Believe it... or not

You know it's time to clean and change the cats' water when you find a little green frog in it. Primigenitus has "pets" chore this week, but Tertia had it last week (and doesn't usually go downstairs) so there's no telling how long this little guy was in the basement taunting the kitties.  We gave him his freedom outside in the bushes.

We hosted Bible study tonight.  Isaac M. showed up with this massive potato he grew.

I'm always amazed at how many people crowd into the kitchen during Bible study...

...and how such a relatively small number of kids can fill a house with so much noise and energy.  Many of them see each other several times a week anyway, but there's something about the post-Bible study time that brings their energy up several notches.  Maybe it's the sugar.

I made a pot of Red Rose tea... it came with a little ceramic collectible Uncle Sam figurine for July.  But consider the irony... Red Rose is a Canadian brand.  Uncle Sam is obviously a beloved American figure; but he was made in England.  There's something a bit wrong about that, I think.  Uncle Sam looks vaguely leprechaun-like to me.  Make him green and he'd work for March.

"The Revolt of Mother" -- a tribute to farmers' wives of the past

Source: google.com via Katherine on Pinterest

While reading blogs and not quilting today, I came across the link to this charming story from a bygone time, by Mary E. Wilkins.  I loved it!  Go ahead, spend a few minutes reading it.

I found the link on Starwood Quilter's blog... she's doing the Farmer's Wife quilt along and sharing entries from her grandmother's diary as a young woman.  Even if you're not making the Farmer's Wife blocks from Laurie A. Hird's addicting book, you'll probably enjoy reading along for the slice of life in rural America in 1916.

WIP Wednesday #13: You Can't Win 'em All

Not all WIP Wednesday posts can be like last week's.  About all the sewing I did in the past seven days (other than helping Primigenitus sew on a button) was on these four blocks for block #5 of the Happy Quilting STARS quilt-along.  I'm not going to meet the deadline on that one, but it will get done.

The school year has started in earnest, and I'm remembering why I call myself Carpe Lanam... when these exhausting days are finally over, I just want to crawl into a comfortable seat, grab some wool, and start knitting.  The hyper-frenetic creative activity of quilting just does not nourish the stressed soul the way knitting does.  If I wasn't teaching every day, I'd probably be quilting every day AND have a much cleaner house.  As it is, I'm knitting about every other day, quilting a tiny bit, and the house is better left unnoticed.  I did finish some socks this week, and immediately cast on another pair.

Someday maybe I will be retired and have as much time to work on quilts as my mother-in-law, who brought this quilt top over for me to pin.  Cute, isn't it?  It's not mine.  Sigh.

Link-up party going on over at Freshly Pieced.

Grapes and socks

These are seedless grapes from our own vines.  They are fabulous.  We have a few yellow-green ones too; equally fabulous.

I finished the Stashbuster Spirals for Secundus and he seems to approve.  I was able to do a Sherman Heel for them, but it was too easy to lose count of the stitches so one of the heels is slightly askew.  Oops, I see I missed trimming an end.  I've cast on a pair of these for Tertia now, in girly colors.

Buddy Walk

I took my favorite sixth grader to the Buddy Walk in Portland today.  This is the first time we've ever made it -- it's always on her birthday weekend.  But it seemed like a good time, since every other member of the family had other plans, and this is her last weekend to be 11.  How could you not love the t-shirts and balloon hats?

Her 5th grade teacher was there.

And a bunch of Star Wars people.

She got to show off her uncanny prowess at hula-hooping.  She made friends with the entire cheerleading squad from Central Catholic, jumped in an air-compressor inflatable play structure, and ate a hot dog.  It was a good day.  I had tears in my eyes a lot.  Happy tears.  I got to be her buddy and held her hand the whole time.

On the way home she said, "We are lucky."  Well, some of you know why I couldn't let that go, so I said, "God is good to us, isn't He?"  And she said "Yes!"  And the next thing I heard from the back seat was, "Thank you, God!"







Schlepping Day

Some people do their shopping weekly.  Mine is more like schlepping, that wonderful Yiddish description of what my life is like.  If I'm not schlepping $304 and slightly more than my body weight worth of food home from Costco, I'm schlepping kids and just slightly less than their body weight in books and sporting equipment to cross-country practice.  I have avoided having a complicated car pool routine thus far in life, but my days are numbered now.  I may even have to learn how to text.  And I swore I would never do that.

So let's make some salsa.  I improved my salsa recipe last week (above).  I put the hot peppers (stems removed, seeds left in) and onions (quartered) and a half a bunch of cilantro in the blender and pureed it - because chopping hot peppers and onions is no fun, and because I like the heat and flavor distributed fairly evenly.  Then I chopped the tomatoes by hand, because chopping tomatoes IS fun, and added them until the bowl was full.  And I stirred in about 3/4 t. of salt, and we schlepped it right up so there's none left and I have to make more.  Because no matter how much time and energy you spend schlepping -- it's never enough!

WIP Wednesday #12: Progress! Real Progress!

No linkup party, but I do have a finished object to show this week.  At least, it's finished for me!  This is my MIL's Japanese Lanterns quilt which I've been working on quilting on the Megaquilter, finished and ready to be bound.  It's a QUEEN sized quilt.  I worked on it several hours on Saturday and finally got it done.  I'm pleased with my work on it overall, but at the time I was working it was frustrating because I simply COULD NOT stay on the marked lines.

A closeup of the squiggles I quilted (in variegated colored thread, no less) on those massive white blocks.

Here's a process shot: I used water-soluble marking pen and a homemade template (inspired by the store-bought one) to mark the corner designs, I eyeballed the little squiggles in the bands of the lanterns, and I quilted through the designs marked on tracing paper for the center medallions.  Removing the tracing paper afterwards was a little harder than removing the marking pen, but I saved a bunch of time in the marking process, which I hate.  It will be a long time before I do any quilting that requires special marking again.

This is Grandma's next quilt, loaded onto the frame now.  It needs to be done for a charity event this fall... fortunately, it's only lap-sized and the quilting should be simple.

I'm (almost) finished with block 4 of the Happy Quilting STARS quilt-along.  I have blocks 5 and 6 still to go, four of each block, and then assembling the finished top.  I seriously begin to doubt I will have the top finished by the 29th of September which is the deadline for the drawing for free fabric, but I hardly need more fabric.  But you never know... nothing inspires me like a deadline.

Farmer's Wife Quilt block #43: Garden Path.  I played with the purple and green color combination, which I like but would probably never make an entire quilt of.  This is primarily a 6x6 grid, so all the squares and triangles are based off of a 1" or 2" finished size - except the strips, which were cut 1 1/4" wide and unfortunately, I had to miter those corners with the Y-seams.

Block #44: Gentleman's Fancy.  I happened to be piecing this one on Sept. 19, which as you no doubt know is International Talk Like a Pirate Day.  And what could be more to a gentleman's fancy than piracy?  So I used scraps from previous boxer shorts projects to piece it, and I hope it blends in with all the sweet and nostalgic blocks I've made when the quilt is all done.

Block #45: Grape Basket. Back to the sweet and nostalgic with scraps from my grandmother's vintage apron.  Based on a 5x5 grid, the basic finished measurement is 1 1/4" (scant).