I've Moved!

To a new house!

*sigh* Just kidding...this beauty is $1.1M, and really close to the area where I ride Sammy...but WAY out our price range.

But...this blog has moved - a website was totally in the price range!

You can now find Michelle's Musings here! And you can re-link me in your feed reader of choice using the spiffy little button on the left sidebar.

Still working on tweaking the layout of the new blog (Steve was a HUGE help last night, he's just better at this stuff than I am), but now I'll be posting over there. So come on over for a visit...and don't forget to look at the "Love Note" page @ the top. Plus, you can hop on over to the main website to have a looksie, but there is a lot of work to be done there at this point. My bloggy was the 1st priority!

Sweet Baby!

Oh my goodness, I just had to post this picture as soon as I saw it. This is an updated picture of Leah, my friend Miranda's baby. I'm in process of making quilts for Leah and big sis Jacqueline.

Isn't she the sweetest baby, in her cute lil Pooh outfit?? She's laying on the 4th quilt I ever made (and technically, it was my first finished quilt), given to Jacqueline for Christmas 2007. We had used Miranda's house in Denver as a hotel for a night, as we drove home for Christmas that year. So I had to bring something with me as a thank you. Now I do have to confess...I didn't actually piece the top. It was a remnant of a cheater cloth I found @ my local fabric store for $1. Yep, $1...coupled with some yardage from Joann's bought on sale, I think I spent less than $10 to provide protection for babies laying on the carpet!

Now the first quilt I ever made is still sitting in a box, waiting for the quilting to be completed on it. I should finish it, because I'm proud of my effort...but the thing is, it's sort of ugly (at least in my head). I bought some interesting fat quarters @ Joann's (because I had NO IDEA what I was doing at that point, including fabric buying), and took a beginner quilting class.

My 2nd quilt is the purple quilt you see if you look @ my Blogger profile. It went to my mom for Christmas...she loves purple (her garage door on her house is purple), and it's my favorite that I've made so far. I curl up under it every time I'm there to visit. :) That quilt was hard work, triangles attached to 1" strips...lots and lots of ironing and trimming. I spent one whole quilt class @ Joann's just figuring out my layout for those squares.

Ah, memories!

The Problem with Being a CPA

...well, besides being asked for help on taxes (I don't DO taxes...I barely get thru my own...FYI, CPAs can do other things besides taxes, such as normal financial accounting), it that I live in the past for my job. Still looking @ 2008 - tweaking, etc. before we are audited.

So I just reviewed my post from yesterday, and I noticed the year on the SMS Swap cards I made is 2008...now I need to revise those when I get home. Good thing I haven't mailed anything yet!

New mantra: The year is 2009, the year is 2009, the year is 2009. Rinse, lather, and repeat!

Confession Time

So I have a confession... I hate pom-poms. Not these pom-poms...I love those - I was a cheerleader in HS, after all. What I'm talking about are these kinds of pom-poms...you know, embellishments... Oh Fransson just posted a cute 9-patch quilt, which I love...except for the pom-poms on the top. And don't get me started on the trim...I will NEVER decorate a lampshade in a pom-pom trim...eww!

If you are a lover of poms, I apologize for this rant...to each her own, I guess!

Monday Mail Scramble

As Monday was President's Day, and a no-mail day, I knew I needed to use Monday night to get some items ready to post today.

Up first, Katie's block for Pieced Together. This free-piecing business is a little crazy...but fun! I had to add in a few little bits from my own stash, I wasn't keen on using every last bit of red Katie sent.

As you may know by now, I spend a lot of time in my car, driving to work & back. And on these drives, I think about a bunch of random things. While driving, I came up with the plan to make a similar block to each block I do for Pieced Together. So here is my version of Katie's block:

Now all this free piecing business leads to a lot of starts & stops, so you can press your seams. So I was doing a lot of the leader/ender business, including piecing the borders of Steve's Rocket Scientist whirlygiggles quilt:

Seriously, those giant rockets are fantastic!

I also put a baggie full of selvedges in the mail for Sonya in Australia. My first time mailing international, so of course I didn't realize I needed to fill out a customs form! But now I know, which is a good thing, since I will be sending some FQs to Katy in the UK, as part of Darci's FQ swap.

And speaking of FQ swaps, Sew Mama Sew hosted another FQ swap. I signed up for 2 groups, so I'm sending 8 FQs. I got my swap partners today, and will mail in a couple of days. Here's a copy of the card I'm including in each package:

I made the card in Publisher using postcards I still had from save the dates from our wedding (so they are at least 5 years old @ this point, I sent the save the dates super early).

(Top to bottom, left to right) Flutterby, AMH Good Folks, Hoffman's Mercer St., AH Spotted Owl (x2), Valerie Wells Olive Rose, Heather Ross Lightning Bugs, and AMH Good Folks again.

Brushfire Quilt Project Blocks

So when I heard Tia was going to put together some quilts for the victims of the brushfires in Australia, I signed up right away, and worked on some blocks this weekend:


Unfortunately, none of my blocks managed to finish at the requisite 12.5", so I need to add a little border to each one to get them to size up. I may fudge it a little, and just do borders on 2 sides. The blocks are supposed to be wonky stars, so I guess it's OK if they're wonky blocks all over. And yes, the top middle block has both unbleached muslin & kona white floating around the star, but I don't really care!

The Conservatory Overcoat GIVEAWAY!!!!

The Conservatory Overcoat GIVEAWAY!!!!

Le sigh...this is really wonderful!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day & Happy Birthday to me (9 days and counting)...

Steve got me a great gift (dual gifting here) - he set up my own website...er, well, our website, but now I'm going to be working on porting this blog over and hosting there.

But I have to play around with everything first!

*squeal* I'm so excited!

Walking in a Spiderweb...

...leave a message and I'll call you back...

I've been wondering about these spiderweb blocks, since that seems to be one of the new trends floating around the blogland quilters these days, including ones being done for another virtual quilting bee, Block Party. One of the peeps in Pieced Together is polling to see if we'd be interested in putting these together for her month; I decided it was time to try one out.

I wasn't overly concerned about getting this perfect (or even changing the orientation of the photo in this post - lol!). The tutorial recommends you use a glue stick to tack down the center fabric; I didn't do this, as I didn't have a glue stick (must look @ work tomorrow). So I think this led to a little bit of shifting, which is why my seams aren't quite matchy-matchy where the pieceing begins. And I didn't bother to switch to a heftier needle, which I agree would have punched the paper even more and made easier to remove. But other than, it really wasn't difficult, and I could definitely see myself doing something like this again. It probably took me an hour to do the block, but that time also included cutting the templates and running back & forth between the kitchen (where the iron lives) and the spare bedroom (where my sewing machine lives). Plus, I was trying not to disturb the homework process:

I'm going to call it a success! But now, what to do with that block??

Life Without Cable

Life without cable means more PBS, which comes in loud & clear on the HD antennae. Sunday morning, I had to scold Steve for turning off Mister Rogers.

Because, you know...it was a beautiful day in the neighborhood! And how dare he interrupt my trip down childhood-memory lane!

Anyway, so in the same vein as my last post, this is a great article about how Mister Rogers is awesome!

Muppets: Origins

This has to be the best article I've seen on CNN in a long time: Surprising stories behind 20 Muppet characters. The fact that Miss Piggy is from Iowa totally cracks me up!

DWTS: Part 7?

The lineup for Season 7(?) of Dancing with the Stars has been announced, and it looks to be an interesting mix of characters. No Cloris, but Lil Kim should shake things up. Actually, for the record, Cloris annoyed the heck out of me - I was happy to see her go!

I think it's great for a couple to be competing directly against each other - Ty Murray & Jewel. Now if only we had been spared two separate seasons of Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin...alas!

Chuck Wicks is also competing - current boyfriend to Julianne Hough, but I don't think she is going to be a pro this time around, I thought she's supposed to be promoting an upcoming country album? So I wonder who Chuck will be paired with... EDIT 2/10: I guess they will be paired together - so much for her country music!

My prediction for the contestant who needs their dancing shoes for only one week of competition: Steve Wozniak. But I hope he surprises me!

Flurry of Finishes

So after not completing ANY projects in the month of January, I'm finally on my way to getting some of these things off my plate.


First up, the B&W couch quillow. This is how it looks all pillowed-up; it's very small (11x12, I think), which makes sense, since the quilt is only a yard of fabric (approx. 36"x44"). Next time I do one of these, I think I need to attach the quillow part so that it's not perfectly flat, and allow some wiggle room to convert it into pillow. Seriously, I love the cheater cloth print - looks like I did so much work, when I really did nothing at all!

Second... I finished up the sling bags for friends Miranda & Carrie, using some of the Cotton Blossoms charms, along with some extra CB fabric I bought to coordinate. These suckers are pretty big, so they'll function quite nicely I think. Miranda's straps seem long, but she is a bit taller than me, and maybe her torso is longer than mine. I'll send Mir's with the baby quilts (more below), hopefully it works for her. I'll see Carrie in a couple of weeks; she's flying down to San Diego from Seattle for the weekend right before my birthday, so we'll head down to spend Sunday with her & boyfriend Dave (zoo or Sea World, not sure yet).

Third... I pieced most of the top for Steve's rocket scientist whirly giggles quilt. I don't know what it is, but these whirly giggles mess with my head. I used Michelle's post as a guideline, but things fell apart in my brain. First, she says that the blocks finish to 9"...so I knew I needed 4 to get the size I wanted for the wall-hanging. Except my brain forgot to factor in that I was working with 5" squares, so I wouldn't actually need very many to complete one of the blocks. I think I ended up cutting enough to make 16 blocks - plus I cut double the amount required for the lime green solid. So I have a ton of extra pieces. These pieces came in handy, because then I thought I would be OK cutting a ton of fabric @ once, with the fabric folded up, so the pieces weren't all going the same direction. So I had too many pieces, some with the whirlys going the wrong way.

Any guesses as to what's wrong with the blocks above? If so, you did better than I did when looking @ it for the first time. I didn't even realize until I came back later that I still managed to get the wrong pieces in the quilt - the bottom right corner is all messed up. But I'm not going to take that mess apart, and try to put it back together again. It will stay how it is. You know how they say the Amish intentionally put an error in each quilt to demonstrate humility and how God alone is perfect? Yep, I'm definitely humble, without even trying! I don't why this has been such a brain teaser, but it has been. I think I'll use some of the extra blocks in a pieced back. I did iron everything, so it's all ready to go.

And now for the good stuff... A quilt for Baby Leah:

Most of the pieces are Tula's full-moon forest cut into 5" squares. I mixed some things up, and there are 2 four-patch squares in there, along with 2 5" squares from the Flutterby line. I'm totally in love with this quilt top, the colors in that line play so well with each other. I know I could have done better with the layout, but I just sewed a bunch of squares together, then a bunch more to form 4-block strips before I laid them out to figure out placement. 120 squares is a lot to work with!

Steve thinks the random owl (which is from the same line) is sort of scary-looking...do you agree? I personally love it (but I'm obsessed with owls, so what do I know?)...

And finally...it's Katie's month for Pieced Together, and here are the fabrics she sent. Basically, she wants something ala-Denyse Schmidt / Project Improv. The white is not to be used in the outside of the block. The red & blue are also incorporated to make the quilt cohesive. A lot of people already have their blocks done, so I'm feeling some pressure to work on this. I think I may make a sample block from some of my scraps, just to get the feel for what I'm doing, since I've never done improvisational piecing before.

On the homefront, 2 days without cable & counting. It's been mostly OK; the rain in LA has caused the HD signal to come in a bit fuzzy at points. And I'm going to miss watching Big Love on HBO. But some oldies-but-goodies (at least, to me) got me thru my crafting weekend: Notting Hill & Moulin Rouge. Thank goodness for the portable DVD player, which I can set on the dresser in from of my sewing machine (and that little thing can pump out the sound).

Wishing it was Spring

Darci, one of my Pieced Together buddies, is hosting a fat quarter swap. Do you wanna join in? Sounds like fun to me!

Purple Rain

This is freaking awesome! I listened to Kat tell her tale last night on KROQ as I was driving home, but had to read this blog post today, along with Rolling Stone's account of the evening... How much fun would that be to party like it's 2009 with Prince @ his pad? WAY fun, my friends...WAY fun...

New cat bed?

Seriously, that cat is a minx... This is the photo Steve emailed me this morning - he must have been checking on the cats before he left, and found Radar utilizing the bottom piece of my sewing machine case as his own personal cat bed. And look how innocent that cat pretends to be...but I'm not fooled! Notice how Sylvester, who is our box-obsessed kitty, didn't deem the case bottom worthy of his box cravings; instead, he prefers the cozy fleece blanket in a patch of sun.

Disney, Super Bowl, and a Whole Bunch of Lazy

Saturday was a complete lazy day, I gotta admit. Which is fine, I had a long week. I am now the queen of 1099 forms...or at least I was for 127 of them this week. What a pain! Coupled with a lot of month-end & year-end reporting we were wrapping up from December, I probably worked more this week than I have in quite a while.

Anywho, today I got started on my Disney perpetual photo calendar. First things first - I need to make a mental note that Super Bowl Sunday isn't the best day to go to Disneyland, especially when it's 70 degrees and perfect outside. I decided we should wander California Adventure for a couple of hours today, as it is usually less busy. DCA was still pretty busy, but we first managed a short wait for Screamin' (7 minutes), so at least we got on one ride today.

The numbers I managed to find in that short 2.5-hour time frame included 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 22, 23, 24, 25, 29, and 30. 21/31 is pretty great, and I'm confident I'll find the rest in Disneyland. If anything, I can cop out on a couple of the lower numbers, as the ticket booths have numbers on the outside. I also managed to find January, February, March, May, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday (or at least a letter or abbreviation). Steve had fun watching people watching me and trying to figure out what the hell I was taking pictures of.

The Disney pictures are intentionally random, I took over 100 pictures today, some of which weren't at all related to my project, but I liked them anyway.

We went over to Shannon & Cory's to watch the game. My favorite commercial was the LMAO commercial (and boy, do I wish that could really happen, because there are some days when my A would invert, I've laughed so much...*sigh*). And if the Steelers has not managed their game-winning touchdown, and could only muster a field goal instead, I would have been $100 richer from my office pool...but alas, it was not meant to be. But I liked the purely random format of our office pool, and I hope it will be resurrected for the NCAA b-ball champ game.

TTFN as T-I-double-guh-rrrr would say! Here's hoping that I can finish my couch quillow, and the swing bags this week, along with some piecing. And I MUST go to the gym this week!

Hurry Quick - Giveaway Deadline Approaching

This giveaway has been open for a while, so hurry over & put your name in the hat. Fabric Family & Fun is celebrating 1-year in business with a great giveaway.

This is sad

Two things are sad about this picture, a screen shot of my browser with CNN open:

1. My Girl Scout Cookies will have less yummy goodness in the boxes this year.
2. LA car chase is once again a focal news story...notice how you never hear about car chases anywhere else... But it happens here quite frequently, and still manages to attract a lot of media attention.

Giveaway Time...Again...

Bitty Bits & Pieces is giving away a ton of Valentine-y 2.5" squares... I want them for this heart flag pattern I have from Nanette!

Fabric Giveaway: Anna Maria Horner from fabricworm!

The Fabric Shopper: Fabric Giveaway Anna Maria Horner from fabricworm!

I'm crushing on this new line by AMH, so I would LOVE to win these fat quarters! :)

A Follow-Up

...to my post earlier today - I downloaded some photos to share...

This is what the back of the new receiver looks like:
See, even Steve looks a little intimidated:
He got it all hooked up while I took a nap on Saturday afternoon.


This is what avoiding homework looks like tonight:

...xbox controller in hand.

And this is what my new B&W lap quillow is going to look like:

It's all quilted, I just need to put together the pillow part & attach, and then bind the quilt. But first, I need to wash the crunchy pillow/binding fabric to soften it up a little. I think this little quilt might qualify as my first stash-buster quilt - I'm using fabrics I bought with no specific purpose in mind (although I knew they would probably end up in the living room).

The front cheater cloth is this print from Marcus fabrics.

Ok, two things I need to vent about:

• I hate blogger's spacing issues in most of my posts - even if you look @ the HTML code, and that looks OK, doesn't mean it will publish OK. Maybe at some point, I can convince Steve to help me figure out how to use my own host for a Word Press blog.
• Second, I really don't understand the people who buy vowels on Wheel of Fortune when they know the puzzle. I end up yelling in frustration at the TV at least once each show for this very reason. Seriously people - $150 per vowel can knock a lot of your total!

The Curious Case of the Foxy Weekend

The working title of this post is "Did I ever tell you I was struck by lightning seven times? "

We FINALLY went to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button this weekend for date night - I've been wanting to see this for a while now. Partly because of the strangeness of the story, partly because of the Oscar buzz, and mostly because Brad Pitt is one of the guys who lives on my island (my fantasy hot guy island). Plus, I LOVE Cate Blanchett - she's such a cameleon (she sort of freaks Steve out though - he says it's the eyes, I say it's just the crazy eyes in LOTR - see below).

But whatever, I always think she is great. And designer extraordinaire Heather Bailey had mentioned the scene with the red dress, and I sort of gasped in recognition when it came on!

I really enjoyed this movie, although based on the other movies in contention for honors this awards season, I can't say I'm surprised CCoBB hasn't won a whole lot - those awards tend to go to the movies without the large-scale mass appeal (except for Titanic & LOTR: Return of the King).

We also helped Circuit City liquidate some inventory this weekend. Steve bought a new receiver in anticipation of receiving his bonus from work at the end of this week. And I decided we should get a really inexpensive 19" LCD TV with HD Tuner. We're in the process of getting rid of our cable TV, and just watching network TV via HD antennae streaming from the desktop. The bedroom TV was originally going to be left out of this plan, since we had a small 13" one we bought with wedding gift money 4 years ago that had no such HD tuner. But now, this problem is going to be rectified with the additional purchase of another $40 HD antennae. I think we'll end up saving almost $1000 per year without cable, so we make up the cost of all these purchases in a very short amount of time. I hope I survive - I don't think I've EVER not had cable, so this will be tough on me. But we mostly watch the major networks, and we'll still be able to get those, so I think I'll be OK. Plus, the xbox interface with Netflix is amazing, so I can always find something to watch in my queue there.

On the crafty front, I have half of a new quilt quilted (wow, that seems poorly worded - "have half" and "quilt quilted"). I figured I better run with my mojo while it's still around. But...that doesn't mean I actually pieced together a new top...I took a cute yard of cheater cloth fabric I got a while back (and I can't remember what it is @ the moment, I need to look @ the selvedge again - but I definitely saw it in the newest Hancocks Paducah catalog) and used a white/black yard of Deb Strain's Daydream fabric for the backing. I'm going to practice making a quillow for our living room, in prep for the baby girlie quilts that are ready to be pieced.

Ok, time to go back to work - boo hoo me!

133

I saw this over at Nothin’ But Nett and thought, why not give it a go. (and copy most of her post -hehe).

SUPPOSEDLY if you’ve seen over 85 of these films, you have no life. Well, I just happen to love movies...and books...and blogs...and crafts...so yeah, I suppose I don't have a life. There are 239 films on this list. Copy this list, go to your own blog, paste this. Then, put x’s next to the films you’ve seen, add them up, change the header adding your number. My little addition to this list is to add another x if you own the movie. Have fun.

(x) Rocky Horror Picture Show

(x) Grease

(xx) Pirates of the Caribbean

(xx) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest

( ) Boondock Saints

( ) Fight Club

(x) Starsky and Hutch

(x) Neverending Story

(xx) Blazing Saddles

(x) Airplane

Total: 8, 3 owned

(xx) The Princess Bride

(x) Anchorman

(xx) Napoleon Dynamite

(x) Labyrinth

( ) Saw

( ) Saw II

( ) White Noise

( ) White Oleander

(x) Anger Management

(x) 50 First Dates

(xx) The Princess Diaries

(x) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement

Total so far: 16, 6 owned

(x) Scream

(x) Scream 2

(x) Scream 3

(x) Scary Movie

(x) Scary Movie 2

( ) Scary Movie 3

( ) Scary Movie 4

(x) American Pie

(x) American Pie 2

(x) American Wedding

( ) American Pie Band Camp

Total so far: 24, 6 owned

(xx) Harry Potter 1

(xx) Harry Potter 2

(xx) Harry Potter 3

(xx) Harry Potter 4

( ) Resident Evil 1

( ) Resident Evil 2

(xx) The Wedding Singer

( ) Little Black Book

(xx) The Village

(xx) Lilo & Stitch

Total so far: 31, 13 owned

(xx) Finding Nemo

(xx) Finding Neverland

(xx) Signs

(x) The Grinch

( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre

( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning

( ) White Chicks

( ) Butterfly Effect

(x) 13 Going on 30

(x) I, Robot

(x) Robots

Total so far: 38, 16 owned

(xx) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story

( ) Universal Soldier

(x) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events

(x) Along Came Polly

( ) Deep Impact

(x) KingPin

(x) Never Been Kissed

(xx) Meet The Parents

(xx) Meet the Fockers

( ) Eight Crazy Nights

(x) Joe Dirt

( ) KING KONG (The Original)

Total so far: 46, 19 owned

(x) A Cinderella Story

(x) The Terminal

( ) The Lizzie McGuire Movie

( ) Passport to Paris

(x) Dumb & Dumber

( ) Dumber & Dumberer

(x) Final Destination

(x) Final Destination 2

(x) Final Destination 3

( ) Halloween

( ) The Ring

( ) The Ring 2

( ) Surviving X-MAS

( ) Flubber [the original]

Total so far: 52, 19 owned

(x) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle

(x) Practical Magic

(xx) Chicago

( ) Ghost Ship

( ) From Hell

( ) Hellboy

( ) Secret Window

(x) I Am Sam

(x) The Whole Nine Yards

(x) The Whole Ten Yards

Total so far: 58, 20 owned

( ) The Day After Tomorrow

( ) Child’s Play

( ) Seed of Chucky

( ) Bride of Chucky

(x) Ten Things I Hate About You

(x) Just Married

( ) Gothika

( ) Nightmare on Elm Street

(x) Sixteen Candles

(x) Remember the Titans

(x) Coach Carter

( ) The Grudge

( ) The Grudge 2

(x) The Mask

(x) Son Of The Mask

total so far: 65, 20 owned

(x) Bad Boys

(xx) Bad Boys 2

( ) Joy Ride

( ) Lucky Number Slevin

(xx) Ocean’s Eleven

(xx) Ocean’s Twelve

(x) Bourne Identity

( ) Bourne Supremecy

( ) Lone Star

( ) Bedazzled

( ) Predator

( ) Predator II

(x) The Fog

(xx) Ice Age

(xx) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown

(x) Curious George

Total so far: 74, 25 owned

(xx) Independence Day

( ) Cujo

( ) A Bronx Tale

( ) Darkness Falls

( ) Christine

(x) ET

( ) Children of the Corn

( ) My Bosses Daughter

(x) Maid in Manhattan

(x) War of the Worlds

(x) Rush Hour

(xx) Rush Hour 2

Total so far: 80, 27 owned

( ) Best Bet

(xx) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days

(x) She’s All That

(x) Calendar Girls

(x) Sideways

( ) Mars Attacks

( ) Event Horizon

(x) Ever After

(x) Wizard of Oz

(x) Forrest Gump

( ) Big Trouble in Little China

(x) The Terminator

( ) The Terminator 2

( ) The Terminator 3

Total so far: 88, 28 owned

(x) X-Men

(x) X-2

(x) X-3

(x) Spider-Man

(x) Spider-Man 2

(x) Sky High

(x) Jeepers Creepers

( ) Jeepers Creepers 2

(x) Catch Me If You Can

(xx) The Little Mermaid

(x) Freaky Friday (the original)

( ) Reign of Fire

(x) The Skulls

(x) Cruel Intentions

(x) Cruel Intentions 2

( ) The Hot Chick

(xx) Shrek

(xx) Shrek 2

Total so far: 103, 31 owned

( ) Swimfan

(x) Miracle on 34th street

( ) Old School

(x) The Notebook

( ) K-Pax

( ) Krippendorf’s Tribe

(xx) A Walk to Remember

( ) Ice Castles

( ) Boogeyman

(x) The 40-year-old Virgin

Total so far: 107, 32 owned

(xx) Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring

(xx) Lord of the Rings The Two Towers

(xx) Lord of the Rings Return Of the King

(x) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark

(x) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

(x) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Total so far: 113, 35 owned

(x) Baseketball

( ) Hostel

(x) Waiting for Guffman

( ) House of 1000 Corpses

( ) Devils Rejects

(xx) Elf

( ) Highlander

( ) Mothman Prophecies

( ) American History X

( ) Three

Total so Far: 116, 36 owned

( ) The Jacket

( ) Kung *** Hustle

( ) Shaolin Soccer

( ) Night Watch

(xx) Monsters Inc.

(x) Titanic

(xx) Monty Python and the Holy Grail

( ) Shaun Of the Dead

( ) Willa74

Total so far: 119, 38 owned

( ) High Tension (Haute Tension)

( ) Club Dread

( ) Hulk

( ) Dawn Of the Dead

(x) Hook

(x) Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe

(x) 28 days later

( ) Orgazmo

( ) Phantasm

( ) Waterworld

Total so far: 122, 38 owned

(x) Kill Bill vol 1

(x) Kill Bill vol 2

( ) Mortal Kombat

( ) Wolf Creek

( ) Kingdom of Heaven

( ) the Hills Have Eyes

( ) I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman

( ) The Last House on the Left

( ) Re-Animator

( ) Army of Darkness

Total so far: 124, 38 owned

(x) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace

(x) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones

(x) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith

(xx) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope

(xx) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back

(xx) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi

( ) Ewoks Caravan Of Courage

( ) Ewoks The Battle For Endor

Total so far: 130, 41 owned

(xx) The Matrix

(xx) The Matrix Reloaded

(xx) The Matrix Revolutions

( ) Animatrix

( ) Evil Dead

( ) Evil Dead 2

( ) Team America: World Police

( ) Red Dragon

( ) Silence of the Lambs

( ) Hannibal

Total: 133, 44 owned

That's a TON of movies. There are so many not on the list - like the 3rd of the three-quels (Ocean's 13, Shrek the 3rd). And a bunch more that I own that I feel are fairly mainstream. And why don't I own some of these movies? Like 10 Things I Hate About You - for me, that's when Heath first popped up on then-teenager radar. *sigh* And I LOVE 16 Candles - why don't I own that so I can watch anytime my heart desires cheesy 80s movies?? And we should just buckle down & get the newer Star Wars movies.

Ok, enough for now :) Your turn!

Sorry - Couldn't Resist!

Little known fact about me: my friend Meryt totally got me (and Steve, actually) hooked on a funny little comic strip known as Get Fuzzy. I have an intense appreciation for the stereotypical cat/dog roles portrayed in the strip - because it's funny!

One of the best quotes EVER came from Bucky Katt:

"You can wordify anything if you verb it."

So every year, after Christmas is over, I head to the calendar shop at whatever mall happens to be closest (always in Nebraska - we're there for the holidays), and I buy a Get Fuzzy 365-day calendar at the 50% off post-holiday price.

This year, I was especially excited because I finally have a desk to call my own, and get to look at the comics in all their glorious color each and every weekday morning...I usually read ahead on Friday for the Saturday & Sunday strips.

I had to laugh at today's strip... I used the copy machine to send myself a PDF, then I used the print screen to copy/paste into Powerpoint, then saved as a JPG, just so I could share with you:

*giggles* This is why I think yoga classes will never be an option for me!

Cute Quilty Font

...can be found here. :)

It's Baaacccckkkk!

My quilting mojo, that is...

Well, at least for these 11" squares, I was able to stipple without too many hang-ups. No weird tension/thread issues, skipping stitches, etc. I still have a tendency toward the tiny stitches, but as long as I remember to slow it down a bit, it seems to work OK.

*sighing with relief*

These blocks are destined to become a cute little sling bag...but whether I decide to make one or two bags is up in the air at this point.

Oh! And the answer to the question from the other day? What do rockets, owls, and mermaids all have in common?? They are all fabrics that I couldn't refuse from Fabricworm. I love ordering from Cynthia, because she's also in Cali, so I get my fabric next day. :) The rocket scientist fabric is going to become a wall-hanging (using Whirly giggles, perhaps?) for Steve's office, as he is truly a rocket scientist (aka - aerospace engineer). He told me that he thought that was a good idea - he can tell people his wife made it. I like that idea too!

And one more thing...Happy Inauguration Day!

Guess What??

In August, Steve is going on a crazy backpacking trip along the Chilkoot Trail. And because, I think it's entirely unfair that Steve would visit Alaska while I stayed here & worked...I'm going to be joining him up in Alaska after his hike, and we're taking a 7-day cruise from Anchorage to Vancouver. Our friends Will & Karla are also on board (hehe, I'm so punny!).

I'M SO EXCITED!!

Fiberfill?

Does anyone have any strong opinions on fiberfill? I need to re-stuff Shep, the doggy I got from my Grandma, whom Patches is somewhat modeled after.

I'm not wanting to use the cheapo poly-fill stuff you buy @ Joanns - I was going to try to buy something from a natural fiber... But I'm not sure of a great source to find cotton/wool fiberfill...

Me + Rotary Cutter = Hot Date Sunday

The rotary cutter & I had a hot date with each other yesterday:

Yep, that's 99 5" squares, 99 5.5" squares, and 99 66 8.5" squares. And as I'm typing this, I'm realizing I didn't cut enough of the smaller squares. A problem I think I can correct...I kept aside 3 fat quarters, so I think I can cut into some of those...plus I know I have too many of the 8.5" squares, so I'll cut those down too... The fabric line is Tula's Full Moon Forest...barely over a year old, but I had to find the FQ set on ebay and put together a pathetic presentation to Steve before I could bid on it. I sort of didn't know what I would use it for, but 3 quilts for my fav girly babes will be the result.


Plus, I finished cutting pretty much all of my pieces (backing & binding need to be cut and pieced) for the giganto Flutterby quilt. (I do love me some Tula Pink).

I'm still in the middle of ironing & cutting the strips I had sewed together to make 4-patches. I really dislike ironing...my least favorite part of the process.

Anyway, here's my dilemma... This is the original design I had planned out for the Flutterby quilt:

Which looks sort of like this when it gets laid out:

The white squares in the pattern translate into the nearly solid teal pieces.

BUT...is the inverse of the layout better???

What do you think? The original...or the revision??

On a side note, we went hiking with Sammy yesterday morning, and were accosted by 3 dogs off their leash...with an oblivious owner not aware her dogs were harassing poor Sammy. So Sammy, being the stinker he is, gave one of the dogs a kick to the chest when the dog got all up in his business. The movement was so subtle, I didn't realize he had done it until I heard the dog yelp behind me. And still, clueless owner didn't attempt to reign in the dogs. That situation made me nervous!

Hot Butter Giveaway

Hot Butter is doing a lil pouch giveaway. I like the gun with the heart bullets...and I'm not entirely sure why it appeals to me. Of course, I also like the cat pouch!

Pieced Together

So...a little crazy, yes...but I decided to join a virtual quilting bee (VQB). For those who don't know what that is...each person gets a month, sends out fabrics and instructions to the other participants, and gets back a quilt block from each participant. In turn, you prepare a block for each participant with the fabrics they send out. I think I can handle 1 or 2 blocks a month for the others. From what I've seen online, people are generally slightly delinquent in their VQBs, and no one seems too riled up about that.

There are 19 participants in the Pieced Together bee, so some months are doubled. Starts in February, so I'm excited! I get June (all to myself)...and think I already have an idea of what I'm going to do. Zippity Doo Dah! Fabric will probably be a birthday present to myself.

PS - What do rockets, owls, and mermaids all have in common?? Answer is forthcoming!

Andalucia Giveaway

Calling all giveaway fiends! Jane is giving away some Andalucia fat quarters. Head on over. :)

Photo Booths!

I am always on the lookout for places that have REAL photobooths, not those stupid pretend photobooths that give you an inkjet printout on computer paper. I found one on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls in 2006 (which wasn't very good)...and then was able to take this one last summer @ the Orange County Fair:
And now...I've found photobooth.net, which lists locations of real photo booths! Yippee! Notice that the OC Fair & Canadian Niagara Falls locations are listed ;)

The Lunch Date Blouse GIVEAWAY!!!!

The Lunch Date Blouse GIVEAWAY!!!!

Normally giveaways of the cutest little girls clothes, but this time it's big girl clothes!

Winter Wonderland

What you need: an iPod and a blog.



What you do:


1. Put your iTunes on shuffle.

2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.

3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS! (see? it’s such an important rule that the first person to post this needed to yell it.)

4. Make a fun/silly/witty comment on your answer. (Or, just write the song name and leave your readers wondering)





The questions (and answers):

* What is your motto? When Can I See You (Babyface)
I'm already amused by this survey thingy


* What do your friends think of you? Girl Like That (Matchbox 20)


* What do you think about very often? America Town (Five for Fighting)
Ok, bunch of songs no one has heard in a while...


* What is 2+2? I Walk Alone (Oleander)
so sad!!


* What do you think of your best friend? Faith (Limp Bizkit)
didn't know Limp Bizkit did a cover of this song...


* What is your life story? Count On Me (Jefferson Starship)

this is pretty good!

* What do you want to be when you grow up? Hanging by a Moment (Lifehouse)


* What do your parents think of you? Everybody Wants Some (Van Halen)
I don't know if this is so so wrong...or not...


* What will they play at your funeral? Sunset Strip Bitch (Eve 6)
lol...lol...lol...


* What is your hobby/interest? I Want Out (Pat Benatar)
just roll with it...


* What is your biggest secret? Addicted (Lit)
still laughing...


* What do you think of your friends? Babylon Feeling
lame...the lols are gone


* What’s the worst thing that could happen? Running Knees (Days of the New)
see...I knew running was bad for me! :-D


* What makes you laugh? Cupid (Jack Johnson)


* What makes you cry? Lord Have Mercy On a Country Boy (Don Williams)
errr....


* What scares you the most? So Right (Dave Matthews Band)
that's what I used to think about Steve - scared cuz he was so right for me...but I gave in!


* If you could go back in time, what would you change? Keep Ya Head Up (2Pac)
holy moly, high school throw back

* Now for the title of this blog entry… Winter Wonderland (Sammy Kershaw)
I knew this post was severly lacking in Christmas music...and some country

New Project

This is going to be my new project. :) And based on my past Mouse Adventure experiences, I bet I can compile photos from Disneyland to complete the whole calendar. :)

Fall 2008 MA Team - Cory, Shannon, Michelle, Steve

Vacation hangover...

...12 days in Nebraska has done that to me. We got back Monday night, and did manage to unpack pretty much everything (I'm delinquent on putting away some clothes). We grabbed a couple days of necessities @ the grocery store, but that was it. The dishwasher still needs to be unloaded, the laundry washed, and the apartment vacuumed (how is it possible that 2 cats create more mess in 2 weeks by themselves versus 2 cats + 2 humans in 2 weeks??).

And of course, work yesterday was sort of killer, so I passed out early last night. Hopefully tonight will be better and I will vacuum and maybe Wii Fit?? I dunno.

I do have a few photos to share...provided I get off my duff and download them from my camera. But in the meantime, here is a funny one for you:

This one is from September 2008, when I went back for my friend Abbie's wedding. This one ranks right up there with the redneck cat carrier. Only in Nebraska can you drive down the road and see a pathetic-looking cow being hauled in the back of a pickup truck! Never seen this before in my 26 years... See what I'm missing here in LA??