I was wrong...

Remember waaaaaay back to one of my first posts about how I am no good with numbers? Well, my dad read my post about the Olympics and realized that I had the dates all wrong. The 1976 Olympics were in Canada, not Los Angeles. Those were in 1984, but we did go see the bike races. It wasn't right up the street, but they were on the freeway that went past my house. Close enough, if you don't know the real story =) I was in Canada, visiting my cousins during the 76 Olympics and we had our own Olympics in their backyard after watching them on TV. It is a good thing we have the internet these days when memories like mine can't keep up with dates!

The Olympics are HERE!

I love the Olympics! I remember in 1976 when the Olympics came to Los Angeles. (that seems impossible because I'm only 25 so wasn't old enough--tee--hee) and the bike races went past our house in Long Beach and we ran up to the freeway to watch them go past. There was also an Olympic swimmin pool--I think built before the olympics for practice or something that we used to go to.

My sister and I used to watch the olympics and then go out and try to do everything we saw on TV. We even took synchronized swimming classes. I was pretty good. I could lay on my back and hold my leg up and not sink under the water. I don't know how synchronized I was with anyone, but I didn't sink under the water, so maybe it was sink-ronized swiming we were doing. We took diving classes too, but I would only dive off the low board. I tried diving off the high board and ended up doing a belly flop and that was the end of the diving career for me. I have never liked heights.

We tried gynmastics, but being totally inflexible, that was pretty much out too. Plus, I'm one inch short of 6 feet, so about twice the height of a gymnist and I'm sure at least twice the weight as well.

The opening ceremonies are on TV tonight, eventhough they already happened. I don't like the time difference when you can read about the events on the internet before they happen on TV, so I have to be careful getting on the internet in the morning.

I plan to get a lot of hand crafting work done while watching a lot of TV these next two weeks. How about you?

Freecycle

I have a love/hate relationship with Freecycle, you see I'm the owner of the local group so I see all the behind the scenes goings on with the group and all the troubles it brings but I also see all of the wonderful things you can give and receive for free on it. Today I picked up an almost brand new sewing machine from a wonderful lady whose sister had given it to her before her death 4 years ago. She felt guilty for not using it and when she found out that I had some students making pillowcases for kids with cancer, she knew this was the perfect use for the sewing machine. I have a student waiting for a machine and I can't wait to pair the two up and get her started. That's one more person helping me work through my fabric stash!

New project

Yesterday I got an email from the lady in charge of Girls' State asking for some quilts for an upcoming raffle in September so I started working on those yesterday. I got one quilt top done and blocks made for another. Then, today before the migrane made me stop, I got the blocks made for the 3rd quilt done. She asked for 6 quilts and I think that is do-able. Here is the first one. I plan to write words in the white stripes, things like America the Beautiful, Land that I Love, etc. I am hoping to get these done before I have to go back to work on Aug 18.

Deb's quilt tops

My online friend Deb, who really got me hooked on quilting and introduced me to several online quilting groups sent me these two quilt tops yesterday. She broke her hand and said she would not be able to quilt them, but wanted to help in my quilting ministry in sending quilts to Kazakhstan to the orphanage. That's where most of the quilts I'm making are going for now. I hope to get them quilted before school starts in 2 weeks because I'm not sure how much time or energy I will have for quilting once school starts up again.

Today I was working in the sewing room trying to clean and organize. It seems that I can work for about an hour before getting distracted and starting another project. I don't know how anyone can completely organize their sewing room without stopping to work on a project. Yesterday I worked for a little while until I realized I needed a pincushion. So, I had to stop working and make one right then and there!

And the best news was my daughter came home from camping yesterday. She had a great time and the only animals she saw were one lizard and a few cows. I guess the rattle snakes and bears heard they were coming and hid!

And the end of the lost DMV paper story is I finally got so frustrated that I decided I would just pay the $34 for new registration papers and stickers and went to the DMV yesterday. I had to wait about 45 minutes because I didn't make an appointment. There was a guy there who had made an appointment and he had been waiting an hour! Good thing I didn't call ahead =)

When I got up there, the guy said they were going to give me new registration papers and stickers for free anyways with the plates, so I spent all that time looking and worrying for nothing! ARGH. Oh, well. Learned something new here. If you ever lose your DMV registration papers and stickers, take the license plates off your car and run them over with the lawn mower. Take them in and buy new plates. It will cost you $18 for new plates instead of $34 for new stickers and registration papers.

Up for a Challenge?

Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville
http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2008/08/tonya-bonnies-fungly-challenge.html

Has posted a challenge today to use up some of the ugliest fabrics you have in your stash and pair them together to make a wonderful quilt. She is calling it a Fungly Challenge (fun-ugly).

I'm so tempted to try this one out because I have some really ugly fabrics. Why is it that I'm drawn to the ugly fabrics? I have so many really nice fabrics, but it seems like I really like the ugly fabrics and love the challenge of trying to work with them to make a quilt. I found a pattern in one of my books and can't get it off my mind, called something like Sow's Purse. It takes ugly fabrics and cuts them small and mixes them together to make a 'silk purse out of a sow's ear' or so the saying goes. The quilt picture has stuck in my mind and looked really neat and I want to try it out, eventhough I have so many nice fabrics that are aslo calling my name.

But, I don't think I will get any quilting time today. Daughter #1 is coming home from camping today and I have to finish cleaning up her room. We stole her book case (she is going off to college and can't take it with her) and I'm still looking for that DMV paper and I still have a lot of work in Daughter #2's room to help her finish getting things put back together. I have to build her a bookshelf that came with the desk so she can finish putting things back together and there is a little more work in the boys' room.

But, visions of quilts dance in my head...

keeping busy

My oldest went camping with her boyfriend's family on Thursday and will come back tomorrow. I'm trying to keep busy so I don't miss her too much. So, yesterday it was work in the other kids' rooms day! It started around 7 in the morning and finished around 9 at night. We painted daughter #2's room after emptying it almost completely. We took apart her bed so the boys could have the bunk beds back. She is getting a new to her bed off of Freecycle. She picked a nice green color called Fiddle Head Fern. I wonder if there really is a fern called Fiddle Head. Wouldn't you know? A quick Google search shows there really is such a thing. What did we do before Google? Just sit and wonder and never know the answer to our questions. I remember we would ask our teachers and they would say, that is a good question. I will get back to you and then never did.

So, we painted the walls and I learned that if you use a really small brush, you can get the edges of the room near the top and bottom of the walls nice and neat easier than taping it off. Last time I painted, I taped and made a big mess. Her room wasn't as bad as the other rooms I painted, but boy if you look at the other rooms in the house, I got paint on the ceilings and on the baseboards.

So, then, we had to put the bunk beds together in the boys' room. Well, they have things under their beds from years of them cleaning their rooms. So, hubby helped them clean out their room when I went to the hardware store to try and find a little part that was missing from the bunkbed. I got a piece that wasn't the right size and just fell in the hole so the trip was a loss but at least it got me out of cleaning some of the mess up =)

Today's plan is to finish painting the Freecycle bed and get that put together for daughter #2 adn start putting her room back together. We still have to go through the closet in the boys room and all the clothes to see what fits and what they need for SCHOOL (ick, the dreadded 4 letter word!) Nobody is allowed to say that word around here, you must spell it out.

Alright, off this computer and get to work...

my dad's paintings

I'm going to share some of my dad's paintings today because I'm helping paint my 2nd daughter's bedroom and probably don't have much time to work on anything of my own. Please leave comments for him. He started painting about a year and a half ago and I think he is doing a great job! He is totally self and book taught, never took a class, just fiddles around in his basement until he gets them 'just right'. The iris is one of my favorites. The lilies is a huge one that he painted while up for my oldest's graduation and hangs over the fireplace.

http://www.craftyarncouncil.com/projects/nov04_redscarf.html

Here's the new scarf pattern I'm going to try as soon as I get a minute to sit down today. Not sure what color it will be, probably green since that is my oldest's favorite color.

Quilts ready to mail

I finally got the last quilt finished and ready to mail today. Three were made by me and one by my mom. The pink one was hers and the others were mine. I believe the two strippy ones were pieced by my friend Nancy and then quilted by me, so this was a group effort to get these quilts to the children whose mother was killed by lightning. See the post in July titled Lightning Update for more information about the story. They are aready to mail and I hope they bring comfort to the four children.

gorgeous

My friend in San Jose sent me another package of gorgeous fabrics yesterday. She said that she couldn't even open the bag of fabrics before packing them for fear that she would just keep them longer and I can see why! These are super pretty and I can't wait to make some wonderful quilts out of them. Thanks again for these wonderful fabrics. Not only will they keep children warm, they will make them happy with their wonderful colors as well. Sometimes I fell like I have to use up my 'ugly' fabrics because I have so much fabric to work through and it is a fun challenge to take something that isn't so lovely and turn it into a nice quilt, but when I get donations like this, I'm happy to use this up first =)

I also thought, while I'm at it, I'd ask if anyone has seen my DMV registration? I got it about 2 months ago and since my new van didn't have plates yet, put it in a safe place. Well, I need it

yesterday and can't find it. I have looked in every safe place I can think of and it isn't there. Of course, it would have made sense to put it in the glove box of the car, but that would have made too much sense at the time. So, if anyone has seen it, could you let me know? I've torn the house apart and am about to tear my hair out now. Thanks for keeping an eye out for it for me =)