As if I have nothing else to do….Prime Day strikes and I feel the need to try Diamond painting. Why? It was prime Day. I only spent $3 (on this). My little sister Kellie always liked to do diamond painting. So, why not. In my mind, I could complete this, put some quilting around it and hang on the door for Valentine’s Day. Makes sense, right?
I know nothing about how this works. Looks pretty simple, but trying to figure out how these tiny things stick to the canvas….. I will figure it out or watch a youtube video.
I really did control myself on Prime Day. There were sewing items and Fabric.com deals. I had things in my cart a zillion times, but managed to come to my senses. Good thing because Connecting threads had a 20 fat quarter pack for $14 yesterday. I could not, in good conscience, let that go. I did not. Awaiting its arrival. Funny, I actually bought that same fat quarter pack for a project a while back for $45.
Hope all your projects are moving forward. I’ll let you know how the diamond painting goes…..
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.
This is the cutest darn thing…… but I think anything with dogs is cute. I am sure you know, I am a crazy dog lady. I love my puppies. My daughter and I were at the quilt store and I saw the “scrabble” panel. I bought it. These are all my dogs including the ones that are waiting for me over the rainbow bridge. The ones not here with me have a little gold halo over the first letter of their name. I frequently dream about my dogs not here. In my dreams we are sitting around the table talking. My Koko is apologizing to Clover for making fun of her for only having three legs. Darby is apologizing for knocking bread off the counter and eating it. They always tell me I am the best Mom.
Now I need to quilt and find a place to hang it.
I enjoyed the three day weekend. It was not long enough. I finished piecing another table runner. I made about a dozen pillow cases for the Guild’s charity.
I finally got my sourdough starter ready to make bread.
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
This is an ancient Alien. Â Can you tell I am a Science nerd? Â Yes, I have watched that show. Â My daughter and I even have nick names for some of the people. Â If you have ever watched it, you will know who Crazy Hair is.
I started this quilt about 20 years ago. Â It was oddly a paper pieced project. Â I obviously had no idea what I was doing. Â I am not sure how a paper pieced project could have blocks so wonky. Â I don’t think there are any 2 the same size. Â I actually think I participated in a fabric swap for food fabric. Â I still have a ton left, but I think it’s time to see if I can make a wall hanging that does not look too awful. Â If it comes out, I have a spot in my kitchen across from my pantry for it.
This will be my One monthly Goal. Â My plan is to complete it entirely. Â We will see. Â It may be to wonky to put together. Â I also seemed to use a lot of starch back then. Â weird.
If any of you need some pieces (maybe 5×7″) food fabric let me know. Â I have a stack. Â I was going to use them on the back, but just went with black.
SISTER STORY
So, I have been having such a difficult time with the loss of my sweet sister Kellie. Â It had affected me far more than I expected. Â I know loss all to well, but this one is so very different for me. Â Anyways….. I was coming home from the grocery store today…alone (very unusual) and thinking. Â I had not dreamed about Kellie since she died. It bothers me a lot. Â So, I talked to her and told her of my concerns. Â I just wanted a dream, a sign, something.
I came home and put the groceries away. Â I went to the family room and turned on the TV. Â As I was sitting on the couch flipping through the channels, I noticed an odd flickering out of the corner of my eye. Â I ignored it, thinking I was crazy. Â It kept happening. Â I turned and looked and one of a string of recessed lights was slowly going on and off. Â It stopped, I looked away. Â It started happening again. Â I turned and looked at it and said “Is that you Kel?” Â It blinked on and off quickly and then did not happen again. Â I am not sure what I believe or if I am half way to crazy town. Â Odd coincidence. Â In the photo, Kellie is on the left and I am on the right.
I feel like it has been forever since I have done a blog post. Â Way too much going on. Â My daughter has had some crazy virus. Â SHe is getting better, but we are still doing breathing treatments three times a day. Â Kevin has also been sick. Â Amazingly, the person with the compromised immune system (me) has managed to stay healthy.
I managed to completed my One Monthly Goal amidst the insanity.  I really love this quilt.  I have names it Hugs and Kisses.  I quilted circles on this quilt (hugs).  They don’t look to bad.  I used freezer paper.  basically, I used a protractor (showing my age) to draw circles on freezer paper and then sewed on the lines.  The freezer paper was good but I did learn a few things.  First being, don’t iron all the pattens on at once.  Just iron on a few at a time.  I initially ironed them all on and manipulating them under the machine caused them to loosen.  I eventually, pulled them off and only put them on one row at a time.  Then I had no more issues.  I will use the freezer paper method again.  I ended up using a sulky thread that was sort of an Ombre orange.  It went from dark orange to light orange.
I got to make this quilted wall hanging for free. Â My local quilt shop Red Rooster Quilts gives a free quilt block every two weeks. Â I am already collecting my next set, which is a lovely christmas wall hanging.
I really like this wall hanging and plan on hanging it in my family room. Â I think it is because I really like orange fabric.
QuiltingNeeds.com 