That man Quilts?

Do you stilletto?

2012-01-27T07:51:00.006-06:00

Not stilletto shoes. A sewing stilletto.

Until recently, I never heard of using a stilletto in sewing. My first exposure was watching Eleanor Burns on her TV show that runs on PBS. She used the point of her stilletto to keep her seam allowances matched because she didn't pin all her seam intersections when she sewed two pieced sections together. Since then, I've collected quite the set of stillettos. My tastes have developed from a common handyman's awl to the three nice ones shown below. The one on the left is from a set, seam ripper and stilletto that Sydney gave me for Christmas. They're hand turned and have carved handles. The handles aren't exactly alike tho, so if I put them in my tool holder, point down, I can tell them apart.

So, what do I use a stilletto for? You've all seen this. Two seam allowances cross. They're coming toward the foot of the sewing machine. If they're pressed right, one points up, the other points down (unless you press open). If you measured and cut right, they cross at the same spot and there's not extra fabric on top or bottom to have to deal with. You can stick a pin in that and hold it together, but sometimes, that top seam will creep down just a fraction of an inch and the points won't match.

I can use my stilletto to push that seam allowance so it stays perfectly match as it crosses the machine bed, moving toward the foot. All I have to do is slightly push the seam allowance on the far side of the match point and that keeps it from creeping down. I can feel the ridge through the point of the stilletto and can make sure that they stay next to one another and don't cross or stack. And, I can make sure the one that points up doesn't get caught on the tip of the foot and turn down. That's the most common cause of unmatched points for me.

And, unlike my finger tip, I can keep the point of the stilletto on the seam allowance as it passes through the tip of the foot and right up til the seam passes under the needle without worrying about putting the needle through my finger tip.

I think of a stilletto as a safety feature.

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All these pictures are with Ken Moore, my 1950's Kenmore sewing machine. He's so linear and masculine looking and he has a very deep voice. I rewired him last summer, everything but the light. After I rewired everything else, I was just too tired to keep messing with him. I've had a flickering light problem for a while, where it was fine when I started sewing, but eventually worked itself loose and the light would start to flicker as I sewed. Very annoying.

This morning, I was jiggling the light switch with one hand and had the other on the machine bed and he shocked me. That got him on the sick list for the day and he was immediately unplugged. Sometime this weekend, I'll get around to rewiring that light, but until then, I'll be using another machine to sew. How convenient that I just got Alba Tross working right and got her light bulb replaced (a whole blog post can be written about that ordeal). So, she's going to be the go-to machine to finish the story time stars.

What would I do if I didn't have so many vintage sewing machines to work on? Imagine how much more sewing I'd get done. But, I enjoy tinkering, too.

Tonight, we're going to dinner and the theater. It will be a special occasion for us. We're going to dress up (okay, not a whole lot dressed up). We're just going to the middle school production of Annie. Sydney's best friend is in the play and I think that Sydney is going to spend the night at her house after the performance. The dog will not be happy.

But, I did have to explain to Sydney that when we're doing something special, we should dress a little special and that means a nice shirt with her jeans. It is Austin, after all. Jeans go everywhere here. Even the opera.

Everybody have a great Friday. In keeping with my resolution yesterday, I am going to set a goal to pin baste three quilts this weekend. I can't start quilting them 'til they are pinbasted. And, that takes time. So, I'll pin baste them now and can take my time quilting them out.

Wish me luck. Of course, I could start something new........

NOT.

Lane

The yawn point

2012-01-26T09:25:00.003-06:00

Okay, so inability to focus and a quilt blog don't always go so well together. This is one of those times. Generally, I always have project progression to show off because I have multiple projects going on at any one time (is there such a thing as every one time?). But once in a while, all my projects get to that point where there's just nothing exciting happening. I have two quilts ready for borders and I can't quite find enough time in a single stretch to get them sewn on. And one quilt that has stopped moving forward because it needs a pause for re-assessment. And a leader/ender that only moves forward if something else moves forward.

I have sufficiently bored you with the same two pictures of the baby quilts that are waiting for borders. So, now it's time to bring back pictures of the other quilt that's going nowhere fast; the vintage dresden plates.

I have about 190 wedges that need starching and ironing and then trimming before I can start putting any more dresden plates together. And, so I spritz them with starch and I re-press the basted top edge, nice and straight, and iron out the old seam creases and stack them by color.

YAWN!

But, it's necessary work if I'm going to turn this little assortment of vintage wedges into the beautiful quilt I have in my mind. I'm even repairing torn wedges. See that plaid lump in the lower right corner? That's a blue plaid wedge and a red plaid wedge that each had a hole. I cut them to save as much as I could and will sew them together and cut them again. I even matched up the lines so they'll look very good together. There are a lot of wedges where the original piecer did that with her scraps.

I guess there's a yawn point in just about every quilt. That point where you do a lot of work and make little visible progress. Or when the progress you're making just isn't all that exciting. All of my current tops are at that stage. And, I'm so tempted to set them aside and move on to something else. But, I'm shouldering through and resisting the temptation. After all, that's what got me a closet full of unquilted tops in the first place.

I've read a lot of my fellow bloggers also trying to shoulder through a resolution to finish some of what we have started before we start anything else. I wonder how many of us have projects that are just at the yawn point and we long for some excitement. And, every one of you knows how exciting it is to start something new. I think we should form a club or a support group.

"Hi. I'm Lane. I'm a quilter and I get bored easily. When I'm bored, I love to start something new. I've been quilting like that for 12 years. I have a closet full of fabric I'll never live long enough to use up and $2 worth of cheap plastic coat hangers with unquilted and sometimes unfinished quilt tops hanging on them (you do the math on how many that is). It's been 15 days since I started anything new. And, I'm jonesin'. Bad."

I hope you're laughing with me, but I am also totally serious. I really don't want to start anything new until I finish something that's already going. I really want to shoulder through finishing some of the stuff that's stacked all over the place in my sewing room. And, I am really going to try not to be distracted by any new patterns or fabric inspirations. If I cut fabric, it needs to be going into something I already have going on.

Wish me luck.

And, don't be laughing at my ironing board cover in the snap above. I made it out of canvas and cotton batting and it is another of my favorite tools in the sewing room. It's very thick and is great for pressing applique because the applique just sinks into it. Same with the seams on shirts (sewing or just ironing to wear). It just laughs when I turn my iron up to HIGH. "Ha! I may scorch, but I don't burn and I don't hold scorch marks as a stain!" Everything just washes out. It has a nice deep hem with elastic and it fits my ironing board to a T. I used the cover that came with the board as the pattern, but went bigger! I don't think I will ever use a store bought ironing board pad again. My next project is to make a board from a half sheet of plywood so I can iron a half a quilt top at a time without it hanging off the edges of the board.

Everybody have a great Thursday. Lane

Boom!

2012-01-25T08:26:00.005-06:00

At 2:53 this morning, we were awakened to a boom that sounded like the world had split in two. All our lights that come on just from touching them came on. Rob and I sat straight up in the bed.

From then on, it was flooding downpour and then a brief slow down and then flooding downpour again, with the timpani of thunder and bright flashes of lightening. Rather like what we've been taught to expect from the end of the world...think The day after Tomorrow kind of violent storms.

And, we huddled in our beds, with the covers pulled up, waiting for it to pass (or the earth to swallow us up). Sleeping when we could and waking to more rumbles of thunder.

That's what rain is like in Texas. Seems we don't get it for a really long time and then we get it all in a few hours. This morning, my rain guage, which I emptied yesterday morning to make sure and get a good reading, said 5". It might have been more, but there's a screw hole in the back at 5" so that's all I can measure at one time.

When I got up at 5, there were several inches of water puddled outside the dining room and it was still pouring. By 7:30, it was pretty much over and I went for a hike in the yard. The water washed all the mulch away along the back of the house. We live at the bottom of the hill, so that's the drain for several houses above us. It's not unusual to to have to pull my mulch back over there.

But, doesn't seem that we got any water in any structures. And, the gardens didn't seem any worse for having that much water dumped on them in so short a time.

We were lucky. I took Sydney to school, despite the temptation to send her to the bus stop in a lightening storm with a metal umbrella (mwahahahahaaaaa!). Traffic was light. I know that lots of folks are without power and this much rain always sends Austin's runoff creeks out of their banks somewhere. Lots of low water crossings were under water. When I talked to Rob, he was mopping up water at his office that had come under the doors.

It's rude in Austin to complain about rain. But, it is okay to complain a little bit about dangerous weather, so long as you don't reference the water that comes along with it. Eventually, it will help with the lakes and dry wells will have water in them again in a week. But, it's kind of scary, too.

On a lighter note, the Story Time Stars quilt is almost finished (I'd show a new picture, but we didn't have sufficient internet access at home to upload it because of the storm). I've got the final border assembled and just need to get it attached to the quilt.

I made this as a baby quilt, thinking it would take less time than the feathered star baby quilt I was working on. NOT! It has taken at least as long, and I'm not exactly sure why. Everything was so easy and it all seemed to go so fast, but as for the number of hours, it's been about 12 and I have about 12 sunk into the feathered star quilt, too. Of course, the feathered star quilt isn't finished yet and it could double in time before it is. But, the last borders are made and it's just finding time to start attaching them. After a brief pause to buy more fabric.

Because, really, as much effort and brain power as I have in this quilt, there is absolutely no point in cheaping out at the end because I don't want to buy another half yard of the medium green. I'm doing really, really good at not buying fabric. I don't need fabric. I don't need quilt tops. Most of the fabric I've bought this year has been backing sized pieces at half off the half off wall prices (about $2 a yard). I need to quilt. I need to quilt lots of quilts. My goal is to stay focused and quilt as many of my finished tops as possible. I have not counted, but, I know it's a lot. Shorter term, this weekend, I want to pin baste two; the story time stars and Sydney made a quilt last year. I'd like to get it in the machine. She got discouraged when she realized she would have to piece the back, too. So, she's had time to rest. Maybe I can get her sewing some this weekend. Maybe her choice will be sewing or washing windows. That sounds like it might work, right?

And, I've been asked to make something for a church raffle. Nobody's ever asked me to make a donation quilt like that. Now that I know this feathered star pattern, maybe one in blues? Or reds? Who knows. As they say at the awards..."It's a pleasure, just to be nominated."

Okay, so that's it for me today. I can already feel my eyelids drooping. Maybe I'll go get another cup of coffee. Lane

Color

2012-01-24T09:46:00.002-06:00

Do you color? Or, I guess, more accurately I'm asking do you do color?

I'm not knocking all those great neutral people out there that are adventurous enough to wear only shades between brown and off white. (Yawn!) But, that ain't me.

When made fun of for wearing a pink shirt one day...okay, it wasn't really pink, it was red lines on a white background that read as pink...I replied that with all the things in the world to fear; economic collapse, terrorism, inattentive drivers, and every Tom, Dick and Harry has a gun; I refuse to be afraid of a color.

I stick with that. I am not afraid of color. This came up for me this week while planning my gardens for the year. But, it really started a few weeks ago at LD's birthday party. LD used to be somehow connected with professional landscaping. I don't know all that story yet, but I know she loves plants, so much so that she was going to open a nursery a few years ago. She still helps people with their landscaping and helped my mentor, Jen, work in her yard and come up with a landscaping plan. Anyway, at the party, LD and Jen were talking about their landscaping experience together and LD commented that what Jen lacked in landscaping skill, she more than made up for because she knew how to use COLOR. One of the other things we laughed about at the party was my use of color. I looked at Jen and asked her how she let me make all those badly colored quilts when i was starting and she replied that "color was not your strong suit in the begining."

I'll rush through the thought progress...color in Jen's landscaping->color in quilts->color in the storytime stars baby quilt->color in my own landscaping->scrap quilts->one color quilts->pink phlox, blue plumbago and purple coneflower.

The mind works in mysterious ways. And, applying those thoughts...

I've got a great combination of bright colors going on in the storytime stars quilt. That's what I want in a baby quilt. Lots of color to look at and shapes to touch. All pulled together with a pleasing neutral, in this case, a light blue (and yes, I do believe that even red can be used as a neutral...but maybe not yellow). That's a good scrap quilt to me.

But, there are some scrap quilts that have colors that just SCREAM together and make my eyes twitch. And, no slam against what anybody else likes, but quilts that use all large scale, bold colors and have no place for the eye to rest...nothing can stand out on those and grab my attention because it all competes.

As much as I like scrap work, my favorite work is always going to be more monochromatic; three or four shades of the same color...three greens in particular. Dark, medium and light. Working together. Because I am a firm believer that while color gets all the credit, it's value and scale that do all the work. And, for me, that's expressed best in several shades of the same color used in a quilt, letting the values show off the piecing.

Oh, I'm going to make scrap quilts because scraps are the natural outpouring of all other types of sewing...sorta like the gift that keeps on giving. But, as I cut my scraps, I will think about how I used those three blues together in a quilt with a brown to set them off. Or something similar.

So, how did I get from there to gardening? I've always "scrap" gardened. Buy a couple of pots of this and a couple of pots of that and find a place where they'll live and if it's not the first place I plant them, then move them around until they find a place to be happy or die. And, what didn't die, multiplied like...well, like scraps (or rabbits...or coathangers). So, now, the plants that are happy have made divisions and those have made divisions and now, I have an abundance of plants that like the climate and will survive semi-drought conditions.

But, what do I do with them? This year, I'm trying to be more planful. I'll group those three shades of green leaves together in a small spot and call it a flowerbed, I also try to include three different scales of leaves; something broad, something narrow and something short. Those greens will be there from spring to fall. Then, on top of that, and changing with the seasons, add other colors. Early in spring I'll have orange and red and yellow daylilies. Then, when they die off, pink from the phlox along with a dark pink coneflower, dark pink dahlias, blue plumbago, red roses. And, when that's gone, melon colored shrimp plant until the first freeze.

In another bed; a more sunny and hot bed; all reds, oranges and yellows against greens that range from a gray-green to purple-green. Cannas and roses and firestalk and columbine, hot colors in a hot spot. And, for greens; century plant and other cacti and native grasses.

And, along the other side, we move into a shade bed that gets us back to the pinks and purples that show up so well in darker spaces.

Someone commented not long ago that they liked how I make quilting a part of my life. I do. And, what I learn about quilting, I use other places. Because I color and I do color and I love color and I surround myself with color. Color makes me happy.

And, while scrap gardening with its riot of color used to make me happy, now I've aged and mellowed and want to control the color and let the value shoulder the load. Use color for fun. Happy, pleasing color. Including pink shirts once in a while. Don't be afraid of color.

Lane

Manual labor busy

2012-01-23T07:52:00.005-06:00

Okay, so if you read my blog (or live with me), you know I keep myself busy. Very busy. Rob says I'm busy 24/7/365. Sometimes I'm brain busy and taxing my ability to think or read. Sometimes I'm quilt busy and sewing til my fingers ache. Sometimes I'm knit or crochet busy, making socks and sweaters and scarves and hats. And, sometimes I "manual labor" busy, and that's what I was this weekend.

I didn't get too much done on my Story Time Stars quilt. The first two rows are together, but I have a block intersection that doesn't want to play right and so I have some more fiddling to do on that. The other two rows are assembled, but not attached yet. I'm loving the sashing and cornerstones on this little quilt. I like that I used just one baby blue in the sashing and 25 different blues in the cornerstones.

I just ran out of time before I got any further.

Of course, I did have an hour and a half to put this together. This is for LD.

It's small. I think 3.5x5 or something like that. I'm going to quilt it really simple in the ditch with some cotton batting. But, now, I'm trying to figure out what to DO with it. Do I make it into a little pillow? It's designed to be a pin, but it's kind of big for that. I've been thinking about framing it in a small frame maybe. It's from a free pattern at Connecting Threads. It took me longer than I thought it would, but I had to get myself back in the frame of mind for paper piecing. I forget how different that is than regular piecing because you have to figure out how the fabric lays and whether it's big enough. And, that meant picking out a couple of pieces. And, because I was paper piecing on printer paper instead of something easier to tear, I was using teeny tiny stitches. Teeny-teeny tiny. But, when I was done, the paper was a breeze to remove because of those tiny stitches and many, many perforations.

I also got 6 more cabinet doors painted. I have a feeling I'll be finishing that soon. I am tired of painting in the kitchen. I have other things I want to paint and other projects I want to work on. Next weekend is the last two little doors and the woodwork around the fridge. And, one large door and its trim that goes out into the laundry room. After that, there's a bit of tile work around the window Rob put in for me last year and I want to repaint the walls. But, in that kitchen, there's not nearly as much wall as there is cabinet, so that part is easy-peasy, too.

And, I got my wish and spent hours and hours in the yard, moving things around. This was a great weekend for yardwork around here. It's so dry that my clay soil was easy to break up and dig new holes in. And when I wanted the dirt to stick around a rootball, all I had to do was water it, so I got most of the things I want to move this year in their new places. I still have plenty of things in pots to put out this year and seeds to start next month. I have great plans (just like every year). And, so what if there's a drought. I've been buying native and adapted for years now and my beds really stand up to it well. I even worked on my soaker hoses before putting in mulch. That's a bit of pre-planning that I usually miss. Usually there are all these black hoses snaking around on top of the mulch, but just here and there. Hopefully not this year. I'm also increasing the size of my beds by about 30%, curving around the final side of the yard and preparing to garden in a shady spot.

And, I also take care of my across-the-street neighbors front flowerbed. I went there and just cut back all the stuff that was past its prime so the spring stuff can get some sun and prepare to shine. She lost a whole bed of english ivy last year from the drought and I'm thinking of what i can put into that place that is more exciting this year. Something with some flowers. She loves purple.

I've always been a January gardener. Invariably, we get a couple of weekends down here when the soil is nice and dry so I don't have to worry that I'll sink in wherever I step and when the temperatures are moderate enough to get outside. Not usually in shorts like yesterday, but moderate for January. After this, it will start to rain (Oh, how I hope it will start to rain) and the soil will be heavy and thick and sticky and while that works for growing, it's not good for the hard gardening work that needs doing every year to keep my beds in shape. Divide, feed, grow, repeat.

Everybody have a great Monday. I've got to get "work busy". Lane

Marking tools

2012-01-20T07:42:00.004-06:00

So, I believe that every quilter has their own favorite marking tools. The tools that work for them. qltmom9 asked to see mine. Please note that this is not a slam against anybody else's favorite, okay? I know a lady that marks with soap slivers and does fabulous work. But, I tried that and I didn't like it. And, that doesn't make it any less useful for her.

But, before I can talk about my favorite tools, I need to show you these. This is the bin of mis-spent marking tools. There is black lead, colored pencils, soapstone, a half a dozen different kinds of chalk and chalk rollers and chalk sliders and chalk pencils and replacement chalks. The only thing I can think to use all this for is to take to quilt class and let everybody try different markers to see what they like best.

The fine black sharpies shouldn't be in this picture because they are actually a favorite marking tool for setting the final edge of a quilt and marking where to attach the binding. They're great for marking on batting.

But, what are my favorites?

Okay, so I like the washout markers. They make a great mark...IF I'm sure the fabric won't get hot. If it gets hot, the ink is permanent. And, I get impatient and tend to make too heavy a mark. But, that doesn't stop them from being useful to mark light colored fabrics. I like them when I'm going to premark a quilt because the lines stay until I want them to go. There's no rubbing off like the ceramic pencils. And, I like that when I'm done, I can spritz and it's gone.

Next are my ceramic pencils. Sewline makes pencils and leads in many colors. Fons and Porter do, too. I bought a very expensive sewline pencil and I've bought a whole bunch of their green leads. The Fons and Porter is available at JoAnn's in white, so I can use a coupon. And, now, I'm going to make both those companies mad because those expensive pencils are just .90 diameter mechanical pencils and you can get them 2 for $3 at Office Depot. The lead is expensive, but if you're really careful not to advance too much of it out at a time, it lasts a long time. It's pretty fragile, a bit more fragile than regular graphite lead I think, so the biggest waster of the ceramic leads is advancing them too far and breaking them off. My LQS sometimes stocks the Sewline leads and if I can't get them there, I can get them at any quilt show.

This is a mark made by the green lead on a piece of dark brown fabric. These are limbs for a piece of applique. I was drawing over a light box and when doing that, it's all back light, so you can't see how heavy your marks are. I probably went over each line two or three times to make sure they'd show from the front.

Anyway, this ceramic lead sticks to the fabric really good and on a piece of applique, will still be there through finger pressing the edges and then stitching it down. But, like chalk, it does eventually rub off.

The tool I forgot to include in my pictures is my chalk Pounce. Likely I didn't think of it because it's new to me and I'm just learning all its uses. I've used it so far to mark with plastic cutout templates, but my next thing to try is needle punching paper and pouncing on top of that to see the little holes. If that works, it's going to be the greatest thing since sliced bread.

And, for marking, but not directly on the fabric, I like golden threads paper. I can needle punch it and baste it to the quilt with safety pins and quilt right through it and then pull it off. But, I hate pulling it off. And, once in a while, it will shift just a tiny bit and throw off a line.

Okay, so what's my new tip today? My scissor leash. Okay, so it's really a name badge leash, but I look silly wandering around with my badge hanging from my neck. My badge hangs from my pocket, like Timothy Olyphant in Justified...yeah, like I'm that butch. Anyway, that freed up this leash and I attached a pair of thread snips. This is the GREATEST tool for machine quilting. I can be stitching along and come across a thread I need to snip and we all know what happens then, right? You move your eyes and go looking for a pair of scissors and when you come back, you can't see that thread anymore...until you're showing the quilt to your mentor.

Anyway, with a leash, I don't have to move my eyes. I just put my hand over my heart and there's the leash and I can pull it through my fingers until the snips are in my hand and that pesky little thread is gone!

They're also handy for ending a line of quilting and needing to snip the threads or snipping off the tails where I start a line of quilting. They are sharp and I have sat in the floor and forgotten I have them on and leaned forward and stabbed myself in the upper leg, so follow this tip with caution. Open scissors are dangerous things.

But, handy scissors are wonderful things, so you have to balance that out.

If you have snips like this, keep them oiled or they will rust. Mine are several years old and as I'm writing this, I'm ransacking my desk, looking for another leash because that old one is falling apart.

Have a great Friday. I'm trying to come up with a list of projects for the weekend. It's supposed to be 75* and sunny. I'm feeling some digging in the dirt coming on.

Lane

Putter, putter, putter

2012-01-19T07:41:00.006-06:00

I'm puttering along on the Story Time Stars quilt. I make a bit of progress every day. This morning, I was sewing the stars into pairs, preparing to get my rows together and my seams kept flipping over as they'd approach the sewing machine foot. I hate that.

It was just because I was trying to squeeze in a last few minutes of sewing time before I had to leave for work and I was rushing and skipping steps. That never works well. I'm the turtle, not the hare and I don't rush well. (Just ask Rob when he's trying to get me out the door to go do something fun. If he rushes me, we'll only get one block before I have to go back home to get something important...like my wallet.)

I spent a bunch of my morning starching and pressing and trimming wedges for the Dresden Plate quilt. And, when I was done, I decided I could not keep putting wedges together without a master plan or I was going to end up with some really ugly plates at the end when I try to force a bunch of leftover stuff together. Or I'll get to the end and waste wedges because I can't force them into pleasing combinations. I still have enough loose pieces that if I'll just slow down and finish taking the last of the plates apart, and get all the wedges together, I can figure out what goes best with what to optimize what I have to work with.

Really in truly, this is where I'd rather be. As Cinderella sang "In my own little corner of my own little house, I can be whatever I'd like to beeeeee." This is one of my favorite places and as much as I am challenged by my work, I know that when I'm at one of my machines, the challenges are the ones I choose for myself. This is Ken Moore, my main piecing machine, in his normal state of disarray.

Okay, so I'm posting my little tips that I use to sew. The bad pins bottle seemed to be popular, so how about a toothbrush holder?

Okay, so don't look to the right of the toothbrush holder. That area is still being organized after my last cleaning binge. Everything that didn't have a place went there. And, what's up with my oil looking so brown? I promise I only use clear oil on my machines. Anyway, back to the toothbrush holder. First, this is next to my quilting machine, but I have a similar holder next to my piecing machine. I keep five tools next to my quilting machine all the time (but now that I look, one was missing when I took this pic).

I need a stilletto. Do you use a stilletto? I had no idea how useful they'd be for piecing, especially for making sure those pesky seam allowances don't fold over as they approach the presser foot (which was the problem I was having this morning). But, they're also great for grabbing the bobbin thread loop to pull it out of the throat plate when I replace a bobbin or to grab the loop and pull it to the top of the quilt sandwich when I'm starting a line of quilting.

Next tool is scissors. I need a pair of real scissors nearby. Not a pair of thread snips, which I'll cover later, but a pair of scissors that will cut fabric. So, I keep a pair of small embroidery scissors that are knife sharp in this holder.

My marking pencils. I use ceramic lead in a mechanical pencil and I keep it handy so I can mark anything I need to while I'm quilting. I normally keep a green lead and a white lead pencil in there all the time. One of those colors seems to mark on any color fabric.

And, the last tool is a seamripper. Some people won't rip quilting out. Not me. I've probably pulled a few miles of thread out and tossed it away over the 12 years I've been quilting. Seamrippers are like good friends; they keep your mistakes secret.

So, the toothbrush holder is just a 59 cent one that I picked up in goodwill. I added a half a bag of dry lima beans to the bottom. That serves two purposes. It makes the holder bottom-heavy so it doesn't tip over and it gives a soft bottom for my tools to hit when I drop them in. I've chipped the bottoms of a lot of containers and broken more than one by dropping a pair of scissors in and letting them hit the bottom. And, the beans hold the tools perfectly upright.

And, yes, that is one of my quilting trolls peaking out from behind the toothbrush holder. He and his girlfriend watch me quilt.

Okay, so I contracted to buy the Singer 401 this morning. Sight unseen. We arrived at what I think is a good price. I should get it next month. The good news is that if there's anything wrong, I'm buying it from a friend and we can work out any differences, so it seemed like a pretty low risk purchase to me. And, it was her Mom's machine, so I know it's been taken good care of. And, my friend has memories of hanging on the side of it watching her Mom sew. That's good mojo.

Lane

I could 'Bonnie Hunter' all day long

2012-01-18T08:14:00.005-06:00

Yes, I did just use a proper name as a verb. If you've ever made a Bonnie quilt, then you know why. Bonnie's quilts are intense and have lots of pieces. Even the Story Time Stars quilt has lots of little pieces and because this is for a good friend, I'm especially trying to make all my points match and get the details right. Consequently, I'm not making very fast progress. But, the turtle won the race while the rabbit took a nap, right?

I like Bonnie's quilts. I like the challenge of making a quilt with lots of pieces. I don't want all my quilts to have a gillion pieces, but sometimes, it's just the ticket to soothe the troubled mind.

So, how do you Bonnie Hunter all day long? Well, you make one Bonnie Hunter quilt...

while you're making another Bonnie Hunter quilt.

That way, you don't have to work on anything but Bonnie Hunter patterns all day long. The first picture is the Story Time stars with their first pieces of sashing attached and the second is my Texas Braid leader/ender that I ironed all the red squares the wrong way. Oh, well.

After looking at the beautiful pics in this post from Bonnie's last workshop, I decided it was time to start sewing some of those bricks I've been cutting for a year into actual braids. I have about 500 dark bricks with the red squares attached and am going to go for a lap blanket. But, I'm going to have to cut more neutral bricks. Somehow neutrals are always harder to come by.

If only I could take all day long to quilt. Wouldn't that be nice.

Anyway, I've been quilting for a while and I've come across some really handy tips over time and am going to share a few over the next few days. If I can remember.

The first one is for "Bad Pins". Bad pins are bent or broken or have lost their heads. They're also sewing machine needles that aren't sharp anymore and hand sewing needles that look like safety pins because of the monster grip I put on them when I hand sew. And, there's likely even a safety pin that won't close or won't open anymore or has a rust spot. I have a terror of stepping on pins. Okay, not really the stepping on them but the pulling them back out of my foot. That part makes me pale and nauseous. And, I feel really bad if Sydney or Rob steps on one.

I found this suggestion somewhere and I've kept a "bad pin" bottle ever since.

This is just a pill bottle with a hole drilled in the top and a title (so I don't accidentally take a needle instead of an aspirin...hah!) Anyway, I can drop bad pins in the bottle and they stay there. And, if I ever fill it up, I can just exchange lids with another empty bottle and toss the full bottle away. I keep this near my sewing machine and I never have to drop pins loose in the trash and then find them later, after my 14 year old has managed to spill the trash trying to empty it into a larger bin to take it out to the curb, because we all know what a complex maneuver taking out the trash is.

Other than that, I'm considering another machine purchase. A good friend is selling her Mother's machine and I'm thinking of buying it. It's a Singer 401 in a cabinet. I've been looking at 301's and 401's for Rob's Mom and this might just do the trick exactly. If I can part with it. You know how dangerous it is to bring a machine into a collector's house. They never leave again. Even if the collector doesn't want them as in that Singer 237 that I really need to re-home. And, can't.

Take care and have a great Wednesday. Lane

When there's nothing important to talk about

2012-01-17T15:19:00.004-06:00

I've spent the morning trying to think of something to blog about. And, I'm coming up blank. That's so unusual for me.

So, what's going on?

Well, Alba Tross, the white featherweight, started clicking on Sunday morning. I guess I expected that. It's a very annoying click. And, I was NOT in the mood to look for it. I was in the mood to sew, not repair a sewing machine for the hundredth time. What's the fun of having a machine if all you do is repair it? So, I set her off to the side. This morning, I was feeling a bit better about having a few seconds to check her out, so I plugged her in and lo and behold, it's the lug motor belt. Ihad it tight enough to turn the handwheel on Saturday, and on Sunday, it was just tight enough that the lugs clicked on the motor housing as they passed by. Holy Crud! It's always something with that machine. The reason it wasn't happening before is that when I tightened the belt, it was warmed up from using it all day. And when I started sewing on it Sunday, it was cold. And, cold, the belt was tighter; too tight. So glad I didn't follow my first instinct and toss her across the room. Anyway, I'm thinking of buying a new belt that is smooth and doesn't have the lugs. I know the lugged belt is supposed to be superior...but that's just one repairman's opinion. Others say the smooth belts are superior. I don't care as long as I finally get that dad-blasted machine to work.

Okay, so that's not so important and unless you actually have a white featherweight that's a total pain in the rear, it doesn't mean much.

This morning, I cut the last of the blue and white four patch units for the sashing on the Story Time Stars quilt. And, just as I picked up the last one, I moved the trash can to drop some scraps in it and what to my wondering eyes should appear but a dozen blue and white four patch units that had fallen off the cutting table, in and around the trash can. Now, that made me feel better that I had not miscounted by as many as I thought I had. But, it made me feel worse that I'd just spent time making more units that I didn't need.

Not important unless you're curious about why I didn't count them to make sure I had all I'd already made. But, that makes way too much sense for my quilting style. Besides, I don't have enough fingers and toes to count to 180.

Sydney is completely being 14. She doesn't want to do anything. Unless it's something she wants to do and then she wants to know how soon I'm going to do it for or with her. I keep saying that she only wants to be around me when my credit card or my car keys are in my hand. When she comes to hug me, I ask "why the hug? I don't have my CC or my keys in my hand." She thinks that's funny. Me? Not so much.

Only important if you have a 14 year old or are going to have a 14 year old or ever were a 14 year old. Because apparently all 14 year olds act this way. My thought is that Charles Ingles never had to ask little Laura to help out. Laura was always there with her hand outstretched to help the family. Charles must have been doing something right that I'm doing wrong. Was it the constant threat of STARVATION?

Last night, I made Kheema Matar for supper. That's an Indian dish made from ground meat. My recipe had 12 steps and 20 ingredients. It took about 45 minutes to make. Rob tasted it and said it tastes like Taco meat. And, he was right. It did. Likely because it had many of the same ingredients as Taco seasoning. Maybe next time, I'll skip all the extra steps and ingredients in favor of a one-step taco seasoning packet and add some curry powder and peas.

I wish my boss was in town. He's from India and could tell me if Kheema Matar is supposed to taste like taco meat.

My life is so dull. And, I'm pretty happy with that right now. I don't need any more excitement. I can only appreciate being so dull when I think back to times when I couldn't possibly blog about all the things going on. Life should be that way. Sometimes exciting and busy and sometimes quiet and restful. Right now, I'm celebrating the restful.

And, that's what I can talk about when there's nothing important to talk about. Rest.

Lane

What we do when we don't blog

2012-01-16T07:55:00.002-06:00

Okay, so normally, I try to keep up with my blogging and correspondence, but this weekend just flew by. First, there was my day with LD. We had a wonderful time. I brought a movie, but we didn't watch it. We sat and talked for 5 hours. And, the only reason we stopped then is I had a conference call I had to dial in to.

We talked about family and friends and food and movies and life and old stories and how we met our spouses and food and we ate. And, we laughed until my sides hurt.

When I got home, we ordered pizza and I just about collapsed. I didn't realize how tired I was.

So, since I was really tired, we decided to replace the kitchen floor. About three years ago, Rob enclosed our laundry room from the rest of the garage. When we did that, we needed a new floor for in there and wanted something to match or closely coordinate with our existing kitchen floor. We didn't find that, but we found this great wood grain and I liked it so much, we bought enough to do the laundry room and the kitchen. We laid the floor in the laundry, this great brown wood floor, right up to the green kitchen floor. And, it sat like that for a few years.

Then, I started to paint the kitchen and we decided we wouldn't worry about the floor until I finished the paint. But, then I think that Rob gave up on me ever finishing that painting and he's ready to replace the carpet, which meant replacing the kitchen floor. So, that brings us where we are now.

I am so glad we did this. I had no idea how bad the old kitchen floor was . And, it's not really this red, but more of a soft reddish brown. The red is something my camera did. Anyway, when we got it home and laid a few squares on the floor, we found that we could lay it in a quilt pattern. And, we did. See how the planks form plus signs? I can't remember the name of the quilt pattern, but I know I've seen it.

Why am I glad we did this? Because that old floor was shot. My sisters gave it to me in the form of gift cards about 13 years ago and it was worn out and there was a ridge of dirt and "mop and glo" between the tiles and a moldy spot under the dog's water bowl. We cleaned and we scrubbed and I scrubbed some more, and finally we got it flat and practically all the glue up so Rob could prime over it. The new floor went down a whole lot easier than the old floor came up, tho.

While I wasn't squatted down in the kitchen, I was working on the Story Time Stars quilt from Bonnie Hunter. I got all the blocks made and I am nearly through with the four patch sashing.

Bonnie made hers with scraps, so didn't know how much to cut. I thought I had cut enough, but I was short. Bonnie, if you're reading this, it was 15 strips of white and 15 strips of blue (1.5" x wof)to come up with the 180 four patches. You end up with one strip set that has to be cut in half and then matched for sub cutting into the four patch units.

I'll keep you posted on progress on this one. It's been a bunch of fun. So easy and so many possibilities.

The pattern was so easy that with a simpler sashing, I could make these for Linus. It would also be a great pattern in a two color quilt. Maybe some red and off-white? I'm really into red this year.

Everybody take care and have a great day. Lane

This is what a disorganized mind looks like

2012-01-13T09:29:00.002-06:00

I can't decide what to work on. So, it's all strewn across the sewing room floor.

I'm taking a couple of dresden plates to LD's today to work on while we watch The King's Speech. And, that's about the extent of my plans for the day. I made a pan of cornbread to go with our lunch.

This mess is really the result of the need for another baby quilt. So, I've started Bonnie's Story-time Stars

Because, you know, I don't really have enough going on, right?

Everybody have a great day. I'm off for my playdate. Lane

Fools rush in

2012-01-12T10:00:00.005-06:00

I'm back to that quote I used the other day from Hope Floats.

"...beginnings are scary, endings are usually sad, but it’s the middle that counts the most. Try to remember that when you find yourself at a new beginning. Just give hope a chance to float up. And it will…”

Right now, I'm at a beginning that could well be an ending and true to the quote, I am both scared and sad and making plenty of room for a whole bunch of hope to float right up.

Our friend LD is not doing so good. She's in some pain and she can't get a referral to a doctor that can move forward with the tests and figure out what to do next. Rob said it best this morning; I don't know whether to cheer her on in the fight or sit and hold her hand.

And, she's allergic to the codeine contained in most pain pills. And, she's disheartened and she needs somebody to talk to. And, I'm betting she's just the least little bit scared. And, probably a whole lot mad that she can't get around and take care of herself. And, I know how to listen to all that without giving advice or trying to "fix" it or deny it.

It's been a long time since I let myself get this close to somebody that might need help.

I lived through the dying years. The days when AIDS was trying to take us all. I've held hands and cleaned up messes and given shots and administered meds and counted pills and held my breath, waiting for someone to take their next breath...or not. I've lived on hospital food and slept in the bottom corner of a hospital bed...or worse, on one of their "torture" cots. I make an excellent caregiver, watching the professionals and repeating what they do. Studying and observing and helping without hovering, staying out of the way, but always being where I need to be. Trusting myself to do what I can...all I can. And, not blaming myself when I mess up.

And, when my obligations were fulfilled for the friends I had, I insulated myself from sickness and death. I just didn't deal with it on the level of people. I chose not to take it on. I had to deal with it in animals, which is hard, but it's not the same thing. With an animal, you get to decide when enough is enough. But, with people, enough is just when the hard part gets started.

So, you can imagine my inclination to RUN the other way.

But, fools rush in and I'm trying to schedule a playdate with her tomorrow. I'll try to do some shopping, if she'll let me, and will help with any errands she needs and water the plants. But, realistically, I just want to sit and talk. Maybe watch a movie. I'll take some applique or maybe I'll take Alba and work on a baby quilt. I'll try to mop the floor and will excuse myself and scrub the toilet. If I get a chance, I'll do a load of laundry. And, any folding or putting away. I'm going to take a big container of frozen "Suzanne's Potatoe Soup" (the manna of life) for lunch and leave the leftovers.

And, I know how to work with her other friends without stepping on anyone's toes, and I've generated excitement around people coordinating visits so that we aren't all there at once, but somebody is there almost every day. And, we split the work to make it manageable for us all.

That's me. The organizer. Behind the scenes, moving things along. Stepping in where I can. Staying away when I need to. Taking care of me and my family and still finding time for friends.

Apparently there's no amount of insulation that can protect me forever, and life does go on. And, I get to decide how much I want to participate.

And, I want to participate this much. Which is a lot.

My cup runneth over. And, that's why I've been crying off and on for most of a week.

The middle part may be the most important part. But, you don't get to have a middle without beginnings and endings.

I know that all my friends will happily put LD in their thoughts and prayers. And, remember the rest of us, too, please. I think there's a bunch of us going to do this together.

Blessing 4: I'm glad I am who I am.

Lane

Update at noon. I talked to LD and she is not doing as badly as was reported. She had a fall and she's in some pain from that and can't get out. But, others are helping and I will be visiting with her tomorrow. We are going to watch a movie. And, we're going to talk. And, I made her promise not to clean up for me...anything she needs doing, we'll do together when I get there.

So, hope floated right up, didn't it? I am excited and so is she about tomorrow. lw

Say WHAT???

2012-01-11T11:05:00.004-06:00

Every so often, I read something that just makes me sit back and say WHAT??? Where in the heck did that come from? And, you guys know that I hold nothing sacred, and am willing to point my critical crooked quilting finger at anybody I don't agree with.

This is real, y'all. It came from Reuters news agency. I went to the source to check and make sure it was real. I've put quotes from the article in italics below.

Pope Benedict said Monday that gay marriage was one of several threats to the traditional family that undermined "the future of humanity itself".

What the hell?

He told diplomats from 180 countries that the education of children needed proper "settings" and that "pride of place goes to the family, based on the marriage of a man and a woman."

Hmmm. He clearly has not visited my proud family lately...and really, shouldn't he be more focused on the "proper setting" being one that prevents harm to children? I mean, clean your own house, dude.

"Consequently, policies which undermine the family threaten human dignity and the future of humanity itself."

Hmmm. Threaten...the future of humanity itself. Policies which undermine how a minority of people define family threatens the future of humanity itself. That sounds like "Do what I say or you will be destroyed." Didn't God promise not to destroy humanity again and gave us the rainbow as proof? Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe that was just a fun Sunday School lesson. I can't remember.

Okay, but you ain't heard the worst of it yet. This came from Cardinal Dull'un...er, I mean Dolan.

Dolan...sent a letter to the president criticizing his administrations decision not to support a federal ban on gay marriage. In that letter, Dolan...said such a policy could "precipitate a national conflict between church and state of enormous proportions."

Ugh, excuse me, but if church and state are separate, can they be in conflict? And, last time I checked, church and state are supposed to be separate here in the United States. Course, church doesn't seem to have come to grips with that yet. But, we're working on that.

Per Benedict: "The family unit is fundamental for the educational process and for the development both of individuals and states; hence, there is a need for policies which promote the family and aid social cohesion and dialogue."

Well, he did manage to get that part right. But, it cracks me up that he thinks he gets to decide what a "family" is. I've certainly known a lot of families in my life. Some were successful and some were not. Some had marriages, some did not. Some men beat their wives, others did not. I've even heard of some that killed their children...but oddly enough, I never hear about gay parents that kill their children. What I've heard instead is that children of gay parents, because they're extra effort to acquire, are cared for just as well as the most loved children of heterosexuals.

So, overnight, I had some thoughts. I thought I'd share them. Cause I'm like that.

Anybody that doesn't think my family is a real family because there's not a "female parent" in residence doesn't know much about what family really is and I feel sorry for them. They're clearly missing out on the whole family experience.

The pope is clearly wrong and thinking in a backward way. Come on, dude. If you wanna survive, you gotta adapt. Besides, you can't be infallible just because you say you're infallible. You need to act infallible to really get the title, don't you? Or is it like Miss Teen USA?

And, if me marrying Rob would potentially bring about the downfall of humanity...well, is humanity really that close to the precipice of downfall? Somehow I don't think so. I mean, a narrow definition of family isn't going to stop people that don't fit that definition from doing that thing that makes babies and from grouping up and making families. And, as long as people do that, won't there be humanity?

If we are that close to the precipice, then Rob and I should get married ASAP before it all collapses around us.

Bad Pope. Bad Cardinal. You should be ashamed. I doubt you are, but you should be.

And, if I offended anybody, look to yourself before you blame me. You'll likely find some good old Catholic guilt is really to blame. And, yes, it's okay to like me, even though I disagree with the pope. I mean, really, he can't possibly care, can he?

Whew, glad that's off my chest. Now I can think about what's really important. Raising a child. Being a good partner. Being a good person. Not bringing about the apocalypse.

Lane

Quirky Dresden Plates

2012-01-10T07:51:00.004-06:00

Last time I blogged about these, they were very different. I was discussing whether they were quirky or just wierd. I've been taking them apart and putting them back together in what I think are more pleasing combinations. Not saying they aren't still quirky, tho.

Look at the one on the right in this picture. There are 9 matching red plaids, but several different dark blues that I pulled from here and there to give me a nice quirky plate. The one on the left is one made by the original maker and I enjoy that the lines in the lighter fabric don't all go the same way.

And, below, the one on the left has a consistent gray print and several reds...even a dark pink that doesn't really stand out like it did in the plate it came out of. The light blues on the right are all different and the bold prints all have blue and orange. Quirky, but a consistent use of those colors through the plate.

And, here are two matchy-matchy ones. I'm not going to get many matchy ones. Most are going to be quirky like the ones above. But, there's a place for matchy-matchy in this quilt, too.

As they said in Poltergeist, "All are Welcome."

And, this is the next one. There are three different blue prints in this and two different browns. But, they go so nicely together to give me a quirky, but pleasing plate. Even with the dirty pieces. (after this is quilted, it will get another good washing with oxyclean and biz.)

This would have been so much easier if she'd done 16 or 20 wedges instead of 18. Getting 9 from one color family and 9 from another is sometimes challenging in this quilt. And, forget about 9 that match. There aren't many fabrics that she has as multiples of 9 wedges from. But, they're great fabrics and I'm really enjoying putting them back together. They take a lot of work to disassemble a plate, press and starch the fabrics, then recut them to straight lines and exactly 20*, but once that's done, the actual hand sewing is a breeze.

I'm planning to applique these to a neutral square and put a center in them...maybe a yellow center since there are NO fabrics with yellow in them. I think this quilter didn't much like yellow because there is every shade of every color you could imagine in these fabrics...except yellow. Or, maybe I'll do the center circles in several different solid color fabrics. You just never know with me. All I can be sure of is that when I need the centers, I'll know what to use.

Or, they'll sit and wait until I do.

Everybody have a great Tuesday. I found that last "tweak" on the white featherweight this morning. One little piece that just needed to be turned the tiniest bit so another piece could slide past it without rubbing. Now, she's at optimal performance again. And, again, I'm tempted to put her back in the box before something else can go wrong. But, now that she's working perfect, how can I not use her???

That's not nearly as much of a connundrum as it sounds. Of COURSE I'm going to use her. At least for a while. Then, I'll switch to one of the others. That's the beauty of collecting.

Lane

Concentration

2012-01-09T08:02:00.006-06:00

It doesn't take much to throw my concentration off. Sydney will tell you...and will enjoy telling you stories that prove it...that I have the memory of a goldfish. But, this isn't about memory. this is about concentration. Focus.

Last week, I put this feathered star together, lickety-split and surprised myself with my accuracy. It just came together. I was absolutely focused.

But, this weekend, this border nearly made me give up quilting. And, the only difference is...focus. I had my mind on other thoughts this weekend and should have just worked on something else...pinbasting a quilt maybe. That's pretty straighforward.

Instead, I worked on it and the more it went wrong, the more I worked, never giving it more of my concentration, just more of my time and energy and stress. I got through the 144 HTS units and laid out how to put them together. And, Saturday morning, I got them mounted to the darker green triangles. And, they were all wrong. Not just a little wrong. VERY wrong. So, I took the strips of HTS pff the darker green triangles and tried to lay them different. And, they were wrong that way, too (reference 1).

So, I took the strips apart. And, I sewed the strips back together while I was adjusting my machine Saturday afternoon and they were wrong again. Now, fortunately, this time, before I took them all apart again, I pulled out the pattern. Isn't that the last thing you check when you've made a mistake? How could I have put those together wrong again? I took one pair apart and then realized that I was trying to put them on the wrong side of the triangles; they are directionally specific. I wanted the darker half of the HTS to point the same way as the larger dark triangle it was mounted to. But, that's not how they went. And, that's all that was wrong the first time, too...see reference 1 above. I had put the HTS strips together right, but had mounted them on the darker triangles backward and just needed to redo that. LACK OF FOCUS! But, taking all that apart did give me something to do while I sat in the sunroom on Saturday afternoon and enjoyed more of the beautiful day we had.

Now, here's where Lane goes real stupid. I didn't pay attention to how the larger triangles were supposed to be cut and I cut them with the diagonal on the long side. So, I'm trying to force the strips of HTS onto the straight of grain edge of a larger triangle and I need that little bit of stretch that bias would have given me...just like Marsha McCloskey described in the book...you know, in the pattern...otherwise known as the last place I look.

That's what I had to set aside and stop working on last night because I couldn't focus and figure out what to do to make the best of my bad cutting, because I absolutely am not going to buy more fabric and start over again.

But, this morning, I struggled the two sections together that you see in the picture above and the other two sections are over half done. But, only because I got up this morning, read through the instructions, focused on what I was doing, used my easy angle ruler to trim off the tips of the triangles and really looked at what I was trying to accomplish and thought about how it could/should be done.

So, here is my White Featherweight. Her name right now is Alba. Alba Tross. (think The Rime of the Ancient Mariner). Don't know if that will stick, but for right now, I'm enjoying it.

She has been an absolute and total burden, just to get her working right. I had her operating at her prime on Saturday evening and I came out and told Rob that she was working at her optimum and so I should probably put her in her box before anything could go wrong. And, sure enough, when I went in this morning and sewed my first strip, I could hear something dragging that was putting extra burden on the motor and I'm not sure what it is. As she warmed up, it stopped. But, I'll still have to find what it is and see if anything can be done.

Because I cannot put down a good mystery. I have to solve the puzzle. There's something in me that will make me stick with this until this machine is in tip top shape. I can't be beaten by a silly old machine. I am the Jane Marple of sewing machines.

Okay, so that's what's on my mind this Monday. My crying is abated for a while and I am back to the middle part...the part that counts the most. Not a scary beginning or a sad ending. Just the middle part.

Lane

The happiest birthday I ever cried about

2012-01-08T17:59:00.003-06:00

Oh, what a wonderful birthday we had yesterday. We had a great plan. I finished sewing down the binding on the gift quilt friday night, gave that bit of white selvege another coat of brown pigma ink and put it in the wash and dry.

When it came out, I made a label and pinned it on and Rob came by and read it and said, "where did you get that spelling for LD's name?" She wrote it in a book and then she gave me the book. "Oh" and he ran for his laptop and I ran for that book. Both found, a new label had to be made. Quick. So, I got that pinned on and folded and rolled this up and we got out in plenty of time to all meet up in the parking lot of her apartment building and then we all tromped up at once and when she came to the door, there were 6 people standing there grinning at her.

She cried. We laughed and we hugged and we laughed. And, we talked and talked and met the most friendly cat in the whole world and I gave her this quilt.

When I handed her the bundle, she said "Oh, you got a new quilt?" and I said No, you got a new quilt. And, she cried. And, we unwrapped it and looked at it and I reminded her where the name The Palette in My Mind's Eye and she said "I said that?" And, she cried.

And, we took it into her bedroom and spread it on her bed and she said "I've been looking for a new bedspread" and I wished I'd added two more rows down the sides cuz it would have fit perfect. And, she showed us all around the apartment and told us the stories of the artwork and the things of a lifetime collecting.

Then, we went to lunch and she ate a good meal and she laughed and we laughed. My mentor was there and she and I sat at the end of the table and took a few minutes to catch up and talk quilting.

Then, we went back to LD's and she shared cuttings of all her plants with me. different and unusual plants that she grows and says are easy. We'll see about that. And, we visited until she started to look tired and then we came home.

I tried to work on the feathered star baby quilt, but everything I've done has been wrong or difficult, so I've put that aside and I'm going to play with my dresden plates.

I did spend all day working on my white featherweight. I've gotten all the last settings set, and reset the timing and adjusted a screw here and an angle there and it si working wonderfully. It's a bit louder than I wish, but my black one is a little louder than I expected, too.

And, I've cried. I can't even and am not trying to stop myself. Too much bad news all at once.

But, my girl. OMG, I have never been so proud of my girl. Rob was the next youngest person there, so I got to see how she interacts with adults. She has trouble tellings stories that adults that aren't around kids all the time could understand, full of drama and "I, like, uh..." But, she listened and she participated and she never looked bored and she answered questions and she shared her thoughts and she told funny and appropriate stories about me. And, she made me proud.

We watched the movie Hope Floats tonight. The line near the end is

“...momma...says....beginnings are scary, endings are usually sad, but it’s the middle that counts the most. Try to remember that when you find yourself at a new beginning. Just give hope a chance to float up. And it will…”

My fourth blessing is I am glad I am who I am.

Lane

Count your blessings

2012-01-06T08:05:00.006-06:00

Okay, I won't pretend. I am bald. But, I'm having a bad hair day. As I understand it, a bad hair day is one where nothing seems to go right, but there's no specific complaint.

That's my day to a T.

Coffee with Rob was quiet as we caught up on the daily news catastrophes and sensational information that we don't need to know about people we don't care about. Then, I went to the sewing room and cleared off space and set up the machine for sewing the binding on LD's quilt. And, I read my email and played with those dresden plates for a minute and woke up the kid and the whole time, I was getting angrier and angrier inside. Just simmering. With no reason.

I stretched and walked and that went well. I worked off some steam and took my shower under my new rain showerhead. Sydney and I had breakfast and we chatted about her day. (Don't you just hate days when you're busting your butt at home and work and your kid is playing games at school? That is not fair.)

Still the day is going well. I had a place in LD's quilt back that had a bit of white selvege showing. Just a tiny point that would normally have been covered by the binding. I wasn't worried about it...until I was pinning it down and realized that with a foldover binding, that was going to show. So, I pulled out my brown pigma pens and took care of that. See the trend? Everything is going right for me. I'm batting a thousand. I should be celebrating, but inside I just can't cool down this simmering anger.

And, the whole time, my shoulders are getting nearer and nearer my ears as the stress builds and I get more and more tense.

And, the whole time the tension is building, I'm telling myself there's no reason, and everytime I do that, the tension tightens up one notch because now I'm not just tense, but I'm tense about being tense.

When this is happening, I have a new trick that I've started to play on myself. And, I'm going to tell you what it is, because like all good tricks I play on myself, once I know they're tricks, sharing them doesn't hurt them or reduce their effect.

I write things down so I don't have to think about them. You're saying you do too, that's why you have a list to keep up with all your lists of things to do. But, I don't mean that.

When something unpleasant gets stuck in my head, I will dwell on it and dwell on it and dwell on it and make sure I don't forget it. But, just like the concept of the to-do list, if I write it down, I have a permanent copy and don't have to keep it in my mind anymore.

This is especially helpful after an argument with Rob, when angry thoughts are still spinning around about what I'd like to have said if I'd just thought of it. I write them down so I don't forget.

And, then I usually forget or lose the piece of paper I wrote it down on. Because after I stop it from spinning around in my head, it really doesn't matter anymore and I can let it go and it gets forgotten. I found such a list just this morning when I was looking for a place to write, from an argument Rob and I had in October. I'd completely forgotten about it. (but I sure am glad I didn't say those things)

After I wrote, I decided I needed to count some blessings. I wanted a beaded something to count blessings on, but not my prayer beads...I'm not sure I could come up with 88 blessings on the spur of the moment, or memorize them if I did. But, a few blessings, I can remember.

Note on my prayer beads. Like the Rosary is for Catholics, the prayer beads give me a great place to focus my mind and my physical energy while I'm thinking something through. That tactile feeling of the beads passing through my fingers helps me get into a zone of concentration, where I can focus on what I need from my higher power. Usually, if I start my beads with a problem, by the time I get to the end, moving one bead for each thought, I've worked it out. And, if I need more than 88 thoughts, the beads form a circle and I can go around as many times as I need to.

So, lacking a short strings of beads, I picked up this chinese thing that I found in World Market a few months ago. I don't know it's intended purpose, so if it's something wicked, don't tell me because I'm using it for good. But, it has 5 stone disks on the cord and a loop at the other end.

I'm going to name each stone for a different blessing. Today, I've got the string looped around a button on my shirt, tucked inside and hanging near my heart. The button is buttoned so I don't have to worry about the string falling off. And, I've thought of my first three blessings.

-I found Rob and we made a family.

-My job, even though it doesn't always feel like a blessing, pays the bills and keeps us comfortable and isn't too much work and doesn't require me to be away from home too much. And, it's stable.

-My quilting because I need an expression of what's inside and quilting gives me that outlet.

I'll come up with two more soon. Blessings are like that. Sometimes you have to celebrate a few really good ones for a while before you can think of any more.

This morning, church music has been going all around in my head. I can't shake it. But, I am glad it's this and not Delta Dawn (thanks Bonnie for putting that one in a couple days ago. as recently as last night I was whistling it).

Count your blessings;

Name them one by one:

Count your many blessings, see what God has done.

The religion of my childhood had some really good ideas. Too bad they were so tightly wrapped in prejudice and judgment and condemnation and vengence.

Everybody have a great Friday. Count your blessings. Name them one by one if you need to. Or, maybe you can sum them up by just feeling blessed.

LD's quilt is going to be ready tomorrow morning, early enough to wash it and deliver it at lunch. We're crashing her birthday party. I haven't crashed a party in 20 years. I'm so looking forward to such decadent behavior.

Lane

Not every quilt has to be a show quilt

2012-01-05T08:50:00.003-06:00

There's still a need in my life for utility quilts. Quilts that are soft and cuddly and not unpleasant to the eye. But aren't beautiful. Or fussy.

I've been making one of those for our friend LD. LD is a new friend of mine, but an old friend of Rob's. She went with us to a quilt show this summer. At that show, I picked up a variety of fabrics. Lots of large scale flowers for some reason, even though that is so not what I usually select. I'm more of a tone on tone kind of guy or small scale prints with lots of background showing through. Things that read as solids and create distinct lines between one piece of fabric and another. Large scale florals tend to have one corner of a piece that disappears into the adjoining fabric, just enough to throw off a design.

But, without even thinking about it, just buying the fabrics that I was drawn to that day, I ended up with a great collection of large scale florals in green, brown, gold and a red-orange zinger.

LD asked what I was collecting fabrics for and I told her I didn't know. I usually just picked things up and when I got home, I looked at what I had and it usually ended up being a perfect quilt. She called that "the palette in my mind's eye that day."

There wasn't quite enough there and I tossed in almost all the large scale floral fat quarters that were in my stash. And, I made a pinwheel quilt using the Square Dance pattern from Martha Thompson. She doesn't really give the number of sqares to start with to make a big quilt and I wanted a very comfortably large lap quilt for LD. I kinda overdid it and it came out a great length, but very wide...wide enough to cuddle with a grandbaby. Perfect.

Then, it was time to quilt it. I have ideas about things that go together. For a pinwheel quilt, I have a random curvy pattern that reminds me of wind blowing. I love it on pinwheels and leaf pattern quilts. Large scale, loose quilting. The fabrics were all florals, so I quilted a flower in the first border. And, the last border had leaves in the fabric print, so I quilted in maple leaves. All really large scale. Nothing fancy. Nothing I'd be ashamed for any experienced quilter to see. But, not something I'd enter into a show, either. And, I'm good with that because not every quilt has to be a show quilt. Some just need to be comfy. And, warm.

The whole time I've been working on this quilt, the name has been "the palette in my mind's eye." What could be more appropriate?

And, then I was stumped. First off, I did not really look forward to hand stitching a binding to the back of such a large quilt. It would take hours. And, hours.

And, hours.

It was one of the reasons I bought a new thimble.

And, I couldn't figure out what fabric to use for the binding. I wanted to use from stash and I pulled one fabric. Hated it. Then, I pulled two more of a different color. Hated it.

At this point, I suffered quilter's paralysis, otherwise known as indecision. When I suffer indecision, I just stop. So, I pushed LD's quilt to the side and started on that feathered star baby quilt. And, LD's quilt stared at me and I caught site of it from the corner of my eye.

This morning, I pulled out a piece of the outer border fabric, the one with the leaves on it, and I laid it against the backing and it looked real nice. So, I was about to unfold that and iron it and use it for a binding. So what if there was no contrast between the binding and the outer border. Not every quilt has to be a show quilt.

Anyway, just before I started to unfold, I thought, "if those look so good together, why not do a foldover binding and machine stitch it from the front. That is so quick! And, I could get it to her faster, before we have any more cold weather. And it will look great." Not every quilt has to be a show quilt.

On the way to work, I talked to Rob. He'd heard from LD. LD has cancer. She's a cancer survivor, twice now. Right now, it's in her hips but they're going to do a full body scan to see if it's anywhere else.

DAMN IT TO HELL.

I think I'm going to the men's for a bit of a cry now. But, tonight, I'll be finishing the binding on that quilt. So we can deliver it Saturday.

Lane

Lost...updated 19:45

2012-01-04T10:47:00.004-06:00

There is a good reason to never throw anything away. I found my old camera, synched it up with my laptop and I'm in business again. lane

Would the person who found my camera cord in the office parking lot yesterday please hurry the heck up and turn it in to lost and found? It won't fit your electronics. It's a very specific connection. So, you may as well just turn it in and save me the trouble of finding another one.

Don't you just hate it when you lose something? I certainly do. I remember the last time I saw the cord. I was wrapping it around my hand as I walked to the car last night, talking to my boss. I was hoping he had seen me drop it and had picked it up, but no.

And, on a day when I had so many photos to show.

I didn't make any progress on the feathered star baby quilt last night. But, I did get a bit of hand sewing time and worked on a dresden plate block. Someone commented that they hoped they'd go back together easily. Thanks for the hope, but that is not to be. The first block I worked on, I was just replacing one wedge. I took the offending wedge out and sewed one side of a new wedge in and it was no longer a circle and the two ends would not meet up. They were very far off...think the letter c instead of the letter o. So, I had to take it all apart, recut the wedges, and sew them back together. Not too difficult. I mean, most of the plates are already apart and the wedges waiting for me to assign them a new plate. But, I did not plan on starching them and re-cutting them. Oh, well. I've finished two blocks now and they are beautiful! I'd show you pictures. But SOMEBODY hasn't turned in my cord yet. You know who you are.

But, you likely don't read this blog, so you don't know I'm sending you commands telepathically.

The other thing is a sewing machine. Everyone knows what a white featherweight looks like, so I don't need a picture of that. Anyway, 14 months ago, I bought a white featherweight at a goodwill auction. And, I've never gotten to use it. I've never given it a name. Other than to call it "cursed".

Before I tell this story, I need to say that I have learned a lot from that cursed machine. A LOT! So don't judge too harshly because sometimes, learning a lesson is expensive.

Here's the story of the day I bought it and you can see that it was missing the bobbin case and the singer name badge and the case had been damaged. But, that was the least of it. Sad thing is, I already had a black featherweight and there was no reason to want a white one...except I wanted it. And, I was just starting to fancy myself as a machine collector.

First, when I was paying, they offered me the opportunity to plug it in and test it out. But, just the day before, they'd assured me that it had been tested, so I passed that opportunity. Which meant I didn't get a 48 hour warranty to return it. Oh, if only I could relive that day and choose differently.

So, I got it home and within 24 hours, realized that something was terribly wrong. It appeared to have been dropped. The hand wheel wobbled and had some paint chipping and it made a terrible noise. Turned out that the main drive shaft that runs horizontally through the middle of the machine and all the little gadgets are connected to was bent. So, I bought a new drive shaft. I took the whole machine apart to get the old, bent one out and while forcing and twisting that, I broke a coupling. So, I had to buy a new one of those. When I got all that installed, the knob on the handwheel wasn't compatible with the new shaft. So, I had to buy a new one of those. I finally got it all put together and got it adjusted and was ready to use it. And, I had found a singer name badge, so it was complete. This was about 10 months ago.

Just as I got the belt tightened, the end broke off the motor housing. The whole housing just broke in half and several little pieces broke off. I'd never noticed that the motor housing had been damaged when it was dropped. It must have been cracked all along and just hanging together, waiting to trick me. And at the worst time, just when I was going to celebrate all my hard work, it just gave up the ghost. I cursed. Then, I cried. Then, I tried to epoxy it back together. (Right, like that was ever gonna work.)

So, I put it away and decided not to think about it. It was clearly cursed and not meant for me to use. But, I also wasn't willing to put it on ebay as a parts machine and sell it for nothing. I kept an eye out for a white featherweight motor housing. I didn't care if the motor was burned out, I just needed the housing. I had a couple of parts dealers looking for one for me. But, nothing turned up. Last week, I saw one on ebay. Buy it now. And, the price was high. Of course it was. I'd never seen one listed anywhere before and no one had come across one. One guy was straight up with me and told me that if he got one, he wouldn't sell it. He'd wait to get a parts machine and put it on that and sell the whole thing for a much higher price. Dealers were the same about the logo. The potential value of those particular parts was just too high to sell the individual parts. I couldn't argue with that. But, it was frustrating.

Anyway, the new motor came in yesterday. It's a more powerful motor than the original I had, which also contributed to the cost. I spent this morning getting it installed. So, now I have a white featherweight that is ready to sew. At least until something else breaks on it. After all. It is cursed.

I could sell it, but I'd have to get absolute top dollar to get all my money back, so I think I'm going to enjoy it. After all, I wanted it bad enough to forget all I know about smart buying. I'll have to think of a good first project for it. And, as I use it, I'll come up with a name. Something other than "cursed" (or one of the other names I've called it).

I really hope I have fixed it all and get to enjoy it. I have certainly been diligent enough and tried hard enough to get to enjoy it. There has to be a reward here somewhere, right?

BTW, I did sell that serger. I have my Mom's serger and I only bought that one to re-sell. I sold it to a co-worker who is a new sewer and quilter for the price I paid. So, she got a steal.

Everybody have a great day. Lane

Saving time on my quilting

2012-01-03T10:28:00.005-06:00

I'm making a baby quilt. I showed the beginning yesterday. The center of the quilt. But, now I need to move out into the faux pineapple border.

Now, the designer and author of the book said 10 hours to cut and piece the whole quilt and I've added an hour for the star in the center instead of a plain square. But, that's still only 11 hours total and I'm 10 hours in and am still about three hours away.

Sounds like a lot, right? But, then I thought about it and I've spent more time than that on plenty of the Linus quilts I've made. So, spending that much time on a friend's baby quilt is not a problem. But, I still want to be careful with my time because it's a busy time of year.

So, I get the center feathered star finished and get the first two borders on. I have to decide which fabric I'll use in the next border, but it will be one of the darker greens. And, then I have all those feathered triangles that make up the faux pineapple border. I need 144 half triangle squares. A HUNDRED AND FORTY FOUR. You're laughing if you're making Bonnie's Orca Bay quilt because you've made way more than 144 HTS units. But, I already made 62 to feather the star and so 144 more is plenty for one quilt. Luckily, they're all identical, so I can quick piece them. This is something I saw on Simply Quilts a long time ago, but have never had the chance to use. I've never needed so many matching HTS units. Mostly mine are scrappy and I cut them from strips with my Easy Angle ruler and then sew them. But, for matching, I can be faster by piecing and then cutting (or more accurately, cutting, then piecing, then cutting some more).

Lucy, this part is for you.

The pattern said I should set aside a half yard of fabric for making HTS units. To test this and to find out how many HTS I could get out of a square of fabric, I took two 9" squares of scrap fabric and layered them together and cut them into strips and sewed them back together and I was surprised at how many HTS's I got out of that. Like 32 1.5" squares out of a pair of 9" squares of scrap. That was wonderful. So, I knew that out of a pair of 18" squares, I should get about 4 times as many or about 128. And, that's turned out to be true. I got a hundred and thirty nine 1 5/8" squares, out of two 18" squares of fabric. And, they only took about an hour and a half to piece and cut.

So, I took my 18" squares and layered them right sides together and pressed them together. This helps them stay together during the cutting. Then, I cut them down the diagonal, giving me a true bias. That left me with two pairs of triangles. My squares needed to be 1 5/8", so I cut my strips a bit wider at 1 7/8" wide. Using that true bias line as my base, I cut one of the triangle pairs into 1 7/8" strips.

Then, I sewed the strips back together, alternating colors and matching one end of each so I'd get a true corner. I learned this from my test piece. If I didn't give myself one good corner, I wasted more fabric. See how the far corner stretches out to the upper right? Lots of that is waste and if I let both diagonal corners do that, it doubled the waste. This is the strip set I created. Note that I get two strip sets like this from one pair of 18" squares.

Then, I cut that strip set into strips, using my ruler to make sure I kept a true diagonal on the seam lines. If one diagonal gets off, that's a HTS that's waste (ask me how I know). So, I checked several before I made my cut.

Then, I cut the strips the other direction into squares. I used a square ruler for this that had a 45* line marked on it. Again, I needed to make sure I kept a good diagonal line in these squares.

Now, I can start joining those squares into new strips that will go on the short sides of some right triangles to create the feathered effect (look at the picture in the book. this is all to make the next to last border). You can see how I have them laid out to form a point. Here's something else I learned. One side is turned one way and the other side is turned the other. The two strips are NOT interchangeable. Ask my seam ripper how I know.

You can see how I'm stacking them into pairs, one pile of pairs pointing one way and the other pointing the other way. I'll keep them separate from here on out to make sure I don't end up with one pointing the wrong way.

Three more hours. Three more hours.

Actually, this has been so much fun that I don't mind spending three or more hours on it. I'm entranced by the fabric combination and how well the block is coming out. And, I'm also converting her template pattern to a rotary cutting pattern. That takes time. I have to measure all her pieces and I wasn't smart enough to measure once and write it down. I've measured some of those templates three and four times to remember the size...too much 1 5/8" or 1 1/2" or 1 1/4"...you know. And, they're all trianges, some of which are easy angle and some of which are companion angle (those are the names of the two rulers that I use to cut them. think of a flying geese block. the larger triangle is the companion and the two smaller triangles are the easy angle. it's all about how the ruler is marked). And, I've had a couple of "mis-cuts". Oh, well. Mis-cuts make scraps and scraps make beautiful quilts. Nothing goes to waste.

Oh, and my other time saver has been the heavy starch I put back into the fabric after I washed it. It's made the fabric a dream to work with. I have no raveling on the wrong side of the quilt top. Straight lines stay straight. And, everything presses together so nice and flat after piecing. I got out of the habit of doing that because I was so focused on how many quilts I could make. This year, I hope to spend more time making fewer but more fabulous quilts and this tip is going to be used a lot. Time to buy stock in the Faultless company.

-------------

Bratling, I can't send you an email. But, you asked where I got the big thimble. It came from bonedrymusic.com. The website will tell how to measure your finger with a metric ruler at the knuckle. Because I was afraid the size 19 would be too big, I also bought a size 18. If that will fit you, let me know and you're welcome to it.

Everybody have a great Tuesday. First day back at work in 2012. wahoo.

I'd rather be quilting.

Lane

Feathered Star

2012-01-02T13:13:00.003-06:00

I've always wanted to make a feathered star. But, I thought it was more than I could do for a long time. Now, I think I can, so I decided to make it my "skill builder" project for this year. I bought a book and studied up.

I found this pattern in Marsha McCloskey's book Feathered Star Quilts. She does hers with paper templates and scissors, but I employed everything I've learned about piecing, from the beginning with prewashing my fabrics and giving them a good, heavy starching. That's saved my bacon. Ms. McCloskey says I should be able to cut and piece this quilt in 10 hours on the sewing machine.

This is 8 hours work. Okay, so I'm giving myself an hour for the pieced center instead of the solid square. But, I've still got about 4 hours of work to go. I just started the pineapple border.

Like I said, I'm employing everything I know about piecing, including cutting bias strips and piecing them back together in stripes and then cutting all those half triangle squares out of that with the rotary cutter. Now, that's been a real time saver.

Hope everyone is having a great Monday. It's my last day off for the holiday. Sydney still has a few days out of school. And, then we'll all be back into our set patterns. Won't that be nice.

Lane

NY day

2012-01-01T09:27:00.003-06:00

When I was a kid, I can remember on NY eve, going around with my Dad and returning anything that we had that was borrowed. I asked why one time and my Dad said that whatever you do on NY day, you do all year long and he didn't want to be borrowing all year.

Funny how the little things from childhood stick with you.

I've adapted. We don't borrow much, but I still try to do things on NY that I hope I'll be doing all year long. That always begins with as much organizing as I can fit in because I'd like to be organized all year long. I don't mean cleaning. I do not want to be doing that all year long. So, I did as much of that as I wanted to do yesterday so I'd be living in a clean house all year, but not actually having to clean it. See the logic there?

But, I do like to be organized. And, that's what I've done with my morning. NY day morning. A morning when I used to be recovering. Now, I'm organizing.

Does that mean I'm old?

Now, I can get to all my machines at hands reach, anytime I want to use one. I found a sturdy card table at Goodwill the other day and am designing a replacement top that I can set my featherweights or my 301 down into. That costs less than a hundred dollars. Yes, I know they make one and when I had the chance to pick one up for steal with my FW, I didn't do it and I keep a constant bruise on my backside from kicking myself over it. So, now I'll try to make one cheaper.

When I used to work in the grocery stores, we did something called fronting. It was boring work. We'd walk down the aisles pulling product to the front so that it was easy to grab and made the shelves look full. That's what I did with my stash this morning. Just fronted it all because it was all shoved in there everywhichaway as I'd been adding and pulling over the course of the year.

And, I got all the thread and empty project hangers in one place. Thread seems that have legs and walk all around. I find it everywhere.

And, I herded all teh scraps into my scrap user cutting tubs. If I can't get to it, I'll never get it cut up and used. And, I found a ton of muslin and a ton of little pieces that just needed to come out of the stash. They were rolling up every time I tried to move anything around.

I also got all the quilt backs that I've bought this year together and stored in one bin where I can get to them easy...so I'll stop thinking I need quilt backs. Because I could never find one.

Does that mean I'm old?

And, I refolded all the neutrals and got them fitted back in their drawers. They were starting to hang out like unfolded underwear.

And, I like to do new things, so while I was organizing, I pulled out a few fabrics and I"m going to try a bias strip method to make a bunch of hst's for a quilt. I've always wanted to make feathered star and I picked one in a Marsha McClosky book that she says I can piece in 10 hours. I'm going to put that to the test. Not all today, but starting today. Because I want to be quilting new and fun things all year long.

I'll also cook a little and spend a few minutes in the yard. All things in proportion. Just like I'd like to do them all year.

Okay, so have a great NY day whatever you decide to do. But, don't do anything unpleasant, just in case my Dad was right, okay?

Lane

Three trips

2011-12-31T07:27:00.003-06:00

It's time to paint the bathroom. And, it's time to do some shower repair. One of the problems we have is that our shower is about the size of a postage stamp...okay, I can't lie. It's really the size of a telephone booth. But, unlike the TARDIS, it is not bigger on the inside. Anyway, the shower jet hitting the corner means that corner is in a constant state of being repaired...a couple of times a year. So, I decided that maybe it would be better if the shower jet didn't hit the corner, but rather hit the floor or a wall. Only took me 13 years to figure that one out.

Anyway, I decided to replace the shower head with one that had more flexibility. Maybe a handheld. So, off to Lowe's Sydney and I go. We get home and I try the hand held and if I used the braket that came with it, it would only spray into the same corner that I was trying to stop spraying into. But, Sydney loved it, so she got that one as a new shower head. And, since our shower was out of commission, I got to try it and it was fabu in her tub/shower.

So, we went back to Lowe's. I couldn't find anything I could get happy with, so I basically replaced the pieces I was taking out with the same pieces, just aiming them at the floor. Would'a worked. But, as I was about to screw the pipe into the wall, I noticed that I had 9 1/2 inches above the pipe that I could take advantage of. And, I remembered this rain shower head from Lowe's.

So, we went back to Lowe's. Haven't gotten to try it yet. Another hour and a half until the grout is fully dry.

Now, when I shop, I shop slow and steady and don't get flustered. But, yesterday, I was with the kid and every time I made a mistake, she stepped in and helped. For example, we used the same self pay register every time we went. I couldn't get the credit card in the pay slot right, despite the picture they put on the side of the machine (and apparently despite the fact I'd just been there). So, she grabbed it out of my hand and took care of the transaction. I got flustered at some point of the day and never got back my gracefulness. I was uncoordinated and clumsy all morning. But, she was cool, calm and collected. Probably made me look like some elderly dementia patient as this child helped me out. But, I don't care. She liked it and we got through the day just fine.

I'm nearly done with LD's quilt. I'm working that narrow orange border now. Already down one long side. But, I've got a couple of NY Eve projects to complete so I'm up and moving.

Washing those dresden plates went swimmingly. The wash water and the first two rinses were disgusting. Truly disgusting, brown. The wash water looked like I'd brought in a handful of mud and swished it into a sink of dishwater. Yuck! No wonder they were making me feel sick. Then, I layed them out to dry and I've got most of them apart as far as I wanted. The white cotton thread she used is tough as nails to get out, tho so it's slow going to try and cause as little damage as possible to the fabrics...which are in FANTASTIC shape. Stiff cottons and feedsack and a few dress fabrics.

Some plates, I'm just replacing one or two wedges. Some I've broken into pairs of wedges so I can put them back together with other pairs of wedges. Odd thing, there are 18 wedges to a plate. I'm used to plates that are divisible by 4, but these aren't. Hmmm. That could make for some very interesting re-construction dilemmas as she seems to have made the plate as big as it came out and then when she joined the last two wedges, she just made them as big or as small as she needed to get it to lay flat.

Secret time. I haven't done that in a long time. But, based on the old methods of handpiecing and scissor cutting, this was a very effective method. And, what tiny stitches. These were clearly put together by somebody that knew what she was doing. Except for the colors. That's so weird.

Take care and have a great New Year's Day. I've gotta get to the grocery so we can have our black eyed peas tomorrow and remember what it was like when our people were poor. Yes, we still do that. And, we each got an orange in our stocking, too. But, they were oranges from MY TREE!

Lane

quirky vs weird

2011-12-29T07:06:00.002-06:00

Guess I'm not through talking about these plates yet.

After reading all the feedback from yesterday's post I came home and looked at my plates again. I like the idea or quirky, too, but some of these plates are just weird. But, not quite weird enough to be quirky. And, I see so much potential that I just can't resist making a few changes.

So, I'm going to do both matchy-matchy and quirky. I'm going to make as many matchy matchy as I can and then I'm going to take the rest apart and make plates that are more quirky. For example, in the two at the top of the picture below, I can use all the red plaids by mixing different red fabrics to make a whole block with red and some other color wedges. And, there's lots of different blue fabrics that show up in a wedge or two and I can combine them to make a block.

And, some plates can just be a conglomeration of different wedges, so long as they read alternating dark and light. I'd like to get four plates like that and use them in the corners.

But look at that blue and green plate above. It's a shame to leave that one mismatched blue fabric when there's another wedge of the right fabric in another plate. And, for that plate with the blue fabrics and the plaids? There's a ton of light blue stuck here and there that would give me a better contrast with that plaid than the mixed colors above.

But, first they have got to be washed. They're making me ill when I touch them. I'm going to hand wash them and lay them out tomorrow when the humidity is low and then I can start working on them. And, there are about a half dozen wedges that won't be usable. They're just too badly stained and two are torn. But, I have a great collection of vintage prints that I can cut replacement wedges out of.

But, I cannot get distracted. I have to not get distracted. I'm down to the borders on LD's quilt and I so would like to finish that this weekend. I started this border yesterday with a variegated thread and while that thread was great in the quilt center, where there's a ton of variety in fabric and color, it was not good for the border. Not a problem. I have quite the variety of collected thread. So much so that I only buy thread if I know what I want to use it on. No more collecting. Thread is not as easy to store as fabric. But, no more of that either.

I got a JoAnn's giftcard for cmas and I'm thinking about buying Linus batting with it next time it's on sale. That's all I can think of that I need.

Take care and have a great Thursday. It's my last day at work and I think there are only going to be two of us there. I'm planning an early day.

Lane

To pick, or not to pick

2011-12-28T08:26:00.003-06:00

There are lots of benefits to getting to choose some of your Christmas presents, namely getting to choose the very thing you'd like most.

This is one of those gifts. These are hand pieced dresden plates. They are made with tiny stitches and each is basted around the inner and outer edge. There are 20 total. Only one is torn. Two have mildew stains. The rest are perfect...tho dusty.

About half of them are beautiful combinations of fabrics with alternating light and dark matching fabrics...all the same light and all the same dark fabrics.

The other half look like they were made by somebody else, tho the technical workmanship is equal. Some are these weird combinations of fabrics, where wedges are barely the same color, much less matching fabric. The weird thing is that I think all the fabric pieces are there to make the matchy-matchy plates, but they got put together wrong. For example, there's a pink and purple block in the upper right corner. Except two of the purple wedges have been replaced with blue wedges and two of the pink replaced by off-white. And, in another plate, a blue and off-white plate, there are those two purple wedges and the two pink wedges. In fact, several plates are matchy matchy, except for two dark wedges and two light wedges. And, those missing dark and light wedges are in another plate. You can see an example on the right, just in front of the purple/pink plate. That one has two beige wedges that seem to go somewhere else. I don't get it.

Likely the reason these didn't get turned into a quilt.

Anyway, that poses the choice whether to take them apart and fix them, which is a shame given the beautiful workmanship that assembled them, or leaving them alone, which is a shame considering their potential to be fabulous.

So, I will likely leave all the matchy matchy ones and take as few wedges out of the ones that are wrong as possible and make the corrections. That way, I get to preserve the workmanship where it is practical and I can re-do to make the rest beautiful.

I have a wonderful piece of vintage muslin that I want to mount them to. There's at least enough muslin for 16, if not all 20. And, that torn piece will have to be replaced, which might throw the whole thing off.

And, did I mention they are dusty? I might have to do the thing I hate worst of all and hand wash them and iron them before I can work on them. I hate washing things with raw edges. Sounds like a New Year's project to me. After all, whatever you do on NY day, you do all year, so I plan to spend it quilting.

Take care and have a great Wednesday. Another quiet day at the office.

Lane

Graciousness

2011-12-27T09:52:00.004-06:00

This time of year, graciousness is really the name of the game. And, it's been at the top of the emotional heap for me, for a while.

Graciousness is greeting your dentist with a smile. It's also smiling at the hygenist, who you know is about to hurt you.

Graciousness is smiling when someone unexpected gives you a gift and you don't have anything in return.

Graciousness is smiling when someone gives you an expensive gift and you gave them a bag of coffee beans and a tin of biscotti and you're feeling really uncomfortable.

Graciousness is when you eat a friend's home made snacks and tell them how wonderful they are...and rush to brush your teeth to get that god-awful taste out of your mouth.

Graciousness is not continuing to send cards to people you don't like...just graciously backing down from that responsibility.

Graciousness is spending time finding things your best friend will like and smiling when you unwrap bath soap in return.

Graciousness is inviting her for dessert after not being invited to her house on the one year she decides to cook after she's come to your house for every holiday in the last 17 years.

And, graciousness is smiling through the stilted visit when she comes for dessert...and doesn't eat any dessert...and doesn't take off her coat.

Graciousness is chatting with the postman and wishing happy holidays to the grocery clerk and the bag boy that just bagged a twelve dollar ham with five pounds of sugar and a bottle of toilet bowl cleaner.

Graciousness is having a holiday free from argument, even if you really want to spend time with a teen that doesn't want to have to actually do anything, not even be pleasant.

As I learn to deal with my fear, and subsequently with my anger, I find that I need, more and more, to work on being gracious. For me, the opposite of being angry is being gracious, no matter what's spinning around in my pointy little head that I'd like to say. As I spend less time on anger, I am required to spend more time being gracious.

Okay, so that's what is on my mind for the day. Hope everyone is having a wonderful Tuesday. I'm back at the office. 80% of my work group is not here, so it's being a really quiet day. Oh, what I could accomplish if every day was this quiet.

Lane

And, on the thirteenth day of Christmas

2011-12-26T15:44:00.002-06:00

I locked myself in the sewing room. Kinda like propped a chair against the doorknob locked in. And, let Cousin It sleep till 11. That was UNHEARD of.

I worked on my friend Linda's quilt and am almost finished with the inside and then I'll work the borders.

And, I went and sat in the sunroom and crocheted in the sun for a while and let that treat my seasonal affective disorder. Ahh, ya just gotta love holidays in the south. It was so nice to have a cold Christmas. Usually we're in shorts. But, this year, we got to bundle up.

When the kid was up, I advised them both that the first person that said food (as in what time are we gonna eat or what are we gonna eat) or cooking (as in what are you cooking for lunch) or shopping (as in I am locked in the sewing room for a reason) would be fed to the fishes.

Granted, maybe not that great of a threat. But, I think they got the message.

All in all, a successful Christmas and everyone lived until it's time to go back to work. Or maybe it's a successful Christmas BECAUSE everyone lived until it's time to go back to work.

Hope you had a restful and relaxing Monday off and if you didn't, that your workload was light and customers still reveling in good will toward men...and women.

Lane

And, on the twelfth day of Christmas

2011-12-25T19:09:00.004-06:00

Well, mostly we ate.

We started with this Bubble Bread, or Monkey Bread or Pull-apart Bread...it has lots of names. Anyway, ours was delicious and we needed the fortification...

Because we had a lot of unwrapping to do.

The packages went round the side...

And, round the back.

We had such a good year that we had to use an overflow tree.

And, then we had lunch.

This holiday, I decided to do the traditions. The tablecloth and cloth napkins and good glasses. There weren't many of us, but we used the Christmas dishes. Ham and scalloped potatoes and green bean casserole, home made rolls, Copper penny carrots. And, Rob asked for an old fashioned congealed salad, lime jello style. Ahh, the 60's at their very best.

And, then I washed two mountains of dishes. That's in addition to the two mountains I did yesterday. Note the green linen shirt and the blue Chanukah apron. Oh, and the bulging belly, that's just how I was standing...do you wanna argue about that?

And, then we had desert. Okay, so maybe that bulge isn't just the way I was standing. Maybe it was part how tight I had the apron tied. See my table runner? That's from the little old lady.

After that, my best friend and one of her sons came by and we visited. Now, I'm going to have a sandwich and we're watching a movie and then it's "to all a good night..."

I hope everyone had as wonderful a day as we did. No matter what your traditions are, I hope they gave you peace. Lane

On the leventh day of Christmas

2011-12-24T13:58:00.004-06:00

I devoted the day to me.

Rob and I went shopping this morning, before most stores opened. Just the two of us. Much laughing and having fun. We went to the grocery for the last couple of things I needed for tomorrow and a new food processor...Merry Christmas to me! Then, back to half price books for a couple of quilting books I decided in my sleep that I had to have. Then to Goodwill, where I got myself another covered project box. Love those. Great place to collect fabrics,tools and pattern until I'm ready to make a quilt. And, we each found a shirt. I found a great Christmas green linen shirt that is definitely going to be the ta-da for tomorrow.

And, then we came home and I decided to bake. So, out came the big mixer. Heavy lifting, both figuratively and literally.

And, the cookbooks.

I started the vegetables for tomorrow. Rob loves carrots in a tomatoe sauce, called Copper Pennies and they need to sit overnight. I used carrots from my garden. All the carrots I got this year. There weren't many, but they were very sweet and tender.

And, I made an apple pie. And, my friend Cathy's grandmother's Piping Hot Potatoe Rolls that are rising now. That will be rolls for tomorrow and dough to make monkey bread or bubble bread or pull-apart bread or whatever they call roll dough, rolled in butter and cinnamon sugar and layered in a tube pan with a handful of pecans in your part of the world. That will be our early morning snack before brekie in the morning while we open gifts.

And, a batch of shortbread that's chillin' in the fridge.

Oh, and about that pie. Well, it's chillin' now, too.

Just finished crying from It's a Wonderful Life and now it's time to go do the dishes. Yippee. Then, it's just sitting and finishing a bit of wrapping and if I get the time, I'll finish Sydney's zebra pants and she can wear them tomorrow. I got almost done this morning, but still need to add the elastic and hem the legs.

No cooking for supper. Rob brought home our annual tamales. Tamales are a Mexican Christmas tradition and you guys know that we try to honor every tradition we can. They don't have to be ours to be good.

Yeah! dishpan hands. And, yeah! old traditions. And, yeah making a pie, not because we don't already have a pecan pie in the house, but just because Rob asked for it and when I tried to weasel out of it yesterday, he took the disappointment so well. So, nothing to do but make it for him with a happy grin. Sometimes I just need permission to not work too hard to give me just that bit of incentive to "heavy lift".

Nowe, it's the old familiar A Christmas Carol with Patrick Stewart. Great movie to wash to.

Lane

And, on the tenth day of Christmas

2011-12-23T15:15:00.003-06:00

Pop blew his top.

I had literally heard all the griping and complaining that I was able to take. Two days, devoted to giving the kid as many of the good holiday memories as she wanted. And, I just got fed up with it.

So, now the fight's over and we can look forward to all the good things that go with the holidays. I'll be doing some baking. Alone. And, I'll be doing some cleaning. Alone. And, I'll be doing some sewing. Alone.

Because, tis better to do than, to listen to others complain about, well, everything.

Okay, making it sound really bad, but it wasn't so much. I just had enough and explained (loudly) that if she didn't want to do any of that stuff, she didn't have to, but I wasn't doing it by myself so she could come in and enjoy the fun parts like frosting the cookies. Poo on that.

Anyway, Rob and I have had a great time. We cleaned the carpets yesterday so we could get the "trail of juice stains" up that goes from the kitchen to the sofa. And, after that, we went on a last minute shopping trip and then gorged ourselves on Indian food and came home and he had a nap and I didn't do much and then last night, after supper, the neighbors came for a couple hours and that was fun.

This morning was much the same. I finished a pair of Charlie Brown lounging pants for Rob and then we went shopping again, and spent most of the morning at half price books and then good burgers for lunch and home. Another nap for Rob and I cut out a pair of zebra lounging pants for Sydney. Now, it's time to clean the kitchen so I can feel good in there tomorrow when I do the last cooking.

Alone. At last, I've found the secret to happy holiday memories. A Christmas cruise just for parents.

Everybody have a great Friday. Two more days and I can go back to work.

Lane

Now, we've had dinner and gone out for a holiday lights drive. If holiday lights are a sign of optimism, Austin is very optimistic. Nice. All attitudes are good. The naughty list will not need to be reconsulted.

Take care and sleep well. Visions of sugarplus, y'all. (ohhh, don't be surprised if I use that again, tomorrow night.)

Lane

An epic tale

2011-12-21T05:57:00.004-06:00

Once, in a time not too far off and a distant land called Tex-as, there lived a hand. Not a particularly pretty hand, but a very artistic hand that loved to sew. The hand was strong, muscular and straight, with wide fingers designed for survival.

On this hand, there was a finger that was the strongest finger for sewing. Unfortunately, on the side of that finger was a scar, procured from a long ago battle with a broken jar and a grocery store manager who didn't give very thorough instructions on how to retain the cap from broken jars so the store could be reimbursed. Several stitches were required and from thence to now, the hand knew that it could never commit a crime because of the very peculiarity of the finger print. (The hand also realized it was hard to take this photo without sending an unintended message).

One day, the hand went in search of a thimble. The hand had a vast fortune that it was willing to spend in pursuit of the perfect fit. Thimbles were brought in from distant lands, like Flo-ri-da and Kan-sas and Eng-land. Old thimbles, new thimbles, leather thimbles, steel thimbles, silver thimbles; all were caused to be assembled into one place so that the finger on the hand could test them for the perfect fit.

But, the finger could find no thimble which gave it pleasure. In fact, most gave only pain and the heartbreak of money wasted on shipping. The hand considered cutting off part of the finger to make it fit one of the beautiful thimbles, much like the older sister did her toe to make the glass slipper fit in the original tale of Cinderella (the brothers Grimm were grim indeed.) But, alas, that was considered a foolish thought in all the realm.

And, then, when the finger had given up all hope of finding a thimble and was considering having a thimble made...at great cost to the kingdom of the hand, The hand tried one last world wide search.

And, there it was. Not available from any sewing outlet or antique dealer or any other source that the hand would have previously considered. No, this thimble was in the warehouse of a folk music supplier that catered to men who play the washboard for Zydeco bands; so not a traditional resource for sewing supplies. It was promptly sent for as a priority from the land of Saint Louis in Miss-oo-rah.

Finally, it arrived. The hand, along with it's partner, Righty, ripped into the offending cardboard and bubblewrap packaging and heaved out the bundle and tore through the tape, all in pursuit of the thimble; so small for the large box it was shipped in. And, then beautiful music began to play as the thimble found its way to the tip of the finger and covered the scar and nuzzled comfortably against the knuckle. Ahhhh, comfort and joy.

While still new, the thimble was shown great love and affection and much purring was done about it's beauty. The finger was loath to take it off, except it made the finger strike two or three laptop keys simultaneously with little control. It was given a beautiful Earnest Steiner, enameled green, walnut shaped sewing kit to rest in when not being used by the finger. An appropriate resting place for an item so long pursued.

And, all was well with the world. Peace reigned.

And, how come I had so much hand sewing to do before I got a thimble that fits and now, I've got nothing to work on?

Everybody have a great Wednesday. I know I promised I wouldn't talk about thimbles anymore this year, but hey, I'm so proud I could POP! I have to surrender it at some point so Rob can wrap it and put it under the tree for me.

Hey, anybody wanna buy a thimble? I've prolly got one that would fit you.

Lane

All that and the kitchen sink

2011-12-20T05:27:00.004-06:00

So, holidays bring up memories; all kinds of memories. I'm doing happy memories, but happy memories are sometimes weird memories.

When I was a kid, we went to my Grandparent's house for Christmas day. We got up and unwrapped our gifts and dressed and Mama made whatever her contribution to lunch for 60 was and we'd drive to their house, passing many of my Aunt's and Uncle's houses on the way. That was my family; very close.

Everyone came. I'm from a blended family where all the kids were raised together, even though some were actually 1st cousins and some were steps. But, everybody came for Christmas and everybody's kids came except some of the oldest, who had married and made other Christmas traditions before this big event really got started. Everyone visited while my Grandmother and the Aunts made lunch. My grandfather was in the back, cleaning a hand saw to cut through the ham bone so it could be sliced. And, one of the Uncles with a Polaroid as big as the ham I'm cooking this weekend and then a wind up super 8 and a light bar with three floods, blinding people everywhere he went.

First the men ate. The men could have men talk. And, while the men ate, the women fed the children. I know, it's an old-fashioned tradition that we would shudder at today, but this was a long time ago (a looooong time ago). Then, the women washed the men's plates and the women ate. And, don't feel all sorry for the women. I listened to them at table sometimes and they had way more fun without the men there than they ever would have in a mixed group that included their husbands.

The next flash is the Aunts at the sink, cleaning it all up, each in an apron. My grandmother packaging the leftovers, one Aunt scraped plates into the trash, one washed in the huge porcelain sink with Ivory Snow washing powder, one dried, one put away, and one watched the children. And, they laughed and they talked and they laughed and they talked.

Later, when Christmas started moving and my Mom and my Aunt Ducky (sometimes you don't have to make up names for the internet) started to compete to get to have the family, my Dad and his brother and I did the dishes. While the women ate in the dining room, Uncle B would scrape and my Dad would wash and I would dry. And we laughed and we talked and we listened in on the women and we laughed and we talked and Daddy and Uncle B told old stories.

After lunch, any gifts were exchanged and my Grandparents opened theirs. And, we ate divinity candy and chocolate pie and fruitcake cookies and coconut cake and I don't know what else and the grownups drank coffee and the kids listened to the adults talk and tell stories. And, then everyone went home and it was all over for another year.

Unless we all came back for supper...;-)

Lane

What did you ask Santa for?

2011-12-19T11:12:00.002-06:00

We were shopping the other day. Our last stop was this really cool artisan mall...okay, the last time we went there, it wasn't cool at all. So, we didn't go back. I drove by the other day, declared it cool again from the outside and so we shopped on our way home on Saturday. Unfortunately, between our uncool visit and our cool visit, they'd lost their lease, so there wasn't much merchandise and everyone was packing to move. But, we could tell that for a short time it was a cool place to shop, exactly the kind of place I'd expect in Austin.

One of the first people we encountered when we walked in was an older lady selling quilts. Not special quilts. Not particularly good workmanship. Not particularly pretty. Just an old lady, selling craft fair quality quilts for prices that no one would balk at. I approached her table and saw the hand written sign that said "quilts $40" she started talking to me in a very slow...painfully slow...impeded speech about the holiday quilts I was looking at being table runners. I said "And, they're lovely." and we moved on. What did I need somebody else's quilt for?

But, sometimes, things stick in my head. And, I decided I wanted one of her quilts. No matter what it really was. No matter that I could do better. I decided to go back yesterday and get one. Something. Anything. More to help her than for me.

Because as a quilter, I felt led to help this quilter out. (I mean, we're both quilters. That makes us like family, right?) I don't know why in particular I made my decision. Don't really care why. But, something in me wanted to do this.

Rob and I went to the grocery yesterday morning and he and Sydney were going shopping after that. And, he asked if there was anything I wanted. And, I said yes, I want one of that lady's quilts. And, we both knew it was likely a charitable donation, made in my name, as a gift for the season.

I don't know what they bought me. I know that Rob said the cost was higher than the value of the item. But, I'd rather that those few Christmas dollars went to help out a quilter, who, for all we know, might be rich as Midas. Or, might be a little old lady, on a fixed income, selling her skills for a little extra holiday money. I hope it's the latter. So, that's what it was, and what it always will be, in my mind. A gift to her as much as a gift to me. And, like all good Christmas presents, we're all going to have to wait until Christmas to find out.

But, I know it's a holiday table runner and I'll bet it ends up on my Christmas table at some point. Might be just the thing to cover that stain in my Christmas table cloth.

Take care and have a great Monday. Support the arts if you can. Support the artisans every time you can.

Lane

I hope I cry everytime

2011-12-18T06:04:00.003-06:00

Every time that Beth dies in Little Women.

Every time that Sophie makes her choice.

And, every time that a somebody that shouldn't be able to, does.

Every time the boy's choir forms while Cary Grant and The Bishop's Wife enjoy the music.

Every time that Scrooge laughs and buys the turkey.

Every time that a pet dies, even if it's just a silly old fish.

Every time that Sydney walks on a stage.

and every time that a good book ends.

Because that means I can still feel stuff. So, I can laugh...

Everytime that silly squirrel we've named Lola digs in the back yard and flips and rolls in the cool spot while I do dishes at the picture window.

Everytime the cat and dog play chase...and the cat is chasing; to the left, the dog chases the cat, to the right, the cat chases the dog, back and forth and back and forth.

Every time Rob tells a joke or speaks in an accent.

Or, when some TV character cracks wise in a dry and witty way.

Or, when I cut a quilt back wrong.

What must it be like to get all dried up and not be able to laugh and cry?

Lane

The Holiday Spirit

2011-12-16T09:02:00.002-06:00

I blogged a couple of days ago about not being in the holiday spirit. Since then, I have heard from so many people that they feel the same. That's given me reason to think and I'm always one to share what I think.

Remember a few years ago? The holidays were special. Stressful or peaceful, didn't matter. They were a special time. The rest of the year was kinda bland, and then there were the holidays. You could look forward to them. Everyone was anxious for the holidays and excited to see them draw near

Today, we are so bombarded with stimulation; every day hangs heavy with the possibility of doom. The news networks and the politicians have had us so excited and anxious for so long that holidays can't even compete in the anxiety/excitement arena. Holy Roly-Poly.

A few days ago, a friend and follower sent me an email. She lives in Israel. She asked me if I was going to wear my Chanukah apron this year. It took me back a bit. (Thank you Sarah.) A holiday tradition that is so specific to me and my family that it made me sit back and take some thought...and bless her for remembering it.

First, the holidays are not about the presents or the wrapping paper. It's not about the gift count or who can run up the most credit debt or who gets the most holiday greetings. I give my family gifts all the time. But, there are traditions that I can't box up that are the real meaning of the holidays for us. And, they're the things I have to not lose sight of. For us, it's about over abundant food and time spent together and time spent apart and shopping trips (not the buying, but the being together away from home), board games, and candy making and holiday dishes and yes, my blue Chanukah apron. It's about the Camelias that only bloom during Christmas week and Sydney's pink cactus that she doesn't realize is about to burst into bloom, as predictable as the turning of the calendar. It's cold, blustery, rainy days and wondering if the homeless can stay warm. It's about handing out; out the car window, across the street, into the red kettle; where ever my hand can reach. It's about singing the beloved carols and putting up the decorations that have become wrapped up in the tradition for our kid. It's about building people up and doing things that I don't usually do.

And, it's not about worrying whether the stock market will crash or Iran will bomb or whether any candidate for president will actually try to do what they say, good or bad. It's not my business to worry about Sandusky or the grandma in Florida that tried to kill her daughter's ex or whether gary busey cried on celebrity wife swap. I feel sorry for the professionals that have to think about things like that at this time of year (busey has gotta be a holiday bummer!) But, I don't have to think about it and I don't have to know more than I want to know and mostly, that's about it not being any of my business.

Fa-la-la-la-laaaa-la-la-la-lah.

I'm not saying I'm going to stick my head in the sand and pretend there are not significant threats in the world. But, I am saying, I've got a kid and the most important thing that I want to have going on right now is sharing with her the good traditions that I remember from all the Christmas holidays of my life. And, hoping that one day, she'll share the good ones with her kids. And, so on. And, in a way, my Grandmother and my Mother and I will live on as long as turkey and dressing.

So, I pulled my apron out this morning and hung it on the hook in the kitchen. Step 1.

Oh what fun
It is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh.

Lane

When life doesn't give you broccoli

2011-12-15T07:38:00.005-06:00

Okay, so I am trying to be the do-it-all guy. And, we all know that do-it-all is impossible. But, I'm holding my own.

My holiday party was last night. Rob's is a luncheon on Friday. He always takes a side dish and we always get compliments. So, when he reminded me on Monday that he needed a dish, I said "I can do that"...ignoring the fact that I have been cleaning out the cupboards and we have no spare food in the house.

Tuesday morning, I looked through the cupboard and found no inspiration. What am I gonna do???

Tuesday night, I looked through the cookbook for vegetable casseroles and the only thing I had everything for was broccoli rice casserole. Rob isn't fond of rice, but this time, it couldn't be helped.

At 5:30 this morning, I stumble into the kitchen with my laptop open to the recipe and I start pulling stuff out. Except there's 1 cup of freezer burned frosty broccoli left in a bag, near the back.

So, I went back to the cupboard and nothing. I ransacked the freezer and pulled out all the green veggies I had...the cup of freezer burned broccoli, some peas, some peppers and onions and a can of green beans. I steamed it all together, made 6 cups of rice, and mixed up all the liquid ingredients, including grating and melting about a pound of cheese.

Put it all together. Taste it. Wonderful. Bake and Voila!

A gallon of veggie rice casserole. I mean, who needs broccoli. We all know that the only purpose of the broccoli is to be a carrier to make the cream of mushroom soup, cream of chicken soup, and pound of cheese sound healthy. Any veggie can do that.

This next pic is for you, Bonnie Hunter. It took months after your post about your sewing trolls for me to find any. But, I stumbled up on them in an antique shop on Saturday and snatched them up. The hardest thing was to figure out which ones to buy. They had about 12. Should have bought them all, but settled on this couple. One sits at each sewing machine.

And, the final chapter on thimbles for this year. I swear. The size 15 thimble came in the mail yesterday. First, it fits inside of a size 12. According to all the research I've done, it's not supposed to. Second, it would fit my pinky, if my pinky was strong enough to sew with. But, it ain't. To make it worse, I cannot find the size stamped on the thimble. It's like the seller just made it up. FRUSTRATING!! At that point, I just said "I give up" and Rob actually raised his voice (an infrequent occurence) to tell me that my unwillingness to spend real money on a custom fit thimble was irrational. And, clearly annoying. Okay, okay, I get it. And, as much as I've tried not to think about spending over a hundred dollars on something the size of a...well, a thimble, I might.

Hey, who doesn't need a good splurge once in a while???

And, this is the answer to Elizabeth's question about the holiday quilt; how many hours, how much thread?

Each corner took approximately 11 hours. The center, including the sashing, took about 14 hours. The border took at least 16 hours, maybe as many as 20. That's because of the pebbling. Another couple of hours to bind and an hour for the sleeve.

I used thread from three different spools on the top, so not exactly sure how much, but I started with a fresh, 1250 yard spool of bobbin thread and I can see the cone through what's left (not much left). I wish I knew how much thread fit onto a bobbin. I used 32 large bobbins. So, I'm going to call it 2300 yards of thread total (including what I picked out, which was considerable).

Everybody have a great Thursday. My day got off to a rollicking start with a very bad meeting. Really, it's a bad idea to try to tell me that what my boss is asking me for is information that I don't need. I tried to politely explain that I am stuck between a rock and a hard spot because them saying I don't need it doesn't mean my boss is going to stop asking. Conversation became heated and I suggested they tell my boss directly that HE doesn't need the information, things calmed down a bit and we got down to some serious work. Turns out that if I say the right thing, I can apparently get the information, whether I'm supposed to need it or not.

My boss likes that I get results. I hate what I have to do to get results. It leaves me feeling like a heel. But, if I tell my boss i can't get information, he goes ballistic (not at me) and makes my bit of being peaved look like a ride on a merry go round in comparison. But, why, oh, why can't we just get what we need with a polite request??????????

Okay, that's my go-off for the day. Have fun. Lane

Jingle bells, shotgun shells, Granny's got a gun.
Shot me in the underwear and boy I had to run.

The quilt

2011-12-14T05:27:00.004-06:00

You know the one. The holiday quilt. All wrapped up in bows. It's really a small quilt. I wouldn't want to do this kind of quilting on anything much larger. It started at 42" square and ended at 41 1/2. That's pretty good, I think. I could certainly see how a quilt could shrink more, just from all the thread.

Haven't washed it yet. I won't put it in the washing machine. Wouldn't do much good as it's quilted so densely that it won't really get wet or be soft like the washing machine needs. I'll lay it in the tub....after cmas. That and snip any leftover threads.

I think my favorite thing about the quilt is that the quilting didn't distract from the pieced top. All the time that I was quilting it, my focus was close-up. I only saw the quilting and the colors and fabrics melded into a solid in my eye. But, when I was finished and looked at it from a distance, I could still see the original quilt top.

And, the back. I used a cute holiday card print on the back, and just like the front, I thought it would be distorted, but I can still see the cards in the print.

I am so happy with this quilt. It's great when it all comes together.

-----------

Technical details - I quilt on a 25 year old Bernina 930 that is an almost silent workhorse. All metal inside, all I have to do is give her oil and she'll do anything I ask. I don't quilt at a very fast speed; just fast enough to keep up with my hands. It's not a race. I used a new thread this time and I liked it. I used a Coats and Clark machine embroidery thread, 40 wt, 100% poly on the front and on the back, Coats and Clark machine quilting cotton, 50 wt. I am always going to prefer cotton thread because it is easier to pull and I rip a lot. Using cotton in the bobbin, I can pull threads from the back and it's a whole lot easier than trying to pull two poly threads against one another. Size 80 Schmetz universal needles. Supreme slider. Two magic genie bobbin washers in the bobbin to make my bobbins fit the bobbin case better. Quilting gloves, but only when my hands are dry. I don't like the gloves because they restrict my fingers and I can't thread a needle...anything with thread is harder in gloves. So, if I'm hydrated, I don't need them. And, if I'm all dried up like a prune, I use them.

Okay, so we're trying to get our rears into holiday gear. There is not one gift wrapped. Not one card sent. Neither Rob nor I are in the holiday spirit and Sydney is still kid enough to be absorbed in the presents. Tonight is my holiday party. I need to get to work early to help train a new co-worker.

I'm watching TV and there's a commercial with people celebrating what they've completed for the holidays. Fist pumping the air and shouting "Done!" as they complete things on their lists. They suck.

Have a great Weds.

Lane

The search for the perfect man thimble

2011-12-13T06:05:00.003-06:00

These are the thimbles that didn't pass muster in the order that they disappointed me.

Thimble 1, a common yellow dritz thumb thimble. Fits. But, only if I use it backward. Which means the curves are all wrong. It's designed to contour around the pad of my finger, but because I wear it backward, that contour pushes against my fingernail. I've had this one for several years. It's greatest purpose has been to shove it into a wet leather thimble to stretch the leather.

Thimble 2 is what happens to leather thimbles around here after I've sweated in them a while. That thimble was discovered by a certain over zealous puppy and is holey, but I kept it as a backup. This week, when I discovered I had 3 leather thimbles that don't fit right, I tossed it.

Thimble 3 is the leather thimble I'm using now (and leaving only on high surfaces). This thimble is good, but I don't just want to sew with the pad of my finger like I do when I quilt. That works great for quilting, but for hand sewing, I use the tip of my finger and this thimble offers no protection to the tip. The needle goes right through the stitching that holds the thimble closed.

Thimble 4 is an extra large plastic thimble that I picked up at a quilt show this summer. It works okay, but it's still tight and cuts off the circulation in the tip of my finger. And, it's like releasing a vacuum seal to take it off. But, I've been surprised at how durable this plastic thimble is. I did not leave a mark after binding that heavily quilted cmas quilt. And, believe me, that was hard work. But, more about that later.

Thimbles 5, 6 and 7 are all sterling. They came in last week. Five and seven are size 12. I can barely get the tip of my finger in the hole. Thimble 6 is even smaller, but the good about it is that it fits Sydney, so she's getting a new sterling silver thimble for cmas, even if I don't.

Thimble 8 is a common dritz that I picked up in JoAnns last Friday. Marked extra large and when I put my finger in the "test hole", it fit perfect. But, the thimble is a size 12 at best. Damned lying packaging.

The last thimble is a size 9 that I picked up in an antique store for less than a dollar on Saturday. The reason it kinda works is that it's shallow. I have a scar on the side of my finger and this fits above that scar tissue. But, it's less than comfortable, even though it would work in a pinch.

There's a size 15 that's expected in the mail any day. If it doesn't work, I've found a size 18 in England that I'll try next.

I also got the name of TJ Lane from Sue. I've tried several times to find current makers of thimbles, even if it meant a special order. Except now that I've seen that a TJ Lane thimble is $100, I'm not so sure I can afford a special order. But, I wrote to them and asked them, as professionals, what they suggested I do. It will be nice to hear from someone that knows more about this than me. But, I have to confess that for $100 I can buy antique thimbles in every size from 15 to 20 and have them shipped overseas and then pick from what comes in. And, then sell the ones that don't work.

Okay, so this thimble conversation has taken on a life of it's own. So, at the risk of offending someone, I'll add poor Sydney's perspective to that. You guys have trouble finding undergarments that fit? Imagine that the man in your life went on the internet and studied undergarment and then bought them for you. And, continued to monitor your size and continued to shop with you. AND HAS NO IDEA HOW SUCH GARMENTS SHOULD FIT! Doesn't even get to see them on her to see how or if they fit. And, had to tell her last time that she'd changed size because the poor thing looked like she couldn't breathe.

Anybody watch Suburgatory on TV? It's about a teen girl being raised by her dad. We like it, even though the characters are a bit exaggerated because it's comedy. But, their pilot had a sub-plot about bras. And, I can gladly say that my girl is not going around in ugly, uncomfortable underwear. And, I better be the only one that knows that.

Poor Sydney. While having two dads has many advantages, it also has some real drawbacks.

Lane

I am very DISAPPOINTED!

2011-12-12T12:53:00.002-06:00

When I think "I am very disappointed", I think of Gary Oldman in The Fifth Element. There was just a tone of voice and look in his eye that spoke disappointment very clear. Course, he was trying to destroy the world and I'm just trying to get through the holidays.

Okay, I'm going to tell a bunch of stuff I'm not disappointed about, but let's start with the disappointing stuff first.

One. I finished the holiday quilt. It's hanging on the wall. Took some fab pics last night, using the lights from the holiday tree. And, I forgot to upload them. So much for that. A post for another day, as they say.

Two. I've spent $25 on thimbles in the last week and I still don't have one that fits. Oh, sure, I took the measurement of my finger, using both the sizing tool from the internet and a flexible tape measure, and after checking the size, I bought two thimbles that should have fit. One came in last week. Did it fit? Of course not. It's like picking a pattern for a shirt. No matter how much I study the dimensions on the back of the package, the shirt is always either too big or too small. Rats! Anyway, with the thimble that came in the mail last week was a freebie that has a dent in the side. That one fits Sydney perfect, so I guess it's no great loss. And, I'll resell the two I've bought. But, apparently, I need like a size 20 and I can't find one that size. I've found an 18, but it's in England...we do what we have to do. Another post for another day is all those thimbles, lined up in a row. Taunting me for my man sized sewing fingers.

Three. I bought the cutest little sewing kit, shaped like the bonnets my Grandmother used to wear to work in the garden. And, the seller lost it before she shipped...or, she got a better price from someone else. I'll never know. But, it was cute as heck and I am disappointed. Course, I was going to take it apart and make a pattern and give them away and then put it back together again.

Okay, so what went right since last Thursday?

Well, I have more vacation time saved up than Santa Claus, so I took Friday off and finished the quilt and cleaned up the sewing room and went shopping. I knocked out all of Sydney's holiday shopping. YEAH!! She goes everywhere with us when we shop and we needed some time to get out without her and without raising suspicions. She wanted things in zebra prints. I did not buy everything that was available in a zebra print. But, I did buy every third thing. There are two boxes of just zebra print everything; shoes, bags, boxes, shower curtain, picture frame, you name it, she's getting it. Probably the easiest holiday shopping I've ever done. I just walked through stores and found things that were black and white and tossed them into my cart.

Friday night we had leftovers, so that was a good thing. Shop all day and warm up dinner. Doesn't get much better than that.

Saturday morning, we left early to go antiquing. We hit all our favorite places. I tried on thimbles everywhere we went, trying to find a big un'. I even sat in the floor and tried on every thimble on a rack. No luck. But, I did find quite a few other sewing related vintage things that I can't remember...not remembering is going to make a more surprising cmas morn, so I'm not trying to remember very hard. And, I knocked out some of Rob's shopping. Imagine Sydney's disappointment when I was shoulder deep in a box of sewing supplies and called yahoo! and she came running to see my wonderful find...three vintage bobbins that fit Ken Moore. Hey, it was exciting for me.

Our fave bargain was a gently used pair of cowboy boots in Rob's size for $15. We wouldn't normally buy used shoes...don't ask me why because all my clothes come from Goodwill. But, there's just something about used shoes that kinda grosses me out a bit. He came home and checked the number online and they are $130 new. So, he got those and he's getting another pair (new) for cmas. I can say that here because they were only available at a store near his office, which is 30 miles from home, so I sent him to pick them up on Friday. Last pair in town. He already knows he's getting them...wrapping is a formality.

Saturday night, we had pizza. Shopping all day and pizza for supper. Doesn't get much better than that...unless there are leftovers to warm up.

On Sunday, I needed rest. So, I cleaned up all the piles of clothes that were everywhere. Spring and Autumn in Texas are interesting times. Long pants and a sweater in the morning, but by the afternoon, it's shorts and t-shirts and after sundown, we're back to coats and quilts in front of the fire. Consequently, there were a lot of clothes that I had worn for a couple of hours and then piled. After I hung all my jackets, I realized we don't have enough hangers for all our clothes. Too bad. Donate something. Or fold it.

Okay, so here's something I did that was wierd. I don't know, but I may be the only person that would do this. When I was cleaning up the sewing room, I had pin cushions and scissors and needles and rippers and brushes all over the place. But, I can never find the right scissors or needles or ripper. So I pulled everything out, thought about how I use it and then put it all in sets of tools, one set for each of the machines I have set up, and one set for each of my applique projects. One pair of scissors, one ripper, one stilletto, one pin cushion, one pencil, one ruler; a set. And, the rest went into an extra supplies drawer that I'll be able to go to when I set my scissors down someplace unexpected, otherwise known as tomorrow.

Anybody ever had sugarplums? Look up the recipe. FANTASTIC!!! Our neighbor makes them every year and this year, they're going out of town, so I gave it a try. Loving them. I ate a couple yesterday and they aren't even rolled in sugar yet. No bake. They're just dried fruit, nuts and spices and I added a bit of honey. Reminds me of my Mama's fruitcake cookies. Visions of sugarplums dance in my head.

Friday, Sydney went carolling with the school choir. They went to three nursing homes. The first was an alzheimer's home, the second an old folks home and the third an assisted living facility. I was so impressed that she recognized the three different levels of care that people needed and didn't just lump all old people in together. Gives me hope that she'll be able to pick the right place to put me in my dotage.

Okay, that's the highlights. Believe it or not, I was going for funny. Except my description doesn't sound nearly as much fun as my weekend was. Everybody have a great Monday. Lane

When two ends meet

2011-12-08T07:47:00.004-06:00

When you've pinned your binding all the way around your quilt, what do you do when the two ends come together?

For years, I just folded the layer that was going to show at a 45* angle and stacked them on top of one another and sewed it down with all the corresponding unnecessary bulk and tight stitches.

Then, I started cutting the 45* angle and folding it under. That got rid of some of the bulk, but the underlayer was not cut and still added bulk.

Many years ago, I saw Alex Anderson join those two ends, and scoffed. Who needs that. It's not that much bulk. Too much extra work.

Now, I'm more refined and hoity-toity about my quilting (ha!!!!) and I can see the advantage of not being able to find that end when I run my fingers around a quilt. Without going back and hunting that down in my dvd's of past Simply Quilts episodes, I've given it a try. This is this year's new skill, so if you do this already, and have feedback on it that will make it easier, please share.

So, the first thing is to mark my quilt. I measure from the inner edge of the last border so I get a straight line from that seam, not necessarily along the outer edge of the quilted border. That outer edge is unreliable as a straight line. I need to measure my final outer edge from some other line in the quilt, especially on one this tightly quilted. That outer edge is all over the place, but I want my binding to look straight against the other lines of the quilt. This quilt will have a 3" border, so I drew a line at 3 1/4" all the way around the outside.

I make my binding and pin it all the way around, laying the unfinished edge of the binding along the line I drew before. And, I get back were I began. I open the binding and fold back the edges to where they overlap, and finger press.

That's not a perfect line, but it's a good starting spot. To get a perfect line, I lay the binding ends at a perfect 90* angle and use a ruler to get the 45 degree angles perfect and mark the line and I pin on that line. You can barely see the black 45* line marked below. I don't want it to be too dark or it might bleed through to the front and what if I marked the wrong place? I don't want that line to bleed through and show.

And, I sew it down the line. DO NOT CUT THE BINDING AT THIS POINT.

If you made a mistake, at this point, the full extent of the correction would be a short seam pick and a line drawn on the wrong side of your binding that might shade through to the right side. If you cut it, you're committed. So, I folded it back in half and spread the quilt edge out.

Perfect (enough)! It was like a quarter inch too big, but I pulled some pins and stretched and repinned it down and that quarter inch was gone. Whoo-hoo!

If it wasn't right, pick out that short 45* angled seam and start over again.

But, since I hit it on the nose, I can cut the tails off and finish pinning the binding down and the only reason I'd ever be able to find it again is because of these pictures. Other than this record, there is no documentation of where that final join is located.

This post will self destruct in 6 minutes. And then, there will be no record at all.

This is the new trick that this old dog has learned this year. Proves it can be done.

Everybody have a great Thursday. Tonight is our tournament game. The team that only lost one game is playing the team that only won one game (us). I'm not sure what that's going to prove. Seems like pouring salt in our team's record. But, for some reason, the school district sports department did it this way and Sydney wants to play, so I'm doing my dead level best to keep my mouth shut. From the coach being disorganized and the practices being inconvenient and the fact that this seems like a bad idea, I'm keeping my basketball booster big boy athletic supporter on and practicing my "Yeah, team!!!"

Lane

Brrrrr. Texas finally got cold

2011-12-07T11:25:00.003-06:00

I cannot get warm. I stand in front of the vent in the mornings, just waiting to get warm.

Oh, I'm warm and toasty in bed. It's when I get up that the cold sets in. (Hey, I'm a quilter. Bed is warm.) I don't know whether I feel it more because I'm older or because it changed so suddenly; either way, I'm walking around bundled up like the kids in a Christmas Story; wrapped so tight I can't move.

Anyway, a busy boy is a happy boy, I guess. And, I have been a busy boy and have also been in a good mood, so I'm sticking with that, no questions asked.

This weekend, I finished the holiday quilt. Right now the title is All Wrapped Up In Bows. But, that might change as I bind it...if I ever get to binding it. I have the binding fabric, but there just has not been one second to even cut it yet. See, there were problems with a border. I had a one inch border in that quilt and I tried and tried to quilt it as tightly as the rest of the quilt and could not get happy with it. So, I'd quilt and I'd rip and I'd move to another corner and quilt and I'd rip and move and quilt and rip. Leah Day described it something like this...I had become the lady that sits in the back of guild meeting with a quilt and a ripper, pulling out thread and muttering "it has to be perfect, it has to be perfect." And, when I realized I was doing that, I just stopped and said, "this is finished."

And, I've been trying to come up with holiday gifts for everyone on my list...not a long list, but that doesn't make it any easier to think of original ideas. I've asked for an antiquing jaunt this weekend to see if I can find some fun things to fill in the gaps.

I got a little wierd about my search for a thimble. I realized I had gotten out of control when I bought two thimbles and kept wanting to buy more because the prices were so good. But, I controlled myself and the urge for a thimble holder has pretty much passed, too. I have little boxes I can use for that. Don't know why I get so obsessive about things, tho. Gotta get a deal! I probably spent way more time shopping for a bargain than it would have cost to just buy the first, most expensive one I found that fit.

My aquarium is sick. I know, you're thinking, his fish are sick, and that's true too, but it's the tank that I wasn't paying enough attention to and let the water get bad and I started losing fish, so right now, the sewing room is littered with equipment as I try to slowly change that before I lose too many fish. I've already lost about 5 in a month. It makes me sad, especially since it's my fault. But, better I caught it before I lost them all, right? Mistakes happen.

We had our first freeze last night. It was sad to look out across my flower beds this morning and already see things turning black and wilting as the sun came up. Just had to close the curtains and not think about it. Last week, we were having a wierd winter bloom and this week, it's all got to be cut back.

Add to that a surprise basketball game this week. We thought we were done last week. All the parents said good-bye and we'll see you next season. And, then Syd came home and told us she'd missed a Monday practice that she didn't know about. (I don't think that qualifies as missed.) Anyway, the coach posted it on her facebook. Yeah, like I'd have seen it there. Anyway, I'm still making breakfast every morning for the whole family and driving the kid to school so she gets there in time.

Got the binding sewn on my MIL's quilt the other night. I was about a foot and a half from being through and just sat it aside, so instead of being a housewarming gift (cuz now she's lived there nearly a year) it's a holiday gift. Oh, well. Again, it is what it is.

And, work is CRAZY and only a CRAZY person would do this for money. So, we all know where that leaves me. CRAZY. I admit it. No getting around it. And, based on this rambling post, I don't think I can deny a bit of crazy to you guys.

Stay warm. Quilt a lot. Don't let the busy-ness of the season get to you. I'm doing my best to balance what needs doing with how much energy I have to do it. That means some stuff's not getting done. SO WHAT?

Take care. Lane

The barter system

2011-12-05T06:18:00.002-06:00

I am a firm believer in the barter system. Especially when it comes to computer work. There's an IT guy at Rob's office and they are really good friends. The guy works on our computers and Rob pays him back with lunches. So, when I get a chance to help pay, I jump right on it. The guy had a quilt that one of the grandmothers made for his daughter. It's a cute quilt. Took me a bit of time to warm up to it because it's all baby pictures and little wool appliques on polished cottons and metal dealy-bobs and a bunny that's stuck on with velcro. Nothing I'd be able to launder and that bothers me about a quilt.

They needed a sleeve. Okay so about 2.5 hours work total, less time than he spent working on my last laptop. Oddly, there was a satiny binding along the top edge, like a blanket binding and I had to sew the sleeve to that. It was hard to get that to stay in a straight line while I stitched to it. But, it's done.

Picture of grandma and the baby in the middle of the quilt. Under my little pony.

I did some cmas shopping for myself this weekend. Rob and I both have interests that there's no point in the other one learning about enough to be able to shop. I wanted a new thimble; one that actually fits. I have man sized fingers and the common dritz thimble just doesn't work for me. I've been using leather coin thimbles that I stretch by wetting them and sticking a thumb thimble in them til they dry. But, after I sweat in them for a while, the dog likes to steal them and eat them. So, I'm going back to metal, but I need a big 'un and big thimbles are hard to come by. I had to learn the sizing and the difference in thickness and maker and etching and all that. And, that was when I started to see them in sterling. Beautiful English thimbles. No need for Rob to learn all that, just for a one time purchase, so I learned it and found a couple of really good bargains and waited and was patient and bid on a few and lost them, and then I got a great one last night. And, then an even better one this morning. So, I'm pretty happy with what I'll be finding under the tree.

Now, I've become intrigued by silver, walnut shaped thimble holders. Except, what in the heck would I do with that??? It's not like a new thimble is going to get any resting time around me, right?

While I was waiting for auctions to end, I did a whole bunch of cooking yesterday. I got two news cookbooks a couple weeks ago, one Indian and one Thai. I'm suddenly feeling very inspired to cook again.

Everybody have a great Monday. Lane

Mommy Rhapsody

2011-12-04T07:18:00.000-06:00

Okay ladies, this one's for you. It's a five and a half minute laugh fest.

Nobody does it like Mama does.

These ladies did a great job of it, but there are lots of versions on youtube, all equally hilarious.

Everybody have a great Sunday. Hope this brings a smile.

This one's all for the dads out there.

2011-12-03T07:17:00.003-06:00

Okay, so I really thought it was just us, but I guess dad is kinda universal. I saw this and I just rolled becuase there's a bit of me and Rob in every thing they say.

Okay, maybe not the white socks and sandals.

Tomorrow I've got one for all you Moms out there.

Have a great day. We're going to drop the girls at the movie and go shopping. Work some magic with the checkbook.

Lane

Yeah, team!

2011-12-02T07:57:00.004-06:00

Both girl's teams won last night. It was so exciting. It was the A team's (Sydney's team) first win, and the B team second win. Last games of the season. And, they were very exciting. Our girls played their best game and the other team was equally matched and the win wasn't final until the end of the last quarter.

It was funny. I finally got to hear what the other team's parents were saying as they lost and it was the exact same disparaging of refs that I've heard from our parents in the last few weeks, so I guess that's just universal. Although I did think one of their coaches was going to tie up with the time keeper and the ref in charge, both. He was not a good loser.

Between games, we managed to get this pic of Sydney before she ran off again to sit with the team and watch (yes, actually pay attention) to the second game.

After the games, the team and a lot of parents went to a restaurant for a celebration dinner. Okay, so here's the funny story from that.

There was a dad that we observed for the first time last year in volleyball. He was a bit rough on his daughter after a game and I passed immediate judgment on him as wrong to do that. Fast forward to this year, and remember that game that Sydney cried through and I was maybe a bit rougher on her than I needed to be in front of the team. Sum that up as I'm much more understanding now than I used to be, having been on the other side now. But we'd never gotten close to this dad and we had shaken hands and met many of the other dads that showed up regularly, just not this one.

Anyway, who sits across the table from us last night but this dad and his wife. And, they were the nicest, most pleasant people. Kinda wish I'd let that happen sooner, huh?

Tonight, Sydney's best friend is coming for the night and I think tomorrow, they're going to see the latest vampire/werewolf/love story. I've agreed to go IF I can go see a different movie. Theaters are too expensive to nap through a movie and after I get my bellyfull of popcorn, Mr Pattinson puts me right to nappy time. (Sorry Elizabeth. I know you love these movies.)

Other than that, it's going to rain all weekend (YEAH!!) and I plan to spend as much time as I can surrounded by my quilting and ignoring the dirt in the kitchen.

Progress on my 15 minutes a day

2011-11-30T06:07:00.003-06:00

A while back, I challenged myself to cut scraps for just 15 minutes a day until my tin of scraps was empty.

Well, what have I learned from that challenge? I learned I can't do anything for 15 minutes EVERY DAY. I lack that kind of consistency. But, I can average about 2 hours a week. And, that's close enough. So, I've been cutting scraps. It's a shame I didn't think to take pictures before I filed everything away into the bins.

I know I was supposed to work on that popcorn tin of scraps left from making garments. But, garment scraps are a pain in the butt. They're all wierd shapes and long strings that taper to nothing and curves. That takes forever to cut down. I've done what I could in there, but let myself get distracted and moved over to quilting scraps, which are generally straight edges and easily cut into squares or strips. I cut a few out of the tin every time, but only a few and then I move to something easier. This is my portable cutting surface. It's on the back of a portable ironing board. Made it to take classes and it's one of my favorite things. Heavy, but useful and I made a custom bag to carry it in. (even though I've only taken one class and have already managed to knock a chunk out of the bottom edge of the cutting board).

When I got bored with garment scraps, I pulled out this gallon jug that I bought for $4 at the last quilt show we went to. I purchased nearly a gallon of 2.5" squares. I cut for 4 hours before I found one that was both 2.5" and square. Most were a bit oversize, so cutting them down to 2.5" was pretty easy, but tedious. Some had a wonky side and that was pretty easy to fix, too. And, a few had to be cut down to 2" squares. There's a ton of variety and I like that. But I suspect that multiple people contributed to the jar and they didn't all use the same ruler. Some of them may not have used a ruler at all. Someone may have tried to tear scraps into squares. But, this was a donation to the guild bazaar and was likely a gift of love and I love it, so there's a lot of love in that jar...even if I have to whack away at that love to make it work for me.

What have I ended up with? I have well over a hundred four patches ready to sew. These have pairs of matching darks and pairs of matching lights, so they'll make really nice matchy-matchy 4 patch blocks. I bundled them and tied them with string and dropped them back in the jar to sew later, when I don't have half a dozen leader/ender projects going on. And, I still have a large stack of "onesies" where there's just one block cut from a fabric. Those can be fun, too and I have a block picked out from Adventures with Leaders and Enders that I think they'll start nicely. Definitely a long term scrap project.

And, I'm still cutting bricks for my Texas Braid. 1028 neutral bricks and 1028 colorful bricks and 1028 red squares. No, they're not all cut, but all the colorful bricks are cut and about half have the red squares attached and I'm ready to take them out of the basket I've been tossing them in and do some pressing and start to assemble at least one braid so I'll have incentive to keep at it. Usually, my leader/ender projects work as leaders and enders for a while and then I get so excited I just have to work on them full time until I get the quilt finished. I've not been excited about this one because I knew I had a thousand neutral bricks left to cut. But, now that's started and the excitement is building again. This will likely be a quilt for Sydney's bed. Or maybe not. Maybe we'll keep it and give her something we've grown bored with.

This is my scrap users system. I have all my blocks sorted by size and layered in this sewing box. And, the most plentiful size, 2" is sorted by light/med/dark. The others are just willy nilly. I've made two quilts from my 2" squares already and the bin is still full. And, the sections for 1.5" squares is overflowing, so I need to piece something with them. I have a few 9 patches made and may add to that, just to move these little scraps along. Usually what comes out of this bin goes into Linus quilts. The drawers in the background have my strips, in half inch increments from 1.5" to 3.5" and they're pretty full...but there are no neutrals. What's up with neutrals??? I can't seem to keep them at all. I use them in almost everything, so neutral scraps are a premium. And, there's another small bin for strips 4" or larger that is getting pretty full...and unfortunately is not sorted by size or color or anything...a situation I need to rectify...one day.

Much as I'd like you to think that all the scraps in this bin were cut in the last month, that's not true. I've been storing them here for over a year and add to it constantly. Every quilt leaves a scrap and if it's at least 1" wide and 6" long, it goes in the string bag. If it's at least 1.5" square, I save it to cut down for this bin.

I'm just glad I'm using these. For several months, I collected, but didn't have enough scraps to do anything with. But, squares are like coathangers. Put them in a dark place and they manage to multiply.

I haven't started the Orca Bay mystery from Bonnie Hunter yet. I got home that first Friday with my printed instructions and sent Sydney to cook supper and pulled open my 1.5" strip drawer and I found about 25" of neutral strips and NO blacks. That meant I'd have to start from scratch and cut from yardage and I wasn't up to that in the middle of my holiday quilt and a cmas gift for a friend and all the other holiday activities. So, I'm going to wait and see. I don't use much black and don't have much variety in black fabrics, so later, I might be able to substitute another color and make the quilt. Or, it will give me an excuse to buy black fabrics. What could be funner than that???

Lane

Holiday traditions

2011-11-28T07:47:00.004-06:00

This year, it was just us for Thanksgiving. I can't remember a time when there weren't guests for Thanksgiving at my house. My best friend has been to Thanksgiving at my house for way more years than either of us cares to remember, but her parents are aging fast and she felt she needed to go there this year.

With just the three of us, I let a few traditions go. I pulled out serving pieces and washed them, but we ended up putting food on our plates from the stove. I've never done that at a holiday before. No centerpiece, no fancy napkins, no silver that needed polishing. No fancy tablecloth, no candles. Nothing but us. I think we even watched TV while we ate. After the dishes were safely ensconced in the dishwasher (no handwashing ordeal this year, either) rather than a long nap, we went shopping and picked up a few holiday gifts. Most unusual.

I missed all the traditions.

Another tradition at our house dictates we decorate for Christmas during the Thanksgiving long weekend. We did that this year. Rob wasn't going to put up all of the decorations he normally does and when he asked if I wanted to do all the things I usually do, I was a little put off. I missed the Thanksgiving traditions I gave up and was not willing to do that for two holidays in a row. So, when all the dishes we didn't use were put away and the last of the leftovers were packed for lunches, we started to decorate.

And, we decorated.

And, decorated.

And, decorated some more.

There'll be more on each of these pics between now and the holiday. And, between decorating and paying bills and eating out and holiday shopping and backing up all our photos, I quilted.

And, I quilted.

Okay, if anybody tells you that pebbling (snowballing) is easy, you just tell them that they are nuts. It takes way longer than the other background filler I did. The challenge is to see how many of those pebbles you can make exactly circular. Around, and around, and around we go.

If you did not get on your scale this morning, do not. Oh, how I wish I could take that decision back. Sometimes not knowing is better than knowing.

Take care and have a great Monday. Lane

A very busy week

2011-11-26T12:26:00.002-06:00

I'm not used to it being this busy. Wednesday, I spent the day waiting for the feeling to come back into the left side of my face. But, my implant is in and all is well. No pain at all. Now, I've just got to wait for that to heal up and I can get the replacement tooth.

While I waited, I worked on the background filler for this corner. This was the first corner I did; the trees, and I did all the outline and border work weeks ago. The background went pretty well and now I'm off to the borders.

Thursday, we cooked and we ate. It was so nice to have Sydney cooking with me this year. So much easier than doing all that work alone. As we cooked, I took short breaks for quilting. Then, yesterday, we started the holiday decorating. I hung a swag in the living room ceiling and we got the tree put together and the lights on, but no ornaments. Sydney kept saying she would take care of that, but today, she's been a little less anxious to get working on it. Between other stuff, I got the bows and the outlining in the outer border of the holiday quilt.

And, this morning, I got up and started pebbling...or snowballing. Rob came in this morning and said "those look like snowballs", so I'm snowballing, not pebbling. Anyway, it's coming out just like I expected. We went out and did some shopping for shop local Saturday, which I'm totally in favor of. The only big store we went to was Target for socks and undies.

And, I took advantage of a sale at the quilt shop and picked this up. Texas themed fabric. Love it. I saw it the other day and left it there because it was expensive. Today, I needed to go back and I brought 2 yards home without a plan for it. But, you can bet I'll find something.

I turned in my lesson plan for teaching a free motion class. We'll see what she thinks. Now, we just need to get all the south Austin quilters to start shopping down here. I know there are a lot of us and I'd bet most don't even know the store is there because they've been so machine exclusive and not really focused on quilters until recently.

Okay, so now we're back home and Rob just started Giant and I'm going to snowball and listen to Elizabeth Taylor give Rock Hudson hell.

Take care. Lane

Thanksgiving day

2011-11-24T07:09:00.004-06:00

Here we are. Another day to be thankful. And, so many people are wishing everyone a great Thanksgiving, and sharing what they are thankful for. I'm not going to be any different. Even if you aren't in the U.S. and celebrating our day of thankfulness, I hope you will be inspired to feel thankful for what you have.

As for me, I had to think for a while this morning about what I'm thankful for. Not to find what it is, but to find words to describe it. Is it family? No, it's bigger than that. Is it home? No, bigger than that, too. Work? Thankful that I have it and that I'm good at it, but that's not it, either.

I'm thankful for the life I have given myself. And, it's not an easy thing to give myself a good life. And, to keep it, despite the temptation to sabotage it because...well, because nothing can really be this good, so I better break it before somebody else does. Or whatever caused me to sabotage having plenty of goodness in the past.

Probably not saying this well because I'm not all that good with big ideas. Anyway, I'm thankful that I've not broken it and thankful that Rob hasn't let me and that we have it, together. So, that's it.

Everybody have a great Thursday, no matter whether you're officially celebrating or not. And, if you are, then may your turkey be juicy and your mashed potatoes have just the right amount of lumpiness and your pumpkin pie be perfect.

I saw news stories about people buying Thanksgiving food last night. All I could think was "that turkey won't be thawed in time to cook." Last Sunday, we saw a gay couple in the grocery and they had a huge turkey, maybe 25-28 pounds and it was riding in the cart in a little, tin foil pan. Rob and I both wanted to walk up to them and ask if it was their first turkey. See if they needed help.

Sydney made our pie this year. Looks perfect! She's going to make most of lunch, I think. She's excited but keeps declaring she will not touch the raw turkey.

Lane

Rob loves Peanuts

2011-11-22T08:01:00.003-06:00

Okay, so this is one of the gifts I've been working on. These lounging pants are a Thanksgiving gift for Rob and I gave them to him last Saturday, so I could have him try them on for hemming. And, it was a good thing. I got them finished and now, he can wear them all of Thanksgiving week.

The last pair I made was a Medium. They were so tight, I had to open the side seams and insert 2.5 inches of fabric all the way down both outside legs. I had cut that pattern out to a medium, so I bought a new pattern and tried a large. A large was big enough that Rob and all the peanuts gang could have fit into them. So, I took 2 inches out of each leg up the inseam. (I don't know if I'll ever get this pattern thing down. Seems the easiest thing to do would be pick one pattern maker and just buy from them so I can get a feel for the numbers on the back of the pattern. But, that's no fun.)

Anyway, when he tried them on, he asked for a drawstring plus the elastic waist and that was no problem, except it took most of an hour to make that long drawstring. Now, he's wearing them all around. Even threatened to wear them to the supermarket on Sunday.

Robs loves Peanuts. He has a DVD with all the specials and we watch them on their appropriate holidays...the Great Pumpkin, toast and popcorn for Thanksgiving lunch, Charlie's sad tree; these are all faves around our house. So, when I saw this autumn themed peanuts fabric at 70% off, I nabbed it up. But, somehow, I didn't get enough, so I had to go get more and then, it was only 40% off. Rats! Cause it's not like I could just buy the half yard I was short. I had to buy enough to cut a whole leg from.

Rob even wants a beagle and is actively looking for one at the rescues. I could never do that. If I looked at dogs all day, I'd adopt dogs all day. I could never look for one exact kind. But, he's doing it and as long as I don't watch over his shoulder and moan "Oh, look at that face. How cute. What's that one's name? How old?" we do fine.

The girls lost at basketball again last night. From what I heard the other parents say, the refs did it again. But, the teams were well matched and the game was exciting and Sydney played really well. Not many parents tho. Hey, I'm just stubborn enough to yell for them whether they're winning or losing. One more game, next week. A home game to end the season. Geez, I hope Sydney will go for track. She does so good when she has athletics.

Okay, so take care. Tomorrow morning at 7:30 I have the second step of my mouth junk. I get the holder for my implant. The doctor says it's a non-event and I can come to work tomorrow afternoon if I am so inclined. I am not so inclined. However, I am so inclined to get a start on T-day cooking. And, to sit and quilt. Sounds like a good afternoon off.

Lane

Fourth corner

2011-11-21T06:12:00.003-06:00

I worked right through on Saturday. The day is a blur of quilting, stretching and stopping to eat. Really didn't have anything else going on and didn't want to start anything new the weekend before the first holiday celebration, so I quilted.

This is the last corner in this year's holiday quilt. I have to go back and finish the first corner. I did just the outlining there and none of the background. I didn't want to make too many commitments that early; wanted to be able to make changes as I went and my skills developed. The first corner was the simplest, just undecorated christmas trees. Then, ornaments and then lights and now presents. Okay, even though they're a mass of errors, I am just tickled with how this quilt is coming out.

The clown and drum. The clown was done and he looked great. Then, I did the background filler and he disappeared in it. Too much detail. So, I took out all the little designs in his clothes and half the thread around the body and hat and put it in again. Now, he looks good. The drumsticks didn't come out good when I first put them in, so I saved them and redid them at the end to get the detail I wanted.

Baby doll and truck. I originally filler her eyes in with thread and she was freaking me and Rob out, so I pulled that and just oulined them. Better, but she's still a little freaky. I hope part of that is chalk marker and will wash out.

Train, sled and giraffe. After I took this, I filled in the window of the train with background filler. I didn't notice it until this picture. The sled as no straight lines. Maybe I'll fix that and maybe I won't. The giraffe disappears into the background like the clown did and I will likely remove some of the spots, maybe all and replace them with fewer, but larger spots.

Last night, I found a bow in the coloring book all this has come from and I'm going to repeat it all around the last border. But, not until after Thanksgiving. Or, maybe not. The kid's getting pretty good at cooking. Maybe it's time for her to "experience the joy".

Everybody take care and have a great Monday. Tonight, I'm feeding the team tuna sandwiches, all made by Sydney and with only as much supervision as was required to make sure she washed her hands and kept her surfaces clean. She said most parents just bring a loaf of bread and a package of meat and a squeeze bottle of mayo and they have to make their own. I was all about that idea until she explained that the girls don't like that. They like the parent to go to the little extra effort. Hmmpphh.

Lane

If you're ever in Austin...

2011-11-18T11:41:00.002-06:00

I'm recommending a little deli named Kneaded Pleasures on Far West Blvd. That's where we had dinner last night. It was game night again and the game was clear across town. Rather than Rob drive past that school and then back again, I met him there and we had supper and then went to the game.

Anyway, I had a turkey club on herb foccaccia bread with pesto and pepper jack cheese and I have to tell you, it was one of the best sandwiches I ever had. Rob had their burger and it looked delicious, too. Then, I got really decadent and bought a white chocolate/dried cherry cookie that was absolutely to die for. I wanted a cinnamon roll, covered with pecans but some older gentleman grabbed them before I could. I considered tackling him on the way out (they looked that good), but, ya' know, I've made every game Sydney has played in. Getting arrested for assault would have broken that spotless record.

Anyway, we went to the game and it was a very exciting game. According to those that know basketball, the referees were terrible again. And, I did see some fouls that should have been called and some play that was not foul, yet fouls were called. And, I don't know anything about basketball. But, I hate to blame two losses in a row on referees. Although, according to the Mom that I listen to as the expert on basketball (I swear, she must have played basketball in school), these refs were pretty bad and players on both teams got hurt because they missed some rough play that was going on.

Anyway, that was that and we all made it home safe. Too bad the girls won't make it to tournament. But, hey, there's always high school.

Whooee! Who else has a busy weekend scheduled? Bonnie released the first part of her 2011 mystery, plus I'm knee deep in holiday gift making and a holiday quilt and I have got to turn in my lesson plans for quilt class or they're going to forget me and ask someone else. And, I have chores and plans and stuff to do. But, it's supposed to be a drizzly weekend, so I'm hoping I can spend most of it in my sewing room, holding court and passing out orders for child to do housework. She's in the doghouse this weekend over a grade and has no electronics. I've gotta keep her busy. I think someone mentioned fall cleaning???

I'm in. If she does the work. Idle hands are the devil's workshop!

Lane

2011-11-16T14:54:00.002-06:00

When I was young, I used to go hunting with my Dad. We’d walk and walk through the woods on my Uncle Roy’s property. Hills, valleys, streams, downed trees, and a thick carpet of leaves and pine straw. Walking uphill was always hard. You know when you’re walking uphill because gravity is pulling you down. You can always tell uphill.

But, downhill is another matter. If the slope is gradual enough, and your perspective limited enough by forest, you couldn’t tell you were headed downhill until you got to the bottom and found yourself surrounded by uphill slope.
---------------------
I live life somewhere on the slope, between the hilltop of who I want to be and the valley of self-destructive depression. Hey, it is what it is, right?

Sometimes, I live on the top of the hill, but let’s face it, it’s exhausting to be that happy all the time. So, I spend most of my time on the slope, in a happy medium, usually pretty close to the top without being disgustingly cheerful.

And, sometimes, I head downslope. I lived years mostly downslope. Far from who I wanted to be. Unhappy. And, now I can say I’ve lived years mostly upslope. But, I still (and will likely always) have to be careful of downslope.

So, I’ve placed roadsigns along the way. Reminders to turn around, head back up. Make some change. STOP! You’re headed down the wrong path. Go back. Don’t go here.

Here there be dragons.

One sign is Anger. Frequently, when I’m on the slopes, anger masks a different issue. I have to look at my anger and figure out whether I’m angry about what’s really wrong, or if I’m angry about something totally different and fixating that anger onto something that’s easier to deal with.

Another sign is paranoia. There’s an old saying that “just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you.” In my case, it’s generally “just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean there’s anyone out to get you.”

Another sign, and the one that stopped me in my tracks this morning was solitude. The exact thought was “Why won’t they all just leave me alone?” That’s the strongest roadsign of all, and the best indicator that I’m about to step onto slippery slope that it’s hard to climb back up from. History has shown me that if I’m asking why they won’t all just leave me alone, I’m likely about to do something to make it happen. Expedient, but not productive; not what I want.

So, I’m forced to look around and see all the things that I’ve blinded myself to. The links that pull last month and last week and this week together. The gradually decreasing level of happiness. The gradually increasing level of depression. The defeated attitude. The unwillingness to communicate. The inability to focus. All baby steps that add up to a long and winding walk.

And, there’s a prevailing sense that every stone in the road is a crisis, waiting to leap up and knock me down. Constantly being on alert, waiting for a problem to raise its head, like a snake, so I can stomp it into submission again. Creating crisis out of the possibility of crisis. The inability to adjust to the ending of a long period of crisis. Finding something to replace that because it’s become a way of life. And, I don’t know how to adjust.

But, the first step to solving a problem is defining the problem. And, like almost every problem, it’s rooted in fear. Fear that now that my project at work is over, I won’t be able to find a place where I fit in. Fear that I am now redundant because I don’t remember how to do the job I had a year ago. Fear that no one will trust me again because it’s been my job for a year to find problems with their work, and pointing it out so it could be fixed.

And, solving the problem instead of hiding it under chocolate. M&M’s are great problem maskers. If my day went to hell in a handbasket by three p.m., I could eat enough candy to pump me up for the rest of the day…but then I’d get home and crash and be despondent. Separate from the family.

Fear is a devil of a snake to do battle with.

Wish me luck. I know that just thinking this and writing this and getting it out there is over half of the problem solved. Because secrecy breeds more fear and that grows and grows until it can push me right down the hill to the bottom.

Next step, tell my boss. Tell him I’m afraid I don’t fit anymore. He’ll help. And, then there will be two of us making sure I don’t become redundant. Two heads is better than one. And, even if my worst fear comes true and he doesn't help, at least I'll know that.

But, it's not likely. That's the problem with secret fears. If it's a secret, nobody can tell you not to be afraid. And, nobody knows to help.

Lane

A Christmas gift I can show

2011-11-15T07:40:00.003-06:00

Here's a gift I can blog about. the recipient of this one doesn't read my blog.

This is a Martha Thompson pattern called Square Dance. It's the second time I've made this pattern, but the first time was in placemat size. This time, think bigger. Much bigger. Lap size. Which means it started huge.

So, first, you piece the top. See that sharpie in the lower left? The next step is to take this plain but cute quilt top and mark all over the whole thing with that sharpie. Okay, so to do that, you have to be pretty confident that it's going to come out better in the end. I drew half the day on Sunday and then cut the other half. And, I ended up with...

This tray of 4.5 inch sqares were all cut from that quilt top with scissors. Okay, so if I do it again, I'll mark a ruler and rotary cut it very carefully. Anyway, each block has to stay in the order it came off the quilt in and when they go back together into rows,

You get these pinwheels. Of course, because there was a muddy spot, with too little contrast in my original quilt top,

I got a muddy spot in the final product. But, hopefully, there won't be too many of those. But, if you're making a quilt like this, I would caution you to be more careful than I was.

I had great plans for getting it together. I made the 6" squares into 9 patches, half with dark corners and half with light. The first time I laid them out, it was pretty perfect. But, then squares got turned as I sewed them together and I wasn't careful enough to keep them how I laid them out and I got at least this one spot where there won't be enough contrast.

But, that's not going to stop this from being a cute quilt. Remember that we took our friend LD to a quilt show a few weeks ago. I bought almost all these fabrics there. She asked me what I was going to do with them and I said I wouldn't really know until I got them home and saw what I bought. And, explained that somehow, I usually managed to buy collections of fabrics that went great together and I'd use them together to make a quilt. She called that the palette in my mind's eye. I thought how appropriate that was. The palette that was in my mind's eye on that day.

So, I got them home and sure enough, they went together great. Lots of big flowery prints, which I don't usually collect. I added the border and a couple of flowery print fat quarters that I was anxious to move out of my stash (think dark olive with cupids and flowers or and a couple of yellow flowery prints on green backgrounds that came in a bag I bought over summer.) Someone had made one of the Square Dance patterns and it is hanging in the quilt show that we went to together, so what better pattern. Quilt show->fabric->pattern->new friend->gift. It was a no brainer.

I got two rows put together this morning, but not ironed. My quilting time is curtailed in the mornings and there's rarely time at night...until I learn enough Spanish to be able to force Sydney into talking to me in spanish about quilting. (Yeah, like that's gonna happen.)

Have a great Tuesday. They've promised us rain. PROMISED. Nothing yet.

Lane

Sunny, with a chance of angry

2011-11-14T10:51:00.003-06:00

This weekend was the wierdest emotional roller coaster!

I can't always tell where my anger comes from. This weekend, it was definitely all about me being angry at me. Me. Being mad at me. For being me.

For needing to rescue every cracked and chipped and broken thing and try to give it a second life. Holding onto it and trying to glue the bits back together. Cramming every space up with useless junk. Gotta keep it all. The guy with the most crap wins.

And, at some point, that just cracks wide open. And, when it does, I start throwing junk. Get rid of it, reduce it to small enough that it can go in the trash. Why am I keeping it? Why did I buy it? Why is it in my way? Why was I willing to move it 37 times over the summer because every where I went, there was my crap. In the way.

And, now it's gone. Went out with the trash this morning.

Well, at least a little bit of it. Everything I could cram into one weekly trash pickup.

But, you know what? That trash truck comes by every week. And, I've got more stuff that needs to GO!

Is this a leftover of fall cleaning?

Poor Rob and Sydney. When I get like this, they just stay out of the way and do their best to smile. And, I do my best to stay away from them because I am very volatile and prone to snapping things I mean to just say.

This, too, shall pass. But, in the meantime, if I could just get to my clothes closet while I'm in this mood. I mean, really, if I haven't worn it in two years, I'm probably never going to wear it again. Am I the only one that tells myself those jeans will fit again?

I know this is some emotional baggage about letting stuff go. Letting go of the broken and the memories. Looking backward instead of forward. Having to get angry to get things done. All this is buried deep down. Or, maybe it's brain chemicals. Or, maybe just the full moon.

Anyway, wish I could keep the letting stuff go part without the getting mad at myself for having it part. Ain't it the way, tho.

Confusious say: "Emotions, like coins, come with two sides."

Oh, and while I'm griping, what's up with not being able to see my glasses? I dropped them in the yard on Saturday and had to go get Sydney to come out and help me find them. That is just old age making fun of me and I don't like it. ;-)

Take care and have a great Monday. Lane

Second corner

2011-11-13T07:01:00.004-06:00

Whew! I was within 30 minutes of done yesterday morning and had to get up. I'd been at it for 4 hours, just stopping to fix coffee and stretch. But, it's done now.

So, the first corner was cmas trees without decorations, second corner was ornaments, third corner lights. Fourth corner is presents. Gift boxes, truck, dolly...

It has a clown.

What was I thinking?

Hey, this whole project gets that question. What WAS I thinking? But, I am enjoying watching those little wormy things develop and loop and turn.

After I got up from this, I spent the rest of the day working in the yard. It was so nice to be able to stay out in the yard all day long. So nice that it's not 100* out anymore. I'm expanding beds and moved the fruit trees into the greenhouse and cleaned up and cleaned up and cleaned up some more. Today, I can't breathe from all the mold I breathed in.

Thanks for all your kind comments over the last couple of days. We work hard. And, sometimes, we make mistakes. And, we get up and go again. As my boss says,"This is the life we have now."

Take care and have a great Sunday.

Lane

Hindsight IS 20/20

2011-11-11T10:00:00.003-06:00

Last night's basketball game was hard. On everybody.

First, the two teams were equally matched, so the play was exciting.

Second, there was the girl from the opposing team that crossed herself, and the floor, every time she had a free throw and then proceeded to show what a good Christian girl she was by punching, elbowing, tripping and in general being a bitch to all the girls on our team and made a hand gesture that I didn't approve of to her own coach.

Next was the comedy that was the referees. First ref was not a good ref. He didn't seem to see any of the bad stuff going on. He couldn't even keep up with whose ball it was. It was really unfair. Then, about half way through the first quarter, a second ref shows up. We didn't even know she was there until she started blowing her whistle and cleaning up the action on the court. She was calling fouls right and left. For both teams. But, the first ref didn't much care for that and he kept overriding calls. For example, both refs blew their whistles at the same time. But, because first ref called time out before second ref called foul, the first ref blew off the foul. Over and over, second ref tried to talk to him and he wasn't having nothing to do with it. So, second ref left. Stormed out. Jeez! Can we spell unprofessionalism? I am thinking of writing whoever keeps up with this for the school board because both of these refs deserve to have their work reviewed. But, we all know that only second ref will get in trouble because she behaved the most unprofessionally. Best I can hope for is that if I say something, at least they'll listen to what ref 2 has to say about ref 1 before they fire her.

While the game was going on, we were sitting with the mother of one of Syd's friends. She told us first, a story about shopping for her daughter, buying $300 worth of clothes and bringing it home for her daughter to try on. Now, she's going to take back about $260 worth of it because her daughter didn't like it. She does this because her daughter doesn't like to shop and is not nice while shopping. Hmmm. Interesting concept.

Then, she told another story...her daughter came home and said Sydney was spoiled because she got two pair of shoes for her birthday. Okay, so no mention of the 30% off your total purchase coupon I had that made two pair of shoes practical. No mention of the fact that Syd needed non-athletic shoes for school and athletic shoes for sports. None of the practical aspects were discussed.

So, why was this interesting? The mom gave this as her reply to her daughter: Yes, she got two pair of shoes, but she also has to turn in her phone every night, she only gets computer access when her dads are around, she has to do homework every night and they check it with her, she has an early bed time and has to get up early, even on weekends, she has to go shopping with them... Basically every thing I think we're doing right, she made it sound wrong. That was uncomfortable.

So, I wasn't really in the mood for parenting.

But, that didn't mean I wasn't called on to do it. After the A team, that Syd plays on, lost by 3 points in overtime, my little sportsfan proceeded to weep. And, she wept and wept and held her head down long after the rest of the A team had let it go and gotten into the game. BAD SPORTSMANSHIP. At one point, Rob asked "are you going over there, or shall I?" Just before half time of the B team's game, I got up and walked over there.

"Are you sick?"
No
"Are you hurt?"
No
"Then you need to get your head in this game. The other team didn't beat you. The ref did. There's nothing you can do about that. You need to stop acting like a baby and start cheering for your teammates."
And, that's when she rared up and gave me the hate eyes. And, before I could stop myself...
"And, if you give me that look again, this will be the last game you play."

And, knowing that I'd gone as far as I was willing to go in public, I went back to my seat. But, all the other parents treated me wierd. Like moving away from me, and avoiding eye contact wierd. That was very uncomfortable.

And, that eventually stopped the crying. But, it didn't stop the morose/dejected/hate the world/look at my sad red eyes/I'm not happy look that lasted for the rest of the game.

When we were leaving, we were some of the first people out of the gym. I called Syd over to the side, thinking I'd get a moment before the hallway filled up and said:

"Sports is about learning two things. One is how to win. The other is how to lose. You were a bad sport in there. Those other girls screamed their tits off for you when you were playing and you cried through their whole game???"

Rob muttered "that's enough here dear" and we left.

Turned out that "screamed their tits off" was overheard, undoubtedly out of context, by other parents exiting the gym and I got more than one very dirty look. That embarrassed Rob. But, if you ask me, it was my best line of the night.

Anyway, nothing was said on the way home. I had said all I needed and Rob wanted to talk to Syd alone. I walked in on them talking later and I don't know how long they talked or what they said. But, I could hear the rumble of it across the house. He did tell me this morning that one of the things he said to her was that if she couldn't be a good sport, she couldn't play sports.

Rob gave me feedback that maybe I should have taken Syd out of the gym the first time I talked to her. I get that. If I'd been in the stands watching, I probably could have thought of 32 better ways to handle that. But, I wasn't. I was on the court, actively parenting. And, I wasn't ready to hear the feedback. In my own defense, I did pretty good with it, tho. I closed my eyes and thought about what he was saying and didn't say anything back (didn't hurt that I had a toothbrush hanging out of my mouth at the time). Yes, it probably would have gone better if I'd taken her out of the gym. But, I didn't think of that. I can take that in and try to remember it next time.

All I could say to him last night was: Hindsight is 20/20.

We talked about it this morning and I told him what I heard him say and he told me what he meant to say and all is good now. Except that now, we have to teach a girl about sportsmanship. Because, you see, even after I went over there, the coach just patted her on the back and let her keep crying. So, we'll do our job. And, we'll do the coaches job, too. Because we're like that. Rob and I can wear as many hats as we need to.

And, if I'm not doing it right? Well, we have a straight A student that rarely gives us any trouble and can be trusted and does what she is told and with a minimum of grumbling and cleans her own bathroom and makes her bed every day and does her own laundry and is learning to cook and watches the news and can discuss current events and is frequently brought to the blackboard to explain math problems to the class.

I'll put that up against a girl that can't be trusted to behave while shopping. Every time.

Parenting is hard. Good parenting is excrutiating.

Lane

Reading

2011-11-10T11:57:00.002-06:00

Well, since I can't talk about anything I'm working on because it's all gifts for family that reads, I thought I'd talk about a couple of really good books I've recently finished.

I've already talked about reading The Help and weeping.

After I finished that one, I read a young reader's book called Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones. Wonderful book, but I don't know that I'd call it a young reader's book. It would have been a great inspirational young reader's book except that near the end, there are some devastating events that I wouldn't want Sydney to read about. But, for adults that can better handle that kind of stuff, I'd recommend it as a really good book. It focuses on a the citizens of an island that is caught in war and cut off from the rest of the world. Only the native residents of the island remain and a single white man, Mr Watts, who is married to a native resident. Mr Watts takes over responsibility for the local school and teaches the children by relating everything to what he feels is the greatest work of literature ever; Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. Wonderful interpretations as he teaches south sea children about 19th century England and the adventure that Pip takes in the book.

When I finished that one, I raided my stack of Sydney's cast offs. We encourage her to read and pile on the books for her. As she grows up, she grows out of them and passes them to Goodwill. But, I raid the stack often and pull out books that look like they'd interest me. One was There's a boy in the girl's bathroom by Louis Sachar, another Austin resident. This book is about a boy that is having a really hard time fitting in with school and friends. He's ostracized by everyone because he can't relate to anyone. He reacts with anger and defense in every situation. So much so that he is forced to sit in the last row, last seat of the classroom. The story is about a counselor that touches the boy and helps him experiment in doing things differently and how just that little nudge allows him one success that builds into another and another until he becomes an active player in his life. It's a real feel good book about a boy that's having trouble finding his way and how he manages it. Great book if you have a kid that's already troubled with behavioural issues. But, a kid that's easily influenced the wrong way might just get some ideas on ways to act up.

Anyway, after I finished that, I pulled out the old Jane Austen collection and started Sense and Sensibility. Can't read Jane's books back to back. I need something lighter and easier to read between them. But, I do plan to read them all. Why? I don't know. Goodness knows there's plenty of contemporary fiction out there. But, I want to, so I'm going to.

You'd think I'd be too busy sewing to have time to read, right? But, I'm making time for it all. Unfortunately, I have three unread quilting magazines. What does that say about my priorities?

Take care and have a great Thursday. Lane

A bit of a blogging funk

2011-11-08T14:18:00.002-06:00

I have been struggling lately to come up with blog topics. Normally verbose, it's really wierd when I can't think of anything to talk about. Normally, I'm just full of words.

Maybe it's the time of year. The clouds are so low and the weather so ready to change, but it's still hot in Texas and there's just no freaking rain. It's like Mother Nature forgot we're here. I drove past Austin's last General Store yesterday and the sign out front said "Raindancers needed. Apply within."

With the holidays coming along, secrets are the thing of the day. And, with so many friends and family following my blog, I just can't talk about it. Can't share what I'm making. Can't share what I'm thinking. Can't share what I'm feeling. That sucks. The blog is supposed to be about me, right?

Last week, I was dealing with a bit of depression. Don't know where that comes from, but it sneaks out of the woodwork like sugar ants and before I know it, it's taken over and I just can't shake it. And, then it passes and I wonder why I've been in such a dark mood for several days.

And, what's better for dark moods than chocolate. Except that I climbed on the scale this morning and was shocked and appalled. Oh, yeah. Scales are bad for depression. It's like depression is climbing in a hole. Getting on the scale was like starting to pull the dirt in around me. So, no more scales this season. That's my first holiday gift to me.

Now, logically, I know that when I'm exercising and gaining weight, mostly it's muscle. But, try telling that to your naked self on the scale in the morning. Yeah, right. Muscle mass. Bend over so you can see if your knees and ankles are still there.

In fact, seems that the only thing I want to do or talk about is sewing. Sewing is peace. Sewing is self fulfillment. Sewing is doing something I'm good at and then being able to look at what I've done and feel good. Sewing is self indulgence. But, if I don't work, I won't be able to sew.

Work is not fulfilling. Work is crazy and unhappy and a burden. I used to have a fun job. That's why I was willing to do it for so long. But, it's been a year of promising myself that my fun job is still hiding somewhere and a year of being disappointed that I can't find it. I'm afraid that all the fun in my job has crawled in a hole and died.

Speaking of promises to myself, I'm going to try something. I hate cutting scraps to use in my scrap user's system. Scraps from quilting are okay. They're usually straight lines, just wierd sizes. But, scraps from clothes, that's another matter. Wonky, curvy, odd sizes, hard to figure out what I can get out of a scrap to optimize what I have. I hate cutting them up so bad that I have a large popcorn tin full of scraps that need to be cut. So, my goal is to cut for 15 minutes every day. Just 15 minutes. Until it's all done. I'm two days in and haven't made a dent yet.

You're thinking that maybe I should set my goals a bit higher, aren't you?

Well, you try doing something for 15 minutes every day. EVERY day.

Okay, in all honesty, I won't be able to do it EVERY day. But, I'm going to give it the old college try. After all, who knows what's in that tin that I can use in the upcoming Bonnie Hunter mystery. Or, what's in there that would fill out a Linus quilt. Not that my bins are short on scraps. If all my uncut fabric were suddenly stolen by fabric thieves or silverfish, I'd still have enough scraps to keep me busy for a couple of years.

But, that tin of fabric weighs on my mind. After all, why not pick something totally innocuous to worry about, right? And, right now, I can use some things to worry about that are insignificant. I mean, have you heard the news lately? I'd much rather worry about what's in that tin.

So, that's what I say when I can't think of anything to talk about. Just a stream of consciousness, freely flowing. Hope you are all bright and cheerful and that birds are chirping on your shoulder and helping with your housework.

Take care and have a great Tuesday. Lane

He who uses the most thread wins!

2011-11-07T10:17:00.003-06:00

And, I would be a contender. I don't know how much thread is in this quilt so far. I have the center quilted and this corner and another couple of corners started. And, I've used 14 class 15J, large bobbins so far. That's considerable thread. I'm making them 7 bobbins at a time and replacing as needed with a drop of oil, just to keep my Evelyn working quietly and happily.

I took Friday off last week and it was a good thing, because it turned into a very kid-centric weekend. I used my Friday well, tho. I got some shopping done and some cmas gifts cut out and a cake baked and some yard work done and some quilting.

The above corner is the only one that's finished. The one below is quilted in twice (I'm going over the main design twice to make it stand out better. I've done that in all of the quilt center, too) and has the outline stitching in most of it. There's still some outlining in the area where the machine is. Then, I'll go around the edges with the pearls and finally all the filler. I might be able to do a bit more during the week, but quilting like this takes concentration and I can't do it in 15 minutes here and a half hour there. I need to sit and sew for long periods of time, interrupted by short periods of stretching.

The background work in the corner above took about 2.5 hours, plus another couple of hours to put in the ornaments and outline around them. The below corner is taking considerably longer because there's so much more outlining and so many starts and stops where the wires cross over one another. I started with a simple corner that has trees (not shown here), but didn't do the background work yet. I still need to make sure I can do the lights with the bouncing bananas background filler before I finish the tree corner. If I have to do something different in the lights corner, like pebbling because of the smaller open spaces, then I'll need to repeat that in the background of the diagonally opposite corner where the trees are.

I love this kind of quilting. It hides mistakes. There are so many mistakes in these corners and I was so discouraged, but I know that it looks worst just before I start the background fill. If I can stand it through that part, the background fill causes all the mistakes to just fade into the pattern. It's like magic mistake eraser.
---
Saturday was Sydney's birthday.

One of her gifts was getting to wear eyeliner and mascara (weekends and special occasions only for now). This is her trying to look all cool. She also got an email account and will be getting a facebook page.

I found some other shots on my camera that are not so "cool" and we will be talking about what is appropriate for facebook and how quickly it can be shut down if we're not happy. I know we can't protect her from her desire to grow up too fast forever, but for this week, it's our house, our rules, our way. She doesn't have to have internet access. She's gotten this far without it...well, except that one week when she had accidental unlimited access and made all those bad choices and lost her computer access for several months, and even now, is only allowed to use a computer in the living room.

Take care and have a great Monday. I'll be staring at that quilt and trying to find a whole hour when I can sit down and work on it some more. And, wondering just how fast my li'l punkin is going to grow into good choices. Everybody else wants their kids to stay little for too long. I want mine to GROW UP! Lane

Are you gonna follow Bonnie Hunter's mystery this year?

2011-11-03T10:40:00.004-05:00

I think I am. Sue, I know you are. The mystery name this year is Orca Bay. And, I love the colors; red, blue, neutral and black. Should make a great quilt.

It's not the time of year that I'd normally think to take on an extra project, with the holidays approaching. But, I also remember how wonderful it was to slip off into the sewing room and work on something I wanted to work on, just for me, about me, by me during that busy time of trying to do for others.

Bonnie warns us in this intro post that she does intensive quilts. I did last year's mystery and I've made another couple of her patterns and I can attest to that. And, she makes big quilts, so there is a ton of piecing; lots of "make a hundred and twelve of these" and you think A HUNDRED AND TWELVE??, but then you get into the routine and start noticing the cool combinations of scraps and the variations and get into the fabric and piecing and relaxation.

I usually make smaller quilts than Bonnie. I usually do that by using less blocks than she does.

Here's a picture of my still unfinished Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll quilt, which was last year's mystery. Last year, I made all the blocks that Bonnie suggested and when it was done, I had a ton of blocks left over.

There is enough to make two other quilts, one using the string pieced blocks and their red and neutral hst sashing and another using the brown and pink hst's and leftovers from the border.

But, the stress release was the best part. I probably won't be one of those people rushing to keep up this year like I was last year (who am I kidding, I'll probably forego holiday baking to immerse myself in this myster). I plan to take it slower and more liesurely (right). I just started a quilt for a friend for a cmas gift and I have a holiday quilt that is in process.

But, I can always take on a bit more, right?

After all, next year's resolution is to quilt up some of these tops...same as it's been for the last two years in a row. Nothing like consistency.

Take care and have a great Thursday. Lane

To re-do, or not to re-do. That is the question

2011-11-02T09:48:00.002-05:00

And, despite my penchant for ripping out quilting, that is not what this post is about.

This post is about childhood and influence and memories and false memories and perception versus reality. It's been a hard memory to work my way through and I'm not sure how it's going to work, talking about it on my blog, where my family can read it...cuz I don't come out looking very good. But, here goes.

If you'd asked me a few years ago whether I was good enough, I'd have said no. I am good, but I'm never going to be "good enough". All my life, I was never "good enough". And, the example I would have given is when my Dad taught me to change a tire. He had me change the tire, and then, he pulled the tire off and put it on again because he didn't think I was good enough to do it right.

That is one big, huge bucket of false memory. But, I was never forced to deal with its falseness until I had a kid and I started teaching that kid how to do things. I never had to deal with the falseness and I never had to take responsibility for being, or not being "good enough". All I had to do was walk around under the false perception that I was not, and never would be "good enough" and then I could never fail, because even my Daddy knew I wasn't good enough. Everything I did, he came right behind me and re-did it.

Wanna hear what really happened? After I changed the tire, he took the lug wrench and made sure my 98-pound-weakling-ass had tightened up the lugnuts enough. He didn't take the tire off and put it back on again. Just tightened the lugnuts. Just what any Daddy would have done. Just made sure I'd be safe. Exactly what I'd expect him to have done if I'd had to change a flat tire on the freeway. And, probably what he'd do if I had a flat on the way to his house now, 35 years later. Because he just wanted to make sure I was safe. It wasn't a criticism. It was an unspoken love gesture. And, because it was unspoken, I misunderstood it and carried that misunderstanding with me for a very long time.

And, what's more, he put up with my lazy butt, trying to shortcut every task I was assigned so I could get on to things that would be interesting to me (usually TV). So, I'm pretty sure he did re-do a bunch of stuff I did, but not because of my wrong perception that I wasn't good enough. Because I was a lazy bones that did my dead level best to make every task as simple and fast as possible, even if the results suffered because of it. How frustrating that must have been for him. What the heck...I know first hand how frustrating that must have been for him because I'm going through it myself.

Spring forward 30 years until I get a kid. Now I'm trying to teach her to do things. Trying to teach her to make a pie, or rake a yard, or paint a cabinet. And, she's just like me...scary like me, for someone that I wasn't around for the first 9 years of her life. Anyway, she takes the quick, simple way and the results suffer. And I'm torn between my desire to have a job done "good enough" and my desire to make sure she feels "good enough". To balance the praise with real feedback. To let her know that some things just have to be done a certain way and that requires extra time and extra work and practice.

So, why did all this come up so suddenly? Remember Friday, after the eye doctor's appt, Sydney and I painted cabinets? She wanted to paint. I wanted to be around her. So, I let her paint with me. And, she slopped it up. And, I decided I could live with it rather than give her any feedback. I asked Rob and told him how it came about and he decided he could live with it, too.

But, Sunday, after a while in the kitchen, I decided I couldn't live with it. So, yesterday morning, I repainted the doors. Secretly. After Rob and Sydney had left for the day. And, I propped them barely open so they'd have time to dry, but they were closed enough that she wouldn't wonder why they were open.

That's a lot of effort to go to, just to keep from telling her I'm redoing her work because she rushed through it and didn't listen to what I was trying to tell her and show her about long brush strokes. And, to encourage her to practice that skill.

But, while I was doing it, I had to deal with my own issues of "good enough" and re-doing work that isn't good enough, and the realities and the truths about all that and the responsibility that comes with acknowledging that I am good enough and always was, and my Daddy never really acted like I wasn't. And, feeling a little guilty about holding onto a grudge for 30 years about something that didn't happen. And, taking responsibility for the fact that when I wasn't good enough, it was my choice, not my Dad's expectations that were the problem.

I think next time, I'll be able to do a better job of providing real time feedback. And, if the work needs to be redone, explaining why and then deciding if it's me or her that has to re-do it. Either way, I'll be able to do it better next time, because I had to deal with my own feelings about being good enough. And, I had to realize that sometimes work gets re-done and it's not because the do-er isn't good enough, but rather that the work isn't good enough. And, keep the focus on the work and not the person.

Ain't parenthood a wonderful adventure into our own childhood?

Lane

If you put your mind to it

2011-11-01T06:38:00.002-05:00

There used to be a cheer when I was in high school...

You can do it, you can do it, if you put your mind to it.

I remember it from high school football games.

Well, we certainly put that to the test with this robe or cape or tent or whatever it is.

This is what Sydney wanted for a Halloween costume. She picked out the pattern. She picked out the color. She supervised the making. Unfortunately, sometime after I cut it out, zebra print became the new purple...but no going back by that time.

And, I can assure you, this is a well made garment. Lined with a polyester silky, purple sheet, the bottom is a faux wool looking oil based product fabric and the top is a velvet looking oil based product...let's face it, if she steps near a candle, she'll melt.

All that gold ribbon is home made on my Pfaff sewing machine.

Doesn't she look like she could work magic??

Seriously, she could sleep outside under this thing. And, it's plenty warm.

Many, many hours were sunk into the making of this costume, including the bound seam edge where the hood joins the cloak. So, what is it that makes a kid decide at the last minute that she's not going to wear it or hand out candy or anything else having to do with the day?

She was mad at me, and acting like she didn't want to wear what I made was her way of getting back at me, for making her do Spanish homework on Halloween. How dare I???

"I don't have Math. No teachers gave us homework cuz it's halloween. I'm tired of doing Spanish every day."

All I did...after making her finish the Spanish...but not checking it again last night because, well, what good was it going to do to make her do it again??? I knew she was focused on being mad at me and not the work and was doing a bad job of it on purpose. Normally, I'd have had her walk away and do something else, like shower, and come back to the Spanish when she was in a better frame of mind. A frame of mind to learn something. But, it was Halloween and I didn't want her at the dining table all night long. So, I relaxed a bit and let her be mad and let her sit there and pretend she didn't want to play halloween. And, eventually, after I said "really? I did all that work and you aren't going to even wear it?" she did get up and go put it on and then plomphed back on the couch with a big sigh.

Me, I just kept cutting tiny threads on my holiday quilt and by the time the second trick-or-treater had rung the bell, she was up and handing out candy.

Sometimes I just have to ignore the bad and only acknowledge the good. It all works out because I gave her TWO spanish assignments for tonight. And, I'm going to create a quiz on the periodic table.

Revenge is soooooo wickedly sweet.

Mwaaaahahaaaaaa!!

Hope everyone has a great All Saints Day or Dio De Los Muertos.

Lane

Quilting and Frogging

2011-10-31T10:04:00.003-05:00

It is inevitable that when I quilt like this, there is some frogging.

One of my goals with this little holiday quilt is to quilt it just enough that when you see it from a distance, you want to get closer.

Want to get closer?

I finally got those poinsettias to show up on the green blocks. Red thread. Okay, so red thread takes a lot of courage. Every mistake has the potential to show. But, you know my theory on quilting. If there are mistakes, just add more thread until the mistakes disappear.

And, that's what I've done on this quilt.

One more time around the poinsettias with that red thread to make them show up just a tiny bit more and I'll be ready to snip the four hundred thousand million little tiny thread ends, where all that echo quilting ends at the edge of the green blocks. Yippee. I am so excited.

And, the frogging (everybody knows what frogging is, right? rippit, rippit) is where I changed my mind about some of the echo quilting. I had it running alongside the green blocks in the sashing, like I did on the other side of the seamline in the green blocks. But, that just got confusing, so I'm taking a little of that out and going with the echo right to the edge.

Quilting like this takes getting in the zone. Getting in the zone takes time to get relaxed into it enough. So, I'm not going to try to do any more quilting until this weekend when I can get a few hours of uninterrupted time again. In the meantime, I've got all those ends to cut and that should keep me busy.

Update on Sydney's eye...it's fine. Just a bit of red left. There's no sign of infection and the pain is gone and she can blink freely. So, it's all good that ends good, right?

Thanks so much for all your kind words. Some days it's good to be the dad. Even if it wasn't my knees she cuddled up against while we watched the second team play. But, that's good, too. Who wants sweaty teenager hanging all on them?

Happy birthday to the 7 billionth inhabitant of our planet, supposed to be born today, somewhere in India. Welcome to the world. Be productive and respect your elders.

Have a happy halloween!!!! Sydney's costume is finished. I'll try to post a pic tomorrow. It turned out soooo good. She looks so wizardly that I expect to be turned into a frog at any time...rippit, rippit...

Oh, wait. Didn't I just say that?

Lane

The eye has it

2011-10-29T06:53:00.002-05:00

I saw her on the basketball court, starting to rub her eye. She came off the court, still rubbing. Crap, she's gotten something in her eye. "Stop rubbing" I whispered under my breath as if she could hear me on the court.

She sat on the sidelines, rub, rub, rub. Then she took the locker room keys and left the gym. Okay, she's going to go get whatever it is out of her eye. "Good grief, what kind of cheap toilet paper crap is she about to stick in her eye?"

Quickly...too quickly, she's back. And, she's really upset. I'm not watching the game anymore. The coach tries to deal with her and then, I hear it. I hear what it is impossible for me to hear. The gym is loud. The game is exciting. And, over the din, I hear "Are your dads here?" And, I was on my feet, ramrod straight, mustering all the "presence" I have so the coach will see me.

And, when her eyes hit mine, I move. Down. Fast. One step after the other.

When I get to Sydney, she's pretty hysterical. Blubbering gibberish is all I hear. But, I know that every parental eye in that gym is on me. (What will the gay dad do???) No way I can get any control over her there in the gym. So, I look up in the stands and my eyes hit Rob and there he comes. Fast.

We take Sydney out in the hall. "Take two deep breaths and tell me what happened."

And, we wait because she knows I won't listen until she does what I said.

And, she starts. Blah, blah, blah details that I didn't hear about the play "and then some girl stuck her finger in my eye and for a second I lost vision but then it came back and then (substitute girl's name that I don't remember) screamed at me that I had blood in my eye. And, I couldn't get in the locker room to see..."

"Stop. Hold your head up. Look up."

And, indeed, just behind the lower lid, there is a spot of blood under the surface of the eye that's about as big around as the lead of an old fashioned wood pencil. "Okay, it's not so bad. Does it hurt?"

"No, I want to go back to the game."

"Calm down. I just need you to take a couple of breaths and calm down. Your blood pressure is high and that's just going to make it worse."

"You're stressing me out. I want to go back to the game." We are on the verge of hyperventilation.

"You can go back to the game as soon as you calm down."

Rob got involved then.

And, she calmed down and she went back to the game.

That night, I looked at it a couple of times and gave her a tylenol. She woke up the next morning and said it hurt, but she said the longer she was awake, the less it hurt, so I gave her an ibuprophen and sent her to school.

About four hours later, she called me and in her most pitiful voice (okay, if you have a daughter, you know that voice that sounds on the verge of tears and is nature's way of making sure parents take care of kids) "can you bring me an ibuprophen? My eye hurts."

The medical book says:

Blood spot in the eye with no pain, wait until it goes away. Blood spot in the eye with pain, see the doctor NOW.

[Okay, I confess to a bit of poetic license. I actually checked the medical book before I sent her to school. But, it fit in the plot better here.]

I called our doctor...can you believe that I share the same GP with my daughter? That sounds wierd, huh? Anyway, they suggest the optometrist. So, I call my O.D. and he's out of town for a couple of weeks. They refer me to the one that I saw when my O.D. was in Iraq a couple years ago.

Call them. They will fit her in. No, they don't have an appointment, but for this, the doctor will absolutely see her. But they're only open until 12:30. Time now, 11:40. We will be there in 10 minutes. And, we were. And, a lady heard us come in and came out and got us through the paperwork and got us in and an hour and a half later, and a hundred and forty dollars poorer, we're having burgers for lunch.

The girl removed a good bit of epidermis (translate for Sydney "she scratched the skin off"). No damage to the inside of the eye, just to the surface. It will heal just fine. Only risk is infection, so some eyedrops and alternate tylenol and ibuprophen until it stops hurting.

I could have taken her back to school after that. She could have gone to world history and spanish and choir and theater. But, I wanted her with me. So, we came home and ate and painted cabinet doors and then I quilted and she did her thing.

Here. Nearby. Where I needed her to be.

So, that's been our end of week. How 'bout yours?

Lane

Concerts, confusion and consternation

2011-10-26T07:25:00.007-05:00

Look at my girl in her black skirt and white shirt, all dressed and ready for the concert.

Please note the appropriate length of the black skirt. It was a formal concert after all and there were a lot of scandalously short skirts on that stage.

You also cannot see the very appropriate undergarments. But, I did advise that when I was her age, a proper lady would not leave the house without a girdle and stockings, gloves, hat and purse. To which she replied, "what is a girdle?" And, Rob's very quick answer was "A bit of illusion and magic."

Okay, until this morning, I did not realize just how funny that was.

This is last year's outfit. There's a gray stain in the back of the shirt. That gray stain got there from the shirt not being taken care of. I found it as I was finishing up the ironing. I could probably have bleached the shirt and gotten the stain out. But, then I would have had to iron the thing again...girls clothes are hard to iron; all those curved lines and darts; blech!

She hates the shirt this year because of the way it fits. It fits perfect. It's loose and lightweight and hangs well. Apparently, that's not the style anymore.

Okay, so Sydney's friend spent the weekend with us so she could go to practice for this concert. But, she wasn't at the concert. Her Mom was at the concert for at least a second, too short a time for us to run into her, but long enough to see her across the auditorium.

I would hate to think that M. didn't make the concert for want of a ride. I'm not sure that she has the same structured homelife that Sydney so enjoys. You guys are always commenting about what a great time Sydney has of it with us and I think that for the first time, I'm seeing a child that doesn't have the same structure...the structure that Rob and I just take for granted.

M. was surprised by meal times and home cooked food and eating out. She commented on my cooking several times and the groceries and the pantry. She wasn't used to bed times and getting up times and the kind of chores we expect and doing things with the family.

Makes my big old heart ache.

Okay, so that's concerts and confusion. How about consternation?

This little quilt. I spent all my time thinking about what I was going to quilt out in those large triangles. I have a fabulously fantastically wonderful plan. I spent so much time on the corners that I didn't plan for the center.

First, I tried an all over pattern. I practiced on paper, I created grids to quilt over, I tried and I tried and I tried and I wasn't happy. So, I switched to these poinsettias. I traced them and needle punched them into tracing paper and I put one in and I didn't like it, so I put another one in a different color thread and I didn't like it, so I ripped it out and then I replaced it with the original color thread and I still don't like it.

With the dark, medium and light fabrics in it, there is just no "right" color of thread.

If I stick with the poinsettias, I'm going to have to use a different thread. Something not green and something not beige. Red? Maybe metallic silver? or gold? There's a tiny bit of gold ink print on that sashing fabric. Or, I could quilt some other shape. I don't know. Now that all the ditchwork is done and the quilt is secure and stable, I'm thinking about starting out in the triangles and quilting what I know I want to do and then figuring out the center later. But, really, before I do that, I need to pick a thread. Or, maybe I'll just hang it on the wall and wait for some inspiration.

Red thread, huh? That would be a very bold move. Talk about showing off the mistakes.

Goodness knows I have plenty of other stuff I could work on.

Has anyone out there ever quilted with metallic thread? Is it easier or harder than invisible thread (which I consider to be like sewing with stretchy human hair)?

Lane

What to blog about???

2011-10-25T10:33:00.004-05:00

That is the real question. We are soooo busy. We have evening events all week. Kid stuff, parent stuff, me stuff.

Tonight is the all city choir concert. Sydney is in that choir for the second year. It's inconvenient, so it's voluntary. There are out of school practices and an evening concert. If the parents can't get the kid there, the kid can't participate. So, we're glad to see that coming to a finale.

And, this week is the first basketball game of the season. That's always exciting. Sydney is on the bench for the A team in case they need her and if they don't, then she plays with the B team. But, she can't play in both games. Not sure how that's going to work out for her. That's the coaches baby to rock. All I have to do is make sure she gets there and when it's my turn to bring sandwiches, I have to get them there.

Garden work season is starting and I'm trying to plan what I want to add to my flowerbeds this year. Almost every year, I pick a new spot to add some gardening color to. But, it's hard work that can only be done around here in winter...at least by me. I see people out sweating and trying to dig in the dirt in 105* temps. What I don't see is the stuff they plant making it through the summer. There's just not enough water to make that happen. So, I garden in winter. Not like the ground ever freezes, so may as well be comfy.

I finished my lesson plans to teach a quilt class. 15 lessons in a 12 hour class, split across at least two days. I haven't turned it in yet. Gotta make sure the man is good with me doing this. After all, whether he wants to or not, he'll be a participant. He'll need to build me a portable extension for my machine bed and he'll have to do without me while I do all the prep work and he'll have to feed the kid when I'm not home. And, we need to figure out what parameters I have around teaching; will it be Saturday classes, or after work? That kind of stuff. As much as I wish this replaced my other responsibilities, like my day job, it doesn't. It's in addition to all that other stuff, like homework and dentist visits and holiday shopping.

And, I've started quilting the 2011 holiday quilt. I meant to upload a picture of some poinsettia flowers in the center blocks. I've also started the 7th applique block for Simply Delicious. And, I have knitting and crochet and a hundred other irons in the fire.

Thank you all for your kind emails about the quilt show. I was disappointed. I could have used a roll of batting. But, it wasn't my show this time. That's okay. The quilt is still a winner and even if it's with another quilt, I will be in another show. I've got my feet wet now and am over the initial hesitation to put my work out there. So, don't be surprised if you see my name in a quilt show you're at some time.

Okay, so that's all for today. Sometimes life just gets in the way of quilting and blogging...or maybe I'm just having a blogging block from being so busy. I am trying to keep up with reading blogs, but keeping up right now has left me at least two days behind.

Take care and have a great Tuesday. If you get a chance, brew a nice cup of tea and sit someplace sunny to enjoy it and think about me and how much I wish I was there relaxing with you. When it's my turn to relax, I promise to think about you.

Lane

The suspense is over! The winners are announced.

2011-10-23T17:33:00.003-05:00

Yes, the winners have been announced. Congratulations guys! At least two of the winners are followers of mine. If you get a chance, head out and give them a big congratulations shout.

We've had such a busy weekend. Friday night about 8, Sydney's best friend's Mom called and asked if we could take M for the weekend. Sure. She's not a bit of a problem. They had choir practice all day yesterday, which is why M couldn't go to Dallas with the family for a surprise birthday celebration for a Grandma.

M is a delight. We tried to get them to take ours and just leave theirs here this afternoon, but they weren't having anything to do with it. We went for Thai food and they played and spent hours doing their nails. Rob and I puttered in the yard and around the house. My kitchen was in a deplorable state and I spent half the day scrubbing cabinet doors and tile countertops.

And, I've been quilting. You know me. Gotta have quilting.

Everybody take care and have a great last few hours of your Sunday. Back to work tomorrow. Lane

Lone Star Fiesta Quilt Show

2011-10-20T09:47:00.001-05:00

Do you have 15 minutes to go to a quilt show? Rob managed to capture the Lone Star Fiesta Quilt show by the Chisholm Trail Quilters on video. It's really like being there.

This is the show we went to with LD. She's the lady in blue that makes a face at Rob.

The quilt with the witch? It's titled "Self Portrait". What a sense of humor...or is it?

That red bag I'm carrying was purchased in the guild boutique. And, it was filled in the boutique. The bag only cost a buck. Great bargain.

In the beginning there are two bethlehem star quilts. One is the full sized raffle quilt and the other is a miniature that the maker donated to the silent auction. Hello, if I ever make something that wonderful, I'm being buried in it.

Take care and have a wonderful Thursday. I'm working from home and waiting for a repairman. Hoping I can keep from getting distracted. Quilts are calling. But, so is work.

Quilt

Work

Quilt

Work

Maybe I should find a daisy and do a version of "he loves me, he loves me not". Or maybe I better get my butt to work so I can afford to keep quilting.

Lane

Putting people in their place and the shoe saga continues...

2011-10-19T09:33:00.003-05:00

Following is a wierd post, full of imagination and fantasy. Not sure where it came from, but as I've read it over and over, I'm kinda liking it, so I think I'll keep it.

Okay, so every once in a while, I have to move people up or down on the importance ladder. Imagine that everyone in your life is on a ladder. The most important people are at the top so they can climb up and out of danger first. They're the people you'd risk your life for. Then, there should be you. (Yes, you need to be pretty darn near the top of your ladder. And, if you're not, you need to look at why.) And then, below you, in descending order of importance, are all the other people you have relationships with. Yes, it's a long ladder. Good thing it's imaginary because it wouldn't be too stable.

Sometimes I realize that someone just isn't experienced enough, or isn't sensitive enough for the place of respect I gave them on my ladder. That person needs to be moved down the ladder.

Or, someone is just irritating. On purpose. Someone that is only made important because I'm always irritated with them and therefore think about them morning, noon and night. Irritating people just don't need to be way up there on the ladder, close to me, where they can irritate me more. They need to be moved down the ladder.

Now, you're probably thinking how mean it is of me to move people down the ladder; to make them less important; to make them less likely to survive the "danger" that exists at the bottom of the ladder. But, it's not. Moving someone down the ladder means letting other people move up the ladder. People that are more deserving of a better place on the ladder can fill the empty space left by someone that maybe shouldn't even be on my ladder at all.

See, in my imagination, I can push people off the ladder and watch them fall. And, not feel one bit guilty about it. Maybe they grab on somewhere near the bottom. Maybe they don't and the danger gets them. But, more deserving people get to fill in the spaces.

Why is this particular imaginative rambling important to me? Because there's a couple of people that I've recently realized have been moved down the ladder. They didn't deserve the importance I gave them. Over time, without doing it on purpose, I moved them down my ladder, to better places for them to be. They likely won't even notice that they've been moved. Won't even notice the little bit less of myself that I offer. But, I'll know. Not because I'll remember these folks aren't important. But because I'll be enjoying the people I moved into those empty places. People that deserve to be there, in better place, on my ladder.

Yes, it's fanciful. Unrealistic. But, a pretty darned accurate description. Words that draw a picture that only exists in my mind.

-----------

Okay, so you may know about the coach that called the other day to tell me to buy shoes for my kid. I blogged about it here. Monday evening, I asked Sydney if she heard from Coach B. "Yes. She called me over and made me show her my new shoes and she said 'Nice job. Those are going to make a big difference'".

Yesterday morning, as I was driving to work, I got a call from a phone number I didn't recognize. I answered and it was Sydney. "Lane, I just wanted to say Thanks for the new shoes. I know you didn't have to do that. But, I wanted to let you know that I appreciate you taking the time and the money to get me new shoes." Okay, so floored is a good description. All I could say was "Thanks for calling and saying that. You're welcome and I love you." She hung on the phone for a few more seconds without saying anything and I asked "are you okay?" "Yeah". "Okay, love you." "Bye" (cuz that child would rather pull a permanent tooth than say she loves me in front of anybody.)

Last night, I asked what was up with the call. "Coach B. made me call. I was on my way in from gym and she called me over and made a big deal about the shoes. I called you and said thanks to make her shut up. I even managed to work up a tear for her." And, the whole time she's beaming like she just pulled the biggest joke in creation.

But, I know that what the coach said touched her. She doesn't work up a tear for just anything. And, I know she both loves and respects this coach and listens to what she says.

All I could do was guffaw. How can you listen to a kid tell a story like that and not roll on the floor laughing. Sometimes it's like living with Huck Finn.

Everybody have a great Wednesday.

Lesson plan 1: What to quilt

2011-10-18T08:26:00.003-05:00

I had to show off pics of this month's Linus quilt. I got the last of the quilting done this morning.

When I sat down to try to figure out what to quilt, I looked at this top and I thought: I could quilt an all over pattern in the center and then something else around the borders. But, with so much movement in the quilt top, why? Sometimes simple is the best option.

I sat down and wrote most of my lesson plans for a machine quilting class last week. I almost turned them in on Saturday (even though turning that around in a week would have implied that I was overly anxious (which I am, but not need to look overly anxious in what amounts to a job interview)) but I decided not to. And, the reward for not turning it in is that I thought of two new topics to cover. But, I digress.

The first lesson plan is about looking at the top you've made and deciding what to quilt in it. It's sort of a trunkshow of my quilts to talk about what worked...and what didn't.

Complex tops will swallow up complex quilting patterns. If the top is complex, it's usually best to keep the quilting simple.

If the top is simple or has large spaces, fill that up with fancy quilting.

If you want to snuggle under the quilt, don't quilt it too tight or it will get stiff and hard and not cuddly.

Oh, and the most important lesson of all. If you're quilting something hard, like long straight unmarked lines, quilt a bunch of them. It makes the mistakes disappear. In other words, if the quilting is bad, put a bunch of it in and nobody will see your mistakes.

I first quilted just diagonally through the neutral blocks. And, I could see every curve and wonk. So, then, I quilted diagonally through all the green blocks. Still lots of curves and wonks. Then, I added a line through all the dark blocks that also crossed the green block corners and with that, there were so many mistakes that all the oopsies just disappear.

Yeah for me and my mistakes.

Now, if I could just rationalize why I used that terrible backing fabric on this cute quilt top, we'd be alright.

Have a good Tuesday. Lane

six is twelve, or twelve is six

2011-10-17T06:28:00.004-05:00

I got my patterns out of order and I didn't check the number. I ended up making the block on top of the pile, thinking it was 6. Then, yesterday, when I finished it and went for the next block, I found block 6 and thought, "Oh, Crud. I've only done 5 of these. I'm never going to finish."

The one I finished yesterday was the grapes. With 69 planned applique pieces, I can see why they planned it to be the final block. Nobody would want to do more if they did this one first.

I had to add two extra grapes to cover a couple of holes. I was being really careful to place them right, but there were just a couple of spots that needed more...purple. Okay, you are not going to hear me say that often. Few things need more purple when you have a 13 year old that is obsessed with the color.

I'm really loving this applique. It's the Simply Delicious quilt from Piece o' Cake Designs (Becky Goldsmith and Linda Jenkins). I'm reallly loving it. The grapes make 6 blocks finished. I just started this year, so I'm pretty happy about that.

I won't finish this year, but maybe next. I already have the backing fabric folded up in the box with the rest of the patterns. And, last night, I got everything ready for the next block, Perfect Pomegranate.

Other than that, we didn't do too much over the weekend. By yesterday, I was pretty much ready for some Lane time and so I took it. It was heaven. I got everything ready to pin baste this year's cmas quilt and I nearly finished quilting the October Linus quilt. I got the grapes block finished and the next one started. And, I did a bit of cleaning around the sewing room. That's the drawback to being a whirling dervish. At some point, I have to slow down enough to clean up the mess.

Hope you're having a great Monday. Lane

Her first overnight guest

2011-10-15T10:03:00.002-05:00

Rob and I took yesterday off. Not to do anything. But, just not to be at work. We started with a nice round of chores. I cleaned carpets for 3 hours and Rob built me an enclosure to hold mulch as a floor for this winter's green house. Then, we went for Indian buffet for lunch. Rob had never had Indian food and he liked it very much. I looked at his plate and said "I'm sorry you didn't care for it." Both times that he cleaned his plate.

Then, we rested for the afternoon. He took a nap and I cut out a quilt for a friend. Then, Sydney brought a friend home from school and they did their thing and we did ours. I appliqued grapes. Just a dozen or so left to go. Rob studied lawn mowers. He needs a new one, but can't find one he likes, so he's going to repair.

Pizza made the perfect supper and Rob and I sat in the living room and watched a movie and they stayed in Sydney's room. I don't know what they did. Sydney said they stayed up til 10:30, but Rob said he heard something loud closer to 11:30.

And, they slept half the morning while I pinbasted a Linus quilt and Rob puttered.

Again, I am fascinated by the ordinary-ness of our lives.

Oh, and we got a call from a coach yesterday. We got fussed at for the deplorable state of our child's shoes. What did I know. I haven't seen those shoes since I told he she couldn't bring them home anymore cuz they stunk so bad.

Just kidding.

The call was very compassionate, but did have just the tinies bit of chastising, unsure whether we could afford new shoes and offering to help out if we needed it to get them. That made me feel funny. First funny that she thought we needed the help. Then funny that she offered and curious about whether she was talking about school funds or her personal funds. And, funny that I got absorbed in grades and forgot shoes.

Oh, well. That's how it is, right? Anyway, we will be buying new shoes today. I have a 20% off coupon that's burning a hole in my email inbox. Okay, that's it fo rme. I'm off to cast my last minute vote in the quilt show and then we're off for a bit of shopping and lunch. Sydney's friend loves Thai food. Maybe we'll go all international and do that today.

Take care. Lane

Have you been to the online Men's Quilt show??

2011-10-13T06:54:00.005-05:00

This post needs two titles. The one above and "Everyone should be so lucky."

Okay, so the quilt show. I'm in my first quilt show. It's an online quilt show called Men Quilt, Too and I really hope that if you haven't visited and voted, you take the opportunity to do so. Voting ends this Saturday. I have to confess. I haven't voted yet. I'm having a really hard time deciding whether to vote for myself or to vote for the quilt I think is the best...and are they the same quilt? Who knows. There's lots of great quilts out there.

Okay, so that was a shameless plug. I figure the more people vote, the better chance I have to win...something. And, all four prizes are great.

Everyone should be so lucky...

And, I've tried to blog about my quilting adventure every day since the show started on 10/01. Today, I'm going to blog about a quilt that was a gift from our friend LD. When she gave this quilt to Rob to bring home to me, she shared the story of its history. He remembered names like Reagan and King, both big names in Texas history. There was a plane crash and a Mother/Daughter death and lost history.

I unfolded it the first time and almost cried at the beauty of it.

Unfortunately, it is in need of repair, if for no other reason than to preserve the beautiful embroidery.

Unfortunately, we don't know anything about the maker.

We know that there was a lady who did interior decorating named Reagan. Her daughter married into the King Ranch family and was Mrs Reagan's best customer in the decorating business.

Mrs Reagan bought the quilt to use in her daughter's home. But, even then, it needed repair. So, she hired LD's aunt to do the repairs.

Just as the repairs were finished, Mrs Reagan and Mrs King were going to fly out on a shopping trip.

The plane crashed on takeoff and both were killed.

No one ever came to claim the quilt and LD's Aunt was never paid. So, right of ownership passed to the Aunt and then to LD and then to me. And, it's time to repair again.

The shot above on the right is the quilt back. It was made up of several different brown silks. One is completely gone. I was surprised to see the embroidery stitches show through on the back. Maybe that's the way all these were made. I don't know.

In my study on restoring silk and velvet crazy quilts, the first thing I read was don't try to repair a historically significant quilt. So, for over a year, the quilt has sat, folded in a cotton sheet, waiting until I could get the full history and make sure it wasn't significant before I take my inexperienced needle to it. I think the batting might be silk. At the very least, it is the softest combed wool I have ever felt.

The plan is to reback it and retire (cover over with black silk) a couple of pieces of shattered silk that have no embroidery. There is one shattered piece with beautiful embroidery that I want to preserve and I'm thinking of inserting a very delicate piece of fusible web that melts at a low temp and fusing the shattered silk to a backing fabric so the embroidery can be preserved and enjoyed. I've found the silk, but I haven't bought it. I guess that even though it's not historically significant, it's still intimidating to think about actually doing something...other than letting it disintegrate in my sewing room closet.

Everybody have a great Thursday.

Lane

First Exposure to Quilts...

2011-10-12T07:47:00.005-05:00

So many quilters have great stories of sitting under the quilt frame as children, listening to the old folks gossip, Or threading needles for maiden Aunts. Or hand piecing at the knee of a Grandmother.

Not me. Boys don't sew. Boys play in the dirt. Except I wasn't supposed to get dirty.

My exposure to quilts didn't come from beds, either. Toasty warm beds and sleeping under a weight of quilts in a drafty old farmhouse. In my family, we used blankets. Blankets were modern. Both my Grandmothers used blankets and I can remember that we had electric blankets when I was growing up. Quilts were for changing the oil in cars or spreading on the dirt for a picnic.

And, then the 70's came along and the bicentenial and a resurgence in the crafts of a bygone time. My grandmother made Sunbonnet Sue quilts and Overall Bill quilts for her great grandchildren. And, then, my Mom made me this quilt. All these stars appliqued to muslin with satin stitch. I don't remember much about the piecing, but I do remember her sitting at her machine, quilting it in a grid pattern. Her machine sat on a fold away card table in the laundry room, where an upright freezer would have gone...except all my family used chest type freezers. I also don't know where all the scraps came from. I know that some were clothing scraps from the family, but the others may have been gifted scraps from other people. Not sure my Mom would remember. Anyway, loved this quilt, but it is very fragile. The muslin is thin and it's been washed until some of the satin stitching has worn. The corners are starting to open where the muslin back was folded over to the front to bind it.

My next quilt was this quilt. It was made by my Great Grandmother. Now, this is where my real love of quilts started because I could use this quilt. Except it was made of double knit, so it is so hot that you can't sleep under it unless you're sleeping outside or in a very drafty house. But, I remember as a boy, sleeping under it in the summer until my Dad said something to me about not needing to sleep under a heavy quilt. I know he said it to me first thing one morning and I wonder if it was because he woke me up for school and I was a sweaty mess under this heavy thing.

Now, these next two quilts are quilts I grew up around. They were kept in the top of the linen closet and were used for picnics and...other things like raking leaves onto in the fall so we could drag them across the yard and dump them on the compost pile. Hey, quilts were plentiful and considered "country" at that time, so no judging.

This red sashed quilt is in the best shape. These quilts came from my maternal foremothers. Note the pattern. You're going to see it repeated from both sides of the family. It was apparently a very popular regional pattern.

This blue quilt is in sad shape and may not be worth repairing. But, I do have all the supplies gathered. It took years to find just the right loosely woven tan fabric to replace the HST's around each block. The original is shredding. And, I found a perfectly color matched piece of cotton to cover the motor oil stain in the backing. Like I said, quilts were plentiful and misunderstood.

This is a quilt I collected. We picked it up from an antique store. It really needs cleaning. Looks like a lot of white, but those colored bits used to be blue print with orange dots. Now, just the dots remain and a shadow of the blue. It's still a lovely quilt and is nice and heavy. Great hand quilting even though it's not densely quilted. It was made for a utility quilt. But, it's not a scrap quilt. The maker clearly had a lot of white and a lot of the print to use.

Now, we get into the quilts that I inherited from my paternal side of the family. These are in very good shape, All cotton. See that repeated pattern again? I love al the color in this quilt, set against the brown sashing and borders. No need for all the HST's on this one. Just cut the sashing into blocks and incorporate them into the pattern. Can you imagine how hard that was to do by hand?

One winter, Rob and I stayed at my parent's house for cmas holidays. They lived on a lake and it was blue cold while we were there. One whole wall of the bedroom was windows and sliding glass doors covered in heavy drapes, but it was still cold. We pulled this quilt out of the bathroom closet and we were toasty warm for the rest of our stay. It is a wonderful scrappy quilt. Lots of rough feedsack cloth.

Now, this quilt is a beautiful disaster. It is a beautifully hand pieced quilt. It's a sunflower pattern and the yellow petals are set into the seams of the blue points. I've only seen the pattern once and didn't think to bookmark it and can't find it again. All the fabrics in the top are cottons. But, it is backed with the cheapest navy blue polyester, so loosely woven that you can see through it and see the polyester batting. One day, I'd like to take the quilting out and requilt it on a new back and batt. But, with so many of my own projects going on, I doubt that I'll ever really get to that.

--------

This was one of those odd mornings where I was celebrating just being. The averageness of getting up before the sun and making breakfast for my family and sending them off with their foil wrapped packages of goodness and protein. The averageness of putting things away and keeping order in my sewing room and doing yoga and playing with the dog. The averageness of a shower and shave. The averageness of sitting down to my own breakfast and planning Sydney's homework and studying Spanish so I can keep up with her and keep her up with the class. The averageness of a walk through the back yard, humming the old hymns from childhood.

I think a lot of this was brought on by the news that a family friend from my childhood had passed. I remember his youngest daughters, who were near my age. His oldest daughter played piano at church. She was well studied and very classical in her playing. Her mother, on the other hand, played piano at the church sometimes and her playing was more country piano with trills and runs and notes that didn't show on the page. I'm not sure she read the music so much as felt it flow out of her fingers. Her interpretation of the hymns made your soul want to move and your hands want to wave and your feet want to dance in praise. But that just wasn't done in the conservative Baptist church I grew up in and while I know lots of people enjoyed her playing, I don't think she was the first choice of many of the choir directors that came and went. I loved that old gospel feel to the music, tho and can remember being caught up in the celebration of it.

Precious mem'ries.

Lane

A very big weekend

2011-10-10T10:37:00.002-05:00

Thank you all so much for your kind comments over the weekend. I am both excited and intimidated. The new LQS owner has strong feelings about what she wants and it is what I want to offer in a class I teach, so we're agreed on that part. Now, I need a lesson plan and a textbook and to figure out when and if I can actually pull this off.

Okay, so teaching is something that I've wanted to do for a while and I asked the previous shop owners a couple times, but what I felt like I had to offer, they already had someone to teach. Now, I have a skill they want and this time, they asked me. All their quilters use long or mid arm machines and they want a quilter that uses a domestic. Hello, that's me!

She did remind me that they're in it to make money, so I need to keep that in mind as I write up the curriculum. And, I'll do my best, but they don't carry many of the supplies that I consider must haves for quilters and so, sending business their way is going to be a delicate two-way street, where they have to sell it for me to get people to buy it from them. That includes tools, thread and needles, which they keep in very, very limited supplies. Unfortunately, that's why JoAnn's gets so much of my business; they keep a better supply of tools and thread and needles. But, we'll work that part out, too.

And, I need to find a textbook. She and I think of different names when we think of quilting on a DSM. She doesn't carry books by the author I prefer. So, there I am again, wondering if I'll have to teach from a book by someone I don't know that well and who will it be?

On the home front, we had a very kid-centric week last week and while I didn't feel like that left much room to sew, I guess I got a lot more done than I thought. I pulled out and finished the Cheerful Cherries block from Simply Delicious. It had been put away so long, I had to pull out the book and read up again. Cherries are block 5 and I thought 45 applique pieces was just a bit too much for one applique block.

And, then I started block 6, Gorgeous Grapes and it has 70 pieces. Oh, brother. There are 40 or 45 grapes!! This is from a kit that a friend gifted me and I am enjoying the heck out of it. I'm learning to make it more portable as I get better at it and that will help. For a while, I didn't consider it a good port-a-project because of the overlay that helps me set the pieces, but I'm getting better working with that as I go and have learned the secret of not letting it get wrinkled.

And, I fixed the border problem on this year's cmas quilt. The dark green borders were about a half inch wider and that was throwing me off. I did not like it, so I cut some size off all 4 sides and added the tan border to it. Now, I'm ready to pin baste and start the quilting.

And, I got the borders on the little green quilt. Funny, while I was piecing a quilt that was made mostly from leaders/enders, I was also piecing more leader/enders for a future quilt. The stash uses system never stops giving.

All the fabrics are pressed and ready to cut for my next quilt. Handwork, quilting, piecing. I need all three going at one time to be happy and feel like I'm making headway because they all require different tools and space and mind. If I have all three going, I don't have to stop work just because I get brain dead on what shape to quilt next. I can piece for a while and think about it. And, if I need to go somewhere while I'm thinking, I can take some handwork. A busy boy has too much to do to hover over his 13 year old daughter.

Last Wednesday night, it was baking cupcakes with the kid and doing homework all evening. It would have been so much easier to bake for her, or to forego the homework for the team. But, I got her to do both. Thursday night, it was the last volleyball game and all the team and most of the parents went out for dinner after (it was our second dinner). Friday night, we had the school Homecoming dance and we chaperoned. And, then we stopped at Taco Bell and had a second dinner. (I finally got to take my boyfriend to a school dance. Now, imagine how horrified Sydney was when I kept telling her that the dance wasn't about her, it was about taking my boyfriend out.) Saturday, Sydney spent the afternoon and evening with friends and Rob and I worried because that's not normal for us...what were we to do with all that time without her. So, I made him take me on a date and we went out for a vast amount of fried food.

When it was time to pick Sydney up, she doesn't have the skills yet to handle disappointment and acted like a 9 year old, trying to get us to let her spend the night. At some point, a parent has to let their kid misbehave so they can experience the embarrasment of crying in front of someone else's Mom and learn that's not how grown ups act. My kid is learning that lesson older than most. Can't be helped. That's the life we have now. We taught her to be a person and now it's time to inflict her on the world. We can't protect her from growing up and part of that is learning how to be friends. So, we carefully select the parents to let her learn in front of. People we don't think will judge her too harshly and will be part of our village. People that understand what it's like to be Sydney and help us teach her. So, when we got out of the truck and smiled and laughed and entertained while being firm about our "no", CW, the other girl's Mom, seemed to understand and chatted with all three of us until the tear storm was passed and we were back to telling funny stories about Sydney's day out.

Growing up is hard to do.

Take care and have a great Monday.

Lane

Do you follow Bonnie Hunter?

2011-10-08T11:50:00.002-05:00

If you've followed for a while, then you know that I am a Bonnie Hunter fan; a member of that very large club.

Now, I found Bonnie at very rough quilting time. I was too tightfisted to throw anything away, but the scraps from my quilts was taking over and getting way out of hand.

I kept reading in a blog I followed about the quilter using her Leaders and Enders. Finally, one day I was just too curious and I went to find out what that was. And, that's where I found Bonnie.

Bonnie taught me how to save my scraps so I could use them and then, shared ideas of how and when to use them. And, I was hooked bad.

Here's a previous blog about how much I love my scrap user system.

So, this morning, I knew that I needed to piece a Linus quilt for this month. And, I had no ideas, except to start something from scratch. But, over summer, I knew I had pieced a whole bunch 4 patches, so I went in search and found 70 already pieced and waiting. I reached into the Linus bin of fabrics and pulled out a lavendar. No, don't want lavendar. Next, a piece of red. No, red's not right. Next came out this piece of green and I measured and made sure I had enough and cut it and in about 3 hours, I had this. I will be adding another row of blocks and squaring it up. I don't usually make baby sized Linus quilts. I usually go for teen boy quilts if I can, but this is what came together, so this is what it's going to be.

In different news, I was at a quilt show last weekend and ran into the new owner of the LQS. She taught the one class I've attended. She asked me to bring in the finished quilt from that class. I took that one in and three others. She asked if I'd teach a series of quilting classes. Starting at the basics and building up.

All I have to do is come up with a lesson plan.

Somebody pinch me!

Lane

I should be ashamed...

2011-10-07T09:03:00.004-05:00

But, I'm not.

Hi. My name is Lane and I'm an addict. I am addicted to sewing machines. I knew I had a problem when my family drove me 70 miles, in the rain, for the second time in two weekends, to get me a machine. I also knew I had a problem when I started looking for pictures and realized I couldn't find pictures of two of my favorite machines. But, we must power on.

I will likely stumble again.

In my own defense, I make them all work.

So, let's start with my latest conquest and work backward.

Ken Moore, my 1950's era Kenmore sewing machine. Bought him off ebay and he was damaged in shipping. I spent a lot of time bringing him back and on vacation in August, I picked up his original cabinet from the seller and rewired Ken and now he is my main piecing machine. He was purchased in Spring 2011. He has a very deep voice.

And, while I was waiging for him to be delivered, I bought this machine; a real powerhouse 231 at goodwill. I like this machine and would love to send it to my Mother in Law as it would be a great machine for her, but she'd have to set it up and take it down as a portable and it is a very heavy machine. So, for now, she waits her turn to make something.

This is my only mistake. Stupid, stupid mistake. This machine was in the auction at Goodwill. I got caught up in the frenzy of bidding and paid as much as I would have paid for one on ebay (not including shipping). I declined to try it out at the store. I got it home and it took a couple of days to figure out it had been dropped and had serious problems. By then, it was too late to take it back. So, i started dropping money into it and just when I got everything else going fine, the motor mount breaks and the housing cracks. Previously unseen damage. So, for now, it sits in the closet in it's case while I look for a white motor housing. I am now a much more careful shopper. (oh, and btw, if you just happen to have a white motor housing for a singer 221 just sitting around, please call.)

Now, this is an inherited machine. This was my Grandmother's machine. Or my Mother's machine...depending on who you asked. When my Mom got her first job, my Grandmother said, let's go trade my treadle machine in on a new machine. We'll use the treadle as the downpayment and you can make the payments and when you get married, you can take the machine with you. Well, apparently that went along well, until my Mom got married and then my Grandmother wouldn't hand over the machine. Anyway, my Grandmother sewed on it forever. That spot where the varnish is worn off is from her arm. My Mom and Dad were going to get rid of it and my Mom asked if I'd like to have it and we picked it up on vacation a couple years ago. Unfortunately, this machine is temperamental. I suspect that is a holdover from my Grandmother. So, she doesn't get used much anymore. I mean, there's really only so much time I can feasibly sink into working on one machine, right?

This is my Singer 128 handcrank. Totally an impulse purchase. I thought I would enjoy hand cranking much more than I did. A couple of bobbins into it and the thrill had worn off. She's a great machine tho. I used her when I made a denim quilt. Didn't want to do that on one of my electric machines, so I did it all with manaul power. When I got to the border, it was much easier to take this machine onto the floor with the quilt than it was to haul that heavy quilt up to my treadle.

Now, here is my Singer 127, treadle. We call her Jenny, in honor of Rob's grandmother who sewed on a treadle all her life. Another great and classic machine. There's a video somewhere of me treadling on this machine...just going along, no problems. It is very relaxing. But, it's not likely to replace my electrics anytime soon. Barring armegeddon, that is.

I should not have to take credit for this one. This was ALL Rob's fault (yeah, right). We were at a city wide garage sale and just stumbled up on it. I tried to bargain them down and they weren't having anything to do with it. I could have gotten the card table for what I now recognize was a song and was too cheap to realize how valuable it would have been. But, nonetheless, I love this little girl. She went on vacation with us and helped me piece a quilt while we were there. Her name is Esther.

THIS IS NOT A TOY! Those are the first words of the instruction manual for this little machine. Okay, but if you sew much, it's kind of a cheesy substitute for a machine...machine splenda. But, for $6 I couldn't pass up my little Pinky. I've done everything I can to make her quiet enough to use her, but she is not having anything to do with it. So, she also sits in a box in the closet...

This is my Pfaff, Elizabeth. She was abandoned at a fundraiser when she didn't sell. Nobody wanted her because nobody could figure out how to reset the password, so she wouldn't work for them. Rob stumbled up on her through one of his man connections (why can a man take apart a car engine and put it back together, but a sewing machine intimidates the heck out of 'em?) He brought her home. I contacted Pfaff and they said I'd have to send her in to have that password reset. I asked the local repairman at my LQS and he said, take the batteries out for a minute and then put them back in. She's been sewing for me ever since. When I need a modern machine, she just cannot be beat.

Now, this is my good girl. She's also my big girl. She's my Evelyn. She's a Bernina 930 and she has quilted every quilt I've ever machine quilted. I've tried machine quilting on a few others, but it's just not the pleasure that it is on my big ole' Evelyn.

She was my mentor's Mother's machine. She's never given me a bit of trouble...well, okay, she was a little cranky when I first started using her, but I think that was because I didn't know what I was doing and she wasn't really happy about that, having come from an experienced quilter and all. But, we got through it and now she is my good and faithful friend.

And, last but not least, the machine I've had the longest, even though I couldn't really use her until about a month ago. This is Natalie Scarbrough. She's a National Rotary from early in the 20th century. I don't know much about her. That's kind of an obscure name and unlike Singer, you generally have to pay for information about her. And, I'm not really willing to do that. So, I just enjoy having her as part of the family. She's going to make a quilt, soon. I have it all cut and kitted up. A great, girly one for her maiden voyage...or is it. I really don't know what she did before she came to live with me 20 years ago. But, she hasn't done much since and it's time for her to do some work!

I also have a Singer 301, black, longbed. I don't know why I can't find a picture of her and I'm not at home to take one. And, I have Kathryn, my Mom's serger, who is a workhorse in my sewing room now that I've taken the time to learn to use her.

So, that's it. 13. You just never know when I'll find number 14, tho.

---------------------

Okay, so I have some personal blog cleaning up to do. Yesterday, I finished The Help. I was moved. Moved to tears often. I really loved the book. If you haven't read it yet, I recommend it.

But, finishing it led me to the necessity of an apology. A couple of weeks ago, I compared DOMA, the Defense of Marriage act that prevents Rob and I from marrying at a federal level, to the Jim Crow Laws from the South. I apologize. They are not the same. At this time, DOMA is no threat to our personal safety and while I so wish for its repeal, I do recognize that our struggle is nothing compared to the struggles of other minority groups. And, like those groups, in time, we will prevail, partially because of the lessons learned from their struggles. So, I thank those that came before me and saw a wrong and took a stand about it.

Lane

A break from history

2011-10-06T10:40:00.003-05:00

I find I need a break from blathering on about what I've done. I want to talk about what I'm doing now.

Because I'm getting ready to start quilting a quilt.

This quilt.

I pieced this quilt a few thanksgivings ago. I remember because Rob's Mom was here and Sydney was on a blow up mattress in my sewing room and I had a machine set up in our bedroom so everyone could sleep, but I could still sew.

It's based on the three green fabrics. At the time, I was calling them the perfect three shades of green. They go so well together. Now my tastes have moved more toward the olives, but at one time, these were all the rage for me. The tan is a holiday print that adds the small amount of red that I repeated in the cornerstones.

This quilt is going to be all about the quilting. Each of those four big corner areas is going to get something holiday themed quilted in it. Christmas trees in one corner, a string of lights in another, ornaments in the third and these gifts in the last one. First, I traced it all. All these images came from something. The lights came from a holiday gift bag and the rest came from a child's holiday coloring book. I had to pull things from a variety of pages to get the items I wanted and I did all the overlapping and merging things myself.

I used these tracings as my plan, so they have a variety of outlining techniques drawn on so I could pick the one I liked best. This one is just basic outlining, but there are lots of things tried and decided. For the actual quilt, I only need the basics, tho. So, just the outlines of the shapes I need to mark for. The rest can be free hand, but shapes this intricate, I'm just not ready to trust myself yet. On paper, I can erase. That's much easier than trying to free hand it, messing up, and then having to pick it out.

Next, I pin a piece of tracing paper to my sketch. I don't want to transfer the pencil lead from the tracing to the thread and I don't want to lose my original pattern, so I'm going to needle punch to transfer the pattern to the tracing paper.

One side of the tracing is just holes. But, if you turn it over, you get bumps and those bumps cast a shadow if you turn a light on it just right. So, when I quilt this, my flourescent light that is usually above my eye line will be lowered to below my eye line so it will cause the bumps to cast a shadow for me.

When I pin baste the quilt sandwich, I won't put many pins in these large corner sections. Just a few. Then, I'll do all my outline quilting and ditch work to give the piece stability. After that, I'll quilt the center and then, I'll pinbaste my corner sections and pin the needle punched tracing right into the sandwich.

After I quilt in the general shapes, I pull off the tracing paper and I can add all my free motion background quilting and pull the pins as I go.

Much easier than trying to trace the whole shape onto the quilt before pin basting and then hope the drawing stays until I can get it quilted.

And, the paper? Make small stitches and it tears right out. Any that sticks can be pulled out with a tweazer. Or, wash it and most of the sticky bits will wash away. I've used Golden Thread paper, parchment paper from the grocery, and expensive tracing paper from the art supply house. All of them have worked well. The parchment might be best for a beginner because it is a harder paper and less likely to tear on you while you quilt. Golden thread is nice, but not as available to me as I'd like. Next, I'm going to try regular gift wrap tissue paper. I've been using that to trace garment patterns and it's more sturdy than I expected and I think would do this job nicely. As long as I'm careful.

K. That's it for me. Sydney baked 30 cupcakes to take to the volleyball team. And, she did an hour of spanish. I just love it when home is cool.

Lane