Boy, are they wrong!!

What These Tulips Say About You

You are very popular and universally admired. You are often hopelessly in love, and you connect to other people easily. You are a naturally cheerful and upbeat person. You have an amazing smile.

What Do The Flowers You Pick Say About You?

Cheerful? Upbeat? Amazing smile? I am falling off my chair laughing and so is any one else who really knows me.

This & That

I just can't seem to focus on anything. This week I put the binding on some preemie quilts. This is not my favorite part of making a quilt.

I made some crumb blocks though I don't know why nor do I have any plans for them.

I made a bunch of these fun blocks, but I don't have any plans for these either.

I have wanted to remake this quilt in spring colors for quite some time. The bug has bitten me lately to start on it but I could not find the pattern. A few years ago, when we were remodeling the house, many of my quilt books went off to storage. The last time we were there (putting the Christmas ornaments back) I tried to find the book the pattern was in.My husband was rushing me, "let's get in and out as quick as possible". So yesterday I went to storage by myself (not something I have ever done before). I searched and searched but could not find the book with the pattern. There were some boxed way in the back. I climbed over stuff and started going thru the boxes. They were all pretty heavy, filled with junk that needs to be thrown out but I went thru them one by one. You guessed it, the book was in the box on the bottom. I no have no excuse.

I don't get it!

I received this postcard from Maureen in the UK yesterday. The card is nicely made and that is an empty candy wrapper attached to the front. The topic was "N is for..." and Maureen says N is for naughty and nice. Is she trying to say that chocolate is naughty? Heaven forbid, I'd be in big trouble.

Wall Hangings

I live in a very, very small house. There is not much wall space and what little there is, is covered with pictures. All my quilts are either on the beds or on the back of the couch. There is, however, this one small spot in the dining room (correct that, dining area) where we have put a small hanging rod. Originally I had planned on making a small wall hanging for every month. I got Christmas of course, the 4th of July and Autumn/Halloween/Thanksgiving.
I purchased the book Easy Applique Samplers by Mimi Dietrich and made this 19x16 Family wall hanging to fill in the other months. There are some really cute wall hangings in this book, but like the one shown, they are not specific to any particular time of the year. Does anyone know of any books out there where I can find some seasonal patterns for my wall?



Oh, I found another giveaway to enter and it's a pretty nice one. It's Debi's birthday and she is giving away a hand made tote filled with goodies. Please go wish her a happy birthday and tell her I sent you.

Incoming

I haven't been getting a lot in the mail lately but I have received these two cards. First, O is for Osprey from Beth in New Jersey.

From the same swap, O is for oscillation from Caroline in the UK. There are two more cards due to me from this swap but I doubt I'll ever see either of them.

With the exception of the Zizzy-Dot Swap, I have not signed up for any more postcard swaps. There are currently 10 cards owed to me that are all way past their deadline. I have asked about them and am mostly ignored. Those that have chosen to answer me have gotten rather snippy about my asking. So I guess it's best I just stop trading as it is very hurtful to me when I'm taken advantage of. If anyone knows of any swaps with more honorable members I just might rethink my position.

Wonky Coins

I finished this Chinese Coins quilt top on Sunday. It looked great, was flat and square and then I took this picture.

I can't figure this out. It is longer on the left than it is on the right. I removed the bottom strip and folded it in half. It seems square. Then I attempted to fold it in half lengthwise and it is really wonky. I am just not in the mood to fool with it. It is now officially a UFO.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Quilt Show

This weekend I went to the bi-annual Quilt Show by the Sea and I am sad to say I was disappointed. There are 5 quilt guilds in Broward County I thought there would have been more quilts. Don't get me wrong, the quilts were beautiful but there were only a handful that seemed original and unique. The rest I have seen in books and magazines. I don't know if there was a show book or not, I didn't see one, and the folks that took my money to get in certainly didn't offer one.

There were not any unusual vendors either. Most of them sold fabric and most of that all looked the same from vendor to vendor. Victorian, vintage, Civil War, Aunt Gracie's, dull, boring same, same, same. I was hoping for some loud , bright, screaming at me colors. There was a vendor selling every kind of scissor you can imagine, but I've got a ton of scissors. There was a vendor selling beads. They were beautiful but I am not in the market to start a new hobby. And then there were the longarm vendors (I have neither the room, nor the money nor the desire for one of those). That didn't leave much to get excited about. I did however come home with this.........


I have been hearing so many good things about MaryEllen's spray that I just had to try some. I got some Angelina because I cannot find it locally and I'm too cheap to get it online. And I bought a bag of assorted hot fix metallics.
Maybe I have been going to the shows here in Broward County for too long now. Maybe what I need is to go to a show somewhere else. Maybe it's time to go play with the big boys and go to Paducah.

Quilt giveaway

This is too good not to enter, so go to The Old Red Barn and enter your name to win a quilt.

Strange things are Happening

I don't know if you have noticed a little box over there in the right column that says Blogpatrol or not. It not only keeps track of how many visitors you have on you blog but also gives you a ton of other information such as what country a visitor is from, what reference they used to get to your blog, what kind of operating system they are using (not really of interest to me but I'm sure someone somewhere would like to know). Anyway, some of the reference sources are linkable. They is this one curious link http://nagyem.blogspot.com/. I cannot even figure out what this blog is about nor what language this is in, no not one word except for "Just a Little Zizzy" off in the left column. For all I know it could be a how to rob a bank or grow marijuana blog.

I have been getting several visitors from the link on this blog and I have to tell you they have not all been nice. There has been a non existent blogger with a virus infected site. I have to keep on top of it to keep this garbage deleted.

Can anyone tell me anything about nagyem blog?

Friendship Stars

Ann has chosen to make curtains with her stars. The curtain cover her stash and help keep out the light and dust. Here is a photo of her studio.

What a cool idea. Thanks again Ann.

Weekend Update

This weekend I put together the string blocks I had shown previously.

I have been wanting to make grocery store bags for quite some time now but just never got around to it. The large stash of fabric that Ann sent me has caused me to go thru what I have and reorganize (not that I have so much, but storage space is at a premium at my house). So I got out this box that hides under the bed and came up with a stash of decorator fabric I had forgotten about. I am sorry to say I cannot remember who gave this stuff to me or when but it's been under the bed for quite some time. This fabric is 100% cotton but way too heavy for quilts. It also has some sort of Scotch guarding on it which makes it feel funny. Four of the pieces were large enough to make these grocery bags, handles and all. Ooopps, I measured the purple one all wrong and it came out too long. The remainder of the pieces will make some nice purses. There is a terrific free pattern over at Connecting Threads. I didn't really make any more room for storage (what I made was a bigger mess than I started with), but at least I store these bags in my car instead of under the bed.

Friendship Stars Again

I got an email from Gizmo. She sent me these terrific pictures of her quilt made from that swap back in 2001.

With all the zillions of possible settings she had chosen the simplest. I have to say it is most effective. Just plain white shows how really sweet these little gems are. In the close up shots you can see some of the signatures, yes everyone of them is signed. Thanks for sharing your photos with me Giz.

So that makes 2. I cannot believe there aren't more quilts made from this swap. Ann said there were 6500 blocks swapped but I don't think that included the ones made for Alex. Come on people were you in this swap? Did you make a quilt or are the blocks still laying around like mine?

Holy Cow Mackeral!

Ann has done it again. You know how I love to get mail but this is overwhelming. Look what she sent..........................

What do I cut first?

Zizzy-Dot Challenge Swap #7

It was Dotti's turn to choose a subject and she picked Mixed Media. My card is made of hand dyed pink fabric, maroon ribbon, handmade hot pink paper which contains bits of poinsettia leaves, some paint and 4 studs. I was not all that thrilled with the way it turned out. I think the paint was not such a good idea.

On the back of Dotti's card she wrote "Starting at the left side I have couched fiber to painted and stamped lutradur. Burned the edges at the stove. Water colored and collaged it with embroidery floss. Free motioned a used painted dryer sheet to background and hit it with a heat tool. Attached tyvek beads." Wow, she outdid herself again. Is this not a fabulous card?

Hhhmmmm, watercolor paints, I think that's where I went wrong. I used something else and should have used watercolors for a more washed look.

Something weird

Something weird has happened today. Just as two bogus comments were entered on my last post, suddenly people all over the world were visiting my site.
Here is what maploco said

Toronto, ON, Canada
Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:56:15 -0600
Stockholm, Sweden
Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:55:46 -0600
Panama City, FL, United States
Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:55:34 -0600
West Roxbury, MA, United States
Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:54:28 -0600
Mocksville, NC, United States
Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:54:24 -0600
Wandsworth, United Kingdom
Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:54:20 -0600
Budapest, Hungary
Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:53:40 -0600
Maumelle, AR, United States
Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:53:30 -0600
Torrance, CA, United States
Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:52:59 -0600
Edmonton, AB, Canada
Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:52:25 -0600
Columbus, IN, United States
Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:52:24 -0600
Le Mans, France
Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:52:24 -0600
Evanston, IL, United States
Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:52:16 -0600
Chamalières, France
Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:51:51 -0600
New York, NY, United States
Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:51:46 -0600
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:51:07 -0600
Türk, Turkey
Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:51:02 -0600
São Paulo, Brazil
Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:50:53 -0600
Kefar Glickson, Israel
Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:50:48 -0600
Nottingham, United Kingdom
Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:50:43 -0600
, , United States
Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:50:21 -0600
Rome, Italy
Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:50:05 -0600
Needham Heights, MA, United States
Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:49:55 -0600
Jamaica, NY, United States
Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:49

I know I'm not that popular.

Chocolate and .......

It seems to be everywhere I look I see chocolate and .......

Here is some chocolate and blue I saw at Red Geranium Cottage

At Christmas, How about Orange had this lime green and chocolate table setting.

There's chocolate and pink, and chocolate and orange.

I love chocolate as much as the next person, in fact I really, really love dark chocolate, but all this chocolate is starting to make my teeth hurt. Maybe I wouldn't mind so much if it all didn't look so 50s. If you want my opinion (I know you don't but you are reading this and going to get it anyway), the 50s had the worst styles ever. I look at pictures of myself in the 50's and say "what was my mother thinking, what an awful outfit". The architecture was awful and so was art design.

So, while I'm trashing the 50's can someone please tell me what's up with the word "vintage"? This is something else that seems to be everywhere lately. It is no longer antique, nor is it old, it is vintage. What does that mean? I only ask because when I see the word vintage, the picture attached to it looks like the 50's to me. YUK!

Busy, Busy, Busy

You may already know that I have a full time job. There really isn't enough work to keep my busy for a full 8 hours a day so I am bored silly most of the time. This week was especially bad as I had a bunch of personal stressful situations dumped on me. Bored and stressed are not a good combination.

To counter act it, I spent my free time (what little there is) sewing like a women possessed. I purchased a really cute black fabric with multi colored stars and started to sash together the FS blocks. (I'll post pictures when there is more to show). Being bored at work, I made the mistake of visiting the HGTV message boards and discovered another swap I just had to sign up for. I know, I know, I said I would never do that again but this one is different. It's a "Choose your own color string block swap". Everyone picks what colors they want (eg pink with a white center string) and you make them 2 6" blocks. This is quick, fun and easy and what I should get back will be completely usable. The blocks received cannot be the wrong color as I throw everything into the string blocks. If they are too small, I can always cut them up and reuse them somewhere else.

I have been working on one color block at a time. I cut out a bunch of the required color, make the two blocks and throw the leftovers in the ever growing string box top. I have already mailed off 6 sets of blocks and here are some more waiting to be mailed.

But that's not all, I have also been making standard size string blocks. I haven't decided yet if I will put these together and mail them to Mary, or if I will mail just the blocks to the Heartstring Project. My mood changes on a daily basis. These blocks have bits and pieces of everything I have posted about in the last few month. And still the string box continues to grow.

One more thing, I found a stash of laundry dryer sheets I had been saving (and then misplaced) for another Chinese Coins quilt. So I also started making these.