Sick

I finally bit the bullet and went to the doctor last night.

I've had a cough, like a hacking-cough your lungs/guts out cough, for 2 months.  Everyone told me to go to the doctor, but I didn't want to go during the holidays.  After about 3 straight days of coughing, I finally gave in.

I went last night, and the doctor gave me some not so great news.

My lungs are crackling, kind of like bronchitis.  I have some sinus pressure, indicative of sinusitis.  I have post-nasal drip which is causing a lot of issues.  And to top it all off, I have walking pneumonia.

Yep.

Walking pneumonia.

So not what I wanted to hear.

I'm on omnicef, and carefully watching for adverse reactions.  Why?  Because I'm allergic to penicillins.  Omnicef is a distant cousin of the -cillins, and I could have an adverse reaction to it (or I could not...depends on the person).  He also gave me a stronger couch medicine (I've been taking Codeine, but it hasn't helped much).  I'm currently taking Hydromet (a form of hydrocodone).  It seems to be helping, a little, during the daytime, but I'm still coughing my guts out.  Mike says it's good, because my body is trying to get rid of all the crap in my lungs.  I can understand that, but honestly, I think if he were experiencing the same thing, he wouldn't be telling me it was "good".

I'm kind of pissed that I'm starting the new year off all sick, but at least I've been diagnosed and will, hopefully, get better soon.

I made it!!

So, you know that never ending list I thought there was no way in HELL I'd finish?  Yeah, I finished it!!!!!

Living room clean?  CHECK
Presents wrapped?  CHECK
Mom's present made?  CHECK
Quilted 3 quilts for clients?  CHECK
Bound 3 other quilts for clients?  CHECK
Quilted 2 quilts for SIL?  CHECK
Camera/Camcorder charged & ready?  CHECK

So the only things that didn't get done were the friend presents (They will be "New Year's" cards instead of Christmas cards, probably!) and I didn't quilt/bind the Christmas quilt I made....which is no big deal, because I hadn't planned on them getting done anyway. ;)

This weekend should be fun!  Christmas officially in 5 mins (but present unwrapping happens in T-5 hrs 35 mins).  Breakfast at Lola's house at 7.  Presents with Grandma & Grandpa P at 10.  Lunch & presents with Nana & Pop-pop at 1.

Sunday, church (but who really wants to go to church the day after Christmas?  Yeah, us neither....but we'll probably drag ourselves there for the first hour).

Monday, a little work, then pre-wedding party with the whole fam-damily at my mom's house in SLC.  Dinner at 5.

Tuesday, a little more work, then wedding reception for my cousin at 7:30 at her parents' house in SLC.

Anyone noticing how frequently I'll be driving from Spanish Fork to SLC?  Yeah.....not looking forward to the freeway this weekend, since it's totally ripped up and under construction, but it should be fun once we make it there!

I promise to take lots of pictures and post them!! :)


MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Christmas Readiness Update

Remember the list from my last post?  Well, I've actually finished a few things from it!  (I know, you're all gasping in surprise, and then laughing, that I've actually finished something. Go ahead and laugh. It won't hurt my feelings.  I'm laughing too! haha)

So, here's what I've finished:

Quilted 2 quilts for clients (1 quilt left!!!)
Bound 3 quilts for clients
Halfway finished making my mom's present (hoping to finish tonight)

I did clean the kitchen, which isn't quite the living room, but it's close.... hoping to get the living room tomorrow

I also found the camcorder, and all it's charging components.  Haven't plugged it all in yet....will do so tomorrow.  Same with the camera (charging cables are at work, instead of home)

Tomorrow I'm hoping to finish the last client quilt before Christmas, and do both of my SIL's quilts.  I also have a small quilt for my MIL, which shouldn't take more than a few minutes to do. This would leave me with OOOOOODLES of time on Friday to wrap presents, quilt and bind the quilt for my family (well.....at least quilt it! haha) and possibly even get our Christmas cards out in the mail this week (although I honestly wouldn't hold my breath on that one...sorry peeps!)

Not sure if any of you who read my last post actually were wishing me luck, but it sure does feel like it, because I am feeling like I've gotten a lot completed....although my list still looks like it came from Hades....

I'm so not ready!

I am so not ready for Saturday.  For those of you who may have forgotten, Saturday is Christmas.  yep, It's in just a few days.

I still have to:

Clean the living room
Wrap all the presents
Make my mom's present
Quilt 3 quilts for clients
Bind 3 other quilts for clients
Quilt 2 quilts for my SIL
Quilt & bind a quilt for my family's Christmas (new tradition I madly decided to start)
Find the charging cable for the camera and video camera and charge said electronics
Buy and ship our friend gifts (they so won't get there on time...sorry guys!)

Yeah, the list is daunting.

But, I have managed to send off 1 present already in the mail.  I'm really hoping I can finish everything else without having to spend the next three days without any sleep.  Wish me luck!

December OPAM - Christmas decoartions

I know it's not the best picture, but I've finally finished it!  And, he's hanging on my wall with the few I finished earlier this year.  I've also decorated our tiny 3 ft Christmas tree with the cross stitcheries I've done this year.  I bought about 25 more, bu haven't had time to make them up, so that will be my goal for next year. :)

I kind of slacked off a little in November.  Well, that's not exactly right.  I did do projects, I just didn't get them finished!  Hoping to finish a few more things this year.  I did an entire quilt, but do you think I remembered to take pictures of it before I gave it away?  Yeah, no, that would be a negative :(  Kind of bummed.  It was really cute.  It was a Turning Twenty using Pure by Sweetwater for moda.  I quilted little hearts all over it.  Yeah, it was pretty awesome.  Sure do wish I had a picture of it to show you all..... oh well, such is life.

I will see if I can get some more things made up this month.  I've been pretty sick (still am, actually), so who knows how well I'll be feeling?  Hoping to feel well enough to at least make the Christmas present for my mom (who reads this blog sometimes, so I can't say what it is......)  Wish me luck!!

Overheard at our house

Munchkin: Dad, McDonald's or Wendy's?
Dad: McDonald's.
Munchkin: McDonald's or Tokyo?
Dad: Tokyo! Of course!
Munchkin: WRONG! You only get two choices. McDonald's or Wendy's, and Wendy's is closed. So.....McDonald's?
Dad: Fine.
Munchkin: YAY! McDonald's!

It's Sickmastime, not Christmastime

I am seriously feeling worse by the day.  We have been plagued by sickness after sickness at our house, and of course, I'm the one that has gotten EVERYTHING.

Marshy had pink eye the week before Thanksgiving. Luckily, it got better in time to go celebrate with everyone.

Mike got the flu the day after Thanksgiving.  Stupid man lucked out and it only lasted for a few hours. He was better by the end of the day.

I had had a cold for most of November. By the Monday before Thanksgiving, the cough I had was killing me, so I went to the doctor and got a prescription for a codeine cough syrup. It really helped after a few days, and I was feeling better by Thanksgiving.

The weekend after Thanksgiving I developed strep. Yeah. So not fun! Went to the ER late Saturday night, got a whole bunch of prescriptions, and went home to rest.  By the following Wednesday, I was starting to feel a little better.

Then, on Friday, I had some killer sinus pain that had moved down into my teeth and my jaw.  Back to the doctor I went, and this time I got a few new prescriptions.  I know, right?  

Again, I was starting to feel a little better.....until this morning when I woke up and couldn't open my left eye.  Yep! That's right!  A whole week later, I have now developed pink eye.

I swear, if I get one more thing this year, I am going to scream!  I am too busy to be home sick!! 

I'm really hoping that I get over this newest thing sooner rather than later. I'm already so behind at work, it isn't even funny.

Christmas is Coming!

Oh my gosh, I'm crazy!

I just bought Jo-Ann's completely out of cute little Christmas stitching kits.  And my goal?  Yeah, to have it all done by Christmas.  I'm insane.


Also, I'm working on a really cute pattern (coming soon....eventually someday when I figure out how to format it using Photoshop and Illustrator!) for a customizeable calendar.  Oh yeah, it's cute.  Can't wait to share some sneak peaks with everyone.

Also, I bought a pattern by Melly & Me for Ruddy (a reindeer with a red nose).  He's A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E!  I want to make him ASAP.

PLUS, I've decided to make a quilt for my cousin who is getting married.  Yep.  That's right.  And her shower is in a few weeks.  Yeah.  I know, I'm crazy.

I'd also like to make a lot of the gifts that I will be giving this year.  Of course, I do have several already made that were leftovers from last year, but I still have a lot to do.

I thought I was all prepared and ahead of things, but no!  Christmas has crept up on me faster than I thought it would.  YIKES!  Wish me luck!  More updates to follow, I hope!

Quilt Market

yumSo, I was pretty sad when I realized that I couldn't go to Houston Quilt Market this last weekend.  But, my mother-in-law and 2 of my sisters-in-law (one of them being Lola of Izzy & Ivy Designs) did get to go.  They brought me back quite the haul.  I was so excited!!

Fabric from Lila Tueller's new line Isabella.

Fabrics from Clothworks.

Any my absolute favorite:  Swoon by Melissa Averinos.  I must purchase the other colorways once they are available. I absolutely love, Love, LOVE this line!

From everything I've read on twitter, it sounds like everyone had an awesome time at Quilt market.  Can't wait to see/meet everyone at QM Spring 2011 in Salt Lake City! 

Bad Things Come in 3's

I don't know who said it, but whoever said it deserves to be shot.

"Bad things come in 3's" 

Yeah, let's see how many bad things we can have happen to us.  Why not say "Bad things come in 1's", huh?  That would be so much better!

And, actually, now that I think about it, for me, at least, bad things have come in 4's lately.

First there is my car:  I need a new muffler.  Never mind that I replaced it 2 years ago.  And that the one I replaced was the FACTORY muffler that was was 12 years old.  Don't you think the new muffler should have lasted more than, oh, 2 years?  Yeah.  Me too.

Then there is my computer:  I've had issues with the corner of the screen case and the hinge for about a year.  The screw that holds the case together was stripped, so it's been missing for a while.  The hinge has slowly been breaking.  But I have't had any trouble with it for months, so I didn't worry too much.  Besides, I don't have "droppage" coverage at Best Buy, so I couldn't really take it in to get it fixed because, even though the damage wasn't caused by a drop, they would not have believed me.  Thursday night I closed my laptop, took it home from work, and then couldn't open it back up.  Wanna know why?  The hinge was totally broken.  The metal frame inside the plastic case had snapped and twisted in half, breaking, and making it impossible to hold the right lower side of the screen together.  I was so depressed.  Laptops are expensive!  And I can't afford to not have my work computer right now, when it's my busiest time of the year.  UGH.

Hubs fixed my laptop so that it's at least functioning, but I can't close it. Ever.  It now has to live at the shop.  I'm going through some serious computer withdrawls at home.  My phone is great, but you can only look at certain things online with it.  :(

So, once the computer was permanently installed at the shop, I went home, determined to sew since I couldn't do my normal computing stuff.  Well, I recently got my machine fixed and the old man who fixed it totally screwed up the tension on it.  I didn't ask him to fix the tension.  I asked him to fix the broken hand wheel.  Yet, he seemed to think that he needed to adjust my perfect tension to something less than perfect.  OH I was pissed to say the least.  I had to loosen my tension significantly, and hope that I don't have any more issues with it.  I have seriously never sewn with my tension set to 1.25, but that is where it currently is.  Factory setting was at a 3.0.  He had it set to a 5.25!! 

Lastly:  The Munchkin woke up this morning sad.  He opened his DS up and discovered that it was broken.  Oh, he can still use the touch screen, but the upper screen is cracked.  Sad day.  Luckily Hubs knows where to purchase replacement parts online.  In addition to purchasing a new upper screen, he also bought a new housing unit for him (it will be blue instead of silver now).  My DS Lite has had a broken hinge for about a year, so we also bought me a new housing unit.  Munchkin is so excited to have a "new" blue DS.  He was all smiles when we showed it to him.

Now I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that bad things really don't just happen in 3's, and that there are 2 more electronics-related bad things coming my way.  That would not be cool!

Just a Little Stressed

I don't know why I do this to myself, but it seems that I always take on a little more than I can handle every few months.

Like, we're having our Annual Christmas Open House at Sweetbriar on November 4th.  So of course I would like to have some festive projects done in time to display.  Like my Fat Quarterly quilt-along quilt.  It's Christmas fabrics, so it would go perfectly, yes?  That's what I thought! :)

I also want to have my calendar protoype made up.  Yeah, so not going to happen, but I can dream, can't I?  I really would love to have it done.  I've only been working on it for, oh, over a year. 

I've also signed up for NaNoWriMo again.  It starts Nov. 1st.  You're supposed to start working on a new project.  So what does this mean?  That I have 100 pgs written on another project already, with a hopeful 150 pgs or so to go, and I would like to have it finished by the end of this month.

Also, I have 14 quilts at the shop waiting to be quilted, which I would like to have quilted by the end of the month.  1 of them belongs to me.  It's the cable quilt I started earlier this year for a class I took.  I really would like to have it finished by the end of the year.

At least I got my laundry (mostly) folded, and my kitchen cleaned up.  I feel like I'm in a little less of a mess now that the kitchen is clean and the laundry is folded. 

Mythology

I have recently come to a realization.  I really enjoy mythology.  Particularly Greek mythology.  I took a course when I went to the U many years ago and it was one of my favorite classes.  My mom lent me the first 3 of the Percy Jackson series earlier this year, after I watched the movie, and I read them in just a few days.  Then I got the last 2 in the series and read them just as quickly.  I was so sad when the series ended, because I wanted to read more. 

This is what I'm asking for for Christmas, although I am pretty sure I won't get it. 


I'm currently watching Clash of the Titans (the new one, not the old one) and thoroughly enjoying it :) 

I also can't wait to pick up the newest Rick Riordan book  I so want to get it on my Nook, but I have to wait until our next pay period.


I am also seriously wanting a book with just the Greek myths.  You know: the Titans, and how Zeus took them over.  Maybe the stories of Perseus and Jason and Theseus and all of the Greek Heroes.  I don't want anything too textbook-y.  I really would prefer something more story-ish.  Does that even make sense?  My mom lent me her copy of Mythology  but I found it too textbook-y for my liking.  So, what I am in need of are some suggestions of books that might fit my Mythology-loving needs.

Serious Cuteness Warning

Is this seriously not the CUTEST thing you have ever seen?  Notice that it is Marshall the Marshmallow?  Remember that we call Munchkin  Toasted Lumpy Marshmallow?  Yeah, I thought it was perfect.  :)

Now I'm just waiting for the "toasted" version of the little figurine to get back in stock.  It's gonna be awesome!

P.S. - you can purchase Marshall the Marshmallow here.

More October Finishes for OPAM 2010

*The following is the story of a quilt that has taken me FOREVER to complete.  Sorry it's a little long, but the quilt took me a lot of time to make, and I wanted to document it for posterity's sake :)  *


I am happy to finally report that this MASSIVE quilt project is finally completed.  Yes, it took me over a year (just barely) to finish it, but it was a lot of work and I am really, really pleased with the end result.

No, you don't get to see the full thing laid out because I don't have a clean floor space large enough to do that!  It ended up about 101 x 121.  Yeah, it was HUGE.

I can't even believe how overwhelming the project had seemed at first.  When she had brought it to me, with all of the plastic storage boxes filled with ziploc baggies containing the triangles of fabric and their coordinating ties, I was very overwhelmed.  It took me about 27 hrs just to unpick the ties. (There were a lot of ties!)

Piecing it was a challenge, as I had never worked with ties before (most of them silks) and I didn't want to interface the backs because I wasn't sure how the fabrics would work together, if at all.  I did end up interfacing most of the fabrics used in the Sisters' blocks, pieces from shirts and skirts and dresses, and they turned out nicely, I thought.

My biggest mistake was picking such a weird size for the blocks:  9.75 inches square.  What was I thinking??  Apparently I was not.  I had to square up each block, then add pieces to the edge to both stabilize and enlarge them to the proper size.  Yeah, like I said: I was a little stupid.

But, the end look is really nice, and I can't imagine trying to sash all of those blocks without having the cotton quilting fabric as a small border around them.  It definitely would have been much harder to keep everything square.

I was really pleased that I had purchased enough fabric, too, as the project took me so long to complete.  I was worried, toward the end, that I didn't have enough of the sashing of sashing post fabric to finish, but I had just enough.

As far as fabric selection went, my client left it all up to me.  I wanted to keep the fabrics I used for the sashing, posts, and border very neutral and not too distracting from the blocks.  Since the quilt itself was so colorful, I opted to use neutral creams/tans/beiges for the sashing/posts.  The border I knew needed to be darker, because she wanted words quilted in it, and darker fabric with a light thread would work so well, I thought. 

Now, I have to add that I am old-school when it comes to mixing brown and black.  I abhor it.  Seriously.  I do.  My husband is not allowed to wear a black belt and brown shoes.  I even have a hard time liking couches that are black leather with brown upholstered cushions (even though, I admit, they do look nice).  I just have a hard time with it.  It makes me cringe a little inside.  But, I am getting better, obviously, because the border fabric is black and brown!  I know, so bold of me, huh? haha

For the backing fabric I wanted something close to the sashing fabric I had used on the front.  I had also hoped to purchase some 108" wide fabric to use.  Unfortunately, that was not to be.  Instead, though, I found this really great 58" wide fabric in a soft, crinkly neutral color.  I think it is in the Kona Crush line (is that even a line?  I don't remember the name of the fabric, sorry!) 

As I got everything onto the machine and ready to quilt, I had an epiphany of sorts.  I had recently quilted a quilt of my own, and had done words on all 4 borders, turning the quilt 2 times to get the text the direction I had wanted it.  To avoid having to unpick basting stitches, I quilted the border area with monofilament thread.  It worked like a charm.

So, why not use that technique here?  After all, I was going to quilt the center of the quilt in an all-over meander in monofilament thread anyway.   Why not just quilt the entire quilt that way?  So I did.  :)

The meander is fairly tight, and it was amazing how nicely all the extra fullness from some of the tie blocks (I had been seriously stressing about it for days, to be honest) worked its way out.  There weren't any puckers or tucks.  Everything was fabulous.  I was very pleased with it.

I added the binding using my longarm.  I knew that there was NO WAY I was going to be able to feed all 442 inches of binding through my tiny little domestic machine.  There was NO WAY.  It went on really nicely, and then my client took it for their mission reunion.

I've had it back in my possession for a few weeks.  I finally finished binding it.  It took forever.  My poor living room was dwarfed by the sheer size of the project as I sat on the couch and watched Amazing Race while I bound it.

But now, it is FINISHED.  And I am so proud of it.  It looks so great, and my client was really happy with it when she took it to the reunion.  It's the best possible outcome I never would have imagined when I first saw how much time and effort would be needed.  (Seriously, you don't know how daunting it is be staring at 2 rubbermaid tupperware storage boxes, 2 large bags, and a couple of grocery sacks full of ziploc bags with ties in them.  Ties that all needed to be unpicked and kept with their coordinating triangles.)  But now it is done, and I am happy, and a little bit relieved, to not have to worry about it anymore :)

A funny thing happened the other day.....

The other day at work, Marshy was tired.  It was a cold, rainy day. You know the kind, when all you want to do is snuggle down and watch a movie.  That's just what Marshy did at work.  We pulled out his couch, folded up a quilt to use as a pillow, and wrapped him up in a nice, heavy jean quilt while he watched his movie (I think it was Duck Tales, but I'm not totally sure.).

He also had been eating his BK Kids meal.  The dogs could apparently smell it.  They wanted some food.

They inched a little closer, in the hopes of snagging some tasty chicken nuggets.  Bella, the little dog on the left, is notorious for snatching food right out of his hands when he isn't paying attention.

After a few minutes he realized what was going on.  He sat up, saw me with the camera, saw the dogs, and that was game over. 

I'm a Bad Mom.....

We had a birthday party for Marshy tonight.  Do you think I took any pictures?  NO!  Did I have a camera with me?  YES! I had the Nikon. The Kodak's battery was dead, so I got the Nikon out.  I am such an idiot.  I do this all the time. 

He was so cute, too.  He loved opening all the presents....even the clothes!  Buzz Lightyear was definitely the prize winner though.  We got him the little karate-chop-action action figure.  He went to sleep holding him.  yeah, that's a pretty good sign he likes his toy. 

He also got some monster trucks from Nana and Pop-pop (to go with the Monster Truck playmat I made him).  He loved that, too.  So much that he wouldn't let anyone else touch it or be near it or play with it!  Silly boy needs to learn how to share.

I also made 46 cupcakes, and a round cake.  I brought home 10 cupcakes and the round cake.  I figure that's pretty good, right?

Well, I guess I'll just have to take pictures of him playing with all of his presents later.  His aunts, uncles, cousins, and other grandparents all gave him some pretty cool stuff, too.  He's pretty stoked about the birthday haul he got this year.  (YAY!)

October OPAM finishes - 2 quilts

This weekend I finally finished 2 projects I've been meaning to work on for a while.  The first is this baby quilt for my cousin's new baby girl.  I've had the fabric for forever.  A few weeks ago I finally sewed it into the cute little quilt top, quilted it, and folded it up on my cutting table to be bound.  It's been sitting there for at least a week, waiting. 

Fortunately, this weekend has been General Conference (2 weekends a year, members of our church gather together and listen to our prophet and other church leaders speak to us, either on TV, satellite broadcast, internet, or attend in person in Salt Lake City).  This gave me an excuse to stay home, sit in front of the TV, listen to my church leaders and work on binding quilts.

Isn't it precious?  The fabric is Sweet by Urban Chiks for Moda.  I used a pantograph, Clematis by Jodi Beamish, and antique rose colored thread by So Fine!

The second quilt I worked on was this fun Monster Truck playmat.  I bought this last year, after quilting the shop sample for Gracie Lou's.  Marshy loved it, and thought it was for him, so I bought him the panel and matching backing fabric.  It's been sitting on my "to be quilted" rack at the shop ever since.  Well, Thursday was Marshy's 4th birthday, and that gave me the perfect excuse to get it finished!  My parents are giving him some monster trucks at his birthday party today.  So, last night, I sat down and bound it while watching Prince of Persia (and I even liked it! shh! don't tell!)

I'm pretty happy with my two finishes this month - so far!  I'm hoping to finish 2 more quilt tops this weekend, and then get them quilted and bound by the end of the month.  One of the tops is for my cousin who just had a baby boy last night.  The other is my Fat Quarterly Quilt Along quilt.  I'm halfway done with the blocks for this top (it uses a jelly roll cut into pieces that go together to make 80 blocks!) and hope to finish the quilt top today during Conference.

I have had it!

Dear Neighbors,

I have put up with your crap  long enough.  In the 1 1/2 years we have lived here, we have endured you dragging stuff across your laminate kitchen floor at all hours of the day (and night - try 2 AM), but tonight was the final straw.  When I can hear your TV through the wall, over my TV, then you have it turned up too loud.  When I can hear your bass through the wall in my son's bedroom - UPSTAIRS - then you have it turned up too loud.  When I pound on the wall because it is 11:45 PM on a SCHOOL NIGHT, and you pound back, you are making yourself look like an inconsiderate moron.  I know you have kids.  How do they sleep through all that noise in your living room?

PLEASE BE CONSIDERATE OF YOUR NEIGHBORS AND TURN YOUR VOLUME AND/OR BASS DOWN AFTER 10 PM!!!  ESPECIALLY ON A SCHOOL NIGHT!!!!!!

Thank you,

Your pissed-off-and-tired-of-your-noisy-crap neighbors.

UGH!!

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Both of my wrists and hands, and lower arms started hurting today.  I didn't get any work done, I was in so much pain.  I went to Wal-Mart and picked me up a pair of these babies.  And now I'm wearing them around the house.  It sucks.  It's weird.  I can't wait to get them off!!!  Hoping that tomorrow they're feeling better so I don't have to wear them all day!

OPAM Finishes - September

I finished my Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt tonight!  I seamed the backing and quilted it this afternoon (I ended up using a pantograph by Deb Geissler called Flora.  It has butterflies and leaves and flowers and dragonflies.  It's really pretty.  I quilted it in a hot pink colored thread).  The back is a hot pink fabric.  I decided to bind it in my background fabric, since I had OODLES of it left over.  I'm so glad it's finally done!  I love it.  It's so fun and girly!

Yes, they assign homework to Preschoolers

Marshall starts preschool officially tomorrow.  We had orientation on Thursday, and his teacher assigned homework.  She handed out an "All About Me" booklet with some of the pages to fill out, and a boy-shaped stick for Marsh to decorate to look like himself.

We went camping this weekend, Labor Day, up the canyon.  I took the homework with us, but Marshy was having so much fun riding his bike and playing with the other kids that we totally forgot to do it until tonight, at 9 PM.  I know, I'm such a good mom, right?

Anyway, here are some pictures of what he did:

The stick is actually one of the better pieces.  I love how big he drew the eyes.  I told him just to put dots, but he had to have circles!

I had to hold his hand to draw the 3.  Is that cheating?

Dad is on the left, Marsh on the right, and I'm the big head right in the center.  Gee, thanks!

His favorite TV show is Phineas and Ferb.

His favorite toys are his toy cars

If he could have any pet he would have a puppy.

His favorite food is Froot Loops (they actually look pretty accurate!)

We showed Mike once Marsh was done, and Mike tried really, really hard not to laugh.  Drawing has not really been Marshy's strong point.  Need him to do something on the computer?  He's your guy.  Draw?  Not so much.

I hope his teacher appreciates the artwork as much as I do!

My Last Two Blocks!!

I am finally finished with my Simple Sampler Quilt Along blocks!!  I can't wait to get them all put together into a quilt top.  Maybe tomorrow?  Maybe later this weekend. Maybe next week.  We'll see.  Labor Day weekend is pretty packed for me, so we'll see what happens.

Block 15

Block 16

Simple Sampler Quilt Along Progress

Amy over at Amy's Creative Side has been hosting a fabulous Quilt Along.  I posted my first 6 blocks a while ago, and am now playing catch up!  I'm almost done!  I have 14 of the 16 blocks completed.  I'm  hoping to finish the last 2 blocks tomorrow, and possibly sash them all together, but we'll see what really happens.

Block 7

Block 8

Block 9

Block 10

Block 11

Block 12

Block 13

Block 14

I just love the fabric.  It's Gypsy Glitter by Art Gallery.  Oh!  And guess what?  My local quilt shop, Gracie Lou's, still has some yardage of this!  That means I'll be able to back and bind it in coordinating fabric from the actual line, instead of from something that looks similar or matches in color.  YIPEE!!

Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt Top

It's finally finished!!  Well, pieced at least.  I still need to seam the back and then quilt and bind it, but it's pieced!  I hate putting on borders, and that has been the longest part of the whole process. 

I had tons of fat quarters left over once the blocks were pieced, so I sewed them together, cut them up, and made the cute little pieced outer border.  I plan on using the remaining leftovers to bind the quilt in.  It's going to be so cute when it's done!  I can't wait.  I even know how I'm going to quilt it:  I have a floral pantograph that I want to use and some light pink thread.  Oh!  I'm so excited!!

Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt, an OPAM finish, and a surprise

Block 11 of my Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt.

Block 12 of the Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt.

I've already sewn my blocks together with my white-on-white sashing. Now I'm using the leftover fat quarters to make a pieced outer border.  It's gonna be really cute, once it's done.

And now to another OPAM finish for August!  I've been working on this quilt for over 2 years, and it's finally finished!  I even showed it in the Salem Days Quilt Show.

This is my favorite of the 9 blocks.  It's our family.

And now for the surprise! Today when I got my mail this fabulous package was waiting for me.  It's from Peg and Kris, the ladies hosting OPAM this year.  See, I was a winner last month.  I can't wait to stitch up something cute with these 3 stitchery/applique patterns.  SO CUTE!  And I love the fabric fat quarters.  I have a couple ideas already of what to do with them!

Why do I even bother?

Today was $2 Tuesday at Thanksgiving Point.  We've been promising Marshy for months that we'd go to the Dinosaur Museum there, which he LOVES, but have always put it off because it costs us $30 to take our whole family (all 3 of us). 

I figured today would be a good day because it was the first day of school everywhere.  No one will be at the museum on the first day of school, right?

WRONG!

The place was PACKED.  Literally.  Stay at home moms and dads with their little kids, some too little to fully appreciate the awesomeness of the dinosaur museum (like, 3-months-old-and-sleeping-in-the-car-seat-in-the-HUGE-stroller-that-nearly-ran-us-over-a-couple-of-times too young).

We waited for nearly 10 minutes just to pay to get in.  That should have been my first sign that this day was going to suck.  They were also doing oatmeal taste testing if you filled out a survey.  What?  Seriously?  Oatmeal? Yuck!  And it was totally slowing down the progression of the line.  Tired of standing there, we pressed forward. Then the taste testers approached me.

Her:  Would you like to take a survey and try three different kinds of oatmeal today?
Me:  No. We just want to get into the museum.
Her:  Oh, okay then, go right ahead.

She lets us through....ahead of the three groups of people doing the survey. They glare at me, but it's their own fault they can't go any further. They volunteered to do the oatmeal thing, not me! haha

We pay our $4 (remember, $2/per person today) and enter the museum.  We can barely move the tiny exhibit rooms are so packed with people and screaming kids and GIANT strollers with NO kids in them.  If you're not going to put your kid in the stroller, leave it outside people!

We wind our way through the rooms until we get to the fun part: the dinosaur bones and activity centers.  Marshy has been looking forward to playing on the erosion table for almost a year.  He loves it!  There's sand and water and you can watch how erosion works while playing with plastic dinosaurs and palm trees and building mountains and valleys, etc.  It's a lot of fun.

To get to the erosion table, you have to walk past the "design a dinosaur" station. It's a large, carpet covered figure.  On the walls are pieces: heads, horns, noses, spikes, tails, etc. that you can attach with velcro to build your own dinsoaur.  It's so crowded we barely push through.  That's a bad sign, cuz it's by far the lamest activity there.

As we approach the erosion table there are so many people that I'm sure the fire marshal would've freaked out.  Kids are standing reaching over the tops of one another to play in the water.  Marshy wants to play, but I can barely see him next to me (and he's holding my hand!) so I tell him maybe next time, there's too many kids playing in the water right now.  He sighs and shuffles out of the room with me.

We battle our way through the museum to the next fun activity:  digging for dinosaur bones in the sand.  Again, so many kids and parents and shoes and socks and strollers all over the place that there's no way he would ever have gotten to dig.  It makes me sad.  It makes him sad, too.  I offer to take him to the gift shop and buy him a consolation prize.  He gets happier.  He picks the biggest dinosaur he can find in our price range and is so happy!  That makes the day a little better.  We were only in there for maybe 40 minutes.  It's a good thing we only paid $4. I would've been pissed if I'd paid full price.

Then we get lunch at McDonald's.  The Happy Meal toys are superheroes.  Today's toy?  Aquaman.  LAME.  As we're driving through the bank, Marshy says, "Look mom!"  I look back to find this: 

"T-REX IS EATING AQUAMAN MOMMY!"

And that, I have decided, is why I bother.

August OPAM Finishes

Just finished zig-zagging the edges on the heart appliques on these 13 blankets for Colton's Angels.  They've been sitting on my sewing table for 2 months, waiting to be finished, and I finally finished them!  YAY!

Silhouette Giveaway

This is the Silhouette.  Over at the Idea Room, they are giving one away!!  Click here to enter!!

Photo from the Idea Room's Facebook page, here.

Another OPAM finish - in the nick of time!

Just in the nick of time!  I finished my LAST Christmas ornament cross stitch kit!  It's 11:30 PM on July 31st, so cutting it close is an understatement! haha

I'm hoping to get the rest of my Christmas crafts done soon.  They're all felt, like a felt wreath, felt Santa, etc.  We'll see what happens.  I have a couple of quilts that need binding, too, so maybe I'll get those done first. Who knows, huh? hehe

OPAM 2010 finishes - July

http://www.bunnyhilldesigns.com/store/products/details/?product=BM1067While we were on vacation this month, I finished a couple of projects.  Not the 5 or 6 that I wanted, but at least I finished a couple!

This cute charm pack quilt is my favorite.  I used Blush by Basic Grey.  Everyone gave me guff when I said I was keeping it, but it's so cute that I don't really want to give it away!

This quilt is last year's BOM by Bunny Hill Designs.  It was free online last year.  You could either do it applique or redwork.  Having never done a redwork quilt, I chose to do it that way.  I cross hatched the whole quilt, and I think it turned out pretty good, all things considered.

This last one I finished last night.  It's another Christmas cross stitch ornament.  It took me forever.  It had so many different colors, for how small it is.  I only have a couple more of these little guys, and I'm hoping to get them done by next month, but we'll see. :)