JACKPOT!

Look what Tracy sent me!!! I'm so excited! It is amazing the variety of bottlecaps "out there". I know what I've seen hasn't even scratched the surface.

If you haven't visited Tracy's blog, you should! She does amazing work, and she is approaching her 100th post ... rumor has it there might be a giveaway coming up.

It's not like I haven't been doing anything. I'm taking Shibori II through Quilt University right now and here are two of the pieces I've dyed recently.


I also made this little wall hanging - it isn't finished yet - hopefully it will be finished someday! It is almost entirely cut without measuring (except the borders). I was planning to use the darker black and white exclusively, but I only had enough to border 3 blocks, so I picked up the lighter one and I think the combo of the two really gives it energy.
And here's a photo of the pup, since I haven't posted one in a while. She's 9 months old now, about 50 lbs, and I think about full grown. She's still sweet as can be!
The exchange student that we are hosting for the school year arrived at 11:00 last night. He lived with us for 6 months, three years ago, and it is great to see him again. It's going to be a wild year!

Had to do it ...

I had to post today - 08/08/08. A friend of mine had a baby yesterday - and the baby weighed 8 lbs 8 oz - and we all agree that he should have waited until today to be born.

I am still having trouble loading pics onto my computer, so please bare with me as it may be a while before I have photos to share. I should have plenty when the time comes!!!

Got Cake???

What's a girl to do when she's craving chocolate cake but can't justify making a whole one? Why make enough for one! In five minutes! Can't talk yourself out of a craving that quickly!!!

Chocolate Cake For One in 5 Minutes

It only took 2 minutes in my microwave, but it really worked - and yes, it puffs up high like the photo shows, but it didn't spill over. It was yummy, too - not too sweet and I would recommend drizziling some hot fudge sauce over the cake. Mmmmm... and BTW, I used all purpose flour instead of cake flour and it worked fine.

Enjoy!!

This, That, and the Other

THIS has got to be one of the coolest flowers I've ever seen. It is just amazing.

I have no idea what it is, but while I was admiring it, a big fat bee came to feast upon it. He stayed quite a while and though he wasn't inclined to pose, I managed to sneak a shot while he wasn't looking!
THAT my neices' and nephews' birthdays sneak up on me is an understatement! My neice turned 6 on Wednesday. A few years ago I made her older sister a pillowcase and it was very well received, so I decided this year it was Maya's turn. Here is the pillowcase I made for her. I hope she likes it. I happened to flip the calendar to August only to realize that my nephew turns 5 next week ... so off to the fabric store I go for another novelty print - thank goodness these pillowcases go together fast!!

THE OTHER thing I want to share with you is that I am making a few small quilts. They will go to Fusions, the gallery in Pittsboro, next month for the September quilt sale. This is the first one that's finished. It's about 42x54.

Several years ago I exchanged two sizes of brown squares with my local bee. They were intended to go together into a certain pattern. Well, of course the stacks just sat in my closet! So I decided that it was time to use them up. I bought three new prints with brown and managed to make four throw quilts with my squares ... and I even have a few left over! This quilt was my first attempt at any real free motion quilting (other than very small pieces) on my new machine. It did a great job! Now I just have to learn how to make all those fancy patterns I see!

I can't believe it's almost August. Wow. It doesn't seem possible.

Pile on the PINK

Do you remember the gorgeous doll, "Love Squared", which will be auctioned off to support the Komen Foundation? Well, through my friend Elizabeth's blog, I learned about the Think Pink Charm Swap, and I thought it sounded like fun. You make a dozen charms for the swap. You get 10 back and the other two are combined with charms from other artists and the jewelry will be auctioned off for the Komen Foundation. How could I resist?

Of course it will come as a HUGE surprise that I made bottlecap charms. Above is a photo of them all packaged up and ready to go. Below is a photo of some of the individual charms. I forgot to make one for myself, so I'll have to do that. It was fun to focus on pink and I tried to choose words that would be inspirational. I hope the recipients enjoy them. I can't wait to see the jewelry! I'll keep you posted on the auction as the time nears.

Closer to Home

While I'm in the mood to post photos ... we've had a truly gorgeous week here in North Carolina. The sky was blue and the weather, while hot and summery, was gorgeous. Usually I just hide inside in the summer. It is humid and hazy and basically ick. This week was exceptional.

We took a walk at a nearby lake the other day and here are some photos to prove that it was not just me enjoying the beautiful summer days...

There were actually 2 great blue herons at the lake. This was my favorite photo, although I wish I had paid more attention to the heron's reflection and not cut it off (and I didn't even notice the geese - I was just taking random shots).

I call this one "Three Bumps on a Log". I wonder why??
This little guy sat on his perch and posed for me. Well, maybe he just didn't feel like flying away. He was about 10 feet from me, out in the water, but he was SO small that I really had to zoom in to get a photo. So all you bird fans - what kind of bird is this? I suppose I could look it up.

And finally, this morning glory was just absolutely stunning. The vine had settled in a shady spot and I would have walked right by if not for a shaft of sunlight which landed directly inside this bloom and illuminated it as if there were a lightbulb in there. The picture doesn't even do it justice. It was beautiful.

Six Places At Once

Back to vacation photos. I hope you're not sick of them. My hand is starting to heal and I hope to have something creative to show you soon.

So, we stopped at Four Corners. This is where 4 states meet - Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. The land also happens to be on the Navajo (Native American) Reservation. Well all except the Colorado part - that's on the Ute Reservation. So at one time you can stand in 4 states and two Sovereign Nations, all at the same time. Pretty cool. I've been told this monument is in the middle of nowhere. This is no exaggeration. But it was pretty cool to stop and we had some yummy fry bread while we were there.

We headed to Mesa Verde, Colorado to see the cliff dwellings. These always looked miniature to me in photos - and even in my own photos, they look minature, but they are quite grand. The people who lived here were called Anastazi until recently. The word Anastazi means "Foreign Enemy" (or something similar) in Navajo language. I guess the people whose ancestors lived here didn't feel they were foreign or an enemy, so they are now referred to as Ancestral Puebloans. The inhabited this area for less than 100 years and no one is quite sure why they left. The most plausible reason I heard while we were there is that they left because the gods told them it was time to leave. Interestingly, they abandoned this site about the same time the Mayans abandoned their grand cities in Central America.

Yes - we climbed that ladder. 32 feet, practically straight up. The dwellings are built into nooks in the sides of the cliffs. We had ladders and at times toe holds and rope chains to help us up and down. The people who lived here used the crevices in the rocks and wore hand and toe holds to help them climb up and down the cliff face. They farmed in the fertile soil of the top of the mesa. It is really quite amazing.

We hiked a lovely 1.5 miles (at this point the kids were pretty much done with hiking) to a really awesome wall of petroglyphs (which the kids were also pretty much done with, but hey, mom's got to be humored sometimes!) This is only a small portion of the wall. It was really awesome.
And of course, what is the dessert without cactus? Many were in bloom and their bright papery petals were just gorgeous. The flora and fauna of the southwestern US dessert is a whole post unto itself.

Thanks for stopping by!!