29 February 2012

. . . leap day . . .

. . . i'd like to wish
a very happy birthday
to andrew g. peters . . .
. . . he's bill's good friend
from arcadia high school . . .
. . . andy is still convinced
we named drew after him . . .
{we didn't}




. . . whoa . . .
. . . yearbook photos
from the '50s
are a little grainy . . .
. . . kidding . . .
. . . it's really from 1974 . . .
. . . andrew g. peters was born
on leap day in 1956 . . .
. . . so ~ today is technically
only his fourteenth birthday . . .
. . . and ~
{you're not going to believe this}
he has a twin . . .
. . . also born on leap day 1956 . . .
. . . here's nicki . . .



. . . nicki used to work
at the spaghetti factory . . .
. . . so did michelle . . .
. . . they got to talking
and found out
they shared
a leap day birthday . . .
. . . michelle's four years younger . . .
. . . so andy, nicki, and michelle
went out to celebrate together . . .
. . . then andy and michelle
got married! . . .



. . . and then they sent us
clever christmas cards
every year . . .
. . . like this one
that's nearly twenty years old . . .
. . . the year andy and michelle
celebrated their
"ninth" and "eighth" birthdays . . .

. . . happy birthday, leapsters . . .


28 February 2012

. . . breaking it down . . .

. . . today was as good a day
as any . . .
. . . for a little fabric therapy . . .
. . . and just for fun . . .
. . . here's how something
that looks relatively complicated . . .
. . . comes together quite easily . . .
. . . one step at a time . . .


{disclaimer: the brown in this line of fabric is a lovely dark taupe.
the designer calls the color "mud".
there are absolutely no funky yellow dotted lines in the background.
weird photos.}

. . . all the cutting for this quilt
{consisting of three sizes of squares
was complete
before i ever sat down to sew . . .
. . . then each block
includes nine patches . . .
. . . with eight of them
containing smaller pieces . . .

. . . this one . . .



. . . times four . . .



. . . and this one . . .



. . . times four . . .



. . . i tend to be a little {extremely} ocd . . .
. . . in regard to my quilting quirks,
i'd say i'm:
•a consistent/careful cutter,
•a slow/steady stitcher, and
•a persnickety/precise presser . . .
{no charge for the •amazing/accurate alliterations}

. . . and yet after cutting,
stitching,
and pressing
the very best i can,
i always need to true up my blocks ~
leaving little scraps like this . . .



. . . but they do look nice and tidy . . .



. . . post rotary cutter . . .



. . . those eight little patches
meet up
with one additional print square . . .



. . . then join into three rows . . .



. . . then the rows come together
forming one complete block . . .

. . . kind of like eating an elephant . . .
. . . one bite at a time . . .



. . . here's a peek at another print
i'm especially enjoying . . .
. . . the green colorway
is called "grass stain" . . .
. . . the corner triangle fabric's name? . . .
. . . "rose cowboy shirt" . . .
. . . how cute is that? . . .



. . . p.s. please count faster,
michigan and arizona
election officials . . .
. . . the suspense is killing me! . . .


27 February 2012

. . . i'll have what she's having . . .

. . . some days
just kind of
feel like this . . .



. . . don't they? . . .

. . . here's hoping tomorrow
will be more of a
"primary song leader"
kind of day! . . .


26 February 2012

. . . all gussied up . . .

. . . hope you're
having a great day . . .


. . . wearing your sunday best . . .
. . . and a cheesy grin . . .


25 February 2012

. . . this month is such a special one . . .

. . . february is a big month
for birthdays in our family . . .
. . . seven of them to be exact . . .
. . . today we celebrated
my mom's . . .
. . . look how cute she is! . . .




. . . mom and her girls . . .



. . . and the granddaughter
with whom
she shares this birthday . . .

{nathel - age 76 and amelia nathel - age 26}

. . . it kind of looks like
only the girls in the family
were invited to this party . . .



. . . but i promise
we invited the boys too . . .

{you can bet your boots that either my brother, jeff,
or my brother-in-law, sean,
just said something inappropriate!}

. . . look! . . .
. . . even my husband was there
for a little while . . .
. . . representing for mitt! . . .



. . . cameron and colby
enjoyed a little tummy time . . .



. . . and there was
plenty of cousin fun . . .
{i love jack pushing elliott}



. . . pretty girls on swings . . .
. . . halleigh . . .



. . . addi . . .



. . . and angela . . .
{remember when she got baptized last saturday?}



. . . we sang the entire
three song birthday medley . . .
{hello beautiful/delicious molly's chocolate cake}



. . . and then mom
fanned the candles out . . .
. . . that's right . . .
. . . fanned . . .
. . . not blew . . .
. . . no germs on the cake, please . . .



. . . writing wishes
from one birthday girl
to the other . . .



. . . which we affixed to balloons . . .
. . . please notice tagg . . .
. . . playing with
nasty charcoal ashes . . .
. . . ewwwwww . . .



. . . here's me being bossy . . .
. . . handing out balloons . . .



. . . we sang again . . .



. . . love this shot
with cute courtlyn
in the background. . .
. . . and mom hiding
behind a blue ribbon . . .



. . . then the launch . . .



. . . bye bye balloons . . .



. . . bye bye wishes . . .



. . . my biggest wish is
for another happy year,
my wonderful mother . . .
. . . love you! . . .

{special thanks to my photographer daughter, amanda.
sorry you aren't in even one picture. :( }


24 February 2012

. . . patting myself on the back . . .

. . . the pit of despair
comes in second on the list
of all-time most-viewed posts
on this here blog . . .
{everyone loves a train wreck, apparently!}
{it really was a train wreck}
. . . and, in case
you were wondering . . .
{were you wondering?}
. . . one year + thirteen days later
the makeover is still in force . . .
. . . and honestly,
every time i go in there
i'm proud of myself
for keeping it that way . . .




. . . most-commented on section? . . .



~ cardiganville ~
{and ry g biv ~ no o}
it's alive and well . . .


23 February 2012

. . . bbq chicken salad {again} . . .

. . . since i've been asked
more than once today . . .
. . . i'm here to
{just click on that yellow link}


{and yes, i do realize this is the second day in a row i've used this photo}

. . . the original post {dated 19 july 2009}
is {by far} the all-time most-visited page
on my blog . . .
{did you know there are stats for that?}
. . . i wholeheartedly endorse this salad . . .
. . . go ahead
and make it for dinner
sometime very soon . . .
. . . i'd love to hear what you think! . . .


22 February 2012

. . . my idea of a great day . . .

. . . seriously . . .
. . . hanging out
with these fun gals . . .
. . . including a couple
of new friends . . .
. . . so glad gina and nedra
could join us . . .
. . . they might as well be
quilting royalty! . . .




. . . we sewed . . .
. . . we chatted . . .
. . . we had lunch . . .
. . . we learned a thing or two . . .
{such as: the three occasions when it is appropriate to swear}



. . . i'm loving the way
these blocks are turning out . . .



. . . three down . . .
. . . seventeen to go . . .



. . . this nice article was published
in the arizona republic today . . .
{one edit: world war II - not I}



. . . then . . .
. . . then . . .
. . . THEN . . .
. . . these blurry images
came in a text message . . .



. . . so excited for this little dolly
to make her debut in august . . .



. . . congratulations,
drew and jessalyn . . .
. . . let the pink sewing begin!! . . .

{a great debate for mitt would be the icing on today's cake}

{next morning edit: the debate was awesome
AND here's even more proof we had a fun quilty day}


21 February 2012

. . . bullet points . . .

  • insomnia
  • no walking
  • laundry
  • campaign fundraiser
  • grocery shopping
  • meet blog friend in real life
  • water yard
  • hang tv on wall
  • vacuum sawdust
  • lemon bars
  • move furniture
  • marinate chicken
  • lame blog post
  • sleep {hopefully}
  • no photos
{i hope your day
was just as fun~filled
as mine was!}


20 February 2012

. . . i lied . . .

. . . not sure what
i was thinking . . .
. . . because i was
. . . but, after cutting
about a billion HSTs . . .
{that's quiltspeak for half-square triangle}




. . . i kid ~ there's really
only about seven hundred . . .
. . . NOW i'm done . . .
. . . and ready to sew . . .


19 February 2012

. . . sunday brunch . . .

. . . i wasn't quick enough
with the camera . . .
. . . but you should have seen
the little red-tailed hawk
who was just here . . .
. . . definitely enjoying
what must have been
a tender little dove . . .




. . . leaving only feathers . . .
. . . which either
aren't very tasty . . .
. . . or maybe it's that
they get stuck
in one's throat . . .

. . . wishing you
a sunday dinner
that goes down
nice and easy . . .