Shuttle Home and Summer Begun

This isn't a picture I took. Mine looks like a little white blob behind a power wire. But here is the shuttle coming home again. Each time I see it now I can't help thinking that there won't be too many more opportunities. They keep talking about extending the life of the shuttle program, and people around here are obviously in favor, but the idea makes me nervous. The odds of something bad happen seem to grow exponentially with each passing month, and I can't help wondering if it is worth the risks. I'm sure the job losses will be painful until the new program is up and running, and I can see why everyone would want to minimize that impact as much as possible. There are no easy answers I guess.
On a related note, my husband's company laid people off today. They didn't just announce that there were going to be lay offs, they fired 170 people and had security escort them out of the building. Can you imagine? I think the number is something like 1,000 company wide, but not all of those jobs are local. He is quite sure that his job isn't in any danger at all, and nobody on his program was on the list, but it seems to be hitting too close to home for my comfort. My own company has made cuts as well, and our contracts for next year contain renegotiation provisions that will take effect if things don't improve. I try not to dwell on the negatives, but it does all leave me a little anxious.
On to other topics! I finished the binding on Things Quilters Think today. It has a hanging sleeve and only wants for a label. I'm a bit up in the air over what to work on next. The June UFO hasn't been announced yet. I need to work on a border for Double Delight. I also have a BOM from Connecting Threads that is calling my name. So many choices -- luckily they go nicely with so many days in summer vacation.

May Finish Mostly

I was so close to finishing off my May UFO. I used a straight line grid with cream thread and a walking foot for the middle. When I got to the border I decided to do some swirly circles in pink to play off the polka dots in the outer section. I was down to the last little section of quilting when I ran out of bobbin thread. As I watched the last of the pink thread wind onto the bobbin, I thought there was enough there to finish off the quilt if I used that on the top and switched the bobbin thread to something else. The tensioning looked a little off, I could tell it was too loose. Instead of stopping to fix it, I just kept turning up the tension dial and powered through. How many times have I kept pounding away at something that didn't look or feel right to have to undo it all at the end? You would think I would learn my lesson by now, but apparently I'm a slow study. By now the fabric store is closed, so it's too late to run out for more of the dark pink thread. I'll still get the binding put on, and save that last little section until I can get out again. So, not quite an on time finish, but pretty darn close I think. It's not my favorite quilt of all time, but it was fun to think about and it's not sitting in a tub waiting to be finished. I'll pat myself on the back for that.
Ryan has cub scout camp this week. He is packing his little bag now with all the things on his list. It is all day at a nearby park, he went last year and had a good time. The girls and I are going to head over to Orlando for a little shopping. Tomorrow night is our last Girl Scout meeting of the year and I need to pick up some badges for our awards ceremony. I thought we'd check out Ikea while we were over there. I've never been, but people tell me it is lots of fun.
I'm still trying to switch into summer vacation mode. So far I've had school work to do everyday, so It doesn't seem much different so far. I'm sure it will hit me by the middle of next week that I have hours and days of freedom to savor. I am enjoying the fact that this is Sunday evening and I'm not feeling the dread of thinking about what needs to be done to get ready for Monday morning.

OK -- Serious sidetrack rant here -- I'm noticing that all of my quilt pictures look like little quilt mug shots. I love the decoratively draped shots people post of their quilts in lovely setting with perfect light. I even love the little quilts with feet photos that people post while their loved ones are holding up the quilts for them. Why do my pictures all look so clinical and sterile? Maybe I should find a quilt photography class. Maybe I should worry less and quilt more.

Indecision Leads to Action

I couldn't decide on what color to make the border for Things Quilters Think, and so added several borders instead. I think the excess of color on the outside somewhat detracts from the hodge podge of pattern on the inside. I just need to put together a backing and I can begin to cross this one off the list. I've been listing to a podcast of Pride and Prejudice which is just about to finish. I have the movie recorded on the DVR, and I think I'll watch that when I am done. Maybe I can be sewing down the binding by then. After that I think I'll check and see if the number of the June UFO has been posted yet. I've been following along with the monthly UFO challenge at Patchwork Penguin and it has done wonders for encouraging me to finish things off.

In Need of Opinions

I finally sat down and put the Things Quilters Think Blocks together. It is apparent that this was an evolutionary quilt. I can think of several points along the way when a cohesive plan might have made it seem a little less jumbled. I don't mind jumbled, but it does have me stuck on what to do with the borders. My fabric stash is not as extensive as others, so finding the right shade of a certain color never seems to work out for me. So although I do like to use what I have, I'm not opposed to buying something new. I see a lot of red in the quilt, but wanted to try to tie together all the different fabrics. I pulled out several multi color prints on black, because those are supposed to work as neutrals you know. I read it in Gwen Marston's last book, so it must be true. I tried those out with both red and pink. I also tried some mottled solids, thinking that might calm down the variety of blocks a bit. I really had a darker color in mind, like the purple from the center square, but the closest thing I found was a fat quarter of the purple on the left side. Maybe I should just find out what that purple is and order some of it. It came from a sewing themed charm pack, I'm sure I have the label somewhere or other. So, votes, opinions, options? Help me out please. This is my May UFO, so I have only two more days before I'm supposed to cross it off the list.

Happy Memorial Day

I hope everyone is having a happy Memorial Day. Our weekend has been busy celebrating Sydney's birthday. We were a bit worried about the idea of a swimming party in the middle of a weeks worth of nonstop rain. I spent hours planning back-up activities and games in case the weather was too stormy to be in the pool. Miraculously, the rain stopped just in time for the party and everyone swam the afternoon away happily.

Sydney has been busy since then playing with all of her new toys. I think she likes having a birthday party. When she was younger we would just double up on Anna's party and have a cake for Sydney as well. Now that she is a big 6 year old, she wants to have her own party with her own friends.

We spent Saturday morning out getting a haircut and doing the last minute shopping. We went to Snip-its, a kid themed haircut salon. They did a great job on her hair and finished her up with ribbons and glitter. What could be more fun than that?

Today Kurt took the girls ice skating so that Anna could try out the new outfit she got for her birthday two weeks ago. Her lessons were off for a couple of weeks and she was anxious to show off her new ensemble.

I have managed to get a little time in on the sewing machine, but mostly I've been ironing and organizing. I'm just about ready to get the blocks for Things Quilters Say sewn together so I'll be sure to get a picture of that as soon as it is ready.

We have burgers on the grill now, and I think we'll be able to get them in before the rain starts again. It's been beautiful all day, I'm sure all the parade and picnic goers are thankful for that.

Gifts in the Post

I went to the mailbox today and was so excited to find a package via Royal Mail. It was full of goodies from Amanda. I was the winner of her recent giveaway for her 200th post. Look at all the gun quilting goodies! There are some fat quarters, a lovely needlework bag, an appliqued towel, a fringed bookmark, a little bear pin and a tiny quilters charm with a spool of thread on it. Oh, I almost forgot the packages of shrinkles. Anna nabbed those as soon as the package was open and was ready to start crafting. Thank you so much Amanda for the goodies, I will enjoy them all. Congratulations of 200 posts.

I went online this week and ordered another panel of quilters sayings so that I can finish off my May UFO. I had one panel that I had ordered from Keepsake Quilting a little bit ago. I putzed around with it and ended up making some little 3.5 inch (3 inches finished!) squares to alternate with the printed blocks. I'm not sure how many came on the panel, but this is all that turned up when I pulled it out again. Getting something to fill out the quilt top seemed like a plan. I couldn't find anymore panels at KQ, but did a google search and found some at a place called Clotilde. I had never heard of it, but I thought it was worth a try. Each nine patch is a different pattern. I already had the Log Cabins, Flying Geese and Spikey Stars ready to go. Today I added the Nine Patches, the Amish Strings, the Jacobs Ladder and the Broken Dishes.

In searching for some squares to use, I stumbled across my baggie of bonus triangles. Does anyone else sew behind the corners on sew and flip patterns and save the little HSTs? I am a compulsive saver. Occasionally I'll get the bag out and iron or square up some little squares. I had started putting this batch together already, I think the pattern is called Depression Blocks. The little squares are 1.75 inches unfinished, so it is rather an odd size. I seem to have a lot of them though, so as long as they play nicely with each other It shouldn't matter if it is an even size. I had another bag that finished at 2 inches, and I started turning them into broken dishes blocks.
It was a nice day of putting around the house trying to put back together after the slumber party and finish off a few weekend chores. The kids were all fairly tired and were content to spend a big chunk of the day relaxing. Kurt is either getting sick or fighting off allergies, I'm not sure which. There are several more swine flu cases that have shown up, but the consensus seems to be that it is not any more dangerous than a regular flu.