Thursday Blursday!!

Days are flying by so fast and so full they are making my head spin!

The past few days I've been dealing with lots of "red tape" as far as getting NC driver's licenses, registering cars, etc.

Did you know that everywhere else in the world a passport is a valid form of ID..complete with pic, social security #, etc...EXCEPT for North Carlina?!

Did you know that your social security card says on the back (or is it the front) of it that it is not to be used as a form of ID?

March into a NC DMV...as a new resident, and you have to present your birth certificate, your out of state license, your social security card, and proof of residency. NO PASSPORTS ACCEPTED. I find this so bogus because passports SHOULD be harder to get than drivers licenses.

Needless to say, DH and son have become fully licensed NC drivers, but not so for me. For somewhere in this move...MY file of vital records is missing! (Except for the passport.)

I spent 2 hours today in line at the social security office to order a new card. They gave me the receipt for it and told me the new one would be here in 2 weeks. EEEEK. I don't know if the receipt for it will be valid enough to get a drivers license with , but it wouldn't surprise me in the least of it wasn't.

Then the other stupid thing...DH says to just let him register my car under his name. Both our names are on the lien...so I said..okay....Only to find that when I traded the PT in on this car...and registered it...they never changed me from PT Cruiser to Saturn VUE in SC!!! They still have me listed as driving that PT? At least on my current registration it is...SO..no license plates for me yet. (And mine just expired, go figure)

I have to phone the lien holder, and have them send a copy of the title so I can take THAT back to the license plate place and get my NC plates. But I can't get the plates UNTIL I am a licensed NC driver...and I couldn't do that until I had proof of insurance in NC...

Do you see how this goes round in circles?





So between yesterday and today...all I've accomplished is to order a new copy of my birth certificate (which had to be notarized at the bank) and ordered a replacement SS card (which may be here in 2 weeks.)

And if I get pulled over for driving on expired out of state plates, supposedly registered to another vehicle...what do I tell them? Will they believe this story? It's just INSANE here!

So...I blew off some steam looking at funky old quilts. What do you think of this one? I love how the spiderwebs are more "squarish!" Aren't they funky!? It all depends on how you draw that angle on your foundation, whether it comes out more round, or blocky. I think this one is fun...I never get tired of string piecing!

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The Source Of My Inspiration....

When Lucy and I went to Paducah last year, we stopped at EVERY antique shop we could find! I'm not even sure which shop this quilt was in,but we both fell in love with it. It is heavily quilted with very wonky baptist fans....it has CHEDDAR...it has "normal" blocks and then blocks that really are colored strange...all the things that make a great quilt in my book! (Click the pic to see the large version, and enjoy the variety of blocks and fabrics!)

As I've been cutting for this, I started out thinking I wanted the 3 fabrics in each block...one blue, one coral/pink, and one neutral. As I pulled strips, I'd measure to slice the 2" strips into the pieces I'd need, and sometimes I'd come up short...so just like this quilt, I started substituting...I tried to put my mind in the place of the maker with a limited scrap bag.

I didn't put red where the blues are supposed to go..I stayed pretty much in the same color family, but some of the blocks, instead of having 4 pink rectangles that match, are only going to have 3 that match, and one odd one that is similar, and maybe use 2 lights for the background, etc..or 2 blues in the cross parts. I'm not sure how it will look, but this is what I'm aiming for!

Oh my...there are 1980 something heart prints that I'm using...(Hey, if it's over 20 yrs old, it's vintage, right?)I wasn't going to use them, was going to pass them by...but putting myself in the mind of the maker of this antique quilt, if that piece was in HER bag.....would she have used it? I have no doubt she would have. So I did too!

I just mailed off my Patches & Pinwheels quilt to Quiltmaker for the Sept/Oct 08' issue. Seems funny to be thinking of fall already, when it hasn't warmed up enough to be SPRING yet! Lucky for me they wanted a quilt that was already done. Got some other articles in the works for the future too...never a dull moment around here!

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Quote For The Day!

The quote for today comes from our own quiltvillechat list member, Sherry Denton! She put my own feelings into words so well!

She wrote:

I can see that I need to be more open to color choices. Especially if it's fabric that I already have. I just straightened up my sewing room and I have so much fabric that it is almost embarrassing. I really need to be creative with what I have. It's funny that I have the orange fabric, but didn't really want to use it in this quilt. I don't know what am I saving if for? After all, what better place to use orange fabric than in a quilt called Orange Crush?

AMEN SHERRY!!!

I was playing with some blocks last night....I've always wanted to do a "crossed album" block, and finally sat down to it while watching some DVDs last night. My thought was that I could cut into the new FQ bundles that I bought for my birthday.

My thought was to pair up "something old" (from the scraps) with "something new" (from the bundles) so I was getting the satisfaction of playing with "new" fabrics while still using what pre-cut stuff I had on hand that has been maybe floating around here for a while.

I am going with a blue and salmon/coral/dirty pink color way. The FQ bundles look so pretty, and the fabrics are folded inside of each other in a special way, and tied up with a big fabric bow...I just couldn't take them apart! *LOL* But I told myself....I COULD take them apart if there was something I really needed/wanted in there....AFTER I pulled everything from my 2" strip bins that would work first.

I haven't cut into the new fabrics yet! I know I will...I don't have that many dirty pinky coral salmon colors in my pre-cut strips, but it is amazing what we can do when we start sewing with what we have instead of automatically running to the store. (Or starting with your scraps, before cutting into new yardage)

It's really easy to run out and buy a "kit" or a "jelly roll" and not ever have to learn yourself about what plays well together, what doesn't...and how to substitute one thing for another. I love the challenge of going through what I have and finding something to make it work. I've learned a lot about color and value and impact this way.

I joined the workout express lady's circuit gym yesterday! It's fun! And I can't believe it's only a mile up the road. My goal is to make it there 4 times a week. Weeks that I'm out of town, of course, I won't be able to,but it's a goal, and I need to get in the routine of going. No excuses! The hours are 8am to 1pm and 3pm to 8pm. I am sure with those hours I can find 30 minutes to do something for me. And I'm going right now!

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Better Than Chocolate!

Oh, MY GOODNESS!! It's Quilter's CANDY!!

My son called from the top of the stairs: "Mom, you've got another quilt box!"

I thought it was a quilt from a customer coming....I opened the box and there was all this popcorn styrofoam stuff....and then...I saw a basket handle!

Not only that, but there were delicious smells coming from the basket, and I couldn't fathom what it was!

I impatiently partially up-ended the box so that I could grasp the handle and pull the basket out. Styrofoam popcorn going EVERYWHERE! Imagine my surprise when I found three yummy candles and quilters candy: 1/2 square triangles already squared up and trimmed! And scraps...and FQ's!

Thanks SEW much Kathy! You made my day! I am going to love burning these candles in my studio, enjoying the yummy fragrance, and I'll think of you every time I sew some of your fun fabric bits into my projects!

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