reasons i keep truckin' along

sometimes i wonder what it is that drives me so... in this case, it's the drive and urge and need to continue making QOVs. i knew i'd make at least one this time last year. i had just found QOVF and started my search for "just the right" fabrics. then the first quilt was almost complete and i had found a truly deserving recipient. of course, i had already started my second QOV at this point, but as soon as i heard the story and saw the pictures, i knew i couldn't stop.

i've talked about this before, but i'm in a quilt block swap on FB since the first one about a year ago. we swap sets of 5 blocks every 2 months. we have what we call the "6th block" and they are set aside for charity/cause quilts. for the upcoming february swap, we're making red/white/blue disappearing 9-patches and the 6th block has been reserved for me and the QOVs since the summer. one woman has already made her set (and the december swap blocks went out in yesterday's mail!), to which they're lovely and patriotic. i commented on them earlier this morning and she commented back. this is part of it:

"I want to tell you that I can't wait for you to get it also. Our son is serving in the Army and has been on 6 tours of duty. One day while on a tour in Iraq he was in a roadside bomb and survived it. His driver and gunner both survived also. He had volunteered to go on that trip as one soldier was sick. Their truck was destroyed but it saved their lives. I am so thankful for people like you! I remember when he left for basic training he took with him a quilt I had made him. Quilts are important to him. Quilts seem to have a tie to the realization that the owners are loved and some one cares about them."

see! this is why i have to keep making the QOVs. people and stories like this one.

ok.... finish drying your eyes. i know i have to.

and on to something SO MUCH happier: my 100th post. it'll be this week...probably tomorrow or on new year's day. you know what that means, right? a GIVEAWAY! um. but i don't know what yet. definitely some fabric, maybe a book, maybe some yarn. we'll just have to see what i come up with over the next night or so.

all i want for christmas...

is my two front teeth... and two bottom ones too please!

ho ho ho!

merry christmas eve everyone!

today, my son's photo is the photo of the day, or rather...a photo he took is.

we're off to start the rounds of visiting family, but i thought i'd leave you with a sneak peek of the finished wonky quilt.

what a day....

today really was a whirlwind of a day and i never left my little city attached to a big city. first it was the navy homefront talk show. then i received a little sponsorship from one of my field employees, and she was more generous than i was expecting.

then i came home.

my hubby brought in the mail. he asks me: "why is the office of the CNO sending you something?"

it's not the office of. it came directly from the big guy himself. there's embossing on the flag in all colors. there's a double watermark for his stationary. and INK! he signed it.

click and you can read it bigger.

and since i realized i had not posted this link before, here's an unsteady video clip of my award and quilt presentation. forgive my dear hubby...he was holding my regular camera in one hand and the video camera in the other.

navy homefront on blogtalk radio

mom... since you might be listening to the navy homefront show on blogtalkradio and i just gave out the blog address.... do NOT read anymore! stop. find another blog. come back next week. :)

i'm on blogtalk radio - right now actually! if you read this later, you can always listen and download the show anytime.

Introducing Navy Wife and Quilter Jennifer Schaudt!

thank you beth, sara and suomi for the opportunity to talk about QOVF and the quilts i've been making for our wounded. it's been a fun experience and i will talk to everyone and anyone about QOVF to spread the word.

super saturday happenings

as much as i despise shopping at any big or popular establishment in person after thanksgiving, we braved the houston freeways and went to ikea. early. when there is still parking available.

i had to return some dining room chair cushions that seemed to be about an inch short, but at the store today, they had one on my style chair and it fit perfectly. maybe i had defective cushions? no idea.

at ikea, instead of putting the decorations on the christmas tree and finishing the storage shed in the backyard while we had sunlight, we bought this:




the norden occasional table. minus all the stuff....



my cuisinart finally has a real home! look - it fits and so do all 10 blade attachments! now i just have to use the darn thing.

and because i must be insane, or at least a glutton for punishment, i got the back of my mom's wonky log cabin christmas quilt finished and basted it all together about 10 minutes ago. the cat is helping of course. i started this last weekend and intend to finish it before christmas.



i had some issues last night with this quilt, so i set it aside and steamed instead. me that is. same with trying to decorate the christmas tree.... the boys attempted it while i cooked, but i had to take nearly all the ornaments off so i could rearrange them in a proper fashion. i haven't put them back on yet. that's later this evening and tomorrow.

i think this is the latest i've ever decorated the tree. tradition in my family is around my sister's birthday (the 15th) and i'm a few days late. we wanted to get one last weekend, but was busy with the shed and the trees at home depot looked dead. then on tuesday, i sat in the hospital with my dad waiting while my mom was in surgery. tooooo tired after that long day waiting to get a tree up.

dear santa,

dear santa,

i've been a good girl this year. i have attended almost all of my son's cub scout meetings and functions, dealt with his silly teachers with a smile on my face almost all of the time, sat in one too many emergency rooms and hospital surgical waiting rooms with various family members and most important of all: i have been addicted to making quilts of valor for our sailors.

for christmas, i would like some neat quilty things to make for myself (or family).

this very pretty quilt panel (or the quilt kit) could be used to quickly make up a pretty quilt or wall-hanging as a 2nd anniversary present to myself and my hubby (cotton is the traditional 2nd anniversary present ya know....). maybe a matching jelly roll or a couple packs of turnovers to go with it? how could you go wrong with l'amour? love....is in the air....

i've been eyeing this jelly roll over the last week. it might look very good as a QOV. see! i can't even ask for fabric for myself without looking for fabrics for them. i HAVE been a good girl!

ok. back to me.

maybe this bali pop used with some black kona cotton to have a batik quilt that "pops" out at you. there are some lovely bright colors in this mix and a braid pattern or something fun would sure look good in my house. especially after i'm done painting colors on wall.

i'm a simple girl. i'm happy with fabric period.

merry christmas santa! i'll leave some carrots for the reindeer next week and some cookies for you.

(and to you dear readers...if you need a little holiday assistance, go over to the jolly jabber and ask them to send your letter on to santa too)

finishing up for the holidays

the adorable sweater i've been knitting for the last 5 months is not going to work out. i have this vision in my head (and yes, i told snappy it) that if i send it, then i will be the aunt who made the pink bunny suit.



so this is what i'm making instead. same yarns: blue cotton and silvery gray bamboo/silk blend....what's left of them anyways, made into a cute stocking cap for my nephew. this bit of blue is actually a different dye lot, but was NOT marked as such. so when the last bit of knitting to the dang sweater is the front, along the top of the sleeves, shoulders and neckline...a different shade of obvious blue is not a good thing.

last week, while i was home sick as a dog after my whirlwind trips to california and washington, d.c., i finally finished stitching the binding to my wonky log cabin that i did with quilt dad's quilt along earlier this fall. i had it sewn on, but not turned and handstitched for a couple of months. i know...shame on me... but i was doing good things! QOVs instead!

quilt front

click on these pictures to see the fabrics better. the tree fabrics are just too cool and i'm glad i finally got to make my christmas quilt after purchasing the tree fabrics 6 years ago.

quilt back

i'm proud to say that this quilt is almost entirely made from stash fabrics. i bought a fat quarter each of a red and a blue fabric and about 3/4 yard of another red fabric to use in here. when i bought all the other fabrics over the years, i did not expect to do a log cabin and need more variations. i still think i should have had one more white or blue to mix in, but i love it. even if my first attempt at free-motion quilting needs a lot more practice. oh - and i bought the white kona cotton for the sashing since i was out of plain white. that same white kona was also used in 2 more quilts and i have a 6" wide piece left of my 6 yards.

now, i only have one more quilt to make before christmas. two if i count boo's cat-in-the-hat quilt that i swear i started handquilting again last week. it's just coming along slowly. and i'm knitting a baby blanket for my best friend's baby due in late december/early january.

holy cow! i won!

first - have you read this book yet? if you haven't, run (not walk!!) to you nearest bookstore or library and snag a copy. then grab a cup of tea and sit for hours. you'll say "ooh" and "aah" over the gorgeous quilts featured in it, and then cry over the stories.



well.... i bring up the book because i got a flickr mail message tonight from the publisher's flickr group saying i had won a copy of the book and a fabric pack from moda/united notions. how cool is that!? i can't wait...and i know what i'll do with the fabrics (or what i'll probably do depending on what they send me) - make another QOV! i won it because of the work i've been doing on them, so why not give back with my fabulous earnings?

i already bought fabric today to use on an upcoming QOV that will be made with the assistance of boo's tiger cub scout den. i get to discuss it in further detail tomorrow afternoon with his den mother. so far, my plan is to prepare a bunch of white cotton squares with freezer paper and have the boys color heart-warming and happy pictures with crayon, then heat set the crayon and make a quilt from there. robert kaufman has a line of boy scout fabrics right now and i got some today to use in it. this is the 100th anniversary of the boy scouts, so it's a pretty big deal in scouting. there will be hints of the cub scouts in the QOV, but not overly obvious. then, my hope is to find someone local: at one of the boy's churches or a family member or neighbor who is deserving of a QOV, then have the den present it in person. it is supposed to be one of their community service-type activities and what an experience for them. so these 7 year olds may not remember it or exactly just how emotional the process is, but you never know. my 7 year old knows what it means.

that's all for me tonight. i've got to unload all the stuff my mom unloaded on me today. it's so hard to say no sometimes...it's all good things, i just don't have a place to put them. and i need sturdier pots for the pretty amarillus bulbs.

a truly humbling experience

see that below? that's me... waiting outside reagan national airport in washington, d.c. on monday afternoon. and on my arm is my super fantastic "cathy bag" made by tia that arrived just in the nick of time for me to take it with me. perfect size for carrying all the usual purse essentials, a novel, my folder of flight and itinerary info, my knitting, my big iPod case, etc. plus, it's navy and i went for those reasons.

i returned last night from a short trip to washington, d.c. after lots of flight delays and time spent in airports. safe harbor had their ever awards ceremony and i was flown in for it.

the captain introducing me

i had the opportunity to present my second quilt of valor made to a 3rd class petty officer on monday night and meet him in person.

meeting this hospital corpsman, as well as everyone else in attendance, was a humbling and emotional experience for me. while my husband gasped looking around the room at the assistant SECNAV, the assisstant CNO, the CNP, many admirals and the assistant surgeon general, i held in tears from hearing the stories of both the safe harbor enrollees and the care managers.

i will never forget this experience. i am grateful to safe harbor for it and honored to have been recognized for my efforts with a letter of appreciation signed and presented to me by a rear admiral, along with a challenge coin.

later, i was approached by men and women of various high ranks with praise and thanks. i was even slipped a coin by an army sergant major for the assistant surgeon general's office. it's the cool one on the left. i've never seen one like it before. i almost outranked my husband's highest coin from the commander of the 5th fleet.

but today, we are both sick with bad head colds. he gave it to me and the doctor laughed as he gave us the same antibiotics. at least it was at the end of our trips and not the beginning.

giving thanks

thanksgiving is here today. i don't know about you, but i've had some craziness in my life this week, this month, this year with my family. i am definitely thankful for all that i do have and all that i have had.



despite the stress that the good ol USN has imposed a few times, the unexpected death of a beloved family pet, my father's cancer, my mother's illnesses, the loss of a good family friend/extended family member last week, the toe surgery-turned heart surgery from my father-in-law and overall insanity with work... i have much to be thankful for this holiday season.



i am thankful for my husband and son. for my incredible parents who taught my sister, brother and i to be the caring and generous people we are today. i am thankful to no longer have a miserable landlord and to be the proud owners of a VA mortgage. i am thankful for the opportunity to give back to our servicemen and women with my quits. i am thankful for recognition. i am thankful for good friends who lend an ear and shoulder. for the world's best pumpkin pie recipe...passed down through the generations.

"a safe harbor" mini quilt

"a safe harbor" mini quilt
Originally uploaded by greeneyedsilversmith

this cute little quilt was made as a "thank you" for my contact with the navy's severely injured support program. she has helped me find very worthy and deserving recipients of my QOVs and i think she needs a little something herself.

[A] used to quilt herself, so she knows and loves quilts like we do. she has also helped arrange a little trip for myself and snappy to washington, d.c. very soon. i couldn't be more excited about it and will absorb as much as i can in less than 24 hours.

and this morning when i opened up my email, my orders - yes! i have navy orders! - were right there. snappy is just my arm candy in dress blues. funny enough, some of our other navy friends in the baltimore area are attempting to plan a little gathering while we're there too.

and just in the nick of time, i finished sewing all my swap blocks and did an extra bee block for the november's requirements. all of them are out in today's mail. whew! all before the holidays!

this past month, i was lucky enough to secure a slot to have some camp follower bags made. they're all finished and on their way to me. this is just another thing i'm really excited about lately. and if i get them in time, i'll take them on my trip to d.c. i'm all smiley and giddy this past week...plus really really tired in the middle of it all.

ways to say "thanks!"

as veteran's day quickly approaches, we should honor the fallen and say "thanks" to those who have or are currently serving to protect our freedoms.

this morning, i found a terrific website - books for soldiers - in an email that allows us to give back to our service men and women. i'm a bookworm. i love to read. i have a huge stack of books to take to our local used bookstore and trade in...but never seem to take them... i'm going to register with this site and hope i can send some of these books off to our troops for their downtime. they could use them more than the bookstore.

here is a great list of other ways you can help. there are websites that you can simply and easily give thanks or send a holiday card virtually (scroll down about halfway and you'll see the link on the right hand side in a blue box). you can also read "shout outs" and messages from our troops to us, such as this one:


"I would just like to tell America, thank you for all of your support and love you give us. All of the care packages, letters and everything, it keeps our heads up and lets us know just who we are fighting for -- all of YOU. It's no wonder why I'd give the ultimate sacrifice to keep our great country free and safe. Everytime I come back from Iraq, I get applause, hand shakes, smiles, cheers, pats on the back and thank yous. It makes me feel good, knowing that I'm doing my part in protecting this great country. Again, Thank You all! Take Care and God Bless!
SrA, SLC "

that one starts to bring tears to my eyes. i couldn't decide which message i wanted to post here, but this one said so much.

and with that said...i shipped off my 5th QOV quilt top and backing yesterday to the longarm quilter. the 4th is being quilted as i type and i should see it back soon. i haven't decided on what to do for the next QOV, but i think i need to take a little break and work on finishing up xmas gifts that i have started or planned. i'm running out of time for those.

qov #5 - "homecoming"

qov #5 - "homecoming"
Originally uploaded by greeneyedsilversmith

here's a quick pic of my current QOV in progress... inspired by crazymomquilts "snippets" wall hanging quilt. it's not a great photo, but the sun set early with the time change and i couldn't take it outside. so instead, you get to see snappy's feet peeking out below.

QOVF suggests that we keep journals as we sew and quilt each of these war quilts. i thought i'd share a little bit from my journal on this quilt that explains the inspiration and idea behind why i chose this pattern:

"This quilt is all about home, family and friends. Pieces of each of those are included in this quilt; many of the pieces that I have been gathering have each come from something I made previously or am currently working on. There are fabrics used in my son’s Cat in the Hat quilt that I need to finish handquilting, pieces from dresses or clothes I’ve sewn in the past, fabrics I often repeat in other QOVs and US Navy printed fabric. There are favorite fabrics that went into wedding or baby quilts for family and friends, some from the quilt that will one day cover my bed. Fabric from my most recent quilt that my son is looking forward to snuggling under at Christmas time. Others that come from the many block swaps and mini quilts that I trade with other quilters. One fabric is printed with travel journal pages showing the Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Great Wall of China – just as you may have kept a journal of the places you traveled with the Navy. There are even fabrics that I have won from another crafter or quilter’s giveaway on their blogs. Each of these fabrics has a story. Now they take on a new story: yours."

highlights from this weekend

boo went camping with boy scouts.... i went to the ballunar festival.

snappy and i had front row grass for viewing the balloon set up and inflation on the opening night. is that the proper term for a hot air balloon? inflation? anyways - it was pretty cool. that empty patch of grass above later contained the engergizer bunny balloon. that is one GINORMOUS balloon. my pics of the hot hare are not so great...i was too close and it looked like the rabbit was going to come down and swallow us up.

the balloon glow was fantastic. they would do an "all glow" and a "twinkle burn" according to whatever the MC would call out. oh hey! that diagonal thing on the picture above? that's the hot hare's ear while still being inflated. the twinkle burn made it look like twinkle christmas lights.

i was going to accompany snappy on saturday morning/afternoon while he set up and ran a us navy booth

last night, i finally got to try out a recipe i found online for pumpkin ricotta lasagna.

yummy, but it needs some serious tweeking still. first, the person who posted the recipe can't write a recipe. half the ingredients that are needed last are at the top of the list or they're completely out of order. second, they "forget" to say chopped, minced or sliced on any of the veggies with the exception of the spinach. and they wanted you to divide the ricotta pumpkin mix in half for only two layers. when you use a 2 lb tub of ricotta cheese, that's not feasible.

this will definitely be something i'll make again, but it'll be my recipe instead. less ricotta, more pumpkin. more spinach and mushrooms. either no or less bechamel/white sauce. the lasagna is already creamy and squishy...there's no meat to hold it together. thicker noodles that cover more of my pan. and nutmeg. the addition of nutmeg to the pumpkin would be fantastic. i already adjusted the recipe to add egg to the ricotta since we all know that it gets watery-runny when you bake ricotta and don't have a binder.

then i finished up most of my blocks for the QBE swap for october and all my bee blocks. i have one more block to make for QBE and then i'll be done for the month.

i got one!!

i got a bag slot with tia! sometime soon, i will be the super-proud owner of a camp follower bag in the cathy style. i've been poking around on her website trying to figure out what fabrics i want her to use after i send my hubby's bdu pants and patches. i've even got his johnny cash's and some of his old working whites. he started collecting all his old uniforms that the navy said "bye bye" to and setting them aside for me to have tia make bags out of. i did have to tell him to stop and that we didn't need THAT many.

ooh...i just realized i've got some dress blue bellbottoms too... 13 buttons... i may have to figure out something special for him with them. hmm...

houston int'l quilt show finds

i actually didn't get too much this year. i was a good girl. :) i think my hubby got more stuff and he definitely played with EVERY longarm machine he walked next to. yes, they are fantastic and i love to play too. i didn't today. i'd really want one more than i already do if i had.




these are most of my purchases today. not shown are the three handquilting stencils, a pencil extender and a set of awesome socks for one of my nephew's christmas present. i love the mismatched knit socks. i want some for myself.

below is one of my favorite things from today's show and one of my hubby's purchases....



hand-marbled silk. isn't it luxurious? the little blue rectangle on the bottom left is a scrap piece and not part of the big splotchy one. he bought me two yards of the big splotchy marbled silk because i was drooling over it. it literally was the first booth we went to while waiting on my MIL. all the ladies there were jealous of my hubby for the purchase. it's a belated birthday present replacment and i get to make something beautiful to wear with it.

now this little guy is one of my absolute favorite quilts from the show today. bad me though...i can't remember the name of the quilt or the quilter!! i am SOOOO sorry i did not write it all down. this guy was supposedly up for auction at the IQA section, but we could not find the silent auction form for him. i wanted to bid on it. he was actually a pretty good sized small quilt too. maybe 18" x 24" or a bit bigger.

my dogs are tired and it's good to sit down again. i did manage to finish this show faster than last year by about an hour. i didn't stop at as many booths and peruse, but i walked the whole thing.

checking off...

three sturdy and good sized cloth bags.... check.

comfy shoes.... check.

scraps of 2 fabrics.... check.

camera with charged battery.... check.

husband.... check.

debit card and some cash.... check.

mother-in-law..... meeting us there.

verbal warning to hubby and MIL that it's a LONG day.... check.

tickets to QUILT FESTIVAL.... you betcha!


i'll be back this evening and i'll share my new finds and some of my favorite pictures. this is a good part of living in the houston area. easy access to the quilt show.

as seen around my house

as i was walking from my kitchen through the living room to my bedroom, i saw this:




i had to stop and do a double take.




there really isn't much room between the piano bench and the bottom of the keyboard. mere inches. and while the above photo doesn't show how flat she really was, i can guarantee that matisse was squished in there. she of course gave me that look of "what?! why are you taking pictures of me?"

and this is what i saw when i went outside for fresh parsley:



moss! my pretty moss is coming back since we have had deluges of rain here over the past week. it had dried up in all our heat and drought this summer, leaving sad brown and crispy reminders of the soft bright green loveliness.

we're trying to buy the house we currently rent. it's going slowly, but the patio is one of the many things we'll redo if we do indeed get to purchase it. it was never laid properly and settled in a way that floods in rains. plus, it slopes towards the house instead of away from it. snappy and i want to do concrete pads or stone that allows the grass or the above moss or another ground cover to creep in. i love this moss. it'd be a shame to have it go away.

wonky progress

so i'm making progress on my wonky log cabin xmas quilt for john's quilt along. the top and backing are pieced, it's all sandwiched and look!!!

me attempting to machine quilt...

i'm doing a loop-de-loop quilting on this one. i had really planned on doing some neat tree quilting with a christmas light stitching on the border of whatever i made with these fabrics. i've had the border stencil for a few years and the tree one since last year's houston international quilt festival. oh well. another time...



so as you can see, some of my loops are great and others are not so great. i wasn't going to use this picture on any posts, but boo took this one and the one of me at my machine. how could i turn down my sweet 7-yr old budding photographer? umm....you don't.... :)

and holy cow! look at the dust/lint bunnies below!!



all this from one single little quilt. this wonky quilt is not that big. it's about 56-58 inches square if i remembered how big my border fabric is...i could do calculations correctly... long day. i don't want to think anymore!

but - i talked to my best friend tonight. he's another sailor and i've known him forever. they found out that they're having a little girl!!! apparently, she was not shy during this ultrasound. so, now i've got to get cranking and finish the blanket i'm knitting for this little one. and the xmas present for my nephew...and the mini quilt for my in-laws...

blogger's quilt festival

welcome to the fall edition of the blogger's quilt festival sponsored by park city girl!!

this is my first time to participate in the quilt festival, or any quilt festival for that matter, in any way other than as an attendee. how exciting!! so, i'm bringing you my latest fully-finished quilt and my second ever paper-piecing project.

front view

this mini quilt was made for a swap through flickr's swap til you drop aka STUD group. september marked the first anniversary of STUD's formation and first swap, so many of us chose to do an anniversary themed quilt. we were able to interpret that any way we chose.

i chose to represent several of the traditional and modern 1st anniversary gifts: paper, peridot and gold.

detail of fabrics and quilting

i used a peridot green fabric, accented with "gold" triangles and binding. the main fabric is paper print! it's a travel journal - you can pick out the eiffel tower, the great wall of china and the leaning tower of pisa. how cool is that fabric? if only the store sold it in bolt form instead of a couple rare fat quarters (i bought all of them...). plus, i paper pieced this mini quilt, so there was even more paper for that first anniversary.

well fellow bloggers, i hope you enjoyed seeing my little quilt. i had wanted to show you my wonky log cabin from john's quilt-along, but i had a couple setbacks so it's not sandwiched yet. tomorrow...

qov #4 - a sampler/bee style

this is my latest QOV, all stitched up and waiting for my longarm assignment. yippee! this makes QOV #4 for me. not as many as i had hoped for the year, but still a big feat. i do have to thank the longarm quilters for helping me finish these quickly since i'm a handquilter...

this one is different for me and special. different because i used mainly blocks that came from two flickr swap groups: the 6-12" mini quilt swap and the quilt block exchange group. blocks used in here all came from the august swaps where i asked for my blocks to be made in red, white and blue. the ones from QBE were to be of any style while the ones from 6-12" were stars. i made 6 blocks myself, a combo of stars and others. the remaining 2 blocks were made by snappy and boo...my boys learned to sew a little!! i'm so proud of them. i know boo was very excited to sew and to make something for the wounded. he's been wanting to make an entire quilt for them by himself. we'll work our way to that.

on friday, i got my copy of quilting for peace in the mail. what a fantastic book!! *note: i just found she has a blog under the same name...awesome... this book is so inspiring and i've already read the book from cover to cover twice. i've been making my QOVs now all year long and i've got a box ready for "newborns in need" that need to be shipped off. the charity quilting bug has bitten as well. maybe you'll be inspired to make something warm and wonderful for someone else too.

my neck is starting to feel better, thanks to some great muscle relaxers. no, i didn't quilt anything that required straight lines that first night. i could barely move my head and moving...nope... not happening. some stretches, no sleep and more drugs later, it's moving some. thanks torticollis! i love you too!

sooooo hard....

not to buy any fabric right now.... i'm participating in the september fabshophop and i see so many fabrics and patterns and cool tools i want to snag. but i can't. i have to be good so i can spend my money at the international quilt show in 2 1/2 weeks. my hubby and my MIL will be with me this year, so i may get good things from them BUT i may have to limit myself at the same time because of my hubby. ooh. dilemma.

and the inter-gem show is the weekend before the inter-quilt show. shoot! must save...must save... trying to buy house... although, i do have some fabulous bright/deep blue hayunes on lay-a-way with my favorite gem cutter and i plan on picking them up at the october show. too bad they're loose and not set yet so i can't wear them to the mfah's fall bash later that night.

at least i'm doing some xmas fabric stash busting with john's quilt-along. lots o' fabrics that have been taking up storage tub space for 4-5+ years. i'd say it made room for new fabrics at the quilt show, but i've already filled that space. *gasp!!!* i know. i'm bad. i have an addiction i tell ya!

how do you go?

from this sweet little thing...

14 hours old

to this grown up little man?

7 years old

happy birthday boo!! your cake decorating skills are fantastic and i love everything you do.

some of my weekend sewing

can you see what this is? it's done for the cutie below:







cub scout patches. oy vey. i sat there, frustrated and with bent needles for the 100th anniversary patch session, wondering what was worse? boy scout patches or us navy rockers? they're both miserable in their own ways... rockers at least allow you to put pins through them, but i managed to use some ingenuity and got the stinkin' patch on his shirt.


boo had his first pack meeting on friday and has his first den meeting, where he'll meet the rest of his den, tomorrow afternoon. we went shopping today for his uniform and i had to get it ready. what happened to the days of tiger scouts wearing the bright-assed orange tshirt like my brother had in the 80's? oh...they upgraded the tshirt to adult sizes, minus the cool white sleeve stripes, for a whoping $0.99 each. seriously! snappy and i both have one to show our tiger scout pride.


speaking of snappy.... look what my fantastic husband did last night!






i had called him in to flip through my 501 quilt blocks book and pick some out for me to make in addition to my august swap blocks on flickr. in the end, i brought out the sew mini, set the sucker up and almost cursed at the simplicity. so simple there is no light on the machine and the on/off switch is the foot pedal - no speed control!!! that makes for an interesting time of teaching. but, once midnight hit, snappy had completed his "homeward bound" block in red, white & blue as a sailor-made block to go to a fellow sailor in need. fantastic. did i mention the sew mini doesn't have markings either? i had to put masking tape down and measure out 1/4" for snappy.


boo wants to make one too. i just might struggle through teaching him a split rail block. it's easy enough as long as he can follow the line on the masking tape, right? i'm a nervous mother. i don't know when exactly i learned to sew on a machine, but i remember sitting in my mom's room with a pair of wildly flowered shorts that needed a hem repair and learning to handstitch a hem. i must have been 7 or 8 years old at the time. i had my great grandmother's cast iron sewing machine in my room for years - up until i moved out when i got married. i figured it out on my own at some point in time. my mom's "new" machine later was passed down to me, but by then, the singer was already almost 30 years old. it had been top of the line with drop in cassettes for the decorative stitching. the machine just never could do invisible zippers and eventually the timing gear was stripped and the cabinet worth more than the machine.


i almost feel bad that boo has to learn on such a crappy little machine, but my brother is too complicated for him or snappy to use at this point. at least it's not a toy sewing machine, right? it's real. it's just little and weighs less than 5 lbs and has a few stitches to choose from with no extra feet. he shouldn't need them...

wonky xmas log cabin block

wonky xmas log cabin block
Originally uploaded by greeneyedsilversmith

this is my first wonky log cabin block for quilt dad's "wonky log cabin quilt along." i like it. maybe i should have cut it a little more wonky instead of having that left bottom corner be a true corner. i just noticed that looking at the photo. hmm...oh well...

i started on the next two blocks and the one is REALLY wonky so far. more like a parallelogram at this point, so there will be quite a different white sashing on that block. i'll post photos later when i'm done, although it may not be tonight. i've got a boy scout registration meeting tonight for boo and then tomorrow night is boo's school orientation. and i need to grocery shop, but can't with all the meetings after work.

AND my brand new dryer still doesn't work. but after lowe's brought us a replacement new dryer and that one didn't work at my house, but it did in the store, it's been deemed that i have an electrical problem of some sort. of course, the landlord isn't returning phone calls after we had a shower leak two weeks ago. but it was really leaking for a few months and he just didn't respond to our requests until he came to the house wanting to know if we're still interested in purchasing it from him. we are...we know there are quirks and we know we have things to make it ours. we just won't be buying it until he has the electrical issue fixed now. plus, i don't think the VA would really want to lend us money on a house with an electrical issue that causes us not be dry our washed clothes. or quilts.

block swaps and other weekend stuff

yesterday was my hubby's birthday and we celebrated pretty much the whole weekend. he's still celebrating in fact...with coworkers now... but i took him out on saturday night to see paolo nutini in concert (whom you should see live - he is just as good live as he is on the recordings).




i resurrected my sparkly gold and multi-colored doc marten's for the concert (they weren't "new shoes" but they're good ones). somehow, snappy had never seen them before. they've been in my closet. right there. i got this pair of limited edition 8-holes my senior year in high school and either wore them or my first pair of birkenstocks every single day from october 10th through the end of school. well...i wore heels twice...or maybe a pair of wooden soled clogs to clunk on the stairs. anyways - i haven't worn them since college but one time. my feet hurt after a standing room only show. i need to remember only wear them when i get to sit down at least part of the time.

in between running to ikea, assembling furniture, going out to the concert, nearly squished by other cars, having migraines and visiting the family, i sewed. yippee! i got all my blocks finished for QBE and started work on my first wonky log cabin for john's quilt along. these are my 3 blocks for september:

for lucyquilts - something to match other blocks she's received

for namawsbuzyquiltin - a black and white block

for lucyquilts - a scrappy log cabin

i hope the ladies like their blocks. i had fun making them again this month, but i haven't signed up for so much that i'm overwhelmed. although, i just started the wonky log cabins.... i might be later. next up to work on - my september STUD mini.

MIL's mini quilt - WIP

MIL's mini quilt - WIP
Originally uploaded by greeneyedsilversmith

alright folks.... i said i'd post a picture of my first paper piecing experience, so here it is!

originally, it was only supposed to have the skinny black border and the woven border. but my dingbat self trimmed it to finished size instead of adding the seam allowance. i sandwiched it last night and am using the solid green fabric for the backing and will bind it in the same rust-colored leaf print that is the outer border.

should i add a sleeve/pocket for hanging? or just leave it? i have no idea how she'll hang it or do whatever it is that she'll do with it.

one set of my in-laws live in kansas and literally across the street from a farm. it's gorgeous in the snow - all that unspoiled white to look at from your kitchen window. they also live in a flight path to the nearby airport. AND my MIL works for cessna, my FIL retired from there and works contract work for airplane tire companies. they're plane kind of people, so i embroidered a little plane in the sky. my hubby loves that i did that.

speaking of the hubby... snappy is trying to compare my quilting obsession (after i told him i'm joining the quilt-a-long with quilt dad) with his "love" of paintball. how is that a good comparison?! he shoots people, comes home a paint-covered mess and only has hours of cleaning and red welts/bruises to show for it. i, on the other hand, have tangible works of textile art to hold and wrap around me, to comfort the worthy people and servicemembers and make people smile. hmm.... i'm just not seeing it....

here i go again

so now i think i'm joining quilt dad's wonky quilt-a-long. am i a glutton for punishment?! do i not already know i cannot do as many block swaps and mini quilt swaps this month due to multiple birthday's in my house (must plan 7 yr old birthday party....) and i have oh let's see....2 current knitting projects...1 QOV started... 2 quilt tops that need backs for myself...1 kid's quilt in hoop and sitting next to living room tv.... 1 mini paper-pieced mini quilt for my MIL*... plus a whole bunch of other things, such as finishing my illustration and getting the items together for my etsy shop.

um. yeah.

but maybe i'll use my christmas fabric that i've had sitting in plastic bins (i have more for various things in my storage unit. note to self: check on said storage unit this week since i forgot to cover items on weekend and there is construction to repair hurricane damage...) for the past 5+ years. i've never known what pattern to make in the first place. i have TONS of the fabrics. they're taking up lots o' space. who needs 4 yards each of two color variations of the same modern tree print? me apparently.

so tonight, i guess i'm pulling out the christmas fabric and taking inventory to see if that's what i'm using. i vow not to buy fabric for this one. unless it's backing or binding and i absolutely positively cannot find SOMETHING in my stash that will work.

*update on this paper-pieced mini... i'm a complete dingbat...when i finished it and went to trim it, seam allowances were not anywhere on the brain. until i made that last cut with the rotary cutter. i trimmed it to the finished size. nice. so now it's getting a third border. pictures later.

mini quilts and block swaps

old stucco

"old stucco" detail

this is the mini quilt i made for the august STUD swap that happened to go to my very first mini quilt swap partner, kristin. the theme for this month was "buildings" and this is mine... old stucco buildings with the peeling paint and mildew growth was my inspiration. i used all sorts of good stuff in this one: shutter making, embroidery gardening, hand quilting and a bunch of piecing. i know my hubby thought i was off my rocker for making the shutters. they're folded and stitched, then the "frame" portions were sewn on separately to box it in.

then i've been super busy with all my block swaps. unfortunately, it appears that i forgot to take pictures of a bunch of the ones i made. :( not sure how that happened... but i should make a mosaic of all the great ones i received and then post one big picture instead of a ton of little ones. that's a task for after dinner and when boo is in bed.

AND i joined the land of the paper-piecing last night!! i must be crazy. it has this teeny tiny barn and silo on a farm scene that is supposed to finish out at 7"x9" and it's going to go to one of my MILs. she lives in kansas and is a quilter herself. i'll post pictures of my adventure in a bit. if it turns out okay...

now, back to fixing dinner while i wait on my hubby to get home. he was on his way home, then realized halfway here that he forgot his wallet. again. at the office. why is it men do that? i only leave mine purposefully when i know i'm not going to be driving or need the picture id for some reason.