"Eventful" Week & 1 Quilt

Autumn is cruising right along, wouldn't you say? We've turned the heat on & are seeing the leaves starting to change colors here in Pennsylvania. 

Since I last wrote my girls have helped keep things "eventful" as I hinted at in the title. 

The younger daughter, Morgan, looked very grown up going to homecoming with a boyfriend this year: 

This at least was a fun thing! Later in the week, Maegan, the older daughter, dropped her phone in a bucket of water, and her car died on her TWICE. Morgan followed up by dropping her phone in the shower. Yep, you read that right... in. the. shower. (And yes I mean while she was IN the shower!)

We just had a generally spastic week. Electronics were on the fritz left & right, our school days weren't going quite as planned, and I was constantly behind schedule on quilting. Just one of those weeks...

I did get this quick quilt worked in before I started on another custom one that isn't done to show yet: 

Baskets & Blocks Top; QUILTED with Leafy Swirl (freehand)

We did manage to leave some time for fun in between the annoyances life was handing us.

Monday the kids carved pumpkins: 

 And Thursday we had a bit of fun with our school day & visited Jen's Pottery Den to paint some pottery. 

We got to browse a used book store nearby too, which is always fun for us bookworms! (not that you look like a worm, Morgan; it's just a figure of speech...heehee)

To end our week, the girls & I went to see Pitch Perfect. Did anyone else see it? I enjoyed it but will have to admit it wasn't *quite* as good as I was expecting. Is it just me?? Or maybe it had more to do with my sour mood that evening (it was a looooong-feeling week.) 

Here's hoping the upcoming week will be slightly more productive...

Will Try to Keep This Short!

There's been a lot going on in the past month I've ignored my poor blog.

My last post was literally one month ago & we'd just started our gym membership. I'm happy to report that we've kept up going twice a week! One of the many great things about having my built-in work-out partners is that even when one of us doesn't feel like going, someone else will urge the rest on. There's only been once that we came out feeling rough & tired. Usually it's rejuvenating.

My younger daughter decided to return to homeschooling. And I LOVE, love, love the homeschool lifestyle, but the amount of time I had to work with in terms of preparing & planning subjects has left me in a bit of a tizzy. No worries, though, as we're up & running mostly on time & mostly full steam. 

Besides working out & school-planning my brains out,  I've been quilting. Here are the latest:

Wizard Top; QUILTED with Meandering Loops & Stars (freehand)

Hearts & Squares Top; QUILTED with Puffy Heart Meander (freehand)

Green Lattice & Yellow Squares Top; QUILTED with Puzzle Piece Meander (freehand)

Navy & Cream Half-Square Triangle Top; QUILTED with Bubble Meander (freehand)

Poinsettia Top; QUILTED with Bubble Meander (freehand)

Blue Floral Panel Top; QUILTED with Butterfly Meander (freehand)

Ladybugs & Hearts Top; QUILTED Custom (freehand)

Paisley Stars Top; QUILTED with Puzzle Piece Meander (freehand)

My older daughter started her first college class.

And my younger daughter turned 16.

One other thing I'll mention... a year ago in early September we were cleaning out a muddy, soggy, smelly post-flood mess. I'm so glad we're not dealing with THAT! It seems unreal that it's been a year already though. Time sure does fly...

Just the latest...

Thought I'd pop in & say hello! Has everyone got the TGIF feeling??

Me too! I got all my grading caught up, which means I can work on the report card Monday (imagine evil music & tittering in the background here.) 

And other than looking forward to having lunch with my BFF tomorrow, there's nothing on my calendar. I'm hoping this means I'll have some serious sewing time, but time will tell.

How often as Moms do we set out with one plan in mind, only to have our kids stomp them into the ground?? I really don't mean that to sound harsh. After all, I love it when my kids & their friends hang out here.

BUT they can shake things up a bit :) 

(Just this past week, in fact, we've unexpectedly made red velvet cupcakes, played 500 Rummy, watched Sixteen Candles, and taught a teen how to cross stitch-- How cool is that?!?!?!?)

Anyway, this is a client quilt I finished up & delivered this week. It's a memory quilt (for a daughter whose Dad passed away) made of t-shirt blocks & denim sashing.

I thought it turned out well. The client picked out this meandering heart pattern. My only trouble was some smooshing going on with the shirt fabric here & there. I had to pick a couple areas to avoid wrinkles in the quilting. Not sure why because they had interfacing? It's the first one I've quilted... I wonder if this is typical?

And I always like to show the backs. Sometimes it's easier to see the actual quilting this way.

Sew my agenda for the next couple days is: 

write

sew

work on a client table runner (which is code for SEW)

have lunch with BFF

and enjoy a slow Sunday with my peeps (my Day of Rest) eh hem.... MORE SEWING

Happy Weekend!

New month, new beginnings....

In an effort to gain some sort of control over my own life, I'm trying to implement scheduling my days. Some of this was already going on since I'm still homeschooling my 14  yo dd, however, the rest of the day not considered "school time" has been hit or miss as to what gets accomplished. On some level I enjoy this freedom & relish that I have that luxury. On the other hand I desire to accomplish something more just for me....

Don't get me wrong, I consider molding & teaching my children to be of utmost importance, however, there are a good many more hours in the day that gets swallowed up with????? Sometimes there's so much to do, I just stand looking around, head whipping back & forth wondering where to begin. It's about then that I decide to "research" something online & the hours fly away. 

One of the first changes to my daily schedule includes Smokey the spastic lab puppy. Look at that sweet face & the fabulous mess he's created in the background!! 

He's being walked daily again, and I try to do this first thing in the morning before the day gets away from me & I still have time to shower afterwards. I know the exercise is good for me, will boost my mood, yadda yadda yadda, HOWEVER, "walking" the lab isn't a regular walk. It's more like power walking & still hanging on for dear life. I've read Ceaser's book on being a Dog Whisperer & so far even my yelling (let along my whispering) hasn't resulted in tremendous change. I've even tried jogging to pick up the pace, but it's still like I'm hanging on for dear life & I'm just waiting for the wrong step that lands me prone on the ground getting a serious case of dirt rash (it's not road rash, because I usually walk/jog on the wooded trail.) 

Sounds peaceful & ideal, I know. And sometimes as my body is being punished with the high rate of speed it's traveling too early in the morning, and in between yanks on my arms that jerk my whole body out of step, and also while trying to watch for Smokey's 100 lb body coming to an abrupt halt right in front of me while investigating some fantastic smelly smell... SOMETIMES I have time to catch a glimpse of the Susquehanna River just beyond the trees I'm running amidst, and it's a beautiful, calm, serene (until I land my foot right in the middle of 3 inches of soppy mud & feel it slowly seep into my white sneaker.)