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Sunday, April 26, 2009

I am encouraged!

I am still playing with the arrangement, and I haven't decided on fabric, but I found a couple more shirts. They were in my closet! What the heck were shirts doing in my closet? I can't find anything in there due to all the shoes.

I think this project will come out just fine, but I have to apologize to Sharon. My first love is accounting, and I cannot resist the allure of ordered columns. I love her pattern, and the class was WONDERFUL!

Friday, April 24, 2009

Last Minute Decision for T-shirt Project


I can't believe that while I was lying in bed ill, my dogs got into my Aunt Millie work basket and ate the kitty circles! Well, chewed them up anyway. HOW THE HECK could they have known they were kitty pictures? At least they did no more damage than that, but it is the darnedest thing!

Well, here I am on the eve of a t-shirt quilt class, and since I have been (still am) quite sick (but not contagious), since I am on all this medicine, I have neglected to think about fabric choices until now. Help, help! I do not have enough of the fabric I originally thought I would use, and I am short of shirts. Take a look at the "make-do" idea I came up with. I think it will work. I have some small shirt prints that I can use to fill in with, since I don't have many shirts. It is not funny, somehow all those printed t-shirts I thought I had disappeared. When I started, I only had four. I had to buy some off E-bay (Chief and Royals) and one from the honor society web-site, and it is turquoise. I thought the color was pretty when I bought it, but it is too late to change it out now. What do you think? I am favoring the tan background, red outer border and black mini stripe for the shirt frames. I may not have enough for the shirt frames, but I am sure the shop (Patchwork Cottage) will have something I can mix in. And thanks a bunch to the commenters (Debbie and Gretchen - check out their blogs) who encouraged me to hang in there with my health and not cancel going to the classes (I am taking machine quilting too). I am really going to enjoy them!

Oh, and these are the iris I cut from my yard. Enjoy!

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Pitiful Me

And here's another surprise I didn't need: I woke up with a sore throat, so I drank hot tea all morning at work while I tutored math students. When my Sudafed and Ibuprofen wore off I was miserable. I'd been pushing myself to work because we have been short-staffed, but now I really felt bad. I made arrangements at work for someone (thanks, Pamela) to cover and help out, and I left. The doctor says I have asthmatic-bronchitis and/or pneumonia. He gave me 3 shots, a breathing treatment and 5 prescriptions. I am supposed to take 2 classes at Patchwork Cottage on Saturday. What should I do? Cancel now, or wait and hope I get better? Well right now I am going to bed. Oh yeah, and tomorrow's my birthday.... bummer.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Online Quilt Festival



Here is my entry into Park City Girl's Online Quilt Festival. I have already looked at other entries, so I know my picture is not that great, but what the heck? I want to play, too. Here is the quilt's story: I had just joined the "Spirited Quilter's" in Duluth, GA, and a member had donated a bunch of Lilly Pulitzer fabric sample squares to the group. The squares were free, so I picked up a bunch of floral squares. They were so pretty that I just had to do something with them. Five weeks later I had a quilt. It was not easy though. I was not very experienced with a rotary cutter, and each square had to be re-squared. I had only machine pieced one other quilt, but I had not machine quilted it yet, so this was the first quilt I machine quilted. Straight lines only, of course! I had previously purchased a wild border print fabric from a clearance table at JoAnn's and I had just enough to cover the back of my "Around the World with Lilly Pulitzer" quilt. I hope you like it! It is still my favorite completed project.

It's that birthday time of the year

I had lunch with Eron at Ted's Montana Grill in Forsyth County and the food was super-delicious! It was Eron's (29th) birthday lunch; Crit was out of town, so Eron and I walked around The Avenue Forsyth afterwards. I said good-bye to Eron and drove over to the part of the mall that had JJill, but I also discovered 10,000 Villages where I treated myself to the trivet and leather-handled basket in the picture above. I like the store's concept: marketing handmade things from around the world. If you can tell from the picture, the trivet is out of twisted newspaper. They also had some beautiful reverse applique flanged pillow shams that were a nice butterscotch on yellow. Oh yeah, and a mother-of-pearl button covered silk purse to die for. I love the earthiness of their products.
I am pretty sure Wren missed me. I was supposed to stay home and cut fabric all day, since I have two classes next Saturday. I am taking a machine-quilting class (Peggy Barkle) and a T-shirt quilt class, so I will be at the Patchwork Cottage on Sugarloaf all day next Saturday. I will let you know how it goes. I am excited about the machine class because I will be using my own machine. I need to know what I can do with my own machine before making the decision to invest in a new one.


Saturday, April 18, 2009

Garage Sale Booty



Booty as in treasure. I went to the most fabulous, quilter-cleaning-out-her-stash sale ever! I am talking about yardage and funky-cool stuff. I am full of dreams about what to do with all the great fabric I scored. Of course, being full of dreams is just my natural state, but this is me punched up a notch!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

One more Millie (#6 for me)

I have been messing around cleaning my office and trying to quilt, so I haven't gotten much done except for organizing. Oh, I remember how I have spent my weekend: Andy went to Texas for a family reunion (his Dad's side), so I cleaned his room. I found his W-2, so I am thinking he has yet to file his taxes. Also, Adam went out of town (camping with friends), so I am dog sitting Dubsley (aka The Big Brown Monster). My dogs are not thrilled with the visitor, so we have had to watch for skirmishes. Meanwhile Rescued Wren is doing fabulous, and not causing any trouble. I let her roam the house last night instead of closing her up in the bathroom. No problem! I have chosen the colors for my next Millie bite. I thought the kitty face would be a touch of whimsy to add to the quilt at the time we added Wren to our lives.

Friday, April 10, 2009

And Wren is Doing Well

Here is Wren without her cone-collar:

Wool Enhanced Sweatshirt


While I was at the Sewing and Quilt Expo, I purchased a pattern to add wool flowers to a sweatshirt. I have half of the flowers sewn on, but I am not finding the directions to be thorough enough for someone without a lot of garment experience. For instance, fusing the flowers on, embroidering them and then finishing the edges of the jacket. Well, that series is not working so well because you have to have a plan for finishing the edges before you fuse the flowers. I'm not real happy with this side, so I may try something else on the other side. I do like the colors though (and this side is not finished yet either).

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Sewing Companion

Wren likes to hang out on my sewing table. She is not doing all that well jumping on and off of things (like tables) yet because of the one-sided sight and the fancy collar, but she dreams of being outside enjoying nature. We can take her collar off Monday, but there is no way I'm letting her out on her own. Maybe she can go out in a harness and leash? I know better than to say she could be walked. She would have to walk me. At any rate, I have a really sweet sewing room companion.