Why can't I just be organized?

If I were organized, simple things wouldn't take so long and I might actually get something crafty finished now and then. I'm not organized - things take way longer than they should. Well, that and the fact that I tend to procrastinate.

My mother sent a photo album home with me, oh, I dunno - maybe a year ago. (maybe longer) It has photos of my kids and she wanted me to label them. (why I didn't label them when I gave them to her - well, that would just be too organized) For the most part I know which kid they are (a few of them at certain ages are hard to tell!) but when they are? Well, that is a whole other story.


I spent all yesterday afternoon on the floor of the twin room working on this. Way back when we were living in the apartment I moved all the pictures that were stored in boxes under the bed and had this crazy idea that I would get them organized. I even bought cute little black and white boxes to organize them in. I also had grand plans to make albums for each of my kids. See all those albums on the top shelf - empty except for one (I started for baby boy and his bride when they got married - they are two weeks shy of 5 years!). Anyway - back to organizing the pictures. I got a good running start and got most of them into years (not in any kind of order within the years, but hey. . .) - there are 4 boxes that still either don't have dates or I just haven't filed them yet. One of those boxes is from theater and I want to get them in the order they performed the plays.
So - back the album. See all the orange sticky notes? I'm using them to mark pages that still have un-labeled photos on them. There are a lot of orange sticky notes still marking pages. Not sure when Mother will get this album back. If I were organized, I would probably be finished with this project.

The other project from yesterday -


I pulled all of these clothes out of my closet - they are all too big! (if only this meant I was skinny and my closet was now organized - not even) These are still piled up on the bench because with my car parked in the garage I couldn't get to the boxes on the other side and I didn't want to pull it out yesterday. I left it out after running errands this morning - I still can't get to the boxes be cause the garage is so unorganized. I will have to climb over and move crap to get to that side. (on the list after I finish this post - note no craftiness will happen again today)

Totally unrelated to the topic - notice anything odd in this picture? (besides the fact that we need to get in some serious yard work)


I took this from my sewing room window yesterday. I thought it was odd that our driveway and this side of the street were both wet, but the sidewalk and the other side of the street are not.

Now that I have bored you to tears, I'm going to see if I can find boxes so I can move those clothes off the bench.

I'm also still way behind on reading blogs - if I haven't been by to see ya, I haven't forgotten ya - I'm just unorganized!

Happy Tuesday to ya!

Mystery blocks - Shabby Fabrics

Have you ever signed up for a mystery project? I couldn't resist the new Mystery Block of the Month at Shabby Fabrics.

The patterns are free downloads on their site, but they have a block of the month program if you want to use the same fabrics and embellishments they are using.

This is my first real attempt at applique (I've done a little on the machine, but this hand applique is new to me) so I decided I needed some practice before I start cutting into the 'real' fabrics. I picked some stuff from my stash and used the needle-turn method for the first (January) block.


(it hasn't been pressed so don't judge to harshly) I rather enjoyed most of it. The small curves are a little tricky but I managed to get them done. I think I want to try the Shabby Fabrics method (spray starch) for the February block but I haven't had time to do it yet. They have great (applique) tutorials on You Tube. I've watched them several times and I'm sure I'll watch again before I try the February block.


The first shipment included the fabrics for January and February. I also ordered the backing fabric and silk thread kit and those came with the first shipment. I love the fabrics and can't wait until I have enough self-confidence to start on the 'real' blocks!

I've ordered from Shabby Fabrics before and their service is great. I also met the owners in their booth at the Houston Quilt Festival. Super nice people. They don't know me from Adam and this is just my opinion, but I wouldn't hesitate to order anything from them or recommend them to anyone.

Outside finds

You just never know what you are going to find outside!

This little plant is by the front door - it never has more than a few blooms at a time. (this picture was a few days ago)


Right now it just has one - but, hey, it is February! (not that you would know by the temps this week!)


On the back porch we have another birds nest. Hubby isn't too happy that they decided to nest above the shade this year. (last year they nested in a drawer - out of the way and not bothering anyone) This shade is on the east side and hubby pulls it down quite often since he likes to read out there in the mornings. You can really tell but the shade is behind the curtain and the nest is resting on it - if he pulls it down it will disturb the nest. Bummer. It is too high for me to see if there are eggs in it yet.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Saying good-bye

Remember I told you I got something else (besides flowers and candy) for Valentines Day?


Well, first we said good-bye to the mom-mobile. We had her for 14 years, 360 days. While I was looking for the title, I found the paper tag dated Feb. 19, 1997 (but she was a 1996 model) So Valentines Day was 5 days short of 15 years. All 3 boys learned to drive in her. (yes, I always referred to it as a 'her' though she never had a name so-to-speak). Anyway, the time had come. (if you look you can kinda see the huge oil stain on the driveway by the front tire on the far side) She doesn't look too bad in the picture but after who-knows-how-many band trips, theater trips, a move the kid to Illinois trip etc., she was showing her age in more ways than just the oil leak (which would have cost more to repair than she was worth)

So what did we trade her for?


Ain't she pretty? While I did get it on Valentines Day, and hubby will tell you he bought me a car for Valentines Day, it's more like 'happy everything you can think of for the next several years' but that is fine and dandy with me! I cleaned out a space in the garage just (barely) big enough to pull her in and close the door - going to have to work on that some more - it's a tight squeeze.

The first place I took her was to the quilt shop - wanted break her in right!

Finished!

Machine quilted. Binding finished.


Washed and all crinkled - just the way I like them! (this pictures shows the colors better)

Hope you had a great weekend!

Let's try this again

I tried to post both Wednesday and Thursday but my computer was so slow I ended up having to restart and by the time it restarted I had moved on to other things. Mr. computer is slated for an upgrade soon, just waiting on my computer guru (aka - middle son) to have time to come spend a few days transferring and updating stuffs. He helps me out - I cook for him. Pretty good trade! That probably won't happen until April so I'll just have to muddle my way through until then.

Anyway -


thought I would show you a little of what I got for Valentines Day. Hubby came home with flowers and a little bag 'o goodies. Ghiradelli (dark) chocolates and there is a gift card in there. I have something else to show you - next week. :) The flowers and candy were a bonus. :)


I also got this little surprise in the mail from my friend Terry (no blog). She sent me a package of MOP buttons! I love most anything MOP! I can't wait to find something to use these beautiful buttons on! Thanks Terry!

Okay - that's it for today.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Valentines Day!

Hope you have a wonderful day!

A couple of snowmen

No, we aren't getting snow here (but we are getting rain and we had sleet yesterday).

I stitched ornaments for the girlfriends for Christmas, but since we didn't exchange gifts until last week I haven't posted pictures of them yet.


He's a Flake by Little House Needleworks


I stitched it twice (well, if you count frogging, I probably stitched it at least 3 times!) I just made pin-keep style ornaments and the backing fabric is what you see behind them in the picture. I had planned to make one for myself, but that didn't happen. (though I do have the fabric and thread still kitted up, so maybe. . .)

I wonder how many posts Goggle reader will save before it replaces the '1000+' with 'give it up, you are never gonna catch up!'?

Side-tracked

Do you get side-tracked easily? I do.

I'm not sure exactly what my plan was for yesterday but it wasn't painting! For some reason I walked by the bench in the entry and decided it was time to paint it, so I plopped it on top of the table. The poor bench has been used and abused. Besides surviving the boys, it went to live with baby boy when he was in college. When he moved to an apartment that was too small the bench went to live with some of his friends. When we rescued the poor bench it had been living out on their balcony.


I didn't do any real 'prep-work' on it but I had stuck some wood filler in a deep gouge on the top (you can see it on the right side). Other than that, I wiped it down and grabbed the ASCP.


Now it matches the table! Of course it doesn't live with the table


Most of the time it lives in the entry. (unless we need it for company)

It is raining and dreary today. We do need the rain but the dogs don't like to go out in the rain. What do the dogs do on rainy days?


They hide. Yes, there are two dogs somewhere in there.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Old, but new!

I have something that is old, but new.


See the doiley? My great-grandmother made it - no telling how many of those things she made but until recently I only had one (framed, hanging in my living room) My aunt sent this one several months ago. It came the week the girlfriends were here for the quilt festival but it had several places that needed repair. I don't crochet. I would have used it as is, but Sarah's mother crochets and she likes to repair old pieces like this, so Sarah took it to her to fix. I picked it up when I was in J'ville last week.


So, now it is 'new' to me! Don't you love it when you don't notice that something isn't straight until after you upload the picture? I haven't pressed it - couldn't wait to get it on the table and take a picture!

Hope you are having a wonderful week!

A fun week!

I didn't mean to just disappear! I had planned to post last Monday but I ran out of time.

I went to J'ville to spend the week with the girlfriends. We had a great time just hanging out together - shopping and visiting. It was the first time we had a chance to get together since before Christmas so we had our little 3-woman Christmas while I was there. (looked like I was moving - both going and coming!) Some of it has already been put away, but here a few pictures of some ornaments that were in the 'gifty bags'. (we always do bags 'o stuff!)






This one is all wood. The card that came with it says the colors are all natural, no stains, dyes or paint. (www.woodquilter.net) There were several Christmas things in the bag (there always are!) and I have put most of that up, but I'm keeping the ornaments out in my sewing room so I an enjoy them all year.

I hope you had a great week. Of course when you take a week away there is a load of stuff to catch up on when you get back so that is what I'll be working on this week!