Sleepovers are fun!!!

After karate testing yesterday (at which both Jason and I broke boards with our hands - woo hoo!!!), Jason's best friend and his two younger sisters came over for a sleepover. What parents wouldn't want 24 hours with no kids around this time of year, right? Besides, their mom is my co-den leader for cub scouts (although make no mistake, SHE does all the work!), and this is the least I can do for her after all she's done for us. In addition, crazy as it seems, the more kids there are in my house, the more time I have for myself!

So, they went sledding outside (perfect - these photos were taken from the door of my sewing room - I could keep an eye on them while I sewed),

and I sewed binding strips together.

They did karaoke and then a rock band (yeah, I STILL haven't finished painting my basement. I would much rather sew.),

and I sewed binding strips together.

They played air hockey,

and I sewed binding strips together.

They watched Frosty the Snowman,

and I sewed binding strips together.

I helped them make Christmas presents for their mother from my stash of pre-cut 2" and 3.5" squares (my kids made presents for their teachers),

while I sewed binding strips together.

They played Charades,

and I played, too, so the teams would be even, 3 boys against 3 girls. They beat us last night, but we had a re-match this morning and soundly whipped their gloating boy tails!

So, when their dad came to pick them up 24 hours later, my boys were worn out and ready to just sit quietly with popcorn and a movie, and I have enough binding to sew onto my brother's quilt. In fact, I have enough scrappy binding to sew onto his quilt 2 and a half times!!!

I guess I got carried away! Oh well, I am prepared for the next quilt that needs a scrappy binding.

Now, it is off to find something fun and Christmasy on TV to watch while I work on quilting my GGG quilt and sew down the back of the binding on Curtis's quilt. Happy Sunday, everyone!

A day off?

Since we've been working so hard this fall, my gem of a boss gave us all an extra day off to use whenever we wanted during this holiday season. I decided to use mine yesterday.

Oh, the plans I had for myself! And then it snowed. And they closed the schools. So I went from having a blissfully silent day all to myself to having a day with a house full of snow-crazy kids. Oh well. You know what Woodie Allen said, "You want to make God laugh, tell him your plans."

I did get some stuff done.

• I spent an hour hand quilting my GGG quilt. Still lots of stitching to do before that one is done. Can we slow the clock down just a bit before Christmas gets here?


• I started collecting pre-cut 2" strips to sew together as binding for my String Quilt. (see comment above regarding the time left before Christmas)


• I started customizing some long-sleeved onesies for the babies I know. These cute little panels were in a box of scraps I received from Becky (I think it was Becky...) a while ago, and I thought they were perfect. So, they are fused onto the onesies, and now I'm going to go around them with a blanket stitch by hand.
  
  
  (my favorite - I'm so country...)
  
• I am always appalled by how much I spend helping Santa fill stockings every year, so I made some lilac -scented sachets to put in a couple of stockings. I didn't have to cut anything to make these; I just headed to my scrap tins for some pre-cut scrap squares and bonus triangles from other projects. I made 11 total - these 8 are the ones I brought in to work today to give to all the women who work in a support capacity in my office because they are AWESOME people!
  
  
• My custom quilt block frames arrived from Angela (and her husband, Jim), so I put my wallhangings in to see how they looked.

  
  
  FABULOUS, in my humble opinion! I need to straighten them out a bit and trim some of the backing and whatnot, but these are nearly ready to be wrapped up.

• I finally succumbed to my children's pleadings, and we decorated the tree. See my tree skirt down there? LOVE IT! Although it seems a bit to small. Whatever.
  
  
  (How do you take a decent photo of a lit up Christmas tree!?!)
  

I'm so glad that it is Friday. I foresee lots of sewing in my future this weekend, along with a sleepover for 3 of my kids' friends, karate testing (Jason and I receive our advanced Brown Belt tomorrow morning, and Donald will receive his Orange Belt), and, since the snow is still on the ground, some outdoor play. Here's hoping that your weekend is just as productive and fun as I hope mine will be!

The Art of Making Do

There's been a lot going on at Casa de Hutchinson! Thanksgiving was fantastic! (Of course! Any holiday with that much food is great in my book!) But since Adam had to work on Friday afternoon, we were back home by 1 PM on Friday. I spent the afternoon putting together a captain's bed that I bought for Donald. Lots and lots and lots of screws, but I did it! He likes it and I like it, so everyone is happy. But in addition to the big box holding the bed parts, there was another box waiting for me - my long-lost string quilt, Calling All Strings (because it was foundation pieced on phone book pages) that I sent to the long-arm quilter's in February.

Granted, the wait time was horrendous, but there were extenuating circumstances, so I'm not mad. And she did a lovely job!

Originally, I had planned to give this to my father-in-law for his birthday last March, but obviously, that couldn't happen. Instead, I think I'm going to give it to my brother for Christmas. He mentioned earlier this year that everyone had a quilt from me except him, and he's right! Well, except for me and Donald.

I'm going to have to wait, but hopefully, Donald's will be ready by Christmas, too! I finished piecing the top this weekend, and here it is on his captain's bed that I put together.

It isn't very wide by design - I didn't want the quilt to get in the way of opening and closing the storage drawers under the bed. I meant for it to be longer, but I ran out of fabric. So much so that I had to cobble stuff together. There are three of these patched together white pieces,

and about 5 of 6 of these cobbled together red and blue blocks (the blocks are supposed to be 5" square, but for some I had to combine two fabrics to make 5").

And, of course, I already mentioned that the inner white border is not the same white as the white in the blocks, because I ran out of that, too. I've already shared before that Roberta Horton's Scrap Quilts: The Art of Making Do was my primary source of inspiration when I first started quilting, so "make do" is what I did. You can't really tell from a distance. Besides, it is not meant to be an heirloom, but rather a utility quilt, made with love.

In fact, all that is left of those 9 fat quarters are these few scraps. There goes my idea of making a matching pillow sham. I'll just cut these down to useable squares and add them to my scrap squares tins.

And you know I couldn't resist cutting into some of my other new fabric, right? I decided to join the ranks of those who are making mug rugs for themselves and others. This one is for ME!
Hand quilted in the ditch.

It is on my desk at work right now, which reminds me, my coffee cup is empty.

But before I dash off to the coffee machine, I just have to brag on my hubby a bit - his team has started the season undefeated, 4-0, their best start to date! On Saturday's game, my brother and his girlfriend came over (the guy waving and the woman next to him), along with her two children (who are also waving) and my two children (who are making faces, OF COURSE!), and my cousin and his wife (in front of my brother). I LOVE MY FAMILY!!!

I love tequila!

Remember when I posted yesterday that I was a bit tipsy? Today I am sloshed! If what I have to say makes no sense, please blame it on the tequila. I swear to you, I only drink one of two times a year, only when I am traveling and with friends and not responsible for my children. Today, I let loose!

We had a 4 hour college fair today. 4 hours standing behind a table saying the same thing over and over again. 3 hours is torture. 4 hours is unimaginable. But salvation came in the last hour when a girl approached me and asked tentatively, "Um, do you have a twin sister who is a guidance counselor at a high school in Western Massachusetts?" My answer, of course, was "Yes!" How is it that I met a girl IN MEXICO for whom my twin sister had been her guidance counselor two years ago? It's a small world, after all...

After the fair, I hit the executive lounge in the hotel for some free hors d'oerves. I'm loving my upgrade!!!I get free laundry service, so I sent my gym clothes off to be laundered this morning (I've been hitting the gym for a mile run and and upper body free-wight circuit while abroad), and lo and bhold, they are back in my room wrapped in a cute package - free of course. Then, my two new professional friends, Lisa and Leticia, joined me on my adventure taking the Metro to a place to buy traditional Mexican dress. Jackpot! I bought this dress

and this shirt. Loving them both!

I also bought a small woolen bag in autumn colors with a butterfly on it.

When we returned, there was a reception for all us college counselor folks and the bar was serving a drink called a Paloma (dove). Lemon juice, tequila and Squirt (grapefruit soda). It is my new favorite drink, and I drank them down like lemondade, and didn't notice until I stood up that I was drunk, having drunk more than I have since before I graduated from college 17 years ago. My wake up call is in 5 hours for my flight to Costa Rica, so I'm not sure tomorrow morning is going to be all that pleasant, but boy did I have fun hanging out with the girls this afternoon and evening!

And before you think I have spent all my waking hours in a cup of tequila, I did finish one Dresden Plate block, and started in on number 2.

And guess what I forgot to share with you all? Remember my string quilt that I sent away to be quilted last February,

only to have the quilter disappear off the face of the planet? Well, she's back, and she contacted me on Thursday to get my mailing address to send my quilt back to me. Yay!

OK, must go. My cheeks are numb and my eyes can hardly stay open. I hope to catch up on blogs when I get to San Jose tomorrow afternoon. In the meantime, ciao!

What would YOU do?

Early in February 2010, I sent this quilt off to a long-arm quilter that I "met" online, with assurances that the quilt would be back to me in time for me to bind it for an early March birthday when I had hoped to give it away as a gift.

Unfortunately, the quilter's life was in turmoil, and the quilt didn't make it back to me in time. The quilter let me know it would be late, and I said, "no problem" and went to plan B for the gift. However, I waited and waited and waited, and the quilt never came.


So, swallowing my distaste of confrontation of any sort, I called the quilter at home in early June to inquire as to the status of my quilt. It turns out, it was done, but that she had been very ill, so it had been forgotten and never mailed to me. I understood, gave her my get well wishes, and received assurances that her husband would pop it in the mail to me.


Another month went by, and in mid July, I sent her a get well card that included an inquiry as to the status of my quilt. I rush to my mailbox every day hoping it is there, but alas, only bills and invitations to protect my family with more life insurance. (sigh) I don't want to pester someone who is ill, but I'd really like my quilt back. Is it shallow of me to be concerned with some scraps of fabric when someone is facing a debilitating illness? I don't want to be aggressive or confrontational, but if the quilt is done, it seems like someone should be able to pop it in the mail for me, right? And I pre-paid, so I can't even use payment as an incentive for getting the quilt back to me.


What would YOU do?

I know one thing I should do is learn how to machine quilt my own quilts. Last night, Curt and I mitered the borders on my little orphan 4-patch mini, sandwiched and basted it, took a long swig from my drink (iced tea - caffeine is about as strong as I go), and sat down at the machine to teach myself to machine quilt.

The road to H*** is paved with good intentions. The floor of my sewing room is paved with the thread that I pulled out of that aborted attempt. Apparently, to free-motion quilt, you need not just feed dogs that drop, but also the "optional" quilting foot. I'll be heading off in search of that optional foot tonight. Oh well. In the meantime, I started hand quilting my red, white and blue tablerunner. Learning new things is great, but sticking with what you know is nice, too.

Two winners!

When I access the internet, my home page is a page that I set up for myself with links that I use regularly. It also has one of my favorite photos of myself wearing a cowboy hat my mother bought me for Christmas one year - I've always not-so-secretly yearned to be a cowgirl. As you probably noticed, today I changed my Profile photo to this cowgirl photo. It is an older photo, and I am no longer nearly that cute, but I can pretend, right?

My homepage also features a Quote of the Day at the top which changes daily, just something to keep me inspired. You know what today's quote was?

"When I give, I give myself." - Walt Whitman

How appropriate on the day that I am drawing winners for my giveaway! So, as promised, at noon I wrote down on a sheet of paper the names of those who left comments on my 100th post, cut them all apart, and put them in a candy dish that I keep on my desk (the candy dish was empty since I conveniently finished all the candy yesterday afternoon). Then, I went downstairs looking for someone who wouldn't mind having his/her photo taken to pull the winner's name out of the bowl. Here's Kiki - a first-year student at my University who is also our work-study student in the Admissions Office, a wonderfully loud basketball fan, and one of the most helpful and cheerful people you could ever hope to meet - pulling out a name.


Congratulations, Cozy Quilter! Send me your mailing address and I'll pop that fabric in the mail to you.

But wait, do I really want to have to put all that fabric back into the closet? I told Kiki to pull another name, and if this person requested different fabric, then I would send that along, too.
Congratulations, Nancy! And since you can't decide on your favorite, I'm certainly not going to try to decide for you - I'll send you both. I don't need your address - I KNOW where you live! For now anyway...

And today is also a giving day in that I am sending one of my quilts to Kristie, AKA Cowgirl Quilter, to quilt for me as I am hoping to give it as a gift to a special someone later this winter. I've only ever sent one quilt away for quilting, so this is exciting for me. But if I wait until I can hand quilt it to give it away, who knows when that will be. I call this quilt "Calling All Scraps" since I foundation pieced it on pages torn from an old phone book. You can see the shreds of paper at the top of the photo.

I'm pretty sure that this special someone doesn't read my blog, but just in case, I'm not saying anything else for now.

Thanks for reading my blog, everyone. I love the feeling of connection I get when I hear from people all over the globe. Oh, and if you want to see what my homepage/dashboard looks like, you can find it here.