A Little Bit Surprised

About a week ago, Sherri of A Quilting Life hostessed a giveaway of a small fat quarter bundle sponsored by Ft. Worth Fabric Studio. The fabric was really cute, so I clicked on over to Ft. Worth Fabric Studio to see what else they carried.

I'm not sure I've ever met a fabric shop that I didn't like--there's always SOMETHING to be found, isn't there? I really liked this shop though. One of the things I thought was pretty fun was that they put together their own fat quarter bundles of fabric they match up, not necessarily all from the same fabric line. They have Pocket Packs, which are themed collections consisting of four fat quarters, and they have larger fat quarter bundles. I know there have been times when I wanted an assortment of fat quarters that went well together but didn't want to invest $120 in a large bundle--Ft. Worth Fabric Studio has smaller bundles that fit that need perfectly.

Anyway, I ordered a bundle of 12 Kona Cotton solids in a color/shade range they called Caribbean Escape and some of the new Ghastlies fabric line. For good measure, I clicked to add a panel of Michael Miller Pixie Christmas novelty fabric to my cart.

Today my order arrived, and the darned coolest thing was the Pixie Christmas panel. I was sort of surprised!

The panel has four pixies and four more traditional Christmas motifs (below), all sprinkled with little dots of what looks like silver glitter--it reminds me of being a little kid again!

I had to go back and order a bit more--another couple panels and some coordinating fabric as well as two different shades of green Grunge (Basic Grey) to (hopefully!) go with the greens in the panel. I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to make with this fabric, but I know I can make something fun!

I searched Quiltshops.com for the Pixie line and found it at a few more shops--one even had coordinating fabric printed with Pixie shoes! But I'll stop for now. Considering that I'm trying to not buy any Christmas fabric (because I have too much already!), I think I've done enough damage--it's only MAY!

Have you been surprised and excited about discovering any great quilt shops or excellent fabrics lately?

Guilty Food Pleasures

Why is it that bad things are so darn GOOOOOOD sometimes? At our Autumn House gathering earlier this week, my friend Sandy brought along these:

Who would have even thought they'd be good? They're clearly out-and-out junk food of the purest kind. In fact, a nutrition site on the internet gave both of them a D grade. And I'm kind of embarrassed to confess I like them, but darn are they GOOOOOOOD together! You just put a handful (or two) of corn chips in a bowl, heat up some cheese dip, and spoon it over the corn chips. I'm naming the resultant dish People of Walmart Nachos. Of course, this treat is about as Mexican as my former roommate's Velveeta cheese and Spam lasagna was Italian. But at least it tastes better. A LOT better! I can tell I'm going to have to smuggle this Fritos/Tostitos cheese dip combo home from the grocery store sometime soon.

When you go to the grocery store and buy "bad" things, do you ever hide them in your grocery cart under the veggies? Do you even buy MORE "good" stuff so the checker won't think poorly of you and your nutritional choices? Or have you battled temptation for so long, it's second nature and you're never tempted?

What's your favorite food indulgence? You know; it's that thing you go for when you've decided to give in and give up temporarily. Or what you might chose as a food reward; or perhaps you allow yourself to eat it only on holidays and other special occasions?

I suspect most of us would say "chocolate," but do you have a favorite variety or brand? Do you have any "rituals" for indulging in your special treats? Close your eyes for a moment and imagine the perfect, completely satisfying food experience. Now go ahead: tell us about it.

Some Applique Stuff and MM Snowmen

Tonight I finished prepping the next Merry, Merry Snowmen block, and I'm ready to move onto the applique--hand applique.

And it occurred to me that when I say I "prepped" the block, some of you might not know what I'm talking about. With the freezer paper/starch applique method, that means I've traced the patterns onto the freezer paper and ironed the paper onto the fabric. Then I've cut around the paper, leaving a 1/8" to 1/4" seam allowance. I brush starch onto the seam allowance and iron it to the back side of the freezer paper--the starch allows it to hold a good edge. After everything dries, I remove the paper and dot a bit of applique glue along the edges of the pieces and position everything in place. Now I can take it with me to work or wherever I go and stitch away. But not while I'm working--they don't really like to pay me to applique. Sad but true. Lunch hours are good for stitching though.

So the prepping part takes about half the time, and that means I'm about half done; the stitching part will go fairly quickly now and then I'll need to add some embroidery to the block.

I mentioned in a prior post that Tina, who was interested in information about the type of applique I do, was "no-reply"--and she's not the only commenter who is no-reply. I know I've visited a few blogs that have instructions posted in their sidebars on how to "fix" the no-reply problem, but I sure can't remember which ones. Do any of you know? I'd like to post a link for anyone who wants to change that so they can get responses to their comment questions.

Finally, if you're working on Merry, Merry Snowmen, don't forget to join us on Flickr--just click on the snowman in my sidebar to see what we've been up to. I love the French General Rouenneries Deux fabric, but I can't help thinking this pattern would look really great done in other "Christmas" fabrics too. If you're working on the pattern on your own and are using other fabrics, please join us--we'd really love to see some different blocks.

Spring is in the Air . . .

A-choooo! Oh, heck! I didn't mean to sneeze on you! Hold on a minute while I go get something to dry you off. Gosh I'm sorry!

I hate springtime allergies. The weather is so pretty but it's deceptive. All those plants out there are having sex . . . or whatever it is they do. Terrible!

The Autumn House Gang came over tonight to "kit" up the fabric for the next block (we're on block five--the largest center block), and once we finished the serious business of fabric cutting, we headed out to the patio where Hubby barbecued up some hot dogs with all the fixings.

Gosh it was good! The food and the company were outstanding! But between the pollen and the mosquitos . . . well, I just think spring is overrated. Happy freakin' May!

I need to go get another box of tissue. Excuse me, won't you?

Sidetracked

Can you believe May is here? The year is flying by, isn't it? Tuesday night, my Autumn House bunch are coming over to divide up fabric for the fifth block of this project, so I spent much of the evening tonight sorting out which of my fabrics are called for in this next block.

Since I didn't have anything new to show you, I thought I'd post a few miscellaneous things and answer a couple questions. When I went back to re-read some of the recent comments, I got sidetracked over to Nicole's blog (Sister's Choice). Since one of the things I thought I'd talk about was quilting, I was interested to read Nicole's post asking for opinions about spray basting--there were a lot of comments from people who spray baste and love it. Are there any nay-sayers out there? Because when I tried it, I thought it was okay, but I wasn't completely sold, and here are a couple reasons why I wasn't.

Nicole tried three products and had good results with all of them. I tried two--and I can't remember off hand which ones without going off to the Sweat Shop to dig out the cans, but I think the two I used are two of the three Nicole tried. One seemed to accumulate gunk on my needle a little more than the other. Not a terribly large amount of gunk, but after quilting a bit, it would build up some. I don't think I oversprayed although I'm not certain. But that gunk on the needle made me wonder about the rest of the machine's workings and the quilt itself.

The thing that bugged me the most, though, was that quilting left an adhesive residue on my sewing machine--little black streaks, although I couldn't figure out where the black was coming from. The quilt wasn't black, it was made with good quality fabric, and it didn't seem to be bleeding. It was a mystery. But the slight "texture" and adhesive being transferred to the machine meant the quilt didn't glide around on free motion quilting quite as much as I like.

So, I wouldn't say I hate spray basting, and I'm sure I'll do it again, but I'm still waiting for someone to invent the perfect method of basting, and I don't think this is it. Have any of you had issues similar to mine? Or other problems? Or do you absolutely love it?

So what did I plan to talk about before I got sidetracked by spray baste? Lately I've seen several photos out in Blogland of quilts that have a minimal amount of quilting. Part of me says, "Hey, at least you tried! Good for you!" But the other part of me says, "Stick that sucker back under the needle and add a little more quilting!"

I don't, by any means, think I'm an authority on quilting, but I do know there are some good reference books out there that talk about the types of batting, what they're best used for, and how much quilting the different battings require to stay in place in a quilt. Harriet Hargrave, for instance, has a book called Heirloom Machine Quilting that starts with all the basics. She also has a blog, HERE. There are other books out there with good information. If you haven't quilted before and are ready to give it a try, check out a good book with all the basic information--or, even better, take a class. If you have quilted before and aren't sure how much quilting your quilt needs, check the recommendations on the batting you use--most will have the recommendation printed on their packaging, and quilting lines spaced no more than 3" apart is pretty common. And this means that in a 3" wide border, it's not enough to stitch along one side and then bind it--there should also be quilting all the way down the border, at least every 3". I hate to see a beautiful quilt end up looking wonky because the quilter didn't know any better--knowledge is powerful stuff and can make all the difference.

Tina asked in her comment about the Country Cottages blocks what applique method I use, but she's "no-reply" so I couldn't email her back. I hand applique and I've been using the freezer paper and starch method since my friend Imelda taught me several months ago. Some of you wanted me to do a tutorial a little while back, and I plan to do that. I've even talked to Imelda about doing the demonstration while I take photos, because she's really the expert. She's willing to do it for you, but I haven't scheduled that with her yet. I'll do something soon, though.

For now, I think that's about all the loose nuts I had rattling around in my brain. Did I forget anyone's questions? If so, let me know.

Oh, and don't forget to visit Sherri and Sinta for the Schnibbles May Parade! They should have photos posted sometime today. I think there will be some excellent quilts to admire!

Happy May Day!

Summer Day Redux

Sunday was a very productive day. I started off thinking I'd get two Schnibbles quilt tops pinned for quilting but I ended up pinning four! The first one I wanted to work on was this month's Summer Day quilt. I posted a photo of the quilt top not long ago, but I wanted to show you how it looks completely DONE!

I tried to get a photo that showed the quilting and it sort of does, but the piecing is so busy it's hard to see it, so I took a photo of the back of the quilt--I think you can see the quilting much better on this side.

I don't know when I'll get the other three Schnibbles quilts done, but at least they're ready when I am.

And while I pinned quilts this morning, Stitch dreamed he was a wild cat of the Serengeti. Fearce isn't he?!

Country Cottages, Block 4

Sleeping in this morning wasn't quite what I was hoping for. I think I could probably get rid of my alarm clock altogether and our two cats would wake me up every morning at the correct time--because that's what they try to do on weekends. And on top of that, when I awoke, I was having a crazy dream about work and finding out I had been making tons of typos. It was one of those very vivid and real-seeming dreams that takes awhile to shake off. I hope to be more successful at sleeping in tomorrow morning.

I DID get outside and got the weeding done in the front yard--yay me! After that, I thought I deserved a little lunch and a "rest" in the Sweat Shop. As planned, I worked on the fourth Country Cottages block--I'm really loving this Lakehouse fabric line I'm using, Annie's Farm Stand. I remember I first saw the fabric on Nicole's (Sisters Choice) blog and decided I needed some of my own. It's perfect! Thanks Nicole!

About a month ago, I went out to a couple craft and fabric stores in search of button embellishment packets and purchased several seasonal sets, hoping I could use them for my blocks. How perfect these are for the April block!

The buttons will go above the door and windows in that scrolly embroidered area, and I'll add them after I quilt the quilt--that way, they won't get in the way of the quilting and the bulk of the quilt will give the buttons a bit more stability.

Here are all four blocks so far. The last time I put them all up, I noticed the roof of the first house was lower than the others. My friend Nancy suggested adding some snow to the roof--excellent idea! I added the "snow" today and moved the chimney up a bit and now it looks much better.

Here are February's and March's blocks with their button packages--hearts and shamrocks. I also have clear snowflakes to add to January's.

I think these designs have been super cute so far, don't you? I can hardly wait to see what May's block will look like! If you haven't already joined in the Country Cottages fun, you can find the designs HERE.

It's Here!

I don't know why, but this week I'm particularly happy the weekend has arrived. Maybe it's the beautiful, 70-something degree weather we're having. Or the idea that I can sleep in on Saturday. Or the quilting projects I'd like to work on. Whatever it is, it has me feeling slightly euphoric!

Most of the time, the projects I end up working on, aren't the same ones I begin the weekend thinking I'll get to. Why is that? Does that happen to you?

I'm just a bit behind on my applique projects, so I'd like to spend a little time on those. I just finished this month's Autumn House block--my little group will be meeting next week to cut fabric for our next block, so it's about time! At least I'm not late.

If you've made this quilt, you might notice I made a couple small changes to this block. I moved the perch a little higher up and have the bird ON the perch instead of on the pumpkin. I also changed the positions of the leaf and berries a little bit. Overall, though, the block is pretty similar to the original. The pieces are all there; they're just arranged slightly differently.

My next applique block? The April Country Cottages block from Shabby Fabrics. I've been working on it but it's not quite done yet. Maybe I'll have that ready to show you tomorrow.

This weekend, I'd also like to pin a couple small quilts and maybe start quilting them. I think I'll set up a table in the living room for pinning--maybe on Saturday.

Non-quilting plans? With our recent rains, the weeds in the front yard are getting taller than the plants. I'd like to get out there while the ground is still a bit soft and get them pulled. And I might do some minimal cleaning and cooking--"minimal" being the key here.

How about you? What are your weekend plans?

Sex Particles: It's All In a Day's Work

I think I've mentioned a bit about one of the dictation programs we use at work: Dragon Naturally Speaking. It's a handy little program that works with the computer. The attorneys speak into either a headset or a microphone and the words are magically transcribed into print. Cool, eh? What do they even need secretaries for?

As a secretary, our job is to at least put the dictated text into the correct format--usually a letter or a pleading. Some of us then return the documents to the attorneys for proofreading, and some of us do the proofreading ourselves and then return the documents to the attorneys for their signature or further editing. My practice is to do the latter--I think it saves the attorneys a little time and it's the same type of product they'd get from me if I had transcribed it from a recording. Old school, that's me.

Sometimes--a lot of the time--Dragon isn't quite accurate. And sometimes, if the attorney is interrupted in his or her dictation and forgets to tell Dragon to "go to sleep," the results can be amusing.

For instance, I was proofreading through a legal document one day and came across "manufacturers and distributors are not rea and is in an and Z you are a you and I and I and is a and I and I and you and I and is a a sonably necessary." Makes no sense, right? How about now: "manufacturers and distributors are not rea and is in an and Z you are a you and I and I and is a and I and I and you and I and is a a sonably necessary"? This is a perfect example of when an attorney's dictation is interrupted for another conversation--it picks up a few things and seems to turn everything into short, easily identifiable words. Mostly. Sometimes, though, if the person dictating to Dragon isn't careful, it will pick up some interesting conversations!

Because attorneys have a bit of a specialized language that includes less common legal terminology and Latin words, Dragon will reinterpret what it THINKS the person is saying. Our use of medical terminology makes it even more complicated. I'll give you a couple examples:

In a medical record summary: "the deep patient was pruning and increasing his activities." No, the poor guy wasn't increasing his activities by getting out and pruning his garden! He was actually "improving" and increasing his activities. We have no idea where Dragon got "deep."

At the beginning of a trial, attorneys may ask the judge to make rulings about what evidence will be allowed and what will not. Those requests to the judge are called motions in limine. Dragon likes "motions in lemonade" better!

In another medical record summary: "20 percent of patients with winter arthritis can have naked server ologies." Sadly, I can't remember what it was SUPPOSED to say, but if you have winter arthritis, try to keep your pants on, okay? You have a 1 in 5 chance of succeeding. I don't even want to think about what you may be serving while naked!

When I took a week off work early in April, another secretary, Teri, helped out one of my bosses. Upon my return, I was surprised when that attorney sent me a Dragon document that said, "I’m sick on Teri's instructions, we will proceed as outlined above." Really? That's not very nice of Teri! What it should have said, though, was "Absent contrary instructions, we will proceed as outlined above." Teri and I thought it was pretty funny! Dragon turned that same boss's own name into "resourceful trolley." To protect her identity, I won't tell you what her name is, but it starts with an "r" and rhymes with resourceful trolley--still, it's really not that close.

I guess that even with a program like Dragon, there's still a need for someone to keep an eye on things. And isn't that pretty much what secretaries DO anyway?

It's a good thing we old school secretaries don't shock easily because yesterday Dragon started talking about sex! Yep! The letter was addressed to an attorney for the other side in a case and said, ". . . refills in up appropriate for you to have sex particles per stations . . . ." Can you guess what it should have said? No? I couldn't figure it out either, so I had to ask the attorney why she was talking about sex particles per stations. Turns out it was "we feel it is inappropriate for you to have ex parte communications . . . ." ("Ex parte communications" are when one attorney communicates with the judge or another official about the case without the opposing attorney being present.)

They say Dragon can be trained but I'm skeptical. At least it keeps us amused.

What a Mess!

I got home late from work tonight, because I needed to stop at the grocery store to pick up a few things. The first thing I did was to head to my bedroom to change my shoes for slippers and discard my work clothes in favor of "play clothes." Hubby was in the living room, watching TV before dinner, Stitch was outside, and Spike . . . well, I'm not sure where she was. All of a sudden I heard a LOUD, loooooooong crashing sound, although I didn't hear anything that sounded like glass breaking. I headed out of the bedroom and down the hall. Hubby called from the living room, "Was that you?" "No," I answered, "It wasn't me. Not exactly." I stood in the doorway of the room I'm in now--our computer/craft/office room--and gazed in horror at the piles of quilt patterns EVERYWHERE! All over the floor, all over the desk, EVERYWHERE!

I like to store my patterns--the quilt patterns I design and sell--in wicker baskets on a couple of shelves in the office. Somehow--and although I don't think Spike had anything to do with it, but if it wasn't her, I'm certain it was a ghost--one of the shelves had given up and the brackets had pulled out of the wall, spilling the baskets and all their contents all over--and you can probably imagine how those slick, plastic pattern covers slide!

I really, REALLY didn't want to deal with the mess tonight, but I knew if I didn't, I surely wouldn't be able to sit down in front of the computer to pick and announce the winner of the Schnibbles Summer Day pattern. So, after dinner and after a little unwind time in the Sweat Shop, I tackled the mess. Finally, all the patterns are back in their baskets, and I'll let Soccer Son--the man with all the tools the professionals use--put the shelf back up on the wall for me. That way, if it ever comes down again, I can blame someone else, instead of myself. Obviously my carpentry skills aren't what I thought they were--or was it the ghost? See? Easier to blame anyone but myself!

Okay, but it isn't all about me, is it? For just a second, it will be about you--well, ONE of you anyway. The winner of the pattern. And for that, I picked Donna of So Sew Crafty. Donna thought she'd like to make the quilt with Sunrise Sunset batiks by Holly Taylor. Email me your mailing address, Donna, and I'll get the pattern in the mail to you.

Thank you all for the compliments on my version of the quilt. I now have at least three Schnibbles tops that need quilting. I'd better put that near the top of my "to do" list before I get further behind! What's on your "to do" list?