Have you been bit by the 4 Patch Stacked Posie bug yet??

EDIT NOTE December 2012:  The Photo Hosting site I used "Webshots" is no longer in operation.  I do have a slide show ----->>>> over along the side and at this point it will have to do until I figure something else out.  I know a lot of folks looked at the album each week so I'll try and find another way to show them.


Since I haven't had much time for quilting myself... I may as well encourage as many others as I can. I just figured out how to add a slide show... so here ya go... 4 Patch Stacked Posies!

Advanced warning - don't watch these pictures if you have no self control because this has proven to be a contagious and addictive process.

4 Patch Stacked Posies are a pattern by HD Designs - I promise that you will look at fabric in a whole new way!

These pictures are in my Webshots Album - they are a collection of pictures of quilts - mine, my sisters, friends, and students. I taught 4 Patch Posie classes for more than a year at a quilt shop I worked at and have been amazed at the beautiful quilts that twirl into being. Enjoy!


4 Patch Stacked Posies

Update: Look at this 4PSP (4 Patch Stacked Posie) that Doodlebug Gail is working on... it's going to make a beautiful quilt - I just love florals! Can't wait to see it finished!

La, La, La, La, La, La, La...

No I'm not singing Christmas Carols... I'm just trying to keep my sanity!

Have you ever been stuck behind a slow moving Uhaul trailer? Annoying ain't it?!

Now imagine having to stay behind the Uhaul trailer because it's your husband driving the pickup truck hauling it... and it is very windy so you are going much slower than you'd like.

How long would it take you to get tired of reading the same 'Uhaul Ad' plastered on the back of the trailer - over and over and over again in your head? You can't help it - those words are right there and you are looking at it for hours and hours on end (at least 8 hours)... Did you know Uhaul has boxes? AND that you can return unused boxes...

I finally just started doing La, La, La's every time I started reading 'Boxes...' La, La, La... see!!

And it doesn't help to stay 10 car lenghts back... you can still see 'Boxes...' La, La, La...

One week... later than the last...

Here I sit - the closing was today - I am no longer a home owner... I am an official apartment dweller.

Part One of the move is over - Part Two starts in a couple weeks when we move to a townhouse a little closer to where my husband will be working. The final phase - Part 3 will be when we find a house and/or decide to build... but we have a 6 month lease at the townhouse - so we've got time to ponder all those issues.

The past week has been busy enough to be a blur. I have a few 'moving stories' to tell but I'm gonna ponder them a bit... maybe over there on the couch with my eyes closed. Zzzzzz Zzzzz Zzzzzzzzz

One week...

Just one week left in this house... man - I'm so ready to be out of here!

Tonight as I was hauling trash cans down to the curb I could see into the living room windows. I couldn't help but think to myself... it isn't my living room, it isn't my house. My living room has red walls - the walls through the window are brown. This isn't my house.

The rooms are pretty much devoid of furniture - a few boxes and suitcases are scattered through out the house. I've pretty much finished sorting through the last of the clutter boxes. I've got one more carton to send to the shredding company thanks to a couple of boxes my eldest daughter managed to leave behind when she headed to San Diego. It was full of receipts and statements from 2002... there was only a small handful of stuff I thought she might want or need to keep... a very small handful.

I can't believe how tired I am at the end of the day... I was ready for bed at 6:30 pm tonight.

I have put a hold on a 3 bedroom townhouse with a garage in Pennsylvania and have requested a move in date of December 22nd. We have to be out of the MD apartment by the end of December - so that will give us a couple weekends (and the holiday) to make that move. So after getting out of here - we get to go and pack up the Maryland apartment and get ready to move out of there.

I'm pretty sure I'll be ready for a vacation in January! It doesn't have to be a week in the sun and the sand... nope - I'll be happy with a 'box free zone'... and with 3 bedrooms and a garage - that's going to be easy to achieve! WaaaHooo!

One week... in one week I'll be closer to that 'box free zone'.

A Quilters Gathering

I'm sitting here tonight pondering the past few days...

They have been filled with friendship, laughter, design, color, inspiration, and relaxation.

A Quilters Gathering is a quilt show held each year in Nashua, New Hampshire.

I've done the 'day trips' out to see the show and visit with quilting friends - but the best possible way to experience this is to go and stay at the hotel for a few days with your friends.

A little bit of 'show and tell', a little bit of 'this is how you do that', a whole lot of laughing, shopping, sewing, and ooooing and aahhing goes on.

Yep, I sure needed that! And now - I can't wait till next year!

Excess...

EXCESS... this is a topic I've been Pondering a lot lately!

As I've cleaned out this house preparing to move - I've become very aware of the excesses I have lived with.

We stuffed all kinds of things away - some items we had to have but never used much and yet couldn't part with?? Clothes that haven't fit for years... so I've decided if I do get to that size again... honey I'm going shopping! It seems like once we acquire something we just can't let go of it... and relegate it to collecting dust someplace dark.

Unfortunately I do have to admit that my quilting habit has it's own excesses... and I have lots and lots of plastic tubs to prove it!

And right now I'm packing sewing machines... my lovely vintage sewing machines. I admit to intentionally collecting a good portion of these - but in my defence... I will also say that a large number of these were part of a salvage project. I saved them from winding up in the dumpster when a sewing machine shop owner had to clear out his storage area... nice idea until your spouse takes a new job and you have to pack them up. At least he didn't say I had to get rid of them - I think because there is a POD completely FULL of his woodworking machines, tools, and equipment.

I'm gonna have arms like Popeye when I'm done lifting these 15-20 lb machines into boxes!

But here is an example of why I love these machines... here is Tiffany - my 1920 Singer 15-30 machine that I use in a treadle cabinet. She sews a truely wonderful stitch and can quilt like nobody's business. So back out to the shed I go today with mittens and a hat to pack machines in 30 degree weather!

No Dog Left Behind...

We have two dogs... Kbetsy an Alaskan Malamute/Shepard mix and a small black Lab mix named Tooter.

They have both been living with Tom since we had the floors refinished earlier this summer. They love it there - he gives them treats, lets them sleep on the furniture, and takes them for a walk every day after dinner.

They come up here on the weekends with Tom when he comes up to work and happily go back with him. A couple weeks ago when I went down to Maryland I brought the dogs back here with me because Tom was traveling to St. Louis the next week. He came home on the weekend (last weekend) but did not take the dogs because he had several late meetings and an out-of-town meeting last week so I kept the dogs again.

Both dogs were a bit depressed that 'dad' left without them last Sunday. Have ya ever seen dogs moping around? For crying out loud... they are pathetic - especially Toot who is quite the whiner and spoiled by Tom.

On Tuesday I had to take them for a ride when we had the folks coming to look at the house again - we ended up spending 2 hours gone from the house running errands. It was a nice cold day so they were perfectly happy sitting in the car. That is - until we got home. Kbetsy jumps right out of the car and heads for the house. Toot - gets up on the back seat... looks around and gives me a 'nope we ain't there yet' look and lays back down on the floor behind the drivers seat - her riding position in every car. I have to go around to the drivers side - open the back door - put a leash on her and pull her out of the car!

She has not been happy all week - very clingy and whiney. She drove me nuts following me around everywhere I went in the house this week.

She was very happy when Tom showed up again this Friday - me too because that meant she would be following him around instead of me!

This Sunday morning Tom was getting the vehicles switched over - the car goes with whoever has the dogs - the other drives the truck. He let Toot get into the car... Kbetsy was on the porch but wasn't to be left out of the action and started barking for me to take her outside too.

There they were... it was 9:30AM - they were both in the car - and they WERE NOT GETTING OUT FOR ANYTHING! I tried a couple times before I left for work - but neither of them would get up.

Tom didn't leave until about 2:oo PM and he couldn't get them out of the car to go potty before he left. So he stopped at the first rest stop on the turnpike so that they could go. It wasn't the house - they knew they were on a road trip!

Goofy dogs... they were bound and determined to not get left here again.

Patchwork and Quilted Shoes!

I need to get a new pair of glasses so my daughter and I headed out to the mall to check out Lenscrafters. I'd easily just get another pair of the same ole frames - but I know either of my girls will help steer me towards more up-to-date frames. I did find some frames - a little less round but not really totally rectangular either. I still need to have an eye exam and then I can get the lenses....

So what does all that have to do with quilted shoes? Well across from Lenscrafters is a big shoe store DSW - and since I have no idea where I packed my shoes... I need to get something to wear besides my sneakers and Keen sandals (although I plan to wear my Keens through the winter with warm and cozy socks - I just love them).

Anyway here is what I found while looking around... I didn't buy them but thought they were very cute...

Just about the only quilty thing going on in my life right now... if they had them in a 7D I might have had to own one of them. Quilters shoes for sure don't you think?

Screeching Halt

Did you ever feel like you've come to a Screeching Halt?

Those of you who know me know that we have been preparing our house for sale.

I have worked since mid-summer to clear out the excess, fix and repair things, and paint and spruce up the house to prepare to put it on the market. And as the past several months have gone by the housing market has been doing a gradual downward spiral. I fully expected we'd be sitting on this house for months waiting...

Well - the house was listed on Thursday... we had an Open House on Sunday... we had a second viewing on Tuesday and by the end of that day we had an offer we accepted.

I know I now have lots to finish up - pack up the rest of the stuff we still have in the house - pack up my vintage sewing machines out in the shed... but after all this rushing to get stuff done... it's pretty much over... I feel like I've come to a screeching halt.

I don't have to keep it clean for viewings... I can keep my toothbrush holder on the counter... I can leave the dogs water bowls out... and I can clutter my kitchen counter if I want to! LOL

I just feel sorta weird... I hadn't expected this part to be over so quickly...

A new POD was delivered today at 7:30 AM - making that 3 PODS sitting in the driveway. All the rest of our stuff will go in there along with all my machines. Then all three will be hauled away... off to our new life!

So I guess I best get busy getting the rest of this done.