ABB Quilts

Weaving adventures

2011-12-15T11:43:00.004-05:00

Maybe I've bitten off more than I can chew by choosing something hard like this undulating twill. The warp is tencel and the weft is a fingering weight merino wool, I think. I messed up the threading, skipping a whole segment, and it became really noticeable once I got going, so I had to unweave a few inches to fix that... there are 2 other places where I think I switched two threads but I have to really look for those places so I just left those in... perfection is so overrated anyway. Besides, unweaving is no fun.

I've learned how to use two shuttles/colors and to treadle two patterns (tabby with the left foot and the twill with the right). It's fun to watch the curves appear. Notice my perfect tension... and I forgot to use warping sticks or paper or anything. Hope the weaving police don't show up.

Weaving...

2011-11-18T14:50:00.005-05:00

Getting set up for weaving... here is the swift on the left and the ball winder to the right. Mom and Janie, I fixed the swift's missing top by using one of those wide rubber bands from broccoli along with cotton string. Seems to be working so far! The swift takes a skein of yarn and unwinds it as the ball winder re-winds the yarn into a ball (also called a cake).

Here is my new (old) loom. It's a 32" weaving width 8 shaft-10 treadles Loomcraft. It feels so much sturdier than the Norwood or even the Artisat, mostly because this isn't portable! It is firmly ensconced in the dining room but out of sight of the great room so Bill doesn't have to actually SEE it. His only comment so far was just that it was big. Heh. Locking pins are holding the beater stationary for now. It came with the tilt seat bench.

Here's the back of it. The back beam flips up for when I need to thread the heddles. I also have a home-made replacement warp beam that's more like the cloth beam... maybe I'll switch it out if I can't get used to this large one that's already on here.

For Mom and Dad (and Janie), this is the wedge trick I read about that helps to elevate the shafts to different levels to make threading the million heddles a little bit easier. I don't think a doorstop would be big enough after putting in this nearly empty cone. I just raised the shafts and inserted this in the space in the middle (bigger end toward the front of the loom).

Hopefully you can see how the heddles on each of these 4 shafts are at staggered levels - I think this will be better than trying to paint the heddles different colors.

When I get this all threaded and get some weaving done, I'll post a picture of what this scarf is going to look like. I am doing a draft from this article online http://www.weavezine.com/content/flowing-curves-part-1-overshot-and-weaving-overshot

Growing mushrooms

2010-10-16T11:40:00.003-04:00

Several weeks ago, a tree fell in the woods just as we were getting out of the car. What a racket. Bill decided to order this mushroom-growing kit... heh, whatever, yall know I tend to just go with the flow with Bill. Apparently you need to use freshly fallen/cut trees for this. He cut some large sections of the tree to use as the base for the mushrooms. The rest he cut up for firewood. You can never have too much firewood.

Then, as per instructions, he drilled holes all over the tree sections.

And pounded in the mushroom plugs. They were about an inch long and less than a half inch thick.

I helped. The kit came with hard wax that I melted a little at a time and then "painted" on over the plug to create a seal. I guess this is to keep the moisture in and the bugs out.

Here are the sections we did. They sit out in the woods in the shade like this for about a year and then supposedly we will have a bumper crop of shiitake mushrooms. I still think I'd rather get mine from the grocery store.

Merry Christmas!!

2009-12-26T12:06:00.003-05:00

Merry Christmas from Bill and me!

We tried yet again, to get a decent picture of the 3 kids. It started off okay...

Then the high jinks took over... and Mae got a huge fit of the gigglies...

which Steven and Will love to keep going...

Hope you all have plenty of merry happening in your house!

One of my favorite pictures

2009-06-27T17:38:00.004-04:00

We're missing Will, but I love this picture of Steven and Mae taken after her graduation from 8th grade. Click on it to get the full impact of two happy faces. Sigh. It does a mother's heart good.

Washington, DC trip, part 2

2009-06-26T21:15:00.004-04:00

So, continuing on with the 8th grade trip to DC, we spent some time in the Air and Space Museum. Recognize the Apollo? Amazing to think that was all the room they had in there. Click on the picture to check out the little cots they strapped themselves into.

These innnneresting water sculptures were outside. Lovely for the little kiddies to get their beginner's anatomy lessons.

We went to the Botanical Gardens. This was the only thing I wanted to take a picture of there. What a great idea for an arbor or walkway. I loved checking out all the varieties of plants in there. Otherwise, it was a bit ho-hum in comparison to Duke Gardens in Somerset, NJ, or the NY Botanical Gardens.

This was one of many, many benches Mae anointed with her bottom and her heavy sighs in DC. Actually this was the only pretty one. It would have been even better without the dividers in the bench. Mae discovered that if you don't place your bum correctly, you get a butt crack divider, ouch!

We did the Tour of Monuments from around 7 - 9 pm. Mae was definitely running out of steam and we visited every other bench along the walkways. She's standing in front of the WWII Monument (which is huge) and the Washington Monument is visible behind it. Mae is facing the Lincoln Memorial on the other side of the long Reflecting Pool (remember in Forrest Gump when he finished speaking just as the sound comes back on and Jenny wades into the water shouting, "Forrest!")

We walked through the Korean War Monument. The statues were all spaced out in kind of an elongated V to show, I guess, how they walked through an area. They all had capes over their uniforms, but you could see guns and radios and other things sticking out. The expressions were pretty grim. It was kind of depressing overall.

On our last day, we went to Arlington National Cemetary with a small detour into the Women's War Memorial. Here is Mae standing in front of the "Women Go To War" part of the women in WWII display. The class brought flowers to recognize her great, great aunt Allie B. Williams who was a WAC in WWII. We ditched the rest of the class and stayed here while they walked through Arlington. Mae couldn't see all the crosses to get the impact of how many there were, so we watched a movie about women in the armed forces through the years. Okay, I admit it, I sat with Mae on a bench... in an air-conditioned room while they had to walk through the cemetery in 85 degree humid heat. Heh, heh, heh.

On our way back to NJ, we stopped at the Naval Academy in Annapolis for lunch and a tour. Whoa! This is definitely something I'd recommend to others. Our tour guide was fantastic and as the former Director of Admissions for the Academy, he gave our group quite a bit of advice. One of the many things he said that stuck in my mind was that, on average, after college we live about 72 years. The amount of hard work we put into 4 years of high school and then 4 years of college - those 8 years - have a direct effect on how we get to spend those remaining 72 years.

This picture is of the residential dorms. I can't remember the name, but it has 8 connecting wings and is absolutely gorgeous inside and out. Big dorm rooms too.

The last thing we saw in Annapolis was the crypt of John Paul Jones. It's in its own circular room under the chapel. I wish we'd had more time to walk through here because he's quite the interesting historical figure in our history - "I have not yet begun to fight."

and a tiling masterpiece... ta da!

2009-06-26T21:08:00.002-04:00

After the new stove and microwave got put in, we decided to FINALLY do something about putting up a backsplash of some sort. After measuring the space, I went shopping and found these 2" tiles that came in 12" sheets. We cut some of the sheets apart, but didn't need to do any tile cutting, they fit perfectly. Voila! It really was much easier than I expected. And yeah, the blue tape isn't there anymore :)

Before and after

2009-06-10T13:36:00.006-04:00

Second to go, but first to be replaced was the oven. The cooktop just cracked out of the blue one day while Steven was cooking bacon. It would cost at least an arm to replace the part, so we decided to get a new one. Which meant a matching microwave, of course.

Before:

And after:

The first thing to go and just installed today were the lights. One of the globes of the island light just slipped out and shattered all over the kitchen. Steven and friends were making lunch at the time... notice the common denominator? Haha, really though, none of it was Steven's fault, but I got to rag on him anyway. The island light never matched the table light for some reason. It was one of those things that we said we'd take care of when we bought the house, but here it is 16 years later...

Before:

And after:

8th grade DC trip, Part 1

2009-06-04T14:52:00.008-04:00

I went with Mae on the 8th grade field trip to Washington DC last week. It was a mostly fun trip except for the parts where Mae complained about walking. We arrived around noon on Tuesday and had a picnic lunch at Lafayette Park, which is just across from the White House. It was still drizzling so we ate standing up and walking around. The squirrels were very cute. At first. Look at this darling black one - he stood just a few feet from Mae. I threw him a piece of bread. Can we just say MISTAKE!

Every other squirrel in the park came out of the woodwork, or at least the trees. This guy was literally 2 feet from my face! I started getting nervous. I put the camera down and realized that we were surrounded by at least 30 of them, and they were stepping on my own feet. How I refrained from shrieking and running away, I don't know.

I pulled Mae along, listening to her complain that they were just friendly and they'd probably let her pet them. Sigh. She couldn't see the beady eyes that were gauging how far they'd have to climb up our legs to rip our food away. We walked to the other side of the park. I had no idea whose house this was, but there were demonstrators marching up and down protesting nuclear bombs or something. It took me a second to realize it's the White House. Yeah, THE White House. It's alot smaller in real life. There are houses in my town that are bigger, but then who needs all that room anyway. Ignore the chocolate on Mae's teeth. Pretend we are country bumpkins.

My most favorite place in DC will have to be the Library of Congress. Never mind all the historical and artistic treasures in its many collections, or the fact that every book ever published is here, the building itself was gorgeous. The tour guides were all welcoming and gracious. Mae was allowed to touch EVERYTHING. That was so cool, because it meant I could too! This was part of the ceiling in one of the rooms. All marble and each little square was less than a half inch. The designs were inspiring...

Even the floors were marble - doesn't this look like a quilt to be?

My next original quilt is going to be a medallion - here's my inspiration.

Even the ceilings were amazing. I took a bunch of pictures here but after looking at them on the computer I realized I concentrated on design elements that are probably boring to other people.

We went to the Capitol Building as well. I won't bother going there ever again. Snotty, unfriendly guides. I didn't see a single one there who smiled - at all - EXCEPT for the lady whose job was sitting inside the elevator. She was very nice; probably because she was lonely. It was really weird how they made a big deal about having to have a few people use their elevators. Hello! Never mind the girl with the cane, what about the kid in the wheelchair? How DO you expect him to manage the stairs?! Sigh. Mae wasn't allowed to touch anything in here. I felt like the pic I took outside was indicative of the inside. An armed guard to shoot you if you screw up and an ambulance to take you away immediately.

This was the only thing I took a picture of inside the Capitol Building. It was on the ceiling of course. If you click the picture to see it bigger, you may notice the lady in the center is George Washington in drag. I kid you not. My mind has forgotten the guide's explanation of the artist's intention, I was too mind boggled at my own thought that dang, those revolutionists were quite the swingers!

Procrastination

2009-05-25T21:37:00.004-04:00

I had about 3 months to work on this art quilt panel, but I couldn't decide what to do. I was supposed to represent the element of Earth in a setting that was determined by the first panel in this series (the other 3 elements are Air, Fire, and Water). I finally decided to show everything overgrown - in hindsight I wish I'd taken a pic of Air to show the difference. The setting is very similar, but here, less water is visible, the tree is bigger, the greenery is lush and overgrown, there are rocks, and the fence is slightly askew.

I like the girl. She was initially going to be Mother Nature in a rocking chair (like an old lady with a grey bun), but the first two panels of this have a young girl with long hair so I kept her the same. The rocking chair and the long dress sort of age her a little.

I added a little bit of vines to the fence. And the ferns were a last minute addition.

Steven's prom

2009-05-21T09:36:00.003-04:00

Bill didn't do a very good job taking pictures. Hardly any were in focus. I will have a word with him later. Here is Steven with his date, Chalisse.

Orchid show, Part 2

2009-03-29T14:29:00.004-04:00

Mae had had enough after about 2 seconds. This fountain area was about 3/4 of the way through the gardens. I asked her to sit for a minute while I took a picture of her. This is the 4th attempt to get her to smile. You know it's a losing battle when she mutters, "I'm not frowning. Can't we just get out of here already?" I deleted the others. You don't need to see what I deal with every day.

Steven took this picture. Finally. Bill and I had just about exhausted our fake smiles and were going to jump forward to show Steven which button to push to take the darn picture already.

Bill wouldn't let us leave without having me take this picture. He insisted. Can you guess what he found so amusing? Hint: look where his hands are... sigh. So immature.

Orchids

2009-03-29T10:55:00.005-04:00

We went to the orchid show at the NY Botanical Gardens yesterday. I just love the colors in these flowers.

If you're curious, I used a little Nikon Coolpix L18 to take these pictures on an automatic setting. I'm happy with the pictures. I took over a hundred....

Kitty loves the snow

2009-03-02T10:18:00.002-05:00

Sigh...

2009-02-15T20:03:00.002-05:00

I am a sloth. A slovenly sloth. I promise I will get back to blogging one of these days.

Snow, sigh

2009-01-19T17:30:00.003-05:00

I used to love snow flurries. But it's been a'flurryin' all weekend, and I'm sick of it. How long til summer? There's about to be a whole lot of whining around here.

Will's fine, but his car isn't

2009-01-07T15:44:00.010-05:00

This is the result of a small sedan rear-ending a Jeep.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

2008-12-24T09:37:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Home and then gone again....

2008-11-11T09:54:00.007-05:00

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

2008-11-01T09:21:00.004-04:00

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

2008-11-01T08:58:00.005-04:00

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

2008-10-27T06:40:00.003-04:00

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

2008-10-14T17:17:00.005-04:00

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

2008-10-11T18:23:00.009-04:00

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!

2008-09-21T08:48:00.001-04:00

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

Happy Birthday!

2008-09-20T09:36:00.003-04:00

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

Short sweaters??

2008-09-18T17:57:00.003-04:00

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

2008-09-17T06:03:00.003-04:00

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

2008-09-13T08:36:00.004-04:00

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

2008-08-26T08:32:00.003-04:00

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

2008-07-28T19:09:00.001-04:00

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

Odds and Ends

2008-07-19T09:48:00.004-04:00

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

2008-07-12T08:19:00.003-04:00

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

2008-07-03T12:07:00.004-04:00

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

2008-06-30T21:27:00.004-04:00

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

2008-06-29T13:28:00.006-04:00

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!

2008-06-23T18:48:00.002-04:00

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!

2008-06-23T17:45:00.005-04:00

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...

2008-06-18T13:20:00.004-04:00

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

2008-06-15T08:10:00.003-04:00

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

2008-06-10T17:04:00.002-04:00

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

2008-06-10T07:45:00.006-04:00

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

2008-06-01T16:06:00.006-04:00

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

2008-05-24T07:17:00.003-04:00

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

2008-05-22T08:16:00.003-04:00

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

2008-05-20T07:31:00.004-04:00

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

2008-05-15T10:25:00.004-04:00

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

2008-05-11T09:26:00.002-04:00

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

2008-05-05T06:23:00.002-04:00

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

2008-05-03T11:51:00.006-04:00

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

2008-05-03T10:38:00.005-04:00

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

2008-04-28T08:14:00.002-04:00

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

Friday Quilts... on Friday!

2008-04-25T07:59:00.005-04:00

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?!

2008-04-22T21:17:00.005-04:00

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

2008-04-19T10:03:00.007-04:00

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!"

Friday

2008-04-18T22:07:00.002-04:00

Okay, forget the Friday Quilts thing. I don't know what happens to the week, but Friday keeps sneaking up on me and I'm not ready. Today is Mae's 13th birthday. She asked for two things - a body wave and pierced ears. I'm too tired to go bring the camera in from the car, but tomorrow I'll put up the pictures. It was a teacher in-service day so there was no school.

Yes, she did cry during the ear piercing, but only for about 2 minutes.

Tidbits

2008-04-16T07:56:00.004-04:00

If I were a direction, I'd be - East, facing the sunrise and the beginning of a new day
If I were furniture, I'd be - sewing machine table, surrounded by fabrics and notions
If I were a liquid, I'd be - mountain spring water, cool and clear
If I were a sin, I'd be - Sloth, no doubt about it
If I were a gemstone, I'd be - garnet or blue topaz
If I were metal, I'd be - pewter
If I were a tree, I'd be - Japanese Maple
If I were a fruit, I'd be - clementine
If I were a flower, I'd be - a daffodil
If I were weather, I'd be - the calm after the storm when the clouds break up and the rays of the sun filter through
If I were a musical instrument, I'd be - the cello, kind of running underneath everything else
If I were an element, I'd be - nitrogen, plentiful in the air and explosive in the right company (thanks Doc, it was perfect)
If I were a color, I'd be - a batik with reddish browns and touches of turquoise
If I were an animal, I'd be - cat
If I were a sound, I'd be - the whistle from the Andy Griffiths Show
If I were a lyric, I'd be - "the anchor holds, in spite of the storm..."
If I were a music type, I'd be - easy listening
If I were a perfume/cologne, I'd be - Clinique Happy
If I were a feeling, I'd be - relaxation, because you can only do that when everything is just right in your world
If I were a book, I'd be - The Lord of the Rings series, worthy of re-reading many times
If I were food, I'd be - mashed potatoes
If I were a taste, I'd be - vanilla
If I were a scent, I'd be - cinnamon
If I were a word, I'd be - quilt
If I were a verb, I'd be - creating
If I were an object, I'd be - driftwood like you find washed up on the beach
If I were a work of art, I'd be - a Frank Lloyd Wright house
If I were a piece of clothing, I'd be - jeans!
If I were a body part, I'd be - eyes to drink in the world
If I were a facial expression, I'd be - a Mona Lisa smile, is it for you or for a private joke?
If I were a cartoon character, I'd be - Scooby Doo, a goofy scaredy-cat who can rise to the occasion at times
If I were a movie, I'd be - Chances Are, a funny sweet romance
If I were a geometrical figure, I'd be - octagon, with different sides or aspects to me
If I were one of the 4 seasons, I'd be - fall
If I were a sentence, I'd be - 2 Peter 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Thanks to Doc, Teri, and Driller for this little exercise.

One-Block Wonder- Continuing on

2008-04-14T06:54:00.005-04:00

I couldn't go to bed last night with all those blocks laying on the floor. I did the best I could to get them back in the way I remembered. It was very aggravating!! Oh, and I pinned every ding-dang one of them to the flannel this time. Try falling off now!
It's impossible to stop messing around with them! Probably 20 blocks have been moved although it's difficult to tell which ones. I will be leaving it up for a few days before I start sewing them together. Every time I walk by, I examine it. I've already moved 4 of the blocks this morning.
I think I like the previous picture better. I'll have to go move a bunch to get that little bit more of black over on the right.

Friday Quilts (on Sunday)

2008-04-13T17:18:00.003-04:00

Okay so the blocks are all pieced together and it's time to put them up on the design wall. Oh, but I don't have a design wall. My so-called quilt studio is the dining room! I taped a flannel blanket to the china cabinet, and that will be my design wall. The blocks will just kind of stick in place on the flannel and I can move them around if I want to change their position.

Here is the stack of over a hundred of the hexagons. They are kinda sorta separated into reds, yellows, purples, and black backgrounds.

I have started putting them up on the design wall. They will kind of flow into the next color if I can place them well enough. There are so many blocks that there is alot of moving and switching around going on. The color isn't showing up too well here - I think I forgot to adjust the photos in IPhoto, sorry. Or maybe I forgot to use the flash.

I'm getting there. This is pretty time-consuming because after you put some up, you find another one in the same colors and you have to make a place for it. Then you have to find some blenders to help it flow on to the next area.

Shortly after I took this picture, I put the last block in its place down near the bottom. I walked around the table to pick up the camera, and Horror of Horrors! The dang blanket came loose and all the blocks fell on the floor! DOH!

I'm so crushed. All that time spent arranging them just so. I had to walk away. Just turn my back and walk away. Sigh. I need a real studio with a real design wall. I need a million bucks.

Friday Quilts

2008-04-11T23:02:00.002-04:00

I didn't forget! I just didn't have the camera handy. I will put the One-Block Wonder project that's in progress up tomorrow. I'm in the design process now - the blocks are pieced and pressed and separated into various color dominance groups. This comes together as kind of a color wash, impressionistic kind of thing. This isn't a traditional quilt by any means. For those who think of quilts and grannies in the same breath, it's a whole other world out there now. The things that are being created these days are amazing. So, pictures tomorrow.

Dishwasher update

2008-04-11T06:51:00.002-04:00

Good news, they are sending a replacement in 5-10 business days. With an installer! I didn't take the call so I don't know if I have to pay the installer or not. My fingers are crossed. I'll try to stay off my high horse until I know for sure.

Thursday Dumps

2008-04-10T09:19:00.004-04:00

Contrary to popular belief, I do not watch soap operas and eat bon-bons all day. But any day now, I may just lock the door and walk away. Then we'll see how things take care of themselves magically. And by the way, asking someone to do a chore is not nagging. Waking you up for school at the time you asked to be woken up is also not nagging. Asking you to let me know when we are out of something so I can pick it up at the store before the next day when you want/need it, is really helping yourself, not me nagging you. And telling me that a problem exists that I have already told you about several times just tells me you weren't listening to me. It also tells me that it was never a problem to YOU until it affected you directly.

Sorry, I'm down in the dumps today. I wish I could just pack up and go visit my mom and dad.

Missing paintings

2008-04-07T22:33:00.002-04:00

Oh, about the two paintings I took to be framed properly...... Bill noticed they were gone about 5 minutes after he got in bed. I knew I should have taken the nails out of the walls. He said it looked like there was a big bug on the wall. Then he gives me grief... all serious, "I hope you didn't throw out that one frame. It was really old and original." For a split second I thought, "Oh crap, I shouldn't have thrown it out!" Then I remembered that it never fit the painting and it most definitely was not old at all. There was a remnant of a price sticker on the side on the back. He's so bad! And so observant. This time.....

Dishwasher, Part 2

2008-04-07T19:17:00.002-04:00

Well, I faxed all the info to Bosch last Thursday and haven't heard a thing. I called today and gave my "file number". Good news! They recognized that I had a file on record. That's a good sign, right? So after a minute the gal says that the file is waiting for the manager's approval. I asked how long that was going to take. She says it will take up to 72 hours from last Thursday. Heh. Okaaay. Then she says if I haven't heard from them by tomorrow afternoon, to call them on Wednesday. After I hung up I started thinking about warranties. I haven't read the fine print, but I will bet that we have to pay for installation of the replacement machine. Is that fair?! For a dishwasher that only worked for 3 weeks? We'll see, but if that is the case, I won't be so nice about it. That's just not right. It's their defective machine! I better go read the fine print before I get hot and bothered.

Sunday scramble

2008-04-06T18:58:00.003-04:00

Well, Bill was out of town for a few days this past week. He'll be back later tonight. He had a company golf outing at Sea Island, Georgia. Yeah, I know, it's a tough job! It's the second time he's gone on this outing - at least he didn't call me this time to ask me what he's supposed to do with the butler that came with the room!! Anyway the kids and I managed just fine without him, surprisingly no little crisis happened. Usually something breaks when he's not here, like the hot water heater or the power goes out for more than a few hours. I usually do try to do something "major" when he's gone, just so he's not bugging me about it. Thursday I took our two favorite yard sale/antique shop paintings to Michaels and picked out frames for them. They'll be ready in another week or so. We'll see how long it takes him to notice they are missing from our bedroom wall! Surely not too long since they framed the window and the nails are still there! I also took this time to scrub down our shower, re-stain the grout then seal it. I try to do that at least once a year - the staining/sealing part, har har, I do actually clean it more often than once a year believe it or not. I also ransacked the entire house for books and videotapes that we don't like, want, or need anymore and took them to the book drive on Saturday. 15 Bags/boxes of them! Unfortunately it doesn't seem like I made that much of a dent. Oh well, I KNOW I took them, so therefore I get to feel like I made progress!

Friday Quilts

2008-04-04T19:39:00.012-04:00

I didn't forget!! I've been working off and on this week on those One-Block Wonder hexagons. As it turned out, each of the 6 strips yielded 18 triangle sets for a total of 108 hexagons. Ugh. I really do NOT like doing projects with big numbers like that - it just makes it seem like a daunting process. Who wants to think of piecing together 300 triangle sets or 540 4 patch units?! Really, it's enough to make me, at least, not even want to start!! Here's my little secret - I break it down into how many I can piece together in 10 minutes or 20 minutes. Then I don't feel like I have to sit and sew for 5 hours straight, after all, this is my hobby, not a job! I have pieced together the hexagons of 3 of the 6 strips. I'm halfway through! Well, of this part at least. There are the two large stacks waiting, and parts of the third set spread out next to my sewing machine.

Now that I have so many already pieced, I am able to divide them up into groups. There is a predominantly yellow group, a red one, a bluish-purple one, and the rest are mostly black which makes them the background "filler". You have to have the background hexagons to ground the others, it gives the eyes a place to rest. Each one of these hexagons is almost like a mini work of art.

I ended up with about 2-3 inches of fabric at the end of the strips after cutting out as many triangles as was possible. If there was any color to that section at all, I cut small triangles out. I pieced these together and they will be part of a quilted wall-hanging for my parents (I tend to work on more than one thing at a time). 'Tis a special request with a specific place already waiting for it in their new home - right above the fireplace. It will be an appliqued bouquet of flowers of some sort, fanciful and colorful. These few mini-hexagons will be some of the flowers, I think.

Here is a close up of one of the "flowers". Isn't it neat?!

Waiting...

2008-04-01T18:54:00.003-04:00

About a month ago we decided our old leaky dishwasher was due for replacement. Bill obviously had money burning a hole in his pocket, because he got all generous - "nothing but the best for you, baby." I would have been okay with almost anything, but did ask for a stainless steel tub this time. Bill suggested a Bosch because "they" gave it great reviews. (Do you know this "they" group? Do you or someone you know have a "they" that they refer to frequently? "They" said it was a great movie. "They" said that restaurant wasn't good. Almost anything can be can be checked out with what "they" think. Oh, and "they" apparently have no names!) Well, to make a long story short, we got this super-de-duper Bosch dishwasher that does everything but windows. After about 10 washes, the thing stops working. Won't turn on. After a couple of calls on Friday, the manufacturer says they'll send someone out on Tuesday (today) to figure out what is wrong with it. Meanwhile, after hand washing dishes Sunday, I open the dishwasher just to see if it will turn on (I simply cannot leave well enough alone). It turns on all of a sudden and won't turn off. The cycle runs and leaks all over the floor. Great! Now what?! So the guy came today and took a good look - turns out the frame of the dishwasher is out of whack (my term), and that is what caused the problem. He recommends a replacement dishwasher and says Bosch will be getting his paperwork tomorrow. So all I have to do is wait..... hahahahaha. Lets see how many more phone calls it will take.

Monday

2008-03-31T10:20:00.001-04:00

I'm having a "blah" day. Wake me up when it's over, please.

A meal... and then some

2008-03-30T17:03:00.005-04:00

There's dinner, and then there's DINNER. Bill and I took his folks out to dinner for their joint birthdays last night at Cavallos in Easton, PA. What can tell you about this place? It is truly a one-of-a-kind dining experience. It is open by reservation only, once Bill and I were the only people there - someone came up and knocked on the door, but they couldn't come in because they hadn't made a reservation. We got there at 6 and didn't leave until close to 11. Slow service, you say? Nah, not at all. Cavallos is all about the relaxing experience of fine dining with 5 courses and plenty of time to digest between courses. The chairs range from upholstered dining room chairs to fancy thrones with high backs that stretch above your head about a foot. The tables are generously sized - no pushing silverware and glasses aside to make room for another dish. I wish I'd had a camera with me last night. Shirley Cavallo and her son Brondo really have created an oasis of a restaurant. We walked through the restaurant at one point and admired all the paintings done by Antonio and Martha Salemme. We stopped by the kitchen at one point and talked with Shirley who was putting together the next course. She is such a warm and friendly lady with so many stories of various people. Last night she came and sat with us as we were finishing up dessert to write down her recipe for the cake and she talked about when Charles Nelson Reilly came through town (I know, that was like a century ago, but I remember him on those game shows). She said she was told that they used to tape 5 of those shows in one day. After they taped the Mon-Wed shows, they would go out for lunch and get plastered. Then they would come back and tape the Thurs and Friday shows completely hammered - those must be the ones I remember because I thought they were hilarious. Anyway, I ate so much that I think I'll have to not eat for the next week to make up for it. Strawberries dipped in chocolate to start, then a vegetable napoleon thing with sausage and baked pear, followed by french onion soup, then a lobster ravioli (yeah, about this time I was about ready to keel over - these were full size plates, not those little ones), my MIL and I had the same entree, a filet mignon with sweet potato and green beans, Bill and his dad had duck with I don't know what else was on the plate(the plate was the size of a serving tray and it was heaped up and overflowing with other things on it as well as the side of duck), last, but not least was dessert - a really moist orange cake with lemon curd on one side of the plate and some kind of a whipped strawberry sauce and whipped cream on the other. Holy moly! All they needed was to put sofas along the walls and we would have all stumbled onto one and slept for hours!

One-Block Wonder - Getting started

2008-03-28T14:53:00.013-04:00

I'm using this book as a guideline to making my own one-block wonder quilt. The book has pretty clear instructions, and the photo illustrations are really good. The technique isn't new by any means (anybody remember Stack and Whack by Bethany Reynolds?!) and it uses a ton of fabric, but at least it's just ONE fabric. And there's the beauty of it - one fabric that produces a hundred different blocks. You'll see. Follow along with me.....

The fabric I'm using isn't what I would have picked out for myself since I'm not much of a fan of black backgrounds. But I chose this particular fabric with an eye toward my parents' new condo - I think the black with touches of reds, yellows, greens and a hint of blue will go in their new great room really well. I can almost ALWAYS count on finding what I'm looking for at my local quilt shop (Kindred Quilts). Take a good look at the fabric - when it's all said and done, you'll never know that was the base of it all.

The following is going to be really abbreviated, for the whole, entire, complete she-bang, you really will have to get the book! The first step is to find the repeats in the pattern of the fabric and, to make hexagons, you'll need to cut 6 (some icky math : hexagon = 6 sides) sections of the fabric. This is why you need some major yardage - I used a little over 4 yards. Carefully stack the 6 sections on top of each other. Use pins to line up the edges by pinning through the exact same place in all six sections. This is the real pain in the butt part - time-consuming, and nitpicky. Haste makes waste.

Now that the sections are pinned on all four sides, I carefully lay this out on the cutting board and make the first cut to trim up one edge. I only cut about 1/2". Then I make the first, gulp, real cut. It's a 3 and 3/4" strip from selvage edge to selvage edge. Put a couple pins in the large section and cut another strip.

Laying one strip out on the cutting board, I used my equilateral triangle (icky math alert: all 3 sides are equal) ruler and cut the triangle sections out. I have to take the time to pin each section together - after all, I'll have... hmm, I didn't count, but surely more than 70 of these sections, and I sure would hate to drop them and they get all mixed up!

I felt like peeking at a couple of the sections. I fanned four of them out to see what the final image will look like.

Now that's inspirational!! I can hardly wait - each one of the triangle sections cut from 6 strips will be a slightly different version.

Sighs.... of disappointments and relief

2008-03-27T18:50:00.004-04:00

Well, VT lost to Ol Miss. That was a real bummer. Major bummer. Crushing. Disappointing. Did I mention bummer? Oh well, they have a good team with a bunch of up and coming freshmen so I predict they will just get better and better each year. Will had such a blast at the games with friends, screaming, painting their faces and hair, and just the whole experience - it just cements his love for the school all the more with each day. VT is so great about giving students access to the games and events - he even got to go to the Baseball game when the Yankees came and played a couple of weeks ago. As a Yankee fan, that was really neat. I can't say enough good things about Virginia Tech. I am thrilled that Will loves it so much.

Now if I could just get Steven to feel the same way.... he did visit York College and ...... drumroll please...... hated it! Ha! I'm kind of glad but also sad because I do hope he finds a school to love the way his brother does. So I asked him what it was that he didn't like in particular and he said the surrounding town seemed really depressed and that the school itself seemed too small. Okay, those are concrete elements that can help narrow a list of schools. Ahem, Blacksburg, VA is a great college town..... and the campus is not too small either..... ahem, just saying! Steven wants to be able to ski - I reminded him that Will's roommate went skiing almost every other weekend in Jan and Feb. Just putting that into the hopper, ya know.

Ramblings

2008-03-26T07:35:00.003-04:00

Well, American Idol last night was much better than the recent rehash of the Beatles. A couple of standout performances (to ME) from Syesha, Brooke, Michael and David Cook. I did like David A, and Carly, Chickeze and Jason were okay. Ramielle and Kristy were not favorites. I keep expecting Ramielle to belt it out and last night was the closest she's gotten to doing it... I was disappointed. Kristy did okay with her patriotic song, dressed like Marcia Brady (!), but it was too little, too late for me. I won't watch the results show tonight since VT is playing again in the NIT, but then I never do like watching the results shows. How long does it take to eliminate one singer?! Apparently a whole hour, ugh. Nevermind all that filler stuff, just give me the last five minutes and I'm good.

Today Bill and Steven are going to visit York College in PA. It's a good 3 hours away. Decent premed type program which is what Steven thinks he'd be interested in. Cracks me up - premed. Puh-leeze, the kid has no idea of the amount of work he'd be in for. It's not like he's that much of a student right now either, and definitely he's not an aggressive go-getter. But at least he's thinking about it a little, and if this is what he's come up with for an interest, then great. Like many, if not most, college students, he'll probably change his mind once he gets going with classes. Heck, I was 100% certain that I wanted to major in Chemistry in college. I graduated with a BA in History instead. But, I'm really hoping that after his visit today, he'll prefer Virginia Tech. I would LOVE for both boys to be at VT. Love it. They wouldn't even be in the same school there, and would have to make a point to see each other since by the time Steven gets there, Will would be off-campus so it's not like they would be on top of each other or anything. But it's such a great school, and if Steven changes his mind on what he wants to do at VT, they have EVERYTHING! Oh well, I refuse to push him into what I want, so this opinion is on the downlow (is that really a word?).

Go Tech!

2008-03-25T15:53:00.004-04:00

Well, no close up of my baby at the game although we did get just a glimpse of him in the final seconds of the game. He was cheering like crazy in the split second we saw! It must be such a blast to be at a college game like that, surrounded by at least hundreds, if not thousands, of fellow students all revved up over the same thing. Sure beats watching it on TV. Then again, watching it on your own TV, curled up on your own sofa, without an obnoxious fan screaming in your ear...... and no line for snacks or the bathroom... hmm, staying home sounds pretty good! It was a fun game to watch. I hope Virginia Tech can keep the momentum going. The next game is tomorrow night.

Today is the first really pretty day in quite awhile. The sun is shining and the crocuses are blooming. I feel like spring is really around the corner. In fact, I'm feeling so chipper that I even bought fabric for a new project!

Book Drive

2008-03-22T20:27:00.005-04:00

This morning, Steven and I got up early, well, 8am is early for Saturday, and got ready to go to the book drive and help out. We got there at 9 and things were just getting set up. It seemed like total chaos when we got in there, but we got our instructions and figured it would make sense as we went along. It's amazing how many books are donated for these book drives. Thousands and thousands. It was a pretty chilly morning and there was a snow flurry as we started. Cars would drive up, and volunteers would unload the boxes and/or bags of books from the back. The boxes/bags would get put on the ramps with wheels so they could just be shoved down to the sorting tables. There were 6 of us sorting at first - the books would get sorted into paperbacks and hardbacks, children's books, oversized, etc. So I get into a rhythm, pile here, pile there, this here, that there, toss the bag or throw the box over to where the box cutting guys are. Bag after bag and box after box...I was really getting tired when I looked at my watch and it was only 10:30! Ack! Darn it, I'm not having fun and time is NOT flying! And just when I think I'm really making a dent in things, I turn around and, gasp, there must be at least 20-30 bags/boxes stacked up behind me! Where did they come from?! And I realize that the bags and boxes are piled up knee deep under tables, under the wheely ramp, beside the doors, stretched out behind the row of tables, and on and on and on. OMG. What in hell did I sign up for?! It reminds me of the "I Love Lucy" episode where she and Ethel work in the chocolate shop wrapping chocolates and the ramp carrying chocolates moves faster and faster and Lucy and Ethel panic and start shoving chocolates in their mouths and in their shirts.

This must be what it's like to work in a post office, where the mail simply never stops coming in, and there is never an end in sight. Or a factory job where you're doing the same thing over and over. I completely appreciate that it takes a special person to be able to do that kind of thing day after day after day when you never truly feel like you have finished a job. Ah well, there's something for everybody in this world, I always say. And I'll go back and work some more for the book drive. After all, many hands make light work.

Friday Quilts

2008-03-21T09:56:00.010-04:00

I think I'll make every Friday a quilt day. I'll put up a picture of either a finished quilt (by me), a current quilt project, or a vintage quilt from my collection. Today's quilt is the one in the April 2008 issue of McCalls Quilting Magazine. It was made from the Katmandu line of fabric from Mark Lipinski*. Actually I made this quilt for Mark for the 2007 Spring Quilt Market to help debut the new line. His booth was just amazing - filled to the rim with projects such as clothing, bags, quilts, embellished works of arts - it was really beautiful. If you haven't already seen this fabric line, get thee hence to your quilt shop and get some! It's perfect for embellishing, but just as great for regular piecework. I'm not much of an artsy-fartsy quilter, much prefer the traditional patterns with a twist. This is about as artsy as I get!

*I'll write about Mark one of these days. He's one of my most favorite people in my little quilting world.

A Virginia Tech fan

2008-03-20T11:42:00.008-04:00

I totally forgot that Virginia Tech was playing Morgan in the NIT last night. I meant to tape it since it was playing on ESPN. So imagine my surprise when my brother calls out of the blue saying "I just saw Will on TV! He's painted up, but it's definitely him!" I asked him to back it up and take a picture of the tv screen for me. Here's my baby on the right sitting with a buddy, another engineering student, on the left. Orange hair?? Hope it washes out!

Hybrids....and other bells and whistles

2008-03-16T14:35:00.004-04:00

After driving a minivan for years (and years and years), dear H asked me to think about getting a new car. I spent weeks checking out various models on Edmunds.com and other car sites. I narrowed it down to the Toyota Highlander Hybrid and the Lexus RX400h. Both pretty much the same (except the Lexus is much prettier), but the clincher was that the Toyota takes regular gas while the Lexus takes premium. Well, with gas here going back up to $3.15 a gallon (and probably higher), it was a no brainer. My only caveat - no silver! I've driven silver cars for over 15 years and hate it! I've always wanted green or red. So H takes the minivan and negotiates a really great deal on the trade-in plus the Highlander. He calls me down to the dealership to help empty out the minivan and to give me the "bad" news. Because there are apparently so few hybrids in stock, the dealer gave him a great break in the price on the fully loaded model on the lot. Fully loaded - there are so many bells and whistles on this thing, it will take me 2 weeks to get through the manual, never mind setting everything up. Actually it's kind of nice and exciting - the bluetooth phone thing is going to be a godsend now that NJ has made cell phone usage a primary offense. The dvd player probably won't get much, if any, use, but whatever. A backup camera could be fun in the grocery store parking lot.... and the navigation system should be a hoot. Maybe I'll start branching out now that I'll have a safety net for my poor sense of direction. So all in all, pretty dang cool car.

The bad news.... heh, yeah, it's silver.

A beginning...

2008-03-15T21:15:00.007-04:00

Excuse my mistakes as I experiment with the whole blogging thing. I think I'll pick up a few tricks like adding pictures as I go along, but for tonight, I'll just keep it simple. I'm working on a Macbook Pro, a first after many years of frustrating experiences with PCs. I may never go back. I've never had a computer so user-friendly. I think when the desktop computer dies, it will be replaced with another Mac. I hope it happens soon :) The only thing I wish were different would be that my quilt design program, EQ6, was available on the Mac. Instead I have had to get the QuiltPro program and it's nowhere near the same in the ease of design as EQ.