Double Irish Chain

Which one do we like better, guys? Thank you for your comments!

#1

#2

#3

#4

I wish I was making this shit up

In January, Jake and I made plans to redecorate his bedroom over February vacation. Usually, DF and I take turns taking school vacations off of work, since the boy will not be in school, and although I'm sure he's responsible enough not to burn the house down, I just don't love the idea of spending 5 days in a row home alone all day. This year, of course, I have no job to take time off of. But as DF would probably want to spend a vacation week with The Boy, I had the following conversation with him in January:

Me: Hey, Jake and I are going to redecorate his room over February vacation. So do you want to take April vacation? I sure hope I have a job by then, and if I'm new to a job I can't take a week off yet.

DF: Sure. I can take off April vacation.

Flash forward to yesterday. DF had just dropped The Boy off from Boy Scouts, and I was standing with my calendar, reviewing upcoming events with him. He asks me if I can pick The Boy up from a scout event on the 20th. No problem. I remind him that although Friday the 10th is his night, I will have Jake because we have an event to go to. (Side note: the looks Jake and I gave him when he asked "who is Joss Whedon" actually scared him.) Then:

Me: So, you've got April vacation, right?

DF: No, I thought you said you were taking it? I am taking a different week off to work on my house, and can't take another week right now.




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Luckily (for this situation anyway) I am still the Jobless Wonder, and I will be very happy to have Jake for April vacation.

But seriously...why do I try to communicate with him?????

This will only make sense if you've seen last week's ep of Castle...

but Jake have not been able to walk by each other all week, without whispering:

"Condoms. Condoms in the bathroom."

Scene from the kitchen:

I was making pancakes for Jake, while also washing the dishes. (The sink is right next to the stove.) The first stack of pancakes was ready, so I called him to come to the kitchen, while I also turned on the garbage disposal...

Jake obeyed me and jogged to the kitchen, but he was a little unsure of my intentions, and called out, "I'm not sticking my hand in anything!"

12 of 12 - March

It's that time again! 12 of 12 is the brain-child of Chad Darnell. If you've never participated, why not check it out?

9:32 am, living room, computer desk
My first cup of coffee for the day. Yum!

9:40 am, kitchen table

Here's a package I need to bring to the Post Office today.

10:00 am, living room
My sofa, and my latest quilt.

10:30 am, living room, coffee table

My three new books that arrived yesterday. I can't decide which I want to read first.
(I ended up going with Bones by Jonathan Kellerman.)

11:45 am, living room, laptop

Seth Green Twittered a link to this. It's going to be the 8th season opener for Family Guy.
Can.
Not.
Wait!

12:30 pm, living room

Here's my ex's Boy Scout Assistant Leader uniform, which he's asked me to sew a new patch on.

12:31 pm, kitchen table

And here's my sewing basket. Well, one of them. This one's mostly just a jumbled mess of items I use frequently.

4:00 pm, living room, laptop

This is the mock-up I've just made of the next quilt I am going to make, a curved log cabin.

7:35 pm, kitchen

Supper. Pork chop and zucchini.

7:40, living room

Kitty enjoys her share of the pork chop.

9:30 pm, living room, coffee table

My feet. They are in terrible need of a pedicure, but - HEY! - new toe ring!

11:30, bedroom
"Come to bed, Mommy. Now."

Scene from tonight:

*DF is here, picking up The Boy for the night. As they are leaving, he mentions that it costs $1200 for the (Boy Scout Nationals) trip to Washington DC to meet President Obama (among other things). The fund raising activities the scouts participate in contribute toward the cost of their trip. He tells The Boy he'd better get busy participating in some of these fundraisers.*

Me: Yeah, because if we sell one of your kidneys to pay for your braces, we can't sell one to pay for the trip.

The Boy: Yeah, but we can sell a portion of my liver, and it will grow back in a week.



That's my boy, always thinking!

WANT!

I want to make a curved Log Cabin quilt, and an Irish Chain quilt.

Jake's going to kill me.

OTOH, I could make the Irish Chain quilt* with the intent to sell it, and then it is work, not play. Yes, that's my story.

*(I already planned the Log Cabin quilt in my head, and I want it for my own bed. I'm going to take my silk quilt apart, fold the top and put it away somewhere, and re-use the bottom fabric. But then after that, I really think I CANNOT be allowed to make any more quilts for this house.)

Newest quilt

Here's my newest quilt. I started it a week ago, Monday, and just finished it tonight. The blocks are shaded four patches, also called Mary's Triangles. This quilt consists of approximately 100 different fabrics. I'm kicking myself, though, because I didn't think to count the exact number of fabrics until I had already pieced it together, making it much more difficult to count than if I just had little piles of fabric squares. So I don't have an exact count. I dug through my fabric drawers and used a lot of what I had: some fabrics are 20 and 30 years old, and I couple are some I used to make doll clothes when I was a kid. There's a lot of new fabrics, too. I wanted as many different fabrics as I could get, so I bought a lot of fat quarters, I even found some fat sixteenths on Ebay, and bought a bunch of charm squares, too. Also, most of the white fabrics are not plain white, they are white on white patterns, six different ones, and one is the one I made Jake's christening vest out of. The quilt measures about 80" x 80", and is machine quilted in the ditch. (Sorry for the sucky quality of the pictures.)

Even standing on a chair, I could not fit the whole quilt in frame.

The cat gave it a test-run. I think she approves.

The backing. I used many colors on this, but I used yellow and red for the borders and backing, so it would match my living room.

Here are some of my favorite fabrics in this piece:

I don't usually care for oranges very much, but I really like this one. Sorry for the blur.

For some reason I really like this one.

I also don't usually go for paisley, but I really like this, I love periwinkle, and it looks great with the yellow.

This is one of my all-time favorite fabrics, it is Chinese bellflowers, purple on periwinkle, with gold in the centers. I originally got this fabric to back my silk quilt, and have also used it on a lampshade and on an upholstered stool in my bedroom.

Another Asian fabric, purple and pink.

This is a new favorite, I bought it just for this project, for the border. It's cherryblossoms in red, pink, and white, on a yellow background, with gold. This cost twice as much as I usually let myself spend on fabric, and I never would have done it for a backing, but since it was for the border I only needed 2 1/2 yards, so I went for it.

The sound of the sewing machine has been driving Jake absolutely bonkers (now that he's in puberty, his X-men superpowers are emerging, and one of them is Super-sonic Hearing). I had to promise him that I'll take a break from sewing for a while. But I DID add that I have a friend who's expecting a baby in May, and I am going to make her a baby quilt before then.

Scene from Christmas:

(I know, kinda late, but I just thought of it.)

*My nephew opens his Christmas card from me. Inside is $50 cash.*
Nephew: Thanks! *hands the money to his mom, my sister* (apparently he owed her money)

Sis: Thanks! *takes money from him; hands it to me* (she owed me money)

Me: Oh! Thanks!

I ended up with my own $50.