Mother's Day

I really don't like Mother's Day. It was always the one holiday that was so filled with stress and anxiety. I mean I was a mom but always spent the day shuttling between DH's mom and mine. Where was my mother's day {whine, whine}. Plus the added stress of staying 5 minutes too long at one parent's house vs. the others. Both of our parents are/were normal reasonable adults until it came to holidays. They then reverted to the pack animal/survival of the fittest mentality. For the past 11 yrs. we've been away from our parents. That means Mothers Day is all mine. I still feel like Mother's Day is a bunch of hype. I mean if you love me, you'll show me all the time, not just one day out of the year. But recognition is a nice thing so I concede to the masses. I don't want diamonds from my husband, he is not my child. I don't want diamonds from my children, that's just absurd. A nice card, a quiet afternoon, all suit me just fine. Well, this year was the best Mothers Day ever. My girls sent me flowers! To some that may seem passe' but I am thrilled. No help from Dad. No prompting. Just flowers for mom with a wonderful card that brought tears to my eyes. Mrs. S then rented a movie and spent the afternoon at our house. We saw Ms. A last week as she graduated, as she put it, "from the first leg of her educational journey." It was a thrill for all of us.

On a quilty note, I have nearly finished my obsession with root vegetables! I have the carrot, parsnip, turnip and radish table runners nearly complete. What am I going to do with them you ask? Why decorate my classroom next year during Sukkot , (this link was the easiest explaination to understand). Plus, I finished two more sets of fruit slice placemats. I think this obssession has finally run it's course. I'll post pictures as soon as they are all done.

Questions, questions, questions.

First, I would like help. I just love the header some of you have. I have tried to follow directions to do my own and can't seem to get it to work. Can someone p-l-e-a-s-e help.

Second. Why do you use Picasa in conjunction with blogger?

Third. How do you get that really cool flickr thing in the side bar? I do have webshots and it doesn't play nicely with blogger. I would love to have something that would link my blog and photos.

Fourth. Well, I think one two and three reveal enough ignorance for one day.

Fifth. I need to make a name tag that is 3"X4". It must have borders, be quilted and finished. A reeeeel challenge. Any ideas? I can't find a pattern online that fits the criteria. I want to WIN this challenge. One girl has already hand pieced a single grandmothers flower garden block. Everything I find requires multiple blocks to make a pattern appear. All this agony and the prize is a $10.00 gift certificate to Cracker Barrel!

One more question/comment. If my little weather pixie strips down to such a sexy, rexy swimsuit when the temp is 84 degrees, what in the world does she have in her closet for 95 degrees??? I laugh every time I see her in her white swimsuit...it looks like undies!

My weekend haul

Gotta Love Half Price Books. It's one of those things I would miss if I moved out of Texas. They may be in other places but I know they are concentrated in Texas and college towns. Half Price is a huge used book store. They also must buy poor sellers or last runs or something because they also have a large selection of new books at reduced prices...well, half price. I love it when someone cleans out their closet and then I get to buy the books for next to nothing. The magazines are old but they were .50 each so I don't mind. The books are great . I love the Judy Hopkins book. How many times do you want to size something up or down. This book has directions for cutting many multiple sizes of the same block. There are directions for hundreds of blocks in the book. The strips and borders book is okay but it does give a few ideas. By far my favorite is the fat quarters book. How can you pass up a book that has this quilt ...

.......and this.....I bought all of those books for less than the cover price of one of them! Add to that my teacher discount and I am happy, happy, happy! Now I only need to finish the 57 things in front of these projects. I really need to quit work so I have more time to sew.

BLOGGER!

Why can't we actually sign in on the comment page? All of the correct information is there! They ask for all the info. But it doesn't work! Why is there a "remember me" box? Hmmmm....!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I find it so irritating! Am I too stupid to understand how to sign in? You wonder why people don't leave comments. Well it can be so irritating to sign in over and over again in a day. Sometimes it is just too much of a bother to sign in and comments have to wait. I hate to rant about a free product but if something is unavailable, don't advertise it! Tirade over.

Six Month old pictures

I realized that I never posted pictures of my Mrs. S's wedding. It was a simple, lovely day. It is hard to believe that she has been an old married woman for 6 months now.Left to right are Ms. A, Me (thought it was about time to post a picture of myself) Mrs. S, Mr. Fancypants (he got his name after he found my blog, with no information, in about 3.2 seconds!), and DH.

Is this a happy bride or what. This is the face that convinced me that getting married was the right thing for this child to be doing. I've never seen her glow like this before. It was magical !

I just found this photo and love it. It is so hard to let go of our children. She said that she wasn't nervous or anything until we left her at the end of the aisle. You can see that I am holding her visibly, but her dad is holding her too. He is still holding her hand. Just like us. Mom, loud, visible, holding tight. Dad, quiet, steady, solid and always there. Not nearly as visible but every bit as necessary and balancing. Lovely shot. (If you look at Mr. Fancypants head you can see one of the million kippot that we made. They match the chuppah.)

I used to wonder what in the world I would do with my children once they were no longer toddlers. I've found that I love "having adults." Once in a while they revert back to children and I go back to being Mom, but for the most part they are...gulp...my friends. I enjoy being with them and the strangest thing is they enjoy being with me!! Strange, wonderful, delightful feeling. Mrs. S. and I watch silly American Idol every Tues. and Weds. It's where we bond! We talk on the phone after every performance; critiquing, making fun, praising...then quickly hang up and listen to the next singer. Sometimes the performance is so fantastic or horrible that we don't even make it through the song before the phone is ringing again. One week neither one of us called the other until half way through the show. I finally called her and she said, "Gosh, I thought you were mad at me for something! Why didn't you call?" I love being friends with my girls. It is a part of parenthood that I never considered or expected. I never thought beyond their childhood. That was probably why I had such a difficult time with my empty nest! Now that I've discovered that my nest just has annexes...all is well!

Clarification

Just wanted to clarify that the group we started is a part of the Heartstrings quilt project. I re-read my post and it read like I created this group. NOT! We are just doing our little part. Click on the Heartstrings logo for more info.

Heartstrings

We have been talking and planning. We started a group called Strips and Strings- A Heartstrings Project. We've actually met once or twice but still didn't finished a thing! We meet once a month at the Jewish Community Center to work on charity string quilts. We decided to work on one quilt at a time. As the quilts are finished they are assigned to a member and she has the choice of where to donate it. She is also in charge of the backing, batting and quilting. After many delays and slow starts we finished our first top today. WHoo HOo! Since it is mine, noone may see it until it is quilted! Because we are being housed at the JCC I needed to abide by some of the suggestions made by the director. She wondered if we could open it up to crochet and knitting enthusiasts. I told her of course as long as they commit to donating their project to a worthy cause. So far the only ones participating are my own friends but hopefully the community will come out and help us to create and donate quilts. I'm looking forward to practicing machine quilting on this quilt! First I need to finish the bazzillion fruit slice table runners and placemats that I've started.

I managed to get pictures of two ....cutting and ironing. The sewers were working too hard to take time out for a photo!

The fence is nearly finished. I took a picture looking through the patio to the saw horses. I wanted to show "work in progress" but the guys kept walking back and forth. I had to jump into the doorway really quick to snap a picture. Sometimes we look like nuts getting just the right shot for our blog!!!! Those pickets are the last of them (along with the open space) to be attached. It looks great and hopefully they will finish tonight! HEE HAA! No more broken teeth fencing!

What a Beauty!

It's hard to see but this is the prettiest bird I have ever seen in my yard. I pulled into the drive and it was on the ground. Naturally just as the camera was about to click it flew into the tree. These are the best shots and blow ups I can get. I'm told it is a male painted bunting. I wish it would come back. It was beautiful.

Like it or not we are getting a fence

We live in Texas, aka suburbia filled with fences. Everyone here has a fence around their backyard. I find it annoying but at the same time practical. We live on postage stamp sized lots and so it helps us avoid seeing the neighbors in their undies! One day a few years ago both my left and right side neighbors told me (at separate times) that our fence needed replacing. How is it our fence. Does Mr. Leftside not keep his fancy dogs in because it? But, Mr. Leftside Neighbor followed that comment with "I'd be willing to go in half." Fair enough. Mrs. Rightside Neighbor had a different theory. It's just a bit cockamamie but here goes.....She said that when they moved in (they were one of the first houses in the area), there was a fence on the left side and back but not the right. The builder told her that if she wanted a fence she would need to put it in herself. She did. That led her to the theory that everyone owns the fence on their right side. Never mind that there is a fence in the back. Who knows who pays for that!. So, we replaced the fence with Mr. Leftside. We approached Ms. Backdoor Neighbor and she agreed to split the cost. In the time it took me to hire someone (lots of time passed) she hired a company to do the work. When we saw that she was replacing the fence we offered to pay half. We do share it after all. That only leaves Mrs. Rightside.

It has been two years since the fence needed replacing! For the past 6-8 months it has been supported by a rope to the tree, various poles, concrete blocks and a bit of good luck. We've had some halacious winds and I keep expecting to see the thing in the middle of the street but as DH says, " It'll last another two years!" However, the truth of the matter is that we need to replace it before hurricane season. Over the past two years DH has been determined to patch, tie up, prop and generally keep the eyesore standing. However, I approached Mrs. Rightside again and asked if she wanted to share the cost of the fence. She said "If you want someone to help you pay for your fence, go to Mr. Leftside neighbor! " She was getting mad as a hatter as we talked. I decided it wasn't worth fighting over but there was no way we were running to replace the thing. We don't look at it....she does. (Oh btw, we aren't total crums. We've had every intention of replacing it but just allowed other expenses to come first. If she had been a mensch we may have acted differently. In all fairness she did say we could "Take the THING DOWN if we wanted! It made no difference to her. Sure! She also threw the pieces that fell off the thing into our yard. I mean threw! If she had even once been nice about the whole thing we would have understood. But she came out barking from the beginning conversation. Well, it is now more than an eyesore, it is a hazard. If we would really have a hurricane there would be a million projectiles and then really big trouble. So we are replacing the fence this weekend.

I went to her yesterday to tell her that the tree that is overhanging into our yard will need to be trimmed either by her or us, so that it will not be damaged while they put in the fence or lay on the fence after it is up. It turns out it is a mango tree and has loads of baby fruit on it. She said, and I quote, " Oh I was going to tell you, any of the fruit that falls into your backyard you can have!" I just wanted to sit down in the grass and roar with laughter. How magnanimous! If it falls into our yard, it's ours! Hmm...was she expecting me to heave them over the fence as she does the fallen pieces???

This is how it looks. Angle #1, looking toward the back.

See that rope through the knot in the wood. Well one particularly windy storm sent that panel and the one next to it to the ground. What's a girl to do? DH was out of town so I called in the troops, we lifted the thing up, wove the rope in and around and tied it to the Mesquite tree! It looked hilarious. See the plank at the bottom supporting the thing?

This is angle #2. Looking toward the front. Notice the two panels completely GONE! We have a cut through to Mrs. Rightsides backyard! Notice also the new front gate she added!! Complete with a separate post so she is totally independent of our fence! Hmmmm....if it's our fence why does she need a gate?????

This is a particularly nice looking view of the shared Ms. Backdoor and Mr. Leftsides fences. (My yard is a) not as big as it appears and b) not as lush as this picture depicts. I sure wish the camera made me look as good as this!) If you look close you can see the rope hanging from the poor tree.

We are not mean people. I just get so annoyed when others can't share. I spend my entire day trying to teach children to share, play fair and be kind. Then in the grown up world, the rules change. Don't tell me that she doesn't use the fence as much as we do....no matter who's property line it is on. I have no idea if it straddles the line on or is on one side or another. Actually, I don't care. All four of us, Mr. Leftside, Ms. Backdoor and Mrs. Rightside benefit equally from the fence. It makes no sense to me to be so ugly. If she just couldn't afford it, I would have understood. I'm not convinced that that is the case.

On the plus side, I am so excited because I can fix up that side of the yard to look nicer now. I'm going to plant some peppers and a few bushes on that side of the house and forget that Mrs. Rightside lives there....until she ties her trees up to the fence! She had better think twice!

I must be having fun

I must be having fun. I can't stop making these things!!! Fun, fast and easy!! I made the size smaller and made placemats. They were so much fun that last night 2 watermelon table runners. I may or may not free motion some seeds. I don't want to use buttons because I like to put things on my table runners. I really think I will make these for Mothers Day for my grandma and MIL. I'm off tonight to make lemon, lime and orange table runners. They are from the Quilts and More Magazine.

So many bloggers seem to post about what they are reading. Well I must be in a classic kind of mood. Last month I read, (listened to actually) To Kill a Mockingbird by J.D. Salinger.

and this month I am listening to Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.I didn't realize that Uncle Tom's Cabin was written in the 1852. (The book in this picture is copyright 1880 and selling for $1400.00!) Call me a simpleton but I'm having a great time with the classics. The classic writers are amazing. The idea that we still find the messages, humor, sadness appealing to us today is incredible. Makes ya' understand high school English teachers! We had to read boring Old Man in the Sea! I tried to listen to The Last of the Mohican's but just couldn't get past the stylized writing. If you are looking for a great read Cecelia Ahern "If You Could See Me Now" was wonderful. All I will tell is it is about an imaginary friend and an adult that can see him. I loved it. If you have never listened to books on tape or had a hard time sticking with the storyline, just try again. Sometimes you just need to get used to the reader. Sometimes you need to find the book that appeals to you. All I know is I can clean, cook, drive, quilt and listen to a good book at the same time. Great for multi tasking!

General goings on

Finished placemats that I started a week ago. Yoo Hoo for me. World record timing. I'll post pictures tomorrow.

The week in review. I was a good citizen! I had jury duty on Monday. I spent the entire day in total boredom during the preliminary jury selection. Oh, did I mention that I was #48 of 48!? I knew that there was no way they would get all the way to me. But somehow I was privileged enough to be allowed to sit through ALL of the questions posed to the other candidates. When they got to me they had no questions! Then we were given the delightful news that we needed to return to the court the next day because they eliminated so many potential jurors, there weren't enough to actually select the jury!! When we returned the next day, we were dismissed! Urgh! I have no problem serving on a jury. I just question the system that lets 48 adults run through hoops for 8 or nine hours and then sends them home. On the plus side, I finished binding the above placemats!

Tuesday, after I left the courthouse, I PAID my taxes. Notice I didn't say submitted my refund.

Wednesday, spent way too much time beginning the shut down procedures on my classroom. I am taking a new job next school year. I not only need to shut my room down for this year, but need to purge my personal items, files ect., from the ones the school owns.

Thursday, play day! The girls came over and we played with fabric.

Friday, made Shabbat dinner but as usual Mrs. S. cancelled. We enjoyed it without them.

So there you have my dull and boring but very productive week. I know I've gone on about how everyday life is worth posting about but I may have to rethink my stand!

Done!

I always feel like a boulder has been lifted from my shoulders when I finish a quilt. I finished the soduko quilt. Yeah! (can you find the mistake??) It quilted, bound, labeled, washed and my girlfriend snuggled with it last night. I machine quilted it and honestly don't understand the fear behind machine quilting. It takes practice, education (as in understanding your machine, threads and needles), not being afraid to move your tension and time. My machine meandering or free style quilting has become very acceptable. Not perfect but I impressed myself. LOL!!! My piecing accuracy on the other hand...........Quilting in a set stenciled pattern is much more difficult. However, I've only done it once and therefore have practiced very little. Meandering and following stencils have completely different stress levels attached!

This picture was taken outside and shows the fabrics in a much better light. It was wayyyyy toooo windy to take a picture outside.

Quilting from the front.......

From the back........................

On to the next project..........................................

What's with my Weather Pixie???

Good gravy, I thought she was in her undies!!!! Trust me it is warm here but not that warm!!! If only I looked like her...or like that in a swim suit........

Not sad. Just Life.

Today is/was/should be my mom's birthday. She died in 1995 from complications of diabetes. She was 54 years old and had been living with diabetes for 51 yrs.

She missed so many life cycle events: my girls b'nai mitzvah (they had their bat mitzvahs together), Mrs. H's wedding, the births of both my niece and nephew and so many other meaningful moments. I've been sitting here writing and re-writing what I'm trying to say. I've written and written and deleted and deleted. All of the stuff I wrote was too personal, too sad. If you have lost a parent, you understand. If you haven't, my wish for you is that you go well into adulthood before you understand. I had a good cry and the bottom line is that I miss her. I just wasn't through with her yet. Selfish but true. I just wasn't ready to give her up or live without her. I still need her guidance and example of dignity and strength. So now I'm the mom. I'm the one giving the guidance and setting the example. I only hope that I am doing my job as well as she did hers.

Memories that I typed but don't want to delete.......
- When I went off to college (I'm the oldest) my mom went into my room and sprayed some of the perfume I left behind just because she missed me. I was obviously touched by this knowledge because I still remember her face when she told me.
-Our moving to Texas was very difficult for both my children and parents. We were the first (actually only in our extended family) to move away. When my mom and dad came for their first (and only visit), they arrived before my girls were out of school. My mom was so excited to go pick them up. We were waiting by the van and my mom was anxiously scanning the children pouring out of the school. She kept saying, "Where are they? Where are they?" Mrs. S. (then Ms. S) burst out the door of the school. They caught sight of each other at the same moment and like a movie first walked and then began running towards one another. They met in the middle of the street and my mom just couldn't stop hugging Mrs. S. It is a memory burned into my heart.

Good memories.

I'm a bum

I have discovered that left to my own devices, I sleep 8 hours a night. No matter what time I go to bed I don't wake up until 8 hours have passed. It is a lucky thing that alarm clocks have been invented. For the last number of nights, I've been unable to sleep. Consequently, I fall asleep around 1 or 2. It is a good thing that I haven't gone to work because 1:30 + 8 hrs. = 9:30 in the morning! What a bum!!! For the last 3 days I have not woken up until at least 9:30! I feel like a crum! Half of the day is gone. Today is the last day of Passover and a holy day. It is a day that you go to synagogue. While you are there you say a special prayer for the dead. Am I there? No. I was sleeping. What a CRUM! I have no choice now, it's too late to get dressed and get there but sheesh. I thought I set my alarm.........

Last night I went to my guild meeting and won a door prize. I'm very excited about it because it is something that I have always been to cheap

to buy. It's a quilting calendar. It's one of those things that are nice to receive as a gift but you can't justify to buy for yourself. It's a silly thing but it makes me happy.

Getting there, getting there

Ahhhh....I am nearly finished with the quilt from hell. This silly soduko quilt has been the bane of my existence. I sew together a soduko quilt as well as I solve a soduko puzzle. I have pieced, ripped, ripped, pieced until I am blue in the face. Don't ask why in the world I had so much trouble getting it right but.....even after all that ripping....even after all that checking....there is STILL a mistake in the thing! URGH! Because my rule of not showing something until it is finished can be so annoying, I decided to bend the rule and show it in the process of being quilted. I was quilting away w-h-i-r, w-h-i-r, and wondering why it was taking so long. Then I remembered that I bought this fancy schmancy machine that flys. I put the pedal to the medal and wwwwwwwwwhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Off I went.
I still am only 1/2 done but will try to finish it tomorrow. If I must say so myself, I really like the quilting on it.

Prep Work

Horseradish

BEFORE........... AFTER...........................
I forgot to take the picture of the in between stage. I don't know what it is about horseradish over the past few years but it is definitely not as hot as it once was. Although I needed to open the door and point the fan outside for a few minutes and I felt as though my nose would explode when I opened the food processor (it probably would have helped if I'd not had my head over the bowl), the final product is not really hot. It stings but not that nose frying, sweat producing short burn I really like.

The prune bowl

This bowl was a wedding present of my parents. My mom always used it for prunes & oranges at Passover. Other then prunes, I never remember anything else ever going into this bowl. Until one Thanksgiving when I walked in the door and there in the bowl were mashed potatoes. When I asked my mom how she could dare to put mashed potatoes in the prune bowl, she got all indignant and said it was NOT a prune bowl. My sister walked in and I asked her "what goes in this bowl?" "Prunes." My brother walked in, "What goes in this bowl?" "Prunes." From that day forth it became known as the prune bowl. After my mom died I took the bowl and use it every Passover to hold...Prunes!

Soup a simmering

The soup is in the fridge, the matzo balls sitting in the bowl next to them. The gefilte fish has been doctored and is cooling, the chicken is seasoned, the brisket sliced. The vegetables are waiting to be cleaned and cooked. The tables are almost finished and Ms. A is on her way home. I'm tired, very tired. My wrist is killing me and my back is threatening to boycott. But tomorrow night my family will gather, tell the story of Passover, sing songs, eat, laugh, tell stories and be together. 24 hours of bliss until Ms. A needs to go back home, DH gets on a plane for Anchorage and quiet descends again. Tired...who cares. Being together during the holidays is worth it all. Life is good.

A little oops

I went back and couldn't find my explaination for why this is called fat quarters. Maybe that's why you use tags.......

When I was trying to come up with a catchy name for this blog, DH was watching tv. He sat in his chair and quietly listened as I whining and muttered about a name. I had also been whining about how fat I'd become (I'd lost a significant amount of weight a few years ago and gained it back). After whining and whining ( I do this alot) I hear from the other room, "How about Fat Quarters?" Well, I about died of laughter. Just about the time you think they are not listening, have no idea what is going on in your life,, they come out with proof that they get it! I had no idea he even knew what a fat quarter was! Too FUNNY!

Fat Quarters

If you go back to my very first post, you will see the explanation of why this blog is called Fat Quarters. When I told the story on Stashbusters, someone wrote and told me of a little group they started that was also called Fat Quarters. They put aside one fat quarter for every pound of weight they wanted to lose. As they lost it, they reclaimed their fat quarters. I thought that this was such a good idea that I started a Fat Quarters group in our night guild. The rules are simple. You declare your goal for the month and then "ante up" the same number of fat quarters of fabric. If at the end of the month you lose the amount of your goal, you get to take that number of fat quarters from the stash of fat quarters. In our game you don't necessarily take back your own fabric. I was given money from the group to buy some additional fat quarters to seed the pot. In an effort to be fair to our one and only LQS, I decided to buy an equal number of fat quarters from them and Joann's. Joann's had their fat quarters on sale.

This is what I got from Joann's.....

This is what I got from the LQS.....

For the same amount of money.

My fabric snob pendulum swings between going to Joann's and not going to Joann's. Being a fabric snob and not being a fabric snob. Name brand fabric only, any name fabric. I do think though, we make enough quilts, wall hangings, placemats and on and on, that I am not making an heirloom with every single stitch. "Nuff of that!

I can't wait until the weigh-in in 2 in two weeks to see if I can take any of these. The only problem is that Passover is in between and ugh! Weight loss is not necessarily a by product of Passover food!

Been wondering

Right now my life is non quilt related. I am in the midst of the frenzy of pre-Passover cleaning. I am no where near as meticulous as many, many others out there, but I do my best. Part of Passover involves ridding your home of those foods and other items that are forbidden. Not only do you need to remove them physically from your home but you need to clean all traces of them away. Put very simply, you don't want any bread crumbs in you cabinets, the creases of your sofa etc. The only way to remove all traces is to clean, clean, clean. I don't know if the concept of spring cleaning is because of Passover or visa versa!!! It always feels so good to get the house clean and fresh. My wrist aches after a good day cleaning but it is worth it.

I've been noticing that many people have multiple blogs. Is this because belonging to a blog ring comes with certain requirements? I mean, if I make 3 non quilt related posts, is that cause for concern? 5? 10? I've realized that I don't have time to maintain contact on two blog rings, let alone maintain two blogs themselves! I suppose if a blog becomes too off track the "ring leader" intervene. I am just in awe that others can manage to maintain two blogs. I seem to have a hard enough time with just one!!

Forgot my camera at work so I can't post pictures........

My baby is home!

This is me. On my own computer. With speakers. A fan that doesn't sound like a jet engine. No addresses or favorite spots but....I am computerized again. Get prepared to hear from me waayyyy more than necessary!

Tomorrow begins a new bee. The girls involved have already been meeting at individual homes but because of space requirements, couldn't expand. Well, they have found a church to meet in and invited me to join them. I'm so excited. Although they will meet all day, I have this pesky little thing called a job and won't be able to join them until afternoon. Even so, I should be able to accomplish a bit in a couple of hours.

It's so nice to have friends isn't it? You go for a while feelin' like you're going to have to go in the back yard and eat worms, and then boom! Friendships kick in and the worm eating is put away for a bit longer. I'm just tickled the girls thought of me and asked me to join them.

I wish I had a picture to share. Unfortunately, until I figure out how to set up this computer from the external hard drive, I am pictureless. They wiped out everything and I will get it all back eventually. I think I'll go take some new pictures for tomorrow.......

Jeez Louise!

I'm alive but still no computer. As everyone knows, it is maddening when your entire life is on the computer and you don't have it. It's like losing your right arm.

Quilting is moving along and the school year is steadily progressing towards the end! We have had such a year here this year that it will be wonderful to see this school year come to an end and begin to look forward to next year.

I've been steadily working on UFO's. I want so badly to start something new but just won't until at least one of my UFO's gets finished. It may be a while. At least I don't mind working on them.

As soon as I'm am back connected at home, I'll post regularly again........It's just a matter of when!

I'm safe, having a good time and excited

I drove to Austin yesterday. OMG!! With as many exclamation points as you would like to add! The drive was the absolute worse I've made since we were coming home from vacation in 1990. To say it was raining would be a major understatement. I couldn't see anything but a watery view of the headlights in front of me. We were going about 35 mph on the freeway. I would have pulled off but I was too afraid of pulling off to a flooded access rooff ramp, an unknown area or any other unseen water hazard. I had no idea where I was other than almost to San Antonio. I just kept going praying that the watery red lights of the little red car in front of me didn't pull off the freeway. Those lights were my lifeline. I was so scared that I felt like I was going to throw up. I just couldnt' see anything. The closer we got to the bypass 410, the more worried I became about how I would drive up the ramp while not being able to see anything. I decided that no matter how slow I went, the cars behind me would judt have to deal with it. Luckily the entire group in front of me took the 410 ramp and we all continued on. By that point we were driving just a bit faster so the rain must have slowed just a bit. The rain finally let up near New Braunfels, after about 1 1/2 hours of driving. I stopped, gratefully used the potty, bought a diet coke, took a deep breath and continued on my way. It rained the rest of the way, hard at times but nothing like the deluge I'd just been through. Oh, did I mention that when the rain first began, I missed an accident by about 30 secs. They weren't even all out of their cars yet as we went past. While watching the news last night we saw a story of a couple here in Austin that got stuck in a low water crossing (why they call it a low water crossing instead of high water crossing is beyond me). The rescue workers were able to get ahold of the elderly couple and put a life jacket on the woman but not the man. While trying to pull them to safety, they were washed away. The woman survived but they found the man today. It is so, so, so sad. I mean, they had them in their hands! Then the news has shown them over and over being washed away and only the woman popping up. Sad, sad, sad. This is the reason I didn't pull off the freeway. Since moving to Texas, I have learned a healthy respect for Mother Nature, rain, wind, and the power of water. I don't mind if I have a dull and boring ride back home. I won't even mind if I feel like the time is passing backwards it's going so slow.

Exciting news, happier, much less scary and depressing.....not quilty but exciting. It seems my cousin that lives in Ontario comes to Austin every year for the South by Southwest music event. I don't think I've seen him in over 20 years. Well, long story short we are meeting for coffee in the morning. I'm so excited.

On a quilty note....well, I don't have a quilty note! I'm doing so good on not shopping that I drove past a quilt shop today and didn't stop in. I bought Ms. A curtains instead of going into Joanns! (it was probably alot cheaper)

Birthday Wishes

I finally finished my brothers birthday banner. Despite MORE machine quilting issues...losing tension and all the gargbage that was wrong with the other machine....it's finally finished. I had to get it done today so that I can show it tonight at our guild meeting and mail it tomorrow. I made this banner from shirting...that is from shirts! My brother works in an office and wears button down shirts every day. But on the weekend he rides his motorcycle! I even included a pocket from one of the shirts. We'll call it creativity but in actuality, I needed to get just one more large piece of fabric and this is how I was able to do it. As long as there was a pocket I put pens and pencils in it! All and all I think it turned out nice. It seems hard to believe that my little brother is joining the ranks of the rest of us over 40 crowd! My dad keeps saying "Jeez, I have old kids!" I'm turning over my computer to Best Buy tomorrow and my sewing machine back to the repairman on Thursday. I'm not sure how bad my withdrawal symptoms will be but I expect severe! Hopefully DD computer won't be toooooo slow and I can use it while I visit with her.

Close up of the pocket detail.

Close up on quilting

Brighter shot of the top of the banner

So busy, so busy

But I haven't a clue what exactly I'm doing to fill up my time! I just know that I have had very little of it this week. My class had their program at school this week. It's always like a ten ton brick has been lifted off of my shoulders once it is finished. If you ever need to see determination, Pavlov training, and just sheer fun, watch a group of early 3 yo's perform in front of an audience! We practice over and over, exactly the same so that when the big day comes it is completely reactionary. The music starts, they perform. For the first time, I had all 13 children stay put and not run to mom! One little boy though, OMG I thought I'd crack up, walked out, saw all the faces and walked directly to the back wall, put his nose up against it and stayed there. He just stood there with his back to the audience, his nose against the wall, stock still, until the song was over. At the next song, he recovered enough to stand perfectly still on his spot. BUT he didn't run off! Big success!

I have also been working fast and furious on our classrooms contribution to the schools annual auction. I have the date marked on my calendar but somehow kept reading it wrong! I needed to get a project done but quick this week. The auction is in 3 weeks. Here is my contribution. In case you are worried about me posting my children's pictures online, I have permission as long as I don't post names. I maintain a webshots album for the parents to "see into" our classroom.


I usually get $100 no matter how much time and energy I put into my project, so I've scaled down dramatically. If you see names. LET ME KNOW and I will need to delete the picture. I can't see them and can't get the picture to enlarge by clicking on it.

It is spring break next week and am so looking forward to doing nothing. Well, not exactly nothing. I'm going to Austin to spend nearly the whole week with Ms. A. She actually wants me to come and stay longer than a day. She made me laugh when she said, "ya know mom, most college kids go to the beach and worry about getting drunk. My mom is coming to visit!" But she asked me to come spend the week and who am I to turn down time with my daughter. Of course I'm sure she has no ulterior motives like grocery shopping, clothing shopping, shoe shopping......

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have a picture of my brothers birthday banner......

Going no computer....again!

Apparently the repairmen at E-Machines prefer to tick off their customers rather than do the work right the first time. Our computer hasn't been "right" snce we got it back. #1, no speakers! #2, a fan that sounds like a jet engine #3, all kinds of gobbledegook software running at the same time slowing down the processor (no it's not a virus or anything)#4, programs not integrated to work together. We were told that we need to create a restore disk but the &*(%^%* computer isn't "seeing" the cd burner. Sound lovely? It isn't AND I need to return the computer to them. So that means another 2 weeks with no computer....while I'm on spring break!!!! UURRGGHH!!!

On the plus side, we had a wonderful weekend. DH is in the midst of a killer schedule of travel. This is all I've seen of him the last few weeks and all I will see in the next few weeks to come.....his backside dragging a suitcase behind him! (This time though I convinced him to buy a new shirt outside his comfort level, hence the orange shirt!) We needed to accomplish a bunch in a small amount of time. We pulled weeds, whoo hoo huh!, did yard work and went to the movies. For the rest of the weekend, we ate! and ate! and ate! DH made the best BBQ sauce last weekend. Saturday he made bbq'd hot dogs on the grill. Today I made a mountain of hamantashen (more to follow) and he made ribs on the grill. He also cooked a package of fajita chicken so I have something to eat this week. He said it looked like a chinese buffet in here today and he was right. We never really ate dinner, we just nibbled on a bit of chicken as he cut it, a bit of rib meat, mock potato salad and lots and lots of hamantashen. Killed the diet but it was worth it. I'll go back tomorrow.

This is my mountain of hamantashen. They are three cornered cookies made for the holiday of Purim. They are filled with apricot, poppyseed or prune filling. I needed to make a ton because tomorrow my class will be distributing Mishloach Manot baskets to the other classrooms. I will also send a basket home with each of my children. Once I fill the baskets, send some to Ms. A and my dad and we eat our fill today, they will be outa here.

Well, thats it! No more pictures until I get my computer back. I'll check in time to time as before and I'll try to get time to post comments but it is hard when I am using the computers at work. Plus next week I won't even be at work! Get lots quilty done. I'll post pictures of my brothers birthday banner after I get back.

Tea towels

I have stuff. Lots of stuff. Fabric and floss, batting and wool felt.... I have patterns and books galore. In an effort to bust stash, all of these things are equal. So, my goal for this year is to create seasonal wallhangings, placemats, table runners, tea towels and all the other home dec goodies including quilts, that prompted me to buy this abundance of books and patterns in the first place. I have 12 tea towels to "cover." Because I nearly always make home dec items in 3's (one for me, one for Mrs. S and one for Ms. A) I will only show one of each. The flag and flower pot are one of a kinds. I'm the only one getting these. I am in no hurry to finish these towels. They are all fused and ready to be blanket stitched. A friend of mine hosted a one day retreat last week and has decided to have them on a regular basis. So the towels will be my project when I sew at her house. I learned a valuable lesson from another friend about sewing something difficult, measuring or cutting, especially late at night on a retreat. That lesson....DON"T! She mistakenly cut her blocks down to the wrong size and ended up with a twin sized quilt instead of queen! Since I've decided to only work on these towels when sewing out of the house, I feel no stress to finish them.

I don't really like angels, but this was too cute to leave in the book. Most of my projects come from the Art to Heart books (I'd include a link but Ihad a link, and a completed post, but blogger or my server lost it when I tried to add a picture. I've been having trouble all day so I won't risk it!)I just love these silly books. I didn't realize this, but on the website, you can buy all the cute buttons she uses.

This is by far my favorite towel.

It was a beehive with a cherry vine and cherries. I modified the pattern so that I could make an apple

tree. Apples and Honey are symbols for the holiday of Rosh Hashana. There are very few Jewish holiday patterns. Some of the patterns out there are to literal while the few others just don't appeal to me I didn't want a honey pot and an apple sitting next to it. Too obvious. This fits my house and my style.

On a proud note.... in order to finish a birthday banner for my brother, I needed to get Heat N'Bond. I went to Joanns, looked at the 40% off quilting books, the remnent fabrics, the magazines....I walked out with Heat n' Bond only! Yaaayyyy Meeee!

Progress

I typed an entire thing this morning and blogger told me I had the wrong address or html or some such thing and lost the entire post! So... since it was boring anyways, I'll repost with more interesting news. I have been on a diet. Not just a food diet, although I have lost 8 lbs, but a money, fabric, and computer diet. Because I knew we had these big expenses, I put myself on a money diet. Since I was at retreat, I have not spent one penny on frivolous unnecessary things. Not even a diet coke. Well...maybe I lie because I did take myself out for a salad last week and this week I bought a magazine. But I actually consider this very successful. DH was travelling last week and the salad was my dinner. It was actually cheaper than going to the grocery. Basically I go to work and come home! I've been on a fabric diet for obvious reasons. I did have to buy some Kona cotton for our charity quilts but that is not for me. I am on a computer diet because I have been spending waay tooo much time goofing off. I have gone "special notice" on all my lists and have been reading blogs but not posting comments. I will resume blogging and comments because I really enjoy it. It actually feels good to be more in control of all these areas. I get out of control so easily...........

We had the duct work done last week. Now I know you cannot see how nicely the air flows through this vent but it has to be wonderful. It seems our ducts had disintegrated in the heat of our attic. The builders used the cheapest, crappiest materials in this house. All of our neighbors have had this same trouble. I can't wait to see if our electric bill will decrease. YEAH RIGHT!

Isn't' this a purty sight! Our new chimney. All finished and painted. DH will be

so happy when he gets home and sees this. As long as the repairman is here, he is also going to fix the wood around a few of our windows. Can you see WHY I am on a money diet! Tomorrow I'll post pictures of the tea towels I've finished. Can't give all the pictures in one day! Till then, I'll be cradling my checkbook in my arms. It is so stressed this week!