happy leap day

this quilt top was given to me by Debbie, the Traveling quilter on her last stop by and I got it finished up this morning.  I love it, with all of its quirkiness.  It is a big one and will make someone very happy with the bright colors.

Do you know Bob?

Bob McChesney?  Well, he is an awesome trombone player and last night my son got to play with him in a jazz band.  My son was walking on air!  Bob came up from So. Cal to play with a neighboring school's high school band and talk with them about how to get into the music industry.  They had a concert last night and needed a few extra trombone players.  They called my son to see if he could sit in with the band.  He was more than happy to join them.  Any chance he gets to play for an audience, he jumps at it.

butterflies

love the batik fabric on this quilt and had to quilt some butterflies to go with the theme.  another one bites the dust today!  Back to school tomorrow, ugh.

scrap challenge

 so today I've decided to start tackling the buckets and bags of scraps I have piled in the sewing room.  I picked this bag of scraps that have been sitting since about November.  Just the first bag of scraps I tripped over when walking through the sewing room.

 I started by sorting the piles into like fabrics.  Flannels, Christmas, Patriotics, colors, precut squares, etc, then sorted the Christmas stuff into pieces that were worth saving and tiny scraps that will go into the next dog pillow.  The stuff in the pink bag is all tiny scraps not worth saving.

I'm going to start with the Christmas stuff first and using my Go! cutter and Studio cutter work through and cut up all of this fabric into useable pieces that can be made into quilts.  I wonder how many quilts I can get out of this one bag of scraps.  Anyone want to make a guess?  I also wonder how long it will take me to work through this one bag of scraps.  My friend Carla has a good idea.  When we have our Binky work days, she pulls out her scrap boxes and puts the kids to work on them.  We can usually work through 4 or 5 boxes of scraps in a day.  The kids sort the scraps by size and then each kid takes a Studio die and loads as many size scraps onto the die as they can.  Each die will hold 8-10 layers of fabric. The kids roll fabric all day long and by the end of the day, they have worked through all of the scraps and we have boxes and boxes of useable cut pieces of fabric that are ready to make into quilts.

last one today

today was a good day :)

busy day

Today I decided to do things I wanted to do, laundry, dishes, vacuuming can wait, but quilting is a must do for the day to be complete!  Four more are quilted and ready to take to Rhoda on Monday when we go back to school.  She watches my little guy after school and is probably bored with nothing to do :)  She works really fast when she has a big pile of quilts to bind and I'm sure will be happy to have some more to work on with the kids back in school.  Now to add to the totals on the side bar.

working together

my week off is coming to an end and the combination of migraines and having things that needed finishing up, but not wanting to get them done has had me feeling in a funk.  Today is MY day.  No matter how I end up feeling at the end of the day, I have decided to do what I want to do today and quilting is at the top of the list, so this morning I got these two quilts quilted and have another 5 ready to go.  The colors on them are terrible, pictures taken inside with my cell phone camera sometimes don't come out well, but no time for a photo shoot right now, there are things to be done today.

I woke up this morning thinking of army ants and pinned a couple of pictures on pinterest of ants working together.  One tiny ant alone cannot do much (other than bite and annoy you) but an entire army of ants can get much done.  SO, today, I join with my fellow quilters as an army and know there are many of you working all over the world and together we will accomplish much.  Plus, I plan to put my army of children to work tackling the laundry, dishes and vacuuming. :)  Onward!

I finished this crochet infinity scarf last night too.  I guess you can say I had a busy day, but I'm taking advantage of the time off.  You can find the pattern here. 
http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/infinity-scarf-0

It is fairly complicated so if you are a beginning crocheter, don't try it.  But my daughter and I love how it turned out.  Now, just hoping for the weather to cool down again so she can wear it.  It was 80 degrees yesterday, definately not scarf wearing weather!  Especially for February. :)

UC Berkeley

Daughter #2 is a Jr. in high school and starting to think about where she wants to go to school for college.   Yesterday we took a trip to UC Berkeley.  With the street barker talking about giving up your cell phones because they were the devil and turing salt water into fresh water without electricity because the world was going to become flat (pretty sure he was crazy) and all of the homeless people digging in trash cans, and the people stepping out in front of my car when we were driving home and the terrible traffic, I would not choose to go there, but then it's not my choice!  She liked the business of the campus and all the things to do so close with the street vendors and small shops and so many people around.  It was a gorgeous day.  The old looking buildings were really nice and of course the school's reputation is great too.  We had a great hike across the entire campus.  I should get out more often!

Dr Seuss done

and I like the back almost more than the front.  This is a really big baby quilt for my friend's second baby.  Her last name is Bump, goes perfectly with the fabric on the front, Thing One and Thing Two going Bump! Bump! all over the place.  So glad to have finished it over my break.

do you love Dr. Seuss?

My friend had her 2nd baby in December.  I promised her a quilt.  I do believe it is the end of February and I finally started her quilt today.  We were supposed to be going to UC Berkeley today to visit the college and take a tour so daughter #2 could start looking at colleges.  She was just born yesterday and already she is looking at going off to college.  She is ahead of her time like that.  Or, time has just gone that fast!  But, this morning I woke up with the most terrible migraine ever.  Lots of medicine and still not feeling better, but I am not going to waste a day.  And this pattern is so easy to cut and sew.  Especially with the Accuquilt Studio fabric cutter.  In fact, I cut out about 27 zillion half square triangles for another quilt and 97 gazillion tumbler blocks to go with the 845 mazillion tumbler blocks I already have.  I found out that when you have scrappy blocks, they look much better when you pair them with solid blocks.  So, I started digging into my solid fabrics and cutting those up.  No sense saving for a rainy day.  We haven't had rain in so long.  Today is supposed to be 79 degrees.  I think we are going to break a record here.  Someone forgot to tell the sun it is still winter.  'Global warming' and all. 

So, back to cutting or quilting or resting my weary head.  I may just get this quilt finished before the baby is a teenager.

new book, new ideas

I picked up this book on Saturday at my local quilt shop and it is full of new, old ideas fo using up your scraps.  I don't need a new book and I don't need new projects, but this one spoke to me.  I see potential for using my Go! cutter and dies, circles, triangles and more and there is potential that I will actually use some of the patterns or at least the ideas behind the patterns here.  And, I'm supporting my quilt shop so they will be around to host my Binky Patrol meetings.  They have been there for me for the past 8 years.  I can't believe it has been that long since I have been running Binky Patrol!  Wow, happy birthday to us!

100 days!

time for a celebration...100 days until summer vacation for me.  How should I spend my day?  Quilting is definately on the list of things to do :)  My son has a robotics party tonight, so there WILL be cake and maybe a nap.  Those are some of my favorite things.  Won't you celebrate with me?

I might need professional help

My daughter and I went to thrift stores today and had a blast!  This is the haul just from this afternoon.  The stores were having 50% off sales in celebration of President's Day and we went to 5 different stores.  We brought home just about this much this morning and this is what came home this afternoon.  Most of this is mine.  My husband thinks I have a problem, but I'm not sure there is a 12 step program for people who buy too many t shirts.  Maybe I need an intervention.  Or maybe I just need to quilt more :)

At any rate, I think I had better stay away from thrift stores for a long time!

Congratulations to the Winner

My son picked #32, and that belongs to Jen.  Congratulations Jen, as soon as I hear back from you, the 3 1/2 inch drunkard's path die will be on the way to you, mailed from a 3rd party (most likely Amazon, or wherever I find it the cheapest)  Hope you enjoy making lots of quilts with us and share with us on your new blog.  Everyone pop over and visit Jen's new blog.  She just started blogging this week!  Welcome to the wonderful world of blog-land Jen.

Jen said...

What an amazing array of uses for such a great shape! Thanks so much for sharing all of your talents!

Here's Jen's blog
http://quilteddaughter.blogspot.com/

a reason to get up early

My son had a robotics scrimmage this morning and had to be at school at o-dark-thirty, but this beautiful sunrise was another reason to be up early.  By the time I got the camera to take a better picture, the sun had come up and the colors were gone.

Final day of the blog hop, and time to pick a winner

February 18th

It's time to pick a winner for my day of the blog hop.  Remember, you must be a follower of my blog and I must have a way of contacting you.  I will pick the winner around 3pm today, so be sure you have entered on my day, Feb 15.  Scroll back down and enter in the comments on my day.  Good luck!  US residents only :)  Thanks for joining us.  I hope you learned something new.  I know I sure did.


Stacey (Driving Miss Stacey)

Tracey (The Peony Teacup)

Paulette (Sweet P Quilting and Creations)

stressed lets you know you are alive

My little guy woke up this morning with a really bad stomach ache.  I'm hoping and praying it isn't the really bad stomach flu that is going around here.  Kids are out sick for a few days and it is really wiping them out.  He is doing a bit better as I type this, about 4 hours after he first started complaining, so maybe it was just some gas or constipation.  I'm betting he is glad his mother blogs about everything :)

So, this is the 3rd day I've missed work this week.  I'm hoping my students appreciate me when they finally see me again after the week we have off next week.  The California government can't get its act together and is cutting the budget anywhere it can.  It can't afford to pay teachers, so they cut 3 days out of the school year.  We have a week off, unpaid and out district decided to add them to the President's holiday week.  I will take it after the week of stress upon stress I've had this week. 

Whoever said having kids was a good idea?  My oldest is trying to get into grad school and this is the time of year they are sending out acceptance letters.  Every day a different school is accepting students.  Every day she doesn't get accepted is another day of stress.  She has only been rejected from one school so far and is on the waitlist for another, but the not knowing is hard on her and on us.

Daughter #2 finds out today if she made it into Girls' State.  Not knowing is hard.  Having an older sister who was so good at everything makes it so hard because everyone compares you to her (I know, I had the perfect older sister too) and when you don't get the award, don't make the grade, don't play tennis as well, etc) you feel like you let everyone down.  For me, I just stopped trying and found something else I could do that my sister never tried.  For my daughter, she tries even harder, putting more pressure on herself and stressing herself out even more.  She's harder on herself than anyone ever could be.

Time will tell and heal many hurts.

But for today, I have some time at home with my little guy.  Time we don't often get alone together.  Maybe we will sit together and just cuddle.  Or more likely, he will enjoy a day of stress free playing and I will take a clue from him and enjoy a day stress free playing myself!  I haven't had a day like that in a very long time.  I hope to post somethings later today to show the fun I had.  I know that the students will be fine without me.  If not, they will appreciate me even more when I do get back.

And I will feel alive again.

Day 5 Show Some Love Blog Hop

February 17th


Sharon (Crazee Corners)

Jacque (Lilypad Quilting)

Lumpy

or lopsided, or tilted :)  Got back from the doctor today and after seeing the Breast Specialist (how do you get that job?) she said that the lump was bigger than the nurse practitioner said it was on Monday.  she wanted me to get an ultrasound of it.  She had me a bit worried and sent me right downstairs.  She said we would know more after the ultrasound and didn't really have anything to say to me other than she thought it was a cyst, but it could be cancer, but probably not.  Gee, thanks.  And you are the specialist?

So, I went down to the radiology technician and was told that I would hear the results sometime next week.  Wow, I sure did not feel better walking out of her office.  They got me right in because nobody else was waiting.  The technician was really nice and said he would know something right away and talk to his doctor and let me know right then if they had to do more test or if it was just a cyst.  He has been the only one so far that has actually seemed to understand that maybe I might be concerned this was cancer???  Wow.

So, the ultrasound looked just like this picture I got off the internet.  Fluid filled, about 3 1/2 cm long.  The ultrasound tech said that if the lump is moveable, it is most likely not cancer.  If the lump doesn't move with the breast tissue it is most likely cancer.  Wow, simple test and really put my mind at ease.  He said to always have them checked out, but makes it easier to wait for the testing.  Cancer likes something to grab onto and hang onto.  It doesn't like to move around.  He said they don't know why these cysts form and said I could have it drained again, but since this one filled up again so quickly and came back bigger, it would probably come back again.  He said I probably had more of them and that some people get them and some don't.  Gee, aren't I lucky :)  Now, if only I could get one on the other side to even me out a bit!

my son is never home and this is why

he is a freshman in high school and is on the robotics team this year.  They are working on a robot and it is due on Tuesday.  Since they are all over achievers, they have built TWO robots for the first time this year and for the first time have painted and added lights and horns (we are Vikings) and this is the best looking robot they have ever made.  I just hope it actually works :)

They have a practice match this Saturday so get to try out both robots.  Their first real competition isn't until March, but they are way ahead of schedule.  Makes sense because I haven't seen him since September.  He is at school until 8pm most days of the week and from 9am til about 10 pm weekends.  Plus, he keeps straight A's and is in the Jazz band, honor band, county band and any other band he can find that will let him play with them!  No wonder he is tired all of the time!  At least I know he isn't goofing off.

Day 4 of the Show Some Love Blog Hop

February 16th


Alicia (Heirloom Quilting)

Marjorie (Marjorie's Busy Corner)

Smart kid, big brag

My daughter just got her SAT scores this morning.  2100!  Woo Hoo!  That's more than double what I got the first time I took mine.  Of course, our tests were only out of 1600, but still, she is one smart cookie :)

Show Some Love blog Hop-my turn!

I hope you like the little quilt/wall hanging I have designed for today's Hop.  It uses my FAVORITE die, the drunkard's path block.  That one is Impossible to cut out with a rotary cutter!  Especially with the little notch Accuquilt has put in the middle of the curve.  That little notch makes it super easy to sew the block without having to pin.  I like to make things FAST and not having to pin things makes this block go together quickly.  For this little quilt, I'm using the 3 1/2 inch die, but you could easily make it with the bigger 7 inch die and just have a bigger quilt, perfect for the new baby in your life.

Choose lots of different colors of reds, pinks and purples.  Each piece needs to be at least 5 inches square to fit on the die.

Gather together all of your materials.  You will need an Accuquilt Go! fabric cutter (or Go! baby) the 3 1/2 inch Drunkard's path die cut and mat, scissors, lots of fabric and I like to outline the die with a silver sharpie.

Lay out your fabric using the lines you drew with the sharpie to cut down on wasting fabric.  You can see here how I know the shape will be cut perfectly because the silver sharpie lines go beyond the edge of the fabric, so the pieces fit inside the fabric.



Perfectly cut pieces...every time!  I love the notches in the middle of each piece.  That means no pins because you know where the half way point is when you are sewing.  Since the curve is a bias, you can pull a little bit more or less if you don't hit exactly at the center to match the beginning and end of the seam.

You need a total of 16 white center pieces and 28 red center pieces.  That means you will be cutting out 28 pieces and have 12 leftover white center pieces because as you can see, when you cut one piece of red, you get a red outside and red inside.  I chose to use all of the same whites for my quilt, but you could easily do this with different white scraps and the same reds, or mix and match red and white scraps.  This is a great scrap buster.  Just make sure each piece you are using is at least 5 inches.  The die cuts two blocks at once, so it will take some extra time to lay scraps instead of bigger pieces, but the time you save instead of having to cut everything by hand and having pefectly cut pieces is sooooo worth it!

I do pin all of my blocks together when I am sewing the rows so I don't get things mixed up.

See how the curve fits together.

You will need to cut 4, 4 inch squares to fill in the middle of the quilt.  You can cut them with another Accuquilt die, or cut them the old fashioned way (gasp, with a rotary cutter).  See where they fit in the middle of the heart?

Um, yeah, you can see how well that worked out!  DO NOT design a quilt when you have a migraine!  You will be doing some unstitching :)  But in the end, things worked out ok :)

I put a 3 inch border around my little quilt, but you could do whatever you want.  Border, add more blocks, just bind it, or go with another row of blocks to add another heart and make the quilt bigger.  If I didn't have to work, I would keep playing all day with these drunkard's path blocks and see what else I could come up with!  Too bad I have bills to pay!

I decided to only quilt on the white part so the red would bump up.  This little quilt makes me smile when I look at it.  So easy and so cute!  Thanks Accuquilt for such a great product!

Here's a few more of my Drunkard's Path quilts.

 Black and white quilt for my son, his design
I used the 7 inch die for this one

pink and green quilt for a fundraiser for a neighbor battling cancer (7 inch die)

 Quilt of Valor (7 inch die)

 Doves for a grand-daughter of a teacher friend who lost her life in a boating accident (3 1/2 inch die)

 baby quilt for my daughter's tennis coach (both 7 and 3 1/2 inch dies used, I love how they work together!)

another fundraiser quilt for my neighbor with cancer (7 inch die)

Wedding quilt made for a work friend (7 inch die)

Now that you have stuck with me this entire blog post, it's time for a giveaway!  Here's the rules.  You must be a follower of this blog and leave a comment telling me what your favorite drunkard's path quilt is from this post.  I will pick a random commenter and announce the winner at the end of the blog hop on February 18 in the afternoon.  The winner will win your very own 3 1/2 inch drunkard's path die.  US residents only please.  Sorry, just can't afford international postage.  Be sure I have a way of contacting you!  One comment per person.  Good Luck!

Be sure to hop on over to the other blogs participating in the hop too!

February 13th
Marjorie (Marjorie Busby, quilter)

Ariane (Ariane's Crafts)

February 14th
Connie (Quilting by the River)
Linda (Living 4 Quilting)

February 15th
Lisa Marie (Scraps of Life)
Marilyn (North Hills Quilter) That's ME!

February 16th
Alicia (Heirloom Quilting)

Marjorie (Marjorie's Busy Corner)

February 17th
Sharon (Crazee Corners)

Jacque (Lilypad Quilting)

February 18th
Stacey (Driving Miss Stacey)

Tracey (The Peony Teacup)

Paulette (Sweet P Quilting and Creations)

Contest closed, congrats to Jen!

Day 2 Show Some Love

February 14th



Connie (Quilting by the River)



Linda (Living 4 Quilting)

lump update

back from the doctor. The nurse practictioner scheduled me with the breast specialist on Thursday for more follow up tests. That can never be good, then sent me to get a needle biopsy. That guy was really funny. He told me everything that could possibly go wrong, but said, "it never does!" He says he has been doing this for 20 years and never had a problem. He though it was a benign fibrous... tumor. Great. Then, stuck a really long needle in and sucked out 2ml of a brownish fluid. Oh, maybe it is a cyst. 20 years? Oops. He says they never run tests on the fluid, but to keep my Thursday apointment with the breast specialist anyways. The lump is mostly gone now, so looks like it was mostly fluid filled whatever it is/was. They may do a mamogram, ultrasound or another needle biopsy if it fills up again. I can't wait for another one of those! Thanks for the prayers!

Show Some Love Blog Hop has started! Get hopping

Today's blog hop participants are...
February 13th



Marjorie (Marjorie Busby, quilter)


Ariane (Ariane's Crafts)

Let's see what they are up to,shall we?

Fluffy

This quilt was done last night after I read about Whitney Houston's passing.  I was given a huge roll of really thick batting and this quilt is really fluffy!  I was thinking about how glad I am not to be famous.  I can't imagine the pressure and stress that must put you under to have the world watching you all the time and feel the eyes of everyone upon your every move.  To feel like you constantly have to be 'on' and be perfect.  So glad I can just be me and lay around the house when I feel like it and make happy quilts like this.  I'm almost as old as Whitney and can't imagine dying so young.  But, you never know when your time will come, so you need to live life to the fullest every day and enjoy the talents God has given you, be it singing or quilting or gardening and leave the world a better place than you found it.

Oh, and I would appreciate your prayers too.  I found a lump in my left breast last night the size of a grape.  (why do women compare body lumps to food and men compare them to sports equipment??)  I'm sure it is nothing, but Im more annoyed that I have to go have it checked out-ugh.  I hate mamograms..  Thanks.

Peaceful

that's how this quilt makes me feel.  There are just some quilts that I wish I could keep and this is one of them.  I love the pretty flower batiks and the color combo on this quilt.  I know the recipient will love it too!  Not sure where it will end up, but I'm glad it is finally a finish.

Girls' State interviews

My daughter, back row, red hair, had her Girls' State interview today.  She was really excited and nervous.  Her older sister went 5 years ago and had a really great time.  She is hoping to get picked out of this amazing group of girls from her high school.  The judges will have a tough choice.  I'm glad I don't have to decide!

I thought I've heard it all...but no!

As a teacher for 21 years, I've heard every excuse out there for why a student doesn't have his/her homework.  Really, they do use the 'dog ate my homework' and I've actually seen a couple of dog chewed homework assignments.  They've forgotten them at Grandma's or a friend's house, or didn't bring them home, or dropped them in the toilet, but yesterday I heard a new one and just wanted to cry.

I have a student who is really quiet for the most part.  He has long hair that covers his eyes and he doesn't have many friends.  I met with his mom at the beginning of the year to discuss his lack of effort and it was an akward parent conference as he walked all over her and obviously ran things around home.

He says to me yesterday that he didn't have his homework and would it be possible to get another copy.  He was animated and excited for the first time all year.  Normally he sits with his head down and tries to blend in with the furniture.  I asked him what had happened to the first copy he had taken home.  He asked if I read the newspaper and when I said I did, he got even more excited.  He said I must have read about his family in there on Saturday.  He explained that there had been a shooting on his street and that his parents are in a gang so the police had come to his house and searched his house.  They took his backpack where his homework was.  He said he lost everything.

Parents...gang...shooting...

And now you are worried about your homework?

Can I cry now?

It seems the longer I teach, the crazier things are getting.  I don't know if people talk about 'the end of /the world' where you are, but the high school kids are really focused on 12/21/2012 and feel like it doesn't matter what they do now because everything is coming to an end soon.  They are just going crazy.  I get asked at least once a week if I believe the end will come on that day.  For those of you who have been around as long as me, you will remember 'the end' being predicted so many times this one won't phase you either, but for these kids, so many of them are scared.  I'm just glad I have my faith to cling to in these crazy times.

Matthew 24:36

"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

4 more but one's a secret!

Busy weekend!  It started on Friday with the little one at the top quilted before school and continued on through a secret project that I can't wait to show you all!  It is for the Show some Love blog hop that starts next week.  I have never been so excited to show off a project before!  I hope you all come back and see what everyone has been up to.  All of the bloggers are using their Accuquilt products and sharing some LOVE with you all.  You don't have to own the dies to make the projects, but they sure do make cutting out some of the shapes much easier.  Hope to see you real soon, there will be lots of giveaways.  Just click on the button on the right side of my blog to check out the other blogs participating in the hop.

spare time? what's that?

 This morning before work, I finished up the stripie quilt and managed to get this little quilt done as well.  I'm trying to get things done when I can find some spare time.  I have 10 skirts to make before next Thursday for a play the kids are doing at school.  Not my kids, the students.  My friend is the director of the play and she asked if I could help out.  SUCKER!  I'm also trying to make mat covers for some rock climbing mats that were donated.  I think I'm crazy or something!  Oh, well, at least it is keeping me from being bored :)