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."