Billye's Blog

Jax Quilt Show and stuff

2010-09-28T06:43:00.000-07:00

So, Diane and I went Saturday to the Jacksonville quilt show and we had a wonderful time. A couple of weeks ago I finished this quilt:

The baby, my wonderful nearly 2 year old granddaughter, Natalya, is still sick and still needs prayer -- she'll eventually require a kidney transplant, and other very major surgeries, but they are holding off as long as they can for her to get as big and as old as possible. She is on the transplant list, and I do worry about her, and about my daughter with all the financial and physical stress of the situation, a lot. On the other hand, my grandson, Ricky, is 10 today! HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICKY!! Ten years old. OMG. Where has the time gone?

So I went to the doctor today. I have great news -- all my blood work is wonderful and for 58 that's a great thing. I saw the dermatologist yesterday and I'm going to be getting my skin under control. One issue -- I am FAT -- yes, I said it, FAT. On the chart for height/weight, I am just a couple of pounds from obese. Yeah, I said that word -- it's killing me, but I said it. And so, the eating plan and exercise program I keep talking about being on (but I'm not really) has to be for real. Despite great cholesterol numbers and stuff, being fat is not good! So, exercise right now -- it's raining out so a walk in the park is out, but I can dance -- and that's what I'm going to do -- before I go finish the cool tote that I bought in Jacksonville. Just need to do the handles and put it all together -- I'm going to try to do better on my blog and I'll post a photo.

If you follow my blog (and why would you?), do me a favor and kick me about my exercise/eating. I'm going to need lots of reminders! I do wish I had an exercise buddy -- that would help. But no excuses -- I quit smoking, I can do this!

Love to all,

Billye

It's Wednesday

2010-08-04T16:47:00.000-07:00

and I just finished the quilt top that is a gift for my friend. She picked out the fabrics (with some helpful advice from me). I think it will be gorgeous once the borders are on. The photo doesn't really do the colors or the fabrics justice, but I think it shows off the pattern pretty well!

Ok, here's some photos

2010-07-07T09:42:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, it's about time! And the sad thing is, I can't find photos of all I've done since I last posted photos. Sometimes I forget to take them.

Here's a photo of my Professional Tote. The fabric came from one of the vendors at our Guild's show and I fell in love with it -- I use it every day (even though it clashes with most everything I wear!). I also made one in all black for my sister for her birthday, but apparently I didn't take a photo . . . at least I can't find one! This tote has tons of pockets, including one on the opposite side that can hold a file folder or magazine. The front side has a zipper pocket and a pocket behind it. There's a pouch on either side for an umbrella or water (or in my case, Diet Coke). Inside is a center zippered pocket that goes all the way across, pockets on the interior outside (one with a flap), and large deep storage on either size of the center zipper pouch. There's yet another zipper to close the whole thing up!

Here's a photo of the machine applique that Diane taught me on Sunday (thanks Diane!!). I'm raring to go to start some more . . . . but I'm requiring myself to finish some UFOs first! Of which I have, uh, several.

This is a photo of the batik quilt that still needs borders etc. I think I like it!

Last, but certainly not least, here's a photo of a few of the Bento Box blocks for my sister's California Queen size quilt. I've got the sashing on one side of each block, and as I said yesterday, I was amazed at how much it took. I made a ton more sashing last night, and once I get them all squared up, will be adding. We may need yet more!

Now it's been FOREVER since I posted!

2010-07-06T06:07:00.000-07:00

I know I'm terrible at keeping up with my blog -- just terrible. So let's see what's been happening.

I'm working on several quilts -- a Bento Box for my sister in California King size -- yeah, its huge. All 36 blocks (15" each) are made and the sashing (with scrolled variegated thread down the middle of it) has been added to one side of all 36. I thought I'd made enough sashing for the whole quilt. HA! Not even close. Barely had enough to do the one side. So I began making more last night --if that's not enough, I'll have to buy more fabric. The plan tonight is to sit behind the machine and let it do the scroll work -- it takes forever, and is pretty boring, but its a good time to do a book on tape.

Diane came over on Sunday and taught me how to do fusible applique in a way I really understand. And yeah, there's a photo and guess where it is? At home -- and not available for me to post. But now my mind is envisioning all the quilts I've been wanting to do -- houses and butterflies and landscapes and and and and and . ... . lots of other things in the works first. I think I'll quilt that one (it's a sunflower) and hang it in my bathroom with the sunflower my art teacher painted and gave to me. A rose I painted is in there as well . . . .as my sister said, it'll be a flower garden!

I house sat for Diane for a while a couple of weeks ago and got a lot of piecing done -- including putting my batik kit together. The pattern that came with it was horrible, the batiks are beautiful but there weren't enough of each one to make the pattern that came with the kit -- and all it was was a photo. So one day I just sat and pieced all the HSTs with the white she sent and all the batiks, very carefully sorting the fabrics into piles. But no matter how I turned it, what I did, I hated it. SOOOOO, being me, and being odd and never doing what is expected, I put them in a bag, literally, and mixed them up and then just started sewing them together -- trying, but not really working very hard at it, not to have 2 next to each other. Then I made rows, then I put the rows together. I end up with an on point square of unmatching batiks and an on point square of white. I plan to do the quilting in the white -- although my mind is racing as to what. I have a photo of the flimsy, but guess where that is? Yup, same place.

I have also started and am fairly well along on the quilt for Lynn. She picked out beautiful fabrics (with a lot of help from me -- thank you Lynn for letting me guide you) and the quilt will be, unless I'm sadly mistaken, just gorgeous. I need to take a photo of the blocks I've completed and post it as well.

Sandi is back in town and we spent most of the weekend together. Trixye stayed with her, but Saturday we noticed she was limping. Sunday it wasn't better and by yesterday it was really bad. So we took her to the vet -- she's been chewing on her feet, one in particular, and that one is swollen, red and just ugly. They gave her antibiotics and a steroid injection. They wanted her to wear a collar so as not to chew on it any more -- but little Houdini dog was out of the collar in 2 seconds (or less) 3 different times. So I took it back and paid twice as much for an inflatable collar that gets looped through her regular collar. Well, 5 minutes of that and she'd about hung herself getting the inflatable collar over her head with her regular collar still on -- who knows how? I was in the bathroom! Anyway, the vet's next suggestion was socks, and that so far has worked. Except this morning her OTHER foot was wet where she'd been chewing on it, so now she's got socks on both feet. I'll be taking the inflatable collar back tonight and then I'm off to Target to get baby socks. With painter's tape, the sock (so far) stays on without pulling out her hair when I change it. If she starts chewing on those back feet too, she'll be in 4 socks!

We had a quiet 4th of July -- spent it with Mom and Sandi, playing cards on Mom's porch. I have to laugh -- a thunder storm came up about 6 or so, and we stayed out on the porch playing cards until one particularly horrible thunder clap and lightning flash. I jumped up, said that's it, and ran into the living room. Of course, Mom and Sandi were right behind me, scared too, but it was ME that acted like the biggest chicken. I hate lightning -- particularly when it feels like it's coming in the doorway! Of course, once we got inside, got resituated and finished our card game, there was not one more flash of lightning or clap of thunder. We watched the panoramic view of fireworks from Mom's balcony, which used to be a much better show when she first moved in there 6 or 7 years ago -- the trees have grown up now and so you just see them peeking over the top.

Greg's mom has been very sick and in the hospital for the last many weeks, and isn't expected to recover. I have not heard from him, but they had told him two weeks ago they would be taking her off life support yesterday unless she'd begun to show improvement. When I last spoke with him, she'd not shown any improvement, but I do not know what happened yesterday. My heart goes out to him, that's got to be incredibly tough. I can't even imagine. So, yeah, I've held off on the divorce again -- not that I can afford it anyway. However, the tax situation makes it such that I really do need to go through with it.

Meghan and the kids are doing OK -- Talya seems to be doing well considering that her kidneys don't work right -- she's so cute. We webcammed the other day and she's growing so big! And talking and saying Hi Nana, waving, just being adorable. Meghan claims she asks to call me all the time. I'm not sure she really does, but I certainly enjoy believing that she does! She wants to call me Grandma, which she can do if she wants. . . Ricky is so tall and so good looking -- he's always been a good looking boy, but I keep expecting him to go through a gawky stage -- so far he's still gorgeous. The girls must be crazy about him, but he doesn't mention it any more. He was crazy about girls as a little boy -- he always had a girlfriend. I'd be willing to bet he still does! I miss them terribly and wish I could afford to have them come here or go there, but it's just not in the budget this year.

Ok, so that's my boring life. See why I don't post to this blog? There's not much to post about!

Ok, it's been a while again!

2010-02-04T10:04:00.001-08:00

I'm not good at keeping up on this thing, now am I? So, here are photos of a couple of quilt tops I've finished

This one was a New Years Eve mystery that I did with my friend Diane. I ended up trying some new quilting techniques on it -- this photo (the one I had handy at work) is before it's been assembled, but it shows it basically. It is square, so I've used it on my square coffee table. I made a couple of easy coasters out of the focus fabric to go with it. Diane gave me a book on machine quilting with a walking foot, and I tried some of those ideas on this. I really need to snap a photo of it, because it was quilting at a level I'd never tried. I was pleased with the results and very grateful to Diane for the great book!

This is a photo of a mystery I did that was a test for a designer -- not saying which one! It's still a flimsy.

I am also finishing up Bonnie Hunter's Carolina Christmas (should have the flimsy together tonight and will photo and hopefully post). I made all the blocks, but I decided it was too busy, and too big, and I think I want to try some additional quilting techniques on it (never done a Baptist Fan). So I'm using one set of blocks for what will still be a good sized couch throw, and putting the other blocks in reserve for when I need a quick gift.

Oh, I know, I've not posted about my Singer 201. I've been looking for one for about a year, and finally the Singer store called and told me they had one in. At first I said, no, no, I'm not spending that much money on another machine when I already have 4. Then my friends were saying, hey, you've wanted that forever -- it's not an impulse buy. And I realized I really wanted it, so I called and was able to negotiate the price down. She was built in 1955 in New Jersey, the first 3 of her serial number are AM1. So I named her Ami (pronounced Amy). Here she is!! She runs like a dream, all my feet work on her, and she's got all the gold decals in perfect condition. New cords all around -- just a delight to work on. Cabinet looks like brand new. I don't much care for the foot pedal -- I have to wear shoes to sew, which isn't something I normally do, but hey, I can manage!

So much for using the 2nd bedroom for a sofa sleeper, which I had thought about. . . . I figure I didn't make a decision on what I wanted to do because I was waiting for Ami and didn't even know it!

Have a great day everyone (all 2 of you that read this!).

Billye

Gee, it's only been a couple months!

2010-01-07T06:15:00.000-08:00

Since I posted. Let's see. Talya is doing well -- one kidney is up to over 90% functioning and the last test showed the other working in the low teens. They had considered removing that kidney since they didn't believe it was working at all, but with it working some, the plan is a laproscopic surgery to repair it and hope that it, like the other kidney, recovers. She's walking, talking up a storm, and has the bitch attitude of the rest of the women in this family (which is probably what kept her alive during those rough times!), so she's a handful.

My life is pretty dull and boring. I quilt A LOT. I house sat for my friend Diane over the holidays, and she insisted on giving me some gift certificates to some on line fabric stores. I won't need fabric, probably not even backs or anything, for EONS. Which is good, since I've put myself on not only a food diet, but a financial diet, so I need to quit buying fabric. I did fall off the wagon (well before I self imposed it) and bought a batik kit. It's not my fault! I always wanted a batik quilt!

I had to go back to see what I posted last in my quilting, and that was Lynn's quilt. I'm at work, and not sure what I have photos of, but here goes:

This is my first applique -- this is a BOM from Joann's -- it's huge, and would make a humongous quilt -- I have a few more blocks I've purchased -- I doubt this one ever gets past about 5 blocks and a border. . .

So the quilt on the right (at least while I'm creating this post!) is my completed Shakespeare in the Park. My favorite quilt (well Double Delight is close!) and finally one for my bed. This was quilted by my good friend Barb Linares, and as she did on the One Block Wonder and the Double Delight, she did EXQUISITE quilting on the SITP -- which took a quilt I was very proud to have made to a work of art.

Hmmm . . . I don't seem to have photos here at work of several things -- like the placemats I made for Mom, Sandi's crazy quilt pillow, Meghan and Nick's skulls quilt, Ricky and Natalya's Christmas stockings. I KNOW I've been busy -- so where is everything? LOL. I never did take a photo of the applique dog I made at retreat -- and I gave that away for the auction for the Guild. I'm working on a mystery quilt as a tester (OK, so I consider that an honor, even though it's not really!), and Bonnie Hunter's Carolina Christmas (which I am renaming to "Teal Drops"). I've also finished the flimsy of the NYE quilt that Diane and I did together on New Years Day, to which I added 7 more blocks (she added 3 for a baby quilt). That came out to be stunning, so I'll have to add photos of that. I also have my City Scape quilt that is stalled in production, and I never did finish my X-Block, which is very pretty, but I got stuck at borders. So I have PLENTY to keep me busy for the next year!

That's all the news for now -- boring, huh?

Billye

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

2009-11-04T04:38:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been an interesting and somewhat less than fun week! Sunday at the ER, all day, with a diagnosis of diverticulitis. I thought I was being silly agreeing to go to the ER with my friend, Lynn. Thought I was just constipated and having gas pains. Uhhh.... I forgot to factor in the fever. I doubt anybody reads this blog, but if you do, and you have constipation or diahhrea, with fever, plus pain, get to the ER!! Yeah, diverticulitis is nothing to mess with -- people die from that crap, or have to have their colons resected, or or or or . . . . none of which is fun. I've had to be off work until tomorrow -- and you know I don't feel well when I've not sewn a STITCH since last week. Thankfully most of Christmas is already done (most, not all), so I'm not that far behind. Maybe part of the problem is I just can't get motivated to sew -- I don't seem to have anything planned that I really, really want to make.

I feel OK now, I still have some discomfort, but mostly it's gas moving through my system. I gotta tell ya, this hasn't been fun. I'm not used to taking a lot of drugs, and just trying to remember if I've taken my antibiotics or not isn't easy -- so I've made a chart. I think I'm going to try to stay up more today -- I've been sleeping a lot -- since I'm going to be expected (and need) to do a full day at work tomorrow. Doctors say I'll feel rather funky for about a week. Oh joy!

I will say that this episode has shown me how truly alone I am. Sandi is in Atlanta, Mom isn't capable of helping me any longer (it's the other way around now, as is the circle of life and Lord knows not her fault), Meghan is in California -- and Greg -- well he's not exactly Mr. Let Me See What I Can Do to Help guy. Thank God for Lynn -- she pushed me to go to the ER, came and got me, stayed with me the whole time (and it was ALL day while I drank the barium, they did the CT scan, got the results, then the real delay was while they tried to decide whether to admit me to the hospital or not) . I doubt they would have let me leave without being admitted except that Trixye and I went to stay with Lynn until mid-afternoon yesterday. I'm extremely grateful to her -- without her pushing me, and insisting that Trixye and I stay with her, well, I frankly don't know what would've happened.

Anyway, I thought I should probably chronicle one of these major events in my life -- plus I'm BORED! So there you have it. Listen to your body -- as Lynn told me, I am NOT invincible -- I worry about everybody else's health and ignore my own. I am going to be on the search for a new doctor -- as much as I like Dr. DiSanto, I didn't realize she doesn't have hospital privileges and as she says, doesn't "do" hospitals. I don't like that in a doctor -- it's never been an issue before, but I want my doctor to be able to go to the hospital if I need him/her. So the next thing, probably after the first of the year, is to find a new doctor.

Hope everyone (all 1 or 2 of you) that reads this blog is OK. Have a great day!

Friday, September 18

2009-09-18T11:43:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! All is well here in Billye-land -- work is slow (yay, today, since I'm really not into it!) and I've not posted photos of some work I've done lately, so let me see if I can throw some up here.

Let's see, I was working on Twisted Sister and the log cabin quilt last I posted. Here's a photo of Twisted Sister (I've since changed the bottom two cornerstones since although I did them that way on purpose, they ended up looking stupid).

This is a Christmas/birthday/whatever gift for friend Lynn. She's seen the photo and loves it. Time now to get it sandwiched, basted and quilted.

So the other quilt was a log cabin -- as I think I mentioned in an earlier post, I'd never done an Eleanor Burns pattern, so I enjoyed it thoroughly. It was so easy! Only thing is, it makes a big quilt, so I'm going to have to do the QAYG method on this one -- I've assembled the blocks and made the back . . just need to quilt it.

I don't think I ever posted my completed bargello. Well, it didn't turn out quite like I planned, and the photo is lousy -- but it was too skinny and I wasn't in the mood to add to it, so, I cut it in half and bound it and hung it up on the wall. Artist's license, right? LOL

And my latest craze is crazy quilting. I've done 3 blocks. Ok, that's not true. I started the first two blocks, and they didn't even sort of lay flat, so I went back to the drawing board and figured out if I did the blocks like a paper pieced block, then I'd have a better shot at getting it flat. So I did that, and sure enough, it worked better. I've been doing some collecting of threads, lace, beads, etc. and have been given yarns and various other trinkets to add to my CQ by several friends (thanks to all of you!). The block is a bit further along now than this photo, but here's where it was a few days ago:

I've outlined the rose (bottom left) in pink and begun satin stitching it. The heart in the middle is done (thanks Barb for teaching me those French knots!!!). Some of the yarn that Diane gave me is on the line between the heart and the block print, and the block print now has "X's" across all the blocks. I'll satin stitch the hummingbird eventually. I did something in the top right corner, but for the life of me I can't remember what it is right now!

Retreat is coming very quickly, and I've tried to pull fabrics and kits for it so that I don't take everything I own! I plan to get quite a few Christmas gifts finished at Retreat, and am taking smaller projects than quilts, except for one, my City Lights. Also, at some point my X-Block needs it's borders finished and to be quilted . . . the borders just don't make me happy right now, so I'm thinking on them. I hate for things to end up as UFOs, but you know how that goes!

I'll be taking a class on art quilts at Retreat and am looking forward to utilizing the technique in my own art quilts. And sometime in mid-October or early November my Shakespeare in the Park should be coming home!!! YAY!!! I'm sure Barb will have it quilted beautifully and I can't wait to finish it up and put it on my bed. The pillow shams have been done for some time now.

I am also on the lookout for an old Singer 301. I can't afford the Janome 6600 that I want, but I've been doing some research and that old Singer 301 has the largest harp and is probably the most dependable machine that's ever been made. I'm going to be checking thrift stores/garage sales, etc. Hopefully I'll find one for next to nothing, because people think they're old so they're junk. NOT!!

All else is good. Everyone have a great day!

Sunday retreat progress

2009-09-06T15:08:00.000-07:00

Sorry! No photos to post -- way too tired! Yesterday morning I finished putting the borders on the Eleanor Burns log cabin quilt and making the backing. Then I went to run errands with a friend and came home 6 hours later exhausted! I put stuff away and then did some work on my CQ block, but really, not much. Spent most of the evening vegetating and packing for today -- and a super hot bath, which is next on the agenda for tonight as well -- I'm tired.!

So today was sewing with Diane and Barb at Barb's house. What a great day! I learned how to make Twisted Sister blocks and Barb showed us how she makes baskets and rugs with the toothbrush technique -- -I need to get me one of those! We let Barb get by with not making a Twisted Sister because she has to have the basket made for a class she's teaching. . . Diane's fabric choices, as always, were gorgeous, and my blocks ain't too shabby either.

Stopped at my Mom's on the way home, took her to the bank and then to the store. Made dinner, eating it now and am beat, beat, beat. I was planning on painting my bedroom tomorrow, but unless I make a miraculous recovery, I'm thinking tomorrow is going to be a sewing/relaxing day. Sewing relaxes me -- does it relax you? Painting -- uhhhh. . . not so much!

Hope everyone is enjoying this virtual retreat - I know I am!! Thanks for hosting, Susan!

Billye

Labor Day Virtual Retreat

2009-09-05T03:14:00.000-07:00

Mine started last night. Well, the quilt started last week, but my retreat started last night. Here's a (bad) photo of the quilt I'm working on. Since this photo I've assembled the blocks 3 rows and then 3 rows. My plan is to put a burgundy 3" border (unless when I audition it that seems to dark, then one of the lighter darks as border), and do QAYG with the burgundy as backing (if I have enough). As much as I love FMQ, I'm thinking straight lines. Any ideas anyone? And can you believe I'd never done an Eleanor Burns pattern? Duh. SO EASY!! I wish . . . well I wish I'd gotten one of her books a lot earlier, but then perhaps I wouldn't have tried the more difficult things I've done, like my Shakespeare in the Park or Bonnie Hunter's Double Delight (which I absolutely adore!).

Today will be spent doing some housework and putting the borders on this log cabin - if the weather stays nice taking my dog to the park this evening. . . and hanging with a friend for a few hours this morning. Tomorrow I go to my friend Barb's with another friend Diane for a long-planned Twisted Sister sew day. That quilt will be for my friend, Lynn, for her birthday (passed already) and Christmas present. I chose colors I thought she'd like -- then have spoken to her and, uh, maybe not so much. Still, I'll make it and if she doesn't like it, I'll make her something else.

I also had an epipheny last night. Repurpose, reuse, right? Well, I've been wanting a quilt rack. I don't have much space, but I never use my front door so I thought one somewhat like a ladder to lean up against the door. Then I realized that I HAVE a ladder that I really don't have a place to store . . it's metal, not exactly what I had in mind, but . . . . here's a photo of what I did. I'm not sure why my photos last night are so fuzzy -- it must be me!

On Monday I plan to paint at least one wall of my bedroom -- it will be a pale yellow, which hopefully will look really nice with the pale yellow stars on my Shakespeare in the Park. Barb, who has it to long arm, says it's slated to hit the frame in mid-October. The shams are ready and waiting!! I have time to paint the room, but Monday seemed like a good day, and hey, it's still quilt related, right?

So I'm off to decide on borders for the log cabin. I really would appreciate any thoughts on quilting it! I've even thought of doing a pantograph of some sort on the back and trying my hand at that. This quilt will probably end up going to my estranged husband . . . . all the fabric is stuff from my stash that I probably would never have used . . . and I enjoyed making it. It's a bit masculine for most anyone else, you know?

Well, imagine that, it's Tuesday again!

2009-08-25T06:11:00.000-07:00

Here I am back blogging on a Tuesday. Here's a photo of my great-niece Becky's quilt -- I've named it "Rising Star" and put on the label "Made Especially for Becky -- who is the rising star". I thought that was pretty cool -- I'm not usually very creative with stuff like that. Maybe that's not very creative either, now that I think of it! LOL. I'm still in the process of finishing up the binding, but should finish in the next day or so. These blocks are left over from my Shakespeare in the Park, when they were just too much color and the greens didn't flow with the greens in the snail trail blocks. Pretty decent for leftovers, I think!

This is a Joann's block of the month -- I fell in love with it, although it is a technique I had never tried-- machine applique. This is the center block -- I've since purchased (with coupons of course!) 2 more blocks but have not begun them. I don't think it's too bad for my very first machine applique. And no, I have no idea where I'll put this quilt -- it will be huge when done and here we go again, another one on point! However, I am rewarding myself every pay period with another block kit. The kits are pretty cool. They come with the backing fabric and all the fabrics and the patterns. You trace the patterns onto the fusible web, iron it on, cut them out, place them on the base fabric, iron it on and then do the machine applique. You can also do needle turn applique, but I'm really not into doing that, so I chose machine applique, but it still takes a lot of time (AND THREAD). Right now this is just one block stuck up on my wall (with pins yet!), but eventually, I think it'll be a gorgeous quilt! And no, I have no idea how I'll quilt it. Maybe I'll do it QAYG and try some stippling in the free spaces. Heck, I don't know! This one is on the back burner for now, but I want to get all the blocks while Joann's still has them.

Shakespeare in the Park is still with my friend Barb, the long armer. I am anxious to get it back, but I know she's got many quilts in front of mine, and that's a huge quilt. It'll cost an arm and a leg to get it out of hock when she finishes with it! But it'll be worth it. Barb, Diane and I are quilting over Labor Day. Their significant others are out of town and we're contemplating a mini-retreat. That would be fun, but if not, my plan is to get at least one wall of my bedroom painted that pale yellow to go with my Shakespeare in the Park quilt. If we do a mini retreat, well . . . the walls will just have to wait!

All else is good for the moment, and now it's time for me to get back to work. Have a great day!

2009-08-08T04:33:00.000-07:00

And here are the pillow shams I made for my Shakespeare in the Park. Looking forward to it coming back from Barb, my long arm quilter!

Ricky & Natalya

2009-08-08T04:32:00.000-07:00

I just had to post this adorable photo of my grandchildren!

It's Tuesday

2009-07-28T06:13:00.000-07:00

Tuesday seems to be my day for blogging. As mentioned earlier, my friends and I had a sew day where we made X-block patterns. Here's a photo of my flimsy -- without borders (which are sewn but not squared up or added as yet).

The top is actually square -- it's just where I hung it up to snap a quick photo and the edges are falling off. Diane's and Barb's look completely different -- but just gorgeous! They used different X-Block patterns. Here's photos:

This is Diane's X-block -- cool, huh?

And this is Barb's -- her's has what are called "belly buttons" and is a lot more difficult. Gorgeous, huh?

So yesterday was my Mom's 87th birthday. We had a whole weekend of birthday stuff, and it was great. My sister and brother-in-law (although he wasn't here) took us all out to Red Lobster on Sunday and we had a wonderful dinner and a great time. Before that we went to "The Ugly Truth." Warning about that movie -- my 87 year old mother, sister, niece, and 18 year old great-niece (as well as my aunt) went. It's a bit raunchy and I couldn't stop laughing at all of us sitting there watching this rather racey movie. But it turned out OK. My niece and great-niece and I went to see Harry Potter Saturday night. Trixye and I spent the night at Mom's (Trixye did super well, I was so proud of her) and Mom got some rest on Sunday morning. I had to work yesterday, but Mom and Sandi went out to dinner at Olive Garden, and my niece and great-niece stopped in for breakfast. I think she had a good birthday. I laid out the star quilt I'd planned for my great-niece and she loved it -- she said. I hope it's true -- lots of work to be done on it yet. I also got to see the quilt my great grandmother made (or is that great great -- I'm not sure, I think it is), that my great-niece has. Lovely scrappy split rail, all done by hand, with the most beautiful even stitches, just gorgeous.

I had to ruin it a bit due to more trouble in Meghan's world. It is so hard to be so far away and not be able to help. Now she's got cancer, and has been denied MediCal (California's version of Medicaid) so no insurance and they've referred her to a place that only charges 10%. But 10% of thousands and thousands of dollars of treatment is out of reach. I'm sure she'll figure it out -- I only wish there was some way I could help her.

I've been racking my brain trying to figure out a quilt for my sister. She likes things very luxurious, and she wants a queen size. Having just finished a queen size (which is with Barb, my long arm quilter now -- I'm sure it won't be done for months), I'm not quite sure how to attack this one. She doesn't really want geometric, which as you know is about all we do! Then she looked at the comforter on her beds and realized they are geometric in design. Part of me wants to attempt a double wedding ring -- but I think that may be past my skill level. I know I need lots of extra templates, etc., to even attempt one. I'd like to make her one for Christmas, but I'm just not sure what she'll like. She wants jewel tones -- maybe I could find a nice quilt as you go pattern and come up with a queen size. Any ideas anyone? Any patterns you'd suggest? What are jewel tones anyway? Golds, purples, sapphire blues, ruby reds? Would they clash? Maybe with the right pattern . . . . scrappy or not? I don't think she'd like scrappy. It's scary to try to make something and just hope she'll like it. I want to do it . . . . just not sure what to do! I'm open to suggestions!!

Oh, Talya is healthier than she's ever been, she's talking, beginning to walk, etc. Had a minor ear infection yesterday (to top everything off). But she has insurance and the doctor treated her. Kids and grandkids -- God the worry! I try not to worry, but I don't succeed.

Did I tell you I gave Mom my One Block Wonder for her birthday? She was at my house a few weeks ago and claimed it was her favorite. As many of you know, it's my favorite too (well, one of them -- Double Delight and SITP are too) -- but isn't that why we quilt? To give the ones away that people actually love? So I did. I hope she didn't feel it was a "left over" or anything, and I know it doesn't match a thing in her house, but she did claim to love it back then -- I hope she still does! It was hard to give that one up. So much of "me" went into it.

Started to design my shams for my Shakespeare in the Park last night, but with the phone calls from Meghan, etc., I lost interest. But I do have a layout. Can't work on it tonight-- going to the American Idol concert. A birthday gift from my friend Lynn. I think she's the only friend I have that is addicted to AI as I am. So this will be the third or maybe fourth time we've gone to the concert. Third, I think. I'm trying to pull my mood out of the basement so that I can go and enjoy it.

Anyway, any thoughts, ideas or suggestions on a queen size quilt (not past my ability level) for my sister would be appreciated. I know she wants one, and I want to make it. I'm just somewhat intimidated by the size and scope of the project, and what pattern to use. . . . and whether she'll like it once I've finished. But I know she really wants a quilt. Help!!

Billye

It's been forever (again)

2009-07-20T08:38:00.001-07:00

Since I posted. Lots going on quilty and otherwise! First, here's a photo of my (nearly) completed Shakespeare in the Park:

I say nearly completed, because I've added a small yellow border and a 6" green border -- just to make this already gigantic thing bigger (and at the suggestion of my long armer, Barb, who didn't want my star points cut off when it was quilted.) Just need a bit more of the green -- 3 of the borders are on. It'll be about king size, but will fit nicely on my queen size bed (I like them bigger).

This is a photo of a gift my friend (long armer Barb again) and I made for our friend Diane. We gave it to her for her birthday when we went to her house for a sew day on Saturday.

That Saturday Diane, Barb and I worked on X-Block quilts -- using the same tool, different fabrics and different patterns. Diane, who had not even chosen fabric yet, is almost done with hers. Mine is in process -- I cut a couple blocks backwards and have remade those, and am at assembly stage. Photos to be posted on completion. Barb is so busy -- we'll see hers (which is GORGEOUS) when she gets it done.

I have completed my Double Delight -- I think I posted photos. Have completed my 5 yard quilt, no photo since it's no big deal. I'm also working on a hand quilted wall hanging project that should be completed this week. I have a stars quilt in the works for my great-niece -- left over stars from the SITP -- I hated them when they went with the snail trails, but they're kind of cute in a quilt by themselves--and plenty of them too!

As is true in most lives, not all is good, but not all is bad either. My granddaughter, Talya, is doing so so so much better. She's actually the poster child for the procedure that they did. It was 100% successful. She's still on the kidney transplant list -- but nearly 19 lbs. now. It is my understanding that when she reaches 22 lbs, they can do another procedure to help her get even better. Still, her kidneys are not right, and that procedure won't fix them either. Eventually she will likely need a transplant.

My daughter, her mother, on the other hand, has had a rough time the last couple of weeks. After a gynecological scare of being told she had very aggressive cancer, a biopsy was performed on Friday, without anesthesia and they were able to see the tumor on her uterus. They asked her and she opted to have it removed (still without anesthesia -- OUCH!!). They believe they got it all. They did 7 biopsies of the tumor -- 6 were negative, one showed Stage 1 cancer. Not sure what kind of cancer. She's on her way now to have a PET scan done (pray that's negative), and she'll probably need some radiation therapy. And no, I have no idea how they'll handle all that because even though the baby is so much better, she still isn't well enough . . . . no insurance for Meghan, although Talya has MediCal (Medicaid in Florida). Fun fun fun! I don't plan to go out to San Diego unless there really seems to be some way I can help out. I can only afford one trip -- well I can't really afford even one trip -- but if I go, that trip needs to COUNT!

I will update as more info comes in. Back to work for me! Hugs to all.

Billye

Tuesday am - it's been a while!

2009-06-16T05:36:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in forever, I know. Some good news -- here's a photo of Talya sleeping on the pillow and pillow case I made her -- she's doing so much better they were actually able to decline a kidney that was offered for transplant. Despite kidney failure a couple of months ago, when she missed a couple of doses of antibiotics (for the UTIs) due to spitting them up, whatever, her kidney functions were up. The doctors took a risk and took her off antibiotics and, amazingly, she's doing great!

Hmmm....I can't seem to load up a photo -- any photo right now! Darn. I was going to post one of my Double Delight from my long arm quilter -- Barb -- who did a fantastic job! I can't wait to pick it up from her.

I've been working on my Shakespeare in the Park for months. I got almost all the blocks done and laid out (about half) of it on my bed to see what I thought. I hated it. I didn't use the same fabrics for the background in the stars as in the snail trails, and I used too many colors in the stars. I just didn't like it. So . . . I've almost finished recutting for some light yellow stars using the same fabric for background as in the snail trail blocks. I'm pretty sure I'll like it much better. The snail trails were "lost" in my opinion. Again, I'd post a photo if it would let me. Probably some sort of blocker here at work.

My great-niece has requested a quilt after the one I made for her Mom, my niece Mischa. I made a pineapple quilt for her, and she loves it. It's flattering for people to ask for one for themselves, and I'll be happy to make one for Becky -- she just graduated high school with super high honors. One of the girls here at work asked me if I sold them. Diane and Barb and I are making an X-Block quilt (Night Weave I think it's called) mid-July at a sew date at my house. Each of us will be making our own. I'm looking forward to that!

Work has been OK -- busier and a little less worrisome about being laid off. Sometimes I'm really busy (last week) but then this week, not so much. Of course, it's only Tuesday! It's a good job, I don't work particularly hard (certainly in comparison to my last couple of jobs!), I make good money, have great benefits, and work with a group of good people around me, some of whom are beginning to become friends.

One of those friends has gotten me hooked on "The Bachelorette". Yeah, I know. Not my kind of television either usually. And yet . . .I'm hooked!

That's enough for now, since I can't post photos. All is OK. I'm a bit down today, but I'll bounce back up. I always do!

Wednesday Afternoon

2009-05-13T13:00:00.001-07:00

So here's a photo of the 7 shirts quilt I'm making for my DGS, Ricky -- it's made from 7 men's shirts. I don't care for plaids, so this is what I ended up with. The back is made from the backs of shirts (and a couple of sleeves) and they are sandwiched. I plan to just do some easy quilting with "X"s across the blocks (thanks Diane for the idea) and slap that binding on and be DONE! LOL. I've enjoyed making something new and different for me, and repurposing. Plus I think it looks like a VERY manly quilt! I hope to get it off in the mail in the next week, together with Talya's quilt and some changing pads and diaper/wipes cases (and for Talya, a medicine case). My sister bought some bonnets as well, and I have a rather large box of soda tabs to send -- people at work have been collecting for us.

As most of you know, Talya is going to need a kidney transplant, and the measurements and a lot of the tests have already been taken to put her on the transplant list. She'll need 3 in all as she grows up . . . but today was a good day -- her functions were up, and the doctors are confused -- it's not medically possible. Except . . . it's happened. Our family knows it's from the prayers of all of us, all of you, and from people we haven't even heard of that have heard about her. Thank you everyone. This is a very trying time and will continue to be, but we keep trying to be positive and think positively. I've not been posting partly because I've been, shall we say, less than cheerful, but I do believe God has His hand on that baby. Please say a prayer for my daughter as well -- she's being pushed beyond her limits and pulled in so many different directions -- finances, stress, sickness, Ricky's school, in-laws, lack of friends or emotional support -- just pray for her too, OK? She's been amazing through all this -- and I'm incredibly proud of her.

I want to make a couple more changing pads, etc. before I ship the box off, and I want to publicly thank Diane for teaching me how to make those too! What a great friend she is, and an incredible teacher and generous person!

Everyone take care -- I'll post more when I have more to post!

Monday morning

2009-04-20T08:13:00.000-07:00

Another slow, slow day here at work. I didn't get a lot of quilting done over the weekend, but I did get the 24 9 patch blocks done on Ricky's 7 shirt quilt and I've cut the squares for the snowball blocks. I just didn't feel like sewing yesterday -- and I know that when I don't feel like it, I screw it up.

Tonight is my first quilt guild meeting as a member. I'll pick up Barb and off we'll go.

Marc did very well meeting my co-workers on Thursday and we had a nice date Saturday night. We'll see where it goes from here. I'll file for divorce in the morning -- Greg is being very cool about it and I'm sure he suspects I've decided it's time to date. And so it is. . . I've given him about 10 years and gotten very very little in return . . . time to MOVE ON!

Hopefully I'll get inspired to sew again after Guild tonight. Everyone have a great day -- sorry no photos to post!

Most recent finishes

2009-04-16T09:35:00.001-07:00

I took some photos last night of the things I've finished recently and -- voila! Here they are!

This is Mischa's Pineapple Quilt -- done done. The binding is made with some lion/tiger fabric, and so every once in a while a pair of eyes stares out at you. I think it makes it kind of fun.

The above is shown as a couch caddy (which is nice and easy to make -- Lazy Girl pattern), but I've done the adjustments and added the ties to make it a walker caddy for my Mom for Mother's Day. However, not having a walker handy . . . . she's asked for this and she wanted black. You can't see it in this photo, but the speckles are gold. Mom always likes to sparkle so I hope she likes it.

As for me, anybody who reads this blog (like all 2 of you) may be happy to know that I have completed the dissolution of marriage paperwork and have made arrangements with Greg to go to the Courthouse on Tuesday morning to file it. Needless to say, I have to pay for it, but they take plastic, so I'll pay for it over time at least! I figure if I'm going to start dating anyone, ever, I need to be free to do so at least in my own head. Nobody but me (well, and my Mom and sister) seems to think it's any big deal, but it's a big deal to me. The paperwork was easier than I thought and I've checked with the Court that I have everything. I'll be glad to have it over and done with. Main reason? My girlfriend tells me they're getting ready to raise the fees again. It's already $400!!!

The baby is doing well, as of last night. And finally Steve O is off DWTS! And they saved Matt last night on AI -- not quite sure why . . . but that was kind of nice. Too bad Lil wasn't voted off. I love The Rose -- and I thought she really butchered it.

I have a date tonight -- just to a free concert here in downtown and probably not for very long. But still I'm looking forward to it. Marc is coming to the office to get me to go. So the girls will get an opportunity to check him out!

Everybody have a great day. I'm busily working on Ricky's 7 shirts quilt -- I've only got a couple more strips to cut on one last shirt, then I'm ready to begin assembly. I hope it looks at least SOMETHING like I've envisioned! LOL.

D9P

2009-04-15T12:46:00.001-07:00

Enough grief already, Diane!! LOL -- I posted the finished one already. The pineapple quilt is quilted, bound, labeled and washed too and I'll add it tonight (probably). I just don't have the photos or camera (or quilts for that matter!) here with me at work.

Besides, Diane has seen them in person . . . so I don't know WHAT her deal is. LOL. She's suddenly Little Miss Super Blogger -- for somebody that didn't even have one a month ago!

OK, so most of you probably know I decided to test the dating waters a little bit. So I signed up for several on line dating sites (I blame Arline for this -- I am not responsible). And no, I haven't told Greg yet, but I will. I'm just going to tell him the truth -- 8 years of my life is long enough and I'll be filing for divorce soon, which he has known for some time. Still, he'll probably manage to be hurt, but I'll try not to.

Anyway, after wading through a bunch of profiles, and shockingly enough to me, a bunch of emails and "flirts" and "winks" and "I'm interested in you"s, and discarding all of them but one, that fellow (who was seeing someone else) invited me to a movie on Saturday. And so I went. Yeah. How about that? And he's nice (so far -- let's not get ahead of ourselves here!). We had dinner last night at Applebee's (not to worry all, as you probably suspected, I'm paying my own way). He's invited me to a jazz concert on the 28th. I know he'd invited another girl and bought tickets for her, but ha ha ha, she didn't like him and I do, so I get to go! Ha ha ha. Not that I know anything about jazz except I like it, but I can learn.

We were going to go to a dance with Arline and the band where I usually go dancing (the Moose) on Saturday night, but it ends up that's a big Moose convention and it will be really crowded. I'm way not into crowds, and it so happens that Marc isn't either. Oh yeah, his name is Marc. Anyway, since I've seen him twice and he hasn't murdered me yet (in fact he's been a perfect gentleman) I invited him to dinner Saturday night and I'll twirl a chicken and stuff. He offered to bring whatever -- I suggested he bring a movie. It'll be interesting to see what he chooses!

The baby is doing better than she's done in like forever, although she's got a little cold, but it's normal baby stuff. We are so grateful that so far the deflux procedure seems to have done quite a bit of good. Make no mistake, things aren't "fixed," just less bad. And for now, we'll take less bad! Meghan has been sick, but slowly getting better. Ricky is great and I am super Nana because I sent the right toy for Easter. Yay Nana!

Bored yet? Probably, so I'll sign off. Everybody have a great day and I'll try to get some photos up of completed projects. Oh yeah, a couple I can't post, but I can post Mom's walker caddy. Need a photo of it too!

D9P Done Done

2009-04-06T15:15:00.000-07:00

Well, imagine my surprise that Diane is DEMANDING a photo of the completed D9P. This is for my DGD Natalya -- who has had yet another rough rough day. She was diagnosed with epilepsy today, and her hips have a problem, she has to see an immunologist, and the deflux procedure may not have been as effective as we'd hoped. But, none of those things are life threatening -- it does however mean that Meghan can't work any time soon, and she's going nuts. Unfortunately for her, she has no hobbies, and no close friends out there -- little relief from a constantly sick baby. And yet, with the price of day care in California, she really can't afford to work with 2 kids, even if Talya could go to day care, which she most definitely can't. It's hard to stay here and not help, but they'll manage. Somehow. They did get a car at least!

Anyway, here's the D9P done done, quilted, bound, labeled and even washed. I'm working on Ricky's 7 shirt quilt and will send both when I finish that one. Need to get back to the pineapple quilt too -- that's still on the design wall and not been pieced! It's Ok, though, one thing at a time. Tonight I'll finish the binding on the OBW. I tell ya, that one turned out to be a beauty! In fact, I'm going to post a photo of it too!

I don't know how well you can see the beautiful quilting that Barb did on it, but she used yellow thread (which I chose) and it's gorgeous. she used black on the back (black backing with the fabric as a trim) and well, I just think it's beautiful. Not very practical of course -- I don't know anybody that has a house where this would match, but I love, love, love it. Thank you, Nancy for teaching me! Thank you Barb, for quilting it! Thank you, Diane, for making me believe I could do it.

Hugs to all. Please keep praying for the baby.

April 2

2009-04-02T10:20:00.000-07:00

Oh, another day in paradise. Well, almost, at least it's Florida! Not that I'd know -- since I'm stuck inside.

Talya had her procedure on Monday and it went super well, which was a huge relief, until at least yesterday, when she was back at the hospital because she was peeing blood. Doctors believe it was a blood clot that she passed, so she didn't have to stay overnight. Meghan just called and said she had a rough night and didn't feel very good, but she's OK. We may have just gotten the miracle so many people have been praying for. And thank you for those prayers. Something's working and I'm inclined to think it's the prayers!

I have been quilting, but haven't taken any recent photos. These two are from Diane, from the class we took on Saturday from our friend Barb (who, incidentally, did a magnificent job on quilting my OBW -- I've cut the binding and plan to get that done this weekend). We finished piecing the D9Ps in class, and I've added the borders. I'm doing this one QAYG (my first with this method that Diane taught me) and I quilted half last night. A couple of wonky places I'm going to frog and redo (not quite sure how it got all bunched up in a couple places, but that's OK -- it's all a learning curve!), but overall, not too bad. Barb also quilted my 5 yard quilt (and that's gorgeous too), although it has to go back to her to finish since I hadn't made the back long enough. I stuck some fabric on it and have it in the trunk to give to her. She now has my Double Delight to quilt. I am still the most proud of that quilt. I surely posted a photo of it completed on here, now didn't I? If not, I will. She's out of town for the month of April, so I'm sure it will be May or June before I get that quilt back, but that's OK. Frankly I have no idea what I'm going to do with all these quilts, but I love making them and having them. Well, the D9P is for Talya. And I've collected all the shirts for the 7 shirt quilt for Ricky, and I've removed (and kept) all the buttons, so that's my next project.

Although maybe not. I need to get my sister's cell phone pouch done (still trying to figure out how to adjust the patterns I have to accommodate what she wants -- she's VERY picky), and make Mom either a black BFF bag or a walker bag -- I'm thinking a walker bag -- for Mother's Day. And I need to get some stained glass done for my bosses birthdays this summer, and something special for another friend of mine who might read this so I can't say what. Oh oh oh, and my Shakespeare in the Park. Yeah, that one is toward the top of the list too. Long list. And those are just the ones in some stage of actually being done!

OK, so I didn't go on the date. I canceled it. And yes, I'm on 3 different dating sites and no, I've not met anybody I'm even remotely interested in -- plus they'd cut into my quilty time!! I did get propositioned twice yesterday -- even old guys are like that. Ick. Don't worry about me -- I seem to be happy enough on my own and was even thinking this morning did I really even want a guy around -- God I'd have to shave all the time, and cook and clean and stuff. ICK!!!

I have a friend that I can almost guaranty is being scammed by one of those "romance scammers." He's followed every classic move, but another friend of hers and I cannot get her to even question it. He's promised her a beautiful home and to take care of her financially so she can retire. And she wants it so badly, that she believes everything. Even when he asked her for $3,000 because he got mugged (which I'm not supposed to know -- another friend of hers let that slip). It makes no sense that a wealthy man would need her to send him $3,000 whether he got mugged (or anything else) or not, but she just won't see it. She's in love. With a man she's never met. She's run all sorts of background checks and says he's clean, even though another friend found his exact name as a scammer and showed her. We try to tell her that just because he SAYS it's his name, it doesn't mean it IS his name. But I'm done -- I've offered to have her talk to my friend at the FBI, I've tried all I know to discourage her, but she just won't listen. I pray she doesn't get more than her heart hurt.

This has prattled on long enough. Trixye is at the vet having her teeth cleaned and I'll leave work about 4:30 to pick her up, then she'll be sleepy so it'll be a nice quiet night of quilting. I have lots of TV to catch up on. Saturday will be spent with Mom in the afternoon, after I stop off at Country Quilts & Bears to pay for the FMQ class I'm taking in June. Then that evening I'll be picking Judi up from the airport -- bless her heart, her mother passed away last week and they didn't find her for a couple of days. Judi found out on Sunday, on her birthday. So sad. We'd just been talking about our mothers the day before when I took her to a movie and dinner for her birthday. I know I'm dreading the day I have to deal with my own mother's demise.

OK, enough gloom and doom. All else is good, and I pray it is for everyone else too. God bless, and thank you God for the miracle of Talya's better health. Thank you.

Monday morning

2009-03-23T08:34:00.000-07:00

Ahh, it's that time again. Time to be bored out of my mind at work. Oh yay. So here I am writing again.

This is a photo of my friend Arline and I -- I'm on the right for those of you who don't know me. Arline is 72 -- I should look so good! She's got all kinds of men chasing her. We went to see Frankie Avalon at this cool place where she hopes to live with this guy she met on a dating website -- it is positively gorgeous. Hopefully she'll get to retire and have a really wonderful life. She's a lovely lady and deserves it.

I did some FMQ on my Burger King Mystery Quilt yesterday -- I had been hand quilting it and I knew I'd never finish it. I did a horrible job -- nobody gets to see the back side of that quilt any time soon! But I'm going ahead with binding it (almost done, just one more side) so it'll be done done. Perhaps when I get in the mood again I'll take out the FMQ that's bad and either redo it or finish it by hand.

Tonight I want to start on my Pineapple quilt. I've cut a lot of strips, and a bunch of squares, but I need to assemble a block or two to see how it looks in reality, and then go from there. I had planned to work on it more yesterday, but got sidetracked with the BKMQ.

Talya has had a rough night -- back to the doctor for her again today -- she choked on vomit 3 times during the night and couldn't breathe. Luckily, Meghan heard her and jumped and got her all 3 times -- says she's never been more scared. Had to scoop it out of her throat to get her breathing. The pediatrician is going to be really angry with the hospital for not running the tests that she ordered on Friday anyway, and now this. Poor baby. And poor Meghan trying to keep up with everything. Luckily they did get the car fixed yesterday, and they are still trying to decide whether to buy a used car (which hasn't been going very well on finding one) or fixing up her car -- which is just a Daewoo and may not be worth putting the money into. Their decision, but yet more crap, ya know? It's exhausting to me -- and I'm not living it! I do remember those days, though, when it seemed it was one thing right after another. I'm grateful it's not like that for me any more, except through her.

Ricky's been in trouble at school but the meeting with the principal went well (she just sent me an email). On the way to school, a little boy fell off his bike with a grand mal seizure. People were trying to hold him down. Meghan has to deal with seizures all the time and, apparently, that's not the right thing to do, so she stopped, jumped out of the car (bad knee and all), left Ricky with Talya and got the kid comfortable until the EMTs got there. By that time the seizure was over. That's some kid I raised -- I wouldn't have known what to do! But living with it, she does. As she wrote in her e-mail, what ELSE can happen today?

Oh, and I have a date Wednesday night.

Frankie Avalon, etc.

2009-03-22T01:36:00.000-07:00

Arline and I went to see Frankie Avalon tonight. Arline has met a guy on line, who appears to be quite wealthy, and she has fallen for him. There is a new development out in Wimauma called Lake Valencia, and they put on a huge cocktail party tonight, with wonderful food, and a show by Franie Valley. Arline is interested in perhaps buying a home there with this fellow. Frankie Avalon had his son with him playing drums, and the son of one of the Everly Brothers on guitar. Oh, it was corny and Frankie Avalon never really could sing, but it was fun, and he wasn't bad. I've certainly seen old acts that are still performing that didn't do nearly as good a show. Anyway, I had a great time. It prompted me to do some "housekeeping" on myself -- nails, toes, eyebrows waxed. I feel better about me today1

So Arline convinced me to join (OK, she didn't twist my arm or anything) this dating website. Not that anything's happening -- oh, I've gotten some interest, but nothing past that. I suspect that I won't -- seems you have to kind of put out the right "I'm available and interested and you are fascinating to me" vibe even on the Internet, and since I don't feel that way . . . it's sort of fun though. I suppose my "I never want to have to deal with a man again" stance has been softened a little bit. Don't get worried though, only just a little bit! And also don't worry -- I have even created a separate email account -- I'll be super extremely careful!

So next week is quilt class with Barb teaching. Somehow, the owner of the quilt retreat where we're going in July ran across my blog -- I asked her how and she said she was cleaning up old emails, etc, from when I inquired about their retreat and telling her about the one Diane and I went to (which was basically trying to sell us machines, and was expensive and we came home with nothing -- well, not quite true, I won a Baby Lock machine -- but otherwise, not). Their retreats are so much better, everyone says. I am so thrilled that Barb invited me to be her roommate, because I'd really wanted to go, but didn't want to go alone and not know anyone. Anyway, the owner got my application yesterday, saw that I am rooming with Barb, and then cleaning up her email box ran across that old email of mine and clicked on the link I used to have to this blog. In case you want to go to her retreat, which goes on all the time, here's the link to the website: www.besewcreative.com-- and you know I'll report on how good it was when I get back!

Anyway, a good day all in all. Baby was back at the hospital last night, but back home today. Her body just doesn't seem to be fighting any more, but Meghan assures me it's not life threatening -- scary though. Here's a new photo of her, and one of the sunbonnet I made for her (OK, I had to put it on SOMETHING!). I'll get that off in the mail this week, along with the soda tabs. Oh, you know to save soda tabs for her, don't you? Yeah, Ronald McDonald House collects them and gets $$ for them from the State of California. I know it's not much, but it makes me feel like I'm helping, even a little bit.

Have a great day and yes, it's the middle of the night. I just woke up on the couch and my sleep meds will take a few minutes to kick in, so . . . have a good one!

Billye

March 18 am

2009-03-18T05:48:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo (al beit a lousy one!) of my Double Delight with borders. Now off to the long armer to be completed. This quilt pushed me past my ability level -- by a long shot! I'm starting to think I might actually be able to do this quilting thing -- fairly well. No major mistakes in this one -- that I can see yet anyway. I think I would've toned down some of the pinks a bit but then again, I kind of like them. This quilt is for my granddaughter, Natalya (who is OK right now by the way, thanks everyone -- her kidneys are working again -- hopefully they'll come up with a more long term answer here soon). I'll keep it though, until she's old enough to appreciate it. That could be a REALLY long time, since unless she's very different from her mother, she probably won't like anything home made. Although I did get a photo of Natalya from Meghan the other day -- and it happened to have a pillow I made for Meghan in it. So maybe she does use some of the stuff -- I hope so.

I had planned to work on the sunbonnet for Natalya last night (which I have basted), but I was really tired for some reason and did nearly nothing. So I want to do that, and then get started cutting for the Pineapple quilt I want to make for my niece, Mischa. That'll be a combination Christmas/Birthday present (probably for several years!). I'll try the quilt as you go method on it -- with the Double Delight I decided that I'd put so much of myself into it, I really want it professionally quilted.

I do have some great news. A fairly new friend of mine, Barb, who is also doing the long arm work on the OBW, the 5 yard quilt and soon on the DD, has asked me to be her roommate at a quilt retreat in July. I'm very excited to go -- we will be there 5 days, 2 days of classes -- and all the quilting we can possibly bear! What fun!! I'm also honored that she invited me to be her roommate. I had wanted to go, but didn't have anyone to go with, so had basically crossed it off my things of wanting to do. Now I get to go! Yay! But that means I have to stay out of the fabric stores and work on what I have planned. As a matter of fact, Barb is giving a class that Diane and I are taking on March 28th for a Disappearing 9 Patch (D9P) -- the fabric has been purchased and is in the car waiting for class -- I'll do QAYG on it as well. That quilt will be one for Natalya for now.

I promised myself I'd get my scraps under control before I started a new project, but . . . well, it'll have to be done in CONJUNCTION with a new project. I did pull a lot of scraps for the new Pineapple quilt, and will likely be pulling more. I have to decide on a color palette yet, but I know I'm going with greens -- maybe a little brown and some gold -- and of course the lights. The lights will probably be tone on tone white -- left overs from the backing on the Double Delight. TMI, huh? Yeah, I'm boring myself. So I'll sign off now. I hope every one is well and having a good day, despite the disturbing news going on in the world.

Hugs.

Double Delight

2009-03-10T17:33:00.001-07:00

Still in construction phase -- I will do this one Quilt as You Go -- I think I'll just do stitch in the ditch since it's already so busy (and I don't want to ruin it with my not so great free motion quilting!). I'd use the regular quilt abbreviations, but on the off chance somebody in my family or someone not a quilter reads this, I thought I'd spell them out (not that they'll know what they mean anyway!). This quilt has been a true challenge -- even in construction. Seems like no matter how hard I've tried, I get something wrong with each seam -- last night was a disaster and I ended up frogging (ripping out - rip it, rip it) a lot. Some more minor frogging tonight, but the first two sections are stitched together. I think it's rather pretty, and since it's way beyond my skill level, I'm rather proud of it.

So, another friend of mine lost her job at our firm last Friday. That's so sad, and this time she was fired. I don't know what for -- she's been there almost two years, and the official word is that it "just wasn't a good fit." I hope she can either get unemployment or find another job quickly. She's a lovely girl, and I made her a purse for Christmas (albeit a bit late). It's just so sad.

The baby (Natalya) is still sick -- in and out of the hospital, back and forth to the doctors. Ricky had a scare with MRSA a few weeks ago too, and he was in the hospital for 3 days. My daughter is somehow holding up keeping the family together, the finances together, the baby as well as possible, getting her husband to work (since he can't drive due to epilepsy), Ricky to school, herself with a biopsy (no cancer or tumor thank God), and going days without sleep. I don't know how she's doing it, but I'm incredibly proud of her. If anyone had asked me a few years ago, I would've assured them it wasn't possible -- not my daughter. But boy has she grown into a young woman to be proud of (and reckoned with)!

Not much else to add -- will go to my first Guild meeting next Monday night with a new friend, Barb, who does most of her quilting by hand. Amazing quilts. She taught me how to do cathedral windows, so I've been doing those by hand while watching TV -- when I'm not working on the DD!

It's been forever again since I posted!

2009-02-12T08:47:00.000-08:00

So here we are, February 12. The baby is still sick -- no surgery as yet -- more issues -- blood, seizures (maybe epilepsy), and still they keep waiting to figure out what to do. It's really hard. No way my daughter can go back to work with a sick baby -- so finances become an issue and, of course, her car died, and the company she bought it from is claiming she owes way more on it than she does. Luckily they'll be getting a nice tax refund and will go buy a car outright -- and the ripoff artists that sold her the one that was LITERALLY put together in spots with chewing gum (that's right, a business -- and she has it in writing from a reputable mechanic that he found CHEWING GUM holding parts of her new car (used but new to her) together). The company wouldn't make good on that either. I say, let them come repossess it. With the evidence she has, it shouldn't hurt her credit too badly.

I don't know what photos I've posted since last time, so I'll add some photos of some purses I've made here. I've also made wallets to match most, but haven't taken photos of those (not quite sure why). I like them very much, and it's nice to have matching wallets to my purses. The one I finished last night -- I'll never make another one of these -- too hard, bad pattern, hard to figure out. Oh, I suppose the next one would be easier, but . . . . well, we'll see. My friend doesn't want the pattern back, she hated it, so . . . . maybe someday.

This is a purse I made for a friend. I made another friend one that just about glows in the dark -- I think I took a photo of it and if I can find it at home I'll post it.

It would appear that although I'm not very busy today, I've been a lot busier at work and since my attorneys are the only two associates left in the real estate department, my job is probably safe. Notice I say probably!

Last weekend Diane and I went to the Sew Worth It retreat in Sarasota. When we signed up for it, we thought it was a quilting retreat. In fact, it was more an embroidery, embellishment, surging retreat. Very expensive (for me), but I did win a little Babylock Natalie sewing machine. They say it retails for $399.99, but I tried to buy a 1/4 inch foot for it, and that's $50!!! Outrageous. I'll use my moleskin guide and be just fine.

I continue to work on my Shakespeare in the Park. I've always known that will be a long term project. I need to do my taxes, and then I can start on Bonnie Hunter's Double Delight -- it was a mystery that I'd not planned to do, but I love the finished quilts so much that I just have to. It will be for my niece, Mischa. She loves the things I make, unlike some other members of my family who shall go unnamed. Those members won't be getting much made by me any more either! Just gift certificates. Too much time, trouble, expense and work for things to be tossed into closets and not used.

I met a new friend on line that lives near me. I'm hoping we become fast friends and can quilt together. That would be lovely!

All else is OK. I feel fine and that's good news -- I'd been battling depression for a while -- the baby, layoffs at work, the economy, my impending divorce (yes, I'm going to do it, even though I dread the paperwork -- sad that the paperwork is the part I dread, isn't it?). I have new photos of the baby, so if anyone wants to see them, let me know -- my email is billyevitag@aol.com and I'll send you a slide show. Can't attach it here (or I don't know how to).

Hope everyone has a good day. I'm going to try to be better about blogging. I know I'm not getting photos of all the things I'm making, and that's not good for my record keeping! I want to know 10 years from now what I made this year, and hopefully will have improved my skills by then.

It's been awhile

2009-01-07T07:32:00.001-08:00

I've just not felt like blogging for quite a while, and I can't really tell you why. To the left is a photo of the first two Shakespeare in the Park blocks that I did. Since then, I've done several more. I love, love, love this pattern, but I have to admit, the cutting gets a little tedious. Well, really quite tedious. And I find that I've cut fabrics into pieces for blocks they don't go into. Oh well, perhaps I'll incorporate them into borders or something. I'm planning on a queen size, but I like a VERY generous queen, so an extra border with some extra blocks in colors (well, the same colors, but for instance, stars with the snail trail fabrics and creams/whites, which I hadn't planned to use in the quilt) might look nice, or they can go on the back or something. The actual sewing on these blocks is pretty easy, and I must say the cutting directions and trimming the points before you sew makes things line up much better than mine have ever lined up before. For these first two blocks shown above, I had not read all those instructions and did not have my points snipped before sewing, and it shows. I'll take more photos of more blocks soon -- and I hope to have enough sewn to begin to show the layout of the pattern soon. What I'm doing right now is actually cutting and laying out the blocks on my cutting table, then picking them back up and pinning them together in a pile for the pieces of the block -- then I can sit down and just sew. It really does take longer to cut than it does to sew!

Some of you may know that my granddaughter has been very sick since her birth -- she has some congenital defects which will eventually require surgery. We had been on pins and needles -- her pediatricians had really put scares into us. But she saw a quadruple board certified pediatric doctor on 12/31, who says that yes, she will need surgery, but not right this minute, and although the mortality rate is high on that particular surgery, he's not even sure that's the one she's going to need or if it's really as bad as the other doctors seem to think. He'll run his own tests the end of January, and we'll go from there. Meghan hopes to be able to go back to work about then -- she had her disability extended because we were told that surgery was going to be necessary probably on January 1 -- when in fact none has happened and may not for a year. So she's staying home with the baby -- otherwise she might be accused of fraud if she went back to work, and that would not be good. She's looking forward to returning to work though.

I've made several purses and a couple of wallets to match my purses (and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the wallets -- tons of pockets and places for all my credit cards, a zippered part for $$, clear pockets for my ATM card and driver's license, a space for my checkbook -- and it matches my purses!), but I've been lazy about taking photos. I made several gifts for Christmas -- purses, Mirandas, makeup bags, shaving kits, but didn't get photos of those either before I gave them away. I've been quilting away, but for whatever reason, just not blogging or photographing, which is pretty unusual for me -- I really do try to keep a log of everything I've made (quilt or stained glass) or painted. I need to get back to it. Another thing on my agenda is to get my scraps under control. I have sorted into color groups -- basically -- now I need to get out my cutter and make some usuable strips and bricks out of them. That's once I get a bunch of other purses and quilts done. Or while I'm doing it. I spent a half hour this morning before work cutting for a purse -- I set a timer -- I think if I did some cutting every morning rather than sit on the computer, I could get a lot done.

Speaking of work, I'm calling yesterday "Black Tuesday." The law firm that I work for is pretty large (85 attorneys, 220 (approx.) employees. Yesterday, the girl next to me and 11 other people were laid off. Unprecedented. I know these are unprecedented times, but OMG. I was lucky, I was spared. Working in real estate, even in the legal field, is slow -- super slow. So for now, I will quilt with the fabrics I have, maybe buy a tiny bit here and there, start looking for "shirting" (as Bonnie Hunter says) in the thrift stores and garage sales -- reuse and repurpose. Frankly I have enough fabric to last me all year or more, even if I sew every single day. God knows I pray that this situation turns around -- and soon. I know I am lucky -- those people worked just as hard, if not harder, than me and were just as talented I'm sure. Why I was spared? I just don't know. But I do feel bad. Really bad. Really sad. Me and thousands of other people these days. I am counting my blessings, hoping for the best and trying to prepare myself for the worst.

It's been a long time

2008-12-10T10:48:00.000-08:00

For some reason I fell out of the habit of blogging. A trip to San Diego and a sick new grandchild (she has to have surgery which, for a baby, is always major, but she should be OK). Working on Christmas gifts and generally being lazy mostly. I've been sewing but haven't got the photos on this computer (I'm at work and don't have any work to do right now).

So, Talya has a problem in her urinary tract, that will apparently require surgery. So far, two pretty bad infections, different bacteria, so they think surgery will be required to repair whatever is wrong. Talya was hospitalized for several days with the first one, and at the ER for most of the night for the second. I was lucky that she was on the antibiotics and fairly well during my visit over Thanksgiving. And man, did I ever fall in love with her!

Meghan has to return to work soon, so I'm not sure how that will work out, but hopefully they'll manage. I've told her I'll come back out to help if she needs me.

Mom's finally going to get hearing aids. My sister and I are pretty stoked about that -- it's gotten pretty old having to repeat ourselves. Mom says it's only my sister and I that she can't hear, which is possible since our voices are very similar and the impairment seems to be frequency impairment and not total hearing loss. So perhaps it is the frequency of our voices. But that must hold true for a LOT of voices, because her TV is so loud you can barely stand it.

As many of you know, I have my wonderful Yorkie, Trixye. But Trixye is illegal -- yup, no 4 legged animals permitted where I live in a 55+ condo (villa really) community. However, we just got notification that, along with 10 other amendments to the condo docs, there is a vote coming up to allow 4 legged pets. That will be wonderful for Trixye and I (if it passes). Those of you who have met Trixye know how I can have her and not be discovered -- she doesn't bark and she's piddle pad trained. We go to the dog park as often as possible, and she's happy as she can be (if a little fat). Compared to the crate she lived in for the first 5 years of her life (which probably explains why she doesn't bark), the last year and a half has been a lot of freedom for her. But it'll be better for both of us if that amendment passes and she's legal! And yes, I'll have her out for a walk the day that she's legal, and I'll simply say (if asked) that my sister was keeping her. Which my sister HAS kept her, so it's only sort of a lie. OK, it's a BIG lie, but . . . well . . . sometimes a white lie is necessary. OK, so it's wrong, but still...

I hope all of you have wonderful holidays. My sister and brother in law will be here, and we'll have dinner at their place in Clearwater near our Mom's place. I will be staying at a friend's house -- Carol kept Trixye for me while I went to San Diego, so I'll go to her house and take care of her dog and 2 cats (and Trixye) while she goes to Ohio. It's a win/win for both of us.

Diane and I have a quilt retreat coming up in February that we are very excited about. It's only in Sarasota, but it's my first one, so it's a big deal to me. I hope to do one or two more next year. I continue to take classes (I have a wallet class on Saturday) and Diane is coming to sew on Sunday. We both bought 5 yard fabric kits when we were in Jacksonville, and I've been making up my blocks. I'm hoping to get them finished so that Diane can help me lay them out. I just am not happy with what's up on my design wall. The blocks sew together quickly, so I should be able to have them all done, or nearly all done, by the time she gets there Sunday. But in the meantime -- that house has to be cleaned! Which includes getting the Christmas gifts wrapped, some to Meghan's family boxed up and mailed, and the rest out of the way so there's some room again! Right now my dining room table is covered with wrapping, gifts, etc. I hope to clean that up tonight. Although I'm back in the sewing mood . . . . nope, need to do that first!

Hope everyone is well and doing good. Have a great day (or week, if I don't get around to posting again any time soon!).

Billye

New purse

2008-11-10T06:17:00.000-08:00

I had a great weekend! Friday night out dancing with some wonderful new friends -- so nice not to have all that pressure like the meat market, and yet be able to dance. All the guys are married, and there with their wives, and yet they dance with everyone. Plus line dancing, so I got my fill!

On Saturday I taught my friend, Lynn, how to begin piecing a novelty quilt for her daughter, Jessica. I've known Lynn since our girls were young teenagers (they are 3 weeks apart). Several weeks ago she asked me to make her a quilt for Jessica. I know all you quilters know how much time, money and effort goes into even the simplest quilt, and since she needs a hobby, I thought it would be best to teach her. Shortly after that call (or email) we went shopping and got the fabric, backing, batting and thread and went to my house and cut the "kit." Well, mostly I cut the kit because she has arthritis and her hands hurt her. But on Saturday she did the sewing and pressing, and did a great job! Slowly, but steadily. I hope she learns to like it -- it would be fun to have a quilty friend nearby as well. I got a quilt kit cut out while she sewed, so it was all good.

On Sunday I went to my friend Diane's house -- and I'm very sure I overstayed my welcome. However, I DID finish this purse. I love it, but thank goodness for Diane -- I had chosen (I thought) all the fabrics, but had missed one crucial step (cut one EACH of A and B -- I missed B somehow). Diane had the PERFECT fabric (the polka dots) and was kind enough to give me some, and to help me with the color choices -- and through some pretty confusing steps. The next one will be easier now that I see how it's done.

I did just get some bad news. Natalya is sick -- probably something wrong with her pyloric valve (the top valve going into the stomach). She's evidently been in pain and Meghan picked up on it, I think, very quickly. She is comfortable when she is propped up, but laying down she's miserable. She's being admitted to the hospital today (about 7 pm my time) and they will sedate her for an ultrasound (which is an improvement over what they thought they'd have to do, which is to put her under with a general anesthesia). Meghan says that unless they find something truly, truly bad, they are very unlikely to do any surgery. She also said that Natalya seems to be feeling a lot better today -- I hope so! Bless her heart -- she's been miserable, and Meghan has gotten little or no sleep for 3 days. She and Nick will be able to stay at the hospital, though, and Nick's folks will take care of Ricky, which is a huge blessing!

These are the times when I really, really want to be there, but it's probably best that I'm not. Meghan is handling this beautifully, and I am incredibly proud of her. I know she must be scared silly, but she's calm and rational and being very strong. I don't think I'm quite so good in a crisis like this, but then I don't think she's looking at this like a crisis, but just as a speed bump. She's such a good Mom.

That's all the news of any great importance in my world, except for stuff about my husband, but I don't write about that here. Suffice to say, he is a mess, and so is his life. I hope he can pull this out, because I can't save him nor can I fix it. An insulin dependent diabetic (with tons of other health issues) with no health insurance and no job is an ugly, ugly thing. The insurance where I work is cost prohibitive -- unless he's working, and if he is, he can get insurance through his work. I guess Medicaid will be his only solution. Too sad, so ugly, what a situation to find yourself in at his age. So although I get a lot of encouragement to get a divorce, I just can't -- not right now -- not until he gets himself straightened out. And, if I must, and only if I must, I'll have to let him live with me, because I cannot in all good conscience let him be on the street. I just can't.

Thursday morning

2008-11-06T07:33:00.000-08:00

Another day, another dollar. Well, I hope so anyway! Quiet, quiet, almost too quiet at work today for me -- my bosses are busy but not translating into any work for me, so . . . BORED!!

I didn't get any quilting done last night other than some hand quilting on my Burger King Mystery Quilt -- another one for just me so no big rush on it. I'm doing some fairly complicated patterns on it, and just am not good enough (yet) to FMQ it. It's nice and relaxing, though, for those nights when I just can't get motivated to hit the sewing room or, like last night, when something happens earlier in the evening and I'm just flat out tired. Before my company (husband who of course needed something as usual) I did do some sorting of my crumbs. I think I'm going to trim some of those blocks on point -- they'll still be sewn as squares, but might be more interesting (although I'm finding these crumbs pretty interesting on their own once trimmed up -- and I'm surprised! I went through my stacks and was surprised at how many leaders/enders I've already done and now it'll be a question of adding to those and/or putting some of them together while I'm working on other projects. And I got Mom's purse fabric out to the cutting table (no cutting yet) and some other sorting done. All that is part of the process, right?

I've lost my darn keys. Thank goodness I have another set! I know they must be in the house somewhere since I GOT IN the house last night, but I cannot for the LIFE of me figure out where they are. And yes, I checked with Greg to see if he picked them up accidentally, but no luck. I'm sure I can find them tonight when I'm not in a blind panic about them!

Table Toppers

2008-11-04T19:12:00.000-08:00

As the election results roll in -- and I get more and more cheerful!! -- I made these table toppers. I'm surprised I actually finished them both. No word here as to who they are for (on the off chance they should actually read this blog, which is HIGHLY unlikely), but I hope they will like them!

Yes, they are almost identical. They are a pattern from the class (club they call it) that Diane and I are taking in Palm Harbor one Tuesday night per month. It's a nice class and we enjoy it.

Glad that this election will soon be over (at least I've not heard anything about any challenges to any votes -- please God, let there not be any question as to the winner, whoever it is!). I need to go to sleep, but I want to stay up and watch results! But I'll go to bed and find out in the morning. Good night all!

Election Day afternoon

2008-11-04T13:10:00.000-08:00

Well, my good friends, no matter the outcome, it is FINALLY over! Whew! Sure has been long and contentious. I just hope that we can now come together again as a nation, and help with the nearly insurmountable problems our country faces. No matter who is in charge, I firmly believe that each of us is going to need to step up and make some sacrifices -- and some of them are not going to be pretty. Whoever wins, they are facing challenges that are unknown in our lifetimes. Well, except for really elderly people who remember the Great Depression. But unless I am mistaken, there were not two wars being fought simultaneously with the Great Depression. That, I think, ads some additional complexity. I've been reading the "pundits" today -- both conservative and liberal. The one thing I didn't really think about until I saw Ron Paul today, is that a totally Democratic Congress and Executive branch has no checks and balances -- and that's not a good thing either. I really wish that Ron Paul had been on my ballot -- he's truly the only one that makes sense in all this nightmare. If you get a chance, and are interested, do some research on the Federal Reserve Bank -- how and why it was created, by whom, and what it's purpose is. Ron Paul was ridiculed and made to look like a fool -- by the very same people that have every reason in the world to make sure that nobody looks too closely behind the curtain. I was appalled at what I learned. Look it up for yourself -- don't (ever) take my word for it -- or anyone else's either. I think that's what has disappointed me, and many others, about this election "season" -- God that's the world's longest SEASON!! -- the lies, the scare tactics used to debase the name and reputation of two men who are, by all accounts, honorable men with the best intentions. And people just kept on sending these horrible emails, without even thinking to check to see if they were true or had any basis whatsoever in reality. I don't agree with the policies of one of our candidates, but I disagree more with the personal attacks that were slung around like so much confetti -- just hoping some of it would stick. And stick it did. So many people are throwing around words that haven't been heard since McCarthyism, and the racial attacks!

I cannot imagine one human being on the planet that could withstand the type of scrutiny we expect our Presidential hopefuls to withstand. My Mom tells about the affairs that Presidents had, well known by even the average person, back "in the day" -- the day when the press respected the private lives of people. The press has no respect for anyone's privacy any longer -- look how they hound the parents of missing children, the families of victims, and of offenders -- anyone they find newsworthy -- and the more tragic, the more outlandish, the more painful, the better. How many lives have been destroyed by publicity -- things that at one time were considered private and not a matter for public consumption by the masses -- including me?

OK, I'm off my rant -- I've kept this blog intentionally non-political, and I just fell off my own self-imposed wagon. Nonetheless, I certainly hope everyone voted, no matter how you voted. When I realize that when my mother was born women in this country DID NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO VOTE!!! (can you even imagine??!!), that women suffered, fought, were beaten, imprisioned and died for the right of women to vote, I couldn't imagine not voting. It's simply too important. That's why I voted by mail over 2 weeks ago. And in Florida, you want to be darn sure your vote is ACTUALLY COUNTED. Ok, off that rant too.

I will be sewing away and watching the returns. I doubt we'll know for sure until morning, if even then -- I suspect there will be some shenanigans again this year -- and recounts needed -- unless it is a landslide as most pundits are predicting. I plan to finish a couple of Christmas table runners tonight -- bind one and hopefully at least get the second constructed (and maybe bound). I doubt the intended recipients of these two gifts will be checking my blog, so I will plan to post photos.

Oh, I gave my Mom the ultra suede little fold over purse I made for her. She claimed to love it. As a result, I have gifted the remaining ultra suede to the first person who responded on my Yahoo groups -- once I get her check for postage, it'll be OUT OF MY HOUSE! Yippee!!

God bless everyone, and have a good and safe evening.

Monday afternoon

2008-11-03T13:14:00.000-08:00

Quiet day at work -- and I'm sure all of you are tired of photos of my new granddaughter, but since it's my blog and I'm NOT tired of her yet, here are more photos!

I didn't sew a lot this weekend, but I did kit up some stuff and got a couple of Christmas presents in process - one finished (except for binding) and one nearly finished. Christmas table toppers, but I can't post photos or who they are for -- just in case they read this blog (which is doubtful, but possible!). I'm constantly surprised at the emails I get from people who have read this blog that (a) I never expected to or (b) I do not know but have come to be acquainted with as a result.

This is a "twofer" photo -- my gorgeous (usually!!!) grandson and my amazingly beautiful granddaughter. I'm glad she's not older -- he'd be scaring her to death! He scares me!! -- I'm not a big fan of Halloween, and pretty much made Meghan stay in the land of fairies and princesses and the like as a kid, but Meghan and Nick (and Ricky) are into skulls and aliens and vampires and the like -- more power to them -- they seem to still be (relatively) healthy mentally. And to think I worked so hard when she was a kid to protect her from such things! LOL.

Thursday Night

2008-10-30T15:37:00.000-07:00

As promised, photo of finished table topper from my class. I plan to make a few more -- it was pretty easy (considering) and I like it quite a bit. That quilt as you go thing is sure handy!

I promise (pretty much) not to bore everyone to death (any more than I already do) with photos of my granddaughter, but this is a photo of my grandson, Ricky, holding his little sister for the very first time. No smile you say? Heck no!! He's terrified he's going to drop her or break her (and I so way understand!).

I think I'll just frog tonight. Not sure what I want to start on next, and so perhaps I'll take a night off!

Back of OBW

2008-10-30T08:43:00.001-07:00

This is a super lousy image of the back of my OBW. I used some black on black fabric and "framed" it with the original fabric from my OBW -- I didn't have enough of either to do a full backing, so I improvised! I had plenty of blocks left over, but since this will be quilted on a long arm, my friend Nan, who will be teaching me to do the long arm quilting, said that the back needed as few seams as possible. Obviously those left over OBW blocks will have PLENTY of seams, so this seemed like a better idea. I will probably make a pillow out of the leftover blocks.

I did finish the binding on my table runner. Not sure who it's for, but I plan to make at least 2 more just like it in Christmas fabrics for my bosses. It was late and I was tired when I finished, so photo will go up when I get home tonight.

I also need to get started on some paper pieced numbers and letters for a gift for a family member (can't be more specific here!), as well as my Carol Doak BOM. This year she is doing "scenic" BOMs and I love the first two. I also got my butterfly and pink fabric in the mail last night (I am so addicted to thousands of bolts!!) and want to make myself a quilter's tote from my fabric and my Mom a purse from the pink. I also want to make a quilter's tote (or 2) for a couple of quilty friends, but I haven't picked out fabrics yet. Another plan is to take the fabric that I bought at Quiltfest and make a quilt for my daughter -- it's a bit more toned down. I am still in the process of frogging the Mega Sudoku I made for her -- she said the diaper bag I made her (a Miranda) was too bright for her -- it's the one that USED to be at the top of my blog. Well, if THAT was too bright, Lord save us from the Mega Sudoku. She wanted an 8 foot wide quilt and that seemed like a good idea to me at the time. It's OK, all the blocks are a standard size and will be perfect in other things, and the leftover yardage will be great too.

I hope everyone has a good day. Please say a prayer for the grandson of a friend of mine who is having heart surgery today.

Wednesday Evening

2008-10-29T15:54:00.000-07:00

So I just squared up my table runner from class that I put the borders on last night -- the plan is to bind that sucker tonight. I also THINK I figured out the backing for my OBW -- we'll see!

Spent about a half hour last night on the web cam with Meghan and Talya, Ricky and Nick. Talya is a beauty -- black hair about 2-1/2" long and long eyelashes. She's a handful, but my daughter's little family is blissfully happy. It is truly a blessing to witness. I promised Ricky I'd take him to Wild Kingdom (which he prefers over the San Diego Zoo -- go figure), and have him stay a night with me at the motel. He liked that (or at least pretended to).

Nothing else interesting going on -- except I need to get started on some more Christmas presents. I can't post photos of a lot of the things I'm working on because they are Christmas gifts -- well, you know . . . can't ruin the surprise -- even if everybody basically knows what they are getting.

I do hope everyone is doing well. I'm off to the sewing room!

Monday night (late)

2008-10-27T19:26:00.000-07:00

Just finished my OBW with borders. And just talked to my grandson, Ricky, who is absolutely thrilled with his little sister! I'll webcam with them all tomorrow -- Meghan and Natalya are out of the hospital and headed home -- her in-laws will drive her in one car and drive her car to Escondido for them. All is well!

Monday afternoon

2008-10-27T10:33:00.001-07:00

Is there anything more annoying than a new grandmother? Can't think of much! And doesn't Nick look like he's going to be a fantastic dad?! He's a great dad to Ricky, so I'll bet he is!

Her onsie says "I wasn't born yesterday . . . or was I? I know I'm a little bit biased, but I really do think she's pretty!

Boy is it tough to be all the way across the country from them!

While waiting for her to make her appearance, etc., I got several (I think 4) rows of my OBW sewn together -- I think I even like it! I have redesigned it with Nan's suggestions in mind -- hopefully it will be better than what I'd planned. I hope to finish the top tonight (with borders) and post a photo.

I started frogging Meghan and Nick's Sudoku quilt last night. She says the diaper bag I made is too bright (that's on my opening -- yellow and green with frogs), so if she thinks THAT is bright, well, the Sudoku . . . anyway, they may not get anything quilted at all, since I'd already put many hours into the Sudoku. But I see no reason to waste the fabric. Perhaps someday I'll find a pattern and/or some fabric that I think she'll like.

Hope all is well with everyone else!

Saturday 11:45 am - Photo of Talya

2008-10-25T08:39:00.003-07:00

So here's a photo of my new granddaughter, Natalya Ann! (Talya). Nana is already (and has been) madly in love with her! Not a good photo, but sent by cell phone to me by Meghan and then to my computer from my cell phone. More will be forthcoming!

I just did the (supposedly) 3 mile walk for breast cancer. That was sure a long 3 miles. I didn't think I was going to find my team, but I eventually did and we did the walk. It's good to be home though.

As for the OBW, Nan has suggested a corner in the black as well as a diagonal so we can do some cool quilting on it. Heck, I'm game! So I'll redesign this afternoon and hopefully get some rows constructed. Also want to finish my table topper from class Tuesday night -- at least to binding stage.

Found some fabric at thousands of bolts this morning for the pink purse Mom wants. So I ordered it. And it's just not my fault I fell in love with some butterfly fabric for me! I cannot be held responsible for that, despite my claim, just last NIGHT, that I wouldn't need any fabric again for forever! LOL. It's just so addictive!

I'll add photos of the family when they send them to me. Thanks everyone!

Saturday 4:44 am

2008-10-25T01:41:00.000-07:00

I am THRILLED to announce the arrival of Miss Natalya Ann Holmes at 11:17 PST weighing in a 7 lbs 6 oz, 19 inches long. Delivered by C-section as she was "brow first" Meghan says. I'm told she is beautiful and has Nick's dark hair. Mother and baby are doing beautifully! It's too late for a photo to be up (hospital usually has one up in an hour after birth), but I will post as soon as I can.

I am also humbled to say she is named for me (partly) -- the Ann is for me. Well, obviously you can't name her Natalya Billye!!!! That would be almost as awful as Billye Ann!

So she still made it (squeaked) for her birthday to be October 24. I want to DO something -- something HUGE -- something more than I've already done -- for her birth. I'm open to ideas! I've made the quilt, sent the bed, sent $$. Made a teddy bear. She has everything for her. I've been racking my brain since this morning and just can't come up with anything appropriate. Perhaps someday I'll give her the OBW quilt that I worked on while I waited for her to decide to join us. Anyway, that quilt is dedicated to her!

Thanks everyone -- I'm going back to bed for an hour or so before I get up for the breast cancer walk. God bless!

Friday night - waiting for Talya and OBW

2008-10-24T19:11:00.000-07:00

Meghan is in labor. She was induced at 7 am San Diego time, 10:00 our time. Which means she's been in labor for 12 hours now. About 2 hours ago they broke her water, so hopefully we'll have a baby soon (it's 10:14 as I write this). Little Miss Talya Ann has a mind of her own! Luckily she's had an epidural for almost all of the labor, and she's called me twice.

I took my Mom for her biopsy of her thyroid today. They've assured her that 95% of these biopsies are benign, and I hope they are right. When I got home, I finished folding all my fabrics (thanks again Diane!) and putting it all away. I'd stopped at Joann's and bought a thread rack (my plastic one had fallen and the lid broken). I got to use a 50% off coupon so that's nice.

Mom has asked me for a pink purse. What color, out of ALL my fabric, do I so NOT have? Pink. So I'll need to do some shopping.

In order to keep myself occupied today (and trying not to worry), I finished the blocks and, I think, the design of my OBW. I added 5 black blocks -- I was going to add just one in the middle and then I liked the idea of the 4 corners as well. What do you think? I know it's bright, and I know it's not a traditional OBW, but I kind of like it. I hope to sew the rows together this weekend and hopefully get to Nan's in the next few weeks to quilt it. That will be such fun!

I have the walk for breast cancer in the morning, so I best get some sleep. I was hoping I'd get the call that Talya had been born while I was writing this, but no such luck. I'm sure she's going to show up when she's darn good and ready, and I suspect she'll be that way most if not all of her life! Just like her Mom. And her grandmother. We're all a bit headstrong!

Hope all is well with anyone who is reading this. God bless. I'll post when I have a new grandchild! Or after my breast cancer walk. Or sometime soon!

Thursday Morning

2008-10-23T06:46:00.000-07:00

Haven't posted in a couple of days, and don't have any nice photos to add (sorry!). Have had a great couple of days, with a couple of down things.

First, went to quilt club (class) Tuesday night and had a great time -- learned how to make a table runner with Thangles, which was interesting. I don't know what it is, but I cannot seem to get to class with the fabric I end up wanting to use for the class. So I buy some, and then Diane, as always, had the perfect light fabric to go with it and as always was generous to a fault. And I do mean generous! She'd cleaned out her stash of fabric (I thought I needed to add "of fabric" to those of us old timers who think of a "stash" as something else). She'd told me Sunday she was doing it and that she hoped I wanted some fabric. Well, DUH! Of COURSE I want fabric. I expected a few pieces. The box was HEAVY! I swear, there was a TON of fabric -- lots of it in large yardage pieces, several perfect for backings. I mean it was heaven!

So when I got home last night I pulled ALL my fabric, every piece (except scraps -- that's a whole different story that needs some serious work) and sorted into colors and pulled the FQs out and sorted them in a color wave. Then I got the ruler out and started folding. Meghan called in the middle, and I put her on speaker phone and kept folding. I got through all the FQs and all the whites/creams. Which only leaves all the other colors to fold! My dining room table, which is NOT small, is covered in fabric! WHOO HOOO. Soon it will all be folded and divided the way I always wanted it to be. I'm looking forward to getting back to that tonight.

I can't thank Diane enough for her friendship, her teaching, her encouragement and her gift of fabric -- which got me motivated to at least start getting organized. The scraps will have to wait until the first of the year, but I do plan to use Bonnie Hunter's system with that. It'll take a while to get there, but I will!

I didn't get any more of the OBW blocks squared up, but the steam and starch have helped to get them to the right 6-1/2" size. Nan and I will quilt it once I get the top done. Sometime in early November I hope.

Meghan is scheduled to be induced tomorrow at 11:00 California time. The hospital will take and have a photo of the baby up within an hour. Now, I looked at some of those photos of other babies yesterday -- uhhhhh, let's just say maybe they ought to wait a bit? I'm sure Talya will be beautiful, but I probably won't be sharing that picture unless hers is very different from the rest! I'll wait until she's a little less, uh, new. Yeah, new. That's the word I want. New!

So before I could start folding fabric last night, I had to make a run to Saturn (which had closed early due to lack of business AND the Rays World Series game so a wasted trip). It seems that although my credit is fine, the car dealerships are having a really hard time getting the banks to write ANY loans -- I just spoke to the finance guy, they haven't had anybody in the showroom for 2 days, not one person, and 2 bank people came in yesterday and told them not to bother to send any applications to them -- they aren't writing car loans right now. Mine has been accepted by another credit union, but I have to go sign papers again tonight, and it went up another $3 a month because the interest rate went up 1/2 of one percent. PAIN!! I am tempted to pull out of the deal, but still I'm way under the interest rate I was paying on my old car and I have come to really like this car. So I'm going ahead with it, although it might not be the smartest thing I've ever done.

Also, my trip to San Diego is a bit less stressful than it was going to be. I was going to have my husband, Greg, take care of Trixye, but Greg has never owned a pet, much less a dog. He gave her a chocolate chip cookie about a month ago, thinking he was being nice to her -- because he simply doesn't know any better. Luckily for me, Trixye didn't like it and didn't eat it. I was concerned about leaving her with him. I had also checked into the limo to the airport -- what used to be $15 or $20 is now $40!!! One way. Parking in long term parking is $9 a day, so that made more sense to me, but I was uncomfortable with having my new car in the lot for a week. However, my good friend Carol has offered to (1) take care of Trixye for me -- and Trixye has been there and gets along just fine with her two dogs and (2) take me to the airport and pick me up!!! Now how's that for a great friend!? I'll go to her house on Sunday before I leave, spend the night there (which gives Trixye a chance to get acclimated before I leave) and then Carol will drop me off at the airport on her way to work. I may have to hang around the airport a bit longer than I would like, but a good book and some hand sewing should take care of that. Then she'll pick me up Saturday when I get in and my car will be nice and safe and sound at her house. What a relief!

I'm off work tomorrow -- have to take Mom for a biopsy, and then my car to an inspection place for the insurance company -- Pinellas County, where I live, requires it. I guess it's to be sure you don't buy a clunker and then put in a claim for insurance for body repair that it already had. If I had the sticker I wouldn't have to do this, but since my car had a little over 500 miles on it, the sticker was gone, so . . . . hopefully Mom's biopsy won't take long and I can get to that appointment by 4:00. Otherwise, my Aunt Pat will have to come pick her up from the hospital. We all think this is much ado about nothing, since she's had these lumps in her neck for years, but nonetheless I'm glad to be able to help her get them checked out.

Work is, obviously, SLOWWWWWW. It's a touch scary, but I have been assured, reassured, and promised that our firm gets through tough times, never does lay offs and is financially sound and secure. That I would be one of the last to go even if they did, because I can do litigation as well as real estate, plus any other area of law. Still, it's disconcerting to sit here day after day with little or nothing to do. I suspect they'll start pulling some of the real estate lawyers into land use and bankruptcy and work outs -- that's what happened years ago during the last recession in the firm I worked in -- the practice areas just changed. Bad times are still good for lawyers, just not necessarily in the areas they are used to working in.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day. Hopefully I will be able to report the birth of my beautiful granddaughter tomorrow!

Billye

Monday morning

2008-10-20T08:25:00.000-07:00

Ahh, yippee, another week. One boss out sick, the other covering for her so she's getting up to speed. Soon all heck will break loose, but for now, it's quiet.

Meghan called a bit ago -- she says she's going to ask the doctor to induce her labor on Friday. The way she started the conversation, I thought the doctor had already scheduled it. But no, not yet. So don't hold your breath! At least the contractions have all but stopped and she's able to get some rest.

So I worked on my OBW yesterday -- got all my corners on, all pressed up, and went to square up. Uhhhh..... not so good. They are supposed to square up at 6-1/2" - and they all seem to be just a touch shy of that. I'll steam and starch the heck out of them, and maybe I can get them to be exact. If not, we may have 6-1/4" blocks!

I also made my friend Judi's tote bag last night (with pockets). I used the With Love Tote pattern from Lazy Girl -- which doesn't include pockets, so I, being "challenged" by how things will be when they are turned inside out, etc., basted it together first, pinned the pockets where I wanted them, then turned it back, sewed the pockets on and continued. It's a bit big -- I followed the measurements, but it just seems too big to me. Hopefully she will like it! I'm considering putting a baggie bottom in it for more stability. Perhaps I'll like it better then. I do love the fabric for her -- but like so many things I'm making right now, I can't post photos because they are gifts -- I know everyone understands.

I got the car insurance stuff done this morning, a bill paid, some filing caught up (I pretty much stay up with that here at work), called about my Bare Minerals order to be sure it was right, made an appointment for my car to be inspected, called about the tire pressure light. Got a lot done before anybody else even got here! That's one great thing about getting to work early -- I can do all that stuff and it doesn't keep my work from being done.

One of my friends here at work went to Rome a couple of weeks ago. She showed me some of her photos and I fell in love with a simple street scene. It made me want to paint. I've not wanted to paint in FOREVER, so that's a really great thing. I've asked her to get me an 11x14 of the picture and an extra print. I want to get back to painting, but I just can't seem to find any interest in it right now. I got a bunch of stained glass stuff given to me too, but no interest there either. And Diane has fabric for me (YIPPEE!!) -- I still have TONS of interest there. But I know me -- I'll drift back to my other hobbies eventually -- and probably will have at least one of all three going. I'd do some stained glass if I knew of anything that anyone would like to have. Hey, I have 2 lighthouse kits I was given -- they're precut and easy, just need to be foiled and soldered -- hmmmmm....might be perfect for my bosses! Would make it easy on me, that's for sure! Maybe I'll just do that, plus it would be an excuse for me to get those 2 boxes of stained glass stuff emptied and sorted.

Bored, bored, bored. Oh well! At least I get paid to be bored!

Have a great day everyone!

Saturday early evening

2008-10-18T14:38:00.000-07:00

Nope, no baby yet. Contractions have even stopped. Bless her heart. The hospital said they were "real" contractions, but I guess her doctor was right after all and it's just not time. At least she can get some rest. She's going to need it!!

It's been a really good day. Took my car in for service, came home with a new car. Oh well, I've had car fever for a while, so my 5th or 6th Saturn, I've lost count. Bought an Aura XE this time -- nice car. I like it already. Pewter is what they call the color, it's sort of a light brown/darkish tan in my book. Already had the pinstriping and cool wheels and stuff. Had almost 600 miles on it, so somebody else paid the depreciation. She brought it back and got herself a couple other cars -- guys say she trades in cars every couple of months -- too much money and not enough brains, but it was good for me, so who cares? And I've known these guys at this dealership for eons, so no reason to doubt them. They sold me my 2nd, 3rd and I think this is 5th Saturn, so I know who I'm dealing with -- they know me by name.

At the left is a photo of all my OBW blocks. I think I like the black to "break it up" a bit. I've talked to Nan and we're going to try to come up with a date maybe in November for me to take it to her to quilt it on her long arm. What a treat!

So after buying the car, I picked up Judi and Mom and off we went to run errands. Lunch, then clothes shopping (ICK), then some errands for Mom. We dropped Mom off, went to get dog food and toys for our dogs, and then Judi and I went to JoAnn's. While we were shopping she let me know she'd really rather have a tote bag than a purse, and that's really a relief to me -- I didn't want to screw up the fabric I'd chosen for her as I learned to make the purse, so I'll make her a cool tote bag instead. With pockets and stuff!

At JoAnn's I bought some more fabric for a OBW -- and some backing. Here's a photo. I think it's beautiful -- Nan, will it work?

I can't even think about starting this until next year. I think it will be beautiful!

Meghan pregnant

2008-10-17T09:46:00.001-07:00

When I came back from lunch, I had an email from Meghan with a photo of her pregnant. She is HUGE!!!

Another day -- another -- well hopefully dollar!

2008-10-17T08:21:00.000-07:00

So it's finally Friday. Still no baby, but the contractions are further apart and the discomfort level less. She's finally getting some rest and I suppose our darling Talya will come when she's darn good and ready!

I thought I'd finished all my blocks on my OBW last night, but when I put them all up on the design wall, I was 7 short. It took me about 5 minutes to cut 7 more sets and they'll only take me an hour to sew -- isn't that amazing? It is to me. What a cool trick somebody thought up. I played with the corner fabrics and I'm almost definitely going to go with black corners. I think all that color is defintely going to need some relief for the eyes. I sent a photo of the blocks to Ricky, thinking he'd love the kaliedoscope effect, but alas, no. So I guess I'll just have to keep this one. Oh boo! (Frankly, I love it -- it matches NOTHING in my house, and still I LOVE it!).

A trip to Joanns this weekend, maybe even tonight, with tons of coupons, looking for just the right fabric for another one. Like I need more fabric. Well, heck, EVERYBODY needs more fabric! Ok, maybe not everybody. Maybe not even me, but I WANT IT!

No new photos today. But maybe tonight I'll take a photo of my OBW on the design wall. I STILL need to cut out Judi's purse and get going on it, and all the other Christmas gifts, but Nan has me hooked on this OBW. It's just fascinating to me.

Although it was a month ago, we've finally arranged time for us all to go to lunch today for my birthday. It should be fun -- I've not been out with some of these girls before, so looking forward to it.

Everybody have a great day!

Billye

Thursday -- is it really Thursday?

2008-10-16T05:24:00.000-07:00

So I got an email from Meghan this morning, sent last night, that they are in San Diego at his parent's house, close to the hospital. Doctor was less than kind to her yesterday when Meghan saw her, and basically told her to grin and bear it. She says the contractions are hard and 4 minutes apart -- so she doesn't want to be far from the hospital just in case. My concern is that the doctor has made her afraid to call and that baby will be delivered in a car/ambulance/bathroom floor. I KNOW Meghan would never do such a thing on purpose, but with no sleep to speak of for a week, and your doctor telling you that you are being a wimp, well . . . . that just doesn't bode well to me. I've not heard from her since. I hope she's sleeping and the contractions have stopped, or that she's busy having a baby. It's just not supposed to be this difficult!

As for me, I went to my former boss's house to help her design the decorations for her tables at her reception. I don't really think I was of much use, but it was nice to see her and try to help anyway. When I got home, I made 6 more OBW blocks. They are so easy and mindless sewing now -- I think I need about 20 more and all 56 will be finished. Then I'll try to do the "color wave" -- not sure how well THAT's going to work out with this fabric. This may just be a hodgepodge and I'll worry about the color wave on the next one. And believe me, there will be a next one. I can't help but love, love, love this -- too bright for me? Yup. A place for it? Nope. But it might be a great gift for Ricky. I can see him staring at the kaleidoscopes for hours at a time. Heck, I can see ME staring at them for hours at a time! We'll see. I'll send a photo to him once done and see if he wants it.

Bosses not in -- I was assured today would be REALLY busy, but not so far! I think a couple things got postponed until next week. Quiet days are nice, but they sure do get long and boring.

I really do plan to cut out Judi's purse tonight. I really do!!

Have a good day everyone! I hope to report good news about Meghan and Talya today!

Billye

Wednesday morning

2008-10-15T06:37:00.001-07:00

Just another day in Paradise, as they say. Last word from Meghan was last night, she'd been to the hospital, lost her mucus plug, had water "leaking" but they told her to either walk there at the hospital for 2 hours or go home and walk. Poor thing is so exhausted. She said she wasn't even going to call her doctor any more and she's really embarrassed. She's only a 3 cm. dilation. My heart goes out to her, but Lord knows she's got no reason to be embarrassed! Everyone in the family is exhausted too. I just hope that I haven't heard from her because she's in labor and having Talya and everything and everyone are fine. Plus, it's only 20 to 7 in California, although I've usually heard from her by now. I'm sure all is well. I have to believe all is well!

So in order to stay busy last night, I made 12 more OBW blocks. I also created a new place for my design wall - on my porch. I hung up my little flannel backed table cloth with tape over the back door (the only place I can hope to have enough space!) and started sticking the blocks on it. However, since they were falling off, and I'm not yet ready to pin them down, I sprayed some quilting basting spray on it and that's working a lot better. Still having trouble with the color wave, and still considering the possibility of using black in the corners (really to try to tone it down a bit!). Also considering the possibility of some interior black borders, also to tone it down some. We'll see as the design process moves along. I REALLY need to be working on gifts instead, but I have to admit this OBW is seriously addictive.

Diane gave me a book on landscape quilting -- combining art with fabric and quilting. I have to admit that one glance at the book has me fasinated. Oh no! Another hobby! Although it's really a combination of all my hobbies, even stained glass since some of the "stylized" art quilts are given the stained glass "look". Again, yet another project.

I've read the directions for the bag I want to make Judi. I was wrong -- this is not the BFF bag, this is the Pursonality bag -- which is also gorgeous -- that Diane has made. I will have to go slowly with this one -- it's very confusing on the reading. Hopefully it's easier on the making!

Tonight I'm off to the home of my former boss, Lee, who is getting married on October 26th. She's asked me to help her with some ribbons or some decoration thing -- I think she has some mistaken notion that I'm kind of artistic. We'll see about that! But it gives me a chance to help her out some (I hope) and to give her the wedding present I made for them from their shower and wedding invitations in a shadow box -- and not during the hustle and bustle of the wedding/reception. Sure glad I got that project done ahead of time!

All else is good. Still haven't finished Mom's ultra suede purse. She will either love or hate it. I'm not sure how I feel about it.

I'll post more when I know more!

Tuesday morning

2008-10-14T06:15:00.000-07:00

I just put "Monday morning" in the title because since I was off work yesterday, it feels like Monday. Neither boss has shown up yet, so I have time on my hands.

Got an email from Meghan a couple hours ago -- she thinks her water has broken. Basically she's been told to endure this labor -- it's too late in her pregnancy to stop it, too early to induce. Her doctor won't do anything or give her anything. Poor thing, she's not slept in days and days and is completely exhausted. It's probably a good thing I'm not out there, because I'd feel required to be with her and I'd probably just annoy her -- and believe me, she's irritable enough as it is! Understandably.

So tonight I think I'll cut out Judi's purse. This is called the BFF bag (best friends forever) and is one that Diane has made -- hers is simply adorable. I hope the one I make for Judi turns out nearly as well. Once that's cut out, I think I'll sew some more on the OBW -- I can't tell you how much fun those are! I'm doing them 6 at a time, and when they are pressed and I turn them over, I'm blown away by each one. Having chosen the wrong fabric, I probably won't be able to get the color wave I would otherwise achieve, but no matter -- and Lord knows it will be bright! I figure I need to make 56 blocks. For this first one I think I'll use some of the fabric in the corners to square it up, although I'm tempted to use some black to tie it all together. However, Nan says that my seams might very well not match (which is a consideration), but I'm just not sure yet. Nan setting up my Jem Gold 2 has sure made my sewing more accurate! I wouldn't even consider it without my machine set up for that accurate 1/4" seam.

I so way want a Janome 6600 -- the plan is (maybe) to use my Christmas bonus as a down payment and buy one on time. If I plan to do that, I will need to really knuckle down and cut back on my spending. Since, however, I don't REALLY need any more fabric (or much of anything else), maybe I'll take on that extra payment. I'll have to think about it some more. And hopefully they can find me a really good rebuilt one so I can get the cabinet too. I'd really like to rearrange my "studio" again so I can have a design wall -- but I need a sewing cabinet to do it. I'd rather wait and get the machine I really want with the cabinet that goes with it, so I'll just make do in the meantime.

Prayers going out to Meghan that Talya is born really soon and you can get some rest. I know you're probably not reading this, but I love you!!

Monday night

2008-10-13T18:04:00.001-07:00

So, I went to see Nights in Rodanthe today by myself -- never gone to a movie by myself before, but it was fine and I'll never hesitate again.

I've done some OBW blocks today as well -- don't have the color wave going on as yet, but they sure are fun. I'm doing them 6 at a time. It is so hard to believe that all these different patterns come out of the same fabric.

Meghan still hasn't had the baby. She's in pain, miserable, frustrated and irritable. I feel so bad for her, but the good news is that she and the baby are both fine health wise. She assures me she'll let me know as soon as she knows something, and has asked to be left alone in the meantime. I can understand it, but it sure is hard from here! Thank goodness for Nick's family. I don't know how she'd cope at all otherwise.

Back to work tomorrow. Mom has some testing coming up, but the ENT doctor did not seem terribly concerned. That's a relief! All else is quiet -- I'll post when I know more.

Oh, this morning I finished Mom's purse -- I've not taken a photo yet since it needs the buttons yet (which are made but not yet sewn on) and frankly I don't much care for it. I made it from some ultra suede that she gave me (a HUGE bag) and I made it scrappy. Ultra suede doesn't really lend itself to this particular bag. I guess it's OK, but it's probably my least favorite. Once I finish with the covered buttons, I'll post a photo and maybe you guys can decide for me.

In the meantime, have a good night and a great day tomorrow.

Monday Morning

2008-10-13T04:25:00.001-07:00

Yippee! Trixye woke me up at the crack of dawn. Wait, it's not dawn yet! Well, barely, but it wasn't then.

So Meghan sent me a text about 1 am -- still no baby and they did "something" but she's still in pain and headed home. I suspect that's all the way to Escondido, an hour from the hospital. Poor thing. I wish there was something I could do to help. But not from 3000 miles away. I hope this baby comes soon. She's having the same kind of labor I had with her. Took me 96 hours -- Wednesday night to Sunday morning. She started Thursday night and it is now Monday morning. Bless her heart.

Anyway, we had a blast at Nan's and I took my camera, but did I take a picture? DUHHH!!! No! So this morning I took a photo of the fabric I started out with for my One Block Wonder (OBW). This is absolutely the WRONG kind of fabric to use, but I have over 5 yards of it, so I'm USING it!
Then we did this amazing registering the fabric thing, cutting 4" slices through 8 layers (oh, and girls, I FOUND my rotary cutter in my bag -- I KNEW I'd brought it!). Then with a 60 degree ruler we cut through those 8 layers to make triangles. Then sewed the triangles together and -- well, check it out!

Now even I thought I was done sewing for the day, but I caught a second wind. I've been wanting to do Carol Doak's Block of the Month ("BOM"), but frankly I'm more into her house and tree paper piecing. Well this year she's doing "scenic" -- so I made the October BOM.
I think it's kind of cute. If I add it to the other house blocks I've made, plus what she does for the year, I'll have another "scenic" quilt. Since it's scrappy, it should be a lot of fun. I'm way into scrappy these days!
I hope everyone has a wonderful day. I'll post when and if I know something about the baby. I suspect I'll be doing a lot of sewing today to keep myself busy and my mind occupied so I worry as little as possible. And my Mom is going in to see an ENT for some lumps -- she claims she's had them for years and years, but they want to biopsy them. She tells me that even if they are malignant, they are easy to cure. She has a ride through the place where she lives, but I'm on call in case they need to do more tests or something. So I'll be sticking around the house.

Bye for now!

Sunday evening

2008-10-12T15:40:00.001-07:00

What a fantastic day we had at Nan's. She showed me all
kinds of tips and tricks about a One Block Wonder and I got about 10 or 11 blocks sewn. I was surprised that they came out as well as they did. Diane and I had a blast meeting Nan's friend Diane -- who had finished her One Block Wonder blocks and had them up on the design wall. Nan's house is gorgeous and she's just the sweetest person ever!

My DBIL sent me some photos -- the first is a picture of a quilt I made for my sister, Sandi, during the early part of my quilting. I barely recognize it! LOL. Meghan is still in labor, but they've sent her home -- she's hoping a walk will get things really moving. I know she's in a lot of pain and it's tough being so far away from her, but I'm sure all will be fine and hopefully Talya will decide to join us in the next few hours.

This is Pixye. Isn't she BEAUTIFUL?

Here's a photo of my sister and I -- I'm in red. You can see our mother in the reflection in the glass, as well as my Aunt Pat.

And here's a photo of our Mom. We are so very blessed to have her.

I'll add photos of Meghan and Ricky, Nick and Talya when I get some! My most recent pictures of Ricky are really quite old, and Meghan has been avoiding the camera since she got pregnant.

That's all the news for now. It's almost 7 and I'm about done in for the day. I doubt I sew any more -- unless I go work on Mom's purse maybe later. Have a great day!

Sunday morning

2008-10-12T04:39:00.000-07:00

Here's some more of my "art" (which term I use very loosely!). Trixye is at the left -- took me about 10 tries to get even a halfway decent photo of her.

No word on Talya's birth yet. I'm sure they'll let me know as soon as something "major" happens -- likes she's BORN!

I'm soon off to my quilty day with Nan, Diane and Diane anyway. Going to start a One Block Wonder. I bought magnificent (to me) fabric -- it's incredibly bright. I usually go a bit more traditional, so this will be interesting. Nan is awesome at the technique and I'm thilled to be going to her house with Diane and meeting Nan's friend Diane. I'm taking my camera. If they'll give me permission, I'll photo and post.

Have a great day -- I know I will!

Natalya

2008-10-11T15:49:00.000-07:00

She may be on her way! Meghan called a little while ago and is on her way to her in-laws, which is near the hospital in San Diego. She says she's sure this is it. I hope she's right -- trying NOT to worry, but with her 3000 miles away, it's hard. At least they have somebody to drive them -- she'll be fine I'm sure.

Saturday

2008-10-11T13:42:00.001-07:00

So dancing was fun last night, but I woke up not feeling well. Just took Trixye to the dog park and soon I must (1) clean this house!, (2) go to the store -- I'm out of almost everything and (3) get some sewing done and packed for tomorrow.

Some of my work is displayed above. The first two are Lazy Girl Gracie bags -- one for my Mom, one for me. The next is a painting I did for my boss last year for Christmas. I'm going to have to get more of my painting photos transferred to my directory so I can upload them.

I designed the stained glass motorcycle since I couldn't find a pattern for one. The lamp and tissue box were made for Christmas/birthday for my sister. The quilt is one of my first paper pieced quilts I made for my Mom last year for Christmas. Fun to make and she seems to like it. Birdhouses were interesting and I think the colors go well in her house.

10/10/08 - a little while later

2008-10-10T12:17:00.000-07:00

OK, second post. So my daughter's contractions have stopped, so unlikely a baby really soon. It's OK, she's a month early, so we can wait. Just hard on her to keep starting and stopping contractions, but she'll deal with it.

Being brand new at this blogging thing, I'm not at all sure what anyone will be interested in (or not). Probably my quilting the most. I have so very much to learn. I belong to several Yahoo groups, including Carol Doak's, Stashbusters, StashQuilters, DustingYourStash, InspectorsClub, Quiltvillechat and Lazygirl Designs. I love learning from all of them, and meeting lots of new and interesting people on all of them.

My skills continue to improve, but last night I spent quite a bit of time "frogging" since I managed to sew a pillowcase the wrong way -- DUH!! I'm off work on Monday, and only going to a movie tomorrow, so I'll likely spend most, if not all, of the weekend quilting. I'm beginning to get the urge to get back into stained glass and maybe even have a painting floating around in my head.

I'm watching the stock market crash over and over. Sometimes it's almost nice to not have any money in the market -- my friends who do are worried over their 401Ks. My 401K doesn't start here at work until January, and I'll throw as much $$ into as I can. Hopefully for me this down market will be a boon as I can buy more shares and it will be worth more when I get ready to retire. HOWEVER, I really don't think I will ever retire completely. As much as I love my hobbies, I don't think I'd be happy not working, not interacting with other people. Yes, it's true these 11 hour days get old -- and they get older the older I get! I don't actually WORK 11 hours, but that's how long the day is by the time we do the commute. I do carpool with a couple of lovely ladies here at work.

And my possibly very favorite thing in the world is my Yorkie, Trixye. I'll try to snap a photo of her in the next day or so and add that to this blog. She's a doll -- quiet as she can be. She doesn't bark -- she was a breeding female, and they nearly bred her to death. I've had her a little over a year. However, she got a clean bill of health last weekend from the vet and has gained (too much) weight. When I got her she was malnourished, her coat was dull and she had sores all over her body -- her teeth had never been cleaned and when they were, she lost 3. 2 weeks after I got her she had to have major surgery due to an infected uterus. But she's a true joy and now her coat gleams, not a sore on her body and her health is excellent. She's great company and I adore her. Her favorite thing is to play with her "cousin" Pixye -- my sister's Yorkie/Shih Tzu mix. Now THERE'S a beautiful animal. If they had a breed for her, she'd be a show dog. If my sister gives me permission, I'll post a photo of her too.

More later! Everyone have a great day.

Billye