Fabric Giveaway!!

You have got to check out the following blog.

http://pumpkinpatchprimitivequiltshoppe.blogspot.com/2009/10/its-happy-halloween-giveaway.html

This women is giving away a fat quarter bundle (27 FQs!!) of Red Rooster's Pumpkins & Spice Fabrics by Whimsicals. There is a fat quarter of every fabric in the line, except the panel. WOW!!! Be sure to check out the slide show of the fabric from this line, and her FUN playlist!

I love sunflowers, pumpkins and almost anything primitive in fabric. I've always like sunflowers, but just recently become intrigued with pumpkins and general primitives.

I promise to post more soon!

Mistake or Design Change...You Decide

Well, I got a new iron and was happy as a clam as I finished adding the first border to my Freeze Frame quilts and finished piecing the 128 blocks for a quilt that I started about 3 years ago. I decided to hang the Freeze Frames on the design wall and have Jack and Lynn take a look at it and tell me how great they looked, etc. when it hit me! I had made a HUGE mistake.

Remember the other day when I said I couldn't decide which background should be black or white so I decided to make 2 quilts? Well.....on both quilts there is only one background color - all white or all black! I like the way they look, but they aren't the way they were supposed to be. I've decided to call this a design change instead of take them apart and admit to a mistake, but you do know what this means don't you? Now I have to make 2 more quilts following the original design because I still want to see how it looks with the black and white backgrounds in the same quilt!

I'll post pictures in the next day or so.

Stash, Freeze Frame, Iron and Other Ramblings

So, Judy L. asked people to show her their stash. After thinking about it, I decided that I should do it. I've been working really hard at using my stash and I've been saying for months that I am going to organize it, so maybe having these pictures plastered on the internet will be my catalyst. I do have some fabric on a shelf upstairs in the spare bedroom, but I didn't take a picture of it. I thought this was bad enough. I do have things in bins and what you see on the table is stuff that I have been working on. There are two sides to this table. My husband made it using Judy Martin's set up that she had posted on her website as a guide. He adjusted some things but I love the table! The whole things measures about 60" x 60" and half of it is a pressing table while the other half is set up for cutting. It is WONDERFUL! I took pictures from both sides. I have to be honest here, don't I? The first picture is from the cutting side and there are fabric bins, "works in progress" and other supplies like fusible webbing, stabilizers, etc. here. See, I'm trying to be organized!To the left of the table are bags of clothing that will be used in 4 memory quilts. I moved them to the table recently so I can start cutting them. I need to get started on that ASAP as they should be done before Christmas. Fortunately they are only going to be twin-size quilts so they shouldn't take too long.

I don't know if you can see the iron on the right side of the table, but that is the iron that gave out this evening as I was getting ready to piece the first border strips for Freeze Frame. If you look closely you can see the mini craft iron that I used to finish pressing the center and after that I decided to wait until I get a new iron to finish this. I've not had much luck with irons lately. The Bernina Steam Generator that I had and loved quit working about 3-4 weeks ago and even though I love it, I can't justify spending close to $200 getting it fixed. It was sent in for repairs a couple of years ago and I'm not very happy that it didn't last longer. I'm going to get a cheap iron tomorrow and start researching "good" irons. Anyone have suggestions or recommendations?

Speaking of Judy L.'s Freeze Frame. I really liked the picture and decided that I just HAD to make this quilt. I new I wanted to make it in brights but I couldn't decided if I wanted to use a white or black background so I decided to do both. I'm sure I'll find a use for two quilts, right? All of the fabric is from my stash except 3 bright fabrics. If you look closely, you will notice that everything is identical except that where there is white in the quilt on the right, it is black on the left quilt, and vice versa. I'm still surprised at how different they look. I can't wait to finish these, but of course, I need an iron first! This past week I was reminded as to why we should not buy fabric and put it away without looking at it. The fabric below was purchased a very long time ago (probably 4-5 years) with the intention to be used as the backing for a particular quilt. Well, I finally finished the quilt and while I was getting ready to layer it I discovered a flaw that ran the entire width of the fabric, all 108" of it! Of course it would have shown on the quilt for which it was intended so I had to get new backing and find another use for this fabric. You'll be happy to know that it is now contend as the backing on my Up North quilt (Thimbleberries) that my friend Rachel just finished quilting for me.(Check out her blog on my side bar-Sew Behind-she has finished 2 of my quilts and I love them both!) I really am in the mood to get things done. I sent 4 quilts to Rachel (she put out a plea to help raise money so her dog could have some medical care. How could I not help her, AND get quilts done?), and I have others that I am doing on my own. They are much smaller and they are much easier for me to do in my machine. As a matter of fact, on my stash picture, my Pineapple Blossom (Bonnie Hunter's pattern) is one the table. I'm half done quilting it, but decided to take a break and add the borders to the Freeze Frame. So much for that!

Something is Finally Done!

Well, I know it's been over a month but I haven't been doing much quilt-related stuff and I didn't want to post anything without a quilt project! Below is the completed raffle quilt top for my sister Paula's school. The proceeds from this quilt will benefit my Breast Cancer 3-Day fund. I decided last year that since so many students bought tickets they needed their own quilt. I sure hope that winner likes it. I know I really do!

Ok, what have I been doing if not quilting? Besides fighting the desire to sleep so much (medicine-related) I've been working quite a bit (I'm still working in all three clubs), trying to train for the walk in Dallas, freezing and canning (corn, beets, salsa, etc.) and filling embroidery orders as they come up. I have been piecing a little bit, but not as much as I would like. Hopefully, finishing this quilt will get me going strong again and I'll soon be posting LOTS of finished projects.

Nikki, Zach and Quinn arrived Saturday evening and as usual, it has been wonderful having them here. I am always amazed at how much Quinn changes from visit to visit. Here she is picking out a book to read. She does love her books!

Nikki's aunt gave her a potty chair for Quinn and it looks like there won't be any problems getting her to sit on it - as long as she has a book! I'm not sure when Nikki plans on starting to train Quinn, but since she's 17 months old, I'm guessing it won't be too long. I'm glad it's her and not me! Actually, I think Quinn is just thrilled to have a chair that's her size, and the fact that she can sit on hit with a bare butt just make it great!

Do You Want to Hear Something Funny?

My daughter Lynn signed me up for facebook!

Can you believe it? I hardly keep up with this blog, let alone facebook. I've confirmed some friends and read a couple of messages, and I've even written on a couple of peoples' walls, but that is about it. I haven't taken any time to figure out how the whole thing works and I don't know when that will happen. Nikki and family will be here this weekend, so I guess that I'm going to get a crash course in facebook. Now, as we know, that does not guarantee that I will actually post anything or even read the messages. I will try, but I'm not promising anything.

There has been lots happening lately and even though they will sound like excuses, they are the reasons I haven't posted in AGES!

I've had a few medical issues to deal with, including a brief stay in the hospital and taking some medicine that has just thrown me for a loop. I'm hoping that we are on the right track now and things will settle down so I can sew, quilt and post (both on this blog and on facebook!).

This past weekend was the Cleveland Breast Cancer 3-Day event and I had medical permission to attend the event and work on the lunch crew as planned. I know that I will need permission to walk in Dallas in November, but that's a while away and I know that I will be ok for it!

Anyway, the event was great - very emotional, tiring, and exciting all at the same time. I met some amazing people during my four days (crew has to be there one day early for training) and in that short time, I feel like we've been friends forever. When I talk to people who have dealt with cancer and other issues and they have such a wonderful outlook on life, it puts things in perspective for me. I think that the timing for this event and my medical issues was perfect. I needed to be reminded of what is really important in life and that there is always someone out there who has more to deal with than me! (I often forget that it really ISN"T all about me.)

I saw husband and wife teams walking together, crewing together, as well as wives walking and husbands working on the crews. (We had 3 men on our crew who's wives walked.) It was touching to see the men's concern for their wives and the relief when they saw them approach the lunch stop. They were able to take a break from working to enjoy a little time with their wives and help them regain the strength and desire to stand up and walk the final 10 miles for the day. I saw pride, concern and love as the wives came around the bend and entered the "tunnel of support" to welcome them back to camp each night. I was touched and glad that Jack and Lynn were with me.

I look forward to Dallas and walking with Jack and his cousin Pattie who is a breast cancer survivor. I know that this will be a challenge, but I know I can do it again! I'll keep you posted on how my training and fundraising is going!

Thanks for "listening!"

It's Official....

I completely missed the month of June! I don't know what happened, but all of a sudden it's July and I didn't make a single post in June. I've been busy, but I sometimes feel like nothing gets done. I'll give a quick review of the past month and an update on what's going on now.

I've been working quite a bit lately and there's been changes going on at work. The Norwalk club has been sold and the owners are in negotiations for the Huron club. I'm still working in all three clubs, but because of vacations, etc. I've been working a lot. That's going to continue through July, even though I will be gone for the last weekend of the month. That's the Cleveland 3-Day in which Jack, Lynn and I will be working the lunch crew. We have to report for Crew Day on Thursday and the walk is Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

We had our annual fundraiser garage sale the last weekend in June, so I spent many days in early June picking up donations, pricing items, making signs, advertising, etc. We were pressed for time to get ready because the week before the sale was our annual sisters' weekend (also known as the estrogen weekend) that stretches into an entire week when our families join us at Burr Oak. As usual, we had a wonderful time and it was very relaxing and enjoyable. I was able to get a bit of walking in and Jack and I went canoeing one afternoon. We had a wonderful time and it was SOOOO needed.

I've been busy with various fundraising efforts (we have to raise $2300 each), including the garage sale and a pampered chef party. The party was well-received and we will get 15% of the total sales donated to our fund (that should be about $170).

Jack and I visited David and Rachel in Chicago last weekend and had a good time. It rained most of the day Saturday, but it was a light rain so we went to the Botanical Gardens and walked around for a couple of hours. It was BEAUTIFUL! There were fireworks Friday and Saturday and we were ablt to enjoy about four different set of them at the same time each night.

This weekend is the Huron County Relay for Life and Lynn and I are part of the Funky Monkey Team. This is the first time that either of us has been part of Relay for Life, but we are looking forward to it.

Nikki and Quinn spend 10 days with us in the middle of June. That was great! Zach was able to join them here for a long weekend, so that was really nice. I feel kind of bad though because I was busy with work, the garage sale, and the pampered chef party. I wish I had more time to just sit and play with Quinn. She is getting so big and it is amazing how much she changes in such a short time. I've got to make plans to get to Cincy soon!

I have lots of quilting work to get done. I'm still working on two T-shirt quilts and three memory quilts. Hopefully I can get busy on them next week. I'm also working on a wallhanging that is made out of ribbons won at horse shows. It is challenging, but that's what I like about it. Perhaps I'll have pictures for the next post.

Oh, something quite different did happen today. While I was putting some things away in the basement, I noticed a snake on the stairs. I HATE snakes!!! Jack came in, picked it up and happened to mention that it had a triangular shaped head, which I believe means that it is poisonous. Now how the heck did it get into my basement! Anyway, I have gone back to the basement, but I sure do look around the entire time I am there. Did I mention that I HATE snakes? I'm sure that I'll have some interesting dreams the next couple of days.

Okay, speaking of dreams, it's time to get ready for bed and hope that tomorrow is productive...........

Free, At Last and Pictures

As some of you know, I've been wearing a halter heart monitor for the last 3 weeks. Now I must tell you that a "halter heart monitor" sounds much sexier than it really is. Imagine having 3 electrodes stuck to you, each with its own wire being fed into a sensor that connects to a black lanyard which hangs around your neck. As if that isn't sexy enough for you, you must keep the cell phone monitor within 10 feet of the sensor at all times and respond to its multitude of beeping which indicates that 1) you have somehow disconnected one or all of the electrodes, 2) you are out of range of the cell phone and a signal cannot be found, 3) the battery of the sensor or cell phone is low, 4) you're having an "episode" and you must respond to a questionnaire within 60 seconds, 5) you are back in range of the cell phone and 6) there were a couple of beeps that I'm just not sure what they meant.

Anyway, the monitor finally came off today. The doctor told me that they have recorded enough data, even though I didn't have one of my "major episodes" which was the reason for wearing the darn thing anyway! All that remains to remind me of the monitor are the red, swollen sore spots where the electrodes stuck to my skin. It sure will be nice to sleep tonight and not feel as if I'm being strangled.

All joking aside, I'm amazed at technology! I was pretty shocked when I got my first phone call from the monitoring company at 2:12AM the first night I wore the thing wanting to know how I felt because I was having an episode. I didn't even feel it! Amazing!!!

Backing up a little here, yesterday was a mixture of busy work and relaxation. I made all of the cookie dough for my orders and my nephew's graduation party, and I made a breakfast casserole and put it in the freezer for this coming weekend's festivities at my sister's house. I worked outside a little bit, but not as much as I had wanted. All of the mulch that we had is spread and I'll get more on my way home from work Wednesday, if it's not raining. I watched the Indians' baseball game and was going to go to turn it off when they were down 10-0, but I decided to stick with it while I was doing some hand sewing. Boy was I glad I did! The Indians scored 7 in the bottom of the 9th and won the game. That was fun to watch.

In regards to quilting, I have finally finished my pink and brown blocks and will post pictures tomorrow or Thursday. I worked on the guild retreat quilt and should be able to finish that soon. I also spent a little bit of time getting everything ready to finish up the raffle quilt. I probably won't have time to work on that until Thursday because I work from 5:30AM - 2:00PM and then have errands after that.

As promised, I finally have some pictures to add. I have to warn you, it's a good thing I can sew because I sure would starve it I had to earn my living by taking pictures. Hey, maybe I could market that as a weight loss product - take crappy pictures, try to sell them and buy your meals with the money you get! I've got to get busy on my new business plan. :-)

Anyway, here are two of the hanging baskets we bought Saturday. I love all of the color and different flowers. Do you see the sprayer in the second picture? That was filled with vinegar and dish soap and used as a "green" weed killer for the new garden area. Within 2 hours the grass had started to die and I was ready to start spading the area. Can you see the brown grass in the last picture? (I feel like an elementary teacher. Do you see Spot run?)

This last picture is of the area that has become the dumping spot for plants over the last couple of years. If I didn't know where something was going, I planted it here for "a couple of days." Well, a couple of days has turned into a couple of years, but it's finally getting done. I have some iris and lilies that I need to get out of there, but that will have to wait until they are done blooming, and I want to transplant a few more of the black eyed susans. After that, this area will be a clean slate!
Well, I'm excited. Three posts in four days is pretty good for me. I'll try to keep it up, but I certainly won't make any promises. I do have some guild work that I should have done before I blogged, but this was going to be more fun. I guess that I'll have to do that when I get home tomorrow before I do anything else!

Beautiful Day and Lots of Work Done

No pictures, but Jack and I got a lot done today. After church, lunch and basic sitting around deciding where things were going to get planted we got busy. The entire lawn got mowed, the old sedum got transplanted and the new sedum found a home along the front porch. The yellow marigolds and purple petunias got planted in front and the garden phlox got transplanted by the tiger lilies. I transplanted the yarrow and some of the black eyed susans. Everything up front got fertilized, mulched and watered, and everything that was planted and/or purchased yesterday got watered as well.

Tomorrow I will finish transplanting the black eyed susans and hopefully get the rest of the flowers in the ground. We're going to put the garden in a new area this year but we need to see how much sun the area we have in mind gets. We want the garden closer to the house and that limits the areas we can use. We'll know tomorrow and get busy prepping the ground!

We had to unlatch the shutters from upstairs because there were bats behind them. We don't care that they are there, they just poop all over the balcony and that is a pain to keep clean. We have to do this every year, so it isn't a big deal, just a pain.

Jack went to teach class tonight and while he was gone I worked on a couple of quilt designs that I've been playing with. I got the fabric yardage figured out and started to write up the pattern. Sometimes I do things backwards. I design the quilt and write out what I think will be the instructions. I use what I typed up as a guideline and change it as I sew and decide the best or easiest way to complete the quilt. I haven't done any sewing yet, but I hope to before I go to bed.

I love days like today. Beautiful weather, time to play in the dirt with the one you love, design a quilt or two and hopefully get some quilting in. Who could ask for more?

Plants, Fabric and Work Changes

I have been REALLY busy the last couple of weeks and today was no exception. Jack and got up this morning and went plant shopping. (Actually, we did a little bit of shopping at Mulberry Creek Herb Farm yesterday, but the bulk of our shopping was done today outside of Shiloh.) Now I know that many people (mostly the over-achievers) have already bought and planted everything for their garden, but we're a little slow sometimes. Actually, this is earlier than last year. We were so late last year that we had a hard time finding what we wanted. Anyway, I digress....

We picked up a couple of beautiful hanging plants along with our marigolds, petunias, sedum, pansies, tomatoes, peppers, dill, parsley, basil, etc. We also got a couple of horseradish plants to augment the patch we already have because we love fresh horseradish! By the time we were done shopping, we had a car-full. I'll try to get some pictures tomorrow to post.

Since we were in the area, we stopped at the new home of Country Fabrics. This is the first time that I've been able to get there, and it is really nice. The building is an old barn and is much larger than their previous place. My friend Carolyn and her husband were at the shop so we got the chance for a brief visit. (We were all in a bit of a hurry since the trips were kind of spur of the moment.) I picked up a couple of fabrics that I'll use in the raffle quilt that I am making for my sister's school. I'd picked out fabric from my stash, but I knew that I didn't have enough for the border, so I got that and some background fabric. Now, when will I get to sewing that? I have no idea. I have to get my "you know what" in gear and finish the raffle quilt for the 3-Day!

After a quick lunch (grilled turkey burger and grilled asparagus - YUM!) Jack and I went back to Mulberry Creek to get a truck load of mulch so we could get started on planting. We got the flower boxes all planted and then I worked on getting the other areas cleaned up and ready for planting tomorrow. My goal is to have everything done tomorrow so I can sew on Monday since I don't have to work.

Speaking of work, Doug and Gretchen sold the Norwalk Club! I'm not sure exactly when and how that will affect me since I work in all 3 clubs, but I'm assuming that nothing will change for at least a month to give the new owners a chance to get organized and accustomed to the place. I've met the new owners and they are very nice. Even though change might be scary, it is often a good thing and I'm looking forward to the new adventure!

More on our progress tomorrow.....

A Packed House and Auction Finds

We have had a house full of visitors for the last week and it has been great! Jack's daughter spent last week in the area, splitting her time between here and her mom's house. She had to work via the computer, but it was nice to have her here. Of course I was busy every day last week so I didn't get to spend near enough time with her. She was able to go with Jack to a couple of the classes he was teaching and I know that he really enjoyed having her there. We are going to try to figure out some time that Linda, Sheryll and I can get together to sew. I don't know when it will happen, but I hope soon.

Also, Nikki, Zach and Quinn arrived Thursday night and left this afternoon. That was a lot of fun. There was a belated birthday party for Quinn Saturday at the park and the weather was beautiful! I took some pictures, but I haven't had a chance to edit them so I'll add some later. There was a small cake for Quinn to eat and it was funny because she didn't like it. She had to be coaxed to try it or even play with it.

On Sunday, Jack and I took some time and went to an auction in Norwalk. We got some great deals including 2 quilt racks and 2 quilts. One of the racks is wooden, but the other one is wrought iron, which matches another one that I have. I was pretty excited and they were both realy cheap. The same is true for the quilts - cheap! I was surprised because there were about 20 -25 quilts up for auction and I didn't see any that went for over $75 (even though we left before the last 8 or 9 were auctioned).

Anyway, the quilts we bought are both large twin size and hand quilted. The Dresden Plate quilt is hand appliqued, but the blocks are machine pieced. I'm not sure of the age of either quilt, but I think the blue and white one is realtively new (70's or 80's). The Dresden Plate quilt has some fabrics that I recognize from a book I have on dating fabric, but I haven't taken the time to check it out yet. It has a few condition problems, but I think they are repairable. I think I'll have the quilt appraised at the Antique Festival in July here in Milan. The Milan Historical Museum hosts a quilt show for the day and will have an appraiser there. In the mean time, I'm going to get out my book and collection of old fabric and see how accurately I can date these quilts!

Catch Up Day - Sort of...

It's Tuesday, the day I try to get caught up with things (housework, quilting, etc.), but I haven't been too successful today. I started by trying to clean up some of the junk I've saved on my computer, thinking it would help it run faster and allow me to wait a little longer before I have to upgrade. I'll tell you what, I have duplicate files (just named them differently), duplicate pictures (saved in two or more separate files - why, I don't know) and lots of stuff that I can't for the life of me remember why it was important enough to keep in the first place.

Anyway, I was moving along pretty well until I got to the pictures of Quinn. I had taken some pictures this past weekend while they were here but I hadn't really looked a them. They are pretty cute. The weather was beautiful and we spent quite a bit of time outside. Quinn loved her lawn mower and swing!

Of course it was sunny outside, so she had to have shades! What 13 month-old doesn't like sunglasses?

I did do some sewing this weekend. In my previous post, I told you that my friend Rachel digitized some letters for me. Of course, I finished all five blankets and forgot to take a picture before I took them to the lady who wanted them. DUH!!!!

I also started AND finished a quilt top called Fiesta. The pattern is by Michele Scott and I found it in the July, 2008 issue of McCall's Quick Quilts. Of course I changed the construction technique because I didn't read the instructions correctly and I made a cutting mistake. Also I changed the pattern so that the quilt would be 72" x 72" rather then the original 59" x 71". I didn't really want it to be square, but I did want the design to be symetrical, which is wasn't orignally. I was going to make it bigger, but since I was using stash and I didn't have enough of a couple of the fabrics I decided square was better than buying more! I am in the process of layering the quilt, so I don't have a picture right now. I PROMISE to post one as soon as the quilting is done.

Maybe I'll get more done next Tuesday.............

Birthdays and shows, but no sewing

I'm finally posting again, after what, 2 weeks?

Jack, Lynn and I went to Cincinnati 2 weeks ago and visited Nikki, Zach and Quinn. We had a great time and the weather was fabulous.

On Saturday we all went to the Cirque Dreams, Jungle Fantasy and it was great! I can't imagine how anyone can be that flexible or talented. If you ever get a chance to see them, you really must go. There were contortionists, trapeze artists, acrobats, jump ropers, etc. I would be hard-pressed to tell you my favorite part of the show.

Check out their website: http://www.cirqueproductions.com

Quinn really enjoyed it. We were all surprised that she was so engrossed in the show that she didn't fuss at all and was dancing to the music. She fell asleep during the last 5 minutes or so, but I think that is amazing considering she hadn't taken a nap.

Saturday was Zach's birthday and Nikki bought him a grill. We got him some utensils and a grilling cookbook and some seasonings. Since we had gone to the 2PM show, Zach grilled dinner for us all and it was really good. We didn't celebrate Quinn's birthday yet, even though it was on the 9th. Nikki and Zach want to have a picnic/party at the park so no one has to try to have a ton of people at their house. It is also perfect for the kids because of the playground equipment, tennis courts, etc. Even though it will be almost a month after her birthday, the party is May 2nd. We figured that Quinn wouldn't care. Afterall, she's only 1!

Jack and I went to the Indians home opener last Friday afternoon. Lynn was there with some friends, but we weren't sitting close. It was cold and rainy and there was a rain delay. We all left after about an hour and half delay. Jack and I stopped to get something to eat and when we got in the car around 9:15, they had resumed play. I couldn't believe it. The rain delay was almost 4 hours long! I'm a big baseball fan and so far it looks like it is going to be a challenge to really enjoy watching Cleveland this year. I know, it's early!

I haven't had much time to sew. I've been busy at work and I was sick over Easter weekend. YUCK! It is driving me crazy to not be sewing. I've been trying to sneak in a few minutes here and there, but even that hasn't happened much the last coouple of weeks. I'm hoping for this weekend. Hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures then also.

My friend Rachel digitized some letters for me and I have to see if I can save it to a USB stick and transfer it to my machine. I think I'll try that tomorrow morning before I get busy with the thirty other things on my list. Thanks Rachel! That was fast.

Short and Sweet

Jack, Lynn and I will be leaving in a couple of hours to visit Nikki, Zach and Quinn in Cincinnati so I thought I would provide a brief update before we go.

Nikki made the move two weeks ago and they seem to be settling in pretty well. We are taking a couple of forgotten items, or things that wouldn't fit in the car with us and they will be here in about 3 weeks so that should take care of everything. I'm going to try to "accidentally" bring something home with me that they really need so I have to make and "emergency" trip next week. Do you think I could do it and have no one figure out my plan? Anyway, it will be good to see them all.

Saturday is Zach's birthday and we are all going to see the Cirque Dreams, Jungle Fantasy. It should be fun and I'll let you know when I return.

Jack is doing much better. He did end up with another stent, which is what I kind of expected. He had some trouble during the procedure. There was a problem with the blood flow and he suffered a minor heart attack, but there doesn't appear to have been any lasting damage to the heart. He continued to have chest pains for a few days, but that has subsided. Also, now that we have his medications figured out, he is MUCH better - no more headache, dizziness or nausea. He took a walk yesterday and really enjoyed it.

I'm sure I will have pictures from this weekend so I'll try to post soon after I return.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Lots going on here...

Nikki is getting close to moving. She's planning on leaving Thursday morning, if all goes well. I helped her load a few things into the trailer this morning and then went back tonight to help get things packed and ready to go to the trailer. It is really hard for her because she is doing most of this alone because Zach is in Cincinnati already. If you can imagine trying to pack while you have an 11 month old with you, you can understand why she's not quite done. Also, there are things that can't be moved until the last minute because you are using them. She and Quinn have spent the last two nights here and will do so again tomorrow. Their beds are in the trailer, so they'd be sleeping on the floor if they weren't here. Of course this allows for Jack and I to see some things we'd normally be missing out on, such as Quinn brushing her teeth. She loves to have them brushed and she even likes to do it herself. Can you see those big front teeth?

Sheryll (Jack's daughter) was here this past Saturday. Sheryll is VERY talented and artistic and she has been bitten by the quilting bug! She has given me a number of feedsack fabrics and I've been playing around with them, but she has been working with some reproduction fabrics and made a bunch of 9 patches and triangles. Sheryll, Nikki and Lynn were playing around with the blocks trying to come up with a cool layout and I really like what they came up with. What do you think?

Thursday is going to be an interesting day around here. Nikki and Quinn will be joining Zach in Cincinnati and Jack is having a cardiac cath done. He's been experiencing some chest pain and the doctor wants to have a "look-see." At least this time we know what to expect. When he had this done 2 years ago, we were not prepared for the 4 stents that were put in. I've rearranged my schedule for the rest of the week so I can be with Jack., which means that tomorrow (actually today) will be very long and busy. I'll work from 5:30AM until about 2:00 and then teach my class from 5:45PM - 8:00. I'm sure I'll be tired but not be able to sleep. You all know how that goes. I've got to get some handwork to take with me to the hospital because I know that will help pass the time and keep me relaxed.

I'll keep you posted.

Out with the Old, In with the New

Isn't it amazing that appliances know just when to break down? Our freezer has been a bit temperamental lately and it finally quit working Tuesday. Actually, it still works, but as a refrigerator, not a freezer and only when it feels like it. For a while, it didn't even work as a refrigerator so we did lose some stuff. As you can tell, the new freezer is larger, especially since I had to throw out a bunch of stuff. Oh well, I'll start restocking soon.

I haven't had much time to quilt lately, just a bit of piecing here and there. I was hoping to get my retreat quilt done for Saturday's meeting, but I don't think that will happen. Plus, I didn't get any more done on the raffle quilt. I MUST finish that and get my "S" blocks done for the alphabet swap. Oh, I just remembered that I also have a pink and brown swap to get done also. Those won't take too much time though. My goal is to get all of the swap blocks done by Sunday and get really serious about the raffle quilt. I love how it is turning out.

I've had 5 embroidery orders this week that needed done quickly so that took precedence over quilting. It was kind of cool to be able to cut fabric while both machines were embroidering. I was cutting some more half square triangles for my Ocean Waves quilt, and there are a LOT of HSTs! Check out Bonnie Hunters website for a picture of the quilt. Her blog is on my sidebar and you can get to her site from there.

Nikki and Quinn are here tonight. Since Zach has moved to Cincinnati already, I picked up Quinn earlier tonight so Nikki could get more packing done. When Nikki came to get Quinn, she stayed for a while and just decided to spend the night. YEAH!! I sure am going to miss these overnights! They are planning to make the final move next weekend. BOO HOO!

For Christmas, Nikki made me a scrapbook and I love looking at it. Apparently, so does Quinn! More to come later....

Big News!!

Well, there has been quite a bit of news around here this past week.

Zach had a job interview in Cincinnati and he got the job! It's great that he found a job in the field that he wanted and that it is close to UC so Nikki won't have far to travel when she's back at school. The news is great, but kind of bittersweet at the same time. He, Nikki and Quinn were going to be moving to Cincy in June so I was ready for that, but now the move will take place much sooner. I thought I had some time to prepare myself, but I guess I have to get ready NOW. It sure will be hard to not see them so often. Quinn has been walking, actually running is a better way to describe it, for about a month now and she just jabbers all of the time. I'll miss that, but as Jack said, Cincinnati is less than 4 hours away, so we'll just have to make a lot of road trips!

I've decided to look at the positive side and recognize that there are a lot of quilt shops between here and Cincy that need for me to dicover them!

More BIG NEWS

Nikki and Zach are ENGAGED!

I'll get a better picture of the ring later, but my batteries were dying and this is the only picture I could get. What do you think? Are they happy? No date has been set yet, but it will not be until after Nikki graduates.

I've actually been doing a bit of sewing. I've been working on the guild mystery quilt, my letter S for the alphabet swap and the raffle quilt (Bonnie Hunter's Double Delight). I've also been working on some embroidery that needs done for an order.

I'm trying really hard to take care of my UFOs before I start something new, but I've got a couple of quilt designs that I'm playing around with and I want to start those NOW.

More to come later, and you can be sure that there will be pictures of Quinn.

Second Post of the Night (Of course that just means that I forgot something earlier.)

I forgot something in my last post.

I have a picture of the flowers that the gals from the Norwalk club sent me for my birthday Monday. When the guy delivered them, he said he had a birthday cake for me, but that it was non-caloric. It was a flower cake! How cute is that?!?

What the *%#@^!?

Sometimes you are so busy sewing away that you have no idea what is happening on the other side of your machine. That was the case this past weekend while I was at the guild retreat.

I was chain-piecing my blocks when Karen and Kare started laughing and pointing at me. Of course, I assumed that I had food on my face or drool running down my chin so I quickly started to wipe my face and ask what was going on. They both were laughing so hard that they couldn't say anything, so they just pointed to my thread. The thread was dangling and bobbing all over the place while I was sewing! It really was funny and we all laughed pretty hard. As I'm typing, I realize that perhaps most people wouldn't find this to be so funny so maybe we were really tired or in a food-induced stupor! I guess that there is no question now as to the fact that it doesn't take much to entertain us.

Speaking of the retreat. We had a really good time and even though I wasn't able to stay the entire time both days, I got a lot done. I always find it interesting how 18 people can be using the same pattern, but end up with such different looking quilts. Check out the Milan Quilt Builders blog on the sidebar to see a slideshow of the quilts. (Thanks Kare for doing such a great job with the guild's blog!)

I promised one of our guild members that I would update my blog more frequently, so I will work on that. Maybe that should be what I do for Lent, rather than give up something!

I've got to get busy on some of the UFOs that I have, but they might have to wait until I complete two T-shirt quilts. I just received a box of T-shirts from a woman who had seen a quilt I made for one of her co-workers. We spoke on the phone a couple of weeks ago and she said she was going to get some shirts together for me. Well, they arrived today so now I have to work on those. I want to finish piecing the raffle quilt so I can get it quilted and begin selling the tickets. I also want to work on the guild mystery quilt and its BOM. I have three quilts ready to quilt, but I never seem to have the time to layer them and get them under the machine. I forgot that I also have some embroidery that needs done on a couple of casket scarves and some woven blankets. YIKES.....I have my wok cut out for me. Maybe I should cut back on my sleeping or better yet, work. What do you think?

More tomorrow (or the next day), including pictures!

I See Green and Brown

It is amazing, but I see colors outside! It is 51 degrees, the snow is melting and there are patches of green and brown appearing around the yard. YEAH!!!!



If you look closely at the second picture, you will see that the animals are enjoying an afternoon in the yard as well. Do you see the possum?

I know it is early to be thinking that there won't be anymore snow, but it sure is nice to have warm temperatures and see green.

As you can see, my camera is working, but it's only because I have a new disc in. I am resigning myself to the fact that I have lost all of the pictures on the other disc. :( I guess that will teach me to take them off the camera sooner.

I have added a couple of blogs to my list. Check them out! The knittingbrow is my brother's blog and his Jan. 31st video is showing some of the family calendars we've made over the years. Thanks for the trip down memory lane Jerry!

Jack and I are off to visit my sister Ann and her family. Mom is staying with them, but will be returning to Dayton soon. We'll be taking Quinn with us and I know we'll have a great tme. I'm also pretty sure that the trip is a "Photo Op" waiting to happen!

Camera Disaster

I sat down to transfer pictures from my camera to the computer and received a message that said "Clean the contact area of the disc with a dry cloth." I did as asked, reinserted the card and immediately received the same message. Of course, the other alternative is to re-format the disc. That of course is not really an option, as I have pictures from this past weekend's retreat and pictures I took tonight of Quinn. The pictures were so perfect. She was standing next to the stairs, holding on with one hand and laughing. The next picture is of her standing by herself, right before she took TWO STEPS!!! Well, I'm sending an e-mail to Olympus to see what they suggest I do. I sure hope there is some way to print those pictures. I tried hooking the camera up to the computer, but it hasn't worked. I'm so bummed!

On a happier note, the retreat was really fun and productive. Even though I didn't complete my normal number of projects, I did get a lot accomplished. I began work on the 2009 raffle quilt (Bonnie Hunter's Double Delight - with her approval) and that has a lot of small pieces. I have completed most of the square in a square units (I need to do 12 more I think) and all of the mini 9 patches are done. I needed to wait for the remaining square in a square pieces because I wasn't sure what I was going to do for the borders. I didn't want to cut into the rest of the fabric until I decided because that would mean that I would have to piece the borders; and I don't like doing that. Anyway, I also stated sewing the blocks together and I have one corner done. Today I decided how I am going to finish the quilt. I want to make a pieced border that I saw on another quilt. I have to e-mail that designer and make sure she doesn't have any objections to me using her border. I don't think it will be a problem because she has a ton of free patterns on her sight and this border is on one of those projects.

I also worked on a Patriotic UFO and have it all done except two borders. I decided to add pieced cornerstones and I need to resize and finish those ASAP. I really like the look of the quilt and wonder why it got put away in the first place.

Of course all of my retreat pictures are on my camera, so I don't have an to show you. Oh well.

Until next time.....

Staying Busy Continued...

Well, I guess when you don't post too often, it is easy to hit the wrong button and publish a post instead of going back and adding more after uploading a picture. Making an entirely new post seems easier than editing the last one so that is what I'm going to do. Besides, this way it seems like I've posted twice today and maybe no one will remember that I often go seven weeks without posting! Below is a picture of the Jacob's Ladder blocks that I made for a swap. The blocks finish 12" and are black background and batiks. I made 3 sets of 6 each and I'm actually ahead of the time to get them done. I will put them in the mail Tuesday and they didn't have to be done until the end of February. YEAH!!!
I am trying to decide what I am taking on retreat at the end of this month. I always take too much, but I'd rather have too much than not enough. I'm sure that I will find something that just calls my name while I'm there too, but you never know. We will be in Holmes County, staying in a condo. I love being there in the January because it is usually cold and snowy and I always get a lot done. My best friend Kare is going with us this year. She's a "virgin retreater" but I have no doubt that she will fit right in. We sew, laugh, shop, eat, sew some more and always have a wonderful time. I'll try to remember to take my camera and forward some pictures.

I took a break from organizing my stash and trying to decide what fabric I will use for my guild's retreat mystery next month. I'm finding out that I have been busting a lot of blue and "background" stash. I only have four or five pieces of blue in the tub and not much more of the light "backgrounds." Do you think that is reason to shop while I'm on retreat in a couple of weeks? :) Oh well, I better get back to work or I'll find some excuse to stop.

Staying Busy

As promised, I'm posting a couple of pictures of projects that were done for Christmas gifts, orders, etc. The little fish wallhanging is a variation of the pattern Gone Fishing by MH Designs. I have done the original a couple of different times, but wanted this wallhanging to be a bit smaller. The original has a fishing pole added to the right side. It is quite cute and easy to paper piece together.

The tote bags below are just 4 of the 18 that I made. They are easy to make and are a combination of lots of features that I like from various bags that I have seen.

I also helped a friend make 4 quilts for Christmas. She did most of the piecing on 3 of them, but I did the last one because of time restraints. I quilted all of them and added the bindings as well. They were simple patterns (2 of them are a square in a square, 1 is a 9 patch soduko and the last is a 16 patch soduko), but they were all fun to make.

I've Finally Done It

Yep, I'm updating my blog for the first time in over 7 weeks! Actually, I'm just letting you all know that I'm still around and that I know I am a slacker. This post is going to be VERY short because I have to get the guild information out to everyone today and try to get an accurate grocery shopping list together so I don't have to make umpteen trips to the store for all of the items I forgot.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and that the new year is shaping up to be a good one for you. I was going to make a resolution that was something like this: " I resolve to update my blog at least once a week, if not more in 2009," I knew that would only be setting myself up for failure so I didn't do it. How's this for a resolution: "I'll try to post weekly and not beat myself up if I don't do it"? I like the second resolution best!

Anyway, I have some pictures I'll share in my next post that include some of the projects that I made for Christmas, what I am working on now, and the projects that I want to start soon. Be on the lookout for that post sometime in the next ??????? or so.