Re-Vamping Daughter's Quilt

Subtitle: Sometimes it Pays to Procrastinate

(This is a similar block, "before" re-vamp.)

I don't think I can get B's quilt done in time for her 5th birthday now, since it's coming up soon (4th of July). I never did sandwich it, and therefore, it has been sitting, and sitting, and waiting for something more. I figured it out! I dove off the deep-end today, without much thought (which is not my normal style), and did my first applique' right onto her quilt! Now I have to do several more, but I think it will be well worth the extra effort. I just wasn't happy with the results of the quilt top before. I'm so glad I procrastinated this time. She LOVES the one block I have fixed up so far.

(After re-vamp. I also tried the "fussy-cut" technique. Can you tell?)

I Thought Our Time Had Come.....

Yesterday, I wondered if our middle child (8 yr. old boy) had broken his ankle. It got hit really hard by the edge of a metal scooter. He wouldn't walk on it for probably 40 minutes, and I figured it was our turn to head to the emergency room for an x-ray to check it out.

I kept trying to get him to even try and stand on it, and he wouldn't. All I could do was give him some Tylenol and put an ice pack on it. We got Dad on the phone, and he had him do all kinds of goofy stuff. Before I knew it, C was standing on his bad foot/ankle only, with both hands on his head, and bending over at the waist, as if bowing. He started laughing it was so goofy, and we knew he would be alright. I am SO glad it wasn't broken. We've been pretty lucky so far. With 2 boys, both of which can be quite physical and daring at times, I always figured it would happen by now. Thank Goodness it hasn't.

Incidentally, the kids' dad had broken several bones by the time he was 6 yrs. old, and nearly cut his tongue off as well. The accidents didn't stop as he grew up. He cut his thumb off when he was 17, working on the farm, but they were able to reattach it.

Getting Into Show Business

I was informed by hubby recently that we have a couple water trucks going into show business. Okay, I'm getting a little carried away and exaggerating just a wee little bit. But, the truth of the matter is we sold one of our manufactured water trucks to the guys with Ice Road Truckers (this show is on the Discovery Channel, I believe.) They will use our truck to spray water on areas that are getting deep ruts in the ice road, to kind of fill in the uneven places with a build-up of new ice.

We also rented 2 water trucks to a company here locally, and they will be using them in the filming of a TV commercial that Tiger Woods is starring in. Our trucks will not be shown in the commercial, but used to spray water, simulating a rain storm.

We also have a couple trucks employeed with the firefighters to fight forest fires. Our trucks' water cannons can shoot water at least 100 ft. away, which is good since not all deep-woods fire is easily accessible.

I found this amusing. I hope you do too.

Me, Too!!!

Our 4-year old little sister wants her "quilting" sewing pictures on the blog too. She actually started sewing before her big brother, and was in fact his inspiration, but I never posted the pictures.

B is just practicing at this point, on real pieces of scrap fabric, but doing more "free-style" than anything else. She wants to start a quilt now, but I told her she needs a bit more practice first. She can, however, start a new piece of fabric while holding the strings so they don't get pulled underneath. She can be sewing, leave the needle down, and pivot the fabric to make a sharp corner. And she can finish a piece of fabric by clipping the threads with some snips. I will assure you, she is very careful and cautious with all of this. I was more willing to let her sew (as far as safety measures go) than I was the boys.

In one of the pictures below, notice how I had to raise up the foot pedal so she could reach it. I've got silicone hot pads underneath the phone book, as well as on top of it, so things don't slide around.

After All These Years

It took me a long time, about 17 years in fact, but it's finally finished. Here is my college quilt that I started, entirely forgot about, and discovered it in the closet, with about 10 % of the quilt top sewn together already, when I started my butterfly quilt a couple months ago. The colors are so dated, in country blue and mauve! I am pleased it turned out better than I thought it would. It was difficult because I made some mistakes on it (17 yrs. ago) and tried my best to fix things this time around. I didn't want to waste all that fabric by throwing the whole thing away! It amazes me that I cut out the entire thing with regular scissors, not the time-saving, highly accurate gadgets of today: the rotary cutter and mat. Without further introduction, here it is.

Don't you think it will make a nice picnic quilt for the park, or even a snuggle-under throw for our school room, for our family story times? Our school room gets a little chilly sometimes.

Boys Can Quilt Too

Our 8 yr. old son has been sewing the last few weeks, but it has all been for practice. (The picture of him above is from a month ago.) Yesterday was different. I put him on a real project, and he is just thrilled. He has started a quilt. I got some inexpensive fabric, and made a bunch of charms out of them. Charms are usually pre-cut 5 inch squares. These are homemade charms. He's gotten (20) 2-patches sewn up, and he will need (48) 2-patches for his lap quilt. We're doing something a little interesting. He is not pinning anything together. He's using Elmer's glue dabs instead. It's working wonderfully.

Incidentally, I looked into a sewing class for the boys. For just a few hours of class time, a local shop wanted $125.00 plus materials costs, for each boy!! I may not be a fabulous seamstress, but I can certainly teach them enough to get started for that price!

He is so excited and proud of his progress. I'm excited too. Anything that catches his interest, and helps him to keep busy, will keep him from aggravating the rest of us. He has a lot of energy that he sometimes doesn't know what to do with.

I was nervous that my husband would think I was trying to feminize him. But no worries. He thinks it's great. I also mentioned the fact that at the big quilting show/competition in Paducah recently, I heard the top 3 quilts were all made by men.

Wordless Wednesday: Babies ARE Cute, No Matter the Species

Okay, so I mislead you. I am going to say 2 short things about today's pictures, so it's not "Wordless Wednesday" after all. Sorry about that.

• The baby grasshoppers cover the top of both sides of this fence post.
• They each measured about 1/4 inch long, though I did not have a ruler with me to measure them.

Mushrooms, Anyone?

Our family loves mushrooms in any shape or form. No, we don't grow them ourselves, or forage for them in the woods, but they are tasty when obtained from reputable sources. Well, we have a local mushroom farm, near the worm farm we frequent. I purchased some mushrooms from them at wholesale price and made some marinated mushrooms. This was a new undertaking for me, since it entailed canning of sorts. I think I did it right because all the lids are sunken down, not popping up if pressed on with a finger. It was a little time consuming to make them up, but not difficult. The first batch I made produced 5 quart jars full. I bought 10 lbs. of mushrooms for the batch. After giving away a couple jars, and snarfing down the rest, I had to make more. The second time, I purchased 20 lbs. of mushrooms wholesale, and got 10 quart jars. Yes, a little math lesson for you kiddos reading along.

Here is a picture of the first batch before it disappeared overnight. And I have to tell you: the second batch turned out much better than the first. I tweaked the recipe. Now, if only, I can replicate it again when need be. Why do I always do that? I am forever changing a recipe and then forgetting what I did to make it better.

If there is any interest, I will post the recipe. For all you locals, email me behind the scenes, and I will give you the low-down on obtaining the mushrooms at wholesale pricing. It is a mite tricky, but not illegal. I don't want you to be frustrated. And I don't think you want to buy 10# of mushrooms at full-price. It's expensive!

Now I'm off to sneak a few mushrooms under the cover of darkness. I have to take the fly swatter to the sneaky hands of my hubby and kids, or they'll eat them all up in a day or two.

Daughter's Quilt: Ready to Sandwich

I've got my little girl's quilt ready to go to the next level. Pinning the layers is my least favorite part of quilting, but it must be done. Here is the front of it.

I believe the colors look much nicer in person, but here it is. She loves it, which is what counts anyway! In fact, she picked much of the fabric, and then I had to find a few to go with it all. That's why it's a little corny. I will be trying to get this finished within the next couple weeks before her 5th birthday. She knows I'm working on it, so it won't be a surprise, but it would still be nice to have it ready by then. I did something different on the back. I pieced fabrics together from the leftovers, rather than buy new fabric for it. I even had several blocks extra, so they are on the back also. I guess I didn't get a picture of the back.

Silver Lining in the Clouds

I am always hearing about silver linings in the clouds, and a couple days ago, I snapped this picture. It's the view from the front of our house. It was so beautiful. I really needed a panoramic or wide angle camera to get the whole thing.


I am trying to remember to snap a picture of a beautiful sunset also. I see them all the time, but forget to document it.

All Torn Apart

Another old post---

Here's my computer, all torn apart. Not to pat myself on the back or anything, but I saw parts and touched pieces of the insides of my computer that no self-respecting woman should *have* to see. (Some of you may choose to do so, but I didn't have that option!) I was quite nervous about the whole thing, but it's done. I didn't even break it beyond repair! Here's a picture of it.

Mother's Day in Review

I had a lovely Mother's Day. My family remembered! That's major progress, I can assure you. They got me a huge greeting card, and a red rose.

But that's not all. Hubby blessed me with a brand new sewing machine, of which I don't know how I was even quilting without it. I had to do my own legwork to find the machine I wanted, which took a couple weeks, but it was all worth it.

You local ladies are welcome to come over and take a gander at it. You know the invitation's open!

"Did You Miss Me?" My Daughter's Answer....

Well, it's been a while, I know. Busy? Yes. Planting blueberries? Yes. Quilting? Yes. Bit of the blues? Yes, again. (Stuff I can talk about? No. I guess that's why I haven't been blogging.)

I've been searching high and low for some quilting buddies. I went to a quilting club meeting for the first time, in a neighboring town. I had no idea what to expect. It was somewhat disorganized, and definitely intimidating to be around such experts, but totally fun. It is probably good for me to step out of my comfort zone now and then. I showed them all my completed Spring Quilt and they loved it. (We were going to reveal our Spring Quilts to the homeschool lady's quilting group on June 1st, but I think it's been postponed for a while. I guess there won't be any pictures posted until then. :)

Anyway, I got back home, and there I found my 3 kids, all gathered around me, asking me lots of questions about what I did, what I saw, and where I went. They have never been so interested in me! I guess I should go off on my own more often. It felt real nice to come back to such a nice welcome home. I tried to dole out the hugs, each of them wanting more than I could humanly give in just a few minutes. I'm not an octopus.

I asked my 4 yr. old if she missed me. "Yep. I missed you SO much I thought about missing you the WHOLE time! My brain was just filled up with missing you real bad." (emphasis was hers.) I had to write it down really fast, so I wouldn't forget what she said. It brought tears to my eyes.