Snuggie-licious

My sister, who granted is self-admittedly insane, has really wanted a snuggie. Well, on our bead shop/fabric shopping expedition today, Mum found her one and bought it and we all had to pose in it. Below marks the beginning of our family modeling career. The last picture is my sis, nephew, and neice conflated in the snuggie - like three peas in a very ugly leopard print pod! And, if you'd like one of your very own you can make it yourself! I found this pattern online. Enjoy!

Full House

Our house is bursting at the seams - well close to it! My mom's still here and today my sister, niece, and nephew came to visit. It's a nice feeling to have family in the house, but I am so not used to having children around. They put life into perspective, though. I actually had an incredibly trying day at work, but my nephew accidently left his teddy bear at home and that is truly a bigger travesty than anything they tossed my way today! It's fun to hear thier little voices as they try to avoid going to sleep. I think spending time with children is the best thing to do to get over myself. It forces me to abandon my puntilious nature and just go with the flow!

In a surprisingly related note, Michele asked if I would give her a little sidelight in my blog since she is no longer able to get a reliable wireless signal and has stopped keeping her blog. I shared some of your comments about her truck. She says that the red truck probably goes faster than others, but her truck is regulated at 63 mph - though she's found that she can get it up to 64 mph! Speed demon!

I'm Alive!

Hello all! I am alive. I survived the roller derby clinic . . . by not going! Ha Ha! Actually, there was so much going on this weekend with Mum's visit and Michele's hometime and us trying to get Michele's new truck outfitted, that I didn't look at the derby website until Saturday night . . . at which time I realized that I needed to have purchased all the pads and gear needed for roller derby! So, the decision not to attend was sort of made for me, but they have another clinic in November, which I am hoping to attend. Of course, the more I delay, the more time I have to think myself out of trying it! We'll see.

The three of us had fun this weekend even without the derby clinic. Michele and I cleaned her truck and stocked it on Saturday and Sunday and then Mum and I saw her on her way. Thankfully, with this new company, she'll be away 5-7 days and then will be home. Good times!

On an unrelated note, my local Etsy team is hosting the mother of all giveaways on our blog. We'll be having seven weeks - that's right, seven - of giveaways starting this week. You can enter this first giveaway here. And make sure to come back for every week! My week is next, so be sure not to miss it!

In an effort not to be too loquatious tonight, I will simply leave you with this picture. I'm sure it needs no caption.

Visits Galore!

Michele came home several days early, which is awesome because Mum comes tomorrow. My mom and Michele are fast friends and haven't seen each other for nearly a year. Michele will be going back on the road on Sunday, but Mum will be here until next Friday. I am excited about spending time with my mom - she's such an aesthete about all things fabric related, so I'm looking forward to getting her take on some of my new designs. Then my sister, niece, and nephew will be coming for a visit next week! Oh so much fun planned. Plus, this Sunday is the first Fresh Meat clinic for roller derby!! Mum is really looking forward to it! LOL!!

Happy Birthday, Mum!

Today is my lovely mother's birthday - and the scuttlebutt is that it's one of the big important ones! She'll be here on Friday for her annual birthday-time visit, but I wanted to send her a happy birthday wish via my blog, too! The first picture below is from her annual May visit. She claims she was only smelling the tulips, but it looks like she's picking them to me! The second is a picture is one I found from my big sister's undergrad graduation - about 16 years ago. Obviously that's my sister in the cap and gown, my brother's beside her, our short mother is in the middle, and the tallest on the end, yup, that's me. Happy, happy birthday, Mum!

Carrot Crazed

I don't know that I have been overt about my obsession with carrots, but they are truly my favorite thing in the world. I love to eat them, I love to quilt them, I love everything about them. My friend Sarah of Happy Olive Designs, made me a carrot family felt magnet set that I display in my craft room. I firmly believe that carrot quilts work in any milieu, which explains the quilted carrots on my desk at work and kitchen table at home and the carrot wallhanging in my dining room. Plus, I have a 3 foot long wicker carrot hanging in my kitchen. Now that you understand my adoration of carrots, I want to bring the following serious issue to your attention. This was forwarded to me by Sarah and was created by Natalie Dee (who, by the way, has some awesome carrot t-shirts and totes on her site!).

nataliedee.com

Edited to add: I got featured in my very first Etsy Treasury. For those who don't know what that is, a treasury is a curated gallery that houses items chosen by other sellers. This particular treasury features quilted items that depict fall. My fall wallhanging was included! Please check it out, but don't delay, one other thing about these is that they expire. This one will be gone like the wind by Friday!

Musings on Fall

Fall is without a doubt my favorite time of year. The smell of burning leaves (I'm not quite sure where this smell comes from living in the city, but it's divine), apples, apple cider, and carrots, the oranges, reds, yellows, greens, and golds, the cool crisp weather that just whispers of snow (and my second favorite time of year: winter!!), sweaters and scarves and hats, and pies - the best pies happen in fall. Michele and I are lucky enough to live in an old neighborhood with huge trees lining the street. The first image is the view down that very street. The gold tree on the right is always the first to turn. The second image is the tree in front of our house. It always seems to wait to turn so that its leaves are at the height of brilliance for my mom's birthday (Wednesday). She comes to visit every year for her birthday and the window of "her" room looks out upon this tree. Ahh, fall, the most beautiful, and, in New York, the most fugacious of all the seasons.

Funnies & Feature

Ever since I announced that I am on a mission to become a roller derby girl, I've gotten a lot of encouragement, a lot of strange looks, and a lot of hilarious comments. I thought I'd share my three favorite funnies with you:
First, my mom. I said, "Mum, one neat thing is that the "Fresh Meat Clinic" is happening the weekend you'll be visiting, so you can come with me." She responded, "That sounds great - first I'll take you to the roller derby clinic, then we can head to the medical clinic!"

Next, my dad. He called be at an abnormal time (normal time is our weekly 7am Saturday call) so I answered rather anxiously and, with no preamble, he said, "If you get hurt doing this roller derby thing I'm gonna come up there and break both your legs!" (Well, that would keep me off the football field AND the roller derby rink!)

But, I think the funniest of all was Tina's response to my post about choosing the roller derby pseudonym of Sojourner Ruthless: "Just make sure you don't turn into Sojourner Toothless!"

All so funny!! I can't wait to get out there and give this thing a try!

On an absolutely unrelated note, Audrey, the lovely lady who won my Fall Celebration giveaway, has given me a feature in her most recent blog post. You should definitely check out Audrey's blog, not just to read about how much she loved the fall quilt, but because it's an awesome blog and SHE DOES GIVEAWAYS!!

Ctrl + Z

I spend a lot of time on the computer. I am on the computer for my entire workday and then I come home and work on my store or write my blog or any number of other things that seem to need to be done on this wonderful machine. I love the convenience and access to people all over the world that the computer and internet have given me, but I also adore that feeling of the world receding and life slowing down when I sit at my sewing table. That being said, this evening, when I needed to cut 10 strips to 7.5" and I accidentally cut them to 6.5" my first thought was "Oh how I wish I could just press Ctrl + Z and undo that!"

On a completely unrelated note, I have been giving a lot of thought to my future career as a roller derby girl. Each derby girl gets to choose a number and a cool name, which is usually a play on words, like Thea Pocalypse, Bomb Voyage, and Harriet Clubman. I've decided that, as I am no triskaidekaphobic, that I would like to have the number 13 (which actually is and always has been my favorite number, simply because 'M' is my favorite letter and 'M' is the 13th letter in the alphabet!) and I've thought of a very cool name: Sojourner Ruthless!! Ain't I a woman, indeed!

The Cats Who are Not Away

I know my blog is titled "While the Cat's Away," but ever since Michele started her new career and is away from home so much, the real cats are never away from my side! In fact, Myah, is standing on my desk chair behind my back as I type. Castor likes to twine around my feet while I sew and often stands on my presser foot and starts my machine at the exact wrong moment, though I exculpate her from the incident during which I sewed through my finger - that was entirely my own fault. Now, Pollux, on the other hand, just sits quietly in this box across from my ironing board and stares at me. You gotta love cute kitties! (And Teresa, in case you were wondering, that IS the box you sent all the wonderful goodies in. I placed it there to reuse, but Pollux layed claim to it and that was the end of that!)

Roller Derby!!

When I was a kid I loved roller skating and, though I never saw a match, always wanted to be in the roller derby. My friend, Sara, and I went to watch the local Rochester squad in a double header tonight. What fun!! I really should have brought my camera because these ladies costumes were wild! I hope to go back, so I won't forget my camera next time. Actually - don't tell Michele or my parents - I hope to do more than go back to watch again: I'm going to their "Fresh Meat" clinics to try out for the team! I want to fulfill my childhood dream - and get to wear some really cool thigh-high argyle socks!! So, the clinics start at the end of the month and tryouts aren't until February, but I'll keep you posted! And Michele, Parents, if you happen to get wind of this: I know that I'm a bit klutsy and I know I broke my wrist skating when I was a kid and I know that I fall nearly everytime I go up the stairs, but this is different, I can just feel it! I think I was meant to be a derby queen!!

I Produce While the Garden Lays Dormant

Though, as I mentioned yesterday, my garden did not produce many zucchini or green peppers and now lays dormant, I have been very productive lately. I made these beautiful bookmarks for a very nice lady to give to the ladies and gentleman in her church prayer group. When I was taking pictures of them for my records, I thought that I should write about them and share the pic with you. I think they came out really well! Each one has a cross and the recipient's initial on front and a scripture written on the back. I hope they're a hit! They were so fun to make I think I will whip some up for the my fellow choir members at church!

One Green Pepper and Two Zucchini

You may remember that when Michele was home the time before last, I made her chocolate zucchini bread to send her on her way. My zucchini plant didn't produce any fruit until very late in the season and the two zucchini I used for Michele's bread? Yup, you guessed it, those were the only two that it ever produced! Now, Gloria and I planted about a million zucchini and cucumber seeds and I had one zucchini plant which only produced two zucchini!! Likewise, we planted several green pepper plants. Can you guess how many green peppers I got? Right again! ONE!! Just one green pepper!! [But it was really yummy! I sauteed it up with some chopped tomato and angel hair pasta and topped it all with some fried green tomatoes the last night Michele was home this time. Mmmmm!!] Now, I know it's weird enough that I only got two zucchini and one green pepper all season, but here's where it really gets bizarre: they all appeared only once Michele came home!! That zucchini plant was flowering for months while she was away and then the week she gets home out two totally ripe fruit appear! Same with the pepper! It had actually been there a while, but was tiny. The week she gets home it grew and started turning red, it was so ready for her! Must be that Michele put a special spell on the garden!

Winnings!

As promised, I am back today to tell you why I was so excited yesterday. Remember, I teased that I had won something and hadn't won something else and I was excited about both? Well, first for the thing I didn't win: the Nature's Quilt contest. Now, why am I still excited? Well, because I didn't lose, either! I entered my first contest ever, nine people voted for my quilt, which thrilled me, and some really awesome quilts won, so I don't count that as a loss at all!

OK, now on to what I did win: A Blog de Oro (Blog of Gold) Award!! My first blog award EVER!!

This lovely golden award was graced upon my blog by Audrey of Audrey's Country Crafts. You should really check out her blog, too! (Hint, hint: in addition to featuring some really great artists and her own very beautiful painted treasures, she does GIVEAWAYS!!)

Now, I think this award is really cool for two reasons: It's international. Take a look at Audrey's blog to find out who gave it to her and you can trace the award all over the world - I went as far as Bucharest! How cool is that!

And for the second cool thing: I get to award it to TEN other blogs!! You know how I love to give things away, right? And my burgeoning list of the blogs I follow is insane! So here goes in no particular order:

1. Quiltefia
2. Roam Mania
3. Sewing Trials
4. Trials and Tribulations of Being a Working SAHM
5. Charlotte's Cottage
6. Buenahelena
7. A Second Look
8. Bookish Worm
9. Life on the Block
10. Canton Village Quilt Works

Now, there are several blogs I wish I could include, but couldn't fit into the ten. And there are a few that you would think I would include, but didn't (namely Michele's blog and the other two blogs I write for in addition to this one), but I only included ones that are updated regularly (which Michele's isn't) and that I don't write for (how fair would that be?) and that I knew were for public consumption. Congratulations to all!! And everyone else, please check these ten out - they are well worth the time!!

Excitement!!

I have two bits of excitement to share with you, but I've decided to be a little demon and not tell you until tomorrow. I will give you a hint, though: I won something and I didn't win something else. All joking aside, I swear not telling you isn't a ploy to leave you esurient for more - I can't tell you yet about the first because I have to do a few things when I announce it and I shouldn't tell you the second because I will not officially not win until tomorrow and I really shouldn't give up hope until then. Either way, win or not, it's exciting and tomorrow I will tell you why. Until then. . .

Thanks Everyone!!

Thanks everybody for your opinions on the free gift with purchase. I went with the majority and made it for $10 or greater. And, Kym, my thought was to give away the bags until the items from the featured artist are gone and them change the listing to feature the next artist (so hurry up and send me something lovely!)

And, as you can see in the comments, Audrey found her way back to me to claim her quilt. It was probably my fault - I guess for most giveaways the host emails the winner when they've won - oops! Oh well, we live and learn, right?

Well, I am suddenly overwhelmed with custom orders, PIFs, stocking the store for the holidays, and getting ready for my next giveaway and my team's upcoming giveaways - and I just got a new Star Trek Voyager DVD for season 6 - season 5 ended with a cliffhanger, so I CANNOT wait to watch it!! Now, though I'm sure you can tell by the fact that I am suddenly incredibly busy, but I'll still tell you: Michele leaves today. She's starting her new job that will bring her home weekly, but with orientation and time with a driver mentor, she will likely be gone for a month this first time. So, it's back to the busy bee for me!

Opinions Wanted!! and Wherefore Art Thou, Audrey?

I am so hoping to get your opinions on something. As you know, I run a shop called The Quilted House. Well, as part of an effort to promote both my shop and other shops, I want to start giving a free gift with purchase. I'm starting it with an awesome jewelry shop, Just Ice Jewelry. She's giving her buyers quilted jewelry bags that I've made and she's given me some beautiful earrings to give to my buyers. To make her beautiful jewelry flow with my shop, I decided to create a theme around my free gift with purchase. It will be a rolling feature promoting a different shop each time. Something like: Grab Bags featuring Just Ice Jewelry. And then next month Grab Bags featuring Heavenly Creations PGH. The "grab bag" will be a lovely little quilted bag made by yours truly. OK, so I've got the general concept in my mind, I'm just not sure how to implement it. That's where you come in:

• First, what do you think? I figure everyone likes to get something free, right?
• Second, do you think it should be with every purchase? Just Ice Jewelry is giving her gift when a buyer purchases a certain style of jewelry. My friend Buenahelena is doing a Halloween themed free gift with any Halloween purchase. I was thinking doing it with everything, or do you think I should do it for a certain price point - like, free gift with any $10 or greater purchase?

Thanks in advance for your opinions!!

OK, in a totally unrelated note: Monday I announced that Audrey won the Fall Celebration giveaway. Audrey, Audrey, wherefore art thou, Audrey?? I haven't heard from her, so this beautiful wallhanging has been languishing in my craft room homeless and sad. Audrey, if you are out there, please contact me to claim your prize before Saturday. I'll draw a new name on Sunday, so don't delay!

Sick, Not Dead

I'm sorry I neglected to blog yesterday. I am sure you were all quite concerned. I leave a cryptic note about an unknown stomach ailment and then disappear! My apologies. Tuesday night, I started feeling worse and worse and finally, after searching the house and calling our neighbor (at 11 o'clock at night!!) for crackers, Michele (the best partner ever!!) went out and bought me crackers and ginger ale, adjuvants to settle my stomach. After consuming a bit of both, I felt a little less like dying and was able to fall to sleep. I awoke feeling hungry and fine, so I am not really sure what was wrong the night before. Thank you, everyone, for your suggestions! They were all really helpful and all centered around drinking something gingery! Now that I think about it, instead of sending Michele to the store, I could have gnawed on that piece of ginger root I've had languishing in my pantry for a couple months now.

On a very slightly related note, I moved "offices" yesterday (the stress of which may very well have made me ill the day before!) Like many, I work in a world of cubicles. I traded one very grey cube for a very pretty new one. Its walls are a buttery tan, which I like very much and which coordinates a lot better with the quilts and other items I have as decor. I'll post some pics tomorrow.

Something I Ate . . . I Hope

I feel sick to my stomach! Now, I wouldn't usually blog just to tell you that, but I figured I might as well, since feeling sick fits in with today's word of the day. So, I feel sick to my stomach. I hope it was something that I ate and not the I'm actually sick - both really suck, but, unless it's food poisoning, upset stomach tends to end quicker than illness. I believe I will go lay down in the hopes that lack of movement will ameliorate my symptoms.

New Beginnings

I started my new job today - sort of. I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned this, but, by day, I work as an instructional designer and up to this point I have developed instruction, mostly in the form of online courses, for custom clients. For over a year now, I have worked for the same client, a pharmaceutical company. Recently, I decided to change things up and applied for a new position within the company. I will still be developing courses, but instead of creating courses for custom clients, I will be creating courses to fill our catalog. These courses could be purchased by various clients and are not customized for just one. So, I still work for the same company, just in a different department. And because I work for the same company, my transition to the new job will be sinuous, but that is necessary so that I can leave my client in a good place. For a little while I may be straddling the fence between the two departments, but all is well. Since I officially became part of the new department today, they gave me this lovely bouquet and took me out to lunch. Such a nice gesture and a wonderful way to ease me onto their team and ease my leaving a department and client I will miss dearly. Oh, new beginnings wouldn't be so hard if endings weren't so sad!

And the Winner is. . .

# 80 - Audrey. How exciting!! Audrey, congratulations!! I am very excited to send you this lovely quilt. I hope it brightens up you home! Please go to my profile, find my email address, and email me your mailing address so I can get this quilt to its new home.

Although I am excited for Audrey, I'm sad that I couldn't make you all winners! I wish that I could do what I did with the PIF contest and let everybody win! Bu don't worry, I really like giving things away and plan to have contests regularly.

Speaking of contests, I'm sure you all remember helping me decide which quilt to enter in the Nature's Best Quilt contest. Well, voting has started. I'd love to win, so if you will all got to this site, take a look at the contestants in the small quilts section, and vote for Lily Garden: Year One, if you think it's the best. Thanks!!

Clearing the Clutter

Those who have been following me for a while now probably remember following along on my tour of my craft room. Well, this room is the largest in the house (aside from the attic, which houses the other half of my crafting supplies!). One of the problems with having such a large space is that when it gets messy it takes a lot of time to clean and straighten it up. My predilection is to clean up after every project, but I've been so busy lately that I haven't taken the time to do so and things are just out of control. So, today is the day! I will end clutter's hold on my craft room and my creativity!! (Just as soon as I finish goofing off on the computer!)

Speaking of endings: today is the last day of the Fall Celebration giveaway, so if you haven't yet entered, now's your chance.

FAME!

I'm gonna live forever! We just got home from seeing Fame! What fun. I loved the show as a kid. Remember rushing home on Saturdays to a house full of crockpot cooking beans and watching Fame with the family. The movie was great and like all great movies left me feeling on top of the world. I left the theater cavorting wildly and singing loudly, while Michele tried to walk enough of a distance away so that people would think she didn't know me. I don't think she fooled anyone.

Well, from my post-theater antics, it is pretty obvious that singing and dancing will never be my claim to fame. Though I am pretty decent at both, I'm a lot better at quilting. And, thankfully, I just found out that the lovely little mini quilt, Lily Garden: Year One, arrived safely to my new friend Anne in Norway. Enjoy it in good health, Anne.

Fun, Pain, and Fun!!

Oh, I am having so much fun reading all the comments on the giveaway post! Keep those entries coming! I cannot wait to see who wins!

Now for the pain segment. I wanted to tell you what happened to me the night I was working on the fall wall hanging. It is something that has happened to many other sewers, but I never thought it would happen to me. I sewed through my finger! Surprisingly, it didn't hurt, but the needle made a very eldritch noise when it went through my finger and fingernail and broke into many tiny bits. I think this makes me a real sewer - I have been initiated into the club! Although there was no pain when it happened, my finger really smarts now, especially when I type (which I do all day at work and quite a bit when I get home!!)

OK, now on to something fun. As you all likely know, I have a shop in which I sell quilted items. Well, I am also a member of a group of others who also have shops in which they sell items (though mostly not quilted items) and we all live right here in Rochester, NY. We're called the Rochester, NY Etsy Street Team (RNEST) and we are really fabulous!! This team has a blog, which I hope you will check out because they are graciously allowing yours truly to author a weekly column. I call it Wednesday Wellspring and weekly will feature a wonderful seller who has "bubbled up" from the well, so to speak. Now if hearing more from me isn't reason enough, my fellow members will also be contributing really cool posts, like Buenahelena's recent tutorial on magnetic rings! Very cool! So, if you have space on your blogroll, definitely check it out!

Fall Celebration GIveaway

Alright, I promised to show some love today, remember? It's the first day of fall and fall is one of my four favorite seasons! So, to celebrate, I am hosting my first no strings attached giveaway. All you have to do to win is enter and the random number generator will do the rest. And, because I like being nice, you'll have five chances to enter! Now, first, let me tell you what you will win. Just especially for this giveaway, I made this gorgeous fall wall hanging. Measuring 17 inches square, it is a smaller version of one I just listed in my shop. Just looking at it makes me think of fall!

OK, now for what you need to do to enter. You have five chances and need to leave a separate comment for each entrance:

1. Leave a comment telling me why you'd love to have this wall hanging.
   
2. Become a follower of this blog and leave a comment telling me you are. If you're already a follower, leave a comment saying so.
   
3. Go to The Quilted House, look around, and come back here to tell me what your favorite item is.
4. Go to my Etsy team's, the Rochester, NY Etsy Street Team, blog and become a follower. (Trust me, you'll want to. We'll be having the mother of all giveaways soon!!) Don't forget to leave me a comment here letting me know you did.
   
5. Mention this giveaway on your blog, Facebook, twitter, etc., and leave me a comment telling me you did (no link necessary. I trust you.)
   

It's that easy. But, you know what, I think I want to give a little extra love to my faithful followers (who by now should be cognoscenti of me) in the form of two bonus chances to win:

1. Leave a comment answering: Animal lover that I am, name one of the three animals I would love to sic a dog on.
2. Leave a comment answering: What do I love to watch on DVD? (No need to be series specific.)

Best of luck to all, but don't delay. This giveaway ends Sunday, 9/27/2009, and I'll announce the winner on Monday! By the way, all are welcome to play, U.S. & International!

Is Today My Birthday?

I must be the luckiest girl in the world. I came home today and, after seeing what had come in the mail, had to ask Michele if somehow my birthday had moved from May to September! I was overwhelmed with goodies from two lovely ladies from the west. First of all, Teresa, of Sewing Trials, paid it forward in a big and wonderful way. She sent bags galore: shopping bags, a corduroy tote, a small bright orange tote (filled with chocolate that is already half gone), and the cutest friendship bag ever (that I saw her making on her blog, but had no idea it would be for me!!). She also sent a fat quarter of a fabric I fell in love with on her blog, two winter scarves, two fabric scarves, and two of the very loveliest cloth wallets I've ever seen. And she made it all herself!! Oh, Teresa, I love it all - thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Now, my "birthday" didn't end there! Oh, no, indeed. Also from the west, Kymberly (whose name is spelled identical to my big sis's), of The Cotton Patch, sent me an absolutely beautiful mini quilt from the Summertime Mini Quilt Swap. The beautiful sun-bleached colors of the whimsical pinwheels made me smile the moment I opened the package! This quilt, I believe, will grace the walls of my new "office" at work (by the way, I got a new job. I'm sure I will mention that again later). Thank you, Kymberly, for such a wonderful gift!!

Wow, all this love from two whom I have never met in person. It just makes me want to spread some love, too. Tomorrow is the first day of fall. Hmm, perhaps I have something planned to show some love. Should I hint around? Should I lead you all on a merry chase? No! I will not equivocate! There will be some excitement on this blog tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Sneaky Cats, II

You may remember Myah, one of our three cats, from this post: Sneaky Cats. Well, she's at it again. I'm not sure what is calling to her, but she is driven to reach something outside this high, high window in my bedroom. I've peeked out and cannot see anything that fascinating, but there's no telling what captures a kitty's interests, is there?

Whatever it is, it captivates her and, in a farrago of ways, with alacrity she climbs up and stalks whatever is taunting her on the other side of the screen.

Football and Trash - it IS Thursday!

Well today is Thursday, and, as usual, I ask . . . that's right, you guessed it, "why do I play football?" Well, today I only fell once, Michele almost broke Jena's nose, I almost broke Chad's finger, clothes were torn, chests were bumped, and, from an efficacious application of defense, my team left victorious!

Today, as I said, is Thursday, trash day, and Michele is home, but guess what? There is no trash! I took care of it last week (about the first time in a month) and we hardly generate any (recycling, reusing, reducing, and composting), so there is nothing for Michele to do and for me to enjoy not having to do. Oh, wait, [evil laugh inserted here], there's the litter boxes to take care of! Oh, honnnneeeyyyyyyy. . . .

A Late Night Visit to a Truck Stop

To avoid being accused of logorrhea, I will keep tonight's post short. Actually, I am keeping it short because I am tired again tonight. I wonder if I am coming down with something. Every time I say to Michele "I'm tired. I think I may be sick." She says, "Normal people, when they are tired, think, 'Hmm, maybe I'll take a nap or go to bed early.' But you always think you are sick. Just take a nap!" And I would go to bed early tonight, but I have to make a trip to a truck stop to pick her up and I am afraid that I will not awaken when she calls (I sleep like the dead). Plus, if I go to bed for the night and wake up in the morning, I am a nice person. If I go to bed for a short time, like a nap, I am very grumpy and grouchy and the devil incarnate. So I am going to get a nectarine and watch an episode of Star Trek or two while I wait. It will be better for all concerned this way.

Unfit for Lucubration

Tonight I am tired and not up to the lucubration of writing anything truly clever, so I thought I'd just show you what I've been working on. This is my favorite of a set of four Halloween cards I just finished. Isn't he scarily adorable??!! OK, I'm off to bed now - actually, I'm off to read in bed and eat a bowl of ice cream (remember, it's doctor prescribed, sort of. See here for clarification: Health Screenings.)

By the way, Michele has been delayed on the road and will likely not be home until tomorrow night or Thursday. I think that means she will be home for a week and a half - yippee - but it may mean she'll only be home a couple days and will still start her new job on Monday - yippee on the new job, bummer on the short time!

Puzzles and Shameless Plugs

I ran across this blog post by a crafter who 1. makes really neat ornaments and 2. has a really neat project going on. She's making ornaments out of puzzle pieces that she sells to support the Autism Solution Center. The REALLY neat thing is that if you send her pieces of old puzzles that are missing pieces or whatever, she'll use them to make the ornaments, donate the ornament profits to the organization, donate the amount you paid in shipping to send her the pieces, AND send you an ornament as thanks!! How cool is that??!! Check out her post here: http://busylittleelf.blogspot.com/2009/09/puzzled.html

In a slightly related note: Not to do a shameless plug, but my sister wrote a really nice post about two custom projects I created for her and her family. Check it out here: http://kymidiva.blogspot.com/2009/09/duchess.html?showComment=1252978524027#c4073282873143613719

And, last but not least, a word of caution. As the holidays approach, I implore all of you to temper your drinking and carousing and avoid becoming crapulous. It's all fun and games until you get all crapulous all over your mother-in-law's new Christmas tree skirt! (OK, obviously I had no idea how to work today's word of the day into the actual post, so I fabricated a reason to say "crapulous." Hey, what's a girl to do when the WOTD is totally unusable in her daily speech??)

Pastoral Sabbatical

Our beloved pastor left today for a eight week sabbatical. He left his bucolic surroundings somewhere in the countryside of Western New York (that likely lacked sufficient street lights for me) and his suburban church to travel to six countries in Eastern Europe (Romania, Serbia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Moldova, and Malta) to be a resource to a fellow pastor in Romania and provide support to other ministries. We are certainly going to miss him over the next two months, but I think that it is incredibly cool that he is making this sojourn. Today, as always, I am very proud of our pastor.

On an unrelated note, Michele believes she will be home tomorrow afternoon or Tuesday morning!! It's too bad that she couldn't have gotten here today to see Rev. Jim off, but I am so happy she'll be home! I think she goes for orientation with her new company a week from tomorrow, so she'll just be home for a few days (one of which will be trash day - yippee!!).

Lazy Day

I shamefully didn't even get out of my pajamas today. I watched an episode of Voyager (my favorite Star Trek after TNG), chatted with my neighbor, Rita, in the garden (yes, in my jammies), made two tote bags, and accidentally made tomato sauce/tomato soup. So, although lazy, I was productive. OK, OK, you are wondering how a person accidentally makes tomato sauce/soup, right? Well, it can easily happen when said person decides to stew tomatoes, but doesn't know how and doesn't Google it and just decides to throw a bunch of tomatoes, onions, garlic, and green peppers into the Crock Pot and forget about it for ten hours. The lovely mess is definitely tomato soup or sauce and pretty darn tasty soup or sauce at that!

On a slightly related note, over these past months, I have tried to inure myself to the drudgery of chores, like the trash and litter boxes, with some success. The need for this will hopefully be coming to an end. Michele has been hired by a new trucking company for a regional route that will bring her home weekly!! Yippee!! Now, my only hope is that her weekly home time coincides with trash day! Hey, a girl can hope, right??!!

Celebrating Life

I've felt sad today thinking back eight years ago to 9/11/2001 - a puissant memory that I am sure is on most minds, especially here in New York. This morning, I heard a radio host comment that in the midst of thinking of those lives that were lost, think also about those whose lives were changed for the better in the aftermath. Children who turned from crime and were inspired to become firefighters or police officers. Members of the US and international military who, without fail, defend freedom and culture worldwide. All of us throughout the world who gained new sensitivities to one another. And so, as I was acknowledging our losses, I celebrated life today. One of my favorite books that I have been working through for the past few years is You Can Do It: The Merit Badge Handbook for Grown-Up Girls. Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas began writing it one year before she died on United Flight 93. Her favorite quote was "Get busy living, or get busy dying" from The Shawshank Redemption. Today, I thought of that quote, Lauren, the country, the world, and the affect 9/11/2001 has on us all.

In embracing life, I thought I'd leave you with a happy picture of me embracing the packed up Lily Garden: Year One before I sent it off to it's faraway home. Happy journey, little quilt.

Mysterious Burns

The strangest thing happened earlier in the week: I discovered a small burn on my hand. Now that, in and of itself is not really very strange. The thing is that I don't remembered getting burned. Now, even stranger than that, this morning, upon waking, I found two more small burns on the same hand! Very strange. I have the oddest feeling that some noisome villain, perhaps a mischievous squirrel or bunny, sneaks into my bedroom at night and burns me with some miniature cigarettes. OK, OK, I know it's a lot more likely that I burnt myself on the stove or iron a few days ago without noticing and it just took some time to color up. But, admit it, the image of a villainous smoking squirrel is a lot more interesting, right?

Profiled

Hey, my shop was profiled in a blog in August - and I just found out! It was a very nice profile from a stamp carver who carves under the name of JackBear Stamps. As you can see, his portrait stamps are absolutely amazing!! Thanks, JackBear, for the profile!!

Dangerous

Well, it has now been confirmed that I have just enough knowledge to be dangerous. All my fancy maneuvering to make my blog into a three-column affair broke two things: my ability to edit posts and your ability to comment! (Thank you so much, Teresa, for letting me know the comment function was broken. I was beginning to feel unloved with 0 comments by mid-afternoon!!) Well, I've gotten a little more knowledge and fixed both issues (though the comment function still has the same glitch it's had: you have to click submit twice to get your comment to go through and now my note to that affect has disappeared - thankfully the submit thing is a Blogger problem, not one of my creation!)

It seems that today is the day to gently poke fun at my misuse of the knowledge I so passionately glean from the web. Today's word of the day fits me perfectly: malapropism. It describes the torture through which I usually put these poor words of the day by trying to use them in a sentence. Well, I will persevere. My malapropisms will be on display for you daily as promised!

Redesign/Reinvigoration

OK, you may have noticed that I have redesigned my blog layout. I've been wanting a three-column layout for a little while now, but I couldn't figure out how to do it. Well, I googled it and voila - refulgent in the listings were directions on editing the html of my page template to make it three columns. And, of course, I forgot to save the link to post for you, but if you google three-column blog (and the name of your blog template) you should be able to find directions - I guess it's something a lot of other people want to do, too! Let me know what you think of my redesign.

On a very loosely related note, I am trying to reinvigorate my online shop, too. I've made it a mission to list one new item every day this week, which is a challenge because that means that I need to make new items at least daily (and those of you who sew and quilt know that quilted items rarely get completed in a day!!) I got inspired, though, by another seller, Tina, who has twin three-year-olds and has made her shop a success. Also, by my blogging friend, Teresa, with three boys (and all their activities), who is making things and taking classes right & left! And then there's my sis, with two toddlers, and her own online shop! Well, if they, with all the folks and things they take care of, can do it, I most definitely can, too! I've cut my Star Trek watching to the bone - that's how committed I am!!

Cheerful Ironing

This may seem odd, but I love, love, love ironing fabric - it's one of the many sacrosanct joys in my life (right up there with Star Trek!!). I'm not very keen on ironing clothes or anything else, though. So, yesterday, after that excellent movie and my heartfelt blogging, I decided that the most appropriate capstone to the lovely evening would be to finish my ironing. I've been slowly, but surely, working my way through that large suitcase of fabric that Kym, my sister, sent me home with from Pittsburgh. I love to bring new fabric into my room and dream over it while ironing, folding, and color-coordinated sorting. I keep my journal nearby and jot down all my ideas and then pin little notes to the fabric to remind me. Oh, what fun!!

On a fabric-related note, sort of, I entered Lily Garden, Year One into that contest I mentioned. Voting starts at the end of the month, but I'll remind you. There are so many lovely entries already submitted, so it's bound to be a great competition. It's my first, so I'd love to win, but mostly I'm just really excited that I had the courage to enter!

Julie & Julia

My friend, Sara, and I went to see Julie & Julia tonight. Amazing!! It was so very good. I read the book when it first came out and, although I really enjoyed it, had a bit of a hard time getting through it. The writing was wonderful, but I read it during my lunch breaks and, being a vegetarian who had never cooked meat, fish, poultry, etc., found it hard to stomach (pun intended). Anyway, the movie really resonated with me. Julie saved herself from herself by cooking her way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking, but more than just that. She saved her sanity by blogging about it. Although I started this blog as a way to keep Michele apprised of my many projects (and to let my parents know I was surviving), it's metamorphosed into something more for me. There's something special about connecting with people this way and being responsible to a sometimes mysterious and unknown other. For the first few months, just knowing that someone out there might be expecting to read something from me helped me not to acquiesce to the desire to sleep all day - I actually had to get up and do something so that I would have something to blog about! I just really appreciate that you all read this because I really enjoy writing it. It kept me sane in the first few months and now really brings me joy!

OK, in a completely unrelated note: after tallying the votes from here and Facebook, Lily Garden, Year One edged out Dragonfly Dance by one vote. I didn't vote myself, or it would have been a tie! Lily Garden, Year One it is, I think. I should hurry up and enter before I change my mind!! Thanks, everyone, for helping me decide!!

The Battle of the Nature-Themed Quilts

Hello all! I have just completed the quilt for my swap partner. I will be sending it off to her on Tuesday when the post office opens again. The site that hosted the swap, Quilting Gallery, is also hosting a contest for the best nature-themed quilt. I would like to enter, but I can't decide which quilt to enter, so I thought I'd ask for your help.

The first contestant is the quilt I made for the swap. It's titled Lily Garden, Year One and commemorates my first year as a gardener and features three lilies, similar to the ones in my little lily bed, and 42 individually cut and appliqued blades of grass (yes, that's correct, 42 - not 41, not 43, but 42).

The second contestant is the quilt I made for Michele for our anniversary. It is titled Dragonfly Dance and features a dragonfly centerpiece and lots of little bugs and flowers, each on its own pieced background.

I, of course, love both and would love to enter both, but can only enter one. Michele's already voted for her quilt, but she might be just a bit biased. What do you think?

On a related note, once I enter one of these lovelies and voting starts, I'll let you know. The prizes wouldn't satisfy a voluptuary, but I think they are pretty great and I would love to win one of them. But, first, of course, I need your help to decide which one to enter!

Michele's Send Off Treats

Michele heads out tomorrow morning, so I was no gadabout today. Since I always like to send her off with some healthy, but yummy treats, instead of playing all day, I got busy.

Her treats this time had a nutty, chocolatey theme. I made her granola, as I usually do, but this time she didn't want any fruit, just nuts. This is a real nut-lovers granola with peanuts, hazelnuts, walnuts, sunflower seeds, almonds, and coconut. She says it's delicious, but since I can't eat walnuts or sunflower seeds, I have to take her word for it.

I also made her chocolate fruit and nut clusters. It's dark chocolate with pieces of dried cranberries and apricot and pecans. I did try these, even though pecans make my mouth itch. They were very, very worth it!!

Last, but not least, I made her chocolate chocolate chip zucchini bread. Oh my, is it delicious!! The recipe makes two loaves, so one is staying here with me. I used zucchini from the garden, so it's an extra special treat to send her off with. I like to know that she'll have little bits of love to see her on her way.

In a related note, Michele has another chance for a regional route that would get her home every week. If you pray, please send up some prayers for that to come through.

Football Excitement

We played ball tonight! I still have no clue why I play - I fall as often as I stay on my feet! - but tonight was extra special for two reasons:
1. Michele got to play with us. She was on the opposing team and they won, but it was still great fun to have her with us.
2. I got the most amazing touchdown!! Now, you know these are rare for me, so this was extra, extra special. I was the quarterback and I was supposed to be throwing it to someone, but Chad, who is about 7 feet tall was about to rush me and no one was open, so I ran it!! I caromed off Tim - he's fast like quicksilver - scooted around Chad, Sarah, and Michele and made it to the endzone with flags intact!! I am always so very surprised every time I stay on my feet with the ball in my hands.

I really earned the veggie hotdog and pie I ate afterwards. I have also earned the extreme pain I will be in tomorrow. Oh, indeed, tomorrow I will be reminded that I am not 15 anymore, but tonight I am just basking in the glory!!

Beets: They're What's for Dinner!

But not tonight. My fecund little garden has been growing the biggest beet ever and every day I have gone out and said a little prayer asking God to put a little plastic bubble around that beet to protect it from the groundhog/squirrel/bunny. And every day that beet grew bigger and bigger. You see, I had plans for that beet: Michele's homecoming. I wanted her to see it growing in the ground and then pick it with me and then we'd cook it up and eat it together! And I know that you all think that next I will say that the groundhog/squirrel/bunny got to it first. . .but no! We just picked it today and cooked it up! bwahahahaha!! We got one over on the groundhog/squirrel/bunny!! The thing is, it took too long to cook, so we actually had grilled cheese sandwiches with slices of tomatoes inside & homemade pickles on the side. Yum!! We'll have beets tomorrow.

Now you all may remember when I was just an abecedarian and first tried beet juice, straight, no chaser. Well, now that I am more advanced, more educated, I've decided to add a little sugar, chill it, and have it over ice. I'll let you know how it is tomorrow. Michele refuses to even try the beet greens, least more the juice. She claims she's living vicariously through me.

By the way #1: You may have noticed that I used two words of the day in this post. Well, that is to appease my sister who complained that since I did not blog yesterday, she was bereft and uneducated about the word of the day. So the first word was yesterday's. Enjoy!

By the way #2: If you are interested in a small purse-sized tote bag, I am having a sale at my shop: The Perfect Little Tote Bag Sale!! There are only two left, so if that's up your alley, grab them while the grabbing's good!

Zucchini and Homecoming

When Gloria came at the beginning of May we planted a billion zucchini and cucumber seeds, but nothing grew until around July and then it was just one lone zucchini. It grew really big and strong and kept flowering and flowering and never bore fruit. Well, when I got home from my sister's, Rita, who was watching my garden, pointed out that I had zucchini! I swear it waited to grow until Michele was about to come home!! And, as proof, here's a pic of Michele on the couch I made holding a slightly misshapen, but hopefully delicious, zucchini from our garden! Her diktat is that I make zucchini bread for her to take when she goes back out on the road.

Speaking of Michele: she's home (see proof above)!! I went to a truck stop close to my work and picked her up. I got to meet Tom, her driving partner. He's so very nice and proper and Southern. He ma'amed me every other word. "Yes, ma'am, it has sure been a treat haulin' with Michele, yes ma'am, it has." Since I was picking Michele up right after work and we were both hungry we had a very simple dinner, though it was all based on veggies from the garden. I made her roasted green, purple, and white garden beans and Italian quesadillas (tomatoes and basil from the garden with mozarella cheese between two tortillas and then into the quesadilla maker). It's so wonderful to have both zucchinis and Michele home!

Life is So Good

Life is indeed most excellent! I just got home from a weekend jaunt to Pennsylvania to see my niece for her second birthday. She has to be THE cutest, smartest, most independent almost 2-year-old ever! (She was sort of named after me, so I know where she gets it!!) She has the sweetest voice and says the most amazing things, like "Daddy, I would like some more toast, please." and "No, I'm being careful. I don't need any help. I'm fine." Just too clever for words!!

I also got to see my nephew, who has to be THE cutest, most energetic, naughtiest, most adorable almost 4-year-old ever! (He was not named after me, but some of his naughtiness seems vaguely familiar!) He loves to ask "Do you have a problem?" To which the answer should be "Yes, can you help me?" He will then say "No, I can't solve it!" And the game will repeat for about five times until, instead of saying he can't help, he'll sing "If someone has a problem, just give them a hand, give them a hand, give them a helping hand!!" and will give you the best hug ever!! I swear my mom and I played this with him half a million times if not more - it was worth it just to get one of his awesome hugs!! So that he wouldn't feel left out of the gift giving, I brought him a truck just like the one his other Aunt Michele drives and played with it with him about a half million times (it shoots matchbox cars out of its back and everytime we raced he "won." He may get that cheating streak from me, but I think it's from his mom - she used to stay up late memorizing the answers on the back of the trivial pursuit cards and I think she slipped herself extra money when we played Monopoly and she, as oldest, was always the banker.)

To top off the visit, I got to spend time with my sister and brother-in-law, and my mom, dad, and step-mom. It was a treat! I went to PA with one very large, very empty suitcase, and came home with one very heavy (48 pounds!!) suitcase filled to the brim with fabric from my sister's stash!! I traded some jewelry supplies that I've had and would likely never use for more lovely fabric than I imagined!!

And to really put the cherry on top of my life: Michele is coming home!! She was supposed to be here next weekend and called yesterday to say that she'll be here this afternoon, but will now be here tomorrow afternoon, which is so very exciting!! If I were any happier I'd be twins!! (OK, #1: that saying has never made any sense to me, but seemed to really fit my mood today. #2: I cannot think of a way to use today's word, interlocutor, in a sentence and decided that it's my prerogative not to try since it's my personal challenge to use each word every day anyhow.) #3: Thank you all for your well wishes. I am feeling much improved. Flying never helps, but besides some stuffy ears, I am well over my cold!)

Home Sick Today

My saturnine spirit, sore throat, cough, and feelings of general weariness have kept me home from work today. I've actually felt under the weather all week. I do feel better than I did yesterday, though, and hope that I feel even better tomorrow. It is a pretty day today and that always makes me feel better. Being sick when it is overcast and gray is the worst, in my opinion! Feeling bad always depresses me, so laying in bed under my cheerful yellow quilt in my cheerful yellow bedroom with the cheerful yellow sun shining always makes me, you guessed it, a little more cheerful (but thankfully not a little more yellow) (and having a Star Trek to watch helps too)!

I Love Getting Pretty Things in the Mail

I opened up the mail Monday and found a pretty little package inside from this great little shop, Heavenly Creations PGH, which happens to be owned by my big sis. My face aglow with a rictus (the grinning one, not the grimace), I opened the box and look what beauty I found. She made me a key keeper for my new tote! Isn't it divine! I don't actually keep my keys on it, I just use it to decorate my tote! (Mostly because, though I only carry two keys, I have about 15 key chains and all that junk takes away from the lovely key keeper!) Thanks Kym, I really love it!!

Not being one to flout convention (yeah, right), I decided to use my garden tomatoes and basil in a very Italian dish: Capellini-Tomato Pie. Oh boy, was it delicious. One would think that it would be no surprise that tomatoes and angel hair pasta would be good. The thing is, the pie is baked in a "crust" of cabbage leaves. I will admit that I was just a bite nervous about the combination of cabbage and pasta, but it was amazing! Tomatoes were really the name of the game in this recipe. I even made my own bread crumbs using sun-dried tomato bread (and then I missed the part of the recipe that said to sprinkle the bread crumbs on the bottom of the pan before layering in the cabbage leaves! I just mixed them with the Parmesan cheese and put the mixture on top - yummy!) The recipe claims that it is better the second day and that is definitely true.

As you can see, I still have a host of tomatoes left, so I may make this again for next week's dinners. I have a couple eggplants (gifts, not grown by me) I may throw in, too, so we'll see how that goes. Mmmmm, I am so enjoying being a gardener!!

And the Winners Are . . .

Everyone! After vetting all the entrants, how could I possibly choose? I mean really! There were ten who entered and if I'd picked eight from those ten, two would be so sad and excluded! I couldn't do that and don't think that would go along with the nature of the giveaway. So, I am really paying it forward and all TEN of you who entered are winners (and subsequently 40 folks after that are winners too, and on and on and on)!! So, this is what I need you to do:

1. Email me at thequiltedhouse@aol.com with your address (unless you are in Rochester (Sara, Paul, Sarah, & Tina) in which case I can hand deliver it (unless you'd like to receive it in the mail - I just love getting mail!!))
2. Keep it going by following through and paying it forward to four people each - and remember to instruct your recipients to pay it forward, too!
3. Look out for something absolutely wonderful from yours truly within the next few months.

I am so pleased that you all won! I can't wait to send each of you something great!!