Two outta three ain't bad

Remember my New Year's Eve Challenge to finish off three of my flannel quilts in progress? I didn't quite make it. I finished the binding on #2 today. Here it is, the least square quilt I have ever made.

Oh well. I learned a lesson from this one - never, EVER, use such high loft batting in a quilt. I wrestled with this thing all the way from pinning it, through hand quilting it, and on every inch of the binding. Ugh! But it is done. The flannel buzzsaw quilt was the third project, but I've been helping others sew on my machine lately, and haven't had time to do for myself. First my twin, then Jason, and today, after Jason worked on his quilt some more, Donald made his first quilt top. We choose BIG (12") squares, and went with something super simple, but I'm proud of the little guy (he's four).

He chose the tractor fabric himself, and we were both so tickled when, as we he was sewing on the last border, Jason Aldeen's BIG GREEN TRACTOR song came on the radio, one of Donald's favorites!

Here's the tractor he has chosen to put on the back.

Piecing the back will have to wait for another day. My one and only resolution this year, is to work on becoming more patient. Well, my patience has worn out for today. I need to reboot with some sewing for myself. Of course, it will have to be at the gym, as my husband has a basketball game this afternoon. Gotta love hand quilting - you can do it almost anywhere!

Renaissance Family Day

I woke at 4:30 AM to take my sister and her family to the airport to go back home. :(

When I got back home at 7:45 AM, I went back to sleep until 11:00 AM. :)

When I finally got up, I played dominoes with the boys, and then forgave Jason for beating me so badly (little twerp! Shouldn't we parents get to win for at least a little while after we teach them a new game? It is hard on the ego to consistently lose to a 7 year old!) and agreed to help him work on his quilt for a while. He has been pestering me for some time now - he is hoping to get another ribbon at the fair this year - and after helping my sister all day yesterday, I couldn't really say "no" now, could I?

He already had the fabric picked out from before, so he ironed **Angela - do you see the placemat you sent me for Pay It Forward? I keep in on my cutting table when I am not cutting and I LOVE it - thanks!**


and I cut (see my new self-healing cutting mat I got for Xmas? It is so big it doesn't fit on my cutting table! I am absolutely thrilled, because my last mat is nearly shredded at this point),

and he sewed,

and sewed,

and sewed.

I couldn't be more proud! We need to buy more black flannel, but I think you can tell from the design wall what he is doing. One side of the quilt has hunting and fishing fabrics, and the other side has wild animal (African? Jungle?) prints. It's going to be pretty cool! And we decided that it will be the perfect size for a car blanket. (After all, I don't want him making this just for a ribbon at the fair, I want him to make it to be functional, too.) **Cheryl - do you see some of the fabrics you sent me in there? He snapped up the bits I didn't need for my buzzsaw quilt faster than you can say "please"!**

Once we did all we could do without the extra black flannel, we practiced our karate. Now he and Donald are watching BOLT while I catch up on blogs. Happy New Year, everyone! Mine has started out GREAT! I hope yours is, too!

A new quilting convert!

On Christmas Eve, I got water!

On Christmas Day, my husband and children came home!!

On Monday, my twin sister and her family came to stay with us!!!

As you can tell, life just keeps getting better. We've been having a good time playing with our four kids, running (OK, running isn't fun, but I feel virtuous for having done it), quilting (me) and knitting (my twin) while watching Season Seven of Gilmore Girls, and generally just hanging out. Today, I taught her how to make a flannel rag quilt. I am so impressed that she got it all done, save the seam snipping, which she is working on as I type.

She ironed,


she cut,



she sewed,

and voila!

A new convert!

Cats and dogs...but still no water

Not to belabor the issue, but I am so sick of melting snow for water! We have a new water pump in the well now, and new wiring, but the pressure valve on the holding tank needed replacing, too, and the repairman didn't have the right size on his truck. First thing in the morning, he promised me. Keep your fingers crossed that I can shower tomorrow.

I spent my day alternately chipping ice off the driveway and sewing while periodically checking out the progress with the well project. I can cross a few more presents off my list, and none too soon - Santa will be cruising by in just over 24 hours, I believe.

For my 3 year old niece, a patchwork puppy.
I saw a photo online last spring and thought this would be fun and easy to make. Unfortunately, the link to the actual pattern was broken - it was a pattern from Hancock Fabrics, I believe. Perhaps it is easy for someone with more experience sewing set-in seams than me. I muddled through without a pattern, and I love it, but I did about as much un-sewing as sewing. I made it with 2" squares, so he is approximately 10.5" tall and 9" wide.

Then, inspired by the bags that Steph at A Ditchin' Time Quilts made, I made a bag for my 9-year-old niece along with a keyring cardholder.

I was sure to make the bag big enough to fit a standard youth paperback book - I'm going to pick one out tomorrow (hmmm. what did I like when I was nine?), and I'm putting a Barnes and Noble Gift Card in the card holder. Her favorite color is green, and I think (I hope) she likes cats. I hope she is as whimsical as I am, and not at that "I'm too cool" stage. Aren't these kitties adorable?

Again, no pattern. My brain is pretty taxed right now, as are my hands/arms/shoulders from those hours of shoveling and chipping. Off to bed with a book...

Placemats

I finished the bindings on my placemats while watching Steel Magnolias. Just what I needed - a good cry, and a chance to put everything in perspective. My life may seem like it sucks right now, but things could always be worse.

Anyway, I made two of these,

and one each of these (I'm using scraps of fabric, so I didn't have enough to make matching sets). I altered the pattern a bit, but that shouldn't surprise you.


Aren't they fun? Here are the backs. I got the pattern here.


I'm tempted to make a couple more - I'm not used to finishing projects quickly; I could really get used to this. But, there are other pots on the stove that I need to attend to. And I mean that literally. I am melting yet more snow for water. The water guy thinks he can have us in water for Christmas. Of course, that meant someone had to stay home to facilitate that, and I lobbied that it be me. After all, it is my husband's mother that is in the hospital, and I think it is more important that he and and kids be there than me. So, it is just the dog, the cats, the fish and I here at home. It is a bit lonely, but quilting will keep me busy. A good thing about having quilting as a hobby is that there is no water required.

But, enough for today. I am in the midst of reading Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol, and I have Jennifer Chiaverini's The Quilter's Holiday lined up to read next. I may just call it an early night and go to bed.

Some days are diamonds...

But not lately. This is the least relaxing vacation EVER. The plan was to go to my mother-in-law's house for a week. The plan is still to go there. However, we found out just before leaving that she is in the hospital. So yesterday morning as we were loading up the car, we were already in a more subdued mood than you would expect. We set off, the hubby, the dad-in-law, the two kids, the dog and I, towards the interstate the back way. I'm not sure why, except that it is shorter. However, the back way is usually not such a good idea when you've just gotten over 2 feet of snow the day before, especially in a state like Virginia where the Department of Transportation, despite their best efforts, is not prepared for snow in that magnitude. Not 8 miles from home, we got stuck, and stuck GOOD. Eventually, we got out, but not before blowing a tire. So now, we can drive, but we have to find a place in the road not covered in snow and ice to change the tire. The kids, the dog and I just started walking home. We needed to do something - the kids were very well-behaved, but I knew that just standing around outside the car wasn't going to be a good idea. We sang Christmas carols to keep our minds off the fact that our feet were freezing in our sneakers. About a mile or so later, the hubby and dad-in-law showed up with the spare on the vehicle, and we set off again, first stopping by a service station to make sure the spare had sufficient air.

It felt like such an accomplishment to make it onto the highway, but only until we actually got on the highway. It looked more like a parking lot for tractor trailer trucks. Four and a half hours after leaving home, we made it to the next town 30 miles away. We stopped to eat because the kids (and I) were starving. At that point, we made an executive decision to head back home and try again another day. Seven hours after leaving home, we made it back, having traveled a whopping 60 miles.

If that were the end of it, I wouldn't complain. However, when we got home, we had no water. Not much you can do on a Sunday night. This morning, I started calling around, and finally found someone who could come today. Of course, I thought he meant today during the day. He arrived at 8 PM. In the meantime, we all loaded into the car to go to the gym at the University where my husband and I work to take showers and brush our teeth. And I melted snow. Melted snow to wash dishes. Melted snow to flush toilets. Melted snow for the dog and the cats. Melted snow to brush our teeth. At this rate, there won't be much snow left out there.

So, the water pump guy is still here. No, not working on my water pump - he needs a new control box, which he didn't have on his truck. He'll have to come back in the morning for that. No, he's still here because he managed to drive his truck into a snowbank, and then over an embankment and into my neighbor's yard. It is 10:15 PM and we are waiting for the wrecker to come pull him out.

I am so tense that my shoulders ache. I keep wondering what else could go wrong. I'm probably looking at this the wrong way. There is so much I should be thankful for. We have heat and electricity and food, and a way to make the water we need. My kids are in great moods because I have let them watch all theTV they want today. And this unexpected time at home has given me some unexpected time in my quilt studio. I thought I'd whip up a quick placemat that I found online earlier this year.

Oh boy, so quick and easy, I made FOUR. I am currently sewing down the binding - photos when I am done. But first, I am dragging my tired and slightly defeated butt off to bed. Last night I told myself that tomorrow had to be better, but I seemed to have jinxed myself. Tomorrow will be what it will be.

I'm finally sitting!

With snow comes children who wake before dawn wanting to go out and play in it. Mine are no different. We were out there as the sky lightened this morning, romping in snow above my knees. I didn't know it could snow this much in Virginia. We got more last night than in all six winters I've been here combined. Fun, fun, fun!

After about an hour and a half, we came in for breakfast and showers, then the kids surfed the TV looking for Christmas movies while I began moving myself into my new quilting studio. It took me ALL DAY! I had no idea I had so much STUFF! But it was worth it. Now that everything is in there, it looks and feels pretty good, despite the fact that my paint job on the walls is the worst in all of history.

Here's the view from the door (ignore the air mattress - we are about to have company, and this is also officially the guest room).

During the day, there is so much natural light that I don't need to turn on the lights. And I have my sewing machine situated so that it faces the doors, so I can look up and see the kids playing outside. I put up a design wall and decided that wasn't enough, so I put up another smaller one. Some of the UFOs that I want to get cracking on are up there to get me motivated.

The exception is my flannel buzzsaw quilt, which is still stacked on my ironing board. See that cute little closet door? (Yup, it is under the stairs.) I utilized the inside of the door to hang patterns and motifs,

and the closet itself is brimming with fabric in bins and batting in bags (you can't see most of it as it is in the deeper recesses of the closet).

So right now it is neat and organized. We'll see how long it stays that way. Well, for a week at least. We hit the road in the morning (if the interstate is open yet) to head up to my mother-in-law's. Which, of course, meant that I had to do all my present wrapping tonight. I am so tired. Let me shuffle off to bed now...