A Little Nerdiness Never Hurt Anyone

Just a little music nerdiness for you to enjoy this fine morning:

(My favorite part is where the cello comes out of the buffet as a String Bass). 

Quilting to Owner's Taste

I am in charge of Activity Days for the 8-11 year old girls at my church and 2 of the girls turn 12 and "graduate" this month.  I'm making a quilt for both of them, and it's been fun coming up with a plan for these 2 quilts because these girls are very different from each other, so it makes the quilts very different.  I like the challenge of matching a quilt to its owner.

The first quilt is for a major tomboy whose favorite colors are blue & red.  I knew right away that I had to stay away from flowers and anything froofy (is that a word? - well, I suppose it is now).  I wanted something simple and clean.  I chose mostly solids and a lot of negative space.

 There's a thunderstorm blowing in soon, so the wind was a little crazy this morning...

I plan on doing a fun twist of the front on the back, and then it's time to start the second quilt. 

Stay-At-Home-Moms

The other day Little Man asked me, "Mommy go work?" I said, "Nathan, you are my work." It was a bit tongue in cheek, but the point being is that staying at home with my children is quite a bit o' work.  As someone who has both worked full-time while raising a child, and now "working" full time in the home I can tell you that both options are incredibly difficult and also very rewarding in their own right.   

I usually try to avoid politics and such on my blog (and in conversation), because for some reason it tends to bring out the ugly in people. Not really sure why, but anyway, I was saddened by the recent comments made by Democratic pundit Hilary Rosen that Ann Romney 'never worked a day in her life.' I think the comment is a rather ignorant one. I don't particularly care which woman belongs to which party. I just don't appreciate the degrading remarks (and follow up defensiveness of the comments).

I'm no philosopher or great orator. Sometimes it's hard for me to put in words exactly how I feel, but I read a post that resonated with me in defense of the stay-at-home-mom, and I wanted to share it with you.  Lori hits it on the head at Uncommon Common Sense. If you get the chance you should definitely read it. Go here for the post.

Fellowship Indecision

If you have been following the drama/saga of my husband's fellowship program process you probably know that we are having an incredibly difficult time with our rank list.  We know which programs are in the top 3, but we keep switching around their order.  Pittsburgh Children's Hospital, Nationwide Children's (Columbus, OH), and Children's Mercy Hospital (Kansas City, MO) all have pros and cons, but in different areas of consideration, so there isn't one that particularly stands out.  We've hemmed and hawed over this decision, talked it over 'til we're blue, prayed a ton, talked to friends and family, and the decision just seemed to be getting more and more difficult.  All 3 have been at the Number #1 spot at one point or another - all for different reasons. 

So.....the rank list is due in less than a week, and after much deliberation, we have finally come to a consensus, and feel good about our rank order.  Drum roll, please!

>>>

1. Nationwide Children's (Columbus)
2. Children's Mercy Hospital (Kansas City)
3. Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
4. Rainbow Babies (Cleveland)
5. Riley Children's Hospital (Indianapolis)
6. Cincinnati Children's Hospital

Yep- we're putting our current location at the top of our list.  We love it here in Columbus, so even though there may be a couple of things we prefer with the other 2 programs, we don't feel a huge urge to uproot when there's not a clear winner of the 3 programs.  Having said that, there's always a chance we could match at any of the 6 programs, so we will find out our fate on May 2nd. 

Wherever we end up I know it will be for the best, and since I don't really have any control over the final match- I'm letting go.  I feel relieved that the decision is finally made.  I think I'm going to sleep better at night now.  We'll let you know the final verdict on Match Day.   

Happy Progress!

1- I'm so excited that I completed my first wholecloth quilt this past week.  Phew. 

Full post here, but here is one close up of the micro-stippling. 

2- Skill Builder- #28: Tumbler Block

Notice anything funky?  I didn't cut down the rows small enough before piecing them together, so when I cut the block down to the 12 1/2"- the top row was a lot shorter than the other three rows.  Oops.  I think my exact words when I first saw what I had done were, "Oh- For the Love!" and then I just laughed.  I'd say it was a dumb blonde moment, but I'm not even blonde.  Good thing it's a sampler quilt, so it doesn't really matter.





#3- I finished a project, so that means I can start another one, right? Right!  It was time to work on some Half-Square Triangles.  Here's what I got done yesterday:

Other projects:
Blogger BOM- Up to date
Christmas blocks - no progress
Halloween Wall-hanging- no progress

Stats for the Week:
New projects - 1
Completed projects - 1
WIP- 6

Check out what everyone is up to this week over at Freshly Pieced.

He Lives!

I saw this on my friend, Macy's blog and just had to share.  We all know how much I love choral music, and well, this is beautiful.  Enjoy, and have a wonderful Easter Sunday. 

2nd Quarter Finishing Goals

I can't believe we're already into the second quarter of 2012 - crazy!  Well, I have plenty that I need to get done this quarter - here are my plans for the 2012 Finish-A-Long:

1- Finish the Heart & Feather Wholecloth quilt:

2- Finish my Christmas quilt: I have 13 of 16 blocks done, so I need to get a move on.  It's been sitting in the back of my closet without any progress for months.

3- I also really want to get one of the two Skill Builder quilts done.  Both quilt tops are done.  Maybe if all the stars align I'll be able to get both done.  We'll see.

Goodness - I better get busy.

New Progress

This has been a week of firsts for me.  I completed my first bag, and started working on my first wholecloth quilt. 

I'm really trying to improve my Free Motion Quilting and this helped immensely.  This gives me the courage to try designs on my quilts. 

This first step was the outlining...

 The wholecloth fabric is cut at 18 x 18."  The picture isn't the greatest because it's wet & overcast outside, but the fabric is pink with white thread.

 A couple close looks...

 This was far more enjoyable than I thought it would be.  It's far from perfect - particularly the travel stitching on the feathers, but I don't mind, because I know it's all about the practice.  Next step is the micro-stippling.  Here's a view of the back - not too shabby - just a couple of hiccups.

Other projects:
Skill Builder- Up to date
Blogger BOM- Up to date

No progress:
Christmas blocks
Halloween Wall-hanging

Stats for the Week:
New projects - 1
Completed projects - 1
WIP- 6

Check out what everyone is up to this week over at Freshly Pieced & Free Motion Quilting Project.