A fun giveaway to check out

Go to http://anitas-bedofroses.blogspot.com/ and check out her lovely blog. She is having a giveaway of one of Bonnie Hunter's books. Sounds fabulous to me!

Go check it out. Really. NOW!!! Tell her I sent you....

Playing 'Possum

Strange things can happen when you live in the country.

Tonight, DS13 went to spend the night with the grandparents and around 8:30pm, I took his nightly medication to him. While I was there, I was talking and catching up with my parents and the time flew by. My Dad and I were specifically discussing the book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. Good conversation. Good book.

I left for home just before 11 pm. It's only around 6 miles door to door, so I was home in no time.

But, imagine my surprise when I was walking from my car to the front door of my house, keys in hand, when an opossum runs out in front of me, turns and hisses (and drools). He goes halfway up the stairs and turns and hisses (and drools) at me again. Then he waddles over to the handrail and jumps into the rosemary bush.

Thinking that the way was clear, I slowly step toward the stairs. Out pops Mr. Possum, hissing and drooling some more. Finally, I had to use my cell phone to call hubby to open the door and make sure I could get into my own home without being mauled by some ill-tempered, rabies carrying beast!

Whew! That's some seriously cheap entertainment!

Six Degrees of Separation...

Or why it's good to know Pat Wys.

Pat is my teacher at Silver Thimble Club at The Scarlet Thread in McDonough, Georgia. She is incredibly knowledgeable and talented. That doesn't even begin to cover it, though, as she is also smart, funny, and willing to put up with us. It's a good thing (for us at least).

In the fun, little, quilty part of my mind, Pat knows simply everything! Everything quilt related, at least. And, in this little corner of my mind, that is all that matters.

Today, I learned that she also knows EVERYONE quilt related, too! She actually knows many of the designers who I have admired from afar. Those she didn't already know, she met at Quilt Market. I am amazed.

It's almost like, through Pat, I have access to a great expanse of information that I don't deserve and certainly couldn't have compiled on my own.

I know Pat Wys!

Murphy's Quilt

Completed! My mom played a big part of getting this one finished. After the machine quilting debacle, she helped me pick out what felt like millions of stitches over several days. Then she volunteered to tie it (like my Granny's old quilts). She even applied the binding that I made.

Here is a photo that shows the backing. It's the minkee (manufactured by the Devil)! It is actually lovely and terribly soft and plush. It feels fantastic! But, it really was a bear to work with.

I am glad that I didn't just throw it out like I was afraid to do. I utilized what I had put into it and with my Mom's help, saved it! $$$ Nothing is more frugal than a good salvedge job!

My sheets are in the dryer and I can't wait to sleep under this bad boy!!!

Hearts and borders

That's what I am handquilting on my girlie quilt. I have traced a heart shaped cookie cutter with a soft, graphite marker (which smears on my hands, sigh) and I am outlining each block. It is starting to look kind of cute on the back now that a few blocks are done. The front is smudged with graphite, so it's not as nice looking, although it is picking up lots of texture and dimension with my stitches.

So, I am happy with it. It is imperfect and I am okay with that. It's all part of the learning curve and I am kind of proud that I have managed to slow down with it. Thanks, Mom!

Enjoying the process

Last night, after a series of mishaps (including my cat feeling the need to pee on my unwrapped quilt batting), my mom and I basted my Strawberry Pie quilt on her ping-pong table. Ping-pong tables are priceless for quilt basting without crawling on the floor!

It's really going to be cute when I get it finished, but I was totally flustered that I had to un-baste the sections after the machine quilting fiasco with my machine and then put the top together traditionally.

Now, I will be hand quilting it. So, my deadline of taking a finished quilt to Silver Thimble is totally not going to happen. That really bummed me out.

Then my mom said something very insightful. She casually mentioned that I used to be totally "into" the process with my quilts. That it was fun to make them, even if I did work fairly fast to be finished. Now I was working as if it was a job and not for pleasure at all. I loved the finished quilts, but not making them. She had a point and it stung a bit.

As I am not one to sit a UFO aside for an unlimited amount of time, it's not like I am going to totally fail to finish one. But, as mom said, "however long it takes to finish it is how long it's going to take. No point in rushing it, just keep working on it."

It's true. I know it is. I guess I put my quilting aside for years while I went to work and therapy with my aspie. I missed having a creative outlet more than I knew. Now, I am afraid that what little time I have to work on things may be taken away from me again and I have become a bit obsessive about that. That doesn't make for a relaxing hobby.

I didn't realize how much I was allowing quilting to add stress to my life instead of allowing it to reduce my stress, as it had always done for me in the past. So, I am hand quilting this one and it will take however long it wants to take, I guess. And that is going to be okay. I am even adding a bit to the design I had planned so it will add a bit more durability to the blocks over time. I figure if I am putting the time into it, I am not going to do the minimum job; I will do it right.

As for the future, I know that I will have to replace my sewing machine at some point. When I do, I will buy the most quality that I can and I will invest in taking machine quilting classes again so that I can be certain that my machine and I will mesh. Then, I may try it again.

Or, I might not. We will see.

Angry

Last Wednesday, I mentioned that I took DS13 to the doctor's office and that the doctor was truly not helpful at all. He said to call back in a few days if it wasn't better.

Well, it's not better and I did call in, expecting for a prescription to be called in so that we could quickly be on the mend. The on-call doctor didn't want to be bothered with it, so I have to take the day off of work tomorrow (again!) for something that should have been handled and over with last week. My kid is hurting and sufferring from this and it makes me so mad I could just scream!!!

I guess I will have to contact the insurance company and find out who else we could see. This group has cared for my kids since birth and 3 out of the 5 physicians are top notch. I hate to lose the opportunity to see them because of the two incompetent goobs that we have had to deal with this week.

I am really frustrated. Pray for me.