Goths on Wheels - desperately need help getting there

Is anyone interested in going to Goths on Wheels on Saturday? I'm trying to get them some BDD tickets for one of their prizes, and this would be much easier if I could actually go. Damn this whole not-driving thing.

Anyway, here's the info. If anyone is interested in going please let me know PLEASE.

Greetings from Metropolis and Superfriends

Greetings from Metropolis...Illinois, home of the Superman
Meet his sidekick Superquilter...

And the Superfriends.

Is Superman's alter ego Clark Kent or is it "Big John"?

I love roadside attractions and could not wait to stop in Metropolis to see Superman. We stopped off at 8:30 in the morning and had to wait our turn to take a photo with Superman.

There is something to be said for the lure of these giant cultural icons. It brought us into the quaint downtown area and if the shops had been open we would have stayed to browse. I'm thinking of suggesting this to our town council to try to get more tourists to stop and stay. What kind of cultural icon would you bring your grand kids or kids to see?

To see more or my favorite stops, click on the Roadside Attractions label just below this post.

Moda Duz It All

This is the box that the invitation to the Moda Market Party came in.  Isn't it awesome?  Moda Duz It All.    I tend to agree with that, wouldn't you know.  

And this tea towel came inside it.  Of course I had to take a picture of the tea towel with a clothesline on it - on my clothesline.  They did spell my name wrong (Brannock/Payek) but that just makes it more of a collector's item for me.  I think it was our first fabric line where they goofed and put Sandy Gervais' name in the binding on one of our prints.  :)

I didn't go to France like Barb and Alma, but I just got back from Wichita where I went to see my dentist - (who just also happens to be my son) and his wife and my grandchildren.  All are as awesome as ever.  And I got to sit and quilt my next little MiniQuilt for Memorial Day while I watched the young ones play.  Since their mother was there, I got to mostly watch and stitch.  I got the whole thing quilted (it's small - mini might have told you that) and got home in time to sew the binding on.  I'd go sit in the garden and finish the binding but the rain followed me all the way home and just got here.  So I'm inside at the computer instead.  But that's OK, I got to catch up on what everyone's been posting while I was gone.  Now I'd better go stitch so we can get it on the website early next month.

Happy quilting ladies.

Update: on Jeff and I.....

Hello everyone!

An Update on Jeff: Today 35 years ago exactly 1:00pm Jeff was born. Well today, Jeff had excellent news that he is doing really well. We can start going to the substation for his lab work, and not go into that Miami traffic any longer. Hooray for the driver,” Me”! Ha!
Only these two weeks left, and Jeff will only have to go two days a week for a month, then the following month it will be 1 day a week, till he gets down to once a month the rest of his life. It is a wonderful thing to see him be free of a machine. My heart is singing!
I am getting ready to pick up my grandson from his bus corner. I will take him, so that he can buy his dad a gift. JJ will be all happy about that.
Then I am quilting this afternoon on a project that I had started a while back. I am finding that I did lose some memory from my past on certain quilting rules. On a lot of other things too) In making a few mistakes, I find I am starting to remember some of them now. I felt bad that I messed up on some blocks I made…yet with that I found out …I knew these rules once. I have to say, to remember again, is a good feeling. Due to the lack of oxygen to my brain for a while, just before they put me into ICU for 9 days… Lost my mind then. Yet I am coming back…! Chat soon!
Have a great day everyone! Hugs Morgan
PS. My test was terrible...later that day the stuff they blew into my lungs made me very sick. That was hard to do..several different breathing machines to do. Yak! I am better now!

Baby Love

This is Baby LuLu and Baby Alfie. Both are very gentle and oh so child friendly... made of vintage table linens, which I quilted all cuddely, and then lovingly free-motion machine stitched all the details with dark brown thread.


I gifted baby Alfie to a friend who is expecting her first child, (a baby boy) next month, but here is a little info on him anyway:

Extreme pacifist...
Has yet to utter a word...


Can sit for hours, perfectly content, in a field of buttercups...
Very observant.

Baby LuLu is a bit sad now that Alfie has gone to live elsewhere, but hopefully she will be adopted soon. Here's a little bit about her...


Baby LuLu:

Likes ginger flavored zwieback...
hearing stories about Amelia Earhart and Eleanor Roosevelt...


Sandboxes...
and trees, especially Oaks.


Baby LuLu is available in my Silly BooDilly Shop.

It is HOT in here!

Hi! For any of you up so late! I am tired and sitting in my bed… with my computer. Our air conditioner is still acting up. Even after having, it fixed the other day. Therefore, it is warm in here. I do think it is better than it was earlier. Slowly it is getting cooler. I am so happy too for it is not easy sleeping when it is too hot.
Had a very hard time today having that test done, for my breathing and there was several different test she had me do. I must say…whatever she had me breathing in, was very hard to handle. Several different test I had to do, and each one felt like I was going to faint. She really pushed me to do more than I could do. Therefore, when I left, I rushed home to my nest. Hooked up to my oxygen machine and felt so much better.
Today I got my blocks back from a group I really enjoy so much. I guess I need to work harder on my blocks. I felt okay, as she gave me some good points, and I can really see what she is talking about. I just did it in the end in such a rush. I did though learn a few tips, and I will keep moving on to learn how to do perfect blocks. It was my second swap. Yet, I never did this type before. Ya learn from mistakes, and I have more of an idea Of what is expected. I am good... it makes me know I can do better...and of course this all has been put into my memory part of my brain so I will not ever repeat this mistake again.
Jeff, Had to get a drip today. It is done every two weeks, so he will not get an infection. Denny had taken him down to Miami for me. I guess my DH was in for a surprise. He said, he did not realize so many people had transplants. He got up-set over the babies there. I told him that there are many people sick, and that he should realize he is lucky to be so healthy.
Ha! My puppy is hot! He usually sleeps in his bed... not right now he is in front of a fan. Ha! I hope everyone has a great day today! I am going to try to sleep.
Hugs Morgan

Still Alive!

So I think the quilting on this quilt is finally complete. I can't be sure, but I'm pretty sure. Now to get it Bound and work on the next Whimsyland Quilt.

From Drop Box

Kathy talks quilting at Bundaberg

Thanks to our hosts Gayndah Quilt Club, and Bundaberg Quilters in late April. You made us very welcome and Kathy enjoyed sharing her quilt journey with you and passing on some tips on how to get the best results from machine quilting. Here Kathy (left) is presenting a $100 machine-quilting voucher to the president of Bundaberg Quilters.

KoolKat's patterns are also proving popular, in particular Quick-set Jelly and Bali Butterfly, for which KoolKat can also supply the fabric kit. Just log on to www.koolkatquilting.com for more details.

Bryerpatch Studio

Just a quick note...  Check out pictures from our stop at Bryerpatch Studio on my Dye Candy Blog

Fabian

Fabian often dreams...



That he is on the Most Wanted List...

...of every hot-blooded Female in the world!


Introducing... the one, the only, the original Mr. Cool...

Fabian:


- His real name is Dwayne Yoder, but he won't admit this to anyone, except to his employer and the IRS.


- Wishes he was English and often talks with a phony English accent.


- Works weekdays as a waiter and plays the drums every weekend in a Journey tribute band, gig or no gig... (usually there's no gig).


- Considers himself a real ladies man, and dreams of someday owning his own boat, and sailing the 7 seas, with a girl waiting in every port, (check out his snazzy vintage sailor button... helps him to remember his true life's ambition).

To learn more about Fabian, his construction and special features, click on the link... (Okay Ladies, I know Fabian is a real stud muffin, but it's time to collect your wits and stop your swooning!)

******************************************

One more thing... I really got a lot of enjoyment from my last post when some of you picked which odd sister you were most like, personality wise. I just thought that was wonderful and I thank you for sharing! Of course some of you have figured out that I share a bit with each of the four sisters, but for the record I am most definitely like Odd Elsie and Odd Sally!

At least I can say more about this third "CONGRATS", because there was an audience.

I ended my security stint at tonight's NHRD bout on the floor, screaming wordlessly as they won their first ever home bout against PRD's Killah Bees. I was literally on all fours, pounding the concrete floor with my fist (ow), and crying hysterically while screaming "YES! YES! YES! I LOVE YOU NHRD". I have never done anything even close to that at a sporting event in my life. I thought I was going to have a stroke I was screaming so hard.

I now understand why people attend professional sports games in the winter while topless and covered in team-colored body paint. When Rosie got lead jammer in the last jam of the night I wanted to rip my shirt off and wave it like a flag.

I remember showing Dee Stortion and Dementia A-Go-Go how to do plough stops in a parking lot last July when their league practices consisted of a handful of girls dodging clumsy pre-teens at an open skate in Tyngsboro. They've come so far, and built this league up from nothing, and I'm so proud of them I can't contain myself.

Today was a really, really good day for so many people I love. Way to go, life. Thanks for taking such good care of my friends. :D

Hancocks of Paducah

Here are some photos of our stop at Hancock's of Paducah. I knew what I was getting into but it was still a bit of a shock. This is the largest fabric store I have been in to date! Oh so much to see. Many rows of drapery and upholstery fabrics.
The discount room...OH BOY!

Bolts and bolts of fabric. So many notions. And me...

Here I am with my empty shopping cart. This photo was taken so I could prove to my husband that I was well behaved at Hancock's. I was....almost.

All is Great! Whoa it is hard though....

Hello! Here it getting rather late… yet I have been writing back to all those who wrote to me. Still a few to still do. I am pretty warn out from those trips to Miami. For any of you who do not know of what it is like, well it is a mess driving those roads. In other words worth your life to drive in that. I have been stressed, due to it. Yet... the trips to Miami will now be going to what they call a sub station for lab work. It will be in Pompano FL. Therefore, that still is a long drive for us. Yet about 25 minutes less than to Miami. Yet the roads will be so much better.
Jeff is doing great! There are though so many very important details to attend to daily. Lots of medicine too. They are trying to get it all balanced out for him. I have so many things going on, and I did feel so overwhelmed as my lawyer wants me to do a thousand things for my case with my lungs, which everyone in my family pushed me to do.. Now I am up to my eyeballs with that, new doctor who is wonderful, lung doctor who has me going through all types of test. These tests so far have been hard to do. It is called breathing into a machine for 40 minutes. My lungs are not good. They are so burnt, and I have only 60 percent of my lungs working. They do not hold my oxygen and so as I said before I am like a battery that has to be recharged at night. I have an app. On Monday at 11:00 are, and Jeff needs to be in Miami at 7:00 so we leave at 4:00 am. I will not be back in time for my test. I was stressed over this. Yet tonight, Denny my husband solved my stress. He said he would drive Jeff to Miami and handle that for me, so I can go have my test. What a great man I have married. Next month is our anniversary of 1 year. May 6th. I am still a new bride HA! We never even gone on a honeymoon as of yet. Maybe soon. We have a new fifth wheel, and I never have gone anywhere in it yet. I want to go camping in the keys, for a week for our honeymoon. So maybe soon we can do that. Well, everything is great... with Jeff. He is planning his future. I love to hear of what he is planning. He knows he has a wonderful gift. Chat later, I am going to take my medicine and put on my oxygen machine, and get a good night’s rest. Hugs Morgan

The Results

Here is the finished embroidered laundry bag (from my last post) in it's new home at Patsy's Homestead Cabin Retreat. I made it to fit in this old washtub which is now a display for my hand dyed fabrics.

Can you imaging having to wash your laundry by hand? I know some of my Amish neighbors still do. I wonder if they are lucky enough to have a "Speed Queen" washtub like Patsy. :)

Patsy has an incredible knack for finding and using found items. See this post and this post for a look at her creative mind. I love exploring the nooks and crannies of her retreat. There is always something new to find.

I have my list of items that are not stocked at our local quilt shops. I leave tomorrow for Paducah with my girlfriends. We are all so excited. I hope we sleep well tonight!

Talk to you when we return!

P.S. I just posted pictures of shibori dyed fabrics on my Dye Candy blog. I am taking a class from Marjie McWilliams through Quilt University. I am having so much fun playing and getting messy.

Taking a Break

I just read in Laurie Simpson's blog that she's all primed and waiting for the UPS truck to bring her fabric so she can start sewing.  I'm envious.  Edie McGinnis and I are doing the Block of the Month for the KC Star for 2010.  We're both really excited about it.  Right now, however, I'm at the stage where I'm drawing all the patterns into my computer so I can print them out.  Then we get to play with the fabric.  And this morning I did the pattern layout for the kit we send out in May.  So I'm taking a break for awhile.  I was standing at the kitchen sink looking out the window.  The birdfeeders are mostly empty by this time of day so there aren't many birds there either - just one lone chicken.  Well - after all she is a bird!  We have a couple of rabbits that come out from the trees behind the fence and eat the corn that drops beneath the bench.  

I think that's why rabbits have been showing up in my quilts the last few years.  Oh and I put in this picture of "Miss Tabitha Twitchet".  I got it out to put on the loveseat in the kids TV room for spring.  I didn't notice it when I made it but the Liberty Garden fabric I used for the borders has eagles in it.  Poor rabbit - living in a quilt all of her life with an eagle beside her.   

Well, I'd better get back to the computer.  Edie's coming up Wednesday and we get to sew.  And I am doing my applique on my pineapple quilt for Market so there's something to look forward to each night and morning.  Happy quilting, ladies.

Odd Sisters

These are the Odd Sisters...


Odd Elsie:

Misunderstood,
quiet,
strong work ethic,
has trust issues,
intelligent.



Odd Sally:

Enjoys secretly following people,
could live on cornbread and lemonade,
believes everything is a conspiracy, and likes it that way.



Odd Lenore:

Strong as a horse,
likes fast cars, smoky pool halls and beef jerky,
kindhearted and generous.



and Odd Nancy:

Sullen,
never forgets a face,
enjoys reading murder mysteries and eating eggplant, (uncooked).



Each one was lovingly made from red quilted fabric and vintage textile remnants including a bit of lace, a piece of linen, a small button and a cutting of flowered fabric. Details are stitched and "drawn" with needle, thread and machine.

The Odd Sisters are individually available in my Silly BooDilly shop... Now go and celebrate whatever makes you odd. It also makes you special. xo

Jelly roll quilt and an all over feather pattern

This is a quilt I designed using one Jelly Roll and some plain fabric. Itis called "Quick Set Jelly" and the pattern is for sale, available from my website:
www.koolkatquilting.com




Donna's Lone Star Quilt

Donna's Lone Star quilt came up a treat with this all over pattern. The design is called "Deb's Feathers" and is a popular one for traditional quilts. The white thread livens up the plain blue fabrics, and the overall effect is - WOW!

Yikes.

The score last night:

Nuts (aka my team) 124
Pissahs 42

That's two games for us with a ridiculous point differential in our favor. I'm actually having a tough time being super wicked happy because I feel kind of bad. I'm definitely proud - I think we played a great game, especially considering the fact that we were down four players and almost everyone was in every other jam. Still, 82 points..... yikes. Maybe I'm still hanging on to last year's hundred point defeat of the Nuts and how that felt. The circumstances were hugely different this time around (totally different players on the Pissahs, the rancor between the teams was pretty much nil) but I just hope they didn't feel like the Nuts did last year.

Either way, it was a blast playing the Pissahs. I loved how they came over before skating through the curtain and hugged every one of us. How classy was that? There was a lot of hugging and praising between Nuts and Pissahs after the game too. Also, when their theme song came on during the after party, the Nuts and Pissahs all danced together. That *never* would have happened last year. 

I think the next time we play them will be very different - their new skaters will have had another bout under their belts, and they'll have had a few months to gel as a team. Granted, I hope we'll have our injured players back, but either way I think it'll be a lot closer. Same with the Cosmos. The learning curve is steeper for new players than vets, and I anticipate some really tough fights as the season goes on.

Playing with Pencils and Needles

I love my colored pencils. They are the beginning of so many of my creations. A little doodle..
becomes a design

Then a work in progress

And then

A finished piece.

Pardon the wrinkles. I used too much wash away blue ink and had to soak the fabric 3 times before all the ink disappeared. I wanted a bit of a rustic feeling to the embroidery. I used 3 strands of floss on the yellow flowers which gives them a rough finished look.

This embroidery design is on a laundry bag I made recently. It will be part of a display for my hand dyed fabrics at Patsy's Homestead Cabin quilt retreat.

My long awaited trip to Paducah starts on Wednesday at 5:00 am. I am looking forward to travel with wonderful quilting friends to the AQS quilt show. I hope to see you there. If you see me say hello.

Favorite Quilt - Bloggers Quilt Festival

I live in the southwest (Utah) and love petroglyphs (ancient native american rock art). The quilt started with the shaman block (middle row, left). It sat around for awhile until an entry call for my Colorado art quilt group AQuA and their TEXT challenge. Perfect -petroglyphs are early text messages. Luckily, I was under a severe time crunch and so instead of obsessing over fabric choices (my usual m.o), I quickly choose fabrics using the shaman as a starting point. I barely made a dent in my petroglyph fabric collection and had a lot of fun, especially picking out another 5 designs. I had to use my favorite petro -the mountain lion (cat) from Petrified Forest N.P. (photo 3) and of course, Moab Man, the local icon (bottom row, left).

I used a mix of topstitch running stitch applique and traditional needleturn applique. I just taught the lion and sheep at Elaine's Quilt Block in Salt Lake and will be teaching them again at the Utah Quilt Guild fest in September (maybe Park City Girl will join me there).

This quilt, has traveled quite a bit and even been in a national magazine (Quilter's Newsletter Magazine) and in a booth at Quilt Market. But it is still a work in progress as I keep adding more hand quilting and keep finding more places to put more quilting. Guess I like it so much I want to keep on visiting with it.

I hope you have enjoyed my entry in the virtual Quilt Show, please leave a comment. To see more of the show click HERE Thanks for visiting. To see more of my favorite antique quilts (I'm a quilt collector and an AQS certified quilt appraiser) go to my antique quilt blog