HAPPY HALLOWEEN BIRTHDAY SAM!

SAM IS FIVE TODAY!!

Somehow, I lost track of how old Sam is. I have to call our new vet and update it since the records are off a year. He was born on Halloween 2001. My son informed me, and I went back through Christmas pictures to verify. I only remembered that we brought him home after Christmas. I remember taking a picture of him inside a Santa Hat.

Truthfully, it kind of makes me sad that he is older than I thought he was. Since these wonderful creatures live such a short time as it is.

My friends Gail and Teresa are off to Houston. Actually, I think that Jeri and Deborah might be going to. I don't really have a desire to go. Maybe if I won something with one of my quilts (as Gail has) I might go. Heck, the two times I've entered, they rejected me, so winning anything seems like a slim chance at this rate! I'm anxious to see what Gail won. She has done really well with her two quilts this year. I'm happy for her. Maybe I will try again this fall with my new miniature. I think it might catch their eye. If not.. oh well. Maybe I should go all out and make a normal size quilt.

My skeletons are in a show in the Eastcoast Quilter's Alliance this weekend. It's done fairly well for a quilt that I didn't think would ever win anything. The skeletons have won Best use of Embellishments at the PNQE, Best interpretation of Theme at Denver, First place in the Art Wall Category at Road to California, and another first place for a show with an unmarked ribbon.. I think that it has come to the end of it's show career. It isn't good enough for Houston or AQS, so I am going to save my donation money. But what am I going to do with a Day of the Dead quilt 364 days of the year? Expect to see it tomorrow, the one day of the year I can hang it in my blog, for a holiday, and not even a holiday I ever heard of until I made the quilt!!

You don't see Dia de Los Muertos celebrations in this part of the country!

TGIF

I'm so glad it's Friday. I am off every Friday, and for once, I didn't have to go anywhere.. I did go grocery shopping. Oh joy. It is cold and rainy here, a good time to snuggle and sleep. I feel like I am coming down with something. My nose feels completely dried out. I have a sore throat and a headache. Luckily, I have already had my flu shot.l
My friend Susan and I are going to a local guild's quilt show tomorrow. My favorite thing is going places with Susan because she makes me laugh the whole time I'm with her. And there aren't many people who can do that.
My son Matt directed me to the preview of the new season of 24
It looks like it is going to be good. I like Lost, Jerico, and Heroes to. Weird. My favorite shows have only one name in the title. At least Lost is doing it right. They will show a string of new shows, and then be off for a couple of months and show only new shows until the end of the season. Last year was torture. They would show one or two new shows, and 3 or 4 weeks of re-runs. It was maddening. Well, I'm going to make this short because I have so many other things that I should be doing. I hope that you all have a great weekend!

I FINALLY FIGURED IT OUT

Ever since I switched to Beta Blogger, I have been trying to get the codes to replace my Webring logos. Anyone who tried to email an HTML code would find it bounced back to them. So I decided to go back on each ring, re-join and put in the text that I am already a member and I needed the code. After I put in the information, I got the code which I promptly pasted into a word document so I would never have to need it again. So I am all set.

Debra, thank you for trying to help. I did get your email, but I read it on my trip and couldn't find it again when I got home. Aol won't allow html to be sent in an email.

It has been cold here and snowing off and on. I guess the east side (east of Cleveland) got hit pretty hard. Better them than us. I like cold weather. I don't care for snow. Ever notice that I often put a little i where a capital I should be? Well, that's because a long time ago I cut my left little finger and I think the tendon must have been cut. I guess I shouldn't have fixed it myself because I haven't been able to straighten it out since. Doesn't bother me unless I need it to press the shift on the left. Just an observation.

Well, I should turn off this time sucking computer off. I would get a lot more done if I wasn't drawn to it like I am. Although my fancy new pink-yes, pink, cellphone has been taking up a lot of my time. It has all of the bells and whistles and I have to learn to use it. My son is letting me play with his bluetooth wireless earpiece. Too bad no one ever calls me on my cell phone. :(

OUR TRIP first of four

Bill and I went on a short trip to a house that was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It is called Falling Waters, and is located in Pennsylvania. We then drove a couple of hours to West Virginia to visit my aunts, uncle, and cousin Brenda, shown here with her first quilt that she made 30 years ago. Brenda is one year younger than I am. And is the only one in my family that has many of the same interests that I do. But she has always lived so far away from me, we haven't ever got to spend as much time together as i would like. She is very skilled with many different crafts. Maybe some day before we cork, we will be able to live closer to each other. She will have to come my way.. I'm not living in the sticks! Love you Brenda! First off, let me explain, that all of this comentary will be backwards, and over 4 blog posts. We went to Falling Waters first but pictures of a fort we visited are shown first on the blog.

I liked Falling Waters. The fall colors were wildly bright even though it rained all stinkin day!

This is the house from the trail. It is beautiful. After going through it I thought mostly that I had walked through a work of art. I don't think that it was a very practical place to live though. It didn't exude warmness. It was uncluttered, stark. Not my idea of a comfortable home. But then, I guess this was mostly their summer home anyway. I don't think they lived in it year round. The family was the Kauffman's of the store fame. They had one son who never married, so he donated the house and land to the Pennsylvania conservation group. They have done a great job keeping it just as it was when the family lived there . I would like to go back again without the umbrella. At least the next day it was beautiful and sunny.

continued

This was one of my favorite things about Falling Water. I loved this statue seen in the area between the main house and the guest house. The canopy to the left covers the steps that lead up the hill to the guest house
My pictures are out of order. Sorry, that's the way blogger is. This is a cabin in the Prickett fort that we visited on the way home.
Living in a flat part of the country, I had never seen a "Runaway Truck" ramp. This ramp goes practically straight up to nowhere. All I could think is that I wouldn't want to be in front of that truck going down the mountain
This is the kitchen area of a house finished in 1861. The woman had 12 children living in a house with 2 rooms down, and 2 rooms up. She cooked over this hearth for all of them. She had a bed in the kitchen because it took her so much time during the day to cook, she had an area to rest, or to put a sick child that needed tending.
This is Prickett's fort. It is a reproduction of the original that stood on the site

continued

This is a desk in Mrs. Kauffman's bedroom. I liked the way all of the heating vents were hidden in the furniture. And I especially liked the way the windows were beveled where they met so you would have an unobstructed view to the outside
The shelves and desk were built INTO the walls. See how the desk was cut to allow the window to swing open?
This Was Mrs. Kauffman's bathroom. I liked the vanity with the plants in the window, and the Picasso print on the wall
I think this is Mr. Kauffman's bedroom. Can you imagine having a fire going in this fireplace? The rooms were very small and it was like it was taking up most of the room.
This is Mrs. Kauffman's room again. She had a terrace, and a wall full of windows which made her room look bigger.

continued

We walked back on this trail. We should of started from this direction, because the way we walked was straight up
This is the sitting area of the house. You go from a narrow stairway up into this open room. I guess Frank Lloyd Wright was influenced by Japanese art because everything is low to the ground
This is the kitchen. You can see the waterfall through the bottom window. The kitchen was very small and quiet.. until you opened a window
Uses for unbleache muslin. The lights in the sitting/living room were covered with unbleached muslin to diffuse the light

BLOGGING FROM PA

I guess I'm addicted. I can't go one day without checking in on a computer. I only wish I had a laptop.. choices...choices... laptop or longarm?
Bill and I are headed to Falling Waters, a house that was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. We will go there in the morning, and then on to West Virginia to visit my uncle, cousins and aunts. I haven't seen them in several years, even though the drive is only 5 hours.
I hate to travel. I dreaded getting ready to go. Once I am on the road I'm okay, but it is the getting ready to go that I hate. Would you believe that this is the first time in maybe 15 years that Bill and I have gone anywhere without the kids. I'm hoping the next trip won't be so long. We at at a historic stone house this evening. I couldn't eat everything, because they served so much.
Would you believe it? I forgot to bring anything to work on... no hand sewing, no knitting. At least I have a book, and the motel has a computer that can be used by guests. So I abandoned Bill to come use it.
The fall colors are beautiful. And the mountains are high where we are. My ears were stopped up from the altitude. I live in a flat part of Ohio, so this is pretty high for me. It rained all of the way down, and followed us here. It is cold gloomy and rainy outside. Kind of disappointing. If we would have come last weekend, it would have been beautiful.
I don't know if the place we will stay tomorrow will have a computer available, but I will post pictures on Saturday. I plan to have my aunt drag out some of the family quilts so that I can photograph them. Later gators!!

I never realized all of the paperwork involved in donating a quilt to a museum. My miniature quilt "There and Back Again" was requested by the Museum of the American Quilter's Society to be a part of their "Oh Wow" miniature quilt collection. They sent a bunch of things to sign. Like a Deed of Gift, and a sheet to give permission to use the image for whatever they want. I loved the line in the letter, "It is with great pleasure that we accept your gift for our collection of works by today's quilt makers. We look forward to treasuring it and sharing it with our visitors from around the world for generations to come. "

All I can say to that is "Oh Wow". One of my favorite quilter's quotes, paraphrased, is "It is not a woman's wish to be forgotten, and thus she signs her name in cloth". Thank God, I will be remembered for my quilts and not for the dishes in my sink!

Last Thursday, I spent the day with a couple of appraisers from my area, watching while they appraised quilts. As I looked at the antique quilts, I did think about the unknown quiltmaker, wondering if she ever dreamed that her creation would be cherished by someone, maybe not even a family member, long after she had left this world. I have thought about Jane Stickle, wondering what she would think if she could see her quilt now, and see the thousands of women who have reproduced what was originally her creative outlet, maybe her only solice in a time of war. It just amazes me.

I just started entering quilts in competitions last year, and this happened to me before the year was up. It is one of my proudest accomplishments. I know there are many quilters out there that have won many awards, and have quilts in museums. I am proud to share a little 14x14 inch space with them.

ON SNAPPING OUT OF IT

I was talking with my friend Gail (MQ) about negative people and how they will drag you down. We started talking about different sayings regarding getting over yourself. Like Mary Englebrights "SNAP OUT OF IT".

How about this one; DON'T TELL PEOPLE YOUR PROBLEMS...HALF DON'T CARE AND THE OTHER HALF ARE GLAD TO SEE YOU ARE GETTING WHAT IS COMING TO YOU!

Gail's friend Becky from Wisconsin (a very nice and upbeat lady) likes the saying "TIME TO PUT ON YOUR BIG GIRL PANTIES AND SUCK IT UP!!"

My personal favorite: "PAIN IS INEVITABLE, BUT MISERY IS OPTIONAL. NO MATTER WHAT YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES, YOU CAN STILL CHOOSE TO BE JOYFUL - AND GOD WILL GIVE YOU THE STRENGTH YOU DIDN'T KNOW WAS THERE."

So, do you have any sayings to ad to my list?

TUESDAY STUFF

Looks like we may be looking at a short autumn with snow expected. My area of Lake Erie is noted for "Lake Effect" Snow. The good thing about it is, the people east of us where the state goes back up north usually get hit earlier and harder than we do. Don't get me wrong.. I love cold weather.. but I can live without snow. Nowdays, I can't even dres in my sweaters and turtlenecks, because the flippin hot flashes have come back with a vengence. I have to dress
with something that I can strip down to and still be respectable.


I went to the doctor to get my annual diabetic eye exam. If this was my eye, this would be what it looks like. I'm not crazy enough to take flash photos of my dilated eyes. My eyes are healthy although he said "I'd like to see your fasting blood glucose a little lower (200-300). I just said "so would I". I'm starting a new med, and I'm going to see a nutritionist. I really want to get a handle on this. I've taken meds for it for 10 years, but it seems to be getting out of control. Anyway, it has been 5 hours and my vision is still ringed with clouds..

Here are some of the fabrics that I got from my recent "Break up the Kits" clean out. I am much more interested in making my own creations than working on someone else's.. I will put this stuff to good use. I have more photos, but Blogger is being a pain in the posterior. I can't get the other to upload. I have been trying for days to get my Art Quilter ring button below everything else, and all it tells me is, Error.. try again. Geesh...

BOGGED DOWN IN BLOGLAND...

My friend Kaye came over the other day. We sat in my studio discussing our respective projects. She said "You have way more than I do" when we were talking about fabrics etc. Which made me realize that I DO have way more than I want or need. Our guild has a rummage sale coming up in November. I am packaging stuff sell. I thought I would show you some of the "kits" I have put together for future projects.

This is fabric and a pattern that I bought for this geese quilt several years ago. I don't know about this one. I don't know if I will bother to even start it. I do like the background fabric which is black with tiny color dots. I might sell the pattern and colors.. and keep the black

I have been collecting this kind of fabric to make a teapot quilt for my mother-in-law. I was going to make a quilt with pieced teapots, but I think I will instead make a turning twenty or just a simple background with all of these fabrics, and do teapot and cups appliqued across the top with dark blues.

Do I really want to spend my valuable time making up these quilts? Should I sell them? I don't know if I will be sorry after I do it. I wish that I had the money that I have spent buying all of this stuff. I have done really well this year. I have bought very little in the way of fabric. When I do buy, it is for a project. There are 2 posts after this with more stash pictures. Keep an eye out, I am going to post more as I go along..

CONTINUED 2 OF 3 POSTS

This is all of the print fabric, and the patterns for a hidden circle quilt.
A simple HST quilt based on a quilt that I saw in a favorite Christmas movie called "A Gift of Love" An old TV movie starring Lee Remik, and Angela Lansbury.


Here are two batik Hawaiian applique blocks the other 9 or 10 patterns
and fabric are in the box.
These are 3" hand dyed 9 patch blocks.. the quilt will be very cool... if it is ever finished.
2" HST black and white fabrics.. I think I used these for another project.. but I can't remember what it was.

CONTINUED...

I forgot I even had this fall quilt pattern and fabric I might still make this
This is a simple quilt block that I plan to write my favorite Bible verses.
This is a Lucky Star Quilt by Terry Atkinson. One of my favorite easy patterns. With my favorite black batik that has colored smudges. I will finish this.. It's for me.
This is a simple 4 patch and 6" block out of fall theme fabrics. It would be simple to throw together for a gift..

MOVIE WISDOM

I bought a DVD movie going on the title alone. I had never heard of the movie. It is called Love Comes Softly. It stars Katherine Heigl ( Gray's Anatomy) and Oliver Macready. It is about a young woman and her husband who travel west in a wagon train. When they finally reach their land, her husband dies in a freak accident the same day they arrive. The young widow is laying across her husbands grave in the pouring rain, and is approached by a widowed neighbor man with a young daughter with the proposition for her to marry him. He wants to give his young daughter a mother if only for the winter, and promises to send the widow back east in the spring. In a daze, she accepts (the preacher that performed the funeral for her husband was leaving the next day and wouldn't return until the next year)
Anyway, it turned out to be a really sweet movie. At one point in the movie when the man "Clark" mentions praying for guidance, "Marty" says something to the effect that why does he pray to a God that would allow bad things to happen to them. He lost his wife, she, her husband. He had the most eloquent way of explaining just perfectly why bad things happen. Considering all of the bad things in the news lately, I thought it was especially poignant. So much so, that I wrote it down verbatum

On why God would allow bad things to happen.
From the movie Love Comes Softly

“Missy could fall down and hurt herself even if
I’m walking right there beside her. But that
doesn’t mean that I allowed it to happen.
She knows with a father’s unconditional love,
I’ll pick her up and I’ll carry her. I’ll try to
heal her, I’ll cry when she cries, and I’ll rejoice
when she is well. In all the moments of my life,
God has been right there beside me. The truth of
God’s love is not that He allows bad things to happen,
it’s his promise that He will be there with us when
They do.”

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY

I was listening to an Alex Anderson podcast today. She was interviewing Marilyn Badger about her garment making and long arm quilting. Marilyn mentioned when she doesn't do free motion, and she needs a specific quilting design, she traces the design onto freezer paper, uses a big needle and sews the lines (without thread)

Then she rubs "Miracle Chalk" over the holes. This is a chalk that is removed with steam.. works great.

Then Viola! the pattern is transferred onto the fabric, and will not come off until you steam it off. I have probably heard this idea somewhere, but I have always promptly forgotten it. this time, I did it right away and recorded it in photos so that I wouldn't forget next time I need to mark a quilting line.

Here are my portable Ipod speakers. they fold completely flat and go into a little bag for travel. Sometimes, you just don't want to wear earphones. I have them in at work all day so that I can listen to the radio. That's my limit!

STILL THINKING...

Ten years ago I bought this little hardbound book that is mostly blank but has some printed areas throughout the pages that have quotes from quilters from all over the world. In it I have written my own thoughts about quilting, I have collected quotes from other quilters that inspire me. So, if someone says something in their blog about quilting that I feel is profound, I put it in my book. I have pictures of my quilting friends, even my internet friends, several of whom I have never met. I write tips and techniques that I have learned in the book.
Anyway, I thought about this and I am going to add the quotes that I have collected to the quilt with the pictures. I am going to print them out onto fabric, and if I tea dye them, they should fit perfectly with everything else.
I will leave you with a few quotes that I found somewhere along the way.
" Our heavenly Father uses our scraps of talents and abilities. By piecing them together to serve a purpose. We are tied together by faith in God who is our comforter."
Or how about this one?
"She never knew how her great idea came to her. Sometimes she thought she must have dreamed it...her nimble old fingers reached out longingly to turn her dream into reality... she put the thimble on her knotted, hard finger with the solemnity of a priestess performing a rite." - Dorothy Canfield Fisher The Bedquilt.
My favorite:
" It was not a woman's desire... to be forgotten. and in one simple, unpretentious way, she created a medium that would outlive even many of her husband's houses, barns and fences: she signed her name in friendship onto cloth and, in her own way, cried out, Remember Me."Linda Otto Lipsett - Remember Me