Bear's Quilt is Finished!

Yesterday I met up with Mom, Momo, & Bear to pick up my quilts! I was on the verge of giddy (okay, I was beyond giddy) as I drove down. I'll let them think it was because I was happy to see them, but we all know I wanted my quilts. ;)

Momo was kind enough to finish the binding on Bear's quilt. My sister was so excited to take her quilt home...she's been patiently waiting for quite a while. So without further ado, here's her quilt (my first):





And here's the happy recipient with her new quilt:

Get Counted!

A couple of weeks ago I got a letter in the mail telling me that I would be receiving a Census form & a week later, it came. Heck yes! I had been dreaming of that day for so long. Ten years ago I remember being upset because I wouldn't get to fill out my family's Census form. That's probably because I loved filling out those email surveys (Favorite color: poppy red, Favorite ice cream: Edy's Coney Island, etc.). But now, I really appreciate the services provided by the Census Bureau. For years I have relied on their information for class, work, & because I'm weird & like to look up random data.

Today I filled out & mailed off my Census form! Have you filled out yours yet? If so, yay you & if not, get counted!

Mole

A few months ago this mole showed up. A few weeks ago a black scab-like thing was covering it. I had never scratched or irritated the mole so I thought it was all pretty odd. The scab went away on its own, but a few days ago I noticed it was back so I did what any other resourceful person would do, I turned to the Medical Bible, a.k.a. the Internet. Most forum discussions had comments suggesting to get it checked out by a doctor. Because of their sound advice and several years of reading Dooce (who has chronicled her skin cancer issues) I made an appointment for yesterday. My doctor told me not to worry about it yet, but to keep my eye on it for a couple of weeks. If the redness continues or if the mole grows, then I'm supposed to get back in there to have it removed. This posting is my 'before' picture, expect another picture in two weeks.

Talk about my mole issues brought up a pretty funny conversation yesterday: "When I was younger and just learning about death and Heaven, one of our cattle died. I asked my dad what was going to happen to her now. He told me that she was going to go to Heaven. I asked how she was going to get there and he said that her soul would go. That's not exactly what I heard though. I started counting all the moles on my arms and exclaimed that I would get to go to Heaven seven times!" My people are funny sometimes... But I like the logic. If acceptance to Heaven is based solely on moles, I'm so in!

National Quilting Day

Yesterday was National Quilting Day!

How fitting that Sue just finished quilting the three I left with her only a month ago. She had so many quilts in line ahead of me that I was sure mine wouldn't be finished for months. I was supposed to pick them up this weekend, but because of the spring snowstorm we got I decided to stay put. Disappointing, yes, but I thought I could take the whole weekend to work on a baby quilt.

Ironing these fabrics took forever because I had to wash the fabric first (something I'm not accustomed to doing) & the crinkles just wouldn't come out. The measuring and cutting stages were fast and easy because of the simple design I chose. I really thought the piecing would go off without a hitch. I was able to get several inches of sample stitches through my machine without any problems. After piecing only four strips, my machine decided to throw another tantrum that put a stop to my work. So now, I have Kasie's bag in pieces & a baby quilt in pieces.


Maybe Someone is trying to tell me that I should put a hold on new projects until I make some more progress on Mom's quilt. Yeah, I hear you...I'll work on it!

First Day of Spring?

Today is the first day of spring. Ha! First day of spring & we woke up to a covering of snow but Avey just had to go & check it out. Didn't take her long to realize that she wanted back in...

Road Rage

I inherited more of my looks from my dad's side of the family. My nose & mouth are definitely Morris family features. My mom shows up in my personality. Both of us struggle with showing our emotions constructively, we are incredibly stubborn, & we suffer from a horrible case of road rage that can only stay hidden for so long before it explodes in a horrible string of profanity or the dreaded whammy (Mom is more creative in her modes of expression than I am).

Slow drivers, drivers who ride on my bumper, drivers who swerve back & forth between the lanes because it is so much more important that they reach their destination that fraction of a second sooner. Pedestrians stepping right out in front of my car when there is no crosswalk in sight. Cyclists riding their bikes through a crosswalk. Red lights that just won't change. All of these have felt my wrath...or at least I have yelled at them with my car windows rolled up.

But yesterday I found myself hoping to get stopped at those red lights. I had just bought a Dairy Queen blizzard & each of those red lights meant a brief moment to enjoy every bite. How dare driving interrupt my eating in the car! So yesterday, all the red lights I stopped at were spared my berating...yummy yummy Blizzard.

Singer Situation

My sewing machine was a birthday present last year. We (my sewing machine & I - yes, I tend to anthropomorphize) have gotten along pretty well with just a few hiccups. The occasional bobbin issue or thread getting stuck in the main part of the machine & my having to break out the heavy power tools to unstuck it. But this past weekend he (yes, my sewing machine is a he) really dropped the ball.

Saturday was Kasie's birthday. I bought some fabric a few weekends ago and was super excited to start making a bag for her. Well, I have procrastinated once or twice in my life (like that time I wrote a 20-page paper in one night) and last week may have been one of those times. I didn't get the bag finished in time and had to pack up the sewing machine, fabric, & notions so I could sew in AC Saturday before seeing Kasie. Saturday morning I set everything up to work & then the problems began. Tension problems, bobbin winding problems, every kind of problem. I even tried to work on Lindsay's machine & while it looked a little better, it still wasn't right. The fabric must be haunted.

I have visited with several shops to determine the problem. They have told me to look into issues with the needle, tension, machine, etc. Tomorrow I'm going to the quilt shop in town to see what they think of my fabric. Hopefully the problem will be resolved with buying a different needle because if I have to buy a new machine, Kasie's bag will end up looking like this for a while...


Happy Birthday, Kasie!