Clafouti Weekend

My husband pointed out yesterday that we had "two perfectly good tins of raspberries" in the fridge and asked what I was going to do with them. I shrugged; then later in the day, for some reason, the word "clafouti" popped in my head. I quickly googled several clafouti recipes and whipped together some yummy, custardy goodness (so yummy that a bite immediately disappeared):



So this weekend, we've been eating Clafouti and hamburgers, which I began craving after watching Camp Rock. If you've seen any of the eight billion showings of CR since Friday night, you'll know there's a scene in which Connie and Mitchie make what seems like hundreds of hamburger patties. So, I felt compelled to have barbequed hamburgers this weekend. If you have children of a certain age, you know that CR is a summer cultural milestone slightly below HSM1&2 and slightly above iCarly Saves TV. My children actually went to a Camp Rock party Friday night, complete with swimming, popcorn, and s'mores. We're already planning the Cheetah Girls One World party for late August, complete with an international buffet!

I've also grown kinda weary of blanket stitching my swap quilt (too much turning), so I decided to design a quilt to repay a longstanding quilt debt (hard to explain). I decided to use a Sanctuary Jelly Roll I've had for a while. I cut 24 of the strips into three chunks: 20, 15, and 8 inches; then sewed these back into 42 inch long strips in three varieties, mixing the order and fabrics. I sewed these strips together so that all of the seams were staggered and saved the remaining strips for random pieced borders and binding. It went together quickly and turned out lovely (IMHO)--soft and cottage-y, with enough variety to add movement and character, and a nicely popping red:



I'll quilt it before summer ends so that "my debt is settled" (it really helps if you say the part in quotes with the Scottish brogue of Davy Jones from the Pirates movies, a la my son).

On to the remainder of my Sunday chores . . . the gymnastics trials will make such perfect cleaning tv.

Back to Work

I spent most of last week in Austin, Texas, one of my absolute favorite cities. I was running around like mad the week before the trip, preparing for end of year school events for both liddle kiddles, packing, making arrangements, and trying to pre-catchup on work and the statewide meeting I'm leading this coming week. So, I didn't really pay attention when my thumb started to ache a bit the day before we left. By the time we got to the airport, it was thobbing with pain (which is great when you're jostling with two car seats and a princess backpack through security). My husband suggested we stop by an ER when we landed, but I voted for dinner first, knowing that two of our party needed some food and running around time after the flight. So, after some burgers and Amy's at Phil's Ice House, we finally went to the ER. Sure enough, I had an abscess. I don't know what hurt more, the infection or the cure! But, within a day, my thumb was good as new--if a little icky looking--and certainly nothing that a yummy room service breakfast couldn't cure.



I love going to places where I know enough about the terrain that I can navigate around and not get lost. While my husband conferenced at the lovely Driskill, the kids and I roamed the town--shopping, site seeing, and eating!! This was bliss, as it's usually me stuck in the hotel or conference center for days while my husband gets to play tourist with the children. The kids' godparents even flew out from LA to join us. Here are a few iPhone (best phone ever!) photos of our trip:

The first, a breezy night at Shady Grove.





The second, the Austin bats making their way out from under the Congress bridge. The bats are the blurry specks just above the tree line (gobs of them!). In this picture, my son can pick out the exact bat he says "looked him in the eye."



And, third, Barton Springs--no better place to go when it's 100 degrees!



This weekend, it was back to our routine. Cleaning, laundry, cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, and--oh yeah--cleaning. I picked up some carrot/onion bread at the farmer's market outside my daughter's dance studio--and made little egg muffins this morning with the remnants of the loaf:



They were cute and delicious for brunch with chicken/apple sausage. I went baking mad today. In addition to the little egg baskets, I made mini cheese/garlic muffins (for guild tomorrow), mini corn muffins (to go with the Mexican lime soup we had for dinner), and am about to put two jalapeno/cheddar bread breakfast casseroles in the oven as office surprises for our respective returns to work tomorrow.

I also spent some time last night and today working on my Four Seasons Summer Swap. My partner had very broad likes and no clear dislikes, so from the list she provided, I went with 30s repro. I paged through some books and found a nice sun and flowers combo in an old Teri Christopherson book, but I didn't like the setting. So, here's my thinking now (it's in process and not completely blanket stitched):



I think I'm going with three borders of unequal width to amplify the feedsack-ish look. I like the pink prints running up the side borders to pick up the reds/pinks in the flowers and the seafoam green to ground it--almost like grass. My goal is to finish it next weekend.

Oh, and go see Kung Fu Panda--way cute!!

Quilting Bloggers

On the right side bar, you may notice a new button. It's for the new Quilting Bloggers site, created by Michele Foster. The site is an interactive database of (you guessed it!) quilting bloggers. What's neat is that they're organized by country and state--or province for you Canadians, so you can see the work and musings of quilters in your own backyard. Think about submitting your site.

Graduations . . . of a sort

It's graduation week. My son "graduates" from PreK and my daughter from K. Both have parties in need of cakes, so I'm on call to create sand castle cakes (from my miraculous bundt mold, what a great investment) and some triple layer, moussed, chocolate calorie killers. I made 10 cups of swiss meringue butter cream this weekend, so I'm halfway there :)

One of my son's teachers has been so perfect for him while he was in the PreK version of our private elementary school. She completely understands boys, loves pirates, and always had time for him--no matter if it were the nine-billionth time he asked her to draw Jack Sparrow. In the time he's been at the school, he's advanced light years, largely because of her selfless interest in him and his success. So, of course, I've made her a quilt:



I've become fascinated with the new Moda Layer Cakes. This is the Fresh Squeezed line with fabrics from my stash mixed in for the border and binding. I simply crosscut each square, first into four smaller squares, then into eight triangles. I mix-matched the triangles when piecing the half-squares, and then sorted them into pinwheels when piecing these into blocks. I really love how this turned out. The colors move all over, and the quilt is so warm, sunny, and summery. It just screams, "picnic, please!" Piecing all the triangles was definitely a bit of a bore, but I listened to the end of the Spare Wife to get through it.

The quilting is basic in the ditch to pull out the triangles and then swirling curliques in the border in a sherbet-toned variegated thread.

I found two more layer cakes on sale at our LQS over Memorial Day (Maypole and Dandelion Girl), so I'll be playing around with them some more in the future.

Oh, and I got an iPhone!! Yipee :)

New Banner

Thanks to this vlog tutorial, my rudimentary understanding of Photoshop, and a mini-tutorial from my husband, I created a new banner for my blog. Yay!!

Civil War Blocks Redux

In a previous post, I mentioned that one of my cats had pee'd on my completed Civil War blocks--an act of aggression I viewed as being rather uncivil, quite frankly. Well, I decided to start over on this project. I didn't necessarily take her action as a comment on my fabric choices; instead, I believed it to be her comment on being locked in my sewing room over night. However, I thought I could take a new direction with the do-over. At first, I thought I would do two sets of blocks, one from the CWD book in repros and one from the CWLL book in pastels. But, because the blocks are so small (6.5 in), I became a bit overwhelmed with the prospect of picking all the fabrics. Then, a wad of unused jelly roll strips and remnants from a previous quilt caught my eye. The pieces in these CW blocks are so small, they lend themselves easily to jelly roll strips. So, I pulled out the wad, through it in a basket and started off.

Here are my "second" first eight blocks:



Not in any order, they're Back Home, Americus Soldiers' Relief Society, Another Battle, Queen of the West, Baptism, Selling the Livestock, Sugar Cane, and John Morgan. The jelly roll strips come from two different lines: Sanctuary and Allspice Tapestry. They are nice muted, cottage-y tones with some more vibrant browns, reds, and blues tossed in for good measure. They add a poshy cast to the blocks and make them seem of a family. Because I focus on just one block at a time, it's amazing how quickly the blocks come together. Some of these are so intricate, I'd never, ever make a whole set of them, but making just one is completely manageable.

With this quilt, I also started keeping a quilt journal. Alma Allen from Blackbird Designs passed around a couple of her journals at the workshop I took from her and Barb Adams a couple weeks back. It was such a cool look into her creative process, that I tucked it in the back of brain to roll around a while. After grading college composition papers for years, I have HORRIBLE handwriting (such that one of my husband's great amusements is reading aloud his interpretation of the grocery lists I write for him), so I've never been a big journal-er. Plus, I do my introspection introspectively and only talk it out once I've reached a solution or stopping point, so I never felt a need to write this kind of stuff out. But, I loved the notion of pasting in my fabrics, jotting down the inspiration, using lots of arrows, little drawings, etc.

Then, when I saw a journal covered with buttons at Target yesterday, I knew it was the universe (or at least Dayton Hudson) sending me a message: Just Do It!! Here's my new journal, my basket o' jelly rolls, the CW books, and my indispensable iPod/speaker combo. Right now I'm listening to more trash, Alex Witchel's The Spare Wife.



Have a wonderful Sunday!!

El Dia de las Mommies

This has really been a full-on Mother's Day weekend.

We started on Friday by seeing Baby Mama (okay funny, but not 30 Rock funny) and then coming home and finally watching our Netflixed Waitress (really funny and touching, and heartbreaking given Adrienne Shelly's murder and her own daughter's role in the movie). I immediately iTuned Baby Don't You Cry from Waitress--contrary to the title, it will make you cry.

Saturday--Starbucks and then ballet in the morning with my daughter--during which I shopped the Farmer's Market outside her dance studio: netting 2 red mandevillas, 2 purple native plants that look like posh dandelions, a slew of veggies, and some excellent carrot/onion bread. A quick zip to the gift shop for BOGO Webkinz for a last minute afternoon birthday party. Dinner and M's day presents for my mom (and dad). At the end of the day, I cleaned my quilt room and found that my cat had pee'd all over my Civil War blocks--long story--so I'll be starting that project over!

And, today, I got perfectly imperfect class-made gifts from my son and daughter, another awesomely cozy Pajamagram from my husband, and a full day of quilting while finishing the Shopaholic and Baby audiobook. Now, I'm blogging while doing some advance baking for a Teacher Appreciation Lunch this week (a chocolate cake, that after a day chilling, will grow up into a chocolate buttercream frosted triple layer cake with raspberry mousse filling). The extra batter is now heartshaped chocolate-chocolate chip mini-cakes, quite delicious when warm and served with white milk. Yum!

Here's my M's day project--the Jammie Quilt. If you glance at the blog regularly, you may recall my Domino Challenge quilt. Well, it's all quilted now, and I should be able to bind and clean up the loose threads on most of it tomorrow at Guild.



It's big--about 66 x 66. I love the brightness of it--so summer!

Here's a closer look at the quilting--I did a lot of different things depending on the shape/section:



The blue/red is the backing. I figured the more color the merrier. This is a Dargate Book print, I think.

Hope your Mother's Day weekend was delightful!!

Beautiful Spring!

Look what arrived in the post, all the way from Wales:



My swap partner, Andrea, made this adorable 30s repro wall quilt for me as part of the 4 Seasons Swap. It's handquilted in a gorgeous salmony pink, including the cute spring blossoms in the counter-squares. Even the binding is scrappy. And, her label is also pieced. I'm so lucky to have been gifted with this thoughtful, clever, and beautiful quilt!

Back to the Blog

The phrase "I've been at sea" sometimes means that one has been lost or without a direction. Well, I've actually had too many directions lately--too many work world changes to chase down like a mom running after overactive toddlers careening from bright thing to brighter thing. So, I haven't had much blogging--or quilting time. But, I did find some family time to go literally to sea! We took a Disney cruise during the kids' spring break, and it was a wonderfully timed break for us all. Just looking at the lovely blue sky portrait of the ship below brings a sense of peace:



I've also had to do a bit of work traveling recently. I spent almost a week in Rochester, NY (with an evening dinner event at the supercool George Eastman House). I'd never been there, and the city was surprisingly charming and full of spring life leaping into color. When I came home, I had to jump quickly into my Four Seasons Quilt Swap spring quilt--so I was thankful for the inspiration (and the cool pink and orange wallet I bought there!).

I sank into my quilt room chair overwhelmed. Where to start? I had delayed this project a bit too long to go crazily creative, but I also didn't want to cheat my swapmate. Then, my eyes lit on a Strawberry Lemonade charm pack. It perfectly suited her stated color preferences. And . . . I designed (as in, with my own little brain) a quilt that would use all of the charm pack. Voila:



I used the lighter prints for background, drafted two flower patterns for the layered blooms, and used buttons for the flower centers and accents. I made the binding from the remaining charm squares. I called it "Strawberry Spring," and quilted the word "spring" in there among the meandering. I hope my swapmate likes it. Based on her blog, it seems just her style.

Then, I turned my attention to my daughter's Kindergarten teacher's baby quilt. Each of the children in the class decorated a 6.5 inch square. Each was unique and captured the child's personality to a 't'. I added one block to make 25, which is whited out since it had her personal info on it. It's put together with a simple pillar and post setting, and "hello" and "baby" are quilting throughout the sashing. Here it is:



My daughter gave her the quilt at a special shower breakfast last week, and tears were had by all :) The teacher is leaving the school after this year, so the quilt is doubly special as it represents the last class she'll have there. I didn't cry when she opened the quilt (only when I was making it--ha!), but I did cry when she took me aside to tell me that all her students are special, but she knows that one day she'll hear about the great accomplishments of a few--including my daughter. Given that I work about 9000 hours a week at a job I love, am frequently out of town on trips I usually don't, try to keep up with my writing projects, and have all the working mom guilt that goes along with this--I felt so good to know that I am still stirring the pot in the right direction at home. That coupled with a super cute note from my son's preK teachers that he is definitely ready for Kindergarten (he skipped a level largely on verbal wit and native charm!) really made my week.

Then, yesterday, I spent a whole day in a quilt workshop with the Blackbird Designs women, Barb Adams and Alma Allen. They were just wonderful--clever, giving, gracious, funny, and just plain nice. I got just a wee-bit finished on the workshop project, but learned oodles of great tips for machine applique and bias stems. Plus, I got to do some active browsing (read: buying) at one of my absolute favorite shops: Olde Green Cupboard.

Today, I'm in house and porch cleaning mode with the liddle kiddles as my workforce. Wish me luck!!

Getting Old

Because this is my birthday weekend, I've been able to do some sewing. Of course, most of it has been on a quilt for one of my daughter's aftercare teachers, who was injured in a car wreck--but it's still sewing! The teacher is very bumped and bruised but not permanently hurt. Though, my experience is that bumps and bruises hurt plenty all on their own. The teacher is a huge fan of a very specific college sports team, which you might be able to suss out from the picture of the quilt below:



I took the picture rather quickly, so it's a little blurry, I think. The binding is pieced because I made one too many strip sets and wanted to use it up somehow; it still needs to be sewn down. All of this fabric is from my stash. My daughter picked out the colors and matched the strips--and pushed the pedal every once in a while.

I've been listening to the Monsters of Templeton while working on this project and the Civil War blocks that will show up below. It's really a great book--surprisingly so: Imagine a very dissolute Stars Hollow with a more rancorous Rory and Lorelai. One thing I realized during listening though is that I am OLD. I am almost as old as the narrator's mom . . . and I used to be the narrator. It's freakily hard to make that perceptual shift when engaging in a narrative. Sigh.

Luckily, I will be 60 before my children graduate college--and people keep telling me that they will keep me young. By which, I am assuming, they mean in debt and constantly working so that I cannot possibly retire. Woo-hoo!

As the new button on the side bar denotes, I've joined the Civil War block madness that's sweeping the blogosphere. If you've paged through either of the books by Rosemary Youngs that have inspired the recent craze, you'll recognize that I grabbed some low-hanging fruit with my first four blocks (from the upper left): Abomination of Desolation (possibly the best quilt block name ever!), Special Blessings, Soldier's Box, and Yankee Papers .



And, I've lost 19 pounds so far! And, it's Oscar night--fantastic whip-stitching viewing. Happy Oscars! Happy Birthday, to all!

My Very Own Domino Challenge

I'm a charter subscriber to Domino. I'm not sure why; maybe because it first began publishing when we moved into our no-longer-new house a few years ago. Maybe because I simply love getting magazines--especially those that are really just catalogs in disguise. Anyway . . . every once in a while, Domino runs an editorial spread in which its decorator du jour (read, some intern) tries to turn an outfit into a room. (Clarification: The goal is to create a room that captures the essence of the outfit.) It's a wacky idea that somehow always works.

So, this weekend, I've decided to engage in my very own Domino challenge: make these pajamas into a quilt!

My husband, who knows my heart spookily well, got me a kicky Pajamagram for Valentine's Day. Here are my jammies:



In case you're wondering, they're covered with little chicks engaging in me-like activities, all labeled "Cool Chick." After thinking about this project for a while, I grabbed a long-on-the-shelf stack of Amy Butler prints and went in search of a pattern. Believe it or not, this is the one I chose:



I've had this pattern forever but never made it. The flash blurred the pattern designer's name, it's by The Cranberry Cupboard. Now, you're likely looking at this pattern and seeing little to no link to the jammies. It's so country. But wait . . .

The pattern needed 20 FQs, so I added some Westminster/Rowan/Fassetts from the shelf to my Amy Butler stack. So far, so good. But, it also needed over a yard of background. Well, one of my parameters for the challenge was that I needed to use ONLY my stash--because I started it on Friday and wanted it done this weekend. So, I auditioned several tone-on-tone, neutral prints, none of which really seemed to capture the spirit of my endeavor. Then, one decidedly non-neutral print caught my eye, and with the bravado that comes from a middle age wasted on Domino, Lucky, and Cookie, I decided to take a leap of faith and go for it. I have to confess that I completely felt like Kay Thompson in Funny Face as I cut into my background, though rather than "Think Pink" I thought orange.

And, here is the almost finished project in wall paste up form:



I had some serious moments of doubt last night while sewing and even cut up some more neutral triangles to try out over the orange paisley print. But, I decided to sleep on it. When I looked at it again this morning in the clear light of day, I simply loved it!

And, I think I really managed to turn my new favorite jammies (which I'm wearing even now) into a quilt:



What do you think?

This project was so much fun and really pushed me way, way out of my comfort zone. So, I encourage everyone to take the Domino challenge!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Yes, this is an entire kitchen's worth of Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing.

Can you feel the calories?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Baby Quilt

One of my daughter's kindergarten teachers is pregnant, so she drafted me to make a quilt. I felt in the sewing mood, so I whipped out the top this weekend. My daughter actually helped me "sew" a bit and got a lesson in assembly line cutting and piecing that I'm sure will change her life :) I started from a pattern (Cobblestone something) in a baby quilt book I've had for a while. But, I changed the colors and added a more complex set of borders, including the checkerboard. I used a lot of my 1930s stash fabrics and tried to make it suitable for either a boy or a girl. This era of fabrics seems to cry out "baby"!



I'm going to get all the kids to print their names on the label. It should be cute!

I listened to another several hours of Jeffrey Eugenide's Middlesex while working on the quilt. I think the whole book is about 18 hours long. The story is more engrossing than I might have thought, and my parents lived in Grosse Pointe for a while in the late 80s and early 90s, so a lot of it seems very familiar to me (and makes me long for Detroit-proper Coney Island hot dogs!). Now, off to prepare for Hannah Montana in 3D!!

Winter Work

Look at what fantastic surprise came in the mail last weekend:



It's a gorgeous Four Seasons Quilt Swap (FSQS) quilt from Ms. Jan. Like me, she lives in warmer climes and opted to focus on our shared winter fruit: the orange. (I've actually still got them hanging from the tree outside.) The quilt is so very lovely and is in colors that are way-me, so much so that I own at least three of these fabrics. The quilt now graces my dining room. Thank you!

As the arrival of the winter swap quilt suggests, it's the end of January, and I'm finally posting for the new year. Yipes. Well, since I last posted, I have lost 13 pounds, which is nice. (Or, as my newly-six year old daughter with the metabolism of a tweaking hummingbird says, "You look less fat than you used to." Ah, children.)

I also got called an "artist" in a review of a quilt show in which three of my works were featured--similarly nice. The reviewer wrote that I have "a modern inclination shown to great advantage in 'Heralded Hydrangeas.' The contemporary design uses folded fabric boxes to represent flowers layered on a two dimensional stem. This method gives depth to the small piece - it wouldn't be large enough for a cat bed - and takes this work from craft to art." What's funny is that--while I do have a strong appreciation for contemporary/postmodern art--I so-completely-don't have a modern inclination in the vast majority of my work.

I finally finished the combo jelly roll quilt shown previously in top-only form. I decided to quilt it to emphasize the boxes:



I called it "Cottage Comforts" because the mixed-up, shabby-chicness of it reminded me of Cottage Living magazine and of our summer-rental beach cottage. I liked how the polka dot backing added yet another pattern. (It's a bit wrinkled since it was dragged all around the state over the holidays as I finished the binding.)

And, I planned and (this weekend) actually finished my own FSQS winter quilt: Father Christmas. My mystery-swapmate said she wanted something Christmas-y but not religious. So, I found a few coloring book images of Father Christmas and adapted them into an applique pattern. This was actually a bit harder than I thought it would be as I had to simplify things to get them to look right. I really like the result:



I wanted it to look like Father Christmas making his way through the starry winter night, and it seems to work that way.

Well, I've either re-caught the cold I had earlier in the week (which I think is impossible) or caught its mutated cousin (which is totally possible). So, I'm off to dig into the chicken soup that's steaming away on my stove and get ready for the SAG Awards, hoping to see some love shown to "There Will Be Blood." Go, red carpet!!

Merry Christmas

Ho-ho-hopping Back into the Blog

Yep, about once a month--I was right. So, here I am again, squeezing in a blog entry between running errands in advance of the ever-approaching Christmas countdown. Since I last wrote, I've hosted a cookie-decorating party for 13 squealing kindergarten girls--which was enormous fun! I organized the party because I had about 2 pounds of Swiss Meringue Buttercream left from Thanksgiving baking. The SWB frosting recipe came courtesy of my awesome cake decorating class. We learned that, chocolate ganache, cream cheese, and royal icings. Plus basic simple syrup and foundation mousse recipes so that we can dress those up as desired. I also learned how to make chocolate plastic. The first complete cake I made (chocolate cake with coffee syrup, chocolate mousse, dark chocolate ganache icing and white chocolate magnolias) cracked in half on the drive home. But, it still make great eating! We ate half and my office ate the other half . . . literally in minutes. Here are some of the other cakes I've made:



Two Christmas party/gift cakes: chocolate with coffee syrup, raspberry mousse filling, chocolate ganache icing and chocolate cream cheese piping. One's an 8 inch; the other a 9 inch.





This was our final class cake: white with simple syrup, italian cream filling, swiss buttercream frosting and piping, gold-dusted royal icing snowflakes, and a fondant poinsettia. I had so much fun in the class and now feel super-confident in making cakes that look great and taste delicious. The baker who taught the class has a mantra that the cake comes first, the decorations second--so she uses fondant sparingly and focuses on yummy frostings.

And, of course, the first thing I did after finishing the class was sign up for Weight Watchers . . . seriously. Not because of the class, really, but because I need to shed some "makes me tired" weight. I have pear-shaped genetics, so I'm not kidding myself, these hips aren't going anywhere. But, I can be more mid-sized and energetic.

I've also managed to complete one new quilt top. This one's based on the "baby cakes" quilt in one of the newer jelly roll quilt books (can't remember the title and it's upstairs). I increased the number of blocks and used some extra strips for the border rather than go with the big, single fabric one in the pattern. I simply paired strips and then cut each into 2-4 pieces at random to get a staggered set of seams and some border movement. I used 2 jelly rolls for the quilt--one Shangri-La and one Allspice Tapestry--and have enough strips left for binding and another small project. I really like how the two different fabric lines play off each other; the contrast between the more romantic one and the more stylized one gives the interplay a good energy.



I listened to Steve Martin's "Born Standing Up" while I sewed this quilt. I really recommend it; he reads the book and his voice gives life to the memoir wonderfully.

I have one other quilt to finish this break--a baby quilt. Then, back to my own projects.

Now, off to watch the stunning conclusion of "Clash of the Choirs"--otherwise known as, "What Won't I Watch During the Writers' Strike?" or "Just Give it to Patti LaBelle."

Monthly

I seem to be posting only monthly lately. Too, too busy. I also caught some creeping crud that left me feeling kinda consumptive--but I balanced this wasting phenomenon by learning to make perfect vanilla and chocolate cakes, swiss buttercream frosting, chocolate ganache, and cream cheese frosting in my cake class. So, I'm still nicely rounded out :) My cake class has been so much fun; it's at the town's top bakery. There are just 6 of us in the bakery's kitchen using all the real baker's stuff and getting cool inside secrets. Last Monday, we learned how to make "chocolate plastic" to mold flowers, leaves, and the like; and I also made chocolate ivy leaves by painting on leaves. Fun!!

My children have been sucked into the Webkinz universe, which means I've been spending odd hours playing Quizzy's Word Game so my babies can afford backyards and interactive stoves, refrigerators, and treadmills for their furry obsessions. (Hey, what's so virtual about this place again?) But, one nice quilty outcome is that they want to make quilts for their WKs. Here's the first endeavor:



My daughter (who's 5 and 7/8, just ask her) picked out all the fabrics and then arranged the squares. She wanted a quilt that looked like a rainforest, which is where Pandi the Panda lives. She also pressed the foot pedal on the machine as I sewed and actually picked up speed regulation fairly quickly. I quilted a flower in the middle of each square. Now, I have to make a pirate-themed quilt for Baby Pongo the Dalmation and some pink confection for Ashley the Rainbow Pony.

Here's a quilt I've never shared, but I found it in my closet during a cleaning mania two weeks ago (during a Housewives of Orange County marathon; it makes me feel so much better about my own life):



I made this in 1998 (insert aging cough here) right when Kumiko Sudo's book Fabled Flowers came out. I love hydrangeas and wanted to create a mythical hydrangea plant that could flower in both violet and pink. Over 50 different fabrics make up the origami petals. The background is a fabric that looks like homemade paper with flower petals embedded in the fibers. Here's a closer look at the petals:



I had completely forgotten about this little quilt. I've included it in the three quilts I'll be showing at the college this year. The quilts are shown in the President's Lobby throughout the winter holidays along with trees that student clubs decorate and then donate to families in the community. The whole lobby twinkles, and the display really brings a calming sense to the manic panic of term's end, when nerves of faculty and students alike fray.

My daughter keeps peeking her head around the corner begging to play on Barbie.com, and my son needs a pirate beard and mustache, so I'm off with this request. Consider signing up for the Winter segment of the Four Seasons Quilt Swap (click or see side button). It's great fun!!

Crazy Busy

I have just been crazy busy, so I've neglected the blogosphere. No posting, no ring-surfing, no nothing. Just lots of traveling and the like. I did get to watch Grey's Anatomy while in Seattle, which gave me an odd thrill!

Here's some catch-up . . .

While away on one of my trips, I received this absolutely beautiful quilt from Anne Ida as part of the Four Seasons Quilt Swap.



It came all the way from Norway, with a chocolate bar! She said she envisioned it as a table topper, which is exactly how I'm using it.



This was the trip when I came back to town at night in the middle of a thunderstorm and found that my headlights didn't work. This was one straw too many for this camel, and I immediately (I mean next morning immediately) went looking for a new car. I bought a Camry hybrid within two days and love it. Plus, I feel super virtuous when driving! Oh, and the lights work.

Given all I've been rushing around doing, I haven't had much time for quilting. I did start and finish a baby quilt for a friend, but forgot to take a photo. It was still warm when I dropped it off with someone to deliver to the shower on my way out of town. I actually used a UFO from who-knows-when that was in bright brushed plaids and backed it with a great, bright Amy Butler print in orange, yellow, and purple.

I'm in a finish-it-up-and-get-it-out cycle, I guess, as I also just put borders on another UFO; it has been sitting around for over 5 years! I was also going to quilt it right away, to strike when the iron was still sizzling, only to realize I'm out of batting. So, I ordered a bunch, which will hopefully arrive within a week or so. The quilt came from a pattern out of an old Cabbage Rose book. I can't believe I made all those flying geese. I clearly had too much time on my hands before I had children.



It's hard to tell, but the background for the stars is a novelty print with little salt and pepper shakers. I'm going to call this, "season to taste."

One of my trips took me on a consulting visit to Kentucky. I flew into Nashville and rented a car to drive about an hour into the state, and as I approached the Tennessee/Kentucky border, I got so excited. There was a sign featuring a bunch of quilts that read, "Paducah, exit 4." Of course, as soon as I crossed the border, I realized that I was at exit 89. Oh well, I'll go back one day.

One late night in some hotel room, I was checking email and found a message saying that I've been dropped by the Quilting for Pleasure blog ring because I hadn't posted in a month. The message caught me by surprise and seemed to undercut a bit the jolly tone of the blog ring title. There was something about the email that really irked me--especially given how many folks in the ring barely post about quilting at all--so I think I'll take this as a message from the powers that be to go quietly into the Q4P night and drop the button from the sidebar without a fuss.

I start a cake decorating class in a couple of weeks. Not one of those frothy Wilton things, but a class with the top cake-maker in town. I'm really excited! So, if my work turns out presentable, I'll post some photos down the road. The good thing is that even if the cakes are messy, they'll still be super yummy!

When I Was Young

My daughter's kindergarten class sent home "parent homework" on Friday, and like every good student, I sat down to do it the night before it was due :) Each of us (mom and dad) are supposed to draw a picture to illustrate a story of that begins "When I was young . . . ." It goes along with a book the class is reading. Both my kids love hearing stories from when I was little, and I tell them all the time. They have their favorites (like when the dying bat fell smack in the middle of our picnic table or when my Uncle Terry thought there was a spider on the wall and--in his attempts to kill it--kicked a hole clear through to the next room). But, when I got this assignment, I immediately got a picture of the story I wanted to illustrate and knew that I wanted to do it in fabric. So, I dug through my stash to create a picture of the summers when I would pick berries around my grandma's cottage:



I really liked how this turned out. When I showed it to my daughter, she asked if this was a competition we could win (she likes winning), so I think she liked it, too. I've offered to accept a commission from my husband to make his. We'll see.

Fruits of My Labor Day

It's only halfway through the holiday weekend, and I've finished the fall swap quilt. Here 'tis:



And, here's the quilting--swirling loops with the word "fall" secretly included:



I had fun on this little project. I've been listening to Antonia Fraser's Love and Louis XIV: The Women in the Life of the Sun King, which is fairly engrossing, while working on the quilt. I think most of the appeal has been to secret myself away in a world where I get to sew and everyone speaks in a plummy brit-accent. What a perfect world! Now, off to work on my next BOAF block.

This is turning into a dream weekend. I finished a co-authored article on Friday before I left work--freeing my weekend for a rainy, sewy, laundry-y, movie-y, reading-y time with the family. Plus, we had Mole at our fav Mexican restaurant on Friday and now Tikka Masala from our fav Indian restaurant tonight. And the US Open is on. Yee-haw!! Life is good! Enjoy your labor day.