Yo-Yo's!

I have been working on this yo-yo quilt forever! Here is an in-progress shot. I have 163 squares of 4x4 yo-yos so far. That is a total of 2,608 yo-yos. I began this quilt in 2003. My goal is to finish it this year. I think I will need 200 hundred squares to fully cover a full size bed. I want it to hang over the mattress on both sides and go from the headboard to the box spring from the head to the foot of the bed.

Circles cut out to eventually become yo-yo's

Fifteen squares in length will cover from the headboard to right below the mattress. I will need thirteen squares across to adequately go from boxspring to boxspring I believe.

From circle to yo-yo

This picture is eleven rows across by fifteen squares down.

Therefore, I need two more columns of 15 to make it 13 squares wide and two more for that hole in the bottom right corner. That is only 32 more squares! Then I can start stitching it all together!

Felt Food!

All right, I have discovered the joys of felt food. I spent this morning making breakfast:

Maybe you would like a piece of toast, bacon, and an egg sunny-side-up?

Even better! Let's have a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich.

No, I think I want pancakes with syrup, bacon, and an egg!

Wow! It took you so long to choose that it is now lunch time. How about a BLT with pickles, and swiss cheese?

No? Well, here is what we have to choose from at out sandwich station. There is bread, bacon, cheddar cheese, swiss cheese, tomatoes, pickles, and onions. What kind of sandwich would you like?

So you would like bologna, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce and pickles?

Wow, you made a thick one!

For dinner, we have a cheese quesadilla for an appetiser.

We can then move on to a salad with tomatoes, onions, and carrots.

For our main course, let's have ravioli with marinara sauce.

Yes, I went a little overboard. It was a little to much fun coming up with all the different meals. Who needs play food?

Do you want a free book?

I stumbled upon this by accident, so I am assuming that many of my friends are not aware of this yet. Barnes and Noble has book clubs on their site-which is a cool way of meeting other people who love to read and discussing different books.
I am quite excited about this thread that just popped up. I had not even noticed it until I went there to give you the link for their New Look book club. They have a discussion thread about/with Anne Rice! She is one of my favorite authors and I have read every single book she has written and have many autographed 1st edition copies of her book. Here is a picture of me getting the novel Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt signed by her.
Check this out: Anne Rice at Barnes and Noble Center Stage Thread
I just bought her newest novel Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana about a week ago. I will read it this weekend. I am excited about being able to ask her questions!

The best part is they have this New Look book club which is not currently open for the next book. The basic idea is that they will open a new thread where you can sign up for the FirstLook Book club. This link is the only one I can currently find: link

When they open a new book club, you can find it on their website under bookclubs. I have received two absolutely free books from them-The House at Riverton by Kate Morton which I really liked-will reserve space to keep it on my bookshelf for that one- and The Sister by Poppy Adams which I will read next week. I have already heard really good things, so I am excited about reading it.

Book Challenges

I just started finding these book challenges on the web. I love challenges, but all the internet ones that you join have ended it seems. So, if anyone finds one that is still open please let me know because in case you didn't know-I love to read. Therefore, I am going to set a challenge for me. I will read 100 books this year. It seems kind of steep, but that is a little less than two books a week. During the summer, I will read way more than that in a week. I have a tendency to go to the library, check out ten books, sit down and read them compulsively, and then return them to get more-usually within the same week. On that note, I am going to try to figure out how to post a bar on the right side of my blog so I can keep track of what I have read.


I just finished 2012: The War for Souls by Whitley Strieber this past weekend from the local library. Brandon picked it up thinking I might like it, and it was an all right read. It is definitely science fiction about how the world might possibly end in 2012. For all of you who haven't heard that theory, the Mayan calendar apparently ends on Dec. 21st, 2012 which marks the end of this era. It is amazing that they were so advanced in their culture that their calendar is still accurate to this day-which is why a lot of people think the world will end on that day. I find it interesting, but I am not at all convinced. Anyway, 2012: The War for Souls deals with this issue through the use of three parallel worlds. We have this world that we love, another world that is very similar but different in certain ways (all of their cars are black, they have not had world wars, the main countries in power are different, etc.), and another alien world. The aliens are not really aliens as we tend to think of them-creatures from another planet that have an advanced culture and look like E.T. -instead they are previous demonic visitors to our planet. In the book they are seen as reptilian alien creatures.

The book is one I would not buy to keep in posterity on my bookshelf. It was good, but I am glad I did not shell out 25 bucks for the hardcover version. Some books I am happy to do this but not this one-I honestly wouldn't buy the paperback version to keep. The book was really dark at times-although how can a book about the possible end of the world be light-it deals with cannibalism, torture for pleasure, and the idea that your soul could be sucked out of you for demonic people's pleasure-really not my general cup of tea. Some of the the situations were fascinating-the idea that these old places around the world such as Easter Island and the great pyramids are hotspots of energy and that they were built a certain distance from the north pole for a reason many years ago.

I found out after I finished the book that he also wrote Communion which is a non-fiction novel about his experience being abducted by aliens. There are definite parallels (from what I remember about that book) and this one with certain characters being abducted by these creatures as well. I read that novel when I was in eighth grade (I think? That was 15 plus years ago.) I don't remember how that novel came into my hands but it freaked me out. I had nightmares as a result for years-so I refuse to read it again. One of the strange things I think remember is that aliens coming into your house at night would sound like cats walking across the floor. Our cat would come into my room at night, and I was always relieved when I saw her jump into the bed after hearing her. So, if you are interested in apocolyptic novels that are similar in vein to Dean Koontz or Stephen King you might enjoy this one. I found it more on the gruesome side of Dean Koontz-which sometimes go to far in descriptive horror for me. I enjoy Stephen King overall much more than this one.

Here is a very funny parody of House using easter eggs. Hehe...

House by Easter Eggs.

Utensil Roll

At home, we use cloth napkins to try to cut down on waste. It just isn't that hard for us to throw them into the washer with whatever else we are washing. On that note, I use paper towels and plastic forks every day at work. I thought maybe I could cut down on that waste with a utensil roll. It will double as a placemat at my desk, and will store my napkin, knife, and fork. This is not my original idea but was inspired by all the crochet/knitting rolls that are out there. The next time I do this I will place my ribbon on the lower half instead of halfway because that will work better. The picture on the left is rolled up. It has a fork, knife, and spoon inside. Look how well it matches our tablerunner-this was not planned.
Here it is opened up. It is made so the top folds down over your knife, fork, spoon, and napkin so they don't fall out of the top. Now, it is kinda bulky so I do wonder how much I will actually use it. It can double as a placemat, so while I am eating my frozen dinners I can dine with real silverware, a cloth placemat, and a cloth napkin which is kind of appealing. Plus, the whole thing can be thrown into the washer. I will update you on how much it is used.

Check out the cute fabric on the front of the roll. My camera won't take good close up shots, but it is entitled pantry and has pans and pots hanging from shelves, dishes and plates sitting on shelves, and little bottles.

Doggies everywhere!

I am working on a Nickel Dog Quilt and today I made these 37 dog blocks. I am using Strawberry Lemonade fabric by Moda and this Nickel Dog Pattern by Me and My Sister Designs. I am glad to be done with these blocks, but I like the way they came out. Some of the lighter ones don't really show up in the photograph so I might redo them in brighter colors before they enter the quilt. Now, I need to add sashing, binding, batting, and backing. Hmm....I don't know when that will happen!

Here is what I have made recently....(sorta)

I have joined another swap over at Craftster called Lap Quilts for All. The basic idea is that each person sends their fabric to eleven other people and receives fabric from eleven other people. This is the fabric I sent out on the left. Now, each person then completes a 12.5 inch quilt block.




Here is the first quilt block I completed to the left. It is a disappearing nine patch block which was actually quite easy to make.

It started off as the nine patch block, got sliced up, rearranged on the left, but finally became the block you see below.















Brandon's mom recently had a birthday, and I made her this pink flowery totebag. It is reversible! Notice the full bag hanging off the door, and then flipped inside out for your viewing pleasure sitting on the floor! I actually used interfacing. Imagine that! How professional...















Now, here comes some baby items...
For those of you who do not know, Weston (my little brother) and Amanda are expecting a little girl in May. Her name will be Savannah Lynn. Here are some of the things I have made for them. I do not think you know of this website WESTON!, but if you do then you should not look below.
DO NOT LOOK WESTON AND AMANDA! I WASN'T PLANNING ON TELLING YOU OF THE EXISTENCE OF THIS SITE UNTIL AFTER THE BABY WAS BORN. SO UNLESS YOU HAVE BEEN TOLD BY SOMEONE ELSE, OR YOU REALLY, REALLY DON'T LIKE SURPRISES STOP READING.


So, I have been busy making bibs and burp cloths. Here are a few pics. The bib and burp cloth on the left are scottish terrier print on black. I thought it was cool.

These are some pink, little girl bibs and burp cloths. The bibs are reversible so you get to see both sides.

I also made some letters....