Do you want a scoop?

We owned the world's oldest ice cream scoop. It was of some odd metallic material that seemed to rub off the scoop onto the ice cream. Most unappetizing. The last time we had ice cream I told Noah that on the next gift giving occasion I sure would like a new ice cream scoop. Well, for my birthday I received not one but EIGHT ice cream scoops! Craig said he visited a bunch of kitchenware stores in the area to get a proper assortment. (yes I know the smallest one is probably really supposed to be a melon baller, but it's the perfect Hayden sized scoop.)



We tried out several of them to scoop the ice cream to go with my birthday cake. (click photos for larger view)



If you ever need an ice cream scoop, give me a call. I can probably help you out!

Birthday girl

Today I celebrate my 57th birthday. My brother Claude left me a happy birthday message this morning and stated he knew that it was a significant birthday what with me turning 60. He thinks he's such a card, but all I have to do is remind him that he's 4 years older than me and that usually shuts him up.

Here I am blowing out the candles on some long ago birthday cake. That's my good friend Liz on the left with the birthday hat on. I'm pretty sure the guy on the far right - the one in the striped shirt - is the aforementioned Claude (you know, the guy that will always be FOUR years older than me.)(click photo for larger view)



Liz and I both moved out of Detroit as adults and it has been years since I've seen her. Liz, I know you've visited my blog in the past and if you're reading this, please drop me a note. I miss you!

My big plans for the day are to eat junk. I've been dieting for several months but tonight I plan to have pizza and cake & ice cream.

We have a name

After much more angst than it deserved, I finally decided on a name for my Darned Quilt: Orange Fizz.

Now, I need to get busy on some of my other UFO's.

The family expands

On Friday my nephew Kevin (my brother Ed's son) became a Dad for the first time when his son Ronin was born. I think this photo of father and son is so sweet.


Ronin weighed 9lb 10oz and was a bit over 22 inches long. This photo of him with his Grandmother Rosemary shows how big he is!



Kevin got Rosemary's red hair (although it's sure hard to tell in the photo)so it's a possibility that Ronin will also be a redhead.

More on naming quilt

I've had lots of great suggestions for naming my darned quilt. I hadn't considered the cosmic aspect of the work and the suggested names that related to that aspect made me look at the work differently.

Jerry gave me a humorous suggestion that keeps sounding better and better to me: "Orange you glad I didn't say banana?" I wonder if I'd be sorry using that name.

Please help name me

I can't believe I've actually finished something. I picked up this unfinished project last week and am surprised I actually got it done. (and yes I did end up mitering the border)

(click for larger view)


As I mentioned in my earlier post about this work I started it in a Quilt University class called Darned Quilts with Dena Crain. In order to make the circles (which Dena calls Bubbles) I cut out the shapes and then used same sized circles cut from elsewhere in the quilt to plug the holes. The circles/bubbles are sewn in using the darning stitch on the sewing machine.

I first considered naming this "Those Darned Bubbles" but now am not sure I really like that name. Now I'm considering "Bubblicious" or "Tiny Bubbles" or "A Bit of the Bubbly" What do you think? I open to any and all suggestions!

Old projects

One of my goals this year is to "stop starting projects and start finishing some" To that end I pulled out a project that's about a year and a half old.

I started this in a Quilt University class called Darned Quilts by Dena Crain. It was the first session of the class and I was amazed at the wonderful quilts that resulted. All I accomplished by the end of the 4 week class was to construct the background. I pieced it out of fabrics that I dyed in another QU class.

Last week I sat down and embellished the background - adding the ribbons, rickrack and embroidery stitches. Then, I cut the circles out of the quilt (Dena calls them bubbles) and swapped them out - plugging the holes with a same sized circle from another location. The circles are stitched in using the machine's darning stitch - thus the name Darned Quilts.

I think I'm going to redo the border. Now that it's on I think I should have mitered the corners. What do you think? (click for larger view)




Here's a detail.



I think I'm going to name this "Those Darned Bubbles" but I'm not 100% sure yet. Dena recommends just some simple curved line quilting - which suits me just fine.

Another project I've been working on is an outfit for Hayden. Chrystal, the kids, and Chrys' folks are going to Disney World over the upcoming 3 day Martin Luther King holiday. I found this Disney princess fabric and decided to make something for her to wear on the trip. We tried it on over the top she was already wearing - it doesn't really have pinkish/orangish fabric at the neckline. The photo doesn't show the top's bottom border which is made of the same fabric as the yoke. I also made a pair of pants from the yoke/border fabric.



What have YOU been working on?