TGIF

This was a quickie quilt I pieced in 2002 using fall fabrics with leaves. I like this quilt, but it needs more quilting on it. I actually have it in my pile of stuff to do down by my sewing machine. It needs to be washed but I need to do that first. I wasn't scared to try to quilt stuff back in my newbie days. I figured it was like Dad always said: "Hey, we're not building a piano here!"

I'm a total idiot with electronic stuff. I went up to the bedroom last night and watched "Walk the Line" on DVD but now I can't figure out how to get it back to the TV mode. I'll never get these folks back out here to show me. I've about resigned myself to never being able to watch the news upstairs! The guy went through it with me last weekend real fast, and I should have made notes. I hate that kind of stuff!

Taxes being done tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. What a way to start the day! Crossing fingers and toes here that I don't owe as much as last year. I had to file 'married filing separately' last year and that's the worst category to be in from a tax standpoint. I never do my own taxes. It's too depressing. Between the car repairs and now taxes, I guess it's a good thing I'm dedicated to using up the stash! LOL!

But it's 1st Weekend! That means I work on Christmas gifts and projects!!

What now?

I love this picture. Daisy was checking out the neighbor's cat also named Daisy. You can barely see her in the bottom left corner. This 'stand-off' lasted a good half hour. The cat finally got bored. LOL

Waiting to hear news on Gracie who had surgery today to remove screws and bolts in her foot from an earlier surgery. Judy, safe travels on your trip back to KY.

An uneventful day today at work, which is the way I like them! Leftovers tonight.

My gratitude is getting "Cooking with Paula Deen" magazine in today's mail. I'm going to plan my weekend cooking tonight. I need new ideas!

Brrrr.....

Just when I thought our ten-minute winter was over, it gets cold again. I'm not complaining, mind you. I just didn't grab a jacket when I walked Daisy tonight, so now I'm shivering. Might have to light the fireplace and snuggle under a quilt. Yeah, that sounds good!

Today was the longest day. The longest, most boring day I've had in a long while. Reading legal documents, contracts, tax returns - everything remotely boring landed on my desk today.

I worked on borders last night on a quilt and might do that again tonight, as soon as I eat something and warm up a bit. I think I might meet my goal of getting it done by the end of the weekend. It's so hard to get much done when I can only quilt for a while at night during the week.

This quilt was a 2001 swap on Alex Anderson's message board called the Squishie Swap. I sent out focus fabric, others sent theirs to me, we pulled fabric from our stash to make blocks, and mailed them back to their owners. Something else I signed up for before my first quilting class. (Really wanting to quilt badly!) In fact, the first block I ever made was for this swap. I've gotten to be good friends with Sweet Sylvia, despite what must have been a horrible block. She's a doll and won't tell me how bad it really is, but what I wouldn't give to have that one back! LOL! I just stuck all the blocks together and used what little focus fabric I had left on the border. Then I quilted it myself! Oh, my! But I was real proud of that quilt, and it's still one of my favorites.

I'm coming close to the end of the first year quilts. (I hear a sigh of relief out in cyberland!) I just thought it was important to document them before I forget the details.

Thinking of Judy a lot today and all the wonderful things she's seeing and eating on her trip home. Sally's frame was delivered today. She's going to be cranking out those quilts! Mar and Deb are probably quilting away and moving way ahead of me on our swap. I'm going to work on that this weekend. Looking forward to Saturday because I need a Jane fix! She keeps me focused on these projects!!

1st Weekend is time to work on my Christmas projects. I'm going to cut out Lisa's quilt finally. I've had Kyra's made for three years. The nice thing about having adult nieces is they are also working and understand how limited my time is. But that's still no excuse!

My gratitude today is getting an eye exam and new glasses ordered.

Signature Quilt

I made up this quickie to take to the 2002 Alex Anderson Quilt Retreat. The top was all put together before Retreat, and the hearts were ironed to paper backed fusible. It made it easy for everyone to sign a heart. I started machine blanket stitching them to the top as soon as they were given to me. The top was almost done when I got home. It's been washed now eight or ten times and is crinkly and soft and wonderful to cuddle under.

The only signature I didn't get at Retreat was Paula Reid, but I put a blank heart on it and she signed it for me the next year. Paula is so sweet. I took her class at Road to California this January, and we had so much fun in there. She had dinner with us the night before, so we were prepared for the laughter we knew would happen in class. The class was on beads and embellishments. I'm looking forward to doing some of that soon on a quilt. She inspired me, although I'll never be able to do them as beautifully as Paula does!

It's pouring rain outside and the freeway looked like a parking lot tonight. I finally got off and took ground streets home. Much faster! Today was a nightmare at work. Our lead salesman turned in his resignation, so it became a day of meetings. I was so hoping to spend a day doing my work as it's near the end of the quarter. Next week will be spent pricing inventory and WIP, a daunting task that will probably take all week and late nights. But I don't mind working late nights if it means I don't have to go in on the weekend.

It's my friend's birthday today. Happy Birthday, Gracie! You are loved! And Sally's quilting frame will be delivered tomorrow. The earth movement will be Sally jumping up and down when the Brown Guy arrives! :)

An up and down kinda day. I guess they can't all be perfect. That would be awfully boring!

My gratitudes today are a safe car and central heating! I'm SO easy!

Kick in the Seat of the Pants

Well, that's what I named this quilt. This was my first venture into lime green. Jane had used lime in a quilt and I saw it and it 'influenced' me! LOL! I auditioned a lot of colors for the border, and liked the green the best. I guess I was feeling frisky this day!

Another BOM that I signed up for in the very beginning. I made every block the day they came in the mail! (Sure don't do that any more!) I learned a lot from this quilt. I didn't really understand the dark, medium, light thing until this one. It was really apparent with black and white fabric. Again, not a great quilt, but at that point every one I did was a learning experience.

I need to dig this one out and take a picture of it quilted. But on the other hand, since I quilted it myself - another adventure - maybe I'll not get a picture of that! I stitched in the ditch around every single piece in the quilt, and then did a double cable in the border. Actually, it's not as bad as I'm making out, but things sure have improved in the quilting department! Finished in Dec. 2002.

And Daisy was such a big help while I was on the floor crawling around and assembling!

We've got a storm brewing off the Coast, so we're in for some rain tonight and tomorrow. I'm not complaining since we're going to have a long and dry summer, but it sure does make traffic even worse out here.

Daisy Dog is feeling much better tonight. I guess the popcorn did the trick!

I can't believe it's almost April. Time sure flies when you're having fun! My gratitude today is just being able to have fun!

Oriental Fabrics

I wrapped this up and gave it to my stepson for Christmas 2001 before it was quilted. He received it finished up for his birthday in March 2002. I used to be so excited when I finished a top that I'd take a ton of pictures, and then none when the quilt was quilted and bound. Live and learn!

Oriental fabrics intriqued me when I first started quilting. Since he had been to Japan a couple of years before this as an exchange student, he was really excited to get this quilt. I found the background fabric in Central California, and then Jane helped me put together the other fabrics. The pattern is "Show Me" by Maple Island Designs. It was a real easy one for a beginner. Too bad I don't have better pictures as it is really beautiful fabric.

I fell off the wagon today at The Fabric Patch. I went in just to get some wide muslin backing, and ended up with another purple bag full of fabric. Fig Tree fabric does that to me!! But I really needed this fabric. I really did! Well, I kinda did, sorta, maybe ........

Daisy hasn't been feeling well today, so she's getting extra attention. I think she's milking it for all it's worth. For instance, her dog food was just too much for her upset stomach, but a couple of pieces of popcorn were just what the doctor ordered. I hope I won't pay for that later!

I finished piecing the main part of the quilt that's been sitting on my sewing table for a few weeks, and just have to get the borders on. I think I'll do that tonight as I'm just having leftovers for supper.

All in all, a very good weekend. My gratitude today is being healthy and able to quilt as much as I want.

Sewing Day

It felt really good to be sewing today. I almost have a top assembled. Will finish it up tomorrow. A beef roast in the crockpot is smelling wonderful.

The cable company came out today to install new boxes for these that weren't working. I'm glad I was here because they put some sort of booster up in the bedroom that knocked out my computer. Anyway, all is fixed now, and I've had the TV going all afternoon. Hmmmmm, that may not be such a good thing! LOL

This quilt was made at Alex Anderson's Quilt Retreat in Nov. 2002. I grabbed a bunch of fabric and threw it in my suitcase for the retreat project. I was just thinking red/cherries, green/leaves. It wasn't until I starting assembling it that I realized it looked awfully Christmassy. So it's named my Very Merry Cherry Christmas Quilt.

I realize I'm posting these quilts at all the wrong times of the year, but I just want to get as many of them documented as I can before I forget the details. Frequent brain fades here!

Oh, funny story about the cable guy. He looked around and said, "So you make blankets, huh?" He walked over to the quilt Judy gave me that was entered in Road to California show this year. He said, "Do you sell these to like Sears or Marshall?" I told him I didn't sell my quilts. He said, "I'll give you $20 for this one?" I started laughing (hysterically). He came back with, "Okay, $30 and not a dollar more."

Jane and the Cream Puff

My friend, Jane, is a very special friend. She's hung in here with me through the trials and tribulations of the past couple of years, always knows when to offer advice, when to just listen, when to roll her eyes at me so I won't take myself quite so seriously, and, most importantly, has taught me to say, "No, that won't work for me." I'm still practicing that line!

Jane gave me a bag full of fabrics for a present a couple of years ago. I don't remember now if it was Christmas or birthday, but I was delighted with those fabrics. She even included a lovely handwritten note with suggestions for their use. She pulled from her stash all the neutrals, and enough fabric for the sashings, cornerstones and binding.

When I was marathon cutting before my surgery, I decided to take out the neutrals, and I spent a delightful afternoon looking through them. Jane has a stash that would shock the most die-hard fabric collector. Her stash makes mine look pitiful by comparison. But the thing about Jane's stash is there isn't much of what I'd call 'serious' fabric in it. Jane has the most wonderful sense of humor, and her stash reflects that!

Take, for instance, these neutrals. All right, they're neutrals. So what? When you look closer, you see dogs and cats and all sorts of things hidden in there. But the most coveted square in the quilt is the square of frogs! You see, Jane is a frog person. She loves frog fabric, and almost all of her quilts have a frog in them somewhere. I figured I must be a real friend, indeed, if she was sharing her frog fabric with me!

This was another one-handed quilt that was pieced after my shoulder surgery. It's so simple, and yet I just love this quilt. It needs to be laid out flat for a while to get rid of the creases. I think I'll just put it on my bed!

My friend, Jane - my friend.

Very First Quilt

My very first quilt. Nothing spectacular, just a triple rail. This was the result of my first quilting class in Sept. 2001. I was off and running!

I need to store my quilts better. I pulled this one out of a stack of quilts in the closet, and it's horribly wrinkled and has deep creases. I need to come up with some system for storage. I am going to find something for my foyer area in which to display some of the quilts, and I know those will be refolded more regularly. If anyone has any suggestions on how they store theirs, I'd love to hear them.

Today was a bear at work. I won't go into details except to say that my Acctg. personnel decided to post things differently and managed to wipe out the entire 2006 accounting system. After many hours of anguish, I was able to restore it from yesterday's backups, only losing today's work. Sheesh, you can't turn your back for a second!

I got the most beautiful letter today from a lady whom I have not met. She's affectionately called Grandma Jane by my friend, Sally. I am not going to be able to attend a retreat this spring, and so Grandma Jane is going to take my place. Grandma Jane sent a picture of herself and also pictures of a few of her quilts. What a love! I have no idea of her age, but I'd guess it's over 80. Getting her letter is one of those unexpected things that made my heart sing. As Jeanne would say, a Gratitude!

I'm sitting here at my desk and looking at the things I hung above it - my court reporting certification, association certificates, my presidency plaque. I don't know why I hung those again. It's been 12 years since I retired. I guess it was such a major part of my life for so long, over 20 years, that it's hard to let go. I really should hang a quilt there instead.

Hooray! I finally got Direct TV to agree to come out Saturday between 9-3:00 to replace the two boxes that haven't worked for a couple of weeks. I've called every single night. Persistance pays off. Well, it might have been the threats of legal action....... now I get to quilt all day while I wait for them! :)

Thinking of Judy tonight on her travels toward home. Judy, safe travels. I'm jealous!! LOL

Stars & Stripes Sampler

Another early quilt; another lousy picture. The quilt doesn't have a hump in it, but is laying on a rather uneven deck! This was a Fons & Porter BOM that I signed up for before my first quilting class. I didn't know better! But I finished it and it now resides with my ex. I think Laurie quilted this one for me a couple of years ago.

Amazingly, I made it home from work tonight in 31 minutes. Of course, that's because I left work exactly at 5:00 as the boss is out of town! :)

I'm heading in my sewing room to sew for two hours tonight. That's my new pledge beginning this week. I haven't made that goal any night so far, but tonight may be it. I'm making progress on this quilt and I want to finish it up by the end of the weekend. There are oodles of new quilts I want to start, and oodles of quilts at various stages of completion. Time's a-wasting and I'm not getting any younger! It would be nice to leave finished quilts when I'm gone! LOL!

And speaking of things unfinished, last night I dug through two very large plastic tubs of Civil War and '30s blocks that I purchased on eBay a couple of years ago. There are some tops that just need quilting, lots of real Civil War era fabrics that I don't even want to cut, and a lot of feedsack scraps. I need to pull out a project or two and get them on my to-do list. The problem is I just keep thinking that anything I do to them will ruin them. I guess that's why I haven't touched them yet. Aside from some of the uncut fabric, they're not that valuable. Their true value is the joy I have when I look at them, and imagine some person making them many, many years ago. I wonder if they were like I am - too many quilts and not enough time. Like I don't have enough of my own UFOs without acquiring those of others!

To-Do List

I really had a time making my to-do list - truly! These are some of the ones that are all kitted and ready to start. I'm afraid the only stash busting for these quilts will be the backings and possibly some small applique pieces. Can't possibly do all of these this year, but I sure can get some of them going.

Confession is good for the soul, so here goes:

1 Give Thanks by Rosalie Quinlan Designs, piece & applique
2 Bittersweet by Elizabeth Scott, Late Bloomer Quilts, piece & applique
3 Bubblegum Dreams by Alex Anderson, piece & applique
4 Christmas Greetings by Verna Mosquera, piece & applique
5 Holiday Lights by Alex Anderson, piece & applique
6 Rabbits Prefer Chocolate by Bunny Hill Designs, piece & applique
7 Catch a Christmas Star by Bunny Hill Designs, piece & applique
8 Friends for Christmas by Lynnette Anderson, applique
9 Cranberry & Cardinals by Barbara Brackman & Karla Menaugh, applique
10 Home Sweet Home by Barb Adams & Alma Allen, piece & applique
11 Wool Bed Rug by Lakeview Primitives, wool applique
12 Celebration of American Life by Barb Adams & Alma Allen, piece & applique
13 Baskets of Treasures by Edie McGinnis, piece & applique
14 Snappin’ Green Beans by Tammy Tadd Designs, piece
15 Postcards from the Past by Robyn Pandolph, applique
16 Everything’s Coming up Roses by Kim Noblin, piece
17 Silver Trees by Fumilo Shimizu, piece
18 Girls Gang Club from two years ago, Jan Patek
19 Cottage Garden by Alma Allen, piece & applique
20 Classic Santas by Quakertown Quilts, piece & applique
21 Christmas Memories by Barb Adams & Alma Allen, piece & applique
22 Daisy’s quilt, piece
23 Bento Box, piece
24 Dressed for Dinner by Pearl Pereira, piece & applique
25 Snow Day Quilt by Polly Minick & Laurie Simpson, piece & applique
26 Vintage Valentine by Verna Mosquera, piece & applique
27 Women of Grace & Charm by Barb Adams & Alma Allen, piece

There are probably 20 more kitted, and a couple whose fabric I released back to the stash because I knew I'd never make them up. It's funny how our tastes change. Quilting is just a 4.5 year adventure for me, and I can already sense a shifting in my quilting desires. Okay, I'm fickle, but when you're having this much fun, why not be fickle!!

Daisy Days

No, not the dog. A quilt! LOL! I'm having a ton of fun digging through the piles of quilts stacked in a closet. This was done about three years ago during one of my "I only want to applique" periods. I've kind of gotten over the Thimbleberries phase but I like this one. It's actually a nice flat quilt, but you can't tell it from this picture - it's laying out on the lawn.

I'm about to get real angry with Direct TV. They fried all the boxes in this area trying to download something on their end, and I can't seem to get anyone out here at a time that's convenient to me to replace the two I have here. I rushed home tonight only to be told that they have me scheduled for Thursday. Grrrrrr........ okay, deep breaths! I don't watch a lot of TV but I do like to turn on the news in the morning when I'm upstairs getting dressed. It probably didn't help that I told the smart-aleck young man Saturday that if I ran my business the way they're running theirs, that planes would fall out of the sky! One of these days I'm gonna learn to keep my mouth shut!

I spent all day yesterday at the sewing machine and it felt really good. But I can't post pictures of what I'm working on, so only old quilts will be posted for a while longer. Boring, boring! Next up, though, I'm going to attack that pile of quilts that just need backings pieced. Yep, I'm just going to do it! Once that stack is taken care of, then I feel I can move forward. There's a pile of fabric up there that's screaming, "Use me! Use me!"

The Nelly Table

My friends, Sally and Jace, surprised me with a Nelly Table last year. I love this table. It's always on the arm of my sofa, and keeps my applique stuff handy for night stitching.

The original table was made for Sally when she needed a place to put her mouse for her laptop. Jace is amazing. Give him an idea and he's off and running. His work is absolutely beautiful! Here's a link to his site. http://www.webersfurniture.com Some of the most dilapidated and abused pieces that have been stored in barns and attics for decades have been restored to their original beauty by him. He's a true artist!

The Nelly was named for their late cat, Nelly. She used to sleep straddling the arm of their sofa just like this table. The picture they sent me was hilarious! Anyway, it was fitting to name this piece for her.

I was constantly losing my needle threader, etc., but now everything is handy and nothing falls between the cushions of the sofa anymore. The Nelly is my all-time favorite quilty gadget!!

Quilter's Helper

When I moved here a year ago, it was just three months after my shoulder replacement surgery. Needless to say, boxes of stash and quilty goodies were stacked to the ceiling in the garage. Every night when I got home from work, I'd haul armloads of fabric upstairs to the stash room. I couldn't lift boxes, so I made many, many trips upstairs!

One night I lost Daisy dog. I couldn't find her anywhere. I totally panicked! I looked for over an hour for her. I went outside calling her name. I searched everywhere in the house. I was totally devastated.

Then reason and logic set in - what little bit I had left at that point! I remembered that I hadn't opened the garage door or the front door since her walk when I first got home, so she had to be inside somewhere. "Trace your steps, Vicky. Go back over every single step you took tonight." (Talking to yourself really helps at times like this!) I went to the garage, and looked through the boxes I had emptied that night. No Daisy hiding in any of them.

I remembered that I had carted up two wire baskets of fabric to the then empty stash room closet. So upstairs I go again. When I slid the door open, there she was sound asleep! I knew immediately at that point what my mother used to say about not knowing whether she wanted to kill me or kiss me!

I know now she was just real nervous about being in a new place. Heck, we both were. It didn't take us long to adjust, but even to this day she won't let me out of her sight.

She's my doggy guardian angel. She helps me with color selections, bugs me when she thinks I need a break from sewing, and listens so attentively when I tell her about my day.

I think everyone should have a quilter's helper. Especially one so doggone cute!

Stash

Today I spent almost $2900 on my car. I decided to revisit my stash and get real cozy with it since that’s where I’m going to be doing my shopping for the foreseeable future. It fills two large closets, the bookshelves I had made for the stash room, and the hallway linen closet. And that’s not even counting the purple Fabric Patch bags sitting everywhere in my sewing room full of fabric that hasn’t been ‘filed’ away yet.

This weekend I was actually thinking about ordering more of these bookshelves, and then thought stupid stupid stupid! That’s like buying new slacks rather than losing 10 lbs to fit more comfortably into the ones you already own. Well, actually I was thinking about that, too, but that’s another discussion for another day.

I am committed to using up half (or more realistically a third) of this stuff this year. My goal is for everything to fit on the shelves. I have a closet of bolts for backings so I’m all set there. Perhaps some border fabrics or very small cuts of colors I might need for applique is all I will be purchasing.

I didn’t make a New Year’s resolution this year – so this is my March 16th resolution! Better late than never!

Charm Quilts

I seem to have collected a ton of those Moda charm packs lately, and I was digging through old photos trying to come up with a quick way to use some of them up.

This was from a patriotic charm swap with my online group, and this quilt was donated to a Veteran's hospital in the Atlanta area. One of our members spearheaded donations for that hospital for about three years.

I think this took about four hours to put together and another three or four hours to quilt and bind. I'm thinking this sort of quickie might be make nice TV-cozy quilts for some young family members for Christmas. And bust some stash for borders and binding in the process! LOL. Or maybe find a neutral from the stash and make half square triangles .... uh oh, I think I feel a new project coming on!

Oh, oh, oh, I'm SO excited. I spent all weekend looking for a background fabric. I had in my mind what I wanted for a class in April. Three quilt shops and found nothing that would work. So I went upstairs and dug around in my stash and found the perfect fabric! But it was only a yard and I needed 1.25. So I dug some more and found another yard! I'm all set!! What fun to do shopping at home! LOL!

The QuiltMobile

Can't post pictures tonight for some reason. Figures!

The QuiltMobile is in the shop. I dropped her off on Friday and picked up a rental. Today they called me with the bad news. It's going to cost a small fortune to get everything fixed, but I don't have any choice. The whole dashboard lit up - every light that could possibly come on did. I probably could have ignored most of them :), but the airbag light was on and some other ones that "looked important." I had just decided to keep her another year. I just hope I didn't make a mistake with that decision. The only thing I hate more than cleaning toilets or getting a root canal is car shopping! It's a good thing I'm dedicated to using my stash ..........

I planned on getting so much work done this week at the office, but things keep happening to sidetrack me. Not a productive week at all.

I was unable to get online here at home for a couple of days. I need to have a "serious" talk with the cable folks. Every time it rains, the connection dies. There must be a bad cable outside somewhere. I don't know. It's just as frustrating to me as car stuff. And with working, it's hard to set up appointments to get things fixed. It's always something!

I'm still on a high from my little bit of stash enhancement last weekend. It feels good to now have all the fabrics ready for a couple of applique projects. I think I'm going to spend most of this coming weekend just getting everything lined up and organized on those. For some reason I'm not wanting to sew much lately. Sometimes just stepping back for a couple of weeks is good. And the way everything seems to be going wonky recently, maybe it's best I don't turn on the sewing machine! LOL

Winter

I guess it's officially winter here in So Cal! I drove around a good bit today and the mountains are almost all white. I'm sure they'll be totally covered tomorrow. I was in a quilt shop when it started hailing, and it happened again briefly when I got home. First hail I've seen since I've been out here. It's cold outside!!

I had fun today picking out fabrics for applique projects. I now have all the fabric for a couple and am ready to start them. I was real excited about finding one elusive piece I needed badly. I got one book, Quilts from the Henry Ford. It's a beautiful book. The only piece purchased today for a new quilt was a piece of Mardi Gras focus fabric, but the rest of the quilt will be from stash. So all in all I didn't do too badly. Just go-withs, and only small pieces of those since they're for applique.

Gumbo tonight ...... c'est bon!

And tomorrow I sew!!

A Painting and a Quilt

Sweet little Gracie painted a picture to hang in my office. She was four at the time. Then she told me her baby doll was cold. What's Aunt Vicky to do but make her baby doll a quilt using the painting as inspiration? It doesn't matter that she's my boss' granddaughter. She's real special to me - she was born on my birthday! I just hope her next picture isn't quite so 'abstract'! LOL

But this is totally a stash quilt! Not that it busted much stash!

Made gumbo tonight but it needs to cook more. It'll finish cooking tomorrow. They're predicting some snow on our mountaintops this weekend. We might have a winter after all!

An Early Attempt

I'm trying to organize quilt photos, and found this one made when I was a real squeaky clean newbie. It was made for my boss' little granddaughter, and is the first quilt I made from beginning to end all by myself. I quilted it with straight stitching and one of those Borders Made Easy patterns for the borders, and it was the first time I did a binding. Boy, what I wouldn't give to get a look at that quilt now!

It was a flannel kit from The Fabric Patch. I just substituted some of the fabric to remove boyish ones. I don't know the pattern, but the squares are all sewn together and then cut twice on the diagonal and resewn to get on point blocks. I was so careful not to get any two colors touching, but after the quilt was cut and restitched, I ended up with two greens right slap dab in the middle.

I'm standing on a chair to hold the quilt up. This was less than a year after I shattered my shoulder and that's as high as I could raise my right arm. I remember how heavy that quilt was to manipulate through the sewing machine. At times I had to get others to help me hold the weight of it. I think that's probably why I don't care to work with flannel now.

I shampooed carpets last night. My carpet cleaner was damaged in the move, so I decided just to rent a Rug Doctor from the grocery store. It worked great, and at $19 a day I think I'll just do this from now on! Spring cleaning is almost over. Just some 'straightening up' in my sewing room and another dusting and I'm done! And it feels good!!

CEO is out of town the rest of the week, so it's catch-up time at work. I was thinking that I might make gumbo tonight. The weather is still crisp enough and this will take care of major cooking for the weekend.

Tired Tonight!

What a day. Then an hour getting home in traffic and drizzling rain. Food and a hot bath are in order! But first things first -- Daisy hugs! The best medicine in the world for whatever ails you!

A new book came today, The Civil War Diary Quilt by Rosemary Youngs. I think I'll head up to snuggle under the quilt and get a good read in before lights out.

Spring has Sprung

I dug around in the quilts and found one that looked like spring. I really really hate to admit this, but I have never had a quilt on my bed before tonight! But it's raining again, and I thought it would cheer me up to have something light and fresh in the bedroom!

This was one of my early quilts, probably the first six months or so. The pattern is called "Butterfly Flip" by Atkinson Designs. Unfortunately, I didn't "flip" those butterflies, but lined them all up like little soldiers. And didn't even do a good job of that. There are plenty of them who are marching to a different drummer! LOL

Today was a busy one, but I'm all ready for a big meeting tomorrow and that feels good! Also, I stuck to my new resolution and stood up for truth and justice today, and that felt good, too. So all in all, very much a feel-good kind of day!

Daisy dog and I are having a stand-off right now. She didn't like her allergy-proof dog food, but would eat it reluctantly. I caved this weekend and bought her a bag of good stuff. Yesterday I caught her in the pantry trying to get into the bag. Tonight I mixed the old food with a handful of the yummy. I watched her pick through the bowl and eat only what she liked out of it. And now she's sitting at the pantry door looking pitiful! She plays me like a fiddle!

Spring Cleaning

Yeah, okay, the house is clean, but I was thinking more along the lines of getting some UFO spring cleaning done. I decided to pull out the UFOs, the ones that I can quickly finish up. Five or six just need the backings pieced, which I hate to do, and then they're off to be quilted. There are two that need assembly - the nothing-fancy-just-do-it kind of assembly; these are donation quilts. One needs pinning so I can try to quilt it myself. One needs some creative thought on a pieced border. And, yes, there's a QOV in there just needing a final border and the backing pieced. But all are very do-able in short order.

There are more UFOs, trust me, but even those are nearing completion. Most of them just need a couple of more blocks made, or some stash busting for borders and backings. But those will be another stack for another time. I just figured if I got these pulled together and placed in a spot in the house where I'd have to look at them every day, then I'd feel bad because they weren't finished. That Catholic guilt thing again! LOL!

Admission is good for the soul. I'm a quilt top junkie! There! I've said it!!

Thinking about Stash Quilts

I was rummaging through my quilts today and ran across this one made from batiks. This pix is before the binding was on it. But I was thinking it would be an easy quilt to make using up all the strips we've got hoarded away. I think scrappy would be fabulous! Judy's gorgeous quilting, but I don't have a closer shot to show the beautiful variegated thread.

I spent the entire day cleaning. Just have my bedroom and bathroom left and I'll do that first thing in the morning. Now that it's all caught up, I can truly do my daily task and keep it up. I also hung sheers in the living room and dining room, hung a huge mirror in the dining room that's been leaning up again the wall for a year, and hung a ton of other pictures. Starting to feel like a home! About time!

I moved Daisy's kennel from the dining room to the living room - and covered it with a quilt, of course! She was all discombobulated after it was moved. Every time I'd go near the kennel, she'd jump in and pull the door closed with her teeth as if to say, "Nuh uh, you're not moving me again!!" Funny funny dog. A real creature of habit!

I'm so proud of myself for being so productive today! Tomorrow I sew!!!!!

The Hurricane

I was still a new quilter and taking as many classes as I could to learn different techniques. I signed up for a storm at sea paper piecing class, and The Hurricane was born. I had so many problems with thinking backwards - my brain doesn't work like everyone else's (that's a blog for later) - but suffice it to say this was a real challenge.

I wanted a red storm at sea. I saw one in a magazine once, and that was what I wanted!! So I trek over to The Fabric Patch and started pulling red batiks. Candace was helping me and it was coming together very nicely. Then I spotted the dark blue with the ferns and started pulling go-withs for that. The red quilt was totally abandoned, but Candace still calls this my red quilt! LOL

I paper pieced this thing in about two weeks at night after work, and it took me another two weeks to get all the paper off the back of it. It looked like it snowed in my sewing room! I mean, a blizzard. I vacuumed every day, sometimes twice a day, and no amount of vacuuming could keep up with it. It stuck to my clothes and made its way down the hall and into the kitchen and stuck to my shower curtain. I must have had paper stuck to the bottom of my shoes because I found some on the deck out back! My maid even brought the vacuum cleaner to me one day, "Miz Beeky, it no suck!" I was rolling on the floor laughing. She had filled up TWO vacuum bags in like ten minutes after a night of paper pulling!

I sent this off to Judy with my usual detailed quilting instructions, "I don't care. You decide." I know I drive her crazy but that's how I am. Anyway, it is one of my favorites just because it was my first PP'g.

Christmas Tiles

This picture is before it was quilted by Judy, but I just love this quilt. It's her Vienna Tiles pattern. I did a huge amount of cutting before my shoulder surgery. Once I was home and feeling up to it, I'd sit at my sewing machine and sew until it was time to take more drugs. LOL! I did five or six one-handed quilt tops while I was off work - chain piecing them through with my left hand and using the bejeebers out of that knee lift! I've got a picture that I'll post another time of the beautiful quilting on it. This one is totally from stash! I was so proud of myself for doing that!!

I'm going to break my resolution tonight and order take-out. I've been really good the past few months about cooking something at night, but I'm just too tired to fool with it today. There's a good barbeque place near here - might just go get some chicken and call it a day!

March Project

The host of our Elimination Club pulled the March number, and here it is - Dear Emma. My friend, Sally, and I are making this one together for her beautiful granddaughter. Sally is making the pieced blocks and I'm making the appliqued ones. The first appliqued block was made the day Emma was born. She's now two. Our goal is to have this finished before she graduates high school! Yeah, we can do that!!! (The third row is not assembled in this picture.) I'm going to finish the fourth row of the applique and also do the fifth row this month.

I can't believe it's already March! I sure wish I had started quilting 20 years ago. There's no way to make all the quilts I want to make. Guess they'll all be going to The Home with me!!

My happy thought today is realizing that I'm happy! Quite an accomplishment considering all I've been through in the last ten years. I've been wallowing in the past a lot lately, as evidenced in my blogs, but that's over now. I always get that way this time of year. While it's important to remember my past and where I've come from and been, it's more important to move forward - with the knowledge that each day here on earth is another opportunity I've been given to get it right!