old business, new business

First old business: That photo that I am trying to make a quilt out of is of Jorge Luis Borges, a famous Argentine writer.  My daughter is a lit major, and she finds him very interesting and likes his writing. (I am going to practice saying no, she has another year to go). LOL Borges is still at the same stage as the last time you saw him.

Friday was a busy day.In the afternoon started  packing up DD stuff to go back to school. Of course she did not do anything to get organized. We even had to go out in the garage and go through stuff she brought home in the spring. grrrr. Luckily I brought all her bedding and fabric stuff in and washed it right away in the spring and stored it, so all that was ready. We space bagged her clothes and that made them much more compact!  Saturday bright and early we loaded up the car (loaded being the operative word) and headed south.  My daughter and I enjoyed the drive down to school, talking all the way. One of her room-mates was already there and she helped us unload the car. Then we made an expensive trip to Target and the grocery store and then unloaded all that stuff. Then the long drive home for me. I am always excited for her to get back to school because she loves it, but a little hard for me to leave her.

Oh, I remembered to take a picture of the Halloween quilt hanging in the shop.

Thursday was guild night. It was a lot of fun and a chance to see friends that I only see at guild. The speaker was funny and very interesting. It was Anelie Belden, her book is on dresden plates updated. Amazing trunk show. Take a look at her book if you see it.
 Friday morning two of my friends took me to a quilt shop that I have never been to before. It was a lot of fun. First I saw these charm packs (you know how much I love charm packs) and I exerted control by only getting two of them. I also found a couple of reds in the sale section.

Then I saw these patterns and added them to my pile.

These Kaffe fabrics were right inside the door and they called my name. I tried to ignore them, but I just couldn't. At the register there was a bundle of  fat quarters that were all dots! How can you not get dots?
So much for my resolve to  finish some things before buying anything else.

One last little pic, my Snowbound block. I am sewing sewing to get all my BOMs done before another month starts and I fall behind.

The hubby had a tooth pulled today so I am on "Nurse" duty. Better go check on him before he starts thumping on the floor. LOL Just kidding about the thumping.
Happy stitching!

Out of the box?

My daughter (the younger) is an interesting person. When she gets into something, she will look it up on the internet and go to the library and read everything she can find. She has interests that are varied, for example she reads the classics, poetry,and then she will be reading Peanuts.  What does that have to do with quilting you might ask.  Well, let me tell you.

She came home from school and asked me to make a quilt from a book cover. (The book cover was the author's photo).I said "I can't do that". Being persistant she kept bringing up the quilt. I kept making excuses. Summer went on and she continued to pester me. Finally I told her that I would need a much bigger photo than the paperback cover. I figured I would be safe since she usually doesn't follow through when she is supposed to do something. So she brings home a copy of the cover that is only slightly bigger than the original. So I tell her that it is still too small and a few other lame excuses.

Now she usually keeps at me and I usually cave in and do what she wants. First I wished that I was Theri (or at least had a little of her talent). Then I went to Kinkos and blew the copy of the cover up as large as I could. I hung it next to my design wall. When DD came home she started doing a dance and shouting about her quilt being on the work que. I made her crawl around the floor and grid the photo. So this is it:

Next, I selected some fabric and cut it up. Then I got the fusible grid ready and took the pieces up to start laying them out. The pieces were the wrong size. Arrrggg. I could not figure out what was wrong, I used this grid before. Next day I went to the shop to check out the grid and see if I got the wrong stuff. At the shop I measured the grid and it was right. sigh. I went home knowing that I had to recut all those little fabric squares. Still puzzled I measured the grid at home and then the pieces. LIGHT BULB ON. I had cut two different sized pieces and I picked up the wrong ones. (Color my face red). So I retrieve the correct pieces from the cutting table and we start to do the layout.

I tell DD that I just do not know if I can maked this work. She tells me that he is a post-modern impressionistic writer, so it just needs to be an impression, not a realistic photo like image. Ok. Good. 
This is it so far.

Happy stitching.

the computer is back

Boy I hate it when my computer is out of commission. I felt so out of touch. Today I got caught up on the blogs and took a quick pass through facebook. I feel reconnected, ahhhhh.  So what is new around here? Well my girls spent all of last week end at Lalapalooza. That is a three day music fest in Chicago. They started off with Lady Gaga and went on and on .... They had a good time and there was a little bit of a break in the heat wave, not much, but more tolerable for out door activities.

I got this package from Mary, Thanks for the beautiful  blocks and a magazine.

As you know, I teach a beginner class at the LQS. The class covers rotary cutting, 1/4 inch seams, basic stuff. Anywho, I was looking for something in the sewing room (that is the room that looks like a natural disaster occurred there) and I found some fabric that I thought would be great to make the nine patch quilt that we teach in the beginners class. So of course, I started another top ( you do see how I get into trouble?) and this is what it looks like now. I have pieces at every stage for class demo. I am not sure if I will quilt this right away (LOL) because we only do the top in the first set of classes. 

A vendor we use for wool kits, Wooly Lady, sent us this little bell pull kit. I stitched it up and it is hanging in the shop (minus the bell). Wooly Lady uses bright hand dyed wool and the colors are just so pretty. I actually did another bell pull a couple of weeks ago but I forgot to take a photo.  I have a couple of other wooly kits that are mine that I hope to get to soon.(Sorry about the sideways photo).

I did this whole quilt top for the shop too. The pattern is from Buttermilk Basin and it was really fun to do. I have a close up of one block and somehow I lost the photo of the whole top. I must have deleted it accidentally. I will take another photo of the top hanging at the shop.

My DD#1 loves owls. This is a new thing for her, but when this fabric came in I had to make her a pillow just for fun.

Last weekend another LQS had their Quilt show and sign up for fall classes. I am taking primative rug hooking. I will let you see how I do when I take the class. (Like I need another project). You will be proud of me though... my friend wanted to join a BOM  to do the quilt from the book  Hobo Quilts and I said NO!  Really, I said no.  I am going to the lecture by the author next month and that is all. I must control this addiction.

I have my blocks ready for the APQ swap and I am sending them today. 

OH, DD#2 and I did some yarn shopping yesterday. We had so much fun. Then we got some food, and watched the movie "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" and did a little knitting. (See ,more projects).

Well happy stitching everyone and try to stay cool if you are in the middle of this heat wave.

Computer sick!

My poor computer caught a virus. I dropped it off today and I hope to have it back at the end of the week. I do have photos to share as soon as I get my laptop back.
The one I am using now has very little memory so I can't do any photos on it. Hopefully, I will have a regular post in a few days.