Strips and Strings

We are really threatening to finish one charity quilt with our group!!! I recieved the quilt back from a generous member of the Heartstrings group. She quilted it and provided the batting. Thank you Becky! All I need to do now is bind it and we'll have our first finish! We are beginning to develop not only a stash but UFO's in our little charity group! It is very overwhelming. We only sew two days a month and have more ideas and fabrics than time. I will have an up to date picture when I finish the binding. This was the beginning of the quilt. It looks nothing like this now!

Having Fun Here

(photo from the Electric Quilt webpage)

I have been trying and trying to design an Americana Quilt. A dear friend has been cleaning......Just like chocolate and peanut butter the two went together and she gave me Electric Quilt 5!!!!!!!!!!! (something she isn't using. She also gave me EQ 3 &4.....any reason to install them????) I may never know enough to design the flag that is in my mind but boy is this fun! How many times have we wondered what this color will do or that size....viola'! Plug it in and see. I don't see myself becoming a designer or fancy schmancy, I like traditional pieced quilts. But to get the color and what block does what with another......well, whoohooo! This is fun! Thanks to CCCAT and I am so excited to not have to try to create another quilt in Excel!

Working on Strips and Strings

Earlier this year, in response to the Yahoo group Heartstrings, we began a charity quilting group we call Strips and Strings - A Heartstrings project. We have been working two days per month and have finished about 4 tops. We keep sewing and sewing and the silly strings just keep looking at us like "Na na we aren't going anywhere!" Next week is our next scheduled date and hopefully we will finish another top. The way we work the donating is that we work together to create the top. Then after the top is finished it is given to one of the members. She is then responsible for the backing, batting and quilting. It is working out just fine because the true expense comes in the batting and backing. Once each member finishes their quilt they can donate it where ever they wish. This way each memeber shares the costs and gets to donate where they see fit. (A few weeks ago we found a tremendous sale at Joanns. They were getting rid of a line of batting and selling the queen sized for $3. Needless to say my sewing room is stuffed with bags of batting.)

I have a picture of my latest project but unfortunately the camera lens fogged up and ruined the shot. I'll try to post it tomorrow. Thats all thats going on in my sewing room today. I'm in school mode. I'll be back to sewing soon.

Wow!

I didn't mean to be gone for so long. I have not been sewing, or even thinking about it in weeks. My mindset always begins to change in August....getting ready for school to start. Not only am I beginning a new position and have all the planning and worry involved in it, I gave a three hour workshop for all of our teachers last week. Between the two I've had quite a bit of planning going on and not any quilting. I will check in from time to time for just a a bit longer and then I'll be back to my regular posting and reading. I haven't even been reading your posts so I'll have a ton of catching up to do. Today though is my last hurrah. I'm joining our bee for the last time before school starts....before I go to my classroom and start set up work. I'll visit with you all another day. Don't forget about me....Like Arnold..."I'll be back!"

Decision made

Thanks for all of the opinions on my quilt. I went with the gold and green. I really wanted the burgundy but the gold is better. I am going to try to use the burgundy or the lavender (both cut as I had been ready to use them before I went out and re-bought all the fabric) in the border. This is such an easy quilt and I am hoping to finish it this week so I can send it out to be quilted. I don't normally send my quilts out but this one is going to be a large queen and I don't want to be frustrated by it.

Help please

I can't decide! I finally received my fabric from e-bay. It seems the seller had a death in the family (don't I feel like a heel for sending a nasty note). She sent me a note and very kindly included alot of extra fabric to compensate. I had the complementary fabrics purchased last year and then decided that I didn't like them and bought all new fabric. I just can't decide which ones to use. I need opinions.

I know which I want and which looks better....they are not the same and like the children I work with, I'm frustrated. I may not get what I want but will have to do what is right! Ish!

My visit with Ms. A needed to be cut short. The rain here has been unrelenting and because a new wave was approaching, I didn't want to get stuck in Austin or caught in San Antonio. I headed home 1/2 day early. I didn't hit any trouble until I entered my own city. It was amazing how much water was on the freeway. It was flooded in two spots. Cars and trucks were waiting it out on the side of the road but the water on the access road and ground next to the freeway was flooded. I didn't want to sit and wait to be washed away. Under one bridge was particularly scary. I held my breath, went as far left as possible and went through the standing water. Later (actually probably only moments later as the rain was torrential) a car went through the middle of the mess and got flooded to the roof. I saw it on the news last night. Am I lucky or stupid? I don't know. I just know that by that point there was no stopping. I had no appreciation for flash flooding when I lived in Ohio. Water is a force to respect.

Life with Ms. A

I love visiting my daughter. I hate visiting my daughter. I love spending time with her, laughing, spending far too much at the grocery, clothing and various other stores. We have fun. I hate sleeping here. She has one queen sized bed with a very old mattress. We share... with me by the wall! In wake up in the middle of the night with pain everywhere. I usually start in bed, wake up in pain and finish the night on the couch. Ugh.

I sent a note to the ebay seller concerning the fabric I ordered on July 4. I've not even received a reply. When I get home tomorrow I will be sending a lovely, lovely message to both the seller and ebay. Unfortunately, yesterday I finally found the perfect companion fabrics and spent quite a bit on them. At this point I just want the fabric!

Just a little note to check in.....I'm off to Joanns here and all the quilt shops! Big fun!

Chatter

I've finally hit the 45 lb mark! Yee Ha! It is such slow going but at least it's going! Yesterday my exercise consisted of yard work. ICK! I had to mow and trim because DH is out of town. I HATE mowing and trimming. I don't know how those yard guys can stand their own hands after a day of working with a trimmer. I think my hands vibrated for hours afterwards. Plus smelling like gasoline and being covered with grass...mmmm....my favorite! Good thing I managed to work my way through the jungle yesterday because it's raining again for a change. I don't think it's rained this frequently in the entire 13 years I 've lived in Texas!

I ordered some fabric from e-bay and it's been nearly a month and NO FABRIC! I am so irritated. I am making an anniversary quilt for Mrs. S and Mr. Fancypants. I am using the same focus fabric as I used in their chuppah. Because the fabric is no longer made, I needed to buy it from e-bay. Today I plan on cutting all the rest of the parts and if it doesn't arrive, just go out and buy something else. Then complain like nobodies business to ebay and the seller.

I decided to post an oldie. I don't know if I've posted it before or not. I made this a few years ago for my niece. It's the only cat she could have at the time. It came out so fun and colorful. I really need to get busy at the sewing machine so I can post some new quilty pictures!

Tagged

I was tagged! This is my first tagging so I am excited! Thanks to QuiltMommy all of you in blogland get to know five things about me that you probably could care less about! Too bad!! LOL! I'm excited to be tagged so you all get to read!!!!

Five Things to Do Before I Die:
1. Be thin -sounds so vain but just for one moment I'd like to be thin and shapely.
2. Make a mark-I want to make a difference in my little world. I would like to think that I've positively impacted someones life.
3. Take a cruise
4. Learn to converse in another language
5. Travel to Israel

Five Things I Can Do:
1. Free Motion quilt

2.Stop 12 2 year olds from crying on the first day of school. Then get them to look forward to coming back the next day.

3.Sit on the floor with my legs outstretched and touch my face to the ground. Not too useful but I'm still as stretchy as when I was a kid! It always amazes younger people how stretchy I am.

4. Teach my totally computer illiterate MIL how to cut and paste, order online, search online retrieve data from her computer...all over the phone with her in a total panic. After each instruction I need to tell her to "hit enter." She thinks I'm a computer genius.....I let her believe it. DH gets so mad because I only understand things that he has explained to me! It's to the point that she bypasses DH, her son, and goes directly to me! She also refers me out to all her relatives...they all call here asking all sorts of questions...my favorite was my mouse isn't working! What do I do?!!!!

5.Lead a sing along/ assembly for 100 adults and children every week. Start by knowing I CANT SING! I just enjoy what I am doing and so it doesn't seem quite so off key. The cool part is that because I enjoy it, I am able to get the adults to smile, clap along and join in. The very best was Donuts with Dad. There had to be 50-60 dads in the audience and I got them to all sing a song they were unfamiliar with. To hear all those male voices joining in to not only have fun but to be a part of their children's lives gave me goosebumps!

Five Things I Cannot Do . . . Yet:
1.Listen well. I talk alot but am working on being a better listener

2.Keep my yard weeded - I start off good at the beginning of the year and then lose interest!

3. Be totally comfortable in the gym.

4. Be organized - scatter brained is a good nickname for me.

5. Lose weight and keep it off!!!!!! Working hard on this one.

Five Things That Make a Man Attractive to me:
1.Kindness
2.Able to relate to children, get down to their level and enjoy themselves.
3.Sense of Humor
4.Family Values
5. Good looks/nice body doesn't hurt!

Five Celebrity Crushes:
1. When I was a teenager I thought the JFK Jr. fabulous! I had pictures of him all over my bulletin board. I still have those silly pictures. I was devastated when he died.

I really don't have celebrity crushes. I think Rob Lowe has gotten VERY good looking as he's aged. I never thought so when he was younger. I also think the guy from Heros, that used to be in Judging Amy, is good looking. That's how much I care, I don't even know his name!I just
would never go out of my way for a celebrity. They are just regular people doing their job same as I do mine. I've never seen a celebrity go out of their way to meet me, ogle me or care what I did last night!

I've been on this computer forever this morning. I'll tag others later.....

I forgot I had biceps

But my body is every so effectively reminding me today! I have been using the weight machines and free weights at the gym. Last night I got really brave and ventured to the back of the gym with the free weights. You have to understand, I am not afraid of much. However, lifting weights on my own, not in a class or with someone else, is very intimidating to me. I have been forcing myself to do it though. The gym I belong to is filled with loads of young, well defined men and women. Here comes dumpy ol' me. I sit down at a machine and need to change the weight from 7 hundred mega million pounds to 20. I am using the 10 pound free weight while the sweet young thing next to me is using the 20 lb. {sigh} No, it's not a competition and I am only there to better myself but noone wants to embarrass themselves. In the gym I am very insecure and feel like a fish out of water. To top it off, I sweat. No sweet, demure sexy droplets are glistening on my forehead. I sweat like a trooper. To maintain some modicum of dignity, I have to wear a headband (nobody seems to wear headbands anymore!)and I have to plan what shirt to wear or else risk embarrassment as I sweat through it. ( I made a mistake one day and wore a thinner cotton shirt......not a pretty site! I actually needed to quit sooner than I'd wanted because I was dangerously close to looking like I was in a wet t-shirt contest. Not a pretty site on an overweight, over 40 woman surrounded by many "sweet young things.")

But sometimes it's just plain funny. I have to laugh at myself and those around me. There is this step machine. It is not one I've seen before as it is real steps that rotate and you "walk up" them. Here's me on level one...step..............step............step............step. Here's the sweet young thing next to me, who by the way, not only doesn't sweat but doesn't even perspire as she adjusts her shorts ever lower on her hips and rolls her shirt ever tighter under her breasts. She is on some mega level and goes STEP, STEP,STEP,STEP.... As I step.........step.....and huff and puff, and SWEAT, she STEP,STEPS, talks on her cell phone, watches the tv and continues to adjusts and readjust her shorts while every so often glancing over at me and to be sure I am still alive! I just want to knock her off her machine and tell her that she too will be my age some day! Ya just have to laugh at it. I don't know which one of us is funnier.

I'm finding though that the more I go outside my comfort zone, the less uncomfortable it is to be outside of my comfort zone. I felt like I'd climbed a mountain last night simply because I ventured to the free weight area and actually did something. The heck with the rest of them, I climbed a mountain. It's a great feeling to test yourself and find you can overcome silly little insecurities. I'd like to see one of those sweet young things in my world facing 12 2 year olds screaming for their mommy all at the same time! Ha!

Where has the time gone?

I didn't realize that not only have I not posted for a while, but I haven't been reading. I'll need to catch up on everyone! I have been busily sewing on these two baby and big sister quilts. I am actually ahead of the game as the baby isn't born yet! I have a number of projects I want to finish before school starts so am just working and working on them. So expect lots of new quilty posts!

Ranting about batting

I have successfully used the June Tailor fusible batting for a while now. I hate the whole basting process so fusible batting is a godsend to me. Although I don't love the JT product, it is sufficient for the projects I use it for. I don't know if they have changed the product or what but it is awful now! Twice I've fused quilts only to have them fall apart as I'm quilting. I get lovely bunches on the back! The first one was a string quilt for the Heartstrings project. I just thought that there were too many seams for the batting to hold. That one I had to rip out and send off to a LA quilter. I'm trying to finish a toddler sized quilt for a friend and URGH! This riffin' raffin' batting isn't holding and the back is shifting and moving. Ripping the quilting is not an option as I used clear monofilament on the front and white on the back. I won't be able to see the stitches very well. I'm just going to plug away and hopefully will have a finish to post tomorrow but I was wondering if anyone else has begun to have trouble with the JT batting. I won't be buying it any more. It's not worth the headache.

DH reacts....

Well, DH saw the pictures this morning. He asked me if I was making fun of him! YUP! It's a good thing he has such a great sense of humor. I sent him to this blog after he looked at the pictures so he could read the explaination. Then he scrolled down and discovered the Best Buy entry and his photo......I may be in trouble here...............

Girls night out

Grab a cuppa something good cause this is going to get long.....oh yeah and hugs the border between a G and PG rating.....

Mrs. S. invited me to go out with her and her friends on Sat. night. Because one of her friends is actually my age, I agreed to go. Well......we had fun. For about a week before hand though, DH must have asked me 4 or 5 times if I was going to take a fire extinguisher with me.

"A fire extinguisher? Why?"

"For all the hot guys you're going to meet." he said.

I didn't think anything of it until he said it again right before we left. Back to this in a moment.

We went to play pool. These girls are silly. Somehow we began trying to take sexy posed pictures while playing pool. I must be the most uptight woman because I just couldn't do it! I couldn't stop laughing long enough to look seductively into the lens or pose in just the right way. Now mind you, we were in public and nothing was really off color or anything, but it was embarrassing. There was noone playing at the tables near us so it wasn't as if we were disturbing anyone. Finally my daughter got me to sorta kinda do a pose ........not what I would call pinup material but just about as much as I could handle before dissolving in laughter.

You can tell by the look on my face that I am barely holding on to my "pose."

Back to the fire extinguishers....I got the idea that we should find a good looking gentleman and ask him to pose in a picture with us. This way we could tease DH and show him that we did indeed need fire extinguishers....Well, absolutely noone at the pool hall fit the bill. So we forgot about it and went to IHOP for something to eat. We walked in the building and the manager was standing there. The first words out of his mouth were "Hello beautiful ladies, I've been waiting for you to get here." None of us know this man! We laughed so hard. We explained the story to him about DH and asked if we could take his picture. He was a good sport and thought it was hysterical that we were trying to tease DH. Take notice of the look he is giving to the camera! He was workin' it!

He almost did too good of a job as he was hugging the stuffing out of me!!!!!

I then had the brilliant idea to take a picture with all the male staff. Ha! We'll show DH!!! LOL! Mr. Manager thought it was too funny so he gathered a few of the guys that were standing nearby. I spotted a fire extinguisher so added it to the picture for good measure.

Having had our fun we headed to drop the girls off at their cars. When we got to the parking lot, I spotted three boys sitting on their motorcycles just chatting......You know where this is heading....After once again explaining the story we took pictures with them also. They were so embarrassed but I guess they couldn't refuse helping us out.

I've e-mailed the photos to DH with this message titled Hot Guys and Fire Extinguishers. "We were successful in finding hot guys and fire extinguishers. Attached find the evidence...." I can't wait until DH goes to work tomorrow and gets his e-mails.....

Oh for good measure I sent him one with Mrs. S and I drinking water but pretending it is vodka. I rarely drink and Mrs.S never does. Trust me, I have crazy enough ideas without it....I can't imagine!

All in all a fun evening. They want to do it again. I just don't know..............

A star is born

I'm off to make my film debute! My boss called me on Monday and said that our school is making a commercial and I was the one chosen to "be the teacher." Of course I won the job by pure default! I am the only Jewish teacher in town and more importantly I was not there to say no! It's that whole, "You'd better be there or you'll be volunteered" syndrome. We film it today and edit it tomorrow. It is a 30 sec. commercial so my part will be all of MAYBE 10 secs. Still, I've prepared my floppy hat and big sunglasses, we've paparazzi proofed our house and I've been working perfecting my autograph. La De Da! You can all say you "knew me when." ( in reality I'll probably be a bumbling idiot, look 40 lbs. heavier and sweat the whole time!!!!!!! Ah the price we pay for fame!) I'm off..................

Quilty at Last

I finally have quilty pictures. I finished 1of 2 quilts baby/toddler quilts. It is a good thing I am adaptable. First I lost one of the fussy cut panels....how?? I have no idea. Maybe at Joanns while buying matching fabric but I only had 7 panels....odd number. Luckily I bought some of the green and filled in but it took a while to figure out how to do the placement. Then I had just enough pink for the blocks and not enough for the binding. Oh well. I think it looks nice for something I did quickly. Now I just need to finish her sister's quilt.

I also finished a UFO!! Yeeee HA! It is a silly reversible smock for work. All I needed to do was make the bias and attach. It;s been sitting there for 2 years!

I love this smock pattern. I changed it to make it reversible. It is a Daisy Kingdom pattern. I've made a number of them. I like it because it is long. Trust me with little ones you don't get dirty on your upper body. They only reach my knees and that is the part of my clothing that gets the messiest! The only problem is I made the x-large. By the end of the summer it will be falling off my shoulders.....After waiting to use it for two years, I'll pin the thing to me!

Just Stuff..My 100th post!

What a mish mash I have here. I found all the pictures I haven't posted. I am clumping them all together in one post.


I haven't posted a quilty picture or message in a while. That's where I'll start. This is a teaser picture of a toddler quilt I am working on. I am annoyed with myself though. I put it on my design wall to figure out the quilting. As long as it was there I figured I'd mark it with my washout blue marker....you know the one....it cannot be ironed. AFTER I marked 1/4 of the quilt I remembered that DUH! I hadn't' fused the batting and backing yet! Since I have made a vow to look at life half full instead of half empty, I am choosing to think that at least it is 3/4 UNMARKED! (It's still annoying though!).
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This is a picture of the "birthday cake" a friend made for me. She kept drilling me on what I'd be willing to eat. I thought this was so nice. The flowers are turnips dyed with food coloring.

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I thought that these came out so, so cute that I had to share the picture. We made these mouse pads for a some of the staff at work. They always do so much for us and I thought it would be nice to recognize them at the end of the year. Each child put on their fingerprint and then got to decide if they wanted to be a butterfly, ant, spider or ladybug. The kids really enjoyed making them and the recipients were thrilled. I wish that I'd made one for myself!!

Not a very inspiring 100th post but ...... I am really enjoying this blogging business. Good people out there in blogland. Now I just need to get busy and save all of my posts so that I can print a hard copy for posterity.

Father's Day fun

We had a fun Father's Day. Well, not Father's Day itself, but our celebration. Yesterday our girls were supposed to begin their vacations with our families in Ohio. Unfortunately mother nature and Continental Airlines had different ideas. To make a long story short, after sitting in the airport all day, their flights were cancelled, their trip delayed/shortened 2 days....just a mess.

We actually celebrated Father's Day on Sat. Mr. Fancypants and Mrs. S brought over a video game and we had a ball. I can't seem to remember the name of the game. It is for the Playstation 2 and I think it is called guitar hero or guitar master or some such thing. The gist is you use a guitar plugged into the game and as the notes come on the screen you hit the corresponding buttons. It's like those arcade games that you dance to the beat. I found this video on youtube that shows an advanced level being played.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=V17MLDqG8Bk

We had a blast because they thought their dad would have fun with the game but guess who actually like it???!! They were all so surprised that I was able to play the game (as if I am some dottering old woman that has lost all eye hand coordination, rhythm and coolness! Sheesh! I'm not that old!!!).They were not only shocked that I was able to get through without "getting killed" but that I continued to play again and again. I think I had so much fun because they were so surprised that I could do it. (I remember when my dad would surprise me in the same way. Just about the time I thought he was too old to do anything he would remind me that HE wasn't a dottering old fool! Once I sprayed him with the hose and he shocked me by chasing me a long way up a hill until I got away.)

Here I am...laughing at them laughing at me.

DH.....thinking he could do it with no trouble but discovering that it was not easy.....Ms. A......Heaven forbid she should smile in a picture......She was too busy being competitive.

Mrs. S.....cracking up Mr. Fancypants.....he just wanted to win!Of course it was his game so he was really good at it.

I hope everyone had a lovely Father's Day. I will post something quilty this week. I feel guilty that I haven't posted quilty in a while..... Been creating, just not finishing anything.

Husbands and Best Buy

Like a commercial, my husband went crazy at Best Buy. Because I was the lucky recipient, I decided not to holler at him! Two years ago DH said I NEEDED an ipod/mp3 player. We actually had an argument in the middle of Best Buy.

"You need an ipod and that is what I am going to buy you for your birthday!"

"But. I don't listen to music. I don't need an ipod!!!"

"But you listen to books on tape. You'll put a book on there."

"But it will only hold one cd. What's the point!"

"You'll see! You're going to love it."

I never used it. Not once. We got the thing home, he loaded his music on it, said "see, isn't this neat!" and merrily used the thing for the next 18 months. I on the other hand was gypped out of a birthday present! LOL! For his birthday this past year I bought him a PS2. It was a huge hit. He travels alot and he uses it constantly. He plays games, watches movies and listens to music. The mp3 player was thrown in the drawer. I started walking again 3 weeks ago and complained about my cd player. "AHA!", he says. "I told you you needed a mp3 player!" Oh yeah.... Mine is in the drawer....He loaded the two cd's that I own on it and I have been merrily walking for the past 3 weeks. Saturday we celebrated my birthday. Here is what he bought me......

This holds about 8 million songs, plays video, stores pictures....the only thing it won't do is actually walk for me.

"But I use this piddly little mp3 player very happily."

"But on this one you can download and play 'Gray's Anatomy' for only $2.

"Why???" If I miss it I can watch it online for free!"

"But you can load your QUILT pictures on here to show your friends."

"But then I'll need to carry the thing with me!"

Now I really do like the new player. It is smaller, has a larger memory and plays a nice radio. I can actually load an entire book on it and hold more music than I'll ever listen to. I just think it is so funny that even though the piddly one was good enough for me, it wasn't good enough for DH! Funny, funny!

On to gift #2. We bought Ms. A a new computer. She got a brand new, fancy schmancy 19" flat panel monitor. I keep threatening to steal the thing from her. So, DH bought this.....

I love this monitor. It sits further away from my face so is much more comfortable. I would have been happy with one or the other of these gifts but both....at first I was stressed at receiving two such big gifts. But then I looked at how happy it made DH and decided I needed to quelch my stress, say thank you, and enjoy the gifts.

"Now you can watch 'Gray's Anatomy' on a big screen."

"Ok."

He must think I have a fixation on 'Gray's Anatomy'!

Now, I need to actually go out and walk with my new mp3 player. It is already 79 degrees and it's only 7:30!

Happy Birthday to Me

Usually I don't have such a love affair with my birthday. For some reason though, this year I have been looking forward to my "special day." What am I doing special? Nothing! I've just been looking forward to my birthday day. Weirding out here in Texas I tell you, weirding out! (The picture is one I put in each end of the year photo album. I made the birthday banner and each child gets their picture taken with the banner on their birthday. I had to cut and paste myself into this picture because at the last minute I had the idea to include myself in the birthday pictures! )