You Go Girl!

Pillow Talk...

Remember this little patchwork project I told you about? As Carolina pointed out: It's a bit on the small side if it's a really cold night. She cracks me up. She is right, though. It would be a small quilt for a cold night unless you were a squirrel. But guess what? I'm not a squirrel and this is not a quilt for the Nutkin family. No, it's not a quilt at all. Instead, it's a patchwork pillow. See...

I discovered another bit o' magic when I put this pillow together...the invisible zipper foot. Bernina magic. There is no other way to describe it. You simply line up the zipper teeth in the groove on the foot, push the power pedal, sit back, and let the feed dogs and the foot do the work. Voila. A perfectly stitched zipper. Magical.

Fabulous Felt...

Hello friends. Just a quick post to say hi. I hope your Christmas happenings are merry. I am smitten with felt and ornament making right now. I promise I will show more of these felt friends later. I might even write a tute.  I love them that much.

Feeling warm and fuzzy~

Cassie 

Hip to be Square...

Hello. Did you all get your fill of turkey and pie? I did. In fact, I had pie twice on Thanksgiving. Once at grandma's and once at my sister's. Don't tell any one. I don't want people to think I'm a pig. But any day that you have pie twice is a good day, no?

On the crafty front, I have been feeling kind of square lately. I am working on my first true patchwork project. The rules are simple:

1) All the fabric for the project has to come from my stash.

2) The fabric has to be cut into squares.

I used this doodle as the inspiration for my fabrics. Once I picked the fabrics, I cut them in to two-and-one-half-inch squares, arranged the squares in a pleasing-to-me fashion, stitched and quilted. I think I would have a love/hate relationship with patchwork and quilting if I decided to jump in with both feet. I love picking the fabrics, arranging them, and stitching them together. I hate do not love cutting all the squares or the straight-line quilting. I was wishing someone would poke me in the eye when I quilted this little piece. I was THAT bored. I tip my hat to those of you who quilt gigantar patchwork masterpieces. Did I mention that my little patchwork project is only 16 inches square? I didn't, did I? I guess the cat is out of the bag. Now you all know that I have the attention span of a flea and the persistence of a circus monkey. 

Well, I'm off to find something shiny that will capture my attention and amuse me for a moment. :-)

Take care,

Cassie

PS-- I would never put a cat in a bag for real. I used to dress my cat in doll clothes when I was a girl, but I never put her in a bag. That is soooo wrong.

Keepin' My Head Above Water

I had a comment on my last post that just cracked me up. Go ahead. Read it...

Sue said:

Okay so you posted this on October 18th and now it is October 26 does that mean you went into your room and haven't made anything yet so you can't come out?

No. As delightful as a week two weeks stuck in my sewing studio sounds, it didn't happen. I did go in and make something like I said I would. See...

I made this little felt pin cushion, but it didn't take two weeks, only an afternoon. I've also hemmed four pair of pants and painted the shelves for Hailey's room. Now I'm itching to make the patchwork pillow that danced through my dreams last night. I think I will cut the fabric this afternoon. 

We have been very busy with life in the land of You Go Girl. Dance and volleyball. Piano lessons and homework. Choir concerts and jazz band rehearsals. Birthdays and holidays. Work and play. Life...it's kind of like a river. If you don't jump in, it will pass you by. I think I am in up to my chin. Sometimes the current feels swift, but I'm keepin' my head above water and enjoying the ride. I hope you can say the same.

Happy day,

Cassie

Crocheting and Doodling...

Thanks so much for all the crochet love. I have TWO pillowcases completed and can't wait to start another one.  I'm not sure what I am going to do with these pillowcases, but for now I am content to look at them. Many of you asked for the low-down on how to put the crochet edging on the cases. I am giving some thought to a little pillowcase-crochet-along.  I even have a sidebar button made for the event! Thimbleanna and Brigette are spurring me on.  I want to make sure that Beata doesn't mind first, though. I openly admit to being a copycat of her lovely lovelies. My fingers are crossed that all will work out.  Stay tuned...

On a different note, spring can come any time now.  The winter doodle is done.

 

I couldn't resist adding a little bit of spring around the outer edge.  It was either that or big blobs of dirty slush. What can I say?  I try to embrace winter, but I think it sucks am fueled by sunshine.  I can't wait for the sun to return. Oh, Mr. Sunshine, how I love you! Please come back and restore my good humor because I am tempted to use words like 'suck' (gasp!) when you are away.

I hope the sun is shining in your corner of the world.

Take care...

Winter Doodle...

 

I've been working on this doodle stitch every now and again the past couple of weeks. I'm usually all about bright colors, sunshine, flowers, and flying bugs. But this time I wanted to stitch something that symbolized winter and the beauty that is found there. Is that an oxymoron? Winter and beauty.  I struggle to find a relationship between the two, but I am trying. Anyway, this winter color palette is really stretching me. It seems I've spent just as much time, if not more, ripping out stitches than I have spent stitching them in. Who's idea was this anyway? Just kidding.  It's all good. 

Edit:  Just to clarify...This little doodle isn't done yet.  See the center.  It's full of pick-out stitches that need to be replaced.  I also need to think of something else to put in there that will set this doodle on fire.  Not literally...that wouldn't do at all.

Fabbity-Fab-Fab Felt Flowers

Fabitty-fab-fab fast felt flower fun!  Say that ten times fast.  Your tongue will be tied in knots.

 

The triplets were looking for the perfect accessory to adorn their apparel for a piano recital they played in on Friday.  Instead of making a trip to Claire's House of Crap (that's what Mr. Handsome calls it anyway), I decided to do a whip-up. Enter the felt flower pin.  These little flowers packs tons of crafty fun and eye candy in a quick and easy project.  Wanna see them up close?  Please hold your applause until the end. LOL!

Introducing....

 Ms. Rosie Posie,

 

Lady in Red,

 

 and, last but not least, Madame Azul.

 

I'm not even kidding.  It only took about 45 minutes to make ALL three of these.  That's a serious power-craft in my mind.  Tutorial anyone?

Happy Day,

Cassie

PS--The winner of the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway was Kathleen.  She left comment number 271.  Thanks for playing. I had 427 comments. WOW!

Doodle Stitching + Cosmo = True Love Forever

No. Cosmo is not a handsome manservant who sits by my feet to do my bidding while I doodle stitch. Cosmo is 100% cotton Japanese embroidery floss. Ms. B as in THE BOMB, my blog friend who wishes to remain anonymous, sent me this amazing pile of Cosmo embroidery floss. I've never stitched with anything but DMC. I was giddy to try it out.  Here's the doodle that whipped off my needle.

On this little slice of fall, I used a combination of DMC and my new amazing Cosmo floss. Here's my assessment of the two. The Cosmo floss is as slick as snot smooth as silk gliding through the fabric. The DMC feels like you're pulling a shoe lace through compared to the Cosmo. Ms. B as in THE BOMB, you have spoiled me forever. You really are the bomb.

Now what am I going to do with all this DMC? 

Oh. Yes. Of course. I will use it until it is gone. But when I have to replace a color, it will be Cosmo all the way.  I wonder if the girls would like to make some embroidery floss friendship bracelets? I have guarded this stash from their floss-happy hands for so long that they'll think I've gone positively mad. They'll probably ask if they can use my fabric scissors to cut paper just to see if I still have my wits about me. They will find out that I do, and then I will seem like the best mom in the world. But really I have an ulterior motive. Use. Up. The. Floss. Is that wrong?

A Pearl of Junior High Wisdom for You...

Winners never quit!  Quitters never win! 

My junior high p.e. teacher, Mrs. Souhrada, used to enthusiastically cheer us on with these words as we doggedly ran lap after lap after lap around the gym. I like running now. In seventh grade...not so much. Who wants to have flushed cheeks and bad hair from third period on? Tell me this. 

Well, Mrs. S' words were ringing in my ears as I stitched this little doodle. Several times I wanted to scrap this project. I wasn't in love with the color palette. The stitches weren't coming easy. I couldn't decide what to put where. Short story long--I lost my doodle mojo. But, in the end, I persevered. I am not a quitter! I'm a winner. I am you guys. You gotta believe me. LOL! I'm not sure where this doodle will end up; it must be destined for something great. 

Now that the doodle is done, I'm going to start sewing some lunch boxes for the girls. The second week of school ends today. My girls have taken their lunches to school in brown paper lunch bags every day so far. (Gasp!) This is wrong on so many levels. It's wasteful. It's definitely not green. And, most concerning...it's ugly. There is just no excuse for ugly. 

I guess that is all for now.  I'm off to beautify the world of cold lunch (insert trumpet fanfare here). 

Later,

Cassie

About a Bear

Bear Sighting--We thought we were pulling in to a turn-out for a second look at a moose we'd seen earlier.  As luck would have it, we were pulling in to see a GRIZZLY.  Here he is.  Isn't he a beauty? (It might be a she.  I wasn't going to get close enough to peek. LOL!)

I've been to Yellowstone many times. This is only my second up-close look at a Grizzly Bear.  It really was a treat to see this big bear.  His location couldn't have been any better.  He was only about 30 yards away, but there was a wide swift-moving river between the two of us.  I felt completely safe. Plus, I knew I could run a lot faster than most of the other people that stopped to look at him. I think there's a saying that goes something like this--I don't have to run faster than the Grizzly Bear.  I just have to run faster than you!  Ha-Ha!

Black Bear Facts and a Question--A Black Bear can be brown.  A Black Bear can be blond.  A Black Bear can be cinnamon.  And, yes, a Black Bear can be black.  So if it can be all those different colors, why is it called a Black Bear?  It causes a lot of confusion. When a group of people gather to look at a bear, you often hear a conversation like this:

Frank:  Oh, look Marge, a Black Bear.

Marge:  That's not a black bear, Frank. That's a brown bear.

Frank:  Yes, but it's still a Black Bear. It's just brown in color.

Marge:  Oh, whatever.  Looks like a brown bear to me.

Well, it is a brown bear.  It's a brown Black Bear.  Brown Black Bear. Blond Black Bear. Isn't that a contradiction in terms or something?

This blond Black Bear was sitting on a ginormous ant pile right beside the road.  

He would scoop up a pile of ants and put them in his mouth.  

Then he would rub his face with his paws to get the ants that had escaped his mouth off of his nose. It was very funny to watch.

Bear-ly Had Time To Doodle Stitch-- Or, would that be barely had time to stitch? I usually do a lot more doodle stitching in the car. We were so busy spotting things that I didn't stitch much this time. This is all the stitching I did...

When I finish this, I plan to pair this doodle with some red Full Moon Polkies.  I think the two will look very bear-y smashing together.  I know.  Lame.  I should probably go now.

Until next time,

Cassie