Itsy, Bitsy Spider... GREW!!!

Hi there!

Remember my spider block?

Well, it eventually grew!!

*VBG*

In the meantime, my friend sent me this comical cartoon, via email...

(Mrs. Bobbins)

Have a great day!

Rosa

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Happy Mother's Day to our Mom's in the U.K.!!!

And, as I was cleaning off my emails before I head off to bed, I thought this cartoon could easily apply to Mom's Day as well, eh?

LOL



Have yourselves a GREAT week!

Rosa

Big Honkin' Basket!!!

WARNING - PHOTO OVERLOAD !!!

Hi There!

Yesterday, I went to my 3rd Hook-In - WHAT FUN!!!

We all got the 2nd Rotunda rug-hook pattern, of the stained glass skylight, at the Saint John Arts Centre.



I'll probably try a different technique, again, for this one. Once again, they asked that we complete our mini rug and bring it back, to expose for our next Hook-In, next year.

Our Hook-In was held in the Saint John Arts Centre. This time, I was sitting beside the most moving picture that I think I've ever seen.

This fisherman looked either exhausted, or discouraged because they hadn't caught too much lobster.... or perhaps, they had lost one of their fisherman.... or perhaps, he was seasick - look at the waves.

In any case, many of the hookers commented on this picture, by Nicole Wolf.

Well, like most events, there's always the fund raising part. Our Hook-In was no exception.

For 5 dollars, I got 3 tickets.

Up for the draw were 2 baskets FULL of rug hooking stuff and 2 tickets to see the Cirque du Soleil, in my city.

GUESS WHAT!?!??

I nearly fell on my butt!!!

I won one of the baskets!!!!!



Inside, there was the cutest little pin...

Some rug hooking notions, as well as a signed copy of "Rags to Riches", signed by the author, a proddy hook, hand made by one of our local artisans.... a sturdy embroidery or rug hooking frame and some binding.

Some beautiful blue toned (felted) wool as well as a skein of GORGEOUS Briggs and Little wool.

A beautiful Celtic pattern!!!

Some white wool, as well as some peach/salmon wool.

Some LOVELY greens and plaids!

Some yarn to rove and other fun pieces!

And some incredible "greys", as well!

Oh.... I also got to finish my
"Funky Chickens".

It's not completely done. Gilbert and I will be doing a "montage" with this one and the wood, for the frame isn't quite ready. *s*

All in all, I had a LOVELY day!!!!

Rosa

Painted Candle Sticks!!!

Hi There!

Thanks to Gilbert's gentle reminder that the candle sticks were STILL on his workshop counter and that I STILL hadn't done anything with them, I started painting their base coat, yesterday evening....



Two ivory, base coats later, they're now ready for adding flowers or whatever I want to add to them.

But FIRST, I need to find the PERFECT fabric, print some circles with "Inklingo", draw some leaves on some "Heat 'N Bond", iron them on felted wool, blanket stitch around the leaves, etc, etc. etc.

Once this is done, THEN I can select the "matching" paint and re-do the fabric design or close enough, on my candlesticks.

*grin*

Stay tuned for the rest of this project, folks!

As for today's funny, I bring to you the first in a series of cute images, that I got, once again, in an email.

*grin*


Have a Special Sunday!

Rosa

Installing Spring....

Hi There!

Yesterday, on April Fool's day and much to my disgust, we got a mini snow storm. Enough to cause some grief in my life. For your information, ALL snow and ice had melted away in my city and Gilbert had even put away the shovels and our (car) snow brush last weekend!

The snow started around 11 a.m. yesterday and stopped around 5 p.m. It must have snowed a bit more during the night 'cause our car had to be cleaned off AGAIN, this morning.

We're talking about 8 inches of snow!

Thankfully, it was the wet kind and will probably disappear in a day or two!

This morning, I opened our back door and took a picture, for your viewing pleasure.



And speaking of "weather", this past Thursday, I received THIS, in my email box.

I thought you might get a chuckle from it.

Have yourselves a Wonderful Weekend!

Rosa

Ready For the Hook-In

Hi There!

Once again, I can close the book on this UFO!

No, it's not quilting - it's a rug hooking project.

The only problem is....

I HATED doing it's binding!!!



I don't usually mind binding quilts....

What's up with this, eh?!??!?



Well, after a week of working on the binding, it's FINISHED!!!

I just need to add a label, on the back.

I'm going to a "Hook-In", on Saturday and I want to bring it along, for "Show and Tell".

*VBG*

Rosa

Another UFO Bites the Dust!

Hi There!

Yesterday evening - LATE Yesterday evening, I FINALLY finished the binding on our Chenille Rug.

Here it is, on the floor, before it got washed and thrown in our dryer.



This afternoon, it got washed and almost all dried, in our dryer and then, I decided to put it out on our clothes line.... to freshen it up more AND to take pictures!

(click on the photos, if you want to see them BIGGER)



Here's a close up of the "chenille" part.

Barb told me that you can never tell, till it's all finished, washed and dried, which colors will "pop" out.

*grin*

I'd say blues, reds and "A Yellow Runs Through It", too!

LOL

Gee, this was almost like giving birth to a child!

At the time, you say.... "Never, EVER again! This is boring work!"

And once it's all over and you stand back and look at your work, you say to yourself, "Hmmm.... You know - that wasn't all THAT bad. If I made another one, with different colors, I wonder which colors would pop out, eh?"

And then, reality steps in, you shake your head and say, "Don't even GO there, girl! Finish off your OTHER UFOs, first!!!"

LOL

Hope you're all having an incredible Monday!

OH...
We just added a neat widget to The 3A Quilting page....

You might want to look at our new "planet"....

Rosa

What-S'Nu, Pussycat?

Hi There!

Well, it honestly doesn't take much to entertain Gilbert and I!

We have 2 cats, Minou and Callie.
These 2 females are "fixed".

Our third cat - P'Tit Noir - is mostly an outdoor cat and swings by our home 'bout once a week. He timidly comes in, eats and wants back out.

What can I say?

Anyhow, for some silly reason, cats hang out in our yard.

Don't ask me why... s'not like we feed them or anything.

Today, while we were finishing off our dinner - that's our noon meal - Gilbert pointed out the 3 male cats, having a "staring" contest in our yard.

Of course, you could hear their meowings, as well!



Then, when I opened the door to take a better picture, the 3rd cat ran away... temporarily...

And then, about 1/2 an hour later, they were at our door!

There was actually FOUR males outside,
making a ruckus...
with Minou, our cat, inside...
caterwauling herself!

I mean, I could understand if our female cats were in heat or something, but they've BOTH been operated on! And come on! These were four MALES outside our door....

???

Fighting for WHO'S attention?!?!?

Baaaah... I'll never figure out cats,
but it sure was entertaining!!!

LOL

As for our chenille rug,
I've got about 1/4 left to bind on it.

It's not an easy task,
but I plan on finishing it off this evening.

Got tomorrow off....

Will be getting some blood work done and a couple other "business" stuff, as well.

Have yourselves a GREAT week!

Rosa

More Braggin' Buys!

Hi There!

Gilbert and I went to "Restore"
and I was lucky enough to
spot these mini candle holders....
at 25 cents apiece!!!!



I started by grabbing the first 3 in the front....
And then, said to myself,
"This is ridiculous! At 25 cents,
they're ALL coming home with me!"

LOL

Any idea what I plan on doing with these?!?!?

And Elaine and Frummie...
you can't play my guessing game
'cause you probably BOTH know
what these will become!

*VBG*

Now, I just need a couple more hours
in any given day, this week...
to start work on them.

Will keep you all
up to date on my progress...

Rosa

Itsy Bitsy Spider...

Hi There!

I had today off and without boring you with the details, I was lucky enough to be able to spend the best part of my day, in my sewing room!

Soooo, I've been chomping at the bit, wanting to start this "part-time" quilt. I say "part-time" 'cause I wasn't supposed to concentrate too much on it, but DARN IT ALL - I DO love scrappy string-like quilts and PAPER PIECING?!?!?

Paper piecing's my all time favorite!

LOL

My friend Cyn, sent me the link to this one...

(Easy) Spider Web

It doesn't look like much... when you complete 1/2 the block.




But put FOUR of them together and you get something REALLY neat!



Here's one that's pieced together.

Amazingly enough, once these blocks are pieced together, we'll be able to see TWO shapes -

A spider web and a star.

Since my spider web will be done in reds, oranges and yellows, I'm calling it them my "suns", instead and the blue star represents the sky, of course.

I'll be sharing pics of this quilt, as I progress.

Hope you're having a fun-filled Friday!

Rosa

Almost There....

Hi There!

Well, this afternoon, when I came home from work, I was on FIRE!

Got a LOT of "stuff" done in my sewing room!

Sewed the 4th mauve border on my siggie quilt and tried it on our bed.



As you can see, there's a black blanket underneath my birthday quilt and it's not quite covering the edge of our matress.

Sooooooo, I need to add 12 more inches, on all the sides, to make this a fairly decent sized quilt.

I'm thinking something in green.

Elaine had given me some GORGEOUS fabrics that all blend together.... mauves and greens. I'm thinking that I'll be using these fabrics, for a bigger border.

Will keep you all posted on this.

Rosa

Frying Fish?

Hi There!

The varnish finally fully dried on Gilbert's thread cone holder and he was able to hang up the board, this morning and audition which cones would go on there.

I think it's a nice display and will help our clients pick which thread they want, on their quilt.



Oh, we still have more thread, on our 2 shelves.... not to worry. *grin*

As for me, I have more fish to fry and not enough frying pans. This is my way of saying that I have too many "time-sensitive" projects on the go and and not enough time. I truly DO need to concentrate and get these done!




Will be posting my progress on these, of course.

Have yourselves a
Wonderful Wednesday!

Rosa

My lastest "Mini"...

Hi There!

Here's my latest "Mini" quilt....

The blocks are 1.5" square.

When I add the back and it's binding,
I will be able to say that there will be
EXACTLY 101 different Civil War fabrics
in this mini quilt.



Actually, I'm not sure that this qualifies as a "mini".

Does anyone know if there's official rules on what size constitutes a "mini" quilt?

This one will probably mesure 12" X 12", or thereabouts.

Have a great week!

Rosa

Gilbert's Been Busy...

Hi There!

This past summer, Gilbert quickly grew tired of my store bought ironing board and since he has to iron our clients' quilts, he came up with a design to help with his business.

He bought an old (hallow) door, at our local "ReStore". Cut it to size, added hot glue, batting, some cotton fabric and then varnished 1" X 2" pieces of wood and fixed them to the "door".

He added 2 hooks at the end of his ironing board and when he's finished ironing, he hangs it up.

It fits PERFECTLY on our Long Arm table and he's able to iron the quilt and then, feed it onto the rollers, to pin.

Neat, eh?



We got yet another order of thread and we were quickly running out of space, on our shelves.

He's decided to make his own thread holder.

Took a picture of our threads being "auditioned".

He's already put one coat of varnish on the board and it still needs another coat or 2 of varnish.

He tells me that by Wednesday, the "Thread" board should be hanging in Bertha's room.

Rosa

Soapy Give-a-Way!!!

Hi There!

SudsMuffin, in my city, is having a
blog "Give-A-Way"!

Open to USA and Canada only.

Please head over and sign up -
you have until 11h59 p.m., this evening,
to sign up and try your luck!

I've purchased their products before and they're INCREDIBLE!!!

*VBG*

Rosa