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.

Weekend Update

The in laws were in Florida on vacation this week and came over for dinner on Friday night. We were all sitting out by the pool chatting when I heard this exclamation from upstairs. My son had spotted a nest outside and thought it was wasps. We all went up to examine and determined that it was a bee swarm! The picture isn't the best, but there was no way we were going to open the window. I know it wasn't there last weekend, because we cut two palm trees down right in front of the eve in question and we would have noticed. We called the exterminators, but before they called back the swarm was gone!
I started an Easter table topper, I think it will be called Hunting Eggs. I'm using the circle technique that I saw Dale Flemming do on Simply Quilts. I'm making a table topper to give to a friend who hosts an Easter Party every year. My husband thought the colors were too subtle, but I didn't want to go with anything too bright as my friend is sort of a pastel person. I'm not quite sure what I want to do with the sky yet. I thought about seeing if I could make some clouds using the same technique.
Check out my grout! The kitchen floor was next on my list of chores I keep putting off. My husband suggested muriatic acid, and wow did it clean! I think it was actually dissolving the top layer of grout, but it looks so sparkly clean! You can also see our new kitchen table in the picture, which we were forced to buy when the leg fell off our old table again.

Sewing? Not So Much.

This weekend was our local Girl Scout Camporee. It is for all the troops from our local service unit, which is quite large. Last year there must have been 600 girl scouts all camping out. This year the weather was somewhat less than ideal. Older troops camp for two nights, the first of which brought tornadic activity and torrential downpours. Most of the older girls packed up that morning and never came back. We were lucky to be slotted for the second night which was supposed to be dry, but with temperatures in the 40s. I know to people up north that might seem quite balmy for this time of the year, but not to us Floridians! Most of our kids don't even own a winter coat and have no concept of dressing in layers. I spent a good portion of the weekend explaining that long pants are warmer than capris and tennis shoes are warmer than flip-flops. They just don't get it.

I think they all had a good time, and learned many valuable camping skills. For some this was the first time they had ever camped or slept away from home without parents. Those are big steps for them. Even putting up a tent became an adventure in teamwork.



I'm itching to get back to some sewing which I just haven't had the energy for recently. I got some antibiotics for a lingering sinus infection and am starting to feel human again. If I can just adjust to daylight savings I'll be good to go.

Reorganization

One of my neighbors was working at a local craft store when they went out of business. After the store closing, they threw out all sorts of shelves and fixtures. This was an extra display stand that she saved from the dumpster. It originally had a big top portion with crown molding and hooks for hanging stock. I pulled that off and used part of it to construct a new top. I'll trim a cutting mat to size and attach that for a perfect counter height work surface. The bottom is made for 12 x 12 paper storage with room for all of my paper separated by theme and color. I'm really happy with the way it turned out. And best of all -- it was free!I went to a crop on Friday, this is one of the pages I made with pictures from my sons room. My husband painted superheros on his walls, and I was so happy with the way they turned out. Of course that was two years ago, and now he's into Pokemon, but I don't think the superheros are going to disappear anytime soon.

Getting Scrappy!

I ordered this quilter's saying panel from Keepsake Quilting and thought it would make a cute sampler type quilt. I started with just the log cabin blocks, but then thought I could do a variety of different blocks. I've got flying geese and hourglass blocks so far, I think I need two more patterns, one for the top left nine patch region, and then something different for the middle two four patches. The squares are only 3 inches finished, so it will be a little quilt, but it's been fun making tiny little blocks. My husband insists that we don't NEED any more bed quilts in the house, so I should make more little quilts. He thinks that just because we live in Florida people don't get cold.
I'm going to a crop tonight (that's a scrap booking party). I haven't been to one in ages and had to check to see if I even had pictures developed. I used to do lots of scrap booking and for a while was even up to date with all of my pictures. I've been spending more time quilting in the last couple of years, and my photos have fallen behind. My youngest daughter doesn't even have a baby book! I feel so guilty every time she asks to look at her baby book and we have to pull out the family book that covers the period of time when she was born. My oldest daughters baby book was the first thing I ever cropped and it is quite extensive. My son was born only 2 years later, so I used the same format and made one for him as well. And now I've fallen so far behind on the family album that I feel like I can't take a break and make another baby album. It will be fun to get out of the house, it seems like I've been stuck at home a lot lately.

Cookies Almost Gone

The last couple of weeks have been full of cookie booths, and Girl Scout meetings. I have only two cases left, and so the end is in sight! My cold made a come-back and I spent most of last week in hibernation. I finally found a few minutes last night to sew for a bit and decided to pull out my Tea Rose Sampler. This is from fat quarter bundle that my mom got for me last Christmas. The colors are very soft and pretty, with a large scale floral as the focus. I decided to use a large center block to keep the large floral intact and use a variety of patterns around the edges. I'm not sure why I put it away, I think I got frustrated trying to get 3 flying geese to fit on a side and put it away to simmer.

Different Kind of Scrappy

I really hate the cheesy little valentines from the supermarket. The cartoon ones with the spot to write in to and from that come 36 to a box. There is something so sad and impersonal about them. All of the kids are supposed to bring valentines to school tomorrow, so I was motivated to scrapbook again. It's been ages since I had my scrap booking stuff out, and it was such fun! I've been in a real quilting phase lately, and I'm starting to feel that it may be time to switch gears for a while.
My oldest daughter made her own valentines -- hearts for the girls and puzzle pieces for the boys. I tried to get her to put, "You hold the key to my heart" on them, but she wanted, "Happy Valentines Day" instead (poetry must run in the family). I chose a letter theme for the other two. "You are the apple of my EYE" and "BE my valentine". I even ran out to the craft store for a bumble bee stamp.

Slow Progress

There wasn't much time this weekend to sew, but I did manage to complete a few rounds on the last set of log cabin blocks. I think I have the right number of each color combination counted out, now it's just round and round we go. Mindless sewing is about all I've got time and energy for at the moment.
Tonight was our regular Girl Scout meeting, we made cupcakes and practiced our Irish song for Thinking Day. We tried Irish dancing, but kept bumping into cookie boxes! We had a cookie booth this weekend, and another next weekend. Just when I'm wondering why I do it, my daughter looks up at me with those sweet little eyes and says, "I'm so glad you're my leader Mom." Sigh....
I talked to my brother on Saturday. He has a job! I know that it won't solve all of his problems, but I can think of a number of issues that it will help. My mom has decided to bail him out, but with conditions. We'll see how it all plays out. I had a number of interesting comments on my decisions post. It seems that other people have similar issues to deal with. I still don't have any answers, but I do feel better for having articulated my questions.

CookieTime!

Remember that picture I posted a couple of days ago of my nice empty formal living room floor after I had picked up all of the quilt bits? Now my formal living room has been overrun by Girl Scout cookies! I've managed to get two loads out the door already, but it will be a while before I can get rid of everything. So all things quilt related will have to take a little break as I spend the next two weekends at cookie booths. For some reason everything happens in February so it's going to be a busy month for our troop.
I got an e-mail from my aunt yesterday asking me to make a memorial quilt square for my cousin who died last week. I've asked her for some input into color and design. I was thinking a photo quilt might be nice. I guess I'll get my encyclopedia of quilting out and look for a pattern with an appropriate name. My nephews birthday is in two weeks, so I should get his top quilted in a hurry if I'm going to get it mailed out in time. Hmm, I guess I should get moving on some of those......