29 June 2011

. . . husky . . .

. . . i remember when my little brother
wore "husky" size clothes . . .
. . . i always felt that label was a little harsh . . .

. . . anyhow . . .
. . . it was a little husky around here today . . .
. . . awwww ~ shucks . . .

. . . with a few uninvited guests . . .
. . . my dad was always verrrrrrrry particular
about his corn . . .
. . . if it wasn't picked, shucked, and cooked
within about thirty minutes . . .

. . . it just wasn't worth your trouble . . .
. . . in fact, you really oughta
put the water on to boil
before you head to the field . . .

. . . i guess you could say he was a cob snob . . .
. . . let's just say i wouldn't bother
mentioning this batch to him . . .

. . . and then today's freezer project
was followed by this corny little cloudburst . . .

. . . which didn't last nearly long enough . . .


24 June 2011

. . . piece by piece . . .

. . . you never "find" time . . .
. . . you have to make time . . .
. . . this week i made some time . . .
. . . to work on a project i started
back in october . . .



. . . pairing these geese {for dummies}
with various size squares
of tone on tone white polka dots . . .

. . . see how that works? . . .
. . . seventeen individual pieces of fabric . . .
. . . in a seven inch finished block . . .
. . . i made fifty of those . . .
{which equals eight hundred fifty little pieces}

. . . then alternate those
with forty-nine squares of bliss prints . . .
{totaling eight hundred ninety-nine pieces.
you can only think about the numbers after it's put together ~
otherwise it would drive you crazy!}
. . . which required a lot of planning . . .
. . . it reminded me of those puzzles
where you have to slide the pieces
inside the little frame
around to get them
all in chronological order . . .
. . . yep ~ it was kind of like that . . .


. . . all together it reminds me
of a mosaic tile floor . . .
. . . only cuter . . .
. . . still to come: borders, backing,
quilting, binding, sleeves {and a name} . . .
. . . but ~ it all takes time . . .

{pattern: vanilla cakes by joanna figueroa}


21 June 2011

. . . to the left, to the left . . .

. . . the three amigas . . .
. . . minding their own business . . .
. . . on the {formerly known as dining room} wall . . .


. . . this one for nearly ten years now . . .

amber leigh romney hansen
6 september 2001

. . . this one for 6.5 years . . .

amanda joan romney rasmussen
29 december 2004

. . . this one for 4+ years already . . .

amelia nathel romney johnson
25 may 2007

. . . so in honor of his .5 anniversary today . . .

andrew davis romney
21 december 2010

. . . everybody shifted "to the left, to the left" . . .

. . . and now the song i can't get out of my head is . . .
. . . "one of these things is not like the others" . . .

{handy tip of the day: if you want matching frames,
i highly suggest you purchase all of them at once ~
at the time of the first wedding.
otherwise ~ i highly suggest [again] rob brinton @ matage ~
he completely custom refinished drew's frame
to match the girls' and he did a fabulous job!}


20 June 2011

. . . yabba dabba doo . . .

. . . kind of felt like the flintstones yesterday . . .
. . . four racks of baby back ribs . . .
. . . manly fathers day food . . .
{thanks for the idea and the sale tip, panda!}

. . . you can go ahead and call me wilma . . .

{because my "betty" days are long gone!}


19 June 2011

. . . miss you, dad . . .

. . . the "first" everything is hard . . .
. . . today is the first fathers day
without my dad . . .

. . . i feel incredibly blessed
to have had
such a wonderful father . . .

. . . i can't wait to see him again . . .
. . . i'm thankful for
that lets me know
this is possible . . .


16 June 2011

. . . life imitates art . . .

. . . they weren't on my list, but . . .
. . . i couldn't resist
these grocery store sunflowers . . .
. . . and, hey ~ i was teaching on sunday . . .
{no lesson is complete without a centerpiece}


. . . five days later, they still look fabulous . . .
. . . and boy ~ are they heavy drinkers . . .
. . . i've filled that pitcher twice . . .


. . . i'm thinking vincent
should have shopped at fry's . . .
. . . 'cuz his are looking a little tired . . .


. . . i might have to splurge
in the floral department
every week . . .
. . . since my flower beds
are now officially nekkid until fall. . .
. . . it's just too darn hot . . .

. . . is it october yet? . . .


15 June 2011

. . . dear amanda . . .

. . . well . . .
. . . they're finally done . . .

. . . my apologies for taking
sooooooooooooooo long . . .


. . . hopefullly ~ you'll be able
to find somewhere to hang them
wherever you live . . .

. . . love, mom . . .

. . . p.s. amelia ~ yours are next . . .

{buy your fabric and 2 1/2" grommets at homefabrics,
and they'll install the grommets free of charge.
buy your grommets there, and installation is $1 each}


09 June 2011

. . . happy/bassett . . .

. . . once upon a time . . .
. . . probably about nineteen years ago . . .
. . . i let myself get talked into
getting a puppy for our kids
for christmas . . .
. . . she was a basset hound . . .
. . . she looked kind of like this . . .
. . . but with no white on her at all . . .
. . . just brown and black . . .
. . . she was really pretty . . .
. . . and we named her happy . . .
{i'll give you a second to think about that, because it's pretty funny!}

. . . then ~ as puppies always do . . .

. . . happy grew . . .
. . . and grew . . .
. . . and grew . . .
. . . her ears were
always dragging
in her water dish . . .
. . . aka: forever soggy/dripping everywhere . . .
. . . her feet were huge . . .
. . . as was everything else about her . . .
{and i think you know what i'm talking about}
. . . she would come galloping across the yard . . .
. . . put her paws on drew's shoulders . . .
{he was about three}
. . . and absolutely flatten him . . .
. . . the next fall, we took our kids to disney world . . .
. . . happy went to stay with lori ~ her groomer . . .
. . . with special instructions for lori
to find a new place for her live . . .
. . . when we returned from vacation . . .
. . . it took about a week
for any of the kids
to notice/ask where happy was . . .
. . . and then we told them that
happy went to live happily ever after
with a new family . . .
. . . and i was really happy about that! . . .

. . . sorry ~ tangent . . .

. . . anyway ~ one saturday afternoon . . .
. . . after scouring craigslist . . .
. . . i drove about 80 miles round trip . . .
. . . to buy this . . .
. . . and when i looked inside the drawer . . .
. . . guess what it said? . . .

. . . and that made me happy . . .
. . . see? that first story does tie in . . .
. . . sort of . . .
. . . so the seller and i loaded it into my car . . .
. . . and wrapped it lovingly
in a thirty-two-year-old quilt . . .
{made for me by the sweet ladies in good ol' nineteenth ward when i got married.
the arizona temple is quilted into the center of it}

. . . and i drove around with it in there for a week . . .
. . . looking like i was hiding a casket or something . . .

. . . because believe me . . .
. . . it's heavy . . .
. . . i could barely even lift the mirror . . .

. . . then i took it to a pro for refinishing . . .
. . . and hello, gorgeous . . .

. . . natalie is a miracle worker . . .
. . . even the original hardware looks fabulous . . .
. . . after she scrubbed and polished it . . .

. . . her photos are fantastic . . .
. . . but, the funniest thing about her post
was when she called me a quilter extraordinaire . . .
. . . since i haven't touched a quilt
since about november . . .
. . . i've seriously gotta do something about that! . . .

. . . next step was altering the mirror . . .
. . . it originally sat right on the dresser . . .
. . . supporting the weight . . .
. . . but i wanted it to hang on the wall ~
adding visual height to the piece . . .
. . . enter rob brinton of matage . . .
. . . he worked magic with an mdf template
and some nifty z bar hardware . . .

. . . this kind of project takes a village . . .
. . . and the next player was son-in-law, chris . . .
. . . he helped me unload and carry the dresser . . .
. . . then he hung the mirror . . .
. . . and it's level and everything! . . .
. . . good job, christopher . . .

. . . now don't worry . . .
. . . i'm definitely keeping
great grandma rogers'
antique buffet . . .

. . . but i'm loving this update . . .
. . . and there's even more space
for seasonal doodads and decorating . . .
. . . so to sum up . . .
. . . this bassett makes me happy . . .

{also . . . hello old friends who tell me they read this blog! it was great to see you!}


04 June 2011

. . . all the cool kids are doing it . . .

. . . cartoons? . . .
. . . disney channel? . . .
. . . nick jr? . . .
. . . those are for babies . . .

. . . the beatles on youtube . . .
. . . twist and shout . . .

. . . that's where it's at . . .



03 June 2011

. . . it's official . . .

. . . ri{hat}ng . . .
. . . hat ----------> in ring . . .
. . . check . . .
. . . see mitt run . . .
. . . run, mitt, run! . . .
. . . YAY!!!!!!! . . .