Our fun Saturday - part 1

On Saturday, we went to the Montgomery County farm tour. First, the alpaca farm.
Alpacas:


Walking around the fence:




Alpacas:


My lovely kids:


The mid-kid took this one. I'm not sure if he *meant* to have it tilted like this:
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July UFO done!!!

Started in the mid-80s by me and my Memaw:

(My holder is taller than me by a few inches and still isn't quite tall enough.)

The back:


I think you can see some of the quilting pattern for the sashing - I just did pointy lozenges that met (sort of) in the peachy setting blocks. The blocks were quilted in the ditch in the print parts of the bear paw.

Husband and middle son are still alive

But I could've killed both of them Friday night. The mid-kid got his goo all over my quilt in progress (and I was mad at TMOTH for letting him buy it).

SO - I worked like mad, quilted the last block, finished the binding, and threw it in the washing machine. I managed to get all of the goop scraped off and it appears to be gone...

Good thing, too, because our well died Saturday morning. We finally admitted it was not fixable by us Saturday afternoon. TMOTH was going to wait until Monday, but NO, dammit, I do NOT bounce out of bed every morning and head off to work so that I can't get my well fixed when I want it. I'm sure it cost us a couple of hundred more to get it fixed now instead of next week, but it's worth it to be able to shower in the morning.

An unexpected gift

While doing the FabShopHop, I signed up for the e-newsletter at The Quilting Cottage. "Sign up and I'll send you a free gift." Well, I'm thinking a coupon, something like that. Well, THIS lands in my mailbox on Saturday!:


Two lovely coordinating fat quarters (how'd they know I like sage green!). Something simple, but I'm sure to remember them the next time I'm shopping online.

The milkweed post

I noticed this buy (a milkweed bug) on one of our plants today:


When I went over to get a closer look, I saw this!!!

Man, I hope we get caterpillars!

Later, I saw this:

We have aphids on the milkweed, so he's happy.

Photos, not quilty

NO quilting was accomplished tonight. It was kind of discombobulated - late getting home, had to run out for hamburger because the chicken was dicey, had to take the tween's BFF home...but I found the camera.

So here are some squash! The curly one is tromboncino, the three pale green & yellow are Zephyr, and the bright yellow and green funky looking one (far left) is our own special mutant. I know that I didn't order this, and don't think it even exists in any seed catalog that I receive. It looks like a cross between Zephyr and a couple of OTHER types of summer squash. It is currently taking over the garden, even more than the tromboncino, whose spreading I tolerate because the fruit is so tasty.


Patterns! The only issue is which one to make first...

This one is from 1966:


This one is copyright 1967:


This one (my favorite) is from 1971:


The yummy batik:

Freecycle goodies

The camera is MIA, so no photos :(

I responded to a freecycler's posts for "sewing supplies and vintage patterns" and picked some up Friday, some today. The patterns are GREAT - classic "little black dresses", some jackets, a bathrobe pattern...the sewing supplies were not so much great - some polyester thread and some bias tape. AND, buried in the pile of humdrum fabric, about a yard of a stunning blue batik. JACKPOT!! There's quite bit of beige that may work for curtains as well.

Quilting is slow but steady - one block and one row yesterday, two blocks and one row tonight.

A productive weekend

Well, the grand dream of FINISHING the quilting was clearly not to be, but progress was made. Three sashing rows quilted, and 5 or 6 blocks.


Also some gardening time. I've mostly been watching this squash plant grow:


It's in the "finished" half of our compost bin:


Also in there are some tomato volunteers:


We love all kinds of volunteers. Here's one of the milkweeds, with a bee buzzing away. No butterfly caterpillars yet this year :(


At any rate, the ones I planted ON PURPOSE in the garden are farther along. I picked a Zephyr on Friday - actually two that had grown together - and have a tromboncini growing along. I'll have to start checking regularly now.

Some fun in the sun with the Small Man and the kitties:
Cheese!:


Running inside:


Cookie:


Cotton:


And then it rained! YAY!

Productive 4th

- took one strip (4 blocks) off one end of the quilt
- broke the strip into blocks
- embroidered our family's names onto a blank block

Hopefully today I can get the top (back) together. I may decide it needs a border, so will have to make a JoAnn's trip. I also need to find an anniversary present - Monday is #18 for us.

Photos - all to do with yesterday's post

So, this is the quilt my Memaw and I made:


This is a close-up of one of the blocks:


My Uncle Buckshot and Aunt Donna have both passed away now, but I think all my cousins listed are still living.

This batik with flowers will be most of the backing:


This is the Log Cabin:


I think this is probably my baby brother's birthday or Christmas gift when it's quilted.

Last but not least, the big bag-o-batting:

Long weekend ahead, yay!

I started it off with a bang by leaving work early and heading off to Jo-Ann's for their big sale - 50% off batting, notions, interfacing, cutting supplies, and clearance fabrics - PLUS a 10% off everything coupon. I wound up with 5 yards of Warm & Natural, 5 yards of light-weight fusible (in case I decide to make a t-shirt quilt), 3 4-yard pieces for backing, a cool remnant, lots of needles and bobbins, a bigger cutting mat, a smaller rotary cutter, and some safety pins. Also some clearance beading supplies. Also a t-shirt to try fern printing as an anniversary present for TMOTH.

I have 3 quilt tops I need to start working on - one is an orphan top I picked up at quilt guild, one is the July UFO (a signature block quilt my grandmother and I made together), and a king-size log cabin top my grandmother made.

Worst afternoon in a long time...

It seems all I post about lately is gloom and doom...

Friday afternoon started off well enough - I got through most of the mid-year performance evaluations that have to get done.

Then. The phone call from the disgruntled citizen. I'd sent an e-mail to our "life management" listserv at work that our county recycling was going to start taking more types of plastics starting July 1 (yay!! less trash, more recycling!!!) It got forwarded off-list and someone decided that the weasel language in my e-mail signature somehow violated his first amendment rights. This is what it says:

"This message is intended for the use of the individual entity to which it is addressed and may contain information that is confidential and exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, or the person responsible for delivering the message to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you receive this communication in error, please telephone xxx-xxx-xxxx immediately. Thank you."

Hmpf. I grew up with this personality type, who reads something, gets *entirely* the wrong idea, then feels a need to pontificate about it. He didn't want to talk to me about it, he wanted to lecture and threaten me. I hung up when he called me stupid, then answered the phone pleasantly when he called back. (It's ingrained. I'm a public servant. I answer the phone.) He lectured for a couple more minutes, then hung up on me. I'll let my boss know about it on Monday.

THEN it started pouring just as I picked the Small Man up from daycare. It didn't help that Small Man was hot and whiny. Get in the car, head for the tween's BFF's house to pick her up.

Waiting at the light to turn right, and BAM! We're rear-ended. Overall, could've been worse; I don't think the guy was going that fast when he hit me, just too fast for the conditions (i.e., pouring rain). Insurance and ID exchanged, his insurance adjuster is coming by this afternoon to look at the car. (Silver lining - I dragged all of the crap out of the car since it'll have to go in the shop next week.)

Picked up tween, came home, dosed Small Man with ibuprofen, ate dinner (yay DH for cooking), and crashed.

Does ordering stuff for the Featherweight count?

I ordered a new foot controller/power cord, motor belt, and Singer grease/oil.

No, of course it doesn't count.

I'm off the computer to cut squares for the tween's quilt.

Busy weekend

Nothing crafty, unfortunately.

Saturday morning was taken up by cleaning out the pantry. I think the oldest thing I found was pickles from 1998. Everything left in there should be edible now.

Today we took all three cats to the rabies clinic held by the county. 1.5 hours in a blazing hot parking lot, but worth it: "free" shots for the price of a county license; $12 x 3 cats = $36. I couldn't take *one* to the vet for that, and I don't really want to argue about the shots I don't want them to have.

The funny thing is that the woman calling out colors, etc. thought that Cotton wasn't a calico: "not enough white."

What a goof. Her rear end shades into *almost* tortoiseshell, but she's definitely a calico.

Why I haven't been blogging

We lost power almost two weeks ago, and we HAVE had it back for a week, so it's really only half an excuse:

We had to have electricians come out to replace the electric meter.


Of course, before that, they had to cut up the tree that fell across the road and pulled down the neighborhood lines.


A couple of big branches came off the box elder in the yard.


And a couple of pine trees got snapped off about 20 feet above the ground.

I haven't done *any* quilting. I was going to make the tween a pair of pajama pants, but I don't have enough material for her height. She's gotta stop growing sometime, right?

Strawberry season

It's late, so only one picture of strawberry-picking today:


We picked nearly 16 pounds of berries; it's the best I remember in 11 years of going to this place. OK, one more picture:


I got the new sleeve tubed and am sewing it together. I have the fabric tags and need to sew the little paint chips to them and attach to the quilt.

Bird wrangler

An addition to my list of domestic titles.

We have starlings that nest under the eaves. We definitely need to fix this, since they get into the attic. (But we're soft-hearted, so no kicking out the baby birds to do it.)

This morning, my middle kid says, "Mom, there's a bird upstairs." Sure enough, one of the adult starlings is flying around my second floor. I open the window next to the sewing machine and out s/he goes.

This afternoon, my husband says, "There's a bird upstairs." Judging by the down still remaining, this was one of the fledgelings. I opened the stairwell window a bit to open the storm window, and the bird flew up into the space. Rather than try to open the storm, I just grabbed it and carried it out. My daughter (12) is all excited - "I want to see it before you let it go!" So we go outside, look at the bird, let it go. She then looks at me and says very seriously, "You should really go wash your hands now." So I did. No more birds yet this evening.

I brought the iris quilt in from the car trunk so I can re-do the binding. It really needs to get done before guild on Monday.

Busy week

More like a week and a half since I last posted.

Our council meeting was last Friday - a wasted work day, but I finished a crocheted scarf from a ball of purple mohair I bought at the Sheep and Wool festival the first of the month. Friday night - hotdogs on the grill!

We spent most of Saturday outside, thanks to the Small Man. He would NEVER go inside if he had his way. My daughter had a friend over from Friday night, so we invited her mom over for dinner: cheese and crackers (with ham/turkey and some swell artichoke stuff) and sangria. Then, S'mores for dessert!

Sunday was a lazy day. I'm still worried about Lyme disease, as I have these bouts of fatigue and more than the usual joint pain. More grilling.

Monday, another lazy day. More grilling. And odd stomach pains.

Tuesday. Started a food diary to figure out if the GI issues have anything to do with food sensitivities.

Today. The tween's band concert was tonight. Middle school bands sound a LOT better than elementary school bands. DH cooked - tacos, yeah! I managed to twist my neck/back getting Small Man into his carseat, so I took Advil and am finishing off the rest of the sangria.

When we got home this afternoon, both cats were staring at the recycling bin, and loud "CHEEPs" were coming from the bin. I was a afraid it was a baby bird - we have a nest of starlings up under the roofline - but it was a chipmunk. We got the cats into the house, trapped in the bathroom, then took the apparently healthy chipmunk out to the high grass and let him/her go.

Did anyone get the license plate number of that truck?

Man. I've spent the day sick as a dog.

When I woke up, I had a minor headache - nothing unusual with a front coming through. I figured after a cup of coffee, I'd be OK. Before I'd even finished my coffee, I started to feel queasy. I was helping TMOTH clear out the shed to find the extra cat carrier - it was rabies clinic day at the animal shelter, and our cats need their shots. I had to quit. I came back inside and went back to bed. Chills, muscle pain, the whole 9 yards.

NOW, I'm still not back to "normal" (whatever that is) and plan on cheesy rice for supper. Needless to say, no sewing or quilty business of any kind happened today.

Vision 2008

This was supposed to be a New Years thing...but it took me this long to finish it.


It was a nice small project while working on the bigger slower stuff.

Visions

As part of a New Years Resolution on steroids, one of the members of my MUW alumni outlied a visioning process that I started. I hit a major roadblock at the step that required magazines - I quit subscribing to nearly everything, and the ones I get free from the daycare go into recycling as soon as I read them. The project was back-burnered until I realized that stash = source material. I started this weekend and am nearly done. No teaser photos; the finished project will just spring forth.

Barb just tagged the world!

Barb at So How Was Your Day? has just tagged EVERYBODY.

Your mission - should you choose to accept it - is:

write your memoir in six words or a title or something like that.

"Thank God I ignored the housework"

Tagged!

W girl extraordinaire Amy J has tagged me.

Here are the rules:
1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

Welllll, the closest book is Philip Pullman's The Subtle Knife, the second/middle book in the Dark Materials trilogy.

"Sister, it's time I parted from you," she said to Serafina. "I'm going up to speak to these angels, whatever they may be. If they're going to Lord Asriel, I'll go with them."

Now, who to tag...
1. Ruth, to be sure, at This That and the Other Thing - I know she's a fellow book-lover and W girl
Then, heading backward from the end of the POL blog ring:
2. Barb, at So How Was Your Day?, since she's just tagged EVERYBODY
3. Beth, at The Jury is Still Out
4. vtquilter
5. Colleen, at Life's a Scrapshoot


And just to be rebellious - anybody else who wants to!

Happy blogging, everybody!

Cheapest Jo-Ann's trip EVER

I spent a total of $3.03.

I went with the SPECIFIC purpose of buying fusible interfacing - it was on sale at 50% off and I wanted to play with some. I bought what was left of the Wonder-Under on the roll - about 2 yards worth. The last half-yard looked like beavers had been chewing on the edges, so I got charged for a yard at half-price, half a yard and a quarter-price, and a quarter-yard for free. I also bought a spool of ribbon ($0.25) and a damaged fat quarter ($0.37) from the clearance shelves and a spool of black satin cord ($1).

I did some fabric browsing, but nothing was really calling my name.

100th post, and no giveaway

There, it's official. I'm a party-pooper. I'm just a little too frayed around the edges to commit to a drawing and sending out stuff just now. Maybe some random post in the future.

I was so busy posting pictures last night that I didn't talk about the Sunday booty. I came home with:
1. A bar of soap for DD12's best friend's mom [who was doing me a HUGE favor by adding my kid to her mix for the day]
2. A loom with natural cotton loops and Kool-Aid to dye them with
3. A "learn to spin" kit. Intellectually, this makes no sense. I need another hobby like I need another hole in my head, and wool makes me itch. I am, however, entranced by the process of spinning. We'll see how it goes.
4. $60 worth of locally raised lamb
5. Some scraps of hand-dyed felt to be incorporated into future quilt projects

Pictures from Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival 2008

All of these are from the second day.

First things first - fashionable footwear a must:


The mid-kid pushing his little brother, who was busily strapping himself in:


Don't they look sweet?


Multi-color sheep:


Scratch my ears, PLEEEZZZE?


Boys getting up close and personal:




Little coats for the sheep after they've been sheared:


I think these are the Jacob sheep. Aren't they some of the coolest damn things you've ever seen?


I definitely like the sheep with horns better than those without.


Dreadlocks!


Horns AND long hair!


And now for something completely different! Here's a llama, there's a llama, funny llama...






The tween got a REALLY great photo of one of the sheepdogs working, but it hasn't been downloaded from her camera yet.

Gratitudes:
1. Great guild meeting tonight - a lecture by Rose Hahn. Very interesting perspective. (also an oh, crap - I forgot my secret sister's gift and will have to mail it)
2. SRRING!
3. A new t-shirt for donating blood today - bright pink!

For the fashionably dressed cat

http://www.petoffice.co.jp/catprin/english/#ojo

If I knew who first posted this, I'd give credit - I was browsing some art quilt blogs and the blogger had this up. I immediately e-mailed it to DH, who can appreciate SOME fabric art.

Maryland Sheep and Wood Festival, Day 1

http://www.sheepandwool.org/

Sorry, no pictures. My husband and middle son are on a cub scout camping trip and he took my camera; my daughter is going to a sleepover and took her camera (that has a few pictures from today on it).

So far, the only things I've bought for myself are a bead loom (wanted one for a long time!) and 10 "sample" hanks of yarn for $0.15 each. My guild secret sister is a knitter, so I bought her some yarn.

I'm going back tomorrow so DH and middle DS can go - and hopefully get some beads for a friend (and well, maybe, something for myself).

No camera also means I can't post the progress on the May UFO. Not a big progress - a small stack of 3" x 3" squares cut from one of the grab-bags from the quilt show. Lovely, lovely fabrics, mostly Asian-inspired.

May UFO

The May UFO to work on is my tween daughter's quilt. It's based on a wallhanging design from about.com. My highly artistic daughter had to be the one who picked a pattern off the shelf! (Sort of - it'll be bed size instead, so I tweaked the measurements some and found another pattern for a cat design for another applique.)

I have a LOT of new bits of material to cut the windowpanes from, but I don't use the rotary cutter around the pre-schooler. He wants to do EVERYTHING we do, and rotary cutting just isn't something he'll be allowed to do for a while.

!

Someone who doesn't know me from Adam's cat likes my quilt!!

I ran across this post while browsing:
The Calico Cat

She likes Rocket Ships!
I never thought of it as an I Spy quilt, but I suppose it is. All I know is, the toddler likes it. And someone else!

I know all of us are too hard on ourselves - when I look at my quilts, all I see are the mistakes and things I would do different. This is a reminder that sometimes we should just stop and appreciate our own work.