these are the ARRRRKANSAS RAAAAZORRRBACKS

Every year,

Mitch (Tyler's brother) invites Tyler (plus 1, sometimes 2)

to a Razorback game.

Usually, it's not a 'prime' game,

and usually,

the weather is either really hot,

or really cold.

(last year's game was the coldest AR football game on record, 

if I remember correctly. Jeremiah got to go to that one.)

or raining.

Today's game could very likely be the best game of the year;

we're playing the #1 team, Alabama,

and the weather is beautiful,

although it will get cold when the sun goes down.

It's Lily's turn to be the plus1 this year,

and never

has a little girl

(or anyone in our family!)

been so excited about going to a game!

She made clothes for Bunny.

And a sign,

and a felt razorback to glue on a bag.

The girl is ready!!!

this makes me happy,
because Lex' struggled a bit with her sister getting to go to the game.
Or rather that she wasn't going...

(Lily woke up yesterday morning

sick

with the tummy bug that Jeremiah and Josiah had 

earlier in the week.

We were so hopeful that she'd be well enough today

 to get to go to the game.

When she got up this morning,

she said she felt 95% herself.

whew!)

Even though I don't care one iota about football

- or the Razorbacks -

I care about my family,

and I am so thankful for Mitch's generosity

that allows my people

to do something they do care about.

Go Hogs

sparkly jeweled kaleidoscope

Allison, 
of Campbell Soup Diary,

has written her first pattern,

Jeweled Kaleidoscope,

and it goes on sale Oct 12th!

I am so excited for her,

and when she offered to let me pattern test for her,

I said, "Sure!"

after hesitating slightly,

because darn it,

the thing is foundation paper pieced.

But I like Allison,
so I wanted to do it anyways.

Plus
 I think I'm an excellent candidate for pattern testing,

what with my extreme pickiness

and tremendous difficulty reading patterns.

I figure if I can make heads or tails of it,

then anyone can.

And if any clarification is needed as far as instructions go,

well, I'm just the gal to point that out ;-)

I'm also adept at generous with
comma usage,
and I have been known to email bloggers and,
very politely, of course,
let them know they've used the wrong homophone
(because *I* would want to know....)

What I'm not always so great at it 

is using a pattern to it's fullest potential,

but fortunately, 

Allison had some other testers who really shined.

When I looked at her  #jeweledkaleidoscopequilt on Instagram,

I wondered more than once 

why I hadn't thought to do that?!

This is a really fun pattern,

and the more blocks one makes,

the cooler it looks.

I knew right away
that after I did one test block at full size

(I'll share that soon!  you can find that one here :-)

I wanted to shrink the mini version of the quilt

(yes! there are multiple sizes, from an 18 inch mini to a full/queen size) 

and make a mini mini version

as a "congratulations on your pattern" gift to Allison.

(at 9 inches square,
this is actually kinda big for a mini mini,
but I didn't want to take a let's see just how small I can go approach this time)

As soon as I got my copy of the pattern,

I ordered a bundle of Basic Grey Grunge charm squares
and some grey Grey Grunge
to go with them,

because those are some of her favorite fabrics.

I also ordered some Moda Passport

thinking that was clever of me,
(she lives in Germany)

but the scale was far too big for the mini pattern,

so I choose another background fabric,
(Netorious - love every single color!)

and used the Passport on the back.

Now,

it's no secret that I'm not an FPP groupie.

At all.

 (I'm sure Allison was hoping that this would convert me ;-)

As much as I think this is a superb (and very well written!) FPP pattern,

with all sorts of design possibilities,

I've already worked out how I could make it

using regular piecing.
:-)

Because that's how I roll.

But this one?
This one I made following the instructions
exactly.
'cause that's how I roll, too.

If you've never tried foundation paper piecing,
this is an excellent pattern to try
as it's simple,
but packs a punch,
and Allison's instructions are really clear.
(and most people aren't as FPP challenged as I am!)

If you are already an FPP fan,
I think you will love Jeweled Kaleidoscopes!

Allison ~ Congratulations on your first pattern!!
I think you did an excellent job!
I hope you sell a ton :-)
p.s. I need your new address,
so I can send you this mini(ish) mini
to add to your collection.

linking up with Amanda Jean (who also shared a triangle finish today :-)

birthday and the rag barn

Friday was my birthday,

and my sweet Love took the day off work :-)

Just as soon as Brandon got home from his class

and we had breakfast,

we all hopped in the van
and headed towards Alpena.

Thursday evening, I'd tried to talk him out of it;

told him I was the only one who would enjoy it
and we should just go to a waterfall or a river or a hike,

but he woke up Friday morning and said,

"Only the Rag Barn will do."

Who am I to say no to that??

So we meandered north east,

taking the Pig Trail, 

and stopped at yard sales,

bathrooms,

and for a picnic

at a park with a creek.

The drive was beautiful and the sky was gorgeous.

I brought a quilt along 

so I could hand sew the binding down

when the roads weren't too curvy.

(which wasn't real often ;-)

At the Rag Barn,

I slowly walked through the fabric side of the store,

making stacks of bolts and flat folds

here and there throughout the store.

(I didn't want to have her start cutting

until I had more of an idea of what all I was getting,
just in case I needed to put some things back...)

I was mostly looking for basics to add to my stash

(it's awesome having fabrics on hand
to pull from when I have a project suddenly come up!)

but I had my 'pull it all together' fabric for my next quilt with me

and got several pieces that will likely end up in the quilt, too.

When I had gone through all but one row of fabrics,

I had April (the owner) start cutting

while I finished shopping.

this is so ME! (why did I only get 1/3 yard??
because it was really crappy quality; that's why : / But it's soo cute!

She was super fast,

but not at all friendly,

even after I told her

that shopping in her shop
was my birthday gift!

Hmmph.

1/4 yd

Most of the fabrics I bought 1/3 yard cuts of,

though some I got 1/4 or 1/2 yards

(in looking at my fabrics now, 

I'm not real sure what my criteria was ;-)

1/3 yd

The exception was Carolyn Friedlander's Widescreen in black,

of which I purchased 3 yards,

and Widescreen in orange 

and a great mustard diagonal stripe

that I bought 1 yard each of.

I also bought 2 yards of a black and white striped knit.

and a great knit remnant 

which will be just enough for a skirt.

Fabrics ranged in price from $2.69 - $4.95 a yard,

which is crazy cheap.

1/2 yd (these were all $2.69/yd!)

You might guess, at those prices,

that most of the fabrics weren't designer,

but I spotted a few CF fabrics,

and several by Riley Blake.

 I love the feel and quality of the good stuff,

(especially Art Gallery!!)

but quilts are a lot more more affordable 

if I'm willing to mix in some bargain fabrics too.

1/3 yd

I bought a fun little panel

 (with coordinating fabrics for back and binding)

to practice my quilting on.

I feel like I need to up my game in that department,

and a panel is an economical way

(in both time and money) 

 to work towards that.

I also nabbed a handful of thread spools

and all together,

spent $103.77

I don't see us going back real regularly;

without meandering, it's a 2 1/2 hr drive one way

but it was a nice treat to get to go for my birthday :-)

Thanks, Love!!

(I also got a new rotating cutting mat to replace my current one that is completely bare in spots,
Turkey Turds (aka chocolate truffles. You can guess who those were from ;-)
one of those fancy cups to keep my water cold all day long,
a box of 100 gel pens (no 2 colors are alike!)
and a quilting book.

I got a really nice card 
and money from Mom & Bill and Gramma, too
but who knows when I will spend that
or what that treasure will be :-)

Thanks everyone!! XO

triangles for Baby

Ten days ago,

I didn't even know this quilt wanted to be made.

And yet,

a day later,

after consulting with Kacy regarding nursery decor,

I gathered and cut fabrics,

and started sewing flying geese on Sunday afternoon

while the girls had dance practice.

Bloc Loc Flying Geese rulers make trimming blocks so easy!!

By Monday afternoon,

I had a completed 40x48 inch quilt top.

(baby quilts is so fast :-)

Tuesday, I fought with thread tension

all.

day.

long quilted.

Wednesday,

I could not have centered my corner on my binding seam any better if I had tried! Never mind no one wants a seam there ;-)

at 2:49

it was in the wash,

and yesterday

I gave it to a sweet young couple

patiently waiting 

for their precious baby girl to arrive.

I'm pretty sure they loved it,

because I was the only person to get a hug

after their gift was opened.

If a quilt doesn't induce tears,

a big hug is the next best thing ;-)

It turned out exactly like I pictured,

which tickles me tremendously,

because so often 

my quilts have a mind of their own...

I deleted the (apparently) only full picture I snapped of the quilt.  oops.

Kitties, because - of course! 3 blind mice - I knew they'd get a kick out of that. Glasses, just like Mama wears.
Text fabrics because Mama is a graphics designer. Arrows? um - yes! thrice.
and the lone blackwards block serves as reminder to Baby that she's one of a kind; it's okay to be different :-)

Meg. Ethan.
Congratulations!!
I can't wait to snuggle your little sweetie.
I love you all.
XO