More Gardening Than Quilting….

I'm quite proud of my little garden, even if I will have to spend a big part of the summer in the chiropractor's office. Wonder if he will take squash for payment? Don't laugh, we're getting there! I won't go off on politics, I'll leave that to DH....anything to keep him out of my sewing room!

These amaryllis's all came from my Aunt Nelda's yard when she passed away 4-5 yrs ago. I brought them home and stuck them in the ground, have never done anything else to them. the white-ish with red one has more than 20 blooms on it now and 6-8 more buds.

One of the stems was laying over from the weight of them all so I tried to 'prop' it up and snapped at the ground. I took the shot next to a bar stool for posterity! Fresh flowers in my house? Is company coming? Well, yes, in-laws, outlaws, kids and grandkids! The flowers were not my idea, that was God's doing!

Hello Hattie! (my mom) This is her Christmas Cactus, still in the same pot it was in when she died 12+ yrs ago. I have pinched and rooted dozens more from it and it never gives up, even this past winter when almost all if my cacti literally froze, even in the shed, with a droplight for heat. We rarely get below 20 degrees here and if so, it is only for a few hours but we had about 48 hrs of below freezing in Jan.

Here is what is left of Hattie's Bird of Paradise; she had it in a half whiskey barrel and moved it in and out every year - not me! I put it in the ground under a tree when we bought this house 8 yrs ago. I has not really grown any larger since it was really root bound and impossible to pull the roots apart when we set it out. It has a dozen or so blooms every year but has never done what is should. Sorry Mom, maybe this will help?

It covered this entire area of dirt B4 so this is a major trim. Look what I found while gardening in my flip flops! Picture definitely tells a story. I'm wondering where his momma and siblings are?

One more pic, cause this IS a quilting blog....

PS: the 'golden' machine is still in the shop with no call from them so what little sewing that is happening is happening on my classic Elna Stella. This is a 30+ yr old gem for traveling, only weighs 11 lbs and, unlike a Featherweight, has a zig zag stitch!

Hope you enjoyed your little tour of my backyard! Happy Spring!

Bad, bad blogger! And my machine is in for repairs again!!!

I owe my dear followers an apology and do apologize and beg forgiveness! I could give you an excuse for every day since my last blog, with most days having been 'stinking income taxes'! Whoo Hoo, they are finally done and for the first time in a long time, we are actually getting money back! QuickBooks is great - provided you know how to use it! I learned accounting with a green columnar pad and a # 2 pencil so wrapping my brain around this program has been difficult, at least that is the excuse my friends (who know nothing about accounting and pay other people to do their taxes) are offering up. I guess I can be anal about some things but thankfully, quilting is not one of them!
So to celebrate the taxes being done I went to the garden center at Lowe's! And went crazy with the plants. What on earth prompted me to buy okra plants? I like fried okra but do I need a whole row? Well, they do grow very tall so I must have been thinking something like a 'privacy fence' between my garden and the dump next door. Yeah, I'll stick with that one! So, I get up yesterday morning and start digging, going build a raised bed where I had that beautiful compost pile for over a year ago until the Bermuda grass took over! I have been a gardener for longer than I have been a quilter and I love to dig in the dirt, but there is nothing worse for my bad back. I have learned to take care of this old injury over the years and I know better, but the thought of paying almost $2.per lb. for squash just makes me cringe! This is because once upon a time, (in another marriage, in another state) I had about 1/2 acre of squash in the backyard and picked on average over 100 lbs. per week! I swear! When I could not give any more to the neighbors, I would stalk them and when they would leave home, I would leave squash on the porch! I was selling squash to the grocery stores! Anyway, a neighbor offered up some rail road ties he had stacked in his yard so long story short, the Bermuda grass and the rail road ties whipped my butt and I had to take a pain pill to get to sleep last night! I still have to get them set and the planting done so as reluctant as I am to take any kind of pill, I am anxious to actually have my plants in the ground, as I see it in my 'minds eye'! My desire to be out there working and the pain in my lower back/hip are at a 'draw' so I am sitting in front of the computer. I'm looking at the bright side here, I got a blog drafted, maybe it will get posted too!
Not much sewing for the last few weeks...my 'not-so-beloved-anymore' 'golden X' brand machine is in for repairs again! This machine has disappointed me greatly, having been in for major warranty work 5 times now, in 5 yrs. It's their 'low end' machine but it was a huge purchase for me! Plus, I had the fluorescent light and the knee lift added on, another cha ching.  I have bonded with it and miss it very much since it has been in the shop for at least 90 days of every year that I have owned it. Seems more like a rental contract! Some history here; out of the box the button-hole attachment did not work. That repair was 90+ days. Next it was the display panel; and I don't even remember the other 2 issues at this point. This time the feed is not consistent for the decorative stitches above #22. I mentioned my disappointment in my purchase with the dealer and I think I insulted her when I asked if this machine could be a 'lemon'. When, after about 10 days, I called to inquire, she said her DH (the repairman) was agreeable to exchange this machine for another (same model) that she recently got on trade in (upgrade) that is approx the same age. OK, I'm agreeable, provided it works! Oh well, he (DH the repairman) needs to go thru it and do maintenance/service b4 it goes out. Well, OK, when will that be? Likely August if history is any indication. She will call. That was about 10 days ago. This backache may have prompted more than just a blog post. I'm going to write a letter to the people at 'golden X' Company but aside from venting; what do I want? How about a $1300. machine that works 12 months out of the year without a 90 day vacation? I thought that was what I bought!  I have known I was going to have to do this but I avoid conflict like the plague so here I am in pain, wishing I could just go sew and getting PO'd all over again. Given just the info I have told you....would asking them to replace this machine with a new one be out of line?

My Ripple in 'Blogland' continues....

Jackie over at http://www.cvquiltworks.blogspot.com/ does a regular podcast about quilting. What’s a podcast? Well, I just graduated to a recycled ipod nano a few months ago, where I listen to audiobooks while I’m in my sewing room so, I’m not really qualified to answer this, but it is like a radio show that you can subscribe to every day. So, Jackie did an interview of (my new friend in blogland,) Karen Griska who ‘invented’ the selvage quilt and has fashioned, if you will, a whole new genre of Quilters.

So, this podcast is all about how Karen came to make her 1st selvage quilt and her journey since; including a book published by AQS, (an accomplishment in itself) all the rage around the globe and the projects that have emerged. This is a high tech operation, complete with pics. You can go to the itunes website, download to your desktop and listen on your computer too. If not, all the projects are featured on Karen’s blog,…. drum roll please….including my selvage wallet! Karen actually mentions it in the podcast, you can rewind and hear it over and over again, she says and I quote ‘a selvage wallet’!
Oh, I love these gals, they really know how to pump me up. If only I wasn’t working on income taxes and could go up to my beloved TMSR today! (TEMPORARY micro sewing room).
However, there is more fun in store because these 2 have teamed up to give away 2 signed copies of Karen’s book ‘Quilts from the Selvage Edge’. Jackie is such a sweetie, you can enter as many as 3 times! Oh, I hope I win one! Here is a link to my post with the selvage wallet that has gotten me involved in all this excitement…Enjoy!
http://wandaquilts.blogspot.com/2010/02/selvage-fu

Global Warming? Really?

This is what I thought was a lot of snow, considering we're near Houston.

Really glad I got the shot,

this won't last long....

hope the snow shows up in the pic.....


And I go on about my business and about an hour later ......

would you look at that. And they say we need to spend billions on research about global warming?

I'm having a hard time sewing too since I have window right above the machine.

Loving my 'Quilty' Life

I am so addicted to all the quilting blogs…I can’t stop surfing when every blog has incredible eye candy. Is there anything more fun than seeing all these incredible projects and getting the scoop from the artist, first hand? So inspiring too. And the selvages…let’s just say DH is worried about my mental health and not go there today, except to say that my little wallet caused a small ripple of it’s own in ‘blogland’ so how cool is that??? I sent a link to Kathy over at StudioKat and she said ‘I made her day’ so I’ve been on a natural ‘quilt high’ since my last post. Seriously folks, this stuff is addicting… connecting with Quilters all over the world, and networking, and forming new groups, with new projects to follow, and it’s ongoing, ….it boggles the (my) mind! And I’m just a beginner, an amateur at this blogging.  Ugh, I may be getting too old for this much excitement, or maybe I can call it exercise? Certainly gets the blood pumping so I’ll call it my ‘cardio’ workout;)

As for progress in my new ‘TMSR’ (temporary micro sewing room), I finished a simple, fall themed panel w/2 borders project one day and aside from the fact that the selvages have taken over, I am preparing for my BOM group that I teach. These two gals are so much fun…I must say that they are teaching me as much, or more than I am teaching them; the memories will be woven into the quilt, same as the thread. How could I not love my ‘quilty’ life? (Thank you Jeff, for putting up with me.) Teaching is challenging me to the point that I have committed to really learn that EQ5 program I invested in a few years ago. They came out with EQ6 just after I bought it and I have no doubt that EQ7 will arrive about the time I actually learn EQ5. Such is life, I am always playing ‘catch-up’.

Selvage Fun

Several months ago when I discovered 'The Selvage Blog' I have had a selvage wallet in mind. Here is what I came up with.

I have almost finished the binding on several of these adorable wallets. Tons of fun to make!

 

I moved the cc to where a checkbook will go so pic would show the checkbook or notepad pocket. They don't have a closure yet but not sure yet that one is necessary.

My design skills are limited; I searched out a free pattern on the web, made it, took it apart and then redesigned to be a complete clutch wallet, where the original only had cc pockets and a zipper pocket opposite, no fold. Here is where I found the original free pattern called a 'Cash-Keeper'.... StudioKat  If you love purses you will love this site! Check out Kathy's awesome purse patterns, follow her on Facebook or her blog! 

Life Marches On

It's been so long since I posted, it's hard to know where to start....Today is my birthday so it's a good day to get posting again! The Attic Studio has become my 'nest' so to speak & I'm working on a selvege project. If you know me you know that I can't do just one - have to do 3 or 4 of them, but they are small so here's the bait....I'll post pics tomorrow. (I took my prototype by a drapery shop last week. Both girls there want one and I have to make one for my DMIL so 4 is not too many...it is barely enough!)
My students started on our BOM last week. Here is a pic of me showing how to make those points meet on a pinwheel block. (Thank you Alex Anderson, your tips are so good I have to share them....."Alex Anderson said......')

The next pic is me showing Joan 'how to use a seam ripper'! Joan's block only lacked one seam when she had to leave. I am enjoying teaching this class so much, it's really expanding my horizons. Good thing eigh?






I traveled with DH/Royal Restrooms on Sat to Mardi Gras in Galveston. Thank me that I did not take any pics! Actually, he was working, 'attending' a high profile event & I chose to stay in the truck. The event was a private party in an elaborate tent set up over one city block, just off The Strand. I had a great view of everything going on at the party, on The Strand, and the streets of Galveston from my 'bubble' so to speak, from 8:30 PM until 2:AM. At one point there were 8 police vehicles within just a few feet of our truck so I was feeling safe enough to take a nap. Yeah, I'm a real party animal! Back to my nest to my selveges....
-W