Miss me?

There is one basic reason why I have been so bad these last few weeks about doing any sort of regular posting. One small, cute, stubborn reason. My 2 year old daughter, in defiance of all that good and proper and a part of the natural order, has given up her afternoon naps.

My older daughter did this early as well, but not THIS early. I can remember talking to her daycare provider and later her preschool teachers to explain to them that Harper no longer takes naps and that, if she does manage to fall asleep, she will stay up all night and turn her mother into a babbling, zombie-like creature.

So now Devon has decided to do the same thing - a year earlier than her sister - thus depriving me of the only time I had in the course of a day to do things for myself. That was quiltin' and bitchin' time, and now it's gone and I can't figure out how to pull those two hours back out of my day.

I am hoping that when Harper starts kindergarten this fall I can find an affordable, part-time preschool or daycare situation that will allow me a few hours everyday to work and quilt and write while still having time to spend with her until her sister comes home. I've done the math, and I just don't think I can afford the sitter more than I already have her now. If only there were some way I could make some extra cash...

Well, if I ever manage to write something for Quilter's Home, I might get a bit, but what I really need is a merchandising empire. I mean - who doesn't, right?

I have thoughts brewing, and if all goes well, by tonight I will have totally SOLVED all your future Mother's Day gift buying dilemmas. It means I have to put off writing an article that is due tomorrow night, but screw that. This is way more fun.

(Oh, and the quilting weekend was fun and informative. It was also weird, in a way that will take a long time to explain. But I did learn the secret to perfect triangles - half-square triangles, anyway, though there is a similar method for flying geese. It involves this woman:



Know her? My mother and sister HATE this woman, but I have never seen her show so I don't know what they are talking about. However, she - or someone very clever in the company that holds her name under license - has invented this nifty ruler thingy:



It includes a chart, so that you look up what size you want your final squares to be, and then cut your fabric to a larger size square that corresponds according to the chart. Then you put the two colors of your fabric together and draw a line diagonally from corner to corner, both ways. Sew a scant 1/4 inch seam on either side of those lines - again, both ways. Then using a rotary cutter you cut along the lines you drew as well as vertically and horizontally and VOILA:



Perfect triangles!)