Sunday, March 28, 2010

Cutting a quilt and cutting a rug

My husband took off late last week for a few days of R & R at the beach. The kids and I were invited, but we're going on vacation in just a few days ourselves, and it isn't a good time for me to miss work and the kids to miss school. Which means that I had some lonely hours to fill in the evening after the kids went to bed. Thank goodness I'm a quilter!

I finished the hand quilting that I wanted to do in all of the inner borders of the Bright Ideas quilt. Now just two more outer borders that I want to tweak, and then it is DONE. Really, I'm going to put it down and move on.

Lately, I've been intrigued by quilts with some texture and dimension on the front. Remember this experiment?
Well, once washed, the flowers frayed as I had hoped, but now they look puny, and I don't like it, so I'm going to take them off. Oh well, I'll just applique some flowers on and give up on the frayed edge look.

However, a friend of mine lent me some books, one of them being Frayed Edge Fun. There was a quilt in there that caught my eye.
(For some reason, I've really been moved to use my plaids lately.)


I have plenty of large tops to quilt and eventually throw on the beds, so I thought I'd make something baby-sized. After all, I have a ton of juvenile fabric that needs using up. I tweaked the pattern quite a bit and got to cutting, and here's what I've come up with (just cut out, not sewn together yet).


Hopefully I can sew it all together today, then pop it in the wash tonight (I am so much more motivated to do laundry if there is a quilt or some new fabric mixed in there) and see how it turns out.

Then, last night was the annual "Fancy Dress Ball" at the University where I work. Jason has gone with me the last two years, Donald joined us last year. They have been waiting for this day all year! So, we dressed up, and went out to cut a rug.

Now, my children love to dance. I knew this already. They crank up their Michael Jackson or Jason Aldean and have dance parties in their room nearly every night - it sounds like elephants are trying to crash through the ceiling. What I didn't know was that they are GOOD! They have MOVES! I'm almost ashamed to dance near them because I look so stodgy next to them. Photographers stopped to take their pictures. Women flocked to them and asked them to dance. Men gathered around them and cheered them on.

Jason can do a cartwheel and end in a full split on the ground. (That was QUITE the crowd pleaser!) He can also do that breakdance move where you kinda crabwalk around your hands on the ground in a circle, really fast. Both of them have great spin moves, and both of them have rhythm. I had SO MUCH FUN!


Oh, and to make the wonderful day even better, my husband surprised us by coming home a day early. He missed us. I sure do love my family!

7 comments:

Shirley said...

Gosh that looks like fun. Is there anything your kids can't do? They are just so adoreable. I love your baby quilt too. I go through plaid moods now and then too. They seem to lend themselves to quilts a lot.

Linda said...

What a fantastic picture of you and your handsome boys. I'm so glad you had such a special evening together. And yes, being a quilter helps us get through lots of lonely or stressful times. We're blessed!

Becky said...

You and your fellas look wonderful! Glad you had a good time. I like the plaid quilt a lot. Hope you have a short week coming up!

Michelle said...

Looks like the boys had a great time. I'm getting lots of fabric cut to start some projects this week. We are going to start camping soon and I need quilts for my camper. I am also cleaning out my stashes. I have lots of scraps and I'm not a scrappy quilter-are you interested? I can send them to you. Just let me know!

ms. mindless said...

did jason debut the cartwheel/split move at my wedding? i think so! adorable!

Em said...

Erin, I LOVE LOVE this posting and I have a huge smile plastered on my face, look at you guys all dressed up and the boys dancing.

I love love the new quilt with the juvenile print, you may see one on my blog soon for a baby quilt, looks so fun to make!

Love you and grateful you had so much fun with the boys and a great weekend! I would come home a day early too if I was your husband!

Sam said...

Your boys are awesome! You are one lucky Mummy! Hey the 'experiment' quilt is looking so cool! I think you have such an awesome eye for colour and how to mix it up. I love th Plaid quilt and cant wait to see your progress on it! I am missing my sewing, what with all the other stress going on in my life, but that looks like it will all come to a head soon and get 'sorted' and I can't wait because I hear my sewing room calling me! Luv lots Erin, Sam xoxoxox