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Make a List Monday 11/5/2012

Ahhhh, Monday, I can't ever recall looking forward to you until now.  My house is clean, the laundry's done, no one's sick (and won't be, thank you very much)...and I'm off the rest of the week!  WHOHOO!!

So, a recap of last week's Make a List...

* Don't fall  DONE!  No falling, slipping or sliding of any kind since the tub debacle!
* Quilt, bind and label the Albatross quilt DONE! And it's already in Captain Studly's possession.

This is only the second quilt I've EVER labelled

One big-assed label..like J Lo's butt

* Finish the 10 year cross stitch WIP  DONE! And already hanging up.

So, what's on the agenda for this week..?

* Make Christmas cards.  As the list is extremely short, this shouldn't be an issue, however, card lists are like fishing stories: the more time that passes, the bigger the list (or fish) gets. WHOOP!  As of 5pm, these are d-u-n...DONE!!

* Tie off threads and bind four quilts.  They're just sitting there all sad and lonely waiting for me to get off my duff and git 'er dun!  Sorry, I really love Larry the Cable Guy!

* If Himself has his way, I'll be helping clean out the storage building.  Um...NOT!!

So, what are you up to this week?  And don't tell me it's 5'6", okay!

Happy Monday, God bless bosses who grant vacation time, and happy quilting y'all!

The Albatross Takes Flight

I briefly thought of titling this post 'The SOB's Finished!' but that doesn't sound very nice.  Accurate, yes, but not nice.  Anyway, it's done, done, done!

What started out as this...

turned into this...

and finished up, thirteen months later, as this...

He nicely informed me he wouldn't be giving up the original quilt my mom made for him even though it's falling apart and she's been begging me to set it aflame just to put it out of its misery.  It's been well-loved.

I decided 'The Albatross' wasn't such a hot name for a quilt either so I opted for 'High Flight' after the poem of the same name by John G. Magee.  I love the poem and it fits with the theme since Magee was a pilot.

Here's the poem if you're curious.

HIGH FLIGHT

by John Magee

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings:

Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

Of sun-split clouds--and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of--wheeled and soared and swung

High in the sunlit silence.  Hovering there,

I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung

My eager craft through footless halls of air.

Up, up the long delirious, burning blue

I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace

Where never lark, or even eagle flew.

And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

Happy quilting, y'all!

Cross Purposes

Starting tomorrow afternoon, you will find me practically attached to my sewing machine via umbilical cord.  No plans (except possibly a stop at a local quilt shop) and no sick kids or calls from the principal (I've already issued threats...to the kids not the principal).

Enter Himself followed closely by his sidekick, Idea.

Bad things happen when Himself and Idea team up.

There was that year I got a wet/dry shop vac and set of drill bits for Christmas.

Then there was the time the shrubbery magically disappeared from round the old homestead.  Naturally, I wasn't around to supervise.  I believe I described the results as 'like a brazilian wax gone bad'.

Now, he's taking off a few days to be with me.  A boy and all that icky testosterone as I try to be creative with fabric and thread and watch Pierce Brosnan in Mamma Mia?  Oh, the horrors!  It'll be my luck if there's a Barrett Jackson car auction going on.  Karma, you bitch!  Before you get all gushy and go 'awwww' at the prospect of Himself wanting to spend time with the most fabulous woman in the world (that'd be me, not Gisele), let me remind you, this is a man we're talking about here.  Wait for it...

I've about decided that not only do vacation plans require utter secrecy from the Co-Defendants (I swear they can get strep throat on command), but Himself as well.  My mistake opening my mouth.  Which brings me to the next phase of his E-veeel Plahn (sorry, going for a European accent here): apparently my help is required for two of my precious sewing days to clean out our storage building we had built back in the summer.

I use the word 'our' loosely here because the majority of the crap contained therein is his.  Women, after all, have treasures; men have crap.  I suggested, nay nagged, that we weed out the detritus that no longer suited our needs rather than storing it up for auld lang syne when, according to Himself's psychic abilities, it would be worth something.  Damn you, eBay!  I swear, the man would save navel lint if he thought it'd fetch a pretty penny.

Anyway, I had a plan, a vision.  This is, after all, what women do...we plan plot strategize.  I wait until he's left the vicinity, then scurry to my little car and stuff it full of crapola for donation and he's none the wiser.  For me, it's a place for everything and everything in its place.  Do you think I got my way? 

That's a negative, Ghost Rider!  And now, on my vacation, he wants me to help him clean that out?!  Actually, that's not quite right.  I got told I was going to help him. 

Oh, realllllly?!

Funny, but in my alternate reality the word 'vacation' implies the conspicuous absence of a boss.  Hmmm....

I know now why women tend to outlive men.  It's because men get ideas and do stupid shit...like getting between a girl and her fabric...and they wind up taking a dirt nap.  Wish him luck.

Pass the Xanax.

Finito!

Another Friday, another finish...this one was 10 years in the making.  Yes, I am a turtle when it comes to cross stitch.

I decided against framing it and turned it into a small wallhanging instead.  Now the question is, will Himself give up a smidge of wall space for it considering alot of the walls in our house are covered with car memorabilia.  We shall see...

On the Co-Defendant front...

Here's The Diva in her Halloween finery.  Easy-peasy costume and a great stress reliever hacking it into shreds at the bottom.  Yay, Mom!!

 
She's a ghost if you can't tell, but now that I really think about it, she could blend in with all those Occupy Wall Streeters.  At least she didn't poop on the pavement though, right?!  If her attitude holds up, next year she's going as a witch.  I already have a broom in the garage with her name on it!

Captain Studly is grooming himself to be the next James Cameron as he has discovered a love of movie/video making.  It's all very artsy-fartsy...heavy on the fartsy.  Can we just say he's thirteen and leave it at that?  He also garnered himself a compliment from his principal about how much he's matured/what a nice young man, etc, etc which made me ask incredulously 'My kid?!'  I know, I know...bad mommy! 

If I can make it through the work weekend, I'll have off seven straight days.  No one better get sick.  As it is, Himself will be with me at least part of that time, hopefully with his head under the hood of his hot rod.  No, that's not my smarmy way of saying my skirt.  I have a stack of stuff that needs finished and more I'm just itching to start.  He's been warned to steer clear of me and call for takeout. 

Pray I show some restraint and stick with the WIPs!

I'm linking up to Richard and Tanya Quilt, Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Crazy Mom Quilts.

Have a fantastic weekend and keep on stitchin' y'all!