If you want to eat some apple crisp...

Then you've got to buy the apples. Preferably at the Farmer's Market.

Where you'll see a bike you've just GOT to have, because of course, everything you buy would fit in that perfect little basket.

And there will be bright and sunny flowers that would look great on your table...

But remember that you came for apples, so go buy your apples and go home. But buy a pumpkin and cream cheese muffin first, because it's going to be de.li.ci.ous.

And when you get home, try out the cute little bowl your mother just picked up for you, because it looks so lonely when it's empty...

It's not that Duncan loves apples or new bowls, he just loves to scratch his chin on anything nearby, in an attempt to distract you from a certain "too much apple crisp-eating coma".

Remember that your Husband is helping you to take pictures, and stop yelling at him for taking ones of you, because you can just delete them later (ah-ha!).

Wash the apples...

Peel the apples...

Cut them up and pour them out...

And this? Well, you can just ignore this:

Yes, it's a potato masher. So sue me. I thought that just maybe it would work. That just maybe it would cut up my not-soft-enough butter and I wouldn't make a mess. *sigh* I don't think I have a picture of the part where the Husband cleans up the kitchen as penance for taking pictures of me...

Meanwhile, someone has be patiently waiting for you to stop baking and play with him...

"I brought you my tiger toy 15 minutes ago and it still hasn't moved."

"Puh-leeease?"

I think in exchange for not getting to play he may have had some ice cream. Oh wait, of course he had ice cream, or else he'd stare at you as if you'd just informed him "dogs don't eat ice cream anymore".

Mmmmm... enjoy your apple crisp-eating coma.

Finally Finished

This is the face of someone who has been banned from my work area:

I think I'll call it his "I like this box better anyway" face. Being a typical cat, Duncan has a tendency to sit on any piece of paper, scrap of fabric, or article of clothing you may be trying to read/sew and/or wear. It's a never-ending battle that I lose on a daily basis.

Somehow though, I can sometimes scoot him away long enough to take a picture or two.

Yeah, or one. Make that one picture without his fuzzy butt. Outside, however, things are out of his reach, and I can stand on my tip-toes while Husband takes a few pictures for me (I could only find one clip, so please pardon my hand, and the neighbor's fence isn't exactly my favorite place to take pictures, but I'm trying to make do).

TAH-DAH!

It is finally, finally, FINALLY done! How many needles did I break on this one? Probably about four, and I don't even want to recall the amount of swearing that came from my mouth, along with cave woman-ish grunts, squeals, and "ah crap" comments. I decided to stipple quilt the entire thing, and I'm not quite sure why I ever thought it was a good idea. Now don't get me wrong, I love the way it looks and feels, but geeeeezzz. That was a pain, and I don't know how much recovery time I'll need before I considering doing another large quilt. I think it might be like recovering from a hangover. The next day you say "I'm never going to do that again", but give it a few months and you'll say "hey, let's go out again and drink amaretto sours/buy more fabric".

I did hide a little something special in the border.... can you find it?

All-in-all, I'm in love with it. It has the perfect amount of wavy, crinkly goodness I was looking for. I wish I could have made it bigger, as it just fits over the edges of our queen-sized bed, but I didn't have enough fabric.

I had a crazy dream during one of first weeks we slept under it. I had eaten a little bit of a serrano pepper, and apparently they make me hallucinate. No, I'm not joking, and it was not a fun night for me. I mention it because I woke up to find myself frantically checking over every inch of this quilt, because my delusional dreamland, it was torn to shreds. Of course that night I also thought the lights in the house wouldn't turn off, and that the dog needed to go pee at 1:30 AM (he was really confused), and that Husband had driven my car off a pier.

I think I'll stick to peanut butter and smaller projects for a while.

Blossoms

I promise I didn't mean to be gone for such a long time....

This warmer weather means I'll be spending much more time in the sun with a certain fuzzy face.....

He looks so serious and studious, and he's really just patiently waiting for me to tell him he's allowed to go eat his treat that's just out of the frame. Either that, or he's trying to use his mind reading powers to figure out whether or not I'm going to take him on a walk after his portrait session. You can almost see his mustache here.... Monsieur Le Dax.

Duncan is apathetic, and therefore must also endure having a camera block his view of the birds in the yard. He'll get me back for this at about 2 AM, when he decides it's time to lay on my head while I'm sleeping.

All of my bulbs have finally opened up and are happily showing off their bright colors...

I'm not the only one who likes to sit outside and enjoy the spring flowers....

I did tell Husband that this looks like a posed senior picture, to which he laughed and agreed. Dax almost looks like he might be fake, just little stuffed Corgi toy.

Would you believe him if he told you he didn't like dogs?

Yeah, me either.

And the Countdown Begins...

It's not too late to enter for the mini-family tree quilt-  I have had so much fun reading all of the comments and names you have left for me! I will choose and announce a winner on Friday, and then start your quilt on the long drive down to Memphis, Tennessee.  If anyone has any "you must go here" advice, I'd love to hear it!

Thank you for all of your advice on the sticker removal!  I received a few emails about using things such as peanut butter and olive oil too, but I decided to tempt fate with an ancient bottle of Goo-Gone.  I figured I would try it on one patch, and then try someone else's remedy on another patch.  

But, lo and behold, it worked, and it didn't even make the bright red color fade or run.  I still want to try all of the suggestions that were sent my way, and I'm sure I'll have the chance! After the disaster was averted, I cut up a few more scraps of fabric and sewed a couple of courthouse blocks:

And what's better to end a night of sewing with than a root beer float (in the dead of winter, mind you)?

But of course, there's someone who decided that all of the attention can't be on sewing and ice cream eating:

He's weird, but at least I'm pretty sure he knows it.

Bourbon Slush!

Okay, it was requested by Dozer that I hand over the bourbon slush recipe.  I made you a fun little recipe card- although it isn't nearly as cute as the ones Lollychops makes! Although I haven't tried printing it out yet to check the size.... I suppose I should do that.

I am not responsible for any embarrassing stories that may occur after partaking in said bourbon slush! But feel free to blog about them so that I can say "See honey?!  I'm not the only one that does that!"

Thank you so much for all of your wonderful comments!  And of course your fuzz butts should be on the quilt too- they are a big part of the family.  Now I'm even MORE excited to make the mini-tree quilt!  Remember that you have until January 16th to enter... and I'll throw in 5 extra entries if you blog about the giveaway!  Maybe I'll add another way you can earn entries  every day.... hmm... sending me chocolate will always work. 

Maybe another way you can enter is by volunteering to sweep all of the Corgi and cat hair off of my couch.  This is what Husband and I come home to most every day:

I think it's called "if we sit here and stare out the window long enough, maybe they'll come home".

How can I be mad at that face for shedding 24/7? Oh that's right, I can't be. 

I told you so.

I just have to say- I call it. 

Ah yes.  Every year, Duncan tries to eat the tree.  But this year, I was so lucky and got a taste of his "cat-stop-chewing-on-that" spray.  I was eating lunch and couldn't figure out why it tasted like I was licking rubber.  It turns out that the spray I had used on the tree last year had rubbed off on my hands, and therefore my lunch tasted like pencil erasers.

But I did manage to get the tree up and decorated, and the mantle is almost there.  I'm making our Christmas stockings with my nice little stash of satins, so I'll post more on those when they're finished.  

Ah.... adding to the "projects that need to be finished" pile...

Yay for Etsy!

Oh gosh. It's finally getting there.  My legs are on fire from my MacBook slowing roasting them while I have been diligently setting up my Etsy shop. It still has a way to go, but at least I have two whole quilts posted!  How excited am I!? If you absolutely have to check it out, my shop URL is: jellybeansoup.etsy.com.

On another note, guess who else was excited today?  Excited about nothing, that is. Who was running around, smacking Dax in the face, and then giving me the "chase me, I'm crazy!" look?

That would be our beloved Duncan Nonuts.  I wish that I could of gotten a picture of him with his crazy eyes and his ears down in a pre-pounce moment. Usually, you can find him curled up in his little bed, or on top of one of the couch cushions taking a morning nap (yes, my beloved fuzz butts often sleep the morning away).

He's quite a character, this cat. He used to sleep on my head at night.  And no, not just on my pillow - he would curl his body around my head and then lay his head on top of mine.  I didn't mind it much, actually I kind of liked that he wanted to cuddle up with me without force.  Usually he has to withstand me saying things that I know are stupid to him.  Examples include:

• "Meowmers, kitty kitty"
• "Meow-meow Dunk-a-dunk"
• "kee-kee"
• "Aww...King Duncan"

And yes, I know I sound like I should be committed when these things come out of my mouth, but look of disgust he gives me when I mix all of those phrases together makes it all worth it. 

He really gets worked up and hyper when I bring out fabric or I'm trying to sew.  He does everything he can to try to nonchalantly leap onto my sewing area or ironing board.  He knows that if he cries enough I'll let him wrestle with any scraps of fabric I'm not using until Dax steals them from him.  So if you can imagine, it was a wonder that I ever got these quilts done for Etsy.  

I made my own template for my "Bees and Blossoms" quilt.  I like Dresden templates, but I didn't want that many pieces, I'm not quite sure why.  If anyone is interested, I'd be more than happy to post tutorials on how to create your own templates from sketches or ideas you have.  I am a schooled and experienced pattern maker, and although I make patterns for clothing, that knowledge transfers to quilting. 

This pinwheel quilt was so fun to make!  I'm sure I could have made it faster than I did had the aforementioned kitty not been reaching up from under the table and stealing my supplies. I should videotape that sometime- it's quite entertaining to watch that tiny orange paw.