Hanging on with both hands

I don't want this vacation to end. I am so relaxed, so happy. I've been getting done what needs doing, but not stressing about the rest, and I am so proud of myself! Plus, I've been getting some wonderful sewing time in.


First up, the binding is on my Ella Quilt, and it is in the wash. (please come out of the wash unscathed and wonderfully crinkly!! Do any of you worry about your colors running or stitches not holding or some other catastrophic event taking place between the time you put your quilt in the wash and the time you take it out?) I will be ready to send it off to my friend on Monday.

Secondly, I finished the Birdie Stitches BOM for May (yes, I know it is July - just smile and nod and be happy for me).

As usual, I modified the block a little - there were too many flowers in there for my liking, so I took some out.

And finally, I've been trying to come up with a quick and easy baby quilt for a co-worker who became a father for the second time this past week. I have been seeing lots of quilts with panels of a focus fabric, so I wanted to do that. Plus, I wanted her initials (we weren't clued in on the name until she was actually born). But it turns out that I don't have much fabric that I feel coordinates with the fabric I want as the focus panel. Be honest - is this too plain?

Do you have any suggestions for me? I haven't sewn anything yet, just played with things on the floor. Unfortunately, being the scrap quilter that I am, I only have limited quantities of the fabrics I want to use, so the quilt will be quite small, but then, so are babies, right? In all the time I've been agonizing over making something simple, I could have pieced a top!

Other than sewing, I've been alternately hanging out on my bed watching Brothers and Sisters (I'm on Season 2 now and still ridiculously addicted to that show!) and hanging out on my porch, reading, drinking iced tea and eating these beauties that I picked in our yard before breakfast.

Oh, how I don't want this vacation to end! I am hanging on to each second of it with both hands!

I'm HOME!

The kids and I pulled in at about 5 PM yesterday after picking Biscuit up from the farm where he boards when we go out of town. After spending the last 14 nights in 9 different homes and hotels, it felt GREAT to be home!

My own bed - aaahhhh!

Getting clothes out of a dresser or closet instead of a suitcase - aaahhhh!

My own well water - aaahhhh!

I was so excited to be home that I didn't know what to do first. Some of my mail looked promising so I started there. I was thinking that I'd received my fabric and instructions for Let's Bee Together for July, but nope. Instead, I was surprised with these two packages:

A sweet little notebook with my name on it from Mrs. P of Quilting in My Pyjamas - thanks, Shay!!!

And I won this book from a Sew4Home giveaway - I'm hitting the thrift store TODAY to find a wool garment that I can felt and make one (or more) of these little cuties!

Next, I went down to visit my sewing studio. I kid you not, a walked through a cobweb going in the door - BAD SIGN!!! I swept the room out, lit a candle, and fired up the machine to finish up my sample Let's Bee Together block for August when I get to send out the fabrics and the instructions. I hemmed and hawed about what I wanted (I was pretty sure I wanted a basket quilt but I wasn't sure which fabrics to use), but just before leaving for vacation, I realized I wanted something made with those cute little quilt sayings that I got from the Traveling Stash. I pulled out my black and white fabrics, added a touch of red, and voila!

(It reads, "A quilt on the the bed is worth two in the head.)

I have all my kits ready to go

and I'm going to ask Bee members to make whatever block they'd like - modern, traditional, pieced, appliqued, whatever. I can't wait to see what they come up with!

Then, I started unpacking, and came across some of the fabric that my mother-in-law (who first introduced me to quilting 8 years ago) gave me while we were visiting her earlier in the week. I'm most excited about that neutral on top - I go through neutrals faster than I can keep them in my stash!

While at her house, I snapped a few photos of quilts she had around. The kids slept under this quilt, the first quilt she ever made.

Her 90-year-old mother sleeps under this quilt.

And here is a quilt her mother made.

She amazes me - all of her quilts are not only hand quilted, but also hand PIECED! Wow!

Anyway, the kids and I are taking it pretty easy today. We slept in, had brunch on the porch, and now I need to go hang some laundry on the line to take advantage of this gorgeous day. It is so nice to visit with others, but it is even nicer to come home again!

Sure sign of a GREAT vacation

(note: I started this post on June 29, but didn't publish until July 4 - hence the discrepancy between dates - sorry if you find my post to be confusing!)

We've been on the road since Wednesday, June 22nd. We've been to New York state visiting colleges while my husband recruits. We've been to Pennsylvania visiting my husband's family. We spent a week in Massachusetts staying with my twin sister and her family while my husband and the boys worked/attended basketball camp. We spent a day and night visiting a college roommate on her farm in Vermont. For the last two days, we've been in New Hampshire at my younger sister's and mom's new house, celebrating not only their move, but also my sister's 34th birthday.

We have ridden bikes, gone swimming in ponds, exercised (ick!), eaten VERY well, played basketball and baseball and every board game ever made. We've gone to the movies. We've read books. We've driven seemingly every back road in New England with the music blaring and the windows rolled down. What we HAVEN'T done is get on the computer. Having too much fun to stop what I'm doing and write a blog post is a sure sign that I'm having a great vacation. And to top it off, I still have a week of fun left!

I have gotten some stitching done. I finished hand quilting my ELLA quilt for the daughter of a high school friend. I can't trim and bind it until I get home.

I've also about half completed the May Birdie Stitches BOM. but I don't have photos yet.

And now some photos from the week at my twin sister's house:

The kids wanted to wish their Grandpa a happy birthday, so they made signs and we posted this on his Facebook Wall (the new generation and all, you understand)

My knitting sister showed me some lovelies she has made for her daughter (hopefully just miniature versions of stuff she has in the works for me (hint, hint, hint):

a tank top

a lovely dress

and here is the said niece wearing that nightie I made her

Ericka also took me to the high school to see a community quilt that a class had produced.

Check out the clever 3-dimensional doorknobs:

And some of my favorite pictorial blocks - do you see the clever use of that red toile(?) fabric?

I think this is Emily Dickinson

Farms are perfect to render in patchwork

Anyway, I can smell bacon, a siren call to get me off the computer and back with the family. Today, we head back to Pennsylvania for a few days before making our way back to Virginia to see if my pets still recognize me. Happy 4th of July, fellow Americans! And happy belated Canada Day to my northern neighbors! And if you are reading from some other part of the world where you haven't been graced with a holiday weekend, happy Monday!

Weekend in Connecticut

First of all, I have to tell you all that I have finally joined the ranks of people who have cameras on their cell phones. I'm late to the party, I know, but how exciting to be able to take photos anytime without carrying along extra equipment! So, of course, while I was in New Haven this weekend presenting at a conference at Yale, I had to snap some photos.

Saturday's conference was LONG and I had some down time in between presentations, so I escaped outside to get some iced coffee from Dunkin Donuts and catch up on blogs on my iPad (still love it!!!) on a bench in a courtyard. I glanced up at this gaggle of students, and do you see what I see?

Lots of blue Half Square Triangles on that girl's white tank top! (Unfortunately, I don't think my camera has a zoom and I didn't want to get right in her face to take the photo, so you may have to click the photo to make it larger and see the scrappy HSTs.)

The conference went too late on Saturday for me to fly home that night, so I booked my flight home for 6:15 AM on Sunday so I could be with my family for Father's Day. At least, I THOUGHT I did. It turns out, I booked a 6:15 PM flight, and wouldn't get home until after midnight. Yup, I'm an idiot. Not only was I missing all of Father's Day, but I was in New Haven on a Sunday with no car and nothing to do. I asked for late checkout at the hotel, but that only took me until 1 PM. What to do with the next 5 hours?

I decided to WALK to the airport. I noticed on the taxi drive from the airport on Friday that it was in a residential area, and Google Maps told me that it was only about 4.5 miles away, so I strapped my backpack on my back (I travel light!) and set off, looking for adventure.

It started out great. I enjoyed walking through Yale's campus, and through the retail district that surrounds any group of youngsters in possession of their parents' credit cards, and found this shop where I just had to stop and browse.


Check out the neat little sewing machine in a case:

And these feedsacks that I forced myself not to buy.
There was also a TON of beautiful embroidery floss along one wall, but I didn't buy that either since I have more than I will probably ever use already.

Once I'd checked out every cool thing in there, I was on my way again. Things were pretty dull for the next 2 miles or so until I came across a Dunkin Donuts, where I stopped for a frozen lemonade and a Boston Kreme. Yum!

At this point, I was starting to rethink my decision to walk, since I only had flip flops and heels (I opted for the flip flops) and my feet were getting not only tired, but filthy. But I soldiered on, and arrived at the airport a mere 2.5 hours before my flight. If you ever need to go to the New Haven, CT airport, BRING A BOOK! And a snack! It is the smallest airport I have ever seen, which, of course, means no refreshments besides a do-it-yourself coffee dispenser and a Coke machine, and absolutely nothing to do. People watching isn't much fun when you are the only person in sight.

Anyway, I got home safe and sound and now I'm back at work counting the minutes until vacation, which starts at precisely 3:00 PM on Wednesday afternoon, and not a second later!

Another milestone!

I haven't done much sewing this week because I've been focused on preparing for my Advanced Pre-Black Belt test. After suffering that torn calf muscle 5 weeks ago, I've been worried about not being ready, as I haven't gone to class as often, and when I did go to class, I avoided doing certain moves in order to let the injury heal. The test was last night, and I am happy to report that I DID IT!!!

(Yes, I'm short. Just 5 feet tall. If I stand up REALLY straight.)

This belt means more to me than any other because I had to work harder to get it (never mind that the test itself was so much longer). Last night I felt a nauseating mix of relief/pride/exhaustion/euphoria. Today, only the euphoria remains.

Wanna see me break some boards?

It's a short video, just 41 seconds. These are actually breakable boards (think of all the lumber we'd go through if we used actual boards every time!), but the force required to break them is the same as a regular 2.25 inch (5.715 cm) pine board (over 200 lbs of force if I remember correctly). For our black belt test, we will be using real boards.

So now that the stress of the test is over, back to sewing! I will be doing lots of hand quilting on the Pick and Choose quilt in the coming week, but I also want to make an iPad cover!!! Perhaps this one from One Shabby Chick:


Or perhaps this one from My Patchwork:

I love her humor on this one with the PEAR instead of the APPLE:

And this one from Smashed Peas and Carrots is so cute!

But don't be surprised if the case I make is this lovely envelope one from Dixie Mango:

Hmmm...I may have to make more than one, whaddaya think?

Something for you (Debbie) and something for ME!

The Random Number Generator choose comment #10 from the 17 comments on my Wanna Win the Traveling Stash post - Debbie from North Carolina, send me your address and I'll do my best to cram everything into a box to send your way this week. Thanks for playing along, everyone!

Speaking of playing, yesterday the family traveled to the big city to make a purchase - and iPad2. I see lots of great times in my future with this little gadget. I've already bookmarked some tutorials to try, and how easy it will be to bring that down into my sewing room to follow the tutorial instead of printing out the directions. Plus, when I just have 5 minutes to spare, I can easily be online in moments and check someone's blog, rather than waste those 5 minutes waiting for my desktop to boot up. I LOVE IT!!

Unfortunately, so does my 8-year-old son, so he's been on it much more than me.


That's OK, though, because I'm supposed to be sewing, right? I finished my first block on the Pick and Choose quilt...I think. (click on the quilt photos to see them larger and in more detail)

As I mentioned before, I didn't have a plan before I started hand quilting this, just sat down with a needle to see where it would take me. It was terribly angular, so the quarter circle curves in the neutral triangles are my attempt to balance it out a bit. Opinions, anyone? Is it quilted enough, or does it need more? One thing I considered was making the curve a double line, but is that overkill or unnecessary? I'm trying to keep in mind that there are 24 more blocks, sashing and a border to quilt, so I don't want to do more than I'll want to do 24 more times over.

Here's the back.

See how many of the lines just stop? Is that problematic? Should I connect those interior points?

I think I'm going to sit on this before I decide if I need more quilting in each block, but feel free to chime in!

DIRT!!!

Another night with not a stitch of sewing done...pooh! But the good news is that my end-of-the-year office party went well at my house last night - about 30 people, lots of good food, Air Hockey, Bananagrams, and a new game that I've never played but will definitely buy now, SmartMouth.

Once all my guests left, I "remembered" that I had 3 overnight guests - my good friend (and co-Den Leader for Cub Scouts) had a birthday yesterday, so I started the day by taking her some homemade Apple Crisp and ended the day by picking her 3 kids up from school and bringing them home with me to spend the night with us. They are great kids, so it is a pleasure to have them stay over, but last night, when the last guest left and I called the kids in to get ready for bed, look what I saw:

(they are all saying, "We're filthy!" except for Donald who is mad at me because I said he has to take a shower)

They had been making "adobe" to patch bricks. Oh, my! My sparkly clean pre-company bathrooms were completely transformed as we scrubbed the dirt away. And then, little did I know, there was the post-shower hair de-tangling routine for the girls. Holy macaroni! If I had girls, they'd be bald-headed because that was an ordeal! But, they all went to sleep very dutifully after story time, and I was asleep not long after.

Tonight, though, I'M SEWING!!! After school and a doctor's appointment, we are going to the pool to cool down (and soak off any dirt we may have missed last night!), and then I'm going home and sitting down and that's IT! After all the house cleaning this week in preparation for this gathering, my house is both cleaner and tidier than it has been in a long while, so I will feel no guilt about sitting on my behind for a few hours. Tomorrow, hand quilting photos of the Pick and Choose quilt, I promise! There will also be a new recipient for THE TRAVELING STASH. If you haven't put your name in the hat yet, there is still time!