DOGGIE CHIROPRACTOR

SAM IS SAYING... HUH? YOU ARE TAKING ME WHERE?


Who knew? My friend told me of a doggie chiropractor that she and her friends take their dogs to. She suggested that I take Sam because he has a disc problem in his back. Now me, always the skeptic,have scoffed at the idea for a while now. I only know formal medicine.. you know, drugs, surgery.. that kind of medicine. I'm not the acupuncture/ chiropractor type. So I took Sam tonight because I am willing to try what I can to help him feel better. Supposedly, the nerves that come out of the spine in the area of the disc problem are what supply the bladder/kidneys. Since he also has that bladder stone problem, and he recently had to have surgery to remove them. I hope that if this is for real, it will help in that area.
Doc used this little tool that made a snapping sound, and went down Sam's spine starting at the neck. When he got to the area that the disc problem is, Sam started reacting and whining, so we could tell that he hurts there. After it was over, he was happy and prancing. He needs to be adjusted in a couple of weeks again, then he should be good for a month. Hey, it's only ten dollars. Pretty good extra income Doc. $10.00 cash each dog, and there were about 15 or so dogs there.. wonder if he claims this on his taxes?

I am almost done with the center section of my quilt.. only 348 blocks to go!!

OLDER THAN DIRT

Today is my birthday. Whoppee!! I have been sucked into knitting again. I don't know what came over me. Just looked too much at all of the others making pretty socks. Here is my present to myself all of this nice Merino hand dye wool -top row, and Superwash wool, bottom row. I got all of this for $46.00 from Knitpicks. I refuse to pay $25.00 or more for a pair of socks, let alone socks that I have to make for myself! These should give me a good start for winter.

I have started my new miniature 'masterpiece' ;) It has 1/2" blocks. I had to chart out color placement, and I am pinning blocks to a board and adjusting the colors as I go along. I hope that it will be as striking as I have planned. I only have 375 blocks to go, and it should finish at around 12-13" square. I will show pics at a future date when I have finished it.

I am going up and take a nap. I have looked forward to it ever since 4:30 AM when I got up to go to work (on my day off, I might add)

THIS CAME IN THE MAIL

This is a t-shirt that is a gift from the Museum. Very cool. It will hang in my studio..

MSSgt Walter and the Quilt

Remember the quilt that some of my friends and I put together? It was for the MSSgt that helped pass out quilts for Home of the Brave to a reserve unit that lost many members. It has finally been finished and presented to him. Above is a picture of my friend Beverly, who is the Ohio Coordinator for the Home of the Brave Project and MSSgt Walter. He recently retired from the Marines and joined the police department. I guess he really liked the quilt.

SATURDAY HAPPENINGS

We are getting a new window in the living room. We moved into this house as newlyweds almost 25 years ago. In all that time.. the weird windows in the front didn't open. They had these nifty latches on them, but they were just for show. Don't think we didn't try to figure out how they opened.
So on nice days, our house would be warm because there was no air flow through the living room As you can see from the picture above.. there is massive air flow now!!
The picture below shows our new bow window. We bought it in Amishland and Bill and his friends are installing it.. The center 3 windows open!! I am going to figure out some curtains or something. We lost the awning with the installation of the new window. So that means unrelenting sunshine starting at about 1pm. Then there's the privacy factor, and nosy neighbors.

I went out today and used my 50% JoAnns coupon and bought a pad of Vellum for foundation piecing. I got a free frappaccino at Starbucks in Barnes & Noble. Along with a nifty thick red book of graph paper. And a book on Aran knits from Borders books. I have been looking for an Aran cardigan pattern, and this book has several patterns.

The next photo is of Sam relaxing and cleaning Claire's ears. He loves to clean her up. She doesn't seem to mind. Other than that, nothing is going on, just enjoying the hot sunny day from my basement studio..

FREE FRAPPUCCINO

I might as well get something for that waste of money Barnes & Noble membership! I got an email coupon for a free Frappuccino at the Starbucks Cafe. Of course, i have to get it by Sunday. When the new Barnes & Noble opened last year, I had a momentary loss of sense and purchased a membership. I hadn't planned on renewing it and they automatically deducted it from my credit card which ticked me off. Then a month later I got the renewal in the mail.. (Wrong address). So they are making money off of me this year because I don't buy enough to make up the $25.00 membership fees with the measly 10% discount I get with my card. I always have to learn things the hard way.
I mailed my quilts off to Vermont. Stupid, Stupid, Stupid. I paid $18.00 each to enter them, then I had to send $15.00 each to ship them back which ended up being $19.00 each for the additional insurance. $15.00 flat rate. Then it cost me around 15.00 each to mail them. All for a grand total of $104.00!! If I had been smart enough to get my calculator out before now, I would have pulled the entries and quit while I was ahead. Luckily, I learn by my mistakes.
Art for Art's sake is sounding better everyday.

LAST WEEK OF LEISURE

If you want to call getting up every morning at 5:15, leisure, then that is what this week will be. Next week, my co-worker goes on vacation, and I will be working every flippin day, including the weekend. I have to. We log all of the charts for our 2 Emergency rooms patients, and do the charges for 3 ERs. that's about 250 a day total. On top of that, I will have to call patients that leave without treatment, or write them letters, and I have to do payroll for all 3 departments. Usually, we share the load of the charts. For some reason, the only time I do the charges is when my co-worker is gone. And by the time I get up to speed on that, she comes back, and I'm not doing them anymore.
On the other hand... I can eat at my desk, and plug in the speakers for my internet stream radio and take those stupid earbuds out of my ears!

I am getting ready to box up my quilts for Vermont. And I am wondering if I should. I am not bothered by shows that offer no cash awards, but I am starting to wonder about entering shows that I don't have at least a chance of an award, when I have to send $15.00 for each quilt to have it shipped back, and I think the entry was 18.00 each quilt. Plus shipping on my end. I don't have long to think about it. They have to be there by next Friday.

Well, off to work.. oh joy. Then I go to the doc later today for my annual knee check up. (I had knee replacements about 7 years ago) I had two done on the same knee in less than a year. the first was not cemented in, and my bone didn't grow into the component. My lower leg wobbled in all directions. I would be standing, and it would go out backwards. I had it done over and it has been great ever since. I get it checked every year just to make sure it stays that way. Now, if the rest of my joints would cooperate, we would be in business.

Have a good day!!

HOME AT LAST

Two digital cameras ago I had a Nikon. It had a long lanyard style neck cord. I have moved this long cord to every camera I have since purchased. You can see why in the picture. It was taken as my new camera was plummeting towards the pavement, only to be saved by my neck cord!!

I just got back from the National Quilting Association show in Columbus. I got a pretty black and yellow ribbon with a little gold bee on it. My friend Gail, also got one. If it hadn't been for her, I wouldn't have known that there is no cash award at the NQA show! Oh well. They give the most wordy and helpful judges comments I have ever got from any show, so the trade off is worth it to me.

I'm glad to be home. I am in quilt show burn out. I think I will limit my overnights to Paducah. I had fun with my friends, but the show isn't big enough to spend days visiting.

Well, going out to cook steaks over an open fire. Later!!

NQA

I am off to the NQA show tomorrow. I am taking 4 classes and I don't have anything packed. I am taking a class with someone, can't remember her name.. Fran I think. Anyway, it is a class she calls Pyrotechnics. It is a traditional farmer's delight block, which has an 8 pointed star in the center, and 3 circular rows of triangles surrounding it. It should be challenging. I will learn to do piece it by machine.. of course. Then I am taking classes with Jane Hall and Dixie Haywood. A lecture on Piecing borders from Jane Hall, Lectures from Jane and Dixie on Pineapples, and then a lecture on quilting design from Dixie. I try not to take classes that I have to drag my machine along. I don't really like sewing in classes. But I want to learn this tecnique, so I have to. All of the Hall and Haywood classes are lectures, and all I need is paper and pencils. I like that.

I love taking lectures from Ricky Timms, because he is so generous with his ideas, and he makes it fun. I took a lecture of different tecniques in 2005, and a lecture on quilting design this year in Paducah. I wish he would have one of his seminars in my area. I checked in to it for my guild, but it requires a LOT of work, and I don't want to be in charge, I want to enjoy it.. so I will bide my time, there has to be someone out there that will book him.

So, since I don't have a laptop, you won't be hearing from me until Saturday night, or Sunday. I am staying to pick up my quilt on Saturday. That makes for a long day, but I have a friend riding back with me. So I should be good.

TOTE IDEA

I am always on a quest to find the perfect tote to drag along for my hand work. I always have a few applique projects going. The trouble has always been that I have looked in the wrong place for totes. I have all of these girly color totes, but none of them have ever been right. I never have easy access to my tools, or I only can get one project in a tote, so that means if I have a couple of projects going, I either have to move all of my tools between totes or I need to have more than one of everything.

Bill and I went to Sears Hardware for tools or something. I went along for the ride. Then as I am walking around, I spied the toolbags. I looked through all of them. They had a nice set of a 10 " and 12" bag that were red and black. And a green bag with pockets all around the outside AND a cell phone pocket. It also had a place to attach a shoulder strap. The only thing with all of these bags is they had a velcro 'grip' that attached the 2 handles together. A pain. So I settled for this 12 " canvas bag. It has pockets on the outside. nice for tools, extra glasses, cellphone.. and the inside has 2 big pockets on each end, 3 or 4 med pockets on one side, and a bunch of narrow pockets good for scissors, pencils etc.

So, if you are ever in the market for something like this, go to your local hardware store. You will pay between ten and twenty dollars. If you got the same thing and it was called a "Quilter's Tote" it would cost $49.95!!

LIVE AND LEARN

I pretty much got lambasted over a recent post concerning artistic angst. I deleted the post, because I don't want controversy on my blog, which I do for fun. I was ignorant of the rivalry between art quilters and traditional quilters. I found this out last night when reading the QuiltArt list. Seems if you have an opinion that doesn't mesh with some of the others, they are all over you. They are talking now about emotions in art. Some people think that if you don't reflect angst in art, then it isn't art. From what I can see, the people that have that opinion are also the most vocal against anyone else's views.

I will admit that I may have been a little to personal with my opinions in myprevious blog post, and I'm sorry if I hurt anyone's feelings, but at the time I posted, that was the only information that I had on the subject. I didn't realize that emotions ran so high, until I read some of the recent posts on the Quilt Art list.

Personally, I like all kinds of quilts. I think traditional and innovative quilts are art if they are done well. That's where I was coming from when I was talking about not understanding what the big deal was concerning being thought of as an artist. I still don't know. I know there are traditional quilters that look at 'art' quilts and say they aren't quilts, and there are 'art' quilters that think of traditional quilts as 'blankets'.
I don't know why people just can't get along and embrace all kinds of expressions of art without being so insecure about their own.

Which comes back to the original reason for doing the post at all. I really, truly think that when you take something that you love and try to make money at it. Then the whole reason for doing it gets skewed. You get competitive and insecure because you need to sell/win/whatever for the money. I'm not against selling your work, or making money from your knowledge. I just think sometimes that artists and/or their work suffer if they HAVE to do it to live. That's my opinion, and I have a right to it, and it's my blog, and I have a right to post it.

OLD CALENDARS

They were giving away old Quilt Art Calendars at the AQS store this year. Hey, they were free, I took one of each. But now what? Shows something good comes from all of that time I sit blankly at my sewing table un-inspired. I thought "why not cut out some of the pictures and glue them on the border around my room? I think they add a nice touch. In case you are wondering, I have never had a ceiling put in my basement studio. I like being able to hang things from the rafters.
While sitting at my sewing table not sewing, I went through some of the patterns and papers that were there. I came across a Pine Needle pattern and decided to cut the pieces for that. Those are done and waiting for me to set up my lightbox to place them. It's not that I don't have anything to do.. it is that my room is such a mess, I can't work. I don't know what to do with everything. I can't find my conformation letters from NQA for my classes. I hope that I don't need them to get in. Or it is going to be a long 3 days. I know that I got them sometime before Paducah. Maybe I will spend the day with a big garbage can and clear it all out. I have to give up some of my day with Bill. He has to go have a growth of some sort removed. It is about the size and consistency of a marble and it is behind his ear. Considering he is a baby about IV's and stuff, I might have to carry him to the car after he's done this morning. Luckily, there is a Walmart across the street. I will visit that, and then wait in the car. I hate waiting in the doctors office. It is nice and cool out today. I will take a book and relax.
THEN I will tackle my studio...