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!

As promised I have finally put up the photos of Eeyore at Camp Motorsport at Virginia International Raceway. I have to say that if you are anywhere in the area you should send your kids to this Parent Weekend Camp. I am not much for sending kids away to Camp but hubby went and checked out this camp and it was really great. Eeyore is about 8 yrs. and it was perfect for him. Here he is running the racing simulator at the camp. He loved it so much (and so did Dad and Uncle R from NC) that we had to go online and see how much they cost just in case.

Here Eeyore is being strapped into a tandem formula car. You can see the professional driver in the back. He was driven around the track by Kevin York. You can google Kevin and read about his racing history. Check out the intense look of Eeyore's face. I think he thought he was actually going to drive it when they put the steering wheel in. Hubby says he thinks they didn't go really fast but it was fast enough to catch the "bug".

Look at Eeyore all dressed in his professional racing suit. He looks like a PRO doesn't he. You have gotta love it. Hubby didn't get a good shot of him in helmet and suit but I think the next shot was pretty good. I posted the one without the smile on purpose. I love it. This was Eeyore after his tandem ride. During the weekend he was able to drive Cup Cars as well as Hammerhead GoKarts which he has informed Daddy that he has to have at home. Daddy let him drive the whole time. I have some pictures of that as well but only through professional photographer so I have to wait to pose those. They had fun in the mud.

Here's Eeyore with the cup car he drove around the track. Doesn't he look like he stepped of the pages of Sports Illustrated. What a cutie! Clearly he had a great time at camp. And as our middle boy it was nice that he got to do something special with Daddy on his own. Enjoy!

Worst Haircut Ever

So you tell me what you think. Here is a photo of me enjoyed a nice refreshing ice coffee. The question is.... could this be the worst haircut ever? I just recently had my haricut and after a reasonable amount of time fixing it this morning this is the best I could get it to look. I am convinced this is by far one of the worst haircuts I have ever gotten. I definately think the top of my hair is too long. It looks like bedhead ever day. Think it's time to go back and get her to fix it. It can't possibly get worse.

So if you see me walking down the street and you think to yourself.... did she just get up or what. Man that girl should brush her hair. Don't judge... I am sure that I did. I'll work on it.
Or maybe I just stayed up all night quilting and I needed a coffee. I have been known to do that but not during the Olympics. However, hubby was kind enough to hook up the cable in my loft so now I can sew and watch tv. YEAH!
Happy Quilting!

Science Museum of Richmond

Thursday was an interesting day. Lots of personal commitments lead us to Richmond for the day where hubby decided we should take the kids to the Science Museum of Richmond. It's much smaller than the Science Museum of Baltimore where I grew up going. It's really pretty though. Nice IMAX Theatre and the museum was actually placed inside the old Union Station of Richmond (train station). What a beautiful building. Thought you might like to see some photos.

Big Boy got to ride on a Segway. So did I but I am not showing you that picture because you would not believe the angle at which hubby took that shot. I know that I am not skinny but sheesh..... The Segway really is very cool... all those gyros and auto balancing. What a way to get around. The ones they use at the museum are regulated not to go over 5 mph but they actually go 15mph. The ones the police use can top out at 30mph. You should see how fast 5 mph looks when you are standing right next to it.

The other really cool thing they have outside the museum (which is free to see and move) is this 70 ton piece of marble with all the countries on it to represent the earth. It sits on a fountain of water and the water moves at enough pressure so that you can turn this 70 ton ball by yourself and "rotate the earth". How cool is that. They have another one some distance from it that represents the moon. That ball weighs about 1700 lbs. It was the biggest game of marbles that we ever played. The boys really enjoyed playing in the fountain. And as you can see when I say boys I mean all the boys (even the big one).

This is the other shot of the architecture of this grand building. I loved looking at the building too.

It was a fun day. The boys enjoyed themselves and we got to see the new IMAX film on the Grand Canyon. It was really spectacular experience. I can't wait to go. Hubby and I have talked about going with the boys. We have just been waiting until their old enough. But for Mom it was a nice window into the West. Our trip ended up at a friend's house for a visit. Great family day. A minimal amount of whining and no one got grounded so I guess it was a good day. And the museum had a cafe with Starbucks coffee and cheap ice cream so everyone had a nice refreshing treat. Can't wait to show you my latest project completed. Just gave a quilt top to the quilter before photographing so I will have to take a picture when it comes back. Happy Quilting!

The Jeans Purse

Today was such a glorious day. I say this because it was a complete waste of time. Nothing I did today had any rhyme or reason. I just did whatever I felt like. The Hubby decided to work from home today. So I new there would be someone in the house if the offspring needed something and I could just head out and get something done or get nothing done and just socialize. I decided that I would head up to the loft and clean off the new workstation. Ever since the day I put it in I have piled things on it because I am trying to organize the room and clean it up so I have been making piles. Now it's covered in stuff and impossible to work in there. Yesterday I did complete several sewing projects and showed you many of them. Here is one that I forgot to show you. These are my completed blocks for the Guild raffle quilt. Guild meeting is Monday and I wanted to be able to say I finished mine and no one is waiting on me.

I think they turned out great. Trish and Irma did a great job picking out the batiks and making the block really easy for everyone. Sometimes group projects can be so hard. I like that this one is so simple. It took about 5 minutes to make both blocks. Also nice. With all the other Guild projects that we do I didn't really want to spend a lot of time on the raffle quilt. It would be different if it were the President's blocks or something special like that. I clean up in the loft today and then decided to take and shower and see if I could scoot out of the house unnoticed for the day. I took all the newspaper ads and decided to make the SCHOOL SUPPLY shopping trip my excuse to get an afternoon to myself. Hubby was working and on the phone when I left and seemed to be busy all day so my plan worked this time. I found this cute little wonder of nature today in my grapes. I thought this looked like a little flower today and took a picture. Just trying to get used to photo documentation and this blog thing. Enjoy!

My Mom called last week with a great deal from her fabric distributor. All the sandwashed twill colors and fabric were on sale and each bolt were $2.50/yard. I decided that for shorts and pants for thr boys and shorts for me. Maybe even some quilt bags.... I had to have it. Purchased five bolts of fabric and made the BIG BOY some shorts to wear before we went on vacation. If any of you quilting friends of mine are looking to make something for yourself of the sort and need some twill let me know. I have plenty as you can see and plenty of colors.

I also took this photo of the new workstation that I put in the loft. Hubby bought this for me right after I drew a diagram of one that I wanted him to make me out of wood to hold my big cutting mat and BIG BOARD. Hubby decided that it would be cheaper to purchase one from a local unfinished furniture store. This unit happens to be two kitchen workstations placed back-to-back with the "bar" area facing each other. That's why there are curves on the side. Lots of shelves and storage and four drawers per unit. This was perfect for what I needed and as usual hubby was right. Everything fits great. Soon I will be able get all the storage units on the far wall into smaller containers and stored underneath in the cabinets. Then I can put up all the tables and have all my sewing machines out along the room. The space is a little small but having everything in its place in completely worth it and when the table go in there will be a little more room. Let me know how you like the look.

Before I forget to tell you... I told this story today while I was out with the girls and while it may not seem that funny to you it sure did tickle me at the time. I was in line at a fabric store yesterday purchasing some magazines when I noticed that the woman in front of me had a handmade purse made from a pair of jeans. I love quilted bags and was checking it out. What got me tickled was the actual site of the bag next to the maker. This particular crafter had taken a pair of jeans and cut the legs off. She took the crotch seam out and sewed the bottom together to make the purse. What was great was that she had taken an embroidery machine and decorated the purse with embroidery on the pockets and hot fix jewels to dress the thing up. It was a really cute idea. I had seen similar bags before but I like the way she decorated this one. Here is the funny part and make this note to yourself if you ever try this. What actually got my attention at first was the fact that when this crafter made her bag she neglected to put any stiffener of any kind in the bag and she made the handle really long so the bag hung really low at about her waistline. Then she put just about everything she could fit inside that bag. So picture the butt end of a pair of jeans (stuffed to the gills and bulging) hanging right next to your own butt which is also clad in jeans (which is also bulging). It looked like she had two great big butts. I started to chuckle and apparently it was loud enough that she turned around to see what I was laughing at. I told her that I was admiring her bag and started to talk to her about it. Of course I didn't tell her that she was walking around with two butts ... but I did make a mental note-to-self to make my jeans purse out of kids-sized jeans and use a much shorter handle. Maybe even some timtex to make it stand up and act as a "girdle" of sorts. There's your amusement for the day. Tomorrow I will try to post at least one photo of Eeyore from Camp Motorsport where he went with Hubby this past weekend. Apparently a great time was had by all. Happy Quilting All.

The "Peeping" Squirrel

Forgot to tell my friends that I had to go to Joann's today to meet a friend for something. While I was there I picked up a few periodicals. I have been looking all over for this new Easy Quilts magazine from Fons and Porter. I heard that the patterns are very easy and quick and there are some neat tips. I will keep you posted about that one. And the new Quilter's Home magazine just came out. I think the ink is still wet on this copy.

So here is the story for the day. I was sitting in my bedroom stitching on my UFO project, watching a movie and drinking my coffee when I hear something chewing on my house. I will spare you the details of my looking under the bed and things. I figured out the something outside was clawing and chewing on the house. So I get up to look out the window and behind the swag curtain I come face to face with the biggest, fattest squirrel I have ever seen. We go eyeball to eyeball. He is unphased. So I bang on the window which immediately scares him away and I think that he won't be back. I was wrong. A few minutes later I look over at the window with this feeling that I am being watched. I was right. He was sitting on the roof with his paws on the windowsill looking in at me. Just staring. I call to him and get up to shoo him and he just sits there... staring. I must not be as intimidating as I think I am. So I keep talking to him and tapping at the window. Finally Duncan looks over to see what all the commotion is and sees the squirrel. That got his attention. Duncan barks and lunges at the window. The squirrel decides it had better depart. It makes you wonder though. Maybe I was speaking the right language. I wonder if he will be back tomorrow. Duncan spent the rest of the day staring out the windows like this:

So as my final parting comment I would like to say my living room looks like this:

My children's faces all look like this:

And I look like this :(... Thank goodness that school begins again in 20 more days. They will be gone all day and the house will become mine again. Of course I am completely not ready for school either. I haven't done any shopping at all. I have at least got to get all the school supplies soon or believe it or not they will all be gone. Maybe that can be my project for this week. Just the school supply shopping. Take care and have a nice night.

A Typical Summer Day

I am excited about today. Decided to get up this morning and get some quilting projects completed. I started that great big "reminder" binder several months ago to get a handle on some of the hundreds of projects and kits that are started or waiting to be started or just waiting to be finished. I decided I would get my self a cup of coffee and get working on my latest project, a UFO that I am completing for the Guild Challenge. It's a quilt for Richard that I will get to later. As I get to the bottom of the stairs a ghastly site awaits me.

Guess it's time to clean up this mess. How exactly does this happen? How does a perfectly clean sink get to this state of disaster? I know there are four other humans living in this house. Doesn't anyone else see this mess and have any desire to clean it? Well, I don't have a desire to clean it exactly but I do have a desire for it to be clean. So I suck it up and wash the dishes.

Then I head into the laundry room for another intense mess. It seems the laundry in the house is never done. I throw in a load and fold all the towels in the dryer. Hopefully this will give me a good excuse to head upstairs and have coffee in peace. I have that project that I am working on. I have another child in the house this morning belonging to a friend. He's keeping the boys very quiet. I might be able to finish that block this morning.

The project I am working on is a leftover UFO of a quilt that I have been making for Hubby. It all primitive houses and bible verses. I actually made a label for it several years ago stating that the quilt was complete in 2005 and was quilted by me. I don't even do my own quilting anymore. I need to make a new label for the thing as well. I am two blocks/months shy of completing it and just quit to work on something else. My Guild decided to have this UFO Challenge this year. Put in a FQ and show a project and proclaim that it will be completed in time for entry into the Annual Quilt Show in October 2008. There will be a contest and the winner gets all the FQ's. I thought it was a great idea and chose this quilt as my project. I am two bloack away afterall and hubby has been waiting on it. Completed the 11th block this morning and put the entire quilt top together minus the last block which I am working on tonight. Here is what the 11th block looks like. The quilt blocks are pieced entirely by hand using ragged edge applique and perle cotton for the hand embroidery.

I think this turned out great. So I moved onto another little something. My friend Lee gave me a little kit to make a cute little pinwheel coaster and I thought it would be fun to finish it. Many of these little kits just sit around the quilt loft collecting dust so I will set this one free. Here is the completed project from the kit. It has coffee fabric on the back.

My next little project will be working on the curtain for my bedroom doors. The story behind this project is I decided make these curtains for the French doors in my bedroom to keep out little eyes. I made them from the Hope of Hartford star and loved the fabric and everything. My husband decided that he wanted the curtains to look through the window panes on the doors instead of hanging in front of them so I took the whole project apart to resize, found out I needed to make more blocks and completely gave up on it. Decided that my husband was not involved from the beginning and I need the shade. I pulled out the blocks from years of storage and I decided to put this back together exactly as I intended. Here are the completed blocks from storage. Can't wait for this project to be complete. Hopefully I can then prevent this problem.Anyway, that's what's happening here today. Have to save some funny stories for another day. Taking a day trip this week with hubby and the kids and may have some new pictures to share. Take care and have a great day.

The boys get to meet some of the residents of Revolutionary City in Colonial Williamsburg.

The boys take a rare opportunity to enjoy the beach along the James River in Williamsburg/Jamestown.

Mom and the boys took Grandma from Maryland on vacation to Williamsburg and Jamestown in July. This day we stopped in at the Jamestown settlement to learn about the first American settlers and the Powhatan Indians. Eeyore carries the buckets they way it was done when the Jamestown settlers did it. I was told that these buckets were half-size and they were also half-full.
Little Brat carries the buckets too.













The boys tried on the armor worn by the residents of Jamestown fort. The adults sure were a whole lot smaller then.