Quilt #014 "He Knows Them All By Name"

When I did this one, I went to my stash. Not sure why I had these starry, glittery fabrics, but thought they'd be perfect for the Cathedral Windows class with Shelley Swanland. This was only the second class I'd taken and I had a great time. This is a wallhanging that measures 24" square. It hangs in Nick's room...it's part of that space theme (maybe that's why I had the fabric, rejected from Nick's planet quilt).

At JoAnn's I found the cute little blue with silver stars, star-shaped shank buttons which were perfect to cover my, ahem, less-than-perfect centers. I used regular buttons on the back so that the thread used on the buttons wouldn't pull on the fabric. I used a plate to mark the circles for quilting.

The class was on 3/13/2004 and I finished it on 3/25/2004...another one done quickly! I liked this little project; I should do more cathedral windows, but as a larger quilt. Don't look too closely at that bulge in the binding on the top, it could be the bottom, or the side, if I rotated it. I hadn't yet learned how to do an invisible binding connection, and I'm still not proficient enough to not have to stop and really think about and fuss with it to get it right. I'm constantly learning in my quilting journey. And to think how smug I was for not using pins in my very first project, lol.

Flannel Sheets and Insulation

Posting about the flannel pillow covers yesterday made me thankful for flannel sheets for my bed! They are on! And the flannels for Nick's bed will go on today...but not until I can get him to help me rotate his mattress.

The weather in area has finally cooled, and over the next 10 days the highest expected is 67. That may seem downright balmy to some in colder regions of the country/world, but for us, while it's a comfortable daytime temperature, it means the nights are dropping and will be in the mid- to low 40s for that period. Certainly not freezing, but enough to cool the indoors considerably. In our area, and for whatever reason, builders don't use insulation. I find that silly, but I guess they consider our clime temperate enough to not warrant it...I'd argue that! and I'm sure it adds to the cost, and we can't have them lose their profit margin for a few(?) thousand dollars worth of insulation that is so much easier to install during the building process than try to do it retro-fittingly.

Personally, and especially with all the enviro-talk and saving energy, it would seem well worth it to have that insulation. It would help keep heat in during the winter and heat out during the hot summers making A/C that much more efficient, not to mention it would help by adding a modicum of sound-proofing against noisy neighbors and freeway traffic. Whoever said that freeway noise is "white-noise" and not bothersome is off their rocker!

Quilt #008 Flannel Floor Pillow Covers

For years I had these two really big dark blue floor pillows. Over the years they had acquired some stains that I wasn't able to get off by surface washing and they didn't have removable covers. What better than a quilted pillow cover for them? I found one just the right size...well, almost. It was a little big but that just meant all I had to do was make the borders a little narrower. I left the top open without any closures, yet. I count it as finished because I'll probably never work the patterned closures which were big buttons and buttonholes. One never knows though. I even considered using some Velcro.

The pattern is by DuAnn Wright and was once available through Keepsake Quilting though that isn't where I purchased it from. I started it circa 2001 and finished it in June of 2008 (wow, I don't remember it sitting around THAT long!). Do you see a procrastination thread running through my quilting? If you can't tell by the photos, these are flannel. It was my first experience with flannel since I made a nightgown in high school Home-Ec. I like the one on the left the best, I made it last. I think the border on the one on the right is too light and it makes it look blah. Both have a dark maroon outer border. The back is also solid maroon. To me, these are a little 'Christmasy' but are also 'cabin-ish' and I like that, so they sit out all year fitting perfectly side-by-side atop an old coffee table in front of the fireplace. When winter, and the Christmas tree arrives, the table and pillows gets pushed over in front of the piano (I don't have a piano bench.) and add to the festive look.

Now that it's cooler, flannel sure is sounding cozy. I have a lot of it now, too. Maybe I can make another nightgown or pajamas to match a flannel quilt. I still have that Home-Ec nightgown; it's rather thread bare now, and would never fit on this current body, but it's a reminder of something I made when I was young and first learning to sew and I loved it.

Fina-Lee Friday

• Can't find my notes of items for this post >:(
• I specifically wrote them down >:(
• On the upside, I fina-lee got the narrower side shelves mounted in my stash closet. And got the rod secured. All that's left is to sand and repaint the floor trim - I know those boards have a name but can't think of it right now >:(
• Monday's PT was canceled; today's was ok...PTist is using a method called ASTYM. He uses cocoa butter as the emollient on my arm during the process so I walk around smelling like a muffin.
  
• Where's that list???
• Fina-lee....found it!
• We're losing Thanksgiving...Wheel of Fortune is already decked out for Christmas :O.
• My mother has a pet project from a genealogy stand point. I really wish she'd drop it or do the dirty work herself! No good would come from putting forth her possibility. We can't determine if the specific individual she'd like to find is still living or not, b. in 1924. She gets mad, I get on her doo-doo list, again, sigh.
  
• Took my car in for an oil change...went away $200+ poorer..."it needs it's 5,000 maintenance" (well, maybe), it did need an alignment (kaching) and new wipers (kaching - we tried changing them on this car once - never again!), tire balancing. Ok, but then they call and say it needs a clean cabin filter ($65) NOT! and a middle brake light ($35) NOT! and a top brake light ($35) NOT. Nick looked this morning and said they're working fine...Marty was supposed to double-check last night....but....
• HE went away for a few days with his buddy to go take pictures of mountains, snow and maybe fall leaves. Hrrruummphhh! He didn't even set the trash at the curb before he left!!! I noticed he forgot his camelback type thing for water, snicker. (I have to work on my attitude on this one.)
  
• And lastly, I was watching some shows I'd recorded via DVR - I was running out of room! Some of the commercials toward the end (yeah, I'd forget I could speed through them, hehe) and it would be for the local news announcing a big storm with rain only about 2 hours away, huh??? Oh yeah, recorded about a week ago, silly me. Love those gotchas :)
• The Lord is faithful, even when I need a kick in the seat!
  

30 years ago

I brought my wonderful, lovely daughter into this world. I can't believe it's been 30 years already (as of 11/3 -- I forgot to finish and post this!). I planned to put a pic of her from when she was born, but I'd have to find one, then scan it, then crop it, etc. and I find that a bit difficult right now, so I'll post this one of her (and I) that was taken just before her wedding in 2008, and I don't have a lot of photos of her already on my computer. I love this girl...woman! There may be some things that I'd like to see change in her life (I'll keep praying) but she's a wonderful young lady, she graduated from college 2 years ago and worked very hard to do so with little to no assistance from me (except for encouragement) and little from her dad. She and I have a great relationship even if we do disagree in some areas, like parenting...she and her husband now have a 14 month old little boy...my first and only grandchild. We didn't get to spend a lot of time together during her childhood, but that's a story for another time. We don't get to spend a lot of time together now, and once went 5 years in between visits...only because of the geographical distance (about 1100 miles) which was WAY too long. We talk on the phone often, we're friends as well as mother/daughter. Have I said I LOVE this woman?!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY, 'VICTORIA' ! You will always be my 'baby' and will always have my love.

Fina-Lee Friday - a day late

• I haven't finished the stash closet.
• Spent 1.5 hours at physical therapy for the wrist. He's trying a different method as no progress was being made. It's called ASTYM and a video about it can be seen here. He uses more pressure than the PT in the video appears to use...treatment was not without pain itself, and he didn't go above the elbow since I'd already had heat wrap & ultrasonic for the day. He'll do the full treatment when I go back on Monday and I need to continue doing the prescribed stretches 4 times/day. They're easy and don't take long.
  
• It rained overnight, and was cloudy threatening more rain, and was 'cold' (I'm sure that's relative to where one lives). I LOVED it!
• Except for the traffic. Rehydrating drivers' brains didn't seem to help them any, oh well, must always be on the defensive when driving here...even from pedestrians and bicyclists (they are a pet peeve of mine)
• I was very tired yesterday (Fri), taking an hour nap and had to force myself to get up from that. Even went to bed earlier than usual.
• Received an email from one of Nick's teachers on some missing homework; he insists he turned it in.
  
• Still bummed I can't use my rotary cutter...I've tried and can make a small cut or two, but I feel it, so try not to (as I sort through some of the smaller pieces of my stash).
• We're making a good dent in the Halloween candy we didn't distribute ;) oh my, better keep an eye on the scale.
• Hoping my posts get cheerier...I apologize for some of those more 'downer' sounding ones, but sometimes that's my personality and I vent here. Thank you to anyone who sticks with me and keeps me in prayer, you are a blessing to me :)
  

Mad Monday

Well, no, I'm not mad, at least not angry mad, maybe a little crazy, over-the-edge mad? Gotta chuckle, or I would go 'mad'. Anyway, while it's still Monday. I had no changes in my fabric ratio of in or out, unless you count the yard or so that's old & has a few holes in it - I used it in my first quilt - that I set aside to maybe use to make quilted pads for my favorite veterinarian - she only cares for cats, so I won't be posting about it at Judy's.

The morning was spent taking Nick to school, then to my PT appt, working a crossword puzzle while waiting in my car for the appt. time and listening to my favorite Christian radio station. Actually, it's the only Christian station I can get, and I do like it. Greg Laurie of Harvest Crusade fame is on while I'm taking Nick to school, and then it's Family Life Today. Later in the day is music. I also had my latest CD addition...the newest Chris Tomlin one, to listen to. Love it!

After PT, grumble, grumble...told me not to use my rotary cutter...grumble, grumble...because it puts the wrong movement on the part of my wrist that still needs to heal...grumble, grumble..you'd think 12 weeks would have been enough healing time...grumble, grumble...oh, I got side-tracked...after PT, went to Lowe's for what I'd hoped to be the final components for my stash closet, but they didn't have the end caps to the closet rod so thought I'd check out The Home Depot. They didn't have them either. So I bought the wall bracket that the rod can set in at one end at least for now. I did notice though that HDs prices were about 50 cents cheaper per item, oh well, too late now. I'll know for the next room/closet update. While still at Lowe's I also had to do a quick-plan-change as the brackets and uprights style I was using wasn't carried in 8" and for the side wall, I'm using 8" laminate boards, so on another aisle, found some that would work. They're very similar, just 'single' slotted as opposed to the double-slotted for the bigger boards. I didn't get any of it installed today though.

After those stores, it was off to Trader Joe's. Why did Nick go through the better part of 2 gallons of milk in less than a week? Guess that's what's helping him get so tall! Actually, come to think of it, I slipped TJs in there between the two hardware stores leaving the milk in the car for all of about 10 minutes while at HD. Then when I got home, I had a bunch of chores to do, so worked on some of them. And I forgot to stop and pick up cat litter.

Then I went back to pick Nick up at 3:00 and as it turns out, seems 'just in time' as later in the early news it was reported there was a shooting about a mile from the school, and then via email, the school stated they'd gone into lock-down at 3:00, so he must've gotten out just before they locked-down and had gotten to the car and off we went.

And lastly, we went to see the movie Courageous tonight. So much better than hanging around the house and doling out candy to little munchkins...I'm sure their dentists appreciate that it will now be ME who eats it instead. I enjoyed the movie, though it seemed a little slow at first...it's message was far more important and was delivered very well. No one told me to make sure I had my tissues with me though. Yes, there's a very sad part to the storyline, so if you see it, take your tissues!! Good night :)