out of bed, on their own, before 7 am
breakfast eaten, lunches packed, shoes on
time to go, turn off the games
out the door, on their bikes.
without mom.
bittersweet
And away they go
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Monthly Archives: April 2008
Pattern Giveaway
I am in the midst of cleaning my office. And not just a swipe over the top — I’m actually opening up the cabinets and clearing those out, too. It’s interesting the treasures you find when you do something like this.
What I found this morning were copies of 3 patterns designed by the owner of the former quilt shop in town. These are awesome, awesome, awesome scrappy quilts.
I have other copies of these, so you, my lucky blog readers, are going to get the opportunity to own one of these patterns. Just comment on this post between now and Sunday, and I’ll have my assistants draw 3 lucky winners from the names.
First up is Zigzag 9 –
This quilt uses 2.5 inch strips, so it’s great for jelly rolls or strip clubs. The pattern has instructions for 3 different sizes (baby, lap, and queen). I’ve made several of these and back in the day when I was busy with customer quilts, I quilted several.
Next we have Galaxy:
This one uses 2 inch strips. Again, I’ve made and/or quilted a bunch of these. This one is very versatile, and different fabric choices can make it look completely different. Several years ago, the designer made one out of Cherrywood fabrics, using a dark purple as the background (instead of the light) and it was gorgeous. Instructions are for lap or queen/king (depending on border choices).
Last, but not least:
Red Hot Leftovers
I actually quilted this one. You can’t see it from the photo, but the background is full of feathers. I’ll try to dig up a closeup….
I’ve made this one completely scrappy, but I prefer the look of the scrappy reds and neutrals. I also quilted one that used red for the large stars and black for the small stars and it was gorgeous. Instructions for 2 sizes are included.
So, comment away, we’ll draw for winners on Sunday and patterns will be on their way next week.
Time to go run some errands, then back to the couch with my binding project. Why did I think it was a good idea to make this quilt so darned big???
Suzanne
edited later to add: I can’t believe I forgot to include the name of the designer! The patterns are designed by Iowa Star Designs. I believe you can still order them from http://www.iowastarquilts.com
Do as I say
I’m forever living my motto “If you can’t be a good example, be a horrible warning”
Yesterday at lunch, we were eating leftover goulash. Joe was examining the Parmesan cheese and asked if he could shake it up to try to break up some of the clumps.
Mark and I both made noises to the effect of sure, but make sure the lid is closed tightly. He checked it and then started shaking it gently side to side. Of course, this was doing nothing, so I decided to show him how to really do it.
So I grabbed the container and started shaking it up and down as hard as I can. ( I can barely type this, I’m laughing so hard.)
The stunned silence was priceless.
The Parmesan Cheese was EVERYWHERE. I even had it in my hair.
I tried to tell the boys that this was a good lesson for them about WHY you needed to make sure the lid was on tight. The response was basically “Well, Mom, we didn’t learn anything other than you are certifiable. Maybe YOU need to learn to make sure the lid is on tight.”
Quilting assistants
Of course there is Katie, who generally sleeps through any quilting I do (she climbs up on the back of the couch in my sewing room and you should see how misshapen that couch cushion is). I think she started going up there because Toby would sit on the couch itself, and she was trying to get away from him…)
This picture is from a year ago, but I’m almost ashamed to admit how many pictures of her in this position we’ve actually taken.
Yesterday, I was trying to take some in progress pics of the quilt that I just finished quilting and unfortunately those pictures didn’t turn out that great, but I did get a really good shot of another quilting assistant:
This little guy rides along on the handles of my A-1 Quilting Machine. He has magnets in his paws. Mark and the boys got him for me somewhere, but I can’t remember where now. Isn’t he cute?
I’ll try to take better pictures of the quilt I was working on tomorrow when the sun is shining. At least, I hope the sun will be shining. It looked beautiful today, but looks are deceiving: it was cold and extremely windy.
TTFN-
Suzanne
Go visit my Mom
And give her brand-new blog some love (be sure to tell her I sent you…)
http://middyjane.wordpress.com/
(Middy Jane was her mother’s pet name for her when she was growing up and it still occasionally slips out. Short for Midget.)
She’ll probably have some knitting and some quilting and I don’t know what else. Poetry maybe?
Anyway, you have to go visit and see the picture of the hat and shrug she made for her newest grandbaby. Totally cute. I think she needs to post a picture of the grandbaby *wearing* the shrug, though.
(edited later to add: well, it would help if I made the link clickable….and also if I said “go visit my Mom, PLEASE” sheesh, who taught me my manners???)
