A satisfying day

I wasn't able to spend the entire day downstairs, but I am very satisfied with how my entire day went :0)

7:00 AM--shower, drink coffee, kiss DH goodbye for the weekend :0(
7:45 -- wake girls and go through typical "morning stuff"
9:15 -- Cassie's eye appointment, followed by a few errands (groceries and pharmacy)
11:00 -- arrive home, unload car, start lunch, start laundry
12:00 -- clean up lunch table, put next load of clothes in machine/dryer; head outside to pick green beans
12:45 -- soak green beans in sink; take care of next load of laundry (INCLUDING FOLDING!!!!)
1:00 -- headed downstairs

With so many projects sitting idle, I decided it was time to start my "Twilight" block swap. It isn't due until October, but....well....yeah, you know. Volleyball season is right around the corner; I didn't want to NOT get around to these.
The idea behind the swap is to use the colors that appear on the Twilight saga books: red, black, white, gray. Swappers may choose any 12" block of her liking. My choice: Blackford's Beauty. This is the block that Bonnie used in her Jared Takes a Wife, this is also one of the blocks that I posted for February 2010 BOM. It's definitely one of my favorites! So, to be "in-the-mood" for a Twilight inspired block, I threw the DVD into the machine and sewed for the duration of the movie. This is how far I got....
Fifty-two of these corner units; I'm making 13 blocks (12 for swapping and one for myself).

These are the other fabrics I will be using in the block. I'm taking my time; pressing with spray-starch.

OH! Speaking of which.....DEFINITELY WORTH LOOKING AT! If you haven't already taken a peek at Amanda Jean's homemade spray starch, you simply MUST! I used to be so skimpy with when, where, how much spray starch I used in the past because it was SO expensive! $7.00 a bottle! And when a bottle could be gone within 3 days of serious quilting-----PSHT! I don't think so! Therefore---tried out AmandaJean's "recipe." LOVE IT! LOVE IT! Water = free. Corn starch---psht? $??? always have it on hand. Essential oil: $9.00/bottle, which will last for YEARS!!!!!!! In the last two weeks, I must have refilled my bottle 3 times already---that's a LOT of savings!!!

Anyway---I did take one small break in the movie to take care of another load of laundry (AND FOLDED AGAIN!!!)
So, movie ended around 3:00. As badly as I wanted to keep pluggin' away at the blocks, I had other pressing projects too!

Knowing (again) that Vball season will definitely reduce the amount of machine time I'll have, I HAD to start spending some time on the September (and October) BOM's. So....what movie to put in?????.....
The mask of Zorro -- I figured it was fitting; not knowing who Zorro is....not knowing what the blocks will look like. ??? Yeah, okay....maybe pushing it a little bit.

BUT, by midway through the movie (around 4:15), the first September BOM was finished. {{a lil' peek at the flying geese we'll be using}}

At that point, the movie was paused and dinner preparations took over (after, of course, another load of laundry taken care of). Dinner: BBQ on bun, pickles, mac-n-cheese, baked beans, pink lemonade.
5:00 -- tidy up kitchen, unload dishwasher and reload with supper dishes, take care of ANOTHER load of laundry while drawing a bath for #2 and #3. Bathe girls and tidy up bedroom/bathroom/kitchen all at the same time.
6:00 -- take girls out of bath, trim Candace's hair.......and yup! ANOTHER load of laundry!
6:30 -- head back downstairs, unpause the movie and tackled the 2nd BOM for September...

some more flying geese units....and...umm....a "long" flying geese unit :0)

8:00 -- movie ended; block finished, a small bit of tidying the sewing room. Headed upstairs to shoosh the girls to brush teeth. Take care of the LAST load of laundry (I've lost track, but I think it was 6 total washers full), make Cassie's bed with freshly washed sheets, tuck all three girls into Cass's bed, carry Candace back downstairs to take care of a nasty toenail that was hurting her, wipe away her tears, and tuck her in to Mom's bed. (Yeah....I think that was her game plan all along!) ;0) No biggy----no hubby tonight, and the girls REALLLLLY need to get some sleep tonight. They have a tendency of NOT sleeping until too late when they all sleep together. (go figure, right?)

And now----computer time :0)

Tomorrow will be another long, energy-seeping day. I was asked to play in a Vball tournament a few weeks back and gladly accepted, NOT realizing that DH wasn't going to be AWAY for the majority of the weekend. I don't really want to call a babysitter to watch the girls, even though they would probably LOVE that. Instead, I'll be schlepping them along with me. Last year, the tournament started at 9:00 a.m. and ended at 8:00 p.m. (DH and I were done by 6:00 though because our team lost before the final two rounds of the tournament.) I'm sure they will be perfect lil' angels for me :0) **crossing fingers**