Maybe They Should Have Let It Be.

Odd, huh? I found this on Awkward Family Photos, which makes complete sense to me. Enjoy? It's still a great song, anyway you cut it. That Tonya Harding scares me though. I'm gonna go take my skates off.

Time for Mug Rugs

There hasn't been a lot of time or ideas for larger quilts, but I have been playing with Mug Rugs. Keeps me out of the malls!

I did get a little more interested in Bonnie's Mystery Quilt today when she started making fun string blocks, but I'm still sitting on the fence on that one. I need to check to see if I have have enough scrap stash to make that huge 87" X 102" monster. Anyone else tackling that mystery?

I fell in love with this Linden baby quilt on Flickr. Isn't it wonderful? I was too chicken to try the curved piecing, but maybe I'll get braver on the the second leaf. I'm not sure how the stem works, but maybe it will come to me.

This pouch pattern is fun and easy.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

The elves aren't the only ones busy making toys. I spent some time making a glove bunny from this tutorial featured on the Martha Stewart show. These adorable toys are the creation of by Miyako Kanamori, author of Sock and Glove.

I snagged several pairs of gloves on the clearance rack at Target. It was so cold last year, the kids wore a couple of pairs of them, but I did find two pairs that escaped teenager grasp. It's not easy to find gloves in Florida. I still have an orange pair leftover, so a dog might be next.

If you're looking for some neato patterns for softies, this link has several options. I plan on using the bunny for The Toy Society's World Wide Christmas Drop.

The felt owl was an experiment. He's only four inches. Maybe a pincushion? My daughter has a thing for owls, so maybe I'll use him as a stocking stuffer. She'll probably like him better than the neti pot I got her. I know, I know, mother of the year. I'm hoping it will help with her allergies. It should provide entertainment at the very least.

Intruder!

It was all rainbows and unicorns before the "incident."

It's a wonder I've lived to tell this story. Thank goodness, my son saw the SNAKE in my studio before I did. I had worked in there all morning, the useless dog had passed through a couple of times, and all was calm as usual in my happy little world. Then I went to take a shower.

My son came banging on my door shouting something about a snake in the house? WHAAAAA?!!! It seems a small rat snake had found its way inside and decided to take a stroll (slither) around my casa. Austin just happened to walk through my studio and see it.

Ya'll know what a snake magnet I am. If you're not convinced, go here, or here, here or even here.

Anyhoo, we had to tear my studio apart to find the stupid scared snake. He preferred being behind my built-in desks with the electrical and computer cords that look amazingly like...snakes. Go figure. We spent an hour poking him with a yardstick, broom, dust mop, feather duster, and batting-wrapped barbecue tongs. Anything under the desks (alot!) had to come out because the snake kept hiding under stuff. Then we'd shake the item and out would drop the snake who would quickly slither away or try to strike at whatever we were poking him with. I'm sure my screaming didn't help.

We used boxes to seal off the rest of the house and the other side of my studio. I stayed outside of the barriers and offered verbal assistance and tools to college boy. Thank goodness he was home or I'd be touching down in Ireland right about now.

Eventually, we trapped the snake in a Tupperware lettuce crisper and released him into the wild of our neighborhood. Ha ha, you believe that ending? That sucker got bashed to death with a broom handle. And then I nailed his carcass to the front door so all the other snakes in the hood could see. Okay, the carcass-nailing part is not true, but that might have been a good idea.

I'm off to scatter some mothballs.

A Toy Society Christmas

If you haven't heard of The Toy Society, it's a fun organization that started as a small street art project by an Australian crafter named Bianca in 2008 and has spread around the world. The Society encourages crafters of all skill levels to make a handmade toy and leave it as a gift for a lucky recipient to find. The drops and finds are documented on their blog. These "Random Acts of Craft" are fun for everyone.

The Toy Society is having their third annual World Wide Christmas Drop the last weekend before Christmas (December 17-19). If you'd like to play along, sign up to get more information.

I've done three drops, but the recipients have never recorded their finds. Maybe I'll get lucky this holiday season. Now what to make? Any ideas (i.e., easy tutorials) you can share?

Drop #457 -- Hubert the Sock Dog

Hubert at High School

Drop #458 -- Square Bear

Square Bear at Chik-fil-A

Drop #1208 -- Matryoshka Doll

Here she is chilling at the library. Really. It's freezing there!

Cyber Monday

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. Our dinner was wonderful and we're getting through those leftovers. I even splurged and had a piece of pecan pie. Oh my. It's an ugly pie, but it's so good. At least I didn't eat it for breakfast like some people in my family. I stuck with dressing and green bean casserole for breakfast, thank you very much. What? That's practically health food!

My three quilts came back from Eagle Mountain Quilting Saturday. She's so fast. They look great and I actually put the binding on one of them. I didn't have to dust it off this time! One down, seven left to bind. I am such a binding procrastinator.

Here's the pieced back with the two leftover blocks. The quilting is kind of hard to see, but I really like the square boxes quilting design.

I'm headed back to the Cyber Monday sales. Eddie Bauer has 30% off everything but clearance (I didn't need those boots anyway) and free shipping. Connecting Threads has all their fabric collections/samplers 50% off. I won't tell you what I needed there. Actually, it was thread, but some of those samplers jumped into my shopping cart.

I stayed away from the mall Black Friday, but my daughter talked me into going Saturday. It wasn't too bad, but I didn't find one gift. I'm doing better online. I do miss the people watching. Have fun everyone!

Back in the 'Hood

I found an awesome new blog through Karen at the Selvage Blog. Love Laugh Quilt (aka Beth) is hosting a neato challenge. All you have to do is make a 12" house quilt block and mail it to her by January 1, 2011. Several lucky winners will receive house blocks from all over blogland to make their own blogilicious house quilt. Not that I need a reason to make house blocks. Now I better get back to Thanksgiving preparations.