The 18 Month Quilt

Well...it's going to be longer than that too!

A year and a half ago, there was an Enrichment Group started at church to teach us how to quilt. So we were given the supply list and met for the first class. The type of quilt we were to be making is a rail quilt. So I bought my fabric in some fabulous and striking colors and went to the class. Unfortunately, I don't think that the class was planned very well. With only 2 sessions, time was pretty short. There were no reminders given for the 2nd session which was 2 months later and I (and everyone else in the group) forgot to go. End of the class...I don't know who finished their quilts. (Probably no one.)

So my barely started strips of material sat under my bed for 18 months. One of my New Year's Resolutions is to finish the quilt. On Friday, a group of ladies were going to quilt at church so I took my strips and machine. Zip, zip, zip, I finished sewing my strips and slice, slice, slice I cut my squares. But something was bothering my about the size of the squares. But none of the quilting ladies said there was anything wrong with my squares. I took home a pile of squares...and slept in this morning!






Eager to keep up with this project, I took out my squares and started laying them out on the floor as one of the quilters advised me to do. And the thing about my quilt block size that was bothering me...became VERY APPARRENT. Although the seam allowances call for a 1/4 inch seam, I was told to use the edge of my presser foot...which is actually a 3/8 seam. So after I cut my triple rail into 6.5 inch sections...I still did not have a square block. The sides were shorter b/c of the seam allowances. I ironed my squares for a third time and measured each one. Nope. Some were 6 1/8 inch wide and some where 6 1/4 inche wide. What to do!

I called my sister who quilts. But she is the type that "fudges" quilts along. As I was filling her in on my dilemma, I was on her speaker phone. I asked the question, "Do I fudge it or do I scrap it all and start over?" Going on to explain that I am someone who would rather just scrap it and get going again. Jocelyn said, "Fudge, fudge, fudge it." Then her DH, Steve, interjected. "No start over." He went on to say that you won't like it and it'll bother you. (Steve is a woodcrafter...has made fabulous furniture!) My mom said, "Once you start fudging, you'll be fudging all the way!" (My thoughts exactly. But when I spread out the pieces and made the pattern, it looked just amazing with the red and black zigzags!!


I couldn't bare to scrap it all. "Wear it out, Use it up, Make do or Do Without" was an adage I have heard often. So I trimmed down the pieces that were 6.25...and made them 6.25 square. Then I arranged them in pinwheels and sewed them up.






Voila! Now this just might make a great table cover with some sort of thin, thin, thin batting or something. Once I figure out and finish this, I'll be going to the fabric store and picking out similar colors for a full sized blanket! Any quilters out there can give me some pointers.

(Edited to say: This is about a yard square! haha)

I am NOT smarter than a fifth grader!

DD came home with a Fish Assessment (aka test) where she missed 3 out of 10 questions. Not exactly the best score. So as usual, we reviewed the answers. She emphatically did not believe me that fish hatch from eggs, that scales protect fish AND that fish do indeed have backbones. Even though the teacher had filled in the correct answers, DD emphatically said "Mrs. DiMeo said that they don't have backbones." I asked, "Was she talking about jellyfish?" "NO!" She just would not listen.

So, I said something about this to the ladies in the quilting group I attended yesterday. One lady said that sharks are mammals and give birth to live young.

Just now, I researched fish and sharks. SHARKS ARE FISH. But just different. They have cartilage instead of bones. They have rough scales and they can only swim forward. Their eggs are fertilized inside of the female...thus the live births, I suppose.



After reviewing an online chart with McKenna, I realized that she was thinking shark while the teacher was asking about regular fish.

I guess if I ever did make it onto that "Are you Smarter than a Fifth Grader?" I'd get a question about fish/sharks right now...now.

I'm glad McK trusts her teacher and believes what she is told. But I sure hope she learns to trust and believe in her mom a bit more than her teacher.

Picture of the new appliances.

I stink!

Seriously, I smell...very nicely! haha.

E* and I ran a few errands and stopped off at Bath and Body Works. My brother and his wife gifted us with a BBW gift card this Christmas. I went into the store a few days before the holiday thinking I'd buy something for everyone and then the kids would have something to unwrap. But I couldn't decide. Then Hillary told me that there are big sales AFTER Christmas.

So, here are the goods NB2! Can you smell them! (No wonder Jordan married Hillary. Just walking into that store makes you smell good. She must always just smell delightful!!) Thanks for the gift and the shopping spree. E* was a great help...and he doesn't seem to like anything that says it's "mint." All this for 51 cents. My only disappointment was that I was going for the mandrin soap and could not find any. But as we were waiting in line, I spied a basket full of them behind the counter marked "hold." Someone wanted 20 but the store had 17. It was to have been picked up YESTERDAY! booh hoo...that's my favorite smell!

No worries...I think I have enough smells to last a while. Thanks again!

Friends...

What would we do with out our friends!

Today, M* told me that in the preschool newsletter, E* was student of the month. And she knows I don't even READ those newsletters. But somehow, an extra one arrived in his backpack today. He'll be eating off the red plate tonight! (If I can think up dinner without a stove...oh the agony!)




Does Mrs. Webber know that we have an art room??? hehe.

E* is at M*'s house right now...while I am supposed to be napping b/c my friend heard how late I was up. Now, does she let me take her kids...NO. So M*...let me take yours next time!

edited: Thanks KOstvig!!

Treasures

So, in the basement I have 2 rubbermaid totes filled with the memories of my past...from before I was married. I was trying to find a few of my old Brownie/Girl Scout pins/uniforms and I came across other treasures. Now my husband Ken takes pictures ...a lot of pictures lately. And each one tends to be scanned in. And he's going through old pix and scanning them in too. (Drives me a bit nuts since I'm not a picture fanatic.) But I guess I'm a letter fanatic. I don't have every letter written. But I do have lots of notes and letters written to me by family, friends and acquaintances that I just keep.



I have a Christmas card from a 7th grader named Brittany Bingham who wrote:



"Art isn't my favorite class, but I really enjoyed it this year." And I can picture in my memory's mind an idea of what this young girl looked like when I see this card.



I have a funny thank you note from my High school friend Will who closes with:



"If I said you're one in a million, there would be 5,000 of you on the planet. So you're one in 5,000,000,000!" haha. What a bright boy he was!



I have another sweet letter, folded as only a note could be folded back in 80s...complimenting me in several spiritual and sweet ways from a boy who had a crush on me.



Maybe I should scan in these letters or at least transpose them. Maybe. I love looking at the handwriting and remember the feelings I had and way these words make me feel.



Now, seriously, I wasn't diving into these past notes...just skimming a few. I did find one from my Aunt Barbara and her husband that was written a while after we were married. She sent us a silver serving dish and spoon and fork that belonged to my Grandmother Hatch...my father's mother. Also there were two "hand-fashioned dollies" (as she called them) by my great grandmother Isabell White.



"Your dad knew her well. She lived with our family before your Dad's mission. She did beautiful sewing and handiwork and taught sewing at BYU Academy in Beaver, UT many years ago."



Here is a pix of those "dollies."




I'm guessing these were tatted. Be assured, Mom, that I will be finding a white hankie and pressing the edges down on the larger dollie.

Here is a oil painting done by my Grandmother, Marian Hatch who is my Dad's mother. It now hangs in my living room.




I think it is such a sweet picture and it is perfect for my house too.

So, another "resolution" which I sort of talked about months ago...I am going to try to be a better card/letter writer. I started a letter to a woman who I worked for in college. The angel for the top of my Christmas tree is stored in a Priority Mail box that Kathy S. sent a baby gift to C* in years ago. I often thing of her and another woman named Ruth Vest. Ruth always said, "What a tangled web we weave, when we first practice to deceive." Kathy had the habit of saying, "that went up my nose!" when something irritated her immensely. haha. Hopefully she is still living in the same residence and will get the letter. Meanwhile, I better switch around the laundry and continue working on my Brownie/Music/Junior Achievement responsibilities.

DD and Elizabeth

Here is DD and her doll, Elizabeth in the nightgowns that I made them for Christmas.

Tagged

A few days ago, Judy tagged me on her blog.

The rules of the game:
• Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
• Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog, as we all want to know them. (LOL!)
• Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
• Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.


My 7 random things about me:

1. I am extremely noise sensitive. I hate noises. Esp. breathing noises.

2. When I am stressed out, I my defense mechanism is to take a nap...not that I get much opportunity to nap. (This list of random me-traits is taking a while to come up with...yawn..)

3. I have an ongoing list of my talents to make me feel better when I'm down. (Not that my list is very long, mind you.)

4. In 6th (or 7th) grade, I had a "tail" that my mom dyed blonde...notice my pix...I'm dark haired!

5. My kids are nightowls and I don't mind.

6. I enjoy doing Sudoku puzzles as I soak on the tub.

7. It annoys me when my husband laughs at me b/c he laughs at the wrong times...when I'm being absolutely serious. Grrrr

For more of my ideocincracies, check out this post here.



I'm tagging these bloggers next! You're it:

Lin
My speedy quilting friend on Quilt Nut Creations...did I make finishing the quilt (under my bed in pieces) as a 2008 Resolutions?
Rochelle who has been posting fab projects complete with great instructions and pix!
AJ...we are paired up together for a DSS Coordinator's swap!
Dawn
Hank
Barb...who is busy with life and many design teams...

2008 Resolutions...

Check off the one about knitting something useful with my newly aquired skill...a wash cloth!



The yarn is a grey sky blue with a snowflake/star in the center. The pattern calls it a snowflake but it looks like a quilted star to me. The bottom edge is the starting point. It was the first time I used 100% cotton yarn and it took me some tries to get it going. It was a bit more loose than I was knitting and I was able to get back on track with the even-ness. But the bottom edge is not quite right.

I gave the cloth to DD since she wanted it and promised she'd actually wash her face with it. Of course, when I handed it to her a couple of minutes ago, she promptly began singing a song about it. "Thank you for the blanket! Thank you for the blanket!" I turned around and her webkinz cat was snuggling under it! So much for washing her face.

I am now officially the Ward Choister in church, after subbing 6 months in the position. I had heard that someone would be getting the calling a few days ago and I thought, "Yeah, now I can sit in the pew and sing the alto parts!" I told DD that today would be the last day she could sit with me up in front. Then I find out that I am the one getting the calling! So I guess I better figure out how to sing the higher notes better. E*'s running up to me in the middle of hymns must not matter too much to the bishopric either. Now to get Ken to grab him and take him out before he makes it to the stand. I'm also the ward music director which means I have to find and schedule musical numbers each month. Personally, I enjoy singing a rest hymn instead of listening to a musical number so this is going to be something I have to work at. Plus, I can't stand hearing the same people performing. There has got to be others with unknown talents and I will have to search them out. A plus side is now *I* will be able to chose the hymns instead of the organists who pick highly unknown hymns each week. Of course, most people thought it was my choice and my calling...so the announcement today was a surprise to many. Over all, it should be a nice "easy" calling to do now that I am doing so many other things with Brownies and Junior Achievements.

Okay, at least one of my goals is accomplished. I don't know about the weight loss. I'm about to try to make cookies one last time in our old oven before the new one arrives on Tuesday. Let's just hope it can keep working for about 45 more mintues before breaking down...or else we are just going to each cookie dough!

Edited 30 seconds later: Nope...the oven is definitely busted...no cookies until Tuesday.

Edited 30 minutes later: WEDNESDAY! We have to wait until Wednesday for cookies! wah!