stitchintheditch

catching up

2011-08-11T13:25:00.000-04:00

Well, crud.. I typed an entire page and it has disappeared. fooey.

I've been working on unfinished projects in the ten days since I was laid off from my job, and have gotten the binding done on that Christmas quilt as well as finishing four scrub tops for John. I switched last year to a new pattern from Kwik Sew and he says they are a lot more comfortable than the old ones were. Three of them have a fishing theme and one is black with white skeletons... appropriate for an X-ray man, I think..

My camera seems to have sprouted legs. I can't recall where I put it. I'd love to take a picture of the bloom that finally sprouted on my hydrangea. Mike gave me that one for Mother's Day about 5 years ago, and it's never blossomed since I planted it. It's a lovely big blue ball at the bottom of the plant. My day lilies are mostly gone by but I do still have some yellow and peach colored ones. They seem to enjoy all this rain we've been having. Everything is so lush this year !

My dear friend Jan sent me a nifty little bag last month and I am making several of them with yarny fabrics so I can use them with my knitting. They are so easy to make, and just the thing with that knitting-themed fabric I'd been saving.

Off to the sewing room.. perhaps I will uncover the camera while I am in there !

I love summer, don't you?

2011-07-21T15:11:00.004-04:00

It used to be autumn that was my favorite time of year but I am really enjoying this summer weather. Yes, it is hot and muggy, but the daylilies are in full bloom and I've got some purple wildflowers that are so pretty..

I got my Christmas quilt back from Whippersnappers today. Lynn Irish did such a good job with the holly design ! I love it.. I had to re-cut the entire quilt last year and stitch it together again so she had a little trouble with the borders (where I had done the stupid mitering before I realized the quilt was wonky and needed recutting.. ) but it didn't really show where she'd had the trouble, and as Sue says "a blind man would be happy to see it!"

I went out back to take pics and here's my clematis (the Japanese beetles have been at it.. sigh) but it's holding up well in the heat.My hollyhocks over by the barn are blooming for the first time and I am very pleased with them. I've got another set by the back of the house but they aren't as picturesque.

The wall by the corner of the front yard is dressed in yellow and peach with some lovely lilies, but I can't remember what they are called. I purchased them the first summer we lived here.

I need to get into the sewing room and back to work but I picked up two books from Marie Bostwick's Cobbled Court series and they are calling to me.. Time to make some iced tea and pull up a comfy chair...
Later, y'all !

Note to self: rolling chairs and treadle machines don't play well together.

2011-07-06T16:11:00.004-04:00

OW. My leg still hurts from the attempt. And it took me awhile to realize it, too. That's the worst part. How foolish you feel once you realize, "duhhh... it's the wheels causing the problems.."
Oh well. Par for the course in my universe ! It goes along with another life lesson, "Rolling the rotary cutter backward to catch a bit of uncut fabric is not a good idea when you use your thumb as a stop." Hey, did I ever claim to be a genius?? Well, there you have it.

I don't want to be on Randy Cassingham's list of Obliviots, so I am trying to be a little more aware of what I do BEFORE I do it.. I bought a new rotary cutter that is a bit safer, and I put a straight chair at the treadle machine.

Did I mention I dropped a sewing machine on my foot at work last week? Well, yeah, it wasn't intentional.. the top wasn't on tight, apparently.. my toe is finally beginning to look like a human toe again. I tell ya, if I weren't such a klutz there would be a lot less entertainment value in my blog..

Now on to more interesting things. I saw an eagle today, soaring high over a giant flagpole in Greene, Maine this afternoon. At first I thought he was a finial at the top of the pole but then I realized he was in the sky behind the pole. Cool ! His white wingtips flashed in the sun as he wheeled and drifted on a rising thermal current. That was great. I wish I had had my camera with me !
I've seen a half dozen eagles this year. One was sitting on a cow skeleton by the river, a few months ago. Another was dragging a 10 foot long tree branch through the air and having quite a time of it, but he was determined not to let go. (I was glad, because had he dropped it, it might have made my car insurance rates even higher than they are.... )
That's one of the great things about living in Maine. I see an abundance of wildlife, and in my 50 mile drive to work there are some brilliant views... One of these days I need to post some pictures of those views. The view from Turner's Upper Road is spectacular. You can see the Presidential Range in New Hampshire from there. I'll see if I can get pictures of that sometime soon.
My boss' niece writes the SouleMama blog, and her pictures of Maine are fabulous if you ever get a chance to see them.
Anyway.. Thanks to my pals Wilda and Val for their comments on my last post. It's good to be back in blogger land again !

where to begin, or re-begin or whatever you call it.. ?

2011-07-03T17:26:00.010-04:00

It's been over a year since I have blogged and people are beginning to ask me if I intend to resume (ah! That's the word I was looking for !) blogging.
I finally worked out just what to click on so I could post again ! (I'm a bit thick at times) I kept finding my blog but not where to add new posts. Where IS Captain Obvious when you need him ?

The past year has been very busy. I returned to Maine in June 2010 and have been trying to get caught up with projects ever since. My previous employer asked me to come back to work at the quilt shop, and I wrecked my car shortly thereafter.. then my husband totaled his on the first significant snowfall of the winter.. and we just kept having one snowfall after another after another..

But eventually spring arrived. Things are green again. Yippee ! And we have lupines !

I spent a lot of time in the sewing room a lot during the bad weather.

I hadn't wanted to do much embroidery on my Bernina because the stitch quality was so bad, but recently I had the machine tuned up and we discovered that I had bent the bobbin case when I dropped it on that lovely tile floor at the Vineyard apartment. It was warped and caused the bobbin to drag and threw the tensions all off! No wonder my stitches were so messed up... I purchased a new bobbin case (Bernina seems to think all Americans are made of money, but that's neither here nor there.)
What a difference it made ! Sew, now I am getting back into the embroidery side of things and I've completed several projects already.

Here is one bag I made for my friend Lynne at the Heath Hen quilt shop. The turquoise and purple table runner was embroidered with a quilting design from Dakota Collectibles as a sample for Creative Sewing Center
The black bag wasn't embroidered but it was such a daunting task I was terrified of starting it. It took me almost three years from the time I bought the pattern till I actually finished sewing the bag, but I love how it turned out. It's from a pattern called The Professional Tote, and every bit is reinforced. It makes a lovely carrying case for my laptop and my lunch and all sorts of other things.. so I just HAD to show it off.
I can't promise to be as interesting a blogger as my friends Susan, Jan and Valeri, but I will try to keep up. Off to find more pictures to ~~bore you with..~~ I mean, to share.
Catch you later !
Deb

Finished !!

2010-03-17T20:49:00.005-04:00

My mother's legacy to her middle grandson.. a Rail Fence quilt !

And it only took 28 years from start to finish.....
Back in early 1982, I took a refresher course so I could go back to work as a psych nurse. My dad had passed away the previous summer and my mother was sort of at a loss. I asked if she'd come visit us in Florida, and stay with my son while I was in school and my husband worked. My son was in kindergarten so would only need watching in the late afternoon. She rode by herself on the bus, her first long trip.. all the way from central Maine to west-central Florida. It was an adventure for my 65 year old mother, and she and my son really enjoyed themselves. Mum had taken a couple of quilting classes that previous fall at the local adult ed. in Maine, so she asked him if he'd like her to make him a quilt.
I took them to Cloth World in Tampa, and they picked out several green fabrics, as that was his favorite color.
This was before most folks knew anything about rotary cutters, and Mum made a template from sandpaper, and traced a few hundred shapes on the fabric with a pencil, then cut each one out by hand and hand stitched them together. She didn't really know how to hand quilt, but she gamely tried putting the quilt top together and it sat in a hoop in her house for many years, till we finally moved back to Maine in 1999. A couple of years later, I asked if I could take the quilt from her, because by then she had lost most of her vision from Macular Degeneration.. And I thought I'd easily quilt it myself. WRONG..
Cats and life got in my way, and eventually I took the quilt out of the frame and carefully washed the top and backing, and put a new batting inside. The seams were not all uniformly done, so I realized it would be best to machine quilt the top in order to keep the seams intact. I finally got it started in December 2009, and finished it last week !!
Woo hoo !

My husband delivered it to our son last weekend and he's thrilled to be able to use it.. and that he can put it in the washer on gentle if he needs to. The fabric is still quite strong, even tho some of the colors faded over the years. Mum passed away in 2006, and while DS and I were discussing that long ago trip to Florida, he remembered fondly the way he would surround his grandmother with stuffed animals from his collection, and she'd read him stories every night when he went to bed. It was a good time for both of us, and a fond recollection of my mother.

Fiesta!

2010-02-13T21:52:00.004-05:00

I'm still waiting for my machine to come back from the spa, but I have managed to baste together the fiesta table topper that I was working on. A bit blurry but for some reason lately I must be moving the camera as I click the shutter. I apologize for the view of the trashcan, lol. The kitchen in this apartment is very 'cosy' to say the least.

I've never gone this long without a machine.. I've been knitting socks and am ready to do the toe grafting so I can finish them. Whew. That was a lot of knitting considering I didn't even learn how till last May. But it was fun and next project is the slouch hat on the cover of the Winter 2009/2010 Knit Simple magazine. That baby alpaca is sooo soft.. they said it knits up fast so I am looking forward to this project.

Otherwise, I had to get a new rotary blade again today because I dropped the cutter on the floor and nicked the blade on the tile.. sigh.. so now I am all set to start preparations for when Nina comes home from her spa visit !! I have missed that machine sew much ... we'll both be happy to have her sitting on her little table again. Only ten more days till she comes home.
Can't wait... meanwhile I have some hand stitching to do on an autumn design that I'd purchased two years ago. It will be good to get that done. Busy, busy!

more pictures

2010-01-09T01:07:00.005-05:00

In the fall, we took a trip to Fort Knox and the new bridge in Prospect Maine.
We'd been over the old bridge to Bar Harbor a few years back, and some of the holes on the road deck were big enough to swallow a car. That whole lane was closed, and it took forever for cars and trucks to go across, with the speed limit and the one lane traffic..
Here's a picture of the old and new bridges from the observation deck, 40 stories from the ground.. it's an awesome place to visit !
The old bridge is on the left and has been closed.
Fort Knox is being restored, and what a cool place that was ! We felt as if we were in the middle of a Horatio Hornblower movie.. you could almost see the soldiers in your mind's eye..
The fort was never the site of an active conflict, but if you click the link at the beginning of this post, you can read about the history. It was fun to see what the old ambulances looked like, too.
We've already decided we'll go back again next summer.

It's funny how often my mother talked about going to the fort, and in the 10 years we've been back in Maine, we never got there before. We passed it several times but never stopped.

We should try to visit more of the state's great sites.
I want to get back to Pemaquid Point in the summer too.
For now, I can only dream of summer and hope the winter doesn't drag out too long.

Catching up !

2010-01-09T00:50:00.006-05:00

yikes. I haven't posted in so long..

Here's what I've done lately. I finished a pair of socks, knit with Opal yarn.

Been working on a class with the Braid Runner pattern, and doing some variations on it, so I can help Lynne at the Heath Hen Quilt Shop to sell more patterns and books on French Braid quilts. I've made a Lollapalooza handbag from a StudioKat Designs pattern, and

over the summer and fall we painted the dining room, the bathroom, and the dining room again when we realized the color was horrid... we also had several large 90' tall trees cut back or cut down completely, so I helped my brother split and load several truckloads of firewood...

finished machine quilting that Warm Wishes quilt and got it bound.. started quilting a quilt top that my mother had made for DS 28 years ago. I stay pretty busy with my hands but it just doesn't translate well to my blog, I guess.
Hopefully now that I've broken the dry spell I can remember to add more posts.

snowman nearly done..

2009-03-31T16:32:00.003-04:00

which is good, as it's spring now, lol.. (Thanks, Val..)
I've done a grid pattern across the diagonal and the corners are free motion with the BSR foot. Oops.. my bread is done and I need to remove it from the oven.
I'm making a 7 grain bread recipe from my bread machine cookbook but have recently discovered if I use the dough/pasta cycle I can take it out and bake it in the oven and get a much better bread.. the French bread was out of this world!!

Back to the snowman. Here are different views. The first, I've done a view of the grid pattern. I love the Bernina walking foot!!
I had to skip over the appliquéd letters and the snowman but it wasn't hard, just a lot of clipping of threads when I was done.
I'll use a green stripe that coordinates with the brown stripe for the bias binding. The corners had a nearly solid brown fabric so I thought they needed a bit more interest. I did a free motion star and curlicue for those, which was fun....

Hope they show up okay.

Now the bread is actually ready. It needed five more minutes when I checked it last time. MMMMM it sure smells good..

I'm planning to spend more time blogging and reading blogs, and I've also set myself the task of watching the videos I've purchased of thequiltshow.com and the Fons&Porter tips.. I paid for membership at QNN so I really ought to be using it.. got to keep the little grey cells working.
Bread awaits..

geez louise!

2009-03-29T16:49:00.002-04:00

Well, now I know just why I haven't blogged in a while...
It took me the better part of an hour to get the images uploaded, and I ended up emailing them to my laptop and then it was simple. There is something radically wrong with the settings on my PC because I never had trouble with Firefox or the cable internet, but now with that G3 thingy I can't type a half decent reply on Delphi forums without it stalling and I have to select all my stuff, copy it to Notepad, then control, alt, delete, and stop firefox, then restart it and try again. I keep getting the " Firefox is not responding" so I even deleted the darn thing and reinstalled it!!!!!!!! I hate playing games with computers. This is also why I had so many gazillion backup disks, because whenever I had problems with previous computers, I would make backups of everything I thought I might want to save.. problem was, I didn't have a sensible sorting system. Now I have decided when I back things up, I will make it easier on myself, AND label the cd as well.
Insert expletive here! LOL.
I hope to have more pics to upload soon but right now I need to get back to quilting a grid pattern across a snowman wallhanging I started last fall. And force myself to finish projects in a reasonable amount of time... and not start things I can't finish, and...
sigh.... I am my mother after all ....... yikes..

Playing Catchup

2009-03-29T15:56:00.004-04:00

I've spent weeks organizing my backup files and downloaded embroidery files which somehow had been duplicated half a zillion times... I also had 3 cd's worth of bernina pdf's from their old site, and all this stuff was on dozens of 'backup' disks that were nearly impossible to search. A few months ago, I got a portable hard drive, so I decided to upload every disk I'd made and sort them... I've been doing this for going on four weeks now!!
Then I thought I'd machine quilt that Warm Wishes quilt.. what is it with me and impossible tasks ???
I've got about two thirds of it done and have removed it from the machine temporarily so I can work on other UFOs.. eek.
I am hoping to have more to post soon. This connection is not the best but it seems to be my settings, not the G3 card.. I'm still researching causes.. bear with me. I'm trying to get it to stay connrcted long enough to upload a pic :((

More pictures..

2008-11-12T22:37:00.000-05:00

I do love these old pictures, and since Erika reminded me that others do, too... here's a couple of pics of my FIL and his brothers, one labeled 1925.

This third picture is of my son and his cousins, taken in 1980, and this one is everyone's favorite, so it will go on the quilt too. They had a blast together that summer. DH was in school in San Diego so we went home to visit and the boys played outside all summer long..

Picture number 4 is one of my favorites.. It's DH and his brothers.. there are a lot of males in the family, can you tell ? Since I put in his dad's cowboy picture, I had to put in the one of DH and his brothers.. DH is the one in the middle.. Don't you love how his older brother is standing at attention and his younger brother is getting ready to "Draw!" ? Love the big old key rings, too..

catching up

2008-11-06T11:56:00.000-05:00

I've been trying to get organized for the past two weeks and clear out old email digests, and move embroidery files to one location, etc.. I'm also working on some UFO's and getting ready to spend winter with my DH in another state, so I've got a lot of projects in various stages. Most recent is a pictorial quilt I want to do for a gift for someone special. I went thru old photos and memorabilia this week, sorting and trying to find the perfect pics. I love this one.. it's DH's mum and her siblings.. MIL is seated beside her brother, probably trying to make him sit still and quit swinging his leg.

I found letters from my aunts and cards from friends, and old school papers of my son's.. great reading..

Hopefully once I get some of these things done I can post pics of what I have done. Maybe it will motivate me to do more. And maybe even blog more, lol..

Nuffin' much to say......

2008-07-26T11:18:00.000-04:00

I keep thinking I should enter something on the blog, but never think I have anything interesting to say. My sewing table is cluttered with about six different projects in varying stages, and with summer here, a lot of the storms are keeping me from running my Bernina, just in case of lightning. Waah! I wanna sew !!
Today the sun is shining so I hear my machine calling me. But first, gotta let the dog out..
I'll post pics when I get something finished. Back later !

more warm wishes

2008-06-15T20:31:00.000-04:00

Here's another quilt with that Warm Wishes pattern. This one is with Christmas fabric that recently arrived at the store where I work. I did this for a store sample. I wish I'd thought it out a little better because the two greens are so close in shade that you lose some of that great framing, but it still makes a nice quilt.

I've been trying to quilt the other one with the BSR (Bernina Stitch Regulator) but it was slow going, but I recently had an old Singer machine redone so it has no feed dogs and a permanent quilting foot. Ron at Cote Brothers had designed his Cote Quilter10 that way, and he did a great job for me so I could put it on my Handi Quilter frame I've had for years.. Now if I can get used to the foot pedal and keep an even speed..

quiet.. me ?

2008-05-04T12:55:00.000-04:00

I just realized it's been awhile since I posted that I had planned to put in some pictures of the Warm Wishes quilt I am doing.. The top picture is the finished quilt top (unquilted as of yet.) The colors are forest green, deep aubergine, burgundy and beige, which don't show up all that well in the photo. In the lower picture you can see the basic blocks that comprise the quilt. It's all in how you turn the stripped blocks around the focus fabric to create the 'frame'.

I also am working on the Debbie Mumm 2007 Block of the month quilt and have one block left to do. I used very bright fabrics in an attempt to step out of my 'comfort zone' this time.

Here's a photo of the partial layout.

Haven't felt much like sewing in the past few weeks but hopefully this week I can get back to business again. I cleaned and organized the space and will do some before and after shots in my next blog entry. Spring has finally arrived and we are having rain and chilly weather so it should in theory be good sewing weather, but at present my bones are wanting to sit and be pampered.. so I am being quite lazy!

almost finished one UFO, and finished another

2008-02-26T12:45:00.000-05:00

I'm making progress, slow but sure, on my resolution to finish those UFO's!!

If I could only find where I left my camera.. these two pics were already in my computer but I need to take a few pics of my works-in-progress..

I've got all but borders and backing done on my Warm Wishes quilt, from this pattern (www.quiltmaker.com/patterns/patt83) .. I finished the quilt for the store, and wouldn't you know, I forgot to take a picture of the finished quilt but here are two pics of it in progress. It's made using Quest for a Cure fabrics from Northcott, and I love how the teacup quilt design I digitised works so well with the teacups in the borders..

It seems the borders were different widths when I fussy cut them from the striped fabric so I had to do corner blocks. I used Bernina's free download of the breast cancer ribbon, and resized and changed the fill from satin to tatami, then set them off from the borders with little bits of piping made with the pink fabric from the center of the quilt.. it was fun, but I was sure glad it was only a small wall quilt and not a bed-sized quilt !!

Back to the sewing room this afternoon for more UFO work !

2008 already..

2008-01-01T17:56:00.000-05:00

Where did it go? I just had such a lovely blog entry and pictures and all.. and they disappeared. Sue's MMG must be visiting my computer. Oh well.. here are the plans I have formulated for '08.

I have several UFO's to finish this year. I started this stack and whack kaleidoscope and need to add a border. I think I'll use Flying Geese on it.

There's six more blocks in the Debbie Mumm BOM to finish, and assemble.. I used batiks and brights on this for a challenge to myself. The prim block exchange has been marinating for several years.. I think it's ready to be put together this year, too.

Ironed several yards of fishing and woodsy prints for scrub tops for DH.. will have to get those cut out soon.. and the quilt I have on the quilting frame needs to be finished this year. It was started by my mum 26 years ago and I did promise to hand quilt it for my son.

I'd better get started, eh ?

Quilting in the hoop !

2007-11-09T09:07:00.000-05:00

I have a new bedroom and a new sewing room !! We decided to switch rooms, so I can use the large closet for storing my fabric and crafting items, and it's a larger room for all my machines and tables, so I've been moving things in and out all week. I had good luck with using the feather for quilting in the hoop, so I decided to try it on a quilt top I'd had stored for several years. It's coming along nicely. I have just the last border to finish and I'll have a new quilt for my new bedroom... It's a Delectable Mountains quilt from Eleanor Burns' Quilt in a Day series.. only this is more like a 'quilt in a decade', ggg

I quilted it on the kitchen table, where I had plenty of room to spread out the quilt so it wouldn't pull on the hoop. What a brilliant plan. I have decided to use a large table in my sewing room next time, so we can still eat spaghetti in the kitchen (grin)

We picked an odd color for the bedroom. I had some extremely pale pink left over from one room and some equally pale blue from another so we combined them and it's a white with lavender overtones now.. it was hard to paint because it goes on very white and then darkens later, so it was hard to see just where we missed.. only NOW we can see it and of course there's no more paint.. and it wasn't a formula from the paint store, so we'll just live with it.. there are only a few streaks unpainted, and nobody else is going to be looking up at the ceiling in my bedroom at any rate.

It's almost like moving into a new home, with all the things we've done this year ! So much easier than actually moving across town or across the country.. done that so many times as a military wife that I would much rather just switch rooms, believe me !

nearing the finish line..

2007-10-17T21:21:00.000-04:00

It's quilted. I used the feather that Ricky Tims drew for the Quarterly Software Society lesson last spring, I had done it up without jumps, and then stitched it in variegated threads. I added the appliques the other night, digitized from the lesson in the magazine.. pretty easy to follow, too. Here's a closeup,

Then I took a pic of how it shows on the back, too.. with my circles all randomly stitched with feathers.. of course I have the quality control inspector standing by..

She rushed to check it out since she knows that's her job and she takes it very seriously!! Funny how she's terribly frightened of people but she's not the least bit camera shy.

pictures.. hopefully...

2007-10-15T10:27:00.000-04:00

Success!

Sorry for the blurry image of the back, but when I get it all quilted I will take another picture and hopefully that one will be a bit clearer.

going in circles

2007-10-15T10:09:00.000-04:00

It's been over a month since I did a blog entry.. yikes.
I've been working on some circular stuff with the Cut-A-Round tool, and I decided to try making that "Waiting For Sunset" quilt in the Bernina publication "Through the Needle" (issue #23)
Then I thought of using the circles I had removed from the backgrounds to do some back art on the quilt. It still needs the machine embroidered applique patches on the front, and then I need to quilt it, but here are the front Drunkard's Path blocks and the back with all its randomly placed circles.
The whole idea was to get out of my comfort zone, and work with random placement instead of "matchy-matchy".. it was very different than anything else I've ever done.
So of course the darn blog program won't let me upload pictures.. LOL that's par for the course..

Never a dull moment around here..

2007-09-05T10:27:00.000-04:00

I went to Michael's looking for card stock for a class on embroidered cards.. and the pet shop next door was having a vet clinic today, so since both Sam and Boris need rabies shots, I went home and got shot records and Boris, (Sam was already in the car..).................
Boris got all sorts of attention. Nobody had ever seen a cat on a leash.. they thought he was a "love bug" (maybe we should have named him Herbie?) But Sam.. nearly bit me and the vet and we had to muzzle him for his second shot.. I was down on the floor holding him down, and the vet was trying to sneak up on him from behind.. it was nearly hilarious if I weren't worried about him getting loose and biting someone..

It really was pretty funny except for when he had to have the muzzle on and you should have seen the vet, on the floor with me, trying to sneak up on the dog with the syringe while trying to reassure him.. Sam knew darn well he had another shot coming, lol.. and meanwhile the cat is sitting in the shopping cart eyeing the mice in the cage nearby.... then when we left the store, Sam is pulling the cart like a sled dog, and Boris is riding in it.. so we get out to the car and I go to put the dog in the car first... Boris leaps over both of us to get into the car, pushing off from the shopping cart........ and off it goes, sailing across the parking lot with the shot records and my purse in it.. and a car is coming.. and I'm trying to get the dog and cat into the car so I can close the door.. and the dog is hung up on the seat, cos his leash nearly got caught in the cart as it rolled away.. Luckily the lady in the car narrowly missed the careening cart, and I was able to dash across the parking lot and catch the cart before it ended up rolling down into the highway....... sigh.. all the way home the cat jumping from back seat to front, looking out every window and meowing.. (he used to LOVE going for a ride but that was with DS..) he keeps wrapping the dog in his leash.. then he lands claws first on my leg at a traffic light.. yikes.. people looking at us like we are the guy who ran down Stephen King a few years ago..... eek.. Then Boris decided to jump on me halfway home.. claws and all.. nearly ended up in the ditch. I had to hold him on my lap and pet him with one hand while I drove with the other.. good thing Sam was calm by then.. and it's also a good thing that the rabies shot for cats is good for one year !! Sam doesn't need another for 3 yrs..
Usually I have someone go with me when I take the cats to the vet.. wonder why, lol !!
My life is anything but boring, hehehehe
So.
Last night I decided since yesterday had been such a nice dry day, I'd put the glaze on the porch walls. I left the light on to help the paint dry. DS walks in this morning and says, "so, what's the idea of gluing bugs all over the wall ?"..................................... It's unreal. and when I tried brushing them off, the dog and cat fur already on the brush adds itself to the wall........ so I take a dry cloth. and it spreads the moth wings across the wall.. so I wet the cloth.. and it takes off all the glaze.. and then I see that every bit of ceiling space near the light also is covered with dead bugs... Told ya.. never a dull moment..

Aquamarine quilt sampler

2007-09-01T17:27:00.000-04:00

Here is the sampler that I call the Quilt from H*ll. It was nearly impossible to create the block in the software and split it back up again, which was what the plan was to be..... I created a 15 inch hoop in the software so I could plan out the block the way it was supposed to be, then split it for the megahoop. My megahoops lined up fine, but then putting it all back together was not so fun. Next time I will use those basting lines for sure!

Been working on cleaning up files in the computer today and tonite I plan to go visit DH at the cottage where he stays when he's "on call".. it's a bit primitive there and the water spits and gurgles for ages before it comes on, but that's how it is sometimes. The place in New York had no hot water at all when the beauty shop downstairs was open.. nor did it have heat, on the coldest day of the year.. brrrr. I sat stitching beside the oven and wished we had one of those old black woodstoves to sit by instead!!

That sampler I am making for the shop is nearly done but I had to rip out a lot of stitching where the fancy stitch decided to stay in one place and stitch over and over again.. grr. Same thing happened in a different direction with a different stitch but it was in the same spot on the fabric.. so I think perhaps something happened with the two fusibles overlapping on the batik. I will post a picture of that when it's done... hopefully in a couple of days. I'm trying to get back into the sewing groove and spend less time on the computer but am failing miserably.

Wow. Here I am, blogging!

2007-08-31T07:55:00.000-04:00

Reading the blogs of a couple of friends convinced me that this would be a fun thing to do. I thoroughly enjoyed theirs. Hopefully mine will be an interesting read.

Spent the evening yesterday working on my sampler wallhanging for the Bernina shop. It was a pattern I got at a training seminar last week and is a bit out of my "comfort zone" but I am enjoying the process. I'm using some batiks I had purchased a few years ago, and one bit of fabric from Val (dyeing2sew). I've decided to make two, one for me and one for the shop, so when the other one fades from the fluorescent lights, I'll still have the bright one to remind me of the lovely purple grapey fabric.. pictures later, when it's done.

After fighting with the Aquamarine Ambience designs and directions and not getting all my designs lined up the way I'd like, I decided to try using Faith Reynolds' suggestions to baste the block, and did horizontal, vertical, and diagonal bastes, using the long stitch and pattern extend function on my 200/730. Success !! I had no trouble at all making the pattern line up, and it was easy (with a template printed on vellum) to position the corner embroideries. The quilting went really easily with the walking foot and the BSR.. I do love my Bernina!