Cleaning and more cleaning

In getting ready for my new baby (lock) I am cleaning, cleaning, cleaning because when my new machine arrives I know all I'm going to want to do is play, play and play. So far I've gotten half-way through my computer room and I have 6 garbage bags worth of shredded paper. The rest of the room is just straightening up books and such. My computer lives on a large old wood teacher's desk with huge drawers that have been stuffed throughout the years. Do you know I had tax returns from 1985...why? I think the rule is to keep tax papers for 5 years. I had a user's manual for a Curtis Mathis VHS recorder....that thing as been gone for years...why do I still have the manual? I did find some cute pictures of my child and some papers she wrote when very young...that was fun to find. Okay, enough of a break. I'm going to finish the computer room tonight, then start on the kitchen tomorrow which should not take too long if I can keep myself focused on the job at hand and not play with any gadgets. Then tomorrow afternoon I plan to start in my bedroom and closet.

Happy Quilting. Happy Living. Happy Cleaning.

Popped Balloon and No Santa?

When I received my phone call this morning from LQS I was all ready to hop into my car, committ no traffic violations and go pick up my new sewing machine. The news was that my machine is on backorder til October 24! Boy...Highs and lows always abound! For a brief moment it was like seeing my very favorite balloon pop and first realizing that Santa is not who you thought he was. Oh well...God knows best. At least I DO have a sewing machine to continue to sew on and..well..maybe this will give me time to straighten up my sewing room and house before the new arrival gets here. I'm taking a home vacation next week (10 days total) and my original plan was to tackle each room in the house with boxes and garbage bags. It would have been hard to carry out my original plan if I had a new toy waiting to be played with.

Happy Quilting, Happy Living!

New Sewing Machine!!!!

I've been thinking of upgrading for some time now from my little frills (just a little better than no-frills), very inexpensive minimal quilting functions/sewing machine (that still works really, really well). So...today..during our massive rain storms...I went out and did it.


Since my LQS is a Baby Lock dealer I've been looking at the Baby Lock brand. You would all just die if I said I bought the $9,636 Ellissimo. Well...you're lucky... you all can just keep on living. I bought the Espire. I looked at both the Quest Plus and the Espire and knew when I sat down at the Espire and started playing that was the machine I wanted. (Of course it was way more expensive then the Quest). I played and played and when it was time to go...I wavered...said "Thank You, I'll have to think about it". I got into my car, drove about 3/4 miles down the road thinking how much I really wanted the machine and reminding myself that I've been saving for a new one. I turned around in the middle of the road...while being honked at by 2 cars (possibly by the traffice violation I committed) that I did not see because of the rain or because my mind was on buying that machine and went back to the store, walked in and said "I am not going to waver like Brett Farve. Lets do it!"


They said they had just put out the floor model that morning and I could take that one if I wanted or wait until tomorrow morning for the one that would be FedExed. I didn't want to seem too excited so I told the store owner that I did not want her to go through the trouble of reboxing everything up and that I would just wait till the morning...stupid, stupid me. Now instead of playing with my new baby on my only night off this week until Friday, I'm playing on the blogger site. Not that you all don't mean the world to me....but I know you all understand! Check out my new machine at: http://babylock.com/sewing/espire/ and watch the video. I will post pics soon. I'm really so very excited. I can't wait til tomorrow!

Happy Quilting, Happy Living!

A Quilt that will never be.

These are from my local quilt guild's Challenge Quilt....."Walk on the Wild Side". Boy what a challenge in making me go wild and crazy and disliking every minute that I spent on it. My challenge was trying to like it! They never made it to be a quilt. We were suppose to use a technique that challenged us or one we had been wanting to try. We had to use three particular fabrics that were pre-picked by the powers that be.

First strike against....I did not like the wedge technique that I chose to use and second strike... I did not like the choice of fabric...just not me. I really, really really tried to like it, but we just never did meld together!

I planned on doing just four blocks since each block was 20 inches with the corners added. I thought of using it as a wall hanging. But then....I don't have any of these colors in my home decor scheme...which made me dislike the blocks even more. Actually I know no-one that has this color scheme. (Family..you are safe). I kept asking myself "What was I going to do with it and why was I wasting my precious quilting time on it?


But...because I don't like to having half-finished blocks lying around and I thought maybe I would grow to love them.... I kept on sewing and sewing and really trying to develop of bond.

Never did develop that bond! I still dislike them as much as when I realized how much I disliked them. The Guild challenge quilts were secretly turned in at our October meeting. Mine never made it since I secretly kept them at home. It will be interesting to see some of the quilts that were made. I will post pics after they are displayed at the November meeting.

But all is not lost. I thought about removing the corners and making round pillows for a teenagers room..(Family....you may not be safe after all). That center circle reminds me of a big button. Maybe with some embellishments they may turn out okay.....as pillows. (Future pillow pics to follow.)

On a non-quilty note... I've been drying herbs in my food dryer...Taragon and Basil this morning. The smell is wonderful and is making me want chicken salad for lunch. The weather here in Georgia has been beautiful after our flooding rains of a couple of weeks ago. Fall has finally arrived by the actions of my 14 year old cats getting frisky and of course the cooler weather. Even my dog's fur seems to have gotten thicker this past week. Life continues on.

Happy quilting and Happy living to all.

Sick and Tired!

No really....I have really been sick and tired. For the past week all I've been doing is coughing and sleeping...and that's hard to do together. But...it's not the Flu...either one...just the change in the weather (I think) even though the Swine Flu in rampant right now in the Southeast US. No fever, just mild congestion, lots of coughing and fatigue. Not quite bad enough to miss work though. I'm also finding out as a woman approaching 50 that things don't stay as dry as they use to during a coughing fit! I hope to think that the Echinacea-Goldenseal and Zinc I started taking when I felt my first "tickle" in my throat has kept whatever it is on the mild side. On my days off from work instead of quilting, crafting, cleaning and cooking I've been sleeping.

I've felt much better today with less fatigue....probably because my body can't take anymore sleep! I actually cleaned my house some and THOUGHT about going into my sewing room. Would not have been so bad if not for the tiredness and the guilty feelings it created about not getting anything done. You know us...we have to do EVERYTHING...only because WE THINK we have to and no one else can do it!...Stupid us! My hubby never minds doing anything for me! So....if you get sick this winter, please get your rest and don't feel guilty. Our loved ones don't mind taking care of us!

Remember to wash those hands and keep antibacterial gel in the car for those times when pumping gas, going to the ATM, handling a shopping cart, etc!

Stay Healthy and Happy Living!

Here's a link to a quilt blogger give-a-way. It's always fun to enter...and too win. Not sure when the entry deadline is, but it's a September give-a-way. Good luck.

http://welovequilting.com/blog/

Midnight Cactus Flower

DONE! And with a few days to spare. The club meets this Saturday and that's when I will show the quilt. It wasn't that difficult to make. I quilted in the ditch around the design to try to help bring out the design since it's such a busy quilt. Below are the corner flowers.

This is one of the center flowers. You can really see the bright stars shinning!

I had a hard time trying to find a place to hang it for the picture. I just bought some room dividers to separate my quilting room from the living room so I used those. I've decided I like the quilt even though it's quite busy. I used leftover strips from the quilt to make the binding. That worked well.

It will be fun to see what others at the club have come up with for their quilts. I'll post pics of those after the meeting on Saturday. Happy quilting to all. Thanks for visiting.