DH in the Backyard with an Axe

I was puttering around in the study, ironing and organizing some leaders and enders and odds and ends. Kurt was in the backyard working on a new clubhouse for the kids. I could tell by the determined footsteps straight to the downstairs bathroom that something was up. Sure enough, when I called out, "Do you need any help?" The answer was an affirmative.
Apparently it was due to the hot humid weather that the axe became slippery and bounced off of the 4 x 4 and into his shin. He tried to ignore it, thinking it was just a scratch, but when the blood started seeping into his sock, I guess he decided to have a look. Thankfully the urgent care clinic is close and convenient, letting us avoid the dreaded emergency room trip.
It took less than an hour to get 4 stitches and an updated tetanus shot. We made it home again in plenty of time for the Iowa game on TV.
Ryan and Sydney were nice enough to make chocolate chip pancakes for dinner. Aren't they great little pancake flippers?

So after all of that, I did eventually make it back into the study again and worked on finding all of the parts of this project that got lost somewhere along the way. It is a scrap block by Bonnie Hunter from Quiltmaker Magazine. It's been a while, but maybe it was called Carolina Crossroads? It is a little long and skinny at the moment so I might cut out a few more blocks for the edges and quilt it up for a snuggler for the kids. Or maybe I'll try something creative with an asymmetrical border to get the proportions right without making more blocks.

Happy Humpday

I was feeling all caught up for the moment and so took a few minutes to put together Midget Block 28 today. It is called Calico Puzzle and it was simple, straight forward traditional rotary cutting and sewing. Tiny traditional cutting and sewing. Each of the little blocks is 1.25 inches and there are 36 of them. It really helps when putting these little buggers together to think of each block as a tiny little quilt. Isn't that an adorable little tiny 5 inch quilt?Nobody was home to take a picture of me with the block, so Lizzie was kind enough to hold it while I snapped a photo. Isn't she a great helper?


Today was school picture day and Sydney asked me to curl her hair with a curling iron. I tried to do Anna's too, but her hair just wouldn't hold onto the curl. Ryan used gel on his hair. So fancy! Last night they all had a little fashion show for each other while deciding what to wear. I had to run off to a coaches meeting for Academic team, but I listened in on the beginning and it was hilarious.

Little Bits of Lots of Things

If I had chosen a focus project for the weekend, I'm sure I could have made good progress, maybe even finished something off. As it was, I chipped away at lots of projects and puttered around the house. It was a nice and relaxing way to spend a rainy holiday. This morning I got out the GO cutter and turned the extras from yesterday's moon fabric into string blocks. I'll take the extras from that, sew them together again and make some crumb blocks next. Using the 6.5 inch die is a nifty way of making strings without all that messy paper and flipping and sewing. These are all yellow and will eventually turn into a monochromatic string quilt (Amy suggested String Cheese for a name -- isn't that cute?).
Working here and there I got the words for the moon quilt put together into two big blocks with a moon and a star. I'll let this one continue to simmer and figure out what comes next in the light of day. Anna doesn't want a lot of different fabrics, but if I had know the background was going to be consistent, I would have used different yellows in the letters. It's all going to be very uniform and even if she sticks to her guns. It is her quilt though, so if she wants to to be boring, so be it. I'm trying to subtly sneak some variety in there without her noticing.
Next up, with the design wall empty, I took a lint roller to it and then rotated one to put up another. Now I've got lots more room to play so I threw up my current L&E project (another 4 squared) along with the nine patches for Mom's shams and the leftovers from my last few projects. While pondering all of that, I sewed the brown and green pinwheels together. They were the bonus blocks for the Sage Blossom quilt that was a baby shower gift. I don't seem to have enough of any of the others to make a statement yet, so they may all go into the orphan bin for a bit. I'm sure eventually something will grow into a quilt. Sewing is funny that way, isn't it? Make enough quilts and eventually something will come from the leftovers, much like the volunteer tomatoes that thrive in the compost pile.

Design Floor on Monday

I spent most of yesterday putting the words together for Anna's Shoot for the Moon quilt. I measured the top of her bed and taped it out onto the floor to make sure the blocks would fit the right way. I thought I would fill in the empty spaces with 5 inch blue squares. Now that I see it all together though, it seems a little busy. I asked Anna what she thought (it is her quilt after all) and she wants just the same blue fabric from the words to fill in all the space on the top. It's a good thing I got lots of blue fabric! I think I'll do several borders, but just along the three sides. The top of the bed fits against the wall and the pillow will go on top of that part. Maybe by the end of the day I'll have the top part done and be ready to start on borders.

Moon Block

Anna has been asking when I was going to finish her quilt. We are in the process of getting new carpet, and I will have to move the quilting machine out of the study for a while. I am thinking about using the move as an opportunity to set it up full size and quilt a couple of BIG quilts that I have in the works. This one will need to be queen sized, so it will be one of those projects.

I spent most of today getting the words put together and then decided to take a break before inserting the punctuation to make the moon. Out came the yellow crumbs and strings! The study looks a little frightening right now, but I produced LOTS of yellow crumb fabric in the process of getting enough for this 19 inch moon block. The carpet guy is going to be here at 4 to get the contract signed, so I'd better get moving.

Anna made dinner last night while Kurt was away at his football thing. Grilled cheese with instant mashed potatoes and fruit kabobs. She did it all by herself and even set the table with pretty china and candles.

Craziness

If I were fond of the colors, or the shape or the design, this would be a really cool block.
As it is, I just think it is a little psychotic, or maybe psychedelic, or something else maybe. Hard to say. I have yet to stitch the edges down by hand, but the corners are sewn into the seam allowance so that is holding it all together for now.
Kurt is feeling better enough to venture out for a fantasy football draft and all of the kids are off at different friends houses. I should take advantage of a few quiet minutes and do something productive. Maybe I'll just sit and enjoy the silence for a minute first though.

Making a List

Checking things off the list one by one. On my agenda was sewing the Dear Jane Blocks together so that I could make some space on the design wall for working on Anna's quilt. I bought another table cloth so that I could put up two design walls, but I needed to get some project moved along to make the rearranging easier. I'm thinking of doing a wide scalloped border on this one, I don't know whether I want to add applique or not. This quilt has been in the works for a while now, so it's not as if I need to have it finished tomorrow. I do feel less guilty about working on the Midget blocks without this one lurking in the background. I'm still pondering an attempt at the whole quilt someday, but it won't be monochromatic -- to repetitive to work on long term. Instead I'll just pick a theme. Maybe brights, those would be fun to work on. A happy rainbow radiating out of a bright red center. That would be a fun quilt.

Seriously?

32 little wedges to applique onto 32 little triangles to be sewn together into a 5 inch square? Who thinks of these things? I didn't like the idea of applique on the long bias edge of a triangle, so I cut squares 1.625 inches each and put a long skinny piece in the middle and a quarter circle in a corner. I made four of those and then sewed it together into a four patch. I'll applique those little suckers down and then make three more just like it. Comparing my little bits to the picture, I think my applique shapes are a little big. Maybe from the round of patterns I printed with the wrong printer settings. I like the way that the two pieces meet in the middle though. I think it makes the pattern look a little more like more deliberate. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
We were supposed to travel up to Atlanta this weekend to see my side of the family. Kurt is sick though and hacking and miserable looking. I was pretty sure that we would all be the same way after 16 hours in a car together. Also, Zach is still medically fragile and I couldn't bear the thought of bringing our germs up to him. There are two more three day weekends between now and Thanksgiving though, so we will make the trip sometime soon. That does mean I have time this weekend to do some sewing. First I'd better do the yard and the laundry and hang out with the kids a while, but sewing is definitely on my list somewhere. I hope everyone else has lots of fun projects lined up. Holiday's are a very good thing.

Cutie Patootie

I thought I'd try to get one more block in this evening after bedtime for the kids. Kurt was playing volleyball so it was peaceful for a bit. This is Old Snowflake and it is block number 26.
This one was simple enough. A darker purple would have been nice in the center, but it's a nice little pattern and came together just fine. What a relief after the last two better done than perfect blocks. The seams are still a bit damp where I spritzed it to get the seam to lie flat. I think that will dry well enough.
Lizzie was helping me sew the binding down on the Girl Scout cookies quilt. She likes to be part of the action.
Most of the afternoon was spent in the kitchen keeping Sydney company while she baked. She made 7 cookies and they cook one a time for 10 minutes each. Attention span is never a problem when she is feeling motivated. Ryan wanted to know why we didn't just turn on the oven and cook them all at once.

Busyness

It is hard to believe that it is Wednesday already and I had yet to sew a stitch this week. I don't have a particularly good reason, just life. When Kurt was out of town last week he called and said they wanted him to go on another trip this week. He took a look at the schedule and decided that it was going to take both of us to get through it.
The kids have open house at their school for two nights, the one where you go in and hear the teacher talk . They schedule open houses for all the extra programs at the same time, so were are finding out about Odyssey of the Mind and the strings program as well. There is still a bit of a learning curve when starting over at a new school, but we are getting it figured out I think. Kurt swore that he wasn't going to coach an OM team this year, but now he knows the topics and they've got him hooked. Mousetrap cars or a Rube Goldberg Machine! Ahh, bliss for an engineer. Anna had a trip to the ophthalmologist yesterday as well, they dilated her eyes which was pretty funny really. I think Kurt is off to volleyball tonight, but I'm going to stay here with the kids and let them get an early night, I think they could use it. It's a three day weekend coming up and I think we are all looking forward to a respite.
So here is my slightly wonky attempt at block 25. It is called Guiding Star and I find it to be needlessly complex. Honestly, looking at those little white strips in the center, what do they add to the design? I'm being cross because the middle section didn't want to play nice. The points are not pointy, the section isn't square and so I've decided that it would be better to just replace it with a plain old red square instead. If I ever do this block again, I will try it that way. Other than the fiddly middle section, the rest was simple paper piecing. I continue to be puzzled by the order of the sections. I would naturally start in the middle and work my way out symmetrically. The directions don't say to do that though so I will live with the apparently random seam allowance.