How did this happen?

In a blink of an eye, it would seem I went from this---------

Age 2, maybe 3??

Age 6 in my paternal grandparents kitchen  

And this past October 2011 about to enter round number territory.  Hair is a bit longer but just as gray.  

My brother who will be passing this same threshhold in 16 months  asked me if I was going to celebrate this one or just let it go by.   I think maybe I am coming to terms with the fact that I am getting older----key word is maybe.  I didn't used to feel old---these days Mother Nature is making it abundantly clear that I am getting there, LOL, in spite of my wanting to will away the inevitable.  Happens to all of us, right?  

I don't want to hear any of that stuff about "any day above ground is a good day" or "better than the alternative" or "age is mind over matter---if you don't mind, it doesn't matter".  Just quit, okay?  Let me wallow in it a bit.  I'll give myself a talking to/pep talk later.  When I turned 30 I was almost despondent.  I wasn't married, had no children and I was sure it would have happened before then.   Double that number now and I am resigned to it.  I married too late to have kids---my life may or may not have turned out as I planned but it is the hand I was dealt.

I just received word last week that my old 7th grade crush was killed in as a result of injuries suffered in a motorcycle crash.  Mike was a good guy --- maybe he got to 60 and maybe he didn't.  Other friends have wrestled with serious illness and come out on the other side.  I have been fortunate not to have had near those problems.  What could I possibly be bellyaching about?   That is what I told my mom a few days ago.

Here is what else I decided is okay about birthdays.  I like birthday cake as long as I don't have to make it.  I like dinner out at a more upscale restaurant with my husband.  I like having a bit more spending money to support my quilting habit.  So yeah, I'll be the queen for a day because that is the only time I get away with being so self centered.   Happy Birthday to me!

_______________

So how am I spending my day so far?  About like any other so far.

I finished the long side of binding that remained from yesterday's binding binge.  I still want to hand quilt around the watermelon seeds but I need to get some black quilting thread and WM had everything but.

I baked another sheet cake----this time my old TNT Tex-Mex version.  (Yesterday was Peanut Butter Sheet Cake---new to me recipe).  Aline, Jane and I are the refreshment girls at Friendship Quilter's Guild tomorrow.  I baked the two cakes and prepped a veggie tray as my part of the deal.

This afternoon---more binding on the other wall hanging but DJ is taking me out to Outback Steakhouse.  I want some coconut shrimp though I think he will probably go for steak.  

I am going to go see if this "not a birthday" cake has cooled enough for me to put it up and er. test for quaility control purposes.    THX for stopping by

WIP Weds/check-in

What is a blog without pictures?  I've got a couple, LOL.

I quilted up the August Button Up on Monday afternoon and started on the "Faux Button Up" row quilt right after that but only got the first two rows and a little bit of the third one done before I hung it up for the night.  "The Closer" was on, after all and this next Monday is the series finale!    The binding still needs to be done on both wall hangings.  You still see pins in August because I am considering hand quilting around the melon seeds.

Tuesday, I finished up the row quilt, bound and labeled them both.   I realized that I did not have near enough information in my head to complete the label but was not entirely sure where I had put the journal notes that were passed around with it.  I knew all about the top three rows----I did the stars, Lauri from MD the flag,  Diane W from IN (who has since passed away) did the kitty, bowtie and log cabin blocks.  Cher did the butterfly and veggies row---my OR FAB pal of many years.   BUT it was not clear to me which row Jacquie from WA had done and who had done the 6th one??  What year was this anyway?  I should say that the piece was inspired by the Summer wall hanging in the Country Threads book from that patchwork place Quilt Shop Series way back in 1992.  Thankfully the girls did not slavishly follow the one in the book as I think their choices made it much more unique.  I didn't like parts of that piece anyway!

After throwing  picture up on Facebook, Jacquie posted that she thought it was from 2000 and she believed she had done the watermelons as she is not an applique aficionado.  Right on both counts!  I found the journal notes in the file cabinet along with the signature squares.  Off came the label that I had applied to it that had the wrong information and cross outs on it!  WOW, it is about time that this row robin get completed.  Of course I am thrilled that the piece is the same size as my other button ups so it can be used on the base just like the others.  I will not have to do up the June Button Up unless I want to----it is picket fence with tall flowers.   Meh.   Do the May basket, skip June, the July one is done.  Sounds good to me!

Here is the proper text with the sig squares pinned to it (the fan was blowing them away, LOL)  The green and white print is the reverse coloration of the backing I used.  These strips look like white on green while the backing was green on white. Blend-y though not a match.  I will piece the squares together to make a special label for the piece.  That is on today's "list"  Cutting fabric was as far as it got this morning as DJ needed me to go up to the license tag division at the Country Administration building and a few other errands along the way.

The other pile is the prototype for DJ's nighttime neck "brace" deal.  Coincidentally this yardage is what I used on the back of August.  I have plenty of fabrics but nothing I cared to cut into for this project.  Wrong color, floral or juvenile, headed to another project---you get the picture.  That job is also on today's "list" though I know I need to get some wide velcro on the next store run to finish the piece.

Before putting away my good and faithful servant Erik the Red I gave him a thorough cleaning inside and out the best I could anyway.  I re-positioned the sewing table and got out Brother Man though left him unplugged. I vacuumed up my stringy mess and even cleaned off the ceiling fan.  It is amazing how quickly a white fan can get dusty looking!  Yeah, I know---quir looking up!

Next up in the pictures for today----some more of my bday present.  Yeah, it isn't for a couple of days but who knew it would get here so quickly?  Boy, that DJ sure knows how to "shop", LOL.    Half yards of a bit more of the Vintage Modern for my Farmer's Wife Sampler.   Love, love that aqua and red combo.   I had ordered some half yards of a few selected pieces last month but my quilt will not be make entirely of the fabric line as I want a scrappy look in my 111 block sampler.  I may not have taken a picture of that stash acquisition when it came in.  Don't remember.   I am thinking that a stop for another snap lid stackable tote is going to take care of the remainder of my spend down, LOL.

My other selection----set M of Marti Michell's Perfect Patchwork Templates which is sized for a 12 inch finished block 5 x 5 grid.  I am pretty well set now and will use these on the Farmer's Wife Sampler.  Also since I love her 1 and 2 inch finished log cabin ruler so much I got the next smaller strip sized on which finishes at 3/4 inch and 1 1/2 inches.  

Here is the longer range plan----

• Finish up Popsicle Sticks ---roughly half done at this point.   Then I can raid whatever fabrics and strips that I want from that container.  It has not seen the machine since mid-Feb 2012 meaning it is fairly new UFO
• Start cutting for Farmer's Wife Sampler at least the first 10 blocks in whatever sequence I finally settle on---numerically by the book or by the conversion chart or how they are laid out in MY version.  
• Quit talking about it and get started on those blocks, will ya?!
• Finish up the Prairie Stroll top at the next Bama Belles meeting(s)---the blocks are done, after all.

Just noticed that is time for lunch and I have to pop it in the oven---best get off the computer and into the kitchen!  THX for stopping by.

What's next? need some motivation or an action plan

Well, I am still at the hand applique stitching but almost done.  That leads me to the "what's next?"  question.  One plan has me cutting the first 10 Farmers' Wife Sampler blocks out----they would ready for sewing when I am ready, even at a Bama Belles meeting.

2nd plan:  pin this one so I can quilt it up and actually display it in the coming month.  If it is done then I have binding to do at the quilt meeting.  If I am going to pin, then I would pin the ancient Country Thread inspired Row Robin piece as well though quilting it would go lower down on the stack.

3rd idea----tackle this stuff first.  That is not all of them as the mostly done one is on the pressing/cutting table.  Skyler is starting to use it for a nap spot the past few days and thinks it is "his" at this point.  I don't "feel" like quilting but seriously, when I examine my goals and motivations, when do I ever really feel like quilting??  It is a means to an end and piecing is my true love with embroidery right behind that.  That is why it has been relaxing to do the hand button hole on this button up.

This pile, as I have said before, is the first thing I see every morning.  It truly needs to be dealt with.  6 are my donation tops, 2 belong to other group members.  One I volunteered for and the other, I did not but it still needs to be completed for the kids.   Some would be a little faster finishes than others----let's be optimistic and say if I quilt some every day, I could be done in a week and half, maybe???  What good are they doing a child just sitting there?  Suck it up and just quilt the darned things. I was on a roll with them before I went back to Illinois in June, got side tracked and never got back on the rails.  Just do it, Linda.

If I am so much into what I "feel" like doing, if I could make anything I wanted to make?  I would finish up the Prairie Stroll top that I started at the sew-in----also something I could do at Bama Belles on Tuesday.  If I am into the throes of quilting, it would be a nice break for a day or so.  What else?  Finish up the Popsicle Sticks quilt top last seen in February HERE packed up for another day and  HERE as blocks in progress.  I think it is a going to be a nice bed sized quilt in my favorite colors and I want it on the bed eventually.   I also know that the leftovers in the container, some of them at least, will be going into the Farmers' Wife Sampler.  BUT I really cannot start taking fabrics out of there until I know, for sure, that they will not be needed in PopStix.  (It is a mix of stash and a Me and My Sister Amelia jelly roll that I got with my Christmas money last year and fabric I found on markdown sale at the quilt shop.  Some of the selections can be seen HERE ).  Any over-cuts can be used for some of the 6 inch blocks that  make up the FWS---not all of them but some of the fabrics should go with the Vintage Modern selections I have made.

Okay, have I kicked myself in the butt enough to make me want to get the ball rolling?  Maybe but I may need the nudge of quilting friends.  You have my permission to nag, LOL.  I do well with short term goals so I will say "just for today, I will finish THIS top and pin it.  Any time leftover?  Finish quilting the one I am almost done with and maybe start another".  There, was that so hard??  LOL.

Meanwhile, this one wants to play!  Anything to keep him from sleeping his day way on the kitchen chair pushed up under the table.  "His" chair pad got soooo badly covered with cat hair (dark forest green solid---bad choice of color!) that we recently tried an experiment.  I got one of the least cat haired cushions out of the storage room---mine since I don't use one.  That one is DJ's now, Skyler got DJ's and the two worst ones were sent thru the washer.  If this experiment did not work, then nothing lost.  If it did, we have some to fall back on when company comes.  Actually what cat hair remained seemed to brush right off and they don't look too bad.  Shed away, Skyler but I will snap you up for some window perch time.

And sew it goes------

WIP Weds

Today finds me button hole appliqueing by hand on all these watermelon seeds.  At this writing 16 are done so that leaves 13 1/2 to go.  How do I have a half seed?  That one is under the crow.  I am liking how it looks so may continue to just hand button hole the lettering and the crow as well.

Since I last posted, I completed the Lil Twister Christmas wall hanging as well as the vintage spoon.  Both are shown below.

I have also gotten some batting joined, labels on two quilts that were turned in with them and re-did up the binding since I sewed two sides into the quilt.  Quilt document is updated and quilts put up in the closet in a holding pattern.  Lots of hand work as you can tell.  Oh, and spent a big chunk of the day un-sewing a pile or abandoned blocks so I can re-purpose the sections and fabrics.

Jane had asked me to make a run over to Ashville House Quilt Shop today as she had missed the Block of the Month this past Saturday due to the Friendship Quilters sew-in.  Also the owner Pat had ordered something for her that she needed to pick up.  Jane had gotten a new sewing machine for her birthday and this was an ancillary piece.  We also ran into a husband and wife quilting team for her guild in Gadsden.  I know the couple as well from helping to set up for the quilt show.  They had wonderful quilt that was similar to Lady of the Lake with a lot of Civil War fabrics in it.  Kathy said they had used other pieces in their stash to make the top.  Howard reported that he had learned how to do log cabin blocks recently.

The shop was having 20% off everything and 25% off Christmas related items and will till the end of the month.  What did I get?  Boring old white Moda solid, LOL for the Farmer's Wife Sampler.  Not sure if it is block backgrounds or sashing bits yet but I believe I got plenty enough to at least get started----one of these days!

Since it was lunch time we shot over to Gadsden and a Mexican restaurant that Jane had  been to before.  I was home by 1:30 and back to watermelon seeds while I try to back up my computer files.  I do it monthly and today is the day, even though I had to leave in the middle of it.  Woohoo!  It is finally done. just now and had started at 8 a.m.

A quilter acquaintance from the Jacksonville quilt group had called and left a message about my possibly piecing two quilt tops for someone using her two daughter's clothing.  I do not know why this person was calling other than she does know me nor do I know how Carolyn had gotten my cell phone number.  Few people use it including me, LOL.  I don't know what sizes of tops or any details other than the woman is ill (can't do it herself?) and is willing to pay to have the work done.  I begged off.  Even if  I were caught up, which I am not, she wants them in time for Christmas.  Don't they always?

It will take me a month to get done what I need/want to do at the very least.  Should I get the 8 pinned donation tops on the armoire quilted as well as the two summer Button Ups done, there are still 8 more donation  tops to be pinned along with 3 other personal project.   This is starting to sound like work, not fun!  I am all about the fun, right?   Some of the long armers will set a September deadline for when they will take tops in order to have them done by the holidays.  It is a losing proposition as well---no one is ever willing to pay what you should ask for something like this.  I am also a little curious as to why no one in their actual quilt group is willing to do it when I have not been a member of that group for some time.  One of the last t-shirt tops I did for Out of the Box, the woman actually wanted the actual shirts fastened to the top, I guess.  Last I heard Joan and Susan were going to tack baby socks on to it after it was quilted.    You can't win.   I pass.  Ask someone else.

Elsewhere around the house,  DJ and I discovered that we have a real mess under the kitchen sink.  I was getting out something the other day and noticed that the bottom of the cabinet had completely buckled up.  Also we got a mold/mildew thing going on.  When we were going thru the 3 different dishwashers saga a few months back, we would take everything out from under the sink plus take one of the cabinet doors off the hinges to allow for access to the dishwasher hook ups.  We had applied new contact paper and noted no such mold/mildew situation.  At some point I noticed an odor but because we didn't see anything, I thought it must be the drains or something.  We don't use one side of the sink much and I needed to keep it flushed out better, I thought.   There was no standing water, no dripping from the hose, it is dry under the dishwasher itself.  I had visions of water having seeped under the laminate flooring or something and growing a bunch of mold.  DJ pooh poohed that notion.  Who knew about this mess though?

For now he has tried to clean out the area and of course, is working on removing the bottom board and spraying it again this morning.  What a mess!!!  I feel bad that DJ is having to deal with it.  He has watched enough of "Holmes on Homes" to know what NOT to do.  He tried calling a mold remediation guy but they charge 150 bucks to just come out and consult, before they even do anything----he said forget that!  My main job was to find some place to put the kitchen towels and dish cloths as well as the cleaning supplies and storage bags plus keep Skyler out of the way.   The joys of home ownership.

And sew it goes-----back to the watermelon seeds for me.