A day off!

Well, three, actually!  My kids are on spring break this week, so I am taking off today, tomorrow and Friday to be with them.  Which, of course, means that yesterday at work was AWFUL!  I swear, sometimes days off almost aren't worth it with all the extra work you put in before and after you leave!  Almost not worth it, but after not setting my alarm clock today, dressing in comfy sweats, and lingering over breakfast, I'll say they days off definitely ARE worth it!

So, with 24 commenters about which quilt I should quilt next, the one with the most mentions was Star Power with 13 mentions.  I don't think I said I was going to quilt the one with the most votes, did I?  'Cause I'm not.  I'm not even going to work on the one with the second most number of mentions, Make Mine Nine with 11 mentions (although, if only 9 people had mentioned it, I probably would have considered that a sign...).  Nope, I'm going to start with Plaid Dresden with 9 mentions because 1) I think the quilting will be straightforward and obvious to me once I get started and 2) I made it for my sister's vacation home in New Hampshire, and I can't wait to snuggle up under it while I am up there visiting.

Imagine me, a cozy lump curled up under the quilt

 I'd love to have it done for my visit at the end of June...but that isn't happening.  I know my limits, and I'm not going to make myself crazy.

Thanks everyone for pitching in your two cents.  I used the Random Number Generator to pick a winner for the giveaway, and I got #15, my sister.  That won't work - she doesn't quilt, and didn't want to be added to the drawing.  Back to the RNG, and #8 came up this time, Char!  Let me know what you'd like me to buy for you at the quilt shop this week, Char!

On the quilting front, I haven't finished hand quilting the Charm quilt yet.  My step-father made a surprise visit on Sunday, and we spent the afternoon finishing up construction on my chicken tractor.  I just have a few details left to take care of, and then it will be ready for residents.  I'm excited to be so close to being done, but that meant many valuable hours away from needle, thread and thimble.

I've also been reading up a storm.  I finished Sonoma Rose, by Jennifer Chiaverini, and am now finishing the second of Dana Cameron's Emma Fielding mysteries.  The third is en route to me from a PaperBackSwap.com member right now.  I sure do love that site!  This week, 3 items were requested from me, 2 audiobooks and one paperback, so once they reach their destinations, I'll have 5 book credits!  If you like to read, have books that you are willing to part with, and like getting goodies in the mail, I encourage you to sign up for paperbackswap.com!

OK, off to quilt and watch McLeod's Daughters - a perfect way to spend a couple of hours.  Enjoy your day!

Will you help me decide? (giveaway)

My sister called with something akin to panic in her voice, wondering if I had dropped off the face of the earth.  Apparently, I haven't posted anything on my blog for a while.  OK, sis, I get the hint.  It's just that I haven't done anything new lately, and I don't want to bore anyone, myself included.

But seriously, I have made significant progress hand quilting my Charm lap/baby quilt.  I'm hoping to have it done this weekend. I like the meander around the polka dots on the backing, but it isn't the fastest way to quilt. 

The back - I'm quilting from the back with the dots as a guide

The front - makes me even more diligent about making sure my stitches are even since it is the back of my quilting that will be on the front of my quilt!

For my next hand quilting project, I want to do something even simpler, something with straight lines, either a crosshatch or outline stitch.  And I would like my next quilt that I finish to be one that is big enough to sleep under.  So, I pulled out my quilt tops and selected the bed-sized ones that could conceivably look nice with simple, straight line stitching. 

I can't decide which to quilt first, so I'm hoping you all will help me decide.  There will be a fabric surprise in store for one lucky commenter - I plan to use some credit at a quilt shop next week to buy some batting, and I'm willing to use some of that credit on one of you.  Let me know which of the following quilts YOU think I should quilt next, and if you want to suggest a quilting motif, too, even better!  Next Tuesday (4/10/12), I'll choose a random commenter and find out what kind of fabric that person would like me to find for him/her at the quilt shop next week.  Just consider me your personal shopper!

Anyway, here are the options, with names that I am trying out for now.  Feel free to suggest better names if you think of something. (ignore the wrinkles - the poor tops have been squirreled away in an armoire for months, or even YEARS, in some cases.  I swear I could hear them breathe a sigh of relief to see the light of day when I pulled them out!):

A. Plaid Dresden

It isn't really as washed out looking as it appears in this bright sunlight

B. Ribbon of Hope

Flapping in the breeze - this quilt just wouldn't stay still for a photo!  It was like photographing one of my children!

C. Star Power

I completely forgot I had made this top!

D. Lincoln Logs

I thought you were supposed to photograph your quilts in natural light - why do all mine seem so washed out?

E. Make Mine Nine

Just pretend this is a decent photo - I despair of ever getting a good-looking shot of these quilts!

Got an opinion about which I should plan to quilt next?  I'd love to hear it!

Some of you may be wondering what I've been doing since I haven't whipped out anything new or finished anything old lately.  Honestly, I've been reading.  Somehow I completely missed that Jennifer Chiaverini's Sonomo Rose came out, so that's what I'm reading now.  I didn't even realize it was an Elm Creek Quilts book since it doesn't have "quilt" in the name, like all the others do!  I also discovered a new-to-me cozy mystery series.  Some of you know I grew up (mostly) in Maine and that I majored in Archaeology in college.  Dana Cameron writes a series of mysteries with a female archaeologist from Maine named Emma Fielding as the protagonist.  I picked up the first book in the series, Site Unseen, at a used book store last weekend and blazed through it, thoroughly enjoying it.  The only thing that could have made it better is some quilts.  And lucky me, there are 5 more books to enjoy in the series!  I ordered the 2nd and 3rd in the series from paperbackswap.com.  Which of you introduced me to that site, anyway?  I have yet to properly thank you - I LOVE IT!  It is my go-to location when I am looking to acquire new books, and such a great way to unload the books I have that I don't want to keep.

I've also been playing basketball.  Me, the 5 foot tall soccer player (well, 25 years ago, anyway) who has never played an organized game of basketball in my life!  I got together a team of women (we called ourselves the I Team - I for Ibruprofen!) who also work at the University where I work, and we've played a game every week for the last 5 weeks against some sorority girls, also known as tall, quick, lithe, energizer bunnies half our age.  We beat them the first 4 times out, but last night, we just couldn't keep up and lost.  I can't wait to play again next year!  My bruises should have faded by then...

The chicken coop is coming together slowly.  Unfortunately, I approached its construction much like I do my quilts, with a general idea of what I want, but no pattern.  I've discovered it is easier to fudge things with fabric than with wood.  And my kids have the attention span of gnats, so they only ever want to work on it for about 20 minutes before they lose interest and want to skateboard or ride bikes or do anything other than build.  We might not have chickens for a long time...

I've also been busy with Cub Scouts.  We've been working on Language and Culture Belt Loops and Pins, which included a trip to a Mexican restaurant in town with some native speakers and a performance of a skit/song at last night's pack meeting where I was the ONLY ONE SINGING!  The little twerps left me hanging out to dry, which was unfair since they were wearing homemade Elephant masks to disguise themselves and I was just myself.  We've also been working on Art Belt Loops and Pins, which included a visit to an art gallery with lots of western (read Cowboys and Indians) art that the boys loved.  And finally, we've been working on Disability Awareness Belt Loops and Pins, which included a trip to a Special Olympics event and a visit from a blind Eagle Scout who shared with us his guide dog, his cane, his talking computer, his braille, and his Goalball.  Goalball is a Paralypmics sport, and he was on a world championship 19-and-under team, and is still playing now on the US National Team.  Needless to say, not only were the boys rapt, but so were the parents!  Cub Scouts is a lot of time and effort and work for me, but it is one of the most rewarding things that I do!

As of last weekend, it is Drive-In Movie season again.  I'm still on the Board of Directors, and still the Volunteer Coordinator, so that is keeping me busy, too.  We'll be heading there tonight for a double feature of kids movies - The Adventures of TinTin and We Bought A Zoo.  I'm not sure who's more excited, the kids or me!

Finally, I'm still teaching karate once a week, as well as taking classes myself.  I find it hard to believe that I enjoy teaching it even more than I enjoy learning it myself.  I know I do a lot, but they are all things that I really enjoy doing - how can I say "no"?

And for those of you who are wondering, no, I didn't quit my job.  I'm still going there every day, too.  Somehow I convinced myself that things would slow down in April, but I haven't had lunch or left on time all week. (sigh) I'm so glad I enjoy my job since I spend so much time there.

Pictures! And seeking travel advice.

I was feeling badly about my nearly picture-less post yesterday, so here we go.  First, Donald and I cutting wood for the chicken coop.  We couldn't find safety goggles, so we are wearing "cool dude" sunglasses, as my boys call them.

Then, my latest pillowcase aprons.  The one with the pockets is for me.  For some reason, these pillowcases just said "Spring" to me.

And finally, I put the last two borders on this quilt.  It is 39" square, and the vintage fabrics are super soft, so it seems like it would be perfect for a baby, but since all the fabrics (except the white background) are vintage from a salvaged quilt, they are also super fragile.  I'm guessing a baby isn't necessarily the best recipient.  Is 39" too small for a lap quilt?  What to do with this one?  I would have made it bigger, but I was trying to use up the last of that white fabric, and I did.

I just love looking at these vintage fabrics and trying to guess what they were used for (besides making a scrap quilt) - an apron? a shirt? a babies jumper?

This weekend is my annual twin retreat with my sister.  We are headed to Columbia, SC to see the Zac Brown Band in concert.  Anyone from there or been there, with ideas for what else we should do?  I'm sure we'll find some thrift and antique stores to browse.  She is a knitter - any great quilt and/or yarn stores we shouldn't miss?  Any textile exhibits?  Great (and affordable) food?  Our schedule is wide open and we are open to suggestions.

I'm still here!

I've just been busy.  Unfortunately, I haven't been the kind of busy that produces pretty pictures.  I've been:

- playing basketball.  Yes, I am just 5 ft tall and no, I've never played basketball before, but I decided it was time the Hutchinson men cheered me on. So I put together an intramural basketball team of women faculty and staff, and we've been whupping up on the sorority girls half our age.  What fun!  We are three games in and undefeated.  I've scored in every game, and last night I even hit a 3 pointer!  I didn't even realize I could throw the ball that far!

- building a chicken tractor.  Have you ever heard that term before?  It is basically a moveable chicken coop.  My kids have been begging for chickens for over a year, and I'm partial to free range eggs, so this weekend I sketched out a plan and we got started.  There are a ton of different types of chicken tractors out there, but the one I sketched out (based on my limited abilities and the materials I had on hand) looks most like this one:

Hopefully we'll have half a dozen chicks by this time next week. 

- reading.  Well, re-reading actually.  I had forgotten how much I love Earlene Fowler's Benni Harper mysteries.  I started at the beginning, and I'm on book 5, Dove in the Window, right now.  Oh how I wish there were a new book in that series on the horizon!

- quilting.  I'm still hand quilting the Charm baby quilt, but the progress is slow, as usual, and I don't want to bore you with more photos of the same old thing.  The same goes for the lap quilt made from bits of my Great Great Grandmother's salvaged quilt - I have just two borders left to sew on, but you've seen that quilt so many times already.

- mining the thrift stores.  I seriously have a problem passing up pretty pillowcases when I see them.  I bought 6 more this weekend, and made myself an apron to wear at the two fairs/events where I'll have a booth this year.  I finished at midnight last night, so no photos now, but when you've seen one apron made from upcycled pillowcases, you've seen them all, right?

- leading my Cub Scouts (of course!).  This weekend was the Pinewood Derby at our Pack Meeting.  We Tigers lead the opening using Sign Language we had learned to ask everyone to join us in the Pledge of Allegiance.  Then, those wonderful little Tigers of mine sat still and behaved throughout the whole Pinewood Derby, bringing the Den of the Month honors home to us for the month.  They are such good little doobies!

So, I haven't been idle, but I haven't been doing anything that really warranted sharing, either.  I need to do something exciting so I can put some eye candy up on here.

Catching up with old friends

I survived our scholarship competition, a 3-day event that I organized for 165 high school students from around the world to experience my university and compete for scholarship packages worth a quarter million dollars each (yes, that's how much 4-years at a selective, private liberal arts school costs these days - yikes!). It is immensely rewarding for me when the competition comes together, but needless to say, I'm exhausted! All I can think of doing when I get home these last few days is rest.

So, I've been reconnecting with old friends, namely my THIMBLE, as I work on hand quilting the baby charm quilt, and BENNI HARPER, as I decided to read Earlene Fowler's books over again from the beginning. No fun photos for you, but know that YOU ALL are the next old friends I hope to catch up with; I haven't read anyone's blog in over a week. Thank goodness my job is cyclical in nature; if I were this busy all the time, I'd collapse in a useless heap.

Balking at borders

I don't know why I do this, but I always seem to cruise along making the blocks of a quilt and putting them together, but when it comes time to put on borders, I lose momentum. I love pieced borders, so that is probably why. After doing all that work making the center of a quilt, the work of making pieced borders is sometimes overwhelming. But with this little quilt, I really don't have an excuse. The pieces are already cut and just need to be sewn together and then sewn onto the quilt. What is taking me so long?

Part of the problem is my recent infatuation with making aprons from pillowcases.  My thrift store shopping spree last weekend yielded A LOT of pillowcases.  Last night I made 2 more.  First, this reversible children's full apron from a pillowcase and some green striped fabric that I had on hand.

 And then this half apron from a large cloth napkin that I found paired with the last bit of a Thimbleberries print..  I just LOVE the pom pom fringe at the bottom.

And lo and behold, I posted items in my Etsy shop last weekend, and had a sale in less than 12 hours.  Woo hoo!

Going overboard

I'm starting to worry that I have an addictive personality, because I have been addicted to making pillowcase aprons today.  Half aprons,

a full apron,

and I even tried a denim AND pillowcase apron.

Note to readers who may be female and related to me - be forewarned, you will probably be receiving an apron as a gift at some point this year!

It's funny, I love wearing aprons, and I love making aprons, but I hate to cook...