Sugar Bowl...Cross and Crown...Oh Susannah...Double 2 and the Ohio Star

The Sugar Bowl Block...I decided to use two medium fabrics instead of using teal for this. It added more color and I placed to to break up some of the heavy teal blocks. It is always tricky to sew those curves together and I wasn't sure how to quilt it so I just started in the middle with my free motion attachment and did a whimsical spiral. This one I just jumped in and didn't draw it first and I think it turned out pretty cute.

The Cross and Crown Block...To me it looks similar to the Bear Claw but with the cross through the middle. I used teal for that and looped with my free motion up and down the crown. That is all the quilting I did because I didn't want to take away from the colors. I did do a flourish in each of the teal corners. I have to admit, I did draw my swirls so it wasn't so stressful.

Oh Susannah Block...is a variation of the Pinwheel which I can show next time. I love that with adding the half square triangle in on one side it give the look of the teal square in the middle. I used simple quilting for this one and kept it geometric with the triangles.

Double 2 Block...is what this one is called. I tried this with no templates at all. I have to admit I had some help with some of the first blocks I made. My mom had a "learning to quilt" book with templates for some of the blocks in the book Michelle gave me so that is where I started. There were no templates for some of them and I was getting more and more confident so I thought I would try to come up with my own measurements and make this one. It was not turning out. I had to take it apart and rework my math. Quilt math...I am not good at quilt math! I realized that most of the blocks I had done to that point were 9 patch so the block is divided by threes. Some of the ones I wanted to do were four by four. This was one of these. Thankfully all of the squares I had made were too big and it was easy to cut them down to the right size. This quilting is a little geometric with the triangles and a little whimsical with the flower.

Ohio Star Block...most quilters know this one and it was fun and easy to follow the measurements that were in my moms book. I decided to do squiggles in the teal area and then fourishes in the four teal triangles.

The Hollisters Are Back!

I found myself this evening digging through bins downstairs before bedtime looking for the second volume of the Happy Hollisters. There are 33 books based on the fictional family the Hollisters whose books were popular in the 50s and 60s, the first four books released in 1953 and the last one in 1969 (the year before I was born).

Zach has had a hard time sleeping these last couple of weeks and so I introduced him to the first book and gave him a booklight in hopes that reading a couple of chapters would get his eyes to feel a little heavy, aiding in sleep. It has worked on the nights that he gets to bed at a decent time. Summer sleep habits are well, terrible around here. We all seem to be night owls.

I read some of the Happy Hollister books when I was younger. I was not a fast reader and so I lost interest in books that were long. These chapter books were great for me because they kept my attention and as a result, kept me reading. When eBay was first a thing I spent much of my first auction bids on nostalgic items that I remembered from my childhood. It took me awhile, but I was able to get a copy of all 33 of the books in the series.

We didn't have kids back then. In fact, we weren't sure if we were ever going to be parents and I think it helped me to search for some of these things that I knew I would love to share with my children when or if they would come along. I had purchased up through volume 32 ...the Monster Mystery when I was noticing that 33 was a little out of my price range, in every auction I found. I just couldn't find myself spending $75 for one book. I did some researching and found that there weren't as many published of 33 because it was the last one. They were worth a little more. My mom surprised me one Christmas with number 33 ...Mystery of the Midnight Trolls which completed my set.

I read through number 15 (...Mystery of the Totem Faces) with the triplets when they were little. I picked up from there when Zach and Matt were little and read through 18 (...Mystery of the Little Mermaid) with them. My favorite has always been ...Scarecrow Mystery #14 but I love the very first one too. All of them are entertaining and the adventures are at different places and the kids learn a lot about different parts of the world. They are super-fun to read aloud too!

Zach finished the first book last night. He asked this evening if I could find the second one for him. I could and since Zach will only read them in order I figured I should probably print out the list so when he gets done with the next one I will know which one to find next. (Not all of them have numbers on the dust jackets)

Imagine my surprise when I found this AWESOME website. I had no idea that somewhere in the middle of raising my kids, they have brought back the Hollister gang and have republished some of their books! To find out more information, just click THE HAPPY HOLLISTERS. There are even some ready to download in Kindle editions! I have to giggle when I see the tab "talk like a Hollister". It explains the different words that they used back then.

I am so happy that he has taken an interest in the Hollister family. They are solving mysteries for the next generation and I am thrilled! So thrilled, I may have to save up my money and buy a Happy Hollister t-shirt!

Rail Fence - Shoo Fly - Shoo Fly Variation - Card Trick - and the Bear Claw

First up, Rail Fence. Pretty straight forward with four strips sewn together and then cut to the squares and arranged to almost look like they are going around the block. When it came time to quilt, I chose to do a free motion flower. I bought these awesome pens from Nancy's Notions that write on fabric and iron off with heat. No water needed. It worked so well. With the quilting I used some geometric design and some were drawn out first. Others I tried without much planning at all. I used a variegated teal on the whole quilt.










Shoo Fly was next. To be honest when the pieces all fit together and the block was done, I was a little less than impressed. I am not sure but I think that my preference is more than two colors in my blocks. But, using the geometric design in the quilting made me really love it in the end!













The third block I put together is a variation of the Shoo Fly block in that the corners are the same but changing the side squares to include a third color and keeping the middle square teal it looks totally different. I mixed some squiggles and some geometric quilting for this one. Once again, the quilting makes it pop!








Wow, was this one ever fun! It was serious concentration and when you put together the Card Trick block you really need to pay attention or like me, you will have to take out and move around and re-sew A LOT! It won't be as hard the next time though. It was totally worth the extra effort because this is one of my favorites. I quilted with little stems in the teal triangles. I thought about a little stitch in the ditch which might have been good to keep the middle tacked down.







Presenting...the Bear Claw. Matthew can identify this one anywhere. He was in the living room past bedtime one night not wanting to go to bed. I turned on YouTube and looked for some instruction on a few of the blocks I was ready to do next. Figuring he would get up and head to bed, my plan backfired and he stayed up a little longer watching tutorials for each block with me! A week or so later when I was laying all the blocks out he was naming them as I put them down on the floor! I think it is cute. For the quilting I squiggled down the teal stripes.

Totally Out of the Wheelhouse

There are things that I have learned only because I acquired a husband. Not just any one mind you, but my husband. He is the best in every way and I wouldn't change a thing. However, there are things that have changed me as a married woman. Here are just a few that come to mind...James Bond, Star Trek, Babylon 5, Stargate. Yes, my level of enjoyment of certain shows has grown as I have watched with my husband who enjoys different genres than I was used to before I became his wife.

There are other things too. Like, I can cut a man's hair. I can, but I won't. In the early years I cut David's hair. I could do it and did but never felt like I really knew what I was doing. I was still only "girlfriend" when I started hemming pants for him. It felt domestic as we were in college to pull out my machine in my dorm and hem my boyfriend's dress pants. I am pretty good at it in fact. Which leads us to last week.  David needed a suit. He hasn't had a new one for many years. In fact, the last two suits he got were before children. I had a 30% off at Kohls coupon a couple weeks back and there was a sale on top of that, so I picked him up pants and a suit jacket and thought we would start with that. Only thing is, the sleeves were too long. I have a husband who needs things shortened and a son who shops for tall. The gene pool is wide in our family. Surely I could take up the sleeves in a man's suit coat. I seem to like to tackle more and more difficult tasks in my sewing room these days.

AHHH! What have I done?!

BREATHE...just BREATHE!

No turning back...this is more taken off
than ANY of the YouTube videos showed!

 And before you knew it, the shortened sleeve was  complete and looking great! I surprised myself because there were a couple of times I kept rolling around in my head that "I REALLY don't want to be doing this!" It was a little stressful when you think of cutting fabric from a suit coat but I think it turned out pretty good in the end. Maybe it wasn't too far from the wheelhouse after all!

A LONG Time Coming For My LONG time (NOT Old) Friend

I have a friend. We have been friends for a very long time. I have wanted to make a quilt for her for a few years now, especially after the benefit that she helped put on for us a year-and-a-half ago now, and her part in getting the ball rolling with all of that. She has been there for moral support, not just in this cancer season but since high school and all of life's ups and downs. Between us it has been a lot! But one thing about my friend Michelle...we always laugh, even through the tears. There is always something to laugh about when we are together!

For today, I will show the final product on the day that I was so excited to surprise her and see how she liked it. To be honest, it is my favorite quilt to date, I was a little sad when it was done. I learned a lot and have become a better quilter because of it. I wish learning would have been this much fun as a kid!

I will share more about the whole process in upcoming posts. I originally thought I would include it all in one post, but as you see it is a sampler quilt and each and every block has a story.

The story actually started when I was making a totally different quilt a couple of years ago that I planned to give her for her birthday. They say measure twice, cut once and well...I guess I got it backwards or something because I had just enough fabric to add some sashing to the sides and then it would be done. But, that would be too easy and somewhere along the way I measured once, or maybe just eye balled it? I don't know what happened that day but I cut them wrong and then the whole project wasn't fun anymore. I will go back and do something with it, it just wasn't meant to be Michelle's birthday present!

The idea for this quilt started in February when Michelle asked if I would be interested in a book that her mother-in-law had. It had many different kinds of sampler blocks and being a person who usually likes a pattern to go step by step, I saw a little glimpse of what could come if I studied some of these blocks. A couple of months later, it hit me how cool it would be to make Michelle a sampler quilt made completely with blocks that I found in her mother-in-law's book. So, there was my inspiration. I will show some close ups in upcoming posts. Yeah, now that I am sharing about it, I AM sad that it is done!

Flowers for the Soloist

I accidentally took one of my all time favorite pictures last week. We don't have a camera aside from our phones since ours was stolen when Dawn was on a trip a couple years ago. But every once in awhile I snap a great moment on my phone.

Admittedly, I have to say most of the time I am a smidge too early or a tad too late and miss it. But, this picture is dear to me. As dear as the hearts in these two young ladies. As different as can be but sister bonds are strong...womb-mate bonds seem to be even stronger.

I posted about show choir choreography camp yesterday. It was a busy week. Dawn and Ryan came home every night sore and exhausted. They learned the bulk of their routine for the upcoming show choir year.

On Tuesday there were auditions. Dawn was chosen to sing the ballad solo and she was so surprised and thrilled. She will do great and I am proud of her. Ryan got a back up solo and he is a dance captain. That boy...he has the moves!

Stacey and I had to make a trip to Walmart on Tuesday night and as we walked in she pointed to the flowers and said "Mom! I have to get flowers for Dawn!" She picked out the prettiest purpliest flowers they had and when we got home, she presented them to her sister. And then...this. This sister-love picture. I am so thankful!

Choreography Camp

Last week was choreography camp. The first event of the summer that marks the beginning of the end. This week is pretty quiet but then it starts up again with drum line camp and then marching band camp and then...well, it will be August and school will be starting again. This summer has flown by, but enough of that...it is still July and we are going to enjoy every day of summer that is left!

Back to camp...I get to help serve food and hang out with some other cool show choir moms during the week. The kids worked hard and boy, whoever says show choir isn't a sport has no idea what they are talking about. There was a lot of sweat and a lot of aches and pains as the week progressed.

But, that said I LOVE THIS YEAR'S SHOW!!! It is going to be great! There is still a lot of work, but the initial learning is now in their brains and their muscles and as school starts, Monday nights will be busy working on perfecting it all.

Here we have Ryan with some of his moves:

 And Dawn too:

 On Thursday afternoon the very last thing they do is both show choirs perform their shows for each other (and any parents who want to come watch). Let me tell you, walking into the school by the fourth day it was pretty ripe in there! It is the smell of hard work and happy dancers! They both looked great!

I can't wait to mark my calendar and plan the show choir season. It has gotten off to a very great start!

Random Memories Down the Lane

Spending time downstairs this past week I stumbled upon a great blast from the past on Amazon Prime when I saw Match Game 73 and Match Game 75, both seasons! I was curious because this game show of all things is connected to my very first memories as a child. There are a lot of things that I remember, and from my experience talking with others I remember more details than most about a few of those experiences.

Match Game...It was probably more like 74-76 that I remember this show. We lived in a mobile home on my grandparent's farm because my dad had been stationed in Thailand for a year when I was three. We continued to live there after he returned until halfway through my first grade year. My brother and I are 18 months apart and my mom often let us nap together in her bed in the back of the house. We screwed around back there a lot! I remember squeezing ourselves under the vanity in her room with stuffed animals and pillows thinking we would sleep under there. But what I remember most about nap time in the trailer house was that we would sneak down the hallway and position ourselves where mom couldn't see us but we could see the television. 

Mom made our clothes for us mostly because back in those days it was less expensive to sew them than to buy them. So often she had her sewing machine on the kitchen table and would have the tv on while she worked. The fun thing was we got to see Match Game since that is what was usually on during nap time. Finding a couple of seasons of that on Amazon Prime last week was fun. I remember most of the celebrities that are on there not because of the shows they were starring in, but because of the fact they sat on that set of Match Game. 

I think that whole experience prompted me to think about my 9x13 inch lasagna pan. My mom had one, my grandmother had one and it is strange I was thinking that it wasn't til about two years ago (because I put it on a Christmas wish list) that I have one myself.  Why did it take me 20+ years to acquire one?

The thing I remember most from that time of my life was that Grandma made Crazy Cake. We make it here too because the boys love to watch the soda and the vinegar react. Back in those days though, my aunt and I (she is four years older than I am) would play dolls all the time. One day we played wedding and my grandma made Crazy Cake for "the wedding" and decorated it for us.

It is silly out of all of the things that we remember in our lives that these random moments are triggered by things like tv shows while I sew or lasagna pans when I do the dishes. Our minds are so amazing and I don't understand how it works. I just know that these two memories didn't come from a photo album where I remembered because I saw a picture of it. These two memories came from the days before cell phones and the ability to photo document ever moment of our lives.

I am thankful for those warm fuzzies every once in awhile!

Not Sure How to Feel About That

I have written posts about my barberry bushes before. We have a love-hate relationship. In order to keep the enrty to our home tidy and neat I really have to trim them twice a year. There are a ba-zillion of them so that is not going to happen anymore. Plus, when I clip them, the red all comes off and the bush that is left is just green like the bushes beside them. So, they aren't nearly as beautiful as they could be if they were just left to grow.

We have wanted to move them to the side of the house, but over the weekend decided that we will indeed wait to move them until the fall when the research I have done tells us it is the best time for them. Because I have had to apologize to a few guest for the pokey branches that have grown out into the sidewalk, I knew I would need to trim the plants at least on the inside by the sidewalk.

Well, David is on vacation this week and his sister is here visiting. The three of us were sitting in the living room chatting with coffee this morning when the mail came. Soon after the familiar sound of the mailbox shutting, David and Michelle were trying to peek out the curtain from their seats. They said that the mail carrier was standing in the middle of our sidewalk. 

We couldn't see well through the sheer curtains on either side of the door but it seemed like he was bending over. He took a couple of steps and stopped to bend over again. From where I sat, it looked like he had dropped some mail and was trying to pick it up, like some of it had fallen into the bushes.

Being curious to see if he had gotten it all, I went outside once he left. Guess what I saw...branches of our barberry bushes lining the sidewalk from the porch to the driveway! Seems he was tired of getting "attacked" by the prickly barberries! I am not sure how I feel about this...in my humanness I think "The NERVE!" But, in my compassion I feel bad that I haven't gotten out there before now. 

I will confess, it is still a little more of the first reaction than the second unfortunately because I keep thinking in my head "no WAY am I going out there today and doing it to give him the satisfaction of making his point, especially because I know I was already planning to clip them!" I feel like leaving those clippings right there so he has to walk on them tomorrow! Maybe if I leave it, he will clip a few more for me tomorrow! But for now it looks like he did half my job for me!