Unexpected Visitor

I got a few more pieces sewn on my Indian Orange Peel today. The day started out nasty and rainy so to me that is good sewing weather. After lunch it started to clear up then by about 3pm it was gorgeous. I needed to start clearing the weeds out of my mulch beds. It is really weird that I have different weeds this year. These are not as easy to pull up and when I do there is a huge root system taking half of my dirt with it. So I am out there just working away and then something catches my eye. About 3 feet away is this huge skink. He was lying so still. I am surprised he did not run away with all of the racket I was making. He was warming his little body. I say little but if you stretched him out he was probably 10-12 inches long. He did not even mind his picture taken.
Song of the day: "Come Away With Me" by Norah Jones

Indian Orange Peel

I did not plan on starting a new quilt today but my long arm was upsetting me. I went to quilt on it and everything was working fine then my thread started breaking. It kept breaking so I stopped. That is one problem I have continually had with that machine. My one complaint about longarms is the service. If you do not live by a dealer you are kinda out of luck. So now I have to find someone to look at it. I am not one of those people that can take it apart and feel comfortable fixing it.
I took a color class this past year from Karen Stone. She was so nice and willing to share all of her knowledge. I have learned alot about color but it seems I need to be reminded. It was like a refresher course. When you are not thinking about color everyday it can be easy to forget. At least for me. I took hand dyes thinking they would work, mainly because we needed 125 different colors for this quilt. When I saw the quilt in person I could see why she used prints. My stash is not by color so I am thinking where I am going to get 125 different values in about 6 colors. I came home and started looking at all my fabric and realized I was pretty close. I had about 100 different colors I could use from this one designer. I had stocked up on Lonni Rossi fat quarter packs. Hers are sold in colors but with different values. I will try to find more to put with them but that is a good start. So my fabric and pattern pieces have been cut since the fall. I am going to be working on about 5 different quilts at once. I do get tired of looking at them after a while so it will be good to switch off. Usually when I am finished with a quilt I never want to see that fabric again.
Song of the day: "Silver Springs" by Fleetwood Mac

Rearranging Mumbo Gumbo

I have 9 of the big Mumbo Gumbo blocks finished. I have 11 more to go. Now that I am sick of looking at them I decided to move them around. I will work on something else for a while. This quilt does not have to be finished until December. This post will be short because I am tired.
Song of the day: "Jump Jive An' Wail" by The Brian Setzer Orchestra

Fun With The Girls

What a fun day of sewing. Everyone was working on their own projects. The nice thing about being in a group is the support and getting their opinions. We are managing to squeeze into everyone's house and studios. I really like seeing the different studios.
The group consists of six very talented women, Julie, Barb, Sharon, Vanessa, Chris, and me. We are meeting once a month right now. I find myself really looking forward to our sewing day.
We had a little show and tell today. Sharon brought her Dear Jane that she has been working on along time. She did not do all of the blocks but decided to piece together what she had already done. We all discussed her blocks the last time we met and she came today with them sewn and she started on her border. The colors are definitely not traditional Dear Jane but it looks awesome. I am just impressed with anyone who tackles a Dear Jane.
I am thankful for our sewing group and I hope we have many more sewing days together.
Thanks for the flip flop fabric Chris!
Song of the day: "Fever" by Kylie Minogue

More Black And White

I received my second shipment of black and white and a few colors mixed in again. I go looking for the white on black and get more black on white. The black and white just really make those colors pop. I guess you just can't have enough of some things. I did kinda freak out a little when I caught a little of Oprah the last 2 days. The life of Hoarders, then I look at all of my fabric stash. The lady on the show was such an extreme case but it does make you stop and think about all of it. I am sure the feeling will go away when I see more fabric I like!!!!
I am getting together when my quilt group tomorrow. We will be out in the country. We were told to look out for turkeys as we get closer to her house. I wish I lived out in the country. I love it out there. I know it has drawbacks but it is so peaceful. I will be working on my Mumbo Gumbo. I will be taking my grocery bags full of strips and dump them in her floor. I am sure she won't mind. I finished my half square triangles that go in the center of the blocks tonight. I needed 80. Thank goodness for triangle paper. I love that stuff.
Song of the day: "Jolene" by Sherrie Austin

Last Cooking Class

I took my last Cook Without A Book class tonight. I think I left there high. It was loaded up with sugar. The menu was old fashioned chocolate cake, angel food cake with raspberry coulis, key lime cheesecake with hazelnut crust, basic custard for ice cream, and vanilla bean ice cream. I went thinking the chocolate cake was going to be my favorite, cause I am a chocoholic! I have to have it in some form everyday. My favorite was the key lime cheesecake. Now I have to go get the pan to make it in. I was nice tonight, I actually brought some home for my family to try.
The Viking store where I take my classes was having a sale too. I bought some Emile Henry bakeware at 40% off. I was very happy with that. I might have to go pick up a few more things before it is over. They are not carrying anything anymore that does not have the Viking logo on it. I picked all different colors. I used to buy everything that matched. I have learned colors go out of style and my taste changes so if I get all different colors it should not matter.
There will be some changes going on in my blog over the next month or so. I am tired of looking at the same screen everyday so I am going to play with layouts and colors. I am not that technical so thats why it will take me a while.
Song of the day: "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper

Strip Sets

Along with my Mumbo Gumbo I am making very colorful strip sets. There are actually 3 sets on the design wall. They are about 8 inches wide. I am not sure what I will be doing with them at this point. Yesterday and today I have been cutting strips. At least 4 of each color. That is so I can work on the 2 projects at the same time. I put them in the bags to give you an idea of how many there actually are. When I am sewing them they are dumped out in 2 piles on the floor. I can only be so random. I have to have a little method to my madness. I have tried to be totally scrappy but it is not in me.
Song of the day: "Wicked Game" by Chris Isaac

Which Do I Like Better

I am moving the blocks around trying to find the arrangement that I like. Of course I will not decide until I get them all finished. It gives my brain something to think about if I cannot sew. It doesn't look like I will be sewing today. School starts back on monday so its back to the grind.
I have to pick my daughter up at the airport tonight around 10pm. It shouldn't be busy at that time so that is fine. We did get some excellent news today. She got accepted into Watkins College of Art & Design here in Nashville. She will start in the fall. Is it bad if I follow her to school everyday? Not to spy on her but to go to all of the classes. It was so cool there. When we toured the school I wanted to attend! Everybody would be like hey who is that old lady following you. Just one more way for me to embarrass her!
Not to ruin it for you but if you haven't seen Atonement don't unless you want to be depressed the rest of the day. I watched it this afternoon and now I feel blah. I am going to go try and find something funny on tv to lighten my mood.
Son of the day: "Ain't No Sunshine" by Bill Withers

Too Much Fun

Wow, things go so fast when you have all of your strips cut. It's awesome just pick up a strip and sew. I am not really one that sews fast. I like to take my time and do things correct. You really can't mess this up. I will have to replenish some of my colors tomorrow. I am thinking I might make this about 72x90. I think it would look really cool big. I hope my enthusiasm holds out. It looks like it is bedtime now 12:43am. I think I will have a sandwich first, all that hard work! See Ya.
Song of the day: "Wave On Wave" by Pat Green

It's All About The Fabric

Well I finally received my black and whites in the mail. Hancocks of Paducah had a great selection. I mixed in a few colors too. I found a few white with black pieces today on SewBatiks site. That is really hard to find. I will look for more at the AQS show in Paducah.
I was talking to a friend of mine and she said she was on Ricky Tims website and he had all his hand dyes 50% off. I had to go check that out. Sure enough they are all 50% off now. He is not changing his colors but his fabric, so I stocked up a little. I love his fabric now. It is the closest to Cherrywood that I have seen. Hopefully he will have his new stuff in Paducah. I will check it out.
I stayed up till one in the morning last night watching Love In The Time Of Cholera. It was a great movie. I definitely recommend watching it.
The hockey game was torture tonight. We beat Detroit the other night and they killed us tonight. It was cool because we had country music star Keith Anderson come out and sing the National Anthem. He actually has a very good voice. There are so many rumors in Nashville about who really can sing and who can't. You definitely do not want to screw up the National Anthem.
Song of the day "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd

Mumbo Gumbo

Well I have to say I have been lazy the last couple of days. It is spring break here and we are just hanging at home. We don't like to go anywhere when everybody else does. Next year we will find somewhere to go because there is no one left here for my son to play with. He is a homebody but we need to find somewhere fun.
I decided to go in my studio today and sew. This is the second quilt that I am doing as a group thing. The first is the christmas quilt. Everyone in my group is doing this quilt just in different colorways. I had intended to do it in browns but I need some more values in the browns especially in the batiks. I am collecting black and white batiks so I thought that would be a good start. I had all of these colored strips cut from my last Nancy Crow workshop so I decided to put them with the black and white. The colored strips are from Cherrywood Fabrics. I love their hand dyed fabric. It looks like suede. I had started something similar while I was at Nancy's but this is a different take on it. This is actually a pattern from Pie In The Sky Quilts. It is called Mumbo Gumbo.
The blocks are about 9 1/4 so the big block will be about 18 finished. I am free form cutting my strips so there is not a definite finished size yet. I really like the free form cut. It just gives a little lopsidedness to your quilt. It has helped me with my analness! Is that a word?
Song of the day: "Stand Back" by Stevie Nicks
She is by far my alltime favorite female singer.

Starting To Spin

I felt a little better today so I started sewing my second round. Looks good, they are starting to get more movement. I have to go 2 more rounds. They will end up 12 in. finished. There are 48 blocks so it is going to be a good size quilt. I have no idea what I will do with the borders.
I went shopping yesterday again. I found some more batiks. This is an online store I really like, Cabbage Rose Quilting.
Song of the day: "99" by Toto

Beach Cottages

These blocks were alot of fun. Especially the palm trees. This will be my florida quilt. I have ocean waves left to paper piece for the border. I think I have sea gulls too but I will have to double check. There should be an award for the most unfinished projects. I might just win! I did not get this pattern there but it is a good website for paper piecing, Paper Panache.
I am jealous, my daughter is in florida this week and I am not.
Song of the day: "Escape" (The Pina Colada Song) by Rupert Holmes

Shop Hop Sampler

These are the fabrics that were on our shop hop almost 2 years ago. I love the pink and brown. The fabric line was In The Pink by Henry Glass. Each store made a different version of a quilt with these blocks. There was only one version that I liked and it had applique. I would like to put it together without that. I have to figure out an arrangement for them. I might even have to make more blocks. I have plenty of fabric left to work something out. I could even put them on point with solid blocks in between. They are 6in. finished.
I really like photographing my blocks. It gives me a whole different perspective. It shows me which blocks really stand out with design and color. I am really drawn to the log cabin block. Wouldn't that be gorgeous as a large quilt?
Song of the day: "Sarah Smile" by Hall & Oates

Wow Wow Wow

I know that is a dorky title but I was blown away last night. I had no idea Michael Buble was such an entertainer. I knew he was a singer but I found out he was so much more. He interacted with the audience so well. It was like he was a stand up comedian. He had little skits worked out with his orchestra. They were all guys about his age and very talented musically. I would see him again in a heartbeat. We could not stay for the encore, had to get my son home. That was a bummer, I wanted to know what he was going to sing. Being in Nashville there are always surprises springing up at concerts like guest singers. I had no clue he knew anyone here. All of a sudden he announces someone who had cut his song "Home". It was Blake Shelton. He has an awesome voice. So sexy. When we saw Bon Jovi here Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland came out on stage to sing a song with them.
The opening band was a group of guys fron New york, Naturally Seven. They were an acapella group that do the percussion sounds with their voices. It was cool.

A Night Out

We are headed to downtown Nashville tonight to see Michael Buble in concert. I am really looking forward to seeing him except for the fact that I still feel like crap. It was supposed to be a family night but my daughter has to work. She forgot to get someone to cover for her. We will probably get her a t-shirt. I do have to confess even though it is a family thing my 11 year old son is not very excited. He loves to stay at home and not go anywhere. I am getting old because I am hoping people don't stand up. I really just want to sit and watch.
Song of the day: "Sway" by Michael Buble

Black, White, and Red

Here is the start to my snail trail. I need to go around each block about 2 more times. I wanted to see what they looked like on my design wall at this point. They make a pretty cool design already but I will keep going. Besides cutting a few strips today taking the picture is all I did.
I made the mistake of going to Batiks Galore. It takes very little effort to shop online even with a sinus infection. I did not even have to get out of my chair. I am collecting creams and black and whites. There selection is good and of course I found what I was looking for.
I needed some flip flops so I looked for those too. I love Sperry shoes and Yellow Box shoes. After living in Fla. for 17 years I am a flip flop junkie. Your wardrobe really goes casual living there. I wish I could wear them as often in tennessee but no. I need to live in 2 places. I enjoy the winter but then I want to be warm. Fla. is too warm or should I say humid. Maybe the Carribean Islands?
I thought of my friend Tiki today. That is her real name. I heard our song on the radio while I was running errands. We used to cruise around in her car our senior year listening to this. We thought we were so cool and we did exactly what the song said. We put our fake Ray Bans on and wore them at night. I am surprised we did not get in a wreck.
Song of the day: "Sunglasses At Night" by Corey Hart

Favorite Fabric

I am on an antibiotic for a killer sinus infection. My son has strep and is on an antibiotic. He did not want THE SHOT in the butt. It is so painful and so much easier but I let him choose. My daughter and her first boyfriend broke up tonight. Good times in my house!!! Frieda got out just in time.
The only thing I had energy to do was take a picture. I love Kaffe's fabric. I have a ton of it and I am slowly trying to use it. This is a Judy Neimeyer pattern. She is an awesome teacher. She came to our guild about a year ago. So friendly and down to earth. The reason I stopped working on it is because of the circles. I break out in a cold sweat when I have to piece them. I don't do them enough so I am not that good at it and it takes me forever. I know, practice what you are not good at and you will get better. I should do one block a day. I have to get good at them. I have about 8 of her patterns. Paper piecing is one of my favorite techniques. It comes out perfect every time. What more could an extremely anal person ask for!
Song of the day: "Baby Be Mine" by Michael Jackson

Not Feeling Well Again

It looks like my son brought home a virus. There were so many kids out last week the teacher could not even go over some of the assignments. She has to wait till everyone returns. He has felt bad since friday and I woke up today feeling bad.
I really wanted to sew today. I did get one more poinsettia block finished. That is all I could manage. I also picked up my studio a little and vacuumed the floor. I throw things all over the floor when I am in the middle of a project. This time it was thread. I try all different types so I can choose the one I like for each piece. So I thought I would show you the 2 things that everyone comments on when they come into my studio. The first has been called my "wall of thread" I love the little thread stands they sell at JoAnns. I just nail them into the wall. I like all of my thread out where I can see all the colors. I don't like digging through drawers. The only thread I have in a drawer is Mettler on those skinny spools. I don't know why there is not a universal spool with a universal holder on each sewing machine. I have stopped buying thread that come on funky spools so if you want me to buy your thread you better fix that! The next thing is a shelf that I bought at Michaels. I think is was less than 10$ and it holds my rotary cutters and scissors. My stabilizer sits on top. It is nice having those things off the table and floor.
Blogger will not let me post pictures so I will try again tomorrow.
Song of the day: "Rain On The Scarecrow" by John Mellencamp

All Done

I did not think I was going to get this done today. I could not decide what to quilt in the borders. Then I decided on leaf clusters. I did not have much room. They were about 2 1/2 inches wide. It was hard to change directions. One less project hanging around not finished. It was fun and Frieda's fabrics are so colorful. Now it is off to bed since the time change is tonight. Not cool! I love my sleep.
Song of the day: "Seasons Change" by Corinne Bailey Rae

Machine Quilting

What a great night. All cozy and warm inside while it is snowing outside. It looks like we might get 2-4 inches. That is a big deal here. I am sure it will be gone by sunday. I figured tonight would be a good night to stay in my studio and finish up the fusing project I started on tuesday in Frieda's class. I just have the border left to machine quilt. Hopefully I will get it done tomorrow. I am going to send it to my mom in florida. She loves nature. I am going to go bury some threads now. I want to stay up a little longer and watch the weather.
Song of the day: "Ain't Nobody" by Chaka Khan

Flower Petals

The only thing I had time to do today was cut out some flower petals. I am going to do a large piece with my fused flowers. They are a pain to cut. Then I have to stitch in layers. It is Melody's hand dyed silk. I bought as much as I could from her before she quit selling her dyed pieces. I will be sad when it is gone. I dye my silk totally different from her and can't seem to get the vibrant colors that she gets. I will practice again this summer.
My husband and I talked this afternoon and it looks like I will be able to take Improvisations at Nancys this fall. I am very excited. That will be my third class with her. I try and get up there at least once a year. It is like summer camp for me. No phones, dogs, kids, or anything to do but sew. Having someone cook for you just makes the whole experience complete. Ring the dinner bell and I am there. It also lets me spend some time with my friends that live in Columbus. Now I have to get some pieces done to take with me.
Song of the day: "Love, Reign O'er Me" by Pearl Jam

Country Retreat

Wow I have had an exciting 3 days. I feel like I have abandoned my post here. I have hardly had time to check my e-mail much less post. I picked Frieda up from the airport on sunday and we have gone non stop. Monday we had our machine quilting workshop out in the country. The weather was gorgeous, 70 degrees and sunny. We all went out back by the river and ate our lunch. The ladies loved the class and learned a great deal. It took their machine quilting to the next level. They could not tell me enough how much they liked Frieda and how much they had learned. Tuesday was our guild meeting. Frieda presented her fusing lecture then after lunch we had a fusing class. I did not get any pictures that day. We were all on the perimeter of the room by the outlets and the room is huge. Another class loved by all.
I would just like to thank Frieda for coming. I enjoyed hanging out with her. She is a great quilt artist and a great person. She is welcome back anytime. We are actually going to try and get her back this summer for a dyeing workshop. If you are looking for someone to come to your guild get Frieda, she is awesome.
Song of the day: "Summer Rain" by Belinda Carlisle

3 Down 9 More To Go

Not the smartest thing to do but I was up till one in the morning getting these other 2 poinsettias finished. I wanted to see how much longer it took to do 2 at one time. I will only do one at a time from now on. My back was killing me. I am sure it had something to do with all the running around I did yesterday. I have been getting ready for company. I will be picking Frieda Anderson up from the airport in a couple of hours. We are excited to have her at our guild monday and tuesday. She will be teaching fusing and machine quilting. I hope she has lots of her hand dyed fabric to sell because I am ready to buy. We don't have too many ladies that fuse in the guild but I am trying to change that. I will try and get some great pics of all the classes. Later!
Song of the day: "Neon Moon" by Brooks & Dunn