Wordless Wednesday - LOL

Wordless Wednesday

Ok, this isn't wordless this week but I need to explain what Wordless Wednesdays will be on the blog and then from now on it will be wordless . . .   My friends Kelly Ann from Kelly Ann's Quilting in VI and Melisa from Sweet Home Quilt Compay in GA do a Wordless Wednesday on their blogs and I always enjoy them.   So .  . .  I'm copying them.

Sewing Time & The Design Wall

Last time I blogged I said I was going to take some mini sewing vacations and I've actually done it!  I've made quite a few samples for the shop, fooled around in Electric Quilt and designed more quilts than I'll actually make and actually started to pick up the mess I call a sewing studio.  Here is what has been on my design wall - what's on yours?

I made the top about two weeks ago but finally quilted it and took it into the shop this week.  I love these easy stripe table runners and am seriously addicted, I think I've made about 30 of them!

Some really neat faux leather came in so I made this bag.  LOVE it!  It's actually finished and hanging in the shop.

This one is still a work in progress.

I'm still working on this one.  I'm not happy with the borders and have changed them two or three times since I took this picture.  Seeing as where it's being shown at Quilt Market during one of Ro Gregg's Schoolhouses in a little over two weeks, I think I need to get my act together and soon!

Holli cut this wine tote out and I finished it.  It's made out of laminate and has a divider so you can take TWO bottles of wine with you when you picnic!







I'm also starting to become addicted to these Strip Pieced Table Runners - here's one from Nancy Halverson's Bittersweet line - perfect for fall!

I'm working on demos for a show we're doing at the end of this week in Tuckahoe.  I'm demoing the Quick Trim Ruler and showing how to make placemats and napkins with it.  Here are two of my samples that I whipped out today.  Both are quick and easy projects with Karen Montgomery's ruler.

Because I have the attention span of a gnat, I've started sewing the blocks for another quilt that will be shown at market, my QP Twist pattern with another line of Ro's new fabrics.  This one I mis-cut the green and thankfully Ro had three inches more than I needed in her studio!  I love the black, pinks and green.

And actually ON my design wall right now is a new pattern that I'm calling Whirling Flannels.  I've loved this block for a long time but never got around to doing anything with it.  We have so many absolutely luscious flannels come in, I knew I wanted to make something with them and this is the result.  I'm not doing any borders, just the blocks.  I'm loving how it's turning out.  This one I'm going to have QUILTED before the show starts on Friday . . .  Notice I'm not saying anything about binding???

I may have gone overboard with my mini sewing vacations . . . . hmmmmm.  Why is it I can't seem to finish one project before starting another?

Till next time - quilt something!

STOP! I want to get off!

Ok, not get off permanently but I would like life to give me a breather for a couple of days.  It seems like I've been on a going WAY too fast merry-go-round for the past few years and a couple of days to sit back and relax would be really nice.  Hmmm, that sounds like a vacation . . .  YES a vacation would be really nice but who has time?

This whirling dance I call life has been especially hectic this last month.  I last wrote from St. Louis - no Baby Lock Tech is NOT a vacation! - where Jim and I spent 5 days getting up at 6:30am, attending classes till 5pm and then relaxing at dinners with friends (those lunches and dinners were mini vacations!).  Sewing machine conventions are wonderful things to attend but they are work, so they don't count as vacations.

This is a picture I took of the Quilts of Valor Block display in the vendor area.  I haven't heard how many blocks they ended up with but notice the bags of blocks at the base of the display that weren't even done yet.  I was standing in line to turn our 23 in and the woman in front of me handed Pam Mashe 250!

We came home from Baby Lock Tech and Jim left four days later for Janome Institute in Orlando where he was among the first to see the new Janome 12000!  I'm busy planning our coming out party.  Join us Sat, Oct 1st at 10:30am to see the new machine!  RSVP so we have enough chairs, thanks!

Four days after Jim arrived home, our second grandchild arrived - Colin Robert, 8lbs 8ozs arrived to join big brother Nathan.  Of course much time has been devoted to baby rocking.  Nathan stayed with us while Mom and Dad stayed at the hospital with Colin.  Let me tell you I know now why women in their 50's don't have children . . .when they picked Nathan up so they could all go home, I kissed him good-bye, and then went and took the first of two naps of the day!

Nathan is busy, busy, busy ALL DAY.  He'll sit and read for 5 or 10 minutes but then he's off exploring anything and everything - toilets, electrical plugs (yes, we have those cover things, he can get them off), anything and everything in any drawer or cabinet in the kitchen, laundry room or office.  All the rest of the rooms have the doors shut.  Toys?  HA - the kid  has who knows how many toys - if it doesn't have buttons or lights on it, forget it.  No remote, phone, key fob, etc is safe.  I keep telling him it's a good thing he's cute . . . .


Meanwhile, my boys and the Stef(ph)anies are in and out, I'm over Sara and Brian's cooking (maybe that's the problem, I rarely cook, Jim does all the cooking!) or driving somewhere.  Sara had a C-Section and can't drive, pick up Nathan or do much yet.  I do have to go to the store at least sometimes or those rumors that I'm retiring in two years will gain legs again!  No, I'm not retiring in two years, that's just a rumor - if I was going to retire, I'd do it NOW!

It's the fall season, the store is busy, new samples need to be made and I'm not getting to sew very much.  And I think that's the biggest part of what's making me crazy - no sewing time.  It's hard to sew when you're never home to do it, and if you are home, your little assistant is not allowed anywhere near the sewing room. (I shudder to think about what he could do in there!)

I think I need to shove some paperwork off on Jim and then take that time and sew.  Good plan - as Tim says on Project Runway - "Make It WORK".  I'm going to make more sewing time work and THAT will be my little vacation from this merry-go-round I call life.

What's YOUR mini vacation?  (And don't tell me short trips to some exotic location, I'll be really jealous!)

Till next time.

St Louis & Baby Lock Tech & Quilts of Valor

Jim and I are in St. Louis - he's actually at the arch now, I rolled my ankle at the botanical gardens this morning and decided I should rest it before the convention starts.  We left NJ last night and felt like refugees as they closed the Parkway behind us because Irene is coming to call.  We're keeping in touch with Sara as she, Brian and Nathan wait out the storm at home.

Tomorrow we start with classes but tonight is for the opening session - always a good time! - and a welcoming reception - good food and seeing friends.  I'll post some pictures on Facebook - just type Quilting Possibilities into the FB search engine - keep checking this week as I post pictures of new machines, classes and whatever else catches my eye.

Baby Lock asked all it's dealers attending Tech to make quilt blocks that they will sew into quilts for Quilts Of Valor.  Ten days ago I challenged the staff to make blocks to donate and they donated 21 blocks!  I did one for Jim and one for myself, so we'll be donating 23 blocks to this great cause!  The fabric is from Timeless Treasures' Quilts of Valor line.   Thanks to all the staff who sewed blocks - you ROCK!


Until next time.

A Bit Of Advice If I May

I'm heading off to Gloucester this afternoon to finish - hopefully! - cleaning out Mom's house.  She's settled into the nursing home now and it's time to do something with the house.  Last time I came home with a truckload of stuff - nothing that I needed but how can you leave ALL the pieces of your childhood behind?

Other than Mom's sewing machine - the one I learned to sew on - there isn't too much that I will be bringing home.  Although my older brother seems to think there is and the message came to bring the truck.  (He's in for a rude awakening!)  Most of what I brought home last time is still in the garage in the boxes they came home in.

Which leads me to the advice - start to sort through your "stuff" now.  Label pictures, put notes in with jewelry of who it belonged to and why you kept it.  I found a baggie with an old Beverly High School pin from the 1920's, a pocket watch and a ring.  If Mom hadn't put a note in that baggie, I wouldn't have known it was my grandfather's things.  I have a Rubbermaid tub, one of the big ones, with photographs that I need to sort through and hopefully I can figure out who is who.  I remember a large box of photographs that my Mom and Aunt took our of my grandmother's house and couldn't figure out who any of the people were.  (I'm hoping that box went home with Aunt Margie and it's Ralph and Stevie's problem now and not coming home with me!)

I knew the stories of so many things but there were so many other items that I looked at and thought, where the heck did this come from?  Grandchildren wanted certain things and it's really nice to know that Jennifer has Mom's nativity set, Sara's family is eating off the kitchen set and Arthur has the bowl Mom made cookies in. I can look at ceramic dishes now in my china closet and know that Grammy Lint made it or this was Nana's silver ladle.  I just need to let my children know the stories behind them so they can pass them on.

Cleaning out Mom's lead to a cleaning out of my house with a HUGE amount of stuff - an almost embarrassing amount of stuff - being donated for a Big Brothers/Big Sisters pick up.  Next time they come around, I'll be doing it again.

Sort and label now, especially things that are heirlooms.  How will anyone know if you don't tell them?  Sorting through your childhood home is a gut wrenching experience.  Make it easier on your kids/family and start to sort, label and clear out your "memories" now. Just a bit of advice from someone in the know now.

Texas!

Jim and I climbed on a plane Monday night and headed for San Antonio and Bernina University (the annual dealer convention).  Now I knew it would be hot in TX, it's in the south right?  And everyone kept saying it's a dry heat - HA!  Who cares if it's dry or wet when the heat index is ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN????  We arrived Tues morning about 1:30am, it was NINETY.  Ugh.  (Of course it was just as bad back home where it was hot AND humid!

So we overslept and then walked the Riverwalk - very pretty, very nice - to find breakfast and then headed to the Alamo.  What a sad and solemn place.  I kindof knew the story about the Alamo - unlike some people who shall remain nameless, and it's not Jim who knew more of the story than I did - I knew it was a horrible battle and many lives were lost.  I didn't realize that everyone in the Alamo except women and children were killed.  Reading the story boards was a sad lesson in what man can do to other men.

When I was young, we traveled from Massachusetts to Tennessee to visit a cousin who was living there.  My Dad was a history buff so we went to visit Davy Crockett's birthplace.  I remember it was a small log cabin and I kept thinking, how did people live here?  It was so small.

So now I've visited both Davy's Crockett's birthplace and where he died.

After the Alamo we had to behave ourselves and go to BU, which started that morning while we were sleeping . . . .  I'm sure my rep will read this blog and know we played hooky . . .   It was a nice little, and very needed!,  mini vacation, even if it was only for a few hours.

BU is always made fun by all the people you see - friends, big names, famous people - classes you take, lectures you attend.  It's always interesting to hear about the ways others do thing differently than you do and you always come away with some ideas to try once you get home.

I took a hands on class and made a lace ornament like these for a class we'll have this fall.

I saw a big name and a friendly face in Kaye England, who gave me a huge hug that was MOST appreciated.  Thanks Kaye.  We've had to postpone Kaye's visit this September (it's the weekend Sara is due to have our new grandson) so we'll be rescheduling for next year in the next couple of weeks.

We had dinners and lunches with good friends who we enjoy very much.  Let me just say the Hayes family had us laughing for almost three hours one evening!   Those lunches and dinners were full of family talk, business talk and just a good time.  Sometimes I think I learn just as much at meal times as I do in classes.

I came home with class ideas, marketing ideas, event ideas, display ideas - my brain is hopping!

So what am I doing today?  Working at the shop putting all these ideas into practice?  No, I'm playing hooky and having a Nathan day.  It's very much needed after the brain drain of BU.  It lets all those ideas simmer around and percolate a bit more.  The mind is much more relaxed and open to all kinds of ideas when rocking a baby, ok he's almost a toddler, how did that happen????, to sleep.

Stay tuned for what happens when all those ideas finish percolating!

Till next time.