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Wednesday, February 08, 2012

Sister, Oh Sister!

I’m back tracking! I seem to have lost a few days somewhere in the midst of moving from one state to another, and not having time to sit and edit photos like I want to.

This was the view as I was driving out of Carlisle, PA and heading toward Annapolis MD on Sunday afternoon about 4pm!

I covered a lot of roadway in the past week...piloting shamu from one place to another. I love road trips! My only regret? Not having any time whatsoever to hit anything remotely near Lancaster or Intercourse. I didn't see a single buggy this trip. But I"ll be back in PA in July for the Hershey Quilt Odyssey and we'll figure in plenty of time for that THEN.

This morning I got up fairly early, started going through the snail mail that has piled up over the week that I’ve been gone, and there was my **NEW** Adobe Photoshop 10. Yes, it had been a LONG TIME since I’d gone for any upgrade, my old version was 2.0 and won’t work on the new desktop computer.

So I plug in 10..get it installing….and WOWZA…

I. HATE. IT!!

Everything has become very complicated, buttons and options all moved around, not to mention that you have to read white letters on a dark gray background, and this old puppy just can’t do white on black or white on gray..I need BLACK ON WHITE! Get rid of the funky fonts and the white letters on a colored background….even with other people’s blogs I can’t read them if they are that way.

Even the “AUTO PLAY” when I plug my phone into the desktop wasn’t happening today --- it messed with my settings when I installed the photoshop, so – after monkeying with it for a while I came up to the dining room in quite the snit ---plugged in my laptop, and here I am trying to catch up with you through a somewhat more “comfortable for me” way --

WHY is change so hard for me? You would think it is a major life crisis to force myself to use new software, or a new computer, or think about a new sewing machine. I am a creature of habit and it throws me way out of my element when my routine is forced to change. Are you like that?

So anyway..I did some back tracking, and found that I had posted about our Blue Ridge Beauty workshop…but never showed the great blocks that happened in Saturday’s Sister’s Choice workshop!

And something I don’t see that often….but was happy to see:

PA_MD_Feb2012 043

We had a hand piecer! This was so fun to watch. Of course, strip piecing methods don’t work for hand piecing, because you can’t sub-cut across a strip set without cutting your hand piecing seam, and then there is no way to anchor it, so we moditifed a bit. And let me tell you, she could hand piece almost as fast as some of us on machines!

I think you will enjoy seeing all the fabulous blocks and fabric combos that came to be during this class:

I loved them ALL, but I really loved the ones from plaids and homespuns where no particular rhyme or reason was put into play…any dark anywhere, any color ----very fun! And the black/gray/white one with solid red…POP! Some of the blocks were made with 1970’s calico scraps, and they were very fun and brought back lots of memories for those of us who sewed our way through what little was available to us in those years. We laughed at how those 1970s prints are now showing up as lines of reproductions, and we’ve still got the originals in our stashes!

I got home last night about dinner time. I brought in my suitcase and my laptop bag. Everything else needs to be brought in from the car today. Laundry is running. There will be grocery shopping and other errands to be run.

I don’t have to leave home again until the 20th, so most of Feb is AT HOME!

Book edits are starting to come back in, so this is good timing for working on those..and in between that and everything, I wanna SEW!

23 comments:

  1. Those blocks are SO inspiring! Thank you. I am going to start cutting for that too.

    Lucy~

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  2. Anonymous9:28 AM EST

    Hi Bonnie - hope you slept deep and well. Hard to ctach up at times.

    The Sisters blocks show just how different a block can be with various fabric and color choices.

    Relax while you can, and enjoy just being HOME!
    Smiles
    JulieinTN

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  3. Yup, me too. I do not like change--and the older (sigh) I get, the less I see the reasons for changes. I have problems with my phone--that keyboard is soooo small and what with my thumb tendonitis---and on and on...I like routine. Is this really a control issue???
    Glad you will be able to be home and sewing--on your new machine???? Hmmmmm.....Julierose

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  4. At a Gail Garber class in Alaska, I hand pieced one of her curved patterns. They were all sceptical but I finished it and had no questions or problems about how to sew it by machine. I once hand pieced a huge ocean wave quilt but now I am a confirmed machine piecer. The wrists and thumb joints wont tolerate a lot of hand piecing.

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  5. all the sisters blocks are beautiful, but the plaid ones are my favorite.
    I am with you about change and the dark backgrounds. Seams like for the background on the Photoshop software you should have a choice...Glad you will be home long enough to get some sewing time in. Also hope you can share a peek of what you are working on.

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  6. I like the plaid ones too...nothing has to match!

    I don't even attempt the new software...I don't have the patience.

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  7. I'm with you! I hate changing to updated software that has all the features in totally different places and i takes me hours to figure out how to do what I want to do :<P

    I like that homespun block too.. and the batik one was nice too!

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  8. Don't worry about it dear *pat pat* ... you're 50 now ... *soothing stroke across forehead* ... you will adjust, just give it time. LOL

    I'm speaking from the age-old experience of a 61 year old. Love those Sister's Choice blocks, especially the homespun ones - it's on my to-do list for sure!

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  9. I wish someone would come up with a version for folks like us that just want to stay on the same version of the software we like forever. No need to upgrade, and change every dang thing, and re-learn the whole thing, when getting a new computer. Or cell phone! I just want the simple kind you make a call with, and will take a decent pic! I don't need texting, or facebook, or any of the other 100's of functions it might do......but it doesn't exist! Crap!

    Vent over........lol.......and yeah, I'm loving those blocks they all made. Isn't it fun to see how different the same block can look in just a different colorway. I love that!

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  10. I agree and was pleased to hear you could load your old photoshop to the laptop. I never thought to give that a try. Let's see if I can mess up this computer. Why can't they just KISS? (keep it simple stupid)I have long said the first manufacturer to figure out how to give us new stuff with the same dials (or push buttons, if you must)as our old appliances will make a mint. As an old foggie I would buy new stuff more readily if it worked like the old.

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  11. Love all the variety in the blocks, but I, too, really love the homespun one and the red and black. Very striking. Glad you have some time at home to chill and do whatever you feel like doing. Enjoy!

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  12. I am lucky to be married to a computer geek ( 36 years at IBM)
    who can help me with every problem that comes up, otherwise I don't think I could handle having a computer. It is always changing!

    I have to laugh..I know you meant "hit anything" as in shopping but in the next sentence you say you didn't see one buggy......what popped into my mind.......yep.....you couldn't hit a buggy cause you didn't see one! Yes, I know....sorry I just have that kind of sense of humor.

    Happy Sewing, enjoy your time at home :0)

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  13. Good Luck with your PSE upgrade. I went from Ver 3 to Ver 7 and it took forever to find everything and reset my settings. It takes a lot of time. I do not want to upgrade again. Ever.

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  14. I hear you about adapting to change--it's very hard! The way I see it is, my time is too precious to waste on having to relearn things that were fine before they were changed. :) Love the Sister's Choice blocks. I've wanted to make that pattern for awhile and now I know I have to do it.

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  15. Anonymous12:23 PM EST

    I don't like change either. My friends would make fun of my rotary phone, which I finally replaced. I still record tv shows on a VCR, my cell phone doesn't even take pictures. I drive a car with standard transmission and don't know if I would change to an automatic just because I don't want to make that transition. Thanks for sharing.
    cindy

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  16. I know what you mean about not liking change. I worked in IT and when all those new changes started bothering me I figured it was time to retire. Now I have more time to quilt...yeah! I don't think change used to bother me so much so I figure it's just part of the aging process. I'm 5 years older than you so I hate to say it but the frustration with software and those kinds of things don't improve with age.

    Love all the Sister's Choice blocks and looks like from the comments you could be seeing a lot of them in the homespuns in the near future....loved those ones especially too.

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  17. I'm like you in hating change and new technologies that are more difficult to use than the old ones. When my desktop computer crashed and a friend had to reload and update everything, nothing looked or worked the same. I was happy with the old software versions and knew how to use them. Then I got a laptop and it's Windows 7...more learning newer software. GRRRRRR. Last week the old printer died so today I had to install a new printer to 2 computers--one USB connected, the other wireless. I did it and should feel accomplished but it took all morning and now I've got to learn all the basic functions on the new printer. I'd rather be quilting!

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  18. Bonnie, I recently made the same change from 2 to 10 on Photoshop and I feel the same way. It probably has to do with jumping 8 versions! LOL I still have 2 on the old computer and use it when I can. Good luck!

    Love the Syster's Choice blocks.

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  19. Oops! That would be sister's choice.

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  20. I agree with you on change and the color of the letters on the background. As I age the print needs to be black on white and I avoid blogs that aren't that way. I love your blog as it is so easy to read and so organized!

    I think the reason I don't like change is the amount of time it takes to learn something new. If I had someone showing me the changes rather than just myself to learn it all I think it would go faster and I would be up and running sooner. When I got my new computer with a much newer version of Excel I was frequently calling my daughter (an accountant that uses Excel in amazing ways!) to ask where did "they" (meaning MS software design engineers) hide the ____ button? Now I've gotten the hang of it but it took a while. Was the time taken to learn the newer version worth it? Not as far as I'm concerned as I still do the same basic things with the software. I just had to find out where the correct button was for what I wanted. All that time to learn new software could of been spent sewing!

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  21. I love the plaids, and the red, black and white, but also the batiks.
    This is another of your patterns on my list for this year!

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  22. I have wanted to make a quilot using that block for a long time. All of those great blocks makes me want to move Sister's way up on my list.
    I really do not like trying to figure out new technology, but I like using it.;)

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  23. Anonymous2:01 PM EST

    I love the Sister's Choice blocks.

    Jessica in Colorado

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