2007 Quilty Ponderings

I binged and purged this year. On the fabric diet. Off the fabric diet. On. Off.

I didn’t sew as much as I would have liked to, but I did have a good time this year and appliqued a ton!

Finished Quilts and Flimsies:

~ The giterdun/gotitdun! If I never make another quilt, I’m happy with that one.
~ Bundling Board
~ Alex’s 2006 retreat project
~ Brown/taupe shop sample for Ginger
~ Purple shop sample for Ginger
~ Duck quilt shop sample for Ginger
~ Holly Jolly tablerunner
~ Gingerbreadmen table runner
~ Spooky Nights
~ Two quilts which were just mailed out today

WIPS started:

~ 2007 retreat project, Holiday Lights
~ Blue/red Quilts in a Bag
~ Hometown Christmas
~ Peach Cobbler

Applique projects started: (These were worked on regularly.)

~ Pumpkins
~ All Things Christmas
~ Strawberry Hill
~ Piece & Plenty

I would love to see all of these finished, quilted and bound in 2008, but I’m not going to put undue pressure on myself to do that. My number one, highest priority resolution in 2008 is to enjoy every single quilting moment! Yes, I’ll use the stash. But I’m going to enjoy every last stitch I take!

I would like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year! Remember, whatever you do on New Year’s Day, you do for the rest of the year! So don’t forget to take a few stitches!

Gratitudes:

~ My career that lets me afford to quilt
~ Friends made, friendships renewed, and old friends
~ A healthy and happy family
~ A healthy and happy me
~ The sweetness in my life named Daisy

Introducing Cowguy

http://sawdustandcowpies.blogspot.com/

Cowguy is a new blogger, and a very good friend, and with the teeniest bit of encouragement from all you, I know he will rip loose with a bunch of hilariously true stories!

If you get a moment, mosey on over and say hello. But don't tell him I sent you. Because he's notorious for playing jokes on folks. And it's my turn to get him!

Sunday Report

... and when she was good, she was very, very good. And when she was bad, she was horrid...

The double Irish chain was delivered on Thursday night. The looks of surprise on their faces was enough to erase all the grief experienced while making this monster!

I had never added up the fabric before. I was surprised that it was only 28.375 yards. I would have sworn it was at least four times that! LOL. So since this is officially out of my life, I'm going to count that yardage busted.

And add six more inches to that count for more Christmas fabric ribbons for packages! Hey, every inch counts!

Now, on the enhancement front, that's where the horrid part comes in. But it's all Jane's fault. You see, she insisted we go to a 40% off everything sale. We really had fun there, and I came home with probably more than 28.375 yards plus six inches!

40% off: 2 more Holly Jolly jelly rolls; 7 yards of Holly Jolly background; 5 yards of a patriotic backing; 1 yard each of five different orange crackle fabric for pumpkins; 3 yards of Yuletide Blessings for a backing; 2.5 yards (end of bolt) of more Sunshine background that I needed because I didn't have enough. That's 22.5 yards. Okay, I'm still on the plus side! Whew!

But that's it for me! C'est tout!

I've been deleting emailed sale announcements like crazy. One resolution for 2008 is that I am only going to buy online from The Fat Quarter Shop, and am only going to support two local quilt shops this year. I stop in at Ginger's every week but I'm sorry to say I didn't purchase a lot there this year. The other shop is a fair drive away from home, so I don't visit there very often. If I absolutely need something and Kimberly doesn't have it, then I'll venture out to the two shops. No more "Oh, that's really cute. Let me poke that button." I'm psyched up for this. I'm determined. I am strong. I am woman. Hear me roar. I just dated myself.

Do you have a Tutto bag? Oh, my, I was so surprised on Christmas to get this! I have admired them for a long time, and even almost bought one at Road to California last January. It will make going to sew-ins so much easier. My sewing machine and everything will be all nicely tucked away in this rolling bag! Thank you, Santa!! Maybe I wasn't so horrid after all! :) :)

Smiling here!!

The Giterdun is changing its call sign.

The Giterdun is now the GOTITDONE!!!!

Delivery tomorrow!!

Merry Christmas to All

I was hoping to have a picture to post today of the finished giterdun, but I'm only about three-quarters of the way around on the binding. Since most of that was done today, I know I'll be able to get it done by Thursday.

I just want to wish everyone the most glorious holiday season. Whatever your faith, may December 25th be a day full of joy and happiness.

It's Over!

All the work Christmas planning - cards, customer gift baskets, office dinner, etc., etc. is over! This year went so smoothly. I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop! I'm off until next Wednesday! And then another four-day weekend for New Year's! Plumb giddy here!

I'm about finished with the two secret quilt projects, and then I'll be finishing up the binding on the giterdun over the holidays. Boss will be back in town next Thursday. I should be able to get it done by then! It will soon be out of my life forever!!

Wednesday night when I got home there was a note clipped to the garage door that they were coming in today to measure the windows for new blinds. I noticed that every door in our circle had the notes on them. My first thought was why they had to measure all of the condos. There are only three floor plans here. Couldn't they just measure one of each style and go from there? Oh, and the note also said that we had to have all window treatments down and all furniture moved away from the windows. Sorry Charlie! There's no way I can move that huge TV armoire, both downstairs and in my bedroom. My living room sofa now resides in front of a window also, and the stash room -- yikes, all sorts of stuff is under that window including my grandmother's treadle machine. So I did a quick vacuum and mopped the kitchen floor this morning and called it good. Well, they did come in today because the sheers were all wonky, and Daisy was real skittish when I got home. But there was no note left saying, "Vicky, you really MUST clean up this quilty stuff!" Whew! LOL

We shut it down at 4:00 today, so I stopped by Ginger's on the way home for a fix. Ginger looked so cute! She had on a Mrs. Santa Clause outfit with the pockets of her apron filled with candy that she was handing out to everyone who came in! Tons of cookies and snacks! It's such a happy shop to visit. No, I didn't buy anything! LOL

The branch of our bank that I frequent was robbed on Wednesday. I'm glad I called before I drove over there, and really thankful that no one was physically hurt. They were really shaken, though. The branch manager told me that she's experienced robberies before, but it was always a one-person job. This time it was a take-over. Several people coming in and screaming and shouting profanities, real aggressive and mean types. Everyone had to get face down on the floor, and the all the tellers had to empty their drawers. She told me that when they came in, they asked who had the keys to the vault. She was petrified that they would come to get her to open it, but she said they never did. They had counselers in that day to talk to all the employees, and I sure hope it helped. I can't even imagine being in that kind of situation. Scary stuff!

I'll have pictures to post in a few days. I have honestly been searching for something to photograph just so the blog wouldn't be so blah, but there's nothing interesting to share. I'm so boring!

Oh, geez, Daisy is having the best time over there tearing up a paper towel all over the carpet. It's a good thing she's so cute!

EDIT: Daisy finished with the paper towel and graduated to overturning the trash can by my sewing machine - again! I heart my dog!

Gratitudes:

~ The Christmas spirit has arrived!
~ Feeling almost back to normal.
~ The "winter" weather we're having!
~ Humming Christmas carols all day!

A Wonderful Day

Jane and I went to The Nutcracker ballet yesterday afternoon at Bridges Auditorium on the gorgeous Claremont Colleges campus. It's four or five miles from the house, and although I've driven through the campus before, I've never gotten out and walked around.

http://tinyurl.com/2yt6mh

We had to park a couple of blocks away and walk. Such a gorgeous day, and seeing everything so lush and green on the campus was fabulous. I commented to her that it reminded me a lot of the LSU campus with all the big trees, except there were no azaleas. No sooner than I said that we spotted some blooming azalea bushes. Talk about make me homesick! If only there were blooming gardenias!

The ballet was such fun! I was particularly partial to the mice because I danced the Nutcracker for 10 years when I was a kid, and I think for about six of those years I was a mouse! There were several truly extraordinary dancers in the cast. We really had a great time! Of course, we were both humming the music when we left there.

We got out just in time to head to the employee Christmas party at Ginger's. There was so much food there! I mean, lots and lots of food, from a baked ham to every sort of homemade cookie and cakes and pies you could imagine, and Ginger's famous homemade potato salad! I may have gained back several of those pounds I lost a couple of weeks ago! We had a gift exchange, and I came home with a gift certificate to Starbucks! Ginger and Linda were so sweet to give us all a gift also. One of the items in my package was a tube of gardenia scented hand lotion! The day was complete!

This shop is really special in that Ginger and Linda encourage folks to just drop by and visit. There's always something to nibble on there and the coffee pot is always on. You just feel like you're home when you walk in. I especially love that I always get hugs when I'm leaving. Heck, I never turn down hugs!

I had a wonderful day yesterday, but it will be nice to stay home today. I'm finishing up one small project today, and will be a binding machine next week! I've got three bindings to get done! Daisy will be happy because I'll be sitting next to her on the sofa. LOL

My gratitudes today and every day are the wonderful friends and "family" I have here in SoCal. I can't imagine how I ever got along without them in my life!

Wrapping Presents

The only thing I hate worse than shopping is wrapping presents! I finally broke down and bought Christmas paper at Albertson's a couple of weeks ago.

Today I had to pick up a small gift for a gift exchange at Ginger's employee party tonight. No, I'm not an employee, but I guess they felt like they had to invite me since I'm always hanging around there! LOL. Anyway, I headed over to this cute little gift shop a couple of miles from my house, and there was a cuter shop next door to that one. So I bopped in there and found something. And a gift for another friend while I was in there.

Anyway, I got home and pulled out my wrapping paper. I'm good to go. Uh oh, do I have Scotch tape? I dug and dug and finally came up with some. Whew! So I get this thing wrapped on the kitchen counter because every other surface in the house has a project on it. I kind of bunched up the paper on the ends because I just can't seem to get those corners to miter like everyone else can. Okay, it's done.

Oh, no, I don't have any ribbon. No use looking because I know I don't have any.

But I've got a pinking rotary cutter. And I've got lots of red stash! Voila!!!

So now I've got something to report on Sunday's stashbusting report. Two inches of red fabric!!! :) :) :) And no fabric purchases -- well, none for me!

Jane will be here in a bit and we're off to see the Nutcracker ballet. It's over at Claremont Colleges. Since that's a block or two away from my hair salon (yes, Beth, I did get a dip and clip this morning!), I wandered around through the campus until I found the auditorium where it will be held. That campus is so beautiful.

Then from the ballet, we'll be going to Ginger's for the party. I swannee, I'm turning into a regular party animal! LOL

Gratitudes:

~ Easy shopping this morning

~ Putting tape on my shopping list

~ Putting Estroven on my shopping list! :)

~ Finally feeling almost normal, except for the hives that found me after Applique Club on Thursday night. I wonder what I nibbled on that did that to me. :(

~ Daisy discovering wrapping paper cut-aways. And making a mess!

Lots of Nothing

I have zero pictures to show you, and zero interesting things to report. Just got home from work after a stop at the market. I'm getting better about shopping. Went straight to the Jell-O and yogart, Dr. Pepper and bottled water. It's real easy to figure out what to eat these days! LOL

I'm almost to the point that I can get back to the binding on the giterdun. By Sunday I'll be binding like a maniac. I might even take it to Applique Club on Thursday night. Yeah, that's what I'll do! I had to stop when I got to the first corner because it wouldn't turn right. I've never had that happen to me before on the miters. I need to ponder it a bit and figure out what I did wrong.

I'm really looking forward to Saturday for two reasons. First, I get a dip and clip. I missed my haircut and color the weekend after I was in the hospital. Instead of rescheduling, I decided just to wait until my next appointment. I go in every three weeks. Yikes, it's shaggy and gray. Gray! When did that happen? And this is the Nutcracker Ballet weekend! I'm so excited about that. I can't wait!

One thing I'm definitely going to do this weekend is take down the pumpkin stuff off the mantle and at least hang the Christmas wreath. I'm so far behind! Of course, I could just put some greenery up there with the pumpkins and call it good! LOL

I really did have lots of nothing to talk about!

Gratitudes:

~ A picture that made me smile today!
~ Loving this crispy, cool weather!
~ Inspired beyond all reason about quilty things!
~ Countdown to Road to California!

Sunday 12-9-07 Stash Report

Man, it's killing me to be this good!! I wasn't perfect, but all things considered, the CEO of Purchasing is pretty happy with herself!

I poked a lot of buttons this week, but they were mostly things for others. I did poke once for myself, and that was to pay for something that I had reserved a while back. So that doesn't count since it ordered a long time ago. Right? :) Kimberly at http://www.fatquartershop.com/ will vouch for me on this one! I promise!

Yesterday I went to two quilt shops and got a backing, three FQs and a pattern. The backing was purchased for two reasons: first, I need it for a patriotic project. But I can't reveal the REAL reason I bought it. Not yet anyway! LOL. So let's not count that purchase either! Okay, I'll admit I didn't need the three FQs, but they were polka dots! I mean, polka dots! I have quite a collection of those, and I couldn't stand to leave those three piddly FQs at the quilt shop! They looked lonely!

The pattern is Irish Reel from the Straight to the Point Series, http://www.quiltwoman.com/. I hate sewing diagonal rows with those setting triangles. I always get all discombobulated sewing those together. This pattern has you sew straight rows and then make two long cuts on the quilt top and sew it back together to get the on-point setting. This pattern only needs three fabrics, so I can see some stash busting on this one. I'm going to dig into the Robyn Pandolph stash closet. I'll bet there's something in there that will work! Edit: Well, the link won't take you right to the pattern. In the search box on the Make it Easy link up in the top right corner, type in "Straight to the Point" and you'll get to it. Sorry!

The funny thing is that I'm actually thinking stash busting these days whenever I look at a pattern or book. That's good! I'm usually like the high school teenager who's been invited to a party. I have to go out and buy a new dress, even though I have a closet full of new dresses that still have the tags on them. Not any more! I want to use up some of this stuff -- okay, maybe only to make room for more stuff, but we won't talk about that!

The picture was taken this morning when I went out with Daisy. There's snow on our mountaintops! Hooray! Our "winter" has arrived!

Christmas Shopping

Jane and I went out and about yesterday in the cold and drizzly rain. I had such fun! I've been just going to work and coming home for the past three weeks, and it was good to giggle with her. We went to two quilt shops and an antique store that we've visited before.

I was SO good! I bought four yards of a patriotic backing that I needed, three polka dot fat quarters and one pattern! Everything else I got were gifts for various and sundry folks.

Judy, you really need to visit SoCal soon! The two shops still had lots of Holly Jolly fabric! See? LOL.

You should have heard us in the antique store. We were laughing so much at some of that stuff. There were a couple of things I probably would have gotten if it weren't for Christmas being just around the corner. I'll go back after Christmas. If they're still there, then they were meant to be! I was looking for one particular thing for a gift, and what I found was either way too expensive or way too cheap. I'm going to keep looking. Eventually I'll find it!

Daisy was being so funny when I got home. Yesterday morning, I retrieved a small FQ Shop box from the garage thinking it would be perfect to mail a present in. Well, it was too small and I left it sitting on the floor by my cutting table. When I walked in last night, she had her head down against the side of the box and was pushing it across into the living room. I started laughing when I saw her. She looked up at me, and then went back to pushing that box around the house. I didn't get it but she was having fun! Doesn't take much to entertain that baby - boxes, water bottles, spools of Aufrafil thread! LOL.

Went to dinner with Jane and her sweet DH last night. First real food I've had since the endodontist visit on Friday morning. My mouth felt perfectly fine until about halfway through the meal. I took a couple of Motrin and it feels better this morning. I might ought to stick to Jell-O for another few days. :(

Gratitudes:

~ The remarkable feeling of being with good friends and laughing about absolutely nothing!

~ The rain!

~ My silly dog making me laugh - again!

~ A whole day stretching ahead with absolutely nothing on the agenda except what I want to do!! Oh, yeah, and laundry!

Worn Out Here!

I've been busier than all get-out.

I have the second appointment with the endodontist tomorrow morning. I started back on the antibiotics today. I hope my stomach doesn't get all messed up again, and that this whole ordeal will be over shortly!

I'm going Christmas shopping with Jane this weekend. I've got to say that only once have I actually gone out Christmas shopping in the almost 14 years I've been in SoCal. It's scary out there - way too many crazy folks. But hopefully she will be navigating, or at least co-piloting, and I'm going to do it!!! LOL

My goal is to finish this sewing by the weekend, and then I have to get busy on the binding for the boss' quilt. I have two weeks to get that done as they will going out of town before Christmas. In a week and a half or so if you hear some gleeful screaming coming from my direction, that will be me with a finished giterdun!!!!

That's it from my boring little part of the world. It's cooling down quickly outside as it's supposed to start raining tonight. I can't wait!

Sunday Stash Report

1st Weekends are my Christmas sewing weekends. Although I haven't sewn on any Christmas projects yet, the weekend is not over!

I did turn on the Bernina yesterday and had a glorious sewing day. I'm working on something that is turning out really nice, although it's a secret and I can't blog about it. LOL. I should finish it up this week and it's off to be quilted. I lost two weeks while I was sick, so I'm behind schedule.

It's cold here - well, California cold. It was in the low 40s last night and will be in the mid 60s today. The rain we had on Friday has washed away all the ash and soot, and everything is so beautifully green here. If I venture out today, I'll take my camera along and will add some Southern California winter shots for those in blogland who are getting snow this weekend and experiencing a real winter!

Stash news: I have a good and bad report this Sunday. The bad news is that I have not busted any stash - and won't until I get this quilt top finished and get the binding finished on the giterdun. The good news is that I didn't buy anything this week except for two patterns to aid in the stash busting efforts, and two months' worth of those flower of the month fabrics. Half yard cuts. As I've mentioned before, I seem to buy things in sets, and I can't stop this set now. I'm just glad the year is almost over!! Have no clue what I will do with those, but I have them. LOL

Daisy is sleeping in this morning. I think she knows that when she gets up, she has to go out in the cold to potty. She is really getting blind. She was diagnosed with cataracts when she was about four years old. It seems in the past two or three months, her vision has really gone downhill. I'm going to have to remember to take a big flashlight out with me when I walk her at night. If I shine it a foot or so ahead of her, she will follow it. I noticed this week that she walks off the sidewalk and stumbles, and she actually walked into the side of the building last weekend. It's real frustrating for her when she stumbles or bumps into something, and she turns and starts heading back to the front door. It breaks my heart to see her like this, but she's happy except when she's outside at night. My boss asked me what I would do with her when she became totally blind, and I replied that I would just love her and help her along. She does fine in the house with the lights on and knows where everything is. I love this puppy so much, and I suspect I will be really bonding with her even more in the years to come. To paraphrase a line from "Seabiscuit," you don't throw away a perfectly good life just because they're a little banged up. I love you, Daisy bug!

I'm feeling better every day, although my stomach is still a little messed up from the antibiotics. Haven't gotten the final word yet on when I'll be finishing up the work on that tooth, but I suspect it will be late next week.

I promise pictures! Soon!

Gratitudes:

~ A sewing day at my house
~ I need to buy a scale. I think I've lost a couple of more pounds.
~ The Christmas spirit is coming on
~ As ever, my sweet Daisy

Forming a Plan Here

I spent a little while up in the stash room last night just kind of looking around.

The first thing that's bugging the bejeebers out of me are the odd fat quarters that are everywhere. I'm going to be pulling some patterns from the pattern "stash" and from the book "stash" and will be using up as many of those odd fat quarters as I can here very shortly. Whatever doesn't get used will get cut into strips. I want those things out of my life!

Tonight I stopped by Ginger's to get a Jane fix, and found the cutest pattern in there. You already know I love BOMs, and here's a pattern I can pull from the stash and do a row a month!! My own BOM!!

http://tinyurl.com/2ffvd9

The pattern is "Seasons in a Row" by Sandy Brawner of Quilt Country. I had already put it on the counter when Jane told me she saw the quilt at market and it was just adorable.

On the health front, I'm feeling so much better. I had a visit with my new family physician yesterday and I really like him. The hospital doctor was kind enough to find a new doctor for me since mine retired last month, and then called him and filled him in on what I was going through. Before my appointment yesterday, my new doctor had pulled the hospital records and was all ready for me. We had a few good laughs and I think it's a good fit. He told me he wanted me to wait two weeks after I finish the antibiotics before resuming my dental work. Well, today the endodontist called to check on me, and he disagreed with that. He wants to do the work now while I'm still full of antibiotics. I'm going to let those two battle it out! They're supposed to talk tomorrow. I don't think in my whole life I've had so many doctors communicating about me. Geez, I feel special! ROFLOL Oh, as an aside, I lost 11 pounds on the liquid diet, but it's certainly not a diet I'd recommend! LOL

This week has seemed really long to me, I think because I was so sick last week and slept away most of it. One more day to get through.

Jane and I are going to see the Nutcracker Ballet in the middle of December. We're both really excited about that! I can't wait. I danced in the Nutcracker for maybe 10 years when I was a kid. I always thought it was magical!

What else? Oh, yeah, the garage. This weekend I start weeding it out. I'm NOT looking forward to that!

And did all of you go to www.fatquartershop.blogspot.com to check out Miss Emma crawling? I can't believe she's already old enough to do that! Totally adorable! I tried to 'dibby' her, but Kimberly wouldn't let me!! :) :)

And those two BOMs I blogged about last time, they don't start until next year. So if I get a running start on stashing busting before those start .... I'm just saying ....

That's it for tonight. A blog about a whole lot of nothing, with a little lagniappe thrown in for good measure!

Gratitudes:

~ Getting well
~ Excitement about stash busting
~ Getting in the mood for Christmas
~ Crawling babies!

I'm Just Saying ...

... if I were so inclined to order another BOM since All Things Christmas is almost done, I'd sure want to think about these I just spotted at The Fat Quarter Shop.

First, Blossom Time by Bunny Hill Designs. I think my heart stopped when I saw it. Wait, maybe that was the medication. Anyway, this thing is drop-dead gorgeous!! http://tinyurl.com/27kgdb. I mean, I can actually visualize it on my bed.

Then this popped onto Kimberly's site today. http://tinyurl.com/yumrqr This is called Birds and Bees, and uses that fabulous Dandelion Girl line by Fig Tree. I think that's a dynamite price for the monthly blocks, too. A whole lot of happiness for less than $19 a month. And wouldn't this be a great quilt for maybe a beginning appliquer!

I'm not going nuts here poking buttons. But, I mean, I'm just saying ....

Stash Buster Sunday

I didn't bust any stash this week. Unless, of course, you count the cash stash for medical bills. No, let's not count that. In fact, I'd rather not think about it.

I did start sewing up a couple of things for a friend, but I can't call that stash busting because it was her fabric. But while I was doing that, I came up with some plans for how to use up some of the stuff I have here, and how to store it better so I can more easily see what I have.

A friend emailed me yesterday and said she was going to send me some strips for my loggies. WHAT? NO, YOU ARE NOT!!! Nuh uh!! No way!!! I was so shocked that I forgot to email her back! Will do that immediately! ROFLOL. Honey, we're stash busting - and that DOES NOT mean sending me your stuff! Love you anyway, and nice try!! LOL

One thing I was also thinking about last night are the most favorite quilts I've made. Those haven't been from coordinated lines of fabric, but from my stash.

For instance:

"Strawberries for Lisa" has been juried into Road to California!!!! That was 100% out of my stash! Well, except for the background because I didn't have enough of any one piece. But all the rest of it came from my stash! It's a special quilt because I had hoarded that strawberry fabric for five years until Judy's design inspired me. Thank you, Judy!

I was thinking about Judy's pink quilt she just made, and all of the other Hour a Day quilt patterns. I'm going to make some of those starting over the Christmas holidays!! Yep, I'm just going to do it!

So while I've gotten off to a shaky start this week, I'm driven by my determination to have all my stash fit into one room! I'm not going to pledge yardage used or number of quilts made, but just to have it all fit into the stash room! So that means a LOT of sewing in my future!! :)

Gratitudes:

~ The remarkable health care system we have here in America.
~ Jane.
~ A long holiday weekend to recuperate.
~ Coming to the conclusion that I actually like Jell-O!

It's Strangling Me!

My stash is strangling me. Really! I thought about this last night, and here's why I'm in this dilemma:

~ When I started quilting six years ago, everyone I spoke with about quilting talked about their stash. Every online group I read talked about their stash. I had just started quilting. What stash? So I set out to have a stash. The age-old question quickly arose - how much do I buy?

~ The very first trip to the quilt shop to sign up for a beginning class found me face-to-face with Robyn Pandolph's Moda line, Morning Glory. Oh, goodness, that stuff was gorgeous. I didn't know how much I'd need for my sampler class, had no idea which colorway I should buy; in other words, I was totally clueless. So I bought two yards of each piece in the whole line. 40+ pieces in that line. I was so proud! I now had a stash! I came home and washed each piece, carefully ironed and folded it, and it looked pitiful sitting there all by itself. And if I actually cut it and used it, I would no longer have a stash. I needed more fabric!

~ Then I joined a squishie swap. I bought FQs to make blocks for folks. But what if I messed cutting or sewing and needed more fabric? So I bought two FQs. What if I really messed up? So I bought a yard.

~ Next I made the discovery of all discoveries! They sell fabric online! OMG, I was in seventh heaven. I can't even tell you how much fun I had exploring those sites, poking buttons, discovering the greatest secret on earth - shopping in your pajamas! Since I was still taking my beginning classes, and still clueless about quilting, I had no earthly idea what I would make out of this stuff, but I just know I had to have it!

~ One weekend I was eavesdropping in the quilt shop, and a lady said she was going to buy a whole bolt of something. A whole bolt!! She was my hero! That day I bought a bolt of muslin and a bolt of Kona Snow. Good buys, but really blah next to my Pandolph stash. I needed more bolts!

~ I explored a shop in the next county and saw a stack of neatly folded FQs all tied up with a Moda ribbon. I asked the dumb question, and was told it was a Moda tower -- an FQ of every single fabric in that line! I bought that tower. (And I still have it!) Towers opened up a whole new way of thinking for me. I could have just a bit of ALL of the fabrics! And they wouldn't take up so much room. Really! I really thought that! But, of course, if you're going to buy a tower, you must get yardage for borders and backing, right? Still no clue how much I'd need, but I figured four yards for borders and eight yards for backing ought to do it.

~ Wait! They sell kits -- already made up -- out of the same fabric of which I just bought a tower and yardage! All right! Now I won't have to use my stash to make that quilt!!

I won't go any further. The rest of the story is sadly well known among quilters. But what I do need to emphasize here is at this point in the story I've been quilting a grand total of THREE MONTHS!!

So here I sit in my pajamas the day after Thanksgiving, having just viewed all the Coming Soon stuff at www.fatquartershop.com, and feeling a bit righteous about my new resolve to bust that stash!! While I was in the hospital last week, my inbox filled up with online shops taunting me with their after-Thanksgiving sales. I deleted all of them. Not a gigantic step in the scheme of things, but a beginning!

I'm formulating a game plan to use up the stuff I'm not so taken with any more. Batiks and Civil War fabrics are on list. While I really do like those, I'm not head-over-heels in love with them any more. It was just a quest to collect them. And those odd FQs, hundreds of them - I've been cutting them up into strips, giving them away, using them up. A long way to go but at least I've started.

The big yardage pieces upstairs, I'm going to cut them. No use saving them for the perfect backing piece. They're taking up room and they're not getting any younger. This is funny, but a while back a good friend mentioned looking for a beige mottled background for an applique project. I sent her a strip of something I had in my stash. She emailed me back that it was perfect, but since it was a really old Pandolph Moda and she needed five yards, that she'd have to look elsewhere. Not a problem. I happened to have seven yards of it up there!

I don't know where all this is headed, but I do know that I am out of room here. I'm going to make flimsies this year, tons and tons of them. I've got thousands of yards of fabric here, so I'm going to experiment a bit. While the fabric choices for a particular quilt might not be perfect, I'll bet my next paycheck that they will look just fine. Besides, we aren't building a piano here! I see charity quilts and "happy" quilts for friends and family coming out of the stash room.

I'm deadly serious when I say I could never buy another inch of fabric or another spool of thread or another ruler or book, and still prolifically quilt for the rest of my life. But I'd rather be stimulated occasionally by the new stuff, be tantalized by a new pattern or book. To do that, I need to do some serious stash busting.

2008 is the year!

Happy Thanksgiving

I've been so out of it lately. I slept 18 hours last night. I guess I needed it.

Thank you all so much for your notes and emails and kind words. Next week I've got a couple of doctor visits, and then hopefully I'll be right as rain.

Wishing everyone a wonderful day with family and friends.

Last Three Days

The last three days have been spent in the hospital. Friday I was at work but was miserable - in pain and my face was real swollen. Saturday morning I called Jane and asked her to take me to the ER. We got there about noon. They immediately gave me pain meds and antibiotics, and then admitted me.

Clear liquid diets - what can I say about those? The last meal of solid food I had was Tuesday at noon, and I ate very little of that. From then until Sat. night about 8:00 when they brought me a hamburger, all I had was broth and Jell-O. Now I know I can live 'off the fat of the land' for a long time, but I was just plain hungry. I hope that liquid diet was good for at least a five pound loss!

The bone infection under that crowned and root-canaled tooth spread very fast. The right side of my face was swollen, my neck looked huge, and two large egg-sized knots traveled down the front of my neck to my chest. That was real scary.

The hospital was wonderful, starting with the ER nurse who was a quilter. The general physician, internist and ENT specialist all visited. I was on standby to be taken to surgery, but thankfully responded well to the mega doses of antibiotics.

I got home at around 8:00 tonight. And VERY glad to be home!

I have a lot of catching up to do on your blogs, and a lot of catching up to do on some sewing for a friend, but it'll all get done this week. Over the long weekend I should get the sewing finished up and off to be quilted.

I was truly scared. It hasn't often happened to me, but this was just one of those times.

Dentists

I hate them. I woke up with a huge problem yesterday, got in to my dentist, and he promptly referred me to an endodontist (sp?) today. I cried in the chair it hurt so badly. I haven't done that since I was about six. And I look like I have the mumps.

I was going to go on another fabric diet. That won't be hard. I spent $91 yesterday and $1255 today FOR DENTAL WORK. And we're not done.

I'll blog about retreat in a couple of days. I just want to go to bed now.

Gratitudes:

~ Antibiotics
~ Chicken noodle soup
~ Yogart
~ Daisy -- well, not tonight. She's really munching down on her hard food in there. I'm jealous!!

Want a Dog?

This is the last time I hear my dog making a strange growling, playful sound and don't go to investigate.

A spool of Aurifil thread ..... $9.50.

The toys I buy for her to tear up, she lays there and licks them. Of course, those only cost $1.99.

If I hurry, I can get the following in the weekend paper: "Free to a good home. One slightly used doxie. Comes with poop bags and gently licked toys. "

Home from Retreat!

Jane and I had a good flight up and got to the hotel right on schedule. Set up our sewing space, and then waited for friends to drift in. The first night is always fun. No one sews - well, I don't. LOL.

On Friday there was a workshop about applique prepping, and then it's a free day to sew or shop. Guess which one we chose? We went to Quilter's Inn, Main Street Quilt Shop, In Between Stitches and ThimbleCreek. I bought some patterns and some Kansas Star books. I'll dig those out and post a picture tomorrow. In Between Stitches is my favorite shop up there. We went back for a bit on Saturday just in case we had left something behind on the first trip! I was really good this year. Then we all went over to Mimi's for dinner, and then sewed late into the night.

On Saturday there was a machine applique class, and more sewing. Saturday night is the official dinner. Lots of goodies at our place at the table. And our annual pincushions. Mar makes these and they are wonderful. We had show and tell on Saturday as well as our official group picture. Holly puts all of these in a great frame for us. She's such a sweetie!

On Sunday we left the hotel at noon with our favorite taxi driver, and there was no problem getting my shoulder through security this year. As we were getting our purses off the screening belt, everyone started yelling "5-0-5! 5-0-5!" All of the security workers surrounded our screening area. Keep in mind our horrible trip home and the security problem that kept us grounded for five hours last year. Jane muttered, "What now?!!" Everyone had to stand perfectly still, couldn't touch our purses or anything. It was a little scary. I wasn't about to move a muscle. Then an announcement came on thanking us for our participation in their security drill. Whew!

Jane and I were giggling later and wondered what would happen if we started yelling "5-0-5" and fell down spread eagle on the floor. ROFLOL. Okay, maybe that's not really funny, but we thought it was at the time! LOL. Sheesh, you can't take us anywhere.

My favorite thing from retreat? Mar brought me a Condo Cow!!! Yep, a real, honest-to-goodness Condo Cow!! Eat your heart out, Kim!

More details tomorrow night. I'm bushed. Does this mean I'm getting too old to have fun any more? Hmmmm...... I'll tell you what. My bed sure did feel awfully good last night. I don't think I moved all night.

Gratitudes:

~ Friends
~ Tears
~ Laughter

One More Day!

I'm so tired and so stressed right now. It's almost no fun getting away for a couple of days in view of what all has to be done at the office before I leave. However, I AM getting on that plane Thursday morning!

Off to Alex's retreat! I just need to put clothes in the suitcase tonight, and I'm ready! Daisy's friend came over last night to get the key to the house. I need to pull her kennel into the breakfast room and she's all set. She's going to freak when I move it. Such a creature of habit. I hope she behaves for Candice while I'm gone.

Make a list for a quick stop at the market tonight. Dog food, conditioner .... well, I guess that's my list. LOL. Want to bet I come home with more than that?

I hope everyone out in Blogland has a wonderful week and weekend. I'll see you Sunday night.

Well, this was hard!

I was trying to figure out a retreat project. Jane and I are flying up for Alex's retreat on Thursday morning. Nothing like waiting until the last minute!

The official retreat project this year is from her new neutrals book. I've got a couple of neutral quilts, so I thought I'd work on something different - although I wanted it to be something "Alex."

Jane gave me this pattern and a whole bag full of greens and black/whites for Christmas a couple of years ago. She started hers. I hadn't. Until today.

Three attempts to make these stupid pine trees. I cut templates per the pattern instructions, and let me just say that I didn't do very well on those at all. So I made up a paper pieced pattern, and my backgrounds came out on a diagonal. Didn't like that either. I was whining to Jane on the phone about it, and she suggested the tried and trusty Tri-Rec rulers. The size is slightly off from the pattern, but I can adjust the piano key borders to fit. Yep, this will work. So I'm going to spend the rest of the afternoon getting a bunch of these cut out. And finish watching LSU get clobbered by Alabama. (sigh) Maybe they'll do better in the second half. I know, hope springs eternal! Geaux Tigers - please!

Edit: Whew! I'm getting way too old to watch LSU games! I wasn't breathing at the end of that game!!!!!!!

This week was busy because the CEO will be gone hopefully for the next two weeks. He's going up next week to watch Magic train for the National Championship, which is the following week. I said that "hopefully" he'll be away that second week. There is an elimination each day. Magic is high point dog in the country, so he has all the potential to go the whole week. If on Thurs. 11/15 he is called back to Friday's trial, I will probably leave and drive up there. I don't know when I'll find out, or if I'll leave Thurs. night or very early Friday morning. It's a six hour drive, and I'd want to see him run on Friday. So that week is kind of up in the air.

But first things first -- RETREAT!! I'm so excited! I haven't had a vacation day since January, and it was only one day to attend the Road to CA quilt show. So these two days are very welcomed!! And I can't wait to see all of my buddies. We've been together for a lot of years at this retreat. Fun, fun, fun! Let's just hope that the flight up and home are smoother than last year's.

Gratitudes:

~ An absolutely gorgeous day today!

~ Spending another portion of today petting the Market presents from Jane!

~ A nice conversation with a good friend last night!

~ Lazy Daisy.

I'll Admit It

Confession, after all, is good for the soul.

I've been watching like crazy to see the new lines coming out. Kimberly has a few of them up on the "Coming Soon" section of her site at http://www.fatquartershop.com/.

Just when we think there's nothing new or exciting, wham! Stash busting is a lost cause with me!

What's your favorite of what's posted so far? Don't be shy! You can say it out loud! After all, it's time to make our Christmas lists! Santa told me last year that "I want one of everything" doesn't cut it with him; I have to be more specific! LOL

I am really in love with Prairie Paisley, but I about lost it when I saw Simplicity! And Sweet Escape! Jane said she saw the Maypole line at Market. I love it (even though it has purple in it LOL)! And the new lines aren't even all up yet! I have a feeling it's going to be hard to stash bust with all this new stuff hitting the shelves soon!

Maybe Kimberly or someone else can answer this: I know the FQ towers come out first. Do the rolls and charms also come out before the yardage? I can't remember, but I have new inspiration for my rolls and charms with the new Design Original books. I think Kimberly has them in the Patterns section of her site. I went ahead and ordered them a couple of weeks ago, and I can tell you there are tons of great new patterns in them. And the fat 16th books are awesome!! I see a lot more of those fat 16th Jolly Patches in my future!

All Things Christmas, Block 5

One more block and the scalloped borders to go! I'm still so proud of myself for keeping up with this BOM. I can't wait to get it quilted, so I can get the embellishments on the blocks and bring them to life!

The air was a bit more clear today. I just hope the Santa Ana winds won't kick back up like they're predicting. That wouldn't be good for the fires. Will keep my fingers crossed!

Seven more work days until Retreat. But who's counting? :)

I went to the market on Sunday. When I was unpacking the groceries, I noticed several things missing. So I called the store and they told me to come back by at my convenience to get those items. I stopped over tonight, gave my receipt to the customer service person, and he went out into the store and gathered up everything for me. No questions. I'm real pleased with this store. It's brand-new. My first trip there wasn't a pleasant one - the only time I've ever written a complaint letter. I was immediately contacted and told that the problem had been corrected. They're real pleasant to do business with now, and I'm glad I gave them another chance. And when someone does a good job, I like to let everyone know. It's Albertson's. I give them an A+!

Had a nice chat with my quilting neighbor tonight. It's been a while since we've talked.

Today is the CEO's birthday. I picked up a carrot cake, and then thought I'd better get a small chocolate cake, too. I was real surprised when only one person wanted the chocolate, and the carrot cake was gone! Anyway, the little gathering in the office was nice, and I think he appreciated the gift certificate we gave him.

What else? Oh, Jane flew back home from Market today. I'm not going to call her tonight. I'm not going to call her tonight. I'm not going to call her tonight...........

Gratitudes:

~ The fires are contained. Prayers being said that they stay that way.
~ Not running out of gas this morning. :)
~ Not getting sick like everyone else at the office - yet!
~ Making someone smile!

Mele Kalikimaka!!!

That's Hawaiian for Merry Christmas! And it feels like Christmas morning here at my house!

The box arrived from Sharon at http://www.redgeraniumcottage.typepad.com/

What a fun fun fun box!!! Everything was wrapped up in colorful tissue paper and raffia!

The cutest note pads, coffee (yum!), chocolate covered macadamias, Kona coffee glaxed macadamias, dry roasted macadamias in the cutest wooden pineapple bowl, Hawaiian salt, Hula Mints, an adorable keychain, a stitchery bag, and two drink umbrellas!! Sharon, we're going to have to have a meet-up where we can put those umbrellas to good use! Oh, and the nicest little drawstring bag with embroidery, and a seashell necklace!!

Yep, definitely Christmas Hawaiian style at my house today. I need to get a copy of that old Bing Crosby song cuz this is from memory:

"Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say on a bright Hawaiian Christmas day.

That's the island greeting that we send to you

From the land where palm trees sway.

Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright

The sun to shine by day and all the stars at night.

Mele Kalikimaka is the wise way to say Merry Christmas to you."

Sharon, thank you!!!! You definitely injected some sunshine and smiles on this gloomy, smoke-filled day!!

Jane just called from Houston Market!

I am SO JEALOUS!!!

Judy's Schoolhouse class had just ended, and Jane got to meet Judy and her mom!

She was really tired, but having a ball.

Yep, I'm officially jealous!!

I've Been Tagged!

Yvonne tagged me!!! She chased me until she caught me!!! Held me down until I cried "Uncle"!! ROFLOL. Here goes:

4 Jobs I’ve had:

Band-Aid (Candy Striper) volunteer at the hospital in high school
Court Reporter
Adminstrative Manager
I hope the fourth job is retirement!!

4 films I could watch over and over:

Steel Magnolias
The Perfect Storm
Seven Years in Tibet
Pearl Harbor

4 TV shows I watch:

Hmmmm….none really

4 Places I've lived:

Opelousas, LA
Sulphur, LA
Baton Rouge, LA
Los Angeles County area

4 Favorite foods:

Grits
Homemade bread
Gumbo
Boiled crawfish and crabs

4 Favorite colors:

Dark blues
burgandy/reds
Tans
Turquoise

4 Places I would love to be right now:

Quilt Market!!
Louisiana
Anywhere with pine trees and snow
In bed!

4 Names I love but would/could not use on my children:

Blanche
Eugenie
Mathilda
Amelia

4 People I'd love to Tag:

Mar at Pincushion Diaries
Nan at Quilting in Doxie-Land
Beth at Beth Knits and Quilts
Teresa at Fabric Alchemy

Thank you

Thank you to all who have emailed me wondering about the fires here.

I'm fine. I am not near any of the fires, but they are burning all around. The smoke is brutal, at work especially. The town where I work is the lowest point of our valley, and the "bowl" is filled with smoke. Yesterday when I walked out at the end of the day, it looked like it was snowing. Big white/gray flakes were coming down, and the cars in the parking lot were covered in ash.

My eyes have been watering like crazy for a couple of days, and last night I was officially all stuffed up. I think I'm having a reaction to the bad air here.

The Santa Ana winds were supposed to have died down last night, which will help those poor folks in harm's way and the brave firefighters who are fighting the beastly flames. That means cooler temps, too. It was 91 at lunchtime yesterday. We need this break.

Many thanks for your concern. Please keep our state in your prayers.

Weekend Applique

Finished two applique blocks this weekend.

The first Piece & Plenty applique block. I have to do the pieced blocks yet. I'll do those this week.

The center block for Strawberry Hill. This one needs some 'remedial' work on it. The dormer window is a bit wonky. LOL. I'll get that unstitched and restitched tomorrow night.

Next up is the fifth block on All Things Christmas. I've also worked on another applique block, but it's not ready to show yet.

All in all, I've had a relaxing weekend just stitching away. Daisy curled up at my feet almost the whole weekend. Lazy days! Wish I could take a couple of more of them!

Jane is off this week to Market. Hope she gets to meet Judy! I can't wait to hear about all the new stuff that will be soon be hitting the shops!

Check out Jolly Jabber!

http://www.fatquartershop.blogspot.com/

My review on the new Thimbleberries products! I love that stuff! I'm going to figure out how much I need to order for Christmas and get that order off before she sells out! I'm hoping The Fat Quarter Shop will carry it on a permanent basis because I'm already addicted to the hand lotion!

Daisy always gets nervous when I take away her quilt to wash it. She lays in front of the dryer the whole time it's in there! And then when I put it up on the breakfast table to take the picture, she was sitting up and begging for it! Silly dog!

This is good stuff, folks! Thimbleberries hit a home run with these products! Even Daisy approves!

It's a Small World After All!

I stopped by the quilt shop tonight to visit with Jane -- okay, and to buy stuff!

Anyway, Jane was talking to a lady at the counter. This blew me away!

The lady asked Jane if she had a friend named Vicky who was a blogger. She had seen Jane's picture on my blog. Wow!

It was fun meeting her!

Pictures tomorrow, I promise. I put aside my first Piece & Plenty block to work on something else, but I got back on it last night. I'm already in love with this quilt!

Time for bed. Warm apple and cinnamon oatmeal has made me sleepy!

I'm here!

I've been swamped at work, and then appliqueing up a storm at night. Not much to blog about yet. But I've got to say - I'm having a ball with all these applique projects!

The giterdun is awaiting my stitching the binding down. I'll get started on it this weekend.

Daisy had a manicure Monday night. At least I didn't draw blood on her this time. But she got herself so worked up that she threw up on me when I was done. Great!

And I don't know why I'm so surprised ... but Christmas is approaching fast. I'm not making any quilty presents this year, but I've got to do some shopping. Might as well get started on that. No, I don't do malls. But I do poke buttons! LOL

Oh, shucks, I've still got to do the binding on the retreat project from last year. Alex's retreat is Nov. 8-11. I guess that's next up.

The weather has been just gorgeous here. I think we're having our 10 minutes of autumn. Of course, other things have been happening .... a 4.2 earthquake shook me awake a couple of nights ago. Then sandstorms yesterday caused a bad freeway accident north of me. The wind was really howling here, but no sand blowing around. That happened once since I moved here, and it was awful.

And, finally, I guess it's time to go to the market again. I just checked and there's nothing here to eat but potato chips and peanut butter. I'll pass!

That's it from my little corner of the earth. Hopefully this weekend I'll have some quilty pictures to share!

Binding and Applique

The binding is machined on the giterdun. Now just to get it hand sewn on the back, and it's outta here! It's going to take forever!

I did a lot of applique this weekend, but nothing I can show yet. I did work on Piece & Plenty, and also a little bit on Strawberry Hill. I'll be prepping the next All Things Christmas block this week, as well as a pumpkin block.

It is so beautiful here. I just turned the A/C on just to cool it down a tad. Didn't get much done on the house cleaning front, but it was more important at this point to get the machined part of that binding done, and also to just relax after a long and stressful week. I went over to the quilt shop this afternoon so I could use their tables to support the quilt while sewing on the binding, and had a chance to visit with one or two ladies I haven't seen for a while, so that was fun.

And flight reservations are made for Alex's retreat next month! I'm so excited to get to see Mar and Deb and Cheryl and Holly and Carol and Sylvia and all of my other friends. Jane and I will be flying out on 11/8 and home on 11/11. I can't wait to see all the new applique patterns that will be out then. In Between Stitches and Thimblecreek, here we come!

Gratitudes:

~ Chatting with Mar today

~ Cantaloupe. Daisy gets nibbles and she loves it!

~ Giggles and laughter with Jane. She cracks me up!

~ Falling leaves

Fabric Alchemy's Hand Dyes

This doesn't happen very often. In fact, it almost never happens. But I was totally speechless when I opened a package that was on my doorstep last night. This package of hand dyes is from sweet Teresa at http://fabricalchemy.blogspot.com/. I mean, I just stood there with my mouth hanging open!

She's been blogging about her experiments with dying fabric. These fabrics are gorgeous! I have purchased hand dyes from time to time, and none I've ever bought from the pros are as gorgeous as these. I think I see a new career in the making here! Oh, my!!

Over the next couple of weeks I'm going to search for the perfect pattern for them. I hate to even think about cutting into them, but perhaps the biggest compliment we can give a fabric designer/dyer is to actually use them! It's going to be hard to do, though!!

Teresa, thank you so much!! I'm still speechless!

I hope everyone bookmarks her site and visits often. You'll never meet a sweeter, more upbeat lady!

Will Be Fall Decorating Soon

I've been digging things out and collecting little pumpkins. So this weekend I plan to get some fall decorations up around the place. I bought the cutest wreath yesterday that has, you guessed it, pumpkins on it. Might put it over the mantle. I'm getting in the mood for fall. And judging from the amount of leaves on my patio, it's very near! I'll get some 'after' pictures up this weekend.

I'm up to my eyeballs in alligators closing out the quarter and getting the reports done. One more day without the boss in town, so I hope to get a huge portion of it finished up tomorrow. My shoulder is really aching. I've been on the calculator too much today.

Kimberly at The Fat Quarter Shop has another new BOM up called Raspberry Truffle. I really wish she'd just stop it! LOL! This one uses Judie Rothermel Civil War fabrics in yummy pinks and browns. http://tinyurl.com/yonsab Is it just me, or are quilts even more tempting when they have a food name? (sigh) I'm deciding whether to poke the button or not....... of course, I know I will. It just makes me feel better when I pretend to ponder it a bit! :)

I know I'm supposed to be busting stash, and I've done a fair amount of that this year. But I had a couple of years of obligation quilts and helping out friends with things, so it feels really good to work on whatever I want! I've almost finished the first applique block of the Piece and Plenty BOM. I have fallen totally in love with Moda's Madreira line of fabric, so that makes working on the block such a joy. I'm waiting for the next block of All Things Christmas to arrive, and I'm going to prep another pumpkin block this week. I think I've got another BOM 'fixing' to start -- I need to start writing all these things down! LOL

I'm really jealous because Jane is going to market! But it's probably a good thing I don't get to go. Heck, I'd be like a kid in a candy store! (There we go with that food thing again!) I keep watching for teasers about new fabrics and patterns. I just love oohing and aahing over the new stuff when it hits the stores and online shops. This one has me just drooling all over my keyboard ... http://tinyurl.com/2zo597 My all-time favorite colors! (another big sigh)

The car is doing great. I'm getting used to driving it, and it doesn't feel quite so gigantic to me now. But I sure wish I had my camera with me when Jane and I went to a quilt shop this weekend. I put that one teeny tiny bag in the back of that BIG vehicle, and it looked so pitiful back there! ROFLOL. That's a LOT of space to fill up with quilt shop bags!!

Gratitudes:

~ Cooler weather
~ Pumpkins
~ Autumn scented candles
~ Changing leaves
~ A surprisingly delightful skateboarder in the parking lot of the market tonight, and his sweet offer to help me with my basket.

Beth is Having a Give-Away!

My friend, Beth, is having a give-away on her blog of a beautiful quilt kit! Wait a minute! Why am I telling everyone about it?!!! LOL

http://bethknits.blogspot.com/

Beth and I live VERY near one another but have not yet met in person. Hopefully we'll be able to meet up at the local quilt shop really soon!! Hear that, Beth? :)

Thanks for having a super give-away!! Good luck to everyone! (But not too much luck, okay?)

I See the Light!

The light at the end of the tunnel, that is! How does the saying go, "There's the tunnel, the light at the end of the tunnel, and another tunnel"? Well, the binding on this big puppy is all that's left to get it out of my life forever! One more tunnel, and the light is getting brighter!

Get your dancing shoes ready, because there's going to be a happy dancing fais-do-do when this thing is done!

The Boo Banner

This is the gorgeous Halloween Boo banner I won at http://the-latebloomer.blogspot.com/ Pardon all the nicknacks on the mantle. I'm planning to do a fall mantle, but just haven't done it yet. Look closely and you'll see a beautiful star ornament that Elizabeth also included in the package, as well as a Late Bloomer bookmark!

Thank you so much, Elizabeth! The banner is beautiful! And thank you again to Jack!!

Today was just one of those days. I'll blog about it in a couple of days. I'm just trying to erase that memory tonight. Ewww....... Besides, this blog is about quilting!!

Also today a box came from Judy. And in that box is the GOTITDONE formerly known as the giterdun! I haven't opened the box yet. I'm going to take it upstairs and lay it out on the bed, and have plenty of Kleenex handy when I open it. Almost exactly one year ago is when I decided on the pattern and started digging in the stash for fabric. The quilt that I hated so much will now be the quilt that I love the most - and won't want to give away. I'm going to be making miles of binding. This thing is 120" square, so I'll be binding it for the next few weekends.

Judy, you came to my rescue and finished this thing up for me, and for that I will be forever grateful. I'll post a picture of it tomorrow when I'm not so tired. Tonight I just want to cry a bit over it. I don't even know what to say except thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Also, I was able to bust five yards out of my stash tonight for the backing on a group quilt. That won't make a dent, but I'm happy that I was able to help out! Gee, I wonder how they knew I could probably find something that would work up in my stash room!

Gratudes:

~ Elizabeth Scott and Jack! Thank you!

~ Judy Laquidara! Thank you!

~ The police department in the town where I work! Thank you!

New BOM and New Car!

It's been an interesting couple of days. I've been car shopping. My seven year-old BMW has been a wonderful car, but there comes a point where you wonder if it's worth it to keep spending a couple of grand on it a year. I really wanted to get something that would last me a long time. My CEO has been pushing the Toyota Highlander for a while, so I decided to go look at them on Sunday. His final argument was how much room I'd have in it for my quilting stuff. LOL. Kimberly at The Fat Quarter Shop made a bet with me - and I was sure I'd win. I was just going to look. She said one would follow me home. One did. I owe her a dollar!

Anyway, this huge SUV is parked in my garage. I didn't get home with it until late on Sunday, so my first real driving test was Monday morning freeway traffic. Jane's husband told me to be careful until I learned where the four corners were on it. I was scared to change lanes on the freeway. LOL. Coming home Monday was better, and I was an old pro at driving this hunking thing today.

Yesterday the long-awaited Piece and Plenty BOM finally arrived. I'll probably make it next weekend. If the first block is any indication, it's going to be a beauty! This one I'm really excited about!

I started the quarter-end stuff today. Not a fun task, but someone has to do it. I guess I've been annointed the lucky one! LOL.

And last but not least, I was the winner of the drawing at http://the-latebloomer.blogspot.com/. I absolutely adore that Halloween banner! Thank you, Elizabeth - and Jack! If you've never looked at Elizabeth's patterns and fabric, you must check them out! Gorgeous stuff! I buy a ton of her patterns every year at Thimblecreek and In Between Stitches when we go up for Alex's retreat in November. I can't wait to see all the new ones that will be out then!

Gratitudes:

~ New car smell

~ Fun packages

~ My new assistant is working out nicely

~ Remembering to stop at the market last night

~ Daisy hugs

Fat Sixteenths

I'm a skeptic. I'll admit it. I didn't think a fat sixteenth of fabric was very usable. Now, sixteen yards would be usable, but a fat sixteenth?

I've been seeing the Jolly Patches at The Fat Quarter Shop (link in my sidebar) for a long time now, but I don't think I've ever ordered one. Charm squares I understand. Fat quarters I understand. But fat sixteenths?

Well, I've got to say that now I'm a believer! Yesterday I started cutting the Peach Cobbler kit I mentioned back a few blogs. In the kit was this Jolly Patches roll.

http://tinyurl.com/2y6oxw

A fat sixteenth is a totally usable piece of fabric. It's 9 x 11. I can't tell you how many fat quarters I have floating around here that I only used half. And all those fat quarters that have missing hunks in them because I just needed one flower or six leaves for applique.

I don't know of a single quilt shop that will cut a fat sixteenth, or even an eighth yard, at least none around here. And most online shops have a minimum half-yard cut on fabrics. I've got a Jane Stickle quilt in the works (a really old UFO), and also am working on the applique blocks of another quilt. My friend is making the pieced blocks, and we're going to put them together into a quilt for her first granddaughter. In both of those quilts a fat quarter is way too much fabric, w-a-y too much! Fat sixteenths would have been perfect!

I needed 35 fat sixteenths for the Peach Cobbler pattern. There were 40 in the Jolly Patches roll. So I pulled five out that I know will be used in an applique project. Yep, I'm happy!

Something else ... those who know me well know that I hate cutting. Well, maybe that's a dramatic statement. I've been quilting for six years. The first four of them I had a shoulder that didn't work at all. So cutting was painful for me, so much so that I sort of learned to use the rotary cutter in my left hand. Although my shoulder is fine since the replacement, I haven't gotten over the cutting phobia. Yesterday I was faced with cutting six pieces from each of the 35 fat sixteenths. Yikes!

Having just worked on a Thimbleberries quilt, I remembered Lynette's suggestion about pressing two pieces of fabric together and cutting them at the same time. The pressing will make the fabrics stay together without slipping and sliding while you're cutting. So I did that yesterday and it works. This morning I wanted to finish cutting this pattern. I decided to try pressing three fat sixteenths together, and that worked great! I don't think I would try more than three, though. So I was on a cutting roll, and finished that job in short order!

I see a lot more fat sixteenths in my future! Gosh, if that light bulb had gone off in my feeble brain a long time ago, I might actually be able to fit all my stash in my stash room! Fat sixteenths - bring them on!!

As for the comments about the milking stool, I'm looking for a really small, condo friendly, house broken cow! ROFLOL. Oh, and excuse the darkish picture. It was late last night when I took it.

Gratitudes:

~ Fat sixteenths!!
~ Another project on its way to being completed
~ Looking forward to my new applique project starting tomorrow
~ Barbecued dinner last night
~ Emails!

Edit: I deleted a comment I made about a fat sixteenth being half of a fat quarter - because Jane corrected me when I got out to her house last night. A fat sixteenth is 9x11. A fat eighth is 9x22. So a fat sixteenth is half of a fat eighth. Confused? I was! This is, after all, higher math!! Thanks Jane!!

Why, You Ask?

And I answer, "Just because."

Jane and I went antiqueing again, as you can probably tell. I found two textile bobbins, we each found a darner, and I also found a neat metal hammered heart. But the ultimate find was the milking stool! ROFLOL. I have no idea where it'll go, but it will be somewhere in the living room. I think it will make a great conversation piece, don't you?

We had such a good time today. We stopped by a quilt shop, and then headed over to this huge antique store. They chased us out of there at closing time before we could even explore the whole place. We're already planning to go back maybe next weekend! I think there are a couple of big wooden hand-hewn bowls which might follow me home next time. Oh, and we had to stop at Bert & Rocky's ice cream joint on the way home! It's a good thing we didn't have a certain someone's address - or we would have crashed her slumber/sewing party!

This teeny cut on my finger is awfully sore. It's right up against my nail. I must have cut into a vein judging by the way it bled. My lip is still hurting a bit, but the ice cream helped that a lot!

I started cutting out Peach Cobbler quilt kit from the Fat Quarter Shop before Jane got here. It's going to sew together really fast. The fabric is yummy, just like peach cobbler. That reminds me - I need to eat some real food tonight. Guess I need to go through some drive-thru or other where they won't understand a word that comes out of this Cajun mouth!

Gratitudes:

~ The joy of spending the day with a good friend!
~ Laughing a lot at things we saw today!
~ Seeing more old sewing buddies at that quilt shop.
~ Wonderful candles
~ Absolutely gorgeous fall weather!

Not Worth the Bullet

Another of my dad's famous saying, "I'm not worth the bullet it'd take to shoot me."

The quilty blog will have to wait until tomorrow because:

~ I sliced the bejeebers out of my finger right before I left the office. One of those metal file clasps. Just took the Band-Aid off to check it and bled all over my shirt.

~ Eating my usual nutrious dinner of whatever I could find in the house. Tonight cashews and grits. Don't ask. Bit the inside of my bottom lip, and bled all over my shirt - again.

I'm going to bed. Just needed to whine and get some sympathy. Did it work? LOL

testing testing testing

Well, I guess it's working on Blogger, but I can't post anywhere else. I'm so disgusted with this same problem over and over and over again - that I could just scream. Sorry.

Oh, yeah, this is the first block of Strawberry Hill prepped and ready to needle turn.

Strawberry Hill

My next project: http://tinyurl.com/26h4yw Did I already say I love Anne Sutton's Bunny Hill patterns?

My online group has a new October challenge -- make a needleturn applique block. So I decided to start a whole new project. Typical! You don't have to say it. I already know that's how I end up with so many UFOs! LOL. But the quilt shown on the pattern is made from the Folklorique line. I've got enough of that stuff to make three or four quilts. So might as well untie one of those towers that I tend to hoard and put it to good use. I've started prepping the first block. Well, actually I started with Block #5, the big house block in the middle. Hopefully the quilt will be done in time to put out for Easter.

I'm having so much fun with this holiday stuff. I'm waiting for my next All Things Christmas block from the Fat Quarter Shop. I got a notification that something shipped today. Maybe that was it. Only two more blocks on that one, and the scalloped borders. Definitely will get that one finished as the blocks come in. The pumpkin quilt has stalled on four blocks. But this weekend I want to get the next two blocks prepped and ready to needle. So it looks like I've got Christmas, the fall and Easter covered! Just finished the Halloween top. Isn't this fun? LOL But I must make that Mardi Gras wallhanging. I don't think I'm allowed to post just the fabric again on next Mardi Gras!

I'm going to be car shopping in the next couple of weeks. I hate the thought of that. Ugh! Wish me luck!

Let's see. What else?

Oh, I'm feeling still kind of mediocre. Not sick, but not well. The crud is swirling all around me, but I'm drinking a quart of orange juice a day and washing my hands a million times a day, taking Tylenol. I truly hope I don't get sick. Maybe my poor old body will fight this one off.

But the most important thing in the whole wide world - the giterdun is done or nearly done. Did you seen the pink/green monster on Judy's machine? That's it. Okay, confession time! I was so sick of that thing. I mean, every time I looked at it, my stomach got upset. So I asked Judy if she could get the borders on it for me. She said YES! Boy, you've never seen me ever package up anything so fast! She's been awfully kind and saying she doesn't hate it and all, but I know she really does. And then it was so huge that it barely fit on her machine. She'll have to explain how she made it fit. I know I was pushing the envelope on our friendship by asking her to do that, and I hope she knows how grateful I am to her! Judy, if there's ANYTHING I can EVER do for you, all you have to do is ask! I OWE YOU BIG TIME! ILY!!

So that's it from my little corner of the universe. Nothing exciting at all. Hopefully I'll have a picture of some recent quilty accomplishment in the next few days. If not, stay tuned!

Gratitudes:

~ A good decision.
~ Friends.
~ Family
~ Work.
~ Daisy dog.

Top Finished

This is the completed Spooky Nights top. I should have laid it on the floor - so you couldn't see my quilty stuff spread all over the place! LOL

Sewing, Grand Openings and Ponderings

What a loaded title line! This weekend has been quiet. I've done a bit of sewing, applique prep, and just basically taking it easy, trying to feel better, and enjoying the moist, cool weather. I was offline yesterday until very late in the day. That happens when it rains. I guess it's a good thing it doesn't rain here often! To get the chill out of the house, I lit the fireplace and snuggled up next to Daisy on the sofa to prep some applique. If you're looking for a nice light, feel-good movie, check out "The Holiday." We enjoyed watching it.

Spooky Nights is assembled. I had a tough time, as usual, with this setting. I don't know why my brain scrambles when figuring out those corners. I actually unsewed a whole row, only to realize I had done it correctly the first time. (sigh) But I think it turned out cute! Will post a picture a little later. I forgot to recharge my camera batteries.

And the box is unpacked. Lots of borders and backings for jelly rolls and charms. It's time to start sewing some of those up! And three kits - I poked those buttons because I want to do easy stuff for the rest of the year. After seeing the peach cobbler recipe at Anne Sutton's site, http://bunnyhill.blogspot.com/ I want to work on this one first! http://tinyurl.com/375wno
Can't you just smell that peach cobbler baking in the oven? And isn't this pattern and fabric just gorgeous! Beautiful and easy! Yes!!

The ponderings - just had my hand slapped while trying to reach out to someone. I know that someday the truth will come to light. It always does. Until then, I'm comfortable with the fact that I tried, but I'm now done trying. The venom and poison spewing forth from a hateful, twisted soul continues. Nothing I can do will change that.

Had a nice long chat with a friend last night. We haven't talked in like forever. We say "hi" on our online group forum, but it's special when we actually get to talk. And, yes, I was sleeping when you called! LOL. But thanks for calling me back with the time so I could set my clocks! The electricity went off for a while! Everything was blinking at me! The microwave is dead as a doornail (I need to look up the origin of that phrase) after the power outage. I wonder if there's a reset button somewhere on it. Guess I'll have to call for maintenance to come by. That's the good part about renting! LOL.

Off to see what other sewing trouble I can get into today. The slug I call a dog is snoozing loudly. Maybe I need to turn on some music to drown her out! But maybe she has the right idea! Maybe a nap at 9:30 a.m. is in order for me, too!

Gratitudes:

~ "Autumn Wreath" Yankee candle. Thank you, Jane!

~ Bacon and eggs for dinner last night. Comfort food!

~ The giterdun is loaded on Judy's longarm as we speak! More on that later.

~ Feeling peaceful

O-M-G!

Look what was waiting for me on my doorstep tonight. Couldn't even lift the doggone thing! Had to get the dolly just to get it in the house!

Don't ask me what's in it. I'm going to wait until this weekend to open it when I'm not so tired. A box that big deserves plenty of attention! I want to oooh and aaah over everything in there - all beautifully packaged, I'm sure, by Kimberly at the FQ Shop.

The weather has turned fallish. I won't get the fall decorations out just yet, though, because I'm sure the hot weather will be back. It was wonderful last night. I got so cold that I had to shiver my way downstairs to get a second quilt for my bed. I should have lit the fireplace and snuggled up in front of it.

I may be trying to get sick. I hope not. I've got quilts to make!!

I Sewed!

See? Sometimes I actually DO sew!

Ginger's 1st Anniversary Sale

I was totally exhausted when I got home. No, not from shopping.

The sale started at 10:00. I didn't get there until about 10:45. When I got close enough to see the store, I saw a line of women (and men) stretching around the building. Found a parking place a good ways away, and got in line.

There were so many people there when the store opened that Ginger couldn't let them all in at one time. However, those waiting outside were all in a festive mood. Ginger had set up a covered tented area where they were serving free hotdogs, chips, potato salad and cold water. So no one was unhappy.

Of course, I just had to add some comic relief. Everytime someone walked out of the store, I got the crowd cheering and yelling, "Big bag! Hooray!" It was hilarious.

About 45 minutes of waiting in line and then Ginger walked outside. She saw me and said, "Jane's been looking for you. We need your help inside." Of course, she said this real loudly so others wouldn't think I was getting preferential treatment. So I zipped inside, stuck my purse under the counter, and grabbed a pile of bolts behind the cutting counter that needed to be put away. The store was packed. When I say "packed," I don't think I can even describe it.

There was a bluegrass band playing inside which added even more to the festive atmosphere. Everyone in line was toe-tapping and singing along. The cutters were singing, a really elderly woman pushing an oxygen tank was doing a little dance. It was so much fun. What wasn't fun was fighting my way through the crowds to put bolts back on the shelves. The funny part was I'd head off to a certain section of the store, and before I got there, women had plucked those bolts out of my arms!

About 3:30 or so the crowd thinned out a tad, and I decided to look around for myself. It's funny how bolts you see sitting there every week suddenly become appealing in a 25% off sale! I was pretty good, though. Four yards of the black for the "Happy Hauntings" project which I'll begin in a couple of months; 6.5 yards of the light batik for a background to use up some of those batiks I have; 3.5 yards of the Chocolat paisley will be perfect for the borders or back of a Christmas applique project; and 2.5 yards of the creamy neutral just because. All of these were what was left on the bolt. (I didn't want any of that fabric to think I didn't love it!) Oh, and one Lori Smith pattern, Golden Memories. I needed sewing machine needles, but I totally forgot about those until a few minutes ago.

I'm not real good at estimating crowds and things, but I'd say there were a couple of hundred empty bolt boards when I left at 4:00. And they were still cutting fabric.

A couple of funnies that I overheard: One lady asked a cutter if there were any rules on the yardage lengths for the sale. The cutter told her one yard. The lady, in a disappointed voice, said she really wanted a yard and a half. The cutter quickly added the word "minimum." I don't know why that struck me as funny. Then a few minutes later, someone asked me if she could get "a 4/8th yard cut." Still chuckling over the other comment, I told her I was sorry but they could only cut 8/8th yard cuts for the sale. I shouldn't have told her that because she looked confused, but she laughed when I changed that to one yard. She was doubling the fabric requirements for a pattern and it just came out that way. I'm still smiling over it, though. I really shouldn't EVER work in retail! LOL

Plus, I'm not used to standing up that long. At the end of the day, my lower back was hurting, the back of my calves were hurting. My hands were sore from picking up bolts. I was a sorry mess! Of course, nothing that a couple of Tylenol Extra Strength couldn't take care of. Heck, I wish we could do it all over again today. It was fun!

As I told my online group, I'm done shopping for like forever! Truly! Today I sew!!!!!!