Mail call and Heart blocks

This is Jax....secure in his feminine side, wearing a pink and black sweater. Gracie Mae is a nudist. She just can't help it.

                                 Tara, one of the awesome quilter swappers from the BeeBalm, a virtual quilting bee...sent me some home grown soaps, lavender lotion bar in a jar and orange lip balm.....oh Tara, you had me from home made! Can you see the itty pin cushion? It's a wee disappearing 4 patch! I love, love, love it all! The pin cushion is sooooo sweet! Tara....do you sell your soaps and other stuffs? My son has already requested home grown soaps for Christmas and I will have to hide these when he comes to visit! Check out the cute little burlap bag she packed the goodies in! You know Tara, I love you!

                                            










Tara also sent 4, yep 4 blocks for my quilt. Thanks Tara, you're very sweet! I can't wait to get started putting it all together.

                                                                               

I have been putting a couple of heart blocks together for Shirley. I had a charm pack from Tranquility in my sewing room and ran with it! I love all the colors. Although, the colors look kind of fall like....it's spring in New Zealand. Do you think the colors are too drab? Maybe I should have went with brights. So, what do you think?

                                                                        

Remember, if you are uncomfortable posting to New Zealand, you can always send to me and I'll tuck them in the package I am posting out this week. Please just let me know if you are sending something to me so I know it's coming...easy, peasy!  Send me a message and I'll happily send you my address.
                                                                                     http://www.etsy.com/shop/soggybottomflats

Don't forget~~~~~20% off in my etsy shop today until I go to bed tonight, lol. Who knows when that is. All you have to do is, choose what you want, add CYBERMONDAY in the checkout coupon code and you automatically get 20% off your purchase. Puleeeeese....I don't want to beat my hubs to count all that fabric at the end of December, he gets surly.

The ultimate cheapskate...!

Big Daddy has a dog. Not just any dog, but a big dog that eats....hair brushes, Nyla-bones, furniture, and now the bedroom door.

                  

 Yeah, she's cute until the crunching starts.  Take note, it takes mere nano seconds to shred a bear and trash the house~~

                                                                                                                                                                      

Lets set the stage. We live in Texas and it is VERY HUMID most of the time. Now, couple that with the average daily temperature pushing 100 degrees for several weeks.

Homey loves to go riding with BD, but not in this weather, EVER! It is way to dangerous for dogs to be left in vehicles.

A few weeks ago, we decided to go someplace together for several hours and we put, said Princess aka Homey (not that strange a dog name if you knew us), in our bedroom with her boy toy, Poco, who is also a Rottie, water and food. The rest of the dogs roamed the house. We have to separate our kids because our two little ones are Chihuahuas and we don't want the Rotties to get hurt, lol. We have done this many times, for up to 6 hours at a time, without mishap.

But....this was the first time for Homey, and the last.

 Did you know that the doors inside your home are hollow core? By that I mean that the doors are multi layers of some kind of pressed wood, to equal the outer and  inner sides of the door. The insides are filled with a cardboard type crap that is not only filling for dogs but also creates lots of fun when peeled off and chewed up to be spit out? Did you also know that, when you, as a dog, start peeling this crap off, well heck, it's nearly impossible to stop? Kinda like a potato chip with a woody texture.

Big Daddy replaced the bedroom door and set the old one out in the carport/hay storage shed/excess house junk. I am not even close to kidding either!

We built a nesting box for our chooks, a nine hole delivery suite for those little hens. I tore apart an ugly little bookshelf, pried boards off pallets, gleaned some boards from our outsheds and a big piece of red metal leftover from roofing our house. BD wanted to run down to the lumber yard but I insisted, since we started with "make-dos", that we finish with them. You know, kinda like a scrap quilt? It may appear a little heavy, but that sucker ain't going nowhere!

Wood for the nesting boxes: free    

Up-cycling the inside of the bedroom door for a chicken runway: priceless!

I have actually been sewing....wahoo! Pics to follow up tomorrow. Stay cool, Elaine                                                                                            

Giveaway and chook update

Giveaway winner announced tomorrow! Or I should say YOU and the PERSON who sent you!

My little chooks are getting food scraps, veggie peelings, over ripe fruit, stale crackers and milk. They LOVE milk. Gracie Mae, the 2 pound (uhh, @ 1 kilo for you quilters/chook lovers, down under) chihuahua, has gotten in the habit of following me to the chook party yard. She has been thoroughly chastised about chasing 2 legged sisters, so she resists.

                                                                                      

I only wish you could have been there today as she decided cabbage was her most favorite food in the world. She watched while I poured out the veggie scraps and the chooks descended on the peels. With the speed of a stealth fighter jet and the cunning of a teenage mall sale shopper....she snagged a lenghthy cabbage heart and sped off with it....with several chook sisters in hot pursuit! Truly better then TV. Thank you Gracie Mae for the cheap entertainment...I hope your mama never knows!

Back to quilting..the shelf pillow above, is another rescued and up-cycled quilty shelf sitter pillow, made using cookie cutters as templates . I have made numerous Christmas sofa pillows using cookie cutters and tree ornaments. Tomorrow is the drawing winners announement...but first, we need to talk embellishments...I know, anticipation has you on the edge of your seat!

Baby, it's cold outside~~~don't forget the giveaway below!

Don't forget my giveaway below. But I have to tell you...do you ever do the fabshophop? I am such a sucker for looking at other quilt shops and use this as my excuse to lollygag along and check things out.

I met (emailed this nice lady) this awesome shop owner and SHE WROTE BACK AND ANSWERED MY QUESTIONS! It is a miracle. I asked her about her website hoster and she was forthright and honest. OMG! I know, but I don't get out much. Now, you have got to check out this site for the most awesome sewing cases in the world!  Click on the patterns page and scroll all the way to the bottom, you won't be sorry. She also carries scrumptious hand dyed fabs and cute little chicken pin cushions. Since my b-day is coming up I am leaving mr.happy a note in some obscure place...rubber banded to the remote control I think!

Now I know it's cold, but, HELLO this is Texas for crying out loud! I don't like this, the chihauhau's can actually run and pee at the same time, and they are girls, our cactus is, well, you decide...   

I did ask for a new house coat....but 2 WHAT!!!

You know, I was going to explain about the "house goats", but the picture is so worth keeping it to myself until Monday when I draw the winner...yep, well worth it!

Lemon Tea spray results for dog fleas

Very strange indeed, results are in on the lemon tea spray for doggies.


It works.


The spousal unit and the dogs are thrilled to death. The sweet son of ours dropped by last nite with his two dogs~~~~omg, now we will have 7 dogs in the house~~~was not thrilled to hear of our dogs being the social dance sit outs but left his darlings anyway. (ahhh, is this how my grandma felt about me being dropped off at her house!). So Big Daddy, aka: spousal unit, dh, etc., and son sprayed the dogs, every last little sucker, and found the fleas slowed down to zero, nearly packed their own bags to move out. Way cool stuff. BD is going to hit the net today to find a natural cure for the damn things hiding in the grass. Can't wait for that one.
Have a great day and go quilt something, Elaine