Cleaning Hell

As many of you know, I was called to my dad's house because he was taken to the ER. He had pneumonia. I left in a hurry on Wed and am still in GR with him. My mom was a hoarder. Really, really bad. The house was a total mess. After she passed, about 8 years ago, I had done a fair amount of cleaning but it only made a small dent. He has not kept it up. My younger sister that has cerebral palsy lives with him. My older sister is mentally retarded and is also schizophrenic. She also has manic depression that has not been controlable with drugs so she has to undergo ECT (Electro convulsive therapy). It is the only thing that keeps her under control. So now you all know my history (I know you are saying TMI!!, LOL) so the point of the story...dad was realeased from the hospital today, YEAH!! God has softened his heart to my cleaning (cuz in the past he always got mad when I did anything, so thanks for your prayers!!) I tried to break it to him gently while we were in the hospital waiting for discharge and he balked at first but finally realized that it was necessary.

So as we were waiting to go home, my DH, and DS were on their way to grandpa's house as were DD2 and her BF, Brad. We all met up and got our cleaning on! DH and DD1 worked for awhile in the kitchen, then we stopped for lunch. So DH cleaned in the kitchen for over 6 hours! DD2 and Brad cleaned both bathrooms and then helped DD1 and I clean my older sister's room (where DD1 wants to be able to stay eventually). We worked our ---off but we got about a fourth of the room finished. So now for some of the photos! Please don't judge us!
Here is DD1 and DH in the kitchen. She said,"How many mixing bowls do you need?" He says,"7, I need 7". At which time she calls him a name! LOL

Inside view of a cupboard in the kitchen:

Isn't this what you all use your dishwasher for??

I have finally convinced him that he needs to get a new dishwasher and teach my sister how to use it. Steralize your dishes!! He told me that he was putting chocolate milk in a styriofoam cup, rinsing it out and re-using it, YUCK!!
This is a photo of my sister's room, but we didn't think to take a true before photo, this was after several hours of cleaning!


While cleaning the cleaning supply closet we found some treasurer's: do any of you have underware in a jar??

How about my dad's corner?

The family room

Here is the dining room table

Quick oats from 1979 anyone??

From back in the day when ice cube trays were metal.


So anyway...you get the point, right?? Lest you think I am so cold hearted, I just adore my dad but I am physically and mentally exhausted!! It was so cute today when brad and Kelsey were here, my dad had a new victim person to talk to and Brad was so patient and kind to my dad! Poor Brad, he scrubbed toilets and cleaned like a champ. He is a keeper!! Dad loved him too.

My uncle tom (my dad's brother) came by and helped me this week too. His sons have a business with a dumpster 9my heros!!) so my uncle Tom cam by and took a few garbage bags yesterday for me (15). Then today we made another 35 bags of garbage and 7 bags for the charity shop (not to mention several boxes for a garage sale that my DH wants us to have!) Seriously, hardly a dent. So discouraging!! Dad kept apologizing for us having to "help" him like this so I just hugged him and told him we are here because we love him and want to help. I know he is embarassed but it soooo needs to be done! I am happy we got such a good start. DH thinks I need to take a week off and come back and have the garage sale at the end of the week. He also wants me to Ebay everything, but I just don't have the time.

I know this is long and I appreciate all your support and prayers!! You have NO idea how much!!!

So Scary

I just have a short time to let you know that I will probably not post again for awhile. On Wednesday my DD1 called me at work to tell me that my dad had slipped off his bed and was too weak to get up so she had to call 911 and I should meet them at the hospital! It is a little over a 2 hour drive. Of course it was my DS's first home lacrosse game too and I (of course) had "stuff" in my car that had to be at the game so that meant I had to drive home first (about 30 minutes from work). I got home threw all the "stuff" in the cooler and put it on the porch for "someone" from the team to come and get. I packed my bag (not enough stuff as it all turns out) and had to stop for gas, of course!

I *finally* managed to get the the ER in time for them to tell me that they were moving him to another hospital as there were no beds where we were. So back into the car and off to another hospital. Turns out he has a gram positive cocci lung infection. He was slightly dehydrated too. So he has been having IV fluids and antibiotics. He is doing much better but it certainly was scary while we were waiting to see what was going on.

Many of you know that my DD1 lives with my dad and my handicapped sister and this day I felt so glad that she was there to make sure he had good care. When we finally got to the hospital, I realized that he did not have his glasses, hearing aid, teeth, shoes, and wallet! That was an interesting thing! He has all those things now and seems to be healing slowly. I guess at 82 it sometimes takes more time to get better.

I have been a busy bee cleaning his house. I mean BUSY!! My mom was a horder. I cleaned a LOT when she passed away 8 years ago but it has fallen back into quite a mess. It took me over 3 hours to clean the kitchen counter top and do the dishes. Poor DD. She tries but my dad won't let her throw anything out. I just do it and take the heat. What's he gonna do to me? LOL. I should have taken a photo but it is kind of scary. DD2 and her BF are going to come on Sat and help with some more cleaning so that will be good. I am staying here until he is discharged.

Oh another interesting thing. DS got a "hat trick" at the lacrosse game (there were only 4 goals scored total), so we are very proud of him. We also had to purchase raffle tickets as part of signing up for the team it was $100 for 10 tickets. I just kept mine and put our name on them all. Since I wasn't at the game they called me last night and I won! The prize?...$100!! The bonus? My ticket goes back into the pot for drawings in the future.

Anyway, please keep us in your prayers! I hope to be back soon.

Lots to Tell

Ok, I have a lot of things to catch you all up on. It was a super busy weekend but first things first.

Weight loss...NOT I gained a pound. Now that is out of the way!

This photo is for Anna and Lotte. Here is a pic of the fabric I bought in Indiana (all 20 yards) it does not take up much space, does it?


Oh but I was more badder this weekend! I took Friday off and went up to East Lansing to take DD2 out for dinner. Well, DD1 decided to meet up with us too. I took the time to visit 2 of my favorite quilt shops. Bad decision! I am going to come clean and show you what I bought. First up, I want to make a quilt for my dear friend, Mary. Her bedroom is aqua and brown. I literally have nothing in the right colors for her. This was all I found at both shops, but it is a start.



Next up was Wendy's shop and I hit the jack pot for shelby's quilt:

Aren't they beautiful?
And then there were these:

I love King Arthur and found this great fabric. I also thought the red and white would be nice for my red and white quilt, eventually. But I also have another idea for those red and white prints which I'll show you in a minute. I am hoping I can use those browns with the other aqua and browns but we'll see.

I thought I might be able to make this quilt someday and the Arthur fabric was on sale so I bought the last 1.5 yards!
Now back to the red and white. I had seen this quilt in the better homes quilt mag and thought it might look really cute in red and white. What do you think?

I can see it with a white background and red and white birds.

I met up with the girls and here we are at dinner. It was so much fun we just laughed and laughed. I really needed to see them again and re-charge.


Lest you think that I did no sewing (which is almost true) here is month 10 of the BOM finished. I also made a birthday gift (Yuki) but I can't show it until she has it.


On Saturday we had an all day (9am to 4pm in the freezing cold) lacrosse tournament. DS rolled his ankle in practice on Friday so he was in a lot of pain, but of course he still played.
Sunday we went to Kalamazoo to listen to a vacation club (type thing) presentation. It was a great deal and we bought into the club. Looking forward to the membership materials so we can plan some vacations. It is almost time to be able to do some traveling ourselves so it was good timing. Anyone out there have experience with Coast to Coast?

I guess this leaves just the stash report eh?

I added 5 yards.

Net stash busted YTD: 5.25 yards

That was painful. With all the lacrosse and all the graduation (God willing) plans we are in the thick of, I don't know how much sewing I will get to. I am hoping to be able to finish Karen's quilt blocks this week. I hate those blocks but am going to try to force myself to work on them. I only have 8 left to make them I can assemble it. Their anniversary is in June so I want to have it finished before then. No rest for the wicked!

Spotted Dick??

I was at the grocery store last night and found this. Who would want to buy this? Why would anyone use this for a name of something?

What's the weirdest signage you have found? My DD1 found a billboard that said, "Tuesdays kids eat free clowns"

Ok you all need to go here and enter Camille's contest to win some cool stuff!!

Art Binder, Stash Report and Diet Challenge

TA DA! Here is my version of the at binder found here.

I think it turned out so well for the first one. I will definately make more of these!


In addition, my friend Jeanne, found the pattern for the little bag that was in yesterday's post using honey buns. I think this will make a great project for my quilt groups to work on after we make some of these binders.

Now on to the stash report:

I used 3 FQ's yesterday to make the art binder

Total stash used YTD: 10.25 yards

Diet Report:

I lost another ~a pound (I don't have my weight stuff with me at work today). I do know that this brings the total loss up to 15 pounds...exactly. YEAH me. That being said, I *know* that I have gained since the weekend (remember I weigh myself on Friday) but I guess that doesn't count and now I will just have to work that much harder this week to get back to where I was on Friday. Bummer.

Oh well. I did manage to do quite a bit of leaf raking out of the outdoor living space in my backyard and I also got 2 flower beds raked out too. I still have a long way to go but it is at least a beginning (and some physical labor for me!!) My back is kind of sore today. I have to begin to whip the yard into shape for the graduation party this June. It will probably take me that long too, LOL. So less time for sewing. I need to get back to Karen's quilt (8 more blocks to go). You all know how much I hate those blocks! With the end in sight though it would be foolish of me not to hop right on it and get it done. Stupid job getting in the way of me getting everything done! LOL!!!

It is my friend, Yuki's, birthday today so HAPPY BIRTHDAY YUKI!!!

Hey, me again. Hop on over to Sharon's blog and see her version of the houses. Too cute! Thanks, Sharon for posting them on your blog.

The Rest of the Story and Gifts from a Friend

Well, here are the lonely batiks I didn't have in the original photos from my shopping extravaganza. They will be used in the quilt for my DD#1 like the one I made for DD2's friend, Amy.



I think I also forgot to mention that I bought a beautiful silk scarf from the Hamoung (Not sure of the spelling) booth that was at the show too. These are so totally "my" colors. It is a beautiful piece!


On to the gifts part of the post. I think I told you that I made a new friend through the quilt raffle we hold at the U of M but if not here is the story. I am assistiing run the quilt raffle and Anne contacted me about wanting to make a quilt for our raffle. Her fiancee was there for a procedure the year before and the quilts were up then and she wanted to give back to those that helped her through a difficult time. So we began an email relationship. She made a beautiful quilt (the Alaska themed one, if you remember it) and sent it in the mail to us. We emailed several more times only to learn that she doesn't live far from where I grew up! One time when she and Gary were over at the U we decided to meet up. Funny since neither of us knew what the other one looked like. I was the crazy one trying to describe to the staff in the hospital who I wanted to find but not by how she looked. Well, we found each other and began a "real life" friendship! AWE, I know you're sain'it!! (me too).

Recently they found themselves back at the hospital so she called me and the 3 of us met up for lunch. She brought be some treasures (she did that the first time too, but I forgot to take pictures, bad me!) Now you would think I would be smart enough to bring along a little sum-sum wouldn't you? I'm just not that bright, I'm just sayin'...

Anne had sent me some pictures of some of the recent things she had made and an animal rag quilt was one. Silly me I thought it was a stuffed animal. So she brought me the pattern! For my very own!! Isn't it cute? But you can tell from the photo it is a quilt and it is pretty big. Thanks, Anne!!


We had both seen the Art Binder over at Terry Atkinson's blog and I wanted to make one but have not been able to find the graph pads. Well guess who foind some?? Yep, Anne, and she brought me 2 of them and 3 FQ's. Still the dim bulb that I am I didn't realize until I went looking for the directions that they call for ...wait for it... 3 FQ's!! Slick, isn't she? So I went out and bought the Pellon Deco fusible interfacing (and only that !!) at JAF yesterday so I could try one.

I entered to win on the blog of Sweet Home Quilt Company (a quilt shop in GA, go check out their blog!!) and I won the cute little bag and all the "stuff" you see in it below. The bag is made with a Honey Bun (Moda has these) Looks like an easy one, now I will need to look for the pattern. Any suggestions?



I have to say that I did make the art binder but you will have to wait until tomorrow for me to show you the pictures! I need to go and do some more cleaning. I did some yard work yesterday and it made me realize how much more I really need to do. So for now...have a great day!

Gina's Houses

I am still woefully behind on my blogging and now the weekend is coming up so it will just be worse, sorry about that! My friend, Gina, over at Quilting in the Valleys, sent me the photos of her houses as they are fused and ready for her to finish sewing them down.

Aren't they the cutest?
She is doing each one with a different theme.
I like the house of sewing!
Thanks for sharing your houses with us all, Gina!!

Now I just have to share something with you all. I am *trying* so hard to be a good girl. After all the spending I did recently on my trip, but then the wonderful Anne Sutton at Bunny Hill Designs comes out with Rabbits Prefer Embroidery and, well...go see for yourself what the Fat Quarter Shop has. I need to be good, I need to be good.

Just one more thing, if any of you are done with your Baltimore Bunnies pattern and would lend it to me (or let me buy it from you) please email me.

Have a great weekend!!

How Bad was I??

Ok now it's time for true confessions! Here is the first thing I bought. For those of you that don't know my DH is a corporate pilot (yes he is one of those evil, company pilots that flies the company airplanes around the country, please pray for us that he will be able to keep his job since every time *someone* opens his mouth corporate pilots around the country lose their jobs, but I digress). Isn't it cute??

Then we went to Sauder Village and I found these prints by Two Young Street designers in Australia. I LOVE their prints. Visit their blog, Prints Charming. I also found the "recycle" canvas fabric to make a tote (maybe 2, I plan to share half with my friend Ruth-Ann)
Then I was able to find the recycle words in black and this beautiful batik. mmmm
In Fishers IN I found these Flag Day Farm fat quarters. Thought they might make a nice feathered star, but I ended up using what I had brought. I will use these though, I really like them. I also bought the aqua and red for the star but decided against those too. I will be giving a few of these to a friend that is moving as a going away present. I can count that as fabric out in the stash report, right??
More recycle fabric. I found the words and letters at a booth from a shop in Colombus OH and they only had FQ so they were going to go back to their shop and they brought me a yard of each the next day! Wasn't that sweet of them??
At the show there was a booth (Boline) that had this pattern half off. How could I resist? An airplane in a hanger with a flying geese quilt on thefence? Oh yeah! Then the Two Young Street half yard for only $2.50? Was I in heaven??
OK, these next two were awesome finds. I have all the blocks cut out for a One Block Wonder quilt from the fabric you see in this pic. I did not have enough to use it for the border. I wanted to use it for the border so you could see the fabric the quilt was from. So I was happy to find it at a shop in Bloomington. LTW had her class and I had a 40% off coupon to use so...the fabric came home with me! Now to those bunnies. I have the first book of bunnies by Darcy Ashton and wanted to look at the second one before I bought it. I found it in the same shop, looked it over and thought it needed to come home with me too. I have all the blocks from the first book finished just not put into a quilt yet. It's on my side bar "to do" list though. Sheesh, stop nagging!!
Now these I bought for my DD1. I plan on making her another version of the black and batik quilt I made for DD2's friend Amy. You can see it here. So I am collecting fabrics for that. I have some left over but not enough so I am picking up a few more. I realize that as I am typing this that I am missing a couple of others that I bought for this quilt too. I will have to add the photos of those tomorrow, sorry!
In case you wonder what's up with all the recycle fabric, I am planning a "Save the Planet" quilt for DD2. That's where these come in. I found this awesome underwater life, some waves and some trees to use with the other ones. She is a Fisheries and Wildlife major in college.
I bought this one, just cuz' I really love these colors and will someday use it in a quilt for myself!
FQ from Pumpkins Gone Wild (only $1.59 each!!) I have a panel and a Jelly Roll already so this will be good for borders of some sort, and at that price...
So that is *most* of what I bought. I didn't figure you need to see my *bolt* of Kona white. That's kind of boring, right?

I have not had time to do any sewing since I have been back so that's a bummer. I hope to be able to do something soon though. I *need* to finish Karen's quilt and have 8 blocks left to do (man I hate those blocks, have I told you guys that?? LOL)

Have a good day and let me know which ones you love and would have had to buy. Have you ever had such a shopping spree??

Class with Marsha

I had to include a photo of this quilt before I begin talking about my class with Marsha McCloskey. It was a huge pirate's map and it was awesome!!

This is a pic of Marsha teaching our class. She was an amazing teacher. Very thorough and very patient with the class. So much information though.

She had 1/8" graph paper that we used to draft our own blocks. We had to use a compass to figure out the size of the diamonds. My head hurt at the end of the class.

This was a neat technique. We made bias strip sets and sewed them together and then cut our HST from the strip sets. No bias edges and you get really nice ( and can do incredibly tiny) HST this way too. Her bias square ruler was great to use.

If I had managed to get my block finished this is what it would have looked like (but not in those colors or probably as good!)

Here we are after class. Marsha is on the left. She is coming out with a new book about Feathered Stars so go to her website and look around. It will use rotary cutting instructions instead of templates! YIPEE!! I can't wait for the new book.

Now, don't you laugh at me. Here is what I got finished in the 6 hours of our class. There were only 2 of us that even got this far!

I learned so many tricks from Marsha. Some things to remember for precise piecing ala Marsha:
Use a sharp needle, not a universal one
Use thinner thread. She uses 60 wt by Presentia. I use 50 wt Masterpiece by Superior Threads
Use a single hole plate on your machine (I had heard this before)
She used a #13 foot (Bernina) so she could see the needle go into the fabric and watch the fabric edge to the right of the foot. With the typical 1/4" foot you will not see the fabric and therefore your 1/4" seam may not be as accurate. We were working with 16th and 32nds so this made a difference. Now I must say, I don't know if I sew quite that accurately that it would make a huge difference but I am going to try to sew more accurately.

So there you have it, my class with Marsha McCloskey. More about the shopping tomorrow (maybe later today = 0 )

Indiana Heritage Quilt Show 2009

Ok, I have so much to blog about I feel like my head is going to explode. I need to do the weigh in first. Just let me preface this with "hey, I was on vacation!" I did manage to lose another 0.2 pounds. WOO HOO, better than a gain, right?

I hate to even go there with a stash report but here goes:

I added 39.75yards while on my trip and I didn't use ANY! (I did add 19 yards of Kona white so I added that into the yards in category.) OUCH that was painful!! (But wait until I share with y'all what I added!!) I could have been so much worse. Someone, and you know who you are, was much worse than I was, but that's a story for another day, LOL. So net stash busted is now a measly 9.5 yards.

On to the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show!

LTW and I left for Bloomington on Wed around 7am. We stopped at 4 quilt shops on our way (more about that tomorrow). We arrived in town at the Courtyard and had a great room, really nice beds. My class was on Thursday morning and I will tell you all about that tomorrow too (or maybe the next day).

Anyway, LTW had class on Friday and Saturday with Marsha McCloskey so I had LOTS of time to look around the show and vendors and I even took the shuttle bus around town to some of the other places to see quilts. Here are some of my favorites from the show:

Dandy Lions was one of my favorites!!



This shows the quilting from the back. Aren't those faces just too cute? Too bad real dandelions aren't that cute huh?

I thought these otters were pretty cute too.

If you look closely you will see the American flag in the oval.

MMMM feathered star!

This quilt was so amazing. The houses in the front are pieced and in the back look like they are painted.

I love some Anne Sutton. Baltimore Bunnies. Maybe someday I will get my hands on this pattern!

This quilt was at a museum and had repros of old green and red quilts. This one was so spectacular in person!!!

Nearly Insane in BRIGHT colors.

I thought this cross was amazing too. I was thinking of my CL's and maybe they could make one along these lines.

I have seen this in a magazine recently but it was really spectacular in person.

I have lots of other pictures but these were my favorites. I will share more about class and show some samples soon. In additon, I have to talk about what I bought too.

I have houses from others to share, a blog giveaway that I won and a meeting with a (soon to be) fellow blogger today, but am running out of time and have to get some more actual work done today so that's all for now. I have a lacrosse parent meeting tonight so no blogging for me! More tomorrow!!