Am I wrong?

This morning, I sat in a meeting from 8:30 AM until 12:15 PM, a succession of people from across the University making 20-minute presentations to a group of us, one after another. I came prepared with some hand quilting to keep me focused. However, one of my co-workers looked at me askance and said, "Are you really going to quilt while the President is talking?"

I thought nothing of it - when my hands are focused on quilting, my mind can zero in on what is being said. The same is true if I'm watching TV; without something for my hands to be doing, my mind often wanders (or shuts off and I start to snooze). But it made me wonder, was that rude of me? Would YOU bring handwork to a presentation, whether it be quilting or knitting or embroidery? Would you be offended if someone were doing handwork while you were giving a presentation? Inquiring minds want to know!


By the way, I got a block quilted on my 4th of July Tablerunner during the meeting - 3 blocks down, 2 blocks and the border to go. At this rate, it might actually be ready for next 4th of July! I'm not sure why I am quilting a tablerunner so heavily...


I also received some squishy mail earlier this week, some early birthday love from Char at Cloth Stitched - lovely fabric and a sweet handmade card. Thanks, Char!

Please pitch in your two cents!

So much has happened since my last post. Here are the highlights:

• I had a lovely overnight retreat with my co-workers last week. Not only did I leave the two days feeling re-energized about the recruiting cycle ahead, but I got to sleep under this quilt
  
  and in my free time, I went for a walk along the river, paddled around in a kayak, read in the hot tub, stargazed on a star deck, and played Apples to Apples with some crazy people (also known as my co-workers).
  

• When I got home, I found that I had won a giveaway from Cathy A. at Wondrous Woven Magic. It is so perfect, fabric I probably wouldn't buy for myself since I am in a "safe" fabric rut, but which I think is lovely, so I can't wait to see how I'm going to incorporate it into my current and future projects!

  

• My brother and I organized a cook-out at my mom's house yesterday. I brought blanched green beans tossed with sesame oil and garlic salt, garbanzo bean salad, watermelon, and hot dogs & sauerkraut. My brother added the most delectable ribs I have ever tasted and a wonderful pasta salad. I am still full. I brought my kids, my hubby and my dog to add to the melee of my brother, his girlfriend and two kids, my mom and her three dogs. It was loud, but it was a blast. So much fun that I forgot to take pictures.

In between these events was the event for which I am asking for your opinion. First, some background info. Every year, my twin sister and I get together for a long weekend of exploring, shopping, and crafting (she knits, I quilt). It is a fantasy of mine that one day, we will have a cottage industry, peddling our textile wares. Dreams have to start somewhere, right? So a couple years ago, we decided that we'd get some stuff together and set up a booth at a craft fair of something. Well, while my sister wasn't able to join me in this adventure, but I finally did just that this weekend. On Saturday, I woke my kids early, and we set up a booth at the once-monthly flea market at the drive-in movies. I borrowed a canopy from a friend (which I managed to break and now I'm not able to find a replacement, but that's another story), hung some quilt tops from the back and sides for shade and decoration, and put some of my finished, extra, "I've made so many of these what am I ever going to do with them" stuff out, along with a price list and some homemade business cards. I also set up my Ulmer Frame with a quilt that needs finishing, thinking I could get some quilting done while I sat there.

In one sense, this adventure was a complete failure - I didn't sell a thing! In another sense, it was very encouraging; LOTS of people came by my booth and stayed to chat and admire. I got so many compliments that my head swelled to twice its normal size. When one woman remarked, "Oh my, look at your perfect points!", I nearly swooned! People left and came back with others saying "this is the quilt lady I was telling you about." One person took a photo of my booth. I didn't get much quilting done because I was talking with people the entire 4 hours that I was there! I brought 20 business cards, and 19 people asked for and took one. I left feeling pretty darned good about my morning. I realize that if I were to do this again, I would want to choose another venue - this flea market was much like a giant yard sale, where people were looking to buy used clothes for 50 cents or hand me down toys for the kids for a quarter. I'd be better suited to set up at a craft fair or street fair or something.

Here's the rub. Several people inquired about the quilt tops I had hanging for shade and decoration. They didn't want the little stuff I had already made, they wanted me to finish my big quilt tops for them. The thing is, I never imagined that people would want those, so I hadn't thought of pricing. I felt like an idiot when asked how much it would cost to buy the finished quilts; I didn't have an answer for them. So, several people left me names and phone numbers and told me what quilt they wanted, and asked me to get back to them.

HELP! I have NO IDEA! Please chip in your two cents...

1) The quilt tops are all approximately twin size or slightly larger. They are all made from scraps. Since I didn't purchase the fabric for them, (in fact, much of the fabric was probably given to me) I don't feel right incorporating a fabric cost into the price of the top. Off the top of my head, I thought $50 for the unquilted quilt tops. Does that sound about right?

2) And then, of course, I am a hand quilter. I am slow. And I am not a professional, by any stretch of the imagination. I was thinking another $150 to finish off a top with hand quilting, including the purchase of the batting and the backing and binding fabric.

That ends up being a $200 quilt, machine pieced, hand quilted. How does that sound? Please be frank with me. I'm swimming in uncharted waters here. I don't want to under-value my time and creative efforts, but I also don't want to over-inflate the value of what I do.

And if it matters, here are the quilt tops that were inquired about:

I await your opinions with bated breath!

21 kids, 23 hours

Jason's 8th birthday was this past Saturday, and our weekend-long celebration was lots of fun, but I sure am dragging now! After a double feature at the drive-in on Friday night, on Saturday we had a joint 8th birthday party for Jason and two of his friends who all have birthdays around the same time. We didn't get around to sending out invites to Saturday's party until Friday, so we felt certain that not too many kids would show up. Boy, were we wrong! 21 kids showed up for the party, held at a cabin on a creek in the George Washington National Forest, and only one kid's parent stuck around for the festivities (beyond the parents of the 3 birthday kiddos). I am amazed at how well all the kids got along, but I've gotta admit, it was hard to relax with that many kids under our watchful eyes. And of course, we planned activities that our kids like thinking there would just be a couple kids, activities that become much more stressful the more kids you have around. They:

• caught toads and crawfish in the creek
• went fishing
• played water balloon games
• did target practice with a bow and arrow (gulp!)
• did target practice with a bb gun (double gulp!)
• roasted hot dogs and marshmallows over a campfire (no, you can NOT throw crawfish into the fire!)
• played on the swingset and ran around and played kid games like tag, kick the can, water gun tag, etc

To top it off, it was a campout party. The kids were invited to spend the night with us. In addition to our 5 kids, 5 other kids decided to go the distance with us. Of course, only 3 lasted the whole night (hey, kid, couldn't you have your nervous breakdown about camping out BEFORE 10 o'clock at night!?! Especially when we have to drive 5 miles out to get cell phone reception and your parents are 45 minutes away!?!). Needless to say, it was a late night. I was in our 8 person tent with 5 children and one other adult. One kid talked in his sleep all night and kept sitting straight up in his sleep. He was also a cover thief, and he woke me up as he pulled my blanket off me. Thank goodness for my drive-in movie quilt; it has gotten lots of use since it was finished. I had a deathgrip on the quilt and rolled to a corner of the tent to stake out my territory. I was cozy and warm, but I was terribly uncomfortable. Next time, I'm bringing an air mattress!

The last kid got picked up at noon, 22 hours after he had been dropped off, and the parent of another birthday kid and I just collapsed into lawn chairs for another hour while our children enjoyed some archery practice without a million other kids in line. I've learned my lesson - never assume that they won't all come, assume that they all WILL COME and limit the guest list! My sensitive, diplomatic son didn't want to leave anyone in his class off the invitation list, but even he admitted to me that there were kids there that he didn't really know.

All's well that ends well, though, and they all had lots of fun. Not a one left without pouting or crying because he/she didn't want to leave.

So, you can understand why I was feeling a bit bedraggled when I got home, and why no real sewing took place this weekend. I took a shower and a nap, and spent the late afternoon finishing another Beverly Connor book (a Lindsay Chamberlain Mystery - it's official, I am now a fan). My brain is too tired to try to come up with a solution to my "make it bigger without having enough fabric" dilemma with my GGG quilt, anyway. So for now, I'm starting another book and getting a full night's sleep before starting the week tomorrow. I wish I could say it was going to be an easy one, but we have an overnight retreat for work midweek. (*sigh*) There is just no rest for the weary.

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!

7 year itch?

This morning, I was greeted with an email greeting card from the Human Resources Department here at work. "Happy W & L Anniversary!" Apparently, this is the 7th anniversary of my first day of work here. Seven years!?!

For some of you, that's small potatos. But let me give you a little background about myself. By the time I turned 18, I had moved 25 times. No, my family wasn't military, but different circumstances - illness in extended family, unemployment, poverty, racism (my father was Black, my mother is White), perceived greener pastures elsewhere - conspired to make my family very nomadic in nature. While I was born in Camden, New Jersey, I lived in Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, Washington, Oregon and mostly, Maine. I tell people I'm from Maine, when asked. Not only were many of our moves within that state, but my mom's family is also from there. That's where I lived all through middle school and high school, and it is where I went home to when I was in college.

Fast forward to the night before my twin sister, Ericka

(here she is now with my beautiful niece), graduated from college. On that night, I laid eyes upon the most handsome and intriguing man I had ever seen. He was a classmate of my sister's and would be graduating with her the next morning. He approached my sister and asked, since they were friends, if she minded if he "talked" to me. Her response, "Sure, it's not like you'll ever see her again!" So that night, I spent some time getting to know this young man. I remember telling him about all the moving I had done growing up, and how, now that I was an adult and responsible for my own whereabouts, I was going to put down some roots, enough with all this wandering about.

Both my sister and I had to eat our words that night. I've been with that man for 17 years now, married for 10 of them. And he and I have moved 14 times; some roots, huh?

Until we got here, to beautiful, idyllic Lexington, Virginia. As my email this morning reminded me, I've been working at the same place for 7 years now, and living in the same house for 6 and a half of those years. Sounds like the beginnings of some roots, doesn't it?

Speaking of longevity (OK, bad segue), I worked on my Great-Great-Grandmother's quilt more last night (I confirmed with Mom last night that it was made by her Great-Grandmother). I have completed the blocks for the center section. It isn't as big as I would like it to be, but since this was obviously a scrap quilt when it was made, I wanted to continue with that "spirit" and only use fabrics that I had on hand to re-create it. As a scrap quilter, I don't have a lot of anything, so that limited what I could use for the new fabric in my alternate blocks here. It actually isn't muslin, but rather, a delicate pale beige floral print on an off-white background. It reads as solid unless you are up close. Anyway, I've used all of it. I love the way it looks so far, but how to make this quilt bigger?

I have 4 alternate blocks (the X shape) remaining. I have a fair amount of original fabric squares and HST remaining. My thought right now is to put one of those X blocks in each corner, and then fill in sides with original fabric squares and HSTs. That would make the resulting quilt about 48" square. Not as big as I'd like, but it may just have to do. Another thought is to frame the inside of the quilt with a 2" border of a darker, solid-reading fabric from my stash before adding that outside border with the X blocks and the original fabric. That gets me up to 52" square. It might also be a good idea to frame the whole thing with a fabric from my stash to add stability to the edges - I am worried about attaching a binding to these fragile fabrics. If I were to add a 6" border all around the aforementioned 2 borders, I'd have 64" square, big enough to cuddle under on the couch. But I don't know. These are just the ideas that came to me when I got to this stopping point last night. Any ideas, anyone? I don't want to overwhelm the original fabrics with too much new stock, and I don't want to buy anything, just use what is in my stash. Any ideas are more than welcome!

First day with my new feet!

Do you remember the little 2.5" 4-patches that I found at the Habitat Resale Store a month ago for a quarter?

I put them together, and used the resulting mini-quilt as my first machine quilting project with my new walking foot. What fun! I finished the binding and buried all the threads last night while watching America's Got Talent. I've only seen the show two or three times, and while America has more talent than I do, I was mightily UN-impressed with many of the acts. Anyway, VOILA!
It measures 13.75" by 21.5".

I marked the lines with my blue marking pen, and again, marvelled at the fact that the lines come right out with water. I was a non-believer for so long, so I find it so fascinating to watch the marks disappear right in front of my eyes!

The stitches are all different lengths, and I don't know yet the correct way to start and stop, but I'll figure it out.

I was so happy when I finished burying all the threads on the front until I turned it over and realized I had to do it on the back, too. Ugh!

Next up, free motion quilting with the Quilt-Along by Christina over at A Few Scraps!

In other news, this week is the first week of school. Here are the boys waiting for the bus on Monday, making faces, as usual (and with toothpaste on Donald's shirt, as usual). They were both so excited, and on Day 3, the level of excitement remains high. It is such a blessing to have both boys in school together now - I feel much more relaxed, much less like a chicken running around with her head cut off picking up one, then the other, trying to remember two different schedules and whatnot.

Donald getting on the bus. The driver rushed him on, wouldn't let him pose on the steps for a photo. C'mon grumpy ol' bus driver, dude! A kid only has ONE first day of Kindergarten!

I got over my annoyance with the bus driver once I realized that I got to enjoy my entire 18-minute commute to work in SILENCE. Or listening to NPR without someone in the back seat complaining about the boring news. I sure do love my little boys, but I am also enjoying the independence we are all gaining as they grow up!

Re-discovery!

I had a list for myself today.

• Bake banana bread with those bananas that are starting to attract fruit flies
• Read a book on the porch with a cup of coffee and a yummy snack
• Sweep all the floors to see how many dust puppies we can make with all the hair my dog has shed since the last time I swept
• Mop the floors to see what color they truly are
• Wash clothes since the sun is shining and the @$*!#@% dryer is on the fritz again
• Watch some TV or a movie
• Make some progress on my great-grandmother's quilt

I did everything except watch TV. Six out of seven isn't bad, now, is it? I'm feeling pretty darned good about myself!


About the book, it was Rumor of Bones by Beverly Connor, and I really enjoyed it. It is the first of a series about an archaeologist who finds herself solving mysteries, new and old. Apparently there are 5 books in the series, and I'll be going to the library tomorrow to see if they have any more of them. It seems Beverly Connor also has another series of 9 books with another female anthropologist protagonist. I imagine I'll be checking those out eventually, too. I love finding new series to fall in love with!

And while I was on the porch reading, Donald was building a house

and Jason was working on his summer workbook

(Yeah, school starts tomorrow. I TOLD him to work on it a little every day this summer, but did he listen to me? NO! Instead, the last three days have found him poring over this book for HOURS. I feel for him, but I'm not above saying "I told you so!" I did let him eat some of the fresh-from-the-oven banana bread, though.)

For those of you who are unfamiliar with my Great-Grandmother's quilt, here's what it looked like in May 2009. The story of this quilt was in my first entry for this blog in June 2009.

It was falling to pieces, with holes big enough to fit my torso through.

Even though much of it was un-useable, I told my mom I would try to resurrect it. So, I've been cutting the pieces down to 2" squares where possible, and putting them back together. Some are solid blocks, some are HST. All are extremely fragile and faded and lightweight and uber-stretchy. I love all the neat fabrics and the concept behind this project, but I ran out of steam a while back, partially because I was making blocks with no idea how to set them together.

Well, today changed all that. I had and idea and tried it out and I LOVE IT! My interest in this project has been renewed! What do you think?

And as you can see on the top of the photo, my next color word is YELLOW. A couple years ago, I realized that yellow is beautiful, a very under-appreciated color. Have you re-discovered a color, one that you once passed by but now can't get enough of?