Checking Stuff Off

I'm going back to work in a week and a half and there is much yet to be done. I have squandered my hiatus. I will admit it! But for the rest of my time off I'm going to make an effort to be better. I have a to-do list! And there are already things being crossed off of it. I even got my hair cut and went to the dentist this week. Not only that but I also finished my first Common Threads quilt square! Late, I know and for that I am truly sorry. Sorry Rebekah, I'll try to be better in the future!

Yesterday I decided to buckle down and do this thing. I drew up a little plan and here you go.

Kind of boring? Maybe. I was trying to keep it from being too busy because it is just one of twelve blocks in a quilt. I wanted it to blend in. This was kind of hard! Rebekah sent out red, black and white fabric but my bundle only had red and black. She didn't say anything about using additional fabrics so I stuck to the hand I was dealt. Definitely a little out of my element. When I finished I thought it was a little "ugh". But I reminded myself of my original intention. This is not a stand-alone piece, it's part of a much bigger whole and I think that it will blend in quite nicely. I hope Rebekah thinks the same!

And the winner be...

Claudia takes all! Congratulations, lady!

The cutting table is newly cleared and I am ready to sew. Aside from slippers, I have to take care of the little matter of May's Common Threads quilt square (sorry Rebekah!) and some curtains to sew for the much maligned but newly reinvented Winnebago. I will keep you posted!

It's hot! Why not get some free stuff?

Well, maybe it's not hot everywhere but it sure is here and I know there are a few places out there that could use a little relief from the heat. Guess what I'm wearing as part of my anti-summer defense shield? My summer slippers!

It is that time of year again. Time to let your piggies breath a little while still lounging about in ultimate comfort. In honor of the season as well as anyone who is reading this despite my sporatic and non-craft related posting, I am not only going to make myself a new pair of slippers, I'm going to make a pair for you!
Well maybe you. Just leave me a comment on this post and I'll pick a random winner on Monday morning. The comment can be anything you want, you can even tell me to fug off, I'll understand! You're probably just crabby because your feet are so hot and uncomfortable. Just be sure to leave your email address so I can get your shoe size and address if you win. I'll even let you pick what color slippers you get. And if you don't win, you should really go ahead and make your own pair. Your toes will thank you.
So happy summer, happy giveaway and thank you for hanging around!

What is up.

What is up around here? A lot of nothing, perhaps too much. But also some gardening. Enough to make me so sore that I have to walk straight legged everytime I sit for 5 minutes because my calves are so unbelievably tight. I don't even know how that happened. It's good though. I don't exercise at all so every little bit counts. And is felt. For days afterward.

I'll bet you can guess what I haven't been doing. Crafting! Yes, it's true. I have roughly one month of hiatus left which may seem like a lot to you but I know how fast it is going to go by. My fear is that I'll go back to work feeling like I squandered my time off on hours of surfing the internet and too many episodes of "What Not To Wear".

So I'm blogging outside right now. It's pretty amazing what a difference it makes to poke around the internet from your newly degrossified and beflowered backyard rather than your your much loved but far too dark living room. Look at me, enjoying the great outdoors.

So because I have absolutely nothing crafty to share with you I'm sharing the fruits of my gardening labor. So far I've cleaned out the entire backyard (there was a lot to clean, logs, moldy lemons, garbage from the previous tenants), chainsawed a huge pile of logs and a nasty old picnic table and benches, planted one of the garden beds back there, planted a bougainvillea with a trellis to cover part of the hideous back of our house, put up some reed fence over the old ugly chain link fence at the back of the yard and planted the nice big garden bed in front of the house.

There's more that I want to do but the yard is still so enjoyable at this point. It has gone from a spider infested garbage heap to quite a pleasant place to "chillax". You can see a few more pictures here.