Orange Crust... Step 5

It has taken me most of the week, but I can now check Step 5 of Orange Crush off of my sewing  list. I used different oranges in my blocks. Hope that doesn't play badly in the finished quilt. I'm loving my fabric choices, but now sure if I will like the finished result. I do like Bonnie's quilts so I'll just have to have patience. I have to remember that at this stage in a quilt I have doubts even if I'm sewing a kit that I love. 

Lot so errands today, physical therapy for me (I'll have to explain the bruises), swim team for my son, doctor's appointment, a bit of shopping and lunch at Chick-Fil-A (one of our favorite fast-food places) I may have time this evening to sew, but maybe not. We need to buy a new dishwasher. Our dishwasher is working, but being to rust. Any suggestions on a new dishwasher ?

Ride, Ride, Ride

One of my favorite things to do in the Summer is to go for an early morning walk before it gets too hot and humid. This past year I've had problems with my right hip and lower back. Walking especially long distances is a real problem. I started physical therapy about three weeks ago. Last week, they started me on a stationary bicycle. We have one at home so I thought that was a great plan. I can ride the stationary bike, watch some TV or listen to my Ipod. Well, I remembered that I owned a regular bike. We rode in the evenings when we lived in Houston ten years ago. Atlanta terrain and Houston terrain are totally different. Atlanta, especially our neighborhood is down right hilly. We quickly sold those bikes when we moved back to Atlanta  and purchased new ones with gears. I rode my new bike once or twice. It has lived in the basement hanging from the ceiling since then. Last week, I had this brain-storm. I could ride my regular bike in the mornings. I would be outdoors and getting excercise without hurting my back/hip. I had my son take it out of the basement. He had to oil it and add air to the tires. It looks abosolutely brand-new. There is still some sticky stuff  where the price tap was on the handle-bars. Yesterday morning, I did my stretches and then headed out on my bike (Pee Wee Herman here I come)   I did great. There is one hill in my neighborhood that I just couldn't get up. I'll have to do it first thing next time while I have the energy. I had to push my bike up the hill. I was feeling very successful. I did a cool-down lap in my cul-de-sac. As I was turning into my driveway (My brother from Louisiana calls it Mount Rabalais. It's really steep.) the plastic fender jumped into the front wheel and I threwme  onto the street. I'm hoping that my neighbor across the street was not at the window. She definitely didn't run out to help. Glory, do I ever had some bruises. My wrist hurts a bit since I landed on it, but it doesn't sting as much as my pride. My hubby or my son will have to remove the offending fenders, but I will ride again:)

A Mini Vacation at Home

The weather this past couple of days has been absolutely perfect. This is Georgia weather at it's best. We stayed home for Memorial Day. Our boys were away with friends for most of the weekend. My husband and I just enjoyed time together. We spent lots of time on our back porch. We had it built about two years ago. It's wonderful to sit on the couch and listen to the birds and other neighborhood sounds. We are eating most of our meals out here. It will get too hot and humid (this is the South) soon and we will have to choose the times to be out on the porch. I've been saving handwork and pinning of my Orange Crush blocks until evenings. I can visit with Marion and just enjoy the outdoors. These past couple of days with few demands are just what I needed. We are doing appointments this week - dentist, eye-doctor, hair, etc. but I've spaced them throughout the week. Hope that everyone is enjoying this beginning of Summer.

Celebration!!!

Wednesday, our last day with students, our fifth grade students walked through the halls with the younger students cheering them on. We played Celebration by Kool and the Gang over the intercom (yes, dear Media Specialist friends, we had a legal school purchased copy:)   It is a neat tradition from the previous school our students attended. I've not seen it at any other school.  I love my students, love my school. I have the best administrators on earth, BUT it is fabulous to have some "free" time. The past two Summers have been super busy. My husband had open-heart surgery, two Summers ago. Last Summer my teenage son had his tonsills out. I worked lots last Summer because I had transfered to a brand new elementary school. There were lots of meetings and decisions on setting up a new media center. It was a fabulous experience. I am blessed to have had this opportuity, But this Summer I plan to take it easy. We don't have any big trips planned (not at the price of gasoline) I've already cleaned off the dining room table. My sewing room is upstairs. It's hard to keep it cool during the daytime, so I plan on sewing downstairs in the dining room. I already miss our fifth grade students. I will miss my co-workers, but we do plan to meet for lunch. Meeting for lunch during the Summer, a perk for being a public school educator.

Mary    at My Needle and Thread by Mary tagged me with questions to reflect on and answer. I'm not sure what this game of tag is called, but it's always fun to share and learn new things about friends.

The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.
Okay, seems easy. Here goes:

1. What was I doing 10 years ago? 

Ten years ago, we were living in Houston, TX. We spent two years there after living in Atlanta for 10 years. We have been back in Atlanta (northern suburbs) for 9 years. Our sons were 7 and 18. We loved spending time with my two cousins who live in Houston, but truly missed our Atlanta community - neighbors, co-workers, church community and friends.

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order): 

(1)Try to retrieve library books from students. Our school year ends this week. (2) Look at the new Fons & Porter magazine my friend Brenda shared with me. (3) Carpool with our school bookkeeper to work. We're trying to carpool at least one day a week to save on gas $$$. (4) Speak with my husband who is in Hilton Head, SC on a business trip. He has business trips the last week of school and the first week of school and is disappointed that I can't travel with him. Duh!!!! (5) Spend quality time with my doxie, Rusty. He is helping me type this post:)

3. Snacks I enjoy: Bananas, ice cream, popcorn, apples, nuts,  anything chocolate 

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire: Pay for my oldest son's living expenses so he could finish his college degree; travel; buy a long-arm; donate to Mother Teresa's Sisters of Charity; open a book shop that would give a free books to any child who visited (after 30 something school book fairs and 20 years as a librarian, I'd like to let them keep what they wanted)

5. Peeps I want to know more about: Karin - Life in the Slow Lane, Brenda - The Quilting Cowgirl, Pat - Silver Thimble Quilt Company, Sue - North Winds Quilting, Gretchen - Stellabella Quilts, Lori - Dakota City Quilter
Please do not feel that you have to play, it is just for fun

Quiltathon

    Judy L. is hosting a Quiltathon this weekend. It was a wonderful day to sew. My husband left this morning on a business trip. Our oldest son is camping with friends. Our youngest son was at a overnighter for a buddy's birthday. My dear companion Rusty and I had the house to ourselves this morning. We hit the sewing room early. Last night I had cut the triangles for Step 4 of Orange Crush. This morning we sewed half-square triangles. Most of the day I've been assembling the nine-patch blocks. I'm pleased with how these blocks are coming together. I still have to sew the horizontal rows together. Hope to get to that tomorrow.

What A Dream

Carolyn at The  Ohio Quilter's Journey  has been blogging for quite some time. She has a great giveaway. You have to tell her how you would spend $50,000. It has to be on quilting and with a friend. Golly! What a dream!  I spent that chunk of money in seconds :) Check out her blog and enjoy dreaming.

Orange Crust... Step 2 .... Step 3

Orange Crush. This has been a fun quilt to make.  It is so not like me.I have absolutely no idea what this quilt will look like.  I'm a bit of a control freak when it comes to quilt patterns and fabric. It's fun seeing parts of this quilt take shape. 

I didn't expect to have much time to sew last week. A couple of things fell in place early in the week. I pushed myself on Saturday to take care of obligations. This gave me some time on Saturday and most of Sunday to sew. Step 2 has taken the longest amount of time to finish. I did square up my blocks. I even had to resew some of them, but I'm really pleased with how they look.

When Step 3 was revealed, I figured this step would give me lots of trouble. I can easily get directions turned around. It actually went together very quickly. I worked on one side and completed all those blocks before I did the other side. I had not used the Easy Angle or Companion Angle before. Step 2 and 3 made me "stretch" a bit. 

Step 4 was posted last Friday. I've pulled my fabric. I'm not positive which ones I will use. I'll probably make two or three trial blocks to find "the right mix of fabrics."

Eight more days of this school year. It's been a fabulous year, but it will be wonderful to have more sewing time. 

Stashbusting

Orange Crush is the first quilt that I use stash or scraps from quilts that I have completed. I've worked on lots of scrappy quilts, but that was usually from kits or fabric purchased for that project. I just love the memories that using scraps brings to mind. I recognize this scrap from Michelle's Squash Blossom quilt. One of the blues is from the band raffle quilt, Friendship Crossing. The neutrals are from Garden Magic that Kathy received. Other blues are from Blueberry Pie that my son sleeps in each night. It's a comfort to use these scraps in another project. I don't know what Orange Crush will look like. It's a Mystery Quilt from Bonnie at Quiltville. I do know that I will love it because it will remind me of the people and quilts that I love.

 (Top photo is my son's quilt Blueberry Pie. The second quilt was made for his high school marching band to raffle. Both patterns are designs from my friend and mentor, Pat at Silver Thimble Quilt Company.

A Dirty House... Where No One is Cleaning

I love storytime. It's one of my favorite parts of my job. I have read aloud The Napping House at least one hundred times (ok, maybe thirty)   The line "a napping house where everyone is sleeping" repeats throughout the book.  Today, the entire family was cleaning and doing yardwork. Goodness gracious! Both the house and our yard are in terrible shape. As I was cleaning,  the line "a dirty house where no one is cleaning" kept going through my mind. The house is a bit better now. I've earned a break. I'm heading to my sewing room to work on Step 2 of Orange Crush. I'm a bit behind. Step 4 was posted this week. I'll bring my Ipod and listen to These High Green Hills and sew. My reward for "laundry and latrines." - my job  in an all-male household :)

At Home in Mitford

Most folks can name their comfort foods without a thought. One of my  comfort foods is ice cream especially chocolate chip :)  I've met a good number of  readers who  have what I call "comfort reads."  A comfort read is a book or series that the reader will read again and again. I had a student years ago who would check-out Running Loose by Chris Cruther once a year. He said it helped to keep him focused. I have several comfort reads. My current comfort read is The Mitford books by Jan Karon.  I have read the entire series four or five times. I've listened to the audiobooks a couple of times.  I especially like to listen to an audiobook when I'm sewing. I don't have a TV or computer in my sewing room. Listening to a book on CD especially one that I already know the plot helps when I am sewing.  I'm currently listening to book three in the Mitford series  These High Green Hills. My drive to school is 45 minutes.  Lately, I've started bringing my Ipod and listening to my current audiobook while driving home in the afternoon.

What is your favorite "comfort book" ?  

A Mini Get-Away

It was wonderful! My family had the opportunity to just get-away. Our friends, Mike and Lynn have a lake house at Lake Hartwell (on the Georgia-South Carolina border). Lynn and I taught together my first year in Georgia over 21 years ago. For the past 17 years, our husbands have worked together. We drove to Hartwell after work/school on Friday. We even packed our dog Rusty :) Their lake home is

quite beautiful and spacious. It was just wonderful to look at the water 

while sitting on the porch eating breakfast. Later during the day on Saturday, other families from our husbands' work group joined us. Wow! The food was fabulous. There was smoked pork, beer-can chicken, boiled shrimp, salads, beans, pound cake. The cooks did an outstanding job.

Three weeks of school left or rather 15 contract days left in this year. I love my work, but it will be wonderful to have a different pace - to sleep a bit later than 5:00 a.m.

Not alot of sewing this past week. With all the activities of the next couple of weeks, it will be difficult to get much sewing done, but I'll try. I did work on Step 2 of Orange Crush after laundry and cleaning this afternoon.