Help! I'm Quilting and I Can't Stop!

Tad is away this week attending a 40 hour HazMat class, so I'm having all my days to myself again. It's just like he's gotten a job, but not getting paid. Oh well. He's out of the house, and that's a good thing.

I've made another quilt block today, since I decided yesterday that I might as well use all of the quilt blocks that I made 4 years ago, and make a second baby quilt. I had to make another block today because, of the 13 blocks I made 4 years ago, 3 of them were the wrong size and you can't have blocks varying in size in a quilt--not if you don't plan for it. I didn't. So I picked my five favorites using all the fabric colors, made one more, and I will put them together in the same quilt. That's the posting from Thursday. Today I took the remaining 5 correctly sized blocks,

Prairie Queen

 Variable Star

 Rocky Mountain Puzzle

 Checkered Heart

 Album

 made 1 more block--Charm

and now have enough blocks to make baby quilt #2. I spent several hours last night calculating fabric requirements to finish these 2 quilts and I should have enough fabric to border, back and bind both quilts. When I first started learning to make these quilt blocks, I intended to make a table runner--4 blocks. Then I had the BRILLIANT (not!) idea to make a queen quilt for our bed. Ummm, no. I nearly had enough blocks, and I even bought all the fabric necessary to border, back and bind it, (6 3/8 yards worth) but I decided I didn't want to have it on our bed. Besides, like I mentioned earlier, 3 of the blocks ended up the wrong size, and I don't enjoy quilting enough to re-create them again. Then, I thought about making a quilt for Hailey's bunk bed, but knew it would look bad if I only had a quilt on one bunk (like it actually is, right now) and she didn't seem interested in having a quilt. There are some really cute comforters out there, and she wanted one of those, instead. So I shelved the quilt for 4 years.

Enter a tiny little girl who has been the inspiration I've needed to get these quilts out of the top of the closet and rethink things. This is how I've decided to make the crib quilt(s). Besides making me feel better about myself, I won't have to worry about my quilt teacher asking me about their progress any more. She's nice, but it's rather embarassing that I haven't gotten them done. And now I'll have two of them! Then I don't ever plan to make another quilt again, at least not a pieced block quilt. This is just too fiddly for me and I'll be glad to be done.

All Done

Tad started working on the floor bricks Monday

and finished tearing the bricks out of the family room yesterday about noon-ish.

Today he swept, vacuumed and cleaned and here is the result--a freezing, cold, family room corner. We'll probably end up washing the walls and wiping down/vacuuming/dusting all the other surfaces in the room--soon.

I have also been busy this week. I got out the quilt blocks that I started 4 years ago, took a good look at my notes and fabric colors, and created this quilt block (called Bowties)

 and it will go with these (Whirling Star) 

(Log Cabin)

 (Rail Fence)

 (Dutchman's Puzzle)

 (Card Trick)

to create something looking a little like this

with these fabrics for corner blocks (light blue solid), sashing strips (peach solid) 

and backing/binding (blue floral)

and when I'm finished, it will be a lovely, little crib quilt to add to my Grandmama's Hope Chest.

More

This is the result (nearly the end) of Friday's effort at removing the bricks from the second wall. I realized that Tad was working so quickly that if I didn't get a picture taken in a hurry, I'd miss out on that wall completely. He did actually remove the last two rows of bricks before he quit for the day. The last photo shows the pile of bricks that came from only the first bit of the first wall. We now have 2 large piles of bricks outside. We don't know what we'll do with them, maybe build an outdoor fire pit with some of them, but most of them will eventually be gone.

Here on the inside, we will put up some studs and then put foam insulation sheets in between them, sheetrock over them and paint the walls. We will also have to cover the bare spot on the floor, but we eventually want to tear out all the hideous orange, brown and black carpet

and install one solid piece of something pretty. Whatever gets into peoples' heads when they design, and then BUY (with real money, no less) ugly stuff? There's no accounting for taste, I guess. (Except for mine, which is, of course, exquisite.)

"And the Walls Came Tumbling Down"

Since Tad has been out of work, he's been looking for things to occupy his time. (He says I'm finding things for him to do--Maybe I am.) When we bought our house, there was a wood burning stove in the family room downstairs. The original owners had bricked around it, but we sold the stove about 2 years ago, so we've wanted to do something different with the family room. Tad decided that he could take the bricks off the walls and the floor, so that we can sheetrock and recarpet when we have money to do so. He had gotten this nifty new hammer drill shortly before Christmas, and has been aching to use it. We bought a chisel bit and he's gone crazy with it. This photo was taken on Tuesday, Jan 18 and by Wednesday afternoon he had all the brick off this wall. It'll take about 2 more days to do the other wall, and 2 or 3 more days to do the floor.

I'll post more pictures as he gets more done. This is a big project that we've wanted to do for a long time. We also have plans to remodel our bathroom, tear out the hot tub and install a shower stall. Hopefully he gets rehired soon so that we can get working on some of these plans and ideas.

Fixing Mistakes

After I wrote the last post, I started working on the crib sheets, using the fabric in the pictures. I've made tons of crib sheets. They are, for me, a no-brainer. Well, not this time. I usually fold the fabric in quarters and then cut the 9" squares from the corners in one fell swoop using my Olfa. Again, a no-brainer. Except this time, I miscounted and cut 8"x9" from one of the fabrics. Not a problem. Right. Instead of trimming the short side to make a 9" square, I trimmed from the long edge--and made the cut 8"x10". Not a good thing. That's not something that can be bullied into turning itself into a 9" square. I sewed it anyway, but it's wonky. The tricky part is, I bought the fabric in November. Fabric at Walmart, at least fabric that I might ever want to use again, has a fast turnover rate. It was gone from our Ammon Walmart when I looked for it last week. We happened to be in the IF Walmart last night and I found the bolt of fabric on the clearance table. I snatched up another piece in a hurry so that I can redeem myself. I'll probably use the fabric from the bad sheet to make a diaper stacker or scrapbook cover or something. It won't go to waste, it's just frustrating to have my perfect record tarnished. Today, barring some unforeseen brain cloud on my part, I'll be serging the edges of 2 pieces of flannel to make receiving blankets. Again, these are things I've made several of, so there shouldn't be a problem. *Fingers and toes crossed*

We went to the Temple Visitor's Center last night to see the new exhibit there. It's entitled "Reflections of Christ" and is a collection of  photos by Mark Mabry depicting scenes in the life of the Savior. The photos are beautiful, and now I'm interested to see the book, which is at Seagull Book, and even the DVD. (This image is from the new 2011 calendar available at Deseret Book) We went as a belated FHE activity. We had our lesson Monday night, but didn't have time for an activity. We wanted to take advantage of it while Scott was still here, and on an evening when Mom and Dad were at the Center. It was a lovely display, and I wouldn't mind seeing it again.

Getting Started

I wanted to wait until after the holidays were over and people went back to school/work to start working on baby sewing. Well, the holidays are over, and Hailey has gone back to school. Scott is leaving this weekend. I can't wait any longer. Yesterday was spent binding 2 quilt panels.

I'd hoped to get more done, but it was a steep learning curve. I'd forgotten how to bind a quilt using fabric strips, so had to practice and rip out a couple of times before I'd gotten it right. They turned out well, though.  Porters had these on sale around Thanksgiving time, and I'd gotten one for myself, to put in the Grandma's Hope Chest. When the girls saw them, they each wanted one, and they were about $2.oo each on sale, so we got them and have been waiting to get them finished. I've decided to give mine to Jessie, so she'll have two of them. She can use them both for quilts or hang one on the wall as nursery decor. Also while she and Todd were here at Thanksgiving, we had gone to Walmart and we found both the fleece and the woven fabric which matched the quilt panels, so we bought enough fleece to make a crib blanket, and 2 pieces of fabric to make crib sheets. They are going to be so cute! I'll be making the crib sheets today, and will have enough to make a cradle sheet, too.

The print is "Jungle Babies" and I know one little, tiny girl who is going to have the cutest nursery.

Alone but Not Lonely

Finally! After nearly 3 weeks, I have some time to myself! Tad and Scott have gone to run a few errands and won't be back for a couple of hours or more. Hailey is in school and so I have a whole blessed morning to myself! I can clean my scrapbook room, start a project, shred some paperwork, play computer games--anything I want to do without someone hovering, watching, talking or needing to eat. I've loaded the dishwasher and folded towels, Scott took out the trash and there are no little chores needing to be done. Lunch will be leftovers and easily reheated whenever the men straggle back in and I already have the meat thawed in the fridge for supper tonight. It's going to be a great day!

I forget how precious my alone time is until it disappears. I knew that having everyone home over Christmas break would require lots of hands-on face time, but Scott's winter break is longer than I'm used to and with Tad being home, I was starting to feel like the family entertainment coordinator. It's good to have a little down time. I love being a wife and mother, I also love being a female human.

Yesterday provided some vital information about sending Scott back to school on the 15th, which delights all of us to no end. Scott likes being home but there's not enough to do to keep him occupied all the time, and he craves his school routine. He also misses his friends. He's got good friends here at home, but he attended 2 mission farewells in the last two weeks, and his other friends are packing their bags, heading back to school. His college friends have been making plans to get together on their way back to BSU and he's looking forward to seeing them again. Scott has been blessed with finding good friends at school as well as at home.

Well, time is a-wastin'! I need to get busy doing something on my want-to-do list.

Happy New Year!

Now that it is the new year, I feel like the holiday season is finally winding down, and that I'm holding my breath waiting for life to return to normal, whatever "normal" is. We've taken down the Christmas trees, put away the holiday decor, eaten our way through all of the holiday menus and watched most of the new DVD's that we got for Christmas. In the time-honored tradition of New Year's day at our house, we've assembled at least three jigsaw puzzles over the last 24 hours.

Hailey returns to school on Monday, but as for the rest of us, we are in a holding pattern. Tad's job ended on 23 December, so he is currently looking for work. Scott doesn't go back to school for 2 more weeks, if we can still afford to send him back, which is looking doubtful right now. He needs to find work immediately if he is going to be able to return to school. I'd love to have him go back. We'll see how things play out.

I have been thinking about goals for this new year, and I've realized that most of what I have planned for this year entails sewing baby things. I've got fabric to sew crib sheets, quilts, blankets and more quilts. I'm going to continue to collect things for my Grandmama's Hope Chest, things like toys and baby supplies. Another major event which we hope will occur this year is Scott's mission. He'll turn 19 this coming September.

Looking back over the year 2010, we've had several exciting things occur. Scott graduated from Hillcrest High School, Todd graduated with his Master's Degree in Trombone Performance from BYU, we found out that we're going to be grandparents, Hailey began her high school career at Hillcrest High School and I had a major, life changing surgery with an excellent recovery. It's been an exciting year.

In spite of the lack of employment, I have great hopes for this new year, and I'm excited about all of the possibilities that lie ahead of us.

It's going to be a great new year!