Ribbons for Mom

I just sewed the binding on Mom's quilt.  I'll do the hand sewing on the car trip. The rectangles of pink for the border were the same length as the blocks so that they could be sewn together with the blocks instead of as a separate step.  I guess I'll try to avoid borders in whatever way I can.  The back is flannel with pink ribbons, so it should be nice and soft.  There is enough extra so that I can make a little carry bag and pillow to match.  I'm not sure if you can see the quilting, but it is stripes of ribbons.   

Spring break seems to have zoomed by so far. Monday was rainy and we went with friends to see a movie. The kids thought the movie for Diary of a Wimpy Kid was very different from the book, but they seemed to enjoy it. Kurt had a meeting in Miami yesterday so was gone all day. I had a repairman over to look at the fridge and it looks like we'll be needing a new one.  I did get out last night though for drinks with two girl friends.We tried to go to Grills, but faced with an hour long wait for a table we found a back-up plan.  There is something very nice about being able to sit next to the water and relax with friends and food. 

Design Wall Monday March 7. 2011

It has been a while since I've had anything to show on Design Wall Monday.  Keeping up with quilting and blogging has taken a temporary back seat to getting things going with my new job.  Then Mom asked for a quilt to take along to chemotherapy and those things had to pop to the top of the priority list again.  I'm sure I'll come up with a better name than Mom's Chemo Quilt as things go on.  Sydney and Anna helped to pick out the fabrics.  They've been sketching design ideas out on notebook paper for me to consider.  The names of all of the grand-kids will go on the back, everyone has phoned in a vote for their favorite colors.  Then it will just be a matter of collecting together some photos and I should be all set to go. 

Wacky Weekend

Saturday was the regional Odyssey of the Mind Competition.  This was our third year having a team.  Our problem was to build a Rube Goldberg Machine.  Check out this link if you don't know what a Rube Goldberg Machine is. 

The machine worked great, but we lost a lot of points on style and didn't do very well in the spontaneous problem.  With a 4th place finish, it will be our first time ever not to make it to state.  I shouldn't admit that I am relieved to be done.  We are constantly way overbooked these days that it is nice to see the end of an activity.  There were two other teams from our school though who did a fabulous job and both of them finished first in their categories and qualified for state! One team had a boy from our Lego team and the other was most of our Girl Scout Troop.  We got to watch their performance and it was fabulous.  Ryan's flag football team was also there and ended up making it to the next round, so there were celebrations all around. 
It was also the day of Girl Scout Camporee.  We were going to try to make it for at least part of the day between the competition and the awards ceremony.  I was pretty wiped out though, and the kids seemed to be about the same.  We all took a little bit of a power nap before heading back down again for evening festivities. 

Today I started making some pink ribbon blocks for Mom's Chemo Quilt.  I found a pattern here, and modified it so that it used slightly large pieces.  The directions called for a lot of squares and half square triangles sewn together and it seemed like too many seams to think about.  I've got 7 ribbon blocks done and have most of the chain blocks in progress.  I'll need to put it away soon though so I can get some work done for school tomorrow.  It has been nice to spend some time on other things this weekend, but I will be paying the price all week trying to keep up with lesson plans and grading. 
Speaking of keeping up with things.  I want to apologize to anyone who has commented recently and not gotten a response back quite yet.  It has been an adjustment to keep up with the new schedule and I'm not quite into a routine yet.  I'm slowly working my way backwards to try to catch up again.  So for anyone who has recently asked to join the Rainbow Scrap Challenge -- please consider yourself joined.  I'll get your name added to the list "officially" as soon as I can find a chance.  

Another Cancer Quilt, In Pink

I was hoping not to make any more cancer quilts for a while. Mom is getting ready to start chemotherapy though, and she would like a pink quilt to take with her. Sydney and Anna just helped me pull out some fabric and now they are drawing out some design ideas.  I am thinking hearts and ribbons.  Sydney would like some words to go with it. 

Sunshine is Done

Meg's Ray of Sunshine is officially done. I will deliver it this afternoon after the kids are done with Odyssey of the Mind. They all want to come to the hospital because they think it sounds like fun. I think the last time any of them was at a hopsital was when Sydney was born. I'm sure it seemed like fun then. I'm going to try to come up with another plan for them. 

I used a pantograph for the quiling, it was called Dandy and I got it in a packet from Golden Threads. I used yellow thread in the middle and then switched to green for the border and quilted parallel lines on the DSM.

I love the way the back turned out with all the signatures.   

I made Lizzie pose for a photo while I was working on the binding.  Meg has owns of her siblings from an earlier litter, so obviously she is a pug person.  
So now I am off to do the usual Sunday things.  Laundry is started and the kitchen is scary.  I'm afraid to go upstairs, but down here looks reasonably clean.  I've got a test to grade and had better get started on comments for interims.  I think they are due on Tuesday.  Add OM and a trip to deliver the quilt and I think that will make up the day. Hope all is well out there.  I do plan to indulge in a little time today seeing what everyone got done on Scrap Happy Saturday.  I've still got some blue projects hanging out that I would like to  finish off or clean up so I can switch gears and get ready for a new color and a new month!

Back of Sunshine

So the quilt is now officially called Meg's Ray of Sunshine.  I took it in to school today to collect signatures.  Then it was blessed during chapel.  Now all I have to do is frame out the back so that it is larger than the front and load it onto the frame.  I think I'll use a pantograph that I've done once before.  I bought some yellow thread that I think will work well.  If I can get the binding on tonight I'll have lots of time tomorrow during ice skating and Legos to sew it down.  That's my plan.  Wish me luck. 

Ray of Sunshine

It is way too late on a school night, but I wanted to get this top finished up so that I could take it to school tomorrow.  I'm going to have the kids sign the back and then get it quilted up and delivered.  For now I'd better get to bed though. 

One Step at a Time

Slowly, slowly the week has been passing with very little quality quilt time.  Yesterday we started dog obedience classes.  I enjoyed a girls night out and caught up with a girlfriend for dinner.  Ryan had his first football practice of the new season.  Tuesday we had storms and stayed in to watch the State of the Union.  Monday we went out for dinner as a family and then the girls got thier nails done while the boys bought goodies at the sporting goods store. Sunday was Lego practice for the big regional tournament this weekend. 

Lizzie has been keeping me company while I finish the hand stitching on Double Delight.  There are only a few inches left, so I'll find a quiet moment for that soon enough. 

I've been trying to get the top for Kitty Korner Webbed.  I've made arrangements for the kids at school to sign the back before I do the quilting and I'd like to take that in tomorrow so that I can do the quilting on the weekend.  The coworker whom it is for is scheduled for surgery on Monday and I would sincerely like to have it to her before then.  I'll need to think of a new name though, she is a dog lover.  I don't think calling it the green and yellow cancer quilt is such a good idea either. Names are so hard.  Maybe something about sunshine or the grass being greener or something somehow cheerful and optimistic.......Any body have some ideas to share?

Another Cancer Quilt

I was hoping I wouldn't be making another cancer quilt for a while.  I just got news today that a coworker is in the hospital with a mass on her kidney.  One of the ribbon colors for kidney cancer is green.  I'm thinking of counting blocks to see how close this one is to being an entire quilt.  Maybe they will find that the mass is benign and this can just be a get well soon quilt.  I hope so.