Just Hatched Just Thinking

Who, What, Where and Now What?

Well, the big day has come and gone...  I had the fun of giving away FOUR birthday eggs!

Rachel found the Just Hatched Productions Egg - It was in the Photo  Section - Just Hatched Liturgical Design.  Then Rhonda found the next egg - It was the Just Hatched on ETSY... we were tricky there - we converted our logo to the birthday chick! LOL  Good eyes, Rhonda! 

Egg number three went to Diane up in Northern Wisconsin. She found the "25" egg on the Just Hatched Productions on ARTFIRE!  ... right down on the bottom of the page.  Last, but certainly not least, Carole's eyes also spotted the logo switch on  JHPQuilts on YouTube  when she found the "Pamela" Egg!  

For those who want to know - and if you tried to use the hits from the "Birthday Tale" - the remaining eggs were hidden...

Hint 1- "A beautiful Momma" ... birthday egg was hidden in post   She Had Such A Beautiful Face

Hint 2 - "Decent camera/movies"... You Tube egg - found

Hint 3- "Chatting with friendly neighbors" - Egg hidden in post under "I Said WHAT?" entitled  "Alright, The Neighbors Are Waving!"

Hint 4- "Teaching quilting, it's a good life".  - Egg in page on upper left "Living the Quilted Life"  

Hint 5-"Looking FORWARD to the new year" - Egg hidden with photos of "Facing Forward Quilt on Etsy at Facing Forward - An Art Quilt 

Hint 6- Girly world she gets 2 purses... happy graduation, look at this website!  Gabs Bags

WHO GETS THE GOODIES?

Rachel, who gets first pick in this one,  won round number 1 and got first pick of the presents.  Miss Baseball herself, she challenged me to come up with an art quilt.  HA!  said I.. easy  I'll be posting updates as we work or way through the process.  It's going to be VERYYYY cool!   Baseball, history, Dad.... yep.  seriously cool.

Next is Miss Rhonda... Whom I believe is picking a rag quilt from the goodie mix.  I'll let you  know her choice as soon as I do!

Then there  are Diane and Carole, whom I have not gotten in touch with yet.  As soon as I know, I will tell you. They sure have some fun things to choose from.  I know that Diane is hoping to come down to Chicago for a visit and hopefully work in the studio... I'll bet she's going to take that Studio Time!  Carole, Carole... I have no clue! LOL

Again, I want to thank everyone who participated.  I received many private emails and birthday wishes... those who posted were so very gracious.  I want to thank Gabrielle Ledesma of  Gabs Bags (one of our Wise Women Marketplace Vendors) for playing along with us and putting an egg on her Etsy site. 

I'll be posting people's choices and their quilts, etc. as they come along, if appropriate.  Meanwhile, I would love to hear if you enjoyed our little birthday party and if you would like to see more activities like this on the blog.  Remember that your feedback is going to help to make me  a more interesting blogger!

I am off to the Doc, then it's back to the studio for quiet work.  Prepping Barb's ministry quilts for her tomorrow.  Finishing the restoration of Ben's grandmom's quilt for his Mother... all sit down quiet work.   I'm getting there! Next week I'll be back to a more normal schedule.... yee haw!

I have some new vendors to add to the Marketplace and photos of the studio... just wait until you see it.  Since I've been home from the hospital I have gone thru every corner and every box and crate and not only cleaned but sorted and THREW AWAY oddments and tidbits and old zippers and voila.... wow! Look at how much room there is! LOL 

Can't wait for the July Dragonfly class to begin!   If you didn't receive the email video before  please call me or email me and we'll get the information to you!

 

I would like to thank Canadian Fibre Artist, Kathy Kinsella, for her inspirational "Dragonfly Dreams" wall art quilt and for her generousity in allowing me to use it  as an example for my students.  Simply Beautiful.

Kathy Kinsella on Etsy

 

It's Almost Here!!! (It's HERE NOW!) :-)

A little entertainment before we begin...

   

Now,  although these wonderful corgies were barking for the Queen Mum's 100th birthday... I am NOT the Queen... but I am a MUM... and I am most definitely NOT turning 100!!  BUT, I am celebrating and NO you are not going to know the number... ah heck, why not!  I'm turning a most exciting 52!   I say exciting because some very cool things are happening in my life and so I would like to celebrate with YOU!

     It's MY birthday but I'm going to give YOU presents!  LOL!  I like that!  Tonight, starting at midnight  ALL DAY LONG - UP UNTIL MIDNIGHT -(unless they are all found before then!) anyone who is a member of my blog is eligible to hunt on my website for any ONE of the  NINE gift certificates that I will have hidden around the site...  They are located on the blog itself and on any place that you can get to by clicking on a link FROM my blog... You didn't think this was going to be easy, did you?  Just think of everything that you'll get to see!!! 

Must be a Blog Member...

   You can join the blog by any of the ways listed in the right side column;  thru Networked Blogs, Rss Feed or Google Friend connect (which is tempermental and isn't always showing - Typepad thing).  You can join thru my Facebook Fan Page - Just Hatched Productions - just look for a blog entry there and "Like" ... and click away.

              

C'mon...Join the hunt. 

 

Once you find a birthday cake and my original Chick in the egg Logo telling you which certificate it is - come back and look at the comments to this post; if no one has comment that they have already found that certificate... start typing!  Tell the world that YOU FOUND IT FIRST,  leave your first name and email address so that I can get in touch with you. (Your email address will not show to others once you have posted your comments.)

 

Remember.. it's a CHICK in an egg.. not a BABY in an egg... LOL 

 

There are NINE "Eggs" hidden :

"June"

"25"

"1959"

"52"

"Studio JHP"

"Just Hatched Productions"

  "Just Hatched Quilts -ETSY"

"JHP- Artfire!"

and "Pamela"...

 

Winners and their gift certificates will be announced on the blog on Sunday, June 26th!!  Happy hunting and Happy Birthday... TO YOU!    Pamela

Looking for the Perfect Sky

Today I looked for a bunch of items; my glasses, Dobbie the cat, my special embroidery scissors, my 
glasses again, my wallet, my husband, and yes... my glasses.   But as it turns out, the most important thing that I searched for today was the sky.  Not any old sky, mind you... but the perfect sky.  

What's a perfect sky?  Well, it's got to be the right blue with just the right amount of "clouds", too.  Not that fake bright blue but a gentle, summer day kinda blue.  The kind he liked the best.   And the clouds... they should be those wispy, floaty ones that seem to be almost imaginary... yeah... that's what I want.   That would be perfect.  See, Dad, I do remember.

                    

LOOKING FOR SOMETHING

It's been 2 years now since he passed away from Pancreatic cancer and today is Father's Day.   In a few hours families all over the country are going to wake up and celebrate each in their own way.  Some of you will be joining with your Fathers and some, like my husband and I, will not.  It's ok, tho.  I mean, I miss my Dad... but  when I was going through my photographs for this project... I was smiling.  Wow.  It really IS ok. 

No matter the state of our individual "Dad-ship",  I venture to say that we each wake up today "looking for something"  simply because of the meaning of the day itself.  Some will find a good answer to that quest and some will not.  It took me until the day of my Dad's passing to find an answer that would let my heart rest and that too, is ok.  Today, like the title says, finds me looking for the perfect sky.

My Dad was a pilot ( just for fun altho he held several advanced ratings.)  He was the youngest licensed pilot in the US for several years way back in the day.  That would have something to do with my Grandfather owning an airport and my Dad's Godfather being the supervisor of Mitchell Field in Milwaukee. But hey, some kids take advantage of getting the keys to the car - my dad got the Cubbie!  ...in a snowstorm.    He was the impatient type.   ...No relation. 

BEEN THERE, FLOWN THAT

Anyhoo, over the years he filled an abnomal amount of log books, learned to fly many types of aircraft, did stunt flying and got me out of many a boring class to fly with him to lunch.  He had his moments but he could be one seriously cool dude! After I started my embroidery business I made him a jacket that had "Been There, Flown That" on it with a list of all the aircraft that he had flown throughout the years.  Funniest thing about it was that I gave it to him after he had moved from Wisconsin to Arizona...and he wore it anyway.  Had to be the only "Cotton Swab" in a jacket when it was nearing 90 outside! LOL  He wore it and proudly told EVERYONE who made it and why... told strangers, told waitresses, told the mailman.  Never told me.  Stubborn old coot.  ...No relation.

Sooooo, why the perfect sky?  Because he grew up in an airport... and so did I.  I grew up playing in the hangers of a little airport outside of Waukesha, Wi.  that is now known as Crites Field.   Dragging wooden wheel chocks around on their ropes like playtoys, playing with my sister in the shadows of Cessna wings and always being the "Ready Freddy" if someone needed a passenger to practice "touch and go" landings.  I wonder now what MY logbook would look like if I had kept one of my passenger time!  My sister and I had a VERY different idea in mind than most of our friends when we begged our Dad to "make us go upside down!"  And so, today...this Father's Day... I am looking for the perfect sky.

I PINKIE SWEAR

I was fortunate enough to be able to spend the last few months of my Dad's life out in Arizona with him.  We had some special times working together late at night and one of the things we talked about was that I would make a quilt for exhibition about the airport and our family.  He made me promise to do so.  The danged airport and the quilt. Pinkie swear.  Ok...maybe not pinkie swear but you get the idea. Well, I have since traveled up to the airport that my Grandpa founded and taken photos and started the process of getting old photos to THEM... check.  But now... it's time to start the quilt which means it's time to find me a sky.  

I'm going to have to look for one biggo piece of fabric that is just so... so wish me well.  I want to start with something worthy of that special pilot.   This is going to be a memory quilt, an art of the airplane, if you will. So you see...not just an y piece of blue will do.   I even have  photos of my Great-Grandparents in early, early J3-Cubs and other such incredibl e pictures that will trace my family's history... 

 
Heck, I even have one of  the frame  of a kit plane that they were putting together.  The funny part of the story is they had moved it to a new "barn/garage" which happened to be an old soap factory.  The first time they fired up the engine the pressure expanded all of the boards in the building and the old soap flaked off and it "snowed" like crazy down on them! Took them forever to figure out what was going on and shut down the plane!  Again, I say... no relation.

 

            WEST BEND AIRWAYS ALWAYS

 

I have my Grandfather's business card, his aviation club member ship 
and other wonderful items that I am going to build this quilt around.   The bottom will be a hanger with  "West Bend Airways",  my Grandpa's  place, over the door and all around will be those photos showing our past...  There's going to be two little girls dragging some chocks around the corner and a brunette sunning herself by the door.  Hi, Mom!  

 

And in that perfect sky with the perfect clouds you're going to see that perfect plane of his.  The circus kitty.  The Mooney.     Keeping company will be the rest of his fleet.  The Aeronica and the Apache (wings intact, Dad, wings intact!)...the Gypsy Moth and the Waco,  the Taylor Craft and the Twin Aztec... and above it all will echo your famous words.  "Been There... Flown That."  ...and all in a perfect sky.

 

Today I Talked to Russia

Well, not Russia...but to a Russian... IN Russia. AND I did it in Russian!  Well, I WROTE in Russian... in Cyrillic even!  And best of all?  Russia wrote back to me!  Talk about technology changing our lives!  Not a single hour spent agonizing over those nasty past or present tense verbs either!  Whoo, hoo... I talked to Russia and she talked to me and it's all thanks to Fee Bee Dee, Dee, Dee! 

WISE WOMAN MARKETPLACE

     You may have noticed my little "Wise Woman Marketplace" over to the left there...   It's full of wonderful women crafters and store owners who's places and products I myself patronize and recommend.  ANYHOO... I was planning on talking about it anyway but NOW I'm about ready to jump out of my skin to talk about it! LOL  Why?  Because today...Have I mentioned it?   I TALKED TO RUSSIA!

There is a brand new vendor on the Marketplace - WOOLFELTINGART - It's a little Etsy Shop run by IRINA.  I stopped in there a week or so ago and was thrilled to find some great art yarn that I had been searching for for a specific quilt... it was almost perfect for what I needed.   I whipped off an email with a photo of what I was planning to do and asked her if she could do something for me.  Meanwhile, I started surfing her shop.  OH MY GOODNESS!  Incredib ly cool things were to be found within - really different.  I looked at her profile - OH, no wonder they looked so unique - the woman is half a world away in Russia.   The next day I got a  return email asking for me to be patient as she needed to have a friend interpret for her.  No problem ... but then I got to thinking... translate, computer... there had to be a way.  GOOGLE!  Sure enough.   Type "translator" into the Google search box and up it comes!  Click on the original language and then click on what language you want it to end up in and then just type away!   By the next day we were both using it and  Holy Moly... you'd think we went to High School together!   No kidding... Russia!  

IT'S ALMOST CHRISTMAS IN JULY...ISN'T IT?

Irina gave me her Russian shop address and let me tell  you... I have my Christmas money spent 10 times  over already!  I'm torn between showing her stuff to all of my friends and "hoarding" her site until after the holidays so that I can buy gifts for those SAME friends FROM that little treasure chest of goodies!  What a conundrum!  LOL  I did finally decide NOT to be a selfish brat and I posted her link on my Facebook page... Good Pamela!  Woof! 

IT'S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL...

What I still am, however, is absolutely amazed at the power of Etsy and Artfire to bring people together.  My journey there started with a lovely artist of whom you've heard me talk about many times.  Phoebe Baker.  Phoebe has now become a friend and mentor of sorts; always willing to share her hard won knowledge base and talent with me.   She is an amazing photographer and digital artist along with printing the most fun and thought provoking fabric art!   Before "FeeBeeDee"  I simply used fabric from off the bolt! 
It never occured to me to incorporate anything different.  She opened my imagination to a VERY BIG WORLD by giving of herself and also by pointing me in the direction of other creative spirits that she thinks will twist my brain around.  Love the tweaking, Feebs.. keep it up!  Don't know how I'll ever repay you tho...   Those of you reading this - if you are ever looking for a print or greeting cards for "THAT" one person in your life. (you know the one) check out FeeBeeDee's site on the Marketplace - you will be SURE to find the perfect gift. I guarantee it!

After Phoebe I ran smack dab into Vicki Welsh, Fabric guru extraodinaire!  She makes the magic happen and her blog is something else.  When I grow up I want to be just like Vicki.  Nuff Said.  Click her Etsy site from the Marketplace, her blog from the Typepad Launch on the right.

 

UNIQUE...UNSTUFFY

How great is that for a description of a shop?  Doesnt' that just make you want to "come in?"... GABS BAGS......... So many of you have commented on that perfect little bag I use when I am using my cane - it came from here!   If anyone knows a lovely lady who is, like moi,  a "3-legger"... do her a great favor and when it comes to gift giving time?  Buy her one of these lovely bags;  They don't bang, or fall, or open up and drop stuff all over!  It's all in the unique design this brilliant woman came up with...kinda  like they were made for this specifically but they weren't! LOL   I told Gab if she didn't start marketing these I was going to beat her with my third leg but I would rather not.  Tee, hee, hee.  Trust me.  Check 'em out!   And for those who are simply purse-a-holics in their own right - Consider yourselves warned.

 

SO MANY HERE.... AND YET TO COME!

If you are in the Chicago area - there is Fabrics, Etc. 2 - better known as FE2 - my hangout, my best friend's store - the best quilting and embroidery shop  around. Miss Mary - she taught me everything I know.  Her - you'll find more out about later...

And there is Rainbow Girl Sarah from England,  andthe Golde n Onetoo with her beautiful scarves and Anita with her beautiful fabrics as well, and, and... wonderful women crafters and artists from all over the world... all gathering together on my little blog  page.
 

 

Blows me away, it does.  I encourage each of you to take a peek thru the market when you can.  Each of these ladies works hard at what she does; honing her skills and perfecting her techniques.  If you can patronize their shops, please do.  I would appreciate if you would let them know that you  found them here, as well.  :-)   Ladies, lifting one another up.  I like that.  Especially when my arms can reach all the way from Rolling Meadows to Russia and find a friend.

From Feebs to Fabric and purses to possibilities....But most of all,

From the Marketplace with Love, Pamela

 

If Tinkerbell Went to Tokyo

She would have designed this quilt... I'm telling you.  She would have! More on this in a bit... 

Wow. What a day!  Today is the first day since I came home from the hospital that I actually went into the studio to "bring order to chaos".   I started out the day with every good intention - make a list of everything that needed doing.   House, Self, Studio.   STOP LAUGHING!  Really... ok, you can giggle - Lord knows that I am!  But it NEEDED to do this... list making.  I feel a little blown to bits.

THE HOUSE

Let's see  - First there was the "House"... can't do a lot there yet without clearance from the doc but hey, I DO have a slew of items that need to be listed on Ebay... and now that I have a (say it with me) "Decent camera" it will be a snap...  so it looks like "Photograph and List Items on Ebay" can go on the House list. 

What else? Oh, Mr. Ben decided to go thru his closets  and now he wants at the storage closet which co-exists peacefully in ...the studio.   Love the hubs...not his timing.  But as  this will result in the storage closet becoming STUDIO property???  IT'S ON THE LIST!  

Last, but not least... try to find my clothes again.   The daughter and hubs did all of the laundry while I was gone and they were kind enough to put it away.  Somewhere.  In the house.   Pillowcases are ... somewhere.   Matching towels?  Don't ask.  And my ...bras... are AWOL.  Scribble, scribble.  Search for laundry... ON THE LIST!   

  

                                                   CALLING CLAIROL 

SELF - one thing and ONE THING ONLY... become a red head again.  Nuff' said! 

                                                         STUDIO JHP

STUDIO -  Two customer quilts to get back into the loop,  quilt labels to digitize and embroider for all of the spring projects that are ready to be listed, finish the quilting on Ben's grandma's quilt so that it can get shipped, oh and some time needs to be spent surfing for the raw  materials for the ideas that I bumped around in my head while I was stuck in aforementioned hospital,  new class ideas need to be put together,  and LASTLY finish up the photo album work for the blog. ... breathing would be good here.

WHERE would YOU start?   Which leads me all the way back to the beginning of this blog entry and Tinkerbell visiting Tokyo.   

You see,  I was ...alone... in the studio today.   Just me and my imagination. :-)   The "house" list?   Posted on my to do wall for tomorrow.   I'll be a redhead as soon as I get out of the shower later tonight. Check that one off.   Studio list will be tackled in good order but oh, oh, I was alone in the studio today!

I was alone exercising my imagination. Ooh!  Isn't that what quilting is for?  (or whatever you happen to do to express yourself?).   My imagination got a workout and my ...self... took a very large step towards healing today.  I was smart enough to put the "List-y Lists" to the side and do what was really important.  Exercise my laugh muscles.   Use the little kid that lives inside to see things in a different light and then, praise God, have the courage to stand by what that little girl has to say.   Kind of introspective, I know.   So what exactly did I do?   I named my quilts. 

To some, that may sound a bit silly... or not.  It is kind of like birthing a biggo problem child when you are finally done! LOL   Or a perfect angel of a quilt creation...   Click here for a great account of one of those! Tanya's story of creating a Crazy Quilt/Memory Quilt   

But for me?   The most important part of creating a quilt is the naming of it at the end.  Oh sure, they all start with some working title so that we're not doing the "can you move quilt number 7 out of the way please" thing here in the studio!    And even if it's just a simple crib blanket... it gets a name.   (Now you either think I'm really nutz or you just decided I'm the kind of friend you'd like to get to know better!... I hope it's the latter!)

Today was the day I pulled the whole darned stack off of the rack and had the pleasure of naming them and creating individual embroidered labels for each.  What a joy it is going to be as the week progresses to photograph (with the DECENT camera) each piece and post them!   All my new kids of the blocks... har, har, har.

There's  "Come Together"... a strange little art piece made out of ONE fat quarter,  two jelly roll strips and 2 pieces of silk habotai ribbon.  Remember that old "Family Circus" cartoon where the mom would tell one of her children to "Come straight home from school" and it would show the convoluted pathway the kid took?  Over the neighbor's fence,  thru the alley, over the doghouse, around the fountain at the park on the corner 3x, etc?  Well, that's what I saw when I looked at this fabric - this sort of pathway thru the roses.  I cut it apart, inserted the jellyroll strip, then quilted it with these two ribbons coming down one on each side... to meet in the middle down at the bottom like two folks finally... coming together.   I decided to just loosely knot the ribbons and let them hang off the edge of the quilt because well,  you never know...  The fun part about this quilt is that I inserted a sound chip right over the knot - push it and it plays the Beatle's tune "Come Together"... that funky weird song that took us all forever to learn the words to (if we ever did! LOL).   It matches the whole thing... Here come old flattop....  Yeah... come together...

Then I had an idea a few months ago... to make a quilt for people who love spring flower C

OLORS but  aren't exactly the "Floral" type.  Don't we all know someone like that?  I put together this cool strip quilt with green on the bottom, long "flower" stripes in the middle, and blue sky on the top and was determined to call it "You don't bring me flowers!" right from the get go!  Well... as I was finishing the quilting process the border stretched out...and out...and out.  And the quilt ended up looking so danged fun that it just couldn't have a negative name!  Enter the crazy quilter... it just looked like "one heck of a fine day" as my Opa would have said.  Hmmm, one fine day.... I wonder?  Would it work?  Won't know unless I try it... so away we went my new quilting gloves and I and before you know it -that old border was made quick work of!  All around that quilt in big and small script is... "One fine day"... tee, hee, hee.  

As long as we're on the subject of mighty fine days... I finished "Wrapped in Summer"... a little retro picnic blanket made from scraps from another project.  Red and pink and vintage sage and that peculiar sunny creamy yellow that streams in the windows on June afternoons...  The windows where you ALWAYS find the cat all curled up with his tail twitching in contentment.  Wrapped  in summer... light and breezy and say, would you pass me an apple?

Speaking of cats... "MAD LUCY" is ready for market... My old crazy girl cat passed away this past winter and this quilt is a tribute to her.  Dark as the nights she roamed the house, yet bright with the tiniest of neon polka dots for her indomitable spirit!  It's a log cabin styled, optical illusion with batiks and just crazy gorgeous.  Gotta love a little wierdness tho cuz there's a little Mad Lucy embroidered onto the corner!

Since we're kind of in psychedelic mode... I can't wait for you to really see good photos of "Twin Suns and Daughters" !   My watercolor art quilt - first in a series of 3 that will be worked on this summer.   My friend, Phoebe Baker,  (check her site on Redbubble out on the Wise Woman Marketplace!) made these fabulous prints and they inspired these art quilts.  I actually cut up the print, used some of the fabric  as squares,  used the suns  and treescapes whole and then created the fantastical background behind them.   Just got me to remembering my science fiction days and earth daughter moon sun things... and oh yeah....

This is definitely going to date me but can we crank up a little Led Zeppelin?  "Stairway to 1977"  just had to be the n ame of a little fire orange and water blue with kaleidoscope print art quilt that I finished off just this evening with TA-DA... Swarovski crystals!   A reminder of crazy, fun high school and late nights with 
that special boy friend and homecomings that turned into a wedding dance on down the road.  This one's for you, Jeffrey... you may have gone on ahead of the rest of us but your personality and your daughters keep you here with us still.  Rock on!

 

...and then there's Tink.

That one quilt that is just a little different, a little more something than the others.  It was giving me fits.  A Japanese style Bento Box... gorgeous fabrics replete with rich blues and golds and vibrant greens.  I swear the thing shimmers like, well, like it has fairy dust on it! LOL    Since I don't know Japanese from Albanian I wasn't going to even try to do the pretentious thing (coming from me - a Japanese name?).   And then, it hit me.... the green... the shimmer... it's TINKERBELL GREEN!  Trust me, I'm a Yaya to several young granddaughters... Tinkerbell green I KNOW.   ...and then the giggles hit along with the crazies.   Hmmm... well, you know, IF Tinkerbell went to Tokyo... these would be the fabrics she would like...  YEP!   By gosh... If Tinkerbell Went To Tokyo is a mighty fine quilty name!   ...and I'm willing to bet that someday that quilt title is going to grab someone else's quirky sense of humor and it's will find it's home!

Sure,  there's more but you get the idea.   There's always a place to have fun in art... and I for one am not about to pass up that place.  How about you? 

So tonight as I wind everything down... I am wondering if any of you guys do the same thing?  Any special things you do when  you finish projects?  Victory dances that we should know about that take place when UFO's (Un-Finished Objects) become gorgeous goods? I know you're out there having fun...

As for me...Job is done.  They all have their names. I've checked that one off the list and I'm heading to       bed... IF I can find some pajamas!  

Just Hatched...Just Thinking... Pamela   

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Picture of Married Life

Why can’t it always be this …. Simple?   OK, so after yet another 2 week hospital stay (that’s for another post this is WAYYY more important that that!) I’m back in the saddle again and have FINALLY put all the pieces back together again to this humpty dumpty of a blog.  Some of you might have been gone along with me but the last time I came on to “bring spring to the winter look” of Just Hatched, Just Thinking” my lovely laptop blew it’s lovely mind and the end result was that my entire blog was blown to bits. (I love my computer and it loves me… I love my computer and it loves me….)  Sooooo after biting the bullet and spending a day or two or getting it all pieced back together again(is it still 2011?)  I was wandering about the studio today wondering what I was going to write about when this whole scenario took place. 

As I walk by my husband’s home office door he shouts out –

HUBS: Hey, honey… How come you just don’t use this camera?

ME: What camera?

HUBS: The one I got you for your birthday last year.

Which stopped me in my tracks, thinking frantically…some foggy memory coming to mind…then wait for it… clearer…yes, yes,… the HUBS absconding with said camera for … HUBBY PROJECTS!   Why?  Because the WIFE has an iphone with a perfectly good camera on it!  OK, so…  

ME:  Hand over the camera. 

End scenario.

 Yes, it’s a common American household occurrence, this ahem, misplacement of goods.  And yes, family members SHOULD share but oh… when the HUBS is so darn HUBBY????   Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhh.   Belly up to the girl bar, with me, won’t you?

For the past 2 months I have been fussing about how I cannot get good photos of my quilts for website marketing, heck for any marketing because I DO NOT HAVE WHAT?

A decent camera.

I have spent the past week trying to redo a non-existent budget, using all of my wiles to con it into producing funds for what?

A decent camera.

Lost sleep surfing E-bay, and burned my brain out looking at cookware, jewelry and easy-pay BBQ grills on QVC hoping to find…. A decent camera.

And all this time Mr. Decent Camera was living a scant 10 feet from my own studio door.  Who knew?

Ah…now we come to the heart of the matter.  WHO KNEW?   That handsome face has  been hiding this secret for almost a year.  He and his cats.   Pirating my birthday booty!   Keeping me from my very own Kodak moments!   Easy Share technology hoarders!  Hah!  See where that gets you now that you no longer have it!  Har, har, har….

Lord, knows I love the man.  But when I asked him WHY on earth he hadn’t said anything oh, like,  “RED, YA ALREADY GOT A CAMERA! “ during this entire period of  photo sturm and drang his answer was simply “I just thought you didn’t like the one I had gotten you.”  Well, shut the front door!  This lovely man has gone an entire year thinking that I didn’t like his birthday gift.  WHOOOOOOPS! (The pirate wench will be leaving us now.)

   Sometimes I wonder how we manage not to burn this place down! LOL

And so, my quilty friends, I’ll be going now.  I have some photos to take and some snuggling to do with the HUBS.  After all, he did get me one heck of a birthday gift! AH…these are the times of our lives, are they not? Wishing you the same. Pamela