Looking Back

Since today is the last day of March, let's take a look back at what I did and did not get accomplished:

1. Finish Ashley's quilt...a must
2. Work on Hawaiian log cabin...not a pressing matter
3. Applique Easter tea towels...a must
4. Make a bracelet...not a pressing matter
5. Handmade cards...a must
6. Finish the padfolios...a must
7. Bibs for Matthew...a want New for March
8. Dazzling dogs
9. Christmas stocking
10. A little surprise for my sewing sisters

1. Finish Ashley's quilt...Almost done...need to recut the binding
2. Work on Hawaiian log cabin...done
3. Applique Easter tea towels...I guess will have to wait until next year
4. Make a bracelet...not even close
5. Handmade cards...yippee, something done
6. Finish the padfolios...another something done
7. Bib for Matthew...lots done and more to come
8. Dazzling dogs...continuing on
9. Christmas stocking...continuing on
10. The surprise was scissor fobs...done

Not great, but not bad either. Something done is better than nothing done. Tomorrow I will post April's list.

On a totally different subject, yesterday I made out the paperwork for my passport. One of the questions was hair color. Since chemo, I have been letting my hair grow out. I had a melange of brown, gray and blond. As of today, I am a redhead again.

Quilt Show

Today I attended a quilt show in Mukwonago. It was a wonderful show. Very inspiring. The top three prize winners we all from the same quilt guild. This particular guild is loaded with talented women and all with different talents. One of the winners excells at hand applique and hand quilting. The other gal is a very precise paper piecer and extremely innovative. The third gal is proficient at thread painting and creates her own original designs. It is exhilarating just to look at their work because there is always a new technique, embellishment or quilt stitch to pick up on. The closer you look, the more you see and it is always amazing!

Binding Blunder

You know, I really have to make more quilts at a quicker pace. Today I cut the binding for Ashley's quilt. I have samples of everything to do with quilting that I don't do on a regular basis. One is double fold binding, the other is a sample that shows how you join the two tails at the end of the binding. I digress. I followed the cutting sample and cut my binding 2 3/4" because that is what was written on the sample. I get all of the strips cut, joined and ironed in half. I begin to sew it to the quilt and notice that it looks like it is going to be too big. Ah, yeah. I don't know where I got that measurement from but I was sewing it on with a 1/4" seam. When I went to fold it over, I had waaaaay too much width in the binding. Grrrr. Thank goodness I noticed it before I attached the entire binding to the quilt. I had only sewn a couple of inches, so it was no problem to take it out. So, to make a long story short, I guess I feel as though I wouldn't encounter these types of problems if I could make quilts at a quicker pace and thus remember these important little tidbits of information.

The Winner

As promised, here is the winning nametag. Don't you just love that fabric? The border is a decorative stitch from my sewing machine. This will still get a "white cloud" with the person's name printed on it. We also plan on adding Swarovski crystals to the large white stars to make them stand out even more.

Today I had an uh-duh moment. If you have been reading this blog for any amount of time, you know that I am working on a quilt for my Goddaughter. I am ready to cut and attaching the binding. Then it hits me. I made her a pillowcase to match her quilt about two weeks ago. I was bored working on the quilt and wanted something else to do. I think you know where this is going. Bing, I realize I cut up the binding to make the cuff of the pillowcase! Okay, all is not lost because I still have a piece of the binding left and I am not happy with the way the pillowcase turned out. I am happy to "unsew" the pillowcase and retrieve the piece of fabric that I need. Can you say "haste makes waste". I think that applies here.

Nametags

My quilt guild is having a quilt show in October. I always like to volunteer to do something. In the past, I have been in charge of promotions for the show. I did that for 4 quilt shows. It was time for a change. Originally I didn't volunteer for any position on this year's quilt show committee. After my chemotherapy I didn't know if or when my energy would return. But then you start feeling better and you feel this need to make up for lost time. By that time, all the positions were filled. I asked the gal who was going to be making the nametags if she would like a helper. BINGO. She was glad to have me and believe me, i was glad to be had!! lol I made the above samples for the committee's approval. My partner chose the fabric. Our theme is "Sew Many Stars". The voting was done on Tuesday and the winner is.........going to be revealed tomorrow. I know, I am sooooo bad.

Feel The Heat

This cute little sunbather is our dog Morgan. She loves to lay on the sofa in the family room and soak up the rays. If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you will see she has her eyes closed. She also has these cute little fang teeth that hang out on each side of her mouth when she is totally relaxed. That's our girl!

Murder Mystery

Tonight was our potluck night at Gilda's Club. We have three students who are working on degrees that lead the entertainment for the evening. Tonight's entertainment was a murder mystery. There were 8 characters. I was one of them. I was an author who lived next door to the murder victim and was at the ball where he was killed. My husband Jack was a gator wrestler, he was the murder victims daughters boyfriend. The scene was set in New Orleans, in a mansion, during a ball. It is loosely based on the CLUE game where you have to figure out who did it, what the motive was, etc. It was fun listening to people read their dialogue with southern accents. And of course, you always have at least one ham in the crowd. It was a lot of fun. We went around the room and had to guess who we thought did it. Jack and another woman from the group named the correct killer. Their prizes? Why mystery novels of course!

Pencil Pushing

Am I the only one who loves puzzles? I swear, my morning is a total loss if I don't do most of the puzzles in the morning paper. Which ones do I do? I start with the Jumble...just because it is usually the easiest. Then I move on to the Cryptoquip. I really like that one because it requires a little thinking. Next comes the Crossword Puzzle. If you keep solving them they get easier because a lot of clues are constantly repeated. Then comes the Sudoku. If I have time and the inclination I also do the Word Game. Most days I can finish all the puzzles within 1/2 hour. That is until you get to Friday. Then the Sudoku becomes a 5 star puzzle. More empty spaces=more time. The Word Game also makes a big jump. Still, no matter how hard, I feel compelled to complete them. Exercise for the brain and who can't use a little of that?

Happy Easter

Since I usually don't post until late in the evening, this an early wish for everyone to have a very Happy, blessed Easter. Enjoy.

Me, Huey and Man Bibs

Well, it's another exciting Saturday night. Remember those days when you and the hubby would go out to dinner or a movie or both? You can tell you have been married waaaay too long when an exciting Saturday night is hubby watching basketball and me sewing and we are both happy as clams. Since I have been spending so much time in the studio lately, I decided I needed another CD because Celine and Rascal are getting monotonous. Of course it would help if I had a CD player that could handle more than 3 CD's at a time too. Unfortunately I am not up on the latest tunes. I tend to stick with the old stuff that I can sing along with, or at least hum to. I went to the store and came home with Huey Lewis and The News. Do you remember that group? They had a lot of really great songs. I found a CD with 21 of their hits on it...must have been every one they ever sang...lol... I really had to watch the toe-tapping since their was a foot pedal in the room. That could really be disastrous! As you can see, I got two more man bibs done. So, no hot date, no dinner, no movie, just me and the Pfaff...oh, and Huey.

Mentally Exhausted

Today was a day of all days. You know, one of those where everything you touch turns into a disaster. I was bound and determined to finish ditching the rows on my Goddaughter's quilt. I only had a few rows left to do on the vertical. The problem was, as I would get to the bottom I would notice pulling. And, believe me, I had this sucker pinned within an inch of its life. I finished the vertical rows and decided to unpin because I knew if I didn't, the horizontal ditching was going to be a nightmare. I clamped the quilt back onto the table, unpinned the whole thing and repinned again. Oh my achin fingers. But it was totally worth it, because from that point on it was a breeze. I am leaving the borders for tomorrow because I just couldn't look at that quilt anymore today. On to project number two. I am still making padfolios. You overcast the edges on these babies. I am using this lovely variegated thread that my Pfaff seems to hate. I switched to a duplicate bobbin case so that I could mess with the screw. The problem seemed to be with the bobbin, so I thought that would help. I would sew a little and the thread would break. I bet I took that bobbin in and out at least 15 times, and that is no exaggeration. Each time I would mess with the screw a little bit and put it back in. I tried the top tension too. No go. Of course, on the 16th time, the damn thing starts stitching the way it should!!! By that time I was so aggravated, I didn't even care anymore. I kept going and got it finished, but I am mentally exhausted. First thing tomorrow, whatever is left of that thread is going in the garbage.

Unscheduled Visit

This morning I made an unscheduled visit to my Dr.'s office. I woke up and had this heaviness in my chest. I was pretty sure I wasn't having a heart attack, but then again, would I be smart enough to know? The more I thought about it, I remembered that I have been wheezing at night when I go to bed. I also have this cough that comes and goes. Sure enough, Dr. says my sinuses are draining into my throat and infecting my lungs. Yuck! So, now I am on heavy duty antibiotics for 10 days. Oh joy. That pretty much shot the day today. My energy is nonexistent right now and I am heading for bed. Okay, right after a slight detour to watch "Ace of Cakes". I wait all week to see that program. G'night....

Don't Tell Santa

Today I worked on my reindeer table runner. While embroidering, I made a sad discovery. Somehow, someway, I missed tracing a part of Blitzen's butt! There I was embroidering his underbelly and lo and behold, no rump! I guess that means I will need to return the table runner to the light box and strategically place Blitzen's derriere where it belongs. After all, without Blitzen's bum to follow, Donder might need to ask Santa about a GPS!

On another note, for all you quilters, check out this website: www.bonniemccaffery.com
She has some wonderful videos. Hopefully you have a media player. It took a while for mine to buffer, but it sure was worth the wait.

Name Tags

This afternoon I worked on name tag prototypes for our guild's quilt show. I made four different ones. I will do the background work and another gal will do the names. Even though our quilt show isn't until October, the committees are already in full swing. Planning is everything.

Tonight was quilt guild. We had a wonderful speaker. She spoke about quilter's challenging themselves. She told us how she loves to enter contests because it makes her stretch herself creatively within certain boundaries. She has talent, there is no question. Her quilts were awesome! It takes more than just a creative notion however. She does unbelieveable free motion quilting. All of her creations are original works. She finds an idea and runs with it, from the choice of thread to the patterns in the quilting. It is all tied together with a consistant flow of elements. And that my friends, makes a great quilt!

STOP, DO NOT PROCEED

Especially if you are one of the people who are getting a surprise in the mail. Remember "smaller than a breadbox"? Here they are. So, what are they? Why scissor fobs, of course!

Eatin' O The Green

Yes, I know. It is supposed to be "wearin O' the green". Well I'm not Irish, but you know the saying, "everybody's Irish on St. Patrick's Day". So today to celebrate, I baked green cupcakes. My girlfriend told me she saw a cooking show where the chef added a 3oz box of jello gelatin powder to a white cake mix and then proceded as per the box. They turned out great and green! My girlfriend used cool whip as her frosting, as did I (tinted green). Next time though I am going with frosting. Cool whip doesn't really spread very well. Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone.

Laundry Goddess

Today I made all of my handmade Easter cards. While I was working on them, I was also working on the laundry. Timers are my friends. I would start a load of wash, set the timer and then run upstairs to my studio to work feverishly until the timer beeped. When the timer would beep, I would trek back downstairs, throw that load in the dryer and start the marathon all over again. Truth be known, I am a laundry goddess. Yes, I truly love to do laundry! Stains are my favorite. There isn't much I can't get out. My niece even brings her really tough stains here for me to do! My favorite tool? An old toothbrush. Those babies are invaluable, not just for stains, but for all kinds of odd jobs. So, it was a double-your-fun kind of day.

Watch your mailboxes for those cards. They are going out in tomorrow's mail.

Happy National Quilting Day

Happy National Quilting Day to all my quilting sisters. I sure hope everyone got to spend some time with the needle today, either by hand or machine. Since my guild had a Super Saturday today, I was blessed with a few hours of uninterrupted sewing time. I traced almost all of the fusible for my applique pieces that are going on the Easter tea towels. Of course I would have gotten a lot more done if my girlfriend and I hadn't gone to the malt shop for lunch, but hey, one must have sustenance! I was also able to cut out the above bibs, but ran out of time and had to sew and quilt them when I got home. I hope everyone enjoyed National Quilting Day as much as I did!!

Postcard Swap

I belong to a postcard swap group on Yahoo. The theme was egg. Unfortunately you can't see it, but there is another row of decorative stitching horizontally through the middle of the egg.

Ashley's Quilt

Here is a picture of Ashley's quilt. Yes, I am still working on it. I finally started the actual "quilting" part of it a few days ago.

Quilt Show

Tonight my girlfriend Jill and I went out for dinner and then took in a quilt show. The quilt show was at Mount Mary College. The guild that sponsored the quilt show has a wonderfully talented group of ladies. And, apparently these ladies love to quilt. Most members entered multiple quilts. When the quilt show closed at 7pm, there was a guest lecture/program open to the public in the room next door. Two ladies from Rockford, Illinois were the guest speakers. I have seen these two ladies and their program previously and it never ceases to amaze me how comical they are. They ask for participants from the audience to go behind a screen. Once the audience member is behind the screen, they are given a hat to model and a quilt to hold up. The hat and quilt share some kind of connection. As an example, there was a quilt with fruits and vegetables on it and the woman holding it was wearing a Carmen Miranda type hat. There are some really wild hats, which of course elicit roars from the audience. And the best part of the evening? My girlfriend Jill won a $25.00 gift certificate to a quilt store. It doesn't get any better than that!!

Surprise!!

Yeah right, like I am going to tell you. I spent most of the afternoon visiting with a friend and working on a surprise for my sewing sisters. Let's just say it's smaller than a breadbox...tee hee.

I started quilting Ashley's quilt today. I am just ditching it. For me, this is the scariest part. I think it is the dragging of the quilt that bothers me. I try to keep moving it along the table as I am quilting it, but it is heavy because I pinned the daylights out of it. I also used Warm & Natural, which is a heavy batting.

Tomorrow, more of the same, I am sure....Remember, smaller than a bread box....

Grrrrrr, No Pictures

Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to post some pictures. Sunday Jack download some Kodak shareware that we got with our digital camera. I was using Corel Photo Album, but figured maybe the Kodak software would be easier to use, since it was compatible with the camera. WRONG. It overrode the Corel program and would not upload pictures to Blogger. Grrrr. I spent two hours today futzing (that is a word, isn't it?) with the darn thing to try and upload pictures. Finally I just gave up. Tonight I told Jack to uninstall the Kodak software. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

On a totally different subject, tonight I attended a new support group. This one is held at the Women's Pavilion at West Allis Memorial Hospital. I was very impressed. Everyone was very cordial. We had a speaker from the rehab department. I learned things about the effects of chemotherapy that I never knew and how rehab can sometimes help. After the speaker was done we pulled our chairs into a circle and expounded on our experiences. This group is different from my last one in that this is both an ovarian and breast cancer support group combined. I will definitely be returning.

And, because inquiring minds want to know, yes the quilt did get unpinned and repinned and is ready to go. Yippee....

The Weekend's Over, Back To Work

Today was relatively productive. I got Ashley's quilt sandwiched and pinned. Don't get too excited. Tomorrow I am unpinning it. It's that old Patty Perfect personality again. After I was done pinning it and I turned it over to make sure there were no puckers, I noticed that the backings' seam line was very noticeable and crooked. Normally I choose backings that are very colorful and have a lot of design just so that I don't have to contend with this type of problem. This quilt however, is very pastel and the backing needed to complement the front, not overpower it. So, tomorrow I plan to unpin and repin. The pinning wasn't a total loss. I did learn something. On Saturday I stopped at our neighborhood Office Max and picked up some clamps. I used them to hold the backing and batting in place while I pinned. OMG, I LOVE THEM. I used to tape my backings down, but not anymore, that's for sure. These things are great! Tonight I worked on a couple of postcards for my Yahoo swap group. The theme is "eggs". Pictures tomorrow.

Enough Already!

Tonight we celebrated my niece's birthday. That makes three birthday celebrations in four weeks! We went out to a local Italian restaurant. At this restaurant you can order either a single entree or a shared entree, which will feed 4 to 6. We opted for a bunch of shared entrees. Wow, was there the food! We started off with cheesy garlic bread and an apple/gorgonzola/cranberry/walnut salad. Yum-o. Then came the entrees. Four of them. There was ravioli, lemon chicken, lasagna and spaghetti with meatballs. Just when we thought the buttons on our pants were going to pop off, the waitress came around asking if we were interested in any dessert. Well, you can't have a birthday celebration without cake, now can you? Of course not. So dessert we shall have. We ordered a shared platter of desserts. It was called the Dolce Platter. It consisted of tiramisu, double dark chocolate cake, raspberry cheesecake and apple crostata. Good doesn't even begin to describe this tasty foursome. As we exited the restaurant and were saying our goodbyes, someone in our group noticed a big red neon sign across the street which read, "Vic Tanny Fitness". Ah yeah, maybe tomorrow, but certainly NOT today!

Oompah

My Godson Zach plays in his high school's band. He plays the baritone. In the fall, it is the OCHS Marching Band. This time of year he plays in the OCHS Concert Band. He had his spring performance tonight. Although each band has its own tempo, I definitely prefer the marching band. The pace is so much faster and the beat is definitely livelier. For some reason, it seems that the marching band members are so much more surer of themselves than the concert band group. The marching band plays so much louder and with such gusto. However, I don't want to take anything away from tonight's performance because they were very good. There was plenty of toe-tapping going on. The school held a reception afterwards so that parents, students and visitors could mingle. What a wonderful evening!

This And That

The day started out slow (translation: I couldn't get excited about working on anything). But, I made up my mind that after dinner I was going to work on something, anything. I pressed the backing for Ashley's quilt. If you remember, over a month ago, I thought I had enough backing, only to find out I was short. Tonight I sewed the new piece to the old and now I have MORE than enough backing. I am hoping to get the quilt sandwiched and pinned tomorrow. I also worked on fabric postcards for a Yahoo swap. When I got bored with that, I switched to tracing pieces for applique on some Easter tea towels. I would say I made up for lack of energy/interest earlier in the day quite nicely!

More of The Same

More man bibs. The more I make, the easier they are and the quicker they go. I think I could do these in my sleep. The bib on the right has heavy machinery on it. Unfortunately I only had a 1/4 yard piece of fabric, so I had to piece it...right down the middle. The other bib has race cars on it. I am sure Matthew will wear it when him and Dad watch Nascar. Sorry about the crappy cropping job, but it is late and I wanted to get this posted tonight.

Just One More

Ashley's pillowcase that will go with her quilt.

Well, Looky Here

Pictures from my last 3 days of FUN!

Ditto

Today was a repeat of yesterday. A good sewing day. I finished another padfolio. I also did a bit of hand embroidery on the reindeer table runner. Tonight I made a pillowcase to match the quilt that I am making for Ashley.

On another note, today is a very special day. My dearest Niece, Carrie is celebrating her 40th Birthday. This is a woman who is every bit as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. She is wise beyond her 40 years. We are so blessed to have her in our family. I can't imagine my life without her. So Carrie, Happy 40th Birthday! From your most favoritest Auntie in the whole wide world (personal joke there).

Check That Off The List

Two padfolios are done! Of course they were supposed to be done for a January get-together. Better late than never, as is said. Check that off the list. The last two days have been wonderful. It's a euphoric feeling knowing things are getting done. I should have another full sewing day tomorrow, as I have no plans or commitments. Yahoo. I will post pictures tomorrow, if time allows.

Back Up The Truck

It was a good day today. I got a lot done. Of course, most were things I already did. Let me explain. Last month for Valentine's Day, I made these awesome woven hearts. I know they were awesome because people kept asking me if they could have one. What happened was that I gave them all away, including mine! I didn't want to have to go back and make them again next year, so I made a bunch of them today. Over. Done. Packed away till next year!

The other project that was started and not finished were some bibs for Matthew. They needed the velcro closures sewn on. Done. The biggest hang-up with this project was whether or not I needed to quilt them. Since they are going to get a lot of wear and tear, I opted to quilt them. All four done.

It felt like I took two steps backward, but there is nothing like the feeling of being DONE and moving on....

Happy Birthday big Ashley

In actuality, big Ashley isn't BIG (as in size). The only reason we even call her "big Ashley" is because she is older than "little Ashley". You see, whenever our family has a get together, these two Ashley's are present and it began to get a little confusing. So, today big Ashley turned 24 and we celebrated her birth. We had a lovely dinner of chicken scampi, salad and french bread. That was followed up with chocolate cake and vanilla yogurt ice cream. HAPPY BIRTHDAY big ASHLEY and many more!

Regrouping

Okay, so I am angry with myself for not accomplishing as much as I thought I should have last month. The pity party is OVER. Time to regroup and get back in the game. Christy sent me a pep talk message and she is right, so here goes.

New and revised list for March:

1. Finish Ashley's quilt...a must
2. Work on Hawaiian log cabin...not a pressing matter
3. Applique Easter tea towels...a must
4. Make a bracelet...not a pressing matter
5. Handmade cards...a must
6. Finish the padfolios...a must
7. Bibs for Matthew...a want

New for March

8. Dazzling dogs
9. Christmas stocking
10. A little surprise for my sewing sisters

I have put myself out there, so now I need to focus and follow through. Afterall, I have an advantage this month. There are 31 days!!!