Birthday Party

Tonight we had Marshy's birthday party. He doesn't turn 2 until Tuesday, but we wanted to celebrate on a non-school night. We had presents, cake and ice cream at the park. It was super fun!


Mike was in charge of taking pictures during the present opening, and only took one. I guess it's because he decided to switch over to the video camera, and so we got a lot of video but not a lot of pictures. Anyway, Marshy got a lot of really great presents. Some cars, a cool boat with building blocks, and a puppy (he LOVES the puppy already! He was walking it around the kitchen as soon as we got home! Thanks guys!)
This is the first year he got to sit up to the table by himself and eat cake and ice cream. Last year he didn't really want anything to do with the cake. This year he couldn't get enough!
Oh what a good big boy he is!
Mmmmm! Yummy cake!
I love watching him stick the fork full of cake and ice cream in his mouth. It's so funny! He sticks it in sideways, which I'm sure is harder than it would be if he used the fork like it's meant to be used.
After he got all cleaned off we went and played on the swings. Of course, we had to take puppy with us!
"Adain!"
"Adain! Adain!"
"ADAIN! ADAIN!"
"ADAIN!" ....even though I'm so tired that I rest my head on the front of the swing while I swing because I'm SOOOO TIRED! BUT! "ADAIN!" He about threw a tantrum when I pulled him out of the swing because he was so tired. Then he realized we were going back over to where his cars were, and he was okay with that.

Thanks to everyone for all the fun stuff! (Lola, he is sleeping with the cute monkey blanket tonight, and he loves it! "Dinkdi!" is what he said when he saw me bring it in to him in bed.)

Why I'm up so late

Have you seen previews for the new movie Quarantine?

Well, it's based on a Spanish movie called REC (as in "Record"). Yeah, we got a copy of it, subtitles and all, and watched it tonight. Can I just say that it has got to be by far the scariest effing movie I have ever seen! Seriously. I can't remember the last time I screamed during a movie. I'm sure our neighbors wondered what was going on over here because I kept screaming. Honestly it's a miracle that Marshy didn't wake up.

But anyway, if you are looking for a good scare, watch it. We heard from several people online who have watched it that it is even freakier if you turn the subtitles off. Yeah, then you don't know what's going on....unless you speak Spanish Spanish (as opposed to Argentine Spanish or Mexican Spanish). Also, I don't recommend watching it with the subtitle on if you are opposed to a lot of swearing. Because yes, they translate all of those words into English.

And that is why I am still awake. Because I can't go to sleep. Oh, did I mention it leaves a lot of the blood and guts and gorey details to the imagination? Yeah, another reason I'm not sleeping.

We figured it out

This is a picture of a piece of equipment that came with the Gammill when we bought it. No one knew how to use it. They don't even make it anymore! We found out that it is the original Design Center. They have now made an even cooler design center, that is apparently easier to use....except that it's $1500...a little pricey, wouldn't you say? So I was determined to figure out how to use the one I had.

One of my clients brought me a really cute quilt, and she wants concentric circles done inside the circles in the quilt. Well, I didn't know how I was ever going to make a perfect circle. Let alone as many as I needed to make for the quilt. I had looked online for a plexi template and hadn't been able to find anything. Then I even considered the old school trick of using a pin and thread to make your own compass. But I don't really like to mark on clients quilts, unless it is with chalk, which wipes right off.

That's when Mike said "I'm pretty sure you should be able to make circles with your machine!" He got out the original deisgn center and set to work figuring it out. Within 30 minutes, Mike knew exactly how it worked and how to make circles. I tested it out, and let me say it is COOL! I'm so excited to use it on a quilt now.

Eating Healthy Part 2

So have you ever tried to eat healthier and then realized you were STARVING!? Yeah, it's only been a day and I'm already at that point. Mike said he knew I would be the one to cave first. But it isn't like I'm caving and eating junk food. No, instead I am caving and eating healthy food! Oh this is so much harder than I thought! But, it's all in an effort to get healthier, so I guess it is a good thing.

Eating Healthy

Mike and I live what a doctor, and my mother, would call a "sedentary" lifestyle. He drives for a living, and I stand in front of a quilt machine. Yes, I use some muscle to move the thing, and I walk back and forth from one side to the other and I chase my 2 year old around, but still....not very active where doctors are concerned.

Anyway, we have decided to try to eat a little more healthy. I know, I know. It's like attempt number 28 or something like that. But when we were at Sam's Club the other day, we started looking at cook books, and Mike got me the best one. It's by Better Homes and Gardens, called Cook Healthy Today. It's pretty good. I've already tried a few recipes in it, and they are quite tasty. They even have a section on weight loss. It plans out your meals for 2 weeks with a caloric intake of 1200, 1500, or 1800 calories per day. It's really nice. It takes a lot of guesswork out of things. So we are trying it for the next two weeks to see if we notice a change in our level of health.

The surprising thing I found, using this healthier new menu, is that grocery shopping wasn't that bad. Yes, it was kind of expensive this week, because I didn't have a lot of spices or condiments, but once you buy those you don't have to buy them for a while. The thing I found most surprising was that I bought mostly produce, and it didn't cost as much as I thought it would. It was the other stuff like cereal and canned foods that cost a bundle.

Now all that's left for me to do is pull out the Wii Fit......but I'm not feeling up to it this week. It tells too many truths and not enough lies! (Those of you who have one know exactly what I mean!) Maybe I'll stick to baby-wrangling for the time being.

Quilt Pics

So, I finally got all of my pictures I took last night uploaded onto the computer. YAY! Anyway, here are a some pictures of the 4 quilts. You can see more pics, including some closeups, at the following places: the Christmas quilt here, and the other 3 here.

As you can see, they aren't that big. I would've had them done a lot faster had my machine decided to work properly. Ugh! How is it that inanimate objects can tell when you are in a rush and then don't work? Tomorrow I will be spending the day maintaining the poor thing and hopefully get it all back to perfect.

OUCH!

So, I found out today that I needed to do 4 quilts for Gracie Lou's to take to the quilt-fest (?) thing they are going to tomorrow. They leave tomorrow at 11 AM, so the quilts needed to be finished tonight. I got them at 2 PM. I finished them at 10:30 PM, working straight without stopping for dinner. Oh how I loved the Wendy's I had for dinner at 11 when I got home! Anyway, I won't be going in to work tomorrow because my feet are killing me! I took lots of pictures with my phone, so maybe tomorrow I'll be able to send them all to my computer and get them uploaded in a post tomorrow. We'll see. Until then, I am going to go veg out on the couch!

Sad

So, I sold a quilt. It was my little "Pumpkin Patch" quilt. I know that the whole point of designing and making it was to sell it, but for some reason it saddens me to let it go. Has this ever happened to any of you? This is the first time I've really felt like I didn't want to say goodbye to a quilt. Not that I normally talk to quilts, but you know what I mean. Anyway, tomorrow I send it off to its new owner. I hope she enjoys it!

Another Halloween Quilt

I finished this one late last night. I had started to bind it while we waited at Discount Tire yesterday for our new tires, which are a dream! I finally finished it last night. There are more pictures of it here, for those of you interested in the close-ups on the detail.

Now that both of my Halloween quilts are done, I just have to finish binding my "comfort" quilt. I need to come up with a better name for it, because everytime I tell my mom about it I have to remind her that it's not cuz it's a cuddly quilt, that's what it provided for me when I designed it: comfort. You can see a picture of the completed quilt top here, and read about how it came into being here. Anyway, it's just the prototype. I bought some really great fabrics last month from Gracie Lou's, and I just bought the backing and binding fabrics this last week so that I can make the actual quilt.

Not that it isn't an actual quilt...I wasn't sure if bits of the pattern would work out, so I wanted to do a test quilt on fabrics that I already had in my stash, which meant that I had to adjust some of the measurements, especially where the borders are concerned. I ended up only needing 1 yard of backing and binding fabric, and got a great deal at Gracie Lou's on some awesome fabric for it. Sometimes she sells clearance fabric for more than half off. Anyway, it turned out really well, so now I am going to make it the way I wanted it to be: with the full borders and detail and stuff.

Before I can start on it though, I need to finish binding the rest of my quilts. Especially Marshy's Hungry Caterpillar quilt! His birthday is coming up at the end of the month, and I want it done by then.

Tires and Quilts

Today I got new tires. I got a really great deal at Discount Tire, because it was their grand opening in our area. It's amazing how well my car drives now. I didn't realize how bad the old tires really were, until today. Now they are all balanced and perfect and brand new. YAY!

Also, I finished one of my 5 quilts today. I had to wait for 40 minutes so I took a couple of the smaller quilts with me to work on. I finished one of them and started on the other while we waited. As I type this ost, Blogger seems to be having issues, so you can find the pictures here. I wanted to post at least one of the pictures in this post, but seeing as how it can't even save my post, I think I'll play it safe and just link ya'all over to it. I'm going to try to sell it on Etsy in my Etsy store. I'm not sure if I'll sell the pattern or not. I have to think about that one.

As promised

Okay, so I know I promised a post with a picture, and here it is. I was going to post earlier, but I got distracted by my maniac baby running around the house shouting "CAR!" and making me kiss his imaginary boo-boos and his cars better.

Anyway, tonight I went up to the SLC to visit with some friends. My friend Cheryl is in town from out of state, and some of the old high school gang got together at my friend Kathleen's house for a gathering. It was really fun.

I think my favorite part was when anyone I knew walked in and saw me, they'd say "Joanna! You're not dead!" as if they half expected I had died, even though my facebook account miraculously updates itself daily, and they were so surprised to see me. I understand why. I live in BFE county....well not really BFE county, more like Happy Valley, but compared to everyone else who still lives up there it is BFE.

It was so fun to catch up though. My friend Mike, who my mom hated when we were in high school, has gotten married and his wife is so cute! My friends Jon and Brad were there. It was so much fun reminiscing with them about all the trouble they got into during high school. Oh good times. Anita and Areli showed up, and it was fun to catch up with them, and with Cheryl and Kathleen. I also met a few people the "utah" gang had met at school, and they seemed pretty nice.

I was actually surprised, because when the topic of books and the new Harry Potter movie came up, and then Twilight was blamed for its being postponed, I stood up for it. Then, one of the "new" kids, James, asked me if I'd read the last book. I was totally surprised that a guy had read the entire series and actually liked it. I told my hubby, Mike, he should read it and he laughed at me! Said something about how Stephenie Meyere broke all the "rules" set up by some other group of writers.

Anyway, since I promised a post, I'm posting. I know it's technically past midnight, but I seriously just got home. So, anyway. Quilt posts tomorrow, promise! I'm almost done with three. I made the binding for them today, and actually attached it to two of the quilts. So now I am working on binding, and that shouldn't take too lon, I hope. And then I can have more fun pictures for you!

Slacker

I know, I know. I am such a slacker! But I have a really good post for tomorrow, I promise! Well....maybe I won't promise, because I might not get the pictures taken while it's still light outside. We'll see. I'll be working from home tomorrow, so that means that maybe I'll get the 5 quilts sitting on the back of my couch, waiting to be bound, bound. Or maybe I'll make some more progress on the little ABC book I started. Or even draw up a pattern. Who knows? All I know is that I can tell that tomorrow will be a semi-productive day. I would say super productive, but then I will end up sitting in front of the tv watching Spongebob or Cars or Toy Story or something all afternoon instead of working. I know, I am that easily distracted by children's shows. But regardless of what gets done tomorrow, I promise a post with at least one picture!

Rant

If you are going to drive on the freeway, then you had better know how to MERGE. First of all: the whole point of getting on the freeway is so you can go FREEWAY SPEEDS. When merging, merge at FREEWAY SPEEDS. Don't merge at 35 or 25 or even 15 MPH. Also, don't merge at 65 andf then hit your BRAKES because you don't think you can merge! This only confuses and pisses off the person you are merging in front of. Do not slow down to 35 or 25 or even 15 MPH once you have merged onto the freeway. This is just ridiculous! Also, don't expect the person behind you to drive AROUND you just because you are waving them to do this. This is illegal as there should only be one car per lane. Not one car half in the lane half on the shoulder and another car passing it in the lane. Again, ILLEGAL! If you follow these rules, then you should be able to successfully merge onto the freeway withut causing any accidents or making any0ne extremely angry. Especially ME. If you can't follow simple rules of merging onto the freeway, then you shouldn't be driving on the freeway anyway! Next time, take the frontage road or another route.

One of those sewing days I wish I could forget

Have you ever had one of those days when you get a sewing bug? I had one the other night. I had been poking around in my sewing stuff looking for my knitting needles. I know, why bother knitting? I was asking myself the same question. I own a really nice pair of needles, too, but for some reason I cannot find them. They aren't where I thought I left them. Anyway, I stumbled upon oodles and oodles of fabric I had completely forgotten about!

Not just any old fabric, either, but clothing fabric. Fabric I had purchased before Mike and I got married. I have fabric for a really cute skirt suit set, and a long skirt, and a cover-up skirt for my swimwear (which was apparently originally going to be a button up shirt, and then I realized I didn't have enough fabric or the correct size pattern so I made it into a skirt and it is presently pinned together awaiting completion), and a skirt that I had considered making for all of my bridesmaids (it is presently half completed, wadded up and shoved in one of the drawers....I don't think I will ever be able to fit it. I started it back before I got "mommy thighs"), and I even have baby pink stretch cotton fabric for a sleeveless shirt I was making to go under the jacket of the skirt suit set.

Well, the sewing bug bit me. I was determined to finish some of my projects. I felt like I needed the clothes, and I owed it to the beautiful yards of fabric that were stashed away in the drawers. So, I decided to start with the easiest thing: the sleeveless shirt. I pressed the pattern pieces and the fabric, laid the fabric out on the floor, and commenced with cutting.

Apparently it's been a while since I've actually used a pattern, because I seem to have lost all sense of how to sew using a pattern as I randomly laid out the pieces and then hacked away at the cloth. yep. When I went to sew it together, I realized I had cut half of the pieces (so the front and back) one way and the other half (arm and neck bands) the other way. So, instead of the shirt stretching out like it should have, it stretched vertically. Yeah, I know, way bad.

Maybe it's because I started the project at 11 PM. I'm sure that had something to do with it! At any rate, I know have some really great scraps to use in future projects. Maybe I'll have a baby girl someday and I can make her something cute from the usable remnants. Here's to hoping!

In the meantime, I will be carefully double checking all instructions when it comes to sewing with patterns. Has anyone else done this? I really hope I'm not the only one!!

Finally Finished

At the beginning of July I started this quilt. I ordered the kit from a magazine, because I just had to have it. Today I finished quilting it. Finally! Here are some of the pictures I took. You can see the rest of them here, along with some more detail in how I quilted the quilt.
I wanted the food bits to puff out a bit, so I outlined them and then did tight quilting around them. I didn't know what to do in the corners, so I did a butterfly in each one.
With the three panels in the middle I outlined them and then did a medium sized meander around it. I also outlined all of the individual circles in the dot border. Yes, I know. I am that crazy. By the time I was done with the center panel part of the quilt I couldn't feel anything from my shoulders down! I was going really fast, so it was kind of numbing. I also could barely ungrip my hands from the handles. Ouch!
This is the back of the quilt. I totally lucked out with this quilt, because when I bought the backing fabric I didn't have the quilt top with me and it ended up matching perfectly. Then, when I bought the thread (which is called watermelon sorbet. it's a variegated thread) I didn't have the backing with me, and it ended up matching perfectly, as you can see below. You have to look really closely to see the stitching on the backing. It's there, but the thread matches so well that it practically blends in like it was part of the fabric. I love that!
I can't wait to bind it now. Marshy will just love it. He was so excited when I put it on the machine the other day.

They grow up so fast

It was a fairly chilly day today, what with the rain and all, so Marshy got to wear his new fall clothes for the first time. Can you believe he is in a 3T?! He isn't officially 2 until the end of the month. Yes, I know he is ginormous.

Anyway, all day today as I watched him play at work and at home, I kept thinking how "growed-up" he looked! He has suddenly gone from being my sweet little baby to a full-sized toddler. When we got home he wanted to "cowa" (Color) in his book. So I got his book and crayons out.

Above: finding the page he wanted to color. His crayons are in the beat up plastic cup. We tried to keep them in the crayon box, but he has an obsession with ripping apart boxes into little bity pieces.

Below: Laying down to color in his book. He has never done this before! I was so glad I had the camera out when he decided to do it for the first time.

Below: He stood up to put his crayons back in the cup. Can you see what a big boy he is?! He is huge for a 2 year old. And his clothes don't really look that big on him. I especially love his little sneakers. I bought them for him earlier in the year. I think it was April or May, but then it got too hot for him to wear sneakers. I bought 7's for some odd reason, even though he didn't wear that size at the time. Luckily that is what he wears now, and they still fit him, even with socks on! He loves his sneakers....especially the laces. His favorite new game is to untie them while we're driving in the car and then cry until mommy stops and ties them back up.Now he's dancing to the music I"m listening to. My SIL all went to the Breaking Dawn release party in our area, and they got an Edward and Bella cd....the track list is here. I borrowed it the other day and put it on my computer and my MP3 player. LOVE the music! Anyway, Marshy loves the music too, because everytime I turn it on he starts to dance. I wish I could figure out how to put videos on here, because it would seriously be the cutest video ever!!

Two more cute quilts, and three more to go

So, after much trouble with thread last week, I was finally able to find some thread that worked. Of course, this new thread didn't give me much of an easy time at all! First, it didn't fit on the cone post, so I tried sticking it on the spool post. Well of course it had to be too big to fit on the spool post, and the endcaps were small enough that they slid right through the wholes in the top and bottom. UGH!

So, I called Mike over to help me figure it out. He jimmy-rigged it so it would stay in place, and I adjusted my tension. Then, the thread wouldn't rotate on the spool post. So, I gave up with that idea. I finally decided that even though it didn't fit on the cone post that that is where it needed to be. So, I stuck it on there.

Then I discovered that the thread was wound on backwards from the thread I normally use. I have had issues with this in the past, and was worried that it would cause me the same issues again, and that I wouldn't be able to finish the quilt on Saturday as promised. I decided it was worth a shot. The last thing I wanted to do was have spent $20 on 2 different kinds of thread and not have either of them work. So, I went for it.

It WORKED! I was so happy. About an hour and a half later, the quilt was done. Of course, there were some issues with thread breakage across roll 2, and then the tip of the needle snapped off. That was totally random and interesting, yet explained the thread breakage issues. After replacing the needle, everything went quite smoothly. Rolls 3, 4, and 5 were PERFECT! You can find pictures of the cute quilt here. Sorry I didn't take any of the whole thing. I had already folded it up and my family was waiting for me in the car when I realized I hadn't taken any pictures yet.

I also finished the quilt for my other client. The one using Nest fabric. It turned out so dang cute, and my cute client Joy (not her real name) was so happy I got it done so fast. It was a really little quilt. If I had done it all in one sitting, which thanks to a very unhappy 2 year old I wasn't able to, it would have probably only taken me 1 1/2 hours to complete. Pictures of this quilt are here. Again, same deal with this one as the last one. I had already folded it up, and Joy was on her way over to pick it up when I hurried and took the pictures.

Now I just have to work on the rest of the quilts I have down there. My mother-in-law brought me one to do that she just wants a meander on, so that shouldn't take me too long. I also have one of my stash quilts from the Summer Stash that I didn't get quilted, and the Very Hungry Caterpillar quilt which is on the machine right now! Marshy was totally mesmerized by it. He even got mad when I had to stand in front of it to quilt the thing. But, it is going to be so cute. Hopefully I'll finish it tomorrow so I can post pictures soon. OooH! It's so cute!!

Newest Project

Today I was going to go in to work ad put a quilt on....but then Marshy was so tired after our grocery shopping excursion that I decided not to go in. Instead, I got started on my latest project.

I began working on this on our Deer Valley vacation back in July, but didn't get very far. I cut out the background pieces, and that was about it. I've been planning on doing this little alphabet soft book for quite some time now, and I am even hoping to maybe make a pattern that I could sell, along with the finished product.

I spent most of the afternoon watching Law and Order: SVU on Netflix instant view on our home theater PC (it's a normal desktop that is hooked up to the TV, and we watch movies and instant view stuff on it, as well as use it for internet and other things....especially now that the laptop really won't charge hardly at all). While watching SVU season 4, I began working on the applique shapes. Last week I spent an entire night trying to figure out what each page was going to have on it. I finally got a picture planned for each letter of the alphabet. WHEW! It was rough for several of them....like "J", "M", and "V". I think those were the ones I had the hardest time with.

Anyway, I drew all the shapes out, and then traced the patterns onto my Wunder-under, and then cut them out, and fused them to my selcted fabrics. And then I cut those out and fused them to the background squares. It really wasn't too hard. I bet I could bust it out in far less time the next time I decide to make one, because now I have all the pictures drawn.

So, here is my progress. I was originally going to make the book with 1 letter per page, but I think now I'm going to do 2 letters per page. That way instead of 26 pages there are only going to be 13. I had even contemplated 4 per page, but that left the last page with only 2 letters, and I'd have to figure something out for the other 2 blocks. So I think I'll stick with the 2 per page for now.

Above: A-F

Below G-J

Above: K-N

Below: O-P

Above: Q-T

Below: U-X

Below: Y-Z

It will look really cute when it is all stitched down and embellished. I'm debating stitching in the word as well, somewhere on the page. I think I'll play around with that idea.....not quite sure yet what I want to do. I want to get the cover made tomorrow, and at least sew the pages together to that I can get started on the stitching and not have to worry about as many blocks. Then I can baste the page filler (probably left-over batting from the quilts I've been doing) and then sew each side together and attach it to the cover as I finish it. That is my hope.

I've had this idea for oh....8 months now I think.... and am finally getting around to doing it. I guess that is what happens when you run out of things to do! hahaha It's not like I've been reading a ton of books lately or anything....oh wait, yeah, I have. (Still reading the partial of Midnight Sun, and absolutely LOVING it, by the way! I really hope she decides to finish it soon.)

Anyway, so maybe tomorrow the book will be partially finished. I have a few other projects that need appliques stitched down on, too, but they are a lot bigger than this one. So, I guess we'll see which one gets done first. One of the other projects is mostly done, but it's so boring! I can barely stand to pick it up anymore. I need to just buckle down and finish it. I wish I were more motivated. It's going up for sale in my Etsy shop once I'm done with it, so you'd think that ought to be motivation enough, but for some reason it just isn't. Hmmm.....I've only been working on it for about a month, but I still feel like I ought to be farther along on it. I started it during the Olympics. It's just a placemat/wall-hanging size project. It really shouldn't take that long..... but now I'm running on and on. And I have some more chapters to read online.

I wish I hadn't rediscovered how much I really do enjoy reading....it only makes it that much more difficult to focus on everything else I have to do. Like iron 4 of Mike's shirts for his trip this week. I guess I'd better do that right now before I forget and it's 4:30 AM and he's getting ready to leave and he comes out here to me asleep on the floor in front of the TV with my book open on the screen! That would not be fun at all! "You let it burn in to the tv! how could you?" I can hear it now.... hahah :)

Sad, isn't it?

So I just finished Eclipse.....Saturday afternoon.....

And Breaking Dawn......tonight.....

And I've started Book 5. It is a partial book, and only in the rough draft state. The whole story makes me so sad.....how someone leaked the unfinished manuscript online, and how Stephenie Meyer now feels like she might not be able to finish it. It's been put on hold indefinitely! Grr! Stupid people! Anyway, you can find it here if you feel so inclined. So far I love it.

Oh, and I think Breaking Dawn was my favorite of the four......just saying, cuz I know it had a lot of mixed reactions when it came out, and that a lot of people didn't like it. Well, I LOVED it.

Anyway, Mike will be glad that I'll be done soon. I think he doesn't like it when I am reading constantly. Although he did just recommend a new series to me.

*NOTE*: Some comments may contain spoilers, so read at your own risk

Be Informed

So, in between frantically reading the remaining books in the Twilight series I have been doing my research. I know that politics are a touchy subject for most people, so I am not going to voice my opinions or beliefs here. I am going to say, however, that in our research Mike and I stumbled across this website that has been VERY helpful in making sure that we are informed. It is strictly a comparision between the candidates. I really don't care who you vote for, just as long as you vote, really. Anyone old enough to vote should, in my opinion. I didn't vote during the last presidential election....can't remember why....but I wish I had. Of course, I was still heavily influenced by others' opinions instead of having my own, so maybe it is better I didn't. At any rate, I am registered to vote and plan on doing so. Also, if you haven't registered to vote yet, there are a lot of websites that will help you with this problem. The one we used was Rock the Vote. You can fill out your form online, print it out and send it in. It's that easy! So easy that there really isn't an excuse to register to vote. At least, that is how we saw it. But, like I said, I'm not forcing my opinions on the subject. Just merely noting some sites that helped us.

It's like a drug

Really, it is. I don't know why I like these books so much! I stayed up a little late last night reading. And then this morning, when I got up, I swear I read 300 pages in 2 1/2 hours. That's how good it was. I went to the library and got a library card, and checked out Eclipse. I couldn't wait to borrow it from someone.

The second book was really sad. I'm hoping the third one is a little less sad. I don't know, I just totally felt for Bella and they way that Stephenie Meyer wrote the book, I could feel the pain that Bella was in. It was awful! The only reason I kept reading last night and this morning is beacuse I knew that something was going to happen that would make the book happy again. At least, that is what I hoped. I was right. It was totally worth it, staying up late and then spending my morning reading.

Not like I had a whole lot of housework to do today.... Our landlady came down yesterday to FINALLY give us the keys to the bedroom doors (it's only been like what? 4-5 months since we moved in!) so I had to clean the house top to bottom yesterday.

I was going to run down to work and quilt for an hour, but at 3 I have a consultation with some laser hair removal place. I won a gift certificate there, so I figured I might as well find out about what the GC would get me. Anyway, by the time I get down there I pretty much would be able to do like 2 blocks and then have to leave, so I think I'll go down after the consultation. I have two quilts I need to finish by tomorrow. Hopefully I can get it done by then. I'm sure I will. They are pretty straight-forward quilts. Not too fancy or detailed. I might even get one finished and the other one half done tonight. That would be ideal.

In the meantime, I'm going to read my book now. Hope I don't get too into the book before I have to go to my consultation! (I know, I know, I'm totally addicted....but really the last time I was ever able to read a book all the way through in a short period of time was HP7, so it has been a LONG time. I forgot how much I love reading! And it always helps to have a really good book.) :)

Update

Can't stay too long.....I have a quilt to fix and a book to read.

I solved my thread issue on the cute quilt for Gracie Lou's. I got a different thread. The thread I got originallly was Wheat, 100% Cotton. It didn't work. So, I called my supply store yesterday, and they have a Whole Wheat, 100% Polyester. I ran up there this morning, and got a new roll of batting, and the Polyester thread. I'm totally positive that it will work. However, I have to unpick the stitches I did in the other color, since they are different hues. That's no big deal, though. Hopefully I can get it done tonight, and then finish quilting it tomorrow.

In the meantime, I put my other client's quilt on, and it is turning out so cute! I should have it finished tomorrow morning, and then I can finish Shasta's quilt.

As for not being able to stay too long here in blog world.....I started reading New Moon. Yep, I was that dumb. Now I can't seem to put it down! AAHH! I have so much work to do, and I have to hurry fast so I can read it. Must read book.....Must resist temptation to stay up all night reading......sigh....Temptation too strong.......

What's with all the screaming??

Marshy thinks that he has to talk by screaming. It is getting old, and I am tired of having to take 4+ Ibuprofen every day. He knows how to talk softly, and how to whisper, but he loves to scream. I don't get it! We try to keep him from screaming, but nothing seems to help. Any suggestions as to how to get the noise to go down a few decibels? Thanks!

I can't believe it happened!

So I have always, always, always said that I wouldn't read Twilight, because "It's a book about a girl falling in love with a vampire....DUMB!" of course I failed to realize that that same scenario happens in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which happens to be one of my secret all-time favorite TV shows.

Well, after Breaking Dawn came out, I caved in. I borrowed Twilight from Angel. It's been sitting on my kitchen counter for about a month. I finally broke down and started reading the book. A few nights ago I read the Prologue. Then, the other night I read the first two chapters. Last night I read Chapters 3-24. Yep. I was up all night. Actually, I didn't really get much sleep. I think I slept from 7-8 AM. I went to work on a quilt for a few hours, but still had issues with the thread (see my previous post), so I went home. I hurriedly read the remaining chapters, and now I can't wait to start the second book.

You know how sometimes at the end of a book they'll throw in the first chapter of the next one? Well, they did that for New Moon. Umm...yeah, shouldn't have read it. I'm seriously debating running over to Wal-Mart and buying the books. All 4 of them.

Then I went over to IMDB and I watched the trailer. I have to admit that I am skeptical. Usually movies that stem from books aren't that great. There are only a few exceptions: The Princess Bride, and HP1-3 and HP5. The actors they chose for the Twilight movie look nothing like I had imagined. In fact, once I looked up the filmography for the actor who is playing Edward, I'm not sure I can get past the fact that he was Cedric Diggory in HP4.

But enough of my rambling. I will definitely give the movie a chance. And I will hopefully not be forced to stay up until 7 AM while reading the next 3 books!

Quilting Frustrations

Today was a hard day. I have been trying to quilt this really cute quilt for Shasta at Gracie Lou's, and the thread that I am working with is giving me grief. She wanted me to use a wheat colored thread, so I went out and found the perfect color, it's actually called Wheat!, and wound my bobbins and threaded my machine. Seriously, about 10 stitches in the thread broke. Okay, it's 100% cotton thread, so it's a little thicker than the poly-core thread I'm used to using.

So, I unthreaded the machine. Rethreaded the machine. And grabbed my fabric sandwich to test the tension. Still broke. Loosened the top tension. Loosened it some more. Each time the top tension still appeared to be too tight. The bobbin thread was showing on the top of the fabric sandwich, which is not supposed to happen. After playing with it for about an hour, I thought I had it figured out. The thread hadn't broken for a while, so I was keeping my fingers crossed that it would work.

Several many hours later, and about a bobbin and a half worth of thread, I still hadn't finished the first roll. Mike had come over several times to help me. He kept saying "It's your bottom tension that's too tight!" So I gave in, and adjusted it. Still didn't help.

At about 4 PM, or maybe 3:30-ish I can't remember, we left. I was so frustrated! I own a maintenance DVD, so I went home and watched it. It helped a little. But not a whole lot. About as much as my maintenance book helped, which was about [____] that much. I still have a few ideas to try tomorrow, but I am really not feeling optimistic about it.

It makes me sad, because the quilt is SO CUTE! While I was working on the super-cute quilt, one of my clients brought me another quilt. She used fabrics from Tula Pink's "Nest". She wasn't 100% feeling the fabric. She said it wasn't really her style, and she wasn't sure what I could do with it, but I have a ton of ideas! I'm so excited! I totally love Nest, and the brightness of the colors. I just finished my client's last quilt on Saturday. I told her I'd have it done by the end of the week, so I guess I'd better get a move on with this quilt for Shasta. Here's to hoping I can get the thread thing figured out.

Oh, and I'm going to be posting my pictures of completed quilts here, if you want to check them out. I'm going to be adding a whole bunch of finished quilts soon, so keep checking in for updates! Thanks!

National Sewing Month

Today is the start of National Sewing Month. Go visit their website here, and check out all of their great ways to get involved with sewing this month. They've also got links to various projects. There's also a link on their site to another sewing website that has a whole bunch of great free sewing projects! You can link to it here.