Greetings

Where have I been? Don't ask because I'm not sure. I am amazed at how fast time goes by. I noticed that I haven't posted anything on this blog since the 10th. It doesn't seem that long ago. Last week I attended a quilt guild meeting and had a few pictures I was going to post. I'm not sure when but I will. Last Saturday I got together with other guild members and we worked on next years Opportunity Quilt. I have pictures of that too, just not today. I have been busy with various projects that have deadlines connected to them and maybe even pictures to post. I'm up at 4:30 in the morning and then it's 9:00 and off to bed I go. I'm wondering if this is a symptom of getting older?

Batiks Plus is one of my favorite web stores. I don't purchase a lot from them but, only because I don't have the money. The quilt below is a Judy Niemeyer design done in batiks. The cost of the quilt kit is $390. No that doesn't include the backing. It takes every ounce of my self control not to pull out my credit card and purchase this kit. I love the quilt and I love batik fabrics.

My favorite season is autumn. I love everything about it and I think I focused on that once before. I enjoy making bread but don't do it in the summer because it's too hot to fire up the oven. I'm looking forward to our first cool day, that I'm not working, to make bread. I've been ordering bread mixes from Moore's Flour Mill for over six years. They don't have a web site but you can contact them at (530)241-9245. They are located in Redding California. They have a Walnut Cranberry bread machine mix that is out of this world. It's only 2.99 (I remember purchasing it for 2.59) and worth every dime. If your every in Redding you should look them up. They are family owned and operated and very nice to do business with.

The weekend is almost here. Tomorrow is casual wear day at work which means it's Friday. Whoo Woo! I'm going to a baby shower and quilt store and then I'm working on completed some of my projects. I might even visit the State Fair. Life if good.

Wishing you a blessed weekend.

Just Whining

I have been trying to finish up my Sister's Twister quilt for a month. That would be the quilting part. I practiced a free motion leaf pattern for weeks and I'm very proud of it. Now, if my thread would stop breaking and my machine would stop falling of the rails I could have this quilt quilted in a few hours. I'm using a thread brand called Presencia, 50 wt. This thread is expensive and not worth a dime. If your wondering why I bought this brand and why I'm not buying something else it's because the local quilt stores in the area don't carry anything else. I've been told the products that JoAnn's carries aren't any good. Well we'll see about that when I start my next project. I didn't want to order thread on line because I am concerned about the color matching. I'm always saying I want to be a long arm quilter until I start a quilting project. I have been attending various workshops and classes and it would appear, when looking at the books in my bookcase, that I have every book written on the subject, yet it's one thing after another. I have changed my needle, re-threaded the machine, and checked my bobbin and that hasn't made a difference. As many quilts as I piece it really is necessary for me to master this skill because I would need to win the Lotto to have the $$$ to pay a long arm quilter to finish all my quilt tops.

I have been looking at the professional long arm's like APQS, Nolting, Tin Lizzie and Gammill but we are talking 10 to 20 thousand dollars, not to mention the space they take up. I would have to commit to starting a business to pay for this. We'll see. Thanks for letting me vent. I'm going to have an ice cream and watch Two and Half Men. Maybe tomorrow I will try quilting again.

Have a blessed evening.

What to do next.

Greetings. The weather has been wonderful and I've been spending a lot of time outside. I'm stuck in an office all day without even a window so I appreciate sitting outdoors in the fresh air. I had asked my hubby to put a water feature in by the pool because I find the sound of trickling water very relaxing. He hung the hose over the side of the pool and turned the water on just a trickle. I will be more specific when I ask him for something in the future. Yesterday it started warming up and for the next few days we will be in the triple digits.

Friday we celebrated our 33rd. wedding anniversary. I worked all day so we went out for a nice dinner. We don't eat out much and so it was a treat.

Saturday I spent the entire day cleaning my living room. You are probably thinking I must be a very dirty housekeeper. Well, not on the surface. I have lots of stuff and when you have to move lots of stuff around it takes lots of time. I guess you could say I am very blessed. I have a collection of Betty Boop porcelain dolls in a display case that hasn't been dusted in months. It took hours to take each doll out, clean the glass shelves and the dolls and put them back. They are very fragile and you don't want to bump porcelain against glass. It was well worth it. I also have dozens of porcelain dolls I have made over the years. We are talking 25 years. I taught doll making, made clothes and sold the finished dolls in a boutique called The Dragonfly. Well that was then and this is now. I felt it was time to put some of those dolls up and some are being donated to the Cancer Society for a fundraiser they have scheduled. The attraction of making your own porcelain doll has died so I make a few dolls when I get special request, for which I have two.
This doll is named Roma. She has beautiful hand blown glass eyes from Germany. I used glass eyes in all my dolls. With the time and expense that goes into make these dolls it isn't worth putting in plastic. Porcelain will last for centuries and so will the glass eyes. You can always buy a new wig.

This is China. I've got a Hawaiian print that I'm going to use for her new dress. I will use the same pattern and I've got a silk hibiscus for her hair.

These four beauty's were designed my the same artist. I have the molds for them and I'm planning to make up a set of each for my granddaughters.

This is Willow. I had her dressed in an Indian outfit at one time. I love making doll clothes and changing their outfits.

Here is a close up. What an expression. I might be making up doll clothes and selling them on EBay.

This is Sugar Britches. This is the doll that started it all. This is the first porcelain doll I ever made. I've had her dressed in PJ's, Christening gowns, and little dresses. This outfit was purchased and it's a replica of the designers outfit. My living room got an overall dusting and vacuuming and I even washed the windows. In the spring I will be redecorating.

I have been working on my applique a little each night and tonight I'm going to start sewing block together on a quilt I need completed by October. It's all good.

Wising you a blessed evening.

A New Month

Greetings from the most miserable city in the country. It's the first day of August and there are 147 days until Christmas. Schools are starting up again. The Fall Equinox is 53 day away. (day when night and day are of equal length) Fall Equinox falls on September 22nd. this year. I love the colors, weather, and smells of Autumn. I've always been more creative during this time of the year. I enjoy decorating the house and shopping for fabric. Fabric colors in autumn are rich and vibrant. Our various family celebrations are behind me and now I can focus on my WW again. I have to stop at the grocery store after church tomorrow and stock up on all the right foods and spend time meal planning. I guess you can say I'm jazzed today. This is a link to a really cool blog about dieting and food. It's fun and informative and I think it's part of the reason for my inspiration. http://www.thechubbyartist.blogspot.com/

For a couple of years Stockton had the highest foreclosure rates in the nation, #1, and we learned this week we are now # 5 in foreclosures. Today's Record is reporting the closure of the Lexington Hotel and the upcoming auction. This hotel started out in August, 2005 as the Sheraton. It was a luxurious hotel in the middle of a not so luxurious downtown. It boasted seven floors, 179 room and 42 big ticket condominiums for sale. It was very nice but out of place in Stockton. It was the dream child of a few of the good old boys here in the most miserable city. The hotel was built on waterfront property the city sold for $1. Yes, you read it right, ONE DOLLAR. The city government subsidized $500,000 of the tax payers money for the project. Sad to say, it was a bust from the beginning. The bank foreclosed on it in July of 08 and has been in receivership since. In November of 08 it became the Lexington Hotel and now it's going to be sold at public auction. The amazing part of all this, the Mayor is quoted in the Record as saying, Ï think everyone is in shock that this would happen at this juncture." I have to ask, are all our elected government official out of touch with reality? Who did she think was going to stay at this hotel? Ít's not like we have big business or manufacturing here. It's an agriculture community. This city has great potential with an inland port, airport, and rail access but in 59 years that I've been here, these golden treasures have always been underutilized. So, if you want to buy a large hotel you know where to come. Someday I'll tell you about the city's use of public funds to subsidize a Sacramento restaurant owner. It was as successful as the Sheraton.

Enough of the negative. I'm off to plan, clean, organize, and quilt, not necessarily in that order. Have a blessed day.

Back to Work

Greetings. I'm back to work after a marvelous weeks vacation. I did a lot of things but managed to stay close to home. I worked on four quilt projects and made plans for a new one. I gave Herkie a bath and trimmed him nice and short for these hot days. I think I did as well as the groomer and saved $35 too. Herkie doesn't like baths but he is so good about it. I found time to do some serious cleaning around the house, but the best part of this vacation was spending time with my hubby. The days were cooler so we sat in the patio and talked, listened to the radio, and swam almost every day. It was a very relaxed laid back kinda week. To top things off work wasn't too bad and I had a lot of catch up to get done so the day went by fast.

I'm playing with EQ 6 this week with a goal of creating my own quilt design, making the quilt, and publishing the pattern. I want to teach it at a quilt retreat coming up in Oregon in the Spring of 2010. I see all these beautiful fabrics and I want to put them into a quilt so I can enjoy looking at them. Buying them and adding to my stash isn't the same.

Wishing you a blessed week until next time.

Quilting in July

Greetings from the Vacation Zone. I'm loving not having to be any place special at any special time. I am enjoying doing what I want when I want. Is this what retirement is like? The best part of this is there is no loss of things to do. I've been swimming every day. I have also budgeted time every day to read. I'm reading Tami Hoag's Lucky's Lady. It's a fast fun read. I took my refrigerator apart and cleaned it. It looks like new. I also cleaned and rearranged some shelves in the laundry room. I just spent two hours reading quilter's blogs. There are some amazing people out there quilting.

This is a picture of a quilt I'm working on today. Actually, I've been working on this quilt for about six months. I get pulled in other directions and it gets set aside. This weekend I was inspired to applique and this quilt has appliqued blocks in it. The reds and blues give it a happy playful feeling about it. The picture doesn't do it justice. It's called Prairie Pot Pie, designed by Rose Wojnar, and will be 92"x 92"when finished.

Here is a picture of eight of the blocks I have completed. They are kind of close together but you can get a better idea of the true color. I want to start the applique blocks so I can sit with my hubby while he watches TV and work on my blocks.

This is a picture of a quilt that was hanging up at Bear Paws and Hollyhocks in Sacramento. It's the inspiration that got me thinking about applique. There are pieced blocks around the appliqued center and appliqued flowers around the boarder. As usual, the picture doesn't do it justice.

This quilt top was at J R Flamingo in Sacramento, the unique part of this quilt is the cranes in the upper left corner are appliqued on along with the large flower along the bottom. This would be beautiful as a wall hanging.

Now, how cute is this. These little guys greet you at the door of Bear Paws and Hollyhocks. That quilt store is so inviting. I had a great time looking around. I was with other guild members Saturday shopping for fabric for next years opportunity quilt. We visited four different shops and every shop had something different. I found fabric for a quilt I'm making for a friend and some fabric I will use in my Paper Doll quilt I'm making for Brooke. I had a great day Saturday.

I am sewing the blocks for my brother's quilt tomorrow. I need to set up a larger design wall too. I have some blocks I want to sew together and I need to audition them on a design wall so I can stand back to get the right colors together. So much to do and so little time. I better get busy. It's not work when you love what you're doing.

I pray your days are as blessed as mine.

It's Friday

Happy day it’s Friday and the start of my 10 day vacation. In thinking this out I thought it was going to be 10 days of spontaneous activities like quilting, cleaning, lying by the pool drinking lots of iced tea, reading, and a couple of day trips to the foothills or coast. I also wanted to spend time at the computer working with EQ 6. I made a TO DO LIST but only as a suggestion in case I can’t choose what to do next. That might sound a bit strange as I have so many things I want to do, and need to do, I get a bit overwhelmed. Having a list helps me to prioritize smart.

Thursday night at our quilt guild meeting Sandra shared her paper doll quilt. Isn’t it the cutest? There is a pocket on the back to store the clothes. I’m going to have to make one for Brooke. So my To Do List grows.

These pictures are not very good. I just ordered the fabric and when I get it done I'll post the picture.

This blue quilt has embroidered centers and hundreds of half square triangles. I love it.

Saturday five of us from the guild are going on a road trip shopping for fabric for next years Opportunity quilt. We are going to Quilters Corner in Sacramento. I took a class there and it is an awesome shop. Then we will be off to Tayo’s in Fair Oaks, J R Flamingo and Bear Paws and Hollyhocks in Sacramento, and Torrie’s Sew and Vac in Carmichael. In case you aren’t aware, that would be the same as turning a bunch of kids loose in a candy store and telling them they can have anything they want. I can’t have anything I want but is there is something I can not live without it will be mine. You have to be real about this stuff.

Wednesday night is a board meeting and Friday night I’m taking a serger class at Jan’s. Her daughter Jennifer usually teaches the classes and she is a sweetie. She is very talented and a good teacher too.

I’ll keep you posted as the week progress.

Have a blessed day.