Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Life is hectic

Oops..just when i thought i was home and back in my routine....i'm leaving town again.

I am trying to purchase a house in Illinois and having issues with lenders there while i live in Missouri.

So, on the advice of a real estate lady i am traveling to Illinois this morning to have a chat with a small town bank in town there. i guess i should have started out with the small town banks....city people have too many issues. LOL

So, wish me luck on finding a few dollars and putting this part of the adventure behind me and getting on with the fun part....tearing down paneling and pulling up carpet pads. LOL

I shall report on progress when i get back in a couple days.

In the meantime...don't have too much fun without me.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

For Christine D....

hi Christine

if you wonder....others might, too...so here are the answers to your questions.

a pocket door is a door that 'lives' in a space in the wall. you pull it out to close it. the wall is like a double wall that houses the door. it is very cool and i've always loved them.  it is the door between the living room and the room i will use for my longarm. and there are french doors in the longarm room that open out to the front porch so i can close the pocket door and quilting customers can enter the studio and not the house.

and the 'metal ladder' is actually a television antennae. apparantly reception is town is bad. my sister only gets the local channels at her place a few blocks away. but i could hook up to cable or satellite but i'm not much on tv so i won't worry about it.

i'm getting excited to work on the house so hopefully the whole deal with be done shortly.

thanks for commenting on my blog.

Friday, November 26, 2010

All the news that is fit to print

Well, hello...it's been a while since we've shared.

I've been out of my studio for about a week but have been busy. i went to my sister's last week and we went to the beast...but not to work. i have decided that i need a house in centralia, too. so when i retire from retirement at the farm...i will already have a place to move to. it may take me a few years to get there...but it will be ready. so we went house hunting. we looked at 6 houses that i liked from the pictures on the internet .... but we know pictures lie....some houses were good....some kind of chopped up in layout....some too "something"...but all had very small to no yards. i need me some grass.

There was a very nice, large (think beast size)...lovely house...but the price tag was $54,500 and i didn't want to go there. plus...the place next door to it was a condemned butt ugly mess that needed to be burnt down.

The real estate agent said she had one more to show me if i wanted to see it but it was in deplorable condition and not livable. so, of course, that got me curious. as soon as i walked into it and roamed through about 3 rooms i said....i like it...i think i want this one. she was astonished. it's a bit over 1200 square feet, sits on a quarter acre, and has a huge 3 bay garage with an office out there. i guess my standards are lower than hers....a bit of shoveling out and some paint and it could be liveable. LOL  ok, and new windows and doors. but it has a new roof....that's important.





It has 3 sets of French doors and a pocket door. the pocket door sold my sister. LOL  hardwood floors and some cool woodwork. closets are scarce but i can live with that...i can always build closets. needs windows; has new roof. may need furnace; basement seems dry. tradeoffs here and there. it had renters so it is filthy. but once it is shoveled out, ugly paneling taken off walls, and a little love...it will be fine. right now we are calling it The Ugly Duckling. but it will emerge into a swan.....in a few years.

The owner is in California..i'm in Missouri...and the property is in Illinois. such complications. so i've spent 3 days faxing things back and forth. the real estate portion is done and all signed off. i am just waiting for my credit union to ok the loan. i got a really, really, really good price. although he was asking 27,900...he was going around town saying he would take 12-15K for it. LOL   that was dumb on his part but good for me.

One strange part....there is an oil well pumping in the yard.....right outside the kitchen. LOL  it has a fence around it and it is kind of rusty ugly but sort of out of sight...so that's ok. i don't have to deal with it. there is a wooden fence hiding it from view of the front street and i plan on painting a quilt on that fence to pretty it up.

In quilty news...as i said...i've been out of the studio for a week. but playing at home while talking to real estate people and faxing.

I finished the backing on the Tokyo Subway Map quilt and am ready to quilt it. i really, really like the back. it is just folded over my hanging stand. it is about 85" square. the writing says Tokyo Subway Map...is that not cool?



I finished the last 2 blocks of the North Pole Village set 3. i have 34 blocks now. i wonder if they will make another set. these are just adorable. the last 2 were.....

The photo shop. love the little camera shaped building. great idea.



And  the clock shop...isn't that little mouse cute? should have made the hands of the clock a different color...may go over them with some color. they show up a bit better in real life.



My selvage boxes are stuffed. i decided i need to use more of them. so i pulled out the black selvages and separated the ones with the white part on the end. i only used the selvages without the white. and cut 2" red blocks for the middles and simply stitched around and around till i could cut a 7.5" square from it. selvages were different widths, so the red block wasn't centered. i was almost finished before my brain kicked in that i could manipulate where the red square landed but not using some sides.  i cut out 80 red squares but ran out of black selvages after 43 blocks. i really didn't want to use the selvages with the white parts on them. so one evening i thought about reversing them ... so now i will make some with black centers and red selvages. have to finish the contest quilt before i continue on these.



In between the selvage blocks i was making crumb blocks...cut at 5" square. i recently got the Leaders and Enders book from Bonnie Hunter so that is how these were assembled. it is quite addictive and goes quickly and saves a TON of thread. i have a couple dozen of these and enough scrap fabric to make hundreds more of them. LOL



Do you use starch when you press? i never used to.... until my friend Brenda brought us all a bottle of starch at our last quilt class. i am now a starch convert. what a difference. and it has a fresh linen scent and completely makes the blocks more manageable. why didn't i do this before? sometimes i just need to be knocked in the head. thanks, Brenda, for the knock. i love it. (and you).



Sheesh...are you still reading...or did i put you to sleep. i'll try not to stay away so long next time. that was a lot of catching up.

Break is long over....back to work.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Almost finished with North Pole Village set 3

Here are 3 more that i finished today. i only have 1 to go but don't have time to finish it now. i am going out of town tomorrow so it will be next week before you see the last block.

First up we have a diner...every little town needs one.


And a church



And a very cute yarn shop.




Don't know what the last shop will be...i didn't peek. would be nice if it were a quilt shop.

But you will have to wait to find out.

See you soon...gotta go pack.

Circle Lord Gingko Template meets Quiltazoid

After watching Deb  Levy's video class on the Circle Lord Gingko template i decided i 'had' to have one. it makes such lovely designs. actually, i wound up with the large AND the mini gingko...that Michael is quite the salesman. LOL

And it does work on my Quiltazoid system. here is proof.























This last one was made with the mini gingko but the outside border is from the large template.


And here it is all finished. it's about 40" square. orange is a silk/cotton blend fabric that i dyed...this is the silk side. back is a throw from the thrift store.





It curls a bit on the edges because of the stretchable back...what was i thinking. i'm hoping after i throw it in the wash it will calm down and behave.

Black selvages

What do you do when you are tired of working on the blue selvage quilt.....why you start a black selvage project. that's how you work....right?  don't say no....i know you do.

While working on the blue selvages...making rail fence blocks....i am halfway through with that one. .... i started thinking what if i made log cabin-like selvage blocks. that would be fun.

So, then i decided to unify them and use a 2" red block for the center and black selvages around it. i decided to only use the selvages that did not have the white part on them. i have 90 little red squares cut up so i hope i have enough black selvages to make all those. if not...i will go to plan B when i get there. LOL

I just started on one side and rotated to the right each time and added another strip and then rotated again....and again...and again. until the block got over 7.5" large. Then i used my 7.5" X-Block template to trim them up. my friend, Brenda, gifted me with some lovely smelling starch and i used it on these blocks when i ironed them before trimming up. thank you, Brenda....i was not a starch lover but i like this. it makes them ever so easy to trim and they just LOOK prettier.

So, here are the 4 that i did last night. now i am eager to make more.   Oh...those blue selvages....they are in their box and will re-surface again....probably when i get tired of making black blocks.













Here is the XBlock template that i trimmed them up with. it was tempting to make them wonky instead of straight...but that would use more fabric and waste some corners and i didn't want to do that.




But...you know what...i just now had a brain fart....if i run out of black selvages without white edges...i could make more blocks WITH the white edges and then cut THOSE wonky. that would make a really crazy quilt. i kind of like that idea, too. i need a switch in my brain to turn off ideas sometimes.

Oh...and i used red thread to sew them down to match up with the red center block. and using whatever width selvage that i picked up made the red block un-centered. i like that wonky look. and there are some gray in there, too...i count that as black.

I don't know if i will put them together without sashing or not. i guess it depends how many blocks i wind up with. with sashing i am leaning towards red sashing...maybe 1" wide. i hope there are enough to make a good snuggle size quilt.

Got black selvages???  i might need more. LOL

OK...i gotta go put a binding on the orange thing that i created yesterday so i can show you that. keep checking back.

Monday, November 15, 2010

North Pole Village III

We are closing in on the end of the North Pole Village (bet you're glad)...we're on set 3. this one only has 10 blocks. and they are not consistent as the other 2 sets were. some have no snow....some have applique snow. i don't like that. i think they should have stayed with the stitched snow as in set 1 and set 2. but, no one asked me my opionion before they started...LOL...so i guess i'll have to live with it.

This first one i did was the bank...cute, cute. but, no snow...bummer. i kind of got my window fabric crooked. i thought it would look like barred windows.


The next one was the fire station. i like that one. applique snow



Then we have the news stand...i like this one, too. wouldn't have thought of it. it' so 'New York'. hahahaha  who knew they had news stands at the north pole.


Another unexpected block....a candy house. remember making those gingerbread houses as a kid and covering it with candy. i really like the lollipops at the ends...using the variegated thread just made them for me. reminds me of Hansel and Gretal. LOL



And the last one i did this morning was the tea house. i'm on the fence whether i like it or not. it's kind of like...we have the hot cocoa place...do we need tea?  but, maybe so. this time stitched snow.



OK..we're halfway through set 3. i'll have more in a couple days. i'm playing with the Quiltazoid today on the longarm and i have class this afternoon. and i'll probably be going to my sister's again in a day or two.

But as Arnold would say....I'll be back.   (say that in a very deep, gruff voice). LOL

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Results of opening day of hunting season

Why can't deer season be in warmer weather. although the thermometer said 50....it was WINDY. and 12 foot off the ground in wind is really cold. i wore capris...at least they weren't shorts...haha....but my legs weren't cold. i needed a hat to cover my ears and a thicker jacket. it was WINDY.  i guess i should be glad it wasn't 30 degrees.

Now you are wondering .... did i get a deer....take a look at this......do you see it???



Look closer....do you see it now?




No?  




well, that would be because there is NOTHING TO SEE.
  yep, no deer seen
  no squirrels seen
  no nothing seen...wait..i did see a flock of birds. LOL

It was pitiful. i didn't hear any shots in the woods....didn't see anything to shoot AT...and hubby came home from his stand in the woods half frozen and said he didn't see anything either nor did he hear any shots.

There is an entry into the state woods pretty close to our property and usually you see and hear trucks with hunters and campers going in there a couple days prior to set up. there was nothing this year. dh said he saw one vehicle go by. i wonder if economic conditions kept hunters away or no one was interested in our area this year.....unheard of. i didn't even hear shots from our neighbors...who ALWAYS hunt.

Wonder if we'll have deer in the freezer this year.

Last of NPV set 2

I am still enamored with the North Pole Village. they are coming along famously. here are the last ones in the second set.

Claus Headquarters. when i was a child....many, many moons ago....i pictured Santa in a little cottage...maybe log cabin....where he and the elves made the toys. of course, Christmas is a very lucrative business and after 60 years i guess Santa could afford new digs. LOL the roof of the house looks like a hat to me.



I think this might be an elves house. it is cute. again, when i was a child i thought they lived under the trees or something...like a chipmunk? LOL  kids have strange ideas



I suppose even the North Pole has a country element. here it looks like the farmers have decorated a large tree they have on their property. pretty cool. i like those little barns in the background.



And here is the last in this set. it is one i was thinking that they need, too. they read my mind once again...scary. it is the bakery....but i was thinking that Mrs. Claus should be in the bakery making those gingerbread men.




So now i have 24 blocks and starting on set 3. it only has 10 blocks...perhaps they are running out of ideas. i have done the first block...and, horrors....it doesn't have SNOW...what's with that? gonna go start the next one and see if it has snow. is there a time when the North Pole doesn't have snow???...i think not.  we'll see.

Stay tuned for even more North Pole Village

Friday, November 12, 2010

More...more...more!

More North Pole Village. hope you're not tired of seeing these...we have lots more to go.

Today we have Hot Cocoa...who doesn't love a cup of hot cocoa on a cold, snowy day. (well, i don't like it...but most everyone else does. LOL).  I had to 'pretty' that one up some and use a flowery fabric for the cup/house. great idea


Then we have presents. you always need presents at Christmas. but who would have thought of making a house out of presents. not me...that's for sure. in fact, when looking at the picture...at first...i couldn't figure out what it was. it looked like those nutter butter cookies sticking out of the roof. LOL   but after i stitched the first one i saw that it was a bow and my brain figured out the presents. sheesh!  i just thought that bow on the top was a star. hahahahaha  this one is NOT one of my favorites. but, hey, they can't ALL be favorites..now can they. 



Scary .... as i was stitching out the presents i was thinking...i wonder what is coming up next. and then i thought...i know...a christmas tree lot. i'll bet they don't have one of those and i should suggest it for the next set. in fact, i even wrote it on a sticky note so as not to forget it. and then....what comes up as the very next scene to stitch but a christmas tree lot. was that just my brain that 'saw' what was next in the computer. or just a weird twist of fate. who knows.




Here's a not-so-blurry pic...much better.

That pic is a bit blurry...i'll try to get a better pic of it later. for now you get the idea.

OK...back to work. the frame is empty and i think today will be for me. the next customer quilt is the same pattern as the one i just finished and i can't face that right now. so, i will turn on the embroidery machine once again and throw something on the frame and get to work.

See ya later. have fun stitchin and bitchin.  LOL

Thursday, November 11, 2010

North Pole Village is growing

Here are more buildings in the 2nd set of the North Pole Village. how can you pick your favorite? they are all so cute.

Here's the post office....gotta have that so Santa can get all those letters from the kiddos. i just had to stitch it in red, white and blue.



And the North Pole has a church also. i don't know what all that stuff on the front door is. i'm thinkin i should have just skipped that...but too late now.



Someone at http://www.designsbyjuju.com/   has quite an active imagination. wonder what is coming up next.

Stay tuned.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

North Pole Village II

Yesterday i started the second set of the North Pole Village. this one is just as cute. they already have 2 shops i wouldn't have thought of.

Santa is getting his beard trimmed at the Barber's in anticipation of a busy season. Notice there isn't a doorknob on the door....how funny. these designs are all from http://www.designsbyjuju.com/    i might have to let her know they missed a doorknob. LOL



Then there is the train station. you have to get your supplies somehow to the North Pole.



And i am thinking this must be the mayor's house. it is rather large and all decorated. seems fitting for a mayor.



These are all applique blocks and i think the fun part is picking which fabrics to use. i am striving for colorful but this side of garish. LOL 

I just know some kids are gonna love these North Pole Village quilts when they are finished. there might be 2 or 3 quilts. These are a set of designs that i want to work on every day until they are finished....they are just too fun.

But now i better get back to work.

O'Dark Thirty

This Saturday begins deer hunting season for guns in Missouri. i haven't hunted in about 3 years but decided to get in the fray this year. why you ask?... because my husband put a camera up in our woods and showed me a big 10 point buck that has been visiting since last year. and since that mount would be larger than HIS mount....i want to try and get him. oh, and also because we love deer meat in chili, stew, soup, burgers, etc. LOL

Hubby is hunting out in the state woods behind my studio so i get our woods all to myself. and there is state woods behind us, too. we have a couple ponds that the deer come to drink out of, so i figure i have a good a chance as anyone to get him.

Not sure i will be up at O'Dark Thirty as hubby will be. i'm not a fan of stumbling around in the dark. but i will be up there early...before the sun shines bright. here is my stand....about 10 or 12 feet off the ground.



And there is my little seat up there.



Yesterday i decided i probably needed to go check it out and crawl up there. it is always scary the first time i get up there. shoot, it's scary EVERY time i get up there. LOL  i pray a lot up there.

But the scenery is pretty cool. i have pasture and woods all around me. and our big fish pond is in front of me...but too far away to shoot to. here is the woods to the left of my stand.


And here is what i see to the right.


And to the front of me is Jim's sighting in range. the white markers are for 25, 50, 75, and 100 yard ranges to the target. you will notice he has mowed that section but not the pasture. the pasture is grown up about 12 inches. you could lose a small dog in there.



If you go past the markers...through the overgrown pasture...down the hill....you will get to our fish pond. it doesn't really show in a long range picture so i took a close up for you. it looks cool from the tree stand. my luck i will see deer at the pond but they won't come close enough for me to get them. we'll see.



The pond looks close to the road...and it sort of is...but you can't see it from the road...you just see the side of the dam. it looks closer here because i am taking the picture from the tree stand.

I have always gotten a deer (or two) in the years that i hunt so i am hopeful for this year, too. don't know if i will shoot at anything that is not that big buck...guess it depends on if hubby has gotten anything. I am a cautious hunter and only shoot if i know i will get it and i always fell a deer with one shot. i don't want it to run off and be hurt. i don't go for the long shots or shoot when they are traveling. they have to stand still for me and give me a good shot.

A few years ago i remember playing hide and seek with a deer. i was in the woods, on the ground, watching a deer approach. it saw me and traveled from tree to tree....keeping most of its body behind the tree and peeking out at me. after about 30 minutes of this i just gave up and let her go. she was smart and deserved to live.

Let the hunt begin! 

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