A finish and a new start

Headed back home from parents yesterday morning... and after about 10 miles, I caved and pulled over. MOM wanted the gameplan to be: Cass in the middle holding the DVD player, with Caitlyn and Candace on the sides watching. Well, tshca! Cass didn't want to watch the movie; she wanted to play her Nintendo DS. Candace wanted to watch Dora and Cailtln wanted to watch Drop Dead Fred. So....the lightbulb went off, and I pulled out my computer from my bag; handed the DVD player to Candace, handed my computer to Caitlyn, and everyone (including Mom) was happy! All three could do what they wanted, which left ME to enjoy my Book on CD (Nora Roberts -- Birthright).

Yesterday was filled with unpacking and tidying. Felt good to wake up this AM and know I really didn't have anything I needed to do; other than play vball tonight at 6:00.

Here is the quilt I finished up for my MIL. I did very simple stippling in the whites of the blocks.


Some inspiration hit home this morning when out-n-about. Bonnie Hunter is starting a new mystery which I really wanted to dive in to, BUT... these purple and green fat-quarters have been calling out to me for some time... I saw a picture of a "film-strip" quilt, and fell in love with the clean lines and ability to show off a variety of fabrics. The two ideas seem to merge together... so, with too many interruptions today, I was at least able to cut, strip-sew, and layout some of the very easy blocks. And now...standing back...the one green fabric just doesn't belong!
(The one pictured in the middle here)....

I am in no rush to whip this one out, but I do want the colors to be just right as to what I see in my mind.... "Lucidity" is the name my mind sees with these colors.

Happy Sunday everyone---time to get ready for vball.

a short catch up...

I am proudly showing off the completed PD top to family this weekend. Relaxing at my parents; celebrating Cassie's birthday; finishing up a quilt for MIL; heading back home tomorrow AM.

There! That has been my past few days in a nutshell. :0)

Pics of the completed MIL quilt will come when I get back home on my own computer. I love my parents, but I can't WAIT to get back on my own computer. :0)

Happy Black Friday! Hope everyone got some good deals today, for those of you who ventured out and endured the chaos!

Perkiomen Daydreams -- top done!

It happened
it finally, finally happened...

The Top Is Done :0)


Some of the odds-n-ends that made their way into the quilt...

Mid-morning break...

ALL BLOCKS ARE DONE!!!
12 rows are already sewn and waiting for these last 8....
This morning...
...I finished the last of the 400 blocks....
...I have sewn two of the rows together....
But I needed to refill the coffee, so decided to take a little break.
((do you see the other blocks stacked on the right? That will be my next project: Chunky Churndash for my parents))

In the meantime, I hear this from the upstairs...
Cass: "MOM! Can Caitlyn and I clean the bathroom mirror?"
Me: **um, duh....** "Of course sweetie!"
**5 minutes later**
Cass: "MOM! Caitlyn and I have this great idea--can we clean the rest of the house??"
Me: **am I in heaven**... "That sounds wonderful girls!"
**10 minutes later**
Caitlyn: "MOM! Can we clean to windows too?"
Me: **are they serious--they should know my answer** "Sure honey! Go right ahead!"
**upstairs now on my break, looking at overly sprayed, streaky windows and a rag that I could squeeze to refill the Windex bottle**
BUT....it's the thought that counts :0)

A day off of school entailed...

A little bit of quilting....

...and a movie!

The movie was very enjoyable, and SO nice that it followed the book (much better than Twilight).

Tomorrow---more quilting. Maybe the Perkiomen Daydreams top will see a finish.

Happy Friday

I lovely Saturday (and Sunday), it was

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh

First, SORRY for no pics. After lunch today, I had ALL intentions of heading back downstairs to do some final piecing, but one thing lead to another and I found myself actually NAPPING for 30 minutes. And now, I'm simply too lazy to go down to snap the pics.

So, what was accomplished?
I was downstairs for most of the day yesterday (until 5:00), and then again this morning (9:00-noon). Strip sewing, strip sewing, and more strip sewing. I am nearing the end of piecing all 400 blocks needed for the Perkiomen Daydreams. Ahhhhhhhhhhh.

I have volleyball tonight...
yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I said Volleyball was over. Let me clarify---COACHING m'high school volleyball girls is over, but I (and hubby) still play Sunday evenings in an adult coed league. INTENSE FUN volleyball! So, I plan to just relax, do some catching up online before needing to head out (in ONE hour!!!) Holy buckets....

Anyway, after returning from vball, maybe I'll head downstairs to snap a pic or two.

It feels good catching up on laundry
It feels good to have a clean (SEMI-clean) counter -- dishes done
It feels good to have SEWN!
But I haven't prepped for the week yet for my Math classes, so I really should spend some time with that tonight.

Happy Sunday!

It's Saturday!!!

...and volleyball is over.

Coffee in hand....

DOWNSTAIRS I GO!!!!!

State Volleyball and the new mystery

and Bonnie writes....

So....here we go! My plan is to post the fabric requirements when I finish my yearly teaching after Nov 17th. Those who want to wait til the new year to start, can use that 6 weeks to gather their fabrics, maybe do some pre-cutting, and be ready to start after the holidays!

It's a GOOD thing that Vball has ended and that life will start returning to normal starting next week!!!!!!!

On a volleyball note.....
sittin' in the hotel room waiting for the day to begin. Sure! On the day I can sleep in until 8:00, I'm WIDE AWAKE at 6:30! We (the 9 varsity girls, myself and one of the mom's) hit some big D1 competition last night. Goodness gracious......I had forgotten how tall D1 teams are.....6'0, 6'3, 6'1, 6'0, 5'11 (which is 6'0 in my book)...the shortest girl on one of the teams was 5'8. AND THEN you have little D4 (NON-PRIVATE) schools who will be lucky to EVER have a 6'0 grace their courts....

Plan to roll out at 9:15 to hit some D4 and D3 this morning and then hit the big Appleton (Wisconsin) shopping mall this afternoon. The girls also want to be sure to get on the slide today (a FUN looking waterslide down by the pool) since it closed at 8:00 last night.

Ooooooo............and I forgot how goofy girls can be "away from home." Here's the story....
So, we eat at Applebees last night. They literally took FOREVER to decide what to eat; some girl would say something to order and the others would "oooooh...that sounds good" and change her mind until someone else said something new, and the "oooooh..." returned. In the end, the menus were a little bit of everything so each girl could sample each others.

Anyway....the meal was ending, everyone was sitting back, groaning that she over ate.... when suddenly...
the "hand-clapping" started.
If you've never been to an Applebees, the workers come out clapping and singing when a birthday has been requested of them. I'm sure you know where this is going, BUT I had no idea at the time. My first comment when the clapping started was "oh, fun, it's someone's birthday." (I never noticed the little giggling at our table). Then the clappers/singers start heading out way, so I'm looking around at our table, seeing one of our girls put her face in her hands.....so I say "oh...it's Kellie's birthday!"...which turns our table into giggle-central. Suddenly the singers stop behind our table (I still hadn't quite figured it out yet), UNTIL....the girls took their cameras and cell phones out, snapping pictures my way, rollling with laughter! DUH! HELL-O! Oh goodness----once it registered that it was "my birthday," ..... oh goodness, I laughed so hard! And of COURSE, I had to thank them for giving me the BEST 41-st birthday ever!......at which point, one of my girls said,
Leah: "You're not 41, are you???"
Me: *shaking head, still wiping tears of laughter*
Leah: "Whew..yeah...you're like 37, aren't you?"
Me: *still laughing, shaking head and hold up 4 fingers*
Leah: "REALLY! You're 40??!!" *her mouth agape*
Me: *laughing even harder at her response*
Other girls: "No Leah! She's thirty - FOUR!"

Oh goodness---what fun!
Happy Friday everyone!

ANOTHER mystery from Bonnie........

and she writes....

November 3
Hi you guys!

I'm back from Paris as of last night...had a great time! I know I
will need a nap at some point today, I feel one coming on. But I
wanted to let you know that I've been hard at work designing our next
mystery quilt!

I'm in a bit of a conundrum, because the one I REALLY want to
do.....is in recycled fabrics in Christmas colors! Is this going to
bum you guys out if I drag Christmas out into the new year? If it
helps any....what if we move this mystery back a month and let you
play with your fabrics DURING the holiday season? I'm done teaching
as of Nov 17th. Would you like to work on this project DURING the
holidays? And if you finish it after the new year, well....you are
just that much farther ahead for next year!

And of course, you can choose to do this in a different color plan if you want.

This is going to be a limited availability mystery, much like Carolina
Crossroads was. It's going to go into the 2011 book, so it will only
be available online for a while, and then I'll pull it when it's
published.

I'm planning on using reds, greens, and golds and neutrals, in plaids,
stripes and prints from recycled clothing. And I may throw in some old
fashioned shirting prints as some of my lights to spice them up a bit.
The quilt is a square one, about 84" without borders. The units can
be played with in many ways, so seeing lots of different layouts is
going to be fun!

Other colors? How about blues/browns/ golds/neutrals?
red/blue/gold/ neutral? green/blue/gold/ neutral?
purple/green/ gold/neutral. ...I'm sure you can come up with 3 colors
you like, and maybe even use BLACK as your neutral....you' ll like this
one, I promise!

Are you guys game? Looks like it will be about a 6 step mystery.....

Bonnie

Oh gosh, oh gosh. I have NEVER missed a mystery of Bonnie's, but sadly haven't quite finished the Christmas Lights mystery yet. ALMOST, but not quite---it's at quilting stage.

So......next weekend my quilting life SHALL return!!! That's my promise to me :0)

Happy Tuesday

I'm tired; but the end is near

It's one of those times of one of those days of one of those weeks.....

I'm tired

The girls have been fighting fevers of 99-103, on-n-off for the past few hours (Caitlyn) and days (Cassie). No real "sickness" (yet)----just crazy, insane fevers.

I'm stressed

Having to prep for an unexpected day (tomorrow) was/is hard when I'm already stressed trying to prep for two planned absences (Thursday and Friday). I am now down to one prep time to plan for the end of one quarter where I'm missing two days AND the start of a new quarter with 50 new students---it would be different if I could get in to school on Sunday after returning from State Volleyball on Saturday, but.....NO CHANCE......

I'm tired

oh wait. I already said that.

*sigh*
I'm off to bed.


[[one more week, one more week....vball banquet next Tuesday.....then life will slow back down]]

PIF's----I haven't forgotten you! Promise!!!!

[[knock-on-wood]]
[[I can get sick, BUT it MUST wait until Sunday, AFTER State Vball trip]]