Building Rome

I know Rome wasn't built in a day, but it's been more than a day and I haven't yet gotten used to this whole pantograph thing. The first row looked nice and straight. Most of the second row was OK. Then I had to shift the laser doohickey and roll the quilt. It seemed to be working, but then at then end of the row, everything converged and started to overlap. I'm not sure yet what I'm doing wrong, but I think I'll sleep on it. I sometimes have trouble with spatial things. I am almost incapable of backing long distances. Something about looking in the rear view mirror and turning the wheel the opposite way really freaks me out. I'm sure that somehow the shifting of the rows must require the same deficient area of my cerebral cortex as the whole reverse driving thing. That's my working hypothesis anyway. Of course any hypothesis incapable of being tested in worthless, so I'd better try again. Maybe I'm shifting the pattern as I quilt. I could try taping it down. I'll try to come up with some other ideas in the morning. Maybe during my run.


Anna made breakfast for dinner tonight. She hardly needed any help and was very proud of herself. She made pancakes, bacon, toast, fruit salad and eggs cooked to order. Didn't she do a nice job on the table?

Practice Makes Perfect

OK, so maybe I need more practice. Well, maybe lots more practice would be the thing.
I put together a couple of pieces of flannel with a back made from some leftover fabric from the cushions in the kids toy room. This is a pantograph that I ordered from Golden Threads. I also got a pattern package, but those don't come on a roll, so I'll need to make copies and tape them together apparently.
I'm playing with the little laser pointer guy on my HQ16. I should have left extra space at the edges where I could get the next row all lined up the right way. I think I'm doing it correctly, but it seems a little fiddly so far.

I took a break from the laundry (8 loads and counting!) after lunch to take the kids to see a movie. I think it was called Furry Vengeance and it had Brendan Fraiser and Brooke Shields in it. The kids enjoyed it, and I treated myself to some junior mints so it wasn't a complete loss. Sydney did some sewing of her own this afternoon. Lizzie keeps attacking her dog bed and pulling out the stuffing, so Sydney decided to sew it back together. She allowed me to tie a knot in the end, but after that was insistent on doing it all herself. She is getting very grown up and independent all of the sudden. I'm not sure if I'll do a little more piecing tonight or practice my pantography a bit more. First I think I'll take a shower. We tried to turn on the air conditioner for the first time today when the inside temps hit 85, but it didn't seem to work. So I've been a little sweaty and grumpy all afternoon.