First Thunderstorm

Yep, that's it here. It is storming. Has been raining all day and just started really thundering. No lightning yet!

I am staying in where it is warm and dry. I've been busy working on T's guitar quilt, hopefully by the middle of the week it will be done. I'm getting ready to pin baste it and mark it now!

Stay Dry!!

Happenings...

..unfortunately, nothing quilty!

I am still working on getting the sashings and border on the guitar quilt, otherwise, nothing....

We have been busy around here the last few days. Thursday I did some sewing and cleaning. It was also about 60 so J and I went for a 2 mile walk. It was so nice!!!

Dreary brown...

Sam, J found him in the garage

J playing in puddles

Then yesterday we were all home so I cleaned the house while the boys did stalls. Rich decided to take on 2 training horses. He was a horse trainer before he had kids and it wouldn't support them anymore. Then he wanted J to make his own name and not be known as Rich's kid so he hasn't really done any training (other than ours & dads) since about 8 years ago. He picked up these two horses from a lady that he has known a LONG time (she is as old as my grandma) and he has worked with her many times in the past. She just wants these horses finished for her granddaughters so it won't be too hard!

So then Rich decides he wants to get a new girth and new saddle pad. So we go to the local tack shops, we get girths, but no saddle pad. Both offered to order it, but Rich being Rich had to go and look and feel. So we went to Big Dee's tack. It was awesome! I loved it! If only it were closer to home, I would get a job there! Big Dee's originally started out as the tack shop for Northfield Park at the track and has grown since then. So we picked up two neoprene saddle pads while we were there and of course looked at everything we (I) possibly could!

Today I went to a couple of places that are hiring. Hopefully something will come up. And then when Rich gets home we are going to head over to the barn where the two horses are (they have an indoor, we don't) and he is going to ride. Then we will come home, have dinner and hang out.

Tomorrow I plan on sewing ALL day, except when we go to the other barn and that is it!

Have a happy weekend!

BTT, Bindings and stuff.

Ok, the stuff doesn't really go with the whole "B" thing, but the boys winter concert was last night and I got a great video of the boys choir doing a really good job on a hard song, and the band playing.

But first BTT:

We’ve all seen the lists, we’ve all thought, “I should really read that someday,” but for all of us, there are still books on “The List” that we haven’t actually gotten around to reading. Even though we know they’re fabulous. Even though we know that we’ll like them. Or that we’ll learn from them. Or just that they’re supposed to be worthy. We just … haven’t gotten around to them yet.
What’s the best book that YOU haven’t read yet?

I honestly don't know what the best book I haven't read yet is. There are several books that are good that I haven't read yet, such as: I, Mona Lisa, One Thousand White Women, Wicked, The Zookeepers Wife. Right now I am reading The Shack by William P Young (Mom, Dad HAS to read this!) and am loving it. It is on the NY Times bestseller list and is the hot new book. And I know there are tons of great books out there that I haven't read that others love, but honestly, I don't know. I have read the Twilight series, Harry Potter, and many of the classics. Anybody have any ideas, please share!!

Bindings:

This is the binding for T's quilt. I love it, funky and bright. There are 3 strips of guitar fabric in it and I didn't put any of the blue in it since the sashings are blue. I think it will look great against the blue sashing/border and the black.

The top is almost done. I am working on putting the strips in between the rows. Then a trip to JoAnn's for the backing(something funky!) and I will mark the quilting and quilt it. I have never marked before basting my quilt, but I think with his I need to. I want to do diagonal lines in both directions - no stippling because I think it will detract from the quilt and he doesn't like it. Do you think I could mark it before basting it? What do all of you do?

And lastly happenings

7th grade boys

T is in choir but he had a basketball game so he did not sing at the concert last night. But J is in the choir and band. He is in the red tie and exactly behind the conductor in band so you can't see him at all! But he did good and loves music! I tried to upload a video, but it has been over an hour since I started this and I gave up!

We have also been dealing with some issues with my step-daughter, thus leaving me MIA for the last few days. And of course Rich plays poker every night so I can't get on the computer much.

March Already?

I can't believe it is March already! Where does the time go? It seems like we were just celebrating Christmas and New Years! My oh my!


Last night we went to a baseball fundraiser, a night at the races. For those of you who don't know what this is they sell horses and you can buy one and name it. Then a guy comes and they use old tapes from a racetrack and your horses race. People can bet on the horses and win money as if at a racetrack and the winner of the race gets a trophy. Our night also auctions off the horses in the last race of the night and the money goes to the league. It helps pay for field maintenance, uniforms, umpires etc. Last year they made something like 20,000. Yes, twenty thousand. This year, only about 8, but it wasn't as crowded and auction horses weren't going for much. This year the high horse went for about 300 and last year it was over 1500 (Or more, I didn't go so I don't really know).
Sidenote: We also know alot of the drivers at Northfield so its neat to see them driving in old races. I'm just waiting for one of our horses to show up on the screen one year!

They also have all kinds of side boards, instant rip off ticket things, silent auction and chinese auction. So one of the prizes in the chinese auction was zoo tickets. Now J and I love the zoo, we try to go every other year. So I bought $10 worth of tickets (30 tickets) and stuck most in the zoo. I did stick some in for the golf rounds but the zoo got most. And I won!! WOO HOO!! 4 tickets to the zoo! Now J and I are planning when we want to go! LOL!

Yesterday in the mail, this lovely little surprise came from Karen at SewManyWays. Thank you so much Karen, I love it, and you really didn't have to do that. She was giving these gorgeous blocks to the first 2 that commented, but I didn't comment to get something, just because I liked them, so I told her to give them to someone who really wanted them. But I do love it and am debating what I am going to do with the block. The pin cushion is already in use on my sewing table.

Anyways, here is a sneak peak at the boy's guitar quilt. I have been cutting sashing and sewing away today, but took a break to do some blogging. The boy really likes it, I was laying it out this morning trying to decide if I wanted to do random or a pattern and he was all excited, telling me how cool it is.

And right now the older boy is at his girlfriend's. The younger boy is at the neighbors and Rich and I are enjoying the quiet. I will say it was nice to go out last night without the kids and be with other adults! LOL! Now IF I could only get the little boy to drain the hose so it doesn't freeze and I won't have to bucket water! UGH!!

Blocks are Finished!

It's been a slow two weeks around here with quilting. We have all been sick with a very high temperature and just passing it from one to the next. All four of us have had it but not at the same time so it has been a little crazy. Taking care of 1 kid, then Rich, then I had it, then J got it. Now I think we are done. I also scrubbed all the walls and the house down, hoping to combat some of these germs. It has also been in the 50's the last two days so we had windows open, airing out. Today it was only 45 and rain so I didn't open up as much as I would have liked!

But finally the blocks for T's quilt are done. Now I can put the sashing in it this week and hopefully get some backing in the next month or so. I think this is going to turn out really well and I hope he likes it. I mentioned I found this guitar fabric and am building his quilt off this. Well, it is going to have the purple, orange, blue, green and pink squares in it. I have 6 guitar squares and the rest will be plain. The sashing will be the blue material. He wanted simple, and he picked out this pattern so off I went with it.

So next week after I get this sewn together I will go back to my Sylvia's Bridal Sampler and something else, but I am not sure what. I have material to make a black and white quilt and 2 jelly rolls for a pattern called Strip Poker, so I am sure it will be one of those.

Tonight J is at a hockey game playing with the band. He went to school today miserable because if you don't go to school then you don't do anything extra at night. T and Rich are playing Lego on XBox and I am going to do some blog reading and then read my current book "Middlesex". Tomorrow I will be working on T's quilt and then we have a baseball fundraiser tomorrow night, a night at the races, that I don't really want to go to but I am. Sunday I don't believe we have anything planned!

Hope everyone has a good weekend and stays dry!

C'Mon!!

Hey everyone! I need 4 more people for my PIF! There have to be 4 of you out there lurking (in the us/canada) that want to play! Its so great and so much fun, just think you get a little something and then just have to give a little something in return. I know there is someone out there who wants to play with me!! Send me a comment.

Meghan at Quilted Life and Comfort Cove Designs, Send me an email letting me know yours. And I will send you back one with some questions I have for you! Thanks!!

Tri-M

Tri-M is a music honor society that has a junior chapter for 7th and 8th grade. J was inducted into the honor society last night. So we went to the ceremony and there were (I kid you not) 28 kids there. Of those 28 about 14 were second year members being congratulated and 14 were new inductees.

Now, here is my question...the invitation said "Semi-formal". To me that means that the boy needs to wear a tie, no jeans etc...so Rich and I dressed as follows:

Doesn't he look good??

We were the ONLY parents dressed that nice! I was floored. Half the kids were dressed in their school clothes. Most of the parents had on jeans and sweatshirts. Now the invitations were these nice engraved almost wedding response looking things. Don't ya think that meant it was supposed to be a little fancier?? Ok, but whatever, the whole thing lasted less then 20 minutes. We were home within the hour...

J has on the red tie.

So that was our night, I am off to blog read (finally catch-up) then do some sewing and cleaning. I am giving the house its spring cleaning so it will be done!