Happy Birthday, Daddy-o!

Sixty years ago, my father was born. The big six-oh! Today, he's sure to get a card from his sister harassing him about his age (despite the fact that she's older), a cup of leftover coffee brewed the day before, and the chance to get a senior citizen's discount.




Yesterday, he asked if I knew of a place that will give him a free meal for his birthday. I'm sure he'll ask me the same thing today, not remembering yesterday's conversation. I'll suggest Sips - you might have to work as "CFO Dad" for your meal, but it'll be free. I still think you should celebrate at the DER (for those of you who don't know, this stands for "The Diner at the End of the Road" which is a greasy spoon at the end of the road my parents' house is on.)


So cheers to you, Dad. May your day be filled with sunshine, birthday cereal, and a day off from vacuuming up dog hair!

What a busy weekend!

I finished the table runner quilt! I'm fairly happy with the way it turned out - and I LOVE the backing! I'm already onto my next 5 projects!

I had the first soccer practice with my new team - no flag football for me this fall, it's soccer all the way! What better to start a season than by getting some nifty bruises? You'll see one is an imprint of the ball on my leg, and the other is below my toenail - someone decided to use their cleat right on my big toe.

I attempted to make mini cinnamon rolls. Let me tell you, Lauren will not hire me any time soon to bake for her shop, and I'm pretty sure my mom will ban me from the kitchen Christmas morning when she bakes them. Of course, they looked great when you apply my baking theory that any kid will agree with: if you add enough icing it'll look & taste great!

It was a good run, Triple Stars

Last night, my kickball team had an embarrassing loss in the semi-finals of the kickball league. BUT seeing as how none of us have played before, I think we did fairly well. I manned second base - the coach had a LOT of faith in me! I even assisted in an out - and tagged one of their key players out. I'm such a good runner that I tagged the actual person with the ball, none of that throw it to the base nonsense - that, and I was on the base line and he was 2 steps away from me.

Last week, I got a small bruise on my right leg from kicking the ball. Yesterday, I happened to kick it in the exact same spot and sure enough, my bruise went from light blue to brown. But hey - at least it matches my shirt today.


PS - I bought those shoes at Zumies for $5. Who knew I'd find something inexpensive that I like at an Alison store?

Happy Birthday Elizabeth Rose!

My cousin turns 15 today (she's the tall one) and she has a great creative side to her. Yes, I bask in the glory when she asks me sewing advice - even though they called me a "new sewer" at JoAnn's yesterday. I didn't want to brag to them that I sewed neon green PJ pants when I was in middle school.

For you, Liz, I will show you details about my free-motion quilting since I mentioned it to you the other day. This is what I did to quilt the words into my black/white/hot pink table runner:

.

(1) I printed everything out from the computer so that the words would be uniform. I used a cursive font so I wouldn't have to cut the thread between each letter.

(2) I traced that onto tracing paper with a special marker whose ink will disappear. I've been told if I sew over the computer ink, the thread can pick it up and be permanently stained.

.

.

.

.

(3) I put the pedal to the metal and trace the words I have on the tracing paper. (Oh, so THAT's what tracing paper is used for.)

(4) Rip away excess paper, cut threads, make sure i's are dotted and you're done. PS - the white letters are part of the fabric. Don't get too excited that I sewed the alphabet into my quilt!

Block of the Month

I have a co-worker (perhaps you know the story about how Mimi thought we were dating) that has been quilting for years. As a welcome-to-quilting gift for me, he bought me the first block in a block-of-the-month club a local sewing shop hosts. The rules are simple: it's a $5 buy-in, on the specified day the following month, you bring it in, show your creation, and get the next month's block. If you're late or you skip a month, it's another $5 for the next block. Despite the fact that I have a whole month to do it, I usually end up working on the block the night before it's due. I was lucky yesterday - because I've been getting into work early, I sewed most of it after work and before choir & kickball. I finished it up this morning while drinking my morning coffee. Did I remember to turn off the iron?

The two big things I've learned by doing this is to choose your fabrics wisely, and that I hate sewing triangles together. They look good from far away, but if you look closely, you'll see they're not all the same size! (Look at the bottom right corner.) I'll have to be creative when I figure out how I'm going to sew them all together.

Presbyterians can't bowl

This weekend was full of fun, adventure, and not sewing. Saturday, a Hokie friend had a garage sale and invited friends to bring their not-trashy stuff to get rid of. I brought a few things to make a few bucks. I was able to make more than what I spent - that's always nice! Since I was in Cleveland, I've been big on artwork. I love the modern, bright musical instrument painting I bought up there. This one blows the cake. It's so mathematical, I can die happy. Not only that, but Matt (the garage sale host) made it. To understand the math behind it, look up the golden rectangle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_rectangle . And try this link to get an idea of where the spiral came from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logarithmic_spiral

I went bowling last night with the young adult group from church. The biggest conclusion I made from the groups skills is this: Presbyterians can't bowl. They should make a movie out of it, like White Men Can't Jump. My left wrist starting hurting me last week - I don't know what I did. I assume I slept on it funny or strained it while working out. Regardless, I only bowled one game, and my best bowling stance was via Granny Bowling: use both hands to shove the ball down the lane. I ended up with a 37 - I treated it like golf: the lowest score wins. I also have to comment: do you see the American flag on the wall? On the other side of the bowling alley, there was a giant Texas flag. Only in Texas bowling alleys would they think to hang them both!

Fabric for a new Runner

I made a test block to see what my bubblegum pink thread would look like on black & white - I think I like how it came out. I remember when I first learned how to write my name in cursive when I was in kindergarten (almost -I didn't make the l's into loops - they looked more like t's that weren't crossed). It was exciting - and I liked writing it. I feel the same way when I write it with a sewing machine! When I do the real quilt, I'm going to write a bit larger and more uniform. I'll print off words on paper via Microsoft Word and a fun cursive script. More to come on that next weekend, I think.

Friday night was rather relaxed for me. I wasn't feeling too well during the day, so I was more than okay when plans with a friend didn't work out. I went home, had some leftovers, washed and cut my fabrics for quilt #4. Since I went with modern fabrics for the last one (I had many questions from many old ladies at JoAnn's - why would I want to QUILT with SKULLS??), I thought a dark red and tan would be great. That, and college football games are just around the corner. I wouldn't consider these fabrics maroon, but I'd say it's in the same color family. Now I can quilt and think about cheering on my Hokies! I will start sewing this next weekend at the earliest. I want to quilt some words into the black & white runner first!