Mulberry Tart

Boyfriend's Quilt

2009-10-25T18:05:00.003-05:00

This is my daughters boyfriends quilt. It was supposed to be a graduation gift but as you can see I ran a little behind. She wanted it to have big strips of fabric and when I put them together it definitely was not big enough. These boys tend to grow more after high school. So I added the chunks at the bottom and the side border. That made it get bigger! I put orange flannel on the back. Even though I am a Gator fan I did not mean for it to be so orange and blue. I love this batik and only have a little left now.
She took it to him at his school in Birmingham just in time. He said the dorms were starting to get cold at night. He loves it and life is good!

Quilts in Progress

2009-10-04T19:14:00.002-05:00

I have collected Kaffe fabric for a while now. I figured it was time to start putting it in some quilts. I hope to make many quilts with his fabric and I will probably keep them for myself.
The first one is just a simple square in a square. My points do not even have to match. There is extra room around each square. I used all the roman glass and millefiore colors In my stash. The borders are not up here but I put a few blocks in my borders.
The second one is my blue quilt. There are 10-15 lights and darks in this quilt. I really like how this one is turning out. If I am going to keep these for myself they need to be different from each other.

Back to Blogging

2009-09-29T14:55:00.002-05:00

I guess I better get back to this. I really enjoy it, I was just not inspired over the summer and did not work on much. I had so many people ask me what I did over the summer and I said nothing! They just kept asking like I was going to change my response. I really did nothing (quilt related) over the summer except spend time with my family.
About a week before school started I finished 2 more Amy Butler bags. Both basically will be used for diaper bags. The one I embroidered is for a new born. The name really looks good on the bag. I was not sure where to place it but I think it turned out ok. The other one is for my niece and it is Olivia the Pig fabric. I will be making her an Olivia the Pig quilt also. The fabric is so cute.

Trying To Get My Son Out Of Bed

2009-06-09T10:20:00.002-05:00

I am yelling at my son to wake up while I write this post. We have alot to do today and I need to get going. He is being lazy today. His friend spent the night and they stayed up too late. Now he is catching up on his sleep.
I will be working on my mulch beds the next couple of days. Getting rid of weeds, raking up old mulch, and laying down new mulch. I know that will make my back hurt. I cannot part with the money to have someone else do it
I forgot to mention how proud of myself that I am. No its not bragging. I did not go into one quilt shop while I was in Florida. I rode by a few and was very close to some more but I did not go. That is hard for me. I like to see what the stores have because they all seem to have different things. My kids were even shocked. My husband was glad!
My son is still not getting up so I need to go jump on him!!!
Song of the day: "The Pretender" by the Foo Fighters
my son is learning that song on his guitar

Manatees

2009-06-06T11:16:00.002-05:00

My daughter loves manatees. Between the two of us we got some pretty good photographs of them. We went to Homosassa Springs State Park. The manatees at the park are gated off in the springs. So they are still connected to all of the water ways but they cannot get out. There was a manatee on the outside of the gate and all of a sudden it moved and a baby popped out from underneath it. That is the first time I have seen a baby in the wild. I think she wanted in and the others wanted out. Going to the springs really made me miss florida.
We also took a pontoon boat ride in Crystal River. We only saw one manatee there. The water was not as clear right now. The only clear spot was 3 Sisters. That is a group of springs in the bay. I did see a green heron, which I have never seen before.
Song of the day: "Life Is A Highway" by Tom Cochrane

Back From Florida

2009-06-04T20:38:00.002-05:00

Me and the kids had a great time. We went to Dunnellon, Crystal River, Homosassa Springs, Sarasota, and ended the trip back in Gainesville. We visited with family, dug for arrowheads, went for a pontoon boat ride in CR, photographed manatees in the park and out in the wild, fished in the ocean, and rode horses. I had the best nights sleep when we got home. I was tired!!!
I did not realize my son would have such a good time fishing. If we lived on the water I think he would go out everyday. He is ready to go back. My daughter wants to move back down after college. I am just happy to visit.
Song of the day: "Suddenly I See" by KT Tunstall

Schools Out

2009-05-24T16:32:00.002-05:00

Wow the last 2 weeks have been crazy. We had one more round of strep and my son got hit in the eye with a baseball. That meant a trip to the emergency room. He is ok, no damage to his eye. It did not even get as black as we thought it would. Poor guy he is an accident waiting to happen.
School got out on thursday. That's exciting. We were so ready.
I have gotten 2 quilts finished and another started on the longarm. That does not even count the one I screwed up the quilting on. Now I am going to rip 2/3rds of the quilting out. I have never had to do that before. It doesn't look like it is going to be fun. That is how unhappy I am with the quilting.
Me and the kids are heading out to Florida tuesday morning. We are going to visit family, friends, and go deep sea fishing in the gulf. I feel like I need to put my son in a bubble while we are there! I just hope he makes it through the week unharmed.
song of the day: "Margaritaville" by Jimmy Buffet

New Rug Pattern

2009-05-10T16:39:00.004-05:00

Happy Mothers Day!

This is my new rug hooking pattern. It is called Calypso. It is quite a bit bigger that the first one I did. I have seen a few of them finished and they are really pretty. Each one is so different from the next. It is a little harder to color plan these rugs since I do not have a huge stash of wool. So I am going to start on the basket and work from there.
I am very excited. My husband got me and my daughter tickets to see Fleetwood Mac in concert in June. They are one of my favorite groups.
Song of the day: "Tusk" by Fleetwood Mac

My New Toy

2009-05-08T17:16:00.005-05:00

I didn't plan on waiting that long to show you what I got in Paducah. My internet has been out and it took forever for Comcast to get to my house. I guess with all of the storms we have had in the last 2 weeks they have been slammed, so they say! We had to get a new modem and a new wireless router. It was not fun being without it. I look so many things up on the computer. At least I have had time to play with my toy.
It is the Accuquilt fabric cutter. I have cut out 2 quilt tops. I am also making jelly rolls of my hand dyed fabric. So I have cut almost 50 yards of fabric into 2 1/2 inch strips. It was awesome to have for that. I think I am going to love it.
Song of the day: "Let Me Entertain You" by Robbie Williams

Paducah

2009-04-29T13:34:00.003-05:00

I made it back safe. I had a great time as usual. The first day I went to Hancocks, the Quilt Museum, and preview night. I had not been to preview night before. I did not realize it was an extra 25$. Live and learn! It was worth it this trip. I knew I was not going to have alot of extra time on my hands because I had signed up for 2 full day classes. So I looked at the quilts and the vendors that night. Of course the quilts were just as spectacular as ever. I did not take one picture while I was there. I just bought the book of show quilts. There were alot of Japanese quilts this year. I really like their style and fabric choice. There was also an exhibit of Japanese quilts at the museum.
My 2 classes were fun. I took Libby Lehman' s reverse circle applique class. I mainly just wanted to take her. I have wanted to take a class from her for a while now. She is so funny and full of good information. My other class was machine quilting and trapunto with Phillipa Naylor. Another great choice on my part! She was awesome. I definitely want to take her again. She quilts so slow. That is how her stitches are almost perfect. I am going to have a hard time slowing down.
For having very little time to shop I managed to buy. It was like power shopping. One of my purchases was a SEW EZI table. Since my group meets once a month at each other houses it will work out great. Sometimes we are a little crowded so now I will have my own table. The thing I love about it is the fact that your machine sits down in it. If it just sat on top of it I would not have bought it. And it is PURPLE! They must have thought about me when they made it.
The other is my new toy. It is supposed to come in the mail today. When I get it set up I will let you know. It was funny because my friend in Florida called and started talking about it to me and I was like, haven't we talked about this before? She was like, no. We both had been thinking about it. I told her I was going to Paducah to talk with them so she should wait and let me tell her all the info I had found out. I was so excited to call her when I got back. Well she could not stand it, she bought one while I was gone. Now she has hers already. She likes it so that is a good sign.
Gotta go now I am in the middle of washing and ironing fabric today. It's good to be home!
Song of the day: "Watching Airplanes" by Gary Allan

Prom Night 2009

2009-04-18T21:19:00.002-05:00

Well this will be my daughter's 3rd prom. Enough already. Just kidding, she is such a girlie girl so I know she loves getting all dressed up. She hangs out with a great group of kids. They all have so much fun together. One of the mothers put on a dinner for them at her house. I think there were 22 kids in all. The parents plated the food and served the kids. They were also given hors d'oeuvres while we were taking their pictures. It was fun and I know they had a good time.
I took 202 pictures. Thanks to digital. Sydni is in the short dress that is blue and cream. She said she felt like a cupcake! And her shoes totally do not match her dress and that was intentional.
Song of the day: "Colour My World" by Chicago

Katz Deli

2009-04-17T22:26:00.004-05:00

One thing we like to do is eat. So we watch food network and the travel channel alot. We like Man vs Food. So we knew there were some places we were going to look for in NY. When he went to Katz's Deli the food looked so good, not healthy but good. I knew I wanted to go there.
It definitely was an experience. When you walk in they give you a ticket and tell you not to loose it. We had no idea how to order. It just looked packed at the counter. So I started asking people what to do. You have to get in a cutters line. That is a guy behind the counter that cuts the meat. The only thing we were interested in was the pastrami, cornbeef, and beef brisket. I asked if I could try each and the guy gave me a dirty look. Not sure why, the guy in front of me tried the meat. He did give up some samples. I ended up getting the beef brisket. The meat was fabulous it just needed a little gravy!!! There isn't anything I won't put gravy on.
This is the restaurant that the famous scene from When Harry Met Sally was filmed. There is a circle hanging from the ceiling that is above the table they sat at. Pictures were all over the wall of famous people that have eaten there. I really do not care who has eaten there as long as the food is good. It is definitely a place you would not want to eat at often. Once or twice a year as a treat. It is meat overload!
Song of the day: "Lets Go Crazy" by Prince

New York City

2009-04-16T21:18:00.003-05:00

We had a great time in NYC. I was definitely ready to get back home. It is a great place to visit but I would not want to live there. Our main reason for going was opening day at Citi Field where the Mets play. That was my first professional baseball game. The stadium was awesome. Very well lit and easy to photograph and video in. After watching ice hockey for a whole season baseball just seemed slow and non eventful, no fighting or checking. The game was monday night so we had thursday-sunday to walk around the city. It only rained one day so we did not get much sight seeing done that day.
We went to Little Italy, Soho, Chelsea, East Village, Lower East Side, and the West Village. Our hotel was right off of Time Square. We really did not think about it being Easter weekend. It was really crowded. I did make it to the 2 quilt stores. I found a few things but I did not want to overdo it because Paducah is next week.
Song of the day: "China Girl" by David Bowie

Off To New York City

2009-04-09T14:53:00.002-05:00

We are taking the last part of spring break and heading north. I hope to return with lots of pics to blog with. We will just be chillin out for about 5 days.
I will visit the quilt shops. The City Quilter and Purl Soho. I hope I find some treasures! See Ya.

My First Rug

2009-04-02T08:22:00.003-05:00

Here is my first hooked piece. I am going tomorrow to hook all day and fill in the background and finish off the edges. It turned out ok. The leaves needed to have a little more contrast against the flower. I also made a few mistakes so I learned from them. I had to bum all the wool off of Betty. So now I will have to get a little stash of wool to work with. My next piece will be a big floral rug. It is really hard to find patterns for this. There is not near the amount as in quilting or cross stitch. It is also 50-150$ a pattern depending on how large it is.
Are there any hobbies that are inexpensive?
I am meeting my friends today to work on our Dear Jane blocks. I have not completed any more since the last ones. I will be using my civil war fabric today. I need to catch up on those.
Song of the day: "Zoot Suit Riot" by Cherry Poppin Daddies

My Son's First B-ball Game

2009-03-31T22:35:00.003-05:00

Last night was my son's first baseball game. He chose it over lacrosse. Now this will give him something to do in the spring. He and his dad have been going to the batting cages for about 4 months now. It helps but not like playing in a real game. He got a base hit and brought a guy home. Not bad for his first.
I was not as prepared. I left my camera home. I always take it with me. So I went up to a total stranger and asked her if she would take some pics of my son and e-mail them to me. I didn't think that was too much. She was sitting there with a very nice camera so I figured she knew what she was doing. She was very nice and said that would be fine. It just happened her son was on the other team and so was everyone else I managed to sit with. So I have her to thank for my pics.
Then I almost got hit with a foul ball. It was coming right at me. It is really hard to judge exactly where it is going. There was like 5 things going through my head to make me not move my butt over. Is it going to hit me? Should I try and catch it? If I catch it will it hurt or maybe break a finger? If I hurt my hand will I be able to sew? Then I put my arms up like thats going to help block it. Then I figured if I don't move it is going to hit me square on the head, so I moved. And sure enough it would have smacked me right on top of my head. I felt like such a doofus. Should I show my face at another game? My son was not embarrassed but my husband was making fun of me from across the field!!! That is ok I would have done the same to him.
Other than all of that I really enjoyed the game. I am not really a baseball fan but it was fun watching the kids. They all looked so cute in their little uniforms.
Triston figured out I asked her to take pictures of him. So he is pointing at her asking me if she is photographing him. I think he was glad for once I forgot my camera!
Song of the day: " We Got The Beat" by The Go-Go's

Spring Is Coming

2009-03-29T14:45:00.003-05:00

I had a great time in Ky. helping out with the kids. I always enjoy spending time with them. I watched my nephew play his soccer game. That was funny. Fourteen 5 year olds running back and forth in the gym not knowing what to do except kick the ball. Most of them were just looking around and bumping into each other. Everything was going good until I got home. I ended up getting that nasty virus my kids had. Not fun, I was wiped out all last week. My goal was just to get better so I could go to my rug hooking workshop yesterday. I did get to go and it was a blast. I learned alot, bought some wool, and got to see some great pieces that the other ladies brought for show and tell. There was plenty of food, which is always a good thing.
I just have to keep well this next week then it will be spring break. We will be going to New York City. My son really likes it up there.
Song of the day: "One Thing Leads To Another" by The Fixx

First Dear Jane Blocks

2009-03-19T20:23:00.003-05:00

Here are my first Dear Jane blocks. This is the batik one. I am starting on the easiest blocks first. I can get started on the civil war now. I finally got my background fabric in. It is all washed and ready to go now. I really hope I like it as much as the batik. I showed my sewing group today. They liked all the colors of batik. There are 3 of us doing it in my small group. We may have a few more that want to join in. We were at Vanessa's house today and she made us a fabulous lunch.
I shipped 3 quilt tops to Australia yesterday. They said it would take anywhere from 2-3 weeks to get there. I just hope they make it there.
I am heading out to Ky. tomorrow to help my brother with the kids. My sister in law had a hysterectomy today. Everything went well and she will go home tomorrow. I wish I could stay longer than the weekend but I have to get back to my kids.
Song of the day: "Mercy" by Duffy

It's Official I'm A Parttime Hooker

2009-03-16T15:57:00.004-05:00

Last week was not fun. Both my kids were really sick with a virus and I kept trying to get it. I was just exhausted all week. My son only went to school 1/2 day all week. I hope that is it for the year!
The half day he actually went I got to learn the technique of hookin. My mom is so proud! I called to tell her I am hookin now and she said, Your granny did that too. It is nice to know it runs in the family. I am getting to learn rug hooking which is something I have always wanted to learn. I looked into it a couple years ago and there is nothing around here. It is all up north. So I just dropped it. Then Chris in my quilt group told us about this lady at her church that taught it. I am like , I want to do that. So Chris asked her and she said yes. There is a group and they meet every other sunday afternoon at her house. So yesterday I got to go. It was so much fun. I am starting my flower piece, purple of course. I am going to my first all day workshop next saturday. I have a feeling wool is going to be just as addicting as fabric. It is beautiful.
This is a picture of her house all the way out in the woods (such a great place to meet) and a few of her pieces she has done. She has only been doing this since 2004 and has gotten so many pieces finished. When I saw all of her pieces I thought she had been doing this 20 years or so!
I have finished about 9 of my Dear Jane blocks. I have never made so many mistakes. I think it is because I was doing them when I was tired and not feeling great. I hope that is it. If I keep making mistakes I will not enjoy this as much as I thought I would. Especially making 2 of them.
Song of the day: talking In Your Sleep" by The Romantics

Dear Jane

2009-03-07T10:01:00.004-06:00

Our meeting and workshop with Bonnie was great. She was so funny and full of information. It is always sad to see a teacher go home. We just wished she could have stayed and played a few more days. After seeing her Dear Jane my friend Barb and I are going to start on our own Dear Jane. Hers is actually chocolate brown and pink but it photographs black. I bought my book at least 8 years ago and had it in the back of my mind that one day I would attempt this quilt. Now it feels like it is time. Who knows how fast I will go but I am making 2. That way my kids will both have one. One will be Civil War repros and the other will be a batik. If I am sitting down making one block why can't I do 2. It makes sense in my head! Hopefully this will be something I can keep on the blog and show you my progress. I need to learn how to put more info on my blog. I do have Bonnie's permission to put these pics on my blog.
Things are kinda returning to normal around here so I will be getting some projects done.
Song of the day: "Miss Me Blind" by Culture Club

Guest Speaker at Guild

2009-03-02T22:07:00.004-06:00

We are having a guest speaker at guild tomorrow. Her name is Bonnie Hunter and she is author of Scraps & Shirttails. I will be taking her workshop on wednesday. This is the block we will be making. I made these to see how I liked it. I like the design but there are alot of seams. When they are all sewn together there will be bulk. These are 4 71/2 inch blocks. This is more homespun fabric that I have had and I am trying to use it up. I am sharing with my friend so we both should be able to get a quilt top out of it.
There is also a link to Bonnie for the Australian quilts. She has a wonky star and calls it a maverick star. Her website is full of goodies so I hope you check it out. Also check out her In The Pink Dear Jane. It is awesome.
Song of the day: "Green Eyed Lady" by Sugarloaf

Hard at Work

2009-02-26T20:43:00.002-06:00

We had a great sewing day. One top is fully completed. The Kaffe is half done and there are two more to go. I ironed and cut while they did all the sewing. It worked out well. I hope they come back and sew with me. I think I was a dictator, do this do that!!!! There were actually 4 of us, me, Barb, Chris and Julie but she escaped before I could get a picture of her. I just want to thank them all for coming and helping. They knew it was for a good cause.
We also had lunch outside on the deck. It was in the 60's.
Song of the day: "Beautiful Girls" by Sean Kingston

Wonky Star

2009-02-25T13:06:00.002-06:00

These stars that I have been making are going to families in Australia that have been victims of all the fires. I found some fellow bloggers asking for donations of blocks. This is the block that they chose and I love it. It is really fun and easy to make. My gal pals are coming over tomorrow and we all are going to work on these blocks. I decided to make 4 tops. If I am going to be shipping I may as well ship alot. Everything is cut and ready to sew when they get here. I am so thankful for the people that step up to do these things. I always like to help but do not want to be in charge.
The person in charge is at Camp Follower Bags and the star tutorial is at The Silly Boo Dilly. Also IQA is asking for donations of quilts to go to Australia.
This is my Kaffe top and I am going to have a hard time parting with it. The colors are really cool. I will give it up though. The others will be batik.

Change of Plans

2009-02-23T22:28:00.003-06:00

I started this quilt for a certain project and now it is going to someone else. I found out a friend in florida has breast cancer. I think this quilt will go to her. I am sending it with some other blocks cut out so my friends can add a little to it. One of them will quilt it on her long arm. I will pick out some flannel for the back tomorrow and stick it in the mail. I can't wait to see it quilted. The background is the cream batik I have been collecting.
Song of the day: "Right Now" by Van Halen

Opry Night

2009-02-22T23:13:00.003-06:00

We had a wonderful time at the Opry last night. I was so glad that my son had a good time. I think he was really dreading it. My husband has taken him to a few rock concerts and he hated them, too loud. He asked my 50 questions before we arrived. He survived 2 whole hours without any of his electronic devices.
I told him you do not always get a backstage tour each time you go. Steve Wariner gave him a guitar pick that he had used, he saw where each star gets their fan mail, yes they have their own mail box, dressing rooms, and Hal Ketchum told him he really liked his name. He wants to go back and I am so glad.
All of the acts were great. It was cool to hear Pam Tillis talk about going with her dad, Mel, when she was toddler and taking a nap in his guitar case while he wrote music. There is just so much history with country music and the Opry. The lady that took us on our tour was sad because it was her last night. They were cutting her position. All the stars were hugging her and wishing her well. It looked like one big happy family.
Song of the day: "Broken Wings" by Mr. Mister

Getting There

2009-02-21T15:09:00.003-06:00

I have been slowly putting things back in my studio. I would like to keep it nice and organized and not junk it up. More than half of the things I had in there are not going back in. Where to put them? I do not know. I am sure most of it will go in the basement, some fabric will go to charity, and I will just have to see about the rest.
I am getting ready to go to the Opry tonight. We get to have a back stage tour. That will be very exciting. Steve Wariner, Hal Ketchum, and Lady Antebellum are the big stars tonight. Steve's wife is in our guild so I am excited about seeing him perform and I have been a fan of Hal Ketchum since we moved here. I really have not listened to Lady Antebellum, a hot new country group.
Song of the day: "Chasing Pavements" by Adele

Moving Back In

2009-02-17T22:40:00.003-06:00

My studio is officially finished. The curtain went up today and the carpet was installed yesterday. Yah! I actually cut some fabric tonight. I needed something to work on when my group meets this thursday. I have only moved my cutting table and ironing board in. I will bring one piece in at a time to see if I want to make changes. If I did not have to have shelves in there for my fabric I would have alot more room for my tables.
I am a prewasher. I wash all my fabric before a project. The only time I did not my project did not turn out right. In the last 2 days I have washed, dried, and ironed almost 200 yards of fabric. It was almost therapeutic until around 9pm. That is when my back and legs started to ache. It does not look like that much fabric when it is ironed and stacked. I am going to keep washing until all my fabric is done. Now I can just go to my stash and get started on a project. I did not take pics of all the purples, blues, greens, and colors that really did not fit any group.
Song of the day: "Bennie and The Jets" by Elton John

Felted Ball Ornaments

2009-02-08T22:37:00.003-06:00

I have been wanting to make these for some time. The first tutorial I saw was on
Judy Perez's blog. She made felted balls and decorated them with stitching and beads. I did not use exactly what she did but I wanted to try some varigated yarn I had purchased.
I rolled it up in a ball, placed it in the panty hose, tied string between each ball, and threw it in the wash. I will show the finished product tomorrow. I don't think I made the water hot enough so I will run them again tomorrow.
I sent my leaves off to The Tree Project in Huntsville. If you go to their website they have pics of some of the leaves they are getting and pics of the tree they are constructing.
Things are returning to normal. My garage is finished except for the light fixture. We had to clean it out this weekend. Dry wall dust was everywhere. The painters actually painted the whole garage and not just the part that was patched. That was a nice surprise. Nice and clean.
My studio is almost finished. The light fixture and carpet need to be put in and then I can move back in. Maybe one more week.
Song of the day and album of the year: "Gone Gone Gone" by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss

Next In Line

2009-02-03T11:04:00.003-06:00

This will be the next quilt I put on the long arm. It has been finished for about 3 years. I love the pink and green. It probably has the most machine applique I have done so far in a quilt. It should have already been done but I have been entertaining company. My sister in law came down with her 2 kids from Ky. They were one of the ones hit with the big ice storm. They stayed home for about 2 1/2 days without power before coming down. I am sure she was afraid to get on the road. We had a great time but I forgot what is was like to be around a 5 year old and a 17 month old. When they left on sunday I was sooooo tired. Their power was back but my brother said the destruction was unreal. Hopefully the rest of the winter will be mild for them. Then sunday night my son started to get sick and has been since. We are going to the doctor today.
Song of the day: "This Is How A Heart Breaks" by Rob Thomas

One Down

2009-01-28T18:32:00.002-06:00

I finished quilting my homespun top today. Now it will have to sit until I can get my cutting table up. I do not have the binding for it. That is ok, if I could get about 4 or 5 quilts quilted while I am under construction I could do all the bindings at once.
They are coming tomorrow to get the drywall done. My garage is freezing and so is my studio because cold air is getting in without our insulation. The painters are set up for next week. I am going to paint it Latte from Restoration Hardware. That is the same color I did the bath which is right next to it. I need to go look at track lighting. I want black or oil rubbed bronze. I heard all of the Home Depot Expos are going out of business so I will look there first.
Song of the day: "Just Dance" by Lady GaGa & Colby O'Donis

Rainbow Leaves

2009-01-27T12:18:00.004-06:00

I decided that I wanted to make my leaves out of wool felt and angelina fibers. That machine is also easier to move around. I used water soluble stabilizer to felt the shape. The leaves are about 7 inches long and around 5 inches wide. I did have to lug my sewing machine downstairs for the stitching. Once I am finished with the felting and the stitching I cut loosely around the shape. I had a container of hot water ready to soak them in. The stabilizer helps bind the fibers together when it dissolves. I am really pleased at how they turned out.
Nothing new on the studio. We are at a standstill.
Song of the day: "It's Too Late" by Carole King

International Fiber Collaborative

2009-01-23T16:05:00.002-06:00

Finally we are dry. It has taken 4 full days of 5 blowers and 1 dehumidifier in my studio and 3 blowers and 1 dehumidifier in the garage. Now we have the weekend to get through. I am hoping we can start on repairs next week. I just don't want this to take forever. I keep wanting to go sew and I cannot. I will keep my fingers crossed.
I was looking at Tommy's blog this morning and she had a link I wanted to share with you. There is an artist in Huntsville, Al. looking for other artists to make leaves. They are creating a full size tree in Big Springs International Park and need leaves to cover it, The Tree Project. How cool is that! If you look at the sight you can see the project they did last year and get all of the info. This will give me something to work on while I am waiting.
I have to say this is why I enjoy blogging. Seeing what others are doing and finding out about things you might not otherwise know about.
Song of the day: "Hell Yeah" by Montgomery Gentry

Blessing In Disguise

2009-01-19T14:32:00.002-06:00

I can't say that I have been having fun the last 3 days but it has made me look at all of my things in my sewing room. I cherish it all but I think this last year I have gone a little crazy. When it doesn't fit on a shelf or in a cabinet it is time to quit buying. Believe it or not I do have projects planned for all of that fabric. The best way for me to describe it is a clown car. When you see all of those clowns get out of very small car and they just keep coming. That is what it felt like taking EVERYTHING out of my sewing room, when will it end. I will be very careful putting things back in. The reason it might be a blessing is now I can paint my room and put in track lighting to get rid of all of my lamps that are clamped everywhere. I might get new carpet out of it too. It will also force me to go and quilt my quilts on the longarm. I tend to stay in my sewing room and piece. I love doing it all but I really love to piece.
Song of the day: "Life Ain't Always Beautiful" by Gary Allan

One Year Anniversary

2009-01-17T19:04:00.003-06:00

I have been blogging for one year now. Yah! I wish I could get to it more frequently than I do. I picked my birthday to start on so I would not forget. I am 42 today. Not very excitng. I have gotten alot of nice phone calls from family and friends and I appreciate that. They have all interrupted my painting. That's ok it is nice to feel loved since yesterday I thought I was going to go postal on my builder.
I have been doing good sewing and getting things done. I finished a project that has been lying around for about 7 years. It is a square in a square with homespun fabric. When we had our guild meeting the other day we had techniques at 5 tables and we rotated every 10 minutes to see all of them. One was a really fast way to do square in a square so it made me think of mine. I tried to do it that way but I did not have enough fabric. So I finished it the way I started it. Now I have free room on a shelf to take some fabric off the floor and put it on the shelf.
Nashville got down into the single digits the last 2 days. The kids even missed school on friday because it was so cold for this area. We left our water dripping thursday night so we would not have any problems. That did not seem to matter. My husband got up friday morning to take a shower and our shower was frozen. No water. Around 11am my daughter was getting ready to leave and opened the garage door and said, Mom it is raining in the garage!!!!!! Water was pouring down out of my ceiling out of an electrical outlet on top of the garage door opener to the floor. I ran upstairs to my bathroom and heard water spewing inside the wall behind the shower. It was also coming out of the wall onto the floor. All this was bad but then my husband told me it was going down leaking into the carpet of my sewing room which is on the other side of the wall of the shower. 2 plumbers later we found out it never should have happened. The builder did not insulate the pipes properly and did not give us access to the open space behind the shower to fix this problem if it ever happened. So now I have a huge hole carved in the drywall in my sewing room. I have to take everything out of there and pull the carpet up to dry and replace the pad. Our garage is full of drywall and insulation that has to be fixed. I am ok with things that happen but if should not have happened in the first place that is what makes me mad. I will not be sewing for a while, maybe I can get caught up on my quilting. I will try and forget this birthday!!!
Song of the day: "Wake Up Call" by Maroon 5

Back To Painting

2009-01-12T18:32:00.003-06:00

This was the first full week back to school. I have to get myself adjusted again. I did alot of sewing over break and got some great quilts started. I also never finished painting my rooms, which I started this past weekend. I thought my husband was going to have to drive me to the chiropractor. If it did not save me money I would not do it. My neck hurts so bad when I am done. I do love how when you paint it makes everything seem so clean. I ordered I huge wall clock for one of the walls I painted. It will be on my steps going upstairs. It is a black, 31in., and has gold roman numerals. They have great prices at Simply Wall Clocks.
We celebrated my son's b-day at Outback. He was craving their cheese fries. His b-day cake is Jello's No Bake Cheesecake. He loves that and it is so easy to make.
I can't leave out the GATORS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I only watched the end because we went to the Predators hockey game the same night. My husband had to see Sydney Crosby of the Penguins.
Now back to quilting. The triangles I have finished are for True Blue. I am using my cream batiks and some beautiful orange, peach, pink, and a little rust batiks. I had them counted but I forgot, there are at least 500 triangles. Maybe more depending how big I go. The other quilt is Brick Path (free pattern) by Amy Butler. When I was sewing the bags my daughter saw this quilt and wanted it. It is beyond easy so I am glad she picked that one. I picked 25 different Lotus fabrics. I ordered most of them from Quilthome. Another great online store I have found.
I hope to get back to blogging more frequently. My one year is coming up. I started blogging on my b-day the 17th which is this saturday.
Song of the day: "After The Fire" by Der Kommissar

Florida

2009-01-04T23:58:00.004-06:00

My daughter just came back from fla. on saturday. Now that I have given her a camera she knows I expect to see some pictures. She actually was thinking of me while she was there. She photographed my favorite bird, the pelican. I like this bird for so many reasons. On my days off while I lived in fla. as a single person I was either at Daytona Beach or Alexander Springs. Until I made friends I went to these places by myself. So I turned into a people watcher and a pelican watcher. Really all nature but I loved to watch them dive for fish and fly up and down the coast. They would just glide about 2-4 inches above the water, very straight and very fast. I think I like them too because they are so unique looking. Just as a side note my friends dad got pooped on by one. It covered his whole chest when it hit. He said that is the worst bird to be pooped on by!
As far as the palm tree goes, well I know you can picture yourself sitting under it listening to all of the sounds that are provided by the wind and the water. I know I can see myself sitting there drinking a cold one!!!!!!

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T00:31:00.002-06:00

Happy New Year. I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful 2009.

Zen

2008-12-30T11:12:00.002-06:00

Here is one of the new quilts I have started, Zen. It is out of the february issue of American Patchwork and Quilting. These are half of the blocks. The other blocks are just plain but I have to figure out something to do with them. It will be a great quilt to practice quilting on with all of that open space. Now that I have collected all of these cream batiks I need to use them.
Song of the day: "Don't Dream Its Over" by Crowded House

Birdie Sling

2008-12-28T15:59:00.004-06:00

Well I have to say it should be called the Lazy 12 Days of Christmas. I have not felt like doing anything since my son got out of school. It felt good to catch up on my sleep. On Christmas day I ate, took 2 naps, ate again, watched some movies and then went to bed. I have been sewing but pretty much anything else I have not wanted to do.
Before Christmas I went to my friend Barb's house and she taught me how to sew one of Amy Butler's bags, Birdie Sling. She made one too. I cut it out before I went then it took most of the day to sew. Now that I have made 3 I can do it all in one day. It is like anything else I do, I cannot just make one. Now I have gifts. My daughter took one with her to Florida, one is for my niece in college, and as of now I will be keeping the one with the red band. I have bought more fabric for more purses. So which ever one I like best I will keep. The pink and brown one I made 2 in that fabric. The pattern calls for 1 1/8 yard of 3 fabrics but if you buy 1 1/2 yard of each and cut it out carefully you can get 2 purses out of it.
I started 2 more quilts also. Nothing hard just wanting to work on something. I have until the 6th to get the Mumbo Gumbo finished. That is what I will be doing until it is done. I found some great black and white flannel to go on the back. Barb put that on the back of hers and it really looks good. I was going to put a colorful stripe on mine but when I saw hers I changed my mind.
Song of the day: "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper

Luminary Night

2008-12-13T18:24:00.003-06:00

Tonight where I live we line the streets with luminaries. That makes it great to go out and see all of the christmas lights. As soon as it gets dusk everyone lights them. There is a candle burning in each bag. They stay lit until the candle burns out. That is usually very late into the night. My husband and I joke that we would have not moved into this house if we would have known about the luminaries. Because we live on a corner lot we have about 30 more to put out than most people. I think because it was dusk my picture is very blurry but you get the idea.
Song of the day: "Silent Night"

Together With Friends

2008-12-11T21:27:00.003-06:00

We had a great get together today. Sewing, laughing, and eating. Barb made a fabulous chicken and rice dish, Chris brought a salad, and Vanessa made a dessert. I forgot to photograph the table. It was decorated very pretty.
Sharon worked on her x-mas wall hanging, Barb cooked, Vanessa made an apron, I worked on another x-mas quilt, and Chris made a pear pincushion. The talk of today was Chris's fabric. Ladies with big fruit butts!!! Now I have to get some of that. She fussy cut the panel so she got each butt on a section of pear. It was a great time with friends.
The weather was nasty all day then started snowing around 4pm. I think we ended up getting about 1-2 inches. Enough to cancel school tomorrow. Now I will be sleepin in!!
Song of the day: "Barbie Girl" by Aqua

Christmas Shopping

2008-12-10T21:20:00.003-06:00

Today was the best day. It was so dark, gloomy, and cold. Just the way I like it. I did photograph it but there was no card in my camera so you will just have to trust me. Normally I try not to go anywhere when it is like this because it makes a great day for sewing. Today was the 2nd day for the sale at Kohls, so I had to get out. Everything was 50% or more off. I needed to wrap up some shopping. It took care of most of my gifts so I can relax a little. I did buy myself one thing. I broke down and bought Rachael Ray's garbage bowl. I am the only person that has bought this, a garbage bowl??? I could not resist. I know I need help.
That is Pal in the picture. He always comes over and smells the bags. I think he thought I went to the grocery, so he is looking for his bag of treats.
My small sewing group is getting together tomorrow. I am looking forward to going. I am not sure what I will work on. I have them all a little x-mas quilting gift. I hope they like it.
Song of the day: "Holiday" by Green Day

Back To Mumbo Gumbo

2008-12-08T21:46:00.003-06:00

Now that Thanksgiving and the guild x-mas party is over I have to get back to work on a few projects. My mumbo gumbo has to be finished by our January meeting. My small quilting group will be showing them at show and tell. I think I am the only one not finished. There are six of us and this is the quilt that we chose for the year. We are meeting this thursday and hopefully we will be able to decide on a new pattern for 2009. I hope to get a really good pic of all of them and post them. I decided I wanted mine bigger so I finished 2 big blocks along the bottom done today. I have one more to go along the bottom and then 4 more down the side. I think I will be quilting circles all over it to clash with the straight lines. I will quilt a practice block and see how I like it. The pattern is from Pie in the Sky Quilts.
Song of the day: "Lady Marmalade" by Christina Aguilera
Missy I cannot leave a comment on your blog. I was glad to hear from you. I was getting worried. I thought you stopped blogging!

Decorating

2008-12-07T22:31:00.003-06:00

It has been a busy last 3 days. Friday I spent all day helping Stitchers Garden, the quilt shop in downtown Franklin move their location. Of course I was not the only one. Ladies from our guild volunteered for a donation. I have never lifted so many bolts of fabric. Her store is big and open now with lots of light. Will it stay that way? Who knows.
Saturday I got the christmas tree up and decorations started. My kids were getting upset because I was not doing things fast enough. They help for about 30 minutes then I get to do the rest. That is ok I got to watch the Gators beat Alabama. We left during the 4th quarter to watch the Predators so I watched the end at the Sommet Center. It was a good day, both of my teams won. We had a semi good fight at the hockey game too. The Predators traded one enforcer for another one about 2 weeks ago. I guess this one is better. He fought a guy that was listed at 6'8". That guy left the ice with a bloody nose and did not come back.
I did a little christmas shopping today. I am not an early shopper. It takes me a while to figure out what to get everyone. My kids are at a bad age. My daughter is 19 and has everything she needs and we are paying for college right now. My son is 11, so he is not little or big. I think he probably has more than most adults. He and his dad are big gadget people, the latest and greatest. I told my husband we just need to start taking a cool trip at christmas and making memories instead of buying things!!!!! The only problem with that is we do not like to travel when everyone else does. I am sure we will figure something out.
Song of the day: "Wicked Game" by Chris Isaak

Christmas Party

2008-12-02T20:47:00.002-06:00

It seemed a little early to have it today but it went really well. We decorated the tables last night. One of the committee members dried some hydrangeas and cut fresh greenery from her yard to use as centerpieces. They smelled wonderful and looked great. The hydrangeas had purple in them so they matched the tablecloths perfect. It was a nice change from the regular red and green. We had our business meeting, played a purse treasure hunt, and had a huge show and tell. Everyone seemed happy to have completed a christmas quilt. I have no pictures of the show and tell because I hardly even got to see it. I was getting the food ready, bummer! I am going to get to see pictures.
The pears were a big hit as door prizes. I can't wait to make some more. I think if I would have had the pattern in the summer I would have made everyone a pear. We also had a guild member that has an online store donate fat quarter packs. If you like all the contemporary fabrics her shop is great. I quit ordering from her online. I just found out where she lives and I go over there. She is probably like, this chic is crazy! She is great and her shop is Be Sew Happy.
Song of the day: "Behind Blue Eyes" by The Who

Pear Pincushions

2008-12-01T17:03:00.003-06:00

I actually have 2 patterns for this pincushion but I decided to make the larger one first. I have not made a pincushion up until a few weeks ago, now I am addicted. I just keep making them in groups of 2's. I look at my stash and think that would make a cute pear then I make another one. The hardest part is stuffing them. It took way more fiberfil than I expected. The very bottom is filled with rice. That makes it bottom heavy and stand up better. The first pattern I bought was from Heather Bailey. Her fabrics and patterns are so feminine. The second pattern was from Nancy Halvorsen. That is the pattern I used. Her pear was about 7 inches tall. It is in her 12 Days of Christmas book. I am sure I will make more before christmas to give as gifts.
I am getting ready to go to the church to set up for our party tomorrow. I hope the ladies like getting the pin cushions as a prize in our scavenger hunt. There was a slight chance of snow but I think it has passed. No school no party. My son is doing the snow dance!
Song of the day: "Get Busy" by Sean Paul

Back to Blogging

2008-11-30T20:58:00.003-06:00

Finally I got things working again. They kept my computer 2 weeks and fixed it in like 2 hours. I think they forgot about it even though I was calling them. It was an electrical part so all my data was saved. Now I have my program to automatically back up my data and my external hard drive to put it on. It was funny when I picked it up. He put it in my front seat and seat belted it in. I was going to take a pic of it like that but I got it out and plugged it in and forgot. I felt like I needed an additional carseat to bring it home from the hospital.
Now back to quilting. I have been working on my christmas quilt. A bargello heart, one of my favorite patterns. Our guild party is tuesday. I hate hand stitching my binding down so I waited till the last minute. I challenged everyone to make a christmas quilt last year, have it finished , and bring it this year for show and tell. I think I might get a few bad looks if I did not have mine done! I also made these really cute pin cushions for prizes. I will post them tomorrow.
Song of the day: "These Dreams" by Heart

I Hope To Return Soon

2008-11-17T12:54:00.004-06:00

It is so weird not to have a computer. It crashed, I cried, and I might loose all of my pictures and data. It is nobodys fault but my own. I am a bad backer upper. I just feel like my computer will always work. The whole attitude that it will never happen to me. I was working on putting pics on a digital frame for my mom. Now she is not getting the frame because I want the pics on it especially if I loose all mine. She said she understood, so I sent her a blank frame and told het I will send her pics if mine get saved.
I am getting alot finished now that I am not distracted by my computer. I got 5 quilts quilted. 2 pear pincushions made and they are huge, 7 inches tall. I am wrapping up my x-mas quilts for the guild party.
I went to Ky. this past weekend to see my neice and nephew. I got some great pics of them to put on the frame. We bought my granny some fabric with a pattern book for x-mas. I am sending her a pincushion also. You can't beat 30% off fabric.
Hopefully things will work out with my computer. I hope to hear from them today. As soon as I get it back I will be back to blogging and backing up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Daily Walk

2008-11-02T14:24:00.002-06:00

These were some of the pics I took on Nancy's farm when I went for my daily walk at lunch. We get 2 hours for lunch but most of us only took 30 minutes and went straight back to work. I walked to the front of her property everyday. Since she has most of her classes in the spring and fall there are definitely plenty of things to photograph.
Song of the day: "Rollin" by Big & Rich

Last 2 Compositions

2008-10-30T13:50:00.003-05:00

This is my second black and white study. I hated sewing this thing together. It was very frustrating. I only started sewing in 2000 and I do not have a great deal of technical skill in sewing things together that are not straight. I put the black on the wall first then had to cut white pieces to go around the black then figure out a way to sew it all together. I managed to get stuck in a box a few times. At this time in my quilting career I will not be doing things like this. There was no pleasure derived at all. I am glad Nancy pushed me to do it but it sucked. It also did not turn out like the before picture I took before I started to sew. I whacked off a few black pieces to get it together.
The color piece was my last composition. The strips we pieced were wavy and when I cut them I had all of these curvy strips. Well I just cut them until they were straight. I was going for a long vertical piece but it just kept shrinking. It is only about 24 inches long. All of the colors are pretty but it is not much of a compelling composition. I told Nancy I was going to quilt it and send it to her. She thought it was funny that I had cut the strips until they were straight. Oh well.
I really love going to the barn. The ladies are great and everyone really sticks together and encourages each other along. We actually had a gentleman in our class this time. That was great.
Song of the day: "Disturbia" by Rihanna

Workshop Pieces

2008-10-25T13:02:00.004-05:00

These are 4 of the pieces that I did at Nancys. We always start with a black and white composition and work off of that. She gives us certain directions to do these. Working from a black and white has its advantages. You can change things you don't like about the piece and do more of the parts that work. It is very time consuming but I can see how it would help make your work evolve.
The large neutral piece is from my black and white. It is the upper left hand corner. I folded it to get a smaller composition. The neutral is about 4x4 feet. I was supposed to do a color piece off of the neutral but I did not get to that. I will have to work on that at home. It is amazing to me how many ladies do not like neutrals. I love them. Those are my favorite non colors. I have come to find out that I like bright colored pieces at first but then I get tired of looking at them.
The 2 brown and black pieces were seperate. The small one was supposed to be busy and the large piece was supposed to be sewn wonky. I really have a hard time sewing wonky. I am a perfectionist and that is hard for me. I want to straighten everything up. That was the joke of the workshop, me and my straight sewing. I really learn alot in each workshop that I take. It may not show in my workshop pieces but I try to incorporate it into my pieces at home when I have a little more time to concentrate.
My pics do not want to load in the order I want them to. So they start from the bottom and go up.
I am enjoying all of my shows this fall. I seem to gravitate toward the weird and unusual. I love Dexter, Little Britian, and Trueblood. They are on HBO and Showtime. My song of the day comes from the theme song of Trueblood. Come to find out he is a country singer right here in Nashville and was born in the town next to where I grew up. It is a small world. He has a nice deep voice like Josh Turner.
Song of the day: "Bad Things" by Jace Everett

Back In Town

2008-10-21T22:09:00.003-05:00

I had a great time in Columbus. I stayed with a friend of mine, Tiffany, over the weekend then I went out to Nancy's for the week.
My friend Barb told me about this topiary garden in downtown Columbus. A Sunday Afternoon on the ILE DE LA GRANDE JATTE by Georges Seurat. It is located where the Old Deaf School used to be. So Tiffany and I went down on sunday to check it out. It was really cool. I love the painting so to see it put into a topiary garden was very creative. It looks like they even planted the trees to fit the painting. I think they had lost some of the shrubbery and had replanted it. The gift shop had pictures of the garden during the winter. It looks like people just sitting in the snow. I don't know if I will ever get there in the winter but I would like to see it then.
I got back on saturday night, celebrated my daughters 19th birthday on sunday, and have been trying to get caught up around the house since. It is amazing what being gone for a week does.
My week was a stimulating, frustrating, and tiring. I always learn a great deal from Nancy. I hope to return in the spring. I will post my work when I retake the photos of it. They did not turn out very well.
Song of the day: "Hot N Cold" by Katy Perry

Ready To Leave

2008-10-09T13:39:00.003-05:00

I did not realize I had not posted in so long. It has been a really busy couple of weeks. I have to make sure things run smoothly before I go out of town or everyone around here is grumpy when I get back. I did a few things for me too.
I spent 2 days with friends shopping for fabric. One was here locally and the other was a day trip to Paducah. We hit Hancocks first, then went to my favorite mexican restuarant, and finally the museum. There were 3 exhibits there I wanted to see and one was 3 days from leaving. We also were on a photo shoot for my daughter. She had to shoot 2 rolls of film for school so she got some great shots of Paducah.
My husband and I have been to 2 concerts at The Ryman. Last thursday we saw The Raconteurs 2 rows from the stage. I was dissappointed that I did not bring my camera. They were letting people take pictures and they have not done that in a long time. I could have gotten some great shots being that close. So last night at The Black Keys I had my camera. We were front row and I was right in front of the drummer. He was great and now I am deaf! I am glad my husband likes music like he does because he always makes sure our seats are good. I think we have gone to a Predators game also. Time flies.
I leave for Nancy's in the morning. It is not a bad drive, 6 hours. I will stay with some friends over the weekend and head out to her place on sunday. I am not as excited about going this time. I am hoping once I get sewing I will get motivated. It has been a draining year and I have not had things affect me like this before. I will have to keep track of what I do on a daily basis and post it when I get back. I will not have time or a laptop to do it while I am gone.
I would like to thank Missy, she nominated me for I Love Your Blog award. I will pass that on when I return from Ohio. Thanks again!
Song of the day: "Your Touch" by The Black Keys

Catching Up

2008-09-28T14:11:00.002-05:00

I have been working outside today. Weeds were taking over my mulch beds. How can weeds grow so well and it takes great effort to keep the good plants alive? I have been trying to catch up since I was sick for 2 weeks. I still was not back to 100% this past week but I managed to do a few things. I photographed these wasps today. I was right under them and did not see them.
I snapped a photo of my hummingbird last week. I went and sat really still and waited for him to come. I could not find my tripod anywhere so I did not think any of the pics would turn out. I got a few good ones.
Hopefully I will manage to do some things this week to post about. I leave for Nancy Crow in 2 weeks so I will be getting ready for that.
Song of the day: "Silver Springs" by Fleetwood Mac

Craziness

2008-09-21T15:43:00.003-05:00

Since friday of last week people have been freaking out about gas around here. I guess we started to run short. We were not getting shipments from Texas because of hurricane Ike. Word got out and everyone started flocking to gas stations topping off and hoarding. I have never had to wait to fill up for gas. I think I waited about 15 minutes but I needed it. I forget what the paper said about gas sales since this. They were up like crazy, so it seems we had the gas but everyone was panicking and going and getting more. Things should be back to normal this week. I guess the gas line in Texas is up and running now. It just really makes you stop and think about what you do. If times get hard how would you react and what would you have to give up. It has been hard keeping my daughter home this weekend. We just tried to make her understand that no matter what happens you have to be prepared. Just because everyone else is out driving around doesn't mean you can too. If gas is going to be hard to get you have to make sure you can get back and forth to school. That is your main priority just like people have to go to work. Maybe one day all the things we lecture her about will sink in.
This is the gas station down from my neighborhood. Both entrances have long lines of people waiting. How much gas do you waste by waiting in line for a long time? I snapped these while I was waiting at the intersection.
On another note, GO GATORS. They did a great job kicking Tennessee's butt! Hopefully they will be able to keep that up all season. They have some tough games ahead. I thought the Gator's colors of orange and blue were obnoxious but they were showing highlights of other college teams during the breaks. Oregon was green and neon yellow. My husband said I think they are green and gold. I did not see gold I saw hurt my eyes yellow.
Song of the day: "Black Magic Woman" by Santana

Not Playing Nice

2008-09-17T22:15:00.005-05:00

I was sitting on my deck at sunset seeing if I could get some bird pictures. I did! It seems they do not play nice and get along very well. They kept kicking each other out of the birdbath. They did not seem to mind sharing food but they did not want to share the water hole! I am getting a larger variety of birds now that they are finding out about the food. Don't ask me to name them because that is not going to happen. At the bird store the lady just kept spouting out names of birds and I kept shaking my head like I knew what she was talking about. As long as they are pretty and keep amusing me I will feed them. I do love nature but I am not concerned with naming it yet. Maybe when my kids are gone.
I washed my fabrics today and cut some of the purple. It makes it all go faster when it is cut and ready to go. The purples are going to be great. It is a wide selection of different ones.
Gotta go pick my son up from hockey.
Song of the day: "Flamenco Sketches" by Miles Davis

Batiks

2008-09-17T22:15:00.004-05:00

I received my purple and brown batiks today. Now I can make more flower blocks. Here are the 2 that I have done. I actually did the purple one first and ran out of cream. I sent swatches out to the batik shops hoping someone had some of it. Batiks Galore did, the same place I got the browns and purples from. So I threw it in the wash today and finished the purple flower. It only needed 4 6 1/2 in strips. That was frustrating getting that far then running out of fabric. Only 7 more blocks to go.
Song of the day: "Give It Up, Turn It Loose" By En Vogue

Making My Backyard Nice

2008-09-16T20:06:00.003-05:00

This is all I have had the energy to do. I went and purchased some bird feeders and a hummingbird feeder. I caught a hummingbird in my garage the other day. They get stuck in there and fly up instead of down so that keeps them from getting out. Then they get webs on them and it makes it hard to fly. It is great for me because I have gotten to hold one twice. It even sat on the back of my hand. The lady at the store said they fly in there to check out the garage cord that hangs down. She was right when I came home and looked at it it was red. That is what attracts them to it. I put the hummingbird feeder by the fountain so I can sit there and get pictures of them. The bird feeders are out in the yard so hopefully that will keep the birds out there and away from the deck. I don't want my deck covered in bird crap!
It is nice having the dogs outside with me. Drake loves to lay in the sun. He thinks he is a model. He just stares at me like take my picture. Pal runs from me. I have taken his picture since he was a pup so he hates the camera.
I am hoping by the weekend I will have the energy to sew.
Song of the day: "Warwick Avenue" by Duffy

Sick All Week

2008-09-12T19:57:00.004-05:00

Just when I get back into a rhythm something happens. I was doing so good getting into my studio and sewing them bamm I get sick saturday night. When I went to bed my right hip was hurting. No big deal, I get aches and pains here and there. Sunday I woke up aching everywhere. Monday my head was about to split open, all my joints hurt, and my hands and feet were burning. I went to a walk in clinic. They could not tell me anything from the tests they ran in the office. They sent some of my bloodwork out to a lab for tick related illness. I just got the results from that today, nothing! It has been a week and my hips still hurt. They said I probably just have a virus. It is frustrating when you do not know exactly what you have. I have never been this sore and achy. If I go out I load up on motrin. Which is what I did today.
My daughter and I spent some time together today. We stopped by a friends house, picked up some algae stuff for my fountain, and went to lunch. I am always amazed at who I see around town. There was a group of people walking in the restuarant. I noticed a very tall girl in a red dress coming in. As soon as she took her glasses off I recognized her. She was the model that married Peter Brady, of the Brady Bunch. Then about 4 men later he walked in. Too funny, Peter Brady!! Every star I have seen is always shorter in person. My daughter was trying to get me to notice the christian singer that came in and I was trying to get her to notice them. That is the afternoon gossip around here.
This flower was the last thing I was working on before I got sick. I am going to do 9 blocks all purple with cream backgrounds. I figured that is a good way to use my batik creams I have been collecting. I ordered some more purples and browns today. This one flower is about 24 inch finished. It will be another big one. I got my 2 1/2inch strips of batiks that I ordered last week. They look great with the creams.
Song of the day: "Daisy Jane" by America

Soldier Quilts

2008-09-07T17:48:00.003-05:00

Since wednesday I have been sewing about 6-8 hours a day. I have been getting some things done but my back is suffering. Friday about 20 ladies from the guild got together and worked on soldier quilts. Kathleen the lady in charge of the committee organized the gathering. We made quilt as you go quilts. My little group of three worked on some blocks. We got 48 done, they were 9 3/4 in. finished. Saturday they were going to put the sashing on them and be done. It is a really great technique for getting quilts finished quickly.
Kathleen has taken the soldier quilts to heart. She is a retired military wife. The committee has donated approx. 150 quilts in the last 2 years. They have gone to Walter Reed, Brook Army Medical Center, and local affiliations. If she hears of a family in need she donates a quilt to them. It has been a rewarding experience for her and others involved in getting the quilts out to the soldiers and their families. This doesn't include our regular charity quilt group.
This is Kathleen and her daughter, who stopped by to help. They had a nice hot lunch prepared for us. How can life get any better, sewing and eating with friends!!!!
Song of the day: "Viva La Vida" By Coldplay

Before and After

2008-09-04T15:26:00.002-05:00

Here is the finished product. Much improvement! We have not been enjoying it for the last couple weeks. It has been so humid outside. Some rain is supposed to move through tonight and drop the temp. and the humidity. It is nice when we can have dinner outside. It took the dogs a little while to get used to everything. Even though the dogs can go out now all by themselves I still have to stand out there and keep them from peeing on everything. Both are male and they just follow each other and pee over top of whoever peed first. Crazy!!!
In the spring I will landscape around the fountain. Not too much. I did get some lavender the other day to start. It smelled so good!
I am going to sew tomorrow. Ladies in the guild are getting together to work on soldier quilts. They are providing lunch so I am there! I do not know how many quilts we have donated so far. I will find out some facts tomorrow.
Song of the day: "Play That Funky Music" by Wild Cherry

My Dog Matches My Deck

2008-09-01T22:04:00.004-05:00

I actually got a little sewing done this weekend. I met with my sewing group last thursday. That was a great time. Just getting together sewing, talking, and eating. I did not get anything accomplished but I came home inspired to sew. I now have almost all of my poinsettia blocks together. This will be my x-mas quilt. I will post a pic when it is together, borders and all.
This is Pal. He is a prisoner on the deck. He has to be by me at all times. He was not happy that I shut the gate on him. It made for a good picture!
Song of the day: "Sweet Dreams" by the Eurythmics

Supplies

2008-08-26T13:57:00.003-05:00

I feel like I am back in school. We have been getting supplies and books for my daughter. It is such cool stuff. Drawing and photography supplies. Those are the best stores ever. I have had to make myself leave because I want to get all of this for me too. At least right now they are learning film and not doing digital. I still like film the best. Digital is great for some things but film still has its place. I am so excited for my daughter and she is very excited. She has learning disabilities and has always struggled with academics. I hope this is a place were she will flourish.
Here are some more pics of the Currency Exchange quilts.
Song of the day: "Lets Groove" by Earth, Wind & Fire

AQS Show

2008-08-23T11:55:00.002-05:00

One more busy week out of the way. We got my daughter registered for her classes. How can you go wrong taking photography, drawing, and art history? I will have her teach me everything she is learning. I am looking forward to going and getting her art supplies. I might have to get a little more for myself!
My husband and I went and saw Bruce Springsteen thursday night. He was definitely a good performer but I am not a huge fan of his. It didn't help that our seats sucked. We were the first row off the floor. That was good but we were far back from the stage so the angle to see him was bad. Now that I have to get up at 5:45 in the morning I did not want to stay out late.
I spent 2 days at the AQS show here. The first day I shopped and looked at the quilts with a friend. The second day I white gloved for about 2 hours. That was a little stressful. I was put in a display that people wanted to touch even though there were signs everywhere, DO NOT TOUCH! We are all quilters and we know better. I caught one lady scratching a quilt. She was trying to see how it was put together. I would never touch someone elses quilt especially at a show! It was a great display. It was called Currency Exchange. Ladies from Japan, US, and New Zealand took a piece of currency and interpreted it in a quilt. They had a picture of the currency and how it inspired the quilt. There is some really pretty money in other countries. These were a few of my favorites. I think they were about 18in x 18in.
Song of the day: "Spirit in the Night" by Bruce Springsteen

New Fabric

2008-08-17T16:55:00.002-05:00

This past week was nice and busy. School started for my son. He started middle school and really likes it so far. I have to spend some of this week getting my daughter registered for college. Then she starts on the 25th.
Also this week is the AQS show here in Nashville. I am looking forward to going. The show is moving to Knoxville for the next 3 years. I hope we get it back. I will be looking for batiks.
In the near future here I hope to have some of my hand dyed fabric for sale. I will be cutting it up into 2 1/2in strips. There will be lots of colors in a bag. I just have too much and will not be using it anytime soon. It will be great for strip piecing, applique, and paper piecing. As soon as I get the time to cut it all up it will be available on my blog.
I ordered a little fabric before I went to Florida. It is called Paintbox by Lonni Rossi. Her stuff is great because she works with value, light, medium, dark. I just never seem to get it all when I shop. I have a hard time buying light. It's great stuff and I can't wait to start working with it.
Have a great week and I will try to post some about the show.
Song of the day: "Bubbly" by Colbie Caillat

Last Day

2008-08-10T20:02:00.003-05:00

Friday was our last full day at the beach. The only thing we had to do was walk down to the lighthouse. We had heard from a few people that there were some big star fish being found there. It was a good thing we did not walk down there first thing in the morning like I had planned. A pretty heavy rain storm came through. I would not have been happy being caught out in that with my camera. So me and my son walked down there about 11am. At first we did not see anything. Then my son found one and within 5 minutes we had found 6. They were the size of his hands. That is the biggest 5 point starfish I have found. We put them back after their photo shoot in a place were hopefully nobody found them. There is a law on Sanibel about not taking live shells so I think people think it is ok to take starfish and sand dollars.
When we got back to the cottage I noticed a lady had a different starfish (9 legs) than what we had found. It was huge. The size of a dinner plate. People were digging them up out in the water on the sand bars. So I sent my husband and son out to find some. They found plenty. They kept digging one up after the other. Then some friends we had met at the beginning of the week, Nan and Rich joined in the hunt for the starfish. It was a great way to finish out the day.
We drove home all day yesterday. I got car sick as usual so I have spent today recovering. School starts tomorrow so things are getting ready to get busy!

Beauty At Its Best

2008-08-07T21:17:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow is our last full day here. The week has gone by so fast. It has been great. We were very lazy this week. Sitting on the beach, playing in the water, reading, throwing the ball with my son, and my favorite picking up shells. That is all I really look forward too.
We heard from a few people that there were some huge starfish down by the lighthouse so we will be walking down there in the morning. I hope we find some.
Here are some photos I took today, I hope you like them.

A Little Excitement Today

2008-08-05T19:55:00.002-05:00

The weather was really nice this morning. The water was a little rough but you could see most everything. I went out to tell my husband and son I was going for a walk down the beach. I started to go out in the water, looked down and saw something moving. I thought it was a sting ray because it was scooting across the bottom. As I got closer I saw that it was a shark. It was about 3 feet long. It definitely did not like me coming closer to it. It swam away pretty quick. There were small schools of fish around so I am sure it was feeding on them.
Tonight the water was very calm. About 30 yards off shore we saw some dolphins swimming down the shore. We usually see them every year. This year they decided to put on a show. They started jumping totally out of the water. It is amazing to me how many people don't pay attention to their surroundings. Most everyone out on the beach did not even see this going on. I love it when my kids get to see things like this.

Tiny Treasures

2008-08-03T20:40:00.002-05:00

What a great day we had. The weather was gorgeous. Not too hot with a nice breeze. We ate at one of our favorite restaurants for lunch, Cheeburger Cheeburger.
I am hoping we get a storm. The shelling is a little disappointing right now. I could walk up and down the beach all day. By the end of the week my neck usually hurts from looking down.
The top 2 pictures are shells that could fit on a nickel. I find really small shells. I like them better than the large broken shells. They are almost perfect. The 3rd shell is the banded tulip. It could fit on a half dollar. It still had its animal in it so you are not allowed to keep it. The 4th shell is a whelk. It was about 8 inches long and had an animal in it too. Goodnight.

1st Day In Sanibel

2008-08-02T20:15:00.002-05:00

I have to say the drive here gets worse each year. We always stop in Gainesville the 1st day and then drive the rest of the way on the second day. I am just getting where I cannot stand to be in the car that long. Not much I can do if I want to keep coming down here. We bring to much to fly.
We only got to spend about an hour on the beach tonight but found some really cool sea life. I hope we have as much luck the rest of the week. Enjoy!

Lots of Color

2008-07-31T21:50:00.002-05:00

Kids Day

2008-07-30T18:47:00.002-05:00

The kids had a blast today. They dyed shirts, socks, pillowcases, sheets, and I managed to get a little fabric dyed. We finished just in time. About 2 o'clock we had a monsoon come through. The lightening was awful but the rain was great. I had to hurry and get everything in the garage. We are supposed to get more rain tomorrow which is not good. They were supposed to start my patio tomorrow.
If you know how to dye this is such a great way to spend time with your kids, grandkids, and their friends. There will be alot of dyed shirts in middle school next year!
Song of the day: "Come On Eileen" by Dexy's Midnight Runners

Shopping Spree

2008-07-29T20:09:00.004-05:00

I sat down and watched the second series of my Quilting Arts dvd yesterday. I was doing everything I could not to go outside. It has been miserable here with the humidity. So, my 2 favorite people had 2 segments. Linda & Laura Kemshall from England. I really like their work. It is a mother and daughter and they are textile artists. I have had their book for a while. I am a visual and hands on learner so watching a few of their techniques was inspiring. It got me so excited I went to the art store today and bought supplies for my trip. We are leaving friday for Sanibel Island, Fl. My favorite place in the world. I am sure there are places that are more beautiful and full of culture but Sanibel holds a special place in my heart. Back to the Kemshalls, I really liked how they worked on their paper journals and filled them with ideas, color, and inspiration. I do not want to copy what they did but bring my own ideas to a journal for me. This will be great especially if I cannot sit down at my sewing machine. I will use what I find at Sanibel. Seashells, leaves, and photos I will be taking. I am very excited! I will be posting unless we get hit by a hurricane or something. I am just nervous because the last 2 times I have left there has been a tragedy.
I have been mixing dye tonight. My sons friends are coming over tomorrow and we are having a dye party. Shirts, socks, pillowcases, and anything else we can find. I just have to remember to take pictures.
Song of the day: "No Rain" by Blind Melon

A Little Birdie Told Me

2008-07-27T15:08:00.004-05:00

I received my copy of Quilting Arts magazine yesterday in the mail. I have been waiting patiently for it to arrive. I have a piece published inside. Thanks to Frieda for including me in her article using silk in quilts. She picked up one of my pieces while she was here for the fusing workshop. It is "Sunshine Daises" pg.41. So if you do not have a subscription to the magazine go out and buy this copy! It is my favorite quilting magazine.
Now on a totally different subject I am excited about Shark Week starting on the Discovery Channel today. I love watching those shows. It always comes on the week before we go to the beach. I really do not like to swim in the ocean for alot of different reasons. None really to do with the sharks. I had a shark swim by me in about 3 feet of water back in 1986. When it happens you never forget it. It was right when I moved to Florida. All of a sudden its fin appeared right by my leg the went back down. That is what is scary, when you loose where it went. My friend and I walked very slowly until we could pick our legs up and run out of the water. Now I feel more educated about sharks than I did back then. I would really like to go on one of those expeditions where they study sharks. Especially the sharks that come up out of the water attacking the seals. It is somewhere off of South Africa.
The show I watched earlier today was about sharks and tonic immobility. It is how you can put the sharks in a trance by rubbing the ends of their noses. They tried it on Reef, Tiger, and Great Whites. The bigger the shark the harder it is. Very cool!
Song of the day: "Jaws Main Title" by composer John Williams

Second day of Dyeing

2008-07-26T11:03:00.003-05:00

We started out doing some more gradations. Most were dyeing fat quarters. I dyed full yards so now I have about 38 more yards to take to Nancy Crow this fall. If you have never taken her before you have to bring 100+ yards of fabric.
It went much faster because we in our groove. Some had a hard time stopping for lunch. I can stop anything for food. The afternoon was playtime. We went outside and used our platters. Frieda mixed all of the dye for this. It was great. She went over how we could apply the dye to the fabric. Squirt bottles, syringes, sprinkle dry dye, thickened dye with a brush, and you could even dye your friends. The wind was blowing so it was hard not to get any on you. I am a messy dyer. It's ok it washes off. It does not come out of your nails. Now I look like I have a fungus on my toenails.
I remember the first time I dyed, I went crazy. If it was white and in reach I was dyeing it. This was the first time for some and they were doing the same. It was comical to watch. Now we are going to get a dyeing group together and have some fun.
Song of the day: "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" by George Michael & Elton John

Mentally Returning

2008-07-25T12:42:00.004-05:00

So much for having a relaxing weekend in Ky. My family had a shooting-suicide that weekend. I wasn't really prepared for that, like I am sure nobody is. I did come back and go to the dye workshop. I think that helped me mentally. It was great having friends around and their support. So needless to say I have not felt like blogging at all. I want my blog to be about fun and exciting things so that is all I am going to say about that.
We had a great time with Frieda. If your guild does not want to bring someone in just get a group of people together and make it happen. We did. I know a few of the ladies were nervous about dyeing. Once they saw how easy and fun it was they had a blast. I love taking workshops from different people. You learn something just a little different from each person even though you are doing the same thing.
These are pictures from the first day. We started out discharging on black. It is hard to be a female and not laugh everytime you hear that word! Some of the shirts that were done could have been in a boutique. When we moved to the dyeing of gradations we had to be in pairs. There was a dirty girl and a clean girl. I was the clean girl but the dirty girl, Vanessa made sure I got dirty. With each color she put glove prints all over me. That is ok because I have one outfit that I dye in, and now it is very colorful. The weather for the 2 days was great. Sunny and not very much humidity.
Song of the day: "Groove Is In The Heart" by Deee-Lite

Dyeing

2008-07-10T12:50:00.002-05:00

I am getting ready for our dye workshop monday and tuesday. Frieda Anderson is coming here for a 2 day fun-filled dyeing extravaganza. I am hoping this will get me motivated to dye. I usually start right when school gets out. There has just been too much going on around here.
I am getting out of here for the weekend. I will be back monday with some great pics of dyeing. Have a good one!
Song of the day: "Sailing" by Christopher Cross

More Unique Cars

2008-07-08T10:59:00.003-05:00

Here are a few more cars. I thought the silver one was great except if it was a sunny day. We would all be blind! The red car does drive both ways. I think the guy designed that one to go up and down hills better? It would be great for parking, pull in and drive right out. The one bad thing about going to that museum is now my husband is looking at older Mini Coopers. He really liked the one that was there. He has a purple one now. I feel like a giant clown getting out of a clown car when I ride in it. Don't get me wrong I like it but not as much as I thought I would. It is a five speed and I have no desire to shift gears again. I can't eat, dance, put on makeup, and talk on the phone if I have to shift!!!!!
They are starting on my deck today. Very exciting! It looks huge, maybe because there has been nothing there for a week. They are drilling into the brick and it is making my teeth hurt, like nails going down a chalkboard. I just want everything to come together and look awesome. I have waited 5 years for this. We got some patio furniture over the 4th weekend. I have never had nice patio chairs or table. We have been sitting on plastic folding chairs. My son does not want me to throw them away because he sat on them while he spent time with my granny out on the deck. How sweet, but they are going to fly away in the next storm!
Song of the day: "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion

Family Outing

2008-07-06T15:13:00.003-05:00

Today was going to be hot and humid so I tried to find something we could do that was indoors. I saw an add on the travel channel yesterday for a car museum in Nashville. I had no idea we had one. It is the Lane Motor Museum. It was much better than I had expected. I am not a big car fan but after I looked on their website it looked interesting. They are in the building that used to be the Sunbeam Bakery. The main floor is 40,000 sq. feet and has brick and maple wood flooring. It was very cool.
The first car I have pictured is the pedal car. It had the push pedals with a chain kinda like the play cars you could get in when I was a kid. That was my favorite. It should be the only car for teens. It would cut down on all of the places they go and keep them in great shape! The others pictured were very unique. They all had a story of where they were made, who made them, what year, and a fun fact. Too much for me to remember.
My husbands favorite was the 1971 Mini Cooper and my sons was the Lamborgini.
If you are ever in Nashville it is definitely a good place to visit.
Song of the day: "No More Words" by Berlin

Step 1 and 2

2008-07-03T13:54:00.004-05:00

I have been busy getting all of these projects lined up. I finally got them out here to tear the deck down. Then the concrete people came and tore up the sad little patio and walkway the builder gave us. We are getting a beautiful brick patio and walkway. My fountain will sit right off of the patio. I will probably landscape it next year. I will have a great view out of my window when I am quilting. The double windows on the bottom to the left of the door is where my longarm is located. Up till now I had a wonderful view of the deck steps. We are putting the steps all the way to the right so we will have a great view from the basement windows. We did key lock the door and put painters tape over the door. I did not need to walk out and fall to my death without the deck there. They will be here monday to start the deck and hopefully be finished by the end of the week.
My dogs can finally run free. I will not have to take them out all of the time. That is due to the fence not the deck. We are putting a gate at the top of the deck so I can keep them up there if I need to or any small children.
Happy 4th to everyone. I used to enjoy the fireworks but now I have to give my dog a sedative just to get through it. He flips out. If he can see or hear them it is not good.
Song of the day: "Centerfold" by The J. Geils Band

Diamonds

2008-06-26T17:48:00.002-05:00

I was up until 12 last night putting on the borders. Our quilt group met today to sew and I wanted to be able to take it finished. It really helps me having some kind of deadline. This is the quilt I may trade for a photography print, hopefully. I have no idea what the print will be. The photographer does flowers and wildlife. The zebras that my brother has is gorgeous. This quilt is huge, 94 x 111. It is going to take alot of flannel for the back. There are 3 of the diamond shapes on the quilt and the border fabric has geckos on it.
Song of the day: "Genius of Love" by the Tom Tom Club

The Chosen One

2008-06-25T14:00:00.002-05:00

I bit the bullet today and decided to purchase one of the fountains. I am happy with the one I picked and can't wait to get it put in. Unfortunately it will be a couple of weeks. It has just been so hot and humid lately with no rain. I am sure July will even be worse. My grass went from a lovely shade of green to an even lovelier shade of brown. I am trying to keep my new trees alive. I have never been one to take care of plants or trees or whatever else may grow in my yard. They have to be extremely hardy to live with me.
I am having a good week. My family has left me and they doing fun and exciting things. I am chilling out, sewing, spending time with friends, watching alot of movies and trying to get all of this yard stuff lined up. I watched Weird Science and Pretty in Pink (1986) the other day. They bring back alot of memories. That is right after I graduated high school. So that brings me to my song of the day.
Song of the day: "If You Leave" by Orchestral Manouevers in the Dark, OMD

Fountains

2008-06-22T18:09:00.003-05:00

We are redoing our deck and patio. I am thinking of getting a fountain to look at while we sit on the patio. My friend Barb has one and I just love it! It is so peaceful to watch and it makes hardly any noise. The birds love it too. I don't like the fountains that sound like someone is peeing. This type is actually called an urn or olive jar. The ones I am looking at are 3-4 feet high and weigh about 2-3 hundred pounds.
If I plant flowers around it I am hoping to get butterflies and birds. Since we are fencing in our backyard I won't have to worry about any neighborhood kids messing with it. That is basically why I have not fixed up my backyard much. We are on a corner lot and really have very little privacy. All this will probably get finished just in time for winter. Hope not!
Song of the day: "Waterfalls" by TLC

Borders

2008-06-15T23:15:00.002-05:00

A finally got the borders on with just a few adjustments. I really like the way they look. I am glad I thought about it for a few days. That usually helps me figure something out. I used alot of my fabric which was good. I am trying to think of a way to discard my scraps. If I keep them that makes me want to buy more to go with it. I already have a bag of scraps to give one of the ladies in the guild. I cleaned my studio last night and found more things I need to get rid of.
I started piecing a new quilt tonight. I have had the strips cut since the fall. I am excited about this quilt. I am going to trade with a photographer for one of his prints. I picked out a masculine pattern and colors. I have a feeling I am not going to want to part with it. It is all batik and colors I like too. I will just have to be strong and hope that I find one of his prints that just make me forget about the quilt. I will post a pic as soon as I get a panel done.
Song of the day: "Stomp" by The Brothers Johnson

Only Thing Left Is Borders

2008-06-11T11:27:00.003-05:00

My last post was my 100th post. How cool. If I could have fire works going off on the screen I would. I am sure there is a way to do it but I am not figuring it out.
I finally got it all pieced together. It took a little longer than I expected. Making the sashing and piecing it in was time consuming. I thought I would have it done in a day. I finished last night at midnight. Now I have to figure out the borders. I went and bought some fabric for that yesterday. I would like to incorporate a few 4 patches in the border but not in the corners. I will have to give it some thought. It measures 61 x 81 right now. It will end up being pretty big once I get the borders on. I think I am keeping this one. I really like how it turned out even though it is a simple pattern. I have the perfect flannel picked out for the back. It is a piece that I bought a couple years ago but I knew it would be for a quilt that I was keeping. It is extra soft. I have found that all flannel is not soft. There is alot that is very stiff and thin.
I am going to check my battery on my camera because my last few pictures have not been in focus. I hope it is the battery and not the camera.
Song of the day: "He'll Never Love You Like I Do" by Freddie Jackson

Busy Week

2008-06-08T21:31:00.003-05:00

If feels good to post something again. It was a very busy week and I felt like a taxi service. I had a bad start to the week. My friend Joan lost her battle to cancer last sunday night. Very sad, I still cannot believe it. My thoughts and prayers are definitely with her family. I had heard some friends of mine talking about a book, The Shack. I picked it up one morning while I was waiting on my son to finish his morning camp. It really helped with my emotions from Joan passing. If you have not read it I would recommend it, The Shack by William P. Young.
I think my son really liked lacrosse. It was our first hot and humid week so that didn't help. Once he got to wednesday he did much better. We came home straight from camp on wednesday so I could help my neighbor. She invited about 40 kids over to dye shirts red, white, and blue for the 4th. So I gave her some of my dye and helped with the process. Everyone really had a good time. I meant to take pictures but that did not happen. I will take pictures of my shirts when I wash them out. We had a ton of dye left over so I took some over to my friend Barb's house and helped her and her grandchildren dye some shirts. Kids really enjoy the process. I will be dyeing fabric here soon.
I worked in the yard all day yesterday. I love to play in the dirt. I know my grass will start turning brown here soon because we are not getting rain any time soon. It has already been hotter than normal too.
My treat was to sew all day today. I did too. After I quilted the soldier quilt I really liked it. I had made alot of 4 patches about 3 years ago and did not want to use them for the same thing I made them for. So I made some sashing and started sewing it all together. It is the civil war reproduction fabrics that I got into when I first moved to tennessee. It really shrunk when I started putting it together. I lost a whole row. I will have to add a good size border to make it a big lap quilt. Each 4 patch is 4 inch finished. I am just glad to be using them for something.
Song of the day: "Steady As She Goes" by The Raconteurs

Waited Till The Last Minute

2008-06-01T15:38:00.002-05:00

I bound 5 quilts yesterday. Not fun, but it nobody's fault but mine. I kept putting them off because I found other things to do. Now I can give the gifts away. 2 graduation, 1 new baby, 1 friend, and 1 soldier quilt. I hope everyone likes their quilt.
Now that summer is here I can tell I will not be posting as frequent so don't forget about me. If I get something going or finished I will definitely let you know.
Next week my son has 2 camps to go to. One lacrosse and one ice hockey. He will be exhausted, me too!
Song of the day: "Let The Music Play" by Shannon

Soldier Quilt

2008-05-30T11:18:00.003-05:00

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

2008-05-27T14:51:00.004-05:00

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

2008-05-20T08:32:00.002-05:00

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

2008-05-19T10:30:00.003-05:00

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

2008-05-16T17:32:00.003-05:00

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

2008-05-15T20:00:00.003-05:00

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

2008-05-14T16:49:00.003-05:00

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

2008-05-12T20:41:00.002-05:00

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

2008-05-09T21:11:00.003-05:00

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

2008-05-08T08:47:00.003-05:00

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

2008-05-07T09:02:00.003-05:00

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

2008-05-05T08:50:00.002-05:00

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

2008-05-02T16:00:00.003-05:00

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