GARMENT SEWING

I am actually sewing GARMENTS. I used to sew my clothes all of the time when I was young and thin. Then I sewed my kids clothes until they developed curves. I'm not a tailor by any stretch.
I made a swing jacket out of teal and navy rayon batik. and I am getting ready to make a kimono style shirt out of red hand painted rayon batik. I got the patterns and fabric during one of my Paducah trips.. that is how long it has sat around.

My friend brought to my attention that on LOST the other night, the woman that Locke was doing the house inspection for was Sayid's Nadia. That's why I love this show. So many little things to keep track of.. this one got past me though.

Well, I am going up to move my living room around, and watch movies I rented
Pride and Predjudice.. pretty good but Kiera Knightly is cute, but when she smiles, she looks like she is snarling.
The Constant Gardner
The Prize winner of Defiance Ohio- I was waiting for this, but totally missed it's theater appearance.. which may be a bad thing
War of the Worlds- I saw this in the theater, I think Tom Cruise is a nut.. but, hey, I wanted to give it another try.

Nothing in the theater I want to go see this weekend, so I might as well enjoy DVD's at home.

LOST & IDOL

LOST : Okay, am I the only one to notice this.. that guy that has been locked up, the "traveling on a hot air balloon" guy? (we know he was a liar now) His name - Henry Gale - the same name as the uncle of Dorthy Gale.. the hot air balloon rider in the Wizard of Oz... Hmmmm.....

AMERICAN IDOL: And, when the heck is ACE going to be voted off? He is just another pretty boy that can't sing that well. I like Taylor. He is different at least. I am tireing of the bald rocker boy. I will admit that the reason I liked Beau.. was his hair. I like Kellie Pickler.. she may be faking the dumb blonde act, but I think she is a cute kid, and I like the way she sings. Mandisa is great, but just another gospel singer turned pop star. I love her though, I love gospel to. Paris is going to make it no matter what. She has talent AND an in with the recording industry through her family. The last 3 are good. But I think you have to be unique to do anything. We have enough brainless pop stars.. Who wants more?

A beautiful, warm sun-filled Ohio Spring. I am out the door.....

THANK YOU DIVA!

Because of Diva's advice, I was able to get my pictures for the Houston entry. Diva, I tried to email you, but I couldn't find an address. You asked to see my entry. It will be the miniature pineapple that was accepted to Paducah. You can find a picture a few posts back.
I had to email IQF to ask them if they would disqualify my entry for one pixel. By the time I figured out to fine tune my crop in my photo program, I had already sent the original to the recycle bin, which has mysteriously disappeared from my desktop, and I can't find it. I have been having some annoying computer problems, and I am waiting for new motherboard etc. before I fix it. Anyway, the photo is 1800 x 1199. I still don't care for the full image.. I might try to take it again before I mail it off to Paducah. I have a habit of getting right up on the quilt for a good photo.. which is too many pixels to work with. So I have to back off . The board I pinned the quilt to tilted just enough to make the top of the quilt look wonky when it isn't. I have a few days. I hope that the sunshine holds out!!

FOUND IN AN UNLIKELY PLACE

I have been looking for these since I bought Gabrielle Swain's DVD. That has been at least 4-5 months. I have looked in odd places... art supply stores, Michaels, JoAnne's, among other places like that. And where do I end up finding them even when I wasn't looking for them? STAPLES.
I went to get a USB port extension, and was looking at the dry erase boards, when I just ducked down an aisle to get to the front of the store.. and right there waiting for me were two sizes of boxes of these water soluble oil pastels!

My job has been trying to work me to death. I have only had one day off since March 3rd. I said that I would help with a special project, but because of some sort of political pressure, the deadline was moved up from April 1st (oh yes, I'm the fool) to MONDAY. I spent 12 hours there today.. and I couldn't take any more and I came home. There are too many things beyond my control with this project, and it isn't running smoothly. I spent the day wildly crabby. I think I will mutiny. I need tomorrow off to go to the movies with Bill. Spending time with him is more important to me than spending time at work on my day off. I was told there would be a major hissy fit if the project wasn't done as promised (by someone doing none of the work) but at this point, I could give a flying fig! I'll sleep on it.. but it doesn't look promising..

SETTING US UP TO FAIL?

I have been trying to decipher the Houston entry rules. They are accepting digital images for the jury process for the first time. I thought this would be a good thing, but they are making it really complicated for some reason. Other shows basically say.. 2 images per disc with at least a 4 megapixel camera.. not edited. Pretty easy. Here is the rules for Houston

"Digital images should be submitted on a CD containing two jepg files. Each image should be 1800 pixels wide x1200 pixels in height or 6" X 4" at 300dpi. The images should be RGB (or sRGB, if you have the option). No CMYK images accepted. The image should be saved at the highest resolution baseline" orstandard jpeg" setting (do not save as a progressive jpeg). This size will allow us to view for jurying purposes and have a small print quality version, should we need it.
When naming your images, please only use letters, numbers, dashes, and underscores; do not use spaces; keep the file name under 24 characters and end with a .jpg. Please start with at least a portion of your last name and a portion of the quilt title (depending on length). For example if your name is Sally Smith and your piece is called Yellow Day, please name your images Smith_yellowday_full.jpg and Smith_yellowday_detail.jpg."

Geeze.. can they make it any more difficult? I can't get my images to 1800x1200. I can get it to 1800, but the other side is 1350. I can't get all of the numbers to match up to what they require. Plus, doing this reduces the image size from what it was, so I don't know how they can look at it and get a sharp image to jury.

I don't know what to do about this.. should I just get slides made, or skip the entry all together?

THE BEST PART OF WAKING UP...

Yeah, I know.. it doesn't look like coffee.. but it is. And if I had my choice.. this would be my pick for a morning coffee. Folgers Coffee. I have tried all of the fancy flavored coffees.. Starbucks Breakfast Blend is okay. My parents always drank Maxwell House or Eight O' Clock coffee. I didn't start to drink coffee until about 3-4 years ago. I am still not a hard line coffee drinker. I drink maybe a cup a day. My friend Robin turned me on to Chai Tea a few years back. I really love it. Tastes like liquid gingersnaps. I like a steaming cup topped with whipped cream.. yum.

TWISTED STITCHER AUCTION PIECE

NANCY'S QUILTS

SEWING WITH FRIENDS

Yesterday was my Twisted Stitcher group. I love being with them. We laugh all day long. For the past two months, we have worked on a piece that we will donate to our guild's small quilt auction which is held at FAVA in Oberlin Ohio. It will be in November this year, just in time for Christmas. We spent last month working on the pinwheel blocks, all done out of cherrywood hand dyes and black, Kaye did us the honor of the applique in the center which has seven flowers, each representing a member of our group. The photo above, features Kathleen cooking lunch.. very yummy, I might add. And on the counter, the unfinished piece on my portable design wall. All of the pieces are sewn together now, and I have it at home to do the quilting.

I am currently working on 3 pieces that belong to my friend Nancy. They are 2 Chinese coin and one log cabin miniature. All are the same color.. light blue and purple batiks. I have quilted 2 and I have one more to go. I'm happy with how they have turned out.. especially the log cabin.

I was planning on going in to work today to work on protocols for Emergency Medical Services in our county. I REALLY DON'T want to go. I can' seem to move toward the door...

QUILT APPRECIATION

WISDOM FROM MY CALENDAR

Achievements and accomplishments are important, but they can take you only so far. In the end, what really matters - and what people remember you for; and how you value yourself - is all about the type of person you are and the type of role model you become.

Imagine how good it would feel to know that, when people think about you or talk about you, they describe you as "a really nice person," or "someone would never hurt anyone," or "always ethical."

I hope people remember me well.

NEW THINGS

Sorry it has been so long. I have been working a lot extra, and I needed a day to recover from my co-workers vacation.
I am working on a couple of things. I have sort of started a "traditional" quilt. It incorporates a traditional pattern, with a 10 step gradation... and MIRRORS.
On the miniature quilt front, I am making a miniature Baltimore Album. I tested a full size Baltimore album pattern for Marcia Hohn at www.quilterscache.com . So when I decided to do a miniature, I got her permission and will do one using some of her patterns, reduced from 12" to 2 1/2" finished. I told her that I would leave out some of the more intricate blocks. I'm not crazy ya know!
Other than this, not much is going on here. It was 60 degrees yesterday, and snowing today.. weird.
Well, I have an evening in with American Idol.. Go Taylor... see ya

P.S. What's up with 24? Do you think there will be any characters left at the end of the season?

YES, BEING "NOMINATED" IS HONOR ENOUGH

My miniature quilt THERE AND BACK AGAIN has been juried into the AQS show in Paducah!! I have been waiting for the letter, and it shows up by email. Unfortunately, I was at work, and I couldn't find anyone to tell! It was torture. Luckily, I have reservations for several years in advance, so I already have a place for my friends and I to stay. It is going to be a week long PARTY!! My net friend Gail, got her wonderful "Idling in Neutral" quilt in the show, and she will be staying with us!! She has the added responsibility of signing autographs.. because her quilt will be in the new Quilt Art Calendar... Good for her. Party..Party..PARTEEEE!!

THANKS TO A MARINE

It all started with Home of the Brave quilts. I was helping my friend Beverly, who is the state of Ohio coordinator, sew labels on a stack of quilts. These quilts go to the familys of soldiers that have died in Iraq. We were chatting, and Beverly was telling me about a Marine Master Sgt in Columbus that was very helpful with distribution of the quilts. She was tickled because he was so gruff. And commented that he mentioned that he was a VietNam vet, and "no one ever did this for us". We both decided then that we should make a quilt for him. I lost an uncle (also a Sgt.) in VietNam, and I felt that this would be my way of remembering him, and thanking this Marine for a long dedication to his country. Bev had a bunch of blocks that were too bright for the Civil War Repro quilts that are used for Home of the Brave. She suggested that we use these blocks. I did a large applique eagle to use with the blocks. I wanted to do more blocks, but I just couldn't get it together enough to move along with this.
Anyway, I asked some of the members of my guild if they would be interested in getting together to help put this quilt top together. Eight of us got together today, and finished the top.
It made a nice lap quilt. I hope he likes it!