On the subject of UFOs...

Debra, over at http://debraspincicdesignstudio.blogspot.com/ , had a lovely talk this morning about UFOs.

Got me thinking. I know, watch out!

Got me thinking about the projects that I start and then abandon, for a time. One project that comes to mind is one of those patchwork sweatshirts. Anyway, when we lived in the frozen tundra of Indiana, I started a flannel one. It was going to make me so nice and toasty in my cold and drafty 80 year old craftsman style house. The first problem I ran into was that I somehow did not buy enough flannel fat quarters to finish this sweatshirt. Not sure how this happened. This was also the same time period that my favorite quilt store was sold to new owners and quickly became not my favorite quilt store! This is the store where I bought the flannel. After an extensive search of most local quilt stores (there aren't many) I managed to round up enough flannel to finish the project. This involved finding other fabrics that would blend with the original 8. But then DH got a new job in the tropical area otherwise called ALABAMA. Do I really need a quilted FLANNEL sweatshirt in order to survive an Alabama winter? No, I think not. I barely need pants to survive an Alabama winter! Don't worry - I do keep my pants on! So this poor sweatshirt has sat lonely in a rubbermaid box, waiting for the day when DH moves us to Sweden! You think I am joking but you don't know our history.

Do you have a moment? Grab a cup of coffee...I'll wait....

Ready?

I grew up in Wisconsin and Illinois. My husband grew up in Arkansas. We met and married in Florida twelve years ago. After living in Gainesville (GO GATORS!) for one year, he hauls me off to New York City, where he goes to grad school. Three years later after finishing school, we decide NYC is not for us and he finds a job in..... Seattle. We live in Seattle for two years and have our DD. When she is four months old, we decide we can't afford to stay there if I am not working. So DH finds a job in Muncie, Indiana. Where, you may ask, is Muncie, Indiana? It is an hour northeast of Indy. It is home to Ball State University, alma mater of David Letterman. We lived in Muncie for four years and had DS. Then DH gets an opportunity to be a visiting professor at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama . We have been here for two years. So, as you can see, the trend seems to be where ever is the last place on earth that I think I would live, that is the next place we move. So I am trying hard not to think about China, Russia, or Argentina!

Ok, enough of my rambling. I need to go do something productive.

More curves...

Pagodas

Since I eagerly await everyone else's updates, I guess I should keep my blog updated to. This week has been crazy. Yesterday I went to the eye doctor to get my eyes checked. My regular doctor suggested this, just to make sure my eyes weren't causing my headaches. So the eye guy does his normal things and then wants to dilate my eyes so he can check my optic nerves. NOT FUN! The drops themselves don't hurt but the overall sensation of everything up close being blurry made me feel faint and nauseated. He says he has people faint all the time. And yet it is safe for me to drive home 10 minutes later? He told me "You won't be able to see how fast you are going, but it is safe to drive." Anyway....I made it home in one piece.

Later that afternoon, I had a organizational meeting for Girl Scouts. I am a new leader for Brownie troop #206. Please hold you applause! We have our first meeting with the parents on Saturday and our first meeting with the girls on Tuesday. My daughter is so excited. She told me she wants to do it as long as there is no fishing involved!

As far as quilting goes, I have been doing my best to get the binding on the three baby quilts I have done. One is totally done, one is halfway done, the last one is next in line. I have the hot pink one left to quilt. I am still waiting for the hot pink thread to arrive. I called the store yesterday after waiting for over a week. Usually orders from them arrive in 2 to 3 days. Come to find out, they lost my order! Now I am waiting for her to call me back and tell me that they found it and have shipped it. If I don't hear from her this afternoon, I might call her and give her an ear full!

The picture above is a class sample I made a few years ago. My friend who owns a quilt shop asked me if I could teach a free-hand curve class. Keep in mind that I had never been a student in a quilt class, let alone teach a quilt class. I had just learned free-hand curves because this same friend had hired me to make a shop sample using this method. So anyway, I made the class sample in colors my husband likes so that he can hang it in his office. I will post pictures of the shop sample quilt and a quilt I made for my daughter's birthday using the free-hand curves. It is really a fun thing to do.

Stars for Finn

Yes Finn, we are all still here, just a bit busy! Today was the homecoming game here in Auburn and friends had their annual pancake breakfast. After eating breakfast we hit the grocery store. We got home at 9:56 to discover that the b-day party my kids were supposed to go to starts at 10, not 10:30! So we rush back out the door. The party was at a place called the Sports Academy. They played dodgeball, tug-o-war, and had batting practice. Wore them out! Came home, had lunch, and then I insisted we all take a nap! Tonight for dinner we had "supper club" at a friends house. A group of 4 couples takes turns, one each month, having the group over for dinner. We all get to try new dishes and don't have to cook! Last nights dessert was especially good - chocolate cheesecake! We got home in time to get the kids bathed and in bed by 8:30 pm at which point I too was ready to collapse.

This star quilt is one I made for my newest nephew, Denver, who was born in July. Still haven't met him but we are headed his direction in November. The pattern is one I saw in a magazine and then drafted the stars myself. The magazine used 4 different colors for the star points. I love blue and yellow so I used my scraps for this one. I really like how it turned out.

Finn - I promise to try and be better about posting more often!

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Challenge from Finn

Ok, Finn - here you go!

5 Things I want to do before I die:
-Travel through the Italian countryside with hubby
-See a big building of my famous architect husband be built
-Meet my great-grand children
-Have a big welcoming house in the country on a lake where the whole family loves to gather
-Make piles of quilts for both my children, their children, etc......

5 Things I can do:
-Produce really cute kids...really!
-Make really good chocolate chip/peanut butter chip cookies
-Make a quilt for someone who needs a lasting hug
-Encourage my family to be the best they can be
-Be a good friend

5 Things I cannot do..yet:
-Fit into a size 8, like some people I know!
-Keep up with hubby on a bike ride of any length
-Machine quilt as beautifully as Bonnie, Judy, Nina, or most anyone else I know!
-Keep my house clean for longer than 5 minutes
-Get my 4 year old to go to sleep in his own bed (although I do enjoy the extra cuddling!)

5 Things that attract me to the opposite sex:
-a great smile
-kindness
-sense of humor
-intelligence
-honesty

5 celebrity crushes:
-John Cusack
-Mark Ruffalo
-Sean Connery
-Johnny Depp
-Harrison Ford

5 People I'd like to do this:
As Finn already said -
-you
-you
-you know who you are
-yes I am talking to you
-YOU!

Finn - this was much harder than I thought it would be. I had to stop and think hard about all of these.

A favorite quilt of mine

Since I have nothing new to share, I thought I would show you one of my favorite quilts from the past. I made this quilt for a friend for her 35th birthday. This friend can not even sew a button on, so she was amazed that I had made this whole quilt. She has it on the back of her couch in her living room and says they use it every night to snuggle under. I think this quilt was the beginning of my falling in love with chocolate browns. I also loved the floral fabric which was the central fabric in the quilt.

This week I have been struggling to quilt all the baby quilt tops that I have made recently. My problem is getting my inertia going in that direction. So far I have gotten two done - the green and yellow pinwheel and the purple trip around the world. I am waiting for hot pink thread and white thread to come in the mail. Donita Reeve has good prices on Aurifil thread on her website at www.lovetoquilt.com . The only problem is waiting for the thread to arrive all the way from Montana! I have told myself I can not make anymore baby quilt tops until I get these five quilted and delivered to the Project Linus drop-off site.

I also need to get started on the coffee quilt I want to make for my father-in-law for Christmas, otherwise December is going to sneak up on me! I would really like to get the border put on the CW quilt I stole from my mom so I can use it on my bed this winter.

All of my huge quilting plans get put on hold everyday about 11 a.m. when I get a headache. They started about a month and a half ago, lasted for three weeks, stopped for about a week, and then started up again last Thursday. Tuesday's headache was so bad I finally caved in and called the doctor for an appointment. I will go to see him tomorrow. I also still think my thyroid is off but can't find a doctor to agree with me. I have many of the symptoms but my blood tests all come back at the high range of "normal". My sister and two different aunts have thyroid problems. Anyway...enough about medical problems.

I promised my son I would go for a bike ride with him when I finished the baby quilt, so I'd better get going!

It's Finally Here!!!

The Quilts of Gee's Bend (Alabama)

Last Sunday, the art museum here in Auburn Alabama opened its exhibit of the Gee's Bend quilts. Sundays there is no admission fee so we went yesterday after lunch. The quilts are beautiful. It is amazing what these ladies made with their scraps! The museum had a whole room devoted to quilts made out of old work clothes. Several of the women made these out of their husbands' old work clothes so that they could remember their husbands after they passed away. I plan to go back several more times before the exhibit leaves in December. I took my daughter with me and she really appreciated the bright colors and bold shapes. A lady we were with asked my daughter if she was going to learn to quilt and M told her that she already knew how! The lady was quite impressed!

Here are a few pictures I grabbed off the net of some of the quilts.