Mini Bling!

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

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...

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

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

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!

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

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

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!

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

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!