Nothing New to Report

Well people. Fall seems to be a busy time of year for most of us. Its time to finish up the yard work and get the kids ready to head back to school. (Thank heaven I'm finished with that chore.) We get our homes and cars ready for winter and start thinking about Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. (I've even started my Christmas shopping, how sick is that?)

Hubby and I bought a saws-all a couple weeks ago. We took it outside and started trimming back the branches on the overgrown spruce in the front yard. What a riot! I had so much fun. (Must be my destructive side.) I chopped off the lower branches and hacked them into bits before loading them in the truck. The tree looks a lot better and has room under it for snow when we start shovelling the driveway. But more important than that, I enjoyed myself immensely. Every woman needs a saws-all. If for no other reason than to work off some anger and aggression. LOL.

Yesterday, when I should have been working, I took the time to drag out my multiple bins of seasonal fabric. I think I could make a dozen Christmas quilts without buying any more fabric. Plus I have enough Halloween fabric for at least three quilts. And that does not count the two Halloween quilt tops waiting to be quilted. Yikes. It took  a lot of effort to drag myself away from that huge pile and put myself back in front of the longarm. Really, this week I would rather be piecing.

Maybe if I work really hard today and tomorrow, I'll be able to free up some time to play with fabric.

Cheers.

UFO's SEEN IN CALGARY

Okay, it is update time in our UFO contest.

Lisa E. had 17 UFOs on her list. Finished 1.
Audrey R. had 18 UFOs. Finished 3.
Kayle P. had 41 UFOs. Finished 1.
Becky A. had 3 UFOs. No updates.
Linda N. had 86 UFOs. Finished 4.
Marcy Y. had 39 UFOs. Finished 2.

I have finished: Not your Grand Mother's log cabin, Marnie, Kathy, my parents quilt (and a whack of accessories for it.) Charmed to Bits and Baby Bunting. (Pictures coming later.) This gives me a grand total of SIX. Holy crap, I had best get moving here I'm never going to finish them all.

Come on girls, I'm beating you. Lets all step up the pace and get something done. Lisa has sent me pictures of her UFO and some other projects. You'll see them after she has given the quilt away. It is a gift and meant as a surprise for one lucky person!

I haven't finished many of my UFOs yet and now I'm going to make excuses. I'm busy! So ha!! Can't beat that can you? Seriously, things are hectic in my life right now. You, over there on the left, stop heckling. I know we're all busy. I just got back from vacation, then spent a few days in Edmonton. I took a machine maintenance class with APQS at Sparrow Studioz.

I've got a huge queue of client quilts to do and am puttering away at them. But what's really keeping me busy is writing. When I should be quilting my own stuff or writing and editing the new patterns for the sale I am attending in October, I am typing away on my computer writing romance novels. Wicked naughty novels. This is something that I've played with for years and every now and then it gets out of control and consumes my life. Now is one of those times.

The ideas come and the words flow and I type until my fingers cramp. Anyone out there know a massage therapist who specializes in crampy fingers? This is not something I can control. I simply cannot stop the words from coming every bit of scrap paper has an idea scratched on it. I even dream the stories if I don't write them down. It is simply easier to sit at the computer and write until the obsessive flow of ideas slows to a trickle. Now I'm not saying I'm good at it, just that something compels me to write.

Matt Sparrow (Man Quilter)
and one of his lovely Children.

Okay, back to Sparrow Studioz. I met Matt and Bradie Sparrow. Lovely people. Sparrow Studio is a fabulous spot. Mark has a gallery of quilts for sale. There are many longarm machines for rent so you can quilt your own work. He has his own machine where he quilts for clients and also has other longarmers renting space for their machines. I would show you pictures, but some idiot left the camera at home. You'll have to trust me on this. Sparrow Studios is an inspiring place. Now if only we could talk them into selling fabric!

Mark Carahar (sorry if I misspelled your name!) of APQS taught the class. Who knew these machines were so complex? (Okay we all did.) What I didn't realize that they were designed for easy maintenance. Mark showed us how to repair virtually everything that could go wrong. Wow. I'm way smarter now and if I ever drag myself away from this computer I'll know how to fix the little glitch I've been having. I have to tell you that judging from Mark's stories, it seems that I've made just about every possible screw-up with my longarm. (I'm not sure if I was a good student for having stories to relate or not ... I'm thinking that with my history I may have been the class dunce.)

I Love the Rock: Newfoundland

On top of Signal Hill where Marconi
received the first Trans-Atlantic
wireless signal. Yes that's fog
behind me!

I'm baaack. Sadly vacation is over and I have returned home. We spent a week in Newfoundland. It was incredible. I've never seen anyplace like it. I can see why they call it The Rock. There's nothing there but rocks and stumpy little trees. It is kind of like BC but with midget trees. NFLD has a harsh beauty that is breathtaking. When the fog rolls in, look out. It can go from sunny and hot to foggy and muggy in minutes. We watched a fog bank roll in and it literally took only fifteen minutes before you couldn't see more than twenty feet away.

I love the place names too. They are all creative and cute. Gander, Come by Chance, Conception Bay, Dildo. Let's not forget Top Sail, Birchy Nap and Bacon Cove. Lakes are called ponds, it doesn't seem to matter what size it is, if I would consider it a lake its still called a pond. Paddy's Pond, Lost Pond, Gushue Pond, Kenny's Pond, I think the names make them seem like inviting places to visit. Even the street names are inviting, Freshwater Road, Cook Street, New Cove Road, and Marigold Place.

A typical Newfoundland beach.

We toured around quite a bit, driving the highways and tramping around St. John's. We took a tour up to Trinity and drove the southern coastline. I was surprised to find that there really aren't any beaches to speak of. If you can get close to the water, its on top of a rocky cliff. The few beaches we found were made up of rocks.

I even brought home a few rocks to throw through the old rock tumbler. (Those of you who know me well are aware that I cannot go for a walk without picking up a rock.) We purchased two big chunks of Labradorite to cut up for making jewellery and I bought myself a lovely pair of Labrodorite earrings. (Labradorite is the official stone of NFLD.) Its tone varies, but when you hold it just right it is kind or iridescent. It shines blue, green and sometimes even gold.

My new Labradorite earrings.

Raw Labradorite Stone

We took an ocean cruise on this boat. Saw some whales
and the eastern-most land point in North America.

Coming back to St John's after our cruise.

We spent some time at the rink with they boys playing lacrosse. Yup, Mater's Lacrosse again and no its not any faster than it was before. However, it was a lot of fun. One NFLD player posted the quote of the weekend on Face Book. "Only in Newfoundland does it take two kegs of beer to play three games of lacrosse." Too true. Yes indeed, there was a bit of beer consumed, a lot of fish eaten but most importantly many new friends were met. Those Newfies sure know how to throw a party!
The people in Newfoundland were friendly and entertaining and I cannot wait to go back next year!

Thursday Thanks

Kim's "Applique" birthday cake.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking lately. A dangerous occupation at best, I know, but driving the longarm gives a person a lot of time to muse things over. My machine is an APQS Liberty and is not computerised. I have to follow the patterns myself. While one part of my mind is busy concentrating on that, the rest of it runs wild.

As I ease into a rhythm of quilting and my brain takes off. Yesterday, my brain seemed stuck on all the good things I have. Not the possessions, but rather the intangible things. Things like luck, family and friends.

Let’s start with luck. I’ve decided that I don’t really have bad luck, but I don’t really have good luck either. Life flows on with its highs and lows. Nothing really bad has ever happened to my husband and I. But we haven’t won the lottery yet either. Things just seem … well neutral. I guess that means that my Cosmic Karma must be fairly well balanced. (Yeah, I know … there are days when I’ve done or said things that should have me run over by a Karmic Retribution Bus, but we’re not going there.)
I have a fabulous family.

My husband is supportive, career-wise and financially. (Grin.) My kids are happy and healthy (and moved out. Happy dance!) I’m close to my parents and siblings and we have good relationships, although I don’t see them as often as I would like. I know that later I will regret not making a bigger effort to see my family, and I hope that they understand how much I wish I was with them. I wish to publicly thank them all, here and now, for being part of my life and for kicking me in the backside when I need a reality check.

Happy Birthday Old Friend!

And friends. I have a lot of friends, and no I’m not bragging. I’ve got a handful of really close friends and a basket full of good friends. I’ve also got a lot of people in my life who are more than acquaintances, but not quite friends, if that makes any sense.  I spent some time this week with my friend and quilting buddy Kim.(Chatterbox Quilts) I talked about her obsession with applique in my last post. I had her over for birthday tea. Last Friday was coffee with Linda day! Yeah. Linda is my vent. I can tell her anything and spend two hours being angry and snotty about something and she just sucks it all up until I feel better. Deb is my day out friend. We talk almost every day and love to take day trips together shopping and eating and thinking alike. We laugh a lot, and we like to think that the local quilt shops are amused by us, but I expect that we leave as much relief as laughter in our wakes.

But let us not forget Betty Bubbles, and Colleen my Regina friends. Oh, and Little Calgary Betty, Jane, Phaedra, Rita, Sam …. Okay, I’ll stop there. See, there’s no denying it. I’m blessed. My life is good and I am happy. Oh, oh, and my pattern testers. Ann Marie (Muddy Feet 16: Check out her blog!), Tammy, Beth and Alice.

Okay enough drivel for one day. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who makes my life so good.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What are your blessings?

More cake! Mmmmm, it was soooooo good!

Insanity Is Not Hereditary, You Get It From Your Friends!

Yup, its true. I've said what we all know. Insanity is NOT hereditary, we get it from our friends. Our quilting friends. They give us ideas and inspire our creativity. Sometimes to the point where we later say "What was I thinking?"

I'm there now. Yup totally-absolutely-certifiably insane. And what I want to know is, WHAT WAS I THINKING? Can somebody please, please tell me .....

Today's insanity comes from a number of sources.  There's a lot a blame to go around here, so line up friends and take your share. My first torpedo of blame goes to the girls at guild. Friendship blocks. What a lovely idea. Everyone makes a block or two for this month's recipient. And quick as a blink she has a new quilt. Ha. Friendship blocks? Evil blocks! Evil, evil I say.



My turn came up and I had this brilliant idea for making a quilt entirely of half square triangles. So for my friendship blocks I requested one side light/one side dark half square triangles. I had a plan. It was a cunning plan. There was this vision, it was going to be perfect. All those triangles plus a few more in different sizes was going to create this fabulous disappearing-diminishing-distance look. Just let me say now, FAT CHANCE! That idea failed. So I settled on a much simpler plan and put the blocks together in a simple pattern for a wall hanging.
 

The whole quilt.
Flowers will be in each spot where
there is a petal pinned.

Hmm. It didn't turn out quite big enough so I added a pieced light/light half square triangle border. Ouch! Waaaay to bright. It needed toned down at bit, or maybe jazzed up. S0, I thought of Linda W. I took a three dimensional quilting class from Linda several years ago. I learned how to made 3D leaves, flowers and embellishments. So I decided to add an applique vine and some 3D flowers and leaves to my wall hanging to make it pretty and to make the borders a little softer. Nothing fancy just a couple of dimensional flowers to spruce it up. Great idea. I started planning. First we add the vine stem, quilt the top, then we bind it. Then we decide what to do for the 3D bits. Okay, I admit, it wasn't my smartest idea.


But wait, it gets worse, the next torpedo of blame goes to Kim Jamieson-Hirst (www.chatterboxquilts.com ). Kim is crazy about applique. She'll applique anything. I suspect that she would put applique food on the table at supper if she thought she would get away with it. One day I'm puttering away in my studio thinking about my wall hanging and I start thinking about Kim which gets me thinking about raw edge applique. So, I cut out some flowers and leaves. Test place them on the quilt. They look perfect. They are exactly what the quilt needs. Except, I've already finished stitching the layers together and sewing on appliques would spoil the back.

Don't say it, I know what you're thinking. "But you could HAND applique them on."

I told you not to say it. I wanted this quilt finished and off my UFO list. So hand applique was out. To heck with Kim and her crazy obsession with applique.

Just when I've started thinking about banging my head into the desk to try to jar out a solution to those punchy borders, I think of THEM. Those dreaded art quilters. You know who you are, stop sitting there looking innocent. Those woman are crazy. Nuts. They are always jazzing up their quilts with little bit and bobs. How about a button, maybe some beads? You know who they are, trying to turn quilting into an entirely different art form. How I hate them! Okay, I'm just jealous that they can work outside of their box and I can't. But now they have me thinking flowers. Bella Nonna Petals! Perfect. A few quick stitches and Voilà the quilt will be finished and ready for hanging. A little out of my comfort zone, but still do-able.

Ha ha ha ha ha ..... this is where the maniacal laughter starts. I try bunching those petals. I mean really, how hard can it be to add a few flowers? Hmm, bunching the petals together doesn't work. That little cluster of leaves looks good. Maybe I'll add a tiny white center to my cluster of leaves. Nice, but not enough. Ooooo, a beaded center would punch that wee flower right up! Success! Now that looks nice. Just a few more and the quilt will be finished.

So I start planning again .......  I'll need a couple flowers to go with those corner leaf clusters.

So I design and build my first flower. It lovely. Its perfect. Its exactly what I had envisioned. It took a while though. "Yeah", I told myself, "its exactly what you want. Make some more. After all 20 minutes a flower isn't that bad."

Lets stop here and take a count. Leaf clusters for the corners. That's four. Maybe a bigger flower for each corner. That makes eight. Hmm, now something for the sides. That makes 24 in all. Not too bad. Okay, I can do this. Its going to take a while to make two dozen flowers. Lets put a couple of them in place and see how it looks. Nice.

Ooooh, but it is sooo much nicer when you cluster a few together like that..... Okay so now I'm thinking I need about eighty. Yes I said EIGHTY flowers to complete this border.


More maniacal laughter here.  Much more!


So now somebody tell me, WHAT WAS I THINKING? (And yes I am blaming everyone else for this. How could I possibly be at fault?) Maybe I should have gone with the hand applique!