Is it really only Tuesday?

This morning I got up and thought it was Wednesday!  I'm not wishing my life away, just was thinking it was a little farther along in the week than it really is!

In our little town the kids are allowed to Trick or Treat for two nights.  Tonight and tomorrow there will be ghosts and goblins roaming the streets from 5:30 to 8 p.m.  This year, for the first time that I can remember, the city will blow the fire whistle at 8 to signal the end of Trick or Treat hours.  The fire whistle still blows every day at 5p.m., and when the volunteer fire department needs to go out on a call.

Maybe while I'm waiting for the munchkins to show up I can get some shirts cut apart.  That's something I need to get done.

I wish I knew for sure Nick was getting this house he is looking at.  I was at the Salvation Army store during my lunch hour today and they had a leather recliner in the store for $26.  It was pretty comfortable, too.

A clean bathroom

That's what I have now!  My house is slowly but surely getting cleaned, one room at a time.  I even hung a new shower curtain liner.  That was mostly because the cat had sliced and diced it to pieces, but it does give a fresh look to the room.

Been watching the weather channel on t.v. and really pray for those in the path of the big storm.  I can't even begin to imagine what they are going through.

No sewing tonight.  Made gyro's from a kit I bought at Aldi.  This was the first time I saw a kit for them, so if the family likes it, I'm going to have to get more asap because Aldi doesn't always continue to carry things.

Johanna is back home.  She will probably stay now until she graduates, but who knows?  sigh.  Nick is looking at buying a house.

I got so mad at the cat tonight.  When I went downstairs to do laundry she was laying on my quilt that's on the frame.  I grabbed her and threw her off.  Then I felt so bad for throwing her down.  It was uncalled for and she didn't deserve that.  Been really moody lately.  Yesterday I was moody towards Ev, today it was the cat's turn.  Could just be this magical age, I guess...

Mo-ti-va-tion

That's what I seemed to be lacking this past week.  I just can't seem to get motivated to do any sewing.  After work, all week, I just came home and plopped on the couch most days.  I could blame it on it being the first week back after vacation, I suppose.

Johanna was here over night and requested 'monkey bread'.  I dug out the recipe and made a couple pans of it.  One we kept here and the other I took to my friend's house last night for a Halloween Party.  It turned out pretty good!

The kids always used to love this bread when I made it.  It's a little time consuming, but always a big hit.  This time I wrapped two different kind of cheeses with the dough - cheddar and pepper jack.  In the past I have wrapped ham, pepperoni, and sausage also. 

We also make  a sweet version of monkey bread with a biscuit dough rolled in cinnamon and sugar.  It's all good...  yum!

Today we went over to my dad's for my sister in law's birthday.  I made a big pan of green bean casserole because 1. it was easy and 2. everyone likes it.  Dad has a couple of dogs that just crack me up sometimes.  Here is Max reading a magazine, and Lucy's back end even got in the picture!

I did get upstairs in the sewing room and cut some pieces for two lap quilts for the nursing homes.  I cut enough charm squares to make one top and enough pieces to start making a double slice top.  Hey, it's a start...

Lunch with Hubby

Ev had some errands to do and was in the area during lunchtime so we decided to go somewhere quick and grab a bite.  We hadn't been to Long John Silver's for a while, and now I remember why..  ugh.  It wasn't bad food, just too greasy for me.  It was nice to see my hubby during the daylight hours, so I'm still going to say it was a nice lunch!

Supposed to take my great uncle to dinner tonight.  Going right after work.

Maybe, just maybe, I will get something done on the big blue quilt on the frame tonight.  If not tonight, certainly tomorrow and Sunday I will get to it.  I'm itchin' to be stitchin'!

One of the shows I like to watch, Grimm, is on tonight.  I like a "good" scary story every once in a while.  When I was little and my mom and I would travel to and from my grandparents house, sometimes we would catch the radio program "mystery".  That is another wonderful memory for me - driving with Mom and listening to that program.  Oh, and Mom, if you are reading this, I'm sorry I let go of the chocolate rabbit!  (for those not in the know, just don't even ask...  haha)

Jump start to the day

I love my animals, don't get me wrong, but when the cat decides that I should get up 15 minutes before my alarm goes off, EVERY DAY, I get a bit weary...

This morning, kitty woke me up early again, so rather than try to go back to sleep before the alarm went off, I decided to get a jump on the day and the weekend by putting a load of laundry in and doing the dishes.  All before I took my shower and got dressed for the day!

So now I'm on the computer at home before work, to take care of some home business, and just wanted to make a quick blog post.  I fell asleep early last night, while watching Bonnie Hunter on Quilt Cam.  She wasn't boring, I was just tired!  This cold is going away and I want it to keep going, so I'm sleeping when my body wants to sleep if I can.

Sending prayers for safety to those in the path of Hurricane Sandy.  Take care folks!

Long day at work

Today it's just dragging at work.  I'm so ready to go home.  I have no illusions that I will get anything done tonight, because I seem to be really tired.  What I want to do is go home and take a two hour nap...

I haven't made any yoyo's lately.  I took them with me on our vacation, thinking I could make them in the car.  That would have worked out nicely, if my husband hadn't wanted to rest and I ended up doing all the driving!  Not upset about it, because he was pretty sick.  I just haven't done anything with them for a while and think I should at least make an effort to make a couple here and there.

Do you see quilt patterns everywhere?  I'm sitting at my desk and happen to glance at the box of tissues and the design on the box looks like quilted feathers to me!

Went to Wal Mart on my lunch hour and got the stuff to make rueben sandwiches for Ev for dinner tonight.  Also had to stop at Rural King for dog food.  Ivy gets Hill's brand to eat and RK is the only place close that sells it, unless you count the vet and they charge an arm and a leg there.  The reason I get the premium brand dog food is that our one dog, Nakia, had such bad problems from eating the inexpensive stuff that we had to have her on special food.  I just thought rather than go that route and have the possibility of Ivy having problems, we would just put her on the good stuff from the beginning.

Slow but sure

Still working on getting my kitchen cleaned real good.  Have someone coming in to help with it and it's going well.  She was here tonight again and I think we are just about done in there.  Next will be the bathroom.

Not feeling 100% but better than last night.  I swear by Vicks and the vaporizor.  I don't usually put the Vicks in the vaporizor, although I have before.  I find it works best when rubbed on the chest or under the nose.  Anything to help loosen things up and let me breathe better.

I did go up in the sewing room and put some things away that were laying around.  It needs a good organizing up there, but that's a project for a later date.

I will not get sick, I will not get sick, I will NOT!

Or at least I will not get sickER! Just decided I'm too ornery to get down with this lousy cold. So there. Nah nah.

Anyway, I'm back to work and hoping to get some more sewing done on the big blue quilt this week. It's about two thirds of the way quilted and just waiting for me to get the rest done. I didn't have a batting wide enough to put a single piece in it at one time, but this hasn't been a problem before. I will just add a piece as I come to the edge of it and butt it up against the other. With the type of quilting I'm doing on this quilt it won't even be noticeable and it shouldn't shift or anything like that.

My goal is to get this one done and bound so I can take it to Mom on Thanksgiving. That will save me some shipping costs. Plus I want to get this one done so I can get to work on some other projects for Christmas.

yuck

Vicks, vaporizor, heating pad, hot tea, and a couple warm quilts... Guess who caught her husbands cold? Ugh.

Vacation winding down

It's back to work tomorrow.  Sigh.  Well, it could be worse.  I'm glad to have a job.

Did some quilting on the big blue quilt today.  Put in about three hours on it and have about two thirds done.  Can't say if I will get back to it this week or if it will have to wait until next weekend, but it's coming along nicely.

I really like using the all cotton Essentials brand thread from Connecting Threads.  I haven't tried the Essentials Pro yet, but would like to.  Saturday I went to a garage sale and had an opportunity to buy Gutterman polyester thread for a quarter a spool.  I know this is almost giving it away, but I didn't buy any.  I just didn't want polyester thread.

There was a Fall Festival in the city park yesterday.  There were vendors and locals selling different things, as well as music and food.  At one of the vendors there was a bow tie quilt top that had 'make offer' on it.  It looked like it was stained and definitely was showing it's age.  I said I would give the guy at the booth (who happened to be my grade school gym teacher...) a couple bucks for it.  He said "How about three dollars?", after telling me it wasn't a completed quilt.  I said okay and gave him three bucks for a full size vintage bow tie quilt top!  Upon closer inspection, the stains weren't really stains, they were unbleached muslin.  I took it home and washed it with an oxy cleaner.  It came out beautiful!  I was concerned about washing it because it was just the top, but since I only paid three for it, if it was ruined I wouldn't have been heartbroken.  As it is, it all worked out and I'm thrilled!

Jealous?

The strange things I think about when driving

Or stuck in a traffic jam.  When we went to Milwaukee we visited the Harley Davidson Museum.  It was very nice and both Ev and I enjoyed seeing the history behind the bikes.  On the way home we stopped at "The Cheese Castle", which, as you can imagine, sells cheese.  In Wisconsin, can you believe that?  haha. 

Anyway, our journey home to my mom's took us through Chicago right smack in the middle of rush hour.  Oh.  My.  Goodness.  That totally sucked.  We inched forward at a snails pace, averaging a mile every 20 minutes.  I could have walked faster than we were driving.  Sigh.

On the drive home from mom's yesterday Ev and I were talking about things we saw at the museum.   When the tour guide was talking about the earlier bikes, he mentioned how they used to race on cinder tracks.  That got me to thinking.  I bet my generation is one of the last to remember what cinders are!  I mean, kids are going to know what cinders are from the occasional campfire or the fireplace, but I'm talking about the ones we used to have on our driveway.

When I was young my great grandparents had a cinder driveway.  I don't know if they just used the cinders from the coal burning furnace for it, or if Grandpa brought them from the coal mine where he worked or if there was someone who actually came and dumped a load of cinders for people.  But I do remember they were not fun to walk on barefoot!

The track at the local high school was a cinder track, I also remember.  I didn't run track, but I know how bad it hurt to fall down on cinders!  Ouch!

The driveway was rocked long before I moved away and the high school track is now some high tech composite material.  All for the better, I'm sure. 

But the memories are in my mind.  Faded, sweet, and precious of growing up in a much simpler world.

Where they live now

Here are a few pics of the quilts that are living at my mom's house:

Patchwork cat

This picture is kind of like one of those "can you find the ... in this picture?" deals.  I was laying on the couch with the quilt on me and the cat jumped up and made herself a little nest amid the folds of the quilt.  Sorry about the lighting - I was too comfy to move and turn the light on!

Supposed to go out of town today.  Nick is staying home with the dog.  Ev's not feeling well at all.  He has a bad cold.  I think it would be wise to just stay home and let him get to feeling better, but as of right now he insists we are still going.  But he is still in bed, so we will see what happens.

Big blue on the frame

Here's what is on the frame and almost ready to roll:

Now, I am not sure when I made this top or where I got the pattern, but I like it!  I think it might have been one of the mysteries from a Yahoo group I belong to.

Ev and I took the kids out to dinner tonight.  Johanna is in her new apartment with her friend and likes to go to this place, so we thought we would try it out.  It was a hit and we will be going back, that's for sure!

Ironing things out

Last night and the day before I ironed the pieces of material for the back of the blue quilt.  Plan to seam them together today and get it loaded.

What really bites is that Ev and I are both coming down with colds.  Right when we are on vacation and wanting to go to Milwaukee!  ugh.

Wagons ho!

Corny, I know...  But wait til you see the pics!  My friend's husband made this really really cool toy chest for their new grandbaby.  It looks like a covered wagon!  They asked me to sew the cover for it, and of course I said yes!  Today my friend came over and helped and when she got home, put it on the toy chest and sent these pics.  I think it looks so cool!

Her hubby is quite talented in the woodworking department, don't you think?  It's a pretty big toy box.  I think it was almost 4' long!  Those wheels just give it the finishing touch, in my opinion.

That took about 2 hours to sew, believe it or not, mostly because of the ironing and measuring and cutting involved.  Plus we were visiting with each other and not really hurrying through it or anything!

I have some material in the dryer right now that is going to be for the quilt Mom wants me to make for a friend of her's for Christmas.  It had some very faint water marks on it, so I wanted to wash it and make sure they came out before I used it.  It's perfect for the back of the quilt because the colors match and everything.  From what I could tell when I threw it in the dryer, the marks came out.  I'll know better when I press it and sew it together.

A few posts back, when you saw the picture of Nick's quilt, you might have noticed that it was very straight on the frame.  I can't believe how much of a difference that made when quilting on the frame.  I know people always said to have the back squared up and all, which I had in the past, but it wasn't always perfect.  Well, with the addition of the tape measures sewn onto my leaders I was able to get it on the frame pretty accurately, plus it had been squared up before hand.

I also had attached extra material to the back because I didn't think I was going to have enough to put it on the frame.  When all was said and done, I had about one and a half inches to spare!  Good thing I added that extra!

Vacation officially begins!

Woohoo!  Today is the first day of a week's vacation for both Ev and I!  Although I will admit mine started early because I was off work yesterday for an appointment.  Ev had to work until 3:00 a.m. so he's still in lala land, but that's okay too!

Cleaning Frenzy

I will admit that I am NOT a very good housekeeper.  In fact, it would be stretching it to say I am a mediocre housekeeper.  That being said, my house is starting to look good...

I finally justified to myself that it was okay to hire a cleaning person.  Because the house has only had surface cleaning for such a long time, it is in desperate need of a good deep cleaning.  The gal I hired can come in the evenings after I get home from work and stay for a couple hours at a time. I'm okay with this. 

She has been at the house two days in a row now and is supposed to come again tonight.  It will take several visits to have things the way I want them, but that's okay too.

She is working on the kitchen first and it's looking pretty good!  Woohoo!

Done quilting Nick's quilt!

Tonight I finished quilting Nick's graduation quilt!  WooHoo!  Now I need to trim the sides and put the binding and label on.

Still making yo yo's.

A day off

Had the day off work for Columbus Day today.  I didn't get much sewing done because I was running errands most of the day.  I worked on yo yo's for an hour while I watched t.v. tonight, but that was about it.

Put together some clam chowder to go into the crock pot tomorrow morning.  Seem to have been on a soup kick here lately!  Nothing wrong with that.

Johanna is moving out again next week.  She is moving with a girlfriend so that is a good thing.  I know she is excited and I'm happy for her.  I will miss her, though!

Found a tick on Ivy tonight.  That bothers me because she shouldn't have any fleas or ticks, but I guess it can happen.

So close, and yet so far...

One.  Last.  Pass.  That's all it needs and I can take it off the frame and label and bind Nick's quilt.  I'm blaming my husband for me not finishing it today.  I was ready to make the last pass and he called me outside to help do something in the yard.  I just never got back to the quilt. 

After helping Ev, I had to get the shrimp ready for the grill, make a few side dishes, and wash the quilts on the bed.  Changed the sheets today so of course the quilts got washed too.  I love the smell and feel of fresh linen.

I have tomorrow off for Columbus Day.  With a little luck I will get this quilt off the frame and another one loaded.  We will see what happens...

The shrimp turned out very good.  I think the key is not to overcook them.

I also experimented and made my own rice and vermicelli mixture.  It came out good too. 

As the quilt turns...

Do you remember when your grandmother would watch her 'stories'?  That is what my grandma called the soap opera she watched every day.  Just one of my grandma's watched them, the other didn't, but I remember her talking about the people on it.  Well, I have turned into my grandmother...  I now talk about Sons of Anarchy and the characters on it.  Donna and I were discussing it the other day and just cracked up laughing at the same time because we realized what we were doing.

I did enough quilting on Nick's quilt to make a turn on the frame yesterday.  It's ready for another swipe! 

Going to make some shrimp on the grill today for supper.  The weather has turned cool, so this may be one of the last opportunities to grill for a while. 

Been making yo yo's still.  I watched a movie on Netflix last night and made ten more.  At this rate, maybe next year at this time I'll have enough for a potholder...  hahaha.

Are you feeling generous?

I just added "Life Under Quilts" to my list of blogs I like to read.  If you want to read a touching story, go here and hopefully you will be able to help in some way, be it small or large: 

http://lifeunderquilts.blogspot.com/2012/10/can-you-help-my-mom.html

And if nothing else, please keep this family in your prayers!

It's debatable

How long will I keep making yo yo's?  Who knows...  Right now I've picked up the project again and have been making about 8 yo yo's a day, either while watching t.v. or on my lunch break at work.  They measure about an inch and a half in diameter, so it's going to take a LOT of yo yo's to make a quilt of any size.  Just for grins and giggles, if there are 64 yo yo's in a 12" square block, and I wanted to make a quilt that was 84"(7') by 96"(8'), I would need 3,584 yo yo's!  So if I upped my daily tally to making 10 yo yo's, I would have enough in just under a year to make something big enough to cover a bed!

And what exactly do I attach them to?  I know I attach yo yo's to each other, but then do they get sewn down to a background piece, like a sheet?  Or are they just for decoration?  sigh.  I just like making them right now, so I don't think I even need to worry about any of that stuff yet, but eventually I might have enough to make something with and will want the answers!  If I sew them down to a sheet, then I couldn't see both sides of them, and since the gathered side is supposed to be on top, that would make me sad because some of the yo yo's I made I like the flat side better!

Been going through some of my scrap drawers and picking out interesting fabrics for yo yo's.  Some of them were donated to me and some were from long forgotten projects.  Those that were from my own projects are kind of neat to run across because they get me to thinking about the quilt they were originally in and who it went to, etc.  Ah, a walk down memory lane...

Lunch date

Everett came up for lunch today and we met my dad and his wife at the Mexican restaurant.  Had a nice lunch.  It's my birthday, so that was a nice treat and a good way to break up the work day!

Hoping to go home and sew tonight.  Planning to order pizza for dinner, so no stress on that one!  The biggest decision there will be where to order from and what toppings to get! haha.

Presidential debate is on t.v. tonight.  I'll probably have it tuned in, but most likely will be doing something else while it's on.

Watched Sons of Anarchy last night.  That was two nights in a row I was up past 9 - Monday night was for the Bear's game!  I've turned into such a wimp.

Does anyone know when Downton Abby starts back up?

Not as bad as I thought

As much as I was dreading changes at work, it has turned out to be okay so far.  I know it's only the second day and that things are still going to change more, but right now, it's actually pleasant.  The mood at work is less tense, believe it or not, and that's a really good thing.

Took the yo yo's to work and made a few on my lunch hour.  Then made a few more at home when I was watching t.v.  Got in about an hour of yo yo time.

I have some put together from a long time ago that I want to take apart.  That is my next t.v. time project, I think.

A yo yo kind of night

Not the best picture in the world, but you get the idea.  I was multi, multi tasking tonight.  I had the Bear's game on t.v. with the sound muted, along with Bonnie Hunter on quiltcam, and I was sewing yo yo's!  All this while that pot of bean soup simmered away... yum!

Gourd mania

 Pumpkins or gourds, whatever these are, (and aren't pumpkins considered gourds?  or squash?) there were rows and rows of them on the side roads between Arthur and Sullivan. 

Arthur has 'The Great Pumpkin Patch' as an attraction for a few months in the Fall.  I'm betting the produce is all home grown!  There were so many fields full of pumpkins and such that it was sensory overload.  I'm used to seeing corn, beans, or wheat fields, so seeing massive amounts of pumpkins was definitely different.

Nick's quilt

I'm making progress on Nick's graduation quilt.  I decided to do a looping meander with some music symbols mixed in.  I'm also outlining a few of the musical instruments in the materials of the top when I quilt it.  Sunday I quilted one turn of it on the frame.  That felt pretty good, to be moving closer to having it finished.  Would like to at least do one turn of the quilt this evening.  I know how I am on Mondays after work, so if I don't get to it, that's okay!

Going to make bean soup tonight.  Using the package of beans I picked up at the shop in Arthur.  Ev's not too into bean soup right now, so I'll make him some Polish Sausage.  I have the beans soaking and picked up the sausage on my lunch hour.  Maybe I'll even make some cornbread to go with it...  yum!

Ahh, babies

Sunday I was at my friend's house briefly while her daughter was feeding her month old baby.  When I walked in she asked if I wanted to give the baby her bottle.  Well, duh, YES!  It's been so long since I had the chance to feed a baby a bottle, I jumped on it.  The little girl is just as sweet as can be.  She is one of the babies I made quilts for this past year.  And do you know, they have that quilt I made hanging up on the wall?  Isn't that something?  It makes me feel special.  Almost as special as I felt when I was feeding that baby...