Happy Dance In The Quilt Shop!!!

A milestone moment here...this is the first time that a block (6.5") has turned out dead nuts, the extact size that it's suppose to be!  YAHOOO!

I'm usually at least an 1/8" short on one corner or side, but not this time! I used Jo Morton's technique to piece the Ohio Star (used walking foot) and her pressing method (nice and flat).  The first two blocks (12.5") were OK, but just a tad undersized.  Of course, my fabric was sized and pressed before I cut (I still can screw that up), Aurfil thread top and bottom, and I made sure I didn't wander off at the end of my seams.

I see an Ohio Star table topper/wall hanging in my future...made out of reproduction fabric. Now to ponder(obsess) over my fabric selections.

DD's Wallhanging Destined To Be Table Topper!

After a certain point in the block construction, I knew this was going to be a bit wonky in the end. I ran out of some of the fabrics and wasn't able to redo all the blocks in the non-pattern method that gave me square blocks. When I looked at the digital photo, I noticed even more wonkiness...so DD will be instructed to use this on her table...wonkiness should be less noticeable there. I really love the design and colors, so I will be making DD another one for her wall. Like I said, I ran out of some fabrics and didn't have anymore of the solid black left, so I'll probably use one of the two fabrics hanging there on the side for the binding.

These are the fabrics that I'm going to piece for the backing and she will end up with a double sided table topper.

The Shop

Here it is as virgin space!

Then Sweetie set up his shop.

 

In July, he had the shell put up,did the finishing details and then moved his shop in here....need to paint that white eye sore now.

 

My storage/stash closet....

 

....that mainly came about to hide the wooden box that houses the PS3,DVR and tuner for the surround sound in the pool room. There are more shells to the left of the door from floor to ceiling.

 

After I have spent some time in here, I'll have Sweetie build counters for me.

 

 

Eventually, I will double the size of my design wall.

 

My cutting table rolls around so much better on the cement floor. When I do cutting, I'll roll it right under a light.

 

Sweetie built these shelves for me...it took him a while to get his head around what I was wanting. A picture ledge is a new concept for him.

Great Wisconsin Sports Weekend

My son just sent this to me and I thought I would share!

During lulls in the action (when the other teams were in posession of the ball or at bat) I was moving my stuff down to my new quilting area, which will be referred to from here on out as just "The Shop".

Pictures to follow.

My Winners At The Fair

I'm really pleased...I've never won a ribbon before...squeal!!!





Ok...full disclosure here...I didn't have any competition. I had only taken it along to show the ladies because I had talked about it at the last meeting and the Division that it fit in didn't have any entrants.




We're heading out camping now...won't have internet (I thinks) for 5 days.

It's TIme For The County Fair

Maxine Update: She's still missing...Sweetie went to the shelter in response to a picture posted of a female Black Lab (with what looked like Georgia clay on her feet) that looked so much like her. As it turned out, that wasn't clay on her feet...it was Rottweiler like brown hair and she was really a he! Sweetie was so disappointed!

This afternoon I am heading over to the Fair Grounds, where the Guild in doing the quilt intake for the fair. It's so much fun to see the quilts up close and talk to the people bringing them in.

For the first time ever (even when I was in 4-H) that I am entering somethings (not quilt related) into the fair.



Wolfie is off the UFO List and the bird house should have been on the UFO List (waited for years for a coat of sealer) and could have been taken off. I'm not sure if all the items will be entered because I think there is a limit to how many things you can enter in a category.

Tomorrow, I go back to the fair to help with the judging...also very much fun and educational!!!!

Where Did July Go?

July has been a long, and emotionally draining month for the both of us. Let's see...it started off with major water damage to a bedroom of the lower unit of the duplex that I own in Milwaukee. It's troublesome enough being a long distance landlord and you only have to deal with late rent checks ands squabblilng tenants...more than once I've wanted to say..."people...don't make me come up there!" Fortunately, the kids have handled some of the leg work, but the stress has been all mine.

Then, Sweetie's dog Maxine ran off. She's been gone 29 days and as I am writing this, Sweetie is at the pound (Gilmer County Animal Shelter) checking to see if a dog posted on their website is Maxine. This will be continued in another post.

My daughter was down from Milwaukee (New Berlin to be exact) for 5 days in the middle of the month...another post.

The building in the picture is Sweetie's new shop that was started at the beginning of the month. A crew came in and put up the shell (all in 3 days) and then Sweetie was out in the sweltering heat staining it. After that, he put on the deck and then did the wiring for outlets and lighting inside. As I'm writing this, I'm waiting for the county building inspector to show up to give his final blessing. There were 4 permits issued for Gilmer County this month...hopefully he won't be to strapped to make it here today.

And last but not least...I'm waiting to hear back from the attorney's office that handled my divorce back in the late 90's, to see if I really am happily divorced. He's suppose to get back to me tomorrow. This will also be another post.

Well, that was all the major stuff and there is light at the end of the tunnel!

Video Filming And Editing…Another Quilting Distraction

But it was a quilty type of distraction!!

Linda Daughtry, a local Art teacher, demonstrated fabric painting at our June instructional/learning meeting.  What a great teacher…and a real natural in front of the camera.

All of these pictures are actually stills from a video that I filmed during our fabric painting class and then edited in Windows Movie Maker…yet another learning experience. 

 

Aren’t these really cool looking and the fabric is still soft!!!

Can’t you just image all the projects that you could use this in!

Anyway, back to the video.  This was the second video that I filmed for the guild.  The first one was short but high MB video (pre Movie Maker) taken at our annual picnic.  Once again I tried to upload directly to Blogger, it was within size limits this time and I thought the right format, but again it didn’t work.  So, I sent it to YouTube and used their option to send it to Blogger to appear on the blog that I do for my guild.  To be honest, the viewing quality is better in YouTube before it gets sent to Blogger.  That being said…here’s a link to the video at YouTube.

I have to say that it was fun to do and I’m rather pleased with the result!  Hope you enjoy.

Blogging With Windows Live Writer

This is an older picture taken during my urban living experiment and it seems fitting since this is an experiment in Windows Live Writer.  The text isn’t wrapping like I thought it would…after I cut and pasted in the text it then wrapped.  I’m sure it’s operator error.  Ok, let’s try another picture, with a different frame and placement.  Wow…it’s great not having to do things backwards and be able to have different placement and framing of you pictures.

My building was the cream one peeking over the right corner of the brown building.  Wouldn’t it be great to be able to put little arrows and circles like the football (Go Packers) commentators can.  I like the strikethrough thingy too.  And how about the larger text! And color!! I’m liking this a lot!

Now, let’s see how things go when I try to publish.

Later

Woo Hoo!!! We Have Power Again!

A little over an hour ago we were able to hook every back to Georgia Power...what a miserable time it had to have been for people without a generator. Even with a small generator, it gets old quick.

It's also time to update the reading list...actually all of these are finished.

Making The Best Of A Power Outage

Power outages sure are more common here in the South, probably due to few underground power lines and trees with shallow root systems. We've been without power since about 5:15 pm yesterday. Actually, we've been fairly lucky so far where our outages have been measured in hours and not days like some other folks in our development.

Last night we fixed dinner on the grill...we had breakfast for dinner...sausage patties and scrabbled eggs in a heavy pan heated by the grill and toast toasted on the grill.

Fortunately, Sweetie is Mr Electricity and already had the house wired up so we just have to plug the generator into outlets (A and B lines serving different parts of the house) and wisely use amps.

A person really needs a good cup coffee during these difficult times! Boy, does this thing use the amps, so you plan amp usage when it's time to have a coffee.

We got this low decibel generator when we did primitive camping up North and it's been worth every penny so far (low decibel generators are more costly that the big powerful beasts). Sweetie was shopping online this morning (ran another extension cord up to the loft) for a big noisy beast that will even handle the AC and water heater.OK...time to get organized for another cup of coffee.

Jungle Warfare!!!

Well, I guess it just has been proven that a cookie without any fat and calories will just disappoint you!

Anyways...on to Jungle Warfare...



Well, so far it's kept the deer at bay...or maybe a neighbor has good eats in their yard that they haven't finished off yet. Time will tell. I was looking for those thin shishkabob sticks, but these were all I could find...they really do look like punji sticks don't they.

The Moss Roses are bouncing back nicely!!

If you're in North Georgia and you start seeing deer wearing eye patches...you'll know they've been in my yard.

Blogger At It Again...Do I Have Bad Cookies

When Blogger straightens out, I'll post some pictures (can't post them right now) and leave some comments Think I'll delete cookies and see if that takes care of the sign in problem.

Later

Items Off UFO List On To WIP List

Yeah!!..finally some action on my UFO list. What's off the list completely...the Bright Hope block project in Glace fabric...the two blocks were moved to the future potholder pile and no other fabric was cut, so its in it's box waiting for some future project.

The table decoration from Thanksgiving has been sewn together and waiting for batting and backing. It'll be a runner for the breakfast bar. Now on WIP list.

I've added a couple more hexagons onto the future table topper. Now on WIP list.

Also, I've been making some HST's with my new 1/4" foot and HSTs turned out really good (not sewn into wonky pinwheel). More will be made and used maybe in a Carpenter's Star or Ric Rack topper.

Worked on the Thinking Outside The Block project some more.

Since I still have a problem with my quarter log cabin blocks being a bit wonky, I had to try making one my way. It turned out really well ...unfortunately I have all those little pieces already cut. I sewed on to a length of fabric and then cut...maybe I can use the longer strips already cut and just cut more longer strips.


They were back...need I say more. Other than I will be resorting to jungle warfare...more later.

Deer Aren't Suppose To Like Marigolds

SEE GREEN POT!!!! Last year, my Marigolds survived until October...then the deer were hungry enough to eat them. Maybe they find the larger Marigolds tastier, which is why they have been Marigold munching in May...is that an alliteration? English classes are such ancient history! Now that I think about it, the green pot was a Marigold mow down!
All the rest of the Marigolds have been munched on, the Lavender was slightly nibbled, and last year's Yarrow stays munched down to the ground. The only thing they haven't bothered is a Pincushion Plant that's in the rock bed with the Marigolds.

Now this poor thing...I knew it would be deer candy, so I was putting it up on the porch before dark...until I forgot one night and didn't go out to rescue it until after midnight...I was to late...the midnight marauders (sorry couldn't help myself) had already struck. Trust me...it looks much better here. I had to poke some of them back in the dirt. The next day I went to Wally World and bought the planter holder thingy.

On a quilting note...my room is now rearranged and I was in there yesterday appropriately touching my fabric and measuring some old blocks that I had made (on UFO list)...some of which were added to the orphan/future potholder stack.

Heading Out To The Lake To Camp

In a little bit, we'll pick up the trailer and head to Carter's Lake. We're trying a different site this time (mainly because the other one wasn't available) and it maybe a good thing too. This site has much more shade and it's going to be pretty hot for the next few days. We'll be there for four nights and may have to actually use the AC...or we could rough it and not.

My hand work box is in the vehicle already...let's see if anything gets done this time.

The quilt room has been rearranged and I'll have to take a picture when I get back...the camera has been packed up also.

The Second Round Of Visitors Are Back In Switzerland

Sweeties's daughter and SIL were here for a week (a very active week) and we are now in our recovery phase. It was a lot of fun...I don't want to wish my life away, but...I'll be glad when the grandkids are old enough to be able to do fun, physical things...hopefully I'll still be young enough!

In addition to working out with them almost everyday, we also did this:


At Carter's Lake




Amicalola Falls




Fort Mountain Stables

...plus one day they rode our bikes to and from the gym (6.5 mountainous miles each way) and another day they ran to the gym. What shape they are in.

Now that my quilting room is no longer a guest room, I'm going to rearrange it so that my design wall is more convenient while sewing. Once that's done then I can bring out everything that I had put out of harms reach.