Last photo post

Top photo Pat Knochel at Nimble Thimbles in November. Second photo my son eating his first fluffernutter (peanutbutter and marshmallow cream) sandwich. I remember eating these as a kid and have to buy a jar of marshmallow cream once or twice a year to have a few of these sandwiches. Next two photos are cute ones of little girl.

More photos

Here are some more photos. Top photo is little girl with my friends son. he was born 26 hours before she was. Hopefully they will grow up to be good friends. Next photo is of my two kids with Santa. My son was happy and smiling until we tried to put him on Santa's lap and then all bets were off. Next photo is of my son napping in his car seat. I just love how he is snuggled up with the quilt. I keep this quilt between the car seats and he will often grab it and snuggle with it as we drive. Last picture is of my daughter with Santa for the first time.

Long awaited photos

I have finally uploaded my camera. There are some great pictures I need to post, it might take a couple of posts.

In order from top to bottom Lone Pine Placemats I made for my mother from Christmas at Bears Paw Ranch. Then my MIL on the 18th making tamales with me. This was both our first time making the tamales and they turned out YUMMY! The next one is how my little girl makes tamales. The quilt under her is one my friends made for my son, and the one on top of her is one I found at the thrift store for $2. The last picture is why I have decided that my daughter's nickname needs to be fuzzy. Every time I give her a bath she ends up with fuzzy hair, too cute!

Early Christmas presents

Well my little girl (who is not quite so little anymore) gave me two early Christmas presents this week. First she rolled from her back to her belly twice in a row, which my husband says she has done before, but since I am the primary caregiver and I have not seen it before it doesn't count. The second gift was that last night she slept from 9:30 to after six, she probably would have slept longer but the dogs started barking and woke her up. It's amazing to me that she is sleeping so well and she is less than 13 weeks old. At this age my son was waking up practically every hour at night. I think it has to do with the fact that I have to put her down more and let her cry more than I ever did for my son. It's not that I want her to cry, but with two kids you just don't have much of a choice. She is such a happy little girl. Yesterday I went into her room to check on her at about 8am and she was awake in bed happily staring at her hands.

My son got an early Christmas gift yesterday also (although he might not think so). I got him a rocking chair that I plan to use as a time out chair. I have tried to use the couch as a timeout spot before but he thinks it's a game and will jump off as soon as I put him on it. A couple friends suggested a rocking chair so that he could move while in timeout. I got him the chair and within an hour of having it we tested it out and it seemed to work well. I am hopeful that this will be an effective discipline strategy, because what we have been doing is not working and he is getting a bit unruly.

In other news, my mother is doing much better and is hopeful that she will get to go home from the hospital today. Today is her birthday and she really would like to go home. After my last post she had a turn for the worse and had a couple of rough days. Yesterday she was disconnected from all but one thing and able to get up and walk around easier.

It will be another day or two before I can post pictures of what I have been up to. My old laptop was no longer useful and so I got a new desktop computer but my camera software has not been installed yet.

Update

Well my mother's surgery went well and she is recovering in the hospital. Today she has a bit of a fever so she will probably be in for a couple more days until they can get that under control. The doctor didn't think it was cancerous, but has sent the tumor in to be tested just in case.

In quilting news I have just gotten back the first of three quilts that Judy is quilting for me. It is gorgeous. I will post some pictures as soon as I get it bound. I can't wait to see what she does with the other two quilts that she has. I have been making Christmas quilty things like a fiend lately and will post some pictures later this afternoon.

I have been listening to Air 1 a Christian radio station and they have this bit about one familie's tradition of the Christmas elf that comes on Christmas eve and puts a new pair of pj's on the porch for everyone. I think this is a cute idea and I picked up a new pair of pj's for each of the kids today while at Costco. I am thinking of changing the tradition though and doing pillowcases instead. This year I could make Abbie a cute crib sheet since she is too young for a pillowcase. I'll let you know what I decide. I can't quite believe that Christmas is only a week away!

Settling down

Well things are starting to settle down around here. The tree is decorated, all that is left is to put away the boxes. Most of the shopping is done as well as most of the wrapping. I have not been doing much quilty stuff lately but that is because I have been working on projects for gifts. Thankfully most of the big stuff is done I just have a couple little things left that would be nice to give but aren't imperative.

My mom is having surgery tomorrow for a tumor on her kidney. The doctors beleive that the tumor is benign but all of your positive thoughts and prayers would be greatly appreciated. Hopefully she will have an uneventful surgery and a speedy recovery.

My husband is out of town on business again. It's alot of work, but we are into a bit of a routine and things are going pretty smoothly. The only thing that scares me about having him out of town is what if something happens to me. The kids are too little to call for help and it could be a day or more before someone misses me enough to come looking for me. The thought of the kids being on their own like that is a nightmare. I guess I just need to pick a person and check in with them every day so that they at least will know that something is wrong if they don't get their daily call.

Well I need to go to bed now tomorrow is going to be a busy day.

Pandora

Check this out: http://pandora.com/

It is a personalized radio station, it's sooooo cool!

Stressed and Overwhelmed

I am feeling very stressed and overwhelmed lately. I have put up part of my Christmas decorations, but can't seem to get the rest put up and it is really making me feel bad to see the boxes of decorations cluttering up the house. Also I can't seem to catch up with the housework. My island has turned from being a mild hotspot into a raging inferno. I just can't seem to clean the kitchen counters off and keep them clean. Also, I am usually really good about paying bills and balancing the checkbook, but this month I have not only bounced a check I have been late paying several bills because they have just gotten lost in the clutter. I am also stressed about money and not wanting to put Christmas presents on the credit card, but I am not sure that we will have the money to buy everyone's presents without doing so. Another thing that is stressing me out is the fact that none of my clothes fit. I know that I recently had a baby, but I am breastfeeding and I should be loosing some weigh, but I have been stuck at the same weight for weeks now. I know it is because my diet lately has been horrible. I know that if I ate better, not only would the baby weight come off but I would feel better in general, but I am having trouble resisting. Also, I had gotten into the habit of walking for 30 minutes a day, but got out of the habit. It is so easy to know what you should be doing, but sometimes it is not quite so easy to actually do those things. I better go to bed, it is really late and I have a busy day tomorrow.

Packages from home

There is someone I know that recently got back from Iraq and said how much it meant to him and his fellow soldiers to get packages. There is a group called Packages from Home that is sending care packages to military members. I encourage all of you to donate to this group. My small quilt group will be making this a service project and hopefully will be able to put together a twin sized quilt to send with the care package.

Cooler Weather

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We had a nice time here, our favorite Aunt was in town from Arkansas and her and I spent several very enjoyable hours quilting. We made a very cute wallhanging that was simple but looks very festive. We were able to make two of them out of my stash and I am planning on making a couple more to give as gifts. I also made two very cute santa pillowcases, one for my Aunt and one for my son.

The weater has finally started to cool down here. This morning when I took my son for his first dentist appointment it was in the 60's. The dentist was pretty cool actually, lots of entertainment for the kids plus prizes when we left.

I still haven't been getting much done lately, but have decided that it is mostly because I have been so busy. For example this post has taken me all day to write. I have more that I want to write, but I have a crying baby that I need to convince to go to bed. More later...

Unmotivated

I am feeling so unmotivated lately. Not unmotivated to sew but unmotivated to clean my house, cook, or decorate for the holidays. I wish I could blame it on seasonal affective disorder like people who live in gloomy climates, but i live in the land of perfect sunny blue skies and 100+ days at a time without rain. Maybe that's my problem, I have the opposite of SAD, I am getting too much sun!

I really could use some cooler weather, I was actually hot today while taking my kids to the doctor. BTW my 2 year old now weighs 30# and is 35" tall and my 9 week old weighs 12# 4oz and is 24 inches long (she is up 4# 1 oz from birth). There are some people that don't beieive in global warming, but I do. When I was a kid it actually got cold in the winter, but I haven't needed a coat for several years.

Tonight is my quilt guild meeting. We are having Pat Knochel who is Elanor Burn's sister and also makes patterns. She is a great speaker and our group has had her in November for the last 3 years. I will be bringing my husband's Aunt who is in town from Arkansas and is a fledgling quilter. Fun should be had by all. I will also be dropping off two more quilts with Judy to be quilted.

Holidays

I can't believe that it is nearly Thanksgiving! It is still in the 80's here. It can't be Thanksgving and still be shorts weather. I am trying to get in the mood though. Today I put up the tree, I will work on the lights tomorrow. I am tempted to go buy one of those prelit trees, but I am too cheap to do it when I already have a perfectly good tree. I am taking some advice from a friend and have set up one of my superyards around the tree to keep a certain curious toddler out of the decorations and presents.

Speaking of toddlers, we got my son a big boy bed. It has been in his room for a couple of days now and he always wants to get in it and go "night night" so I childproofed his room today and tried to put him to bed in it. He was all excited about the bed and even laid down an let me tuck him in, but when I put the baby gate across his doorway (he is on the second floor and i don't want him running around) he got all upset. I ended up putting him back in the crib. I want to get him to sleep in the big boy bed though because I am ready to move my daughter to her own room and would like to move her into the crib since she is in a cradle right now. I better get to bed.

Falling off the wagon

I have been following along with everyone's posts on stashbuster about being no-buy and thought I would unofficially play along. I have to admit that I have fallen off the wagon. I have been very good lately about not buying fabric unless I needed it to complete a project, but in the last two weeks I have made two large (read $50) fabric purchases. The first one was at Quilter's Delight when I went in for the second to last installment of their $15 quilt. There were a couple of fabrics that I have drooled over the last couple times that I went in, and I allowed my friends to convince me to buy some this month. The other large purchase was at another quilt store, Zoe's Trunk, that had a half off sale on their precut fat quarters, half yard and one yard cuts. I got quite a but of fabric but really stuck with lights, which is something that has been lacking in my stash.

I have also started another project a Christmas present for my parents (my mother reads my blog sometimes so I can't really say more). I am working on this while using parts of my counterpoint stars as leader/enders. I also bought some fabric at the sale at Zoe's to make something for my sister and MIL. These will be quick, but nice Christmas gifts. I am feeling good about Christmas shopping, I ordered some soap from Tami's Soapworks today that I will be using as gifts so I have managed to cross three gifts off my list without even leaving the house.

What I'm working on

In February of 2005 I took a class by Bethany Reynolds called Stack and Whack Counterpoint Stars. After the class I put away the quilt that I started in class and started another quilt for my brother using the same pattern. I had such a problem with my brother's quilt that I never picked the quilt that I started in class back up again. Well I have started working on it again. I have decided to call it "Field of Butterflies". I am really enjoying getting these projects completed.

I have been reading the book "You the owner's manual" lately and find it enjoyable and have been trying to slowly add some of their suggestions to my daily life. Right now I am trying to walk 30 minutes every day and eliminate high fructose corn syrup from the food I buy. It is nice to be making small steps to a healthier lfe.

Another UFO finish

Here is a UFO finish that was requested by my husband. I did the embroidery shortly after my son was born in 2004. On the back are squares that I had people sign at his first birthday party. I really like how this one turned out.

Running

I have been running all day today, and I still have to change the sheets on my bed before I can sleep. I have a sink full of dishes that I should do before bed also, but I just don't have the energy. I have a ufo that I completed yesterday, but I keep forgetting to take a picture, so maybe I'll post it tomorrow. Today is one of those days that I really have to keep telling myself that this too shall pass.

An update

I have quite a few pictures to share today. The first picture is of a diaper cover that I made tonight for little girl. I made it from the Diaper Covers Deluxe pattern from New Conceptions. It is a nice cover and goes together pretty quickly. It was a bit large when I put it on her, but I am sure she will grow into it quickly.

The second picture is of my son with his loot from his first time trick or treating. This was actually his third Halloween, but the first time I took him trick or treating. He really enjoyed putting the candy into his bag. There is also a picture of him holding his little sister who "borrowed" her big brother's first Halloween outfit (a pumpkin costume that was a gift from his great aunt Mary). The picture with the pumpkins is of the three of us at Schnepf Farms for their Pumpkin and Chili festival.

Lastly the quilt is my stars over time quilt and it is done! I even put a label on it. I think that this quilt is probably the most square quilt that I have ever made (thanks Bonnie!). I have decided to show this quilt at next years quilt show, I am really pleased with how it turned out. As an added bonus this quilt is not only a UFO finish it is a stash quilt (other than the binding).

another one

"Once you have the courage to begin, you can succeed."

Quotes

I have been hearing alot of quotes lately. Since some of them are striking a chord with me I thought I would post them here so that I can find them later. This one was on stashbusters today:

"That which we persist in doing becomes easier. Not that the nature
of the thing has changed, but our power to do it has increased."

I don't know who the author is. Another quote/mantra that I have been using alot lately is This too shall pass. I tell myself this one alot in the middle of the night when I am up feeding little girl.

Stars over Time

I am almost finished with my "Stars Over Time" quilt. I am currently hand stitching the back of the binding and then I'll put a label on it and be done, done, done. I am looking forward to showing this off at my quilt guild meeting on Tuesday, since this was their challenge (from 2004 or 2005 I can't remember). This quilt is not only a ufo, but (other than the binding) is a stash busting project also. I have decided to reward myself for completing this by allowing myself to start a completely new project. Well a kind of new project. I have been making string pieces for Bonnie's string-x quilt as my leader/ender and have collected enough pieces to make another crib quilt so I will make that as my next project.

Expectations

A couple friends and I were talking yesterday about the expectaitions that we have for our children. One friend felt that she might have too high of expectations and the other felt that she had too low of expectations. This got me thinking and I pretty much have no expectations of my son. Which leads me to something else my friend said, which is that if you don't let them help out around the house when they are young and want to help they are not going to want to helpwhen they get older. So I am going to try to let/make my son helpout more around the house. I started by having him hand me hangers while I put away his clothes, and had him put stuff away in the drawers that he could reach, then I let him take the towels out of the dryer. He did really well with both of these tasks and I made sure to give him alot of praise. The next challenge will be to start teaching him to pick up his toys. I just need to remember to give him the time and to not get frustrated.

In quilting, I got all of the borders on my stars over time and have started to quilt it. I am looking forward to completing another ufo. Yeah!

A comparison

My mother was comparing the photos of my two smiling babies so I thought that I would post them here for all to see. The top photo is of little girl taken on October 23, 2006. The bottom photo is of silly boy taken November 18, 2004. This makes them roughly the same age in these photos.

More pictures

Here is a picture of little girl smiling. There is nothing better than a baby's first smiles.

The quilt pictures are from a Nimble Thimbles challenge called "Stars over Time". The challenge was that you got a yard of fabric and the patterns for all the stars. You had to use some of the challenge fabric in each of the stars. I have had these blocks done for a while but didn't know how to set them. I finally decided that done was better than perfect and just set them with sashing with cornerstones. I want a wider border, but don't have enough of the wizard fabric so I think I will do a second inner border of the green fabric. I have it on the design wall and am living with it for a few days before I make a final decision.

Some pictures

These are pictures of me and my friends with our kids at the Desert Botanical Garden. Twice a year they have a butterfly exhibt, the fall exhibit is the monarch butterflies. Silly boy was much more interested in playing with his car in the dirt. A car that he had smuggled in in the pocket of his pants. I didn't think about checking his pants pockets because these are the first pants that have had pockets. Didn't take him long to figure that one out!

Today we went out to Schnepf farms for their pumpkin festival. Silly boy had a great time riding the train, he didn't want to get off. I will post some more pictures in another post.

Sugar

I love sugar, I love sugar like a smoker loves their ciggarettes. I know it is bad for me, I know it is a major reason why nearly four years ago I had gastric bypass. I know that if I ever want to get back to the weight I was before I had my son that I need to give up the sugar. It doesn't make it any easier. I have been suspecting for a few days that my sugar intake is causing little girl to be gassy and fussy so yesterday I avoided sugar as much as possible. Last night she slept very well and didn't spend two hours after her 5 am feeding farting and moaning. This evening she was in a great mood and didn't fuss all evening. I actually got alot of sewing done. Does this make me want sugar less, no. As a mater of fact I have had a raging sugar withdrawl headache all day and have spent the whole day thinking that some candy corn would fix the headache. I did give in and had a piece of ghirradelli chocolate on my way home from walmart, but that was a reward for putting back the two bags of halloween candy that I had in my cart. Got to go someone is hungry.

A conversation with God

Dear God,

I would really like to know what it is I have done that you felt that I needed to be punished for. Whatever it is I think that I have been punished enough! Really haven't I cleaned up enough poop? I know that today was my fault because I did not PIN his clothes on him before I put him down for a nap, but he was asleep and I was hopeful. Please, please let me know what it is I have done to tick you off. I will eagerly appologise to avoid cleaning up any more poop.

Sincerly,

Tired of poop in AZ

Some Quilty Finishes

I have been geting some sewing done durring my son's nap time and in the evening after he goes to bed. Little girl has been cooperating with me and often will nap for an hour or so at a time so I can get some things done. The first thing that I finished is a trick or treat bag for my son based on the designs from the Art to Heart Acorn Hollow book. The second finish is a Christmas stocking for little girl to match the ones that I made for the rest of the family the year that my son was born. Her stocking is not exactly like the others since I have run out of some of the fabrics, but it is similar enough that she should not feel left out. Now I have started on the block of the month from Quilter's Delight.

The other picture is of my son with a train that he got for his birthday. This one has a button that you push and it makes train sounds. The funny thing is that he can imitate the train whistle sound perfectly.

Birthday Party Chaos

Today we had a birthday party for my son who is turning two this week. The party was chaotic but fun. My son, who tends to bite when frustrated, did very well with the other kids and actually only hit once and that was after everyone had been here for 3+ hours. I was glad to have everyone here, but I was also glad to have them leave since I desperatly needed some peace and quiet. Little girl was very cooperative today and has slept alot or been content in the arms of other people thus allowing me to do what I needed to do to make the party run smoothly.

I feel like I should write something about how I can't beleive two years has past, but I am tired and I think I'll go to bed instead.

600 pounds lighter

Today I feel about 600 pounds lighter. I finally sold the midarm machine that has been cluttering up my sewing room for about a year now. I bought the machine with such high hopes of all the quilts that I was going to finish, but was never able to get it to work right. So it has sat in the middle of my sewing room for months now making me feel guilty for all the money I spent on it. Well this week I sold it to a lady in my quilting guild and they came a took it away today. Yeah!!!! I did make sure to tell her about the troubles that I was having with the machine so she could make an informed purchase, but she felt that she would be able to get it to work. I say more power to her and I wish her luck.

Quite a Deal

The guild that I belong to is quite active, and has several longarm quilters. Yesterday I got an email from one of them, Judith Slentz, that she has just gotten back from a class in California and was challenged to do 30 quilts for $30 in order to practice the techiques that she learned in class. The rules were that there is no timeline, and she gets to pick the design. I have 3 tops completed that need to be quilted, including the Oklahoma Backroads quilt, so I called her up and took her up on the offer. I am excited and anxious at the same time, it is hard to give up the control of picking out the quilting design, but I am sure that it is going to turn out ok. I'll have to take a picture of the two other tops before I turn them over to Judi so that I can post them here.

Accomplishments

Well today I managed to get my checkbook balanced and my bills paid. Not fun but it needed to be done and I have been putting it off for quite a while. Feels good to have it done. I also ordered the second season of Grey's Anatomy and the fifth season of Alias using the gift certificates that my family got me for my birthday. Thanks! Oh yeah I managed to get some sewing done also. I made this month's blocks for Quilter's Delight and made the girly pink sling for Abbie. I did not completely finish the sling though, becuase I can't decide if I want to make a pocket or not and what kind of pocket I want. So the bottom edge of the sling is just serged. But, it is useable. I took pictures of the quilter's delight blocks, but I need to have new software installed on my computer so I can upload them off my cool new camera that my husband got me for my birthday.

Poop

So my son likes to take his diaper off, and if there happens to be poop in it he will play with it. This is especially bad if he poops durring nap time, since we don't always catch him before he makes a big mess. For a while we were able to keep him from making messes by putting him in a onsie and long pants, but alas he has learned to take his clothes off. So today I put him down for a nap and took the time to put him in a pair of pj's that I didn't think he had figured out how to take off yet. I then went downstairs to lay down with little girl and notices he was up there talking to himself, but not upset so I just ignored him. Fastforward two hours and I have been dozing with little girl and he is upstairs talking to himself again. Since he is not terribly upset and he has apparently not napped long I leave him in bed for a while eventually going up to check on him. Well apparently he has not napped at all because he is covered with crusty dried poop from head to toe. It took two baths to get him completely clean. Then it took me an hour to scrub the poop off his crib and get him back to bed. I even had to vaccume poop off the carpet. Now I have put him back to bed for a real nap. I will have to go check on him soon to make sure that he is not naked and playing in his poop again.

I just have to ask WHY???? What is so fascinating about playing with your poop?

Top finished

I finished the top for my Oklahoma Backroads quilt today. I really like how the borders calm the quilt and allow you to see the pattern rather than all the seperate fabrics. I will be going to Nimble Thimbles tonight to show it off.

I got to sew!

All I had to do was have a cranky baby that only wanted to sleep in the sling and only if I was moving. Actually the thing that put her to sleep the best was when she was in the sling and I was vaccuming. I am not sure what has been going on, but the last two days she has been really irritable and not sleeping well durring the day. This evening she finally passed out about 6pm and is still asleep. I am about to wake her up and feed her.

This last weekend was a really busy one with two birthday parties. The first one was at a place called Bounce U. It was really fun and a great alternative to Peter Piper Pizza. The second one was smaller and at another friend's house. Both were fun parties for the kids and silly boy behaved himself very well at both (especially considering he is not good at sharing and tends to bite when he gets frustrated). As a treat I bought him two matchbox cars and he has been having a great time playing with them.

Well as the title says I managed to sew a little tonight and got the two long outer borders on my Oklahoma Backroads quilt. I just have the two smaller borders and the quilt with be ready for quilting.

The two pictures are of silly boy that my husband took recently. He just loves his retro rocket and he loves wearing hats.

October already

Can you believe that it is October already. I will be turning 30 this month, I can hardly believe it.

On a couple of the other blogs that I read the ladies have been going over their progress towards their September goals and talking about goals for October. I did this in August but not in September so I think it is time to start up again. So here are my goals for October:

1. Get dressed every morning.
2. Take a shower every day so that I don't constantly smell like soured milk
3. Finish my September blocks for Quilter's Delight
4. Take baby steps towards developing a new routine

That's about it for goals for this month. With my husband going back to work this next week I know that any little progress with be hard.

Today little girl has gas and has had a pretty rough morning where all she wants to do is nurse (but not really get any milk) and be held. If I do manage to get her to fall asleep she wakes right back up if I put her down. I was sitting on my exercise ball and gently bouncing her and she seemed to like it, but my back was getting sore from the position I was holding her. She is now in the swing making grunting/whimpering noises. I will probably have to go pick her up soon. I was hoping she would fall asleep so that I could go take a shower. No such luck she just started crying.

Milk Drunk

I have decided that breastfeeding is God's reward for putting up with pregnancy and delivery. There is nothing better than the satisfied look on a babies face when they have filled their belly and fallen asleep. I love to see milk dribble out the side of her mouth and know that I have done this for her. There is nothing better in the world than watching your child grow and knowing that you have been able to provide the best nutrition for you child that not only makes them healthier today but will make them healthier for their entire life.

Pumpkin recipes

Someone posted a link to this blog with some yummy looking pumpkin recipes: MorningRamble they are from Thursday September 21st. I think I will make some of these recipes when I have the time.

I sewed!

I actually managed to sew last night! I sewed 1 1/2 of the inner border strips on the oklahoma backroads quilt that I am making for silly boy. It was nice to get some sewing in. Little girl was very accomodating in that she slept on a blanket in the corner for at least a half an hour while I sewed. Maybe I'll get some more sewing done tonight.

My life

Things have been going well here. Little girl is a much better sleeper than her brother was. I think that one of the reasons for this is that I have been waking her up every 2 hours during the day to nurse. Even the first night home from the hospital she slept 5 hours in a row (after what seemed like a 6 hour long nursing session). The only problem that we had been having was that she wouldn't sleep anywhere but right next to me. I seem to have figured out how to get her to sleep in her cradle and last night was much more comfortable and restful for me.

Big brother has been doing as well as can be expected. Although we are currently having a little battle of wills since he won't stop pestering her and she is sleeping.

A quick note

In case someone didn't hear, I gave birth to a beautiful little girl Tuesday afternoon. Labor was as easy as anyone could expect it to be and I am home and doing well. I will post some pictures later.

An update

Well I got the center for the Oklahoma Backroads quilt completed and just have to go out and buy some black fabric for the inner border and I should be able to get the top done. I even managed to find some fabric im my stash for the outer border. The fabric I found for my outer border is one someone else gave me for free and frankly I think that the "right" side is ugly (it has a ton of gold stars) but I was looking at the "wrong" side and it is a nice motled blue and if you look closely you can just make out the stars (no gold though). I think this will work well.

Yesterday I went over to a friends house and several ladies and I had a sewing day. It was nice to get together and sew. Before silly boy was born I would go to the LQS once a month for their quilter's night out and really enjoyed it. Since he was born though I have not been going and have missed it. So yesterday I managed to finish the oklahoma backroads top and I started trimming down the "waste" triangels and piecing them into pinwheels. I had an idea for a quilt using the pinwheels with alternate 4 patch blocks, but when I made up a couple of the 4 patches they just did not look right with the pinwheels. Back to the drawing board.

In baby news, well there is no baby news, she is being stubborn. I have to go in for testing this morning to make sure everything is ok but tomorrow she is being evicted (i.e. I am on the list for induction). Why couldn't she make this convenient? I had ready and available childcare this weekend, but did she come, NO! Now my mom is going out of town tomorrow, my MIL is already out of town and my father is probabaly going to have to go out of town also. I have a friend that offered to watch him, but her life has been pretty hectic lately and I hate to add to her burden. Hopefully the induction/delivery will go quickly and he won't have to be with anyone for long.

Picture

I laid out my oklahoma backroads quilt today and managed to get a picture of it, despite having "help" from a curious two year old. I really like how it has turned out. The picutre is not that great since I couldn't get high enough to take a picture straight on but it's good enough to give you an idea of what it will look like.

In other news, I have been told by numerour sources to take a dose of castor oil and that it would put me into labor. Until now I have been just ignoring them but this morning (being overdue and sick of being pregnant) I took a dose at 6 am. Well it is now over 12 hours later and other than some diahrea it has done diddly squat. I have an apointment with my ob tomorrow morning at 8:30 and we will be discussing induction.

Oklahoma Backroads and more

Well I have finished all of the blocks for the Oklahoma backroads quilt. Yeah! I will have to lay it out and make sure that I don't have any clumping of colors and same fabrics next to each other and then I should be able to start assembling it.

Tonight while I was in my room piecing I had the baby monitor on and could hear that silly boy was restless in bed and calling my name occasionally, but since he was not really upset I just let him fall asleep on his own. Well I went in there just a few minutes ago and he had managed to strip down to his prefold (the only thing holding it on was a snappi), he had managed to get his pj's and his diaper cover off. For all the trouble that he had falling asleep he was sure out when I went to get him dressed again. I managed to change his diaper and put him back in his pj's without even waking him up. Kids are so funny sometimes. Btw little girl has yet to make her appearance. I am about ready to take everyone's advice and take some castor oil and see if that gets anything started (other than the diahrea that it will cause).

Wetbag

Someone posted a link to this tutorial on the yahoo sewyourowndiapers group and I thought it was useful enough to post here. It is to make a zippered wetbag (for cloth diapers etc.) but I think that it could have many uses and looks very simple to make.

Silly Silly Boy

Silly Boy has been obsessed with two toys lately, his radio flyer retro rocket and his radio flyer wagon. He plays for long periods of time with just these two toys. He could care less about his other toys except that they provide interesting things to run over. It has been nice that he is more able to play on his own and is not climbing all over me but it just reminds me that he is no longer my baby and is turning into a little boy. He is getting so big too. I bought him a pair of size 2T pj's the other day that looked huge and I hoped he would be able to wear all winter and they just barely fit him now. I am going to have to return them and get the 3T. Can you believe it he is not yet 2 and I am going to have to buy him a size 3T. I am going to have to figure out what fits him from last year so that I can make a list of what to get him for the winter and what sizes I need. I usually get most of his clothes from a rummage sale that a triplets club puts on twice a year in Scottsdale, so I have to be prepared. My mom recently bought him several pairs of pants, but I think I need to try them on to make sure they will be long enough for the entire winter. Plus I will have to buy enough summer clothes to make it until the next sale in April.

In quilting news I am making good progress on the Oklahoma backroads quilt and depending on when little girl makes her appearance I should be able to finish all of the blocks soon. I was hoping to make this all from stash, but I have had to buy some lights since I just didn't have what I needed in my stash.

Oklahoma Backroads

Just a quick update on the Oklahoma Backroads quilt that I am making for Alex's big boy bed. I have so far made 41 out of the needed 70 blocks. It is amazing how quick this quilt is coming together since I had most of the pieces already cut out. I probably would have gotten more blocks done tonight except I have run out of the needed variety of cut squares and blocks. So, now I need to dive into that scrap bin again and cut some more 2 1/2" and 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" dark blocks. I also need 2 1/2" light squares but I am going to have to go into my stash for that since all of the lights that I have are pretty girly looking and this quilt is for Alex. Maybe I'll get some time to work on that tomorrow.

Still pregnant

Why is it that the closer to the end of a pregnancy a person gets the more people feel the need to ask if you are still pregnant? I am feeling pretty sorry for myself today since I am still pregnant and am just generally uncomfortable. So instead of getting a jillion phone calls from people asking me if I am in labor YET. I just sent out this email update:

I went to the OB's today, strike one for my bad mood, and fought the bad parking to get to my 10:00 apointment. Which by the way was originally scheduled for 10:20 but they called yesterday and asked me to come in early. Once there I was allowed the privelage of waiting in the waiting room for 1/2 an hour, strike two btw I mean why call me and ask me to come in early if you have no intention of seeing me on time anyway. Once seen they checked again to seek if my water was broken, which it is not, and checked my cevix, no change but all in all a rather painful procedure considering that these days it hurts just to walk. Now I am feeling pretty sorry for myself and go to the checkout desk to make my next apointment and am told that my only choice is next Friday at 8:30 am, strike three. I am so sick of the lowsy customer service at my ob's office. I really wish I had taken the time to find a new ob at the beginning of my pregnancy.

I mean really, if you are impatient for me to go into labor how do you think I feel????!!!!

Guild meeting

Well tonight I went to my guild meeting. It was nice to get out of the house and socialize, expecially since Alex has had a cold and is pretty cranky, but I was a bit dissapointed with the program. Tonight we had Jere from Quilted Quickies and I love her quick applique projects, but I just am not in love with her new patterns that use Moda's charm square packs. I went tonight fully intending on buying a pattern or two and left without anything. Oh well, I have more patterns than I will ever make anyway. Maybe this was a good thing.

No progress on the Oklahoma Backroads quilt today. I just have not had the time to get into my room and sew.

My baby's back

Alex came home from his camping trip today. I have missed him sooooo much, I had forgotten how dull life was before he came along. If it makes any sense, he looks like he is so much older and bigger than just five days ago. I think that he had a great time and that my parents enjoyed having him. I can't wait to see pictures, if the total amount of dirt on his clothes are any indication he had a really really good time.

In other news, I have been getting alot done on the Oklahoma Backroads quilt that I am working on. I have gotten a total of 26 blocks done so far and it just seems to be going together really quickly. It is amazing how quick things go together when you don't have to cut everything from scratch. I am really enjoying using up my scraps, it calls to my frugal side.

What I'm working on

Well, I know that I have been talking about not wanting to start a new project until I finish some of my UFO's, but I needed something new since I had gotten bored with what I was working on. Besides I have gotten several things done lately. So, I was browsing quiltville and came across this Oklahoma Backroads quilt pattern and it spoke to me. I have made 13 blocks so far and am enjoying the process. It looks less wild in the picture than it does in person. I was thinking about not having borders (since I hate putting them on), but I think that it is going to need some just to calm it down a bit. I am thinking that I will make this twin sized for my son when he moves into a big boy bed from his crib. I like the idea of a scrap quilt for this purpose since it will not likely show stains and it will definatly be a quilt that gets used and abused. I am already thinking that I will need to quilt this pretty heavily in order to make it sturdier. One nice thing about this quilt is that it is a stash quilt, coming mostly from scraps. In fact alot of these pieces I are coming from my 2 1/2" squares and strips. I am having to go into my stash for lights though since I seem to have mostly mediums and darks.

In other happenings, I am having baby withdrawls with Alex camping with his grandparents for the weekend. I had forgotten how borring life was before he came along. I was really hoping that Abbie would decide to make her appearance this weekend but so far no luck. I have a feeling she is going to be like her brother and wait until the very last minute to make her appearance.

Clothes for Alex

Well it's a good thing that I worked so much on Alex's coat last week. My parents are taking him camping this weekend and he is going to need warmer clothes. I am pretty sure that he has outgrown the coat he used last winter. I finished the new coat today and also made up a pair of sweatpants since he has outgrown all of his warmer pants. I tried to get him to model the coat today but he wasn't having it.

I am also including a picture that Joe took yesterday. For some reason Alex loves to play with my hat.

In other news Abbie seems to have dropped today. I don't remember Alex doing this but today after my nap Abbie was definatly much lower than she has been. I have an apointment with my OB on Thursday and following that I am getting a massage and some foot reflexology. So, maybe we can convince this little girl that it is time to come out and meet the world.

Happenings

Well, I managed to complete one and a half out of the three goals that I set for myself this week. I just could not make myself work on the king sized quilt. I seem to have a block against working on it. I guess I just need to set it aside for a while and work on something else. I also managed to clean off the quilting machine but have not taken any pictures. I am not going to set any goals for this week because I am really hoping that this baby will decide to make an appearance. I have to work a 12 hour shift tomorrow so maybe that will get things going.

Yesterday a friend threw a joint baby shower for me and another friend that is due about the same time as I am. This was a no gift shower since this is the second baby for both of us, but my family did bring gifts. It was nice to have a chance to socialize with friends, especially since I know that the next three months or so are going to be a big period of adjustment. I know with Alex I didn't really feel normal again until he was about a year old.

Everything is ready here for Abbie to make her appearance. All of the newborn sized clothes are washed, the diapers are washed and ready and today Joe put together the dresser that my parents bought for Abbie. I even washed her quilts (one that I made and one that my Aunt Joanie made for her). Have I mentioned that I hate waiting and that I am not good at surprises. I just want to get this over with. I am sleeping a little better and that is a blessing.

I did manage to get a little quilting related work done today. I had (actually still have, but it is significantly smaller) a pile of scraps sitting on my cutting table from various projects waiting to be cut up a-la Bonnie and I managed to make a good dent in the pile. I haven't used my scraps for much yet (except my strings quilt) but I know that one day I will be able to go into my room and put together a quilt with all of these pieces that I have cut up. I have been focusing on making 2 1/2" strips and squares and probably have enough now for a rather large quilt, all I would really need to add would be a background fabric or lights since I seem to have more mediums and darks than anything else.

I am posting 2 pictures. One is of the wonderful ABC quilt that my Aunt Joanie made for Abbie and the other one is of all of the newborn sized clothes that I have for Abbie. I have only bought three sleepers for her all of the rest were either loaned to me or given to me. If Abbie is anything like her brother, she is going to outgrow the newborn size before she can even wear all of these clothes.

Insomnia productivity

Well I went to the doctor yesterday and she checked me and said I was 1-2 and 70-80% effaced. Progress, but I was hoping for a little more than that. She also said that she thought I would deliver in the next week, but I am not optomistic. At the end of my pregnancy with Alex I had a funny metalic taste in my mouth for about the last 6 days before I delivered and that taste went away as soon as I delivered. Well, yesterday I woke up with that taste in my mouth and was very excited, but it has gone away and I am now dissapointed. It is not that the pregnancy itself is that difficult, it's that I can't sleep and if I am not going to be sleeping I would rather it be because I was getting up with a baby. Also, I am not very good with surprises and this whole I could deliver tomorrow or I could deliver 3 weeks from now thing is driving me nuts.

One good thing about the insomnia is that I have made some progress towards my goals for this week, plus a little extra:

1. Clean off the quilting machine and take a picture so that I can get it listed on ebay.

Well, I have cleaned off the machine and now I just need to go take some pictures before it gets covered in stuff again.

2. Get Alex's coat cut out and start of construction

I am almost done making this coat. It has turned out pretty cute and I can't wait for it to cool down so he can wear it.

3. Put the inner border on the king sized quilt

I haven't done anything towards this goal yet.

Lastly, I cleaned out two large boxes full of clutter from my closet last night. Those boxes had been sitting there since we moved in and it was more than time to get them out. I also have managed to do some laundry and make up some more of the new style diaper wipes (I use cloth diapers, and have started making wipes with terry on one side and flannel on the other). I actually am having alot of fun making the wipes because I have been able to use up some flannel scraps that I had left over from making Alex's diapers and also use up some old towels that have been piling up in the laundry room.

I'll post pictures as soon as I finish Alex's coat.

Joe's Back

Joe got back last night and took today off and watched Alex all day. It was nice to have a day off, but I really didn't get as much done as I had hoped. I did manage to get Alex's coat cut out and start on the construction. I think that it's going to be really cute. The pattern has a problem and with the middle front section, but I think that it is going to be okay in the end.

I saw this quilt on someone else's webshots (sorry I don't remember who it is) and I am dying to make it. I love 30's fabrics and have a rather large collection and I have been looking for a good pattern to use some up. Someone on stashbusters said that they kept a list of 10 ongoing projects and when the finished one project they could add another to the list. I think that this might be a good way so that I can start new projects without feeling guilty. Maybe I will work on that list tomorrow.

Goals

Well I managed to complete all of my goals for last week. Here are my goals for this week:

1. Clean off the quilting machine and take a picture so that I can get it listed on ebay.

2. Get Alex's coat cut out and start of construction

3. Put the inner border on the king sized quilt

I am keeping the goals small because if this baby decides to come I am not going to have any time to sew anyway.

Insomnia

Well the pregnancy insomnia has hit me hard tonight. I went to bed at 10:30 and finally gave up trying to sleep at 3am. Called in sick to work. I am supposed to meet my supervisor today for my annual evaluation. I don't think it looks good to call in sick on your eval day. I did tell them to have her call me and that I would come in for the eval. I feel doubly bad because I took Alex to stay with his grandparents last night so that I could work today. I am sure that my mom won't truly mind. I think that one of the reasons that I couldn't sleep was that Alex wasn't here. I have been with out Joe in the house before, but this is the first night in almost two years that I have been at home and Alex has not been here.

I did manage to be a bit productive tonight. I am putting in some pictures. The two star blocks are the BOM from Quilter's Delight. I am glad to have them done so that if Abbie is born before I can go show them at least one of my firends should be able to bring them in to show and I won't have to pay. The other two blocks are the log cabin variation that I have shown before and the alternate block. It is hard to see in the picture, but the alternate block has a row of the background fabric around the outside and is the same size as the other block. I am not sure that I like this enough to make up a twin sized quilt, but I think that it will make a cute baby quilt. I'll have to let them age a bit. The two piles of hst blocks are the "waste" from making all of the flying geese for the star points of the BOM. I think that I will make some kind of sawtooth border for the final quilt. By the time I have made all 12 blocks I will have 96 hst blocks made for eash quilt. The last picture is of the string blocks that I am using for leader/enders on my machine. I have made 15 of them in the short time since I finished my last string quilt. It has been fun to pull out the string pieces and remember what quilt the original fabric came from.