Wednesdays blessings

Chatting. I am scared to death of chit-chat. I am not good at it, I am not carefree and relaxed in my conversations so chit chat means deer in head light sensation, for me. After living here for over a year I can honestly say that I have had a conversation with my neighbor to the East. After chatting yesterday over a common topic, gardens (hers is amazing and I want to be just like her) I have understood why we haven't talked much. She was just as scared as I was. I may be wrong, this wasn't covered in our conversation but I am pretty sure she is from Eastern Europe (moderate to heavy accent). So her excuse is the language/accent barrier, and my excuse was nervousness. Glad we finally got through that. On a side note, I learned lots about gardening and especially what worked best with the previous owners of this house. Pray for my peppers.

Global Thermonuclear Warfare...and other social commentaries from the 80s. They bring a smile to my face and a sense of nostaligia. Do you know what movie this is from? You get one other clue...Joshua. That is it. If you know or are curious make a comment. :)

Grandparents. I get so excited when they come over for a brief visit. Nothing detailed or important is really ever discussed. We have never solved a problem or figured out the answer to any burning questions in the universe, but being around them is splendiferious!

Status Updates. Because I am not a good conversationalist, there is something to be said about little venting blurbs to the universe. I love being able to "know" what is going on in someones life but not needing to "respond" or "converse" about the situation. For me sometimes that is all I need to share, not to converse. I think this is the reason why I like text messaging too.

Digital photography. In my work as a quilter I have used my camera-phone for so many reasons. I have taken pictures of my progress. I can say progress because from my first few lap blankets to now I can see a skill level change and I can see me perfecting my techniques. I also take photos of fabric I have stored, have used, and want to buy. It is also helpful in trying to buy completementary fabrics.

Husbands. At least mine. Have you ever found yourself just being a girl about something? I do, all the time. Thank goodness for a manly man like Brian. Always willing to get his hands dirty and touch ickiness. Thank you Brian for being more of a man than I will ever be. :)

Kisses and Cuddles. Though he thinks it is a game. Kisses from Aidan are wonderful. He loves to ask to be cuddled and then proceeds to pucker up his lips and plant them on you. I love this display of affection. I love love love it! I hope it never ends.

Tuesday Book Review: none

No book review today. That is all.

Molly Monday: More quilts

Because this last week was so busy and because we are essentially broke due to our trip to St. George I have had limited time and resources when it comes to quilting. These quilts have been made using scraps and irregular remnants that I have picked up along the way. Only one of these quilts is completed, the others are just tops waiting to be filled with batting and secured to a back piece. Hopefully soon I can finish these quilts. Keep your knowledge of these quilts on the quiet side, they are all Christmas presents, though, luckily the recipients are not followers of the blog. Score! :)


A levi quilt top. This is HUGE!! Its measurements are 90 inches long and 85 inches wide. I did this on purpose because the person(s) receiving this as a gift have a California King Bed. It is so big that you aren't seeing the whole width or length of the quilt. Brian's reach or height is not as great as the quilt. The other snag I am running into is finding backing for this top. A California King flat sheet, by itself, is about $20! Hopefully by Christmas it will have a back. If you have access to an older but in good condition California King flat sheet I would love any kind of donation. Keep in mind that the color should be pretty neutral and complementary. Nothing to manly and nothing to girly. Thanks for your help.

I had a bunch of pastel scraps that were calling me. I didn't have many so this is going to just be a baby quilt but I am okay with that. Such pretty colors. Still needs to be finished.


I am such a nerd. The other day I was organizing my fabric and realized I have lots of basic colors. I love that I buy solid colors that are bright and brilliant. So with that phrase in my head I decide to do a crayon quilt. I went online to see if anyone had a free pattern to my concept and no one did. So I took a couple of days and drew out a design. During the course of this quilt I learned about measurements and how to take in stitches after the top was finished. I am please with the way it turned out but I think I will now hand stitch some embellishments on it. I am thinking of stitching in the lines at the bottom and the top of the crayon, they will be black. Go look at your crayon box and you will understand. I may even get bold and hand stitch the name of the colors on it. We will see.

I am a novice quilter and yet I find myself comparing quilts everywhere I go. Walking through the park to go to the parade was a bad thing for me. I would look at everyone's quilt and make mental notes of the difficulty levels and whether or not I was prepared for such ambitious undertakings. One quilt I saw was a beautiful rainbow. It looked similar to above. The difference was the the middle squares were red and they moved outward becoming pink. These were scraps I had and decided to let ROY G BIV become my inspiration. For those of you that don' t know that is a trick I learned in 8th grade to remember the colors of the rainbow, in order. Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet. I also added four pink squares to the middle because I had them. This quilt is also waiting to be finished. On this quilt I learned the importance of making sure that you have the same kind of fabric when quilting. Some is calico and other are a flannel type. Notice the bottom right side? All squares were cut exactly but because flannel stretches differently then calico I got some inconsistencies. Oh well. It makes for a good conversation piece, right?

Recap for July 2-10, 2010

The last couple of weeks have been horribly busy and I am sorry I haven't posted the re-caps on Sundays. I couldn't remember and didn't want to try and guess about some stuff. So I did another slide show chronicling the last two weeks with the pictures (few I know) I took. Enjoy!

Recap for July 2-10, 2010--in pictures

Aidan-isms

"En garde" Aidan believes that anything resembling a stick is a sword. And to prepare you for the forthcoming battle/fight he now says..."en garde."

LOL! Now he knows some English, Spanish and French.

Friday Movie Review: Extraordinary Measures

I wanted to see this movie in the theater but never made it. Thank goodness for Red Box. I wanted to see because these two actors I consider entertaining. Harrison Ford is getting old, but as long as he isn't trying to play a heartthrob I like him. I think his heartthrob years are over. And then there is Brendan Fraser. I think he was better in his younger years (School Ties, With Honors, Encino Man) but every time I look at him I can't help but imagine him in a loin cloth running head on into a tree. George of the Jungle was just a silly fun movie.

This movie is about a pharmacuteical company marketing guy who has a family. A wife and three kids, two of which are inflicted with a genetic disease called Pompe. Pompe is a form of muscular dystrophy. He works hard during the day as a rep and then goes home and tries to make the best of his situation. The life expectancy for his children with Pompe is 9 years old. One child is almost 9, the other is almost 8. He tries to figure out answers in his spare time and then he reads an article by Dr. Eric Stonehill. He is the leading researcher on theoretical cures. His theory on how to fix Pompe is promising but there is no funding.

Brendan Fraser works hard to fight all the red tape and barriers to help his kids. He is literally racing the clock to find a cure.

Fraser does a good job of playing a torn father trying to beat the clock and Ford does well playing a spacy, cantankerous doctor.

Go see it if you have the interest. I found myself crying, so be careful. :)