A finished (almost) quilt top! My first one!

Wonky quilt for Ayden, originally uploaded by razberiswrl.

I'm going to add another row, but essentially it's finished. Now to piece the back and figure out how the hell I'm going to quilt it!!

Super sweet giveaway at Quilt Frenzy!

Head over to enter to win a whole year subscription to Love of Quilting! This is a very generous prize!!!


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It's Crimmah up in the house!

Yeah, I call it Crimmah. Wanna start something??? :D LOLz

So, you already saw the nifty wreaths I made and the paper garland to hold our cards ... now here's the tree!




I don't know what exactly this hodge podge of homemade, purchased, and given ornaments on the cheapo fake tree says about us, but it's just how we like it. There are ornaments that my Grandma gave me every year until I was 18 (give or take a few, some broke over the years or just disappeared. You know how that goes), the ornaments my kids bring home every year, ornaments I've bought at Target for 75% off after Dec 25, lol, and some I've paid full price for because I just had to have them. There's also a couple of plastic keychains that Miss M INSISTS on putting up every year, a My Little Pony and a Nemo. *shrug* She do what she do ... Also, that weird braided thing on the wall is something my Grandma made in the early 80s. Apparently I helped, and apparently I loved the thing in said 80s, so she sent it to me, lolz. So, even though it's not my cuppa, up it goes! Every year.


My favorite things on our tree are my Space Ghost ornament (from Hallmark ... they didn't do Brak though!! *sad pout*), a couple of styrofoam birds with glitter and feathers glued on them from Michael's (we've all seen them, lol): a little pink one and a silver peacock, a little angel in a walnut boat that my godmom gave me when I was little (it's a stupid ornament, but I've always loved it, and she's dead now, sooo ...), and this bizarre ornament my oldest made in preschool that amounts to a couple of q-tips glued to foil with some glitter on it. It's so funny!


Mr. Raz would probably say his favs are the StarWars ornaments, and possibly the Sponge Bob ones. The kids each favor the ornaments they've made themselves or the ones that have their names on them, lol. Either way, they are always all up in the tree. Daily rearranging of the ornaments is a MUST for Razzy chilrents.


Our tree topper is a little special ... Mr. Raz has always had a thing for nautical stars, like, WAAAY before every douche bag in town started getting them tattooed on their shoulders (sorry if you have one tattooed on your shoulder. I ASSURE you that YOU are definitely not one of the douche bags of whom I speak ... unless you are a dude, wear tight t-shirts, kiss your muscles, spend more time on your hair than the average woman, fake tan, and have ever referred to yourself as a guido ... THEN I probably am talking about you ... I'm not even sorry. LOLz) ... Anywho, we're not religious folks, we celebrate Crimmah because it's just the tradition we were raised with, and we like giving, eating good food, and hanging with our family, so we see no need to deviate from the status quo. So, neither of us wanted an angel on the tree. I wanted a big red bow because that's what we did my whole life, and he wanted a star but I could never find one I liked, so for years we went with nothing on the top of the tree. About 4 years ago I got a nifty idea. What if we put a nautical star on the tree??? COOLIE!! Of course, I couldn't find one. Figures. So, I decided to make one. I bought a 2 sided metal barn star ornament from Kohl's (on sale with a coupon! Woot Woot!) and painted it with that cheap paint from Michael's. It was a lot trickier than I initially thought it would be. The paint kept wiping itself off if I went over an area twice, took about 894,752,934,861,039,476 coats on each side ... but it's TOTALLY AWESOME!!! And he loves it. I rock.


Oh, we also have the silly pickle ornament (read this if you don't know), and hide it on Crimmah Eve before going to bed. "Santa" always leaves a "pickle prize" under the tree that the kid who finds the pickle gets to open before mom and dad get up. Mysteriously, the prize always contains 3 small items tailored for each child's likes and a note about how great it is to share, LOL!! Listen, I am a smart lady, and I like to sleep in. That stupid pickle usually buys me an extra 30 min of shuteye on Crimmah morning. ;-)


So there ya go. Merry Crimmah, y'all!!

A couple of crafty finishes and recent NOTD

I finished up some yarn wreaths that I've been procrastinating on big time. The small blue one is Miss M's and is now hanging in her room, the larger gold one is for my sister in law for giftmas, and the gold on on the wall is mine! The instructions I followed are here: Yarn Wreath with Felt Flowers



Next up is a paper garland I was inspired to make after receiving an excellent holiday card (thanks Lems!!). I originally saw the idea on whip up and can't remember the original blog the instructions were on to give credit. :( Sorry. I used all 'on hand' materials; cut the squares, triangles and circles from cardstock and sewed them together with the off white cotton thread I already had on the machine. A few clear tacks, one bump on the head and some clippy doodads I had laying around, and I am ready to display all the cards we receive this year!!




As for the tips, I'm currently wearing Zoya Irene, but haven't taken pics yet. Last week I wore Finger Paints Autumn Moonlight with a no name sheer pinkish glittery top coat over.




And just for fun, here's a pic of my cat Grapefruit. He's 11 years old, and we've had him since he was about 4 mos old. He followed my sister in law home from the bus stop, or so she says, lol. She was only 12 then, and is now 23. :) Anyway, Grapefruit is my oldest baby, lol, and he gets to do whatever he wants WHENEVER he wants. What he wanted last night was to sit on the tv and annoy the piss out of Mr. Raz! HAHAHAAAA!! I present to you "Decoration Cat."




So, there was a Payday candy bar commercial on at the time I took this pic. I find it both hysterical and embarrassing that there appears to be a nutty turd as big as life on my tv. LOLOL!!! Mmm. Appetizing. Makes me want to run right out and get one.

OMG I'm so sick. :( :( :( Worst timing EVER.

This was me last Saturday (well, one of them is me, lol) promoting the musical Scrooge: The Stingiest Man in Town at the city Christmas parade. I felt great.

Today? Not so much. The show opens TO-MOR-ROW. TOMORROW! And I am sick. SICK!! NO!!!! Why?!?! There's so much to be done, and I feel like ass. My head hurts, my nose is pouring snot, my throat is sore and swollen, my whole body aches, and we open TOMORROW!!!

I haven't painted my nails in 2 weeks (Lincoln Park After Dark Suede), and I just removed that chipped polish last night and filed my nails for the first time in a month yesterday. I have only sewed the things I needed for the show (6 gold bags with ribbon draw strings and a hack job of a petticoat for Miss M's costume--yes, she's in the show too!-- where I just cut the tulle and lining out of an old flower girl dress of hers, trimmed it and sewed some elastic to the waist). I have barely gotten dinner on the table this week. It's all I can do to do my hair and make up for the dress rehearsals.

This is just bad bad timing. Le sigh. Pity me.

I love when a new project is free! Paper flowers ...

I've been a crafting fool today. YAY!

So, I saw the most adorable little paper flower adornments at Bee In My Bonnet some time ago, and decided to give them a try tonight. I had everything on hand!! No running to the store and spending up more of our precious money on a whim, LOL!!! I'm so bad for that. Anyway, check out Bee In My Bonnet for the instructions to make these cuties.

I used different designs instead of all the same and only 4 tiers instead of 5. I just kind of mixed and matched my prints randomly. I also haven't decided if I will add leaves or not.

Close up of one of my favorite combos

A pile of pretty. Shame the colors get so washed out with my camera.

With flash ... gives a few of the colors a little better representation.

I have decided that one of these little cuties will adorn all of our xmas packages in lieu of the standard bow. In an effort to be more environmentally conscious, I also intend to wrap with either a new, made by me pillow case or newsprint tied with ribbon. I hope it goes over well!

Quilt Along Progress

Here are a couple shots of my quilt along progress (That Girl ... That Quilt Along)



Here is the mountain of scraps rendered from wonkifying my blocks.


Here are a couple of blocks laid out to show the wonky effect. It's pretty subtle, but gives the simple layout a little more interest.

Now I just need to sew the blocks into rows and the rows into the finished quilt top! The QAL layout is for 5 blocks by 8 blocks, but I'm not crazy about the long and narrow look. So, instead, I think I'll do 6x6.

I finished Miss M's blanket!!!

It's SO big. It took SO long. I am SO glad I'm finished!!! I started this crocheted blanket about 3 years ago, but only had about a 6 inch wide strip done as of this summer. Apparently I'm a slow starter ... Anyway, I started working on it in earnest mid-summer and it is DONE DONE DONE! Here's the whole thing on our love seat.


I used a yarn by Bernat in a raspberry color. 11 skeins in total. I got them on clearance oh so long ago. (and yeah, the cats scratch up the furniture)


Here it is folded in 4. It nearly covers the love seat cushions.


I added a ruffle around the edge in a teal color. I wanted something that would stand up to the raspberry, but I don't especially love it. In hindsight, I think a buttery yellow would have looked nice. Or brown maybe (her comforter is bright pink and brown).



I thought it might look nice if I rolled the blanket up to take a pic like the quilters do. Yeah, not so flattering on a crocheted afghan, lol!




I didn't use any pattern. I just did rows and rows of double crochet, and then I did alternating rows of dc and slip stitching, and then switched back to just dc and then back to dc/slst. The ruffled edge was super simple too. I just slip stitched 2 rows around to lay the foundation and then the ruffle is 3 chain stitches slip stitched in every other stitch of the foundation.

I don't even know if I'm using the right terminology, LOL!!! Anyway, overall, I'm really happy with this finish. It's my first crochet project ever, so in that respect, it's damn good! Miss M knows she's getting the blanket for xmas, but the teal portion I did all in super secret, so that detail will be a surprise. I can't wait till she sees it finished!

Sweet fabric giveaway at Retromummy!

Literally sweet, as in the Sweet Broderie range by Rosalie Quinlan. I'll tell you what ... if *I* win, Miss M's going to get a quilt and probably matching pillows. These fabrics are to die for for little girly girls.

Check it out and enter and Retromummy.

That Girl ... That Quilt Along progress ...

So, week one was pick fabric.

Check!

Week 2 was cut the fabric.

Check!

And now we're on week 3, assembling the blocks. Here is my progress so far.

That is 80 strips sewn to 40 squares and 80 seams pressed. OY! I need a taller ironing board! Bending over it is killing my back, and I have 240 more strips to piece and press!!!

I'm a complainer, but in reality I am really enjoying myself. I'm new to sewing, and getting better and better with each cut and each seam, and more confident. I can't wait to see the finished result and ship it off to my friend's little boy!!

Oh, and here's the sewing machine I use, just for fun.