Cotton Spice Blog

Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday… Happy Birthday to You!!!!!! …ahem… cough… sputter…. ahem…. ok, I’m fine now.

You really can’t tell me you feel better now that I’ve sung in public!?!?!?!??!

Nonetheless…. Happy Birthday! Love mom

I love to watch it snow. I don’t care too much about how much stays on the ground, I just like to look out the window and see it snowing. And this time it IS snow… not ice. Phew!

I’m feverishly working on the February Newsletter, hoping like crazy to actually get it up on the site ON the 1st. That’d be a new one.

Tomorrow, another quilt picture and it’s story! Karen

This was one of the most popular pictures in the December issue. Not only is the quilt beautiful (if I do say so myself) but the model is beautiful as well. I’ve received many comments about her… “Who is she?” and “She’s so pretty!”

Well, her name is Nicole and she is Shannon’s best friend. She lives in Washington with her husband and 3 children. She has boundless energy and a zest for life that shows in her eyes when she smiles.

When Shannon moved to Washington, we were excited about the new photographic opportunities. (See the September issue for some beautiful quilts photographed on Orcas Island, WA) But Seattle, WA has experienced quite the weather this year! More rain than ever, more snow than in many, many years. And taking pictures of quilts in the soggy outdoors proved difficult at best. And eventually proved to be impossible.

So, indoors we came! Photographing indoors is a different game. It requires light in the right amounts, and the right levels, and reflectors and backgrounds and all kinds of techno-gadgets. None of which we had.

But window light at Just the right time of day, and a lovely model and the picture was taken. Where there is a will, there is a way. It was also August! Shannon had to get out the artificial tree and string it with lights, and put it on the deck where it could be seen. Hang the Christmas wreath, and put up some red curtains. Nicole had to put a warm sweater on, and a quilt over her and hold what we hoped looked like a cup of hot chocolate, yes, all in August!

But, Shannon wanted it to look like Christmas, and she did! You’d never know it wasn’t Christmas, you’d never realize it was a hot August day out that window.

Kudos to Shannon and Nicole, for their ingenuity and hard work!
More Quilt Picture Stories to come!

More to come!

Judy did the machine quilting on one of the quilts for the March issue. I have to tell you, it is GORGEOUS!!!! She took a picture of the back of it and has it on her blog. Check it out, and be sure to click on the picture so you get the close up.

Well, it’s gone somewhere and although I did get work done, and some dinners cooked and some laundry done, I’m not at all sure where all the time has gone.

Is there anything newsworthy? Not really, but these are the things that are newsworthy to me!

The ice is melting. We are beginning to see grass and sidewalk!

Today, I have sewing planned. I did, some time ago, get a pants pattern and adjust it to fit ME, which was quite an accomplishment. I made a muslin to make sure it fit. But I’ve never gotten around to making the PANTS!!! and I have some gorgeous brown sateen twill to make them. Maybe today it will happen.

I did finish the blue socks. They are quite large. Something tells me my gauge was off.

And no, the toes are not done. I’m very intimidated by the kitchener stitch.

So, I decided to start another pair of socks this morning. I have some beautiful hand dyed sock yarn I got from Emily  When she lists new yarn for sale, you’ve got to buy it right then. It doesn’t stay around long.

This yarn is called Rustic Cabin. I needed size 3 DPN, which I didn’t have. I got some at Hobby Lobby, but they are aluminum and I don’t care for them very much. I love bamboo needles and have gotten used to them. But I do have a sock in the making and I can switch to bamboo later.

I figured I’d start the sock while watching The Break-Up. It’s ok… not one I’d say is “Really good”. It’s sad. But pretty typical of relationships, mine excluded.
So, back to redsocks… and then on to brownpants.

karen

Whatever that is, but in our case it means - The kids went back to school! And after a weekend off, I’m back to work today. And, the weather is becoming tolerable, the ice is melting and the roads are becoming drivable.

Saturday, I needed to do some errands. We haven’t had a chance to get the car repaired yet, so we have a clear plastic drop cloth covering the back window. It’s held in by the 2 back doors and the trunk lid. Seems quite secure, huh? Yes, as long as you don’t go any faster than 20 mph. I made the mistake of getting up to 30, on my way to 35, when the plastic ripped out of one door and the trunk. So, I’m driving down the road - a main road - with the plastic flapping behind me, quite cold air coming in the back window, and not a place to be found where I could pull over and fix it.

So, I put on my ‘this is the way I usually drive’ face and ignored the looks from all who passed me.

Where did I have to go that was so important? Bed, Bath and Beyond. Blockbuster. The quilt store.

I got these plastic boxes to hold WIP’s. Very organized eh? And only 1.99 each. I planned to buy 10, but that left one lonely box on the shelf, so I bought 11. Didn’t want to leave behind a brother or sister.

Had to rent this movie, which started a whole new chain of events - My DVD player hasn’t been working. Mike thought he’d fixed it, but as soon as I put the disk in, it shut down. So, after many false starts, we threw it away and went and bought a new DVD player. Many wires and cables later, I sat down with my knitting and watched the movie. Which was very good BTW.

And the quilt store - well, I can’t show you pictures of what I got there - 2 of my designs that will be in the March issue. Brenda finished them and was finally able to open her store after 5 days of no electricity.

Today… all work and no play. It’s nice to take a weekend off, but now it’s back to work - very focused, organized work. After I find my list…

Karen

and ice is melting. And Crashing! As the ice melts it slides off the roof, and the trees and the cars, and lands on things below it - crashing. Making loud noises that make me wonder if someone is hitting our house, or breaking in (loudly) or maybe our house is breaking! Yikes!

It’s definitely not a day to walk under trees.

Karen

I’ve added 2 new files to the Tutorial page -

How To Do Set In Seams and How To Block a Block

Enjoy! Karen

and more snow expected Sunday. Well, I guess it is winter!

American Idol - hereafter referred to as AI - has been pretty good. The talent is abysmal,  with the noted exception of the brother and sister last night, I can’t remember their names or how to spell them. Their family is from India. She was very pretty, and had a wonderful voice. So far, she’s really the only one to WOW me.

Other than that, (and some others were very nice too) the choices were - hmmm, how do I say this? Well, I’ll just say there were no choices. Do people actually look at themselves, ever? Do they listen to themselves?

If you were going on an audition - of ANY kind - wouldn’t you want to put your best foot forward? Look your best - do your hair, wear a proper color lipstick, and wear appropriate undergarments. I certainly would. I know for a fact I can’t sing, so I don’t audition for AI. But I think it would be fun to watch AI with Stacy and Clinton! There were times when all I could say is, “oh my” and no other words came to my mind. Just “oh my”.

My new printer finally arrived. After much research on Mikes part, we settled on this hardcore printer

(and you can see my little Alaskan boys tacked to my shelf) It has 2 paper trays, a duplexer and lots of other bells and whistles I haven’t explored yet. I’m not sure I’m smart enough for it - it took us about 20 minutes to figure out how to get the ink cartridges installed. sigh… And then once you figure it out, you feel so stupid.

The magazine is coming along nicely. We’re right on target for our February first week deadline. We’re doing lots of work on the website - expanding the yoyo block library, and we’ll have a special treat for subscribers only here just about any day! I can’t wait!

Karen

you expect a post? I have to get ready for Americal Idol! You sillies….