Fall Fun

The sun has finally made an appearance! After nearly a week or two of gray skies, we finally could take advantage of our yard full of leaves. I don't know if it was the cool summer or lack of fall sun, but our maple trees were the prettiest color this fall. Normally they're pretty for a day and then turn brown. This time they were bright orange, yellow, and red for at least a week.



Ian took control of the rake right away, but really didn't move any of the leaves. When we got the piles made, he didn't like being in them at first, but after a few minutes he warmed up to them, calling them his house. Today he even laid down in them with Darrin as their beds. He helped Darrin fill the yard bags (all nine) with leaves, and that barely made a dent in the yard.










I'm just glad we could get outside and enjoy what's left of the warm weather. After this weekend, it will practically be dark by the time we get home from work and we won't be able to be outside.

Hectic, Happy Weekend - Updated with Video

It was a great 3-day weekend and went way too fast. Friday we had our ultrasound. Ian went along, but could really have cared less. Luckily he had fun playing with his cars on the bed I was laying on. Everything is great with the baby- the levels are either where they should be or better than what they should be. And there wasn't anything to garner a change in our due date, so it stays March 2nd. During the ultrasound, the baby moved around a lot (you could see it kicking and pushing against me), but it wouldn't move so that we could get a front-face shot. So all of our pictures are profile shots. We also didn't find out the sex, so feel free to keep speculating.


On Saturday, I worked at the quilt show, and then Darrin and Ian came out. We had over 350 quilts on display. I showed two, neither of which I had judged, but it was cool to see them hanging up in my first show.

Marlena and her mom pieced this quilt for her wedding.
Sara was the big winner of our group, winning first place from the judge AND viewer's choice for both days of the show.


On Sunday, the gang came over for our weekly get-together. We had been spending the last few Sundays working on our entries for the quilt show, but with that behind us, we got back to scrapbooking (and Ian had fun convincing everyone to play cars and "cook" with him). I got one page done today from when Ian was one-and-a-half, and another one that just needs a title.
And for the heck of it, here's Ian in his "boat". That kid's imagination is going crazy lately and it's so cute what he thinks of.

I got it done!

See that UFO list, over there on the right- I just crossed off Shadow Play. It is done in time for the quilt show this weekend. I left for our quilt guild meeting at 6:20 last night, after eating a quick supper with my boys. At 5:55 I was tucking the last ends of threads between the layers of my Shadow Play quilt. I've been working feverishly on it the last two weeks to get it done. In less than 30 days it went from a pieced top to a quilt, which is crazy for me. Ian got very used to hearing, "Mommy's busy quilting, ask Daddy," and Daddy never seemed to mind. He played the part of both of us these last few weeks, and I'm so thankful for him. One night while I was working on it, I joked with him that he can't wait for me to get done so he doesn't have to do everything around the house. His response was that he can't wait for me to get it done so that he wouldn't be out 5 dollars. Marlena, Sara, and I have started a bet with each other. We pick a date and one of our unfinished projects (or more than one) to have completed by that date. If we don't get it done, we throw $5 into a pot. At the end of the school year, the person who completed the most of their projects wins the pot.

So that comment of Darrin's motivated me, along with his other comment that the center motifs look really cool (he usually never comments on the quilt unless I solicit an opinion). Thank God he said that comment about the motifs, or I would have given up. There were 41 of them and they started off taking about an hour each to sew, which is probably of combination of being the first ones and having lots of fabric to shove between the needle and my machine. I never wished for a long-arm machine more than I did sewing those center blocks. I tried sewing it with afree-motion foot, but there was too much fabric for me to shove to have my stitches look even halfway decent, so I had to switch to my walking foot and sew, pivot, sew, pivot, over and over. When I made it to the blocks closer to the edge, it wasn't too bad. By then it only took 25 minutes to sew the motif (as I write that, it still seems really slow when I look at the size of the motif). But I LOVE how they look. I also stitched up the long, diagonal between the tiny triangles and around the perimeter of the motif blocks to try and tack down some of those spots where there were lots of seams.

So that quilt, along with my Dick and Jane quilt, will be showing in the Cottonwood Quilt Show this weekend- the FIRST quilt show I've ever been in. Next UFO goal: Moneik's prize.

Isn't It Fall?

It is fall, right? I mean, our trees haven't even lost their leaves, and it's snowing outside- on OCTOBER 10!
They said just a dusting, but I think it's more than that... I'm glad it's not sticking to the cement. Darrin pointed out how nice it would be if it always worked that way, and I agreed. You'd have the fun part of the snow (sledding, snowmen) without the work part (shoveling). I pointed out to Darrin, though, that he's going to have to do most of the shoveling this year- thank you pregnancy.

At least it's cold enough for soup- both Darrin and Ian have colds so we'll be eating lots of soup this weekend.

Rockstar

Just a quick post to tide my parents over (I haven't posted about Ian for awhile) until I have time to post pictures of the pumpkin patch. Most of my time awake right now is spent frantically trying to get my quilt quilted, hence the infrequency of posts.

Below is a video of my Rockstar Ian rockin hard with his guitar at 8:00 in the morning. Who has this much energy this early??? Sorry about the poor lighting- I was trying to tape him without him seeing me, so I didn't get the lights turned on.

Quilters

Yesterday, I had a pleasant surprise when I got invited to the musical play Quilters. The overall plot is that a mother (Sarah) is making a legacy quilt incorporating blocks from quilts that were important in her life before she dies. The main focus of the play are the 16 different quilt blocks (42-in square), which are used to tell stories of life on the prairie. These stories weren't necessarily connected with Sarah's life, though, so I got confused sometimes during the play. They're just snippets of pioneer life. They told stories revolving around blocks that included Kansas Dugout, Tumbling Blocks, Windmill, Schoolhouse, Lone Star, Log Cabin, Crosses and Losses, and Tree of Life. Peg Pennell, a quilter in the guild I belong to, designed the legacy quilt, and pieced/quilted it with the help of friends. It measured 12 feet 9 inches square. What does one do with a quilt that size when the play is over?

The lobby of the playhouse was filled with 37 quilts hanging from the ceiling. Some were modern takes on the classics, while others were antiques from the 1800s and early 1900s. In the booklet that described them, they had some quotes from the movie:
* "Each block is different, each pattern has a thread of somebody's life runnin' through it."
* "I tremble sometimes when I remember what that quilt knows about me."
* "I leave this, the work of my hands, to you... May it bring you as much joy and comfort in the using of it as it has brought me in the making of it."

I think I might include that last one on all my quilt labels from now on.

On the Crazy Train

I'm pretty sure I'm a passenger on the crazy train for the next month. We had quilt guild on Monday, and our entries for the next month's quilt show was due. I'm showing my Fun with Dick and Jane quilt, and then I submitted my Shadow Play quilt. Problem is, only the top is done, which means I have less than 30 days to get it sandwiched, marked, quilted, and bound. And the quilting I have picked out to do is not stitch-in-the-ditch, which is what I've done for every quilt. I'm going to attempt free motion. Why did I enter it again?

At least I'm not the only passenger on this crazy train. Marlena entered 4 items for the quilt show, and she only has one finished.

I better go get started. The end of October will be here before I know it.