Baby Thompson #4

Typically when I find out if we're having a boy or a girl I go straight to work and have a quilt done for the baby within a week or two.  This time is quite a different story.  I actually found out early what we were having, because of the required chromosomal testing (since I'm over 35).  I've known since the end of May that we're having a boy, but as you well know, I did very little sewing at all this past summer.  I'm now 32 weeks along and have finally finished the quilt. 

Even though I couldn't get my act together to get his quilt done, we're excited about this little guy.   Little Lady in particular cares quite a bit about this one.  She already tells everyone she has 3 brothers.  She is very proud of her status as the only girl.  In her primary class at church they had a lesson on families.  They were given something to give to each of their siblings and she pretty much demanded a third one stating that Baby Matthew needed one as well.  That's actually how her teachers found out I was pregnant, because they couldn't figure out who Matthew was. 

This was a really fun quilt to put together.  The design for the quilting is a new one to me: Loopy Clouds.  It's an easy design that flows a lot like mixing open flowers and loops.  You can see it a bit better on the back.

Now we just have to wait a few more weeks for him to come and use it. 

Autumn

Paints and pastels from this weekend's art class...

Finally! A Finish!

I can't remember the last quilt I finished.  That's probably not a very good sign.  Gratefully, I found time to layer 3 quilt tops this past week and I actually finished one of them, and since my friend had the baby 3 weeks ago, it's a good thing I finally finished it. 

This quilt made me happy, because everything I used, including the back, came from my quilt stash.  It does make me chuckle that after putting together an entire quilt top of scraps that I couldn't even tell a difference in my scrap bags.  Sigh.  I'm trying.  I like to think that one of the bags was lighter.  I mean, I did make a whole quilt top for crying out loud!

I worked my way back into quilting with a simple loopy lines in yellow for a slight contrast to the fabrics. 

Yay, for a finish!  I have the next quilt all ready to be bound, so I'm hopeful to finish that one this weekend while I'm on a roll. 

First Job Options

We've finally entered into the beginning of the job-hiring season.  Joel scheduled his first official interview!  The really funny part about it is that it's where he went to medical school: Penn State in Hershey, Pennsylvania.  He had a phone interview and then he's scheduled to fly out there the end of October for the first round of interviews.  We thought that job was a long shot since so many things had to line up into place for the opening to exist, but lo and behold, he got a phone call!

Joel also had a phone interview for Albany, New York this afternoon.  This is a completely different type of job than in Hershey.  The hospital in Albany is a much smaller program and requires a lot more clinical hours and call.  There's almost no research element.  It is a huge change from Joel's previous experiences at large hospitals, so the director wants Joel to take some time to think about whether this is something he would like to do or not.  He's meeting with him at a conference they're both attending the beginning of October and if Joel feels good about it then they will officially schedule an interview in Albany.

There isn't anyone who specializes in Joel's area of interest and research at Hershey, so he would have a nitch there.  Albany doesn't even have the program he does, so he would get to start up the treatments basically from scratch and be THE person for the program.  Both offer interesting, but very different opportunities.

Richmond (Virginia) also got back to him this week.  The division chief is brand new, so he's trying to get settled, but he told Joel there will definitely be openings.  Joel's supposed to contact him mid-October once the chief has determined the exact needs of the program.  Then Joel can decide if any of these openings fit with what he would like to do.

Other hospitals who are supposed to be contacting him in October:  Pittsburgh, Vanderbilt (Nashville), Winston-Salem (North Carolina), Dallas, and San Antonio. 

Fresno does not currently have an opening that matches what Joel does and Columbus is not looking very promising in terms of being able to get a job approved by the board.  If we haven't heard back from the other places he applied, we currently consider them as not an option.  He has a couple of promising leads right now though, so we're excited for this next phase. 

The Boys in the Boat

This month's book club read was The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

Source

The summary:   

"Daniel James Brown’s robust book tells the story of the University of Washington’s 1936 eight-oar crew and their epic quest for an Olympic gold medal, a team that transformed the sport and grabbed the attention of millions of Americans. The sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the boys defeated elite rivals first from eastern and British universities and finally the German crew rowing for Adolf Hitler in the Olympic games in Berlin, 1936.

The emotional heart of the story lies with one rower, Joe Rantz, a teenager without family or prospects, who rows not for glory, but to regain his shattered self-regard and to find a place he can call home. The crew is assembled  by an enigmatic coach and mentored by a visionary, eccentric British boat builder, but it is their trust in each other that makes them a victorious team. They remind the country of what can be done when everyone quite literally pulls together—a perfect melding of commitment, determination, and optimism.

Drawing on the boys’ own diaries and journals, their photos and memories of a once-in-a-lifetime shared dream, The Boys in the Boat is an irresistible story about beating the odds and finding hope in the most desperate of times—the improbable, intimate story of nine working-class boys from the American west who, in the depths of the Great Depression, showed the world what true grit really meant." 

I was surprised by how thoroughly interesting I found this book.  I was completely drawn in by Joe Rantz's difficult life story and also by the process of rowing.  I really knew nothing about rowing before reading this book, but even the descriptions of some of the races were nail-biting to read.  The book also gives some really fascinating insights into the workings of the Nazi party and their use of the 1936 Olympic games as propaganda leading up to WWII.  If you like nonfiction this is a really great read!

Sail Away

The hubby had to work Friday night, so I decided to get my act together and get some quilting done.  I finished the last 3 blocks (tutorial here), and then pieced together the quilt top.  Wahoo for some progress!

A Long Forgotten WIP

It's been so long since I did a Work in Progress that I'm having a hard time remembering all the projects up in my closet.  Now that school is back in session I have the desire to clean out and get organized.  I cleaned up all of Little Man's old therapy stuff yesterday and this morning I tackled the garage.  Now I need to figure out what's going on with my sewing.  I find throwing things away and organizing myself to be rather cathartic, so it's been a good week so far.

I'll start with the easy stuff.  I finished my August blocks for do.Good Stitches this past week, and now that it's September I'll need to complete the next set of blocks.

1- I've pieced together 6 blocks and need to piece three more boats.  Then I can put together this baby boy quilt top:

2- Quilt tops that need to be layered and quilted:

May Wish Circle Bow Tie Quilt:

The always-on-my-list-but-never-gets-done Christmas quilt top sampler:

Notice the snow from...eh...two years ago?  Ya.

Other ongoing projects:

Building Blocks Quilt Along- I haven't touched this in over a year either.  I'm about half way done with the blocks.  (I had to actually look up what the quilt along was called it's been so long- not a good sign)

Projects on the near horizon that I haven't started yet:
Another baby boy quilt
BB's pillow case
Baby Girl Quilt
Need to sew together 4 baby blankets for a friend

WIP Stats:
New this week: 0
Completed this week: 1
In Progress: 5

I'm holding myself accountable and linking up this week here.

Good Bye to Wishes

These are my last blocks for Wish Circle.  Kirsten asked us to make 4 checkerboard nine patches in red and white.  It's an extremely easy block, but it actually worked to my disadvantage, because somehow I managed to not pay attention quite enough.  I cut two rows a 1/4 inch too small.  Luckily, I caught it before I pieced the rows together, but it was a rather silly mistake.  I think I'll blame it on the ruler. 

Sadly, after 3 years of wonderful sewing together, the Wish circle is being dissolved.  Technically speaking most of us are being melded into the Peace Circle since they lost a lot of members recently and the head of our circle is stepping down.  Starting next month I'll start another sewing adventure with some old and many new friends in the Peace Circle of do.Good Stitches.