Second Day of School

Don't ask what happened on the first day of school! Here's my Eeyore (without glasses because they have been lost in the house) ready to head off on the bus. At least he has a healthy lunch. He loves his teacher this year and seems to really be excited about getting off to school in the morning. Thank goodness.

Little Brat is ready too. He has Alex's teacher from last year and cannot be more excited about it. I think they will be an excellent match. He needs to be challenged and she is more challenging. What a great fit. I am hoping she keeps him quite busy this year. He needs the homework.

Big Boy has two teachers. His homeroom teacher is also Math and Science and he trades classes in the middle of the day for History and English. They are getting him all geared up for middle school. He seems to like his situation as well. He brought home his first A this week and I really hope it will be the first of many.

Speaking of Big Boy. Anyone noticed the fashion choices this boy has made this year. They all picked their own haircut and shoes. Little ones picked a regular haircut as opposed to a short summer cut. Big Boy chose to shave his head (see below). He likes it. He also chose skater shoes this year because they had pictures of skulls on them.

Has the world suddenly gone mad? He told me that when shopping for him to keep in mind that he likes skater tees and rocker tees. Preferably things with skulls on them. Little Brat is now completely into Guitar Hero and wants everything that has Guitar Hero on it. And true to form. Eeyore will "have what their having". Well, at least it's only shirts and hair.
Big Boy has recovered from the double ear infection he was suffering from after his first day at school. The house had recovered from the second night's transformer problem. The power company replaced the transformer within 45 minutes and we were back to spending millions on electricity. Night three was surprisingly calm and normal. Day four is rainy. I am hiding indoors. Perhaps I will get some sewing done today.
Happy Quilting.

At the Bus Stop

While waiting on the bus... boys will be boys. No one likes to stand in line. Everyone wants to be in the front and they argue constantly. The only one it seems to bother though is me. What a smile from Big Boy because he's in the front (you should have seen the other shots). Eeyore is all smiles. He loves his teacher this year. She's really pretty. She gave him a star and a candy the first day for being a hard worker. Little Brat of course is pretending to moon me. He wouldn't smile unless he could show his butt in the picture. Ha Ha... little does he know that I won anyway.

Here Eeyore and Little Brat decide to be silly. Just noticed that Little Brat is wearing a ring with a skull on it. At least they are not crying and complaining.

Here is the evidence that they actually got on the school bus and traveled off to school. I had to blur out the bus number but you get the drift. They have reported every day that it is a great day. Guess we can't complain about that.

No quilting is getting done. Just filling out school forms and looking for things in the house. Did manage to sew up about 10 pillowcases into chair organizers for 5th grade. You know how I have to start the year with volunteer stuff. This is all for the teachers though and no PTA.

Happy Quilting and whatever else you do.

The Prodigal Son Returns

My Big Boy has returned from the Beach. His hair and eyebrows are bleached and his face is peeling from an obvious sunburn. However, he claims he had a lovely time and didn't miss us a bit. He was thoughtful and brought presents home for his little brothers.

Of course he couldn't resist purchasing a hermit crab (this family and crazy pets). But he did keep three goldfish alive for about a year in a single fish bowl until someone set somthing on top of the bowl and cut off their oxygen. So... he is a responsible pet parent and so as long as he keeps it fed and cleaned I don't mind. He has already taken care of it on his own when he got back by wetting the sponge.

Apparently his name is "Cami" because of it cammo colored shell. The truth is he doesn't come out much. And of course my son thought of his mother on his trip. He purchased this pair of earrings for me. Not really sure what the box says but of course I am elated that he thought of me. He's a great kid.

Dad gets nothing... Hubby said, "As usual, Dad gets the short end of the stick!" Too funny. Hubby is home from Tampa too. Our family is back together and ready to get going on the last preps for school to start tomorrow. Big Boy needs a haircut and everyone needs shoes (including Hubby who had a final blowout with his shoes on the trip and came home with shoes that need to be thrown away). I will be taking all "4" of my "sons" out shopping today. And then it's back home where a few loads of laundry need to be done before bedtime.
I wish the boys lots of luck tomorrow starting their classes and me lots of luck on my first day back at work.

Raingutter Regatta

Today was the annual raingutter regatta. Hubby didn't make it to this one to help make boats 'cause he was in Tampa with his Mom and Dad. Big Boy didn't make it 'cause he was still at the beach (on his way home). Soooo... Eeyore and Little Brat and I went to the race. Of course my car was filled with most of the stuff 'cause this family can't just attend an event, we have to run it.
I was able, with the help of the attending Dads to get the race tree and sign-up sheet complete as well as get the boys keels added to their boats and help prepare them for the race.


Unfortunately for Little Brat he was up against a much older boy and couldn't get the hang of where to blow on the sail. He had trouble making it to the end and ended our chances of a "medal sweep". He lost in the first round and ran crying from the race area. Not a pleasant scene but he does have to learn a little sportmanship. What a competitve mouse he is.

Eeyore, however, was in top form. He manged to speed through the first two rounds, including beating the boy that beat his brother. Look at that perfect form.

In the end, all the boys (and sister sibling) had a great time and Eeyore came away victorious with the First Place ribbon. He was really proud of himself. Every little victory strenghtens his confidence that with hard work and persistence comes success.

No quilting today as the PTA and other organizations sagas continue. I am completing up the last necessary details and then getting rid of everything. It will be a new year... I think there will be some very surprised people this year. Mom is done. No more working for free like a dog for the masses who completely don't appreciate it.
Wish me luck in turning over a new leaf.
Happy Quiltling!

Miniature Challenge

UFO Progress Report
Today I was able to get one more block done on the Women's Voices Quilt. The mate to it is still on the sewing table. I got the half-square triangles pieced but just got too tired to complete the rest. I finished a small patriotic wallhanging top that I found in the UFO stash. I didn't take a photo of it. I will have to save that photo for tomorrow night but I was able to quilt and bind it and add a hanging sleeve on the back.

I decided that I would join the Guild's Miniature Quilt Challenge which is due at the Quilt Show in October. I have been looking for the right project to complete for the challenge. I have a small wool wallhanging that I still plan to complete for the show but I found this picture in a miniature book. It was the easiest paper-pieced thing that I could find.

So I decided to dump out a basket of scraps and start picking some fabrics to make it. I also decided that I would only use red scraps. Not because the picture was red but because when I started pulling out fabrics that I liked I had a giant pile of red fabrics. Why not. So I pieced all the blocks and then without looking at the pattern I pieced the whole quilt in about a day and a half. Then I layered and quilted it (somehow breaking four needles in the process from the thickness). And in an effort to finish it I put the binding on. Then I took this photo of the quilt for the blog. It was then that I realized that something didn't quite look right. SO.... Here is my miniature for the challenge. You can look at the photo and then look at the quilt and you tell me what you think.

Like it or not... this is it. I am not remaking it. It might not be perfect but neither am I. I like it anyway and it looks really nice on my wall. It brings the show-n-tell count for Monday night to five projects including two full-sized quilts which isn't bad if you ask me. Of course I will have to quit piecing to get ready for cleaning house tomorrow and "meet the teacher" day at school on Friday. The big Raingutter Regatta is Saturday and the littlest boys and I are going to be making boats together and swimming in the pool so it should be a good day. I may get to spend more time in the loft before the week is out and I might even finish something else. Just as long as I don't disturb Duncan's nap. He climbed onto the scraps almost the minute I dumped the basket on the floor. Somtimes he acts just like a cat.

Happy Quilting!

Finding Treasures

I was thinking about all the treasures that I found when cleaning out the closet the other day. I have been cleaning and organizing so much that I thought maybe I should spend some time sewing. Monday night is Guild night show-n-tell and it's always nice to have something to show. I am planning on showing the house quilt but remember I found soooo many unfinished little projects that maybe it's time I get a few of those things done. So after some research on the laptop I prepared to get up to the loft to get busy. Here was the scene on the bed when I closed the laptop.


I don't think this dog has ever missed a nap. NOT EVER!
In one of the bags that I cleaned out of the closet I found a cut out fabric bowl that was never completed. I could never figure out how to get the satin stitch just right to finish it. Well I figured it out. Now I have this nice fabric bowl with vegetables on it. What do you think I should put in it?

In an effort to complete some of the many BOM's I have abandoned that are now considered UFO's I completed another two blocks from the Women's Voices Quilt. Apparently a long time ago I was trying to speed up the piecing process by cutting out all of the pieces for the remaining months. You would think that with all the cutting completed I would have finished it quicker but somehow I have overlooked it and so out it comes years later. How frustrating. Here are the two blocks completed from month #8.

They look nice but I started piecing this quilt soooo long ago and very early in my quilting career so not all the blocks are made that well. I think it will be quite a challenge to put the thing together but I am up for it.
Hubby leaves for a few days and now we are down to three in the house. It's getting quieter all the time.
I will keep you posted. School starts on Monday for the boys so we are just trying to get adjusted before D-day.
Happy Quilting!

Closet Chaos

Have you ever wondered sometimes how some people just look a little too happy. They look so together and organized, they never forget anything and they always look like they can handle anything life throws at them with the perkiest smile. I always wonder whether their lives behind the scenes are that pleasant. If they really suffer from closet chaos.
I am not one of those people. I wear my chaos on my sleeve. Everyone knows when I am not happy. Everyone can see that I am behind most of the time, I get things done but only at the last minute and I have great intentions for organization but never quite seem to get it fully completed. Today I was suffering from closet chaos, only my chaos involved a real closet.
My sewing room is out of control. I know this is true for many of us. Even if you are not a quilter, sometimes it seems it’s your primary workspace that really takes the brunt of the chaos. I recently installed that new organizer unit. Hubby said he really wanted me to get the storage inside organized so that the plastic containers on the far wall could go away because they didn’t look good. I also wanted to set up new tables all the way around the room so my sewing areas could be up at once.
So… I cleaned all the plastic storage out and organized the center island. I also put labels on all the project boxes so I knew what was in them and could check my UFO inventory. I was able to complete those tasks but the one area that I have been avoiding was the side of clutter as you enter the room. Everything that didn’t have a place was piled there. Some of the things piled there were only there because the storage closet was in such a state of chaos that I was afraid anything important that got put in there would get lost. I have also been missing a few things that I have been thinking about lately.
So… since I am getting ready to sell my old Bernina and needed to find everything that went with it… and I really needed to clean up the clutter in my room… I will tackle the chaos and take everything out of the closet. I should probably purge it anyway. So I did. I have to tell you I had a lot of things in that closet that should not have been there. I also emptied out two more cabinets that I can put all kinds of things in. It took me all day. I was very proud of myself. I threw out two big black trash bags filled with junk. I thinned out some of my fabric that I was given (mostly flannels for pajamas). I cleaned out lots of old pieces of batting. I can’t believe I kept that much stuff.
The good news is while taking inventory of the small kits that I have and what projects they are for I found a few things that I forgot that I had and one thing that I had been looking for.
I found this wallhanging that is almost complete. It needs the outer border. I made this in a 3-D flying geese class about 6 years ago.

I also found these Chicken of the Month stitcheries that I have been looking for. I thought about them the other day when I was looking for some handwork to do. Aren’t they cute?

I also pulled out Hubby’s other quilt that I have half completed. It’s a difficult picture piecing quilt that I enlarged (thank God) to make a bigger wall hanging. I think it might be really fun to work on this one a little in the upcoming weeks.

Maybe I will even finish it for the quilt show in October. I don’t have anything really special for the quilt show this year except for Hubby’s house quilt which I am really hoping wins that UFO FQ basket for me. Keep your fingers crossed. I also managed to put the binding on the house quilt so that I can finish it by Monday night’s Guild Meeting. I think I have a whole week to put the binding down and put the label on the back before show-n-tell. Hubby worked outside for two days completing the concrete for the footers on the deck project. He has been working very hard lifting all that concrete by himself.

The boys even wanted to get into the act of hard work. For payment of course, but I suppose there is no time like the present to teach them that hard work gets rewarded. Hubby agreed to pay them to be water boys. At dinner last night the boys asked for jobs that they could do to earn money around the house. I offered to pay them to clean my car. They worked on that job today as well when there was no more concrete to do. They worked together and had a good time.
Duncan, however, was not into working today. For him it was a “dog day afternoon”. As you can see he was caught sleeping like this most of the day. You know the dog has taken over the house when he sleeps with all four paws in the air.

At the end of the day we are all tired and have decided to retire early. I am still awake but have been in bed for about an hour. Hubby is getting rested up for work tomorrow and I am preparing my list for tomorrow. It’s amazing how much energy it takes to clean out the sewing room. It’s like letting go of little pieces of you. But now I have a little less chaos in my house (if I only had the energy to keep going and clean out the rest of the house) and plenty of room to create something new.
Happy Quilting!

A Baby Bird Leaves the Nest (a little...)

Today my oldest left me. Well… not like many of your children. He’s ten so he only left me for a week but it feels like empty nest syndrome. The mother of one of his friends called me about a week and a half ago and said she was going to Myrtle Beach with her two kids for a week and wanted to take BIG BOY with them on their family vacation to keep her son occupied.
I was floored. Immediately I thought NO WAY, JOSE! But then I thought about how long I had known their family, and how unfair that would be for my son. I spoke to hubby about it and he decided that we should give him permission to go. I WAS OVERRULED. OK fine. I will let him go.

I woke up this morning (a Saturday mind you) at 6am to begin packing his things because I could not bring myself to do it before then. I washed clothes all day the day before so that his laundry would be clean. He’s been on overnight’s before but never on vacation for a week without me. I made them promise to let him call me every night and he has to follow all my rules including wearing a life jacket if he goes in the ocean. Everyone agreed.
I decided to do the same thing I did the first day he got on the bus for kindergarten and just keep myself insanely busy all day so that I didn’t notice that he wasn’t there. I didn’t want to worry. I know that he’ll be fine. I know that if I took someone’s kid with us on vacation I would certainly make sure that I watched that kid better than my own. I didn’t think it would be fair to either of us to be one of those mother’s who worries so much that she makes herself sick or never lets her kids go anywhere.
So in an effort to stay busy I decided to work on the hexagon quilt all day. I was still struggling with the idea for making the additional blocks since I didn’t have enough fabric to do what the pattern called for. I still didn’t like the look of the alternating blocks. It just wasn’t the look I was going for. So… I spent the time moving the blocks around on the design wall until I found something that I liked. I figured out exactly how many more triangles that I need to cut out. Once all the pieces were cut and the hexagon pieces were together and laid out, I began to piece each row together.
After the rows were together I stopped to eat something because I had suddenly gotten hungry. No wonder. I had quilted until 4 o’clock. Hubby suggested that we take the other boys out to the Japanese Steak House for dinner. We had lovely time and then got back in time to watch more Olympics on the tele. I went straight up to the loft and finished piecing the entire quilt top. And then I laid out all the remaining triangles into an interesting pattern to put on the back (afterall, when will I ever use triangles of this fabric ever again). I am mixing them with muslin triangles and thought I would make a tumbling block for the back. It will look great. I will work on that tomorrow.

He called this evening as promised. They got there safely and they had already gone to the beach. He sounds like he’s having a blast. I am so glad that I let him go. We will all be just fine. And think of all the “I’m not worrying” work I will get done while he’s away. And… just in case everyone is wondering… I would call the Merry-Go-Round Quilt about a 2-3 day quilt depending on how fast you sew and how much determination you have to complete it. Today I was quite determined. Can’t wait to show it off next Monday.

And last but not least Little Brat wanted to get into the picture of my quilt. I am only sorry that I accidently cut his feet out the picture because he walked over in one shoe and one slipper. I saw a young teenager tonight (an otherwise nice looking kid) with these stretching disks stuck in his ears. I made a remark to hubby about how awful it looked and why his mother would let me him do that to himself. It's not like getting a piercing. We both agreed that Little Brat will definately the kid that's gonna do stuf like that just to piss us off. If he were a little girl he would've worn a feather boa to dinner. Guaranteed.
Happy Quilting!

Hexagons on Steroids

Here's what I have done so far on the Hexagons. It goes together really fast. I have completely run out of fabric and will need to start using alternating blocks. I think it will be fine. All my antique flower garden quilts have places where the lady making it ran out of fabric and substituted so I am taking a page from history and working with what I have like my ancestors.


I asked Little Brat (my best little quilter) today what he thought. Hey buddy... what do you think? Is this quilt great or a little too bright. Little Brat says... looks beautiful Mom ... but... a little too much pink. I guess I will have to move the one pink block to the center or something. Too funny.

On the family front... I am getting the boys to bed earlier every day to being preparing for school to start. They go back on the 25th. I am starting to hear grumbling. I am just trying to get some time in the studio sewing a little so I am nimble when they go back to school. I can't wait to get back to designing and being creative. Lately I have been spending my days supervising Big Boy's cooking in the kitchen. I long to be back in the loft full time. Today my boys gave me a nice break. I spent the day sewing which felt really good even though I was working on making someone else's design. But it gives me another fun class to teach potentially and a fun sample to take to class.
Happy Quilting!

Hexagon Happiness

Found this pattern a couple of months ago. It's called Merry-Go-Round by American Jane. Uses a great method of sewing partial blocks so that there are no set-in seams. You can find a similar but smaller version of this quilt in the October 2008 issue of McCall's Quilting Magazine. It thought I would use my Pop Parade Jelly Rolls from P&B Textiles. They are really bright and in your face. You can't miss this quilt hanging on a clothesline.


Here are the triangles that I cut from my strips. Looking good already.

Here is the beginning of the layout from the triangles that I cut. You can see how the quilt goes together. You sew three triangles together and alternate the direction and sew togher in a straight line. Piece O' Cake and this quilt goes together like a dream.

Will try to post an update of the quilt as I get it together. I know that I will have to improvise a bit because I didn't have enough jelly rolls of that line. I might have to try something different with the pattern. Just Wait and see.
Happy Quilting!

Small Victories!

I finally finished hubby's quilt. I mentioned earlier in the month about our Guild's UFO challange. I decided to enter with Hubby's House Quilt. I wanted to make something nice for hubby as a celebration of his efforts rebuilding our home after a catastrophic fire. I found the perfect pattern. Nice and primitive, hand done and interesting. It's a BOM called By Wisdom a House is Built. I started working on it in 2004. I don't know what happened. One day I just got bored with it and put it in a project box and didn't take it out again.

Recently I was harrassing hubby on the extensive list of unfinished projects around the house and he mentioned that he picked out one quilt and I picked out another that I was going to do for him and he hasn't seen either one in years so... pot calling the kettle black and all... touche monsieur pussycat.

I dug it out and spent the last week completing it at night while watching the Olympics. I just took it yesterday to the Quilter Extraordinare and hopefully it will come back to me before the Guild Quilt Show in October. I hope it wins. Can't wait.
Below is the best picture I could get of the top. The blocks are hand embroidered and hand-appliqued using the ragged edge applique method. It's supposed to rag up a bit and look primitive. (I guess I will wash it before I put it in the show.) The background blocks are hand-stitched to the sashing blocks using a perle cotton running stitch. I think QE will quilt it with a stipple stitch since there is so much that needs to be worked around. It's very heavy and will be very warm. Hubby loves it. SUCCESS!

I am very proud of this quilt and hope you enjoy looking at it.
Happy Quilting and thanks for stopping by.

Perfection is Overrated

I dropped by the Guild BOM table last month and up picked my fabric and templates for the upcoming monthly block. This year the program offers two choices... an easier block and a more challenging block. Well... I guess I will choose the more challenging block since I am relatively confident in my piecing skills. After all I had been staring at the thing for weeks while working on the newsletter. I liked the design much better anyway. The instructions looked OK. Cut out the pieces using only two templates and some rotary cutting pieces too. The instructions indicated there were some partial seams but I think I can handle that. So on Sunday I decided to get everything out and complete the block because the Guild meeting was the next night and it would be nice to turn it in early.

I get out the cutting instructions and confidently begin cutting the pieces out the piece of fabric I was given by our BOM girls LB and BP. Whoops... what happened... I don't have anywhere near the amount of fabric that I need. (Of course, if I had bothered to lay out the pieces before hand to make sure before actually opening the rotary cutter I may have been OK) Oh well... tomorrow night is the Guild meeting and a quick call to LB I knew there would be another piece of fabric available to pick up on the next day.
On Tuesday (because Monday was a late night out with the ladies) I started again on the BOM. I got all the pieces cut out (of course because I now had twice as much fabric as everyone else) and started laying them out on the table.

With the layout complete, I begin reading the piecing instructions. Step one... check... step two... check... step three... check. Step 4... uh.. wait a minute... there is a step missing. I get it... that's what LB was talking about. She mentioned something about challenging everyone to figure out how to put it together. Ok... I take another look at the block. I start to get tickled with myself. I am figuring it out. I finally get to the last step and the seams are going together perfectly. This block is great. I am great...

Until I turn it over to press it. The good news is the block measures a perfect 12 1/2 inches square and has wonderful seam allowances. The Bad News... the center looks like someone stuffing a pillow. I have no idea what happened. Why won't the center lay flat. It's almost as if the center square is waaay tooo big. I tried to fix the thing but it got worse.

SOOOO.... I did what any self-respecting quilter would have done...

I IRONED IT! I didn't lightly press it. I IRONED IT WITH LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS OF STARCH! I showed that cotton who was boss and I made that block lay down. Afterwards I was a little embarrased. I mean it does mean that I simply gave up. Maybe I shouldn't turn it in. I will throw it in a drawer somewhere never to be seen again. Well... Ok I will turn it in but I won't put my name on it and admit to this shoddy workmanship. What a minute! Who said I was perfect. Afterall, I am only human. Sometimes I make mistakes. Sometimes we do the best we can and live with it. I wrote my name on the back of that block and put it in my Guild basket for next Monday night. I will walk that block proudly up the BOM table and hand it over to my friends and colleagues with my head held high. I did my best. I gave it the old college try and it's good enough.

And then I will peek over and see what everyone else turned in (you know you would too). Who knows... maybe I will even cross my fingers and hope I win them. But... if I don't win enough blocks to make a whole quilt... that sucker's gonna be a wallhanging or a table runner 'cause I'm not making another one of those!

Happy Quilting!

Hey bloglanders! In case you were not convinced about how much fun Eeyore had at Camp Motorsport... here are some photos of him with friends. The little one below pictured with him is the soon-to-be Stepson of Uncle R from NC. He is also middle child and I think you can see the boys got along great on this trip. Uncle R and B boy were able to make the Camp as well and they were on the same driving team during Camp. Great Fun.

What would camp be without sitting on the top bunk with your driving mates and sharing Pokemon guys on Nintendo DS. All the boys got along great and had fun bunking out.

A Team Photo. Here are all the driving mates with Dads from Camp. They are sitting on one of the Hammerheads. Eeyore was convinced that Daddy would buy one if he drove well so he concentrated really hard during all lessons and drove a 45 minute session all by himself taking only one pitstop to "scratch his nose". Hubby and Uncle R from NC are in the back.

During the trip to the Science Museum of Richmond look what my RACING BOYS just happened to see on the side of the road while we were driving. Here is one of the exact Hammerheads that he drove at VIR. What are the odds. It 's almost as if the TomTom navigation unit is conspiring against me. I was informed by the salesman that they come in three colors. And me without my checkbook. I am getting a new Bernina Sewing Machine and delivery is soon and it won't fit in my minivan so everyone get back in the car. QUICK!