Immune

My immune system must not be what it used to be.  It seems like I get sick at the drop of a hat anymore.  I'm home sick today and it really bites.  My attendance has been bad of late.  I don't have time to be sick!

It's a beautiful day in Denver at least.  I hope to get outside and soak in some rays as form of medicine.  The weather was so bad last week that it was depressing me more.  LOL

I hope everyone is looking forward to their week..... 

1 Job=10

I admit to be annoyed by the low amount of completed chores by the boys when I got home yesterday.   (I'm sure you couldn't tell.)

I spent the day out again.  We tried out a new-to-us breakfast place called the Breakfast Palace.  It's one of the divey places that you fear going into a little, but the food turns out tasting great.  The restaurant has been open since 1982 and we've lived in our neighborhood for 14+ years, but never ate there.  I probably wouldn't have gone, but my parents recommended it.  The food is good and is very reasonably priced.

After breakfast, I took S and her friend for the long delayed b'day out.  We went to the mall.  Gah!  I detest the mall.  We went to Park Meadows this time.  C tagged along so we could look for a grad ceremony dress.  She wants to be an adult size, but she's still really just a 12 or 14 Children's (14 because of height--she's almost as tall as me now--not that great since I'm only 5').  We found an outfit for the girls at 'Penneys which we ended up returning after finding a couple of ridiculously impractical dresses at Dilliard's on the clearance rack.  (They were still $$.)  I didn't realize that they wanted to wear them to school, duh mom, until they started talking about needing sweaters to cover up their shoulders and the thin straps because of the school dress code.  I refused to put out another $20/each for such item.  So, now, I have to make the T-shirts we bought at Target work.  (I will be searching online for tips on sewing with knit....tonight...so they can wear them tomorrow!)  double GAH!  C also found a very cute dress there.  We put it on hold for g-ma to buy since, by then, I was out of money.  (C had to have body spritzer and lotion from Bath and Body Works before all this.  We both smell good now, but I could have survived on Jergens.)

I am so tired and still....SICK!  All I want to do is go to bed!!  Shopping is so tiring!!!

Now, to the subject of my post.

M is picking up poop in the backyard.  I got to thinking about how uppity I was yesterday and felt bad.  I apologized to him when I saw what he was doing.  I told him that ONE job equals 10 jobs anywhere else in the house with the exclusion of cleaning the bathroom.  He also disposed of all the science experiments from the fridge while I was gone.  I totally give him that because he is always the one to say that he has a poor sense of smell so I figure I should take advantage of it.

I would like to finish the block tonight, but I don't think I will have the energy.  I'm so bummered that the background fabric I picked out isn't going to work.  It's too distracting.  Twice, now, I've tried to use it and it hasn't worked out.  I'm not sure if I'm sold on the blue we settled on, but I can't change my mind because the eagle has landed or is fused.  It does contrast well with the background.  I'm undecided on thread.  I'm not a fan of invisible thread, but I may have to this time.  A lot of the background will be lost when I square up after sewing.  I gave myself plenty extra fabric for shrink.

Eclipse Charity Quilt: Hunter and Prey

The next block on the design board is "Hunter and Prey".

I will be using the Pine Needles/McKenna Ryan On Upward Wing pattern from the At Home in the Woods BOM.

Look at that, Jacob interrupted me, pointing to an eagle in the act of plummeting down toward the ocean from an incredible height.  It checked itself at the last minute, only its talons breaking the surface of the waves, just for an instant.  Then it flapped away, its wings straining against the load of the huge fish it had snagged. 

You see it everywhere, Jacob said, his voice suddenly distant.  Nature taking its course -- hunter and prey, the endless cycle of life and death. .... (Eclipse, p 109)

Here are the fabrics:

Eclipse Charity Quilt: Trip to Jacksonville

Eclipse Charity Quilt:  Trip to Jacksonville

Edward manipulates Bella into a fight with Charlie in order to get her to get out of town after one of Alice's visions.  He spirits her away to visit her mom in Jacksonville, Florida, using the airplane tickets that Esme and Carlisle gave her as a present for her ill-fated 18th birthday.

On the plane trip back home Bella thinks back to a moment during the visit.  Bella and Renee escape for a walk and drift into a mother daughter conversation....

...This morning we'd gone for a walk along the beach....

Renee and I ambled along the sidewalk, trying to stay in the range of the infrequent palm tree shadows.....

There's something .... strange about the way you two are together, she murmured, her forehead creasing her troubled eyes.  The way he watches you -- it's so ... protective.  Like he's about to throw himself in front of a bullet to save you or something. ... (Eclipse, p 66-67)

Block details:

7" block, 8" with white frame

I used the free Paper Panache airplane pattern and combined it with a pattern from the Linda Causee's 24 Tropical Quilt Blocks.  (I previously purchased this book with Breaking Dawn quilt blocks in mind.)

I hand embroidered the "Visit Jacksonville" in the upper right corner for a postcard effect and added personal touch.

I especially like the green fabric I used for the palm tree leaves.  I also like the "striped" water.

A Day Out

S and I spent the day out.  We're going to go out tomorrow, too, with her friend like I promised.  C was spent the night at a friend's house last night and spent the day out, too.  The boys stayed home.  (I was hoping some work would get done, but you know how that goes....)  I had a nice day out and I tried to not to be anxious thinking about all I needed to get done at home.

We took advantage of the FB free bagel coupons at Einstein's.  They've brought the mango orange bagel back for summer!!  S got the usual--cinnamon sugar, toasted and buttered.  Free is good.....

I said I was going to hit the quilt shops and I did!  I finished my incentive card at Holly's with some FQs for "Hunter and Prey", a pattern for the New Moon Quilt, and a nice pink that I think I'm going to use for "Imprint."  I'm bummered that they were already out of the fabric I'm using for my white frames so I've got to figure out what to do about that.  M says I should just use another fabric--and I have a ton of white sparkly fabric because I buy it every time I see some.  He jests, especially when he knows about my matchy-matchy affliction.  I also got some nice red since I also can't seem to resist buying reds.  I was hoping to get up to Harriet's for more black for New Moon since they're closed on Sundays, but I couldn't justify going across town so I'll hit them next week since the store is actually closer to my work and it makes more sense.  I also visited GAQF, but not much was going on there.  I bought some of the softest brown flannel that I'm tempted to use for my paw prints.  They have a new employee there who doesn't know me and she hovered entirely too much.  She kept reminding me that I could put my fabric down.  I finally told her, politely I promise, that I had shopping there for about 15 years and knew the routine.  The last of my visits was to Fabric Expressions so I could get some felted wool for my pennants.  S and her friend have been bugging me to make them Twilight bags and I splurged on a pattern book that has pattern for a messenger bag.  I think it may be too big so I'll probably have to adjust the pattern.

I have my eye on a quilt story book for teacher gifts.  Just a Quilt by Dalen Keys.  The author will be in town next week and will be signing books at both Holly's and GAQF.  I'm really considering buying a book for the family and probably A's teacher.

We fit a trip into Walmart,  I went to the Supercenter on my mom's side of town because we needed groceries.  My kids will only eat Thomas brand bagels and I refuse to pay $4 for six at Kings when I can get them for $2 at Walmart.  C and Z like them for their lunches so we really go through them!  S saw some shorts and a top that she wanted.  I reminded her that we were going shopping tomorrow, but she didn't want to wait.  She is SO my daughter.

We finished our day with lunch at Panda Express.  I taught S how to use chopsticks.  She finally got the hang of it, sort of, before her food got cold.

I wasn't feeling my best today.  I'm sick again, but this time it's a cold.  It set in quick yesterday afternoon.  I keep getting sick!

I vacuumed the whole house, did two loads of laundry, made dinner, and traced my eagle for the next Eclipse block.  Why is it that I can get all this done in two hours, when the boys got nothing done in the six hours I was gone?  Because I'm a motivated mom, that's why.....

The Irony of it All

I have a lot of time on my hands to sit and think.  This could be a good or a bad thing.....  I'm going to sound ungrateful, rude, crude, too honest, and probably resentful.  Read on at your own risk!

Things of late:

I want to have friends, but I rarely enjoy the entanglements that come as a result.  I become weary too fast.  The dynamics of most relationships and drama make me withdraw very quickly.  I also recognize that I'm too difficult in large or extended doses.  (The day that someone will take me as I am will be the day I have a BFF.)

I'm honestly having more fun doing my own thing now.  I don't have to answer to anyone.  I don't have to play nice.  I'm united with a couple of people at the moment because of a will to survive and not surrender.  We desire not to be bullied away from two loves and that is our common purpose.  But, I'm still pretty much on my own.

What is it that I'm really missing?  The interaction probably more than anything.  I only miss a couple of people because I enjoyed their ideas and their work.  I can honestly say that I probably wouldn't have been friends with even these people in real life because our points of view and lifestyles were just too different.  (I've never said, but even with difficulties with online interactions it became much more apparent during my visit to Utah last fall.  I wanted to see a quilt and hang with friends, but got dragged around town to religious sites and witnessed a wild spending spree instead.  Even then people were talking behind other people's backs and making judgments about family, religion, and quilting skills.)

Quilting Twilight is just not that big of a deal to the rest of the fandom or the world.  From the millions of people in the fandom, only a handful of people participate despite national and local publicity, etc.  I'm not saying that there aren't more people out there doing their own thing or that don't admire the quilts, but really how popular and influential is a Twilight quilting group going to be in the fandom?  How many people really want to be quilt Twilight?  How many people will voice their opinions with their wallets for handmade goods?

It's almost just another interesting novelty to the fandom.

Most of the world doesn't understand the work and love that goes into making a quilt.  We've all got stories of how we made a quilt for a family member or friend and they turned their noses up at the gift in one way or another.  I propose that most of us quilt for ourselves.  We want people to appreciate the art, but most people don't and won't ever truly understand or appreciate quilting.  How selfish am I when I give a quilt as a gift?  I want people to be in awe and I like hearing the compliments.  How many people would rather get something else, though?  It's not that quilts don't make nice gifts, but most people just see them as a blanket.

I will still quilt Twilight because I love seeing the books come to life in quilts.  I enjoy finding ways to make this happen.  I love to quilt.  I love Twilight.  No one has exclusive rights to combining both passions.  No one.....not even me.......or them.  I can honestly say that I am trying to prove a point, but my main purpose will always be for the LOVE.

Embroidery, Moi?

not so much!

***edited 5/14/10

It's amazing how things look differently in the light of day.  I finished the embroidery on this block at one this morning and it looked....fine.  Honestly, I just wanted to finish it last night....  Today I need to fix the sun--not liking the french knots and will go with lines for the rays--and the "t" needs a better cross.  I can't wait to get home from work to add the white frame strips and my the photo corners.

Up next?.....  I don't know!  I've got the pattern prepped for "Hunter and Prey" and it's the most ready to go.  I still need to tweak Rosalie's pattern and figure out the sizing on the pp paw and heart for "Imprinting".  I need to draft a book pattern for Wuthering Heights because I can't find one I like online.  I want to have the cover actually able to be opened with the quote from the book as printed in Eclipse.  Wuthering Heights is important to Bella and Edward's story in Eclipse so I wanted to incorportate it's significance in a meaningful way into the quilt.

I found some red satin ribbon last night.  I'm toying with using it as my ribbon in the quilt top.  That is, if I don't scare myself off in the end....

I can't wait to hit the quilt stores this weekend to replenish supplies.  I need more white sparkly fabric for my frames.  I also need more of the black fabric I'm using for the New Moon Quilt so I can get back to that.  If I can't find it locally, I'll have to order it online.