Be Happy

I love this note by John Lennon.  You gotta be careful because there are people who only feel good if you're not happy...use a rotary cutter and cut the ties with them!  Every generation states they live in challenging times...but, we really do! LOL  and so to spend time with those who want to suck the joy out of a day is to make that day worthless!

I got a happy gift yesterday from a Woolie reader!!!  Thank you so much Joyce!  How did she know I love pincushions, especially ones that look like food! LOL and it came in such a cute little bag.  Oh you ask what is that grey/black fabric???  It is a piece of WOOL!  Wool like none I have ever seen!  It is 2 layers fused together and I already know what I am going to use it for...once I get moved...yes, I am still packing the sewing room up (Sigh)...but, I'm happy!

Although I have not been able to create some space so I can actually do some sewing on my machine I still stitch every evening while watching the tellie with HH.  Currently I am working on a table runner by Kathy Schmitz and there are a couple of stitcheries on either end.  I hope by the time I finish the second one I will find my sewing machine, lol.  As you can see I am still using the Transfer Eze for my embroidery work...so easy and fast when you don't have much time.

Today is embroidery group at Sew Many Quilts and I will be schlepping my Witches Boot to the shop.  Then I am heading out to the new place because Anne wants to take a peek...if there are any good photo ops I'll share them tomorrow.  Have a great Hump Day!

Buy From The Gypsy Woman and Get Good Luck!

(New Quilts on the Flicker UFO 2013 site! check it out!)

What an exciting day...but first...I had to share this episode of Keeping Up Appearances. I especially got a tickle out of the scene where the Gypsy comes to the door to sell her wares...buy from the Gypsy woman and get good luck!  I loaded my mobile garage sale and hit the road like a Gypsy.  I made $50 in my first two stops...then the rest of it I took to the Material Girls!  

What is that ol' saying...One man's junk is another man's treasure.  I do appreciate all those who joined the fun in the Woolie garage sale and helped to build up the Quilt Market coffers!

Susie looks stunned...Suzette was my best customer, lot of luck is coming her way!LOL I do believe Jo Ann came in a close second!    The remainder of the fabric was donated to Community Quilts and the left over books and patterns went to the Deschutes Historical Museum for their rummage sale.  The grand total made = $340!!!  maybe you should clean out your sewing room! LOL

Of course we did sew a little and here is some show 'n tell by Katherine...aren't these blocks adorable!

remember...buy from the Gypsy woman and get good luck....

Doctor!!! She Needs A Caffeine IV!!!

I have been on the go all weekend!  Sorting through my fabrics and bundling them for the Material Girls garage sale today.  Yesterday HH and I went out to the construction site and check up on the latest progress.  Our appliances are in the garage waiting to be installed, our light fixtures are piled in the dining room, the hardwood floor is laid, the hardware is on all the cabinets and all the cement is down for the driveway, front porch, walkway, patio and storage area!  Yes, we have made big progress this week!  Those subcontractors have made huge leaps forward...I wonder if they would be interested in helping me pack my sewing room...it on the other hand looks like a tornado came through.

I am catching up on my life and thus...so are you...sorry.  Last Friday Robin and I headed to Redmond to go to Material Girls Fabrics.  Leslie and her son Ryan make this store a place to shop.  They carry the unusual and fun, along with the basics.  In the slide show I actually took photos of specific prints so you could get an idea of the fabrics she chooses for her shop!  They don't have a website where you can order, but that is coming.  In the meantime if you see something you like on the slide show you can contact them directly and they will mail order it for you.  I also included a few slides of our stop at the Antique Warehouse in Redmond...boy is that filled with eye candy.  It was a great shopping day!  Enjoy the slide show!

Material Girls Fabrics

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Garage Sale at Material Girls

Yesterday I worked on my Garage Sale...did I tell you I was having a garage sale???  Well, HH is totally against them...too much work for the result...and besides we are still in Winter.  So, I took Anne's advice to bring my garage sale stuff to the Material Girls. That is what she did before her move and in fact I bought some of her stuff!!! LOL  The Material Girls are a group of quilters who meet each Monday at the Deschutes Historical Museum.  I sent out a group email announcing my garage sale and for every one to bring moola! lol  This group of fabric is either panels or yardage and I am going to group those separately.

These bundles are 2 yards or more in different color ways...not sure even how to begin pricing these???  I also have a box of books and patterns.  I suspect that the Material Girls is going to be fun tomorrow!

When my back needs a break I do this...one game is all I get...see those boxes in the background!

Remember these blocks I made and then gave to Robin because I just couldn't face the "Y" seams.  The blocks were fun to make, the putting them all together was a Bee-otch!!!  So, I gave them to Robin because she is so good about thinking outside the box!

See what she made!!!!!!!  she just whacked those blocks up into squares!!!  Now why couldn't I have thought of that???

Isn't it adorable!

Today I am taking a day off from the packing.  HH and I are going to check out the construction and then I am meeting my "Cuppers."  They are my cup half full friends...ya gotta love the positive! Hope you have a wonderful Sunday!

The Brain of a Labrador Retreiver

I have decided I have the brain of a lab...that goofy running from here to there...the ADHD of the dog world.  I am trying to make a little headway by doing a little packing every day so by the end of March I will be all ready and even more importantly...that I can get some stitching time in until the move.  But...what is occurring is that I start packing a box and then I see something...sometimes it is a shiny something...or a fun button or a bag of scraps and then the packing comes to a halt and I am playing.

I found this bag stuffed with 30's scraps...I think they are so sweet.  But NO WAY and I packing scraps up!!!  NO WAY, NO HOW!  

Then, instead of packing I dragged my GO cutter out and spent the better part of the afternoon cutting Tumbling Blocks!

Aren't they cute!  I fear that I should have started this packing job a long time ago given my ability to see shiny things.

Look at this stitchery I found!!!  Do you see the year??? 2001!!!  My UFO list is jumping by leaps and bounds.  Packing sucks! I am going to make a pillow with this...did you see the cute buttons...oh and there...over there...something shiny!

Home Sweet Home

So, did you celebrate Valentine's Day???  My sister says it is such a commercial holiday...I know this...but, I am a holiday kinda girl and I celebrate them all in my own way.  I don't think you have to be lavish or go broke.  But, it is nice to have special times.  The last several years HH and I order dinner delivered for a variety of reasons.  #1 you really can't get a good table on Valentine's Day and the view from our home is the best table in town.  #2 HH can't hear so good and most fine restaurants use lots of wood in the floors and ceiling and so the sound just bounces all over the place. #3 I can't cook as good as Tate & Tate!  I know what great meals they create because they have catered a lot of quilting events, quilting retreats and they even catered my oldest son's wedding.  Every Valentines Day they offer a meal delivered to your home.  It is plated on real plates and it comes in this  plastic container.  When you are done with your meal you just put the dirty plates back in the container, set it on your front porch and  they pick it up the next day!!!!!!!!!

There is always enough food for 3 meals...I swear!  starting from the  left bottom corner...a plate of Tandoori Chicken Skewers as an appetizer. Then I ordered Sea Bass with greek olives , sundried tomatoes and garlic.  For HH, Slow Braised Beef Bourguignon, both come with veggies and some kind of starch.  Next Cesar salad, a container of Minestrone Soup, 4 fresh baked wheat rolls and they included 4 deserts!!!  a slice of oreo cookie cake, 2 apple pear crisps and a container of Valentine cookie treats...to top it off, 6 chocolate dipped strawberries!  Can you guess what this feast cost...including delivery...$49!!!!!!  If you are local you have got to check out their website, Tate & Tate they will deliver meals for friends who are ill, elderly parents, new mom's and they are an awesome caterer for any event!  All I can say is...Yummm.

Now for Home Sweet Home.  Although I stitched all 12 homes I decided to make mine square because in the new house there really isn't wall space for big quilts.  And besides, we are moving from a city of about 78,000 to a town of  2,038...so everything will be smaller.  I am behind...but, you know how construction is...it hardly ever meets the deadline and  Anne has been a patient cheerleader on this project.  My houses have wool windows and doors...and the vines, berries and stars will all be in wool...once I start stitching.  I give a completion deadline of March 27th which is the deadline for our new house.  

I decided to add "Home Sweet Home" because after all, it will be hanging in the grandson's bedroom and I want them to feel the coziness of home when they visit.

YIKES!

Well...I like to learn from the people who have walked the walk ahead of me and so I have been picking Anne's brain about moving.  She moved in the month of May and started packing her sewing room in January...4 boxes a day.  Yikes, I have a month and a half  and I hadn't packed 1 box!  

I decided to get movin'...looking at this mess I really wonder if some Gremlins have been having a party in here.  I packed 6 boxes yesterday and it still looks like this!  I do believe I have somehow with my expanded quilter's brain created a vortex that holds stuff that only I can see.  Like maybe I need a ghostbuster or rather quiltbuster to bring in the multifaceted quilt capacitor to organized this space!

Who knew that I had so many charm packs?!  With them tucked in nooks and crannies they never revealed their tower of power!

I LOVED this octopus applique project...but...totally forgot where it was...sheesh...Thank goodness we are into Lent.  Although I do not follow the practice of denial...ROFLOL...I am tempted to give up purchasing fabric for Lent...but, then what would I do when Robin takes me to the Material Girls Shop in Redmond tomorrow???  I wouldn't want her to feel bad that I wasn't buying anything...

  

Happy Valentine's Day!

Whatcha Up Too???

So tell me...what have you been up too?  There are a couple new photos up on the Flicker site so check them out.  I need to get moving on some UFO's, I feel like I have slowed down a little.  Although I tend to be a last minute kinda gal I suddenly feel the urge to start packing some boxes.  

Our move in date won't be till the end of March but when I walked into my sewing room this morning it looked like a big fiber monster threw up in there!  The thought of moving this room seems overwhelming and so I thought I might feel better about it if I started a little at a time.  

I feel a Give Away in my future...I am sure I will find something to recycle...maybe when I reach that 500 number..we'll see.

Yesterday was the Woolie group at QuiltWorks.  I took a few photos and put them into a slideshow to share with you.  I always am stimulated to keep stitching when I see what everyone else is doing.  It is like sitting next to someone who has ordered the Mud Pie and you have a small bowl of jello!  lol

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Monday, Monday...how sweet it is!

When you are retired Mondays have no power!  In my life Mondays always brings to mind the Material Girls.  Yesterday was the monthly birthday potluck and off course the desserts tipped the scale...in more ways than one!  

On the way I was stopped at a light on Wall St. and saw this van.  I have no idea what the business is about but loved the logo and the message...Spread The Wool!!!  Which I intend to...since today is Woolie Tuesday at QuiltWorks!

I took some photos of the work in progress at Material Girls...don't you just love this stitchery by Susie!  Enzo who was in attendance totally loved this quilt!

This quilt by Bev is absolutely adorable!

Love, love, love this one by Anne...who is hiding behind it, lol.  

Barb is finishing up some stitching on her groups round robin quilt that was made for her front porch rocking chair...she wants it to be ready for sunshine weather!

a couple of close up of the stitching.

Pris has been working on these grapes for a while but is now to the quilting stage...they looks yummy enough to eat!

Jean says when she doesn't have a project ready to bring to the MG's she brings this one...I love these girls and know that someday they'll be all done!

After water exercise today will be a wool day and that automatically makes it a GREAT day!  Hope yours is also!

Quiet River, The Last Chapter

There is nothing quite like a retreat to calm the nerves, energize quilting and help you walk out into the world refreshed.  It is not that you aren't tired from sewing morning till night...that you are functioning on half the amount of sleep...or that your abs hurt from laughing so much...and you've been nourished by coffee and chocolate.  But, I always come away from a retreat ready for what is coming down the pike.  Strengthened by the love and support I get from my friends.

Our Quiet River retreat always allows us the flexibility of an occasional errand or appointment because it is located in town.  On this retreat there were 2 hair appointments, 1 yoga class, a meeting with an architect for Lori, a quilt shop field trip and 2 of the Fabric Stalkers who couldn't make the full retreat were able to stop by on Saturday for a day of sewing!  Sunday morning we slowly move into the day knowing it is the final day, hand stitching and talking...then a frenzy of packing and loading cars.  We no longer even have to clean up after ourselves as we have evolved to the space that everyone chips in and has a housecleaning service come in and suck up the miles of thread, corners of fabric and dust created by our frenzy.

I hope if you have never been on a quilt retreat that you find one right away!!!  The Fabric Stalkers have already scheduled 3 more this year!!!  Our last quilt retreat task is for everyone to get their calendars out and schedule our next retreats...after all one needs dreams...

Enjoy the slide show...quilt chaos reigns!

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