It's been awhile

But I'm still here. Isn't it amazing how time flies-even when you're not having fun. Anyway, I've been working on customer quilts and I finished the t-shirt quilt that I was commissioned to do. This young lady goes to Georgetown University in Washington, DC and her Mom had me make this as a Christmas gift. When she came today to pick it up, she actually started to cry! This is only the 2nd time in almost 6 years that that has happened.
I've been trying to read some of the blogs I normally do but Bloglines tells me I have almost 2000 to go through! So, if I don't leave a comment, forgive me.
I also want to say Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah and Happy Holidays to all my blogger friends.
By the way, David is still engaged, and I've decided that since she loves him and I love him, I'll just accept her the way she is. I only hope she doesn't change him too much.

Turkey Day

Just a short post to let you know I'm still here. The turkey's in the oven, I finished a bear of a customer quilt this morning, and now I'm going to pick up my applique. The part I'm doing now is reverse applique, and I'm not very good at it. So I'm going to use some fray check and hope for the best.

Hope this finds all my buddies in blogland happy and healthy and for those that celebrate Thanksgiving-may your day be filled with love and fellowship.

Lazy Day Sunday

I thought I'd get upstairs and work on a customer's quilt today. Well, that didn't happen. I sat down and read just about everybody's blogs and even got to comment on some. One that I came across was Quilting Daze's post about not wanting to quilt. I've been where she's at, so I can really feel what she's going through.
Another blog I read was Nancy's-where she made comment about going around the ring to read. So that's what I did and guess what? I found some I'd not read before. Like Smokey in the Netherlands. I got hooked on Bloglines and missed some great posts.
I read Jeanne's posts about Jan Patek and checked out Jan's quilts. Love 'em but have too much on my plate right now. What's funny is-I was just standing at my kitchen sink getting ready for dinner and looked at my AP&Q '06 calendar. There's October staring me in the face and the quilt pictured is by Joined at the Hip quilts. Very similar to Jan's style. Well, duh. I got the patterns for all the quilts with the calendar, so I can give it a try when I'm ready and I won't have to spend a dime.
Nothing on the quilty side except I straightened out my sewing area. I say area because I've lost part of the room to just about everything that has no home in my house. I swear this junk multiplies while I sleep.
Anyway, just wanted to touch base and say hi.
By the way, Judy L's November quilt looks like it'll be fun. Hope I can join in, but I do have to finish August's first. (Sigh)

A Meme

I have ...
1. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
2. Swam with dolphins
3. Climbed a mountain
4. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
5. Been inside the Great Pyramid
6. Held a tarantula
7. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
8. Said "I love you" and meant it
9. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby's diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was shit faced
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an expert
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Eaten fugu (pufferfish)
89. Had a one-night stand
90. Gone to Thailand
91. Bought a house
92. Been in a combat zone
93. Buried one/both of your parents
94. Been on a cruise ship
95. Spoken more than one language fluently
96. Performed in Rocky Horror Picture Show
97. Raised children
98. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn't have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone's heart
111. Ridden a bike
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad and The Odyssey
135. Selected one important author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone's life

Only 52 out of 150. Dang, I have to get out more!!!

Consider yourself tagged.

October's almost gone

There's less than a week left to this month, and I still haven't finished Judy L's August hour a day quilt. I was supposed to get together with my little quilt group last Friday, had everything packed before I went back to the bus barn in the afternoon.
My daughter had a routine doctor's app't, so Mike picked her up in Albany and brought her down. I walked into the waiting room at 4:30 and my cell phone rang. It was her, calling from the examination room, asking where I was. I told her and she said Mike and I were to come back to where she was. We walked down the hall and ran into the doctor who said he was scheduling her for an immediate CT scan. Apparently, her heartbeat was 140 and she's on some meds that can cause blood clots in the lungs, so he wanted to make sure she was alright. So we went over to the radiology department and we had to wait because it was a "wet" read. Everything was negative. By the time we got out of there at 7:30, all I wanted to do was crash at home. Keri's fine, it was some kind of fluke. She's been monitoring her pulse all week and it's been between 80 and 90.
So all my quilting stuff got unpacked and it's still sitting there. There's always this weekend.
I wanted to show you my little quilty group, but Blogger isn't cooperating; so I'll try again another time.

What season are you?

You Belong in Fall

Intelligent, introspective, and quite expressive at times... You appreciate the changes in color, climate, and mood that fall brings Whether you're carving wacky pumpkins or taking long drives, autumn is a favorite time of year for you

What Season Are You?

Well, I guess this is timely. At least they got it right. One of my favorite things to do is drive down a country road, and just watch the leaves blow out of the way when I go by. I used to love doing it on my bike, now I love doing it with my car. It just makes me smile!!!

Hi-Remember me?

Okay, it's been a while since I've been here, but here are my hour a day blocks. Obviously, they're from the August one. I'm in the process of putting the top together, so stay tuned.

I got my stitches out Wednesday and I can finally get back to longarming. I contacted some of my clients about being behind, and let me tell you, quilters are the best people. Oh yeah, the face doesnt' look so bad either.

It's been weird at work. I'm on light duty so they have me in the office. Definitely NOT a happy place. I think if everyone spent some time in there, they'd understand why some of the people are so miserable. I stay out of all the politics, and tell them "I'm a temp, I'm going back on my bus".

I'm still hand stitching the binding on that yellow quilt. Can't wait to get it out of the house, I don't like doing bindings on my own stuff, never mind anyone else's.

I've been re-reading Sylvia Landman's book, "Make Money Quilting". I swear that whole book will be highlighted before I finish. Such great advice. It's available from her website, and I think Amazon.

Well, gotta go quilt. Have a great day, and weekend, if I don't get back to ya.

It's been a long week

I wasn't going to post about the basal cell surgery, but some people have told me that they've been praying for me, so I want to let them and you know that it's all gone. Mike drove me to the dermatologic surgeon's office Wednesday morning. I had a place on my left cheek that had biopsied positive back in August, so it was time to get it out. The biopsy site was the size of a pencil eraser. The final area done was the size of a quarter. They had to pull from my ear/cheek area to stitch it. 13 internal, 56 external in the shape of an upside down L-across to my temple and down the side of my nose almost to my mouth.
But the cancer is gone!! And since I can't work on the longarm, I've been making good progress on the August/September hour a day quilt. I'll have to ask Judy L. if I can still send her a picture. :)
I've been reading everybody's posts and it looks like fall has come everywhere. I know it's here in the Hudson Valley. Wednesday we sat outside at a picnic table at the doctor's office, and yesterday and today we need jackets! I love the colors, and I love wearing sweaters, heavy socks and turtlenecks. So this and spring are definitely my favorite seasons. All that's missing is the smell of burning leaves-we're not allowed to do that in the village.
I'll have some pics to show over the weekend, promise.

It's October-WOW!!

I can't believe it's October already. This year has flown by. Dave and Alicia are getting married in June, and I wanted to lose 30 pounds by April so that I wouldn't have to buy my dress at Omar the Tentmaker's shop.
So here's my new goal: I am going to try to lose 4 pounds a month from now until April. That will be 6 months/24 pounds. I can live with that. I figure if I write it down, maybe I'll stick to it.
I've seen other blogs where you've listed your October goals, so I'm going to do that too:

October goals:
1. Finish last 3 pieced blocks for the Harvest Spice quilt.
2. Get started on t-shirt quilt for customer.
3. Get binding done on yellow quilt for customer.
4. Finish piecing the August hour a day quilt.
5. Work on my applique UFOs-one by Piece O'Cake and one by Pat Campbell.

I don't see these as too ambitious, do you?

My local guild had it's biennial show this weekend. My Thimbleberries Quilter's Garden got a 3rd place and 2 of my customers' quilts got a 3rd and an Honorable Mention. There's another local LAer who had at least 10 quilts in the show and she did very well. I told Mike that is because she gets to do it full time. I'm not jealous, just wishful. I'd love to be able to quilt full time. But it's not in the cards right now. Oh well. I am very happy about my ribbon, haven't gotten one in a while. And in her comments, the judge liked my binding!!! Woohoo!! I have never gotten good comments on my bindings before.

I talked to a wonderful lady at one of the vendors' booths. Her name is Jo Coons and she designs the most wonderful applique designs. Her website is: www.potpourripieces.com I was telling her about a project Mike and I want to do for next year's MQX, and she is going to work with us on the colors for the hand dyes. What a compliment. I asked her how she gets so much accomplished and she told me that she gets all her prep work done and then sits down in the evening to do the stitching. She can just sit and stitch without having to do anything else. I like that idea.

I keep trying to get around to everyone's blog, but life gets in the way. So I apologize. I have a question-how many blogs on your list is too many? And do you try to leave comments on each one? That's what I find the hardest.
I am going to try to remember gratitudes. Here's some for today:

A day at home to quilt
Beautiful fall sunshine
Doing stuff I love

No pics today, sorry. I'll have to get some of the show pics out of the camera and onto the computer.

Yellow quilt

Here are a couple of the pictures I promised of the custom quilt I did. I found some black fabric in my stash to add to the piecer's so the binding would be big enough. This is a memory quilt for a young lady which shows some of the highlights of her life. I especially like the block showing the guitars.
It's hard to blog when I have to go to work everyday, but I promise I'll catch up with all of you this weekend.

One of those days

You know how you wake up and think you should stay in bed? Well, I'm kind of having that kind of day. Started out just arguing with Mike for no reason, I was just contrary.
We went food shopping-just as we were getting ready to check out, David calls and asks if Mike is marching in today's parade with the Scout troop. When I tell him that we're almost done and Dad will make the 1pm bus, he informed me that the bus is at 11:45AM! And that's what time it was at that moment. So we rushed home and Mike had to go catch the bus without lunch.

Our local quilt show is next weekend, and I have one quilt going in. I had to cut the fabric for the sleeve, it's ready to attach. But I don't have a label on it and I have to baste the judging number over the label! I'll figure that out tomorrow. Maybe I'll just write my name and the date on the backing and put the number over it.
Then I ran out of one fabric for my hour a day quilt. Found a substitute, hope it looks okay.

I finished quilting the custom quilt yesterday, trimmed it and measured it for the binding. it came out to 318 linear inches, not too bad. This quilt belongs to a non-quilter. She commissioned somebody to make it, but wanted me to quilt and bind it. The piecer even included the fabric for the binding. Guess what? She didn't provide enough fabric, and she's moved. The owner is the sister of a friend, so I called my friend and asked if I can buy some more or use something from my stash. Obviously, she wasn't going to say no. But I'm stuck because Mike put our old waterbed mattress on top of the bench where I keep some of my stash. It's too heavy for me to lift so I have to wait until he comes home from the parade.
Can you tell I'm really rambling here? I'll post a couple of pictures of the custom quilt tomorrow when they're loaded onto the computer.
I'm going to sew now; I need the therapy. Keep smiling.

Nose to the Grindstone

Just a quick post to say I'm still plugging away at Judy's 1st hour a day quilt. All the stress test info came back negative, but the surgeon looked at my xrays and said my neck has not fused yet. So I'm still on light duty at the bus barn for another 6 weeks. That means answering phones and working the 2 way radio from 6:30am to 9am and again from 1:30pm to 4:30pm. I'm ambivalent about this. As much as I hate being in the office, I am scared to get back on the bus and possibly get hurt again.
Nothing quilty this time. I love the fabrics I chose for the 2" squares.
Hope everyone is having a great week.

This is the last of my fall quilts. I looked all over and discovered I only have 3. I don't even have one for my bed. I got this as a kit about 4 or 5 years ago when the Mancuso show was in Greensboro, NC. One of my sisters-in-law lives down there, so we were able to attend the show and visit her at the same time. It sat for a couple of years until I finally decided to get it over with. The leaves are fused on, and it's supposed to look random like they just fell there. Then it sat unquilted until after I had carpal tunnel surgery. Once the doctor gave me clearance, I wanted to do something simple, so I just did an all over meander and put veins in the leaves. After it was done, it actually looked pretty good. Now I have it hang in the dining area every fall, and I still like it.

I had lunch yesterday with a friend that I don't see often enough. It's hard to fit a year's worth of catch-up into one lunch. We have to try harder to see one another, it's definitely worth it.

I just came from church, they had a luncheon for those of us that help with religion. I'm with the 5th graders this year, I'm the aide for the teacher. Very nice of the ladies to do that for us.

I was supposed to go upstairs and do a customer's quilt, but since it's Sunday, I think I'll work on my own stuff this afternoon.

Hope you all have a great day, and enjoy your loved ones.

Interesting

***You Are 20% Left Brained, 80% Right Brained***
The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning.Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others.If you're left brained, you are likely good at math and logic.Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet.
The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility.Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way.If you're right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art.Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports.
Are You Right or Left Brained?http://www.blogthings.com/areyourightorleftbrainedquiz/

Stash Quilts logo, etc.

I just went to my blog and noticed that the Stash Quilts logo isn't showing up. I saw the same thing on several others in the ring, but I thought that maybe they had not loaded the new stuff Judy L. sent out. I did load it, and it was fine yesterday. Anybody know what's happened?

Mel at Covered Porches asked about my longarm quite a while back. I've put off talking about it because I don't want anyone to think I'm fishing for business here. Anyway, here goes.
I've had my machine since September of 2000, and opened my doors for business in January of '01. I love doing everyday quilts, but I also fit in some custom work. I'm always on the lookout for new patterns that look like custom, but will not cost people an arm and a leg. I've taken lots of classes, met lots of great people. That's the icing on the cake for me.
I still drive schoolbus, at least for now, because I've gotten into the bad habit of eating and paying bills ;)
So, Mel and anyone else who wanted to know, that's my longarm story. And now, thanks to Judy L. , my little quilting group, and all of you, I've gotten back into piecing.
Have a great day!!!!

Reflections

Yesterday was 9/11. Even though it's been 5 years, sometimes it feels like yesterday. Living within the NYC metro area, we knew people who died that day. My husband proposed to me at Windows on the World, the restaurant on the top of the WTC. Just makes you think, know what I mean?

This is a little 3D wallhanging I did about 8 years ago. It faces the front door so people see as they come into the house. It's not too big and it fits perfectly in between the 2 closet doors.

I think Murphy lives in my attic. Either that or we're just cursed;> Thursday I ended up being admitted to the hospital with chest pains. All the tests came back normal. They've not been able to figure out the cause, so today I had the first half of a stress test. Then on Saturday, Mike was going to mow the lawn. The mower wouldn't start. He had to borrow the neighbor's rider. Sunday, he found that the shower in the newly remodeled bathroom leaks. Great. Monday, I had to work so he decided to do a load of wash. There's no spin cycle. He wrung out each piece so he could put them in the dryer. And, last but not least, our frost free freezer is no longer frost free. Thank goodness for maintenance agreements. Can anyone tell me what the heck is going on??? I'm looking over my shoulder for the cast of "Punk'd" to please jump out and tell me it's all a joke.
Oh well, tomorrow's another day. I've been trying to keep up with everybody's blogs. I'm reading as fast as I can, so forgive me if I don't comment. I think everyone's quilts are so beautiful, you're all such good piecers/appliquers. I love being able to see a little bit into all of your worlds, it makes me realize that no matter where we live, what color we are, we are all basically the same-we're quilters. And that's enough for me.

Thanks

Jeez, I'm having trouble keeping up with all of you, even with Bloglines! Since I cant' get to everyone to thank you personally, I want to say it here. It's been a rough couple of days, but I am definitely on the way back up.
We took Keri up to school yesterday, and it was a good day. Unfortunately for her, they were having a big welcome back party and the DJ was right under her window. We could feel the walls vibrating!
I've got the panto quilt all prepped to go on the machine. Good thing-the customer wants it this weekend. I go back to work today-but I'll be answering phones. Can you imagine it-on the 1st day of school when nobody knows anything about anybody on their bus. Keep the fingers crossed that I stay the sweet, patient person I always am. Yeah right.
On a quilty note, these pictures are of a table topper I made several years ago. One side is Christmas, the other is for autumn. That way all I have to do is flip it over after Thanksgiving.
Have a great day everyone, and those of you whose kids are starting school this week, be kind to your bus driver-he/she is trying their best to get your kids safely to and from school.

Lazy Day

I didn't sleep very well Friday night, too much going on in my head. The dermatologist called and told me that I do have basal cell skin cancer on my face. The first date they could give me for removal is October 4th. So, since my imagination blows everything out of proportion, it kept me awake.
All this is leading up to me not wanting to work on a custom quilt when I'm over-tired, because I really hate ripping. So I worked on my hour a day-for about 5 hours in between getting Keri's stuff ready for school.
I got 10 blocks done. I work slowly because I'm not the greatest piecer in the world. But I'm happy with them. The other picture is of my favorite block. I just like the colors. I know a lot of people have finished the whole quilt but I'm happy to have gotten even this far.
I even got a block done on the Harvest Spice. I figured I was on a roll, so why not?
Today, I still didn't want to go upstairs. So, after everyone left, I went to church and then called a very good friend who told me to come on over and quilt.
I just got back and I feel much better. I was a little depressed about Keri going back to school, and the Precious Twins possibly finding an apartment. The empty nest thingy is hitting me like a ton of bricks. I realized I've totally identified myself as a mom for over 20 years, so what do I do now? I have to get my butt in gear and get over it! It's just going to take a little time.

I'm going to take the custom quilt off the machine, and load an easy panto quilt that needs to be done by the weekend. Then I'll see if I can reload and finish.
For all the US people, Happy Labor day! For everyone else, have a great weekend.

Not a good day

Have you ever had one of those days that goes from crisis to crisis with no time in between? I swear, the kids had less problems when they were kids. David is out interviewing for jobs and he doesn't even have the clothes to do it! When does he come to me? Half an hour before he has to be there. Keri is packing for school but she just ran out to donate blood in a royal huff, and God forgive us, we're counting the days. I love them unconditionally, don't get me wrong. I just need some down time.
I should be upstairs on the LA. I'm going to work on my hour a day quilt till she comes home and then I'll go up. I read Judy L's blog about procrastinating and man, can I identify. I love doing the pantos, and I like custom. It lets me be a little more creative. I know I sound like I'm never up there, but I do get a lot done-really.
I'm going back to work on light duty, starting Tuesday. I can't drive bus yet(the surgeon is reevaluating on the 19th) so they're going to have me on the phones and the radio. Since I'm really not supposed to drive, they're sending a car for me. So this is my last weekend as a full time quilter.
Oh, and I got an email from a customer yesterday that a quilt I did for her got a blue ribbon in her county fair. That made me feel pretty good.
Into the shower I go.
Later.

We did it!!

Thank you, Vicky for the gold star and for the challenge. It wasnt' as hard as I thought it would be. What's up next?

AARRGH!!!!

I am so not happy with Blogger right now. I'm way behind on reading, I should be upstairs with a custom quilt on the machine, and I can't post comments on anybody's blog!!! Okay, I know my
priorities screwed up. I want to say hello to the people whose lives I'm reading about and IT WON'T LET ME!!! There, I feel better; NOT.
Tracey, Bonnie H, Karen at Passionate Quilter I'm trying to comment. Especially Karen-don't be afraid of surgery. I had cervical disc replacement and I'm very glad I did.
I've got all my squares cut and the lines drawn to sew my HSTs. I'll do that this evening if it's not too muggy.
The sewing room is kind of coming along. Mike and I can't agree on what kind of shelves to put in the closet. And I don't really have any room for a design wall unless I do one That I can roll up right inside the sliding doors of the closet. Oh well, that's for the future.

I'm in a slump when it comes to customer quilts. I love being up there, but I hate going up. Does that make sense? When I'm alone in the house, I don't have it as bad, but when there's someone home, I'm afraid of missing something. How stupid is that? I want to quilt just not when I can be with other people. Hmm....our daughter Keri would have a field day with this in her psych class.

I showed the pic of the Precious Twins the other day. She's living here with us right now, stuff going on at home. I don't have a problem with that. But our son had to call a family meeting on Sunday because her sense of humor is different than ours so she saw Mike's and my teasing as ganging up on her. Alrighty then. We're going to say when something bothers any of us so there's no hard feelings. I thought everything was cool so when she said something last night, I told her it bothered me. Well, that didn't work. I don't want to alienate her and I sure as heck don't want to lose my son. Any ideas? I'm open to just about any suggestion.

It's the weekend!!

Here's a picture of some of the fabrics I pulled for my hour a day quilt. Since then, I've added a few more blues, a purple and a couple of more backgrounds. I don't want this to be a red quilt.
I've cut strips to match up for the HSTs and will start cutting them today.
Patti asked why do we quilt? I've been thinking about that since I read her posts.
I had never even heard of quilts or quilting until a friend and I went to the Amish country of PA when I was 18. We stayed one night with a Mennonite family and slept under quilts even though it was summer. That trip was such an eye opener for me. I saw all the quilts that these women made and was bowled over. Nobody in my family had ever done anything like that. But, since I have the attention span of a gnat, I forgot about it until years later when Mike and I took the kids on vacation to Lancaster County. That's when I found the shop in Intercourse. I went through every single rack and stack of quilts in that place and realized I couldn't afford a single one. So I looked closer and decided I wanted to make one myself. The rest, as they say, is history. lol
I quilt because I have only one thing from my grandmother. It's a thread crocheted part of a bedspread that my Mom was going to toss if I didn't take it. It was in pieces because Grandma died before she finished it. So a friend of mine took it and finished it for me. I'm keeping it for my daughter.
So I quilt. Somebody someday will be able to say "My grandma made this".
I quilt because I like it. I may not finish everything. I love puzzles and piecing quilts is like doing puzzles.
I quilt because it makes me feel good.
This brings me to a lightbulb moment I had when I read Patti's blog. I've been a longarm machine quilter since 2000, and have been concentrating on doing customer quilts at the expense of my own. I always said I didn't need to make my own, I have a private quilt show in my studio every day. Well, guess what? I've been very wrong. I do need to do my own. Just pulling the fabric for the hour a day has made me feel better. On the other hand, I've been doing the Harvest Spice BOM and that hasn't done anything but get me extremely pissed(excuse my language). It builds up like lava in a volcano and I have to put it away or I'll throw it away. And it's going to be a wedding gift for the Precious Twins. So I will plug away at it. But....................I will do the hour a day, and I will eventually do Tonya's challenge because I really want to learn how to do the letters. If and when Judy comes up with more projects, I will do them too.
Because I need to quilt. Not just use someone else's formulae and fabrics like the BOMs and kits. Yes, I'm following a pattern with the hour a day, but I'm using fabrics that I've held, stroked and loved. It won't look like anybody's quilt-it'll be mine.
It won't be easy once school starts. My surgeon said I can do light duty, so I'll be answering phones at the bus barn until I'm able to drive. They're really going to love me when I tell them I may have to have a basal cell removed from my face. I had it biopsied yesterday and will hear next week whether or not it's skin cancer. If it is, it's got to come out.
But I will quilt. Just because I have to and want to. It's become part of who I am. I am a quilter.

Judy L.

You can now find Judy at: http://judylaquidara.blogspot.com/
She's got the instructions for the hour a day there and all the info on what happened to her blog.

Here they are

This is our son David and his fiancee, Alicia. They got engaged on Christmas day and will be married June 15, 2007.
They didn't do too well at the audition yesterday. There was a written test and they were 1 of the 2 couples that didn't pass. I explained that it may not have been the number of questions they got wrong but the question types.
But the way, we call them the "Precious Twins".

It's Monday

Our son is down in NYC with his fiancee. They've got an audition for "Who Wants to be a Millionaire". It's for engaged couples. Wouldn't that be so cool? I'd love to show you a picture of them, but I can't get it from my Kodak Easy Share to here. Is there anybody out there who can explain it to me?
My sewing room is coming along. All the stuff from the bathroom is gone, and now we have to figure out where to put the stuff that's in the closet so we can convert it into shelves. I've got most of my UFOs located so I can put them all together in one place. Most of them are WIPs, things I've started and gotten bored doing. I will put up "after" photos when it's really after.
I found a bunch of fat quarters that were supposed to be a Churn Dash quilt from about 6 years ago. I think they'd do great for Judy's hour a day quilt. So I'm going to get them ready over the next few days, and hopefully get started. (Did I mention I have to make a t-shirt quilt for a customer? I can finally do that too now that I have some room to work.) I've been following along with everyone who's been so busy cutting and piecing, so I'm right there with you all. I'm hoping to do Tonya's Xs and Os blocks soon also. Does anyone have enough hours in their day? I sure don't.
Haven't bought any fabric, thread, books, notions. I have a gift certificate from my longarm secret stitcher for longarm supplies but I can't make up my mind what to buy.

Just wanted to check in, I have to go to physical therapy. Oh joy.

Whew!!

I've been so busy reading other people's blogs, I forgot to write in my own! I can't keep up with all of you-how do you do it? I was going to subscribe to bloglines, but some people have said they don't get all the updates. So does anyone have any other suggestions?
I so want to do Judy's one hour a day but life keeps getting in the way. The new desktop arrived on Monday-they put a rush on it. Then, last evening while I was at book club, Mike got a phone call from the online store saying they were shipping my desktop. UH OH. Well, we'll just refuse the delivery if another one shows up.
I went to see the surgeon on Tuesday, and he told me that the fusion has not completely taken yet. He saw some movement in the x-rays. So he didn't release me to go back to work on September 5th, he wants to reevaluate on the 19th. I told my job and found out there are lots of state laws that come into play when we can't start work on the first day of school. Welcome to NY-the land of over-taxing and micro-managing.
Then I went to my primary physician yesterday and he confirmed that I have fibromyalgia. Oh joy! I can live with that. I also have to go to a dermatologist because he thinks I may have a minor skin cancer on my face. And an ENT because the surgeon may have disturbed some nerves when he went in so that's why I feel like there's something permanently lodged in my throat. Doesn't slow down the eating unfortunately.
At least the new bathroom is functioning. When we turned on the new shower, there was a leak, but Mike fixed it and all we have to do is hang the towel racks and it'll be DONE!!!!
This afternoon, we're going to put my new sewing table/desk together. So I'd better get in gear and finish the customer quilt on the machine so I can get the next one on and help Mike.
This went on too long, but sometimes it helps to get things written down.

Setback

I thought we'd be putting the desk together this weekend, I really did. But it doesn't look good. Okay, let me go back a little.
I ordered a desk from an online site. When it came, I noticed a hole in the side of the box. One of the support pieces was damaged through 2 boxes and a layer of styrofoam. So I called the company and they sent a replacement. Once we had the new piece, Mike did inventory to make sure all the pieces were there. We saw that the desktop was damaged once we unwrapped it completely. Another phone call, another replacement. I offered to send the top back, but they didn't want it. Yesterday, the second replacement arrived. The box looked as if it had been used by 2 forklifts to play catch. Lo and behold the replacement is more damaged than the original. So I called once again. Now, they're taking a survey on customer service. Do I sound satisfied? When I asked the young man if I could please send back this one, he said it was too expensive for them to reship. He told me that the THIRD desktop should ship today. That means it won't get here until at least Tuesday.
I read that Judy is starting the one hour a day on Monday. I'm going to have to play some catch up, I guess. I want to do this quilt.
On a happier note, DS David is getting married in June. They got engaged on Christmas, and we love her. Anyway, Alicia took DD Keri and me to the catering hall where they're going to get married. The wekking planner took us around, explained who will stand where, and how the sequence of events will take place. I teared right up. Then we went and looked at dresses for me. She has her gown already picked out, and her bridal party's dresses too. I am going to have to lose about 30 lbs. between now and April so that I can get a dress that doesn't look like I should be buried in it. So I have a goal to work for-and I'm extremely goal oriented.
This got longer than I planned, so I'll go for now. I have to figure out how to get a picture from my Kodak Easy Share program to where I can post it, and then I'll show you the precious twins(that's what we call Dave and Alicia.

DUH!

I published my post and voila! All the photos are on the left side. So, I guess I'm doing something right when I click on "left". DUH Again.

In case anyone is wondering what I'm talking about when I say that I am waiting for my sewing room, this is it. I'll call these my "before" pictures.
We're remodeling our downstairs bathroom, and since our basement is so damp, Mike has to use the front room as his workroom.
The white square thing you see in the middle of the first pic is my rolling cutting table from Joann's. The tv stand box belongs to our daughter, Keri. She's going back to college in a few weeks and had to buy some "essentials". On the right is a room long coat closet. Our house was built around 1917, so no closet space. Mike has said that we can take out the hanging rack on the side nearest the big window and put in shelves for my fabric. I can hardly wait!
The second pic shows the shower doors that are waiting to go in, plus the big windows I'll have when the room is mine. This room is the entry to our house, so I'm hoping that will make me kepp it somewhat presentable. At least I'll try. I've never had a sewing room before, just a corner of the dining room table.
The third shows the pieces of the writing desk I bought to have as my sewing table. We can't assemble it until the room is empty. That will be next weekend, according to Mike. I ordered the desk online, and when it came, one of the pieces was damaged all the way through the packing boxes. I called the company and the new piece was sent. When we opened everything up to inventory it, we found that one of the corners of the desktop was a little crushed, as if someone stepped on it. Again on the phone with the manufacturer, now they're sending a new top. I asked if I should send the damaged one back-it's so big and heavy-but they said no. so Mike is thinking he may use it downstairs to build a workbench.
I'll post pics when it's done.
So there's my saga. I've been finding my UFOs and putting them all in one place so I can find them when I'm ready to work on them. So does that count as something quilty???
Oh, on the NO FABRIC front-one of the quilt shops I shop at sent out their enewsletter yesterday. In it was a 20% coupon that has to be used by the 13th. I got so excited for about 30 seconds. Then I remembered the challenge. So off into cyberspace with it. Oh well.......
If anyone can help me learn how to line up my photos down the left side, I will really appreciate it. I don't like guessing where my pictures are going to show up.
I have to say this-I am getting so much inspiration from all the blogs I read. I know I'm spending way too much time reading them, but like I've said before, it's addictive. I love all the different viewpoints and the fact that not everybody follows the same drummer. I feel like a sponge just soaking it all up. Thanks to all of you.

Thursday

I took the day off yesterday and spent it with my DD, Keri. She's going back to college in a few weeks, so I wanted to have some girl time with her. We had a nice lunch at Olive Garden and went to see the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean". We laughed so hard, we had tears rolling down our faces. We both love Johnny Depp.
Since I don't know where the photos are going to land, I'll just tell you this is the quilt that I gave to my friend for her grandbaby. I made the binding a bright yellow to keep with the crayon colors of the whole quilt.
I'm waiting to see what project Judy L. comes up with to help with quilting time. I have to go back to work on the bus next month, so I'll lose a lot of quilting time. I'll be grateful for any advice I can get.
Today I need to catch up. I have a bunch of customer quilts to do before I go back next month. So gotta run. But I will read as many other blogs as possible in between.

Hot!!

Sorry I haven't written in a few days. It's been brutal here, and I don't have a/c in the living room/office where the computer is. The baby animal quilt is done, done and will be delivered today. Mike has to download the photos from the camera to his computer and then share them with me, so I 'll have them tomorrow, hopefully.
Not much going on around here, still waiting for the bathroom to be done so I can work on my sewing area. I am so looking forward to having a permanent place to sew. I even bought a ft writing desk as a new sewing table. Just have to assemble it.
What amazes me about this heat is that we are living in 2006, the 21st century, and the utility companies can't handle it. New York City is suffering through blackouts, fires in manholes and on utility poles! This is unacceptable-why are they still operating with equipment and cables/wiring from the 1950s-60s? I know other major cities are the same. Isn't it sad that a few hot days can bring these cities to their knees? Then they have the nerve to raise rates when they're not doing anything to alleviate the situation. It makes me crazy!!!
Okay, rant is over. I feel better now. Not cooler, just calmer. I have to be extra careful with heat because I've gone to the ER in the past with heat exhaustion and had to be put on IV. They told me then that now I'm predisposed. Isn't that just peachy. So I do as much as I can early in the morning and then just veg out for the afternoon and evening.
I think I'll pull out my Quilted Diamond project this evening. Mike has to march in a parade, Keri is working, so I'll sit with some handwork. As much as I love it, it goes very slow for me. So I'll just keep plugging.
Have a great day and stay cool.

Meme and Stash Quilts

Since I'm reading about so many people, I thought I'd give this a try. Since I'm typically very longwinded, this was harder than I thought.


One Word for -
1. Yourself: searching
2. Your partner: methodical
3. Your hair: growing
4. Your Mother: resigned
5. Your Father: deceased
6. Your favorite item: books
7. Your dream last night: unknown
8. Your favorite drink: tea
9. Your dream home: ranch
10. The room you are in: cluttered
11. Your pleasure: reading
12. Your fear: falling
13. Where you want to be in ten years: shore
14. Who you hung out with last night: Mike
15. What you're not: proactive
16. Your best friends: hysterical
17. One of your wish list items: peace
18. Your gender: female
19. The last thing you did: binding
20. What you are wearing: pajamas
21. Your favorite weather: autumn
22. Your favorite book: none
23. Last thing you ate: ice cream
24. Your life: okay
25. Your mood: calm
26. The last person you talked to on the phone: Keri
27. Who you are thinking about right now: /David

I also want to thank Judy L. for approving me to be a member of the ring. It's fun being part of a group so you can talk quilting for as long as you want. I like the fact that our lives enter into it too. I've taken up Vicky's challenge, so there will be no fabrice purchases for the month of August. I have one quilting book on order already, so I'm committed to buying that. But that will be it for the month.(crossing fingers here)
Have a great day and talk to you soon!

I just came from Judy L's blog. I hope I didn't break any rules by clicking to join her new ring. If I'm still on the waiting list, I'll remove it until she tells me otherwise.
Judy's gone back to the original ring. I've taken the new info off.

My Mom called me yesterday to tell me my aunt Helen from Las Vegas passed away. She was my Mom's last remaining sibling, and 5 years younger than Mom. It hit me harder, I think. I'm an only child, and so are both of my cousins. So I don't have a lot of family. Mom said that my aunt had been reclusive for so long, living out west, that it didn't hurt so bad. That makes me so sad. I just wanted to note her passing. She leaves behind one son, my cousin Gary, who is 5 years older than me. He was married for a while but no kids. I'm going to try to maintain contact with him. My one other cousin, Tom, lives in NC and doesn't talk to any family at all. Mike says I'm lucky, and I know I am, to have him and our kids. They are MY family. I also have his family(he's one of six)-and we're a big, loud Irish American family. So I'll count my blessings.
On a happier note, a friend of mine opened a new quilt shop in North Chelmsford, MA. It's called Mill Girl Quilts. She and her sister took over the business from another lady. If you get a chance, they do have an online shop too.
The 2 photos are of a BOM I participated in a couple of years ago. I did 5 blocks and got bored out of my mind. So a friend of mine finished the piecing for me in exchange for me quilting one of her tops. Then I quilted and bound it. I have to say, I love the Baptist Fan and it goes so good with almost everything. I'm putting it in our local show at the end of September. That's the quilt that started me thinking that I don't want to just follow along anymore. Of course I got sucked into another BOM this year by the same friend. And she has offered to finish the Harvest Spice quilt for me. Think she wants to barter again? I've decided that Harvest Spice is going to be a wedding gift for my son and his fiancee. So I'm going to do the whole thing myself. And I swear, I won't buy any more kits. I still have 3 Jinny Beyer kits I bought at her studio/shop 4 years ago. One is a tote bag, so I should at least do that one. The rest I may just put into my stash.
Dang, this got so long, I'd better stop.
Melanie asked about my longarm. I'll talk about that in another post.
Even though this forum is basically anonymous(we don't really know each other) it's still a way to reach out and I feel better. Thanks.

I just tried to leave a comment on Nancyquilts blog but it bounced back. Told me that it was because of an SPF she has. Here's what I wrote:

I just finished reading your archives and all I can say is WOW! What a prolific lady you are. I have to tell you-I noticed your birthday. Mine is Jan 8th, so we're kind of like soul sisters, right?I love all the quilts you've made and reading little bits of your life. You are very good at describing the everyday things. I'm looking forward to getting to know you better through your blog.Thanks for the experience.

So, Nancy if you read this, please let me know how to correspond with you.
I'm still hoping to be accepted into the Stash Quilts blog ring, so maybe that will make it easier to write to more people. I try to leave comments on most of the blogs I read, it's kind of like answering someone when they speak to you, I guess.

Started physical therapy yesterday. My neck does feel better this morning, I have to admit. I've not been feeling too well this morning, so I'm running behind getting upstairs to another customer quilt. This one was made with denim and home dec fabric so it weighs a ton.
My new sewing table that I ordered from an online office furniture site has a dent in the top. So now I have to call them. I have a 5 year limited warranty on it so they shouldn't give me a hard time, I hope. I can't wait to actually have a sewing room, I've never had one before. Maybe once everything is in one place, I'll be able to enjoy sewing again.
Well, I have to get my butt in gear and go to "work". If anyone can tell me what the SPF stuff means, I'd sure appreciate it. Till later......

Here's a couple of photos of the Country Cottage Quilt. The first one shows the center, and the next is the whole quilt. The customer just came and picked it up, and said she liked it.
This is why I haven't been able to do too much of my own thing this past week.
Other than this, I'm still working on the binding for the animal baby quilt. At least the weather has broken for a few days-the weatherman is saying it'll be lower humidity and temps in the '80s until the middle of the week.
I've been reading lots of blogs this summer and I envy everyone's enthusiasm for quilting. I'm trying to keep mine going, believe me. It's hard not having the time or energy to piece or applique. If anyone reads this, I'd love to hear how you all keep the spark alive.

Although my picture is kind of dark, this is a little quilt I made from scraps in my stash. I put this together to show some friends how simple it is to make a quilt. I won some fat quarters as a door prize last year, so they are the rails, and luckily I had some nice fabric to make a couple of borders.
I don't have pictures of a lot of the quilts I've made, but I'm trying to do better.
I'm still working on the custom quilt, just wanted to take a break.

Nothing quilty going on here lately. I've been busy with a customer's quilt since Monday. It's the Countryside Cottage BOM from Joann's. She wants it exactly like the picture on the pattern. Can I say I hate custom??????????
Yesterday was Mike's birthday, and he had a great day. Our son and fiancee joined in for the gift giving, she's definitely a keeper. He and I went to the Monticello Raceway Casino, and came home only down $70.00. We had dinner at the buffet, and it was an all-round relaxing afternoon and evening.
I've got the binding sewn onto the front of the animal baby quilt, and will start hand stitching it down this evening.
I can't wait for the bathroom to be done, then all the stuff that belongs in there will be out of my sewing area. Mike and our daughter are painting as we speak, a nice soft yellow. All new fixtures, right down to the floor.
My eyes are dilated right now so the screen is shimmering in front of me. I was in the eye doctor's examining room for over an hour, having tests done to make sure I don't have glaucoma and that the floaters aren't getting any worse. They have all sorts of new machines to test vision now, it's gotten very precise.
We're going out to dinner tomorrow evening with another couple. The husband has the same birthday as Mike. We're doing dinner and a movie. Not only are they "going out to dinner" friends, she's started quilting, and wants me to machine quilt her tops. She's in my group that meets once or twice each month.
That's about it for now. I'm going to try to show some photos soon. They're all in Mike's computer, so I have to email them to mine.
Have a great evening.

This and that

Mike keeps telling me I have to practice time management. I've even taken classes at MQX on how to schedule days so I can do the stuff I want to do. Sometimes, I think its' hopeless.

Anyway, not too much quilty to talk about. I had to go to the Quilt Basket shop yesterday to meet with customers. 2 dropped off and 2 picked up. So it was a good day. Since I'm still getting light-headed when I drive(the surgeon says it's not related to the spinal fusion surgery), Mike dropped me off, went to his mom's, and then picked me up. We went to Cracker Barrel for lunch as a treat before going to West Point for food shopping. But, I'm getting off the subject here.

Whenever I'm at the shop, I wander up and down the aisles. This is a beautiful shop-light and bright. I see something new every time I'm there. However, since I've made up my mind to try to use my stash, I wander and nothing hits me. The kits look too perfect, I prefer a pattern where I can use what I have. I was talking to one of my customers and told her that I was making the Harvest Spice quilt and that it's my last kit for a long time. She looked at it and remarked about how many scraps I'll have left over when I finish it. Dang-she was right, and I make piles of the triangles I get from it for leaders and enders. That way, they're not just orphan pieces, and maybe, just maybe I'll use them.

Sitting here, I'm thinking about the animal baby quilt. All I have to do is machine sew the binding onto the front, and I can hand finish it in the evenings. My friend's daughter had the baby on Thursday-a little girl, Jessica Ann, weighing in at 6 lbs. Not bad for being over 3 weeks early. So I have to get on the stick and do that binding. Then it will be done and I can get on with other things. I have a custom quilt that I have to get done this week, fun.

Time to shower and get ready for church. Then, we have another graduation party this afternoon. It's supposed to be near 100 degrees-I hope they have AC.

It's addictive!

I find myself reading so many people's blogs everyday! I love this little glimpse into their lives. Only problem is: I sit here when I should be working. A customer called yesterday and asked if her quilt would be ready for me to meet her this Saturday at the Quilt Basket, and I said sure...
Then I went up and looked at the dimensions. I have to do it. My bank account requires it. lol
I just have to eat breakfast, shower and get my butt in gear.

A good day...

I had my followup at the surgeon's office yesterday. Only 2 weeks since the surgery(herniated disc) and he gave me the okay to go back on the longarm!!!!!!! He told me to take breaks every 20-30 minutes, and to start small. I'll take care of that animal baby quilt this morning, load another small one for tomorrow and call it a day.
I picked up "Classic Four Block Applique Quilts" by Gwen Marston yesterday. My son had given me a Borders gift card for my birthday, and I was just waiting for something special to use it on. I love hand applique, but I don't do enough of it. I like the idea of having a basket of hand work near my chair to do at night while DH is watching TV.
Here's a photo of the "Road to Ireland" quilt I did a few years ago. It's from "Fat Quarter Quilts" by M'lissRae Hawley. It's quilted with Linda Taylor's Feather Meander. I keep it draped over my Hinterberg floor hoop that I haven't used since I started machine quilting.
I have these great, bright fat quarters that have been calling my name. I think they'll become either a Yellow Brick Road or maybe I'll cut them up into squares for 4 patches. I still have 5 blocks on the Harvest Spice BOM to cut out and stitch. Again, I swear-no more kits!!!
I have a question for anyone out there. How do you bring yourself to start thinning out your magazines? They are taking over way too much space in my whole house. But it breaks my heart to try to go through them and tear out what I want to keep.

Here's another baby quilt I finished recently. This was made for another friend's grandbaby. It was made entirely from my stash. I love the way this quilt came out. The baby it was made for was born on 5/28/06.
I pieced the backing for the animal quilt, and sewed the binding together. So, it's ready to go on the longarm.
On another subject, my followup visit to the surgeon is tomorrow. I'm going with my daughter and we're going to make it a girls' day out. We haven't done that in a very long time. So I'm looking forward to it.

We're even going to a quilt shop. I've promised not to spend the whole afternoon in there.
While we're out, I'm going to stop at Borders. I ordered one of Gwen Marston's books, and they just called me to tell me that it's in for me to pick up.
I have 5 more Harvest Spice blocks to cut out, and I am not buying any more kits for a very long time. I swear.

This is the baby quilt I finished for my friend's grandbaby. It doesn't show up too well, but the outer border is a bright purple, the inner is obviously orange, and the panel is from a LQS. I'm going to bind it in yellow.

Lazy Day

The quilting day was a lot of fun, but I'm paying for it today. There's a lot of pain so I took a couple of Tylenol and I'm hoping for the best. A very nice lady on one of my longarm lists that had the same surgery as mine told me that she took a picture of her machine with her to the surgeon to get the okay to go back to work. I think I'll do the same.
My 2 friends who are just starting out with quilting are coming along fine. As a matter of fact, one finished her top and pieced her backing yesterday and handed the quilt to me to do. I didn't start with this little group looking for customers, but it's a nice perc.
I brought my QD block to hand piece, and decided that for right now, it's not the project for me. I think I'll dig out some of my applique and work on that.
When Mike gets home, I'll have him put my sewing machine up on the dining room table. I've got the backing for the baby quilt ready to piece and I want to get the binding put together so I can have the quilt ready when the baby is born next month. Since I'm going to start back on the longarm with small projects, it'll be one of the first ones.

Quilting Day

Since I can't go back on the longarm machine just yet, I've been scavenging around my house to ward off the boredom of recuperation.
A good friend's daughter is having a baby next month, so of course I told my friend that I would make a quilt. That was back in December. I finished the top yesterday. I'll post a photo when I upload from camera to computer. I procrastinated my butt off until there were no excuses left. She told me the nursery is decorated in a Noah's Ark theme, so for months I looked for a bright Noah's Ark panel. I went to Quilters' Attic and finally found an animal panel. No ark but close enough.
I've been told that babies like bright, crayon colors, and this panel fits the bill. I had some great crayon bright fabrics in my stash so I did 2 borders. I don't have any single fabric big enough for the back, so I'll piece more brights together.
It's funny. I put things off and then when I finally get them done, I tell myself "Gee that was easy." So why do I keep procrastinating? There's a question for the ages.

Today I'm going to a quilting day. I realized that the only way I was going to get anything done was to schedule it. So, several of us get together once or twice a month to quilt. We've recruited a couple of ladies who've always wanted to quilt but just haven't taken the time to learn, and another friend and I take turns helping them.
After I finished the baby quilt top, I sat down and prepared my Quilted Diamonds block to take with me today. Since I'll be the only "teacher",, I didn't want to have to stop in the middle of machine piecing, so a hand piecing project fits the bill. I don't know if I'll do all of the 101 blocks in the book. I have the attention span of a gnat so I lose interest in long range projects. But I'll give it a try.
Two of my friends are nurses and I'm going to ask them if it's normal to feel this bad for this long after surgery. I don't have my followup until Tuesday, but I'd like to hear what my friends have to say.
This has gotten very long and I'm off to get ready. The sun is shining, the temperature is comfortable, it's going to be a nice day.
Eileen

Rough night

I was up very early this morning. Last night was not a good one. I'm trying to learn to not sleep on my stomach, not good for the neck incision. But it was the only way I could sleep, so I woke up a lot with a lot of pain in my neck, shoulders and upper arms.
I'm planning on cutting out some Quilted Diamonds pieces to take with me on Saturday. I found some beautiful batik fat quarters in my stash that I had forgotten about. I swear I'm going to start washing everything as soon as it comes into the house! I spent last evening washing and pressing, and I'm sure that contributed to my bad night.
I will have the house to myself this evening, so I think I'll work on the baby quilt that needs to be finished by next month.
Since I haven't been on my longarm for almost 2 weeks, I have to run the auto warmup and give her a good oiling.
I want so badly to be able to stay home this fall and work my business and maybe expand it into making quilts on commission. I don't want to get back on that bus! I am such a homebody, which surprises the @#$% out of me. I used to want to be out all the time, doing stuff. Now I'm happy when I'm home, even though home is permanently under construction. I love vacations, but I love coming home more.
Enough for now; obviously I haven't had enough coffee. lol
Eileen

Okay, this is me. Now, how do I get this in my profile?

I watched my Linda Franz DVD this afternoon, so I'm ready to go back to doing some hand piecing. This is the first time I've watched it all the way through. I started as a hand piecer about 13 years ago, and she talked about things my teacher never mentioned.
I get enthusiastic about things and then all the steam goes out of it. Since I'm going to make these diamonds scrappy with my stash, hopefully that won't happen this time.
Hope everyone's having a great 4th!
Eileen

Using my stash

Last summer, I was watching the Quilters News Network, and I sat in complete fascination for 2 hours watching Linda Franz. She wrote "Quilted Diamonds" both 1 and 2. I ordered the book, which comes with a tutorial dvd, and started making the diamonds, using my stash. I figured that would be a good use of it. Of course, life got in the way and I stopped. But now I'm getting the itch again. I also want to make the Smoky Mountain Stars quilt on Bonnie Hunter's website. I love her work.
I have to make a baby quilt for the grandbaby of one of my friends. The nursery is decorated in a Noah's ark theme. I found a panel with really bright animals on it, and I'm going to use 2 fabrics that I've had for a couple of years. Really bright crayon colors. Mike and I were thinking of making baby quilts for sale back then. Yeah right. Anyway, since we don't know the sex of this baby, orange and purple are perfect!
Since I can't go on the longarm until the surgeon gives his okay, I'm going to have Mike pull out some of my fabric. He has to do it because right now I can't lift anything.
Happy 4th of July to anyone who reads this. I'll be by myself for a good part of the day, Keri is working, and Mike has a parade. So I'll be vegging and playing with my stash!!!
Have a great day,
Eileen

It's Sunday

Mike is working in the bathroom. He took it down to the studs, and we bought all new stuff to go in there.
I did some piecing yesterday. I was going crazy so I pulled out a BOM block that I've had cut out for awhile. I call it Harvest, and I got the kit from Quilter's Attic in Pine Bush. I'm hoping that I can go on my longarm and do a simple panto on a customer's quilt by Friday.
I'd like to try putting in some photos, so I may try that later today.
Eileen

Designing Quilts

I had my surgery on Monday, and I'm feeling pretty good. I know it will take a while, so I'm forcing myself to relax and not do much of anything.
I've gotten very interested in landscape quilts in the past few months. I like applique, but I want to do something different. I've ordered a couple of books on it, and I can't wait until they arrive. One is "A Bridge to Landscape Quilting" by Mary Hackett, and "Landscape Quilts" by Nancy Zieman. I've also ordered Gwen Marston's book on four block quilts. I've read quite a bit lately that her methods are very freeing, and I've got to get out of the box I've gotten myself into with quilting. I'm tired of making quilts that look just like the picture on the pattern. I want to branch out and tell people about me and the area where I live.
I get tired very quickly, so I'll sign off for now.
Have a great day,
E

Hi again

I've been thinking-what do I want to say here? I guess I want to talk about my feelings about quilting and what it does for me. Right now, I'm in my "I hate to piece" mode. I just finished the school year on the bus, and I've been trying to get ahead of customer quilts, so I haven't had time to piece. I feel like if I don't have a good block of time to do my own thing, then why bother? Everyone tells me that just grabbing 10 minutes is good. But I can't see it that way. I have so many things in my head that I want to do, that I cut myself off at the knees.
I'd love to hear what inspires others. It really helps.
We're going to a graduation party this afternoon. It's for a young man that I used to baby sit. Wow, how the time flies! I remember meeting him when he got off the bus after kindergarten, and now he's going off to college.
Enough for now.
Eileen

hello

This is my first time, so be gentle. I have so many things spinning around in my head. I'm having surgery tomorrow, I'm nervous. You'd think it was heart surgery with all the worrying I've done, but it's just a herniated disc.
I don't even know who I'm writing to, other than myself.
Talk to ya later.
E