introducing power...

meet KB's power plan. aka power. power used to race, but he retired a couple months ago.



today is power's birthday. he is 3 years old and for his birthday, he got a new home.

and now he's getting a shower courtesy of snappy to wash off all the newsprint and paper ink from his former bedding. i'm hearing lots of funny things from the other side of the wall.

matisse has retreated to under the bed. she'll come out again later, but their first meeting went really well. no running by either animal. whew!

more inspirations for {urban} swap

hello partner! tomorrow we find out who we've been assigned to, but today i wanted to give one more little peek at things i find awe-inspiring, fun or breath-taking:

1. Oh 1, 2. weird scene full apron, 3. New covering for ironing board, 4. spotty cafetiere cosy, 5. selvage quilt sneak peek, 6. My Ironing Board cover, 7. Scrappy Stripes, 8. Dragonfly Scissor Case, detail, 9. sandwichbags, 10. embroidery, 11. black bird eating pie apron, 12. bento box quilt, 13. under the sea for jmbmommy14. Not available15. Not available16. Not available


i'm participating in round 1 of {urban} HOME goods swap on flickr. i'm excited and nervous at the same time. i get to create something fun and modern for someone else's home and they for me. over the last months and year, i've watched round after round of dqs and pillow talk swaps and the gorgeous handmade goodies that come from them. there are so many extremely talented crafters out there. i just hope my creation lives up to those same standards.

i'll try to continue to post some more fun items in my blog for you. i can't wait to find out who my partner is so i can drool over your inspiration mosaic. i have ideas brewing and i hope one of them will be something you desire.

national quilting day and my weekend

this past saturday was national quilting day. did you celebrate it in a fun way? i did... we had our second meeting of the houston chapter of the modern quilt guild. we didn't plan it that way either; originally, it was supposed to have been the previous saturday, but it was changed and worked out well. most of the women who showed for the first meeting came to the second. we had 3 "new" people attend, including lizzy and cherri (who are very cool and down-to-earth people in person). it was rainy, windy and nasty outside, but we had a glorious time inside.

i got 2 photos from the meeting...nothing spectacular and not even a group shot. one of these days we'll get that! but there is a picture of "the token male" guild member. my hubby! yes, snappy joined just after the first meeting, held at our house, and came to our first sew-in. he even sewed!! a lot! one of the ladies did a little demo for us of the wonky 9-patch and it seemed to take up the entire meeting. snappy and i both chose red/white/blue prints for a finished 13" block. can you guess what we're making together? yep! a QOV!

as far as i can tell, snappy didn't feel awkward at all. maybe that was because he sat in on the first meeting while pretending to "work" on his laptop. he got to know a bunch of them in those few hours and chatted as well. that and he keeps offering up this statement: "i really had fun at the meeting." unsolicited.

we bought our first few items for the upcoming dog this weekend too. we have a dog bed. big, giant, round, fuzzy dog bed. and a new collar for matisee so she can jingle jangle and not scare the dog when it's sleeping. and a new cat litter box with a cover so the new dog can't eat the poo when we're not looking. but of course, we have to finish the fence before we can have a racehorse dog at home, so we purchased all the fencing materials, minus a few posts, yesterday for delivery next weekend.

sadly, sylvia plath's funeral ended our weekend when boo came home from his spring break. that was the first thing he wanted to see upon entering the house: the hamstersicle (thank you chickefoot...we have used that term a few times now) and the hamster morgue. she was buried in an odd little ceremony/conversation underneath a texas sage in our garden.

now it's back to the daily grind...and more fun for me later this week...

top 'o the day!

top 'o the evening!
Originally uploaded by greeneyedsilversmith

happy st. patty's day to all of you out there in blogworld.

i built this happy guy last night at the lego store. no kid with me. just me, standing at a table with a dozen kids building leprechauns. of course, my hubby met up with me when i was half done and laughed.

progress on the bsa QOV

bsa qov detail
Originally uploaded by greeneyedsilversmith

here's a peek at the QOV i'm doing with the boys. they were incredibly excited when i brought the completed stars to their den meeting a week ago and most could not picture how that was going to cover a person. they were really cute about that part...holding their own square up to themselves with a puzzled look on their faces. i tried to explain it was going to be a much bigger quilt with red, white and blue fabrics joining them together, but some still didn't quite picture it.

originally, i thought i would use the D9P "6th blocks" from the swap with the boys stars. when i received the package and started looking at it, it was just going to be a little too busy; the stars needed something simpler to make it "pop." what's better for simple than a rail block? the red fabric has gold sparkles on it and the one white-ish fabric is one of my go-to QOV fabrics with the pledge written all over. also very appropriate for cub scouts...

while i was sewing rows together, i had one of those aha!! moments. but then i couldn't contact the people i needed until the next day. the recipient of this QOV is going to be my ex-husband's step-uncle (that's a mouthful, i know) who served as a marine during vietnam. he is a purple heart recipient and overcame his physical wounds while still battling his psychological ones. no one i know personally deserves this quilt more than [mw]. we'll have to figure out a story to tell [mw] to get him to the den meeting in a month or two for a presentation. there will be tears in my eyes for sure. he will appreciate and love this quilt for all that it is and all that it stands for.

oh oh oh!!

i have a REALLY good idea of who i can get the boys to present their QOV to. at least i think it's a good idea, but i cannot toss the idea around to anyone right now. the two people who i need/can talk to about it are not answering their phones. poo.

snappy and i have thought about seeing if anyone in his district has a purple heart and getting them to come to a den meeting later for the presentation. that's still a good idea... BUT, if this person works out, then it will go to someone i personally saw suffer through PTSD for a few years. he struggled with it for much longer (before i had met him), as it started as a result of serving in vietnam as a marine.

"6th blocks" received for QOV

"6th blocks" received for QOV
Originally uploaded by greeneyedsilversmith

in the FB block swap group i'm part of, we started a "6th block" that is set aside. each swap, a different person is chosen based on requests for a charity group of their preference.

we've planned on having a red/white/blue swap for some time now - at least 6 months of discussions on it. it was also the intention that i would be the 6th block recipient since discussion started and i'd used them in a QOV. well...here they are! most of them at least; there are a couple ladies who are sending me blocks directly since they missed the swap date. 26 blocks were made for me to use. plus, i've got 5 back from the actual swap.

these are big blocks - 13 inches. and marybeth was kind enough to pass along a baggie stuffed full of precut patriotic charm squares to make more later. i plan on using some of them to teach the scouts to sew a little...but we'll see when/how the den mother wants me to do that one. no real plans as of yet, just an idea tossed out there since they're supposed to learn to sew buttons (why not sew buttons first on neat squares and into a block later?).

some of the squares have the coolest patriotic fabrics in them. ones i've never seen before too and have no idea where to find them. there are a few blocks (assuming it's the same person) with a tan fabric with george washington's quote "i cannot tell a lie" written all over it. there's a red/white one that has pictures of george washington, the white house and the liberty bell printed all over it. and of course, some great fireworks with silver sparkles.

i have no doubt that this will be a great QOV when it's all put together. and one made with a little bit of love and appreciation from each person who participated in the swap. we have a bunch of new members this time too with a great turnout. biggest one yet!

thank you everyone for giving me the motherload of swap blocks!