FNSI - Friday, April 15

Friday is that time again. The Friday Night Sew In. I intend to take my bunny slippers down to my Sewing Studio and get the sewing machine in gear. Have a great day.

I haven't been quilting

The latest and last book in the "Earth Children" series comes out on Tuesday, March 29. I have been reading until my eyes cross to get through the previous 5 books. I will be able to download number 6 tomorrow morning on my way to work. I cannot believe that this is the final book in the series. The Clan of the Cave Bear September, 1980 The Valley of Horses September, 1982 The Mammoth Hungers Fall, 1985 The Plans of Passage November, 1990 The Shelters of Stone April, 2002 The Land of Painted Caves March, 2011 Knowing this author she may just have another book to add to the series. I will have to wait. In the meantime I have picked up my new Baby Lock Serger and need to find just the right place to put it into my Craft Studio. I have several UFO's that are crying out to me that they need to be finished. Have a great day.

Have not forgetten posting

Sorry about the length between posts. I have been doing a lot of knitting since mid December and the quilting fell by the way side.

You will never guess what I am getting. I am getting my quilting frame. I will buy one that can be used with a home sewing machine and if I ever get the money I will buy a mid or short arm machine.

This weekend DH and I will be making a space for the frame. Until that space is available I will not allow myself to order the frame. The money is tucked into a savings account specifically for the purchase.

Have a great weekend, Karen

Quilter's Design Table

JoAnn's had a sewing table on sale and I showed it to DH. He said to go ahead and get it as my Christmas present. I spent all Saturday afternoon and evening putting it together. I got to bed at 2 A.M. The next morning DH helped me with a few things that I couldn't put together. All in all the dratted thing had 23 parts and too many screws, hinges, casters and wooden pins to count. I could not believe how stiff I was Sunday morning.

I am starting to set up the table to work on my Christmas presents. I have several mini quilts in mind to give to my daughter. I will post about them later.

See my new blog about knitting. I also have a blog called the bucket list. I hope you get a laugh from it.

Have a great day

Serger

I finally had enough money in my credit union savings account to purchase a serger. It is one of the least expensive of the Singer sergers on the market. I still have to read the directions and then find some fabric to practice on. I still have to make room for another machine.

Have a great day.

Organization Tips

Oh I wish I had some organization tips to give people who read my blog. There is only one thing that comes to mind right now.
1. A place for everything and everything in it's place.
2. Keep like things together in one place. (i.e.: All rotary cutters in a box, basket, or use a hanging shoe rack and keep them in a specific pocket.

I will try to come up with some more.

Anyone out there who has tips please share them with me and I will post them in a special side bar.

Studio Makeover

I keep procrastinating about my studio makeover. Tonight I will be taking all my quilting projects that are in the living room and moving them down to my original sewing room.

Maybe if I am in the lower area of the house I will be moved to work on the current family room to make it available for my studio.

All of the back issues of quilting magazines have finally arrived. My plan is to review one issue at lunch each day at work. Then I will take it home and enter it into my Quilt Magazine Database that evening. This will get the magazines put away as each one is entered.

I have gotten out the portable quilt frame and my Great Grandmother's quilt. They will be set up in the original sewing room and I will be working on the quilt until my guild meeting on June 1. That will give me 15 days to get it ready for viewing even if the hand quilting is not complete. I expect that Monday, May 25 (which is when the U.S. celebrates Memorial Day this year) will be a day of great progress. I intend to hide in my sewing room the entire day.

Have a great day.

Change in priorities

MIL is moving into a nursing home the end of this month. Because of my surgery I was not able to give her the quilt intended for Christmas. My new goal is to cut all the fabric, piece all the blocks, sew the blocks together, layer the backing, batting and top and sew it together like a pillow case and invert it. Then I will tie the quilt together rather than quilt it. I want to have it on her bed in the nursing home before she walks through the door or at least have it on my arm as the first thing to unpack.

All other projects will have to go to the bottom of the priority list for the time being. So many projects and so little time.

Our vacation schedule for 2009 has been fairly well settled. I plan on one week in Gatlinburg in March, one week in Orlando in April and three quilt retreats spread out through the year.

In the meantime I am slowly working my way into the family room to transform it into my sewing room / quilt studio. One item at a time each time I go down stairs. (Stairs are still difficult for me). My goal now is to have everything in place before we leave for Orlando so that I can pack quilting that is minimal in space requirements. Each time I pack I get a little better at taking only what I need and not over packing.

God bless you and keep you and your love ones safe and healthy.

More progress

I completed three more blocks last night. Then I realized that I had put the two side HST pieces on the wrong side and upside down. What a bummer!

Tonight I will be un-sewing the block and putting it back together in the correct order. This quilt is my top priority right now. I don't know how much longer DH will be able to live in our house. His health has taken a dramatic turn for the worse and I think he will be in a wheel chair shortly. I may have to take up the carpeting to make this happen.

Sorry to put such depressing news in my quilt blog.

I need to find a strong man to help me carry in two book cases and a student desk for my quilt studio. They have been riding around in my truck for weeks. Maybe I can use the wheel chair. LOL

Have a great and blessed day.

Another quilt layered and basted

Well, well, I have the NICU quilt layered and pin basted. The thumb is recovering from all the pin pricks and will be fine in a few days. The backing fabric will not be a good choice for reverse quilting. The clowns are too random and far apart.

This weekend JoAnn's has a fantastic sale with many 40% coupons. I will try to take advantage of as many of them as I can justify.

Cleaning continues one item at a time. Since it is supposed to rain most of the weekend, I hope to get quite a lot done in the family room. Perhaps I can start to move my sewing area into the smaller area in the L shape for the time.

Works continues as normal. Today is payday and I have a little left after all the bills were paid. I think we are going to dine out somewhere inexpensive this weekend just for a change.

Have a great day, Karen

Thursday Machine Quilting

Last evening I spent time trying to figure out machine quilting. I haven't done much beyond stitch-in-the-ditch and I was trying to do a long curve starting at the corner of four patches and swinging out into the patch on the right and then coming back to the seam line where the next two patches meet the previous two. Basically it grew into circles running through the intersection of the four patches.

It looks exactly like what it is; a beginner machine quilter trying out something new. Anyone looking at it up close will know it, but a novice will only see the circles. I am using a variegated 50/3 King Tut thread and it looks really great on both the top and bottom of the quilt. This will be one of the Kid's Komfort quilts I will be turning in at Guild at the October meeting.

DH had another bad day. I wish I could use different words for the good days and the bad days. He is so depressed right now that it is effecting his dementia and every day is not a good day. He finally figured out why his back is hurting worse the usual. He had put the lifts for his shoe into the wrong shoe. Since he is wearing a brace on his left leg that runs from inside the shoe all the way up his thigh, it makes his left leg longer and therefore he needs lifts in the right shoe. He hasn't been able to find the lifts for several days. He looked in both of his everyday shoes (right only) and did not realize that he had transposed the lifts into the left shoe. Once that was corrected he felt a lot better and the pain decreased measurably.

Tonight I am going to go through my stash and find a bolt of fabric I purchased on clearance that should work for the binding on all my Alaska quilt tops. I will need to get out the ironing board to iron the fabric and clear off my cutting table to make strips of fabric for the binding. This is a relatively new process for me. I usually cut my binding on the bias, but because these are quilts that have no curves, I am going to go with the straight of grain. Fun!

This weekend will be a continuation of changing the family room into my sewing room/quilt studio. My family room is L shaped and I have made some progress in the smaller area. If I can clear out what remains and take down the card table that I have been using for my grandson's coin collection I should have sufficient room to move my computer system and office furniture into this section. Once this is done I can start progress on the other section and have a place for R & R when my 60 year old body starts to complain. I really want to get everything totally out of the other area so that I can measure the remaining walls and mark exactly where the windows on the south wall are positioned. Then I can start drawing floor plans with more accuracy than I currently have.

BHG has a fabulous website for planning room layouts and I am using it currently to show a before layout and also working on a final layout. Having the before will allow me to know the dimensions of all my furniture and how they interact at this time.

This Studio Makeover will take about four months from start to completion and I need to have parts of it available for working at the same time. What fun ;).

Have a great day, Karen

Tuesday Accomplishments

Last night I finished quilting the baby "Trip Around the World" and sewed a seam 1/4 inch from the edge. Tonight I will trim off the excess backing and batting and it will be ready for binding. I haven't decided what fabric to use for the binding, but I have time.

Tonight I want to layer the second baby "Trip Around the World" and baste it. I bought another box of quilting pins yesterday at Jo Ann's with a 40% off coupon. Jo Ann's is so great about coupons. When you sign up for the mailings you get them and also going into the store they frequently have coupons as you walk in. I am getting such bargains, that it is difficult to stop spending. However, I am getting my long term staple gadgets now rather than fabric. I think I have enough fabric and patterns to last my life time and beyond.

DH had another bad night last night. He is starting to show more episodes of sundowner syndrome. It is hard to go to bed and sleep when he is up and watching TV. I hope he doesn't start wandering. I cannot work a 40+ hour week and stay awake to keep him safe at night. I don't know what the solution will be when he progresses that far with his dementia. He did manage to keep his CPAP on all night long. His sleep apnea is probably the main reason for the dementia and using the CPAP along with his meds keeps him from sliding down the road of dementia to the point of total memory loss. Please pray for him.

Have a great day, Karen

Cub Scout Vest

Today I spent my lunch hour finishing attaching patches to my grandson's Cub Scout Vest. For someone who has only been in scouts for 12 months that kid has so many patches my fingers are sore from sewing them on. They must use some of the hardest plastic in some of these patches. But Gramma loves the responsibility of putting them on. It is one way I can show him how much I care.

DD told me that there will be some more patches soon. I cannot wait. I love to put them on for Jeremy.

Tomorrow will have very little to do with quilting. We are going to visit my MIL in Falmouth. My DH youngest son, wife and daughter are supposed to be visiting at the same time. I will have to keep the two men apart. They do not get along well. DH son has a difficult past and it keeps coming up again and again. I hope that someday he grows up to be the man his father is.

DH has so many wonderful qualities and it is a shame to see them disappearing into his dementia. It is hard to deal with loosing someone while they are still there. I think I said this once before, but it bears repeating. I am loosing my soul mate and at some time he will forget who he is and who I am. A veil of tears.

Unless you have gone through this you cannot begin to imagine the fear and sorrow and anger that courses through me. I want to fix it but I cannot do a d... thing about it. I know that we all will die some day, but what a horrible way to go and how hard on the family. My MIL watches DH like a hawk. She cannot believe what she sees when we visit. Her heart is breaking just like mine is. Sometimes all I want to do is strike out at everyone around me and make them see that I am falling apart in side. All they see is the anger and it pushes them away. Why oh why cannot friends be friends when you need them most?

I need something happy to think and talk about. I got another e-mail from Myrna today. She is in the process of setting up the first lesson for the Studio Makeover. Until then I have 16 days to get my family room ready for the invasion of the major alteration it will be under going. Wonder what the garbage man will think on Monday? And then again on the following Monday? And finally on the last Monday before my class starts. I hope that a lot of what goes out will be recycled. That it will not end up in the land fill.

There are several project that I want to complete before the end of September. Wish me luck as I work on my UFO list and complete things.

Love you all, and have a great weekend. Karen

Studio Makeover

I paid and signed up for the Studio Makeover class being offered by Myrna Giesbrecht last week. Today I got an e-mail from Myrna informing me that she is taking the class another step and will be offering it one-on-one for three months at a time. Since I had already signed up I will get it at the original price. I was blown away. Of course I immediately replied that I was more than willing to take the class in the new format.

Now comes the hard part. I have always been known as a fast starter and then rarely getting to the finish line. I will have two lessons in one. First will be the sewing room of my dreams. Second will be learning a new pattern of behavior. At 60 years of age learning anything is very interesting and to change a behavior is even more challenging. I look forward with excitement and concern.

I still have to completely empty my family room in preparation for this undertaking. I will be taking before and after pictures...but I don't know that I will share all of them with you. I definitely will share the photos as the studio takes form from the empty room to the completed room. I have a photo album somewhere on webshots. At least I think that is where it is. I will do some searching and that will probably be where my photos will end up.

Enough for now. Have a great day, Karen

I digress

Today I need to sit on the pity pot for a while. The last two days have been (deleted expletive)! DH has had two very "bad" days in a row. It caught me off guard. Then he asked me to promise that I would not tell the doctor at our next meeting. He is so out of it that I don't know what to do. He is taking his pills at the wrong time and consequently he is drugged instead of medicated. Then my small quilting group on Mondays totally ignored me last night. I finally left at 8:30. I was the first one to leave, but I was close to crying.

Off the pity pot!

I have almost finished the second Alaska baby quilt. Only three rows to sew on and then the two major sides to sew together. I plan on finishing the top tonight.

Saturday I made a major road trip. Jo Ann's Fabric, Staples, Half Price Books and Meijer's. Polka Dot material...I didn't own a single piece. Sentimental Stitches is starting a polka dot garden so I loaded up on 1/4 yd pieces of each that Jo Ann's had. Along with that I got several pieces of fabric that will work as the backing for my charity quilts and some foam core board to make a design wall in my new studio. Staples was a stop for more color ink cartridges for my printer. I am going through them at the rate of two a month. Half Price Books was just to look for books by Chiaverini and another author. I ended spending $50 on books from idiot's guide to home security to beginning wood working. At Meijer's all I was going to get was two book shelves. I walked out with three book shelves, one computer desk, three lamps, three lamp shades and an African violet for my flower garden in the kitchen window. Wow, what an expensive day!

Myrna Giesbrecht is starting her Studio Makeover classes from her website on September 8. I need to gut the family room before that. After this top is completed the sewing machine is going to be packed up and I am getting to work! I am excited and just a little worried. I have never approached a total renovation of a room before. I guess the class will keep me on the straight and narrow and I will end up with my dream sewing studio in the end.

Have a great day, Karen

History strikes again

Yep, I didn't go to the group meeting. Shame on me!

I continued to work on the baby Trip Around the World and cut one piece of the sewn together strips 1/2 inch too long. Just means that I have one less row to fudge with. I have been taking pictures as I go along. Once I figure out how to add pictures to my blog you will be able to watch as I go.

I have started to read one of the three books I bought through Amazon dot com about setting up a sewing room / studio. Looks like I have my work cut out for me. First I have to literally get every piece of furniture and all knick knacks out of the way and start measuring the walls, windows, fireplace and sliding glass doors so I can diagram the layout. I think I may have to throw away a love seat that I have had since 1982. It's in poor shape and I don't have the couch that went with it any more so I won't be too much of a pull on the heart strings.

After I finally get everything cleared out I have to figure where to put my 7 (yes seven) sewing machines. I could keep the one for traveling in it's case, but it is the most modern of all my machines. I will have to think about it. I have purchased several different storage containers and other things to make this studio my own. The Dollar Store and sales at JoAnn's are making this an easy transition.

This evening I think I will plan on spending one hour working on the family room and then reward myself with some more work on the quilt top. I would like to get it finished before the 21st so that I can give it to one of my friends who has a long arm and has offered to layer and quilt my tops for charity. Oh, I do so want my own quilting frame.

I wonder if Uncle Sam will hand out some more money for fuel surcharges and what my IRS refund will be next spring. Maybe I will have enough to get the machine to go with the frame. I am easy to please and don't need the top of the line machine. I requested several books from the inter library loan service in Ohio on long arm machines. One of them even tells you how to set up your own business.

Well, maybe after I retire I can supplement our income with quilting. Who would think I would ever want to go back into business on my own? I have been fighting with DH for years because he wants to start up some kind of business. After two failures in our own businesses I didn't ever plan to do that again. But, with only myself to contend with I might even consider it. We will have to see what the future brings.

EQ6 all weekend long -- almost

Friday evening was great! My employeer had Vince Gill and Amy Grant Gill come to the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio just for the employees and agents that were attending the August meetings. It was the first time that all employees and all the August meeting attendees were at a single function together.

Amy was really fantastic. She talked and sang and we got to know more about her as an individual as well as enjoying her songs. What a special lady. She was checking her oldest daughter into college on Friday morning, flew to Cincinnati just for us and was flying back to the college to finish the freshman processing.

Then Vince came on the stage. You just have to love the man. He projects this simple calm down home attitude and then belts out these songs that just go clear to your soul. I loved every minute of his singing and then Amy came out and sang back up to one of his songs as an encore.

This is a fantastic couple and I wish them the best in the years to come. We had quality entertainment for a non-stop hour and 45 minutes. My employeer is the best!

Saturday morning I started my EQ6 Sampler class from Quilt University dot com. What a wonderful class! I started and finished the assignments before lunch and had my homework posted on the gallery website at Q.U. before supper. I finished my EQ6 Mystery Quilt Lessons 1 through 3 and posted them on the EQ6 Mystery Yahoo Group Website. To say I am a little psyched is an understatement.

Sunday evening I got out my sewing machine and started sewing strips for my second baby quilt sized Trip Around the World. I will start taking pictures tonight and taking notes of the process as I go. I will post them here if anyone is interested, feel free!

I was wandering aroung the internet after I finished my EQ6ing and went out to the HGTV website for Alex Anderson's "Simply Quilts" videos. Guess what was up first. You will not believe it! Myrna Giesbrecht was her visitor and there were four episodes to watch including a walk through Alex's and Myrna's studios. How great for background on my own studio makeover! So many things are falling into place that I am truly blessed.

I actually attacked some of the chaos in my family room so that I can start on my studio. The crunch to get it finished before September 1 is off. My orthopaedic said I don't need knee replacement as soon as I thought. But the pressure is still on to get my own place to sew and just be calm by myself. Sewing in the living room is a nice way to spend time with DH. But, DH is sleeping most of the time in his easy chair. So much for togetherness.

Tonight is the Caregivers Support Group. I have missed the last two months. I better get my act together and attend tonight! Even if I don't think the meeting help I know that I will need them further down the line. It is called denial and it isn't just a river in Egypt!

I am really leaning towards getting that Grace machine quilting frame. I need more research and to talk to friends in Guild to get feedback. I am thinking and thinking about this. I will not leap before I really can justify the expense!

Have a nice day, Karen

What am I doing?

Last night I read two more of the quilt magazines that I picked up from Guild. They must have had 100 issues of old magazines that someone was giving away. What was interesting is that a magazine from the 80's had the same pattern as one of my magazines that I got within the last two weeks. The traditional patterns never go out of style, do they?

I purchased EQ6 a few months ago and have been dabbling with it ever since. Recently I became aware that EQ has mystery quilts on their website. I started with the previous quilt about two weeks ago and finished it up last night. Boy did I learn things about EQ that I hadn't learned yet. Tomorrow is my first lesson from Q.U. called EQ6 Sampler. It is taught by Fran Gonzales the EQ guru. I am sure that I will learn bunches from her. Also have another EQ mystery quilt to start. Looks like a lot of time will be spent on the computer.

The three books and the floor layout portfolio that I ordered have all come in. I started a basic layout for my sewing room/quilt studio and I don't have enough room in the family room to put everything! Maybe I should get the actual dimensions of the room and the placement of the windows, fireplace and doors. I always seem to do things backwards. I definitely got the carriage before the horse on this one.

Tonight my employer is taking the entire company to an event. It is to be held at the U.S. Bank Arena in downtown Cincinnati. We are getting free parking, free entrance to the Event and free beverages and snacks inside the arena. We won't know who the entertainment is until the introduction at 8:00 this evening. The last time CFC did this they had Bill Cosby come during the business day and all the employees were outside enjoying a carnival kind of atmosphere with ice cream and soda. If they could get Bill Cosby, can we even imagine who they will have tonight. Some many names of entertainers are being speculated about. I imagine that only 5 or 10 upper level management know who it is for sure and one individual in Corporate Accounting that paid the fee to the entertainer. I will let you know who it is when I blog next.

I am not sure exactly what I am going to do this weekend. I know that reading is OUT! I cannot afford the time. I have too many UFO's to work on and time is getting short on the Alaska baby quilts.

They last few weeks I have been struggling with envy. One of my friends from Guild has a new Grace quilting frame and a new long arm quilting machine. I die of envy every time she blogs about it or mentions it. I have been looking at a Grace frame called Gracie II. It will take a long arm quilting machine or even a regular sewing machine. The amount of space that is available for quilting depends on the machine. It can be anything from 6" to 18" for the professional long arm. Am I getting too self centered and wanting this too much? I have the cash to pay for the frame and it is upgradable as far as the machine for the future. I figure the frame and the necessary accessories will be about $1250. Is that too much to be spending? I have to really think about this. When I talk to my DH James he seems to encourage me. Is that because he knows how much I love quilting or because he then thinks that we can go and get a new motorcycle for him. You know the yang and yang of that type of thing in a marriage. I must not pursue this aggressively. Patience girl, patience!

Enough for now. Have a great day, Karen

Success oh what sweet success

The top for the baby quilt for Alaska maternity hospital in the Trip Around the World is complete. I could only find one of the two FQ's that I needed. So I improvised. I used fabric glue stick and a very light interfacing and glued the remainder of the FQ to the interfacing. Then I cut a 2 1/2" strip balancing the interfacing evenly on either side of the strip. It worked out perfectly.

I only had to "unsew" one more set of squares that was out of order and finished the top and ironed it. I have one more with different FQ's to make and then off to JoAnn's for backing for both quilts. How exciting.

My reqular Monday night group Quilted Chaos is not meeting this month. The hostess is on vacation in Washington, D.C. Therefore I have the entire evening to cut out the 2nd Trip Around the World and proceed from there.

This weekend is a Q.U. cyber retreat. I have sent myself three goals. 1) Organize all my fabric. 2) Organize all my projects. 3) Layering finished tops to start quilting. If I finish these then I will start somthing else. I do not think my DH will like my cyber retreat. When I home he wants my attention. It must be hard not to have any hobbies or things that he can do. Here he is stuck at home 24/7 with nothing but two dogs to play will. I would go crazy! Thank God for quilting.

My trip to JoAnn's on Saturday after our visit with my MIL was amazing! Between all my coupons and the sales and my AQS 10% discount I purchased $122.00 for only $61.00. What a bargin. I still have my 40% coupon left and it doesn't expire until August 9th. I wonder what I will do with it?

Have a nice day, Karen

Progress on Trip Around the World

Last night I set out the sewn strips for this quilt top. I cut two additional 2 1/2" strips of each of the ten fabrics. Tonight I plan on sewing the strips together and cutting the individual rows to see how my plan of 10 FQ to make one Trip Around the World baby quilt will come out. I will cry if I don't have enough fabric.

Yesterday was one of DH bad days. He is so depressed. He asked me to set up the necessary paperwork for a will, durable power of attorney and a living will. I will be taking care of this in the next week. He is certain that he will not live much longer. I cannot figure out how to comfort him. His left leg is so swollen above the knee where the quads were reattached and it scares him. I am believing the doctor when he says that the new brace will help this area heal. James thinks he is facing amputation. Off the pitty pot!

Earlier this week I was talking to my non sewing daughter. She has always said that she would never take up quilting. I think she is slowly changing her mind. HIP HIP HOORAY!! I would love to share this adiction with her. She is very good in the crafts that she has taken up and I believe that with very little instruction she will become an excellent quilter.

The only regret I will have is giving up one of my sewing machines. My mother left DD her sewing machine, but I have had it in my home for over 10 years. That will take me down to only seven sewing machines. I currently have my great grandmother's antique treadle machine, a antique treadle machine I picked up at a garage sale, my MIL Singer in a cabinet, a portable Singer that I purchased from a co-worker, a cabinet Singer purchased from same co-worker, my original Sears Kenmore machine, my DM Montgomery Ward Signature machine and a Singer 9410 that a friend no longer needed and gifted to me. What a wonderful collection.

I cannot wait to get started on my sewing room/studio. Myrna Giesbrecht will be offering her Studio Makeover soon through her website. She no longer teaches at Q.U. I am sure many students will miss her, but it is great that she is taking some of her classes and providing them on her own.

Oh, bye the way, when I took the NICU free class at Best Friends Quilt Shop they mentioned they were going to start a Dear Jane Club. I cannot wait! This should get me back on track with my tiny squares.

Have a great day, Karen