Thunder...thunder...THUNDERCATS -- HO!!!!!!

Sorry about the blog post title, peeps. It just thundered outside my window, and instead of it making me think of the obvious (rain), it harkened me for a brief moment back to my childhood in the 80's, back when my older brother dominated the television, and we watched shows like the ThunderCats.

I'm not gonna lie. I love the rain we are getting today. And have had for several days now. And might be having for several more.

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This morning my quilting group decided not to meet. I have to say, there are some weeks it's like pullin' teeth to get me down there, on account of the amount of things I'm usually trying to tackle that day. But I do love those ladies, and we have such a fun time together. So this morning, I was a little disappointed to be missing my weekly "pick-a-little-talk-a-little" session. (Now, if you don't know what movie that is from, shame on you. You'd best get yourself right out to rent "The Music Man"!) So I decided to make the most of it and use the same amount of time to get a little fun sewing done. That's right, only fun sewing. It's been too long since I've been able to sit down and make something just 'cause I felt like it.

Just before I sat down to sew, I popped in my most recent Swap-a-DVD acquisition. It's been a few years since I'd seen it, but I was pleasantly reminded of how much I LOVE this movie. It is definitely my #1 favorite old movie. Every single detail about the movie is utterly charming. Leslie Nielsen was quite the dreamboat in his day -- good thing those goofy "Airplane" movies from the 1980's were not the pinnacle of his career. Oh, if I evah had the opportunity to dress up like Tammy and pretend to be a Southern belle like this, well Nell's bells, that would be somethin'...



(The movie takes place in the late 1950's, but these are from a scene where all of the characters get dressed up for reenactments.)

Then I cranked out some nine-patch blocks for this. This "quilt-a-long" calls for one nine-patch block to be made every day until sometime this summer, when there should be enough blocks to sash together to make a quilt similar to this inspiration one:


(Inspiration photos and quilt courtesy of Flickr user "Swim Notes".)

Heaven knows I have enough fabric and scraps to spare, so I figure I'd best join up on this one! Since it started Monday, I used this morning's movie time to get caught up, and to get ahead, since I might be too busy to crank one out tomorrow. Here are my offerings so far:






I also finished the other April block for the Pieced Together Quilting Bee. Here is my block for Erin:


She asked for "squares and rectangles", and that is what I came up with. Not the most difficult block to make, but those awesome retro fabrics speak enough for themselves without me having to make up some complicated block. I'm really enjoying the virtual quilting bee.

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I read this charming blog post this morning and was immediately taken over by the green-eyed-monster -- come on, how quaint is that, renting a cherry tree in the English countryside?


(Image courtesy of HenHouse. If you've never visited her blog, brace yourself for oodles and oodles of cute things, not to mention the fact that I guarantee you will become taken over by the green-eyed-monster as well when you see her cottage in the English countryside!)

I'm afraid the only thing worth renting 'round these parts in the countryside of Wonderland might be some peach trees where you could pick up a few bonuses of ticks and chiggers, not to mention the accents here aren't quite as enchanting as those over the pond. Yep, not quite as romantic of a picture I just painted for you, huh?

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Now that I hopefully will be able to do more and more fun sewing (now that the crazy busy months of March and April are over), I am also participating in this: Craft Hope Project 2: Casa Bernabe Orphanage. If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you'll know that my beautiful son (trust me, he's beautiful, even if his picture has never been posted on here) is from Guatemala, just south of Nicaragua. The orphanage is located in Nicaragua. Craft Hope is working with Eren and the ORPHANetwork to provide handmade, soft-bodied dolls for the children. Many of the children come from abusive situations and the dolls will allow the children to develop the mothering and nurturing instincts that most little girls have. Their main requirement is that the dolls have dark hair and dark eyes -- just like my gorgeous boy. I can do that!

I sure as heck have never made a doll, but now is the perfect time to put that Wee Wonderfuls "Olive and Archie" pattern I bought over a year ago (or more?!) to good use. I'm going to try to make more than one -- my personal goal is one boy and one girl. I'll keep you posted.

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Last, but certainly not least, I have to send out a shout-out to my Spud Bud, Courtney, who was a willing participant and let me drag her to a music concert with me last night. Oh yeah, baby, we might have been the oldest cats in the room, haha, but we had fun. (I can't help it if I'm wise beyond my years and enjoy listening to the some of the same music as most young twenty-somethings, haha.) Not only was the music pretty enjoyable, but the people-watching wasn't too shabby either. Anytime you are able to nickname characters with the terms "Man Boobs" and "Trenchcoat", well, there are bound to be some good times.

I'll leave you with this video I found on YouTube -- Mr. Costa singing my favorite of his songs, "Miss Magnolia" (although I still maintain that I like the studio recording much better than the live version):