MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Home and then gone again....

Will came home from college for a long weekend. He went to the Virginia Tech game last Thursday night, left right afterward, and walked in the door here at 6 am. Ah, to be young again and think nothing of staying up all night. We had a great time with him, but it seems like Monday rolled around awfully quickly.

A funny note: Will happened to see the newest issue of Mark Lipinski's Quilter's Home magazine on the coffee table and said, "Is that Mark on the cover?" I said, "Yeah, he's on the cover of every issue!" Then Will looked at the title closely, and said, "Wow! It's even got his name there. He's really made it, huh?" LOL. He's used to seeing Mark in everyday situations and has no idea that people line up for his autograph at quilt shows. Will, and for that matter, Steven and Mae as well, think of Mark as mom's quilting buddy, and that's it. Although as his frequent teasing target, Mae might embellish on that a bit and indignantly say that she is NOT marrying Mark and cleaning his house or doing his laundry, "How about no, Mark!"

A "dear" visitor

Sorry, not a Bambi lover. All I could think was, "Where's the shotgun?!"
That and Bill's usual line, "Nice rack!" Hahaha

Freak snowstorm... no power

It started off as a rainy day, but sometime mid-morning, it became beautiful large, fluffy snowflakes. I took a couple of pictures thinking how pretty it was against the lush green and gold of the trees which are still full of leaves. This was the view out my front door. It wasn't sticking to the driveway yet.


Shortly thereafter, the power went out. After a few hours, it still looked pretty, but I started getting worried about the road conditions. The kids were held at school a little longer to give the road crews more time to deal with the roads and the few broken trees and limbs. This was the view out my bedroom window. You can see the tree limbs starting to droop under the weight of the wet snow.


I took this one looking up into the tops of the trees. So pretty.


Power came back on late Thursday night. We drove through our area that afternoon and what a mess. Sawed off tree trunks on the sides of the roads, live wires that had burned the ground were taped up awaiting repair, and the growl of generators were heard almost everywhere.

Sports

What's a guy to do when his game isn't on TV?


Virginia Tech is on the computer, Rutgers is on the radio, and I think Michigan is on TV. I am sewing in the dining room - this is not my scene!

A bag from leftovers

No matter how accurately you try to estimate how much fabric you'll need for a quilt (and don't even get me started on the estimated fabric yardages given in EQ!), somehow the scrap basket always stays full. This little bag is a great way to have fun with the leftovers. It's a free pattern given on the AllPeopleQuilt website (http://allpeoplequilt.com/quarterlychallenge/APQ_QtrlyChal3.pdf), and it's pretty easy to make. This is coming from someone who's not so great at following someone else's patterns! Although I did actually make a couple of small changes to the pattern such as making the pockets a little deeper and squaring up the bottom of the bag.

Here's how I used some leftovers from Mark Lipinski's Krakow line. For those who recognize fabrics, there are a few pieces from his previous line of fabric, Califon. It matches so nicely. I love it when different fabric lines can be used together.


Here's the other side. It's fun mixing up the fabrics.


Loop the longer strap through the small one and off you go. Pockets galore inside! And if it gets dirty, just throw it in the washer and dryer.

Mark Lipinski's Krakow line

Mark called me Friday evening (last week) to see if I would make a quilt from his new fabric line called Krakow (that's "crack-ow", I asked). I know he previewed pictures of the fabric on his blog (http://marklipinskisblog.wordpress.com), but seeing the fabric in real life is so different. As soon as I saw it up close, I had a mental image of what I wanted to do. The line has a blue and a red colorway. I don't work with blue very often, so that's what I chose. Mark was very agreeable to whatever I wanted to do. I think he loves seeing what his buddies come up with - we all have fairly diverse creative ideas. So we cut off what I needed, and I went home with my treasures.

This is what I started with - a dresden plate block. It went together so easily.


I love putting points on the dresden plates. It makes it so much easier to applique it to the background, whether by machine or by hand. On the reverse side, you can see how the edges are already turned under for you - no needle-turning necessary!


Then I played around with triangle squares. I was trying make sure I used each one of the fabrics in the blue colorway of the Krakow line. There are 12 - I used them all!


I made four of these blocks, then had to decide on sashing/border sizes. I can't bring myself to follow the "rules" for those sizes in relation to the block size (as if I even remember them anyway). Besides, the blocks ended up being 24" square. I felt that I needed a border big enough to feel "solid". See, it's all about ME and what I want, haha.


Here is the final quilt. I settled on an 8.5" border and 4.5" sashing. Wish my picture-taking was better. Either the flash is wonky, or the camera holder is wonky - one or the other. Um, yeah, I admit I am the camera holder. Sigh.

Happy Birthday!

Obviously I was a child bride. Seems impossible that I could have a baby who turns 18 today! Happy Birthday, sweetie!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to a wonderful guy! 49 already??? Wow, that's getting really old!!!

Short sweaters??

Mae really doesn't like change. She's also not very interested in style, looks, or fashion in general. I found this adorable little sweater this summer while shopping with Mom, and the time seemed right to bring it out. Mae was quite disgruntled that it's so short. I explained that it's meant to be short like that. Her reaction? "Well, it looks like somebody just ran out of yarn."

I think she looks cute as a button, and she did come home from school saying she had been complimented many times. I think she'll agree to wearing it again sometime.

College Applications

Well, child #2 has now been pushed along the college application track. I really stressed over this the first time around being such a hands-on mom. I had checklists and charts on the refrigerator. I made Will have all his essays written before school started in August. It really does work out better for the kid if they have that part done before the homework starts getting piled on. Then, he was able to take his essays to one of his teachers to be edited in September. In hindsight, I realize that I made the process more stressful with the checklist (for me at least, Will never even looked at it), and I eased up a bit on Steven - his essays (only 2) were done Labor Day weekend. Now here it is almost the third week of September and his applications are completely done and sent in with fingers crossed. He did finally decide to do Early Decision at Virginia Tech. We will find out in December. If he gets in there, he'll withdraw his other applications right away.

So here's my advice to anybody who will be going through this process in the future. If you need to re-take the SATs , make sure you sign up for the Oct test date so that scores can be sent in on time.

1. In August, narrow down the list of schools and get their applications, either online or by mail. Write the essays. When school starts up in earnest after Labor Day, take the essays to a trusted teacher for editing/critiquing.

2. By the end of September, decide on recommendations - ask if the person feels they can give you a good recommendation. When you have decided on the person/s, give them addressed, stamped envelopes for each school that wants the recommendation along with whatever form that school wants. Include a "brag sheet", which basically is just a reminder to the teacher of who you are ( you may only have 1 physics teacher, but he may have had 80+ students... just how much do you think he might remember you??). These teachers get asked for tons of recommendations every fall and they are doing them on their own time, so give them a few weeks before asking them if they are finished.

3. In October, submit your applications (with completed essays). Ask your guidance counselor to send transcripts. Most schools' guidance offices have specific instructions for doing this and will have special meetings to go over college stuff with students and parents during September.

Having said that, probably the majority of kids I know didn't get everything done until just before the usual submission date of Jan. 1. I couldn't take that pressure (as a nagging mother, ha). Will had a great fall semester with no worries or pressures about his applications, unlike many of his friends. Steven, I expect, will be feeling the same way now that he is totally done. All that's left is to wait....

One Block Wonder variation

Sorry my break from blogging lasted so long. I always get a little bummed out when I get back from vacation....

I did work on another One Block Wonder quilt while I was at mom's. Remember this fabric I got while I was working on the black one block wonder?


All pink and green, right?! Well, I decided to embrace the pink, ha. I wanted to do another one-block wonder, but didn't want to do as much work. Here I used only 4 repeats of the pattern and cut 4 1/2" strips out, then 4 1/2" squares out of the strips. I think I ended up with 45 completed 8 1/2" squares. I only used 42 of the squares (the quilt is 6 rows by 7 rows).


The sashing in between the squares is 2 1/2" strips with 2 1/2" cornerstone squares.


I had just enough of the pink left over to make a 4" border. I made 4 extra squares for the corners of the border by using the little pieces from each strip that were about 3" or less in size (too small to cut another 4 1/2" square). These smaller squares were cut down in size to fit the border. The pattern was still big enough to be interesting at that smaller size.

Home again

Well, I'm home at last, but I forgot to take my camera. I know, dumb, dumb, dumb, the story of my life.....

Next month

Taking a blogging break of sorts as I visit family. Hope to have lots of pics when I get back!

Odds and Ends

Still looking for the camera, darn those "safe" places. When I die, the kids are going to have a tough time figuring out why I put things where I put them. But the quilt is completely done and ready to take on the trip home. What else has been going on..... oh, last weekend, Mae finally reminded Bill on the weekend about her ceiling fan (instead of reminding him on a Monday). So we picked out a new fan for her room and proceeded to replace the old with the new. First, the electricity had to be turned off, but the switches at the box aren't labelled very well. There was much hollering up and down the stairs - "that one? ..... NO!...... that one?...... NO!" Finally got the right power turned off and proceeded to follow the "easy installation". Ha! That is a flat out misinterpretation of the word "easy", that's all there is to say about that. End of story. 4 hours later, Mae has a working ceiling fan again.

Wednesday, Steven and I went on what I think may be the last college visit. This one was to the University of Delaware. It was about 2 and a half hours away, but involved getting on the Turnpike and 95, which was really blech. Traffic was not lovely. It was even worse coming home. Bumper to bumper at 7 PM. When do those people get home??? Anyway, it was a great visit, the school seems really nice, the campus was lovely, and Steven has rated it as his #2 choice. He's still adamant that he wants to apply early decision to Virginia Tech. We'll be there in a few weeks moving Will back in, and Steven can get one last look before working on his applications.

What else? Oh, I kinda sorta got back into the Singer featherweights. Laura asked me to find one for a friend, and I got carried away on Ebay. Now I have 7. I'll put the rest up for sale at Kindred Quilts after I've given them their tune-ups and whatever repairs were needed. What was I thinking??? I'll be working on those all weekend.

One-Block Wonder quilt- almost done

All I have left is the border and the binding. I hung it up to see how all the quilting of the hexagons looked, and would you believe, you can't see a thing! Oh well. I did end up ripping the stitches out of seven hexagons from the first two rows I quilted and redoing them. And after I said I wasn't going too! Since the variegated thread isn't going to show up, I may just do a simple meander on the borders. Picture coming soon. I put the camera in a safe place......

Wednesday - quilting and such

Ugh, now I remember why I've been sending out my quilts to be quilted all these years. It is dang hard squeezing all that fabric through the little throat of the machine. I started a little to the side of the middle, so that when I get all the way to the end and have to do the other side, I'll have a little less than half to go. That's my little psych trick. The bad thing is that I was very rusty on the first row, but 3 rows later, I'm getting a little creative, getting into the groove, and it looks better. Oh well. I'm not taking anything out now! And at least the quilt will be DONE sooner rather than later. I don't know of any long-arm quilter who doesn't have a backlog of many months. My favorite long-arm quilter has had Will's college quilt for almost a year now. And he's going to be a sophomore next month!!

Tomorrow we go pick up Mae at camp. I can hardly wait to see her. Last night was the toga party and they had a Hawaiian luau on Monday.

Yesterday I took the train to Hoboken to meet Bill for dinner and then the Yankee game. We took the ferry over to Manhattan - wish I had thought to take a camera, it was breathtakingly beautiful outside. I'm not a fan of skyscrapers and the whole urban/city look, but it was a glorious day and the sunlight reflecting off the mirrored buildings was pretty spectacular. We went into Manhattan and ate at Harry's at Hanover Park - it's right smack in the financial district. OMG, what a dinner. If you go on a Wednesday, their special for the past 40 years has been Beef Wellington. Needless to say, that's what we got and it was to die for. Before that, we had this out-of-this-world mushroom cavatelli with truffle oil. Not needed at all, but someone's eyes were bigger than his stomach, was the canadian bacon, and the spring lobster rolls. By the time the entree arrived, we were pretty stuffed, and neither of us could finish the beef. We had a bottle of wine with dinner and a bottle of dessert wine after while we sat and talked. Actually the dessert wine came after we decided to skip the game altogether. Bill gave the tickets to the waiter who scrambled to find someone to go with him! We had such a wonderful relaxing dinner and took our time walking back to the ferry. The return ride was just as delightful watching the shadows and golden glow of the setting sun slide across the buldings. The wind was fierce, but I just wrapped my hair up with a clip. I told Bill that if Mom were here, she would be moaning for a toboggan for her head, hahahaha (wind headaches, you know).

Basting the quilt

The One-Block Wonder is officially basted and ready to go. Now if I could just blink my eyes and it would magically quilt itself..... It's been a long time since I've tackled machine-quilting a big quilt myself, and a long time since I had to baste one. I used the kitchen table and spent alot of time smoothing out the backing and the batting. Then I carefully started at one end and started pinning the top to the batting and backing. Like I said, it's been a long time since I've done this and wouldn't you know, haste makes waste. I pinned about 2/3 of the quilt together before I realized I had started with the top too far down and would be running out of the back....sigh. So I started at the other end with very little fudge room and unpinned, smoothed the layers, and repinned. So many safety pins, ugh. I pricked my fingers a zillion times before I thought to use my ever trusty orange stick to help close each pin. I have one of those gadgets somewhere that's just for closing the safety pins (can't think of the name right now), but didn't feel like looking for it. Tomorrow I'll remember exactly where it is, but I won't be needing it tomorrow, will I?


I found this fabric recently and it just cried out to me to be taken home. It WAS on sale, and I got 5 yards - all that was on the bolt. This is more like what I wanted for the One-Block Wonder. This is an Alexander Henry print, and the design is so soft. The colors are kinda girly, what with all the pinks and greens, but that's okay. Nobody in my house has ever complained that the quilt they're snuggled under is too girly - they just grab whatever is on top of the pile.

One-Block Wonder - completed top and tips

At long last, after much procrastination, here is the completed One-Block Wonder quilt top. I was really getting tired of having it hanging on the make-shift design wall of my china cabinet. Only Steven complained about it though, and it was more of a "so when ARE you going to finish that one?" Mae's off at camp and Bill was in San Fran on business so I just sewed at odd hours. The gold/green border fabric was an old Jinny Beyer fabric that I've had for forever - I'm using it for the backing as well (I had some serious yardage!). I did ask Steven for an opinion on adding the green to it. I wanted to do something to "frame" it, and he picked the green that I used. Check it out a little closer.


What I did was cut a long strip 1 1/2" wide, and folded it into 3rds - kind of like a binding. I cut 1/2" strips of WonderUnder fusible and ironed it to the back of the 2nd fold to keep the strip together. I cut more of the 1/2" strips of fusible and ironed it to the back of the strip itself. Then I fused it to the edge of the pieced top. Lots of little strips of paper, lots of ironing - I'll sew it down as part of the quilting. Turning the points was tricky at first until I got the hang of it. I used an orange cuticle stick to hold the points in place as I ironed. It looks like it's all mitered perfectly, but it did take some time to get it just so. See the points up close:


Hints, tips, and tricks.....
Don't bother pressing the seams open unless you love pinning things! Pressing them open sounds like a good idea, but when it comes to putting the rows together, you will have to pin, pin, pin to get the sections lined up just so. I much prefer it when seams nestle together as I sew along. It's like an extra helping hand when joining blocks and rows together. The next time I make one of these, I will be sure to just press the seams to one side.

Aim for perfection, but don't sweat it. It's nearly impossible to tell when the center of the hexagon isn't exactly perfect.

Another thing I found is that although it is difficult to picture how the fabric will be changed, just count on getting more drama with a larger sized print. This fabric was more of a medium in terms of the size of the flowers, and the flowers themselves were very clearly framed against the black background. It resulted in smaller scale designs. If the design has almost a watercolor feel to it with softer shapes and no sharpness to the lines, you will get more of a flowing effect. In hindsight, I wish I had looked for some of those large Alexander Henry prints.

A design wall of some kind is a necessity for the One-Block Wonder quilt. Rig up a blanket to seldom used closet doors, or a wall if possible, or even your china cabinet, like I did. You need to be able to arrange and re-arrange the hexagons vertically. Forget the floor - I don't know anyone who can lay something like this out on the floor and have it be undisturbed for several days/weeks.

Save the little pieces from the ends of the strips after you've cut the regular triangles out. You can make miniature hexagons from them to use in another project.

Kitty Gone Wild!

We couldn't get a "normal" dog! No, we had to get a goofy eyed, bat-eared, upside down clown.

She's off to camp!

After counting down the days for several months, Mae is finally off to Camp Marcella. This is a camp in NJ just for blind and visually impaired kids. It's Mae's 3rd year there, and she really loves it. Of course, she says the best part is the all-you-can-eat food - not only is the way to a man's heart through his stomach but apparently it works for Mae as well! They do laundry there at camp, but somehow she still takes enough to fill 2 bags to the point of explosion.


I always forget the dinky little beds and cabins, guess all camps are pretty much the same in those respects. Mae is unpacked and prepared to be bored for the next 3 hours while everyone else arrives, checks in, and unpacks. The fun begins late in the afternoon. I always hate leaving, but she tells us we need to go. Love you, baby!

One tree down...

After all that hemming and hawing over the plum tree and where it should/could go, Bill did come to realize how much the beech tree had grown and was hanging over the side of the house. Yesterday he came home from work just raring to go. He got the chainsaw out and started cutting the branches off. Will and I dragged branches into the woods. Then Will stabilized the ladder for Bill while he cut the taller branches. I pulled at the ends of those branches to help them fall away from the trunk. Once the bottom section was gone, it was really obvious that the trunk was leaning toward the house. Bill and Will put a rope around the trunk and tied it to the truck bumper. Then Will pulled the rope tight as Bill chopped a "v" into the trunk. The timing and placement was great - the tree went down on the driveway just barely grazing the house on one side and the basketball goal on the other. Easy clean-up, and the woodpile was right there for stacking the larger pieces. Wow, what a difference in the amount of light - beech trees have a really dense canopy. Our only regret? NO PICTURES!!! Arrrgh!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, Daddy! I love you.

Happy Father's Day, Bill! You are a wonderful dad to our kids.

Steven and I went to the nursery yesterday and picked out a pretty plum tree with purple leaves. Steven wanted to get the bigger tree (never mind that it costs more) because it looked fuller. Well, about the time they were loading it onto the pickup was about the time my second thoughts started kicking in. When we got home, it took the three of us to get it off the truck and into a wheelbarrow - the third thoughts kicked in big-time. Then Bill comes out to take a look and decide where he wants it to go. Well, to make a long story short, the tree is going to be quite large, it needs lots of sun, and there is no room in the yard to put it without cutting down another tree. Looks like I may have to take it back :(( It's my fault, I should have listened to that little voice and/or done my research. How come my spur-of-the-moment big purchases backfire and his don't?! That's so annoying.

*Update: we took the stupid tree back. I heard so much complaining about all the work it would take to cut the other tree down and dig the hole and all he wanted to do was relax on Father's Day, blah, blah, blah. Hmph, how come I still have to do dishes, laundry, and kid-care routines on Mother's Day? That's okay, like I said, it won't happen again.

Clean house

Before he left for work this morning, Bill suggested that I clean and vacuum the library in case of bat droppings. Now I'm wondering what else went on behind that closed door. Just what did he see in there?! A swooping bat dive-bombing the room and flinging bat poo as it went??? Hahaha Ever obliging, that's me (today at least), I get in there with Windex, Pledge, 409, and whatever else is under the kitchen sink. And then I top it all off by vacuuming every little corner of the room. I don't usually clean up this good unless my parents are coming for a visit.

Well? Mom and Dad, what time are you getting here?!

Vampire bats

Okay, not really vampire bats, but we did have a bat in the house last night. Bill and I had already gone to bed when Steven knocked on the door. He comes in with a funny smile on his face, "Umm, there's a bat flying around in the library" (no, we don't have a house like "that", it's just a den that got named the "library" because we keep tons of books in there - little kids' names for things have a way of sticking around for a looong time). So, we go downstairs and crack the door open. Sure enough, there's a bat swooping and diving in circles in the library. Smart Steve, he had closed the doors so it would at least be confined to one room. Bill gets work gloves and our ever trusty butterfly net and bravely ventures forth. I close the door behind him. There's odd noises sounding like thudding on the floor, shifting of furniture, exclamations of pain.... just kidding. He sits in the chair and waits patiently. I turn on the outside spotlight and he turns off the lights in the room (fortunately the switch was beside the chair!). After about 10 minutes he held the net up and the bat flew right in. The boys check out the bat close up then let it out the window. No idea how it got in the house, we are all closed up with the ac on in this heatwave of 97 degree weather.

Speaking of butterfly nets - every family should have one. Our school's 7th grade has a month long unit on bugs where the kids collect bugs of all kinds to identify them. They go outside for several days to the playing fields and it's a pretty funny thing to see 25 kids running around swinging their butterfly nets - occasionally someone will nab something and they cluster around to look at it. Then the kids come home with their own jars of "killing" solution (smells like ammonia to me, but whatever - put a bug in and it dies in a minute or less). For the next several weeks the kids are expected to collect bugs on their own to bring in to the class. I bought this butterfly net at the dollar store when Will was in 7th grade, and it's still going strong 6 years later. Who says you can't get good stuff for a dollar?!

Phillies game

Bill and I went to a Phillies game in Philadelphia last night. I've always thought of Philadelphia as being a good two hours away. I don't know why, must be all those times I got lost and ended up on that one road with no exits for 20 miles - I think it's Rt 76 (I could tell you stories about that road, sigh). Anyway, it only took an hour and 20 minutes tops to get to the stadium. That's almost the same amount of time it takes us to get to Yankee Stadium. What an impressive stadium it is - I think it's called Commerce Bank Stadium or something like that. They really should all be named after the team that plays there, not after some corporate contributor. Holy Moly, it's so much better than Yankee Stadium! I know, can't believe I just said that! But it really is very nice. The seats are angled toward the pitcher's mound. There are various dining choices and even drinking establishments (no, not just beer). At Yankee Stadium, your choices are dirty dogs, hot sausage rolls, peanuts, beer, and soda. That's pretty much it. At the Phillies, you can get a cheesesteak sandwich, hoagies, hot dogs, steak roll-ups, chicken, pizza... I'm forgetting a couple of places.... barbeque? Obviously food is important to my enjoyment of a baseball game, haha. They played the Florida Marlins, and I'm pretty sure the Phillies lost. The score was 2-6 when we left. It was a fun outing for Bill and me.

Puppy Days

Zimmer does her part to help me out with the puppy. Here you see her about to be pounced on by Kitty. This has become a daily occurrence, and Zimmer has become remarkably tolerant of minding her own business only to be attacked anytime she walks by Kitty.


But never fear, Zimmer puts in her two cents worth. I've only heard one yelp, that was when Kitty's teeth got stuck in Zimmer's collar for a second. The girls wrestle and play-bite each other for about 10-15 minutes at a time.


After a good play session, it's nap time. I'm grudgingly sharing one of my favorite quilts with them. Well, actually, it's more a case of "let sleeping dogs lie".

American Idol Finale

Wow, what a show last night. I thought it was the best finale of all. I really loved the few comedy bits in there, like Cook doing the "Risky Business" parody for the Guitar Hero commercial (Archuleta did the same thing later in the show). Loved the "Pips" - Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and Robert Downey, Jr.

I'm a moderator on DJSlim's IdolBlogLive website (http://slimtainment.com/idolblog/), and I gave the official announcement in the shoutbox last night. It was kind of exhilarating knowing that so many on the west coast and across the world who were logged into the site were awaiting the official news from me!! It was a fun night to watch and to chat with others. The best part was that I didn't care who won, both Davids were excellent in their own ways.

Machine quilting class

Saturday I attended a class on Machine Quilting with the Bernina BSR foot. I went with Sherry, Gloria, and Teresa from my quilt guild. Wish I had taken a camera to show what the classroom looked like. There were about 20 women and two teachers in a large classroom. 4 people sat at each table which was large enough for your machine and all the other stuff like fabrics, battings and threads. The BSR is a stitch regulator that helps to keep the stitch length consistent while machine quilting. If you've ever machine quilted, you know how difficult it is to regulate the length of the stitch with the speed of the machine while still keeping track of your sewing design. I must say, I'm loving my new Bernina 440 for this very reason. So we started off very simply with the basic meander and then a wide meander.


Next I did a looping meander and some meandering peacock leaves.


Here is a meandering leaf, peacock feathers (my favorite), and hosta leaves on the right.


We did some other stitches similar to these, all free-motion designs, just to get comfortable with moving the fabric and following a mental design. That was the morning class. We had a quick lunch and then went on with the afternoon class. Here we learned quite a bit about different threads and how to use them successfully. Some of this info I already knew, but working with metallics and then using thicker threads for bobbin work were new to me. Here I experimented with metallic thread. I outlined the flowers and then just kind of free-motioned around them to emphasize their shape. This was pretty easy since it's almost like scribbling or doodling with an outline to go by. The metallic thread is a copper color. I probably should have used a contrasting color for it to show up better.


Here is the back side of the flowers. I used a variegated red in the bobbin. I love this side much more than the front! I'm a bit irritated that the teacher didn't have us put a real backing on the sample (this is just the batting layer), because I could have used this for something.


All in all, it was a good class just because I now feel empowered to create even more with my machine. It missed being a great class because it needed a bit more organization and focus - the teacher had us bring fabrics that were never used and the project that was mentioned, she didn't give a pattern for. Also, something should be done about the student who monopolizes class time with conversations about their/someone else's health, where they live/vacationed, other classes they've taken, "organizations" they belong to, and other mindless chatter. That is so annoying, especially when the teacher herself gets sucked into it.

Kitty Settles In

Isn't she the cutest thing you ever saw? Her fur, or hair, that is, is just as soft as silk.


Zimmer has adjusted better than we ever imagined. The only times she has gotten crotchety with Kitty has been when she was resting and Kitty pounced on her. I do believe I might get crotchety then too.


Zimmer shows Kitty the ropes.....

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Happy Mother's Day! I am a new mother - we welcomed Kitty to the family last night. Yes, that's her name - Kitty. Silly name I know, but we are goofy people and it fits. She's just adorable and already is doing her business outside like a smart dog. I'll post pictures of her later. She's so soft - she feels exactly like one of those ultra-soft Gund stuffed animals.

Puppy @ 7 weeks

Isn't she darling?! We are picking her up next Saturday afternoon. Still no name....... some in consideration are Dude, Cat (or Khat), Sunny, hmmm, I forgot what else.

Mark Lipinski Stops By

My most excellent quilting buddy stopped over yesterday. Mark Lipinski has probably the most effervescent personality you could ever encounter. The fact that he quilts is just a plus! He is a nationally known quilt teacher/personality, a quilt and fabric designer, and he IS Quilters Home Magazine. I've known Mark for several years - before the magazine ever came about, and I can honestly say that he hasn't changed a bit. It totally cracks me up that at quilt shows around the country, people line up for his autograph or to take his picture. Little do they know that Mark is just as down home as the rest of us. Why, you could stop over to his house anytime, and he's quite likely to answer the door in grungy sweats! A really normal guy, in other words. Well, about as normal as the reaction you get from mixing mentos and Coke! That's my little intro to Mark. Like I said, one of my favorite guys. He brought the box of his new fabric line called Califon. I really like this line. The black and whites are wonderful, and the butter yellows and blue are going to be popular. So, we spread out the fabrics over the kitchen table and discuss patterns. Mark is a dynamo, but even he runs out of hours in the day. He needs several quilts made up to accompany the new fabric line's debut at Spring Quilt Market in a few weeks. He hands over the patterns, and I'll whip a couple out this weekend. He knows he can count on me.


Meanwhile, Mae comes home from school and is SO excited that Mark is here. She LOOOOVES Mark. He is one of the few people who doesn't treat her like she's disabled in any way. He totally rags on her and she laughs so much that later she'll tell me that her stomach still hurts from laughing. The two of them have a total back and forth convo on almost everything under the sun while I play with the new fabric. Mark keeps trying to convince her to marry him so that she can clean his house every day. Haha, she keeps turning down the offer - imagine that. Mae tells Mark about Camp Marcella, the camp for the blind in NJ, that she'll be attending this summer. He teases her about smores, campfires and boys..... and whoa! Boys?! Mark launches into his best "Daddy" mode.


Look how stern Mark can get!! I think that if any guy ever gives Mae a problem, Mark will be next in line to beat the guy up behind her dad and two brothers.

One Block Wonder Update

Still working on it. I did change just a very few around one more time.... must... resist... look away...... walk away...... So I finally went through the whole process of re-pinning the whole shebangaroo into vertical rows. Then each vertical row comes off in one piece and is taken to the sewing machine. Carefully, each piece is unpinned and sewn - one at a time. If I mess up the order now, it won't form its beautiful hexagon shape when the complete rows are joined. Then I pin the row back up in its place on the design wall. It's almost halfway done.
You know, this project uses a ton of pins. I'm not sure the book even mentions that. Surely it must. I have pins coming out the wazoo, so quantity wasn't a problem, and as I went along, I threw out any that seemed dull or bent. Multi-tasking, you know!

Puppy @ 6 weeks

Here's the 6 week old picture of the mini labradoodle puppy. I'm getting excited. Names??? Come on!!

Friday Quilts... on Friday!

It's really difficult arranging the One-Block Wonder blocks in a totally satisfying design. I'll change one or two and walk away.Since it's set up in the dining room, I see it every time I walk into the kitchen. Taking pictures really helps. Sometimes seeing the design in a different perspective makes certain blocks or colors stick out in a way that you didn't see when you were standing right in front of it. If your computer's picture program allows you to change the photo to black and white, it creates a great contrast between the darker background and the lighter patterns. Anyway, I thought I was done so I took this picture.

But when I looked at it on the computer, I decided that the reds and yellows needed to be tightened up a bit. So I changed a few more blocks around. I'm happier with it now. When I first started (see earlier post about this project), I was getting frustrated trying to blend the red and yellow blocks in with the yellow and light purples. I finally took the whole thing down and started over. Sometimes it's best to either walk away or start over. Now that I'm set on the design, I'll re-pin the whole thing into vertical rows and begin sewing them together.

Puppy?!

We're getting a puppy! We're getting a puppy! We haven't had a puppy in 7 years now! I know those sleepless nights are coming, but hey, it takes less time to house train a dog than it does a baby! It's only 5 weeks old now, and we won't pick it up for almost another month. It's a mini labradoodle. It will be about 20-25 lbs and knee high. I'll get updated pictures each week. Here is the first one! And "Dude" is NOT my choice of names..... open to suggestions here!

Mae's Day

Well, becoming a teenager should be a special birthday, so off we went to the beauty parlor. Mae was very patient for the long process of getting a body wave. Her only complaint was that with all those rollers on her head, it was very heavy. She said she thought her head was going to fall off. Her hair is so stick straight that it will be a miracle if the waves, such as they are, stay for long.


We swung by home and picked up Bill and Steven and went to the mall. We met the grandparents (in-laws) there. Mae had an entourage to witness the piercing! As if she needed the pressure. Actually, an audience never stopped Mae from expressing her TRUE feelings. She was pretty excited while I filled out the paperwork. We picked out basic 14 kt gold balls. You can never go wrong with the classics.


Barbara and I deliberated quite a bit over the placement. The shop gal would mark the spot on the earlobes with an ink pen, then stand back while we checked it out. She had to redo it 3 times. Hey, you only get this done once, so you might as well take the time to get it EXACTLY right. There won't be a second time! Part of the reason the shop gal had to redo the ink mark was because Mae was getting all trembly. The lip was going and she wouldn't let go of my hand. The shop gal asked if we would like to have them both done at the same time. Brilliant suggestion!!


Here we go! Mae was squeezing the life out of my hands.


There was a wail, and about 2 minutes of crying.


All done and no more tears. She said she was NEVER going to do that again! Off we went shopping for more earrings for her birthday present and then out to dinner. This morning I asked her how she felt. She reached up to feel her ears and said, "Oh good, they're still there!"