Berry Pond Quilts

2009-03-28T19:31:00.000-07:00

Today I finished a baby quilt for a customer. She had sent me the fabric and pattern before Christmas and I made the top for her, then returned it to her so she could hand quilt it. She got too busy to do it herself, so mailed it back to me to quilt on my longarm. I chose a pantograph pattern called Popcorn by Willow Leaf Studio, I love their designs. They are very organic, lots of leaves and vines, with the repeat clearly marked, so it is so easy to advance the quilt and not lose your place. Despite the fact that this quilt has quite a bit of pink in it, it is a quilt for a baby boy, so I tried to chose something that was gender neutral (not too flowery!)for the quilting pattern. I wanted to bind it with the blue that you can see in the sashing, but all I had was scraps from assembling the top. I'm not sure the Beatrix Potter fabric line is still available in stores, it came out a few years ago. I was happy to be able to eek out the binding by using a 2 inch, instead of 2.5 inch binding, from the scraps, which helps to frame it. There are really sweet illustrations of Benjamin Bunny, Squirrel Nutkin, Jeramiah Puddleduck, and her other characters. My Mom used to read them to us when we were little. Now, I read Benjamin Bunny to my grandchildren.

The Big Top

2009-03-28T19:19:00.000-07:00

This week, my husband made me a Big Top for my ironing board. We went to the home supply store and got a piece of plywood and some molding. I traced the outline of the existing ironing board and he screwed the molding along those lines. Then I put the big board over the top of the existing ironing board surface. I covered it with some flannel and some ironing board cover fabric that I bought from JA's. I taped the whole thing down with blue painter's tape, just temporarily until I can get him to staple it all down.

I LOVE this big surface! No more angling large pieces around to accomodate the small end of the ironing board. I probably won't ever take the big top off, but if I ever needed to, it just lifts right off.

I think my husband likes to make things that make my life easier, too.

2009-02-26T19:29:00.001-08:00

Everyone is on the mend, at our house! Spooky is back outside, and her fur is growing back too.

Michael had his prostate removed a week ago yesterday. He is home and working in the garden a little bit every day. Has his follow up with the doctor tomorrow. We expect a full recovery. He had the robotic Da Vinci surgery. Amazing what our bodies can go through and heal from! My Dad is also home from rehab, and doing well. So, we are all thinking good thoughts of Spring and new beginnings. The garden is producing mass quantities of vegetables. We have been supplying the neighborhood with tomatoes, lettuce, eggplant, bok choy, green beans, peppers and peas. We're eating good in the neighborhood.

I recently quilted this quilt for a lady who collected blocks and pieced them together to form beautiful primitive quilts that she is auctioning off for breast cancer. My photo of the entire quilt did not turn out well, it was kind of blurry, but I quilted an all over pattern of stars and loops that complemented the design. Her website is http://primitivepiecesbylynda.com/. The quilts are under the back porch tab.

I've also been really LOVING my weekly surface design class at the Vero Beach Art Museum. I made some ATC's, and this neat little folder to display them in.

It Was a Good Weekend

2009-01-25T17:45:00.001-08:00

This is my little Spooky, our Garden Girl, taken before her close encounter with some animal's large teeth. She is now my little Quilt studio kitty. She normally prefers being outside, but I wanted her to stay safe while she was healing from her misadventure. She has adapted surprisingly well to life inside. I picked her up from the animal hospital on Friday, and she slept a lot the first couple of days. It was pretty noisy in the hospital, animals barking and crying, lots of people banging around. If she will let me, I may just keep her inside indefinitely.

I spoke with my Dad again tonight. When he answered the phone he sounded just like he did before the stroke! As he got more tired as the conversation went on, he sounded a little robotic, but he was still speaking in full sentences and I could understand most of what he said. Whew, Big sigh of relief. We will find out tomorrow how long he will remain in rehab. He is committed to staying as long as he needs to, but I know he will be very glad to get back home.

This weekend, Brandon and Kristen came up for the weekend. We all went to the Port Salerno Seafood Festival and had a great time. It was a beautiful sunny day. We ate all kinds of great seafood ~ clam chowder, fried clams, shark bites (!), conch fritters, frozen lemonade, red flannel cupcakes with mouse stuffing and cream cheese frosting! Um yea, I am still full. After that, we went to a beautiful place on the water and had a beer and watched the sun set through the palm trees.

I put the borders on a quilt I am making for Kristen. The pattern is called Salt Water Taffy. It is all batiks. For the back, I pieced a silk screened mermaid on a backing with flip flop fabric. I loaded it on the frame, picked a thread color, and hope to get started quilting on it this week.

Hope you had a great weekend, too!

Hope

2009-01-20T17:04:00.000-08:00

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers for my Dad. He is in the hospital, we are awaiting test results with cautious optimism. He will be facing another acute rehab phase. What we don't have the answer to is why this stroke mimicked the exact pathology that he had before. He had MRI of the brain, echo cardiogram, evaluations by physical and occupational therapists today. My brother says he is in good spirits considering the uphill battle he faces to regain use of his hand and speech functions. This is consistent with his general outlook and personality, optimistic, kind and quietly strong. I am so grateful that my brother can be with him and act as a family liaison to keep an eye on things, keep us all posted and get answers to our questions.
This morning, when I opened the door to the porch, I saw my little outside kitty, Spooky, eating her breakfast. She had a patch of exposed skin on her side. I stepped forward and picked her up for closer examination. I could see two deep puncture wounds where someone, probably a raccoon, had taken a bite out of her! She has been an outside kitty (her choice) for the whole 8 years that she has lived with us. She came to us on Christmas Eve in 2000. I called my vet and he said to bring her right in. After examining her, they said she would need surgery to place a drain and clean out the wound. It had apparently not just happened, but had been incubating an infection over a few days time.
I left her at the vet, and headed to a Surface Design class that I had signed up for at the Vero Beach Art Museum. On the way to meet my friend who I was driving to the class with, I listened to the swearing in ceremony on public radio. I unexpectedly started to cry with the emotion of the day. I was surprised, because I do not cry often or easily. I think was his contagious optimism, his openness, and his energy to tackle the daunting tasks awaiting his administration. It all just rings true to me, and makes me feel connected to my country in a way I have not felt in a very long time.
The surface design class was a blast. We jumped right in and played with Procion dyes and Lumiere paints and translucent powders. We played with different techniques of dying fabric and paper, folding, sewing and clipping the fabric and dipping it into the dye baths. We painted, sprayed and generally had a ball. There were 12 women in the class, from varying backgrounds, from fine art to engineering. The teacher was vibrant and excited to share her knowledge.
Came home to freeze warnings for the next few days...my husband has been busy wrapping up all of his orchids and vegetable beds. He asked me for some fabric! Um, yes I do have some fabric! I had a bolt of muslin that I had purchased for longarm practice. He took that and asked me to get two more. Oh, if you insist! I went to JoAnne. Our JA is in the process of closing. They will be opening at a new location nearby and are selling off everything from the current location. I was able to find two more of the sealed bolts for $17.50 each. We are expecting temps in the 40's tonight, 30's for the next two nights. The sky was gorgeous tonight, with the cold front moving in. I like a little cool weather as much as the next person, but would be very sad to see all of Michael's hard work in the garden over these past months claimed by a killing frost.

If You Are a Praying Person

2009-01-19T16:22:00.000-08:00

Please say one, tonight, for my Dad. He was taken to the hospital this afternoon after suffering a stroke. He had recovered well from a previous one a few years ago, and was living alone very happily, managing all his activities well. He had been feeling good today, went to his exercise class this morning, and to the dentist this afternoon. While at the dentist, they noticed his speech was slurred and they called an ambulance. One of the responding EMT's happened to be a friend of my brother's, and he called my brother, who was out with my nephew snowmobiling on the lake, since they had the MLK holiday off. So, my brother and nephew raced to the hospital and are with Dad now. They decided in the ER NOT to give him the miracle anti-stroke drug because it carries a 1 in 12 risk of death. They did a CT scan, and did not see any blood, so that is good. His previous stroke, a couple of years ago, came from a blood clot near his heart. Since his speech is slurred, the stroke must be on his brain's left side, which controls the right side of his body. This is the same area that was damaged before, but he did recover from that. I hope that with prompt medical intervention, he will be able to fully recover again, and go back to his wonderful, independent life in a great community of people who all like him and care about him a lot.

I have to say, when they handed out the Dads, I won the lottery. My Dad is the most kind, gentle, and steady man I know. This is us, my Dad, brother and I, in November, at a restaurant in his town in Maine.

I know these things happen to people every day, but I am just not ready for it.

Rose Marie

2009-01-06T18:24:00.000-08:00

This is Rose Marie. When my Mom was about 6, she got a letter in the mail from Rose Marie, who had been her grandmother's doll. It said that Rose Marie was travelling to my Mom's house on her way back from the Doll Hospital, after getting a new hairstyle and some new clothes, including a pink party dress and some new underwear!

When my Mom moved to a smaller home recently, she didn't really have any place for Rose Marie, so I said I would take her. She is in need of some professional repair, and she is headed off to a doll restorer in Virginia. She has a cloth body and a composite head. I think it might be a Shirley Temple head. Her arms, from the elbows down, were white kid gloves, which need to be replaced.

Her clothes and the letter from Rose Marie to my Mom came in this wonderful old wooden trunk. Unfortunately, one of my nieces stepped through the lid of the trunk while playing hide and go seek, but I think it can be repaired.

This is the pink party dress referred to in the note. There are some wonderful old hand made clothes, including this black velvet jacket, that were made by my great grandmother, Bertha. From everything I've heard about her, I think we had a lot in common. She loved to sew also.

I found a book at the library called The Doll's Clothes Collection, which has wonderful patterns for period doll's clothes, even shoes and hats. After Rose Marie returns from Virginia, I hope to have a little blue and white sailor suit waiting for her, and some new shoes. I hope that my grand daughters and my friend Lucia's daughter Lucy might like to play with her. If not, there's always Carmine!

Visitor to our yard

2009-01-06T17:33:00.000-08:00

Today, this tortoise came to visit. My husband was pressure washing the patio, and the tortoise stopped by to have a drink. Afterward, he ambled around the yard, checking out the fountain area. He didn't seem overly concerned about me taking his photo. Carmine, my cat, was MOST interested! Carmine loves other animals of all kinds. He flirted shamelessly with the tortoise, showed him his tummy, and talked up a storm. Later, we took down the Christmas tree. Carmine helped, hiding in the branches and pouncing on the lights as we tried to unwind them.

Afterwards, he needed a long drink and then a nap!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-05T15:59:00.001-08:00

Wishing all of my blog readers a wonderful New Year! The past few weeks have been so crazy, sometimes I feel like my life is in a blender, set on Puree. I have gotten out of the habit of blogging, so I hardly know where to start to catch up.

My Mom moved three days before Christmas....it was supposed to be four days before, but they had a major blizzard! Two days before Christmas, we got the news that my husband has prostate cancer. So, we have had a crash course in what that is, what it means and we are meeting with his urologist on Thursday to discuss treatment options. It has put somewhat of a damper on the holiday spirit for us, but we did have a nice visit with his daughter and the 2 grand girls. The photo on the blog heading is of Haley (age 2) at the beach, searching for shells. She is in constant motion. I love the sweet, baby roundness of her in this photo. Her older sister, who is 4, is already all sharp angles. They grow up so fast! We also had friends in from France for 2 weeks. They were a lot of fun.

I made a Paper dolls quilt for the girls for Christmas, I have it pieced but not quilted yet.

I have finished (bindings and labels) the Bill quilt for Janey, plus another quilt I made a while ago. I am still working on taking the paper off of a the cranes quilt before I put that on the longarm. I want to enter the Cranes in a quilt show in Fort Lauderdale in a few months.

I've been working out with a personal trainer, I am sore but can see some small results! I've been reading some great new fiction too! I am so gratefull to live in a town with a fantastic library. Right now I am reading The Girl With No Shadow. Can hardly put it down. Have also recently read Garden Angel and Perfect Family. I would recommend all without hesitation to anyone who likes current fiction.

Going Green

2008-12-10T19:00:00.000-08:00

At our house, we've recently become fascinated by the Planet Green channel on TV. We like to watch Living with Ed, where Ed Begley Jr is on a continuing quest to tweak the everyday encounters with electricity that we all have into a more green, planet friendly form. After watching the show for a while, we made some changes in our daily lives that have resulted in our electric bill being cut in half from what they were a few months ago.

Some of the changes we have made are: changing our light bulbs from incandescent to fluorescent bulbs. The next generation of screw-in fluorescent bulbs is here, they are more roundish than the older ones which look like a cross between spaghetti strings and a soft serve ice cream cone. You know which ones I mean! The light is a bit blue and faint when you first turn it on, but in a minute or so you can't tell the difference from incandescent. We turned off all of our outdoor lighting, which was nice to look out at, but not necessary. We also cut our pool pump run time in half, which didn't seem to affect the water quality at all. We make a conscious effort to unplug our TV's, phone chargers, and any small appliances when not in use that are otherwise just sitting there sucking juice all day.

We learned about solar tubes, shown above. Michael recently cut a circular hole in our garage roof and inserted this tube, which allows daylight to come through some sort of a prism which makes the area under the tube really bright. It looks like there is a light on, but you can't find the switch to turn it off. Very cool.
Yesterday, we had a solar hot water system installed. As we live in South Florida, it seemed a smart way to go. It is sunny for at least part of every day here. I took this photo nearly at dark, when they had just finished the install. We actually got money back from the state, a tax rebate, and an incentive from the company that installed it so that the final cost to us was very reasonable and will pay for itself in several months' time. My husband cautioned me that we will not be able to regulate the temperature of the hot water, and that we must be careful to mix it well with cold water so we don't get burned. He said we would'nt need to boil water for tea any longer, it would be hot enough right out of the tap! I woke up this morning all ready for a hot shower, with water heated by the sun. I stood under the tap and...well, lukewarm would be a generous way to describe the temperature of the water. Since they finished installing it last evening, there was no sunshine to heat it overnight and therefore my tepid intro to the world of solar heated bathing. It was sunny and 80 degrees all day today, so will hope for a warmer shower tomorrow morning. And of course, a nice cup of tea!

Bruce's Christmas Quilt

2008-12-06T13:57:00.000-08:00

I recently quilted this quilt for a customer who made it for her boss for Christmas. It is all batiks, and several have an african or animal print feel.

This is a close up of the quilting. It is a ginko leaf all over pattern, in a royal blue thread. The top and back are busy enough that the quilting does not show up too much. The arching pattern of the top of the leaf is the most dominant graphic element, which surprised me. It was the first time I had used this design.

Christmas Parade

2008-12-06T13:22:00.000-08:00

Every year, the first Saturday in December is our town's Christmas Parade. We don't have many of the seasonal reminders of Christmas that you would see in the North (like snow!), so the parade is the signal to one and all that the Season is open!
I think everyone in town knows someone, and most know several people who are in the parade. Our friend Bill was in the Knights of Columbus contingent. Yes, he gets to keep the car!! Our godson, Sebastian, rode with our friend Laurie who is on the School Board, in her convertible. He's reaching into the basket to throw some candy to the kids.The shriners were there with their crazy little cars and the clowns. There were 4 bands! This is our friend Sara, playing the tuba. (3rd one in) She looked like she was ready to fall over. It was about 80 degrees, and they were marching into the sun. Harry was there in his motorized armchair, with his kids. The guy who drives the porta-potty that pops wheelies didn't show this year, though.Lots of boats, including one 18 foot sportfishing boat that was left to a local waitress as a tip (!) from a loyal customer when he got too sick to enjoy it. Love the sea horses! Lots of animals Tshirts and beach balls were thrown to the crowd And a great time was had by all!

Block printing with gelatin

2008-12-04T17:54:00.000-08:00

Today, in our Secret Artists' fiber art group, we had fun making some prints from trays of gelatin. It was a gorgeous day, and we were able to work outside at a big table on the porch of my studio. This is a technique introduced to us by one of our members, Billye, who is a collage artist.

I made up the trays of gelatin ahead of time. The recipe (for each tray) was: dissolve 4 packets of plain Knox gelatin in one cup of water. Add 3 cups boiling water and pour into 11 x 9 or so inch pan. Pat out any bubbles, so the surface is smooth and clear. The mixture will set up in a few hours without being refrigerated. In fact, I don't recommend even trying to put it into the fridge, because the whole thing is very unstable and it sloshes all over your counters, floors, shoes and the inside of the refrigerator. It especially seeks out those little nooks and crannies where you put eggs and things. AFTER it has set up, you can transfer the tray to the fridge for longer term keeping.

OK, so armed with our gelatin trays, the secret artists put some block printing ink on our palettes and loaded up a breyer. We then rolled a thin-ish coat of ink onto the surface of the gelatin.
To make the prints, we placed rubber stamps onto the ink, which lifted up the ink and left the impression of the design we were after. For variety, we also tried pressing lace, paper doilies, and string onto the surface to absorb the ink. One person had a little problem with using a sharp-ish object, and it made a slice into the gelatin.

THEN, we gently patted a piece of fabric onto the surface of the gelatin. You could see the design emerging, like watching a photo come up in a chemical bath. We lifted the fabric up and draped it over a hedge to let it dry. We really came out with some interesting prints.

This was a copper print on black satin. We used cotton, satin and organza for our printing fabrics.

The very cool thing about printing from the gelatin block was that the ink did not ever dry out. To change colors, you could blot up the remnants of your previous color. This is fun and would be easy to do with kids.

I had a blast, even though my head was still pretty stuffy and I was kind of out of it from The Thanksgiving Cold.

Celestial Cookies

2008-11-28T13:16:00.000-08:00

Each year for Christmas, I like to bake cookies for friends. I saw some cookies that had been made with cookie molds, and thought I'd like to try them out for my cookie gifts this year. I have always been attracted to the clestial theme, and it fits well with my business, sleep disorders. I found celestial cookie molds on ebay. There are 4 designs that I was able to find. I actually tried to make them last year, but my recipie didn't work out! So, I brought the molds with me to Maine and made them in Mom's kitchen. She is a great cook, and I figured that she'd be able to help me figure what went wrong. I made the same recipie, and the problem turned out to be the temperature of the dough. The dough needs to be fairly cold to be pressed into the molds. In Maine, I put the dough outdoors on the step in 20 degree weather, and it worked fine!

I was able to press the chilled dough into the molds, then peel the cookies out of the molds onto the cookie sheet. They are so big that only 6 cookies fit on each sheet. I love how they looked on the sheet. I floured the molds to try to give some definition to the designs. When they are cooked, they rise up a bit, and some of the definition is lost. I thought the next time I make them, I might use dark Karo syrup, instead of the light. I think the darker cookies might show the design better.

Home is where the heart is

2008-11-28T12:15:00.000-08:00

Last week, I flew to Maine to visit my parents. My parents have been divorced for many years, Mom is remarried to Paul, and all 3 of my parents are good friends. For that, I consider myself very lucky. We have all been able to spend holidays, birthdays, and vacations together, without the children and grandchildren having to divide time between parents. One of my favorite memories is watching my Mom and Dad looking through pictures of my Dad's high school reunion (Mom was 2 years behind him at the same school) and my stepfather sitting in the same room, reading the paper without a care as Mom and Dad laughed and reminisced.

They both live in Maine. My Dad moved to an assisted living community about 2 years ago, and has been very happy there. It is set up so that all of the residents live in their own homes on a central campus, but they have access to services such as transportation, healthcare, food service, gym, pool, etc, or not, as they desire. My Mom and Paul have lived for the past 20 years in a home in a beautiful but remote setting on the Maine coast. They are out on a peninsula which requires a 40 minute drive to get a gallon of milk or loaf of bread. They have a steeply pitched driveway, which if overshot, would result in a 20 foot drop off a sheer cliff into the ocean.

Mom is an avid gardener, and her garden is also on a steep slope. As they have gotten older, and Paul is now 88, it has become more difficult for them to perform maintenance tasks around the house, and to commute to all of their many activities. So, with great reluctance, they put their house on the market this fall. And it sold!! So, Mom and Paul are moving to a home in the same community where my Dad lives. I was able to help Mom pick out carpeting, flooring, countertops, appliances, paint colors, etc. for the new house on my trip. They are planning to move the week of Christmas, weather permitting. It was hard to say goodbye to the home where many of our family vacations and celebrations had taken place over the years. But, without them in it, that house is just a house. And it will be so convenient for them to live on one floor and to have assistance when they need it with home and yard maintenance.

When I was little, Mom read me a book called Sad Day, Glad Day, about a little girl named Sal who was moving to a new house. I think most moves have some element of sad day/glad day.

Guild Challenge Entries

2008-11-15T18:25:00.000-08:00

Each year, the executive board of my quilt guild issues a Challenge to it's members. We sell (for $5.) a fat quarter of fabric sealed in a paper bag, which also contains the Challenge rules.
This year, we used this fabric in these two colorways. If you got the red fabric, but wanted the blue or vise versa, you could trade with someone, or just buy another bag and hope you got the color you really wanted. The rules of this year's Challenge were: you had to use a recognizable amount of the challenge fabric in your quilt, it had to be 30 inches by 30 inches or smaller, had to have a top, batting backing, and be quilted and bound.
We offered a choice of theme suggestions for those who needed a little inspiration. The themes were Earth/Water/Fire/Ice, or Save the Earth. We chose something we thought would be open to many different interpretations. Many groans were heard as the bags were opened!

> We had 17 entries. Unfortunately this post was not able to load the last 2, I think I exceeded the space limit with all these photos.

First place was the Tree of Life, second from the bottom. One of the members of my art quilt splinter group won!! Second place was the undersea life scene, third was the red planet in distress piece. And, Viewer's Choice was also the undersea life piece.

Mine was the Mermaid!

We all had a great time. Can't wait to do it again next year!!

Friends and Politics

2008-11-03T16:20:00.001-08:00

I normally don't write about politics, because I realize that people's political views are intensely personal, and I don't wish to offend anyone with mine. But since we are almost at the end of this long season, I will risk it here.
I have learned a lot about my friends as we have weathered this contentious political season. Who and how they support their candidates has been interesting to watch. Of the friends who are willing to discuss such things, and I have many friends who just won't discuss politics, period, most seem to have been motivated by either fear or by hope.
I am at the stage in life where most of my friends have worked hard for many years at careers and businesses built over their lifetimes, and are either in their peak earning years, or are just starting to retire with substantial nest eggs. They are deeply concerned with keeping the money that they have worked hard for. And I think that is the one issue with which they are most concerned, and on which most have based the decision for whom to vote. These are what I think of as the "fear" voters. They are voting for McCain, because they are afraid Obama would take their hard earned money and "redistribute" it. From among this group, I have friends who were dining out recently. Their waiter sported an Obama button. At the end of the meal, they told said waiter that they were going to donate his tip to the Red Cross, because he supported Obama, and Obama supported re-distributing wealth. They were quite proud to tell this story. Another very good friend had lived through some racial unrest following the aftermath of the MLK assassinations. He voted for McCain because he thought that if Obama was elected, he would surely be assassinated and that would spark race riots which would threaten the lives of his children and grandchildren. These are deeply held and serious beliefs of people I love and care about. I respect their right to have and to act on these beliefs, and I am glad that they trust me enough to share these opinions and feelings with me.
Then on the other hand, I have what I think of as the hope voter group. I count myself in that number. We are not unafraid of what has become of our economy, our image in the world, our security, the state of our planet and it's finite resources. But we hope that the ideals of this eloquent young man who has run such a remarkable, tireless campaign and inspired so many of our young people will bring about a brighter future for us all. We are ready to take a risk for the sake of changes that we believe will benefit us all.
The eyes of the world will be on us tomorrow as we choose our new President. May God be with whoever wins this office, as it is a Herculean task.

Mosaic Quilt

2008-10-30T16:18:00.000-07:00

This week, I made a mosaic quilt.
I had attended a class in August taught by Tammy Bowser, who developed this method. She wrote a software program that allows you to enter a photo, and it will print out this paint-by-number type graph. You decide how large your finished piece will be, and how many colors you would like to use. The examples she had at her booth in Nashville were striking. Her uncle was a jazz musician in the 50's and she had wonderful photo mosaics of musicians playing and singing jazz.

I used 15 colors, divided into light, medium and dark color values. I placed a tricot fusible over the chart, and placed my squares over the numbers. I then fused them down with my mini iron, (and I have the burns to prove it!) My squares were 1/2 inches. This is my work in progress...can you tell who it is??

I finished it today, it's Bill! (Love Bill) Now, I have to peel off the fusible tricot and layer it over the batting and backing and quilt it together. I hope to give it to Janey for Christmas.

Dana's Magnolia Quilt

2008-10-13T18:06:00.000-07:00

This weekend, before the kids came, I machine quilted this quilt for my friend Dana. She couldn't remember what the name of the pattern was, so we just call it the Magnolia quilt. I was a little distracted when I was taking the photo at the end, so I didn't get a close up of the quilting, but I was happy with it. I used a pantograph called Dynasty and she picked a beautiful sage green thread color. It is a Christmas gift for her Mom, who is also a quilter. She just has to put the binding on. Yikes, Christmas!! I've been so focused on the upcoming election, I haven't even started to think about the Holidays this year!

Michael's Birthday Weekend

2008-10-13T17:28:00.000-07:00

This weekend, my husband turned the big Six Two! (I, being a mere one year over the half century mark, don't mind announcing this to the world). We had a great family celebration. His children and grandchildren came up from Miami. The girls rode bikes up and down our long driveway, despite intermittent sprinkles. Abby still has her training wheels on, but it won't be long now!
She is participating in some kind of a bike rodeo at school this week where the kids raise money for St. Jude's hospital. Abby donated all of the money in her family's change jar, over $35. to St. Jude's! We were very proud of her for being so thoughtful. Haley was working hard to keep up on her trike.

Abby has inherited some of her grandpa's gardening genes. Her Mom calls her Diggy, because she loves to dig in the dirt!
She and Grandpa planted some tomatoes, and checked on the progress of the beans they planted last time.

The girls have thier own tools and gardening gloves...too cute!
Then, we played endless games of Candyland when the rain started falling more heavily.
Our best friend made a HUGE pan of lasagna and a beautiful bread braid. We had a great cake made to look like a Chikee hut, and we all wore leis to sing Happy Birthday!

In The Garden

2008-10-10T07:50:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, I played hookey from work...well as much as I ever can. The work is still there waiting for me, I just didn't go in to do it until late afternoon. Instead, I painted some words on a gate into the garden for my husband. He had been asking me, and it had been raining so it was too wet to paint until today. I am not used to working outside in the 90 degree heat and humidity. What's up with that? It's October for goodness sake. I felt like I was going to keel over, just standing there painting! Then he took me out to lunch, at our favorite local hole in the wall that has great food. It felt like a vacation day!

Last night, we had quilt guild. We had a speaker who has a degree in textiles and is a conservator of vintage quilts. She had a trunk show and did a really interesting presentation. My favorite quilt was a silk pineapple log cabin quilt in black and peach. Probably the peach was once red, and had faded. But it was a striking combination still.
Well, I am off to work. Wish I could take the day off to sew, haven't been able to do much of that this week.

Crisp, Light, Refreshing!

2008-10-05T10:58:00.000-07:00

Well, I have embarked upon a personal challenge that is long overdue. I am not proud of this, but for over 30 years, I have had a serious diet Pepsi habit. To the point that my friends have expressed concern for years over the contents of my recycling bins. (That's bins, plural!)
Last month, when I caught a bug from my grandkids, I didn't drink any soda. I was too sick to even think about it. And I went through the full spectrum of caffeine withdrawal, which is never pretty. After I got through it, I just decided that I never wanted to go through that again, could not continue to poison myself. I have switched to water, which is different. I am definitely a more mellow person without all the caffeine. And I feel free. It is nice to not have to constantly be thinking about whether I have enough soda to get me through the day. I have saved a ton of money, too. Maybe 6 to 8 dollars a day!
I remember when I was a teenager, some friends of mine told me about a woman who lived in our town who was an alcoholic. She had bottles of whiskey stashed every couple of feet along the rural road where we lived. She would go out to walk her dogs and drink from her stash. They thought it was funny to steal her bottles. I really didn't have any exposure to addiction then, but I remember thinking even then that it was not funny.
I indulged in similar behavior. I carried soda in my car, had it stocked under my desk at home, in my sewing room, at the hospital, at my business, in the garage...and I was seriously longing for small refrigerators in every room where I spent time. I would easily just drink one can right after another. If I was out of soda, I would invent trips to the store. While shopping, I could never pass by the soda coolers right near the checkout without getting a nice cold one. My Mom and my husband hated the habit, and I always felt guilty about it.
Looking back, I can't even explain the attraction. I didn't LOVE the taste. It made my heart race and gave me headaches and messed up my sleep patterns. I guess I would drink it as a substitute for eating. But I know I've lost weight since I have stopped drinking it.
So, it's been 20 days. Do I miss it? Sometimes. I still have my stash all over the place. I guess this week I will go through and round it up and...not really sure what to do with it. My quilt guild meets this Thursday night. We hold our meetings at a church that has a food pantry. It isn't really food, but I guess I might just drop it off there. Maybe someone would want it while playing Bingo at the church or something. I guess soda is marginally more socially acceptable to donate than say, unwanted cigarettes after someone quits smoking.
Anyway, that's my story. There is life after Diet Soda! And it's good. Life is good.

2008-10-05T10:42:00.000-07:00

It is Fall here in South Florida! What that means at our house is apple pies, and time spent on the porches. Last night, Michael cooked a delicious dinner and we ate by candlelight on the breakfast porch

After dinner, we hung out on the front porch. I did some work on the computer, and Michael read the paper. A soft rain was falling, which is great, the garden is thirsty! We slept with the windows open and the fans on. I love this time of year!

Working on the Cranes

2008-10-01T05:49:00.001-07:00

Today, I am working on the crane quilt.

My husband is out of town for a few days on a fishing adventure with his best friend. So I am free to sew ! It seems so quiet here without him. I have been looking forward to this time alone to work on my projects, but now that it is here, it feels wierd.

Here it is up on the design wall. Still not sure about the color of the little blocks between the cranes. But, will move beyond that for the moment and start to cut my squares for the borders.

I have also just figured out how to move photos around in the blog, a blogging breakthrough of gigantic proportions for me, as I have been struggling with it for weeks.

French Braid Quilt

2008-09-27T14:49:00.001-07:00

Today I quilted a customer quilt, a French Braid. The pattern is Feather Frenzy by Linda Taylor. I just love this quilt. As beautiful as it looks in this photo, it is even prettier in person! Her fabric choices are just lovely.

Last February, just after I got my longarm, Michael and I met our friends Ricardo and Sylvie, who were visiting from Italy, in Ft. Lauderdale for lunch. It was a gorgeous day, and we took some photos of each other with the ocean in the background. While we were reviewing the photos we had just taken, some that I had previously taken of my longarm were on the memory card. So I showed them, explained what a longarm was, and how excited I was about learning how to use it. After lunch, we said goodbye, and each went our separate ways. We both went to Miami, as it turned out. Michael and I went to visit Brandon, and they went to a dinner party hosted by friends we did not know. We hadn't planned to see them again, that trip.

Our phone rang just as we were finishing dinner at our favorite restaurant in Miami that night. It was Ricardo, calling from his friend's dinner party. He said that the hostess was a quilter and that he really thought we should meet! So, we got the address, and with Brandon's navigation skills, (he drives a fire truck for Miami Dade, so he's kind of a human GPS), drove right to the home. The party was outside, at a long table set under the trees, which were lit with little white fairy lights. They had moved the living room furniture outside, and people were lounging around under the stars. Miki, the hostess showed me her quilting room and several works in progress. I was so impressed with her work. She had taken a class with the author of the French Braid book and had a great eye for color. Our friends just looked on, stunned. They said, it is like you two are speaking some foreign language! She mentioned having a bad experience with her longarm quilter (the person took 6 months (!) to get the quilt back to her, and it was a quilt for a little boy, so she had requested no flowers, and it came back quilted with flowers)

So, later this summer I came across her card and sent her an email. She contacted me and sent me this beauty to quilt. I got it yesterday, finished it today. She should have it by Tuesday.

I hope she likes it!

Artist Trading Cards

2008-09-26T05:28:00.000-07:00

I am a member of a small art quilt group that meets every other week for 3 hours to play around and explore our creativity. We call ourselves the Secret Artist Society (Sassy for short) and we have 9 members. I have learned so much from these ladies! As in any group, the diverse backgrounds of the individual members enhances the whole. Some members are fine artists, and they have shared a lot of knowledge, tools and materials that I never knew existed. (Brayers? Gel medium? huh?) Some of us were collectors of odds and ends that we knew we would use some day, in some project! Some of us just read Cloth, Paper Scissors and Quilting Arts and our hearts beat faster. Some of us have had pieces exhibited in National quilt shows, are teachers of these techniques, and all of us are interested/awed/fascinated and willing to get our feet wet. We are all passionate about fibers in some form or other, and our work here all gets sewn on in the end.
When the group first started, each week we played with a different technique. We did resist/discharging, monoprinting (with fish!) foiling, stenciling, altered books. What seemed to be missing was some continuity between the projects. So, our member Kathy came up with the idea of doing Artist trading cards, exchanging them, and then sewing them together into a 9 patch quilt.
My cards were a little late in coming together, since I was sidelined with the wretched illness acquired from the grandchildren for a week or so, but I finally finished them yesterday. I am happy with them! It's actually a little difficult to part with them. At the meeting where we exchanged them, the members all displayed all of their cards, and then went around and chose one card from each person. Since mine weren't finished for that meeting, I get to give each person a card that I think they would like. Who knows whether it would have been the one they would have chosen if given the chance. Probably not. Or maybe so. Whatever....

Our Disney Adventure

2008-09-25T16:19:00.000-07:00

We had a GREAT time on our little getaway to Disney last week! Michael and I took our grand kids and their parents. My stepdaughter called a few days before we left to say that they were all sick, but were getting better and did we still want to go? We said Sure, let's go, if you are up for it, so they arrived on Saturday night. Abby was coughing, Haley was burning up but still smiling, David (Dad) was on a nebulizer! Mom (Loni) was stoic, carrying on, as Moms do in such situations. We left bright and early Sunday for the Animal Kingdom Lodge. What a gorgeous place! I knew I was going to love it there from the minute I stepped inside the doors and saw the aboriginal quilts hanging in the reception area. The Lodge had an African theme, and the attention to detail throughout the hotel was amazing. Mind you, I am not what you would call a Disney freak. But it was a fun place to go with the kids and this hotel was so cool, I would have loved it no matter where it was located.

We enjoyed a few great days, with the kids feeling better every day. First we went to the Magic Kingdom, the girls first visit. They are 2 and 4. Abby was fascinated, watching them monogram her Mouse Ears hat. Hmmm, a future quilter, perhaps? We had a great time, went on the tea cups, race track, merry go round, flying dumbos, Pirates of the Caribbean and It's a Small World. The girls got autographs from several of the characters. I think they were most in awe of Belle. All of the characters sign the autograph books in character, with a flourish. We agreed Belle's signature was the best. The day ended on a spectacular, but totally unplanned note. We all stood in line in Tomorrow land waiting to get on the rocket ride. When it is almost your turn to ride, you take an elevator up to where the ride begins. We were standing on a huge platform on top of the park when the fireworks started up, and we had the most amazing view. Tinkerbell flew from the castle, and went right by us. We couldn't have planned it any better. We ended the first day tired, but happy.

The next day, we wandered around the hotel. They have several wildlife observation areas where the Serengeti abuts the resort. They have these young conservation biologists from all over the world who are eager to tell you all about the animals. The animals all looked very sleek and healthy. They seemed inured to the tourists gawking at them, did not pay us much mind. We went to Epcot later in the day, spent a lot of time in the Ocean exhibit watching sea turtles, dolphins, and beautiful fish. Abby was a dive buddy in an interactive dive exhibit. Her shirt that day read Most Likely To Save The World, and she is. Michael is fascinated by the hydroponics in the Land exhibit there. We also saw the dinosaurs, rode the Race Track, ate in Germany. We left as the fireworks were starting up, as there were huge clouds gathering. Good move, by the time we got to our bus, the skies had opened.

On our last day, we did the Animal Kingdom. We went on Safari, saw a Bugs' Life, Loni rode on the Himalaya roller coaster, brave soul that she is! The girls were pretty beat by the end of the day, and...Michael and I were incubating our exposure to those lovely virus particles that we had come in to contact with when the girls first came to visit.

By the time we left, we were sick as dogs, and the girls and family were fully recovered and raring to go! We parted company, with them headed to Downtown Disney, and us headed home to bed, with a stop at the doctor's on the way for antibiotics.

(Still trying to figure out how to move the photos around in the blog text...)

Moving Day!

2008-09-13T06:27:00.000-07:00

After much deliberation, I decided to move my quilting room from our house over to the guest house where I have my longarm, so that I will have a dedicated area where I can go to work and have all of my stuff together in the same place.
The advantages to having my sewing room under my roof at home were that I could just go in there and sew whenever I had a few spare moments, or late at night, or early in the morning, and still be near enough to my husband so that we were still together-ish, even if not participating in the same actual activity. I will miss that. He will too.
The reasons I decided to move have to do with noise, temperature, and the experience of having whatever I needed be in the other place! I work some of my day, most days, in a very cool environment. When I come home, if it is really hot, I am sluggish and uncomfortable. It is not fun to wrestle with fabric and batting in 80 plus degree heat! My husband loves to be outside all day, gardening. Yes, in the 90+ degree South Florida heat and humidity, I know! He HATES air conditioning, is in fact allergic to it. His bronchial tubes close up. In my guest house, I can control the temperature and the music. My husband has lately been fond of French music, sung in French. Some of it is catchy, but I like to listen to audiobooks, or my own music. I also have the experience known to anyone who has 2 homes of always needing/wanting the thing that you have left at the Other Place.
So...I am Moving Out. Still in the process of organizing, but I think it is going to work out OK. We moved the 2 twin beds out of the guest house and into my old sewing room. Tonight, Michael's daughter, husband and 2 girls are coming up to Sleep Over, so they can try out the new beds downstairs. In the morning, we are off to Disney for a few days, the girls first visit! Abby told us on the phone yesterday "I'm so excited, I can't stand it, Grandpa!".

Janey says...

2008-09-13T06:18:00.000-07:00

That ever since Bill was a puppy, she would let him out when the lawn guys came, and they would play with him by blowing at him with their leaf blowers. He would bark and bite the air! So, he must have associated the rake with the lawn guys that he plays with. However, he has NEVER bitten a lawn guy!!
Last night, Bill gave Michael an apology note and a LARGE box of Michael's favorite Starbucks Coffee Cake as an "I am SO sorry about the incident with the rake" gift. Michael LOVES Starbucks Coffee Cake. It remains to be seen whether Michael will ever love a Wheaten...

Jungle Fever Quilt

2008-09-11T13:15:00.000-07:00

These are some photos of a quilting design I am going to do on a customer quilt. Because I am still fairly new at this, I like to do a trial run of a design on a scrap piece before I actually start to sew on the customer's quilt to find out if there are any operator errors lying in wait for me. This one went pretty smoothly. The pattern is called Jungle Fever. I try to specialize in the organic shapes, leaves, vines and feathers. I love to play with different textures in my work. I bought all of these squares precut at one of my favorite fabric stores in Maine, Onboard Fabrics. They were all bundled together for $5. a bundle. The lighter green square is silk, and the others are different upholstery weight remnants. The brown one has the texture of a brain coral! I just sewed the blocks together randomly, and will use it for a throw for a couch on my porch. For the back, I used a solid brown Ultrasuede that I bought on sale at Joanne. I used a new thread, Isacord, that was recommended by one of my teachers in Nashville, Jaime Wallen. I loved the thread! It had virtually zero lint, was light and strong, and the rasberry color I used had a pretty sheen to it. It is polyester, but almost looked like rayon. I used it in both the bobbin and on top. He recommended using it for the bobbin, and he uses an unspecified Superior thread on the top. But, I didn't read that until after I was done, so Oh Well. I normally use Superior So Fine for both top and bobbin.

I was hoping to take this to my Quilt Guild meeting tonight for Show and Tell, but have not gotten the binding on yet, so I guess I will wait till next time.

On the judge's comment sheets for my Witch quilt that won Honorable Mention at Maine Quilts, all of the judges said that my bindings needed work. I was asking one of my teachers in Nashville for advice on doing better bindings, and she recommended a tool, the Piping Hot Binding Tool, which of course I bought. And lost!

My sewing room has just been re-located from dowstairs in my house to the guest house, so things are a bit topsy turvy in the sewing world at the moment. But stay tuned! I'll find that darned Piping Hot Binding Tool if it's the last thing I do!

It's All About Bill

2008-09-09T18:22:00.001-07:00

This Sunday was our 6th wedding anniversary. Michael and I pretty much celebrate every day, so we don't really do a big celebration on The Day or anything. I made plans to work on a quilt on my longarm, and Michael is working on putting in a big vegetable garden on about a half acre he has recently cleared, building frames and trellises and planting stuff.

When Janey, Bill's Mom, told us she would be going to a trade show in Orlando for the day on Sunday, I offered to keep an eye on Bill while they were gone. Big sacrifice on my part, right? Any excuse to spend time with my beloved Bill! The day started off great, I picked Bill up, he hopped right into my car and we went to my quilt studio, where he hung out happily, running in and out of the house, playing with his little squeaky hedgehog. After a while we walked over to where my husband was working in the garden. Bill had a blast romping around the yard. I had high hopes that Michael would look at this cute fuzzy pup frolicking around, fall in love, and decide that we indeed needed a Wheatie of our very own, the sooner the better. I hopped in the pool. Bill ran back and forth next to the pool while I was swimming. I was sending silent mental messages to Bill "Go play with Michael" "Go bond with Michael". So far, so good! Michael came over and started to rake along the edge of the driveway, next to the pool, talking to Bill the whole time. Bill started to bark at the rake. I have never had a dog before, so I'm thinking, Oh, he wants to play with the rake. A smarter person than I am would have gotten out of the pool at this point, lead Bill away from the rake and gotten him interested in something else. Alas, I am not that smart. Bill then bit Michael on the hand that was holding the rake. Michael very calmly said "You can take this dog home now." I got out of the pool and drove Bill home, tout suite.
RATS!!!!
Haven't mentioned this to Janey yet...

Glad Ike took a hike!

2008-09-05T15:15:00.000-07:00

I'm exhausted from the preparations for Hurricane Ike! My husband and I are just planners by nature...if you were stranded on the proverbial desert island, you'd probably be pretty happy to have us be there with you! I've been up since about 4:30 making lists, running errands, helping neighbors, watching the Tropical Update on the Weather Channel. I'll just bet they have cancelled all vacations until further notice at the Weather Channel these days! In some ways, I am glad that I pretty much know what to expect from a hurricane. In 2004, we had Jeanne and Frances each make landfall in my town, within weeks of each other. The next year we had a direct hit from Wilma. I have a whole hurricane commemorative T shirt collection from that year, my favorite being a swirling white hurricane aerial shot, with the smiling head of Wilma Flintstone superimposed on it.

So, there are stages we go through - the Before the storm, the During the storm, and the After the storm. They are all different, but equally intense.

Before the storm, you get cash, fill your gas tank, refill your prescriptions, charge all of your batteries, take pictures to document the "before", check your supplies - lanterns, candles, radios, batteries, a land line hurricane phone, TV with rabbit ears, lighters, heavy duty extension cords. Chainsaw blades and oil, trash bags, bleach, gloves, Ben Gay, Advil, groceries, beer, plastic sheeting, bug spray, water, pet food and crates, Gatorade. You move things around in the garage so the generator is near the door, and you make sure it starts up. You take down and put away umbrellas and throw the patio furniture into the pool. You trim all the coconuts off the palm trees, so they don't go airborn and turn into missiles. You dodge wasps and bees and put down your shutters and help with the shutters of all of your neighbors. You make up your guest rooms and gather extra pillows and blankets, because you will probably have some company. During Francis, our neighbor Dana's roof blew off, and she had to run to our house with her boyfriend and her dog during the peak of the storm, dodging flying shingles the whole way. You prepare a safe room, your interior room with no windows. You clean your house and make sure all of your laundry is done, because after the storm, everything will be dark and humid and wet and dirty, probably for weeks.

Then you hunker down and wait. We usually like to cook a big dinner, a last supper, if you will, because we know that we won't have electricity for up to 2 weeks after a big storm, and we usually have a lot of people to feed. This being Florida, we have a lot of elderly neighbors, who are single and live alone. We usually invite them to come to stay with us during the storm itself. It is a little easier if the storm hits during daylight hours. You can usually find a safe-ish perch to watch the storm go by from the side of the house that is protected from the first part of the storm. From this vantage point you can watch things sail by and crash into your house. It is so much nicer to be able to see what it is that is crashing, than to lie there in the dark and hear thud after thud, not knowing. Then the eye passes over, all is quiet, and you venture timidly outside to see what wrath has been visited on you. Then you go back inside and it starts all over again, the storm coming from the other side now, and the storms are usually much stronger on the back side. We try to watch a movie, play scrabble or gin, anything to distract us. My husband is usually racing around with a flashlight, checking to see what is leaking, what is breathing, what looks like it is not going to hold, checking in with friends on his cell phone. All of our doors are braced from the inside with 2x4's. During one storm, we had a ladder braced against the interior wall of our living room, to support the wall. (our house was built at the turn of the century) The wall breathed in and out so much the top of the ladder ate it's way about 2 inches into the plaster!

After the storm, we start to clean up as soon as we can. We live on 2 acres, and my husband's hobby is gardening. It is all highly landscaped, and when the top canopy gets broken off, it kills all of the hedges and under plantings. After Jeanne and Francis, we hauled 3 tractor trailer loads of debris out, including about 100 trees. When the trees went over, the giant root balls pulled up all of the stones in our driveway when they heaved over. Michael took up every stone, one at a time and built a stone wall, cut out the roots, then re-paved the driveway. We have replanted hundreds of more trees since then, and things have grown in nicely. After those storms, we were so fortunate to have help from near and far. Friends and even some people we had never met before packed up chain saws, ice, even a spare generator, and came to help. We were and are so blessed to have such wonderful friends!

Well, we are pretty relieved that Ike went away. Not to wish a hurricaine on anyone else! As you can tell, they are NOT FUN. At 10 minutes to every hour, you can still find us in front of the TV, watching the Tropical Update. We pretty much stopped at the Before the Storm phase, as the storm did not continue on track to hit us. But, as you can see, we take it seriously and get about as ready as we can be. Brandon is still on call for deployment by FEMA for the tactical rescue team. He is a firefighter/paramedic for Miami Dade. So far, has not been called out this year. We worry about him, he was deployed for Katrina. He is just the kind of person you would like to have there to help you though, strong, kind, and smart. We are proud of him!

Cranes, Continued

2008-08-31T08:58:00.000-07:00

Today I am working on assembling my paper pieced Crane quilt. I have had the cranes (all 98 of them!) done for a while, but have been working out placement on graph paper and border colors on the design wall. I made a felt design wall big enough to accomodate the quilt, but since I still have the paper foundations on, they won't stick! So, am using the good old cork board wall that needs pins. I decided to use a white sashing so the cranes will float, then have a complementary (but different) block at the sashing intersections. I used Batiks that I got from Sew Batik for the blues, and Sew Batik was at the show in Nashville, so I stopped by thier booth and asked for advice on what would make the dark and light blues pop. They came up with the yellow, which is printed with a vine pattern of light and dark blues. I thought it would work, but it looks kind of muddy to me when I put it up, although I do like the contrast. I also had a 1/8 yard piece of a gorgeous hand dye in blues and purples that I like better. But of course I only have 1/8 of a yard of it, so I don't have enough for all of the little sashing blocks, and no idea where it might have come from. I have a tendency to select colors that all play so well with each other, that they don't stand out. But there is a lot of contrast between the white and blues already, so I guess I could go with a blender for those little cornerstones. Hmmmmm.

I have heard that if you take photos of a layout, it will help you decide what looks best...still not sure! The theme for the quilt was Peace on earth, so I tried some greens in the sashing corners but didn't like it. Was thinking of doing an applique small round world in blue and green on top of the light blues in the sashing corners...too distracting.

Quilting may not do much for the butt, but it IS good mental exercise!!!

What goes around, comes around

2008-08-30T10:20:00.001-07:00

Last year, dh was very sad. His oldest daughter, a very smart and unfortunately very troubled young lady who had struggled with dually diagnosed mental health/substance issues for most of her life, died at age 32. It sent shock waves through his family, and resulted in estrangement from his younger daughter (the mother of his grandchildren, ages 2 and 4 whom he adores, and rightly so-they are wonderful little girls).

Anyway, at Christmas last year, I decided to get him a dog. I know, I know, the one thing they say you are never supposed to get anyone for Christmas, is a dog. Not fair to the dog, not fair to the person. Too much going on and all of that. Undeterred, I researched dog breeds. I went in search of a mid sized, mellow animal who wouldn't shed too much and who would love dh and be his buddy all day while he worked in his garden, would ride around town with him in his truck etc. Dh loves to take our cat, Carmine, around town in the truck, to the drive-through at the bank, etc, but that can get ticklish when the truck window is open. I found the perfect breed of dog for us, a soft coated Wheaten terrier. I found a breeder not too far away, made an appointment, and went to visit the kennel. They had 2 year-old males, who had only lived in the kennel and were not trained or housebroken at all yet. One was called Einstein by the breeder, because he had figured out how to open all of the kennel doors with his nose, and proved it by doing so the first day I was there. The kennel was a blur of blond fur as dogs raced around, going in and out of kennel runs. It was pretty funny to watch the breeder trying to corral everyone back into the designated run. The other dog was a lovable but VERY mellow guy called Spot, because he had a spot on his back. I decided on Einstein. I went back several times to visit, and bought every conceivable dog accoutrement in anticipation of the BIG DAY. On Christmas Eve, I told dh I had a surprise for him and needed him to come for a ride with me. We went to the kennel. He met Einstein (I preferred to call him Wheatie) and we all went home. Wheatie had diarrhea in the car before we left the street. Things kind of went from bad to worse once we got home. Wheatie had never stepped foot on anything other than grass or concrete at the kennel. At and around our house, we have several textures - carpets in different pile lengths, wood floors, brick pavers, mulch, zoyza grass. Wheatie didn't want any part of this, was really having a huge adjustment. So was dh. Wheatie liked ME better, since I had bonded with him on my visits, and didn't pay any attention at all to dh. A friend of dh's called, who happens to have some kind of water spaniel, a totally different dog!!! and freaked dh out with all kinds of tales of how high strung blah blah blah Wheatons were, and how you had to have a firm hand training them, right from the beginning. So dh decided to take a firm hand with him. (not literally, just stern voice, commands, etc.) And here is this sweet, mellow, bewildered creature. Anyway, the upshot was, dh, under extreme emotional duress anyway, could not handle the stress and unknown havoc that he had been told this dog would wreak on his life. Wheatie went back to the breeder the next morning. I of course, had my heart broken into little pieces. But I did not chose Wheatie over dh. Thought about it briefly, but did not. I understood dh's pain, and reluctantly decided it was a good idea in theory that had not worked out due to poor timing. My whole intention had been to provide comfort and peace, not to escalate his distress.

So life went on, as it does. Dh and I have a best friend, who was married but got divorced about 3 years ago. We used to do a lot together, the 4 of us, but since his divorce, it has just been the 3 of us. We have dinner together every Friday night. We all went to Italy together last summer. We have a great time, but I have often wished he would meet a wonderful woman whom he could love and I could be friends with. This summer, he met Janie. We LOVE Janie. Now the 4 of us go out for dinner every Friday night. Janie has a dog. He is a Wheaton Terrier. His name is Bill. I have a new man in my life!!!

I Can't Make This Stuff Up!!!!

2008-08-29T15:41:00.000-07:00

As anyone who owns a business knows, you are only as good as your employees. And, no one, but no one, will ever take as good care of your business as you, yourself will. And, if you find someone who you think just might come close, you hold on to them with both hands, treat them like royalty, and pay them their weight in gold. I have, with my business partner, owned my business for just over 4 years now. Without going into too much detail, all of my employees but one work the night shift. I work the day shift. I place a very high degree of trust in my employees, who do their work during the quiet dark hours of the night with very little supervision. My business partner and I work very hard to exceed all expectations of our customers in every way possible, and we have the same expectations of our employees.

I am used to my phone ringing in the evening and occasionally during the night. Last night, I had trouble falling asleep because I knew I had to be at the hospital at o-dark thirty this morning to do a special procedure I only do a few times a year. I had just fallen asleep, when my home phone rang at 1:30 am. I mumbled "This can't be good" to DH and answered. One of my employees, a young person who has worked for me for over a year, and with whom I have been extremely impressed, was on the line. Was working alone that night. Told me there was a big problem and that "you are going to be really pissed". I asked what was going on. Answered that there was a sheriff that wanted to talk to me. I said OK, thinking, A SHERIFF???

A booming voice on the other end of the line identified his name, rank and department. He asked me what the job title of my employee was. I responded. Sheriff said, well, I am placing employee under arrest for possession of marijuana. I was dumbfounded. I asked HOW this might have come about???? Sheriff was doing a routine patrol, saw employee's car in our parking lot, came into lot to investigate. Car was unlocked. Opened car door and found a baggie of the evil green weed on the seat. Came to my business. Found door to my business unlocked, came in, and, this just gets better and better, employee was ASLEEP IN CHAIR. Oh yes.

Partner and I convene on scene and secure business. Are shaking in our boots, freaking out over all of the many and varied liability issues that this could have but blessedly did NOT, expose us to. Now ex-employee joins ranks of past employees who: went out for coffee at 3 am and never returned, and other events I would really rather forget. Yes, I screen my employees carefully before I hire them. Yes, they are all good people, and I really don't care WHAT employees get up to in their spare time. But when it places my business in jeopardy, that crosses a line for me.

Kevin's Quilt

2008-08-28T19:37:00.000-07:00

I have just finished quilting a very special quilt that will be going to a young man who was wounded while serving our country in Iraq. His name is Kevin, and his mother has been publishing her family's story in a blog that caught the attention of one of my fellow HGTV quilting board members. My board friend, Holee, rallied quilters from across the US to contribute red, white and blue quilt blocks to make a quilt for Kevin. She got such a great response that she had enough blocks to make 4 quilts! One will go to Kevin, and I volunteered to quilt that one on my longarm. I used an all over design of stars and loops in a red and blue variegated thread. The other quilts will go to his mom, one for a charity fundraiser auction for his family, and one for his wheelchair. Hope this will cover him with the hopes, thoughts and prayers for his full recovery from all of the people who were involved in this project.

The Wind, She Did Blow

2008-08-15T15:59:00.000-07:00

Last Friday evening, we were scheduled to go to a wedding at 5:30, then pick a friend and his son up at the airport later on that night. I work about 30 minutes north of where I live. As I left to drive home, and the sky was a deep purple/black/blue all around me. I thought of my friend, the bride, who had planned an outdoor wedding at a beautiful riverside location. As I drove home, I started to see branches and huge piles of pine needles in the road. Somehow, I didn't drive through the storm. It hit hard where I live, then passed over and went out to sea. When I drove down our driveway, my heart sank. A big gumbo limbo had come down in our yard, and a big pine had come down on our friend's car, which we were planning to drive to the airport! We never did make it to the wedding.

The next day, Brandon and Kristen came up to help us cut up the fallen trees and haul the pieces out to the road. It took the 4 of us about 3 hours of hard work.

The old timers have been saying that the weather pattern so far this summer, sunny mornings and rain every afternoon, means that the hurricaines won't be bad this fall. Sure hope they are right! I am scheduled to leave for Nashville out of West Palm Beach on Tuesday for the AQS show, and we are right in the path of a developing storm in the tropics.

Leo

2008-08-14T07:06:00.001-07:00

This is Leo. He lives next door to my quilt house with his people, Dawn, and her daughter, Marissa. Dawn and Marissa are tall and thin and beautiful. Leo is tall and thin and beautiful. If you had to pick a cat that matched this family, Leo is it. Leo is very friendly, and loves to look in the French door windows at me when I am sewing on my longarm. One day, DH came home and said that Dawn couldn't find Leo. We went out and called and called. No Leo. Three days later, I asked DH if there was any sign of Leo. No, sadly, Leo had not been heard from. Many prayers and good thoughts went up for the safe return of Leo. As we were cooking dinner that night, I casually asked DH if there was any possibility that Leo might have gotten into my quilt house. DH said no, that he had been there that day and checked everything, and no Leo. The next morning, my phone rang early and it was Dawn, asking to borrow a sewing machine to make new pillows for Marissa's bedroom. I asked about Leo, no news. I told Dawn she could borrow my extra machine that I keep in the quilt house to do bindings on. I met her at the house and we were talking a mile a minute about her project as I opened the door to my quilt house, and MEOW!!!! MEOW!!!!! There was Leo. Looking taller and thinner than usual. Glad to see us! Dawn scooped him up, gave him big hugs and kisses, and took him home for some much needed food and water.

I started to look around the quilt house for evidence of Leo's visit. Poops on the rug. No problem, emptied it out the door. Peed on some longarm practice pieces on a low shelf. No problem, tossed them in the trash. Knocked over a bottle of shampoo in the bathroom, no problem, it was in the tub. Checked out my longarm, which had a quilt (of mine!) on it. A few hairs, he had been sleeping on the quilt, no problem. Moved the longarm to start sewing on my quilt, and....he had PEED ON THE BATTING OF THE QUILT THAT WAS ON THE MACHINE. AAAARRRRGGGHHH. My options are: take the quilt off the machine and wash it or, try to get the stain (and the smell) out while it was still on the machine. I chose number 2, since I have zippered leaders, but have never used them. I'm still new at this longarm thing! I put a big bowl with some water and detergent under the stain and let it soak. Then poured tonic water over the stain to rinse it, and let it air dry. Sucess! All is well, stain and smell free.

Leo is mostly and indoor cat, now.

Maine Quilts

2008-07-25T18:03:00.000-07:00

I entered this witch wall hanging in Maine Quilts 2008, which is being held in Augusta this weekend. I had originally planned to still be in Maine at the time of the show, but ended up being back in Florida this weekend instead. A nice fellow HGTV quilting message board member (KC) was volunteering at the show and attended the Champagne Preview last night, which was held after the judging, but before the show had opened to the public today. She was kind enough to take this photo and post it for me on the board late last night. If you squint, you can ALMOST make that ribbon look blue, can't you?? It is actually purple. It got an honorable mention, which is not too bad. There were 650+ quilts in the show. Last year, this category, wall hangings, had the largest number of entries, so I know there was a lot of competition. I think it is a dramatic pattern, which would get people's attention. I will be interested to read the judges comments, and see what I need to do to improve my skills for the next one. This was free motion quilted on my Janome 6600, using metallic thread, which is a pain in the butt. On the inside of her cape and part of her hat, I had put a layer of tulle which had sparkly stones on it, and quilted around that. The tulle shrank a bit while I was quilting it, and there were some raw edges that I probably should have stitched down or finished in some way.

2008-07-14T05:22:00.000-07:00

Well, we are home from Maine. I miss the lake, the loons, my family and the simplicity and togetherness of life there. DH, Carmine and I lived together for 5 weeks in a 2 room cabin and always knew where the others were and what they were doing. Now we have gone back to our more separate, busy lives here.

I am glad to see my sweet outdoor kitty, Spooky, who was fed by our neighbor Uncle Dave while we were gone. She has a soft heart and shares her food with any animal passing through who is hungry. But she is no pushover, she will defend her food from other animals who are capable of finding their own. When we left, she had befriended a 3 legged racoon, who has apparently moved on. I haven't seen him since we've been back. Yesterday there was a beautiful white and grey feral cat on the porch with her who ran like the wind when I opened the door to feed Spooky. I am also glad to have a washing machine under the same roof again! Living in the pine woods means a lot of dirt and pitch on clothes and it is a pain to carry them in to town to wash.

Well, today it is back to work for me. I have been doing my work the whole trip via the internet, but this is the first full day back at the hospital and my sleep lab. I have tried to ease into it slowly, stopped in at work for short periods the first few days back. I have the Vacation Brain Syndrome. Everything just looks so different to me after being away. One thing DH and I have agreed on is that we have Too Much Stuff! I was reading a Real Simple magazine the other day while getting my hair cut. In the mag intro, there was a letter from the editor, who had just hired a dumpster (!) to clean out the clutter in her house. Sounds very tempting, but a bit over the top for me. We started last night with cabinets in the garage. Had piles for Toss, Recycle, Donate. It was a start...somehow DH was not able to part with things such as 3 cans of vintage 1980's oven cleaner spray (we have a self cleaning oven!!!) Sounds like something for the HazMat pile.

The Family Photo

2008-07-03T16:48:00.000-07:00

Haven't been blogging much...we finally got some sunny days after four solid weeks of rain! I've tried to be outside as much as possible, trying to get the most time in with my family and at the lake. We will be heading back to the steam bath that is South Florida this time of year on Monday or Tuesday, depending on the best weather window for driving. It is about a 25 hour drive home, no matter which route we take.
Today, we had an outdoor photographer come and take a group photo of my side of our family, 13 people ages 88 down to 13 years. I requested that everyone wear a white shirt and blue jeans (The photographer, Emily, called it the "LL Bean" shoot). I guess that is a common theme for family group photos. There was a bit of grumbling about the uniform look, but everyone complied, with a few individual variations. We posed in a few different locations, on a big rock in the woods, at the end of the dock, on the deck. I think it went very well compared with last year's group shot, which I took with my camera propped up on a ladder, using the self timer. Last year, we all wore Life is Good T-shirts with our favorite outdoor activity featured, but the shirts were too dark to show up well, and everyone's patience was worn out by the third try.
Can't wait to see the proofs, she will mail them to me in about 2 weeks.

Lady Slippers

2008-06-22T12:59:00.001-07:00

Today while walking in the woods, we were fortunate to come across the biggest patch of lady slippers I have ever seen. They bloom in late spring/early summer along the water here. They have always grown in the same place along our lake, and I was told since I was a little girl never to pick them, that they were on the endangered list. This year, we were here at the right time to see them. Usually we come later in the season and they have already gone by. DH was excited to see them, he grows orchids at home in Fl and these are in the orchid family (cypripedium acaule).

Fabric Shopping in Maine

2008-06-22T08:36:00.000-07:00

Like most quilters, I am always on the lookout for wonderful fabric. And, wonderful fabric at bargain prices is even better! Hands down, my favorite place to shop for fabric is at a chain of surplus and salvage stores, Marden's. Or as we like to call it, Maaaaaaarden's. They have several locations. I have only been to the Waterville and Lewiston locations. Where else could you find row after row of fabric from RJR, Henry Glass, Nancy Crow, Thimbleberries, etc. at 2.99 per yard?? It is not the latest "season", but who cares? To avoid random feeding frenzy type buying, I go with a pattern and/or a plan of what I am looking for. On my latest foray, I went looking for blue/white batik or oriental print fabric for the Peace Quilt. I found a mosaica pattern in blues and whites which I may use for the backing. But, what took my breath away was 2 large scale prints by Jane Sassaman. I bought them both, I think they would be perfect for Stack and Whack.

On a recent visit to my Dad, he took me to lunch at Hattie's Chowder House in Hallowell. I was trying to explain to him what a longarm machine was. After lunch, we walked up the hill to Whippersnappers quilt shop. We met Lynn, the owner, and she was in the back, working on her longarm! She generously let me show my Dad what all the excitement was all about. Whippersnappers is a very well equipped shop, and Lynn is very engaging and helpful. I bought some supplies for fabric painting and found some books I had been looking for, but had never gotten a chance to look through. While we were there, we picked up a pamphlet of Quilt Shops in Maine. I have since visited a couple of the 30 stores listed there.

Yesterday, we visited the Yardgoods Center in Waterville. After a little trouble finding it (my GPS would not accept the address) it was worth the trip! They advertise themselves as 10 stores in one, and they are not kidding. I stayed in the quilting section, but there was more yarn in one place than I have ever seen, rubber stamps, needlework, upholstery fabric, sewing machines, and a bridal section. They had an excellent selection of books, tools and fabric at usual quilt shop prices. I found some great orientals for my Peace Quilt, some interesting marbled fabric for a quilt I am planning based on the tile floors I saw on a trip to Italy, and a book for my friend Dana who collects ethnic fabrics. They also had one of the cutest dogs I have ever seen, a Tibetan Terrier. He looked like a miniature Wheaton. He entertained visitors by running amok in the store, untied my shoe laces, grabbed a ribbon roll from the window display and ran through the store as it unspooled. After all this excitement, his Dad put him in timeout in his crate.

The other stores that I never miss while I am here are the Fabric Warehouse in Lewiston/Auburn (formerly Charlaine's) and OnBoard Fabrics in Edgcomb. They are both owned by the same entity. Fabric Warehouse is a bit more industrial, lots of upholstery fabric, wool, leather, foam, fleece, zippers, thread, quilting fabrics too, all at discount (but not 2.99) prices. They are both located in big warehouses and filled with wonderful treasures. OnBoard also hangs winners of the Hoffman Challenge quilts when they are on tour. Last time I was at OnBoard, I found a pack of about 50 8 inch squares of silks tied together for $5.00. I sewed them together and made a gorgeous throw quilt.

The Peace Quilt

2008-06-20T16:53:00.000-07:00

We travel here by car with our cat, Carmine. I have what could be described as a well-stocked sewing room in Florida (insert eye roll here). It was a challenge to decide what to bring with me for quilting in Maine. Fortunately, I did not have a lot of time to think about it. DH decided to leave about a week ahead of schedule because of a good weather window. I looked around and grabbed one pattern (The Peace Quilt by Margaret Rolfe), one book (French Braid Quilts) and one magazine (the latest Quiltmaker). And four collections of blue and white fat quarters that I have been saving for a few years for a Special Project. I hoped that would be enough to keep me busy. I think it will be!

I started the Peace Quilt yesterday. It has 98 paper pieced origami style cranes set on a diagonal. I am going to make it with a white background, and the cranes will be light blues and dark blues, mostly batiks. Haven't decided about the sashing that holds them together, yet. I have always been captivated by the legend of the crane. According to Japanese legend, if you fold 1000 cranes, a wish will come true. A young schoolgirl who had been exposed to radiation after Hiroshima started folding cranes, with the wish that she would become well. She did not finish folding the cranes by the time she died of radiation poisoning. Her classmates finished folding the cranes, and a statue was erected in her memory at Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima. The statue shows a girl holding up a large crane. At the foot of the statue are the words: This is our cry, this is our prayer, Peace in the world.

My Addiction

2008-06-20T16:36:00.000-07:00

I first got interested in quilting back in the late 70's while I was in college. I got away from it in the 80's and 90's, when I lived in California and Florida, went to grad school, and started my career in Sleep Medicine. About 5 years ago, I had a patient who was working on a lap quilt in my office. I couldn't get over how beautiful it was, and asked her a million questions about it. She looked at me, puzzled, and said "Did you know there are 3 excellent quilt shops within 10 miles of here?" I found out where they were, signed up for a class, and was hooked again, for life! When I opened my business, a Sleep Disorders Center, it seemed a natural place for me to hang my quilts on the walls. I got great feedback about the quilts. They seemed to make people feel comfortable, at home, nurtured. And, they allowed me to explore my creativity and re-found passion. I just kept making more quilts! Who knew there was so much to explore beyond piecing? Strings, applique, crazy quilting, wool, fusibles, paper piecing! Earlier this year, I even went a little crazy and bought a longarm.

DH made me a dedicated sewing area in our little cabin this year, which is working out brilliantly! It is an L shaped counter with just room for my sewing machine, small cutting mat and mini ironing board. In past years, I have always sewn on the table, and had to put everything away at mealtime. This is a definite improvement!

In Our Cabin in the Woods

2008-06-20T16:27:00.000-07:00

We have just arrived at our cabin in Maine. This is the time of year when DH and I come to our little cabin in the deep woods and drop off the radar of our daily lives in Florida. It is what puts the occasional craziness of the rest of the year in perspective for us. Here, we listen to the loons calling on the lake, kayak, fish, work in our garden, hang with family, and I work on my quilts!