Travelling

We are travelling to see FIL and his wife in Arkansas. Two days driving to get here and I am stiff! I am visiting quilt blogs to see what everyone is working on, but I am not quilting. I did bring some cross stitch to work on.

See you on the road...

Diane

Do you think he's telling me something?

I think he's trying to tell me I need to cook more. LOL

Man is this a great set of cookware or what? I had asked for the small set (7 pieces) but thought it would be a long time since it was so expensive. But Ray said William-Sonoma had a super duper sale last week and he was able to get the 15 piece set for just a little bit more than the smaller set. Needless to say I was very pleased.
I cooked today's dinner with them and they are great. NOTHING stuck, and they cleaned so easily. I will be boxing my Revere cookware and giving it away tomorrow! LOL

Later
Diane

Did she know?

Mary Did you Know is probably one of my very favorite songs. I love how it is a simple song with thoughtful questions. I wonder if Mary really did fully understand. I hear this song and I think of all the small things a mother and child do each day and realize she was singing to the Savior. As she splashed Him in the bath, she was making the Savior laugh. As she rocked Him to sleep at night, she was comforting the One who comforts us. As she looked into His eyes as all mothers do and wonder what they will do and be when they grow up, did she know?


Diane

it's beginning to smell like Christmas...

Well at least it smells like cookies. LOL This is a picture I nabbed off Google just to represent my cookies. I set my camera down and didn't turn it off and the battery died. :(

I also made some snickerdoodles and they turned out really good.Once again, not my picture, but it looks just like my cookies! LOL

I have to run to the store...I do this every year, I forget to buy essentials like shampoo and toothpaste until the stores are super crowded with shoppers. You would think I would learn.

Later

Diane

It's beginning to feel a bit like Christmas

Isn't this beautiful? I saw this on Google Images and really liked it and thought I would share it.

I have been a bit down lately (since Thanksgiving) without my older two children around. This was the very first year in 25 years that I have not had my kids with me. Today I got a very pleasant surprise. My oldest son called me very early (for him) around 8am(7am his time) to tell me he was on his way to come see us! I was so excited! At 5:30pm he arrived and we have had such a great evening.

Tomorrow we will run to the store to pick up a few items to cook. I had not planned on cooking a big Christmas meal since it was going to be just the three of us and we were leaving the next day to head to Arkansas to see Ray's dad. We didn't need leftovers. But now I am cooking a medium size meal. We are still going to Arkansas, but Alan will go with us!

This really is a great Christmas present for me.

All day I have been flitting around getting the spare bedroom ready. We had been using that room as a sort of holding area for things we had not put up yet and we didn't have a mattress on the bed. We got rid of the old mattresses since they had been around the whole time my children lived at home. They were tired (the mattresses not the kids) and needed to go away.

I wish my daughter was here, but I am happy my son is.

Diane

Inspired

I have been feeling very disjointed lately. So much so that I can't even stay focused in the sewing room. I start one thing and it takes me over 5 hours to make one lousy block and it isn't a hard block!

I have been doing a lot of blog surfing trying to get my head together and after seeing oh so many wonderful sights I landed on Keryn's blog. My oh my was I inspired. I love going to her place and her sister's as they have quilts I could just cuddle in and go to sleep. (sleep is hard to come by at the moment)

I saw the album block she was making and loved it. I have always liked album block but avoided them because I thought they were too fiddly with all the triangles. Well she broke it down and I was able to stay focused and TA DA!!

It wasn't hard at all and I had so much fun! I guess I needed to have my hand held, Thanks Keryn!

I had so much fun and I like the block so well I cut enough to make a QOV top. You know you have a LARGE stash of 2.5" strips when you can cut 24 blocks from it and not make a dent.

Tonight is another no sleep night so I will be doing more blog surfing. You never know what you will find in this vast blog world!

Later

Diane

Stash thoughts...

(These are all old pictures from previous posts)

I have been thinking a lot lately about Judy's post about stash busting in 2009. I have stated here before (multiple times how I have a huge stash and was embarrassed by my gluttony. I love almost every piece in my stash, especially now that I culled it so much before the move and some since the move.

I have been thinking about what I really want to do with my fabric. Do I want to keep it and pet it and refold it occasionally? Do I want to use it up so I can buy more? Do I want to reduce my stash just for the sake of reducing it? To all of the questions above I think the answer is no.

I think what I really want to do this year is work on UFOs, use some of the patterns I have loved but never even opened, and actually quilt a few of the tops I have setting in a pile. If you know me or have read much of my blog you know my mantra is "when it's a top it's finished". I want to have a quilt, a nice quilt for each of my children.

During the culling of my quilt room I have started asking myself "Am I really going to use this?" I have been being brutally honest and have been able to relieve myself of quite a bit. I need to do the same with my patterns and books. I do have a huge amount, but with having a business until last Spring I have many patterns that I carried in my store, but that I have no desire to make, or I have multiple copies of books and patterns that I love but only need one copy. I think after the new year I will be putting some for sale.

ScrappyQuilter when she said she wouldn't print another pattern off the Internet until she used at least two from her binders. I AGREE!! I have multiple binders of patterns I have printed and pictures of quilts or color combinations I like. I need to use these! It is such a great resource that I have not used to the fullest.

I have thread, quite a bit of thread. Again, I had it in my business so I have a very large drawer full of applique, piecing, embroidery, and some quilting. With me being a top maker most of it just sits there looking pretty. I need to use it or sell it. I haven't even brought up the hand dyed fabric I have! LOL I have TONS of that. A conservative estimate would be 200 yards. YIKES!

Ok, enough thinking and typing, I need to get to sewing!

Diane

Not very productive...

This is all I have to show for over 5 hours of sewing. How depressing. The block on the right is what you get when you don't pay attention to the directions. It is usable, but not right for the block I intended to make. Oh well it will go into my leftover block box and one day it will be used in something.

After I had been in my sewing room for quite a while I realized my back was hurting (bad) again. I have had a lot of trouble with it since the move. I called my son into the room to help me raise the table a bit, maybe that will help.

I even made me some risers for my feet and my gas pedal. I hope this helps.

Later

Diane

All good things must come to an end...

and boy I am here to tell you this retreat was a good thing. I relaxed, laughed, ate, hooted, hollered, and sewed (a bit). I had so much fun I forgot to take very many pictures, but I did manage a few.

This first picture is wonderful Australian fabric from my Aussie friend Suzanne. The piece across the top is one she dyed herself. The others have all things Australian, such as boomerangs, cockatoos, Aboriginal cave art, kangaroos and more. She is so giving! She spent a lot of the weekend showing many of us techniques we didn't know such as machine embroidery, free motion quilting, hand embroidery. She is a great teacher and friend.

Remember when I was writing about have way too much fabric and being almost embarrassed by it? Well I reminded myself of it when we visited Lacy's Quilt Studio in Loxley, Alabama. She always stays open late one night so we can go shop. This year she gave EVERYONE at the retreat a gift card! There was 35 women in attendance and she gave one $50 card, one $25 card, two $10 and the rest were $5 that we drew out of a basket. Can you believe that? That is another very generous person in our guild. One year she cut two whole bolts of Hoffman Batik into fat quarters and passed them out at a Christmas luncheon. She is amazing.

Anyway as I was saying before I got sidetracked. I remembered I had too much fabric and really didn't need anymore, but I can always use a book and maybe even a DVD to teach me more from the book, so I got the Mastering Precision Piecing book and DVD. I have read some and saw part of the DVD and believe it is going to be very helpful.

After I checked out and was waiting for all of my car mates to be checked out I saw the Triangulations CD and have wanted for along time so I got back in line. LOL

One more thing about the trip to Lacy's; she had ladies waiting at least ten deep to be checked out and at least that many waiting to be cut by her two employees and not one person felt rushed or not important. Everyone was treated very patiently and like they were the only one in the store. That was some of the best customer service I have received in a very long time.

After emptying our checking accounts and loading up on goodies we went back to the retreat facility and got back to more fun. The ladies who put it on allow for selling any of your no longer needed items. I decided I didn't want to sell anything, I didn't want to deal with it, so I just put all of my stuff on the free table. I went with three very large boxes of patterns, fabric and stuff. I was so happy to see it going to good use.

Then I shopped. Most of the magazines and books below were free.

The picture below is of the T-shirt we got this year, we get one every year, and the five wonky stars are some that I made using Bonnie's maverick star pattern from Quiltville. One of the ladies in the retreat made some "slushies" and the stars were labeled the "one too many slushies stars". The slushies were good, but I was told after a couple of bites they were "grown up" slushies so I stopped. I did think about them several more times over the weekend though LOL.

This picture is of my sewing area just to prove to my husband I did sew a little bit. LOL But he knows me. He knows I would much rather visit that sew. I can sew at home when I am alone, but I can't see my friends anymore anytime I want.

The following are a few quilts that were completed or worked on at the retreat and I really liked them.

This is called oriental boxes I think. It is really nice.

One block wonder.

Doubledipity...

Courthouse steps...

Table runner ...

I was sad the retreat ended, but I was happy to get home. I missed my guys.

Later

Diane

WOO HOO!!

I got a new computer!

I have been using a laptop that was my oldest son's when he was in college. It is eight years old and has been through three teenagers and me, so you can guess it is not in the best shape. It has a trojan virus on it that we have tried to remove but it is stubborn.

My husband was going to surprise me with this for Christmas but during a stressful day he accidentally let it slip. It arrived today and he brought it home at lunch. I am so excited.

The picture above is not exactly mine, it is similar though. Mine is an XPS 1530 and it is PINK! That is as much as I know. I am so not a computer geek. If it runs and the keyboard has all it's keys (mine didn't) I am pleased. LOL

After I get through setting up the computer and putting the retreat pictures on here I will post about the retreat and all the fun we had.

Later,

Diane

Retreat here I come!

I am so excited, I picked up my rental car and I leave first thing in the morning. I have figured out what projects I am taking.
Taking the maverick stars, strippy/scrappy/trash/treasure project and the table cloth. Leaving the wonky log cabins, sister choice (because it is a top!) and the hand work. After thinking about it I know I won't do any hand work.
I am taking my camera so I will have lots of pictures (I hope) when I get back.

Later gator,
Diane

I'm not taking this project!

I woke up this morning and decided I would make a decision about what to take to the retreat. I grabbed the sister's choice blocks and laid them out to see what was needed to finish it. Can you believe I only needed 3 more blocks and borders to have a top? Without thinking about it I sat down and started sewing. I was fortunate to have left everything together and was able to just sit and sew without any thinking. I got the two blocks made and loved it! I decided then I would put the rows together to see how I like it. Then without much thought I grabbed a couple of fabrics for borders and tried them out on my youngest son. We both agreed the orange and blue looked good with the blocks so I quickly cut strips and added them.

TA DA!!!

The top is too big to get the whole thing in the picture so I just got the corner. What do you think? I really like it.

Later

Diane