T- Shirt Quit Squares

I have most of the squares cut out for my friend's Sorority T-shirt quilt! Yea!
I have decided that there should be more regulations on T-shirt companies. They must center their designs to within 1/4" so they don't drive quilter's crazy!! It took some calculating and some compromising but it worked out.
Now to cut the small logo parts of the shirt. This should be interesting. I think when this project is done, it is going to look really cool!

So you might be wondering, didn't you work today. No, we had another snow day. I am so ready for spring!

Baby update
I was able to make it to my dr. appointment today though. Baby is doing fine. Heartbeat was 150. I feel Jr.'s swimming swoosh movement daily now. That is comforting. Praise God!
I have only felt him kick 2 times so far. That is fine by me. I do not look forward to when he is kicking me in the ribs. Doc was warning me that would come soon enough.
Being half way through my pregnancy, I am thinking more and more of delivery day with dread. I held my sister's hand last year when she was in labor until about 10 min before the birth, without an epidural. She waited over an hour for one and it never came. I fear pain. I know everyone will say it will pass quickly and I will forget all about the pain but I still fear it.

Anyhow, I will be so glad when he is finally here.

Finally

Finally my blog "quilter-reader" represents fully what I intended it to be. I learned how to add stand alone pages to my blog. There is now a tab for my Young Adult Book reviews. Check it out!

Snow Day 4

Cabin Fever is setting in now. How do people up north do this all the time?
Today we got actual snow, not just ice. So of course I have pictures to share! Last year you saw, Isis and Emma. For the most part those 2 stayed inside as much as possible. We have a new dog that we rescued in July. She is a white German Shepherd named Freyja.

 Freyja spent most of the day outside, guarding our fence perimeter. She also spent a great deal of time rooting in the snow like a pig. In the picture below, you can see the snow on her nose from doing just that. You can also see a pink towel behind her. It was an old towel we kept by the back door to wipe mud off the feet. (Weather of any kind does not seem to bother Freyja in the least.) Well one day Freyja decided that the towel would be her favorite blanky. She drags the towel in the doggie door and out the doggie door, just like a child with a favorite blanky. Sadly, now the towel has frozen solid and shattered into a million pieces, all over the yard.

After watching Freyja frolic in the snow for awhile, we made puzzle bread (or Monkey bread). We added a twist though, apples. ...to make it healthier you know...

It was yummy!
Then a nap was in order.
We also did laundry.  : (














Finally I finished binding my signature quilt. I had my students from my former school sign it before I left. The white spots you see on the block closeups are where I erased the student's names.

Emma and Freyja helped me as always!

"Party like a Rockstar"

"I will miss you" and "I am Indian"

My students are proud of their ethnicity, as they should be. I will now take the quilt to school and let the kids use it during reading time or wrap up in it when the A/C is set on 60'. (I don't have thermostat control, or it would be 75' year round)

All in all a pretty good day. 

Snow Day 3

School has been canceled for a 3rd day! We haven't had that happen here in DFW in almost 25 years! Many of my friends have experienced the rolling black outs today. We have been lucky so far.

Today I have nothing to complain about. What weighs on my mind today is my fellow quilters in Australia. They were hit with Cyclone Yasi today. Queensland had already been suffering from floods. Now, a Category 5 sized cyclone. CNN reports 155mph sustained winds.
This picture was posted on http://izzhy.blogspot.com/2011/02/australia-cyclone.html

I pray, and I hope you will too, that God has put his protective arms around those people and that he helps them though the coming days, weeks, and months.

If anyone wants to help quilters in Australia, here is a link that tells you how. This was for Flood victims in that same area originally, now I am sure there will be even more that need it.
http://www.gumtree-designers.com/2011/01/we-need-your-help.html
It may seem silly, in the wake of a cyclone, but quilting is therapy. It helps calm a person. I am sure they need more than just quilt supplies also but I don't have info on that yet. 

Snow Day 2011

Yea! A snow day in TX! This past weekend it was 72 degrees, and today the high was 30 something at 1am I think. Crazy TX weather for you.
Thankfully, I got interfacing for a T-Shirt quilt, that I am making for a friend, just in case we had a free day. So that is all ironed on now. I made the first cut on each shirt. Now I am debating on waiting to cut the other 3 sides now with a straight ruler and hoping they come out square or waiting till I can buy a 14" ruler.
While I decide, I can work on another project. Which one shall I work on?
Hand quilt more of my Asian style quilt.
Bind my classroom signature quit.
Bind antique looking quilt.
Bind cheater cloth Easter quilt.
Bind the quilt in my library room.
Assemble Pooh cheater cloth quilt.
Decide to hand quilt or machine quilt Pooh quilt.
Cut out pieces for Jr's star quilt.
Pay bills.
Nap.
?????
Definitely not bills. I think nap wins for now. Then perhaps I'll bind the classroom quilt and mark it off as done.
Given my list, one would think that I don't really care for binding quilts. ...and they would be right.

Embroidery and Movement

Mom started sewing for Jr. already. Well actually she started the day she learned we were pregnant probably. Her latest project is embroidered burp clothes.

They are cloth diapers, embroidered and backed with fabric.














Mom and I went to register this week. The bedding set that I had to have is being discontinued. So, of course, I just had to buy it before it was gone.

Classic Pooh and sage green, it couldn't be more perfect!

Movement
Today, I think I felt the baby move for the 1st time! He kicked 3 times. The first time I figured it was just gas or something. Then it happened again in the same spot. I know that after 18 or 19 weeks you can start to feel movement. I am 19 weeks as of today. So I put my hand where I had felt the movement.

Then I felt it again, this time with my hand!! I don't think if it was gas I would feel it with my hand.

News!

I have not post anything in a long while because I haven't had the energy. I am pregnant!
1st Trimester
I am finally though the first trimester exhaustion and 2 bouts of Bronchitis during my second trimester. My due date is July 2nd. We found out this week that we are having a boy! I can't believe the difference it makes to know the sex of the baby. It is so much more real.

Our first Ultrasound was at 7 weeks, when the baby was the size of a grain of rice. It was very surreal! We were excited but things were still very tenuous. During the first trimester there was a period of 4 or 5 week where I was nauseous all day, every day. That made it real for me but not so much for Jesse.

For our second ultra sound we got to see the heart beating but couldn't hear it. The baby was the size of a bean and it had a visible heartbeat. That was absolutely amazing to see.

Then we went for our third ultrasound and heard the heartbeat. Then it was finally real for Jesse, I think. I teared up when I heard it.
Week 11 (I think), I was having trouble breathing. We went to the ER thinking that it was asthma. Turned out that I had Acute Bronchitis.


The day before my second trimester began I went to the ER because pregnancy related problems. They diagnosed me with Marginal Placenta Previa. This is what I had feared all along. My older sister was stillborn 2 weeks past her due date because of Placenta Previa. My mother came close to dying as well.
I followed up with my OB a week later. That Ultrasound suggested that the baby might be a boy. However I was only 14 weeks along so it was too early to tell for sure.
2nd Trimester
This week was full of great news! First we learned they baby is clearly a boy! He posed for us : ) Then they told us that I no longer had Placenta Previa! Jr. looks perfectly healthy so far! We saw his feet and was able to count his little toes. He is a wiggle worm just like his cousin! Now that said, OB told me the placenta is in the front so I probably won't feel the baby move until 22 weeks (give or take). I am glad she told me because the books I am reading have said I should start feeling movement anytime now. Me being me, I had already begun to worry.
So anyhow, now we can pick a name, begin decorating the nursery, and of course, start making a quilt! Praise God for our little Miracle!
Here is our 17 week sono!

6th Anniversary

Today marks the 6th year of marriage to the most wonderful husband! It was a most perfect day; clear blue skies and only mildly warm. That is saying something for Texas! We went to the arboretum. We saw tons of mums about to burst with color! But they hadn't burst yet. We did appreciate all the many variations of green leaves. I love the variety of plans, hate cliche plants. When perusing plants in the garden shop I refuse to buy flats and flats of a plat that everyone else has and you see on every corner. I want to have a unique garden, full of surprises. True my garden looks like an overgrown hodgepodge of odd plants. It has no rhyme or rhythm. It is not so manicured like the arboretum. I prefer to think of it as a free-form English style garden. Perhaps I should call it Herrera style, because we just buy and plant what makes us feel good. Anyhow, I digress. 

What really struck me today at the Arboretum was the amazing textures we saw. They had not just weeping willows but weeping pines. Conifers galore. Green ones. Blue ones. Silver ones.

I fell in love with the most amazing plants, mostly ones that were way, way to gargantuan for our modest yard.  There was one that looked rather like a 6ft marijuana plant only chartreuse and dark lime variegated. I doubt it was, being that it is illegal and all, but I can't tell you the name of the plant because we never found a label.


Jesse and I also pointed out many plants that we had killed over our years of gardening. To our delight we saw some flowers that we have in our yard currently.

I am envious of all the shade that the arboretum has from century old trees. Why? besides the fact that 100 year old trees are one of God's most amazing gifts to us mortals? It means they have shade for their ferns. I dream of a shade garden covered in ferns and hostas. I have no idea why but I find them beautiful and relaxing. Perhaps because every time I look at them, it means that I am out of the blazing Texas sun and in the cool shade.
Yes, it was a perfect day.