Thursday, August 26, 2010

Helpers




My cat Grey (first photo) was curled up in the center of a sunny spot on my bed so I decided to join him and plopped down with my laptop to check my email. Then suddenly, my dog Gizmo (second photo) begs to come up too. Then, lo and behold, my crazy but adorable kitten, Pip (thrid photo) comes leaping onto the bed, landing halfway on my laptop keyboard and skidding across the bed.

Grey and Giz are really only concerned about snoozing in the sun while four month old Pip is having ball trying to play with my laptop. She begins by rubbing her face on it and then she tries to sneak in a nibble or two (she's in that stage where everything goes in her mouth). I watch her and tell her "no" when she starts to nibble. You can tell in the third photo that she had just been scolded for trying to eat my computer -- she looks a little sheepish.

My pets make me smile. When I'm working on binding or nadwork in my favorite chair in the living room, Gizmo insists on sitting with me, with as musch of the quilt under him as possible! Pip tries to eat thread, lint, and fabric and not necessarily in that order. She also tries to steal papers, scissors, spools of thread, or anything not nailed down. Grey is a senior citizen so he is much better behaved -- he can sometimes be found either draped across my feet or else sprawled on the edge of a quilt on the floor (the one I'm trying to sew binding on, of course).

I am surrounded by furries and they enrich my life. They are my first quilt-testers to make sure the quilts are comfy, warm, and soft. They love me even when I'm grumpy or have a bad hair day. With so much help, what more could I ask? Maybe stock in a lint brush company?

Wednesday, August 25, 2010



It's been almost a month since I last blogged. I really don't have any good excuses, except I keep forgetting/losing my password to login. But, I guess I have been busy promoting my soon-to-be released book (five days to be exact).

What this means is that I've been doing a lot of networking, setting up book signings and programs, etc. I never really knew how much work was involved after the initial work of writing the book.

I've also been trying to downsize mt collection of unfinished projects just sitting around. I am happy to say that my stack is getting smaller. Slowly.

I did make a new baby quilt for my very good friend, Rita. I am also planning to make a matching diaper bag, but I haven't started it yet.



I am also working on making a series if small purses. I used a favorite purse pattern for the body of the bag, but made the handle extra long so that it can be worn across the body. I also substituted half of a vintage dresden plate block for the flap. Cute, isn't it? I'm making them for myself and my three friends for shopping and quilt shows. I wanted a smaller bag that went across my body for when I go to International Quilt Market in Houston at the end of October.