I'm workin' on the binding . . .

The t-shirt quilt is quilted and off the frame and I am in the process of sewing the binding on! I am trying my best not to get blood on the backing as I am using a new needle called a straw needle and I really like it a lot, but because it's new to me and I'm not used to working with it, I've stuck myself a few times. I hope to get the bulk of the binding tacked to the back this evening if this headache permits me as I have all 3 of the girls home with me tomorrow - it's their day-off from daycare!

Conquering my fear . . .

Well, I finally did it today - I started quilting a quilt that has been on the frame since the beginning of January. My poor husband, I am sure that he thinks that I'm a hopeless case, but he bought me an HQ16 back in June and I am intimidated by it, so there it sits. I got an email from a friend on one of my many Yahoo groups and she said to just do it, so I did it today. It's not done yet, as it's a T-shirt quilt, and it's rather intricate, but I worked on it for almost 5 hours and stopped with a terrible headache. There are only 3 rows left though, so I will finish it tomorrow. I cannot wait to get it done. Let's not even talk about the child that's been waiting for it for an entire year either! It's a huge quilt for me, it's 74" by 110". I can hardly wait to go to bed, get rid of this headache and wake up fresh in the morning and finish it! My goal is to have it in the mail on Monday morning!

I'm now a woman of leisure . . .

Well, the twins started daycare on Monday! They are attending the same daycare as their older sister, so Madison can be called on to calm them down if they freak out, but they have done really, really well. Wednesday will be their day at home with me though, so it was rather hectic here today. The weather has been gorgeous, so this afternoon, after naps, we went outside to swing, jump on the mini trampoline and play in the sandbox. Emma must have been hungry, because she ate sand. Haley I think is going to be a girly-girl as when I placed her in the sandbox barefoot, she didn't like it. I should have taken a video, as it was hysterical - Emma just dug in, but Haley stood there making faces and whining. Even her hand mannerisms were screaming "I don't like this, it's yucky". Then we took a walk to the Village drive-thru for ice cream! When we returned home, I had to get out the garden hose and hose the girls and the wagon down before they could go in the house. Emma even had ice cream in her ear!

Got 1 block done in 2 days

Well, it's been a hectic week to say the least, but I do have a block to show for it! Did some un-sewing on this one as I first sewed the leaf on upside down - thought about leaving it that way, but my anal tendencies wouldn't let me do it!I also finished a few more 4-patches for the Orange Crush Step 1 - 53 done, only 97 to go! Of course, Step 2 has already been posted, but I'll get to it eventually. More later, we're hosting a Bead Retreat this afternoon!

Do you need a laugh?

I'm telling you, I laughed my arse off when I saw this commercial!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJEVxfWpm7c
I wish I knew how to post it rather than the link . . .
anyway, pay attention to the very end - Chris Kattan is in the dry cleaners and he just cracks me up!

Heard from my son in Iraq . . .

My son called from Iraq for a minute or 2 - it's seems as though he will not be coming home as expected on April 24th . . . more like the 9th of JULY. I am not happy about this, but what's a mother to do?

There's been some real excitement in the life of this stay at home Grandma. Let's see, I changed 2 poopie diapers, one was so bad, I had the dry heaves, cleaned Dora the Explorer yogurt off the TV screen, rescued the hand towel from being flushed down the toilet, but wasn't able to save the roll of toilet paper, got my hand stuck in the back of Haley's car seat as I was trying to install it in the rental car - I was ready to call 911 to bring the jaws of life as my hand was really, really stuck, both Haley and Emma made a meal of all the tidbits in the seat of the van, like dried up, petrified french fries, M & M's, and some petrified chicken nuggets. Oh, for the love of God, what have I done to deserve this - I have already been there and done that, but apparently not good enough as I am living it all over again!

We are going from bad to worse . . .

I was just washing the breakfast dishes when I realized that it was "too quiet"

The 2 of them are out to get me . . .

OK, so while I am in the living room cleaning up the Activity Table, unknown to me, Haley is in the kitchen with the dreaded marker that I have yet to find, coloring the dishwasher ..............

we're not off to a good start this Monday morning . . .

As I was preparing breakfast in the kitchen for the twins this morning, Emma apparently decided that the Pottery Barn Activity Table was a little too "plain" to suit her and took it up a notch . . . she quickly took refuge in her house! There wasn't one spot on the tabletop that she hadn't decorated with her artwork. Thank God for Crayola Washable Markers!

OK, I'm in reverse with posting . . . .

Sorry, it's almost been a week since I posted. I'm still trying to recover from the flu. The coughing thing is about to drive me nutso.

I have been plugging away at my quilting though. Everday when I put the twins down for a nap, I worked on quilting. Below is my progress to date:

• Orange Crush 4-patches, finished 47 out of 150



• 2 March Block of the Month blocks - finished



• 1 April Block of the Month - finished



• Cut 52 pairs of "green" nickels for an April swap



• Finished the 2nd set of 30's repro 9-patches for a swap

Well, that's it for the moment. I will try and write more tomorrow!

Ice cream deprivation

Well, I waited until the girls were put to bed tonight and then I ran down to the Drive-thru for my ice cream! It was wonderful!

It was a busy weekend

Worked on blocks for a 30's repro 9-patch swap. Got 1 set done and started on the 2nd set of 10. Hope to get the 2nd set done today so I can get them in the mail way before their due date of May 31st . . . time will tell if I'm successful or not! Went to the Polaris Mall yesterday in Columbus. Got the girls some clothes and socks from The Childrens Place. I love that store. Took a walk last night with the girls to the drive-thru for ice cream cones and Emma decided that she liked my ice cream better than hers, so she ate it!

Also picked up some nylon netting at JoAnn's in a peacock color to make more scrubbies.

Tried to pick out some fabrics for the Orange Crush Mystery . . .

and then I began on Step 1 of the mystery - 4 blocks done, 146 to go!

UFO Progress

Well, I worked on the 2 missing blocks from 2005/06 BOM and the 3 missing blocks from 2006/07 BOM. All 5 blocks are done! Yippee! I'm not ready to take on the task of making these 2 UFO's into tops at this point though - I need to mull these things over before I commit to a setting . . . so for the time being, the blocks have been placed in their respective pizza boxes until I am ready to deal with them again!

What I'm workin' on today

I'm working on my One Block Wonder as I want to teach a class on this! I want to run over to Sew Little Time http://www.sew-little-time.com/ as soon as Amber and/or Nick get home so I can get some more fabric to make a sample for the shop. I am hoping that they are busy today as it's the first day of the Spring Spiration. Something else that I wanted to get to today, was to work on my list of UFO's. I think I'll need to open an Excel worksheet to tackle that task though - it's gonna be ugly.

The Virgin Blogger

I've been thinking of creating a blog for some time now . . . a day in the life of a stay at home Grandma is often hectic and exciting. Take last night for instance - it was time for the girls to take a bath and get ready for bed. Someone, pooped in the tub. Madison was trying to scale the walls, Haley had herself wrapped around my neck like a Boa Constrictor, and Emma, well, Emma was clueless. I don't know why, but I am still trying to figure out who did it. Haley had a big stinky in her diaper, which set the precedence for the bath in the first place, so I figure that lets her off the hook. I can't get Madison to even pee in the shower, so forget about pooping in there, and that leaves Emma . . . even though Emma did a stinky in her clean diaper after the bath - I think she's the one. I think she had to cut it sort after all of the trauma of her sisters deafening screams and their climbing the walls and shower curtain to get out of the pooped bathwater stopped her from finishing the job. Oh, the joys of grandmotherhood . . .