It's Me Again!

I've had a string of busy weeks, today I'll be cooking for a family birthday dinner tomorrow. I'm making a fajita bar, which will have 3 kinds of meat with sauteed mushrooms and onions, peppers, beer battered onion rings, 2 side salads, and dessert. I'll do as much as possible today to minimize time in the kitchen tomorrow and maximize time with the family!

No day is complete without some needlework, though, and even on my busiest days I can usually find a few minutes somewhere. My current project is a quilting job and I hope to be on the borders later today in spite of all the time I'll need in the kitchen. One more simple block after the one in the hoop and I'll be on the borders, there are three.

Knitting is here to stay and I'm really happy about that. While quilting has been my obssession for the last 20 years, and still is to a large extent, the ease of making quick gifts has brought knitting back out of hiding. This is the color of the next pair of socks I'll have on my needles.



This picture was taken the evening of Ruthie's birthday dinner day back in November, she's sporting new jammies, a new hat and shoes and posing with her new dolly.

My cooking day is well under way, the roast chicken is about to come out of the oven, pasta salad is made, meat is sliced and ready for cooking, and the vegetables are cut and ready to cook as well. All that is left is to make the cake, which will go in the oven when the chicken comes out. I didn't expect to be so far along at noon, and am looking forward to spending the rest of my day quilting and sprucing up the house.

Happy Quilting!

Sue

I'm Back....

and hopefully can keep up with plan B.

I got myself in a rut with this blog, not updating for too long then having so much to say that it took forever to do.

So I'll be trying to do short little updates every 2-3 days in hopes of keeping up...and keeping motivated.

Today's post would fit better on a blog called "Knitting Chatter." For the first time in many years, I didn't quilt a thing for Christmas. I did sew a few bags, but other than those, I knitted.

I started knitting at 10 years old, making mostly purses/bags for a long time. Whenever I had new yarn on the needles, my Dad would ask me what I was making, knowing full well it was a purse...it's all I knew how to make! I didn't follow patterns in those days, but made bags of all sizes, long handled and short, until I felt ready to learn to read a pattern.

From there, I went on to blankets and sweaters and that launched me into all sorts of needlework. Once I picked up a quilting needle, though, most of those other things went by the wayside.

For the first time in many years, I didn't do any quilting. I did do a bit of sewing, making several of these bags in different fabrics, a few for myself and some for gifts. They have a really long handle, which can be knotted up to be shorter or worn cross body. They are small, big enough to hold a few essentials needed close at hand.

I was inspired to pick up knitting needles by some online friends, starting with a couple of easy cowl scarves. Rachel loves unusual accessories and I'd heard a lot of talk of fingerless gloves so searched for patterns. This is a really simple one, I made a few pair for gifts and a pair for myself.

I also tried my hand at some more involved patterns, I love these and Rachel does, too. Several other pairs of wristwarmers also got knitted for gifts and my foray back into knitting had my mind racing. In the past, everything I made was big, these smaller things are quick and fun to knit and had me looking for more.

I have various pairs of knitting needles around, but hardly any double pointed ones. I made do with what I had, but talk of sock making, along with other projects, had me searching for sets of them. I found this online and Mike bought it for me for Christmas, it has 14 sets of various sizes of double pointed needles, which really open up the possibilities.

With leftover yarn from a wristwarmer and scarf set, I made these little socks for Ruthie. I was hooked.

I bought sock yarn and made this pair for me. They are slightly too big, so I may save them for my son's girlfriend for Christmas next year.

I found an easy hat pattern, Lucas was in need of one, so I asked him what colors he wanted. Ruthie was NOT happy when that hat wasn't for her, so she got one out of leftover fingerless glove yarn.

Currently on my needles is another pair for me, this one is made from baby yarn and the first one is made.  It fits perfectly so sock number two is well under way. I've been buying skeins of yarn here and there for various things and will probably be doing nearly as much knitting as quilting for a while. More about that in later posts!

 No post is complete without a Ruthie picture. She got that Santa hat from a nice woman at church who knows she loves hats. She tried it on her new birthday dolly as soon as she got it home.

 There is so much more going on here, but that will wait for another day. Though this post was all about knitting, I have a quilt I'm hoping to finish by next Tuesday so I'd better get to it!

Happy Quilting...and other pastimes!
Sue

Home Retreat

I love quilting retreats but they don't really fit into the budget or the calendar these days. I have a local friend who quilts, we plan late night sewing nights a few times a year, starting usually lunchtime or mid-afternoon and going as late as we can both stand.

She had some extra vacation days to use, so we planned a two day "home sewing retreat," two days put aside to sew as much as possible. It's usually much easier for me to be home, this time it was easier for her to be home so we have been meeting at her house. The upside of not being at your own house is that your family is not there wanting/needing you to do something, I've been pretty steadily sewing the whole time.

We planned this some weeks ago, so I planned a new quilt top and actually bought fabric for it....the bigger pieces in my stash are becoming fewer and further between and while I love the challenge of making quilts from what I have, sometimes it's fun to buy all the fabric for a new project. I pinned triangle paper and got it all ready to begin sewing as soon as we got set up.

While on a roll, I had fabric for another project that I hadn't prepared, yet, so that got pinned as well on the not likely at all chance that I finished my project and needed more to do.

We got together at 10:00 Thursday morning, with sewing late into the evening in mind. We got our machines an cutting areas set up, an ironing board is set up over by the other window. After some prelimary sewing we picked up Chinese food and brought it back, a rare treat for us both. We bought enough to have some for Friday dinner if we were still sewing. With lunch over, we resumed sewing.

Before too long, blocks turned into a row. I'm sewing this one a block at  time and putting it into rows as the blocks are done so the tedious pinning of those long rows is spread out.

Ruthie joined us for the evening on Thursday, all her siblings had somewhere to go. She was happier than this picture would indicate, she spent some time drawing on this couch having a snack, and also spent some time interacting with my friend's oldest daughter, who is also our oldest son's girlfriend.

 I love blocks of time set aside for sewing projects, I'd nearly forgotten how much in the last few months. I have my little corner set up with my Featherweight and my computer (the pattern is on it and it allowed me to check email, look up a few things we were wondering about along the way, and just have a few minutes of diversion every so often.)

A steady stream of snacks and caffeinated beverages kept us going and we worked until midnight before calling it a night.

We resumed at 10:00 Friday morning after a good nights sleep and, other than a break just before dinner time for an appointment, we sewed until midnight again.

I packed up and came home, my project well under way.

Jonathan and Rachel kept the home fires burning, Lucas and Ruthie were well fed and entertained. Lucas poked his head out when I got home, sheepishly saying they had just gone to bed, having played games for candy the entire evening.

I'm looking forward to seeing this face tomorrow, she was sleeping when I got home and I just saw her briefly this morning.

After what I hope is another good night of sleep I'll set up my sewing area and continue on. My plan is to sew most of Saturday as well, and I'm hoping these 3 days will have set me up for continued productivity as we head into the fall and winter months.

Until next time,

Sweet dreams and Happy Quilting!

Sue

Bits and Pieces

As usual, there is a lot going on in our house. School for our college kids has begun, one doesn't live at home but with the "playdates" he makes with his brothers and family dinners, he's around a fair amount.

Since we homeschool, we can choose our start date, we have always started the day after labor day and will again this year. We have one more week of summer before schooling begins.

Jonathan had a busy summer, with occasional lawnwork jobs and some work for our cleaning company. He also took on the task of maintaining and sprucing up the yard, which included trimming trees and bushes, fixing up the edges on a couple of bush beds and cutting out an area for the swings, which will soon be filled with pea gravel. This way we don't wear out the grass and he doesn't have to move them all the time to mow under them. Here is the "before" picture, I guess since the pea gravel isn't in I haven't yet taken an "after" picture!

Lucas and Mike have enjoyed a few fishing outings this year, one of them in the canoe. He caught 5 small fish on one outing but threw them all back. This one was a keeper, a 2 1/2 pound bass. The week before Mike got one that was just a bit bigger, I'll be making them a fish fry lunch one day soon.

The wedding plans are in full swing, we found her dress last weekend, she bought invitations today, she's been gathering bits and pieces of things. Rebekah made her own veil last summer and offered to make Rachel's for her, so we got beads to get her started on that as well. Things are well in hand at the moment, we'll enjoy that and hope it continues.

Ruthie and Mike have bonded over books of late, she'll bring him books to read to her and they will stay happily settled in this spot for quite some time.

Today was a rough day, one of those where nothing seems to go right. We were out running errands, Ruthie, while mostly cooperative, was also just not in a very social mood and she ignored or grunted at most people who talked to her...and there were many today. We found a hat on the dish soap shelf at Walmart, it was on a shelf at Ruthie's eye level, and looked at me, pointed that tiny finger at it and said "hat? Tootie have it?" She pulled it out and oh my, she loved it (she loves hats anyway, but oh my) so we used some of her allowance money to buy it. I think I will be trying to find some plain, child sized fedoras that we can decorate for her to wear.

And, the quilting. It's not been a good summer for that, it seems. I did do quite a bit of piecing earlier in the summer, but have not done nearly as much as usual since. The upside of that is I really felt like I had a summer vacation. The downside is I feel like I have to really be focused the next few months to accomplish what I need to. The wedding quilt is underway (pattern picture on the right,) I have a quilt in the hoop that is nearly done, and a couple more tops that I have fabric for and just need to get the ball rolling on. Rebekah got her Tablecloth Quilt for their anniversary, which was fun.

Rachel bought a laptop for school and we needed to make the house a wi-fi hotspot. I guess "NEED" isn't quite right but it would most certainly make it much more enjoyable for everyone not having to share one wireless modem. Brian had told us about a place in town that buys old gold and broken jewelry so I figured I'd see what I could get for mine. I had accumulated quite a bit over the years, and hoped to get a couple hundred dollars for it...enough to buy the hotspot adapter that I needed and fabric for a couple of quilt tops.

I got much more than expected and was also able to get this:

I'm beyond thrilled, I've wanted a laptop since they first came out and were so much more expensive than desktops. I've dreamed for a long time about a work space that included my own computer so I could easily switch between tasks and it is even more wonderful than I imagined. I escaped from my not-so-great day by coming outside at about 3:30 with my hand applique and my computer and sitting outside with the fire going watching day turn to night has done much to improve my mood.

Tomorrow, I tackle the printer problem, tonight, I work some more on the wedding quilt. I'm still in the early stages of it and hope to have a lot more to show for my time in a couple of weeks.

Until then,

Happy Quilting!

Sue

Downsizing

It seems we're doing a lot of this these days. We are not downsizing our house, it's not that big to begin with, but we are able to start purging some unneeded things, and replace some well worn ones.

I had 2 sets of dishes, a stoneware set that could be microwaved, but were rather cumbersome, and a set of second hand china which was pretty and not as heavy, but could not be microwaved because of the gold edge.

Neither made my heart flutter, they were just functional. We also had a bunch of plastic plates which were getting shabby so I thought that if we switched to Corelle that I could get rid of all but a bit of the plastic and have dishes that I didn't have to worry so much about breaking.

I found the set at right, which perfectly match my kitchen/dining area, and knew I had to have them. My plan was to buy them a set at a time (each set was a place setting for four) until I had 6 sets. While our household is shrinking, our family is growing.

Being a want and not a need, collecting these sets was a long term plan, but my kids had other ideas. I bought one set early in the year, and my Mother's Day gift was another set. I opened the box and while exclaiming over them, heard Rebekah quietly say "the rest are coming."

They had ordered the remaining 5 sets of dishes but the order was split into shipments and only one box had arrived. She said the others would be showing up over the next couple of days.

In actuality, the rest arrived the next day. I had spent Mother's Day evening boxing up my old dishes and cleaning out cabinets. The old dishes took up the better part of two cabinets, I was able to get rid of some other things, too. The cabinets are much less cluttered now. I still feel a little giddy every time I open this door.

The car saga has finally (at least we hope finally) come to a close. It's been over 3 1/2 years since it began, when our van was in need of major work. We got it back just about a year later only to have my husband's work van break down just one week later, leaving him in need of our family van for work.

Our older kids all had cars and we shared and traded as needed, but now two have moved out and the last is away for most of the summer. I'd been pretty down about the whole thing and beyond tired of having to find rides everywhere. I found myself looking at used car sites, trying to figure out how little I could spend and still have a decently reliable vehicle and finally decided that I was toturing myself. The only way I'd be getting a car any time soon was if one fell from the sky.

Two days later, one did.

Some family friends came into possession of an extra vehicle, they shuffled their cars around and the "leftover" one was going to be donated, to us if we wanted it, to a charity if we didn't. For the price of licensing and title transfer (and the obligatory $1 to make it legal), I am now the very proud owner of a 13 year old Plymouth Neon. My husband teasingly refers to it as the Mercedes and I don't mind. To me, it might as well be! Since my vehicle used to be the van, I guess my vehicle has been downsized, too!

The body has a few bumps and dings, the inside is almost like new. Best of all, it runs great, is fun to drive and gives me my life back. Initially when we accepted it (sight unseen) my hope was that it would keep going until such time as we could get my husband a needed work vehicle and figure out what was next for me. I now hope that we can keep it going for a LONG time. It not only is a fun little car, but I feel like it is a reminder that there is an end to trials and difficulties and no matter how dark things seem, at some point the light works its way back in.

Ruthie LOVES the new car and will even come along for the ride if all I'm doing it going through the drive through at the bank.

She's also starting to enjoy a bit of independence. She's tall enough to open the screen door to go out by herself and figured out how to get back in on her own, too. She will often go out and sit on the porch and blow bubbles while watching the world go by.

She uses this little chair to open the door, or reach further on this table. In the kitchen she will stand in my basket of towels to reach on the counters. She's a resourceful little thing, and thankfully not too mischievous!

You may have noticed no mention of quilting so far. That isn't because I've not been doing any, in fact, I've been quite busy. The problem is my camera batteries have died and I can't get pictures of what I've been working on. Grocery day will find me with new batteries and quilting updates will soon follow.

Rachel is home for a few days, she leaves for camp again Sunday morning. Tonight she is at Marshall's parents' house for dinner and some of the evening, but we'll be watching Say Yes to the Dress shows and scoping out both wedding and bridesmaids dresses while being entertained. Until then, I'm watching baseball and hand quilting, tonight or tomorrow I should be finished with the current project.

More to come soon! I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer.

Happy Quilting!

Sue

A Happy Surprise, and Updates

We found out just a couple of weeks ago that the house was still a possibility for Rebekah and Brian. Our determined son-in-law wasn't ready to give up on their dream house. He figured there had to be a way and continued communications with the mortgage company, unbeknownst to our daughter. After the intense disappointment, he didn't want to get her hopes up for nothing, but a couple of weeks in when he needed some paperwork, he had to tell her.

The rest of us were kept in the dark, they didn't want to tell us all, only to have to tell us, yet again, that it was a no go.

They quite happily signed MOST of the paperwork yesterday. As these things usually go, something was missing and it's not officially official, but they were given the keys and the lockbox was removed. I got to see it yesterday and it's WONDERFUL. (The house is not on this lake, this was actually taken during their wedding rehearsal.)

Joshua is quite happily settled into his new home. If the landlords had any qualms about renting to two young men, I'm sure they will be quite happy as time goes on. When they are not busy with their friends and girlfriends, Joshua and his roommate are caring for their home. Mostly Joshua cooks (he starts culinary classes next week) and Steve cleans, but they both work in the yard and it seems like they are keeping up with everything pretty well. (Joshua is the young man all the way on the right, catching the garter, his roommate is the young man in black in the front and center of the group.)

Rachel leaves on Friday to be a camp counselor for about 8 weeks. She will be gone from Sunday morning until Saturday afternoon during that time. She can hardly wait and I'm sure she'll enjoy it very much. Once she comes back, the wedding planning will begin in earnest. The date is set, June 9, 2011, the hall is picked (same as Rebekah's, though will have a totally different feel for this wedding) and quite a few things have been decided. The picture at right is Joshua and his girlfriend, Kayla, Rachel, and Joshua's roommate, Steve. Rachel made a cake in honor of her sponsor child's birthday, and we took pictures so she could send them to him.

Rachel's leaving means I will have little, if any, car access for the summer. It's something that I'm really struggling with, but there really isn't anything we can do about it right now. It may not be much better in the fall, with her working and going to school full time.

I've been hand quilting quite a bit, I have so many tops here and I need to quilt them. Some are pattern samples, others are just tops that have been waiting for me to have either time to work on them or money for batting and backing. This one was made from the tablecloths at Rebekah's wedding, It's nearly done so will be a housewarming gift.

I'll have more pictures of this one and the quilting on it soon!

I'm not nearly as good as multi-tasking as I used to be. I find that somewhat disconcerting as I have so many different things that need to be done. It used to be I could have several quilting projects going at once, but I'm not so good at that anymore. I'm trying to figure out how to balance it all and I think I'm starting to settle into a routine.

I also have learned to move on if I'm not feeling very motivated. It does no good to sit with hand quilting in my lap because I've designated this hand quilting time if I sit and stare at it because I don't feel like doing it. I used to be able to push through and do things anyway, but whether it be getting older or just a shift in mindset, that doesn't work so well unless something absolutely has to be done.

So today is computer day...until I'm tired of staring at the screen. I'll quit by dinner time and switch to hand quilting tonight. If it's earlier than that, I'll switch to a piecing project or start my hand quilting early.

Ruthie is doing great, she has multiple little dolls and stuffed animals that receive her attention. Right now, Spongebob is dancing across the top of our couch. She is a constant stream of chatter. A favorite thing is lining up various little objects and chattering away while she walks them around, then lines them up, then walks them around again. This particular lineup is a snowman pepper shaker, a clear glass teddy bear, and two s'mores ornaments.

We had a few lovely days a week or so ago and the kids were all out back. I looked out to see Ruthie, gently swinging back and forth and grabbed my camera. I love this picture, I may have to have a print of it!

Now it's time to get to work. I'm learning the ins and outs of EQ and I feel like I'm taking a computer class! I'll enjoy my computer time (with one computer for 6 of us, it's sometimes at a premium!) though am already looking forward to hand quilting later one.

I hope everyone is having a happy, healthy summer, and, as always,

Happy Quilting!

Sue

Time Flies

This surely seems to be a recurring theme for me. I need to find a way to do short posts more often so I don't feel like I'm totally rambling when I do post.

After much waiting and jumping through way too many hoops, the house was not to be after all. Rebekah and Brian were intensely disappointed for a couple of days, but then regrouped and came up with a new plan. They are still leaving their apartment at the end of the month, hoping to find a townhouse or house to rent between here and his job...which will put them very close to her job. The emotional adjustment has been made and we know that when they do get a house of their own it will be just the right one for them.

Their change in plans meant a change for Joshua, too. His friend's parents' house sold quickly, they moved into a house about a mile or so from here in the adjacent neighborhood. They are having a great time. Today Joshua came and picked up Lucas to spend the day at his new house, and next weekend we'll go there for dinner. He's clearly thrilled with this new phase in his life.

Rachel had a big month, too, she got engaged Easter weekend, on their 3rd anniversary together. We are planning another wedding but have more time this time, the target being June 2012. Along with the wedding will be a move, Marshall will be going to grad school, very likely in another state.

How did we get from the top picture, taken when Ruthie was just a few months old, to the bottom, Rachel so happy to be starting her new grown up life?

Our summer will be interesting, Rachel is spending most of it working as a camp counselor and will only be home for a few hours each weekend. We have a lot of the wedding plans figured out, the actual working of the plan will happen starting in August.

Ruthie continues to do very well and still loves to be photographed. Here she is ready to pretend shop. For a while she had to wear that hat every time we left the house. She often had it pulled so low that she had to tip her head to see. She loves to go to the store and comes along whenever I have the time to bring her and she wants to go along.

She loves the computer and used to mostly watch youtube videos that we'd find for her. She got tired of waiting for us to click another for her one day and she did it herself. She's since learned to play a couple of games, too. I find myself "competing" for computer time with her some afternoons...it's so good for her, though, I try to let her go for as long as she'd like.

I've been busy with my quilting, getting quite a bit done while waiting to buy EQ6. I have several patterns designed, planned another quilt I need to make, and worked on several of my "sample" tops. The one on the right is in the hoop and should be done before long, the one below will probably be next in line.

Just this week I got the program and have spent the last several days learning to use it and putting a couple of patterns into the software. I'm hoping to have a very productive summer, and have a quilt top I need to quilt to add in the mix! Quilt above: Ring around the Stars©2011 Quilt in Piece

Spinning Wheel©2011 Quilt in Piece Designs

Life sure does seem to be speeding along at a breakneck pace these days, but it's quite enjoyable, too. I do wish it would slow down just a bit!

Happy, Healthy spring to all, and Happy Quilting!

Sue