Friday, March 30, 2012

News fit to print!

No pics today - just boring news!

Everyone stay off the roads - Jonathan got his license on Wednesday morning!!!!  So I have found the easiest way to spend $1,000.00 in 5 minutes - call the insurance company.  Luckily he is still working so this will be his expense.......hopefully he will keep this job!  He seems to like it although I have to say, Jonathan in bed by 10:00 P.M. most nights is almost scary!

I am still quilting the rail fence table topper and working on the Mystery Quilt pattern but hopefully tonight and tomorrow night will be enough time to finish them!  Can't promise anything - I get home and collapse most nights so nothing gets done.

Didn't really get a day off this week, just a few hours on Wednesday and it's been a pretty busy week.....alot of cooking too!  Of course that's not a bad thing really!  Tomorrow is Machine Quilting with Carolyn and there are 9 students!!!!  Cool!  ....and Sunday the girls are coming for their monthly Stitch 'n Bitch!!!!  Can't wait to see them.....and I really want to see Gail's Photo to Fabric piece.....

Better get going - the quilt store awaits!!!!  Lots to do - look for a long e-mail soon!

Have a great day everyone!

Jo-Ann

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

It's the little things!

Tuesday's are my usual day off and luckily today was not exception.  Last week I only took 1/2 a day because I had a March Break student for Beginner Quilting so although I had a good day it was still not a "real" day off.

I was very excited about today because I was having company around lunch time.   Needless to say, even though I did not put the alarm on, I was awake at my usual 7:30 a.m..  That was good because I got up and made coffee and then began cleaning!  It was great, I got 90% of it done before I heard the knock at the door and knew Trudy had arrived.

Our original plan was to go out for lunch but I suggested we go over to Metro and pick something up.  After choosing two Cobb Salads (very good I might add), a small loaf of Belgian Bread (also very tasty) and a fruit salad which we shared - Trudy stopped at the Wine Rack (also in the plaza) and picked up a lovely Jackson-Triggs Pinot Grigio and we came back and enjoyed a beautiful lunch.....We had a great afternoon.  I made a small pot of coffee after lunch and Trudy left about 2:30 p.m.

Originally the plan was to meet up later and go to the YHQG meeting but I was just too comfortable at home and I had laundry to do....by 5:30 p.m. I had finished cleaning and laundry and done groceries.  I felt like I had accomplished conquering the world!!!!

It's easier to get everything done these days with Jonathan at work (yes, he is still gainfully employed).....I start with the kitchen -
 Then on to the living/dining room.....
 The office area - all sorted.....
 Finally - my bedroom and the bathroom of course......
 ....and my stash of projects, as messy as this may look, it is really very organized.
Once the laundry and cleaning were done I sat down and relaxed in front of the TV with the two bindings I have been trying to finish....I loaded up my Needle Dome with threads for both projects and alternated.....
I'll call this my "tool" of the week.  I love it, I have two now because one arrived damaged from the supplier so now I can keep one for my bindings and one for my hand project of choice.....(need to order more in for the store, we seem to be out of them)!

Tomorrow it's back to the store and loads of things to do including an e-mail to go out to everyone with lots of news!

Hope you all had a great day today and had the opportunity to enjoy this fabulous weather!

Jo-Ann

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Finally the pics!

As promised, a picture of my Rail Fence Table Topper......
I attacked my stash and went for 3 fabrics I had been saving for a Blue and Yellow quilt.  I have a friend who loves blue and white and yellow and will eventually really appreciate this table topper.  In the meantime, it will serve as a store sample for a few months.  I added a "dust collector" border - a 1/2" folded border in yellow - you can barely see it, and then I added another 1-1/2" border.  The topper measures (finished) 27" x 39".  I had to make provisions for the amount of fabric I had.

My student, Sarah, managed to get the centre of the topper almost completed this afternoon.  Tomorrow we will do borders, layer and quilt these toppers.  Then we will start on the Amish Shadow Quilt.  For me this posed a slight problem as I needed more black Kona to complete the top.  No problem, I own a quilt store!  Not so fast - Sharon informs me that Laurissa was in and purchased the rest of the bolt!!!!  Oh no, now what!

Emergency call to Laurissa and off I go to her house to "borrow" back some black!!!  We had a great shmooz and she hauled out a couple of quilts to show off - first, her and Artemis showed me this one....can't remember the name of it -
This quilt is massive and Laurissa blames it on Nancy who told her to put the pieced border on, but Nancy was right - it completes the quilt.  Artemis thinks so too!

She also hauled out this gorgeous flannel quilt.  This one she blames on her first dabblings on EQ7 - another gorgeous quilt......

Hanging out there for a bit and trying to get a photo of Quazimodo (the kitten who refused to come back into the house) forced me to end up burning the candle at both ends.....

Home again and back to Amish Shadow.....I think I showed the blocks I had started in an earlier blog which brings me to the TIP OF THE DAY (week, month, year!).....
About a year ago I found the most fabulous ruler - from Quilt In A Day, the 6-1/2" Triangle Square-Up Ruler.  I use it all the time for my HST's (Half Square Triangles).  Unfortunately I have yet to order in the larger versions, so I had to improvise.....so with my 12-1/2" ruler I improvised.......

 First, I fold the block in half.....I need the block to measure 7 inches.
 Next, I line up the centre with the 45 degree marking on my 12-1/2" ruler
and the stitching line with the 7 inch line on either side....I square it up and cut the sides
 Then I flip the block and measure my 7 inches again and cut off the little corners.
 This pic just shows those corners gone....
...and Voila - a perfect 7 inch block!!!!

Got them all squared off and now I'm off to get my beauty sleep!!!  Looking forward to another day with Sarah and teaching her all these little tips....

Have a great day everyone!

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Just a quick update!

I seem to find myself "under the gun" on a regular basis!  This is going to be just a quick update as the camera is at the store and I am at home....can't seem to get that together these days.

Lately I feel like "the bag lady", I schlepp two or three bags of stuff back and forth between the house and the store every day.  Today I was very organized and left what I knew I wouldn't work on when I got home at the store, of course, the camera stayed there too!

Of late I have been very busy on EQ6 designing - on Saturday night I finally came up with (hopefully) a great sampler quilt for my "beginner" class.  By the time they finish this quilt they will be "advanced"!!!!  Tonight I designed - and really, I use this word loosely, a Rail Fence Table Topper for the first class but at least now I have the right fabric requirements, etc.  I'm teaching tomorrow - a March break student, and I'm really looking forward to it!  I'm hoping that it will work out okay so that we can start offering "kids" classes in the future.

I just finished the "sample" of the topper from my stash!  Well not exactly finished but the Rail Fence part is done and I'm not sure if I love it but now I'm thinking borders and how to quilt it.....I think I've got the borders sorted out (wish I had the camera) but that will be left for the morning.

This is going to be  a crazy week!  I get Tuesday morning off and then I"m teaching in the afternoon, Wednesday all day and Friday all day.  Thursday is Sit & Sew and Thursday evening is Stashbuster's Club night.  Friday evening is Sit & Sew and Saturday is Christmas Club, Sunday I'm teaching in the afternoon and Monday is Sit & Sew - can't wait until next Tuesday - think I'll sleep all day.....ha, ha!  The month of March is just "marching" by and at some point I've got a mass amount of paper work to do.....there will never be enough hours in the day!

So I'd better get myself to bed to get my beauty rest....

Have a great day everyone!

Jo-Ann