Shoo Fly, Shoo!

I finished the binding and hanging sleeve on the shoo flies quilt last night! hoorayyyyy!! I really like how it turned out.

I hand quilted it with brown thread, which looked really vintage wtih it. I like the thread color. However, the quilting isn't that easy to see unless you side light the thing, so that is what I had to do with the pics..

Today I met with a couple of the other therapists at the place I am going into. I think it is going to be great! I paid my rent for the second half of feb, and I'll officially start accepting clients there on the 15th of Feb. I was given a "key to the establishment". My own key!

My friend Lori and I drove down town so she could show me where to apply for a business license and go to the zoning thing to have the fire marshall come out and check my space and give it the a-okay. I'm in! I'm in business! I think it is going to be great to balance out the quilting. Lori and I ran around and had lunch and visited...and then this afternoon she has 2 clients back to back. She said it was the perfect schedule, and it sure sounds like it to me. I can quilt the mornings, and have clients in the afternoons, or the other way around, have clients in the mornings, and quilt in the afternoons. It's going to give me the "out of the house" time that I need to make me really love the time when I can just be here and quilt....

The next quilt I am starting to quilt on is one of the amishy ones that I basted the last basting-go-round. It sure is nice to have them just ready to be picked up and worked on. This one is a strippy quilt, and I think I'm going to quilt cables in the plain strippies between the pieced sections. feathers in the outer border are calling to me. I love how amish solids look once the stitches are taken, it just sculpts the quilt!

Bonnie

Much More Than Maverick!

I got an email from one of our blog watchers..(Hi Beverly!) and she directed me to this quilt on ebay!

All I can say (with my tongue hanging out of my mouth!!) is I wish there were more pictures, better pictures...I'd love to see this one up close! It looks SO GREAT from what I can see...which isn't much.

Too much fun to look at, isn't it? I wonder what this person was thinking and how this quilt came about....

Bonnie

Group Pic!

Someone sent me an email this morning with this pic attached..this is all of us on the front steps of the retreat house....we flagged down some workers who were working on a house across the street to take a pic.. :c) And you can't hardly see me, I'm in the way back row :cÞ

Today at least has the sun shining here! Much much better than the windy icy rain from yesterday! I'm back into the real world, fighting with breaking threads and ornery tension on the back of a customer's quilt. What a rude awakening after having so much fun this weekend! *LOL*

Bonnie

Back from retreat!

I'm back from retreat in Hilton Head. Weather was CRAPPY!!! Cold and rainy and too blowy to even want to be on the beach, even though the beach was across the street, just behind the row of houses. Beautiful from inside, but you just didn't want to be out there. Bummer. I love going to Hilton Head!

I drove home this morning, raining all the way...just spitty light stuff, it wasn't coming down very hard. Its about 2 1/2 hours drive, so I am listening to a book on CD, Dan Brown's Angels & Demons. So far I like it as much as DaVinci Code......I'm about 3 CD's into it.

The Jinny Beyer convention was pretty tame this year. I didn't find much to buy, except one piece of a striped backing that I really liked (and needed). I took what was left on the bolt..6 yards. We also went to the quilt shop in town and all I found that I needed was 2 brown FQ's, a shirting FQ, and a couple stencils that I liked. Pretty tame spending huh? The theme was log cabin quilts, and there were a few antique ones that I really liked at the show, so these are pics of those.



The house we stayed at was lovely. There were 15 of us in this one HUGE beach house. I was lucky....I brought an airmattress and electric blanket and my own bedding, and I made my room in the master bedroom closet (which was huge, and directly connected to the even huge-er (is that a word?) master bath! It was too funny, there were jokes about me "coming out of the closet" all weekend :c)

Click Here to view house!

Unfortuneately, there is NOT a view of my wonderful master bedroom closet..*hehe* But there IS a pic of theMaster Bath Massge Room!

I set up our "Hilton Head Retreat Massage" room in the master bath. It was great...sky lights, away from the noise....the table was set up in the middle of the bathroom and I could walk around it and have room to spare. It was perfect. I did 4 massages for pay during the weekend so I feel pretty official. :c)

This is a pic of MYRTLE. Myrtle is our mascot, and come sometime after 5pm....I lost my bra, and myrtle was discovered wearing it..*hehe* Myrtle was also our menu hostess..the menu for each meal was taped to myrtle so guests would know what was on the menu for the evening....

I did work on the brown and pink Dear Jane.....I finished row "K" and now have row "L" and "M" to finish. I got a couple blocks done in row "L"...but petered out on it. I spent some evening time hand quilting on my shooflies....one more evening and I should be ready for the binding. there is just a bit over one fan left to quilt! It is getting close!

I stopped on the way home from Hilton Head in Columbia to check out the massage clinic where I hope to be sharing room rent with my friend Lori. The place looks awesome! She has the room set up really nice, and we get along so well I know it will be great to work with her, or is it work "around" her, since we will be sharing room rent and when one of us is there, the other one won't be! I tracked the mileage on the way home from the clinic to my house and it's about 22 miles. I guess that is about average for most people who commute, and I really don't mind the drive. (especially with good books on CD in the car!) I'll go in later this week and meet with the other therapists there.

My state license came in the mail while I was gone. I am officialy SC # 4623! Easy to remember since 23 is half of 46 ;) I need to get my diploma and my licence, etc framed to hang on the wall of my massage room :c)

Would you believe I have a guild meeting tonight and I have to be there? I've got to leave in less than an hour and I am SO pooped!

Leaving for retreat!

I'm just about packed! I've got some last minute things to do, but I'll be leaving in about an hour so I wanted to make one more post before I go.

A customer just left from picking up her quilt, and the story behind this quilt is kind of neat!

Carol was given 15 of these dresden plate blocks from the 1930's. (I believe they had belonged to the great-aunt of the person that gave them to her, they had been passed down.) Some of them were completed, some of them still had the button hole stitch to be done on them, and some of them were in partial assembly. She finished what she could, but she was in dire need of ideas on what to do with 15 blocks! Certain settings just wouldn't work and she wanted something that would really be accurate for the time period.

One day while she was bringing me another quilt to quilt for her, she brought her blocks, explained the situation, and I knew I had just the answer! I had a collection of authentic (not repros) 30's fabrics that she could use to make ONE MORE BLOCK and then set them the traditional way she wanted. We were even able to match that solid orangey red for the center of the block! She found the perfect sashing fabric, and then tied it all together clear to the edge by bordering it with muslin that matched the blocks. It turned out just wonderful! I quilted feather sprays in the corners of the blocks, surrounded by tiny stippling to really bring them out. The plate blades are outline quilted, with another feather flower quilted in the red centers of the block.

I'm usually not in love with 30's prints and 30's quilts...but this one has maverick issues! Not all the blocks have the same number of blades! they are different widths, some fat, and some skinnier, I think they fudged with them to get them flat enough to lie down instead of being volcanoes..*LOL* The plates are NOT centered in the blocks, and they are all rotated a bit different which made putting the feather plumes in the corners of the blocks a bit of a challenge. Each feather plume is a bit different too, because I was just quilting to fill up the space. And I like it! It gives the ey e something different to look at and the dresden plates (which is not one of my fave patterns either...repetition wise) seem to be spinning and doing their own thing with their own personalities. the centers of the plates are not completely round! some are egg shaped. It was all these wonderful inconsistencies that made this a fun quilt to quilt on!

Not to mention that I LOVE the look of quilting on plain muslin (and the solid red for that matter) Nothing is as timeless as that.it shows the quilting SO well! little white on white prints that are out now just don't have that same look or feel. I don't know why they are so popular with quilters! Give me plain old muslin any day, it is wonderful to quilt and fits the quilting 'genre' that I like most! (and second comes shirtings if it has to be a print at all :c)

Have a great weekend everyone! I'll be back on monday!

Bonnie

Not much quilting-4-me going on!

But that is going to change...TOMORROW!

Tomorrow is my Hilton Head Retreat with the Carolina Pines Quilters. It's the same weekend/same place as the Jinny Beyer Convention, which makes it fun. There is a free quilt show of Jinny's quilts along with other guest artists. Usually there have been some really wonderful antique quilts at the show too. It's small, but great for getting away from the sewing machine for an hour or two. There is also a vendor's shop, and it's alot of fun to rummage through. Sometimes the sale fabrics are pretty good. Last year I thought I was so brilliant in using birthday money to buy a TJ Lane silver thimble.....which I lost. :c( No more 'spensive thimbles for THIS lady! Not unless I can have it physically attached to my body! And don't tell me I need a cage or a necklace...I hate those. I tried a chatalaine and all that crap around my neck drove me crazy. So..I'm back to cheapy thimbles by the dozen :c)

I'm trying to really gear myself up for this retreat! But so far on the "wanting to sew" scale...it is just not happening. *LOL* WHY?! Because. I am working on that (*@#$(*& Brown and pink DJ thing. I told myself after the last retreat that if I were to sew one block a day, I'd be able to get another row done before this retreat. Did I? Nope. I've done four..count them....F-O-U-R measly blocks. In three weeks! Granted, I have been cramming for taking my boards, and all this other crap going on with Jeff that is making it impossible for me to want to focus on eensy teensy precise (why did I think precise was ever fun?) pieces. But I will persevere...I might only finish ONE ROW at retreat, but part of me wants to finish it, just so I can handquilt fans all over the whole thing and put the DJ perfection world into coronary *hehe* The quilting part will be FUN!

I'm in the midst of plodding through the last row of dresden plates on a customer's quilt. I need to finish it today so I can go tomorrow with a clear conscience. Feathers in the corners of the blocks and the center circle, and tiny microstippling around everything. And it's a huge quilt. I can make it. I can quilt the last row of blocks.....I will conquer!!

I am also going to be the 'resident massage therapist' at the retreat. I'm taking my table and my gear and offering a retreat special price....if it goes well, maybe I WON'T finish that dang row K of the brown and pink DJ quilt *hehehe*

Bonnie

Massage Wear....

I'm doing a search for "massage therapist" logo shirts....and I found this one, I had to post it to show Tonya! *hehehe*

Bonnie

Happy February!

A while back, I had a pic with part of this valentine's table topper peeking out. Some of you asked to see it. I decided to wait until it was closer to valentine's day so I could post something valentine-y :c)

This quilt was made from a swap of 6" valentine themed blocks I did with an online quiltlist. It's a pretty tame sampler, but I really like how it turned out, and it was a good place for me to use up the last of (hooray!) that red with white hearts print left from my early 1980's quilting days. Those little dot hearts came in EVERY color..remember them? I think they are all about gone now, though sometimes they still show up in the string bin and smaller scrap bits.

I've done it. I've delivered my first resume and coverletter to a spa that is opening up in the new Gold's Gym complex near me. I had dropped by there yesterday just to see when they would be open. The owner happened to be there, and I talked to him a minute and he said to drop a resume by. So guess what I spent the best part of yesterday afternoon composing? Thank heaven for templates in word/works that have everything in the right format and you just have to fill in the blanks. Still...it was kind of intimidating to me. I haven't worked for anyone else in 16 years. Yes, I've had my own home based businesses, but they are in an area that doesn't apply for the massage position that I am looking for. So there is the worry that I still don't have enough "massage" experience to be considered for the job, but heck, I'm trying right? And now that the cover letter and resume are composed....I can alter the cover letter to suit other places I can apply to, be it a chiropractic office or whatever, and that weight of having to compose them is off my shoulders. The only thing left is business cards, but I need my license # on them and I haven't received my packet from the state yet. That should come in the next week or so.

Things here at home are still at a stand off. Son is avoiding me, and I'm staying out of his way. I've tried so hard to open up communication, talk about school, about friends, about whatever, and he refuses to let me in or to participate so I'm throwing in the flag for right now. He'll talk when he's ready to talk, and no amount of my trying to draw him out is going to work at this point.

Thank heavens for the retreat on friday! I'M SO READY!!

Bonnie

Too Funny!!

First off, I am Not a mall shopper....I refer to the mall as the MAUL because I just can't stand the parking and the crowds of people, and heck....two of my favorite things are NOT there....no fabric, and no thrift shops! But I still got a great chuckle out of this picture, notice that the female completely by-passes GAP which is what she went for in the first place!

I do think I am more like the male shopper than the female, and the shopping I did on saturday was rare for me...and included only fabric and thrift shops :c)

Things in Quiltville are rather hairy right now. Dear Son Jeff exchanged words with a teacher yesterday and was removed from campus for the day. Because he has a definate problem with keeping his mouth shut, I put his phone on restriction. I thought this was a good idea at first, I was patting myself on the back for the brilliant connection between communicaton (or keeping your mouth shut FROM communication when you shouldn't talk back) and the use of the cell phone priviledges.

Son is NOT happy. I didnt' expect him to be, but I thought that telling him that turning it back on was dependant upon cooperation, improvement in his attitude towards his parents and others in authority over him, and showing us that he is mature enough to have the priviledge of a cell phone. I mean, if it were me, I would have shaped up right away right?

Well this morning things are worse. One more crappy attitude from him and it will be off for 2 weeks instead of one!

And he is trying to have it backfire from here by telling me that I'll just have to wonder where he is because I can't reach him because it is MY FAULT that I turned off the cell phone. Phooooey. People lived without cell phones for centuries..do I really think this is a crisis he cant live with?

He has an appt with his counselor today at 5:30. I told him to be home by 5 so we can get there in time, and he said.....maybe, maybe not, and left. I am trying so hard not to let him push my buttons! We tell him all the time, not to let people push his buttons and flap his mouth.....that always gets him in trouble, and now it is my turn to follow my own advice and not let it get to me.

It's just so hard when you think what you do will make a kid WANT to try harder, but backfires and makes them try less instead. I wish I could run away to Lucy's TODAY!!

And I'm cleaning the house furiously because that is one thing that IS under my control!

Bonnie

Monday Monday....

I didn't get ANY stitching done yesterday at all! Other than finishing the last row of fans on this quilt, that is, and it isn't my quilt!

This quilt belongs to a gal in my North Augusta guild. She passed it off to me when we were at quilt retreat a couple weeks ago. I love the colors, and the value play in this quilt! She saw the one I had up at retreat that had the fans on it, so that is what she wanted for this quilt too, and I think it was perfect, because the quilt has so much going on.....not much of anything was going to show regardless! And the fans made it interesting, and economical too, since she didn't have to pay for heirloom style quilting to have her quilt look good.

I had to really really side light the quilt and take the pic with the flash OFF to even get the fan quilting to show, that's how blended this quilt is. But I love it. I love the pattern. Peaky-spikey stars are GREAT.

Today I need to start a commitment I made to myself. My schedule has been SO screwy all through the past year+ because of school, studying, other commitments etc. I have really fallen off the wagon as far as my own fitness and health goes, and it's time to take care of ME. I have a membership at the YMCA. It's time for me to get back into my yoga classes and pilates classes and increase my energy and stamina. I can't take care of everyone else unless I take care of myself first. And this goes for all the effort and strength and stamina that it will take me to do massage after massage after massage a day. So I am going to start today. Pilates at 10:30. The big problem had been the time frame, because by the time I get out of there the day is 1/2 over, but that's just something I'm going to have to deal with!

Bonnie

Gwen has moved :c) (and sympathy stuff)

I got the coolest email! Get this:

"Hi,

I maintain Gwen's website and am moving it from http://geocities.com/gwenmarston

You may want to change your html to reflect the change. Her website
can now be reached through

Thank you for having the link to her website. I just looked at the
statistics and found that 9.06% are referred from your URL page."

It's not as cool as an email from Gwen herself, but how neat to have over 10% of her traffic coming from my links to her :cD As of yesterday the page wasn't functional yet, but it is up and running today. I'm really glad she claimed her own domain with her name. Makes it easier to remember than the geocities one.

On a sad note:

My dear friend's mother passed away last sunday from pancreatic cancer. I just found out this morning (I had wondered when I hadn't heard or recieved any emails in over 2 weeksand I had this gut feeling....you know how those are?) All week long it nagged me...I spent a long time plowing through sympathy cards to send this afternoon, each one made me cry, and sounded so trite. How can you really comfort a far away friend when you can't get there just to be able to wrap your arms around them? Saying "I'm so sorry for your loss" just doesn't cut it. Especially via email. :c( Times like this when there are too many miles in between are just too hard. But never the less, my thoughts are with James, Diane, and Dale during their time of sorrow for the loss of their mother. And for their father too, who feels so lost. I wish there was something I could do from here.

Bonnie

Shopping Day!

I spent yesterday running to Joann's....I was out of king sized hobbs 80/20 battings, and I didn't want to put together a whole wholesale order (which would be 4 cases or rolls) and Joann's had them 1/2 off...and I didn't have to pay the shipping. So that was good.

I fell off the wagon a bit on my "no fabric buying" mantra. They had 60% the clearance stuff. I found a really nice plaid there, it was 60% off $1.00 a yard. *LOL* how can I pass up a quilt back or something for 40 cents a yard?

And I had a 40% off coupon. There was a black 1800's repro print that I used that on. Took the last 3 yards off the bolt. Black prints, nice black prints that work well with the style I like, are hard to find. (Can you tell I'm rationalizing??)

Sewing baskets were on sale too...I got this darling looking pot-bellied oriental one, blue/gold silk looking brocade type fabric, with a tassle :c) It has a notions tray that fits inside and lifts out to leave a good sized place for storing more stuff. I admit it. I'm a container junky and that goes for anything that resembles (or is) a sewing basket!

Then I headed to the Goodwill, because it was in the same plaza. I've banned myself from there from time to time too, it's probably been 6 months or more since I've gone thirft shop hunting. I hit the jackpot today. 3 great plaid men's shirts 1/2 off....GREAT colors, and the feel of the fabric is wonderful, not as bulky as the homespun plaids we feel in the store off the bolt. I found a pair of pants, a couple skirts, 2 pairs of cute shoes, a hand bag (monogrammed just for me with a B on it!), a jumper dress, and a casserole dish with a lid to it. Oops, make that 2 plaid shirts, Jeff just claimed one for his own!


I think I better ban myself from there again! But I really had a good time, and it was fun to be out toodling around. This morning it started raining, so it looks like it is going to be a good day to stay in and stitch. We rented part of the first season of 24 because DH wants to start it from the beginning, so I guess I'll be working more on "shoo flies" while we catch up on that show. I tell ya, it might be better just to buy it season by season at Sam's Club. We could get the first 4 episodes on DVD last night at blockbuster, but then episodes 5-9 were gone, and I think the one after that, and then you could get 14 to 18 or something. The wonders of DVD rental!

Bonnie

A Wish For All The Difficult People We Encounter...

*hehehehehhe* This pic was sent to me by my Sister, Mary. It just cracked me up royal and came at a good time.

I belong to this one email list, and the list owner (names of list and owner are left out to protect their identity!) has gone postal and is unsubscribing people left and right for posting off topic...I mean, I know how hard it is to keep a list on topic, and there is going to be SOME off topic stuff, but the football topic went way out there, and people talking about all their medical stuff, and then I made the post about passing my exam...which was okay...but everyone on the list was replying to the WHOLE list, and it clogged up the list, and I feel kinda 'chafed' about it all...So far I haven't been kicked off, because I haven't replied to the replies!

Part of me understands how the list traffic can be on a list of 1600+ people (not all post, most lurk) but at the same time the list moderator has an option to set the email preferences to REPLY TO SENDER instead of sending each reply TO THE WHOLE LIST and she hasn't done that. Replying to any list email goes directly back to the whole list.

So if you are going to choose the whole list route, you are asking for people to just reply to the whole list without thinking. Much could be solved if the reply preferences were changed. I mean, people can still click the REPLY TO ALL button if they WANT the reply to go to all? It's alot easier than trying to paste someone's email address in over a list address and making sure it is going to one person instead of all.....this kind of thing is just the trigger to prove that people are idiots. "Reply To All Automatically" means..."open mouth, insert foot!"

So all the while I'm feeling bad because people who are replying to me about the massage exam (off topic) are replying to the WHOLE LIST and I'm sorry if they are getting kicked off.......but what can I do about it if they can't reply to me instead of the whole list?

You know what? I really enjoy being part of this SMALL community...because we CAN talk off topic, and if you are sick, or your loved ones are hurting, or something 'off topic' is going on in your life, I want to know about it. Life is more than just 'quilt topics' only! (*gasp* Did I really say that!?)

Time to go play with more fabric...

Bonnie

Bonnie Hunter, LMT

I did it! I passed!

Oh my HECK. This was the hardest test I hope I will ever have to face in my life, and so many questions had me going HUH!?? I guess there is no way to cover everything in school, and I had SO many questions on oriental modalities. I'm glad I did the studying I did, but so many still had me going...WHAT? Like this one:

The practice of Moxibustion is used for correcting:
1. excess yang
2. excess yin
3. excess moisture
4. excess dryness

We learned what moxibustion is.....they use an herb called mugwart and light it on your skin. I know this much. But they never told us if it was for any of the above! I guess I better find out....some of this stuff just blew me away..*LOL*

I don't find out which ones I missed. They just list the chapters and if you passed each chapter with a high/medium/low. I scored high in everything, but you know....some of those questions just need ANSWERS in my mind! (not like I'm ever going to be performing moxibustion on anyone in the near future...at all!)

I walked out of there with a skip in my step and a smile on my face....and went over to the school to get a copy of my diploma notarized so that I could go back to the LLR (licensure) building to get my state license. Filled out a form, plopped out $150.00 and voila! I should have that license in 2 weeks.

After that I went to my favorite little whole in the wall chinese place and had a $3.50 lunch special to celebrate. I wanted really bad to ask the chinese guy if HE knew the answer to the moxibustion question..*hehe* But I didn't.

So I'm home again. What to do to celebrate? Play with fabric I guess! Weeee!

Don't spose anyone would be interested in a massage? :cD
Bonnie

It's Exam Day!

Today I take the national certification boards for massage therapy and body work.

My exam is at high noon. Makes it sound like the show down between two gun slingers outside the saloon! My weapon? Memory cells. And I hope they will remember all I've crammed in there over the past 14 months!

I think I've studied all I can, though I will go back through the CD tutorial I have this morning, just to get me in the mood. :c)

The next time you hear from me, hopefully I'll be Bonnie Hunter, LMT!

This pic is a little find I found in an antique mall here in SC.


I just fell in love with this poor little guy, though the price was out of my range. What I found interesting is that though it looks like it is sashed with wide strips, that is actually part of the block! It's broken dishes in a 9 patch formation that makes the block. 5 broken dishes blocks, and 4 plain red (or blue, or that other melon color that has faded from what it once was)sewn together to make the 9 patch, and then the 9 patches are joined side by side to make the quilt top.


The fabrics in it are so fun, and the stitches are very child-like. So I'm wondering if this was made by a young girl as she learned to sew? Definately a scrap quilt from the scrap bag. It was quilted in a crosshatch with white quilting thread. I love how vibrant the reds and the yellows still are in it!


Bonnie

Happy Birthday Jeff...

My baby is 16 today!

Jeff's counselor appt was last night. So far so good again. This week, now that he is officially 16 as of today, he wants to start looking for a job. HOORAY. Nothing like real life's lessons to teach a kid what is what. I don't even mind driving him everywhere to get apps, or to drop him off and pick him up. It's time we can use to talk in the car, you know?

This morning two of his friends came over, plus one spent the night last night since they have a late start on wednesdays. The friends came in and sang happy birthday to Jeff because he was still in bed asleep. It was so funny to watch him wake up to that racket! Teenage boys sound particularily interesting when singing silly songs like Happy Birthday in their 16 year old early morning voices :c)

I made waffles and canteloupe for everyone for breakfast...and off they went to school. It was a very good morning! (so far)

This is a pic of Jeff when we still lived in Idaho, it's the earliest digital pic I have of him. I think he was about 7. Jeff is the tall one on the right, the other kid was a neighbor, and it was so long ago I don't remember his name...My how time flies!

I'm done taking the antibiotics finally. This stuff (clindamycin??) is AWFUL! It makes your stomach feel like the worst case of heart burn you have EVER had...worse than when I was pregnant. And the pill you take before you go to bed is the worst because you just lay there.. but now I'm done. I'm not taking anymore of this stuff..EVER!

This pic is also for Tracey, it's a pic of an antique trapundtoed feathered star I found in Houston. The hand quilting was AMAZING! I just wish I could have gotten closer to get better shots, but that clear tape across the exibit keeps you from doing so, I wonder why? :c)

I really thought it was interesting to put the inner blue border just on two sides. Yep Yep....I sure love unexpected things!

Sun is shining in SC...looks like a good day!
Bonnie

Logs for Tracey and Finn

Tracey was posting about her 3" log cabins...I'm not sure what Finn's size is, I didn't check...but it made me want to dig out this old UFO I was doing from my smallest smallest saved pieces...Tracey..I'm still working on however many thousand blocks I need for these! And ohhhh dear, they've been on the back burner for a long time too! I'm thinking maybe if I could do the one block a day with you, I can get this done?? This layout shows 252 blocks....auuughhh!

The thing weighs a ton, and yes the blocks are 3" too. I tried 2", but the fabric prints because indistinguishable and the whole thing was seam allowance thickness...


One block, at least with this size, you can still tell what the fabrics are....

I think we all are playing in the loonie bin! *LOL*

Tooth is better, I celebrated by chewing gum!! But that made my TMJ sore on that side, probably from having my mouth propped open for so long :c)

I had lunch with a friend today....she drove me to the place I have to go to take my test on thursday, so I know where I'm going and won't get lost in a panic :c) NICE, huh?? She took her test and got her license about 6 months ago. If she can make it, so can I!

I worked on the customer quilt I started last friday before the tooth got bad over the weekend. I'm past 1/2 way on it now....the string quilt with the chalkboard grey 1/2 blocks in the barn raising? I hope to finish it tomorrow.

Jeff had an appt with the counsellor this afternoon. Good appt! I really like this guy. Since Jeff's birthday is tomorrow we went out to dinner tonight all 3 of us...Jeff's fave place is a buffet place called Fire Mountain. I got by with a salad and a piece of fish and a roll. I think I was still full from lunch (that was better, we went mexican!) so I don't feel so guilty about eatting out twice.

While at the counsellors with Jeff, I studied in the lobby while he was in his session. I had to memorize a star chart for the chinese five elements and the organ system meridians that go with each element and certain charactoristics of each. Because I can memorize the chart, and write it by memory, I'll be able to write it down when I begin my exam, and then use it as a reference. I hope it will help when the test has questions on oriental modalities. Not anything I'll ever use I'm sure in my practice, but it's those things you have to know just to pass the exam!

I'm still hand quilting on the Shoo Fly quilt. I've done nearly two rows of fans around working from the outside in towards the middle.....I'm going to pop into Jammies right now and then work on that a bit more again tonight. I've had all the studying and cramming today that I can take.

Bonnie

Two for Less-Than-The-Price-Of-One Birthday Special!

I had a heck of a day today. This tooth bothered me so much over the weekend that I called the endodontist this morning and said....I can't WAIT until Feb 9th for you to fix it, can you fix it NOW?! And I had my appt at 3:45.

After they had done the root canal, (don't you just love to see and smell smoke and feel debris flying when they drill your tooth apart?) they took xrays to check it....then the doc came back in with the xray and said...I think we have a problem...

Turns out he did the root canal on the wrong molar! He did the one BEHIND it, instead! He felt so bad....(I at this time was feeling no pain, cuz I was numb up the whole side of my face and tongue. Believe me....numb is my friend! It's the best I've felt in over a week!) that he isn't going to charge me for the wrong one....and is only going to claim what the insurance will cover on the RIGHT one, which he proceeded to do after we discovered that the one I went in for was still un-root-canaled.

I guess I got the birthday two-for-less-than-the-price-of-one special since today is my birthday! Really this is a good thing because they were going to charge me 1/2 of the entire fee until insurance paid, which was over $400 on an $800+ root canal. UP FRONT. (then they would reimburse me what was left over who knows how much further down the road) Now they are just going to file, and whatever they get they get....no extra 20% from me, no "up and above what insurance pays is your responsibility" from me. (I'm still trying to convince myself this is a good thing right? Who else would go through two root canals so they didn't have to fork out $400 up front?)

He is also going to pay for the filling that needs to go on the one tooth (that already has a crown..the one that should have been fixed first) and a crown for the wrong molar that got root-canaled.

I'm still feeling no pain, and I really think the whole thing is funny. I'm not going to talk him bad to anyone, it's nice to know that normal human things happen to normal human people....even dentists. That tooth was probably going to need a root canal at some point in the future anyway...right?

Bonnie

Happy Root Canal To Me!!!

Like the child who "all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth..." All I want for my brithday today is to have this tooth fixed! I called the dentist office and they can 'squeeze' me in at 3:45. HOORAY! I think they took pity on me, or pity on my family for having to live with me. :c)

This will also work out great because my friend Sandi and I wanted to make a plan today to hop over to Joann's while so much stuff was still on sale. I need some king size hobbs batting, and while it is 1/2 off, it's cheaper than I can get it wholesale plus shipping. So I'm going to buy 6 of them and stash them back. Not sure what else is on sale, but when Sharon showed her great organization boxes for her sunroom studio, those really caught my eye too so I'm going to check those out.

Not a whole lot of quilting got done this weekend, mostly because the pain meds make me sea sick. Bad enough that I am not taking them today...I have to DRIVE! I've gone back to the ibuprophen, as well as still on the antibiotic. I hope it will see me through until after the proceedure. I did some hand quilting, and some swap block piecing...but I really didn't spend much time behind a needle at all this weekend.


Here is some more eye candy for you. This is a pic of an antique pineapple, also from houston. I just loved the fabrics in it! This must have been "the year of the cheddar" when I was taking photos that year, they all seem to have cheddar in them somewhere..*LOL* It was just LOVELY.

Bonnie

For the Love of Cheddar!

This color just rocks my world :c) Here is a pic of an applique sampler, also taken in Houston. Cheddar, green, and a reddish brown called "ox blood". (nice name, huh???) but it sure looks great together! I wish I'd gotten a better pic of the one next to it as well....it was a doozy! But this trip to Houston had me fascinated with antique applique quilts. Maybe I thought I was actually going to do one!

Acutally I did get started. I made a gazillion (or what felt like) Oak leaf and reel blocks....poison green, red and cheddar on muslin. It's boring. It has stayed a top. A top that needs to come apart because I really think it needs pieced sashing or something?? So much..MUSLIN! Maybe muslin is one of those things that only looks better AFTER you quilt it and can see the detail? It just looks washed out to me.

Maybe it needs just a pieced border? (hanging diamonds? anyone?) I don't want to do applique in the big setting triangles, I thought that something feathered could go there. I didn't use overlay for the applique placement..I just freely placed them on the block, so they are all a bit different from eachother. I wanted it to look as old as possible. Some of the reel centers are really wonky!

I do love the fabrics in it. It just got to a point where I didn't know what to do with it.

Toothache actually woke me feeling WORSE this morning. I'm not sure if I was clenching my jaw in my sleep or what, but today I've got a call in to DH's friend, the dentist...and see if maybe there is something for pain he can prescribe. Breakfast at my house was mushy cheerios this morning...! Whhhaa!

Bonnie

Amish Geese

Everything Goes Better With Cheddar! At least I'm sticking too it....I just LOVE this Cheddar, and when I see it in antique quilts, I love it even better :c) This is a pic from Houston a few years back.

Toothache is still naggy. It has been 1 1/2 days since the antibiotics started, so I should start seeing an improvement. Right now, it feels awful good to wrap one of those icepack thingies in a little tea towel and lay my whole face on it!

I'm thinking twice before I eat anything....even though I'm chewing on the side that isn't sore, you can't just open one side of your jaw without using the other. I may end up losing weight before I get this tooth worked on, which might be not a bad thing at all. Soup is my friend. Yogurt is my friend!

My little friend Stephanie came over to work on her puss in the corner blocks today. I really enjoy so much having her here. We graduated school together and she is just so sweet. Killer that she is about the age of my oldest son! Her puss in the corner blocks are all reds and neutrals and she is doing really well on matching seams and learning to use all the different reds and different shades of background fabrics. It's going to be a super quilt for her.



While she was here working I loaded a customer quilt, it's a string quilt "roman stripe" set in barn raising. The solid 1/2 of the triangles is a marble grey, and the pieced parts are EVERYTHING under the sun. Alot of brights. I am quilting with signature thread in varigated brights. It really makes that grey look not so bad! (at first I thought it was a little subdued for the brights in the pieced triangles)
I love how the varigated looks across the grey. It reminds me of playing with colored chalk on a school chalkboard :c) You might have to click the pic to see the thread better. This quilt is 98X98. BIG AND HEAVY! (and she sent warm & natural batting to go in it...make that twice as heavy!)

I got a good bit done while Stephanie was here, and it was only because she was here that I could force myself to plug away with it with how I feel! DUMB TOOTH!

Bonnie

Can't remember if I posted this one...

This was a quilt that someone had brought to one of the antique malls in Augusta GA when the guild was having a quilt appreciation day there, and invited people to come for appraisals, etc. Siobhan took this pic for me because I couldn't be there. The quilt was pieced somewhere around 1870 and the 9 patches measure 2" across. They are TINY! I love the little bits of turquoise and cheddar that pop out here and there. Another thing that was interesting about this quilt was the quilting. It was like they quilted it in a grid from the BACK of the quilt, because the grid didn't fall anywhere specific....we would normally quilt an X through the patches, or through the 9 patch blocks and setting blocks themselves. On this quilt they were nowhere NEAR going through the blocks that way, and sometimes the angle was even funky. It looked like it had been quilted from the back, and wherever the stitches fell, they fell!

This is the quilt that inspired me to make a 9 patch and set it with green, only mine was made with 3" 9 patches (yes, even I have my limits! *LOL*)

I also made mine lots smaller. I figured I had enough 9 patches and this was as far as it went. I really DO love the poison green though....

I spent a sleepless night...antibiotics give me a tummy ache. BLAH! I am supposed to take this stuff every 6 hours, and yes that means getting up in the middle of the night to take it...WITH FOOD. Do you think I can get to sleep after that? NO WAY. Nothing like puttering around the house between 2 and 4 am, and finally falling back to sleep only to have to get up to get the son to school at 7am. *yawn*

I'm off to study for a bit, and then get going on a customer quilt to get my mind OFF the studying :c) Have a great day everyone!

Bonnie

Welcome Laura! (And stuff)

I'd like to announce that Quilt Mav's has a new member to welcome to our neighborhood! You can visit and welcome Laura at
Pine Ridge Quilter!

This has been a crazy day for me. After stewing about that test date, I got back online this morning and moved it from the 30th to the 26th...just so I can get it over before that weekend, and not have to stew over it.

I have a CD program that has practice tests on it, similar to the test I will be taking, so I worked with that a bit this morning. I need to study harder! I think my brain has forgotten half of what I put in there over the past year!

I also had a dentist appt....I have a molar with a crown, maybe 5 years old. My jaw has been having this deep down ache, so I went to the dentist to have it checked. I need a root canal in that tooth :c( They gave me an antibiotic for now that should help, but I scheduled the proceedure for Feb 9th. I hope I can last that long. It's a dull deep down ache, not sharp pain, but it is constant.

That little jaunt was also added to some other errands. I am the charity quilt person for our guild, and three of the charities are all in a similar area, so I made the rounds today and delivered quilts and stuff to the Children's Garden (A pre-school daycare for the children of homeless parents) the NICU and Breast Cancer Center at Palmetto Baptist Hospital. Then I drove to the library and returned some books on CD.
After that it was to Sam's club to drop off the antibiotic prescrip. DH will pick that up tonight on his way home....

We've been having a trying time with our nearly 16 yr old son. Jeffrey has been moody and cantankerous and disagreeable and not doing well in school. On recommendation from one of his teachers, we have an appointment with a counselor who specializes in adolescents tonight at 6:30. When the counselor asked if we could come tonight...I was almost afraid to say yes, because I could envision Jeff throwing a fit and saying NO WAY. But he agreed to go for 3 sessions. My hope is that he will like this guy enough to stay for more, but at least this is a start. We promised pizza at pizza hut after the counselling. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers...I really fear for my son and the way his life is going right now. This is his second time through 9th grade and he still doesn't seem to care.

Today's selection from the "Old Quilts" file is this beauty that I saw in Houston a few years ago! You might have to click on the photo to view it bigger and see it. At Houston I tended to flock more to the antique booths than all the quilts actually on display for the show! I love 6 pointed stars even if they have those (*&@#$( set in seams. I just loved this one and the setting.

Bonnie

Got my National Certification Exam Date!

It was an ordeal, I tell ya....

But I called today to see if my transcripts had arrived...I went and got copies notorized at the school and then overnighted them last tuesday because after 2 months, they still had not arrived.

Well, they HAD made it into the system...so doing that worked.

I was given my authorization number and a website address and a phone number....I could do either to schedule my test. I did it online.

I could have taken my test as early as THIS FRIDAY!!!!!!!!! AUUGH! I think I need more than 3 days of studying, so I counted out 2 weeks and am going to take it on Jan 30th. :c)

Let the crunch time studying begin!
Bonnie
(still wondering where this massage therapy thing is going to lead...but at least I'll be licensed and nationally certified! *LOL*)

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Getting Life Back On Track!

So here I am, nearly noon...and what have I done today? I've cleaned the kitchen, I've emptied my luggage, I've put all the stuff from retreat away, and sewed the binding on the house quilt so I can start hand stitching it down tonight. It doesn't feel like a big accomplishment, but I guess it is :c)

Remember when I was saying that I was revamping all the files on my server so I could find stuff easier, get rid of stuff I didn't want, rename stuff I didn't have a clue what it was and file it in it's own category? I found all these pics of quilts I fell in love with when I used to go to Quilt Festival in Houston when I lived in TX. Plus other antique quilts I've saved pics of. There is now a folder called "old quilts" on my server! So guess what? On days when I don't have anything to show for myself, you are going to get a pic of an antique quilt for eye candy :c)

This one doesn't look like much. I bought it at a show in Texas, it was made in the 1880's and has great fabrics and wonderful shirtings. I fell in love with it because of the simplicity. I wanted to quilt it, but the fabrics might be a bit brittle. Still, I like looking at it reminding myself (especially when killing myself on things like this Dear Jane thing) that sometimes simple is best! I wonder about the maker of this quilt, what her life was like....did these scraps come from clothes? Did she trade her fabric pieces with her neighbors? Who knows. I like thinking back to 1880 and wondering what it was like for her to do up her hair each morning and brush it out each night, putting it into a long braid before going to bed. What it was like to button up those shoes....and have to wear dresses with stays or corsets?

And of course there is always the question of why this quilt stayed a top, and was never quilted......we will never know.

Bonnie

I'm Back!

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee I am so tired I can't hardly think straight! I am back from retreat. A great time was had by all. It was even mentioned several times how nice this retreat was, and then we realized it was because certain cantakerous people who always seem to throw a wrench into everything, no matter what the situation.....were not there! *heheh* We won't mention names, but we know who they are, and we didn't have to deal with them ;c)(Definate Quilt Police, if you get my drift!)

I brought two cameras..because one has a bigger memory card than the other. But it so happens that the software for that camera is NOT functional for some reason, and I can't find the CD to reload it! (*&@# I took some pics of my pink DJ as it grew, so I have those, but the ones I took of the room mess, and of people's projects etc...are not on this camera. :c( So I'm hoping that Siobhan will load what she has. She also took some gorgeous pics of the lake that was right outside the window of where we sewed. Please post those Sio!

This is really a fun group to retreat with. Where we stay has duplex cabins, and each cabin signs up for hosting a meal for everyone, so every lunch and every dinner was at a different cabin. So much FOOD! WAY TOO MUCH DESSERT! (you know why Dessert has two S's in it? So we are allowed Two Helpings.. :cÞ) We walked from the cabins to the meeting rooms where we sewed, walked as much as possible to work off all we were eatting, but it was SO good.

Lets see....I got there a bit early, and claimed my place in the corner since I had SO much stuff to work with. I also packed my MP3 player and we listened to celtic and massage instrumental music for stimulation the whole time we sewed. It was great! I set myself up to be as functional and productive as possible and since I posted the last pic of the quilt, I have added FOUR ROWS to it! :c) I now have 10 rows out or 13 rows done and set together. It feels like a huge accomplishement.

This pic is after I added the 9th row

The first weekend in Feb is another retreat, and though it isn't as long, I'm hoping to make a good push on it then too. If I can keep myself motivated, I'm thinking of making myself do one block a day, and the sashings that go with it...so by the time I go on that retreat I've only got 2 more rows to go. Wouldn't that be awesome? I will also need to finish the outside edge, continuing the star points into the border...but will deal with that when I've got the rest together.

after adding the 10th row, on the fence when I got home and unloaded the car!

It's early to bed for me tonight. I do feel like a complete non-functional zombie! It's so good to be home and have my own bed to look forward to.

Bonnie

Baptist Fan Template

I've been asked how I do fans on the longarm...so I'm uploading a pic of the new templates from Circle Lord

The idea is so easy it's nearly foolproof. (other then breaking threads and skipped stitches, which had nothing to do with the templates.) You have a stylus attached to the long arm machine...you line the edge of the quilt up with the edge of the template, plunk the stylus in the groove, and away you go. There are three templates to cover the length of my machine table and they just snap together. I use a roll of that rubberized shelf liner stuff underneath the template to hold it from moving and shifting while I quilt.

I have accomplished much of NOTHING today! OH, really, I have done alot..but it was all computer work with nothing to show for it. I have had my website since 1997 and everything I ever saved to my server to show as a picture to anyone for anything, any graphic I ever saved, any pic of family, dog, cat, miscellaneous is all alphabetically arranged on my server....and most of the stuff after this long I had no clue what it was! So, one by one, I've been going through and culling out stuff I don't need on there anymore, and trying to make folders for stuff to make things easier to find. This also means, that if I move a page's pics to it's own folder, all the pics need to be re-linked on the webpage itself so they can be found. It's a HUGE undertaking...but will be beneficial in the long run. Instead of having everything in one big pile, it will be split up into different files and directories. I've been at it for over 6 hours and I got up to *M*. And this is just the cleaning out part! I just know this is going to be one of these evenings where DH says....so what did YOU do today...as he looks around and sees laundry not done, and dishwasher still not emptied. Did I quilt for customers today? Nope. Sometimes you have to take time out to maintain the website, and it needs spring cleaning in a BIG WAY even if it can't be seen from outside the server!

I haven't even packed for retreat tomorrow! I've got groceries I need to bring with me...and I think I'll stop and shop for them on the way out of town in the morning. I'm striving to get there by NOON! Let the festivities begin!

Bonnie