Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July to all the bloggers in America! I hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday. We spent the evening at a river front park that sponsors a festival every year with carnival games and food vendors. There is a fountain where the children frolic and play. Then the symphony plays patriotic music while the fire works go off over the water. Mom came with us and we met up with several groups of friends, some of whom we planned to meet, and some who just happened to be there. We all had a lovely time, with plenty of food and good company.
The kids all enjoyed themselves completely. Poor Sydney passed out cold about halfway through the fireworks and had to be carried back to the car at the end of the night. There is something very sublime about cradling a sleeping child in the middle of a bustling event. I know I won't get many more opportunities, so I'm trying to savor each one. Anna's friend Sierra was there with her mom who is one of my running partners. She had family in town as well, so there were quite a few of us gathered together.
I got up this morning for a run and got in a quick 6 miles. I've been trying hard to decide what to do about fall marathons this year, and I'm having trouble. I did two marathons three years ago, but for the past two years, I've only done halves. The first time because I was having back issues, and last year, just for a change of pace. I enjoy the half marathon distance, but I kind of miss the long marathon training runs. That sounds silly, doesn't it? I shouldn't miss a grueling 20 mile run. So we've been discussing the possibility of doing the marathon, but as a run/walk this year instead of a run. It would be something new to try, but might not be as taxing as trying to run the whole thing. We did the run this morning that way, and the time was about the same, but I'm less tired than I usually am. I'm having my running partner read the book that explains the theory of the run/walk and we'll take it from there.
Not much on the quilting front. I finished the binding on the OC and the log cabin quilt and got in a little practice on hand quilting using my new thimble lady thimble. So far so good, although I haven't quite got my rhythm down yet.

Done Done

When is done really done? Some people don't give themselves credit for a quilt until the binding is sewn down on both sides and the label is on. I figure the whole quilt is there and in one piece as soon as the binding is put on. So according to my own criteria, I'm calling OC done. All that remains is the hand work on the binding. FINALLY. I feel like the end of this quilt just went on and on. It is so good to be able to cross it off the list. I think it will look great in Sydney's room. The colors really fit her to a "T".
I spent the morning working my way through the scrap bin. It was overflowing with extras from recent finishes and bits too small to go in the Girl Scout quilts. I've got about half of the mess tamed into strips and squares ready to go into whatever comes next.

Out of Thread

I was ready to fall asleep on the couch at 8 o'clock, so I decided I needed to get up and do something. I could have cleaned or organized or put away laundry. Those would have been smart things to do after being in class all day. The OC quilt was calling my name, and I just had to get a few more rows of quilting put in. Just one or two more bobbins at most. Boy, 250 yards of thread doesn't go very far. Does dayglow orange thread come on a bigger spool? I'll have to make another trip to the fabric store tomorrow. I hate having to make a trip out for just one thing, but they are having a sale right now.....and it's not as if I can switch thread in the middle of a quilt, right?
So, unable to do machine quilting, I got out some handquilting. I got just this much done on the Elm Creek Quilt. Hand quilting has such a nice dimpled look to it, so subtle compared to machine quilting. I think I'll finish up this block and call it a night.

Something a Little Different

I wanted to try a new quilting design, and found this site, with lots of new patterns. I thought it was the same as the pajama quilter site, but it's called Fast and Free. I like the way they organize the patterns into families. It seems like a nice way to think about how the design is supposed to work. So I picked one listed as easy and filled up a stack of scratch paper with some practice. The repeat itself is pretty easy, then I had to figure out how to transition from row to row. I had a little trouble reversing the pattern to come back the other way, but I think I've got it down now. I'll have to see how it looks on the whole quilt, but it is really fun to try something new.

On a Roll Now

I'm just starting to get into my summer groove. I finished the Dresden plates quilt today -- even the binding! I went ahead and washed it, because I used washable marker to sketch in the border. I don't know why I've spent so much time and money trying out fancy quilting markers when Crayola comes in an eight pack for only $2! Here is Sydney with her new quilt -- I've already got it on her bed and it fits great.
Anna took off on an airplane today to go and visit her grandparents in North Carolina. I tried not to be nervous about sending her on an airplane all alone. Kurt took her to the airport and checked her in, by the time he was home again, she had already landed on the other end. Ryan is in Chess camp all week and I'm taking a teacher certification class on giftedness. That leaves Sydney in preschool again. The camp is only a half day, so I've lined up a babysitter for the afternoon. Sydney wants to come home to play with the sitter, but I don't know if I'll have time to pick her up during our lunch break. I guess I'll have to play it by ear and see how everything works out tomorrow.
I'm itching to jump in to quilting the OC, but I don't know if I should start, knowing I'll be busy all week. I saw a quilting pattern on the pajama quilter web site that has straight lines and little triangles. I don't know if I should try that out our wait for the DVD I've ordered to come in. Something to think about I guess.

Basting Bash

I've been basting myself bloody this evening. I still have the OC left to go, but I ran out of safety pins and decided to call it a night. It's so frustrating, because I remember buying three extra packages the last time I was grocery shopping. I don't think I could have used that many, but I turned the laundry room upside down and couldn't find any more pins. I was planning on getting some serious quilting done tomorrow while my husband hung out with the kids, but now it looks like he's not going to take his day off. He is usually off every other Friday, but they have a deadline coming up, and have all been working a lot of late nights this week. I hope he is able to at least take Saturday off. I'm enjoying spending time at home with the kids, but It's nice to have some adult company as well.
We worked on cleaning the toy room today and then filled up the rest of the day with play dates. Anna had two friends over this morning, and then Ryan had someone over this afternoon. It's great that there are so many kids in the neighborhood. It's so nice to have people knocking on the door to see if someone can play.

Border Details

I was planning on plain borders for the OC quilt, but I was inspired by Amy's finished OC, and decided to go ahead and make the pieced border that Bonnie designed. The sides took a little finagling, but I've got it done, the back pieced, and the binding rolled and ready to go.
I'm glad I went to the extra trouble, I think the border adds a lot to the quilt, even it it did take a little extra time. I need to do a little cleaning and reorganization so that I can switch gears for a while and get some quilting done. I now have FOUR completed tops ready and waiting for quilting. Even if I save one for hand quilting (shocking thought -- isn't it?), I still have quite a bit to keep my busy.
Today is a home day. I've been trying to get the kids to clean the toy room. I even tried bribing them with lunchables, but no luck so far. I had a nice run this morning, and I think we'll swim this afternoon.

Borders Borders Borders

I haven't gotten much done in the past few days, but I have been plugging away on the borders, trying to get my last two quilts finished up. I went with piano keys on the Elm Creek Sampler quilt. I've never done them before, but I'm happy with the way they turned out. I think they add a lot of color the the quilt. Now I just need to get the layering and basting done. I started recycling the scraps from this quilt for a pineapple quilt I've been thinking about starting.
I've pieced the outer border for the OC quilt, but I haven't got my head around what size to make the inner border yet. I know the math isn't complicated, but I haven't sat down to think it through yet. I wanted the inner border to be pink, but I'm low on that particular fabric, so it might end up yellow or orange instead.
Yesterday was fathers day, so I mowed the yard and did some pruning and edging and other fun stuff. We don't usually fall into sexually stereotyped jobs around here, but the yard had fallen to Kurt for the last few years, and I always feel a little guilty about him being out there in the heat of the day. He got some more work done on the bathroom, if we can decide on faucets we may have a working bathtub again soon! We went out for dinner to Cici's Pizza (the kids favorite) and then all went to see the Incredible Hulk movie. Sydney slept through most of it, all curled up on my lap like a little angel, but everyone else seemed to enjoy it.

Border Decisions

I was all set to do a plain border on the OC quilt. I had it all justified in my mind: the quilt is already big enough for Sydney's bed, it's already very busy, I'd rather have it done. Then I saw Amy's finished OC quilt and started to have regrets. So now I am rethinking and have several options open to me based on the "leftover" squares.
Option 1: Plain pink and orange.
Option 2: "Flying Geese" units from squares, shown here with pink inner border.
Option 3: alternating up and down triangle units which ends up looking like hourglass half square alternating units. Shown here with an inner yellow border.
Option 4: leftover triangle units alternating with solid triangles. Shown here with inner pink border.
Help! It's too many choices.

Hot off the Presser Foot!

I decided to use a slightly different setting for my OC blocks. The quilt was not exactly speaking to me. I saw a very cool alternative to the spinning star blocks at Quilts and Pieces, but the thought of reworking all of those blocks seemed a little daunting. Especially after I had already resewn several of the spinning stars that weren't spinning. Something about the diagonal setting and mix of colors was just too much for me. So I decided to use a straight set with alternating blocks and make a twin quilt. I have enough leftover star blocks for a pillow sham. I think I'll use this one in Sydney's room and call it done. After I get this bordered, I'll have two quilts ready for quilting. I think I'll pick one more to finish up and then switch into quilting mode for a while. I am lucky enough to have already seen Kung Fu Panda twice, and it just opened this weekend! Ryan had a birthday party on Friday, and he wanted me to stay rather than just do the drop off. I thought it was a cute movie, and the kids all enjoyed it, especially the 7 year old boys who all came out doing lots of karate moves. Then this morning, the girls decided they had been cheated out of a movie and wanted to go and see it as well.
I enjoy seeing movies regardless of what they are. Something about sitting in a dark theater munching on popcorn completely cut off from the outside world is just very relaxing to me. Sydney just enjoys everything so much right now. It must be the magic of turning 5. She kept laughing out loud and repeating the lines during the movie. Even when we got back home she was still parroting the quotes and singing the song.
The kids all have day camps next week. I arranged them all at the same time because I was supposed to be away at a teacher workshop all week. I just found out that my workshop has been canceled, but the kids are all booked. That means I have a week of time with no work and no kids. I wonder what I'll do with myself?

Ooops!

I had a few minutes for sewing yesterday and put together the last of the OC squares. I still haven't done any of the setting triangles, but I can still start to see the overall effect. My husband just looked at it and commented that it certainly was bright. As I was ironing, I noticed that I had I had put some of the spinning stars together wrong. I never thought about how close the spinning star block is the Jacobs Ladder block. I like the effect, but I think I have more stars already finished that ladders, so I guess I'll do some unsewing this afternoon.

Last night was Syndey's ballet recital. She was SO excited! She wasn't always thrilled about the practice, but the minute she was on a stage and people cheered and clapped, she just lit up and started performing. She was so excited about getting a medal and trophy, and told me again and again how everyone kept applauding for them. The recital itself was a little long, I was the lucky class mom who got to sit in the basement and entertain the girls during the show. During the rehearsal, the girls all got to sit in the audience and watch the show. They were mesmerized!

Girls Night Out

Tonight I went out with a group of friends for drinks. They all have a usual Monday night thing after tennis. I don't play tennis at all, but it was still a nice time out. One of my running partners invited me out to celebrate my birthday. She reads my blog, so I have to say, "Thanks for the girls night out." It was nice to get out of the house AND to spend time socializing.

This is the osprey that we watched devour a fish last night during our cookout. I saw the white head and thought for a minute it was an eagle. There are a couple that nest new the back of the neighborhood. After I took the picture, I zoomed in and got a good look at his head. Definitely an osprey. I really do need to get my eyes checked.
I put together a few of the leaders and enders blocks yesterday to see how I like them. I think in general it's pretty good, I'll have to watch the contrast and make sure I don't get too many lights in the outside rim. It is certainly an easier pattern than the Irish chain to keep track of.
I kept working on the OC quilt today, and got all of step 4 done, along with a big chunk of step 5. I didn't get any pictures taken yet, but I'll be sure to get the camera out tomorrow. It was a nice relaxing day, and I alternated between quilting an laundry. Not much of an alternation I guess since those are such similar things, but I caught up on my recorded shows for the week while I was at it. I've been DVRing all of the crime scene shows as preparation for my forensic science class next year. Tomorrow is still a work day, even if it is post planning, so I should call it a night.

Second Guessing

I've had the half square triangle units for step 3 of the OC quilt ready for a while now, but I haven't put together the star blocks. Usually when I get stuck on a step like this, it's because I'm not happy with the way things are turning out. I thought the colors looked too washed out compared to all the scraps, and set the blocks aside. I now see that the next step is posted, so I need to fix the problem so that I can move on. The inspiration for the quilt is rainbow sherbet, and the choices are: A) grape and lime B) rasberry and lime or C) grape and icy lime. I know what I think, but Kurt has a different opinion, so I'd like to say I sent out for a consensus. The yellow and orange are the other two colors, and they are sitting just above the blocks. So please vote, it's much easier than anguishing and second guessing.

Happy Mother's Day

Anna made me breakfast this morning. It didn't come to me in bed, but it was waiting at the table when I got up. I am a lucky Mom.
Sydney was helping me today to make HER quilt. I trimmed the Dresden Plates down to size, and she helped me arrange them and lay down the sashing. As I was ironing the strips and handing them to her, she told me what a good sewing person I was. She said I was so fast and good at making quilts that I should consider entering a competition for sewing. Then she said that was silly, because they didn't have contests like that, but If they did, I would be the winner for sure. This is the same four year old who was diagnosed with a developmental delay in speech at 18 months. I think she's got if figured out now.
After that I decided to work the the next step of the OC quilt. I looked and looked, and couldn't find my easy angle ruler anywhere. Honestly, looking at the space next to my sewing machine, who could imagine that I'd have trouble finding something? I practically had to clean the whole study before the ruler showed up, right next to the machine, under a pair of gloves, scissors, two spools of thread, three bobbins, a drawer of accessories, a phone, a pile of scraps and a cup of corn starch. Just the essentials.

After getting all the pieces cut, I chain pieced a bunch, but then had to put one block together all the way to see how it would look. I'm not thrilled about the color combination so far, but I'm going to let it go for now. I'm thinking I should have chosen a stronger green to stand out more compared to the scraps. I was going for a frosty sherbet thing, but I may have gone too light.

Finally, I got four Girl Scout quilts "kitted" One complete yard for the back and then just over a yard of various coordinating strips for the front and four strips of binding fabric. I thought I would be able to pull together more quilts from my stash, but I just don't have that much fabric I guess. Enough to go with lots of stuff, but not enough to make much from scratch. I've got several people who have volunteered more fabric, so I'll keep sorting as that comes in and supplement when I need to. I asked my friend to help me come up with a name for our project, and she suggested Scouting Lap Scraps or Scout Patches. What do you think? Does anyone else have a good idea? The goal is to present 3o lap quilts to elderly residents of an Alzheimer's care unit while caroling this Christmas.

Just In Time

I finished step 2 of the OC mystery just in time. I logged on to peek at e-mail and bloglines had an update from Bonnie with step number 3 already! I've got 165 of step 2, so that should leave some extras to play around with. We still haven't cut into the yardage for this quilt, but I'm liking the way all my bright scraps are playing together. I am pondering the idea of making two bunk bed sized quilts for my youngest who sadly has a (gasp) store bought comforter on her bed right now.
The pine wood derby was a big hit, and the library book sale was productive as well. We topped off the evening with our usual Sunday pizza night. It's 8:46, and everyone is in bed but me. I did a quick 5 miles with one of my running partners and am now freshly showered and snuggled up in a cozy bathrobe. I have bindings to sew down on two quilts, and sole possession of the remote control. Sometimes life is good.

Little Bits of Hapiness

I got a good start on the next step in the O.C. mystery and I think these little squares are just way too cute! The colors make me smile. I think I could make a whole quilt out of just these little bits. Maybe I'll make a few extra while I'm at it and turn it into a little doll quilt for one of the girls. I'm off take take my oldest daughter to a movie with one of her friends, so I'm probably done sewing for the day. I'd love to make a few more, but I've got some tests that I should get graded before tomorrow.

Technical Difficulties

Never sew a test block past 1 a.m. I got the kids to bed at 7:30 and started ironing my new fabric and cutting scraps for the O.C. quilt. I had plenty of dark 2 inch strips, but I was low on lights, and pretty low in the 3.5 inch bin as well. So I took some of the scraps I was able to liberate as a result of recent finishes. I cut the strips for my nieces pink quilt while I was at it, and got quite a bit done. I wanted to get one test block done, just to see how the pieces were going to come together. Now that I've spent a little quality time with my seam ripper, I'm ready to call it a night. I can never resist that urge to go one step too far.

Progress

I finished step one of the Orange Crush Mystery. I think I'm going to call mine Sherbet Crush, or maybe Rainbow Sherbet Crush. I'm thinking Rainbow Sherbet and Orange Crush Float is a little too long. Anyway , it's 150 four patches with a two inch base square. I had a "leaders enders" project going which was an Irish Chain with a two inch base, so I pulled that out as well and used some of the leftover two square sub cuts to move a few four patches along to the next step.
Tomorrow is the local quilt guilds semi annual quilt show. I'm not a member because they seem to hold most of their meetings during the day (there are a lot of retired people around here). Apparently there is a waiting list to join, but you can get into some of the smaller circles without being a member of the main guild. Unfortunately their meetings always happen on nights when my husband is off playing volleyball, so I've never been able to try one out. I don't know why the idea of joining a group is so intimidating, but I just never quite manage to do it. I didn't realize that the show was this weekend, but my running partner called to tell me she read about it in the paper. She is not a quilter, but we worked together to make t-shirt quilts after our marathon. She just finished tying the final knot in her quilt and says she isn't ready to start another, but I was thinking of pulling out my running themed fabric to tempt her into starting something new.

Rationalization

It's not terrible to start a new quilt as long as you finish an old one, right? I can't resist another Quiltville mystery, so I had no choice but to finish something off. I had 81 out of 120 blocks done on the patriotic log cabin, so it was the lucky winner! I started to get a little wonky about 11 last night, but I figured no one would ever notice if every single log wasn't exactly in order -- right? As long as you stand back a bit and squint your eyes it is absolutely perfect. And since perfection is overrated, I think my artistic license will just add flavor. I'll let it age in on the floor of the formal living room overnight, and if nothing screams by then, I'll sew it together!
Then, feeling smug about finishing the blocks for the log cabin made the process of picking out colors for orange crush even more fun. My theme is rainbow sherbet, so I chose lemon, lime, orange and either grape or strawberry. I don't have a clear idea yet of how the scrap salad is going to play in, so I just pulled out anything in my 2 inch scrap tub that was bright or pastel. And in case there aren't enough scraps, I pulled a few more bits and pieces from the stash. All in all, not a bad days work.


Aha, as I was looking at the log cabin picture, I found twisted block -- just went to fix it -- so all is well

Itchin to get Quiltin

Life has been busy around here with Easter and ballet recitals. Work seems to stay hectic no matter how hard I try to get caught up, and my laundry must be reproducing itself in the dark of night. Spring break is right around the corner, and summer vacation can't be far behind!
I have more projects started than I know what to do with, and yet, I saw the Orange Crush mystery quilt coming up and thought I had to participate! The first clue won't be posted until Monday, so I'm rationalizing by devoting the weekend to finishing some things up. I haven't decided yet what I'll do, but I am definitely going to make some sort of significant progress over the weekend.