Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Star BOM with Judy

Since I don't have any projects I am working on, I decided I needed to join Judy Laquidara in the Star BOM she is so graciously doing online.

These are fossil ferns, and I am going to do this quilt scrappy. (she hopes)

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Another Week Already

Wow, not sure where this one went to, but I managed to blow off a great deal of it. I did a little stash busting of some quilt stores, and did a little reading. I was trying to get my reading done before my eye surgery, but that got cancelled today for some reason, not sure why. I will find out next week.

I had ordered a new quilt rack from a local gentleman that makes them for me out of walnut and he bought it over to me this week. Isn't it magnificent? I need to rearrange the living room so I can get this one in a corner behind a chair, but for right now I am just enjoying looking at it. It is 8 feet tall and wider than usual. Aud's remark where is the next one going? We are running out of wall space, lol.


Here are some Moda Muslin Mates that I bought from Web Fabrics. I wanted to see what these looked like and I had not seen them before in a group. There were some dark ones which I did not buy, surprise, surprise! lol


And here is my yummy Portugal and the pattern I am going to use to make it. This will be a quick quilt to make; now to find some quick time to make it!

And here are two batiks I found at Quiltworks that will be perfect for backgrounds. I try to buy them when I can get them; they are hard to find when you need them.
Last on my buying spree was this ruler from http://www.cozyquilt.com/ . Supposedly this comes in handy when you are making some of the stripped quilts that are out there right now, so one must be prepared.
I took a mini vacation during the middle of the week and just read. My arthritis was giving me fits so I took Kim's advice about books that she liked and went to the library and checked out Sara Donati's Into The Wilderness series. Let me back up a bit, I checked these out for Aud several weeks ago and she didn't get them read before I had to return them, so I ordered them from Amazon and they had come in. Aud had read part of the first one and loved it. So, since I was hurting from the A and really didn't feel like doing anything but pouting, I just read for 3 whole days. I hate to put a book down once I start it so I just didn't. I read the first two books in this saga. I love them. They grab you like the Diana Gabaldon books do. I try not to get on a reading binge too often because this is what happens, but these books are definitely worth it.
There are 3 more of them in this series I think, but I have an Amazon Kindle coming...it should have been here today and didn't come, which upsets me. I will order them for the Kindle because the print will be bigger and I figure I can read some maybe while my right eye is healing. More about this Kindle when it comes next week. It is basically an e-reader. If you want to look at it, go to Amazon.com...it is on their opening page.
Ok, I am out of words for now I think. Hope everyone has a terrific weekend. I am going to be working on my Peace and Plenty applique blocks. Only 3 to go, so I need to catch up.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Designer BOM,Patterns, Other Stuff

Have you ever had a disjointed week where you never found your groove? I am raising my hand high on that one this week! I think it is because the moon has been full.

Started off with Dr's appt, the main word there is EXERCISE! I told them they tell me that every year, why don't you just not subject me to all of that blood work and save us all some time and trouble and just call me and say, "The Doctor says EXERCISE".

I have some rheumatoid arthritis markers showing up and they want me to go to a specialist for tests. All I can say is ^&*!!!! I won't go where they want to send me because it is downtown so they are going to send me to their first choice, but I can't get in until October or so. So of course the last 3 days I have hurt all over my overweight body! Even the fat is aching! Other than that everything is fine. Low cholesterol, low blood pressure, etc, the picture of health.

Then to the eye doc on Thursday and I am scheduled for my right eye cataract removal on the 29th of this month. I will be so glad when all of that is over.

A friend of mine woke me up at noon, told me to get my lazy *** out of bed and meet her for lunch, so I did. Then I had a Starbucks Green Tea Frap with Raspberry Syrup....ooooh..that should add some time to my exercise routine for sure!

So here I have deposited myself in my chair for most of the afternoon and then to make this an official screwed up week, Aud and I went to get some KFC. All healthy stuff here, right?

Anyway, what I am getting at is this. I am looking at Quilt Stores on the internet, and of course I usually end up at The Fat Quarter Shop. This time was no exception. Have you ever just wanted to spend a little money just because you haven't lately? lol....well, that's where I was and I decided to look at her patterns.

If you haven't looked at the pattern section on Kimberly's web site you need to treat yourself to that. She has patterns buried in there that I have never seen anywhere else. Not only does she have patterns for "real" quilts, lol, but there is even a separate section for charm patterns. I should have stuck to looking at fabric! There are some neat, neat patterns in there, like this one and this one (not a good picture but the pattern has definite possibilities) and this one (great for all of the Moda scraps we all have) , this one , this one , this one and don't forget all of the Miss Rosie's . There are patterns in there for paper dolls and any and every kind of bag and purse and tote. I know this sounds like a commercial but I really found some great patterns on there, and you can actually SEE them, which I can't say the same about a lot of places. It was very soothing to be able to just sit and look at them and decide which ones I "couldn't live without".

Of course I did manage to pick up some fabric while I was at it. Have to make my monthly payment for Emma's college, you know, lol. As Sharon would say, "I'm just sayin!"

Did manage to get a little bit done this week so far.
Block Two in the Designer BOM I am doing from The Fat Quarter Shop. This is going to be a gorgeous quilt if the first two blocks are any indication.


These are some more of my batik blocks I am working on. Running out of wall space, lol.
I guess that is all for now. Have a great weekend!!!

Monday, July 14, 2008

A Little Quilting Going on Here!

I am so excited! I have actually gotten a little quilting done this week. My quilting room looks like a complete disaster. I took a picture of it and decided it was too bad to look at, lol. I never let it get so cluttered. I have actually hung up another design wall 20 x 40 in an area I found on a wall, and made a "hanging design wall", which is pictured further down. I have so much up on the main design wall right now I am running out of room and I don't want to take anything down at the moment, don't have time, lol.

This is Peace and Plenty Block 11.

I have started my batik quilt I wanted to do and here is one of the blocks.

Another block from the batik quilt.



Others from the batik quilt. I have already changed the one with the pink in it, lol, I don't like it. It feels so good to finally be working with batiks again. I love all of the colors in them.


Moving right along with my Web Sampler, I have the house and its border done. I still have so much to do, not sure it will be finished by Sept 1 after all.


Here's another view along with all the "stuff" that is scattered everywhere.


And here is my hanging design wall. I have a hook over the door, so I just took a hanger and pinned some batting on it and then pinned the batting to a hanger and put the blocks on. Just think you could have lots of hanger design walls, lol.

And, I put my Janome Platinum in a new sewing table that I purchased from SewEzi. Their website is http://www.seweziusa.com/ . I am so pleased with this table. It folds flat, has wheels, a carrying handle, and a "suitcase" type slip cover to store or take it in. They custom fit the acrylic inserts to your machine and I ordered this one day and it was here 3 days later. It is just the right size too. Just thought I would mention this in case one of you is looking for a portable solution to a table.

Aud has shingles and is having a tough time with them which is not good. I got an all clear on my cancer which makes 2 years out, and I have an appointment with the eye doc on Thursday. My eye has improved enough I am hoping she will schedule the right eye so I can get through the eye bit before something else on me goes haywire, lol.

The only other thing I know worth noting is I have a new LG HDTV that is just super. I never knew TV could look so good, lol. I am watching stuff I never watched before because it is so sharp. We have other HDTVs in the house, but this one is in my room and I am like a kid with a new toy, lol.

I guess that is all from me for this week. I keep saying I am going to post more frequently but that just "ain't happening" at the moment.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week ahead of them!

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Catching Up

Hello, everybody. Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July. It was certainly hot enough here. I tried to stay in the a/c as much as possible. Not a lot of quilty stuff going on around here so I haven't posted lately, but I finally decided I better at least say something. I am doing some quilting stuff, but nothing that is showable yet. Just bits and pieces of things. And the Piece and Plenty takes lots of time, but I am working on that. Will post a picture of one block pretty soon. I am almost finished with it.


My version of what I took a class in on Saturday. It is called Mirrored Silhouettes. Of course I didn't finish it, I never do, lol.

This is the sample of the wall hanging I was looking at to do mine.



It's a few days late, but what is on your bed for July? This is my patriotic quilt that I made about 3 years ago (I think). It has hand embroidery, hand piecing, paper piecing, and plain old piecing. The quilting was done by a lady from Missouri named Penny Roberts and she did an absolutely wonderful job on it.



This is Roger and Laurie and Aud. Laurie is Keith's mother and is married to Roger. He is from Nepal and is one of the nicest and sweetest people I have ever known. Some of our young men could take lessons from him, that's for sure. Keith is very fortunate to have him in his life.




Here's Keith again, hasn't changed much in a month, lol, but he and family stopped by. It was good to see him, and he didn't have his Rock Band with him , lol.

Aud in the front yard pulling weeds (I only see one though, lol)

Apricot Lilies in the back yard

Asian Lilies, these things are about 4 feet tall.