Ungrateful Spawn

My last post must have been true because not one of my three spawn really argued that I am a wonderful mother and one (he shall remain nameless) actually asked, "So what's new?"

On a brighter note, I had a fun with my crafting friends last night and even got the last two sides of the borders on my Dresden Plate quilt. This evening I put two borders on Karla's round robin quilt. I think I just have one more to do something on and then I just wait for mine to come back to me. So far only Rebecca's top is finished and it is off to Deb for quilting already along with another top of mine. Also this evening I finished ripping Katie's last two donations to my denim pile. I really need to get cutting and then sewing so I can cause that pile to at least shrink if not disappear for at least a short time.

More for me, but possibly of interest to others, I have added a list off to the right keeping track of my sewing for this year. I am trying to get some things finished off but in her comment to my last post Jody announced that she will be providing me with another Great Niece/Nephew in September so I guess that adds another quilt to my list of projects to get busy with.

January was a good month for our appliance repair business. Actually, our best month ever! Good for the bank account but hard on our aging bodies. I look forward to my little vacation at the end of February when I get to go to beautiful Lake Coeur d'Alene for a quilt retreat. Always a highlight of my winter/spring.

I must be a bad parent

I have sent my kids off to camp, sent one off to Germany, sent two girls off to college - one in Alaska! - and I even sent my little baby boy off to scary Aunt Karla's for Christmas; but this morning I was totally irresponsible as a parent...I left my child at the train station with her bike. I am 'letting' her go on a big adventure, riding across the United States, by herself. Though, anyone who knows Rebecca, knows that I am not really 'letting' her. I have no more power over her than I do over the wind. She is herself a force of nature and so I watch her go with great love and concern and lots and lots of prayers! Be safe!

I was going to go out and prune some more today since the weather was nice again but I just couldn't talk myself into it. I did finish putting together the main portion of the top. As you can see from the picture, Lucy made sure she spent a little time on it while it was on the bed.The blocks were given to me by a neighbor who had gotten an antique, or at least very old, Dresden Plate quilt somewhere. The muslin that the plates were appliquéd to was very worn so she cut them all out and had started to reapplique them onto new muslin squares. She decided she just wasn't going to finish them so she gave them to me. I had them for a couple of years before I got around to finishing the reapplique process. Then I cut them all to one size and last fall found the sashing fabrics at Fabric Depot. A couple of days ago I looked at them and realized that it really wouldn't take too long to whip up the quilt top so I got started. It didn't take too long. I had it halfway together yesterday and finished today. I have decided to add another border with a little strip between the quilt and the border of the darker blue and also bind it with the darker blue. Here is a picture of my test of that:





I have the borders cut out but I am kind of tired so I don't think I want to start measuring and sewing them tonight. I think it will end up close to queen size. Probably will never be used on a bed other than as a bedspread on a guest bed due to the fragility of the fabrics in the Dresden Plates. I did have to replace a few of the spokes because they were just falling apart. I was able to find some old fabrics in my stash that were close in age so they aren't even noticeable. Once I have it hand quilted I think I will wash it carefully as some of the blocks look really dirty and it will also make the new fabric used for the sashing, border and back look a little older. I will post a picture when I have the borders done and then again someday when I have it quilted. For now it will just have to take its place in the quilting queue.

Becca is finishing up her packing and storing as she prepares to leave tomorrow. If you want to find out more about her adventure click on the link to her bike blog on the right side of my page.

Here you see after and before shots of the first of five apple trees that should be pruned each year. As you can see, this one is finished. This does not mean I am one-fifth of the way done, by any means. I always start with the littlest tree so I can feel like I accomplished something. I did also get the old raspberry canes cleaned out of the rows so I really feel like I did something. My body feels like it also!
I also got my Dresden Plate top halfway together. I hope to have that done this weekend.

It has been another busy week at work. Our busiest January ever or at least close to it. This evening I got busy in my favorite place, yes, my sewing room. I got the backs for two quilts put together so I should be able to pop them in the mail next week sometime to be quilted by Deb. Then I pulled out a mystery quilt I made a couple of years ago and it had some faded spots so it wasn't so attractive anymore. I think something must have dripped on it - what, I don't know. Anyway, I added a border around it to make it 60 X 80 inches and it is my first LWR quilt top for 2007. I think I did 17 tops and a few backs in 2005 and 8 tops and some backs in 2006 for LWR. Not sure how many this year will bring. The next thing I pulled out was my pile of antique Dresden Plate blocks. I started cutting the sashing strips and blocks so I can get that put together. I am really trying to get some projects finished or at least further down the road to completion. We shall see how long that resolution lasts!

Becca and I went shopping for back and binding fabric for her round robin quilt. We were looking around the store for a green fabric that would work. The chick at the store thought she needed to help us , not that we asked for it, and she did not realize she did not have the necessary skills to help us. We knew what the parameters were for the fabric and we had dismissed a number of green fabrics that just were not right and she followed behind us asking if we had seen this one or that one. AAAARRRRGGGHHHH!!! We did find one we liked for the back and then one for the binding. They wouldn't be what most would choose probably but this is for Becca so that pretty much rules out what most people would pick. We have the fabric home and it is being prewashed as I type and maybe we will have it ready to send off for quilting this evening even.

I got to stay home today and when I ran down to the post office I realized that it was just too nice outside to just do things in the house. When I got home I did some cleaning up in the flower beds. Great improvement. I need to pay attention to the weather and get out and get yard cleanup and pruning done when I can. Right now when my body is reminding me that I haven't done work like that for a long time that seems a little crazy, but give it a couple of days and I will have forgotten the sore muscles.

Yes, I stayed home today but the pages were coming in all day so Larry called to say that we have lots of calls for tomorrow and we are leaving early. Shoot! Oh well, I guess I do like to have money to spend so I shant complain.

new neighbors

Looks like we are getting some new neighbors just north of us. This morning we heard and then smelled the clearing and burning. Checked online and they are in the permitting process for a single family residence. The property is only 66 feet wide, approximately six-tenths of an acre. I hope they don't think they have enough land for horses, pigs, goats, rabbits, guinea pigs, dogs, water buffalo, etc.

I am supposed to get a day off today. The calls have started coming in so I might have to go after all. I suppose I should get in the shower just in case.

At least partial resolution

So to update my last post...Four children were kidnapped by their father in Tacoma and brought to little out of the way Olalla. The father is in custody and the children are being checked out and will go back to their mom, I would guess. There were other children in the house and they have been turned over to CPS.

Big Doings

Something big is happening in Olalla. Not sure what it is but it is happening. Police cars blocking a road for hours and nobody seems to know what is going on. Not even the UPS guy!

In other news, had a good time Sunday night with my DBF (drinking buddies forever). Dinner and hot buttered rum and German Chocolate Cake. I finally feel like I celebrated my birthday appropriately.

I've been busy doing some sewing but can't post any pictures due to the secrecy of the projects I have been working on. Tomorrow I should be able to post pictures of Rebecca's Round Robin quilt. It feels good to be getting some things finished off but don't worry, I am no where close to finishing everything.

It is less than a week until Rebecca heads off to San Diego for her big adventure. Stay tuned for updates.

Here goes nothing

My kids think I should have a blog so they can keep track of what I am up to. I figured, why not? I think I just figured out the answer to that one. When you actually sit down to write a post, your mind goes blank. Not that there was much there to begin with but totally blank? That is just not fair.

My house is finally getting back to 'normal'. At least the refrigerator is back in the kitchen along with the dishwasher so the great room is functional again. I even vacuumed. Well, most of the floor anyway. I also finally took down the Christmas cards. Now I need to go frost my birthday cake for Girl's Night this evening (I know, my birthday was over a month ago but that power outage just didn't make for a festive birthday).