I can retreat too!

All of my Mobile friends (except Nancy) is retreating this weekend and I was pouting about not being able to go. Really I was having a big pity party, but I was the only one there. SOooooo I decided to retreat all day by myself and pretend I was with my friends.
My nephew and his wife, on Ray's side is expecting their first baby. I have been looking and looking for the perfect quilt from Aunt Dinah (me) and I think I found it. Since we know it is a baby boy I thought he would like a space ship quilt. This is an old pattern that I saved out of a Quilter's Newsletter Magazine. You can tell I am making a quilt from my heart because this is almost completely made from templates. I hate templates.

I also have a niece that is having her second birthday soon. I didn't make a quilt when she was born because she was getting so many. Now I think I want to make her a big girl quilt. She likes dinosaurs and I think I have the perfect pattern. I will start on that tomorrow, at least the fabric picking.

More later,
Diane

Sorry...been a bit busy

I have been busy, but not with any quilting. Too bad, so sad. I have been working on the house.

Remember this wall? This is the before picture.

This is the after picture.

Can you believe it? The person who hung the navy blue wallpaper drew navy blue lines between each strip of paper. UGH! Oh well, no real biggie. I was planning on eventually painting the living room, so I will just have to move the eventual date to a much closer date.

This is the wall to the right of the previously blue wallpaper wall. There was a blue wooden frame around this and we removed that. Then we filled in the HUGE holes left by the molly bolts. Now to decide what color to paint the room. The problem is this wall that Joseph is playing Vanna with connects to my kitchen. I have to find a color that works in both places and makes me smile while not making Ray agitated?

Remember the teal colored recessed areas from this post?

Well Joseph and I got busy and removed the wallpaper from them and I like it a lot better. I was thinking about painting them red and using them to display some of my Precious Moments. I'm testing primers and colors so I will post pictures as soon as I get some results. Who knew there was so much to painting a wall?

More later,

Diane

Finally, some good customer service!

I believe if you grump when you get bad customer service you should sing out when you get good service so here I go!

Right before Ray took the job in Florida and we were still living in Alabama we bought a new mattress and box springs from Haverty's Furniture. We paid a pretty penny for them too. I LOVED my new bed, it was so comfy and I was able to sleep more during the night.

So we have had the bed for just about a year and seven months, not very long. Ray and I both have been having issues with the bed lately, but mostly me. I would wake up with my back hurting some mornings. This went on until I was waking up every morning with a backache and Ray then said, "you know my back has been hurting too". That was enough! We went to Haverty's and explained the problem and the manager said he would get someone right on it.

Sure enough I was called before we got home that evening from customer service. I was shocked.

Anyway, a fella came out and measured my bed, and took pictures and studied the bed frame and said someone would contact me. I didn't feel real confident when he left but what was a gal to do? I was amazed when two days later my salesman called me to say "Diane, come pick out a new mattress!"

HUH? No way! Really? COOL!

I'm impressed!

Now I just have to go lay around the furniture store until I find a mattress that I like.

So, I am here to say, if you want good customer service and you are looking for furniture head on over to Haverty's and give them a shot.

Later, gotta go slip on my jammies so I can lay out on some mattresses.

Diane

Oh my aching back

I have been in a battle with my back for over a week and I am really tired of it!

I have been living on muscle relaxers and pain meds and I hate the tired/fuzzy feeling they give me. I feel good for the first couple of hours of the morning, but way before noon I am starting to feel the twinge of pain and spasms that come with it. UGH!

Enough of that!

I haven't gotten any more done on my scrappy star. I went to a quilt shop and found a couple of shirting fabrics I didn't own.

That is another thing I didn't do, I forgot to do my stash report on Sunday. CRUD.

Ok, here it is :

In: 5 yards

Out: 0

YTD: +5

Off to do some picking up before the pain get much worse.

Later

Diane

Look what I got

Ray and I went to Lakeland today. We had a really good day.
While in the Patchwork Pig I saw this wonderful flower thread guide and had to have it. I first saw it a few months ago in a quilt magazine and loved it then but this was the first time seeing it in person. It is HEAVY.

I have been dealing with a bad backache and living on muscle relaxers and pain meds, so no sewing at all. I really should have stayed home today but was going stir crazy. Maybe on more night with meds and I will be better, at least I can hope.

I will be back soon,
me

I worked with EQ6...

I played around on EQ6 and this is what I have come up with. I like the applique, and I like the scrappy background, but is it too much to have both?  I couldn't get EQ to let me have a scrappy background with the applique so you have to imagine it being there.

Is it enough to have just the scrappy or does the applique help it?

Linda I was thinking something sort of viney and not dainty but the picture I have on there for the applique was all I could find in EQ this morning. So imagine it viney and folk arty-ish. LOL and I would put something in the triangles too not just the four corners.

I have no idea why the above paragraph has a white background, so I can't figure out how to change it. :(

All of your comments have helped me so much so please keep the ideas coming!!

Headed to the quilt shop to look for more shirtings.

Diane

Design floor...

I don't have a design wall big enough to show what I have been working on so I had to put it on the floor (again).

I can't decide what to do with the corners and side triangles. Should I make it scrappy? Should I use one fabric in all the places? A different fabric in each area? Or maybe just leave the carpet? :)

Help!
I want to do some applique in the corners and side triangles so the fabric won't be the focal point. I am leaning toward each piece being different and the corners being big four patches but...
help...

300 posts? Wow!

I had no idea. I don't usually look at what post number it is so when I looked this time I was surprised.

Today Ray and I went 4-wheeling. The company that he works for owns a couple thousand acres of land near Lakeland. This land has many lakes and ponds on it and the employees and their families are allowed to use it whenever we like. Today even though the temperatures were in the 40's we went and played on the ATV. It was so much fun! I had never been on one before so this was a new adventure for me.
In the picture I have SIX layers of clothing! I'm fat, but the layers did add a bit of bulk. LOL I stayed warm except my hands.

Today is also stash report day. Nothing exciting believe me since I have been working on my scrappy star UFO.

In: 0
Out: 0

It's here!

Well part of it anyway...
My sofa arrived but my chairs are back ordered. :^( Looking at the picture...yep those drapes have got to go!

I'm sitting here on my sofa watching the flames in my (fake) fireplace, listening to the silence of the house. I am so blessed!

Yesterday while sewing, my scrappy star was laid out on the floor since my wall space was full of the scrappy hexagons, I turned around and bent down to pick up a piece and YIKES that hurt! I pulled something and it still hurts. I think today I will see if we can't go buy the foam board to make me a large design wall so I won't do that again.

More later,
Diane

Waiting, waiting, waiting...

For the furniture delivery men.
I am pacing the floors.
Will they ever arrive???

I did get new triangles cut for the scrappy star. Why is it no matter how many times I do the math I always get the size wrong the first time? This time I got it wrong twice.
 I had a thought, maybe I want to do a bit of applique. Maybe in the corners? I am looking in all of my applique books for ideas. It is a scrappy star made with my civil war repros, so I think I won't want anything formal or intricate. But I don't want anything clunky either.
Can you tell I am trying to distract myself from thinking about the furniture? LOL

Later
Diane

I've never tried fresh pomegranate before. We found one in The Fresh Market and decided to give it a try. After a couple of days of sitting on the cabint I finally worked up the nerve to dive in.

So pretty!
They taste great!
But they make a mess...my white t-shirt now has purple dots all over the tummy section. Oh well.

I fussed and fussed because everyone had cool weather and we were still hot. Well I'm not fussing anymore because we are not hot...actually it is quite chilly. For the past two nights we have been below freezing and tonight we will be again. I am so happy!  Shhhh, don't tell the neighbors, everyone around here is griping about the cold.

Diane

What I did and didn't do

1. I did clean out the living room of all Christmas decorations.
2. I did get the youngest son to put the Christmas decorations in the storage closet.
3. I did  not eat lunch.
4. I did finally empty and put away all of the boxes that were still in the dining room.
5. I did vacuum every inch of carpet in the house..except the bedrooms, so maybe not every inch.
6. I did not leave the house.
7. I did not get to go into my sewing room all day. :^(
8. I did make homemade pizza for supper, YUM!

Can you imagine this room with furniture in it?  As soon as the furniture arrives I will be looking for new drapes and removing the teal wallpaper in the arch above the canbinet on the right.

This is the dining room. You can still see some pictures and a box of books in the room, but they will be taken care of as soon as we decide on bookcases and hanging places.

Doesn't my treadle machine look small and lost over there by itself?  I just haven't decided where it will end up and put it there until I do. The boxes you see are from all of the electronics getting hooked up. Ray is a box saver so I sure hope the guys put them away because I am sick of boxes and I am in the mood to trash every box I see.

For some reason Blogger has set my alignment to center and I can't make it change so I will just have to go with it...

I am headed to the sewing room and hope no one (husband or son) needs anything because I am putting my earbuds in and turning up George Strait and closing the door!

Later,

Diane

PS. Blogger still hasn't replaced the spell check so if I messed up and showed my ignorance please ignore it.

I know it's late, but I couldn't sleep...

**EDITED** This is also my first Design Wall post of 2010
Can you tell what it is suppose to be? A star!
I started this a while back and in all of the moves it kind of got lost. I found it tonight and started looking to see where I had left off. I discovered that I cut all of the triangles the wrong size. Then I discoverd that I had cut some more squares so I could cut more triangles and those are also the wrong size. Do you think that may be why I put it away?
More later,
Diane

Lots going on around here...

Ray and I have been doing some shopping. We have been looking for furniture for the formal living room and I have found the perfect pieces!

I just LOVE the red! Which surprises me since I have always gravitated to more earth tones and absolutely nothing that stands out. It is suppose to be delivered next weeks so I have been busy putting away the Christmas decorations.

I am getting the sofa and striped chair and the red chair and it comes with an ottoman. I will keep looking for end tables and will probably use the coffee table that belongs to my Mother-in-law. It is really pretty and I think it will go well with everything.

We found an Amish furniture store last week when we were looking for a quilt shop I had heard about and ventured in. I almost stopped breathing when I saw all the beauty. Ray said we will go there probably next week or maybe the week after and put an order in for our dining room table and chairs. I would also like to order some book cases but we will see. I will post pictures as soon as we go back as I didn't have my camera with me.

Ray found a BEAUTIFUL bedroom set but that will have to be on the waiting list I think.

Today we worked in the garage and I can FINALLY park my truck in there! YIPPEE! So as a reward for working so hard we went riding the 4-wheeler. I have never been on one before. That was fun!

Ok, time to eat dinner...then I hope to visit my sewing room.

Later,

Diane

***This new Blogger editor has me confused. I can't find the spell check so I hope I didn't mess up too badly.***