Beating the Heat and a Notions Wallet by Nobel Notions

It is hot here in Ohio and the Flamingos are beating the heat the best way they can.  These two are sitting on a bench near a tree trying to stay cool.

I caught these two lazy birds sipping Flamingo beverages....and when I saw that I giggled and then I wondered.  Would you see people drinking out of people embellished glasses?  Hmmmm.....

Apparently they finished those two quickly because on my way home this afternoon...this is what I saw:

I guess they needed something a little stronger this morning....LOL!

Here's what I've been working on:

A Notions Wallet by Nobel Notions:

 I received this pattern to review and I thought I'd give it a whirl.  This project calls for some fun stitching fabrics don't you think?

Loralie Fabric was just the ticket!

My Notions Wallet now hangs on my temporary sewing area in my livingroom.  I say temporary, because was only supposed to be there until I finished my UK quilt....and I've still not gotten back to it....oops!  An extended temporary :)

Smiles,
Kelly

Surfing USA

Imagine the Beach Boy's song....Surfin USA and then check out these Flamingos today:

They are styling' with that there surf board!  Then later this morning, while driving my nephews to Cedar Point (an amusement park here in OH) I saw this:

Are these people having fun or what?  They turned an old tree stump into a work of art.  I am always thrilled to see what people are creating (well....most all of the time anyway...lol).

Then a little while later I saw this:

I did a double take....this looks like a palm tree....but it certainly can't be because it would not survive here in Ohio.  So, either it was a mirage OR it is a different type of plant!!!

It took me 3 hours, round trip, drop those boys off so they could scare the tar out of themselves by riding those nasty roller coasters....the one's where you are certain you are going to die....yep those!!!  I arrived home at lunch time and saw this:

Mr. McSteamy resting after eating his lunch.  Look closely.....towards the feet....

It must run in the family and come from his gene pool....yep...two different shoes.  He had not realized this morning when he got dressed.  At least all they guys in the house are consistent right?

Typically I don't have such an entertaining day....but today was one of those...followed by making everyone's yearly medical appointments...yawn...yawn.  I have been working on a review of a purse pattern and I have messed it at almost the very last step.  As soon as I get my boo boo repaired...I'll share my review and photos.

Hope you are all staying cool....or warm....depending on what side of this earth you are on...and are smiling too!

Smiles,
Kelly

Pounce on the Excess...Go Ahead

Most of us have it....weather it is sewing notions, fabric, books, magazines....what ever is your "thing" you probably have too much.  I know I do and I work very hard and either giving things away or using what it is that I do have.  Can you believe I actually have some notions I've never used?  It's true....so I decided to use them.

Before I get into my post....I know many of you are in love with the Flamingos....so here is your update:

Enjoying a bit of shade....and....

sunglasses for those who prefer to enjoy the sun shine.

A wading pool for those who need to cool off.

And a new addition to the Flamingo Family.  She/He looks innocent enough....however, once hooked up to a hose it's arms flap up and down spraying water on everything that comes near.

Ok....back to the "Excess"....LOL

I bought this Quilt Pounce in Lancaster, PA at a show years ago.  At the time, I had never quilted a bed quilt and had no idea really what I should do with it....but the sales person sure made it sound like I really should have one if I was going to be a quilter.  

Then I saw a stencil with a screen on it and I thought to myself...."self.....perhaps this is what that Pounce thing is for."  Naturally I bought the stencil and I decided to give it a try. (The Pounce works with all stencils...not just the screen stencils....I just had to give it a try...curiosity and all.)

 The pad on the Pounce has a terry cloth texture and I think there is powdered chalk on the inside.  Since it said "Pounce" I have it a pounce on top of the stencil screen. 

Not a good idea....at least not in my case.  I had powdered chalk billowing out of the thing.  I'd say it was "overkill" for sure. I'm guessing wiping it across the screen would work much better.....but you know me....if it says "Pounce" then that's what I'll do.

Very nice and defined chalk outline for quilting for sure.  I wondered if the chalk would just brush off and finding my quilting line would become difficult.  

So, I brushed the outline very hard with my hand and then a light cloth...and guess what?  I could still make out where the quilt lines were.  Not bad ay?  Then of course I read the directions....always read those last....if you are like most of us :)  The directions say to "wipe the pad over the stencil."  See...I could have saved my lungs and all my chalk if I had just read the directions.  I also read that a heated iron removes the marks after quilting.  Now I can say I'm ed-u-ma-cated! :)

Another item that I've had hanging on my wall for quite some time is this Clamp and Bird Set by Clover. They only have the bird part of this now....I'm guessing mine is old/old.   I bought it at a Guild Garage Sale for a dollar.  I know there are absolutely beautiful antique sewing birds but this is probably as close to owning a sewing bird as I'll ever get.  They are highly collectable....not this one....the antique ones...LOL.

 

I decided to do some research and found this Brass Sewing Bird and now it is available at IHAN.   I may not have an antique one but I'll be sure to get one of these Brass Birds and it will be antique some day.

Brass Sewing Bird now available at I Have A Notion :)

The sewing birds act as a third hand.  You can clamp your fabric into the bird and that leaves both hands available for sewing....and un-sewing too. 

I have those days where I feel like I do more un-sewing than I do sewing....does that happen to you too?  I just put the fabric into the bird and perhaps you can see I used my Famore Seam Rip....just moving along the seam and all the threads were cut....some might say they melted like buttah!  Those who have a Famore Seam Rip typically love it....I know I do.

Sew....if by chance you are still reading....I'm impressed!  With my energy ebbing and flowing with this "change of life"....I have to write everything at one time when I have the energy...otherwise I may not write again for a few days.  Ya just never know.  I think the  "Change of Life" process has been mislabeled and I'm going to petition to have the name changed to "BS" instead.  Oops...did I just say that?  Yep...I guess I did.

What this photo has to do with anything is beyond me.  I found this powder at the drugstore today and I could not believe my eyes.  Naturally I had to take a photo of it....Anti Monkey Butt Powder.....what next?  I hope this leaves you smiling or giggeling.

Smiles,

Kelly

THANK YOU!

I love it when I ask for help and people take the time to stop and send me a note.  I appreciate all the feedback I got from this post yesterday.  This morning when I got up, I had a thought.  Yes...a thought if you can believe it :)  If there existed such a database then how would all the designers make the money from their patterns?  Hmmmmm....ya'all know I would not take a dime from any of them as I know just how difficult it is to write a pattern and many also write wonderful books as well.  So, I doubt anyone will be coming up with any databases anytime soon....and you can be sure it wouldn't be me to develop a database anyway!

To show my appreciation....I'm giving a few fun things away to those that left a comment yesterday.  This is what I'll be giving away:

This is my favorite fusible...Mistyfuse and I'm going to give away my sample package from Quilt Market of both Mistyfuse and Transdoodle. 

A charm pack from RJR fabrics, the fabric is Giselle by Marianne Elizabeth.  When the winner receives it it won't be all pretty in that neat pile since I made a fan out of it first.

And a beautiful pattern from Golden Thyme Designs, Sunset in the Sierras.  I adore Lacy Hill....she is a lovely woman and a great designer too.

Today is the last day of school for my co-workers so I've got to run back up to the school now.  When I get back I'll do some random number generating and give these fun things away.

I'll leave you some updated Flamingo pix.  Apparently with all the work they did yesterday....they are have a day off:

Smiles,
Kelly

A Better Way....

Before I share my thoughts with you....I think a Flamingo Update is in order:

When I first saw this Flamingo...I thought it was the black sheep of the family....but I was wrong.  This Flamingo can be illuminated and it glows at night :)  As you can see, Glowie Flamingo has chores to do today....

 

And Gimpie Flamingo also needs to finish some chores.....but.....

 their siblings got their work done early and they've gone fishing!

"A Better Way" 

I find myself saying there has got to be "A Better Way" frequently....and then the wheels start turning....

my old wheels start turning.  You know they can get rusty don't you?  LOL

How many times do you start a project with a specific pattern and know exactly what you want to make and then go buy just enough fabric for that project?   Honestly....I want to know from each of you that read this post....please leave me a comment telling me approximately how often that happens for you.

Here is my dilemma...  I have some fabrics that I bought for one project and then changed my mind so I have these fabrics....

My mother wants me to make her a full size quilt for her birthday present and she really likes these fabrics.  I'm tickled because I can use up this fabric.....until I remember that this was going to be a baby quilt so I'm going to need more fabric to make a full size bed quilt. 

My process:

1.  Need more fabric

2.  Search for more fabric and I'd like to expand into some of the other fabrics the designer has in this line

3.  How much more fabric will I need?   That will depend on what pattern I'm going to make.

5.  I need to find a pattern.....which in part will be dictated by the fabrics. While looking at the fabric I know I don't want to loose the focus fabric so I don't want to cut it smaller than 6" finished.      

Are you frustrated yet?  This is where the frustration sets in for me.  Now the task is to find a pattern that will finish into a full size quilt AND have 6" blocks AND will use the coordinating fabrics in a pleasing way.

 I think that is why people buy kits...like this one....

 Yep....this one comes with the pattern and all the fabric needed.  That is one solution....but many of us buy fabric before we know what we are going to make....am I right?

I don't know of a database that I can search where I can enter the size quilt I want to make and then up pops tons of choices in that size range.   I also don't know of a data base where I can say how much of each fabric I have and get a list of patterns that I could make using that amount of fabric (and if I wanted it to be larger...how much more fabric would I need).

Stick with me here.....

It is like being able to plug into a database that you have chicken, butter and three eggs....and then a recipe containing these ingredients would pop up (in my fantasy life...the database would scan recipes and spit out choices of different meals that could be made using those ingredients and highlighted in red would be the "other" ingredients you need to go and buy to complete the recipe).  

Sounds simple doesn't it?  My mind tells me an algorithm can be written so that the process can be reversed....starting from ingredients firs,t instead of completed project.  I approached the folks at Electric Quilt a few years ago at Market and shared my idea.  I hope and pray they add this to their software.  

OK, I know that I can make my own pattern....I can go into my Electric Quilt 7 software and design something....I can change other patterns to make them work with what I have....there are lots of options here...I get that.  

How many of you don't want to do all the calculations and gyrations and hope that it all works out?  Call me lazy....but I want a database that has this information in it that I can access.  Perhaps I've been spoiled by Google....I Google everything under the sun.  Google has become the wise elder in my village.  Honestly, I do feel a bit of guilt just writing this post because I know my brain can solve all these things...but aren't we all so happy to have a calculator even though we are completely capable of doing the math ourselves?

I want to know what you think....and what you do in these situations.  If you don't want to leave a comment for everyone else to read...you can e-mail me at IHaveANotion@yahoo.com   

I Have The Notion but lack the skills to get to the end result....LOL 

Smiles,

Kelly

PS....I reserve the right to see things differently once I've been enlightened by my friends  :)

Flamingos,Flat Stanly's Travels and A Quilting Blogger Hook Up and

Flamingo Update:

The Flamingos are now playing soccer....

...and I've also seen them riding their bikes too.

You just never know what those Flamingos will be up to next!

Update on Zachary's Flat Stanly Travels:

You won't believe how busy Flat Stanly has been.  I know I was shocked myself and very surprised how long it took me to organize Flat Stanly's photos with the narration of his travels.

You are looking at 33 12X12 pages of Flat Stanly's Travels up until May 14, 2012.  I've since received many more trip narratives and photos that have yet to be added to his album.  Stanly has been to Philadelphia PA, Washington DC, Toronto, Nevada, Smithville Ontario, Arab Alabama,
Hover Dam and Bridge, Budapest, Copenhagen Denmark, Council Bluffs Iowa, Schenectady New York
Leominster MA,Columbia South Carolina, Yamhill County Oregon AND that doesn't include all the recent pix I have received.  I am totally shocked and blown away by everyone's kindness in taking Flat Stanly with them on their travels.  I THANK YOU and Zachary also Thanks you :)








A quilting blogger hook up :)

Pam is a blogger from North Carolina and she was in the area last week.  We made plans to meet up and had lunch together.  Oh it was a ball.  I was tickled that we got to meet.  She had received this beautiful quilt from her mother-in-law so she brought it to show me. 

(After writing this post it dawned on me that the term "hook up" is slang and it can mean several things.  I couldn't come up with another catchy phrase that means meeting up with a blogging friend so I'm keeping this term until I can invent another one :)

Smiles,
Kelly

A Few Quick Things

Flamingo Update:

Apparently the Stork has been cavorting with the Flamingos....

Yep....they have two baby Flamingos now :) 

Pinterest Information:
I read this blog post about Pinterest and I found it eye opening for sure. I'm not sure I'm going to continue on Pinterest....I don't want to invite any problems.  Does anyone have any more information on the subject? 

Andres Amador Arts

When I saw Andres work....I was speechless....and believe it or not...I got misty eyed.   We all know how much work it takes to make a beautiful quilt right?  We spend hours and hours and then we label them and love them....with the whole goal of hanging on to them or hoping the ones we give them to treasure them forever right?

Would you still put all that work into one if it were going to be gone in a matter of hours?  Can you believe there is an artist who does?  Click Here to see the amazing art work of  Andres Amador.  Andres' Website is something to behold as well....I was blown away and I hope everyone takes a minute to enjoy the breath taking work Andres creates.

After reading the Pinterest blog post, there is no way I was about to copy a photo of Andres to put here for everyone to see...so you'll have to trust me and go over yourself and behold the magic for yourself.

Smiles,
Kelly