Today's color is BLUE!

I finally got up the nerve to mark a quilt! Usually, I just echo quilt, or quilt in the ditch, or mark on Press 'n Seal and quilt over that, but this weekend, I swallowed my fears of lines that won't come out and marked the borders of my Bright Idea Quilt with a blue water-erasing marker!

I just marked the diamond-y shapes, then did the complementing shapes freehand. It sure makes it easy to have lines to follow. Here's hoping the lines will wash out...

In addition to sitting around quilting, I also painted the bathroom/laundry room in my basement. Before:

After:

My husband asked, "What made you choose this color?" Well, folks, as you know, I'm a scrap quilter. It turns out, I'm also a scrap painter. I went to the mis-tinted paint section at Lowe's to see what colors others had selected and then decided weren't quite right. They re-sell that paint at a serious markdown. I bought this blue paint for $5, plus received a $5 mail-in rebate coupon. I don't think I'm supposed to get the rebate for mis-tinted paint, but I filled it out and popped it in the mail, and who knows, this paint job may be free! And what's more, I like this color - it makes the room cheerful, and Lord knows, you can use a little cheer when you are doing laundry!

I miss you, Dad!

Craig Curtis Williams
February 21, 1942 - May 28, 2005

(the young, handsome fella is my brother. He's 6'2" - I'm 5'0". How does that happen?)

And since this is a quilting blog, and I haven't done any quilting lately (STILL no machine!), here's the quilt I made with his t-shirts after he died. It has been making the rounds, hanging first on my Mom's wall, then one sister's, then my father's best friend's wall, then the other sister's, and it finally made its way back to me last month so I can enjoy it for a while.

Who are YOU remembering this Memorial Day?

He GETS it!

A few years ago, I gave Jason a Spiderman quilt for Christmas. At the time, he didn't seem all that excited, and I was glad that I hadn't gone all out - it was just a panel to which I added some borders and then hand quilted. It lives on his bed (the top bunk) and he uses it every night.

Fast forward to last night, the sleepy conversation that my husband and I have nearly every night as we are falling asleep after those long days that parents have.

Me (as he is getting into bed): Did you check on the kids?

Him: Yup.

Me: Were they covered up?

Him: They weren't, but they are now.

Me: I don't understand why they don't use their covers... (I'm one of those people who likes three blankets, who likes to feel weight on me when I'm sleeping)

Him: Well, Jason told me why he doesn't like to use his sheet.

Me: Why?

Him: Because it blocks the love from the quilt you made him. He wants the quilt right up against his skin.

Me (softly, and loving that kid just a little bit more, even though I thought I loved him all I could already): Oh.

Fun, fish, feet, finds, farts and an almost finish

I don't want this weekend to end! Fun, fun, fun! It started on Saturday morning with the crossover ceremony for the cub scouts - my wolves are now bears!


The ceremony took place at a local lake that I've never been to, but I will certainly be going back. It amazes me how many games kids can think up with just sticks:

Once everyone else left, the boys and I got fishing poles out of the car and went looking for some hungry fish.

They love to fish; me, I'm not so enamored. However, it did give me a chance to sit in the sun and contemplate my feet (am I the only woman who doesn't paint her toenails?),

and quilt.

Next was an estate auction. Man, I miss having a pickup truck! I could have come home with lots of nice furniture for our basement. However, I restrained myself. It helps to be hand quilting during an auction - keeps your hands busy so you don't bid on absolutely everything! I brought home just two rocking chairs, a huge toy chest for the kids, a boy scouts mess kit for Jason, 4 drinking jars,

(I LOVE drinking jars! I made some sun tea today, and I swear I thought I was my mother, sipping tea from a sweating jar on the porch. Aaaahhhh!)

and a popcorn popper for our campfires!

(Can't wait to use this. Can you make out our little firepit just in front the kids' clubhouse?)

Then, once I got the kids home and bathed, we stayed up late to watch the Nutty Professor on DVD. Um, way more bad words in there than I remember - oops! But my kids are at the age where they think passing gas at the table is hilarious, despite all of our admonishments about how inappropriate it is. We finally decided, "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em", and rented this movie for the hilarious (and inappropriate) family scenes.

I guess I wore the kids out because they didn't wake up til 8 and 9 AM today. Me, I woke up motivated to spend another day outside, this time doing yardwork. I'll be sore tomorrow, but the score is now "Erin - 1, Weeds - 0". The rest of the day, I did laundry (including my orphan top - I haven't sandwiched it yet because some of the orphan blocks that I inherited were stinky, and I didn't want the whole quilt to be stinky, so I washed it on delicate and prayed that all my seams would hold - they did!) and spent hours on the porch, alternately quilting and reading. The center of my Bright Future Quilt is done, and now I just need to tackle the borders.

Big thanks to Em for recommending The Art of Racing in the Rain. I am LOVING this book, although it is taking me for an emotional rollercoaster ride. If you pick it up to read, be sure to keep your dog at your side; you will find yourself compulsively petting and loving on him/her while you read, I guarantee.

Short week this week - 3 days, and then hubby and I are off to San Francisco and Palo Alto to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary (and 17 years together) while I work a conference. I'm thinking I'd like to prepare a little embroidery to take with me, something small. Hmmmm.....

Once in a lifetime opportunity!

I will write more about my weekend later, but for now, I just wanted to tell the world that this morning, my husband played basketball with President Obama! I can't wait until he gets home so I can hear all about it!

Determined!

Enough sulking around and being in a grumpy mood! I am determined to have a great day. I woke up with a plan:

1. Don't hit the snooze button. I'm a morning person, so I don't usually hit the snooze button, but lately, I've been unwilling to face the day so I've been making frequent use of the 9 extra minutes. Unfortunately, I think the discombobulation that comes with waking up every 9 minutes has affected my daily outlook, so this morning, I hopped up at the first hint of the alarm. (Of course, I had to stand still for a couple minutes while the world stopped spinning from my catapult out of bed...)


2. Pamper myself. I admit it, I try to do too many things, and often neglect taking care of me. This morning, I started by cutting my fingernails and my toenails, then took a long shower, taking the time to shave my legs and pits. (Sorry if that is too much info for some of you, but it needed doing.) I slipped on a pretty new dress, and bam! I left the house feeling much better than I have all week.


3. Indulge myself. In a dual effort to lose 5 more pounds and to save money, I've been denying myself things that I really enjoy, namely specialty coffees and ice cream. I had a half-off coupon in my wallet for a specialty coffee so I said, "What the heck!" and stopped by the coffeeshop on my way into work and picked up a tall Irish Nut (with Irish Cream and Hazelnut, yum!) to sip on my walk up the hill from the parking lot to the office.


4. Set goals. In many ways, I am a deadline driven, goal oriented person. During the busy times of year at work, I feel uber productive because I thrive on checking things off my long lists of pressing items. This time of year, there is stuff to do, but nothing seems urgent, so I find myself wondering, "What's next on my Netflix queue?" and "I wonder what (insert blog writer's name here) is doing these days?" rather than making a list and making my way through it. This morning, I am making a list.


5. Cleaning up. I'm a libra. Let's face it, we are known for liking things to look nice. Harmony is important to us. Right now, neither my house, nor my office radiates harmony. I'm going to start with this pile of "eh, I'll get to it later" stuff on my desk - I vow that my desk will be cleared by the end of the day. How wonderful it will be to walk in on Monday to a cleared desk! And then, this weekend, I vow to do at least one cleaning chore a day beyond my usual dishes, laundry and sweeping the floor. I need to get past the surface and clean some bathrooms, mop some floors, dust. I'm certainly not going to knock myself out cleaning this weekend - after all, the weekend is ours to enjoy, right? - but, since I know that a cleaner house will make me happier, I should be pro-active and do something about it.


6. And last, but not least - QUILTING! Again, I'm going to set some goals. This orphan top

will be sandwiched and tied before the weekend is over (of course, the binding will have to wait until I have a functional sewing machine).

And I will finish quilting the center of this quilt (I'm pretty close already)

and start quilting the border. Hold me to it guys - if I haven't posted photos by Sunday, harrass me until I do.

So, today is mine to make great if I so choose. If it is not, I have only myself to blame.

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference. - Winston Churchill

Every thought is a seed. If you plant crab apples, don't plan on harvesting Golden Delicious. - Bill Meyer

Some days there won't be a song in your heart. Sing anyway. - Emory Austin

A cloudy day is no match for a sunny disposition. - William Arthur Ward

In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer. - Albert Camus

When you feel dog tired at night, it may be because you have growled all day. - Author unknown

I wish I was a gloworm

A gloworm's never glum

'Cos how can you be grumpy

When the sun shines out your bum!

-Author unknown

I have no right to despair

There was a package waiting when I arrived home yesterday. I knew what it was, but I put off opening it, savoring the anticipation as I preparing dinner for my family, ate, cleaned the kitchen, swept all the floors (my dog is shedding so badly right now, I could fashion a new puppy daily from the hair he leaves behind), and got the kids ready for bed before sending them downstairs to watch their latest Netflix request: WALL-E.

At last, I was ready. Armed with scissors, I carefully cut open the box sent from my friend down in Atlanta. Upon hearing of my sewing machine woes, she volunteered to send me hers. I had no idea what kind it was, I was just thrilled to be able to piece again!

(Now, C, if you are reading this - thank you, you are a gem. Please do not think that I am ungrateful.)

Here's what was in the box.

A Singer Tiny Tailor. If any of you are familiar with this machine, it is a mending machine, not a sewing machine. Okaaaay, I thought, I can make this work until I can get something else. But no, I can't. There was no power cord in the box.

My high spirits plummetted. I despaired of ever piecing again! (It smacks of histrionics, I know, but I've been having a crappy week, and this latest setback was sending me over the brink.) So, here I am, the kids ensconced in front of a 90 minute video, the house as clean as I'm going to try to get it on a Wednesday evening after a long day of work, and me, slouched on the couch feeling sorry for myself.

Well, time to get my therapy another way - I pulled out my Bright Future quilt and started hand quilting. Then I remembered another special delivery I had received - a recording of an Alabama PBS special, "The Quiltmakers of Gee's Bend", has been making the rounds in my quilt guild, and someone had dropped it off to me on Tuesday. So, I popped it in and watched a video of my own while I sewed.

I already knew about their quilts. I've seen the books, I bought and used the stamps. But I didn't know the story. Oh, my goodness! Here I was despairing over not having a sewing machine for a few weeks, and these quilters had lived with as close to nothing as is possible for years! I was inspired, and I was ashamed. I have no right to despair. The truth is, I have so many quilt tops to quilt or tie, it is actually a blessing for me to not have access to a machine so I can focus on what needs doing rather than getting distracted by piecing another idea in my head.

One attitude adjustment, coming right up!