My family ROCKS!!!

On Thursday, the boys and I boarded the bus along with my husband's basketball team to travel to Massachusetts and cheer them on at their tournament while spending time with my family. Adam and the team stayed at a hotel, but the boys and I stayed with my twin sister and her family. My brother and his family also drove up and stayed with us (got there an hour before me), and on Saturday, my mom, my younger sister and her baby drove down from New Hampshire. All the siblings and my mom haven't been together like that since my sister got married last fall, so this was great fun! And look, the bookstore at Washington and Lee gave me a discount so I was able to get 20 matching t-shirts at a great price so we could really represent at the game!

We won the first game on Friday, but lost on Saturday. Then it was back on the bus for the 10 hour drive home. We got home at 4:30 AM on Sunday. (UGH!) I'm just glad I didn't have to do the driving. If you recall, I was planning to read, stitch, watch movies and sleep on the bus. I gotta say, I did WAY MORE sleeping than I thought I would. I brought 4 books and didn't even finish the first one yet! I brought my November Birdie BOM and never even took it out to work on it! I did spend several hours hand quilting a couple more blocks on the Pick and Choose quilt. That was pretty handy, because when I got tired, I just secured the needle and cuddled up under it. I'm really growing attached to that quilt, and if the woman who commissioned me to finish it for her still wants it when it is done, I'm going to be more than a little bit sad! And while snuggling down, I caught a couple of movies. I'm still shaking my head at the choices of the team - I was the only female on a bus with 26 people on it, and they watched BRIDESMAIDS! There was a scene in there, though, that had me laughing so hard that I was crying! (the bridal shop after lunch at the Brazilian place, for any of you who have seen it - hilarious!!!)

I paid my neighbor to dog sit while we were gone and Rosabelle ran away. That dog is so much trouble! It is a good thing she is such a sweetheart, or I'd be tempted to give her back to the animal shelter! But someone found her right away and called our vet (the number is on her rabies tag) so she spent two nights there until we got back. I learned my lesson, though, and already made reservations for both dogs to board there this weekend when we head to Newport News, VA with the basketball team again for their next tournament.

In the meantime, I am frantically trying to fix my oven before Thursday, as there will be eleven disappointed people in my house if we don't have turkey and pie for dinner that day. Wish me luck!

Little Things

Last week was BRUTAL! It was super busy at work and I was cramming to make a signature quilt in just 5 days. It all got done, but all I felt like doing this weekend was little things. Luckily, I had two Bee blocks to complete, so I started with those. They were both made with fabric that is very different from what I have in my stash, so that was fun.



We also had a Tiger Scout Den meeting on Sunday afternoon for which I had to prepare. We are going Christmas caroling at a nursing home in early December, before our next Den meeting, so we made Christmas postcards to distribute to residents while we are there (I know, I know, it is early to be thinking Christmas when we haven't even eaten turkey yet, but we wouldn't have had any other time to do it.) On Saturday, I spent several blissful hours cutting letters and green triangles out of old quilting magazines while oogling the quilts. I also cut out some postcard sized rectangles from old cereal boxes, and covered each with a snowy background cut from some Christmas wrapping paper. Here's my sample card:

The ornaments on the tree were made with a 3-hole punch - easy peasy!

Here are the Tigers and their parents working on their cards:


And here is the final result of our efforts:

(Looks like that second tree in the third row is getting chopped down, doesn't it?) I love them! All the boys signed all the backs of the cards.

We also packed 4 boxes of goodies for Operation Christmas Child to send abroad. Can you tell we talked about part of the Law of the Pack, "The Cub Scout gives goodwill"? We defined goodwill as kindness, and these boxes and postcards are physical manifestations of our goodwill towards others this season.

I also spent some time straightening up my sewing room yesterday. I still have a long way to go to make it presentable, but it is better. Part of making it better was cutting up some of my flannels so that they fit back into my flannel bin. I'm hoping to whip up a rag quilt that I can work on snipping later this week on the team bus when the boys and I and ride with my husband's basketball team up to Amherst, Massachusetts where they will play in a tournament. My sister lives within walking distance of the College, so we get to visit family and support the team all at once. Bonus! I will also be working on my November Birdie BOM on that trip. It is nice to have travel projects!

Know what else is nice? Winning giveaways! I won TWO yesterday - 5 fat quarters from Annie at Annie's Ruby Slipperz and a pattern and Charm Pack at House of Wilson. There are more giveaways coming from both of them - I encourage you to pop on over for a peek!

Who needs sleep?

Not me! Donald's joy at seeing his completed signature quilt, ready to be delivered to his departing student teacher today at her going away party, cleared the cobwebs from my head that lingered after getting less than 4 hours of sleep.

I just hope I don't nod off in the middle of something important...ZZZZZzzzzzzz.....

Signed...and partially sealed

Donald collected all the signatures at school on Monday, and I spent Monday evening rearranging and putting the top together. Here's what I finally came up with: (and yes, I said "I"; Donald deserted me to watch TV, the little stinker!)




Then on Tuesday, I sandwiched it and started quilting it with straight lines outlining the diagonal blocks using my walking foot. I am almost done quilting, but not quite because I had to go back to work to speak on a panel on College Access for Underserved Populations last night, and then had to read applications until 11 PM. Ugh! Busy season at work, yet again!!!



I had to come back to work again tonight, and I will be taking files home to read again, but I am determined to finish quilting and attached the binding tonight, because this baby has to be delivered on Friday - the student teacher's last day. Wish me luck (and copious amounts of caffeine!).

Scrap attack!

Have you noticed I haven't done much quilting lately? Reading, yes. Sewing up little gifts and whatnot, yes. But quilting, no. I couldn't take it anymore! I had to get up to my elbows in scraps and work on a quilt (or two, or three).

I started by helping Donald work on a quilt. His student teacher is leaving at the end of the week, and he wanted to make a quilt for her, so I helped him sew up blocks for a signature quilt using some pre-cut 5.5" squares that I inherited from someone somewhere down the line. He picked out the fabrics to use (from a stack of coordinating sqaures), he used the presser foot while I steering the fabric under the needle, he cut the chain pieced segments apart, and he pressed them open on the ironing board. He got a bit tired of it all, and started lamenting the fact that there were 23 kids in his class.

"I should have done this last year in kindergarten when there were only 11 of us," he sighed.

I sent the blocks in with him this morning for the teacher to have all the kids sign one, and then we'll hopefully put it together tonight with the upper and lower borders that you can see in the photo above that I made to make it more square. It is only about 30" square, and I plan to machine quilt with some straight stitches. I've even already made the binding!

I also made a couple more of my leader and ender blocks using 1.5" squares (these blocks finish 6.5" square, and the whole purpose is to use up that black floral - I had a bunch of pre-cut 4.5" squares of it that I wanted OUT of my scraps tin).


I also worked on whittling down my stash of strings because they no longer fit in my strings tin. I whipped up a couple more Virginia Bound blocks (an adaptation of a Bonnie Hunter quilt in her Scraps and Shirttails book). I love these blocks, and can't wait until I have enough to sew them together and have a quilt already! (only 37 more blocks to go...ugh! when I put it that way, it seems like it will NEVER happen!)


I've also had time this past week to work on hand quilting my Pick and Choose quilt.

No new photos, but slowly, slowly, it is coming along. Dare I say that I hope to have it done before Christmas? Did I just jinx myself?

I also want to share with everyone the bag that I received from Janet. I won a giveaway on her blog, and she made me this bag. I love it!

She made the handles in a very clever way so you can use them either long or short - genius! And check out her free motion quilting - I am in awe and so envious of her ability!

She included a beautiful fabric postcard that she made, but I forgot to take a photo of it. Thanks so much, Janet!

Thank goodness, it's November!

I swear, our lives have been consumed by Halloween in the Hutchinson household! First, all the angst about what to be. Then the angst about whether or not the costume parts that we ordered online would arrive on time. Then Friday night, we went to a costume party at the karate dojo. Saturday, after I worked all morning, I hosted a Halloween party for 11 scouts and siblings at my house, followed by a 5 kid sleepover for a Halloween Movie Marathon (kid Halloween movies, not THE Halloween movies). The extra kids were gone by noon on Sunday, and no one will be surprised that I spent the rest of the day laying about in bed with occasional trips to the kitchen for sustenance. I'm proud to say that I also managed to sweep floors, wash dishes and do two loads of laundry - but besides that, I was a complete slug!

Then, of course, came actual Halloween! We trick-or-treated til we couldn't trick-or-treat anymore! (Do you like my homemade rosary? The cross is cut from a cereal box and covered with red fabric. The beads are actually a red fish necklace that my son brought home from fish release day at school when they released the trout babies that they were raising in a tank at school.)

We will have candy until my children have children! The kids are thrilled, but all I can think about is my non-existent willpower. (sigh) Pass me another Snickers, will you?

Today, I am happy to put the costumes away, and head home after school/work to SEW! I already warned the kids that I wasn't leaving the house this afternoon or evening. Today is for me! I wonder what I will sew today...

And thank you to everyone who voted for Jason's Halloween quilt this weekend. He didn't win, but he was so tickled to see that he got votes and came in 5th!

The EASIEST thing I have ever made!

Not too much sewing going on. I think all the travel and karate build up and painting my basement burned me out, and all I've felt like doing lately is curling up with a book. My regular readers know that cozy mysteries are my books of choice. I finished the second Leann Sweeney, Cats in Trouble book, The Cat, The Professor and The Poison. Enjoyed it!


I have another Arlene Sachitano to read, but they really aren't my favorite, even with quilts involved, so I'm sitting on that one for a while. Instead, I picked up Farm Fresh Murder by Paige Shelton, the first of the Farmer's Market Mysteries. Enjoyed it!


Now I'm reading one of Maggie Sefton's Knitting Mysteries, Dyer Consequences. There's a certain formula that works for me:

• female protagonist


• making it on her own with a home business or crafting business


• character development! I don't just want to know what they do, I want to know why and how they feel about it and what scares them and what their sense of humor is like! (I think that's why I don't like Arlene Sachitano's books - there isn't much character development)

Anyway, I forced myself down into my sewing room and started working on some Christmas presents. One is for my sister who periodically reads this, so I can't share a photo, but I also worked on some stocking stuffers. I was thinking of making snap shut change purses, and I probably still will, but I also found a tutorial for a travel tissue case. I started with one for myself, since I hate when the plastic wrap crinkles up in my purse and then the tissues appear dirty.


Oh my goodness! If this wasn't THE EASIEST THING I have EVER made! Even with the boxed corners, which, I think, makes it look much more finished (and cute!). It took so little time that I made two more while timing myself. 18 minutes from start to finish to make a pair! No way!

So I made 5 more - IN 35 MINUTES!!!

Folks, if you are looking for a quick stocking stuffer that uses up scraps and takes practically no time to make, look no further! I followed the tutorial found here. Tonight, I'm going to change my thread and make some light colored ones (I had black thread in the machine, so these were all with dark fabrics). I'm addicted! I'm almost hoping people get the sniffles so I can offer them some tissues!

Are you dressing up for Halloween? I'm going to be a nun. Not sure I can pull that off, because I sure as heck am not a saint, but I'm gonna try! And I need to hang up Jason's Halloween Quilt. Remember this, his first quilt from two years ago?

I added it to the Quilting Gallery Weekly Theme Quilt Contest. Take a peek, and if you vote for him and he wins, I promise that HE will get the fabric winnings! He is already letting me know that he needs to build his stash! Love it!