Getting Back to the Fun!

Jacquie won the Q-tools! Hurray and its in the mail!
Marsha got a couple of Fat Quarters from Batik Textiles!
and Michele got some Japanese charms and a pen.. hmm that sounds lame but they are cute!
That was my first give-away and it seems like I should have figured out that I need to post a lovely picture and story of give away and then people will comment. duh!
So after the holiday I will totally do another one, I need to learn how to blog it right! Practice.

I worked on my HST quilt top but I have lost all enthusiasm for it. I want to make another of this type! A 9Patch-Snowball!

This one I made for passage a couple of years ago and it was one of my first long arm attempts.
I made a couple actually, this one with a white background and finished edge points, this black one:

I didn't do the edge and I think it was much less interesting. I did another (no pic) that was calico background and I liked it a lot.

Heres one I did for my DH, this picture is cute but in real life it's lacking something. I think making the background a mid tone and using everything in the 9P/SBs was a mistake.
So I want to try this again...
I really should be quilting, but I am still not feeling it. Lately, I have been feeling that I have totally gotten lost in the "business" of quilting. I really like the "service" of quilting and only started the "business" to help me pay for the "service" part, now I feel like I spend so much less time on the "service" part. So I am refocusing! Service anyone?

Hot hot hot

at 6:30 it was still 100 degrees... and its gonna be flipping Hot tomorrow! binging on limeaid and shaved ice. HOT!

howz it going?

well, I made all my blocks and trimmed them to 6" and now I am stuck. Do I want to just sew them up barn raising style? make more blocks and make a big quilt? I need to get back to real work and get some charity quilting done, revamp the etsy store, start a new store with a friend and do some design work in EQ. But I would much rather do this, and organize my flickr.

Congrats to my DH! 30 years at the same company! Today is his anniversary! He was nervous like a kitten as he went off to work today. Congrats too to my friends Bob and Jeff who are also celebrating 30 years of togetherness this month!
Did I mention my give-aways?? Leave a comment or link to the blog and get entered in to the pool! IRLs not eligible. Every winner also gets some of the free pens, candies, catalogs and just general stuff from Market.
Only 1 prize has been revealed yet stay tuned....

Best Notion

My best notion from Market is this little vinyl thingy. The lady in the booth at market practically assaulted me as I was walking past. She reached out and stuck one of those things to my nametag... Hello? that's way too close for a stranger to be to my breasts... I was sharing my personal space with her...not okay! Then, I looked at what she was hawking, and I heard her say "repositionable". Turns out the little doo-dads really work and can be used over and over again. The blue ones are for your machine to be used as a quarter inch guide. The orange as a fabric guide for your ruler so that you can repeat the exact same measured cut again and again. I think I am going to explain them to my classes and give them a single sample to help with getting that quarter inch.... AND.... its one of my give aways. Leave a comment by June 30th and be entered in my drawing for goodies.

Change of subject..
A couple of weeks ago, my DH and I went to Farmers Market in my little town. Off the main drag of downtown is an old theater that has been redone into a antiques mall. We go in and start finding quilts...

This one I am going to untie and machine quilt ... I don''t think its antique or if it the rings are antique, I think they put together recently, they are machine appliquéd but may be handsewn. the backing seems like diaper material . its gorgeous and bright and was like 35$... I'm going to quilt it and love it and make it mine.

This is a sad, faded double wedding ring and some of the patches are missing. Its the right color for our guest room and it was 25$. My DH said "If you want to see a double ring in our house you better get it, God knows you are never going to make one". Truer words were never spoken. It looks great folded over the foot of the bed.


When the lady at the front realized that we were just buying quilts and a pair of the best pinking shears ever. She said "I have new quilt behind the counter here, just came in". Out came this postage stamp quilt. My DH fell in love, the symmetry, the tiny blocks, the border!

See the edge of purple squares? We think it is hand pieced and hand quilted. There are no tears, rips or stains that we can find. My DH was once more with the "your never gonna make one like this" plus he added the "I like it, it's symmetrical" He started talking price before I had my mind up.

That is the head of a clover flower head pin, I think the squares are supposed to be 1 inch finished. My favorite fabric is that green and white floral.

House blocks and Tutorial!

Here is my home of my heart pattern and its pdf.
I am putting it up here but its also up at Flickr a printable version.
and the whole set of photos is there too.
Different colors stories and the story of what happened to this one that I made.
the link is here


leave a comment now thru June 30 and be added into the give-away pool... people I know in IRL not eligible.

Quilters Rock!

Thanks George!

Carlin's seven words you can't say on TV, he would caution ironically, "are the ones that'll infect your soul, curve your spine, and keep the country from winning the war."
the 7 words are :
The original seven words were, shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits.

George made me think and made me laugh. George was a great role model. My mother called it "offensive independence". I think its an Irish thing, my dad had it, I have it.
Thanks George and you will be missed!
Leave a comment starting NOW thru June 30, 2008 and we will have some give a ways. If I know you in real life, you are not eligible.

A Milestone

I just finished a project "for publication" (catalog) and now I feel spent! It wouldn't have been so bad but I was rushing, cut some fabric wrong, there was no more fabric and Drama! They are really nice but I really do have higher expectations for myself and got all panicky about this project. Plus it was the first time I had ever pieced New York Beauty Blocks. Ever! *wipe brow*
I want to do something for me, something easy, something about color. I decided to use these "Hoffman watercolorwraps " 7 inch squares that are pretty colors and look great already. That pink roll is called lilac.. and the other brown (obviously). I don't own Hoffman stock nor do I work for them, but for all the talking them up I do, they really should want to send me something pretty. ; )



I think I am going to do HST and then do some sashing and corner stones , like that F&P big print quilt from last year but who knows?? whatever it is ... its gonna be fun and easy!!
Ever since Quilt Market I like I have been "working" as in "not having fun". I am going to take a couple days and just play with fabric ...do some "play" as in , "not work" on my sewing machine. Then.... its back to work!
Leave a comment starting NOW thru June 30 2008 and we will have some give a ways. If I know you in real life, you are not eligible. Don't even try it Catranger, I'm talking to you!

In the mean time, check out the flickr group Sewing Tattoos which includes knitting tattoos.

Quilters Rock!!

Friends! how great are they?

WOW I can't believe its been more than a week since I posted but there you go.
Lately, I have had the opportunity to reflect on the effect of my quilt relationships.
Every first and third Tuesday of the month I meet with at least "She who stamps" and "The Queen" for dinner and then over to a Quilt Club. Sometimes more ladies show up, sometimes not. It's really great to break bread bread together or split an egg roll as the case may be and talk about our week. "She who stamps" and "The Queen" have been friends 20+ years, so I count myself lucky to get to hang out and learn from them. "The Queen" has given me lots "opportunities for growth" in our lil "Bee".

At Quilt Market a couple weeks ago, I bumped into Betty and Vern from Storyquilts. They used to have store in our area and had a long arm for rent. I used to go weekly and long arm at their store. They taught me so much and were very generous to our charity. Vern especially gave me really good advice about business and it was nice to see them and be able to tell them how much it meant to me.


This last week I got both some really bad news about a quilt friend, and what I thought was really great news professionally. The "bad news" got a little better and what I thought was "great professional news" didn't work out the way I hoped. I just started "professional work" this year and it's okay that it didn't go well, I learned a lot. I reached out to some great professionals and an acquaintance who were so generous with their time and advice. I think my little hive of support is bigger than I think it is.

I know I promised give-aways and raffles so to be sure they are coming.