major change/gathering of blogger quilters

You know if you are an internet addict what your worse nightmare would be. That's right, your computer goes dead on you- and like any accident it is NEVER a good time to have that happen.

Thursday morning I turned off my computer- I rarely turn my computer off-I leave it on 24/7 most of the time. In fact power outages often turn it off for me. hate that. My computer only had one power switch on it- so when it would not work-too bad, so sad. We thought a new power supply and/or switch would fix the problem. I had arranged to take Friday off-and spent that day doing other things in the morning until computer tech guy arrived with the part. An hour later-the verdict was I had fried my processor. The fix? a new computer. He then spent the next two hours updating the loaner computer I am currently very grateful to be using.
I have a back up-in fact, the hard drive is probably fine. So all my data is not gone forever- what of course is lost are those programs I bought online and do not copy over in full back up. One of them being the back up program for my external drive back up system....now tell me is that not one of the most stupid things?

I am not online to rant...vent a bit sure, but truly, stuff happens. Until I order a new computer-at least I am online and can feel more connected than not. No photo access of course, and all other programs I am used to using. It will take a while after getting a new computer to get it set up to where I feel back on track too.
So- let's be happy with sharing what a fabulous time we all had yesterday- I invited a few local blogging quilters to meet at my home and enjoy visiting and lunch. We did some show and tell of our quilts (naturally I had the most being at my home) and several took lots of photos. try here for another post on our day and links to everyone.

It was a fabulous time together with lots of talking and enjoying each other. I kept the coffee coming and lunch went well too. I even got some hand stitching in too. All too soon everyone had to leave - agreeing we need to get together again.

shhh, it's a secret...

Last weekend I spent digging out the fabric room. It took both days and some of the cleared out stuff is living in the hallway, waiting to find a new place. I was hoping to clean the sewing room next, but that is not going to happen for a while. I have my favorite quilting machine in the cabinet, so I set up my Bernina on the kitchen table as I needed to sew up a baby quilt top last night. That's the secret part, the mom-to-be reads my blog and I am not going to show this until after the shower. As soon as I finish my coffee, I will sandwich said top and get it ready to quilt. The inspiration for this quilt was the flannel backing piece I had-only 34 inches worth! as that was the end of the bolt. I finally looked at the date and realized I was running rapidly out of time so in the midst of cleaning I came across the perfect focus fabric on the novelty shelf and pulled some go-withs. I can't wait to quilt this up and send it on it's way. As always I am reminded of the awesome stash I have and the need to use up more of it!
It's guild night tonight and I am handing over a queen sized top etc to the longarm gal. I have binding to stitch together on the Bernina before putting it away-the right color thread is in it, and the ironing board is set up for pressing. That binding is for another quilt that came back quilted and I will share once it's bound. Well, time to get some quilty stuff done before preparing for the work day!

another FABS top done, another grand time

I sort of read the first page of the pattern we chose and ran with it-so I am not giving credit as really I did my own thing. A photo of part of the design coming together-aka, partly sewn and then the completed top. This finishes at 40 inches by 60 inches and works for sending off to Pam's M2M project. I have the border fabric cut for binding and will piece together batting scraps for use for this quilt top plus my string top. Then, of course, it is on to the quilting part!
Yesterday was a gorgeous, gorgeous sunny warm day. Every window was open in our house and it was wonderful...I am hoping for more of the same today. I had to go have an adjustment by my chiropractor, who said, no gardening, no lifting! gee...guess that lets me off the hook for weeding.
In honor of it being my mom's birthday today-we will go visit her memorial later on , it's been 3 years now since she passed. It does get easier, but, I certainly do continue to miss her every day.
Stitching with the FABS is the best!

you never know how people find you

I received an enlightening email from Stephen Seifert of ZDP Media Group, Inc. Turns out he and his wife, Liz Schwartz were the designers of the first jigsaw puzzle pattern. I have gone back in my archives and edited the previous information I gave. [March 2006 and April2007]The pattern I bought and used and gave the name of and details of are a violation of copyright of this original pattern. Geez! I emailed him back and assured him I was happy to do the editing and I am going one step further to give you the link to their pattern- I think it rocks! And, I am putting it on my birthday wish list too. It's a much better design and I wish I had found it first :-)
So, my point is I don't know how he found me, but, I am happy to set the record straight so to speak-as I emailed back to him, how was I to know buying a commercial pattern could be an in violation pattern? I totally agree with him it is very discouraging to be a quilt designer and have folks copy you and make money from your idea.
I am in the home stretch of finishing the tax work I have been slaving over. I hate it when the software won't work with you to get the information on the right line and flow properly. I finally use the over-ride option. I know the right answer, I just can't figure out how to get the software to do the work. I am going to contact Turbo Tax and get some better information for this situation I am wrestling with, as it will be the same next year.

And finally, once I get the last bit (tax form) to my satisfaction- I can pull fabric and draw my design for Saturday's FAB play day. I have a string top to sandwich and 13 charity quilts turned in to take photos of and pack for shipping to headquarters.

I also have pulled my inspiration fabric for my kindness project...it's what I really want to be working on, so maybe I can make some time tonight to get that going too.

what sort of quilt am I ? evolving!

I have been reading around and loved Finn's post on what kind of quilt you are-or what quilts you like making the best...something like that. Food for thought. My introduction to quilting was actually hand piecing a baby puzzle ball. It's packed away somewhere I am sure. The next quilting "class" was a log cabin pillow quilt as you go. That pillow has long since been worn out and thrown away. We are talking 32 to 27 years ago! I loved the idea of quilting but back then, there were few or no books-and I lived in a small town where I had no idea how to come across local quilters. I went on to make a baby quilt for a friend and a queen size quilt for my mom. Fast forward about 20 years or so and I finally found a co-worker that quilted. She taught me a few things and then moved away. It wasn't until 1999 that I found the internet and online quilting lists. In 2000 I took 3 quilting classes (one a beginners-nine patch/rail fence pattern) all had 9 patch blocks in them. One had 3 inch finished nine patch blocks! Hard to believe 8 years later I am an obsessed quilter and appreciate how far I have come since those early days.
My quilting reflects my personality frequently- I am open to try new things and some I really enjoy, some not so much! Often now I just do my own thing. If everyone is doing a pattern, I am more likely now not to want to jump on that bandwagon. If I am going to enter a quilt in a guild show (right now the very idea of a serious quilt show entry is too terrifying) I want it to be my own design. I certainly do follow and enjoy many patterns -I have a shelf full of books and a box filled with printed off patterns to try. I have friends who cajole me into making a pattern with them. I like being flexible in my quilting and enjoy much more just playing around with ideas and fabrics. Thanks to Finn and Tonya, I have regained my interest in and found joy in doing hand quilting. Most of the time, I machine quilt as I want that quilt finished right away. However, I miss hand quilting and I am mulling over which quilt I want to invest that time in.
Currently I am doing NOTHING quilty. I have one last tax return to do and I am stalling on that as well. Most of my energy is going into establishing a new habit of working out at a new gym I joined. I am still exhausted from yesterday's experience :-) We have a concert to go to tonight- Carrie Newcomer if you are a singer/song writer fan-tomorrow there is a guild quilt show I want to go to (and may miss) that evening dinner with dear friends, and Sunday-charity group sewing day plus NCAA women's basketball final four games to enjoy. It's supposed to rain this weekend-earlier in the week I finally came home and planted everything that was waiting in pots except the two rose bushes. So, gardening is not really on the to do list for the weekend-good!
A fun weekend but not a lot of down time for playing in the sewing room. I pulled some of the fabric for my next project and it sits on my sewing table. I am just letting the quilting come to me when I am ready. Meanwhile, it's a work day and it's time to move along with getting ready to leave the house.

I think right now I am an evolving quilter-happy doing a variety of tried and true blocks, branching out to do some free form type piecing , and then...who knows what else may catch my imagination and inspire me?