Check up day

I had my monthly appointment with the specialist today. She did a thorough check over and announced the meds are working so she is pleased with my progress. She lowered the dose again, and put me on something else which should help too. As much as I hate meds, I hate pain even worse, so I will take what is necessary.

I was shocked to learn I’d gained even more weight, despite trying really REALLY hard to resist temptations and eat everything in sight. (And it confirmed my home scale is not working, LOL) I will be even more careful of what I eat and hope it helps…. Regardless I know the moon face and sausage toes will stay until I’m done with this prednisone.

Did you hear it?

Just now, did you hear that Hallelujah chorus just now? That was me celebrating. I sang that (poorly) and snoopy danced (even poorer) all over the office/temporary sewing room. Why? Because I finished my Quarter of a Courthouse blocks that’s why. Seventeen months after I started making them the blocks are finally finished. Just the blocks, and I’m not even sure if there are enough or too many, I just know they are done.

Well… almost… I still need to iron them and then square them. And then lay the blocks all out on the bed and arrange them. And then sew them together. And then get it quilted. And then put the binding on and THEN it will be finished. I will have it done by November, I hope, that depends on the quilter of course. (fingers crossed)

As I sit here typing there is activity at the humming bird feeder. I wonder if they heard that there might be a hurricane headed our way? They sure are busy out there.

I should know better

Yep, you would think by now I should know better than to state what my plans are. You know that say, “The best laid plans..” Ok, that doesn’t quite fit here but you get my point. Today I planned to work on Quarter of a Courthouse and today I didn’t even touch it.

Let me explain why… when I went in the office/temporary sewing room I found the blocks were buried under a stack of white-on-white fabrics, all pre-washed and ready to be cut into fat quarters for the fall retreat. So before I could get to the blocks, something had to be done with those w-o-ws. That was achieved, but it took much longer than I anticipated. Now I have a nice collection of w-o-ws to sell to the retreat ladies for their scrappy happy quilts (to benefit RFL of course).

However all the standing really wore me out so I decided to read a bit. I’ve been reading The Quilter’s Homecoming, and it was getting really good, so good I couldn’t put it down… Well it’s done now, and finished, and it’s dinner time and those plans went awry for sure.

If you haven’t read The Quilter’s Homecoming by Jennifer Chiaverini yet, I highly recommend it. I think it is my favorite one so far. I enjoyed it tremendously, and am almost sorry it is finished. I might just read it again…. But I have other books to read, and quilts to make too!

Sew now what?

I accomplished something, although nowhere near my goal… I made 12 miniatures and received many more from some truly wonderful internet friends and am sending big box off to AAQI. I have more in the works, but I need to do something different, a big quilt, and perhaps a UFO…

I have enough UFOs to pick from, 50 to be exact, although three of them I consider WIPs rather than UFOs. I’ve done what I can on them and am waiting for the quilter and as soon as she works her magic on them I will put bindings on and they will be done.

I know what I need to work on, maybe get it finished and on my bed by winter… Quarter of a Courthouse. I started it in April 09 and have worked on it off and on, mostly off since I wasn’t able to properly sew for nine months. I know I have a baggie of finished blocks, still in my rolling tote since the November Retreat last year. I know there is a pile of blocks sitting on the cutting table waiting to be squared. And there is another pile of quarter cuts/waiting to be sewn together on the sewing table. All I have to do is sew them all together, square all that need squaring and sew them into rows and then a quilt… that’s all…

What? When I look at that photo, the finished blocks laid out on my bed, they almost cover the bed… so why am I making more blocks, so many more that they will probably cover the bed a second time? Me thinks me better lay those blocks out again and figure out where I am going with this one, LOL!

I think that is what I will work on… wish me luck!

All of the miniatures have been posted and now you can vote for your favorite. Only votes submitted from the web site will count and I will only accept one vote per email address. We are judging Viewer’s Choice, so pick your favorite and vote now.

http://delawarequilts.com/AAQI/index.html

All miniatures have been submitted to AAQI and will be mailed early next week. Thank you to EVERYONE who participated, even if you didn’t mail a quilt this time. I will keep collecting quilts, and I will have more prizes to offer.

Thank you all!


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Emotional Minutes

Here I sit at my computer filling out registration forms for all of the miniatures sent in by so many people, reading all the reasons why everyone sent, and remembering my own reason for getting involved… dear Aunt Sheryl. What a delightful person she was, how sweet and caring and so wonderful and full of life…

And John calls to tell me “We are coming to visit you” I say “We?” and he answers “Aunt Sheryl and I” First I was shocked, what timing. Second I was still in my PJs, try explaining that to someone who gets dressed the second she gets out of bed in the morning, and third, I was working on the miniatures she inspired.

So first, get over my shock and run and get dressed. Second, make bed, incase she wanders down the hallway… something else she never liked was an unmade bed, LOL! Third, try to decide what to do with miniatures, incase she asks.

No time to do anything with them as they walk in the back door. Hugs, small talk, and then she asks “What are you working on” probably because she sees colorful little things sitting on my table. So I showed her, all of them, every single one. She loved them all, making compliments and comments on each one. I explained how friends had made them and they would be sent off to a charity to raise money. Thankfully she didn’t ask what charity.

And then they were off, she had a dentist appointment and John had forgotten to take the check book which was why the quick visit. As she left she commented on all the paintings on our walls. I told her I had a friend who was an artist… although she recognized all of her work… she smiled and said “Oh yes, we had some good times” and turned around and left.

I hope she really remembers the good times we had. I hope she knows how much she has changed my life. I hope she knows how much John and I love her, and how we would do anything possible to make her happy. I am thrilled she remembers me at all. I had a good cry, then shared this with you all, now back to registering those miniatures.

Do we need all the quilts we make?

This morning a friend asked “do we need all the quilts we make?” and it got me to thinking….

When I started quilting it was to help a friend with a quilting demo… I have a few of the pieces I made for that demo still, heaven knows why but I am very happy I do. They are a part of my history and made for some fun showings at trunk shows.

Then I started making quilts for gifts, then for demonstrations and samples. I still have some of them, others I gave away and even sold.

When I started teaching I made samples in steps as well as finished quilts for each class. Some of the steps are on my UFO list, some I finished and donated a few years back. Some I gave away unfinished, and the friend I gave them to finished them, quilted them and donated them to Children’s Hospital. Some of my samples have gone to Linus Quilts and more recently I sent a few quilts to Margaret’s Hope Chest.

Of the other 400 some quilts I have made in my life time I have 49 UFOs and about 125 quilts in my quilt closet, not counting miniatures, wall hangings and quilts on beds, sofas, chairs and in piles in the office and sewing room. Sooner or later someone, hopefully me, will find deserving homes for all of the quilts. Some I truly hope to sell to raise money for Relay and AAQI.

Now I sew to make samples mostly, although occasionally just for fun. I found the miniatures quite fun and challenging too, and will be making more.

OH… I also sew to use up my stash. Sooner or later someone, hopefully me, will empty all those shelves of fabric!

Lottery winner?

I bought a Powerball ticket yesterday, I was sure I was going to win for some reason. After I posted my blog I ran a few errands. Something I used to do a lot, but haven’t for a long time. Running errands had been too much for me to handle, so I only did one or two things on my outings. However yesterday I was brave and had a list of things to do…
Take John’s shirts and pants to the laundry… done
Mail packages… done
Go to bank… done
Unscheduled was running into a friend while waiting for traffic to move in a parking lot. Always nice to run into someone unexpectedly like that, especially Joan.
Grocery shopping… done. What a chore that has become. Standing for a long time still is a problem and grocery stores don’t have any chairs in them, anyone ever notice that? But I got it done.
Then the next chore, bringing in the groceries and putting them away… done.

While I was at the grocery store I happened to walk by the service counter and overheard a man buying a lottery ticket… I didn’t know they sold them… so I bought one. This morning I checked and I have five numbers right,

one on each one of the five numbers I bought. Sadly they don’t add up, so all I did was contribute $5 to the pot. Hope whoever wins it appreciates my $5.

Give aways?

I have a question, if the Go is so wonderful, why is everyone giving them away? If I had one and loved it I would not give it away. OK.. I know... the maker is giving them away to people to give away, good advertising, I guess. But if they are giving so many away, wouldn’t it be better for business to just lower the price off ALL of them, making them more affordable to the common quilter?

I’ve seen what seems like a billion Go Give-Aways on blogs. So if they reduce the cost of the Go by the number they’ve given away, I’d think the cost would be half what it retails for. Wishful thinking on my part.

I’ve considered getting one for the ladies to use at the retreats and of course for me to use at home between retreats. But they are costly. The Go costs $350 plus shipping and the Studio runs $595. If I bought one it would be the Studio Bread & Butter Starter Set, only $1605. I haven’t seen anyone giving one of those away yet. Guess I’d better add that to my “If I ever win the lottery list”

Stash Busting Idea

He's at it again! Who you ask, why the IBOL guy that's who! Check it out!
http://ibol.wordpress.com/2010/08/24/ibol-ii/

Mailing deadline is October 1st so get those boxes in the mail quickly!

Another internetless day

Same as yesterday, went off around noon and came on sometime between 7:30 and 8. And yes, I took advantage of it.

Since I couldn’t get on line I decided to look through some of the quilt magazines that are sitting around waiting to be passed on to someone else. (How I recycle my quilt magazines.) I looked at three magazines which are all fairly recent. When I was finished I was angry that I’d wasted my time and money on them all… and here is why.

Three magazines yielded a total of 42 postcard inserts. I did hit the jackpot on one magazine, and each post card was in there three times for a total of 27 in ONE magazine. Inside one magazine was an eight page catalog for clothing. 8 pages! One is too many in my opinion, but I know magazines need advertising.

That made me wonder and I took more of my valuable time and went through all three magazines again. Three magazines, total pages 292 (66+152+74 = 292). Total pages of pure advertising, 91. Other pages with ads on them, 40. Add to that the 42 post cards, and I am paying good money for what?

Three of the patterns in magazines were so much alike I checked to see if the same person had published them. Two of the patterns I consider a waste of ink and paper, so old and so easy, only a kindergartener would need instructions on how to make them. (one was a 9 patch for heaven’s sake)

Yes I am truly disappointed and will not be renewing the magazines, bringing my total magazine subscriptions down to one, and that’s John’s “library” reading (Readers Digest). I already cancelled Good Housekeeping, Better Homes and Gardens and Southern Living.

No Internet Sunday

Not on purpose, not like it was planned to get things done, but we had no internet most of yesterday. So I took advantage of it and got some work done. I made a few test BOMs, and I finished not one but two books. I finished The Christmas Quilt which I enjoyed a lot, and Circle of Quilters which I enjoyed even more. I really have enjoyed Jennifer Chiaverini's books since I read the first three in An Elm Creek Quilts Sampler.

Why we had no internet is a mystery to me. It was a dark and dreary day but there weren’t any storms in the area until late in the afternoon when it poured. Then the sun came out revealing some beautiful skies.




And then another storm rolled through and then it was night. I’m not sure when the net came back, but I didn’t notice until I came on to shut down… all ready for bed and tired so that was all I did, shut down and went to bed. … .

Today is the deadline

Today is the mailing deadline for the AAQI challenge. It was the arrival deadline, but so many asked for extensions that I changed it to mailing deadline. I will wait anxiously for the mail lady for the next four or five mails. If every package arrives that claims to be in the mail, I will have a nice collection to send to Ami for Houston.


Even if no more arrive, I’m very happy with what I am sending now. They are all gorgeous and I’m glad I don’t have to pick a winner. In my opinion, they are all winners, for wanting to help.
Thanks ladies, from the bottom of my heart!

Life is different after school

Yes, once you graduate life is very different. Then you have kids and life becomes different again, your life rotates around their school. It starts right with pre-school and goes through college. Then life starts getting different all over again. This is the third September that I won’t have kids going back to school. I see many blogs where quilters are either rejoicing or not over back to school time. I have friends who are teachers who are either already in school or getting ready to start very soon. And the school busses across the street are getting prepared too, getting washed and gassed up for first day, which is still two weeks away here.

My sleep schedule will change when school starts because of those busses. For the first few days of school I hear them start up and pull out of the driveway. I remember the first year the boys were in college… I heard the buses start and jumped out of bed thinking we’d over slept… then I remembered they were away, on their own. Thank goodness they made it though, although I have no idea how many classes they missed due to sleeping in.. nor do I want to know.

One good thing about school starting, that means that fall is coming, and soon it will be retreat time… I’m ready for a retreat. Time away with the ladies and quilting 24 hours a day… or as long as I can stay awake anyway.

Wednesday PS

Today is Wednesday and it is raining again.

It has rained pretty much all day here.

Typical dark dreary day, I've been working with lights on.

I wonder when I'll see the sun again?

Vacation in photos, just a few

If you read me or follow me you know we just got home from a conference/vacation in hot Florida. I thought I'd share a few photos showing some of the trip. It was a wet one for sure.

The first photo shows the start of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel which is always a highlight of our trips north and south. I love the scenery always and this day was no exception.

We actually had a nice sunny day on day one, until we crossed the NC/SC line, and the weather went down hill from there.

This is day two, somewhere on I95 south of Jacksonville Florida... rain.

Day three more rain, the view looking due east from my 7th floor hotel room.

Day four rain again, this is the view looking northwest.

Same view, following evening, yep more rain.

But we didn't have rain ALL the time, this is day five, and you can see the ground is wet, but the sky beautiful. It rained twice while we were at Epcot, and both times we happened to be inside, so we didn't get rained on.

Of course we were at Epcot mainly for IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth. The sky looked semi threatening, but IllumiNations went off rain free!

Day six, headed home. Here we are leaving Georgia and you can see the clouds. We had a few showers, but nothing bothersome. Thank goodness. And here we are back on the Bay Bridge-Tunnel and look who we happened to find but Mike and Kelly. Actually we knew they were heading south for their vacation as we were heading home from ours so we sort of arranged to meet. Thanks to traffic we didn't have to wait long to enjoy some time with them before they headed to the Outer Banks

The best part of the trip, meeting Mike and Kelly and coming home... there's no place like home.

Another rainy day

However it doesn’t bother me, no pool to be wanting to get into, LOL! I sure wish there was, it was nice to take a dip to cool off while sitting outside enjoying the lovely breezy air. Maybe when I win the lottery I’ll have a pool installed and hire a pool kid to keep it up for me. I’ll also hire a gardner, and a maid, and and and… maybe someday I will buy a lottery ticket.. it would be another miracle if I won.

I’ve just gotten all the hold mail from our mail lady and in it were three lovely minis. There are a few more in the mail so the numbers are going on. However, still a long way from the 100 I’d hoped for. Regardless I am very happy to be sending what I will send. Thank you all so very much.

I have decided that I will make a mini a month or more, and if anyone wants to join me you are more than welcome to. I think I’ll add some mystery to this and send off prizes randomly to anyone who sends me a mini. Not everyone will get a prize, but I promise every mini will be greatly appreciated by me and I know also by Ami.

Ami’s guidelines will stay the same, so mine will also. You can see my guidelines at
http://delawarequilts.com/AAQI/ and Ami’s guidelines can be found at
http://www.alzquilts.org/madoqu.html

After the mail has arrived on Saturday August 21 I will post photos of all of the minis I’ve received. We will then have a contest, awarding one miniature quilt the Best Of Show and a very nice prize (worth over $50) to the one chosen by viewer’s choice. (One vote per email address).

If I should receive number 100 I will send that prize out also. If not, I will offer it up for a prize at another time.

Home Sweet Home

We got home yesterday and yesterday was the first day the whole trip we did not have rain. Home never felt so good.

Here’s a photo taken while visiting The Land at Epcot. This one really makes you think… or it should. So very true.

I'm here

Although I'm not quite sure where here is LOL! We are on our way home and vacation is almost over. Before I go any further let me clarify one thing... I have had a nice vacation. I can think of one nice thing every day, honest. When we left home it was glorious, but crossing the NC/SC line brought on the rain, which has cursed us every single day including today. This certainly will go down in history as our wettest vacation ever.

Day one's good time was finally getting off the highway and out of the rain. Day two's good time was arriving safely in Kissimmee. Day three's good time was finishing one of the minis I brought with me to work on, success in the sewing department. Day four's good time was finally making it to the pool and not getting rained on. Day five's good time was dinner with my honey, always nice, but even nicer when I'm not cooking. Day six found us at Epcot, John's favorite Disney park. Lots of good times there, including Sourin' which we did twice because we liked it so much. And if you were wondering, yes it rained while we were at Epcot, twice. But both times we were inside and not a drop of rain fell on us. We got wet anyway, sweat... it was SOOOOOooooo hot. How hot, like in the high 90s.

Today we are headed home, and I've watched the thermometer go from 82 to 102 and down again and up and down again. We'll be home sometime soon and honestly, I can't wait. Lots of photos to share and maybe I'll even show you the seven minis I finished, maybe.

To answer a few comments and emails..
I don't know how many minis have arrived this week, my mail is being held at the post office.

My knees did ok, until I twisted them badly while out walking one evening. John pushed me around Epcot again, I could barely stand. Today I am doing better, although have been pushing the pain pills pretty regularly. Sitting doesn't help much either.

Yes, I finished Sugar Camp Quilt, and I enjoyed it a lot. No I did not start another one, although I have it packed in my bag... sadly I can't read while we are moving. Riding is wasted time to me.

Why Florida in August, NOT our choice, LOL! That is where the conference was so that is where we went. I don't think we will be going to this particular conference again, at least not next year.

And yes, I did get slightly sunburned, just on my upper arms and shoulders. I guess my sunscreen wasn't as water proof as it said it was. Just slightly red and it didn't hurt at all.

I guess this is depression 6?

OK, so this morning the skies were clear and blue, just a few little white puffs of clouds floating here and there. So I went to the pool to do some handwork and cool off. It was glorious. I finished one mini and took a dip. Then another mini, and another dip. I was really enjoying myself when someone said loudly, “Where did that come from?” and I looked up to see a BIG BLACK cloud hovering over the hotel.

Since I had my very special miniatures with me and since I didn't want them to get wet, I decided to pack up and head inside. Not quite as easy as it sounds since technically we were no longer guests, even though John was still conferencing. I went into the ladies room and changed into dry clothes, putting my wet suit in a plastic bag I had brought along just incase I didn't have time to dry off, good move.

Just a few minutes later John finished up his conference and we left the hotel. Guess what, it as raining. We stopped for dinner, guess what, more rain. Finished dinner, still raining. Checked into hotel for the evening, still raining. I think this will go down in history as the wettest vacation yet!

Depression #5

No I'm not depressed, but I finally found out where all the rain is coming from. Today the sky just has a few tiny clouds in it, and there isn't a threatening cloud in site. I think I will take my minis to the pool with me today.

Something that is depressing, the oil spill in the Gulf. Since we lived in Texas in the early 70s there has been a special place in my heart for the Gulf of Mexico. No matter where I've seen it from, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida, the Gulf was beautiful. I spent a lovely spring on the Gulf one year, and the thought of it covered with oil sickened me. Yesterday at the pool I was talking to a lady from Gulfport and she said it was sad to see the damage the oil spill has created. Sadder yet are the years it will take to get everything back to normal, if that can ever be done.

Well I think I will head to the pool now and see if I can finish my bindings.

More rain

Yep, you got it, another wet thundery lightening day in Orlando. However I did get two hours at the pool to enjoy the pleasant breezes and sunshine, and even took a nice long swim before the thunder started. We could hear it coming off in the distance and a few people were taking bets on how long it would be before they cleared the pool. I decided to beat the rush and packed up my stuff first. I stopped in the ladies room before walking through the hotel wet and drippy, using the blow dryer to dry myself off a little. And when I came out of the ladies room it was POURING and I got all wet all over again, LOL! But at least I wasn't alone, there was a line of wet people coming in the door behind me.

I will admit that I'm enjoying my time at the pool, reading, taking a swim, reading some more, just plain relaxing. I had thought about taking some hand work with me, but decided I'd better keep that for room work. Besides, I think the breeze would have made it harder to sew. This pool is for adults only and there is hardly a soul there when I'm there. There is also a kids pool, and as tempted as I was to play on the water slide, the noise level forced me to go to the adults only pool. So peaceful and so relaxing... sigh

Got to the pool at last!

I was sitting here in my lonely over priced hotel room and I realized the sun had come out. Looked out the window and saw there were huge clouds off in the distance, but maybe far enough away I could get to the pool so I could say I'd been to the pool... And I did. The pool was glorious and the air even nicer, someone had turned down the humidity and sent a nice breeze. I took a dip, read some, took another dip, read some more and then... thunder... SO I packed up and headed back to my room. But on the way I found a new restaurant hidden in a little alley in the hotel and decided to look at the menu. They offered a appetizer of arugula salad and a crab cake at a reasonable price, and it was better than going out in the rain to find something else, so I went in. It was delish! SO delish that I am going there for dinner too. Heck, I might eat all my meals there, LOL!

The book I am reading is Sugar Camp Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini and I finished another mini, making progress and having fun... despite the rain I'm having an AOK vacation!