Remember when I told you about all the really great nooks and crannies (I feel like a Thomas' English Muffin comercial) in our house? Well here's one that Mike loves. As most of you may know, my wonderful husband is an amazing musician. He has TALENT. The most amazing part of his talent is his humility. When his band was interviewed on NPR he chose not to talk. He prefers to be in the background. He never tells people he's recorded many, many CD's and toured the country and can play any 1960's or 1970's TV theme song at the drop of a hat. (actually most of our friends know he can do this and thus this is one fun party sing-along!)
Well, anyway, when the kids and I arrived home after the swim meet tonight we found Mike using the work bench as I'm sure no one else has used it since 1950. The work bench is for guitars. It is the perfect height and the perfect length. I really think someone built this house just for us.
If you want to hear some wonderful music...click here.
Now for the not about Mike part. I've been thinking about my stash busting quilt and remembered a pattern from the Happy Zombie. I think I'll try this first. I'm also a member of the flickr group, the doll quilt challange and may try my hand at a few of those ideas. Of course, my back yard needs weeded and we have a swim meet on Saturday. I should be hand quiting and working on those curtains. Why is it that I always want to start a new project before the old ones are finished? Do you think it is part of my ADHD?
I am sitting in our basement chewing on some Sun Chips (seems more nutritious than regular chips), having just returned from the grocery store. I used my bags for the first time. The bagger (who was a 70 year old lady AT LEAST) did NOT look happy about them. The cashier (who was about 17) said they were "neat". They held up excellently and held a lot. The only thing I will do differently when I make the rest is to ditch the ties. The reality is that I'm not going to roll these babies up in a nice bundle everytime I unpack the groceries. They folded nicely and I just stuck them inside one of the bags. The tie sort of gets in the way of the groceries. It isn't a bad thing, just not something I think I'll use. Otherwise, the bags are GREAT!
In other news....here is the picture of the fabric I bought for my living room curtains. It is so hot that I doubt I'll make them until fall but you never know. We only have air conditioning in our bedrooms since I'm convinced that the more we live in air conditioning, we're ruining our bodies thermostat. My family isn't thrilled about this theory of mine but it also saves on the electric bill. 
Finally, I discovered this site. I'm late in joining but thought it might be motivating for the summer. This is my tiny scraps stash. I think I've mentioned in the past about how I HATE having these scraps but just can't throw them away. I'm planning on trying to make some mini quilts out of them to hang on my sewing room walls after we paint (who knows when that will be!)
I wrote yesterdays post very hastily and thought I'd better go back and read it again today. I noticed that I said I made the "paper" bag. No, no, no....the pictures are of the "PLASTIC" bag! I've made about five so far. My goal is to crank out one per day. I went to my favorite fabric store today and got 12 yards of fabric for the living room curtains. I'll post a picture soon. The above picture are the fireworks the boys intend to set off. Notice they are arranged in order from most boring to most exciting, also the way they will be set off.
I don't think I've ever paid $10 for a pattern until last week. I have wanted to make my own reusable grocery bags for a while but didn't really have a pattern in mind. I have enjoyed the Oh Fransson blog for quite some time. Her sewing is so professional and so are her patterns. She has lots of downloadable patterns that are free and recently she made a paper or plastic pattern for sale on her etsy site. Since I had some money sitting in my paypal account I thought I'd buy this pattern. I am happy to report that the pattern instructions and pictures are fantastic and the end product for the "paper" bag is wonderful. I've been making them all this 4th of July holiday. My goal is to make 10. I think that should get me through my grocery shopping trips. My second goal is to use up the large pieces of fabric that have been sitting in my stash for years. Much of it is fabric I wouldn't use otherwise and so I feel like I'm being responsible in so many ways! 
The other really nice thing about these bags is that you can fold them and tie them to store. I plan on making a tote that will hold all the bags (and hang from my grocery cart) and just store them in the car. I'm really thrilled with the pattern and feel it was worth the $10. I'm happy to pay a real live person what she is owed instead of some mega corporation.
In other news, I'm still working on that hand quilting. I'm almost finished with the 2nd block. I may finish it before the end of summer and just use it in the house this winter!
I finally forced myself to make the quilt sandwich. This is not my favorite part of quilting. I ended up laying the whole thing out on the dining room floor to pin baste. I bought myself some quilters curved safety pins. They are marvelous but I should have bought two packages. I found some cute lady bug fabric for the back of the quilt. I wanted something whimsical and inexpensive since this is going to be our picnic-pool-park-keep-in-the-trunk-of-the-car quilt.
Now for the dilemma.....to quilt by hand or machine. I love the look of hand quilting so much more than machine quilting. The problem is that hand quilting takes so much longer. The upside is that I can watch a movie (or in this case several movies) while quilting. I'm mobile. I think I'm talking myself into hand quilting. I bought some white hand quilting thread just in case. I also read through a how-to-machine-quilt book while the boys and I were at B&N this evening...just in case.
It is 8:45 and the boys are finishing their showers. I am reading them Poppy before bed and I think we can finish it tonight or tomorrow. I love reading books to them. Nathan isn't always as interested in the book but he has gotten into this one. It is a charming story. I also rented Emma awhile ago from Netflix. I like this version much better than the newer one. It is more true to the story and the characters seem more real to me. I watched Mansfield Park recently and thought it was terrible. I'm not sure the screen writer even read the book. If you like Jane Austin and were disappointed by this movie you should read the book. It isn't my favorite Austin book by a mile but I still enjoyed it. I think my favorite movie version of her books is Persuasion. I do love Ciaran Hinds.
Happy 4th of July tomorrow everyone.
Check out the new link on my side bar. B.W. O. -- Blogging Without Obligation. I really do this anyway but then I look at all the really beautiful blogs out there (usually at 5am) and wish mine were better, more consistent, more full of quilts and paper goods and hand made deodorant (yes, I'd really like to do this).
So, I'll just keep looking at all the goodies out there and will keep living my life, which includes swim meets and kittens in the back yard and trying to figure out what to make for supper every night.
The 4th is coming up rapidly. We have a birthday party and a musician family get together. Yes, you heard it correctly. Since Mike is a musician, many of the people we know are also musicians. On occasion, these musicians are married with children. So it should be a great 4th, but busier than I might like. I guess that is life.
I'm closing my ramble with this link to a quote from Robert Louis Stevenson. I just loved reading this today. Happy Wednesday.
Remember when I told you about all the really great nooks and crannies (I feel like a Thomas' English Muffin comercial) in our house? Well here's one that Mike loves. As most of you may know, my wonderful husband is an amazing musician. He has TALENT. The most amazing part of his talent is his humility. When his band was interviewed on NPR he chose not to talk. He prefers to be in the background. He never tells people he's recorded many, many CD's and toured the country and can play any 1960's or 1970's TV theme song at the drop of a hat. (actually most of our friends know he can do this and thus this is one fun party sing-along!)
Well, anyway, when the kids and I arrived home after the swim meet tonight we found Mike using the work bench as I'm sure no one else has used it since 1950. The work bench is for guitars. It is the perfect height and the perfect length. I really think someone built this house just for us.
