Monday Miscellaneous

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.

Monday Miscellaneous, and a Question

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.

Monday Miscellaneous

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.

Book Giveaway: Day Number Eight

 

Last, but not least, I bring to you another book on crochet. Quick and Cozy Afghans.  The back cover's only description is:  A Series from the Oxmoor House.  Really, the title says it all, so I don't know what else the back cover needed to say.

My mom has made two afghans from this book.  They both turned out beautifully.  (I'd take pictures, but they're packed away until winter.)  However, at this point, she says she's done making afghans for awhile and so we ought to pass the book along.

For the final time, all you have to do to enter the drawing is to comment.  It's okay to comment even if you don't want to enter, but be sure to make it clear you're not interested.

While all the books have garnered some comments, none of them have an "over-abundance" of entries. So far, the book that has garnered the most interest is Free-Style Quilts with 10 actual entrants (still subject to change until tomorrow at noon). The competition isn't all that fierce.

If you're just now coming to the eight days of book giveaways, it's not too late to check out the books from previous four days.  The giveaways will close at noon (Pacific Standard Time) on September 7th and winners will be announced September 8th.

Note:  Again, for those of you who use the "noreply-comment@blogger.com" for your reply email, you will need to provide some contact information to me if you should win.  Please be sure to come back and see if you are a winner on September 8th.  As it stands, there are several people who have entered the giveaway that I have no way to contact. As time is of the essence due to our impending move, I will only wait until Monday, September 13th before choosing a new winner.

Book Giveaway: Day Number Six

Crocheted Sweaters by Susan Huxley.  From the back cover:  You can create stylish, up-to-date crocheted sweaters, even if you've never held a crochet hook before!  Learn a few basic crochet stitches step by step, and then combine them in innovative ways for sensational sweaters--most designed especially with beginners in mind.

The reason I'm giving this book away is pretty much the same reason I'm giving the knitting book away--although I would truly love to make crocheted sweaters, learning to do it would take too much time away from quilting.


I know there are some crocheters (is that a word?) among us (Marg), so leave a comment to enter the drawing for this book.

And if you're just now coming to the eight days of book giveaways, it's not too late to check out the books from previous five days.  The giveaways will close at noon (Pacific Standard Time) on September 7th and winners will be announced September 8th.

Book Giveaway: Day Number Three

(My apologies for the camera flash on the book cover.)

For today's book giveaway, I offer Applique 12 Easy Ways by Elly Sienkiewicz.  From the back cover:  Applique 12 Easy Ways teaches you how to do hand applique simply.  Great drawings show exactly how it's done.  Even a beginner can make the small cover quilt, "You've Stolen My Heart".  As you sew, you'll learn a lifetime of applique skills in just a few evenings.  See your points, curves, and corners improve, heart by heart.

I do have an interest in applique.  In fact doing an applique wall-hanging is on my bucket list.  However, I have a feeling I need to move the applique project to my "maybe, someday" list.  I keep finding other projects to do instead.  Seeing that I'm really not progressing toward any applique project very quickly, I've decided I need to let this book go on to someone who may get some use out of it--or at least pretend they will as I have.

If you're interested in winning this book leave a comment.  (Or if you're not interested, but want to comment anyway, just leave a note in your message saying you're not interested.)

And if you're just now coming to the eight days of book giveaways, it's not too late to check out the books from Day Number One and Day Number Two.  Just comment in order to be placed in the drawing.  The giveaways will close at noon on September 7th and winners will be announced September 8th.

Book Giveaway: Day Number One

Snappy blog title eh?  Oh well, no one will mistake what's going on here.

For today's feature presentation, I give you Free Style Quilts, A "No Rules" Approach by Susan Carlson.  From the back cover:  Discover fun, creative fabric collage.  Susan Carlson's incredible quilts of underwater landscapes, floral designs, fish and portraits come to life as she shares her easy, "no rules" fabric collage technique and shows you how to create your own beautiful free-style quilt designs.

I'll tell you, the art quilts in this book are fantastic!  Awesome!  Beautiful!  What I discovered about myself in relation to this book is that when it comes to quilting (and most things in life), I'm more like Mr. Monk.  Traditional, orderly; definitely not "no rules" nor "free-style". 

For the more artistic and adventurous quilter, this would be a fantastic book--or for anyone who just wants to look at the pictures.  I've had this book for years, enjoyed the pictures, and never attempted one project in it.

If you're interested leave a comment.  (Or if you're not interested, but want to comment anyway, just leave a note in your message saying you're not interested.)

Good luck!

A Shout Out for Kristen at So Happy, and Quilter's Cache

Kristen at So Happy hosted the Dresden Plate Party which inspired the Dresden Plate that P. gave to me.  Now Kristen is hosting a giveaway.  She's giving away lots of cool stuff, so don't hesitate to check it out.  Maybe you'll be her next winner!

Secondly, several quilters commented on how much they liked the ribbon border in the Dresden Plate wall-hanging mock up I presented in A Quilty 4th of July Lift Off.  It had been my intention to mention the source of the ribbon border in that blog, but I was so excited to show off my plans for P.'s Dresden Plate, that I forgot it.  So I'm making amends now.  The source is Quilter's Cache, Borders.  The directions on how to make the ribbon border are there along with directions for over a dozen other borders. It's a wonderful resource, and I plan on using it again.