Modem Snafu

Well it wasn't Fritz after all, good thing, cause he usually causes problems. I guess my modem was just having a hot flash or something. When I got home from my Wed. nite group I started messing around and found a button on the back of the modem. Turned it off and on and Voyla!! Here I am and I didn't even get a pumpkin made. I started working on my haunted house block. Just got a few windows turned. So far I've bought two greens for my pumpkin and can't decide which to use, since I can't decide I figure there must be a better one out there. On the hunt again! It's a sickness ya know. Sew Ewe Quilts is having their anniversary sale starting Friday, is this just an excuse? We'll see. Have a great day!

Due to Technical Difficulties

there will be a brief delay in programming. WHAAAAAA, my computer's on the fritz and I'm posting from the office which is a big NO NO! Hope to be back soon. I'll be busy working on pumpkin #34. I know a couple of you have taken the plunge. What's your #? Don't have one? Join us!!! Hit that link in the post below. Hope to see you soon.

Hey There Pumpkin Lovers

Anne Sutton posted a link to a pumpkin swap today and I jumped or maybe fell right in. This should be fun. Hope you join us. I can't wait to see all of these little pumpkins!

http://www.pumpkinpatchprimitives.com/Newsletter.html

Remains of the Day

Yep, that and the memories of another fun filled day with friends. I bet you thought today's blog would be all about the spoils of our shopping. Actually it was more about the pile in this picture. We made astounding progress on a secret group project. I hope to show you the end results in a few months. All of you bloggin buddies were so right!!! Omy, I stayed up till 1:30 fretting over the house, I got up at the crack of dawn to make food for my guests. I repeat, you were so right!! I was so tired and terribly grouchy. I shouldn't have worried. The plan of the day was to meet at my place at 8am. The C&T sale started at nine and we wanted to get in as soon as possible. I'm about 5 minutes from the sale so I thought we'd have time for some nourishment before we faced the events of the day. I was ready with a nice little feast. Southwest quiche, strawberries, scones, juice, coffee. But all for naught. Holly was right on time, but with no appetite. The Debs were running late, so we ended up meeting them at C&T. The C&T sale is an annual event. It has been 3 years now and nothing will top the first one. The prices are awesome and what they called "damage" would amaze you. All of these books were in the damaged section at three bucks a piece. I was lucky enough to get some newer publications and just as lucky to find a couple of older ones. I bought a few others but those may turn into gifts and I wouldn't want to give away any secrets. After C&T, it was decided that we would go to breakfast with a stop first at ThimbleCreek. ThimbleCreek was bustling with activity. They were having their Saturday Block Party pick up and a 30% off backing sale. Plus cut fat quarters were only $1.25. I couldn't pass up the fatquarter deal. I'm always looking for backgrounds and bits of this and that for applique. This was a steal. I did control my desires tho. Infact I thought I was very good!!!

Then we were off to breakfast and Main Street Quilts to visit Susie and her awesome shop. I wish I would have had my camera with me. Main Street was blocked off for a custom car show and our little downtown was packed with colorful cars (and colorful people too).

We'd all had enough shopping by then so we skipped Cotton Patch sale and went back to the condo and got down to the business of the day! SEWING!

The quiche end it up as an early supper and my brunch today, so nothing is wasted. I 'm lazing around, doing laundry and getting ready to start another set of pincushions and prep another of the Happy Hauntings blocks.

I just looked down at my jammie bottoms and Tweety is looking up at me with his hands on his hips saying "Don't Mess With Me!" Maybe I could learn a few things from Tweety!

Hope you have a great week!!

If I had a Magic Star Wand...

What would I do? Well first off I would swish away my extra pounds, improve thy self first, right? then I would swish myself into retirement and good health. Dream on...

Today I'd like to swish my condo into a squeaky cleandom. The Debs (Deb and Debbie) and Holly are coming for a sew day tomorrow. OH MY! C&T Publishing is having their warehouse sale and Cotton Patch is having a Copy Cat sale (they are gonna fill their parking lot with lots of goodies at good prices), Thimble Creek is having a sale and we all want to go to lunch and hit Main Street quilts in Martinez too! Wait, when are we gonna sew? This is guaranteed to to be a FUN day so I need to get prepared and here I am blogging.

One thing at a time, right?

1. dream

2. blog about dream

3. blog about clean

4. then clean.

It all makes sense in my mind.

Labor Day Ramblings

I just know this day is going to speed on by, and I'll be back to the grind in a blink of an eye. Poet I'm not! I've kinda lazed around all weekend, not getting much done. A little cleaning, a little sewing, a little applique and a whole lot of computer time. So many blogs, so little time. One poke leads to another. Quilters do get around. I was surprised to read a comment by Kathy, http://justclick-kathy.blogspot.com/ and found that she will be at the retreat that I'm making the pincushions for! Small world. She also mentions that she went to Asilomar. I had the privilege of attending Asilomar last year (06). It was an out of the blue gift to me that is filled with memories that I will cherish forever. The class was with Freddy Moran and we made Dot.com quilts. What fun! SO MUCH LAUGHTER! She is such a hoot, so much personality and joy. Her love of color and chaos is contagious. I was sooooo out of my box in this class. Everyones, quilts were wild and lovely. I tried to control mine, lol. (I wanna cry, I've lost my pictures from this retreat!) Well anyway, I did my quilt opposite of any of the others. While making the blocks, it occurred to me that the white pieces were looking like pant crotches! So the quilt was named "Tightie Whitie". I finished the top at home so I at least have that picture, and it's still just a top. My 15 yr old granddaughter has claimed it as hers so I guess I should get it quilted. Well I'm off to do laundry and get ready for my week. I have some very special guests coming next weekend. I need to get the quilting condo in ship sewing shape!!

PS

If you haven't been to Asilomar, it's the ultimate quilting retreat, check it out at: http://www.emptyspoolsseminars.com/

Kim, you can see the complete Happy Hauntings at: http://www.thevintagespool.com/store/products/?category=2

And one last confession, I don't want you to get the wrong idea. I DO buy kits occaisionally, I have recently purchased the Christmas Past Kit and have a few of the Fig Tree Postcard kits to make. OH and of course.... a "few" BOMs!

Like sands in an houglass,so are the SCRAPS of our LIVES

SCRAPS!! Have I told you I love scrappy quilts, I think I did. I've been saving my scraps for years, haven't paid much attention to them, but feeding regularly and they have multiplied as you would expect. A gal in one of my groups started a string/scrap challenge. I thought this was a good diversion and I had just purchased some awesome black tone on tone so it sound it perfect. Off I went to search for the perfect pattern. They were mostly doing strings and such, I wanted something different. I refound http://quiltville.com/ and Bonnie the Scrap Queen. Bonnie has done a great tutorial on the Spiderweb which brought to mind that I had an old Quilt In A Day book that I had bought for that pattern years ago. VOYLA! Bonnie has you use paper and the book had you use a muslin foundation. Vicky had mentioned deli papers, so I found some and used those. They worked great, but if I do it again I will use muslin. With a muslin foundation it will be very stable. My spiderweb will probably have to be quilted into submission to lay flat. I didn't give myself any rules, I just pulled out scraps and layed them down and trimmed them off, you'll find Christmas fabric next to Easter and brights next to repros and all different widths and colors. I have it on my design wall and as a friend said it's mesmerizing, kinda like looking at a kaleidoscope.

One thing I realized while pawing my scraps... if you wanna know where you've been.... look through your scraps!! It's calling me to finish it, it wants me to revisit memory lane, but alas, I have lots pin cushions to make. All good things in good time.