Yes I sewed!

I sewed off and on all day Sunday and then again yesterday. I will say that I love having all of my tools so close when I am working, it makes the job so much easier. Oh my quilting and sewing tools have always been right where I was sewing, everything I could possibly need, probably in triplicate, since I have extras of everything for retreaters. (And that is an understatement!)

But the one tool that has always been in a different room is one of the most important quilting tools to me, this computer. Now the computer and sewing machine sit side by side; I can put my left hand on the sewing machine and the right hand on the keyboard. That is helpful because I can read the pattern, sew, correct the pattern, sew some more, add more directions, sew, take photos, add them to the pattern, etc. I should have done this YEARS ago!

Don’t worry, I am getting my bottom off the chair occasionally too, LOL! First thing Sunday morning when I finished a step in the block I was making I had to press…. The ironing board had never been brought up, LOL! That meant a trip down the stairs and another one up, and then again. First I had to clean the stuff off the top of the ironing board, things that had been placed there carefully to keep safe until I needed them up here, kits, special fabrics, gifts, etc. That actually took two trips up and down. Finally I brought up the ironing board itself.

I had to find a place to put it… I’m used to pressing a certain way, standing on one side of the board with the iron on my right…. There isn’t anywhere in this room I can do that, at least not yet. When we get the bedroom painted and all set up in the old sewing room, then I can get more stuff out of here, and I can move the ironing board to another location where it will feel right.

What did I sew? I can’t tell you because everything I worked on is top secret. I worked on making samples for three upcoming Mysteries For Relay. One I loved and one I am still working on so it’s too early to say. Another one I didn’t like the fabrics, too thin, so they will be cut up and used for strings foundations, I have no idea how that fabric got in my stash. Three yards of the same three fabrics in three different colors, I most likely bought it years ago before I knew better, LOL!



Today’s photo is another corner of the sewing room, including the ironing board in its temporary home. The white fabric on there was tossed on to hide a mystery project! The bright green on the shelf under it is a backing for another mystery.

Now that fabric is calling to me, so off I go to sew some more!

YIPPEE!!

Taaa daaaaa Again

Don’t’ expect me to post tomorrow, I’m going to be sewing. Yes you read that right sewing! In my new sewing room even, so how do you like them apples…. Can you read the excitement in there? I sure hope so. I worked hard today in getting things organized up here, and I think I’ve gone about as far as I can go until the bedroom downstairs is finished and I can move some more stuff down there.

The closet was accomplishment #1 (read my prior post) and that got the ball rolling. I just kept attacking piles and baskets and bins until there weren’t any more, or at least until they were properly sorted and neatly put away. I got the cutting table almost all cleared off, what is left on there belongs on there, or in the bedroom downstairs (lamps up here for safe keeping) I got the sewing machine cleared off so I have a place to sew, and my desk, although it might not look like it, is very neatly organized.

Going around the room, starting on the left hand side, the white bin on the floor are some UFOs I want to finish, so they are out there where I can easily find them. The basket has a package of fabric in it for a upcoming mystery project. The bin with the pink lid which you see has in it some Christmas String blocks I found, and set aside to make a lap quilt with…. I can’t believe I still have Christmas strings, LOL!

That white trunk right smack in the middle of the photo with the quilts piled on it will go downstairs, I think. The quilts are UFOs, waiting for bindings. All except the top one, which is a finished quilt, another upcoming mystery. (I had to retake the photo too, since it was folded right side out.) You can see a corner of my cleared cutting table, isn’t that lovely? And the last thing which may or may not go down to the new bedroom is the quilt rack, with the little hearts in it. I might just keep that up here to hang stuff on.

I might, someday after we get settled down in the new bedroom and I get my fish tank back, take a photo of the opposite side of the room. Right now that is just a little messy. Tomorrow I will sew, so you probably won’t see another photo of this side of the room again… you know what happens when you start to sew… things sort of get messy.

The closet is finished

What a happy thing to type, the closet is finished. All of my quilts are now in one place… whoops not quite all of them. MOST of my quilts are in the same closet. One of my quilts is on a bed, mine. And one of my quilts is on the sofa on the back porch, a sofa bed, there when company comes overnight. And there are a few quilts out at quilt shops, to help promote my patterns. And then there is that pile on the couch in the living room, log cabins and Irish Chains waiting to be packed for upcoming retreats.

However, the point of this is that the closet is now finished, and most of my quilts are in their new home. I even had room left over since all the retreat stuff is going to be stored in the garage…. leaving room in the closet for all of my batting.

And while I was transferring the quilts from the garage to the upstairs closet I took time to organize the cabinet John and Mike built for me a few years ago. That houses all of my retreat gear; lots and lots of electrical cords, prizes and goodies, the kitchen “stuff” and of course some of my Featherweights. (Mine is up here on a shelf in a place of honor)

I’ve decided, since fewer ladies are flying into the retreats in the last few years, that it’s time to get rid of a Featherweight or two. The most I have needed in the last three years is two, and I have nine. One I won’t sell, my birth year model. Another one I will keep because it sews like a dream, and I like her Scottish accent. Another one will always be a retreat machine, I sold her to a friend and then bought her back again when she needed the money… just keeping her incase my friend should ever decide to buy her again, so she will stay a retreat machine. That’s three I want to keep….

Then there is the centennial model which I think has hardly ever seen heavy use, and looks and sews like it’s brand new. I’m sure it would sell just because of her condition, but I also sort of want to keep her for that same reason. She just purrs when I take her out to run to keep her in good shape.

The others have been dependable and sew great, and I almost hate to part with them… but why keep them just sitting in the garage waiting for someone to decide to fly in for a retreat? I don’t think it’s fair to them. I could and should sell one or more to raise money for Relay….

Taaa daaaaa

OK, my morning…got up and checked email…. just a few, thanks for the comments and encouragement, I know I am getting closer to making this a “working” sewing room, LOL! Got dressed and then got errands taken care of, grocery store for $70 gallon of milk… decided to make lasagna while there and had to pick up all the ingredients and more, you know how it goes I’m sure. Called Pop to see if Arden was ready to come home, she wasn’t. Ran to bank to make deposit, retreat time coming up, late checks coming in… tisk tisk..

Then to Lowes to pick up what I need to finish building my closet. Guess what, they are discontinuing the brand of closet organizer I have and everything is discounted. Guess what else, they are out of what I need… so I improvised some. One white bracket, one black which no one will see anyway because there will be quilts hiding it. Got everything, and then some which I will take back because I don’t need them, just to make sure I could get this job done. I also got a neat gadget so no one can sneak in on me while I’m up here, a motion sensor with door bell I can plug in upstairs. No more scaring the begeebers out of me!

Home and started working on the closet. I was smart this time, use John’s laser level so the new shelf will look straighter. Also added an extra bracket to the second shelf, which I promptly moved to be the bottom shelf since it is longer than what I was going to use there. Managed to find the studs right on, and got everything up looking like a pro did it… not me. Loaded up the shelves and here you go… all of my quilts, except the four bins which are in the garage…I’ll bring them up later, like tomorrow when I have help! They will fit under the bottom shelf, I made sure of it!

dreary day progress

Thought I would check in again... I got a lot done today. Dreary days seem to motivate me. Well truth is either I work or I sit down and fall asleep, so today I worked.

All of the quilts are now upstairs, except for the two or is it four bins of quilts which are stored in the garage. Today was not a day to be working in the garage!

The pile you see here is what I hope to fit on the last shelf in the closet. And the two or four bins in the garage will slide nicely, I hope, under that last shelf.

Nor’easter Day

Today was to be SOB day, but we have a nor’easter passing by which has made going anywhere not fun, so we’re staying home. That gives me a free day to continue working on this room, and hopefully I will get a lot done.

The nor’easter seems to have brought with it something that bothers my allergies, and my eyes are itching, my nose dripping and my throat scratchy. I took my allergy pill last night, but I guess it doesn’t cover nor’easter allergies.

I didn’t get to sew yesterday, but I got a lot of other work done. I got some of my quilts put on shelves that were already in the closet, which I didn’t think would work, but seem to be working just fine. I need one more set of brackets and then I think all of my quilts will be in one place…. Maybe


Hmmmm, now that I post this picture I see that maybe one of these shelves is sagging, or else I have the bracket holders uneven, I’ll have to look at that closer.

I’m planning on taking all the quilts off anyway, so I can refold them neater and put some muslin covered cardboard between them and the shelves, so they don’t get all those lines in them.




Incase there are any other Survivor fans reading this, tonight is the first episode of season 17. I really can’t explain why I love this show, but I do. It’s the people watcher in me I guess. To me at times the survivors remind me of ladies at a quilt sale, doing anything to protect their bolts from someone who might try to steal them. I didn’t watch the first season, but my kids did, so I guess I can blame them for getting me hooked. And I have to say, I was thrilled that our new Relay chair told me last night she is also a fan, that means no Thursday meetings for sure, yippee!

11:34 AM

A little while later I’ve lined the shelves with muslin and refolded the quilts, and checked the level on that bottom one. Turns out that the brackets which hold the shelf up are not level, so the shelf never will be. Oh well….

I have more quilts to put on here, but need that other shelf hung first. And the top two on the unlevel shelf will go down on the bottom shelf once I get it up there. (They are my AG Broken Dishes and my 2008 Sampler Quilt)

Aching to sew

This moving, traveling, moving, traveling and moving is starting to get to me. I am aching to sew. I have quilt blocks floating around in my head, and the fabrics all sitting here screaming at me. But there is still “stuff” in the old sewing room downstairs that needs to come up, and stuff up here that needs to go down. And I need shelves for my quilts in the closet.

And Relay has started, and the meetings that go with it. We had one meeting last night, which will be followed by some emails to be sent today, and another meeting tonight. And sooner or later I know I will have to send emails to all the 2008 participants telling them that 2009 is starting… and my own teams need to be notified too.




But right now all I want to do is sew… I think I’ll move/arrange stuff till noon, and then I’m going to sew a block, just one… Just so I can say I sewed.



This is what I see while sitting at my compuer... wonder why I have the urge to sew so bad?

Relay Time Again!

It’s that time of year again, another Relay year has begun. I have many reasons for Relaying, and there seems to be more every year.

ACS came up with a theme last year, Celebrate, Remember, Fight Back! This year I celebrate for Joanie, who once again has fought back against cancer, and is winning the battle. I celebrate for Bob in Pennsylvania, Bourbon in New York, Carol in Pennsylvania, Cheri in Delaware, Deke in Delaware, Ginny in Virginia, Jim in Kentucky, Kim in Delaware, Marge in Arkansas, Pat in Delaware, Sam in Minnesota, Shoshana in Oregon who are all winners in the fight against cancer.

And I remember those who didn’t win, for Annie who fought so hard and bravely, and for Tricia, Bert, Faith, Faye, Phyllis, Maureen, Georgie, Helen, Marie, Marlene, Trish, Colleen and Arnie. Too many have died because of cancer and that is why I fight back the only way I know how, raising money. My few dollars may not be much, but I figure ever dollar helps.

http://main.acsevents.org/goto/MargeGordon09

Still moving

If you think you are tired of reading about me moving my sewing room upstairs, imagine how I feel doing it! Right now the new upstairs sewing room is pretty full (ok, over full I admit it) but there is still “stuff” downstairs to come up. The biggest problem is that the closets both up and down are full and we can’t move stuff into one until we empty it. So today we did that, sort of…..
We (John and I) emptied his closet in the old downstairs sewing room. It contained mostly seasonal stuff like our winter coats, fall jackets, some dressy dresses I never wear and my collection of assorted Relay For Life gear (I think I have six Relay fleeces, LOL!) Then he emptied his half of the upstairs closet, filling the downstairs closet again with his stuff. That left half of the upstairs closet empty, which I’ve started filling with winter coats, fall jackets, some dressy dresses I never wear and my collection of assorted Relay For Life gear.

Next I moved my hanging clothes that I wear often (not those dressy dresses for sure) to my downstairs closet, leaving the upstairs closet almost (not quite but close enough) empty. Now I need to find some nice shelves or something to stack my quilts safely on…. Right now most of them are scattered all over the house, or still packed in suitcases from the trunk show this week.

I think it’s called closet shuffle....

Today's photo.... just some pretty flowers from our trip

I’m home again…

Home sweet home, always glad to be home! We had a great trip and a successful one too. The drive up was an experiment of how the new car handled on “hills” and I must report she did great. There was no straining to get up and over, she flew with ease over even the highest hill. And she did well in passing too, what little I did of it. (Speed limit 65, I went 68ish, everyone else thought they were out west where the speed limit was 75 or higher) The only hitch I had with the car was putting the back seat back up… it’s still down, and I have to take it in to the shop to get them to show me what I am doing wrong, or fix the problem if there is one.

We had a nice ride up, taking our time and stopping occasionally to stretch our legs and enjoy the fresh air. After Sunday’s high of 97, the breezes and cooler 70’s were a delight to us. (OH, us by the way was my friend Nancy and I, just us two SOBs) We arrived in Endicott in time for dinner which we enjoyed very much (Nicks which we will visit again next trip up) We were lucky to be able to spend the night at the Patchwork Angels Quilt Shop, what fun thing to do! Imagine waking up in the morning all alone in a quilt shop, LOL! (Not everyone gets that treatment, just us)

We had breakfast at Corbin’s, which I recommend if you are ever in Endicott at breakfast time. (Try the Red River French Toast!) Then we headed off to visit a few other favorite shops, The Goat Boy, Pucky Huddle Delight, and after some delicious ice cream at a shop I forget the name of, we ended our shopping trip at the Churn Dash. Then we headed back to Patchwork Angels to visit more (and shop too) and then dinner at another favorite of mine, Blue Dolphin.

After another night in the quilt shop, sweet dreams for sure, we visited yet another quilt shop, Sew Many Quilts. I have to say that this shop has one of the nicest displays of quilts I have ever seen in a quilt shop anywhere in my travels, mainly due to the HIGH ceilings they have. The fabric shelves are quite tall, and the quilts are hung above them with nice large easy to read labels. All quilt shops should envy them of their tall ceilings… although I certainly wouldn’t want to be the one that has to hang all those quilts! (Note to self, find out how they DO hang them next time!)

Finally the reason I went up to NY, other than all that fun I’d already had, to give a trunk show to the Broome County Quilters. What a fun group they were, and I greatly enjoyed myself. And I am pretty sure they enjoyed my trunk show too, since they were so generous with all their compliments. And I sold quite a few patterns too, raising over $250 for Relay For Life. Thanks to all of the Broome County Quilters for those donations, and thanks to Candy for getting me the booking!


Would you believe I didn't take any photos while up there, so today's photo is from a previous NY trip, the leaves were still showing summer colors and hardly a hint of fall this trip.

On the road again...

Well the car is packed for my trip to NY tomorrow, and there is plenty of room in the car for my passenger and her belongings and the little bit I have left to load. I certainly picked the right vehicle for hauling all my “stuff” and there are still seats for three people too! Now let’s see how she does on a long trip. I just hope she makes it up and over the hills between here and there.

I’m not sure if I’ll be blogging while on my trip, not real sure what kind of internet connection I will have, and I can’t be hogging my hostesses’ computer now can I? I will be checking email as often as possible though, and might sneak a quick update once in a while.

Don’t worry about me, I can guarantee you I will be having fun!

I sewed!

I sewed! Big deal you say, well it is for me, LOL! Even if it was just a straight seam I actually sewed in my new sewing room location for the first time, and for the first time since July! Know what… it felt great!

The lighting in the day time, sunny day, is perfect. The light comes over the right side and illuminates the project perfectly. Night and cloudy days may need more light, but time will tell on that.

You may be asking so what did you sew… no big deal, I sewed a backing together. Two long pieces of fabric to go on the back of a quilt which I am taking up to NY with me to be quilted by a longarmer. I’ll show the quilt top as a part of my trunk show, and then leave it up there to be finished.

I actually have another backing to sew together today also, so I will be sewing a second time too. Right now the fabric is in the washer. Since it is red, I want to be sure that all the red dye is out. If it bleeds the whites on the quilt top will turn pink, and I don’t want that to happen. So the backing fabric, although it has been washed before, is back in the washer again.

I always prewash. No fabric enters my sewing room unwashed, unless it is on the bolt. (I wash the yardage from the bolts as needed.) There is a bag in the old sewing room full of fabrics to be washed before they come up. The other exceptions to that rule are fat quarters… ones that I am going to give as gifts. If I’m going to use it myself, it gets washed. If it is going in a kit for a class or retreat, it gets washed. I wash everything. Better safe than sorry is my rule, and I’m sticking to it.

Almost done

The cabinet and machine are now in their new home on the second floor. Not quite where I envisioned them, but close enough for now. I’m still not sure about the lighting, so will have to try sewing before I make the final decision. I’m so unsure I am holding off on filling the cabinet until I get the chance to sew and check it out better.

Where and how I thought they would go is certainly not going to work. It would mean the light would be coming from the left side, and that isn’t enough light for these old eyes. I’ve had a nice Ott light over the machine for the last three years, and have gotten used to that. So I’m going to have to figure out a way to get light where I want it.

I have enough Ott lights, that isn’t the problem. I have a nice one downstairs that John bought me for Christmas a few years ago to use in the living room. The problem with that one is that the head or light part won’t stay up… it keeps sliding down. So it works fine downstairs, but won’t work up here. I have the one that was behind the cabinet downstairs, which may go there again. I have a long neck one which goes on the cutting table, and I have two portables a blue one and a purple one, both given to me as gifts from special friends.

My problem is how to plug them in when the cabinet sits almost in the middle of the room. I have a battery back up unit under the computer, and I might run a serge strip to the middle of the room from there… but I’m a little concerned with overload… how much can one of those things carry?

I think I’ll try it out in the daytime when someone is home to trip the circuit breaker if needed…



No sewing room photo today, it’s too dark to take one. So today’s photo is a weather photo from our trip, the Grand Canyon in the rain. John’s sister Cheri really liked this one!

Facebook?

I’m pretty much up with all the stuff that goes on here on this World Wide Web. I have a web site, and I have a blog too. I’ve heard of face book, but don’t think I ever visited there before. Although now that I think of it, I think I may have visited my sons’ face books at one time or another… maybe one of them… I seem to remember seeing all their “friends”.

Then this morning a friend asked me to “Check out my Facebook profile” so I did… or I tried. Seems you have to have a facebook to look at a facebook. So I tried to sign up… of course they don’t explain everything to you fully enough to understand what you are doing, and I signed up at DelawareQuilts… that IS me after all, my web site, my blog and my business. It asked me if I was a business… hey it’s pretty smart… yes…. Page refreshes or opens a new page or something and a whole bunch of new forms appear for me to fill out.

Now I am a mature adult and I know what to give and what not to give to sites on the WWW…. I fill out only what I want it to know… and then it keeps taking me to my “Ads” page. I don’t want to do an “Ad” let alone pay for one… so now what…

OH… I see, I’m now signing up as a business… I don’t think I want to do that, so I disable, deactivate, disarm or something that… and try again. I’ll just be me… But it won’t let me do that because each email can only have one face, and I used my face… errr… email… so I use another one… yes I have more than one email, doesn't everyone? So I start the process all over again, and there I am… just me… in facebook.

Big deal….

I think I’ll go organize or move some stuff… little more to go and if I get my butt off of this chair maybe I can have it finished this week.

Today’s photo… my best friend and I on a recent trip we took…

Yesterday…

Since one of my friends seems to think I am going to post every day now… here is the post for yesterday. (And don’t expect a post every day… sometimes I forget, sometimes I don’t have anything to say and sometimes it is better I don’t say anything at all…)

Yesterday was primary day here in Delaware. And apparently some of the people running for assorted offices in our state really needed votes, so they were on the phone all day long. I had a total of eight calls from politicians. I’m starting to really really REALLY enjoy hanging up on them!

Yesterday was also laundry day. Not that you needed to know that I have dirty laundry, but don’t we all? Problem with my laundry day is that when I am doing laundry I don’t have internet. Apparently there is something in the laundry room that blocks the wireless signal between me and the network. Yes, I know I could have unplugged the modem and brought it upstairs and gotten on that way. But I was on a roll and wanted to keep on working so I left the internet off most of the day.

When the laundry was finished and we’d had our dinner I came back upstairs to check email and finish up some more work. As soon as the computer connected to the internet I got a message from a dear friend up in NY, a message I’d been hoping and praying for…
R U there??
NO CANCER!!!!
I didn’t know when she had sent those messages but I replied anyway that I was snoopy dancing for her, and was so relieved. She happened to still be on line, so we chatted and had a good cry together, tears of joy of course. What a relief.

Then the phone rang and it was one of John’s sisters who just happened to be driving by and wanted to know if we were home… she had baby photos to show, YIPPEE!! Jonah is grandchild #2 for her, and she has every right to be proud, what a doll baby he is!

Here's Jonah having a chat with his Mommie shortly after his arrival on Saturday.

Here Jonah gets to meet his big sister Makala.

If you want to keep up with them, check their web site, listed in my Sites I visit often list.

And here he is a few days later relaxing at home.

Grumble….

Boy will I be glad when this election is over. I’m tired of it. I’ve been tired of it. I’ve been tired of it since before they started all the nasty commercials on TV and before they started calling on the telephone. Today alone I have gotten seven phone calls from different political parties. I have no idea what they are asking me, I hang up on them as soon as they say who they are.

When I first got one of these political phone calls a few years ago, I informed the person on the other end of the phone that I was on the do not call list. Some joke that turned out to be, on me… politicians are exempt from that law among others. The kind little person on the other end of the line told me so, and started into his/her speech, and I promptly hung up on him/her.

Today when call #7 came in I told that person that who ever they were plugging I would not be voting for because they were interrupting my life with their pesky phone calls. I said if you want my vote don’t put any nasty ads on TV about what the other person has or hasn’t done, tell me what you are going to do to make this a better country. And take me off you calling list… I will not be voting for anyone who calls me.

After I hung up I realized that meant I probably wasn’t voting… I think they have all called me. Wait… who is running for dog catcher… I haven’t heard from them yet.

Today’s photo is to calm myself down, my favorite place to escape, even if it’s just in a photo… Sunset at the beach (June 20, 2008 at Cape Henlopen)

Come on Marge, show us the mess….

OK, if you really want to see it, here is the new sewing room the way it looked on Wednesday. Since then I have sorted through most of the baskets and bins, and found homes for everything. That huge pile behind the cardboard box (sewing extension table) and white trunk isn’t really a pile, it is a card table I used to sort things on. Looked pretty messy didn’t it?


And here it is today, card table all cleaned off and put away, and the desk clean and organized and all the bills paid, patterns mailed and books ready to go in the mail tomorrow. I showed you the other half of the room the other day.

I feel like I’ve made great progress this week, and the move has gone faster than I thought it would go. All that is left now is the sewing cabinet, which will go behind my office chair right where the card table pile was.

And when I get the other side of the room organized, I’ll show you that too. I’ll confess there is one more bin of fabrics to sort, all my landscaping fabrics. And now that the card table is gone I’m using the cutting table to sort stuff, and it is shall we say a mess right now. It’s not quite ready to be shown off yet, LOL!

You might want to know that I inventoried my books while I was moving them, and I’ve put some up for sale on Half.com. The money will go to Relay.

VIP Post

I got the email below from a friend at ACS and wanted to share it with you all.
This is important.

If you’ve ever known anyone whose had a mastectomy then you will understand what this means. A mastectomy is not an out patient procedure and we need to fight to make sure that it never will have to be.

Now, this email suggested that we sign the on-line petition, which you can do if you want. I personally don’t believe in on-line petitions so I did even better, I called my congressman. I suggest you do the same… the more phone calls our representatives get the better.

If you live in Delaware, Mike Castle’s Georgetown office # is 302-856-3334, Wilmington office is 302-428-1902, Dover office is 302-736-1666 and in Washington DC 202-225-4165

Need to know how to reach your representative,
http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_State.shtml
Click on your state and then your representative’s name.
Or call them all, after all they are working for you!

Here’s the email….
-------Original Message-------
I'll never forget the look in my patients' eyes when I had to tell them they had to go home with the drains, new exercises and no breast. I remember begging the Doctors to keep these women in the hospital longer, only to hear that they would, but their hands were tied by the insurance companies. So there I sat with my patients, giving them the instructions they needed to take care of themselves, knowing full well they didn't grasp half of what I was saying, because the glazed, hopeless, frightened look spoke louder than the quiet 'Thank You' they muttered. A mastectomy is when a woman's breast is removed in order to remove cancerous breast cells/tissue. If you know anyone who has had a Mastectomy, you may know that there is a lot of discomfort and pain afterwards. Insurance companies are trying to make mastectomies an outpatient procedure. Let's give women the chance to recover properly in the hospital for 2 days after surgery.

It takes 2 seconds to do this and is very important. Please take the time and do it! Please send this to everyone in your address book. If there was ever a time when our voices and choices should be heard, this is one of those times.

If you're receiving this, it's because I think you will take the 30 seconds to vote on this issue and send it on to others you know who will do the same. There's a bill called the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act which will require insurance companies to cover a minimum 48-hour hospital stay for patients undergoing a mastectomy. It's about eliminating the 'drive-through' Mastectomy where women are forced to go home just a few hours after surgery, against the wishes of their doctor, still groggy from anesthesia and sometimes with drainage tubes still attached.

Lifetime Television has put this bill on their Web page with a petition drive to show support. Last year over half the House signed on. PLEASE!! Sign the petition by clicking on the web site below. You need not give more than your name, state, and zip code.

http://www.lifetimetv.com/breastcancer/petition/signpetition.php

This takes about 2 seconds. PLEASE PASS THIS ON to your friends and family, and on behalf of all women, THANKS

The impossible challenge

My husband challenged me… something he doesn’t do often but last night for some unknown reason he did… he wants me to get rid of the piles on the floor here in my new sewing room. He doesn’t like the basket and bins which haven’t found a home yet. Give me a break, I’m still moving in, and still sorting.

I am not one to not accept a challenge. I may not be able to accomplish this one, but I can sure try. I feel there will always be baskets and bins, at least until I get rid of some of my stash. Maybe that is the answer to this challenge. The only way to make room for the bins and baskets on the floor is to get rid of my stash somehow…

I can use it up sooner or later.. but that will take a long time. I already sent a box off to Phila, and I have another one ready to go in the mail to Oregon, and I have a bin of fabrics I’m taking to the retreat to “sell” for Relay. I don’t have a Scrappy class until sometime next year, so I need to keep my bins of scraps for then.

He has asked that I don’t sell any of my quilts, but I don’t think he REALLY knows how many quilts I have. Some of these quilts will be sold, and the money will go to Relay or Making Strides, depending on when they sell. Some of the quilts and finished tops will go to charity. Most of the quilts I will keep for my personal collection. They have special meaning to me and are a part of who I am… they will stay here.

If I use up my stash making quilts that he won’t let me sell or give away, I’ll eventually run out of space to store the quilts and then they will be in piles too. Although for some strange reason he said he wouldn’t mind piles of quilts… so here’s what I’m going to do… HEY… he reads this too, sometimes, so I can’t say!

Today’s photo…
The new Relay For Life web page banner. We started a new year this week, and a new web site will soon be up and running. We’re waiting for the higher ups to update the registration details so that all events will have the same fees. It’s always an exciting time of year for me, and sometimes a lot of work… but after four years of doing this, I think I am ready for it this year… I hope!

I was reading Shoshana’s blog to check out her new home in progress and noticed this.. “On this day in 1957, Arkansas Governor Orville Faubus ordered the National Guard to prevent nine black students from entering Central High School in Little Rock.” Wow, I remember that. I was in elementary school and our teacher made us study current events. To us it was so foreign most of us didn’t understand it. My class was about as equally racially divided as a class could get. We were equal numbers of blacks, migrant workers and whites. I didn’t know that people weren’t all the same, and I don't think half the class did either... goes back to that song I learned in Sunday School…
Jesus loves the little children,
All the children of the world.
Red and yellow, black and white,
They are precious in His sight,
Jesus loves the little children of the world.

Yep, we’ve come a long way!





Today’s photo, since someone asked… remember those sunflowers you were tired of looking at back in July? Well here is a humming bird taking a break and keeping an eye on the feeder in those same sunflowers. They are really fading now, most of the seeds have been picked out of them, and pretty soon they will be gone, like the hummers.

PIGs?

A non-quilting friend, yes I do have some of those, emailed me and asked me to explain PIGs… she couldn’t understand why I had swine in my new sewing room. (Seriously, she thought I had started collecting stuffed pigs… no way Connie. As a matter of fact I’m trying to decide how I can nicely get rid of some of my stuffed animals… I have too many of them!)

So for all you non-quilters…
PIGs are Project in Grocery Sacks, only mine are zip lock bags. I also have PIBs, Projects in Boxes, Projects in Bins and Projects in Baskets.
A WIP is a Work in Progress… I have LOTS of those.
A UFO is not a flying saucer … it is a UnFinished Object. You could almost call this room full of UFOs if you counted my fabrics as UFOs… But technically, in quilter speak, a WIP becomes a UFO when you stop working on it to start another project. You already know I have lots of those.

Some people have HSYs, (pronounced hissy) which means Haven't Started Yet. I don’t use that acronym myself… I have too many of them. There are also WHIMMs, Work Hidden In My Mind, I have lots of those too.

And where does all this start? You go on a FART (Fabric Acquisition Road Trip) and have SEX (Stash Enhancing eXperience) to acquire the PIGs (Projects in Grocery Sacks).. The PIGs (Projects in Grocery Sacks) become HSYs (Haven't Started Yet) and eventually WIPs (Work in Progress). Then some other PIG (Project in Grocery Sack) calls to you and your WIP (Work in Progress) becomes a UFO (UnFinished Object).

Now... aren’t you sorry you asked?

More progress

Here's another photo of the sewing room, the other shelf unit with fabrics.

The two purple bins on the bottom are scraps, WIPs and mystery projects.
The basket on the bottom shelf is empty, for rulers.

The basket on the next shelf up is empty too, not sure what I will put in there. The two bins on that shelf will be sorted later.

On the next shelf the bins contain Christmas fabrics… I have too much Christmas fabrics.
The basket has all my large plastic bags in it, and freezer paper if I ever need it.

The basket on the next shelf up is a sewing basket, empty, I have another one downstairs which I now use to take to quilt bee.
The bin on the left is my RW&B star collection… and the one on the right needs to be sorted.

The boxes are all full, BOMs I've made and or won, swap blocks, orphan blocks, etc... Someday they will be in a scrappy quilt. There are three log cabin quilts, UFOs and PIBs (projects in boxes)

The skinny box on top of the other boxes is Longaberger fabrics, yards of it. I bought them to make basket liners to sell, and never have, and probably never will... I think they will go on eBay.

The smaller basket on the very top has gadgets in it, and the larger one has stuffed animals. The round jar is some of my wooden spool collection.

To the left of this shelf unit is the dormer, and some of the “stuff” put in there.

Did I clean up to take this photo… yes and no. I cleaned up so the cutting table can come upstairs, it will go partially in front of this shelf unit and slightly to the right.

I took photos of the whole room, but I’m not showing those, LOL!

Comments

Not all the comments that are made about my blog show up here, that’s because people email me privately or even call me on the phone. Two recent posts have brought in a lot of comments… I will only comment on one of them because I said “And that is ALL I will say about this election” and I intend to keep that promise.

So to those who commented on my “neat” sewing room let me clarify something… it isn’t neat… not at all. That picture was taken just to satisfy the requests for photos, and it was staged. Yep.. I made it neat for the photo. I moved the pile of bed pillows that I am keeping up here to keep them safe. I moved the two bins of WIPs which will go under the cutting table when it finally makes its way upstairs. And I pulled back three laundry baskets of stuff which were being transferred from one floor to the other.

That photo represented about one quarter of the room. The opposite corner is my desk, which right now is a mess… on it are things that belong on my dresser which is half upstairs and half down. I’m keeping them up here on the desk so they won’t get dust and paint on them when the downstairs room is painted, and so I know where they are when I need them.
Also on it are papers for Relay, and for upcoming Retreats. Not very neat, and you won’t be seeing a photo of this corner anytime soon.

The other half of the room is still in organizational stages… my old bureau still has most of my clothing in it, I’m transferring those gradually, and hope to be done today. On the top of the bureau are suitcases waiting to be packed full of quilts for an upcoming trunk show road trip. There is also a little bit of bureau top stuff like my jewelry box… which is strange.. when was the last time anyone saw me wearing jewelry?

The quilts which will be going in those suitcases have been piled high on the hope chest in the corner which will house the bookcase when it comes up. Have been because every time I go downstairs I take a few more with me…. no one is sitting on my sofa any time soon… Some day this week I hope to sort quilts and pack them in those suitcases for that trunk show.

Yesterday I dragged out the two bedroom end tables, which will stay neatly in the upstairs hallway until the bedroom is ready for them downstairs. There is still a hope chest and a trunk which need to find a room someplace, I’m thinking the storage room (a.k.a. Mike’s old room) except you can’t get in there right now because of other “stuff”. (Some ours, most of it son’s and a LOT of it could disappear as far as I’m concerned… sigh… )

And the dormer part of the room is pretty neat, but I can’t show it without moving a lot of other “stuff” so you won’t see it for a while either.

No, this room is hardly neat, but it won’t get any neater with me sitting here… so bye for now!

Today’s photo, hummers… This was taken from my recliner in the living room. There are still quite a few of these little guys and gals buzzing around here, but I know they are getting ready to head south for the winter. I’ll miss them.

There is something quite amazing about this picture… it was taken through the window and screen, and yet the feeder and bird don’t show the screen at all, it almost looks like the screen was behind them. Amazing.

still moving rooms

This room moving is good for stashbusting, but not so good for UFOs…

I believe I can say I have found all of my stash now and that it is neatly organized in the new room. I hope that is true because the shelves are full and there isn’t any room for any more, LOL! I do know of a bag full of brand new fabrics in the old room, but they have not been washed so they don’t come up here yet. Their space is saved, so they are permitted to come up as soon as they get washed.

I have two huge boxes packed and ready to be picked up and/or mailed off to people who need fabrics for charity work. I’m glad that my buying mistakes can benefit someone else.

That I have found it all is not quite true…. somewhere there is a five yard or more piece of an orange batik that I “hid” away a few years ago. It remains hidden. Also that mystery project I was working on, but that may be in the cutting table pile. And my MILs quilt top remains missing. I was pretty sure I had taken it to her house, but she can’t find it, and I can’t find it…

What did show up in my room emptying process were more UFOs. So many more that I am going to have to redo my UFO list for sure… but not right now. I need to separate the UFOs and decide which ones are going to Project Linus, which ones will stay tops forever because they are class samples, and which ones I truly intend to finish. Of the ones that I want to have finished, I need to decide which ones I can finish myself, and which ones I need to send out to quilters. I already have a few quilts to take up longarmers in NY with me when I go later this month.

There is very little left in the downstairs room. There is one full bookcase which I know where it will go, but I want to sort books first. There is my cutting table and ironing board, both which are being used as holding spaces during the move, and will need to be cleaned off by some serious sorting, maybe today’s project. And of course my sewing cabinet, which will probably be the last thing to come upstairs. That is because of the weight, I will need my men to bring that up, and because I want to have the rest of the room organized before it comes up.

And the machine comes up last, because if it was up here now, I would be tempted to sew… I have projects, new and old, which are calling to me!

Today's photo, a clean corner of the new sewing room! Clean, organized and full. The shelf unit closest to you is the fabric unit. That is all my stash, unassigned fabrics. The second shelf unit includes UFOs, WIPs and PIGs, except for one shelf which is my purple, black and gray, blue and green stash. The tallest shelf unit has on it my bolts, my Aunt Grace collection, my batiks and blenders. I’m not sure if the animals will stay where they are, but for now that is their home.

I am not a political person, I actually dislike politics. I vote, although for the last few elections it has been the lesser of two evils, at least in my opinion. However, I have to comment on the current election… if you want to call it that.

I am happy that in my lifetime a black person is running for president. I would have been just as happy if a black person was running for vice… it makes me proud that in my lifetime I get to see this.

I have always looked at a person by their soul, not their skin. I learned that in Sunday school as a child.
Jesus loves the little children,

All the children of the world.

Red and yellow, black and white,

They are precious in His sight,

Jesus loves the little children of the world.
That song always struck a special cord in my heart, and I believe strongly in what it says.

I always had friends of color, even when it wasn’t cool. In grade school some of my best friends were the migrant worker children. For some reason we related, and I always hated to see them leave.

Back in the 1960s I was very active in freedom activities. When Martin Luther King spoke his famous “I have a dream” speech in our Nations capitol I was supposed to be there, but didn’t make it for some reason… I think I missed the bus. I did make it to subsequent rallies. After I graduated from high school and went to work my best friend was a black girl, we worked in the same office for three years. I visited her home down on the lower side of Wilmington many times after work, and learned to love some (not all of it mind you but some) soul food. When Martin Luther King was killed and our nation broke into such turmoil I was heart sick.

Joann and I went to lunch together every day, and that didn’t change during that awful time in 1968. One day we went to lunch at a favorite little shop on Market Street, and because it was crowded, we sat at the counter. It was like we were invisible, the waitress refused to acknowledge we were there. I gave her back our order, but nothing ever happened. Joann suggested (strongly) that we leave, but I wasn’t going without my lunch… I’m pretty sure I caused quite a scene when I got up and walked around the counter and made our sandwiches, then sat there and ate mine. (She never touched hers) The crowded shop was very quiet, and there were two city policemen watching through the front window. I put down the money for our lunch on the counter, and we left. We had an escort back to work, and another one through the building… and for some reason the boss wanted to know what we did as soon as we walked in the office…

The next time I went to Joann’s house her brother (or maybe it was her boyfriend, I don’t remember exactly) suggested that I don’t come down there for a while… and I don’t remember ever going back. Joann and I remained friends until she eloped and left town about a year later, I never heard from her again.

So anyway… that a black person is running for president makes me proud, and shows me that maybe this country has come a long way in my life time.

Now… that the other party tried to show off by choosing a woman for the office of vice president cracks me up. Yes, funny is the only thing I can say about it. Who are they joking… like that woman was chosen for her political experience or expertise in anything at all? Honestly I’d never heard of her before, not that I follow politics that closely… but come on… give me a break… Do they think we are stupid?

And that is ALL I will say about this election…

I hope.