Happy Dance!

Everyone dance!!!!
I am so excited, and I just can't hide it....Ok, I'll quit singing now, but I will continue to dance. :)

I just got my confirmation for the David Taylor class. WOO HOO!!!!
I'm taking the class he calls "It's Pointless! Applique. Fortunately I won't have to take many supplies since I am flying in and I'm sure packing for two weeks I will already be over the weight limit.

This is going to be such a fun class. I have known David for a long time. Well I don't mean we are chums or anything but when I had my business dyeing fabric, David was one of my customers. I have done custom dye jobs for two people and he was one of them. I hate doing custom dye jobs but he was so nice when he called and asked if I would I couldn't turn him down. I am proud to say some of my fabric is in a couple of his quilts. Some of my favorites are the series quilts "A year under the Aspens". I know three of the skies are my blue fabrics.  I hope no one thinks I am bragging because that is not my intent. I am just so excited to take his class a lot of memories are coming to mind.

Ok, onto another subject before I sound like a commercial for my fabrics.

This is the UFO I have been working on this week and I am thrilled how it is turning out. Originally it was written to be a queen sized quilt (90"X103" or close to it) but I think I will make a few more blocks to make it King sized for my bed. The units are easy to make (as long as you pay attention and don't have to rip).

But I'm not going there!
I just love looking at all the different fabrics. The picture above is about half of the top. It has six more rows down and three or four rows on the right or left or some on both I haven't decided yet.
It is now after 1 am so I think I will turn in and try to sleep. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

Later,
Diane

This just in...

Every year Ray has to go to meetings in Colorado. I usually go with him and we stay at the Holiday Inn in Estes Park. This year for some reason they changed the meetings to Colorado Springs.
This year in Estes Park, at the Holiday Inn, Quilt Colorado will be there. Can you believe it? The year they change the meeting place Quilt Colorado shows up!

 I talked with Ray about it and he agreed I need  to call tomorrow and see if there is any open space for David Taylor's pictorial applique class. I just LOVE his work. I have been thinking a lot lately about expanding my horizons and this just may be the way to do it. I love civil war fabrics and traditional patterns, but feel like I am in a rut. I don't want to change so much as I want to add to. Anyway, I hope I get the chance to take the class.

Later,
Diane

photos

Just looking at this mess can you tell what I am making? LOL  Believe me it is gonna be great!

Here are the 1 1/2" sqs I have been working on. This is going to make a really great looking Bonnie Hunter design I have loved for a very long time. I am so glad I got the squares from Linda G.

Here is the new furniture. The recliner is the OLD one that Ray loves so it has to stay, but I am surprised how well it goes with the new stuff. The new chair looks much lighter than it really is and Ray's chair is almost a perfect match to the sofa. I have decided to make a big effort to get rid of the ugly blue rectangle on the wall. I was just waiting to see how the furniture looked and then I could make a decision on the wall color.

Now I am tired and want to sleep....I hope I sleep past 3am!

Is it really Thursday?

Wow this week has been so busy and it has flown by!
I have gotten some more work done on the 1 1/2" squares. I have all of the components ready for a top except a paper piece section. I am not a big fan of paper piecing anymore. Well I need to explain that. I don't mind straight line paper piecing like log cabins, pineapples, court house steps, etc. But if there are angles involved I hate it. I NEVER get the angle correct and end up so frustrated and upset with myself I want to toss the whole thing. So I have set it aside for a bit. ( Maybe longer than a bit if I am honest) :)

I was looking around my sewing room after straightening it for something to work on when my eyes landed on clear box under my cutting table. Inside I found three UFOs. One of the UFOs says to me "Look at me, I know you will want to work on me. I was your favorite!"  You know what? It was right! I pulled it out and started studying the instructions. (Skimming the pictures since I am being honest) I figure out where I left off and before long I was sewing and humming and having the best time. I am so glad I saw that box.

Today Haverty's is coming to exchange some furniture that I bought. It wasn't holding up as well as I thought it should for the price we paid. Once again their customer almost jumped through hoops to make me happy. I decided since the chair wasn't holding up I wanted something totally different. I wasn't comfortable that the sofa would hold up if the chair didn't. So they let me come pick all knew. It will be delivered today. :)
So, I had to vacuum and move junk around so they could get to the furniture without killing their selves. For most people that would take minutes, but I live with pack rats and pigs ( me included...you know, honesty and all) so it was a task.

Now I am trying to cool off and rest my back before they arrive. Pictures when they leave!!
Later
Diane

What an offer

Moving into an existing home means you inherit their flower beds and their design ideas. I have really large beds in my front yard but they are full of hawthorns and juniper ground cover. Not exactly my idea of colorful. I love green but I want a bit more color. I also want to attract butterflies and bird and have some fragrance.

Last week I got an email from a local landscape/nursery with a great offer. For $75 they will send out a landscape designer to help you design your dream. Beside the fact that $75 was a great deal they said you would not only get a scaled drawing, plant list, and estimates for them doing all the work, part of the work or none of the work, you would also get a $50 gift card. WOW! So for $25 I get a design drawn up by someone who understands what will or won't work in this area. Exactly what I have been needing.

I was able to get a little more piecing done with the 1 1/2" squares I sorted last week. I hope to take a picture tomorrow and you will be surprised and how much I have done. :^)

Later,
Diane

Am I seeing a trend?

I have been hearing for years about "stashbusting", stash organizing, decluttering the sewing room, etc. Lately though I have been hearing almost a desperate cry for help in the sewing room organization area. For the past several days many of the blogs I have travelled around have said things like..."I can't sew for all of the fabric", "I literally can't find the cutting table", "I'm not having much fun because I have to dig out before I can play", and "I have fabric not just in two or three places in the house, but in two houses".

Now believe me I will NEVER pass judgement on your stash because I don't want anyone passing judgement on mine. I do have a question though...why? Did we just get caught up in a buying frenzy and that is how we became the owners of enough fabric and notions to open our own quilt shops?  I have seen the pictures of the stashes on the Internet and there are a LOT of stashes that are larger than many of the quilt shops I have been in.
For many years the trend seemed to be "buy it all before it runs out" now it seems to be "I own it all and don't know what to do with it".

There are several books right off the top of my head that can help you make quilts that are pretty and quick. Judy Laquidara has two books, Weekend Quilts is her latest

and then there is Nine Patch Extravaganza. 

I don't know about you, but just because a pattern is quick doesn't mean it is pretty and I am not going to waste my fabric on pattern that isn't pretty.

Bonnie Hunter's books and website are amazing. Her quilts may not all be fast but you can make a LOT of quilts that are not hard. You can devote just a few minutes at a time and be amazed at what you can accomplish.

The biggest issue with my sewing room is the paraphernalia. Six seam rippers, twelve pairs of scissors, eight rotary cutters plus dozens of blades ( I had to try every brand and size, but can't seem to let go of the ones I don't like), a six inch stack of machine needles, rulers...don't even ask about the rulers. I have at least one of every size and a couple of sizes I have two or three. WHY?
I have buttons, ribbons, bees wax, another seam ripper, hand needles, template material, empty thread spools (wooden), marking pencils, etc, etc, etc.  If I could find a way of sorting these items I would be fine as I have finally gotten my fabric, books and patterns under control. It did take a comment from my friend Linda G to help me with that. She once said something to this effect " If I buy it I have to find a place to put it in my sewing room. unless I need it for a specific project let the quilt shop hold it."  At first I was shocked! She even worked at a quilt shop!! Then I had to pack to move and she got smart real fast.

Anyway I was just thinking about this since I have read so much about it lately, any thoughts?

Diane

Rocket Man

It's quilted, it's bound, it's washed...now I just need to mail it. WHEW! I am finally finished with it. I put it off and put it off until it became the elephant in the room. I couldn't ignore it anymore. Yesterday I told everyone that was the ONLY thing I HAD to finish. No lunch, no dinner, no cleaning until it was finished. My son brought me breakfast into the sewing room at about 11am. Then at 1pm my husband called and reminded I had to go pick up a chair I had on hold (pictures coming soon) but I went there ans straight back. When Ray came home at 6:30 pm I had the quilt in the dryer. YEAH ME!
I don't care for the quilting but I am never happy with my quilting. I do like the piecing and the color choices so all in all I am pleased. I hope baby Erik likes it.

Diane

when a friend gives you scraps...

you sort!

I wonder if Linda G. remembers giving me this bag. Several years ago Linda brought this bag to me and sort of challenged me to do something with the contents. I looked inside and was excited at all of the tiny squares. It was FULL almost to the top with 1 1/2" squares. At the time I didn't have a sewing room and was working at my dining room table so each evening I had to clean up my "mess" for dinner. It didn't take too many days of this to decide it was all too much and put the bag away.

Skip to several years later and not only do I have a sewing room I also no longer have to haul three teenagers all over town each day. Today after sorting through my 1 1/2" strip drawer, my 2" strip drawer and my 2 1/2" strip drawer I was looking for more scraps to get in order and found this bag again. I smiled. I started sorting.

This is about a quarter of the bag.

This is what I have after the bag was emptied.

Cool huh? Now I just need to start me some 4 patches and nine patches. I can see fun on my horizon! Once again, thanks Linda!