A Stitch In Time: 2011 Wrap-Up

Seventy percent of success in life is showing up. –Woody Allen

For the past two years, I've been keeping an index of all the projects I finish during each year. It has been fun to look back to see how much I've accomplished in one year. I humbly submit my 2011 finishes.

One Hired Machine Quilting & Binding Job

One Halloween Costume, Two Pieces {skirt & cloak}

Two Fleece Baby Blankets

Three Abbey Bags

Four Church Bags

Four Table Runners

Five Adult Bibs

Six Aprons {one reversible}

Eight Quilts

Twelve Quilted Notebook Covers

Fifteen Fabric Postcards

Eighteen Fancy Pillowcases

In case you lost count, that is 80 finishes, and I enjoyed every one of them. I hope that 2012 is as productive!

Various and Sundry Monday: Vol 18

The willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life is the source from which self-respect springs. –Joan Didion

Meet Stanley
I'm not sure if this spider, with its head-of-French-knots and button-bottom is whimsical or creepy. I mean, look at those legs and the bead-y orange eyes. This is the last piece of the hat portion of Zelda's Fancy Hat. I still have three brim pieces to do, but after I finished Stanley the Spider, it was time to put this project away for a bit.

Kimono Garden
The Christmas crafting has officially begun. I've got this table runner just about ready to baste and quilt. I'm going to make several different runners for various parties, and based on how quickly this one went together and barring any flare-ups of my chronic case of procrastination, I hope to be done with all handmade gifts with time to spare. Wish me luck.

100 Years and Still the Heartbeat of America
On November 3, Chevrolet celebrated its 100^th birthday! Here's a look back at the last century.


Thank You for Your Votes

Last weekend, I entered the weekly themed quilt contest over at Quilting Bloggers. The theme was Remembering Veterans and I submitted the t-shirt quilt I made for Mr. Bug, using his old t-shirts, sweatshirts and work shirts from the Navy. My mom informs me that my dad voted from every single IP address he could, and called all my siblings and told them to vote from their computers and smart phones. I know many of you voted, and left me really nice comments of encouragement. I finished in 4^th place, with 113 votes which is so amazing considering that the vote was split between 27 quilts. Thank you SO much to everyone who voted for me. I really appreciate it! It really made my weekend!

I Can't Help Myself
Part 1 of Breaking Dawn premiers at midnight on the 18^th. I, somehow, lucked out and have tickets for a pre-screening at 5:15 pm on the 17^th. I'm just a little excited. Here are a couple clips with scenes from the movie to help with the pre-wedding jitters.

Vote for Me, Please

Seek not the favor of the multitude; it is seldom got by honest and lawful means. But seek the testimony of few; and number not voices, but weigh them. –Immanuel Kant

I entered this week's Themed Quilt Contest over at Quilting Bloggers. The theme is Remembering Veterans, and I thought Mr. Bug's t-shirt quilt fit perfectly into that category.

And now the shameless begging. There are 27 quilts featured this week. Hop on over, take a look, and vote for your favorite {please, please, pick mine!}. My quilt is called Service Rendered. Voting is open until 11:59 pm {EST} on November 13^th

Today's post brought to you by:

Mr. Bug's Navy T-Shirt Memory Quilt: Finished

Better than honor and glory, and History's iron pen,
Was the thought of duty done and the love of his fellow-men.
–Richard Watson Gilder

One week before his birthday {which is two days before Christmas} I had the brilliant insane idea to make a quilt for Mr. Bug using old t-shirts from when he was in the Navy. Five months and one week {not to mention a fair amount of unpicking} later and it is finally finished!

There are six t-shirts, four sweatshirts, a turtleneck and the leg of a pair of sweatpants in the blocks. The sashing is made from the work shirts he wore on board the ship. I also used a bit of one of the shirts in the center of the quilt and also for the label on the back of the quilt. The label has his dates of service and his rank. I also put the emblem for a QuarterMaster on the label; in the Navy the QuarterMaster navigates the ship.

Below is the front of my favorite t-shirt {it sits in the bottom left corner; the back is in the bottom right corner}. The scroll reads We men of the USS Clark crossed the Royal Relm {someone forgot to spell-check} of the Honorable King Neptune, known to all land lovers as the Equator. When a ship crosses the equator, there is a big to-do aboard {read hazing} for all the sailors who haven't crossed before. Those who have set up an obstacle course and if you have to go through the course, you're guaranteed to be wet and miserable. Not only did they cross the equator, but they also went through the Panama Canal {denoted on the back of the shirt}. Mr. Bug was the navigator on duty when they went through. He says it is a bunch of hurry-up-and-wait, because you have to go through a series of locks and each one has to fill when you enter it, but I think it sounds really neat.

Mr. Bug wanted to include his insignia and some of the patches he collected over his years in the Navy. I used the front of one of his work shirts because the little emblem above the pocket was a pretty big deal to earn. I kept the pocket on just for fun. Below that I used part of a sleeve that has his insignia printed right on it. I pulled the navy blue insignia just below it off of a jacket; it would also be used on a dress blue uniform. The white insignia {which includes the QuarterMaster emblem} would be used on a dress white uniform. There are patches from the two ships he served on and the others are some he traded with servicemen from other countries.

I started this quilt with the intention of finishing it in the week before Christmas as a birthday surprise. It would have been a very different quilt had it happened that way. Because I ordered the wrong fabric for the sashing and back and had no hope of getting an exchange and finishing the quilt in time, I showed Mr. Bug what I was up to. As I worked on it, he gave input and pulled out the work shirts and a couple of other t-shirts that we put in the quilt. He also helped me with the placement of the blocks in the quilt. And I think it really turned out great! I'm so glad to have it finished and am excited for Mr. Bug to be able to have a tangible object to associate with those memories.

Here are links to each of the posts about the creation of this quilt.
Last-Minute Gift
Fabric S.N.A.F.U.
About the Blocks
Half-done is Well Begun
Quilt Top
Quilt Label in Progress
Ready for Quilting
Teaser

Today's post brought to you by:



P.S. Click the button above to take you to AmyLouWho's for lots more Sew & Tell.

Various and Sundry Monday: Vol. 9

Fear is the lengthened shadow of ignorance. –Arnold Glasow

You'll Never Guess: Rainy Monday Music Spot
It is Monday—and it is raining again! Seriously. It has rained four of the last six Mondays {4/25, 5/9, 5/23 and 5/30}. What are the odds? Where you live, it might not be a big deal. But in Utah? It's not very likely. We've had the wettest May on record. I haven't turned the sprinklers on yet, which is astounding and the weather has been lovely and cool. And so we must have a little music about rain. I am running out of songs I know and like {Rainy Days and Mondays will not be a feature on my blog. Ever.} about rain. If it rains next Monday, I'm going to have to enlist the help of Google. Today, I'm going with a little Queensrÿche. I had the cassette {do they still make those ?} when it came out in the 90's.


T-Shirt Quilt Teaser
Mr. Bug's T-Shirt Quilt is almost finished. The quilting is done. The binding is on. I am just going to put on the final details and then throw it in the wash. And hopefully the weather will cooperate for a bit this evening so I can get some photos of the whole thing. It would be awesome to post a finish before I go to bed tonight. In the meantime, here's a little teaser.

Pretty Peonies
I love Peonies almost as much as I love Tulips. I have 16 peony plants in my yard and every spring, I go around counting to make sure they've all come back. When they start to bud, I go around and count how many plants are going to bloom and how many buds are on each plant. They are all old enough that they should bloom this year, but there are three plants that don't have buds on them . . . yet. I still have hope. Of the 16 plants, I have 14 different varieties of peonies. Only two plants are repeats. It just so happens that my two Sarah Bernhardt peonies are the first and last to bloom each spring. One of them sits in deep shade right outside the front door and is the last to bloom each spring. The Sarah Bernhardt that is planted in full sun right outside my back door is the first. The buds are just starting to burst open. The flowers are the palest of pale pinks and the magenta veining on them is just gorgeous.

My Next Washer May Be a Maytag Maxima
We have a DVR so although I usually have the TV on while I'm sewing, I don't watch many commercials. I love technology. The other day while I was skipping through the ads, I had to stop and go back because I'd seen the flash of a quilt in a commercial and it piqued my curiosity. The colors in the quilt are so pretty and the way they used it in the commercial tied their product to an emotional response. Way to go, Maytag!

Various and Sundry Monday: Vol. 8

If you knew that hope and despair were paths to the same destination, which would you choose? –Robert Brault

Rainy Monday Music Spot Again: 3 AM
Living in a desert state, rain is a fairly uncommon occurrence, which is why I always have to give you a weather report. I'll bet we've had an entire year's rainfall in the past month. And I just can't get over it. It is so amazingly beautiful to me. I know that so much moisture is causing rivers to overflow their banks; flooding is a real danger for parts of the state. But to me each drop is truly a miracle and I am loving all this rain. I don't know if you love rain as much as I do, but I would share it with you if I could. Since that's not possible, how about a little rainy music?


Déjà Vu All Over Again
If you read P.'s blog, you'll know that she spent Saturday out in her gardens, and when 6:00 passed she was in the kitchen feeling the after-effects. I oohhed and ahhed over her pansies and drooled over her hostas and realized that I spent my Saturday in exactly the same way she did, right down to the aching muscles {boy are my gardening muscles out of shape!} and making dinner while the world was supposed to be ending.

So, I decided to post a few gardening pictures of my own. But I don't have pansies this year and my ground cover choked out the astilbe and the snails have already started chewing holes through the hostas.

I managed to get a shot where the damaged leaves are hidden, but I'm a little fed up with the snail population in my garden. Last year they ate my favorite hostas — the first perennials I bought after we moved here — to the ground before they'd barely begun to leaf out and killed them dead. Luckily, I gave my neighbor some cuttings a few years ago and she said I could have some back. But still. I'm not to happy about it and I'm beginning to wonder if Snail Bait is actually something that attracts them and makes them all happy so they want to stay and invite all their little snail friends. For a really beautiful garden, make sure you go check out P.'s post.

Full Steam Ahead
I'm making progress on Mr. Bug's T-Shirt quilt. I got the label finished up and put into the back.

I've also got about ¾ of the marking on the quilt top done. Nothing fancy — just straight lines, but I decided that since I have to mark it, I wanted to mark it on the 30˚ degree angle instead of the 45˚.

I'm off to finish marking it and hopefully I can also get it pin basted before bedtime. I'm excited to be nearing another finish!

Various and Sundry Monday: Vol. 7

Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are. –Malcolm S. Forbes

I didn't really intend for Various and Sundry Monday to become a regular feature, but I kind of like talking a little bit about a lot of things that otherwise wouldn't fit into a post. So, here's what I've been up to lately.

Tweet Tweet Sneak Peek
I finally got it in gear and did some quilting on the Tweet Tweet quilt. I wanted to try some FMQ that I'd never done before and so I was nervous and found myself procrastinating working on this quilt. Once you take that first stitch, it's not so scary any more and you just go with it. What's the worst that could happen, right? Well, we all know the answer to that. If it comes out badly, either you live with it or you rip it out.

I like how the swirls came out. I tried another something new in the outer border and did not like that, so I'll be taking that out tonight. I want to finish this quilt in time for the Blogger's Quilt Festival, so I hope the frog-stitching goes quickly.

Mr. Bug's T-Shirt Quilt Update
I finally got started on the tag for Mr. Bug's quilt. I procrastinated this as well because the embroidery takes for.ev.er, but I like the indelibility of it. After I finished stitching the name of the quilt {Service Rendered; it just sounded so romantic} on the tag, I decided I probably should have called it QM2 {Mr. Bug's rank} because it is a little snappier. Too late now. Embroidery is way too fussy to unpick.

As soon as I get the tag finished and into the back, I can get quilting on this quilt. It is one of my Ph.D Challenge commitments and I'm anxious to get it finished because the Snowballs and the Pinwheel Sampler are calling my name and I'm determined to finish the four quilts I committed to for the challenge.

Lilacs Are Lovely
Our yard was pretty void of landscaping when we bought this house 10 years ago. Everything that is growing here was planted by me. Our back yard faces South, which means it is hot and sunny. In order to provide a little shade, I planted five lilac bushes along the back fence. And they have grown VERY slowly. I think I planted them in 2005 and they are finally taller than I am. This year there are tons of blooms that are just starting to open. They are so gorgeous and smell so beautiful. I have two varieties; pictured in the top left corner is the first bloom of the season, a Katherine Havemeyer. The other two are Congo Lilacs.

Various and Sundry Monday: Vol. 3

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. –Mahatma Ghandi

Three of anything is a collection, so VSM gets its own tag because I have a lot to say today .

Sick Day
LadyBug stayed home from school sick today. Mr. Bug is gone for most of the week for a new employee orientation, so I'm holding down the fort and stayed home with LadyBug. Unfortunately, I didn't get out of work. It is the beginning of the month, which means invoices which must be done. It is a really long process with a deadline, so I packed all the stuff I needed here and had my first ever telecommuting day. Technology is great, but in certain situations {like when you want to skive off work and squish up with your sick Buglet on the couch} it is possible to have too much of a good thing .

LadyBug is one sick little Bug who won't take her medicine. It seems that for her, the cure is worse than the condition. I got her to take two doses yesterday, but by the second dose, she was fighting it pretty hard. I threatened her with hospitalization and an I.V. today and she managed half a dose, but won't take any more. I wish I knew how to help her better. She hasn't had much of an appetite and her fever is so high. I keep bringing her drinks she only sips and offering her different food choices she declines.

Finally around 1:30 she asked for some Mac 'n Cheese, which we happened to be out of. I told her I'd go to the store for some and she asked for some chocolate cupcakes too. I swung by the bakery and grabbed the cupcakes and then headed for the freezer section for her favorite Mac 'n Cheese. They were out. I put the cupcakes back, hopped into the car and went to another store. They had the Mac n' Cheese, but no cupcakes at all in the bakery and LadyBug didn't want anything else. I bought the Mac 'n Cheese, hopped in the car, went back to the first store, picked up the cupcakes again, and then waited in line for 10 minutes to pay for them. When I finally got home, LadyBug's desire for Mac 'n Cheese had passed <\ and she ate less than half a cupcake. I hope she gets better soon.

Mr. Bug's Navy T-shirt Memory Quilt
I got the top finished. I'm doing a little happy dance . I liked the quilt with the other sashing, but I like it even better with the sashings made from his work shirts. I'm going to do an embroidered tag again, and this one isn't going to be concise .

Snow
Yesterday {April 3} we woke up to 5 inches of heavy, wet snow. It was surprising. The view from my front porch.

Still looking out from the porch, LadyBug tree.

This is the back of our house. There are tulips buried under the snow there.

This is looking out from the back of the house. The snow has to be really wet to stick to the fence like that.

School play
Today's grand finale is all about Grasshopper. This year he tried out for and made it into the school play. He sung Happy Birthday to You for his audition . They did a musical revue of popular songs through the last century. It was a 25-minute production called On The Radio. Between each song, there was a little skit introducing the era and what was popular at the time. He got a speaking part in the section that introduced popular music from the 50's. Here he is doing his best Elvis impersonation.

Here he is cutting Footloose.

This is the cast after the performance. He loves to make goofy faces for the camera.

Having this experience has really had a positive effect on Grasshopper. I love that. Besides the feeling of accomplishment he's gained from working hard at something and seeing it through to the end, he's learned that he's got a greater capacity than he thought he did. I can see it in the way he responds to what is going on around him. I'm really proud of him.