MONDAY HOLIDAYS

It was a beautiful day here in Ohio. It was sunny and not too hot. We cooked ribs and chicken on the grill.

I actually got some sewing done yesterday and finally figured out what to do with all of those little fabric sample squares that I have accumulated over the years.

I wanted a little bag to carry my small knitting projects in. This one turned out a little bigger than I had planned, but it was a good practice piece. Each of the blocks is a little less than 3"

This is the inside looking through the bottom. I used some of the other squares from the collection to make pockets to hold scissors, stitch markers, counters, and whatever else I might need. Normally, I would put a bottom in before I did everything else. I don't want an unfinished seam inside of the bag, but, I wanted the bottom to be oval, and I didn't have a clue how to make a pattern for it. I did think of some ways to do it, but in the meantime, I came across a wooden plaque at Walmart. I eyeballed it for size and it turns out to be perfect. So I will use that as a template for the actual bottom. My friend Gail and I were discussing how quilters can measure without the need of a ruler. It is an amazing feat isn't it? Anyway, I am going to put a large piping on the edge of the bottom and use peltex to stiffen the bottom so it will hold it's shape. I have some smaller fabric samples that I am going to try another smaller version. It is fun to have something made out of an entire line of fabric. The only problem is, finding fabric in my stash that will match it enough for larger pieces like the lining and the bottom. I even made the handle by sewing 3 blocks together, folding them over some wool batt and quilting it all down in several places to make the handle stiff.
I don't have a picture right now, but I decided to knit "no show" socks with all of my summer weight yarn. I couldn't find a pattern that gave me what I wanted, so I actually made up my own pattern. That's saying a lot since I haven't been knitting socks for very long. I wanted the top to roll and the rest is just normal. I plan to wear them with sandals and look like a complete dork.. and I don't care.
I hope that you all had a great holiday. I don't know about you, but having Monday off is going to totally screw up my entire week. I have been thinking all day that it is Sunday.

GEEZE LOUISE.. IT'S FRIDAY AGAIN

Sorry, I didn't realize that it has been a whole week since I last posted. The good news is.. I have actually been SEWING. That rare and foreign occurrence around here these days. I am working on my share of the guild raffle quilt blocks.

I'm finally going to be able to use those stupid block markers I bought. Although this block looks easy. I had a lot of problems with it. The directions are nonexistant as far as color placement goes. To have the quilt look right and to be able to bring out the star points, each pieced block in each 4 block section has to be of like colors. Also, when piecing the large block. The plain dark block has to be on the left in all of the blocks. I had to take 4 blocks apart after my friend and raffle quilt co-hort Linda, called me to tell me that she discovered that they all had to be layed out the same concerning value placement. When you look at the picture on the pattern, it looks like a completely scrappy type of quilt, but it definately isn't. The top will all be together tomorrow, and Linda will put on the borders. She has a great place to work with many big tables to lay the quilt out.

When I was in Paducah, there was a vendor that had several of these fabric kits. I didn't really want a kit, so I didn't get it. A few hours later, after thinking about the colors, I changed my mind and went back to find all of them gone. The lady at the booth told me that they had plenty of the fabric at their shop and I could order it from them. Well, it turned out that they didn't have bolts, they had cut them up to make kits. So I have a kit anyway. I don't know what I will do with the 2 1/2" strips of light.. but I really like the brownish blue color of the other fabrics.

I bought two new books with my JoAnn's coupons. I don't mind paying 40% less. I really liked the Barbara Brackman book. Being a lifelong student of American History, it has been an irritating past few years because of the fallacy of the "Code Quilt" being touted as true quilt history even though there is no historical evidence to back up the story. I respect Barbara Brackman as a quilt historian. The real stories in her new book are interesting, and you can't beat a quilt book with footnotes!! The other book I got was Vicki Pignatelli's new book. I haven't read through it yet, from what I can see so far her methods aren't much different than Caryl Fallert's Piecelique,or Sharon Schramber's applique methods. But, I learn something new from every new book or workshop. I just pick out what is helpful to me anyway.

I have a FOUR DAY weekend. I don't have to do much either which is great. I will put together the guild quilt tomorrow, and I will go to an art quilt opening of my friend. Sometime in the middle of the day, Bill and I will go see Pirates of the Carribean before all of the little kiddies get out of school.

Did you notice my new blog header? It took forever for me to figure out how to get it to fit inside the box. I would rather there was no box at all, but that's pushing it. I did the lettering in Paintshop. The double layering of the letters was a complete accident. It happened only because I had know Idea what I was doing, and I couldn't do it again.

I hope that you all have a great holiday weekend!!

MY FAVORITE DAY OF THE WEEK

It's Friday. Thank goodness. It is usually the start of my 3 day weekend but I have to go in tomorrow to catch up at work. My co-worker is attending her daughter's wedding tomorrow and needed today off. After my week, I didn't want to work today. It may be no fun going in on a Saturday, but it has so many good points. The best being that I can go in and do my work and no one bothers me because they don't know that I'm there. I just can't get anything done when people constantly interrupt me.

I finally went to the doctor yesterday because of the headache that I have had since Sunday. I've tried everything to get rid of it, but it all dawned on me when he felt the constantly hard muscles in my neck and shoulders that it was probably the result of my tense muscles. I didn't even think of that even the day before when I had another one of those muscle spasms that extend from my shoulder into the back of my head. I couldn't even turn my head to the left on Wednesday! But it's one of those things that happens so frequently, it becomes a part of your daily existence, and isn't something out of the norm that would draw your attention to it. So I am armed with some new non-drowsy muscle relaxants and we shall see. As I told the doc. I am "naturally sedated" and I need a med I can take during the day. I took a Robaxin for a spasm one time, and I felt like I had been knocked for a loop for a day!
I guess I should try to relax.. but I have a calm exterior and constantly clench my jaw and get tense on the inside. I don't know why I'm like this.
One of the reasons is that they cancelled one of my favorite TV shows- Jerico. And then Ugly Betty ended so sadly.. so did Grey's. I love Lost, but it constantly confuses me. Heroes keeps killing off characters that I like.. but on the good side.. Jack keeps the body count up.

Well, gotta go. Going to Amishland with my Twisted Stitcher group. Fun times! BTW.. Pan's Labyrinth... weird.. dark.. violent..disturbing...subtitled.. no wonder it got rave reviews..

WHACKY WEDNESDAY

Hi Everyone!!

Not much going on here. We went from 85 degrees yesterday to low 50's in about 10 minutes last evening. No wonder I feel like I'm sick. I've had a vague headache for 3 days, a muscle spasm up the back of my neck since this morning and my throat is scratchy. But enough about me.. Pretty soon, I will no doubt be griping about the heat. In the spirit of wishing for fall, I have FINALLY worked out MY perfect sock.

I have been experimenting with measurements, and I have been taking notes, and this is the perfect sock for me. Now that I have this one done, I will start the other using the corrections that I made my first run through. The second sock should be fast and perfect. Right now, I have to stick with patterns for the 64 stitch cast on. I am not familiar enough with knitting socks to know how to fit different patterns that may take more than a 64 stitch cast on. I think I can do enough with this one. I have several patterns that I can use for the cuff, and I can do the same heel and foot on each sock. Eventually, I would like to do some of these lacy patterns like fan and feather and a ripple, but not until I get the hang of it.

I spent the weekend trying to make a dent in the multitude of fabric and stuff cluttering my life. I can't even think because there is so much crap laying around. I got together a bunch of stuff I figure that I will never use in a quilt. I thought that I would just take it to guild and give it away. Then I found a pattern for a summer nightgown. I think a bunch of this fabric will go to make some nightgowns instead.
I organized all of my flannels, and I found a pattern for an easy flannel quilt. I think a lot of people that I know will get flannel scrap quilts. I need to use this stuf up. Talk about a money pit. I wish I had the money that I have spent on things that I never used. What a waste.



Well, I just wanted to check in so you all know that everything is good here. By the way, I think that I have decided to have Bill make a whole new table for my HQ.
Talk to you later!!

NOW WHAT?

It took me 50 years, but I have finally got over my need for instant gratification. It took me over a year to save up for this machine. I wanted to pay cash. Now I am being tested because I can't play with my new machine until Bill can remodel my sewing table. this is what my table looks like

I am thinking of having him put the HQ in where my Pfaff is now. Of course the opening will have to be made larger. Perhaps I will have him move my Pfaff to the other side. I won't be using it for quilting now, so when I am quilting a quilt, I can put the cover over the hole for the machine, leaving a large surface for the quilt to lay across.

If anyone reading this has ever put their HQ in a table and you have some ideas, please feel free to email me.

One more day and I am off work for four. I have invited PATSY THOMPSON to do a workshop on machine quilting for our guild. She is coming on Thursday and I think she will be a great teacher.

I also got the new Quiltmaker quilt patterns from Electric Quilt. The thing that sold me on the idea is I can print the patterns out any size. Quiltmaker always has interesting quilting patterns to go with each of the quilts that they feature in their magazine. I haven't even looked at it yet, I'll let you know what I think.

That's about it. It is warm here today. A nice break.

THE AMAZING SPIDERMAN

There are a plethora of movies and TV shows featuring superheroes. Smallville (Superman), Heroes, Fantastic Four, and my favorite, Spiderman. Bill and I went to see the new Spiderman movie today. We really liked it. Usually before one of these series of movies, we have a film fest at our house of all of the previous movies. I was too busy this weekend for a Spideyfest. But this month there is going to be a Shrekfest, and a Pirates of the Caribbean film festival. I know. Pretty sad that a grown woman owns these DVD's. But I like them. And July will be a dream come true for Harry Potter lovers, not only is there a new movie on July 13th, the last book will be out on the 21st. I can't wait. There will be a two day HP film festival at my house before the new movie comes out. I have loved watching these kids grow up through the movies, and I have never had such a soft spot for a fictional literary character. Come on JPR, give the kid a break.
Bill and I had to drive down to Amishland two times this weekend. They were having their yearly anniversary sale. Last year we bought our bow window. This year we bought doors and windows and porcelain tile "floating floor" for our breezeway. I can't wait to fix this area up. It is a catchall for junk and now we will be able to sit out on the porch and enjoy the warm summer nights.
Well, just wanted to check in. My HQ16 comes in a couple of days. I can't wait. I hope it lives up to my expectations.
By the way, if you could have one superpower... what would it be?
My superpower would be the ability to go from one place to another just by thinking it. I would see the world!