Silence is golden?

Yes in a movie theater. No on a blog.

I didn't mean to ignore my blog. In fact, I have 6 or 7 photos processed and sitting on my desktop, ready for posting. But the usual rigamarole of the end of the quarter somehow got in the way once again.

I need to take a few minutes away from grading to send a big thank you to Katy. She sent me the sweetest Pay It Forward!


The tote is my new favorite library bag. Check out the lining:


Super duper cute! Thanks, Katy!

I keep forgetting to take pictures of my quilting bee blocks. September and October slipped by, I'll have to ask the recipients for some images, but I remembered before sending off November:


Missy chose Maverick Stars, and I am so glad she did! I was planning on making some for my scrappy Christmas quilt and she gave me the kick in the pants I needed. I finished the top of my Scrappy Holiday Block Swap top (this plus borders):


And I have another in the works. Plus the first charity top came back quilted this week, and the last charity project went out (FIVE charity projects in some form of completion!!!). Pictures soon!

Sewing Room: Cutting Table

There are a few things that are not quite finished in the sewing room, but I thought if I did a reveal here and there eventually it will get there.

This is my new cutting table:


The base is made from two cabinets left over from the kitchen remodel. Charlie connected them and mounted them on feet, which makes it the perfect height for his over-six-feet-tall wife. The countertop is Aqua Boomerang Formica.


We mounted a flat panel TV to the wall and the black box stood out way too much with all that aqua and white. I put together a quilted cover inspired by a 50s tv.

When Jaxon wants to watch Ratoo-a I can pull it off and swivel the tv towards him. When I want to watch my new favorite show, I swivel it back towards the sewing machine.


The green bins were on the clearance rack at Lowe's and hold my scraps...


...and I am trying to find the perfect felt flowers for my vase.

But almost there!

"What a crazy random happenstance!"

November?? Really?

We had a fun week with trick or treat and a school party. Any guesses on Jaxon's costume? Here's a hint?

I'll give you a few minutes to think it over...

....and while you're thinking that over, I started a Halloween quilt last year, but I put the top away when it was time to move onto Christmas sewing. I promised I would finish it this year by Halloween, and sewed the last of the binding last night.


Still thinking about Jaxon's costume? The title of this post is also a clue!


I went with the loopy quilting, but I wish I hadn't quilted it so densely. It's tough to do a big quilting pattern on a home machine.

OK, give up on the costume guessing?

Jaxon is Dr. Horrible from "Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog."

Jaxon LOVES Dr. Horrible, although, WARNING, it is not entirely child appropriate. Jaxon has only seen parts, like this one:



You can watch all three acts (or the whole thing at once -- it's about 40 minutes) for free at Hulu. It's well worth it!

EDITED TO ADD: I now have six volunteers to pay it forward, so it you'd like to participate check out their blogs to volunteer for a PIT of your own....
DoreyR
Rachel
Nicole
Ellen
Donna
Leah

Pay it Forward from my Sick Bed

Still recovering from this cold. Yuck! Yesterday I really needed to check in with my students. They had an assignment due and I wanted to make sure it got turned in correctly. So our facilities manager hooked up a camera in the classroom and I "taught" from home. Of course it wasn't just me:


The students particularly liked when Jaxon called them "corn dogs."
**There's a little quilty project in this photo that I haven't blogged about yet. Must get photos!

I made breakfast for lunch, one of my favorites and most comforting. Jaxon liked it, too.

Anna, like your bangers and mash, I think of this as being "British"....eggs in a basket....not sure why, maybe "V for Vendetta?"

And I finished my blocks for Sis Boom POW!



...all while grading some more papers. And coughing a lot.

Awhile ago I signed up for a Pay It Forward with Katy. I wasn't sure at the time if I should post about it at that moment or when I received something. Now I know because I've signed up with Lynz, too! So here's how it works:


1. I will make a little something for the first SIX people who comment on this post with PIT in their comments (usually it's three, but I am doing two pay it forwards). It will be a surprise and it will arrive on your doorstep when you least expect it!

2. I will have 365 days to do it in. What's the catch? To get a handmade present from me, you have to play too. This means YOU pledge to send a little handmade something to THREE readers of your blog. It doesn't have to be quilty - just handmade.

3. You must have a blog.

4. Once you comment here, you must post about your Pay It Forward on your blog to keep the fun going, with the Pay It Forward badge.

If I don't get six from this post I will keep advertising!

EDITED TO ADD: I now have six volunteers to pay it forward, so it you'd like to participate check out their blogs to volunteer for a PIT of your own....
DoreyR
Rachel
Nicole
Ellen
Donna
Leah

*Cough* *Cough*

That head cold from the weekend has moved into my chest and seems to have developed into a bronchial infection. With a prescription from my doctor in hand, I've spent the last couple of days at home. It's hard work chasing after a 3 year old any time, but especially with a cold.

I did get some grading done, and took a stab at crossing some things off my to do list. The problem is many of my projects are at that point that is less than enthralling for me. I like the design and construction.

So that means I sat down today to use up some more of those Holiday charity blocks, this time in a smaller lap quilt. It's currently about 40" by 54".


What do you think, white borders or no borders? I have plenty of white donated by my grandmother...

Also, I want to send a great big thank you to Lynda for sending me 8 yards (!!) of fabric to use as backing. That thank you also extends to Molly, Annette, and Wendy R. who all volunteered to quilt *AND* donated the batting for each of their respective projects. Thank you all for your generosity!

I was supposed to be finishing the quilting on my Halloween quilt. I found a tutorial for spider web quilting over at 365 Days of Free Motion Quilting. The problem is she makes it look much easier than it really is! I practiced a bit and decided to try loopy FMQ instead.

You can see why, right?

As usual I was on a roll and doing *okay* until I had to change the bobbin. Tension problems galore! So I popped in a different bobbin. Same problem. So I gave up. I'm not thrilled with the black thread, it stands out a little too much, but I don't hate it enough to pull it all out. I hope to get the rest of this quilted before Halloween.


Both times I typed "bobbin" in that last paragraph, I actually typed "boobin." Nice.

One bright point in the weekend: Jaxon learned to wink! Yay!

To Don't

This weekend's "to do" list:

Work

Teach myself Javascript for a project

Grade 30 midterm exams

Grade 40 response papers

Grade 15 composition projects

Craft

Finish backing for charity tree skirts and ship them to quilters

Quilt Halloween quilt from last year

Make blocks for Sis Boom POW!

Make October blocks for Quilting Sisters Bee

What I forgot to add to the list: Come down with killer cold. Lots of this and this and this.

*sigh* Now I am *really behind*

The Power!

My students are currently taking a midterm (BWA HA HA HA!) which gives me a little down time to blog!

I won two giveaways a couple of weeks ago and now finally have a few minutes to post my lovely winnings...


Rosalie gave away this lovely pattern for Leon the lion. I plan on making one for my sewing room...but Jaxon isn't so into plushies right now...after I get a chance to make him one of you might inherit this pattern!

Beth had a big giveaway to celebrate 100 sales at Etsy and 150 blog postings. I won this FAB-U-LOUS goody bag! It included....vintage trims and bedsheet fat quarters, greeting cards, an owl stamp, a pattern, Burt's Bees, Japanese animal coasters, a pad of paper, a zippered pouch, and...my favorite....


...a felt heart pencil topper!

Thanks, Rosalie and Beth! You made my week! Students are starting to hand in exams, must start grading....

Blogger's Quilt Festival

It's market time, which means for those of us not privy to the event it's time for the Blogger's Quilt Festival.

I thought this quilt should be my entry so I went back through my blog archives and couldn't find it...so it might just be new to the blog!


This is a doll-sized quilt that I made for Courtney. It was a lot of fun to make! In fact, I might need a full-sized version!

Insert Primal Scream Here.

Next time someone asks if you want to oversee your department's conversion from quarters to semesters while upholding all your regular home and work responsibilities (plus a couple of projects on the side) AND try to wrap up your first (giant) swap...

RUN FOR THE HILLS...

We are now a month and a week past the Scrappy Holiday Block Swap deadline. We have several participants who haven't received all their blocks yet...

A lot of the missing blocks have been shipped so I am hoping it is a matter of slow post and blocks aren't lost. However, a few participants still haven't notified me of shipping, and haven't responded to my emails. I'm getting nervous!

Please, if you can't follow through please let me know so I can make other arrangements for your teammates.

In cheerier news, I have completed three charity tops...two tree skirts and a quilt!







And I have lots of charity blocks left (thank you, generous swappers)! Taya suggested that she would construct a quilt for a local charity, so some are winging their way to her. I'm going to hold off on sewing any more together...I would like to suggest that I send charity blocks to those who haven't received all their blocks. Thoughts??

Also, all that lovely white cotton sashing was donated by my grandmother (Thanks, Mamma!!), and the natural linen blend came from my stash. But I am in need of donations of yardage for backing and binding, batting, and $ for postage to get these projects to the quilting and binding volunteers and back for auction. Molly, who has volunteered to quilt one project, has also donated the batting for that quilt. Thanks, Molly! Every little bit helps, so let me know if you'd like to send something, or PayPal a few dollars to bethnovak [at] roadrunner [dot] com. Thanks!

Also, Jaxon was playing with charity blocks as I opened them and these were separated from their envelopes without labels. Do you recognize these blocks?

Party Time! Excellent!

The "I've received all my swap blocks" emails are arriving...it's such a relief that post office isn't letting us down! Please email me when you have received all your blocks. I've added "DONE!" by your name in the right column if you have shipped and received all you blocks. I still haven't heard from a couple of people about shipping, and a handful of you let me know you'd be shipping late...so in case you are still waiting for blocks from:
Chelsye -- shipping late
Jenifer -- shipping late
Sandy -- shipping late
Shannon -- shipping late
Wendy S. -- shipping late
Melissa G. -- Melissa, I know you've emailed me about receiving blocks, but I can't find an email about shipping.

The charity blocks have continued to arrive as well, and I've updated the list of participants to indicate charity blocks received. My sewing machine has been in the shop the last two weeks but I heard today that it is ready. Yay. Now I can get started assembling our charity projects.

In the meantime, I received two fun packages this week.


I finally spent my gift card to Pink Chalk Fabrics. I decided on yardage for dining room curtains and a holiday magazine. The magazine was a "must have" after a saw Kathy's Christmas tree blocks. I think my Christmas quilt might be wonky stars, swap blocks, and these trees.

And you might remember how I had to wear depends whenever I saw flashes of this fabric. I became obsessed...to the point that I sounded like this:

And so now it is. Mine.


The Riley stripes were on sale so I had to get those, too. I was shocked at the size of the pattern on the main fabric. Here's a business card to show scale.


Which means I will never be able to cut into it. *sigh*

And I was at an impasse deciding which cute picture of Jaxon to post, so you get them both.

Mr. Safety pretending to sell me this postcard. A good salesman always shakes hands!

Potty training can get boring without a little music!

The swap continues....

I am still waiting to hear from about 20 of you about your shipping status. The 80-some of you I have heard from so far have either shipped or plan to by the end of the week, so check your mailboxes! I know this is a busy time of year with back-to-school preparations, but please don't disappoint your teammates!

Since the last time I updated, I have received charity blocks from:

Andrea
Bridgid
Lin
Bobbi
Merumo
Wendy R.
Lisa
Rafael's Mum
Maria
Nicole
Celine
SophiaAster
Amy W.
Robin
Greta
Jessi
Cindy

Thank you so much! We are almost to 50 (!) charity blocks. That's a lot of quilts and tree skirts!

As of this weekend, I had a basketful of charity blocks and my personal blocks had started arriving...and now the blocks are almost overflowing!

What I am currently loving.....

Purple (!!) vintage coat for $8 at the thrift store...

Spoonflower's free swatch day (with a donation to Heifer International)...I'm not quite ready to reveal my design (project coming) but I can't remember the last time I felt as giddy as I did when I opened that envelope...Spoonflower gift certificates will comprise my Christmas wish list this year!

Discovering Jaxon's photos when I download from our camera. Any guesses what this is?

Visiting all the end-of-summer festivals that take place in our neck of the woods with this guy. He calls this look "good boy" and does it whenever we tell him to be good.

Beth's Peanut Butter Cream Ganache Brownies That Will Kill You. You've been warned.

For the brownies:
1 boxed brownie mix for an 8 x 8 pan (if you can only find 9 x 13, double the recipe)
1/2 bag peanut butter chips

Prepare brownie mix as directed, adding peanut butter chips to the batter. Bake as directed. Allow to completely cool before next step.

For the Peanut Butter Cream:
1/4 cup cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup peanut butter (preferably natural because it tastes stronger, I use Krema Crunchy because it rocks!!)
3 TBSP. heavy cream
2 TBSP. vanilla instant pudding mix or custard powder
1 - 2 cups powdered sugar

Beat cream cheese and peanut butter together. Add cream and pudding mix and continue to mix. Add powdered sugar to taste. I lean more toward 1 heaping cup because these get sweet fast! Spread over cooled brownies.

For Ganache:
4 oz. good quality semi-sweet chocolate
1/4 cup heavy cream

Heat together using your favorite method (I microwave, but be careful not to burn). Pour or spread over peanut butter cream. Refrigerate until served.

YUMMY!

Today's the day!

Today is the mailing deadline for the Scrappy Christmas Block Swap!

Please let me know if you are not going to meet the deadline. I've had a lot of you emailing me to let me know you've sent/received (thanks!), but a lot of you have also been posting at Flickr -- and your usernames don't always match -- so I'm a bit confused. I've tried to keep track of who has sent what *but* it would help me a great deal if you could email me when you have received *all* your team blocks and your swap is complete (how's that for a run on sentence!). Over half of you have emailed me to let me know you have shipped, so we are well on our way!

I am so glad we have been able to share a little Christmas spirit. This swap includes participants from 33 states in the US (including Hawaii and Alaska!) and 9 countries! That's amazing!

I will continue to post on the charity projects, and ask your help to finish them. I would like to suggest that we auction the projects and donate the proceeds to charities to fight hunger. It's a terrible thing to not be able to feed your family -- particularly at the holidays when so many of our family traditions center around the shared meal. I think it would be wonderful if we could split donations between Feeding America and the World Food Programme.

I'll be looking for donations of sashing and backing fabric, binding, and batting, and of course, your help! We can keep the Christmas spirit going from August right on through to the New Year!

I'll return to regular posting shortly (lots of stuff to prep for next week's start of school!), with planned posts on my first Spoonflower fabric, a trip to IKEA, and Jaxon's photographic experiments, and lots of sewing room renovation. Stay tuned!

Swap deadline approaching!

Please have your blocks posted by September 1, this coming Tuesday. I've had lots of people let me know that they've sent their blocks, but not many have said they've received blocks. I'm hoping this is just some slowness on the post office's part, and blocks aren't lost!

If you are anticipating a problem meeting the deadline, please email me and let me know (and let your teammates know, or I can) so no one thinks they are forgotten. Remember your Christmas spirit!

I've received a lot of charity blocks since my last post. Thanks to:
Kulia
Megan
Betsy
Melissa D.
Lynz
Marit
Amber
Nanotchka
Michelle
Laurie Jean

I've given you some ideas for using your blocks, but how about thinking about setting them in a non-traditional way? Our original inspiration, Elizabeth's Scrappy Hedgerow Quilt, has a large white sashing around each block. I love this clean modern look, letting each block "shine."

You might think about no sashing at all, like this one by our own Katy (I promise I'm not stalking Katy, but she has done some really great projects!!):

Used with permission and seen here
*Or* keep using those scraps and add a square between sashings:

Used with permission of Dee and seen here
*Or* are you willing to cut some of your blocks? It might be tough, but you could make something really unexpected like this:

Used with permission of Woolly Interlude and seen here
Or this:

Used with permission of Because I'm Me and seen here

Or this! (I didn't get permission to post this one, but it is definitely worth a look! Go ahead, I'll wait.) Cut your blocks into fourths and then sew them back together with parts from other blocks!

And I really love this one, but it will mean you'll need to make more blocks: Wonky Stars and Log Cabins Wouldn't that make a fabulous Christmas quilt? In case you want to try: Wonky Star Tutorial

Have fun!

More Swap Inspiration

Today's inspiration is brought to you by participants in the swap, but first....

I almost wet my pants when I saw this on the coming soon page of Michael Miller Fabric's website:

Modern Home from Michael Miller

I. Must. Have. This. Fabric. Yards and yards and yards of it.

OK, I feel better now.

Over the past couple of days I have received charity blocks from:

Taya
Debbie
Lynda

Thanks so much, ladies! Also, on occasion someone includes a little giftie for me with their charity blocks. Completely not necessary, but very appreciated. I wanted to share one of those with you, because it is going to revolutionize my life.


Wait for it....


YES! I have often sat and pondered about the loose ends on my bobbins and how to keep them from unrolling (for reals). And then Lynda showed me the light. Thanks, Lynda. Brilliant!

And now to be inspired! Last week I showed you some more "traditional" ways to use your swap blocks -- runners and quilt. The following items were all made by some of the talented ladies participating in our swap, and the photos were all used with permission.

Of course, I have to once again show you AudreyPawdrey's (Audrey S.) Christmas tree skirt (check out the link to also see her beautiful table runner!!). What a great way to use your blocks!


Making these blocks is a little addictive, so if you find yourself with enough to make a quilt and still have some extras, why not make some pillows?

See it here, made by imagingermonkey (Katy).

Or if you have just one or two spare blocks, you might consider making hot pads/trivets, like this one made by our own One ShaBby ChiCk (Amber):

See it here

And this last bit of inspiration isn't exactly an alternative to a quilt or runner, but maybe a way you might think of piecing your blocks.

Also by Katy.

Can't you just see a whole quilt of Christmas cottages? Add a scrappy roof to your swap blocks, and you are ready to go!

I'm not quite sure of what I'll be making out of my blocks, but I hope whatever you make you'll be posting to our Flickr group! I just added my most recent blocks. I'm not sure they are "scrappy" enough, but I do love the color combo!