CabinQuilter's

February 2012 Desktop Calendar

2012-02-01T00:01:00.001-06:00

Month two in the year of the log cabin!
Valentine's Day - need something to remind me to eat more chocolate. With some strawberries. Or raspberries. Or maybe just chocolate. All that roughage just takes up valuable internal space that could be filled with more chocolate!
And don't forget - it's Leap Year! We've got a whole extra 24 hours to finish up those Valentine chocolates this month!

Click on the calendar to expand image to full size, right-click and choose Set as Wallpaper or Background. To really jazz up your desktop, right-click on your background and choose a color that coordinates with the calendar - you'll be the envy of your cubicle!

January 2012 Desktop Calendar

2012-01-01T00:01:00.002-06:00

In recognition of the opening of our second retreat, the Quilters Cabin, the 2012 calendars will all be log cabin variations. This first one is a representation made in EQ7 of our original log cabin which we lived in for 25 years. In another week, it'll be opened to retreaters and I can take a break from remodeling, painting, shopping(!) and not sleeping!

Christmas at the Eleventh Hour

2011-12-21T17:23:00.000-06:00

Not that I wait til the last minute or anything, but it looks like I've only bought one (1) Christmas present so far. No sense waiting til the last minute, I always say.
But luckily while I was taking a break from quilting another one of Charmaine's gynormous quilts, I found a mess of these mug rug patterns over at Beaquilter.

Bea's designed them all in EQ7 and, if you have the software, she's willing to share the project file with you! And even if you don't, you can use any favorite block and adapt it to make your own mug rug design. They are so quick and easy, I might just be giving these to everyone on my list. Don't know how it'll go over with the 2-7yr old crowd.
And while we're talking about being unprepared for Christmas (cuz 364 days advance notice is never enough), raise your hand if you've ever run out of gift tags at 11:59pm Christmas Eve! Be honest... I've used scrapbook alphabet stickers stuck directly onto the package, a rectangle of wrapping paper folded in half and written on (but the 'pages' don't lay flat - they curl into each other unless you iron them. And yes, I did), brown paper grocery bags cut with my pinking blade rotary cutter, magic marker directly onto the wrapping paper...very classy. Then one year I designed some gift tags in EQ and printed those out, even though they weren't Christmas-themed. They're available Here. Maybe if I can find a few minutes I'll put together some Christmas ones before...well...Christmas. 2012, more likely.
BUT! Look what else I found!

Gift tags designed by Jim Shore! They're free (yay!) downloadable, and already formatted for stick on labels. Or you could print them on cardstock, cut 'em out, punch a hole in the corner and tie them to your packages. Check 'em out on his website, Here
Break-time's over - back to quilting!

Baby Planking

2011-12-11T09:50:00.000-06:00

17 month old Sofie came to see me at my studio the other day. But since Nana's always busy, I couldn't hold her the whole time, so I set her down on the floor. She turned into jelly and collapsed in a heap.

She stayed there like this for a good 10 minutes, til Meg picked her up. Then she just stared at me, giving me the evil eye. That kid cracks me up.

December 2011 Desktop Calendar

2011-12-01T00:01:00.001-06:00

The last calendar of 2011: a partridge in a pear tree! Click on the calendar to expand image to full size, right-click and choose Set as Wallpaper or Background. To really jazz up your desktop, right-click on your background and choose a color that coordinates with the calendar - you'll be the envy of your cubicle!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T00:04:00.002-06:00

Thanking God today for all our many blessings and His tender mercies: all five of my children in the same room at the same time, for the first time in years. Thank you, Jesus.

Check This Out!

2011-11-20T23:01:00.001-06:00

My good friend Reeze Hanson, quilt and pattern designer, (and Expert EQ'er) of Morning Glory Designs is going to be the guest blogger tomorrow, November 21st at Stash Manicure. You need to check it out. In addition to being a college professor (so you know she's smart...not to be confused with being a smart a$$...but she's that, too), she's a published pattern designer with her work being featured numerous times in Quilter's World Magazine, Jump Start Your Quilting, and Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks, Vol.2. Her patterns are also carried by Quilt Woman, Pattern Peddlers, and more.
And Reeze always has free downloads (yay Reeze!) and giveaways, too.
So check out her guesting tomorrow over at Sew We Quilt/Stash Manicure, then swing by Reeze's own blog - often!

Bootsie's Good Eats!

2011-11-13T00:27:00.001-06:00

Guess what restaurant has re-opened in Tomball without the previous chef, but with an excellent grill man and terrific new menu?
Bootsie's! It's 2 doors down from Quilters Crossing quilt shop and because of a slight menu change is now my favorite local restaurant.

I 'discovered' Bootsie's not too long after my non-Mother's Day junket to Snook, Texas in search of the infamous home of chicken fried bacon. Since Bootsie's originally opened, the've had a gigantic hamburger on the menu: the Mother Rucker Burger. (Don't play cute with the name like my 10 yr old son did many years ago when he thought he'd play with the Fuddruckers restaurant name. In the car. I almost went off the road.) So the Mother Rucker - wish I had a picture of it - 2 huge hamburger patties, lettuce, tomato, cheese, chicken fried bacon, topped with a fried egg. It is one fabulous hamburger, and good for at least two meals for a normal person. Even though most normal people are afraid to order it.

But I digress. As soon as I saw what was on the Mother Rucker - namely chicken fried bacon - I've been after Bootsie to put it on the menu as an appetizer. When her son was the chef, he refused. She'd apologize to me each time I suggested it, and say the chef wouldn't do it. He was more into butterflied free range quail legs, with teensy hand-carved baby vegetables, for a very pretentious price. That was before I knew he was her son. If I'd known that, I would have made another suggestion to her.

Anyway - two weeks ago at Friday night FreeSew at Quilters Crossing, I saw Bootsie's new menu at the shop. And guess what was on it?!

Chicken Fried Bacon! Holy :insert porcine expletive:! Bootsie listened to me! If I hadn't already eaten dinner I would have run right over, tucked my napkin into my collar and ordered a great big plate of the crispy, melt-in-your-mouth, deep-fried pork ribbons. But I couldn't. So I did the next best thing: I got everyone up early the next day and as soon as Bootsie's opened, we were at the door. They weren't quite as excited as me, but they went anyway.

Bootsie gave us our menus - not that I needed one. We ordered Chicken Fried Bacon (obviously), fried pickles, a wedge salad, homemade potato soup, a patty melt, and meatloaf.

Everything was outstanding, as expected. Except the bacon was served with ranch dressing. Bootsie said next time I could ask for cream gravy.

The only kinda weird thing was the meatloaf. See the picture? Look at the mashed potatoes. Now look at your hand - all the way from wrist to finger tips. Look back at the plate. The potatoes were as big as your entire hand. Great if you love potatoes (which all Andersons do), but not so great if you love meatloaf. The picture was taken before Gillian even took a bite. So how big was that meatloaf? The size of a meatball. Delicious, but miniscule. I think they made it in a muffin tin. Time to make another suggestion to Bootsie. More meat, less potatoes.
Anyway - run to Bootsie's and get you some Chicken Fried Bacon. You will SO not be sorry! But if you are, call me and I'll come over and finish it up for you.

To Market, to Market, to Buy a...never mind

2011-11-07T09:26:00.010-06:00

International Quilt Market/Festival. Already. A whole year went by and once again I'm unprepared (money and stamina-wise) for the biggest quilting event in the country. I have no idea how that happened. Yesterday it was the middle of July and I was perusing the Market catalogue, preparing to totally screw up Sew-Ho Shirley's Market registration. Which I did. And not just once. I did it twice. Effortlessly. She was in Germany touring breweries and castles and I was doing her a big favor by handling all her paperwork for her. She won't be asking me to do that again. Sorry, Shirley!

Anyway - Shirley blew into town last Thursday and we drove down to the Four Seasons to check in. She was tired of driving and I was just tired. We ordered room service, and since I brought the 3 bottles of Moscato, Shirley picked up the dinner tab. We had very pricey Lobster BLT's which were out of this world, and the french fries (which I never eat) were outstanding! They had a little bernaise dipping sauce that I could've drunk with a straw.

The tab came to about $60 including tip which we figured was about right considering we were at the freakin' Four Seasons, for Peter's sake. Shirley handed the waiter 3 twenties and he just stared at her. Didn't say a word. Then she looked at the check: 80+ dollars! She added another twenty to the pile and another 15% for the tip. The guy leaves us with our mouths hanging open and as we double check the amount, we see the fine print: $4 for delivery charge AND 20% for the waiter. He made 35% tip - the bastard! How hard is it to roll a table into a room, not speak English, and hold your hand out? Holy crap what a racket!
But we got even with them - I came with a supply of single serving Pringles, granola bars and my extra delicious, homemade, custom trail mix: candied pecans, roasted almonds, dried cranberries and chocolate covered pomegranates. And wine. Especially the Naked Guy Wine, bought just because of the bottle. Of course.

Hang on - take another look at the garnish on those Lobster BLT's - they were like peppers that had the texture of olives. They were so yummy I need to 1) find out what the heck they are and 2) find them period! If you know, leave me a comment. Pretty please?

Oh wait - I almost forgot: look at Shirley's hairspray!

may have to give up my Big Sexy in favor of her Got to be Glued - mine is Hurricane Hold, but Shirley's is Screaming Hold. That might be stronger. I scream more often than a hurricane hits. So, yeah.

Pre-Market: Shoolhouse & Sample Spree!
Got up early Friday morning to meet Peggy and Mandy at the convention center to get breakfast (way cheaper than 4F and no tip required) and then get a jump start on Schoolhouse. Fast forward through the whole day of being back in highschool, fighting the crowds in between classes and having to choose between being late for the next class or running to the bathroom. For me, the bathroom always won. It's important to me that the bathroom win. And really, it's best for everyone around me. So I consider it a public service. Just like make-up. A little spackle and paint is a must before being fit for public viewing.

See more of Amy's photos of Schoolhouse & Sample Spree at Diary of a Quilter
Next up: Sample Spree, or as fellow Sew-Ho Cara Gulati calls it: Stupid Spree. Don't ask. But I like it anyway: I bought all the retreat gifts for the Ho's for next year, and a mess of ribbon for my daughters' Etsy shop, Tightly Wound. Not open yet, but keep your eyes peeled. Especially if you've got 1) little girl babies to buy for, and 2) more money than time. I also bought some serious quilter bling in the form of jewel-toned rhinestone lanyards.

The photo doesn't do them justice. They're the unidentifiable black stripes on the left. The girls will be selling them in their booth at the guild's quilt show next March.
Wait - here's a better photo - cool, huh?

And see that hand in the lower right picture? That's the blur of how fast the stuff you want to buy turns into the stuff you wish you'd been able to buy!
My one piece of advice for Sample Spree: when the doors open, don't go to the right. The Moda tables are over there and for some inexplicable reason, the annual running of the quilters takes place and you run the risk of being seriously injured in the stampede.

But before the doors opened, we met the most charming Aussie quilter who was ::sniff:: all alone without any connections at Market. So we adopted her!

Her name's Stacey (she's the one on the left) and she runs the Circle Retreat in Brisbane, Australia. She is so cute and we're all invited to check out her place if we just happen to be in the area. Might take some doing, but I'd sure like to drop in! When I'm in the neighborhood.
Afterwards, we had dinner at the Flying Saucer, a beer joint filled with Hipsters and Hallowe'en goers. It wasn't til I saw Batman walk by that I knew some were in costume and not just dressed up for a Friday night out in Houston. The waitress was a Beer Goddess and didn't mind me taking a picture of her chest, even though Shirley and Peggy wished I didn't.

That'll teach them to take me out in public and ply me with alcohol. Don't remember what we ate, but I did have a really nice Porter something or other. Then, on the way back to the car, we saw these guys parked next to us.

They were getting ready for the costume contest that was taking place downtown and the one guy was way impressed that this ol' lady knew he was Bumble Bee! He'd worked for a year fabricating his costume and was getting ready to put on his transformer legs that would make him 8' tall. He was confident that his breakdancing routine would put him over the top as crowd favorite. Wonder how that turned out for him. He'd have beat Batman for sure, though. And the half-hearted zombie walking with him.

Next on the agenda: Saturday and Sunday Market
I can't tell you how many times I embarrassed my quilting buddies (and Megan and Gillian on Sunday) asking people for photos of their outfits or shoes. But I found out last year after clandestinely trying to take photos of footwear that it's better to just go ahead and ask. I put Deb in a very precarious and olfactorily (yes, I just made that up) uncomfortable position by asking her to pretend to tie her shoe next to a particularly unattractive pair and she was blown away by the aroma. Sorry Deb. I should come with a warning label.
My first photo is, predictably, of elinor peace bailey. no caps. like e.e. cummings. in drag. she's always so sweet. and it's not like she doesn't want to be noticed. This one's from behind as she was seated in front of me at Schoolhouse, and I was afraid I wouldn't see her again to ask officially. But then she turned around for a front shot.

And check out this cutie! She was so adorable! Cute as a bug's ear, as my grandmother used to say. Her booth (right next door to the "MaryLee We Roll Along" bobbin necklace girls above), had giant wooden knitting needles and crochet hooks and they used them to knit/crochet the garland across the top.

Jessica loves Amy Butler's fabrics so much, she's tattooing on her arm! It's not done yet. I'll have to look her up next year to see the final ink.
I should tell you that the George R Brown Convention Center is built to look like a ship. You'll see why I'm telling you this in just a second.

Much to my daughters' chagrin (and my friend Rhonda's, too) I chased this guy down.

I think he was trying to find the cruise director.
And look who we ran into on Sunday! Cutsie redhead, in another self-sewn ensemble.

Shoes!

I promised I wouldn't reveal the owner's name of the shoe on the left. The big-toe-less one. But her initials are Cindy M. Oops.

Boots!

Could've put Superman up in the fashion section, but his were the only pair of red boots I saw. BTW - no amount of money would make Gillian pose with him.

Stuff I Liked/Wanted/Bought

Loved all the pillows speared by the corner posts. The Tightly Wound girls in the back are shopping for the latest in trims . This booth had puh-lenty!

Silk "ribbons" from repurposed Indian Saris.

And even finer 'spun' silk yarn from saris.

Sunday night after Market, we met up with some friends in the lobby bar over at the Hilton. Don't know what to make of their chandeliers. Well, I do, but I don't want to say in public.

That's Cara Gulati and Charmaine (Sew-Ho's) on the right, and Margaret Miller on the left. Looks like Cara must have been talking her ear off. We had a couple of drinks, dinner, and general tomfoolery - but no photos allowed! But I did catch these two stumbling around outside afterwards.

No! The ones in the back! If you can't tell what they're walking around with - in public - well, don't ask. And with that, I'm saying goodbye to market for another year. Finally.

One Block Wonder Why I Signed Up for This

2011-11-05T23:04:00.006-05:00

I was strong-armed into taking Dolores's One Block Wonder Encore class at Quilters Crossing a while back.

Having never made one, I wasn't really wanting to do an "encore," but I did anyway. Mandy helped me pick out my focus fabric with a 12" repeat, which is important to know, but now I don't remember why. I'd go check, but I'm not anywhere near my studio - I'm writing this at the Westchase Marriott waiting for Jill to be done with the L.A. Dance Magic convention.

And besides - you don't care anyway. So here's my fabric (Terrain by Kate Spain) and paraphernalia.

Class Session One:
Ok. So if you're not familiar with the One Block Wonder Why Process, you cut strips out of your 6 identical layers of fabric, then subcut them into 60° triangles. Then you grab each little stack of identical triangles and start playing with the orientation of each. Like this:

These are the same six triangles, just rotated to form different designs. Pretty cool.

Hexagons - Y-Seams - no problem. Sew three together for one half of the block, then sew the other three together. Block 1

I, of course, forgot about 3+3 and sewed 2+2+2. After I sewed the 3rd set of 2, I realized that 3 parts can't be made into 2 halves. Rip.
(Like my white Featherweight? It's not actually mine. Yet. It's Peggy's. Until I finish a few more quilts for her.) Ok, so anyway - Crap. Rip. Add a triangle to each of the 2+2's. Then sew into halves. Finally. There! Done!
Wrong. I musta missed the part where Dolores said, "Don't sew the two halves together - just pin them with two (2) pins - one at the top and one in the center." (Deb? Are you paying attention? Me neither.) Rip again. No photo of me being stupid. Again.

I finished 4 whole half blocks in two hours.
So it was a two-part class with a week in between to get our blocks made.
Time being what it is at my house, i didn't actually sit down to sew my blocks til late Monday night. Fortunately I hadn't broken my rule about not making anything larger than a lap quilt, so I only had to make :I forget how many: blocks. How hard could that be? And more importantly, how long could that possibly take? I'll tell you how long. No, I won't. But I did take a picture of my studio clock to prove what time I finished. I know what you're thinking: "But you could have just changed the clock to whatever time you wanted to make it say!" But you'd be wrong. I actually have 2 clocks in my studio - one for each Daylight Savings Time season. The one on the Bose is set to Fall, and the one on the shelf is set to Spring. That's the one I took a picture of. It's good for a few more days, (wait...hours...oh crud - one more hour) - then I'll spend 6 months only looking at the other one. Scroll down for closing time in the studio.
So remember when I said "How hard could that be?" Yeah. Well, now I know. Just because each of the little triangles are identical, you apparently have to pay attention to what you're doing. Or you could do what I did, and just sew them any which way and be totally surprised when they don't form that cute little spinning design in the center.

Then swear at the dog (who was not doing a very good job of keeping me awake and focused)

and start ripping. Oh. And did I mention that since the 60° triangles are equilateral, (60+60+60=180) that means only one of the three sides is on the straight of grain. The other two are severely biased. Like me. Against these blocks.

Carefully unsew each stitch so as to not stretch the seam, while cursing the person who talked me into this stupid class. (You know who you are.) Then what's really fun is to sew the triangles with wrong side to right side. That doesn't work at all, cuz one triangle shows the backside when you open it up.

Scream. Rip. Watch as Cowardly Mastiff bolts for the door.

Finally finished the blocks and fell into bed. That's 3 a.m. In the morning.

Class Session Two:
I showed up with all my blocks sewn into 2 halves and pinned correctly, and only then found out that I wouldn't be leaving there with a finished top. Even though all my blocks were done. Dammit. I spent the next two hours learning and semi-applying The Rules of Wonder Block Placement. The blocks are supposed to flow and blend into each other from light to dark or...something. No matter how I moved them around the design wall, I could never get them into a square or rectangle: they kept flowing and blending into weird amoeba-like shapes bearing no resemblance to anything vaguely quilt-shaped.

There weren't any blocks suitable for those holes, so Dolores suggested I make a few blocks of the Encore variety. Just pick a couple from the chart to fill in the holes:

This was so not going to work - much less be easy. Or wonder-ful. I numbered the rows, took them all down and stuffed them into a ziplock bag. They're going to the bottom of my UFO drawer. The 2nd UFO drawer with numbers 29-48. They're now 49th on the list.
Screw it.

November 2011 Desktop Calendar

2011-11-01T00:01:00.003-05:00

Is That Daylight I See?

2011-10-13T00:37:00.005-05:00

I've finally come up for air after struggling to finish a gorgeous quilt for a first-time customer.

It's 118" x 118". That's 13,924 sq.in. And I quilted every last inch of it. I usually keep track of the hours put into each quilt, but I stopped counting at 30. And that was back in September I think. I don't know when exactly, cuz I stopped keeping track of the months sometime last summer. (Do you like the blurry picture? Me too.)

It's a Bali Star Double Wedding Ring by designer Judy Niemeyer, and if you've ever pieced one of these, you know how many pieces there are and how long it takes. Personally, I'm not that dedicated, and the payoff isn't great enough for me to invest the time and energy into sewing-ripping-sewing-ripping-sewing...and finally throwing the whole damn thing out. I have several friends (Ho's and otherwise) that are s-l-o-w-l-y working their way through this pattern and every time I see them reading through their pattern BOOK, I'm thankful that I can appreciate the lowly 9-patch:

And I want you to notice: it's hand-quilted! So what if it's only 12" square? It's hand-quilted, dammit!! Now that I'm looking at it, I see it could probably use a little more quilting. Maybe I'll do that. Or not.

Hey! Guess what I found on the interweb! A Hen Cam! I've been missing the fresh eggs we used to get for many years from our chickens until we finally surrendered to the local raccoons. A few years back they ate 45 chickens over the period of about 4 months. Nothing we did could keep them out of the henhouse, including trying to enlist the help of these two.

Once, while Andy was getting ready to um...dispatch... a chicken, he looked over to see a coon staring him down for dinner! Then Hurricane Ike took out the henhouse itself and that was the end of that.

Where was I? Oh yeah. Since I finished that quilt, I decided to take a couple of days off, put my feet up, and just meander through the internet for pictures to add to my boards at Pinterest That's when I came across THE HEN CAM!

From dawn to dusk, I can watch somebody else's chickens any time I want. And a rabbit. And two goats! We used to have all of those. Now I'm depressed. The rabbits were yummy, but the goat died of old age. Anyway, now I'm working on plans for the new henhouse out behind my studio. So I can watch my own chickens live and not have to rely on some random farmer's Hen Cam. Maybe I'll install my own. But then I'd have to do hair and makeup every time I went out to collect eggs. Ok. No Hen Cam. But wait - if I did have one, I'd call it my "Chick Cam: Chick's 24/7...Chicks All Day, Errday!" Imagine the number of hits it'd get! And how unhappy most of them would be when they found out they were looking at birds, hay and chicken poop. That'd be worth it.

October 2011 Desktop Calendar

2011-10-01T00:01:00.000-05:00

September 11 - We Remember

2011-09-11T14:08:00.012-05:00

It's been ten years since the attacks on our nation, and as I watch the minute by minute reports from 2001, I'm struck again by the unbelievable enormity and gravity, and the bottomless depths of emotions that I felt back then.
Then, as now, I'm in awe of the heroic efforts of our firefighters, our policemen, our paramedics, our ordinary citizens, who performed extraordinary deeds of selflessness and courage.

NYFD Deputy Chief Joseph Curry

Father Mychal Judge

The 33 passengers and 7 crew members of Flight 93President Bush spoke about these brave men and women: “Let us also remember that the first victory in this war came on a hijacked plane bound for the nation’s capital. Somehow the brave men and women on Flight 93, knowing they would die, found the courage to use their final moments to save the lives of others . . . Few are called to show the kind of valor seen on Flight 93, or on the field of battle. Yet all of us do share a calling: Be strong in adversity and unafraid in danger.” The actions of these brave men and women serve as a reminder of both the responsibility and privilege of citizenship of this great country - our America.

And don't ever forget the thousands of dead and missing, and the countless thousands of loved ones left behind.

I was asked to make a quilt by the family of one of the victims, 39 year old Sean Canavan. He went to work on September 11, 2001 and never came home. His brother Cieran's wife Jean asked that his quilt represent elements of his life - he was Irish, and loved carpentry, music, and skiing. The photo of his quilt isn't very good, but here it is anyway.

In addition, I participated in making blocks for the gigantic, 16,000 sq ft "United in Memory" quilt which had one block for every person killed in the attacks that day. This quilt toured the country in the years following and today is being exhibited at St. John's University, Staten Island, NY. All the blocks are in the Gallery, listed by name. These are the four blocks I made for the quilt - the first two are indicative of the little bit of detail I could find out about them, but details about the second two eluded me. As an aside, Mr. Spencer and Mr. Spataro's blocks were sewn on my Jones Queen Alexandra treadle during a power outage...I was on a deadline.

The attacks on our nation on September 11, 2001 are this generation's Pearl Harbor. Teach it, with historical accuracy and without political correctness, to your children and grandchildren. Our nation can survive anything because we, as a people, at our very core, are dedicated to freedom and justice. As Ronald Reagan said, "No arsenal is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women."

Remember the innocent victims lost and the heroic sacrifices made on September 11, 2001, and in the days, months and years following.

New: Electric Quilt's "EQ Boutique"

2011-09-07T20:41:00.003-05:00

As long as I'm sitting and waiting for Gillian to get out of dance, I thought I'd get caught up on adding the new fabric lines on Quilters Crossing's website.
But then I got distracted by an email that came in from the folks at Electric Quilt. All I saw was NEW & FREE! and I was checkin' out their website faster than I could say, "Sorry Deb...your new collections are gonna hafta wait!"

~ Presenting ~

It's an online pattern shop with a free, downloadable program that comes loaded with 20 Rose of Sharon appliqué blocks. The program lets you print your pattern in the suggested size or any size you want! Sewing instructions are included where applicable, and so are template, foundation, and rotary-cutting versions of the patterns.
In addition to the pre-loaded program, you can download a free set of 12 jazzy Ohio Star block variations that are totally cool. For Free. Really!

Ok, you say, but why "free?"

Well, I'll tell you! They've got tons of other block sets available for purchase by designers like Karen K. Stone (think New York Beauties), Marsha McCloskey (Feathered Stars), Judy Martin (Rotary Cut Stars), Angie Padilla (the cutest Appliqués ever, and so many more! And when you purchase a set of blocks and download them, they automatically go straight into your EQ Boutique program. No muss, no fuss.

And another thing...if you've already got EQ7 on your computer, it'll automatically link the blocks directly to it, just by clicking one (1) button! No "Where the *#%^ did I save that to anyway?!" Being the scatterbrain that I am, I have to confess that I save everything to my desktop so I can find it again, but then I have to wade through all those shortcuts later and get rid of them cuz I can't stand the chaos. This will save me a whole lot of steps. How cool is that?!

And they've got a mess of Fun Stuff: contests, freebies, a newsletter and lots more. And if you've been toying with the idea of combining software with quilting, but you're not sure you can handle EQ7, this is the perfect way for you to get your feet wet and gain some confidence in using your computer for something other than email or Farmville.

Click on that badge up there to check out all the designers, block sets, and directions on how to get the most from the software. I have absolutely NO affiliation with The Electric Quilt Company other than having an intimate relationship with their software since the beginning. Back in the Stone Age, when DOS was the language of choice.

They've come a long way, baby!

September 2011 Desktop Calendar

2011-09-01T00:03:00.004-05:00

For the first time in over ten years, I'm offering you a choice of calendars this month. As we commemorate the 10th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the downing of United Air Lines Flight 93, I'm giving you a calendar featuring "Broken Rainbows" - the quilt I made in the month following for the special exhibit at the International Quilt Festival in Houston.

Or, if you need a reminder that it's time to start paying attention to "School Zones":

This is my artist's statement as it appears in the book America From the Heart: Quilters Remember September 11, 2001
"Our perception of our world was shattered for a moment, on 9-11-01, and it, along with the New York skyline, looked pretty dark. But we're recovering, and though we might still be a little shaken, we're not by any means broken. The fabric in the lower left quadrant of the quilt was chosen to represent the lives lost and the rubble at ground zero."
If you'd like to see a photo of the quilt, it's in my PictureTrail Album (Award Winning and Published Quilts)
You can order this incredibly moving book from Amazon:

If you like either of this month's calendars, click on your choice to expand the image to full size, right-click and choose Set as Wallpaper or Background. To really jazz up your desktop, right-click on your background and choose a color that coordinates with the calendar.

Cabin Too Underway!

2011-08-30T02:45:00.005-05:00

Thanks to my Super-Son-in-Law Alex and my youngest son, 19yr old MJ, the renovations at our log cabin are starting to show some progress.
First on the agenda was the 26 year old in-ground swimming pool. We'd been pondering having it remodeled for the last few years, and I'm glad now that we didn't. First, the cost: $20k for starters. I don't have that kind of moolah laying around the house, so that was a big fat "No!" Second, I was a little worried about the liability involved with retreaters circumnavigating their way up and down the deck stairs balancing their margaritas and wine bottles. Scary.
We decided that it wasn't worth the risk of potential lawsuits or, for that matter, loss of life, so demo-ing it was the only way to go. MJ voted for dynamite, but we settled on jack-hammering it. We rented the biggest jack-hammer we could find and found out that they don't just throw it in the back of your truck. It's powered by a giant compressor that we had to tow home.

That's Alex and his little boy, my grandson Jackson, unhooking the compressor. After the pool was drained, Alex and MJ started jack-hammering the flagstone around the deck and saving the big pieces to make a new front porch.

Took a while to get that much of the decking torn up, then they decided to start tearing up the bottom of the pool. We didn't want to just fill in the pool, cuz when this drought ends, you know we're gonna go straight into hurricane weather, and we didn't want the pool to hold water like a giant bowl, sucking unsuspecting retreaters, deer, and god-knows-what-else into a man-made Slough of Despond, never to be seen again. Remember "Poltergeist?" Geez - that's all I need!
Anyway - there was still about 2 feet of water at the deep end, all black and murky with things moving in it, so neither Alex nor MJ wanted to get down close to it without making sure nothing was going to slither out after them...like a water moccasin. So, they decided on this solution. In the middle of a Burn Ban. Using diesel fuel.

Nothing swam, crawled or slithered out. They spent the weekend making holes through the bottom and turning it into a landfill.
Let's see...what else...
Oh yeah! I started ordering furniture and cool stuff for the Cabin Too. For the sunroom, I decided on a neat indoor/outdoor wicker set. It's a little plain vanilla, (more like café au lait) but I'll jazz it up with prettier cushions.

And I'm waiting on the rug that'll go under the kitchen table

Then tonight (this morning?) I saw these over at Smak Parlour. I couldn't stand it! I ordered 4 sets of them. Aren't they FABULOUS?? I think I need some for my house, too.

Ok, even though I'm on a roll, I need to hit the sack. "It's a quarter to three..." as the song goes...and I've got a date with a couple of antique-y/junque stores in a few hours. Oh crud. Andy just woke up. Gotta go.

August 2011 Desktop Calendar

2011-08-01T00:01:00.002-05:00

It's still hot and dry down here in Texas. We've lost an oak, a dogwood and several azaleas. What's left of the grass is as dry and crunchy as a dead grasshopper, and even the dog has to be forced to go outside. There's a burn ban across the state and the county parks have covered up all the bbq grills - which, to be honest, probably wouldn't be seeing much action anyway in this heat.
So anyway - if you like this month's calendar, click on it to expand image to full size, right-click and choose Set as Wallpaper or Background. To really jazz up your desktop, right-click on your background and choose a color that coordinates with the calendar - you'll be the envy of your cubicle!
And if you have any rain left over...please, please send it our way - we're still about 2 feet short so far this year!

July 2011 Desktop Calendar

2011-07-01T10:34:00.000-05:00

I'm about 12 hours late with this. Sorry - I don't where June went. Heck I don't know where January through June went! I'm thinking of writing my To-Do List on toilet paper...a double roll would be just about long enough to fit, and I can just tear off a sheet instead of checking it off. Or, I could just flush the whole blasted thing and be done with it. I'm leaning towards that. A friend mentioned that God must have confidence in me, as He's trusted me with so much. Personally, I'd like Him to trust someone else for awhile. Is that bad?
Anyway - click on the calendar to expand image to full size, right-click and choose Set as Wallpaper or Background. To really jazz up your desktop, right-click on your background and choose a color that coordinates with the calendar - you'll be the envy of your cubicle!
And if you have any rain left over...please send it our way - we're still about 22" short so far this year!

June 2011 Desktop Calendar

2011-06-01T00:00:00.003-05:00

It's been so hot and dry here in Texas that I couldn't bear to do a summertime quilt for the calendar this month. The fact that our air conditioning hasn't worked since last August doesn't help matters. It's 83℉ at 11:47pm in my living room, and I'm melting. I may just wake up the kids for a midnight run to Dairy Queen for Snickers Blizzards.

Anyway - click on the calendar to expand image to full size, right-click and choose Set as Wallpaper or Background. To really jazz up your desktop, right-click on your background and choose a color that coordinates with the calendar - you'll be the envy of your cubicle!

And if you have any rain left over...send it our way!

Spring Fever!

2011-05-06T10:24:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, after a busy morning of doctor visits, errands, and general waste-of-time running around, Gillian and I pulled into one of my favorite spots for gardening eye-candy, The Arbor Gate in Tomball.

I thought I'd just run in and see if I could find the perfect flower pot for a large Spathiphyllum that Andy received while he was in the hospital a few months back. Five minutes in and out, right?
Wrong.
Reason #1: Too many distractions

One of these would add so much color to the log cabin!

Love these chairs, but need a crane to get me up out of them!

That's more like it - and a pillow for my back!

???

Oooo - wouldn't that look great in my koi pond?!

No - this one!
Reason #2: Too many choices

Reason #3: The inside - more stuff!

Yes, that's Gillian's finger in his nose...classy. Like her mom.

I give up. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow

May 2011 Desktop Calendar

2011-05-01T00:00:00.003-05:00

Mini Bling!

2011-04-17T21:04:00.013-05:00

Ooooh - I almost forgot! Guess what car bling my Mini Cooper is sporting!
My new, super-custom VANITY PLATES!
I waited over a year for special order 7-character license plates to be available from MyPlates and finally, for 7 days only, the first week in March, they began taking orders. A little pricey for one year, but if you did it for 10 years, the price amortizes out to the regular price per year for vanity plates. You just have to spend that chunk all at once.

As soon as it hit 7am I was all over it! I've spent a year looking at all the different plates, styles, colors & logos and I absolutely knew what I wanted. I was petrified that something would go wrong - the power would go out - my credit card wouldn't go through - I'd oversleep. I know. What a geek. I can't help it. Had the plate design, had the text. Just had to click on Order. Click. Nothing. Click! Nothing. ClickclickclickclickCLICK!!! #$%^&!!! Sure enough - my #$%^ browser locked up! Couldn't back out, couldn't place the order. All I could do, was delete my plate from the cart. I was beside myself. Hysterical. In a total panic. I know, I know...but I really, really wanted those plates. My resident techs were still in bed (how could they sleep through the screaming?!), the dog was hiding, and I was a raving madwoman! (I know, right?? Hard to believe.) I closed Firefox and opened up Safari. Started over. I had the same knots I get in the pit of my stomach when I place what I hope will be the winning bid in the last 32 seconds of an eBay auction. ( I love my jadite!) The planets must have all been aligned, because it went through in about 10 seconds. But I couldn't relax til I got the confirmation email. Then, I was on pins & needles for the next two weeks waiting for them to arrive at the local tax office.

When I finally went to pick them up, the creepy guy next to me was picking up his:

Yeah. That's not really his actual plate. But it looks just like it. I told you: he was a big scary-looking dude and he didn't look like he'd want me taking his picture. But you get the idea. Oh. And his plate suits him.
Anyway - if you're driving around the Houston area and see this - wave!

(Don't honk. That might elicit a somewhat ummm...negative reaction. If you get my meaning.)

A New Day

2011-04-11T16:39:00.005-05:00

I don't know if it really counts as a new day if I haven't been to bed yet. It's more like a continuation of the old one. Finished that quilt at 6:30 this morning, woke MJ up to go to Lowe's for boards for his sign business and 2 replacement panes of glass for the Cabin Too. Had some grits and coffee and started to wake up. Not much, but enough to add quilting to one of the skinny inside borders on the quilt I already finished! Ugh. When will I learn? The 30 seconds it took to quilt 10 teensy motifs, took 2 hours to rip out. Took a quick picture, trimmed it, packed it and ran it to the Post Office. Done.Now back to the quilt I took off the frame so I could squeeze this one out. I need to have that one done by Sunday.
Scary-full schedule for the rest of the week and into next, and as soon as dinner's out of the oven and I've had my fill of chicken 'n rice, I'm hittin' the sack. I don't care if I am doing the senior early bird dinner thing - I've been up for almost 37 hours and it all starts again tomorrow at 6. Daylight is over-rated.

It Came to Pass...

2011-04-11T00:30:00.006-05:00

It's just past midnight and I should be in bed enjoying the reward of an impossibly busy and frustrating day: sleep. Deep, calming, refreshing sleep.But I'm here in my studio, working on a quilt that has to be on its way home tomorrow. Today. In too few hours.
Listening to Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for unaccompanied violin. Feeling sorry for myself and fighting the tears that will just interrupt my quilting.
Overtired, overwhelmed, over-extended and over-worked.
Ahhh - the Chaconne. So sweetly sad, yet resolute. Determined. That's how I feel. Life's bittersweet trials leaving me exhausted and fearful - but at the same time knowing - knowing in my soul - that I'm strong enough to get through this. It won't last forever and I'll just keep on keeping on til life moves on and picks on someone else for a change.
I was in a ladies Bible study some years back when someone told the story of a man who said his favorite scripture was "It came to pass." That didn't really make much sense - what's the 'address' of that verse? He said it was all through the Bible. Over and over again God tells us that it didn't come to stay, it came to pass!
I like that - and I'm counting on it. It doesn't feel like it right now, but I know it's true.After I finish this quilt and finally sink my head into my pillow I might be able to convince myself that all this chaos, confusion and consternation really did just come to pass.
Anytime now would be good for me.

April 2011 Desktop Calendar

2011-04-01T00:01:00.002-05:00

Here's a cute little bunny and eggs just in time for Easter. The bunny and carrots in the corners are from Robyn Pandolph's Book/CD entitled Stitched With Love, an adorable collection of whimsical patterns and gorgeous projects. It's a free-standing CD, but, if you have the Electric Quilt, you can import the blocks for use/manipulation in that program. Then you can make even more projects - so that's pretty cool.
Click on it to expand the image to full size, right-click and choose Set as Wallpaper or Background. To really jazz up your desktop, right-click on your background and choose a color that coordinates with the calendar.

R&R

2011-03-29T21:22:00.020-05:00

I took a few days off from the craziness at my house and retreated with some quilting buddies. Didn't get a whole lot done other than make the one extra Turning Twenty duvet cover I've needed for the past 3 years over at the retreat, and start on the 240 blocks I'll need for the new duvets at the Cabin Too (our log cabin that's being readied for its new life as another, smaller retreat facility.)
The first 49 blocks...ugh.
Packets of 2.5" strips for the 12" log cabin blocks.
Piles of leftover scraps with the Marti Michel Log Cabin Ruler I used to make the several hundred strips I've cut so far. I've only done some of the pink, yellow and green strips, and I'm looking forward to cutting the next 500 or so strips. Maybe I'll go ahead and schedule that root canal instead. My friendKaren, The Quilt Rambler,has offered me the use of her AccuQuilt Go cutter so I can cut those strips a lot faster. I'll still use Marti's ruler to subcut them into each round's exact length, though, cuz the blocks themselves went together really fast. And I need fast.
Or maybe I'll go through some of the goodies the retreaters exchanged. That little mug thingy has a fabric insert that we all signed for each other - just need to decorate it, do a quick quilting job on it, and stick it between the plastic layers for a java-filled reminder of my quilting friends til I see them again in the fall.
Peggy & I went for a little walk across the road to Ozark Folkways Heritage Center to see what kind of goodies we could find. They have classes in basket-weaving, rug hooking (The Happy Hookers!), pottery-throwing, jewelry-making, weaving, spinning...all kinds of stuff.
Look up. Yes, that's a quilt stapled to the ceiling! Wow.

Very folksy, in a rustic old stone building, with lots of charming crafts...except for this creepy doll.It looks like a clown playing the wolf playing Grandma in Little Red Riding Hood. Scary as hell. But so you won't have nightmares, here's something cute!A weird little Italian antique box with Baby Jesus swaddled to look like a mer-baby. I almost bought it. Glad I didn't. Sorry - not much of a "palate cleanser."Oh wait! I bought something!Looks great on my mantle!

Circle of Life Raffle Quilt-Appraised: $7500!

2011-03-03T14:08:00.015-06:00

My fellow quilters at TriCounty Quilt Guild have just finished the raffle quilt for next year's quilt show. Barbara & Diana headed up the piecing committee and I quilted it. It's called "Circle of Life" and is designed by Jacqueline de Jonge of The Netherlands.70" x 70"

The quilt took over 365 hours to complete, which includes cutting, piecing, quilting and binding, etc.
If you'd like to purchase tickets, they are $1 each or 6 for $5, 12 for $10, and are available from any guild member, including myself. Feel free to contact me if you're interested in purchasing a ticket or twelve.
It'll look terrific in your house - and think of the bragging rights you'll have as the owner of a $7500 quilt!

March 2011 Desktop Calendar

2011-03-01T00:01:00.000-06:00

First, allow me to thank you so much for all your good wishes for our family. My husband is doing much better after his surgery and subsequent stroke, and we are very grateful for your support, good wishes, and prayers.
I can't believe how incredibly busy we've all been since this happened, and I've had to let some things go by the wayside. (Insert any and all household tasks like cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc. Not that any of those held a position of great import in my life before this, but at least now I have an excuse to let them go undone!) But the one thing I'm not willing to cut out is my desktop calendar. So here ya go. Especially for my nephew Aron, who's so proud of his Irish heritage. Sláinte!
Click on it to expand the image to full size, right-click and choose Set as Wallpaper or Background. To really jazz up your desktop, right-click on your background and choose a color that coordinates with the calendar.

February 2011 Desktop Calendar

2011-02-01T00:01:00.002-06:00

We've had a lot going on at our house this past month, and I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get this month's calendar up at all. I worked on it today, in 10 minute or less chunks, from my husband's hospital room. We've been here for 6 days, and hopefully today is our last. He'll be going to an in-patient rehab hospital in The Woodlands for a week or two, and then home for out-patient rehab. At any rate, here's the calendar! Click on it to expand the image to full size, right-click and choose Set as Wallpaper or Background. To really jazz up your desktop, right-click on your background and choose a color that coordinates with the calendar.

The Secret's Out!

2011-01-15T14:08:00.010-06:00

I've been biting my tongue for almost a year and a half about a new project my friend (and fellow Sew-Ho), Susi has been involved in. About a year ago, she mentioned
that she had some individual quilt blocks she wanted me to quilt for her, but that it was very hush-hush.
These are what she brought to me:

And here's what I came up with. One has a great big shadow which was my hand on the zoom. Again. (Quiet, Carla!)

She'd had a brilliant idea to produce life-sized, detailed puzzles from images of 16" quilted blocks that could be used to educate the next generation of quilters. And she chose me to quilt them for her. After what seemed like forever, she found a manufacturer that could guarantee the product quality she required, and had custom packaging designed. Susi's marketing team worked with her to select which quilts would reproduce best and production began. And now, they're finally ready! Here's the first two puzzles:

Is that cool or what?!
Even before she had the first ones done, Susi came to me again with another batch of potential puzzles:

There's no telling which ones will make the cut.
Susi's marketing them to independent quilt shops, boutiques, and quilt guilds (wth whom she makes special arrangements so they can use them as a guild fundraiser.) Check out her website UnCommon Quilts, which, by the way, has several of my quilts alternating on the homepage like this:

Congratulations, Susi, on pursuing your dream and making it happen!

January 2011 Desktop Calendar

2011-01-01T13:07:00.001-06:00

Happy New Year!

2010-12-31T23:35:00.003-06:00

The calendar will be up in the morning... right now, I'm partying!

And MORE Bling!

2010-12-12T20:55:00.004-06:00

Today when I went to snoop down at the retreat (I love to check out all the projects and goings-on with my retreaters), I found another gift from beader Royelle: a pair of Christmas tree earrings! The photo doesn't do them justice as they are much more sparkly in person. Thank you, Royelle - you are too much!

Christmas Party Bling

2010-12-09T21:23:00.026-06:00

My local guild had our annual Christmas party the other night and I noticed that many of our members went all out in their Christmas attire. Some had jazzy vests, some had cute earrings, and others had some good-looking bling! Harking back to my footwear fotos at Quilt Market, I thought I'd annoy everyone with extreme closeups of their holiday finest. Mostly they didn't mind my leaning in with TSA-inspired intrusiveness, and just smiled and nodded til I went away.

And some pretty snazzy jewelry!

Santa Troll earrings!

And the piece de resistance, a hand-beaded Santa, with free-swinging beard and teensy tiny bells clustered along the bottom. It was unbelievably intricate. I had to fight the urge to mug her in the parking lot. Man, do I regret missing my chance!

But I was rewarded for my self-control when, on my way home, I stopped at the retreat to lock up after the beading group that just left, and I found this:
Royelle left this for me. How exquisite is this?! If I'd stopped at the retreat on my way to the party, I would have had some bling to wear, too! Next year I'll be ready.

December 2010 Desktop Calendar

2010-12-01T00:01:00.000-06:00

Where did the year go? Here's the last calendar of 2010...only 31 days left to think of a theme for 2011 - which I won't actually do til 11:30 NYE as usual. Click on the calendar to expand image to full size, right-click and choose Set as Wallpaper or Background. To really jazz up your desktop, right-click on your background and choose a color that coordinates with the calendar - you'll be the envy of your cubicle!

November 2010 - Finished!

2010-11-28T23:10:00.010-06:00

You know, I don't get near as many quilts finished as I used to. Some years I'd get 4 or 5 done, and now, I'm lucky if I get 1 finished. In a year. But this actually makes my 2nd one of 2010, and I'm planning on having another one done in the next week or so.
This one's for Sofie - and it's only 5 months late! It's a scrap quilt made of 1930's repros and white ric-rac. It's quilted with a panto by Dave Hudson called Security Blanket - perfect, and way cute! I gave it to her on Thanksgiving.

And here's the pretty girl trying out her first quilt from Nana.
And her 5 month picture

And speaking of pretty...how about this Thanksgiving Banana Pumpkin Meringue Pie? Yes, it was very yummy!!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Speaking of New Homes...

2010-11-17T16:35:00.005-06:00

We were, right? Well, we were a few months back, anyway. I'm still getting my studio in order and it should be picture-perfect in another week or so. I hope.
But for now...I've got two other moving-related things to share. Guess who's moved in with us? No, not any more of our grown kids (for a change).
Mr. Collins and Angelique!

Mr. Collins is wearing the blue collar. Angelique has a pink one, which she promptly lost outside somewhere. They were strays living at the quilt shop in town, and after a week or so, they came to live with us. They're Snowshoe cats which are a relatively new breed, a cross between the American Shorthair and Siamese. He's full grown, but she's an older kitten. They don't talk nearly as much as Siamese do, and are very, very cuddly. Neither is afraid of Libby, our 150lb English Mastiff, and they taught her to back off in the first 30 seconds after meeting. They walk right under her chin to antagonize her, and she struggles to ignore them. They've settled in nicely!

Moving-related item Number 2:
Remember I said my oldest daughter and family moved into the log cabin? Well, they moved out again...and into their own house!

They bought a beautiful 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2.5 car garage that's just perfect for them. Lots of wood flooring, 14' ceilings, formal dining room, state of the art appliances, and an attic that has a stairway not a pull-down ladder! Oh! And a Christmas Closet! We had no idea that it was anything other than an oddly-large hall closet (the size of a bedroom), until my friend Shirley saw it, and told Megan that it's for storing your fully-decorated Christmas tree, along with tons of shelves and cubbies for storing wreaths, garlands, and ornaments. Who'da thunk it?!
And look how big Baby Sofie's gotten! And that Jack is such a cutie! It's not as much fun not having them in the cabin, but it's a good move for them, so we're happy.
Anyway - almost all their stuff is out of the cabin now, so Andy and I have been pondering what to do with it. It sits right in the middle of our 16+ acres, so we don't want to sell it.

Sooo....we've decided to fix it up and make it the retreat annex, the "Cabin Too." (Name subject to change depending on what I can come up with - suggestions welcome!) Some of the logs need to be replaced, and the inside needs some spiffing up, but we're hoping that a year from now, we'll be able to handle more retreaters. As it stands now, our calendar is almost totally full, including weekdays. Usually only holiday weeks are open. And most of my retreats are repeat bookings, which makes it really difficult for new groups to squeeze in. We're thinking we'll just use the downstairs for now (since nobody really likes to haul their luggage upstairs), and we'll be able to sleep a max of 5-6. That'll still give plenty of room for sewing, scrapping, beading, etc, and some of the smaller groups can book it without worrying about the 6 minimum required at the Quilter's Cabin. I'm considering not having a minimum number at all for the Cabin Too. So, rather than settling into a predictable schedule, we're back to planning, budgeting, working with tradesmen, redecorating...the same thing we were doing almost 3 years ago. I'll post updates and photos when we actually get started. And we really hope a year is a workable goal. Wish us luck!

November 2010 Desktop Calendar

2010-11-01T00:00:00.001-05:00

Festival Fashions & Footwear!

2010-10-30T22:48:00.039-05:00

Deb (one of the owners of Quilters' Crossing in Tomball) and I spent the last two days at the International Quilt Market in Houston, and after seeing quite a few interesting ensembles, I decided they needed to be immortalized on my blog. Forget the quilts, fabrics, notions, patterns and embellishments - the real action was the people watching.
Since this is Halloween weekend, many of the visitors and vendors got all decked out - some more successfully than others.
This vendor said she couldn't compete with the one across the aisle, so she was reduced to playing crossing guard

Unfortunately for her, she was forced to spend the entire time being upstaged by

These ladies coordinated their outfits

As did they

And so did they!

Speaking of retro - how about bell-bottoms?

Or how about this guy? What a good sport, to walk around the convention center in a giant version of their company's pattern
And no trip to Market or Festival would be complete without an Elinor Peace Bailey sighting!
Scanning down to her feet, here's what Elinor was wearing

Speaking of quilting celebrity feet - guess who belongs to these?

Cara Gulati!

These two didn't know quite what to make of me, but I thought their boots looked pretty darn good!

Some shoes were winners, and some not so much, but I enjoyed looking for samples to shoot!

I had a pair just like these back in '68 which I wore with my straight leg Levis and levi jacket. Which I still have!

And these feet had a sweet story. They belonged to a young mother who'd lost her little girl Kyrie to cancer a fews years ago, so she has her daughter's name along with a halo and angel wings tattoo'd on her foot. I wasn't expecting that when I asked to take a photo of her camo slippers all bling'd up.

Deb & I made it 3/4 of the way through the convention center before we finally cratered. Made our way to the Starbucks stand to take a break and put our feet up. This is just the way I like my coffee: strong enough to stand a spoon up in it!

After we'd rested, we dragged ourselves up and down the last 1/2 dozen aisles and stumbled on this booth, featuring the new book by quilt and fabric designer RaNae Merrill...and the quilt that I quilted for her was featured on the cover! How cool is that?!

Oh - and last but not least, this doesn't really count as fashion, but what the hey. This is an ironing board cover with a sexy hunk covered only by a loosely draped fabric. Guess what happens when you iron on it??

Don't think I can top that, so I'll call it a day. Except I still haven't finished the November desktop calendar. Better get movin' on that before I hit the sack.

October 2010 Desktop Calendar

2010-10-01T00:01:00.001-05:00

Pomegranate, Anyone?

2010-09-10T08:37:00.007-05:00

After spending the better part of an hour looking for my mobile iPhone charger, then remembering why it wasn't in the car (...oh yeah - it doesn't work), I started griping about all the things I wished I had. Like a decent charger. Or a good cup of coffee. Or an electric shaver that really works. Or a really little portable instrument that I could play when I'm bored.

Then I saw this:

It's the new Canadian Pomegranate phone. And it does everything but wash windows! It fulfills my complete wish list and more. Except for the charger...it doesn't need one! You just set it near any running electrical item (fridge, laptop, tv, car, etc) and it draws power wirelessly from it and recharges its own battery! Which is shaped like a tiny pomegranate seed.
And it lasts for 120 hours!

Oh wait. I wanted a decent cup of coffee. Well, how about this?

Believe it or not, it brews coffee! See that little circle on the left of the first phone photo? It holds the almost-flat pod of ground coffee.
It has a pop-up shaver that you can use anywhere, and it even has a harmonica built in. A real harmonica - not a harmonica app. The GPS is something I can put to good use...and if you've ever been in the passenger seat of my Mini you'd agree. After going to the same church for 10 years, I got lost coming home one Sunday night and ended up on K-Z Road way out in the country. About 5 years ago I accidentally passed that same spot and realized I was only about 7 minutes from home at that point, yet that night, it took me another hour. GPS. It should be called GSP: Guidance for Stupid People. But I digress. The Pomegranate works as a projector and has a voice translator built in too. You talk into one side and any of over 50 languages comes out the other. Something I could have used in the hotel business 40 years ago.

Take a look at it in action here
After you've explored all the gadgets and gizmos, be sure to click on Release Date.

September 2010 Desktop Calendar

2010-09-01T00:01:00.005-05:00

I love the fabric in Northcott's Bliss line by Jane Spolar. Saw it at Quilters' Crossing and I had to plan a wallhanging out of it for my youngest. Gillian has put in her 2 cents on how she wants it to look, but since I won't be getting to it for a while, she'll have to settle for the EQ7 version instead. Click to expand image to full size, right-click and choose Set as Wallpaper or Background. To really jazz up your desktop, right-click on your background and choose a color that coordinates with the calendar - you'll love it!

Look What I Found!

2010-08-23T20:27:00.013-05:00

Ok, I didn't find these, my daughter did! Both my girls are fond of indie stuff: indie music, indie films, indie clothing, and indie jewelry. They love the stuff they find at ShanaLogic and that's where she found these:

A cute thimble pincushion necklace

Bitty Button earrings

Sewing themed pinbacks
And scissor earrings!
How cute are they?!

August 2010 Desktop Calendar

2010-07-31T23:54:00.003-05:00

Click to expand image to full size, right-click and choose Set as Wallpaper or Background. To really jazz up your desktop, right-click on your background and choose a color that coordinates with the calendar - you'll love it!
And I'll be back in a little while with the latest on my new studio - the buildout is finished, and all that's left is to find a place for everything!

Santa vs The Kansas Troublemakers: The Final Chapter

2010-07-27T20:31:00.002-05:00

On the last full day of the Kansas Troublemakers retreat, Santa decided that he only had a little time left to pull out all the stops. First, he snuck into the un-official massage room and tried to pass himself off as the massage therapist! He was caught on camera in the nick of time, much to the intended victim's relief. The photo he took of her jumping off the table in shock, trailing her spa blanket behind her as she ran screaming from the room, was later found in the attic. Santa's not above blackmail, apparently.Later, he joined us in the Gathering Room where he made friends with Kathi's Sock Monkey. They were inseparable for the rest of the evening, and played practical jokes with some fruit. Fortunately, there are no photos of the bananas and lemons they were playing with.After a few bourbon slushes, Santa once again began his schmoozing with all the retreaters, making wild promises of fabulously-filled Christmas stockings in a few months.He convinced one retreater into accompanying him up to the attic, where he had a special surprise for her!
True to form, he had too much to drink, and was quite partial to this wine, which reminded him of a special friend in Ohio.
After that bottle, he finished off 3 more and (thankfully) stumbled upstairs. Literally.Leaving his empties out for the cleaning crew, he dragged himself into his attic and retired for the duration. We haven't seen him since, but can still hear the rafters rattling with his roof-raising snoring. The rest of his exploits will have to remain a mystery, as
He did seem to enjoy creating a ruckus with the Kansas Troublemakers, and I bet he'll be back next year!

Santa's on the Loose: Lock up Yer Booze and Yer Women!

2010-07-24T10:29:00.018-05:00

Apparently after we all went to bed, Santa was able to escape from the attic and creep downstairs undetected. When we awoke yesterday morning, he was set up at his sewing station, having swiped Peggy's Featherweight, along with something from just about every retreater. We caught him with Deb's rotary cutter, Reeze's pincushion, Mandy's thread, Charmaine's scissor lanyard, Kathi's string blocks(which he made into a lovely vest), and Peggy's rainbow colored vitamin case. (I suspect he thought he was going to score something really good.)

After he returned all his 'borrowed' items, we allowed him to accompany us to La Trattoria di Alba, Tomball's newest Italian restaurant.
We tried to keep him away from the wine list, but after referencing his naughty/nice lists, the waitress quickly brought him a bottle of white zinfandel to match his coat, in case he spilled.
The meal was terrific, especially the seafood crepes!
As we left, we stopped to take a picture of the group, and our tipsy friend almost fell into the rosebush!

Back at the retreat, he tried to get a little frisky with Trish! He lulled her into a false sense of security by offering her his coat, then sidled up to her and tried to take liberties! Look at that leer!

When his advances were rebuffed, he found consolation in the bottom of a bottle wandering around the rest of the evening with only his nightshirt on.

We did a quick check to see if he was hiding any more contraband (which he seemed to enjoy!) before sending him back up to the attic.

After partaking of some Dutch Courage, Peggy tearfully confessed that Trish wasn't the first to experience Santa's unwelcome advances. During our excursion to the quilt shop the previous day, he'd given her a 'lovepat' on the way out of the store.

And this morning, I caught him trying to sneek into Reeze's room! Not that she would've minded...especially since she missed her opportunity with the pizza guy.

Kansas Troublemakers Retreat!

2010-07-23T03:04:00.021-05:00

I've waited a whole year for this: my own personal retreat with an exclusive group of troublemaking quilter friends! This is our third annual retreat and it is just what we all needed. Except for two missing members: one is vacationing in Hawaii (the nerve!) and the other has moved to Albuquerque, NM, and couldn't make it back for this year's gathering.

Instead, we had a stand-in for her:

The handmade almost-life-size Father Christmas she had to leave behind in Houston. He's been living in my retreat attic for 6 months and was demanding some time out for good behavior.

As you can see, he started off by sharing a glass of bubbly with us, then decided he just had to accompany us on our field trip to the new quilt shop in town, Quilters' Crossing.

After some coaxing we got that bottle of wine away from him with the promise that he could have it back if he behaved well on the excursion.

Couldn't get him to let loose of that wine glass, though.

He took right to the whole idea of fabric shopping and, after checking out everything they had to offer, dove right in!

He had poor Mandy cutting yard after yard of all my - I mean his - favorites!

Looking out onto the courtyard garden, he spied the other building which houses the shop's classroom, and he insisted that he get to see everything. (He wasn't at all sure when he'd be let out of the attic again!)
Mandy coaxed him away from the window and agreed to give him the deluxe tour.

Being just a tad over-dressed for July in Texas, he stopped to rest by the lamp post with a cute redhead who was walking by. He offered her a sip from his glass, but she, being a Cosmo-girl, turned him down.
Cutting his losses, he continued on into the classroom where he immediately made himself at home with the shop's sewing machine. Nice work on that quilt, Santa!He absolutely loved the ironing board cover that Deb made, but decided against doing any pressing as he was concerned about his beard.As the Troublemakers left the shop, Father Christmas became a little woozy. He claimed it was the heat, but we'd already seen him down several glasses of the bubbly. By the time we got to the car, he was 3 sheets to the wind and collapsed in the back of the Mini, spilling the remainder of his wine all over himself.
He had to be carried into the retreat where he retired to the attic in shame. If he's learned his lesson, I might let him out tomorrow!We love you and miss you, Shirley, and wish you were here! Especially since we know you wouldn't get hammered like your stand-in did!

July 2010 Desktop Calendar

2010-07-01T23:49:00.004-05:00

Here's my excuse for being tardy

Sofie, my new grandbaby, arrived Tuesday evening! She joins her mom and dad, and big brother Jack,2.
Oh, all right, I'll go ahead and say it, "Awwww.."

Ok, back to business - here's the July calendar, in honor of baby Sofie!

Click to expand image to full size, right-click and choose Set as Wallpaper or Background. To really jazz up your desktop, right-click on your background and choose a color that coordinates with the calendar - you'll love it!

Where's the Calendar??

2010-07-01T21:18:00.002-05:00

I've already heard from several of you :^/
The past 10 days have been crazy: trip to CA for niece's wedding; home Sunday evening; cleaned retreat after group left Sunday; got it ready for new group Monday; daughter went into labor Tuesday (girl, Sofia London, 8#3oz) babysat their 2 yr old while they were doing their thing at the hospital; son had braces put on Wednesday; haircut for me today; repairman for A/C today...
No wonder I forgot about the calendar!

It's coming soon...

June 2010

2010-06-30T09:31:00.001-05:00

Holy Mackerel! It took me a flippin' year to finish another quilt! How embarrassing.

This is the autograph quilt I donated to the Tri-County Quilt Guild as a little fund-raiser.

It's 34" square and the border fabrics are from the Kashmir ll collection from Sentimental Studios by Moda.

It has the following celebrity quilters' autographs: Linda Taylor, Paula Nadelstern, Ricky Tims, Nancy Zieman, Marti Michell, Eleanor Peace Bailey, Linda Jenkins, Becky Goldsmith, Charlotte Angotti, Brenda Papadakis, Jamie Wallen, Mark Lipinski,Harriet Hargrave, Pepper Cory, and Judith Baker Montano.

Hopefully my Quilt Completion Track Record will improve in 2010. Except that since I've already used up 6 months...probably not.

It's Official!

2010-06-09T03:58:00.013-05:00

My good friend Deb is opening her own quilt shop in Tomball this summer! It's going to be called QUILTERS CROSSING, and will be located in the Old Town Tomball section of downtown, right across from Relics by the Railroad and The Whistle Stop Tea Room. It's the perfect spot, with several excellent restaurants within walking distance. She'll have 2 buildings: one for the quilt shop, longarm quilting and machine sales, and one for the classroom.

She and her friends are busy painting, ordering fixtures, and most importantly: ordering fabric!

Stay tuned for an update with more photos, and when they set a date for the opening, you'll be the 2nd to know!

June 2010 Desktop Calendar

2010-06-01T00:01:00.001-05:00

Mother's Day Road Trip

2010-05-12T17:37:00.012-05:00

So guess where I went for Mother's Day?
Nowhere! We were planning on going to a little restaurant in Snook, Texas - but, after forgoing breakfast in bed, and getting the gang up and ready for travel, we discovered that they weren't even open on Sundays!
So, on Monday, we did it all over again and drove the 70+ miles to Snook, population 568. If we'da blinked, we woulda missed it.

We arrived at Sodolak's Original Country Inn around lunchtime and found all the locals enjoying their giant steaks, Texas toothpicks, and what they're (in)famous for:

Chicken Fried Bacon!
I know. But I saw it featured on the Travel Channel a few months back during the same episode that they highlighted Goodson's Restaurant, 5 minutes from my house in Tomball. See for yourself in this clip from Texas Country Reporter - featuring our waitress, who didn't at all live up to her sign:

At first only Andy was willing to indulge my craving, but MJ decided to try it. Gillian resisted til I gave her a tiny piece to taste, and she was won over.

It was crisp, and not at all 'flubbery' - easy to chew - it practically melted in your mouth. And the country cream gravy was the perfect accompaniment. We definitely shoulda got 2 orders!

We are so going back!

Oh. I forgot. As if we hadn't already done enough to get to workin' on a heart attack, we spotted this on the way home and had to stop for a chocolate malt, a Heath Blizzard and an Oreo Brownie Earthquake.

No dinner Monday night.

Anybody Have a Shoehorn?

2010-05-01T23:21:00.014-05:00

So we bought the neighbor's 25 year old farmhouse 6 weeks ago, and we've been slo-o-o-wly moving out of the log cabin, less than 1/4 mile away. Probably about 20% of our stuff has made it over here in the past month and a half. Which makes it really hard to find anything. If it's in the new house, it's in a box. If it's in the cabin, it's in a pile waiting to be put in a box. But that won't happen any time soon for 2 reasons:

1) I'm wanting to re-use the boxes we've already packed/moved so far - but not unpacked yet

2) I'm too cheap to go buy new boxes

It's driving my older daughter and her family nuts. They're waiting to get their stuff unpacked, but can't, as our stuff is still in the rooms, closets, and cubby holes. They'd like to settle into the cabin before the new baby comes in July. I get that. And I want that for them. I just need 6 more arms and legs. (I don't want to be confused with Octomom, though.)

Ok, so where was I going with that?

Oh yeah. A shoehorn.

My temporary studio at the new house is the size of a closet - a nice-sized closet - and I can only get a fraction of my stuff in there. Just to illustrate, here's some shots of my studio at the cabin:

Ok. Now how do I get all that in here:

And the one, sad little closet

It is so not going to happen!

Since these pictures were taken about 2 weeks ago, I've gotten quite a bit in there, after adding a mess of Elfa shelving in the closet, and wrapping folded yardage on more of those Fabric Organizers by DeNiece. And I've gotten my sewing table in there, too. No to the giant cutting table, so I'm using my old Singer Model 42 sewing cabinet (with my 201 inside) as a cutting table. I just finished cutting 240 3.5" squares and I can't get back to vertical...I feel like Quasimoto.

I could squeeze a little more stuff in there, but I've decided to commandeer my husband's new garage instead. He's waited a quarter of a century for a garage (all this time, we've only had a barn with no floor), and I feel kind of bad about it, but really, honey...priorities.

We compromised and decided to split the garage: he gets 25% and I get 75%. That sounds fair to me. The contractor says it should be finished by the end of next week. Maybe.

They put in a new French door and knocked holes in the brick for 4 windows. I'll post some progress photos as they get further along.

And just for fun, this is what I've been working on in my temporary studio: my first feathered star - it'll end up being a little under 60" sq; and an autograph wallhanging with signatures from Paula Nadelstern, Nancy Zieman, Mark Lipinski, Ricky Tims, and 12 other quilting celebrities. I'll post when I get them both finished.

Time to hit the sack...

May 2010 Desktop Calendar

2010-05-01T00:01:00.005-05:00

I'm taking a Jan Krentz Lonestar workshop through my guild in a few days, so I've got them on the brain. Hope my real one is as easy to make as this one!
Click to expand image to full size, right-click and choose Set as Wallpaper or Background. To really jazz up your desktop, right-click on your background and choose a color that coordinates with the calendar - you'll love it!

EQ7

2010-04-30T09:16:00.004-05:00

While I'm working on the May calendar, I thought I'd give you a heads up on the program I use to design them: Electric Quilt!
I've used EQ since the very first version, about 16 years ago, and since that time, I've only designed one quilt without it - a wholecloth painted quilt. 100+ quilts in the last 16 years - you decide if I like EQ or not!
Anyway - just got word this week that they're coming out with a new version in June, and for a limited time, they've got some killer pre-order pricing.
Check it out at Electric Quilt

Better get back to work on the calendar!

Spring Has Sprung in Texas!

2010-04-15T14:53:00.002-05:00

My first spring in our new house has brought so much beauty, I don't think I can stand it. I really appreciate our old neighbors' (from whom we bought the house) efforts when they planted dozens of azaleas 25 years ago. They have literally exploded with blooms and color, and even fragrance. I had no idea they even had a scent since the 2 puny little azaleas back at my log cabin never had enough blooms to even take a picture of. So pathetic.
But now, we've got these:

and several dogwoods

Unfortunately, along with the beautiful weather, has come another harbinger of spring, the ever-hungry Blue Heron.

He ate my last blasted koi. So now we have a pond filled with algae, some unknown variety of vine, and little else. That koi was big enough to make a good-size serving of sushi. If it was going to be eaten, it should have been by us!

Damn bird - I hope he chokes.

April 2010 Desktop Calendar

2010-04-01T00:06:00.000-05:00

Sewing Days

2010-03-14T13:13:00.000-05:00

Several of Gillian's friends are going to be coming to the retreat for a couple of sewing days. I'm going to offer them a choice of 2 of these terrific patterns to work on, and I'll be supplying 3-4 of the sewing machines. It should be a fun couple of days. We were originally supposed to have it this week, but, as you can see by the previous post...we're moving this week. We have a small window of opportunity to get everything moved on Alex's (son-in-law) day off. Spring Break was perfect timing, but now it looks like it's going to have to be Memorial Day weekend. At any rate, these are the cutest patterns by Valori Wells and I think think the girls will have a good time.

We're Moving!

2010-03-13T12:45:00.004-06:00

After almost a year of trying to obtain a construction loan to build on our 8 acres, we've finally thrown in the towel. We've had permanent financing in place for the past 8 months, but no one is giving interim loans on naked real estate. Not even short term. I will say that the builder mentioned he knew a guy, who knew a guy, who was a "hard money lender" and he'd be happy to give us a short term loan at 15% interest. His name was Nick "Knuckles" Something-or-other. I'm not kidding. Except maybe for the 'knuckles' part.

Anyway. Our neighbors of 25 years put their house and land on the market 18 months ago, but haven't been able to sell it. The house has been empty for all that time, even though they lowered the price several times. I've been promoting it to the various retreaters that I've had at the retreat, but no takers.

During the night last Wednesday, it occurred to me that maybe we weren't supposed to build. Maybe we were supposed to buy. But we don't want to leave our little 1/2 mile stretch of dirt road in the woods. BUT there are two houses on our road that are for sale. One is on less than 3 acres, with a gorgeous 4 yr old Italianesque house on it, (for almost a mil!) and the other is our friends' 25 year old Texas farmhouse on 8 acres. It abuts the far end of our 8 acres, so the location is perfect. We went to look at it as buyers instead of neighbors and who'da thunk it - it's perfect for us! And they'll finance it at a very competitive rate, and to top it off - we can start moving in now - even before we close!

3200 sq.ft., 2 story, front and back wrap-around porches, a screen porch, an almost 800 sq ft living room (plenty of room for my grand piano), a huge game/media room, an extra bedroom (we've NEVER had that), and I'll have 2 sewing spaces: a small studio in the house along the back porch, with French doors, as well as a longarm studio in the garage.

This is the view from Gillian's window towards the pond and Spring Creek.Anyway - from the time the thought popped into my head til we close at the title company will be a grand total of five (5) days. It was meant to be! So now, we'll have 16 acres with 3 houses, including the retreat. My oldest daughter and her family will be living in the log cabin for the next couple of years, and after that...who knows? Off to the hardware store to buy paint, and then to start moving!

March 2010 Desktop Calendar

2010-02-28T18:35:00.000-06:00

Death by Chocolate - Bring it on!

2010-02-26T16:55:00.010-06:00

I had a guest at the retreat last week who left me a sample of her hand-made chocolates, and man, am I glad she did!

Her name is Denise and she is D'zerts by Denise.

I ordered some for 3 friends who all had February birthdays, and they were a hit. I always like to help entrepreneurs and I'm happy to give Denise's contact info for any prospective customers in the NW Houston area. Her prices are reasonable and she'll even put your chocolates in pretty pink packaging for gift giving.

Contact her Here for more information and ordering. You won't be disappointed!

The Finish Line 2009, The End...finally

2010-02-19T22:57:00.005-06:00

I'm only slightly behind on my record-keeping, but I came across this quilt in my studio and realized I'd completely forgotten about posting it to my blog. It's a Dear Jane-esq baby quilt that I finished last July. It's called Baby's Jane or Whatever Happened to Baby Jane...haven't made up my mind. It's a throwdown baby quilt for a future grandbaby. Take a good look and guess what's so cool about it.

So here's what's so cool: it's a cheater. The whole center panel is one piece of fabric - I didn't have to do any piecing except for the border. I imported a photo of the panel into EQ6, sized it according to its actual size, then fitted that triangle border to it. I printed out the templates for the triangles, sewed a thin coping strip to two sides of the panel, and whipped up the borders. They fit perfectly. I started it on Saturday and had it quilted and ready to show at our guild meeting on Tuesday. Way cool. Maybe I'll do another one with 'boy' colors for the borders.

Treasures of the Heart Quilt Show

2010-02-17T21:25:00.012-06:00

The guild I belong to - Tri-County Quilt Guild - just had our first quilt show over Valentine's weekend.
It was a huge hit for such a small guild, and I personally was very pleased with the results. I took 3 ribbons: an Honorable Mention for my own quilt, and a 2nd and 3rd for customer quilts.

Click on the photos below if you want a closer look.

Daisies in the Cabin by Charmaine Fritchey
2nd Place, Professionally Quilted

Giverney Stars by Shelly Wiggins
3rd Place, Professionally Quilted

Shades of Tiffany by me
Honorable Mention, Professionally Quilted

Tom Russell was the Featured Artist and brought some wonderfully beautiful and whimsical examples of his work for us to ooh and aah over. One quilter even tried to bribe him out of one of his pieces for her soon-to-be-born grandbaby. (I wonder who that could have been?)

But the biggest surprise was when Tom drew for the winning ticket of Victorian Elegance, the guild's gorgeous crazy quilt raffle quilt. And guess who won?

ME!

The quilt was appraised at $4,500, so I guess I'll need to keep it under lock and key. All in all, it was a pretty good show, and we owe it all to the show committee headed by my friend Judy, and my successor as president, Charmaine. Well done, girls!

February 2010 Desktop Calendar

2010-02-01T22:16:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the delay...totally lost track of the date! I wish I could still blame it on the meds, but that would be lying. I'm a slacker...what can I say?

Blast From the Sewing Past - Sew What's New

2010-01-06T19:49:00.000-06:00

Check out this YouTube video sent to me by my friend Karen over at The Quilt Rambler.
It's of George Trippon, a longtime Hollywood tailor who had a PBS sewing show back in the '70's.
He passed away on this past New Year's Day. I only wish I'd gotten to see his show when it was on. What a card. Oh. And my new motto as a professional longarm quilter is going to be, "You give 'em what they pay for, Honey!"

January 2010 Desktop Calendar

2009-12-31T23:52:00.003-06:00

Christmas 2009: As Seen on TV

2009-12-31T21:53:00.008-06:00

Thanks to my daughter Gillian, we had a themed Christmas this year: all our gifts had to have been featured in an infomercial. We had the best time shopping for tacky (cheap) products that no one would actually buy for themselves.
A selection of items that we received. There's more, but I couldn't get them all together for the picture. Some, like the Slap Chop, have already been put to use!
Speaking of the Slap Chop - have you seen Vince's Slap Chop infomercial as a rap remix?

ADDENDUM: I must say that it took all the stress out of Christmas shopping this year: no agonizing over the "perfect" gift for friends and family - it was all goofy!

Stocking Stuffers!

2009-12-13T19:00:00.009-06:00

If you (or your giftee) are a little on the wacky side with a sense of humor to match, and you're looking for some last minute gifts and stocking stuffers, go check out Moodie Booty!
Moodie's got some PG-13 magnets, F-Bomb car air fresheners, pirate bandaids, pirate rubber duckies, stickers and temporary tattoos for your favorite senior, breath spray to help you understand your mother, tin banks to help you save up for therapy, and so much more. Check it out!

America Needs Some Up-Time!

2009-12-08T16:06:00.004-06:00

My sentiments exactly!

Snow in Houston!

2009-12-04T19:52:00.009-06:00

Snow on the roof! When's the last time that happened in Houston?!

My 2 youngest, Gillian and MJ, with Libby, our English Mastiff.

Ok - don't get your knickers in a twist - Being raised in Chicago (yes, I'm a damn yankee), I know this doesn't count as real snow. But it's as close to snow as we're going to get down here, and we're grateful for the half-dozen flakes that we got.
Tonight when I went out to see if it was sticking, a raccoon jumped out of the dog's igloo doghouse and took off towards the woods. Even the Texas coons are cold!

December 2009 Desktop Calendar

2009-11-30T20:00:00.001-06:00

Vote For The Cutest Gap Baby!

2009-11-05T17:24:00.008-06:00

Ok - this has nothing to do with quilting.
My 22 month old grandbaby Jackson is in an online contest that Baby Gap is hosting. They'll be tallying votes until November 17th, and poor little Jack who was a late-bloomer in this contest, needs some help.
He's too adorable for words, and as God is my witness, I'd vote for him if he wasn't mine! I mean really - look at that smile! He's wearing his Halloween Mummy jammies.
Click HERE to register with Gap/Disney. You don't have to accept any of their special "offers" - just opt out like I did. (My inbox is over-loaded as it is!)
And don't forget to vote daily til the 17th! His Nana thanks you...

R & R

2009-11-02T07:16:00.013-06:00

After the past several months' stressful issues, I decided to actually follow through on my commitment to attend a retreat at the Sky-Vue Lodge in Winslow Arkansas.

It's a quaint B&B-type lodge with cute little cabins that sleep from 3-6. All have been restored and updated, and painted a beautiful pale blue to match the sky.

16 friends and I sewed, quilted, ate, napped, joked, enjoyed the sunrises, and had a thoroughly wonderful time. The winding road through the Boston Mountains just about did me in, but once I settled into taking several naps a day, I felt refreshed and relaxed.
My room had a lovely electric 'log' fireplace which came in really handy when the temperature dropped to 40* - when we left Texas, it was 80! I woke up during the night and took this with my iPhone. It was so toasty!

Here's a group photo taken by Glenn, the owner, on the porch of the giant "Upper Room" where we sewed.
My friend and designated driver, Peggy, is 3rd from the right, and I'm 5th from the right. I'm so glad Peggy doesn't mind driving 9 hours each way from Houston -> Winslow!

And this is what we woke up to every morning - the sun rising over the Ozarks!

The trip was exhausting, and I came home really, really tired, and it put me back a few days in my quilting (sorry, Daniel), but I'm glad I went.
Now I just need to get it in gear and get the rest of these customer quilts done!

November 2009 Desktop Calendar

2009-11-01T10:54:00.002-06:00

October 2009 Desktop Calendar

2009-09-30T17:58:00.003-05:00

Another month, and I'm still struggling with complications from surgery in August. Who'da thunk it would take this long?! I haven't been able to do much, but I forced myself to do the bare minimum: my monthly desktop calendar.

Click to expand image to full size, right-click and choose Set as Wallpaper or Background. To really jazz up your desktop, right-click on your background and choose a color that coordinates with the calendar - you'll love it!
And I'll be back in a few with more updates!

Blame it on the DRUGS!

2009-09-01T12:55:00.002-05:00

Ok, my new proofreader Liz, who can also count and knows how to use a calendar, pointed out to me that in my post-surgical drug-induced haze, I'd begun September a day early. September starts today, Tuesday, not yesterday. So, if you've downloaded the calendar and it says Monday was September 1st, download the one below - it's correct now. Right Liz?!

September 2009 Desktop Calendar

2009-08-30T18:34:00.008-05:00

Wow. This past 6 weeks has been insane...my 33rd wedding anniversary, horrendous quilt and retreat schedules, guild deadlines, major surgery, and suddenly it's September.
But finally -

Click to expand image to full size, right-click and choose Set as Wallpaper or Background. To really jazz up your desktop, right-click on your background and choose a color that coordinates with the calendar - you'll love it!
And I'll be back in a few with more updates!

August 2009 Desktop Calendar

2009-08-01T02:01:00.002-05:00

You're gonna love my nuts!

2009-07-31T09:01:00.008-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, I had my annual (much needed) retreat with the Kansas Troublemakers - a group of my eight favorite quilters, two of whom fly in from Kansas for the event.

Ok. So during the late night/early morning hours, after several of Mandy's Bourbon Slushes, I mentioned how our family had decided to have an "As Seen on TV" Christmas this year - the brainchild of my 15 year old daughter. We started talking about the useless items hawked on tv in the middle of the night, when I mentioned Vince of "ShamWow" fame, and his new Slap Chop.
I found a video of his commercial Here

One thing led to another and we found all kinds of things like sandpaper-like pads that scrape the hair off your legs, cheese graters that double as heel-smoothers, sleep aids for the well-endowed, and even decorative n***** covers. We were however, able to restrain ourselves from ordering anything. That night.

But I digress.

Yesterday, I received this fabric postcard from Mandy, one of the KS Troublemakers (now known as Sew-Ho's):

Thanks Mandy - I LOVE it!

Quilty Cakes

2009-07-06T23:24:00.004-05:00

Dammit! I used to be a cake baker/decorator in my former life, and now it looks like I'm going to have to get the pans out again.
Check out Linda M Poole's July 6th blog for a whole mess of quilt and sewing themed cakes. They are too cool!

July 2009 Desktop Calendar

2009-07-01T00:01:00.006-05:00

Click to expand image to full size, right-click and choose Set as Wallpaper or Background. To really jazz up your desktop, right-click on your background and choose a color that coordinates with the calendar - you'll love it! And you can make all your quilting friends jealous!

Shop Hop!

2009-06-19T20:45:00.039-05:00

This weekend is the annual Wild West Shop Hop for ten Houston area quilt shops. I hit three of them today before I ran out of steam. Each had little goodies to hand out, patterns for the shop hop quilt, kits, and tons of new stuff. My vote for Most Surprising Shop is KV Quilters on Main Street in Tomball, TX
They've given their shop a little makeover, and have tons more fabric than they used to, and lots more gadgets!Oops - I think she might be in the witness protection program!They've got batiks and orientals and lots of blenders. I was thoroughly impressed!Vintage quilt tops hang from the ceiling Ida Anderson did a beautiful job quilting the shop hop quilt. I love that border fabric!
They had such an influx of hoppers that they had to cut more red, white, and blue fat quarters to give away. In the meantime, they handed out temporary tattoos that say "Born to Quilt" - really cute, and the staff were sporting them, too! They also gave away little brass stencils for well, stenciling...duh... or embossing paper. My daughter Gillian hopped with me today just like we did when she was little, so she got her own freebies. I also picked up some pink fqs for my pink and brown basket quilt, and a couple of reds. I'm finally making peace with that color after 50+ years. OMG that's half a century! Get over it already!!

Then we headed to Time Treasured Quilts & The Hen House
where we picked up some more red, white, and blue fq freebies, and pink fqs for that basket quilt. Gillian also picked up some funky yarn and a pattern book. She wants (me) to knit the poncho out of the turquoise and lime, and a little skull cap from the multi. Oh - and The Hen House wins the cutest bag prize. That's it on the left.And last but not least...more GREEN(ish) stuff!

Moodie Booty!

2009-06-10T17:25:00.006-05:00

This is my older daughter's newest venture: Moodie Booty! She found the cutest, wildest, irreverent, and um...PG-13 gifty items. I sell some of the tamer ones to the groups at my retreat, and they are a hit! Magnets, gum, stickers, temporary tattoos, banks (I love the "Saving Up for Therapy" one!), lip gloss, bandaids like you've never seen - cute, funny, and perfect for members of the Sarcastic Society! Not that I know anyone like that!
Be sure to click on the pics at her site to enlarge them enough to read the packaging: it's hysterical!

Happy Birthday To Me!

2009-06-04T00:01:00.000-05:00

My day is all planned. First, I'll have some pineapple for a pre-breakfast starter,
Followed by a lovely picnic breakfast!
For lunch, I think I'll have some fresh fruit,
And at cocktail hour, I'll have a nice, light, Sisho Martini.
And for dinner, I'll have cake!
Happy Birthday To Me!

June 2009 Desktop Calendar!

2009-06-01T00:01:00.003-05:00

Click to expand image to full size, right-click and choose Set as Wallpaper or Background. To really jazz up your desktop, right-click on your background and choose a color that coordinates with the calendar - you'll love it! And you can make all your quilting friends jealous!

The Finish Line, part deux

2009-05-31T11:41:00.008-05:00

Kat Skratch Fever
14.5" x 15.5"
Ok, I finally finished the Improv Workshop quilt from last month - the one with Mark Lipinski's Katmandu fabric. I ended up not embellishing it at all, since my daughter wasn't sure she wanted to hang it - she might use it as a coaster on her desk, and any beads or buttons could make her Iced White Mocha a little unstable. Just looking at this makes me a little unstable. But it's done, and I can cross it off my list.

The Finish Line!

2009-05-18T20:33:00.004-05:00

I've decided to actually keep track of how many UFO's I finish this year, and with 48 UFO's in various stages of completion, I really need the encouragement to press on. I've finished four, but added another, so I still have 45 UFO's stage-whispering to me from my studio closet. Here's the first batch for the year:

Jackson's Star
48" x 48" for my grandbaby Jack.

Meganz Heartz
These blocks were the result of a class with Jan Mullins back in...I don't know...2001?
46" x 52"

Sugar & Spice

34" x 40" For my newest grandbaby Teaghan

The corner squares in the borders and the 'snowball' corners are cut from her daddy's shirts.

London Roads

50" x 50" This is a "throw down baby quilt" in the event I need an emergency gift. I have several ready and waiting to be gifted. The blocks were the result of an exchange with my favorite online swap group, Sew Many Swaps, using 1930's reproduction fabrics.

Crazy Chicken

2009-05-10T18:37:00.009-05:00

Although I've owned many a crazy chicken in my life (especially the Polish Crested's) I've never owned one as crazy as this!

It was made for me by a very dear quilting friend as a Thank You gift. She gave it to me at our guild meeting last month, and I must say I was (and am still) floored! It's almost 12" tall and weighs almost 10 pounds, and is incredibly beautiful. I'd mentioned about 18 months ago that I'd seen one at a Crazy Quilting gathering at my retreat facility and she filed that info away and worked on it secretly for a year. I'm thoroughly humbled that Shirley would go through so much effort for me. She's also a very talented longarm quilter and you can see her work at Shirley's Machine Quilting

Airing of the Quilts

2009-05-04T08:53:00.028-05:00

Saturday was the annual Airing of the Quilts in Huntsville, Texas. I went with three good friends on a typical Texas spring day - windy, sunny, and 85* - that would be summer in many parts of the country, but here, it's Semi-Spring. It comes right after Official Spring, which is one of the two days a year we can open our windows.
Anyway - Airing of the Quilts is put on by the Tall Pines Quilt Guild and it's a fabulous and fun outdoor show. All the quilts are hung from the 4 balconies of the courthouse, the storefronts surrounding the square, and in the streets. They use the old movie theatre for the mini quilt auction, the guild challenge quilts, and the featured quilter, who happened to be Carol Doak a very funny (and silly!) author, designer, and teacher.

Many of the stores had quilts displayed, some for sale, some not.

I just liked this window.
A cute little log cabin right on the square.

Thomas Ball's banner - the town I live in was named after him.
And look what I found!
More wooden spools for my collection!

Tyvek's Not Just For Envelopes!

2009-05-03T10:24:00.003-05:00

I've been investigating quilt storage methods for our guild's StoryBook Quilts project Tri-County Quilt Guild and this morning, I was pointed to this system It's from Becky Campbell at Sewforever. She makes the hanging loops, quilt covers, and pole covers out of archivally-safe Tyvek. We've been rolling our quilts, but hadn't had the time to make covers for the heavy duty cardboard tubes they're stored on. I guess I don't have an excuse now. If you want to read more about Tyvek and its appropriateness for textile storage, take a look at this info from The Quilt Broker.

Hob-Knobbing

2009-05-01T23:43:00.006-05:00

OMG - These are fabulous! I saw a mention of sewing hardware in the latest issue of Love of Quilting (Fons & Porter) and went straight to Sewing HardwareThey've got knobs and drawer pulls, and even though they're a little pricey, I want them all! We're building our new house, and I get to outfit a whole new studio. These are so going to be on all the cabinets, closets and drawers in there.