the hairy hot water bottle

Jimmy and Voodoo

Here is our feline codger dominating his human the way he insists on doing. On a chilly day, a hairy hot water bottle can be nice.

All that mad color is my very first attempt at a quilt that I knew was outside the pale of the traditional. That was all that I knew at the time. 2001 I think.

I  found a fabric place that sold remaindered cloth by the pound.
The base for this quilt was a high quality king fitted sheet. What seemed like and acre of thick navy flannel had been damaged in the manufacturing process; there was a bite sized chunk missing in one corner.

I had amassed a blinding array of commercial cotton prints, mostly from remnant bins here and there, and I was hand appliqueing irregular chunks directly to the flannel with no plan beyond coverage. The stitches are tiny. Under Voodoo's paws you can see an embroidered cotton doily that I picked up somewhere.  The flannel was so lush that I never considered backing the quilt and now the checkered border is evaporating the way cheap cotton tends to. It's warm and cozy.



We were just home from the cancer clinic in this picture. The docs are encouraged by the results so far. Jim is tolerating the treatments well and now we are just building health and strength to enjoy the upcoming festivities.

it's all grand

It's been two clinic/doctor days, all good and fruitful and I am grateful but I'm tired.

This morning I shopped myself silly in the food store in a vain attempt to not have to go there just one day this week. Foolishness.

All my tropical plants had to be brought inside; frost and even freezing in some areas have been predicted. I unpotted all the lantanas and committed them to the mailbox garden as there is no room inside for them. Tomorrow I'll bury them under some mulch and hope they make it through the winter.

A good friend reminded me that I needed a little diversion, she was right. There are dirty dishes in the sink, a dishwasher full of clean ones and mountains of laundry just lurking about wondering what I'm going to do about that balky dryer.  Instead I  spent a few hours just stitching.

I forgot!

To everyone who purchased Fat Baggies last week. Most of them should be arriving today if they haven't already gotten to you.

I forgot to mention the added bonus of how amazing and different the bits of damask will look if you take the trouble to iron them!  Some of the pieces take on an iridescent quality and you will be hard put to choose which side you want facing the world.

Whether you are hand or machine piecing with this cloth, you will get a great stitch definition as the thread sinks into the fabric in a juicy way.

"Lavanderia" my entry in AQE 2013

This is a detail shot from "Roadkill"

high and tight

I snapped this shot of Jim the other day with my cell phone. I think all this Old Dutch Master needed was a white ruffled collar but he thought he looked like one of the dwarves from the Hobbit.

Jake came over this morning to set things right. The last time I used the clippers (on a human) both boys came home and announced they wanted me to shave their heads and I said "sit right here" and gleefully whipped out the cape and clippers. This was back in the days of the fussy  bowl undercuts and I was happy to see them go.

It was over in minutes; bald is easy.
Jake looked like an otter pup and never grew his hair long again.  Colin looked like Knucklehead Smith and there are NO pictures.
The only hair I cut anymore is my own. Jake did a terrific job and Jim looks terrific.

pumpkin moon

I whipped myself into a sweaty frenzy looking for this yesterday so I could pick it up again. No luck.

It's somewhere in a 10x12 room. I hope I didn't stuff it in a baggie and send it off somewhere!

To quell the aggravation, I found these other scraps and started feeling around for the next holiday. Somehow I'll be hooking it up with the wolf/gator head below.

We haven't done Halloween around here since the boys stopped trick or treating. This year, I won't even be hanging up the ghosts because I'll be too busy getting ready for the trip to Big Canoe for Jake and Missy's wedding.

It's been a tough couple of days here. On chemo day Jim woke up with a fever and serious weakness. The clinic told us to come anyway so the doc could assess him. They took blood and gave back a short tank of IV fluids and a scrip for antibiotics. Some random germ brought him low but 24 hours later he's back on an even keel and the blood test showed very happy liver numbers. The chemo was set back by a week but it's all good.