Hitting the Road

From January 19 through January 24, I will be teaching at Road to California quilt show in Ontario, CA.  I will teach three days on the Handi Quilter Sweet Sixteen and three days on the Handi Quilter Avante.  I have already shipping bolts of fabric and rolls of batting for the Avante classroom and today I shipped out supplies for my Sweet Sixteen classroom:

It is a lot of work to prepare the kits, print the handouts, and ship them all to California, but it is so worth it!

I can't wait to be with the quilters in sunny southern California in a few weeks.  Will I see you there?

Pat Sloan's Block of the Month: Vacation Time month 1

I wasn't going to do it.  I wasn't going to start a new quilt until I finished up some of the ones I've already started.  I've said that before, but this time I really meant it.

Pat Sloan tempted me, and I couldn't resist.  Her new Block of the Month for 2015 is called Vacation Time and it look fantastic!  I just had to start another quilt.

I dug through my fabric to see what fabrics made me happy, and this is my first block, Down by the Boardwalk:

I ended up with some scrap triangles when I was done, so I sewed them together to make this teeny block:

This is all your fault, Pat.

I am sew excited!  I want to make another block!  Is it February yet?

Quilt of the Week -- Mason

I can finally share this Christmas quilt!

I made this quilt for my new nephew:

The pattern is Square Knots in Open a Can of Worms by Debbie Caffrey.

I had fun feathering the blocks:

I did a lot of stitch-in-the-ditch and ruler work (continuous curve):

I had fun feathering the border using my oval templates:

A lot of these fabrics were from my collection Kaffe Fassett polka dots.  The binding fabric was a huge swirl Kaffe print that looks delightful when it is cut into narrow strips.

Enjoy your quilt, baby Mason!

Getting it Together

I've been trying to get organized my entire life.  I don't think I'll ever fully succeed at it, but I've learned a few things over the years.

The number one life-changing thing I did to help me get organized was...

Get a smartphone?

Nope.

Go to the Container Store and buy a bunch of little boxes to store my belongings?

Nope.

Hire a personal organizer?

Nope.

Can you guess what it might be?

Here's a hint:

If you guessed "installed a hook for my keys" then you would be correct!

Are you shocked?

I bought this hook nearly 20 years ago.  I have moved it from my previous home to this one.  My keys are either in my hand, walking to the car, or on this hook.  Always.  I never have to look for my keys in my house.  Never.

When my children were teens and still living at home, my driveway would be full of their friends' cars and my house would be full of keys.  Sometimes, to feed the hordes of hungry teens, I would have to move their keys from the counters and tables.  Any teen looking for his/her keys would be instructed to check "the hook."

This system has never failed me.  I have implemented many other "get organized" systems since then, but none have been as successful as "the hook."

Quilting by Numb3r

Have you read "Still Alice"?  I have been trying to read that book, but it is such an emotional read for me that I have to take long breaks from it.

During one of my long breaks, I finished watching (listening to while quilting, actually) "Numb3rs" on Netflix.  I committed to that show a while back and quilted until I finished it!  This isn't the best television show I've ever watched, but it was easy to follow along without watching the screen.  That works for me.

Have you seen it?  What did you think of it?

What will my next Netflix binge be?

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday!  I am excited to show you some of my favorite things today!

I want to show you my favorite bookmark:

A very dear friend of mine made this specifically for me.  I was so touched!  I listen to audiobooks and read my Kindle often, so when I read a real "made with paper" book, it is a special treat!

If you've read my blog for even just a little while, you might have noticed that I love Hello Kitty.  Dawn from Spring Water Designs noticed, and she gave me this adorable Hello Kitty pail:

What would you do with such an adorable pail?

Use it to hold my longarm quilting pins, naturally.

In the autumn, I received another gift:

It was a beautiful sewing case from Colonial Needle Company.

Look at the treasures inside:

Oooooooh, pretty!

I can't wait to play with these lovelies and see how they play on Hazel, my sweet Sweet Sixteen.

Have a wonderful Friday, full of all of your favorite things!

Happy New Year!

2014 was a ;year of ups and downs for me.

The biggest up:
I got a promotion!  My new title is "Grandma" and I've never loved a job more.

The biggest down:
My father passed away suddenly and unexpectedly in October.

Both of these events are part of the cycle of life in a family.  In order to make more time for my family, I've decided to make some changes for 2015.

You've likely seen bloggers choosing a "Word of the Year."  I've done this before, and the choosing process can be agonizing!  This year's word, however, was easy to choose.

UNSUBSCRIBE

You likely see this at the bottom of promotional emails.

I unsubscribe from those emails as quickly as I can.  But I realized that I can unsubscribe from other things as well:  unnecessary online time, unnecessary drama, unnecessary habits, unnecessary belongs.  Are you seeing a trend?

In 2015, I'm taking time to re-examine my daily life and unsubscribing from anything unnecessary to make more time for the people that I cherish.

Please unsubscribe or un-follow my blog if it will make your 2015 a happier year.

Friday Favorites

Raindrops on roses?  Whiskers on kittens?

Nah, those aren't my favorite things.

But chocolate cake is.  My sister knows this and bought me a Chocolate Layer Cake candle:

My house smells like chocolate cake.  I can't think of anything better...

... except Hello Kitty:

One of my favorite students (I love all of my students equally) thought I needed a Christmas Hello Kitty for my collection.  Thanks, Celeste!

I'm spending my day after Christmas quilting.  I couldn't think of anything I'd rather do.  I realized as I was quilting that I was absolutely in love with one of the colors in this current quilt:

I think this color is my new favorite color.  That photo is pretty true to color on my computer screen.  It's earthy and warm but has a gray overtone.

I was happily quilting until this happened:

Oh the sadness of an empty spool!

Fortunately, I had a spare.  And since I know you are going to ask:

Perma Core Taupe 659.  You are welcome.

Too Cute!

My favorite lawyer used my Squared Away pattern and made this bold and wonderful quilt:

I adore her and I adore this quilt!

If you are interested in the Cutie Pattern or a Cutie Collection (fabric), I'm thrilled to let you know that my favorite online quilt shop is offering a 20% discount (look under the photo of the shop for the code) until Sunday.

HURRY!

Squared Away

Remember this quilt?

It's my Squared Away pattern.  It is now available for purchase online.  Look for it here.

While you are on the Quilt Basket website, read all about their Cutie collection.  They offer many Cutie Packs of fabric that will work with any of their Cutie Patterns.  You get to mix and match and choose what you like!

If that wasn't awesome enough, they are offering a 20% discount through December 21.  The code is under the shop photo on this page.

Happy shopping!  I hope that you love the Cuties as much as I do!

Hotel Tour of 2014 -- night 139

Hotel Room?  What hotel room?

This post is short and written on my phone because the wifi is awful in my hotel.  Wifi isn't the point of this hotel, though; the beach is the point. 

The hotel staff has a sense of humor, though:

At least this animal didn't attack me!

Hotel Tour of 2014 -- night 138

I had a harrowing day today and was relieved to make it back to my hotel room, misplaced kitchen tile and all.

Today was apparently "Debby gets attacked by animals" day.

It started with a Capuchin Monkey:

Cindy had a death grip on my hair.

A couple of camels got in on the action:

I was next attacked by a vicious, 4-month old ant-eater:

I think she was part vampire.

Two baby pigs tried to root me to death:

I narrowly escaped.

When a huge, dangerous alligator attacked, I was paralyzed with fear:

Like I said -- HUGE!

I stared down the owl:

and he left me alone.

I kept my distance from the porcupines:

I've been poked by thousands of needles over the years, but 1,000 all at once didn't sound like much fun.

We fled this dangerous place and went to another, hoping for peace and safety.

When we parked our car and saw this box of tarps:

and read the warnings about vultures destroying your car (windshield wipers, rubber seals on windows, etc.), I was very afraid, but we decided to leave the car parked in that vulture-infested area anyway.

As soon as we got back to the parking lot, hubby inspected the rental car and declared free of vulture-induced damage:

Phew!  Close one!

I am once again safe in my crazy-making hotel room where I hope to sleep free from any more animal attacks!

(Do you think an animal could attack the kitchenette and destroy the misplaced kitchen tile?  I think it would be easier to look at a hole than a turn-sideways block in the backsplash.)

Hotel Tour of 2014 -- night 137

It's important to stay hydrated in the heat.  I take this warning seriously:

Beet/celery juice for breakfast:

S'mores hot chocolate from Serendipity3 for dessert:

They balance each other out.

In between beverages, I got to see tug boats at work:

Some incredibly boring beaches (yawn!):

And Art Decoo manhole covers.

As you can see, I'm suffering.  

May I suffer like this forever.

The tile in my hotel room kitchenette is still driving me nuts, though.

Hotel Tour of 2014 -- night 136

After yesterday's blinding discovery in my hotel room (an error in kitchen tile placement -- gah!), I went looking for more soothing sights today.

How about a window display made of old sewing machines?

There were hundreds more inside of the shop, too!

And the reason that the hotel room is irrelevant:

I walked my feet off today, just enjoying the view:

Ahhhh.., much better.

Hotel Tour of 2014 -- night 135

I said I wasn't traveling for work again in 2014, but I didn't say that I wasn't traveling.

I'm back in a hotel room again, and this jumped out at me:

Do you see it?  There is no way this was intentional.  How are people supposed to sleep with this screaming at them all night long?

Commitment Issues

I tend to over-commit to book series and television series.

Most recently, I've been consumed by the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child.  These are not "The Great American Novel" because 1.  they are written by a Brit and 2. they are just fun to read.

I just finished reading (listening to) Personal, #19 in this series.  I am now patiently waiting for the next book to be written and published.

These books are so much fun to listen to while I'm quilting or driving.  I like the narrator, they are fairly easy to follow, and they are quite entertaining.  I don't think everything in life needs to be serious; sometimes 'entertaining' is a high enough calling.

In case anyone is thinking, "I saw the Jack Reacher movie.  It was great!  I didn't know there were books, too," I warn you that you might not want to say this to me and just maybe we shouldn't be friends.  Tom Cruise IS NOT Jack Reacher.  I feel very strongly about that.

Grand Illusions -- clue 1

I am so excited to be working on Bonnie Hunter's Grand Illusions Mystery Quilt!  It comes at the perfect time -- right after I return home from 11 months of travel.  I look forward to this every year and working on it is my reward for working hard all year.

I'm making mine scrappy and in the colors that Bonnie recommended:

I've recently adopted a young quilter.  She has quickly sewn through every kit quilt I've prepared for her and is also looking forward to working on Grand Illusion.  I gave her yardage for her quilt:

I think this one will keep her busy for a while!

Hotel Tour of 2014 -- night 134

I just taught my last class of 2014.  Sniff, sniff.

I'm sad for the classes to be over but am really looking forward to 52 days without having to travel for work reasons.  FIFTY-TWO DAYS!  My poor husband won't know how to handle another person in the house!

This morning, I taught Exploding Out of the Block.  I made a sample using different weights and colors of threads making a sample of designs based on the center fabric square:

This is such a fun class!

And these students from Bits 'N Pieces are fun, too.  They had a little "fun" today at the expense of their Steeler fan teacher (me):

Celeste wasn't the only one wearing Patriots gear.

I got my own in, by quilting gold thread on black fabric.  GO STEELERS!  

Hotel Tour of 2014 -- night 133

I'm having a wild party in my hotel room  I apparently define "wild party" as binding a quilt and watching Netflix.

I can't show the front of the quilt yet, but I'll share a bit of the quilting:

Ribbon candy can look so elegant!

Tomorrow is my last day teaching at Bits 'N Pieces in Pelham, NH.  It is also my last day of teaching for 2014.  I can't think of a better way to end the year!

Hotel Tour of 2014 -- night 132

I am tickled to be teaching at Bits 'N Pieces in Pelham, NH this weekend.  I got to see my dear friend Helen:

Isn't she pretty?

I also got to share the new Handi Quilter Infinity with the class:

Everyone was impressed with the new features, including the on button in the front of the machine!

If you want to check out the new Infinity, stop by Bits 'N Pieces.  I'm here all weekend!