Monday DayLook – March 1, 2010

For Today: March 1, 2010


I am thankful for... Graham asking to play with tractors, which lead to Zeke finding our ‘Uncle Josh’s Outline Maps CD-ROM’ under a stack of 3 large Rubbermaid tubs - unbroken.  The little stinker who put it there should be thankful I didn’t catch ‘the little stinker’ in the act!


I am reading… ‘Introduction to the Devout Life’ … barely … at least I’m caught up on my one page a day commitment.


I am hoping... the head cold I woke up with this morn goes away just as quickly.


I am hearing... sounds of sword play from Zeke & Graham, pencil scratching and then erasing across the pages from Dash who is taking his time doing MATH.

I am wearing… comfy worn jeans and a bright orange sweat-shirt.


From the sewing/craft room (aka. laundry room!)… while checking out another resource on CurrClick – Curriculum on a Click, I found a FREE quilting magazine.  If you’re a member (and membership is free), search for ‘Cotton Spice Quilting Magazine’.  It’s absolutely cute, filled with adorable patterns, and also features quilting stories.


From the school room... Zeke finished up the dictation exercises in Sound Beginnings – he was thrilled!  He started Writing Can Help: Level A and is excited to be working toward cursive writing.  That he is excited is exciting for ME!




From the kitchen... we’ve all been enjoying home-made bread this week.  The bread machine usage has definitely increased the past couple months!


State of the house… it’s in a state and let’s leave it at that.



A successful moment… I am once again caught up on personal finance and filing!


Lenten Musings & Observations…  One of our family sacrifices is to eat from our pantry and NOT purchase any cold cereals (think Quaker Scooters, Crispy Rice, Special K, Raisin Bran, etc.) during Lent.  This might not seem like a big deal to most, but our kids get up VERY early and cereal is the easiest breakfast for the kids to prepare themselves, thus letting parents sleep until a reasonable waking hour … that’s 6:30/7:00am around here.  They’ve been very good about spreading out our pre-Lenten supply, but this past Saturday I opened the remaining box of cold cereal. 


A few plans for the rest of the week…
Monday: The Valley City Winter Show is this week; hubby will be attending for work.  The boys and I will head to the library while Angelina is at dance tonight.

Thursday:  I have a mtg. in Fargo this evening, so Louis and I will make the trek there and back.  Thank goodness he’s been a good traveler.

Friday/: Dash & Angelina will compete in the State 4-H crop judging contest at the Winter Show.  The youngest boys and I may go into town for the award ceremony. 

Saturday/Sunday:  If plans hold, Eric will take the oldest three skiing on Saturday.  Eric leaves Sunday afternoon for a week-long meeting … AGAIN!


A picture memory...

Completion!

The two baby quilts I'm donating are completed as of tonight!

I chose green binding to bring out the leaves on the flowers for the girly quilt. It's backed with the same blue flowered gingham. You can barely see my machine quilting - it's a stitch my former quilt group leader called "Wild Woman". I think it's fun!

The boy quilt is backed in navy blue and bound at the edges with red quilt binding (I'm trying to use up old supplies and the binding was 'on hand').

**I'm going to put my feet up ... I have no ankle bones or veins in my feet today. I thought that was only supposed to happen in HOT weather.

Inching toward completion

Found a few other projects in the sewing room... I've had squares cut and arranged for these two baby quilts for two years. They will be done and donated before the baby arrives! The fronts are completed; I've ordered the batting (50% off coupon for online orders) and am just waiting for it's arrival so I can fill, back and bind. I've chosen backings and bindings for each, so the last few steps will go quickly (as long as I'm able to find the time).

I'm not afraid to combine knits, flannels and cottons so these are a true mix of texture. All the fabrics are left-overs from projects I've sewn. Quilts are a great way to 'recycle', if you know what I mean. The best part, in my opinion, is creating a pattern with the available squares. My goal is to always use the most squares in the most creative way possible!

The Boy Quilt

Airplanes and Peanuts

The Girly Quilt

Blues Clues, Pink Flannel, and a pretty Floral Gingham Border

Up and At'em Early

For the life of me, I cannot sleep past 5a when I'm at home. You'd think it would be easy without anyone here to wake me, but .... NO. So, rather than stay in bed trying to sleep, I got up. Of course, by 11a I needed a nap!

Last night, I cut out four pairs of Lil' Britches (sizes Newborn, 18-24 mos, 2T, and 4T) to be sewn for my contribution to my circle's Street Fair booth. I also cut out quilt pieces for Dash's (hopefully) Christmas gift - it'll fit his 'new to him, but otherwise old' full size bed. The quilt pattern is called 'Turning Twenty' ... as in 'turning twenty' fat quarters into a nice quilt. I actually purchased a kit, so I take no responsibility for the fabrics (even though I really like the sports theme and that's the reason I purchased the kit - it fits a boy's room perfectly). Anyway, that was enough for last night.



The quilt is all cut (above) and the Lil' Britches are all cut out, as well (below).



By 7a, I was done with one pair of britches. I took a break to go eat some breakfast and put my puffy feet up for a bit. Then, it was back to sewing.



I finished all four pairs of Lil' Britches by 4p. I took breaks throughout the day to take a nap, put my feet up, eat, and do a bit of laundry. Otherwise, I did nothing but sew. It rained good and steady over the noon hour and into the afternoon, so there was no watering gardens today.

Little Flower Quilt - Part 2

Yeah!!! They are done and they've been sold at the Cathedral of St. Mary Spring Celebration! The Little Flower quilts I posted about earlier in the year (say around February) turned out beautiful. Hopefully their new owners will enjoy them as much as the Little Flowers enjoyed making each square.







This is what the flower squares look like after washing. The edges are not interfaced, but are snipped about every 1/4". It creates a lot of texture and 'movement' on the quilt.

Blah...blah

I've been feeling blah all week. Sometimes, ya just can't put feelings into words. Tomorrow the blah has to end because this Friday is another big Fargo day. We leave at 8a and don't get back until at least 8p. I still need to get all the gear set out by the garage door, but I have most of our dinner (lunch to some of you) & supper already prepped - tuna roll-ups, carrots, fruit cups, and water. Maybe I'll toss in some chips and granola bars for a mid-afternoon snack.

All the kids are coming tomorrow - Eric has been helping so much when able that I haven't had to bring all four for quite some time. The homeschool group has an art project planned for the afternoon, so it actually worked out great that all the kids will be along. Zeke, Angelina and Dash will be able to participate. Hopefully Graham will let me get a bit of quilting done at our afternoon quilt meeting (Our Lady of Guadalupe Quilt Group - I do look forward to the twice monthly meeting with these women).

I pray that I have the energy and strength to last all day without a melt-down! And that the energy I have left at the end of the day is enough to react quickly when I meet the deer - I always meet deer on the way home. Scares the daylights out of me and for sure wakes me up! Have a wonderful Friday.

Little Flower Quilt - Part 1

Our Little Flowers girls club has created a quilt(s) to donate to the Spring Festival at the Cathedral for the last three years. Each year's quilt is different, but includes the same flower squares. I was in on the first year, skipped last year, and am now again involved in helping to complete the quilts this year. The girls help by picking and cutting fabric for the flower squares. Moms supervise; do fine cutting and tracing on flower patterns; iron; cut alternate squares and borders; machine quilt and finish the quilt by binding. This year, the club is creating two baby sized quilts.

I offered to do the piecing, bordering, quilting & binding for this year. I'm so thrilled with how the first turned out. The girls choose such interesting fabrics and each flower reflects the personality of the designer.

Here is the first quilt...

Normally, I cheat and don't iron all my seams. I did this time to make it crisp.

This border fabric (the yellow with blue star flowers and blue dots) is from my Grandmother, Julia, who died when I was 8yo. I always enjoyed looking through her fabric and notions as a young girl. When she died, my mom inherited her fabric and notion stash. Eventually some made its way into my home and I have had so much fun incorporating some of her notions and fabrics into clothing for my daughter. I am glad to see the fabric used in this way, too.

Here is the second quilt top...

Each quilt has 10 flower squares. We were 5 short after each girl made her square, so a few made a second flower square. The flowers are ironed on and then stitched about 1/2 inch in from the edge. The edges are snipped - as if you were clipping seams for a curved edge - to create a ragged look when washed. This technique makes it really easy for the girls and they don't have to be as precise. It's very 'forgiving' in its final look.

These are a couple close ups. You can even see the clipped edges of the flower in the lower picture.

This is Angelina's flower.

The next step is to add 100% cotton batting and a backing. The quilt is then machine quilted and the edges are bound with fabric binding. Pictures to follow in Part 2.