Christmas is almost here!

The camper took about ten minutes to decorate.  Our little four foot tree is a little depressing but its all that will fit.  Kevin wanted a smaller one but I refused.  Monkey girl keeps taking all of the decorations off of the tree.  I didn't buy many and they're pretty cheap, mainly because I knew that she would do that!  Maybe next year we can have nicer ones!

The kids activities are keeping me busy.  I'm looking forward to next year when Monkey can participate and I don't have to chase her around.  She's been eyeing gymnastics class for a while.  I know she wishes that she could join in. 

I've got some major homeschooling planning to do during the break, however, I plan on working on some quilts.  I have TL's about a third of the way quilted and I need to piece and quilt the girls quilts.  Alot to accomplish before new years, I know.  I'm hoping to at least get TL's done and the piecing done for the girls' quilts.  Then I need to quilt the little ones' quilts and start on ours.  Finally, then I can work on some fun stuff!!

I just received block two of my block of the month pumpkin block.  I didnt' even start block one yet.  Oh boy, another project.  Maybe I can get those done this week and show them to you!!  I also have some Christmas embroidery that I'm working on.

The saying does go, "whoever dies with the most projects wins," right?

Have a wonderful Christmas season!

Sorry so long and so short

Sorry its been so long since my last post.  This one will be really short because the kids are on lunch break.  My mother came to visit for a week and we had a blast!!  It was so much fun!!  The kids and I really miss her! 

We got our household goods and put 12,000 pounds into storage.  The movers were fantastic and fit it all into a 10x30 foot storage space.  I was amazed and excited!  I now have my sewing machine again!!  Yippee!

Terri Thayer came to talk at our guild.  She told about her progress as a quilter and a writer.  She was a ton of fun!

I got my first block of the month for my pumpkin quilt.  I'll post pictures soon.  My computer's been sluggish and I think I have too many pictures on here.  I'm going to upload them to Kevin's external hard drive and also get a thumb drive.  I need to start working on my digital scrapbook too!!

Take care and happy quilting!

I have been quilting, see?

 Hand piecing is going very slow for me.  I can't wait to get my sewing machine out of storage.  We need to find storage for the Navy to move our stuff into and then I can pull some boxes of things out that we'll need.  Luckily, since we were discussing living in the fifth wheel for three years, I packed some things seperately and made the movers label them "camper" so I could find the boxes easier.  My sewing machine and bread machine are in there.

 Both big girls loves horses, so when I came across this horse fabric I got enough to make two quilts.  I have six rows pieced and four of those sewn together.  The light green here, will be a small border before the horse fabric border.  I know the girls will love it.

 On the side bar, you'll notice that I have two BOM's going on.  One starts this month and the other is this Christmas one.  Sadly, I haven't even started the Christmas one so I need to get moving on that.  The pumpkin one arrives this month and I can't wait!

 I found this pattern while shopping in OR with my friend, Connie.  I love it.  Just have to get some fabric.  The nice thing about living in the fifth wheel is that I don't have a fabric stash so I have to BUY!  Shhhh, don't tell my hubby.

This is daddy and the kids watching a movie in the back part of the fifth wheel.  The queen size couch is great because it fits all of us!! 

Have a wonderful quilty weekend!

Sad.....

I looked at one of my friend's blogs this week and saw her awesome quilts and how she decorated for Halloween.  I don't have any!!!!  In fact, almost all of my quilts are "utility" quilts.  I don't have any for decoration!!!!!

So, I've decided to take the three years we're living in here to work on decoration quilts for my home.  Whether it be table runners, wall hangings, or full size quilts, I'm going to get them done.

First, however, I have to work on some quilts for the camper.  I have TL's quilt to finish quilting.  The older girls are being pieced right now.  I haven't looked for fabric or patterns for the little ones yet....soon, soon.  My goal is to have them done by Christmas.   Can I do it?

If I do, then I can work on the little girls, which don't have to be very big cause they're small yet.  I can then focus on the one for our bed, cause this comforter is U-G-L-Y!

I have a couple of wallhangings to do for in the camper.  We don't have alot of wall space so this isn't too much of a problem.

Then, I'm going to focus on seasons for our home.  Spring/summer, patriotic, fall, halloween, Christmas, and winter quilts........wallhangings.......tablerunners!!  Yeah!  I hope to have several wallhangings and table runners done and perhaps a large wall quilt.

And then!!  I hope to work on the theme in our home, which will be the Pacific northwest.  I love the mountains and animals there and hope to decorate in that aspect. 

Ambitious right?  I'm going to update my list on the sidebar to see if I can get this all done!!  Perhaps I should focus on a year at a time!!  lol

Batting

One of the fantastic things about moving back to the desert is that I can return to Common Threads Quilt Guild.  I was very excited for the meeting last night.  I haven't gotten alot of sewing done, its been to hot here.  Over 95 for weeks on end and the air went in the front part of the fifth wheel.  We've been huddled in the living area trying to stay cool, but the temp in here was getting to be 90 or so.  The designer of this campground decided to have everyone's door open up to the sun all day long, and without trees, there wasn't any shade to speak of.  ugh.....

and now we've moved into fly season....ugh again.  I've killed over twenty flies in here today and just spotted a few more.  I absolutely hate flies!

Back to the guild.  It was nice to go back and see some friends.  I never was close to anyone in the guild.  I had small kids and lived on the base so I'm hoping to get more quilting friends now.

Last night the speaker talked about batting.  How enlightening it was to hear her talk about how long we take to pick out a pattern, fabrics, and sew and then quilt our treasures and we usually throw whatever batting there is inside of our quilt.  Wow, never thought of that before.

SHe had quite of few samples and I didn't realize that batting was now made from corn, bamboo, and recycled green water bottles!!  I always thought it was cotton, polyester, or a blend!  I did find out that for awesome hand quilting, I should be using wool.  Its a dream to quilt through she said.  I had no idea!!  I just phoned the local quilt shop and they don't have any in stock so I will have to order some from somewhere.  I think it would be a great idea also because the toy hauler area of the fifth wheel is getting to be pretty chilly at night.

I still don't have my sewing machine, so I decided to hand piece the girls' quilts.  I have one row done already and if I focus on it this weekend, perhaps I can get most of the piecing done.  I found some horse fabric with framed horses and some really cute barbed wire fencing, lasso fabric, and some other cute fabric.  I'm doing just squares of fabric, no real design because I wanted this to be quick to keep the girls warm.

I'm about 1/4 of the way through quilting TL's quilt.  I hope to have that done pretty quickly also.  Like I said, its getting a little chilly in here!  The temp drops about forty degrees at night and since its only in the 80s during the day, you can imagine how cool its getting.  At least the heat's working!!

Have a wonderful quilty day!

My friend, Connie

Two years ago we arrived in Whidbey Island and lived in our camper waiting for housing to open up.  We camped right on the beach, which was gorgeous, but cool and very very breezy.  We had quite a time getting fires started at night because of it.

One day I was off and Kevin was trying to light the fire.  A woman camped next to us, ran in her camper and came over with a handful of scrap fabric (y'know, those pieces that you trim off?  she saves them) and put in on the wood and then told him to light it.  I've been saving my scrap every since.  A great way to start fires!!

A friendship was born!!  Luckily for us, the Western WA quilt shop hop was the next weekend and we went.  We had a blast and it was so much fun getting to know each other.  The next year they came up again and we did the shop hop again.  Sadly, this year they couldn't come to us, so we went to visit them in OR on our way down to WA.

Connie has a quilt room that I totally envy.  I was afraid the girls would break something so I watched over them like hawks.  She has a GO cutter that Kevin just had to try out.  We hit some stores and I stocked up on some cool Halloween fabric and Kevin cut out tumbler blocks for me.  I may have to invest in one.  An entire top cut up in fifteen minutes!!  Awesome!!  And no mistakes at all, cause I ALWAYS cut the right size with my rotary cutter, yep, never made a mistake yet.  Who am I kidding?

She's such a dear!!  We took the girls and they picked out horse fabric and make pillow cases for themselves.  Then she used her embroidery machine and did the cutest hand towels with their names and horses on them.  They had a blast!!

We miss her already!

Connie and the girls at the quilt shop

Did I also mention that Connie, and her hubby Donald, took us to the Goody's store for a field trip and of course, we had to taste some samples!!  Yum!

Here's her hubby, Donald, checking out the treats.  He's such a sweetheart; my girls all love him.  They wouldn't leave him alone and followed him around the whole time we were there, "Mr. Donald!  Mr. Donald".  Poor guy was probably happy to see us go!!  lol Oh, and did I mention that he cooks?  He has more cookbooks than I do!!  He made us some absolutely delicious meals!! 

So, maybe next year I can head back again.  I know that the kids would enjoy going back.  We had a fantastic time!!  And they are so sweet!!  I'm so blessed to have met such wonderful people!

Organization

I've spent the last two weeks organizing the new fifth wheel.  I found out the first week of school that the school books were not going to work where I'd put them.  They were over the fridge, so I had to climb up and down a ladder  all day long.  Didn't work as well as I'd planned.

I haven't done any sewing.  Too busy organizing and getting the kids activities all set.  The three big girls are doing Awana and gymnastics.  TL is doing boy scouts and karate.  We tried three different schools until we found one we liked.  He was doing taekwondo and they don't have that here.

So here's some photos of our new home.  Enjoy!

The kitchen.  There's a couch to the right.  The door leads to the girls' bedroom.  The bunk over the door is TL's.

More kitchen.  The door on the left leads to our bedroom.  the door on the right is the bathroom.

TL enjoying the tv

The girls' room.  There's two queen bunks and the bottom bunk can be made into a u-shaped dinnette.  They are enjoying their space.

The girl's half bath.

And they're little tv.  There's hookups for a washer/dryer unit.  I'd love to get one!

I didn't show the master bedroom.  I need to find some fabric for a quilt, cause the ugly black comforter is driving me crazy!

Have a wonderful quilty day!

I'm baaaccckkkk!

Finally, we have reached our new home.  The only problem is that I don't have internet.  I feel extremely disconnected to everyone!

We arrived last weekend.  It was only 101 degrees at 5:30pm.  Ugh.  I think my eyeballs are sweating.

We left Mt. St. Helens and arrived in Washougal WA to visit some friends of ours that recently retired from the Navy.  What a gorgeous house they have!  And it on top of a mountain with a gorgeous view of Mt. Hood.  I'm jealous!!  I'll post pictures later.

While there we decided to upgrade our 34ft travel trailer to a 40 ft fifth wheel.  We've decided to live in it the next few years.  We have some bills to pay off and some money to save.  With the threat of military pay on the table several times the last few months, we've decided we need to grow our emergency fund.  We also have braces, college, and retirement looming in the next eight years.  I enjoy camper living, even with five kids.  It only takes a little to clean each day so it frees up  more time.  I'm hoping to have more sewing time!!

I'll post in the next few days pictures and details of our trip to OR.  We have so much fun visiting our friends there.  She's a quilter so we had a blast together!

Back to our fifth wheel.  Its a toy hauler with two queen sized bunks in the  back.  The bottom bunk is also a couch and can be turned in a U shaped dinette.  There's a half bath and plenty of room for all four girls.  TL has his own bunk over the main living area.  My kitchen is still pretty small but I don't have more space and double the refrigerator space that I had before.  My oven is also bigger so now I can actually use it.  The other one was so small and the rack was closer to flame and the bottom of everything was burned.  I'm happy to be able to cook again.  Of course, that will have to wait until it gets cooler.  Right now all I want is a salad and some iced tea!

I'm off for now.  I'll post pictures of our new home, although I still have to decorate, and our trip to OR.

Enjoy your week and happy sewing!

Having a blast!

We've been visiting friends these last few days.  They are wonderful and our kids get along famously.  Their bigger kids are surrogate brother/sister for my little ones and the little ones have them wrapped around their fingers.  They get piggy back rides and many many trips to see the goats and chickens. 

We'll be here a couple of more days and then finally head into OR.  We'll be visiting more friends there.  I'm excited.  Both the friend I'm at now and the friend that we're going too are quilters.  Its been fun talking quilting talk, even if I'm not getting anything done!!  I'm enjoying my time immensely.

Today we went to Fort Vancouver which was really really cool.  The kids even seemed to really like it.  We had a good  time, even if it was warm.  Okay so it was only 85 but you have to remember that we're used to a high of 65 during the summer.  Tomorrow its supposed to be over 90 and I'm not looking forward to that at all. 

Hopefully, I'll have some photos posted soon.  I'm pooped and off to bed!  Nighty night!

Mt. St. Helens

We're here in Mount St. Helens enjoying the scenery.  Our only complaint is the campsite.  It is extremely unfriendly towards visitors.  Too many rules.  No room to put out a picnic table, your literally right on top of your neighbor.  No play areas for the kids or a game room and they are not allowed to ride their bikes or play on the hill.  Time in the camper isn't as fun as it usually is.  Today is really warm, okay its only like 85, but we're used to 70 so its hot for us.  We went out yesterday and enjoyed Mount St. Helens.

We're in Big Foot Country!

Information on the blast zone

TL running from a potential blast

A picture of the helicopter tour

Gorgeous view, although there was alot of cloud cover

Coldwater Lake up near the base

Monkey playing in the cold water

The big girls climbing

Johnstone Ridge.  He was on duty watching the mountain the day if blew and managed a quick message before the area was destroyed.  They've never found his body

You can see how the trees were blown apart.  They have planted 18.4 million trees and plants trying to repopulate the area.

Finally the cloud cover is gone!

I did head into town and toured the local quilt shop.  It was fun and the girls enjoyed picking out some fat quarters.  I'm working on quilting TL's dino quilt.  He's a little old for dinos but still loves them.  This year he finally decided he didnt' want to be a paleontologist because it was too much school.  This fabric I bought a couple of years ago and didn't start it until this year.  He needed a longer quilt for the camper because he's grown so much so he's getting this one.

I found some great horse fabric that I'm piecing by hand for the big girls.  It will take a little bit but I enjoy doing the hand work.

Have a wonderful week!

no internet

Sorry I haven't posted.  We're living in the camper at the beach and there's no internet.  I know, I know.  Who cares, your at the beach right?

We are enjoying our last days in WA.  We leave this beautiful place next weekend.  I hope we'll be staying at places with internet so I can at least post pictures for everyone!

I'll miss this wonderful place and the wonderful friends we've made here!!

Enjoy everyone!!  Have a wonderful week!

Sorry this is so short....

I hope to post more on Monday.  The packers come that day and I'm busy trying to pack everything we need to live for the next six months into the camper.  Ugh.  I'm not doing too badly though.  So far so good.  The storage under the couch is good for all of my quilt and knitting projects.  I was very glad about that.  But it looks like I'll have to forgo the sewing machine.  I don't think I'm going to have enough space!

I really have been busy

So, in between appointments with cleaners and movers, I have been busy sewing.  Only 12 days until the house is packed out and I want some projects pieced and ready to quilt in the camper.

Here's some of the fabric that I won during a drawing.  This fabric is designed by a wonderful woman and a dear friend, Nancy Murty.  She designs for Andover Fabrics.  I met Nancy when we were both attending community college 20 years ago.  We were both going to be physical therapists.  She ended up pursuing art and establishing herself in the quilting field as a wonderful designer and teacher.  She's very talented and draws support from her mother and sister.

Here's some of the things I've been working on. 

The first bloc of my Civil War wallhanging.  This wagon wheel block needs to be appliqued and the center put on.  I hope to have the other three blocks done tomorrow.  I'm really falling in love with Civil War fabrics.  I may have to do a large quilt. 

Bento Block wallhanging for my bedroom.  I have all of my Japanese pieces in my room and decided to tie them together with a wallhanging.  I hope to also use the fabrics to make a quilt for my bed, but that will be a while from now.

Back side of my flannel rag quilt.  We have one that we literally use everyday and its about five years old.  Its literally falling apart so time for a new one.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!  Enjoy!

Been busy cleaning/organizing

Hello everyone!!  I've done little quilting and alot of cleaning!!  Tomorrow the cleaners come to give me an estimate on cleaning the house when we leave so I'm spending today and tomorrow scrubbing.  I know, sounds silly, but it does save money when they see your house is clean.

Plus, next week we have our move out inspection.  And the cleaner the better.  They don't nag about little things and nickel and dime you for silly repairs.  All part of living in military housing!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!  I'm scrubbing, scrubbing, scrubbing!! 

Let me clarify....

I see from my posts, that I haven't been to clear in my thoughts.  I know what I'm doing.....so I should expect you all to read my mind huh?  I'm having old age brain!!

We are packing out of this house the week of July 25th and moving into our camper.  Hubby as to report mid-Sept, but will probably arrive about three weeks early.  The kids and I will be traveling very slowly, visiting WA, OR, and northern CA before arriving mid to late September.  I'm hoping it will be down into the 90s by then. 

The housing waiting list is about 3-6 months so we'll be camping until then.  I really enjoy my camper, its nice and big with four bunk beds for the kids.  We'll be moving everything into it the weekend before we pack out and I'll take pictures then and post them for you.  Hopefully, since we'll be in the camper, we'll be able to do a little bit of traveling in southern CA too. 

Hopefully this clarifies for you guys!!  I'm sorry I've been so vague lately!! 

been busy

I'm busy trying to get ready for the move and desperately trying to work on some projects before we live in the camper for a few months.  Here's some of what I've been working on:

I made two of these for the little girls.  Don't be too impressed cause I bought the fabric five years ago to make these for the big girls!

One of four blocks for a wallhanging for the living room.  I have to take the pacific NW with me to the desert.

Bear wallhanging for the guest/kids bath.  I have some awesome photos to add to that wall too.

Trying to finish learning how to knit TL's socks before we leave!

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Has it really been that long?

I'm sorry that I haven't posted lately.  School just gets the best of me.  In May, we received some wonderful news.  My hubby made Master Chief!!  For those of you that don't know, Master Chief is the highest rank and enlisted member can achieve in the Navy.  We're so proud!

The week after, we received word that we'd be moving.  Panic!!  I wasn't ready to move!!  I've been busy finishing up my two classes and working on cleaning out the house.  I've been purging into two piles, thrift store and trash.  I'm all done now, thank goodness.  I have to now get ready to pack us up in the camper to live for possibly up to six months.  I'm working on lesson plans and going to be sewing some projects to hand quilt while we're in the camper.  I just bought a new lap hoop that I love!

We're still waiting on orders at this point.  Hopefully, they will arrive sometime soon so we can complete this.  I hate hanging around waiting.

We'll be heading back to Lemoore, CA.  Back to the desert.  Goodbye my beloved snow covered mountains, bald eagles, whales, sea lions, ocean view and onto black widow spiders, mice, brown foliage, and blistering heat.  Ugh.  Well, at least I have some wonderful friends and a great church and quilt guild to return to!

Happy quilting everyone!



update and some progress

School is in full swing again for me.  I see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Four more classes after these two and I'm DONE!! 

I did manage on my two weeks off to do alot of purging in the house.  I got rid of 8 bags of clothes.  We've been blessed with soooo many hand me downs, that I finally said enough is enough adn went through them and got rid of all we weren't using.  I also decided to not save clothes between Bug-a-bug and Little Miss Trouble.  Its four years.  That's a lot of tubs of clothes.  If I had a cellar or attic I might consider it, but its just too much. 

I also managed to finish a quick quilt for TL for the camper.  I'm working on quilting it now.  I'm also working on several applique quilts and I've set up the embroidery quilt I want to work on.  Realistically, I won't get much done until about August, but I can dream!!  lol

I have some wonderful news.  My friend, Nancy Murty, had a contest on her blog and gave away some of her new fabric that she designed from Andover.  I will post photos is a day or so.  I've got to find the camera.........

Japan

My heart is breaking for the people of Japan.  We lived there for four years.  I love the country, culture, people.  We lived at Atsugi Naval Air Station a little south of Tokyo.  Also nearby are Yokota Air Station, Zama Army base, and Yokosuka Naval Station. 

The military bases have so far been spared!  However, a 6.4 quake was recorded earlier today SW of the original quake.  This is NOT an aftershock.  It is a new quake.  Many are fearing that it will be like the other quake, a smaller quake that is before another big one comes!

And of course, the military bases around Tokyo and Tokyo itself is under a warning because of the radiation levels.  The levels are placing everyone on a warning not to go outside.  Please keep my friends in your prayers.  We still have quite a few friends that are over there!

shhhhh!

I'm supposed to be doing homework!!  I have my discussion questions to do this week, a ten page term paper to write (that I really haven't done any research for), and two finals next week.  I don't have time to quilt during school....its just too hectic with homeschooling.

Last week my dad came for a visit.  The kids enjoy when Grandpa comes.....they get to go out to eat and he likes to buy them things.  We never go out to eat....too expensive for a family of seven and too challenging with a one year old that doesn't want to sit in the high chair waiting patiently for the food to arrive.  If we have a while to wait to get our order taken its even worse.  We've learned its too much and way to expensive.  With one income, we tend to cut out things like that, otherwise we're gonna have to eat Alpo the rest of the week!  hahahaha

The day after Grandpa left, it snowed here.  Lots of snow-a whole six inches!!  I know, I know, that's nothing.  You don't have to tell me that, I'm from Buffalo for goodness sake!!  Its funny to see it here though and its shuts everything down!!  Too funny!!

Here's some photos of our snow:

Enjoy!!  We sure did!

Crapapple Hill Studio

There is a quilt shop up in Lynden that carries these patterns from Crapapple Hill Studio.  I've been drooling over them for quite some time.  I finally decided to bite the bullet and get myself my favorite patterns:

http://www.crabapplehillstudio.com/items/413_twas_the_night_before_christmas.aspx

http://www.crabapplehillstudio.com/items/407_peppermints_~amp_wintergreens.aspx

and from her tea party pattern:

http://www.crabapplehillstudio.com/items/534_katie_(tea_party_series).aspx

Her photos are copyrighted for a good reason.  I can't wait to start these fun projects.  I ordered the tea party one for my mother and I'll make a second for a dear Canadian friend and lover of tea!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Remember when

I mentioned that I had thirty days off and time was ticking away....I could hear the clock....tick, tock, tick, tock........and poof!  It was all gone!!

And I didn't even get to pull out my machine at all!!

But, I was able to get some major sorting, cleaning, and organizing done in the house.  With seven people, four of which are little girls that make huge messes, this really needed to be done!  I'm so glad that monkey is off my back.

Now, I'm back in classes already.  I'm hoping to pull my machine out this weekend to do the binding on TL's quilt and piece together a few blocks for some applique that needs to be done.  Maybe I'll be able to quilt that wallhanging for the living room.

In our homeschool, we're learning about the colonies.  The project that the girls need to work on is a quilt for their baby dolls.  They both sew pretty nicely.  Princess has nice small stitches that are pretty even.  Bug-a-bug has nice stitches although a little big-she is only seven after all.  They picked out their own fabric and are doing a nice job. 

If anyone knows where I can buy small thimbles I'd appreciate it.  The extra small adult ones are too big for my girls. 

Have a wonderful and quilty week!