Quilt progress

My husband's going to be gone all weekend (I'm starting to feel like I never see him!) so I figured it would be a good time to get some work done on the big quilt. The next step I had to take was getting the backing, batting, and quilt top all sandwiched together.

First I spread everything out on the floor. Wrench decided that this new thing needed to be inspected:

Molly decided it was infested with some kind of invisible under-the-quilt critter, and had to take care of THAT situation:

I had to start over once, when I discovered that my backing didn't match up to my quilt top (there wasn't enough in the corner Molly's looking at in the above photo). I managed to only fling my safety pins all over the place once, and only poked myself a dozen times, so overall, I'd say it's a win. Now it looks like this:

Now the hard part, and the part I've been dreading - actually quilting it! Any advice for a beginner??

Imaginary rule day 1: mission accomplished!

I know you were dying to hear about it - yes, I did RIDE to Joann's today! It's 6.9 miles on my bike round trip - I realized last night that the not-quite-5-miles route would NOT be a good idea at rush hour, as it was roughly the same way I and a couple thousand other people would have gone to drive there. The traffic along the way on the route I did take wasn't too bad, and overall it was a decent ride.

So what'd I get?

Some remnants, of course...

Some cute little girly fabric (just a foot)...

And this ADORABLE Halloween fabric that I've been eye-ing for weeeeeks now. Red tag fabric was 50% off again today, so I had to snag...the rest of it. The gal at the cut counter was super nice and gave me a yard at remnant price, making it even cheaper! Huzzah! Now I just have to find something to do with it...

That's a total of 2.555 yards of fabric for $6.43, AND I got a good workout out of it, too :)

Imaginary rules

I'm all about control. I'm one of those folks who's likely to say "No, I'll just do it, you won't do it right" (unless it involves power tools, then the hubby can do as he sees fit!).

So I make up imaginary rules for myself. Imaginary, because there's no one who really cares about whether or not I follow them, and because I rarely write them down. The new rule I've come up with is:

No shopping at Joann's unless I've ridden my bike there, or if Dianna's along.

Now, no one's going to hold me to this but me, of course, because who cares how (or if!) I get to Joann's? I guess it makes me feel like I'm in control of something that briefly seemed a little out of control...like my remnant buying habit.

We'll see how it goes. 

Do you do this, readers? Make silly rules for yourself, I mean??

May Goals / To-Dos

May 2011 Goals and To-Dos

Reading:
-Finish 5 books:
     -Deer Hunting with Jesus
     -Another of the Martin books
     -three other ones

Riding:
-Ride my bike 150 miles total
     -Progress:
          -Date:     Miles:

Quilting:
-Cut pieces for one quilt
-Put our big quilt together, pin

Working:
-Keep up with binders for Dan - no more than three day turn-around (provided his PC is working!)
-Schedule next day off (6/13)

Gardening:
-Finish weeding side garden
-Weed back garden
-Start sunflowers, other plants to plant around garage
-Weed around garage (fence side, yard side)
-Dig out agave plants for Janet
     -Find out if Janet wants the cactus, too; dig that out, if she does want it
-Trim grapefruit tree, fig tree off fence

Home Improving:
-Save up money. And then save up some more.

Relax

Time to relax. Birthday is over, Easter is over, and nothing to do until our anniversary in June. Part of me really wants to disappear for a while - read, hide from the world. Being social puts so much pressure on me. Lots of anxiety - I feel like I've never had a real friend, other than my husband - saying that makes me feel kind of pathetic. I judge myself enough already, I struggle with worrying about how much a "friend" will then judge me for themselves.

Hiding under a rock was much easier.

Book #12-13: A Game of Thrones

 

My 12th book for this year was A Game of Thrones, the first in the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin. I started re-reading it in anticipation of the amaaaaaaaaaazing new series on HBO by the same name.

I've read this book before, a few times, and will likely read it again, a few times. The book has only improved each time I've read it, and how many books can say that? (I bet Dianna would say so about her beloved Harry Potter series!). Furthermore, this is the first time I've read it since having earned a degree in English literature - and while I won't say the degree has gotten me much (if any) benefit, it did help me get more enjoyment out of the book. The symbolism and foreshadowing popped out at me this time.

Enough gushing. To provide a simple summary, the plot of the book is summed up by its title - kings and lords and knights play, effectively, a "game of thrones" to see who is really going to rule the land...while each and every family involved ignores what is, perhaps, a more serious threat that is looming over all of them. Considered epic fantasy, the books contain less magic and more knights and courtly intrigue.

The first episode of the TV show based on this series aired on Sunday, April 16th (yes, I consider it a birthday present to myself!!!) and essentially covered the first 70 pages of this novel. The people I've talked to who've seen the show but not read the book(s) found it sort of confusing, but with how much exposition is in this book (it's over 700 pages long!), that's kind of not surprising. I was truly taken aback by how faithful the first episode was to those first 70 pages, save a handful of changes that had to be made, likely for legal reasons. I hope the next 9 episodes, and the second season (which has already been ordered!) are just as magnificent.

I will likely be re-reading the other three books in this series over the next few months, as the fifth book comes out in July...and I've already pre-ordered it. :)

Blog hop: Fun Fridays

First time doing this blog hop, which I found from Dianna at Sweet D's Creations.

My weekend started today - normally I'm a 9-to-5 (okay, okay, 8-to-4:30), Monday-through-Friday gal, but I had today off! I spent it playing video games, going to Joann's for MORE fabric (always, always more) for some projects I have in mind, doing some sewing (including starting the mystery projects!), and working in the yard. After hubby gets home from work, I'll get to go pick up a friend from work, then probably have couch time with hubby and the cats while we finish up the current season of CSI - meaning we'll have watched EVERY EPISODE of the original in less than two months! Yipes!

More importantly, though, this weekend is my birthday! Hooray! I've been celebrating all week though, I'll admit! Saturday's the big day, number 26. I'll be spending it with my good friend Tamera and her daughter, with a trip to Starbucks for fuel-I-mean-beverages and then on to Lowe's, where the kiddo will get to make a birdhouse or some such light-carpentry project. Then I imagine will be lunch or probably home, where I'll eagerly await the husband's return - he's got a "business trip," I guess you could call it, which you can read about here.

Sunday's Easter, of course. This is the second year that I've shared my birthday weekend with holiday; once, when I was in high school, it was actually on my birthday itself. We'll head down to see hubby's family and a friend of ours, probably eat too much, most certainly sleep in the car (okay, just me, since he drives!), and get a bunch of reading done (just me again).


Have a good weekend, yourselves, readers!