Productive Weekend

The weekend is coming to a close and I have gotten quite a bit done! The tablerunner at the left is one of 4 that I made (a fifth was already done) to give as Christmas gifts. These are from the remnants of my UFO that I abandoned. Now they just need to be quilted. The second picture is of my first two blocks in the "Women of the Bible" quilt that I'm making along with the Bible study on Yahoo. I paper pieced both of these blocks...I'd forgotten how accurate paper piecing is, I hadn't done it in years! The Bible study goes for 54 weeks, I believe and we will be doing a block a week. My goal is to stay caught up with the study. These two were fun to make.

The only thing left on my list for now is to put borders on the other part of my old UFO to use as a table topper, then I will be spending lots of time at the longarm. I don't want to start a new project until I've quilted a number of my old tops. Since the tops are done, I don't count them as UFO's...they are works in progress, just waiting to be quilted. Is that cheating? I'm hoping they won't be waiting too much longer. I'm not planning on doing any piecing except for keeping up with the Bible quilt blocks until I've quilted and bound a few of these quilts. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! :o)

Pin Cushions

I found the pincushions that you all have to be very interesting! I have a pincushion that I made of wool...somewhere. When I was a little girl, my mother did a lot of sewing. She always had a metal Sucrets tin, filled with her pins.

When I grew up, I had pins in the little plastic boxes that they came in. I searched high and low for a tin of Sucrets (because, of course, that's where pins were supposed to be!), but couldn't find one. Then we moved to Long Island, NY in 1990. I went into Rockbottom (a chain of large pharmacies that were popular then, like Drug Emporium) and there it was...my tin. I didn't even want the Sucrets, I just bought it for the tin! So, that is where my pins have lived, quite happily, ever since.

I want to thank you for all of the kind words and prayers that you have sent me. They are all appreciated, especially the prayers. The health situation for my daughter will be resolved in 4-6 weeks and then we'll know what she's facing. I know it my heart it's not serious, but we have to wait to find out.

You're the best!

A long week...

that has had NO time for sewing. I did work on a customer quilt, but that doesn't count, after all, that's work!

We've had a lot of issues to deal with this week, doctor's appointments to go to, serious concerns after those appointments...just too much in one week!

So, my sewing room is partially together and totally messy. I hope to get into the room over the weekend, I can use the therapy! DH is going to the Eagles game, so maybe I'll sneak in there on Sunday afternoon. :o)

Knowing that it had been a long week, and I really needed a little cheering up, there was a knock at the door this afternoon and these beautiful yellow roses from my husband arrived in the hands of a kind older man. Then he said, "Wait, I have a few more in the truck!" Not only were there roses for me, but baskets of flowers for each of our girls. (Yes, it was rough all around here!)

So now we've all stopped to take time to smell the roses...

On another note, my bloglines seems to have stopped working. All of the blog names have little red exclamation points after them and no new posting are showing up. I tried resubscribing to some of the blogs, but got the same thing. Is there a way to fix this, or am I doomed to going through the ring and reading the blogs that way? Being totally lost in blogland, I haven't an idea of how to fix it. Heck, I haven't even figured out how to add lists to my sidebar! Thanks for any help you can offer...

UFO Salvage

In my last post I mentioned that I had one true UFO. Here it is! I started this "Wedding Rings" quilt by Seams and Dreams, several years ago. I loved the one set of rings, but really didn't like the results when 4 of these rings of rings were set together. I set it aside...I'm sure you know how that goes!

I pulled it out the other day and decided to add a plain row of neutral squares to give it a border. Then I will add a border of Christmas Fabric and use it as a table topper. I looked at all the extra squares and half square triangles that I had made, and decided to make friendship star table runners for several women my husband works with. I went online and found this fabric for borders for the table topper and runners and it arrived yesterday. Hopefully soon I will have all of these done for Christmas!

My sewing time has been cut down...we started school on Wednesday. My assignment this year is as an assistant in a morning Kindergarten class. It's much different than the 5th and 7th grade classes I was in last year! I'm really enjoying the little ones, and I'm very grateful to come home to my older children! :o)

New home for my stash

Yesterday my DH and I took a ride to IKEA to look at shelves for my sewing room. We picked out a nice wooden bookcase that we thought would work perfectly. This morning, we were putting it together and the wood split on the side. If it were the side against the wall, it would have been fine, but it was the exposed side. We drove back to IKEA (about 45 minutes) and were able to return it and purchase a new one with no problem. So, we got this one together and now I have my whole stash in one place...not that it took very long to get it there!

I also have boxes of strips cut (although not that many) and I have a stack of fabric to cut into strips. I do have some muslin on bolts and some pieces of muslin in a drawer in my desk. I just wanted the pretty stuff on the shelves! :o) So, now I have to figure out what to do with it.

A lot of it is small pieces that were leftover from fat quarters I've used, so as I have time I'll go through and cut that down. Other than quilt tops that need quilting, I only have one project that is a true UFO and has been abandoned. I've used the border fabric from that for 2 different quilts, but I think I'll just make that quilt smaller and give it as a gift. It's a nice quilt, just not one I'm interested in finishing! I also have 2 sets of blocks...one is nine patches and the others were little paper pieced sewing things that I did in a swap a hundred years ago and never could decide what to do with them. I do have an idea now, so may work on them.

I did think about sorting my stash and admire those of you who do it. I pulled a stack off the shelf, separated the blues, the browns and greens and then came to a fabric that was leaves, but pretty evenly distributed between brown and green. I couldn't make a decision as to which pile it should go in, so I gave up. And that was just the first piece of multi-colored fabric! I guess I'll just keep it mixed up...it's fun that way! :o)

A Day at the Zoo

My youngest daughter Grace and I headed back into Philadelphia on Wednesday to go to the Zoo. The Philadelphia Zoo is the oldest in the country...and for years some of the displays looked like they were from when it was originally built! They have done a marvelous job over the last 20 years or so, updating the facilities. About 10 years ago their Primate building burned down and a number of the animals were killed. That has been rebuilt and is a beautiful display. The newest addition is their "Big Cat Falls" which they've built around the original Cat Exhibit House and is just wonderful

When you enter the zoo there is this elephant sculpture along with beautiful gardens. I love wandering around and seeing the gardens there. This antelope just seemed to be posing for us and I had to take his picture! The last photo is of Grace standing by the wild boar statue. We have a number of pictures like this, taken as the kids have grown.



My husband has arrived home safely from Seattle, thank goodness! It's been strange to have him gone for 3 weeks...I'm used to week long trips, but 3 weeks is a long time!

Haven't done much more sewing this week. I did work on my cathedral windows the other night and have been working on the backing for my One Hour a Day quilt. I've taken 12.5" squares of the floral fabrics I've used in the quilt and I'm sewing them together for the backing. No rhyme or reason to it. Why 12.5" blocks? Because that's the size ruler I have!

The rain from Ernesto has started here. It's supposed to get worse as the night progresses, but be gone by mid-morning. A good night to stay in and sew. Tomorrow we will take my husband's bike down to our son at college (the advantage of him being only an hour away!) so he can ride it around campus, then we're heading to IKEA in Philly to get a wooden bookshelf for my sewing room. I need a place for my stash...it was getting faded on the shelves near the window. This will be on the opposite side of the room and out of direct sunlight. Everyone enjoy the Labor Day weekend!

Borders are on....

The borders are now on my One Hour quilt and I'm pleased with how it turned out. It will make a wonderful Christmas gift for someone!

My husband is still away and checked my blog last night. This morning he told me I should update it because I hadn't done so since Saturday. So, here are two posts in one day...

We're in the midst of severe thunderstorm warnings and tornado watches, guess I should sign off the computer!

Sunflower Top

I finished the borders on my sunflower quilt this morning and wanted to share. Next on the list is the borders on Judy's One Hour quilt and then I'll probably take a short break from piecing to do some quilting!

Another Adventure

Yesterday we took off on another adventure...we headed out to Long Beach Island, the Jersey shore! Now, the shore is another place that I didn't really like. When I was younger, we would get in the car, drive to the shore, find a place to park, walk to the overcrowded beach or boardwalk, fight for a spot, watch for the beach tag checkers and then head home, all sandy and sunburned. Not my idea of a good time!

Well, yesterday we went to visit the teacher I worked with last year...and had a wonderful time! What a difference it makes when you're on a quiet, uncrowded beach with no boardwalk and a place to wash up and eat before you make that drive home. Sitting on the beach and listening to the ocean (instead of people yelling at their kids!) made me the most relaxed I've been in ages. Although, I did manage to get rather sunburned. The kids had a wonderful time and it was great to catch up with my friends.

Today I'm back to working on my churn dash quilt, which I've discovered isn't a churn dash quilt at all, but a shoo fly quilt! :o) Did a search on Blockbase and found my error. I'm putting the setting triangles on the ends of the rows and hope to have it together tonight and bordered by tomorrow. Once that's all done, I'll post a picture. For now I'll just enjoy the view of the ocean...on my computer!

Taking a Break...

Today I've taken a break from the sewing machine, but it wasn't until AFTER I finished all the churn dashes for my new quilt. This evening I plan to cut the alternate squares and get going on piecing the rows. This morning I took my daughters and one of my older daughter's friends into Philadelphia. This was a huge accomplishment for me. I'm not comfortable in the city, although over the past few months, as we've gone there more often, I'm getting better. Except for a few times between high school and college (I worked at a hotel in Philly as a temp then, and went in under great duress!), I've NEVER gone into the city by myself. Now, I know that Philly is not nearly as imposing as New York City (you should have seen the wreck I was when I had to go there myself! Hail a cab??? I had to have a native do it for me!), but to me a city is a city. They're all intimidating.

So, today we headed to the Speedline Station and got on the train to go to 8th and Market Streets. We came out of the train station and walked over to the stop for the Philly Phlash, which is a trolley which takes you to various points around the city. We took that to the Rodin Museum (second picture). After going through the museum (which is small, but so interesting!) I went out front to take a picture of "The Thinker", his famous statue. Of course, the trolley was getting ready to leave, so I didn't get the picture, just got on the trolley.

We took the trolley to Christ Church, which is the oldest Episcopal Church in the country and was the seat of the Episcopal religion in the colonies and as the country grew.

It was our national cathedral until they built THE National Cathedral in Washington DC. After hearing a little of the history, we wandered through the church and grounds. The we walked up Market Street to the Bourse building for lunch. From there we walked past Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell and made it back to the train station to head home. I was so proud of myself for overcoming my fears (which my family just laughs at!) and going into the city with the girls...it was such fun.

I had such a good time that my youngest and I are thinking about taking the train to the city, then the trolley to the Art Museum where we can pick up a trolley to the Philadelphia Zoo. We both want to see the new big cat exhibit...maybe next week!

Next Project

I spent about an hour yesterday looking through magazines, trying to find a quilt that I liked enough to use these fabrics with. What did I find? That I really liked Judy's churn dash center and wanted to make a churn dash quilt! So, the cutting began and now I'm working much more in my comfort zone, all those pastels were just not me! That's why I'm trying to use them up!

I will have churn dash blocks in the 5 colors you see in the picture. I have the burgundy ones finished (and they're much darker than they look in the picture!) They will be set on point with the gold fabric you see under them, then the sunflowers will be the border.

But for right now, I think I'll take a break from my machine. I've been sewing for several hours each day since Monday, I probably should go straighten the house, fold my laundry...or at least make a cup of tea and go read for awhile!

Almost there

But I'm not going to get any further on this quilt for a few days. One of the problems with not having a stash that includes yardage, is that when it's time for borders, there isn't enough of anything! So, I got the whole top together up to the white border. I've decided that this will be a gift and needs blue borders...of course I don't have enough blue to make a border! So, I've ordered 2 yards of each of these fabrics from one of Judy's favorite places...Big Horn Quilts. Hopefully they'll arrive sometime this week and I can get this finished and quilted before November. So, what to work on next???

Making Progress

Today I got all the blocks made and the sashing done on the first two rows. The second two are sashed between the blocks and need to be sashed and cornerstoned. (Cornerstoned? Can that be done? Will it hurt?)

Somehow I managed to have an empty house tonight...both girls are sleeping at friends' houses. It's awfully quiet and peaceful here! :o)

I think I'll get up early and do more sewing!

Thursday evening

I didn't get as many blocks finished as I had hoped today, but got a few in between the orthodontist, exterminator, chiropractor and sneaker shopping. So, this is what I have done and I have lots of strip sets ready to be cut for the borders of the rest of the blocks. I've just hit a point where I keep making little mistakes...and since the next step is rotary cutting, a "little mistake" could mean a trip to the emergency room! :o)

It's definitely time to curl up in bed with a good book...my computer sits on a bookshelf and as I was writing this, one of the shelves fell out and all the books and DVDs fell on my feet. Something is telling me to say good night!

Hour Quilt Progress

I've discovered the problem with this quilt is that I can't stop working after an hour! My churn dashes are all done and I've cut 2" strips to use in making the frames around them. I may start sewing strips together and get one block done before I head to bed.

Thanks for all your well wishes on the root canal. The endodontist is a master...he did the job quickly and except for a little achiness, it really doesn't hurt. At least, not yet! The hardest part really was writing the check to pay for it. :o)

Judy, thanks so much for sharing this pattern with us. I hope everyone is having as much fun as I am!

Cathedral Windows

I thought I'd share the baby Cathedral Windows quilt I'm working on. This is as far as I've gotten, but I have lots more squares cut so I can continue working on this as time permits.

I've made some progress on Judy's quilt. My HST's are made and pressed and I'm working on trimming them. I have to start pulling fabrics for the little squares around the block...hope to work on that tomorrow morning.

I helped my son move into his house at college today. The previous tenants left it absolutely filthy and the landlord didn't have it cleaned. Another mom spent yesterday and today cleaning the upstairs and her daughter cleaned the living room today. My son's room is actually the dining room of this old house, so it's a good size and we were able to get it somewhat clean and set up so he was happy. Now they need to put a door on it so he can have some privacy!

Tomorrow I'll be doing a little cleaning (very little!), sewing and having another root canal. Do I know how to have fun???

One down...

Yesterday, once I did some reorganizing in my sewing room, I put together the blocks for this quilt, added the borders and quilted most of it. This morning I finished it up and I just finished trimming it and making the binding. I'll get the binding on tonight and hopefully within the next few days it will be finished...it is the ONLY quilt that I plan to make for Christmas, although since it will be done early, I may just make another!

My DH flew off to Alaska and Seattle for 3 weeks yesterday, so I have every intention of spending a lot of time in my sewing room in the next few weeks. As soon as the binding is on this one, I plan to pull fabrics for Judy's quilt. I'm thinking florals for the centers and soft tone on tones for the squares surrounding the center. It would make a lovely Christmas gift for my daughter's Godmother.

I also quilted a large, flannel quilt for a customer and tomorrow will do a smaller one, as well as take my son his bed and some other things...he moves into the house he will be renting for the remainder of his college days (we hope he won't have to move again!). Should be a busy day...I'm already thinking I'll be 2 days behind on Judy's quilt! A UFO before it even begins....

I'm back!

Just briefly though! I had a wonderful visit with my friend, Mary. She played right along with the group for Canoe Carnival (that's our float in the picture...the float was called "Shock the Monkey" and the banana in the center pulled a lever and gave the monkey on the Empire State building a shock every time the words "shock the monkey" came up in the Peter Gabriel song). Once Carnival was over we did some traveling around the area. We went to Lancaster, PA for some quilt shopping, did an evening tour of historic Philadelphia and even took a ride to Liberty State Park where we caught the ferry to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. Unfortunately, she got caught in the whole airport debacle yesterday. We dropped her off at 2:45 yesterday for a 4:55 flight. She was through security by 3:15, but at 10 last night she was still sitting on the tarmac, waiting to take off! She finally landed at about 1:15 our time, 12:15 Houston time.

I enjoyed her visit so much and she taught me how to make a Cathedral Windows quilt! That will be a long time in the making!

I've missed all of you, it was great to finally catch up with what everyone was doing. Ten days without reading blogs left me with a lot to read!

Vacation

I've tried to post a few times this week, but blogger is not cooperating. Just wanted to let you know I'm taking an "at home" vacation until August 10th. A dear friend flew in yesterday from Houston and will be here until then. We'll be busy at the lake with Canoe Carnival, day trips and the like and will probably not be at the computer much. We're off to my favorite quilt shop this morning!

Enjoy your week, see you on the 10th!

Checking In

I just realized it's been a week since I posted, so I thought I'd check in quickly while Stanley Steemer cleans my carpets! It's been a busy week with almost no sewing time. I did manage to quilt a customer quilt over the weekend and will load another when I finish this. We've been working nights and weekends on our Canoe Carnival float...picture a 20 foot tall building made of 1" thick foam, along with a street scene of smaller buildings, mounted on a deck, which is mounted on 2 - 17 foot canoes and paddled around a lake. I'll post pictures once it's done and has floated...if it stays afloat! :o) It's great fun to work on the floats and we've built one every year since we moved to town. The photo is of last year's float. Our theme was "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". You can see the newspaper taxi, tangerine trees and at the very top right, Lucy, swinging on the moon. At the center, left, you can see the two paddlers sitting on chairs behind the float. One of them is my DH. You can also see one of the canoes...

So, that's it from here...I'm off to quilt!

Gratitudes

1. Men to clean my carpets!

2. Good friends to build floats with, to blog with, to quilt with

3. Summer camp for my youngest

4. I am blessed in so many ways...

I've been reading...

but I haven't had time to post to my blog, so I'm making up for it tonight. Three posts, with pictures even!

Last week's Vacation Bible School went off without a hitch. (She says with a great sigh of relief!) Ellen (my 16 year old) did a great job of organizing, keeping the kids moving through their groups and just running VBS. She showed quite a few doubters just what a 16 yo can do, I was so proud of her! And...she was asked to run it again next year, so everyone must have been pleased! She is working with another girl next year to run it, then the new girl will take over the following year and have a new helper. It will be a great way to keep VBS a project for the youth of the parish. Thanks for all of your kind words about Ellen...she was a brave soul to take this on!

I got my Pfaff back last week from the shop and she runs like a dream...not bad for a 15 year old machine. I haven't had much time to play with her because I've picked up my paintbrush again to paint the family room. It's a dark paneled room and I'm slowly getting it painted...pictures to follow in the next posts!

The quilt I've included in the post is a little one hanging in my foyer. I made it from a kit (I just didn't have enough little pieces of batiks to make it on my own) that I bought at McKenna Ryan's booth at the International Quilt Festival in Houston a few years ago. I put it together in a weekend at my guild's retreat...everything from cutting the fabric, fusing it, quilting it and binding it. It was completely done when I left for home...I was a woman on a mission that weekend! I love how it turned out.

Studio pictures follow in another post, then the family room. Time for me to get back to work...maybe I'll load a customer quilt!

Studio

Finally, some pictures of my studio! I don't have everything up and I'm not sure if things will stay where they are. I have bins to hang on the wall above the filing cabinet in the corner which I haven't hung yet. I'll probably also change the quilts, when I have some more to hang. The color didn't turn out quite as yellow as I thought it would...it's more peach than yellow, but it looks good in the pictures!

The china closet holds my threads, templates and batting. The large closet holds customer (and my) quilts. I'll need to make some sort of valance for the window. We also took down the broken doors between the studio and computer room (AKA living room and dining room!) and I'll need to remove the clips and paint that area.

House Painting

I'm hoping I got these in the right order! The first picture is of the end of the family room that I haven't painted yet. It's very dark and depressing in there...although that's the way my youngest daughter likes it! The second picture is the end that I've painted. The paint color is called "Pecan" and I've left the trim along the top and the ceiling beams in the dark wood. I've painted the rest of the trim a cream color to match the trim in the rest of the house. Even with this small area painted, it makes the room much brighter. Tomorrow I start painting the other side of the room! This is the last room in the house that I will need to paint...I hope!

Gorgeous...

This is one of the prettiest quilts I have ever quilted, I just wish it could have lived with me! The pattern is called "Faceted Jewels" and it is put out by Glad Creations. It is almost all batiks, some of the lights are an oriental fabric and together it is just stunning. The customer pieced it beautifully and it lays so flat, it was a pleasure to quilt it.

I don't have anything of my own to show right now. My Pfaff has been in the shop for 2 weeks and even though I pulled out my Featherweight, I haven't had time to sit down and sew. I did paint my "studio" AKA the living room. I've rearranged the furniture that was in there so it left me with more wall space to hang quilts. I've got a few on the walls, I'll post pictures when I finish!

This week is Vacation Bible School at our church. My 16 year old daughter is directing this year and she has done a great job of putting it all together. I'm very proud of her! There are about 40 kids signed up to participate as well as a crew of teen and parent volunteer helpers. This is the first time I've worked on VBS and I had a lot of fun last night. I'm the registrar, so for me the hard part is done. I don't know that we'll get many more kids to sign up tonight. When I finished my part last night, I helped in the kitchen with snacks. Tonight I hope to sneak around and see what happens in the groups.

I am a Violet

You Are a Violet

"You have a shy personality. You tend to hesitate before trying new things or meeting new people. But once people get to know you, you open up and show the world what you are really all about."


Wow, I'm impressed! This is pretty accurate! Thanks to whoever got this one going...

Happy Independence Day!

I hope everyone is having a safe and wonderful 4th! We celebrated yesterday here...today will just be a BBQ with our family.

Yesterday morning we went to the Andrew Wyeth exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. (The picture is of the fireworks over the art museum, which will take place tonight!) It was a spectacular exhibition of his work. The detail in his paintings is sensational, he was a true master at his craft. After seeing the exhibit with our 2 daughters and one of our older daughters' friends, we headed down to Johnny Rocket's on South Street (where all the hippies meet!). Their milkshakes are amazing!

After lunch, we drove home to get ready for the local fireworks. With the cooler filled with sandwiches, water, M&Ms and Cracker Jack (our fireworks tradition!) we went to Freedom Park. We found a spot, spread out our quilt and listened to the band while my husband read and I did some applique. We were soon joined by friends and we relaxed together until the fireworks began. Medford put on an amazing show last night, there were several times when we thought the show was over and then it began again! It was a great night, the weather cooperated and we all had fun.

There hasn't been much quilting going on this week, but I'm headed into my studio now to work on finishing a customer quilt. Once this is done I can start preparing my studio to paint it. I've chosen a color called "Cottage Yellow" from the Eddie Bauer line of paints at Lowe's. I hope to have it done by early next week so I can get back to work.

Enjoy the holiday festivities everyone!

Carolyn

Thank You!

I was overwhelmed by all of your support and kindness this week as we went through this very difficult time. The house is a much quieter place without Barclay. Sam, our cocker spaniel is walking around looking lost. He can't figure out why his buddy isn't here. He also hasn't barked once...I'm thinking he was only a barker because Barclay got him going! We are settling into a slightly different routine and I am so glad I made the decision...he isn't suffering anymore.

This morning I got up early and made some blueberry muffins...comfort food therapy? I've frozen a dozen and we are eating the others. There is nothing like a muffin made from fresh, Jersey blueberries!

Thanks also to those who have mentioned your concern about the flooding here. We were spared any flooding (other than a lot of water in the yard!) but there are several areas around us which are very bad. Trenton, Phillipsburg and other areas north of us and areas of Philadelphia to the west are flooded. Hopefully, with the beautiful day we are having, the waters will be receding and the clean up can begin. We had a major flood in our town almost 3 years ago and the cleanup was a nightmare. I certainly feel for those people!

I've been thinking a lot about Judy L.'s post yesterday, the things we do out of habit. The blueberry muffins are a result of that...I was going to go pick up bagels and decided to make muffins instead! I had never thought about it but there are many things I don't do out of laziness...I used to do them and got out of the habit...things like cooking! Thanks, Judy, for a very thought provoking post.

My daughter is off having her first ever driving lesson...I'm saying prayers that it goes well. I'm more nervous than she is!

Again...thanks for your kindness...you are the best!

Carolyn

Gratitudes:

1. Sunshine after the rain.

2. The kindness of friends...even those you don't know!

3. Fresh blueberry muffins.

4. Lower humidity!

Sad Day

I just returned from the shelter. Last night Barclay was coughing up blood, so I knew we couldn't wait any longer. He is at peace now...I miss him.

Thank you for all of your kind thoughts and words, you have no idea how much you have helped make this a bit easier.

Difficult Decision

We moved into our house in early October, 1999. We'd spent almost a year in an apartment, without a dog. I desperately missed having a dog, so shortly after we moved in, we went to the shelter to see what we could find. We didn't find anything. About 2 weeks later, some feeling came over me that I couldn't explain. My husband was on the roof, cleaning gutters and I told him to come down, there was a dog at the shelter who needed us. I was certain that we would find one. And we did! Barclay came to live with us the next day. He was an adult dog, about 5-7 years old and had the sweetest disposition.

Barclay has been a wonderful friend and companion for the last 7 years. But now we're in a difficult spot. In the past few years he has had several cancerous and precancerous tumors removed. A few weeks ago, he started losing a lot of weight. We gave him canned food (they'd always had dry) and he put a few pounds back on. In the last week he has started coughing, has horrible breath and has bled from his mouth a few times. On Sunday, I opened his mouth to see if he had something caught in his throat and found a large tumor in his mouth. It obstructs his breathing when he lays down and he's exhausted from trying to breathe. He's making horrible noises as well. At his age, which is now 12-14 years old, I just don't want to put him through another surgery as our vet will encourage us to, then chemo or radiation. I don't want him to suffer. So, when do you make the decision to put him down? It's so hard to watch him like he is, although he doesn't seem to be in pain. I've been in contact with the shelter and they will take him any time to put him to sleep.

In my head I know that the right decision for him is to let him die gracefully...but my heart says it's not ready to let go. I'm sure the decision will be made by the end of the week, DH is away until Friday and I'm not sure I can bring him to the shelter by myself.


Gratitudes:

1. Seven wonderful years with Barclay
2. The love of a good pet
3. Support of friends at the shelter
4. Technology that allows us to give our pets peace...even if it's hard to make the decision.

Birthday Bounty

All washed, folded and ready to use! The first picture has the sunflower fabric that told me to take it home, as well as the others that wanted to come play. The second is the browns and rusts...I just love fall colors! The cherry fabric on the bottom of the stack was just too cute to pass up and will make a great background or backing for something! So, that's the result of my birthday fun! Now to imagine what to make. I know the sunflowers will be borders and sashing for a quilt for my family room. I'm thinking some old fashioned sort of block in the other colors with a cream background...maybe a double T block? I'll have to play with EQ5 and see what I come up with.

I've enjoyed others gratitudes and will try to post mine, when I remember...

Gratitudes:
1. Nick's 8th grade graduation...he's becoming a fine, young man.
2. Family that remembered my birthday...their calls made the day special.
3. Kittens that I can cuddle, then leave at their own house when I'm done taking care of them!
4. Gentle rain in the garden...and for the storms that will come later.
5. Ibuprofen for arthritis pain!

Older - definitely! Wiser????

I've had a very relaxing day today. I went shopping! Today is my birthday (that's the older part!) and my wonderful family gave me a very generous gift certificate to my favorite quilt shop. This morning, after dropping my daughter off at church to go on a trip to Six Flags Great Adventure, I set off on the hour and a quarter trek to the shop. Being true to my new inspiration, I managed to find quite a few fabrics that will enhance the palette of fabrics I have. Some beautiful burgundies, tans, golds and greens came home with me. I fell in love with one fabric...a rich burgundy with sunflowers scattered on it. I bought the 5 yards left on the bolt because it told me to! :o) I can see it as borders and sashing with the greens and golds as blocks. I have no idea what it will become, but I knew I had to have it!

I'm working on purging my stash of the colors I don't want to work with anymore. The picture is a simple nine patch quilt that will go to my guild as a donation quilt. These are the leftover centers from the Sister's Choice quilt that I made. I had to make a few more to have enough for a decent size top. The border fabric doesn't look quite as muddy in real life as it does in the picture! I just finished this one a few minutes ago and had to share. Now to straighten up the sewing room so I can get back to work on some other quilts. I've made 99 blue and muslin nine patch blocks for my single irish chain. I need to decide how they will be set...I've been playing with a few different options in EQ5. Tonight DH, older daughter and I will be stopping at Panera for a quick dinner before DD goes to work. My son and I will have lunch next week when I (I don't even want to say it!) have to take my Pfaff in for service. A week without a machine...guess I'll have to quilt some quilts on the longarm instead of making them! Or I could pull out the Featherweight, which I've never used!

Inspiration, Revelation

Last night I went to my guild meeting (The Berry Basket Quilters, Medford, NJ) because I heard that the owners of Bellwether Dry Goods in Maryland were going to be the speakers. I wish I could take credit for the beautiful quilt in this post, but it is one of theirs.

Bellwether is a company which sells antique quilts, new quilts from old fabrics and most importantly, offers the most amazing hand quilting services I've ever seen. Dick, the husband in the venture does all of the quilt marking, then the quilts are sent out to one of their contract quilters (they have over 100) and hand quilted. The majority of these quilters are Amish or Mennonite women and they range in age from 18 to 80!

Dick and Georgina Fries, the owners have the most engaging personalities. They must have shown between 50 and 75 quilts last night, many of which are for sale on their website. But, as I was taking copious amounts of notes, I came to a realization about my quilting journey and the projects I make.

Most of the quilts that called to my heart last night were very traditional, simple patterns, done in traditional colors. These are quilts in my "comfort zone". As I looked at them, I realized that I don't have to work outside my comfort zone. These are the quilts that sing to me, that make me want to do more quilting. Whenever I step too far out, although I often am pleased with the results, the quilts just don't find their way into my heart. As I looked at the beautiful hand applique (which they design from old quilts, then send out to Hmong women to applique) I knew that I needed to more of this, in colors I would be comfortable with.

I often feel pushed to work with bright colors as I read articles in magazines, thinking that if I don't try these new colors, new designs, new methods and techniques, I will be "behind the times" and out of sync with what is happening in the quilt world. I guess I'm easily swayed by advertising! It occurred to me last night that these antique designs are timeless...they are as attractive now as they were 75 or 100 years ago and I CAN make them and be delighted with the process and the result!

It was a revelation for me. I was furiously writing and sketching in my notebook, not thinking about what I was putting on the page. Quilts made with simple blocks were sketched, quilting ideas included. Here are a few of my notes:

Use up brights, get rid of them!

Simple blocks make striking quilts!

Sort stash by style...brights, comfort colors, neutrals

Dear Jane - make my own version with blocks I like. Why duplicate hers? Think outside the box...BE MAVERICK!!!

I came home all fired up and ready to sew. But...it was 10:00, I'd been up since 5:45 and reality set in, so I went to bed. I can't wait to get out of school on Monday and set to work in my sewing room, sorting stash, designing quilts in EQ5 and sewing. I'm so looking forward to summer!

Charity Quilts

These are my last 5 quilts for Rosie's Calico Cupboard this year. I make a commitment each year to quilt 12 quilts for Camp Reach for the Sky, an American Cancer Society camp for children with cancer. I'm so happy to be able to be a part of this!

Last night my 16 year old daughter and I spent an interesting evening. After our chiropractor appointment, we headed to Applebees for a quick dinner. Then we went to the movies to see "An Inconvenient Truth". All I knew about the movie was that it was about global warming and that Al Gore had something to do with it. I didn't realize that it was his entire PowerPoint presentation on the subject, interspersed with how he became involved with global warming and how it has affected his life. I found the movie to be quite fascinating, once I got past Al Gore's voice narrating it...he is rather monotone! The pictures he showed of the glaciers and how they've melted over the years, the increase in CO2 emissions and the increase in the earth's temperature are quite remarkable and the picture of our planet's future that he paints is not a pretty one. I'm sure there are many things in the film that could be debated, but the photos from now compared to those from even 20 or 30 years ago can not be denied. There are some absolutely gorgeous pictures of the glaciers, storms and icebergs that are worth the price of admission. I'd highly recommend it if you were thinking about going to see it. It is quite an eye-opener.

Quilt Show Update

I went this evening to pick up my quilts from the show this weekend. At the laundromat. Why, you may ask? Because I am an idiot!

Sunday afternoon my husband and I went to the Eggfest in a neighboring town. Our plan was to go get some pulled pork and whatever else they were cooking on the Big Green Egg grills at the store where we bought ours, walk around the arts festival for awhile, then go to the mill to pick up the quilts between 4 and 5.

In my brilliance, I suggested we could go earlier than we planned, then he could go to the driving range and hit a bucket of balls while I went to pick up the quilts later. Good plan, right? WRONG!!! At 3:00 I made myself a cup of tea, headed to my sewing room and figured as soon as my tea was gone I'd go get the quilts. Then I straightened a little, looked through a magazine, started sewing and when I looked at my clock it was 5:15! Oops! I called the lady in charge of the show and she said if I could get there right away she would wait...but...I had to take my daughter to work here by 6 which is 20 minutes in the opposite direction. I can not tell you how stupid I felt!

I spoke with her again yesterday and we made arrangements to meet at the laundromat by my house because she would be there tonight. So, all's well that ends well, my quilts are safely back at home and they STILL want me to put quilts in next year's show!