Maybe it is the gym...

I went back to the gym this morning.... after being gone for over a month. There was no heckling, no laughing, not even a bit of pointing...it was all just OK. It was OK, that I have been having issues getting to workout, with a husband traveling and being sick with a cough for weeks. It was OK, that I just got on the elliptical trainer with the expectation that I would tough it out for 30 minutes. It was OK, that after the 30 minutes I just did my back exercises and stretched. It was just GREAT to return home and know that I had taken care of my body and that I had energy to take care of myself, my family, and my home. What a MARVELous way to start out a week!

JMB

Time...keeps ticking away~!

Here I am again talking inside of my head... there has been a lot of it lately, to me it is much more productive to write it down here. This blog tends to get me out of the constant brain idea cycle. You know to help the ol' thinker weed out the chaff from the grain. I have been feeling that, though I have been doing a whole mess of creative work, that the idea chaff has been holding me back and gumming up the works.

I had a burst of inspiration last week and I basted 2 quilt tops that have been hanging out for about 6 months. These are the two most recent tops and so don't think that a 6 month turnaround is my style AT ALL. There are many that are still working on their high notes...curing they might say, if they were salami. Anyway, I forget the work, physically, that goes in to quilting a larger quilt. Maneuvering the fabric, deciding on designs, basting with the pins, removing the pins...I need to have some warm-up exercises next time, just for the fingers! I feel like it is going well, and as the quilt is a gift, I will reveal it after it is gifted.

I also participated in the FIRST EVER! Craftsanity Fabric Postcard Swap, it was really fun. I have never made a little quilt on that really thick Peltex stabilizer before. It was really easy and fun. Jennifer A.-H. suggested the double sided fusible type, but I am not good with irons and gluey stuff, so I just used the plain and basted it like a quilt.
Here is the one that I received from a nice Kathy in Michigan. It was very exciting to get quilty things in the mail!!! I will definitely make more card and send more cards. Here are some instructions on the Craftsanity site. (Actually it is her newspaper blog, that girl is so all over the net.) I also got an old quilt at a garage sale the other day and I am so happy that I purchased it. When I first saw it, I was attracted to the wild flower print that is actually the back, and it has this lovely sueded patchwork on the front. It is very soft and works perfectly on the back on the couch in our sunroom. (the one where I just hate the print, but who wants to go through the process of fixing that?).
As an odd aside...this shot of my son "mopping" floor reminds me of this amazing painting that saw in Paris ....I just found it here , it is called "The Floor Scrapers" by Gustave Caillebotte. The richness of the wood in the painting and the depiction of the mundane made beautiful, of my whole trip it was the piece I remember still now, a decade later. I like when art is like that. It was at the Musee d'Orsay, if you are ever in the neighborhood.

The garden is shaping up nicely, my husband and the boys have put in another 2 yards (volume not length) of pathway rock and I am just so happy.

JMB

A finished quilt and some veggies!

My snuggle quilt for my youngest boy is finished! Hooray--I am so happy mostly because he is now 2 and I bought the fabric *especially* for a quilt for him when I was pregnant. He likes snuggling with a flannel receiving blanket, so I did not use any batting in this little quilt. I love it.... that said, if I were to do it again (I am not going to) I would maybe put a batting of flannel. I think that the quilting would look nicer...blah blah blah. The other exciting thing that happened when I was making this quilt was (drum roll...) I bought myself a new sewing machine....I think that I might be willing to dress in rags for the rest of my life because I can sew on this machine. It is a Bernina and I feel so ritzy....

So, I guess I really like it...I like the variable speed A LOT. My old machine was a Viking and I totally loved it....BUT can you say BSR (Bernina Stitch Regulator)? I started playing with this machine when the BSR foot first came out and I have been coveting it ever since. I am glad that I decided that I was deserving of such a great treat and it is nice that my husband thought so too!

This picture is a bit weird, but it is a little sea horse that I drew out first and then quilted it...I haven't ever drawn out a design before---I am more a "by the seat of my pants" type of girl. It totally has merit...I even tried the old trick of tracing over the picture first and then quilting and it went very smoothly. (I just think that it would look better with a bit of loft behind it, but I have to practice where I can...)

I just finished basting up on of my mystery WIP (Works In Progress--for those out of the loop--like myself, it took me a bit to figure out why everyone was spelling "whip" wrong on their blogs--and maybe I wasn't so interested in a blog "like that"....but you live and learn.) I am excited to get started on quilting it, because it needs to be finished and I need to get rolling on the may other UFOs (Un-Finished Objectionables, in my book.) Remember we have to move out the fabric to move in yet more, right?? *Note: I did read the other day about QuIPs--for Quilts In Progress and I think that sounds WAY more positive.

I have also been working on a Summer class with Lazy Gal Tonya, here are my latest endeavors, it is turning into quite the neighborhood...really fun to do.

Lastly, I feel the need to toot my own green horn (?!)--I have actually been EATING the greens that I have grown over the winter!!! What we have here in this basket is mostly just Swiss chard, but there is some kale in there as well as these crazy Bright lights chard leaves from a plant that is almost a year old. I planted it near my dahlias, so I think that when it got really hot last summer the plant was really shaded and so there was no bolting. Bright lights--not a prettier vegetable out there.

I have not always eaten greens, but the last few years I have been trying them out in soups (cut into ribbons they are rather noodley.) and sauteed. I am partial to the soups because I tend to over cook them and I haven't found a recipe that I like a lot. One of my friend really likes to cook hers with bacon (how could you go wrong with a little pig fat?) but bacon is like crack to me, and I really don't need to eat more of it. I will try some more ideas and report back.

Here's to more quilting!!!

JMB

quick peek...a week in pictures...

I have been missing my blog time.

Between coughing and

Easter and

Birthdays....

and after looking at my pictures...

the lambing barn and

quilting and

breakfast dates on the bus and

more quilting and

painting and

finally some sunshine.

I guess Spring Break was sort of busy.

I am hoping to get back into the blog of things soon....the kid's room will be done tonight and thank goodness, I will be able to get my little realm back to "normal".

I hope that others enjoyed a warmer and drier vacation than we did (I think that it "snowed" 4 of the 7 days this week)----But my plants are growing and that makes it all OK.

JMB

Obama-o-rama

I got to see him tonight.
I got to hear his words from his own mouth--real time.

It was amazing, mostly because I don't like these types of things. I don't like being in large groups of people with crazy amounts energy. But, I do have to say that tonight it felt good. It felt really good to look around our local basketball arena and feel people, hear people, see people wanting change. For the most part things stayed on the positive--what we WANT as Americans instead of what we don't want. It is powerful to look around a huge room and see people wanting to be a community. A community of people who care about their neighbors, who want them to have healthcare, opportunities in education and employment, clean air, and a government accountable to the People and to the Constitution. I think that people around me have always wanted these things, but because of the divisiveness of popular politics--it has been "very out of fashion" to admit to wanting these things.

Obama spoke of "being willing to challenge ourselves to be better neighbors, and better parents, and better citizens, then there would be no problem that we could not solve, there would be no destiny that we could not fulfill."

The thing is--- I actually believe this, I have for a long time and I have just never heard a Presidential candidate say it out loud. He was the first for me, that is why I am going to vote for him. I have heard people laughing about comments like this as being naive and that Barak really is just telling us what we want to hear...blah, blah, blah. Well, I will take the earnestness of a man who is calling upon each of us to unite, take responsibility for, and make something of our country over the cynicism of the status quo ANY DAY. If I can't believe that these things are possible, I just can't go on living in this country. The only way that I can see to go on, to instill in my children a desire to leave things better than when they found it, to help others when you are able, to be accountable for your actions, is to believe that change is possible....in large and small ways.

No matter what happens in November, no matter who is in the White House, It was wonderful tonight to hear someone speak words that I feel in my own heart. It was wonderful tonight to look out on a sea of faces and recognize within them that there was that same desire that is within me-- a desire for Community instead of division, Growth instead of stagnation, and Hope instead of fear.

Two Words that I kept seeing tonight:
HOPE
followed by
ACTION
I like that--simple, yet doable in so many ways.
JMB

One for the husband...

This post is just for my husband, he wanted to share some important facts about every one's favorite Texas Ranger, please enjoy with caution---you might just laugh a bit.
I saw this quilt this weekend and I am TOTALLY obsessed. It is so gorgeous (this is not the best picture) and I want to make one...the stripes and the red tips---the cheddar one in the middle...YUM!
Here is the info---I finally remembered to take note.
We ate skinnamon rolls...I think that I snagged a few bites, but it wasn't easy.
This is so my youngest's personality---He WILL sit at the big table and eat with the big fork, who cares if he can see...Power to the people!
Excuse this picture, I need to document these curls--they are like a golden halo, and I fear they will not last.
I am watching a sweet little British dramady William and Mary about an undertaker and a midwife that fall in love and try to create a life together Brady style. I am also totally hooked on Juno, the music and the movie. I find nerdy tunes charming...my son asks for me to replay the bride song. It is quite cute.

JMB

There is always more to come...

Here I am again--so long gone--mostly in my head--but feeling a bit silly about feeling shy.
This happened AGAIN, please read my tutorial, so that you too can learn how to experience the "Why didn't I cut the edge shorter?" feeling along with me. I am sure that it will happen again, I rarely learn things the easy way. I think that I prefer to do mostly everything the hard way (X2) so that I "can build character." If you must know, I think that I maybe full-up of character at the moment, so maybe I should just let myself be.
I did try something new--meaning, a wonky house made for a cute little wind-up bird. I have been thinking about this and while I decided that the house was not my most favorite thing...making this little quilt was a favorite thing and I am looking forward to finishing the quilting (maybe tomorrow morning??)

Making these funny little quilts and funny little blocks (to be shared later)is very freeing and it brings a joyfulness and a playfulness to my spirit and a passion that I had been missing (but not realized the lack of). Thanks again to Lazy Gal Tonya for her inspiration, hard work and willingness to share her own quilting passion. She just started another class that could help you to find that passion as well...join us if you like!

I feel better now, not so sheepish, thanks for not letting me hold it against myself.
JMB