PRESENTS!

Thursday was all about PRESENTS! In the mail, I received my heart in the form of a necklace from my soul sister, Em - thanks, love!


I also received another of my Let's Bee Together blocks.


I started working on a present for one of karate instructors, whose birthday party is this Sunday evening. It is a quick and easy Ticker Tape or Mosaic Tile quilt. I just hope it is quick enough to complete by Sunday at 5 PM. The R is her initial, and I'll be making 9 bands of color to correspond to the nine colors of the belts we earn in karate.

I also finished making and sewing together my modified Flurry blocks for my Christmas quilt. Now for borders...I think I'm going to do a braid on either side, partially to make it wider but also to use up more of these hideous Christmas fabrics.

And finally, this has nothing to do with a present, but I finished my second Pindrop block.

Today, I worked only half a day, then met my kids at the city pool and swam 20 invigorating blocks. Now I'm sitting on my porch, enjoying a refreshing breeze and the gorgeous views while I shuck corn and snap beans for dinner. What a great start to the weekend!

Que pases un buen fin de semana!

Running out of time (and bread!)

Even though I am stitching a bit on my Pick and Choose quilt a little bit every day, I was dismayed to spread it out this morning and note that I am only working on my FIFTH block of the quilt. There are 25 blocks PLUS sashing and a border to quilt. I am NEVER going to finish!!! My goal was August 15, but I'm starting to think that isn't possible. Phooey!

So, did I sit down and stitch on it some more? Nope! I went down to the sewing room to piddle around a bit. I wanted to practice mitering some more, so I pulled out some border strips that I had inherited from someone cleaning out their stash and added them around this leftover stencil block. Not perfect, but I think I'm getting the hang of mitering.

While doing that, I also sewed a couple of FLURRY rows together.

I removed the extra rows of background fabric in between the rows of gifts so I can make more presents and make the quilt bigger. (remember, I am using up stash, not buying, so I have to make my background fabric stretch as much as possible)

I also started making another of my Pindrop blocks - I'm really feeling compelled to bust some scraps now that I've added a bit of yardage to my stash.

I'm feeling a bit euphoric because I don't have to do ANYTHING after work today. No karate, no pool, no shopping, no nothing! I'm going home to read and sew!

(OK, not exactly true. Last night, while we were watching a movie in our movie theater, the new dog, Rosabelle/Deuce, got a loaf of bread off the counter that I had just bought and ate the WHOLE thing. Ugh! So I have to buy bread so my kids can have sandwiches for lunch at camp, but that's IT! I'm not doing another blessed thing!)

A Summer Sunday

No quilting photos today. I've been plugging away at hand quilting my Pick and Choose quilt, but it is slow going. Especially in this heat! Yesterday was borderline uncomfortable sitting under that quilt while I worked on it.

But there are some things this heat is great for:

TOMATOES! I made this bowl of fresh salsa/pico de gallo yesterday with homegrown tomatoes and jalapenos (the cilantro, red onion, garlic and lime were from a store). My 6-year-old said he "didn't like my salsa...he LOVED it!"


DRYING CLOTHES ON THE LINE! I remade everyone's beds yesterday with sheets fresh from the line and man, did I sleep GREAT! I love air/sunshine dried sheets! While at the clothesline, the dogs stayed cool in the shade nearby. I love seeing them play together and just hang out together; it was nice to be able to rescue a dog from the shelter, but also nice to be able to provide a compatible playmate for Biscuit.


WATER FUN! I was tempted to take Donald to the pool yesterday, but I've been running around so much, I just didn't want to leave the house again. Instead, I set up a slip and slide type toy he received for his birthday this year, much to his delight.


ICED TEA! I love iced tea in the summer! Growing up, we always had Salada tea in the house, and I loved seeing what my saying would be every time I had a cup of tea. As an adult, I continue to buy Salada tea and continue to enjoy the sayings. Here are two of the three from yesterday's batch of tea:



What does the heat bring that YOU are thankful for?

Keeping the postman busy

First of all, thanks everyone for your support on my last post. I see that I am not alone in needing some alone time to keep me sane and civil.

Quilting time also keeps me sane and civil, and I've been doing a bit here and there. I finished my Bee Block for July (hey, it's STILL July!). She asked for a star block with the red, white and blue solids that she sent. I enjoyed making this Morning Star block:


Then, Christina of A Few Scraps is calling for donated quilt blocks for the Black Rock Stitchery project at the Burning Man Festival in August. I don't really grasp the concept, but I was thrilled to throw together some orphan quilt block pieces to make some pretty random 12.5" blocks for her.

Random block:


Even more random (but look how I mitered the corner - boo ya!)


Totally random


So I'll be giving the postman some outgoing business, but check out what he has delivered for me lately:

My first completed Bee Block from the red, white and black fabrics I sent out with the little quilt sayings - I can't wait to see the blocks everyone comes up with and what I end up with when they are put together - definitely going to be a quilt for ME:


An awesome postcard from Joe Tulips to use as a sample for a project I want to do with the cub scouts this year (when it is not BEAUTIFYING my sewing room):


Oh, and a couple of fabrics that I accidentally bought one day during my lunch break when I forgot to bring lunch...(I've been bad, very bad)

But truly, I needed some more black and white and reds since I sent most of what I owned out with my August Bee fabrics

Everyone can always use a neutral


And I want to make a baby quilt with pieced airplane blocks, and this fabric is perfect to coordinate, right?

And I couldn't resist the name of this line - Surfing Monkeys. Ocean waves, heat waves and starfish - cute, cute, cute!


Green and yellow are colors that are pretty slim in my stash


And sometimes random stuff grabs your fancy.

I will say that everything was on sale...

OK, I admit it, I need an intervention...

Evil ogre mom?

It is Friday, but my mood is much more reminiscent of a Monday morning. Here's why:

Today, my husband turns 40. I'm going to be volunteering at the drive-in movies tonight, meaning I won't have time to make him a nice dinner, so I did that last night: cajun-spiced baked fish fillets with fresh homemade mango salsa, brown rice and fresh corn on the cob. YUM!

Then, I woke up early this morning to bake him some banana bread for breakfast. As I was letting the dogs outside for their morning constitutional, I heard someone stirring upstairs - it was Jason; he keeps waking up earlier and earlier; today it was 5:45 AM. His alarm clock usually goes off at 7:15, so this is really early for him. He showered and was downstairs ready for the day by 6 AM. He asked to watch TV, but that is out of the question; it would be a bad morning habit for him to get into. Instead, I told him he could read, or play, or he could sort and bag the recyclables for us to take into town today. He chose to help with the recyclables. Good kid.

So there I am, mixing up the banana bread and stepping over my son, who is sorting plastic and cans and paper and glass, right in the way. I get the bread in the oven (toaster oven because my real oven STILL doesn't work, even though I ordered a new heating element online, removed the old one and installed the new one, all by myself), washed the dishes, and began sweeping all the floors. During this time, Jason decides to he must find one of his toys and is walking around everywhere looking, getting in my way again. There is a reason why I sweep the floors first thing in the morning when the dogs are outside and everyone else is asleep.

I finish sweeping and cut up a fresh pineapple to go with the banana bread for breakfast. It turns out, Jason doesn't want either, so I get cereal down for him to eat that instead. (kids!) I pack the boys' lunches as well as my own, then call the dogs in to give Rosabelle (whom I believe we are now calling "Deuce", although the jury is still out on that) her medications. By now, the banana bread is done, so I put it on a cooling rack on the stovetop to cool. Donald comes downstairs and starts eating the pineapple, but he doesn't want banana bread either. He wants cinammon toast. (there is no accounting for taste!) I get him situated, and head off to my room to shower and dress. I'm actually going to be early to work this morning!

Halfway through my shower, Jason knocks on the door and asks, "Are the dogs supposed to be eating the banana bread?" During the process of coming to ask me that ridiculous question, he wakes his father, whom I was trying to let sleep in on this anniversary of his birth. What ensued was me fussing at the dogs, Adam fussing at Jason, and the whole exhilaration of a Friday morning, and a birthday at that, crumpling into a cranky funk reminiscent of a Monday morning.

I know it is just food, that I can easily sweep up the floor once again, and that I should have known better - our new dog has obviously never been in a house before, and I'm sure she didn't know that what she did was wrong (although I'm pretty sure she realizes it now!), but I am just so bummed.

While finally getting dressed, I realized that part of why I am feeling so off is that the ONLY time I get to myself all day is the hour or so before the kids wake up. Even though I am usually doing housework or paying bills during that time, it is still MY time. I don't have to talk to anyone. I don't have to do anything for anyone. I can do something from start to finish without being interrupted. I can just be. Having my son unexpectedly underfoot this morning threw me for a loop.

So, when I dropped him off at summer camp, I let him know that I wasn't mad at him, that nothing was his fault, that I knew he was just trying to do the right thing, both by getting up early and by coming in to let me know about the dogs and the bread, and that I loved him. In the future, however, if he wanted to get up early, that was fine, but I'd like him to stay upstairs in his room until 7 AM. I explained that I need some time to myself every day so that I am not such a grouch.

My question is, is that wrong? Is my request selfish and unreasonable? Am I an evil, ogre mom?

(And if I am, do you think Adam and the kids will forgive me if I make some Apple Crisp tonight before the movies?)

Who has time to sew?

All my good intentions have gone down the tubes! First, we brought Rosabelle home on Thursday. She is a sweetheart, but will definitely need some time to acclimate to living in a house with people. Adam calls her my fourth shadow - between the two dogs and the two kids, I can't turn around without bumping into something or someone. But it is understandable; she's been through a lot lately. I'm just glad she seems to like and trust me.

Thursday night, after spending a couple of hours with Rosabelle, the kids and I went to the county fair. The boys' Cub Scout quilt won 2nd place in the Youth category:


This year's quilt show had a lot of variety, from a crazy quilt to a scrappy Double Wedding Ring to baby quilts to a whole cloth quilt to a quilt made with watercolored baby wipes (no joke! it was pretty incredible!) and everything in between. I took very few photos because my kiddos were anxious to get to the rides on the midway, but I was duly impressed by this paper-pieced quilt by Judy Glick:


And my vote for Viewer's Choice went to this quilt called Count Your Blessings by Marcia Vehrs.

I just love the concept, the sentiment, and I love the use of applique plus embroidery.

Doesn't that family look cute? And I adore the sign with the name on it!

In addition to the usual midway rides, there was a "ride" that looked like a human sized hamster ball that you get inside and then you can walk on water. Well, if you can walk, that is. I let my kids do it and they were falling every which way and had a ball! (while I had funnel cake - YUM!)


On Friday, I headed up to Washington DC after work to spend the weekend with my two college roommates. This September, we'll have been friends for 22 years and we all turn 40 this year.(how is that possible? I don't feel a day over 27!?!) We ate (Vietnamese, Middle Eastern and Ethiopian), we swam in the hotel pool, we went to a yoga class (pure hilarity! I'm surprised we weren't ejected - our instructor was a nutcase and some of our contortions were not very well executed, but we managed to do the silent, tears-streaming-down-the-face, pinch-your-lips-together-so-no-sound-escapes laughs), did a bit of shopping, and spent a lot of time talking about the things that matter (being a wife, mother, career woman; getting older; reminiscing about being younger; plans for retirement; book recommendations; losing parents and mortality; old friends; staying -or not staying- fit; should we go out for ice cream for a second day in a row? - YES!). Some friends are just meant to be friends for life. My college roommates are that kind of friends.

(there are 3 of us, but only 2 in this photo, obviously)

So, while I got a little bit of hand quilting done during some of the talks, I've not made nearly the progress I should have at this point. I foresee lots of quilting in the next few weeks. I must go to the library to get a playaway to listen to while I stitch and stitch and stitch.

Christmas in July

I'll admit it - I got caught up in the Christmas in July hype! First of all, I picked up a Cleo Coyle book, Holiday Grind, that our library just got in.


I've enjoyed the other 7 Coffeehouse Mysteries by this author, so I jumped right into this one. (It is no surprise that my coffee consumption skyrockets when I read these books!)

And then, to see Mrs. Quilting in my Pyjamas working up that Flurry pattern, which looked so quick and easy and cute, well, I couldn't help myself. I spent some time in my sewing room this weekend with my bag of Christmas fabrics. Although the Flurry pattern is awesome, it doesn't make up for UGLY Christmas fabrics!!! I have inherited most of my Christmas fabrics from others, and of course, I am grateful to have them, but they aren't the gorgeous fabrics you see out there today. I'm less than impressed with what I have so far, and in true Erin fashion, I have had to modify the pattern to fit my limited fabric supply.

Maybe once it is sewn together I will like it better. Maybe once it is quilted. Or (gulp) maybe, I will never like it.

At least my machine and iron and rotary cutter got a little workout.

On a more satisfied note, my husband and I got the over-the-range microwave installed last night - yippee! I've banished my little countertop microwave to the basement and reclaimed my counter!!! (It's the little things that make me so happy!)