Quilting Done!

I finished listening to "Atlas Shrugged" earlier this week. I was sad to reach the end...I wish the story could have gone on and on and on...what an intriguing plot! If you haven't read it (or listened to it) yet, put it at the TOP of your summer reading list!

I was talking to my Dad yesterday, and mentioned it..and he remembers reading it in the 60's (It was released 1957)and is going to read it again. I told him...if you think it applied THEN, you should reaquaint yourself with it NOW! Seriously. What a timely book!

So now that that is over *sigh*....I am back to listening to the Diana Gabaldon Outlander series...I'm all the way up to "Drums of Autumn" and I love these so much too. I've read them all...all the way through "A Breath of Snow and Ashes" and anxiously awaiting the next release due this fall. So in the mean time, I'm revisiting them by listening to the audio version while I drive and work on quilts.

The quilting is done on "Nines in the Middle".....and I am putting binding and a hanging sleeve on this morning in prep for doing the hand work in the evenings. Thanks for the comments on the quilting. You know, the longer I have quilted...the more I love a really good pantograph on a busy scrap quilt. It just adds another dimension more so to me than intricate heirloom by-the-block can. And when the quilt is so busy.....intricate quilting would be completely lost. I'm in awe of the designers that are out there now, and what they make available to us!

In the same way....when I play the piano...I am one of those who needs the sheet music in front of her to make beautiful music. I don't play by ear, and I don't do well by memory...so in a way, a pantograph pattern for my quilt, is like sheet music on the piano. The finished result is still beautiful, and it is no way "less" in my book!

The pattern on this one is "Wild at Heart" by Jodi Beamish and Willow Leaf Studio.

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Progress...

I know it's not fair to NOT show everything as I'm working on it. Especially when I've done that in the past. But there are some things I want to keep to myself, so they are NEW when the next book is released!

It is so fun to post a block, or something I am working on, and have it catch on like wildfire because we all want to join in and be inspired to try something new to use up the scraps.

And pretty soon, it's gone blog to blog to blog, and people are finishing my projects before I have a chance to finish my own...*LOL* So SOME stuff is going to stay under the wire until the release date, okay?

But since I've shown this one before....here is just a glimpse of the quilting process. And I probably will not post a pic of the full thing until it is time to be released :c) It's just a hint! Somewhere in my archives are more pics of these "Nine in the middle" blocks, and Chloe perching herself....okay....displaying herself in a very un-lady-like fashion, shameless hussy!....on top of them.

I do love how this is coming out...and happy for the time to be home and actually be Quilting SOMETHING!!!

PS...you know the humidity has settled in, in the south, when your pantograph paper patterns don't want to unfurl at all, and feel damp to the touch! I think I need a de-humidifier down here. *adding that to the list*

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Tuesday....feels like Monday....

I'm always this way after a holiday weekend! I feel like my week gets short-sheeted, instead of my weekend getting an extra day added to it. :c)

Yesterday was washed out mostly by the computer running around.....but i'm happy to report that it is all sorted out.

I've had many mails with people's hints and suggestions. I take them all into consideration. My main reason for taking the old puter to Geek Squad was to find out if it was worth fixing or not. It wasn't. The motherboard was completely fried. You could even smell the smoke from it blowing up inside.

That said, it was going to cost about $400 ($200 for parts...plus labor)to get it running again....and since it is over 3 years old, it would be running at a slower pace with less storage space and memory as what is available NEW. I bought an "out of the box" demo tower that didn't have to have a monitor come with it, or umpteen cords or anything I didn't need...and there was no down time, which there would have been if I had left my desktop there for fixing...I can't deal with the down time when I have so much to do, so this is what I've got. You know what they say? Even time is money! It works for me, and I'm happy with it. I still have lots of software to add, but will do that a bit at a time.

While DH was plugging me all in last night, I pieced a quilt back! The red plaid was not quite wide enough, so I dug into a box of 6" blocks and units, and pieced a stripe that will run down the back of the quilt, off center...just the way I like it :c) I'm happy to have found a place for these blocks and units to go, and it will make the back of the quilt extra fun, even though these blocks are totally unrelated to what is in the front.

The pieced stripe is going to end up wherever it ends up, completely unplanned...another way I love to work!

I've got some paperwork stuff to do, and a trip to the post office before they close, but I hope to get the top loaded and start the quilting on it by evening time.

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Yep, it's BROKEN!!!

I'm off to Best Buy. I need Geek Squad Help. (GSH) Sometime yesterday, I went to go check my mail. The computer was already ON from checking earlier in the day. You know how it goes into sleep mode in between times? It would NOT come OUT of sleep mode. I hit the button, it just blinked..I wiggled the mouse, it just blinked..nothing would wake the comatose thing up!

I held the button down, powered off, powered back on..and it wouldn't boot...so..*sniffles* Either something has taken over and gotten past the anti-virus, fire-wall, anti spam, anti-phishing, anti-spyware stuff...or some vital part of my computer has given up the ghost and passed into another realm.

I have laptop, so I'm okay for quicky stuff, but I really like a desktop (with a big ole huge monitor) for doing design work, etc. I planned on doing a lot of that this week since I don't have to leave home again until June 5th!

Puter is in the car....and either they'll be able to fix it, or I'll buy another one....it seems a computer just doesn't last longer than 4 years around here. Bummer.

PS...I am back from Best Buy. I went from Best Buy to Sam's Club and back....and the Best Buy WAS at Best Buy. (This is sounding reduntant!!) Turns out that my mother board went up in smoke...it was going to cost around $200 for the new board, plus about the same for the installation....not worth fixing it at this point.

They had a floor model on sale..monitor not included (good because I didn't want to pay for another one because I don't NEED another one) and it has more space and is much faster than my old one. So I'm sorted. I just have to go back and pick it up after the Geek Squad has removed the demo software from it. I'm a happy camper. Really, I did look at macs..but just can't justify the $1800+ for it when All I needed was to spend $450. Maybe some day. I know people who have macs love them....but then so do people who drive BMWs. I'm just not in that category in being able to justify the price :c)

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