Finished!

Do you hear it? Trumpets are trumpeting, angels are singing, people are cheering...I finished a project!

This is my finished tiramisu blanket. I don't know how, but this blanket just sort of happened. During American Idol performances I wasn't interested in, commercials, riding in the car, and sitting outside in the evenings with my husband enjoying the gorgeous weather this past week, it happened. I started it on April 21 (on the way to quilt guild in Pittsburg...KS), which means it took me just under a month from start to finish. That has to be some kind of record for me. And I really like how it turned out. The yarn is a bulky weight (Bernat Softee Chunky), so the blanket is nice and thick. I used 5/8" ribbon instead of the 1/2" that the pattern calls for, but it worked out because the yarn doubled over as I wove it around the blanket, so the shiny side of the ribbon shows on both sides. I know I could have been more imaginative with my color choices, but I liked Alicia's version. Plus it will work for either a baby boy or baby girl gift, which is great because we all know I'm not very good at planning ahead for baby showers.

This is the rosebush in my backyard (and my dog guarding the backyard, which she does fabulously until a trespasser actually approaches...then she hightails it to safety). It's absolutely bursting with blooms right now. Now, I don't want you to get the impression that I had anything to do with the number of roses on this bush. Quite the opposite, actually. Shortly before I took this picture, this bush was threatening to take over the yard. But I was feeling a bit frustrated. The city had our water shut off all day. All day. No laundry, no dish washing, no watering the dog, no washing your #%&*@ face or brushing your teeth. No washing your thrift store finds so you can photo them for your blog. So like I said, I was frustrated. So I took out my aggression on the rosebush. Pruning can be very cathartic, you know. So anyway, even though you're not supposed to prune roses in the spring, I pruned my little heart out until the rose tree became more of a bush. Not only do we prune liberally and without regard to the bush's health, but we have yet to feed or water this rosebush. It's invincible. It's also threatening to take over the neighbor's yard, but I figure that's their problem. Sheba and I have enough on our hands defending the territory we've got, be it from trespassers or renegade rosebushes.

One last thing. I have quilt guild tonight, so I'm going to miss the American Idol finale. However, my husband has promised to tape (that's right...tape...as in VCR tape...no DVR for us) it for me, so I can watch it when I get home. I don't know if I'm going to be able to handle the suspense. I finally got my vote in for David Cook last night at 11:07 on the 47th try, but I voted dang it. I get the feeling he needed by vote...I'm just hoping that fact that I couldn't get in for 3 hours is a good sign.

Planting flowers

Sheba and I planted flowers today.

Afternoon Adventure to Outer Space

Not too much going on here today. I've been longarm quilting for the last few hours. Here's a quilt I just finished up. I believe the pattern is Yellow Brick Road by Atkinson Designs.
I love this focus fabric - too cute!
And the backing fabric is pretty awesome too.I wonder who the lucky little duck is that gets to snuggle up under this quilt. No doubt the munchkin will have dreams of rabbits & rocketships.

What do you know...

Practice really does make perfect. Well, maybe not perfect yet, but definitely improving. This is my "take along" crochet project - one that I don't have to think about too much and that only uses one skein of yarn at a time, making it very portable. (Free pattern here. And if you don't already read her blog, shame on you.)
The reason I'm so impressed with myself is that it's actually staying pretty square. Usually my crochet projects tend to shrink as I go along, forming more of pyramid shape. Or trapezoid, if you want to get technical. But this one is pretty much square. It's only taken what seems like 100,000 hours of crocheting to get to this point, but hey, I've got nothing but time, right?!

Here are some pics of my niece and nephew from our trip to TN.

My nephew loves to drive his car around the yard. Until he saw the neighbor kids buzzing around on 4-wheelers. Then suddenly his car wasn't fast enough.

And here he is after he had just picked everyone a dandelion, explaining that we should save the dandelions for when we get married, and after the wedding keep them and show them to people. I could barely keep a straight face. Where does he come up with this stuff? I didn't have the heart to tell him I was already married.And my niece, who's at the age where she's just happy to be fed and get some attention. This was a rare moment when she wasn't being held. Her momma was just to my left, hence the big smile. And yes, I made that pink & white ripple afghan. I'm so happy she actually uses it.

American Idol results in a few hours. I can't help myself - this is one of the few shows that I get into. It's one of the reasons I've been doing more crocheting in the evenings...it's hard to hear the TV over the sewing machine. I'm pulling for David Cook, but they're all good. Let's just hope that tonight it's not interrupted for severe weather updates. I heard on the radio that the meteorologist got a bunch of hate e-mail for interrupting American Idol last night. Poor guy, he can't help that a funnel cloud decided to form between 7:00 & 8:00! Maybe I should e-mail him again and apologize. Just kidding, people.

Happy Mother's Day!

The Mom Test

I was out walking with my 4 year old daughter. She picked up something off the ground and started to put it in her mouth. I took the item away from her and I asked her not to do that. 'Why?' my daughter asked. 'Because it's been on the ground, you don't know where it's been, it's dirty, and probably has germs' I replied. At this point, my daughter looked at me with total admiration and asked, 'Momma, how do you know all this stuff, you are so smart.' I was thinking quickly. 'All moms know this stuff. It's on the Mom Test. You have to know it, or they don't let you be a Mom.' We walked along in silence for 2 or 3 minutes, but she was evidently pondering this new information. 'OH...I get it!' she beamed, 'So if you don't pass the test you have to be the dad.' ''Exactly," I replied back with a big smile on my face.

Memphis

Woa, sorry (once again) for the delay between posts. We went to Tennessee last weekend - to Memphis for our best man's graduation from optometry school, and then on a little further east to visit my family for a few days. We were only in Memphis for a day, but it was an interesting day. If you've ever been to Memphis, you know what I mean. Apparently, we were lucky enough to be in town during "Memphis in May" which, from what I gathered, is a music festival that takes place downtown on Beale Street. Since we gathered at a restaurant on Beale after the graduation ceremonies, we got to witness a few interesting things. Some of these things might be commonplace to you, but for a small town girl like myself, they were a bit out of the norm.

1. I started the day by slamming my pinkie finger in the car door. Oddly, it hurts worse now than it did when it happened. You don't realize how much you use your pinkie until you injure it. This has nothing to do with Memphis or Beale Street - just another weird thing that happened to me that day.
2. A very polite and very skinny gentleman on a bike attempted to sing to us for tips while we hid from the rain under the awning as we were leaving the restaurant. Since he only sang two lines of the song (rather poorly, I might add) before he asked for a tip, we decided he didn't deserve one.
3. Beale Street was gated off, and we were carded as we entered. We were approached by several different religious groups passing out flyers and carrying signs. My favorites were "Ask me why you're going to hell" and another sign that had words randomly written all over it that said things like "Sinner", "Satan Lover", and "Fornicator". I wanted to point at that I'm married and fornicating isn't necessarily a sin for me, but I thought it best not to provoke a conversation. Not to say I don't agree with their message...just not their methods.
4. A little while later, it started to rain, and the religious demonstrators headed for cover. Most ran using their signs as make-shift umbrellas. One fellow in particular caught our eye - he was running up the street with a cross over his shoulder. We were all marveling at how fast he was going carrying a cross until someone noticed that this was no ordinary cross. This cross was outfitted with a wheel at the base to make it easier to drag around. I bet Jesus wishes he had one of those.
5. As we watched the procession of retreating demonstrators, sipping our adult beverages and being entertained as one can only be by watching people stranded in the rain, one of my friends called out, "Jesus would have stayed in the rain!" I don't think they heard him, but we thought it was funny.
6. Having done our part to stimulate the economy on Beale Street, we headed for the "Parking Can Be Fun" parking garage where we had entrusted our cars to the staff for a mere $5 each. On the way, we passed an ambulance and EMT's performing CPR on a girl right there on the sidewalk. Definitely a weird moment. I felt like we ought to be doing something to help, but we couldn't. And I don't think they wanted us watching, so we continued on our way.

Tennessee to be continued.

Intervention, please

Seriously, people, it's time. I have a problem. I can't stop starting new projects. Typically I don't worry too much about having too many UFO's laying around, but it's really starting to get out of hand. I thought about making a list, sort of like a confession, but I'm not sure I can remember everything, so I'll save that for another day. For now, here's my latest:

It's the Babette blanket (pattern by Kathy Merrick and available from Interweave Crochet). I know I shouldn't have, but can you blame me? Take a look at the flickr group. Who can resist? Not me. Obviously. This picture is from last week...I know have all 50 2-round squares finished along with 20 4-round squares. Lots to go, but I'm making progress. Not that I'll ever finish it, because, ya know, that's not what I do.

More good news. I dropped my cell phone in a sink full of water on Friday, and the phone no longer functions. The good news about that is that I got a new phone. Isn't it pretty? It's called a rockr, which is cool, but I haven't "rocked" with it yet. My sister-in-law is 16...I'll have her figure that part out.
It does have a 2 megapixel camera on it, which I used to take this picture. A little blurry, but I think that's from enlarging it. And because I can't hold the damn thing still. Whatev.
This is my sad little camera. It's 5 or 6 years old, and a few months ago I dropped it and broke the battery cover (hence the scotch tape). I know, I'm hard on electronics. It's about time for a new camera anyway.

Last but not least, I got a new pantograph in the mail today for the longarm, so I decided to try it out.
It's called feathered curls. I'm really liking it. I think it could work on variety of quilts. I'm really digging how it looks on the back of the quilt.

This is a view from underneath the quilt machine. So if you've never sat under a quilt machine, this is what it looks like. Come by some time and I'll let you sit under my machine. It's sort of like sitting under a table covered by a tablecloth. Except when you sit under a table there is less of a chance of sitting on a straight pin. Yes, I've done that.

We're off on a long weekend to a graduation and to visit my folks, so the blog will be quiet until I get back next week. Have good weekend!