Occupying My Sewing Room!

I had planned to do a lot of sewing during

Occupy Your Sewing Room week,

but life had other ideas, as it often does.

On the 4th of November, I found out that the Chevrolet dealership where I'd worked for over 21 years had lost their Chevrolet franchise.  As I am a Chevrolet/GM warranty administrator...no franchise = no warranty repairs = no job.  So, as of December 1st, I'm unemployed.

Amazing how that just sucked the creativity out of me.

But, when I started taking the photos for this post,

I found that I had actually accomplished a few things!

Not a lot of sewing, but some, and quite a bit of crocheting.

Without further ado,

here's what I did in my sewing room:

These are travel tissue holders.

They were so easy!

I used the tute here, at Melinda Quilts ETC.

Pot holders, pot holders, and more pot holders!

They're all single crochet with 100% cotton yarn.

What do you think many of my friends are getting this Christmas?

This was a commissioned piece - a 4 foot tall stocking,

made of fleece.  The client provided the fleece, and it's pretty thin, so I double sewed the seams.  I am quite proud of myself for remembering to put the hanging loop on it, and for sewing it in the right way the first time!  lol

And last, but not least...

I loved this Going Coastal fabric the first time I saw it!

(by Emily Herrick for Michael Miller Fabrics)

It has such a wonderful hand, it was hard to stop fondling it.  This little table runner almost literally took me 20 minutes to make, including the cutting!

There you have it.

I occupied my sewing room - some times my actual sewing area at home, and sometimes my space at Auntie's Ceramics, where Mary Ann, the owner, graciously lets me hang out.

(all the photos were taken at Auntie's)

I hope you enjoyed seeing what I did -

now hop over to Cat Patches for the Occupy Linky party & see what others did during their Occupation!

Enjoy!

sue

A Jelly of a Review!

Firstly, I do know Kay, who is Jam Anarchy.  But she did not ask for this endorsement,

and I did order & pay for the jelly I got.  It's just THAT GOOD!



Oh my goodness!

I ordered this Hot Pepper Confetti Jelly from Jam Anarchy,

and had it sent to my sister's house for us to try out when I was there for vacation.

We poured it over a small brick of cream cheese

and

ATTACKED

it with a couple kinds of crackers.

If my sister hadn't been smart enough to use a

SMALL brick of the cream cheese,

we would have surely polished off the

WHOLE JAR!

Sorry, no pictures other than the one above,

which I nipped from their Facebook page -

there wasn't time.

It was just way too good to wait!

They only make jams & jellies in small batches,

and in some very fun & different flavors.

The latest one on their facebook page

is Bananas Foster -

doesn't THAT sound divine?

Jam Anarchy also does home "Jam Parties"!

Check Jam Anarchy out HERE &

on their facebook page, HERE!

Enjoy!

sue



Oh Thank Cuteness!

I'm playing along with Generation Q magazine today

giving thanks for cuteness.

Click HERE to join in the fun!

This little guy hangs out on a tomato cage near my sister's front deck.  He is fierce, chasing away anyone who comes too close....

to this feeder!!

"It's mine, mine, ALL MINE!!"

May I now introduce

Elizabeth.

She has her headlights on so we can see her in the dark!

 We are pretty sure that she is at least part Maine Coon.

Just look at those dainty feet!

"Yes, I AM beautiful."

"Enough pictures already!"

May your day be filled with deliciousness, fun &

family - those who you are related to, and

those you have chosen to be a part of your life.

Happy Thanksgiving!

sue

Nosey Parker in the Neighborhood ~~~ part 1A

OK, when I did my original

Nosey Parker post,

I couldn't use the photos I had taken

of my house because the ones I had looked like things look when I'm not wearing my glasses!

Yesterday afternoon I the sun came out for a while, and I was able to get some pictures -

clear pictures!

So, this is my mobile home.

Here's the carport side.

On the right are some succulents,

Amaryllis, Agapanthas, Naked Ladies,

a small Date Palm & some things I don't know the name of.

On the left are a few of my roses and waaaay in the back, there is a Night-Blooming Jasmine going over the chainlink fence.  It smells heavenly when it's in bloom!



On the left side of the house is my front door & deck.  More roses & another Date Palm.

These roses are all part of my

Tortured Flower Garden.

I call it that because they pretty much only get watered if it's foggy or rainy, I don't give them fertilizer or food.

Across the front of the house are blue irises.

Right now they need to be trimmed,

but since it rained a tiny bit last week,

there is one blooming,

but I didn't have time to get a shot of it.

So,

now you know what a

mobile home

looks like!

Happy Thanksgiving Week!

sue

Foto Finish --- Two Colors

This week on Foto Finish....

TWO Colors!!!

Lots of things went through my little pea brain when I saw this week's theme.

One of them was to write my whole post

in 2 different fonts & 2 different colors,

then take a picture of my monitor

and post that picture.

But no,

I didn't do that.

I was good,

and found a "real" thing

with 2 colors.

Actually,

I found two different things that had 2 colors,

and couldn't decide which one to share.

So...

here are

TWO

things

with

TWO

colors!

 I'm not counting the stuff behind it.

I haven't figured out how to use my Photoshop yet,

or I would have changed it to black!

I don't know what kind of flowers these are,

but they grow wild in the local mountains

in the springtime.

I'm usually not much for green,

but I really like the green stems with these yellow flowers.

If you would like to see more photos with 2 colors,

pop on over to CAT PATCHES -

heck, link up with your pictures too!

The more the merrier!!

Have a wonderful weekend!

sue

Nosey Parker in the Neighborhood!

I'm linking up with Kat at Diary of a Flutter Kat,

for the first

Nosey Parker in the Neighborhood Linky Party!

We thought it would be fun

to get to know more about some of our bloggy friends -

where they live & what's going on in their neighborhoods.

Click here to join us!

1.  Tell us about your home:  OK, I live in Walnut, California, U.S.A., between 2 colleges, Cal Poly & Mt. San Antonio.  Nearly every morning I drive through part of Cal Poly & get to see the world famous Kellogg Arabian horses.  They also have cattle & sheep too.  It's nice to have that bit of country feel.

I grew up in West Covina, CA - only 11 miles away from where I am now.  These are both suburbs, about 35 miles east of Los Angeles.  Being in So. California, the weather is fairly temperate.  No snow here, but I can see it in the local mountains.    In the winter, we do occasionally get below freezing, and in the summer, we do go over 100F, sometimes for a couple weeks.  It is the desert here, so not too much rain or humidity.

There are lots of valleys here, surrounded by hills & mountains.  I grew up knowing that NORTH was towards the mountains - I still have to concentrate if I'm somewhere where the mountains are in another direction - or there are no mountains at all!  It takes me less than an hour to drive to the beach, mountains or desert from here. 

2.  What are the houses like?  I live in a "mobile home community", which really isn't very mobile at all.  While my house does have axles under it, it hasn't seen tires since it was put in place here, probably in the 1970s.  I have a very small front yard, with blue irises across the front and 13 or 14 rose bushes at the sides. 

I don't have a garage, but I do have a carport, with another flower/plant bed along side it, full of succulents, agapanthas, naked ladies & .  My small backyard is full of, um, green "lawn" (weeds, shhhhhh!)  right now, and I have 2 little sheds.  Inside my 'tin' house, I have 2 bedrooms & 2 bathrooms.  It's sort of open-concept, with the living (lounge) room, dining room & den sort of blending together.  A decent sized kitchen, with the laundry area on one side.  Plenty of room for just me!  One of the bedrooms is named "The Fabric Shoppe".  That's where most of my stash lives.  :^)

There are also a lot of regular houses close by, as well as student housing.

3.  What are some of my favorites places to visit & things to do around here?  I do enjoy going for drives to the mountains or to the beach.  It's 45 minutes to Disneyland, 30 minutes to the L.A. Zoo, half hour to the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden.  I haven't been for a while, but my "gang" likes to go rough camping in the high desert (that's north of here - on the other side of the mountains).  One time we had a group of over 45 people there for the weekend - a larger population than the closest town!  There are lots of things to do in So Cal!

photo

4.  How do people travel around?  Cars!  Lots & lots of cars!  We do have a nice commuter train & bus system, but almost everyone has a car.

5.  Is there a type of famous food here?  I think the most popular food here is Mexican food - tacos, enchiladas, burritos, tostadas, taquitos.  Oh, I'm getting hungry now!  There are still some avocado groves & citrus groves around.  When I was a kid, I occasionally got into trouble for walking through the walnut groves after school, but they're gone now.  It is nice to be able to get a fresh orange or avocado pretty much any time I want to.

photo

photo

  

Foto Finish --- Pets

Right now,

the only pets I have

are the dust bunnies living under my bed.

I didn't really feel like crawling around

on the floor to take their pictures....

This is zzyzx the cat.

She took care of me for 17 years

and yelled at me a lot!

While I was looking through my files,

I came across these photos too

and decided have a bit of a bonus!

This is my friend's dog, Buster.

He's a Chocolate Lab/Pit Bull -

and the biggest kissy face I know!

And one more, just for a smile:

Riesling,

at just a few months old.

Already a character!

(I take care of her & her sister Possum sometimes)

Share some pictures of your pets!

Pop on over to CAT PATCHES

and link up with us today.

Have a great week!

sue



Foto Finish --- Photographer's Choice

This week for Foto Finish,

our topic is

Photographer's Choice.

I took this picture when I was visiting Missouri,

staying with my friend Sara,

who has been my friend since 4th grade ---

back in the Dark Ages!

I was there in April 2007,

when things should have been green & in bloom.

Unfortunately, there had been a huge ice storm

shortly before I got there.

There is just something about the road sign

near the broken tree...

Why?  Why?

Click on over to Cat Patches

to see more great photos,

or share your own!

Have a great week.

sue

Foto Finish --- Things That Are Round

Art glass is one of my favorite things, marbles are another.

so when there's an art glass marble - that's heaven!

Here's one now:

I'd say that this marble

is

definitely

ROUND.

Hop on over to

Cat Patches

to share some of your round things,

or see what others have posted!

Happy Halloween!

sue

Scrap Splat Challenge

In September, Generation Q magazine & Thomas Knauer

invited their readers to a scrappy challenge.

GenQ picked 30 random commenters to play,

and Thomas sent us each forty 2.5" squares,

each one a different fabric. 

We had to use all of the squares, in any fashion we so desired.

The only additional fabric allowed had to be solids - as many colors as we liked.

We had about a month to work on the Challenge,

and pictures of our finished project had to be emailed in by October 26th.

I, of course, finished mine on October 25th,

sometime between 11:25pm and 11:59pm.

(I know it was during the first half-hour of the Tonight Show)

Of course.

It was much too late, according to my brain, to take photos at that time,

so I waited until the next morning, before work, to shoot my entry

& email them to Megan.

So, here's my project.

Photos taken in my sleep.

I made the 3D flying geese

using the one-seam method

demonstrated by Ricky Tims on The Quilt Show.

Easy to make, but then when sewing them together,

there were a lot of fabric layers to go through.

The red & aqua triangles in the center

were paper pieced.

I drew out my pattern on graph paper first.

When I started to piece them, for some reason I thought

I should do it like they were individual pieces

(with the red triangles in 2 pieces),

instead of one long strip.

Duh.

At least I figured it out after only a couple.

Sheesh.

I opted for the overlapping flap for the back of the pillow.

Then I made an pillow insert to fit.

My brain is still tired from figuring it all out!

Is it time for a nap yet?

That pillow is so darned inviting!

I do love my RED chair too!

Hope y'all have a

wonderful Thursday!

sue

Foto Finish --- Spooky

This was the spookiest thing I could come up with:

My back porch light

"decorated"

for

Halloween!

To see more SPOOKY stuff,

click on over to Cat Patches -

heck, share your OWN spooky stuff with us!

Have a great weekend!

sue

TLC Racers



That's me, peeking over the top!



Last Saturday I taught my very first

TLC Quilters guild workshop,

all by myself!

I taught the Jelly Roll Race quilt

and we had a lot of fun.

2 of my sample tops

My first instruction to my students was this:

"Take out all of your strips,

fluff them up

and put 'em in a big pile on the table!"



This one had all of her strips neatly separated by color

and wound around cardboard tubes!





There were batiks, civil war repros, Halloween,

red-white-&-blues, and Christmas strips.

Making sure there weren't any twists.
An impossible task!

Out of the 8 students that were sewing,

5 of them had completed tops by the end of the workshop!

A 6th one emailed me on Monday, that she finished her top on Sunday.  I think that's pretty good!

Here they are, in order of finishing:

Marlene

Jean

Carol
Look how it divided itself - dark on one side, light on the other!

Jenel

Dawn

And the whole crew:

Laura~Marlene~Carol~Dawn~Jean~Jenel~Lydia~Donna~Mary Ann

They were wonderful students!

They've made me start thinking about

what I could do in another workshop.

Thanks!

sue



Foto Finish --- Orange

Every Saturday on Cat Patches,

it's time for Foto Finish.

Each week has a different theme,

and anyone who wishes to join in the fun

just needs to do a blog post

with one of their photos that fits into the theme.

I've been playing along for a while now

and it has been a LOT of fun!!

This week,

our theme is

ORANGE.

(Did you already guess that?)

Here's my entry:

Did you realize

that the whole photo is

ORANGE?

(well, except for the barbed wire)

Yep, it's part of a smallish grove

growing about a mile away

at Cal Poly University.

Here's a little more

ORANGE

for you!

Please!  Join in all the fun!

Click here, or on the button in my sidebar

to go to Cat Patches.

See what photos other have linked up.

Have a GREAT weekend!

I'm going to start mine off by teaching my first

quilt workshop solo!

Wish me luck.

:^)

sue