Pity Party

Who wants to party the day after Christmas?  I hated my birthday as a kid because my family would lump my celebration and presents all together.  "This is your birthday and Christmas present".  As a kid, I hated it!  Everyone else got 2 separate celebrations.  As the years passed and I had my own family my husband did a great job planning a separate celebration.  As the girls got older and moved out into the world they all came home for Christmas and I would have them with me on my birthday.  But now, jobs and distance prohibit them from coming home.  Bryn and Colleen made it home for Christmas but Co had to go back to Grand Rapids at 6:30 this morning to be at work by 10:00.  Joe had a busy day at work and was tired tonight.  Bryn was getting together with friends, many who were going back to their new homes tomorrow.  I'll admit,  I'm really sad and feel cheated again.  Joe went to bed at 9:00- no card, no present and not even a cake!  I felt like I was coming out of my depression but this is really crappy and I'm afraid this will set me back!  Ally and Katie didn't even call.  Ally did acknowledge me on facebook but I would have liked a call.  We are supposed to go to Chicago tomorrow but I really don't feel like it now.

At my age, I really shouldn't care about my birthday but I do!  Maybe next year I should plan something for myself.  I've never done a day at a spa or anything decadent like that but then again, they will probably be closed the day after Christmas.  And heaven forbid, I should go shopping the day after Christmas!  My idea of hell on earth!

Oh well.  Maybe I'll just pour myself another drink and watch late night tv.

Not Posting

I haven't posted lately because, quite honestly, I've been severely depressed.  I was diagnosed with SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) years ago by a psychiatrist and have been taking antidepressants and sitting in front of a lamp prescribed to me by the doctor as well.  We've had a particularly grey late fall and the drugs and light therapy have not done the trick so far.  I've been doing nothing but sitting in front of my computer and playing Candy Crush, Pet Rescue and Farm Heros.  I have the attention span of a gnat.  I usually love decorating my house for Christmas but could barely put up the tree this year.  I pushed myself to sew the other day but could only sit there for about an hour.  I have been working out and it feels good but I come home and just sit around.
   I went to the doctor today and she's increasing my antidepressant and we'll see how that affects me.  I may have to add a second drug to get this under control.  I'm hoping I'm out of the dumps before Christmas.
  Hope I have some projects to show soon after I get my mojo back.

Getting Ready for the Holidays

Gosh!  I've been busy!  Not only have we gotten my daughter's wedding dress but I've also found mine!  I'm so excited!  I didn't want to get mine until Ally got hers so they wouldn't fight!  They both have layers of tulle (or a layer in my case) and lace.  Hers is ivory (duh) and mine is navy.  We found her dress the first of two weekends we planned to look.  We had a trip booked to Boston to look at dresses at a shop my sister-in-law had good luck with (the dress, not the marriage).  Anyway, we took 4 of the 5 flower girls out to try on dresses for them!  They thought they were all princesses!

 Ally looking at the dresses

 Elizabeth 

 Celia

 Hadley doing her spins!

 Hannah, Celia, Elizabeth & Hadley

 That's a LOT of dress!

Bryn holding up the brides' maid dress with 3 of the dresses we are considering

This weekend her fiance's parents were in town to look at rehearsal dinner venues and to see where the wedding will be.  It was a busy but nice weekend.

I've been busy quilting as well.  I helped a friend make a tee shirt quilt for her daughter like the one I made for myself.  I'll be quilting it in another week or 2.  I did finish the tee shirt part of a quilt for a woman I know from the gym and have been waiting for her to pick out the border fabric so I can finish it and get paid.  I already have 10 hours into it and would like it done.

I did get this wall hanging done for a customer's granddaughter.  It's a fused applique so none of the pieces were sewn down.  It did quilt up quickly and I think she'll be pleased.

I do have 2 more quilts to quilt before Christmas.  I'm getting more comfortable using templates and need to practice a bit more because I want to use them on one of the quilts.  Practice, practice, practice!

Happy Stitching!

Busy Week

 I finished this quilt yesterday and am really pleased with how it turned out.  The customer is a neighbor and had a preview of it the other day when she was walking her dog.  IShe  seemed really pleased.  I did get a rack so I can hang a quilt to photograph it and to show the client without clamping it to the curtain rod in the family room, blocking most of the light from the room!  It was a good thing.  Today a friend came by to ask me about an antique quilt she had and saw the quilt hanging in the living room.  She loved it and is going to go through her sons' tee shirts and possibly have some made for them.

This coming week is a short one for me as I leave for Chicago Thursday night to spend the weekend shopping for a wedding dress for my eldest daughter!  I'm going to spend some time working on my Dancing Lady quilt I started at Empty Spools this past spring. In anticipation of spending my time sewing I started  a crockpot full of pulled pork!  YUM!!!

 Pulled pork

Then I set up my computer by my sewing machine and watched a few episodes of The Quilt Show.  I watched an episode with Jean Wells Keenan.  I'm signed up to take a class from her at Empty Spools next spring.  Ricki talked me into it (Ricki Made Me Do It) and now I'm really excited about it!  I need Ricki to push me artistically.  She talked me into taking Ursula Kern's class and I probably learned more from her than just about any other teacher except for Jinny Beyer.  Same same but different.

 Sewing machine set-up

My goals for this week is to quilt the simple Turning Twenty quilt I did for Ally and Josh to give their friends.  I want to take it with me to Chicago this weekend.  Then I get to play with Dancing Lady.  It' took me almost a complete block today to get back in the swing of the process.  I'd like to get the majority of the blocks done by the time I leave.  When I get home I'll get back to making the next tee shirt quilt then I have 2 quilt tops to quilt for another customer.

Until next time,

Happy Stitiching

Unproductive Weekend

You know "those" days.  The ones where no matter how busy you are you get nothing done?  That's been my 4 day weekend.

Thursday started out so promising!  Got up and went to workout for the first time since mid-July.  I was really looking forward to it!  Had a great workout, showered then jumped in the car and headed to the Sewing Expo!  Had my "shopping list" of things I needed and the resolve not to buy anything I really didn't need (read: no new projects).  It was a beautiful fall day for a drive.  Got there in about 30 minutes with little traffic.  Paid my parking fee and found a parking place near the door!  Woo Hoo!  Walked in and up to the counter only to find out it doesn't start until Friday!  Had to laugh at myself.  Oh well!  I figured I'd go to a quilt store with a great selection of fabrics that I rarely go to because it's out of the way for me.  I was half way there so I headed west-not on the freeway but the scenic route.  Unfortunately, the scenic route was not as scenic as it was years ago!  Now I know.  Since I was coming the back way, I was a bit turned around so had to stop and look up the address on my phone (Thank you, iPhone!).  Got there only to find out they were in the process of moving!  REALLY?!?  TODAY?!?  Had to laugh at myself again!  I'm so funny!!!  At least I have a fun car to drive

(My Little Pony) and it was a beautiful day!  I did stop at a little shop on the way back and picked up some fat quarters for a quilt my eldest daughter has commissioned me to make as a wedding gift for some friends that just got married in Maine.

I finally returned home and put my knee up to ice and relax.  I did work the top of the tee-shirt quilt I want to have on the frame this coming week.  Had a quiet evening since Joe was on a golf trip.

Friday was a free day.  I had planned on just staying at home and sewing all day.  Then, silly me, decided to try the Sewing Expo again.  I was really disappointed in the venders.  There wasn't much quilt related.  There were some but not the variety I had hoped for.  I did stop by the Innova booth to see my friends there-Cathy & Jeff.  Cathy told me that a lot of the quilt venders had broken off and were in Birch Run (about and hour away) at new event billed as a One Stop Shop Hop.  OOOO!  It's a nice day so, what the heck.  Looked up the address, plugged it in the GPS and off I went in My Little Pony.  Got there about an hour later and didn't even have to pay for parking!  (I guess karma was with me because I paid for parking twice for the Sewing Expo)  Cut to the chase-it was small.  I suppose it was the first year they have done this and hopefully, it will grow.  I was thinking, after I left, I have been to Houston the past 2 years and to the Grand Rapids show last month.  I've been spoiled.  I have learned to have a list as you walk in and I don't need any more projects to start.

I did get home just as my daughter brought home my grand-dog, Guapo!  She was going out with some friends so I got to spend the evening with "The Guap-ster"!

Saturday I got the Pig Tree decorated!

My Bryn had gotten me a string of pig lights so I decided to get out the pig ornaments I have collected over the years and display them year-round!  After that, I got some of the fall decorations around the house and finished putting the borders on the tee shirt quilt!  

Sunday was a bust!  I got a call from Colleen, who was back home in Grand Rapids saying she had left her laundry (and her room mate's) at our house!  Really?!?  So we met in Lansing, about 90 miles away, and had lunch.  It really took a chunk out of my day.  I did get home and pieced a bit of the turning 20 quilt I'm making for Ally's friend before going to a prayer service for a friend.

So, it's Monday and I'm primed to work.  I've already been with customer service to update a program on my long arm, seen my student, and getting ready to hit the machine!  Woo Hoo!  After quilting the tee shirt quilt, I'm going to work on The Dancing Lady quilt I started last March at Empty Spools.  Next week I'll get back to the customer quilts.

Happy Stitching!

Back on Track!

Home from my wonderful trip to Ireland.  Didn't get a chance to post while away.  Had busy days and enjoyed the Irish beer at night!  My favorite Irish brew was Galway Hooker!  GET YOUR MIND OUT OF THE GUTTER!  A Galway Hooker is a type of sailing vessel!

It took a few days to get back on Eastern Time zone then allow my knee to settle down after all the walking around in Ireland.  Hit M'Lady to get this quilt finished!  I'm really pleased with it!  This picture adds another meaning to "Sunshine and Shadow"!

Next, I finished the tee shirt quilt I made for a client.  I'm really pleased with how it turned out.  I'm always nervous before a client sees the finished product!  Sweatin' bullets!

I'm ready to start on the next tee shirt quilt but I had a cortisone shot in my knee today and have learned the hard way that I have to REALLY take it easy the first 24-48 hours or I will be in tears.  No exaggeration! I've been chomping at the bit to get going but in the mean time, I've come up with another idea to market in addition to the tee shirt quilts!  Hopefully I can work on it tomorrow when I will feel comfortable enough to at least sit at the sewing machine.  Pictures to follow

Until then,

Happy Stitching!

Off to Ireland!

After 2 surgeries ( shoulder and knee), we are off on our honeymoon to Ireland. We had planned to go the spring after we married but babies started arriving, houses were bought, businesses started and parents got ill.  We are finally on our way, 32 years after the fact!  I'm so excited. Hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures from the trip!

It's boarding time!

My New Favorite Notion

While at Empty Spools I was introduced to a new WONDERFUL tool!

The Seam Fix!

It looks like a seam ripper with a funny end you say?  Yes it is, but it's so much better!  Here's how it works.

You use the conventional working end like you do any other seam ripper-cutting through every 4 to 5 stitches and

 pull the bobbin thread from the back.

But then you're left with all the little thread pieces to pick out!

You flip the seam ripper to the other side and "erase" the threads with the funny silicone end!

It really works!  It has 2 different silicone tips, one is on the top cover and the other is on the opposite end of the ripper.  I personally like the larger one on the cover but have used both and different times.

The only problem I've found with it is that the top does not fit on the end of the handle when it's removed.

It comes in 3 colors, Hot Pink, Teal (it looked more like blue to me) and Grey (which looked like black to me).  I got the Pink so I could find it easily when I'm in the throes of quilt making!  I got it at the store they set up during seminar but I found it on Amazon.  Maybe you can find it at your local quilt store.

Pictures from Ursula's Class

Okay. I'm going to try to join the 21st century and post pictures from my iPhone. Please bear with me while I try this. It could be ugly!

The first is a picture of my maquette (or model) of my dancing lady. (If I'm lucky, I'll try to figure out how to post the original inspiration).

The second one is of me showing last year's quilt at Show and Share in front of the entire session.

The third picture is of my friend, Ricki, and Ursula.

The next one is of some of the blocks I completed in their approximate position.

And finally, a picture of Ricki, Ursula and I.

I learned so much that week and I wish I lived closer to her to learn as much as I could from her. The commute to Switzerland is a bit daunting!

I'll post pictures as I work on my "Dancing Ladies" quilt.

Now, let's hope this posts with the pictures!

Happy Stitching!

I'm Baaaaack!

I just returned from 2 sessions at Empty Spools-one session with Ursula Kern (2nd year) and one with RaNae Merrill.  Let's just say, Ursula didn't disappoint and RaNae did.  I took most of my pictures on my iPhone and I need to figure out how to post them here but quite honestly, I'd rather be quilting!

Ursula

I went to Ursula's class thinking my project would be of an image in my mind of a woman at the Pushkar Camel Fair in India.  I was looking through my friend's, Ricki, pictures and came across a picture of 2 women dancing around the fire in the camp where we stayed while in Pushkar.  It was night, so it was very dark. The women were dressed in black, full skirts decorated in fushia, turquoise, white and lots of shesha mirrors.  The image of them swirling with the mirrors flashing, the colors swirling and the fire roaring behind them was magical.  So I completely changed my project and had to buy more fabric (Don't cry too hard but I did have to pack it up to bring home)!

My maquette for my Dancing Lady

The second session with RaNae was on Spiral Quilts.  From the description, I thought we would be studying what makes the spiral spin and how to draft them.  She touched on the drafting but I think she really just wanted us to make our "wedges" from her kit.  That's fine for a one or two day class but we are at Empty Spools for 5 days.  There were more than a few engineers in the class that was hoping for more.  I went ahead and drafted my own wedge for paper piecing.  RaNae had said we had to follow her rules-one of them is doing things her way.  Fine.  I'll try it but if I'm more comfortable with another way I'd like to be able to switch to my way.  She did have some good tips but I did not like not pressing with an iron but she insisted we use-basically a wallpaper seam roller- to press our pieces down.  I think she knew the people on our side of the room were not happy so she stayed mostly on the other side.  She commented on the last day how my pieces had little pleats in it.  I was rather snarky and said that I preferred to use and iron and considered this wedge just a practice!

Now that I'm home and the dust is settling, I'm starting a t-shirt quilt for myself as a sample.

 I'm finding that now that Lady Chamberlain is in the basement I don't have a large floor space without an oriental carpet on it!  Maybe I should get a cheap white sheet to lay over the oriental rug to play with the layout.  Tomorrow I'll get some interfacing and start stabilizing the shirts.  I also have not worked on the Lady since I left and should at least throw something small on to play.

I did quilt and edge to edge quilt for a friend of mine with the Pantovision and she was really pleased!  She has another one for me to do in a couple of weeks.  Got to keep my skills sharp!

Time to put my feet up!
Happy Stitching!

I've Been Practicing

Today, I am dedicating to Lady Chamberlain.  I am taking a break because I was pretty intense for 2 hours and need to give myself a break.

First, let me back up a bit.  The machine's name is "Quilt Chamberlain" but it sounds too masculine.  I'm really into Downton Abbey and love the whole lord and lady deal so she is "Lady Quilt Chamberlain", or just Lady Chamberlain.

I practiced my stippling on "The Quilt From Hell".  It was one of those "simple" quilts that I screwed up on every step!  I just wanted it done!  So I decided I'd practice on it and time how long it would take to do it from putting it on the frame to taking it off.  It's 64" square and I used some flannel plaid (what was I thinking when I bought it?  I do think it was on sale)

QFH in the frame

Close up of stippling

Q

And I finished in basically 2 hours  10 minutes!

QFH done!  All that's left is the binding!  I'll do that when I get my sewing machine set up.

 My friend, Ann, gave me a few of her quilts to practice on.  The first one was a small former  mystery quilt she had fallen out of love with.  I practiced my pantographs on it.

Yesterday, I figured out cross hatching.  I have a cross-hatch bar and after wrangling around a bit I "got it"!

 This program is driving me NUTS!  I just tried to move some text and it deleted a picture and turned my font blue and started underling!  I can't turn it off so please bear with me!  Okay-got it back to black but can't stop the underling.

Today I started back on the FMQP doing freehand straight lines.  I drew the star and did okay staying on the line.  I'll need to get a ruler to do the straight line.

The next thing I needed to work on (according to Leah Day) is outlining.  I cut a piece of a large patterned fabric and sewed it on my practice piece.

I then practiced going around all the motifs.  It was slow but not as difficult as I thought it would be.  The difficult part was trying to see through the hopping foot.  I need to see what other types of feet that are available.  I then echoed around the motifs.

I did try to pebble but, again, it was difficult to see where I was going with the foot I had on the machine.

Exciting development!  Yesterday, I had a quilting friend that I had not seen for a while call me to ask me for the name of a quilter to do a simple quilt for her granddaughter.  I told her what was going on with me and she said it would be perfect!  She just wanted large stippling done.  I CAN DO THAT!  She came over today to deliver the quilt, we picked out some thread and I told her I would get it to her in the next two weeks!  I had loaded 5 yards of fabric to practice on before her call so I'm going to practice, practice, practice then do the quilt!  It should take me under 3 hours!

Back to the Lady!

Happy Stitching!

First 3 Quilts from Lady Chamberlain!

So I can't find my camera at the moment but want t show my first 3 quilts done on my Longarm.

I stippled on the first one and found it pretty easy.

The second one I did was the Kaffe windmill. I used a pantograph and it went pretty well.

The last one was the Christmas Log Cabin. I used another pantograph and it went okay but I definitely have to work on circular pattern!

I think I'm going to get back on the Free Motion Quilt Project. And Saturday I'll set up my sewing area upstairs!

Happy Stitching!

Promised Pictures

Here are some pictures from inside the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum.  Pictures were allowed but without a flash.  I also forgot my camera so had to take them on my iPhone.  Without the flash, it was hard to get a non-blurry picture.  I'm posting the best of the pictures.  Some just did not turn out well.  I hope you get the idea.

The quilts displayed were all crazy quilts.  Most of them were antique, made with silks, velvets and satins.  The embroidery was wonderful.  It's amazing to think they were mostly made by hand. 

This is the front of a two-sided quilt.

  

 

The back was just as stunning in all satins and silks.

A close-up of the back shows it was machine quilted!

The next quilt was heavily embroidered.  It also had tartan plaids.

Beautiful embroidered peacock feathers.

This is another beautifully embroidered quilt. 

Close-up if embroidered star

Embroidered 60 degree star

This is a modern quilt.  I wish he picture of the whole quilt came out.  It had beautifully embroidered trees.  The quilting was also incredible.

This is a close-up of some of the embroidery!  Lots of little surprises like the dragonfly all over the quilt.  The bow is attached by the beads.

This is a modern quilt made by Silvia Einstein, who was in the class (as a student) I took last year in Asilomar.  She is such a sweet, creative woman.  I was so excited to see one of her quilts on display!

This was made from pennants.  What a cool idea!  I used to collect these.  Who knows where they are now.

This quilt is quite stunning in person.  All different shades of red velvet strips.

 I'm sorry more of the pictures didn't turn out better.  It was a lovely exhibit and well worth the trip up to Golden from Denver.  I'll be sure to check what is on display the next time I'm in Denver.