Cotton Spice Blog

Tammy blogged about her experience here but now it’s time to tell my side of the story.

In our correspondance with Pat Sloan - she is a donating the Grand Prize for the Oct Quilt Dash, a package of her designs, fabrics, books etc etc worth $100 - she mentioned a little mouse problem. Well, who hasn’t had a mouse problem now and then? We all have!

Tammy decided to make her a Mouse Solution basket full of goodies to help out her desparate situation and asked if I had anything to put in it.

I’m sure I”ve showed you this picture before….

it was while were still in the house on Grand, we had a mouse and that little sucker simply refused to be caught!!! We (me and Shannon) saw it run into my shoe! So, we gingerly slipped a glue trap in the shoe and then just to make sure we were fully protected from the rogue mouse we brought out the lion, alligator and two dinosauers. And then Spiderman, you know… just in case.

So, I told the story to Tammy and sent her the picture. She printed out the picture and tied it to a dinosauer, and included it in the basket.

I snagged this picture from Tammy’s blog to show you, kind of wrapping up my story. Here is Pat, with the dino and pic! She’s all set for Mouse War now!!!

Nothing exciting today, just some random things - We got gas in the car this morning… 1.99 a gallon! Wow… Mike said, “It’d be nice if we could put it on cereal.”

We got our first frost this morning. Had to scrape the car windows (we have a street car, not a garage car) and remembered how much we hate that. Technically, Mike scraped the windows, but I commiserated with him.

Miss Riah’s first birthday party was Sunday afternoon. I made her some clothes, and then we also purchased some pieces to go with…

We got her a little black hoodie to go with this one.

We got a white turtleneck, long sleeved onesie to go with this dress.

And this one - Mike took the zipper pull off and I made 2 pink pom poms for a pull. We got a white shirt and a pink shirt, and pair of khaki’s to go with this. It’s really warm, fully lined with the pink fuzzy fabric.

I also made a label to sew into the clothes, it said, miss riah. She has her own line! I used this tutorial to make the labels.  Forgot to take picture of the clothes with the label.

So, I wanted a cool way to package these, along with the store bought clothes… after some really serious thinking about it, I finally came up with the idea to make a little garment bag for her. Again, forgot to take the picture (!) but it turned out pretty cute.

Quilt Dash is going so well…if you haven’ t signed up… you should! The prizes are fabulous and you don’t want to miss out on the chance to find cool, new quilt shops AND win a prize!

Are you a knitter? Look for Yarn Dash, coming soon!

The Last Minute Gift Countdown is scheduled for Nov. 20 through Dec. 4. Mark your calendars!

I LOVE her books! Do you have any? I just have 2 - Sew Pretty Homestyle and Sew Pretty Christmas Homestyle. Since it’s so close to Christmas, that’s the one I played with this weekend.This is the angel you’ll find on page 32. I was a little short on her dress fabric, but she’s still adorable.

And then I whipped up some Apples from page 73 and filled this pretty jar with them.


Anytime you move into a new to you house, there are always things that get ‘never done’. The curtain for the kitchen door was like that. We tacked up a piece of fabric and it’s been doing a good job for 1 1/2 years now, but it was time for a real curtain.

Gorgeous huh?

Oh much better! Same curtain, but Mike put up a curtain rod for me, and I made a tube of fabric to cover the curtain rod, and used some of those little clippy curtain hangers and there it is. Took all of about 20 minutes from start to finish.

There is one more window in the kitchen that needs a matching curtain

but that’s for another weekend. Only one task per weekend, or maybe per month.

Brenda, at Pumpkin Patch Primitives gave me this award this morning. And she said some LOVELY things about me, you’ll have to go visit her blog to read it, I’m too embarrassed to say them about myself.

The purpose of this award -It honors “any blogger who crafts, sews, quilts - you know, makes stuff - no matter how crappy (or how good). A way to say - I like your blog, like your stuff, and I’m pretty sure you have a good sense of humor.” and was created by Megan at The Bitchy Stitcher.  (you can add ‘knits’ in that list)
So… I award this Ugly Mug to -

Becky at Whimsical Knitting - she is such as awesome woman. She turns out the most beautiful knitting patterns, she deals with chronic pain on a daily basis yet she is very cheerful, and isn’t shy about spreading cheer and encouragement. I hope to be like her one day

Joanna at Applique Today - she makes awesome things - quilts and sewn up things, framed applique, I’m always inspired when I leave her blog, and she has the silliest sense of humor.  If we lived closer to each other (and I’m sure she’s happy we don’t) I’d drop in on her way too much and drive her crazy! lol…

and Tracy at Plumcute Designs - everything she makes is right up my alley. I don’t know how she Knows exactly what I want, but she does. She also takes the time to list her blessings and many times that has blessed me.

Thanks Brenda!

Some time ago, I received this in the mail -

It’s a newsletter from a quilt guild (in case you can’t tell) Turn it over and I find out how the Post Office really feels…

Just in case you’re wondering, I haven’t tried to put it together to see if it’s readable (smiling, tongue in cheek)

In other news, Tuesday I shipped 2 quilts for our Macuwita sni project. Rochelle’s quilt (which is so awesome)

and one of mine that was finished - (that’s a riley behind the quilt)

it’s never too late to join in this project. Here is the information Even though it’s nearing 80 degrees today in Joplin, MO - in South Dakota it’s already getting cold. My mom, who lives in Idaho said it was spitting snow yesterday. If you don’t have electricity, or very little income, you’re not going to use your heat until it’s really, really cold. Let’s do what we can to keep these people warm. It’s awful to be cold.

Julie commented the other day “Makes me wonder what your story may have been had you not been held up by the train in the first place…… a few minutes earlier in each case could have made a big difference to the outcome??? Life is certainly interesting! Love your blog!”

I never even thought of that. I suddenly don’t mind waiting for that train! Thanks Julie, for the perspective.

Yesterday I put some cushions on the porch swing. I simply took regular pillows and made a giant pillowcase, open at both ends. I sewed a straight line across the middle. After I put the pillow in each side, I sewed up the side so spiders couldn’t crawl in. And don’t tell me they still can!!!

I didn’t have enough of one fabric to make it matchy, but we like this. And is it ever comfy!!!

I’ve wrestled the blog back from the hijacker.. lol…

It’s Fall a slight chill in the air, a pot of minestrone soup simmering on the stove… I love Fall.

So, yesterday we did celebrate my birthday. After all.  It was quite a day actually. The day before, the car didn’t start. Probably just needs a new battery. Roger came over, he and Mike worked on the car. Battery was find, everything was fine, but cables needed replaced… so they did that. Then,  Mike was home yesterday and doing stuff around the house, when he decided to pull the car around and clean it out. Didn’t start. argh.

Really all it needed was a jump, and some driving around to charge the battery. And then we were going to go out to dinner at Red Lobster.

Nearly hit a train. Ok, not really, but neither one of us saw it, and when it sounded it’s horn… scared.us.to.death!!!!! Of course, it was one of those trains going thru a neighborhood at 2 mph. Pulled about 42 cars and then stopped, and starting backing up. argh again. So, we pulled out of the line of traffic and went somewhere else.

Headed out to the country, where we happened on an accident minutes after it happened. They’d already called 911 and no one was injured so we kept on our journey.

Got back into town and happened on another accident, minutes after it happened!!!! 911 was on the way, so we kept going. Went through an intersection and heard screeching brakes and squealing tires and little car sped past us after speeding through the intersection in the center lane. Good grief!!! We’ve got to get off the road before we’re killed!!!!

We do eat a delicious dinner and go home to watch the vice presidential debate. We got home without being injured.

Thanks for all the wonderful birthday greetings. I do believe in birthday weeks or months I’ll celebrate my birthday for as long as it takes!!!

Tammy here, the Quilt Designing Computer Geek (and the CottonSpice.com webmonster), hijacking Karen’s blog to let you know that yesterday, October 1, 2008, was a momentous day in the life of Karen.  But, knowing Karen as I do, she’s too modest to let you know.  SO, I’m taking it upon myself to help her out!

It’s not my place to give the specifics of her age (if she wants you to know, she’ll tell you) … but, I do know that it was a BIG ONE for her, and we’re so glad she’s sharing her quilted and knitted heart with all of us!

Feel free to share your love with Karen in the comments - I can envision her smiling and blushing, when she realizes how special she is to everyone.

Note from Karen - well, now that I’ve recovered from the scare of my life… LOL….Tammy sent me an email saying “OH MY GOSH…. your blog has been hijacked and I don’t know what to do!” So, of course, I ran right over here…. LOL

And I don’t mind telling you all… I’m 50. Yup, I’ve survived and celebrated a half century, and happy to tell about it.

He brings me the funnest packages in the mail. The other day he brought me a package from Penny at sewtakeahike and look at this bag! It IS a bag but look at that sweet little belt around it, holding it all together… TOO CUTE! A piece of ribbon with a buttonhole and button. I’m keeping that too, for something, maybe just inspiration, but I’m keeping it.

Now… we unfold…

Can you see the ‘cotton spice magazine’ she embroidered on it? subtle, but seen. Perfect, in other words. I love this bag. Am I gushing? sorry…

Penny even put her label in it, so I can prove I have one.

Thanks for all the compliments on the new header. I’m floating on cloud nine. I’m working on Cotton Spice Creative today, where you will see much of my work and examples of what I’ll be featuring at Cotton Spice digital. Don’t be confused!

 BIG NEWS: Now…where are you going to get Cotton Spice Creative? Well, not at cottonspice.com that’s for sure! But, today I’m going break the big news about where you can get it and other cool stuff….

Quilt Dash  This is the best new fun thing in Quilting Land since the rotary cutter. Every registered member will receive a copy of CS Creative (once it’s finished) and more. You have to go see what’s going on over there… go on, I’ll wait.Tell them Cotton Spice sent you (always wanted to say that)

Did you register? Now go tell your friends…