I've Gotten a Few Things Done

Well, I make the Clean/Dirty Thingy for the dishwasher. My son is always asking me 'are these clean or dirty?' so I made the sign. I showed it to him and asked if he thought that would help him. He said 'no'. Go figure. We'll see if it really does.
I also got half of the basement painted with sealer. We had to have 1 1/2 of the foundation wall replaced last fall because they were starting to bow in and might eventually collapse. Bad news. The masonry guys told us to paint these sealer on to help keep water from seeping in. So that's what I did on Wednesday. Took me most of the day because I had to really work it into the crevices to get a good seal. My husband was baling hay that day so I got to do this alone, plus make tea and sandwiches for them. I had to keep watching to see when they were almost finished so I was ready to take 'lunch' out to them. Fortunately, they were baling the field right behind our house so I could watch them.
I have been sewing, too. I got all the borders on Deb's quilt and now need to piece the backing. I really like how this quilt is turning out. It is a nice pattern and I am looking forward to quilting it, which I will do by hand. But, it is so stinking big!! They have a king size bed and she wants it to hang over the edge to the dust ruffle. I think it will look nice, but it is 117 inches. I have never made a quilt that big, so it has been a bit of a challenge. But, I really do like it. Hope they do too.
Until next time
Quilty Mama

Long Time

I know I haven't posted in a long time. Hard to find the time. But, now summer vacation has started. I have added my list of UFOs on the left. I WILL be adding to this since there are many more that I cannot remember at the moment. This list does not include the many around-the-house things I need to do, like paint the inside of the bathroom cabinet, paint the living room, etc. I will be posting more photos soon. I have them in my camera, it just takes me so long to remember how to get them from the camera to this page that I haven't done it for a while. Maybe now that I have more time during the day I can get some posted.
My yard is blooming. I have wiglia - plain and varigated, irises, poppies, tulips (done) and much more to come.
Happy quilting

Things I've Made Recently...

I cannot believe it is the middle of February. My husband's b-day is tomorrow. And, we are suppose to get a 'wintery mix' of weather. My husband and son both have horrible colds. The school where I am an aide has been averaging about 15 students a day absent with high fever, headaches, etc. The ones that are back after being gone for 4-5-6 days have runny noses and bad coughs. Teachers have been out sick for several days at a time. I know I am next. :(

On to what I have been busy with:

First - a candle mat, reversible, for my secret pal.

Then, more work on my log cabin. I guess this really isn't a quilt as you go quilt. I quilted each block individually, then trimmed the batting and stitched the top seam to sew the blocks into rows. I am now working on the hand stitching on the back seams. Then I will sew the rows together.

Also, made a little bag for a

co-worker out of Elvis fabric she picked out.

I appliqued Clifford onto a sweatshirt for a young friend. I played Clifford during Family Reading Night at my school in November. One of the teachers was Emily Elizabeth and read a few Clifford books. This little guy followed my ALL over! It was really cute. So, I thought he needed a Clifford curled up into a heart for Valentine's Day.

And, I made a pin cushion/thread catcher for my friend. I missed her b-day in December, right around Christmas. I am still NOT completely done with this one. I still have to stitch up the open end after adding the filling. I want to use sand because it helps keep the pins sharp. So... I went out to the sandbox to get some sand. It was FROZEN! I did not even think about that happening. Anyway, today it warmed up enough that I could scrape some off the top. Now I have to spread it out to dry since it was a little damp.

OK, so my connection is a little iffy right now and the Clifford sweatshirt will not download. But, as you can see, I am not too good at it anyway! I still have to figure out how to turn the photos that are on their sides. Sorry.

So, I have been busy, just not every day.

Until next time,

Quilty Mama

Not much sewing going on here....

Haven't done much sewing again. It is cold, snowy, and windy here. My husband just left to go plow snow - it's 11:00 pm and he probably won't get home anytime soon. I am hoping for a snowday tomorrow.
I have several quilty projects I COULD be working on, but just cannot get in the mood. Hopefully I will get motivated by this weekend.
Until next time,
Quilty Mama

Nothing much this week...

Looks like this blogging thing is going to be a weekly thing. I work full-time as a teacher's aide so I don't get much done during the week. This weekend my son started practicing with a new-trying-to-start-up basketball team for 6-14 year old wheelchair (wc) users. I am pretty excited about this because I am hoping to meet some parents. He was nervous, but did great once he decided he could do this. The coaches are wc users themselves, and are on adult wc bball teams. They did great with the kids. There were sport chairs for the kids to use and it seemed like they were all having fun. I did get to talk quiet a bit with one parents and we are going to email.
My son then spent the rest of the weekend with my parents and they met us at the doctor's office today. My son had a bi-annual exam that went really well. The doc was pleased with the test results and said 'see ya in 6 months'. Yeah.
Did not get one bit of sewing done; didn't even turn on the machine. I DID get to play with the Fiesta dishes my mom gave me when they picked up my son. The dishes look great in the old cabinet that was my grandmother's. The Fiesta was hers, too. I love it! The colors are so bright and cheery.
So, no sewing this week, not pics, either.
Until next time,
Quiltymama

Log Cabin

This is the log cabin quilt I am making for MY bed. This is the initial layout. I am now in the process of quilting each block. So far I have not bought any new fabric for this quilt. Yeah, I am busting stash! I also am busting batting scraps. I was able to cut most of this 14" squares from scraps. I did have to piece a few to make them large enough. This will be the first time I have done that so I wasn't sure if I would be happy with that. I guess I won't really know until I have washed the quilt. So, we will see! I have a king-size bed so this quilt is 36 blocks square. I am thinking of adding a border also. I probably won't decide that until I get the top together.
Until next time,
Quilty Mama

Taking the plunge....

OK, I am taking the plunge here and starting a blog. I enjoy reading the blogs of so many other people. I get so much inspiration from them. I don't know how inspiring MY blog will be to others, but I think I will find it a good way to keep track of what I am/have been doing as far as quilting goes.
I also want to mention that I have a 13 year old son with special needs. He was born with spina bifida, which is a neural tube defect. It happens in the first few weeks of pregnancy before most women even know they are pregnant. I did not know that he had this until after he was born. He also has vision impairments that make him legally blind, even with glasses. I am not going to sugar-coat this and say that he brings my so much joy. He DOES bring me joy, but life is frustrating and trying a lot of the times. Many couples of special needs children divorce because of the stress it puts on the marriage. Fortunately, my husband and I have been able to work through this and are still married and supportive of each other. I also know that we are very lucky. My son is basically healthy and is not nearly as medically fragile as a lot of special needs kids are.
So, you will see posts occasionally about my son and my frequently frustrating life, but, mostly I will post about my quilting.
I am just learning how to do all this blogging stuff, so bear with me as I learn to post messages and pics, etc.
Now, I am off to work on a log cabin quilt I am making for MY bed. After at least 20 years of quilting I do not have a quilt made by me on my own bed! I am quilting each block on the machine before I stitch all the blocks together. I usually prefer to hand quilt, but I knew that if I did that it would be a looonngg time before I got this quilt finished. I would like it to go on my bed THIS winter. Probably not going to happen, but I can hope, right? What would life be without hope?
I welcome any comments - about quilting, special needs, kids in general, life in general.
Until next time,
Quilty Mama