Today, I will pay

Some days, I have no energy, and have to guilt myself into getting anything accomplished. Other days, I am so motivated that there just aren't enough hours in the day to get done all that I want to get done. This weekend, I had two motivated days back to back. I can't believe how much I got done! But today, I am exhausted! There is always a price to pay.

On Saturday, I woke up and headed outside to organize the space under our porch. It has turned into a catch-all since we don't have a garage or a shed - bikes, sleds, inner tubes for floating down the river, tools, gardening supplies, old paint, gas cans, you name it. It had gotten to the point where you couldn't even get around down there. Armed with organizational supplies I had picked up at Lowe's, I hung the bikes, sleds and inner tubes from the rafters, hung the gardening shovels and rakes on the posts, straightened up everything into some semblance of order, and loaded the back of my car with stuff that should have gone to the dump long ago. It makes me happy when my surroundings are clean and orderly.

Next, I loaded the kids into the car. One of the founders of our quilt guild was selling off part of her stash because it had outgrown her space. The kids and I made the 45 minute trip to her house on the other side of the county - quilt shop quality fabric at $4.00/yard is worth a drive; plus, she has the most fantastic sewing studio I have ever seen. She was the inspiration for me putting a sewing studio in my own basement. My loot included selected fat quarters and yardage, plus a kitchen trashbag full of scraps that she had set aside for me. The weekend was shaping up to be very good indeed!



Since the kids indulged my FART (Fabric Acquisition Road Trip), I indulged their desire to go to the city pool. It is so much fun to go now since they are both good swimmers. I got 14 laps in before my lungs started protesting, and then I sat in the sun perusing the back issues of Quilt Sampler and McCall's Quilting that I got free with my purchase of fabric that morning. Heavenly!

Eventually, I dragged the kids out of the pool to go home for a late lunch, and then let them entertain themselves while I primed my husband's office in our basement. (for those of you just tuning in, we finished our 1000+ square foot basement last fall, but never got around to painting it - except for my sewing studio, of course. Last weekend, I painted the bathroom. There is still the movie theater, the game room, the stairwell and the hallway to paint. When I am done, I am going to have wonderfully defined arm muscles from all that painting! At least, that's what I keep telling myself.)

By the time I finished priming, it was time to head to the drive-in movie where I volunteer nearly every weekend. Volunteers get to watch the double-feature for free, plus they get free popcorn and a drink. Add to that the fact that kids under 12 are free, and it is a deal you just can't beat! Besides, when it is free, you don't feel so bad about falling asleep during the movie, which we all did.

On Sunday morning, the forecast was calling for rain, so I headed outside to get some yard work done before the rain came. I hung some laundry out on the line. I weeded. I mulched. I weed-whacked. I brought the laundry back in dry before the rain came. Then, as the rain began, I headed back down to paint my husband's office. He wanted his office to be painted gray. "Gray?" I said. "Are you sure?" Never in a million years would I have chosen to paint a room gray. I'm thinking prison, depression, ugliness. But he wanted something neutral and manly, so gray it is. It turns out, I kind of like it. What do you think?


At this point, I was exhausted. I sat on the porch with a book while my husband made dinner, and wouldn't you know it, the sun chose that time to break through the crowds and shine on me. The weekend just kept getting better and better!

Once the kids were in bed, I was determined to spend some time sewing. My current couch pillows were some of the first quilting projects I had made, but they are now stained and misshapen and an embarrassment. They are being relegated to drive-in movie pillow status, especially since I discovered when we got to the movie this weekend that the kids had taken the pillows off MY bed to lay out and watch the movie under the stars in their sleeping bags. (Which reminds me, I still have to sandwich and tie my orphan quilt so I can take it to the drive-in with us. Maybe this week.)

Anyway, I whipped up these two pillows for my couch to the sound of my husband protesting the officiating of the Lakers-Celtics game down the hall in the theater.



I went to bed feeling very satisfied with myself. This morning, however, I am feeling like I got hit by a truck. My arms are sore. My shoulders are sore. My legs are sore. I can't stop yawning. Today, I will pay for my over-acheiving attitude this weekend!

Straight from heaven

I saw a quilting friend in Wal-Mart recently, and mentioned my frustration with not having a sewing machine. She told me about someone in the guild who was thinking of donating her old machine, and suggested I give her a call. Well, I did, and this ANGEL let me use her machine until I could get another one for myself. There's a special place waiting for her in heaven! I picked the machine up yesterday, and went straight down to my studio to play with scraps when I got home.


I participated in a scrap swap set up by V at BumbleBeans. Here are the scraps I received,

and here is what I have done with them so far.

I wanted to take a block (or 4) and put it on point, then put that new block on point, and so on and so forth. It's not something I really know much about, so it was fun to experiment with what size corner triangles are needed for that and whatnot. Perfect project to get used to a new machine as I was just throwing stuff together and sewing, no pattern, no measuring, just having fun. I don't really like the way it looks right now, so I'll probably take off the outside crumb pieced blue triangles, but I do like the look of the block inside the sashing, so maybe I'll make a couple more of those and see if they play nicely together. There are still lots of scraps left.

Today was Pre-K graduation for Donald, my soon-to-be 5-year-old. Here are my two little ANGELS posing with me after the ceremony.

After the ceremony, we went to Donald's restaurant of choice (McDonald's - sigh), and then stopped into a store for a quick bit of shopping before we went home. When we went into the store, it was hot and sunny and about 85 degrees outside. However, when we were ready to come out of the store, the skies had opened up in a torrential downpour with gale force winds. Guess who left her windows down and moonroof open? The good news is, I am no longer worried about those blue quilting marking lines coming out of my Bright Future quilt. It was on the front seat and got SOAKED. When I got home, I opened it up and laid it out to dry and TA DA! No more blue marking lines. There's always a silver lining...

Today's color is BLUE!

I finally got up the nerve to mark a quilt! Usually, I just echo quilt, or quilt in the ditch, or mark on Press 'n Seal and quilt over that, but this weekend, I swallowed my fears of lines that won't come out and marked the borders of my Bright Idea Quilt with a blue water-erasing marker!

I just marked the diamond-y shapes, then did the complementing shapes freehand. It sure makes it easy to have lines to follow. Here's hoping the lines will wash out...

In addition to sitting around quilting, I also painted the bathroom/laundry room in my basement. Before:

After:

My husband asked, "What made you choose this color?" Well, folks, as you know, I'm a scrap quilter. It turns out, I'm also a scrap painter. I went to the mis-tinted paint section at Lowe's to see what colors others had selected and then decided weren't quite right. They re-sell that paint at a serious markdown. I bought this blue paint for $5, plus received a $5 mail-in rebate coupon. I don't think I'm supposed to get the rebate for mis-tinted paint, but I filled it out and popped it in the mail, and who knows, this paint job may be free! And what's more, I like this color - it makes the room cheerful, and Lord knows, you can use a little cheer when you are doing laundry!

I miss you, Dad!

Craig Curtis Williams
February 21, 1942 - May 28, 2005

(the young, handsome fella is my brother. He's 6'2" - I'm 5'0". How does that happen?)

And since this is a quilting blog, and I haven't done any quilting lately (STILL no machine!), here's the quilt I made with his t-shirts after he died. It has been making the rounds, hanging first on my Mom's wall, then one sister's, then my father's best friend's wall, then the other sister's, and it finally made its way back to me last month so I can enjoy it for a while.

Who are YOU remembering this Memorial Day?

He GETS it!

A few years ago, I gave Jason a Spiderman quilt for Christmas. At the time, he didn't seem all that excited, and I was glad that I hadn't gone all out - it was just a panel to which I added some borders and then hand quilted. It lives on his bed (the top bunk) and he uses it every night.

Fast forward to last night, the sleepy conversation that my husband and I have nearly every night as we are falling asleep after those long days that parents have.

Me (as he is getting into bed): Did you check on the kids?

Him: Yup.

Me: Were they covered up?

Him: They weren't, but they are now.

Me: I don't understand why they don't use their covers... (I'm one of those people who likes three blankets, who likes to feel weight on me when I'm sleeping)

Him: Well, Jason told me why he doesn't like to use his sheet.

Me: Why?

Him: Because it blocks the love from the quilt you made him. He wants the quilt right up against his skin.

Me (softly, and loving that kid just a little bit more, even though I thought I loved him all I could already): Oh.

Fun, fish, feet, finds, farts and an almost finish

I don't want this weekend to end! Fun, fun, fun! It started on Saturday morning with the crossover ceremony for the cub scouts - my wolves are now bears!


The ceremony took place at a local lake that I've never been to, but I will certainly be going back. It amazes me how many games kids can think up with just sticks:

Once everyone else left, the boys and I got fishing poles out of the car and went looking for some hungry fish.

They love to fish; me, I'm not so enamored. However, it did give me a chance to sit in the sun and contemplate my feet (am I the only woman who doesn't paint her toenails?),

and quilt.

Next was an estate auction. Man, I miss having a pickup truck! I could have come home with lots of nice furniture for our basement. However, I restrained myself. It helps to be hand quilting during an auction - keeps your hands busy so you don't bid on absolutely everything! I brought home just two rocking chairs, a huge toy chest for the kids, a boy scouts mess kit for Jason, 4 drinking jars,

(I LOVE drinking jars! I made some sun tea today, and I swear I thought I was my mother, sipping tea from a sweating jar on the porch. Aaaahhhh!)

and a popcorn popper for our campfires!

(Can't wait to use this. Can you make out our little firepit just in front the kids' clubhouse?)

Then, once I got the kids home and bathed, we stayed up late to watch the Nutty Professor on DVD. Um, way more bad words in there than I remember - oops! But my kids are at the age where they think passing gas at the table is hilarious, despite all of our admonishments about how inappropriate it is. We finally decided, "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em", and rented this movie for the hilarious (and inappropriate) family scenes.

I guess I wore the kids out because they didn't wake up til 8 and 9 AM today. Me, I woke up motivated to spend another day outside, this time doing yardwork. I'll be sore tomorrow, but the score is now "Erin - 1, Weeds - 0". The rest of the day, I did laundry (including my orphan top - I haven't sandwiched it yet because some of the orphan blocks that I inherited were stinky, and I didn't want the whole quilt to be stinky, so I washed it on delicate and prayed that all my seams would hold - they did!) and spent hours on the porch, alternately quilting and reading. The center of my Bright Future Quilt is done, and now I just need to tackle the borders.

Big thanks to Em for recommending The Art of Racing in the Rain. I am LOVING this book, although it is taking me for an emotional rollercoaster ride. If you pick it up to read, be sure to keep your dog at your side; you will find yourself compulsively petting and loving on him/her while you read, I guarantee.

Short week this week - 3 days, and then hubby and I are off to San Francisco and Palo Alto to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary (and 17 years together) while I work a conference. I'm thinking I'd like to prepare a little embroidery to take with me, something small. Hmmmm.....

Once in a lifetime opportunity!

I will write more about my weekend later, but for now, I just wanted to tell the world that this morning, my husband played basketball with President Obama! I can't wait until he gets home so I can hear all about it!