Happy New Year!

These past few years have made me take a left turn in my life, and it seems I'm heading in a new direction. So many endings - the loss of my husband of 40 years, the sale of my retreat business, adult children moving away, the sale of my log cabin in the woods of Tomball, Texas...so much to process. But now I'm looking forward to new beginnings!

I bought a beautiful house of Texas limestone in Georgetown, just north of Austin. Still in Texas, cuz you'd have to blast me out of here! 

I went from living in a log cabin on 8.5 acres, down a dirt road in the woods (for the last 33 years):

...to a one story limestone ranch. Pro: It's on an acre of thickly tree'd land. Con: In a neighborhood. With neighbors. And people. And cars. And lawnmowers. And people. 

I renovated the 2 car side of the garage for my new studio, and now, for the first time since 1986, I have an actual garage. With a real floor. Not like my dirt-floored barn at the cabin. The studio isn't quite finished yet, but with a few more tweaks it should be finished by the end of January. I'm working in it now, though, and I'm finally back to what I really enjoy doing! Can't wait for the SewHos to come for our annual retreat in July. 

The house is on a wedge-shaped acre that's shaped like the Flatiron Building in NYC. The front of the house faces the top point of the triangle, which means the left side and the right side of the house are on two streets, and the front isn't on any street! It also means I don't have any side-neighbors, which is a consolation for having to live in an actual neighborhood. Don't know if I'm going to get used to this or not, and I'm leaving my options open. We'll see.

OAN: I took my business name, CabinQuilter, from having my studio in my former log cabin. Now that I'm in a limestone house, it doesn't seem to fit. Maybe StonedQuilter...I am in Austin, after all. And that alone is culture shock. Aside from all the man-buns and stoners, there's more dogs here than kids! Go to any restaurant and you'll see more hippies with their dog-babies, than parents with their children.

I'm pretty sure I don't want that guy to be my server. For real. I'm also pretty sure they'd change their minds about dogs if I brought my 400 lbs of puppies:

Torque and Diesel making themselves at home the first night in our new house. That's a queen-size bed they're dwarfing. So, yeah...I bet I could change the dog-friendly restaurant policy overnight.

Hey. How about a couple of customer quilt finishes for 2019?

Dream Big panel for Darleena's Sew By The Bay Quilt Shop

and Darla's Hurricane Harvey quilt - not the best photo, but you get what you pay for!

That's as productive as I was in the midst of the chaos that was 2019. I'm looking forward to a much more settled and self-indulgent 2020, and hope that yours is the same. If that's what you want. If you don't, then I hope you get yours. So to speak.

January 2018

It's been exactly two years since I last had a new post, and a lot has happened in my life. If you recall from my previous posts, I had to shut everything down to care for my gravely ill husband. Five months after my last post (January 2016), Andy passed away, leaving me and our five kids and six grandchildren heartbroken and devastated. I feel like I've been "lost" for all this time, and I'm still struggling to figure out who I am without him.

Andy truly was/is the love of my life - I couldn't have asked for a more loving, funny, caring, man to walk with me through life. We met in 1973, when I was 21 and he was 29. We started here, in Carmel, California

and ended here, at his "After Party" 

Not all of the kids and grandkids are in this photo, but they were all there. Andy's brothers and their wives (and some of their kids) made it out from California for the service, and it was a bittersweet reunion. I have that large wood sign in my studio. It quotes one of Andy's favorite songs, and I can remember it with reassurance every time I see it - even if some days I'm not totally convinced.

I know some of you won't want to read this...but I'm still not ready to commit to the monthly desktop calendars. Yet. I'm sorry. So much change, so many demands on me and my time, responsibilities, and a need for simplification and prioritizing, leaves me trying to come to terms with the difference between 'needs' and 'wants.'

My first priority has to be me - and figuring out who I am as mother, grandmother, quilter, musician, retreat owner... is at the top of my 'need' list. 

Speaking of the retreat. Last May, on the first anniversary, I sold my house, and closed the Cabin Too to retreaters, and moved back into it. You know how people say, "Don't make any big changes during that first year?" Well, don't schedule anything important on that first anniversary. I speak from experience. The movers, my kids, my son-in-law, the neighbors, and the dogs, were treated to a noisy, embarrassing meltdown in my front yard. Don't do that.
Don't think you're different. You're not. 

Back to the retreat: So now I'm back to just the one retreat and it's almost completely booked for 2018. 2019 is filling up, too! If you've got a group, even a small one, check out the website calendar for open dates, and nab one quick.

Now. It's the New Year, and with that comes at least one resolution, right? I don't usually go for those, cuz really, what's the point? I won't remember it by Jan 3rd, so why add to my frustration? But this year, I'm making one (1). Prelude: a few months ago, I was given a mug rug by my good friend Reeze Hanson (of Morning Glory Designs ), and I've decided to hang it in my studio where I can see it and follow it every single day.

And speaking of happy - here's to a Happy New Year for us all, complete with cookies - from my favorite bakery in Chicago - and they ship!

Happy 2016!

To all of you who who've followed my blog for years, downloading almost 200 desktop calendars, thank you so much! 

The last five years have been very trying for our family, with my husband's numerous strokes and declining health. He's home under hospice care and I'm afraid the emotional and physical strain is taking its toll on me. I've decided I need to simplify and deal with all this the best I can - and that means that some things will have to go by the wayside. Deadlines come and go, and I'm finding it more and more difficult to function, so my monthly desktop calendars are going to bite the dust. At least temporarily. When things settle down, I'll pick up where I left off. In the meantime, I want to thank you again - and I hope 2016 is overflowing with blessings for you all!

August Desktop Calendar

Well, I almost didn't make it. Again.

We brought Andy home from rehab today with hospice, so it's been kind of hectic and a little bit overwhelming. He wasn't making any progress after 3 weeks and they felt it was just making him anxious, so we decided it would be best for him to come home. Next week we'll start having twice weekly visits from the nurse and thrice weekly visits from an aide. That's the one I'm looking forward to seeing. Often.

Then, to slap a little icing on that cake, we discovered there are squirrels in the attic at the cabin! Apparently, they'd made themselves a nice little home up there. After MJ thought he'd gotten them out and sealed up the hole in the eaves, it turns out he sealed one or two in. Ask any A/C repairman what it's like to work in an attic in the Texas summer, and you'll figure out that the little varmints won't last long in that heat. And they didn't. They started to cook. Ugh. Sent the boy back into the attic this evening to search and destroy. Which he did. So. We're done with that. I hope.

This month's calendar is a one patch of tumblers, inspired by the Texas sun and Bonnie Hunter's

 Leader and Enders Tumbler Challenge!

If you wanna dig into your mountain of scraps, this would be the perfect time. Crank up the a/c, grab some ice tea, and start cutting your tumblers!

If not, that's ok, you can still enjoy a hot, sticky, Texas summer tumbler one-patch on your desktop for the next 31 days!

But first, a word from our sponsor:

Click to expand the image to full size, right-click and choose Set as Wallpaper or Background.

To really make the calendar "pop" right-click on your background and choose black. Your family and co-workers will be jealous of your awesome wallpaper! Be sure to tell them where you found it!

July Desktop Calendar

Have you ever started out to do one thing, then got distracted and done another? And another? And then wondered what the heck you were supposed to be doing?
No?
Liar!! If you're over the age of 40, you know that's the truth!

So tonight I started to work on the calendar at 7:40pm Central Time. By that, I mean I opened up my Mac and clicked on Parallels (the Windows emulator software I use to access my Electric Quilt 7 program where I design the quilts for my calendar). While I was waiting for it to load (which takes for-flippin-ever), I went to check my emails.
Got one from my sister. Talking about where we grew up in Park Ridge, IL (along with Hillary, apparently. I don't want to talk about that.)
Anyway. Then I got to thinking about all the places we used to walk to from my Gramma's house. Like to the Pickwick Theatre in downtown Park Ridge. A quick search on Google Maps told me it was 1.9 miles. And then, by clicking on Street View, I was able to actually trace the route we used to walk.
Here's my Gramma's house, a cropped screen grab from the Google Street View. Our bedroom (we shared a double bed till I was about 8 or so) is the second floor left window.

And here's the Pickwick Theatre, in all its art-deco glory. Beautiful architecture inside with lots of tile and ornamental wood. And as I recall, it was only 50 cents a ticket.

Then I decided to walk the same route I took in high school to get from our duplex in Arlington Heights to my piano teacher's studio downtown, about 1.9 miles away. (Again, Google? Was everything 1.9 miles away from me??) We lived in the right half of the duplex, and I remember sketching that tree for one of the weekly art assignments as a sophomore in Miss Akers' class. She gave us one (1) piece of oatmeal drawing paper on Monday, and we had to come back with a finished pencil drawing of whatever she assigned, on Friday. I usually waited till Thursday night to do it. Go figure.

Here's Mr. Matteoni's old studio - a 2nd floor walk-up in that brick building. When he was dying of brain cancer (in '96, I think), he turned over his studio to a former student, who still runs it. Mr. Matteoni was the closest thing I ever had to a father, and I loved him for teaching me and encouraging me to major in music at DePaul. We kept in touch for all those years. And he'd call me every year at Christmas just to talk. I've even saved his letters. He was such a sweet man. Every so often I still cry over him. Wow. That got mushy real fast!

Holy mackerel! I've wasted 90 minutes already. Damn that Google maps thing!

Back to designing the quilt calendar.

Right after this:
I just remembered tonight's the night Venus and Jupiter are supposed to be so close together they'll seem to be one big star - as big as the moon. Have to go look. Wait right here!
...time slowly passes...
Well crap. Drove about a mile down the road (not 1.9 miles LOL), to the clearing in the big pasture.
Nada. Too cloudy. But here's a picture of the moon through the trees at my house. Just pretend it looks like the Star of Bethlehem.

So where was I...oh yeah. I still have an hour and 15 minutes, so I'm good. Hey! Did you see 5 year old Heavenly Joy on America's Got Talent tonight? Shirley Temple reincarnated. What a cutie-pie!


11:02. Need to get a move on. BRB.

How about another one-patch with Kaffe fabric? I like that.

Hang on. It's 11:23pm and my son-in-law in South Carolina is calling. Emergency?
No. Job/career issues. Good. That I can deal with. Still working on quilt while we talk.

Midnight. Still on phone, but I've finished the calendar. And it's only 22 minutes late. Have at it, folks!

Click to expand the image to full size, right-click and choose Set as Wallpaper or Background.

To really make the calendar "pop" right-click on your background and choose black. Your family and co-workers will be jealous of your awesome wallpaper! Be sure to tell them where you found it!

June Desktop Calendar

It's 11:32pm Sunday, May 31st, and I was seriously considering not doing a calendar at all. I cannot begin to tell you how exhausted I am, and frankly, the blog, the calendar, my quilting, aren't anywhere near the top of my To Do List these days. As some of you may know, Andy, my husband of almost 40 years, is in severely declining health. After 4 strokes and an aneurism, he's been diagnosed with Parkinson's Plus (yes, that's a thing - and not as good as you'd think considering the "plus") resulting in general loss of faculties, abilities, coordination, cognizance and memory, with the addition of dementia and hallucinations. Turns out that's the "plus" part.

Some days he's on an airplane, some days he swears that Donald, a childhood friend, is living with us...I never know where I'm going to find him or who he's been talking to. It's very strange, very sad, and very labor intensive. Sometimes it's funny and I can't help but laugh and just go with it. A couple of weeks ago, I walked into the bedroom after he'd been in bed for about an hour, and I kicked him right in the head. (That probably doesn't help his condition any, but at least I wasn't wearing my orthopedic nun's shoes!) He was on the floor, with no recollection of how he'd gotten there. Got him back into bed, left the room shaking my head and made a quick gin & tonic nightcap. Fifteen minutes later I went in to get ready for bed and he was kneeling by the bed with his arm and head wedged firmly between the mattress and the little guardrail on the side of the bed.

 "What are you doing down there??"
 "I'm stuck."
 "I can see that - what are you trying to do?"
 "The captain said for everyone to get out on the right side of the plane, and I got stuck."

Hmmm...wonder what that's about. Got him up on the side of the bed and turned on the lights.

 "Do you know where you are?"
 "Tomball!"
So far, so good...
 "Where in Tomball?"
 "On the PLANE!"
 There was no convincing him that he wasn't on a plane, so, as I tucked him back into bed, I said, "Well, the captain said to stay in your seat until the plane lands in the morning."

And he did.
The next morning, he remembered the incident but couldn't figure out how the plane landed in the bedroom. It's big, but not that big!

Anyway - Andy's health has been on the decline for the past 5 years, and has gotten steadily and more rapidly worse, this past year. No matter my intentions, I only finished one (1) customer quilt in all of 2014, and halfway through 2015, it doesn't look like I'm going to beat that record. That's also the reason the blog has deteriorated into a once a month 'calendar' post - and that's it. I can barely force myself into that little bit. No time, no energy, no desire. My days are consumed with taking care of my husband and trying to manage the million-and-one things that have to be done.

All that, to say this: If I miss a calendar in the upcoming months, you'll know I just couldn't squeeze one more thing into my day. I'm still here - I'm just keeping my head down trying to make it through the day.

Now that the rains in Texas have slowed down a little bit, I've been watching the Virginia Creeper vine outside my bathroom window grow by inches every day. It's like 1962's The Day of the Triffids. IMDB it, if you don't know what that is. That vine is the inspiration for this month's calendar, still all in hexies:

Click to expand the image to full size, right-click and choose Set as Wallpaper or Background.

To really make the calendar "pop" right-click on your background and choose black. Your family and co-workers will be jealous of your awesome wallpaper! Be sure to tell them where you found it!
And if you've got room on your prayer list, and your knees can take it, please remember us.

December Desktop Calendar

With all five of our children grown and, for the most part, out of the nest, I'm not really feeling the need to go all out with the decorating this year. I used to go a little crazy with the greenery, candles, Father Christmases, vignettes and creche's. (I have my grandmother's old figures that set in a wooden manger made by Kevin Manning, a highschool friend, a Precious Moments one, complete with kings, camels, and stable walls, an Amish one with quilts but without faces, a miniature one, a handpainted wooden one that fits like a puzzle into the stable, 2 different Hallmark ones...you get the idea.) I should pull them out so you can see. But that would take effort, so you know that's not going to happen any time soon.

Anyway, just like I used to go overboard with the decorating, Andy and I used to pile presents under the tree for the kids til they wouldn't fit under the tree, or even inside an 8' circle around the tree! Then, one year, embarrassed and dismayed by the Gift Gluttony that our kids began to exhibit, we came up with a solution to limit the gifts without making the kids pout and feel neglected.

We decided that since Jesus only received three gifts (remember the 3 wise men?), the kids shouldn't receive more than Him. We explained it to the kids, and they seemed ok with that.
The real trick was how to make the present-opening last longer than 30 seconds per!

So, we made the kids work for their gifts. Don't freak.
After they all went to bed on Christmas Eve, Andy and I (ok, not so much Andy) stayed up late writing rhyming clues. One for each set of gifts. We'd put them in envelopes numbered 1, 2, and 3 and placed them on the tree. Christmas morning, the kids were allowed to get up however early they wanted, but they could only open whatever little gifts were in their stockings. At 7, they were allowed to wake us up. (Of course, wanting to make their Christmas morning all beautiful and magical for them, I'd get up at 5, light a fire in the fireplace, and put on soft Christmas music. Then I'd go back to bed.)

Andy and I would come out at the appointed hour and I'd make a pot of coffee while the kids would begin to hand out the decent amount of presents under the tree - from and to each other, from relatives and friends, and to Andy & me. When all had been dispatched, the kids would begin on the clues. There were three rules: they all had to sit on the couch while someone read the clue; they all had to agree on the solution before they could run to see if they were right, and if they were wrong, they couldn't look anywhere else. They had to come back to the couch and re-read it and try to solve it again.

At this point, I'll say that at 2am on Christmas Eve, the clues seemed extremely clever and poetic, and I was so proud of my ability to cloak an obvious hiding place inside an obtuse reference. Come the harsh light of day, however, more often than not, it became an incomprehensible and unsolvable riddle. Probably due in part to the mugs of homemade egg nog heavily laced with rum consumed whilst composing.

The really cool part of this exercise was that I could sit back and have another cup of coffee or egg nog (shhhhh....with rum!) without all the hectic wrapping paper and ribbon explosions as in the past. And the kids really enjoyed the hunt. It extended present-opening from 5 minutes to about 2 hours! Bonus: since each of the kids were only allowed three presents, Andy and I became much more selective in our present shopping, which, lo and behold, saved us a ton of money! Win/win!

Feel free to use this idea (if you didn't already shop your brains out on Black Friday)!

Finally, here's your calendar - Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Click to expand the image to full size, right-click and choose Set as Wallpaper or Background.

To really make the calendar "pop" right-click on your background and choose black. Your family and co-workers will be jealous of your awesome wallpaper! Be sure to tell them where you found it!

CabinQuilter - a Decade Later

I just realized that today is June 5, 2014 - ten years to the day of two memorable happenings:

The death of my hero

1911-2004

Rest in Peace, Mr. President, and thank you.

And that was also the day my Nolting Pro 24 longarm was delivered. I didn't really feel like dealing with it, but I had to. After it was set up, and with about 30 minutes of introductions, we got acquainted with each other. And one of my first practice pieces that day was an homage to President Reagan. I stitched his name, birthdate, death date, his years as president - everything I could think of. I threw that practice piece away many years ago, but not before I cut out that section. I looked for it today, and found all kinds of stuff I haven't seen in years, but alas, that piece wasn't one of them. It'll pop up tomorrow, I'm sure.

I spent the next month quilting about 10 hours every day - when I decide to do something, I do it! I quilted up all my quilt tops that had been patiently waiting their turn, and this was the first one:

I ditched the border and freehanded it. Don't remember what I quilted in the body of the quilt, and it's in South Carolina right now, so I can't take a peek. The photo quality is pretty poor, too. But that's because I'm a quilter, not a photographer!

A month later, right after I finished up my own tops, I had my first customer. Peggy and I knew each other from an online quilting group, and were surprised that we lived so close to each other. (Only in Texas is 1+ hrs away "close.") She brought me one of her quilts and trusted it to me. I was petrified of working on someone else's quilt, but Peggy trusted me and I turned out this:

I used variegated thread and a panto called Wildflower. We both breathed a sigh of relief when it was finished without any disasters. Well, I don't know if Peggy was worried, but I sure was!

Peggy and I have both grown in our quilt-related expertise, and she now owns Connect the Blocks an online quilt shop based in Ohio. (Yes, she left Texas about 4 years ago :sniff:)

Since then, I've quilted hundreds of quilts, broken a dozen or so needles, thrown my machine out of time twice, soldered a new switch and adjusted the motor myself, gone through miles and miles of thread, cleaned out enough lint to stuff a mattress, ripped out yards of stitching that took 5 minutes to put in (and 13 hours to take out), pulled many an all-nighter, and stormed out of my studio in disgust too many times to remember. Some days you're dancing with a best friend, and some days you're fighting with the devil.

And sometimes, when you think you've done a decent job with a new border idea for a Texas A&M grad's quilt, your 10 year old comes in and says, "Momma, did you mean to make it say that??"

Note to self: a Greek Key design needs to have three legs not two. Otherwise it ends up saying FU FU FU. That one took many long, angry, tearful hours to rip out. 

Since that time, I've done work for several famous quilters and been featured in a few books! The first one was Broken Rainbows, made for a special exhibit during the International Quilt Festival in 2001.

The exhibit was in response to the attacks of September 11th - we only had a few weeks to get our quilts made and delivered to the Quilts, Inc offices in Houston. Later, the quilts were the basis of the book, "America: From the Heart" by Karey Bresenham.

I've done several quilts for two of RaNae Merrill's books, "Simply Amazing Spiral Quilts" and "Magnificent Mandala Spiral Quilts." Both of these were on the covers, with more inside.

I would have to say that the most fun I've had quilting for a book would have to be the two quilts I did from start to finish for Irena Bluhm's book, "Quilts of a Different Color." 

"Bluhm Where You Are Planted"

"Shades of Tiffany"

"Tiffany" was quilted on white sateen (same for back) and has an inner layer of a very bright multicolored batik fabric that shows when the quilt is back lit. It's awesomely gorgeous, if I do say so myself!

The quilt really is square, but the wind was blowing and I took what I could get. See the dead grass at the bottom? It's all about priorities!

From the first quilt to the most recent:

"Strawberry Baskets" won 1st Place, Applique in our guild's show, and was also chosen for the Judge's Choice award. I was going to see if I could get it juried into Houston this year, but I missed the deadline. That's me - a day late and a dollar short. :^/

My life has become more complicated these past few years and I've had to cut way back on my customer quilts, but I still manage to hammer a few out a year. I do want to thank my family for their love, support, and patience with me over the years, and to my friends for their encouragement when I was tearing my hair out over a glass (or two) of wine. And to my customers who've entrusted their precious creations to me.

Thank you all for an incredible ten years!

(I'll have yours!)