it really does snow in maine or... anyone want to buy a house?

We got some very pretty snow today and I thought I better get a picture before it melted. It really does snow in Maine! It seems that every time we have gotten any more than an inch this year it has rained for about a week and has all melted. This entire winter has looked like spring. If we didn't have the occasional 15 degree day we wouldn't even know it was winter at all.
This is our house we are living in now and will be selling for our move.
Anyone want to move to Central Maine? It's going on the market as soon as a closing time would be after our son's graduation in June. Would hate to be looking for an apartment for the last few months of his Senior year.

i have been ignoring my blog :c(

I had a busy weekend, my quilt class on Monday and then our monthly quilt chapter meeting on Tuesday. I have been ignoring my blog. Thought perhaps I should catch things up....
Some serious packing went on this weekend. We got a couple more boxes packed up and priced for the big yard sale and a couple of loads of junk taken to the dump. I sorted through all our old paperback books and have 4 shopping bags ready to take to the used book store. My husband and son took my wood cook stove over to the new house. We need to get some new stove pipe made since it is going into the fireplace flue in the kitchen and the set up is different from how it was in our old house. I can't wait to start cooking on it again. You would not believe how much better a roast turkey or ham is in the cook stove than in a conventional oven.
Monday night's quilt class went well. They are all so motivated.
Our quilt group is starting a round robin quilt next month so I have been trying to think of a 16" block I want to make for the center. We learned the technique from one of our members to make a Confetti quilt. I didn't start mine because I was starting to feel yucky. I had to go in to the office last Friday and everyone around me was sick. I think I picked up something because I have been feeling lousy for the last 2 days.
DD im'd in last night to tell me she had gotten a new webcam. She was having so much fun making faces at us. Her boyfriend had to go back to Indianapolis because he tore his acl during a performance and needs an operation. He wanted to go back to the Dr. who had operated on his shoulder. It's a good thing he did too because it seems that he hadn't been getting proper care in Tulsa. He should have been having physical therapy since the injury and needs to complete it and get back a full range of motion before he can be operated on. He has a camera and she bought one so they could talk and see each other until she can leave in April. She also informed me I didn't put a very good picture of her in my blog so here is one she has approved. :o) I, of course, as the mother think they are all magnificent.

DS got his first (hopefully not last) college acceptance letter today. I think he was relieved that he at least has one option now. They are also offering him a scholarship which made him feel really good. We are going for another visit next week and for him to meet the football coach. If he goes there he is hoping to play on the football team. He is going to be 18 tomorrow at 2:30 pm. It's hard to believe my chubby little baby boy is now a 6'1"18 year old ready to head off to college.

happy valentines day

Happy Valentines Day everyone.

I didn't get a chance to do anything quilty this weekend. We did take a load of things to the new house. Air conditioners, Christmas decorations, wrapping paper and a few other things we knew we weren't going to need until after the move. We also did a bit more clearing out giving away a few things we are sure we are never going to use again. I made an artist friend very happy giving her my husband's old drafting table to use for her painting. He does all his drafting on the computer now and she was trying to decide how she could paint on a slight incline rather than either a flat table or the uprightness of an easel. I tell ya sometimes things just fall into place.

My beginner quilt class started last night. We are making a 4 block sampler wall hanging/table runner. I just love teaching the beginners. They are so eager to learn and so happy with their accomplishments. They always leave the first night with a twinkle in their eye and a stack of fabric to wash and straighten. I have one student who is driving 3 hours each way to my class. There aren't many quilt shops in Northern Maine and she really wants to quilt. She hasn't even started yet and she has already started stashing :o) She came to class with a large tote bag full of fabric. It really makes you wonder which comes first the love of fabric or the love of quilting.

how to build a stashbusting rug.

Jeanne asked about how my rug was made. It's an Aunt Philly's Toothbrush Rug and uses a lot of cotton fabric. I am making mine with homespuns and solids so I won't have to worry about the back of the fabric showing. It is made with 2 inch strips that have to be torn so they won't fray after the rug is made. It's not braided or lashed together it's more like knotting using a needle.

The basic stitch is made with 2 strips, one runs around the edge and the second knots around it.
The needle is flat, plastic with a dull point and large hole at the end. Lace the needle through the loop along the top going under the runner strip.

Using your finger to set your tension tighten the loop you just made and then remove your finger.


Lace the strip back through the loop left by your finger from top to bottom.
Pull the strip through and tighten.
It's a really simple stitch and goes pretty quickly, but can get tedious. I'm going to have to alternate it with other projects or I will get bored and never finish. :>/

i think i can. i think i can.

I think I am finally on track to get all of this done. I had a good weekend getting done some of the stuff I needed to and some that I wanted to. Lists - that's the key.
I started out making menu lists for the week. I translated that to my grocery shopping list. That made things much more efficient and I did my grocery shopping in record time. I then started packing. I picked a room and started clearing. I now have 2 boxes of stuff for a yard sale and a big bag of stuff to throw away and I packed up a shopping bag of books to take to the second hand book store for recycling. I had a great idea and next time I go to the store I am going to pick up price stickers and start pricing everything for the yard sale as I put it in the box. :o} That should save some major time when it comes to having the sale this spring. All in all, I felt so good about what I had accomplished I rewarded myself in my sewing room.


I have never been a terribly patient person and I have been so anxious to see what my mystery quilt was going to look like. I put together all of the blocks except the last row, saving that so I can have the smaller units for my class demo. I am really liking the way it is coming out although in true fabric addict fashion I was very upset that I am down to only about a fat quarter of the beige. It is such a nice medium shade. I really like the pattern though and may decide to make at least a lap sized quilt with it. While I was sewing this I got up to 14 25-patch blocks with leaders and enders for my scrap quilt. Yaay.

This Christmas I had fun making fabric covered journals from mini composition books. I made them for my friends at work, in my quilt group and in my Thursday night "sewing circle" (where we rarely do much more than gossip). I put them in my daughter's as well as my mother's stockings. I even made matching little gadget bags to go with some. This is the set my daughter got in her stocking. Of course the gadget bag was filled with chocolate. Well, now that all the fervor of Christmas has died down I realized that I still had an uncovered book and Sharpie left over and that I didn't have one. So I made myself one today. I don't have enough of that fabric left to make myself a gadget bag, but will either improvise, use a coordinating fabric and bind it with what I do have or just decide I have enough gadget bags anyway.
I also got some more Christmas work done too, but can't post pictures because I know at least my Mom reads my blog and I wouldn't want to spoil any surprises. :>O

My rug continues to grow. I'm getting a little bored with it though and may go back to the star wool applique rug I had to put away to make Christmas presents. THIS is how the UFO's get started... I did refrain from starting a new hobby today though. A friend of mine invited me to a scrapbooking party and thought I would probably get hooked like she is. I was so good, I gave her the page I made at the party. I already have more hobbies than I have time for and don't need a new one to start collecting materials for. I am such a hoarder that I'm sure every time Joann's had a 50% off scrapbooking supplies sale I would be in there buying the place out.