Purging---Sort of

Doesn't it count as purging if I take it from our house up here and move it to the house down South? That's a purging of sorts, isn't it? I've decided that the SC kitchen needs to be white with turquoise accents--maybe--since I found that turquoise skillet and got all excited. So I found this other turquoise enamel bucket with a handle for holding dishtowels.And this "salt" container is for beside the sink to hold the sponge and scrubby brush.
And the lime bowl is because I can't pass up lime colored stuff.
And this 3 tiered basket is for hanging from the ceiling and holding fruit.

And this Italian black leather satchel is to replace the one that looked just like it but was stolen several years back. This one only cost $8 and my other one was $50.

Serendipity? I think not!

It's not that I don't have anything to do; it's just that when I have a million things to do, I can always think of something wonderfully creative that I'd much rather be doing. Case in point: When I went out and got the chair out the neighbor's trash yesterday, this lamp was there and I couldn't let it stay all on its lonesome. It looks pretty beachy and I'm in the beachy kind of decorating mood for the SC house so I drug it home. It seems to be missing something that must have gone at the base, but I can't figure out what it was. I've got to think about what should go there. And I think it needs a chocolate velvet ribbon trim around the top and bottom of the lampshade.


But anyway, I went to the Goodwill in search of a little shadowbox I had seen there last week. Last week when I saw it, I thought I might need it, but I couldn't imagine why. Then I came home and saw my 3 little skulls--fox, raccoon and otter--sitting on the bookcase getting all dusty and I knew I needed the shadowbox. I figured it would be gone, but I thought I'd have a poke around anyway. I found this big ceramic dish from Portugal for $6 and knew the dogs needed for a new waterbowl (seeing as how hard they work and all).


And then I found this turquoise frying pan that the house in SC is just begging for. And a great set of spoons. I hope I will get some credit for exercising restraint and not buying this whole set of white china I was aching for. Or the black 1950's diner chairs with brass tacks all along the edge of the upholstery--only $8 each. Sadly, I couldn't think how to fit them in the car.And the best part of all is that the little shadowbox was still there.
The sad news is it needs to be a little deeper. So now I have to put all the stuff I'm supposed to be doing on hold so I can go build up the back, line the interior, spray paint the exterior, and make a nice little home for the skulls. Right after my nap.

So my twenty minute project turned into an all day thing with two trips to Home Depot, and it's still not finished.

Oh, the Audacity...

I'm over here slaving away, cleaning up, making lists of everything I need to do before we go on vacation, paying bills, calling to schedule appointments, multi-tasking like crazy and I just happen to look behind me, and this is what I see.(And I don't want to use the word "bums," but it does come to mind!)
Henri has never been much interested in sitting in chairs unless there was a person in it. All of a sudden, he thinks this chair is his. He and the kids fight over it.

This is Sam's chair and as soon as he leaves it for a second, to flip the tv channel or get something to drink, Dini is in it and snoring.
Milo's best "I'm just a little defenseless, earless chihuahua who wouldn't hurt a flea!" look.


It's good to be a dog.

We Interrupt this Quilting Session for a Trash Run...

I was taking out the trash and spied a red shape down the road in the neighbor's trash. I went and got my trusty binoculars and my little heart began to go pit-a-pat pit-a-pat! I got in the car and ran down there and loaded this chair! As I backed into my driveway, trunk open and chair precariously hanging out, my kids opened the door and moaned in unison, "Mom, how could you!" I told them we're trying to get rid of junk, not bring more into the house. However, this is a good lesson about exceptions in life! It's very sturdy and has those cool brass tacks. I think that is the original chair cushion although it is a much brighter red. And only a handful of Naugas were killed to upholster it!Oh, and it's got those cute little bun feet in the front!

Three Border Fabric Options And Critters

So these are three potential fabric borders. The first one looks kind of Aboriginal--with stripes and dots between the lines.


This one has dark brown doodle type circles with colored dots at the center. And this one is little, slightly smudgy squares with touches of other colors.

I'm trying to put little elements around each critter that suggests its environment. So this is seaweed and air bubbles for the platypus. I learned an important lesson about glue sticks today. If you use too much on your fabric, when you sew it, it frays the thread as it comes through the needle and will break it after awhile. I have to go easier on the gluestick. I knew it was too good to be true! Actually, this only seems to be a problem with my new re-positionable glue stick I got for 50 cents from Staples the other day. My old half dried up ones didn't cause a problem.


Okay, I admit the sewing sucks on these water ripples, so I may have to rip it out, but it is the idea I was looking for.

Possible Layouts

So here are possible layouts. I had thought I might do borders around each block.
But now, I kind of like the no border look better. I'd change places with the emu and some other critter because there is one piece of fabric on that emu that is driving me crazy--the rust and white chunk right above the legs. It's too much of a focal point. I'm going to have to tone it down one way or another. I do like the no border look with circles strewn across the top. I'm thinking I need to vary the size of the circles some. I was going to put some other little grasses (with the bandicoot and wombat) and seaweed (Platypus) in at various spots, but we'll see.

Koala and Buddies

Pinned Kangaroo (So he doesn't hop away; you know how sneaky those kangaroos can be!).

Bandicoot! Pinned and with his pattern.

Black Swan pattern on top of pieced dark fabric.

Pinned and ready to be sewed.

Swan with pattern.

So I ended up making 9 Australian animal blocks: 2 Koalas, kangaroo, bandicoot, spiny anteater, wombat, emu, black swan, and a platypus. I'm still dickering with myself over the way to put it together. All the blocks have to be embroidered with the features and details of each critter. I'm toying with the idea of embroidering their name on the block, too. I have a bunch of freezer paper, pieced circles in the same colors that I'm thinking of incorporating. I'm wondering if I should have borders around the blocks in dark brown or black or some other color. This is my favorite part.

The Koala Quilt Continues

I'm off my wine label quilt kick and have now decided it will be an Australian quilt. Hence the addition of a wombat and platypus.Wombat traced onto the back of the fabric.Pinned Wombat.
Pinned Platypus. For the record, the platypus was the biggest pain to turn under because of his little pointy feet. I ended up rounding them a bit. It was still a pain in the patootie to try and sew around with the machine.
Platypus sewn (a little lamely around the points).
Block party.
Guard dog. Hiding from big dog who kicks his butt every time he gets on the floor. (He's constantly running over and trying to get in my lap to escape Henri. It's very hard to sew with a fat chihuahua on your lap, so I just gave up and put him a bed on my sewing table. He's happy and Henri's happy that he doesn't have to keep putting him in his place.

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