It's the Little Things That Make Me Sew Crazy

When the boys were really little, we lived in a smaller house.  Two bedrooms, one bathroom, large living room, but no dining room.  Nowhere I could set out a project I was working on and leave it out.  The only table was the kitchen table, and we kind of needed that three times a day.

Through some unusual circumstances I got a sewing machine, but I had absolutely no idea how to use it.  I had a vague idea that I'd like to learn to quilt someday.  Somehow quilting seemed kind of homey.  Practical, but maybe fun.  And the bright, saturated colors in the fabric store appealed to me.

Quilting, I told myself, was for later, when the kids were older.  And I had free time.  (Free time?  Yah, laugh it up.)  But my friend Gini had other ideas, and talked me into taking a beginners quilt class with her.  Just one evening a week for five weeks.  I could manage that.

And so it began.

I discovered I really liked quilting.  I think it has a lot to do with doing something that stays done.  Unlike most of what I do which is immediately undone (cleaning), consumed (cooking), or needs to be done again (grocery shopping), quilting stays done.  Granted, I give most of them away, but I have a few things I've kept.  Like this tumbler quilt, this batik quilt, and this mosaic quilt.

And now, years later, I'm still trying to get it right.  And you know what really makes me crazy?  Pinwheels.  All those little points - eight of them - coming together in one place.  You'd be surprised how many quilt blocks have some variation of it.  Trying to get all those points to line up just exactly right is like... well, like herding grasshoppers.

So every once in awhile I make myself practice.  When I made this quilt, last spring, and made all those star points, I saved all the little triangles and practiced sewing pinwheels.  Little, bitty pinwheels.

Guess where most of them ended up?  Yah, the garbage.  The rest were "orphan blocks" in my sewing basket for months and months.  Every time I did a sewing project I'd pull them out and wonder what to do with them.  Until Gunnar announced that we needed more pillows in the living room.  Aha!

Sew them into strips, with some white blocks between, add a couple of scrap strips to two sides to make a square, make an envelope backing, and WA-WAH... a pillow.

Gunnar's quite happy with it, but he - fortunately - is pretty easy to please.  However, if you look a little closer...

... you'll see that there are some hits and some misses in the lining-up-the-points department.

Not too shabby...

... but what on earth happened here, to the triangle on the bottom?  It's wavy.  Oops.

This yellow one is okay, but I should've ironed some of the seams the other way - you can see the yellow through the white.  Oops.

Then there's this sad, turquoise fellow.  The bottom right is okay, but two of the points have lost their points, and the other didn't quite make it to the party in the middle.

Closer... I'm batting about .500 here...

And then this one almost works, but I wasn't paying attention to the print on the fabric (bumble bees) when I cut it, and a bumblebee appears to be getting caught in the vortex at the center. 

Well, it's fine for my living room, but not quite ready for prime time.

Grasshopper Days

Grasshopper Days

For today, Monday, February 10, 2014

Outside my window...  dark, cold, and rainy.  We had a bit more snow in the night (it was beautiful at 1:30 am ;D ) but the temp is just above freezing now, so bye-bye snow.

Hearing...  the wind blowing, rain spattering on the window, and the furnace coming on.  Oh, I'm thankful for central heating!

Pondering...  just how "mandatory" a meeting is... 

Praying...  steady work for Kerry (maybe even with health insurance - what a bonus), for a peaceful and productive week, and for (continued) good health when there's so much sickness floating around.

Thankful...  but for one boy with a cold, we're all healthy, Kerry has a bit of work for this month (!), and I may even be able to make a much-needed run to Costco.

Wearing...  layers.  It may have "warmed up", but these just-above-freezing rainy days somehow feel colder than snow days.  Blue jeans, white t-neck, and navy/indigo stripe thermal shirt... faaaancy ;D

Creating...  in between projects right now, with a busy week planned.

Going...  to do a bit of tidying around my work room.

Reading...  still plodding through The Victory of Reason.  I just can't get excited about it.  When I told a friend how much I enjoyed and was encouraged by Vishal Mangalwadi's The Book That Made Your World, he recommended Victory, because he thought the authors were saying the same thing... but I'm not as enamored with it.  Mangalwadi shows cross-culturally the impact of the Bible on civilization - how worldview shapes culture.  Victory of Reason seems to be focused on capitalism above all else.  Sure, I'm all in favor of capitalism, but so far (and I'm not very far into the book, so I'll give it another chance) it seems that the author views Christianity as a means to an end... capitalism.  Blah.

Learning...  I have to work a lot harder to focus than I used to!  Good grief, I used to just devour books when I was college-age, and beyond.  Now?  Is it too many distractions, or just plain age?  I'll keep working on my reading...

Looking forward to...  Gunnar's Disneyland trip in June, when he turns thirteen.  Mostly I'm excited because he'll have such a good time and he's so excited about it.

And also because he talks about it

Every.  Single.  Day.

In the kitchen...  leftover elk roast and mashed potatoes for dinner tonight.

In the learning rooms...  reading about WWI, the Panama Canal, multiplying and dividing radicals (square roots), acids, bases, and salts in Chemistry, writing a book report, Eleanor of Aquitaine and feudal society, and interjections, conjunctions, and prepositions.

Around the house...  boys reading :D

The Mother Load...  gather info for taxes, rotate school-related books in the book basket, go by the bank, make a doctor's appointment, tidy my work room, go for a walk with Gunnar, clean the shower (ugh!), make a plan for this year's family b'day gifts (start early this time!), etc.

Noticing that...  one thing I love about our little chapel is the singing.  I don't always love the actual songs, many of which are unfamiliar to me, but at least they have good words - good theology.  They're meaningful.  And everybody sings.  There's no over-rehearsed "team" up in front, performing for us.  We're worshipers, not an audience.

Something to remember for later...  though the bunnies can stay warm in cold weather, their water does not.  Even if the whole water bottle doesn't freeze solid, it doesn't take long for the water in the little metal nozzle to freeze.  Tate has been very diligent about checking the bunnies several times a day, and thawing out their water bottles so they'll be able to drink.

Something fun to share...  I wish you could hear Wyatt.  He has a fabulous ear for imitating voices and accents.  I love his rendition of Gru, from Despicable Me.  And he does a great Sean Connery/Marko Ramius from The Hunt for Red October.

One of my favorite things...  hot mint tea on a cold morning.

A favorite quote for today...  God's discipline of His children always hurts and never harms.

A Bible verse...  Jeremiah 20:12-14
Then you will call upon me and ocme and pray to me,
and I will hear you.
You will seek me and find me,
when you seek me with all your heart.
I will be found by you, declares the Lord,
and I will restore your fortunes
and gather you from all the nations and all the places
where I have driven you, declares the Lord,
and I will bring you back to the place
from which I sent you into exile.

A few plans for the rest of the week...  homeschool, choir rehearsal, Civil Air Patrol, babysitting two of my friend's kids for one (long) day, and Valentine's Day... what to do?

A peek into my day...  my little Christmas poinsettia is still hanging on... just right for Valentine's Day!

Eye Candy

I s'pose it's no coincidence I was working on this during a very cold and wintery week!

Just a little thank you to a sweet friend.

Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others

cannot keep it from themselves.

James M. Barrie

Friday Brain Dump and a Surprise

Well, we got a surprise anyway.

1.  The view out the window.  That was what I was going to show you - the view out the window.  It tantalizes the boys to look out their window and see this:

The view from the boys' window

Snow.  Up in the hills just above us.  Out of reach.

But - lo! - we woke to this:

Still dark, early this morning.

Much to Wyatt's dismay, school was not cancelled.

I wonder if Superintendent McTwitchy got some flak for

closing the schools back in December?

Nobody likes make-up days in June.

Gunnar likes this tree, in spite of the garbage bag the wind deposited in the branches

Plus, hello... this is not Atlanta.

In this neck of the woods,

civilization doesn't come to a screeching halt

over a dusting of snow.  ;D

2.  Thanks so much for all your input on quilts and pricing.  I really appreciate having such encouraging friends :D 

See how the tops of the hills look all smudgy?  That's more snow falling.

3.  Wyatt earned another promotion, at CAP.  Not a great pic, but a fun memory.  Now I have two Cadet Senior Master Sergeants in the house.

Wyatt's promotion

And here are his footprints, heading off to the bus.

Making tracks for school...

4.  This kid cracks me up.  He reads.  A LOT.  

Different days, different books, different sweats...

same boy, same chair, but - even better!- with cocoa,

which he prefers to drink with a straw.

Because, of course.

And here he is, building a zoo out of blocks for all the little plastic animals,

with his buddy, Sammy.

I love how they were both concentrating.

Sammy was aware of me with the camera,

and would occasionally put up his hand and tell me,

"Not ready, not ready."

Apparently, the zoo wasn't quite ready to receive visitors.

Gunnar, babysitting

5.  Recognize this?  I think I've shown it before on snowy days.

Maybe the lone, ill-aimed suction-tip Nerf dart will give it away...

it's our skylight, with a dusting of snow.

Look up!

I love the warm glow on snowy mornings, when the sun first comes up.

Out my office window...

In the boys' room

6.  I know I'm craving light.  Love, love, love the way the snow sparkles in the sunlight.

Icy road...

Out the living room window.

7.  I'm not big on decorating for Valentine's Day.

Probably because pink and cutesie aren't my native language.

And fat babies armed with bows and arrows are, well...

kind of disturbing, to tell the truth.

But the house seemed so bare without all the Christmas/winter stuff.

And red is always good, yah?

So I made this.  For me.

In the dining room.

All three blocks are the same.  I'm hoping they'll look like stars at Christmas, like snowflakes after Christmas, and maybe even like fireworks around Independence Day.

I think the block is called Sisters Choice.

Sisters Choice

8.  TMI?  Morning sun in the bedroom...

Now you know the truth.

The bed isn't made.

(My mom is hanging her head in shame.)

Well, there's still someone in it when I get up and get going!

But doesn't that look cozy?

We got new, blue flannel sheets for Christmas (thanks, Mom!)

The white down comforter is peeking out at the top.

And my quilt - maybe I made it bigger than necessary? -

covers the whole bed in snuggly comfort.

And that's my scattered thoughts for the morning.

You?

Eight Degrees

That's what my thermometer said this morning.

Which would explain the flannel sheets,

blanket,

down comforter,

AND quilt

on my bed.

I think I go into hibernation every night.

But hurray for sunny weather and getting out for walks

with my walking buddy!

Gunnar

I know the sunshine - all that glorious light -

brightens my mood.

But you know why else I'm happy?

Snow in the hills...

I already sold one of the quilts!

It's on its way to Maine,

to my bloggy friend Rebecca,

who has an ADORABLE little grand-daughter.

Is it a squirrel's nest?
Looks like one, but so low to the ground?

Also, other than getting a little bit behind on our schoolwork

due to an unexpected visit yesterday,

(neighbor boy, also homeschooled, locked himself out of his house

- did I mention it was eight degrees this morning? -

while his mom was out shopping for his birthday,

and spent four hours with us),

the week is going pretty well.

(Diagram THAT sentence, I dare you.)

Ice heave - water crystals pushing up through the dirt.

We made it to choir practice, Wyatt got promoted at CAP on Tuesday,

we read a chapter of our latest book together,

(That Hideous Strength, the third of the C.S.Lewis Space Trilogy)... 

Gunnar spotted a loon on the partially-frozen pond.

... the boys are looking forward to visiting Whidbey NAS tomorrow,

(we have a friend who is a P-3 Orion pilot and wants to show them all around!),

and...

Full of water again.

... we're looking forward to our annual LOTR marathon this weekend.

Lots of team spirit around the neighborhood!

And if I get my act together

maybe I could sew up another quilt tomorrow

and be able to finish it (hand binding) while watching the movies.

Maybe.

Amazing ice crystals in a damp spot of the lawn.

The boys are just happy that I still have a couple little bags

of Cadbury Eggs (from last Easter)

locked up in reserve, because apparently

one must have Cadbury eggs with LOTR

at least in my family.

And cheesy snack mix.

And maybe Lembas bread, if I can find a recipe that sounds appealing.

(Chia seeds?  Surely you jest.)

Happy Day!

Wishing for Spring?

I'm terrible at naming quilts, but looking at the colors I realize I must be wishing for spring.

I just finished these last week.  And - yes - they look identical, but aren't quite.

This quilt is slightly wider (the middle row of white rectangles is "taller" in this view,

and the bindings are different fabric, though both black and white.

The backs also are pieced differently, and you can see that both are grid-quilted with different spacing.

I know, I know.  If I had Mad Writing Skillz I'd go back and reword some of that and find a synonym for "different", but I'm not going to.

Both quilts have the same set of fabrics, with a very vivid spring green and an indigo that leans to purple more than blue.  They've both been through the wash (and dryer) twice, and have that puckery, wrinkly, crinkly, quilty goodness.

*Happy Sigh*

What they don't have are owners.

I'm hoping to sell them.

So here's my question:

What do you think is a fair price range?

Each quilt has about $30 worth of materials, and about ten hours of my time.

Which would price them too high.

Details?

After washing, the quilts finished at 41x46 (the first quilt) and

38x46 (the second), which is a good size for a crib quilt.

All the materials and batting are 100% cotton, with the possible exception

of the stripey binding, which may be a cotton-poly blend.

Both are machine pieced and quilted,

but the bindings are finished by hand.

They can be machine washed (don't require special care).

What do you think?

Grasshopper Days

 

Grasshopper Days

For today, Monday, February 3, 2014.

Outside my window...   not snowy.  The photo above is from a few years ago, and is sort of my Grasshopper Days - Winter Edition standard.  Out my window this morning...

Venus shining brightly, black skies turning to blue, and then to daylight, and the temp around 20F.  Brrr!

Hearing...  the furnace trying to take the chill off the house.

Pondering...  yes, it's been quiet around here lately.  In the infamous words of Thumper, If ya can't say somethin' nice, don't say nothin' at all.  

Praying...  work for Kerry.  He did not get the job he'd applied for.  Not even an interview.  Rats.

Thankful...  he did get a phone call from another local architect who is somehow overburdened with work and willing to contract some out to Kerry - maybe a month's worth of work.  So hallelujah for that.

Also thankful for a fun time at my parents' yesterday... can you tell what we were doing?  Look closely at the shirts ;D

Wearing...  proudly wearing my green and blue ;D

Creating...  I'll show more pics soon, but working on a couple of baby quilts to try to sell.  The colors look a bit over-saturated here, but they are pretty vibrant.

Going...  to try listing them on ebay.  Not sure if that's a good market for handmade items, but we'll see.

Learning...  to remember to lift the lid and check the washer before turning the water on.  Duh... Now that we've (happily!) returned to a top-loader, there have been a few times I forgot I had a load in there ready to go to the dryer, and just started running water to fill for the next load.  Oops.  A quick spin sorts it out.

Looking forward to...  hearing birds in the morning when the weather warms up.

In the kitchen...  just a little bit of leftover chili from yesterday - enough for the boys for dinner :D

In the learning rooms...  Tate is swimming through the Civil War (which has always interested him) while Gunnar reads through the Middle Ages.  We have several experiments lined up this week for both of their science studies (I know I need a hard boiled egg, some purple cabbage indicator, lye-based toilet cleaner, and a host of other things I think I have on hand...), and the usual round of math and language studies.

Around the house...  a few touches of red, looking forward to Valentine's Day.

The Mother Load...  pay bills (!!!), make two appointments for boys, mail Tate's HA back to Children's for trouble-shooting (not working right), write a couple thank-you notes, dig out my desk (tends to disappear when I'm distracted with fun sewing projects), have a "calendar summit" with Kerry (synchronize our daytimers), and... well... much, much more.

Noticing that...  the days are a little bit longer...

Something fun to share...  had a good time watching the Superbowl with a few other families (pics from my mom, who even snapped some of the tv)...

... as the Seahawks pulled ahead the kids would say things like, "We can't lose now!" and we older mature folks would kind of shake our heads.  One of the high school age kids asked why we doubted.

Well, my dear, I've been a Seahawks fan more than twice as long as you've been alive.  I've seen them lose to Denver more times than I can remember.  So you'll have to pardon me for my happy amazement at their win!

One of my favorite things...  finishing a project, because then I can start another one.  I read a few quilt blogs and they'll write about how many "WIPs" they have (Works In Progress) and I think I'd lose my mind.  I like to FINISH things, not have twenty in the works.

A few plans for the rest of the week...  a full school-week, rehearsal tonight, CAP tomorrow, and a trip to Whidbey NAS later in the week.  We have a friend who is a P-3 Orion pilot and has offered to take the boys (and a small group of friends) onto the base and into the flight simulators - FUN!

A peek into  my world...  in the category of Strange American Traditions The Rest Of The World Probably Doesn't Understand, my mom captured this image just at "the opportune moment".