Living with Lambchop

You remember this wonderful woman, Shari Lewis. She was as much a part of my childhood as Applejacks and Captain Kangaroo. In my wildest dreams, I never thought that any of my kids would be influenced by her brand of coolness. But, I am happily wrong.
I bought this for the Pickle BEFORE he was born. I was working at a hospital, and this was on the shelf at the gift shop. I just knew this was going to be what my baby slept with. But it didn't happen that way. He ignored it for years. It wasn't until I was about to give it to "Idgy", (the baby I keep), that he picked it up and it's been a part of lives ever since.

The Pickle has slept with all kinds of inanimate objects, none of which were anything classified as a nighttime sleep toy. You remember "Toothbrush" from long ago. He never actually used it to brush his teeth with, but it was an action figure of sorts. Pickle has slept with cell phones, computer keyboards, and any type of gadget you can imagine. Seeing him embrace this little Lambchop is really mindblowing. Even the toughest of boys has a special toy that becomes "real", like the Velveteen Rabbit. (I love the story of the Velveteen Rabbit as many of my toys became "real.) Lambchop goes to kindergarten every morning, and has to be in the car when he gets out of school. Even the Diva (who I take care of and isn't quite old enough for school) reminds me that I have to "get Lambchop". And of course, Lambchop sleeps with Pickle every night. I decided to research Shari Lewis and Lambchop to see if I could find some actual programs for him to see. Sure enough, in our generation of Youtube, there were plenty of episodes to view. That's how he spent his Saturday morning. Amazing, isn't it, that the most retro of things can still be the coolest?

My son, the married man

Oh, you might be thinking, "The Legal Adult has gone off and gotten married?" And due to his consenting age, that would normally be a good guess for the eldest son. But alas, it isn't the eldest who has claimed a bride, it's the YOUNGEST!

The beautiful girl by his side is his childhood friend, Easter. Of course, that's not her REAL name, but that will do. Pickle informed her mother, my friend, Ally, that they had gotten married last year on the playground. These pictures were taken at a recent playdate. He informed me today that he needed to go see his "wife".
"Wife?"
"Easter, Mommy, Easter!"

She has a birthday coming up this weekend and we are going. Easter will all of 4. You know, you wonder how much they pay attention to what we do. Pickle has an old keyboard on his dresser, along with an old cell phone and deodorant container. Before he treks off to kindergarten, he is at the keyboard.

"What are you doing, Pickle?"

"Checking my email, Mommy."

Then he picks up the phone, " I have to check my voice mail." And finally, he "puts on deodorant". It's all pretend deodorant lest I get any concerned emails. I know they grow up fast, but this is faster than I wanted. I guess he's going to be a family man, like his dad.

The Jury is still out...and thinking

I went to a local quilt history gathering in my town with a quilting girlfriend of mine. One of the speakers was well-known, at least to me, and I looked forward to putting a face with a name.

During her talk, she spoke of supporting our local quilt shops, which I do. More than Hunnybunny would like. And she spoke of her own online shop, which I thought was kind of contradictory, but I let it go. After the meeting, I stood in line to speak to her about my favorite online resource, Quiltshops.com. I guess it's the hormones, but the polite thing to do when someone is waiting to speak to you is to acknowledge your presence. Well, she walked away. My friend and I stared at each other and wondered who did what to her Wheaties. I then followed this woman across the room, where another woman got in front of me and she again walked away. Finally, I caught up with her by touching her shoulder:

"Wow, you're hard to catch!" I laughed. For the record, she didn't.

"I wanted to tell you about Quiltshops.com. You didn't mention them in your resource list." And I told them about the search engine, how you can put a Boolean search to look for this, not that,ect. She proceeded to give me a lecture about supporting our local quilt shops and how using the internet was a way to put small shops out of business.

"I do use them. However, if there's a fabric I can't find, I'll look there next." She again tried to dissuade me against using the internet to find fabric. Finally, I asked her,

"Did I understand you correctly that you have an internet shop?" She nodded.
"How is that any different? Most shop owners are savvy enough to have a site along with their shop's goods. That way, you don't waste precious gas money if they don't have it."

I honestly can't remember what she said in rebuttal, but I remember walking away thinking that maybe I don't need to go to any more of these 'educational' meetings. The sad part is she is part of our local guild, and if I re upped, I'd run into her. I guess I'm struggling with this mentality of "you have to do it this way". The internet has lots of options for people and fabric ordering is probably my favorite. I utterly despise walking into a quilt shop and having to look through all those bolts of fabric.



It's nothing personal, usually I'm dragging some child or husband with me and they are less than enthused. So, what do you think? Is the internet going to be the downfall of the local quilt shop or can they co-exist?

What I've been up to.......

The Stars Fell on Alabama Last Night

Moonlight and magnolias, starlight in your hair

All the world a dream come true

Did it really happen, was I really there

Was I really there with you

We lived our little drama, we kissed in a field of white

And stars fell on Alabama that night

I can't forget the glamour, your eyes held a tender light

And stars fell on Alabama last night

Chorus:I never planned in my imagination, a situation so heavenly

A fairy land that no one else could enter

And in the center, just you and me, dear

My heart beat like a hammer, my arms wound around you tight

And stars fell on Alabama last night

Chorus:I never planned in my imagination, a situation so heavenly

A fairy land that no one else could enter

And in the center, just you and me, dear

My heart beat like a hammer, my arms wound around you tight

Ah, stars fell on Alabama last night ...

This quilt is named for this song, made famous by Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra. This is Grandma Hunnybunny's quilt top without borders. But at least I finished sewing this together today. It amazes me how much I can get done when I pop a movie into the computer...or in my case, back to back movies.

Birthday Bash with Batman

The Pickle's huge birthday bash was this weekend. Friends and family were on hand to wish him a happy birthday while eating lots of cake, brats, hotdogs, potato salad, hamburgers, baked beans, and home-grown greenbeans. We will be eating leftovers hamburgers for awhile. Here's the Pickle with one of his favorite presents.
Grandma Kim sent this very cool Spiderman slip and slide. It was a big hit with the Pickle and his buds.
The cake had to be Batman this year as Spiderman is in the background. He got several of the Dark Knight toys, including the Heath Ledger lookalike Joker, which BOTH of his brothers tried to talk him out of! Maybe I haven't told you about this family's history with Batman. When The Legal Adult came along, the Batman movies with Michael Keaton were the rage, along with all the toys. I saved them and put them in the attic. About '95, Sam was born, and the second slew of Batman came along. His grandmother bought him every Batmobile known to man, and even the ones from the Legal Adult's time. Then Sam raided the attic, retrieving all the toys stashed up there. Then Pickle comes along, and raids Sam's closet. So you see, we've been dealing with Batman and the toys for about 20 years. I just never thought it would last that long!
Here's the Kroger version Batman cake. They did a good job, although I was stuck at the store while they finished making it. Of course, I did a little creative editing.
Here he is hugging the Joker toy that his big brothers tried to get from him. I think he had a blast, and I'm STILL cleaning up! There are more pictures in the flickr.com box to the right of my sidebar if you want to see.

Offerings From The Pickle Tree

How did we get from here at almost 3 to almost 5?? Yes, my baby turns 5 next week...on the first day of his school career, no less. Couldn't they cut me a break with only one milestone at a time?
Well, here you have the Pickle in his tree. And he is all excited about starting kindergarten. We met his new teacher, Mrs. Martin, this week and he got to see his desk. The most precious part was when she tried to reassure me that Pickle was safe with her as she had X number of years as a teacher and mother. That made my day! I mean, seriously, do I come across as a first time mother? I reassured her that this wasn't my first rodeo, but it was still hard since he was my baby.

Initially, he wasn't slated to go to this elementary school. They had us zoned 5 miles away. It turns out that particular school was completely full, so we had to go to the school board to get permission to attend the school 2 miles away. Isn't that crazy? Why didn't they just do that to begin with? Oh, well...
Mr. Serious here. Wow, he looks so much like his daddy, I just can't believe it. It's hard to believe he's ready for kindergarten. This new school is having a "Boo Hoo Breakfast" for parents facing separation anxiety. I am not sure that I'm facing that, but I do know how hard it is letting them become more independent.

I love this shot, too. He's a sweet Pickle, that's for sure!

Progress on the "Stars Fell On Alabama" Quilt

Okay, here's my progress on the "Stars Fell on Alabama" quilt for my mother-in-law, Grandma Hunnybunny. Someone asked me why I name my quilts after song titles, with the exception of the Boy Scout Quilt. Well, here's the short answer: composers do a much better job of coming up with a name than I do. And truth is I am a huge music fan, so what better way to combine the two?












The only reason I have posted three pictures for you is so that Grandma Hunnybunny can see it. She knows it's not a surprise after all this time. The surprise would be if she gets it this year.
Just F.Y.I., the blocks are complete, I just stuck it up on the design wall to get my placement of colors right. I have yet to sew all the sashing together or cut the borders.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Yes, my kid, who now wants me to refer to him by his name, Sam,is missing in action. Oh, I remember him. A sweet, compliant, honor student who said, "Yes, ma'am" when I called his name is gone from our house. In our version of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", we find this wonderful child replaced by this venomous creature, who mopes in a millisecond. It appears that there is not enough space in this house to accommodate our family and all his hair care products. While at the pool last week, he kept asking me, "What's up?" all in an effort to get my MIRRORED glasses facing his direction so he could check his reflection.Never having to deal with this before (mother of all boys), I am ill-equipped with this sudden stage of vanity. Last year, we couldn't get him to take a daily shower. This year, he's showering twice a day. And the diets...well, not a real diet, per se, but he went from eating everything in sight, to one helping of the main course and complaining about his abs. Sheesh....

I have been told by my friend Martha to pray diligently and hang on tight. At 13, it's just the beginning. And experience tells me she's right.

The Dark Knight

Well, you knew I was going, didn't you? I mean, the whole free world went, according to box office totals. We opted for the Saturday night show. Again, we went with Diva's parents, same babysitter, out to eat later...your basic parent's night out.

Here's the scoop I didn't know: he actually appeared in the movie without The Joker makeup. I guess I never noticed the scars under the red paint.
The story of how he got them changed every time he was about to off someone. That's about it on origins, though. I think two of the best lines were, "I'm like a dog chasing a parked car. I wouldn't know what to do with it if I had it!" and talking to Batman, "You complete me."

Heath Ledger did a great job. The story has enough subplots to keep you busy. It's a shame the guy isn't around for his kudos. He certainly deserved them.

WIP Wednesday: Shirt off my back

Pickle took this picture, not bad if I do say so myself. Maybe he's going to be the next blogger in the family. Heaven forbid!

So, here's Simplicity 2898

Now, this is what it was supposed to look like:












I will not beat myself up for such obvious mistakes, but I am grateful to have only spent $4 on the fabric. My buddy Robin says make another while the iron is hot. So, stay tuned.

My own personal "Bucket List"

Okay, time to fess up. It was my birthday this past Saturday, and while it's not a milestone, it's definitely a fork in the road kinda thing. Simply put, I'm considered "middle-aged" today. Okay, I know I could have started that clock ticking at 40, but I was too busy having a baby. I was lucky to have my best friend, Robin, and her girls, visiting me last week. The estrogen level reached new heights around here. Robin wanted to know what I wanted for my birthday, and of course, it was something to do with sewing.(BTW: hourglass was curtesy of Steve at Square Goldfish.



This is the book I picked. Mind you, all I have ever done is quilting. Oh, the occasional button, but not a skirt, or shirt, or even a crummy pillow. What I like about this book is that she's passionate about what she does. For me, that's everything. If you aren't passionate about quilting, or sewing, or even knitting and crocheting, WHY would you spend the time to learn??? Anyway, I've got a shirt cut out. Robin helped me pick out a pattern.

I picked up some cotton knit at the remnant part of Joann's, so we shall see how it turns out. Hunnybunny groaned when he saw the book. "Don't you have enough unfinished projects around the house now?" Apparently not.
The Diva's mom and dad gave me a gift certificate to Barnes and Nobles and one for Joann's. Way cool! So I got me some fabric, notions, and this book by Karen Combs that I've been coveting. Jericho and She Who Must Be Obeyed gave me some money, and made me a birthday cake! So much for going to Weightwatchers this week! Hunnybunny got me an Eeyore watch and Pickle got me a teddy bear. I heard from college friends, local friends, and even my exhusband on my birthday, so I think it was pretty great.

No, I've not seen the movie. But I like the concept. So, here's my own personal "Bucket List":

1. See at least one kid graduate high school, preferably college.
2. Make at least one outfit with a pattern. (Well, I'm working on that one.)
3. Enter at least 3 quilt contests. If you enter, they critique and let you know how to get better.
4. Go back to Savannah, Georgia to FINISH the honeymoon. The wedding virus hit Hunnybunny, and we couldn't stay.
5. Live in a house with a finished basement to throw children and their friends in.
6. See the Pacific Ocean.
7. Ride the Beast at King's Island.
8. Read Gone with the Wind.
9. Read through the entire Bible.
10. Lose at least 40 lbs.
11. Ride in a convertible.
12. Camping in Colorado or some mountainous range.
13. Take a walk through a rainstorm with Hunnybunny.

Well, there's a few, anyway.

You always knew I was this snotty, didn't you?

I'm not beyond stealing something off of someone's blog if it's really cute. So, I stole it from Jill. Feel free to steal it from me.

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Her Most Serene Highness Lady Beth the Hunted of New Porton Wells Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

I wanna soak up the sun...

or so sings Cheryl Crow. But I didn't soak it up. I let The Pickle and his pals do it for me. Please excuse the 'creative' editing. He is having the time of his life.
Here he is with the Diva and She Who Must Be Obeyed. A slip n' slide isn't a bad investment for the hot summer days.
I have enjoyed this summer so far because I know it will be my last before he starts school. Look at him, not a care in the world.
The only major drawback is that he thinks we have to do this EVERYDAY. Only one of them is tan enough that she doesn't get scorched after 20 minutes.
Many thanks to Jericho without whose help this summer, I would be lost.

I still haven't found that 12-step program for

...sewing machine collectors. Okay, I know y'all think I'm crazy, but I just couldn't turn it down. Here's the scoop:

My buddy, Jane, was looking for a black Singer sewing machine for her sister in law. She found one at the same Goodwill I've been lucky at and showed it to me in the back of her van.

"I'll bet it's a 66. Those are great!" becoming glassy eyed. Jane dug in her bag and retrieved the manual! A 66-18! But, there's always a catch. It was a crinkle finish. Another name is the "Godzilla" finish.

A machine is a machine to me, but the sister in law didn't want it because it wasn't a black shiny one. Now, how could I turn it down? It had to have a good home, didn't it? At least, that's what I told Hunnybunny as I picked it up.

(Oh, and I finally got Jan Krentz's book!)


Sorry the top's upside down. See the crinkle skin?
Isn't this a great poster? I bought it off of eBay months ago for about $10. Hunnybunny had it matted and framed for me for our anniversary. I think it's gorgeous! My grandmother was born in 1900, and she might have looked a lot like the seamstress in the poster.

Work in Progress Wednesday

Did you think I had forgotten? Well, I wouldn't blame you if you did. I've been working on some separate projects that don't have anything to do with quilting. But I always come back to the design wall.

Here's A little more work on "Stars Fell on Alabama", which should've been done by now, but life does get in the way. Pretty cool design wall, huh?
It's the back of some table cloth material that I got at half price at Hobby Lobby.

To the right, you can see the finished blocks. I have a only a few to finish of these. There's only 25 in the quilt. You'd think I'd have it done quicker because of that, but not me. I'm special.....



Oh, and Happy Anniversary to me! We've made it six years this past Sunday. He's still such a babe!

Beautiful Boy

The Dyl Pickle graduated today from preschool. I thought I'd be the only mother in the room NOT crying as I've been to this rodeo 2 other times. My past experience didn't help me one iota. And still, many hours later, I can't hardly talk about it. Let's let a picture say a thousand words...I'm tired of boo-hooing.

Happy Birthday to the Legal Adult

Here he is at 2. You can see the beginnings of the mischievous look. He is still very charming, especially with the ladies.


My little, bald six-month-old. You know, I love that commercial where the narrator says, "Who'd of thought that the love of your life would be short, and bald?"




And here's my grown man now. He can't help that he's handsome! Happy 23rd birthday, Son!

Queen for a "Mother's" Day..

Most mother's are happy to get appreciated on Mother's day, and as a rule, we don't really expect much. Oh, someone is bound to be little enough for making Mom some type of craft. And breakfast in bed is a favorite amongst us moms. This year was tre' cool for me. Hunnybunny bought me some Lauren Blue, Pickle got me my favorite Healing Garden stuff, lavender; Rock Star bought me a card, (didn't sign it, but it's truly the thought that counts.) and a single red rose and baby's breath. Hunnybunny grilled me a steak and made dinner. Mother's Day is the holiday I hate going out.

The Legal Adult went to church with us, and spent the rest of the day with me. I nearly fell over.

Oh, yeah, the best present was to get to have all my boys under one roof for one day! And they let me take pictures!