Lot's more quilting~

Well, the quilting mojo kicked in over the weekend! I finished two quilts and loaded a third. I'll start on it tonight. One of the finished ones was delivered (and paid :) Saturday, the other is picking up (and bringing cash!!) tonight -- yippee!!

Of course, as quickly as the money comes in, it trickles out LOL! Tim found an old radio at the used furniture store yesterday and I bought it for him. It is the antique tube-style and the tubes are all in there and working! It looks cool in the living room (and heck, for $40 it was worth it just to look nice in the living room, even if it didn't work!) And I finally found an old laptop computer for Ellen on ebay today - and paid for it out of the quilting $$. If it is what she wants, it will be the best $50 I've spent! She has wanted this for ages, now she can sit in her bed and write the great American novel ;0)

The next quilt is loaded on the frame, and it intimidates me a bit. But I'm going to tackle it tonight. The hard part for me is that she doesn't want really dense quilting, and that is where I tend to go - so I may put a sticky note on the front of the machine to remind me "light and open!"

Unfortunately, I was in such a hurry to go deliver the quilt Saturday, I didn't get any pix ;*( It was awfully pretty, and my first ruler work too, bummer! The one I'm delivering tonight isn't all that pretty - it's a memory quilt out of a guy's plaid shirts -- with pink sashing. But it will remind the family of him and the wife will be thrilled with the suprise her daughter has created for her!

Well, all out of time for today, off I scoot home to get quilting!!

Time for some quilting~

Seems like the ole' blog's been a bit heavy on parenting~life~work lately, so let's switch to the fun gear and catch up on some quilty stuff ;o)

I finished the last of the doll quilts that I donate each year to the Edna Martin Christian Center in Indy (where "Emmy" came from in the first place!) I didn't get pix of the two batches that I sent up there already this year *bummer!* but these are the latest.

The first four are blocks from a swap with an online group of friends. I slapped on some borders and called it a day. I knew I'd never get around to setting them into a quilt top - so this got them used, and off the UFO pile. Hey, it's a win-win! There are two of each one you see for a total of 8, and I made little pillows to go with the pink ones, but not the purple ones ~ not on purpose, it just worked out that way, LOL!

This next one is my favorite ;o) This is a string quilt with the technique I learned in a Gwen Mariston class. The pix doesn't do the colors justice, the pinks are so sweet. And it has a matching pillow too.

The last two pix are some 4 patches, another string quilt (for you American Girl Doll fans, the girls at my house decided this one was very "Kirsten-y" LOL) and one from a book about doll quilts. Again, half of these had pillows to go with, and half don't.

They were all sent on their way and should make it to some little girls for Christmas this year - hurray! And then I can start all over for next year.

On the frame right now is a "Country Lanes" quilt for the teacher at the LQS. She needs it for Christmas, but it is going well. It's all ruler work, no feathers ~ how will I make it through?? LOL! I'm trying my first SID work and it's actually going great! I have a ruler that looks a bit like a puzzle piece and is the size of my palm or so. It is perfect for this. Of course, it's an Eleanor Burns pattern so it tells you how to press your seams each time, and the instructor made it so she likely followed the directions quite well -- the result is, her seams don't flip flop much and the ditch is easy to find, and easier to stay in (most of the time!) Check back with me on the SID issue after I've tried it on a wonky one!!

Ok, now we are up to date on quilty news -- time to get back to the other part-time job and finish the newsletter and bulletin on my desk here at work ;o)

Just random stuff on a Thursday

The election is over, and that's good. We have rabbit ears on our tv, no cable. Some of our stations are from Louisville, KY and some are Indianapolis, IN. So we've been "treated" to a double dose of political ads as both areas have some hotly contested races. With a sigh of relief, those are now done . . . . . till next time!

Gee, the house got cluttered up fast. I've got sewing stuff all over the dining room table. It happens like that each month on Quilt guild day. I come home all energized after seeing what everyone else is working on, and I just want to piece like crazy. So, I drag a bunch of fabric out, make a big mess, and accomplish very little. By bedtime, I'm just tired and worn out. You think I'd learn ;0)

Work has been easy this week. I was here on Tuesday, off on Wednesday for quilt guild, here today, and I'll be off tomorrow for a funeral out of town. All I have to do is get the bulletin done and I'm good to go for the week - woo hoo. (so WHY am I here posting? um, I plead guilty to procrastination!)

Today I go to Max's school conferences. I expect them to go like this:

me: Hi Mr./Ms. teacher. I'm Max's mom. I know he is not doing his best work. I want you to know that we are involved and trying to get him to do and turn in his homework. Humble goals, we know, but harder than you might think to achieve.

teacher: That Max is so smart. If he'd only turn in his homework he'd have great grades.

me: Tim & I agree. We have been working on this issue for several years with Max, and we are open to any ideas you might have.

teacher: Have you tried ________ (fill in the blank)

me: Why yes, we have done that, it didn't work.

Repeat last two exchanges as needed until teacher runs out of ideas. Then add a few that we have tried and teacher didn't think of.

teacher: It's frustrating, because he's a great kid.

me: we agree *sigh loudly*

Ah, the teenage years. . . . such fun (insert sarcasm here!)

November, Already????

Where has the year gone? I'm at work today, filling out next year's calendars. Putting in all the standing meetings and events. Seems like I just did this for 2008. I bought a couple of Christmas gifts yesterday with my groceries too. Wow!

The new furnace is wonderful. It has a programable thermostat and, get this feature: an OFF button! Before, we had to go to the basement to flip a switch on the furnace if we wanted it off. I feel like we are in the lap of luxury! And of course, Murphy's law being what it is, we have had 70 degree days since Friday, LOL!

Aunt Dee's quilt is finished and looks nice. I'll put it in the mail tomorrow and can't wait to hear what she thinks of it. I called one customer who was tentative for November and let her know I can't squeeze her in. Left a message with another to call me, I'll try to reschedule her 3 quilts for January. This "getting busy" thing is kinda cool, but kinda scary too ;) I did get a couple of doll quilts bound while I was at the auto shop yesterday. Brakes are out again. Tim will work on it later this week (if and when we can find a day for me to park it while he tears it apart). But tomorrow is quilt guild and Friday I have to go to Millhousen for a funeral. So it might have to wait until the weekend.

At work it is time to work on the budget for next year. I may be dropping down to three days next year - Wed. through Fri. That would actually be cool. For now, I'm to cut two hours a week when I am not too busy. Every little bit helps, and in this "business" personel is one of the largest items in the budget - so it is one of the few places we can trim and make a difference.

The house looks good. I helped Max clean most of his room last night. He'll do beside and under his bed tonight - then it's all done. Ellen has impressed me by being the only one of the three kids to actually clean up her room on her own, I'm just really wowed by her doing this. And I made sure to tell her and make a big fuss about it too! Marci and I worked on hers Friday and some Saturday and it looks better. We'll moved a larger bookcase into Marci's room and one into Max's room to help them control their books, games, puzzles, etc. tonight. Ellen already has one and it has helped a lot.

Now I have to finish my work so I can go vote!