thoughts on a wednesday

24 days until my sister arrives. deadlines, goals, countdowns all help me to focus and accomplish those tasks related to them.

M suggested Alice have a sleepover on Saturday -which meant following up on ordering the trundle bed and have it set up for use by that date. We had narrowed the choice between two stores, so Monday I went over and paid for the one we decided would work best.

It will be delivered and set up on Saturday. My plan is to use the "bottom" one -the one that slides under the top twin bed - keeping it lowered to the floor for Alice. She would only have about 8 inches to fall out of bed onto the carpeted floor that way. As she still sleeps in a crib at home, I am sure I will be helping her adjust to sleeping in her new bed by lying down with her as she "falls" asleep. Like it or not, these babies grow up and it continues to amaze me how fast time is zipping by watching Miss Alice Wonderful leave babyhood behind.

Saturday and part of Monday we also worked on emptying out the fabric room - the plan is to clear it out and after the bed is installed, put back what fits. We have stacks of stuff everywhere in the house and some out in half the garage. UGH !!!! Clearly I have been adding to the stash...and not using it up even close enough to break even. And my approach to tackling projects by stacking them in "my way" in the sewing room has not proven effective either. So, I am feeling overwhelmed and somewhat challenged at dealing with the reality of my quilting "stuff".

This is when baby steps and a timer come to the rescue. My favored approach may be the marathon method, but, the reality of actual time available means the baby steps method is the one that will save the day-or rather, my sanity! I have extra time this morning, notwithstanding spending some of it at the computer to have already accomplished putting stuff in the bedroom away, and clearing off some of the stacked stuff on the sewing table.

The oddball Christmas items that never quite made it back to the Christmas storage boxes up in the attic have been rounded up and put away.

Of course as you put one thing away, pick up another few items, and toss out odds and ends it all adds up to order emerging from chaos.

It's been time well spent this morning in making progress towards that goal of clearing stuff up and away-now it's off to an appointment and on to the day job.

Hope your day is filled with joy!

inspiration

I seem to be loading photos and having them get super imposed on previous posts. As I can not quite get a grip on the why of that I am moving on from quilt show photos to today's inspiration, thanks to Victoria's post of today.

I often tear something out that I think could be a jumping off point for a quilt idea.

As I am working on having balance in my life this year I came up with an old trick to help me have time to do those things I truly want to fit into each day.

So, thanks to using my timer method, I limit the gardening when I get home to what I set the timer for and then I stop. guilt free.

And, tonight, this will allow time for playing with fabric and seeing what comes of this inspiration.

more CCQ quilts

Clark County Quilt Show photos

I never posted the photos of the fabulous quilts from the Clark County Quilt Show (Vancouver WA)

Enjoy the show ....more when blogger will allow additional photos to load...it's balking right now!

something else finished

don't faint, but I finally sat down and did my blocks for project improv! With the Fab challenge mailed off and the reveal enjoyed-it was on to the next thing. These blocks are being mailed tomorrow and that completes everything I "owed" others in the quilting projects department.
I am almost half done with the hand stitching of the kingsize sleeve on my show quilt. I am turning it in Wednesday night and feel confident I won't be stitching Wednesday morning - another few nights of tv watching and sewing should do it.

I have quilts to put labels on and take photos of and then ship off to headquarters for Wraptheminlove. As these quilts are an always on-going commitment I do not treat them as deadline driven. It is always great to send them on their way-but there is absolutely zero stress as they hang around waiting.

I will be returning to my word house project- the last class of Tonya's that has been sidelined far too long. Also, I have nothing to hand quilt and may have to whip up another free pieced scrappy little something until the house top is a top.

The last guild quilt show I am involved with on a working level is this coming Saturday the 18th.

Once all the paperwork is wrapped up and handed over to both guilds I belong to - I am done with my guild positions and can really relax.

The rest of the year my focus will be on personal plans.


Spring is slowly but steadily making itself visible-so gardening will be taking some of my time-I so love planting future color to enjoy. I am going to do some playing with decorative rock again and expand on some garden design work started a year ago. That is the outside stuff.

The inside stuff will be to finish clearing the fabric room-it's at the half way mark right now. Then, I can start looking seriously for the bed I have in mind to put in there. My sister arrives in 41 days-and that makes a natural deadline for having that room ready. Plus, Alice can't spend the night either until I find that bed-another good motivation. She has outgrown the porta crib and it's time for a real bed for that 2.8 year old!

Speaking of Alice, she and her daddy came over for an indoor Easter Egg hunt. Oh the fun we all had "helping" her. I think we had to re-hide about 4 or 5 times it was so delightful. I will leave you will a photo(s) of her joy.

wrapping up the week with a reveal

Wednesday night turned out to be our FAB Challenge Reveal Night. Linda's package had arrived and we gathered everyone online to take turns opening our boxes. After each reveal that person posted a photo online so we all could see and admire and ohhh and ahhh. What a truly fun evening!
Of course I had taken photos of what I sent-so I ended up being faster at posting photos for Linda.
Everyone did a gorgeous job with interpreting their inspiration of what Summer in Winter was to them.
I came up with the sun wearing shades and that kicked off my design juices. So far, I am the only one of the group doing free letter piecing ala Tonya (see sidebar for a link) and of course I had to do letters. I even managed to do some perle cotton hand quilting before calling the quilting done.

To all the reveals, try checking out the blog links for Pat, Linda, Pam, and Norma on my sidebar.

The fabulous garden tool insert for a bucket was made for me by Pam-perfect for all the gardening stuff I lug around in a not pretty at all bucket-now I will be styling! and organized. Thanks again Pam for being so clever in making something I will use for most of the year.
As I said, each challenge was very special and I think fun for each of us both to make and receive.
Hey, it's Friday! I am picking up Alice and bringing her home to share supper and playtime with us for a bit. If I have any energy left once she goes home with daddy-I need to cut and stitch up a king size sleeve for the quilt that is going into a quilt show on the 18th! Nothing like putting it off right? A much less busy weekend ahead with celebrating Easter on a low key level with Alice and her parents. I am organizing her first Easter egg hunt...I think we all will have too much fun doing that!

music-JJ Cale

From time to time I mention how great live music comes to Portland Oregon. Last night was no exception. JJ Cale rocked the house and we had a fabulous time. This link will take you to his newest release-which he played some tunes from-yes, we will be adding this to our music collection. He is 70 years-and his riffs are the best amongst all the top guitar players-an inspiration to Mark Knopler another top guitar player.

I have always lived with a guitar player as a partner. Lately the music has been happening in our living room and NOTHING brings a wider smile to my face than hearing that plunking and strumming live. Me? I sing off key-yes, really-and do not possess the ear to play any instrument, despite many attempts. I can't keep a beat either.
However, I am the best audience-and keep the music playing around myself the majority of the time. It is not the tv that I turn on-it's always the music knob I reach for.

There is not a quilt that has not had music as part of it's creation. Quilting? always better to the right beat of music. And, music always uplifts me-gets my foot tapping and my heart singing-puts a smile on the inside and the outside.

The sun came out over the weekend, and everyone was outside enjoying the light and the warmth. We did a bit of gardening even. I look forward to spending much more time outside as the weather permits. I came home last night and headed for the back patio and those lovely rays of sunshine. Sitting on the glider and soaking up the light was a happy ending to the day.

Chose to fill your day with joy-maybe put on some music and dance a bit, or just tap your toes.

my favorite quilt show photo from NW Quilters Show

I had forgotten my camera but a fellow quilter took this photo for me - it was my favorite from the recent NW Quilters Show. The quilter is Maureen Eldred and I think she is my kind of quilter! Click to enlarge photo -and check out the variety of fabrics! The way this show was hung, it made it challenging to get good photos.
At any rate, today I am off to another quilt show-Clark County Quilters up in Vancouver. It's the last day and the one I volunteered to work at-I am also having the honor of reaching into the container of raffle ticket stubs and drawing our opportunity quilt winner at the end of the day.

I have a quilt to hand stitch binding on so I will stay busy when I am not volunteering or walking around to enjoy the show. It will be a long but fun day for me once I arrive.
And, I am bringing my camera so I will be able to take my own photos. I have two quilts in the show, so will take photos of those-always such fun to see your quilts hung up in that setting. I had yesterday off and once the workers left at 3:10 pm I was off to run a few errands and then put in some sewing time at the machine. I am still lagging behind in completing a few deadline projects. However, tomorrow is Portland Piecer group day-where I can focus on the charity quilting and great friends that join the fun. I have a huge stack of finished quilts to look over for attached labels and box up to be shipped out next week.
A bonus given to the workers was an older huge tv that was sucking up space in the fabric room. I also dismantled the porta crib-Alice has outgrown it and it's time to clear space for a guest bed that will work both for her and for grown up company that is expected later this spring. The stack of quilts will finally have a bed to be spread out on and stored nicely. The extra fabric is going to need to be shifted into a new place. We are determined to have that room re-carpeted and looking like a guest room rather than the piled up "stuff" room it has been for far too long.
Next Saturday that task begins in earnest. This weekend is filled with quilting events!