Home Stretch

Don't think I've mentioned this on the blog before, but I am closing the my quilt shop's retail location this Saturday, June 28. (Skip on over to the shop's website and have a look...all internet orders are 30% off.) To make a long story short, I've been busy with the shop, winding things down and tying up loose ends. I may be a little scarce around here for another month or so as I wrap things up at the shop, job hunt, and get moved east a little ways. Never fear, though, I'm still getting some crafting done here and there, and I'll keep you updated.

Now for some eye candy. Our little guild's biannual quilt show was last weekend, and I snapped a few pics. I'm very drawn to the older quilts passed down through the years to the current generation of quilters. These quiltmakers didn't get their panties (or bloomers or whatever) in a twist about perfectly matching fabrics or points. And I love the results.





Sorry, I'm writing this 7 hours after I originally started this post. I'm too lazy to caption these pictures, so just make up your own. It's been a long day, and I'm starting to get a little punchy. Even so, I'm thinking about stopping by the grocery store on my way home and buying a carton of strawberries so I'll have something to eat with my Nutella when I get home. Eh, screw it, I'll just have my Nutella straight up, on a spoon.

No sir, I don't like it.

I was originally inspired to make a granny afghan by this photo (not the softy...the afghan in the background). And then I saw this. I was completely smitten. But then I had second thoughts. After all, where would I put this masterpiece, assuming I ever finished it? A bright red, green, yellow, and blue afghan would definitely stand out in my current home decor. So then I thought that maybe I should try making a granny afghan in a bit more subdued colors. Here's what I came up with for my first square.

It's okay, but I'm not in love. And if I'm going to crochet that many granny squares, I want to be in love with the project. So I think I've decided to just stick with the color scheme I fell in love with. I'll figure out where to put the darn thing when it's finished.

As for the yarn I used in my test square, maybe it would make a nice ripple afghan.

Belated Happy Father's Day, to my dad, and to yours!

Finished!

Do you hear it? Trumpets are trumpeting, angels are singing, people are cheering...I finished a project!

This is my finished tiramisu blanket. I don't know how, but this blanket just sort of happened. During American Idol performances I wasn't interested in, commercials, riding in the car, and sitting outside in the evenings with my husband enjoying the gorgeous weather this past week, it happened. I started it on April 21 (on the way to quilt guild in Pittsburg...KS), which means it took me just under a month from start to finish. That has to be some kind of record for me. And I really like how it turned out. The yarn is a bulky weight (Bernat Softee Chunky), so the blanket is nice and thick. I used 5/8" ribbon instead of the 1/2" that the pattern calls for, but it worked out because the yarn doubled over as I wove it around the blanket, so the shiny side of the ribbon shows on both sides. I know I could have been more imaginative with my color choices, but I liked Alicia's version. Plus it will work for either a baby boy or baby girl gift, which is great because we all know I'm not very good at planning ahead for baby showers.

This is the rosebush in my backyard (and my dog guarding the backyard, which she does fabulously until a trespasser actually approaches...then she hightails it to safety). It's absolutely bursting with blooms right now. Now, I don't want you to get the impression that I had anything to do with the number of roses on this bush. Quite the opposite, actually. Shortly before I took this picture, this bush was threatening to take over the yard. But I was feeling a bit frustrated. The city had our water shut off all day. All day. No laundry, no dish washing, no watering the dog, no washing your #%&*@ face or brushing your teeth. No washing your thrift store finds so you can photo them for your blog. So like I said, I was frustrated. So I took out my aggression on the rosebush. Pruning can be very cathartic, you know. So anyway, even though you're not supposed to prune roses in the spring, I pruned my little heart out until the rose tree became more of a bush. Not only do we prune liberally and without regard to the bush's health, but we have yet to feed or water this rosebush. It's invincible. It's also threatening to take over the neighbor's yard, but I figure that's their problem. Sheba and I have enough on our hands defending the territory we've got, be it from trespassers or renegade rosebushes.

One last thing. I have quilt guild tonight, so I'm going to miss the American Idol finale. However, my husband has promised to tape (that's right...tape...as in VCR tape...no DVR for us) it for me, so I can watch it when I get home. I don't know if I'm going to be able to handle the suspense. I finally got my vote in for David Cook last night at 11:07 on the 47th try, but I voted dang it. I get the feeling he needed by vote...I'm just hoping that fact that I couldn't get in for 3 hours is a good sign.

Planting flowers

Sheba and I planted flowers today.

What do you know...

Practice really does make perfect. Well, maybe not perfect yet, but definitely improving. This is my "take along" crochet project - one that I don't have to think about too much and that only uses one skein of yarn at a time, making it very portable. (Free pattern here. And if you don't already read her blog, shame on you.)
The reason I'm so impressed with myself is that it's actually staying pretty square. Usually my crochet projects tend to shrink as I go along, forming more of pyramid shape. Or trapezoid, if you want to get technical. But this one is pretty much square. It's only taken what seems like 100,000 hours of crocheting to get to this point, but hey, I've got nothing but time, right?!

Here are some pics of my niece and nephew from our trip to TN.

My nephew loves to drive his car around the yard. Until he saw the neighbor kids buzzing around on 4-wheelers. Then suddenly his car wasn't fast enough.

And here he is after he had just picked everyone a dandelion, explaining that we should save the dandelions for when we get married, and after the wedding keep them and show them to people. I could barely keep a straight face. Where does he come up with this stuff? I didn't have the heart to tell him I was already married.And my niece, who's at the age where she's just happy to be fed and get some attention. This was a rare moment when she wasn't being held. Her momma was just to my left, hence the big smile. And yes, I made that pink & white ripple afghan. I'm so happy she actually uses it.

American Idol results in a few hours. I can't help myself - this is one of the few shows that I get into. It's one of the reasons I've been doing more crocheting in the evenings...it's hard to hear the TV over the sewing machine. I'm pulling for David Cook, but they're all good. Let's just hope that tonight it's not interrupted for severe weather updates. I heard on the radio that the meteorologist got a bunch of hate e-mail for interrupting American Idol last night. Poor guy, he can't help that a funnel cloud decided to form between 7:00 & 8:00! Maybe I should e-mail him again and apologize. Just kidding, people.

Happy Mother's Day!

The Mom Test

I was out walking with my 4 year old daughter. She picked up something off the ground and started to put it in her mouth. I took the item away from her and I asked her not to do that. 'Why?' my daughter asked. 'Because it's been on the ground, you don't know where it's been, it's dirty, and probably has germs' I replied. At this point, my daughter looked at me with total admiration and asked, 'Momma, how do you know all this stuff, you are so smart.' I was thinking quickly. 'All moms know this stuff. It's on the Mom Test. You have to know it, or they don't let you be a Mom.' We walked along in silence for 2 or 3 minutes, but she was evidently pondering this new information. 'OH...I get it!' she beamed, 'So if you don't pass the test you have to be the dad.' ''Exactly," I replied back with a big smile on my face.

Memphis

Woa, sorry (once again) for the delay between posts. We went to Tennessee last weekend - to Memphis for our best man's graduation from optometry school, and then on a little further east to visit my family for a few days. We were only in Memphis for a day, but it was an interesting day. If you've ever been to Memphis, you know what I mean. Apparently, we were lucky enough to be in town during "Memphis in May" which, from what I gathered, is a music festival that takes place downtown on Beale Street. Since we gathered at a restaurant on Beale after the graduation ceremonies, we got to witness a few interesting things. Some of these things might be commonplace to you, but for a small town girl like myself, they were a bit out of the norm.

1. I started the day by slamming my pinkie finger in the car door. Oddly, it hurts worse now than it did when it happened. You don't realize how much you use your pinkie until you injure it. This has nothing to do with Memphis or Beale Street - just another weird thing that happened to me that day.
2. A very polite and very skinny gentleman on a bike attempted to sing to us for tips while we hid from the rain under the awning as we were leaving the restaurant. Since he only sang two lines of the song (rather poorly, I might add) before he asked for a tip, we decided he didn't deserve one.
3. Beale Street was gated off, and we were carded as we entered. We were approached by several different religious groups passing out flyers and carrying signs. My favorites were "Ask me why you're going to hell" and another sign that had words randomly written all over it that said things like "Sinner", "Satan Lover", and "Fornicator". I wanted to point at that I'm married and fornicating isn't necessarily a sin for me, but I thought it best not to provoke a conversation. Not to say I don't agree with their message...just not their methods.
4. A little while later, it started to rain, and the religious demonstrators headed for cover. Most ran using their signs as make-shift umbrellas. One fellow in particular caught our eye - he was running up the street with a cross over his shoulder. We were all marveling at how fast he was going carrying a cross until someone noticed that this was no ordinary cross. This cross was outfitted with a wheel at the base to make it easier to drag around. I bet Jesus wishes he had one of those.
5. As we watched the procession of retreating demonstrators, sipping our adult beverages and being entertained as one can only be by watching people stranded in the rain, one of my friends called out, "Jesus would have stayed in the rain!" I don't think they heard him, but we thought it was funny.
6. Having done our part to stimulate the economy on Beale Street, we headed for the "Parking Can Be Fun" parking garage where we had entrusted our cars to the staff for a mere $5 each. On the way, we passed an ambulance and EMT's performing CPR on a girl right there on the sidewalk. Definitely a weird moment. I felt like we ought to be doing something to help, but we couldn't. And I don't think they wanted us watching, so we continued on our way.

Tennessee to be continued.

Anniversary

Today is a good day. First, it's my anniversary! Not my blogiversary or whatever, but my actual wedding anniversary (4 years... that's always the next question). Second, it's the first day of spring (Yeah! And not a moment too soon if you ask me). And last but not least, it's my 1/2 birthday! I know it's silly, but I love pointing that out. It's sort of like an Alice in Wonderland un-birthday. Not my real birthday, but still worth celebrating.

My wedding was also on the first day of spring (it's not always March 20, btw), and I loved wedding flowers. This is possibly my favorite wedding picture, even though there aren't any people in it.


The all red bouquet in the middle was mine, and the mulit-colored ones were the bridesmaids'. If gerbera daises don't say "spring" then I don't what does.

Here's another one of my favorites...my hubby looks like a jack rabbit! When the photographer said "jump", he took that to mean, "Jump as high as you can. Your football coach is hiding in the bushes to meaure your vertical." Men. He hates this picture, so feel free to tease him about it if you ever see him.

Here we are, the happy couple. It always amazes me how young we look. I guess we were, even though it didn't feel like it then. We are high school sweethearts (although I don't really care for that term), so we dated over 6 years before we took the plunge. So for those keeping track, that's over 10 years that we've been together.


If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing.

My favorite people...

There isn't a lot of sewing going on at my house lately...I spent last weekend out of town with family. Otherwise, I've been working quite a bit. However, the mail has been very good to me lately, so I'll catch you up on that the next time I have a chance to snap some pictures. I ran the batteries dead on my camera this weekend taking pictures of my adorable niece and nephew (above), but the batteries are on the charger was we speak. American Idol is tonight, and I'm watching it come hell or high water, but maybe I'll take some pictures during the commercials.

So...I'll be back soon.

7 random things

I've seen these things all over the blogs I read, and at the end the blogger says, "I'm not going to tag anyone, but anyone who wants to join, feel free." So I've never done it, because I sort of thought to myself, no one starts reads blogs to just to read about random people and their quirks. They want to see some friggin' sewing. Or knitting. Or whatever.

However, I was recently tagged by Misplaced Country Girl at Syotha Would Be Proud, and I decided to step up to the meme plate, so to speak. So for MCG and anyone else that might care, here are 7 random things about me. For everyone else, I threw in some pictures.

1. I can't stand to watch the toilet flush. Doesn't matter what's being flushed. Even if it's just the flush to wash down the blue water after you clean the toilet, it just grosses me out. The swirling just makes me want to upchuck. However, I am fascinated by the fact that in the Southern hemisphere, the water swirls in the opposite direction. Weird.

(The quilt that I finally got the borders on and quilted.)

2. I say "weird" a lot. Like something will happen, or I'll read a story on the internet or something, and I say (usually to my husband), "Isn't that weird?" Sometime he agrees, but usually not. A good example of something I might say is, "Isn't it weird that we've lived here for 4 years?" It's not really weird to live somewhere for 4 years. What I mean is that it doesn't seem like it's been 4 years...time flies and all that...but instead, I say that it's weird.

3. My earlobes are different (from each other, not from everyone else's). One is attached and the other is unattached. I never noticed until I was about 9 or 10 years old when my aunt pointed it out. It really made 10th grade biology fun... when we were studying genetics, one of my friends pointed out to the teacher my freakish deformity unique attribute, and she proceeded to point it out to the rest of the class. Word quickly spread throughout the school, and I'll never live it down. My younger sister said she even used me as an example in her biology class, 2 years later. That teacher still teaches, so it's quite possible she's still telling people. I have an odd feeling it could come up at my class reunion (10 years next year...aaaahhhh!).

(back of the quilt, freehand quilted with flowers from the Pajama Quilter Reloaded dvd)

4. I like green vegetables more than any other color vegetable. I don't care much for corn, carrots, or cauliflower, but I love peas, brussel sprounts, okra... just about anything green.

5. I like change. I've painted every room in my house at least twice (we've only lived there 3 years). I've had two different jobs in the last 4 years (tax accountant to quilt shop owner). And we're about to move to a different state. I don't like to eat the same meal twice in a row. That sort of thing.

6. I love to read and watch movies. I love to read pretty much anything. I really like adventure/fantasy type books and movies, not weird ones like on the sci-fi channel, but more mainstream ones like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Especially those two. One of my favorite things to do is put in one of those movies (I own all three LOTR and all five Harry Potters), and do some handwork, like crocheting, embroidery, or hand sewing a binding. I'm currently re-reading the Harry Potter books... I just started #4, Goblet of Fire. I wanted to go a Halloween party as Harry Potter characters last year, in part so I could crochet us some scarves, but my husband wasn't up for it.

(binding for the quilt, cut on the bias)

7. This may come as a shock to some of you, but I don't like cats. I know as a quilter I'm supposed to have 2 or 3 crawling all over my fabric stash, but I just don't like them. They're sort of creepy and slithery, like furry little snakes. Their litter boxes stink up your house, and they seem to spend all day watching you, pretending not to care but secretly forming some sort of plot to take over the house. Everything they do seems premeditated. Remember the movie Cats and Dogs with Jeff Goldblum as the dad? Enough said. Give me a nice, dumb dog any day.

I'm not going to tag anyone, because I think I'm the last person on the planet to do this meme.

It's a gorgeous day here...wish I was outside enjoying it. My husband and I are going to dinner tonight, to a pancake feed in the morning, and ordering pizza to watch the KSU/KU game tomorrow night, which means I don't have to cook for the next 36 hours at least. Add to that some time for sewing and shopping, and it's shaping up to be a pretty good weekend.

Apology to February

After my last post, I'm sure it's no secret that I tend to get a little blue during the cold weather months. By February, the charm of icicles and snow-covered vistas has worn off, and I find myself gazing longingly at my flip-flops. I got to thinking, and it's not February's fault that the weather is frigid or that I live in Kansas. So as an apology to February, I thought of some positive things about the month. Here goes:

• Cold weather is great for using my crockpot, especially for soups.
• Valentine's Day
• Lots of time in the evenings for sewing.
• My sister was born in February.
• Driving on the ice is tricky, but I needed a new paint job on my bumper anyway.
• It's the end of football season - I get the t.v. back until August!

Okay, I'm spent. I had thought of more positives than that, but I can't remember them now. Just a little interesting fact about February... last year we had a lot of ice and snow in our area, and in October (9 months later) the hospital had a record number of babies delivered. So I guess that's what everyone around here does during bad weather that doesn't know how to sew? Never thought of sewing as birth control before...

Anyway, on to quilting. Here's another quilt I started before Christmas. This quilt was actually my mom's Christmas present, but since I was sick I didn't quite get it done in time. I did have one row done that I wrapped for her to open on Christmas Day. I finally got the borders on today, and now I just have to quilt and bind it. Piece o' cake, right? Well, borders seem to be the biggest quilting hurdle for me, so maybe the rest will go quickly. One can hope.

Changes

I feel like I've made a lot of posts apologizing for long absences, so I won't do that here. I will say that I didn't mean to go without posting for so long, but I've had lots of changes going on in my life lately, and blogging just got pushed to the back seat.

I'll start by telling you the biggest change... my husband and I have decided to move to another city (town?), out of state. As a result, I am closing the quilt shop. I will miss the shop, but I am going to continue to longarm quilt. In a way, I am looking forward to being able to focus on doing one or two things, instead of doing 5 or 6 things very quickly. The good news for all of you is that everything is the shop is priced 20% to 40% off, including books, patterns, and notions. I haven't had a chance to update the prices on the website, but I will apply the discount in the shop before I ship.

Another change that had has a more immediate impact on my life this week is that our dog, Heidi, passed away on Monday. She was only two years old, but we think she had a heart attack or something like that. My husband was there with her, so at least she wasn't alone. He came home for lunch, and he said as he was walking in the back gate, she just fell over. About a minute later, she was gone. I was pretty upset earlier in the week, but it's getting easier as time goes by. Being home is the hardest part...it's so quiet around there. I keep expecting to see her run in, jump up on the couch, and settle in for a nap. Or push the bathroom door open while I'm in the shower. Or maybe chase her tail or bring us her stinky duck toy or rope bone. She loved to go on walks, and I will always think of her when I drive by the park where we walked. She also loved to go in the car. It didn't matter where, and more than once I had to drag her out of my car in the mornings so I could go to work. These are all memories of her that I will cherish. She was good girl, a gentle yet playful soul, and she will be dearly missed.

I have been crafting a little since I posted last (and geez, what a crybaby I was being. Turns out I was pretty sick though), so will catch you all up on that stuff soon. For now, here are some pictures of my sweet little Heidi girl.

Sleep tight, little Heidi. Sleep tight.

It's a girl!

My new niece, Eva Ryanne (pronounced "Ryan" - it's my sister's middle name as well), was born at 3:50 this morning! Finally! She weighs 8 lbs, 6 ounces, and mom, dad, and baby are all doing well. Tired, but well. I can't wait to see her! However, I do need a few more days to whip up a quilt-y gift or two. I'll be sure and show you what I decide to do.

I don't have any pictures yet, but here's a dose of cuteness courtesy of my nephew. It's one of my favorite baby pics of him. I'll meet his sister next week when I visit for Thanksgiving. See ya then, my new homegirl!

Of course 5 minutes after I posted this, my dad sent me some pictures. Here she is!

Creative pumpkin juices

Nothing like 15 hours of sleep to help you get over a cold. Overdosing on cold medicine didn't hurt either. (I was taking 2 pills every 4 hours, instead of the recommended dosage of 1 pill, not to exceed 4 pills in a 24 hour period. Oops.) So that's pretty much all I did on Sunday. I also crocheted a little bit, beginning with the pink & white ripple afghan for my yet-to-be-born niece until I ran out of pink yarn, then on a multi-colored afghan I started for myself a loooong time ago. I'll try to remember to take some pics to show you.

Monday was spent catching up. The Kansas Quilters Organization (KQO) had its fall meeting in my town this weekend. Ami Simms was the featured speaker. I really wanted to go to her lectures, but I couldn't leave the shop (ah, the joys of being a shop owner =). I did a trunk show for them on Friday night, and they were a lot of fun. The spring meeting is in McPherson, so I'm hoping to be able to go.

I have so many projects I want to do. So many that I was feeling sort of bogged down and uninspired yesterday. So I just jumped in with something easy to try and get my creative juices flowing. This would be a great project for kids. I felt like I was doing a 1st grade art project. I traced the jack-o-lantern face shapes onto interfacing, roughly cut the shapes, and ironed them onto scraps of black. Then I played with the shapes until I had pumpkin faces I was happy with. I cut the shapes out a little more precisely, ironed them on, and top-stitched around them. The blocks are 10", so even with borders this will just be a wall-hanging. Which I'm okay with. Now I'm debating with myself on what to do for borders (but what else is new?). I do have patterns and fat quarter bundles for this project in the shop. Also, if you receive my newsletter by e-mail, this is the free pattern that came with October's newsletter.

Borders, quilting, and binding are on my agenda for the next couple of days. Not the sexiest part of quilting, but stuff that must be done. I'll keep you posted.

I found this link via Ami's website. Hilarious.

"I would walk 500 miles..."

Since my parents moved to the great state of TN, that song rings true to me. It's over 450 miles to my folks' new place. With a side trip to Memphis to go shopping, we logged over 1,000 miles on my car this past weekend. But it was a good trip...well worth the gas money (ouch!). And luckily, as we drive through southern Missouri on Hwy 60, we pass through the Ozark mountains, so the views are lovely no matter what time of year it is.

Other then driving, all I've really been able to accomplish that is blog-worthy is longarm quilting. I've been doing lots of paperwork and kit-cutting for the shop, so that's not much fun to tell you about. I did finally get October's newsletter sent out, so you should be receiving it in the next few days (or already if you're signed up by e-mail).

Anyway, on to quilting. This is my local quilt guild's opportunity quilt. It's made from the Quest for a Cure fabric from several years ago called "Say It With Roses." It's a very flowery and feminine quilt. The guild is getting pink t-shirts this year to kind of go along with the whole "Think Pink" theme.


Here's the whole quilt. It's very hard to get a good picture because it's SO big.
And a close up of the quilting on the back...
...and the front.
I really like this quilting pattern. It's a continuous feather pantograph (stencil). So I can longarm quilt feathers without having to learn & practice them first. Someday, I fully intend to explore free-hand longarm quilting a bit more, but for now the pantographs work.

I've managed to catch a bit of a cold, and I'm in that weird phase where I feel hot, but I've got goosebumps on my arms. My hubbie is coming to the rescue with cold medicine on his lunch hour, and I've got enough kleenex to last the rest of the afternoon, so I'll be fine. This weekend I am going to try to catch up in the class I'm taking from Tonya. I'm waaaaay behind, and it's really starting to bother me. Plus, I'm a little jealous of what all of the other students are accomplishing. Nothing like being out-done to light a fire under you, right?

Kids & granddogs

This is what's on my design wall at the moment. I got this new fabric in the shop last week. I really wanted to make the full size quilt from the manufacturer's free project, but I decided that the table runner would get the point across. Now that I have the blocks done though, I'm really thinking this fabric will make the cut into a full size quilt. I love the rich colors. And it just so happens that we have a green couch in a our living room and a couple of pictures on the wall that have this dark red color in them...what a coincidence =)

I switched a couple of fabrics around when I made this, but I'm not going to tell you which ones. It looks just a good this way (and I wasn't about to re-make it), so it's going to stay this way for now. Maybe if I do the full quilt I'll do the "right" way.

My birthday is tomorrow, and I've really been thinking about it a lot. Not that I feel old, certainly not that, but maybe just not young anymore. You know, as in "Wow, I'm definitely not a kid anymore." Also, people are starting to ask about when we're going to have kids - like my biological clock is starting to tick or something. Well, it maybe ticking, but I don't hear it yet. My life is full and happy and just right for now.

After all, we do have a dog, and she's sort of like a kid. Here she is with some of the friends she made when we went to visit my friend, Nicole, and her family.

Our Heidi is the one on the right with her eye half-closed in anticipation of a playful bite from Riley. The cute little stinker in the middle is my friend's son, and the two dogs on the left are Nicole's (yes, there are two dogs there if you look closely). We tease Nicole's mom by calling them her "granddogs." She acts annoyed, but we know she secretly loves it.


And this picture (of a picture) simultaneously makes me want to have five boys and to not have kids at all! These boys are my adorable little nephew and his friends from daycare. They're all too cute, but boy, do they look like trouble or what!