Going To Pieces - March 2008

We had a fun time at Going to Pieces Quilt Group in March! Thanks everyone for coming and sharing your cute quilt blocks. Such Progress. Becky, you've got lots to catch up on, but I'm sure school-teacher Sandy will help you get caught up on your homework. We missed our 3 newbies to the group and hope they'll be able to join us in April.

I totally confused Illene by sending her a South Weber Quilt group reminder and she thought we had moved the Going to Pieces group to my house on Thursday. Sorry about that Illene!! We'll get you caught up next week.

Be sure to show up on April 22nd for next months meeting of the minds!! Crazy Minds that is. It also looks like we're going to go to an ALL EVENING group. So the 2 morning ladies will be joining us for the evening group. The more the merrier!!!

Enjoy the slideshow.

Have a Great month of sewing, we can't wait to see your show and tell. Also, if you're confused about any assembly of the blocks, just email me or leave a comment on the blog, and I'll try to post an explanation with pictures.

Doing ok.

Practice was fun tonight, and there were some very silly moments that were especially excellent. I like it when coaches joke around, or when I can get in a conversation about farts with Ms. Dash, or when Speedy Dan reacts well to me giving him the finger during a tough drill.

However, I’m psyched about the three newly-teamed skaters. Congrats Xena, Pitts, and Bully! Three down, three to go.

Good Old Days

The last week turned out to be much busier than I had anticipated. Eldest daughter was home from college, and there was catching up to do, and family time to enjoy. It took me several days after designing the layouts for my square quilts, (see post below) to actually find the time to begin constructing them. Unfortunately, once I had the time, I had lost the desire. That happens all the time with me. I need to strike while the iron is hot, (that is how the old saying goes isn't it?) Otherwise, the inspiration cools and new ideas pop up demanding my full attention. This time around my brain was only seeing retro TV's and I had to make a "Boob Tube" quilt! I am not sure why my mind is all of a sudden focused on TV images. Maybe it's from all this talk of everything going digital, or whatever it is that television is going to be doing soon. Something about a converter box, and government mandates. Uhgg. I miss the days when all you had to do was plug it in. No muss, no fuss. Except the reception was often bad, prompting my Dad to start fooling around with the buttons on the back of the set. Then the whole screen would go hay wire, and he'd ask me to come up and move the rabbit ear antennas this way and that way. Off he'd go into the kitchen to get a bit of aluminum foil which he would wrap around the antennas. Dad would stand back and direct as I would wiggle those rabbit ears all around until... "Hold it! Don't move! Stay right there! Perfect!!" Ever so slowly I would move away, one inch, two inches... And then the reception would go out again and we'd get to start the whole process over! Yup, those were the good old days!

Gratitude

Yea! I remembered to blog about something on Tuesday, so I can be part of Lara's Talk about Tuesays!

So I had a lightbulb moment recently and thought I'd share.

All you moms out there can probably understand the dinner dilemma. It's not that I hate cooking or baking or that I can't do it either. It's just the dinner thing that I hate. I've decided, it's because it's a thankless job. My kids aren't way picky eaters, but it just seems like they never like what I happen to make for dinner unless it's a frozen pizza or tacos. You know what I mean.

Since Josh has been home, he never eats a meal without making a big deal about how good it is, and he actually seems to look forward to mealtime. I know it's because he realizes he doesn't have to shop for it, put it away, cook it, or even clean up after it. He's learned after 2 years on his own what it means to come up with a well thought out meal.

You know what affect his gratitude has had on me? Well, I find myself thinking: I need to come up w/a menu and go shopping, and in the morning what am I making for dinner, and I'll bet Josh will really like this. WOW! I don't hate thinking of dinner and what to make, I don't procrastinate the decision of what to make, and I actually plan ahead. All because someone is expressing appreciation for my efforts.

I decided, "Man, I need to point this out to the rest of the family. So they will start appreciating me more, too!" Then like a ton of bricks it hit me. Do I appreciate my family for the wonderful terrific people that they are? Do I tell my kids thanks for being straight A students? and doing it without my having to hound them. Do I tell my DH thanks for going to work everyday and holding down a steady job to provide for all of us! NOPE was the answer.

So I guess what I'm saying is, that if we'd show a little more gratitude it can change everyone's attitude and make life a whole lot sweeter! So THANKS for listening (reading) and I hope you have a Grateful day!

Truly, yesterday was a lovely day. I worked on my HQH nametag -- finished it, even, and then piddled around the house doing little things here and there. Todd & I went out to dinner to lawn corn stay cows; I'd really been wanted some red meat. Then we went to Family Christian, Office Max, Best Buy and Gander Mountain. Too bad there aren't any quilting shops open at 8:00 on a Friday night, or we'd have stopped there, too!

Monday is the big day (or should I say, the start of "littler" days)! Todd keeps talking about it like it's the beginning of the end. He's got to stop looking at it that way.

Today is a big day for the piano -- it's getting a new home! Evan is coming to pick it up this afternoon. I have no idea what I'll put in its space. Maybe NOTHING!

I had a pretty bad asthma attack last night. And then, of course, I had a reaction to the albuterol. It's so weird. Not to mention annoying. Ugh.

I have a SS lesson and a Wednesday night lesson to prepare for today, plus I need to grocery shop. Other than that, the day is mine.

Carpe diem!

:)

I love Fridays when I don't have to work. Or rather, I love *all* Fridays; but particularly those on which I do not work!

Last night I attended my first Heritage Quilters of Huntsville Guild meeting as a _member_! Whoohoo! Today I took advantage of my time off and quilted my nametage for the meetings. Fun stuff. I'm pleased with everything except for the name. Ugh. I should have just left well enough alone, but I rarely can do that. C'est la vie. Anyhoo, the speaker last night was Flavin Glover, who's the bomb.com in log cabin quilting. She had two in particular that truly captivated me -- one of grazing sheep and their babies, and one of winter evergreens. Both were quite beautiful and I'd like to somehow (on a smaller scale) duplicate them. I bought her book and she autographed it for me. :)

Jocelyn is home for a long Easter weekend, and James and Kim made it in late last night from Disney. All of my chillens are in town (even if they don't all live under my roof any more). The cats are draped over assorted blankets, snoozing, and Todd is mowing the lawn. I did a Jane tape this morning, and I'm rather in need of a shower!

Todd and I are going to have at it again on the dieting. The start date is Monday. Written covenant and everything.

Shower time!

Vaya con Dios!

:)

In the spirit of my last post...

That last post really made me feel great. I’m going to do it again.

Tonight I went to visit the Skate Free or Die girls for their Thursday night practice, and I felt great about the following things, again, in reverse order:

1. I gave a few good whips.
2. I managed to stay on my feet when I suddenly found myself skating one-legged after dodging a fallen skater. I also didn’t smack Doom in the face when I had to use my right arm for balance.
3. I finally really get the art of looking over only one shoulder when booty blocking. The idea that "when you can’t see her, you know to move that way" never clicked before and I tended to rely more on really good guesses.
4. When I did fall down, I landed immediately on both knees, rockstar style. I had no idea I was even doing it, but my body just took over. Hooray for muscle memory!!!

Oh, and I suppose I could add doing this practice after Speedy Dan, which was pretty exhausting. Here’s to my quads for refusing to give up.

20... lower... faster.... 19... lower... faster...

In an effort to stop being such a mopey-pants, I’m going to list some things that I did during practice that I’m proud of:

1. After not being able to figure out how to do the "crack on thigh with whip" drill for a few weeks, I have a fairly passable one for the first time ever. Yay!

2. I made it through three rounds of Speedy Dan "20 laps super-fast OMGOMOMG FASTER!!!" training without passing out, vomiting, or stabbing him in both eyes.*

3. I managed a few bursts of speed at times when I was so tired I thought I was going to die (or at least crap my pants a little).

These are in order from smallest to largest victory. 3 is a huge deal for me, and I can go to bed feeling really good about myself. Even though my poor coccyx was on FIRE through the whole thing I didn’t stop, and I even skated harder than I thought I could when I felt my absolute worst.

Even though I’m in pain, I feel good inside. That’s the best feeling ever.

* Don’t get me wrong. I love the guy when I’m not skating in his drills, and after his drills I’m grateful for the training. During the drills though, I want to stab him and stab him and stab him forever.

YEA! Taking a quilt off the machine!

WOW! It seems like this quilt has been on the machine forever. Not that quilting it took forever, just that my life/family haven't let me get down here and quilt like I need to be doing. Having Josh home is great, but has add another dimension to our home life. I always said that Josh was the catalyst in our family. We are a pretty calm quiet even going family, then you throw Josh in the mix and it all speeds up. He's still the same!!!

So here's pics of the quilt I just took off. I think it turned out nicely, I really like these flowers that I quilted on it.

Now moving on to my next quilt. Lara! It's yours. If you want to know what I plan on doing to it give me a call!

Happy Quilting.

It's official. I'm a mother-in-law. Wow, and I'm so *young* too! :)

Today, things are my own. All of our out-of-town guests are gone, and most have even arrived at their own homes by now! Laura & her crew are still on the road, but they were planning on doing a little sightseeing in the process of making their way home.

James has managed to text me several times and call me once or twice. It's so funny....whenever he went on a camp or youth trip, I had to _tell_ him to give me call once or twice. Then he goes on his honeymoon and I don't *expect* to hear from him, and he calls me out of the blue. For some advice, no less! I love my boy.

Today will be a quiet day. A little laundry...some leftover Chinese and perhaps even Mexican....an old movie or two or three....perhaps even some quilting! Tomorrow I go to work and do payroll, and then Friday I'm off again for a long weekend. Lovely.

My son is a married man. Wow again.

Perhaps I'm not as young as I'm thinking I was.... !

Buh-bye!

:)

Antique Quilt Blog

Recently I started a new blog to showcase my antique quilt collection and my quilt appraising activities. Please check it out to see a variety of quilts from early 1800's to vintage 1930's and 40's and everything in between. Below is a sneak preview of quilts that are already on the new blog or will be soon. From left to right: c. 1830 strippy flying geese with c. 1800 copperplate toile, c. 1830 9 patch, and c. 1850 strippy star quilt.


Here is another preview: c. 1840 Hickory leaf or reel, c. 1885 blazing star, early 1900's redwork

In Search of the Perfect Martini

Here's my newest space spore quilt. I call it "Space Spores in Search of the Perfect Martini". I was inspired by those quirky little green olives with the mysterious red pimentos in them. Does anyone know exactly what a pimento is? I have never figured that one out!

I really enjoy making these quilts! However, they always take me way longer to complete then I think they will. I obsess over each stitch, and I am continually removing stitches and redoing them. This is a habit I would like to break, as I am sure that the small imperfections I see in a stitch that is slightly not where I think it should be, is only bothersome to me. Maybe before I sit down to embroider my next quilt, I need to have a martini to help me relax a bit and to stop all the obsessing!

Signed, Sealed and Delivered

I can now breath a sigh of relief! The three mini art quilts for Lark Books have been finished and have arrived safe and sound! All is well! Whew! Now I can start obsessing about something new! Shown above is a detailed section of one of the three mini quilts sent.

It's Raining!

So there isn’t a vehicle at home and I decided to walk 2.5 yr old to play group this morning and then I’d go for a walk as my exercise today. It was a really great plan until it started sprinkling!!! Well, I decided that it wasn’t bad enough to not walk him up. Besides that I had no choice if he was going to go to play group. So we walked up. We were a bit sprinkled on, but I was rethinking the walking for exercise part. I mean I'm all for exercise, as long as it isn't too uncomfortable!

As, I head down the hill ready to go home, I decide that it feels pretty good and so I decided I’d walk down to View Dr and around like I had walked the other evening. Yep, you guessed it the rain picked up. But it wasn’t too bad and the rain was encouraging me to walk faster, so I was thinking this is a good thing. Because of the increased rain I decided not to walk down View Dr, but just turn and come back up. That’s when the uncomfortable part began! I had been walking w/the rain and breeze at my back. But on the way home, now the rain was blowing towards me. Let’s just say I was pretty soaked by the time I got home.

Still working on the quilt. Will post pictures if I get to quilt today. I have to go pick up 15 yo at the JHS that is 20 minutes away and take her to the Orthodontist today. Let's just say the whole experience will probably take 2 1/2 hours!!!

Happy Quilting!

Struggles

I'm struggling with the current quilt on the machine. I found the perfect pink thread in my drawer, but it isn't playing nicely with my machine and I keep getting loopies on the back. Very inconsistently and it's driving me CRAZY!!! I really hate quilting when things like this happen. I love it when everything works nicely together.

So the dilema, take all the current stitching out and start over w/a new thread? Or keep going and fix the loopies after all is quilted?

Here's Hoping your quilting is going much smoother!

Once Upon a Time

I spent the day finishing up the directions and rough illustrations for the three small quilted wall hangings
that Lark Books requested. This, as most things I set out to do, took me way longer then I anticipated, so I am glad to finally have it done. I have also been requested to send a baby photo of myself! When I read this, I went into a bit of a panic... I have tons of treasured old family photos... Parents, grandparents, great grandparents. Aunts and uncles and many faces that I know I am related to but haven't a clue as to who, how and when. But a baby photo of me... I had no idea if I even had one. But sure enough, among all of the other wonderful family photos, I found this photo, circa 1963. A million years ago. Yesterday. What a two toothed cutie-pie I was!

Customer Quilt DONE!

I just finished a baby quilt. The daughter of a neighbor of had a baby and she called to see if I could "make" a quilt for her. Basically it was 2 pieces of fabric I quilted and put binding on for her. It actually turned out way cute and I forgot to take a picture!!! I don't know if you've seen the Olivia books? It's about a pig? Andover Fabrics has some fabric out that says Olivia all over it and these new parents are naming their new daughter Olivia. So they bought two pieces,



And I quilted them together in red thread and echoed hearts. I called the new grandma last night and she picked it up.

One more task done! Yippee! I was so excited to have another something done, I forgot pictures. I really do try to photograph every quilt I quilt. Oh Well.
Happy Quilting!

Sewing a Square in a Square!

So to create a square in a square. You start w/your center square and sew Half Square Triangles (HST) to each edge. The tricky part is to make sure that it ends up as a square again. So I like to fold my square in half and pinch each edge at the mid point. I've inserted a pin to show, since the fabric is black. Then I take the triangle and pinch it in half.

Since this triangle was cut w/the NN rulers it has a blunted point, but that's OK just imagine the point is still there and make the other point match up w/the edges. As in the photo.

Then match up the pins or centers. You will have a point hanging off on one end and not the other. Your 1/4" seam should start right where the point starts to hang off the edge, and should finish right off the blunted off point on the other end. See Photo.
Do this w/each edge. Usually I do the two opposite sides, press and then do the other two.

Your finished Square in a Square should be nice and square.

Happy QuiLtInG!

A Project Finished! Amazing!

Actually 2 Projects finished. I will be shipping out the "family gift quilt" and my niece's baby quilt!! YEA!!!

Sorry the gift quilt is packed and ready to go, but you saw it almost finished already any way. But here is a picture of the baby quilt. It's all quilted and bound and ready to go!


I hope they are both happy with them!

Tagged

I have been tagged by the very sweet Kim, of Persimmons Gal
This is the second time I have been tagged, but I shamefully never responded to the first. I am suppose to list 7 quirky, not to well known facts about myself, then tag 7 other people, so here goes:

1) I am "phone phobic". I have an extremely hard time calling people I am friends with for fear that I may be interrupting them from something they would rather be doing. So I rarely call my friends, (yet am delighted when they call me.) I have no such fear though calling up a stranger to set an appointment, or gather information, etc.

2) Up till very recently my husband and I believed, (and took great pride in) that we had been married by the person who wrote the "I Wish I Were an Oscar Mayer Weiner" jingle. Why did we believe that? Well, we heard it from many people who knew the wonderful person that married us, and I had read it in an interview that this lovely person once gave to a local magazine. However this past summer, we saw a T.V. show about the Oscar Mayer company, and it's famous jingle. They interviewed the person credited for writing it, and it was absolutely not the person who married us! Now I wonder if our marriage is even valid!

3) When I was 14 I hitchhiked from Pennsylvania to Florida. (Sorry, Mom.)

4) I have a fear of condiments used in excess. I am okay with a little mayo, but if it is oozing out of the sides of the sandwich, gross!
I am fine with a small amount of ketchup placed to the side of the fries, but am freaked if the same ketchup is poured onto the fries.
Mustard scares the crap out of me.

5) I am afraid of the dark.

6) I gave birth to one of my children at home, (intentionally) but I can't say which one, because she doesn't want anyone to know.

7) Even though I am suppose to pass this on, I am not going to, as I have a fear of tagging people, (same reason as phone phobia).

Good gravy, where has the time gone? I seem to say that a lot these day! The last time I posted in October 2007, I noted how fast the month had gone -- here we now are in March of 2008! How fast my LIFE is flying by!

I can hardly believe that James marries in less than two weeks. I'm happy for him, but I'm also...going to be praying for him/them a lot. This is a huge step for the maturist of folks. I believe James will handle the responsibility of being the head of a home well -- but it may take a while to work out the kinks!

As if that wasn't enough, Jocelyn is graduating from college in two months! Shoot, and she turns 22 in less than a week! I'm so proud of her and all that she's accomplished. I know it bothers her just a little that James is marrying first -- but I think she recognizes that her path is *her* path, and it's the right way for her. Besides, she also knows that her future husband is right there...and someday in the near future, he's going to propose!

Top it all off with [side note here: I never know whether to say, "Todd's ministry" or "our ministry". It's really Todd's baby, and I'm in it for support; clerical, sounding board, graphic design, encouragement, whatever. We are doing it together, but it's truly his calling. I still don't know which to say!] the ministry. Brochures and business cards are printed; labels are set up and ready to go -- one big mass mailing and we're out there! It's incredibly exciting! But just a little scary, too. It's wild to step out in faith like this! I so admire my husband and his desire to press forward.

I can't wait for my whole family to be here in a short week and a half! Fun, fun, fun!! Lots to do in the meantime, though. Glad things are settling down. ??? What am I saying?!?!

On that note...ciao!

:)