Lynn and I headed off to Ohio Country for a mini-retreat. We stayed at the historic Millersburg hotel! It has such a history. It also has quilts hanging everywhere.
What did I do?
I made the ghost Blocks. There was a lot of swearing involved. I don’t really care for stitch and flip, and that was necessary. Since there were only 5 blocks in this runner, I suffered through it and swore a lot. It is cute.I also worked on my holiday placemats. I am hopeful that I can get them done.
Not perfect, but tolerable.
Guild Retreat
We are planning a retreat for our guild and hope to have it here. They have a large room that we can use free of charge. It is a beautiful room with high ceilings and exposed brick walls. We are hoping for the first weekend in March. We are hoping we will have 15-20 ladies from our guild join. Something to look forward to in early Spring. I am sure I will need it by then.
Good question. I sometimes wonder what I am doing. I quilted, on my domestic, my scrabble dog wall hanging. I needed something to do that would take me a bit of uninterupted time. Sometimes when I have a lot on my mind (or just anxiety in general), I want to work on something that requires my undivided attention. This has been basted and staring at me for quite a few weeks. I figured it would take me 1-1.5 hours after I got set up to complete the quilting. I was not far off the mark.
I did find, that since I don’t really quilt much on my domestic machine, except straight line, that I now suck at free motion quilting on it. It is possible that it is because iut requires strenght (shoulders, I think) that I don’t have and may never have. I used my dog boine ruler. Not sure why they are called rulers, they don’t actually measure anything. I did take a photo of one of the better-looking areas (LOL).
Anxiety, who me?
Haha. Crazy anxiety. That’s me. I am a worrier by nature., I think I got that from my mother. She was a worrier. So anxiety is just an added bonus.
What causes me to be insane? Well, last week on Wednesday, I woke up unable to walk. Awesome. The absolute most severe pain I have ever felt, everytime I put my right leg down. Words can not describe this pain. Thinking my post (artificail knee) had finally come loose after 25 years, I had my daughter drive me to the ER. Nope, knee not loose. Not much we can help you with, go to your ortho. Six weeks wait. Try someone local. Eww, not what I usually want to do, living outside the city. The local doctors in the rural world have always scared me. But, they agreed to see me that day. I was pleasantly surprised. Young Doc, who told me that my pain was likely coming from my hip (even though it did not hurt). Told me the answer was to shoot up the aggravated knee with medication and then come back on Friday and have the same thing done to my hip. It worked! However, now, I can add hip arthritits and all the goodies that come with that to my crappy resume. I also now keep crutches by the door of the bedroom in case it happens again. This is one of the many reasons I am half crazy. What lovely thing will I wake up with tomorrow? If this is getting old, I have a strong understanding of why people fight it.
Fun Coming!
Fun is needed. Going on a mini-retreat in Amish country in Ohio, with my quilting partner in crime Lynn and maybe one other person (hopefully Sharon comes because she seems like she would be fun). We are staying at a historic hotel. Not only is it a retreat center, but they have ghost hunts. LOL. It is has Victorian Era Decor and past presidents have stayed there (Grover Cleveland). Hotel Millersburg is in the heart of Ohio Amish Country (AKA lots of quilt shops). Photos to come….
So, I am collecting up my projects that I will work on and looking forward to the great escape.
I know many many people hate Wal-Mart Fabric. Not always my favorite, but sometimes, I can’t help myself. This year’s Wal-Mart valentine Fabric was all Dog stuff. Being the crazy Dog lady, when I could by 47 yards of fabric of dog prints for under $20, I was not going to say NO. Even If I used this to make charity pillowcases, it could not be beat. And, it’s Dogs. Along with these 1 yard cuts I got about 50 fat quarters. I have a couple favorite dog rescues and hope to make something for them with all the cute doggie stuff.
Cool Tools – A RocketBook
So, at Christmas, I received a RocketBook. While I intitally got it for work, the first thing I did was use it for quilting…..
So, What is a Rocket Book? It is a reusable Notebook that allows you to save stuff to crazy places.
How it works: The Rocket Book uses erasable pens. You can write, draw and scribble and have them automatically save to wherever you designate. Sounds crazy, but the geeky nerd in me finds this little gem quite useful. The second photo shows where I am sending my pages to. You will notice that there is a QR code in the bottom left of each page. Once you download the rocket book app on your phone or tablet, you tell it where you want things sent. On the bottom of each page there are shapes that are tied to where you want your notes/drawings to go. Once you complete a page, you put an X through the picture (tells Rocket Book where to send) and use the app to snap a photo and it automagically goes there.
I have a Rocket Book Fusion – There are tons of different sizes with all different kind of pages. Project List, gridded paper, lined paper, calendar. Once you save your page, you wet your cloth (comes with it) and wipe off. It uses Frixion pens (comes with one), which many of us already have. I of course bought a pack of many colors (Wal-Mart has them, you can see my crazy quilt doodles)
Creative Notions Strikes again
This is my second subscription bag from Creative Notions. I really like this. It is $45.00 and I feel I really get my money’s worth. I love the panel and fat quarter pack that came in this month’s bag. I plan on making it for my front door. I better get moving, spring is right around the corner, hopefully. There is a pattern included (which I plan on using for the wall hanging). There is also a pattern to make a bag and all the straps/hardware are included. At my guild there are a couple of ladies that make the most beautiful bags, so I am anxious to try this. There are also two more patterns and a 45mm rotary blade and candy (always has some candy in there, which my daughter immediately claims). Just sharing something I think is cool. Looking forward to the next one. Happy Sewing, Happy Quilting
I feel I am allowed to make fun of myself. So, what dumb thing did I manage to do this time? As I was getting out of my lovely new hot tub, the steps slipped and I went with them. Falling about 3 and half feet to the concrete. Let’s see I had a baseball on the back of my head, the underneath part of my arm is black and blue, about a soccer ball sized bruise on my left side rib cage and and equally sized one on my backside. Also sprained
a wrist and black and blue right kneecap (not sure how that one happened everything else was left side). Needless to say, everything hurts. Thank god it was dark out. I imagine it was quite a site. Of course my cell phone went flying so I had to crawl to it to call Kev for some help. He spent the rest of the night checking on me to make sure I did not have a concussion. Well, I am pretty sure this will take a bit of time to recover. Thank God I did not break my arm or wrist. It would have seriously impacted my projects. Whew.
So, when I am not falling down, I seem to be wandering form project to project, not doing what I really should be doing. These baby bibs have been laying on my sewing cabinet unfinished for months, so I picked them up and finished them. I will put them in the cedar chest for my one-day grandchild. They are up-cycled from my jeans. I need to be working on my one monthly goal and my quarterly goals, but of course I am doing something else.
This weekend I am supposed to be attending Quilt Wars with my Quilt Guild, however, given my current condition, I am not sure I am going to make it. I am uncomfortable sitting, laying basically anything. The only place I am not uncomfortable is in the hot tub and that is what started the whole mess in the first place. Ugh.
So, a while back I had a blog post about more money for quilting. It was using a couple of grocery store apps called Ibotta and Checkout51. They let you earn money back on everyday things you buy at the grocery store. It really is stuff you already buy. Bread, bacon, potatoes etc…
I am not usually a big proponent of apps or shopping apps. However, when I saw this on the nightly news I had to look. I decided I would give it a try. Just my nature to try something at least once.
This brings me to my point. I needed some fusible web, and a couple of pieces of Kona, and a couple of other miscellaneous items. I spent about 90$, then with my coupons got it down to $61.00. I used 3-$20.00 gift cards I got instantly form the Ibotta shopping app (because I had been using it at the grocery store) when I cashed in and paid $1.01 for my bag of goodies. Then scanned my Joann’s receipt into the same Ibotta app and earned an additional $6.00 back for next time. I love a great deal, especially when it involves my favorite stuff.
I try not to take money out of the regular budget to feed my quilting addiction, so it makes me really happy when I can get a bag of goodies and pay nothing for it (or at least very little) and no one is the wiser. Just thought I would mention it for those who have to eat and quilt and sometimes hide their quilting purchases. Sort of free money. I would love to send you a link as I can earn points, but that is not why I am telling you. It is just so us quilters/crafters can feed our habit without feeling too guilty. If you are interested, please email me at labrewer@gmail.com and I will send you a link.
Even if you don’t like to buy fabrics @ Joanns, they sell plenty of other supplies we all need. In the words of my daughter, “just sayin”. Have a great Day.
So, I am trying to get back to my normal life. My daughter is home from the hospital, which is great. But, you do sort of trade one set of circumstances for another. Glad not to be running to the hospital, but there is a lot to do having her home also. This weekend is the Quilt Retreat. It has been a while since I have been to one. Part of me feels like I should be staying home and part of me can’t wait to go. Kevin tells me I am going…… I have been gathering my things together in my new wheeled “I am going to a retreat” case.
Since this is a mystery quilt retreat, I have been spending 10 minutes here and there cutting out the pieces that I need. I am done, need to label them and get them into bags all sorted. I have never done a mystery quilt, so this is a new experience for me. I used some fabrics that I had purchased previously and then purchased a couple other coordinating fabrics. I will post photos as we go.
Now for the what to pack?…. Wine (check), Diet Pepsi (Check). I am guessing I should consider a sewing machine and other supplies. We will be leaving at 6am Friday morning, so I really need to be ready by Thursday night. That should be a challenge.
We are staying at the Berlin Hotel and resort. Since it has been so warm here, the trees are just starting to change, so it will be very beautiful. Fall in Ohio tends to be very picturesque. Can’t wait to go to one of my favorite shops , Millers Dry Goods and there is a shop hop going on. WooHoo!
There are quite a few Aldi’s store around these days. If you haven’t visited one, you should. I first became familiar with Aldi’s in Germany. It was the grocery store I went to with my mother when we were in Germany. It is not quite the same as in the US, but they have some really awesome savings and great German products if you’re into that. I am, but I also love saving money.
Here in the US, Aldo’s is known as a discount store. But if you are thinking that it is cheap, it’s just not true. It may be less expensive, but nearly all of it is really good. Besides, milk comes from cows. Eggs come from chickens. Not much that can change with that. Why pay more?
Last week, I bought eggs for $.89 and a gallon of milk for $1.79. It costs way more in the regular Kroger, Super Walmart etc…
Besides regular staples you will find a wide array of other items. It is not all Aldi’s brand, but some is. If you like Sauerkraut, theirs is really good. Reminds me of what Mom used to make. Also, at the holidays, they have all kinds of German candy and cookies (and some regular USA varieties also).
Yesterday we had some German Frankfurters from Aldi’s. Sooo Good. So if you are looking to save money or year round Oktoberfest items, you should check out Aldi’s. It is worth the trip. Remember to bring your own bags.
QuiltingNeeds.com 