Turtle

would you believe this little fellow was the size of a quarter when we bought him in china town July of last year? I had to keep the water low in the tank because I thought he might drown if I filled it to high!
now look at him, the bruiser! hes as big as my hand & his claws are sharp too!

my oldest DD has made him a harness (like a friendship bracelet) so she can take him for walks across the lawn! you've got to watch him though he's fast! His full name is Flap Jack Spot, Flap for short, and with the youngest DD's allergies the only animal we can have for the nonce.
I think he's going to need a bigger tank. Soon!

Hello again

Sorry I haven't been much of a blogger,of late. life has a funny way of keeping you to busy to think sometimes. Suffice to say I haven't been able to keep up with much of anything lately, even my garden is suffering! For the first time, that I can remember, I haven't gone to the nurseries to get plantings the minute they come to the store. & so it's now June & the perennials are doing great, but there are no annuals to fill in the bare spots.... Yet.

Any way work is going well the PYB"S (Powers that be) keep giving me more stuff to do, which means the reward for a job well done, is more work! I've started to ride my bicycle to work more consistently, its a 9 mile ride & it's nice to be able to. I have a place to shower when I get there so I'm not funky all day, also a perk!

I've had no time for much in the way of sewing, tho i did sew a monster for my eldest DD' birthday. Pier 1 provided the idea & DD provided the drawing of Boogger.Ain't he sweet!

Anyhow I need to get back to some semblance of sewing I've just had no oomph!

I got no game.

my get up & go , got up & went.

I am out of shape, well i have a shape, it's just fruit shaped instead of me shaped!

if I keep peddling I'll get there! pant, pant, pant! huff, puff!

Flora;)

Tagged By Gerry a long time ago!

by Carol



How it works: SCATTERGORIES...It's harder than it looks! Erase my answers, enter yours, tag 10 people, post it to your blog, and then notify them, including the person who tagged you."Use the first letter of your first name to answer each of the following.They have to be real places, names, things..nothing made up!Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.



WHAT IS YOUR NAME

Flora



4 LETTER WORD

flap

VEHICLE

Ford Mustang



TV SHOW

Fringe
( my original answer was Fibber Magee & Molly. I'm still not sure it ever made it to tv from radio)

CITY

Flint Michigan



BOY NAME

Frederick



GIRL NAME

Fiona



OCCUPATION

Flobotomist



SOMETHING YOU WEAR

Flip-Flops



FOOD

MMm, Fudge



SOMETHING FOUND IN A BATHROOM

Farding supplies

(NO, I did not make a spelling error! http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/farding)



REASON FOR BEING LATE

Fowel traffic



SOMETHING YOU SHOUT

You people trying to get me in trouble?!





OK, who to tag?????

my purse

I finally decided that it was about time to make my own purse.

I may busier than a ten peckered owl but I can still find time to sew!

as you can see its till in the planning stages so please excuse the pins.

& I liked the material I used for Ann's oriental block that I used them again here.

sorry for the cramped nature of the picture, but I can't find my camera & had to scan it!

Flora;)

Has it been a month already!!!

as you know if you read this little blog, I got a job last month.
I thought time was zipping by before!
now I barely have time to sneeze!
My day starts around 5:30am, & ends at 11:30
when I wake up after having fallen asleep in front of the TV. Again.
Work is wonderful, finally somewhere I can go people
actually appreciate what I do for them, so far.
I'm getting to know my co-workers & I even remember some of their names!
the Boss is there enough that my typing is getting better,
but not so much that he's annoyed at the glacial pace with
which I type! I haven't found anyone who will do the laundry,
so I'd better get on it or it will smother us all in our sleep.
sorry no pics. I haven't worked out the logistics of sewing while commuting.

Flora;)

OHMYGOD! I'm A real grownup!

forgive me folks, as I'm reeling from culture shock of the first order.
I have my very first full time job in 17 years!
This is very different from what I have been doing,
which is to say not much, as I was in part time sales.
when you re not standing around doing nada,
you re running around trying to do every ting at once.

now I'm an executive assistant to the owner of a BMW dealership
-which is quite famous here in Chicago.
I've gotta brush up on my typing skills, boy are they rusty!
I have a real job!
now who can I get to do the Laundry that has been piling up since Friday??? HMMM?
Flora

christmas purses

Here are the pictures of the finished Christmas purses I made.

my daughters get one each or WWII develops.

DD#1

& DD#2

Mom



& 2 girlfriends



Flora;)

A little Christmas questionaire

Merry Christmas to all I hope every one had a spectacular day!


A little Christmas questionnaire


1. Wrapping or gift bags? both



2. Real or artificial tree?Artificial, real trees make the DH sneeze.



3. When do you put up the tree?DEC 1



4. When do you take the tree down? Jan1



5. Do you like eggnog? yep!



6. Favorite gift received as a child? 68 count crayon box & a huge pad of paper



7. Do you have a nativity scene? yes, we have my fathers old set ( mom is a non believer)



8. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? socks



9. Mail or email Christmas cards? I try to mail cards every year, but it never seems to get
done. I emailed them this year.



10. Favorite Christmas Movie? national lampoons Christmas vacation, it reminds me of Christmases past.



11. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I've worked retail for years and I HATE shopping. we go as a family early in the morning to beat the crowds 3-4 days before & have breakfast after to gloat over how much everyone will like what we got.



12. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? a deep fried turkey, Prime rib or lamb, homemade fudge, marzipan & peanut brittle, garlic caraway dip, almond cookies. drool!



13. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear outside, bubble and colored lights on the tree.



14. Favorite Christmas song? Angelus Ad Virginem, & carol of the bells



15. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home.



16. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? you betcha!



17. Angel on the tree top or a star? a lit star



18. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas Morning? Christmas morning.



19. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Shopping.



20. Do you decorate your tree in any specific theme or color? Nope, the tree is covered with
ornaments from all over the place & i add to it every year



21. What do you leave for Santa? Cookies and carrots for his reindeer



22. Least favorite holiday song?all I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth



23. Favorite ornament? a big fat pink pig with w red bird on its behind & the inch worm

stitch diary #2

I haven't been doing this for very long & i do have other sketch books, but they are not CQ related. Here's the rest of my stitch diary, Enjoy!

Flames have always held a certain fascination for,

probably the reason I married a Fire fighter.
random doodles & American Indian motifs
Book margin & Mexican designs

birds & my name in several different languages
bad doodle & Eskimo designs

henna design inspired, I love the elephant

ancient English pictogram's, & more henna art

doodle gonehorribly wrong, & more ancient English pictogram's

I hope you had fun!

Flora

my christmas stocking

This year I decided to make myself a christmas stocking that says Flora!

I havent finished with it yet, but I think it's a good start!

I've made the old one over to my BIL since I don't think he has one yet.

I made one for Lily too, as this is her first christmas, I know she doesn't have one.

they are spending christmas morning with us this year.

it will be nice to have the whole family together for the first time.

Flora;)

I grew up on the north side of Chicago under the bleachers of Wrigley field (down the block actually it just sounds more poetic! )

one block north on grace was an old convent-I don't remember which one-who's bells would toll the hours & had special bells for noon & Monday evening, Saturday & Sunday mass.
all the other churches in the neighborhood would do the same so when the hour came you would hear all the bells go almost at once.
my favorite were the Christmas bells 8:00 in the morning they would peel the descending bells for 10 minutes to celebrate the coming of Christmas morning. i so miss that sound.

behind the high stone walls of the convent used to be an orphanage. which turned into a school for disturbed children. one of the students set the bell tower on fire one night & it fell to the ground with a final muffled bong.

I didn't realize how much I missed the comforting sound of church bells, until we moved into our house & I discovered that st.Ferdinand's church still has bells that toll the hour & have "specials" for noon & high holidays.
the bell towers in Chicago, for the most part are all automated & recorded., or have their bells muted if they have bells in them at all.
yet another part of childhood gone the way of the wrecking ball. sigh

Christmas purses

I am currently making little purses, for the Girlie's in my life.

I give my inspiration to Janet of I'm going crazy; you come too. gocrazywithme.blogspot.com

I love her purses, they are soo beautiful!

for my youngest, who loves dogs, but can't have one because of allergies

one for my eldest, who loves fairies

& one for her best friend who loves sharks, any one know where I can find a shark patch?

Flora

my stitch diary

I decided to put a few pages of my stitch diary on my blog today.

you never know where an Idea will come from.

most of these are just random drawings & some have a purpose,

all are things I've seen & liked the look of or imagined & worked with until it felt right.

I don't always use everything I draw,but sometimes in drawing something I find another solution to whatever is stumping me.

maby by looking into my stitch diary, It might encourage you to make your own.

I find that sharing is helpful & it almost always shakes something loose.

enjoy!

Flora;)

my creative mess & a critter tale

OK!
since Allison Aller has shown her mess & given the link to Alma Stoller, http://almastoller.typepad.com/almastoller/mastoller.typepad.com/almastoller/ .
who has challenged all of us to show our creativity storms.
I am posting pics of my own mess, which surprisingly enough isn't so messy.
Here is my room from the door looking north

the corner leading to my "Closet" looking out from the closet

the west wall with all my rulers, skiving pictures & shelf stuffmy sewing table.
I had to clean it up a bit to move it around some & make it easy for the DH to get out the window to fix the roof before we had bigger problems than a little leak in my DS's room.
not to mention replacing tiles where a raccoon was trying to get into the eaves.
pesky critter!
I was up late one night sewing to the light of my Machine & looked out the window to see this very FAT raccoon digging up tile outside the window!

so I yelled at it, & It HISSED at me!
Cheeky Bugger!
I then flapped my hands at it to shoo it off the roof,
it turned it's back on me & went back to digging up the tiles!
That's when I decided, I had enough of this sort of behavior.
Bad enough, to get that sort of thing from the DD's & DS, I was not taking it from a Raccoon!
so I threw my shoe at it.

& missed. Crap!
so I threw the other shoe at it.
Gotcha!
right in the tush! ha! take that wild kingdom!
(run around the room with hands in the air, yelling YES!)

Flora, the fearless raccoon chaser!
( hear queens-we are the champions in the background!)
any how I got rid of the critter.
we fixed the the problem & put new tiles down on the roof.


now back to that messy fun stuff,
the press by the couch, where I put all my works in progress. makes it easy to clean, just shut the lid!

one of the chests of drawers I keep my larger stash in
2nd drawer is full of "after 5" fabrics
I've also got drawers full of velvet, gauzy & meshy, eyelet & muslin, old cloths to pretty to toss or hand down.
I can't understand it, Its usually so messy I can't get into the door!
I'm sorry I've let the community down by having a mostly clean room.
I could cheat & show you the children's rooms,
but I'm afraid the board of health has condemned it today!)

well that's the grand tour. hope you enjoyed it.


MommaBear

foolin' around

I've not gotten any of the RR's, so I have been trying to work on some old projects.

But I keep getting distracted by things, like re-arraigning my sewing room .

must be under the influence of Allison Aller & her blog Allies in stitches http://alliesinstitches.blogspot.com/!

yeah, that's it! It's all allisons fault !)

but seriously folks, don't you hate the dry spell that, propels you into the room love to play in, to CLEAN?

maybe I need a new distraction, & put those old projects in the ufo file, for now.

maybe I will be inspired to them later.

Flora

YFS- I have been blessed

I have finished what I intend to do on Lori's block.
the picture is from an old childhood book of mine, I loved the picture & it fit right in with the song,& the tatting is my first attempt so be gentile !)
Ahh it's good to have a scanner again!
the old one was dieing a slow and terrible death by inches & grinding noises, so we finnally got a new one after much fussing & pricing. I must say this one while noisier , is much faster. the old one was 7 years old, so it was about time to upgrade anyway. & it does double sided copies. COOOL!

weather, or not

Well we just had one of our patented Chicago weather changes
one day its 85* & the next its 50*( brrrrr!)
we do the same thing in what passes for spring around here.
one day it'll be nasty & 35* & the next thing you know the suns out,
it's 75* & your still in a sweater & heavy socks!

we had to run around the house closing the storm windows & bleeding the radiators!
I need to get all the sweaters & fall & winter coats out of the storage space & put all the shorts away before someone thinks it still 85* out!

we all need to acclimatize some. I discovered to my dismay 3 sweaters were almost enough to keep warm!
I love this weather!
the leaves on the trees will start to change any day now, & chimneys will start to smoke.
then after Halloween, Thanksgiving is next, my absolute favorite Holiday! The whole family will get together With a few Friends & mt DH will make one or two of his marvelous cheese cakes & deep fry a few turkeys (YUM!) i'll make sweet potato crunch, green bean casserole, fresh cranberry sauce & a honey baked ham! OOOOH! I can't Wate!

now if I can just find the humidifiers, before my lips start peeling!

Ann's Oriental all done

I don't normally post this much with one project
But I had so much fun with it,that I am thinking of making one for myself!
I'm pleased with how this one came together, tho it is not in the same colorways as the other 4 blocks, it doesn't clash with them either. it does stand out! (G!)


I loved the picture of the girl brushing her hair, It's so calming. then I thought about who is this girl?
is she the wife or daughter of a well to do family ?
what things would be a part of her world?
What peaceful pieces could I incorporate into this piece.
the flowers from her garden.
the 3 trees were fun to do. the ginkgo & the bamboo were the first things I put down,
The orange tree ws last because my thread would have caught on all the oranges, & made me crazy!
the boy fabric, is he her teasing brother or her son ?
the butterfly fabric is beautiful with the butterflies & cherry blossoms & it's that "honking orange" I love to incorporate into almost all my quilts .

the koi pond is also some of my favorite fabric.
It reminds me of when we go to the Morton arboretum, they have this pond with the most Enormous koi. the children keep feeding them & every year they get bigger & bigger.
this year they look big enough to swallow small dogs!

anyway thees where some of the thoughts I had while stitching & I just thought I'd share them with you.

thanks for coming , see you again some time!

Flora

Ann's Oriental update

I thought I would give you an update on how the progress is going with the oriental block. I don't do this muck, not because I don't want you to see what I'm doing, but because I get all involved & for get to!

most of the seam treatments are laid down but not finished, I have a few beads planned, some embroidery to be named later & maby even some SRE. well have to see. I just got my next YFS block so I'll have to cogitate on it.

FLora

Ann's Oriental block

I just got my hot little hands on Ann's fabric & here is the result!

I'm planning on a whole lotta seam treatments beads , bells whistles & suff! he,he,he,!
Flora