Another finish

I managed to get this one labeled last night - a HeartStrings top pieced by Marianne which will go to Alycia for her Quilts of Valor project - it was the one I was binding on Veteran's Day. Quilted with my Swirls template from Circle Lord.

And look what came in the mail from Deb. I found the cutest napkin pattern and sent it to her as a gift...I'm not saying I did it so I'd get some too but I can't say it wasn't in the back of my mind that she might make me a set. Thanks Deb!

Deb's made these in several colors already.
Black and Red
Tropical AND a Christmas set

Now I can't delay my cleaning any longer....


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I hate cleaning

I've been pretty spoiled - Keith and the boys always helped and even did the bulk of the cleaning and then for a few years in GA, I had someone come in and clean but this week I'm on my own. We have company coming on Friday and Keith is out of town so I can't even rope him into helping me out.

I've been doing bits and pieces of it all week but tomorrow the bulk of it has to be done - after spending all of today running errands - I'm not too thrilled with another day I won't be able to quilt. Did I mention I'm spoiled?


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I love when it snows at night

I just took Chesty out one last time before we head to bed - there's a light dusting of snow and there's still a little coming down. I love the quiet and light of a snowy night.

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Veteran's Day

Both my father and father-in-law were veterans and while I feel fortunate that my husband and sons have not HAD to serve in the military, I'm grateful for those that do.

This photo was taken in September when we visited my father-in-law's burial site in Arlington National Cemetery. I'm commemorating today by working on a HeartStrings quilt that will go to a wounded soldier via Alycia's project.

For those of you interested in digital scrapbooking, there's a free kit with papers and elements here : Veteran's Day 2008


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I wasn't going to bore you

Really, I wasn't going to bore you with a blow by blow account of my learning experiences with Photoshop Elements but I thought this technique was appropriate for a quilting blog and some of you might be interested.

I'd seen stitch elements in some of the digital scrapbook pages and wanted to learn how to do it so I did a google search and came up with this brief explanation.... my stitch length is probably too short. By the way, I only created the one line of stitches and then I cut and pasted it into the other spots.


I'd also seen some pages using a photograph as a background and thought I'd try that - can you tell the background photo is right after his surgery? and the insert is now?

I realize that making scrapbook pages for a DOG is rather pathetic but he's a cuter subject than Keith or I and I'm creating the pages to learn techniques...not necessarily because I feel the need to document the dog's life (it's just a coincidence that the stitching tutorial also used a doggie photo).


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#5 of 10

Pieced by the quilters at St. Mary's in CT and quilted with freeform Baptist Fans here's my first quilt under the new lights and the 5th top for the month. I also made some bindings and pieced a back today so I'm moving my way down the list.



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Let there be light!

What a huge difference. I could have gotten the longer track - I debated whether to get 6 or 8 feet and went with 6 feet...and I definitely am going to add one more light - maybe even two but it's already 500% better than what I had in here. And it's positioned perfectly so no shadows!

By the way, doesn't that big plain wall need a quilt on it?? Now that I have some light, I need to try and organize the room a little better and put some things on the walls.



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Stashbusting/Sunday Report

No stash in, and a fair amount of progress this week although I haven't sewn a single stitch today.

• Small strippie pieced by Cecile quilted - backing from my stash
• StringX from Barbara in FL quilted
• Marianne's QOV top quilted
• My green HeartStrings top quilted - the blocks were from stash, the backing was donated.
• No fabric purchased.

My track lighting will be installed tomorrow - cross your fingers that all goes well so I can get back to work on my November to do list.


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Can you handle more Scrabble tiles?

After trying multiple sizes for these *pages* I've finally decided that I'll work in a 7x5 format. I thought I was choosing between 8.5 x 11 and 8x8 both of which can be printed here at home but I like this size best. I can print here or online and realized tonight that I should even be able to print my own cards using this size. I know it's not quilting but I'm having fun!


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Yes, I did work today

If I only had myself to consider, I'd stay up every night and sleep late every day and still get lots done. Since Keith is out of town, I worked until 9:30PM tonight - loaded and quilted this HeartStrings top of mine which will go to someone I care about who is facing more challenges and grief than any young man should have to.


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Doesn't this look cozy?

My local coffee shop - a 5 block walk. Lots of warm colors and exposed brick, free wireless - I love it here!

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Am I quilting?

As my son Adam says, "not yet". First I decided I needed to make an entire scrabble alphabet. We're having a few flurries so I walked out to our neighborhood coffee shop - I'd hoped for a little more but the forecast looks clear for the rest of the week.I did manage to get these 3 trimmed and ready for binding and pulled a top and back to load later this afternoon. Keith left this morning and will be gone until Friday so I should have plenty of time to quilt although I do have to clean as his sister will be visiting next weekend.
I picked up my track lighting today and the electrician is scheduled to come Monday afternoon....yeah!

The tutorial I tried to use was here. I think my letters are better than the ones in the tutorial but they're not perfect by any means - if anyone wants a copy of the PNG or PSD file I'll be glad to share.


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Just to show I can

My letter tiles aren't perfect but the tutorial while it led me in the right direction, wasn't exactly what I needed for Photoshop Elements - it was close enough to allow me to figure it out. Kind of silly, but I learned more about the program.

Click photo to enlarge

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Just for fun

After seeing some of the Photoshop pages I've been working on, my son Chris started playing around with a free graphics program called GIMP.

He emailed me this page tonight ~ can you believe he put his Dad in the lead?? I made him send me the tutorial for making the Scrabble letters so you may be seeing a page from me one of these days.



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Is your heat on yet?

Although you may not see it clearly, this evergreen bush outside my studio window highlights our transition from fall to winter. I see the fallen leaves and frozen drops of rain.

I think we're going to be lucky with our heating costs this year - we've been having some snow flurries (and rain) today and the temp is 35 but inside the house, it's 69. We tend to keep our thermostat really low since we're in and out and I dress in layers. I did go ahead and turn the heat on although I set the thermostat at 60 for now.


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# 3 of 10

After my tension issue yesterday, I frogged (ripped out) the bad stitches and then didn't come back to this until today. Now it's done! The top was pieced by Marianne, a HeartStrings quilter, for Alycia's QOV Project, quilted with my Swirls template, and it's the 3rd of 10 tops on my list to be quilted this month.

I got a call from the lighting place that my order is already in - that was fast since I just placed it yesterday and they told me it would probably be 2-3 weeks. Now I have to line up an electrician to install it and then I will be able to see my quilting! (I hope).

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Do you have plans on Nov 29th & 30th?

Since we learned how to make pillowcases at the HeartStrings sew-in last month, we're going to have Pillowcase Party and see how many we can send to Alycia for her Quilts of Valor project.

Details are on the HeartStrings blog including a link to instructions to create a "no exposed seam" pillowcase.



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#3 loaded but not much progress today

After running around to pack and ship a couple HeartStrings quilts, I went to the lighting store to order the track lights for my longarm room.

A stop at the coffee shop, a walk home, reading...I was having a leisurely day until I decided it was time to get off my butt and loaded a top on the longarm...positioned and anchored my Swirls template....I even started quilting but a tension snafu lead to an hour of frogging. It's all set now to resume quilting but I decided to walk Chesty and read some more - I'll go back to quilting later...maybe even tomorrow.



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# 2

#2 of 10 is done, loaded and quilted today - this String X top was pieced by Barbara in FL from a pattern at Bonnie's Quiltville site. The colors aren't quite true in this photo due to the late afternoon light in my studio but the backing peeking out in the top (L) corner of the photo was pieced by Sheree and was just perfect for this top.

Speaking of lighting in my longarm room - I've decided to put in some track lighting to brighten up that room. Luckily, Keith is agreeable and I've picked out the lighting and just have to line up the electrician.


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Not to get into a political discussion but

I'm heading out to vote - I'm completely disgusted with the entire election process and the crap I've been exposed to on TV, the radio, in print and I'm ready for it to be over.

Is it to much to ask for those running for public office to focus on THEMSELVES and what makes them worth electing.


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Another 10 for November

It's nice to start the month by marking something off my list! The first very cute top, pieced by Cecile and sent to me to finish and donate, is done. I used a pantograph - Happy Times which is one of my favorites for kids quilts and it works up quickly.

November's to do list carries unfinished items from last month and a goal of quilting 10 tops by the end of the month.


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More MPLS photos

What a gorgeous Sunday afternoon!

click photo to enlarge

We went biking and then as I was sitting here sorting photos, I glanced over at Chesty and all I saw was the gold filling the window.


Of course, since that photo was not a good one of Chesty, I had to shoot just one more.


By the way, I thought it was interesting how many people commented that they enjoy seeing my Minneapolis photos last week when I asked people to introduce themselves. Since the city is one of my favorite subjects, it was nice to hear that you aren't bored with them. I feel blessed to live in such a beautiful setting.


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Stashbusting/Sunday report

I haven't been keeping up with my reports...not so much because I haven't been making progress but it seems like it takes me forever to *count* my yardage used because I wait until a project is completed to count.

This week's progress

• Quilted my Aunt's pillow shams and mailed them out to her.
• Quilted my sister's wallhanging - this had a backing from my stash - just a yard but still - it counts!
• Finished the binding on my Boxed squares - I haven't calculated the yardage yet but it was all from stash too.
• Although I added fabric last Saturday, this week I added NONE. I even *shopped* online twice and then deleted my shopping cart before checking out.
  

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A quiet weekend

I can't believe it's November already! I didn't get through my October to do list but surprisingly, I'm not really upset. I did get a lot done but also took time out to travel, to walk, to read....it was a good month!

For November, I'm going to set a goal of quilting another 10 tops...and I'm going to set aside the wallhanging for Ann until after I do a couple low stress HeartStrings tops. I'm also going to pull out my Swirls template from Circle Lord this month and I think I'll alternate freehand quilting and using the swirls.

This weekend I'm working on the finishing touches on this wallhanging of Maureen's. I want to get it done and shipped back to her.

Keith and I started another Scrabble *tournament* and unfortunately, I'm down 0-2 games. I'm going to have to study up - I hate losing!


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