Returning

It's been awhile...

It was a crazy summer with the birth of a niece and the loss of the 4-unit townhome that housed my husband's parents, grandparents, and aunt and uncle (fire caused by a lightning strike). They are now living in rentals while the building is being rebuilt.

My husband had classes through the summer, so no extended vacations for us.

Josh started kindergarten in the fall, which he loves! His teacher is great!

I came to the realization that my child is no longer beginning to read. He is a reader! He popped his head over my shoulder the other day and began reading my book out loud. Any suggestions for some good boys' books? I grew up with Laura Ingalls Wilder; is there a male equivalent?

On Christmas Day, our car broke down. Its Blue Book value is $2500 and the repairs will cost $3000. Which means it's time to go car shopping. I will miss that car. It was a plastic-body 2002 Saturn and still looked new. We bought it 2 months before Josh was born, 6 years and 1 month ago.

Looking forward to a new year, and hoping it's a bit quieter. =)

New addition to the quilt family

Just now getting pictures posted of this. My old camera took lousy, blurry photos, so we replaced it this winter. I'm loving the camera and the fact that I can now get photos of the stuff I've made.

Here's a quilt I made for my husband, who turned 30 last summer. The quilt top was done and ready for quilting...and then we moved. It sat in storage for a bit, mostly because I was keeping it a secret and couldn't work on it in the house. I finally showed it to him, just so I could get it done.

I designed this based on the "trip around the world" pattern. I love the tan and gray combination. Better yet, my husband loved it, too!

Where did I disappear to?

In case, you're wondering, it's been a little busy around here. We got an offer (at the end of June) from our apartment management company to move into a larger apartment in another building. We took some time to think about it (24 hours) and moved 4 weeks later (end of July). I haven't pulled out my machine yet, but am trying to get settled into my new space. I finally have my own space. (Okay, so I share it with a couple office things: computer, fax machine, file cabinet; but otherwise, it's all mine.)

In between the job offer and moving, we celebrated the 4th, went away for the weekend with good friends, celebrated Chris's birthday, attended our college alumni picnic, Chris started his new quarter at college, and we managed our old and new buildings. Obviously, things have been a little crazy. This weekend was supposed to be quiet, except for the wedding that Chris was supposed to play in on Saturday. Due to work, he didn't arrive until the end of the wedding. Luckily, a friend graciously stepped in and most people didn't even notice that he wasn't on the stage. Saturday night, my parents' neighbourhood was hit by a tornado. The damage was mostly in the woods behind the house. After a full day of professional tree guys and friends and family helping, there is still a lot to do (possibly 15 trees or more lost).

On the sewing front: I was working on something before we moved, but haven't touched it since. Can't give more details than that, since it is a surprise. A friend asked me to help her make curtains this last week.

Kind of slow...

Actually, more like kind of busy! I've been busy with apartments on the market, our anniversary, and transcribing interviews for my dad (working on his PhD). I haven't touched my machine since the second week of May (gasp!). There are now no apartments on the market, the transcribing is done, and we have no plans to go anywhere until July. I have big plans this week, mostly involving the pile of gifts and projects that have not stopped piling up.

Setting sail

My dad celebrated his birthday recently. He loves ships! I found this fabric at Mill End. The frame was a custom-frame from Joann's. Someone decided they didn't want it, so it was being sold for around a 10th of the original cost (just the frame, no glass, back, mat). I glued batting scraps to a piece of foam board, wrapped the fabric over it and glued the fabric onto the back of the board. Then I glued a second piece of foamboard to the back (trapping the fabric and batting edges between the two foamboards), let it dry overnight, and slipped it into the frame. Great quick and easy project (took about an hour plus drying time for the glue)! Next time, I want to try something other than foamboard. You can only use thin pins at an angle, or they will fall out of the foamboard.

Doll strollers

Dida's doll stroller seat was made of cheap nylon and had frayed at least an inch at all crucial attachment points. Dida's "new" stroller:
Cari and her family moved to Brasil on Wednesday. She is expecting a little girl in August. Before leaving, they bought their 4-year-old daughter, Bella, a new doll stroller. They decided to bring the old one (still in good shape) along for Bella to give to the new baby. The seat was starting to fray so I fixed it up for her. Cari's baby's "new" stroller with a canopy:

Dida's Dress

Dress (Before)

Hem (Before)

Dress (After)

2 down, 1 to go

I finished my nieces' quilts today (Christmas presents). The larger one was done and I just needed to do the binding on the smaller one. They were over for lunch and I rushed to finish the second quilt, then decided to wait until they were washed to hand them over. My sis and her family left and I threw the quilts in the wash, planning to drop them off at her place on Tuesday. I pulled them out of the dryer, beautifully crinkly all over (no prewashing), folded them and found out that the family was coming back for supper. So they got them today after all. Hope they enjoy them. Our camera isn't the best, so my sis is going to take some nice pics of them with her good camera.

Now I'm headed back to the living room to finish baby Noelle's quilt. I'm headed over there Tuesday, so I'd like to get it washed tomorrow (since it was a shower gift--from August).

Gifts and more

My last post was on Thanksgiving??? Wow, I've been falling behind here. In my defense, I have a poor internet connection, not lasting long enough to do any real writing or posting of pictures. All the girls in the family received handmade gifts this year. I gave my mother-in-law a crocheted shawl. My baby sister got an apron that says, "With enough coffee, I can do anything." My mom and middle sister got lounge pants (from Amy Butler's In Stitches). I made a bag like this for my middle sister's sister-in-law, who has been staying with them and is really more like another little sister around here. And my nieces are awaiting their matching quilts (I wasn't able to get them quilted in time for Christmas).

Two Christmas gifts to support this sewing habit: Amy Butler's Little Stitches and a gift card for Joann Fabrics. Yeah!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! Hope everyone has a great day and weekend. I wish I could spend it sewing, but work is calling my name. We're headed to my mom's and then I work at Operation Christmas Child Friday and Saturday. If you haven't done a box and live in the area, we are accepting and processing boxes until December 6 (possibly as late as December 10). Check out the EZGive option to track your box as it travels around the world. This year's boxes are going to different regions. In the past, we've sent boxes processed here to Central Asia and Eastern Europe, as well as Iraq. This year, boxes are going to Trinidad, several African countries, Nepal and a couple other countries.

Quilt #3

I finally finished this quilt. This is the first quilt I put together. I decided to use it to practice stippling. Not the greatest, but hey, I'm still learning. One thing I wasn't thrilled about, but is growing on me is that palm tree print that I used for the background on the star blocks. The info for the quilting class (taught by Liz from Scottie Dog Quilts) mentioned background material. I thought it meant the back of the quilt and by the time I realized my mistake, I was sitting in class. I decided I would rather get some blocks done than sit around watching everyone else sew, so I used the palm trees for my background. It seemed really busy and disorganized, especially since I like things to match (I'm a little OCD), but I bit my tongue and now I like how bright and funky the quilt is. Plus, I found some even cooler fabric for the back and border. It's for my son, who was so excited that he took it on a sleep-over at his Nana's as soon as it came out of the dryer.

First completed quilt

A little background on this one. My mother-in-law had 2 sisters. The 3 sisters had 2 sons each. So, no girls born into the family for a whole generation. Most of the boys got married and a couple started having kids. Well, two of them did (actually, their wives did, but let's not get too technical, shall we?). There were 4 boys born between '01 and '06 (one of whom belongs to me!). So when the third cousin and his wife announced their pregnancy, everyone was on pins and needles, waiting for that ultrasound. And it was official: Finally, a girl!!! So I decided to celebrate the occasion with a quilt.

I started this quilt back in October (or was it September??), never mind the fact that I had just learned how to quilt in July. Speaking of which, I just realized I have now been quilting for over a year! Anyways... The baby was due in December, but came a couple weeks early, so I didn't get it done in time. I finally finished it and gave it to her this spring...yeah, it was a busy winter! Her dad is really into hunting and outdoorsy stuff, and her mom likes pink (although she does like outdoorsy stuff, too).

I used the Lucky Star pattern again. The front is pink and green. Both colours are slightly mottled (is that the right word?...different shades fading in and out). The pink has clusters of silver stars and the green has tiny flowers outlined in silver. Lots of glitter and sparkles! The back and the binding is a pink camo. I quilted it with a lime green thread and just ran diagonal lines across the quilt. Basically, I made an X through each square, then made an X through each diamond created by the first set of lines. Very simple, I know, but hey, I had no idea what I was doing! This was the first time I had done any machine quilting, so I'm just glad I was able to keep the lines straight. I like how it stayed a bit puffy. The quilt ended up being about 50" square.