Wednesday afternoon

This afternoon I felt inspired to try and stitch-in-the-ditch with my regular sewing machine. At first I was going to use my walking foot on my newer singer but for the fun of it, I tried the Featherweight (no walking foot). It worked just fine. I had safety pinned it to death and it is mostly straight lines. I had it done in about half a hour. This piece is made from the leftovers of the leftovers from my lime green quilt. This one measures about 12 inches by 15 inches.

I forgot to tell you all that I had binding fever the other day and got the binding on the wonky houses quilt and my niece's pink quilt. Even got the labels put on! Now I need to get the borders on my cousin's baby quilt so I can get it done before the baby arrives in June. And then there is always the challenge quilt I am supposed to have done before I meet up with Nina in mid-June. As the person who came up with the rules, I am blatantly ignoring some of the rules! Mostly the one that says I have to "Feature" the fabrics she gave me. Not sure how to use two of them! She may be shocked when she sees this quilt!

Well, it is time to go get ready for bible class. Ian is in the shower and they are both singing at the top of their lungs. Ian has discovered that he loves to take a shower (versus taking a bath). Yesterday he took two showers and one bath. He was one very clean 4 year old. A week from today my baby boy turns 5! How did he get that big?

Tuesdays in the South

Can anyone identify these flowers for me? They have mysteriously popped up on the hill in my backyard. My lilies are getting ready to bloom back there too. I also have a lovely assortment of weeds growing in the front flowerbeds! I am not a gardener or even just a weed picker! Maybe I could pay the kids 10 cents a weed!

I gave Ms Chatham her Wonky Houses quilt yesterday. She was so surprised! I was going to save it for her end of the school year gift, but I figured the kids wouldn't get to enjoy it then. She knew I had helped each child design their own house but she thought I was making a block for each child to take home. She was so excited that the quilt was for her.

We got the news yesterday that chicken pox is going around DD's school. The little girl that has it right now was vacinated. DD has been vacinated but DS hasn't! He is due to get his 5 year old shots next Thursday. There is also a rumor floating around that someone had measles last week.

Time to get hopping!

Nina wanted some more interesting facts about me...

so I went onto this website and dug up these little known facts. By the way, I found this website thanks to Deb R over at Red Show Ramblings.

Prepare to be shocked!

1. Sarah N can jump up to sixteen times her own height.
2. You would have to dig through four thousand kilometres of Sarah N to reach the earth's core.
3. There are 336 dimples on Sarah N! (no, I am not telling where!)
4. Sarah N can smell some things up to six miles away! (chocolate chips cookies, fresh baked bread, and hot apple pie!)
5. If you keep a goldfish in a dark room, it will eventually turn into Sarah N.
6. Sarah N can squeeze her entire body through a hole the size of her beak!
7. New Zealand was the first place to allow Sarah N to vote!
8. The average human spends about 30 days during their life waiting for Sarah N.
9. In the kingdom of Bhutan, all citizens officially become Sarah N on New Year's Day!
10. Sarah N will become gaseous if her temperature rises above -42°C. (well, that explains a lot of things!)

OK, Nina! Are these more exciting tidbits about me?

DH just came home. He has been gone since Wednesday morning and will leave again on Monday morning. His studio at Auburn designed and is now building a Habitat for Humanity house over in western Alabama. They have to have it completed by May 15th. I think I will go spend some time with him!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

I know you were waiting to learn...

6 weird things about me. I have been thinking about this topic for the past several nights as I lay in bed trying to fall asleep. Probably not a good thing to do - obsessing about my oddities while trying to relax and fall asleep!

Here you go!

1. I must have my shoulders covered to fall asleep. No matter how hot it is I have to sleep in pajamas. And I like to pull the sheet up around my neck.

2. I am the world's pickiest eater. Most of my food issues are caused be texture problems. Fresh tomatoes - don't like the slimy part around the seeds. Celery - too stringy. Mushrooms - it is a fungus! Broccoli - Ugh - its a little tree. Are you getting the picture? My mother is dyeing of shame!

3. I love doing laundry. Gives me a sense of accomplishment in an otherwise (usually) messy house. Now if someone would only invent a dryer that dries a full load in the time it takes the washer to do its cycle, I would be a happy camper.

4. I can a nap at any time of the day. Tuesday I fell asleep at 9:30 a.m. and slept for an hour and a half. I am the Queen of naps.

5. My husband's side of the family seems to attract younger women. I am a year and 4 months older than my husband. My MIL is a year and 5 months older than my FIL. My SIL is a year and a half older than my BIL. My DH was 22 when we got married and I tease him that I married him young so I could train him up the way I wanted!

6. The longest I have ever lived at any one address is four years and it was when I was 30 to 34 years old. I have been married almost 13 years and have had 8 addresses in that time. My DH on the other hand lived in the same town (not the same house) from the time he was a year old until he left for college. His parents still live there.

Now that I have bored you all to tears, I think I will go sew for a while!

Obsessed or possessed or just easily distracted!

"SPRUNG !"

Anyone care to guess what I did with the rest of my weekend? Is it green enough? I am still thinking about some kind of border. And the quilting is stumping me. Maybe stitch in the ditch? Ok, all you long-arm quilting divas out there - what would you suggest? You can click on the picture to get a better view of the fabrics.

This morning I finished getting the rows together. When I got it all together, I discovered that I like it sideways better. When I was laying it out, I had the longest curves going up and down, but I like them better horizontal.

Then when I was cropping the picture in photoshop, I started playing with the different filters. I like the look with the more dramatic colors!

3 months, 21 days, 10 hours

Hello. It's me. I am down here, under the wagon. That would be the "no-buying" wagon that I fell off of today! I blame it all on the Girl Scouts. They don't get blamed for nearly enough things in my opinion. Anyway, today I drove Maddie down to a GS camp outside of Columbus, Georgia for a brownie day-camp thing. Four hours long. Too short a time to drive the hour+ back home - so what is a girl to do? Come prepared! (Isn't that the boy scout motto?) Being the overly prepared person that I am (stop your snickering Nina!), I Yahoo'ed quilt stores before I left home. I also looked up the address of Hobby Lobby. When I pulled into the Hobby Lobby parking lot, what do I spy but a store called "Sew Much Fun". Not something that turned up on my yahoo search. Very cute store. One slightly crabby clerk, one nice clerk! How can someone be crabby working in a quilt store? I succumbed to my lust - caved in and bought some lime green fabrics. All for me! I have been wanting to make a lime green wall hanging for my sewing room. I think I may use the free hand curve technique. Something along the lines of this. Can't wait to get started!

The rest of my purchases were more along the predictable lines. I was hoping there was enough of the brown with pink flowers for the backing of the full-size pink pineapples quilt, but of course there wasn't it. So it may end up being the border. Or maybe it will end up as something else!


The other three were too cute to resist, especially the two on the right because the were on sale for half price. I know, I know - really lame excuse!

OK, I am now climbing back on the wagon - at least until June 19th. This is the date me and Nines are meeting in Tennessee for our own mini-retreat! I am making no promises for my spending behavior that week. I am counting on Nina to help enforce some sort of restraint on me!

Wow! I actually accomplished something!

Looking at my house, you wouldn't think anything got done today, but you would be wrong. I folded and put away at least 6 loads of laundry. Changed the sheets on my bed. Did two loads of dishes. Cooked pancakes for dinner. I also managed to sew a little. First of all I finished assembling the rows for the backing for this quilt. It is kind of scrappy, no? Uses up only 56 of my pre-cut 10.5 inch blocks. Seems like a backing should use up more squares than that! Seems like a lot more fabric when you buy yardage for it.

When I was walking through the kitchen, I noticed this Ball canning jar that I got from my Grandma a few weeks ago. Why, you may ask, would someone want a huge canning jar? Anyone, anyone? Where in the U.S.A. were Ball jars originally made? Still don't know? Muncie, Indiana! Home to our family for four wonderful years. So when I look at this jar, I don't see a jar, I see Muncie! I think of moving there with my new baby daughter and buying our first house. I think of meeting my kindred spirit and learning to quilt (in spite of a certain someone - K.B!). I think of Maddie and Evie playing together. I think of taking hypnobirthing classes with Bill and Nina. I think of Nina rushing to my house when my mom called her because my sister had just lost her twins and was she worried I would go into premature labor. When I think of Muncie - I think of Nina and her family. Amazing what a little canning jar can bring to mind!

Enough of my rambling! I also managed to get the binding on this baby quilt. I am in love with this one too! I just want to run out and buy some strawberries and some chocolate! I don't know the mommy-to-be very well so I hope she likes it.

I delivered the 30's baby quilt last night. Little did I know that the recipient was right there. Oops! I hope the grandma wasn't trying to keep it a secret. They both seemed to love it. The daddy complained that it wasn't really big enough to cover him up adequately! Now, I just have to hide this money away so I can spend it at my mini-retreat with Nina in June! I am definitely going to go searching for some of those fabrics that Susan showed on her blog today. Remember to bring comfy shoes, Nines!

All dressed up and somewhere to go..

I am in love....

with this baby quilt! I want to keep it! I finished the binding and the label today and now the quilt is hanging on the curtain rod above my sewing table. I plan on leaving it there until I have to give it to my friend! I just love the bright colors, the stripes, and the polka dots. Wouldn't this be adorable in pinks? Hhhmmmmm!

The kids are prancing around the house in their new finery for tomorrow. Ian is a very dapper kind of guy. He loves wearing button up shirts - and not just to church - any out of the ordinary occurrence calls for getting a little dressed up. Anyway - he decided he needed a white, long sleeve button-up shirt to wear to church tomorrow. Then he caught sight of a navy blue blazer. Luckily, we were able to borrow one from a friend. And of course, what is a shirt and a blazer without a tie? So we found one at Sears today. He should look very handsome! I will post pictures tomorrow of both of the kids.

Hope everyone is having a nice relaxing weekend!

Binding, binding, binding!

The antibiotics may be kicking in, finally. I still have to keep on top of the decongestant and the cough medicine or I will have coughing fits, but I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Me and Ian ventured out to Walmart today and the trip wore me out.

Yesterday I managed to get the binding put on the 30's baby quilt. I hope to get the label on it by Sunday so I can deliver it and get paid! My printer was out of black ink so I couldn't print out the label. Today I bought a new ink cartridge and printed out labels for this quilt, the bright blue baby quilt, and the pink and brown baby quilt. Fit it all onto one sheet!

Today I started working on the next pink pineapple quilt I need to make. The little girl that it is for will be getting her new bedroom in July so I hope to have it done by then. I think I may actually run out of fabric on this one! I made the blocks an extra strip bigger (put one more round around the outside). So the blocks end up being 12.5 inches. I need to sit down and figure out how many blocks I will need for a full sized quilt.

Off to a girl scout volunteers meeting. UGH! Nina reminded me on the phone this afternoon that I volunteered for this "job"!

Can you say "Bronchitis"?

Yesterday, I finally got to feeling bad enough and coughing all the time, that I caved in and went to the doctor. I was trying to avoid it because we don't really have a regular doctor; we usually just go to the walk-in clinic. They hand out antibiotics like they are candy. Since I assumed it was just a virus, antibiotics wouldn't have helped. But when I got there, there was a new doctor! He did some blood work and ordered a chest x-ray, thinking I might have walking pneumonia. No pneumonia but I do have bronchitis. After picking up my $75 (with insurance) worth of drugs, I headed home to collapse on the couch. The cough syrup he gave me for night time really knocked me out. It's effects are still hanging around this morning! It is taking some real effort to move at all! I am feeling better though and am not coughing as much.

I sewed on some pineapples this morning. After finishing the 5 blocks I was working on, I discovered I already have 31 blocks made! That's enough for a nice lap sized quilt. Ian keeps asking me who this quilt is for and is not very accepting of the answer "I don't know!"

I think it is time to go read in bed for a while!

Look, Abby! I am working on it!

I have gotten my sweet son back from the grandparents and life in the Norman house is back to normal (read that as "kids are back to their normal bickering!") I think I may survive whatever the crud is that I have been suffering with all week. I have most of my voice back, but I am still coughing and it feels like a small child is sitting on my chest.

My mom was commenting that with all the quilting I got done this week, I still haven't finished my niece's quilt. She wanted to know why poor little quiltless Abby was at the bottom of my list! So today, I slapped some borders on, pieced the backing (ugh! Too many little pieces!) and got it on the machine. I have gotten two passes quilted, a nice big meander. I figure with the crazy fabrics and the YBR pattern no one will notice the quilting anyway. I am even using HOT PINK thread! I am hoping to talk my parents and sister into coming down for DS's birthday in a few weeks and I can give Abby the quilt in person! I talked to her today on the phone and told her I was sewing on something very pink and asked what she thought it might be. She squealed "My quilt!"

Did everyone see our very own Judy in the newest issued of AQS American Quilter magazine? Yeah, Judy!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

What I am (not) doing today

I was suprised to receive a phone call from Nines this morning. She calls me once in a blue moon (even she will admit this!). Usually I am the one that does the calling, but maybe she felt guilty because I had been trying to call her for three straight days with no success! Plus the fact that I have given her at least three 60 minute calling cards (HINT, HINT, HINT!!) In any case, I am always thrilled to hear from her.

Pretty early in the conversation, she asked what I was up to today. The above picture is today's only accomplishment. Puppy chow! Chex cereal covered in peanut butter and chocolate, then tossed with powdered sugar. Warning - it is highly addictive!! So I made a batch, sat myself down on the couch, and haven't moved since. I am still coughing and sound like a frog, so I may spend the day resting on the couch.

I was telling Nines about this quilt that I saw in the latest American Patchwork & Quilting magazine (June 2006). It made me think of her. In case you haven't heard, Nina loves ORANGE. This quilt reminds me of cantelope! It is made from five assorted pink tone on tones and five orange tone on tones.

Busy, busy, busy!

I am still here, just trying to get lots of quilting done while DS is at the grandparents' house. 4 quilts in 4 days! Not bad! All I have left to do is Abby's pink quilt and that scrap quilt with the vintage green in it. Actually there is a blue YBR sitting here to if I get everything else done.

I am fighting a sore throat. I sound like a frog and I have to lead the Girl Scout meeting tonight - so I think I'll go take a nap!

Smithsonian Quilt tour

If you ever get the chance to go on this behind-the-scenes tour, DO IT! It was so cool! The guides took us to the quilt storage room and there we spent the next 2.5 hours gazing at amazing quilts. Some were from as early as the 1750's - the newest one was from 1976. We got to see one of Martha Washington's UFO's! She had pieced the middle medallion and then her daughter or maybe daughter in law added on to it. It had not been quilted and is in very frail condition.

Here are a few of the quilts I saw. You can view more of them at the Smithsonian website.

This first one was pieced by Frances Jolly, an African-American, in 1839. The guides think she must have been a free woman because she lived up north and then at some point moved to NC. The quilt was made in 1839 and has her name embroidered in the center medallion. The quilt reminded me a lot of today's folk art quilts. She did a buttonhole stitch around all the applique pieces instead of the usual hidden applique stitches. The quilt is beautiful - great rich colors.

This second quilt is very well known. It is called the Bible quilt and was made by Harriet Powers in 1886. She lived in Athens, Georgia. The panels depict different scenes from the bible.
This quilt is one of my favorites. A mother made this quilt for her son to take with him as he went off to fight for the Union in the Civil War. 2 of her 3 sons did not make it home. This is the quilt of the son that did come home. Nines - this quilt is supposed to be from Noblesville Indiana! I am putting this quilt in my "to do" pile! Maybe as a wall hanging?

So far, I am on track with my grandiose quilting plans for this week. I have gotten the 30's baby quilt quilted and have loaded on the bright blues baby quilt to do tomorrow. I also worked on my secret project yesterday. This involves the challenge quilt me and Nina are supposed to making each other. Here again, are the rules:

1. The finished quilt is due next year on our birthdays (mid-June 2006).
2. The finished quilt should be lap size, about 60" x 60".
3. The supplied fabric must be the featured fabric. Not just used, but featured.
4. Other fabrics used should come mostly from our stash.
5. You can use any pattern or block you want.
6. Next year, Nina gets to make up the rules.

Let me warn Nina right now, that I may break some rules. I am not sure all of the fabrics are going to make it to "featured" status. Maybe I can use it as part of the backing. My mom already thinks that the blocks I have finished are kind of loud! Me and Nina wanted to share photos of our challenge quilts with you but don't trust each other not to peak! I guess you will have to wait until June and the big unveiling!

Time for some oreos and milk and then off to bed!

I survived Spring Break 2006!

No, I have not moved to South America. We were able to go on our trip to Washington D.C. . Turns out that Maddie developed pneumonia after that virus she had two weeks ago. So we got to spend a day going back and forth from the pediatrician to the radiologist for a x-ray of her lungs and then back to the doc for a shot. And then back to the doc again the next day for another shot of antibiotics and an oral prescription for another 10 days. But the good news was that he said we could go on our trip.

When we got to DC on Saturday night we discovered that my SIL (who is 5 months pregnant) is recovering from a stomach bug. She ended up going to the doctor Monday and they are checking her out for gall bladder problems. Anyway, we had a great visit. Got to see all the main touristy sights. Ian loved the subway. The last picture is of his very first ride on the subway.

The very best part of the trip was the behind the scenes tour of the quilts at the Smithsonian. It was so cool! I will blog about it tomorrow when I have more energy.

The top photo is of the inside of the capital dome. It is a painting of George Washington looking down from the heavens! He's the one in the pink robes - kind of the center bottom.

This was a floor mosaic at the Library of Congress. Wouldn't it make a great quilt?

This is some of the amazing architecture in the Library of Congress. (Can you tell I am married to an architect?)
And here is Ian getting ready to enjoy his first subway ride! He would have spent the entire week just riding around on the train. This week he is at my parent's house and I already miss him!

More tomorrow!

Waiting, waiting, waiting

Last night (Tuesday night) DH had to stay at school (work) until about 10 p.m. He has designed a exhibit wall for a fellow professor. He spent his afternoon and evening cutting out the 150 pieces for the wall on the 5-axis router at school. It will contain about 12 sheets of cut up plywood when he is finished. DH has to finish milling this before we leave on Friday and then next weekend we will have to try and pre-assemble parts of it. On the following Monday he will have to haul it all to Atlanta and assemble it. His only pay for this (they bought the wood) will be that he is able to hang a sign on it saying he designed it and built it.

That whole ramble was to say that I also had time to sew the borders on the thirties baby quilt that I have been commisioned to make.

(Two days later) - I have been trying to get blogger to post a picture of one of DH's router experiments - but after two days of trying, I am giving up.

Today was spent taking Maddie back to the doctor, where we were informed that she has pneumonia! So then we are sent off to get a chest x-ray, and then back to the pediatrician for a huge shot of antibiotics. I guess I should count myself lucky he didn't want to stick her in the hospital. It took four and a half hours to get all this accomplished. Maddie fell asleep waiting at the doctor's office on both trips! If you knew Maddie, you would know that she definitely doesn't feel good! We have to take her back to the doctor in the morning for him to see if the meds are doing any good. We got home around 4:15 pm and she has been asleep since then - it is now 9:45pm. I told her if she wakes up in the middle of the night and can't get to sleep to get up and watch a little TV!

DS is now in bed and I think me and DH are headed that direction too. I'll let you know what the doctor says in the morning! Keep us in your prayers! Good night all!

More of the wonky houses

DD was home from school again today. No fever since Sunday but since she still sounded like she was coughing up a lung, I thought one more day would be a good idea. The coughing has greatly diminished today, so I think I will send her back to school tomorrow.

Not much was accomplished today other than getting the wonky house top put together. Now depending on your point of view, that may be a VERY productive day, but I don't think my husband is going to think so when he gets home in a little while! Maybe I can get the mess picked up a little bit before he gets here! Here is the sick girl pointing her house.

I gave up on the idea of getting each kid's name embroidered onto their houses. I ended up writing their names on with a pigma pen. Not quite as classy but a whole lot quicker and less stressful!

Pink, pink, and a little more pink

Maddie was still fighting her hacking cough yesterday, so I kept her home from church. She spent the morning on the couch and I spent it in my sewing room. For a few minutes last weekend, I had the insane idea of trying to finish Abby's pink quilt in time to take it to her on our way home from D.C. That means it would have to be finished by THIS Friday. Thankfully, with a little rest, I was able to overcome this insanity. I had the blocks already made, but they were just sitting there in a pile. So yesterday I put the top together. I know Abby will LOVE it! It's pink - so what's not to love!

I decided to put the lettered blocks in the center of the quilt. At first I thought I would put those two blocks on the bottom corners of the quilt, but then I realized that she would never really see them there, hanging off the end of the bed. I think they look cute, stuck there in the middle.

On our way home from D.C., we are going through Tennessee and leaving Ian at my parents' house. He gets to spend a few days with Grams and Papa and I will hopefully have a few days to get lots of quilting done. My goal for this week is to get borders put on and backings pieced so that I have several quilts ready to throw on the quilting machine. I need to check and make sure I have the threads I will need.

Speaking of thread, I am becoming a thread snob. Up until now, I have been using Coats & Clark in my regular sewing machine. It has always worked fine, but makes a lot of lint (at least in my Featherweight). I have never used anything but the recommended Aurifil 40 wt. in my quilting machine. A few months ago when I was ordering some Aurifil for the quilting machine, I had them throw in a spool of the 50 wt. to try on my featherweight. I finally got around to using it last week. Oh my - significantly less lint! I think I am hooked. Next I may have to try the Bottom Line thread I hear everyone raving about for the bobbin thread.

Saturday - part 2

Blogger has decided to behave for a few minutes. Here are the 5 houses I got done while talking to Nina this afternoon. We now have a joke that whenever I need to clean my kitchen, I call Nina. By the time we get done talking, my kitchen is spotless! She emailed me yesterday that she was going to call me and talk while she cleaned her MIL's room. She had already accomplished that by the time we talked, but I did get some sewing done! We really need to check into those headsets. If we do this too often I am going to develop a permanent crick in my neck.

A Wonky Saturday

Today I spent the morning running all the errands that I had planned on running yesterday...before Maddie got sick. It is only a virus, not strep, but she is still running a fever today and has had a headache all day long. She has spent the day on the couch - a true couch potato! This morning I left the house around 8 a.m. . Here is my list of accomplishments:

• new tires on my truck (before our trip to Washington D.C.!)
• returned books on tape to library
• did banking at 2 different banks
• oil change
• bought fabric for borders of 30's baby quilt
• Walmart (oh, the joy!)
• went to the mall to buy Teacher Appreciation gifts
• home again, home again, jiggedy jig

After lunch, me and DD took a nap. I know she doesn't feel good when she willingly takes a nap. This is the girl who is never, ever still. Nina can attest to this. Even when she was a baby, she was in constant motion. When she would be nursing, her feet would still be going wild!

I woke up to find a phone message from Nines!! So I called her back and sat down to sew while I talked to her. I was making a list of quilting deadlines the other day, when it hit me that the end of school is only two months away and I have made no progress on the wonky house wallhanging for Maddie's teacher. Oops! So that is the project I pulled out while talking to Nina. I got five houses made - it is a start!

Well, I have tried about ten times now to upload two pictures of the wonky houses, but Blogger is being difficult. I will try again later.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Remember me?

Hello, my name is Sarah and I love to quilt! I am sorry I haven't had much to say lately, but after today's LONG post, you may wish I would return to my previous silence! Here are the treasures from my trip to Nashville last weekend.

This yellow fabric is going to be a baby quilt for my SIL and BIL. This is their first baby and they aren't planning on finding out the sex. The yellow has a tiny little ivy pattern on it and the WOW I bought to go with it also has an ivy pattern on it.
Nina, are you shocked at my color choices? It all started with the polka dot fabric. Saw it and fell in love. Bought all they had - thankfully it was only about 2.5 yards! The colored squares will be four patches. My sister says this is just perfect for the receiving couple. Fits their personalities to a T. Nina - they are naming the baby Evelyn Faye, after their moms. They will call her Evie! I told them that's a great name! My sister wanted to know how she could help with this quilt, other than financially. We told her to learn to sew! My mom is going to piece this one and I will quilt it. Can't wait to see it all put together!
Is anyone else out there addicted to pretty glass jars? These were found at Hobby Lobby and have an old fashioned feel to me. Finn - notice all my empty spools?
This is the backing fabric for my niece's TOO PINK quilt! Think she will like it?
This is a road sign, somewhere between Birmingham and Athens Alabama. We pass it every trip to and from Nashville. It always makes me think of Nina's daughter, Eva. And that makes me think of Nina. And that makes me miss the whole huge bunch of them!
These are the blocks for the baby quilt I have been commissioned to make. I took them to church Wednesday night to show the lady who hired me. Thankfully she loved them!
This is the backing fabric for the same baby quilt. Little cherries.

DD is home sick from school....again. The one good thing is that now I have an excuse not to spend the day running all over town, doing the errands that need to be done. Now I can stay home and quilt! Yeah!!!

Whew....you made it to the end! Do you wish I had stayed in bed? Hope you all have a quilty day!

A weekend in Nashville

I seem to be having trouble having anything to say these past few weeks. Friday at lunchtime, me and the kiddies headed for Nashville. Maddie has off from school on Monday -so we took off to see the family. My parents have finally moved in to their new house - designed by the world's greatest architect (my DH!). It is lovely - out in the country and quite spacious. My sister and her family also moved recently - actually on Friday! Both my mom and sister thought I was coming to help them clean and unpack - but actually I was coming to relax!

On the trip north, we had to stop in Birmingham and stretch our legs. Thankfully there was a Hobby Lobby there. Yes, of course I behaved myself. I got some quarter yard cuts of some thirties fabrics for that baby quilt I have been commissioned to make. I also found a adorable polka dot material that I am going to use in a baby quilt for my cousin. The fabric is white and the polka dots look kind of hand-dyed. The dots will be the alternate solid blocks and then we found fabrics to match the dots and we will make 4-patch blocks out of those. My mom is going to piece it (I already cut it out for her) and then I will quilt it.

Me and mom hit Joann's yesterday afternoon. I was able to backing and border fabric for Abby's too pink quilt. Sister paid for this fabric. I also got some cute 30's fabric for the backing of the baby quilt. It has a cream background and the little blue cherries all over it. I also picked out some yellow fabric and some solid white fabric to make yet another baby quilt for my sweet SIL and BIL. They are expecting and due in September. They aren't planning on finding out the sex of the baby - so I think yellow and white could go either way.

I will post pictures of these newest finds tomorrow when I get home.

Tonight, my mother was over come by insanity and volunteered to have a sleep over with all four of the oldest grandkids. I am spending the night at my sister's. We are trying to watch the newest Pride and Prejudice but keep being interrupted by my youngest nephew who doesn't want to stay asleep! We are having fun anyway!

Yes, I am still here!

Sorry if you thought I had moved away and not left a forwarding address. Last week was a little hectic to say the least. Maddie woke up Monday night with a belly ache. Moaning, groaning. This is usually her first symptoms of strep throat. So we took her to the doctor. Doesn't look like strep to him but he agreed to do the over-night test just to be sure.

Meanwhile, I have already scheduled an emergency girl scout cookie sale to try and get rid of the rest of the cookies we have sitting in my trunk. So we get to Kroger, set up the table, put out the cookies. The other mom and daughter team arrive. I tell Maddie to stay away from Alli, just in case it is strep. So Maddie goes strolling down the side walk, away from the front entrance to Kroger. And then proceeds to throw up, on the side walk. Lovely..... So luckily DH is available to come get her and take her home while me and DS stay to help sell cookies.

By Wednesday Maddie is feeling much better but can't go to school because we don't know if it is strep. So she stays home from school again...And spends the day aggravating her brother! I also had to make dinner for a family from church who just had a baby. Made extra for us. DH and I both had to rush home from bible class Wednesday with intestinal distress! Oh no - did I poison the other family too? So I spent all day Thursday worried I had given them food poisoning!

Did I mention Thursday is DD 7th birthday? We did not make homemade cupcakes as previously planned but Kroger makes good cupcakes, right? That night we made homemade pizza for dinner, had brownies instead of birthday cake, and watched mythbusters!

Saturday brought yet another cookie sale. Everyone was so crabby by the end of it, we had to take a nap that afternoon.

Sunday involved church (teaching the 4 to 7 year olds!), then a quick lunch and off to the DD's birthday party. It was fun because it was held at the local junior high gym (read that as no house cleaning for me!). The kids got to run off all the sugar induced energy.

Today should be a day for me to recover but in my insanity I volunteered to host an Usborne book party at my house tonight. A good friend is trying to get her business started and I told her I would host a party to introduce her to people outside our usual group of friends from church. So this means I have to clean the public portions of my house today. And make some desserts. I have already given up hope of getting DS's room clean - but should there really be anyone going in there? I think not!

So here I go - getting my tush in motion!

P.S. - Ian asked me to come change the TV channel for him this morning. This is the position he was in when I got there! Does that look uncomfortable to anyone else?