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Tuesday, January 29, 2008
I Hope We Make It!!!
We are working on getting the 2 yr old well, and he's doing better. So what happens???? 17 yr old DD and 12 yr old DS wake up w/sore throats and don't want to get out of bed. I have to take the 14 yr old DD to an Ortho appt at 8:00 AM and I'm sitting in the Dr's office when I get a call from 19 yr old DS and he says that the 12 yr old has been bitten on the finger by our dog when he was feeding them. Come home! Well, I can't DD is back in the chair getting worked on. So 45 minutes later she's done and, we race home to find a big ugly purple gash in the son's middle finger. I get on the phone and make the Dr's appt to go have it checked. Appointment is for 10:30. I'm TIRED and it's only 9:40 AM!!!
I put Illene's quilt on the machine last week and I haven't been able to get down there and do any quilting on it yet!! I doubt any quilting will get done til we get home from Canada! Thankfully I have understanding customers! They're the BEST!
Happy Quilting! Lauri
Friday, January 25, 2008
First Quilt Group Meeting
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Repeat!
Tonight I'm having a quilt meeting at my home, I'm pooped, but excited that we're finally getting our local quilt group going again.
Happy Quilting! Lauri
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
The Verdict
SO, we've just been hanging out together ALL DAY long for the past couple of days. Taking Ibuprofen and Tylenol and Mucinex. Keeping the fever down and the coughs at bay.
He took a good nap on Tuesday and I actually finished Christine's Stars.
Fabric Sale January 24th - Updated
ONE SALE DAY REMAINING
Saturday, January 24
9 am - 4 pm
This is the final sale day for the liquidation of Jeanne Freymiller Neff's fabric collection. For those of you who came into this journey late, Jeanne was a wonderful quilter and crafter who collected
fabric and other crafting supplies for years, with her collection overflowing out of her house into a large storage building. Sadly, Jeanne lost her battle to cancer in October, and I have been liquidating her collection for her husband.
wicker trunks (three sizes available) $25, $35, $45 (you can see some in the pictures below)
4 drawer file cabinets (2 dark brown ones available), $15 each
a day bed, single bed size $75
lots of decorative pillows, $3 each
a sewing machine table, $30
a 4 shelf bookcase, 2 available, $15 each (can be seen in picture below)
several mirrors, various sizes
several baskets
lots of picture frames
a 'hang on the door' space-saving ironing board
a three drawer plastic storage unit
There is still lots and lots of cotton fabric for quiltmaking.
We are down to our final trunk full of bags of men's neckties. Here is a picture of some 'rose pins' I made out of ties. What could you do with ties? At $2 a bag, how can you go wrong!!
Large bins of cotton fabric, 1 yd. to 10 yard length pieces, great for backings, borders, and sashing And more quilt tops
Even though we sold hundreds of magazines, we only sold about half of what what there. These are 3" thick notebooks, each full of 18 - 36 magazines, in addition to several boxes of loose magazines. The magazines are 25 cents each.
6 large bins of wool scraps, ideal for wool piecing or applique.
Bags of scraps in bookshelf: $3 bags and $5 bags. Rolls of wool strips for rug braiding in the trunk.
On a final note, I will be posting a 'cyber quilt show' in the Fall of things people made out of the fabrics and patterns they bought at Jeanne's. Be sure to send me photos of what you make! Quilt tops are fine, they don't have to be quilted. I have gotten such wonderful feedback about the things people are doing with their treasures, from clothing to quilts to pillows, to working with kids with fiberarts.... it has been a real treat to see these things come to be. So keep the cyber-show in mind! I would love to include what you have made.
Hope to see you Saturday, January 24th.
Once you get on HWY 60, if you are coming from Richland Center or Rt. 14, it is .7 (7/10) mile past the BP gas station that is at the corner of Hwy 60 and County Route T in Port Andrew. Continue past the gas station on Hwy 60. The driveway is on the left, just past a large patch of trees,The house is set back in behind the trees and is not visible from the road. It is across from a gravel pit, and across from Combe Cemetery Road (very small dirt road).
If you are coming from the Boscobel/Gays Mills direction, it is on HWY 60, 1 mile past Clark Realty. The driveway will be on your right, just before a large patch of trees. It is across from a gravel pit, and across from Combe Cemetery Road (very small dirt road).
We will have a sign by the driveway on the day of the sale.
Happy Quilting
Linda Halpin
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
French Knots
Of all the embroidery stitches, I believe that the french knot is and always has been my favorite. I was probably around 9 or 10 years old when I first learned how to make one, and I thought it was magic! In 10th grade I got kicked out of my math class for embroidering while the teacher lectured, (sorry but it was the only way I could keep from falling asleep!). I had to report to the principal's office for my punishment. After explaining to the secretary why I was sent down to see the principle, she smiled and requested to see my embroidery. I still remember how kind she was, telling me that my french knots were beautiful, and letting me skip seeing the principle and allowing me to go hang out in the library. The librarian was equally kind to me, and said that any time a teacher did not want me in their class, (something that happened more then once) I was more then welcome to come spend my time in the library!
Pictured above is the latest in my small art quilt series. I call it "Amoeba in Pink and Green". It features approximately 275 french knots. They are just like eating potato chips, I just can't stop at one!
Monday, January 21, 2008
Sick Baby
My Plans were to finish the Star Quilt for Christine, but so far that's not happening and I wanted to get the next customer quilt on today.
We have a 5:45 Dr's appt and hopefully they'll be able to give us something for the cough. It's definitely NOT been a fun day!
Hope your day is better than ours! Lauri
Friday, January 18, 2008
to Eat or NOT to Eat!
So I picked up a book (I'm a sucker for self help/especially weight loss books) at WalMart the other day. "YOU; Staying Young" by Drs Oz and Roizen. Since DH and I have had a baby in our 40s we've seriously realized that we've got to work on staying healthy so we can be there when Jr turns 20! So he won't be pushing us in our wheelchair when he graduates from college! I really like this book and it is easy to comprehend and gives specific things to do to stay healthy and vital.
I took the test at realage.com and YEA. They said w/all my factors that I'm 37.7. That's about 6 years younger than my chronilogical age! Even though I'm some poundage over, I am in pretty good health and have good habits. So to keep it up I'm cutting out sugar (See Lara's Eatopia and get off sugar) and getting started on the recommended vitamin supplements.
So here's a NQR topic. How many books/magazines do you have sitting on your nightstand or on the floor by your bed waiting to be read? I'm afraid to count how many quilt magazines and books, not to mention self help. I totally don't have time for novels right now. But I do love a good novel. I just don't want to do anything else but read once I start one. My life won't tolerate that right now! Taking the picture of the book on my nightstand is what prompted this line of thinking. I had to clear away stuff so it would look decent!! YIKES!
Good luck to you all in your goals! Lauri
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Music, Seams, Family
So I was reading Seams to An End and Karen mentioned music. Probably not the same music subject I'm going to post about, but it made me think that I've been quilting to music the last couple of days and Loving it!!! I found this cool site Pandora Radio! You can type in an artist or a song that you like and it will find others like it, and you can create your own station. I currently have a Classic Station, a Disco Station (yes I was raised in the 70s!) and a New Age station. These may all be diametrically opposed genres, but Oh Well. I'm loving it! Check it out and let me know what you think.
So the Lemoyne Star quilt is almost done. See how removing the bulk in the seams has allowed me to stitch in the center of the star without problems. It's amazing how every block that has a bulky center always seems to need the stitching to come from the center. And if you intentionally avoid the center, it seems to poke up even more!
So, I've posted about my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt I've been piecing by hand. Well, we took down the Christmas Tree (yes it's fake) on Saturday. FINALLY! and the 2.5 year old was helping w/the vacuuming. Yes, he's going to be OC like his Dad. We've decided it's a good thing! OK, so back to the quilting. Well, he's detached the vacuum head and just walking around w/the nozzle, and all of a sudden I hear, "uh oh". Guess what? He vacuumed up the block I was working on. Yep, it was almost finished! SWOOSH!!! Right off the table needle, pin and all GONE! My DH offered to go get it out of the central vac canister in the garage and I said "don't bother." Then I'd have to figure out how to get it clean w/o it getting all distorted. I figure it's easier to just get started on the next block!
This is the little table DH/Santa gave me for Christmas to sit next to my comfy chair and hold my quilty stuff for me. Wasn't that nice of him! Especially since we agreed NOT to get each other anything for Christmas, because our trip to Canada is going to be our Christmas! Yes, That's coming up soon. We leave in less than 3 weeks to pick up our missionary son in Canada!! YEA!!!
Happy Quilting! Lauri
Monday, January 14, 2008
Twisted Seams VS. Bulky Intersections
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Rocky Road
http://starleyquilts.blogspot.com/2007/06/st-george-quilt-appraisals.html
Friday, January 11, 2008
Winter Wonderland!
It was a crazy day on Wednesday. It took DH an hour to get the girls to High School, and DS made it to College and home despite the fact that they closed the Highway just as he was heading home. He made it through the back routes and we're glad everyone made it to and from their destinations safely on Wednesday. I stayed home and quilted and then used the snowblower on the driveway while the 2.5 year old took a nap. I managed a path to the garage and then DH took over the rest of the driveway and the dreaded digging out the mailbox after the plows go by!
I finally got the "family gift" quilt off the machine!! YEA! Here it is being trimmed so I can bind it and get it sent off. Unlike most of you quilters out there. I sew my binding on both ways by machine. I figure if it's machine pieced and machine quilted, I might as well sew the binding on both ways by machine. In my thinking it will withstand use better. I like to use Superior bottom line thread that matches and you almost can't even see it. A machine quilter that has MANY years of experience taught me her techinique and I think it works fabulous. Maybe I'll post some pics as I do it, so I can show you how I do mine. I also ran across the pics I took of loading this quilt on the machine. Maybe I'll post that tomorrow. Happy Quilting!!!
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Happy Little Amoebas
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Organizing
Another cool way we use them is. . . . the 2 1/2 year old got a bunch of plastic animals for Christmas and he just LOVES them. To keep them from getting strewn all over the house, l've designated a organizing bag for them. He loves to throw them in the bag and zip it up. He can then drag them all over the house and not be dropping them here and there as he goes. It's totally GREAT!
Monday, January 7, 2008
Ready to Quilt!!!
All the UFOs and fabric collections are put in plastic bins and labeled. It really helps to have labels on, so I don’t have to dig through the bins to figure out what’s in there. I just use address labels. I love Mary Engelbreit things so I found a cute flower on her website and put it on my labels to make them look cute.
I also have to work around the exercise equipment, but it works out pretty well. The treadmill is right next to the design wall, which kind or works well because I don’t have to stand on a stool to reach to the top of the wall so I can get a big quilt on there.
I’ve finally gotten the “family” quilt back on the machine! I put it back on after I finished the jacket, but never got any quilting done on it because I had to take it off to get the studio moved. Now that everything is mostly in it’s place I can finally get quilting again!!!
Friday, January 4, 2008
New Year, New Look, New Direction
I hope everyone had a very nice holiday, and that the new year is off to a good start. I know that this time of year can be difficult for some of us who can't help but be reminded of how quickly time passes and how much we miss certain loved ones. Five years ago, on December 26th my father passed away. It was difficult for me to realize that so much time had passed. My girls were still little when he died, one in elementary school and one in middle school. Now my youngest is a teenager and my oldest an adult in college. I ache thinking of how much time we all missed. I can't help but to feel a bit cheated for my kids, that they didn't have him in their lives for a longer period of time. And I feel grateful for the time we did have, and blessed with the certainty that he indeed is still present in our lives, watching over us, and rooting for us as we find our way in this life.
With the new year here I found myself looking for some change. The artistic path I have been on was starting to feel too familiar, like walking a trail and passing the same tree over and over. It was a lovely path but I was ready for a little change, and so I have done a few simple things. I changed the look of the blog a bit, and added a new banner. I also changed my Etsy banner to this one and made a matching avatar. Also for the time being, I have put aside making my vintage and retro inspired gift items and have started concentrating more on illustrating and making art quilts, (which is what I use to do almost exclusively a few years ago).
I am having loads of fun with this new series of small embroidered art quilts. They are based on little, loose styled drawings that I do on my computer. The red and white one pictured above is called "Pathway" and the one pictured below is called "Extrovert and Introvert". (Also pictured below is the drawing that I based it on.) These and others can be found in my Etsy store, and I will be posting more as I make them.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Happy New Year!!!
Here's Wishing Everyone a HaPpy NeW YeaR!!!! Luv Lauri!