Lessons learned

I really shouldn't wait so long between blog posts.  So much happens in even just one day, that waiting almost a week means I'm bound to leave things out.  Perhaps you readers don't mind, but my blog is my online journal, so I hate to leave things out.

Anyway, last Friday's memorial service was painful, as expected.  My entire office shut down for several hours and walked over to attend together.  I armed us with "mourning tissues", made in black, but with musical notes lining the inside to honor my late friend's love of music.

the raw materials

The finished product.  I was kinda bummed that you couldn't really see the musical notes.

My tissues were almost gone by the time we left the church.  I'm going to miss him.

On Friday afternoon, Jason left for his first camping trip as a Boy Scout (as opposed to Cub Scout) - 3 days of fishing further up in the mountains.  He came back on Sunday half-frozen and reeking, but smiling from ear to ear.  Then, later on Sunday afternoon, I caught him practicing his cast in our yard. It is safe to say he is hooked! (pun intended!)

While he was gone, I had hoped to get lots of sewing done, but of course, I didn't.  Friday night I didn't feel well, and neither did Donald, so we cuddled together in my bed watching Mrs. Doubtfire on TV until we both fell asleep.  On Saturday morning, I felt better and took him to the doctor for some medicine to make him feel better, too.  Then, it was off to the Cub Scouts' annual Bike Rodeo.

Donald has the red helmet, blue sweatshirt and green bike.

Next, we delivered the baby quilt and bib to my co-worker.  Good news, Ella should be able to come home this week!!!

All washed and ready to welcome the new babe!

It'll be a while before she is big enough to wear this, but I wanted her to have it anyway.

Finally, we spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying crafts and food with some friends as we prepare for another friend's baby shower. By the time we got home, it was all I could do to brush my teeth and crawl into bed before falling asleep.

Sunday, we picked up Jason and drove him to the gym at the university for a shower, since I wanted to take them somewhere before heading home for the day.  After a quick lunch of Mexican, we drove out to Cabin Spring Farm where they were having a two-day sheep shearing and fiber arts celebration. What fun!  My kiddos really took to weaving.  In fact, on the way home, we stopped to buy an old picture frame from Goodwill for Donald to make his own mini loom, per his request!

I thought the peg loom was fascinating and watched for quite some time.  She was making rugs out of cut up wool clothing.  She had another basket full of "t-shirt yarn" that I was coveting!

There was wet felting...

This is going to be a gorgeous rug!

As well as a woman needle-felting, but when I found out she was from Maine, too, I got to talking and forgot about taking her photo.  She made the neatest needle-felted dolls - fairies and mermaids and all manner of creatures.  I know next to nothing about yarn and wool and what can be done with it, so it was a true learning experience for me.

I had the opportunity to fondle some alpaca fleece, too.  Oh my goodness!  I just wanted to roll around in it, it was so soft and luxurious!

But we couldn't stay forever because I start back up with the after-school program this week.  This time, it is only 4 weeks long.  I learned some valuable lessons from last time:

• limit the class size: I only have eight K-2nd graders this time - yay! 
• set realistic goals: I ordered 14" square pillow forms, and the kids are each going to design their own patchwork pillow. We are using 2" squares and designing on an 8 x 8 grid. (yes, I know that makes 12" finished pillow size, but this was the pillows will be nice and plump!)
• keep everyone's work separate: I bought 8 new, sturdy pizza boxes from a local pizzeria, and inserted a 14" square piece of batting in each.  Each child will have a box to keep their project in.  Hopefully we can be more organized this way.

Here's my sample pillow top (E for Erin, not yet quilted).

I'm going to mock up some more on paper grids for them today.  I kinda wish we had an odd number grid (7x7 or 9x9) because sometimes you want to have a center for your block, but oh well.

It's going to be a crazy work week for me this week, too, long days with a ton to do.  Two more months...only two more months. Then I'll have more time to enjoy this...

This was taken on the road to my house this weekend.  My house in the one on the left at the tree line.  I LOVE living here!  So quiet and pretty and peaceful...paradise!

Simple, yet satisfying

Some friends are stopping by my job tomorrow with their 9-month-old baby girl on their way from Boston to Idaho. (through Virginia!?!  Whatever.)  I didn't, of course, have time to make the baby a quilt, but I had to make her SOMETHING. A bib it is!  Simple, yet satisfying!

And if I'm making one bib, why not make two?  This one will be for my cousin's baby, due in July, for whom I am making the Good Fortune Lil Twister quilt.

Both bibs are flannel, and backed with bright jewel-toned pink flannel, with velcro closures at the neck.

 Making things for babies is so gratifying!

I love my dog

Really, I do. But last night I had to keep reminding myself of that fact. First of all, I went to bed late, 12:30 AM, because I got some sewing done last night. First I made a bib for a friend who just told me they are expecting. I used one of the Urban Circus fat quarters that I won from Laurie Wisbrun, and I'm excited now about the prospect of making their new baby a quilt from those winnings.


And then, as I vowed I would, I started cutting and piecing the Boys Will Be Boys quilt for Donald. I had no idea how much faster it is to cut out a quilt using just a few coordinating fabrics rather than all scrappy fabrics. I was cruising! And I am loving the look so far:


So, I was in bed at 12:30, but the dog woke me at 2:30 to go outside. I tried to put him off, but he was insistent, and as someone with a weak bladder myself, how could I not let him out. What did he do but promptly get himself sprayed by a skunk. Ugh!

I crawled back in bed with my Blackberry and got online to find out how to "deskunk" him. There were lots of recipes, but they called for ingredients that I didn't have around the house, and since Adam is out of town and both boys were sleeping and we live 20 minutes from the nearest store, I couldn't go shopping. Finally I came across Listerine as a deskunking agent. We buy those ENORMOUS Listerine bottles, and I had just bought one earlier this week, so this became my deskunking agent of choice. I'm happy to report that it works. First a Listerine bath, and then a regular bath, outside in below freezing temperatures at 3:00 AM. I kept chanting under my breath, "I love my dog, I love my dog, I love my dog."

When I got into bed at 3:30, the 6:30 AM alarm seemed entirely too close for comfort. I'm so glad it is Friday and I can sleep in tomorrow! Have a great and RESTFUL weekend, all!

Whirlwind! (and a giveaway)

Let's go back to Friday. Because of all the rain in Philly, the two schools I was supposed to visit were closed. Luckily, one of the counselors informed me of this the night before so I didn't get up early to be thwarted by locked doors and empty classrooms. Instead, I spent some more quality time with my sister and nephew. How rewarding to visit her where I get to sleep under a quilt that I made and see my nephew on his quilt and wearing a bib I made him. THAT is why I quilt - to see my creations in loving use.

On my way back to Virginia, I stopped in to see my old neighbors. Unfortunately, the husband's alzheimers is so bad that he is in a special unit and the wife, my quilting buddy, is living alone in a room in the assisted living facility. I miss them so much, not just them being my neighbors, but them also being the vibrant, energetic, independent people they used to be. My friend and I went out for a nice late lunch/early dinner, and then I rushed the rest of the way home to pick up my boys for one last time at the drive-in movies this season. (Incidentally, on Sunday, there was a membership meeting at the drive-in, and it turns out I volunteered 14 times this summer - wow! I had no idea!)

Ideally, Saturday should have been a day of rest. Ha! You know better! We started the day with karate testing - Jason and I got our brown belts and Donald got his yellow belt. (and my husband failed his photography test)

My mom came over to watch/support us, and we all went out for lunch together before she headed back over the mountain, and I headed home to my sewing room. I want to get some Dresden Plates ready to take on my next trip with me. However, wouldn't you know it, my machine started acting up! I took it apart, cleaned it, fiddled with the tension, and finally got it working, but by then it was time to leave. Argh!

Off we went to a cub scout campout. It was loads of fun, but I was super tired, so I jumped at the chance to sneak off to bed when I noticed Donald falling asleep around the campfire.

This campout was LIGHT YEARS better than the last one - an air mattress makes a HUGE difference!

On Sunday, I finally made some headway in the sewing room, but not with the Dresden Plates. I cut up a strip of yellow to make centers for some log cabin blocks, and started piecing some scrappy log cabins. I added another column to the scrappy lap quilt I started two weeks ago. And I made this drawstring backpack for Donald to keep his karate uniform in.

It is made from another old t-shirt that I never wore, with the reverse applique D, the top edge and the lining made from fabric from my stash - I'm not just busting fabric stash, I'm busting T-shirt stash, too!

Right now, I'd love to catch up on all the blogs I've been missing these past few weeks, but I need some sleep. Today was another lunatic day with work, karate, grocery shopping, checking on the painting job at our rental property and all the every day activities that make up living and loving a family and pets. I wonder if I can convince my husband that he wants to massage some of the tension out of my shoulders...

But before I sign off, I noticed that I've passed 200 posts. I'm not sure I have anything to give away that anyone would want BUT I am headed to Mexico, Costa Rica and Ecuador starting this Thursday. I would LOVE a reason to go shopping. How about a giveaway? I don't know what the prize(s) will be yet, but they will be from one or more of those three countries. Leave a comment by midnight Eastern Standard Time on Thursday, October 7th to be entered, and I will choose a winner (or two, or three) to be the recipient of some of the booty I am sure to find in the "mercados artesenales" that I am sure to visit! I am happy to ship anywhere in the world. Be sure to leave a way for me to contact you.

A big THANK YOU to everyone who reads my rambling posts about my adventures in quilting and child-rearing and life, in general. The connections I make with the people I "meet" through blogs bring me comfort and give me hope in a world that I find harder and harder to understand.

For and about Minis

I'm still considering my options for my Great-Great-Grandmother's quilt (GGG). So, instead of working on that last night, I spent some time making some more bibs. They aren't done yet - I still need to do the top stitching and add velcro closures, but aren't they CUTE! When Christmas rolls around this year, I'm going to be ready with some gifties!


Most of this fabric came from Becky at As the Quilt Turns last November when she was looking to unload some scraps. Thanks again, Becky!

Oh, and I entered another quilt in the weekly themed contest at the Quilting Gallery. I had forgotten until I got an email from someone I've never met who voted for mine. How cool - thank you Joe Tulips! This week's theme is Minatures, and I entered this little shirts and ties quilt titled Haberdashery that won me an Honorable Mention ribbon in the County Fair a couple years ago.

I took at peek at the other entries and WOW! Yet again, I am in awe of what others have done. It is a good thing I can't see everyone else's submissions before I submit my own, because I would be too humbled to put my quilt out there. I saw that Em put her House that Love Built quilt in there - love it! I encourage you to get a fresh cup of coffee or tea, and spend 10 minutes checking out the little lovelies!

Baby on the brain

Not only am I pregnant, my younger sister had her first baby last week. Meet my new nephew, Dorian - isn't he a cutie!

So, I definitely have babies on the brain. Yesterday, I wanted a quick project, and bibs seemed like a good place to start. I've never made one before, but I have so much novelty fabric and they seemed pretty quick and easy...


I particularly like the one with all the kids eating.


With the fourth of July coming up, I'd love to start having some seasonal decorations around the house. Other than Jason's Halloween quilt from last year, I don't have any seasonal decorations. Inspired by something I saw on someone's blog (and can no longer find to reference!), I threw together this table runner, which I hope to quilt during my next road trip and then bind in red.


I'd like to make some placemats as well. I have to admit, now that I have a funtioning sewing machine to use, I've been neglecting my hand projects. I'm still quilting my Bright Futures quilt, but I got quite a bit done at the drive-in movie last night (Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Letters to God, but I was exhausted and we had to leave after the first feature), and I have a doctor's appointment on Monday, so I'm likely to get some stitches done then. Plus, I still haven't sandwiched and tied my Orphan Block quilt. So much to do, so little time...