Design Wall Monday

Yeah! I have something to post today.

I have the black and white quilt in the hoop. It's mine own design. That one is for the friend whose baby shower is the first weekend in Aug. The blue one is Unequal Irish Chain from Quilts from the Heart. It's for another friend whose baby is due around the same time as the first. She may be at the shower as well so I'm trying to have it finished to give it to her that day. I'm also still working on the black, white and pink log cabin for the friend whose baby was born back in Feb. Sorry forgot to take pictures of that one.

I was really hoping to have all three quilt tops finished a few days ago. Unfortunately, my sewing machine had other ideas. Notice the sewing machine in the background of the blue quilt picture. Half way through piecing two blocks together, it died. Locking up in the needle down position. At first, I was just trying to take it apart a little to try and figure out why it died and to free the quilt blocks, then it became a matter of curiosity to figure out how it's put together when it became clear that it was dead for good. It's been threatening to give out the last several months, so I wasn't terribly surprised, just a little annoyed at the timing. I had bought another sewing machine on clearance back in April (?) but I haven't had a chance to take it out and get it set up yet. I can't complain too much about the first machine. It was one of the cheapest and lasted for about 3 1/2 years. I'm pretty sure I only paid $85 for it so with tax, that comes out to less than $2.25/month. I've used it to make 7 swimsuits, at least 2 dozen pairs of pants, a robe, at least 6 quilt tops, a robe and quilted one flannel quilt on it. There's probably a few more projects in there that I'm forgetting about but I think I probably got my money's worth for it.

I have a bunch of kids and moms coming for a fun "field" day at my house on Wednesday so I probably won't get the blue top finished until at least Thursday. Because of the limited time, that one will probably be machine quilted. Speaking of which, if I'm going to get everything done, I've got to get going. I hope to post pics of the finished quilts next week.

Sad but true

I can't remember where I read this but here's a little statement about life today.

In the U.S., the number of words in the vocabulary of an average 14 year old in 1950 was about 25,000. By 1999, it was down to just 10,000. I can't imagine what it is today with the glut of sound bite media and texting mania.

Do yourselves and your kids a favor and read some old classics. If you don't have time to read, pop on a book on tape while you're driving around.

Right now, we're listening to "Pinocchio" and I'm floored at how much more advance the vocabulary is in this children's story than so much of what I've read lately. If you only know the Disney version, I think you'll enjoy the original. So, go pick a classic to share with your kids (or just enjoy on your own). It's a good thing!

Summer BBQs

This seems to be the summer of BBQs. We've gone to a few this year. This last weekend, one of our friends brought along his camera and snapped not one but two very rare pictures of dh and I together. (Usually one or the other of us is behind the camera.) Unfortunately, dh just finished playing a pick-up game of soccer in 95+ degree heat so he's a wee bit sweaty in the picture. But hey, beggars can't be choosers.

One of the three quilt tops is almost done, just one border left. The second is cut out and the third is about half cut out. I hope to finish all three tops today. The baby shower is Aug. 7 so definitely have to finish at least quilt #1 by then. Keep your fingers crossed for me that I can finish all three by then. We've got a trip to see the in-laws coming up either next month or the month after and I'd like to have all the quilts finished before we go, including the planned birthday quilt for dh. Since we'll start up homeschooling again in Aug. and Ramadan is coming up, we'll see just how much I actually get done. For now, it's time to get my backside moving, so I can finish the tops today.

Did you miss me?

Probably not.

It's been way too long since I've made a new post. Life has been happening it seems at lightening pace around here. It seems like it wasn't so very long ago that we were buried under nearly 4 feet of snow and yet, we're just finishing up a string of 100+ degree days. Homeschooling was finished for the year and now I've starting looking at resources for next year. Birthdays have come and gone. Our annual vacation to Florida is just a memory now.

It's crazy how fast life happens as we get older. When we're kids, days just seem to drag on. Now that I'm an adult with a houseful of kids, I frequently wonder what happen to my day. The running joke around here is that I ask various kids if they "ate my day."

We had to get the kids passports renewed and part of the renewal asks for height. I hadn't measured the kids in awhile and was shocked that my soon-to-be 12 year old is only 3 1/2 inches shorter than I am and I'm 5'6" so I'm not exactly tiny. That shock was preceded a few weeks early by the shoe shopping trip that revealed that both my 10 and 8 year old girls are now in women's shoe sizes (ironically the same size-6). How did these kids grow up so fast? Ah well, time marches on or perhaps sprints past is more accurate!

I've got a few quilt projects in the works (3 baby quilts, a birthday quilt and finishing the Rooty Tooty quilt) and will post pics as soon as I can.

The picture is from fall nearly three years ago, just after H. was born.

More snow pictures

Good Intentions

Ya know I had really good intentions at the beginning of the year to post at least once a week. It's now been almost 7 weeks since my last post! Shame on me!!!

When I last posted we were facing a mountain of snow coming our way. We definitely got it and then some. Our first bout gave us 25 in. followed a few days later by about 10 in. I'm not too certain about the second snow total because we had a lot of drifts with that snow. It took just over 1 month with several days of temps in the 60's and a couple of days of rain to finally melt the last of the piled up snow. One full Month people! That's crazy!

The first batch of snow was so deep that we actually hired a guy with a bobcat to plow our driveway. DH and I tried at first to work on it but we just couldn't keep up. I'd shovel in front of the garage and, by the time I finished one car length, where I started would be covered in 1/4-1/2 in. of snow. Just for reference, our driveway is an L - about 5 car lengths long and one car length long, two car widths leading into the two car garage.

After the second snow, I looked outside and decided I could shovel it. (DH had hurt his back trying to shovel blizzard #1.) It honestly didn't look that deep from the living room window. Silly me! It took just over 3 hours with M's help to shovel the driveway. Because of the winds, half the driveway only had 3-4 inches but the other half rose up to 2 feet all the way down the driveway! Oh, well! It was good exercise.

The kids had a blast in the big snow piles, some of which were nearly 5 feet tall. We even created a sledding hill out of one at the end of the driveway.

I have to say that our electricity and road crews were great! The roads were cleared in no time, although, a few mailboxes and safety reflectors were destroyed on the main road near my house. At least a third of the pine trees in our area lost large branches or were knocked down, including right next to (and presumably into) many of the roads that I normally travel. Whatever fell into the road was removed and attempts were made to cut back the fallen trees on the embankments to the edge of the road. Granted some are still a little too close to the travel lanes but it's not horrible. We lost power for only about 4 hours during the storm. This is remarkable since there were reports of people without power for more than a week and they couldn't go to warming shelters either because their roads hadn't been cleared! Why did we fair so much better? For several weeks during the summer, I watched the power company guys work their way down the main road clearing tree branches well away from the power lines. That preparation really paid off this year.

I found out that one of my friends was without power for 5 days. And, like us, no power for her also meant no water since she needs power for the well pump. No, we're not WAY back out in the boonies. Just far enough out to have an acre of land and dependence on well water.

Oh, and my two friends who were expecting- One had her baby two days before the blizzard. The hospital actually sent her home during the blizzard. Insane! The other friend gave birth to her baby girl at 2 a.m. during the blizzard at home with NO power! The homebirth apparently was planned. The blizzard and blackout-Not so much! (It got so cold in their house by midday that she had to go stay with some of her in-laws for a few days.) In hindsight, the choice of the black and white log cabin blocks for her baby's quilt was highly appropriate! Get it-black out, blizzard and homebirth! heehee! (And no, the quilt's still not done. I've been busy.)

Snow, snow and more snow

We had snow last weekend, then another 4 inches on Tuesday night and now we've begun yet another round of snow that's likely to dump 18-24" on us. Yippy skippy! The kids are thrilled. I'm fine as long as I don't have to go out in it. Once upon a time snow was fun to play in but now I'm more than content to stay indoors. Thank you very much. You'd think with all of this snowy indoor time I'd have finished up some quilting projects but no. Other duties have to take precedent. Not much of anything as been done sewingwise except for some stash straigthening and the beginnings of an applique block. I don't know what I'll do with it when I'm finished. I just wanted something to play with.

Our trip to the waterpark got canceled because DH hurt his back a couple of weeks ago and still isn't up to a 7 hour drive that includes hauling luggage on and off the roof rack. The kids were really disappointed. As an alternative, we're hoping to take them to Florida again this year. I'm thinking we should aim for the end of May-beginning of June. Maybe I can enjoy my birthday in FL this year. ;)

The quilt's not mine. It's from the Quilters Unlimited Quilt Festival 2 years ago. But the themes right for today.

Design Wall Monday

I don't have anything new up on the design wall/floor but I did finish one of the two baby quilts. I wanted to have it done before a meeting we had which would be the last the mom-to-be would be a part of before she was due. The meeting was to start at 1 and I finished the last stitch in the binding at 12:55. Nothing like cutting it close! Fortunately, the meeting was at my house so I didn't have to factor in travel time. Unfortunately, the meeting was at my house and I didn't get much of a chance to clean up. Oh, well! All of the attendees were moms or kids. The kids didn't notice-they just wanted to be with their friends. And the moms understood, especially when I told them that H. had decided that 2 a.m. was daytime and couldn't be convinced otherwise until 5:30, then R. was at my bedside before 8:30 ready for breakfast.

The second baby quilt will be the black and white log cabin but it will have to wait a bit. The trip to the water park is in less than 2 weeks and I still have to make the girls' swimsuits, so those take top priority for what little sewing time I have. I can always hand quilt the log cabin on the trip.

If you want to check out more design walls, stop by Judy's blog.

Design Wall Monday time again

I know I missed last weeks Design Wall Monday but it wasn't because I was slacking. I've been busy here, I just didn't have time to post. As it is this post isn't going up until nearly 8 p.m.

S. turned the big 1 0 this week so a good chunk of Friday was spent baking and decorating the cake then taking all of the kids and one close family of friends to Chuck E. Cheese for most of the afternoon. I love homeschooling. We had most of the place to ourselves since we got there around 2 while all the public school kids were locked up counting down the minutes until their weekend furlough.

My mom had a major house fire that left her house uninhabitable. Fortunately, she wasn't home at the time but she did lose one of her dogs to the fire and one other suffered serious smoke inhalation. The fire didn't make it to her bedroom or office but smoke and water damage took their toll on the contents of both rooms. She lost a lot but has insurance to cover the contents and rebuilding. My aunt has been kicking fanny taking care of things for my mom. She and a friend have cleaned out whatever could be saved, took care of the dogs, buried the one that was lost, took copious pictures for the insurance company and got a contractor friend to come up with a plan for rebuilding, all while my mom was out of town.



In the last week, I've gotten one baby quilt top almost done-"Bubblegum Baby." I just need to put on the last border then it's ready for sandwiching. I was hoping to only have to replace the skirt and pants on S.'s swimsuit but the original material is too faded for the new pieces to look right so I have to make a whole new suit. I've got the skirt and pants cut out so I have to do the rest. Z. will also need a new suit so I got the fabric for that today at JoAnn's.

I got the fabric for the back of Tooty Fruity but that quilt is on hold until I finish the baby quilts and swimsuits. (That's the fabric I got busted on in the last post. But I'm really impressed with how quickly it arrived. They called me in the morning and it was on my doorstep the next day. Go Z & S Fabric!)

Finally, I can't decide which log cabin color combination to use for the second baby quilt-pink and white or black and white. Any suggestions?


If you haven't already, check out the other Design Wall Monday posts on Judy's site.

I'm excited

Next month, we're heading to Ohio to a homeschooling convention at an indoor water park/resort. The main presenter is John Taylor Gatto-a former New York City Teacher of the Year and homeschool advocate. I can't wait to hear his presentation.

I actually made the mistake of telling the kids the night before last and that's all I've heard from the 4 oldest ones since. (H. is still to little to have a clue about what's in store.) I had good intentions for it. There will be a "Kids Marketplace" where the kids can buy and sell stuff they've made (or toys they no longer want) and I wanted to give my kids time to make stuff if they so desired.

Speaking of making stuff, I now get to add a swimsuit for S. to the list since she managed to put holes in her's the last time she wore it. So, I have one quilt that HAS to be finished by Jan. 20 (progress- fabrics and pattern selected), one swimsuit that HAS to be finished by Feb. 4 and one quilt that needs to be finished in early Feb. Besides all the regular day to day stuff I normally do. The next four weeks are going to be CRAZY!

This is an icicle that formed outside my kitchen window after the last snow started to melt, although we still have some of it sticking around. The icicle is more than 20 inches.

Design Wall Monday

First off, Happy New Year! I kept meaning to post but have been busy spending time with friends. We got two dinner invites back to back, which is funny since it's been months since we've gone to anyone's house. It worked well for me since I didn't have to cook either night. I took a "me" day on Saturday, which was more than a little crazy - wind chills were in the single digits. BRRRRR!

Shh! Don't tell dh but I went fabric shopping on-line Wed. and at two Jo-Ann's on Sat. Actually, dh knows about 1 on-line fabric order because it arrived while I was out and M. just had to get the mail to look for a letter from his friend. Hey, I never said this was a stash busting year for me. ;) I needed pinks for the baby quilts and I wanted a variety of light and teal blues for the back of Rooty Tooty. Beyond fabric shopping, I haven't been very productive this week but that's going to have to change. I realized that I need one baby quilt done by the 20th because I won't see my friend again until after the baby is born. My other expectant friend may actually be due this month not next. EEK! Not sure how I'm going to get two baby quilts done this month.

Busted! I just got a phone call about my other fabric order and DH answered and heard that I made another order. Oh, well. So much for stealth! :P

The picture is of the pinks that I've bought for the baby quilts as well as a couple of charms I might use parts of. I'm thinking one all pink basket weave quilt and one black and white log cabin with pink centers.

Stash Chaos

Ok, here are unedited (read: messy) pictures of my stash. (This way, even if I only clean up a little bit, it will look like I've done great things.)

It's spread out between the office closet,

the desk that serves as my sewing table (FQs in the pink and white boxes, misc. bits on the slide out tray, a bag of flannel FQs and a little stack of fabric sitting on the floor), a small three drawer cabinet with two plastic boxes on top-all full, and

a closet next to the tv that has two large totes full of flannels, a box of flannels on top and a hanging shelf of, you guessed it, flannels.


All the flannels were bought with the intention of starting an etsy shop selling sets of coordinated receiving blankets. With five kids around 24/7 that idea hasn't gone too far beyond the buying fabric stage. Although, that was rather fun!

My goal for next month is to get everything more organized. I need to move my regular (non-flannel) fabric out of the large tote in the office closet because it's just too much of a pain to get to there. That's really discouraged me from doing more quilting I think. If something is too much of a pain in the rear, we tend to avoid it. Since my goal for this year is to make/finish at least a half dozen quilts, being able to get to my stash would probably help.

I'm not restricting myself from buying but I really do need to start using what I have.

Design Wall Monday

Hey, what do you know? It's Monday and I actually have something to show. hee hee.

I finished sewing the main part of the top. Now I just have to finish sewing the border pieces together and attach them. DH saw it laid out this morning and said it looks "fruity" so maybe I'll name it Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity. What do you think?

I really want to see how many quilts I can get done this year. After I finish this one, I need to make a girl baby quilt for a friend that's due in Feb. I'd also "Like" to make a quilt for a new friend also due in Feb. but I can't remember whether she's have a girl or a boy. I still owe my niece a graduation quilt. I want to make one for dh and one or two for the tv room. Oh, and I have two quilt tops awaiting borders (already cut) and quilting for another friend. This, for me, is a very full list. I'm hoping that if I stick to posting on the Design Wall Monday's I might actually be able to get it done.

You can see more Design Walls on Judy's site.

Viral Fun

Ya gotta love when a highly contagious virus hits a big family. The victims fall one by one like cranky dominoes. Having just finished getting H. health after his bout with Roseola, Z. came down with a fever on Friday, quickly followed later in the evening by M. Yesterday was S.'s turn and this morning R. woke up with it. Fortunately, it's not a horrible virus, just a little 24 hour something. R. seems to have recovered the quickest. He was feeling horrible this morning with fever, headache and a bout of vomiting after which he went back to bed. When he got up, the fever was gone and he's now happily watching old episodes of the Pink Panther on Netflix. Go figure! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that H., dh or I don't get hit with it. I could use a little sleep tonight. ;)

Design wall Monday ...

or in my case, Design Floor Wednesday. I actually had gotten to this point by Monday night but was busy sewing yesterday so I didn't get a chance to post it.

I've gotten about half the rows sewn so far. I need to finish it up tonight though because it's laid out on my office floor and is a pain to walk around and keep H. off of.

This is the first time I've had a new quilt going since Judy started these posts but I haven't been a complete slacker. I've finished two other quilts that I started before H. was born. One for M and one for R. Sorry, no pictures as they are currently being used and abused as any good quilt should be. :)

I was planning on using this quilt in the basement but S. has claimed it for her own since her quilt is "shrinking". (That could have something to do with the 3-4 inches she's grown this year.)

(For those that don't know, Judy at Patchwork Times has been doing a weekly post were people can link their post of what they are working on each week.)

Greetings from Planet Snowville

We've been knee deep in snow this week (literally) thanks to a snow storm that came through here on Saturday. We got somewhere between 16 and 20 inches from Friday night to Saturday night. The kids couldn't have been more thrilled. They've played out in it for at least an hour and a half each day, which is saying a lot since many days it's only been in the upper 20's to low 30's. I posted last year (or maybe the year before) about how the kids had piled snow on our deck stairs to create their own sledding hill. That was only about 5 or 6 steps up. With this snow, they didn't have to add any snow so they decided to sled from the very top. Kids are nuts! Yesterday, it was time for making snowmen in the front yard. The first picture is R.'s "Alien Snowman". Z's was a "snow bug" and S. made a skinny snowman. M. went so far as to add about a dozen rock buttons, a complete face and even ears onto his and named him "Grampa Ed". (Ironically, my grandfather's name was Ed but M. didn't know that at the time he named his snowman.) Last night, they kept making about stories about their various snow men.
For visual reference, this is a picture of a "Big Wheel" in our neighbors' yard around 2 on Saturday.

And here it is on Sunday morning.



The next two pictures are from Sunday morning as well. Our porch roof and our mailbox.


I had great plans for spending the day sewing but never really got to do much because of "mom" duties, including caring for H. who was cranky from a Roseola fever that made it hard for him (and me) to sleep for a few days. I did manage to get a batch of cinnamon rolls made as a special "snow bound" treat.

Really Good Fabric Sale

If you are anything like me, you like a good sale. :) A good sale on fabric is even better. Fabric.com is having a Crazy Cotton Print Sale with tons of fabric loveliness for between 2.49 to 4.19 per yard with most of them either 2.49 or 3.99. I have absolutely no connection with Fabric.com. This is the first time I've ever ordered from them because these were such good prices and a really great selection. I spent more than I should have especially since I just spent about $70 at the sewing expo at the beginning of the month. Oh well. I'll just have to watch the other spending for the rest of the month. With my littlest guy getting older, I have a feeling I might actually have a bit more time to use some of these yummy fabrics soon.

Happy Shopping!

Crazy busy

I haven't had anytime to post lately. We wrapped up Ramadan with Eid which meant more baking and a trip to Chuck E. Cheese for the kids. Then the entire week after we had outside the house plans for every day of the week. Unfortunately, our big Saturday plans got rained out. We were going to take the kids to Colonial Williamsburg but most of that is outdoor stuff and just not rain friendly. Oh well, maybe next year.

I skipped jogging on the treadmill the entire month and when I started again it felt like starting from the beginning again. YUCK! However, I'm getting back up to speed again. I just wish the scale would reflect some of my hard work. I've gone more than 13 miles this week and actually gained a pound. Boo hoo!

I've started a group for my girls with a few other girls their ages. We have our next meeting this afternoon and I'm planning on having them do some hand sewing-simple patchwork potholders. I stayed up last night to make some examples for them and now I'm beat and still have to clean the house and prep for dinner since one on the families will be staying for dinner and toasting marshmallows tonight. I have just about 4 hours to get everything done. I have a feeling the cleaning will be of the not great but good enough variety. Fortunately, the other 2 moms coming have 4 and 5 kids so they know what it's like.

The picture is of the 3 examples I made last night all using fabric I picked up last weekend at a sewing expo. I didn't sew the HST chocolates and cake squares together yet so that I could show the girls the different ways you can lay them out to get different looks.

Iraqi Bundles of Love

I just found this outreach project that I think others might be interested in. It's called Iraqi Bundles of Love. The idea is that you send a box of sewing supplies or fabric that will get distributed to women in Iraq as a bundle. All of the details are at the Iraqi Bundles of Love website. The basic premise is that we as quilters/knitters/sewing/crafting divas have extras on hand that we may have loved/needed once but don't necessarily love/need now and are willing to share with others or you bought a bit too much of some things Or perhaps you're just feeling extra generous. What you need: a flat rate box from the post office, ribbon to tie the bundle, fabric, yarn, needles-sewing/knitting, thread, elastic, scissors, beads, buttons, anything else you might think of, and $11.95 to ship it to the coordinator. (The coordinator is a soldier in Iraq.) There is a deadline of SEPTEMBER 7. So, please, if you're interested, it's best to do it quickly. To get the mailing address, you have to post a comment somewhere on the Bundles of Love website and he will email you the address.

Just think about how much you like getting packages of sewing/quilty goodness. Now imagine the happiness this could give a woman or girl who is living in financially and environmentally difficult conditions. Sanctions and the war have put a big strain on people there and maybe, a little package like this could brighten their lives a bit. As a note, the timing of this is partially meant to coincide with Ramadan. For muslims, the end of Ramadan (Id al-Fitr) is similar to Christmas in terms of celebration-new clothes are bought or made and gifts are given to the children. Your gift may help a family make the holiday a little brighter for their children.

Thank you.

Ramadan Mubarak/Happy Ramadan

To all of the Muslims out there-Ramadan Mubarak!

For those that do not know what Ramadan is-Ramadan is the month of fasting for Muslims. From dawn until sunset, Muslims (in good health) do not eat or drink anything, not only that they are also supposed to refrain from gossiping, smoking, swearing, lying and sex. (Of those last items, only sex is permissible normally. All of the others, we shouldn't be doing anyway.)

Why abstain from these things? By practicing self-control over things that are normally allowed, i.e. eating and drinking, we can gain control over the areas in our lives where we may have developed bad habits. We also seek a closer relationship to God during this time by striving to read the entire Quran during the month and spending more time reflecting on God. The Quran is broken down into 30 sections, therefore, we aim to read one section per day or approximately 200 verses. We connect with other Muslims by joining them at the masjid/mosque for Iftar (breaking the fast). At the masjid we attend, this is done potluck style and shared with anyone who cares to join us-Muslim or not. We connect with the needy through acts of charity, donating food and/or money to those who are in need.

The timing of Ramadan is based on the lunar calendar so the dates move forward about 11 days each year. When I first became a Muslim, it started in Feb. This year, today was the first day of fasting. It's likely to be more difficult fasting this year as well as the next several years, since Ramadan will be during the longest as well as the hottest days of the year, but quite honestly, if the people of the Arabian peninsula could do it for generations without the benefit of air conditioning or any of the other luxuries we take for granted, I'm sure I can manage as well. (Imagine having to walk everywhere in 110 degree or higher heat or cook for hours over an open fire in the same heat.)

There are people who are exempt from fasting-people who have chronic medical conditions that require medication, children who are under the age of puberty, people who are traveling, women who are menstruating and women who are pregnant or breastfeeding. For these last two reasons, it's been some time since I've fasted. In the last 11 years, I've been pregnant and/or nursing every Ramadan except for one. Needless to say, I'm a little out of practice. I'm going to try fasting this year even though H. is still nursing but since he's almost 2 he doesn't have that much longer for nursing anyway and he mostly nurses at night. As long as I make sure to get up early enough to drink at last a few glasses of juice or water and drink the same or a bit more after Iftar, I should be ok.

The Washington Post had a nice article entitled Better Health Through Fasting, in case you'd like to read more. (Sadly, some of the comments to the article are idiotic at best and hateful, xenophobic at worst.)

The pictures don't really have anything to do with Ramadan. One is a picture of the heavily laden persimmon tree we had in our yard last year in Iran. The other is what was left of a box of pomegranates after the kids had their share. One of our kids favorite things about Iran is the abundance of pomegranates - some sweet, sour or a mix of the two. The light-colored ones are sweet, or possibly have a mix of both sweet and sour seeds and the darker ones are tart/sour. A whole box costs us less than buy just a few here.