My talent on display

I had the talent for FHE tonight and realized it this morning as we were getting ready for school.  So before we left, I chose a project and spent the morning working on it.  I plan on making a small quilt for a teacher at school and she loves owls, so this is "two birds" with one stone.

But the point of this post isn't to brag, rather to laugh.  I was nearing completion of the block and sewed on the beak of one of two owls.  Here it is.

And then I noticed that I didn't see the 2nd block I was working on.  Oh, here it is!  I sewed it behind the first one...right at the beak!  Duh.  I didn't want to spend so much time unpicking on this project!  But what a talent!  LOL.

A boring update

At least it seems boring to me. That's partly why I haven't posted anything for a while. I can't get excited enough by my life to consider it good reading for anyone else. But here I go anyway. I apologize in advance.


The kids finished swimming lessons on the 21st. Daniel passed Level Two and will be starting Level Three next Monday. Nathan did not pass his 2nd attempt at Level One. He just wouldn't float. I think he has trust issues. Leah did not pass her 1st attempt at Level One. I didn't expect her to. I was surprised she made it through the whole class since we almost dropped out after the 3rd day. Nathan and Leah can wait until next summer to try again. Rebekah faithfully accompanied me to the bleachers to watch every day.





On the last day of lessons, they all got to jump (or be dropped) off the diving board and go down the water slide. Leah only felt it necessary to go down the slide once. I'm glad I got a picture! (Though now I see that this Daniel, not Leah.)





I have been crocheting a blessing afghan for the baby. I got halfway through it and then started over because the matching (no dye lot) yarn I got for the second skein didn't match in color (white) or texture. So I have a lot of practice on that.

I did finally get back to my quilting frame. I quilted for about an hour and a half the other night. I stood back and couldn't see much progress. Very discouraging.

I finally made it back into my sewing room and finished the next quilt block for the year. This is June's. Here it is. Kind of weird colors. Definitely unique.

I have mostly made it through my morning sickness. (As evidenced by my recent return to quilting and sewing.) I have even started making menus and cooking again! It's a miracle! I still get really tired at inconvenient times. What is convenient? Bedtime would be good. That's usually when I can't sleep.

I got a new calling at church, too. I was a grouchy beast all through my morning sickness and just as I start feeling better and nicer, they release me! Now I teach the 4th Sunday lessons in Relief Society. These are the Teachings For Our Times lessons which come from the most recent General Conference talks. This means that there are no suggested discussion questions.

My first Sunday in RS was the Sunday I got to teach for the first time. To make it even more exciting, I was finishing up a project that I'd already started with my Primary class...Sharing Time. So we presented our lesson in Primary, then I walked across the hall to the RS room for my next big performance. I was glad when that day was over. I sat in RS yesterday and it felt weird. I was only out for about 13-14 months. It must be really weird to return after years in Primary or Young Womens!

I'm probably missing something else really exciting that I've been up to, but I'm sure we'll all survive without knowing about it.

F inished and unfinished projects

Here are some things I've been working on. Some are done. Most are not.


The finished first.


I got the girls' Easter dresses made during General Conference. It's amazing how much better I listened while I had my hands busy than when I just sit in front of the TV and watch. Leah's is pink, Rebekah's is yellow.



Here is the quilt square that I was creating for my Enrichment Quilt Group. I didn't like the way it turned out, so I went for 'plan B' and ended up with this. The next pattern is paper-pieced sailboats for June.

Leah got her hair cut this morning. Her FIRST haircut (if you don't count the snip she took herself during the summer last year)! Here are before and after shots. It's still long, but seems so short to me. I'm just hoping that it will be 100% easier to comb through now.

Here is Leah's "name blanket." This is a reward that she's earning. Every day that she wakes up from a nap without crying, screaming, or being grumpy in any way (she has to "wake up happy"), she gets to put a sticker on a chart. After 30 stickers, she gets her blanket. So far she has 16 stickers. (She didn't earn one today.) I just have to put the top and bottom and batting together.

And this is my "in-over-my-head" "eternally-unfinished" project. I'm quilting the quilt from last year's quilt group. This is only half of it. I'm not even 1/4 through it. But won't it be nice when it's done?

B locks for March and April

I really didn't like March's block (as I have mentioned before), so I redid it. I like these colors better than the first attempt. There are still some things about it I don't love, but not enough to do it for a 3rd time.
April's block is a flower (tulip?). The leaves and stem are paper-pieced. I'm still working to get the hang of that. And because I am so hard to please, I am making this block for May and substituting the given pattern for my own creation. You see, the scheduled May block is a bunch of tea cups. I don't drink tea or coffee and hardly get the motivation to make myself some hot chocolate. And that doesn't really seem like Mother's Day to me anyway. So in keeping with the saying, "April showers bring May flowers" I will be moving the flowers to May and unveiling my one-of-a-kind block next month. Aren't you so excited??

Sorry if the crooked pictures bother you. It is kind of annoying.

2007 Quilt Group project

Here are the first 3 months of the Enrichment Quilt Group for this year. I think you can guess which ones are for which months. The birds/birdhouses is the one we are starting tonight. I, of course, am impatient and started mine the night I got home from the church last month. Now I get to be the one to guide everyone through the project tonight. I wish my block looked a little better. I wasn't happy with the way the birdhouses turned out and wish that I chose different fabrics. Oh well.

These blocks are actually quite large. They are supposed to be individually backed, quilted and used as monthly wall hangings. I don't have a suitable wall spot, so I'm saving them to make a quilt when they're done.

And this is a picture of Rebekah only 20 minutes ago (check your watches) as she woke up from her nap. She is 18 months old today (or on 2 March - February is too short to get to her actual day). Doesn't she look like a big girl who will love Nursery?? She's sitting here with me as I type and can see her picture. She's quite pleased with herself and there are fingerprints all over my computer screen!

December Quilt Blocks

You probably think I gave up on the quilt group the last month of the project, didn't you! Not so. The group was postponed during the busy month of December and since I was plenty busy myself, I only just completed them. We have our final meeting tomorrow night, coinciding with the first meeting of this year's quilting group. I am addicted!

These are the blocks. The first block is called Old Timey Square. I shrunk the original block to repeat it 4 times in my own block. This is the Beginner's Block.

This block was originally the beginner's block but I didn't like the advanced pattern (I think it is ugly), so I made this one the Advanced Block. It doesn't really have a name. Just applique. Both blocks have applique, actually.

I have framed each of my 24 blocks from the past year in coordinating fabrics and trimmed them all to the same size (15 1/2"). Now they are ready to be sewn together into a quilt top. Chad gave me a huge, luxurious quilting frame for Christmas, so I should be able to quilt it in style. I will post a picture of the final result. Check back in the fall!

Click here to refresh your memory on the previous blocks. And here (scroll way down). And here. And here (about half way down).

Recent projects

I've spent some time in my sewing room lately.

I was working on the November quilt blocks. These two patterns use the same initial design. The first one is a circle on a constrasting fabric square, cut in quarters, combined with another circle on a fabric square (also quartered)- with the colors reversed. The second block is the same but the squares and circles are made smaller and you make two of each set.

Beg.: Drunkard's Path

Adv.: Robbing Peter to Pay Paul, Indiana Puzzle, Mill Wheel
I don't know why there are so many different names. I haven't been able to find this block online with any of these names.

Some of you may know that I was working on a crocheted lace edge for my bedskirt. I started it WAY before Rebekah was born. I finished it in September this year. I think it took a year and a half or so. I dyed it in tea and finally got it on the bed! Here is a close up and a shot of the bed.

This is a close up of some machine quilting I recently finished. I did 60 of these and 20 large leaves in the large red squares (you can barely see it in the lower right corner).













And because I can't finish a project without starting a new one, here are the first two (of many to come) blocks in a quilt that I'm making for a friend here for Christmas.

Quilt Blocks...7 months worth!

Here are the quilt blocks our Enrichment group has been doing this year. Some have been a little easier than others. The names are only what I know them by. There are probably other names and variations that you may know.
A=Advanced B=Beginner
Click on the pictures to see them better.

January
A-Corner Stepping Stones












B-Double Four Patch












February
A- Kansas Troubles













B- Friendship













March
A-Old Favorite













B-Dutchman's Puzzle












April
A-Dresden Plate (applique- yuck!)












B-Honey Bee (more applique)












May
A-Mosaic












B-Ohio Star












June
A-Kaleidoscope












B-Indian Star - - This one doesn't look much like a star because I sewed it wrong. Oh well. It wasn't worth unpicking so much of it!












July
A-Adavanced Posie (applique AGAIN! - I'm getting better!)












B-Posie (applique)












I would like to thank Blogger letting me actually put the first 5 pictures in at once. I would like to complain to Blogger for making me put the rest of the pictures in one at a time. That took too long.