Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Mt. Olympus

Today we used our tickets to Mt. Olympus. It was a lot of fun. We got there as the water park was opening and went on a few of the water slides right away. Later in the day there were waits up to an hour....yuck. We had a ton of fun in the tidal wave pool. We stayed until 5:00.

Now for the bad news... the sunscreen was left on the kitchen table. Luckily the boys are only a little bit pink. I, on the other hand, have bits that are REALLY red. I have already rubbed down with vinegar and smell like a pickle. The only place it still hurts is between my shoulder blades - the boys won't put any vinegar on me..."it stinks too much".

Lesson learned. Double check the bag before the car leaves the driveway.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Monday, June 28, 2010

Sock (monkey) Love

The sock monkeys are complete. They have been to karate, the park, and beyond.

The mouse ear hosta is blooming. Actually most of my hostas are blooming, but this one is so little and cute.


Yummmm. I can't wait to have one!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Oh my gosh...

I got my swap box from the crafty swap. When I opened it, I was like Hmmmm...what's in here. Then two little vultures swooped in and started to claim stuff. Wait a minute boys....

There was all kinds of goodness in there. Cute cowboy and Indian fabric and some batiks (I have a project coming up for those). A Debbie Macomber book, some bath salts, a cookie (Simon says it was good), a beautiful batt for spinning (can't wait to get at that).

I got further down in the box and found some Socks that Rock sock yarn - lenore colorway. Oh my heart went a flutter. I have wanted to join that sock club for a while, but for many reasons haven't. I am so happy that Amysue decided to part with it. A thousand million thanks.

There also was a sock monkey kit in the box. Ian has been asking for a sock monkey for ages. It's kind of funny that there was one in the box. I was wondering where it was when I took the picture of the box.

Here is my not so subtle hint that this should be my next project. Yesterday he asked me to email Zoe and ask her if she had any stuffing to go in it.

Thank you Amysue.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

barnraising

I'm kind of addicted to this pattern. I take it to karate, in the car, and to work (for the odd moments that I have to knit). I don't know why I put off doing it for so long. Actually I do...I didn't think I could do it without using double points and with all of the yarn overs...yuck!!

Oh, magic loop, how do I love thee... There are 9 blocked so far. I wanted to see how each one looked. I need 42 total. Want to take bets how long it will take me to finish it?? Besides I am running out of left over sock yarn (hint, hint swap partner :). I may have to break out the other stuff.

Just a cute picture of a little ball that came out of a big ball while I was knitting. Cute, eh?

Monday, June 7, 2010

Weekend in review

The boys went to my mom and dad's for the weekend. Ahh, just what was ordered. I love my children to bits, but enjoy when they go away and come back.

We started out the weekend at Cafe BelItalia (it used to be the Northport bar and grill). If you live in Madison. You really need to treat yourself to a really good Sicilian meal - the portabella ravioli are my recommendation. Then we went to the union and sat by the lake eating our babcock hall icecream. There was a jazz band playing - nice - wish I had a better word, but sitting by the lake eating icecream with my honey was really - nice (hehehehe).

Saturday morning I slept in - wait for it - until 8:30. Those of you who know me know that most days my feet hit the floor by at least 6:30. We went for brunch - yes that's two meals out if you are keeping track. I had two giant plates of fruit and bacon. Then we walked around the art fair and car show in DeForest. Heidi, Gerry, and Stef came in the afternoon and we went to the art show again - the car show was finished. Kal and his dad helped a man who stopped breathing. Scary, but I am proud of him for stopping and trying to call 911 - that's a whole other story. We made it home before the rain and cooked out. We watched It's Complicated and Ray. Both good but we should have mixed in a slapstick comedy.

Sunday I slept in again...til 7:30. We cleaned up the basement and went for salads at Panera. Yes that was 3 meals out in 48 hours - shame on us! When we got home, I sewed for a bit, went through my stash again for the swap and took a nap.

The kids came home and went for a short swim, before talking a bower (bath/shower) and using a whole bottle of manwash to cover the bathroom floor with bubbles.

Ahhh, it was a good weekend.

Sorry for no pics, I was busy enjoying myself sans camera.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

10 years ago today...

we made it official.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Quilting

I learned to sew when I was younger at home. I probably drove my Mom nuts because I remember thinking that sewing on paper was dumb. Then when I took sewing in high school (it was still offered then), we started out sewing on paper AGAIN (my boys are lucky because we skipped the paper part and went straight to the material!). In middle and high school, I made shirts. Lots of them out of jersey material. Some of you may remember the McCalls pattern with the little ruffle on top of the between the sleeve and the body - those were the ones. I also made camp shirts - ok it was the 80's.

I've been quilting since my mom taught me while I was in college. It was my go to gift for graduations and weddings for friends. I felt that a home made gift was the way to go. The first quilt I made by myself was after I graduated, moved home, and didn't have a job yet. My Mom took me out to Walmart and I picked fabric for a very scrappy log cabin. It's still around. It's very scrappy.

This lone star quilt was around long before the kids. I took a class with a friend and decided that when it was completed that I would hand quilt it. It took about 4 years to finish the quilting. Remember I am afflicted with crafting ADD, so sometimes things take a while - like the double wedding ring quilt that is in the to do pile. It was for my parents 30th wedding anniversary. They will be married 42 years this year.

I took a break from sewing when Ian was born. I just couldn't get down to my crafting room and sew (that's when I learned to knit - more on that later).

There are many other quilts that I have made. I'm glad to say that my color choice is getting better. I try to mix easy with challenging quilts, but easy seems to be winning out these days.
This is my stacked coin quilt. The coins are all stacked. Now I have to go buy material to go between them.

Many of my projects start out as motivational projects....especially when I was working on school stuff....finish the paper - work on project....clean the house - work on project. When I finished a big paper, I put together the pieces of the 4th of July quilt and quilted it.
I got a new sewing machine from my parents when finished my master's last year. I LOVE it!! I've graduated to machine quilting. I tried to machine quilt with my old machine, but it wasn't enjoyable. My arms hurt from pulling the quilt through the machine. NOT with the new machine...s m o o t h. I'm working on my tension and trying new free motion patterns.

I wish I had more pictures of quilts like pineapple quilt. I took a class at Nancy's Notions and sliced through the naughty finger nail with a rotary cutter. I remember saying, "oh no" right before I did it. Lucky for me, my mom looked up as I was holding my hand, squeezing the finger. We went directly to the bathroom. Didn't get any blood on the quilt pieces though. Or of the boyfriend quilt - which is on the bed right now. The boyfriend sweater is not a knitting phenomena, it goes for quilting too. I made Kal a bear claw quilt (in badger colors) for his birthday while we were dating. We did break up, but that didn't last. Tomorrow is our anniversary.