Various Stuff Inside My Head

Being a night owl is a very difficult job. It means that the later in the day it gets, the more stuff you have filling your head. Sleep is hard because you're suddenly QUITE motivated to do all the things you're thinking about. Well, tonight there's a lot of thoughts going around in my head, but they aren't so much thoughts of things to DO--more like thoughts that excite the enthusiasm receptors in my brain. (Yes, as a matter of fact, I DID just make that up!)

Tonight was Gran's Knot-y Ladies embroidery class and that was tons of fun. As usual, I sat at the back of the class and tried not to disrupt the class too much, but it's very hard to be good. Originally I signed up for the class for inspiration and to brush up on my embroidery stitches so I could include some stitchery in my quilting and applique work, but I've found that Gran actually EXPECTS US TO DO EMBROIDERY PROJECTS! Can you imagine? Sheesh! So I sit at the back of the class and try not to draw attention to the fact that I'm probably not quite as serious an embroiderer as some. Sadly, I think I'm much more "naughty" than I am "knot-y," and I expect I'm a sore trial for the teacher.

Guess what, though? My friend Julia brought the issue of Irish Quilting magazine to class with her--the one I'M IN! Woo-hoo! I finally got to see myself in PRINT! After I wrote about it last time, I had an email from the magazine's publisher (or editor?--the gal who does all the work, anyway!), asking for my mailing address so she could send me a copy, so don't feel sorry for me--I'm sure mine is coming. AND I had an email from the author, Anne Marie, who sent me a copy of what she wrote, so I know what the article says. But seriously, it's so much more fun to actually SEE something like this printed in a wonderful magazine than to just hear about it! What fun, huh?! Julia said I was her show and tell for the evening, so I told the class how it came about and we passed the magazine around. It's so hard being the center of attention that way!

Then I came home and found an email from blog reader Ruby, who surprised me by enrolling in the Fireworks! class I taught in the spring. Ruby sent me a photo of her COMPLETED Fireworks! quilt--all quilted and everything! It's VERY exciting to me to see quilts I've designed and taught all done and looking quite beautiful! I wrote back to Ruby to say I hoped she wouldn't mind if I shared the photo--and I sure HOPE she doesn't because I'm going to guess it's okay with her and show you anyway. Here it is--

Excellent job Ruby did with this, don't you think?! This is the same pattern I'm working on quilting now, done in Halloween fabrics. I'm thinking about adding a big, black spider because the one I'm doing looks to me a bit like a spider web.

Oh! And check this out: Dianne of the Pink Flamingo Slippers is making the same quilt using Wintergraphix fabrics and she just posted a photo of the pieced center on her blog. So yep, I'm QUITE full of myself tonight, aren't I?!

And speaking of me, I gather from some of your comments on yesterday's post, that you think I might have a wee bit of fabric stashed away in the Sweat Shop, hum?! Gee, I sure don't know WHAT makes you think THAT! Seriously, I've been stashing fabric with the best of them (well, maybe not QUITE as well as LA Quilter Vicky) for a lot of years now and I've only had one other clean out where I gave fabric away for use in some donation quilts. So it was time again. Now my shelves and I are much happier, as are the recipients of the fabric I cleaned out of my stash. A couple of my quilting friends picked out what they thought they would use, and the rest is going to be sold to raise money for cancer treatment/research, so it's all good!

Do you ever visit Blackbird Designs' blog? They have the BEST stuff! I was checking in on Colleen's blog last week and she had posted a photo of Blackbird Design's upcoming Halloween quilt. Oh, I LOVE that quilt! I immediately sent Lindy (at Bearpaws & Hollyhocks) a photo and said we really, really NEED that pattern, and when I was in the shop the other day, she said she had ordered several copies and might make up kits. And you know what? I HAVE SOME EMPTY SPACE ON MY FABRIC SHELVES. Funny how that works out, isn't it? I think it's some kind of cosmic, biorhythm, karma thing or something, don't you? Now I wonder if that pattern will arrive at the shop before I go to quilt camp in September? Because I'm thinking quilt camp just might be a good place to work on it!

Of course, there's much, much more stuff in my head, but you're probably getting kind of tired of me by now, so I'll just finish up here, go to bed, and try to calm down enough to sleep. Darn, but life is hard when you're a night owl!

[NOTE TO ORCSMOM: Sorry you couldn't make class tonight. I think we distracted Gran so much that she forgot all about making us do yoga!]