A Nano for my Nerd

...uh I mean Husband.

With the upcoming move of which we still have no nailed down date we're trying to curb our spending because there always ends up being stuff that you need to buy when you move. With that being said, Mike is flying to Boston this weekend to see the Brewers play the Red Socks. He announced he was going to be sooooo bored on the plane and made a comment that went something like this, "You think my wife would buy me a nano since I'm the one taking care of all the details for our move." Followed by a giant sigh and a pathetic look. I told him we should just go buy him one and be done with it. "No, I'll just go sit on the plane and be bored." he says, in a martyer voice that I thought only I could pull off as I see him eyeing my pretty pink nano. Uhhh, no way buddy.

I have a sewing maching fund. I decided to dip into it to buy him a nano. I got it at lunch and still had enough time to drive past his work and drop it off...thinking he'd be all excited. I call and tell him to meet me outside in two minutes. His response, "You didn't buy the damn thing did you?" I wanted to cry...I mean it WAS money from my sewing machine fund. I drop it off and tell him it was from my fund and I go on my merry way. A few hours later he sends me this email:

From: Mike
To: Jen
Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2008 2:06:58 PM
Subject: thank you

For being a butt head and getting me something nice like this…..

Mike

It's a good thing Butt Head is a term of endearment of some sort in our household.

Mike had to go help his brother which left me home to work on the ipod install. I set it up on his desktop and then I started attempting to copy music from my PC to his. He had most of the music already but needed the stuff that I had put onto discs that we purchased previously from Napster. By the time I was done, out of his 80GB hard drive, he had 6MB left. So then, I had to spend time freeing stuff up. I found 11GB. Now while he's gone I'll go through more to see what else I can get rid of.

Like me, he just keeps muttering....it's so tiny!! This ipod is just such a difference from our previous Dell MP3 players, it's not even funny. He's blown away that he can download a movie or a few tv shows. Podcasts; that's like talk radio ON DEMAND!!

So honey, have fun...I might even show you where you can find 'classic' Brewer games to re-listen to in the same way you re-watch them on ESPN.

Clover Fork Pins

You all know I'm a gadget girl. When I was at quilt retreat one of the ladies had these strange little fork pins. Now I'm a rogue sewer, I'm not big on pinning. I avoid it at all costs. I take careful measures to make sure my rows have their seams ironed in opposite directions so that when I put them together they're locked into place. But there are times when pinning is necessary and let me tell you, these babies are where it's at. One fork goes on each side of the seam that you're pressing together. They're fabulous for assembling quilt tops. Pricey, but well worth it.

Stuffed Ravioli??

It was another good day...thankfully; otherwise I'd be snapping soon. If I can make it through the week, we just might be headed in the right direction.

First thing this morning I started in on the Snapshots Quilt top. I got the border added before I had to go to work. It went on just as easily as if I sewed it on before I quilted the top. I don't expect any problems while adding the backing strip or the batting. I now just need the time to get them done.

After work I came home and grabbed a few things before going over to my Mom's. She just couldn't get settled in on a project so I just started sewing away. I made the two pillow cases that go with the quilt and then we went out for dinner. My mom's favorite place for pizza is DiMarini's so that's where we headed. It was packed but thankfully the bulk of the people waiting were large parties so we snuck right on in and got a table.

When we got back, I started in on the pillow shams. I cut the tops out from the larger piece that I had quilted and they just looked HUGE to us. Somehow I managed to mis-cut the backings but I think that ended up being a good thing. Before I go ahead and make the shams for my bed quilt, I think I'll run to a department store, open a package of shams and measure one. Once I got going, they went together quite quickly. Why I didn't think to make shams earlier on for some of my other bed quilts I'll never know. I warn you though, for my first time out, the pillow shams look a bit like stuffed ravioli.

I'm not sure now if I made them too small or if Mom's pillow was just too big. I have a feeling that if I'd just get some cheapie pillows they would look less like ravioli. It will be neat to see how they look once they're on top of the quilt. I used craft fleece because I wanted the sham to have body, now I wonder if I gave it too much body.

Here's the set:

But, I didn't get home until about 11PM. I was on a roll and really wanted to get the shams done so I just kept sewing away. I think they turned out rather nice though.

Happy Mother's Day!!

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers out in the land of Blog. I thought I'd post my favorite picture of my Mom and I and my Grandma and I. Both happen to be from my wedding.

Here's one of all three of us.

I don't know where I'd be in life without these two ladies...oh wait...I wouldn't be here at all!! There are hundreds of thousands of stitches between the three of us, that many memories too.

Happy Mothers Day Mom!! I Love You!

It was a good day

Finally, a good day. A day without tons of stress. I got engrossed in a movie when I got up this morning and was still watching it when my Mom stopped by. She finished watching it with me and then went home. Mike and I had lunch and then I started quilting Shell's quilt. I quilted and I quilted and I quilted. Mike and I ran to Target and then I came home and quilted and quilted and quilted some more. I LOVE stippling. I know I've said that before. It's just so relaxing; expecially when threads aren't breaking. It was working fine as long as I stayed in tune to the fake right edge of the quilt. I say fake edge because I'm stopping short so that I can add another strip of batting, backing and border to it because it was too wide to quilt on my frame. Now I just need to attach those strips and then sit down at my table to quilt them. I might see if I can do that at my Mom's because she has our large plastic tables and I can put the bulk of the quilt on those tables while I quilt that strip. In the mean time, I threw it on the bed to take a few pictures. I like it more quilted than I did when it was just a flimsy top. It just seemed so busy when it was just the top.

This shows the three edges. I cut them to make sure that they wern't exactly even. Yes, the backing is straight, as is the top of the quilt, but they do not hit at the same places.

Then I decided to load the fabric that I'm going to use for the Pillow Shams. I wanted to get them quilted before I took the quilt off of the frame. Now tomorrow it can come off and I can get those strips added.

I found a pretty awesome pillow sham tutorial. It looks like it will be pretty easy.

I hate Guardian Credit Union

Thank God this work week is over. Honestly I don't think I could take any more. We went to pick up my car after work. Mike had already called our stupid Credit Union to ask to have our daily limit raised on our debit card. They were supposed to do it and didn't. We paid for the car repairs and then I went directly across the street to get gas. My card was declined. I'm thinking, what?? I call Mike, he gets pissed and tells me to meet him at our gas station on the corner that he's going to go into the bank and complain. I go there and try the card again..no such luck. Now I'm livid. I've made it all week without yelling at anyone despite all the stress but now I've had it. So I call information and I'm going to talk to the bank as well. I don't care that the girl on the phone wasn't at fault. I'm tired of my money being held hostage. It's MY money. We have our checks directly deposited into it and we should be able to use our money as we choose.

Since I started my part time job I have the direct deposit from that routing into my personal account instead of joint. That checking account hadn't had a debit card in years until I requested one. When the debit card came, Mike and I were laughing because here a checking account that for the last 5 years that only had $20 in it got a daily limit of $1000 and our joint account has a daily limit of $500. Tell me that's not ridiculous?? The whole daily limit thing is ridiculous to begin with as is their turning the bank off at random times and not telling their members before they do it takes it to a whole new level.

I'm on the phone with this chicky and ask why I can't use my own money. She tells me that she'll change it (as if she's doing me a favor...SERIOUSLY???). Ok, there was a lot of yelling in between. I was pissed after all. She claims that in June they are upgrading their bank to a new system that will completely do away with daily limits and random down times. Whatever, I'll believe it when I see it. Tells me to run my card again and finally I'm able to get gas.

I went to pick up mom for block of the month. We had a great time. I sat with my friend Gale and we caught up. We're all so behind in our blocks that we're thinking of having a block making day. If there's three of us, we can work together. I can do all three blocks of one month, my mom can do all three blocks of another month and Gale can do all three blocks of the third month and we'll be closer to getting caught up...that's what assembly line sewing is all about!! Mom and I caught a bite to eat on our way home.

I was playing around on ebay and I saw these awesome pins. I ordered 2, one for my mom and one for myself. If you click the picture it will take you to the Something Pretty ebay Store. I swear, I'm easily amused and I like sewing pieces of "Flair." That's from the movie The Office.

If it wern't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all

WARNING!! The following post has been written with the most extreme sarcasm that I can possibly muster. This many craptastic, BS things in a two week time period has pushed me a little too far over the edge. Sanity? Who needs freaking Sanity???

Man alive. I just can't catch a break. Oh wait, before I go there...did I mention I finally got to drive the truck last night? And again this morning but on my own this time? I must have treated it poorly or something because Mike said he's driving me to work tomorrow. Such is life...giggle. That took what, 4 months? It must have been my charm with the sympathy card regarding the loss of Lucy that wore him down.


Speaking of that. When Mike and I were dating, our first Sweetest Day he gave me a card. In it he taped (electrical tape...so manly) a key to his truck saying it was a key to his heart. I have to say, I hadn't thought about the loss of this key until I had to turn it over. It's been on my ring this whole time....more as a symbol than a key to the truck. I mean sure, I used it but...man, I was really sad to see that little piece of metal go. Not the truck mind you, just the key. So, I no longer have a piece of his heart. Sigh. Ok, the rest of you can all go to your respective corners and gag at my sentimentality.


Ok, back to my string of not being able to catch a break. Holy crap batman, it was a horrific day at work. Seriously my co-worker needs to come back from his business trip. I don't know what I'm going to do in 3 weeks when he goes on a 2 week vacation. By the time he comes back I'll probably be in a corner rocking in the fetal position. It's not that I can't work without him...it's the support that I er, don't get from others that's frustrating and insane. I was ready to tear my hair out. Oh wait...I WAS pulling at my hair. Man, I am my mother's daughter. By the end of the day I had taken so many phone calls that I was tired of hearing my own voice.


So my car....not done but of course we didn't know that in time. My mom came out to take me to Frank's to teach my class. She was just going to hang out; she had a bag with a project and then some quilty things to cut. We went to dinner and then meandered over to Frank's...to find....A DARK SHOP AND LOCKED DOORS. OMG, I guess I'm lucky that I have only Sue n my class because could you imagine how this would have looked to MULTIPLE students? I didn't have Brad's number so I ended up calling Wendy. We decided that we'd just re-schedule the last session. Yeah...my calendar already looks like it's thrown up. This ought to be interesting.

Mom dropped me off and I sat and vegged for a bit. I've been sort of afraid to touch that quilt on my frame for the last few days.....I figured with my string of luck something bad was bound to happen to it. After a few hours I decided to load the backing. That was all I had left to load. When I was done I figured heck, why not, might as well start quilting it. I think I got through 2 or 3 of the 11 rows. Finished by Saturday? Not Bloody Likely. But, at least it's in the process of being quilted now. I hope that I can get another hour or so into it tomorrow night when I get home from Block of the Month.

Now, my car is supposed to be finished tomorrow. Murphy's law states that it will rain tonight and my car will get totally drenched since the windows are still down. Murphy...who are these stinking Murphy's anyway? Giggle...I have an Aunt with the last name of Murphy...when did she write all these laws and WHY oh WHY is she messing with me on a daily basis? Ohhh, is it because I made her a quilt that's called 'A Bit Askew?' Is she now bound and determined to make my life Askew?? Doesn't she have anything better to do? Dang that Murphy and her Laws.....

Ok, I'm punchy, and tired. I guess that means it's time for bed. Oh Oh Oh, wait....I noticed today that Crocs came out with a Golf shoe. I was soooo excited for Mike. Yeah you'd think I was explaining how Batik's were made or something...talk about blank stare. I was told that they come in pink so I should get some. Yeah...I don't want them, I don't golf. I want my hubby who loves Golf and likes or tolerates his crocs to have Croc Golf Shoes. Just cause I think they'd be cool.

Hey...I'm funny...just ask me....this blog isn't called the Insane Ramblings of a Cre8tive Quilter for nuttin' you know!! I'm padding my own walls, one quilt at a time.

Apparantly you're never too old to "Drunk Dial"

Since my mom has been so slow on telling this tale I'm jumping on it because I find it utterly hilarious. Late last week you all read that my Grandma, Aunt Diane and Aunt Kitty were flying to Arizona to visit my Aunt Karen. Monday was Cinco De Mayo and apparantly they went somewhere for lunch and two of the three Aunt's had jumbo Margarita's. When they got home, the drinking continued since they were having a good time. My Aunt Karen's favorite phrase is, "It's 5 o'clock somewhere." Afternoon turned to Evening, Evening turned to 12AM and it became my Aunt Karen's Birthday. Around 2:30AM Central Time, "The Aunt's Three" as my mom has named them dialed my mom's cell phone. On our cell phones you can change the ring tones for each individual person. Since Kitty usually is calling with a Medical Emergency regarding my Grandma it's a wake up out of a dead sleep type ring tone. So, as you can imagine, my mom hears Kitty's ring tone and immediately thinks something is wrong with Grandma so she figures...if she doesn't answer then it's just not happening. It rings again and she answers. She hears sobbing then a very serious, "This is your sister Kathleen M. M_____." By now she also hears hysterical laughter in addition to the serious voice and the sobbing and realizes all is fine. Well...I suppose that depends on your definition of fine. The sobbing was coming from the Birthday Girl...how did she get to be her age??? The hysterical laughter coming from the oldest sister.

Three or Four Phone Calls and about an hour later...they're finally done with her. There was discussion of going skinny dipping, the birthday girl was either thrown in the pool with her clothes on or she dove in...we're not so sure about that. Then she demanded my mom sing her happy birthday because the other two wouldn't...well the other two already had, she just coudln't remember that. My Grandma kept getting up to go to the bathroom and would ask, "Aren't you ever going to bed?" Mom really regrets not calling them at 5:30am Central time, which would have been 3:30am their time to let them know she was up for the day!!

So apparantly...you're just never too old to drunk dial your friends and family. The combined age of these 3 crazy ladies is at least 195 years.

Tonight we got my car towed. AAA sent out a flat bed tow truck with a crazy driver. Mind you, my car wouldn't go into neutral and there he is with a flat bed. You're going to get my car out how?? The guy just kept saying, "But I can do it." Imagine that in a high pitched yet gravely old man voice. "I jus' need you to sign a damage waiver." Mike ended up putting it on wheel dollies and him and two other neighbor guys pushed it out of the garage and then we waited until the regular tow truck came. It was 9 before we were done. I took a picture with my cell phone...so the quality is pretty craptastic...but bye bye dead car.

Tonight was also the night that the new owner of Mike's S-10 Lucy came to finalize the sale. I've never seen Mike so sad. Of course when Mom and I went to get dinner I stopped at the Hallmark Store and bought him a sympathy card.

Two nights ago, Mike bought me a lovely bunch of yellow carnations since I've been so down latley about all the crap going on. Of course, 20 minutes later we discovered my car was kaput so I didn't get to blog about them. Again, a picture with the craptastic camera phone. I think my memory card for my digital camera got eaten by the couch...it's with my usb adaptor with a long ribbon so I'll have to dig for it!