Weird Season!

I love Christmas!! But this year I have been experiencing feelings that I have not felt before at this time of year. It is not really a stressed out feeling, or a feeling of being overwhelmed...it is more of a blah feeling. The trees are up, the shopping (execept for groceries) are done, and everything is in place. It just doesn't feel the same. Marty says it is because I have knocked myself out at work and have too many irons in the fire. I just don't know......

But anyway....Christmas is here. I can't wait for my week off from work next week. I have Monday and Tuesday off and then I am using vacation time for Wednesday through Friday. Then I go back on Monday, 12/31 and I have Tuesday off! Talk about confusing a routine! But I need the time to just lay back and sleep!

I am hoping to get some sewing done during this week. The one Christmas quilt did not get done. I have wrapped it as is and will tell the recipient I want it back to finish. I am sure there will be no argument! I just feel bad I didn't get it done - I just plain ran out of time.

Take care everyone and have a fantastic holiday. I will try to blog after Christmas (or maybe even before if I get real ambitous!).

Happy holidays,
Deb

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!! Tomorrow is the day - one of my favorites - not because of the food, although it certainly adds to the enjoyment - but it is the OFFICIAL start of Christmas! I can now play the Christmas CDs at full volume instead of low so that only I can hear it.

Yes, I am a Christmas addict. The psychologist says it is a sign that I am obsessive-compulsive. I do not believe that for one single moment. I have always loved Christmas and play the music all year round. If Marty and the kids would let me, I would keep all 16 Christmas trees up all year. Yes, 16 Christmas trees, each with their own theme. And we were married on December 22, 1990 so we could use the pointsettias and Christmas tree in the background. Christmas is just a part of me.

But first I must make it through Thanksgiving. Marty's oldest sister Marcia and her family are coming to my FIL's for dinner. Our family is in charge of squash, two deep dish apple pies, two cheesecakes (the baked kind, not jello) and stuffed celery with cream cheese and green olives. My kids also want me to bring the cranberry jell in a can as they don't like the homemade cranberry salad. As soon as I get off from work, the baking begins!

I am so close to finishing the string quilt that is a Christmas gift that it is not funny. I hope while the cheesecakes are baking I can finish the quilting and at least pin on the binding. Then I need to work on the flannel brick quilt. I started to quilt some of it, but realized that when we pinned it together there is a bunch of fabric in the backing. I need to unpin half of it, flatten the backing out and try again. ARRRRGGGHHHHH! This quilt won't take long to quilt. Then I must quilt Amanda's tulips. That will take longer as I don't want to rush and mess it up. Then John really wants a flannel bick quilt - he keeps reminding me his room gets very little heat.

I hope and pray that everyone has a fantastic holiday and don't eat too much. Remeber we must support the economy on Friday!

Deb

TGIF!! I think....

It is Friday, yeah!! Another busy week for us - Camporee was great - John and his team won first place in the aluminum foil cooking. Robbyn sprained her ankle when Jimmy stepped on her. So she got lots of sympathy and Jimmy learned a lesson - when you break the merchandise, you have to pay for it. Robbyn played the injury to the hilt with, "Jimmy, I need a drink", "Jimmy I need my pillow fluffed", "Jimmy can you go get my doll in the red dress. No not that doll, the other doll."

Marty is almost done revamping the train layout and I believe it is moving out of the house today! I can have my sewing stuff out again!

It has finally turned cold here and it smells like fall. I still have not let my family turn on the furnace - I told them to put on a sweater and put on more clothes! Robbyn and I are going to the orchard Saturday and get a Hubbard squash for Thanksgiving and some apples. I want to make my father-in-law one of my huge apple pies that he loves. I may even sneak in a piece of fried dough and some cider.

I am still quilting away on the string quilt for Christmas and I hope it will be done shortly. Then on to the brick quilt which is the other Christmas quilt. That should go fast. Then I MUST do my niece's quilt for her wedding, especially since she is getting married on Nov. 8! YIKES!

I have so many projects that I want and/or need to do. I may have to start keeping a running list here on the blog so you all can keep pushing me!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
Deb

So Many Things....So Little Time

Whew! It has been quite a couple of weeks! First I must rant just a little on two topics. First, we learned on the news over the weekend that a Fort Drum solider had been killed in Iraq - an 18 year old who has been in the Army just 6 months. What a WASTE!! For some reason this young man's death has bothered me to no end. This is a stupid, wasteful war that our "brillant" President has gotten us into - all we are doing is killing our future. There, enough for that at the moment.

Second rant - Robbyn and I did the Central NY Quilt Shop Hop Saturday. I must say shopping for fabric with a 9 year old girl who loves everything is quite an adventure! At Patchwork Plus, http://www.patchworkplusquiltshop.com/ they were having a class for the 4 patch stacked posies. The one woman was making this with bright tropical parrot fabric that Robbyn fell in love with. Then the woman let her play with a stack of blocks and that is all it took. We were told all it took was a fabric with at least 4 repeats. We bought the identical fabric and the pattern and on we went. During the day Robbyn saw several other fabrics that she wanted to use in this pattern so we bought those. Now, I have lots of fabric and the pattern. But the pattern directions are so confusing!!!! Why must patterns be so difficult that only a mechanical engineer can read them?! I think between my reading, my mechanical 15 year old reading them and with help from the Quilting Passion Forum I may be able to figure this out. I just wish the directions were clearer.

There, enough ranting - I fell in love with the Patchwork Plus quilt shop. They have a relaxing fireplace and tons of items to look at - you must visit if you are in central NY.

Sunday we walked the CROP Walk for church. The route was advertised as being 5 miles, but walkers measured it and it was actually 6 miles. We brought our 4 greyhounds with us. The two older ones, Amber and Owen W. pooped out at about 3 miles (and so did I). The two younger hounds, Evie and Tigger, bounced the entire route with John and his friend Dolan. Ah, youth!

Now Marty and John are working hard trying to get the family train layout ready for the Syracuse train show the first weekend of November. The layout needs some cleaning, tuning and some scenery updates. The layout will then go to the Fulton train show the following weekend. In the meantime as they work I have several modulars in the living room, some in the dining room and when I went to bed last night I thought I heard someone say they could put some in the kitchen and the computer room to work on. At least it is not Christmas and I would have to fight with trees and modulars!

Have a great day!
Deb

Thank Goodness I have John!

John, my 15 year old, reminded me that I had not posted lately - I guess he keeps track of things like this. It is a good thing, because in our busy-ness I totally forgot! So let's see, what is new......

I am working diligently on the string quilt that is a Christmas gift. It is going pretty quickly, although I took it to church last Sunday and the professional quilter there told me it was too heavy to hand quilt. I took a CD and am drawing interlocking circles all over the quilt. I guess it is heavy because the batting is wool, which I didn't realize until just now. Well, the recipient will be very warm!

I started putting together an Eleanor Burns' Easy Strip Tulip quilt for my niece. I am amazed that I could put this together and make it look decent! I am now looking for a bright fabric with blues and tulips for the border.

I guess that is about all for now.....later!

It's Monday.....

Where do I begin? This past Saturday John did his Eagle Boy Scout Project - part of obtaining the rank is doing a mega community service project. His project was educating the public about the need for organ, tissue and eye donors. He did a massive advertising blitz and had a display at the Salmon River Festival in Pulaski, NY. He had an amazing 33 people actually sign to become donors and over 50 people took cards home to fill out. He did an incredible job! In fact, he was invited to display on September 22 at the Chamber of Commerace's open house, which his project did not include! Now all he needs to do is three more merit badges and he is through!

I did not do a lot of quilting this weekend. There was just no time! I did manage to quilt a few circles into the quilt that is a Christmas gift and decided to put the other quilt together at the church where I can move tables and have a bigger work area.

I have to finish sewing a row for the Round Robin Row by Row that I joined on the Quilting Passion forum. This is my last row to do and mail back to its owner. I received my own rows back but have not had the opportunity yet to actually play with the blocks!

Have a great day!
Deb

I Hate Doing It!!

I finally admitted to myself that I hate something about quilting - I HATE basting the backing, batting and quilt top together! First, I don't have a big enough table - I am working on my dining room table. Second, I only have two hands. Thank goodness John helped me last night or I would still be trying to pin this together.

I wanted to put together the String Quilt I made as a gift. I got the 108 inch backing from Quilt In A Day and the batting and got the top. I had a multitude of pins. I was ready to go. John and I almost had the whole thing pinned together when John said, "Look Mom, there is a whole bunch of fabric here!". The backing had bunched up and the only way to fix it was to unpin most of the quilt and re-pin. What a pain in the tush!! Finally at 11:30 last night we got it done. Now tonight I need to draw the quilting lines on it and start. I am going to use a CD as template and draw random circles all over the quilt. I want to make sure this gets done by Christmas.

I am also working on another Christmas gift quilt and am waiting for the backing to come. Then I will try to do this all over again!

The school did decide to promote Jim to the 8th grade - although he had a scare - the school sent a letter with information home and the first thing we pulled out was an invitation to the 6th grade orientation! He thought he had been demoted! Robbyn and Jim both have school supplies and are almost ready. I bought Robbyn a new dress because "every girl needs a new school outfit".

The eating frenzy was not very frenzied at all - we had milk at the Dairy Barn, a baked potato at the Potato Booth and then had dinner - Marty, Jim and Robbyn had fish sandwiches, I had fried clams and John had a Buffalo chicken sandwich that made by eyes water from across the table! Oh, and I had a bottle of blueberry wine while watching the parade. No fried dough, no fried oreos, nothing too bad.

We are coming to the Labor Day weekend. We will be BBQing chicken halves on Sunday. We cook 24 halves and freeze most so we can have chicken in the winter! Here is the recipe we use for the sauce. It is called the Cornell Chicken Sauce because a professor at Cornell University invented it.

Cornell Barbeque Chicken:

2 cups vinegar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
3 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon poultry seasoning
Pepper to taste
6 to 8 Chicken halves

Put all ingredients into a bowl and mix until smooth. Marinade chicken in sauce for at least 1 - 2 hours (we allowed the chicken to marinate overnight). Cook chicken over charcoal grill until done. Baste often while cooking.

Note: I basted the chicken almost continuously during the cooking process. The recipe makes plenty of marinade so be generous with your basting. I would cook the chicken for a few minutes after the last dose of basting, however, since there is raw egg in the marinade.

Hope you all enjoy!

It's Friday!!

What a week! It seems like I have been running full speed, full time! Work was busy, the kids were busy, Marty was busy - all of which means I am busy!

John, our 15 year old is working on his Eagle Scout project. He is helping to educate people about the need for organ, eye and tissue donors. He has done a bang up job on publicity so far. Next Wednesday he is appearing on the local drive time talk radio show. Then on September 8 he will have a display booth set up at the Pulaski, NY Salmon Festival. Now, if only I could get him to be more enthusiastic about school work.

Poor Jimmy passed his summer school Science class, but failed Math. I don't know yet if this means he will have to repeat the grade or what will happen. I feel terrible because I have a hard time with anything math related except the normal adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing. When you get letters involved, forget it! And I don't even want to hear about formulas and angles! I tried to help him with his homework and it was far beyond my comprehension.

It is time for the NYS Fair! I grew up "downstate" in the Catskill Mountains of NY and never knew about the State Fair until I moved to Central NY and married my husband. I absolutely love it! On the other hand, Marty hates the fair as he had to go for band competitions all through school. I have been anxiously waiting for Saturday so of course the week seems to have dragged on. It is one of only a couple days in the year when all diets are off and the eating frenzy begins. Bring on the sausage and peppers, fried dough, fried oreos and beer!

I did manage to finish a string quilt top that will be a Christmas present and ordered the backing and batting from Quilt In A Day. I am just 5 quick rows from finishing a flannel quilt called Bricks (Fons & Porter) for another Christmas gift. I ordered the 108 inch flannel backing yesterday so it will be here when I finish. Then all I have to do is put them together and quilt away!

Summer Gone?

Jimmy, my 13 year old just finished summer school. He had to take Math 7 and Science 7 in summer school in order to pass. We are now keeping our fingers crossed that he actually made it through.

Then the NYS Fair is just 8 days away. This is really the end of summer! We usually go at least once - the kids like all the "trappings", I love the quilts and free concerts and Marty loves the antique tractor display and the agricultural musuem. And we all love the food. It is amazing that I can cook the same identical food items at home, but it tastes so much better at the fair.

Before you know it school starts! YEAHHH!!! But where has summer gone? We had so many plans for things to do this summer and I don't think we have had the time to do any of it. Time went by way too fast.

I wanted to share with you a blog from (as my kids say) a most excellent person - Terry Crawford. She is the moderator for Quilting With A Passion and is a write of a blog for Quilting By Design. Here is the link: http://www.quiltingbydesign.net/terry-crawford. Check her out!

Hang in there and enjoy what is left of summer!

Grandmother's Flower Garden

This weekend will be the second anniversary of my starting a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt. I am using 1 1/4 inch hexagons from Paper Pieces. The quilt measures approximately 97 inches by 97 inches. All of this is done by hand. I added the last flowers last night and then began working on the filling in so that I can make straight edges. This will take another year!! I was going to give this to my niece for her wedding, but Marty questioned whether after all this work, I would want to give it away!

But remember, I am still working on just the top! I still have to layer it, baste it and then quilt it! My kids may get this as part of their inheritance at this rate.

I have found working with the Paper Pieces hexagons fantastic! The technique is English paper piecing. You wrap the fabric around the paper piece, baste it and then sew the hexagons together. Once you have quite a bit sewen together, you take out the basting and pull the paper out of the backs and reuse it. The link for the company is: http://www.paperpieces.com

I will post a picture of what I have done thus far later.

Deb

My First Blog Entry!

OK, I was told I needed a blog - everyone is doing it after all! So here I am. I am not sure what I am doing, but we will give it a try.

I hope to share my passions - my family, my friends, quilting, greyhounds, Nascar and a lot of everything else. As soon as I learn how, I will post pictures.

In the meantime, enjoy! Contact me if you wish and let's see where this goes!

Deb