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.

Bring on Spring!

It's finally finished! I don't remember when I started piecing this one, and I don't want to know. It's finished, and after a brief tour at the shop, it's going home to be showcased in the guestroom (the only bedroom that visitors at our house get to see).

This quilt is rather large (75" x 93", I think), so it took me several nights to get the binding done. Most quilting books will tell you to use a whip-stitch or blind-stitch to hand sew a binding on a quilt, but I tried out a new stitch on this quilt that I think works much better for really hiding your stitches. It's called the ladder stitch, and I discovered it through Sharon Schamber's video on youtube. I've tried gluing down my binding like she does, but I didn't have my glue bottle rigged up properly, so I wasn't very successful. I think if I took the time to actually do it like she says, it think it would have worked. However, since I don't do that many show quilts, I'm okay with just using binding clips or pins to hold my binding in place while I stitch it down. I'm just not that picky.

I've got more binding to do this evening while I watch Idol. I've been doing lots of machine quilting lately (for customers, not myself) so not much to show on that front. I broke down and made the dreaded trip to Walmart on Monday night. Along with all the shampoo and t.p. and other mundane stuff, some Easter candy found its way into my basket. It was a happy accident that my afternoon snack matched a piece of fabric that was laying around.

I know you can order M&M's in any color you want all year long, but I can never resist buying them on holidays. Easter is definitely my favorite candy-buying holiday.

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.

February sucks

In Kansas anyway. Today it's cloudy and cold, and there is about an inch or so freezing rain and sleet on the ground. It's getting kind of soupy right now, but after dark it will freeze and form a solid sheet of ice. If it's going to be cold, it should either be Christmas or snowing. Otherwise, I have no use for cold weather...bring on Spring! This weather is also irksome to me today because the bad weather is keeping customers out of the store, so no one has seen me on one of my rare good hair days. Sorry, all of that makes it sound like I'm in a very crabby mood, which I am not. I'd just be happier if the sun were shining... who wouldn't?

The up-side is that I've a full day of longarm quilting with very few distractions. Here is the quilt I just finished...
And here's the back. You can always see the quilting better on the back.

I've been practicing my feathers, so I thought I'd put all that practice to good use. I hope the customer likes it! She lives out of town, so I doubt she'll be picking it up today due to the weather.

My local quilt guild met last night, and for the program everyone brought a project to designate as a (one-month late) new year's resolution. The goal is to finish your project by February 2009 and show it at that month's meeting. It was really fun to see what everyone is working on...one person even had a project that had been started in 1981! We all had a good laugh because I was born in 1980 and that project is almost as old as I am.

Anyway, here's the project I chose.

I bought this Santa fabric and some coordinating pieces in 2005, and I've yet to finish it. So far, I've got these blocks and drawer full of wrinkled strips. I don't have to have it finished for guild until Feb. 09, but I'm hoping to have it done soon enough to use at Christmas. That should be plenty of time, but you just never know with me. You know how I don't like to finish things.

I can hardly contain myself

Are these not the coolest containers ever?! I saw the Coats & Clark ones at another vendor's booth at the OKC winter quilt show, and I knew I had to order some. I love the vintage look. I have a couple of antique Singer sewing machines in their original cabinets, and these tins look so cool next to the machines. Plus, they're just so useful. I mean, who can't use a container for fat quarters, thread, marking tools, trims... all sorts of stuff. By the way, these are available on the shop website.


And this Disney Cars tin... my nephew's birthday is next month, and he is going to flip when he sees this. I'm going to try to find some small toy tools to put in it. If I can't find any, I might just go with candy. He already has a Cars quilt, or I would roll a quilt up and stuff it inside. I'm getting excited just thinking about him getting excited.

And....what's this.... is that a border? On a quilt of mine? It certainly is. I love this quilt, and I'm determined to finish it by the end of the month. Period. Because if I don't self-impose a deadline, it will never get finished.

On that happy note, I'm off to sew more borders!

My kind of bouqet...

Happy Valentine's Day!