Summer = Shop Hop, Cookout, Beach, & Quilts!

Every Monday I tend to post on Facebook something to the effect that it's a new week, new beginnings, etc. Kinda a reminder to myself to have a good attitude as I begin a new week. I've always enjoyed turning over the calendar page to a new month too - my reminder that the past is history and I have a whole new month whose history is yet to be written. A clean slate, opportunities, the first day of the rest of my life!

Well, July has certainly snuck up on me! This is THE month, THE year that I celebrate living half a century so I've been celebrating all month and still have a few days left to continue! I've been calling my adventures my little snatches of vacation - sometimes its just an hour (wishing it were more), sometimes its a day out with the girls, sometimes its an afternoon at the beach, more than most it's a few stolen hours at the sewing machine working on a personal project. I'm learning to truly appreciate these mini refreshments!

Earlier in the month I invited a few friends to join me on a shop hop to three of our local quilt shops and then lunch afterwards. I can tell ya, the only thing more fun than fabric shopping is fabric shopping with girlfriends! Well, then topping that off with decorating your own cupcakes for dessert (grin).

Last post I gave you a sneak preview of my Hen Party quit - the one that has shared fabric from two of my friends. Well, mine grew! and grew until it was no longer a queen size comforter but a queen size bedspread or king size comforter however you want to classify it. I like to think of it as my turn of the half century quilt (grin). There are 98 blocks, none of the fabric repeating, and goodness only knows how many fabrics in the scrappy border, I really think if someone wanted to verify the number of total different fabrics I'd be up to about 150. When I say "scrap quilt" I truly mean scrap quilt!

For the record, Pixxie is still gainfully employed as my Professional Quilt Model. I really enjoyed quilting this one - as I mentioned it was HUGE! I was able to quilt on it off and on throughout the 4th of July holiday weekend. All over freehand fiddle faddle style of quilt designs, just whatever came to mind. There's some hidden hearts, 50's (to document the big upcoming event), feather puffs, curly feathers, swirls, and what-have-yous in this quilt.

Oh and did I mention that the thread is a beautiful turquoise? Matched the backing fabric really nicely.
Do you see the 50 in the middle of the cornerstone? There's lots of little hidden surprises in this year's Birthday Quilt!

Of course my favorite view of my quilt is the stamp of approval that it's indeed a cuddle quilt.

Part of my little snippets of vacationing at home has included enjoying meals outside under our new tiki hut. It's an even greater joy to share with friends and family. Despite having above average rainfall this month we've managed to enjoy being outside (minus the mosquitoes which it wouldn't hurt my feelings if they became an endangered species!)

And yes, I'm a little spoiled - a new addition to the deck dining has been my hanging chair. Believe it or not, I have been known to share (grin). One evening we invited over our sons, their girlfriends, and another young couple we know for a luau - I've discovered one way to feel young is to hang out with younger people (double grin). Actually I am truly blessed to have friends both younger and older than myself, a true treasure!

This was one of those rare photo opportunities when all four of us are together...so thought I'd share the family photo.

To many it may not seem like a summer vacation to be inside at the ironing board (and believe you-me I've got enough fans in the studio to counteract the heat of the iron), but to me that's just part of a quilters life. The biggest joy is when I'm working on something for myself. Okay, I know that sounds extremely selfish, and it is! But this is MY month and I'm taking all the opportunities I can between other obligations to grab little snatches of time to indulge. One such evening yielded two more almost stars for a quilt that I've been working on since spring. Little by little with perseverance this will one day grow up to be a real quilt.

I haven't been totally selfish with my off-hours sewing...in the background is a t-shirt quilt for my nephew who graduated from high school last month (okay, so I'm a little late, but all that's left is the binding!) Displayed in front is a purse I made for my mother-in-law literally hours before joining the family to celebrate her birthday. Another example of putting out the biggest fires first - if it's on my list it will be done by the deadline, but it might be right at that deadline!

Another evening I took a little time to play around with a set of charm squares...these have been patiently waiting to be joined into something, anything, since Market last fall in Houston...They were from the collection Beach House by Robyn Pandolph and I was honored to be able to quilt one of her market samples with the same fabrics. Early this month on my shop hop with the girls I found yardage of this line, and purchased enough to do the sashing around the charm squares and add a little border. This now goes in the "quilts in waiting" pile (which is getting very tall) along with Beach House print fabric for the backing and binding. One day...

Several months ago at one of the guild meetings a member shared a quilt she had made out of pinwheel blocks from an exchange ... I wasn't a part of the group that exchanged, and I love pinwheels, so came home and went through my stash to cut out fabrics for my own pinwheel quilt. Little by little I've made a block or two... In fact, I cut out so many different fabrics that I have enough pinwheel blocks for two, maybe three quilts... here's the one that I put together the other evening..it too will go into the quilts in waiting pile, patiently awaiting it's turn to be quilted...(I still have my 2005 birthday quilt in that pile!)

One of the things I love about working from my stash and my scraps is the memories particular fabrics hold. I know I've talked about this before, but there's something comforting about memories, that and the way we can choose to revisit things of the past looking through "rose colored glasses". In everyone's life there is pain in the past, we can either chose to hang on to that pain and let it cripple our future, or we can forgive (others as well as ourselves) and chose not to dwell on the negative. Even in the tough times there is good sprinkled in. I chose to remember the joy, the happiness - all the while learning from the mistakes of the past and doing my best not to repeat them (grin).

My favorite time under the tiki hut is early morning and early evening when the sun is just right. I keep adding little things to the deck to make my 'snatches of vacation' more enjoyable. How do you like the new pillows I made tonight? Found the panel among my other treasures from this months shop hop with the girls!

And yes, I'm sorta into parrots this summer...that and pink flamingos for some reason...how do you like this new addition? picked him up on the island and plan on teaching him to say "TGIF" (grin). Just in case you are wondering, it's not real, just a very well done figurine that will probably get a lot of second glances when folks enter the Tiki Hut..

It wouldn't be summer without a day at the beach...naturally the day we had available was really only a half day, but that fits in with the idea of mini-breaks dubbed vacations, and naturally it was a day that threatened rain (and actually did rain) - but nothing was going to dampen my spirits! Had that 'bloom where you are planted' attitude and I chose joy! First time I've had my feet wet all summer (besides a shower of course) so I decided it needed to be well documented! I think the closer I approach 50 the more goofier I've become...girls just wanta' have fun!

I love being outside. Whether it's a short time to eat lunch outside, or a half a day on the island...there not much better than enjoying God's creation - it's a reminder of how magnificent He is, the awesomeness of His splendor, and I remain in awe that He cares about me.

His mercy is new every morning! Don't have to wait for a new week, new month or even a new year for new beginnings - it happens every 24 hours! The joy of the Lord lives in me and I'm lovin the life He's given me!

Inspiration along the way

Lazy days of summer. Goodness where has the month gone?

I really haven't been lazy, have had lots going on but I've managed to take some time out to enjoy life too.

After all, life is a journey not a destination right? Time to enjoy the simple pleasures and to laugh along the way.

Take this kitty for example. Driving through the neighborhood to go check on the bay and this caught my eye. I just had to share the laugh with you.

That's what I enjoy about this journey, sharing the laughter.

Earlier this month I shared lots of laughter and the joy of quilting with some very special ladies. I held an "A-1 Reunion" where my A1 quilting machine customers were invited to join me on Friday for a piecing class using the Square in a Square technique ... along with piecing we enjoyed lunch outside under the Tiki hut.

On Saturday others joined us as we had a A1 Maintenance Class and some hands on demos on the longarm.

It's always inspiring to be around others that share your same passion. Following the reunion we set up machines for new A1 customers. That's always a joy to share the excitement of a new quilter seeing her dreams come true by owning her own longarm.

Along the way I find that I have to stop and regroup, do a little something for myself to keep my creative juices flowing. This past weekend I did just that, a little home decorating so to speak...added a pillow to better enjoy my hammock...

And covered the lawn chair cushions to add a little color to the deck, and made pillows to help with the comfort of the love seat/bench.

I also managed to FINALLY make the curtains for my bathroom that was repainted almost two years ago. Yep, I'm a procrastinator, but when I get inspired then I really push that peddle on the old sewing machine and crank out the projects!

Earlier in the month I found a really neat pattern in a magazine that I wanted to make. It's called Summer Breeze by Karen DuMont published in Quilt magazine Jun/July 2010 #112 issue. What I liked about it was that it used 32 fat quarters and I'm the queen of fat quarters. I thought it would be fun to do an exchange with two of my friends...the pattern called for 4.5 inch strips and you could get 3 out of the fat quarter, 1 strip equaled one block. So instead of using the same color three times I figured we could each contribute 30+ strips in an exchange...yielding 60 or more colors. The girls readily agreed and we made our exchange.

The original pattern calls for 72 blocks with the remaining 4.5 squares to be used as a border. I got so carried away piecing the four patch that I forgot to save extras for the border. Instead I just enlarged the quilt by about 26 blocks! I'm debating on adding the border, it's already a large queen and with a border would be a king... still thinking on that one. by the way, this is the quilt top folded in half, so you can get a better picture of the size if you understand that.

For the past 5+ years I've tried to make a quilt on or around my birthday. The girls thought this block looked like presents so I've called this my 2010 birthday quilt...and since it's made with fabrics from my friends I think I'm going to rename it from Summer Breeze to Hen Party (grin). The hardest part about this quilt was not using a design wall to lay out the blocks. I just randomly picked them up and pieced row by row. Sometimes colors didn't end up where I would have normally put them, and I'm trying to get over that (grin).

Yes, I'm trying to be more spontaneous with my fabrics. I love color. I love bright fun fabrics. Sometimes they don't seem to go together, at least in the traditional way of lights/darks, you know, all that value stuff that seems to be the 'right way' of doing things. The way I figure it, if I like this fabric and that fabric why can't they play nicely together? So I'm experimenting....

I just purchased the AccuQuilt Go! fabric cutter and have had a wild wonderful weekend working through my stash. I've cut up 2.5 inch strips which I've sewn in sets of 3 with plans on subcutting and making 9 patches. Then I've cut the components for flying geese. My idea is to make a star block with these parts. My goal is for the black and white fabric to be the calming fabric is this pool of fabric splash. We'll see how it works out. May be a while as I've taken my mini vacation and need to get back to work (grin)

Sometimes all we need is a little inspiration, a little detour off the beaten path, to jump start the day/week/month. Just like a little rain brings refreshment so does a little time of reflection bring me back to center. Whether it's taking time to be with friends, time to play in my fabric, or time to just sit by the water and be in awe of God's handiwork...

May your day be joyful and inspiring. Thanks for sharing my journey

My Current World View

I've been hibernating.

Betcha' been wondering since the Quilt Rambler has been silent for awhile (grin). I know that's out of character and I do appreciate those who have inquired. I'm still alive and kicking, kickin' back!

Yep, this is my current world view - enjoying my hammock in the back yard. Wish I could say this has been an every day occurrence since MQS, but of course I did have to get back to work... I have, however, tried to make it my world view and am working hard to make this my state of mind.

Sometimes we just need to pull back and relax (recuperate). We live in a very busy world that is "on" 24/7. Emails, cell phones, text messages, busy schedules - we are constantly in touch with anyone and everyone - and can do it instantly! This can unknowingly lead to stress or burnout and takes a toll on our bodies, mental health and yes, even our spiritual lives get ignored (not to mention family). Sometimes it's time to pull back and take time to regroup.

That's what I did the weekend after returning from MQS - I purchased a hammock and actually utilized it the entire weekend reading a very good book The Schwarzbein Principle II The Transition. This book talks about improving your metabolism and regenerating your hormones through a healthy diet. Over the weekend in my hammock, and some 500 pages of reading, I learned all about adrenaline, insulin, and cortisol and how my lifestyle of always being ON was catching up with me. Time to make some changes!

So a visit to my local farmers market was the first thing on my agenda! I've been working on eating fresh veggies and fruit and limiting processed foods...ah, but that's what summer is all about anyway right?

It really felt good to take a weekend off to reflect, relax, and enjoy my backyard. I had every intention of doing a follow up blog from MQS and sharing photos of all the wonderful people that I put a face to - those I know through blogville or longarm lists, but alas, I just didn't get around to it (my dad once cut out little circular disks and printed round toit on them then gave them to family and friends so we'd all have no more excuses not to get around to it, whatever that it was, we all had a round toit in our pockets!)

I do want to at least share a photo of the A-team These were my partners, my co-workers, my friends in the A-1 booth...and yes, what happens at MQS stays at MQS (grin)! Needless to say, we had fun in our booth!

To the far left is Victor, he's one of the voices you hear when you call the home office. Victor is a jack of all trades, he helps in the office as well as in the back working on machines, getting them shipped, etc. This was his first show and he did great working with the public! Next to him is Kim Stotsenberg, she's the author of "Just Leaf It" a fabulous technique workbook for longarm quilters. She has an A1 and is a national teacher, helping us out in the booth (and she was my roomie for the week, and yes, we stayed up way too late talking! She talks as much as I do, so you can only imagine!). In the middle is me, first timer to MQS (grin). Next to me is Brenda Janovy, our A1 dealer from South Dakota, she's just great. Period. She knows her stuff when it comes to these machines, she's great to work with, and my new best friend (grin) If the three of us had roomed together it would have been a week-long slumber party with no one getting any sleep! I'm looking forward to working more shows with Brenda. Just wish SD wasn't so far from TX! On the far right is another one of our handsome A1 home office fellows - that's Justin, he's the machinist who helps build the A1's one at a time. We are talking quality workmanship here folks. He's also a new fantastic quilter...when he wasn't helping in the classroom or talking to a customer about the A1 he was doodling on the machine. Justin just wowed everyone with his feather puffs, did I mention that he quilts one handed in non stitch regulated mode? oh and he's also the son of our owner Stewart Plank who isn't pictured. ... so that was our gang for the week. It's hard to think that's been several weeks ago, we certainly had a blast together, and I certainly needed my hammock when I got home! It's wonderful to go, but oh so wonderful to come home.

So what's been going on in the meantime? Glad you asked....

Had a little honey-do project this past week...if you've been following my blog for any length of time you may remember that we are Ike Survivors - hurricane Ike knocked down my carport support beams in Sept 2008 (among other things), they were replaced sometime the following spring, but didn't get painted until this past week. Sometimes things just take awhile to get done...but they are done now and the front door got repainted to boot! Thanks honey!

My youngest son said something to my mom, who was visiting this past week, concerning how I tend to over commit to too many projects and then seem to always enlist the rest of the family to help me out with completing them...well, it was his turn to help his momma! Yes, somewhere between the hammock and catching up on customer quilts there was a short visit with my mother and I enlisted both her and my son to help me recover a rocking chair...

I inherited two of these masterpieces several years ago when my grandmother moved into assisted living. I grew up being rocked in these chairs (after my mother before me), and later rocked my children when we went to visit...the chairs are circa 1935 - wish they could talk! Oh the stories they'd share! I posted this photo on facebook and my cousin shared her memories with these same chairs. Yep. True heirlooms.

My grandmother had them recovered many years ago and it was time to give them a fresh look again... especially since I found a bolt of fabric that matched the rest of my living room that I'd redone a year or so ago. It was just meant to be (grin). (I'll try to remember to take photos of the curtains, quilt and wall hanging that makes up the rest of this room...)

No, I know nothing about upholstery, but how hard could it be right? Take the old cover off, use it for a pattern and there ya'go.

Never that easy, just ask my son whom I enlisted for this task (grin). Taking off the old fabric wasn't easy. Goodness they must have invested a fortune in upholstery tacks and stables.

It was interesting what we found inside. I'd never thought of what makes a rocker a rocker, have you? (grin). Check out the old springs in the seat - or what about this stuff coming out the back?

My son commented that it looked like pine straw (which is in abundance in East Texas where these chairs originated). My good friend Trish explained to me that it's called horsehair, and was used a lot in furniture prior to foam and modern materials. I've since learned that it's still in
use today but is a very expensive upholstery item. Trish shared that it wasn't really horse hair, but the by product of cleaning/stripping Spanish Moss...hum... All I knew was I didn't know how to replace it, so we left it intact as much as possible.

After pulling off the first layer, which was the newer upholstery job, we decided that the original bottom cushion would best be left intact. At least we think it's the original - we didn't take it down any further to see if there was anything else underneath. So much for trying to get a pattern. I just had to wing it.

But then again, that's typical of how I do stuff. Just jump right in and figure it out as I go.

Got the backing stapled on and decided to add a little modern fluff to the back to make it sturdier. That's what quilters do with left over poofy poly batting (grin).

One down, one to go. Mom was just here for a day (two nights but one day) so this was all we accomplished on the chairs. Not all we accomplished during her stay - we made another visit to the farmer's market, went out to eat at the Kemah Boardwalk (she misses fresh seafood) and did just a little shopping...Yep, we cram a lot in a short visit. Never a dull moment around my house!

Did I mention that after she left I made a run to JoAnn's for upholstery tacks to finish off the backing real pretty like? While there I found books on upholstery - imagine that! I bought a couple to read up on before I do the next rocker, who knows, there's probably an easier way - but then again, that would take all the fun out of it wouldn't it??

So know ya'know what the Quilt Rambler has been up to these past few weeks. Resting, reading about health and nutrition (and the need to rest more), watching "honey" do his projects while enlisting the rest of the family to assist with mine, and somewhere in between working on customer quilts and taking time out to sit in my hammock while eaating as many of my healthy meals outside as possible. (Have I mentioned how much I love berries!)

Time to celebrate summer! I hope to keep my current world view status for quite a while. And hope you will join me in taking time to rest, reflect, rejuvenate and enjoy life!

Update from MQS

I'm in Kansas Totto! Kansas City to be exact, at the Machine Quilter's Showcase - an event that I've dreamed of attending for 7 years! You know what they say, good things come to those who wait!

I'm attending as a representative of A1 Quilting Machines, what a joy to be able to work in the classrooms as the "bobbin changing momma" (tech support) for eager students taking hands on classes from national longarm teachers....ah but I'm getting ahead of myself...

This weeks journey began in the wee hours prior to my Saturday morning plane...yep, typical quilter, working wee hours on a "deadline quilt" (grin). This little butterfly quilt will be in the Fil Tec booth this week, Fil Tec is the maker of Glide, my new favorite thread. And yes, I know the booths open today and I still have binding to do....(oh my).

I actually flew in a day early to spend with a longarm friend, Donna from MO, who I've been communicating with the past several years over the internet. Years ago Donna read of my desire to come to MQS and graciously offered her home....so we connected and I took her up on her offer! We spent a wonderful day together along with her friend Nancy playing in her studio and actually working on a quilt together. I have to say Donna's hubby makes the best BBQ ribs! Sunday morning Donna & Larry took me to worship with them at their church - it was mother's day and I was glad to be among family - God's family always have a great reunion when ever they get together (grin). Then it was on to MQS to join my A1 family to prepare for our week.

Classes began on Monday so Sunday afternoon found us preparing the A1 room for those eager students! Stewart and Justin Plank brought in table after table.... and Stewart (company president and engineer of the smoothest machine) put the finishing touches before we left by vacuuming our welcome mat.

Bright and early (and I do mean early) Justin and I made our way to the classroom to prepare the machines for students. We were to be the "in room" techies, the ones who answered to "hey you" when a student would run out of bobbin or have a question about the operation of the machine. Monday had three four hour classes running from 8 am to 10 pm. We were in the room the entire time and really enjoyed helping the students.

Justin has a way of amazing the ladies! And he's a good quilter too (grin) they just love watching him make his feather puffs - oh and did I mention that he quilts one handed in non-regulated mode? Yep, pretty amazing that partner of mine!

Pam Clarke was one of our teachers in the A1 Classroom.

Quilters travel from all over, many with a group of friends, many meeting new friends.

Char is a returning student! She met Justin last year as he was the tech in the A1 classroom. They had a great reunion as she was in several of the A1 hands on classroom this week. We know we'll see her again next year as she's an avid student and knows how to really enjoy class!

Myrna Ficken was also a teacher in the A1 classroom - here's a sampling of what her students went home with after their 4 hour workshop.

Hands on classes were Monday and Tuesday. DeLoa Jones taught two different workshops and amazed her students with her "chicken" - you'll have to google DeLoa and visit her website to see her "chicken" and newest book.

Judy Woodworth was the most delightful teacher. Her students really enjoyed her positive can do attitude. Judy gets my vote for a fabulous teacher!

The beauty of a hands on class is the attention a teacher devotes to the success of her students. Lots of practice time and many many design inspirations come out of MQS!

Hands on classes concluded at 5 on Tuesday, now it was time to move the machines to the showroom in prep for vendor mall which opens Weds at 3 PM. A1 teacher Kim Stotsenberg came to help set up - she's a real champ - even mopped the flooring and has the blisters to prove it. By 8 PM though Justin, Kim, and myself were saying "where's the food?" (grin)

Okay, that's the short version - off to set up the machine for demo classes downstairs and finish setting up the showroom upstairs. So far MQS has been everything I've dreamed of...and there's so much more to come. Stay tuned, the Quilter Rambler will bring more reports!!