Soldier Quilt

This is a soldier quilt that I just finished quilting. We pass them around the guild. Someone pieces it, someone quilts it, then someone binds it. I think I will bind it too and just get it done. Our meeting is on tuesday and I would like to take it finished along with a charity quilt that has been sitting at my house for 3 months.
There is a lady in our guild that has taken the soldier quilts under her wing and done great things with giving them to the wounded soldiers. I can tell you more of what she has done when I get the scoop. Of course everyone in the guild has helped by donating time, money, and hard work.
Song of the day: "When Doves Cry" by Prince

Good And Bad Times

I can't believe it has been a week since I have posted. It has been fun and crazy around here. We have had field trips, picnics, parties, and family around for 2 graduations. My son graduated from 5th grade on wednesday. All my family got here on friday and my daughter graduated on sunday afternoon. I was so scared we were going to be sitting for like 3-4 hours. I had heard so many horror stories. We were there for 1 hour and 15 minutes. It was great. Then we all went and ate pizza. I really don't get sentimental over things like that. I look at it as moving on to bigger and better things in life. Always remember the past but look forward to the future!!! I just think of all the possibilities that are ahead of her. As she says we are just going to chillax this summer. I hope to get more painting and quilting done while hanging out with the kids.
On a little different note, I received some very bad news yesterday about a friend of mine. Her name is Joan and I met her through a quilting workshop in Paducah. The cancer is back and things are going downhill very fast. I love her dearly and I hope to be able to speak with her again. It is amazing how you can have friends your whole life and meet someone later in life and be just as good of friends. So please take a moment and say a prayer for her and her family. Thank you.
Song of the day: "Amazing Grace"

Square In A Square

I saw most of these Kaffe fabrics at the show in Paducah. They were put in nice little 1/2 yard packs according to color. I knew I should have bought them there but of course I didn't. So when I got home home I kept thinking about all of those yellows and oranges. They are not my colors at all. I never really buy them but for some reason I wanted these. So I came home and had to find all of them on the web. I want to make a a square within a square. Not difficult but that is what I will do with them. I am not sure when I will get started on it but at least I have the fabric for it now.
Song of the day: "It's Too Late" by Carole King

Taking A Break

I took a break from painting yesterday. There is a small historic schoolhouse down the road, Boiling Springs Academy and they were having an open house. It was built in the late 1800's. They restored it a couple years ago. My son was supposed to go there and have a full day of class when he was in the 3rd grade but another teacher's class got to go instead. So he went with me to look at it. He got in trouble while we were there and had to sit in the corner with a dunce cap on! Not really but the lady was showing him how the students were punished. He also had to draw a circle on the blackboard and stick the tip of his nose there and wait till the teacher told him he could sit back down. If he would have known he was going to be embarrassed he would have stayed home! There was supposed to be a bell hanging outside on the pole but nobody would hang it out. She said they were all short and needed someone tall. I told them I would do it and they said you won't be here to take it down. Oh well, I tried.
I was just glad that I finally got to see inside. I drive by there all the time.
Song of the day: "Always Something There To Remind Me" by Naked Eyes

Lucky Day

I finished cleaning the room today that I painted. I started putting my blue tape around another area. I am painting a hallway. I am going to wait to do the other room. I want to paint with a different color right now. It will be the latte.
It is going to be a crazy week. My daughter has all of her finals. My son has parties and a huge field trip to Alabama to the space center. He is excited about that. My family starts coming in on friday for graduation on sunday. I have my sewing day with my friends on thursday. That will probably be the only day I sew this week.
I took my dogs for a walk in the park today. We have not been able to go the last couple of days because it has been raining. The creek was full of water again and I could here the quail talking. The blossoms are falling off the trees now and it doesn't smell as good. One of my favorite things are clovers. There are clover patches everywhere in the park. I am always looking down trying to find four leaf clovers. I am pretty good at finding them. My Granny calls me eagle eyes. Up till now I have not found a single one. Well today was my lucky day. I found 2 then walked a little farther and found 2 dollars then walked a little farther and found 2 more four leaf clovers. I have to say I left the park in a pretty good mood!
Song of the day: "Lucky Star" by Madonna

One Down 4 To Go

Well I completed one room. Now to the living room. I have to paint the whole wall in there. That is going to suck. It does have a chair rail so maybe I will paint one half at a time so I won't be in so much pain. It will be that same color, silver sage. These are my paints. You really can't get a more exciting picture than cans of paint!
I am really trying to get myself organized this year. Working on the house and getting the inside like I want it. I could complain about my builder for probably a year. We have had to go behind him and fix things that should not have to be fixed yet. Our house is only 5 years old. So hopefully this year we can get ahead.
That little container on the boxes is acrylic medium. I actually learned something from watching TLC. If you put your painters tape on then go over the seam with the medium it seals it and paint does not leak underneath and you get a nice crisp little line. My lines are almost perfect. It really works.
These are my photo boxes that I just ordered from Exposures, a great place to get frames and photo storage. I will just be putting my pictures in there with the negatives. I do not have time right now to organize photo albums. So with these my pics will be put away and look nice. They even make little furniture pieces to put these in. I told you I like browns. It is just kinda timeless and easy on the eyes. I should have worked in a zoo so I could have worn khaki everyday. That would be heaven.
Song of the day: "Mercy" by Duffy

Painting

I will definitely be taking some Motrin later. I have been painting my dining room most of today. I was thankful I did not have to paint the bottom half of the room. My back and neck are already hurting. I have to put on a second coat tomorrow. Then I will be moving on to my living room. It was a light sage green before and I painted it silver sage, more along the lines of a blue. I like it much better now that I have another room to compare it to. Of course it looks cleaner already except for the clutter. I got my paint from Restoration Hardware. I really like the colors they have. I painted our guest room Orchid, my bedroom Flax, and the master bath Latte. My fav colors brown, beige and purple! Now off to cook dinner.
Song of the day: "Warwick Avenue" by Duffy
If you are into music go to her website and watch the video of that song. She is a great new artist from the UK. I have listened to her whole cd twice today while I was painting. I really like most of the songs which is unusual for me. Great cd!

More Indian Orange Peel

I hope everyone that is a mother in whatever form had a fabulous day yesterday. My family was very good to me. We spent time with my in-laws this weekend and stayed extremely busy.
I have actually done some more work on the IOP. I was going to take a break and work on other projects but it was calling my name. It is the scrappiest quilt I have made so far. I think I am really going to like it. I still try and control the amount of scrappiness, mainly because I cannot help it! This will not be the final layout. I just wanted to get a photo. It is lying on the floor because it will not stick to the wall because all the paper is still on and will be until the very end. That was a nice run on sentence.
It is supposed to rain some this week. If it does I will painting some inside walls. I am having more company in 2 weeks for graduation. I not only clean for company I paint! It makes the house smell new. Not really, my paint has just been sitting there for 6 months.
Song of the day: "Eye In The Sky" by The Alan Parsons Project

Studio Tour The End

Here are my last photos I have of the studio tour. One of the husbands is an artist. He was an art teacher for 30 years. His studio was just as awesome. I had to take a picture of all of his brushes. He had alot of his work hanging so I did not photograph that. Plaza Art is having a big sale right now if you like art supplies. The next pictures were of a new studio above a garage. I think she was still moving everything in. It was a nice big open area. Studios seem to be a big topic now. Cloth Paper Scissors just released a special issue on studios. It is cool to see how others work and what is hanging around in there studio that inspire them.
I am bummed right now. I thought I was going to get Def Leppard tickets tomorrow because they are coming to Nashville. They will be here the day I go on vacation. I have never been able to see them in concert. Maybe one day.
Song of the day: "Let's get Rocked" by Def Leppard

Studio Tour Part 2

I took a picture of at least one way everyone stored their fabric. There are definitely many storage solutions out there to pick from. I personally have to see all my fabric and thread or I forget I have it. If I forget it I will never use it. I am rethinking my shelves for my fabric. I may switch to the shelves that mount to the wall.I am thinking I may get a few more shelves that way. I have some fabric on the floor that I need to get off of the floor. Right now my fabric is on wooden book shelves.
It seems as though alot of quilters knit or knitters quilt. We just need to keep our hands moving I guess. I would like to knit a scarf one day but that is it. I cannot start another hobby! I found if I keep my neck warm the rest of my body stays a little warmer.
I took a picture of this cheese because the joke was did she cut the cheese like that. She said she fussy cut all the pieces and someone would be eating alot of scraps. Quilt humor, who knew!
Song of the day: "Angel Boy" by Tim Mcgraw

Studio Tour

Once a year our guild has a studio tour. It takes the place of our regular meeting. We have any where from 5-7 people sign up to open their studios to everyone in the guild. We meet at a certain place, break into groups, and take our scheduled route. Everyone is staggered so we don't show up at the same house at the same time. There are a couple of volunteers at each house helping with food and traffic flow. We eat at each house. How cool is that!
It does not matter how small or large your studio is we just like to see how everyone sews. The first year we did it one of the ladies was sewing on her kitchen table. That was 3 years ago. This year she opened her studio again to us. She finished her garage and now she has over 500 sq. feet as her studio. It is beautifully lit, it has orthopedic carpet, and a walk in closet. We were all drooling and had stash and studio envy!!! I am so happy for her, she is so proud of her space.
It is a great way to get ideas for your own studio and it really helps us get to know each other better. The weather was great yesterday for the tour. Everyone had a great studio and their space really worked for them.
Song of the day: "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper

Cups

This is the quilt I mentioned that was in Art Takes Shape, the Husqvarna Viking exhibit.
I did not do any sewing this weekend. The weather was so nice I stayed outside. I have been back at the park walking and riding my bike. I think I about killed my son yesterday. We went for a long ride on our bikes. It is going to be hard to blog on a regular basis now so if I get some things done sewing I will let you know.
Song of the day: "Thousand Miles From Nowhere" by Dwight Yoakam

Smellavision

That is what I wish someone would invent! I have been taking my dogs to our local park and walking them every morning. That is one way to get my lazy butt out of the house. We have great trails and there is honey suckle and wysteria blooming everywhere like crazy now. It smells so good on our walks. The wind was blowing today and the smell was intoxicating. I know that sounds weird but I have never smelled that much natural fragrance just in the air. I usually have to stick the flower up my nose to smell it. I know it won't last much longer so I intend to enjoy it while it is around.
I almost forgot, when I pulled into the parking lot of the park I saw these 2 ladies about jump out of their skin. They almost got flattened by a deer. It just came flying out of the woods about a foot in front of them. When they walked by me I asked if they were ok because I saw the culprit run away. I am glad they were fine but it was funny to watch. Truth is stranger than fiction!!!
I can tell I am not going to get much accomplished this month. Tonight is the band banquet and we have so much to get done before graduation.
Song of the day: "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler

My Favorite

This was my favorite quilt at Paducah this year. Don't get me wrong there were alot of great quilts but this one made me stop and really look at it. I had also seen a picture of another quilt the artist had done in Houston. This one is "Blushing Triangles 3" by Gloria Hansen.
Paducah is always fun because I get to hang out with my friend Tiki that lives there. I get alittle me time too. I think I hit every vendor I could find. They were really spread out everywhere. It is nice because everyone is not all sardine packed in one big room. I ate at all the restuarants I like, went to the museum and walked through another display of art quilts downtown. Friday night I went to dinner with my new BFF Frieda Anderson and Laura Wasilowski. I had eaten all day and still managed to eat again at dinner. That was the day I had my strawberries and ice cream from the boy scouts, so good. I ran into alot of my friends from guild and we had to check out each others goodies. It is important to see who is buying the most!
Another good show come and gone. I will be looking forward to the Nashville show.
Song of the day: "Low Rider" by War