I really wanted too.....

I really wanted to quilt for a while today. I even got psyched up last night and bought the fabric I needed to work on Nina's birthday challenge quilt. I hope she likes red and lime green together! Just kidding. This year's challenge is a two color quilt. She chose this lovely deep red fabric with a delicate rose pattern. I got to pick the coordinating fabric. Does she trust me? Will she still love me when she sees this quilt?

Anyway, I was all set to quilt this afternoon and then the whole day got away from me. This morning was filled with Ian's soccer game (where he scored all but one of his team's goals - but they don't "keep score" - so everyone wins!) and then we went to the Vet school's open house. We saw some beautiful horses and lots of different breeds of cows. We even saw a sheep herding dog demonstration. The man directed the dog what to do by whistling - just his mouth - not a whistle. The sheep just looked bored and tired of the whole thing. Then I went and picked us up chinese for lunch. After lunch everyone was so crabby, I made us all take a nap while DH got some work done in the peace and quiet. After naps, we went looking for a new TV for the bedroom but ended up deciding to wait. By the time the kids came in from playing outside, it was time for baths, dinner, and bed.

How much sewing did I get done amongst all this? Exactly TWO four patches! Oh well....it was a wonderful day anyway...beautiful 70 degree weather...fun with the family...got to watch a couple episodes of 24, season 2.

But that leaves me with a lot of quilt to get done in the next six weeks! Wonder how my birthday quilt is coming.

Anyone out there know of a cute line of chocolate brown and light blue fabrics? I need to make a baby quilt in those colors. Let me know!

Words that start with "B" (a.k.a. my new excuses)

After my little fall off of the "no-buy" wagon over spring break, I got to thinking about the self-imposed rules. Most of us will agree that there are several B words that are allowable purchases - backing, borders, batting, bindings.

I came up with several other B words that I might have to allow:

1 - Babies - I have several baby quilts in my near future and I don't have a lot baby friendly colors in my stash. Both are going to be boy quilts. One mama-to-be is considering chocolate brown and light blue. That would so cute!

2 - Blues - just to depress Nines!

3 - things for Best Buddies! Surely, Nina will approve of this one!

4 - Bribery - I needed to buy some fat quarters for my mom - to bribe her into ever wanting to be left alone with 4 or 5 grandchildren again! It worked!

5 - just B-cause!


I got the blue and yellow hearts quilt quilted today. Now all that is left is my favorite part - the binding. In case you can't tell, that was me being sarcastic! I am subbing on Wednesday and then again next Monday and Tuesday, so I would really like to get this quilt out of the way.

Got to go make some chocolate chip cookies for the family!

How did it get to be April 6th?

I am sorry I have disappeared for so long. The last time I posted was the weekend before the week before spring break. Did that make any sense? Anyway...the week before spring break was also the Scholastic book fair at my daughter's school and yours truly was in charge of it. Fun, fun, fun. And to top it off, I subbed at the kindergarten on Thursday and at DD's school on Friday. We had a lovely spring break in Tennessee at my parent's house. The kids "helped" Papa build a tree house. It might have been quicker without their help! Me and my sister even got to have a day out together with only one of the five kids tagging along. Have you ever tried shopping for bras with an unhappy 22 month old? Exciting!

Yesterday I got to sew for about three hours straight! It was so peaceful! I managed to get these hearts machine appliqued onto the backgrounds while at my mom's house. Came home and found the perfect material for the sashing and borders. I like how it turned out. Plus it used up 2 yards from the stash and another 3 yards for the backing! I am hoping to get it onto the quilting machine today and maybe even finish it up this weekend.

I am a little surprised that Nine's hasn't tattled on me already! On my day out with my sister, we stopped by one of my favorite quilt stores in Goodlettsville, Tennessee and of course they were having a Shop Hop. They had a whole row of beautiful fabrics on clearance - most for about $3.99 a yard. I found a backing for my hand-dyed curves quilt. That purchase was legal! Then I found another blue that I fell in love with. OK, I fell slightly off the wagon. Just a little bit. But I climbed back on. I also grabbed a couple of fat quarters for Nines and for my mom (for watching the kids while me and sis went out!). When I got to the counter, the cashier told me that the fat quarters would be regular price unless I bought 20, in which case they would be a dollar a piece. I told her thanks, but I don't need 20 fat quarters. Later, I happen to look at my hand-written receipt and notice that I had bought 8 fat quarters for $2.50 each. 8 times 2.50 equals $20. Did she bother to tell me that I had already spent $20 and I should go pick out some more FREE fat quarters? NO! So I went back to the store on Friday on my way home and showed the manager my receipt. She very kindly told me I could go pick out my 12 free fat quarters. It would have been nice if the cashier could have told me this the first time around.

The thread in the picture is from Joann's. It is 40 wt. cotton quilting thread from Signature. Going to try it on the quilting machine. It is all variegated. Started off at $35. Marked down to $14.99. Rang up at $7.50! Good deal!

The white fabric is to make hand print quilts for the kids teachers. I am subbing in DS's class for two days in a couple of weeks. I plan on doing their hand prints then.

And this is my daughter, the artist. Last fall, she had a piece of artwork chosen to be in the Superintendent's Art contest. Each art teacher and principal picked one piece from each grade to represent their school. Then the district's super picked the pieces to go onto the state. Maddie was one of her school's representatives. Now she has had another piece (the cows behind her) chosen to be in an art show for the school district. They had a opening reception on Tuesday night. I think Maddie was more interested in the free chips and cookies!