What to do.. What to do....

•Text HAITI to 90999 to donate $10 to the American Red Cross
•Text HAITI to 25383 to donate $5 to International Rescue Committee
•Text HAITI to 45678 to donate $5 to the Salvation Army in Canada
•Text YELE to 501501 to donate $5 to Yele
•Text HAITI to 20222 to donate $10 through the Clinton Foundation
•Text HAITI to 864833 to donate $5 to The United Way
•Text CERF to 90999 to donate $5 to The United Nations Foundation
•Text DISASTER to 90999 to donate $10 to Compassion International

Clean water ...the dead buried... and preventing the spread of shit borne disease... that's whats needed. Food might be nice too.

Welcome Home, a Goodbye, and a New Plan!

Tuesday before New Years my beloved was scheduled to come home from NY (Long Island- nissaquoge(sp?) St James) It snowed like crazy. I am from Southern California, that means it is unsafe for everyone for me to be driving in the snow. period. unsafe. I called a couple of vans to see if I could get him a ride home and - Hello? they laughed at me!
I called my super snow driving girlfriend from Alaska, she said I could do it but I needed to leave early and drive slow.

Midway thru my drive I decided I needed to apply a little Voo Doo to the situation. So I skipped getting on the 5 and went thru downtown. Pit stop.

They claim magic in the hole ... So I got a lot of holes in the form of a fruit loop covered glazed and a cup of tea! It worked! I sailed down Sandy to the 86 and was at the airport in short order.
My Beloved drove us home and it was completely clear! Voo DOO!


New Years Eve Day we all piled in the car to run errands downtown. We lunched at La Buca on the eastside, Hit the museum, and pitstopped at Papa Haydons on the way home.

Here is a photo from inside the museum ... fresh, modern Amish anyone? I'm thinking on it. Doubting I will go solid though...
So, one of my favorite blogs is Crazy Mom Quilts. On New Years Amanda Jean announced that she was quitting her blog. I totally understand, but she will be missed.

Oh Fransson! also one of my favs has cut way back her blogging. I hope they got book deals and are finally going to make money and be famous! Or had babies and are now busy. Either way I will miss reading their posts and even though I generally lurk and not participate, I feel very friendly towards them, so its a bummer for me and I will miss them. * Tearful Wave from Rail platform with hanky - music swells*
So whats in store over here at Chez 2nd Ave? I too will be cutting back my blogging to once or twice a month, which may turn out to be just once a month. I still will be doing Give a Kid a Quilt, and in general quilting as usual. I also will be sewing more this year in general. Most of it will go to Charity but a bit will be next years Christmas presents and I few in mind as keepers for me. I'd like a new lap. :)
Quilters Rock!

Finally I am Done..

I finally finished my 2 quilts I am making for Xmas. This is for my step son, and my favorite quilt of the pair. I'm pretty pleased with it and hope he likes it.

This is for my step daughter who lives in AZ and I hope she likes it. I don't know her very well, and my husband picked out some fabrics and I picked out some more and there you go. I made this for the Round about quilt along which I loved participating in and it is open ended, so if you want to make one - check it out. I used the Eliza Back Porch template set which I love! Lots of bang for the buck on this.
My husband quilted on both of these.. and helped with ironing and binding (I mean, if you blinked you missed it- but he helped:})
Now I am making little blocks with scraps and amusing myself. I should be binding for Give a kid a Quilt but I cannot seem to move.. I have worked about 12 hours a day for the last 4 days.
I'm bushed!
I'll be back here in the New Year!
Check out how the Charity work is going over at Give a Kid a Quilt, I'll still be blogging over there.
Check my flickr to see pics of the quilting and details of the work.

I hope everybody has a great Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Quilters Rock!

a quick update

It hasn't been above freezing for a couple days and I can tell you I'm getting plenty sick of it.

the fountan or water feature is almost completely frozen.

This is my fast baby quilt pattern I am making a bunch of for the Give a Kid a Quilt program.
Its super fast and the perfect size for a baby. I can use up a bunch of FQs and they are super fast.
Im kind of excited.. I've made 3 so far.


I haven't gotten hardly anywhere on my Xmas quilt for my step son... so I am working on that tonight. Hopefully it will come together soon.

Quilters Rock!

Shameless Etsy Plug!

Over in the store Munki munki PJ parts are on sale ... Just in time for Xmas. They are on sale about 30% cheaper than normal.

Where Im At

Im loving this block today. I'm in the middle of trying to get my top finished for my stepson. He is 29 and is working on his Masters at Chicago Art Institute. This block reminds me of Andy Warhol's Flowers HERE. Get it? My SS is an artist too... since I have no idea if he will even come close to understanding the work and effort of making a quilt, I decided to make it easy and use what I like. His father and I picked the fabrics and tone. In fact, my DH has really been involved giving opinions, and helping me edit fabrics. That part of it has been really fun. I plan to have him help me quilt as well. Really, Im gonna let him quilt only a little bit, but something so he can tell the kids he helped. Maybe I will let him write a message in the quilting. He is so excited and happy.
It still has taken longer than I wanted.
Doesn't it always?
We have had a couple of serious problems one of which is the following:
I originally thought I would use this pale blue as the background, looks grey here and it washed out all the colors except orange and green. I so wanted to use it, I had saved it in a bag just for this project. To be truthful most of the stuff I set aside for this project was abandoned.

Instead of this ugly grey/blue we decided on this pale yellow.
It sets off the blues and greys and I think will work great. I thought about using white but I didn't have enough and we are using what we have, kind of a stash busting exercise.

Right now the plan is to bind with the wood grain but only time will tell.
Quilters Rock!

Happy Thankgiving to You!

I made this few years ago. Its been in the car, over at my Moms, kinda out of sight but not out of use. It has been used enough now to be "worn in". Its floppy and cuddly and the perfect TV friend. When I first made it ( here ) over 2 years ago I hated it and called it Cat Vomit. Now I love its friendliness and color and of course its softness.

This week I finished this experiment:

Im not sure how well it turned out. It was an idea... and the craftsmanship is there... by that, I mean it is usable. I will returning to this theme over the next year. Bubbles and Lines. . . we'll see what comes of it.. This one is going to Give a Kid a Quilt. If Your interested the button is on my side bar over there.


The most valuable thing I get from my husband is time. When we can spend more than the usual few hours together I am thrilled. I certainly don't want to be stuck in the kitchen, while he wanders off to go piddle around in the garage till dinner is ready. Since The Kids are gone and out of state we can't really justify the "big meal" . For the last several years we have gone Downtown Portland to a nice hotel for a sit down meal on Thanksgiving.
Next month DH will go to his Dads for a week and spend time with his kids. So, this time is mine and I want every second. We won't shop on Friday or go out much... Just piddle around the house the whole weekend doing little projects like rearrange the bedroom and hang some pictures.. May sound less than spectacular to you, but I am really looking forward to it.

I will be happy to revive Thanksgiving when we have grandkids. Sometimes I miss my traditions, mostly though, I miss my grandparents. My grandmother was a working artist, she went to Art School in the 20s and worked as a draftsman (like CAD but with a pencil) during the 40s. She created a Thanksgiving so full of tradition and life it's been really hard for me to continue the holiday without her.
I'm thankful I grew up knowing her.

I hope ya'll have a great Thankgiving!