Pass The Peanuts Please! #6

Merry Peanuts Christmas in July!

Through the years many Peanuts-themed fabrics were produced. Right now there isn’t a current fabric of Peanuts Christmas.

Not to be dissuaded, disillusioned, discouraged or defeated, I went a-looking.

My first stop for anything vintage, unusual or gift-worthy is Etsy. All homage to Etsy. If you’ve never visited them, you. are. in. for. a. big. treat. Colossal. Tremendous. Mammoth. Jumbo.

I was not disappointed! There is a plethora of Peanuts Christmas Fabrics! Just type in “Peanuts Christmas Fabric.” Bingo!

Here’s a itsy-bitsy sampling:

Peanuts Characters Caroling, small, blue


Peanuts Christmas comic strip panel



Peanuts Characters in Holiday Pageant


I Want A Dog for Christmas, comic strip

Christmas Time Quilt Panel



Be Merry Holiday Charlie Brown Fabric

And here’s a real find!

A fabric soft book of Charlie Brown and the Christmas Stocking

I’m sure there’s fabric at Ebay; I didn’t even check. I have had wonderful experiences buying through Etsy. I have never gotten any item that is less than exactly what was described!

Enjoy!

Ta da! Here is the answer to last week’s question: Name the members of Snoopy’s family.

Snoopy has 5 brothers and 2 sisters! Whoda thunk it? Only 5 appeared in the comic strip.

SPIKE

ANDY

OLAF

BELLE

The two that never showed up on the strip:

Molly

Rover

This week’s question:  What did Marcie call Peppermint Patty? What did Peppermint Patty call Charlie Brown?  Leave your answers in the comments below!

Mish Mosh Monday #4: The Great Mosquito Contest

Camping is a great love of mine. I haven’t camped out enough, but there were a couple of years that I went with my kids.

The kids and I always had fun. We played card games, swam in the river, told stories at night in the tent, and ate food you would only eat while camping.

R: Our overloaded car for camping, Middle: Noel Heart cooking, L: Noel Heart & I riding in our boat

When school was out and summer school was over, the kids and I would pack up in the summer and go camping. The first year, we met my Sisty Ugler and her daughter at Chetco River campground, just over the border in Oregon. 

Playing in the sand & water at Chetco River, We weren't much good at pole tents!

The campground was ideal. It had a beautiful, clear river flowing right next to it, there was beach to play on and plenty of space to ride bikes.

Another reason the campground was idyllic was the lack of other campers. The big attraction in camp-grounds in the area was down in Brookings on the coast.
 The Chetco River campground was just used as overflow when the coast campground filled up. Consequently, the river campground was only full on Fridays and Saturdays.

Salamanders! TGS playing Solitaire

The second year, the kids and I went alone. We 
brought our two man boat and would sail, two at a time, on the river. The water was so clear you could see all the way to the bottom, 8-10 feet down, and see salamanders walking on the sandy river bottom. There were wonderful places to swim too.

Nancy Drew in a tree, TGS & Nancy Drew building a fire, Noel Heart

We were getting our fair share of mosquito bites too. Every night, I would be awakened two or three times by someone needing me to put Campho Phenique on their itchy bites.
 For fun, I announced a contest. During the week we 
were there, we would see who could get the most mosquito bites.

The rules were: As soon as the mosquitoes came out in the evening, everyone had to put on long-sleeved shirts and pants, then put mosquito repellent on all exposed skin. At the end of the week, the one with the most bites would be declared winner.
 The week we spent camping was the best vacation I've ever been on. I had worked my first year as instructional aide at Montgomery High. Being on vacation with the kids restored my spirits and I found the perspective I needed to continue on.
The end of the week came too soon, but we were anxious to count bites and find our Great Mosquito Contest Winner. 
The turnout was funny: 
1st place: Nancy Drew had over 70 bites
2nd place: TGS had 30. 
3rd place: I had 20 bites. 
4th place: Noel Heart had less than 15
No one even came close to Miss Drew!

We knew then that Nancy Drew must have some
mighty sweet blood to make mosquitoes risk that yucky tasting repellent!

TGS wading in river, Noel Heart & Nancy Drew eating berries they picked, TGS ready for the river

We still talk about that week and laugh about The Great Mosquito Bite Contest and how Nancy Drew won. She always won…even when winning wasn’t good!

Quilter Without A Brain Tries to Make Quilt Block

Ah the beauty, the magnificence of a Lone Star. All those amazing little diamonds joining hands and becoming big diamonds. What a tribute to team work.

It’s a true pleasure to work on this UFO.

Until…
you go to sew in the last backgound triangle…

Pay Close Attention to Right Lower Corner of Picture

Oh yes, dear friends, it’s all fun and games until the seam isn’t long enough!

I’ve been measuring things this way and that…and I haven’t quite decided what I am going to do. Oh well. Like Scarlett O’Hara said, “I won’t think of it now. I’ll think of it later when I can stand it.”

Meanwhile, I was auditioning blocks for the borders of the ghastly beautiful Lone Star. I found some on Quilter’s Cache that were rated easy. I needed easy, I had a lot to make and I didn’t want something with 57 pieces. I’ve already done that with the Farmer’s Wife!

My first was Railroad Crossing. 4 hourglass blocks, on point. 4 16-patch. Yes, I think this is easy.

Yes, but did you consider the number of pieces?  (102) Yeah, but the 16 patches are string pieced!

When I Should Have Had This

So I Started Out With This

Pull out white fabric from drawer, unfold all 2 yards of it and cut another strip, sub-cut to squares, sew to short strips.

Onto the next step! Whistling with lighter spirits, I moved on to the half-square triangles. I had a speedy method to make them. Off I glided to my sewing machine...

The 7.5" Behemouth

Everything was just fine until I realized that there were four HSTs in each corner...not just one. And not only that, they were 2", not the 7.5" I had just done!

I cut down one 2" HST from each of the 7" ones. Still had to make more blue and white...drag out the white fabric again. Spent 15 minutes trying to find where I put away the blue fabric! Finally:

Ah, That's More Like It!

As I made a mock-up of the block, I realized that the corners of the 16 patches were made with 2 white/white HST.


Drag out white fabric, unfold, cut, refold.   







All I had left was to sew together the 16-patches and put it together. Yup, that's all.




Hmmm, do you know how many times I've taken out the white fabric?

And what about all those stitches I've ripped out?

Nope, I'm remembering Scarlett O'Hara.

"Fiddle de dee, tomorrow is another day!

Now that you've heard my woes, go to the following parties, with much more cheerful stories than mine! (Badges in right sidebar)