Thursday, August 1, 2013

August Desktop Calendar

Lots of exciting things have happened in the past month: the SewHos had our annual retreat,  my older daughter added another baby to the family, and my youngest became a Texas Tech Red Raider!  I'll address each of those in upcoming posts, but for now, as usual, the one with the deadline wins! So after you've gotten a little bit of August under your belt, come on back for the scoop on the aforementioned topics!


Click to expand the image to full size, right-click and choose Set as Wallpaper or Background.
To really make the calendar "pop" right-click on your background and choose black. All your co-workers will be jealous of your awesome wallpaper!

Monday, July 1, 2013

July Desktop Calendar


July. 
In Texas.
Is HOT! 
Like the sun-hot. Like hell-hot. Like "Don't walk outside barefoot unless you want to smell sizzling flesh-hot." At my house today it was 103* and last night the low was 83* THE LOW!! Everything's getting crispy no matter how much I water. And there's only so much you can take off before the neighbors start calling the police. I hate hot. Hot is evil. Hot should be banned. I hear they did that in Alaska. Maybe it's time to sell the house and move to a more temperate climate. Anyone know a real estate agent in Anchorage?
Have  a Happy Independence Day - God Bless America!


Click to expand the image to full size, right-click and choose Set as Wallpaper or Background.
To really make the calendar "pop" right-click on your background and choose black. All your co-workers will be awesomely jealous of your wallpaper!

Saturday, June 1, 2013

June Desktop Calendar


The year's half over and I apparently am trying to rush things. Instead of quilting during Friday night FreeSew at Quilters Crossing, I brought my laptop and worked on my calendar. I was actually going to have it ready before 11:59pm and I was so proud of myself!

My friend Sandy came over to take a look and said hesitantly, "Oh - It's patriotic. Wouldn't that be better for July?"
It is July!

Oh. Wait. It's not.

Dammit!!!
File it under July and start all over. Ugh.

So I thought, "How about a little summer picnic?" With watermelons and ants. 
Worked on it for about an hour, and Sandy came over again, and said, "Um...roaches?"

What?! No! ANTS!
She said, "No, roaches."
Then of course, everyone had to come see. And they all saw roaches.  
Come on! Really?!
Now really - does that look like a roach to you??

Back to the EQ drawing board. I gave my so-called "roaches" a butt-ectomy into a more rounded physique and was given the go-ahead to use my new and improved ants. So here's the June calendar...with ANTS! Although, since we are in south Texas, by rights they should be Fire Ants and colored red. But these are the happy black ants I used to play with in the cracks of the sidewalk when I was a little girl in Chicago. Those Yankee ants were nice.


If you see ants and not roaches, and you still want this month's calendar, click to expand the image to full size, right-click and choose Set as Wallpaper or Background.
To really make the calendar "pop" right-click on your background and choose black. All your co-workers will be awesomely jealous of your wallpaper!

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

May Desktop Calendar

Well, my older daughter, her husband, 2 kiddos and the new little one due in July are now residents of South Carolina. Sob. Helped to drive them and all (most) of their stuff, unpacked 42 boxes, and drove home, all in 4 days...I'm still tired!
Totally lost track of time and didn't realize today would be the first of May til about 9:30 last night. Ugh. The calendar! Still not in a cheery mood, but I tried not to take it out on my innocent calendar-lovers...flowers for Mother's Day, but kinda subdued and melancholy - much like I've been feeling these past couple of weeks. Time to get it together!
Click to expand the image to full size, right-click and choose Set as Wallpaper or Background.
To really make the calendar "pop" right-click on your background and choose black. If that's not too depressing for you...

Monday, April 1, 2013

April Desktop Calendar

Yes, I know it's spring, but I'm just not in a spring-y mood. Sorry - no cute little bunnies cavorting in pretty spring flowers...maybe next month. Oldest daughter and family move to South Carolina in 10 days so I'm in kind of a blue (purple?) funk...
This quilt was submitted to the Electric Quilt's monthly EQ Club Challenge - see all the entries for the curved piecing challenge and be glad (as I am) that these are designs only and don't actually have to be pieced! It was designed in EQ7 and uses just 2 blocks: a full Double Wedding Ring, and a block made up of just 1 side of the pieced curve. Super-easy to design, kind of a pain to color correctly, and a definite piecing "no, thank you!"


Click to expand the image to full size, right-click and choose Set as Wallpaper or Background.
To really make the calendar "pop" right-click on your background and choose black.
I'll be back in a few with a cool photo-packed report on the Rabbit's Lair in Rogers, Arkansas  - in the meantime, enjoy your desktop calendar!

Friday, March 1, 2013

March Desktop Calendar


I've got a hugely busy month ahead as Megan and her family get ready for their move to South Carolina. ::sniff:: Alex is taking a fabulous promotion with MINI and even though this is going to be a hard move for all involved, it'll be a good one for their family. ::sob:: And, speaking of moving...we kinda like their house better than ours, so we're considering buying it from them, and downsizing a tad. Go figure...
So, short and sweet - here's your desktop calendar!


Click to expand the image to full size, right-click and choose Set as Wallpaper or Background.
To really make the calendar "pop" right-click on your background and choose black.
I'll be back in a few - in the meantime, enjoy your desktop calendar, and Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Friday, February 1, 2013

February Desktop Calendar


February in Houston...we had an 80* day and a week later, we had a hard freeze. We throw on t-shirts and flip-flops one day, and scramble for sweaters and heavy sox the next. Last night I went to bed with the window open, and woke up at 2am to see my own breath! In the house!! I like to sleep in a meat locker, but jeez...this is ridiculous!
Ok - so I finished a quilt top I started in a class last year with Cynthia Regone and I liked it so much I thought I'd adapt the pattern for use as one of my desktop calendars. Here's the top - no snickering about the photo quality, please:
It's a kaleidoscope pattern made up of 2 different combinations of lights, mediums, and darks. And Cynthia made it so easy to put together, I just may make another one!
So here's your February calendar:
Click to expand the image to full size, right-click and choose Set as Wallpaper or Background.
To really make the calendar "pop" right-click on your background and choose black.
I'll be back in a few - in the meantime, enjoy your desktop calendar, and Happy Valentine's Day!

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Happy New Year!

Is it me? Or do the years seem to go by faster than they used to? What I wouldn't give for a little slow-mo replay right about now.

No particular theme for the monthly desktop calendars this year (so far), but if you have a suggestion, I'd love to hear it!
At any rate, here's your new calendar to bring in 2013. Click to expand the image to full size, right-click and choose Set as Wallpaper or Background.
To really make the calendar "pop" right-click on your background and choose black.
I'll be back in a few - in the meantime, enjoy your desktop calendar, and accept my best wishes for a happy and prosperous New Year!

Monday, December 24, 2012

Quilt Catch-up

This year has gone by so quickly, filled with drama, deadlines, decisions and discombobulations. (Is that a word? ::Pause to check:: Yes, it is. And it's spelled correctly.) Did I mention, that in 8 years of elementary school, I only got 1 word wrong on a spelling test? In 8 years. No medal; no certificate....cheapskates.) Where was I? Oh yeah.
With Andy's numerous and recurring health issues, the demands of expanding the retreat, quilt deadlines missed and missed again, trying to get the last 2 kids through their senior year, meeting college deadlines, running the household... there hasn't been near enough time to devote to my personal quilts. So, as far as the 2012 Finish Line goes, it's pretty slim pickins. But I do have a couple of quilts to show for it, and even though they're small, they still count! First up:
Cameron's Baby Quilt, made for my little great-nephew in Southern California. It's small, and is sized for his car seat or stroller. It gets chilly there at night, and I thought it might come in handy.


This one, similar to Cameron's, is made for my "great-nephew" Hudson, the son of my "wish-she-was-really-my-niece," Casey, in Prosper, TX. All the nine patches are identical to the first quilt, but the snowballs and borders are different.

Both quilts were made with leftover floral fabrics from the ones I used to make duvet covers for the retreats. Those 9-patches are 3" square, and I made them as leaders/enders while sewing other projects.
And Hudson has a big sister, Audrey, who also needed a quilt, so I made her one for herself and/or her baby dolls. It started as a pretty little panel, and all I had to do was add a few borders and quilt it up.

Next up is a tote I made in my Scrap Therapy class.
It fits 4 Scrap Therapy bins inside which, theoretically, are all my scraps, cut into 5," 3.5," and 2" squares, ready to go into any number of ST projects. Yeah. In theory.
Also, from Scrap Therapy is this little wallhanging. I took a Jacobean hand applique class many years ago from Pat Campbell. Since I knew I would suck at it, I did it on crummy, unbleached muslin. *Note to self: on the off-chance that it might actually turn out ok, don't use crappy fabrics for your workshops.* I didn't know what to do with this little flower, til one of the Scrap Therapy sessions called for applique. Well, screw that! It'd never get finished, and that'd leave me with yet another unfinished project. I already have 50+ in various stages of completion - or not. So anyway, I pulled out this little project and used it for the center of the wallhanging. Done. Whew! That was a close one.
Pat called it Jacobean Silky Sapling, but I think I'll call it Flame Tree since I quilted it with a variegated yellow/orange King Tut in kind of a flame pattern. 

Let's see...what's next? Oh! How about the little wallhanging I finished last month while I was on retreat at SkyVue Lodge in Winslow, Arkansas. It's from a workshop I took with Debbie Bacon, when she came to our guild. The project, called "Celebration," was supposed to be in RWB, but since I still have tons of retreat duvet fabric left over, I decided to make mine from those, instead. I changed her pattern a little bit to make it the size I needed to hang in the Blue Room at the Cabin Too. I really like the way it turned out!



(And it'd make an awesome emergency baby quilt!)
Being as we're only 7 days from the end of the year, I'm pretty sure I won't be adding any more to 2012's Finish Line. That being said, I'm looking forward to 2013 being a) calmer, and b) more productive!










Saturday, December 1, 2012

December Desktop Calendar


The final desktop calendar of 2012 - where did the year go?? It's been fun doing all log cabin quilts this year, and no, I don't have a clue as to what the 2013 theme will be. Maybe no theme at all. We'll see what I can come up with at 11:45 on New Year's Eve.
To download it, click on the calendar to expand the image to full size, then right-click and choose Set as Wallpaper or Background. To really jazz up your desktop, right-click on your background and choose a color that coordinates with the calendar - or do like I do, and set your background color to black. It goes with everything and really makes the colors pop! And when your friends say, "Where did you get that?" Send them to see me!