Oh, and it’s super windy today, which means it’s even worse.  Lovely.

However:  my Mom conned me into making not one, but TWO pans of Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake for her to take to a meeting tonight, and now?

I’m trying to reconcile the fact that my calendar says September, but my nose says my house now smells like Christmas.

You need smell-0-vision to appreciate these. Mom as glad to hear that they turned out just about as perfectly as this recipe can, so she won’t be embarrassed to serve them this evening.

Christmas morning, as soon as the gifts were unwrapped, Mom would head to the kitchen to start making one or more pans of this lovely stuff.  It’s not health food, by any stretch of the imagination.  I don’t have many scent memories, but this, apparently, is one of them.

There had better be leftovers.  That’s all I’m saying.

(The recipe is posted here:  http://suzanneearley.net/2007/12/cinnamon-streusel-coffee-cake/  Oddly, I refer to smell-o-vision in that post, too.  Oh, and it was weird to read that entry, it was the day Mom broke her ankle.)

Mom usually makes this recipe, and we couldn’t remember the last time I had actually made it.  I think the one pictured in that post was the last one I made. It’s just a little bit strange that I considered it photo and blog worthy both times.

What’s even stranger is the fact that the program at Mom’s meeting tonight is about personal memoirs, which is partly why she chose this recipe:  clearly it’s important to our family!)

1. Pieced, quilted and bound 3 baby quilts (samples for item #3).
2. Flew to Salt Lake City
3. Filmed an episode of Quilt It!  The Longarm Quilting Show for http://www.qnntv.com (I was a last minute replacement for someone who had to drop out.)
4. Quilt-shop-hopped my way around the Salt Lake city area with Lynn.
5. Visited the Great Salt Lake (hmmm.  it was kind of smelly?)
6. Ate way too much in Salt Lake City (yum)
7. Saw the movie Inception (really good!)
8. Flew home (flights were all on time, and nothing went wrong. Yeah!)
9. Quilted 2 customer quilts (yeah for my IQ! although…I’m now out of customer quilts that can be done by the IQ, so I have to get off my duff and do them…)
10. Watched my boys start learning the joy of Dungeons & Dragons (thanks to their birthday gift from my sister and her husband.  Suffice it to say they are pretty thoroughly hooked).
11. Applied for and received an extremely part time job as a piano accompanist for a high school 20 minutes away.  (OMG, I’m crazy, I know.  They are starting rehearsals for South Pacific this week!)
12. Um…started yet another new sock (I’ve had trouble with my socks, but this one is going well.  Of course, it’s brand-new needles and brand-new yarn that I bought in..yup, Salt Lake City…)
13. Oh!  Last Saturday was the boys’ first football game of the season:  42-0!  Joe made one touchdown, and Will made about a bazillion awesome tackles.
14. Started watching episodes of Arrested Development on Netflix.  (Funny!  It took me a ridiculous amount of time to figure out that Ron Howard was the narrator.  Now that  I know, it seems so obvious.)
15. Tried to keep up with my Feather Boot Camp responsibilities.  Flying to SLC put a bit of a cramp in my style, but I think we are back on track, and my students have been very understanding.
16. And…..tried to keep up with everything required to keep my family clothed, fed, and relatively out of trouble.  Thankfully I have a patient and understanding husband that seems to find my particular brand of insanity charming.  I think I’ll keep him.

Right now, what I really want to do is start a brand-new quilt, after visiting so many quilt shops last week, I have a bunch of ideas buzzing.

Either that, or I might go take a nap.

I’ve been meaning to mention this, but it’s been a zoo, and I keep forgetting:  the August 2010 session of my online workshop Feather Boot Camp started today:  but there is still time to sign up if you want to join in.  I may be biased, but I think it’s a pretty awesome experience — you’ll spend 5 weeks dissecting your freehand quilted feathers, drawing and stitching and refining them.  I quilt on a longarm, but many of my students use short or mid-arm systems and some even quilt on their domestic sewing machines.  You get to do the exercises at your own pace, in your jammies if you want, and I’ll be there to virtually hold your hand, every step of the way.

For more info, or to sign up, visit the link below:

Feather Boot Camp

OR maybe it’s me that’s crazy.

I was sitting here at my desk yesterday, when I turned around and saw this:

OK, this pic was a bit of a reenactment, but seriously, this is what I turned around and saw.  These two yahoos in my face, clearly wanting…something…

Offspring:  Mom, can we have some ziploc bags to fill up with water, take outside and blow up?

Mom:  What?!?!

Offspring:  Yeah, we accidentally exploded one in the sink and want to do it some more, on purpose.

Mom:  So *that’s* what that gut-busting giggling was about a little bit ago.

Offspring:  *big grins*

They spent…I dunno…an hour?  More?  Filling up ziploc baggies, taking them outside and tossing them on the ground, or smashing them in their hands.  I let them each have TWO, because I didn’t want to be totally wasteful, but those 4 baggies?  Endlessly entertaining.  The first time, apparently, it explodes the seam at the bottom.  After that, you twist up the exploded end, toss it, and then the water explodes out the zipper top.

Over and over and over.

The funniest part was when they came in and asked me if they thought it was OK if they tried to sneak up on Mark and soak him with ziploc baggie water bombs.

I told them, sure, you can try, but the chances of you two goofballs actually sneaking up on him?  Yeah, I wasn’t too worried that he’d be surprised.

The last 2 weeks or so, they have just been wacky beyond belief.  I think there is some testosterone involved — they have never really been into hitting or fighting, but every time I turn around one or the other is poking, punching, or generally beating on the other (in equal proportions, plus they have a pretty well-defined sense of equal justice:  he hit me once, so I get to hit him once…).   But it’s not like they are *mad* at each other, beyond the initial, you wronged me so I have to beat you reaction.  (I’m pretty sure about this, because there is generally a lot of laughter involved, as well…)  On top of this, they have been doing a lot of plotting of evil-genius plans.  At least, I think that’s what they are doing.  There is a lot of whispering and sidelong glances to make sure no one can hear.

We went to see The Sorcerer’s Apprentice Saturday night, and there were Tesla coils and electricity and OH. MY.  –> The wheels have been turning ever since.  They have pulled out the science books and the batteries and Daddy’s volt meter and have this evil AURA of PLOTTING about them.  Electricity!!  Can we take things apart!!  We want to electrocute ourselves!!  Will spent part of the day attempting to fix our broken front doorbell (driving us insane as he pushed the button over and over…).

It’s crazy around here.  Crazy-crazy AND crazy-awesome.  I complain a lot at the craziness, but…I don’t really mean it, because apparently 6th graders are pretty awesome.  Except when they are crazy.

I finally decided on something last night and…yup, couldn’t find the pieces.  A whole quilt’s worth of applique pieces (fused and cut out) have gotten legs.  It’s almost inconceivable that they could have disappeared into this studio so thoroughly, but it has happened.

I ended up pulling out a hand applique project that I think I started working on last summer, I was planning on working on it on vacation.  I think I did a bunch before we left, and then hardly looked at it while on the road.

The pattern is called Betsy’s Closet, it’s designed by Acorn Quilt & Gift Company — it’s little girl’s dresses: very, very sweet. (And not surprisingly, done in my favorite color combo, red, white, blue, with some green and eventually some yellow thrown in for good measure…)

I finished the applique on this block last night (I just had some of the red check to do):

It does need a little bit of embroidery, and I used some blue pen, so I need to rinse it out before I can press it.

Unfortunately, it’s apparently been humid enough that all of the blue pen I had used to mark these blocks has disappeared, so…I need to re-mark everything.  I’m using the technique where you trace the design on the wrong side of the background fabric:

And then you baste your applique pieces in place, stitching along the lines you are going to sew:

The pieces are way oversized, I think I was being more generous than usual, since I was going to be traveling while working on this.

After it’s basted in place, I then trace along the basting line, and trim the piece to size:

(Uh, except I hadn’t traced the stitching line yet, I guess.  And you wouldn’t need to trace the line, you could just get by with following the needle marks left by the basting, but I find I need to mark the actual line.)

From this point, it’s your basic needleturn applique.  You take out the basting stitch as you need to, in order to turn the edges under.  I really like doing applique this way: for me, it is about as accurate as I can possibly manage.  The piece is basted in place and not going anywhere, with no pins to either poke me, or distort the piece.  There is also no glue or freezer paper involved, and frankly, any time I can avoid glue is a good thing, as I am supremely messy with glues and paints.

I’m using silk thread to applique — so far I’ve been able to use either a cream or a gray on all of the patches.  It just disappears!  I’m using a Foxglove Cottage Straw needle from Jeana Kimball (who is the author that I originally learned this technique of tracing and basting from).

I *should* be doing about a million other things, but working on these little dresses is about the extent of what my brain appears to be able to handle today.

I know I was.  As much as I love them, I need them to go away sometimes.  I’m just having a hard time believing they are in SIXTH grade.  Sheesh.  5 minutes ago they were in kindergarten.

In other news:  a customer e-mailed me a few days ago — her quilt had won a blue ribbon at the Iowa State Fair!

And on top of that, it got featured in this clip from IPTV (the quilt is about the 50 second mark in the clip):

And in other other news:  the red, white and blue sock I was knitting?   I was really unhappy with how it was turning out, fitwise.  So I frogged it, and am starting over.  It’s funny:  when you quilt, it takes 5 minutes to stitch and hours to frog.  When you knit?  It’s just the opposite:  hours of knitting, unraveled in mere minutes…

Wait.  What?

So, yeah, about two weeks ago I woke up and in a muzzy sleepy haze started thinking about my fitness goals.  My original goal was to be able to hike in Grand Canyon National Park and Rocky Mountain National Park and Arches National Park and not get left in a canyon because I was too out of shape to move.

Clearly I survived the trip, and was able to log almost 16 miles of hiking in my fitness journal when I got back. CHECK

Now:  where I am going??

Well, I do have a weight loss goal, but that’s not really THE goal.  THE goal is to not die early from either heart disease or diabetes, both of which are in my family history.

Losing 30 pounds and getting rid of the poochy belly I’m sporting are specific goals, but they aren’t specific enough.  I decided I needed a shorter term, specific “thing” to work toward.

And that’s when I decided I wanted to be able to run in a 5K.

I sent Mark an e-mail telling him that I had this crazy idea.  I sort of expected him to agree with me that it was a little bit crazy, but I knew he’d still be supportive.

His response?

That would be awesome!  You do know that K stands for Kilometer, don’t you?

Wise guy.

And that is how I found myself signed up to run in the October 23rd Des Moines Race for the Cure.  I decided not to think about it too hard, and just sign up already.  And I do plan to run it.  Don’t worry, I’m building up to it slowly:  it is 67 days away, and I’m pretty confident that that is enough time for me to SLOWLY work up to running the entire 5K.

Although, I prefer to think of it as 3.1 miles, because 3.1 is “less” than 5, but that’s just how my brain works.

I’m following the ubiquitous “Couch to 5K” running plan (that originated here), I have a fancy app on my iPhone that tells me when to run and when to walk.  I’ve just completed week 2 — and have logged 9.55 miles of running/walking.  One of the first things I did after deciding to do this crazy thing was to visit a running store — I am really like the brand-new Mizuno running shoes they recommended.  My feet don’t hurt at all — the main thing is that these puppies are MY ACTUAL SIZE.  I usually have to make do with 11s, but technically, I’m a 10.5 — NO ONE carries 10.5.

I still have a long way to go before I’m ready to run 3.1 miles in a row, and even though I read about how much people love running, I’m still in a love-hate relationship, but I’m giving it my best.

Because it is a Race for the Cure, I do have some fundraising to do, but here’s the deal:  before I go around with my hand out any further than it’s already been, I’ve decided that I need to prove myself a little bit more in terms of training, and maybe actually run an entire 5K before I get too obnoxious about asking for donations.

Don’t worry, I’ll be plenty obnoxious in the meantime about how much achy and sore I am.

I can tell you are thrilled to pieces to be a reader of my blog right now.

Sew Fine and Bottom Line threads, quilted on my longarm, freehand, slightly wonky on purpose.

The edge is an applied, single-fold binding, pieced to match up with the piecing on the front, the corner miters were sewn.  It was just as much of a pain in the ass as it sounds.   But effective.    And yes, I did then stitch on top of hte binding multiple times in order to flatten it out.

Two layers of a linen blend batting.  It’s really thin stuff to begin with, even WITH two layers, and with that much stitching, it is very thin, indeed.  I’ll use the linen again, and not quilt it quilt so closely together to see how it drapes.  This little thing doesn’t drape, it flops, but it’s exactly the way I want it.

Now, what’s next?

Yesterday, though, I got back on the horse and got the pebbling done:

The home stretch, before:

And after:

(Sorry for the weird lighting and angles.  It was dark.)

I also went for Plan B and a half on the lettering.  It’s still Plan B, in that I’m using the appliqued letters, but I ended up hating the way the hand-stitching was looking, so I ripped that out and started doing a narrow zig zag on the sewing machine:

Not that you can tell in the picture.  Again, the lighting was wonky, so it doesn’t look like much.

Today, being Sunday, I excused myself from having to work on customer quilts, so I’m just playing on my mini-quilt now.  The lettering is all done, and I’m part way through quilting.

I’m sort of moving through molasses today, though, as it is my least-favorite time of year:  Ragweed Season.  I should have been dosing myself with Flonase before now, but I haven’t, so it hasn’t taken full effect yet…and I have supplemented with some Benadryl today.  (Yes, I know there are non-drowsy antihistamines available.  No, they don’t seem to do much good for me.  But that’s OK, I like taking naps).

Part of the point of the mini-quilt was to offer myself a carrot to get through the pebbling.  The other point was to see if I could pull myself out of the non-quilting I’ve been doing.  I’ve been doing so much non-quilting, I’ve wondered if I still had the right to call myself a quilter.  The other times I’ve tried to kick-start, it was with big quilts and I couldn’t see any progress.  Working on this tiny piece has been good to get the juices flowing — I have another quilt starting to form in my head.

Back to the flag quilt.  Or another nap.

So, I didn’t get any further on the mini-quilt last night, because I was kidnapped.  The boys DEMANDED that I leave the house and the FORCED me to go to a free movie and partake of free root beer floats.

I was worried, as you probably recall, it was really hot and humid last night:  but remarkably, with the sun gone, the heat was better, plus a breeze picked up, and at times it was almost cool.  Almost.

See, it’s the Winding Stairs Festival this weekend, and the kickoff event is a free movie out at the baseball complex — someone has one of those big rear-projection screen thingies.   The set it up in the outfield of the softball diamond, everybody brings blankets/chairs and we sit out under the stars (and a couple of meteors from the Perseid Meteor Shower!!), and watch a movie.

There were also free hot dogs and free root beer floats — which were incredibly yummy.  Plus, we got to keep our HUGE 24 oz super heavy glass mugs.  I sprayed on the Off, but a few skeeters got through my defenses.

Thanks to the late night, I’m having a sort of slow start to the morning.  Had to exercise, clean up, and sit around and moan about exercising.

And now?  I have to eat my words.

…there is no chance in that hot place that I’m going to applique letters that tiny…I’m not that crazy.  No, now it’s time for some embroidery.  First…though…I can hear the whip being cracked…better get some more quilting done!

Because it turns out I’m a big fat lying liar.  I started embroidering, and…hated it.  So I decided that I really am crazy enough to applique tiny letters:

And I’m doing it by hand, no less.

Unfortunately, I haven’t actually earned the time I’ve worked on it this morning, yet, so I’d better get going on my pebbling.  I am hoping to have the pebbles all done today.

It may take a fair amount of bribery in the forum of

1. time to work on my mini-quilt
2. chocolate
3. caffeine

I won’t be reporting as often today, but I’ll try to at least let you know how far I get on those crazy little letters.

Crazy.