Time flies...

Wow, time really does fly whether you want it to or not.

Hello to everyone still hanging on and I see I've even gained a few new followers in my long absence.  I never had any intention to stop blogging, but with surgery recovery became a new focus and blogging got less and less important.  Then, of course, sewing did too, and with no progress, there's not much to blog about.  :)

And then I just got out of the habit of coming to this space to talk with you all...

But I'm back.  I took the time today to sit down and write.  To say hello.  To assure everyone that doesn't follow me on instagram that I am alright.  I am mostly healed from my surgery and have been given the "ok" to resume normal life.  Exercise is still SLOW GOING and it's frustrating, but I do not wake up with back pain every morning.  I can stand for hours without my back aching and in turn my legs and feet.  I feel like a new woman--an out of shape woman, but still.  :)

We've been busy since I last posted.  There's been LOTS of softball and lots of karate.  There's been many hours spent driving back and forth between the two.  There's been hours of PTO stuff--book fair, coffee bars, testing fun days...  There's been proud Mama moments of field days, awards ceremonies, district softball wins, karate accomplishments.  There's been summer schedule adjustments with more swimming and less packing of lunches.

Like I said, we've been busy.

But I want to be busy here as well, with y'all.  So to thank you for sticking around, I want to give something away.  How's an etsy gift card sound?  That way, whatever it is that strikes your fancy can be yours and we're not limited to fabric or yarn or whatever else...

Just leave a comment here telling me what you're up to this summer and I'll randomly draw a winner this weekend.  Em's in the state tournament this weekend, so it'll probably be Sunday before I draw and Monday before I announce.  That's almost a week to get entered.  :)

I'm alive!

Hi everyone!
  So, so sorry to take such a long blogging break.  It was unintentional but couldn't be helped.  As you know if you follow me on instagram, I found out that my back pain and numbness in my leg was more than just a herniated disc.  That particular disc was completely shot and practically nonexistant.  What little of the disc was left had broken and a piece of it was pushing my nerves all the way back on my spinal column.  So, the only real answer for me was spinal fusion surgery.

I had it done on March 13 and am at the 3-week recovery point today.  I am feeling much better and while I still can't do everything I want to do, I am up, moving, driving and walking almost like normal.  I can't bend, lift or twist yet, but it will come with time.  I am improving every day and I go back to my doctor tomorrow to check my progress and see where I go next.

It seems perfect that today is a Totally Random Thursday because I've got so much to show off to you from the month and a half since I last blogged.

**Before the surgery I sewed like a madwoman to get projects done and out of here before I couldn't.  :)  So, I finished up 3 quilts and 2 sets of bee blocks.  Along with completely failing on a star block for Oren's quilt.  I ended up throwing away 2 attempts and just picking a different block altogether!

**First I made a baby quilt for Chris' cousin who is expecting her first.  Her shower was the weekend of my half marathon that I couldn't run so Thursday night I decided to whip her up a quilt for the Saturday morning shower.  And I did it.  I ended up loving the quilt and hating the quilting, but they can't all be winners, so I gifted it and called it done.

All the non-sewers loved that the quilt was "reversible."  I'm just glad they loved it at all.  ;)

**Next up, that secret project I mentioned in February--it was a quilt for the wonderful Michonne and her precious baby girl Greta.  Our Empower Circle of do. Good stitches made a quilt for them and I put it together and quilted it.  Meesh is famous in our group for loving flying geese blocks so I asked the girls to make anything using them in a soft palette of pastels.  I love how it turned out.  I just got some plates and pot lids and drew random circles on the quilt and quilted them using different pastel-colored threads.  Before sweet Greta was born, Meesh called her cupcake, so I found this great cupcake fabric for the backing.  :)

I wish I had gotten a better picture where you could really see the blocks better but I did this in a hurry and then never thought to look at the pics before mailing...

I've been trying out a new zigzag machine-stitched binding on quilts I think will be washed a bunch.  On this one I went around twice--once in pink and once in yellow.

**  I also mentioned that Kim was working on an orphan block project to get quilts finished and donated to a charity and that I had most of a quilt sitting here at the house already.  So I beefed it up with some extra blocks and got it done too.  I hated the blocks individually and once I got it sewn, I kinda want to keep it!  ;)

You can see the quilting better on the back--I just did a simple cross-hatch design following the blocks.  I started a quarter-inch from the block seams in gray, then 3/8 inch from those lines in yellow and then about half-inch from the yellow lines in blue.

** When mailing Meesh the quilt, I also included our February d.Gs blocks.  It was her turn in a great coincidence and she asked for Wheel blocks in a great and bright color palette.  I hope mine looks okay with the rest.  I liked all the colors I chose till I got the block put together and then saw others from the group.  Oh well...

**  And for March in our d.Gs circle, Kim asked for blocks that she'd designed herself.  She's calling them braided star blocks and once put together they'll make stars...duh!  ;)  These were really easy and fun to put together.  Kim wrote a great tutorial on her blog for these simple but stunning blocks.

**And last, in That Stash Bee, Whitney asked for Darting Bird blocks.  I'd never seen this block before, but they were quick to make and I think she picked a stellar palette. She's giving this quilt to a friend in need, and I can't wait to see it altogether.

** But also since last blogging, my favorite boy in the whole world turned 8.  He wanted to just take a few friends to see The Lego Movie, so we did.  I got these great lego candies from the candy store in the mall to put on some cupcakes.  They were a big hit and so was the movie!  It was a simple and great day to celebrate a great kid!

**The surgery went well and I came home from the hospital two days early.  It hasn't been exactly fun to lay in bed a lot and depend on others in the last 3 weeks, but I'm working on my patience and God is blessing me every day.  I'm up and mobile

**I'm sewing again and have already finished a couple of blocks and have some bee blocks to try and work on this weekend.

**Plus we've got softball...Chris' middle school team is winding down and Emma's team is finally getting started.  I'll soon have a picture of my sweet girl pitching to show y'all.  She's worked so hard and it's fun to see her sling it out there.

Sorry for the picture overload.  I've missed y'all and this wonderful community so much.  So glad to be getting back.  :)

A Random Holiday

Happy Valentines Day!  It's not a big deal at our house, and Chris is coaching a basketball game tonight so that's where we'll all be, but it's never a bad thing to celebrate love is it?

I'm feeling like a random post today.  Got too much swimming around in my brain I guess.  So I'm gonna unload some on y'all.  :)

• I finished another star.  It's not may favorite.  In fact, it may be my least favorite.  It was so much better on EQ5 than before I spent a half-hour on it.  BUT, they can't all be favorites and I've only got 2 left.

• I am going to go with the 20 stars on the front.  Chris liked it better, Oren liked it better and a few of y'all did too.  And, it saves me from having so much border to wrestle with getting straight.  Win.

• I am participating in Le Challenge this month.  I took a few months off because of schedule restraints and a bad memory, but was happy to remember in time to play this month.  Lucy and Nat challenged us with "Rising Sun."  I'll post about it tomorrow.  This is a fun, non-competitive challenge for anyone who wants to participate.  You can use any medium, it doesn't have to be sewn.  I actually did a digital print this time.  :)

• Dana posted about pretzel bites the other day and I just read it today.  So I made them today.  Chocolate is over-rated, right?  said me never.  BUT we've had sweets all week so I decided pretzel bites would be a nice snack.  And they are GOOD!!  Definitely try them.  They're easy, just a little time-intensive.  I wish I had a warm cheese sauce to eat with them.  hmm....

via Old Red Barn co. 
Dana's picture is so much better than my phone version and I really want y'all to go make these

• Emma learned yesterday that her class was going to do a valentine exchange after all.  She goes to an enrichment class in the morning and so wasn't sure what, if anything, her class was going to do.  So I ran to the grocery store last night to pick up some Rolos.  We made these fun valentines that were free from How Does She?  I ended up having to use small goodie bags (like reallysmall) so I shrunk the graphic down in my photo-editing software to 3 x 2 inches.  They were cute!

It obviously didn't have the watermark, but you have to give them your email address to get the file and I didn't want to give their stuff away for free...

• I made this soup the other night.  It's a clean recipe, meaning all the ingredients are not processed I think...or something like that.  Anyway, it was really good.  Like Emma doesn't like tomatoes and she ate 3 bowls and really wanted a 4th.  Like it was cold in her thermos by the time she got to lunch the next day and she ate it anyway.  It's a keeper around here.  It has coconut milk in it instead of cream and I was worried it would taste coconutty, but not at all.  I did add some spice since my family likes that.  Really good.

via River North Paleo Girl

• I never got my Valentines decorations out this year with me being hurt.  I'm feeling mostly good now, but just moving a lot slower and I get tired more easily.  It's very frustrating to this independent, impatient girl.  But I did find some very cute decorations I wish I'd made and put out.  Check out this pillow and this embroidery pattern.

• Chris' basketball team is playing in the semi-regionals tonight at home.  If they win, we'll head to Lakeland, FL next week for the Final 4.  He started helping with the team partway through the season this year when the head coach (a good friend) had some family issues and so that's how he ended up coaching two sports at the same time.  He's also a middle school softball coach.  Yes, he sleeps good every night when he finally gets home.  

• I grew up a coach's daughter and Chris has coached something since we met, so it's a life I'm used to and enjoy, but always thank your kids' coaches (little league and up) because they really sacrifice a lot of their personal time and sometimes spend more time with your kid than their own.

• We're about to head up there now to eat with the team and then root them on.  I've got company coming in to town tomorrow and Em's got a birthday party tomorrow afternoon to attend.  I'm hoping to sew some this weekend but we'll see.

What are you up to on this holiday?  What are you doing this weekend?  We're supposed to start warming up I think, so maybe I'll go for a walk and see how that goes as well.  :)

Random

Hi all!  Have you ever been so bogged down by what's going on that even though you have things to share, even though you want to share, you just can't quite get to it?

My back is doing better, but I managed to catch the flu or some version of something last week that put me down.  I think I've slept more in the last 2 weeks than in the 2 months before that.  My Mom came up and stayed a few days over the weekend to help out because I never got farther than the living room before needing to go back to bed.

But I am slowly but surely on the mend.  I've met with a neurosurgeon who is conservatively offering steroid injections or surgery as my options for healing my back but he wants more recent photos of my back so I'll be having an MRI done tomorrow.  I've deferred my half-marathon until next year and am realizing how much I've really come to love exercising since I am not capable of it right now.  I told a friend today that my teenaged-self is laughing at that statement as I've never loved exercise.  Apparently I actually do.  Who knew?

I've started and finished a secret-sewing project for a friend that will remain secret for another month or so.  It was so unlike me--I gathered all of the pieces, sat down and began to sew. I sewed through all of my emotions and by the end of the day the project was complete.  I may be at my body's mercy right now, but I can still sew and make beautiful things.

These are threads from it.  So springy.  :)

I photographed the do. Good stitches quilt that I finished weeks ago.  I plan to show it off tomorrow before mailing it to Alternatives for Girls.  

I hung my "design wall" back up.  It's a cheap tablecloth that I'd taped to the wall in my sewing room.  But the tape had come loose and it fell a few months back.  I didn't worry about it over the holidays as all of my sewing had deadlines at that point.  But I, by myself, managed to hang it back this morning with some pushpins.  It feels much more secure now and I've got Oren's Stars hung back up on it to inspire me to finish that quilt.

Up next for that one is a "Star of the East" block.

One thing about the Electric Quilt program (at least my version) is you can always print out both foundation pieces and templates but there are no real directions for sewing.  This block appears to have Y-seams but I'm reminding myself that those aren't really all that bad and convincing myself to just get it done.

It's my month to be Queen Bee in That Stash Bee and I've asked the girls to make me Roman Cross blocks.  I actually saw Lee's Crosspatch block bag in her new book Vintage Quilt Revival and fell in love with it.  It's VERY rare for me to buy a quilting book but I love Lee's style as well as her co-author's Katie and Faith so it seemed the perfect buy to round out my order on Amazon a few weeks back.

I asked for summery colors based on this palette 

via design-seeds.com

and have made up one sample block.

I can't wait to have them all come in and pet them.  :)  I think this will make a great throw for summer months when the air conditioning is a little much or to use as a blanket at the beach/softball fields/etc where we'll be spending our time this summer.

I've just about finished the hem on my February Lady Sweater I started at the end of 2012.  I've still got sleeves to finish, but could possibly, maybe finish this sweater by the end of this February...We'll see.

I desperately need to sort my scraps AGAIN.  I thought I had been doing well with them but found a basket I'd thrown a bunch in and when I say basket I actually mean HUGE basket.  That's going to take most of an afternoon to sort what is big enough to put back into my stash and then trim down my scraps.  

I like to trim down to orderly sizes--2 1/2" strips, 5" squares and strips, 10" squares.  Then all of my 2 1/2" strips go into my bag for that scrap quilt I'm slowly working on.

And finally, my friend Kim is organizing an orphan block project where a few of us will get together to show what orphan blocks we've got lying around and swap them around to make charity quilts with.  I knew I had a few from a bee I did awhile back and found 11 blocks that I'd never put together.  11!!  I think I'm just going to make up one more and send an entire quilt to her instead of saddling someone with an almost quilt.  They were blocks I didn't end up liking that much for the most part so I guess I was never inspired to finish it up...  Well, someone will benefit from that I guess...

And that's my dose of randomness for today.  I'll be back tomorrow with pics of the purple quilt all finished up and ready to comfort someone.

What are you up to on this wintery Thursday afternoon?

Random Thursday it is

Hi y'all!  For those of you who don't follow me on instagram, I'm sorry for the delay in posting.  Last week my right leg was giving me some trouble with sciatica pain and Saturday it sent me to the ER with a herniated disc.  Since them I've been on bed-rest per Chris' orders and haven't been up to doing much.  I can't get in with the neurosurgeon till next Wednesday so we've kinda just been letting me rest up on the meds until then.  Can I just say how BORING daytime TV is.  And the meds make me sleepy so I haven't been able to read or knit too much.

But I'm getting back into my normal groove, just a slower version of it, and coming back around.

--I've got that purple quilt all done and ready to show off.  I was actually going to photograph it Saturday afternoon to show y'all, but I was laying on a gurney laughing at how silly I looked in running clothes while obviously hurting too bad to actually go for a run.  I'll try to get it photgraphed tomorrow.

--The days here are all running together.  Chris did let me ride with them to Oren's karate class yesterday and it felt like I hadn't been there in 3 weeks.  It had been less than a week.

--I finished up my Rainbow Geese blocks for do. Good stitches this month.  Caryn asked for flying geese in a rainbow and then strips of sky-colored fabrics.  I think the design she's got planned will be fantastic, but man did I have to REALLY concentrate to get all of those colors in the right places.

--Last week while subbing I made myself a list of the next few projects I want to get done.  I managed to complete 2 of them already before I got bogged down.  Next up is to finish the stars for Oren's Star Wars quilt.  I'm still waiting on a few blocks from our November d.Gs quilt so I'll try to finish up his quilt (top anyway) in the meantime.

--My sewing room looks like a fabric monster has been living in here and making himself at home.  If I felt better, I'd spend 2 days in here straightening up.  But for the 10-15 minutes I get at a time in here, I'd rather spend it getting ready to sew something.  

--Alright, I'm back to bed.  Darn these meds.  I don't know how anyone can get addicted to something that drains them all the time.  I will be so glad to be off of all of this and get back to normal.  Patience is not a virture I am well-equipped with and darnnit...I need some right now!  ;)

Hope you are doing well and I'll be back shortly with more clarity and less numbness.  

A Random New Year

Starting off this year with some randomness seems appropriate around here.  :)

I finished up my last bee blocks for December on the 30th.  Squeaking in there...  Heather asked for Sawtooth Blocks in Saturated Colors.  I think this is going to be one bright and cheerful quilt.

Night pictures just don't do justice but these are already packed up to mail.  Sorry!

It started raining here yesterday afternoon and it's rained steady since.  I guess we're washing away the last threads of 2013.  But it makes for some dreary vacation.

The kids have played the XBox Kinect this afternoon since they can't go outside.  Oren just came in here all sweaty, so I guess they really are up and moving.  He asked for the Disney Infinity game console for Christmas but got a Kinect game called Pixar Rush or something like that.  So far they love it...

I dunked my phone yesterday afternoon so it's taking a long rice nap in hopes it'll come back to life.  If you think you're not addicted to your phone, have it taken away and see how often you actually reach for it.

This is the 3rd time (3 different phones) this has happened to me.  Obviously I need a waterproof case for my phone and any other valuables I may be carrying...

I finished up our Empower circle's May quilt top yesterday.  I asked the girls for improv square and rectangle blocks in this color scheme.

via design-seeds

But since it's so out of my norm it took me awhile to decide on a layout.  I decided since I was going for it with the colors I'd go for it with the design too and randomly throw them down and go.  I like it.

Please excuse the inside, fighting rain and flash photography...  :)

I just pieced the back from fabrics I had handy.  I really just want to make a quilt top like this because I always end up liking it when I do this.  Sometimes more than the front actually...

This is so much better in real life.  I promise to get better photos.  That upper left rectangle is actually a light mottled gray not white.  And those blue flowers are on a blue background...uggh flash photography...

I ordered some purple variegated thread last night to quilt this one.  I think I'm just going to do a loopy meander to practice my free-motion quilting.

I cleaned half of my room this morning.  Of course it was the half where I store my magazines, books, sewing projects, stuff we need to keep but doesn't have a home, etc.  Chris came home and said WOW!  I actually thought the same thing myself when I got done.  I really do hate clutter, I just don't realize it till I'm overloaded with it.  ;)

I wanted to start this year off right with running to prep for my upcoming half-marathon but the rain's had other plans.  Instead I just ate a couple of leftover lemon bars we made on Tuesday.  

And now I'm off to fold some laundry, pull fabrics for some awesome bee blocks for this month and possibly get taken out for dinner.  Yes please!!

What are y'all up to on this random Thursday?

Conquer 2014

As I've done in the past, I decided to focus on one word to set my goals for 2014.  I'm not one to make concrete statements of what I will or won't do in a year's time, but I do like to set goals of who I'd like to become or what I'd like to accomplish in the next 12 months.

My word for 2014?

Yep, I want to conquer those things holding me back.  Here are a few ways I plan to use the word conquer in 2014.

• I want to conquer my old WIPS and UFOs sitting around my sewing room.
• I want to conquer the clutter in my home and life in general (and of course my sewing room where there is way too much clutter!!)
• I want to conquer my fears and doubts that hold me back from being all that I can be.
• I want to conquer new boundaries and accomplish more than ever before.
• I want to conquer my bad habits and fix them for good.

Lofty goals, I know, but there's no time like the present for change so I'm jumping in and making some changes starting today.  And yes, I do set more concrete goals both for sewing and for life that I post to remind and inspire myself but those are measurable and concrete and most importantly personal to me and what I'm doing.

I've got a dG.s quilt top (from May, gasp!!!) all laid out and ready to piece tonight before I head to bed.  One step at a time toward a healthier, braver and better me.

Do you make resolutions/goals?  Do you choose one word to focus your energies for the year?  What are yours?  Or do you forget that old tradition and just hang loose?  

Goodbye 2013!!

Goodbye to a great year!  While 2013 wraps up, I think back on all that went on this year.  We stayed busier than ever before which is a trend I see increasing in the next 10-15 years for our little family and that is a good thing I guess.  It means we're living our lives and trying new things and actively using each day here on Earth.

I think I made progress on my word(s) of 2013, which I actually had to look up, so saying I've accomplished Balance would be a lie, but I hopefully get better as I get older, so maybe one day...  And I definitely added More, but I'm not sure how much more was sewing/crafting/creating and how much more was life.  ;)

In 2013, I finished:

•  7 quilts
• 2 quilt tops waiting on basting

• nearly 25 bee blocks or shared projects

• 10 dresses/skirts/scarves/etc
• a few projects (zip pouches, pillows, gifts, etc)

left 3 quilts as WIPS, AND ran a half marathon, got a new puppy, attended nearly a half million softball practices and karate and dance lessons (or it felt like it), vacationed, dealt with the never ending broken arm saga of Oren, welcomed my nephew to our family, took over as PTO president, ran a few 5Ks with my family and saw Chris honored as Teacher of the Year and as a Distinguished Educator from the University of Florida.

I'm calling 2013 a success.

Most of all though, I'm just thankful.  Thankful for all of y'all and the friends I've made here in blogland and through flickr and instagram.  Thankful for friends who get why sewing is important--how creative thoughts and acts make us better people.  How making things that serve both artistic and practical purposes can save your sanity.  :)

What are you most proud of in 2013 and what are you taking away from it?

Happy New Years Eve everyone!  May your evening be safe, fun and a great send-off to the last 365 days we've had!

It's the most Random Time of the Year??

Wonderful?  Random?  Those two seem to go together sometimes don't they?  Well, let's just say yes and get through this randomness shall we?

Ok--since the giveaway day post I've:
--Slaved away in the Santa Shop.  I'm wondering if there are labor laws for elves...  But really, I worked every day in our shop at school where we sell low-priced items for kids to buy for their families.  We live in a rural area with not much shopping other than Walmart and the Dollar Tree, so while we sell basically the same goods as those stores (as in the same things...) it give the kids a chance to buy gifts for their family members "on their own."  Some of the kids really enjoy the thought of doing their own shopping.  And some kids just buy stuff for themselves...

--Attended UF's graduation (Go Gators!) where Chris was honored as Distinguished Educator in Florida.  There were only 5 teachers in the state recognized.  They had to wear gowns and sit on the stage throughout the graduation.  But before the students were announced, each teacher was given a special plaque and the dean of the college of education read a little thing about each of them.  Chris HATES these kind of things.  He's the kind of person that says just let me do my thing the best I can and leave me alone.  I chose this pixellated photo from the jumbo-tron to show you because you can see where it says cheers and applause.  That's not the prompter telling people to applaud, that's the closed captioning telling you everyone was!  They announced that Chris has a near perfect pass rate on the AP World History class that he teaches and that, my friends, is a really big deal.  I am so proud of him and how hard he works, so to see others recognize him was so special.

Then we had lunch in the President's Suite at the stadium.  You know, no big deal, just lunch in one of the swankiest places at the university...  It was pretty cool.  :)

--Attended multiple karate classes with Oren.  He's learning fast now.  And loving it.  Chris was with Emma at pitching lessons.  Who knew the schedule filled up so quickly??
--Made HUGE progress on the quilt for my Dad.  I've got to have it done by tomorrow night...
--Made lots of Christmas goodies for the kids' teachers--spiced pecans, chocolate crinkles, cranberry-orange-pistachio rollups, thin mint Puppy Chow...and probably gained 5 pounds by sampling.  ;)
--Not run--at all.
--Went on a field trip to a local farm with Oren's class.  Yes, this is his second field trip this year to local farms.  Yes, we do live in a rural area.  Yes, many of our children are already familiar with things on a farm.  It makes me laugh.

Best part of the trip for Oren?  The hay fight.  Seriously...

--Watched Chris be named Teacher of the Year for his school.  Again, he hates this kind of recognition so to get 2 honors in less than a week made all of us giggle at his discomfort.  ;)

--Started quilting Dad's quilt.  I'm 3/4 of the way done.

--Slept like a rock every single night.

--Wondered how important sleep really is??  

--Wondered if I'd bought gifts for my entire family but not sat still long enough to make sure...

--Planned how organized I'm going to be next year when this time of year comes along. 

--Then laughed knowing I won't be organized then either.

--Thanked God for every second of this crazy, busy, full-to-the-brim life.

What have you been up to??

WIP Wednesday

Well, I said I was subbing this week....What I didn't know was I'd actually be home recuperating from a nasty virus that knocked me flat.  Like seriously--I could barely move yesterday.  After lots of sleep, some medication and many Sprites, I am feeling a little more like myself today.  I am still dizzy when up for too long and I still have a killer headache, but the fever and body aches are gone and I am no longer only moving to walk slowly but felt quickly to the bathroom, so I am much improved.  :)

I did feel fit enough to get some more strips sewn today for Dad's quilt while I wait on that navy fabric to roll in.  But after ironing and trimming about 5 strips, I had to call it quits.  So much for lots of progress...

At this point though, I'll take the kind of progress that leads to feeling better.  I'm off to lay back down for awhile.  At least I've got a stack of books waiting on me.

Stay warm and well my friends!

Another Random Thursday

I may not always have time to sew, but I always have time for Random apparently...

• Athena performed yesterday and then acted in a play tonight about Hatsheput, the first female Pharoah.  I'll have pictures tomorrow.  She did so great!!

• The kids and I ran a color run this past weekend.  Where volunteers literally chuck colored corn starch at you while you run.  Sounds weird--but tons of fun.  Poor Emma was sick with a stomach bug but wanted to run so badly that she ended up puking about halfway through (we'd been walking for almost a mile anyway) and couldn't finish.  But Oren and I did.  It was kind of a let-down when Chris and Em were already in the truck by the time we finished, but we still had a lot of fun.

• I finished up my bee blocks for Katie today.  She asked for Rugby Stripe blocks via Alex's tutorial.  She's making quilts for her nephews for Christmas and asked us to help out.  Now I want to make an orange and blue quilt for Oren's bed like this.  I looked at everyone else' photos and my blocks are way scrappier than the rest...hopefully they won't stand out too much in the quilt.  I hate that when you question what you've made afterwards by comparing it to others...  Comparison is the thief of joy you know.

Better pictures to follow tomorrow

• On a lighter note--I got my hair cut yesterday.  And when I say cut--I mean cut--like inches and inches cut.  I am never afraid of change with my hair because it grows pretty fast and I really trust my hairdresser.  Is that correct terminology--hairdresser?  I kinda feel like an old lady when I say that.  Is stylist better?  Anyway, I showed her these pics and told her to go for it.

This color

with

this cut

Here's what I ended up with...

I am not the queen of selfies.  In fact, I am like the anti-selfie-taker.  I cannot successfully take a good picture of myself!!

• I think I'll actually like it even more as it grows out, so fingers crossed this style works for me for awhile.  I think so.  Also, sometimes I dye my hair dark about this time of year, but decided to go with a darker blonde this year for now.  I read that honey and caramel blondes are where it's at right now--and you know me--shades of hair color named after foods--I'm on that.  It's not near as dark as the picture I took in to show, but I do like it.  I can always darken it as we get farther into fall and winter.

• Now I'm working on fall-inspired blocks for Shannon and our Empower circle of do. Good stitches.  She told us "Fall...go." well, a little more than that, but in a nutshell.  Our circle is great about trusting each other and being creative which I love.  We've done many quilts with a general idea only and come up with amazing results.  I couldn't have asked Rachel to put me in a better circle of friends and quilters.

Any guesses on what this will be??

• Last Friday Oren and I went on a field trip to a local (generally-speaking--it was about 45 minutes away) farm that has an awesome fall pumpkin patch and corn maze.  They had all kinds of fun things for the kids to do and they had a ball.  I got some great pictures of their flowers since I did nothing with my yard this year and have only weeds to show for it.  

Zinnias are my favorite.

And the fields of sunflowers...be still my heart!!

• When I finish up these blocks for Shannon, I've got my d.Gs quilt from May to finish piecing the top for.  I had to wait on some solids and then lost my mojo, but I feel it coming back to me...  And then I'm starting a project for my Dad for Christmas.  I wish I had a day or two with nothing but sewing hours in them...

Phew..that's plenty of random and more pictures than you really needed, but I sure feel better.  I'm linking up with Cindy and her awesome randomness.

What have you been up to lately??

Another Random kind of Day

It's Thursday again, and that means I've been saving a week's worth of random for you...  Here goes!

• Why is bias binding called double fold when you only fold it once?  I get so confused when instructions call for single fold or double fold bias binding.  Especially because when you buy tape at the store--double fold is folded twice!

• I'm putting the finishing touches on my project for Saturday's craft book blog hop.  Yes, the directions called for double-fold bias tape.  Yes, it did confuse me--again.

• I am thisclose to finishing up my Wonky Pinwheels quilt.  It just needs another hour or so of hand-binding tonight.  I'm hoping to show it off here tomorrow.  I LOVE it.

• I think I'm getting back into my school-year groove of getting stuff done during the day.  This surely means I'll get called to sub for the next 3-4 Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

• I've been working really hard to make smart food choices and get myself healthy for real this fall.  But then I saw these and I want them bad!!

Cookie Dough Billionaire Bars

• I mean seriously--are you wiping drool right now, because I am.  

• I've got like 6 projects lined up to finish/start when I finish what I'm working on now.  I hate having this many projects going at once.  I feel tied down.  I want to rebel and forget about them all.

• That's probably how I got so many in the first place...

• Halloween is around the corner.  I miss making costumes for the kiddos, but I am secretly a little happy to just buy something and have more sewing time for me.

• But that means Christmas is around the corner too and I haven't even thought of making gifts yet.  I actually know what I'm making for my Dad--I just have to get around to making it.

• I can't believe I just mentioned Christmas.  Not only is it almost 90 degrees outside but I'm not even ready to think about it yet!

• Ok--back to the grindstone before I go pick up the kids from school.  Hopefully tomorrow will bring a Finish it Up Friday post!!  

What are you thinking about on this random Thursday?  

Linked up with Cindy