most popular ugly quilt~~rambling post

This was my mom's sewing machine.
I think it was given to her when she married my dad way back in the 50's.
This machine did a lot of midnight sewing before weddings, plays, Christmases, and other special occasions.
When my mom passed away, I got to have the sewing machine.
It always ran a little rough, but I never sewed my finger with it.
There was a time that I used a newer machine, and it did sew my finger, right through the nail. OUCH!
So, this machine has been my main form of sewing for the last decade.
A couple years ago, something stopped working with it, and I was too lazy to bring it somewhere to get it fixed.
So, I went and bought a new machine.
Plastic all over.
The light doesn't work.
The bobbin holder snapped in the new machine within just a couple sewing sessions.
So, exasperated, I brought both machines in to get serviced and fixed.
The new machine still does not have a light, since it would cost $16 to replace that and have it installed.
It's too complicated for us to take the machine apart and put in the new lightbulb too.
But, the new machine does have different kinds of stitches to use.
So, while making a quilt for the youngest member of the household, I've been using the newer machine.
It stopped working again.
I'm back to the old machine, and it works like a dream!
It's solid, runs smooth now, and it won't be breaking down for another 40 years, I'm sure.

I haven't quilted in many years and wanted to make a fun, colorful quilt for the youngest person in our home.
There were some great quilts I found online, but nothing felt right.
So, I gathered up some fabrics and started working on it.
My purpose was to have some fun things on the quilt for the youngest person to search for later on...the crabs, fish, frogs, stars, etc.
Originally, there were 15 blocks in a 3 x 5 layout.
It was too ugly, so I took 3 blocks out, and came up with this.
I still don't like it, but the youngest person and the other young'uns do like it.
Daniel says it's the coolest handmade quilt he's ever seen...ooook.
Kelly wants a quilt now, with a back like the one on this.
I've got a long way to go to impress people with quilting again.

There once was a time when my quilts impressed everyone.

But now, it seems like a quilter isn't official unless they machine-quilt.

I tie my quilts with yarn still.

And, I don't do very good bindings or edges.

I'd rather just get it done and let the person enjoy the quilt.

It's not like they're going to reject it for not being perfect.

Someday I'll make nicer quilts.

In the meantime, I'll continue to make quilts that get used.

It's actually kind of funny.

When Andy and I were first married, I had 3 months left of high school.

Since I had earned enough credits for required classes, I took easy classes.

One was Home Ec.

For one of my projects, I made a patch-work quilt, made from fabrics of several of my old favorite clothes.
So, there was chartreuse (fluorescent green) squares next to red and navy velvet, plus flannel patterns, etc.

It was so ugly, yet so comfy.

That was Andy's favorite quilt, until it was left in the car too long last year and it disintegrated.

I wasn't sad to see it go, since it was so used and thread-bare.

Andy was heartbroken.

Tonight, while I was tying the quilt, the girls had fun looking on Youtube.

Whoopee Cushions, pocket knives, and apples, Oh MY!

Josh turned 11 today!

Being 11 means he is no longer a Cub Scout, and is now an 11-year-old Boy Scout.

Josh is all excited about that.

It also means he'll get his own email and cell phone soon (so we can locate him if he's somewhere he shouldn't be).

Josh also thought it means that he should have his own pocket knife too.

Kelly gave him a small one last week, and he was working on whittling soap into animal shapes all week.

As you can see above, though, he now has a larger knife with all sorts of fold-outs, a self-inflating whoopee cushion, a gift card, and some cool firecracker balls.

Josh was the only baby of mine who had to wait until the scheduled c-section date.

He was ready to be born, as evidenced by my rising blood pressure, but his head was too big to drop and cause labor to start.

All the other children started their own labor, causing a mandatory early c-section.

Josh was such a pleasant baby, and we held him all the time.

He actually wasn't put down much at all, until Lilly was born.

Josh was born just a few months after my mom passed away, bringing the whole family some happiness in the fog of that year.

We're so glad to have Josh in our family, and have a great time adjusting to his quirks, ideas, and inventions. :)

Maggie's big blue eyes.

Lilly and Maggie eating apples their way...

Josh's pick for birthday dinner was Top Ramen.

I haven't bought that since summer, when Maggie almost caused a house fire when she cooked some in the microwave without water in it!

It was smoldering and the plastic bowl was melted when we figured out where the smoke was coming from.
For tonight, everyone complained because I had Andy add frozen corn, peas, and we had scrambled eggs with it.

We had to get some nutrients somewhere!

Josh, Kelly, Daniel

Maggie, Lilly

A couple weeks ago, they were all getting ready for Halloween early, showing me how badly they need hair cuts.

My bad...

Ok, I was just fiddling around the blogger thing and saw that there were 23 comments that I was supposed to approve before they'd be published! I guess in all the paranoia of protecting the baby's identity, I made it so that comments had to be approved.

SORRY!! Reading the comments that were waiting was just like getting such a fun package in the mail and I don't feel like we're going through all this garbage alone so much :)

By the way, things are starting to look up again (another roller coaster high), and we have an appointment with an adoption attorney! Which means that things are moving along, we'll have some representation, and hopefully by springtime, things should be final!!

I so wish I could post pics of the little one, or the small videos that we make of the little one giggling like mad whenever Josh throws Cheerios in the air and catches them in his mouth. You would all just love it. Sigh

my day

9:00 write up shopping list
9:45 visit with neighbor about their burglary
10:00 bring Maggie's forgotten homework to her school
10:05 go to grocery store
11:45 go back home
11:50 go to Kerrie’s (plan a wedding!)
2:50 go home
3:15 go to elementary school for 2 girls
3:35 go home
3:45 go to store for birthday gift
4:00 drop off girls at party
4:10 go to bank
4:15 go to music store for new reed
4:45 go to doctor for baby’s ear infection
5:10 pick Kelly up from volleyball 10 minutes late (she’s “too tired” to walk home)
5:11 go back home
5:55 pick up girls from party
6:05 go back to store to drop off prescription
6:15 drop off Halloween goodie bag to a family
6:25 go back home

In a few hours, I’ll be called to go pick Daniel up from the game…

Not complaining or anything, but I think I'm so tired, not because of so many destinations, but from buckling an infant car seat every time I get in the Suburban.

It's Autumntime!

Sorry for the date stamps. By taking daily pictures, I have a record of what's going on.

Kelly created an autumn scene. The first fire of the year! Everyone enjoyed watching and feeling the warmth.

Maggie trying to fly her homemade kite while Andy tries to get his in the air just a little (too many wires and lines near the house).

worse than childbirth

This whole foster to adopt thing is worse than childbirth. Granted, all my children were born via c-section. BUT, I did go into labor with all except one. One or two almost tried to come out naturally and we almost didn't get the c-section done in time. Scary, scary.

The benefit of childbirth though, is that you basically know what you're up against, and what to expect. Who writes books on doing foster care?! If I had known what we'd be up against, as a family and personally, would I have strongly encouraged Andy to get licensed for foster care with me? Would I have gotten licensed myself? I'm not too sure I would have.

This isn't a case though, where we can just hand a child back and say "Here, take him/her. Put them in another home because we've had it." This is a child who has only known our home. We've bonded with him/her. We can't let him/her be bounced to different homes just because of some hiccups we're being forced to deal with. Our perceived limits grow each day for that reason.

We don't know what to expect for contractions in this labor. We do know that this child who is not ours legally, is a very real part of our family. So I guess this labor will go on and on, until the birth of adoption eventually happens. There's no guarantee of even that, but we have to hold on to something.

I guess what I'm saying is, is that there better be an epidural or spinal block in all this labor, because I'm tired of the contractions!

p.s. The visit we had this morning went well, nice person to deal with, and hopefully that will be the end of that (nothing against the visitor themself, just the situation). If not, now I know not to get too comfortable and to keep up the shield.

Kelly's team won yesterday!

Kelly's team did exceptional yesterday and won the games/match! We walked in 1/2 hour late since we had just finished shopping at Costco. They were walking out after already winning...

Tomorrow morning is when we get to deal with official stuff that I am stressed about. So, if you'd like to help, please pray for us. Andy is fine with giving statements, but I am freaked, even if we did nothing wrong. I'm tired of this game and hope it's remedied soon.