I always, always, always get questions from blog readers about the quilting motif I use on everything. I love it. Once you get the hang of it doing it is no problem at all.
I’ve done it on so many quilt….Blue Skies….
I think that picture shows it off the best..but you can see it on the next quilt too.
I used it on Winston Ways….
Well here is the video that I watched and learned how from….. [Read more...]
Recently a blog reader, Carolyn, asked, “Those are some beautiful quilts! What I want to know is how do you get a pattern or quilt accepted in a magazine?”
We were talking about out Points of Interest quilt.
It can be found here.
I can’t tell you how everyone else does it. I can tell you how we first started and what we do now.
When we started we want to publish something somewhere. We started with Moda Bake Shop. Follow the link. Then check out the right hand column where it says Chef Application. Click on it and you’ll see what you need to do. Basically you have to pick an upcoming fabric line, design a quilt using it and then submit your idea. If they like it, they send you the fabric and your write the tutorial. LOTS of people started here. Crazy Mom, Amanda Jean did. Doug Leko from Antler Designs did…there are many that have.
After we had projects on Moda Bake Shop we got a little braver. We decided to try quilt magazines. We saw that Quiltmaker was doing a 100 blocks issue so we wrote to the editor and decided to see if we could submit a block. We could and did. We designed a quilt with the block. They liked it so much they asked if they could publish the quilt. From there…we kept asking.
If you look inside any magazine you’ll see something like this… [Read more...]
I had some questions come up after I wrote that I was no longer going to do be a registered childcare provider and instead provide unregistered childcare. The main question was liability. Will the insurance company still insure me? The answer is yes and no. I was with a company that allowed me to do care for six kids and it was REALLY cheap. It was a rider on my home insurance. Well two more babies came into care so that put me up to eight. I was no longer eligible for the rider and had to move to a commercial policy…and that commercial policy would not cover me. I talked to the local Farm Bureau agent and he said YES- Farm Bureau does cover non-registered providers. We ended up moving ALL of our insurance to Farm Bureau. The insurance for childcare was a lot more money but not because I was unregistered but because I was moving to a larger policy to accommodate more kids. At present, I am covered for ten children….I don’t ever plan on having that many all on my own.
So how else is it going? GREAT!!
A week or so into not being registered- We ate an early lunch because the local high school girls earned a ticket to play basketball at state. The tournament was being broadcast online so we wanted to watch the game. We ate a half hour earlier than we previously were allowed too. What a simple freedom…and it didn’t hurt a single one of the kids. In fact, they loved the game and were so excited that the girls won…it’s extra special as one of the girls playing is an aunt to three of my childcare kids.
Another example… I have an appointment coming up. It’s in a local town and the latest appointment they had was at 4:30. I’ll have to leave here at 4:10 to get there. I asked Hubby if he could watch the childcare kids until pick up which happens between 4:30 and 4:45. There will only be four kids here then. He said sure. That is complete change-before he couldn’t. Hubby knows the kids. He’s physically fit to watch them. He knows CPR and First Aide (and even more)….but previously he wasn’t allowed to watch them because he hadn’t taken a 12 hour class. Having him be able to watch the kids sure is nice. None of the parents will mind a drop and Hubby likes the kids. Plus, the parents don’t have to get off work early so I can leave. Plus I might be able to get to appointments more easily and take better care of myself. It’s a win-win for us all.
I am so much happier with the “camel of registration off my back”!!
I have always have been a family childcare provider. Now I really am finally feeling like one!! I am caring for the families…and not caring about the paperwork and regulations.
The appointments that I’m needing go to are for physical therapy. LONG ago back in the summer of 2015 I took a fall during childcare. (Read about it here). I hurt my foot and my shoulder. I thought everything was better but then I re injured my foot….which resulted in surgery for my foot…but…my shoulder. It’s never quite been right.
The problem with it comes and goes. I thought it might be due to aging but after a trip to the doctor she confirmed that it’s likely due to an injury. She sent me to physical therapy. There I was told it’s a pinched tendon problem. For example I reach my right arm up to get a glass from the cupboard and there is something not quite right in my shoulder as my rotator cuff pinches my tendon. The proper term for it is an impingement. The problem comes right about the time my arm gets to the height it would be if I was reaching for a glass from the cupboard. It also flares if I am taking a shirt off…Those are just a couple examples. Often it isn’t “quite right”.
The physical therapist told me that I have poor posture. (I knew that) What I didn’t know that was the poor posture could me making by problem worse. My shoulders roll forward and that limits the space for the tendons to fit in. So I am doing exercises to improve my posture and to strengthen my rotator cuff. They are easy….but the biggest thing I need to do is consciously lift my shoulders and reset them back in a good posture position. UGH. I am so bad at that. I get in a hurry and my mind is totally not thinking about posture….but I’m trying. I sure wish I’d have worked on my posture years ago.
Right now I can’t say things have necessarily improved. Well they have some but now other spots in my shoulder are sore from the exercises.
I feel dumb even mentioning any of this or even going to the doctor for it. I keep getting asked if I can do whatever the movement is….yes. I can do them all….but does it feel uncomfortable…YES. Will I do it even if it feels uncomfortable…YES. But being it’s been so long since it happened have I unconsciously learned to make adjustments in my day to day movements. Filling out the pain scale was a joke for me. I can’t say that any of it is “painful”….uncomfortable-YES. Annoying-YES. I almost felt like I shouldn’t be there being I wasn’t in PAIN….the therapist was nice though. It’s likely me more than her.
I ended up going because I wanted it to be fixed if it could be….will it be? Who knows. For now I’m trying and I guess that’s the most important part. The doctor said this is the next thing that’s required after an x-ray so here I am.
At least being Hubby can keep an eye on the kiddos for me, I’m getting a chance to give physical therapy a try. For that, I’m grateful.
Every so often I get questions from blog readers that I think other blog readers would like the answer to as well. When that happens, I answer the questions here on the blog. Today is one of those days.
All of the question and comments I’m addressing today are relate to a recent hamburger post I wrote. I showed this picture of our freezer full of meat. On reader commented that she liked the dividers. That made me smile and laugh. Hubby made these dividers a long time ago. It was his idea. The pieces interlock. They were made out of complete scrap but we love them. It keeps the meat divided and makes it really easy to find what I’m looking for.
In the post I was also lamenting about missing hamburger. I had listed that one of the things I missed making was hamburger gravy. A blog reader asked what hamburger gravy was and could I share the recipe. I’ll be honest. This comment surprised me. I thought hamburger gravy was a universal, everyone made it thing….apparently not.
To check myself I asked Hubby if his mom made hamburger gravy because mine sure did and I do too. He said his mom did too. That’s not a very good test sample as our moms were pretty similar, both were farm wives, both lived in relatively the same area, and both were in the same age range. Curiously do others of you make hamburger gravy and/or did you mom’s make hamburger gravy? Leave me a comment and let me know.
Anyway, I made hamburger gravy the other night for supper and snapped some photos as I did….Here’s how I do it: [Read more...]
