books

I spent some time this morning going through one of the bookcases in our house. This one has craft/sewing/quilting, marriage, personal, and some homeschooling books. I have a few places where I put our homeschooling books, and it was getting annoying not having them all in one spot. Well, a few weeks ago, Billy put up a big shelving system in our bathroom. We had a wire draw unit made for closets in there holding all of our stuff. Now I moved it to Marguerite’s closet and have moved all of my homeschooling books that are not currently being used into the empty drawers.

I packed up a few grocery bags of paperback books. Cheap editions of Hamlet, Wizard of Oz, Cross Creek and other titles. I saved a few books that I think we will use in the next year or two, but all the rest will go to the Friends of the Library Sale. Did I hear some of you gasp? Do you think that books are precious? Do you love to read and cherish your books? I do too. But there are other factors here.

The first is that our house is only so big. Three adults, two children and several pets have lots of stuff. Billy has a computer business that has it own “supplies”, I have my sewing/crafting stuff, and we home school. We live in our house. Actually live, not just sleep. There are many people who work outside of their home and their children go to school. Their house is empty for a large part of the day. We live here – all day long. Don’t get me wrong. I love it this way. But we have to be careful in how much stuff we bring into the house.

The second factor of getting rid of perfectly good books is that I want my kids to love the library as much as I do. We go to the library usually once a week. We check out books, magazines, comic books, music, movies and books on tape/CD. The library is a great resource. I love (LOVE) the library. When we first got married, I started buying books at book stores. It was such a luxury. But I quickly came to my senses and realized what a waste it is to buy a book and only read it once and then donate it or keep it. Don’t feel bad if you buy books. This is my personal conviction. Now I buy reference books and books for homeschooling that I can’t find in the library. I try to get our school books from the library as much as I can. Which would you rather read? A hardcover, nice sized, nice font, lovely illustrations/pictures, with nice paper or a small, paper back with small print, bad/no pictures on cheap paper? The first from the library or the latter from the book store? I can’t afford to buy nice additions of all the books I would want for ourselves. And if I could, where would I store all of them? And would I really want to keep them if we would probably only read them once?

And on another note:





A couple of pictures for a quilt top that I made yesterday. Ever have a quilting idea stewing in your head and you just have to make it now? This is one of those times.

chair makeover

I did a little spur of the moment sewing yesterday. We have these two metal chairs that I bought from the county school board surplus sale several years ago. I paid either $3 or $5 for each of them. I wanted to have them painted and recovered but never got around to doing it. We have been using them however. My husband hates that we were using them. The stuffing comes out, and the springs and metal parts poke you in the butt.



Well, my good friend craftyturtle sent me some fabric swatches a few months back. The swatches were the perfect size, and the edges were already finished. In less than an hour, I had sewn both of them. And while they are not perfect, they are 100% better than what they were.



A few other things to take care of:
1. I forgot to mention that I received my doll quilt from Sequana recently! There was a little address mixup, but all is well now. Marguerite has claimed it for her dollies already.



2. I hope that I didn't come off as poopooing the quilts or quilters of quilt shows yesterday. That was not my intent. They make beautiful, precise quilts which take enormous amounts of time and effort and skill. What I was trying to convey is that quilt shows seem to embrace perfectionism when there is a large amount of quilts and quilters who will not be recognized by the typical quilt show. Quilts that have lots of character and beauty in there own right. I hope you understand what I am trying to say. I don't think I'm expressing myself very well.

3. Julie, in response to the comment you left yesterday, Tonya from LazyGalQuilting left this comment for you:

Julie, if you're reading this, get in touch with me and I'll see if I can help out with the letters. that goes for everyone actually. One thing that would help is practise. just keep making letters and you'll get better and better at it. I'll happily take any letters you're not happy.

And I (sarah) will add, that before I sew things I have to have it exactly how I want it in my head. Sometimes I draw a picture or two first to see in what order to construct it. And if you look, my letters are not all the same size. They aren't hugely different, but not equal either.

hodge podge post

I feel like I have been neglecting my blog. It is partly true. The other two parts are not being inspired to write anything and being too busy to write or making anything to write about. So in an effort to atleast put something up here, here is a rambley list.

-The kids participated in Vacation Bible School this past week. They had such a good time, and the church did an excellent job. But keeping up our normal activities such as school in addition to VBS has tired us all.

-The tadpoles are now down in population to two. Two frogs that is! We haven’t determined if they are Cuban Tree Frogs or not, but I think they are.

-I made almost 27 feet of binding for the housing project quilt, but I wasn’t that thrilled with the fabric choice. The white dots were just too small – the scale was all wrong for the look I wanted. The two Joann’s in town didn’t have anything either. So I decide to make do from my stash. But then I went with the kids to visit my mom this week, and we stopped at one of her local quilt shops. I found suitable binding material there. Yay! Anyone need any black with small white dot binding? ; )



-I finally did a little sewing today. Spur of the moment sewing. But I’ll post about that tomorrow. Can’t use all of my fodder in one post can I?

-Tonya over at LazyGalQuilting has two posts on her blog that are worth mentioning (ok her whole blog is worth mentioning, but these two really stood out recently):

*On behalf of AQS, she is taking a poll of people who would agree to purchase a copy of Liberated Quilting by Gwen Marston if it were to be reprinted. I know I would. It is an excellent book describing Gwen’s approach to liberated quilting. I don’t own the book, but I keep checking it out of the local library. And I will definitely buy a copy!

*The second post is about quilt shows. She voiced a lot of the same thoughts I have about quilt shows. Not necessarily the hand quilting part (I’m just not a hand quilter), but the “perfectionism” part of it all. My mom is also a quilter, and we often talk about what we are making. One conversation we seem to have over and over is about the actual quilting of quilts. Like everyone else, we want our quilting to look good, but at what point will we be content with it. I don’t know if I want it to look perfect even if I could get it there. Sometimes a quilt begins to look like a mass produced bedspread with all over quilting. I guess I am ok with a quilt that looks “homemade”. With this last quilt I am working on, I decided that not only was the quilt liberated, but the quilting was liberated (if not down right wonky) too. And you know what? I love how it looks. I posted a comment on a picture of my quilt on flickr recently saying that it wont be quilt show perfect, but it will be snuggle on the couch awesome.

Ok folks! I’m off to take a spin around flickr, then back to sewing – I hope!

OK ladies and gent!

Now that you have been assigned your Doll Quilt Swap 4 partner, it is time for some research. Did your partner say anything about likes and dislikes in the information provided by your swap mama? No? What are you going to make? Where will you start? Feel a little paralized? I know that feeling. Follow these steps carefully:

1. Search through your partner's flickr photos. Do a thorough search. Don't stop at the first quilt pic you see. You might find a picture of a fish quilt (nothing wrong with fish quilts). "yay" you think! but wait! was she making that for herself or was it for her boss who loves fish?

2. Look at your partner's flickr favorites. Again take into consideration that there might be multiple reasons for a fav. Maybe your partner faved a star wars quilt. Now think....do you think she wants a star wars quilt? or might there be a star wars loving child in her life?

3. Have a look through her blog. You will find some good clues there.

4. Spend some time in the Doll Quilt Swap flickr discussion threads. Their might be a thread of likes and dislikes.

5. Look through the pictures in the Doll Quilt Swap flickr pool. You partner might have left a comment on a pic saying "this is the one for me!"

6. And after all that research, and with your newly gained insights into your partner's preferences, come up with a quilt that you will enjoy making. Yes, the quilt is for your partner, but the process is for you! Enjoy it!

And one last important step!
7. The swap member who is making your quilt might like to have an insight in your likes and dislikes. So go add some "clues" on your flickr. Leave comments in discussions and on photos. Fav a few pictures. Write a short little blog post of your quilting tastes.


Wha?! Me?! Hopefully my partner can tell what I like. I gave a long list of likes, such as polka dots, wonky, traditional blocks, bright colors, 30 repros, orange and aqua. And a short list of dislikes, such as dark quilts. Do I expect to have my "demands" granted? No! I hope I don't get a quilt that incorporates all of my favorite things. It would be quite hideous all mixed together. But hopefully, my partner will have a good starting point to create a quilt that she enjoys making.


****Sorry jq for all the "her" this and "her" that. hope you understand*****


And because you always need a picture:



they are about the size of beans now and are sprouting tiny little legs. Don't strain your eyes, this is a picture from before they sprouted.

ok ladies (and gents?)....

If you didn't already know, I'm one of the swap mamas for doll quilt swap 4. And the other mamas and I really want this swap to be filled with fun and camaraderie. This swap is not just about the final result - a quilt. It is about building and strengthing friendships. Learning and being inspired in our quilting. And the only way for you (yes you) to get more than just a quilt out of it, is to go over to the flickr group and comment on the quilts when they start appearing, take part in the discussions, visit flickr photostreams and blogs. Get to know your fellow quilter! Because when you do get that quilt, there will be memories with it of the fun time you had. Now, if you haven't signed up, I think there are a few spots left, but not for long. Maybe a day. Maybe. Sign up here, but check the flickr group to make sure you got in. A few emails haven't made it through.

Can't wait to see you over on flickr!

and because everyone wants to see a picture with a post, here is a little peak of my progress on the housing project.

Doll Quilt Swap 4

sign ups have begun over on the doll quilt swap blog. open to the first 100 people who either have a flickr account or a blog. all the particulars are explained on the blog.

this means you people! hustle hustle hustle!
*drill sargeant voice*