FINALLY some quilting time

I got some work done this weekend on a couple of works in progress.

A snippet of a Secret Santa gift - I won't be able to show any progress until after the gift's been delivered.


And more string quilt blocks:


I wound up buying another yard of Moda Marbles to make the center strings. It's a little lighter than the brick color I originally had, but it was all Capital Quilts had that was close, and since the quilt is overall so scrappy, I believe it will work out fine. I'd already used a couple of other "close" marbles for strings, but really didn't have anything else in the stash that I would've been happy with.

Annual Halloween Sweatshop

Actually, this year the costumes weren't all that difficult.

The Small Man wanted to be "the Moon."


And the Karate Kid was "a shadow."


While The Lovely Daughter went as a s'more:


The s'more costume was the most work, but wasn't all that bad and was kind of fun to make. And it actually looked like a s'more!!!

On Halloween we carved pumpkins, after I found some of the LAST pumpkins in Montgomery County.

Carving:


Getting ready to light:




The Lovely Daughter's jack'o'lantern:


Small Man's jack'o'lantern:


I didn't get a picture of the Karate Kid's jack'o'lantern, but I actually liked it the best - just a traditional scary face!

Roller coaster month

It hasn't been the best of months.

Just over a month ago, we woke up one morning to find Cletus, our coonhound, dead.


Then just last week, the Man of the House found Kona, our Golden, unable to move. He rushed her to the vet, but she had fluid around her heart and she died shortly thereafter.


Buddies:


Losing either one of these guys would have been a blow, but both of them? Less than a month apart? Yikes. It's a sad house lately.

Verizon customer "service"

I swear if we had any other options for a landline, I'd take it.

The telephone lines to the house go out on a regular basis, and when I call this morning, the earliest time that Verizon can get out to the house for repair is next Wednesday.

Let's all hope TMOTH doesn't have any diabetic crises that require a 911 call until Wednesday.

New work

I've got some finishes recently.

First, a quilt for my mother-in-law, Lois, who has Alzheimer's.


I'm not sure you can tell from the photo, but there are all kinds of different textures in there - satin, corduroy, fuzzy stuff - and crushed velvet, which I NEVER want to work with again!

On a less quilty front, both boys wanted me to make them Snuggie knock-offs.

Spoonflower goodies

So, last week I entered a giveaway at Spoonflower for some Heather Ross fat quarters. I almost didn't enter - I was thinking there'd be about a million entries, so why bother - but there at the end, you could check the box to sign up for Spoonflower's newsletter. That hooked me - I signed up to get the newsletter and I WON!!

All 17 fat quarters:


My favorite (of the moment):


The Lovely Daughter's favorites:


Many thanks to Spoonflower for this lovely material. I don't know what I'll do with it yet beyond gazing adoringly at it :)

Grrr...

I started working on my Secret Santa project, only to find out I'd done some mis-cutting. I need triangles facing BOTH ways, not just one. I think it's salvageable - I may have one less yellow star at the end, but I can add some solids to make the quilt big enough for what I want it for.

The Lois quilt is also coming along well. It's about a third as large as it needs to be, and I found some more material. That includes some sparkly twill that was cut out for a dress pattern at some point in the distant past - one of those "what was I thinking?" projects. At least I realized it before I finished it!

Still around

Yikes. More than a month.
End of summer, start of school year, etc. - just haven't managed to post.
First day of Kindergarten:


12th Birthday:


I still need to work on handquilting the Karate Kid's quilt. I need to figure out how to finish the top of the Lovely Daughter's quilt - it needs cat applique, but first it needs to get bigger. I need to consult with her about what kind of borders she wants on it.

In the meantime, I've started other quilts (of course!) One is a tactile quilt for my MIL Lois who has Alzheimer's (maybe I posted about that one already?). I started cutting material for a Secret Santa gift. I started a black/white/blue/green quilt for a friend, and have that nearly finished. And then a black/white/yellow/purple quilt for the Lovely Daughter. I need some more blacks for that one. And a string quilt quilt-a-long. I WILL finish these; the friend's quilt top is almost done. Completely mindless piecing that will be machine quilted.

Lovely Daughter blocks:


String blocks:


My SIL was here on Saturday, and we had a lovely visit. Didn't do ANYTHING but sit around and talk and eat. TMOTH will be going to Indiana in October for his Dad's birthday for a sibling workday, and according to SIL, there's a lot of sewing stuff that needs a new home. We'll see what comes home with him.

Thrift store find

I found this lovely old GLASBAKE casserole dish at my local Goodwill. $1.98.

Screeeeeech!

That's the sound of me not quite squeaking in under the wire in Amanda's Christmas Challenge. I did finish by the end of the month, at least, so it's a victory in my eyes!

The Christmassy side:


It doesn't scream "Christmas" but some of the charm squares have a definite holiday flavor:


The other side is a nice sage green with all-over leaf pattern. One small pleat in this side; I'll just put a candle on that spot!


Next month is table decoration/centerpiece. Aiyee. No idea yet about this one!

Jill's Giveaway

Jill is having a couple of giveaways, one for the US AND one for international only!!

Good luck!

Nine-patches and snowballs done for June

Plus one make-up month's worth. When we get back from Florida, it'll be July, so I can do my other make-up month then.

I moved my blocks from the one-quart bag to the one-gallon bag today :)

Christmas in June (and July, and August...etc.)

My internet buddy Amanda in Australia has issued a Christmas Challenge. The task for the month of June was to make a Christmas ornament. I've been putting mine off (ya think?) but finally just decided to get it done tonight.

I had some scraps of sewn-together Christmas fabric squares that I think one of the kids dragged home as a quilt show prize. I took it apart and tried the half-square triangle technique demo'ed here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/MissouriQuiltCo

It worked great, but the pinwheel block I started with was WAY too big, so I took the four pieces and cut them some more: two into smaller pinwheels and squares and two just in half. So I wound up with four ornaments instead of one. Only one got bound, and I glued the button on to cover the thread tangle from sewing a hanging loop on :)



I may or may not finish the other three tomorrow - I have some neglected black and white nine-patches that need attention, as well as my Art Now for Autism mini-quilt.

Happy Father's Day to a great dad!

My wonderful husband. The Small Man and I went out and got donuts from Donut King for breakfast, and then used his Father's Day present of a bag of chocolate chips to make cookies. Also listened to "Exile on Main Street" and watched "Blazing Saddles." He made his own dinner though - cheeseburgers! All in all, a good day.

Sparkly trees

In my yard in the summer, we have fireflies.

We have a lot more than we used to, because there are no lawn chemicals used at casa de Monkeys. Early in the evening, there are the sort of lightning bugs that I remember from childhood summers spent in East Tennessee. [I grew up in South Florida. Plenty of bugs, but no lightning bugs!] Slow, lazy fireflies that hover around fairly close to the ground, so easy to catch.

Later, though, when it gets to be full dark, my trees start to sparkle. Hundreds of fireflies in my trees, and they don't seem to bother with long flashes - short, rapid-fire flashes that make it look as if fairies are sending messages to each other. It's completely magical.

I wonder if I was just never allowed to stay up late enough to see this, and it happens lots of other places as well.

KinderCare graduation today

The Small Man graduated from preschool today.
Yes, he's adorable.


There were musical numbers, including all kinds of hand movements.


I think in this one, they were signing the letters for "Alligators All Around."


As they handed out diplomas, Ms. Nadine asked each kid "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Small Man was first, and said "FIREFIGHTER!" (He changes his mind on an hourly basis, mind you.) The girls were pretty consistent - teachers, doctors, ballerinas, princesses. One "gymnastics girl," one "painter," and one "singer." The boys had a core of testosterone-fueled professions (another firefighter, policeman, soldier, cowboy, etc.) but were also WAY more creative. "Spaceman." "Pizza Man." "Superhero." And my personal favorite: "METAL DETECTOR!"

One more week, then (as I'm told two or three times a day) the SUMMER BASH on Friday, and then NO MORE KINDERCARE PAYMENTS!!

Another successful play

Yesterday afternoon we had the last performance of "SeussOdyssey" by Center Stage, the youth theater run by the City of Gaithersburg. The performers are mostly middle schoolers, although there are a few high school "alumni" (like my daughter and her BFF) that were also in the play. And yes, the play is "The Odyssey" told in Seussian rhyme.

The Karate Kid (6th grade) was "Telly" and "Wind 2" in the play. Here he is (the short one in "dork" glasses) with Odysseus after he returned from his voyage:




As "Wind 2" he basically had to just run around the stage (the Lovely Daughter in the background):


The Lovely Daughter joined in late; she was in the spring musical at the high school, and that pretty much sucked up all of her time. When she started going to Center Stage (because of BFF, really), the director first gave her a non-speaking part and then asked her to take on the roles of some girl who couldn't be there on Sunday - basically crew members and villagers and such. So she learned her lines in about a week, and all of the blocking in one rehearsal day. She was also the tech crew for the Friday and Saturday performances.

She's the tall girl with the drawn-on mustache and beard:




She died about 7 or 8 times in the play (got eaten by Charybdis, got eaten by sharks, etc.) but most of the death scenes were off-stage. Here she got to die on-stage and get dragged off.




Both kids on stage together:


And of course, all plays need an audience:

Hormel Compleats: Run away. Run far, far, away.

I thought I would have some "Roasted Turkey & Vegetables with white and wild rice" for my lunch today. Doesn't the picture on the package look yummy?


Well, ahem. This is what it looked like when I peeled the plastic back off the serving dish after I heated up as per directions:


Um. Yeah. Stirring it up didn't help any. I was brave - I tasted it. NOT gonna eat it (I did bring it home for the dogs). Happily my mini-fridge is well-stocked.

All Over the House

So, I was whining yesterday on one of the Yahoo groups I belong to about how my quilting/crafting "stuff" was ALL OVER THE HOUSE. I was then informed that pictures were in order. So, OK, you asked for it:

1. The Kitchen. How, you ask, can there be crafting stuff in the kitchen? Well, there's a kitchen island that's right next to the stairs that go up to the playroom where the "official" crafting area is, and I have a tendency to put things there "for a while" until I take them upstairs. Yeah, right.

The big silver colander serves most of the time as my bread bin. The white lid is full of those beads you iron together, so technically they're my kids' stuff, but it still falls under "crafting" so I get to organize it (or not). All of the stuff in and on top of the clementine box (and the glue) needs to go upstairs.

2. The Dining Room. Now, to be fair, I actually do a lot of the actual work in my dining room. I mostly sew on the kitchen table, since I share my crafting area with the Wii and Playstation and kids' computer. However, I'm not sure there's any excuse for just leaving stuff here and not putting it away.


To show that I *DO* get some work done, here is my mid-kid's quilt, sandwiched and pinned last night on the dining room table:


3. The Living Room. Things don't tend to pile up in here, thankfully. However, it's where the laundry goes to get folded, so there's often a small pile of material that's been washed hanging out on the couch or loveseat waiting to be put away.


4. The Foyer. So, there's this nice big desk that's waiting to find a permanent home...so things get put on top of it. Like fabric.


5. Upstairs hallway. Along with the cat carrier that needs to be put away (see the pattern here?), there's a bag of fabric sitting in front of the bookcase (which has quilting magazines on top).


6. Our Bedroom. Just an example - a bin of material on the floor. I think there's more hiding around the room - along with the supplies masquerading as decorations.




There's actually NOT any in the bathrooms, or in the kids' rooms. And I'm not showing any pictures of the playroom/craft room because it's just too scary right now. Sigh.

I went to a "quilt club" meeting at one of our local fabric shops last week, and the guest speaker was a professional organizer talking on how to set up a quilt studio. Some good ideas, some that won't work for my house. (Fabric on open shelves? Not here in the land of dust and hair. Locking bins are my friend.)