Saturday, August 13, 2011

Ding Dong! The Ditch Work's Done!

Look at a stone cutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred-and-first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before. –Jacob A. Riis

When I started working on the machine quilting for this quilt, I planned to only stitch-in-the-ditch the main seams and maybe a few spots in the blocks where it was obvious that it was needed and fill in anything else as I worked on the individual blocks. But while I was stitching I decided that pretty much the whole quilt could use it and since I was going to do it anyway, I might as well do it all at once. I think I've been working on it for about three weeks now. I had interruptions and distractions but it is finally done and I've moved on to the fun stuff. Here's a peek at what I've been working on. I love how the center turned out on this block.

Can't even tell I stitched-in-the-ditch, can you :lol:? All that work for something that doesn't show . . . but it makes a nice frame for the free-motion and I really like how stable it keeps the quilt, while you push and pull and fold and roll it to fit through the tiny throat of the machine. After I finished the SID, I started with my light pink thread and did everything that needs that color, so none of the blocks are finished yet. This is one of my favorite blocks and I wanted to do something really fun with the quilting.

I really like how this block is coming out too.

I'm going to change thread colors and see if I can get a few more stitches in before bed.

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Friday, August 12, 2011

Favourite Things Friday: AURIfil Makò 50-weight Thread

Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys. If he counted them up as he ought to, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it. –Fyodor Dostoevsky

It's official. I've become a thread snob. My order of AURIfil Makò 50-weight thread came on Wednesday. I'm in love. And I want every color.

Yesterday I dropped in at the shop where I got my machine and got enough bobbins to have one for every color of thread. And I'm highly motivated to get the ditch-work done on the Pinwheel Sampler so I can stop using the off-white thread and start playing with the pretty colored threads. Only a few more ditches to stitch . . .

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Thursday, August 11, 2011

I Must Ask . . . Are You A Morning Person or a Night Owl?

Every body persists in its state of being at rest or of moving uniformly straight forward, except insofar as it is compelled to change its state by force impressed. –Newton's First Law

Last week's poll results are in. The votes are divided almost exactly down the middle and there wasn't much middle ground. It looks like for most people, either you do make the bed or you don't.

This week I thought I'd continue with a related topic about sleep. More specifically, whether you're bright-eyed and bushy tailed and ready to go at the crack of dawn and in bed promptly at 10:00 pm, or if mornings are just not your thing and you like to stay up late. Me? I'm a night owl. I kind of, sort of want to be a morning person. It sounds good in theory, but actually dragging my sorry hide out of the bed any earlier than, say, noon, is really not appealing to me.

I think that I have an inertia problem. According to Sir Isaac Newton {and who are we to argue with somebody who is titled?}, a body in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. Conversely, a body at rest will remain at rest unless acted upon by an outside force. Once I get going for the day, I don't stop until I'm so tired that I drop. I am much, much better at staying up late to finish something than getting up early to get it done, because once I am at rest, I like to stay that way. See? Physics do come in handy in real life.

You've heard the little couplet, early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy and wealthy and wise. On the rare morning I do manage to get out of bed when the alarm goes off, I really enjoy that feeling of accomplishment first thing off the bat. I aspire to be a morning person. But any early morning, no matter how successful I feel at being up early, I find myself thinking how nice it would be to climb back into bed. I guess I have a hard time getting going in the morning. I usually feel the most alert in the evenings and so I usually stay up late, even though I know I'll pay for it the next morning. I tell myself that staying up late is going to make getting up harder. But I like to stay up late and I promise myself that I will promptly get up when the alarm goes off the next morning. And every morning, I hit the snooze button at least six times because it feels so good to be still and quiet in my bed. I lie awake at night so often trying to fall asleep that I've just formed the habit of staying up till I'm so sleepy I can't think straight. This helps to minimize the lying awake. But it also creates a desire for 5 more minutes in the morning.

School is starting soon for the Little Bugs, which means that the snooze button will no longer be an option. I'll have Little Bugs that have to make it to school on time. By default, I'll have to be a morning person. I think that this year I'm going to pack their lunches the night before.

Now that I've told you all about me and my upside-down sleep schedule, I must ask . . . are you a morning person or a night owl?

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Hexie Notebook Giveaway Winner

For disappearing acts, it's hard to beat what happens to the eight hours supposedly left after eight of sleep and eight of work. –Doug Larson

I love hosting giveaways! The anticipation of picking a winner is always so much fun. So without any further ado, congratulations to:

:partytime: Peach Rainbow :partytime:


who said, Congrats on your 500+ posts and thanks for the CUTE giveaway :biggrin:.

Miss Peach, check your e-mail and let me know which notebook style you'd like.

Thank you to everyone who commented. I really wish I had a notebook for each of you :hug:.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Lagoon . . . It's What Fun Is!: Bounceback Edition

In childhood, we press our nose to the pane, looking out. In memories of childhood, we press our nose to the pane, looking in.Robert Brault

We had such a fun time at Lagoon earlier this summer that we decided to do it again. Well, maybe not so much “we” as “I.” And maybe not so much “decided” as “forced.” It's been a couple of weeks, but we bounced back and had another fun day on the park {whether “we” wanted to or not}.

This time we met some cousins there. The kids took turns riding with each other, depending on who wanted to do what. We split up for some of the time and played together for some of the time and pretty much had a really great time together doing pretty much everything we wanted.

We found lots of ways to stay cool. LadyBug and Grasshopper splashed in the fountains

And we rode the rapids.

And I really enjoyed the gardens. I'm seriously considering a career as a grounds keeper at an amusement park. Getting paid to do my equivalent of meditation sounds like a pretty dreamy job to me.