2nd Place! 
class 3A State Volleyball 

Our volleyball girls did a great job!  The best finish for Phillipsburg ever.
And our sweet Alivia was a very big part of this win.  She finished her senior volleyball year with a bang.  Great blocks at the net.  Super kills and steady and sure all the way.
She's the cute blond holding the trophy.  heehee  
You bet we're proud!!!

So OK... more dreary grey drizzley chilly weather again these last couple of days. 
Enough already!! 
Where's the sun????????

At least my snowball bush is really pretty this year.

As I was taking pics this morning I saw this little fellow fly into the cranberry bush so I quickly snapped him. 
Looks like he's telling me off.  hahaha

I'm still working on D's blocks as often as I can.  I've decided to make him a bed quilt since he'd get a lot more use out of that than he would a snuggle quilt.  I have 30 blocks finished so far and about 10 more to go.  I thought for sure he was going to catch on yesterday when he walked in to visit with me. 
I hadn't heard him come in the house and all of a sudden there he stood telling me about something the neighbor had said.  I had two of his blocks I was working on (one in the machine and the other laying on the ironing board) and there was nothing to do!!!    I just acted like nothing was wrong and he kept taking and never said one word about what I was working on.  HAHAHA 
I knew he wouldn't get it. 

I'm really enjoying reading again.  And since there isn't much on TV that's really worth watching.... I've been shutting it off and grabbing a book. 
Much more enjoyable. 
I've two more books finished.  They were both small quick reads and nice for a change.  Tuesdays with Morrie and  For One More Day  both written by Mitch Albom.  (thanks Jess) 
I've added a new bookshelf to my sidebar to track the books I've read and I can also go to the Shelfari site and find most popular books and their descriptions. 
Fun huh?  

  I've spent the last couple of days reading Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. 

Unlike many of the recent books I've started lately .... I just couln't put this one down.   I will definitely be reading more of her novels.      
Here's the info if you're interested. 

Today I wil get back to my sewing.  Still working on a few of D's blocks as I can sneak in. 

The sun is shining today.   I miss it when it's hidden. 

I saw this on one of the forums this morning and just had to share. 

Yep!  I so identify!!

If you don't have one of these..... 

to help you do this........................

You really need to get one.  I'm not sure you can tell that there is a ridge on the back that grips the seam as you cut off the excess. 
I love this little ruler.  I use it to trim off the triangles and it's especially useful when I'm paper-piecing and need to trim the seams.  There is also a 1/8 inch ruler to use for mini-trimming.  Of course being the gadget person that I am I have them both. 
I use this one all the time....... but....... I don't think I've ever used the other one ...... yet.  hahaha

I worked on sewing more strips today and I put together three more blocks.  Don was home all day and I had to stay under cover.  He even kept coming in the room every so often to visit with me. 
What's up with that?    

I am totally convinced that pressing some seams open is the way to go for me. 

I've found I can be much more precise in matching angled seams if I press them open. (shhhhh don't tell the quilt police)  lol
And I like the added benefit that there isn't the extra layer of fabric that is there when seams are pressed to the side.   I can't feel that bump.
It takes a bit more time that's for sure....but I'm liking it.
And I 'm especially liking the accuracy that results for me.

Today I wanted to work on the burgundy quilt that I had cut out around the same time as I started Don's quilt.
It was going to be my "cover quilt".
And I don't mean to cover up with.... I mean I planned to use it to cover up the fact that I was actually working on D's quilt.
I figured If I had both cut and ready I could just quickly hide his B/W blocks and grab this one.
It's worked very well so far.  

It's a Quiltmaker pattern called Touch of Sunshine (free pattern when you subscribe to the magazine).  It will be a Queen size when finished.
The largest I've tackled so far.  But kinda scary.... because I'm such a slow poke.  If it takes me weeks to make a snuggle quilt.... goodness how long will it take me to make a queen?

Today I spent most of the afternoon with my sewing machine.  Laundry and a bit of cleaning took up most of my morning.   

I worked on the second Southern Gentleman block.  I have really enjoyed using this satin stitch. 
It's relaxing and calming.  Perhaps because I go really slow so I have lots of control and I love hearing the hum of the machine as it runs at a slow and easy pace.

Oh.... and Jess.... your pants are done.  :o) 

I started feeling better yesterday and I felt like  finishing the book I had started on our trip home Monday.  "Handle With Care" by Jodi Picoult.   I flipped the last page around midnight.  It was very good and I really like the authors style of writing. 
Each of her characters are written in the first person.   This book is about a couple who has two daughters....one has been born with a severe handicap... and the story is about the decision the mother makes to sue her OBGYN for wrongful birth and how it effects everyone.  It's a riveting story and certainly thought provoking. 
This is her second book I've read and I'll definitely read more of hers. 
She's the author of sixteen novels, including  "My Sisters Keeper" which has been made into a movie....{but they changed the ending (I've been told) and it completely misses the point of the book}.  I'm glad I haven't seen the movie and I won't now. 

Have a great weekend.

We're back home.  I've caught a bug so I'm dragging and don't feel like accomplishing much.  I hope I get well by Saturday so I can at least enjoy Alivia's volleyball league tournament. 

We did spend yesterday morning getting an estimate for the car and talking to our local insurance guy.
[rewind a few days].....

We pulled up to Deb's around 4:00pm Friday and Saturday morning when we went out to the car to go shopping.... we found the back window had been broken out. 
Apparently someone thought it would be lots a fun to throw a socket wrench at our car.  We found it in the grass and turned it over to the police so they were hopeful that maybe a print could be lifted. 
We don't hold out to much hope though. 
Our SIL taped a piece of heavy plastic over the window and it is holding on very well.  He did a great job of cleaning it all up. 
It's a good thing because it may take a while before we get it fixed. 
Seems the car is old enough that they don't make the window replacements anymore and it will have to be a used window.  Whatever works!!!   I just want my good ol' car back in shape. 

Aside from that.....We had a wonderful time with everyone this last weekend.  Remember I told you we were planning to go to the Maple Leaf Festival?  Well......hahahaha  It did start Saturday but we thought we would be going to the parade! 
Nope!! 
That's next Saturday.  LOL  
The Festival lasts a week and ends with the parade. 
I really didn't care one bit.  We all got quite the laugh after we realized what was going on.

I bought me a new camera while we were there.   I found a Canon Power Shot SX120. 
So far I just love it. 
I still have a lot to learn about all the settings and what I can do with it. 

The pics I have taken so far have turned out great. 

Of course any camera would do a great job on these three.

 Gosh I miss everyone already!!!

I finished machine satin stitching my first block in the Southern Gentleman BOM.  It's been years it seems since I've done this kind of stitching and I think I like it.
Two more and I'll be caught up...but they will have to wait till I get back home. 
We're off for the weekend to see the "greats" and their new home. 
Then back home Monday so we won't miss any of the "grands" games 

Here is the full block...

Have a good weekend..... stay warm!! 

Yesterday morning I worked on this months Pizza box.  Lisa is using patriotic fabrics and she picked this pinwheel pattern.   The block measures 6.5" finished so it will take a lot of these to make a good sized quilt.  She had precut all of her blocks to the specific size (3 1/8th") the pattern recommended.  And it stated: cut the square in half and sew light and dark triangle together.  About three of us followed the pattern instructions.    
Well....She's going to have to sash all of the blocks though since about half of the gals made the pinwheels by layering a light and dark square - drawing a line on the back and then sewing on each side of the line and cutting on the line.  It's an easy technique but they didn't realize that they needed the square to be 3/8" bigger to make the block finish to the right size.   But the finished quilt will be cute whatever she decides to do with the squares.
I enjoyed making this block.

And here's a quick peek at Don's quilt so far.  I'm liking this a lot!! 
Oh!  Just ignore those two blocks.  I still haven't gotten them sewn down yet so they're staying on my design wall till I do.  They're 18" square so they take up a lot of the wall space.  I need to figure out how to store them when I get each one finished.  They're too big for a pizza box and I don't really want to fold them....but that's probably what I'll wind up doing unless one of you have an idea for me. 

I just added a sidebar button from The Painted Quilt.  She will be posting a free design on the first Friday of every month and if you like embroidery her patterns are darling.   She's calling it "First Friday Freebie". 

I'm still (slowly) working on the fabric portrait just trying to get my pattern the way I want it.  Altho I'm not getting very far along very fast for sure.  And occasionally I get to sneak in a couple more blocks on Don's quilt.  I have it about half done so far.   

Even with that it seems like not much sewing or quilting going on around here lately.  We've been going to watch our Varsity volleyball girls play (Alivia).  Saturday we drove a couple of hours (one way) to watch them play in an eight team tournament.   They just rolled right over every team they played and took 1st.  This is the second tournament in a row they've won.  They're looking pretty good right about now. 
Last night we drove to Hays to watch them in regular play against three other teams.   The JV was there too so we got to watch Beth play at least one game.  And then of course when we're not watching the girls.... there's Stu's football games.  It's such a joy to watch him carry the ball and find a hole to snake through to head for a touchdown. 

Ok... enough sports this morning.  I'm off to grab a bite and spend a few hours sewing today. 

Scott's quilt - The label is on and it's all finished.

I'll wash it in about a week to make sure the ink on the label has set up and it won't fade.  Then it's off to be added to the pile of Christmas quilts. 

Ok even with all my bellyaching about quilting  those t-shirts .... it actually looks pretty good.   Here's the backing.    

I have no idea what is going on with my camera.  I tried to take this pic with my flash off so the quilting would show better.  But I couldn't get a clear picture out of any of the 10 I took.  They all blurred terribly.
  So I had to turn the flash back on and finally one pic came through.  Maybe I'll have to think very seriously about getting me a new one. 
This isn't the first time this has happened. 
So......