Hello, Tom Tom!

On the 24th of July I'll be making a trip to Pickens SC to give a scrap quilt lecture and trunk show to the Upcountry Quilters Guild.

I'm enjoying my little jaunts around the south east very much! I'm seeing country and towns I've never seen before, and what could be better than meeting up with a group of quilters?

Because I am traveling to new places, it's easy to get lost, so I have just purchased a TomTom to keep me company :c)

Anyone else have one of these? I'd love to hear about your experiences with it! I ordered mine off of amazon, it seemed to be the most reasonable price and the shipping was not expensive..cheaper than paying sales tax on it here.

I've been quilting away over here, and listening to books on CD that I picked up at the library. I just finished Jame's Patterson's "5th Horseman" (good mystery,suspense) and am now listening to Fern Michaels' "Fool Me Once" A bit lighter listening, but so far very good!

Of course I have another book on CD going on in my car...I'm listening to Susan Grafton's "R is for Ricochet". I don't watch a lot of TV, but I sure like to listen to books!

I'm definately not as blue as I was. Things will work out. I am thankful for your friendship and support and kind words and for telling me to buck up and just keep doing what I'm doing. I've also had email telling me I shouldn't air my personal life and problems in such a public forum. Go figure! I'm not forcing anyone to read my blog....I just want to say things how I feel them.

If I'm having a blue day, I'm not going to lie about it. If I'm having a happy day, I'm going to talk about it. If my kids are in trouble, I may air that too, (Jason totalled his pickup last week...uuughhhh) and it is all a part of who I am.

Now I think I'll get back to quilting. I have a friend willing to go to guild meeting with me tomorrow night to give me some backbone :c) I have quilts to deliver and I'm not going to let the other people who WANT me there down. One bad apple isn't going to spoil the whole bunch.

Bonnie

And for some reason, now I can't add titles to my posts? It won't let me click into that box..oh well!! Live and learn!

I had some time home alone last evening. I was feeling kind of worn out and a bit down over some issues I have going on in my life right now. Let me just say that it is SO true that you can't please all the people all the time. And when you try to bend over backwards to protect your integrity, your professionalism, your character....they just use that opportunity to kick you in the butt. Because of this I have decided to leave a guild I am involved with. Some of the people I will miss. Others...I just can't handle the snide comments, the whispers, and the threats even from one person saying that she will tell everyone within ear shot and beyond of how she was not happy with my services. I'm sure there are other longarmers out there who can commiserate. We've all been there.

Every day I get emails and phone calls from people saying how much they loved the work I did for them. But it only takes one person to tear all that down.

So yes..I was feeling blue, and thought I would get my orphan blocks out and play with them. What I found instead was 30 "jacks and six" blocks (that's the name in block base, I'm sure it has other names) that never got made into anything. Believe it or not, I had plans to make a bed sized quilt out of these 6" little buggers!

I laid them out on the floor, set them 5 by 6....and didn't care that I was setting them asymmetrically. And I kind of like how it leads your eye without the pattern being resolved as if I had set it 8X8 or something. It was together in less than an hour and a half. It soothed my soul and calmed my nerves.

I could reiterate to myself that I am not a complete failure, that I do good work, the best I can do, I did the best that I could, I unquilted (which took months) and requilted (which took a lot of time) and it was a job I was proud of. You really can't please all the people all the time.

What's that song "You know you can't please everyone so you've gotta please yourself...." Sewing this little ditty last night was therapy for me.

I found a piece of black/cream toile in the stash that will work perfect for the backing.It has large farm scenes on it...I don't know how I would use it for anything else..maybe borders...but it will be fun as a back for this.

I'm off to work..two massages this morning, and then I'll be back to the quilting machine this afternoon.

Bonnie

happy 4th, USA!

I hope everyone is having a safe and fun 4th!

I had a great day today. I had one massage client this morning. I know I know, but it's 4th of July? well, this guy is MILITARY so it was the least I could do. It was the only day he could do it, so I served my country today :c)

After my client I headed out to my friend Charlotte's house for a sewing retreat day. Charlotte is Jason's girlfriend Kim's mother..and she is a quilter! How fun is that? Let me tell you, it is VERY fun.

I worked on my plaid star struck and she worked on her snowball quilt and we talked and laughed for about 5 hours worth! Jason and Kim were both there and they just looked at us like we were out of our minds....but they took enough time to take pics of us to document our fun.

Look...we both sew barefoot! :cD

Today was also a good day to get the tires rotated and spin balanced on my car since the tire center was not that busy. They worked on it while I was at Charlotte's and she dropped me back to pick up my car after. How is that for multitasking?!

This evening we were invited over to a friend's house on the lake for a BBQ and a ride in their pontoon boat. It was very relaxing and enjoyable...

I'm pooped now though. It is 9pm and the fireworks are in full swing here. Who knows how late they will go into the night. The dogs are a bit freaked out. You can smell the gun powder on the air outside.

All day long I've been thinking it is saturday. It's only Wednesday! I'm all turned around..but at least there are more hours left in this week to do what I need to get done. Back in full swing tomorrow!


Bonnie

Lucy's Dad

I finally heard from Lucy this morning. When I hadn't heard from her for several days, I knew things were drawing to a close. She writes:

"My dad passed away on 2 July 2007 !

I try to write you later more about everything but I have so much to arrange . It is all such a nightmare. There is so much to arrange at this moment. I try to mail you later this day.......

After a post on my blog I am off to my dad's house

a crying Lucy"

I haven't lost a parent, but I have lost grandparents, a cousin, and my infant daughter. Even when you think you are prepared for it, you aren't.

Lucy said she had been receiving mysterious squishies in the mail! I hope that lets her know that we are carrying her burdens with her. We will help lift her up.

Prayers and thoughts and well wishes from around the world to Lucy and her family.

Bonnie

Monday Morning, up with the birds!

I've been trying to balance everything around here so I have some time to sit and piece. I find that even if I am home machine quilting for others, if I run it like a 9-5 business, that leaves the early morning hours or the later evening hours for me to work on my own projects. I don't know how other longarm quilters do it, but this is what works for me. Of course, sometimes you have to push the evening hours so you can mail out that customer quilt the next day, and it doesn't always work that you get the piecing time you need to make progress on your own projects..but even 15 minutes of sitting at the machine is SO calming for me. Soul centering.

I'm sure that other people have their own ways to center their souls. For my mom, it's her garden. She has the most wonderful garden I have ever seen. I am amazed at what she can do, but I must have skipped those genes. The only plants and flowers I like to work with are printed on my fabric :c)

Some people find that taking some time to read a book, or to spend some time in the kitchen cooking up something special can take them out of their work-a-day world and center their souls. What works for you? I'm interested in what you all do to make sure you don't land in that rut that makes you feel like your life is on auto pilot, and you are just another cog in the machine of life!

Another thing I like to do is get out and walk/jog with the dogs (one or both!) early in the morning. Usually I'm out by 6:15 am. It's the only way to beat the heat and humidity here in SC. This morning I am not out. Guess who chewed my running shoe?!(&*@#($*&(*&! So shoe shopping is on my list today too...

I always heard the song "You gotta stop and smell the roses" when I was growing up. I guess I never understood what that meant until I reached this half way point in my life and see that I have pushed and pushed and pushed and missed those roses because there were more pressing things on my plate.

Over the weekend I took time to cut my plaid star struck strip pairs (say plaid star struck strip pairs three times fast! *LOL*) into 4.5" subcuts. They are now ready to add the quickie corner triangles. I chose a red bias plaid print I have had in my stash for eons, and I think it's going to be great to accent these plaids. I will double sew them so I have a gadzillion little bonus 1/2 sq triangles to use in another project.

Also to use in another project....anything from the strips that was too short to cut another 4.5" section got trimmed into 2.5" sections, and I made a pile of 4 patches with these! Nothing went to waste. The bare minimum of slivers is all that ended up in my trashcan.

It's now 7:45 and I have until 9am to work on this before the real work schedule takes over. I hope everyone has a great week, and remember to take some time out to center your soul with something for YOU!

Bonnie

Coming Up for Air!

I received an email from Linda today saying:

"I check your blog everyday and I am worried because you have not written in a week- I pray that there is not anything wrong and you are just gone on vacation or at least having a good time what ever you are doing-"

I figured I better check in! I didn't realize it had been that long, but it has!

I am still alive and kicking, it's just been a crazy week. I have finished a couple customer quilts in the past week, and I'm still working on more. My massage schedule has been full this week as well, in fact wednesday I took my last client at 6:45pm which put me home at close to 9pm. I was SO toast I didn't even check email until this morning, but also had clients today so I didn't have time to write a blog post.

My exciting news is I have been contacted by Quiltmaker magazine again, and they want my blue ridge beauty quilt along with an article on leaders/enders! I'm thrilled! I'll be sending that off this week, and it should appear in the January issue.

My BAD news is that Sadie tore up 3 antique quilts when left home alone :c( I'm so FRUSTRATED with her. From now on, she is kenneled if no one is home, or locked outside. It's not as easy as it sounds, as buddy has learned how to open the doggie door even when it is closed. But then he used to open the gates too until we put U bolts through the latches. So he opens the doggie door, and lets her back in the house. *pulling hair* And yes, the quilts are shredded beyond repair.I'm just sick about it. One of the quilts was the one that I bought with Lucy on our Paducah trip. That one I think I can repair. But the others....whhhaaaaa.

In my 15 minutes a day of cutting/sewing (I'm really trying to do a bit for myself each day..just HAVE to to keep my sanity) I am having to recreate another star struck quilt off the directions on my website. Now that I am doing trunk shows and teaching....I have to have a SAMPLE! My last ones went to hurricane katrina quilt drives. I think I have remade this quilt at least 6 times. All in different color ways. This time I decided to use those plaid shirts that are still filling up bins around here. So I've been cutting 2.5" strips from plaid shirts...and matched them up with pre-cut neutrals from the neutral 2.5" strip bin and have sewn them up into pairs. They are now ironed. The next step will be to whack them into 4.5" sub cuts. I think that is tomorrow evening's job after I get through the day. I've got 3 massages on the books tomorrow afternoon and am still quilting from home in the morning before I go into the office!

So....does that 'splain why you haven't heard from me in a week!? :cD I hope all is well with everyone out there in quilt maverick land!

Bonnie

15 mins of sewing....test block..

This is my 3rd post today? I wasn't going to post this until later, but I wanted to show you the mock up sample block with the music fabric. The size quilt I decided to do uses 30 12" blocks set with sashings and cornerstones.

At first, the inner star didn't show, the fabrics were too neutral...so I brought in a brighter gold for the inner star. The outer star is the black with gold music stuff, and the 2"X3.5" rectangles are the sheet music fabric.

I'm not a big novelty fabric person....but when the fabric fits the person that I'm making the quilt for, it is fun to put something in that has personal meaning for them. I can honestly say that this has the "feel" of a Bonnie quilt, but the music is my choir director all the way!

Bonnie

Squishie Sent!

I marched down to the post office with my squishy in hand....a card....an FQ...

It costs $1.80 to mail an FQ to Lucy from the USA. I even took a pic to show you! :c)

And thanks to photoshop I was able to blank out Lucy's address so she doesn't freak out that I am posting it openly to the whole world ;c)

I have had so many responses already from those of you wanting to help shower her with squishies and hugs! I can just imagine how she will feel being on the receiving end of all this quilter type outpouring of hearts!

Bonnie

Squishies For Lucy

Hi everyone. I received an email from Lucy this morning to make a post on her blog regarding her father. He is nearing the end of his battle with cancer, and they think he only has a few days left to live. He has stopped all medication except for the pain meds, and hopefully they are keeping him comfortable and free from pain while he goes through this next step out of this life.

Lucy is very close to her father, so this has been a very hard journey for her as well, most of you who have been reading our blog ring since Lucy joined know that he has had multiple surgeries over the past few years and it really has been a long haul.

I am feeling particularly torn because my friend is so far away and there is nothing I can do for her from here but keep her and her family in my thoughts and prayers. Maybe you are feeling the same way!

I would really like to do something for Lucy, and I thought how fun it would be to fill her snail mail box with FQ's! She LOVES poison green and cheddar, along with all the civil war repros. One FQ in an envelope shouldn't cost very much to send to the netherlands. I'm going to mail one this morning, and will come back and report just how much it costs.

Would you be willing to dig into your stash and send an FQ and a card to Lucy to let her know she has our support?

I am not going to post her snail mail address here, but I will give it to you if you email me to let me know you are interested in sending hug-squishies to Lucy. Please mail me at bonnie@quiltville.com instead of just commenting on this post. I will send you her snail mail address.

I'll report back on the cost of sending one FQ! Let's BOMBARD HER!!!

Bonnie

Donation Details!

Cathedral Stars!


A Special Donation Quilt with a Special Purpose!

I designed, pieced and quilted this quilt as a donation for Trinity Episcopal Cathedral's 41st annual Trinity Bazaar to be held Nov 3rd, 2007.

100% of the proceeds of this quilt will benefit the following:

* The Children's Garden, a pre-school, day-care which provides childcare for children whose families are homeless or in need. The requested funds will partially fund an assistant teacher in the Toddler One classroom.

* The Cooperative Ministry, which was founded by five area churches (including Trinity) to verify need and give assistance to those who are at risk. It's clients are mostly the working poor but it also assists a large number of homeless individuals. Our funds will go to the Ministry's Emergency Assistance Program which helps with such things as rent, utilities, medicine, clothing, furniture, bus tickets, work boots and tools, emergency food packages and hygiene kits, etc.

* St Lawrence Place is Trinity's transitional housing program for homeless families seeking self-sufficiency and permanent housing. Our funds will go to rehabilitate the Children's Program Building.

* Salvation Army Kids 2 Kamp provides an opportunity for the poorest of Columbia, SC's children to attend a camp whose purpose is to serve the physical, social and spiritual needs of the camplers. Our funds will enable 20 children to attend camp.

* Young Life seeks to introduce middle school and high school students to Christ and help them grow in their faith. Our funds will provide full and partial scholarships for Columbia, SC's middle and high school students to attend Young Life Camp.

How you can help!

You can purchase tickets for this quilt at $1.00 each, or 6 for $5.00.

To purchase your tickets via snail-mail, you can send a check written to Trinity Cathedral for the amount of tickets you wish to receive. Include the check (it is a tax deductible donation) and a self-addressed, stamped envelope in your mailing envelope so we can mail your ticket stubs back to you. Address the mailing envelope to:

Bonnie Hunter
Trinity Bazaar Donation Quilt
124 Wicklow Ct
Irmo, SC 29063.

You can make a payment via PayPal by sending your payment to bonnie@quiltville.com. If paying by PayPal, please include $1.00 extra to cover the paypal surcharge, and the cost of stamps and envelopes to return your ticket stubs to you.

For instance, if you want 12 tickets for $10.00, please make your payment for $11.00 instead of $10.00.

In your information, please include your snail mail address so we can send you your lucky stubs!

I am also in the process of setting up a shopping cart with paypal for your convenience. Give me some time and hopefully it will be up and running soon!

Let's face it. SOMEONE is going to win this quilt for $1.00! It could be YOU!



Close up of the quilting! Quilted with Signature verigated thread.



No Quilt is complete without the label!

Thank you so much for your willingness in the past (and the future) to dig deep and give to those who are so much less fortunate than ourselves. You've been there through fund raising for the American Diabetes Association, and for the Multiple Sclerosis Society. This time all of the funds raised will benefit children and youth in getting a foothold up in life. I am grateful for what little I can do to help, and I can't do it without you! Without you, this quilt is just a quilt. With you and your donations, this quilt can be the catalyst to so much more!

Bonnie

Quilted Reasonings....

The donation quilt has been passed off to "the committee" so they can start selling tickets. I wanted to get a good photo shot of the quilt with the binding and sleeve and label completed, but there is plenty time to do that yet. It was so rainy yesterday that I didn't dare do it.

Now that that is off my plate......we all know how empty plates don't stay empty for long! My choir director and canon organist is getting married in October. I have this wonderful music fabric just calling to me to be used in a quilt for him and his soon to be wife. I don't know her very well, and I don't know her tastes....so hopefully she won't go "ewww" and decide what I come up with just doesn't fit her decorating scheme, you know?

I had toyed with the idea of a signature quilt, where the choir members can sign, but I thought maybe I would do that with a panel on the back....

I pulled the yardage to get me started on the color scheme. The music prints are black with gold music notes and treble/bass clefs, etc...the neutral music print is very antiquey looking. Both have a bit of gold sparkle to them and look classy. I have another antiquey paisly print. I wanted a 3rd color because I didn't want a black/neutral quilt. I thought green would be nice! I haven't made a green quilt in a while, so it would help use some stuff.


You can tell by the piles that I have a bin of neutral 2" strips, and a small pile of green 2" strips. I need more! And they need to be in the right shade of green....not too blue, not too yellow...I want them to blend with the one inspirational green piece of yardage I pulled out. So, I'm going to go through my FQs and cut more 2" strips.

This is the block I played with in Block base! I like it because I can strip piece the 4 patch units easily....the pieces are easily rotary cut, and I can do quick corners on the rectangles for the star points. I was thinking of using the black fabric with the music notes for all the star points to add some uniformity. It just LOOKS like a masculine quilt, doesn't it? My hardest part is how/where to use the sheet music fabric. It might look funny when I go to cut it. Will have to see.

Here is a pic of the quilt layout I drew in EQ5. I'm thrilled with it. The quilt doesn't have to be done til Oct..so I can work on it a bit at a time in small moments and have plenty of time to get it quilted.

Even though this quilt started by pulling yardage for inspiration, I can still work my scraps in. Working with yardage also is going to make NEW scraps to work into my bins as I trim leftovers down and feed them wherever I need them to go.

Bonnie

Bonnie Does Burnsville ! :c)

Hey everyone! I am resurfacing after a wonderful trip to Burnsville for a lecture/trunkshow. Yes, you know how nervous I was before going..I just want to let you know what a wonderful time it turned out to be!

I met up with Fran and another guild member (sorry, can't remember her name!) at Bellagio's Bistro outside of Ashville. It was a wonderful cozy place and we had a great meal and got to know each other a bit better. Just before getting to Bellagios, it had started to pour and hail! Luckily by the time we were done with dinner, it had cleared up. The air smelled so clean and fresh.

From there it was about a 45 minute drive up into the mountains of western NC to Burnsville! The ride was very scenic up in the Blue Ridge. Lots of old barns, old country churches and church yards....just beautiful.

We got to the town center and unloaded everything. I had brought my lil red wagon to help haul the bundles of quilts. You know, quilts are HEAVY when they are all full to king size? The wagon made it easy to wheel from the car to the room where the guild met. I'm glad I brought it.


I met so many wonderful ladies..the show and tell was fabulous! They had also spent the month of may working on quilts for project linus. You can see all the quilts lining the walls....they are all so great and will be loved by the children who receive them.

I need to confess to something. When I am nervous, I ramble! To make things worse, I left my note cards at home on the computer desk, so I was flying blind as far as my lecture went. I'm afraid I jumped around a bit! But I had enough to talk about with scrap organization and how it works for me, the methods I use for piecing with leaders/enders, and showing quilts and answering questions, that we filled up more than my designated hour :c) I know where I need to slim down for the next time I travel to do this, and where to explain things a bit better. It's a lecture in progress, and I learned a lot!

Most of all I learned that quilters are wonderful anywhere you go!

Thanks to Fran and the Mountain Piecemaker's Guild of Burnsville, NC for inviting me!

Bonnie

Up With the Early Birdies....

I'm up early...4:30 am....flutters,you know? I've separated the quilts I'm taking for the trunk show/lecture into categories.... by strip size, by technique..whether it was leaders/enders or not...even Oscar thinks it is way too early for this kind of activity!

I've got sample blocks, a few unquilted tops (for fun....people need to know that even "pros" have tops that sit around for eons!)

I've pulled my favorite tools that make scrap quilting easy for me...

I've had a cup of tea and a slice of banana bread and it's not even 6 am yet!

Most of all...pulling out all this stuff and how I plan to explain it to people gets my juices flowing on why I love this whole quilting thing so much! When you prepare to "uncover" your passion about anything to a bunch of strangers, who hopefully have the same love and drive you do.....it just reaffirms that "Yes! This is who I am! this is what I love to do, and this is why I love to do it!"

My finale is the orphan block quilt with "Bonnie Loves To Play With Blocks" border. It's still in the hand quilting phase too, but it is a culmination of every technique I'll be talking about, so I think it is a good one to end on.

I've also got tickets for the raffle quilt...I sold $60 worth last night at my guild meeting in Aiken. That's not bad for a small guild meeting. I hope it does really well because 100% of the proceeds are going to local agencies...the homeless shelters, housing, child care, etc. It's a big "feel good" and help the community project.

I'm going to set up with pay pal to be able to sell tickets for it off my website and blog too.....That's on the agenda within the next couple of weeks.

Okay..here I go...time to shower!

Bonnie

Still Plugging Along!

I'm still chained to the quilting machine! Can you believe it? No piecing for Bonnie, and I have a gazillion ideas floating around in my head, and I have to focus focus focus myself to keep my priorities in order :c)

While I was quilting this weekend, I had good company! Don't ask me how Oscar likes being in such a tight space,but he was kind enough to slide out a paw and wave hello from time to time! He is on top of my scrap bin drawers underneath the quilting machine table, and there is NOT a lot of head room in there!

Emmy Lou likes it in there too......I think because the dogs (namely Sadie Jane!)leave them alone when they can't be found.

This quilt took FOREVER to quilt, or so it seems. It is feathered to death as you can tell by the pictures. I love the simple colors of this quilt, and the motion of the pinwheels. This quilt belongs to Catherine, and I am delivering it to her at guild meeting in Aiken tonight.She's been patiently waiting for it....I hope she likes how it turned out as much as I do.

Tomorrow is a big day for me! I am travelling to Burnsville, NC to teach a lecture on the Scrap User's System to a guild there, and do a bit of trunk showing at the same time. I'm nervous! My tummy is all in flutters and I hope I have everything prepared right. I don't have to leave here until noon tomorrow to be there in time....so I will have the morning to pack the car, and use the sticky roller on any quilts that have accumulated cat fur...*LOL*

I've also been asked to submit a schedule of classes/workshops/lectures for the 2009 North Carolina Quilt Symposium! I know it's a ways out there, but....it would be great to be on the staff there. They typically have 20 to 25 teachers on the faculty and have a yearly attendance of 350-400 students. Sounds fun, huh??

Bonnie

Real Men Quilt!

I have some wonderful male quilters as customers! And because I am trying to be a "good girl" and work on customer's quilts to help me get caught up from time off during oral surgery, etc...I thought I would introduce you to one of my clients!

Jacque and Linda winter in Florida, and summer in Maine. Sounds lovely, doesn't it? I would love to go to Maine some day...it sounds so peaceful!

I met Jacque through the net, and I have quilted a few quilts for him. He does spectacular work....all pieced by HAND! Amazingly even stitches, and his color sense is terrific! Just look at what he did for the border of this dresden plate:

His latest quilt is in shades of blues...I love this quilt!

I finished the quilting last night, and it was hard to get detail shots when it is dark out. The full quilt shot turned out really blurry so I hope you can see the detail from these other shots.

I especially like the texture of the back! Way to go Jacque,I can't wait to see what you come up with next!

In Stitches - - -
Bonnie