Now I'm just being silly!

There's a new chick in the henhouse! And lots of clucking going on as these two birds catch up with each other over a huge cup of joe!

So, where am I going with this? Who knows? My gut reaction is that I need to make some wonky letters. But what do I say?

Cluck, cluck, sip?

Two chicks, one cuppa joe?

Chicks dig coffee?

Anyone have any ideas? I think two or three words would be best, but I don't really know what to say. I'd love to hear what you think.

Meanwhile, my log cabin quilt continues to grow.

How long did it take to build a log cabin back in the day? Certainly not as long as it takes me to complete one measley quilt!

Skittering with the little chicks!

There's a children's book I love to read(sing) to my kids - Barnyard Dance, by Sandra Boynton. They are probably getting too old for it, but I love it still. In it, you are encouraged to "skitter with the little chicks", and that is exactly what I felt like I was doing yesterday, skittering about, doing a little bit of this, and a little bit of that.

While the kids were bathing in my tub, I stitched a bit more on my mom's GGG quilt. Yeah, I gave it to her for Christmas, but I took it back because I wanted to add some more stitches. Do you ever do that? Seems like I'm always doing it with HER gifts! Oh well, I'll likely be done this weekend, and can give it to her for real then.

After bathtime was bedtime. Over Christmas, I found some Stories From Grandma's Attic books at my mom's house. Growing up, I adored those stories! I read them over and over again. So I brought them home with me to share with my boys. The stories are about growing up on a farm in Michigan in the mid-1800s, and just like I do/did, my boys love learning about how people lived in the past. After reading one of the stories to them last night, both of them wanted to read more on their own, so I had to go get another one of the books for Donald. Mind you, Donald is in Kindergarten, and can sound out a couple of words, but certainly isn't up to the challenge of a chapter book, but that didn't deter him. When I went up for lights out (they are allowed to read in bed every night), there he was, telling himself stories from this chapter book with very few pictures.

(ignore the fact that his walls have flowery wallpaper and his curtains are pink - he is a real boy, not afraid of pink! Actually, I'm afraid of redecorating - ugh! The room is exactly as it was when we moved in 7 years ago. Do you hear that bed crying out for his Boys Will Be Boys quilt? That will be my next quilting project as soon as I finish this other one off for my mom!)

Next, I wandered down to the sewing room to make a chicken. Yup, you read that correctly - make a chicken. I took some scrap quilt books with me to the gym on Monday while Jason had basketball practice, and in one of my favorites, Quick Quilts from your Scrap Bag, there was a quilt with pieced chickens in the border. For some reason, I've been thinking about pieced chickens ever since. Measure, measure, cut, cut, stitch, stich, VOILA!

He/she is going to have at least one buddy because I don't think I can stop at just one. What will I do with him/her, you ask? Beats me! Ideas, anyone?

As my leader/ender project for the chicken, I finished a couple more log cabin blocks. I think I'm gonna really like this when it's done!

Finally, it was approaching midnight, and I needed to go to bed. Did I go right to sleep like I should? Of course not! Instead, I picked up Earlene Fowler's Love Mercy, which I had just brought home from the library. I've been fiending for another Benni Harper mystery from her, but, of course, she needs time to write them. Imagine my delight when I discovered that Benni and Gabe and Dove all have bit parts in this book! I'm only on chapter 3, but I can tell already that I'm really going to like it.

Speaking of books I liked, I received The Middle Place, by Kelly Corrigan for Christmas, and read it very quickly. Memoir of a young woman with breast cancer. Horrifying, but also delightful - I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. The irony is that I was reading it on the trip to Atlanta with the basketball team. On the team (and on the bus) was a young man who lost his mother to breast cancer this Christmas holiday. He's on his way back from his mom's funeral today. I'm so saddened that my throat closes up every time I see him. I've lost a parent, so I know how hard it is, but I was also a grown woman with a spouse and children of my own when it happened. I just want to cuddle the poor kid up to my bosom and rock him to sleep, never mind that he is twice my size. Have you clicked the Breast Cancer Site to give free mammograms today?

The new year brings...

...my first block in my first online quilting bee! It isn't perfect, but I hope she likes it. We were sent fabric and told to make whatever 12.5" block we wanted. I wanted to do something hip and new and different, and even went so far as to print out paper piecing templates, but then chickened out and fell back to a favorite Ohio Star block. Oh well, I have 11 more months to be creative.

...another win for my husband's team! Their record is now 8-2, and let me tell you, I love winning much more than losing. There's been a completely different vibe in my house these last few years, and this year, with this talented and young team, our house is just humming with excitement! The boys and I rode the team bus to Atlanta with the team last week to go play Emory University. I've never been on a sleeper bus before - what fun! I read, watched movies, slept, sewed - how nice to not be in charge but just along for the ride. And of course our hotel had a pool (it is a prerequisite when I travel with my boys) so we spent lots of time in the pool and I felt all virtuous for swimming 30 laps 2 days in a row (no matter that it was a midget pool about half the size of a normal one - in my book, if I am moving, it is exercise). And I got to see some old friends (including Nancy, my quilting buddy who moved away in June) and some cousins that I haven't seen in over five years. It was hard to believe that these two 5-year-old cousins had never met. Once they were introduced, Donald said, "So, what do you want to play?" and they were inseparable after that.

Me with my cousins

Me with a good friend from college

Jason helped his daddy on the bench during the game

... a slightly cleaner house! I know you are supposed to start the new year with a clean house, but gosh, I hate cleaning!!! I'm proud of myself for picking a few projects to complete and actually getting them done. I certainly won't pass a white glove test around here, but there are a couple floors that we could eat off of if necessary (not necessary since I also washed dishes) and the Christmas tree and other decorations are back in the closet for another year.

... something new on the design wall! My focus for the next few months needs to be quilting and finishing projects, not starting new ones, but I need something for those times when I just want some time with my machine, right? I have a couple of scrappy log cabin blocks done, and the rest are all in various stages of completion, a wonderful project to pick up and put down whenever, as there's not much thought involved except light and dark.

(not sure yet what layout I'll go with - so many options with log cabin blocks! I'll wait until I have more blocks done to decide, but in the meantime, fun to play around!)

Back to work in the AM. I sure am going to miss sleeping in!

Happiness is ... time with the family!

On Christmas Eve, I packed the car to the gills with kids, presents, the dog, you name it! Well, everything except the camera. So, no Christmas photos from me. They'd be kinda crowded, anyway. There were 16 of us at my mom's house - the four of us, my twin sister and her crew of 3 more, my brother and his crew of 3 more, my younger sister and her crew of 2 more, and my mom. Oh, and 5 dogs. And one really freaked out cat. And only 1 bathroom. But this will be a Christmas to remember! It was the first time since there have been grandchildren that my siblings and I have all been with my mom at Christmas (yeah, and I FORGOT MY CAMERA!). Plus, Ericka and I had LOTS of well received homemade gifts under the tree. Check out the hat she made me:

(Hubby got a little carried away with the camera, wanted to take a photo from every angle!)

And it appears that posting a Christmas Wish List on your blog works 'cause I got EVERYTHING I asked for. Thank you, family of mine!

I also received this awesome fabric postcard in the mail from Janet. I picked it out of my mailbox on my way to my mom's, and everyone there was so impressed with it, as was I. None of them had ever seen a fabric postcard before!

See Anne of Green Gables on the tree - such a sweet touch, Janet, to have you remember that I loved that story as a child and just listened to it again this summer/fall while quilting.

After two nights at my mom's house, my twin sister came to my house for two days with her two kids and hubby. Day one we just lounged around eating and playing games because it was COLD outside, but today was warmer and absolutely beautiful, so we went outside for some fun. First, we walked about a mile and a half down the road to a cave that we noticed but had never explored.

(walking...)

(still walking...)

(We made it!)

Then, back home, after hot cocoa and a late lunch, we went back outside to build a fire in the firepit and roast marshmallows.

Now that they are gone and the house is settling down, I'd love to go do some sewing, but we leave early in the AM to ride with the basketball team on the bus to Atlanta for their game against Emory on Thursday, and I've not packed yet. (truth be known, I'm still UN-packing from my two nights at mom's house!) The boys and I are super excited. I have prepared some sewing to take with me on the bus - time to sew the center circles onto the dresden plates on my plaid dresden (how did I forget to do that earlier?). My sister also uncovered a small Tree of Life wallhanging that I made from my father's ties and shirts that I can quilt on. I'm so excited to be riding on the bus so I can sew, read and nap to my heart's content!

I'll catch up with you all again this weekend. Happy New Year!

I may not be ready for Christmas

...but Donald (aka Santa Claus) is! Here he is in his (recliner) sleigh with his (amazingly tiny, black) bag of toys, and all of his reindeer lined up and ready for take off!

After I wandered into the living room, found him thus and snapped a photo, I went into the kitchen to fix a cup of coffee. I nearly spit it out laughing when I heard him mutter, "Oh man! We've got to go back to the North Pole. I forgot something!"



(He gets that from me; I hustle the kids out of the house every morning only to have to come back one out of five times because I've forgotten something.)



Oh, and remember the quilt shop that was going out of business where I bought lots of fabric last month? Well, yesterday was their last day. I just had to go down and say goodbye. It just so happened that I bought some fabric while there, too. Lots of it. All at 45% off since I finished the bolt for all the fabric I chose. Now I'm prepared to make lots of Christmas presents for next year, too! (at least that's how I rationalized this purchase of 33 yards of 19 different fabrics to myself - Mrs. P, I don't want to hear even one tiny snicker!)

(Stripes, which I've been collecting for a striped quilt, and while I enjoy making wonky letters, these pre-printed letters could come in mighty handy!)

(Don't laugh, but when the proprietress asked if I was looking for something in particular, I told her I wanted to "brighten my stash". I think I bought one bright fabric. Oh well, you like what you like.)


(I did manage to pick up a couple 30's repros, as well as some of the Virginia Quilt Museum fabrics, which I love. I also had to pick up those flower panels because I have a tiny bit of that in my stash, but not really enough to make anything with. Now, I do!)

Do any of you remember the old Dunkin' Donuts commercials where the guy mutters, "Time to make the donuts..." That's me, only it's "Time to sew on binding..."

May you finish all your Christmas projects before midnight, December 24th!

Another present ready to wrap!

I should be sewing down binding, and I'm going to get to it in just a few moments. But first, look! I made my first apron!

This will be for my brother's girlfriend's daughter (can I just call her my niece?), who is 11. I remember her saying something this past year about liking to cook, so I bought her a cookbook, and made her this apron to wear while trying out all her new recipes. I'm trying to get the next generation to embrace aprons the way I do!

I'm proud of:

my first pocket, lined

and decorative stitching along the bottom

Hmmm, the closeups of those features make me think maybe I shouldn't be too proud. So they aren't perfect; I'm proud of myself for trying them!

I could have finished the ends of the ties that go around the waist better, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

Wait! Did you just hear that? There is some binding calling to me...gotta go!

Sleepovers are fun!!!

After karate testing yesterday (at which both Jason and I broke boards with our hands - woo hoo!!!), Jason's best friend and his two younger sisters came over for a sleepover. What parents wouldn't want 24 hours with no kids around this time of year, right? Besides, their mom is my co-den leader for cub scouts (although make no mistake, SHE does all the work!), and this is the least I can do for her after all she's done for us. In addition, crazy as it seems, the more kids there are in my house, the more time I have for myself!

So, they went sledding outside (perfect - these photos were taken from the door of my sewing room - I could keep an eye on them while I sewed),

and I sewed binding strips together.

They did karaoke and then a rock band (yeah, I STILL haven't finished painting my basement. I would much rather sew.),

and I sewed binding strips together.

They played air hockey,

and I sewed binding strips together.

They watched Frosty the Snowman,

and I sewed binding strips together.

I helped them make Christmas presents for their mother from my stash of pre-cut 2" and 3.5" squares (my kids made presents for their teachers),

while I sewed binding strips together.

They played Charades,

and I played, too, so the teams would be even, 3 boys against 3 girls. They beat us last night, but we had a re-match this morning and soundly whipped their gloating boy tails!

So, when their dad came to pick them up 24 hours later, my boys were worn out and ready to just sit quietly with popcorn and a movie, and I have enough binding to sew onto my brother's quilt. In fact, I have enough scrappy binding to sew onto his quilt 2 and a half times!!!

I guess I got carried away! Oh well, I am prepared for the next quilt that needs a scrappy binding.

Now, it is off to find something fun and Christmasy on TV to watch while I work on quilting my GGG quilt and sew down the back of the binding on Curtis's quilt. Happy Sunday, everyone!