Finished!!!

This quilt is for LJ's room. It took me an hour to choose the 9 different fabrics and several days to convince myself that this pattern was the one I wanted to use. I started cutting and sewing and cutting and sewing some more and I finally finished it up tonight.

I'm already getting started on my next quilt and I have the quilting bug now!

My List of Books

A Thousand Splendid Suns by: Khaled Hosseini
The Kite Runner by: Khaled Hosseini
No Greater Love by: Danielle Steele
Mirror Image by: Danielle Steele
House Rules by: Jodi Picoult
For Pete’s Sake by: Geri Buckley
Love Under Cover by: Jo Edwards
Summer’s Child by: Diane Chamberlain
Sickened; The True Story of a Lost Childhood by: Juli Gregory

I've read more this year, but I wasn't keeping track of them. I'll update this list as I read more.

Books

I love to read. I always have. If it's a book of my choosing that is. I was never fond of the books they required us to read in school. They weren't my style. I do remember reading one book about a war that was very interesting and I cannot for anything remember what the name of that book was. I'd like to re-read it now and see if I find it interesting still.

About 8 years ago I joined a book club. I wasn't reading as much then as I do now, but enjoyed a good book every now and then. It was one of those clubs that would send you a couple books every month and you could keep or decline them. Well, I'd placed an order and when the box arrived, I opened it thinking they were the books I'd ordered. But they weren't. They were the 3 books that were automatically shipped out. I decided to keep them instead of going through the hassle of trying to return the already opened box. I ended up reading Stuart Woods' 2nd Chance. It was a book about a group of women who solved mysteries. It was extremely interesting and I got hooked on reading Stuart Woods' novels. I then discovered James Patterson. His books were quite similar to James Patterson. And for a couple years I read Woods and Patterson exclusively. Over the last several years, I have broadened by library. I've discovered the fun in reading Danielle Steele. And Nicholas Sparks....boy oh boy can that man put some real feeling into a novel. I didn't think a MAN could have that much emotion. Maybe Nicholas Sparks is just a cover and it's really a woman writing. HAHA

I go to Salvation Army here in town and buy most of my books. They're dirt cheap and at the rate I read it means I won't go broke buying books. I picked up The Kite Runner for a measley .75c and loved it. Who knew I'd enjoy a book based on Afghanistan. I then read A Thousand Splendid Suns and kicked myself in the butt for not reading it sooner. I've picked up books from authors I've never heard of and have enjoyed most of them. I have run into a few loser books but at .75c or $1.75 I don't feel like I've wasted too much money.

I'm trying to keep a list of books I've read now. I wish I'd started this a long time ago. I can only imagine how long that list would be now. My goal is 500 books before I turn 35. I've got 5 years and 20 days!

Mother's Day...Just another day

The kids bought me some great gifts. They picked them out themselves and I truely love them. However; There was really only one thing that I wanted for Mother's Day. I wanted my girls' minds to be brainwashed so that they'd never argue again.

I complain to others about this all the time, but I seriously doubt they understand just how much my girls argue. It's constant. And it's about the dumbest stuff just like in the comic above. I used to buy each one of them the same thing but recently I quit. It's just not logical. Sometimes one needs something and the other doesn't. Take for example today. I went shopping and bought Trinity a skirt, a shirt and a pair of sandals. She needed some more dressy stuff and a few more shirts for summer because a lot of hers from last year are just worn out. She needed some white sandals for church. I bought Alyssa a formal dress. She wanted a fancy new dress for her 5th grade graduation. She was all excited about her dress until she realized that it was the only thing I'd bought for her where as I bought Trinity 3 things. So, she got all sour and started stomping off to her room.

And if they each pick out a box of poptarts they'll argue when the other one starts eating them.

I'm just slowly losing my mind. By the time they're teenagers I'll be put away in a mental institution with a straight jacket and a room with padded walls.

I don't understand

I've taken almost everything out of the girls' room. They don't play with toys so there are only a couple of stuffed animals in their room that they want to hang on to for sentimental reason. The thing that confuses me is the room is always a mess. I have told them for a couple weeks that if they don't clean up everything will be gone once I go in there. So, I've started on their room, but I needed a break. I looked on the side of the bed (the bed sits against the wall) and there was a huge pile of stuff. Clothing, candy, paper, drink bottles (they're not supposed to eat or drink in their room!), shoes and blankets. I seriously have an entire load of laundry JUST of the things that were under/beside their beds. How rediculous. They'll be unhappy to realize when they get home that they'll only have a bed and their clothes in their room. I'm taking out the computer, the desk, the purses and accessories....everything that isn't necessary. They'll have to earn it back and I have a feeling that it'll be a while before they do.

This post really doesn't have any meaning...just needed to vent somewhere!

I was fretting for nothing

I was going to make LJ a quilt for his bed because I couldn't find a quilt ready made that I liked. I bought all the fabric and got started on it when I found a solid green quilt at Target that I liked. So, I bought the green quilt and decided I'd do a throw size quilt with the fabric that I'd bought. This was great because 1) it would go quicker and 2) it wouldn't be quite so scarey to quilt it.

Well, I got the top sewn together this morning and then went to JoAnns to get the fabric for the backing and binding. I got both the front and back done and started sandwiching everything together. I thought I'd gotten it just right and pinned it all over but when I looked on the back I saw a bunch of wrinkles! I smoothed it out and re-pinned and everything was fine. I decided to do a simple straight line stitching on each side of the seam. It went fairly quickly thanks to my walking foot that came with my new machine. Around the borders I also stitched straight lines...I did 2 rows.

Now I just have to cut the strips for the binding and get that finished. That'll take an entire day itself. Hand sewing the binding is no easy task! I'm so glad I've gotten the most of the work finished and I'm looking forward to making some more quilts to donate.