Pictures sent & house cleaning

I used my husband's digital camera and took several pictures of my fabric for Patchwork Illusions. After cropping one I sent it to Quilt University. Karen Combs recommended that rather than keep them in the same color, to arrange them by value.

I finally gave in and ordered the value lenses and Karen's diamond template to work on my homework in this class. I cannot wait for them to arrive.

On the home front we got everything out the dining room, living room and hall and had Stanley Steamer come in and clean the carpets. They look almost new except for the few stains that could not be removed. I am going to wait until the carpet is totally dry and try Oxi-Clean in a concentrated form and see if I can get out more.

The new couch was delivered yesterday evening and it looks so large compared to the old one. Because I had to take all the books out of the book cases in the living room and hall we had no bed to sleep in last night. Stanely Steamer recommended that we do not load the book cases until we remove the block underneath. That depends on how fast the carpet drys. Tonight I will replace the books after we remove the blocks from under the book case and then we can sleep in our own bed. The new couch is quite comfortable, but it is not going to become a regular thing!

The new dining room table will be picked up this weekend on Saturday or Sunday. No more card table to dine on! Hooray.

I am laying down the law to myself and DH that we will not dump anything in the living room or dining room and that they are to be kept neat at all times. Also, the frequency of dusting and vacuuming will be more often to keep it all clean! This is my new year’s resolution in July. LOL.

After I get one more room into my austerity program I will start on my sewing room /studio remodeling. I cannot wait, but have made a promise to myself that there are priorities and the studio comes second!

Have a nice day, Karen

OHAD

Success. I finally got one hour of piecing done yesterday. I have almost finished the fourth row of the apple core wall hanging. When this is completed my next project for during lunch hour at work is to finish cutting the pieces for my Patchwork Party 2008 blocks.

I have also made a great decision. James and I discussed how little use we get out of our family room in the lower level of our bi-level. I am going to take it over as my sewing room. It is about 30% of the house. What a wonderful place it will be. I will have room for all my sewing machines to be set up and maybe if I am a really good girl I will be able to by a long arm quilting machine and there will be room for it too. WOW!

Have a great day, Karen

A quiet weekend

After a very quiet weekend the moving week has arrived. I work for a large insurance company and they just completed the third tower of our complex. The first was occupied in 1986, the second in 2000 and now the third in 2008. They haven't started the fourth yet, but there are six in the original design. I will be working hard to purge obsolete files in my office and packing what will be in the new office. I hope to change from the "cluttered look" to the "professional office look" with nothing on the desktop but the current project. Since this is totally out of character, it should be a real shock to myself and my co-workers. Not much quilting will be going on this week as my hands will be really tired. In case I havent' mentioned it, I have rhuematoid arthritus and although in remission somewhat, my hands are really easy to injure.

I have finally gotten all my quilting stuff from the retreat downstairs in the house. I was going to do a quilting/washing machine marathon yesterday, but got caught up in a Louis L'Amour novel and couldn't put it down. Instead, I did a kitchen/reading marathon and wow I found my counters. You know the phrase "everything out on the counters"? Well I have counters again. I even made three pots of ice tea for my husband and baked brownies. I am quite content with the results. Now if I can get the final two counter areas clean I can start the next phase of kitchen remodeling. I need a new floor.

Tonight I have a get together with Quilted Chaos, a group of members from Ohio Valley Quilters Group (OVQG) and I hope to get a table runner cut out. It is based on a Timeless Treasures pattern available on the internet that uses a fabric with stripes. I cannot wait to get it cut out and get started on it. Today I will be working on cutting out additional blocks from my Patchwork Party Spring 2008 quilt during my lunch break. I have decided to get the blocks cut and then set the quilt aside for my October quilt retreat.

Well, I better get to work purging and packing my office.
Karen