why?

why did i want 2 jobs this summer? why did i think the kids would like going to a sitter every day? why in the world did i take a job an hour away?

I have not worked full time since before Jason was born-5 years ago. Yet this summer i find myself doing just that-40 hour weeks split between 2 jobs. The last time i worked full time it was easy, just one child, dh around most of the time, no pets(except fish), no yard work, and a smaller house. My how things have changed! Now there are 2 kids, a dog, a bigger house, dh is deployed and i'm in charge of the lawn too! I dont know if i'm enjoying working full time or not. I love the quilt shop job except for the drive out there., no i take that back, i like the drive out there too cause its beautiful. Its just a little longer than i would prefer, especially after work when i'm tired. My photography job kinda sucks in the summer. Mostly cause i'm bored out of my gourd! We can go whole days there with out a single customer. If any one wants family portraits done-try Sears in the summer. I'll almost guarantee no waiting. Closer to Christmas it gets very busy, but for now i am wishing i could just take the summer off from there! I have taken frog stitching to sears for when i'm bored and gotten more done there than i would have at home.

major mess up

The HST's in the 1st pic were supposed to be part of the quilt top in the 2nd pic. Any one else see a problem? So I sat during my down time and pulled apart 4 panels like the 1st pic. So far 1 panel is totally apart and the 2nd is close. i'll repost the quilt after i fix it and add the borders.

robins again

This robin required 3 tries to find corners that worked well with the center. It looks like a tile floor to me.

Dolly quilt

this is my dolly quilt top-its about 22 inches square. The baskets are 5 inches finished

Robins

These are row and round robins that i worked on and mailed on in the last few weeks. All of them are from my yahoo group-feedsack friends. I am enjoying these robins so much that i'm now in a total of 5! plus the dolly quilt swap and a 9 patch swap. Good thing I manage to keep up right?

Dolly quilt

The First picture is the fabrics i'm using for the dolly quilt swap. The far right is my backing. the 2 red prints are orientals that I really liked when i saw them. The second picture is the begginnings of my dolly quilt. Any guesses? I now have the top done and its basted. With a little luck i'll be able to quilt and bind it tonight.

african violets

i have a fascination with African violets. It started years ago when i worked at a florist during college. That florist( Kent's flowers in Fremont NE) bred african violets and had the most amazing variety i've ever seen. Last summer, right after i moved to South Dakota we visited the Central States Fair in Rapid City. At the fair we bought 4 baby african violets-they were not much more than about 2 leaves in a dixie cup each. Some folks will tell you that african voilets are touchy plants, that any little thing will kill them. If thats the case then these 4 are pretty amazing. I set them above my sink on a metal rack for several months....and dumped them into the hot saopy water on many occasions! In about December, i got tired of the dixie cups and moved these up to regular 4 in pots even though they were only up to about 3 leaves each. In late Feb, when they had maybe 4 leaves, i bought a little bitty grow light and using the timer from our Christmas lights I set up better lighting for them. Now look what i have! Of the 4, one is blooming, one will be in a week or less, I noticed a tiny bud stalk on the 3rd and I only have one puny one. If you look at the top right of the picture you can see the puny one.

The bad part of dumping them so often is they did not always end up back in the correct little labeled cup. So now i have 4 violets and no names. I know they all had either Apache or Indian in their names. Which bothers me a little but i'm hoping that the pictures can be taken to the fair this summer and the lady i bought them from will recognize them. If not, then i will just have no-name violets. And that will be just fine too!

the never ending quilt

This is my cousin Brad's wedding quilt top. it took much longer than i expected it to-mostly cause i kept loosign pieces and was having a hard time counting high enough to know when i was done making HST and 4patches.

shamless bragging(recital time!)

Its Recital time. That means pics of my kids and thier ballet recital costumes and this year i even took pics of them in their practice clothes. I was so very proud of them on stage. Especially Jason, he dance to an Elvis song with about 3 days warning-just him and 2 other kids. With that short of a practice time he did amazingly well. Sami sometimes gets tired of him tagging along but i think she likes having someone to practice with at home once in a while.

last secret sister

This was my last gift to my secret sister in "inspectors club" It took me just about 2 hours from start to finish-all from stash.

roudn robins

These are some round robins i've been working on with the yahoo group"quiltsbykos" The first one just arrived and i have not done anything with it. The other 2 are ready to leave to see what the next person can do with them.

secret sister

This was recieved from a secret sister on the yahoo list "inspectors club" My SS was from Iowa and says this is her first big paper piced block. I love it and will hang it in the window of our house. It will be apropriate since we live on base.

baby gift quilt

I made this quilt about 3 years ago as my introduction to 30's prints. I gave it away today to my next door neighbor's new baby girl, Eva, who was born about a week ago.

i think i got it

me and Alexandra(tyroam) and the kids at mt rushmore on last tues

I finally figured out this silly photo program! yeah me!