I finished another baby quilt last night. This one I had finished putting together a while ago and had even machine sewed the binding on, but I hadn't finished (or even started) hand sewing the binding. I finally finished it last night. I'll post a picture of the quilt on here eventually, but in its unfinished state you can see it under Ellie when she was "quilt testing". So I now have no started-but-not-finished quilting projects.
I have fabric for the next baby quilt that I'm making for a due date of September, so I have some time before I really have to start working on that one. I just need to iron and cut the fabrics and I can start sewing. At this point, I'm trying to determine the type of quilting I want to do on it. I've been hand tying the past few baby quilts, but I think I want to machine quilt this one. The question is... what pattern and how much quilting? I haven't tried quilting on the new machine yet, so I'm a little afraid to do it on a quilt that I'm going to be giving away.
Other quilters say that its the best to try stuff on other people's quilts because if you don't like it you don't have to look at it. But the way I see it is that its a piece of myself that I'm giving to someone else and it should be good. It shouldn't just be the "throw-away" part that I don't want or like.
Time will tell what I want to do with the quilt. At least I have time to figure it out.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Baby Quilt #6
Last week I ordered fabric online (a first for me) for a baby quilt that I will be making for some friends that have a baby due in September. The website (www.equilter.com) had pictures of the flannel fabrics and they were pretty cute (many based on kids' nursery rhymes). I was a little hesitant to buy fabric online as I couldn't actually see the fabric or feel it. However, I figured with a baby quilt if it turned out to be a bust, at least it was only a little bit of fabric. :-)
So the fabric arrived on Friday afternoon and as soon as it arrived, I opened it up to find the cutest fabrics I've ever seen. They were good quality and looked exactly as the website had portrayed. I'll have to take some pictures of them to post on here.
To put it in words though, the fabric for the main design of the quilt was four different colors. Two fabrics had little white bunnies on them with a blue background on one and a yellow background on another. The other two were blue and pink backgrounds with the cow jumping over the moon on it. (I couldn't resist!) The fabric I got for the backing actually has the alphabet on it and for each letter it shows a different item (T - teddy; A - airplane, etc) . They even had X and Z on there. I was impressed. ;-)
So the fabric arrived on Friday afternoon and as soon as it arrived, I opened it up to find the cutest fabrics I've ever seen. They were good quality and looked exactly as the website had portrayed. I'll have to take some pictures of them to post on here.
To put it in words though, the fabric for the main design of the quilt was four different colors. Two fabrics had little white bunnies on them with a blue background on one and a yellow background on another. The other two were blue and pink backgrounds with the cow jumping over the moon on it. (I couldn't resist!) The fabric I got for the backing actually has the alphabet on it and for each letter it shows a different item (T - teddy; A - airplane, etc) . They even had X and Z on there. I was impressed. ;-)
Thursday, April 17, 2008
No More Boot!
I received excellent news from the doctor yesterday that I don't need to drag around my heavy boot anymore. I have to wear a stiff ankle brace for the next two weeks to help stabilize my ankle, but its a heck of a lot better than a heavy boot. Plus, I can start driving now. They said I can't run, jump or twist on it yet, but I'm happy to be just getting closer to normal and I probably won't need physical therapy.
On the quilting front, I haven't really been able to do much quilting lately. I'm working on sewing (by hand) the binding onto my sister-in-law's baby quilt, but I haven't had a lot of motivation to sew lately. I think I get into these ruts every once in a while. I am expecting to get new fabric in the mail on Friday (YAY!), so I'll be able to start the next baby quilt. I've also been sewing the loose ends of the fabric I have for our bedroom quilt. I read on another quilting blog that its handy to sew the raw edges of the fabric before washing so that it doesn't unravel as much. We'll see how it works out. Since I haven't posted these before, below are snapshots of the fabric for our bedroom quilt.
Here's all the fabrics laid out together with the colors that will actually be touching each other in the quilt positioned next to each other.
The four main colors below (green, white, red, and blue) are making up the main pattern in the quilt. The green is just a border around 12" blocks, and the 12" blocks have a a combination of white and blue squares and white and red triangles.
Finally, the border on the quilt will look somewhat like a curling ribbon with a white background, and the two shades of blue being the ribbon. The green is once again a border. Its difficult to see in the pictures, but the darker blue fabric has a lighter blue pattern that has a little bit of irridescence to it. The light blue fabric is completely irridencent, so they work really well together.
All said and done, I think between the different colors I have somewhere around 15-20 yards of fabric! Rich advised me to increase the amount of excess material by 25% to make sure that I have plenty to work with. However, I think if I only increased it by 1/4 yard I would have been fine. So I'll have lots of extra that I can use for other quilts or table runners, or something. It will be fun to think of the "or somethings". :-)
On the quilting front, I haven't really been able to do much quilting lately. I'm working on sewing (by hand) the binding onto my sister-in-law's baby quilt, but I haven't had a lot of motivation to sew lately. I think I get into these ruts every once in a while. I am expecting to get new fabric in the mail on Friday (YAY!), so I'll be able to start the next baby quilt. I've also been sewing the loose ends of the fabric I have for our bedroom quilt. I read on another quilting blog that its handy to sew the raw edges of the fabric before washing so that it doesn't unravel as much. We'll see how it works out. Since I haven't posted these before, below are snapshots of the fabric for our bedroom quilt.
Here's all the fabrics laid out together with the colors that will actually be touching each other in the quilt positioned next to each other.
The four main colors below (green, white, red, and blue) are making up the main pattern in the quilt. The green is just a border around 12" blocks, and the 12" blocks have a a combination of white and blue squares and white and red triangles.
Finally, the border on the quilt will look somewhat like a curling ribbon with a white background, and the two shades of blue being the ribbon. The green is once again a border. Its difficult to see in the pictures, but the darker blue fabric has a lighter blue pattern that has a little bit of irridescence to it. The light blue fabric is completely irridencent, so they work really well together.
All said and done, I think between the different colors I have somewhere around 15-20 yards of fabric! Rich advised me to increase the amount of excess material by 25% to make sure that I have plenty to work with. However, I think if I only increased it by 1/4 yard I would have been fine. So I'll have lots of extra that I can use for other quilts or table runners, or something. It will be fun to think of the "or somethings". :-)
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Think SPRING!
While this time of year is usually seen as good, sometimes I think that spring just isn't getting here fast enough. Only a few of my flowers are starting to poke through the ground and the grass hasn't even really started turning green yet. So... to help others who find this time of year frustrating, here's some pictures of flowers from my garden from last summer.
Some pretty coneflowers.
My nice yellow gaillardia (which I probably spelled wrong).
A larger picture of the left front corner of the planting bed. By the way, Rich (my hubby) built that stone wall himself. At the tallest part, its about 18" tall. The shortest end is only about 6".
This is one of my gorgeous roses. I'm hoping the plant survived the winter as I really love the flowers. They are so pretty and as they age, they fade to white and pink versus yellow and pink. They also have a wonderful smell that isn't too flowery and has just the right amount of citrusy smell to them.
This is the same rose bush as the last picture. This one you can see a bee trying to get some nectar along with an older bloom right next to a brand new one.
Some pretty coneflowers.
My nice yellow gaillardia (which I probably spelled wrong).
A larger picture of the left front corner of the planting bed. By the way, Rich (my hubby) built that stone wall himself. At the tallest part, its about 18" tall. The shortest end is only about 6".
This is one of my gorgeous roses. I'm hoping the plant survived the winter as I really love the flowers. They are so pretty and as they age, they fade to white and pink versus yellow and pink. They also have a wonderful smell that isn't too flowery and has just the right amount of citrusy smell to them.
This is the same rose bush as the last picture. This one you can see a bee trying to get some nectar along with an older bloom right next to a brand new one.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Official Quilt Tester
Now that I have the camera hooked up to the computer, I was also able to download some pictures of my cat, Ellie, helping me with my quilting. She is the official tester to make sure my quilts feel good.
Caught in mid-lick. ;-)
Time for a BIG stretch!
Giving me the evil look because I disturbed her sleep.
The last one is, of course, the aftermath of her testing.
New Quilt Pics
I finally got the camera connected to the computer again and here's some pictures of the quilts I made for the twin girls.
New Toy!
I FINALLY got my new toy this weekend.... a brand new sewing machine. :-) When I first got it home, I was actually afraid to use it because I didn't want to break it. I've now sewed a few practice pieces on it, and I absolutely love the machine.
I ended up getting a Bernina 440 quilting edition (for quilters who read this, they'll know what the machine is). It comes with a few standard pressure feet, but it also comes with the walking quilting foot. However, the BEST part about it, is that it comes with Bernina's Stitch Regulator foot. This foot attaches to the machine and it senses how quickly you're moving the fabric underneath it and automatically adjusts how quickly the needle moves so that your stitches are always the same length.
Once I get a little more used to the machine, it will definitely be a dream to use. I have to make a few "mini-quilts" to test things out and see how to do different stitches. I also want to try a few new techniques that I haven't tried before, so it will be good to make some practice pieces.
Happy Quilting! ;-)
I ended up getting a Bernina 440 quilting edition (for quilters who read this, they'll know what the machine is). It comes with a few standard pressure feet, but it also comes with the walking quilting foot. However, the BEST part about it, is that it comes with Bernina's Stitch Regulator foot. This foot attaches to the machine and it senses how quickly you're moving the fabric underneath it and automatically adjusts how quickly the needle moves so that your stitches are always the same length.
Once I get a little more used to the machine, it will definitely be a dream to use. I have to make a few "mini-quilts" to test things out and see how to do different stitches. I also want to try a few new techniques that I haven't tried before, so it will be good to make some practice pieces.
Happy Quilting! ;-)
Friday, April 11, 2008
Taco Loaf!
After cooking the same exact things for the past few weeks, I was tired of the recipes I have for ground chicken (which I needed to make before it went bad). So I searched the internet for a while to find a receipe that involved ground chicken and the ingredients I have in the cupboard. Usually when picking out a recipe online, you only try it if there's a lot of people that say its good.
In this case, I found a recipe for meatloaf using ground chicken and taco seasoning (and a few other random things). Reviewers said that it was good and that they would definitely make it again, so I decided to try it. Fortunately, it was still edible when it was done. But it was essentially and huge taco loaf. Its not that it tasted badly, but I definitely would not make that one again!
So not only did I get rid of a car that was once termed "The Loaf", but I've now made a Taco Loaf. The car was definitely better than the dinner!
In this case, I found a recipe for meatloaf using ground chicken and taco seasoning (and a few other random things). Reviewers said that it was good and that they would definitely make it again, so I decided to try it. Fortunately, it was still edible when it was done. But it was essentially and huge taco loaf. Its not that it tasted badly, but I definitely would not make that one again!
So not only did I get rid of a car that was once termed "The Loaf", but I've now made a Taco Loaf. The car was definitely better than the dinner!
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Tuna!
Over the past few months, one of the beer manufacturers (I think BudLite) had a commercial where if you drank BudLite you could hear animals talking. There's a dog in the commercial that's constantly saying "SAUSAGE!" and you hear the person asking different questions and the dog keeps saying "SAUSAGE!" Well, we finally figured out that each time we say something to the cat, she just yells "TUNA!" instead of "SAUSAGE!" :-)
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Kitty On the Mend
Last Thursday I had to take my cat, Ellie, to the vet for a checkup and for them to check one of her canine teeth. We had noticed a few months ago that the very tip of the tooth was stick out from under her lip a little, but we assumed it was just the way her lip was at the time. Two weekends ago, I noticed the tooth was sticking out even more and when I touch it (because it looked weird) it actually moved! Off to the vet!
Within 15 minutes of seeing her, the vet decided that the tooth had to come out right away. They put her into surgery right away to remove the tooth. Since they had her under anyway, we had the vet clean her teeth. The vet was actually really surprised that we had noticed the loose tooth because cats hide that sort of thing very well. Most cats have lots of cavities and they just chew around them and put up with the pain. When they cleaned her teeth, surprisingly only one other tooth really needed cleaning. All the rest were really clean. So now we have a liquid antibiotic to squeeze down her throat twice a day (it started as pills that we couldn't get down her, so we switched to liquid). Thankfully she's starting to feel better, although she is still "velcro kitty".
The oddest thing was looking at the bill...$350! The amount wasn't really weird, but the weird thing is that its cheaper to have a tooth yanked out than to actually clean them. Doesn't that send the wrong message? For someone who cares about the money more than the pet, they'd sooner leave the teeth along and then just yank them out instead of cleaning them!
Within 15 minutes of seeing her, the vet decided that the tooth had to come out right away. They put her into surgery right away to remove the tooth. Since they had her under anyway, we had the vet clean her teeth. The vet was actually really surprised that we had noticed the loose tooth because cats hide that sort of thing very well. Most cats have lots of cavities and they just chew around them and put up with the pain. When they cleaned her teeth, surprisingly only one other tooth really needed cleaning. All the rest were really clean. So now we have a liquid antibiotic to squeeze down her throat twice a day (it started as pills that we couldn't get down her, so we switched to liquid). Thankfully she's starting to feel better, although she is still "velcro kitty".
The oddest thing was looking at the bill...$350! The amount wasn't really weird, but the weird thing is that its cheaper to have a tooth yanked out than to actually clean them. Doesn't that send the wrong message? For someone who cares about the money more than the pet, they'd sooner leave the teeth along and then just yank them out instead of cleaning them!
Monday, March 24, 2008
Needlepoint
I finally finished my needlepoint (cross-stitch) that I've been working on for 3 years! I can't believe that I had the patience to keep at it for 3 long years. Part of me is still incredulous that I actually finished it. It does look absolutely amazing though. I don't have any pictures yet (shame on me) as the camera STILL isnt' hooked up to the computer. Things have been just way too crazy lately and neither myself nor my husband have been able to take the time to get the camera hooked up.
I've already picked out the next pattern that I'm going to be working on: Van Gogh's Starry Night. Its not quite as big as the last one, but it will still take quite a bit of time to finish it. However, I've already told myself that I can't even think about starting it until I have a few other projects finished. I have two baby quilts that are totally complete with the exception of sewing the binding onto the back by hand. One of them I start on Saturday and have one side almost finished, but the other one I haven't started yet. Thankfully, both those mothers aren't due until June and July, so I still have some time to finish them. I found out over the weekend that I have another baby quilt to make by September, too. So my order of business is going to be finishing the bindings on the current quilts, then making the September baby quilt. Eventually friends will stop having babies so that I can make a quilt for our home. ;-)
I've already picked out the next pattern that I'm going to be working on: Van Gogh's Starry Night. Its not quite as big as the last one, but it will still take quite a bit of time to finish it. However, I've already told myself that I can't even think about starting it until I have a few other projects finished. I have two baby quilts that are totally complete with the exception of sewing the binding onto the back by hand. One of them I start on Saturday and have one side almost finished, but the other one I haven't started yet. Thankfully, both those mothers aren't due until June and July, so I still have some time to finish them. I found out over the weekend that I have another baby quilt to make by September, too. So my order of business is going to be finishing the bindings on the current quilts, then making the September baby quilt. Eventually friends will stop having babies so that I can make a quilt for our home. ;-)
Monday, March 10, 2008
Not That I'm Counting...
I officially only have 9 days left in the cast at this point. It will definitely be good to get rid of the cast. I'm really hoping that the doctor will take the cast off and give me a walking boot to get around in for a while. It seems somewhat odd because earlier this summer I would have done anything to get rid of the walking boot. However, after being on crutches for the past 5 weeks, I'm tired of it and I want to walk again. I'm trying very hard to stay positive about all of it at this point, but its starting to wear on me. I've been doing well by looking forward to things that I want to be able to do, but after this past weekend its been difficult.
We went to look at a dog on Sunday. She's a 7-year old german shepherd named Sasha. She was the sweetest thing. She was very well behaved and behaved exactly like a shepherd should. When we first met her, she was slightly aloof, but as soon as her foster shook our hands and told her it was alright she came right over to us to smell our hands. She was even willing to play with us and come to us without any problems. After being with her foster for 2 weeks, she clearly saw him as her buddy and wanted to be with him. My husband took her for a short walk and she didn't pull except to try and get to her foster, but she didn't pull a huge amount. She also knows all her basic commands, which was really unexpected. My husband asked her to sit without expecting her to actually do it, and she just did it.
We went to look at a dog on Sunday. She's a 7-year old german shepherd named Sasha. She was the sweetest thing. She was very well behaved and behaved exactly like a shepherd should. When we first met her, she was slightly aloof, but as soon as her foster shook our hands and told her it was alright she came right over to us to smell our hands. She was even willing to play with us and come to us without any problems. After being with her foster for 2 weeks, she clearly saw him as her buddy and wanted to be with him. My husband took her for a short walk and she didn't pull except to try and get to her foster, but she didn't pull a huge amount. She also knows all her basic commands, which was really unexpected. My husband asked her to sit without expecting her to actually do it, and she just did it.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
On the mend...
So I'm finally starting to feel like I'm on the mend. My foot is done swelling in the cast and I can usually keep my foot down near the floor for quite a while before it even starts to feel uncomfortable. Thankfully I'm sleeping a little better at night, too. I only have two weeks left before the cast comes off! I can't wait for it to be gone so that I can take a normal shower and do normal things again.
Yesterday, in fact, I was so preoccupied at work that I stood up to get something off my bookshelf and actually partially stood on my foot with the cast. I didn't even realize it until after I was sitting back down again. It didn't hurt at all to stand on it! Two weeks ago, even something brushing against my toes was painful. Now I just have to concentrate on getting better.
Yesterday, in fact, I was so preoccupied at work that I stood up to get something off my bookshelf and actually partially stood on my foot with the cast. I didn't even realize it until after I was sitting back down again. It didn't hurt at all to stand on it! Two weeks ago, even something brushing against my toes was painful. Now I just have to concentrate on getting better.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Long Time...
It definitely has been a while since I last posted on here. Unfortunately, its been pretty crazy the past few weeks with my surgery. I had surgery on my foot on February 4th and have been recovering since then. The first week I was essentially in a drug-induced stupor for most of the week. Unfortunately, the first pain medicine I was on (hydrocodone) made me incredibly ill despite eating a good amount of food. I ended up not taking any pain medication for about 12 - 16 hours because I couldn't keep anything down. Luckily, my husband was able to call the doctor and get a different prescription which didn't make me sick.
The surgery went well and there was nothing really too unexpected. The doctor did discover that the tendon in the arch of my foot was about 3/8" too short, but he was able to re-attach it to where it needed to be. However, because it was short he couldn't put me into a cast right away because it would have put too much stress on the tendon. So this past Monday I went back to the doctor and had stitches removed and my foot/leg had a cast put onto it. Unfortunately, I had some issues with swelling (which I had before the cast, too) that kept getting worse with the cast, so I had to have it re-casted on Thursday. When they took the first cast off, there was visible bruising all around my ankle due to the pressure inside my cast. Thankfully the new cast only has minor problems with swelling and as soon as I elevate it, the swelling subsides.
Now I just have another 3 weeks to go in my cast (which is non-weight bearing of course) and I can start doing rehab to stretch out the tendon and get the strength back in my leg. The doctor said it should only take about 4-6 weeks for a tendon to fully heal. When I have the cast taken off, it will be 6 weeks post-op so everything should be healed up just fine at that point. Hopefully it will continue to heal quickly and I'll be back doing normal things again.
However, with not working for the first two weeks post-op, I was able to get the binding sewn onto the first of the twins' quilts and the second binding is about 80% sewn onto the quilt. Hopefully I'll be able to finish it pretty soon, although after speed sewing through the first binding, I haven't really wanted to do any work on them.
Anyway, I'm actually exhausted today. My parents came up to visit and we went to the mall for a little bit (about 20 minutes actually inside the mall) so that I could get out of the house and go somewhere other than the doctor's office. I was able to get a new purse that can actually be put on your back like a backpack. As I can't really carry anything with me right now because I am on crutches, at least the backpack/purse will allow me to carry around some essentials around the office when I go back to work on Monday. We'll have to see how being back in the office works because all of the interior doors in the office are very heavy (they really want to be closed all the time) and none of them have handicap buttons to open them for you. So we'll have to see how it goes. If its too difficult to get around the office, then I will have to tell my manager that we either have to get the doors fixed or I will be working from home until I'm off the crutches.
The surgery went well and there was nothing really too unexpected. The doctor did discover that the tendon in the arch of my foot was about 3/8" too short, but he was able to re-attach it to where it needed to be. However, because it was short he couldn't put me into a cast right away because it would have put too much stress on the tendon. So this past Monday I went back to the doctor and had stitches removed and my foot/leg had a cast put onto it. Unfortunately, I had some issues with swelling (which I had before the cast, too) that kept getting worse with the cast, so I had to have it re-casted on Thursday. When they took the first cast off, there was visible bruising all around my ankle due to the pressure inside my cast. Thankfully the new cast only has minor problems with swelling and as soon as I elevate it, the swelling subsides.
Now I just have another 3 weeks to go in my cast (which is non-weight bearing of course) and I can start doing rehab to stretch out the tendon and get the strength back in my leg. The doctor said it should only take about 4-6 weeks for a tendon to fully heal. When I have the cast taken off, it will be 6 weeks post-op so everything should be healed up just fine at that point. Hopefully it will continue to heal quickly and I'll be back doing normal things again.
However, with not working for the first two weeks post-op, I was able to get the binding sewn onto the first of the twins' quilts and the second binding is about 80% sewn onto the quilt. Hopefully I'll be able to finish it pretty soon, although after speed sewing through the first binding, I haven't really wanted to do any work on them.
Anyway, I'm actually exhausted today. My parents came up to visit and we went to the mall for a little bit (about 20 minutes actually inside the mall) so that I could get out of the house and go somewhere other than the doctor's office. I was able to get a new purse that can actually be put on your back like a backpack. As I can't really carry anything with me right now because I am on crutches, at least the backpack/purse will allow me to carry around some essentials around the office when I go back to work on Monday. We'll have to see how being back in the office works because all of the interior doors in the office are very heavy (they really want to be closed all the time) and none of them have handicap buttons to open them for you. So we'll have to see how it goes. If its too difficult to get around the office, then I will have to tell my manager that we either have to get the doors fixed or I will be working from home until I'm off the crutches.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Quilting Storm...
Its amazing how a little motivation (even if its a bad motivation) can make you get a lot of work done. I have surgery scheduled on Monday for my foot to remove an excess bone, re-attach a tendon and to relieve some tension on another tendon. I will be in a cast for about 6-8 weeks afterwards and, of course, the cast is on my right foot which I use to operate the foot pedal of my sewing machine. I could probably learn to use my left foot in the interim, but I've been sewing like mad to finish up as much machine sewing as possible on my quilts.
My husband's co-worker is having twins sometime between February and March (she's due in March, but twins are usually delivered early), so I have not one, but two quilts that I need to finish up ASAP. This past weekend I think I was sewing just about continuously. On Saturday I was able to completely finish up sewing the quilt top to one of the quilts. I had previously sewed all the rows together, but I had to add a small 1" border (solid color) around the inner pattern, and then I had to add the border, which was two rows of alternating 2" squares. Amazingly though, I was able to finish it completely in about 3 hours.
On Sunday, I was able to piece together all the squares for the second quilt into rows and press them. I know it doesn't sound like much, but I didn't really get out of bed until 10am and then had to do the usual Sunday chores (grocery shopping, cleaning, and laundry). Then last night after work, I put all the rows together in about an hour and a half of pinning and sewing and more pinning and more sewing. I'll have to press it all tonight and start on the borders. Hopefully I'll be able to make a run to the fabric store sometime this week after work so that I can get the batting and the backing for the quilts. Once I pin the layers together I can sew the binding onto it and the machine sewing will be done. Whew!
Anyway, I know I've said that I'm going to put more pictures on here, but I just haven't gotten around to getting the pictures off the digital camera. I think I will need to convince my husband to get everything hooked up again so that I can download the pictures (that should be a nice "easy" project for him - haha).
My husband's co-worker is having twins sometime between February and March (she's due in March, but twins are usually delivered early), so I have not one, but two quilts that I need to finish up ASAP. This past weekend I think I was sewing just about continuously. On Saturday I was able to completely finish up sewing the quilt top to one of the quilts. I had previously sewed all the rows together, but I had to add a small 1" border (solid color) around the inner pattern, and then I had to add the border, which was two rows of alternating 2" squares. Amazingly though, I was able to finish it completely in about 3 hours.
On Sunday, I was able to piece together all the squares for the second quilt into rows and press them. I know it doesn't sound like much, but I didn't really get out of bed until 10am and then had to do the usual Sunday chores (grocery shopping, cleaning, and laundry). Then last night after work, I put all the rows together in about an hour and a half of pinning and sewing and more pinning and more sewing. I'll have to press it all tonight and start on the borders. Hopefully I'll be able to make a run to the fabric store sometime this week after work so that I can get the batting and the backing for the quilts. Once I pin the layers together I can sew the binding onto it and the machine sewing will be done. Whew!
Anyway, I know I've said that I'm going to put more pictures on here, but I just haven't gotten around to getting the pictures off the digital camera. I think I will need to convince my husband to get everything hooked up again so that I can download the pictures (that should be a nice "easy" project for him - haha).
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
ROUSs
I think one of my all-time favorite movies is "The Princess Bride". The jokes are hysterical and the more times you watch it, the more certain things get ingrained in your head...
"Hey Fezzik, are there rocks ahead?"
"If there are, we all be dead."
"Stop that rhyming now I mean it!"
"Anybody want a peanut?"
One of the cheesiest parts is when Westley and Princess Buttercup are in the dreaded Fire Swamp. No only do they deal with explosions of flaming gas, and "lightning sand", but there are also the fearsome ROUSs, or Rodents of Unusual Size.
All of it is completely made up for the movie...with the potential exception of the ROUSs. Today on CNN there was an article about a "super rat" that was the size of a small car! Now that ROUSs are known to exist at some point...maybe there are pockets of flaming gas in swamps. :-)
"Hey Fezzik, are there rocks ahead?"
"If there are, we all be dead."
"Stop that rhyming now I mean it!"
"Anybody want a peanut?"
One of the cheesiest parts is when Westley and Princess Buttercup are in the dreaded Fire Swamp. No only do they deal with explosions of flaming gas, and "lightning sand", but there are also the fearsome ROUSs, or Rodents of Unusual Size.
All of it is completely made up for the movie...with the potential exception of the ROUSs. Today on CNN there was an article about a "super rat" that was the size of a small car! Now that ROUSs are known to exist at some point...maybe there are pockets of flaming gas in swamps. :-)
Thursday, January 10, 2008
My cat... the world traveler
Since my husband and I moved into our house two years ago, my cat, Ellie, has absolutely loved it. She has lots of "channels" to watch during the day while we're at work, which keeps her from getting bored and chewing wires. We've figured out there are four different channels that she likes to watch. There are:
- The Foyer channel where she can see all sorts of activity directly in front of our house.
- The Library channel where she sits on the windowsill (usually in the sun) in the front room of our house and can really see lots of activity up and down the street.
- The Kitchen channel where she can check out our backyard and the neighbors' house. She's actually a very, nosy kitty and likes to stare at the neighbors.
- The Upstairs channel, which we think is her favorite, lets our cat sit in the sun for 90% of the day and she can view all cars coming into the neighborhood. She is also eye-level with a bunch of trees so she can bird watch all day.
Aside from watching TV, Ellie is a world-class traveler. She has visited more places than I have even and she doesn't even need a passport. On a daily basis, she can visit the "Antarctic", the "rainforest", the "Sahara", and "Florida". Once in a while she visits the "Salt Flats". These need a little explanation, so here goes:
- "Antartic" - my husband loves to keep our house cool, so just about any room besides our bedroom and the bedroom upstairs (which has full sun all day) is freezing cold. Ellie spends as little time as possible in the "Antartic".
- "rainforest" - this is essentially our bathroom in the morning. The fan doesn't do a great job exhausting so we have plenty of humid atmosphere in the bathroom when we shower in the morning.
- "Salt Flats" - this is our basement. The few times Ellie goes down there, she no longer is a black cat. She becomes a gray cat from all the concrete dust.
- "Sahara" - this is her litter box...enough said.
- "Florida" - Ellie loves the warmth and in our bedroom we have one heat register that dumps out a lot of warm air and during the cooler winter months, we can always find Ellie snuggled up next to the heat register soaking up all the warm air. I think this is her favorite place to visit.
Besides those places, around Christmas Ellie is able to visit the "Canadian forests" by hanging out under our Christmas Tree.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Weird Things
Last night, my husband and I decided to go out to dinner at the local Macaroni Grill (thanks, Laura & Larry) because neither of us really felt like cooking and we wanted to go to the bookstore afterwards to return/exchange a few books. While we were sitting eating our appetizer, I happen to notice that there were a lot of same-sex couples coming into the restaurant. I mentioned it to my husband and he asked how I knew that they were couples and not just friends, and I replied that "friends" do not make out at the reservation desk.
This led to a funny little story that my husband's co-worker had told him earlier in the day. My husband's co-worker and his wife are expecting twins this spring and had their first Birthing class earlier this week. Sitting around the room were lots of pregnant women and their spouses, sisters, mothers...basically their "support" people. One couple came in and everyone assumed the two were sisters because they both looked exactly the same and were "incredibly hot" according to my husband's co-worker. At one point, everyone had to give a little speach about who was with them, what they did, etc. of which everyone basically slept through other people's speaches. When it came to the two women's turns, the pregnant one stood up and said her name and then said that she and her partner were really excited to have be having the baby. As soon as she said "partner" everyone's undivided attention was on these two women. At the end of it, my husband's co-worker said to his wife, "Its unfair. Why do all the hot ones have to be lesbians?"
This led to a funny little story that my husband's co-worker had told him earlier in the day. My husband's co-worker and his wife are expecting twins this spring and had their first Birthing class earlier this week. Sitting around the room were lots of pregnant women and their spouses, sisters, mothers...basically their "support" people. One couple came in and everyone assumed the two were sisters because they both looked exactly the same and were "incredibly hot" according to my husband's co-worker. At one point, everyone had to give a little speach about who was with them, what they did, etc. of which everyone basically slept through other people's speaches. When it came to the two women's turns, the pregnant one stood up and said her name and then said that she and her partner were really excited to have be having the baby. As soon as she said "partner" everyone's undivided attention was on these two women. At the end of it, my husband's co-worker said to his wife, "Its unfair. Why do all the hot ones have to be lesbians?"
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Ramblings
Last week, my minor cold ended up being a royal pain in the butt and turned into a significant cold. I ended up going into work for half a day last Thursday and took the afternoon and Friday off because I was sick as can be. I'm still not up to par, but at least I don't have to take cold medicine 24/7 (I just have to take once a day to keep my symptoms at bay).
I did get around to finally starting to cut the fabric I need for one of the baby quilts I am making for my husband's co-worker. His co-worker is actually having twin girls, so I have to make two quilts. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to post yet. I have lots of pictures taken, but the camera isn't currently hooked up to the computer so I have to figure out how to get the pictures off the camera.
Just before Christmas, my husband and I got a GPS (we ended up with a TomTom) which is the best thing to have. We used it extensively on our trip to Florida and we didn't get lost at all. So instead of the digital camera being hooked up to the computer, the GPS is now hooked up which is why I don't have any pictures. I'm hoping to try and get the pictures off the camera tonight, but it may take a little convincing to get my husband to crawl under the desk and hook up the correct cables.
I did get around to finally starting to cut the fabric I need for one of the baby quilts I am making for my husband's co-worker. His co-worker is actually having twin girls, so I have to make two quilts. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to post yet. I have lots of pictures taken, but the camera isn't currently hooked up to the computer so I have to figure out how to get the pictures off the camera.
Just before Christmas, my husband and I got a GPS (we ended up with a TomTom) which is the best thing to have. We used it extensively on our trip to Florida and we didn't get lost at all. So instead of the digital camera being hooked up to the computer, the GPS is now hooked up which is why I don't have any pictures. I'm hoping to try and get the pictures off the camera tonight, but it may take a little convincing to get my husband to crawl under the desk and hook up the correct cables.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Back from Vacation
Now that the craziness of Christmas is over, I actually have some time to breathe. My husband and I got back from vacation earlier this week after spending 5 days in warm, sunny Florida. The entire time we were there, the temperatures were between 80 and 85. It was awesome! We also got to see the Philadelphia Flyers play against the Tampa Bay Lightning. It was a pretty good good with a good fist fight only a few minutes into the game. :-)
Unfortunately, I did end up getting sick the day we left Florida. I'm glad that I'm sick now versus being sick while in Florida, but I would much rather not be sick at all.
Before going to Florida, I did get a chance to get some fabric for the quilt top for our bed. The fabrics are absolutely gorgeous, and when I get a chance I will post a picture of the fabrics on here. I also got most of the bindings sewn onto my sister-in-law's baby quilts, so those are almost done. Now I just have to wash more fabric and cut it so I can start the next baby quilts.
Unfortunately, I did end up getting sick the day we left Florida. I'm glad that I'm sick now versus being sick while in Florida, but I would much rather not be sick at all.
Before going to Florida, I did get a chance to get some fabric for the quilt top for our bed. The fabrics are absolutely gorgeous, and when I get a chance I will post a picture of the fabrics on here. I also got most of the bindings sewn onto my sister-in-law's baby quilts, so those are almost done. Now I just have to wash more fabric and cut it so I can start the next baby quilts.
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