How can it be the end of August already??

Next weekend is Labor Day!! Time is going amazingly fast. Miss P is going to be 1 in just 3 weeks ... how is that possible?

I've posted a picture of "My graduation quilt". This is a quilt I made for myself when my youngest - my daughter graduated from HS in 1997. I wanted something to remember all the school days and programs that was so much of our life. L was in jump rope club in elementary school - encourage your kids to join if possible - it was wonderful! So the pattern was a natural for me. A good friend asked me where A was. I fluffed her off. But she pushed the point and I said, "He must be behind the schoolhouse smoking!" - which he did on occasion! And after we stopped laughing I just had to add smoke rings coming from the left side of the school house. My son has always had a great sense of humor and thank goodness he took this teasing in the quilt in stride too.

University starts tomorrow and first football game is next Saturday! Football Saturdays really crowd the weekends. YIKES - fall will be in full swing before we're ready for it. And hopefully cooler weather will follow.

Two friends and I went to the state fair today. After making lunch out of Indian Tacos - taco fixings on fry bread - it's great! We wandered thru the needlework exhibits, the photography exhibition and then we got serious and walked thru the quilts. What a great "show". My friend J took over 600 pictures! I'm pretty sure we got all of them - maybe more than once! We always have to walk the aisles the first time - then circle back going the other way ... you always see at least one quilt you didn't notice before.

Oh - did you notice? I got to cross off the wool penny rug from my fab5+ list! YaHoo! A finished project. Onto the next ... I'm hand quilting "Starry Starry Nights" that may be next if I get busy on it.

Mom said she heard on the radio that the average American reads 4 books a year! It was down from 10! That sounds incredible low to me. I keep track (I'm a data person, what can I do!) and I read 40 - 60 books a year. Used to be more! My DH doesn't read very many "books" but reads several papers a day and 5 business magazines a week and golf magazines ... Seems to me that someone isn't doing their share!

School's Starting

Don't you just love the beginning of school? I do. The heat and humidity here have eased up about 10 degrees and 10% - finally, I can breathe outside! Come on fall weather!

I work for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the Institutional Research & Planning Office. We're scrambling this week to get ready for the start of the fall semester next Monday. But even being too busy doesn't keep me from loving fall. I think the beginning of school is a great time for resolutions. This year I can recycle all my January resolutions! How about you? Ready to recommit to some changes?

Only 124 days to Christmas! I haven't even really decided what I'm making for anyone let alone started any projects. I usually make something for my mom, my small quilt group, pillows for my sisters and of course, something for my secret pal. Hmmm, this weekend I should look into that!

Summer Blahs!

Another HOT MUGGY weekend in Nebraska. It's still sapping all my energy. But I've pinned the last two sides [with the tabs] on the wool penny rug. Hope to finish it Monday night at my small group meeting - Scrap Happens.

I was reading a blog about revamping sewing spaces and someone suggested the book "Reorganizing from the Inside Out". I got it from the library and started it. It's interesting and really makes alot of sense as to why there's clutter. I'm working my way up to the sewing room - but cleaned out bathroom cupboards this weekend. Surprising how good it feels!

Okay - I'm a dope!

Did you realize that this summer is almost over??? I missed the sign up for the fair by a WEEK. I usually have a week after coming home from Oregon to take care of the fair. I forgot we went a week later than usual. So I'll be buying my tickets full price - darn.

Above is the Oregon Lighthouse quilt I entered last year. The lighthouse panels are silk screened. I got a 5th place ribbon on it - but I also got an offer to buy it! Thanks - but no way! It's a favorite! The small wall quilt in my hands is a Quilted Lizard accidental landscape - the beach. That technique is fun and addictive.

So without the fair entry to worry about - it's on to worrying about what to put in our guild's show next June!

I got all 16 penny rug tongues [tabs] done - hope to finish assembling it this weekend. Hmmm, where did I put those instructions again! It's one of my Fab5 - I'm so excited to cross off my first finished project using this method! Don't you love lists!

Sunday Night Report

Well, that was a weekend! Got a lot done. Washed 5 loads of fabrics – I found fabric given to me as a Christmas present last year! Guess I hadn’t cleared the cutting table this year and hadn’t washed fabric for quite awhile. It IS an 8 foot table and I can usually displace things to one end or the other! All that fabric was on it though.

Today 3 quilting friends came over and we consulted and sewed and had a great time. I’ve got 13 of 16 wool penny rug tongues ready. Now I have to find the wool and cut 3 more – the red just shredded on me. Plan B coming up.

I think I can safely sign up for entries on the State Fair site – Kinsey’s Whimsy and the penny wool rug. And buy cheap tickets! Above is a picture of Kinsey’s Whimsy. The guild challenge was to create a quilt for a character in a book. I chose Kinsey Millhone from Sue Grafton’s mystery series. “A is for Alibi”. I used the leftover blocks on one of my famous backs!

My backs - guess it's time to come clean! I've been known [LOL!] to put weird backs on my quilts. I once made a snowman quilt - it was an original adaptation to a "Red Wagon' design. I was in a hurry - grabbed a "cold" looking peach fabric. Yes I've taken a lot of flack for it - my excuse was to say ""Even in the worst winter spring is on it's way!" Hey - it looked fine until the red binding wrapped around to the back!

Alright, fast forward a few years. I was in a workshop with a great teacher when she showed an unusual back - friends in the class all chimed in "its a doni back". She laughed, we all laughed but then she announced it at the guild meeting that night! My only 15 minutes of fame [I hope!]

Quilting in the Land of Plenty

Okay, now I'm more like myself now! I wasn't sure I'd make it the whole week at work! But now it's the weekend and time to chill out! - in the sewing room! This week I turned 55 and I'm having a little trouble with that! I don't usually have any set backs with birthdays. But 6 months later my new knee isn't up to my standards yet. And I FEEL like an old woman! Gotta to work through that and get back to me. I'm afraid that includes the 4 letter word we all hate - diet. Losing weight could make the difference.

When we got home from Oregon we piled everything from the car out of the way - yep, you guessed it - in the sewing room. What a disaster! That room was pretty much a mess anyway. Tomorrow morning I'm going in!! I peeked in today and that is a mountain of FQs on the cutting table. My small group - Scrap Happens - always brings back a FQ from a trip for everyone. Apparently we've been really traveling lately! YIKES! Add what I bought on my trip and there's a whole lot of washing that needs to be going on!

Two weeks to the State Fair. I love entering things in the fair - not because I'm so good - I'm not. But I think it's fun to see all levels in competition. My quilts can inspire someone to go home and try also. PLUS - I really love to buy the cheaper tickets!! I LOVE the fair. I've got the Guild's Literary Challenge but I'd love to enter the wool penny rug. That means 14.1/2 tongues still needed. This weekend better be a long one!

I'll check in Sunday and let you know how it went.

Home Again, Home Again!

Back to normal life and fighting it just a little! It's hot and humid - ICK! Back to work and trying to get caught up. Maybe if I could play in the sewing room - this weekend some friends are getting together to sew and that will help.

The State Fair is coming up at warp speed. I always enter something - mainly because I can buy cheap tickets then. This year ... I have finished the Guild's literary challenge so that's a possibility. I'd love to finish the wool penny rug to enter. But I'll have to get serious real fast. I still need to applique on the tongues and connect them - there are 16 of them. Maybe it's a possibility.

I'll write more when I have a plan!