Taking a break for some frivolity

I haven't had a meme in ages. So I saw this one and thought it would be cute (and fast)

Five Things Found in Your *Bag/Purse:

1. Kleenex
2. post it notes with lines
3. lip balm
4. crayons
5. inhaler

Five Favorite things in your room (total stretch because our bedroom is fairly spartan):

1. my husband (thought he is in the kitchen right now)
2. children's books
3. my books
4. our bed
5. pillows

Five Things you have always wanted to do:

1. own a craft store
2. become a published author (and a good one at that)
3. make more of my own clothes
4. Be a good mom and wife
5. Have a superhero ability to heal people (well it didn't say that the things had to be realistic)

Five things you are currently into:

1. Quilting and stitching (must justify the huge piles of craft supplies)
2. house hunting (offer made, seller accepted, waiting for the bank [to which the seller still owes $] to approve the sale--all body parts crossed at this time)
3. Keeping the girl occupied so she causes less mischief
4. furniture hunting
5. Family & Home & Friends

In the extremely bad news department, my brother's fiance/wife had her last radiation treatment and was sent home from the hospital a few weeks ago. She was given only about two weeks and has outlasted that, but my parents called yesterday to say that my brother had called them out to the house as she was failing fast. When I called, she was sleeping. Yesterday I wasn't a particularly good wife or mom--my mood was a bit snapish. Well maybe more than a bit.

Chas's grandmother has returned to the hospital with additional heart problems. She was hoping to go to the rehab center so she was a little upset.

There are some major changes at work and I have to wrap up as much as I can before my job shifts in no more than two months.

Our plates and cups are overflowing.

Things I honestly thought I'd never hear myself say.....

"No! We are not signing up for 'Man Caves.'"

Really.

Fingers crossed

Good vibes needed please!

The house we loved in May after an open house went back on the market (buyers backed out because their dreamhouse became available).

Things aren't quite in place, but they could be. Just need a little bump to move over the edge.

So fingers crossed.......................

I itch, therefore I feel a bit grumbly

Well the shrimp was lovely. Chas and Angie decided to have a treat so shrimp it was. Very tasty, prepared all sorts of ways, each just as yummy as the other.

That was Friday night, following a seminar at which I was a main speaker.

Saturday Morning I woke up, drove to some errands, glanced at my arms and noticed red bumps appearing.

Sigh.

Got worse, took the generic benadryl we have and felt slightly better.

Sunday, still red and itchy. Drove to see lots of homes with a realtor (More about that later). In and out of houses and the car. Hot, red and itchy. Arrived home, desperate for more benadryl, discover that our package expired in September of last year! (And our calamine lotion expired in 2005).

Today, go to work. Heavy docket. Red and itchy. Somewhat grumpy.

Call doctor. Make an appointment for the end of the day. The Doctor says, "So was that shrimp good? Are you done with Shrimp now?" She decides that the best course of action is a shot. In my posterior. The nurse makes me stay after for a bit to make sure there are no cross reactions. I reassure him and wander home. I also take one of the Claritin samples, but don't take two as recommended by the Dr. because I'm worried about side effects--but really do I want know exactly how much more red, itchy and swollen I could get?

I am now itchy, blotchy, grumpy and red. I don't think the edge has been taken off. The shot takes 24 hours to really kick in. Can't stitch. Want to stitch. Can't focus enough to stitch. I hope the treatment works, because this is excruciating.

Darn, delicious, delectable shrimp.

Hop! Hop! Hop!

We have a bunny hanging out in our backyard.

First she was by the sandbox, near the stepping stones and the garage. We could still see the depression in the grass from where she must have been sitting there a long time.

Then she moved to the far corner when Chas came out to check the bug situation. But she stayed in the yard.


Sometime after the kids were bathed she moved closer to the house again, near the soccer net.

She's just sitting there. She seems a bit big and tired.

Chas thinks she is going to have babies.

We may have little bunnies bouncing around soon.

Now she is just nibbling peacefully on the grass and clover in the dark.

Popping up, err in, err, over?

Hello again.

I can't promise I'll be posting more regularly, but I'll try. I've been very busy trying to find a house, not getting calls back form lenders, trips to the er and an mri, unexpected dental work for Angie, I did some self defense and Tae Kwon Do classes--loved it but had to give it up temporarily for financial reasons, had some very stressful times at work, Chas had some stressful news too and we're gearing up for the end of the school year. That splat you heard was me collapsing in a puddle of exhaustion.

I had a friend and her family over on Saturday (and if you like animal stories you should read about her adventures with Zip--it is amazing and touching). She mentioned that she hadn't seen any wips in a while. So I'm going to try to post wips soon. All my wips--yes all of them. Perhaps I'll shame myself into completing one. No shame isn't the right idea. Perhaps I'll motivate my serial starter self to complete something so that I can start something else. I plan to do it by designer: Chatelaine, HAED, Teresa Wentzler, The Sampler Girl and Everything Else. Doesn't that just give you something to look forward too? And as you and I scan the far outdated wips list on the sidebar, we all realize what a monumental task this will be. But at least it will be fun and pretty.

Since the First Grade Quilt has been finished and my most recent Love Quilt Square sent in, I have happily stitched on all sorts of projects. I've dug out some old favorites for the sheer pleasure of stitching. I've stitched on the Frog Prince and Bedtime Stories, on the Tree of Hope and Hope Perches. It has been fun.

I'm hoping to work on a few quilts this summer. Angie got her first big girl bed--so she'll get a twin size story quilt. I need to obtain some fabric (believe it or not) with mermaids in addition to what I have. I wouldn't mind some wizards and witches too. We are in a bit of a budget crunch, so I don't know if I'll be able to do it soon, but I'll just work with what I have first. I also want to make a napping or wall sized story quilt for Angie's first grade teacher who has been wonderful. I'll try to have it done for the first day of school so Angie can give it to her next year. I also need to do a quilt for my clerk who is retiring. Of course she picked colors I don't usually have so I don't know how I'll manage that by August, but we'll see. It will be Love Beads by FunQuilts and I'll need reds, yellows and blues. I have some blues, but not much of the others. I have some fabric, but I don't think it is enough to to a full size quilt for her bed--she may just have to be satisfied with one for napping.

And to leave you with a random thought:

I was mentioning to Chas that if we won the lottery (and I mean a really big lottery), I would have my own cable channel. And then when my favorite shows are cancelled, I would obtain them and put them on my channel so that I (and everyone else) could continue to watch new episodes of excellent shows (or even my guilty pleasures) instead of hoping for a dvd.

To date, my dream channel would have:

Farscape
Firefly
Journeyman
Pushing Daisies
Life
The Class
The Adventures of Brisco County Junior
Space Above and Beyond
Babylon 5
Earth 2
Deep Space 9

Oh there are others that are escaping me right now, but you get the point. What would you air on your channel?

You know it's been rough when...

You find yourself sitting at the computer late at night with a spoon in one hand and a tub of chocolate icing in the other.

At least I didn't do it in front of the kids.

Psst--quilty goodness in progress

This is what has kept me away from the blog (I mean, in addition to the kids, the husband, the job, the sick, the house hunting,...)

I know I'm biased, but I think it is adorable. Remember, it is based upon the "Once Upon a Time" Quilt by Fun Quilts (It's from the Modern Quilt Workshop book which I highly recommend). I love it. And this version is humongous. It could be a bed quilt. I hope they don't mind. It isn't just me right? This is really cute, isn't it? I don't understand why there aren't more of these quilts floating around the blogosphere.

I really love assembling quilt tops. We'll see how I feel about quilting.

I quilt, therefore I bee.

I'm just poking my head in from first grade quilt land.

I am enjoying it. The quilt is not perfect, but acceptable for my first full quilting experience. For example, I think my quarter inch seam allowance is larger than a quarter of an inch, but I can't figure out why (beyond the obvious I mean).

I had hoped to post wips, but that obviously hasn't happened. It has been fun to watch it come together, flaws and all.

The top is nearly completed and that leaves the actual quilting process. I have a few questions if anyone can give me some advice:

1. The first large square is actually a transfer of the class photo. Cute idea, but I tried testing the image with a wet cotton ball and a lot of ink ran on to the cotton ball. The ink did not smear in the picture though. Do you think that I just pulled some loose dye, or do you think the inks will run if I wash the quilt?

Do you have any suggestions for keeping the dye from running or otherwise preventing a lot of staining if I wash it?

Should I wash it at all?

I have not attached the first row yet, so I can be flexible in my response to the dilemma. Should I try to immerse the photo square in water to see what will happen?

2. For the actual quilting process, I've had lots of thoughts, but haven't settled on a quilting style yet. The very popular stippling method won't work because I cannot quilt over the kids' squares. I will only be quilting the sashing (for lack of a better term) and the border.

I had thought to just stitch straight lines from one border edge to the other. However, I do not trust myself to sew a perfectly straight quilting line.

Then I thought I would just stitch inside the story square borders about one eighth of an inch in from the seam. When I told a fellow crafty lady at work, she freaked out that I would have all sorts of "weak stitches" throughout the body of the quilt (not protected by starting and ending under the binding). I thought it was a bit of an overreaction because I intended to secure my stitches. I've seen lots of quilts in which the actually quilting centers around elements in the quilt, rather than just running to and from the edge. Am I missing something?

Then I thought (still missing the above point completely) that maybe I should combine the ideas: quilt within the edge of the story blocks and run a slightly wavy line (to match the wavy lines on the binding) from edge to edge within the sashing, but not crossing over my small story squares.

Any suggestions?

I know a picture would be helpful. I'm really tired at the moment so I am headed to bed. If I can add a photo in the a.m. I will try.

The quilt is based on the Once Upon A Time Quilt by FunQuilts. I will be doing this quilt again very soon for both kids. Once I've finished the quilt, I need to buckle down and do my next love quilt square though--it is due May 1st. Yikes! At this rate my Chatelaines will be waiting until May.

Nary a February Unscathed

My husband has always hated February. Unpleasant stuff just seems to happen in that month. I'm sure other families have a particularly bad month, ours is February.

Warning--this post is not for the faint of stomach.

Last week Angie announced that her ear hurt--one trip to the doctor later we have an ear infection and pink antibiotics
Friday night, I look at Kian and see yellow goop in his eyes--one trip to the doctor later, we have pink eye and eye drops that Kian does not enjoy.
Saturday Morning (wee tiny early hours) Kian awakens vomiting, then hourly for the next several hours. One call to the nurse hotline and we are reassured that a trip to urgent care is not necessary. There is a nasty g-i bug rambling around. We're told it will get worse when the intestinal part kicks in. Oh and by the way, it is "highly contagious." Dandy.
I will not describe Sunday to you, except to say that Mommy and Kian had many clothing changes throughout the day. Sigh. The other thing I will tell you is that giving a child small sips of breastmilk directly from the source is very, very tricky. And regularly results in one very perturbed and expressive child.
Monday, Angie appears fine so she goes to school. I am weak from the nearly 24 hour care of Kian and feel the twinges of something g-i-ish so I stay home. Angie comes home from school pale, goes for a nap, and vomits over a large portion of her bed.
Monday night/wee early Tuesday morning, it is now my turn to join in the family fun. By daylight, I am so weak that I need to ask Chas to bring me things as I float in and out of consciousness.
Wednesday, still weak and having consumed no solid food, Angie and I remain home from school and work.

I will attempt to go to work tomorrow; we'll see if I am successful.

I was doing well on the quilt until we were hit with the various illnesses. I thought it wise to stop amidst the raging fluids though. Hopefully, I can get back on track this weekend. I couldn't bear it if I didn't get Angie's Class project finished in time.

In other news, I looked at a house this weekend. It is in our price range, but needs a lot of work. Realistically, everything in our price range will need work or is in not such a great neighborhood. I'll take work over not such a great neighborhood. I think Chas would like to hold out for little to no work and nice neighborhood because, as he reminds me, we just aren't that handy. The house has some quirks (like an attached garage that has no entrance into the home?????) and we would definitely need a home inspection. But it is full of possibility and may be a good chance for us to get a home this year.

Stay tuned and keep your fingers crossed. We need a lot of things to fall into place for this to happen. And February just isn't our month.

Just to let you know....

I'm still here.

I have been in the midst of all sorts of things: First Grade Quilt (fabric purchased, cutting mostly done, assembling bits started), then Chas's Grandpa died, some discovery in our personal litigation, a Cinderella Ball for Angie and Chas (no I am not kidding), then we had all sorts of sick, car trouble (both cars) and more First Grade Quilt stuff.

Roll into all that the fact that this is Chas's busy work season and you have precious little time for much else here.

I did play along in the first HAED SAL in January but I still need to scan that in. Sigh.

So much fun stuff so little time.

I hope you are all well.

Sounds like my kind of place...

I just found this link at the Dinky Dyes BB. I will be very interested to see what happens when it opens.

I'm at a bit of a loss tonight. The kids are in bed. I was in the mood to play Civilization with the discs I bought at a closing Circuit City, but I discovered that I bought the expansion pack which will be really cool, when I actually own the game it expands. {sigh}

I should work on the first grade quilt for a bit (lots of cutting to do), but I kind of want to cross stitch. But I don't know which project is calling me.

I'll go cut for a while and if the kids stay down, maybe I'll find a small project to stitch.

And a query for you quilters: Do you always pre-wash your fabrics? I know I should, but our basement is so cold. If you do, do you throw the fabrics in the dryer?