to?” I told them and much to my surprise they got Angry! The rest of the evening had me trying to justify how my talking to a stranger and sharing personal information was a GOOD thing. After all, what do I preach to them about the internet on a daily basis? Finally Johnny got in on the debate :) He looked at the others and said, “Lighten up. It was a QUILTER, you know they are not normal people.” I laughed till I cried :)

Colds and Flu

2008-02-20T07:42:00.001-06:00

It is nothing but fun and games here at my house. Stevie has an intestinal bug, while Jamie and I have more of a cold/flu type one. Tonight Johnny was in the bathroom (remember 1 bath house) with Stevie clamoring outside the door proclaiming that Johnny NEEDED to hurry up before he (Stevie) exploded. Johnny comes out whistling says, “It’s all yours bro, I nuked it good.” And heads off to his room. Stevie runs in and shuts the door, and proceeds to gak and wretch yelling about how disgusting the smell from Johnny was. “Where is the !@#$ Lysol?” LOL, Johnny had placed it on the hallway shelf on his way out. This tickled Jamie so much (she was in the living room with Jon and I) that she choked on her water and threw up on Tigger who was sleeping in her lap. Stevie comes out into the middle of all this and says, “Mom, ya know how the toilet was all clean and everything? Think I wrecked that.” On the bright side, at least I can’t smell anything.

Fresh Start!

2008-01-11T08:46:00.001-06:00

I had an epiphany! I don’t allow my quilting or my stash to become out dated and neglected. Why am I not doing the same for my for my personal appearance? Don’t get me wrong. I am clean and tidy :-) I use soap on a daily basis. It was what I was wearing that had worn thin. So you may have noticed I haven’t been online as much this week as I usually am. Well I took the past few days and ruthlessly went through my closet and dresser. I boxed up everything that had not seen the light of day in 12 years and gave it to the Veteran’s resale center. I took everything that had rips, spots and stains and put it in the dust bin. I even went so far as to throw out all my knickers that had tired elastic :-) I felt very proud of myself, liberated even. I was moving out of my 1990 ward robe. Yes, I am sad to admit, I have been lolly gagging about in things I bought when I was preggers with Jamie Lee. Hoping and working towards that pre – kid figure. I have not given up on that dream, but I have come to grips with the fact that medical and genetic “blessings” are hindering it. I will always be a Fat Bottom Girl, but I don’t have to look tired worn out! :-) Next came a shopping trip to my favorite store, Wal-Mart. I bought jeans! It has been 5 years since I put on a pair of real blue jeans. I bought pretty blouses to replace the men’s t-shirts I have been living in. I even bought new knickers that were not white! Do you have that “Moving on up” theme song playing in your head yet? The one thing I could not find were new bras. Those I had to buy online at http://www.jms.com/ Any of you who want or need the newer sized version of the old over the shoulder boulder holder, should take a peek there. Good prices and very dependable. My favorite for finding the non department sized necessaries.

I do believe this will be my year for change :-) My next project will have to be my hair. Pony tails and head bands are getting a bit too young looking for my taste. I’m thinking more along the lines of short and sassy, maybe even colored!

2007-12-28T16:12:00.000-06:00

Hello all. This has been a traumatic day at my house. Johnny and I made a trip to the store and picked up lunch on the way home. To leave the parking lot you have to travel through a common road shared with an apartment complex. There was a little girl playing in this road way on her bicycle. She had left the bicycle laying in the road, and we had slowed down to a crawl while she ran to remove it. Thank goodness we were only moving at about 4 mph, because her older cousin came racing out of the apartment complex and hit my van broadside! He smacked into the driver side door and thankfully bounced back onto the sidewalk instead of under the van. I have never been more frightened in all my days. I jumped out the passenger side to see how hurt he was, but he was already running for his Momma. I took that as a good sign and followed the crowd of children , leaving Johnny with the van. Carlos ended up being alright, but I still insisted on calling 911 and having him checked out, along with an injury report made by the police. Johnny had called home letting Jon know what was happening, and I thought it strange that Jon never called me to see how things were going. I did not realize it at the time, but that was Mom’s trouble radar kicking in.

So now Johnny and I are on the way home again. Thanking our stars that the child hadn’t been hurt. That really was a miracle. We pull into the driveway and no one comes out. Radar tingle number two. We walk inside and there are Jon, Jamie and Stevie all lined up like monkeys sitting on the couch, with the TV turned off. Radar tingle number three. I explain to Jon how things happened as I am putting the groceries away. I notice there is a smoked pork loin in the fridge. Where did this come from? Oh, the mail man brought that from Aunt Barb, it’s a Christmas present. Fair enough, I make a mental note to send her a thank you. I go back into my bedroom to use the phone to call USAA and let them know about the accident. The dogs, normally laid back and lazy creatures are under my feet. I mean like glued to my ankles. Weird, they normally only act like that when there is a thunderstorm or fireworks going off. Radar tingle number four. As I am on the phone I hear a WHUMP! And the neighbors car alarms go off. Then from outside I hear, “Don’t tell your Mom!” My radar is beeping off the scale now as I put two and two together. Meat delivered to the house. Know what comes with that? Dry Ice. Now some of you may have normal husbands. I happen to have one that was teaching his children how to make coke bottle bombs using dry ice and water. I walk outside to find Jon, Jamie and Stevie once again, sitting all still and innocent. I send Stevie out to catch Panda who had jumped the fence in fear of the noise. Look at Jon and say, “Where is it, and how much do you have left?” Jamie at once starts in on, “Don’t worry Mom we were SAFE. Dad let me wear safety goggles after the first one blew up in the house!” WHAT??? Jon pipes in with ”It’s alright Hunny, we blew the rest of them up in the trash can. Oh, and I can re-attach the lid.” Sheesh. How can you argue with logic like that? Then Johnny comes out wanting to know who had been in his room. Turns out Jon and Stevie raided Johnny’s bedroom for empty plastic bottles to explode. All in the name of Science of course. Now according to the wild bunch – if they are ever stranded in the desert with nothing except dry ice and an empty bottle – they can blow up a coyote for food. I informed them they needed to come up with a better excuse :-)

2007-12-16T19:48:00.001-06:00

Today I was motivated! My Double Wedding Ring UFO has now transformed from a box of bits, into a top! It still has a ways to go before it has made it to quilt status, but I am closer. Of course now I have to figure out just exactly how I am going to get borders onto it. No way I want to bind this thing along all those curves! Right now it is a perfect fit for a Queen bed topper. Figure I need a good 14 inches down each side. Hmm...maybe some applique? I have a sneaky feeling it will go rest back in it's UFO box for awhile longer :-)

2007-12-13T05:28:00.001-06:00

I have been down sick this week and haven't gotten much of anything done. I pulled my top out from the Animal ABC blocks and set it out where I would keep seeing it. Perhaps this way I will remember to go and buy a border fabric! I really like this one and Do want to get it finished.
The tree is up and the cards are mailed out. Sounds like I am ahead of the game doesn't it? Ack and alas...I haven't done my shopping yet! Kids get out of school on Thursday. We will have a whirlwind of activity getting it all done then.

Doh! Bad Blogger

2007-12-04T23:34:00.000-06:00

Grr...I am so bad about remembering to update this thing. Johnny's Oak Leaf is Finally finished and on his bed! Only took about a year to get it done too.
Let's see, what else have I done recently? I have the top made for the Animal ABC BoM. I still need to find the perfect border fabric for it, so that has been set aside for now. Oh! And I made another Bulls Eye :-) This one was for a friend who is undergoing cancer treatment. I thought the blues and yellows made it cheerful.

Singer 99k

2007-10-20T06:34:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was very nearly a grade A bad day. I was machine quilting on the Oak Leaf (yes I know, I am tired of that quilt too.) When quite out of the blue my machine STOPPED running. ACK! I started moaning to anyone who would listen. Jon thought it might be the foot pedal, because the light still turned on. He promised to take a look at it after lunch when work slowed down some for him. Well I was in a funk. The Singer 99k is my absolute best machine when it comes to free motion quilting. I had Johnny help me get the Step Child out of the Dungeon. Step Child is a Singer 404 that HATES me, I keep her in the storage space under my sewing cabinet. This is a bad tempered machine, but I really wanted to keep working on that quilt. Grrr...I hate the Step Child. After struggling with her for an hour or so I gave up. I am stomping around the sewing room saying some rather not nice things out loud about uses I could find for Step Child. When Jon calls out from the other room...when was the last time you checked the grease on your 99? Hmm...ya know...I don't think I ever have. What do I have to lose? So I take the old gal and unscrew unhook and remove every thing I can find. GROSS! I spent the next two hours with Q-Tips removing the solidified gunk that was pretending to be grease. Much to my delight that is all she needed! Oh Happy Day! I blew a great big rasberry at the Step Child as I shoved her back into the storage area :-)

Brown Fingers

2007-10-11T11:04:00.000-05:00

Last night I caught Johnny doing something it will take him a long time to live down! The last couple of days I would find the bottle of chocolate ice cream stuff on the counter when I knew no one had had any ice cream. This particular type is the one that hardens into a shell when it touches the cold ice cream, not my usual purchase. Anyways, Jamie came to me giggling and said, “Mom, do you know what Johnny is doing with the chocolate syrup?” LOL, she was tattling because he wouldn’t share and had shoo’d her out of the kitchen. He was pouring the syrup onto his finger…then touching an ice cube to make it harden so he could eat it like candy! Later, the boys and I were watching Ghost Hunters. I looked over at Johnny during commercial and ask, “Johnny, is there Something you need to tell me? Something about BROWN FINGERS?” That of course kicked off all kinds of off color jokes and remarks, with Stevie and I giving Johnny no mercy. We laughed so much we missed part of our show!

2007-10-02T06:49:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday FatCat Patterns!

Yes the website is one year old today :-) I have just gone in and renewed the domain name for another year. Thank you to each and every one of you who have encouraged me to keep doodling and designing.

2007-10-01T21:09:00.000-05:00

For those of you who are missing my Family Dirt stories, here are a couple of recent funnies...

Stevie, "Mom! I invented a whole new number! A JESUS LOAD!"

Me, " A what? What in the world are you talking about?"

Stevie," That's what you get when you hit the Outhouse with the lawn mower. A whole JESUS LOAD of yellow jackets! There were so many of them it HAD to be a Miracle!"

And the day the boys spent on the public bus testing the ride to and from the collage campus...

Stevie, "Come on Johnny, it will be fun." Passes his hand across the front of his face and comes up with a goofy grin. "See, I have on my Let's Make Friends face! We can chat with homeless people!"

Johnny, " MOM...Mom...Please...make him STOP"

2007-09-28T00:07:00.001-05:00

We have a houseful of geriatric cats. For awhile now it has been obvious that the dry cat food is not agreeing with someone. Of course, whoever is suffering is trying to hide that fact. I lay in bed with the lights out...almost asleep...then I'm awoken by one of the few sounds that will still make me spring out of bed (okay okay, now days it is more of a roll instead of a spring)... Puking. It takes a few moments for my semi-conscience brain to register the fact that the sound is animal and not child produced. This particular retching noise is being made by one of the cats. Well of course I go through the house looking for sick kitty and yucky mess, and yes I check the sewing room first! Ugh, there it is. You know what? I didn't really like that quilt block. I am sure my points were missing on one side...into the trash can it goes. I go back to bed and fall right to sleep.

BRINGGGGGG....that's the alarm clock starting off the before school circus. It is a race to see who gets into the bathroom first. Woo Hoo! I beat Stevie. So I am sitting there (sorry for the image) and Stevie lets out a yelp! It starts to sound like a train whistle, I can hear him coming down the hallway and stopping right outside the bathroom door.

"MOM! Get OUT! Let me IN! I stepped in CAT BARF!!!"

I can't help it. It is how I react to stressful situations. I start to giggle.

"Mom, it is NOT FUNNY! It is all squished between my TOES!" urrk ( that's Stevie dry heaving.

I'm trying to hurry up, honest I am. Now Jamie and Johnny are in the hall too.

"Eww gross Man" "That's disgusting!" "Keep it away from me!"

"MOM...really...I'm gonna...urrk....puke. You gotta HURRY UP!"

So what will I do today? Dose ALL the cats with hairball remedy and buy new cat food!

2007-09-27T12:28:00.001-05:00

Oh my goodness. I had totally forgotten all about this poor blog.
Nearly a year since my last post. Hmm...an awful lot has happened since then. I now have quite a few patterns up on the main web site. It has grown in leaps and bounds in 12 months. Kids are nearly 6 weeks into the new school year and I find I have much more time to myself these days. Christmas stockings even got finished EARLY! Now that was a surprise.

2006-10-09T06:24:00.000-05:00

Throw size quilt made for the school raffle. This one has much smaller blocks, because it was made from the centers cut away from a few of the larger quilts.