Remember me?

Oh, my goodness, what a week! I'm not going to go into details because that would just stress me out, but I can say, I sure am glad it is OVER! This weekend, I was so wiped out that I didn't do much. On Saturday, I took the boys to the park for 3 hours after Jason's basketball game. They rode bikes and skateboards and played on the playground equipment while I laid out on my Orphan Block quilt reading and soaking up the sun. If you are looking for a good mystery that takes place in a little town that I wish I could visit, check out Still Life by Louise Penny. To my delight, there are more in the series!

Today, I didn't really want to get out of bed. I finished the book and then hunger forced me into the kitchen. But not long afterwards, I was back on my bed, watching Gilmore Girls videos while working on my January Birdie BOM. Ah, Stars Hollow, another fictional town I would love to visit! And look, I am ALMOST done!

Look more closely and you'll see the DIRT on the block where Donald STEPPED on it. {sigh} Life with boys.

But surely, what you are hoping to hear from me is how LAST weekend went with Bonnie Hunter. So without further ado...

After work on Friday, I parceled my kids out to friends and arrived at dinner with Bonnie Hunter and the officers of the Guild only about 10 minutes late. When I walked in, it was surreal seeing Bonnie sitting there! A real live celebrity in our midst! They saved me a seat next to her, and I had a great time listening to her travel and quilting stories.

Then it was off to the trunk show and lecture. Again, my quilting buddies made sure I had a seat up front, but then Bonnie asked for HOLDERS and FOLDERS for her trunk show. I'm too short to be a HOLDER, but I did jump up to be a FOLDER and what a good idea that was. As she talked about her quilts, I got to fondle and examine and revel in them up close as we folded them. Some were new to me, but many I had either seen on her website or in her books and they were like old friends.

My face hurt at the end of the evening from all the smiling!

That night, Nancy came home with me, and we stayed up late cutting fabric for the next day's workshop and catching up. Then, we were up with the dawn to go to the workshop the next morning. I truly meant to make this workshop quilt. Here are Nancy and I in front of the Class Sample.


And here I am with Bonnie and the quilt I made for my mom 3 years ago.

But as I sat there and started sewing and cutting, I just couldn't get excited about making the same quilt, even if I do LOVE that quilt and even if it is in completely different fabrics. So, I started wandering around, and look what I found.

This isn't how you are supposed to lay this out, but I like the possibilities. Plus, no need to subcut into four pieces - fewer cuts and fewer seams to make this variation. So I started to play.


And play.

And play.

And play.

And I'm still playing.

I still don't really like all these florals, but I'm excited to clear them out of my stash. And wouldn't you know, my mom mentioned the other day that she loves florals. Hmmm, another quilt for her, perhaps?

And Bonnie sat down to play at my machine, too! I had just bought Tonya's book and mentioned how I couldn't figure out how to make an S. She volunteered to show me. I thought she meant with pencil and paper, but nope, she meant with my fabric!

This S (which I wore on my chest for the rest of the workshop) will definitely make it into one of my quilts one of these days. A treasure! Thank you, Bonnie!

I had to leave early to go to the Blue and Gold Ceremony for Cub Scouts. Here I am with my co-den leader helping to paint the boys' faces.

See their quilt hanging back there? They were so proud, and everyone kept ooohhhing and aaahhing and the boys just beamed! We're thinking of leaving the quilt on display at the church somewhere (the church is our charter organization), and I'm also planning to send some photos in to Boys Life and see if we can't be included in a future issue - all of the boys receive Boys Life Magazine, and I know they'd FLIP to see themselves in print! Thanks to whoever suggested that - genius!

Sunday was a day at work for me, but I was able to bring the kids along, and in my breaks we made Valentines for their classes.

(Cupid, he ain't!)

Then, the week began, and I swear I didn't get a chance to eat or sleep or hug my children or ANYTHING, I was so busy with work. I certainly didn't get a chance to sew. And this upcoming week is not looking much better. June, where are you? I'm ready for your long days and warm nights and quiet moments...

I challenge you!

This morning, I don't have the time necessary to properly describe my wonderful weekend with Bonnie Hunter, but I do have the time to say this:

I bought Tonya's Word Play Quilts book from Bonnie during the workshop, and had a chance to read it cover to cover yesterday. I challenge ANYONE to read that book and NOT run right to your sewing machine and start sewing! It's so fun and inspiring! So, of course, the first chance I had, I ran right to my sewing machine and started sewing...

I'm working on a Pay It Forward gift for a high school friend a reconnected with on Facebook who is constantly posting about how much she adores her little daughter, Ella. I haven't seen this friend for over 20 years, but I figure I can't go wrong with a gift for/about her daughter. And how exciting to finally cut into my Urban Circus fat quarters!

More about my weekend when I have more than 5 minutes to sit still. Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!!!

Prepping for Bonnie Hunter

One day until Bonnie Hunter arrives!!!

First, on Friday night, she is doing a Scrap User's System lecture/trunk show. I want to sit RIGHT UP FRONT so I can see. I learned my treatment of scraps from her website, and I love that I always have pre-cut squares ready to pop into a project.

Then, on Saturday, she is doing the Scrappy Mountains Majesty workshop. This was the quilt pattern that introduced to me to Bonnie Hunter in 2007, and I made this quilt for my mom for Christmas that year. I've been a Bonnie Hunter fan ever since.


I'm thrilled to making another one, as my mom's quilt is one of my favorites, but what theme or color scheme? Hmmmm.... Nancy is making one in Christmas fabric, so originally I thought I would, too, but only a few fabrics in I realized that I didn't have the variety of Christmas fabrics that I wanted and I didn't want to buy more. Back to the drawing board.

What I do have a lot of, and what I almost NEVER use, is FLORALS. For some reason, florals just never speak to me. What the heck? I thought. This will be a way to use up a bunch of them. So last night I started cutting, and managed to cut out all the lights that I will need, plus a couple extra (since I always make mistakes). And, in true Scrap Users fashion, whatever leftover scraps I had into either 2" strips or the square sizes that I collect - 1.5", 2", 2.5", 3", 3.5", 4", 4.5" and 5".

It was a calming and cathartic exercise, as I have been pretty overwhelmed at work, not just with the quantity of it, but also the unbelieveable things that some of our clients/customers say and do.

Tonight, I'll be back down there cutting out darks.

I hope I will like all those scrappy florals together, but even if I don't, at least I will have moved some stash that wasn't otherwise likely to move. Do you know that I found a fabric with a 1989 copyright date in the selvage? Obviously a floral that someone else didn't want and gifted to me. That's OK - I'll gladly take your discards and cast-offs, and one day, they will find their way into something BEAUTIFUL!

Done and done

The boys practiced their square knots and finished up the Cub Scout quilt. I can't wait to have them display it at their Blue and Gold ceremony on Saturday. Even though the birthing process was a hassle at the time, now, the quilt is DONE and done feels great!

I've had some squishy mail lately. First, some unexpected Katie Jump Rope scraps from Angela - thanks, Angela!

And then the fabric for my February Bee Block. Pink and brown - pretty!

The instructions were to make a 9.5" Shoofly block and add scrappy sashing to two sides. My first instinct was to make one of those scrappy sashing blocks a mini shoofly block, but I goofed and the points got cut off - that's OK for a quilt that I'm keeping, but not for a block that I'm sending off to someone else.

So I substituted that mini shoofly with a mini 9-patch - I don't like it as much, but it'll do. I hope she likes it!

I was a Breech Baby

I have a feeling that explains a lot of things in my life. I seem to never do things things the "normal" way, or I do things backwards. Or, in the case of this weekend, inside out. Ugh.


No sewing on Saturday because I spent the day with my mom - wonderful! But that meant I just had Sunday to sandwich the Cub Scout quilt because we meet tonight to tie it. In my infinite wisdom, I decided I needed to "birth" this quilt, since I wouldn't have much time before this Saturday's ceremony to bind it, and I'd rather use that time preparing for Bonnie Hunter (I did tell you that Bonnie Hunter is coming this Friday and Saturday, right? And that I get to have dinner with her before Friday's trunk show? Oh, I am SO excited!!!)


Who cares that I've never birthed a quilt before. It can't be that hard, right? I laid out the quilt, pinned it and sewed around the edges.


Then, I trimmed it down nice and neat, and started turning it "right side out". Hmmm, something isn't right - the batting is on the OUTSIDE!!! Out with the seam ripper. It took me half an hour to pin, sew and trim, and another hour and a half to rip out the seam.


So, two hours later, I was back where I started. When I was giving birth to my first son, they called that "failure to progress", and gave me a C-section. Apparently, I'm not much more facile with this birthing process. About half way through the seam ripping, I considered "an emergency C-section" of my own. What if, instead of WASTING all this TIME ripping seams, I just trimmed all the borders down by 1/4". Who cares if my borders aren't the same width as my sashing strips, right? I could avoid all this seam ripping and just sew around the new perimeter. I was tempted, but I didn't. While this quilt isn't going to be a masterpiece, I did want to do as nice a job as I could for the boys. I'm curious, though, would any of you gone ahead and cut it down instead of all that frogging?


I had hoped by now to be able to show my completed Birdie BOM block. I've been working on it at basketball games and practices for two weeks now, plus through a movie. I've discovered why it is called a Block of the Month - it is going to take me ALL MONTH to finish the darned block!


I eased some of my frustrations last night with some mindless pressing - all the bonus triangles from previous projects that I've been sewing together into HSTs as a leader/ender project these days. One day, there will be enough to make some crazy quilt that is a conglomeration of leftovers from lots of different quilts.

Fighting through the inertia

Do you ever WANT to quilt, but you just can't muster up the energy and enthusiasm? That has been me lately. But this weekend, I decided to fight through it and CREATE. It helps that I was home during daylight hours - I feel much more creative when it is light outside.

I started by cleaning up my sewing room a bit. I had two big quilting frames set up, but wasn't using either one except for storage, so I dismantled one, freeing up more space. I rearranged my sewing table and my ironing board so there is more natural light on my workspace. And then I started with something quick and easy - a new pillow for my dog using some super thick batting and some home dec weight fabric that was gifted to me. So far, he hasn't eaten it. Instead, he has parked himself on there, and my husband says he has to physically drag him off the pillow in the morning when he wants him to go outside. I love a gift that is loved, even if it is by a dog!

(that blue and orange thing is another gift that he loved - a duck that has been decapitated and had the stuffing eaten out of him, but the dog absolutely LOVES it!)

Then I finished up the last of the scrappy log cabin blocks. As it now stands, the quilt will be about 64" square, not quite as big as I'd like it, but I don't have enough of the center fabric to make enough blocks to make it larger on all sides. Perhaps a thin-ish border and then a piano key border of scraps? Or, there's enough for one more row of blocks, so perhaps a border and then a "pillow row" of blocks? (I don't know the actual term when you have a row of blocks that is meant to lay over the pillows...is there an actual term for that?) Any other ideas out there for making this big enough to cover a twin bed?


While working on those blocks, I made some more free pieced letters as my leader and ender project. I'm not really loving the S, so we'll see if that stays or goes. I have some ideas about how to pull it all together...


And when it is dark outside, I'd rather be curled up in bed or on the couch than in my sewing room. So on Saturday night, I turned on the TV (gasp! yes, I turned on the TV. I remembered how it worked! It has truly been a while since I've watched the boob tube.) and finished up the last few stitches in my mother's Christmas quilt (yup, gave it to her for Christmas and then took it back because I wasn't done) while watching PRETTY WOMAN.




(Another aside, does anyone else just inexplicably LOVE that movie? I could watch it a hundred times and not tire of it, but I'm not quite sure why. Well, I know Richard Gere is definitely part of the reason. I remember the first two movies I ever saw on VCR back when our family first discovered VCRs in the 80s - The Neverending Story and The Cotton Club. Richard Gere was a horn player in The Cotton Club and my adolescent self fell in love with him. That adolescent self still lives on in me.)

So, anyway, the quilt is done, and I hope to give it back to my mom this weekend when I hope to go visit her. (Are you reading this, Mom? If so, can I come visit on Saturday? I'll call you.)

And then, finally, last night I decided to watch the Netflix movie that has been sitting on my counter since just before Christmas (NOT joking!). DUMMY. Not me, that's the name of the movie. I don't remember picking it out, and when it arrived, I just wasn't moved to watch it. But I popped it in last night and started the Birdie Stitches BOM that I've been wanting to do.

Hmmm...just went looking for that link and found a flicker photo stream and it seems everyone else's snowmen are white. Certainly he didn't HAVE to be white, did he? I'm just gonna say mine was so cold he turned blue. And now looking at the directions, apparently I was supposed to do a back stitch. I don't even know what a back stitch is. I did stem stitch, because that is all I know so far. I hope there aren't embroidery police out there! Anyway, I enjoyed the movie much more since I was stitching. Otherwise, I don't think it is one I would have sat through until the end.

So, I feel like I'm back in the saddle again, which is good because I need to get the Cub Scout quilt's final border on and sandwich it so we can practice our knots on Monday as we tie the quilt. And truly, I'd like to give Donald his Boys Will Be Boys quilt before winter is over - that needs sandwiching and quilting. And in case you were wondering, he's been good at school two days in a row and today at homework time, HE initiated, pulled everything out of his backpack and called me over to get started and did everything with enthusiasm and a good attitude. I'll be putting Donald's photo on a milk carton because OBVIOUSLY this wasn't my kid who came home with me today, but a good-natured, homework-loving look-alike imposter. But seriously, I was so proud of him and told him how I actually enjoyed doing homework with him today. It may not last forever, but I'll bask in it as long as it does!

The absolute best!

Yup, that's what you guys are - the absolute best! Thanks for all your encouragement and support. We had a snow day today, so Donald didn't have a chance to redeem himself at school, but we've done a lot of talking and he has had consequences today, and I am hopeful that he will start to understand how important it is for him to do the right thing, if not all the time, then as much as possible.

I worked entirely too much today, but tomorrow is also a snow day, and I'm going to be more disciplined about stopping work when my usual work day is over - that's the problem when I work from home, I tend to overcompensate and work more than I would if I were at the office. But for now, the kids are in bed...wait, I hear voices...what are they up to?

(tiptoes up the stairs to find...)

"I'm teaching him how to play chess, Mom!" OK, let them stay up, there's no school tomorrow, after all.

So now, I'm in bed with my laptop and my new little notebook ready to catch up on some blogs! Check it out - Jason wanted a journal (NOT a diary, mind you!) and while shopping for him, I picked up this little notebook that fits in my purse and has GRAPH PAPER in it! (not to mention a hot car on the cover! I'm sure it was never meant to hold quilt ideas, but unconventional is my middle name.)

I don't know about you, but I have a million little scraps of paper with sketches of quilt block ideas from when I'm looking at blogs or perusing magazines at the library or whatever I'm doing when inspiration strikes. With this little notebook, I can keep all those ideas in one place and be ready to sketch any time, any place!