Finally, something quilty!

I was going to write a long post about my 2 month absence from blogworld, but it can be summed up in a simple sentence:

I worked a lot.

Finally, I'm doing some personal sewing again and hope to post photos as projects are completed. In the meantime, check out this:













For those of you who read French or can run a translator, click here. I am a longarm quilter and quilted this actual quilt! My name is in the magazine and everything! I just ordered the English-language version of the magazine so I'll have a copy to add to my portfolio.

Even though I work too many hours, I do like working with quilts and quilters and those in the quilt industry. How blessed I am to be a part of this!

Happy quilting to all.

Raining Cats and Dogs? Don't I Wish!

Today is an incredibly rainy day. Some might say, "It's raining cats and dogs!" I wish! It's actually raining other critters that I don't like nearly as much as cats and dogs.

Todays fun-filled adventure began with a septic tank cleaning. I know, you're jealous. Fortunately it was before the rain and other creatures began falling from the sky.

What could top a septic cleaning, you ask? How about an ear infection? Yes, my darling daughter has a sweet cold that has been haunting her for well over a week and the doctor diagnosed an ear infection to go with it today. She's fine, just feeling kinda yukky and taking her medicines. Much different than when she had ear infections as a baby.

So we ran through the torrential downpour to and from the doctor. And to and from the pharmacy. When we were good and soaked, we got to drive through Niagara Falls to get home.

We live in kind of a wooded area. It is not unusual for heavy rains to bring branches and other debris into the road.

With that in mind, on the way home I had to drive around a dead branch in the road. Are you with me here? Heavy rain, lousy traffic, poor visibility, and a dead branch in the road. As we were just about next to this stick in the road, it moved and stuck out it's tongue. Yes, that's right -- a 6-foot blacksnake blew us the rasperries as we drove by. My darling daughter and I both screamed like girls (which we are) and laughed nearly to tears when we processed what we had just seen. The rest of the drive home was light and fun as we continued to imitate the snake.

My daughter volunteered to open the garage door when we got home -- aren't I a bad mom? She opened it and flew inside. I thought it was because of the rain (It's raining snakes!). No, it was because a huge spider dropped down from the garage door as she lifted it. There is nothing worse for my darling daughter than spiders. Seriously. I parked the car and she pointed and sputtered "spider!" Knowing this is a serious problem for her I volunteered to close the garage door especially since I was now on the dry side of the situation. I stepped around the spider (not for the spider but for my new Enzo Angiolini sandals) and reached up for the garage door while a mouse ran right up to my newly polished toes in my new sandals! Again, I screamed like a girl (which I am).

This girl ran right upstairs and grabbed the two cats and threw them in the garage instructing them that the door would not be open until there was a corpse and I didn't care if it was cat or mouse. Fortunately, the cats took the day and produced a corpse which awaited my husband's return from work.

So, officially, it's rained SNAKES and SPIDERS and MICE. Beat that!

Unsure what could possibly top all of this excitement, I decided to quilt.

It's been a great day. I truly wish they could all bring this much laughter.

I LOVE MY JOB! (explained)

I really do love my job. I love quilts. I love longarming. I love my customers. I love working at home.

Sometimes the saying "so many quilts, so little time" is really true. I'm working twice the hours I normally work. When I'm not working, I'm worrying about what work isn't getting done. That part of my job I don't love.

Since that is something I have control over, I'm working to do that. My work schedule has been readjusted and my waiting list just got a little longer and the sun will still rise in the morning (who knew?).

God has given me a great life -- a wonderful husband, great kids, a measure of financial security (I have a roof, food, clothing, and a job), and I feel it's just not right to turn something that is great into something that drains me and makes me rather unpleasant to be around.

Tomorrow, I'm going to the ballet. I hope to post about that and a few other things next week.

I LOVE MY JOB!

I love my job!
I love my job!
I love my job!
I love my job!
I love my job!
I love my job!

Convinced yet? Me neither.

I hope to post something good really soon.

Safe at home

This morning I met with a customer at the local quilt store. She came up to me at my car in the parking lot. I usually meet customers inside, but hey, whatever, so I walked into the store with her. We sat our stuff down on a table and looked at her quilt and decided how it was to be quilted. It's a really nice quilt and there's space to play with fun freehand quilting. We packed everything up and my customer left the store. I still had to purchase fabric for another customer. I paid for the fabric and gathered my stuff to go. Wait a minute -- where are my keys? They were on the table next to my other stuff and now they are gone!

I looked around a bit, but was quite sure that my customer took them with her by mistake. I called her house. Her husband offered her cell phone number and some parting advice 'You really should carry a spare key'. All right. Working to not be offended. So I called my customer's cell and left a voice mail. While I waited for a call back, I figured maybe I couldn't afford to spend 6-8 hours in a quilt store today (in both time and money), so I called my darling husband who plans to bring me his keys when he's out of his next meeting.

Finally, my customer came back to the store to return my keys. She was sorry. I was grateful to have them back. Her parting advice? 'You really should carry a spare key'.

I once again gathered my stuff, this time including my keys. I went to my car and realized that I left my driver's door open this entire time. At this point, I decided that my other errands could wait. I simply needed to be safe at home. Hopefully this ended the annoying, but very funny, portion of my day.

Thanks Bonnie!

I've really enjoyed Bonnie's Quiltville site and started a few of her quilts (from stash, of course!) This is the first one that is finished. I made it smaller than hers. I had overflowing buckets of 1-1/2 inch strips and 2-1/2 x 4-1/2 inch blocks. The whole quilt is only 46x58 (I tend to make large quilts, so this is TINY). I really love it, though. I wasn't sure if I'd like all the colors together, but they really worked. As for the quilting, this was a combination of 'get it done' and 'try something new'. I quilted it with a simple meander but I used Alex Anderson's Masterpiece (sp?) thread on top and Bottom Line on the bobbin. The top thread broke a few times, but otherwise I was very happy with it. It deserves to be played with some more. This quilt will go into the future gift pile. No one was home today, so I had to let the sofa hold up this quilt!


And the back from stash, too! (How old is that large floral print?!?!?)


As for what I'm reading, I just finished Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. I've now read all of his books and would really like him to write faster. I liked Deception Point best of all of his books, but I am very much looking forward to seeing The DaVinci Code when it's released.

Therapy Quilt

I finished my therapy quilt!!! It was a lot of fun. I quilt other people's quilts as a job so when I quilt my own pieces I tend to do one of two things: I either quilt it quickly and simply just to get it done or I say 'why not?' and try something new. This quilt was a 'why not?' quilt. I tried Superior Bottom Line thread and some 'wonky' quilting (a new word I learned from the blog ring). The Bottom Line thread was nice, yet very, very fine. It worked great in the bobbin but didn't hold up well as a top thread. So, technically, HALF of this quilt is quilted with Bottom Line. I gave up part way through and used So Fine (also by Superior) as a replacement top thread. Superior says that Bottom Line is 'Designed by Libby Lehman for quilting, embroidery, bobbin, binding, and appliqué', but if it only works as a bobbin thread for me, then it's a bobbin thread. My guess is that it's a great hand applique thread, but I do so little of that. As for the 'wonky' quilting, I quilted diagonal lines in each of the logs and made a strange sort of spiral. Nothing new to other people, I'm sure, but something I've never tried myself. All in all, I love this quilt. I'm sure it'll be a gift at some point but I enjoyed having it around. It was truly great therapy. Please notice my darling daughter's fingers and socks as she is stretching to hold this quilt for me. Isn't she sweet?


This next quilt is another Moda University quilt. I'm not 'wowed' by it but it's pleasant and best of all -- it's done. It'll be a gift at some point. This time, please notice my husband's handsome hand and my darling daughter's beautiful red cuff. Such a supportive family!


I realized I never posted about my husband's event. It was wonderful. Truly. After the agony of shopping for a dress and shoes and a wrap and a bag... it was actually all worth it. My husband works for a very, very large company and he is a technology dude. That's most of what I know about how he spends 60+ hours a week. Anyway, he and his group worked on a technology product. They finished on time and on budget and the technology is selling very well. That is what this party was for. The company wanted to say thanks to the technology dudes and to their significant others for all their hard work and sacrifice. It was great to meet the people my husband works with as well as their spouses. The food was great. The music was great. The speakers were upbeat and brief. And there was actually a comedian who specializes in technology humor. Well done. Oh, about the clothes: they fit me well, fit the event well, and made me comfortable enough to speak to 'big bosses' when introduced. To sum up: I overthought the clothing and such, but it paid off in a very nice evening. Now, since I have this great dress, I am planning another great (smaller) event so I can wear the dress again. Convenient time for an anniversary, right?

Another day, another book

I listen to books. Like, a lot. Really. The ladies at the public library have a shelf just for me.

I just finished Breaking Point by Suzanne Brockmann. It was a real popcorn book. Spy adventure love story stuff. It was R-rated, so I wasn't that comfortable listening to it without headphones with my youngest child around. Although it was action, etc., it was still funny and I loved Patrick Lawlor's voice. Unfortunately, the library doesn't have too many more books that's he's read. There are several people with voices I love, and he just made my top 5 list.

Mental health day

After a too busy week with too little sleep, I try to schedule a mental health day. I'll turn off the alarm clock and unplug the phones and spend a day doing whatever suits me best (as long as it doesn't involve working). Yesterday was my mental health day.

Unfortunately, I forgot the 'unplug the phones' part, so my day started at 9 with a call from a dear friend. Good thing I really, really like her.

After the call, I spend the rest of the day engaging in quilt therapy.

dictionary.com defines a quilt as:

A coverlet or blanket made of two layers of fabric with a layer of cotton, wool, feathers, or down in between, all stitched firmly together, usually in a decorative crisscross design.

and therapy as:

Healing power or quality.

I define quilt therapy as:



This quilt is from Eleanor Burns' Bear in the Woods quilt book, and I made the top yesterday (entirely from stash). I'm not sure my therapy is complete. I may have to take more time off to quilt and bind this quilt.

Please note, you have seen and will probably continue to see red/pink/white scrap quilts from me. Did I really buy all that fabric? Someone must have snuck it in my sewing room while I wasn't looking.

Out with the old...

A while back, I led a quilt group at my church. Ladies (and gentlemen!) learned the basics of quilting while enjoying each other and making quilts to give away. After a year, it became too much for me to do alone and no one else stepped up, so it kind of ended. We finished several quilts and gave them away (some are in the Ukraine, even!), but the rest of the partially done quilts make their home with me. This one only needed a binding, so I finished it. I'm not sure where it will go, but someone will definitely love it.

At long last

Ding, dong, the witch of a week is dead.

I'll try to catch up in several posts.

First off, thanks for all of your kind posts about this quilt:

It was a shop sample with Lakehouse Fabrics. I must humbly admit to being not very creative at all, especially since I followed the designer's pattern for the quilt. The entire quilt is fussy cut so it took forever, but the fabric was so darn cute, I barely minded.

I will try my hand at creativity, though, with the leftover scraps. We'll see what happens.

Saturday, so far

I was teaching today, so no more customer quilts were completed. I did manage to finish binding a shop sample and the fabric is too darn cute.

It started out as those huge flowers shown in this picture from last week:

Still Quilting

I finished listening to Lifeguard by James Patterson. Pretty close to a popcorn book. Now to find another one. I really liked that this was read by Billy Campbell. He was in Once and Again, Gods and Generals, and the crummy guy in Enough. He does a wonderful job with the different voices. I'm going to check the library and hope that he's done other books.

Friday

Did you ever have a day when you just couldn't wake up? Well, it's 8:30 at night and I'm still waiting to wake up. I'm physically tired, but looking at the calendar for the next few days makes me even more exhausted.

I finished a customer quilt today, with several more due too soon. Since I have so much quilting to do, I'll be able to post on books that I've listened to while working.

Here's the first one:

Due to an issue in the local schools, I was looking into books that have been banned. This one came up as one of the top banned books in the last 50 years. I finished listening to it today and cannot say that it's my favorite book. I wouldn't have banned it, but I wouldn't have had elementary school students read it, either. It has some interesting things to say.

You know how mindless and fun movies are called 'popcorn movies'? In order to finish 7 more quilts by Tuesday while teaching and fulfilling other obligations, I need a good 'popcorn book'. Mindless fun that keeps me from noticing that I'm spending hours and hours standing at the machine. Suggestions? I have several books from the library in the house, and the 900+ I can download from the library. I'll try several and see what works.

A Fun Day

I was sitting in the car during my daughter's ridiculously long orthodontist appointment today thinking of all the things I have to do in the next week. Once I enjoyed a few moments of being ticked off, I gave up and just enjoyed my 2 hours in the car.

I brought a quilt to bind and nearly finished the whole thing. I'll post a pic when it's completely done. I finished listening to Over Her Dead Body by Kate White.

The novel was OK. What was neat was that Lea Thompson read the book. Lea Thompson was the star of many of my 'date movies' with my husband. Tough to pick a favorite -- Back to the Future? Surely not Howard the Duck. Space Camp? I'll have to go with Some Kind of Wonderful.

The next week will be light on postings. My husband's Event is tomorrow night. I'm teaching 2 days of longarming workshops. I have WAY too many customer quilts to get done by next week. And many, many more things to do in the next week or so.

My new resolution: Stop Overcommitting Myself!

Perfect Weather for Quilting

The view from my sewing room door yesterday:


The view from my sewing room door today:


Which is why I'm doing this:


and this:


and this:


in front of this:


I love snowy days!!! Doesn't everyone?

Bear in the Woods

My friend and I are making Eleanor Burns' Bear in the Woods quilts and today was our first sewing session. We were hard at work cutting up our stashes:


We cut all the fabric for the log cabins and each pieced one (mine is on the left):

Our homework is to finish the other eleven. And here is my Bear in the Woods partner:


I told her I'd make her famous. She's not only beautiful and talented, but brilliant as well.

I Finally Finished!

This is what I do with my 2-inch scraps. I've made 6 or 7 over the years. Most of the quilts have gone to my kids' friends for graduation presents and are all used and loved. This one will go in the graduation quilt pile. I finished the quilt and quilting in 2005, but didn't finish the hand binding until last night.

The 2-inch scrap bucket is overflowing, so it's time to start another one, I guess.

Public Libraries Still Rule!

I just finished Point Blank by Catherine Coulter. I borrowed the unabridged CDs from the library.

I enjoy 'thrillers' (as this book was tagged). This is the first of Ms. Coulter's books I've read and it was a great car book. It was obvious that there were other books in the series to fill in the alluded-to backstory, so I look forward to getting them from the library and letting them make my errands less painful. I live 6 miles from the closest gallon of milk, so any errand takes a bit of time. (We live at the beginning of nowhere -- I've been to the middle of nowhere and we're not even close!) This book was 10 hours long and I finished it in 3 days in the car? That's a glimpse into my life, I think.

Oops, I did it again!

I thought taking yoga was good for me.

I was in a car accident 10 years ago and have been in near-constant pain from a back injury ever since. I've done the doctor and chiropractor and all sorts of exercises and stuff, but avoided medication and surgery. (I've also avoided losing the extra weight, but that's a whole other story).

So my dear quilt friend started taking yoga and a few months later I joined her. My back pain went away within a week and I haven't had a problem since. It's only been 5 weeks or so, but I've been amazed at how wonderful NOT being in pain feels.

All's well, right? Wrong!

See, the yoga studio is in the same plaza as our local quilt shop. It seemed like a good idea. I mean, I'm at the shop meeting customers all the time and would be more likely to go and do yoga if it was some place I already was, you know? So three times a week I'm at yoga, and three times a week I'm at the quilt shop. It would be rude not to stop in, right?

Look what followed me home:

Another entire bolt of white-on-white fabric and a yard of sale fabric. The 'only a yard of sale fabric' is thanks to Bonnie at Quiltville. I've been enjoying her site and decided that pieced backings are in my future. Otherwise, the 'one yard' would have been 'the rest of the bolt'. Babysteps, right?

Still, my fabric will outlast my ability to use it all. Of this I am sure.