Another Monday

Monday is a hard day for me in some respects. I'd like to just take it as a rest day and do as little as possible, but over the weekend it's hard for me to get much done with the kids coming and going and my husband here more than he is during the week. All the comings and goings keep me busy, leaving me wanting a restful Monday, but by the same token all the comings and goings make it so there is work to be done on Monday!

This weekend, "the teens" ended up at our house for the day yesterday. They started filtering in shortly after church and the last ones left about 8:30 or so. "The teens" being our 13 and 21 year old sons and some of their friends, ranging from 17 to 21, and our daughters and some of their friends, ranging in age from 14 to 19.

The total yesterday was 10. Today there are popcorn remnants on the floor and there is a sinkful of dishes (now soaking) to wash.

I did spend a lot of the day sewing/quilting, first putting the first pieces on my new paper piecing project and then hand quilting. It was just interrupted a lot of times while I dug up snacks for everyone...and it was noisy in here! A couple of the boys in particular are quite loud and I don't do so well with loud anymore.

So today, I have a few things that really need to be done, though I'd rather play hookey and sew all day. A couple of loads of laundry, a good cleaning in the kitchen and vacuuming and things will be in much better shape. I'll also be pressing the paper piecing that I sewed yesterday and maybe placing a new piece. If I don't feel like doing that, or get tired of it, I'll hand quilt at the frame for a while.

This is the wastebasket for my sewing room. I line it with a little 8 gallon bag and when my son empties the wastebaskets he takes out the bag. Ruthie decided it would be a nice place to sit. With the handle it was a little tricky for her to get into and it was even more tricky for her to get out, but she managed!

I'm off to an earlier start than most Monday's. I'm not sure what woke me up "early" (early for me, anyway) but my exercise is done, I've eaten and now finished my blog post, leaving me a big stretch of day ahead and nowhere that I need to go (not that I can anyway, the van is still not running, though now we're pretty sure that it's the starter and not some horrible huge problem. We're hoping to get it fixed in the next couple of weeks.)

These are my favorite kinds of days. A mix of chores and sewing with no need to leave the house!

Happy Monday!

Sue

Guess what I'm doing right now?

WASHING CLOTHES!! Yup, after 3 months of hand washing and my husband making a weekly trek to the laundromat (where he just washed clothes and brought them home for me to dry...it took TWO days to dry them all) we were able to get our new washing machine yesterday. While we might have had enough to fix the van (both brakes and a mechanical problem, we're figuring $1000-$1200 to get it fixed) he figured it would be easier to do without that than for another week or two than the washing machine with creative use of our daughter's car and son's truck. Since a new one didn't cost a whole lot more than a refurbished one, we decided to go with that and my husband found one at the Sears outlet that was the price we wanted to spend, but the regular price was much more so it had features that I never expected to have. I told him I preferred a gentle cycle, but if it added too much to the cost to forget it....I ended up with SO much more. I never thought I'd be so happy to be washing clothing!

While three loads got done yesterday, my husband did them all so I didn't even get to try out the knobs and settings until today, LOL. We washed a load of towels first to test it and he spent most of the wash cycle in there with a flashlight making sure there weren't any leaks anywhere. Then he badly needed work towels (we have a cleaning company) and finally his work clothes needed to be done. I was actually a little miffed I didn't get to use my new washing machine! Maybe I need a few other new appliances that he'll be dying to try out and I can get a break! LOL.


Anyway, I'm thrilled to pieces and will be washing for days with all the things I've put off for the last few months.

I feel like the most unfaithful of God's children sometimes. Things have been difficult for several years for us financially and always I had faith and hope that things would turn around while slowly we sunk lower and lower. These last two weeks have been a time of incredible blessing as one by one the broken things around here are being replaced or repaired. Even a couple of small wants have been granted.


I had planned to quilt most of yesterday, but as it turned out a couple of our son's friends slept here on Sunday night and were around for most of the day. I broke out the pizzas we didn't have the night before and cooked them for lunch. The boys left for a while, but came back not too long before dinner.. Thankfully I had a large meatloaf in the oven. One of our daughter's friends was here and meatloaf and mashed potatoes is one of her favorite meals so she was invited to stay as well.


I did manage to spend some time quilting after dinner, while watching TV. My husband was home from work because of Martin Luther King Day and we had a nice relaxing evening.


Today, hopefully there will be more quilting and time to do sewing related things. While laundry will take up a good amount of my time, there is also a lot of in-between time. My kitchen needs a good cleaning, but that won't take long and everything else is in pretty good shape. In addition to some hand quilting, I think I'll cut some fabric for the paper piecing project and perhaps do a bit of celtic applique. I may set up my Featherweight, too, as seeing it there will motivate me to work on the paper piecing project.



For a few months now, I've seen this pair of shoes at Walmart. I love them. This style was popular when I was in my early 20's and it was one I hated to see go, they are comfortable and flattering and can be worn with jeans or casual dresses, skirts, and jumpers. When I wore jeans I always wore pantyhose (love the feel of them on, which gets me crazy looks from people) and nice shoes. I rarely wear tennis shoes of any kind, and will wear birks or crocs rather than tennies if at all possible. I wanted these shoes so badly! I can't remember what the regular price was on them, not very high, but just not in the budget. My daughters love shoes and one grocery shops with me every week (they used to alternate until Rebekah started cosmetology school) and every so often we have to look at the shoes. My shoes were on clearance for $11.50! They had one pair left in my size, I knew it would probably be gone before I could get them. Babysitting last week padded the grocery budget for our son's party...and left enough for my shoes and a cute bag.


While I'm looking for a reason to wear my shoes, the bag will wait until March, when I'm starting to think about spring.. Maybe anyway. Our daughter's friend was carrying a similar bright colored bag. When told by an Aunt that it looked like a summer bag she shrugged and said she liked it so she'll carry it now.

So off I go, to clean, to do laundry, to quilt. I'm babysitting for a few hours later today, but tomorrow is wide open. Saying I'm leaving it for quilting is the kiss of death, LOL, but that's what I'm hoping to do.

Happy quilting, and keep warm!
Sue

I'm TIRED!

What a weekend!

Our son turned 21 on Saturday. They had a "Nerf War" at church for all the young men from 13 to mid-20's. There were about 20 of them running around with nerf guns and they had a great time. They had him stand on a chair while they sang Happy Birthday and pelted him with nerf darts. A great time was had by all. (Below is Ruthie with one of her brother's nerf guns.)

Because of this previously sheduled event, his party with his friends was yesterday. Mostly it was about food, he loves to eat! They watched football and played games and once I started getting food ready at about 2:00 I was working at it constantly until 8:00. That's after spending most of the day Saturday prepping it.

I got a deep fryer for Christmas, so the highlight of the day was trying the different things we attempted to fry. All actually came out really well. I had several different batters made and used whichever seemed appropriate for the different items. We did Li'l Smokies, onion rings, homemade chicken nuggets, cheesesticks, snickers bars and twinkies.

We also served homemade venison sausage, a crockpot full of meatballs, some baked mushroom snacks, popcorn, homemade caramel corn and a couple of dessert items. We never did get to the frozen pizzas (which were mostly purchased as backup in case we needed more food or had more kids show up than I expected.) Everyone was raving over the food, even one of the friends who is a picky eater tried many things we didn't think she would...and she liked everything she tried.

When the cooking and dishwashing was finally finished, I put in a movie and quilted for a while, which is how I plan to spend most of the next couple of days.

I have to babysit this afternoon and tomorrow afternoon but I figure by then my fingers will need a break...and everyone here loves babies so I'm sure I'll be relieved a bit here and there. Our van is still not running, so I can't go anywhere (gee, darn) which should leave me a lot of quilting time.

In addition to the frame quilt I showed in the previous post, I'm working on this one in a hoop. I have a wonderful spot in our bedroom that I can sit and sew and watch TV or DVDs. I often sit here after everyone goes to bed at night while I'm waiting for my husband to get home, or if I want to watch something different than the kids are watching or just to sit and curl up in a comfy spot. While I love my frame, sitting there to quilt just isn't as comfortable as having my feet up!

I normally have this little DVD player plugged into an outlet in my sewing room in view of my work spaces, but it can be unplugged and used cordless for few hours. Ruthie occasionally asks for it to be at her spot at the table, where she can eat her lunch and watch. This particular time she watched the entire movie, with several small bowls with different snacks, while I worked on making party food.

Right now, she's happily watching in our room and having some pasta for lunch. It's a good time for me to get quilting (after I fix pizzas for the boys that ended up crashing in our family room last night!)

I'll hand quilt for a while for sure, but I may work on some celtic, too. I had it at church with me yesterday and while showing it to a couple of women there I realized that I've made a good dent in the border work and it's given me motivation to work on it some more. It's lightly snowing and my frame faces the window, so it's a perfect day for settling into my sewing room.

Happy Quilting!

Sue

Busy Week

I've got a very busy week ahead. Our van is still out of commission, thankfully except for errands on Thursday I have no need for it. I had told my husband before the holidays that I thought I should start doing home daycare again once the holidays were over and, though he doesn't want me to have to do it, agrees that it will be helpful.

We're both in agreement that, for now, we will not be placing an ad in the paper, but relying on word of mouth and God will bless as He sees fit.

This week, I'm watching a friend's children 3 times (for various appointments) and our Pastor's daughter's baby 2 afternoons. The few extra dollars will pad our grocery budget as our son's 21st birthday is Saturday and he is having a bunch of friends over on Sunday. Plus there is a pair of shoes on clearance calling me, I haven't bought a new pair of shoes in ages!

We're still hoping to get our van fixed this week, it depends on if a couple of big checks arrive, and even the logistics of picking it up are complicated with my husband's schedule and now the daycare jobs I have this week. One way or another it will work out. I'm hoping NOT to have to walk the 2 miles to the repair shop as it's cold here today and getting colder as the week progresses, but if that's what it takes to get my wheels back, I'll bundle up and go!

I generally love the months of January, February and March. To me, they are quilting months. Though I quilt quite prolifically all year long, it's usually worked in and around many other things. These three months there is little really going on. There are weeks that the only time I leave the house is for errands and for church and I love it.

On Saturday, the frame quilt got it's first stitches. I've started so many things now that I'm torn each day as to what I feel like doing. I think this quilt will go fairly quickly, each time I'm able to put in a movie and quilt for a while should make quite a lot of progress.

I still have one more quilt to mark and baste, I may do that today since it requires me to clean off my sewing table, which right now has the makings of several projects spread out on it. I'll find a bag or basket for each one and clear the space, which will be good for when kids get here this week, too. There isn't a huge amount of marking, I really should be able to mark and baste and still have some time for additional sewing or quilting.

Yesterday I spent all my sewing time on the celtic applique. I've only made a small dent in the borders but am really liking how it's coming out. I remember from past experience that it feels pretty tedious at first, but once I get on a roll it starts going quite a bit faster. I think I'm bringing this to the quilting bee tomorrow night. While most of the women bring machines and work on piecing, I find that easier to do at home and I usually bring handwork instead. Since my van is out of commission, my son is taking me there and my daugher is picking me up so it's best to not have to carry too much along this time anyway.

I left church yesterday with lifted spirits. The pastor was speaking on working our way through trials and tribulations and how we are not alone, not only do we have God but the prayers of our friends as well. He is just coming out the other side of a major health crisis and it was his first time in the pulpit in many weeks. While he was speaking of his own experience primarily, he knows of ours and I'm sure others in the congregation as well. I've been well aware this last week that we are indeed not alone and am feeling more encouraged and less burdened than in months.

I should run, it's coming up on lunchtime and I haven't really done very much yet today. I do have dishes soaking in the sink and venison sausage cooking in the oven (we're attemtping to make our own summer sausage.) I few concentrated bursts of cleaning and straightening will do wonders for the house and then I can sit and sew and relax until kids come later.

I'm torn between that which I should do (clean) and that which I want to do (sew.) I'm very tired today and it would be so easy to just skip the chores and relax. I've learned how to handle these days, though, I will pick a chore and do it and then reward myself with a bit of sewing time. A few of these "trades" during the course of the day will finish what I need to do.

Happy Quilting!

Sue

Progress revisited

What is quilting to you? For me, it started out as another craft to learn. Having done most forms of needlework and having ordered different magazines and books through the mail, offers of others came often.

Then it arrived. The quilting book. I looked at the beautiful quilt on the cover and thought "no way I could do that." I didn't sew, really, my attempts at making clothing, while not bad and producing a few wearable objects, didn't really bring me much joy.

But I couldn't stop looking at the ad for that book. I bought the book and waited impatiently for it to arrive. When it finally came, I looked through it and was overwhelmed. I set it aside. Little by little, though, I'd pick it up and study up on the steps and techniques. I couldn't afford to invest in fabric and tools that would be wasted, I wanted to be sure I could DO this before I made the committment by buying supplies.

I honestly don't remember how long it took before I actually started my first quilt. I had the book for quite some time, periodically it called my name and I'd look through again. The steps started to become familiar, I could feel them in my fingers, I felt ready.

Pregnant with my 3rd child, I took the plunge and have never looked back. I have been quilting without a break of more than a few days here and there for almost 16 years now and have more quilts running around in my head than I will ever be able to finish.

I can't quite put my finger on what it is that does it for me. Something about pulling that needle through just quiets my heart and brings me joy. While I've joked about the many quilts I'm starting at the moment, I think these are therapy for me. Something positive and creative, something that keeps my mind off of my troubles to some extent and at the end of these struggles will be something tangible and beautiful from a difficult time.

Here is the quilt that I finished yesterday. I made a whole bunch of baby tops some time ago in hopes of selling them, but a way to sell them never really panned out. Most have been given as gifts through the years. I have a few left here to quilt yet. I may make some more tops for future babies, as with children, nieces, nephews and friends' children beginning to reach young adulthood, there will be many more babies on the horizon. The colors in the picture aren't very good, the green is a 30's print and the peach is just as vibrant as the green.

Today I'm having a friend come for a couple of hours, she's due here any minute. I was supposed to go to her house, but our van will not start now so she is coming here instead. We will chat and sew this afternoon and I know her visit will cheer me up, though my spirits are pretty good at the moment to begin with.

I spent lots of time yesterday basting leaf shaped applique pieces for one of the new projects. I may be doing more of that today and cutting the background pieces, today that one seems to be calling me. I do want to get back to the celtic applique, too.

I still haven't put that first needle full into the new frame quilt, but that will probably happen sometime this weekend. I love these post holiday weeks, it feels like there is endless quilting time stretching out before me.

It makes my soul sing.

Somebody Slap Me!

Seriously, I think I need help!

While reading email yesterday I came across a link to a pattern. Generally I don't click on these, but the text said it was a good scrap user upper so I thought, "why not?"

Why not? Because now I've been sucked into yet another project! LOL.

As soon as I saw the pattern, I knew I had to do it and just what fabrics would work. A long time ago I got a stack of shirting rectangles. To be honest, I don't remember how I even came about them, but there is quite a stack of them. I won't have quite enough to complete the project, but in my stash I know I have some comparable prints that will fill in nicely. I took a piece of fabric earmarked for one of my other new projects to use as the border and found an alternate for the other project. The alternate is a little more out of my comfort zone as I can't picture the results as easily as the with the other fabric, but I like to take chances once in a while.

This pattern is paper pieced. I actually enjoy paper piecing on occasion, especially with blocks such as these where, for me, the cutting for traditional piecing would drive me crazy. I was able to get 2 blocks per sheet of paper. I could have figured a way to copy them on, but was trying to eliminate all unnecessary markings so as to use as little ink as possible. We have a copy machine on our FAX so I was able to make my copies at home.

I did them in 10 page increments so as not to lose track or have to count all the pages should the machine jam. This is the stack of pages. What was I thinking! 144 pages, 288 blocks to make this quilt. It will be large as most of my quilts are. To me, a "lap" or "cover up" quilt is at least 60 x 60. This quilt, with borders, will measure about 100 x 110.

I'll not be piecing these right away, but am ready to do so when the urge hits and time permits. First I need to cut out all the pattern pieces, that will be good fill in work for when I'm cooking dinner or need to be doing something I can put down easily. I have to also pull more fabric as the shirting rectangles aren't quite enough to do the whole project since I've decided to make it so large. Shown are the shirting rectangles and the border fabric, which is a little hard to see in this picture.

Technically now I have 6 quilt tops in the works, meaning all have something done on them and I intend to spend time on each regularly until they are finished. In my usual fashion, I'm sure that some will take precedence over others. I have piecing, paper piecing, simple applique, celtic applique and more complicated applique on these projects so I can pick and choose what I feel up to doing each day.

The baby quilt should be finished today, I knew that I probably bit off more than I could chew saying I wanted it finished yesterday. Now I have one side of border left and should be able to finish it in spite of other things on my agenda for the day. I hope to put the first needles full of stitches into the frame quilt as well, I can see it every time I come down the stairs and it's calling my name.

On another note, I thank everyone who as thought about and prayed for us about our financial situation. I try not to talk about it much, and try to keep a positive attitude, but apparently enough bits and pieces got out that our church decided to take some action. Last night the chairman of the elders stopped at our house and gave me a nice check from the benevolent fund, saying they were giving it with joy and hoped we would accept it and that it would help us with some badly needed repairs.

That combined with the checks that are expected in the next week or so will take care of some major and imminent needs and we are unspeakably grateful. While the money will help immensely, what has lifted my spirits and lightened my burden is that it is tangible evidence that God is with us and we are being held up to Him by so many wonderful people and, though I've felt somewhat abandoned by Him in the last months, I know how wrong I was...and how He has been here the whole time and will continue to be.

I talked to Bren on the phone not long ago, lamenting why? why is this happening? I've been so sure any day things will start to turn around...for months and months now. She told me perhaps the question is not why? but when? So I did pray, when Lord, when will we see some relief? SOON was nearly audible to me.

Soon. Soon in our time and soon in God's can be very different, but we're seeing a glimpse of sunshine in the monsoon that seems to be our life these days. And I'm finding joy, and peace, in the sunshine.

Progress

While I didn't spend as much time quilting as I planned, I did make progress on a couple of things. My "Happy New Year" table runner is finished and on my table. It will stay there until my son's birthday in about 10 days, when we'll change to the "Happy Birthday" runner that I hope will be finished by then.



I always plan my sewing day but I'm sure I'm thinking about the fact that I'm never here alone! I always have grandiose plans for huge progress and some days not all that much gets done. It gives me something fun to think about, though, and keeps me inspired.



Today and tomorrow not much are going on here so I hope to get a lot done (see, there I go again!) The baby quilt I mentioned yesterday has one side of the border quilted, I should be able to finish that today and hope to get the binding on the front. I didn't get to do any celtic applique yesterday, so hope to do some of that today, but my new quilt in the frame (which I fixed after breaking it during the hot water heater incident) is calling me, too. Generally I do better choosing one or two things to work on in a day and spending more time on them, but these few days might just be jump from project to project days, there are so many that are calling my name right now.



I used to jump around between projects often as my time was limited and those bits of time added up. When a project got closer to the end, I'd concentrate on that one until it was finished. I find as I get older, I don't multi-task quite so well. We'll see what this day brings!



Miss Ruthie is a little ray of sunshine in the mess that seems to be enveloping us these days. Here she is enjoying the vat of popcorn left behind after our daughters' "girls night" on Saturday, no doubt while watching "Elf", her favorite movie. My husband asked this morning if we didn't have anything else she might like to watch, LOL. Personally, that one doesn't bother me, I can think of a few that would drive me batty if they were on all day. "Elf" manages to be one one TV or another almost all day long, though she only really sits in front of it if someone is watching with her or she's really tired. In any case, it's making her happy and since she's been interested in it we've seen quite a jump in her attempts at speaking and verbal reactions, which is great!

I hope everyone has been safe and dry from the unusual January storms. There were tornadoes not far from here, my husband called from work and said they were told to go to the basement so we cleared out the entrance to the crawlspace just in case. Thankfully the storm seemed to have bypassed us, we had some rain but not even any thunder and lightening.

So that's it. Time to quilt. This baby quilt will never get finished if I keep rattling on. I don't want to quilt in the frame until the baby quilt is finished, so that is keeping me motivated.

Happy Quilting!

Energized

I'm feeling decidedly more upbeat this morning and it's scaring me a little bit, LOL.

On the night of the 2nd, our hot water heater began to leak out of the bottom. It's 22 years old and has served us well, but what a way to wake up! At 1:30am I woke up and thought it was rather cold in the house, sure enough, the pilot light had gone out on the furnace. When I went to relight it I heard water ... not a good sound when there shouldn't be water running anywhere!

I looked at the hot water heater to see water running out of the bottom. Thankfully it's near a drain but still there was some water on the floor. I saw the shut off valve and knew I could never reach it so had to wake up my husband. We shut the water off and tried (TRIED being the operative word) to go back to sleep. My husband fared better than I did. I knew that this was something that couldn't wait, which means money earmarked for other crucial things was going to have to be spent on a hot water heater.

Thankfully one of our oldest son's best friends is a licensed plumber and he came to our rescue, installing the new water heater my husband bought at a fraction of the price it would have cost to call a company to do it.

I was afraid to think of what else could (and the way things were going, would) be happening. But other than the lack of checks in the mailbox, so far things seem to have leveled out. My cold is almost gone and I'm losing weight again after the holiday nibbles.

My quilting is keeping me sane at the moment. We were hoping to pick up a badly needed check from a company that owes us a lot of money but we're getting the runaround, which has thwarted my optimism a bit, but still I remain hopeful. The new projects and old ones that are nearly finished are keeping my mind focused on more positive and enjoyable things and for that, I'm thankful.

So today, I plan to finish the quilting on the Happy New Year table runner, which can be used for another week or so. I need to make a Happy Birthday runner since our oldest son's 21st birthday is coming up (though now I hear he and his buddies may go camping for the weekend) and our daughter's birthday is at the end of the month. With 8 birthdays in our house, this will be a well used runner!

Just a bit of the quilting is left on the border and then I'll get the binding on the front. I'll save sewing it to the back for TV watching tonight. I have a baby quilt that also only has border quilting left, I'll finish that before beginning the quilting on the one I basted over the weekend.

I do have another quilt out to mark and baste and that one may get a bit of attention, too. I'm in no hurry but still have in mind to get that finished sometime this week. I'm enjoying the celtic applique border so much that I may opt to spend time on that today instead of marking/basting this other quilt. We'll see what the day brings.

I'm really having fun with these message table runners...and plan to come up with some for each season. To make that easier, I'm going to print out a full set of letters, capital and small, so I don't have to print them out each time. That may be on today's agenda as well.

The house is in good shape, so I'm hoping for a quilty day. You've heard of "Calgon, take me away!" for me it's "Quilting, take me away!"

And so I go. Happy day, everyone!

It's Been a While!

I've been so busy that I haven't found the time to post for a while, but with the holidays officially over it's time to get back into my normal routine.

Sunday night I ran away from home for a few hours. A friend who lives a few blocks away was going to be home alone for the night and invited me to join her for a late night sewing bee. I went to her house at 7:30 and got home at 2:15am. I spent the previous couple of days getting pieces cut so I could just sew while I was gone.

To the right is my tray full of cut pieces. The six hours we had to sew flew by, and yielded me a pieces of blocks, but I was content when I drove home in the wee hours.

Monday was New Year's Eve, I spent a good part of the day working on a turkey dinner for the same friend and her family. I did manage to do a bit of sewing between cooking chores. We had a wonderful time with our friends and I was hoping that the end of a difficult year and beginning of a new one was at hand.

So far, I'm skeptical. My plan yesterday was to sew a good part of the day as I really wanted to get this top pieced so that I can move on to the celtic applique border. I sewed merrily for a while...then a huge clunk and my machine stopped. After 2 hours of working on it, it still was not running. After a good cry, I pulled out my featherweight, gave it a good cleaning and oiling and continued to sew.

2007 was fraught with financial issues, having a couple of clients who owed us a lot of money. One has since paid up, the other is slowly working on it. Phone calls get promises of checks, but no results. My husband has resorted to driving out there and picking up a check every 3-4 weeks. As a result of the non-payment and the problems it has caused us, we're still without a washing machine, our van is in dire need of brakes, our toaster doesn't heat up on one side, our microwave has only a few working buttons, the large oven of our double oven set doesn't work....and now my sewing machine has crapped out :(

But those are just things. Eventually they will get repaired or replaced as the case may be. We are healthy, have food on the table and a roof over our heads (though it is also in need of repair!) In spite of a pretty rocky beginning, I still have high hopes for 2008. I have stash of fabric that requires only the addition of muslin to make quilts, our kids are awesome, we have some really good friends, and there is something about the "do over" that the new year seems to bring on that excites me to some degree.

Yesterday I finished the blocks I was working on and today I'm finishing the alternating block. Our kids are busy and that means sewing time for me, I hope to get the top together by the end of today, though the outer pieced border may make this more than I can do in one day. Time will tell.

I'd better run if I expect to accomplish much today. I hope the new year brings you all health, happiness and lots of quilting time!