Progress!

I can't believe I'm actually closer to the end of my double wedding ring quilt than to the beginning for a change! I was able to sew on the corners yesterday and I'm ready to sew the blocks together. The quilt is actually one block wider but it wouldn't fit on our bed. I meant it to be a queen size but I want it to have a decent drop on the sides.

I like to take pictures of things while in progress because it's so much easier to see in a photo than with the bare eye the things that you want to do. This quilt ends up with a half arc on the sides. I don't like that, it looks so unfinished. So I'm contemplating doing a scrappy binding with fabrics used in the arcs so there won't be such an abrupt halt part way through a ring.

This has taken me over a year and by the time it's totally finished will probably have taken 18 months. It's a LOT of work and even though it's not perfect I won't be making another one to try to improve. The quilt is 42 12" squares. There are 168 arcs total which means I cut and sewed together 1008 little triangles and then sewed them onto the Smart Quilt interfacing and turned them before appliqueing them on. I'll be so glad to get it finished so I can move on to some smaller projects for awhile that will give me a more immediate gratification.

All that said I feel very proud of myself and I'm really happy with the quilt. I never dreamt 8 years ago when I started quilting that I'd ever be able to make something like this. Too bad I have to give it away to my daughter. But a wedding quilt is something I hope she'll appreciate and care for.

Our weather has been  horrible. I did manage to cut the lawn yesterday between little showers but the weeds are taking over in the yard and growing faster every day because of the rain *ARGH* So if we get a nice day I'll have to spend a lot of time while it lasts pulling weeds out there so it at least looks somewhat decent. I've decided that landscaping paper and bark mulch are my new best friends :0)

I decided to give up on the book club book. Actually I've decided to quit the book club. Some things aren't for everyone. I love to read but I'm not cerebral enough to read those hoity toity books. I like the one I'm reading now "Rotten to the Core" about a girl who inherits an apple orchard and finds a dead guy in her spring house. Now that's my kind of literature *LOL*.

Catalicious Quilt Stitch In Block 4

Here's Block 4 of the Catalicious series. This one was a lot faster to stitch up than the last one cause it's simpler but a really cute block. Love the way the cat is looking at the bird. Rilo has never seen a bird up close cause she's an indoor cat but I think she'd squirm a bit more if she did get that close to one. Bronwyn's Brutus seems a lot more laid back.

I've been busy lately so haven't been on here at all. We're planning for the Fall bazaar now so we won't have to do it all at once come September so I have a few small projects lined up for that. Also the weather has been so nice that it's really a shame to be indoors.

I'm also wading my way through the book "The Gargoyle". When I was at the church making sandwiches this morning to send to the downtown east side I asked a couple of other ladies what they thought of the book. One said she hated it. "Who recommended it anyway?" Uh... the minister. It's a very odd book for a minister to be recommending but I'm really trying to read it. I haven't found anyone who really likes it but what if we had a book club meeting and no one showed up cause they didn't like the book? Especially when it's the minister that recommended it? So I'm pressing on. I got to page 118, looked some stuff up on the internet to see if it was really historical fiction and it is so I've now read another 50 pages. But it's 500 pages long! On the outside it looks like a book about a porn star who is badly burned in a car accident and a schizophrenic. But the schizophrenic claims she is 700 years old and lived in a monastery when she was a child. The monastery exists (existed) and the people she talks about existed. I've never heard of either so that makes it interesting cause I like to learn new things. It also talks a lot about what is involved in a burn unit which is also interesting because the Fire Fighter's Burn Fund is one of our charities we support so I'm glad to know more about what is involved there.

Okay, off to download this month's Gifts of Grace block so I can get started on that tonight.  

BOOK GIVEAWAY

I love books and Molly is giving away a great sounding book on her Molly's A Bookworm site. Go to her site for all the information and her book review.

You have until May 31 to get your name in.

Happy Mother's Day

Mothers: Every Year is Their Year

author unknown (adapted by various persons)

This blessing is for the mothers who have sat up all night with sick toddlers saying, "It's okay honey, Mommy's here."

This blessing is for the mothers who gave birth to babies they may never see. And the mothers who took those babies -- forever to be their own children.

This blessing is for all the mothers who attended ball games, recitals, rehearsals, etc., etc. and who said "I wouldn't have missed it for the world," and meant it.

This blessing is for all the mothers of Kosovo who fled in the night and can't find their children or can't feed their children.

What makes a good mother anyway? Is it patience? Firmness? A soft lap?

 Or is mothering what is in her heart?

Is it the ache she feels when she watches her child disappear down the street, walking to school alone for the very first time?

The jolt that takes her from sleep to dread, from bed to crib at 2a.m., to put her hand on the back of a sleeping baby?

The need to flee from wherever she is and hug her child when she hears news of a school shooting, a fire, a car accident, a baby dying?

Yes it is so.

So this blessing is for all the mothers who sat down with their children and explained all about making babies. And for all the mothers who wanted to but just couldn't.

This blessing is for all the mothers who yell at their kids in the grocery store with frustration and despair.

This blessing is for the mothers who show up at work with milk stains on their blouses and diapers in their purse.

This blessing is for all mothers who teach their sons to cook and their daughters to speak up with pride.

This blessing is for mothers who put pinwheels, teddy bears, or flowers on their children's graves.

This blessing is for mothers whose children have gone astray, who haven't the words to reach them, and yet have never put them from their heart.

This blessing is for new mothers stumbling through diaer changes and sleep depriviation. And mature mothers learning to let go. For working mothers and stay-at-home mothers. Single mothers and married mothers. And women who became mom's by the choice of children who were lost, or by virtue of accident or being in the right place at the right time. And for grandmothers, great grandmothers, wise elders and matriarchs.

And this blessing is for all of us who will move beyond sentiment into actions which support mothers and mothering persons in all their life-giving and life-nurturing roles.

Gifts of Grace Block 3

When I first saw this I thought it would be my least favorite but now that it's done I believe it is my favorite so far. Maybe it's the colours. I didn't do the beads this time. I think I'll wait til the end. I have other hand stitching projects I'm working on so limited time.

The bazzar on Saturday was great. We did a booming buisiness with the coffee and muffins and with hot dogs. I think it will become a staple of our bazaars. We could have used more help. I was exhausted by the time I got home and actually missed Church on Sunday morning. I get so tired it's really annoying. They also had a hit the minister in the face with a wet sponge event and raised $62 *LOL*

I usually go to the bazaars but don't get so personally involved. It surprised and gladened me to see so many members just come and hang out for the day and drink coffee and visit. At $1 for a bottemless cup of coffee it was the best deal in town. It was fun having friends around all day.

I've had these odd things growing in my deck planters all winter. I thought they looked like Snap Dragons but that's not possible is it? Survive over the winter? Well, guess what?

They ARE snapdragons. The only thing I can think of is it has been a mild enough winter aside from the cold winds, but these were behind the barbeque out of the wind and next to the wall where the fireplace is so maybe it was sheltered and warm enough of them to survive. I've had a few seed themselves before but they usually don't appear until the weather warms up more the end of May.

Have a great day everyone.

Muffins Anyone?

And now for something completely different. I seem to have suffered a Nintendo injury. I sat on the couch with my feet under me too long yesterday and I strained a muscle in my side trying to outwit those stupid blocks that were trying to crush me. I tend to get my whole body into these things.

So this morning I woke up with a sharp pain in my left side. It's kind of like the time I went to my chiropractor and he asked how my neck got so out of whack. I told him it was a reading injury.  If I get reading a good book I can be there for hours with my neck is in the same position and it stains it. Chiropractors are great, he did solve some long standing back issues but I no longer go to one cause at my age my bones are getting brittle and I really don't want anyone adjusting them. They're find and dandy right where they are.

Anyway, so what else can I do today. I have housework and yardwork that needs doing but nah.. don't feel like doing that. Then I thought I could make muffins, that's easy. I promised to take some to the Spring Bazaar on Saturday. I made one batch and realized I was out of eggs. When I went to get eggs I saw muffin mixes that are pretty cheap and all you add is water so the bazaar is getting packaged muffin mix and husband can have his regular carrot muffins.

These muffins are like nothing you've ever tasted. I find carrot cake dry. This recipe was one of 4 one-pan cake recipes in Woman's Day or something back in the early 1980's. So I thought I'd share the recipe with you.

The recipe is for carrot cake but I mix it in a bowl and use it to make muffins. If making a cake you can mix the whole thing with a fork right in a 9" cake pan.

Mix Well:

1 1/2c flour

1 1/4c sugar

1 1/2tsp baking powder

1 1/2tsp cinnamon

Then add and mix briskly until thoroughly blended

9 oz. strained carrots (baby food)

2/3c vegetable oil

2 eggs slightly beaten

1/2tsp vanilla

Lastly stir in

1c crushed pineapple (drained)

1/2 c chopped walnuts (optional)

Bake

Cake 40-45 mins @ 350F

Muffins - about 20 minutes at 375F

Eat... and try to hide from your husband. *LOL*

Notice I didn`t say salt. I don`t use salt anymore so I don`t know what the recipe said originally. 1/2tsp or something maybe.

I really wanted to continue with stripping wallpaper but I need to tidy up around here since we have people dropping in this weekend. So I guess now I better go declutter something.

Catalicious Quilt Stitch In Block 3

Whew! This was the most intense one so far. But it's also my favorite so far. I just love Bronwyn's designs. I haven't even started my Gifts of Grace one but I did get it copied onto fabric yesterday and hopefully it will only take a couple of days. I love the mixed applique/embroidery component of that one.

I made placemats and coasters for the bazaar next weekend. And I'm reading a new book (see side margin) called Three Day Road. It is SO good. It's Canadian but that's okay. It's about 2 Cree men (boys) who are sent to fight in WWI. The world of the white man is strange enough for them without mixing it with a war. The book starts when one of them arrives home missing a leg and addicted to morphine. The other one died in battle. It's stories told by his aunt of times when she was a girl combined with stories of the war told by him. It's an interesting mixture to have 2 first person components in one book. I have to have it read by May 8 cause I've joined a book club and that's the book they're doing right now. Not a problem. I'm a fast reader and I'm addicted to reading as well.

And this morning I went to a meeting for women who are volunteering to make caps for soldiers to wear under their helmets when they are on watch in Afghanistan. It gets really cold and a lot of them just stuff socks in their helmets. The woman who organized this is amazing. People back East who are making these buy their own wool. They have to be real wool so they'll be warm enough. She started this knitting group at a local coffee shop and when they moved from making personal stuff to making the caps a lot of the local merchants offered to donate towards the price of the wool. The woman at the wool shop sells it to the group at cost plus freight. And the Legions got involved with fundraising too. So she has enough wool to make over 500 of these. There are only 100 more needed. There must have been 25 women at the meeting and she was going somewhere else this afternoon so she'll have her 100 caps in no time. So I'll be trying my hand at knitting again. I've lost my skills but the only way to get them back is to use them.

This meeting is at my old church. I haven't visited there for 15 years now and it was interesting to see who is still there and who is new. They have a large women's group.

And, yes, I'm still playing with Farmville but I have another confession. 2 years ago my husband gave me a Nintendo DS for Christmas. It was my daughter's idea. She knows about my addiction. She was playing Animal Crossing and needed someone else who had the game so she could visit my town and get something she needed for her town. Not as complicated as it sounds. But now I noticed they've come out with a Super Mario game.. as in the old fashioned jumping Mario. How could I resist that? I remember sneaking in and playing that game years ago when it first came out on my kids Nintendo when they were at school. I played so much I injured the muscles in my thumb. I called in Nintendonitis *LOL*

I'm such a mess... I need an addicted to life stuff meeting *LOL*

AND I'm going to pull the wallpaper off the office wall so we can finally paint in here. It may mean no computer for a couple of days but it needs to be painted.