A quilt for Grandma

I ordered the fabric for this quilt online. It was actually a lot brighter than I thought it would be. But I put some nice soft minky fabric on the back so hopefully that tones it down a little. A fabric store told me not to put batting in it if I use minky, so I didn't. But I wish I hadn't listened. Online, lots of people say one way or the other on the batting. It is a very light quilt without the batting and it was more difficult to hand bind. So for next time, I will use batting unless it's for a baby blanket. I think it makes a great baby blanket without the batting.

Happy birthday Grandma Bay!

My next project (when I save up enough money for the fabric) will be twin size quilts for the twins. I picked out the pattern (an Americana quilt) after seeing the ones my friend made for all four of her boys. I think they will be perfect for the boys. I already made them quilts but they aren't twin size so they are a bit too small for their beds and they get cold especially with Nebraska winters.

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1st and 5th in Pinewood Derby and Some Life Lessons

Zach's car in the lead

We FINALLY had the pinewood derby last night.  I know it's probably only been a month or two since we were given the cars to work on, but it feels like 6 months ago.  Mario and those boys worked so hard on the cars.  I was so tired of hearing the drill as they used it to sand down the axels.

There were 31 boys competing.  We have four wards that meet together for cubs and we don't have a track.  The district has a nice one that has four lanes and is connected to a computer program that records the time for each car.  So in reality, you are not competing against the other cars.  You are racing one time in each of the four lanes. The computer adds up your four times, divides by 4 and then whoever has the fastest overall time wins first place.  It is a very fair way to do the pinewood derby.  I have seen it done many ways (having competed in 4 different wards) and this is definitely the most fair way to do it that I have seen.

That's all well and good until the computer has a glitch and every car that comes in fourth place automatically gets 15 seconds recorded for their time.  They tried for 45 minutes to fix the glitch and when that didn't work, they came up with an alternative system.  They had each boy race four times in a row, once in each lane.  If they won, they got 4 points.  The loser got 1 point.  The car that got the most points at the end would be the winner.  Well, there were 5 cars that got first place each time it raced.  Nathan and Zach were both in the top 5.  Those 5 cars would race each other to determine the winners.

On the very first race of the tiebreaker, Zach's car was accidentally dropped four feet from the track to the ground by a volunteer helping.  When Mario picked up the car, the wheel was bent.  What a disappointment!  They had spent HOURS getting those wheels perfect.

Needless to say, Zach's car was so longer able to compete properly with the other four cars.  Nate took first place and Zach took fifth.  Nathan will get to compete at the district level in April so he's really excited.  There were some tears and I feel bad because the unfortunate accident took a little away from the excitement of Nathan winning.  The thing that bothered Zach most was that the volunteer didn't even apologize for the accident.

If you remember from a past blog post, the whole purpose of putting so much time and effort into these cars was to beat the Webber boy (Bishop's son).  Turns out that the Bishop decided to teach Ethan a lesson in responsibility this year.   He kept asking Ethan if he wanted to work on his car.  Ethan kept declining until the last minute.  So the car was basically just thrown together this year.  So he was no competition at all.  Turns out the boy that came in 3rd place behind the Webber boys last year (they had two sons competing last year but one turned 11 so was no longer able to compete) worked really hard on his car this year to beat the Webbers also.  He came in 2nd to Nate.  So I guess, all that hard work paid off to beat him too.

It was time for a talk about how life isn't fair.  Zach was having a hard time getting over the loss.  When I sat down on his bed to comfort him and talk to him about how life isn't fair, he reminded me that I hadn't told him a story that I promised to tell him.  I wanted to wait until basketball season was over and so this was the perfect story and opportunity.

There was a little boy named Shane on the boys' basketball team.  His father was one of the assistant coaches.  One day, Shane's mother took Shane to practice instead because the dad needed to get some sleep for work the next day.  So it gave me an hour to talk to Shane's mom.  The story she told me broke my heart.  She told me that the assistant coach wasn't Shane's biological father.  Her first husband (Shane's father) had been killed in war.   I asked her how she was notified of his death.  That is where the story gets worse.  The military showed up at the hospital to notify her just a few hours after she had given birth to Shane.  Her husband, Shane's father, had been killed the same day she gave birth.  I started tearing up as she told me this story.

As I told Zach this story, I could tell that he was starting to realize an unfortunate pinewood derby accident was truly just a small thing.  I think he also learned another important lesson.  It is important that when you hurt someone else, intentionally or by mistake or accident, it is important to simply say you are sorry.  Those words would have done a lot to comfort him last night.

My New Favorite Blogs

I do find time for blogs that aren't about quilting.   I have recently come across these two new ones.  I can't get enough of them.  They are such inspirational women.  One was featured on Dateline because her husband was murdered after having an affair.  The other two blogs are from the woman known as the Tattooed Mormon.  I love how they are both so honest in all their thoughts.  Al Fox Carraway also has a Facebook page where she puts up inspirational messages.  It's hard to believe she has only been a member for a few short years.


http://www.themomentswestand.com/

http://alfoxshead.blogspot.com/

http://waysofthecarraways.blogspot.com/

Basketball Pictures

Our lives have revolved around basketball practices and games the last few months.  It was a lot of fun to go to all the kids' games. Unfortunately, I had to miss a few due to conflicting schedules.  But I attended most of them.

I am so proud of Erin for going out for her freshman team.  I know it took a lot of courage for her to play.  She hasn't played much basketball throughout her childhood, so she had a lot to learn.  But she did great.  She also played on the church basketball team where she was the best one on the team.  So she scored lot of points and the coach had to several times remind her to pass to her teammates because they would be killing the other team.  Erin didn't like passing much because more often than not, when she passed, they would miss the ball.   She liked school ball but she loved church ball.   She was number 15 on both teams.

Eric played church ball.  His team went undefeated so they got to play the Stake leaders for the tournament.  Unfortunately, those "old men" beat them in that game.  But he had a lot of fun playing.

Nate and Zach played in the community league.  I think they were the only 4th graders on their team while the rest were 3rd graders.  They won about half and lost half.  Zach was the team leader and scored a majority of their points.  Nathan got really good at free throws and by the end of the season, he gained enough confidence to dribble the ball down the court for layups.  He made 2 baskets in each of the last two games.  So he finished strong.

I am going to miss all those Saturday basketball games, but I will not miss all the weeknight practices, especially now with Mario leaving for a couple months.

New Sewing Machine

So excited to have my machine back. They finished in just 5 days, instead of the 10 they originally told me. But when I got up to the store to pick it up, I noticed they had a used machine that was one step above mine with a better walking foot, buttonhole foot, light, and auto needle threader (I'm only getting older and my eyesight getting worse.)
So they let me trade mine in for the full price I paid last year to get that one. I really want the one with the stitch regulator but that would cost me an additional $1100. So I can't justify such a luxury. At least this one has the same shape as my other machine so it fits my sewing table perfectly. Now I'm back to quilting (between March Madness games). All of our brackets are busted since there were so many upsets like Duke. I thought for sure Jabari Parker would lead them to at least the final 4. O'well at least Florida Gators are still in it. I think everyone in the family has chosen them to win the whole thing. Keeping our fingers crossed.

Pros and Cons of Puerto Rico

We found out that ROTC really wants Mario for Puerto Rico. It's requires a Spanish speaking Lt. Colonel. Apparently there aren't any that are available to take the job. So they are trying to get a waiver for Mario to leave Omaha a year early.

We were so excited about the job last weekend, but then we were told no and I came up with a million reasons why it was better we don't go. But now that it may still be an option, Mario and I had a lot of fasting and praying to do to see if we even wanted to ask for the waiver.

We made this pros and cons list this morning.  Then we went to the Temple to seek guidance. I had just sat down in my seat when I was overcome by the Spirit. I felt such love from Heavenly Father and His reassurance He was pleased with us. I felt that His answer was "Yes, you can apply for the job." I'm not sure I felt a conformation that we would get it. But that was ok. I know that whatever happens will be for our good.

If we do go to Puerto Rico, we will miss having a Temple so close. What a blessing it has been to live within 30 minutes of a Temple. We have become quite spoiled.

Disappointment

Wow, I have had a lot of disappointment in the last two days.  The first disappointment came yesterday when I was happily quilting along and my needle broke on my sewing machine.  No problem, I have spare needles.  But after changing out the needle, the new needle wouldn't pick up the bobbin thread.  I did everything I could think of to get it to work again.  I finally called the shop and they told me to bring it in.  I asked what that would entail (meaning how much was it going to cost me to get it fixed.) Since I bought it only 6 months ago, there would be no charge to fix it.  But, it is a 10 day wait to get it back because apparently everyone in town decided it was the right time to have their machines serviced for the year.  Oh my, how could I possible go 10 days without my sewing machine?!  I guess I can now get my dining room back to looking like a dining room  instead of a sewing room for 10 days.  My family will be happy.

The second and biggest disappointment is that we will not be able to move to Puerto Rico this summer. On Friday, Mario received an email from his old boss asking if he would be willing to take his place as ROTC commander this summer.  We aren't scheduled to move for another year and weren't looking to anyway since this will be Eric's senior year.  But Eric was actually excited about moving to Puerto Rico and so with his blessing, Mario applied for the job.  He would have gotten it, but he is in a joint job here in Omaha and apparently they won't let people out of joint jobs early very easily.  In fact, he was told never.  So, with the exception of Erin (who I think is secretly disappointed), the rest of us are so sad.  We had gotten our hopes up and were convinced we would be able to move.   But, the Air Force has some crazy policies and so for now, we have to give up on our dream to live in Puerto Rico where the temperature hardly dips below 70.  That sounds like heaven after Omaha winters.

But we have done a lot of praying and apparently Heavenly Father doesn't think this is the right move for us, because we know that if it was, policies would be waived.  So we will just put our trust in Him and look forward to our assignment with much anticipation next summer.

In the meantime, I will get my sewing machine back in 10 days and then I will relax and try not to dream about the tropics while I work on several quilt projects that I have planned.  I will also enjoy the spring weather that is coming any day now (hopefully!)