Quilt Bug

Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Zegi) — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 14:57:00 +0000

Hiya. I know it has been a long time since I have posted here. I do have a good reason: I have another quilting website that has taken up my internet attentions. It started off that I didn't do a lot of personal stuff there but now I do and I think with the new year the time has come to merge the two. So if you are looking for posts from Zegi, then I suggest you visit me at my new(er) site, the Pioneer Quilter.

I know most of the people (I think) who read Quilt Bug in real life and well I sort of felt bashful about telling people about the Pioneer Quilter. Seriously, except for the Husband I've never told any of my family members that I do either site. My family loves me of course but I'm afraid they'd all give me that sideways 'whatever ya weirdo' look if I told them about it. So if you are interested check it out. If not that is ok, too.

I hope you had a wonderful holiday season! I wish you all the best and bountiful blessings for 2011 and beyond.

Welcome, new year!

This is Zegi, signing off. Thank you for reading :)

SILHOUETTE MACHINE GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Zegi) — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 15:41:00 +0000

Ok I am digging this Silhouette thing...I wonder, does it cut fabric? Inquiring quilty minds want to know.
SILHOUETTE MACHINE GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Shabby Apple Queensland Swimsuit Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Zegi) — Thu, 27 May 2010 15:39:00 +0000

Shabby Apple Queensland Swimsuit Giveaway - what beautiful suits! Love them all...though not sure how practical a white swimsuit is.

So...happy year to you...

noreply@blogger.com (Zegi) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:08:00 +0000

Well it has been a long time since I posted. What a naughty blogger I am. So why blog now? Well, something quilty is on my mind and I thought I'd ask what people think here. I could just ask the members of either guild I belong to but that would be too predictable.

So here is what I'm wondering. Have you ever gone to a guild meeting and looked around and thought, hmm. There are few young(er - because youth is sometimes relative) people in this room. Is there a way to get more young(er) people interested in quilting?

What do you think? Quilting does have a bit of an old-lady reputation. But so does knitting and somehow the knitters have broken through to a broad array of age groups. How can quilting do that? What was the appeal for knitting? (For the record, I do know how to knit and have even gone so far as to make a pair of mittens and also a sweater...but I must have bad form because it makes my hands hurt something awful.)

Coat!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Zegi) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 22:15:00 +0000

I finished it! Actually I finished it about three weeks ago and I'm just getting around to blogging it, so I actually did get to wear it a few times due to the cold snap. What do you think?

This is from Simplicity 2812. It's a Project Runway pattern. Woohoo!

Quilt Discussion

noreply@blogger.com (Zegi) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:12:00 +0000

I was reading LittleShika's blog and she wanted to open up some quilting discussion. She posted a question and asked that people answer it on their blogs and link the answers in her comments. Since I haven't posted in awhile I jumped on it. This is the current question:

if you had to pick, what would be your favorite colors(combinations)/style of fabrics?

This is a tough one. I really don't have a favorite color. If I had to choose one I dislike, it would easily be orange. But that's not to say I wouldn't work with it if I thought it was adding something that no other color could add.

Really my favorite combination is simply a two-color quilt. I love 'em. For whatever reason they scream homey happy quilt for me more than other multiples of colors. I'm not sure why. My first (completed) quilt was a blue and white quilt. I am looking forward to someday doing a red and white quilt. I saw a pic on someone's blog the other day...I don't remember who it was, sorry...that had an absolutely awesome blue and white quilt with a pieced center and beautiful swaggy appliqued borders. Loved it! I wish I could remember where I saw it. They used a particularly dark and denimy-looking (I'm sure it wasn't actual denim) color and to me it would have been hard to get that stunning look with multiple colors.

I don't have a particular style of fabric that I favor. I do like Amy Butler-esque type stuff but I've never really figured out how to successfully incorporate them into a quilt. I suppose I could generalize and say most things that look vintage are attractive to me. But there are some periods that are not - I generally tend not to like civil war fabrics because they look dark and gloomy to me, even when the fabric is a light color. I like most 20's and 30's fabric...but only if it's not too cutesy.

And how do you feel?

Addendum: I found it! The quilt was on Georgina's blog, about 2/3 down on this post.

Losing my cool...if I ever had it

noreply@blogger.com (Zegi) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 02:14:00 +0000

I just came from a quilt guild meeting, where all the youngish (by quilting standards I think we're young) ladies were talking about the Twilight book series. Ok, am I that far off the cool map?! What the heck. I'd actually never heard of the books until the movie came out. Which, I did not see because for crying out loud I have kids and if I'm going to go see a movie with a theatre full of 'tweens and pubescents it will be because I have my kids with me and not because I'm on a date with The Husband. Seriously - the last "grown up" movie I saw in a theatre was the Indiana Jones movie. Not that IJ actually qualifies as grown up. What can I say? Harrison is hot.

Though I did take The Boy to see Hotel for Dogs and it was passable entertainment. I mean, it did make me cry what with the lovable dogs without homes theme being closely mirrored by the lovable orphans without a home theme. And The Boy had some seat bouncing moments so you know he liked it. But...back to my unhipness.

And here's another thing: what on earth is a Shamwow? I've suddenly heard this product mentioned half a dozen times. I must be living under a rock. Can someone lift it up, please?

2009 goals

noreply@blogger.com (Zegi) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 01:47:00 +0000

I hope you had a wonderful new year! The Husband and I spent it like always, at home eating junky snacks and watching old movies. This year we rented 'All the King's Men'. I had the book out of the library some time ago but couldn't remember how it ended. I think I probably just didn't read the end, 'cause I would have remembered that goofy last line.

So, I'll start with last year's goals.

Non-quilty/crafty:

Exercising no less than 3 times per week - erm, nope. When I was exercising I did stick to 3 times per week. But there were times of the year that I didn't exercise at all.
Only visiting the snack machine 1 time per week at work (I have to give myself something, otherwise I'd go bonkers and start snarfing everything in sight.) - another no. My buddy the snack machine should be much more resistable this year though because I am on an allowance, and I really don't want to spend money on that.
Watching my portions (which is vague, but really what I mean is being careful to eat a single serving.) - I suppose I probably did this fairly well, though not always.

Quilty/crafty:

Finish binding The Girl's quilt - done!
Baste, quilt & bind The Boy's quilt - no
Finish at least 10 of the hand-pieced blocks for the sunburst quilt - finshed 6

So I didn't do too hot last year. I'll have to try harder this year. Though I did accomplish some things not on the list:

A winter coat for The Girl
A winter coat for The Boy
A batgirl costume
A clone trooper costume
20 tea wallets
umm, that's all I can think of.

2009 goals (notice these aren't resolutions!!)

Get into better shape. I'd like my belly and thighs to reduce in circumference and gelatinous appearance, especially.
Round robin top with guild 1
Crayon challenge quilt with guild 2
6 more sunburst blocks
finish (urm, and start!) my own dang coat
Sandwich, baste, and quilt The Boy's quilt

I know to prolific quilters this sounds pretty pathetic. But I take what little quilting time I can get and hope to get somewhere with it.

I also have a number of financial goals:

Fully "fund" our emergency savings account. It is currently half of what I want it to be.
Save for our next house - I want a full 20% down payment for that sucker.
Save for The Husband's next car
Make at least one extra payment on the house this year (my long term goal is to have the house-no matter if we move or not-paid in full when The Boy trips off to college in 2020. If he goes. No pressure, son.)
Not decrease 401k contributions even though I've taken a pay cut for 2009

So, wish me a sweet ride! I hope I can do better than 2008. Happy New Year to you, and may your goals resolve themselves.

Merry Belated Christmas!

noreply@blogger.com (Zegi) — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 01:27:00 +0000

We had a great Christmas and I'm just now coming out of the fog. Of course I went back to work today (boohoo) after a five day weekend which was not so much fun but that's life. The Husband got sick on the day after Christmas and is still recuperating. I sure hope he doesn't pass it to anyone else, because it wasn't pleasant!

So here is a cool shot of the Christmas tree, courtesy of The Husband:

That's the back of Scarlet O'Hara to the left and a Star Wars ornament in the middle. I thought the wiggly effect of the lights was the cool part.

And here are a few shots of the tea cozy's that I made as gifts for lots-o-people. I found the pattern on Sew Mama Sew and altered it a bit to suit my supplies and lazy whims. Here are my alterations:

I didn't bother top-stitching the tops of the pockets. I totally didn't miss it.
I didn't use fusible interfacing. I had some crinoline laying around from a fellow guild member and I used that. Since it wasn't fusible, I pinned it to the back side of the inside piece and stitched it in place while sewing on the pockets. Two birds with one stone.
Urm, I totally eye-balled the location of the pockets, and just folded a crease in to find the middle.
I didn't pre-sew the ribbon/strap piece down. I just pinned the two sides together with it stuck in there and was careful to be sure that I could see a wee bit of it peaking out as I sewed over it.

I also wrote this little poem to go along with it, although the non-cooperation of my printer caused most people to instead receive my goof-ball overly enthusiastic (but humble, I hope!) explanation in person:

I am a tea cozy

I hold your bags of tea

If that doesn't suit your fancy

there's still a use for me

I can hold charge cards, gift cards and more

I hope you find something

fun for me to store!

My mom wants me to make some for her yoga studio (Well Within Health Center in Streetsboro Ohio) but I think for now I am cozied out. I also have two projects coming up with my guilds - one is a round robin which has a due date for the center square in mid-January (and yes, I haven't started!) and another where I need to use two crayon colors to make a quilt. My colors were blue and red-orange. Hmm. I already have some blocks made up in those colors for another purpose that I haven't gotten back to...maybe I have a different use for them! And of course there is the ongoing hand-piecing of the starburst quilt and The Boy's quilt needs layered, basted, quilted & bound.

Anyways, I hope you all had a great holiday, or just nice days off if you don't celebrate that sort of thing. I'll take a few days off any time of the year!

Christmas Meme

noreply@blogger.com (Zegi) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:54:00 +0000

Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot chocolate
Does Santa wrap presents or set them under the tree? He wraps them. With our paper and tags, no less.
Colored lights on tree or white? Colored!
When do you put your decorations up? Usually when we put the tree up. We traditionally go and cut down a live tree with The Husband's sister & family so schedules sometimes dictate that we do that slightly before December 1st.
What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? This is weird but probably sauerkraut and kielbasa. Also, there is nothing quite like the perfect storm of a bite on your fork that includes turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, and stuffing.
When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? My sister and I guessed. We mutually agreed that it probably couldn't possibly be true and then we conspired to hide from our parents that we had anything other than jovial thoughts of Santa. I do however believe that the spirit of Santa is alive in many things we do for this beautiful time of year, and that constitutes belief in Santa. So on the one hand I don't believe he zooms around the world in a sleigh led by a red-nosed reindeer...but on the other hand I do believe that his spirit of giving permeates the season.
Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? I did as a kid. Now I watch my own kids do it.
How do you decorate your Christmas tree? With an extensive collection of ornaments collected by both me and The Husband. Actually most of the "old" (i.e., pre-wedding ornaments) are The Husband's.
Can you ice skate? If you have to ask then you haven't met me.
Do you remember your favorite gift? There have been so many. As an adult...probably the year The Husband had The Boy's first day home from the hospital outfit framed in a shadow box. Or possibly when he gave me ornaments that he had made from a sliver of the trunks of Christmas trees that we had in important years - our first tree, The Boy's first tree, and The Girl's first tree. As a kid - it's probably a toss-up between the pink whicker sewing basket (which I sadly no longer have) and the Radio Flyer red tricycle.
What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Being with my family, and watching the wonder of special moments for the kids.
What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? If I had a favorite others might get jealous and refuse to let me eat them, so they are all pretty much equally loved.
What is your favorite tradition? It's tough to say. So much has changed in our family dynamics over the past few years that sadly it will never be the same for me and so traditions don't really feel like they've held.
Which do you prefer, Giving or Receiving? Probably giving. There is a lot of stress associated with appropriately receiving. He.
What is your favorite Christmas Song? Jingle bells
Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? Yum!
Ever regifted a Christmas present? What? Oh sorry, I had some candy cane in my mouth there. Didn't hear the question.

Blogiversary Winner!

noreply@blogger.com (Zegi) — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 19:07:00 +0000

And the winner is:

Joyce!

Congratulations, Joyce! I had The Husband choose a number between 1 and 9 (inclusive) to choose the winner and his number was 4. Here's a photo of your winnings. It is 4 fat quarters of blue & sparkly winter fabric.

Other news:

Quilting - I finished The Girl's quilt!!!! Well, it doesn't have a label but it is bound and ready for use. It's funny but I am busily thinking of tons of things I could sew for people for Christmas. It doesn't seem to phase me at all that Christmas is less than 20 days away. Ha!

Speaking of Christmas, you may remember last year I mentioned that when The Husband went to take down our outdoor Christmas lights we were missing just one net of lights. They were very distinctive - it was a rainbow net. The Husband actually didn't like them because he didn't think it seemed very Christmas-y to have a rainbow bush. But to get back to the story, they were missing. We didn't think much of it, a neighborhood kid pulling them off for his/her own contentment, etc., whatever. Like I said, he didn't like them much so we weren't too broken up about it. Well the other day I was pulling in to our drive, and I noticed something curious: the neighbors that we don't talk to very much had their lights up. And they had 1 bush with a rainbow net. Hmm. None of their other lights are rainbows. Coincidence? Hard to say...of course we won't be mentioning it. Even if I wanted to mention it I couldn't since we don't really talk to them. Not out of dislike or anything, they just seem to not want to speak to us. Maybe because of their rainbow net guilt. Unlike the previous occupants of that house they are very quiet so I am content to leave things the way they are.

The Big Read - I had about 400 pages to go in Les Miserables when the book wouldn't renew anymore. So I took it to the library and started finishing up the read online. Let me just say that it is very tedious to read a book online. But you can do it too at the Gutenberg website. Hurray for free stuff!

Congratulations to Joyce and thanks everyone for playing! Maybe this year I'll post a little more regularly. And add some photos.

Happy Blogiversary to me!

noreply@blogger.com (Zegi) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 00:55:00 +0000

Today is my third blogiversary. In honor of this momentous occasion I am having a quiltie giveaway. Hurray for free stuff! My local quilt shop is having a sale tomorrow and I am jumping on that train to bring you a little quiltie prize of my random (but tasteful?) choosing . Leave me a comment on this post by midnight December 5th EST to enter. You don't have to leave your email address but I do need a way to contact you - if that is your blogger profile where your email can be found or a blog where I can comment for you that is fine. I'll try to post a picture of the gift tomorrow or Sunday. Wait, today is Friday right? Right.

Because of the prohibitive costs of shipping the winner must reside in the United States or Canada.

Good luck!

Family news -- I survived hosting thanksgiving for 17 people (it was supposed to be 22) at my house for the very first time. Whew. I had a little turkey trouble which I was not expecting because I've roasted up a gobbler before. But it all turned out all right and I haven't gotten any irate 'your crummy food made me sick!' phone calls so I'll take that as a good sign. Or maybe they are too busy barfing to call...

Also everyone seems to think I have permanently volunteered to have it at my house...urm, ok....what?

Fitness news...well I'm on a temporary pit stop. Besides the fact that I hate jogging in snow, rain, cold, and dark, I had a million things to do to prepare for the festivities at my house this week. I intend to start right back up next week. Really. I mean it.

Quilting news...I have 6 of the starburst hand pieced blocks done. I had a goal to get 8 done this year, but I don't think I'm going to make that. I am working on making myself a winter coat. And you know what? It's freakin' cold here in Ohio so I've got to get that done. Don't worry, I do have a stand-in coat in the meantime. I got the binding sewn onto the front of The Girl's quilt which is a big step. I also took a machine trampunto class through one of my guilds and that was lots of fun. It required some machine quilting and I did a not too terrible job at that. Oh and I joined a Round Robin with my guild and I'm really excited about that. I have a design worked out in my head for the center and we'll see how that turns out. I am thinking I might use the machine trapunto method for part of it.

Some kind of blaster thingie giveaway...

noreply@blogger.com (Zegi) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 12:45:00 +0000

My cousin would just love this...and I'm on the lookout for a toy that a 10-year old would love. I am pretty sure this is it. So if you are also looking for a toy for an older kid who has become somewhat hard to buy for, go for it!

The Girl's coat - done!

noreply@blogger.com (Zegi) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 02:12:00 +0000

I finished it! I am not 100% happy with the results but The Girl loves it, and that is what really counts. AND! I finished one of my hand-pieced blocks last night at a guild meeting. Hurray!

Giveaway!

noreply@blogger.com (Zegi) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:11:00 +0000

Frugal Upstate is giving away a Girl Gourmet Cupcake maker. The Girl would be so thrilled to get one of these for Christmas. Every time we see a commercial for one she says she is going to ask Santa for it. Cute!

In other news. I failed to tell you in my previous post - I successfully completed a Batgirl costume and a Captain Rex Clone Trooper costume for October. And I only have the buttons to go on The Girl's coat. I have to say that I am not very thrilled with how the coat turned out. She loves it though and that is all that counts.

Also. Due to the costume frenzy I fell off the Fit Wagon. Er, I am sure all of those snack-size halloween treats did not do me any favors either. But I did get in two (very short) jogs last week and will hopefully be resuming the at-least-three-times schedule this week. And over the weekend I raked leaves with an actual rake and used a steam cleaner on some of our carpet. And yes, I am sore today.

Sorry, no pics today. No matter your political leaning, get out and vote tomorrow! Our female ancestors worked hard to give us this privilege (um, if you are female) and we shouldn't forget that.

The Big Read!

noreply@blogger.com (Zegi) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 23:03:00 +0000

Today is el Dia de los Muertos, a.k.a. Day of the Dead. I've always thought it was such a nice tradition - colorful remembrances of our ancestors who have passed to the great beyond. It would be so cool to experience this firsthand.

Anyways. On to the topic of the day. I'm so tired of reading political posts on blogs, I figured I'd make the move to something educational. I recently saw the list below on The Quilting Bookworm's blog. She saw it on someone else's blog. I looked up the National Endowment for the Arts and they do have a program called The Big Read, but it only has maybe a dozen or so books involved. I've seen different accounts online of where the list actually originated (the BBC, the Guardian, NEA, ???) and each list seems to be slightly different. But I like the list below, and I am (dorkily) setting out to read everything on it. I've read the books in bold and loved the red books. I am currently reading Les Miserables. And at my current reading rate (about 20 pages/day...I don't have a lot of time to read anymore) I have 50 days of reading to go. Hopefully the library will let me keep it that long!

Another note - apparently The Big Read has the purpose of attempting to get more adults interested in literature. Some survey somewhere said that the level of literacy in adults is taking a header (well duh, tv, cell phones, the internet...). And I don't think they mean fewer adults can read or that adults are forgetting how to read...they just mean we aren't reading books anymore. So the stated statistic is that the average adult has only read 6 of the books on the list. I am happy to see that I've read more. Though every time I see the list I come up with a different count, so below I only highlighted the ones that I most definitely positively was forced to read and/or read of my own free will and I actually remember doing so.

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcot
12. Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility- Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte's Web - EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Flip thingie giveaway!

noreply@blogger.com (Zegi) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:37:00 +0000

Frugal Mom Reviews is giving away a Flip Digital video camera...see here to enter. She asked that you post your best frugal tip, so here's mine: I make my own laundry soap. Honestly, it isn't that hard. Here's my recipe:

1 bar of Fels Naptha soap, shredded
1 cup of Borax
1 cup of Oxi-clean (I use the store brand, not the real thing)

Run it all through a food processor for about a minute. That's it! Use about a TBSP per load.

Other frugal things I do...clip coupons, use energy saving light bulbs, use a programmable thermostat...that's all I can think of for now.

200th post winners chosen!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Zegi) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 17:20:00 +0000

Since The Husband provided the question I let him go through the comments and choose his favorite answers. BTW, He never reads my blog so he doesn't know any of the commentators identities. Here they are:

Susan Cahill said...
What a tough question. Having an inquiring mind I did
some google searching and here is what I found:The Myth of Sunlight: Vampires
are creatures of the night, living and feeding in the darkness. In traditional
medieval times sunlight did not kill the vampire. In fact, vampires could walk
around like anyone else. In the novel, Dracula, vampires could move around in
the daytime without their strength and powers. It's only been in the recent
history of fifty or sixty years that the new tradition of Sunlight killing
vampires has emerged. Popular culture, movies and novels have made sunlight the
ultimate vampire killer. However, if you ever run into a real vampire don't be
surprised if they don't explode when sunlight hits them.So, it sounds like not
many, but who knows, maybe it just isn't reported and there are more than
reported! Boy, my brain hurts, I'd better go do some quilting.

And...

justusseven said...
I've heard vampires aren't all that organized so I bet the daylight savings time catches them off guard A LOT!

He liked Susan's for its historical content and Justusseven's for it's humor. Marisa almost got it for the humor but then he thought she herself might be a vampire since she was trying to convince him that vampires might be nearly extinct. Quote from The Husband: "She can't fool me! I'm on to that vampire."

Thank you for playing, everyone! Susan & JustUsSeven - watch your email. And congratulations!!!

200 posts!

noreply@blogger.com (Zegi) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 12:40:00 +0000

Since this is post 200 I will be giving away two little somethings. Halloween is coming up and it is a favorite time of year for me. This was last year's costume:

Ok, Ok. That isn't really me. It's Elvira. And I know she sets women's lib back like 300 years but darnit, she is funny.

Oh right, back to the giveaway. Halloween is a special time of year for me, and since it happens to correspond to my 200th post I will be giving away two Halloween quilt gifties which I have yet to determine. I'm thinking a yard of Halloween fabric and some kind of cute pincushion for each at the moment. You know me - I am terrible at posting pics off of my camera so even if I had the giveaway items on hand I would be too lazy to post a picture.

Vampires make very good pin er, stake-cushions, no?

So here is how you could win a giftie. The Husband (that is not him above, btw) is fascinated with Vampires. He recently asked me this question: how many vampires get burned (er, literally) because they forget about daylight savings? You know, they climb out of their coffins for a night on the town and suddenly it's still light out at 8? All you have to do is give me a response to this query in my comments. I'll close out entries at end-of-day October 4th, and post the winners the following week.

Good luck, and happy vamping!

PS - postal costs being what they are, I'm restricting this to residents of the United States and Canada. Sorry to international folks, it's nothing personal. It's just too expensive especially after ponying up money for the prize.

One coat for The Boy - done!

noreply@blogger.com (Zegi) — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 01:10:00 +0000

I finished the wool winter coat I was making for The Boy this past Friday. Yippee skippee! (Does anyone else remember Miss Piggy saying that on the Muppet Babies cartoon?)

Isn't that special? (Another quote that dates me.)

Tonight it is super-windy at our house due to the weather moving North from Hanna or maybe Gustav. I've already lost track of which storm is to blame. The Husband's parents called a bit ago to say they had lost power. Our lights have flickered a few times but so far it's been nothing but an inconvenience as the Kiddies are scared of the wind. My heart goes out to all of those people who are displaced, lost, injured or worse because of the hurricanes. Sigh. It always has to be something, doesn't it?

Oh. Another thing. I have recently become hooked on Project Runway. What the heck. Why did it take me so long to get turned on to it? I like sewing, right? I guess it is mostly because we only have one television at our house (we're practically in the fifties! Though it is a color model with a remote control) and The Husband is most often dominating it. If I want to watch a show of my own, I have to tape them and watch when he isn't around. Then I eventually get sick of being so far behind because he's always around and I dump them without even watching them. But lo, The Husband actually watched it with me (I think he was trying to ring up some points--if you know what I mean) and proclaimed it to be "pretty cool"! So now I can watch it without guilt and without having to make up some crazy contorted television schedule.

I know. A normal person would just get another TV. I guess you don't know me very well if you think that I am normal.

In other news, The Girl started a ballet class and she is freakin' adorable about it. And we are trying very hard to convince The Boy that Indian Guides or Boy Scouts would be a fun thing to do. And keep my mom and uncle in your prayers - in a few weeks she will be heading to Seattle to donate something or other blood-related to her older brother who is suffering through his second bout of cancer. She donated um, something from her blood a few years ago when he went through his first round. He was eventually declared cancer-free but it has unfortunately made a return trip. I am sure I have been told exactly what the thing is that she is donating but since it is technical jargon and I am terrible with names--even names that are not associated with people--I won't even attempt to say it because I'm sure I'll say something crazy-impossible and folks will wonder what is wrong with me, or my uncle's doctors.

Oh! And this is my 199th post. Look for a giveaway when I do my 200th...which should be sometime this year. Oi.

Fitness Update

noreply@blogger.com (Zegi) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:11:00 +0000

Hey, fellow bloggers! Long time, no blog. Actually I am reading blogs. I'm just not doing much commenting or writing of blogs.

So The Boy started first grade last week. There was much drama since the school sent him home on the bus to an empty house instead of sending him to the Y program that I'd spent good money for to make sure someone was watching him. Sometimes I cannot believe how immobile people are. The school knew that they didn't know who was supposed to be in the Y program that took place after school in their own cafeteria...so instead of calling up the Y and saying, hey, wassup with my lack of list? They. Did. Nothing. I'm so glad people capable of such rational thought patterns and actions are educating my kid. Actually, I have to say that the teacher attempted rational action. It was the principal and secretary who dropped the ball, IMO.

That's thankfully all been ironed out now, though, so I can stop being bitter about it. Right?

In fitness news - I have cut back the length of my runs because it is getting dark out earlier. (Wah! I hate when the days get shorter.) But I am still running 3 or 4 times a week. Most days I do a 2 mile circuit that takes me about half an hour. I know, I know--I am probably the slowest jogger in the history of jogging. Most people can probably walk 2 miles in half an hour. But hey, I am off my behind and doing something. So you gotta give me that. Just call me pokey.

In sewing news - I finished the blankie for my cousin, who has just moved and now my excuse for not sending it is that I don't know her new address. Really it's just me being lazy but it is also true that I no longer know where she lives. I am coming round the home stretch on The Boy's winter coat. It is turning out quite well. It's the first time I've tried an Ottubre pattern and while I wasn't too keen on transferring the pattern & having to add my own seam allowance, it has come together pretty well. I had a few moments of huh? while trying to read the instructions. There are no pictures so that puts a visual/spatial person like me at a disadvantage, but I eventually figured it out. Basically all I have left is hemming the bottom, adding a few lines of topstitching, and putting on the toggle buttons & snaps. Woohoo!

Goals for September:

Finish The Boy's coat
Start The Girl's coat
Maybe finally bind The Girl's quilt
Get moving on Halloween costumes! The Boy wants to be Annikin (sp?) and The Girl is waffling between a computer, a cat, and Sleeping Beauty.

Finding a daycare stinks!

noreply@blogger.com (Zegi) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:29:00 +0000

The plot grows thicker with our daycare troubles. I actually had to call the place that said they would call us and let us know if they found a spot for him. Of course they didn't, which is probably why they didn't call. Why call someone you can't get money from, after all? I mean, why be courteous or professional and do what you say you are going to do even if you know it isn't what the customer wants to hear?

In desperation I called the other place. Get this. They no longer have room for either kid. So what now? When I was a kid daycares weren't commonplace around our house or maybe we were too old or it was too expensive. I'm not sure. But they sent us to the YMCA for afterschool care--called "latchkey" at the time to indicate the abandoned nature of the children.

So I called them up. And thank goodness they bus to his school. I went right up there and signed him up & paid in full so they couldn't turn me away later. Then they inform me that his application has to be approved. What?! NOoooooOOOooooo! So after a few pointed questions I found the reason he could be rejected is that his bus is full, and that she can find out if it is full by calling the director. I then insisted that she do so right now with me as her witness. And she did, and he said there was room, though it's been two days and I still haven't received approval. Grr. The Girl is now signed up at the place where The Boy is still on the waiting list. This would be because we want to pick them up and drop them off at the same place. Eventually.

In other news, lest you forget that this blog is actually about quilting and sewing:

I finished the guild challenge and turned it in. I didn't win a prize, but since I basically threw it together in a month and attempted my first free-motion quilting on it, I didn't expect even the nice compliments I got.
I sewed up three pillow cases. One for The Boy, one for The Girl, and one for The Husband's cousin who was in the hospital. Poor kid. She had some kind of bacterial infection painful enough to require a morphine drip. :(
I am almost finished sewing up a minky baby blankie for my cousin who had her baby about a month ago. Oops.
And on the upcoming agenda: winter coats for The Boy, The Girl, and--get this--me! I almost never get to sew for me. We'll see if it gets done. Fabric.com says my fabric should be arriving today. I can't wait to touch it! The Boy chose a royal blue wool that is already hanging from the line downstairs, waiting for me to transfer the pattern & get moving. The Girl chose hot pink wool. And I mean HOT!

Fitness progress

noreply@blogger.com (Zegi) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 01:26:00 +0000

I look the picture of fitness here, don't I? We went on a trek to the Cuyahoga Valley Railroad this past weekend. That's me looking surprised to be on a train. Or that would be the apparent source of my surprise, anyway. Next is a pretty view on a bridge over the Cuyahoga River.
And here's our conductor, punching our tickets. He nicely did not comment on the possibly contraband snacks I brought for the kiddies.

Oh yeah...fitness. This week I got in just a smidge under 7 miles. I was hoping to get in 3 miles tonight but events consipired against us. We went to visit a new potential daycare for the kiddies and then out to dinner and that just blew away the whole evening. When the kids were finally in bed the weather was turning dark & rainy so I did a placeholder lap and that is the end of it.

On the subject of daycare: it is for us a necessary evil. I don't like the idea of anyone other than us watching the kids, but this is the way it is for us right now. Their current center is no longer able to bus The Boy to school so unless we can figure a way to teleport him there we have to find a new place. We have a choice of 2. So I visited one and was impressed with The Girl's new potential room, but not The Boy's room. Tonight we visited choice number 2, and we took the kiddies with us because it was an open house.

We arrive and the asst. director asks some questions, then she talks to the kids. I hear her ask almost immediately, what school do you go to? And The Boy answered (correctly, even.) And we begin a tour. We get to the end of a 30-some minute tour (long because I basically demand a full speech on everything, these are my offspring after all and they must be cared for properly) and I happen to mention why we are leaving our other center. She cocks her head at me and says, oh, I think our bus to that school is full.

What? WHAT??? Full? How can it be full, if your enrollment is not full? And why did you not mention this 30 minutes ago, before showing my children your happy shiny activities and bribing them with sno-cones when my son explicitly answered your question of where he goes to school?

I was quite annoyed. She went and checked the list and, well, yes, the bus is full. We are now on a waiting list. OMG. They will be starting at their new center August 18th...only 11 days away. We could just give up and put them in the other place...but my gut tells me this is the place they should go. She said she would let me know next week. Gah. Can we push it any closer? If this were a cussin' blog, there would be rip-roaring profanity right now.

On a happier note, here is a long-promised photo of one of the sunburst blocks. This one is my favorite so far, and I have 4 of 16 complete. I haven't been able to work on it because I'm working on a guild challenge but that is a secret reveal so I can't show it here yet. At least, I think it is a secret.

Wish me luck on the daycare dilemma. Sometimes I just cannot believe our luck.

Educational Research

noreply@blogger.com (Zegi) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 01:27:00 +0000

A woman in my guild is doing some research for a paper and she is collecting data from quilters. Her online survey is for people who have taken their quilts to a professional for quilting and takes 20-40 minutes to fill out, depending on how detailed you get. Help a fellow quilter in her educational pursuits and give it a go!

I'm joining up!

noreply@blogger.com (Zegi) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:04:00 +0000

Wendy over at The Running Quilter has started a group with the goal of getting creative & fit. Sounds like a plan to me! Jog on over and join (though running does need not be your chosen mode of fitness to join)

Hmm. My picture doesn't seem to work...maybe I'll have to add that later.