Karate Tournament today

It was our in-house tournament today - both boys competed in board breaking, forms, and point sparring.

Boys sharing advice:


My three guys:


I missed the Small Man's board breaking (FUN! according to him) and forms, but he came in third in both.


Point sparring didn't go as well - he needs to learn to punch as well as kick.




 The Karate Kid didn't medal this time around. He seemed to come in fourth a lot :)
There was board breaking:


There was forms:






And there was sparring:


I think if he'd sparred as well at the beginning of the match as he did at the end, he'd have done much better.

And now just for fun, Toffee the squinting dog:

Sheep and Wool Festival, 2012

The Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival was this weekend, and we went today. The Small Man's BFF came along today.

It's a HUGE parking lot, and so they run antique tractors pulling trailers with seats along the side:


BFF, Small Man, TMOTH, and the back of the Karate Kid's head:


The alpacas are always a huge hit:




There was one sheep in the back of a truck waiting to go home, so the kids got in close for a good look:


Then it suddenly "Baaaaad" at them really loudly, and they all jumped back about 5 feet:




There was a lot of general silliness and a LOT of eating fair food:


And of course, lots of sheep:

Fun at the quilt show

My little Children's Activities area:


Some vindication: "The Music Men" won second place in the Viewers' Choice voting in the Beatles challenge quilts.


The Karate Kid got some SSL hours doing Security and being general muscle:


The Karate Kid's quilt was hanging in the show as well:


Last year's Ultimate Guild Challenge entry (at least part of it). Mine is the lower left, abstract umbrellas and fence.


"Amish Diamonds" is on the right. It was started as a guild challenge a few years ago, but grew too big. Ellen R. also had an Amish-inspired quilt entered, shown on the left.


Haiku quilts from last year, all hung together.


Bloomin' challenge, "Purple Haze."


I'm whupped. We had IHOP for dinner; the Small Man went to the circus with his best friend and joined us there. More Advil, and then bed, I think.

Lots of quilt show purchases.
Two yards of yummy blue ginkgo batik:

A half yard of black and white.
Two fat quarters of 30s reproduction.
TWO bags of scraps, maybe two yards each?
And I won a raffle basket, which included, among other things, 11 fat quarters.
Total estimate:  eight yards

Used since last post: 0 yards
Used year to Date: 22.4 yards
Added since last post: 8 yards
Added year to Date: 17.6 yards
Net Used for 2012: 1.8 yards

At least I'm still in the black, even if not by much!

Quilt show, day 2

No photos yet :(
I got to the show, turned on my camera, and got the dreaded "battery exhausted" message. It's charging now, so more pictures tomorrow. I do have one - this is a yard of batik I bought. I may go back and buy another yard piece, or check on availability of more yardage. I adore it completely.

 

I also bought a half-yard of black and white, a bag of scrap pieces, some delicious teal size 8 pearl cotton, a new [to me] brand of hand sewing needles to try, and some cinnamon-scented lotion for The Lovely Daughter.

Rain tonight, and I'm wiped out. One last day tomorrow - the Karate Kid is coming along to work security and as muscle to earn some Student Service Learning hours.

Stash Report April 22, 2012 - Earth Day!

Our quilt show take-in was yesterday. It went really well - we finished half an hour ahead of schedule!! That meant I could actually go home and take a shower before the high school musical!!!!

And I FINISHED the quilt for the Ultimate Guild Challenge: All We Need Is QUILTS! Granted, finishing it required staying up until 1:30 am Wednesday and Thursday nights, and until 3:00 am Friday night - but done it is!

At 40 x 40, my calculations wing up somewhere around 3 yards, Plus the third of a yard or so I used to put the sleeve on the Karate Kid's quilt that I forgot about until yesterday morning.

Used since last post: 3.3 yards
Used year to Date: 22.4 yards
Added since last post: 1.8 yards
Added year to Date: 12.6 yards
Net Used for 2012: 9.8 yards

Stash Report 2012 - April 8

A busy week, and woo-hoo! Back on the plus side of usage!

Used since last post: 8.5 yards
Used year to Date: 19.1 yards
Added since last post: 1.8 yards
Added year to Date: 12.6 yards
Net Used for 2012: 6.5 yards

The breakdown for used or out the door:
2.1 yards batik strip set to Secret Sister (and no hating for the re-gifting - it was a really nice set of strips, similar to Bali Pops from a LQS, but I hadn't used it in over a year and it needed a home where it would be loved and quilted)
6.3 yards (est.) used in "Checkmate" - binding finished at karate on Saturday!
0.1 yards (est.) for hanging sleeve for "Amish Diamonds"

The breakdown for additions:
2 FQ from *my* secret sister
~3 FQ in from the giveaway box at guild
~1 quarter yard from the thrift store - bright pink with Japanese characters
~1/3 yard crabby print from thrift store
(I'm not counting the piece of rayon that may become a skirt, depending on how it washes)

A finish!

After *cough/snort/mumble* years, this quilt for the Karate Kid is finally done - I finished the binding during karate this morning! I still need to tack on a hanging sleeve and label for the quilt show, but it's DONE!!

Fun at spring break

It's been a quiet spring break here.

TMOTH's dad and two of his brothers arrived Monday night. Tuesday, we went to downtown DC so FIL could see the WWII memorial. We had an awesome day - FIL was pretty well tuckered out by the end of the day, but hopefully he had a good time.




I took advantage of the time off to finish the pieced border of my Beatles challenge quilt. I need to applique some leaves and flower centers, then it'll be ready to start quilting.


I sent TMOTH and The Lovely Daughter off to the museums today - Views of Mt. Fuji at the Sackler, and the Peacock Room at the Freer.

Stash Report 2012 - April 1

Used since last post: 2 yards
Used year to Date: 10.6 yards
Added since last post: 1.5 yards
Added year to Date: 10.8 yards
Net Used for 2012: -0.2 yards

The bloomin' challenge quilt for the guild show is done - need to post a pic at some point. Just needs a sleeve and a label.

1 yard of blue kona added that wasn't used in a boy scout flag and about half a yard of secret sister gifty fabric.

I should have the middle kid's quilt finished soon, in time for the show. Quilting is done, binding is in progress.

Peeps diorama

The Washington Post runs a diorama contest every year. Laurs's art history teacher assigned a project for them to make a diorama and enter it. She chose to recreate a Whistler painting, "Caprice in Purple and Gold."

She asked me to make a kimono for the peep, and later, I volunteered to construct the chair.





Link to a copy of the painting is here: http://uploads6.wikipaintings.org/images/james-mcneill-whistler/caprice-in-purple-and-gold-the-golden-screen-1864.jpg

Stash Report 2012 - February 26

Used this Week: 2 yards
Used year to Date: 8.6 yards
Added this Week: 5 yards
Added Year to Date: 9.3 yards
Net Used for 2012: -0.7 yards

1 yard: more of the cream on cream I'm using for a challenge quilt. The border will look much better because of it.

4 yards: black Kona cotton at 50% off. This is something I know I'll use!

I am so not fond of viruses

And with the kids in three different schools, a lot of them come home. And find a home with me :(

I felt sooo bad this afternoon. We wound up having Pizza Boli's, and it was really good. Better than Pizza Hut, for sure. And I had a glass of wine to try to stop the crankies that came with the virus.

I got to spend the morning at our guild's Sit-n-Sew, and got about three quarters of the circles quilted on my purple challenge quilt. I just finished the circles a few minutes ago. Then to set up the machine to finish the footballs, but that'll wait until tomorrow. No machine sewing or rotary cutting after wine for me.

Stash Report February 12

Used this Week: 5.5 yards
Used year to Date: 6.6 yards
Added this Week: 3 yards
Added Year to Date: 4.3 yards
Net Used for 2012: 2.3 yards

I made pillowcases for the family for Valentine's Day.

For TMOTH:


For the Karate Kid:


For the Small Man (I think this one is my favorite):


For the Lovely Daughter:


I bought three yards of Kona cotton - 1.5 of an orchid that just didn't work, and 1.5 yards of purple to finish this challenge quilt:

The problem with my ironing board

Is that it's always covered in cat hair. Or cats.



It does make a nice spot to lay and look out at the snow.

This is Ralph's "not gonna do any good to move me, ya know" look.


I need multiple covers, I think.

Stash Report 2012 - Week 3

Used this Week: .1 yards
Used year to Date: 1.1 yards
Added this Week: 1.3 yards
Added Year to Date: 1.3 yards
Net Used for 2012: -0.2 yards

I went to G Street this week to buy a Secret Sister gift (for the quilt show I had to skip for a sick Lovely Daughter) and also picked up a bag of scraps. Part of it was unusable - I don't approve of them sticking in 0.5" strings - but most was lovely.

The used was tossing, again. I'll eventually get through all of Lois' stuff that came home with TMOTH.

Stash Report 2012 - Week 2

Used this Week: 1 yards
Used year to Date: 1 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 0 yards
Net Used for 2012: 1 yards

The stash "used" this week was actually tossed - it was part of stuff I got from my MIL, and was not usable by me, or probably anyone else. At any rate, it is OUT of my house.

Fossil Hunting

The Peace River sure lives up to its name, doesn't it?



We went fossil hunting on Thursday.
The Lovely Daughter did not approve:


We gave her photographer duty since she didn't want to wade in the river:


So, of course she amused herself by taking pictures of our butts:


Basically, you dig up some gravel (here, Uncle J. is providing a shovel full to the Karate Kid):


While Uncle J. demonstrates proper fossil sifting technique:


The Small Man was initially not very happy at getting wet, but then embraced it fully:




We started at the wrong end, but we eventually found out that we wanted lots of GRAVEL so we moved to the shallower portion:


TMOTH and the Karate Kid did some digging in the deeper parts and found some of the larger shark teeth (but still small):


We found a bunch of tiny shark teeth, a oouple of larger (maybe 1 cm) teeth, some ray tooth plates, and some other fish tooth. Not anything earth-shattering, but fun never the less.

Stash Report 2012 - Week 1

Used this Week: 0 yards
Used year to Date: 0 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 0 yards
Net Used for 2012: 0 yards

That, at least, is an easy start:)