Julianne's Place

2012-02-14T04:30:00.000-06:00

This is Pops

We lost one of our dogs last week and he was feeling lonely and asked

to come in the studio with me. So I let him .

He came in looked about rested under the table for just a bit and asked to go out.

I rescued Pops a few years ago and had also rescued Grace who has disappeared. We will probably never know what happened to her, but I know we gave her a good home for about 6 years.

I am not planning on getting another dog. We still have Pops and that is enough.

Grace will be missed.

2012-02-13T04:10:00.000-06:00

These are the guild blocks so far this year. I decided to make two blocks each time one for me and one for the guild. If I can keep up with it I should have a sampler quilt for me my the end of the year.

I am not sure where they got the pattern for the house block but that was for January.

February we could piece any star block we wanted. I went on line and choose this one.

Called Friend's Star.. Found it at www.quilterscache.com I posted about this block earlier.

This block has all its points because I read the directions after my other block. I think this block would look wonderful as the entire top.. It really does go together nicely.

As I was cleaning up my fabric closet I found these again.. They have been around a long time.

So I decided to stitch them together, after all I was using the day to catch up on piecing.

I know these belong to the guild and I have no idea how long I have had them but they are now set together. I will take them back next meeting and see if I can find something to border it with and a backing. Maybe some one at guild will have a idea on what to do with them next. It is a odd size right now.. 24 X 36 Hummmm I might remove a row and make it square. That might make it better. Wish I had thought of that before I stitched it up. LOL

I intended to piece the block for March but I am not sure what the colors are to be. So decided to wait until I find out. They are not putting the colors on the patterns they hand out. They told us but I did not right it down so you know how that goes.. Sure I will remember. The star block was supposed to be blue and I did red... I think I will wait and see what colors the news letter says.. Just to be safe.

2012-02-12T15:43:00.001-06:00

Some place on the web they are doing sewing rooms organising..

I have not been using this space long enough to really need a major clean up

but this closet was bothering me. The other day I got busy and cleaned it up.

The stack-able bins have projects I want to work on soon ( this year ) Not all of my projects are in these bins I just picked out some of what I thought I wanted to work on.

With them all in one place I should be able to pull something out when ever I have a few minuets to piece.. I hope ! Sounds good any way.

You cant see all my fabric in this photo. I no longer have a large stash. Well OK it is smaller than it used to be. I have only bought fabric I needed to finish projects. I decided to reduce my stash probably about 7 or 8 years ago. Don't get me wrong once in a while a fabric will grab onto me and follow me home.. : ) I am good with that.

My decision was to stop buying fabric just for the sake of owning it.

I was looking for something in my stash and found a bunch of fabric that was ruined... I salvaged what I could of the damaged ( by sunlight and age ) fabric and made dog blankets.

I thought it was such a waste at the time.

That was a long time ago and I do much better now.. ; )

I may actually need to do some shopping this year. Well maybe.

What does your fabric storage look like?

2012-02-09T18:42:00.002-06:00

I have not taken any photos but I have been working. I quilted up a baby quilt for a neighbor, the baby is due any time I think. Now to get the binding done before the child starts school. LOL

I also organised my fabric a bit. I took every thing out of the closet. Moved the non quilting fabrics some place else. Every thing that was smaller than a fat quarter went into a laundry basket of scraps. One day I will do something with that basket of scraps until then I can live with it. LOL Then every thing got folded and put back on the shelf. I moved some works in progress to a different closet cause I am not going to be working on them for some time, and I don't want to get distracted by them.

Does that happen to you? Some lonely project will start to demand your attention when you should really be working on something else. It happens to me. Now I feel more organised and ready to tackle the next project. I have also moved the projects that I want to finish first into those plastic stack able drawers next to my machine. Feels good to have that all done.

I also have the last set of quilts ready to return ship. Labels printed and all ready to go to the post office or UPS...

Put a beef roast in the crock pot this morning with potatoes and carrots so dinner is ready when I am, and I am just about ready. !!

What did you do today??

2012-02-05T20:46:00.000-06:00

My quilt guild like most guilds has a block each month for community quilts.

I decided that I would make two blocks each month. One for the guild and one for me...and I would have a quilt for myself at the end of the year. I must say that it is not going to well so far LOL

The first block ( January ) was a house block. OK so I cut out two blocks piece one took it to guild and the second one for me, is still waiting to be pieced.

February block was a star block, any star, any color. I went online and found this pattern

( I am not sure where I found it but I can look and give credit later )

I am thinking I can surly piece three blocks this evening..

The house block is already cut out and this block looks fairly straightforward. Not to difficult.

So I cut out two of these star blocks and got started.

I had a terrible time. I got one piece turned upside down and backwards some how LOL

So I swiped a piece from what was to be the second block and kept going.

Wait now my pieces do not fit....LOL

I have already ripped out and re stitched twice. This is not going well..

OK so I decide to just trim the thing to size. Which means that I loose my inside corners!

Yep I whacked them off LOL The photo does not really show it but they are gone.

I finish piecing the block and give it a final trim. It looks OK,

BUT I can't figure out why my pieces did not fit?

So If all else fails read the directions...RIGHT.. Well.....

I found out that I had missed a step. Apparently a important step.

The cutting directions said to cut a 5 inch square for the center.. I did that.

The piecing directions said to USE the TEMPLATE provided to TRIM the 5 inch block to size.

I totally missed that step.

I had cut out two blocks so I took the other 5 inch square and compared it to the TEMPLATE. The template is smaller. Sigh!! That might explain why my block was to big. At least I hope so. LOL

So If I had actually read ALL the directions I might have actually been able to piece all three blocks this evening. Instead I pieced one...The hard way!!!

Now I need to re cut a piece for My block, and I have none of my blocks pieced for the year.

I am starting to think that maybe I will only end up with a kit for myself by the end of the year.

Cut out the blocks and put the directions with them and stitch them some day!!!

No !!! That is how I get UFO'S .

I will get them pieced. I will catch up and get them pieced.

I will.... I WILL!!!!! LOL

2012-02-01T07:41:00.003-06:00

I am not in love with this sample piece. I do like it tho I just do not love it.

I know I might change my mind when it is actually finished but I doubt it.

I have learned a lot during the process which was the idea Right?

I had problems getting the color set. So the outer edges of the block outside the motif..look dirty to me. The color transferred to the areas I wanted to be white...really white.

The method I used needed to be heat set.. I heat setting with the iron and in the dryer. Which caused most of the color transfer. There is a product that can be mixed with the textile medium that makes it un- necessary to heat set. I will try that later. The pen I used to outline with bled a bit.. I will try something different next time.

I have had a lot of fun trying this out and I have learned a lot for next time. I am not ready to use this in a quilt but I am looking forward to having time to play with the process more.

It is fun and I have a ton if ideas where I would like to use coloring in my future projects.

2012-01-27T17:10:00.000-06:00

Today I made a large pillow for mt bench. I know it looks a little lumpy but I don't mind. I have only basted it closed so that I can change my mind and do something different. I may take the stuffing out and just get a body pillow or something to use instead. I am going to leave it as is for now. The neighbor kids use my porch to wait for the school bus. They will probably be using my bench more than I will any way. They won't mind a lumpy pillow to set on while they wait.

This is where I wanted to put the bench but it is a little two long,

So these chairs will set here nicely. They will get a coat of paint later on when it is warm enough to paint outside. I have not decided what color to paint them. They have been kind of green for a very long time. Maybe forever. I might paint them blue or red but maybe green again.

I found some old curtains ( valances ) hiding in a closet that will be good for the windows around the porch. I was still awake at 2 am this morning so I was up prowling about..and dug out these valances out of a tote of odd stuff. Sometimes I think I should just get rid of all that odd stuff but, then if I had done that then I would not have curtains for the porch.. Not sure it needs curtains but now that I have them I might as well see how it works out.

Today has not been a very productive day. Probably because I was still awake at 2 am.

I did make the pillow and two smaller pillows form the leftover fabric for the chairs when they are done. I glued the outer layer on my large design wall..Now fabric will stick to it without having to pin...as long as it is not to heavy I guess.

That is about all I have managed to do. I had a list of things I wanted to get done but I simply do not have the energy. I was going to load the next client quilt and piece a block or two on a project for myself. After using the spray glue with out gloves...well my fingers a kind of sticky. I am going to have to get something a bit stronger than soap and cold water to get it off. LOL

2012-01-27T05:00:00.000-06:00

Look what my Dad made....

I found it setting on the porch of the studio. I used to be a futon bed.

Dad figured out how to cut it up and make a bench, it turned out about three inches to long to fit across the end of the porch as intended. So it will set here. I guess. LOL My Dad is 80 and likes to be busy...I am running out of projects fast. LOL It really is more comfortable than it looks.

Now I need to made a seat cushion for it.

2012-01-25T05:00:00.000-06:00

Look what I found. My Mom needed some felt... I said hey I have some and you can have it. This was with the felt. I had looked for it, months ago. I thought it was long gone but no...I have added it to my list of UFO"S. I know I started this Whole Cloth over two years ago. Some day I might just finish it.

2012-01-24T17:51:00.000-06:00

See I told you it was cute...

2012-01-24T05:00:00.000-06:00

On the machine.

Isn't this the cutest quilt? I will have to remember to post a photo of the entire quilt. It is so cute

2012-01-23T20:47:00.001-06:00

I had a great day today.

I started the day by moving the printer and the last few odd items into the studio.

The only down side to the new studio is moving the printer. I don't want to mess with buying a second printer, but I need it in the studio. In the old space I could easily run back and forth when I needed to use the printer. I guess I will still be going back and forth but with the printer in the studio instead of the house... I won't be running across late at night or early morning in my Jammie's to print.

Or will I?

I fixed myself a nice bowl of home made tomato soup and grilled cheese for lunch.

I love home made tomato soup.

I use half chicken stock and half tomato...this time I had some tomato juice left over and just used that but diced tomatoes are good to. I season with salt, pepper, garlic, onion, celery seed,a dash or two of Worcester, and a few shakes of hot sauce. All to taste of course. I usually add a bit of milk at the end but today I was out of milk so I sprinkled some Italian seasoning in and called it good.

It was good... dipping the corners of the grilled cheese into the soup... Yummy.

Really hit the spot so to speak.

With the printer set up, I printed out some block patterns and a couple of other projects.

A nice easy calm day...Just what I needed.

2012-01-23T08:14:00.000-06:00

Not a great photo...but I still like it. Night sky, full moon lots of clouds...

Really was perfect in person.

I have just finished a eight day stretch at the day job.. It was a rough eight days !!!!

The public was hateful even mean...The workers were not focused and crabby.

The bosses... Well I won't go there but it was a long eight days.

I can see the light tho !!!!

I have two whole days off... Two days with no need to deal with any thing.!!!

Time in the studio... Just me, my machine.

SIGH..... Life is good ...

2012-01-18T17:06:00.000-06:00

I have been coloring.. in the evenings while Husband and I watch TV. I did not quilt this sample it was quilted by a nice member of my Longarm group Quilted on her Statler for us to color. The fabric was prepared and then motif's quilted ahead of time so we could spend our time coloring and learning about many different products available.

I was not going to post a photo until I was totally finished, but... I am having so much fun. I just had to share. I used water color pencils for the coloring so I am not totally sure how the end result will turn out. I have decided to heat set this then I will paint on a textile medium that will make the color permanent. Like I said I am not sure what will happen when I paint the wet textile medium over the water color...I expect the color to blend some and I hope it does not bleed all over everything. I think it will be just fine as long as I do not go to heavy with the medium..

2012-01-16T05:00:00.000-06:00

This was a challenge piece for the longarm group I belong to.

We were supposed to quilt borders and or sashing.

I did mine on white with white thread because I can use it in another project later.

The fabric was prepared so that I could color it later.

Yeah !!!!! two projects in one.

More about the coloring later...probably much later!!

2012-01-15T19:35:00.001-06:00

On and Off the machine......This is fun..

Thank you Charoltte for allowing me to work on your tops.

2012-01-13T09:37:00.000-06:00

I set up a piecing station yesterday.. Last week my old Singer came out of storage, I love this machine.
I gave her a good cleaning and oiling and she is singing again. She has been in storage for a few years and I am happy to have her running again.

We hung a four foot shop light in order to see better. Lighting is a problem in the new space but I can take care of that, just trying to do it with out the need of a electrician LOL So far so good. So now I have a place to piecing something ..when I have the time! I did move some things about in the longarm room but no photos.. just fine tuning the space.

You may remember that I choose to paint the floor? I used garage floor paint because you are supposed to be able to drive cars on it so I thought it would be OK for a studio floor. It is OK. The paint has started to pop off in some places. I knew that it would probably do this so I am not surprised. I think the paint is better used on a new floor..not one that has been used for many years..with stains and spills that did not clean up well before painting. I like the rustic look so I really don't mind the irregularities in the floor. For me it is a fair trade off for ease of cleaning up all those threads that seem to be every where clinging to every thing. LOL

2012-01-04T20:40:00.000-06:00

I have been busy... The spool quilt I used a panto called Baby Curls.. It is OK but not my favorite panto, in fact I almost never use it.

This one I used the Curly Q.. I love this panto and use it every chance I get. Looks good on so many quilts.

This is next to go on my machine. Far to cute.

I am still trying to find the best place to photo the quilts. Each of these photos were taken in a different place...different light. I need to something to hang the quilts to photo. I guess.

2012-01-03T18:56:00.001-06:00

Today was my first day back in the studio this year.

What has this really ugly photo of me got to do with that?

Not a thing !

My sister made every one these for Christmas and has not seen me in mine yet.

So here I am. And I would like to add....it must have been 80 degrees in there today.

It is a bad photo but it was far to warm to keep trying for a good one.

I love my hat and scarf and will think of you as I wear them.

I quilted this cute snowman quilt..Isn't it just the sweetest thing? I did a windy meander, thought it looked a bit like wind swirling around the snowmen.

My friend Charlotte makes these tops and sells them on a web site.

She makes some of the cutest things. I just love quilting for her.

This top is a charity top for The Ozark Piecemakers Quilt Guild of Springfield Mo. I belong to a longarm group and we meet every three months. The Piecemakers let us use their wonderful meeting space for free..... All they ask is for each of us to quilt three of their charity quilts a year. That is it.. These two are not to big I think 66 X 66 or so. That is cheap rent for a nice meeting place if you ask me.They come all bundled together with every thing I need.

I also closed my books for 2011 I am ahead of the game this year.... I think.

I also dug about and found the squares I had cut out for hexes Now I can work on those in the evenings. I am sure I did something else... I am sure of it but it must not be terribly interesting because I can't remember.

2012-01-01T06:42:00.000-06:00

It is hard to believe that it is already 2012 but, here it is the beginning of a new year.

I will be back in the studio on the 3rd I have five little quilts that must be quilted by the 14th...two before the 11th. It is going to be a great year.

We spent last evening having dinner with the kids...The Little Guy keeping us entertained. What better way to ring in the new year?

2011-12-29T18:10:00.000-06:00

Christmas came a little early at our house...

All the joy and wonder......

The Big Guy..( daddy) seems to think he may need to build a new room just for the toys.

Even new chore cloths for the Little Guy....

A good time was had by all.

I will admit it was a very good thing that Christmas came early at our house.. Because..

The nasty flu bug came for Christmas.. I spent all of Christmas day in bed, in fact today is the first day I have felt human again.. Weak, tired, but I think I will make it. AND the good news is that so far no one else got sick. OK so I shared with husband but he recovered quickly. I think he might have had sympathy sickness for me.. ; )

As this season draws to a close...I start to think about things.. Lot's of things. So I made a list.

The number 1's are tops waiting to be quilted

The 2's are works in progress...Notice I did not say UFO"S

OK so the One Block Wonder really is a UFO..and I just don't want to admit it.

The 3's are things I would like to work on this year.

I may add things to this list as I think of them during the next few days or even during the year.

I might just find a really cool new project I just have to do... Ya never know. I am thinking about learning to knit... socks. Maybe... but maybe not this year... Ok lets just say that this list may not be complete and let it go at that. OK

I have a second list just for binding.

I have two quilts waiting for binding. One twin and one baby quilt..

1.UNDERGROUND RAILROAD

1.AMERICANA

1.SUMMER BREEZE

1.PRIMITIVE

1.SMALL FREEHAND SAMPLE/ CC

2.30'S QUILT

2.HORSE QUILT

2.ONE BLOCK WONDER

2.PIECE O CAKE APPLIQUE

2.ONE INCH PROJECT

3.SPIDER WEB QUILT

3.HEXI PROJECT

3.FABRIC PAINTING / COLORING

I do not keep track of my lists from year to year, but I know that all the 1's have been waiting a long time for quilting.. and have been on the list before.

The 2's were all started this year except for the one block wonder, and the 3's Well I have thought I would make a spider web quilt for years.. Yes years. The hexi project is just a idea...for now. Fabric coloring. I have played with it a little but I would like to do more. I have lots of ideas there. LOL Table mats, runners, Oh and even a tree skirt....

OK enough thinking for now. I get way more ideas than I have time for.

I have decided I will not be making any New Years Resolutions this year.

I have things I am working on and things I want to work on. So I will do so in whatever way I decide to no pressure, no stress. I may add or subtract projects as I choose.

In 2012 I plan on relaxing a bit more... laughing a lot more... I want to enjoy what I choose to do.

I have decided that to many things to do or goals to keep, and I forget to have fun.

Ok enough for now....

2011-12-22T07:26:00.001-06:00

This dang program seems to load my photos where ever it likes on the page. I have no idea how the tree got to be in the middle.. I wanted it at the top of the page GRRRRR.. LOL

But there it is. Oh well !!! I am not even going to try changing it.

This happy little quilt is next... I love the snow men. Just love them !

And there is the tree..

The gifts are all wrapped, the house is almost all cleaned... Almost.

I did not quite get all the treats made that I wanted to but... I have enough done to be happy. That is the main thing. Right? The kids will arrive tomorrow evening and the celebration will begin. I am ready..

Yesterday I had about a hour to kill so I cut apart this horse panel and auditioned some fabrics to go with it. The pile on the chair are possible chooses but I really think I will need a shopping trip to find the right background fabric.

The Little Guy loves horses..

I think I will make some cati and boot blocks to go with the horses.

I am going to have to be creative to set these together so

we will just have to see how it goes.

I will not have time to do more with this for a while but

I can look at it from time to time

and maybe just maybe .. I will find a creative setting for it.

I like to keep a quilt on the longarm

and a no thought kind of piecing project at the piecing machine

plus something on the wall to think about..

I am starting to feel at home in the new space..

( I am going to have to quit calling it the new space soon)

I still do not have my design wall finished..

but I have most on my things organised like I like..

My mom tends to wander in watch me work for a bit then wander out again saying well I better get back. LOL At first it would startle me but I am adjusting.

WISHING EVERY ONE A HAPPY HOLIDAY...

May you find Peace and Joy..and most of all Happiness

2011-12-20T14:50:00.000-06:00

Today I treated myself... I slept in. I did. LOL

I have spent the day in my jammies. All day!! I have been making some cookies and other treats.

After all what Is Christmas with out treats? The gifts are all wrapped, The client things that had to be finished are finished. I have had the oven on all day so it is nice and toasty... Smells nice to. :)

Most of my to do list is checked off...

2011-12-17T08:11:00.000-06:00

My house turns into hunter central all Fall and early Winter..

Things get a little busy and messy.. I will tidy up and take a photo or two later. LOL

Waiting till later might be part of why things get messy.

The alarm went off at 4AM this morning.... Sigh !

So far I have watched my hunters leave... called them back to retrieve a forgotten cell phone. Decorated the tree. Well it is almost finished I forgot to pick up the candy canes for the tree. I have tidied up one room... Sucked down three cups of coffee ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich..

Not to bad for two hours.

Left to do... Wrap gifts, Clean, finish client quilt, finish second client project which is almost done. Finish inviting guests to Christmas eve at my house.

Finish planning the meal,
Call daughter..We have to talk ...

I must remember to take the turkey out to thaw. It needs to brine after it thaws.
Cards... I have some cards to get out.
OH MY....Did I mention I am working 40 hours at the day job this week?
What was I thinking?

I have Tuesday to make some pecan brittle or something. LOL

If I can get myself organised enough to have all the ingredients I need.

That is the real challenge ya know !!

The Christmas eve at my house is usually

Deli sandwiches or BBQ brisket sandwiches and snacks.

We go to my parents Christmas day for dinner

so sandwiches at my house Christmas Eve was OK.

Until this year!

This year the kids want DINNER

We will be eating at lunch and having the leftovers for the evening meal.

With cake and ice cream for the Little Guy's second birthday.

So far we have decided on..

Ham

Turkey

Mac and Cheese

Corn

Cheese Cake

Pumpkin Cake

( maybe we might be having a Micky Mouse cake instead)

HUMM !!! Add talk to daughter in law to the list of things to do today. LOL

Hoping Daughter will make her stuffing.. It is awesome.

Hoping daughter in law will make her broccoli casserole also awesome.

Thinking I will ask mom to bring baked beans. They always go over good.

So far the guest list consists of

10 Adults

1 Two year old

and

Two Boston terriers one of which is basically blind from a accident.

The other is a jumper and a lick er...

Yes the dogs do count as a person...

They take up space and add to the excitement of the day.!

Yes They Do!!!

The only Holiday dinner they get is what ever the Little Guy feeds them :)

He does like to feed them.

After all every one feels sorry for the blind dog....

The jumper and lick er, well she is just hard to ignore. LOL

Her targets for the day will be Me.. my Mom and the Little Guy !

Until one of her parents notice.

Then she will quickly get the...I don't know what you are talking about look....

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO EVERY ONE

I am off to get started on that to do list..
Which is growing as I set here..

2011-12-09T21:06:00.001-06:00

This is what is on my machine right now...Isn't it lovely?

I have been very busy. Imagine that! Right?

I have been thinking...

Looking for clarity in what I really want for next year.

It is so hard to set goals with out clarity. I am struggling with that this year.

So I think my goal for next year is to find clarity.

I have a list of things I want to clarify,, OK so I have the beginnings of a list.

It is OK I will get there. I will....LOL

I am starting to feel more comfortable in my new space.

That is step one.

2011-12-05T07:34:00.001-06:00

Still no photos to share, but I have been busy. I did a little shopping...not fun. What has happened to common courtesy? Enough said. I have been working in the studio...but still can't show you. :)

Mostly my time is just filled with normal stuff.... nothing exciting ! I will be very busy the next few weeks...With the day job, quilting for clients, decorating the tree.

I had better get busy...

2011-12-01T05:00:00.000-06:00

I have been busy..No I do not have any photos to show.. I have been working on secrete projects.

Not my projects !!! I am quilting some client things that I know are gifts... So NO photos!!!!

What I can share with you is ..weeeeelllll..... Not terribly interesting. I have been doing a bit of cleaning.. Not fun at all .!!! I am trying a new to me recipe, not sure husband will like it, I guess we will soon see. LOL What else can I share? Humm....

Today I found myself kind of missing my old studio space. I miss seeing the wood ducks, and squirrels, and chipmunks. Sigh. I went and stood in the old space for a bit, just thinking. Which usually gets me into trouble. Then I realised that I don't really miss it all that much. It was cold in there and empty!!

So I headed to the new space and got busy. I worked on one of those secrete projects, finished hemming my curtains. They are not perfect but hey I am a quilter any ways LOL I cleaned the one bathroom that had not yet been done...boy was that fun ! But it is done. I cleaned some of the windows on the porch.
I ran out of energy before I got finished, but I got one layer of crud off them any way.

I still have some sewing machines and a old dresser to move into the new space. Not sure I really want to move the old dresser ( really just a small set of drawers ) but maybe I do ! I know I want the machines moved...It is supposed to rain this week end when I have help so I don't know when that will happen.

2011-11-30T05:38:00.001-06:00

This fire was only about 3 or 4 miles from my house... You could see the glow for miles.

No homes...just a large field. I have no idea how or why the fire was started.

We were driving home, saw the glow and had to check it out. I had to see if I could get a photo.

2011-11-29T05:33:00.002-06:00

My little bird house in the fall.

I think I now have a photo for every season.

2011-11-28T05:30:00.002-06:00

A great day for a nice bowl of soup !!!!!

2011-11-27T21:23:00.000-06:00

My objective was to get the space clean and usable.

Things will evolve as I use the space .

My husband thinks that this wall should have a design wall on it. I am not so sure !

Right now I am thinking I will use a curtain rod type of hanger to hang a quilt or two from, with possibly flannel behind that on the wall to use as a kind of design wall.

With the curtain rod and the right kind of hangers...the quilt on display could easily be moved to one side to use the design wall.

That would also mean that I would need to move my bench. which weighs more than 100 pounds..

I do not want to be moving it often.

The above photo is as you can see a little dark. I tried to show the machine embroidered shawl that I hung over the window curtain. There is a table under the window. My personal fabric is stored in this room right now. I still have a sewing machine or two to move and they will go in this room.

I am thinking that I might move the bench here....with the back to the kitchen area. One end would be against the wall where the Sun bonnet sue top is now. A small design wall would be next to the cabinets under the small cabinets.

The TV ( if I ever hook it up ) will be on the opposite wall.

I could set on the bench and watch the TV and do... I don't know what. More likely I will have a sewing machine behind the bench to piece while I have the TV on.

Honestly I am not sure how much I will really use a TV but, The antenna is already there... I have a black box and the TV, so I thought I might try it.

The space will change as I use it, and I am hoping to use this larger room for stitching with a friend or two from time to time.

The longarm room has not changed I like the way it is.

I still need to cover that design wall.

It is still a work in progress but I am settling in nicely.

2011-11-23T21:43:00.000-06:00

What did I actually get done today... Well I had a pot of vegetarian soup cooked by 7:30 AM

While I was doing that I went ahead and cleaned some veggies and boiled some eggs for later. I baked a Texas Cake for tomorrow.. Yum ! Did some cleaning. Yuck ! but it has to be done.

Packed a sandwich and some soup and headed to the new studio..... I finished putting away my stuff.. Where did I get all that stuff any way? LOL

I am having some minor problems with my foot ..I am supposed to rest it ( stay off it some ) which means actually setting down from time to time instead of standing for 7 to 9 hours straight.

I did a little quilting and a little froggin.... The studio does not feel like home just yet.. I guess I am still settling in. I think I just need to spend more time quilting.. LOL   to get comfortable with it all.

I did not get everything done that I had hoped today. I had one or two chores left that I would have liked to get done... I did not get the quilt off the machine and the next one loaded.. Almost but not quite done. I did get the next project laid out and pattern almost decided upon.
So I guess that is progress...

Dinner is over...kitchen is clean...I am setting with my feet up..  :)   Soon I will head off to bed.

Tomorrow is a new day..! The kids will be here..We will have a fantastic dinner with family and friends... I will stay off my feet a bit more...while I visit and stuff myself...   I will....

I did take some photos but I those will go in another post...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL !!!!!!!!!! We have so much to be Thankful for..

2011-11-23T05:09:00.001-06:00

Ok so I have finished my nine day stretch at the day job.. Soooo... Glad that is over. It also means that I am behind on just about everything. So what is on the agenda for today?

I have some house keeping that must be done. Far to mundane to mention.
I have quilts to finish and I have not touched my machine in nine days. So quilting is happening. I need to finish the quilt on the machine and load the next..

Their are phone calls to make.. And some baking.. I need to make a desert for desert at Grandma's for Thanksgiving. And a side dish for the dinner. Two separate functions.. LOL Dinner at one house and desert at another. The Family holiday shuffle has began. LOL I am sure we are not the only ones to play the Holiday shuffle.

I also need to get the backing for a client quilt, the one they sent is not going to work. I called to let them know and I am to get what I need and just add it to the bill. Third quilt on the list...so I have a tiny bit of time before I will be loading this one.

I think that is more than enough for one day. Now to see what I actually get done.

2011-11-17T19:28:00.000-06:00

I have been thinking about what I would like for 2012..

What would I like to do in 2012 ?

Where would I like to take my part time quilting business?

Then I start thinking about all the things I am thankful for.. Then I realise that no matter what I choose in 2012 There really is nothing I want....I have enough. !

That does not mean that I will stop doing things or making decisions...

some good ...some maybe not so good.

That does not mean that I will not continue to grow my quilting business or to grow as a person.

I will do those things.

Yes there are things that I want to accomplish. Some of which I still need to grow as a person to achieve.... kind of like taking steps to achieve the goal.

No matter what 2012 holds for me...no matter what I choose to do..

I have enough and I am thankful.

I am Thankful for far to much to mention.. here.

The photo of the little guy.. Doesn't he look Thankful to ? LOL

I needed a cute photo for this post.. and...

He is having fun with my old peddle car.

Santa brought me that car in a sack thrown over his back when I was about 3 years old maybe 4.

I played with this car...my kids...my sister and her kids have all played with this car.

And now the little guy enjoys it as well.

I will never forget the first time I saw this car..All shiny and new setting on a shelf in our local car dealer... Or when SANTA brought it to me !

I had begged my daddy for the shiny red car...

My first car...and it was a shinny red Mustang......AND Santa gave it to me...

What more could a girl ask for? LOL

2011-11-15T07:14:00.000-06:00

Back at the day job.. I took a good look at my schedule the other day... It is crazy. I worked a 8 day stretch at the day job....2 days off ....work 2 days...off 2 days...now I am in for a 9 day stretch.. Which brings me to Thanksgiving.. Wow....What are they thinking??? At least I have work I guess....

Not to mention helping process the deer that have been harvested...I probably wont get to help much with that this year.. I will do what I can tho.

I have client quilts..I like that part....LOL I bought fabric to make the little guy a new quilt... Grandma thinks he needs a new quilt ya know. Holiday shopping to do...the tree to trim..LOL

I have a full schedule for the rest of 2011.... Time to start thinking about 2012....

What will you be doing in 2012 ?

2011-11-13T19:18:00.001-06:00

I feel like I got quite a bit done. I Have had a ton on interruption's so any accomplishment at all is good.

I got the porch cleaned up... I remembered to take a photo or two.. I loaded the next quilt on the machine and got all the stitch in ditch done..( above photo ) I took a long hard look at my schedule for the next few weeks. Logged in the next 14 quilts.

I also put more of my things away.... emptied 3 totes of fabric... and found places for a bunch of other stuff. Hung a few wall hangings about the space.

The new space is taking some getting used to, but I am settling in.

One of my Aunts passed away. She had been ill for a really long time so in many it is a blessing.

Her son did not know what to do with her clothes so we are taking care of that for him.

Mom and I have gone through them ...some will be cut up for rags... most will be donated to a shelter. I am washing sorting and folding.

That is what I managed to get done.

Taking photos in the new space is going to take some practice...but I will find a way to get a decent photo.. I loaded a photo of the back of this little quilt..but it is missing.. Humm !!!

2011-11-12T08:19:00.000-06:00

This is not a good photo ! I will have to try to take more photos before Rebecca picks it up. Such a cute quilt. I guess I have to call her and let her know it is finished first..LOL

Today is opening day of deer season ( gun season ) for us. So the alarm went off at 3:30AM

No I could not go back to sleep so, I did some laundry, played on the computer, and some reading.

I really have a ton of things to do today but, I bet I will be wanting a nap about mid day.

I have phone calls to return, quilts to quilt, quilts to check in, cleaning to do.

The screened porch of the studio....stinks....like a cat litter box and cigarettes...

Nothing like being greeted with that smell first thing.

I have nothing against cats... I actually like cats. I just don't want to smell them.

I have friends and family that have inside cats...with litter boxes and their homes do not smell.

This apartment did and the porch does...So I have some cleaning to do. I found this really good disinfectant like what they use to clean kennels with. It does a great job.

The porch had some things stored there that made cleaning it before now difficult. The stuff is moved and the cleaning will happen. Today !!

I know I have more things to do....but my brain is a bit foggy today. I blame it on the early morning. I have to find my to do list and start marking things off..

Now where did I put that list....

2011-11-09T21:24:00.002-06:00

I spent most of today out of town....Soooo Not much time for tidying up. I decided to give a tour of the new digs any way.

This program loads photos differently from my last program, I can't seem to remember this small fact. So the photos are not in the order I intended but hey I remembered to take photos..can't remember every thing.

The above photo is of a coffee table my son made before he married. He selvaged a fallen cedar tree to make the table from. I have had it in storage for about four year, it never left my house after he brought it in to show us.

I love the unusual style of the table and it now has a home in my new digs.

I may be lacking a sense of style but I absolutely love these pieces and I don't care if they match.

So on with the tour.

This is in the room that will probably be mostly used as storage, at least for now. My dad made this little book shelf. I have had it forever and I don't remember how I came to have it, but I love it. Dad called it a bucket bench.

This is a view of the same room taken standing in the door next to the book shelf. This room has a tiny rest room off it, so it may mot always be a storage room. Time will tell I guess.

This is of course the longarm room.. The pink wall is foam for a design wall. It just doesn't have the flannel over it yet. It's 12 feet long by almost 7 feet tall. I have no idea why I want a design wall in the longarm room but I do. So It is there. This wall is perfect for large works in progress or two or three small projects.

Just a different view of the longarm room... Taken standing at the design wall.

These photos are backwards but it is different views of what was the kitchen living area.

OK so I told you I had not had time to tidy up.

My dad made the kitchen cabinets when he closed his cabinet business and turned it into the duplex.

Dad made the saddle rack quilt rack for me to display quilts, I have three of them so one will be in the new digs. The round table belonged to my Cosine Diane.... They bought a new set and wondered if I could use this table. I love this table..we have eaten a few Thanksgiving dinners off this table. Now it it will have a new life as a place for me to consult with clients and work on projects.

That really ugly chair... I love the simple lines. I love this chair. The wooden arms and legs are one piece and they are attached to the upholstered parts with screws. How fun is that?

Remove a couple of screws and it is in four pieces...easy! I see it being re done in a really cool fabric or even a quilt..Take one of those cheater type panels and quilt it up and use it as fabric to re do the seat and back. You could paint the wood or leave it with the worn look, either way I love this chair.

Now this I really love..

The side pieces and legs were selvaged from a church in Joplin after the tornado in May. They were just a pile of rubble..so to speak.

Some of the pews were not terribly damaged but most were just pieces.

A close family friend was allowed to selvage the pieces from the church...He gave them to dad to play with. Knowing dad would love working with them.

Dad took the pieces and made the seat and back to match as best he could. I think he did a great job..I love the look. The wood is beautiful.

Dad thought I would like one for my new space. I love it.

My pew seats two comfortably.

I will always have something beautiful made from the destruction of the tornado that touched so many lives.. That is a special gift.

My mom made the colorful throw rugs...you see here and there. I love those as well. They are made in part from knit clothing and add a touch of color and texture.

There you have it.... Not a stylish space...

The building once housed my dad's business.

.He re purposed it into the duplex..again re purposed into my space. Each unique piece has special meaning and will all come together to make the space complete.

2011-11-08T08:28:00.000-06:00

It is a nice fall day here.. Gentle rain, which we need badly. Makes for nice sleeping. I have been burning the candle at both ends lately.. So I am tired... last night I think I slept 10 hours. WOW and I might even get in a nap today. Probably won't have time for that nap but I can think about it.

My house is a mess...My studio is still a bit of a mess... I have quilts to quilt..so today I quilt.

I am going to try to take some photos today.. OK so I am off to see what I can get done today.

2011-10-31T08:17:00.000-05:00

Things are coming together. We had to make some minor adjustments to the table but that is all.

I managed to stash the totes behind closed doors. I have the main stuff done.....

The longarm is running smooth and the radio is plugged in. Priorities ya know. LOL I moved the TV but it is not hooked up. I have not had a TV in my studio for years but this little one was hiding in a closet so I figured Why not set it up. I still have probably one more car load of stuff to move but, not today. Today I am back at the day job. I am going to go put a few more things away before leaving for the day job.

2011-10-30T08:35:00.000-05:00

Moving Day !!!!! And we headed west. OK so it is only something like 500 to 600 feet west but it is still west.

This is just the roller bars off my machine. We took each component separately so it took several trips, but we had a 12 foot trailer and a 14 foot table. Good thing we did not have far to go.

What a mess and this is not everything. This is just some of the personal piecing and projects. Most of this got shoved into a room and I just shut the door and walked away.. LOL

I have client quilts to do so, The longarm room comes first.

It is coming together nicely. That is my Dad hanging a peg board, and Mom supervising.. Mom doesn't like her photo taken and Dad does not like the Internet....So...SSSSHHHHH..... Don't tell them. OK

I will soon be quilting away. I just have a few more things to move. Client stuff, batting, books, cutting mats, rulers, templates, and some odds and ends. Not to worry ! I kept all the client stuff and the things I need to quilt with separate from all the other stuff. I should be ready to fire up the machine today.

We started our move about 8AM and I quit for the day at about 5 or 6 PM. We took our time and things went smoothly. I am very very glad this part is over. I am very thankful to have great parents, husband and son who all worked hard and made it come together.

And to every one ( including the day job ) that has had to put up with me during all this.

THANK YOU !!!!!!!!!!

2011-10-27T14:36:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we hung the quilts for our show. The Colors of Stockton. My local quilt guild ( Calico Clippers ) put it on.. I think the we have around 100 members so we are not a huge group but not so small either. We have 160 to 165 quilts to see this year, and it is only our second quilt show.

The show actually starts tomorrow...the weather is supposed to be nice...So if you are in the area stop by and have a look. Show hours are 10 am to 6 pm Friday and Saturday.

A shot of the building the show is held in. It is a bit out of the way and the road in not the best but, we do live in a rural area. There will be signs to help you find your way ant the welcome mat will be out..

Stop by Bari's and see what she is up to.

2011-10-26T05:16:00.001-05:00

My recipe for chicken and noodles..Well I don't have one. I learned from my Mother and my Gran it is the kind of thing that you have to feel to get right.. But!!!! here is the recipe that my Mother in law gave me.

2 eggs beaten
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons milk

Flour to make a stiff dough.
Roll and let dry--cut

I almost never use the salt in mine...sometimes I use the baking powder sometimes not.. LOL I often use water instead of milk and I don't let mine dry..I use them right away usually. Both versions work My version are a little tougher...is that a word? I like my noodles just a bit chewy... not really tough just a bit firmer so I leave out the baking powder...most of the time.

For the chicken part.. I cook a whole chicken or sometimes just legs and thighs. Sometimes I buy a big bag of legs and thighs....I like to soak them overnight in salt water drain and rinse before cooking. When I do that I have lots of shredded chicken for several dishes.

Any way back to chicken and noodles.

I like to put my chicken in the crock pot...season it up with...salt pepper garlic, onion, celery, bay leaf, whatever you like. Cover with water plug it in and go to bed..

When I get up the next morning the house smells like chicken soup LOL and I cool it all down some then put in the fridg. until cold. When I get ready to make dinner I take the chicken off the bone and shred with my hands.. nothing fancy. I do my best to make sure there are no bones or skin left with the chicken. I use what I want of the broth and noodles for dinner and freeze the rest for later. As I am heating the broth and chicken I make the noodles as soon as the broth comes to a full boil I drop the noodles in...stir very gently or they break up and you have noodle crumbs.. simmer about 20 minuets or so.. I do add a soup base to my broth. My favorite brand is L.B. Jamison's soup base. Love the stuff..it comes in chicken, beef, and ham flavors. I don't measure how much I use. I just put some in probably 2 to 3 tablespoons.. I can tell by the color of the broth when it is the way I like it.

Sometimes instead of making noodles I just use the chicken and broth...add some veggies and make chicken soup.. I cook some rice and put some of it in the bowl and add the soup on top.. Yummy.

2011-10-25T07:41:00.001-05:00

If you read my blog then you know I have been cleaning and fixing up a new studio space.. I will soon be ready to start moving in. I decided to paint the floors which are concrete except for one that has a sub floor over the concrete floor.

The longarm room is ready except for curtains and cleaning the windows.
I do still need to paint the bath rooms and the floor in what may become the storage room ( I have no idea how I will use this room ) and the sub floor...I am saving the bathrooms for last because they are so small and Well I am not excited about painting them.. LOL The floor is the entry area ...and this paint has to dry 3 - 5 days. Now you can walk on it after 24 hours but nothing more for 5 days.... No dragging stuff over it in and out the door... So I will have to paint myself out the door ...and just walk away.. If it needs a second coat..and it probably will.. it is a 5 day wait between coats.

I choose to paint the floors for tow reasons...cost for one. It would cost several hundred dollars to put down tile or laminate flooring....I can change the floor later if I like except in the longarm room.

I really did not want carpet because of the threads...No matter how hard I try I have threads every where. and cleaning thread off carpet is kind of a pain...It has to be cut off chair rollers and the vacuum after each cleaning.. I hate it !!!!! So I am going to try the paint.

All the walls are painted Country white the floor is a blue grey..

I have a bunch of old magazines that belong to mother in law...I have had them in my storage for years..any way. I am thinking I will look for some adds and or articles from them to use as art work for the walls... I think the adds from the 30's is kind of cool.So I need to see what is in those barrel's

Yes I did say barrel's...I think three of them... so I should be able to find something I like.. The magazines are not worth very much Last time I checked I think they would only sell to a collector for 3-5 dollars each. I really don't think any one is going to mess with trying to find a collector to sell them SO I will probably cut them up....use what I want..Laminate the pages I want to hang or frame...HUMMM!!!! If I find enough cool stuff... I might just cover the walls in that tiny bath room instead of painting.. LOL..... OK so I really have no idea what I will find in those barrel's..

I know I have a complete collection ( well several years of ) Missouri Conservationist along with some Ladies magazines... I also have some older quilt magazines I might use..
.We will just have to see what I come up with..

Looks like I have my goals all set for the winter months... I have been thinking about what I want to do next year....and the next few years.. Now that I will have some space to work in and with... I have some ideas.. I want to hand dye some fabric's and create some project with them of course... with the added space I hope to carry a larger selection of batting's for my clients to choose from...and a limited supply of backing fabrics....I will also have space to conduct a class or two..if I want... or space to have some quilting buddies over to play...Or well I have some ideas.. but for now for the next few months of winter I will just get used to the space. First I have to get the longarm moved....that will be a story all on its own I am sure.. I am not looking forward to this part.

2011-10-24T05:03:00.001-05:00

Some of the quilts I have been working on.

Charlotte they will be headed your way. I will send you a email. I had so much fun working on them.

2011-10-22T20:48:00.000-05:00

Homemade chicken and noodles for dinner. I forgot to take a photo of the finished product....It was good. I have a second batch for the freezer for another day.

2011-10-19T19:54:00.000-05:00

The days are flying by. It has turned off cold today..Well OK not really cold like winter but a high of 50 today made me wonder where Fall went. Today was my first day off from the day job and I have two days off together, it will feel like a vacation. LOL This might be the first time all month that I have had two days off together. Busy month!

I have quilted some really cute small quilts but NO photos.. as you can see from the above photo.

The Little Guy was visiting and I lost the cable to transfer photos to the computer.. LOL

I have got to learn to pick that up off the coffee table before he finds it. LOL I found the TV remote in his toy box... but the cable was not with them. I did locate the thing, it was under something.. Any way. I will try to remember to take some photos of what I still have here before I put them in the mail.

Charlotte I have one of yours left to do and it is loaded on the machine now. I so love to work on your quilts..

Oh Yeah... The photo of the Little Guy.. His Auntie Amber gave him some little cars and he is playing with them.. Looks like he really likes them.

Stop on by Bari's and check out what she is up to.

2011-10-13T16:57:00.000-05:00

Well today was back to the day job..Sigh!!! I did not get to quilt last night due to storms but we sure need the rain so I guess it is OK. LOL So far today I did the day job thing... made a quick trip to the grocery store. Man that can be sticker shock, got home put everything away and paid a bill or two.. checked e-mail and now I am off to work on that quilt. I have a hour before I have to fix dinner tonight ...Taco salads. Yum! then back to finish the quilt.

The quilt show is in Stockton at the expo center...I forget the time for the show but I am thinking 10 am to 6 pm but that could be wrong. LOL I know what time I have to be there tho. LOL Oh it is the 28th and 29th. Some one asked... any way I must run....

2011-10-12T17:35:00.000-05:00

Update..... I did get one crib quilt quilted and the walls cleaned in the new space. Then dad started dragging out the paint and stuff. He had decided to paint the ceiling...just to see what would happen.

The ceiling had / has some sort of texture that was sprayed on ...reminds me of cottage cheese.
We knew what would happen...when you get this stuff wet it tends to fall off. LOL

Honestly the ceiling was so dirty that it had to be painted so we had decided to give it a shot. I had not intended to do it today tho. Oh well it is done, some did fall off and we just painted it again. It looks a little odd but it is clean. besides who is going to be looking at the ceiling any way. Right? While we had the paint open I painted the walls. So one room is almost painted. Except for the floor. I still have one door and some places that I will have to use a brush to paint. It would have only taken a hour or so to finish but I am tired...and my back hurts.. LOL

I think it is safe to say that God did not make me a painter or a sheet rock person... Some places are a little rough but I say it gives the room some personality..After all I am a professional machine quilter not a professional painter / sheet rock person.

I have managed to wrap it up for the day... got a shower called hubby asked him to stop at Subway and bring dinner home. I intended to go quilt a small quilt but the storm clouds are moving in and I hear thunder. We need the rain but I won't run the longarm during a storm. So I will just have to do that tomorrow..unless the storm blows over before I fall asleep.

2011-10-12T07:04:00.000-05:00

On my to do list for today... Quilt a cute baby quilt this morning. Then go clean as much as I can in the future studio. Then back to quilt a second small quilt in the afternoon. That is the plan any way.

Today was supposed to be guild day but, I am skipping out on it to play catch up. The meeting will be a kind of a pre show of the quilt show we are putting on the 28th and 29th. I already know what I need to do for the show and can confirm that over the phone. So I am using today to play catch up.

If I do not get the new space ready to move into by the end of this month..Then it will not happen until December or later. Moving the longarm is no small task. At the moment it is looking like a December move but then December is looking kind of booked up to.. So a later date might be more realistic. We will see. How much I can get accomplished today...

I am off and running....

2011-10-11T07:22:00.000-05:00

This is a photo after the wall was removed and the rough edges where the Sheetrock had to be cut away is finished off with trim. I am having some electrical outlets installed in the ceiling. Mostly all that is left to do is clean and paint. Lots of cleaning. No I forgot about filling the holes and the sanding. LOL

Future photos probably won't show a lot of change, because I am going to paint the walls and ceiling white and I plan on painting the floors grey.

This has been a very busy week for me. I am quilting client quilts but I have not taken photos yet. In fact I have not taken any photos of anything this week.

I have only had one day off from the day job this week and it was because I went to a meeting in Springfield Mo. I belong to a longarm group which meets four times a year. I had missed the last two meetings so I was not going to miss this one. LOL

It was a great meeting in a new meeting place which I loved..LOL I really hope we are able to continue to use this meeting space.

That's about it for me right now. Fall is very busy around here yet progress seems slow..

2011-10-07T05:35:00.001-05:00

The Little Guy wanted boots... He wanted them bad. LOL So here he is in his new boots.

2011-10-05T10:21:00.000-05:00

We needed a new roof so.. Our wonderful son in law arrived late Sunday. The shingles were delivered Monday an so it begins, Have I mentioned that we have a Wonderful son in law?

I am not getting much accomplished with all the noise and such...They are on the roof as I speak! I jump every time the air gun goes off and it goes off often LOL We will have a great roof when it is done. Probably by the end of today.

Ok This photo shows where the new studio space is in relation to my house. I took the photo standing in my front door. It looks farther than it really is I think. The rock house in the center is my parents. The buildings on the left is their garage and dad's hobby work shop. I can here him in the shop running ...probably the router making a piece of trim to go into the new space for me. Any way the duplex is the building on the right that you can't really see for the trees. This is what we call the back apartment and it is rented so I do not want to intrude on their privacy. The new studio space in the front duplex and is of course in front of this one in the photo.

Now this is where I wanted to put the longarm..Those kitchen cabinets would make for great storage. The problem was... I have a 14 foot table and this room is 18 feet long. Now it is do - able but not great. Also this part of the apartment was built in 1961 or 1962 as dad's original cabinet shop. When dad retired and turned it into a duplex he built a wooden sub floor over the concrete floor straight through both apartments. This creates a hollow sound when you walk in the next apartment. Not bad but you can hear each other walking about in the kitchen areas. The longarm is kind of loud so we were thinking it might be offensive to the renters in the back at times. The floor also has some minor problems that might make leveling the longarm more of a challenge and could cause vibration which I do not want.

So the wall between two bed rooms came out.. This floor is concrete and no problems with leveling the machine and the back apartment will probably not hear anything or very little of the machine. The walls are almost sound proof except for that sub floor that the kitchens share. This room will be 10 feet wide and I forget but something like 25 or 30 feet long. Plenty of room for a 14 foot table, and it has two closets to store supplies in. This space is four feet narrower but a little longer than what i currently have all my longarm and supplies in.

This is a view of the remaining bed room, smaller but still make a nice size room with a half bath. I am not sure how I will use this room or the kitchen area but I am sure I will find a use.

This is just a different view of the small room showing the closet. I believe the longarm room closets are the same size as this one. The floors are concrete and I plan on painting them with special concrete paint. I have thought about using this smaller room for piecing and such but husband thinks I should use the kitchen area for that. I am thinking that the smaller room would be better for piecing and the kitchen area would be better for displaying some of my work... Mom thinks I should put in a table and chairs so I can have lunch there and maybe I should fix the shower so that I could shower there sometime If I want.. No need for that Mom I can go home to shower... LOL It is not that far ya know!

This is a view of the closed in porch... after I fix it up I will put a small table and chair out there to have my lunch at weather permitting of course.. LOL

All of this fixing up cleaning and painting is going to take time. I will not be moving any time soon. My parents are helping with all this but I still work the day job....quilt for clients and this will have to come in between every thing else.

I am going to try to go quilt something.. I know that as soon as I try to do something..some one will need something... like a hammer dropped off the roof or break time and they like me to fix their drinks.... or my opinion will be needed some place. LOL Now don't get me wrong I don't mind any of these things. It does however make it a little difficuilt for me to get anything done.

How many wifes get a phone call from the roof....Honey!!! can you come hand me up a vent NOW we are ready for it..LOL I don't mind really.

2011-10-03T05:53:00.001-05:00

I love these plants.. We call them live forever because the original plant came from the old home place and have been shared with every one and moved from place to place ...house to house and we have never killed it. Yet.. I moved this one to this spot last fall and look how big it it..So big that the flower heads bend the plant over.

I know my grass needs cut....Just don't look, I just don't have time to care about cutting grass right now.

2011-10-02T09:43:00.002-05:00

Fall is here. I guess I am stocking up for winter but, I like a nice hearty breakfast on a nice cool morning. This was a bit more like brunch. No need for lunch after a breakfast like this.

Chicken cooked on the grill with a black bean and barley salad add a green salad and ice tea.. Yummy.

2011-10-01T21:40:00.000-05:00

This is what it looks like on the back side of our pond.

All over grown, several hollow trees. I took a walk back there to see if I could see how many hollow trees there are.... We have several Wood ducks using the area and they nest in hollow trees.

I didn't get very far..I kept running in to these cobwebs... they were Hugh. Probably four or five feet across. After I ran into and dug myself out of about three of them I turned back. I was thankful I found no spiders.. HUMMM How big would the spider be.. LOL

Not a great photo of some wood ducks on the pond. I had to take the photo through the window screen. The ducks are really not people friendly at all. LOL I have been able to count as many as 16 ducks on the pond at once. I love to here them hitting the water when they land. I enjoy watching them swim about..

2011-09-28T19:08:00.001-05:00

No photos to share right now but I am working. LOL I promise! It has been a busy week and I can hardly believe that it is Wednesday already. I have been quilting on client quilts..Charlotte if you are reading this I am working on yours now.

I have a new project... Imagine that right? I will be moving my studio. Now this move will not take place any time soon but unless something happens I will be making the move. I am currently in a 30 year old trailer house or part of it any way.. No matter what we do to it it will always be a old trailer house with issues. We have talked about building new but the cost and time and well we only talked about it, you know maybe next year kind of talk.

Recently I was made a offer that I could not pass up. I was offered a 1200 square foot building that had been a rental. Now the structure is in great shape but the inside has been tore up a fair bit... Like every door and wall had holes knocked in them and well I think they had cats... several cats... living inside. Some one patched some of the holes but they did a really bad job of it.

I had not planned on making any changes until this time next year but the offer might not be there next year. So we have began.

I thought about taking photos along the way but then..I was to embarrassed for the people that moved out... Now I am no house keeper but this is more than bad house keeping.

Any way that is what I have been doing... working the day job, quilting client quilts and checking out the future studio space.. Now the cleaning begins and the painting...and...... Well we will have to see what is next.

2011-09-23T19:33:00.000-05:00

That is odd. I scheduled the previous post...and some how it has doubled the post in one post.. That did not show up when I scheduled it. Odd.

2011-09-23T04:45:00.002-05:00

This what I did with that fabric mess.The challenge was to take a large flower print and cut a section from it border it and quilt it up. The quilting is supposed to be the focus not the piecing. I think I got the piecing part but we will have to see about the quilting part...
I am not to sure about this. We will see......

The hot air balloons.....well I found them and thought they needed to be in the clouds...found the cloud fabric hiding in a box, cut them out and pined them on. I have no idea where this is going either. At first I thought I might trapunto one or two of the balloons to make them kind of puffy. Now I am not so sure I like it at all, It could all end up back in the box.

husband saw it and said...There sure are a lot of clouds in that sky. I tend to agree.

I am not sure I even like it at all.

This is what I did with that fabric mess.. Still not finished. The idea of this challenge was to focus on the quilting not the piecing. Looks like I got that part right..the quilting could be a different story tho. We will see. We were supposed to use a large flower print piece a couple of borders around that the quilt it up. I am not sure how this is going to end.

Oh the hot air ballons...Well I found the fabric and thought they needed to be in the clouds.. Yep! found the cloud fabric hiding in a box. I have cut them out and pined the on, but I don't know. At first I thought I might trapunto one or two of the ballons to make then kind of puffy. To be honest I am not sure where I am going with this one either. I might just put it all back in the box. Ya never know.

Husband saw it and said.... sure is a lot of clouds in that sky. I tend to agree with that.

2011-09-22T04:29:00.002-05:00

What am I going to do with this mess? Well some of it will get turned into small projects...some will get tossed in a pile to be put away again. What kind of a project could possibly be made from this?

2011-09-21T04:01:00.002-05:00

I thought I would share some photos of a client quilt I recently finished. I think I showed a photo before quilting in a previous post. These show the quilting. I remembered to take some photos before I delivered it.

The binding is attached in this photo but not quite finished..I still needed to close off the binding and stitch the last few inches.

A close up of the top.. I love this quilt. The panto gave a nice texture to the top.

These are the next two client quilts.. The top on the left will have a panto on it but I think that the one on the right will get some simple custom. Those kind of peachy triangles are actually large prairie points of sorts. The point is tacked down but the sides are loose... Kind of cool.

Sorry about the clutter in the photo...I kind of need to clean up my space.

Some one asked me if I had a favorite quilt...Yes....The one I am working on at the time.. LOL

2011-09-20T05:43:00.002-05:00

I found these stashed away, and decided to clean them up season them because they are cast iron and need to be seasoned of course...I used them for making corn bread muffins in, I used them often when the kids were small..They loved eating fish shaped muffins. The fish pan is newer and was not used as much as the corn shaped pan, which is why the corn pan is so black. The fish pan will turn dark in time...If I use it enough. I probably won't use them a lot but I am glad to have found them again.

2011-09-19T13:18:00.000-05:00

It is a fantastic day today !!!!! I did sleep in this morning and I might even take a nap today.

So far today I took a short walk....it was such a nice morning. I fixed myself a hearty breakfast and I ate it setting at the table instead of standing over the kitchen sink. Tidy up the house a bit. How is it that two grown men can spend one day at home and it looks like ...Well like two grown men spent the day there. I came in yesterday afternoon loaded down with bags and carrying a pizza and there was no place to set anything of course as soon as I said PIZZA they came to give me a hand. LOL I knew they were spending the day watching football and was fairly sure they would not turn down pizza.

Son had made chili and brought out for lunch, he makes good chili. I am having the last of it for my lunch now. I cooked some rice and heated the chili so I guess I am having chili and rice. LOL

I have made a big dent in the mending pile, plus I found two more pair of pants to hem. I had to stop and change thread to finish.. What am I doing on the computer instead of finishng the mending? Well I am waiting for the dryer to shut off. I will need to hang up some shirts right away..so they don't wrinkle. There is no way I am going to do ironing and mending in the same day..No not happening!

I will hang up the shirts...finish my mending and then move on to some client related stuff.

Yesterday my son made me smile. I guess they never get to old to make you smile. I had gotten a piece of corn bread for a snack. Son saw it and said....I could have had corn bread with my chili... dad you didn't tell me there was corn bread. I told him it was a little dry any way..LOL he said that sure would have been good stirred up in his chili. Later I noticed son eating what looked like cake, I wondered where he got cake from but thought that his grandmother had sent the boys home with cake. She often does that.

Later I went to toss out the kind of dry corn bread and realised that son was not eating cake He was eating corn bread and he had iced it with half a tub of butter. LOL

2011-09-18T20:07:00.000-05:00

I have a confession to make.... I am giving a store bought blanket as a baby gift...GASP !!!

I think this may be a first for me, but in my defence it is a cute, very soft blanket. I am sure the baby won't mind.. Yes I am that short on time this week. I thought the shower was going to be next month but, I was wrong.. GASP !!! LOL so I ran out and bought something.. quick.

We are getting some much welcomed rain...nice sleeping weather LOL I am running on less than four hours sleep today. It has been one long day...more than a two cup of coffee kind of day. Still a OK day.

Tomorow I sleep in a bit. Sigh... a nice gentle rain...Perfect end to a long day.

2011-09-18T05:22:00.001-05:00

This is a boring post but, this is my pile of mending, four pair of pants to get hemmed, buttons to stitch back on. There is a sweat shirt in there that I wan to cut the cuffs off because they are just to tight to push up and I like to push my sleeves up some.. Oh and I found a skirt with half the hem out of it and, I know it has been like that for two years. Time to get this stuff under control.

I could not believe that I had so much that needed repaired but, It was all in my closet. I was looking for something that I could wear again.. the size thing..ya know. Looks like I got some new things but outgrew them before I ever got them hemmed...the good news is I can wear them again...so I still have something new even if I have owned it for awhile. That is assuming that I ever get them all repaired.

2011-09-17T05:25:00.001-05:00

This is a client quilt I am working on.. Hi Valerie... On and off my machine..well almost off. I still need to attach the binding.

I love the colors and the simple style. Just wonderful together, there is just something about the rich colors along with a simple style.

2011-09-16T05:41:00.001-05:00

Ok so I am not quite used to the new computer and some of the changes...I managed to load the photos backwards... Sigh... Well any way. I do believe it feels like fall. I got up to a nice fall like day. I started the day off by making corn bread for my breakfast... Nice warm corn bread dripping with butter...on a nice cool morning.. Wow that made a great start to my day. LOL

Photo below

As I left the house and headed to the studio.. I could hear the crows the crows are very noisy this time of year, I could hear the buzz of a chain saw, and smell the fresh cut wood.. The sound and smell of fall here. I could feel fall this morning to.. I started out in shorts and flip flops but only made it to the deck.. Far to cool for that this morning, made the quick trip back inside for long pants and shoes.

Yes it feels like fall. So much so that I decided that I wanted potato soup for lunch...Yum. While that was cooking I made myself a tuna salad sandwich to go with the soup. ( above photo )

AND I actually sat down and enjoyed my lunch. No TV, No paper work or computer...only lunch.

This was the temp in my studio at 1:00....still cool. I enjoyed having the windows all open even if it was a bit cool... Feels all aired out and fresh now.

Just a nice fall day.

2011-09-15T12:55:00.000-05:00

So I have got to get a handle on my time...You will see some of that in future posts. I have made a decision to make some changes, small changes but I think ( hope ) they will help me to feel less like a mad woman running about in a crazed daze.. LOL I have taken a hard look at my schedule and the things that need doing. I can not get it all accomplished this year, SO ! I will decide on what is important to me to do now ..and go from there.

One of the changes is going to be my computer time.. I will still be checking in daily but, my time will be shorter. It might take me a day longer to return mail...but it must be. With blogging I can create a few posts and schedule when they post... So I will be doing that. I am trying to set aside a hour or so each week just for that. I may still post some in real time but my plan is to mostly schedule post es. It will be a few days behind for the most part but I am fine with that for now.

My thinking is...I will be more productive with less multi tasking...When I am blogging that is all I am doing a that time...not watching TV...or cooking dinner..or whatever. I will be doing the same for other tasks. I am just kind of dividing tasks up and creating a little space between them. Instead of every thing running all together making me feel like a mess. ( so the speak ) Like when I have been so busy trying to get several things finished at once and husband calls and is on his way home from work..and I have no idea what is for dinner and I now have less than a hour ( usually twenty minuets) to figure it out. That kind of chaos makes me crazy.

We will see how it actually works out but, I do think this change in thinking will help create productivity.

2011-09-14T05:58:00.001-05:00

This week has been kind of a blur for me...I am kind of wondering where the week went. So what did I do? I worked on a client quilt. I looked at my schedule, trying to find lager blocks of time to work on tasks, so far that is not working out as well as I had hoped. I will just have to be happy with the smaller blocks of time for now. The menu planning has become sort of a list, so I guess that is something..sort of.

My camera batteries died and I forgot to pick up new ones... I usually have a spare set but not this time... or if I do I can't find them. The above photo....Daughter in law took. I just love it. He is quite the little guy....

2011-09-11T03:00:00.000-05:00

A little of what I have been up to... I love this baby quilt I quilted up for Rebecca.. I love it. I might even try to make one, some time soon.

2011-09-10T21:18:00.000-05:00

I am having problems loading photos....Sigh !!!!!!

2011-09-09T22:17:00.001-05:00

I finely got a photo to load....Getting adjusted to new things ( computer ) has a challenge or two.

Sometimes some one will ask me...What difference does batting make and what difference does it make if the fabric is washed or not. This photo demonstrates the difference or at least some of the differences. Both place mats were made using the same unwashed fabric and batting. The one on the right has been washed once...the one on the right has not been washed at all. I believe the batting used was Hobbs 80/20. The one on the right that was washed shrank a good inch. Now for a place mat that is no big deal, but... think about a quilt...........

Lets say you make a top with washed fabrics..that fabric has already shrank. You use a cotton or cotton blend batting, that is going to shrink 3 to 5 % and a unwashed backing... That backing is also going to shrink. So if you wash this quilt that you spent hours creating and a tidy sum of money on... It could do some funny things. The top fabric is already shrank and the batting and backing has not. I don't know...I am just saying...It could have a not so great effect...It might be just fine but personally I don't know if I would risk it myself.

I don't always wash all my fabrics...but I do not mix my fabrics in my quilts either.. ( not on purpose any way ) The top fabrics and the backing fabrics are either all washed or all not washed.

I know it is a pain to wash that 13 yards of backing for that giant quilt but, I will do it if the top fabrics have been washed. The way I see it is... I have spent many hours ( 40 hours often more) cutting pressing and piecing the top. I have spent good money ( if you are a quilter you know the cost ) on the fabrics. I like the quilt or I would not have spent the time and money to create it in the first place. So I want to have the least surprises as possible with the final result. Just my way of thinking.

Take another look at the photo...see how the one on the right is kind of crinkled a bit, and the one on the left is not...it is nice and new looking. If you like the crinkled look...learn what it takes to create that look and if you like the UN crinkled look, learn what it takes to get that look.

If you use a machine quilter to help you finish your quilts...Talk to them about it. If you like a certain look they might be able to make suggestions on how to achieve the look. I am just saying there are options if you want them.

2011-09-07T06:39:00.002-05:00

It is Wensday again allready.. I am enjoying the cooler weather a lot, maybe a little to much LOL I am not getting as much done as I would like but I am certianly enjoying...taking walks and coffee on the deck.

I am getting some house cleaning done. Most people spring clean I fall clean. LOL OK so I do a little in the spring and in the fall. We almost have one storage room empty...Yes we have been getting rid of useless stuff. We need to replace the floor in this area of the building so everything had to go. LOL That meant that I had to move everything just about in my studio, to make room for some stuff. LOL I guess that means that I am just shuffling stuff not getting rid of stuff.

I am still quilting client quilts so not a lot of photos. I loaded the camera program on the new computer, but have not even tried to use it yet. LOL I get a error message each time I boot up the computer so I don't know? I will have to find some time to check it out soon.

I am trying to get my time organised a bit better. Trying to find larger blocks of time to do certain tasks. I am off for now...much to do. LOL

2011-09-06T07:10:00.003-05:00

WOW It has turned cool and I like it. LOL I am going to enjoy Fall... the shortest season of the year, if you ask me.

OK so we almost have everything I need loaded on the new computer...almost. This time when the computer died we only lost some photos...I am getting better at backing up. We could still retrieve information off the old computer if we wanted to pay the price...but I don't think we want to, not for a few photos and a saved web site or two, not when I can retrieve most of the stuff myself with a little time.. OK so more than a little time. LOL For now I have other things I must do... Like.....Enjoy this weather.... Quilt, I have quilts to get finished, I have to hem some pants.. Yes I am going to resort to some non quilting stitching. When you are 5'2 you learn to hem or you find some one else to do it for you LOL Petite clothing can sometimes hard to find in something I would wear.. ; ) I have some family things going on to keep me busy.. Did I mention I plan on enjoying this lovely weather....

I am off to get some quilting done, or at least try to...I keep finding myself standing outside just enjoying the moment so to speak, some people call that day dreaming...

2011-09-03T19:56:00.002-05:00

Well I am back... My computer died... It has been given a proper burial. SIGH.....
I won't bore you with the details.. I have a new computer and will be back to posting soon.

2011-08-29T04:27:00.001-05:00

I love the colors....don't you?

2011-08-28T09:18:00.004-05:00

You know my boss sent me a text the other day. He knew I was not at work, He wanted me to call work and get some numbers for him.... I did not have my phone on me and did not get the text for some time. I am kind of wondering how he had time to text me on my off time...but did not have time to call for the numbers himself? Hummm....... I wonder if I could call him on his day off and ask him something stupid? I am guessing..... NO !!!! Then again I guess it is possible that he had not service or something....could only text?

My phone does not rule my day....Heck sometimes I even turn it off...LOL I'm just saying......

2011-08-26T08:22:00.000-05:00

I have been kind of looking for some simple meals.. My mom has this old looking cook book and some how it was left at my house...Any way I went through it and found a few recipes to try. This one is a one pot meal. I think the recipe called it a Bachelor Supper LOL or something like that. I just love these old cook books.. The recipe called for... 2 pounds of ground beef, 3 carrots sliced, 3 potatoes pealed and sliced, frozen peas and Lima beans 1 1/2 cup each and salt and pepper to taste. Cook the ground beef add 1 cup water, layer carrots on top of beef, layer sliced potatoes on carrots, and layer peas and beans on top ( I used black beans instead of Lima beans ) Simmer 45 min and serve.

It was OK...It was quick, simple and could be made ahead of time and reheated. You could probably cook the ground beef and layer it all in the crock pot and finish it that way..Probably. I will make it again but with a few changes. LOL Like using beef broth instead of water. I think I would cut back a little on the meat and increase the veggies and seasonings. I think I would add onion, garlic, celery, maybe add some other root vegetables if I had them on hand. Husband thought it would be nice with some brown gravy in it..LOL As you can see I stirred it all up after cooking and before husband saw it.. LOL I knew he would just move that top layer aside and dig into the meat and potato part...and wish he had gravy to cover it in. LOL

This cook book looks old. I don't remember it as a kid at home and mom can't remember where it came from or how long she has had it but it has some good stuff in it. LOL It is a collection of recipes from a Mennonite Community, I love these cook books. It seems like they always have recipes using basic supplies... stuff from the pantry, nothing fancy just good food. LOL

2011-08-25T08:06:00.000-05:00

I made this peanut butter sheet cake and it is YUMMY... I did not have a sheet pan so I used this disposiable pan in almost the correct size... Well worth makeing again. I found the recipe here Dakota City Quilter

2011-08-25T06:44:00.004-05:00

Wow...It is such a beautiful morning, nice and cool.

I took my coffee out to the deck but the dogs were so excited and jumping about that I gave that up for now. LOL They are sure ready for a day of whatever it is that dogs do.

I am feeling better this morning not top notch but better. Yesterday I spent a large part of the day curled up on the couch under a blanket. I suspect that the neighbors field of rag weed is the problem.

OK so on the quilting front.... LOL I have not been taking photos of these client quilts. Sometimes a client just says no... or to be more accurate... I only show my quilts after the binding is finished...the quilt is not finished until the binding is complete. I am not doing the binding...so no photos.

I love machine quilting for others... I get to help them finish their quilt and work on quilts that I would never have pieced myself. I love seeing the patterns and different color choices, each quilt has a story and many times I get to hear the stories and become a part of that story. Such fun...

So I am wondering...How do you choose a machine quilter? Do you choose the quilter because of their quilting style? or is it the pricing? I know that cost is a factor but is it THE deciding factor? Just wondering how you choose a machine quilter.

Recently a fellow machine quilter and I were having a conversation. I quilt part time and she quilts full time, because I choose to quilt part time I take in fewer quilts than she does working full time. She asked me...What do you do just tell them NO. LOL and yes sometimes I do say NO but most of the time I just tell them how long it will be before I can quilt their quilt and sometimes they wait and sometimes they take their quilt to some one else. It is a choose. I understand that, after all I choose to quilt part time instead of full time.

Which brings me to my next random thought.. LOL

I have been asked.. Why don't you just quilt full time? Well I enjoy the security of a regular pay check. ; ) I know I could probably make almost as much money quilting full time as I do at the day job but, not with out the trade off of the security of that pay check. Then there is the burn out factor... I love machine quilting but I am afraid that if I HAD to quilt just to make a pay check... well I think I would loose some of the joy in quilting. I could be wrong there.. I have only quilted part time but... I do get quilters block once in a while as it is. LOL

Still I sometimes wonder... I am thinking about moving to more full time quilting.. I am just not quite ready to let go of the security of knowing that on pay day the day job will made a deposit into the bank account.

I have a ton of random thoughts running about in my head...but enough thinking for now... Time for some breakfast... Would love breakfast on the deck, that would mean facing the field of rag weed and probably the dogs... Hummm...

2011-08-24T07:37:00.002-05:00

This is the garden now.. Kind of sad. LOL The sunflowers are gone and I cut the stalks down , they are tossed out for the birds to enjoy. I removed most of the pepper plants...they were finished and the zucchini is gone. I think I only got two zucchini off the dang thing. LOL This has not been a great year for gardens but, I did enjoy it and I am thinking of doing it again next year. I really do not want to have to fence the entire thing again next year. The grass in the fence really bothers me. LOL I can't remove the fence because I still have winter squash growing in the fence.

On the quilting front...I still have no photos to share...I am still working on client quilts that I can not share. :) I have been just a little under the weather so no progress on personal projects. Allergies are kicking my butt....I have spent what free time I have had sleeping it off. LOL I actually fell asleep around 7:30 the other night...on the couch. I have had zero energy this week, but this will pass and I will be feeling better soon... I have a meeting with a client today so I have to get it together.. LOL

2011-08-18T17:06:00.006-05:00

The brine is simple but it does add a step to the process, sometimes I just skip this step.

I used one quart of water, one cup of kosher salt, some molasses, garlic and onion powder a bay leaf and a bottle Or can of beer. I prefer a dark beer for this but what ever you like would be fine. If you don't want to use beer at all no big deal just use something else...The main thing is to make sure the meat is covered in the liquid. For a large cut of meat like the chicken I leave it over night at least in the fridge. The longer you brine the more flavor the meat will absorb.

After the over night soak in the brine, I added a rub both inside and outside. I can't really tell you what is in the rub because husband made this one.. It probably had a little bit of every thing in the spice cabinet. There are some great spice mixes in the stores, find one you like or mix up something from the spice cabinet.

We are SMOKIN!!!!!!!!!!!

About five hours later I have a tasty, mouth watering, tender chicken for dinner. Yummy!!!!

Dinner tonight Smoked chicken, steamed broccoli, baked beans, and possible a green salad.

The bones from the chicken goes into the crock pot covered with water and will make a nice broth to be used later.

I usually smoke more than one chicken at a time.. My little smoker will actually hold quite a bit. A time saver would be to fill it up and freeze the extra for other meals.

2011-08-17T08:45:00.006-05:00

I still do not have a lot that I can report on.. LOL

It feels like I am so busy yet I have so little to show. I am just working on things that I can not share. Sigh!

I have been doing some family things..This photo was taken a couple of weeks ago at Dad's 80TH B-Day party. The girls really want to play with the little guy but, He is not so sure. The little guy has only boys to play with. He made friends with the boys that day, played ball and hung out with the guys but, when the girls tried to join in he did not know what to think at all.

He is doing all kinds of really cute things that I of course do not get photos of.. LOL His new word is purple. And much to his parents dismay..he has discovered that spitting water out of his mouth much like a Whale is a lot of fun... during dinner of course. LOL

Remember the 1.50 inch blocks from last week? This is them all set together, you will notice I changed the setting. I just liked this better. Now it is back in a box waiting, I have not decided what to do with it. Do I just add it to the odd blocks? or finish it into a doll blanket? or..I don't know, for now I am finished with it.

This pile it the 1.50 inch samples I found in the same tub. I have been stitching them in two's while I am waiting... Waiting for the water to boil...waiting for.. Well you know the few minuets in between mundane household tasks. It doesn't look like much but it adds up. I had saved these to make a kind of a charm quilt so that is what I am doing. It won't be a large quilt but I don't mind, they will be out of the tub and off my list.

I have also been doing a little Menu planning just making notes in my calender nothing fancy.

I have a chicken brining for the smoker tomorrow...so that is a start. LOL We love smoked chicken but it takes a little planning to make it happen. ; )

One day to thaw....One day to brine....one day to smoke...

2011-08-10T06:43:00.000-05:00

It has cooled down again but, when it was so hot...far to hot and I could not get my studio cool enough to work there. I still needed to play with something so I grabbed some bindings and a box of odd stuff. I really did not want to do bindings soooo... I dug in the box and found these. All of the squares are 1.50 inches square. Some needed trimmed a little so I trimmed them.

There are 100 1.50 inch squares waiting to be sitiched together in this photo. What will I do with the other squares? I don't know..probably just stitch them together in a charm quilt style. I don't think that there are two fabrics alike, they were fabric samples. For now they are all back in the box to be worked on again some day..

2011-08-08T20:16:00.002-05:00

This is what is on my machine this week... Such a fun quilt to work on, it will be custom. I just about have details worked out. I think LOL

Ok so last week I was complaining about the heat. Well this week it is much better, so far. I think the temp was only 90 for a high today but the rain s cooled things down a bunch.. I think it is 72 or so right now. Last Thursday it rained almost 2 inches and then today almost 3 inches.. I like today much better.

2011-08-03T06:44:00.002-05:00

I went to the Sew Day.. It was a ton of fun. I believe that there were 15 to 20 gals there stitching away to help make quilts for various charities. I am not sure which quilts are for which charities but all the quilts are just lovely.

I snapped a few photos when every one went to get lunch.

This one looks like it would be great for a Quilts for Valor but I really do not know what it is intended for. I do love it tho.

The next two are from blocks that guild members have pieced over time for one project or another. The guild has a tote of blocks most sets just need a block or two pieced to match to have enough to set a top together..all are scrappy.

All lovely Fall colors in this one.

This one.. is simple yet lovely. The photo does not show the colors at all but it is pastel.

Again the colors in the photo are not good.... but the top is really cute. Some one is going to love this one.

This does not look like much right now but...these strips are I believe cut 1.50 inches. These strips were stitched together in order and were waiting to be segmented and stitched again to form the block.

I did not get photos of all the projects there was a lot of cutting, stitching and pressing a great flurry of activity.

Several tops were completed in record time, We had the building about six hours..a hour for lunch and some time for set up and clean up. Yes a lot was accomplished and a little fun as well.

I have also worked a little on bindings..No photos tho.. You have already seen the tops at one time or another, and I have only worked a little on them. LOL

Next week I have two more bindings I want stitched onto the quilts...Well that is all I can share right now. I will get out of this not sharing mode soon I promise. LOL

Until then stop by Bari's to see if any one else is sharing their accountability..

I have things to do early in the day before it gets hot...if that is even possible. Either way I probably won't check in until the afternoon. I have found that if I turn the computer on before I get my stuff done...that well.... I don't get my stuff done or only a little done. LOL

Kind of like when mom used to say... No TV until your chores are done. LOL

2011-08-02T17:02:00.002-05:00

Just when I thought it could not get any hotter.. I spoke with a gentleman today around 2PM and he told me that the temperature thingie in his truck said that the outside temperature was 110 and he said that it was accurate....

Then just now (5PM ) I checked our digital thermometer at home... it is reading 115. WOW.. I do realise that these are not official temps and are probably not accurate due to heat radiating off the house or something. BUT... it is located in the shade and it is supposed to measure air temperature and it is HOT.. no matter how you look at it.

These temps are dangerous so please take precautions to stay safe in this heat... Don't forget the animals that live outside... If you don't see a neighbor or friend like you normally might.... give them a call to make sure they are OK.. or stop by with a nice cold pitcher of lemonade and spend a hour with a friend.

2011-07-31T18:15:00.002-05:00

This is what my yard looks like right now... Sigh! The month of July with such hot dry weather is taking a tole on things. I know that some places are even worse off than we are here and I am thankful for what we have.. really I am, but some rain would really be nice. We only water the tomatoes and the flowers I planted this spring. With only well water we are kind of careful with our water use. If the water tables drop to low we would have no water. I do not want to go there.

The tomatoes get watered twice a week for about a hour and a half each time and the flowers only get about twenty minuets a week. I may stop watering the tomatoes soon.

July has been ...well....HOT! every one knows that right? The thermometer at our house has been over 100 nearly every day. It is 6:30 PM right now and it reads 108!!! The last rain was 1.50 inches on July 2ND. I am thinking that if I want to continue to garden in the coming years..I might want to think about a rain barrel or two.

2011-07-31T15:07:00.002-05:00

Well as you can see I could not eat all the tomatoes no matter how hard I tried.. I made three quarts of sauce and I have some juice cooking off as we speak.

How I do this is... I just wash and remove the green core and any places that might be bad. Cut the tomatoes in big chunks leaving the skin on... in the crock pot until it is all cooked. Then I take my immersion blender ( stick blinder ) and juice it all right in the crock pot. The stick blinder kind of adds some air to the juice so I let it cook again until I think all the air is gone and it is as thick as I want. I ladle it into jars and do a hot bath method I think it is called.

One crock pot full of tomatoes only makes three quarts but hey I don't mind.

2011-07-27T03:29:00.002-05:00

I have very little that I can show this week or even talk about for that matter..

So this report is boring. LOL

It is HOT here... really hot and dry.

The garden has kind of stopped growing, the tomatoes are ripening but they are not a large as they would have been. The bowl in front is my lunch. I love tomatoes. Husband keeps saying... We might get enough to make sauce with..but I am doing my best to eat them all up. Yum!!!!

I did take a little time out and made a quick shopping trip. I hate shopping but I had to do it. Sigh!! I have lost enough weight to drop one full size. Now that is a good thing.

The Little Guy and I were taking a walk and I was the one loosen my britches....Well I knew it was time to shop even if I did not really want to. Sigh!!!! I know you all feel sorry for me...

I know you do. ............Sometimes ya just have to suck it up.

I have taken in some things but I am a quilter now and well you know how it is..Right? That ranks right up there with darning socks. Not the way I like to spend my time.. LOL

I plan on loosing a few more pounds so I simply don't want a new wardrobe just yet.
No I am not on a DIET I have simply made some small changes in my lifestyle.

Next weeks goals...Well. I just don't know. I am not doing a lot that I can post about.. I did not do any bindings so that will stay on the list. I have a sew day with friends... I guess that is it.. I know it looks like a wimpy week for me. LOL

Stop by bari's and check every one out... you might even decide to join in.

2011-07-24T05:21:00.002-05:00

I found this resting on a tree the other day... Husband says that this is what the green worms that get on tomato plants ( we call them tomato worms ) turn into. Not as pretty as a butterfly.

At 4 AM this morning it was already 90 in the studio.. I know I am awake far to early this day.. sigh. I did not want to turn on the air to play for a hour or so... So here I am.. I have plenty of things I could do, but nothing I want to do right now. LOL Do you have days like that? Humm!!!

I should probably just go back to bed and try to sleep..

2011-07-21T14:15:00.002-05:00

The sunflowers are so heavy with seeds, they can't stand up right any more. Every thing is wilting in the heat. The thermometer has 106 right now. Far to hot to do much of anything.

I was looking in a storage tub for some odd blocks and stuff I knew I had. I want to use them in some baby quilts for charity. I can use them to practice on then donate them. A win Win deal.

So I found some things to use up.. I hope LOL and I cut some binding, practiced on the longarm a bit but decided to move the practice to paper. So I found my roll of paper cut several pieces and headed back to the house where I can put a bit of heat on a pulled muscle and practice and play all I like.

I decided due to the heat that I would move my piecing machine from the studio to the kitchen table. Gathered up the stuff from the tub and bindings a few supplies and headed to the kitchen.

When I am ready to practice on the longarm again I will turn on the air and have fun practicing but for today I will practice on paper under the air in the house and I now have some projects to play with in between fixing dinner or when ever I have a small bit of time.

What do you do when it is 106 degrees and you really don't feel like doing anything?

2011-07-20T19:23:00.002-05:00

I have been busy just not with quilting. Well except for practicing some machine quilting. This morning I met with a client, then spent some time this afternoon with some other ladies piecing tops for charity. I forgot to take my camera so no photos. Two tops were finished tho.

I also got to stay with the little guy some.. while his parents were out LOL I had so much fun playing with him. Grand children really are grand.

You might be wondering about the photo? Well I was kind of thinking....more like wishing for some cooler weather. Maybe not this cool but today we had 104 on the thermometer.... I am thinking about something ...Well something in between freezing half to death and burning up. I kind of feel like I am melting... kind of like the wicked witch of the west did. LOL

My next week will be full on non quilting things.. The fair will be in town and I will be working most of the time...We will be very busy I am sure. We have a day scheduled for working on more charity quilts. I think I will just continue to work on client quilts and practicing.

Stop by Bari's to see what she is up to...you might even want to join in the fun.

2011-07-13T03:12:00.000-05:00

This is my applique block.. I find it kind of ugly! LOL I am not sure what I was thinking when I choose these fabrics but, it is almost finished. I just need to stitch the vase down and that will be done by the time this posts. I really thought I liked this until I saw this photo.

This is what I had on my machine this morning, some practice fabric going on next. Then on to the next quilt.

This is my row for my row quilt project. I am still not sure how this works but I have my row finished.

For next weeks goals...Well I am going to be super busy. I think I will just focus on client quilts.
I know that seems a little wimpy but some weeks are just like that. If I have time for any thing else I can always do a binding!

Go on over to Bari's You can check out what others are up to and who knows you might be inspired to try something new.

2011-07-07T07:44:00.000-05:00

The garden is growing OK, The heat and lack of rain has been kind of hard. I have watered but it is just not the same as a good Ole rain. We have had several peppers rot on the vine, and a tomato or two. Sigh. It is just sad to think that you have a nice ripe tomato ready to pick, only to find that it is rotten on the end. We have also eaten a pepper or two and every thing is loaded with veggies soon to be ready. I hope.

2011-07-06T05:27:00.002-05:00

My report is still kind of small. Sigh. I did make a little progress on the quilt I wanted to get set together. It is half done. The other half is still waiting for blocks to be set into rows. My applique block looks about the same. I do have another leaf pinned on and ready and will probably stitch that down tonight. I am writing this a day early because...Well I will be getting up at 2:30 AM for the day job tomorrow and well I probably will be to tired to post that early. Then when I get home I will just start to do something and forget to post at all. LOL

Any way I did not take a photo of the applique block.. I will will remember to post a photo when it is finished..When ever that is. LOL

I also worked on my row by row project. I guess I did not take a photo of it either cause..I don't find one. I still have to stitch the edges, I just did a fusible applique and will machine stitch this one. It is due next Wednesday. I think? I will take a photo for next time.

The half finished top.

Just some photos of a baby quilt I finished yesterday. Way to cute for words. Thank you Rebecca and Valerie. Valerie I so hope you don't have to wait much longer to hold this child in your arms.

For next week... I will continue to work on the applique block, I would like to have it finished but we will see. I will finish the row by row because it is due and I do not want to make some one else late with their row. I will continue to work on client quilts... and I have some practicing to do. I have a client quilt coming up that I must practice for first, just a bit. Oh and I will take photos and not loose them before I post. LOL

OK so every one go on over to Bari's You have just got to see what every one else is up to.

2011-07-05T18:34:00.004-05:00

Forth of July I hope that every one had a safe fun forth celebration however you choose to spent it. We went to a fireworks display..the kids were there and a few other families.

I was playing with my inexpensive camera.. I got some OK photos and some strange photos but, I enjoyed the show so much. No photos of grandson...he would not stay still long enough. LOL

This one reminds me of space creatures or something. It really is part of the fireworks show, I promise.

2011-06-29T09:25:00.002-05:00

Well my report is a Little better this week but still slim. A little progress on the applique block.

This is the quilt I have had on my wall waiting to be set together. You can see that some of the blocks have fallen off. I did pick them up off the floor and they are in a nice little stack waiting for me. My next client quilt is waiting for a new back.. I could just load the next quilt but I will have the back tomorrow. So This morning while was kind of cool I did some stitching for me.

Just a little. I may go back and stitch a bit more until it gets to hot. When it gets to hot ( if it is not already to hot ) I will be in the air at the house.. I can find something to do. I need to clean the oven. Heck there is plenty of cleaning I could do. I might even take a nap ! I hardly ever take a nap. I will probably watch a movie and work on my applique block, I might even get in a little reading time. I have plenty to do.

This is really a terrible photo but, a really nice quilt. I quilted it up yesterday. Thank you Betty for allowing me to work on your lovely top.

A finished photo of the back.

Next week is kind of more of the same. LOL I bet you are tired of hearing that from me. Right?

Well I am just going to keep plugging along on these projects. Slowly but surly. Right?

I do have to start my row by row project. My first row is due the 13TH . I am thinking my theme will be fall... I have some fabrics in mind and maybe a pattern. So I kind of have a start.

Can I make taking a nap a goal? LOL Hummm doesn't sound like a productive goal but I sure would like to.

To see what others are up to go check out Bair's

2011-06-22T06:00:00.001-05:00

Well my accountability report is slim...on account of I have far to much going on at the moment. Last week I even forgot to post my report.. I remembered Friday, not sure where the weeks are going but they are going fast. I am still working on client quilts but no photos to share there this time.

This is a photo of my applique block I wanted to finish this month. I am not sure I am going to get it done, I may have to put it on hold to work on my row by row project. We will see tho, I still have a few days left to work on it. Nothing done to the quilt I wanted to have set together, It will not happen this month and might not happen next month.Time will tell.

My garden is growing nicely, This is a photo of a leaf from the smallest sunflower. I have been kind of studying leaf shapes lately so I have a photo of this one. We always plant giant sunflowers on the west side of our garden, to give the garden just a bit of shade in the hot afternoon.

If you look close you can see a nice green tomato. I have at least 30 of them on my plants, this one is larger than the top of a coffee mug. I can't wait until they start to turn red. Yum!!

My garden photos are not terribly pretty to look at, we mulch with compost straw, leaves and grass clippings. For the grass clippings I just rake the yard after it is cut. Husband just kind of rows it up for me. I can just rake it up and use it easily. I am so happy with my little garden. I have lots of green tomatoes, all the peppers have little peppers on them. I could probably pick jalapenos now. The zucchini is blooming. I am happy.

I know the tomatoes are planted far to close together. I wanted them close but I think next time I will give them a bit more room. LOL This is like one mass of plants, it is going to be a little harder to pick when the time comes. LOL I bet I can do it tho. I like to plant closely to get more in a small space, once it is planted we never use a tiller or anything like that. Only a hoe and hand pulling those weeds. That sounds like it takes a lot of time but it really does not, only about fifteen to twenty minuets twice a week until I get the mulch down then almost no weeding at all. Just harvesting the crop. I hope.

To see how every one else is doing being accountable stop by Bari's. Go ahead check it out , you never know you might just be inspired.

2011-06-16T17:39:00.006-05:00

A family trip to the Zoo.. Our daughter came in just for the zoo trip even tho her husband could not be with us... We missed him and he missed a lot of smiles and fun.. We spent the day at Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield Mo. Such fun !

Our son, wife and the little guy as we are leaving the zoo.

OK so this photo is not great, but... dad and son have just about the same expression.

As we were checking out the gift shop. They had a basket of stuffed animals. The little guy kept taking out a animal, hugging it and putting it back... getting another , hug it and putting it back... until he found just the right one. LOL

The little guy is not sure what this is...but Mom said he could climb on it so he did . LOL

What is that in there?

YYYEEEEAAAAA!!!! Daddy helped me feed the Swans.

And the Giraffe... I really like the Giraffe!

A good day was had by all !!!!!