jcaroline

Turkey Hangover

19 lbs. of domestic turkey goodness.   How could this bird look like nirvana on Thursday and today it reminds me of a dried up buffet dinner?  Fortunately, the bird has been put out of its misery and made into a delicious turkey pot pie.  (This is all thanks to my husband, John.  This definitely earns him one free hunting weekend.  Maybe two if you count the pecan pies.) 

My sister, Cynthia also contributed greatly to the Thanksgiving feast with two types of potatoes and pumpkin pie.  (She claims I never mention her in my blog, so this is her moment to shine.  She even brought real whipped cream.)

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend here in Houston.  My parents came down and we enjoyed lots of meals together with lots of food. Our only disappointment was that we couldn't be with all our family members this holiday.  Oh, and that the leftover stuffing fell out of the refrigerator on Friday face down.  If I had been around I would have tried to salvage it from the floor dirt and dog hair, but fortunately for the remainder of the guests, I wasn't.  The stuffing was John's as well and it was the best, moistest stuffing I have ever tasted.  (Sorry, Mother.)

Olivia had a great time with constant attention from her grandparents and trying to figure out why we were at the table eating every four to five hours.  And where the extra two dogs came from (my parent's).  And why I made her dress up Thursday evening in an outfit that didn't fit and actually made her look pretty ridiculous.  I'll have to plan ahead better for the Christmas outfit. 

Hope you also had a wonderful and food-filled holiday.  Now it's on to the frenzy we call Christmas.

PS. Congratulations Missouri Tigers!  I feel a little guilty as I have never paid any attention to them when they weren't doing well, but I'm on the bandwagon now!  Oh well, I'm sure I'm not the only alum that gets interested when the sports program is on the upswing!

What??? Thanksgiving already???

I didn't realize Thanksgiving was this week until last week.  Kind of snuck up on me.  That means year-end is just around the corner and I have a huge to do list between now and then.  (And I'm not even including holiday shopping and preparations!  Okay, so I usually don't do any holiday preparations.)

The Martha Stewart show featuring Anna Maria finally aired here on Friday.  (Apparently our cable provider delays the broadcast by a day.)  She did a great job and here is the project she demonstrated on the show.

Tina Givens fabric from Free Spirit arrived last week.  It is a really interesting collection.  A lot of corals, greens and turquoise.  A very different look than I've seen in a while on fabric.

Jessica Jones of How About Orange has put together an aesthetic update of my website and blog.  She has come up with a great design, which I hope to implement by January.  She is working on some other things for me.  I'll tell you about that as it gets closer to being finished.  (That's called a teaser.)

Check out her post on DIY v. Craft.  It generated a lot of debate on when things are art and when they are junk and how they can all get thrown under the same umbrella of "craft".  Once commenter pointed out that quilting can have the same problem:  "It [quilting] can mean a beautiful work of fabric art or it can be a combination of harvest gold, avocado and orange polyester fabric scraps that even disgusts the fabrics that participate."  Now, that's profound and well written.  Okay, that was my comment.

If I don't get anything else written this week, have a great Thanksgiving weekend.  It is by far my favorite fall/winter holiday because so little is expected of everyone.   Just get together with family and eat a big meal.  Now that's a holiday!

New Goodies from Alexander Henry!

While waiting for my computer to reboot (twice) this morning, it gave me the time to shoot some pics.  Guess whether I use a Mac or a PC?  Okay, that was negative.. my apologies.  There is too much goodness around here for that!

Alexander Henry's new fabric, their "Fashion for Home" collection arrived yesterday.  It is a canvas weight fabric, 45" wide in some older prints and some brand new prints.  I am in love!  I've only wanted a heavier weight Alexander Henry for years and finally it happened.  (Again, they apparently forgot to call me and ask.)  It will get it on the web this afternoon.  That is if I can just stop staring at it and touching it.

And you Joel Dewberry groupies, we got his fabric in last week.  Enjoy!

Set your Tivo for Anna Maria

Anna Maria Horner, designer of Chocolate Lollipop fabric (and several other wonderful things) will appear on the Martha Stewart show November 15.  The "girls" will be doing a craft project with Chocolate Lollipop fabric.  Go to the Martha Stewart website to find the local show schedule in your area.  Or tell your Tivo to find it.

I met Anna Maria at Quilt Market this year and she is as cute and nice in person as you would suspect she is from her blog.  I didn't realize that she is working on a home dec fabric line (The Drawing Room) to be released in January/February and another quilt line (Garden Party) for May.  Plus, she has a sewing book in the works.  So lots of things to look forward to in 2008 from Ms. Horner.

Please, don't

I don't intend to use this blog as a forum for my personal beefs, but after receiving an email from a certain unnamed mega-retailer based in Bentonville, AR, I must ask, please, please don't purchase an upside down Christmas tree. I don't understand them, I don't like them, please make this trend stop.  Fake trees- fine.  Pre-lit trees- fine.  Flocked trees- fine.  No tree- fine.  Upside down tree- no.

Now I feel better.  And if you have already purchased one, don't tell me about it.

Simple Start Stunning Finish

Valori Wells's new book Simple Start Stunning Finish arrived yesterday.  Valori is the designer of Sole fabric that came out a couple of months ago.  She also designed Fleurish, Estrella and Eclectic if you are a fabric stasher.  She and her mother are quilters and own The Stitchin' Post in Sisters, Oregon.

Anyway, I've already told you I'm not a quilter, so why this book, you say?  One, I'm a book-aholic and am scared to death a book will go out of print and what if I don't have it at my disposal when I need that information to save the world?  I also wanted the book because I really like Valori Wells's work on fabrics and her quilts.  She is a very contemporary, artistic quilter and the quilts in the book are stunning.  She provides patterns and instructions for 15 different quilt designs, as well as basic applique and piecing techniques.  My favorite quilt in the book is the Circle Around Quilt, which is pieced and appliqued entirely with solid fabrics.

I would recommend this book to:

• a quilter wanting to make some fantastic artistic quilts
• a fabric admirer who loves looking at how fabrics are used together
• a sewer interested in piecing and applique techniques (I can see these concepts translated to placemats, table runners, curtains, handbags)
• a sewer or fabric artist interested in how another artist puts fabric designs and colors together

There is only one quilt in the book that is quilted with a longarm quilter (the Circle Around Quilt shown), while all the others Valori does with her standard sewing machine. I would love to see that in action, because I don't know how you handle a big quilt with a regular machine and how you handle intricate shapes.  And this book may well make me a quilter... at least once.