The Jypsy Quilter

Monday Miscellaneous

2012-02-06T06:43:00.000-08:00

A Pile of Pinwheels!

I've decided the best way to show off the fairies in this baby quilt is to sash them. These pinwheels will reside at the junctions. They measure just 3 1/2 inches.

Vegas Baby!

Last week at this time I'd just arrived home from visiting my friend, Michele in Las Vegas. Seems ironic, but we didn't step one foot inside a casino. After living there for a couple of years, the casinos lose their appeal. Besides, why would we need to go anywhere with a fridge full of beer?

Okay, we did get out one day and walk down the street to Nacho Daddy's where we had, yes nachos, and margaritas. After all, a woman cannot live by beer alone! :-)

Michele

It was one of those terrific low stress, hanging with the girlfriend type of weekends. I need those more often!

Blogger Layout:

I've been tweaking my blog layout. I increased the size of the main column, the post column, and in so doing, made the entire blog a bit wider. That's fine except that I am having trouble with my header picture. I tried to figure out how to center it to no avail. Then I tried to make my picture longer both in Picasa and Photoshop. None of those efforts translated well at all. Any tips?

Favorite Things Friday ~ Technology

2012-02-03T07:17:00.000-08:00

Born at the tail end of 1963, I am old enough to remember those plain, black, heavy, rotary-dial telephones. By the time I was a young adult, the first cell phones were in use, along with personal computer whose monitors weighed a ton. These inventions changed life as we know it (unless you happen to be a technophobe, in which case, you won't be reading this anyway). Cell phones, personal computers, and the Internet have opened up the world to us ~ have made it so open in fact that I can link this post to Shay's Favorite Things Friday blog, hosted by a funny, talented, wonderful lady from Australia who isn't even on the same day of the week as I am. When I post this on Friday, it will already be Saturday there.

I so enjoy the people I have met through the Internet ~ people I've never seen in the flesh, but regard as friends.

Now, technology has made it possible to self-publish one's own books with ease and little to no expense. No longer are the big publishing houses the gatekeepers of bookdom. Yes, these institutions no doubt do insure that books are held to good grammatical standards and comprehendable content. However, they are in the business of making money, and to that end, they tend to publish the same fare over and over because they know certain types, styles, and plot-lines sell. They do not take risks on anything too original, or content that does not fit into an easily marketable niche.

So today, I hold in my hands the very first hard copy of the book my dad and I wrote together ~ a paranormal, contemporary fantasy, Beyond the Mortal Coil, rejected by one of those big publishing houses for being "too original." (I kid you not!) My dad was the imagination and wordsmith, and my role was to help brainstorm, research, type, and edit.

Life is good!

*A special thanks to my cousin-in-law, Eric, for doing the proofreading, and blogging about the book himself.

Maple Leaf Table Runner

2012-02-02T15:33:00.000-08:00

So my mom's Christmas gift ~ the Maple Leaf table runner ~ was a little late. You see, I had left myself just enough time to make it before Christmas, but then my mom and I got this great idea to make hand-made gifts for almost everyone with whom we exchange gifts. That blew my ~~well-planned~~ thought I could eke by schedule into total chaos. My mom graciously agreed to be patient about receiving her own hand-made gift.

I consoled myself that since the table-runner was seasonal, for use in the Fall, she would still receive it well in advance of when she would be using it.

I spent more time quilting it than I did piecing it. As I've become more comfortable with free motion quilting, it seems with every project, I feel compelled to try something new, which also tends to make the process longer.

My mom has found a way to use the table-runner now. It now resides on the back of the sofa where she can enjoy it.

She has told me that for next Christmas, she would like a table-topper like the ones I made for P. at The Way I Sew It, and my cousin, Lori. To that end, I have left the Christmas fabrics out and will start on it as soon as I am done with the baby quilt that must be completed by April. Next year, her gift will be on time!

I'm linking up at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. Click on the button below, and join in the fun!

Edit: Although I knew Elizabeth at Such a Sew and Sew was having a February Finishes linky party, I didn't realize I could link up already. I thought it would be at the end of the month. Apparently, it is ongoing. So, I'm linking up there too!

Playing the Name Change Game

2012-01-24T07:40:00.000-08:00

You'll notice the spelling on my blog title has changed from The Gypsy Quilter to The Jypsy Quilter. Apparently there is online quilting store that also goes by the name of The Gypsy Quilter. The owner contacted me concerned that a professional business and and informal blog with the same name might cause people confusion, and asked that I change my blog title.

While I tend to give people more credit than that, given that she is a fellow quilter, and made her request courteously, I saw no reason not to comply.

I had to laugh at the irony of the situation though. As some of you may remember, I started out as The Desert Quilter, became the Prairie Quilter when I moved to Kansas, and decided after the move to Texas to choose a name that I would not have to change if I moved again (which I did, by the way ~ move that is). Hence The Gypsy Quilter. And now, I am indeed changing the blog title yet again, albeit in a very minor fashion. Maybe this will be the last time?

*And a shout out to my cousin, Lori, who suggested simply changing the spelling. That made life easy.

Monday Miscellaneous

2012-01-23T07:08:00.000-08:00

Fairies!

I am not a huge fan of panels. However, last year when I saw this panel of twelve different delightful fairies, well, I had to have it.

One of twelve fairies

Had no clue what I was going to do with it. I considered making a quilt for my then 8 year old cousin, but I did not get it done. It's interesting what changes occur in a child in one seemingly short year. Now at 9 soon to be 10, she is really too old for fairies. She is currently into zebra stripes.

However, I recently got news that another of my cousins and his wife are expecting a baby girl in April. The fairies will be well-used in a baby quilt.

Lovebug had to do a little pre-quilt inspection. I think she approves.

Cat is NOT out of the Bag:

This is the bag in which my mom is keeping her crocheted baby afghan project (for the aforementioned baby girl). Yeah, who knows why cats do what they do, but I had to giggle when I saw Lovebug make herself comfortable in the bag.

It's Vegas Baby!

Thursday will find me flying out of Oklahoma City to spend the weekend with my childhood friend, Michele in "Fabulous Las Vegas". My trip is courtesy of Michele, who works in the airline biz and was able to procure me a free ticket. (Sometimes it is who you know!)

The trip is a two-fer me. First of all, I'm always glad to get together with Michele. We've known each other since we were six. We can go years without seeing one another (last time was in 2003) and months without talking, but it's always like we just spoke yesterday. I'm so excited!

And after living in Vegas for two years myself. It will be wonderful to reacquaint myself with its vibe ~ although I suspect Michele and I will mostly be hanging at her place. Once you've lived there, you just don't really feel the need to spend much time in the casinos.

The city can be beautiful to look at. The view from the hill behind my first house looked much like this ~ although a bit further away. (The last time I was there though I discovered they'd leveled the hill and built houses in it's place. Only a memory in my head now.)

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

The Straggler

2012-01-17T15:48:00.000-08:00

I am making this Maple Leaf table runner for my mom for Christmas. Shush! I'm well-aware of the fact that it's late ~ horribly late.

When my mom saw the table topper I made for my cousin, she had to have her own, but like, longer. Hence the table-runner.

The great thing about leaving the table-runner for last, and then dawdling over it, is that it gave me time to concentrate on my free motion quilting. Most of the "dawdling" was planning the quilting. The actual quilting I did over a two day period at 20-30 minute intervals.

I did several motifs on the runner ~ pebbling, a wind inspired swirl on the leaves themselves, and a very simple try at echo-quilting on the background. Overall, I'm quite pleased.

As with everything one practices, my free motion quilting is improving. I'm more confident; more adventuresome. That said, I'll admit that while I am getting better at regulating my stitch length compared to where I started, it could still use further improvement.

I'm just down to doing the binding. Life is good!

I'm linking up with 15 Minutes with Kate and WIP Wednesday (for the first time ever). Join the fun!

Monday Miscellaneous

2012-01-16T12:41:00.000-08:00

It's the Little Things in Life:

In this case, my new Apple I-pod Shuffle. I bought it in hopes it would help inspire me to get out and walk more. The fact that Apple sells these teeny music libraries in various colors, allowing me to coordinate with my custom-made purse, is just an added perk.

I spent Saturday night adding the music to it. When I began the selection process, I realize just how varied my tastes have become. 135 songs later, my I-pod is filled with rock, reggae, classical, traditional, Latin, blues, and my cousin-in-law's music mixes. (He allows anyone to download his themed mixes for free, so don't hesitate to take advantage.) The only genres unlikely to be represented are country and rap, but even then I occasionally run across songs in those genres I like too.

Beyond the Mortal Coil:

For a period of years, my dad and I wrote short stories and novels together. I freely admit that he was the imagination behind the endeavor. I had a few non-fiction articles published, but fiction thus far has not proven to be my forte. The last book, Beyond the Mortal Coil, was reviewed by an editor at Ballantine. We were so excited to have the manuscript under consideration by a big New York publisher.

The editor had the manuscript for 3 or 4 months. When he'd finished with it, he sent us a glowing review that said, the book was well-written with good plotting and characters; very original, but since it didn't fit in any specific genre, he did not know how to market it, and therefore was turning it down. Really? WTF? Every publisher's website claims to want original stories. I guess they forgot the caveat ~ but don't make them too original.

The manuscript has since made it through 3 computers with me, getting transferred every time. Now technology has caught up making it easy for authors to self-publish. I've used Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and now have the digital version available for purchase.

And the hard copy version is in the works. The proof has been mailed to me.

Now, I just need to become an expert in marketing. If anyone has any suggestions, don't be shy!

Favorite Things Friday

2012-01-13T06:13:00.000-08:00

Hey it's the ~~first~~ second Favorite Things Friday of the New Year! Okay, the first for me. Somehow I had more holiday type visiting in the first week of the New Year than I did during the holidays. In any case, FTF is a blast and it's terrific to be back at it! To join in the fun take a turn over to Quilting in My Pyjamas and play along.

So my favorite thing this Friday is.... (drum roll please)...my Woman Cave! I moved back in with my mom while I do some job hunting in Wichita and she gave me the rather large, unfinished basement room for sewing stuff:

and my office stuff:

Perfect! I love it. This is where I spend most of my time. After all, it has all of my favorite things!

Monday Miscellaneous

2012-01-09T17:03:00.000-08:00

Christmas Gifts:

I was the ever so fortunate recipient of this lovely piece of quilt-work from P. at The Way I Sew It:

The colors, the funky designs in the fabric, coupled with the black border..., well, it just makes me happy. Every time.

I left it on the floor, where I could admire it no matter where I sat, until this ~~fuzz butt~~ quilt inspector decided she needed to test her claws on it.

To quickly remove this already cherished piece from danger, I grabbed it and put it on the back of the couch.

It looked so good, that there is remains.

I also received a lovely purse and tissue holder (although I keep my driver's license and credit cards in it) from my mom at Suzi's Stitchin'. She is one talented lady.

She used all my very most favorite colors in the creation Talk about "custom made!"

A Tale of Two Table Toppers...er Wall-hangings:

For Christmas I got on a handmade kick. I showed off some of my work here and here. But there were two items I didn't show because the recipients read my blog.

The first was made for P. at The Way I Sew It:

The second was made for my cousin:

Same pattern ~ one I've decided I like a lot. I enjoyed seeing it made up in two different fabric groupings. While my cousin's uses the traditional Christmas colors, I used one of the later Christmas fabric collections for P.'s. (Actually, I won that bunch of fabric in a giveaway a year and half ago, so it was nice to finally use it.)

I put the border around P.'s, but as I knew my cousin would likely use hers as a table-topper on a very specific table, I left the border off. The border would have made it too large for the table.

I am quite pleased with them both.

If you look carefully, you'll see that besides the color and the border the two are not exactly alike.

When I was making P.'s, I accidentally inverted the pieces attached to the center square. I decided it looked pretty cool and left it that way. I think I may actually like it better, design-wise. A happy accident.

And I must add that I really enjoyed quilting these. The free motion holly ~ well, it's organic, and proved to be a lot of fun to do. I remember when I started free motion quilting, I was terrified. Now an unquilted project is my playground! (Cue the maniacal laughter.)

Merry 2012!

2012-01-01T11:16:00.000-08:00

Got a laugh over at Sunshine? Paradise? Thought I'd keep the giggles going.

Happy New Year!

Monday Miscellaneous

2011-12-18T18:30:00.000-08:00

Custom pillowcases:

I used the tutorial at Film in the Fridge to make the two sets of pillowcases featured below.

The zebra striped cases are a Christmas gift for my nine year old cousin. After relocating to Kansas she asked her mother to paint her new room purple with zebra stripes. So three walls are purple and one wall is indeed zebra striped. It's quite striking.

My mother has made a zebra striped fleece throw for her as well.

Her brother, my young 11 year old old cousin, is into skulls. I made these last winter for his birthday. He very politely thanked me for them. I noticed them on his bed quite a few times. However, I had no idea what a hit I'd made with them until his mother told me that when she takes them off to wash them and replaces them with others, he immediately puts the skulls back on when they come out of the laundry. That's the kind of news that makes this quilter smile!

So new skull pillowcases for Christmas. I hope he likes them as well as the others.

What do the following two items have in common?

Laptop and lapcat:

This new quilt inspector is appropriately named Lovebug, because that is exactly what she is. She has absolutely no issue with laying on the laptop if I do not make space for her. Yeah, I really can't complain about that too much.

(You can see a slice of the cheerful quilted table-topper / wall-hanging that P from The Way I Sew It made for me. Thanks P.! But that's another blog topic for another day.)

Favorite Things Friday

2011-12-15T19:35:00.000-08:00

Wow! The last Favorite Things Friday of 2011. We'd better make the most of it. If you want to play, get on over to Quilting in My Pyjamas and link up.

Last February I bought my 2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe down in McKinney, Texas. The car itself became the topic of Favorite Things Friday on February 18, 2011.


Hyundai Genesis, Taos, NM

However, there is now a certain feature of my car that has become a favorite ~ a feature I hadn't sought out when shopping for my car. The car just happened to come equipped. A feature that I had no use for until I found myself facing winter in Kansas.

Seat warmers!

Winter, even in north Texas, is just not that cold. I didn't use them there. In the meantime, over summer, I had forgotten I had them. Until just last week. I looked down at my shifter, and there on either side of it lies the buttons for the seat warmers for each seat.

The seat warmers make getting out in the cold much more bearable. In fact, it makes me smile every time my fanny warms up.

Fleece Throws ~ It's What's for Christmas!

2011-12-14T18:19:00.000-08:00

You know, it's always tough to figure out what Christmas gifts to get for that person who already has "everything." We are often in that position with my aunt and uncle. But hey, who couldn't use a fleece throw? My mom's brainstorm.

My aunt and uncle live outside of Phoenix. Being warm is not too much of issue most of the year. And their house wasn't built with being warm as a concern. They heat primarily with their fireplace. Yet, the desert does get chilly this time of year.

Their house is decorated in an eclectic southwest style ~ part Native American, part Hispanic, and part cowboy. We tried to get fleece that would jibe with the decor.

For my uncle, I made the cowboy themed throw you see below:

For my aunt, my mom made the southwest themed throw.

We are very pleased with how they turned out ~ and how quickly they went together. Now, I hope they enjoy them as much as we enjoyed making them.

Favorite Things Friday

2011-12-08T20:08:00.001-08:00

I can't believe how quickly Friday has rolled around again. But that means only one thing: Favorite Things Friday with Mrs. P. at Quilting in My Pyjamas.

My favorite this week is the time I spent with my young cousin. She is nine. We both have a penchant for nail polish. Neither of us are real girlie girls, except about our nails. This afternoon, she introduced me to Crackle Overcoat. Hers are the black with white crackle and mine are pink with white crackle.

Rather blurry picture taken with my cell phone. Apologies.

I'm not sure Crackle itself will ever become a favorite of mine, but it sure was fun to do it with her. It is always the small moments in life that mean the most.

Favorite Things Friday ~ Bejeweled

2011-12-01T13:02:00.001-08:00

Another Friday has rolled around and it's time to join Shay over at Quilting in my Pyjamas for another Favorite Things Friday. Yay!

My favorite for this week? Bejeweled Blitz.

Yep, a mindless time waster if there ever was one. That said, sometimes it's great to simply take a break from life ~ even quilting ~ and indulge in some meaningless relaxation. Nothing like watching virtual jewels blow up to get me into full relax mode.

I was playing the game alone on the version I have on my home computer, but I've since discovered that it is possible to play against other people through Google + and Facebook. For the last several weeks I have been competing against my cousin-in-law, Eric, through Google +. Week after week, I'd pull ahead only to watch him trounce me and prevail before the week's end. Last week, however, I finally got my turn in the winner's circle. Losing for weeks on end made that win all the more sweet. (Oddly enough both of our scores for that week were lower than in previous weeks, so go figure.)

After playing on Google +, I finally rejoined Facebook in order to play there. (I'm not a big fan of Facebook. I prefer more in depth communication over the blurbs posted on Facebook. But hey, that's just me.) It appears I'm taking this serious time waster to a new level!

A Christmas Table Topper

2011-11-29T16:00:00.001-08:00

This diminuitive table-topper ~ yes, it is just slightly larger than 8" square ~ is a gift for a friend in Germany. I shipped it her way yesterday and hope it arrives safely and in time. If all goes well, it she should have it in a week. One Christmas her gift didn't arrive until February. I guess the post office sent it by wagon train that year.

With each project, I expand and attempt to perfect my free motion quilting skills. I quilted these Christmas trees on the points. As Sarah from Confessions of a Fabric Addict would say, they are "organic". Yep, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Actually, it's an interesting phenomena. When I look at each individual Christmas tree I quilted, I see all of the flaws. However, when I look at the topper as a whole, those Christmas trees really look kind of cool.

I quilted the outline of the gingerbread man. It made him puff quite nicely.

As I tend to immerse myself in rather large quilting projects, I am finding these small projects exceptionally rewarding.

Monday Miscellaneous

2011-11-27T07:03:00.001-08:00

Gag Quilting:

When I posted on the Maple Leaf Table Topper, my wise-ass cousin-in-law, and best friend, Eric, commented thusly:

I'm thinking even that's too big. Can you quilt me a single coaster? Thanks!

You can imagine how snickered, as I created this:

(Thanks for the picture, Eric!)

It was a quick process. Eric had so enjoyed the Asian themed fabrics in my mom's latest quilt, that choosing fabrics was a no-brainer. Since the project was quite small, I merely raided her scrap bag. Then, I snickered some more. The whole thing probably took an hour, and most of that was hand-sewing the binding down on the back. And I snickered as I stitched. (Are you sensing a theme here?)

I snickered when I surreptitiously laid the coaster on Eric's keyboard while he was away from his desk. And I laughed out loud when he came out of his office carrying the coaster, giggling, and saying, "I can't believe you did this." The coaster now sits on his desk amongst other interesting treasures, which he blogged about here.

Joann's:

Made the trek to Joann's at the Town West Mall yesterday morning. Normally, I would avoid the mall on the weekend after Thanksgiving. I have no urge to deal with the crowds. However, I needed some supplies to finish some Christmas gifts, so what was a quilter to do?

Fortunately, the crowds were not too bad (maybe they'd all shopped themselves to death the day before?) and the sales were great. No, not just great, fan-freakin-tastic is more like it. I came out of the store with 7 1/2 yards of quality fabric for $19. $2 off per yard Keepsake Quilting fabric; 75% off end of the bolt fabric (I picked up nearly an extra yard with this deal), and 25% off the total price coupon. Do I feel like the cat that swallowed the canary? You bet!

I was so blown away with my savings, I blew off the gym too. My cousin, Shirley, said I could justify it by having "weight-lifted" bolts of fabric. I love her! (And really it's okay, because I hit the gym on Sunday and redeemed myself.)

When You Have Nothing to Show for Yourself

2011-11-25T18:24:00.001-08:00

When you have nothing to show for yourself, well then show someone else's!

My mom finished this king-sized beauty right before Thanksgiving. Its inspiration was an Asian themed fabric pack.

If you click on the picture to make it larger, you might be able to see the feather quilting on the green sashing, and the leaves on the black frames. She did an impressive job. No one can tell that this was her first attempt at free-motion feathers and leaves.

Gorgeous, isn't it?

Favorite Things Friday

2011-11-17T06:05:00.001-08:00

It's been awhile since I've been able to participate in Favorite Things Friday with Shay over at Quilting in My Pyjamas. I have missed it!

My latest new favorite is an album called The Goat Rodeo Sessions, featuring the classic cellist, Yo-yo Ma.

When my mom said she'd bought the new Yo-yo Ma CD, I expected the beautiful classic pieces to which I'd been briefly introduced when watching President Obama's inauguration. My curiosity was piqued when I was told the name of the new CD: The Goat Rodeo Sessions. Really? Yo-yo Ma and goats? I couldn't imagine.

Billboard.com exclaims, "Yo-yo Ma Trades in Bach for Bluegrass".

The band is composed of Yo-yo Ma, pre-eminent classical cellist; Edgar Meyer, award-winning bassist; Chris Thile, mandolin player and member of alt-bluegrass bands Nickel Creek and the Punch Brothers; and fiddler Stuart Duncan, top notch session musician having recorded with likes of Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire. The songs are all original.

The name for the album is based on the definition of a "goat rodeo", meaning that about 100 things must go right at once if anyone is going to walk away from it. Yo-yo Ma doesn't improvise. Stuart Duncan does not read music. What an interesting dynamic, no?

Here's a little taste:

Monday Miscellaneous

2011-11-14T19:24:00.001-08:00

Apologies:

I have been so erratic about reading your blogs. I apologize. Despite my regret and hopes of doing better, life just keeps happening.

QI's

Meet the new, up and coming quilt inspector, Chuzzlewit:

It looks like she was a little confused, having to inspect the stack of napkins in the bowl atop the table-topper. Oh well, she was trying.

Quilt Shop

Saturday, my mom and I checked out the quilting shop, Material Girls, in downtown Wichita. While we are always on the look out for a new place spend ~~a little~~ a lot of money on fabric, it was the clever name that caught our attention. We were not disappointed. I have never seen a larger selection of batiks, amongst the many other fabrics. The staff was very friendly. Quite a happy place. The picture below does not do the shop justice.

Quilting:

I have been doing a little quilting, but all of it is for Christmas so no pictures. I don't want to give anything away to the recipients.

Tetris in the Mail!

2011-10-23T15:17:00.000-07:00

Quilters really know how to spoil other quilters. P. from The Way I Sew It, has been blogging about her rash of mug rug making. I've not been shy in expressing my delight with each one. So you can imagine my glee when I found this is my mailbox:

Tetris! What a beauty, eh? The design brings back a lot of memories. Tetris was one of the first computer games that I played. I downloaded a free version on to my Windows 98, and moved the game onto each new computer and accompanying Windows version ~ through Me and XP. Unfortunately, when I upgraded to Windows 7, it could not run my ancient version of Tetris.

So now, the mug rug sits beside my Juki and holds the cup of tea I often have while I'm quilting. Thanks P! You made my day!

Maple Leaf Table Topper

2011-10-12T10:34:00.000-07:00

The quilting Gods decided to play a dirty trick on me. I was making stupendous progress on the Pansy Sampler Quilt, finished all of the quilting except those on the borders, could see a finish near at hand, when muscle spasms in my left shoulder and neck made pushing and pulling that heavy quilt through the Juki an exercise in pain.

I finally made myself set the quilt aside.

I'd been toying with the idea of making a fall table topper or table runner for some time (as soon as I finished the Pansy Sampler quilt). There was no time like the present. I knew the small project would cause me no harm.

Voila! My cousin chose the color of the maple leaves. It measures approximately 16" square and now resides on a table in the living room. Lori has the house beautifully decorated with a combination of a Halloween ~ Autumn theme. (She has our grandmother's talent for such things.) The table topper is my small contribution to the effort. It went together really quickly, and I'm yearning to make others.

The thing that took me the longest was deciding how to quilt it. The center space between the maple leaves is pebbled. I was puzzled about quilting the leaves themselves and hoped the design I chose would be somewhat reminiscent of wind.

Please forgive the rather poor pictures. I do not have Eric's talent for photography. Normally, I would have had him take them, but he has been working 16 hour days. Ack!

Oops!

2011-09-21T14:03:00.000-07:00

Some free motion quilting adventures fall into the undesirable category. Having the corner of your backing tucked under and quilting it down as in the photo below is one of them. Sigh.

And the leaves looked really good too..... Rip, rip, rip.

Just as an aside, another thing I've learned is that if you're going to use multiple colors of thread, it may be a good idea to go with a wildly colored backing. As you can see the non-white thread shows up brightly on the white background. Not all of my quilting is that pretty either. However, this quilt will go on my bed, so most people won't know what the back side looks like except me. (And of course, all of you, because when I'm done, I'll probably post a picture of that too.)

Adventures in Free Motion Quilting

2011-09-18T08:09:00.000-07:00

Although the Pansy Sampler, is not the first quilt in which I've done free motion quilting, it is the first in which I decided to be brave enough to experiment, test my limits, try new patterns. A sampler quilt is a good vehicle in which to do this, because the variety of blocks offers different challenges.

As of the taking of this photograph, all but two blocks are complete. Still have a number of purple frames to quilt, about half the sashing, and all of the external borders.

(Click on any photograph to see more detail. The blogger resizing has taken out much of the texture.)

I had one picture block in the quilt ~ this Sunbonnet Sue. I cannot take credit for the block itself; many of the blocks came in a block exchange, and Sunbonnet Sue was one of them. I saved quilting this block for near the last, in order to improve my accuracy enough to do the block justice. I quilted around each of the stones in the wall, each of the squares in the trellis, and all of the pansies.

Quilting on the pansy fabric itself has proven to be a challenge. The largish print tricks my eye and prevents me from making accurate arcs, etc. This block shows my attempts at making a quilted "flower" on the largest section of pansy fabric. It is less than stellar. Although I've tried a variety of things, quilting around the individual pansies has looked the best. It's not difficult to do.

I've done free motion leaves in all of the purple frames. It's a good FMQ design to use, as it's quite forgiving. However, practice really does make perfect. Despite being a forgiving design, over the course of the quilt, my skill with this pattern has increased markedly.

It is in this block that I tried pebbling for the first time. I often study Wendy's work for inspiration. Much of what she does is too far beyond my capability, but pebbling was not. I was very pleased with the result.

My favorite quilting motifs are the symmetrical designs as shown in the purple sections below. They are also the most difficult to do. The interesting thing is that I've noticed when I merely glance at this block, I think the quilting looks pretty nice. However, if I stop to study it, then I see all of its flaws ~ and there are many.

The morning that Eric took all of these pictures for me, Molly Baggins could not help but walk across the quilt ~ usually on the very block he was trying to photograph. Finally, she chose a spot and made herself comfortable.

The Other QI

2011-09-13T07:05:00.000-07:00

Many months ago, I introduced you to Marko, my cousins' Maine Coon. He proved his quilt inspection abilities early on.

There is another cat in the household though. She goes by the name of Molly Baggins. My cousins rescued her. They were told that she is only three years old, but she acts like an old lady. She's overweight, and behaves like she is in pain when we pick her up. The vet gave her a clean bill of health, but we're considering getting another opinion.

With her rather sloth-like demeanor, Molly Baggins has always excelled at laying on anything soft. I was not convinced that proved her ability as a Quilt Inspector. However, yesterday with a considerable effort to haul her not insignificant mass up onto the sewing table, she has now clearly earned the title.

Doesn't she look like she's smiling?

I removed her from the quilt with much protest on her part, so I could continue my free motion quilting. When a couple of phone calls took me away from the quilt, I returned to find her planted on it yet again. I took that as a sign to call it a day and permitted her to fulfill her quilt inspection duties uninterrupted.

Home Office

2011-08-30T07:01:00.000-07:00

The flip side of getting the quilting - crafting studio set up is the home office. It is the place where I access my quilting software, look at quilting pictures, and read quilting blogs.

I share this space with my clone (Eric, my cousin-in-law ) ~ or probably to be more correct, he shares his office with me. When we returned to the house in Newton, Eric immediately decided this storage space would be perfect for his office. It's somewhat isolated, which is important since he works from home; cool being in the basement (the computers give off a lot of heat); and with no finished ceiling, his very tall server rack would fit. Eric refers to us as "basement trolls."

Crappy picture of me at my desk next to the server rack

Here is the view from my corner

This is Eric's desk. Yep, five monitors. Believe me, he uses all of them ~ one personal computer, two for work, and two for the servers in the rack, that are also utilized in his work.

So now you know the vantage point from which I'm appreciating all of your fine work. I soon hope to be able to post an updated picture of the quilting-crafting studio. The floor is now clear. We're making progress.

Quilting-Crafting Studio

2011-08-26T18:33:00.000-07:00

My cousin and I have been looking forward to setting up our Quilting-Crafting Studio since we knew we returning to the house in Newton. The basement has plenty of space and will be perfect for our needs. The only problem has been digging out from underneath the pile of boxes.

A few days ago, Lori got inspired and removed the boxes from our space.

Eric moved the desk into place for us, and I found the fabric and unpacked the Juki. Eventually, there will be shelves to hold the fabric, but in the meantime, the window well works just fine.

Along with the setting up the sewing room, came setting up the office (off camera ~ and the subject of a separate blog post), and organizing all of Eric's computer stuff. Boxes and boxes of computer stuff.

In the corner opposite the Juki, Lori began setting up a space for scrapbooking. We're still looking through boxes for all of her supplies.

Despite the area needing more work, I sat down and did some free-motion quilting for the first time in six or seven months. The good news is that in the interim, the skills I had did not abandon me; the bad news is that I didn't get any better.

I finished this block this afternoon ~ one I began quilting in January or February. It is far from perfect, but it sure feels good to have completed it.

Monday Miscellaneous

2011-08-08T07:31:00.000-07:00

U-Haul and a Cursed Day

In order to prevent further disruption to the children's lives and make it easier for the adults to move this last load with less distraction, it was decided I would stay with the children while my Eric and Lori made the trip back to Texas. My job was easy and delightful. Their's not so much.

We reserved the U-Haul for Saturday morning, to be picked up in Texas. My cousins left Friday afternoon, in order to get an early start the next day. However, when they arrived at the Van Alstyne location to which they'd been directed, they found the U-Haul store closed. When the proprietor finally showed up, and they see the 14' truck we'd reserved, my cousins decided a bigger truck was in order, but the U-Haul store didn't have one available.

Next, a quick trip to Anna. The U-Haul store in Anna had a 20' truck. Perfect. My clone was initally so excited. The truck had only 10,000 miles on it and it was easy to drive. Joy! Until he spilled $20 worth of gas on the ground because of a hole in the gas tank. The only saving grace there was that he'd decided to fill it up BEFORE he loaded it. It makes me ill to think if he'd waited until after it was loaded like we did the previous weekend.

A trip to McKinney Texas to yet another U-Haul Store. My cousins ended up with a 26' truck at the cost of $210. U-Haul rented it to them for the price of the small truck we'd originally reserved minus $100 and reimbursement for the gas.

Early morning start all shot to hell, they managed to get the truck loaded in the heat of the day due to help from awesome friends.

Eric and Lori paid them in beer

Eric and Lori were finally able to head back to Kansas about 5:30PM. They'd planned to make it into Newton about midnight. But no, the moving gods were simply against them. A wildfire in Oklahoma had Interstate 35 shut down. They took a clue, rented the last, outrageously expensive hotel room available, and got some sleep.

I Can't Get Up.

We've loaded and unloaded two 26' U-Hauls of furniture and boxes in the last two weekends with little rest in between. My body is now officially pissed off and on strike. Everything hurts.

Because I'm too tired to get up and take a picture of our garage contents, I've borrowed this one so you can get the idea.

Yeah okay, our garage is not that big, but at this point the thought of unpacking it is just as daunting.

My Other Blog

Although I have many other things I should be doing ~ and will once I post this ~ it was nice to treat myself to some blog writing, both here and on LiveJournal. The title of my post on LiveJournal: Sociology, INTJs and Online Dating. I warn you that unlike this blog, there is some graphic language in this post.

Back in Newton, Kansas

2011-08-03T16:32:00.000-07:00

What's old is new again. Okay, maybe not so much. My cousins and I have moved back into the house that I left in February, just five short months ago. Five months. Long enough to have become somewhat familiar with Anna/McKinney Texas; long enough to know that had we stayed I would have built some real affection for the area; but not long enough by far to feel that it was home.

That said, Kansas does not feel like home either, although it is far more familiar to me. I'm not sure at 47 years of age, I have ever found home yet. Pahrump, Nevada came close. But it is part of my past now, and will in all likelihood remain so. I'm not sure what qualifies as "home". What do you think?

I'm beginning to think that home is a state of mind; not a location. That home is where the people you love and share your life with are. If that's the case, then I'm always home.

As with any move, it is proving to be a real bitch. We left Anna last Thursday night and caravanned up I-35 through Oklahoma until we simply had to sleep.

Made it into Newton Friday afternoon. The house is still in chaos. And the real pain in the ass, is that my cousin and my clone (my cousin's husband, Eric) have to return to Anna this coming weekend because we could not get everything into the one very large 26' U-Haul truck. I am staying with the kidlets. (Yeah, the children have me wrapped around their little fingers.) There are some advantages to being the smallest ~ getting to stay with the kids while others do the heavy lifting.

Our next move will be from this house to another here locally, when we decide to buy. By then, we will have been able to have that garage sale that we did not get done before we moved this time. And we've decided that someone else is going to move our things. Yes, we could do it. We've proved that. But sheesh! Every muscle in our bodies hurt~and with a garage load full of boxes there is no end in sight.

Yet as my cousin is wont to say, "This is but a moment in time." I know that one day, we will find our routine once again.

Right now, I hear a Vanilla Porter calling my name.

Monday Miscellaneous

2011-07-18T05:33:00.000-07:00

Moving Disarray:

The picture pretty much speaks for itself.

We spend a lot of time asking each one another where various items are located and whether or not said item has already been packed. We're at ten days and counting.

You can see more packed boxes behind Marko. Unlike the rest of us, he's totally unconcerned. That's what our critters are for though, right? To remind us that life isn't so tough. (I love this picture.)

Marko

Hands No Longer Idle:

Progress. I chose this yarn because the majority of my wardrobe is blue, purple, and green. I think I've covered all my bases.

And no, Eric didn't take this picture either

Desperate Times

2011-07-16T19:24:00.000-07:00

When we decided to move, Lori and I began feverishly packing. Initially I thought I would leave my hand work project, the New York Beauty, available in the event I got a chance to work on it. After relocating the blocks several times, trying to keep them out of the way as we worked to pack the non-essential items, I finally gave up and packed it.

Now we're into what I refer to as the "dog days" of the move. We've packed most of the non-essential items, but with twelve days still to live in this house, it's too early to pack the items we need for our daily existence. Lori and I are finding we have a lot of nervous energy and little to do. We were both lamenting having packed our hand work.

A trip to Wal-mart for yarn and needles became warranted. Lori is now crocheting, and I am knitting a scarf. Besides being an outlet for my need to keep busy, the scarf will come in handy during the Kansas winter. A win-win!

Autumn Braid

2011-07-12T18:11:00.000-07:00

Again with other people's projects. My mom has started a new quilt. The pattern is called Autumn Braid.

She's used an Asian fabric fat quarter pack, and added like fabrics from her stash. Isn't it gorgeous? It's going to be king-sized when she's finished.

She bought the pattern at the LQS, Charlotte's Sew Natural, in Newton, Kansas. (One of the benefits of moving back to Newton!)

Maybe one day I'll have my own projects to show again....

Monday Miscellaneous

2011-07-11T03:22:00.000-07:00

Thank You

I want to thank everybody who expressed condolences over the loss of my grandmother. Your thoughts and well-wishes are very much appreciated.

The Move

Between the move and the emergency trip to Kansas, my cousins and I have pretty much been living on this:

We get the U-Haul in 18 days. When the move is over and we resume our normal lives, we're going to have to go to CAA (Coffee Addicts Anonymous). I'm NOT kidding! In the mean time, we really ought to invest money in coffee company stock.

New Blog: Supernova Bliss

I guess I'm a bit OCD. I created this blog in order to discuss quilting. Lately, however, I've run into a dilemma. I'm not doing much quilting, and that has resulted in limited blogging. Those blogs that I have done have been about cousin's or my mom's projects. Solution? A new blog. Supernova Bliss (crazy title, huh?). A blog where I can discuss anything I'd like ~ except quilting of course. Quilting content belongs here. Apparently, I need to be able to write ~ something, anything. And that's exactly what you'll get if you happen to take a look. A total crapshoot on what it is going on in my mind at the moment. At least I will be amused.

Newton, KS

2011-07-05T21:28:00.000-07:00

1923-2011

I was at work Monday when I received the call that our grandmother had taken a turn for the worst. As of last weekend, Lori and I knew her time was short, but we expected it to be measured in days; not hours.

We quickly made arrangements to make the trip north. It was not without the help of many people. Eric's parents took the children, and my co-workers covered my scheduled work hours. We packed the car, and Eric drove the six hours to Kansas.

She was in a coma when we arrived. Our biggest contribution was to sit watch while our grandfather and my mom (her daughter-in-law) got some sleep. Lori doted on our grandmother during that time.

She passed away at 10AM this morning. Her suffering is over.

For the Supernatural Fans

2011-06-29T20:21:00.000-07:00

When the series, Supernatural, first premiered I failed to watch it. If I remember correctly, it was on opposite another show in which I was already vested.

My cousins have recently remedied my oversight. They own Supernatural on DVD. We took a couple of months and watched the entire series through season five. I now know what I'd been missing all of these years. We're all looking forward to season six, which if history is any indication will be available on DVD in September.

On previous blogs, I've shown the fruit of Lori's creativity. Now, I want to share Eric's (besides the many photos he's allowed me to use). Eric creates musical mixes based on a theme. His most recent endeavor is a mix based on
Supernatural. The mix contains both music and clips of memorable dialogue. It's a blast.

Eric has made the mix available as a free download for anyone interested. You can get it here. Just click on the 59:44 beneath the mix cover to start the download. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Monday Miscellaneous

2011-06-27T06:41:00.000-07:00

The Move

As part of my Favorite Things Friday post, I mentioned that my cousins and I were moving back to Kansas. Who knew when I renamed my blog, The Gypsy Quilter, in reference to the two moves I'd made this past year, that there would be a third? And you'd think with so much practice I'd get better at it. The truth is so many things must occur almost simultaneously that achieving a feeling of organization and efficiency is next to impossible. The process always involves muddling. I suppose the one thing I have learned, is to accept that moving is barely controlled chaos, and not to get too uptight about it.

Due to the two previous moves, my stuff has been pared down. What's left is going. Not so with my cousins. They've lived in their current house for four years. I heard them exclaim to each other the other day, "How did we accumulate so much crap?" I remember asking myself the same question when we were preparing to leave Pahrump, Nevada. I could only smile in sympathy.

Even with all the hectic activity, the cats manage to keep us entertained. Marko had to inspect this cabinet as it was cleaned out.

More on Taos: Sights from the Town Square

I mentioned previously that nearly all of the buildings in Taos are adobe. This garden was nestled in a row of adobe shops ~a florist, an antique store, et al. We were especially enamored with the royal blue doors and window frames against the adobe. It was an oft-used color combination around Taos.

Like many towns, Taos is home to a town square. It contains a not insignificant number of shops ~ mostly tourist related. Being thoroughly sheltered from the traffic, it's a great place to walk, window shop, enjoy the ever pleasant weather, and see interesting sculptures such as the one below:

Or decorations set out by the shop owners for simple beauty's sake:

We all loved the area so much that we toyed with the idea of trying to move to Taos. But we've never seen it in the winter and for many reasons (related to why we are moving to Kansas), the time just isn't right.

The Inspiring Colors of Taos

2011-06-25T15:45:00.000-07:00

Color. As we quilters, toying with color in all its various combinations is a significant part of the joy in the art. I was blown away by the way color was used in Taos. It wasn't that there were any new colors; it was it the way the colors were put together ~ the rusty tones, near reds, and gold paired with turquoise, teal, royal blue and occasionally purple. This wall of pottery suns shows exactly what I'm talking about:

The photo above contains the more muted tones, but this one shows the same color combinations in vivid brights:

I came home inspired. Now if I can just find a time to put vision to fabric....

(My thanks to Eric for again allowing me the use of his pictures.)

Favorite Things Friday

2011-06-23T17:22:00.000-07:00

Is it politically correct to refer to a person as a "favorite thing"? Yeah, I don't know the answer to that, but have never been overly concerned about being politically correct anyway. So yes, this week, my cousin is my featured favorite thing.

Michelle & Lori

Lori and I were always close as kids. We thought it was cool that we shared the same birthday (although she is two years younger than me). Spent a lot of Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays together when we were very young, and time camping together in the summer as teens.

However, as life often does, it took us in separate directions as young adults. Sometimes we were lucky to converse once a year ~ but it was always as if we'd just talked the day before. Now in our 40's, we have finally remedied that situation. We live together. How cool is that? We both enjoy crafty things (in fact, I've blogged about Lori's craftiness here and here), have a similar sense of humor, and the same feeling of responsibility toward our family. I could not ask for a better person to have in my life. I feel very blessed.

Now we are embarking on a move back to Kansas ~ Lori, her family and I. Crazy, huh? She and I feel we need to be closer to our family. Our grandparents, and both of our mothers are there. They need our attention. We are already organizing, packing, and planning a garage sale. We make a good team.

It's been a long time since I participated in Favorite Things Friday, but it's a real pleasure to read about everybody's favorite things, so I urge you to play too.

Monday Miscellaneous

2011-06-20T12:33:00.000-07:00

Coming Together:

The New York Beauty quilt is coming along. I'm currently hand-piecing the quarter blocks together to make the circular design evident in the picture below. I imagine I will hand-piece the entire quilt. It gives me better accuracy. However, when it comes to quilting it, I intend to reacquaint myself with my long-neglected Juki.

Taos, New Mexico Part 1:

Taos sits at approximately 6,900 feet and is well known for being relatively close to several wonderful ski slopes. Not a consideration in the summer, but none of us ski anyway. That said, Taos was a place we'd never been before, and seemed like a great escape from the summer heat of Texas. We were not disappointed. The daytime temperatures rose to the mid-80's and the night time temperatures hit the mid 40's. Low humidity.

Nearly all of the buildings in Taos are adobe. Not just the houses, but the businesses as well. I was struck by how well the adobe buildings blend into the environment.

Juniper House, Taos, New Mexico

This is the vacation home we rented. Honestly, the price wasn't much more than you'd pay for a decent hotel, but instead of having a room or suite, we had a whole house.


Myself and Lori in our cheap Wal-mart hats

Juniper Street

We took an amazing walk around the neighborhood, reveling in the glorious weather. The houses here sit on the edge of town.

Juniper House, interior

We all enjoyed the Southwest architecture and interior design.

The entire back of the house contained floor to ceiling windows. Here's a shot of the master bedroom from the outside.

The windows looked out on a beautiful backyard:

Eric photo-shopped this picture to resemble a painting.

We spent time a lot of time enjoying the desert air sitting under the ramada, making use of the grill. It is the shelter you see in the background at the mid right. If you look carefully, you'll note the hot tub in the mid left. Mango Margaritas are a perfect accompaniment to hot-tubbing. Ahem. :-) We made them in Solo Cups. Class all the way!

Myself and Lori, looking at the reflection in the windows

My thanks to Eric for doing the photography on this trip, and allowing me the use of his pictures on this blog.

Eric

Next time: Taos Pueblo

Showing Off Mom's Work

2011-06-16T11:43:00.000-07:00

I'm fortunate that other people in my life have been busy getting some quilting/crafting projects done, so I have something to share on my neglected blog. Today, I wanted to share my mom's latest completed work. She made the quilt for her cousin, Shirley, who was so instrumental in helping us make the transition from Nevada to Kansas last fall.

Shirley's favorite color is purple (a woman after my own heart), and Shirley's husband's favorite color is copper. Yep, copper. The man's an artist, so naturally his favorite color would not be anything generic. The same day my mom and I nonchalantly extracted that information from them under another guise, we ran across the floral fabric you see in the border. Decided the burnt orange shade in the floral was as close to copper as we were ever likely to get, and the floral became the focus fabric the quilt was built around.

Inspiration

2011-06-13T15:27:00.000-07:00

It's interesting what a new perspective will provide to the quilting process. I recently returned from a short vacation in Taos, New Mexico. While I intend to blog on the sights, colors, and high desert air soon, the point of this post is how I came back refreshed, and ready to return to quilting in earnest ~ a feeling that I've been lacking for some time.

To that end, I've finished (provided I've counted correctly) hand-piecing all the blocks I need for a full-sized New York Beauty quilt. It's nice to feel inspired again.

Monday Miscellaneous

2011-05-30T08:17:00.000-07:00

Work:

These past couple of weeks, I've been into my PRN (as needed) lab tech job in earnest. Training is over and the real work began. I'm currently recovering from working 8 out of 9 days, which included my first weekend of being on-call. (7PM Friday to 6AM Monday). Interestingly enough, I was not needed for 9 hours during the day Saturday, but Saturday night I got 2 1/2 hours of sleep. Looks like I need to learn to sleep during the day. Hmmmm.

But you'll get no complaints from me. I'm one of those fortunate people who likes my work. Additionally, I have an excellent manager, which makes it possible to concentrate only on the work itself. No drama.

New York Beauties:

You're looking at near the last of the blocks I need to make for this project. It appears that I was on a blue-purple-green kick. No doubt they will play nicely with the brighter blocks I've made. Two more blocks (if I've counted correctly) and all of them will be done. Yay!

Music from the Renaissance Festival:

In April my cousins and I visited the Renaissance Festival is Waxahachie, Texas. One of the highlights of the festival was seeing Wine and Alchemy:

Their music is one of my new favorites. We bought all three of their CD's.

Happy Memorial Day!

On this lazy Memorial Day Monday, I'm going to try to catch up once again on my blog reading. Hope you are all enjoying the long holiday weekend.

Gnomes on Parade

2011-05-17T17:25:00.000-07:00

My cousin's creativity never ceases to amaze me. I present to you, The Gnomes:

We enjoyed a Supernatural marathon on DVD after our return from Wichita. As we watched throughout the better part of a day, the gnome family came to be. There are three male and three female gnomes. Just like Lori's owls, each of these is unique.

Aren't they adorable?

Monday Miscellaneous

2011-05-16T06:24:00.000-07:00

A Quick Trip:

My cousin and I made a quick run to Kansas last week--6 hours one way. We were in Wichita from Tuesday through Friday morning. Our grandfather was hospitalized. Fortunately, he is now home.

Reward:

For great teamwork and a job well done, when we got home, Lori and I were rewarded with cheap wine. Yay!

Owls Revisited:

Shay from Quilting in My Pyjamas asked Lori for a tutorial on how to make these adorable little owls. She came across the directions online and provided the pdf to me to share.

Coming Soon:

Lori's gnomes. (It's a good thing she's being so creative or I'd have nothing to blog about!)

Personality Test: I'm an INTJ

2011-05-14T18:15:00.000-07:00

In keeping with Elizabeth's of Such a Sew and Sew recent theme of tests and quizzes, I offer you the Briggs-Myer Personality Inventory test. When you receive the result of your test, you can get a detailed profile at either of these two websites: Typelogic or Keirsey.com.

So who are you?

Me? INTJ, the Mastermind (1-2% of the population)

To outsiders, INTJs may appear to project an aura of "definiteness", of self-confidence. This self-confidence, sometimes mistaken for simple arrogance by the less decisive, is actually of a very specific rather than a general nature; its source lies in the specialized knowledge systems that most INTJs start building at an early age. When it comes to their own areas of expertise -- and INTJs can have several -- they will be able to tell you almost immediately whether or not they can help you, and if so, how. INTJs know what they know, and perhaps still more importantly, they know what they don't know.

INTJs are perfectionists, with a seemingly endless capacity for improving upon anything that takes their interest. What prevents them from becoming chronically bogged down in this pursuit of perfection is the pragmatism so characteristic of the type: INTJs apply (often ruthlessly) the criterion "Does it work?" to everything from their own research efforts to the prevailing social norms. This in turn produces an unusual independence of mind, freeing the INTJ from the constraints of authority, convention, or sentiment for its own sake.

INTJs are known as the "Systems Builders" of the types, perhaps in part because they possess the unusual trait combination of imagination and reliability. Whatever system an INTJ happens to be working on is for them the equivalent of a moral cause to an INFJ; both perfectionism and disregard for authority may come into play, as INTJs can be unsparing of both themselves and the others on the project. Anyone considered to be "slacking," including superiors, will lose their respect -- and will generally be made aware of this; INTJs have also been known to take it upon themselves to implement critical decisions without consulting their supervisors or co-workers. On the other hand, they do tend to be scrupulous and even-handed about recognizing the individual contributions that have gone into a project, and have a gift for seizing opportunities which others might not even notice.

In the broadest terms, what INTJs "do" tends to be what they "know". Typical INTJ career choices are in the sciences and engineering, but they can be found wherever a combination of intellect and incisiveness are required (e.g., law, some areas of academia). INTJs can rise to management positions when they are willing to invest time in marketing their abilities as well as enhancing them, and (whether for the sake of ambition or the desire for privacy) many also find it useful to learn to simulate some degree of surface conformism in order to mask their inherent unconventionality.

Personal relationships, particularly romantic ones, can be the INTJ's Achilles heel. While they are capable of caring deeply for others (usually a select few), and are willing to spend a great deal of time and effort on a relationship, the knowledge and self-confidence that make them so successful in other areas can suddenly abandon or mislead them in interpersonal situations.

This happens in part because many INTJs do not readily grasp the social rituals; for instance, they tend to have little patience and less understanding of such things as small talk and flirtation (which most types consider half the fun of a relationship). To complicate matters, INTJs are usually extremely private people, and can often be naturally impassive as well, which makes them easy to misread and misunderstand. Perhaps the most fundamental problem, however, is that INTJs really want people to make sense. :-) This sometimes results in a peculiar naivete', paralleling that of many Fs -- only instead of expecting inexhaustible affection and empathy from a romantic relationship, the INTJ will expect inexhaustible reasonability and directness.

Probably the strongest INTJ assets in the interpersonal area are their intuitive abilities and their willingness to "work at" a relationship. Although as Ts they do not always have the kind of natural empathy that many Fs do, the Intuitive function can often act as a good substitute by synthesizing the probable meanings behind such things as tone of voice, turn of phrase, and facial expression. This ability can then be honed and directed by consistent, repeated efforts to understand and support those they care about, and those relationships which ultimately do become established with an INTJ tend to be characterized by their robustness, stability, and good communications.

Owls on Parade

2011-05-08T17:09:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned my cousin and her creative crafting on this blog several times. Today, it's finally time for show and tell.

Earlier this week she began making felt owls. When I saw Lori cutting out the different colors of felt, sorting through the scrap bag, and choosing beads and buttons, I asked if she would make an owl for me. Knowing that turquoise and purple are among my favorite colors, she made mine first. Let me introduce, Turkle:

Turkle is attached to my computer, so I can enjoy him where I spend a lot of my time. He was followed by Serge:

Serge was followed by Jane and Daisy. (Don't you love Jane's googly eyes?)

Along came Moonbeam with the fussy cut eyes:

And the flock just keeps growing:

She's not done yet!

House of Blues, Dallas

2011-05-06T16:27:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, it is who you know.

My clone (long story), Eric, works with Andrew, who is the bass player in an alternative band, Scary Cherry and the Bang Bangs. On Wednesday May 4th, The House of Blues in Dallas featured four local alternative bands--including Scary Cherry and the Bang Bangs. How cool is that? Andrew gave Eric three free tickets to the event. Woo-hoo! Unfortunately, we used only two the tickets. Eric and Lori could not go because it was a school night for the kids, so I went with a friend, Tony.

Tony and I were there for four hours. It was interesting to see the local talent perform a variety of their own songs interspersed with a few cover tunes. My only complaint was that the vocals on all the bands were drowned out by the instruments. This is a sound mix issue. A little inquiry revealed that the sound mix was being run by The House of Blues and not the bands. I bet that caused more than a little consternation amongst the performers.

Scary Cherry was the last band to perform, getting on stage about 11PM. Andrew did an awesome job on the bass. Very high energy and powerful.

The Justin Kipker Show, the third band of the night to perform, was rather unique. Original songs played against the backdrop of old black and white movies, like The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Very enjoyable.

I wish I could have taken some pictures, but the lighting that made each performance atmospheric, made getting a good photograph impossible.

I had a terrific time. Thanks Andrew! Thanks Tony!

Wall-hanging: How Love Grows

2011-05-04T14:10:00.000-07:00

How Love Grows

My cousin asked me to make this wall-hanging for her. I was so flattered and thrilled to do it. The piece measures 16" square, and was made completely by hand right down to the binding.

Laurel chose the fabrics. I love her selections. I must admit I was a little daunted by the beige textured fabric she chose for the hearts. It was a thicker than I would normally use for applique, but it worked just fine and adds so much interest.

In regard to quilting the green background, the design on the fabric itself showed me exactly where I should quilt. No marking. I just followed the designs. It was so cool!

Interestingly enough, it would never have occurred to me to use a patterned fabric for the background. I have always used patterned fabric for the centerpiece and plain fabric for the background in my previous works. I've learned something! I so love how the patterned fabric inspired the quilting, I will definitely do this again. Thanks Laurel!

(And thanks to Eric for the picture that shows the quilting.)

Beltane

2011-05-03T05:51:00.000-07:00

Laurel and Michelle

My family and I made the three hour jaunt over to Texarkana this past weekend to partake in the Beltane festivities being held at Wright-Patman Lake. As you can see from the picture of Laurel and me, the hosts chose a beautiful spot for the weekend-long event. Spring was flaunting her most vibrant shades of green.

The Druids opened the festival Friday evening at sundown by lighting the sacred fire, which was to be tended and kept burning throughout the Beltane celebration. The weekend was marked with several ritual events. One of the highlights was the May Pole celebration. My young cousins both enjoyed participating:

May Pole participation

Of course, you can't visit a town that sits halfway in Texas and halfway in Arkansas and not visit the tourist spot showing the actual dividing line:

My young cousins

Eric and Laurel

Interesting factoid about Texarkana: The Texas side of the town resides in a dry county; the Arkansas side does not. After spending the last eight years in Nevada, the whole concept of a "dry county" was very odd to me. You can imagine my dismay when we went to buy some wine on the Texas side where we were staying, and found that we could not. Fortunately, Miller County, Arkansas did not hold to that archaic idea, and my consternation was short-lived.

The Gypsy Quilter

2011-05-03T05:43:00.000-07:00

On my Monday Miscellaneous blog post, I asked for suggestions for re-naming my blog (again). The ever talented Sarah from Confessions of a Fabric Addict, suggested The Gypsy Quilter. Given my recent adventures in moving, and the conviction that my quilting is about to head in a different direction from my standard traditionalism, it seems appropriate. Thank you so much for the awesome suggestion, Sarah. My blog now wears the new title proudly.

Monday Miscellaneous--I'm Back!

2011-05-02T06:42:00.000-07:00

After such a long absence, some of you may have forgotten who I am or what I do. I wouldn't blame you. I've been horribly negligent in both my blog-posting and blog-reading. It's taken two moves (from Nevada to Kansas, and then Kansas to Texas) and some significant adjustment to regain my equilibrium.

New Job:

On April 10th, I began a new job--laboratory technologist, PRN. (PRN: a Latin abbreviation meaning "as needed.") I have been out of the lab for ten years. Going back caused me a little trepidation. Would I remember how to read a slide? Draw blood? I've found out that some things really are like riding a bike.

My Enabler:

My cousin and I share a love of fabric. She is a gifted crafter. I have my love of quilting. We're both hoping to learn to become experienced seamstresses. A trip to the fabric store constitutes a barely controlled extravaganza of ~~drooling~~ admiring the wares. Each of our stashes is more than adequate, and yet the normal desire to add to them is magnified when we're together. A beautiful piece of fabric sets up an energetic imagining of all the creative possibilities. We're both hoping to abide by the rule that we actually finish something before buying any more fabric or patterns, but it's going to be tough. I'm predicting a creative month.

Need a New Blog Title:

When I moved from Nevada to Kansas and changed the title of my blog from The Desert Quilter to the Prairie Quilter, one of you (I can't remember who) suggested that I not include a geographic reference in the title of my blog in case I moved again. I thought to myself, "Yeah right. Moving is such a special kind of hell that I won't be doing that again soon." Ironic, huh? So now I'm mulling. I'm also open to suggestions.

Meet My Newest Quilt Inspector

2011-03-05T09:46:00.000-08:00

When I moved in with my cousin and her family, I gained another Quilt Inspector. (A quilter can never have too many, right?) Meet Marko. He is a Maine Coon with an adorable personality. Very laid back, very affectionate.

At the age of three, and never having spent much time around quilts, I didn't know if Marko was up to the QI job. However, apparently Quilt Inspectors are born; not made. He was just waiting for an opportunity to show me he had the right stuff. The quilt upon which he is lying had not been there long before he discovered it. No hesitance at all on his part. Up he went and into the long sprawl shown in the photo.

I guess he wanted to make a good impression, because he inspected that quilt for at least six hours. What a thorough job.

Favorite Things Friday: A Two-fer

2011-02-18T09:54:00.000-08:00

There's been a lot of upheaval in my life, and as a consequence, I've missed quite a few Favorite Things Friday postings (along with lots of other blogging related endeavors). While some of the upheaval has been rather daunting, much of it has been very positive.

Moved to Texas:

First and foremost, I have moved to Texas. The significant thing about that has been re-uniting with my cousin, Laurel.

Michelle and Laurel, our birthday

Although life has taken us on different paths--until now--she is far more like a sister than a cousin. In fact, I'm not sure than any two sisters could be closer than we are. So at this late date, we decided we no longer wanted to be apart. The way Laurel sees it, fate intended us to grow old together. She invited me to live with her and her family. She has an awesome husband and two beautiful children. How did I get so blessed?

Eric

Whatever we're doing, we try to make fun out of it. Life is a blast.

Playing around with the funky glasses at the Party Store

Even Wal-mart can be fun

Our house

New Car:

The silver car on the left is mine. When we moved from Nevada to Kansas, I sold my Jeep. Needed to do that because with two drivers, my mom and I, and three cars, my mom's, mine, and my grandparents', something had to give. In replacing the Jeep, I decided to go an entirely different direction. Enter the Hyundai Genesis Coupe:

Michelle and Genesis

Picture taken through the sunroof

It's a zippy kind of thing

As you can see, for this Favorite Things Friday, I have so much to be thankful for. I'm very fortunate. (And my thanks to Eric, who provided me all of these pictures.)

Thanks to Shay at Quilting in My Pyjamas for hosting another terrific Favorite Things Friday.

When Everything Goes to Hell

2011-01-30T16:59:00.000-08:00

If you recall my last post, I was lamenting the gray, winter weather. Whining apparently pays off. My Texas cousins came and instituted a rescue. Sunshine, fun, and the occasional margarita are all to be found just 6 hours south of Newton. Balm for a droopy soul.

Unfortunately, the joy was short-lived. My 88 year old grandfather has been hospitalized with an increasingly dire prognosis. He is scheduled for surgery tomorrow. How this all turns out is anybody's guess. The events leading us to this point are akin to a slow motion car wreck.

My apologies for disappearing and not keeping up with your blogs. Unfortunately, I don't expect that situation to change anytime in the near future. Hope you are all doing well.

Monday Miscellaneous

2011-01-17T06:07:00.000-08:00

Mid-Winter:

A good portion of North America can look out their own front doors and see this sight. My Arizona relatives are the exception. They delight in describing sitting on their patio in their shorts--the lucky bastards. (Is my envy obvious?) I always tell myself that weather like this makes for good quilting opportunities. But just as the snow blankets the ground, it blankets my enthusiasm as well.

I feel like a weenie for whining about our normal winter weather given that Mother Nature just saw fit to drown a section of Australia twice the size of Texas, and yet here I am doing it anyway.

I have to admire quilters like Karen at Quilts...Etc. who continues to quilt with vigor throughout all of the seasons and even a car accident. Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict is also incredibly prolific. Most of her quilts go to charity.

So this Monday, if you want to see some quilty eye-candy, I suggest visiting these two blogs. Me? I'm going to the liquor store.

Into the Pillowcase-Making Fray

2011-01-14T16:36:00.000-08:00

I've been admiring the custom-made pillowcases that have been making an appearance on various blogs lately, thinking that they look like they would be fun to make. So I was really glad when an opportunity, in the form of a young cousin's birthday, allowed me to give it a shot.

According to his mother, this soon to be 11 year old is into skulls. I'll admit, I haven't used much skull fabric in my quilts, although I won't say never. I have a turquoise print bearing small skulls in my stash. Yes, you have to look closely to tell they are skulls, but they are skulls nonetheless. I have added this fabric to a couple of my scrappy quilts.

That said, it was with glee that I used the large print skull fabric to make these:

I used the tutorial posted on Vanilla Joy. It's a great tutorial. I did have to make modifications to her instructions due to the directionality of my fabric. That wasn't difficult. However, it did require more fabric.

My supposition was correct: Custom pillowcases are fun to make.

Queensland Devastation

2011-01-13T14:47:00.000-08:00

The horrendous devastation in Queensland Australia continues to make the news. For some perspective, I suggest reading Rain and Devastation on Sunshine? Paradise?.

A lot of us are wondering how to help. It's tough when we're a half a world away. I've been reading lots of wonderful ideas on today's blogs. I'd like to add another one. There is an easy way to donate money to an Australian agency that will be one of the charities helping with clean up. Courtesy of Shay at Quilting in My Pyjamas who did the research for me, I found that I could donate to Mission Australia http://www.missionaustralia.com.au/ via Paypal. A terrific method because it's electronic and Paypal handles all of the currency exchange rates.

The Great Gals at RTCQ

2011-01-10T14:44:00.000-08:00

Before I started blogging, I got my quilting chat fix with the gals (and guys) on the RTCQ (rec.textiles.crafts.quilting) newsgroup. After I began blogging, I still managed to keep up with the group. And then my dad died, and life turned upside. I started neglecting my friends at RTCQ, and have just recently begun to dip a toe in again.

Within the RTCQ group is a sub-group that makes hug quilts for people who have suffered a loss--death of a family member or some other tragedy. I myself belong to that group.

Surprisingly, when I reported my loss to the RTCQ group, it just never occurred to me that I would become the recipient of a hug quilt. I know that sounds silly. But I was always a "hugger"; not a "huggee".

So you can imagine my surprise (and yes, wet eyes) when this quilt arrived in today's mail.

I don't have adequate words to fully express how touched I am. Your kindness is overwhelming. It's a beautiful quilt. I feel well-hugged, and the quilt will be on my bed tonight.

Monday Miscellaneous

2011-01-10T04:47:00.000-08:00

Tweaking the House:

Like Shay, at Quilting in My Pyjamas before me, it seems that this blog has temporarily turned into a litany of renovations, albeit comparatively minor.

Our new house is not very old. It was built just three years ago. Oddly enough, there is not a single medicine cabinet in any of the bathrooms.

While my mother (my conspirator in home renovation) and I are up for learning new things, and have had some experience in making small repairs, neither of us wanted to tackle installing a classic medicine cabinet--one that is inset in the sheet rock. Instead we bought one of the over-the-toilet cabinets that can be purchased at any Wal-mart.

Before

After

Fabric Sale:

So what would any quilter do when faced with a sale from Thousands of Bolts? An end of the year sale in which the fabrics were running from $2.95/yd to $3.50/yd? Why, buy 28 yards of course!

PhD Challenge:

I'm pleased to say I'm on the downhill side of one my Projects Half Done Challenge quilt. I have finished the hand-quilting, and have begun FMQ the last two borders. I attempted to take a picture of the quilting, but my thread blends so well, that none of the pictures show much. It will be very nice to have this very old project completed.

Favorite Things Friday: Ebay.

2011-01-07T09:58:00.000-08:00

The fabulous lady at Quilting in My Pyjamas has brought back Favorite Things Friday. I'm coming late to the party since it was Friday in Australia yesterday, but it's still not too late to join the fun. Mrs. Pyjamas is not a stickler for which Friday we observe. Click on the button on the right if you want to play.

Okay, so my favorite thing this Friday is Ebay. I've sold items and I've bought items. The things I've bought in the past are usually along the lines of ink cartridges for my printer, soft paws for my cat (back when it wasn't against his policy to wear them), and the like. Generally cool, but not mind-blowing.

Now, I know you're looking at the picture of the lamp thinking I bought it on Ebay, and you'd be wrong. I bought only the lampshade on Ebay.

Here's the story: My grandparents have had this lamp in their house for the past thirty years (perhaps longer, but that's the limit of my knowledge). Once upon a time, it looked like it does now. And then the lampshade got broken. I never saw it in its original form. By the time I had knowledge of it, it had a replacement shade that was plain white because a matching shade could not be found.

When we made the move from Nevada to Kansas, the replacement shade got broken. Not really a big surprise. The thing is pretty fragile.

So I went searching through Ebay looking for yet another replacement. I was just hoping to find another plain white shade that fit. You cannot imagine my shock and surprise, when I came across the shade that was a perfect match to the base. And it cost me $10 plus shipping. Unbelievable!

Monday Miscellaneous

2011-01-03T05:48:00.000-08:00

New Year's Resolutions:

Nothing quilty to show again this week, although I am making progress hand-quilting the Scrappy Star. At this rate I'll have to re-name the blog. Change it from the Prairie Quilter to Whatever Strikes My Fancy. However, I have made a quilt-related New Year's Resolution: to give more thought to naming my quilts. Yeah, I know, I'm really knocking myself out with this one. It sounds like a rather weenie resolution, however, I have discovered that naming quilts really is not my forte. So I'll turn my attention to it this year.

A Special Birthday:

You've met my cousin Lori. I may have mentioned we share the same birthday? (I know I've posted this picture before, and I'm posting it again because it makes me happy. It captures how we are together. )

Due to the time of year our birthday comes, December 30th, it often gets overlooked--even by ourselves. Who needs another holiday between Christmas and New Years? Our family made sure this year that did not happen. Bless them.

We got time away from our responsibilities to buzz down to Wichita and visit Hancock's and Hobby Lobby. How cool is that? It was interesting to see how much Lori's crafting overlapped with my quilting. Then we had a quiet lunch together.

Time spent with her is a like a balm on my soul.

Oh and then there were the special t-shirts: Birfday Twins. Thank you Eric!

Nobody believed we'd wear them outside of the house. HA! We did one better, by adding the fleece boas that Lori made, before heading out to eat Mexican food. We got a few stares.

(I cut myself out of this picture because I looked like a total dweeb--eyes closed.) I couldn't believe how warm those fleece boas are. Better than a knitted scarf, in my opinion.

Our birthday was in a word: AWESOME.

Fun and Games:

The rest of the week had its share of silliness. Newton is home to this blue sky sculpture you see in the background behind me.

And these two..., (I'll refrain from using the word art) figures. Eric and I couldn't resist having a bit of fun:

Apologies:

I hate to think of all the wonderful posts I've missed. And I apologize. I am so behind on my blog-reading, I fear I may never catch up. (But hey, partying like you're 47 eats up time!)

Monday Miscellaneous

2010-12-27T07:38:00.000-08:00

Slack Before Christmas:

It's been an entire week since I last posted. I'd love to regale you with stories of pre-Christmas busyness that interfered with my posting, but the fact of the matter is I was just not feeling well. Picked up some mild bug somewhere. I'm still shaking off the effects.

Photo by Clara S.

Christmas:

Christmas proved to be a restful day, here at the Prairie Quilter household. A much needed reprieve from painting and feeling that we simply had to be productive. So we lounged around, except for making the pancake brunch that the four of us (my grandparents, mother and me) enjoyed.

Also we were preserving our strength. My cousin, Lori and her family are here, arriving yesterday, the 26th. While a visit from my cousin is always an enjoyable occasion, the thing that will make this visit special is that we will celebrate our birthday together. Lori is two years younger than I am to the day, both of us born on December 30th. This will be the first time we've celebrated together as adults. In fact, it will probably be the first time either of us has done much celebrating in years. Having a birthday stuck between Christmas and New Year's is really rather inconvenient. Most people are just happy to have made it through Christmas and are hoping to regain enough steam to push on to the New Year--myself included. But with the two of us together the formula this year has changed.

Photo taken and modified by Eric H., Lori's husband

This Year in Review:

I don't tend to be an overly prolific quilter, and this year with all of the turmoil, it was particularly true. Still, I'm proud of what I did finish this year:

Robynn's Quilt

From The Prairie Quilter

The Teddy Bear Quilt

From The Prairie Quilter

Matt's Quilt

From The Prairie Quilter

Sunshine in Winter

From The Prairie Quilter

I need to work on my quilt-naming skills, don't I? Sunshine in Winter isn't bad, but the others could have been more poetic.

Food for Thought:
(Snagged from One Piece at a Time)

Blog Schedule:

If you don't hear from me again before next Monday, don't worry. I'm just out with my cousin having fun.

Monday Miscellaneous

2010-12-20T06:11:00.000-08:00

Quilters Know How to Spoil Other Quilters:

And spoil me, P. from The Way I Sew It did! I was the lucky recipient of one of her adorable little clutches. We've all been admiring the pictures of her clutches, but seeing first hand all the work and care she put into these, well it's just darn impressive.

See, even the inside has such nice detailing. I love the musical print she used for the inside (I don't know if she remembers, but I happened to send her this one--how cool is that?). And it's got pockets for carrying your driver's license and credit cards.

Since the purse I use isn't much larger than this it will be easy for me to make the switch. The clutch is so pretty, I almost hate to use it, but then I've had people say that about quilts, and I really want my quilts to be used, so I'll be using this clutch.

And pillowcases!

I love the way she made the edging on each one from a different fabric. Such a delightful bit of whimsy.

Lighting:

In the sewing room, it's so important to have the light right. We've been struggling with that. The house came with these light fixtures. They're pretty, but the frosted glass cuts out more light than one would expect. The fixture holds two bulbs. We tried changing the two bulbs to brighter bulbs. Not good enough. We tried changing them to CFLs called "Daylight". It's bright, but weird. Kind of like the light you would expect standing next to a blue O class star. Made me feel creepy.

Then we decided to change out the light fixtures. There are two in the sewing room and we managed to get one done. This arrangement is much better: 3 bulbs, uncovered, and we can point them any direction we'd like. It was our first time changing out a light fixture, and I must admit to feeling a bit of accomplishment.

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand:

Every once in awhile I get it into my head to read a novel considered classic instead of my usual mystery or sci-fi genres. Apparently Ayn Rand has somewhat of a following. People either really like her work or really hate it. Their opinions seem to be based on some philosophy she is supposedly promoting through her novels. Eric, my cousin, and I had neither one read any Ayn Rand, and so he bought The Fountainhead, read it and passed it along to me.

I've made it only slightly past halfway and have put it down. It's looking very unlikely that I will resume reading it. I can't tell you how rare that is. First off, if she's promoting any particular philosophy I don't see it. I'm still at a loss about all the hullabaloo surrounding that issue. I'd say it was because I haven't finished the book, but Eric has, and he doesn't see it either. My reason for discontinuing the book is that I simply despise all the main characters. I've found that I really don't care what happens to them.

Now, what I'm wondering is have any of you read it? What are your thoughts on this book?

Redecorating the Blog:

Following in the footsteps of others, I've redecorated my blog. Honestly, I'm not sure I'm pleased with it. It seems a bit loud and busy to me. However, I'm also a person who takes awhile to get used to change, so this often clouds my opinion. We'll see if this remains or not.

Favorite Things Friday--White Paint

2010-12-17T09:06:00.000-08:00

Mrs. P. over at Quilting in My Pyjamas is hosting the last Favorite Things Friday for 2010. So this is your last chance to participate this year. If you can work it into your busy holiday schedule I urge you to link up. No worries though. Favorite Things Friday will be back on January 7th.

My favorite thing this Friday is white paint. The reason is very simple. It will turn this:

into this:

Still need to paint the gold door

Until we meet again for FTF in 2011, I hope everyone has a joyous holiday season!

Myra's 2011 PhD (Projects Half Done) Challenge

2010-12-14T14:49:00.000-08:00

After reading about Myra's 2011 PhD Challenge over at Quilting in My Pyjamas I decided I'd jump on the Projects Half Done bandwagon. You see, Projects Half Done could be my middle name. I've got one flimsy that is probably getting upwards of fifteen years old. I'm a much better starter than a finisher. And in the past, I've been a much better piecer than quilter. I'm trying to remedy the latter by learning how to FMQ. That said, I'm only committing two projects to Myra's PhD Challenge, as life has a habit of getting in the way of my quilting goals. Plus, I reserve the right to start a new project and live with the guilt of that fifteen year old flimsy.

PhD #1: The Scrappy Star. This project is at least ten years old. It's now gone through two major moves. In my defense, this quilt is hand-pieced and the blocks and the inner checked border will be hand-quilted. In the interest of having this one finally done, I'm going against my obsessive-compulsive nature and will FMQ the last two borders. At this point, I have 1 1/2 blocks and part of the checked border left to hand-quilt. All of the two outer borders still need to be quilted.

PhD #2 is sampler from a block swap. The swap was called "You Pick" and was hosted by a gal I became acquainted with on RCTQ (rec.crafts.textiles.quilting), a quilting newsgroup. Each participant chose a focus fabric and sent a 12" square of it to the other participants to make a block. My focus fabric was a pansy fabric. I received some gorgeous blocks back.

I have begun free motion quilting the sandwich, and have five of the sixteen blocks done. I'm doing the sashing as I go.

As you can see since these projects are really more than "half done", I should easily be able to finish them by June. Now, I only hope that it's true!

Sunshine in Winter

2010-12-14T06:32:00.000-08:00

With all of the turbulence of the last four months, I haven't had much opportunity to work on, much less complete, projects. However, I did get one small (approximately 16" square) wall-hanging done, Sunshine in Winter. It was a Christmas gift for P. at The Way I Sew It, who lives in Wisconsin.

I conceived of the project last summer when I was still living in sunny Nevada, and knew that P. would face a long Wisconsin winter. For as long as I've been making the New York Beauty blocks, I've thought to myself that they look like sunbursts. However, it wasn't until I tried to think of something cheery for P., that it occurred to me to try the New York Beauties in sunshiny colors. (You all may have noticed that I tend to be a jewel tone, cool colors kind of gal.)

Finishing up the wall-hanging was a bright spot in amongst the trials of getting settled in a new home--a process that as yet continues. I felt such satisfaction when I shipped off Sunshine in Winter. Although the wall-hanging was wrapped in Christmas paper, I was secretly hoping that P. wouldn't wait until Christmas to open it. Being a woman after my own heart, she didn't let the Christmas paper slow her down one bit, and opened it upon arrival.

There's nothing like giving something quilted to another quilter. Quilters know how to show appreciation for a quilty gift. P. blogged about it here. Her enjoyment has me walking on air.

Miscellaneous Monday

2010-12-13T06:35:00.000-08:00

Painting:

Although I do not care for the paint job in our new house, the wood work is absolutely lovely. Unfortunately, it is not really noticeable at this point, because the wood kind of fades into the colored walls. Although I didn't get much of the slider (sliding glass door) in the picture below, if you look carefully, you'll see that the door is framed by wood.

Dining area BEFORE

Notice how the wood work pops with white walls? (Please ignore our fancy window covering. We're waiting for Home Depot to install our vertical blinds.)

Dining area AFTER

Speaking of blinds, normally we would install them ourselves, but we have a window over a stairway that we are unable to reach, and since Home Depot would do a whole house for $118, we decided to let them install the three blinds that we need.

Quilting:

My mom is starting a new quilt. She is making it for her cousin who was so helpful in regard to our move. Naturally, the quilt inspector could not let her sally forth alone.

Let me make sure you're doing it right.

This fabric is delightfully relaxing.

It's Curtains For Me:

The previous tenants liked dark colors--dark paint and dark curtains. I'll admit that I don't see the appeal, but perhaps the colors felt cozy to them?

These curtains were in my bedroom. My bedroom is in the basement. While the window lets in a lot of a light for a basement window, it's not exactly glaring. Yet these curtains could block out the searing desert sun at high noon. When I wake up in the morning, I have to look at the clock to ascertain if it's daylight yet, that's how dark these curtains make the room. The only good thing about them is that they make the tan paint look light.

A quick little sewing project and I had new curtains. You can't imagine how wonderful it was when I woke up this morning to find daylight coming in through these light-colored lovelies. You can also see that the tan paint isn't as light as it looks, however, it is one of the lightest colors in the house.

I intend to make some beaded tie backs for the curtains like Mrs. P at Quilting in My Pyjamas made for hers. I got permission from Mrs. P. to use one of her pictures of the lovely beaded tie-backs she made, but Blogger will not let me load it. Not sure what's up with that. Maybe Mrs. P.'s blog is snubbing mine? Trying to keep this bit of loveliness all to itself? So I encourage you to click on the link for a bit of eye-candy.

Favorite Things Friday: Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

2010-12-09T16:57:00.000-08:00

With a musician for a father, music has played an intense role in my life. Growing up, we seldom had music playing in the background while we did other things. Listening to music was an active event; not a passive past-time. Naturally, we often listened to my dad play--either the guitar or the piano--but we gave the same attention to music we listened to on an album/tape/CD as we did listening to him.

I first really started paying attention to music when I was about five (1969). I can remember Jimi Hendrix blasting out of the stereo speakers at 3AM. (Eventually, my parents grew up and learned not to play the stereo in the wee of hours of the morning. Ahem. They were 23 and 24 when I was 5.) Rock was my first introduction to music.

Although my dad could play just about anything he set his mind to, his favorites were blues and jazz. I learned to love the blues from my dad. To this day, it remains my favorite music genre.

Recently though, I've become acquainted with yet another genre of music. Swing. (It seems I am going backwards chronologically through the music genres: rock, blues, jazz, and now swing.) There is a modern group doing swing--both writing their own songs and remaking some of the old greats. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. With no further ado, I give you a sample of my new favorite musical talent: The song Save My Soul from the album by the same name.

I'm linking up over at Quilting in My Pyjamas for another fabulous Favorite Things Friday. Come on over and join the fun!

Free Motion Hand-Quilting

2010-12-08T17:47:00.000-08:00

What's a quilter to do?

I love the black and white checked fabric in the first border. It adds a bit of feisty-ness to the quilt. However, I quickly discovered that I was not going to enjoy quilting it. The lines don't run true enough to use them as a guide for any major straight-line pattern, and I couldn't see any way to mark the fabric. Whether I used white or black, part of the markings would always to fade into the fabric.

My apologies for the poor photo quality

Aha! Free-motion hand-quilting. If I can do free motion quilting on a sewing machine, why couldn't I do it by hand? And so, the checked border is filled with free motion flowers and vines.

Click on the photos to make them larger

Alas, I've discovered that as much as I like hand-quilting blocks, I'm not at all fond of hand-quilting borders. They go on FOREVER. With a block, I get that sense of satisfaction of having another one done. Borders take so long that by the time I've finished a side, the thrill is definitely gone.

I've got two more borders to do on this quilt after I finish the checked border, and I'm seriously considering doing them on the machine. How bad is that? Would that be considered mixed media?

Monday Miscellaneous

2010-12-06T06:23:00.000-08:00

The Button Bandwagon:

I've jumped on the button bandwagon. Everybody climb aboard. Seriously, anybody who would like to have my button feel free to take the code, but don't feel obligated. Mostly, I was interested to see if I could actually make a button. Since the directions and the code are easily had with a little bit of Googling and some tweaking, it wasn't overly difficult. Although HTML is essentially a foreign language to me, I enjoyed doing it. Kind of like exercising the few Spanish words and phrases I can put together.

Painting:

The utility room is done.

Before (sort of)

After

We've moved on to the kitchen. I failed to take a before picture, but will certainly have an after picture. Yep, you're going to get the blow by blow painted run down. But I'm not complaining. The effort is worth the result.

Speaking with Authority:

Have you ever been fooled by the Voice of Authority? It happened to us the other day in regard to having paint mixed at Wal-mart. No, we're not using straight Arctic Blast white (my name; not theirs). The color is called Swiss Almond, and is essentially white with a bit of warmth, for lack of a better description. The first gallon mixed was lovely. It required a gallon of "Base One" and few drips of other colors. When we went to have paint mixed the next time, Wal-mart was out of Base One. We were told to check back in a couple of days. No biggie since there are plenty of walls that need priming. When we returned there was still no Base One, but the gal who helped us said, "You don't have to use Base One, you can use white. Some people don't know that." She used no uncertain phrases that would have caused me to question, like, "I think it's all right to use white instead of Base One." Nope it was just a flat out statement of fact. Not knowing much about paint, I listened to her Voice of Authority. That was a mistake. In retrospect, I remember wondering in the back of my mind that if the two are interchangeable, why would Base One even be necessary. However, the Voice of Authority trumped my doubt.

Skip to today's painting session in the kitchen. I'm doing the edges nearing the ceiling using the bit left from the first properly mixed can of paint, and my mom is rolling using the newly mixed paint. At about the halfway point, my mom steps back, and says, "Does my paint look different from yours just because it's not as dry yet?" It didn't take much studying to figure out that the two paints were different.

Wal-mart graciously refunded our money, and as luck would have it the Base One had come in. We will finish the kitchen that we thought we'd finish yesterday today.

Favorite Things Friday--Kiss Noir

2010-12-03T09:24:00.000-08:00

Honestly, I'm not a big fan of vampire fiction. You won't find me reading the Twilight Series. I even missed Anne Rice's highly acclaimed Interview with a Vampire (although after Kiss Noir I am considering remedying that situation). That said, I am a fan of good fiction no matter what guise it takes. So for Favorite Things Friday, I give you Kiss Noir.

Robynn Clairday is an excellent and eclectic writer. In the past, she has written more for the young adult audience, having two non-fiction books published with Scholastic, Tell Me This Isn't Happening and Expect the Unexpected. Then later, the young adult fiction novel, Confessions of a Boyfriend Stealer with Delacorte.

I became acquainted with Robynn's work when she contacted my mother, who was then teaching 4th grade, about working with her on the Tell Me This Isn't Happening project--actual embarrassing moments submitted by children. The collaboration was very successful. Robynn got great material for the book, and my mom was handed a wonderful teaching opportunity. The first book was so successful, that Expect the Unexpected was born, and my mom and her class (the following year) again collaborated with Robynn.

Needless to say, I was thrilled when I found that Robynn's first foray into adult fiction, Kiss Noir, had been published. Kiss Noir is steamily romantic, scary, and nerve-wrackingly thrilling. Right now, the book is available as an e-book from BookStrand Publishing, but I've been hearing that it will be available in hard copy on down the line.

So what is your favorite thing this Friday? Head on over to Quilting in My Pyjamas and join in the fun!

Is Camouflage A Color?

2010-12-01T14:20:00.000-08:00

A month or two back, I made an addition to my Quilting Bucket List: making each of my cousins a quilt. I've taken great pains to try to keep my Bucket List at 12 projects or under. The purpose of the Bucket List is to prioritize the quilts I want to make before I die, so that means I can't put every quilt that catches my eye on it. However, by adding the Cousins Quilts to the list, I've broken my own rule as that puts the Quilting Bucket List at well over 12 projects. Perhaps some of the other quilts on the list will go to some of my cousins....? Who am I kidding? In all honestly that's not likely to happen. So it just means I'd better get my butt in gear.

To that end, I've been quizzing my cousins about their favorite colors. Some have proven to be more forthcoming than others. I'm not sure what's up with that.

My cousin, Aaron, wasn't at all shy when I asked him though. Right off the bat, favorite color: Camouflage. What? (Actually, in my mind it was more like WTF?) Is camouflage even a color? Okay, so I guess it was a one word answer for a list of colors.

I quizzed Aaron about other colors that I thought might go along with the basic camouflage color scheme. Navy? I got an unhappy face for an answer.

Then, Aaron, sweetie that he is (but don't tell him I said that) says, "Even if you make me a pink quilt, I'll use it; but just not in front of the guys." I had to laugh. I also assured him that I wouldn't make him a pink quilt.

Thinking of combat pants and tents, I started perusing the online shops for camouflage colored quilting fabric. I didn't have much luck. Most of the fabric I found was indeed the heavy denim one would use for making pants. It wasn't until my first trip to our local Wal-mart here in Newton that I found quilting camouflage fabric. I bought four yards.

Monday Miscellaneous

2010-11-29T06:15:00.000-08:00

Painting:

I'm afraid dear readers that you're doomed to listen to me whine about painting in the same vein that we listened to Mrs. P. of Quilting in My Pyjamas whine about kitchen renovations. And so it begins.

We had four days in the house before our furniture arrived, and we didn't pass the time idly. No, we began painting immediately. Decided we had just enough time to prime and paint behind where the fridge and washer & dryer would go. Here is a picture of that work:

Then our walls sat like that for three and a half weeks. Today we finally got back to it. Got the remainder of the laundry room primed today. The previous owners did something a bit odd; they painted the door with flat paint instead of semi-gloss. You can see how grubby it is near the knob. We'll be using semi-gloss.

In priming, I realized that part of the issue with the paint job in the house is not just the color, but that these shades seem to suck the light out of the room. It may also be because they used a flat paint, as opposed to the satin paint we are using. Not sure. Just know I'm tired of walking around and feeling like it's dark in every room. (Really, I'm not crazy.)

Joined A Gym:

On Saturday, my mom and I joined a gym for the first time in our lives. We know the Kansas winter will preclude any outdoor activities like walking much of the time. In Nevada, we could almost always go out and walk at some part of the day. But I'm excited about having access to the weight machines. I've got creaky knees--which I'd like to blame on old age, but I've had them since my late 20's. My uncle, the physical therapist, told me what he would recommend to strengthen the knees, and the exercises really require weight machines. We've got our orientation appointment tomorrow afternoon at 3PM.

Latest Book Read:

Undue Influence by Steve Martini
Genre: Mystery/Courtroom Drama

This is the 2nd book I've read by this author. Steve Martini has written a series of books featuring defense attorney Paul Madriani. The basic formula is that the attorney must solve the mystery in order to defend his client. Good mysteries with a twist. The courtroom action is intriguing because it demonstrates how the same set of circumstantial evidence can be viewed logically in two or more ways. Also a little unsettling for the same reason since it must play out in real life in a similar way.

I hope you all have wonderful days in the week ahead.

The Photo Tour of Newton, Kansas with my Awesome Family

2010-11-27T15:17:00.000-08:00

Since moving to Newton, my mom and I have been delighted with how quaint and well-preserved downtown Newton is. It's wonderful to walk Main Street and peer into the shops housed in these turn of the century buildings. Imagine our delight when we found that my cousin, Lori, and her husband, Eric, were equally intrigued. When they came to visit from Texas over the Thanksgiving holiday, we put a photo tour of downtown Newton at the top of the agenda. It follows below, starting with an introduction to my dear cousin, Lori.

First stop, the train depot. My grandfather remembers being shipped out from this depot during World War II. Amtrack still uses the building today.

(Train depot, Newton, KS)

(My grandparents, ages 88 and 87)

Notice the fine detailing on this Railroad Building and Loan building featured below. It was not only important to put up a good building, but also to make it pretty. In my opinion, we could use a little of this on our modern buildings today. Obviously, it is no longer used for Railroad Building and Loan. Instead, it is home to a variety of offices, including the Chamber of Commerce.

(the side of the Railroad Building and Loan building)

Along the way, our photographer told us to "Go to that that corner and loiter". So this is our rendition of loitering. Mostly, we were laughing.

(Michelle, Suzanne--my mom--Lori)

This bay window is another example of the pretty architecture to be found along Main Street.

You can see the window on the building in the background of the picture below. We were lucky, because since it was Sunday and the shops were closed, we pretty much had the street to ourselves. We took advantage of the table and chairs left outside by the restaurant. Oh and by the way, I am smiling at the cameraman, but I realize it looks more like I'm having a seizure.

What would a photo tour be without a picture of the local quilt shop, Charlotte's Sew Natural? The photographer got a bit arty with this shot.

The next two photographs are pictures of the First Methodist Church, also located on Main Street. Once again, the architecture is a work of art.

This Baptist Church below can be found just a block off Main Street.

There are a lot of quaint towns in Kansas, but I've never seen one so well-preserved (although I don't pretend to have done a thorough search on the subject). In our wanderings we did find an explanation that contributes to the fact that these wonderful, old buildings still exist. In 1880, there was a terrible fire in downtown Newton, and many of the buildings on Main Street were burned to the ground. After that, the city passed an ordinance requiring all buildings on Main Street between Second Street and Seventh to be made of stone or brick. I have no doubt that has contributed to the longevity of these buildings.

Our photographer has a sense of humor. Do we really look like we're up to no good?

So let me introduce our photographer, my sensationally fun cousin-in-law, Eric:

Favorite Things Friday--The Juki Sewing Machine

2010-11-26T07:53:00.000-08:00

This week's Favorite Things Friday is dedicated to our Juki sewing machine. She and I have had a long dry spell these past few months, but this week we were able to become reacquainted again.

We bought the Juki for one simple reason, we needed a machine that would enable us to learn to do free motion quilting. We didn't need it to do fancy stitches, embroider, or sing The Star Spangled Banner. The Juki does only straight stitching. It doesn't even do a zig-zag. The machine is built like a tank. All metal parts. It just feels solid. It has a 9" harp and is considered to be a mid-arm. I can tell you, the extra harp space makes a big difference when trying to work on a quilt of any size.

When we began looking at sewing machines--and there are a lot of wonderful machines on the market--we kept coming across machines that would do way more than we wanted them to, and their prices reflected that as well. My mom and I debated a long time. After all, when buying a machine of this caliber (as opposed to the $200 machines at Wal-mart), you want to be sure you've got it right. That first test drive after we unpacked the Juki told us that we'd made the right decision. I've been on the free motion quilting band wagon ever since.

So head on over to Quilting in My Pyjamas, and join in the Favorite Things Friday fun. Everyone is welcome to play.

**************

Hmmm. I just noticed that this is my 100th post. Who would have thought when I started this blog back in February I'd have this much to say?

Buying A House Online: Part Two

2010-11-25T20:28:00.000-08:00

Finally, we are organized enough in our new digs that I can finish the series (all two parts of it) on Buying A House Online.

I can honestly say that the house and neighborhood are pretty much as we expected. The relatives and friends did a good job of assessing both. It didn't hurt that the friends live only a few blocks from our house. The pictures online (there were 30 of them) did a good a job of showing what the various rooms looked like. We were a little fuzzy on the layout of the rooms, but we had guessed at what the layout probably was given what we knew, and were darn close.

We're not crazy about the paint job in the house, although I suspect it would be an interior decorator's dream--3 shades of gold used throughout the upstairs with a dark brown accent wall in the living room, and one very green room upstairs. About half of the basement is painted the same green color, with the rest of the basement being painted tan. Not a white wall in the house. Logically, I understand how some people could find this pretty, but I find it overwhelming. We'll be painting. However, we suspected that would be the case when we looked at the pictures, so seeing it in person only confirmed it. (I had been hoping that once we got here, I wouldn't dislike the paint as much as I thought I would. No luck.)

(living room)

(basement living room)

The room featured in the two pictures below is what I've begun referring to as the "multi-purpose room". It is our sewing center, office, and a mini kitchen--sink, fridge, microwave, toaster, and coffee pot. I considered straightening up the sewing area before I took the picture, but decided I should show it to you in its natural state. And yes! I've begun quilting again. The Juki and I spent some quality time together the last couple of days.

There weren't really any surprises, except one. The home inspector did a lousy job. We've got a phone plug in the basement that doesn't work (the only phone plug in the basement), and the plumbing in the basement bathtub is all screwed up. Water comes from both the tub and shower faucets at the same time, and the one handle that controls hot and cold will only go halfway so the water is lukewarm. I've seen this in another house and it is an installation problem. I think this one was probably installed wrong from day one, but the previous owners never used it and so didn't know. The thing of it is, even if we had come in person to look at the house ourselves, I wouldn't have tested these things out myself. That's what the darn house inspector is supposed to do!

Oh and that home warranty that the sellers paid for doesn't cover the plumbing problem because it is an installation problem; the policy covers only items that wear out.

The other thing is that we were spoiled by the oversized 3-car garage we had in Nevada. This house has the standard two car garage. No place to store the lawn mower we'll eventually need. We didn't ask about the garage in advance, but it would not have been a deal-breaker if we had known. Storage sheds for items like lawn mowers are the norm here, so eventually we'll need to get one. Luckily we're going into winter so it's not necessary that we deal with it immediately.

Despite the items I've pointed out as issues--the paint, which we already knew about; the plumbing problem that the house inspector should have caught; and the garage size--the house is proving to be ideal for our combined family. My mom and I cook the main meal relieving my grandparents of a task that has become difficult for them. We've somewhat divided the house, giving the main floor to my grandparents, while we reside in the basement. We're nearby for anything they need, but we each have our space. Given our specific needs, price range, and time constraints, I highly doubt that we could have done any better if we had made the trip to see houses in person.

Monday Miscellaneous

2010-11-22T06:27:00.000-08:00

Out of Sight, Out of Mind No More:

Last winter I began hand-quilting the Scrappy Star, then put away in April or May when it became too hot to hold it on my lap. When I packed it away for the move, it was still too warm to hold on my lap to quilt. The unpacking was a different story. I'm now back at work on it with a handful of blocks left to do, and some work on the borders. I'm seeing a strong possibility of being able to finish it some time this winter.

Cousin's Visit:

My cousin, Lori and her husband Eric are visiting this week, spending time between her mom's house and ours. Lori and I haven't seen one another in 10 years, and yet except for catching up on the miscellaneous of our lives, in some ways it seems like we'd just seen each other yesterday. It's always been like that with us.

We took a photo tour of Newton yesterday. Eric is a wonderful photographer. He couples an artist's eye with a bit of whimsy. I think (I hope) he plan to share some of the pictures with me so I can share with you.

Copying is the Highest Form of Flattery:

Last week, P. from The Way I Sew It shared the commercials she found funny. It got me to thinking about my favorite commercial. Here it is: (I hope you enjoy it too.)

Favorite Things Friday--Organization

2010-11-18T20:21:00.000-08:00

An organized room.

Organization is a vastly under-appreciated state of being--until you don't have it. I've recently discovered that organization is one of my very most favorite things.

Today, my room is finally organized (okay there are a couple of little things on the dresser that you can't see that still needs some attention, but it's mostly good). I've discovered the clutter in my house is directly proportional to the clutter in my brain. The more items that have been put in their proper place, the more space I have in my brain.

Organization saves time--no more searching for things. Organization saves energy--no more searching for things. Organization improves mood--no more frustration while searching for things. (I bet you're beginning to see a trend here, eh?) Organization feels successful. It will be a long time before I take it for granted again.

Familiarizing Ourselves with Newton through Fabric

2010-11-17T15:34:00.000-08:00

My mom and I took a well-earned break from the unpacking today. We had an excuse. The coolant system in the car needed to be flushed after its hissy fit in Flagstaff. The kind man who helped me added water to the system to get me through to Newton--which it did very successfully--but that wasn't satisfactory for getting us through the winter. We located our local Dodge dealer and got it done early this morning.

After that we decided to treat ourselves to a little exploration in downtown Newton. The weather was typical November weather for Kansas--cloudy and gray with a bit of a bite to the air and erratic wind gusts. We didn't let that dampen our spirits though.

Goal number one was to find the local quilt store. Oh yum! The fabric array was just as beautiful as I'd hoped. For quilters like me who love black and white prints her shop is a must see. I bet she had 30 bolts of different black and white fabrics. I managed to restrain myself since we're still digging out and organizing the fabric we do have. But only for a moment. There was a display quilt made up with these fairy panels:

I've been eying the fairy fabric that's being featured in Keepsake Quilting. I'm not sure if this is exactly the same, but it's close if it's not. My excuse is that I have a little cousin who might enjoy a fairy quilt, but the truth is, I just want to make one. Guess there's still a little girl lurking in me. :-)

We also located the Et Cetera shop. It's the local Mennonite version of the Salvation Army. They accept donations which are sold in the shop and the proceeds go back to help the community. We needed to drop off some kitchen items. Since we're combining two households, we've got a lot of duplicate items.

Naturally we had to look around. The shop has a fabric remnant bin. The sign said to get a sack from the cashier and fill it for fifty cents. Yep, fifty cents. Can you believe it?

For a scrappy quilter like myself, this was just too much fun.

We also located the local organic food shop and stopped in for coffee. Being a quilter I enjoyed the handmade items featured there--honey, salsa, syrup. Nice ambiance. The store has a very high ceiling. Hard for me to guess, but well over the twelve feet featured in many old buildings. It has a tin pressed ceiling (at least I think that's the right term for it). I plan to take my camera next time we go. The tin ceiling would be a great item for Vintage Thingie Thursday.

Oh and by the way, after I whined on Monday about not even working on the New York Beauty blocks, I got them out. I've now completed another one, and seem to be rolling along. Hopefully, I'll be able to get back to FMQ soon too.

Monday Miscellaneous

2010-11-15T07:16:00.000-08:00

New Blog Name:

Since I no longer reside in the desert, it just seemed wrong to continue as The Desert Quilter. A kind of false advertising (although I honestly doubt that I’ll quilt any differently than I did in the desert). I’m now officially The Prairie Quilter. I tried to think of a funny blog name, like Quilting In My Pyjamas or Confessions of Fabric Addict; I tried to think of a clever play on words like The Way I Sew It or Such a Sew and Sew; or even a blog title with a bit of whimsy like Taradiddle and Malarky. I got zilch, zip, nada. It just seemed a straight shot from The Desert Quilter to the Prairie Quilter, so that’s how it is.

I also have a new email address attached to my blog: michelle_of_the_prairie AT yahoo.com. (I'm nothing if not predictable, eh?) Hopefully, all the blog settings are correct. When I'm sure the new email address is working well, I'll phase out the old one. It really needs to go. I ordered some meds online and the company must have sold my email address. Now, I'm getting all kinds of ads for viagra amongst other things, and a lot of it is getting by the spam filter. Very irritating.

Unpacking:

Unpacking is the gift that keeps on giving. We’re probably about half done. Here’s what happened when I unpacked a box of clocks:

We’re not up to officially placing clocks, pictures, or wall-hangings on the walls yet. However, the previous tenant left this wall full of screws. (I’ve been wondering what they had hung there.) It seemed a good place to “store” the clocks until they find a permanent home. The interesting thing is that I kind of like it.

The room pictured is the sewing room (please ignore the mess). Yep it has a wet bar—sink and small fridge. We’ve got the coffee pot and toaster in place and will be adding a microwave soon.

Cat-Proofing the Kitchen:

Charley may be my quilt inspector, but he doesn’t limit his inspecting to quilts. Kitchen cabinets are also fair game. So I’ve been installing latches (no picture) and knobs. The knobs make it easier to open a cabinet with a latch on it, and it dresses them up a bit. I’m thankful for all the times I served as my dad’s helper. Until now, I’d never drilled a hole, but I can’t count the number of times I watched him do it. It’s coming in very handy.

New Ailment:

I’ve developed a most distressing ailment. It’s called TripleT Q. It stands for Too Tired To Quilt. I haven’t quilted since I left Pahrump—not even hand-piecing on the NYBs. I so miss it, but the brain just doesn’t have room to think about it. It’s all unpacking all the time, and then when I can relax a bit in the evening, I’m just too darn tired. I never thought I’d say that.

Blogland:

I’m still hit and miss on my blog reading. You don’t know how I miss being able to sit and relax, and just peruse all your quilty loveliness. However, I do try to reward myself from time to time. If I’ve missed reading your blog lately, believe me it’s under duress. The darn boxes just keep demanding attention.

Move is Complete--Mostly

2010-11-11T05:31:00.000-08:00

(Newton, Kansas)

We're here. Those two words are among the finest I've ever spoken. Seriously.

The Road Trip:
In my humble opinion, road trips are vastly over-rated. I enjoyed them when I was a kid, but in recent years, not so much. It proved to be even more exhausting when I was doing all the driving. I've vowed that in the future, if I'm going anywhere further than a day's a drive, I'm flying or taking the train.

To make the road trip even more exciting, we had car trouble. Our Dodge--the car with less than 13,000 miles on it--decided to act up the first day out. We'd just pulled up in front of the hotel in Flagstaff, when I noticed steam coming from underneath the hood. I got out and pink fluid was spewing from below. Ack! Being pink, I was sure it was transmission fluid. Opened the hood to see it coming from the coolant tank--which was puzzling. The hotel manager was really nice and said we could leave the car there until we could get service for it the next day. Called my male relatives to pick their brains, but they were at a loss about how transmission fluid could get into the coolant tank.

In the meantime, I was so tired I could have taken my brain out and played it with it. Then had the added fun of having a full-blown anxiety attack about how long we'd be stuck in Flagstaff, and whether I could trust whatever mechanic I might choose.

Fast forward to the next day, and the hotel maintenance man had the front desk call me to tell me he didn't think it was transmission fluid and he'd look at the problem with me. Before I could get out to the car, my uncle called and told me his mechanic said that some coolant is pink now. (Pink! They had to make it the same freakin' color as transmission fluid? What's up with that?) So I met with the maintenance guy and he tells me it absolutely is not transmission fluid. He checked out all the fluid lines and determined there was no leak except out of the coolant tank. (The car never registered as being hot either.) Anyway, he looked at the radiator cap and found some grit under it. He said that could cause a pressure build-up. So he put water in the tank, cleaned the cap, and then waited while the car got up to temperature to verify that we wouldn't have a repeat performance. It's been fine ever since. What a lifesaver. Bless you Ryan!

The Cat:
Charley pretty much hated riding in the car. He yowled from Pahrump, clear to the other side of Vegas, then it became more intermittent. The intermittent protest was pretty much the norm the entire trip. (How can a cat cause such guilt?) The first night in the hotel he hid under the bed for 4 hours. At the next hotel stop he wasn't nearly so timid. By the time we arrived at the house, he was ready to explore. This house has stairs, and the first night, he really enjoyed running up and down.

At This Moment in Time:
The furniture has arrived with like a bajillion boxes. With the boxes stacked around, it looks like a bunch of hoarders live here. We're unpacking, but it hasn't made too much of a dent yet.

I need to make changes to my blog. Obviously, I'm no longer the "desert" quilter, and my weather app needs to be adjusted to our new location.

I hope to get back to blog reading soon. I've really been missing you all.

Blogger's Quilt Festival, Fall 2010: Angie's Garden

2010-10-29T07:29:00.000-07:00

(Angie's Garden)

This is one of my favorite quilts. Why? Because it was the result of a round robin conducted through the Internet back when so many of us were new to it in the mid-90's, and the Internet still seemed like a little bit of magic. I'd become involved in a block exchange through the World Wide Quilting Page. The page is defunct now, but then it was a good way to meet quilters.

After the block exchange was done a few of us decided to do a round robin. We each made our own medallions. I'd always loved the Dresden Plate pattern and was excited to try it as a medallion. Then we put our medallions in the mail to the next person on the list. The quilter added one border and shipped the top on to the next quilter. In this way the borders were added. We kept to a schedule, insuring that everyone was forwarding the projects to the next person close to the same time. It was such a blast, because we had no idea what the top was going to look like when it came back to us.

I couldn't believe the beauty I unwrapped when the top finally came home.

Originally, there was another border on the outside of the top. It was as lovely as the others. You can imagine how sick I felt when I discovered the quilter had inadvertently snipped a block. Unfortunately, by the time I discovered the cut, the quilter had moved and we'd lost contact, so I couldn't ask her for replacement fabric. I had no fabric like she'd used, and at that time I wasn't aware of quilters giving a shout out to other quilters in search of fabric. I had no idea how to fix it.

Ultimately, I decided to remove the last border. I donated the blocks to an organization who made quilts for battered women.

The quilt is mostly hand-quilted. By the time I got to the last border, I simply wanted it done, so I machine quilted it. I've discovered that I get a sense of satisfaction quilting blocks that are all the same size. You get one done, and move on. However, on a quilt with increasingly large borders, I found it frustrating. I won't hand-quilt a medallion quilt again for this reason.

I named the quilt Angie's Garden after my friend Angie. Angie did the applique on the quilt. She was one of my first Internet friends. She lived in Oakland, California and I lived in Independence, Kansas. She was an older lady, and I was in my early 30's. However, our love of quilting and the Internet made us fast friends. We never met in person. About five years after we got acquainted, Angie passed away. I was still working on the quilt then, but I knew what I would name it when it was finished.

I almost didn't enter the Blogger's Quilter Festival this fall. Tomorrow, I will be packing up my computer in preparation for making a 1200 mile move on Monday. I'll have to delay looking at everybody's wonderful quilts, and I won't be able to respond to comments for a week. However, Sarah at Confessions of Fabric Addict convinced me to enter anyway. After careful consideration, I realized she was right. The Blogger's Quilt Festival will give me something to look forward to when I arrive and again have Internet service.

So if I can manage this entry under these circumstances, you can certainly manage to enter something too. The Blogger's Quilt Festival is open to entry for a week. Click on the link below and show off your some of your quilty loveliness. :-)

Monday Miscellaneous

2010-10-25T08:09:00.000-07:00

The Weather:
For most days of the year, Pahrump skies are sunny, cloudless, and beautiful. After all, we get only about 4 inches of rain per year.

However, for the last week or so, our skies have been gloomy as in the picture below. What's up with this? The moving truck is arriving in a week, and I could really use some of the lovely, sunny Nevada weather that we're used to. There will be plenty of cloudy days back in Kansas. I don't need them now.

Fabric:
I bought new fabric yesterday morning, and it is all Mrs. P.'s fault. ;-) She asked me via email if I was having quilting withdrawal. Yes, I am! I'm missing rummaging through my fabrics that are all packed, and I'm missing my sewing machine. The one saving grace is my hand-pieced New York Beauty project. But Mrs. P.'s question got me to thinking.... I counted the NYB blocks I have left to do, and at the rate that I'm finishing them, I'm going to be done with them BEFORE we get to Kansas. Ack! I can't be without any quilting to do at all.

Since I have the colored pieces of a new Drunkard's Path cut, that project is all ready to go if I cut the off-white as I go along.

Naturally, the off-white tone on tone that I bought for the project is packed with some glassware somewhere. So I had to buy more. This fabric isn't exactly the same as the original but it will do.

But feeling as deprived as I do, I couldn't stop there. Oh no, I had to have 4 yards of the this bit of loveliness. I do have a recipient in mind for the quilt I will eventually make from this. Until today, I didn't even know I was making a quilt for this couple.

So thanks Mrs. P.!

New York Beauties:
Speaking of New York Beauties, here are the latest:

I've got only 24 left to do--about twelve days work.

A Giveaway:
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict is having a giveaway to celebrate her birthday. How awesome is that? She's got a couple of great prizes. Be sure to check it out here.

Bloggers Quilt Festival:
The 2010 Autumn edition of the Blogger's Quilt Festival begins October 29th. It's open to all manner of blogger quilty-ness. Check out the guidelines at Amy's Creative Side and join in the fun!

Monday Miscellaneous Suspended Briefly:
There will be no further posts to this blog after Saturday, October 30th, until we have arrived in Kansas and have phone/DSL service--sometime around November 8th. It's a long time for me to be without access to my email buddies and bloggy friends. So I'm trying to prepare myself for the lack.

On November 2nd, we'll head down this road to Las Vegas and points east.

Bought a House Online: Part One

2010-10-22T17:03:00.000-07:00

I can hear you now. They bought a house online? Are they crazy or what? (I suppose the crazy part IS debatable....)

Under most circumstances, I wouldn't consider buying a house sight unseen. However being able to do so made life so much easier. First off, my mother and I are the primary caretakers of my 87 and 88 year old grandparents. They are doing well, but we would never leave them alone for the time it would take for us to go the 1200 miles to Kansas and house shop. And, neither one of us wanted to take on the responsibility of house shopping alone. We'd resigned ourselves to renting and then house shopping after we were there--a process that would require finding the right rental property, then the right house, and moving twice. Moving once is no fun, but twice?

At the same time we were mulling over how to get this complicated move done, we were looking at houses online. We told ourselves we just needed to get a feel for what was available so we could hit the ground running after we arrived. Then we came across a house that would be perfect for the four of us. It was nice to know something like we wanted was available. After that we began to worry that it would be snatched up before we got there. Hmmmm.

So the conversations went something like this:

"It would be so much easier to move only once...."

"Yes, but wouldn't it be dumb to buy a house without seeing it in the flesh?"

And we'd agree that it was, and then try to ignore that beautiful house and the 30 pictures of it on the real estate agent's website.

However, it wasn't long before we asked ourselves what we would need to know in order to feel comfortable purchasing a house sight unseen--except through cyberspace. Here's what we decided:

1. We'd need to know about the neighborhood. Fortunately, we weren't totally disadvantaged. Newton is a town of only 20,000 people. My mom and I were somewhat familiar having passed through Newton on our way to somewhere else, but my grandparents had been there many times, and in fact they had friends who lived there. Upon further investigation we discovered that their friends lived only 3 blocks from the house we were considering. Okay, we had confirmation that the house was in a nice neighborhood.

2. Is the house as pretty in person as it is the pictures? Maybe the photographer is only showing the best stuff? I doubted it because 30 pictures is a lot, and it would seem unlikely that with that many photos they could be hiding much. Still.... So we asked one of those trusted family members we're moving 1200 miles to be near if she would go look. Bless her, she had no problem at all doing that. We got a wonderful report back. The house was beautiful and she wouldn't hesitate to buy it.

3. So is the beauty only skin deep? We hired a home inspector to check out the things that aren't cosmetic. He did indeed find a wiring problem in the basement, and an issue with the sprinkler system. We brought these to the sellers' attention and those issues were fixed.

Those were the three major questions, and for two out of the three, we relied on friends and family to determine the answers. Without the help of trusted friends and family, this wouldn't have happened. It was a perfect set of circumstances that made this doable.

Here's where we are~the closing was done as of today. We are now the new owners of a house in which we know what a lot of the rooms look like due to the pictures, and we know the size of the rooms, but don't have a clear picture of the layout of the house. So while I feel comfortable that the house is in good shape, and will suit our needs, there's still some mystery about the place. Needless to say, there is a sense of adventure about the day we roll up in front of our new house.

I'll do "Bought a House Online: Part Two" after we get there. Then we'll find out if there is anything else we should have considered.

Favorite Things Friday--Green Lights

2010-10-21T17:10:00.000-07:00

It's time for another Favorite Things Friday hosted by Mrs. P at Quilting in my Pyjamas. Link up and join in the fun!

Today, I've decided that one of my very most favorite things are green lights across the board on my DSL modem.

(My apologies for the blurry picture. It turns out that green lights are rather hard to photograph--at least for me.)

You see, yesterday I didn't have green lights across the board and I had no internet access. A storm came through during the night. It wasn't bad. We live in Nevada after all; not the Midwest (at least for a little bit longer). Nevertheless, it affected my service. I cannot tell you what 24 hours without my blog friends, email, access to banking, and the news can do to a person. When I know I'm going to be without service, I prepare. However, when it's imposed by external events..., well let's just say it's ugly.

Monday Miscellaneous, and a Question

2010-10-18T06:55:00.000-07:00

The Garage Sale:

The garage sale was more successful than I'd imagined. I had visions of sitting bored out of my mind, and ending up with darn near as much stuff as we started with. Boy was I surprised! On Friday morning, people started arriving before our advertised start time. That was okay because we had done most of the organizing beforehand. We had customers all day long. By the end of the day, we'd sold the majority of what we'd had. Ironically, on Saturday we had a only a handful of people by noon, and had done less that fifteen dollars worth of business. So, we picked up our signs and closed up shop. We'll donate the remainder of the items to a local church that does a lot of good work in the community.

We met some interesting characters during the sale. Pahrump, Nevada is probably about as close to the wild west as you can get and still live within 75 miles of civilization. Case in point, Pahrump is home to Ray the Flagman. Ray is a 2nd Amendment activist. Many days you can see him standing on Pahrump's main street, wearing his 6 shooter on his hip, holding the American flag, and handing out copies of the 2nd Amendment to anyone who passes his way. I kid you not. No, Ray didn't come to the garage sale, but that's okay because we've talked to Ray a few times since we've lived here--but not about the 2nd Amendment. Ray will talk about the weather too. One of the last times we saw him was standing at the pharmacy counter at Wal-mart. And yes, he had his gun on his hip. You see, there's no law against it here, although you cannot bring your gun into the casinos. (Casinos hold the real power here in Nevada.)

(Since I know some of you will think I'm exaggerating, check out this blog. Yep, Ray the Flagman is mentioned in it along with some of Pahrump's other characters.)

But I digress. I used Ray just so you could get the "flavor" of Pahrump. We met some chatty people just about as unique as Ray, however they were not quite as focused on a cause as he is. Interestingly enough, the chattiest people proved to be men. I got the whole behind the scenes good ol' boy political history from one guy. It was so detailed with so many factions of whom I wasn't aware, after the first 10 minutes I was lost. That was okay, because he found a customer who was more well-informed than me, and the two of them talked for another twenty minutes. I did get the picture that these good ol' boy politics in Pahrump are pretty darn ruthless though.

Charley:

Given all the strange people in the garage, Charley felt the vulture perch was the best place to be during the garage sale hullabaloo.

The Question:

Seems odd that when I started this blog, I couldn't conceive a situation in which I might no longer be quilting in the desert. What's that old John Lennon quote? "Life's what's happening when you're making plans." There's another quote that the internet source attributed to Jewish wisdom that goes something like this: "We make plans and God laughs." No matter. The point is I named my blog The Desert Quilter back in February and less than a year later, I'm moving. Need to change the blog name to something like The Prairie Quilter or The Midwest Quilter. Anyway, herein lies the problem. What is the best way to do that?

Here are the options that I've come up with:
1. Leave the URL the same, and just change the header. I think that might be a bit confusing though. The upside is that I wouldn't lose any parts of my blog, or my followers.
2. Supposedly blogger allows an option to set up a new blog and import an old blog. This sounds like it has possibilities, but how does it work? How well does it work? And I think there's a good chance it won't import my followers.
3. I don't really have a number three, but I hope maybe some of you will. I'm open to all manner of knowledge, suggestions, and opinions. In short: HELP!

A Beg and a Giveaway:

Suzanne, the Colorado Lady, is needing small pieces of scraps for a quilt she is making. She is using 2" squares to make a quilt, and if I understand correctly, it's necessary for each square to be from different fabric. (Not sure if that's 2" finished or unfinished.) Hence the small scraps. Let me be clear, she's asking for scraps and will cut the squares herself. Oh, and the quilt is going to be king-sized.

Anyone who sends some scraps is entered in the giveaway. I've got 60 in an envelope that will go out in today's mail. While the giveaway is generous, I must admit, I'm really just curious to see this quilt completed.

Favorite Things Friday: Quilters

2010-10-14T18:37:00.000-07:00

Another Friday has rolled around (at least in Australia), and so that means it's time for Favorite Things Friday hosted by Mrs. Pyjamas at Quilting in My Pyjamas. Come on and join in the fun!

So with no further ado~one of my very most favorite things are quilters. As a group, quilters tend to be the friendliest, most generous, caring group of people I've ever had the pleasure and honor with which to be associated. (I was going to say deal with, but I didn't want to end my sentence with a preposition.)

As most of you know, I've been going through a tough time, but I've had so much support both on the blog and through personal emails, that I never feel completely alone. You can't imagine what a blessing that is.

I'm surprised I didn't think of putting quilters as my favorite thing sooner, but it was a gift from Elizabeth at Such a Sew and Sew, which arrived today, that brought it home to me like a thwack upside the head. Bless her. She'd read my blog article about the Dark and Stormy Night quilt in which I'd stated that I was still collecting purples. Look what she sent to me:

Eight glorious purple pieces of fabric. (My camera made some look more blue than they are.) How wonderful is that? One of them even looks like a Dark and Stormy Night. Elizabeth's gift is the perfect example of what I mean by friendly and generous. Thank you so much Elizabeth!

And thank you so much quilty friends!

Monday Miscellaneous

2010-10-11T07:29:00.000-07:00

A Fabulous Giveaway:

Carla at Sew It Up Baby is generously giving away this lovely wall-hanging.

The giveaway lasts through October 14th. Each person can earn up to 4 chances to win. Be sure to get on over there and enter. (Although really, it would be better for me if you didn't, because then my competition wouldn't be so fierce.) ;-)

Packing the Odd Items:

Have you ever tried to pack an electric guitar and electric bass--neither of which have cases? It's not easy.

(Charley is supervising)

We got this box at the recycle bin when we were dropping off our recyclables. A bit of luck there, finding a box that would fit both guitars. I've tied the guitars to the back of the box. Padding them proved to be a challenge. As you can see there are bath mats in the mix. I used a couple of sheets too. Then my mom remembered the 1 1/2" thick piece of foam rubber we'd been saving because it was "just too good to throw away". For once, saving something like that turned out to be a good thing. It was just the ticket for padding the guitars. As long as the movers don't sling the box around too much, they should be okay, I think--I hope.

As for all the other crap we've saved because it was "just too good to throw away", it's either in the trash or will be in next weekend's garage sale. I don't know how we've accumulated so much stuff in the eight years since we moved to Nevada with nothing but what we could fit in a covered pick-up truck.

Quilting Withdrawal:

Yes, I'm still working on the New York Beauties. If I've counted right, I have 159 done. Here's the latest batch:

Currently, they are my only quilting outlet. As much as I enjoy doing them, I find that I enjoyed them more after some FMQ on the Juki. I guess, I need to have my quilting activities mixed up for maximum satisfaction. The sad thing is, I'm afraid I'm going to get all the blocks done BEFORE I get settled again. Then what I am going to do? Kind of ironic considering that back when I started, 196 blocks seemed rather daunting.

Favorite Things Friday--Hollyhocks

2010-10-07T18:25:00.000-07:00

Hollyhocks are one of my favorite things, although I am partial to flowers in general. It's funny to consider how some things become favorites. In the case of the hollyhocks, I think it was osmosis.

My dad always associated hollyhocks with his grandmother. Apparently, they were a constant staple in her flower beds. By the time I knew my great grandmother, she was still doing some gardening, but not much. Since her gardening stamina was limited, she preferred to invest her energy in tomatoes rather than flowers. Despite the fact I never never saw her grow hollyhocks, the association my dad had with hollyhocks and his grandma somehow became my association too. I always feel her love when I see them.

When I lived in Kansas, hollyhocks were a staple in my flower beds too. You can't imagine my delight when I discovered they would grow in southern Nevada. Not only could I continue to grow the flower that has such happy associations for me, but considering the fact that so many plants just aren't hardy enough for the desert, it was a double blessing. (While trying to learn to garden in the desert, I think my kill rate was about 50%.) Not only do they tolerate the dry, hot weather, they self-seed. The two hollyhocks in the picture are volunteers. You know, it just doesn't get much better than that.

Dakota Star

2010-10-07T13:22:00.000-07:00

Although I do have one hand-pieced quilt project (the New York Beauty blocks) I'm continuing to work on during this busy time, there isn't much other quilting I can do while packing up for our move. We're in a bit of frenzy trying to get everything done before the moving date. Packing is exhausting work. At the end of the day, I'm too tired to do much quilting, and at this point a lot of our supplies are in boxes anyway.

Fortunately, I can still get my quilting fix with the Electric Quilt program. The pattern is called Dakota Star. The illusion of curved lines fascinates me. I created this quilt to get outside of my usual color scheme--blue, purple, green with maybe one warm color added. I wanted the oranges and reds to predominate. I don't know if I've succeeded in them being the predominate colors, however, it's a stretch over my usual color scheme where the warm colors are a distinct minority.

I'm very pleased with the result. Now if it just looks this good when I actually try to make it. This quilt is on my bucket list. I'm looking forward to working with these colors, and collecting the orange and red fabrics, for which my stash is definitely lacking. Oh darn, more fabric shopping! ;-)

Monday Miscellaneous

2010-10-04T07:21:00.000-07:00

My Dad's Memorial Celebration:

My dad's memorial celebration was held this weekend. It was an immediate family event, so there were just twelve of us. They all stayed at the house because there was a couple of events going on in town that had all the hotel rooms booked. It was crowded, and some of the accommodations weren't ideal, but I'm glad it happened that way. It was wonderful having everyone to support one another during the entire weekend.

The actual memorial was Friday evening. It wasn't formal, just various family members sharing their thoughts and memories, and finishing with the Miller Lite toast (my dad's beer of choice). A lot of remembering went on all weekend, and I think it was good for us all to be together for more than just the scheduled time for the memorial. We laughed and we cried. Before my dad's death, we'd had this group to the house for semi-yearly family reunions, which were basically big parties--quite a few beer connoisseurs in the family, my dad included. So the party tradition had to continue for the memorial too. Beer and guitar playing. The group really got going, belting out the words to "Cover of the Rolling Stone". Dr. Hook didn't have anything on us. My dad would have loved it.

Back to the Move:
This morning, we'll turn all of our energies once again toward the move. Packing will begin in earnest, and we'll make preparations for the garage sale scheduled for weekend after next. Although I enjoy visiting garage sales, I'm really not a fan of having them. But how else do you get rid of all the miscellaneous crap you've gathered through the years? The moving truck is coming November 1st, and time really seems short now.

You Might Be a Quilter If....

2010-09-29T10:01:00.000-07:00

You might be a quilter if: when the moving company representative tells you it's okay to leave your clothes, sheets, and towels in the dresser drawers, you immediately start removing the clothes, sheets and towels and instead fill them with quilts and quilt projects, reasoning that they are less likely to lose a piece of furniture rather than a box.

(The current New York Beauty project)

(A vintage Dresden Plate quilt made by my great grandmother.)

(A hand-pieced Drunkard's Path)

While I have no pictures for this one, because all of these boxes are taped closed~you might be a quilter if: instead of wrapping and padding your fragile items with newspaper, you use fabric from your stash instead.

Monday Miscellaneous

2010-09-27T07:33:00.000-07:00

First off, I want to thank everyone who offered their sympathy and reassurance to last Monday's Miscellaneous Meltdown. (That probably would have been a more appropriate title, don't you think?)

Anyway, since then, the seller's have agreed to make the repairs to the electrical system, and the irrigation guy put in the pressure reducers. The irrigation guy is a nice person, but he wasn't happy about installing the pressure reducers. He is one of those people that thinks something "should" be done a certain way--in this case maximum water delivery in the shortest amount of time--and it bothers him when it's not. I was breaking one of his rules. I told him that I understood what he was saying, but to humor me, because I could not afford a complete re-do of the entire irrigation system.

Now that we've got most things in order around here, we put the house on the market:

Mt. Charleston is visible in the background. It's an 11,000 foot peak that's beautifully decorated with snow every winter.

Listing the house is bittersweet. Nevada has been good to us for the last 8 years, but our needs are different now.

****

We're getting ready for my dad's memorial next weekend.

(1944-2010)

It won't be anything formal. (My dad hated funerals.) Just family celebrating his life. So we'll share stories and remberances, drink some beer, and hopefully get out the guitars and play a little. My dad was the best musician in the family. However, my cousin, Ben, has a natural talent for it, so now the honor of primary musician falls to him. Me? I inherited no musical ability whatsoever. I can play a solid blues bass, but it's only because it's relatively simple and I've practiced A LOT. Don't ask me to improvise though.

(My dad, Bill, Ben, and Mike, my dad's brother)

We'll try to give my dad a send off appropriate to who he was.

Favorite Things Friday

2010-09-23T17:28:00.000-07:00

Ever since Mrs. Pyjamas began Favorite Things Friday, I knew I could put this favorite thing off for only so long. It's been vying for the place of honor since day one. Truly, it deserves a place of honor. My computer is one of my very most favorite things.

The reason is simple. It has allowed me to connect with people from all over the world, and some of those people have become very dear friends. Yes, the computer permits other types of coolness~I can read the news, research answers to questions, find a new house, pay my bills, swap my paperback books, and buy fabric to name just a few. However nothing can compare to the friendships I've made through this little miracle of technology that we've all learned to take for granted.

Head on over to Quilting in My Pyjamas, and check out everyone else's favorite things.

Dark and Stormy Night

2010-09-22T18:22:00.000-07:00

There is one project on my WIP list that I have yet to blog about: Dark and Stormy Night (Storm at Sea). Despite the fact that I usually find naming quilts an arduous process, this one came unbidden. Probably because Snoopy in Peanuts started all of his creative writing endeavors with, "It was a dark and stormy night..." This always gave me a giggle (yeah, I know, I'm easily entertained). However, it seems perfect for this quilt.

The picture above is courtesy of my EQ5 program. I have not proceeded very far with the project. I'm still cutting the pieces. While the project will be color controlled in that all the blue pieces will be some shade of blue, the green pieces some shade of green, etc., each of the 64 blocks will be unique. No fabric repeats. That probably sounds crazy to a lot of quilters, but for me, it's fun. I'm still collecting fabrics for the purple and green pieces. The blue pieces are all cut.

My favorite colors are blue, purple, and green. Yet as a rule, I tend to pair them with at least one warm color. It always seemed to me that cool colors tend to need warm colors and visa-versa. Art theory tends to confirm this. My art background is very minimal, being limited to one art education class back when I thought I was going to become a teacher. The teacher spent a lot of time teaching us about the color wheel. Complimentary colors: those straight across the wheel from each other. Analogous colors: those right next to each other. Apparently, there are defined ways of putting colors together in order to create an attractive combination.

Then she told us about the painting "Blue Boy" by Thomas Gainsborough.

Apparently Gainsborough broke the color theory rules when he created this painting. The theory is that warm colors give the feeling of moving toward the viewer, while cool colors--like blue--give the feeling of receding from the viewer. Gainsborough proved this didn't necessarily have to be the case, because Blue Boy feels fully front and center in this painting. Of course, if there are any warm colors to be found in this painting they are very muted.

I have no idea why this particular thing of the many things that art education teacher taught us stuck in my head, but it did. So my Storm at Sea is my own attempt to make cool colors come forward. I'm doing it by making the background totally black. A cheat compared to Gainsborough's beautiful painting. Nevertheless, there you have it.