Dear Mama-Nature...I don't like you today.

Thank you for the rain, but you could have kept the 60+MPH winds to yourself.

Sincerely,
A sad gardener who will miss her corn.

Quilting related to math...

not my quilt---just an image to illustrate
Okay
I can't resist! We ALL know how much math is involved in quilting....but, here's another aspect of math related to quilting some of you don't know about. I'm sitting during a morning break in class, and had a light-bulb moment just now.
How many of you have tried quilting "Orange peel" or other motifs and wrack your brain on how to quilt it in one-continuous pattern without overlapping any seams??


Bridges of Konigsberg: Graph theory----got some time? Check it out!

In layman's terms---there is a whole field of math called "Graph theory." One area of study can be used in quilting because there are rules and formulas that involve how many "edges" coming from "points" and whether or not they can all be connected without crossing over each other. Depending if the number of edges is even or odd, one can determine if it's possible to quilt draw the shape without lifting the pencil or drawing over any edge more than once.


a quote from the page...

Graph Theory Today

Today, graph theory is a highly developed field of mathematics, and is both a fertile ground for the creation of new mathematics and an area with many, many applications. Many research problems in graph theory are easily stated and easily understood (although perhaps not easily solved). A few of the applications of graph theory include transportation and warehousing applications, planning and scheduling, analysis of electrical networks, and even understanding the Internet!

Litte do they know that QUILTERS would appreciate any knowledge in Graph Theory too!

Doesn't cleaning feel good?

ONCE it's done, that is....

Ugh! What a mess! Need I say anything????

There is just SOMETHING about having everything neat, tidy and clean!!! {{and pay no attention to the door-less cabinet---it always falls off, so we just leave it off}}

and yes....notice how the before picture was taken when it was daylight? I started when I first got home from class today; took a break to get the law mowed (2 hours) and to get into the garden. I finished it up just before sitting down....

When in the garden, I picked a few more pickling cucumbers that are ready for some canning. I plan to do a small batch of pickles on Saturday, so I'm trying to prolong their life by keeping them in cold water in the fridge.

AND...I did get some sewing done tonight as well! :0) :0)

Jared Takes a Wife blocks see some light. I needed to finish up all 120 "green-pointy-units" tonight; sewing and pressing.....**UGH--that was tedious!!!**.....and I couldn't shut down for the evening without actually piecing some blocks together!!! Nine pictured, but ten complete; twenty more to go.

Waiting up for DH right now; he's driving back from "home" and should be home-home within the hour. He's had a long day! Got up with me at 6:30; spent some time tilling up the garden, headed to Marshfield (2.5 hr drive) at 10:00; worked for his sister, and is now heading back tonight. All that driving and working....he'll be ready to collapse for sure.

Post 500! Life update

Yes, this is post 500! I must admit that I haven't even thought about putting together a collection for a giveaway......well, not exactly true! I HAVE thought about it, but simply haven't had a chance to put anything together. So, I NEED to follow tradition....therefore, this is a heads-up to stay tuned; something should be coming within the next two weeks.....


Some of you were wondering how I was going to spend my "child-free" weeks. The only reason I have the child-free weeks is because I have two weeks of classes for a Math Grant I'm involved in and didn't want to have for fork over the $$ for daycare. Everyday, from 7:30 - 4:00, I am busy with course work for this math grant; however, we DO get Friday "off." My quilting time is back to minimal, but I THINK I'm okay with that.

So....class is about to start; I'm off to see what everyone else has been up to.
Happy Tuesday!

Home again...in a QUIET house....

There is something to having peace-n-quiet....but now that the girls are older and more independent, it isn't as easy to "let them go" for a couple of weeks while I'm doing classwork. In years past, I will openly admit that having a break from the constant "neediness" of them at their younger ages was nice.... but now, so much more can be done with them during the summer, and two (maybe even THREE) weeks is a long time to be apart. ...... DH and I headed out from my sister's around 12:30 this afternoon, waving goodbye to the girls as we left for the 5.5 hour drive back home across the state. They will stay with my sister for a week, and then be handed over to my parents for another week (or two).

We drove through two storms along the way; one of the eastern part of the state, and the other on the western part of the state.

OH!!! AND GOOD NEWS! My sewing machine techie worked out a "hand-off" with his neighboring business "Chicken Unlimited" for me to pick up the Bernina since the quilt shop isn't open on Sundays. I should have taken a pic of the chicken place, but simply wanted to get my machine, say SUPER DUPER THANKS to them for being willing to "babysit" my machine so that I could save a 3 hour round-trip some OTHER time in the week to pick up my machine, and be on our merry way again.

So....DH and I already took a walk through the garden, picked a container full of cucumbers, did some minor weeding, unpacked the car and bags (a little bit), and are sitting reading through the mail and just relaxing after the drive.

Thank you for all the CONGRATS comments for our 12th year; he IS a keeper for sure :0)
Happy Sunday.

12 years today...

It's been 12 years since DH and I "officially" have been "together." July 11, 1998 was the date that "he settled".

But it's been 16 years since we both played on the same volleyball team when we first met, and our first "official" date (September 11, 1994).....



We don't celebrate many days except for Christmas, so...it's just another day for us. But still, worthy of note :0)

The Race results, and LOTS of food :0)

Okay, so I knew going into the run this morning that I was just going to take it easy and "hang out" with my sister (once I conned her into "running" it with me). She hasn't run in a year, but has been walking for the past couple of weeks.....so.....we took it easy! Did lots of walking and a bit of jogging. With about half mile left, she said "GO! You said the bare minimum for you is 37:00, so GO!" {{lol}} I reallllly didn't care----REALLY, but I knew she'd feel bad if I didn't run and leave her....so I did. 37:20. {{shrug}}.....I realllllly didn't care :0) She came in a minute later, saying..."I CAN'T BELIEVE you conned me in to this." What???? {{innocent look}}....what did I do??? ;0)

Anyway....she's trying not to feel bad.....but afterwards when we looked at the results and saw that 3rd place for my age was 31:23, she said "Oh Amy---you EASILY could have ran that! Why didn't you?"......I guess she just doesn't "get it" that I really just wanted to enjoy the morning without any "push" or "need" to run. Another medal doesn't matter much to me (anymore)---not when I have a box of others just collecting dust (sad to admit). I've considered hanging them up in the sewing room once it's finished.....{{shrug}}....

Anyway.....on another note....
Yesterday afternoon, Jen received a phone call from a friend heading out of town saying her raspberry patch was in need of picking but she couldn't. She asked if we'd be interested {{I think she called because she knew Jen had the girls visiting her}} Anyway....we said of course!!!! I figured if there were enough, we could make up a batch of raspberry jam (ONE flavor I've never made jam from since we don't have (many) raspberries in our patch yet).
I wasn't expeciting to see so many berries when we walked up to the patch!!!!
And LOOOOOK at the size of these things!!!!!

Yeah...we EASILY had enough berries for Jam!!!

So, after a stop at the grocery store for some supplies, the four of us (me, DH, sis and BIL) spent almost an hour making up 3 batches of jam.

So, some more jam to stock in the freezer :0)

And back-tracking to the evening meal....
DH didn't disappoint. He spent a bit of the afternoon chopping and cooking...

The spread was delicious! Egg rolls, Honey-seseme chicken, both white and brown rices, crab ragunes (sp?), homemade sweet-n-sour sauce (my little addition to the spread).... YUMMMMMMY! And LOTS of left overs for munching today.....

So....a good start to a Saturday with the whole day open to anything. Maybe the beach? The girls have been asking since we got here......

ENJOY YOUR DAY!

Another August BOM teaser

Boy, this automatic posting business is SLICK! I never would have thought of it if it weren't for Andee! Thanks girl!!!! Hope your Wisconsin trip went well!!!!

I have a 5K on the schedule this morning---hopefully I'll be doing a "live post" later on from my sister's house....



Another teaser to an August BOM block.....you just wait! Anyone want to take a stab at what block is going to be created from this unit?

WHAT was I thinking trying "set-in" seams?!?!?!? Oh boy!

I will definitely be plastering "CHALLENGING" all over the title of this block once posted!!!! Not only are their EIGHT set-in seams, but there's also a little applique involved. {{a little hint there}}

AND, to be sure you all don't just "not-even-try-it" to begin with, I'm thinking of a little enticement in the form of FABRIC GIVEAWAY to the person who can get CLOSEST to the 12.5" unfinished size of this block. I'll openly admit that the closest I got was 11.5"! Now, I KNOW I'm piecing with the Brother, but still! A whole INCH off what it should be. Really....WHAT was I thinking? At least this BOM has been a learning process for me too! And ONLY A LITTLE RIPPING for me! By the time I was finishing it up, I decided to just leave it and add thin background border strips to what I had. Oooo.....August isn't coming fast enough now. {{Can't BUH-LIEVE I just said that! August means the school year is THAT much closer to beginning}}

HIND-SIGHT THOUGHT: I DO have a theory on my smaller sized block, but that'll have to wait until the block is posted.

I've done ONE other block is my years of quilting that involved set-in seams.
And I kept track of how long it took me to make this block....
TWELVE HOURS just to make this 12.5" block.... This is the state of "UTAH" block that is part of the "Workbasket" State series that my grandmother started years ago. I was enticed to bring those blocks out again to see how many have been completed....
You see Arizona Cactus in there? Grandma had pieced that one. And Florida Star? I had pieced that one (years ago.....'08?)

Oh goodness, the colors don't really go well together, so I STILL have no idea what I'm going to do with these blocks.......I guess that's why they've been sitting and will continue to sit.