How I Spent My Summer Vacation (money)

I love spring! This winter we had a flood, a terrible snowstorm, an even worse ice/snowstorm, and another flood. This was in addition to a regular New York winter. We took some damage to a car and lost a bunch of trees. The ice storm damaged the remaining trees so badly that we'll have many more falling for the rest of the year. At the front of our property, part of a very large tree fell onto the road last month. The remaining part of the tree was split and was just waiting to fall.

We made the very exciting decision to have the tree taken down. Who needs a summer vacation anyway?

In this photo, half of the tree is already down. As we are hauling all of that wood up the mountain to our wood pile, we're playing the "guess how many cords of wood it is" game. We figured we've hauled up 2 cords already and the log pile on the street doesn't look any smaller yet!

And as you can see, tree removal is a spectator sport in my neighborhood.

It was an honor

It was an honor to make this quilt (the first one, specifically) with my friend Kim. She pieced it; I quilted it. Why was it an honor to quilt a quilt? It's something I do every day after all. Well, this quilt was made for Quilts of Valor to be given to a wounded serviceman/servicewoman.

When I went to MQX, I dropped off a stack of quilts to the Quilts of Valor booth and ran off to work. The next day (or the day after that?) someone from Quilts of Valor let me know that this specific quilt was given away. Patrick, a young serviceman, is being shipped home for surgery and the Governor of Rhode Island presented this quilt to his mother!

I actually got to meet mom (Debbi). We hugged and she told me about Patrick and we all ended up crying like fools.

Want to share in this honor? Check out Quilts of Valor and see how you can help.

We have a WINNER!

Thanks to everyone who commented for a chance to win Beyond the Lines: Quilting Designs for Hand, Machine, and Longarm Quilting.

Karen is the winner!

I used the random number generator and was going to paste a photo of it on my blog but apparently that technology is just out of my reach. Please trust that I was honest.

If you would like to purchase the book, it can be ordered online from the Quilt Basket.

Sunday Stash Report

Fabric in this week: 4 yards (backing fabric)
Fabric in this year: 9.5 yards
Fabric used this week: 9.75 yards
Fabric used this year: 126.75 yards

STASH BUSTED: 117.25 yards

Head on over to Judy's blog to see how everyone else is doing.
_____________

Don't forget about my give-away!

Friday finish -- Michael & Jackie

My husband's baby cousin is getting married next week. This boy was about 2 years old when I came into the family, but since my own son is now 23 I suppose Michael has had some time to grow up a bit since then.

I haven't met his bride yet, so I chose neutral fabrics for the wedding quilt:





I had all of the fabrics in my stash except for the backing. The backing fabric was yummy and perfect (and on sale!). I'll make my true confession for Sunday's Stash Report.

Sorry for the oddly-lit photos. I finished the quilt last night and took the photos this morning before the sun had time to fully rise. I have to leave for work soon!
_____________

Don't forget about my give-away!

Words to Live by...

Written on top of a radiator at the Rhode Island Convention Center:



Passers-by thought I was weird for taking a picture of a radiator. At least I wasn't the one who wrote it!

_____

Don't forget about my give-away!

Time for a Give-away!

This week my blog-meter registered 50,000 hits. That feels like a milestone to be celebrated. I think it's time for a give-away!

How about a drawing for a copy of my book?



It's called Beyond the Lines: Quilting Designs for Hand, Machine, and Longarm Quilting.

The give-away rules are:

• Leave a comment letting me know that you'd like to be entered in the drawing.
• Open to United States residents only.
• Comments close Monday, April 26, 2010 at noon EDT.

Good luck!

_____
In case you wondered, that definitely is a Hello Kitty bandage on my finger in the photo. Why a Hello Kitty bandage? Because I was out of Shrek bandages, of course.

I've been blogged!

Bonnie and I met up at MQX, and she insisted on taking my photo. In my defense, it was after 10pm and I'd been working in the classroom since 7:30 am. I had just changed out of my work clothes and was in my casual jeans, hoodie, and pony tail.

Check out Bonnie's blog.

Design Wall Monday

I'm home from MQX and working on my new quilt along.



I am using a bunch of patriotic fabrics from my stash so I can donate this quilt to Quilts of Valor.

My first attempt didn't go so well:



I used a 4-inch triangle template, but it wasn't an equilateral triangle. I switched over to my regular ruler and used the 60-degree line. It worked like a charm!

Head on over to Judy's blog to see what everyone else is doing.

Sunday Stash Report

Fabric in this week: 0 yards
Fabric in this year: 5.5 yards
Fabric used this week: 9.75 yards
Fabric used this year: 117.0 yards

STASH BUSTED: 111.50 yards

Head on over to Judy's blog to see how everyone else is doing.

Friday Finish -- John's quilt

My daughter is friends with triplets so I got to make three graduation quilts.

One for Katie.

One for Mikey.

And one for John:



John likes purple. A lot.


Last year my daughter asked for 10 graduation quilts, and this is number ten. I am done!!!

Quilts of Valor

What she said.

I've been blogged!

Debbie, owner of Quilting Possibilities in Forked River, NJ, posted about her Handi Quilter training in Connecticut last week.

Check it out.

More proof that I'm crazy...

I joined another quilt along:



It starts this week. I'll start next week after I'm home from MQX!

Where's Debby?

At MQX, of course... it's where all the cool people will be this week. Come to Rhode Island!

Sunday Stash Report

Fabric in this week: 0 yards
Fabric in this year: 5.5 yards
Fabric used this week: 4.75 yards
Fabric used this year: 107.25 yards

STASH BUSTED: 101.75 yards

OK, I busted over 100 yards of fabric this year. I'm pretty excited, but why can't I see a difference in my sewing room? It's still full of fabric! Maybe the next 100 yards will make the difference?

Head on over to Judy's blog to see how everyone else is doing.

Tickled pink!

And yellow. And red. And green. And purple.....

Last week I showed you pictures of a pinwheel quilt for a special little girl.

Lydia received her quilt and her grandma sent me a picture to share with all of you:



Celebrate with us! For details on Lydia's surgery and recovery, check out her grandma's blog.

Quilting is FUN!

I just had a great day with some quilters on Long Island. I hope they learned a lot; I surely learned a lot from them!



Fun fact: 18% of the women in this photo were named Debby/Debbie. I sense a trend....

Where's Debby?

On Long Island!

Spinning like crazy -- Lydia's quilt

A very special young lady is undergoing major surgery and this quilt is for her:



And the back:



The totals: 100 nickel squares, 25 10-inch squares, 1/2 yard binding

The quilt is a pinwheel quilt along from Old Red Barn Co.

I quilted some all-over cabbage roses and leaves, just to keep it fun.

... and I got to see an emu, too!

Earlier this week I mentioned that I did a little bird watching, but I never mentioned why I was headed to Connecticut.

For more Handi Quilter love, of course!



I spent two days with ladies from New York, Ohio, Maine, Vermont, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Indiana, South Carolina, and one gentleman from Louisiana.

Fun fact: 16% of us were named Debby/Debbie.

Spinning like crazy, part 3

So, the pinwheel quilt from Old Red Barn Co. is pieced.



It's 40x40. I have a special little girl in mind for this quilt.

Sightseeing

I was driving through Connecticut on my way to Sew Inspired quilt shop. I was enjoying the scenery and I noticed that some of the scenery was enjoying me:

I started screaming "An ostrich? Is that an ostrich? Maybe an emu? I should go back and take a picture." So I did.

Well dear reader, is this an ostrich? or maybe an emu?

Spinning like crazy, part 2

I couldn't stop making the pinwheels from the Old Red Barn Co. pinwheel quilt along:



Pinwheels are like potato chips... I bet you can't make just one!

I had enough white fabric to make 25 blocks so I used 25 different bright fabrics in these blocks.

Spinning like crazy

Old Red Barn Co. hosted a pinwheel quilt along. I quickly grabbed up my bucket of bright nickel squares and started piecing.



I pulled out all polka dots to start. I don't have enough spots to make this an exclusively dotty quilt, so I'm going to add some non-spotted fabrics to the quilt.

Head on over to Judy's blog to see what everyone else is doing.

Sunday Stash Report

Fabric in this week: 0 yards
Fabric in this year: 5.5 yards
Fabric used this week: 3 yards
Fabric used this year: 102.5 yards

STASH BUSTED: 97 yards

Head on over to Judy's blog to see how everyone else is doing.

Friday finish -- potholders

I am blessed. I have many wonderful people in my life. People I love a lot. I love to give them gifts, and they love the gifts they receive. They love them so much in fact, that they beg for more.

If you give a mom* a set of Christmas potholders...

... she'll want a set of snowflake potholders for January.

If you give a mom a set of snowflake potholders...

... she'll want heart potholders for February.

If you give a mom a set of heart potholders ...

... she'll want shamrock potholders for March.

If you give a mom a set of shamrock potholders ...

... she'll want Easter potholders for April.

Well, it's April.

That's a whole lot of binding. Just sayin'.

_____

Since I was photographing my potholder drawer, here are some other homemade potholders:

Leftover watermelon fabric from another project.

BBQ fabric for June. Mom already has these.

Leftover orange/pink fabric from another project.

Zombie potholders!!!!!!! (If you aren't a Resident Evil fan, this won't make any sense.)
_______

*the same goes for "friend", "sister", "daughter", "daughter-in-love", "mother-in-love", etc. They all collect potholders.

Recovery quilting

I just returned from 13 days on the road ending with the first AQS show in Lancaster PA! It was such a rush to be there, and I spent weeks preparing so my classes would be "just right".

I've done a lot of teaching and a lot of travelling and I know to plan some down time when I return. I take the first day home and spend it in my sewing room engaging in 'quilt therapy' or 'recovery quilting'.

I grabbed my bucket of 1 1/2" strips and pieced them into blocks:

It was the perfect recovery quilting project since there was no thought involved, until...

... there were leftover pieces:

What am I going to do with the leftovers?

I pulled out a barely started scrap quilt that has 2 1/2" x 6" sashings. Should I continue with that project (I'm thinking no), or should I just toss those few strips and all my leftovers into a bag for my crumb-quilting friend?

Does anyone else get paralyzed by these enormous life-and-death decisions?

I hope this recovery takes, because I'm on my way back out the door for another 14 days of teaching!

Sunday Stash Report

fabric added this week: 1
fabric added this year: 5.5 yards
fabric used this week: 0 yards (it was all counted in other projects)
fabric used this year: 99.5 yards

STASH BUSTED: 94 yards!

Head on over to Judy's blog to see how everyone else is doing.

Friday finish -- Mom's tablerunner

The last few quilts I've made have been for people with some serious medical issues. I needed to make a happy quilt. It's been a while since Mom got a new tablerunner, so:



Made with leftovers from a recent quilt.

Silver linings

In February I received the call that every mother wants to get from her college-aged daughter: "Mom, there are reports of a shooter on campus. We're in lockdown." I'll start at the end: no one was injured and they never confirmed the reports of a shooter. You can breathe now.

So, that was a Tuesday. On Wednesday, my full-time job was to not drive to Buffalo to pick up my daughter with a "Well, we've tried this college thing and it just didn't work out. I'm moving you home now." I knew that wasn't the right thing to do even though it was the only impulse in this mother's heart.

To pass the time and keep me from getting in my car and driving west, I grabbed a layer cake and designed and pieced a quilt.

The quilt worked so well that it's now available as a pattern:



It's called Sweet Dreams and is available in three sizes (crib, twin, queen/king).

I used the Boutique line from Chez Moi for Moda Fabrics. Yummy!

Check it out!

Sunday Stash Report

fabric added this week: 0
fabric added this year: 4.5 yards
fabric used this week: 9.75 yards
fabric used this year: 99.5 yards

STASH BUSTED: 95 yards!

Head on over to Judy's blog to see how everyone else is doing.

Friday finish -- Kristen's quilt

A young mom in my church is enduring a really heart-breaking medical situation right now. I hope this brings a small amount of cheer to her and to her children:

Sunday Stash Report

fabric added this week: 0
fabric added this year: 4.5 yards
fabric used this week: 9.75 yards
fabric used this year: 89.75 yards

STASH BUSTED: 85.25 yards!

Head on over to Judy's blog to see how everyone else is doing.

I'm changing my name....

... to Laura Ingalls. I was without power for a week, had it back for 11 days, and it's gone again. I'm learning to cook on the woodstove, hand wash laundry, and hand sew by candle light. Lest you worry about me too much, the generator does run the computer and sewing machine. A girl's got to have her priorities straight.

Friday finish -- Gina's quilt

A woman from my church is going through some heavy-duty medical treatments. I hope this quilt helps to brighten her day:

The numbers:

410 green and tan tumblers

1 yard for borders

2/3 yards for binding

56 10-inch squares for the backing

It's Showtime!

It's been 40 days -- 40 whole days that I've been home. I travel a lot for my job, but I've had 40 consecutive nights of sleeping in my own home. Since all things must end, in 6 more days it will be time to hit the road again. To tell the truth, I'm really looking forward to it.

In case you've ever wondered what goes into teaching at a quilt show, I thought I'd show you a glimpse of how I spend my days:

• 300 yards of batting
• 120 yards of fabric
• 150,000 yards of thread (85 1/4 miles)

And that's just what I picked up today!!!

I think I can convince a family member to carry this all into the house for me, but then it's up to me to make kits for my upcoming quilt shows. This should be enough to get me through the AQS show in Lancaster, PA and some of MQX in Providence, RI. I'll restock again in April -- my car is only so big!

I have so, so much more to do though. I'm making my lists and checking them twice, hoping to give my students the very best -- they deserve it!

If you are attending any quilty events in the Northeast United States in the near future, you will find me at:

• CTNY Quilt Shops Road Trip 2010
• Long Island Quilters Society -- "Asian Inspired" show
• Quilt Basket Long Island Longarm Quilting Retreat
• Machine Quilters Exposition

I'd love to meet you!

I'll stop in and update my blog when time and internet access allow. In case I can't find any WiFi, I've left a few surprises for you on my blog that will show up just so you don't forget me while I'm gone.

Can you help me?

I've apparently lost my mind and I cannot find it. I signed up for the ps i quilt pinwheel sampler quilt along. I need to start a new project like I need more snow but I went ahead and did it anyway. It was so cute; my power to resist dissolved.

Proof of the unmitigated cuteness of this quilt:

block 1:


block 2:


block 3:


my quilt so far:


Did I mention that I'm making this quilt entirely from scraps and stash? Wouldn't that make starting a new quilt a virtue rather than a vice?

By the power of Castle Grayskull......

I spent my son's early years tripping over picking up action figures and listening to all of the little noises he made when he made his "guys" fight a battle. We had the typical superheroes.... Superman, Batman, Spiderman. We had every single Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle ever made, and duplicates of several. My son also went through a He-Man phase. He had a wonderful sense of balance; he had a "good guy" toy in one hand and a "bad guy" toy in the other at all times.

When he was three, we visited my sister for Thanksgiving. My son was in his grandfather's car playing with He-Man and Skeletor. The car hit a huge pothole and Skeletor went into my son's eye. He fussed as a 3-year-old would but soon calmed down. When we got to my sister's house in the evening and turned on the lights we realized what had actually happened: Skeletor had scratched my son's cornea. We found a nearby emergency room. My son was treated and given an antibiotic and an eye patch. We were told to take him to our eye doctor when we returned home.

We had only lived in our town a short while and had not yet found an eye doctor. I knew that there was an eye doctor next door to the post office and decided to check him out. This doctor was wonderful! He told us everything would be fine (this was our only child at the time and we were typical overwrought parents) and teased Kevin about how the "bad guy" had hurt him. The doctor then teased us about how life-altering it may have been for our son to have been injured by a "good guy"! My son recovered quickly and probably doesn't even remember this incident. I'll find out the answer to that soon, though, since he reads my blog.

We're grateful that this ended well, and we're grateful to have found a wonderful eye doctor. He's been our doctor for 20 years and our friend for nearly as long.

This doctor annoys me, though. He shines bright lights in my eyes, blows air into my eyes, and asks me hard questions. The hardest questions he asks are these: "Which looks better? One? or Two? ..... One?...... or Two?" I usually make something up because I can rarely see a difference.

I'm going to ask you, dear readers, the same question. Which looks better?

One:

I'm going to make all of the sashing out of 9-patches and the applique blocks will be featured in between.

or Two:

A simple every-other setting.

So, which looks better? One? or Two? Make something up if you can't see any difference

Head on over to Judy's blog to see what everyone else is doing.

Sunday Stash Report

I finally broke down and bought fabric this week:



I bought two yards of super-bright pinky/purple from the $5 sale rack and two $1-fat quarters. I didn't buy these for specific projects; they will just be added to my bright collection. I'm in the process of making several bright scrap quilts and the box of brights is emptying. Running out of brights is something to be feared, now isn't it?

fabric added this week: 2.5 yards
fabric added this year: 4.5 yards
fabric used this week: 8 yards
fabric used this year: 80 yards

STASH BUSTED: 75.5 yards!

Head on over to Judy's blog to see how everyone else is doing.

Friday finish -- Gretchen's quilt?

I made a shop sample last fall using Birdie fabrics from Moda and Nesting pattern from Me and My Sister Designs. Birdie is likely the happiest fabric I've ever seen.

There was enough leftover fabric to make a smaller quilt:

Dilemma:

My daughter-in-love adores this quilt and I want to give it to her. Her husband (my son..... a man!) says she already has a million quilts (um, that would be two) and doesn't need more. I don't want to cause marital dis-harmony, but the quilt is really cute and I really want my daughter-in-love to have this quilt.

Solution:

I left the finished quilt folded on her kitchen table (in my house ... we live together). My thought was "if she takes it, it's not quite the same as my giving it to her." So, the quilt disappeared into their living room and my hands are clean. When I asked my son if he noticed the new quilt in their living room, he just smiled. Happy quilts = happy wives = happy husbands?

Design Wall Monday

Late, again. But I have a really, really good excuse.

Remember this from Thursday? Well, that 3-6 inches of snow was nearly 3 feet of snow. Trees and power lines were down everywhere. They opened my road on Saturday afternoon, but only to bring in an ambulance for a neighbor. More trees came down and the road closed again until Sunday. The power finally came back on Monday night. God bless whoever invented the woodstove, the generator, and the camp shower. We survived, but I like "on the grid" much better than "off the grid".

I have new projects on my design wall, but updating my blog wasn't my first priority last night (sorry!):

The pinwheel blocks are from p.s. i quilt's pinwheel sampler quilt along. Cute, right?

Head on over to Judy's blog to see what everyone else is doing.