Design Wall Monday

Ever here the phrase "The best laid plans of mice and men, oft do go awry."? It was a favorite of my mom's and very apropos of this past week.

The only thing I managed to get done was the quilting and delivery of the first of the two quilts. (purple) I was all ready to get everything done quick and set up on the dining room table to get quilting on Tuesday only to have Z (dd2)come down with a stomach virus which resulted in short bouts of quilting between understandably long periods of taking care of her. I promised to deliver the quilt by Wed. so spent most of the day, after regular clean up, to get it finished. Delivered the purple late Wed. afternoon (1 1/2 hr. drive round trip), came home and decided I was done for the day. Thursday dawned with M (ds1) complaining about not feeling so great. By mid-morning, I was in the same boat. Called dh and asked him to skip his after work exercise. So glad I did. He arrived at almost the exact moment both M and I really started on the roller coaster of this bug. By the end of the night, all of the boys were sick! It made for a very eventful night trying to keep up with everyone. Thank God, dh was home. I don't know how I would have managed without him especially since I was so sick, too. The saving grace of this illness is that it's short-lived and the littlest guys bounced back so quickly. Not to mention that S (dd1) and dh haven't come down with it. M and I are still not feeling 100% but good enough to get on with life.

That means that the batik quilt has to get done this week! I still have to widen the backing, sandwich it and quilt it. I'll let the woman that's coordinating deal with the binding. Unfortunately, I just don't have the time now.

That's what's on my design wall. Go check out other design walls at Judy's blog.

Design Wall Monday..err Tuesday

I know, I know. It's supposed to be Design Wall Monday but my Mondays have become really busy lately so I rarely have time to post on Monday.

Although I haven't been posting lately, I haven't been idle.

Since my last post I've finished two scarves for the Special Olympics, a scarf for dh, finished a baby quilt (months late, but hey, better late than never) and have finished 2 tops for comfort quilts. Oh yeah, I also started crocheting a blanket. I love the Homespun "Waterfall". Lovely colors and great feel.


The blocks for the comfort quilts were made by a lot of different people with very different abilities and styles. Some of the blocks were nothing more than a simple message while others were beautifully done. This humming bird is incredible as are the other painted bird blocks.(6 in all between the two quilts)


The comfort quilts are taking far longer than they should and keeping me from doing quilts I want to work on. I have to quilt one of them today and take it to the woman who coordinated this project so that she can bind it and I'll try to get the other one quilted tomorrow but first I have to fix the backing.


I decided to do a pieced backing on this quilt and knew it would be tight in the width but, unfortunately, it's a tiny bit to narrow. (Like an inch.) So, I've got to add some to one of the sides before I can sandwich this quilt.

This is my favorite block from the batik quilt.

When I saw the blocks by themselves I really wasn't sure how well these quilts would turn out but I think they look alright. I prefer the batik one more than the purple, which is funny since it has a lot more orange in it and I'm usually not much of an orange fan. The sashing and filler blocks really made all the difference, most of which came from the stash of the organizer.

Well, if I'm going to get the purple one quilted today, I've got to get moving.

Patch Iran

There is a national quilt guild in Iran called Patch Iran. They've just finished their 5th Annual exhibit. If you'd like to check out some of their work, click here.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone had a great holiday but now it's time to get back to work. ;)

I didn't get much done last week. It seemed like every day was booked. I'm hoping for a little more time this week to get some projects finished. I'll be working on the Orange and Cream UFO this month as well as finishing the projects I've mentioned before - Special Olympics scarf, binding the baby quilt, and making the pink and brown baby quilt. In addition to these projects, I'm also helping make 3 comfort quilts for the wife and daughters of a community member that recently died. I don't know the family but there are so few quilters in our community that I decided to offer my help when someone suggested that they wanted to do this for his family. I'll be meeting with her this week to pick up the squares and work out the designs. On top of all of this, homeschooling is really taking up a good bit of my time most days of the week now so it really doesn't leave much time for anything else. I'll just have to see how things go towards getting everything done.

Check out the other design walls at Judy's.

UFO Challenge

Judy has been kind enough to give me (along with about 168 others) an extra special challenge. When it comes to quilting, like a lot of quilters, I have a touch of ADHD which means lots of unfinished projects or UFOs. So this year we're challenging ourselves to finish one UFO per month.


So here goes:



1. and 2. Quilt 1 and Quilt 2 (kinda like Dr. Seuss' Thing 1 and Thing 2) - Fraternal Twin quilt tops for twins that are now 3 years old and not getting any younger. These need to be sandwiched, quilted and bound.


3. Batik Baby - I started hand quilting this. I'd like to at least finish the hand quilting. If I'm really good, maybe I'll even bind it.


4. Rooty Tooty - S. really wants this quilt for her bed. I tried some machine meander quilting on it which I don't like so I have to rip that out, quilt it and bind it.

*5. R.'s baby quilt - R. is now 5 1/2. It's about time I get this quilt beyond the block stage, don't ya think? The blocks are hand pieced so I don't think I can do much more than get this into a finished top for now.


*6. Orange and Cream - This is just a little mini practice quilt that's been hanging around too long. I need to finish the hand quilting and get it bound.


7. Kids' practice potholders - I'm ashamed to say that these just need to be bound but have been sitting under other projects for way too long.

8. Cabin Baby - This is the black, pink and white log cabin for the baby that was born back in Feb. Time to get this finished.

9. Carpenter's Wheel - This was meant to be a present for dh. Gotta finish this one from block stage too.

10. Falling Leaves - This was one of Judy's patterns way back in 2006. I'll be happy to get this to a finished top.

11. Black and Blues - This one has been around almost as long as the blog. I know it's floating around my stash somewhere but I couldn't put my hands on it just now to take a picture. It's another mini so I should be able to finish the quilting and bind it.

12. Applique Angel - This was a test to see if I'd like to try doing more applique. Apparently I wouldn't since, like #11, I can't find it at the moment but I know it's in there. The goal for this one is to finish it and make it a little wall hanging.

Sometime this summer, I'll be losing my quilting space to ds 1 when we move him into our office/sewing room and move H. in with R., so it's time to get the stash and my UFOs under control.

*I've decided to reverse the positions of numbers 5 and 6. Judy choose number 6 as our first UFO of the year; however, I have so many things going on this month I know that I would not be able to spend much time on the UFO project. I really didn't want to fail/miss out on the first month so I switched to an easier project that is just as old but significantly smaller and, therefore, "doable" this month. I just hated the idea of starting out on the wrong foot this month by not being able to complete the UFO.

Design Wall Monday

Well, this is the last Design Wall Monday of the year. I think I've gotten more accomplished this year than previous years, in part because of being part of the Design Wall Monday posts. Next year, I hope to do even better. I also want to take part in the UFO challenge;I just need to pull out my UFOs and get the pictures put together.

Speaking of UFOs, my only quilt related activity last week was working on binding the blue baby quilt above. I still have a bit more left to do but I have a good excuse for not finishing it.

Last week, I made a surprise trip to visit my mom and aunt in TN and my sister in GA. My dad drove out to GA from AZ so I got to see him as well. It's been almost 4 years since I had seen my dad and so he hadn't seen my youngest at all. The week before leaving I cooked almost a month's worth of lunches and dinners for my mom, several take-along meals for us and about a bazillion cookies for everyone. I only had time to make one batch of brownies and those went to my dad. My oldest niece commented about wanting some as well so I guess I'll have to send her a batch.

I managed to get a scarf crocheted for dh while we were traveling. Now I need to get busy working on a scarf or two for the Special Olympics (our knitting/crochet groups latest project), finishing up the current baby quilt I'm working on, get busy with the three baby quilts for friends and getting the UFOs together. Oh, yeah. I also promised to post about our trip to Iran last month.

If you're interested in making a scarf for the Special Olympics, you can get the project guidelines here.

Check out the other Design Wall posts on Judy's blog.

Have a great day everyone!

Design Wall Monday

Well, there's nothing really new to show. I started cutting blues for the baby quilt I owe. I washed the flannels for the brown and pink and really need to get that one started.

The big reason I don't have anything to show is that I was working on the last few squares for the Warm Up America donation. In total, our group made 105 7"x9" squares which is enough for more than 2 blankets. From mid-Oct. to last Friday, I made 27. I'm really proud of what our group accomplished considering we are a very small group and most of the participants are working moms.

Our next project is to make scarves for the 2011 Winter Special Olympics. If you're interested in making scarves for the Special Olympics, you can find out more here.

Well, if I'm going to get everything I need to done, it's time to get busy. Check out other design walls at Judy's site for quilty inspiration.

In the meantime, I'll be looking forward to this -
while waiting out this -

Design Wall Monday

Yippy! I actually have something to post for today.


Last week, I made this Pretty In Pink quilt for a baby shower that was Saturday afternoon. Saturday morning we took a trip up to Baltimore for the National Aquarium's annual Dollar Days weekend. Who can resist paying $7 versus the $151.65 it would have cost for regular admission. We were running a little late getting there so had to stand in a long line, then wait a little longer for our timed entry. We ended up not leaving until about 2:30. Since the shower started at 3:30, I knew we'd be a little late but not terribly since it should have taken about an hour and fifteen minutes to get home. Except dh accidentally took the long way home. We ended up not getting to the baby shower until 5:30. As usual, I finished just before the shower (in the car on the way home from the aquarium). I was feeling so proud of my self for not coping out and just buy a gift. Until the mom started opening the gifts and I noticed that they were boy related. Eeek! I was sure she was having a girl. :( I knew I had to leave soon to get to another engagement so I didn't think I'd be able to explain to the mom-to-be my faux pas. I explained to her sister-in-law what happened (we're friends) and snuck my gift off the table. Fortunately, she finished the gift opening just before I had to leave, so I explained then promised to make her a boy quilt before the baby is born. She's not due until Feb. so I should have plenty of time.


Now I have another friend who is expecting and she is due at the end of this month. I thought about giving the quilt to her but she has a girl and doesn't really to the girly girl colors with her which is why I had chosen these fabrics for her baby quilt. (I chose these back on Black Friday, well before my booboo.) The dark pink and brown will be used in a two color basket weave with the lighter pink as the backing. These are all flannels which is appropriate for a winter baby, no?

The Pretty in Pink will go to a third friend who's little girl is almost a year old but is ALWAYS dressed in pinks and purples, very girly girl. A plus, I was planning on making her a quilt anyway since I met her after her baby was born and she's lavished praise on other quilts I've made so I know it will be appreciated.

Now to get busy!

Happy Turkey Day!

Ok, I know I owe a post about our trip to Iran but life's just been too busy the last two weeks to post anything. So, in the meantime, check out this very funny Thanksgiving day e-card

and this one

and one more of singing food for good measure.

Have a happy Turkey day and a fun Black Friday!

Design Wall Monday

Well, we just got back from a month long trip visiting my in-laws on Saturday night. By last night, most of the laundry was done (but not folded), all of the suitcases were unpacked, a birthday cake was made and decorations were put up for Z.'s 9th birthday yesterday and I made a slight dent in the more than 25 pages of emails that had piled up in my inbox.



I didn't have any quilting projects ready to go so that I could take them with me but never fear. I brought several skeins of yarn to get started on a community service projects my friends and I are working on for Warm Up America. I crocheted 16 7"x9" "squares" last month. I'm a novice crocheter so this was a good project and a great time to work on this. I also brought along some Buttercup yarn to work on a throw for myself. Unfortunately, 3 1/2 skeins into crocheting that I realized that it would be too wide and it was getting crooked so I unraveled it to start again when I get a chance.


As soon as I get a chance, I'm going to do a few posts on our trip to Iran. For now, I'll leave you with a picture of my kids at their last horseback riding lesson there.

Check out more Design Wall Monday posts at Judy's website.

GO! Giveaway

There's a giveaway for a AccuQuilt GO! cutter at Jane's Fabric and Quilts! Check it out.

Little Mosque on the Prairie

I just watched the first two episodes of a Canadian series "Little Mosque on the Prairie" and it's quite funny. The series actually has finished it's fourth season so I'm a little slow getting around to watching it.

The series revolves around a mosque in a small Canadian town and the interactions/experiences of the Muslims and Christians in that town.

You can check out episodes here- http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4689644836814333621#.

The official website is here- http://www.cbc.ca/littlemosque/index.php

Design Wall Monday

Does this look familiar? I'm still working on it. I was really hoping to finish it last week but life had other ideas. Much of last week was spent on-line shopping/price comparing for books to use in our homeschooling this year. DH decided he wanted to do the math, chemistry and physics covering a broad range of abilities, which meant I had to hunt down resources for those levels. (middle school through college, although we already have the college level textbooks) Then there was the actual homeschooling added to the routine and having two big outings/activities for the kids this week. The week just flew by and I only got to do a tiny bit of quilting and zero organizing.

Ah well, I'll just have to try again this week. I hope everyone else had more luck getting in sewing time. You can check out other design walls at Judy's blog.

Design Wall Monday

I've been making slow and steady progress on the baby quilt. I originally was going to machine quilt it with an all over meander but I tested the idea and another quilt and found I really need to practice more before I do that on a gift quilt. So, I've been hand quilting it on the diagonal. I'm really hoping to finish this by the end of the week.

This weekend we celebrated Eid. Friday morning was prayers as the mosque followed by an unhealthy but fun treat of sticky donuts, danish and cookies for breakfast. We had planned on going to the zoo that day but we were tired (had to get everyone up by 6:30 to get ready on time) and instead just went home, opened presents and relaxed. We got a slow start Saturday and didn't get to the zoo until almost one and it was packed. No parking anywhere. In case you've never been to the zoo in D.C., they have several small to medium sized lots that are gated. They don't charge admission to the zoo but you do have to pay for parking. Outside of the zoo it's almost impossible to find parking so we didn't even try. We just told the kids we'd make one more pass and if we couldn't find parking, we'd have to head home or maybe go to a park for a picnic. We had to circle around a few blocks before coming back into the zoo and lucked out when they opened one of the lots just as we got there. (The 10 or so cars in front of us missed it.) We had a very nice few hours saying "hi" to all of the animals before heading back home to freshen up and head back to the mosque. We were supposed to be showing a movie from Iran on the life of Jesus but there weren't many people so we watched a different movie and had a discussion afterward.

Now that Ramadan is finished it's time to switch gears and get to work on other things-like homeschooling. I still have to order a few more books and this year we're going to do some dissections so I have to order those supplies as well. I also need to get back into my exercise routine and start tackling some straitening and organizing that I've needed to do for awhile but haven't had the time.

If I'm going to get anything done, I'm going to have to get off the computer. I hope everyone has a great day and check out the other design walls at Judy's blog if you have a few minutes.

Design Wall Monday

This picture is completely unrelated but does show what I'd like to be spending my time doing.

I have been working but don't have any new pictures to post. I layered the baby quilt and started hand quilting on that. I also sewed the half square triangles for dh's quilt but when I went to lay it out I found out that I need to change out a fabric that is too light and change the placement of a few of the fabrics. I'll have to work on doing that next week.

I hope everyone else had a more productive week. Check out the links at Judy's blog

Wear Hijab on 9/11

In response to a campaign by a group in FL to "Burn the Quran" on 9/11, a woman on Facebook came up with an alternative statement to counter the hatred. People of all faiths are asked to wear a hijab (scarf) on 9/11 to counter the extremist views circulating right now.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=144913692209438&v=wall#!/group.php?gid=144913692209438&v=info

Someone also created a new PSA entitled "My Faith My Voice" which you can view on YouTube here.

Design Wall Monday time again

Well, I didn't get nearly as much done as I wanted to this week. It's hard to get much quilting time in when you're baking half the day and spending some four hours out each night.

I'm still cutting out the background pieces for dh's quilt. Late on this one since it was supposed to be for his birthday. I have to put borders on the baby quilt. I've got to hurry with that since the baby is due in two weeks and I really want to give it to the mom before hand.

I hope everyone had a more productive week that I did. (Does it count that I made about 30 dozen cookies, 9 dozen brownies and several loaves of zucchini or banana bread this week?)

Go check out the other design walls at Judy's blog.


Two of the many reasons I didn't get much done on the quilting front this week.

Design Wall Monday

It's Design Wall Monday once again but I don't have much progress to show. The only thing I've done this week that is "quilty" is pull the fabrics and come up with an idea for dh's quilt. He likes bright colors and likes the quilts I've made using black as a background so that's what he's going to get. I'll make them in a star pattern using half square triangles. I'm adapting a pattern I saw on-line but, unfortunately, I can't recall where.

Because of Ramadan, I've been super busy. We're usually at the masjid for 3-5 hours each night; plus, I'm the unofficial dessert lady for iftar. This means that I've been making dozens of cookies and brownies as well as multiple loaves of zucchini or banana bread each night. We started on Wednesday and I've already gone through more than 10 lbs. of flour and 10 lbs. of sugar and about 3 dozen eggs. I'm going to have to go shopping tomorrow to stock up on more flour since I'm just about out. I stocked up on everything else Sunday but didn't make it to the store I usually buy flour from. I would have gone today except a) two of my boys had tummy trouble so it was best to stay close to home and b) I was busy chopping and grating lots of zucchini. How much zucchini you ask? Roughly 17 lbs. or about 26 cups grated and 9 cups chopped. Since the boys are sick (H. and R. have runny noses and R. and M. have tummy trouble), I'm staying home with them tonight so maybe I can get some sewing done after iftar. Speaking of which, there's only about 15 min. left before it's time to pray and break my fast and I want to make a salad. I don't usually eat much salad but I seem to crave them when I'm fasting.

What I wear

A few weeks ago in response to the picture of my dh and I, Jodie asked about the clothes I wear and the climate where I live. First, I live in Northern Virginia, which is hot and humid most of the summer and cool during the winter.

I usually wear pants, jeans or overalls, a T-shirt, an over-sized men's shirt and a scarf. This is my own style and not necessarily reflective of other Muslim women any more than one woman's clothing is the same as every other woman. I have friends who prefer long skirts with a blouse and other that dress in multiple layers. I'm not particularly fashionable but I know others that are very stylish. One thing we have in common is a requirement to wear loose, modest clothing, covering from head to toe except for the hands and face. Those that cover their hands, faces or both, do so more out of culture rather than a religious requirement.

When I'm in Iran, I wear a monto (light weight cotton or rayon long coat) with pants and a T-shirt underneath.

When I was asked this question, it got me thinking about our perceptions of seasonally acceptable attire now versus the not so distant past. You see, growing up I spent a lot of summers living with my grandmother in Florida. She was a real estate agent and every day she would "dress her best" and her best required multiple layers. First she put on the foundations pieces, followed by pantyhose, a full girdle, a full slip, a polyester dress, heels, a full complement of jewelery and full makeup including liquid foundation. As the owner of her own agency, she pretty much worked every day except Sunday and then she dressed for church. She would be out early in the morning until late in the evening, often times running all over town. She dressed like this year round until maybe the last decade of her life when she slowly started incorporating pantsuits and into her wardrobe. One of my aunts dressed pretty much the same way. Now, anyone who's lived in Florida knows what the weather in summer is like. Perpetually hot and sticky, with occasional thunderstorms that result in steaming streets. I can't ever remember her complaining about the heat and only remember her donning a swimsuit a handful of times to take us to the beach.

We seem to have developed a skewed sense of what is acceptable and expected of people, especially women. A man wears a three piece business suit to work and it's completely acceptable but a woman in pants and long sleeves is somehow odd. Next time you're out, count the number of guys wearing jeans versus the number of girls or pay attention to the difference in the average length of the respective gender's shorts.

And, in case you're wondering, loose fitting clothing is far more "breezy" that tight clothes that are short and leave you sticking to everything when the humidity is high.

Ramadan Mubarak

Assalam alaikum (Peace be on you)

Today marks the first day of the month of fasting for Muslims known as Ramadan. From dawn until sunset, Muslims around the world will keep from eating and drinking but also will keep all of their senses and their manners focused on good things. So, not only do we keep away from sodas, coffee and burgers but also lying, gossiping and cursing, either from our mouths or the mouths of others. No smoking or kissing, either. For all of the things we should keep away from, there are many things we are encouraged to do more of. Be more generous of our time, money and forgiveness. Spend more time with friends and family. Fasting naturally slows you down a bit, especially the first week or so as your body gets used to it again. So we enjoy a more relaxed pace to help us focus more on becoming better people. We're encouraged to spend more time reading the Quran and quietly reflecting on spiritual matters. So, during this month, my family and I will go to the masjid/mosque as many nights as we can to join others in reading a section of the Quran (broken down into 30 parts for the 30 days of Ramadan) and breaking our fast with a shared iftar (evening meal). But we are also meant to continue in our regular activities, so we will begin our homeschooling once again, although, I'll probably wait a few more days for the kids to get used to fasting again. M, S, and Z all fasted last year and will again this year.

FYI: Who fasts? Muslims over the age of 9 (younger kids sometimes want to fast like their big brothers or sisters so they do mini "fasts", like no morning snack but regular lunch time)- Those that are sick, pregnant, breastfeeding, elderly or are on a trip are not required to fast but all except the elderly and chronically ill are required to make up the days of fasting when they are able or give charity equal to each day of fasting to feed a poor person. (The same goes for women on their period. We're grouchy enough that time of month; no need to add to the grouchy factor.)
When do we fast? During the lunar month of Ramadan, we wake up early and eat a meal (sahoor) before dawn, do our morning prayers and, depending on work schedules and time of year, go back to sleep for a few hours. We break our fast about 20 min. after sunset with an evening meal (iftar). This time of year that means from about 4 a.m. until about 8:30 p.m. The lunar calendar is shorter than the solar/Gregorian calendar by 11 days, so the month of Ramadan falls at a slightly different time each year. This makes fasting more equitable for everyone. No one has Ramadan every year in the hottest, longest days, while those living in the other hemisphere celebrate in the coldest, shortest days. It wouldn't be very fair Ramadan was say every January and Muslims in North America only had to fast during winter, while those in Australia had to fast during summer. This way we take turns.

If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in a comment and I'll respond to them in another post.