Wordless Wednesday: What a Difference One Year Makes

Wordless Wednesday: Cookies & Snowstorms & Quilts, Oh My

The Quilt That Took Over the World

OK, so I'm making a quilt for Mark for Christmas. I've been slaving away at this thing constantly, day and night, for weeks. (I haven't really, but it sounds like a good reason why I haven't been blogging and who out there knows differently, so there.) (and yeah, Brenda, I know you know differently, but shhhhh) I've never made a quilt before (in fact, "complete quilt" is on my list of 101, so whoohoo), and I designed this little puppy all by myself. It's a basic nine-patch, which I've put together using strip-sewing, and it's overall going really smoothly.

Until.

I finally got all the blocks made (had to reorder one fabric that I ran out of, but that came this week, so I was back in action), had three of the rows of blocks (which are each a nine-patch) sewed together, then ripped all apart because I had laid out the wrong pattern (grrrrrr), and then sewed back together. So I started laying it out on my living room floor to see what the finished product would look like, and also to get all the blocks in the right order and rotated correctly (because I am rotating the center square of each block a quarter-turn each time, but anyway). So the whole thing was laid out, all 35 blocks of it, and that is when I realized:

The thing was freaking HUMONGOUS.

I mean, it was monstrous. I had 35 18-inch squares laid out in a 5x7 pattern, and that made the finished front, before borders, 90 inches by 126 inches. It was OVER TEN FEET LONG. BIGGER than a KING-SIZE. Um.

Did I mention that Mark has a twin bed?

I wanted it to be a bit bigger than twin, like a double-size, so the quilt would hit the floor on both sides like a bedspread rather than a comforter. And then when he moved up to a larger size bed, he could still use the quilt. Still, even taking all that into consideration, I rather overestimated.

I've ended up taking two ROWS of blocks (10 blocks total) out of this quilt and it is STILL slightly larger than a double. Before borders. But it still looks pretty kick-ass, and hey, less for me to sew, right, so I might actually get the quilt top finished today if I get my butt off the computer and back to the sewing machine. I just got a chuckle over this gigantor quilt & figured I could babble to my blog about it. check ya later. mk

Golden Birthdays

*THE* most common reaction when I told people Kira was celebrating her Golden Birthday this year was: "Her what?" And the most common response to my explanation was, "I've never heard of that." One of my friends even asked if I created that. (in other words, "you totally made that up") I assure you, I did not. I first heard about it in college.

A person's Golden Birthday is when they turn the age that is their birth day. So, Kira turned 9 on the 9th. My Golden Birthday was when I was eight. Mark's won't be until he is 19.

It can apparently also be called a Grand Birthday or a Star Birthday, which *I* had never heard of, but of course Wikipedia is all-knowing and never in error, so it must be true. ;)

If I had been throwing Kira's kid-party this year, I would have made it an "All That Glitters is Gold" theme-ish thing. However, this year X actually stepped up and offered to throw the party, so I said have at it and they had an ice-skating party. Kira had a blast.

Instead, for Kira's present I gave her a gold locket. She absolutely loves it, and has asked me to put a teeny little picture of myself in there. (she also wants to put X)

And in a show of just how awesome she thinks her brother is, yesterday morning she said that she likes presents, but what she was looking forward to the most seeing what the card was that Mark would make for her. And at the end of the night, when I was tucking her in and asked her what her favorite part of her birthday was, she said that it was his card. Isn't that the best?? mk

Kira Quote of the Day

To my mother, on the phone this morning: "Where's Gramp?"
Gram: "He's still asleep."
Kira: "Oh. I probably would be too, if I hadn't woken up."


Happy Birthday Kira!!!

#21

A couple of weeks ago, Brenda emailed me and asked if I could spare a few minutes today for a project she was working on. She wouldn't tell me what it was, but it required having a photo or two taken. I was mystified, but agreed.

So today when I showed up we hopped in her truck and there was a post-it on the dashboard with the number 21 on it. This was my clue.

Turned out that she was taking me to get passport photos taken, and I'm going back next Monday with the application and we're sending it in! She decided to gift me with #21 on my list of 101.

She's so sneaky (and awesome)! This is the second time she's surprised me with something from my list (the other, you will recall, was Stomp). She thinks it's great because she knows it's guaranteed to be something I'll love. *I* think it's only fair that she makes her own list of 101!!

For those who don't know, the list of 101 is a list of 101 things to do in the next 1001 days. I have so far completed 25 of this list (end date is Sept 24, 2009--I'd better kick it into gear!), with another 6 that are in process.

You should try it! If you make one, leave a link in the comments so I can come check it out. mk

p.s. Brenda, I did get the photos out of my purse and in the folder. Of course, it took writing this post to remember it. :)

****update 12/8: Application is now in! They said it might take 3-4 weeks but probably sooner. Whoohoooo! mk