Wednesday May 30

Just got back from a 15 minute walk with Emily...... it ended with umbrella's up and a little rain. I timed it pretty well as it is now a downpour... like it has been most of the day.

I did manage to finally go pick the second picking of green beans from the garden. I asked the kids to do it the last two days.. yup, it did not get done amid the rain drops. Mom - the orange Tupperware salad bowl is filled.... to give you an idea of the amount. Emily also picked 3 radishes. I'll think of you as I enjoy them!

My heart for the day today.

Time to sweep floors as Emily indicated she'll swiffer Mop them for me! Then clean bathrooms and it will be about time to head to gymnastics. Shoot.. I'll defrost some burger meat while doing all that so I can cook up a batch of taco meat for  dinner tonight. I'll have mine over a nice romaine salad with an avocado, tomato and cheese. Yummy.

Hopefully the rains stop after dinner so I can get another walk in... a wee bit longer this time - fingers crossed. I have not hit my 10,000 steps at all this week (or last) with all the rain and thunder storms. 

Tuesday...... or a Monday reboot!

The day after a holiday is always hard to get back into the routine. It is especially hard this week since it is the first week the kids are off school as well. I did get a 30 minute walk in this morning =)

So far it has been quiet... after I asked them to move where they were hammering to find dinosaurs out of something from Emily's teacher like Palentologists (right at the edge of my laundry room/garage area which is my sewing area and office for work!). Then going out to refill my water glass only to find the milk out on the counter along with the blender and the carnation instant breakfast packets. Sigh..... it is going to be a long summer. On the plus side.... Greg will take Aidan to his guitar lesson tonight so I get a break from one activity this week. I'll take the kids to the library this afternoon instead... they need books to read. I told them they still need to read 30 minutes a day... which is like twisting Emily's arm to get her to read. The other one... if he has books to read he will. Complete opposites they are.

On the bright side.....

I have a slew of little hearts on 5 inch squares! I think I will make 4 more to have 36 total and a 6x6 setting of these which will finish at 27 inches square.

My hearts for Monday and today. Only 2 more days left for this heart challenge. Could someone please remind me not to do this in May next year... maybe June.... but may is a busy month!

Here is your link up.

Mom - I ordered an OTT light that is being shipped to you at home. It will give some better light for me at camp for hand work.... you can open it and try it out =). If you really like it..... I can leave it there instead of taking it home with me =)

Memorial Day

It is a holiday to remember those who have served in our military and especially those who have given their life for our freedoms. May we never forget them and may we never stop fighting to keep our democracy alive and our freedoms granted in the constitution. 

I took a nice walk this morning with my favorite veteran - my hubby. He served in the air force after high school. 

The rains just hit.. so happy we got that walk in this morning as the winds are whipping now. 

Time to head back into the sewing room and work on finishing the graduation quilt top, creating the backing and putting it on the boards so it can get pinned for quilting. I have no clue how I will quilt this one.... hope something comes to me in the next week.

I started off the day trimming those hearts I have been making this month down to a 6.5 inch block. I got one heart lined up in the center and drew the shape onto the top of my ruler with an erasable marker. I used that to line up the others to trim them down. I admit I stitched a little ahead and just have one left to make... and 4 of the little hearts.

While I was in there I pieced together strips of the hand quilting batting for the last Dresden plate block and pressed the backing fat quarter in blue. That is all pinned and ready for some hand work at some point today. 

With all the red, white and blue quilts I have been seeing today... it is making me want to pull out my civil war diary quilt I did in those colors. The blocks are done and I think I was in process of putting it together. I am guessing block size variations had it sitting in a time out..... maybe if I get the graduation quilt pinned I might go search for those blocks and see where I was on them..... must stay focused and finish the graduation quilt first. I have 4 weeks to get that baby done!

Sunday...

We are having a rain day today. The kids decided to stay home instead of going to Grandma's house....although she did take them overnight on Thursday so they have seen her this week.

Aidan was returned not feeling well on Friday - after a rough night he was better on Saturday. He did take it easy all day though with a break in the afternoon for some pool time with Emily and me. The pool temps hit 85 and that is when I make it into the pool! We got in before the rain started late yesterday afternoon.

Today I'll putter a bit picking up the house and then will shut myself away in the sewing room for a few hours.... the graduation quilt needs the last borders, a backing needs to get pieced and I want to make my 3 pink blocks for the RSC Challenge sampler before we dip into June! My goal is to get the graduation quilt pinned today for some quilting tomorrow.

I'll also prep my last dresden block for some hand work this evening. I left the dark blue one for last. I finished off the border of the maroon one this morning before everyone else woke up. I'm linking up with the other slow stitchers today at Kathy's Quilts.

I have a few more hearts to share - Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 

There are only a few more days left in the one heart a day in the month of may challenge. 4! I have a few to prep for the smaller blocks and one last one to prep for the big heart. How are you coming along with the challenge? I laid out mine on Thursday to see how they were coming along. I think I prefer the hearts in the corners so I will need all 32 of mine to go with the 31 connector nine patch blocks. Link up below.

Have a Happy and Safe Memorial Day weekend for those in the states. Remember all those who have served our country, especially those who have given the greatest sacrifice for our democracy and freedoms. May their sacrifice never be forgotten.

Thursday May 24.... Last day of school

Today is the last day of school for my kids. They will be in 5th and 4th grade next year! Yikes... how the time does fly! This is the photo before I dropped them to school this morning as 3rd and 4th graders.

I decided to lay out my hearts and nine patches today.. and only got a little help. Looks like I need one more white background square cut out if I decide to put the hearts in the corners.....

Nine patches on the edges.

hearts on the edges.

Here Mom, let us help you rearrange the blocks.... really it will be fun! Said Ollie and Peanut.

I am scheduled to have a girl scout prep meeting this afternoon at my house... but we will see if either co-leader remembers! Grandma is taking the kids this afternoon and keeping them overnight. She will return them tomorrow a little after lunch...Emily has her horse riding lesson tomorrow afternoon.

I suppose I have to go get the little monsters one last time this school year.  Will grab a heart and my purse pouch with my silk thread, needles and little scissors for my last car line wait this year.

Hands2Help 2018 Finish

In the nick of time (did I mention I am a master of procrastination?) I got my scrappy churn dash quilt finished and now washed and ready to mail off to Little Lambs Foundation for Kids this week.
Just in time for the link up at Confessions of a Fabric Addict! The Scrappy churn dash finished off at 50x60 with a snuggly light blue flannel checked backing and a medium blue binding.

In going through some little quilts I had in my hope chest.. I think these will also be sent along to make some little one smile.

This one was a fun panel of the alphabet animals that was finished off with a teal backing and black dot binding. The quilting was a fun swirl and loops with stars around the blocks.

This was a triangle pack I had from ages ago and finally finished it off and got it into a quilt last year. It has been sitting waiting and I think this is the correct home for it. It has a yellow and blue flowery print on the back - good for snuggling.

Head on over and see all the wonderful quilts that were made and donated this year to various charities. Thanks so much to Sarah for hosting this fun event. I look forward to next year..... I still have a stack of churn dashes waiting to make it into a quilt!

I also did a heart today... for my one heart a day in the month of may challenge. Yesterday's post had all my hearts so far this month.

This morning was busy at the kids school for their end of year awards ceremony. Both grades were this morning at 8 and 9:15 so we were at school for a couple of hours. Grandma, their Dad and I all attended and it was  a full house for both classes. Hard to believe they are off for the summer as of Tomorrow a little after Noon! At least this year they only have the last day as a half day of school ..... instead of the whole last week like they did last year.

Emily in her pink dress got AB honor roll and the Math award for her class.

Aidan got All A honor roll, Award of Excellence and a pin, Writing and Art awards for his class.

I'm off to mail off the box of quilts and then pick up some breakfast goodie to send into Emily's class tomorrow. They are having brunch all morning in her class.

Tuesday May 22

We only have a little over a week left in this heart a day challenge! So many pretty hearts are popping up, I thank all of you who decided to take the challenge and play along.

I took some time on Sunday and got all my connector blocks completed and pressed. I decided today was a good day to lay them all out again and see how it is coming along. Oops... guess I made 32 connector blocks... so I can keep them like this or swap the hearts and connector blocks! Peanut decided to 'help' so I didn't play with them.... he was doing enough of that already!

The baby 5 inch squares are coming along well too.

Monday - last week of school!

No, I am not excited to have the kids out of school. It will be interesting but they should be able to entertain themselves while I work in the mornings from home this summer. They only have one week scheduled for Camp Invention and the 2.5 weeks when I take them up to VT.
 I did a bright sunny yellow today... since we just have dreary clouds and rain again today. Looks like another full week of rain.

A few baby hearts got sewn yesterday afternoon while it rained as well. I kept getting knocked off work so it was a movie and stitching day instead.

A Dreary Sunday....

It looks like it wants to rain outside....it never did yesterday but I'm sure we will not be so lucky today. I did make a pink heart on Saturday... then was working on a deep clean of the kitchen and living room and bedroom yesterday. Remind me to get a smaller house next time! Dining room.... well, would be today but I need to make up hours at work so it will be a working day today.










A Purple heart for Sunday and some more hand quilting onto the maroon dresden will happen at some point today. I hear Grandma wants to try the new Mexican restaurant tonight so we will head over and meet there and get the kids so she doesn't have to drive them to us in the rain.

Linking up with the Sunday slow Stitchers. 

Here is the linkup if you are making hearts with me this month!

Friday May 18

A little late today. I was helping out at field days (outdoor games) today at school. The first set 8:30-10:30 was fine for K-2. I had an hour lunch and then the big kids (3-5)..... got rained out in the third cycle so about 30 minutes into their 2 hours. They went inside for a movie or back to the gifted class (Aidan and some others in his class) to continue their year end party today and prep for their student led conference with parents next week after school.

As long as I remember today is Friday and not Thursday I'll remember to take Emily to horse riding today... although I doubt she'll let me forget! I did forget to put something in the crock pot this morning... and horses are at 4:30 for an hour... 30 minutes from home,  so .... we will see what they do with leftover roaster chicken for dinner. Aidan wants to make his into a caesar wrap like Subway has. Not sure what the rest of us will do... mine will go onto a salad I think.

My thoughts and prayers go out to those in Texas. When will the violence end?

May 17 - heart.

Here is my heart for the day.

Peanut decided to eat the heart!

A Heart A Day in May - Half way point!

We are technically half way through the month of May. I hope the hearts are coming along nicely for everyone. We should have about 16 of our 31 hearts done today. I figured it was a good time to lay mine out and see how they are coming along. I have 17 hearts... since I did that practice one in April. It works though - I need 32 hearts for this layout (7x9) and 31 connector nine patch blocks. Guess I need to make a bunch more of those nine patch blocks!

I have also been cutting the white backing from mine and making a bonus heart onto a 5 inch square. These are coming out nice and colorful! 13 of 16 are done.

Tuesday....

Hearts! Sunday was red, orange was Monday and today is sage green! Life should get a little quieter now.... and hopefully I will be back to daily posting of the hearts. I have been keeping up. Thanks for playing along and bearing with me in this busy month of May.

Yesterday was a wee bit hectic with the last meeting of girl scouts - bridging (I completely missed 2 girls so an afternoon trip to the Wildwood store to get things), year end party and organizing and coordinating things. I am so blessed that the families share their daughters with me. We have a wonderful group of girls (14) and parents. Two parents who help out a lot got together and created a shutterfly photo album of our year with the girls for me and my co-leader this year. It was awesome! They even had the girls sign it for us without us knowing. Wish I could share photo's of it on here... but I keep my girls private to respect their parents wishes. 

I took my walk this morning...... it was not raining when I left but 7 minutes from home the sky opened up and I got soaked! Oh well, it rained all day yesterday and I figured it might hold off for the full 30 minutes of my walk this morning. I'm also still figuring out my new phone and how it works. Very different from my iPhone.... just a learning curve right now to figure things out but I did manage to send the photo to my e-mail to get it on here. Now to figure out the google cloud sharing so I can skip that step I hope! 

Sunday... Happy Mothers Day!

I seem to have missed Saturday. I spent 5.5 hours in a first aid and CPR class but am now certified for another 2 years. I needed this for scouts..... and another Mom took it with me so 3 of us are certified now.

I was greeted in bed this morning with breakfast (2 slices of cinnamon toast with fresh raspberry faces on them and coffee). Then the presents. They are always so proud of themselves and they did good again this year. It included a yard of a cat face fabric and 24 little spools of threads for hand work. My kids know me so well!

I finished the binding on the churn dash quilt yesterday. It just needs a wash and dry and a label and then it can be shipped off for the Hands2Help charity this week. It finished off at 50x60 with a soft blue checked flannel backing. I have another stack of these churn dashes... so there might be another one made this year.

I'll be doing lots of prep today for girl scout bridging tomorrow, printing certificates and organizing all the badges and pins for the ceremony. I have 2 girls bridging up to brownies (grade2+3) and 4 girls bridging up to Juniors (grade 4+5). Next year will be a daisy/brownie/junior troop (grades 1-4)!  The girls chose a pizza/ice cream sunday making party after with a few pot luck sides to supplement. One of the Dad's is in charge of blowing up a watermelon for us - his wife is a sheriff so all safety precautions will be taken!  Did I mention my girls like to blow things up and get messy? If they have time then they get to visit the playground at the church. This will be our last meeting of this school year.  Hard to believe they are out of school next week on the 24th! They do have a roller skating party planned in June and we'll probably do a scrapbooking party sometime in July before starting up again mid August. I've got 3 years of photos to start them with some memory albums of scouts.

I had a green heart for Saturday and just prepped a red heart for today with my A Heart a Day in the Month of May Challenge. I need to make a few more 9 patches today while I am adding the final border to the graduation quilt.

Maybe some stitches will be added to the maroon Dresden plate. It got moved to the side to get the binding done this week. Not too bad for a busy week in May with 2 kids and a school year winding down - braces coming off and eye appointments for kids indicating no glasses are needed anymore for either of them! Aidan had a couple of friends over on Friday after school to hang out. Just the standard this week for me - scouts Monday, guitar Tuesday, gymnastics Wednesday, Thursday is dentist cleaning for the kids after school and Friday is horse lesson for Emily. I'll need my slow stitching to keep me slightly sane!

Linking up with Kathy and the other slow Stitchers.

Wishing my Mom Arlene a very Happy Mothers Day. I don't know what I would do without you! Can't wait to see you next month up in Vermont.

Mom and me summer 2016. Lake Elmore Vermont.

Friday May 11.....

Sorry I missed posting yesterday. It was a busy day. I did make hearts.....

I had to pull Emily from school yesterday morning..... she got her braces off.
A before and after photo!

before braces came off

After braces came off!

Then she wanted McDonalds.....and then it was rush to get home and grab a water for Aidan and get him from school. Go across town for 3PM eye appointments! According to this doctor glasses were not needed for either child! Yippy! Emily did not want to part with hers so we had them pop the lenses out to donate and she has the frames still. We got a couple pairs of sunglasses for them.... got to protect those pretty eyes in this Florida sun.

When we got home... it was time to fix dinner. Aidan wanted a burger and would not try the keto friendly cheeseburger casserole (which needed a little more salt since I forgot to add salt in the last two steps.) Greg said  I can make it again! Lots of calories but the net carbs were low. I am losing weight so I'll stick with the Atkins diet I am on. The clothes are feeling much better on and the new ones I got in the last year are feeling too loose and the ones I wore for years I can fit into again! I'm shooting for another 4 pounds to loose before heading to VT next month. Then I'll fit nicely into the jeans I ordered last summer in my 'normal' size and can wear them up there! 10 pounds makes a big difference. Hopefully another 10 off by the end of the year and I'll be back near my marriage weight from almost 12 years ago. That is the goal.

Here is the link for hearts.

May 9....

Another day another heart! Yellow today.

I also got a couple more little ones done in blue and green. Looks like I need to fix the left part of the heart on that new green one... it is a little off. Something to fix at gymnastics tonight with Emily.

May 8

Another day and another heart! This one in blue.

I also prepped my maroon dresden plate to start hand work in the car line today. I think I may actually have the last two blocks hand quilted by the end of the month!

May 7 -

I made a green heart today..... and a couple of small hearts yesterday.

The brown Dresden plate was finished with the hand quilting. I'll need to prep the maroon one since I did not do that yesterday.

The blue binding was sewn onto the front of the churn dash quilt and I started hand stitching the binding down last night. I just did straight line stitching along the angle of the rows. I used warm and natural batting so not much quilting is needed and I like the snugly flannel backing I put on it.

It should get finished this week - nice to have something warm on me as the AC blows directly onto my recliner. It is really kicking in with the temps in the mid 80's and hitting close to 90 at the end of this week. I'm regretting volunteering for field days next Friday the 18th...any chance someone can send a cold mass of air down to Florida then - I'd take anything in the 70's and/or cloudy weather that day!
 =).