This too shall pass, but this morning is fired.

I'm feeling really strained and overextended today. A lot of this was because practice was really draining for me yesterday, but the mountain of housekeeping-type-crap I had to do this morning contributed.

Reasons why I'm feeling low today:

1. Last night at practice I had some kind of asthma-like event. I've never had asthma, so I'm not sure if I've just developed it or if there's another name for non-sufferers who suddenly can't breathe at all. I haven't been able to breathe through my nose for almost a month, so perhaps it's an allergy thing... either way it was really frightening and I'm scared about it happening again.

All I know is that I was having a tough time keeping up because I couldn't get enough air, and then suddenly I REALLY couldn't get enough air, and then I felt like I was getting absolutely no air at all. The little primitive survival part of me totally freaked out and went "I'm DYING!!!! OMGOMGOMG" and I had a panic attack. I spent a good chunk of the next fifteen minutes crying like a baby on Holly Nass's shoulder, and alternated skating laps alone and participating in the slower drills because I kept having wheezing fits all night.

Oh, and when I totally lost my shit I also blabbed about every insecurity I have about my skating (mostly into Nass's armpit) so I'm still feeling embarrassed and childish and whiny. I'm trying to actively focus on all the nice things she said, and all the "this isn't your fault - your body needed air" comments she made, because she's totally right. I think I'll internalize that more with time, but that's definitely an uphill battle for me.

2. (largely resolved) I couldn't get a doctor's appointment to see what the hell happened to my body last night. The lady on the phone didn't quite seem to understand the urgency of "OMG I couldn't breathe WTF?" and was suggesting appointments for, say, NEXT MONTH. I was so pissed and tired and grouchy that I totally cried after the phone call. However, the Nurse Practitioner in the office called back and offered to double-book me for the first appointment tomorrow so I could squeeze in early. I don't even have to miss any of my classes because it's during my prep. This has taken some of the load off, and I'm grateful. Thank goodness for people overhearing phone calls in crowded offices.

3. I tried to see what the procedure was for paying my current outstanding bill for grad school with the voucher from my student teacher. This involves getting three different offices to agree upon the same issue, and I'm unable to reach the right people in any of the three offices. In my fantasy world, I go to class on Thursday, hand in the voucher, they say "KTHXBYE" and I've paid for the class. Apparently this is only possible in a land where leprechauns ride unicorns who vomit sunshine and piss wishes.

So yeah, being emotionally vulnerable followed by stupid bureaucracy crap is a recipe for frustration, grumpiness, and a lousy morning. I want to eat cake and hug my dog while Steve makes me laugh and the cat meows insistently for more food.

The Big Day is Here

Here is a peek at what I've been working on for the last few weeks. Today is the reveal date of our "Brave New World" art quilts on the Around the World in 20 Quilts site. The quilts are A4 size and each is to contain recycled or re-purposed items. I really enjoyed the journey from start to finish. I had six different ideas and knew I had chosen the right one. But when I started my quilt something completely different came to mind and I had to follow that path. I love the diversity of the finished quilts. Stop by and see more here.

Thanks to everyone that entered my jewelry giveaway. I really enjoyed meeting you and visiting your blogs. The Internet has made this world so small and so much more connected.

And now for the winner..... Pamela S. who says: I love your creativity! Your colors are fabulous and I'm crossing my fingers I win your giveaway. P.S. I lived in WI for 10years and it is a marvelous place.

Pamela, congratulations. Please contact me via the e-mail address on my profile page to claim a piece of jewelry of your choice from my Shady Grove Studios ETSY shop.

The Full Quilt

So here it is finally. It's really been done for quite a while. I just haven't taken time out to get it on the blog. My camera is dying and is taking terrible pictures. Maybe it's because I've dropped it one to many times or the fact that the almost 4 year old thinks that it's his camera too! The other day he took it outside to take a picture of the sand pile he made in his sand box.

We're in the process of upgrading to a Canon Powershot, but of course we had to pick the newest in the line and it won't be in the US until April!!! We have the camera bag and the extra batteries, but no camera!! I WANT my camera!! It's hard to take pictures with a crummy camera when you have a new one coming soon. So bare with me!

The Sand Pile

From Drop Box

Suzanne's Quilt

From Drop Box

Vicki's Mariner quilt

This striking quilt was made by Vicki and I enjoyed bringing out the compass points with echo quilting (photo above). I also liked how the quilting showed up on the back of the quilt (opposite).

Vicki said the quilt comes from Judy Mathieson’s book “Mariner’s Compass Quilts – New Directions”.

For more photos of quilts that I have machine-quilted for customers, go to http://www.koolkatquilting.com/.

Happy 46th Birthday!

Today's my 46th birthday! I wanted to get some shots of Mo and I together to mark the occasion.


The pics didn't come out as I had planned... try as I might I could not get Molasses to look at the camera or stay very still, (she also kept wanting to close her eyes!)


But that's okay, I had fun trying, as it is so nice just to be with her and as always she made me laugh. What better gift is there then that? Birthdays generally make me happy, and on this one I am as happy as happy can be for my #1 birthday wish was to have my best buddy with me on this day. I am so very grateful to say that Mo's recovery from her stroke has been going really well. (The vet said that they can recover within days, but I am blown away!) I've said it before and I will say it again, she's my hero.


And as for being another year older... it is flipping weird to be turning 46, as I still feel like a kid. I can no longer pretend that 50 is some distant speck on the far off horizine... now it is big and bold and coming closer by the day. I say Yippee!! Life's a gift and I am so damn grateful for each and every birthday!!


“Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be, the last of life, for which the first was made. Our times are in his hand who saith, 'A whole I planned, youth shows but half; Trust God: See all, nor be afraid!'”
-Robert Browning

Greenmount Memorial Hall Centenary Quilt

The centenary of Greenmount Memorial Hall (1908-2008) was marked by the unveiling of an historic quilt to mark the occasion. Pictured left are the comittee members who made the quilt, which was unveiled on 28 March 2009 by Crs Roz Scotney and Carol Taylor of Toowoomba Regional Council (below).

The quilt was mchine-quilted by KoolKat Quilting.

Waiting for the Earth to Wake

I love this time of year just before the earth wakes. Tree silhouettes against the sky fascinate me.
The ground has just begun to thaw and our Amish neighbors are already turning the soil in preparations for spring planting.


Snow is in the forecast tonight. We may be lucky and miss most of the storm. It has been a mild spring this year and we are looking forward to long walks in the meadows.

Have a wonderful weekend!

P.S. You still have time to enter my blog giveaways. Drawings will be March 31st.

Been sort of out of it lately!

Hello! Well here, I am again! It has been tough days lately for me. My entire body has been just dragging along lately. Therefore, I have been trying yesterday and today trying to take more oxygen to build my lungs up some. (I am finally going to have a new doctor, to me a real doctor, as I have been only seeing for three years now this doctor in the clinic). I am thankful for what he has done for me. Now I have insurance and good one too. Therefore I am happy to have a real doctor now!
I am in bed, and starting to feel better. That means I could walk to my back room to sew tomorrow. I have been working on some small items in my bed that I could do by hand. Actually I do love doing appliqué’ work. It is funny how I use to be into only one color scheme for a long lifetime. Now for some reason my taste for color has changed a lot. I am finding I love colors that are brighter, full of color.
I had my Dad’s 80th b-day Party. It did turn out as a big surprise…and lots of fun. Now I can get back to no-more Company… doing some spring-cleaning, and quilting. Morgan

Three Giveaways

To celebrate the opening of my new Etsy Store called Dye Candy I am hosting a giveaway here and on my other blog. Enter here for a change to win a piece of quilt block jewelry. Visit my other blog for a change to win a Dye Candy box of your choice. For a chance to win both there is a third giveaway running simultaneously on Simply Robin's blog. She has guest bloggers all week and few different giveaways. I will be a guest blogger on Thursday March 26th.

I will be drawing for winners on March 31st.

Good Luck!

P.S. If you are new to my blog and want to see more post about our rural location click on the Shady Grove link in the labels below

Home Again and No Place to Go

I just spent an extended weekend with my mom and sister at Patsy's Homestead Cabin Retreat. My sister is not a quilter. Can you believe she designed this beautiful quilt on her first day of the retreat. I spent 10 minutes showing her how to use my EQ program and she took it from there. This photo shows 1/4 of the quilt design. We spent the weekend working on quilts for the 1940's era fishing cabin she and her husband purchased last summer.

We took some time out for some walks in the woods.

And enjoyed watching the chicken antics. This rooster takes his job seriously.

Mom and I sewing.

And finally a finished project. This blueberry pie pin cushion kit came from Pats blog giveaway a in late January in honor of her blog's first birthday. It was National Pie Day on the first day of Pat's giveaway. I tried to get it finished for the other National Pi day, but I was a week late.

There are a few more pictures from our weekend and show and tell on Patsy's Blog


It was a wonderful time and it was hard to leave, but my classes are over, no retreats planned until December. I'm glad to be home and I know where all my sewing notions are for the first time in a month.

P.S. Two more days until my blog giveaways start.

Molasses Update

Huge great big heartfelt THANK YOU'S to all who have kept Mo in there hearts and for the loving wishes left on my last post. She has gone from not being able to sit, stand or walk, to now as of this morning, being able to slowly and a bit wobbly, walk outside and around the yard a bit. Ears flapping in the breeze and tail wagging at our encouraging words. This is very bitter sweet. It is and has always been about her happiness and her quality of life She has been through so much during these past months, yet her enthusiasm for life stays so strong. Knocks me to my knees. I am watching her closely for signs as what to do, and as of now, she still seems to want to fight this new fight, (along with her cancer fight) and we will continue to stay right by her side helping her for as long as she wants. Mo and I have been camping out again in the living room, and yesterday I set up a small sewing station there in the hopes of getting some small projects done while she sleeps. xo Victoria

Hooray!

Another skater called me "the bulldozer in a tutu" today. That was pretty awesome.

Coming up for Air

Hello everyone! This will be sort of a short letter. I am back, after having two different sets of company. The first group was just terrible and they ended up costing us time, money, and a headace too over ruining my computer. I just got it back on line. The second group of company was great! Yet finally happy to be back home here alone once again. Getting ready to sew again. I have projects that I have to send in. Just saying hello for now. Will chat more later...Morgan

Prayers for Molasses Would Be Most Appreciated

Dear Everyone,
After a great day yesterday, my sweet Mo has taken a sudden turn for the worse last night with what the vet feels appears to be a stroke, although he said it may also be related to her sinus tumor. If it is a stroke, there is a good chance that she may pull through this. She has been put on medication to reduce any brain swelling and we are keeping a round the clock vigil by her side. I believe without a doubt that all of your loving prayers, good wishes and thoughts for her have helped her pull through the past difficult times, and I am asking if you would all be so kind to once again say a little prayer or send a healing thought her way. She is the dearest little being I have ever known, and I greatly appreciate all of the generous kindness that you have shown to her and to myself. Thank you.
xo Victoria

I love my life.

I did a really good job. :)


-- Post From My iPhone

Finally.

Tonight at 7PM I get to play roller derby, on a team, in front of my parents and friends. I've been waiting for this for a long time.

Sometimes it Takes Forever!

I really enjoy doing custom quilting, and especially on applique quilts. I know it sounds weird and crazy and definitely takes a lot of time to do this detail quilting, but I do enjoy how my quilting adds dimension to the applique and makes the shapes come to life.

This particular quilt was on my machine for almost 6 weeks!!! Not that it took that long to quilt, but my getting to quilt on it was very sporadic. Didn't Suzanne do a loverly job on this quilt? I'll show the finished pics soon.

From Drop Box

Hi! Anyone Out there anymore??

I know I've been away from blogging for a while. So sorry, if anyone out there cares. . . One never knows.

We delivered my Mother-in-law back to her home in Albuquerque the first part of March and I've spent the rest of the time catching up on things around the home front and trying to get caught up on customer quilts etc. . . . I have taken a few pictures during this time, so I'll start by posting those and getting everyone a little bit caught up.

I showed a picture a while back that my MIL was actually sewing! Guess What? She finished 24 blocks before she left. So the girls (my DDs) are going to get them put together with a border and I'll get it quilted and we're going to send it to her. When we were in ABQ, she asked me to get her sewing machine set up and running! WOW. I've got a package ready for her with some strips and foundation squares and hopefully she'll do some sewing on her own. Hopefully her machine will cooperate.

Come to my first bout this Saturday or I will have you shot.

My first bout with BDD is this freakin' Saturday!!! Please come, wear pink, make signs, and cheer for my team, the Nutcrackers. Info below:



DOUBLE HEADER!!!

Doors at 4 pm
Shriners Auditorium, Wilmington, MA
Tickets $14 in advance, $16 at the door (good for both bouts of the double header)
Season tickets now available!

Bout #1: 5 pm: Boston Massacre vs.
Charm City Roller Girls (Baltimore, Maryland)
Bout #2: 7 pm: Nutcrackers vs.
Cosmonaughties

Shades of Gray

Mod Square Quilted Pillow Cover In Shades of Gray...


Psychological Effect: Although often thought of as a negative color, Gray is actually the color of independence and self-reliance.

"The color of truth is gray."
- Andre Gide

“Do be do be do.”
"I did it my way."
- Frank Sinatra

Have a great day!

New Ventures

When I started my blog "Greetings From the Shady Grove" I had visions of writing post cards with views of my rural life and travels to the big and small cities.  I am blessed to live a life where I want to live it.  This is truly home for me and my husband.  If you ever picture yourself living this lifestyle, find a way to support yourself and make the leap.  You will not regret it.  We don't, in fact this life is hundreds of times better than we had hoped and I think we had pretty high expectations.  

I will tell you that we took 5 years to choose a place to live based on many factors like school system, cost of living and friendliness of the local citizens. My employer allowed me do research and home searches at lunchtime on the internet during our slow seasons. (I still work for this company as a remote employee.)  We searched in many states and settled on our current location 3 years prior to making our purchase.  We visited this county one weekend a month for a year before we finally move here full time.

As you know I am a seller on Etsy.  I never really saw this blog as a place to promote my products and lately it has started to become that way.  When I decided to sell my hand dyed fabrics in a new shop called Dye Candy so many other ideas came along with it.  I just launched a new blog called Dye Candy.blogspot.com

Stop by and see what I have planned.  Please leave comments and let me know what you think of the ideas.

Wishing you warm days ahead from our Shady Grove,

Chris

The Orange Effect

"Orange is very blatant and vulgar. It makes you immediately start having feelings." -Wolf Kahn

Newest Mod Square Quilt:


Psychological Effect: Orange has been shown to have only positive affects on your emotional state. The color orange relieves negative feelings such as self-pity, lack of self-worth and unwillingness to forgive. Orange uplifts your emotions and is a terrific antidepressant.


Physiological Effect: Orange has been shown to have a positive effect on one's libido and can be beneficial to the digestive system as well as strengthen the immune system.

I love the color Orange!

Old School

Many of my friends attended one and two room schools during their early school years.  

In the late 1960's and early 1970's many of the rural schools were consolidated into larger buildings.  Some of these schools are still used for community meeting places and churches.

This school near our house our house didn't make it through last winter.  The roof gave way after we received 60" of snow.

Many have become homes.

This school is located on the ridge not to far from here.  It as an Amish school house.  I love seeing all the kids when they are outside for recess.  They all stop and wave when we drive by.

Fun with Color!

Below are two very fun devices I came across on the web. Each one interactively illustrates the effects of color and simultaneous contrast. Click on the links and give it a try!

Simultaneous Contrast: How two colors, side by side, effect how they are visually perceived.


Click here to enlarge and move the control. Explore how your color perception of each circle is altered by increasing and decreasing the outer color "aura" around the circle.


I love this one! Click here to enlarge and move the cursor all around to change the background color. Watch instantly how it effects your visual perception of each of the colored circles! Cool!!! Call the kiddies to the screen and let them play, too!

To learn more check out this : link.

And while we are on the subject of color, I just loved reading the comments triggered by the Avocado Green/Harvest Gold post. Hearing about everyone's 1970's color scheme decorating memories while growing up, what a hoot! Here is a sample...

'Avocado green and gold wallpaper; crushed velvet gold couch and avocado green shag carpet; harvest gold wallpaper with lines of glittery gold all mingled in; orange and gold shag carpet, (which came with a rake!); green shag carpet, (which was like living with a golf course); yellow and avocado green walls; multi-orange-to-rust shag carpet; and last but not least... peach walls with bright yellow, green, & orange print fabrics!

Goodness, it's a miracle we weren't all driven to madness! Thanks so much everyone for sharing!

And here is one more funny personal '70's color combo from me... In 1972 I was 9 years old and my parents took me to see my very first concert, (Arlo Guthrie playing at the local college campus where my dad worked... how cool was that?! I still love Arlo!) Anyway, I remember what I wore that night... a bright yellow ribbed turtle neck sweater, with lavandar/purple crushed velvet pants. Talk about a color statement... I was one hip 9 year old!

Bali Butterfly

Kathy's latest creation is Bali Butterfly. She describes this pattern as an 'easy-peasy bargello inspired quilt for beginning quilters.' It makes a wall-hanging 58 inches or 1.47 metres square. It can also be made into a single bed quilt 60 x 90 inches or 1.52 x 2.29 metres.

For more information go to www.koolkatquilting.com

Don't You Hate When This Happens

Winter Solstice class resumed this week. I finished my blocks at class on Wednesday night...or so I thought. Last night I put all of my blocks on the design wall a had a big hole! I hate when this happens. I remember having 2 extra fabrics when I sorted my fabric for this class. I must decided that three didn't work with this color scheme. Here is a peek at the "Groovy Little Hippy Bags" Crazy Quilt purses I have been working on over the last two weekends. If you follow my blog through reader you have already seen these purses when I posted them for a special order customer to review. The blue and black velvet messenger bag has 12 hours of hand embroidery on the flap. I use new corduroy and new and reclaimed velvets to make these purses. These fabrics make the best shoulder straps. They really stay put.

Does this happen to you? It irks me when my pictures load sideways....

This Dusty Purple Messenger Style Bag has one of my original hand embroidery designs. I really enjoy making these purses. I sometimes wish there were 20 extra hours in each day so I could get more accomplished.

The photos below are ATC's from the ladies of Around the World in 20 Quilts Group. Our theme is "Seasons" We are also doing a postcard exchange. I have my postcards completed but have yet to put them in the mail. I'm saving them for show and tell at quilt guild on Monday night.

"Water - too wet, too dry" from Simone in the Netherlands. I love the hand dyed and painted fabrics in this work. The blue metallic threads really give the ATC a beautiful shimmer.

"Spring" from Marian in Australia. These flowers are so delicate. I'm longing for the days when the spring beauties start to bloom here.

This lovely tree by Lynn in California was machine felted and top-stitched with free motion embroidery. I love the angelina fibers she mixed with the threads and yarns!

"Autumn" by Linda in Australia. I have seen mushrooms like these in fairy tales. I had no idea they grew in the woods of the Netherlands until I received this beautiful card from Linda.

"Ginkgo"

These are my ATC's. This is the first time I have made an Art Trading Card. I cut the ginkgo leaves from freezer paper and ironed them to some of my hand dyed fabrics. I rubbed Shiva paintstiks over the top of the fabric and then hand stitched the veins of the leaves.

It was so much fun to get letters from other places in the world. If this is something that interests you I highly encourage you to join an exchange.


I'm dyeing fabrics tonight and tomorrow I sew. I will be making some more flying geese pendants in a couple new colorways.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

Chris