It's Official

UPDATE: We got the call. Recruit Cook has made it to MCRD Parris Island.

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He's now on his way and has actually probably already arrived at Parris Island. I'm hoping we get his 20-second scripted call tonight that lets us know he made it.

I'm not going to sugar-coat — it's been a rough couple of days for me. I'm not usually a weepy mom. Heck, I was dancing a jig, not crying like the other moms, when my sons went off to kindergarten one-by-one. LOL! But whew … I hardly slept at all last night and I am crying at the drop of a hat today. Even dad teared up giving DS the "final" hug before he was really on his way this afternoon and he NEVER cries.

I *really* appreciate everyone's kind comments and support. I know I'll get through this and I'm not sad at all that he joined the Marines. Just sad that he's no longer my "baby" and because I'll miss him so much. We've always been really close. Peter, a special thank-you to you for your early morning shout-out on your blog today. I think I love you. :-) And whenever you're ready to ship out those two cutie-pie chihuahuas, I'll be waiting.

Meanwhile, while I keep dabbing at my eyes, I'll leave you with a link to the UCreate Create-With-Me August gallery of table runners, which includes my two that I showed you earlier this month. Lots of really pretty stuff. Even if you're not a quilter at all, you should think about trying one. Seriously. They go fast, are fun, and I think will make great gifts! Have a look here.

Now I think I'll put in the laundry that DS left me to remember him by. ;-) And his brother is already making plans to move into his bigger and more private room. What a stinker! But does that mean I now get TWO sewing rooms?

Semper Fi

I'm in a bit of shock this morning as my older son just received the unexpected word that he's shipping off to USMC boot camp TOMORROW! He was expecting a ship date of April 2011!

We have a million and one things to tie up today, and tomorrow we'll be watching him swear in before he leaves. I'm sure I'll go through an entire box of tissues between now and then. I've already bawled my eyes out at least three times in the last hour.

I'm so very proud of him, but quite sad that he's really leaving the nest. I thought we had a bit more time. Oh … there go those tears again.

No More Squooshed Bread

(Cue Billy Mays voice)
Does your white bread often look like this after you've gotten it home from the grocery store?

Mine too. And it has ticked me off forEVER. Ask my sons, *every* time I'm in the store I wonder aloud why bread manufacturers don't use something more sturdy to package bread. Drives me nuts.

Well, no more — I have solved my problem (and maybe yours too?).

Presenting, the Bread Safe:



Inexpensive, sturdy, lightweight and re-usable.

But strong enough to protect that bread from shopping cart and drive-home mishaps.



But wait! There's more! It can also be folded up compact and portable so it's easy to stick in your purse on your way to the store on grocery day. And it's washable.



Now all I need to do is make another because we always buy at least 2 loaves at a time. And I'm thinking these will also make unique but useful Christmas presents.

Anyone interested in the directions to make one for yourself? Stay tuned!

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It's been a slow sewing week here. I was sick with a stomach flu mid-week (ugh!).

And then with the day-after-day rain we've been having, trees have been soaking up all the water and dropping branches left and right. About 3 AM Friday night/Saturday morning, one of our neighbor's trees fell on our power lines, creating a loud electrical explosion and then pitch darkness immediately after. And we have water on a well so our pump was dead without power too.

It took until 2 PM Saturday for the electric company to get here and fix it. And then "all" they did was string new cable. The old power lines the tree landed on are still holding up the tree and are about 6 feet off the ground, and I'm *assuming* not live anymore. I hope the job isn't quite finished and the power company is just waiting until they don't have to pay doubletime to a weekend crew. I'll be calling tomorrow to be sure.

But we stayed out of the fridge and freezer and the food was fine. And the rainy weather meant the house stayed cool too, without sun beating down on it. So, the only thing I lost was sewing time. It could've been worse.

Clean Underwear

Yes, clean underwear. Not that I've been wearing anything else, but at least now my washer is fixed, my wet clothes have been rescued and laundered, and I can wear my *favorite* clean underwear again. It was a bad pump, and let me tell you — water sitting in the washer for 3+ days STINKS. A lot. Worse than dirty underwear. Ewwww. ;-) After the repairman left, I ran that load through 3 times and it finally passed the sniff test.



Now that the important news of the day has been relayed, in sewing/quilting news … I finished the second runner for the Ucreate August Create-With-Me Sewalong. This is the runner I'll be giving my sister for Christmas. Let's hope come December, I remember that I made it and where I put it. I might hang the Rainbow Runner in my sewing room instead of using it as a table topper. Still thinking on that though.

The backing is an old Mary Engelbreit bumblebee print from stash. So another length of old stuff out. Yay!



After hand-sewing the binding for my rainbow runner, I didn't feel right about not hand-sewing the binding for the giftie so I sucked it up and got out the hand needle again. (I even bought a pack of new needles today for next time. Yes, I know.) I made better time on this binding because I decided I only needed to pull the thread tight every 4-5 stitches all at once instead of between each stitch. Machine sewing bindings is tons faster, but the handstitched bindings really do look nice. I may end up a convert yet.



I'm still not ready to sew clothes yet, mostly because I have a couple of non-clothing project ideas that have been percolating. But I think I'm almost there because I did start looking at some patterns for tops last night.

End of the Rainbow

The stripe for the binding fabric arrived on Thursday. During Project Runway, I made the binding and attached one side to the quilt by machine. Those are two of my little piggies standing guard. I collect pigs and have a ton of them around.

Yesterday (Friday), I pinned the binding around to the back and started attaching it by machine. I must have ripped out the stitches about 300 times. OK, slight exaggeration, but it just was NOT going well. I gave up and had some dinner. (Here's the back print, by the way. I've had this in the stash for over 8 years and am glad to be using it up!)



After dinner, I ripped stitches again and then threw in the towel, loaded up a movie on the DVR, threaded a hand needle and ladder-stitched the binding to the back by hand. For TWO HOURS. OMG. But it's done, and looks pretty darn good if I do say so myself. I'm not sure if I have the patience to ever hand-stitch a binding onto a bed-size quilt, or even another table runner. I'd rather perfect my machine binding skills, I think. This quilting stuff is harder than it looks. ;-)



I was planning to throw this into the washer and dryer to crinkle it up, but when I went to move the current load from washer to dryer, the washer was flashing an error code and the door was locked. WITH ALL MY FAVORITE CLOTHES INSIDE. Arghhh. Seriously, I can't get any of my clothes out of the washer. Yes, I've tried everything but the machine is making a grinding noise and is obviously broken, so I made a call into service this morning and an appointment is set for Monday. But in the meantime I have to wear UNfavorite clothes and glare at the washer which is holding all my good stuff hostage.

On a bright note, I'm alone for the weekend. The menfolk headed up to my stepson's in Jacksonville yesterday to send him off on his (SS's) new life adventure in North Carolina. I'm here on dog duty. And it's raining. Good thing I don't have to go anywhere because I don't have ANYTHING to wear. Sigh. Maybe I'll just wear my nightie all day. Hmprf.

Or, maybe I should go make a new top. But then what would happen to this quilting blog? Hahaha.