I feel like it's been forever since I've posted...

But I know that Forever is a long time...

This really says it all.  Life is good.  Busy, but good.
I haven't sewn in weeks;  even last weekend after returning from my parent's house one day early with the HOPES of sewing on Sunday.....it didn't happen.  I read instead.  And there's nothing wrong with that.  In fact, I read THREE whole books over the Thanksgiving weekend, and it was heaven!  I have missed getting lost in a good story.

Cassie's 12th birthday came and went on Wednesday.  Paul had fun picking out the re-igniting candles, and amazingly, after lots of patience a few more than a few blows, they all remained unlit and we commenced to gift opening.

The daily rituals have been fairly redundant;  wake up, school, try to fit everything in in the evening that can fit, and then repeat.  I've worked some Junior High basketball games; it's always enjoyable to see students in a different light outside of the classroom.

So yeah.  I'm SUPER glad today is Friday.  As badly as I would like to just sit and sew, I actually have other relaxing plans for the evening.  Paul is taking the younger 2 up to visit the in-laws;  Cassie has a friend over for a late birthday get-together and they want to go skating.  SO, I'm not up for skating, and the skating place is in a town 30 miles away.  What to do, what to do......I AM up for relaxing in a movie theater (and finally use up a gift certificate that's been sitting for a full year!).  Therefore, I'll drop the girls off in just over an hour, and then kick back at the movie theater to watch Skyfall.  Going to a movie by yourself is okay, right??? :D

Happy Friday

Tiny Tuesday: Midget #37: Imperial Fan

Midget #37: Imperial Fan

I'm beginning to like applique more and more through the variety of midget blocks that have come up over the past couple of months.

Tiny Tuesday: Midget #36: 4H Club

Midget #36: 4H Club

Only a half day of inservice planned today at school, and then vacation starts.  FINALLY!

Some border action x2

I kinda like days where I have NO obligations; NO where to be; NOTHING to do

(except, NO ONE is allowed to come to my house right now, unless s/he promises not to pass judgement.  It's a DISASTER zone!!!)

I was downstairs at 7AM with no real plan on the day.  Somehow....I really can't remember how or why.... but somehow, I found myself in my main carpet area sifting through piles and piles of finished quilts and awaiting flimsies, and collections of centers awaiting borders.

I dug in and pulled out Frost 25, a QOV mystery (#25) from.....2009?  2010?  Ummm....I'd have to look back. 

Frost 25 (73" x 73")

I remember what stopped my progress oh so long ago:  I ran out of the dark purple, which I wanted to use as a border.  Hm.....I found a similar print awaiting in my Easy Street fabrics;  11" remained of it.  So, I cut it up in 1.25" strips for a THIN inner border, then finished it off with a 3" white border.  

The fabric was a Connecting Threads line:  "Twilight Frost," which is partially where the quilt's name came from: Frost 25.  

And I couldn't resist!  Do you recognize the movie playing??? :D

I had my own Twilight marathon for much of the morning hours.  And now that the top is finished, I find myself wondering why I needed to wait so long;  that thin inner border worked nicely to finish off the center.

Not interested in loading it on the quilt frame, I folded it up and moved it to my Flimsy pile. :D

BEB Fallswap (84" x 100")

After some self-convincing, I pulled out the Buckeye Beauty Fall swap center and pieced a 2.5" light border on it.  With oodles of 4-patches left over, a potential 4-patch pieced final border was tried out.... and then I recalled I had 4 yards of this "fallish" Mayfly fabric waiting on the shelf, meant for this quilt!  Cut, cut...sew, sew....press, press.

AND LOAD, LOAD!  I'm halfway through quilting this already!

However, at 2:30, I closed up shop to spend some time coloring with the girls.  Box Tops is offering up a cute lil' turkey for the holiday season.  (Can't you see how excited they all are to pose for this picture?) :}

Happy Sunday!

Saturday Sewing with Nancy

Nancy (Patchwork Penguin) and I retreated via Skype this afternoon;  it's always nice when I get to sew with others :)


I had a few of the subunits completed for Omigosh from leaders and enders over the past couple of weeks;  I wanted to see them come together into something tangible.  They are stinkin' CUTE merely due to their size!  All of those individual squares in the 4- and 9-patches finish at 1/2".

Next, although I'm no where NEAR finishing enough midget blocks, I have been putting some time and thought into the sashing for the finale.  With some motivation from Bonnie's In The Pink quilt, I started drawing up some templates on paper for the sizes needed.  The square-in-a-square will all end up being paper-pieced, but the sashing units will be pieced with the assistance from my Tri-Recs ruler set.

Facing reality?

My car has its own little attitude.

Lately, I don't know if it's trying to tell me it has a mind of its own; or if it simply being indecisive.

Over the past week, it seems that my car can't decide WHICH headlight it wants to actually utilize for those dusky hours.  One day, the left headlight is the only one that is shining.   The next day, the right headlight will decide to work while the left one doesn't.  Honestly, I have no clue if there is a "short" somewhere?  the bulbs aren't properly installed?  Wiring problems?  I have no clue.  I do know that since we've had it (9 years now!), the lights have always been problematic. 

So tonight....4:45....dusk literally on the horizons;  NEITHER light decides to work.  Therefore, the grocery shopping spree was postponed so I could make it home while at least a little dusk light remained.  Three miles from home, the left light flickered on after hitting a little bump.

So yeah...time to bite the bullet and realize:  It's time to CAR SHOP!

Tiny Tuesday: EM #2

EM #2 

Well, I'm taking the easy way out again this week, merely to have SOMETHING to post for Tiny Tuesday.  This is another block made by EM, my Brother 770 embroidery machine.

To get a glimpse of my embroidered blocks with the others, I took a moment to arrange them on the design wall.  EM #2 is in the top (center) row;  EM #1 is in the 2nd row (2nd from right).  I think they fit right in....in the big picture.

Easy Street

HM!  Is anyone REALLY surprised that the colors finding their way into my Easy Street potential pile are oranges, greens and purples???  You haven't heard of Bonnie's newest mystery Easy Street yet??  Go check it out!  I simply didn't have enough aquas, and I didn't want to buy anything for the mystery.  I'll simply have to settle for another amazing Purple/Orange/Green Bonnie quilt :)

Easy Street is also how I landed today;  after being at work for an hour this morning, I simply sat back and said..."Nope.  I need a sub today."... and I started working with the secretary to figure out how to make it happen.  By 9:00, I was home putting my feet up and closing my eyes;  only after taking 600mg of ibuprofin.  My chest pain wasn't something I wanted to face at school today :|  

yeah, yeah....it still affects me;  and I think I have some information to share with my doctor when I DO eventually break down to see if anything can be done.  It's strange, but it seems like a week before menstruation is when it kicks in to the point where it's not extremely comfortable to breathe deeply :\    Almost like clockwork!  And it's ALWAYS "piercing" in the same spot; about 1 1/2" below my collarbone and 1 1/2" "in" from my shoulder joint.  

Anyway;   at least all the laundry was finished today, and I also washed the bedding.  I'm thinking of enjoying a soak in the tub with my book, and then crawling into that freshly laundered bed.  

Oh yeah---it snowed today too. :/  Not ready for the white stuff yet!

Orca Bay - FINALLY a finish!

84" x 93" Orca Bay

I'll let the pictures tell the story......

Ummm....well.  I HAD intentions of having this finished in September!  That's when it was loaded on the quilting frame anyway. :\

And then, since I still had half the day left, I loaded Ann Marie's quilt on the frame.  

I had enough motivation to finish all the quilting in one sitting!

The fabrics are AMAZING sea-life batiks;  I used a 'wave-like' pantograph and some a blendable taupe thread color. 

Such a shame that the weekend has to come to a close.  :\

November Rainbow Scrap blocks

The day was extremely fitting to work on some gray blocks for Angela's Rainbow Scrap challenge.  It was a gloomy, dreary, rainy and cold Wisconsin day...

I caught up with my Jack-in-the-Box blocks from last month too...

I didn't have intentions of working downstairs today (Sunday), but seeing my ADHD design wall in pictures....I have an itch to get back down there.  Besides, the Packers have a BYE this week, so there's nothing keeping me away ('cept for a couple of hours of school work that I'll eventually need to put in.)

It's been another week again? Already???

Okay... seriously.  Life is starting to zoom zoom zoom by again, and I'm not too happy with that fact.
Honestly....I am surprised that I haven't stopped in since Monday (it was Monday, right?)

Umm.....Okay, this week:  Tuesday and Thursday evenings were booked with working the Middle School Basketball games as the Timer/Scorer.  Wednesday.....Ummm.....I can't remember anymore what kept me away Wedneday night....

OH WAIT!  Oh yes...that was the night that I needed to head back to town at two different times because of "forgotten" items at various locations.  Good golly... and the DEER!  They were out in force on Wednesday!  I had my shot of adrenaline TWICE that night!  "Oh sure lady, I'll just come lunging into the road and then stop to look at your oncoming vehicle, admiring how lovely your headlights are.  I don't need to move along.  I like hearing the sound of your tires screeching to a halt.  And only then, will I decide to lolligag along on my merry way."  Stupid animals!

But HEY!  I DID manage to squeeze in some time to vote on Tuesday.

OH and HEY!  I also was 4 for 5 this week on the "Working out" front.  Monday & Wednesday were strength training days;  Tuesday & Thursday were cardio days (before working the basketball games).  Tonight though------nope.  No working out.  I'll fit it in this weekend.

On the quilting/sewing front.  Yeah, well....okay.  I HOPE to hit the machine(S) this weekend!

I

AM 

STAYING

HOME!

{{I need this mug}}

This week also reminded my siblings and myself about the reality of our ages and the ages of our parents.  My brother and sister left me messages on my phone yesterday that my Dad (biological/'real' Dad) had a minor heart attack (NOT a good day for my phone to die!).  Not to go into a complete family history here, but I'm not super close with my real Dad, but..... he's still Dad.  The outcome of his tests yesterday and today gave him an A+/Thumbs Up.  He was released.  But what that did was made me realize the ages of all of us.

My MOM is SIXTY-TWO years old!!!!!  Why haven't I thought of it that way before?  I mean....Mom is "Mom," and she'll always be "Mom."  She's not "Grandma" to me;  she's "Mom."   ((Love you Mom, really!))

And my sister---she's FORTY-TWO!   Brother---FORTY.  {{I haven't hit the four-years yet; whew!  Although, I found a few strands of gray this week.  Good golly miss Molly!}}.
But what I'm getting at is.......
When you think of your siblings, is there an age in time that you "see" them at, and not at their current age?
Likewise, with your parents?

I guess....I kinda think of my Mom as a "forever 40-ish" Mom.  My goodness!  Do you realize what that means???????

My Sister is my "Mom" right now!

Wacko!

No excuses!

Saturday ended up being a super, amazing, relaxing day (as expected!)  I simply have to sit back and smile at this picture too;  we are standing in front the Lambeau Field (Green Bay Packer stadium), we are wearing Cross Country t-shirts, and we were in GB to watch volleyball.   

How different would this world be without sports?!?!?!?

Which brings me to the title of my post today.  NO MORE EXCUSES!

I worked out today!!!  Turning over a new leaf???  I certainly hope so.

Happy Monday :D

No sewing for me...

Cass and I are heading out shortly for a SUPER-DUPER FUN DAY of Wisconsin State Volleyball.  We're both enjoying a relaxing morning right now at "Grandma's" house, who just so happens to live smack dab in the middle of the state, halfway between our house and Green Bay, where the State tournament is happening.  

"Aunt Jenny" (my sister) lives just north of Green Bay, and being a former HS volleyball player herself, she is planning to meet up with us too!  

A coworker (Jan) took the day off of work yesterday to head to State Vball since her daughter's team advanced to the tournament last weekend.  Yes, a bit awkward to some that she works at one school, but has children attending a different school, but that's just the way Geography and job placement works sometimes.  Anyway, I digress.  There were loads of texts from Jan yesterday, keeping me posted on results and other goings-on.  Sadly, they have not advanced to today's finals :\  But maybe it worked out for the best???  Because today she is in the middle of the state watching her son's team play the next level of Football Playoffs.  Wowsas.  Busy lady.  

And one funny----the Packers are playing at home this weekend, and I guess they were out-n-about yesterday.  At two different times, Jan texted me "OMG.  Tramon Williams is eating right behind us."  "OMG.  Troy Aikman just walked past us;  he must be announcing the game on Sunday."   LOL.  She's such a football groupie.

Although no sewing is happening, I'm extremely okay with the plans that lie ahead today :)

Happy Saturday.