Melissa's Day Off!!!

It's not very often that mom and I get 5 days off in a row. So we make the most of it. Over Thanksgiving I had big plans to get things done. But, of course, I put every thing I wanted to get done till the last 2 days.

On Saturday I started to quilt BroBro's quilt. Everything was going pretty good, that is to say not too much cursing at the machine. I was almost at the half way mark when everything went horribly wrong.

I was starting a new row, listening to music on my little MP3 player. I had the needle in the right spot and I was holding everything steady with my left thumb. I reached over with my right hand and looked for the needle down button.

Unfortunately, I found it. The needle went down straight through my thumb and into the quilt and stayed there. I knew I needed the needle back up, so I hit the needle down button again. And up it came, with my thumb still attached.

I called calmly for help.

"Mom, can you come help me please?" you can never forget to say please, no matter the situation.

"Yeah, I'm coming" she called back.

I was afraid I was going to start bleeding, and the last thing I needed right then was to ruin the quilt. So I called "Can you please hurry?"

"Yeah, what do you need?" she said, half way down the bigger stair case.

"Could you please help me?" there was no other way to say it. "My thumb is stuck on the machine." I was trying to loosen the screw that attached the needle to the machine so that I could get the needle off and my wound away from the quilt.

"Your thumb is what?!?" I could tell that she thought she heard me wrong, which happens a lot.

"My thumb," I was starting to lose my cool head since I had some one else there who was detached from the situation, "is stuck on the needle."

She came down the stairs. I could see from the look on her face that she didn't quite believe it until she saw it. She went to slide my thumb off the needle. I admit that I had to look away. She snipped the thread oh yeah, there was plenty of thread but thankfully someone was looking out for me and there was no bobbin thread. I ran up the small staircase and over to the kitchen sink. With my thumb thread still through it hanging over the sink, I bounced impatiently for mom to get there to finish the job.

"Get it out! Get it out!" I moaned as she reached me. As she started squeezing my thumb to cleanse it, I started to feel light headed. All I could think was, "Am I losing so much blood that I'm going to faint?" I know now that I should have said this out loud. It would have warned mom what was about to happen next.

The next thing I knew was that mom was holding me tightly. She was asking me what hurt. I could think of only one thing.

"My thumb!" I said.

"Anything else?" she asked. It was by this point that I realized I was not standing, I was laying one the floor.

"My head. Did I pass out?"

"Yes, yes ... you did. You're going to be okay."

"I think I'm done for the day." I told her. She laughed a little and then I completely lost it. "I hate that quilt! I really hate that quilt!!!" I sobbed as she held me.

I am so glad that I have my mom. I don't know what I would have done if she hadn't been there. I think on my next day off I will take things slower and stick to less dangerous activities.

Tree Quilts and Fairies!!!

FNSI was last night and I had a great time. Yes, Mom, I finished the bookmark a month ago. That will be in another post at another time.

So, what did I work on? Well, I worked on Mom's Christmas present. She already knows that she is getting it and is very excited. About a year ago I made a quilt that I refer to as my tree quilt. As so often happens to me, I had enough extra blocks to make a small quilt which I refer to as mini tree quilt. Mom has no suggestions on a real name for it and I am out of ideas. Last night I started putting the binding on the mini tree quilt. Mom picked the backing when the quilt was still mine. She said it should be a "drinking coffee on a Sunday morning" quilt.

I also worked on the sunflower afghan that I hope to one day finish. I am a novice when it comes to crochet, so I am learning a lot. I am trying to do this without asking Mom a billion questions. You would have to ask her if I am succeeding or not.

I watched Supernatural last night and laughed so hard I had to put the quilt down before I permanently injured myself. Sam and Dean had to battle it out with leprechauns and fairies.

I said last month that Mom had a bad encounter with the quilting frame. This month it was my turn. Last week I was loading a quilt for my brother on the frame and as I bent over to get it on right, my head smacked the frame. The frame is 12 feet long and of those 144 inches, half an inch has a bolt on it. And, of course, with my luck and gracefulness I hit the bolt. It is safe to say I am stearing clear of the frame for a while.

Sun Knot Moon

For my FNSI I read a little and stitched a little. I started a new book recently called The Red Pyramid. Not many people know that I am interested in Ancient Egyptian Mythology. I am really enjoying it, even though I find the sister in the book, Sadie, to be incredibly annoying. The gods' personalities are by far my favorite characters.

This book brings Egyptian mythology to this century in an entertaining way. Since it is the first book in the series, I decided I need a bookmark.

I finished the "Sun" Eye of Horus and started work on the Knot of Isis that I drafted my self.

I plan on stitching the "Moon" Eye of Horus as well. The story goes that Set, Horus' brother/uncle, stole Horus' eye. Thoth, the scribe of the gods, made him a new eye from pieces of the moon.

This is what mom had to drink last night. Hmmm ... "Throwback" ... I thought that can't be foreshadowing at all. Within an hour, mom almost threw her back out trying to take out stitches in the quilt that she is quilting for Ant Nicci.

Wildfire!!!

Even though mom and I are not in any of the wildfire zones right now, we are feeling the effects.

The Slurry Bombers fly right over our house every run and they are very close to the ground and very loud.

All in a night's work!!!

How did I start my FNSI? WELL, I started it the best way possible. I went with mom and spent the rest of my shop hop winnings at Harriet's Treadle Arts. These are my goodies. I was so excited that I got to replace mom's big ruler. We don't share rulers well. Kidding, we work well together. I got some little paper pieced block kits to practice my paper piecing. I also got a new spiffy quilt journal to document my finished quilts. I found some sunflower fabric I didn't have so I had to get fat quarters of each of them. Mom also found a fat quarter of a candy cane stripe that I got as well. I am glad that money is spent. It was burning a hole in my purse.

When we got home I settled in and started working on the "n" that I was supposed to get done last month.

After the "n" was finished I worked on my new Saturday sampler block. Mom is giving me her blocks and I am going to make a coffee quilt with an awesome coffee border fabric.

It was still kinda early when the block was done so I started on the "o" I was also supposed to have done last month. I know I am really behind but I am catching up; that's in part to FNSI.

I realized while taking the pictures that I didn't get around to showing off the past few months of blocks, so I got them out to show off. I am very proud of my work so far.

August FNSI

Last night for the FNSI I started a Harry Potter quilt. All the blocks are paper pieced. I am fairly new at paper piecing and not very good. So I couldn't, in good conscience, take a picture of the blocks that I made. I do plan on making them again, at which time I will post their pictures.

I made an Invisibility Cloak block that the colors look pretty good on. You can see Harry's, Ron's, and Hermione's legs. I gave Harry denim, Ron maroon (since he hates it), and Hermione purple (for her being a girl).

I made a Lightning Bolt block. I used yellow fairy frost for the bolt. It was the last block that I made, and it turned out the best. I made it while Matt Hardy and Christian were being beaten in the ring by (I have to say it) Dashing Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre.

I made 2 different blocks of You-Know-Who's (Voldemort) eyes. I like the red that I used, but I cannot decide which green I like better.

I can say that, even though mom and I didn't win any door prizes on the Rocky Mountain Quilt Fever Shop Hop, I did win one of the 1st prizes. I won the Quilt Shop shopping spree. I used some of the money to buy a background fabric for my Harry Potter quilt and I love it very much. Mom got some beads for her HPV quilt and she is very excited. I got Ant Nicci some tea towels to machine embroider on for herself.

Isn't that something? Mom and I are going to have some fun!

Shop Hop Fever

Today was the first day of the annual Rocky Mountain Quilt Fever Shop Hop 2010. Accompanying us this year was none other than mom's dragon, Singe. He was given to her by the m&m's (her oldest grandson and granddaughter, and her youngest granddaughter) for Mother's Day this year.

I think next year we will bring a quieter companion. Singe talked throughout the whole trip in a voice that was uncannily like Sean Connery.

Singe wanted to have LuLu's MoMo showing for his photo op.

Our first stop was High Prairie Quilts. This was almost our last stop, as well. There was far too much pushing and shoving. I, being in a hurry this morning, forgot to eat anything. I was very short on patience and got on my mom's nerves far too quickly, since she was also upset with some of the other shop hoppers. Singe was not in a good mood, either, when we got back to the car.

Our second stop was Holly's Quilt Cabin. This was a much better experience. We bought some things and really enjoyed ourselves. I bought a peppermint tape measure. We came back to a car with fogged up windows. We had left Singe some water to drink.

We took the time to have lunch at a place we haven't been in a long time, Blimpies. I don't know if the food was better years ago, but it wasn't that good this time. I received a shock as I watched them warm up my meatballs in a GladWare container in a microwave. Singe smelled our sandwiches and, instead of drooling, he had steam coming out of his mouth. He did threaten to toast our subs for us. We told him no. He is still a baby and can't control himself very well.

The third shop was The Creative Needle. Here we saw a very interesting way to work with this year's shop hop fabric.

The fourth stop was Fabric Expressions. I found some very nice charm packs here. We had still not won a door prize at this point.

The fifth stop was The Great American Quilt Factory. This store always has some very cool quilts on the walls and interesting project ideas.

The sixth stop was Harriet's Treadle Arts. Here we bought some quilt cards that we wanted to add to our collection.

The seventh and final stop was Tomorrows Heirlooms. Mom bought a kit and some buttons. I bought some Christmas pins. Singe was not a happy camper. It had started to rain and there was thunder and lightning. He quivered in his car seat and refused to go outside.

We also made an extra stop at The Quilt Store. I got a pattern and some of the fabrics that go along with it. The storm was getting worse, so Singe insisted on coming in with us. He dug his claws into my side.

We had to deal with many complaints as to why Singe couldn't accompany us into the stores. How do you tell a stuffed animal that he is not alive and would be a burden? Not an easy thing to do. When we got home, Singe decided he had too much energy and he jumped in the Jumper.

All in all, a very good day.