Applique-Conquer the Fear!

I have so many people tell me that they won't touch a project that includes applique! (The "A-word") I used to be the same way, but I am working through it. This year, especially, I seem to be finding all kinds of quilts that I love but that also include some applique. I love them so much, I am conquering my fear, and I wish that others would try it too! Even if you don't want to do hand-work, applique is not out of reach. Many of my favorite quilts include some applique mixed with piecing. If you refuse to try applique, you are denying yourself so many beautiful projects!

The easiest method of applique, especially if you don't like to do hand-work, is fusible applique. This involves using a fusible webbing product like steam-a-seam, or heat-n-bond. These products are sold by the yard, and they come in different thicknesses. I prefer the heat-n-bond lite. Be careful not to mistakenly use the heavy weight, or your quilt will look like Monte's logger pants after he patches them with Tear Mender!
Fusible applique, in my opinion, produces a more rustic, or "country" feel compared to more traditional hand applique methods. I will attempt to explain it here:

Basically, you trace your shapes to the paper side of the fusible, cut 1/4" around each shape, and then iron it to the WRONG side of your fabric. Then, cut out on the line, peel off the paper, and fuse the shape to your quilt by ironing it in place. This does leave raw edges, so it usually requires some sort of finishing stitch around the edge. This is simple enough to do on the machine, but can also be done by hand. Possible stitches are the running stitch, the button hole stitch, and the satin stitch. For details such as eyes, the French Knot is often used. Most of these stitches, aside from the French Knot, can be done with a sewing machine.
A tool that may help to align your pieces on the quilt, before they are ironed in place, is the applique pressing sheet. This is a clear sheet that allows you to place your pattern underneath, line up your shapes, and fuse them together before fusing them on the quilt. This is especially helpful when you have a lot of pieces that overlap. They peel right off the applique sheet when cool, and then are in one, easy to handle, piece to fuse to your quilt.

I used this method to complete my Strawberry Faire quilt, and I will also be using it to make my Garden Friends quilt.

Watch for a later post explaining more about hand applique methods!

It's Here, It's Finally Here!

Duma Key has finally arrived! So, let the all night read-a-thon begin! As if I don't have enough to do already, now there's a novel on the kitchen counter calling my name.

Snow is soooooooo bad for motivation when you hate the cold. Instead of getting tons of quilting and housework done, I'm getting less than normal done. There's no point in cleaning house when every 2 hours the kids get cold, tramp through the garage into the laundry room, drop all their sopping wet snow clothes on the floor (even though I've asked them to put their wet things by the fire at least 20 times) and proceed to drag out all of their toys. An hour later, their warm again, and the cycle repeats as they dress up and head out to get wet all over again. Between this and breaking up the fighting and solving the boredom, all of my creative energies are drained.

Then there's the 10 foot tall pile of snow blocking my front door. I have to get a picture tomorrow in the day light, it's just unbelievable the amount of snow we have. Monte's been shoveling the roof, and there is nowhere for it to go. By my estimates, we might be able to use the front walk around mid April. Nothing like looking out the front door at a wall of white to sap all the energy out of me!

Hopefully the Sunday Super Quilting Day I'm holding at the shop will help me to finish piecing the projects I have already started. Then I can cut into something new and start over again! The rest of the fabrics for the Garden Friends Quilt arrived today, and so it and the Choco Latte Kit are driving me mad. I'm finding it very hard to give either of these up to someone else to piece, no matter how ridiculous the idea of me getting them done is!

I'm praying that school will resume on Monday, and I can get back to normal. Believe it or not, I am missing my kickboxing. There's no satisfaction in it with the kids copying me, laughing and watching like I'm a circus freak show. They act like they've never seen me exercise or something.

It's a Jungle Out There!

A snowy jungle, that is! It has snowed ALL DAY here! 2 feet of new snow, and counting. You would think it would make for great quilting, but instead it makes for insanity. This afternoon, there were 3 chip trucks blocking the highway in front of the quilt shop. Even Monte's 3/4 ton 4x4 pickup was stuck in the middle of our home street today. And just to prove that he's a moron, once the pickup was out Monte wasted no time burying it in my Mom and Dad's driveway, where it remains right now.
"I almost made it," he claims. Seriously, this is not the case. My Mom's driveway is maybe 500 yards long, and his pickup is stuck about 50 yards in. I think Monte and I have a different definition of "almost."
If it's not already bad enough, check out this 10-day forecast:Deary Weather. I love the ad at the bottom, "This weather brought to you by Visit Florida." That's just cruel.

Well, back to the quilting machine. I've downloaded my first audiobook, A New Earth, which I'm listening to as I quilt. With all the chaos around here, I didn't get nearly as much quilting done as I thought I would. Off to work!

Snow Day-Again!

Here in Northern Idaho we are really getting hammered by the snow! This is a picture of my front porch, usually 2 feet off the ground, it's now 2 feet lower than the snow! And, that 1 foot I thought was on our roof? Turned out, there was more like 3-4 feet in most places! Add that to the 6-10 inches we have gotten over the past 24 hours, and it's looking very white around here! Still, no book. My Duma Key novel is probably stuck in a snow bank somewhere!

Of course, this means that today is a snow day. Both at school and at the quilt shop, since officials have advised every one to stay home I am assuming that no one will have a quilting emergency strong enough to send them to the store today. This means that I get to stay home and quilt, but I also have to entertain my kids. This is no easy task, since they are getting quite stir crazy.

My goal with my bonus sewing time today is to finish my Charmed Jelly Roll Quilt. I am using the Urban Indigo fabric, and it is turning out beautifully. It is quilt as you go style, so it won't get lost in the "to be quilted" pile like most of my projects!

By the way, did you notice that another project dissappeared off of my "Current Projects" list? That's right, believe it or not, I finished my Crossroads Tabletopper. I made mine with an Autumn Journey Charm Pack, and it turned out great. I hope to quilt it this weekend, and then I will possibly post a picture!

One last thing, the Chicken Pronto the other night was very easy and very good! The only bad review came from Kylee, who won't touch anything that resembles a tomato with a ten foot pole. Her plate was divided into two piles, the noodles, chicken, and sauce, and the pile of anything that looked remotely like a chunk of tomato. Other than that, everyone enjoyed it! Tonight, it's an easy mac & cheese dish called Shipwreck Dinner.. Then, I'm going to cozy up on the couch and enjoy the season premiere of Lost. If I can't read my Stephen King novel, this is the next best thing!

Motivation

It turns out there's nothing like a Caribbean vacation to motivate one to exercise. I have been kickboxing like no other lately. Even last night, around 6pm, when I thought I was too tired, the urge suddenly struck me. Another motivator? I get a new Victoria's Secret catalog in the mail every other day.

Lately I have been lusting after this swimsuit. OK, so maybe I would really rather have this other swimsuit, but hey, I'm going for slightly less then delusional here!

Today, I may have to find my exercise shoveling snow off the roof of our house. There's already over a foot up there, and a new storm is on the way. I'd ask Monte to do it, but we all know how that goes. After all, it is Lay-off!

Help, I'm not ready yet!

Every Spring brings both joy and pain to my house. Joy, because Winter is finally leaving again, school is almost out, and boating season draws near. However, Spring also brings

cue the Phantom of the Opera music-----

the dreaded "lay-off."

Layoff is NOT a happy time at my house, and it has nothing to do with finances. In fact, if you have something for my husband to do for about a month or two, I might be willing to pay you to hire him!

This year, lay off threatens to happen earlier than ever. With the dumping of snow that we continue to get this week, (10 inches here and another 12+ expected) there are rumors that layoff could happen as early as 2 weeks from now. Which has me wondering, will I survive?

After 1 day off, Monte becomes unbearable. Don't dare to change the tv channel, ask him to shower, or mention the piles of dishes and dirty clothes left around the house by him! And, if you value your life at all, DON'T mention that you have been waiting all year for the bathroom trim to be finished, the broken light to be fixed, and the tires on your car to be rotated! The best method of survival? Avoid eye contact, keep him well fed, and pray for better weather to come fast. So, that's what you can find me doing for the next few months.

Queen Bee Mysteries-Quilting Product of the Week

Arggggggggh-I have been working on this quilt for what feels like forever! Lucky me, I picked a spool of thread that seems to be challenged! It breaks every 10-30 seconds of quilting, frustrating to say the least. Add that to the fact that I only have the one spool of this color, it's too late to change colors, and I'm working on a full size quilt, and you can see why I might be in a bad mood.

So, I'm taking a break to post my quilting product of the week. This week, in honor of those times when you need a break from quilting, I'm choosing the Queen Bee Mystery Series. These are fictional stories centered around a Midwest quilt group. The group meets at the local quilt store to quilt and solve mysteries. These books are entertaining, whether or not you're a quilter you will enjoy the story and trying to solve each mystery before the end! Plus, there's a bonus quilt block pattern at the end of each book.

Even though they're not a sewing tool, these books are perfect for frustrating days like today! There are 3 books currently available, with a fourth due out later this year.

Aiden's Walking!

My adorable nephew started walking over the weekend! He won't be a year old until early March, so this is quite a feat! Aiden ties with my kids for cutest baby ever. You can see a video of him walking on my sister's MySpace page. Scroll down to the bottom right hand side and enjoy!

It's Official, I Suck at Bowling!

I know, you're thinking it can't be THAT bad right? Actually, it can! I bowled a whopping 66! Compare that to Kylee's 99, Bailey's 98, and Will's 88, and you get the picture. To my credit, I think the last time I bowled was some time around 1996. However, this is a prime example of why I DO NOT play sports.

The kid's had a great time. We went to Zeppoz in Pullman and bowled 1 game, which only took about an hour. Will was the break-out star. About half way through the game, after watching us and the people around us, he got the hang of it and started running and throwing the ball. Even though his hand's don't fit the finger holes, he was actually doing really well. Even Kylee couldn't roll it as fast as Will, and every one around us was getting a kick out of watching him. He's not even taller than the ball return, so it was pretty comical. I'm sure we'll do it again, so maybe next time I won't forget the camera!

On the way home we stopped for groceries and spent $225.00!!! Monte complained the entire time about how I wouldn't buy any pop, chips, candy bars, etc. All Junk food. Monte can eat 8000 calories/day and not gain a pound, so this is the routine every time we grocery shop. He looked at me like I was crazy when I said that according to my list this was going to last us 2 weeks. Then he saw the bill, which shut him right up! What's sad is that I will surely be making small trips to the store in between 2 weeks, so our grocery bill is actually quite a bit higher. I am scared to know what I will be spending in 5 years, when the kids are that much bigger!

Tonight I am making Chicken Cacciatore Pronto for dinner. I got a new Kraft Foods magazine last week, so I planned a lot of meals for the next 2 weeks. I'll let you know how it is tomorrow!

I still can't believe it!

I am watching a show about Survivor tonight, hosted by last season's winner, Todd, revealing the new season's set and contestants, and I am again reminded about how stupid I was! Last October, my mom and I went to International Quilt Market for the first time ever. We were very excited to be going! Our flight left early on a Friday morning. That Thursday was my Moda-University meeting, so it was a late night. Plus, when I got home I stayed up to finish packing and watch all of my Tivo, including that night's Survivor espisode. I finished watching around midnight, and then went to bed. At 3am, we were up and on our way to the airport.

We flew to Salt Lake City, and then changed planes for the ride to Houston. I was so tired, I could barely stay awake, and so was my mom. We were in the very last seats on the plane, across from another lady going to quilt market. During the ride to Houston, we chatted with the flight attendent, and with each other about Market. The jump seat for the attendent was right next to me, at the end of the aisle, so he was there for a lot of the trip.

We had a blast at Market and flew home Sunday evening. Fast forward to the following Thursday evening, as I turn on Survivor and start watching. Immediately, I thought that there was something oddly familiar about Todd. "That's so weird, if they show his occupation and it says 'Flight Attendent,' boy will I be pissed," I thought. Sure enough, they start interviewing Todd and his occupation is "Flight Attendent." I still can't believe I was so stupid. I sat next to him for 30 minutes, he served me snacks and chatted with the lady next to me, and do you think I recognized him??? Oh No, I was too excited about Quilt Market. What was I thinking?? I still can't believe that I watched every episode of that show, and never once did it cross my mind that Todd looked familiar until it was too late. I must have been really tired! Of course, I probably saved myself from looking like a completely psycho Survivor fan.

My Mini Me

The older Kylee gets, the more she is like me. I was reminded of this yesterday, when I turned on Jeepers Creepers II on T.V. I had seen the movie before, but there was nothing else on. Jeepers Creepers II is a good old fashioned horror flick, where a Bat/Scarecrow creature terrorizes a bus full of high school student in the mid-west, stranded on a highway surrounded by corn fields. It's highly unrealistic and dramatized, and pretty graphic. Since the girls were there, I wasn't sure I would leave it on. However, I don't believe in shielding them, and as long as they know it's not real and only for fun it's o.k. with me. Plus, there is none or very little bad language in this movie. It's purely for good old fashioned scares!

This is not Bailey's type of movie. She had nightmares after the Planet Earth episode about caves, so you can imagine that she is not into scary movies. I have been into them since I was younger than Bailey. I still remember finding a movie on one night called Clown House and watching it until my mom found out and made us turn it. I was 8 or 9 at the time. As it turns out, Kylee has the same fascination.

While Bailey buried herself in the computer and tried to ignore us, Kylee and I watched together for a while. Instead of being scared, she was interested and asked a lot of questions. "Is that a scarecrow?" "What's it doing?" etc. Since I'd seen it before, I decided to go in the other room and quilt. Kylee wanted to keep watching, and I could hear her from the other room. "Oooooo, it got the kid with the glasses!" I heard her say. Then she ran over to tell me about it. "Are you sure you won't have nightmares?" I asked her. "Nope," she said happily. Then she added, "Once, when we were in the apartment," (That's how all my kids refer to last year) "I dreamed that you still had your hair." Well that's good, I'm thinking, when she adds, "and you only had bones." Then, unfazed, she ran back to watch some more.

Pretty soon, I heard her say "Ewwwwww, his head is stuck on the pole," and then she ran in to tell me that the scarecrow got another kid and his head was stuck on a pole. By now, I'm thinking it's pretty clear that she's anything but scared. Actually, it was pretty entertaining to listen to her watching. And sure enough, no nightmares last night. Yep, she's definitely mine!