Cleaning and camping

I never did get to do any sewing, but I did get to
go in and do some preliminary cleaning in the sewing room. The book shelf in there had almost collapsed when dh tried to move it so he could relocate the telephone to another room. Since we had to move the bookcase in the family room to put up the Christmas tree, I decided to abscond with that fully functional bookcase. Switching things around resulted in some reorganizing and general picking up. Not perfect or complete, by any means, but a few steps closer than before. I have next week off, so hope to get to spend lots of time up there. We'll see how that gets to work out.

Meanwhile, Dot emailed me and said that she had begun working on 'my' quilt. I had forgotten all about it, but back when Judy L. presented that block and challenged us all to design a quilt out of it, Dot had asked if I would permit her to make my design. Immensely flattered, of course I said yes. Well, she has actually begun to make that quilt. Hey, look ya'll, I'm a designer!!! Stop by and give her some encouragement. Personally, I love the fabrics she is using and think it will look terrific.

To give you something to look at, even if its not quilt related, here are some pictures of a two day camping trip that DH and I took with some of my online lady camper friends. We all have the same type of camper and get together to camp. DH is an honorary member and gets to be the much spoiled center of attention. We camped at High Falls State Park in Barnesville,GA. It was cold (for Georgia) and mostly rainy, but the company was excellent and we had a ball. Since the weather wasn't right for sitting around a campfire, we drove a few miles away (the town of Juliette, GA) to have lunch at the Whistle Stop Cafe and see the little street with all the old shops. This is the place that Fried Green Tomatoes was filmed, and it is exactly like the film. What great fun!!

It's been a while, and I

thanks those of you who contacted me privately to say I was missed. The last few months have been hectic, to say the least. My son contracted that MRSA that you may have read about in the papers. It started with what we thought was a bad toothache, maybe an abces. He went to a dentist, it was the dentist realized that it wasn't a dental matter and whatever the problem was, it needed immediate attention. She contacted our family doctor and then upon his recomendation a specialist and insisted he see our son within the hour. The specialist then sent him to begin immediate intravenous antibiotics for the next several days. He emphasized that this infection was very near the brain, and had to be contained and controlled quickly. Months later it has improved greatly despite several frightening relapses and we are now trying to schedule some surgery to clean out the last of the infection. Bless that dentist! The specialist said if we had delayed even 24 hours we would probably be burying him!

Meanwhile, my mom took a fall and took her first ambulance ride. Fortunately, she was bruised but not broken and they released her. Two days later she took another ambulance ride, this time with a stroke. She went from hospital to a nursing and rehab center where they said she would need long term care from now on. I have spent a lot of time trying to find and then move her into a facility, now I am dealing with the piles of paperwork that goes along with all of this. I must say, every single person that I have dealt with has been both helpful and very, very nice. Blessing in the midst of turmoil.

Those are just the two most serious things from the past few months, but there have been smaller excitements, too. You know.......life! Anyway, all of this has kept me either to busy, or too exhausted to do any blogging or sewing. This weekend is the first time I have gotten into the sewing room since the last time I posted. Need I say that my plans to give everyone a quilt for Christmas have gone out the window. (to put a positive spin on it, I have a great start on NEXT year's gifts!!) This weekend I caught up on my BOM swap obligations. Once these babies hit the mail, I'm finished! I must say that I will be glad to see the end of this. I try too hard and wind up doing not as well as normal, it takes the joy out of things. These are the blocks for October, November and December. They are not as crooked as they may appear in the photos, I put them on the back of the sofa to take the pictures, instead of laying them flat. OOOPS!

I won!

I participate in an online BOM swap. I have shown some of the monthly blocks during this past year. When you join, you must commit to participate for the full year. Each month a block is posted with instructions and fabric selection rules, you make two and send them to the swap coordinator. She picks two names from those participating. Everyone that participates eventually wins a months block, this was my time to win, and I am so glad, because I thought these jar blocks were so much fun. Here are a couple of photos showing my winnings. Not the best photos- they were spread out on my dining room table as there is something already on the design wall, but you will get an idea.

JudyL's Arkansas Crossroads challenge

I've been having fun with this block, here's one that I put together using EQ6. I was trying to be seasonal and non-symetrical (trying to stretch my comfort zone).

Moving right along...

Yesterday and today I made quite a bit of progress on my next Christmas gift quilt. I must admit to being a bit taken back that it took most of today to make all the HSTs needed, that slowed me down some. I used the program Triangulations by Brenda Henning which prints out a grid onto regular printer paper from your home computer. It will make grids for hsts and QST of an incredible variety of sizes. HSTs for example from 12" finished size to 7.5" finished size. It was easy to do, but I need quite a number of them, so cutting things apart was quite time consuming, as will be tearing off the paper and pressing. 330+ of anything made by any technique will take a while to do! I did finally get enough made all the way so that I could make just four of the blocks in which they are used. So, without further ado, here is a peek at what this top will look like, and a close up to show the fabrics used. The color in the close up is more accurate. Progress feels good!

New Quilt Supervisor

Things around here may be picking up, I certainly hope so! I haven't gotten to do any quilting for a bit as things were so hectic. My youngest DS came home from college to see the dentist for what he thought was an awful toothache. It turns out it was an extremely serious Staph infection and he was on IV antibiotics for several days. I can tell you that I nearly went thru the floor when the doctor used 'life-threatening' 'lead to menningitis' and a few other words in the same sentence! I thank God for the dentist who not only admitted that she wasn't sure what it was, but that she wasn't the one to handle it, and then made a series of phone calls to both our family doctor and then to a specialist and got us in to the specialist within an hour. He is now recovered and back trying to catch up on his classes.

Meanwhile, DH has been referred for Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy to better adapt to his degenerating coordination and mobility. This is a very good thing, he will be safer and perhaps less depressed about what he can no longer do as they show him alternative methods to accomplish daily tasks. Of course, taking him for these visits will give me less time in the sewing room, but thats ok as long as it helps.

This weekend I finally got to spend some time sewing. YIPPEE. So much inspiration at the quilt shop and not getting to turn on the machine was frustrating! Judy's last hour a day is still on the design wall, but I cut out and have about 25% of the blocks for a new quilt sewn. I have to get the tops done for my Christmas gift quilts. I still have 5 tops to do, so all those HAD quilts will have to wait. Of course, once they are sewn, I still have to quilt all of them......I'm beginning to feel overwhelmed here! LOL

However, I have a new assistant and quilt supervisor that keeps a close eye on me as I cut and sew, carefully inspecting any bits that fall to the floor. I'm sure if I drop something that might be suitable for the scrap pile, I shall be informed. Meet Casey, the newest member to our household. We adopted him about 3 weeks ago. He is 5 yrs old and a real snuggler. Nic, as you may figure from the photo, is not impressed by the cute factor, but is ok as long as no one tries to eat from his food dish!

a few more photos...

Third installment of quilt show

Here we are, the next batch of photos from the quilt show. This colorful pineapple quilt was done with lots of strips, as you can see in the close up.

Then there is the amazing portrait. I apologize to the quilter/artist as the work was incredible, but my photo is a little blurry. All 'painted' with fabric.

The following two are a modern and a traditional take on squares, I don't know how the modern one was constructed, but looks like it could have been a nine patch too. The last two were interesting for the overall affect. One for the 'blend' the other for precision.

Second installment of quilt show pictures

Here are some more pictures from the quilt show. As I mentioned last time, there were a lot of brights this year. Here is one, and a close up. This is one of the quilts that had used strips or 'strings' to form fabric and then cut that fabric into pieces.

Dh was really impressed with the amount of skill and work that went into this applique, and look at all the quilting!!

In the last photo, those flowers, butterflies and such were cut from a print, sort of (forgive the spelling) broiderie purse. Such pretty colors.

Went to a quilt show today...

and did my share of ooohing and aaaahing. Took pictures to share here and to remind myself of setting ideas, block combinations, fabric combinations or whatever. I invited DH to go with me, it was his first quilt show and he was impressed. He pointed out things he liked. He was really impressed with the photo quilts, he didn't realize that it was possible to get photos onto fabric. I think he's going to request one.........he's already requested a mariners compass. This is the show that is given every other year by the East Cobb Quilt Guild in Marietta, GA. (hello Mary-you should have been here for the string quilts!) It is given in the Cobb Civic Center. The lower floor is all quilts, the upperfloor (an overgrown balcony overlooking the lower floor) was all vendors. My favorite quilt shop was there with two of the owners, but no Karen (Sewprimitive) who also works there. I'll share a few pictures at a time, since I don't have anything quilty of my own to show right now. Just remember my disclaimer: These are not my quilts, they were done by other, more talented quilters! Also, any appearance of quilts hung crooked is the fault of the photographer, they were all properly displayed!

The last quilt, the one that looks a little like the Northern Lights absolutely sparkled, it was quilted with metallic threads and may have been beaded in places. This year there were a number of sparkle embellished quilts, there were a lot of brights, a lot of batiks, too. Very few 30s or pastels. It was easy to see what the 'fashion' is in fabrics, too. Lots of dark and bold, many using string piecing in different variations. In the top quilt, the flowers are three dimensional.

I'm blue?? Not a surprise

Eileen (Designing Quilts) posted this color quiz. I was hoping for something more interesting and zippy than blue. Blue is beautiful, but 'ordinary'. Ah well, how would one explain that the color of one's soul was...puce or chartreuse??

What color is your soul painted? Blue Your soul is painted the color blue, which embodies the characteristics of peace, patience, understanding, health, tranquility, protection, spiritual awareness, unity, harmony, calmness, coolness, confidence, dependability, loyalty, idealism, tackiness, and wisdom. Blue is the color of the element Water, and is symbolic of the ocean, sleep, twilight, and the sky. Click Here to Take This Quiz

Quizzes and Personality Tests

Out of the closet and into the light....

Some of you are showing your UFOs in an effort to reduce the pile and have some accountability. I don't want to be accountable, I want to enjoy what I do and when I do it. I do have a number of UFOs and quite a few PIGs. I'm posting one of the oldest UFOs in my closet in the spirit of sharing, because I do hope to finish it one day... and because I have nothing else quilty to post until the HAD gets further along. These blocks are supposed to be a sampler quilt, the second class I took, perhaps 15 years ago now. Each block was intended to teach a different quilting skill because the teacher used different techniques for each. Sometimes we would tear the fabric, sometimes cut. Sometimes strip piece, sometimes homemade templates. Some blocks are hand pieced, some are machine stitched, some appliqued. There are supposed to be 12 blocks, I don't know what the last one was supposed to be anymore. I may pick one out on my own, or maybe eliminate the ones I like the least and just make a smaller quilt. Some I am really unhappy with but others I like and am surprised at how good they were for so early in my quilting experience. And of course, at least one of these blocks isn't entirely finished (mariner's compass)- a UFO within a UFO!

This weekend saw a little sewing, a little

visiting and a lot of eating!

First to the quilty stuff- crawling right along on the last Hour a Day quilt here is what is on the design wall while I consider (and reconsider, and then second guess) the placement of the colored pieces. There are one or two that I am not thrilled with the color of the 'color'pieces, but that is what I had and that is what will be used, I don't have enough of the eggplant to be making more.

Secondly, my youngest is now in his apartment and beginning classes. He has spent some time and effort in getting the place the way he wants it and is as finished as he can be with his limited budget at this time. He has some finishing touches he would like to make, but that will have to wait. He invited us for dinner on Sunday, and since he is a pretty good cook, we gladly accepted. We were not disappointed! He made everything from scratch. Take a look at our dessert, mmmmmmmm good!