What day is today?

All day long I thought today was Friday! Goodness, I'm all messed up.  Last Sunday I thought it was Monday.  I hate it when I get messed up on days and dates, but it seems to happy a lot. I could be that I never read a newspaper or watch TV anymore.

I didn't know until today the world was supposed to end! I heard the radio DJ ( are they still called that?) say something about needing to pay a bill but was gonna wait to see if the world ended or not. HUH? I had to ask Joseph what he was talking about. Apparently it didn't happen so I guess he needs to pay the bill.

I went to take some items to the Post Office, but since it is Saturday they were closed by the time I got there. I don't know about everywhere, but our PO closes REAL early on Saturday. That was when I discovered it was Saturday and not Friday. GRRR!


In the sewing room all I have been doing is cutting scraps to a usable size.

From the scrap box under the cutting table to ...

 nice strips ready for the strip boxes.

I have also been playing in the Civil War fabrics deciding if I want a brown Birds in the Air top or a Red...

Birds in the Air

What do you think? I'm always a brown fan, but for some reason the red is calling my name.  I don't have enough 1/2 yard pieces so I will be making mine a bit more scrappy than the pattern is. I don't have a problem with that. The more the merrier is my motto.

I wonder though, if I should sew some of the UFOs I have already waiting for me or start cutting this? Linda G would tell me to get busy with those I have cut! Maybe I will just pick the fabric and set them aside for a while until I get some more work done. I can hear Linda in my head...yes mam.

Diane

A good quilter...

"Being a quilter is 3% talent, and 97% not being distracted by the Internet!"

How true is this?
I saw this today and knew it had to be shared.

Diane
Who has been distracted most of the day.

Reflection

reflection or reflexion (rɪˈflɛkʃən)
1.	the act of reflecting or the state of being reflected
2.	something reflected or the image so produced, as by a mirror
3.	careful or long consideration or thought

I had a horrible phone call first thing this morning. I knew it was bad news as soon as the phone rang. Do you ever just know when a call comes in that it will be bad news?   A former co-worker of my husband's lost his teen aged son last night. We have no news as to how, just that it happened. I ache in my heart for the man. His wife died several years ago, and now his son. I can not even imagine the pain.
I feel guilty too. This is the same man who never took call outs from work, and there were a lot in those years. My husband always had to take them because this man was always spending time with his family. He was always at a motocross meet, or fishing, or baseball game with his son. There were times I was pretty vocal about my husband not having family time because he had to cover for "Family Man". My children also voiced their opinions at times. For some reason my husband always seemed to handle it with and an even temper. Now I feel guilty. After the fact I see that he only had a limited amount of time with his wife and son. I am thankful this morning that he has all the memories to hold on to. I still feel like my husband missed out on a lot, but it was for a reason. We still have our children and each other.

Another thing that I am reflecting on today is something my daddy said to me last night. Daddy has started calling me and being very vocal about his wants and needs. He said to me that he needs people to call him and talk to him and to come by and sit and talk to him. I say "to" him because since the stroke he stutters and can't always say what he wants.
I have dealt with a lot of bitterness in my heart from the way my family was and is. I did over and above for most of my adult life trying for a relationship. Never got one. Now that he is older and bad health he wants a relationship? He demands a relationship? I live in Florida so any relationship will be long distance so I don't have a problem calling and chatting. He never wants to talk more than 10 minutes anyway so even if we only chat about the weather I can do 10 minutes several times a week. My issue is, NOW he wants the relationship. We couldn't have one when my children were small and needed a Grandpa and not when I was a new wife and could have used some advice on being married. Now when I am grown and finally got used to him not wanting/needing me, now he wants/needs me.

I can see I will need some therapy on this one! My friend will be hearing from me this week.
Parts of this post may be edited and removed later but typing this has helped.
Off to the sewing room for scrap therapy!

Diane

I am so happy!

The pattern was correct! It is a super easy dress to make! I can't believe I spent less than 7 hours making this dress. I think I started working on this around 6:30 and didn't work on it constantly since I did about 5 loads of laundry, played with the dogs, took them for a walk, made my dinner, etc. So maybe I worked on this about 5 1/2 hours?
I am impressed!
All I have to do to finish it is put a button on the back of the neck to close it. I may even get it in the mail in the morning! Won't Hannah be surprised? I know her moma will be!

Now to clean up my mess and try for sleep.
Later,
Diane

I am just this way

Any time there is a change in my routine it takes me several days to get "normal" again. You understand "normal" is a relative term too.
It takes at least one full day and a lot of times two just for me to get out of the fog. I tend to do a lot of nothing. My mind wanders a lot and I can't concentrate on much.
Then it is like I wake up. I feel more awake now.

Today I am getting my husband packed and ready for a 10 days of travel. It has been a long time since we have spent that much time apart. I'm not sure how I will handle him being away. I just hope I sleep!

Playing around with my SIL's original design.

I will be back later (maybe today) with some EQ ideas I have been playing with, but right now while I have a husband I have to run to the mall and Lowe's.

Later,
Diane

I'm here, I'm here!

I'm home. I haven't lost my way. I have been away for a few days with the husband. It was a lot of fun to see new places and meet new people. The only real bad part was I couldn't get my computer to connect to the Internet. I have always had trouble with this computer letting me send emails while I was away but this time it wouldn't connect to the Internet no matter where we were or whether I was connected by Ethernet or wifi. Very frustrating!

So, where was I? I went to Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin. All of the places were within 2-3 hours of Minneapolis so it wasn't much driving once we landed. It is just turning Spring there so there was still a lot of brown, but green was trying so hard to pop out. I say in the next week it will really be leafing out around there.

Of course I HAD to find a quilt shop or two, or three. The first shop was in Wisconsin and we found it by accident. Are there any accidents?  Anyway I had left my Quilter's Travel book at home since we were trying to travel in the small suitcase (never again!) and it didn't fit. So we are driving along and we see on a sign QUILTS-> so we exit and low and behold it is a wonderful shop! I will have to find my receipt to tell you the name because I forgot already. There were more samples in that shop that in the other two shops combined. WOW! It was great. Of course I didn't have my camera at this shop either and really could kick myself.
While there Ray found a small framed quilt he liked and bought the kit for me to make it for his office. As soon as I unpack everything I will take a picture. He has one on his phone, but alas I don't have it.

The next day we went to two shops.

 

The first shop was in Shakopee, Minnesota in an old railroad station. The name was Eagle Creek Quilt shop. Beautiful shop! This time I had my camera and my memory cap so I remembered the name.

I bought a kit of 3" thimbles. I love thimble quilts and since they were already cut I thought it was a good idea. I just wish I knew someone who had an Accuquilt Go! so I could get some more cut. I really would like this to be just a tad bigger but couldn't see paying for another kit. I have too much fabric as it is!

Then we went to Glad Creations. I didn't put the name with the design company, but was pleasantly surprised when I walked in and found all of the beautiful patterns I have loved for so long.  I own a couple of these patterns and I made a couple too. I bought the two newest patterns, Birds in the Air and Wishing Star.

Birds in the Air

Wishing Star

Once again not a lot of buying here.  I bought a couple of Kaffe FQs, a Suzi pattern by Lazy Girl and also the Maggie. I also bought a pattern by Vanilla House Designs to make my niece a dress. I am NOT a maker of clothes. I have made clothes in the past, but not for at least 20 years, so it had better be as easy to make as the pattern says.

Also one of my favorite applique designers Patricia Cox teaches there. I just love her patterns. You can click on her name and go to her website and see all of her many many applique quilts and patterns.

Today is going to be spent trying to get back into the routine. It will be hard since all I want to do is sleep.

Later,

Diane

How many quilts do you need?

That was asked of me the other day.  I was asked why I make so many quilts(tops).  My answer was simple. I make quilts (tops) because love them.
I have been pondering the question since then.  I think I have an answer besides loving them.

I have tried other creative outlets over the years. I learned to embroidery years ago from my Grandma. I was never very good at it, but I made a small dresser scarf. After I married I learned to cross stitch and got pretty good. I made a beautiful Indian Chief for my FIL. I took a few painting classes and made a few items for family members. I went back to cross stitching after my last child was born since painting and a small baby didn't go together well. After my youngest was about 3 years old I took a quilt class. I was introduced to quilts when I met my husband's grandmother, Dora. She made the most beautiful quilts. She was very meticulous in picking colors. I think she loved applique the most since most of her quilts were appliqued. The fancy lady with the parasol, butterflies, kittens in hats just to name a few.

When Dora told me about quilts, there was a sparkle in her eye. She tried her best to teach me, but I wasn't ready yet. I loved them, but wasn't ready to make them. The seed of quilting was planted. I thought about it and dreamed for many years.

Back to the question and the pondering and the answer. I make quilts (tops) because I like to. I like to play with the fabrics, pick a pattern, iron and cut. I love all the parts of making the quilt top. I wish I loved the quilting part, but I don't. Today I don't love the quilting part, but maybe I will learn to at least like it. Right now I will continue to make tops until I run out of fabric, and that will take a very long time.

How about you? How many quilts do you need?

Still quilting...

Not having fun!
1. Sore neck
2. Sore shoulders
3. PUCKERS
4. more puckers

Really don't like this!

Diane