Well, as you can see Anna has a new adornment! As much as you can explain to a two-year-old what's going to happen, she understood what was involved.

Her mama took her new monkey and they "gave monkey new earrings".....with the accompanying owie and kisses (her monkey is now sporting pearl earrings). Anna did well...she thought the whole thing was just fine until she had two people coming at her with guns in their hands saying, "ARE YOU READY?".........wild shake of the head, "no, no, no"....she got some encourangement from Mom and Grandma and only howled for a minute, then got off the chair to go shopping. She bought some makeup to round out her experience. We were very impressed.

She's not crazy about having the solution and "twist" that has to happen three times a day until it heals, but she's LOVING having earrings. She picked them herself with no hesitation out of the huge selection. All-in-all, a good experience by all.

Mardi Gras Masks February 8, 2009

Well, imagine my surprise when I posted these pictures and found out my glitter on the first one had "slipped"! I didn't notice when I was taking the pictures.

The applique quilting class gave us shiny little masks and told us to "decorate them however you'd like"....homework! Well, the plastic isn't too thrilled with anything I've used to decorate them...nothing wants to stick. I thought I finally overcame the problem with the glitter glue (apparently not).

Ooops and oh well. Guess I'll go see if I can lift that back in place or pull it off and do it again or whatever.

Heather and Spencer's house was shown by a realtor today (much fun had by all getting it ready to show). People seemed polite and liked it, but no big action.

Our big news of the day was Andrew passing his rank test and making it to Private First Class. This was a written exam that he's been studying very hard for, so we were all bursting our buttons. Heather's going to post a picture of Andrew in his uniform on her blog.

February 5, 2009 Applique Class

Here's the newest adventure. It's a block-of-the-month club. The pattern at the top is a picture of the individual blocks made one each month, finishing next January. Participants can put the whole thing together as a quilt, or break it into pieces like a table runner, placemats, lap blanket, etc.

So far, I'm impressed with how organized the whole thing was. We were given a beautiful tote, a file folder for the patterns and do-dads and allowed to pick our own "triangles" (9"x11") and "knots" 9"x18" and FQ's (Fat Quarters 18"x22").

If we complete all twelve blocks, we're given a store credit for 75% of the original fee...pretty cool, huh?

The down side is that it's mostly applique and required the purchase of more tools since I hadn't done that technique yet. Oh well, at least I'll be able to do lots of things when I'm done with all these classes. Of all the quilts hanging on the walls of these shops, I tend to like the applique the most so this should be a really fun class for me.

February 3, 2009 Anna's Color Book

As you can see, my pages didn't come out uniform because I didn't know where to stitch, but the
book is adorable. It has ten color pages and batting in the middle. Supposedly, it's washable. It came off the end of a bolt of fabric at WalMart and was only $4. I enjoyed making it so much, I plan to buy more fabric book panels. I WAS able to get the batting in the right place when I turned the fabric (learned how on the checkbook project below), so I am gaining experience with all these boo-boos.

February 2, 2009 Ornament

I wanted to share my little Kukui nut doll that I received from my good friend, MK, after she went to Maui. Someof the detail is lost in the photo, but she's simply gorgeous. I can't stand putting her away until Christmas, so she's on my desk right now.

February 1, 2009 - The new checkbook cover

One of this week's adventures has been the mysterious loss of my checkbook. Unfortunately, it was dark blue with a Wells Fargo logo....and I also have a dark blue business checkbook. None of us is sure if I truly lost it or just confused the two and caused the mix up. In any event, I had the pleasure of cancelling one account, opening a new one and copying entries from November 20th to the present off what was available online.

When I was done, I decided I didn't want the two accounts to look alike...and started hunting for a distinctive checkbook cover for my main account. No such luck---did you know the bank wants $29.95 for a leather checkbook cover? (The only alternative to their cheap "free" covers).

Although my new sewing skills are shaky, I decided to try and make a cover (how hard could it be....right?).

Actually turned out to be a little harder than I thought. I didn't know how to get my batting in the middle after I'd sewn the three layers together (I do now, though). No big deal...I just added another layer to fix the problem. When completed, it was a little more snug for fit than I'd hoped, but I made a slit in the middle and put in the cheap "free" cover and the cheks and register. Ta Da....an absolute masterpiece~

I was so proud of myself....I showed Roger this clever creation and asked for some praise (dumb girl).....what I got instead was a critique and comment that it needed a clasp to curtail the "curling". Well!

After a short deliberation (he did, in fact, have a point)....I decided that one of Anna's beautiful hair ties was EXACTLY the right color and would do the trick and save more sewing. It did and I love the checkbook cover.

If I ever make another cover, I'd have a better idea of what to do. I might actually try and do one with some free motion stippling on the cover.