How's THIS for payment?

(Remember Jen? working on her quilt here, or actually quiting a pass here?)

Jen (via phone): So, ah...Mrs. Skattebo. Are you going to be home for awhile?
Me: Ummm....yes
Jen: Like....in an hour?
Me: Yes. I have no plans to go anywhere.
Jen: Okay, next question. Do you like ice cream?
Me:...ummmmm....yes?.....
Jen: Alright, one more question. Do you have room in your freezer?
Me: ...ummmm....yes?.....
Jen: Okay, see you soon. {{Click}}

DH and I were just starting to put dinner on the table when she shows up.....with THIS!!!

THIS would be a home-made Oreo Cookie Ice Cream cake. Jen has been known to make some delicious cakes before, but....well......{{pun intended}}.....this one LITERALLY "takes the cake!"



PERFECT end to tonight's meal, and the girls all approved! THANK YOU JEN!!!!!!!!

Another quilt for MIL...

My MIL's Balloon quilt didn't really inspire me today when I eventually made my way downstairs, but it needed to get done. It measures 38.5" x 44".











backing fabric

Definitely nothing that would win me any awards.....but as (I believe it was Candace?) who said something like......."Done is better than perfect." Or maybe it was Linda (TX)?.....

Anyway.....this lil' quilt confirmed that I MUCH prefer to quilt using a pantograph than freehand. Not having a stitch regulator to help me when I get to corners...it's a bit difficult. However, an edge-to-edge pantograph doesn't have any (many) corners that I need to stop for....

Some BOM preppin...

Since I tackled the four/week Midget blocks this morning, I didn't feel so pressed to push anymore out (unlike Angela! Psht---over-achiever that she is!) ;0)

Once we arrived back from my appointment and had a snack, I was free to play around in my sewing room until dinner. As I've said numerous times in recent posts, summer vacation is tick-tockin' away and I still have the October BOM to make sure I don't "forget" to do...so.....

...with a lil' bit of cheating this time around, I'm using two original blocks from Quilter's Cache that I've been eyeing up ever since the beginning of this BOM. The 3rd block being planned is again a traditional one. I've been trying to be frugal and using up as many odds-n-ends pieces from my reserved pile of fabs for this BOM (since this will be the last of the BOM for the year). I have a feeling I'll make up a "bonus block" (or two) with any left over pieces I'll have, but for now......ALMOST all three blocks are prepped! The one pictured on the left needs more time, but dinner time rolled around, and I'm parenting solo tonight (with a storm rolling through), so I can't really get back downstairs.....at least not until the girls fall asleep. And by that time, I probably won't feel like getting back downstairs ;0)

Oh yeah....movie of choice....The Patriot with Mel Gibson. I ended up getting about half way through it before I needed to shut things down...

Happy Tuesday (again)

and five, six, seven, eight...

no...not counting down a jazz tune....

...just showing off the products of my morning sewing session.

Movie background noise of choice: Transformers

Block 5: Pinapple.
I didn't keep track of the total time for this block, but I was working on both #5 and #6 (below) simultaneously and it took all of Horton Hears a Who and 3/4 of Transformers. In other words: a BUTT-LOAD of time! :0)

Block 6: Palm

Block 7: At the Depot
Thank GOODNESS this block didn't require paper-piecing. These "normal" blocks will help me keep my sanity throughout this project...

...to make piecing the corners a bit more exact (afterall one lil' bit "off" and these TINY blocks go kiddy-wompas!), I pulled out my EasyAngle ruler to trim off the lil' corners.

Block 8: Tricolor Block (I know this as Rail Fence???)
Actually, the fabrics for this block were being pulled right when the credits started rolling. By the time the credits were finished, I was already sewing away.....I couldn't just LEAVE it unfinished, so I took an additional 5 minutes to finish it up. SOOOOO EASY and almost perfect 5"!


Sadly, time for me to jump in the shower and actually start my day; shower, lunch, appointment, school-shopping(?), and then time to head back home for maybe some more sewing :0)
Happy Tuesday!

Midget 5 & 6 progress

Yup, yup.....headed downstairs after dinner (YUMMMMY pork sholder roast, mashed potatoes -n- gravy....typical meat-n-potatoes meal). I was working on Midget #5-Pineapple, but then started up on #6: Palm and fed each block under the machine, one after another. Movie of choice: Horton Hears a Who (...."a person's a person, no matter how small"...). {{I'm going to run out of "midget-minded" movie titles soon though}}. This is the extent of my piecing for the duration of the movie. I hope to finish them up today AND piece #7 & #8 before needing to leave for my Doc appt.

Another scorcher with opressive humidity today!!!! NOT a good week for HS Football to start! The forecast all week is 90's with humidity to make it feel near 100. Our school holds practices in the evening hours (5-9, I think). But still.....ugh!


UPDATE
THANKS JILL! I hadn't been reading Sentimental Stitch's regular blog posts lately, so...when she posted her 116th block post, she informed her readers that she'll be retiring the first 55 Midget blocks, so.....I spent the past hour saving ALL 116 blocks. Alright ... I guess that means I'm in it for good now, huh?

A perfect day for quilting... (as long as you have AC!)

OMGoodness! If you can get past the dust and visible grease....yeah, that says 123.1 degrees!!! Mind you, it's in the sun.....BUT STILL!!!!! I DID venture out to give Shadow some water for drinking and doused him with some as well...ugh! Opressive!!!!! He was having a nap in the shade, in a lovely "cool" pit he dug next to his house. He seems to be taking the heat well!

I printed out the next handful of midget blocks with intentions of catching up to Angela, but when I turned the light on in my quilting room, my Twilight units caught my eye. That sounded like a better plan than the midgets, so....New Moon was placed into the DVD, and away I went.

By the end of the movie, this is how far I was. The final "arrow units" had been cut, sewn, and started to be pressed.

Pressing took quite a bit longer than usual because I took my time pressing the seams open. This sure made for some perfect points!!!

After some lunch, I THEN had intentions of hitting the midget blocks.....but.....

eh....I was having too much fun with the Twilight blocks. SO.....Twilight was put into the DVD player (again), and onward I went.

By mid-movie, I pieced my first two complete blocks. Unfortunately, they are about 1/4" too small in certain areas....so.....hmmmm.........

I set them aside for the time being to stew over what my next steps will be. Maybe I'll remove my name from the list (it wouldn't hurt my feelings at all, because I can imagine these blocks looking AMAZING together in another quilt similar to Green Beauty (aka: Jared Takes a Wife). Maybe I'll change my block for the swap??? I dunno. But if these continue being a bit small, I wouldn't feel right AT ALL swapping them out.

Hmmmm....maybe tonight I'll get to the midget blocks?????
(I'm sensing that familiar feeling.......U........F........O........) ;0)
LOL


Oh yeah----I DO have other things up on my Design Wall from working on my September BOM blocks over the past couple of days. All three are done but the directions need to be typed up yet. Yeah....they're blurred out on the bottom ;0) Kinda neat how that first one blurred to show a circular design! Have no fear, though----no curved piecing coming.

A Monday all to me!??

Gardening and canning completed yesterday.
Laundry not calling to me quite yet.
Living room and kitchen cleaned up yesterday.
The girls' rooms and loft area are their responsibility.

Yeah---I think my schedule is fairly open for today!!!
So, plans?
Catch up with Angela!

Midget block #5 and #6 (maybe #7 and #8, too?) will be on my chopping block.

Happy Monday!

That nap helped!!!

Well, folks, I DID NOT help the girls with their mess, and in all honesty, I haven't even gone upstairs to see how far they got. They were simply informed that if they each wanted a friend over or even go to the beach during these last few weeks of summer, the rooms and loft need cleaning.

I (kinda) reluctantly headed downstairs to see about working on the 3rd BOM for September, and after 10 minutes, I was well underway and finding some renewed energy. Movie of choice today: "Bedazzle", and it took me the whole movie to sort through my scraps to use up some and to piece the entire block.....and as you can see.....yet another block utilizing Flying Geese units :0)

By 5:00, the movie and block both came to an end and it was time to head upstairs to start dinner: spaghetti with sauce and garlic bread.

While that was cooking, I worked on cleaning and cutting the green beans that had been marinating in the sink with cold water all day....

...and once dinner was over, it was time to start the canning process. Seven more pints to add to our pantry...

...and since I was still going strong, while the canner was "cooking" away and once dishes were done up, I thawed out some rhubarb from last month and made my Rhubarb Crunch dish.

Amy's Favorite Rhubarb dish: "Rhubarb Crunch"
1 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup dry oatmeal
1/2 cup butter
2-3 cups rhubarb (3 cups makes a fuller "filling")
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 Tbls corn stach

Mix flour, brown sugar, oatmeal and softened butter. Press half into bottom of 8x8 or 9x9 dish. Spread rhubarb on top.
Bring water, sugar and corn starch to a boil in medium sized pan. Pour over rhubarb and sprinkle the remaining "crunch" on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

...and yeah....it's that time of year again. I mowed lawn (on Tuesday, was it??) and was just fine! But Wednesday, when I was out taking care of the animals.....yup! I became Sneezy of the 7 dwarfs. So, these meds will be my best friend for the next couple of months, usually until mid-end October once ragweed completely freezes away.

The girls had the camera last night after baths were finished...here's Candace sporting her newly trimmed bangs and one red tongue. I can't remember what she had ????

Yeah, even I posed for a pic with towel wrapped around my head, and a slightly red complexion from the day of vball in the sun.

Mmmmmmmm.......the buzzer dinged a bit ago and I took the Rhubarb dish out of the oven. By now, it's cooled just enough for me to have one (large) piece for dessert.

GOOD LUCK AND HAVE FUN to all my blogging teacher friends who head back tomorrow. Some of you head back later on this week. I still have this week off, but will need to spend some time (probably Wed) making sure I'm ready for the following Monday when volleyball practice starts. If I didn't coach, I would still have two complete weeks and three days the following week off before teachers need to head back in Wisconsin. We have a (stupid) state law that forBIDS school to begin until September 1. At least we're not as bad off as Michigan----they can't start until after Labor Day!!!! In certain years, that ends up being a REALLY LATE start!!!