Puppies, Penny

Our dear Pennydog (our first pet) passed away on February 11th and we really miss her. Before she died, I had started making little stuffed puppies from a pattern my aunt gave me. The first two were original size and each used a half of a bag of polyfill. I shrunk the pattern to 75% and they are even cuter than the originals! I shrunk the pattern again to be only 25% of the original and I hand stitched them in wool scraps and stuffed with polyfill. These are the cutest at less than 2 inches long! I even did one by hand and turned it so the seams were inside (about 1.5 inches long). This one is in fabric to match a nighty for my DD's Am. Girl doll.

The very first minipup I made, happened to be the same color as Penny - see I knew I'd get back to the title eventually. Alex told me we had to keep the first pup to honor Penny's memory. It sits on top of the cedar box the vet gave us for Penny's ashes.

Book Slut?

Found this at Ms. Jan Quilts and it is right up my alley!!!
Look at the list of books below:
* Bold the ones you’ve read
* Italicize the ones you want to read
* Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in.
* If you are reading this, tag, you’re it!
1. The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. The Bible (part of it, anyway)
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
50. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery) in French
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith
78. The World According to Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

If you see anything on there I simply must read, let me know.

Yipe! A month gone by already?

Oh my gosh, it's been awhile! I did finally find the jump cord for the camera so I can post some pics here. I'm also well on my way to becoming a true quilter: I have more finished tops than finished quilts! Plus many more ideas in my head than I will ever have time to complete... fabric collection is growing by bits and pieces (scraps and yards?)

I have to work on my projects in bits and pieces, but I hope to start (maybe finish too?) at least one quilt this weekend. I'll have some help with pinning and I have finally chosed a design for the Monkey Pinwheel quilt. Still have to find a (easy) design for the Faded Stars quilt for M & J. I really like how the top turned out, but can't decide on a quilting motif. It has to be special. More searching tomorrow!

I haven't done one of these in awhile, but it looks like fun.

Imagine you’ve made a connection with another blogger who lives in a completely different part of the world than you do. This blogger is about to take a trip and the connection you’ve made is so strong that she is going to make your house one stop on her trip. (Yay!) Unfortunately she can only stay at your place for 24 hours (boo!), but she’d like to see some nearby sights while visiting with you.Keeping in mind that time is quite limited so you have to stick pretty close to home (although not necessarily right IN your town - just anyplace you could go as a day trip), try looking around you with the eyes of someone who has never seen your area and tell us some things you’d share with…A Visitor to Your Hometown

1. Your visitor wants to see something historical. Where would you take her and why? In my current city, there is a little village of historical houses: log cabin, victorian, a school house. Some have antique furniture and quilts on display. The town where I grew up has a refurbished town square with cute shops, incl. a quilt shop and a bead shop that are both fun to browse (and buy, of course!)

2. She wants to see something hysterical…well, mildly amusing anyway. Rock n Roll Hall of Fame is just around the corner and is quirky to me!

3. She wants to take some beautiful and/or interesting photos to fill her albums when she gets home. Where would you take her? I live right in the Cleveland Metroparks. The Art museum is also pretty awesome.

4. She’d like to buy a souvenir that will remind her of your area every time she sees it. What would you suggest and where would you go to get it? Good question! I'm not really sure. I may edit later.

5. Wow, it’s been a long day and you’re both ready for a snack, or maybe even a meal. Where would you take her to really get the flavor of your area? The Brew Kettle is a local place where you can brew your own beer, root beer and ale, but the food is also really good.

Quilt for Michelle and Joel

I finally started our friends' baby quilt. I knew I had to start it soon - the baby is due in March! I'm using Faded Memories charm squares on a white-ish background with tone on tone roses - we already know the baby is a girl. I'm trying a stretched star pattern, based on Bonnie's Smokey Mountain Stars http://quiltville.com/smokeymtstars.shtml. My points won't touch like hers do because I'm using the nickel squares, but I still think it will look fine. I drew it out on paper first to make sure! I really have to get rid of the pictures on my camera card so I can load photos here. It will be a good journal to keep track of my process. I am terrible about printing pictures!

2007 Goals

We “fixed” our finances last June and have gotten a pretty good handle on everything. Even some good goals in place for this year, paying off a couple things, etc. Now I’m getting “my room” (laundry room) set up into a craft center so we can use the dining room on a regular basis and not have to shove stuff into the cabinets!

It is slow going as the craft projects tend to pile up in “UFO’s.” Alex and I are the most guilty. Something more fun to do comes along and we have to try it! Once that is organized, DH and I finally get to do our room – it’s the only room in the house that has not been entirely updated! (The closet wall was painted whrn the bathroom was re-done.) I'm looking forward to have space - and hopefully time! - to work on projects. It will be nice to have enverything I need in one location. I need a few more storage cabinets - on a quest to find the right sized drawers. Some are too deep, some too shallow.

I have not used my Christmas gift from my in-laws yet: a new Bernette 90e. I was looking for an all purpose, basic machine. Well my mil found this one for what she said was a great deal, but I will not get a b-day present this year! I don't mind that! The machine is a little intimidating. I have read the book, but not tried anything yet. I'm waiting for my room to be organized first. It will be my reward! I'm itching to get my hands on it. My little featherweight is good, but needs to be serviced. My mom's old machine is at my house too, but after two trips to the service shop, I still can't get the tension right. It's an old Kenmore with the disks that drop in to do fancy stitching. It's ready for donation or recycling... it served her well for a long time. She made many (MANY) outfits for us, slipcovers, curtains, etc. over the years!

So... back to my goals for the first half of this year:

Organize craft room
More storage
Sew something every week!
Print photos from digital camera
Put said photos into scrapbook!
Re-do our bedroom
Revamp dining room to better utilise storage where crafting stuff "was"

That takes us to June, after that, I'm looking at
DS to be potty trained this summer!
Work on backyard design
....

I'm not very good at keeping up with my own blog. Especially becasue I don't include photos. Someday (ahhh, someday...) I'll actually print some of the pics in my camera and maybe even post them to my site or share them with friends and family!

I finished the middle of the baby-quilt top. I can't decide if I want to include borders or not. It turned out really cute as is so I may just leave it and use a cute binding. Have to buy the batting and figure out a back too. I have time - my friend is desperate for a baby and this is my way to wish her luck without telling her what I'm doing - I won't give it to her until the time comes. Wouldn't want to jinx anything! I also will leave something un-done, just like my friend Alice, a tradition she taught me long time ago, so that I can finish it right before it is time to give it away.

Need to start another for someone having a girl in March. I'm excited about that one! I can't wait to put the fabrics together. Mom-to-be is a special friend that I met through my husband. She and her husband got to be really close to our family and they recently moved to NC for new job opportunities. They really like it there and we may visit on our annual drive to HHI, SC. Baby will be 3 months old by then. They are coming "home" sometime in April for a belated shower to show off baby to all the family and friends. I wish them well!