To Do / Ta-Da! lists

It's been a productive weekend in the B. house. Greg actually got the two biggies off his list - the garage clean-up and his class quilt. I'm sure he'll post later - he's working on the last border now. We picked up a little freezer yesterday, just in time for the food order to arrive. I've got most of it processed now - just a few more things before bed. After my class quilt was finished - I've moved onto the next in my due dates. This is a baby quilt for my cousin. It's her 2nd child and she refuses to find out what it is. They're Nebraska fans so I started out thinking in those colors and then just fell in love with several black/white with limited color quilts that were shown in Holton last month. The quilt may look like it came from my scrap basket (about 1/2) but I went a little nuts gathering up fat qtrs that "spoke" to me. I think I can make at least 3 more quilts in black/white/red with what I have left over. I'm thinking about a black/white/yellow grandpa's buzz saw for my Brother's christmas gift. (OOOH.. add that to my to do list.) I finished the quilting on this about an hour ago - Greg's been impatiently waiting for my machine since it has the guide on the foot. "are you gonna be much longer? are you done yet? and then sweetly - how ya coming along dear?" Hopefully he'll get his new machine ordered this week and then will only fight with me over the rulers. He thinks we need two full sets. Puh! I think it's bad enough that we have two cutting tables, two sewing tables, duplicates and quadruplicates in notions, 2 3-drawer containers full of fabric, 2 trunks stuffed full of projects, and he's had 4 sewing machines this month - all in various working order though. All this and he still steals my sissors. Now back to my binding.

IT's DONE!

The class quilt top - is D O N E. I've got a few boo-boo's but it's so much better than the tops I'd finished prior to taking the class. Who knew pinning and ironing worked! LOL. The darn thing is a monstrosity at 107 x 107. My el-cheapo camera doesn't do it justice. (I think I'm a little proud of my "quilt baby").

Fabrics are "meow" by M'Liss Rae Hawley For JOANN fabric and craft stores

also purchased the blue shades at JOANN's. 2002 blank textiles -OTC. The tiny little mushroom colored strip, I stole from Greg's stash. I think it's a walmart find. The 2 dark shades of brown came from my grandmothers stash. I rescued it a year after her death (she lived to age 100). My father was bagging up all her household items and tossing some and taking the rest to the auction house! I wish I'd taken longer to search the boxes and bags that night but came home with quite a few UFO's and several pounds of fabric and notions.

I think Grandma would be proud of my quilts. I've taken over her tradition as the quilter in the family. I've presented the two new babies in the family with quilts each with a tag that says "In memory of Grandma" and am preparing for the next generations weddings. Grandma always had a quilt for each of us at birth and wedding, a $2 bill for Easter and $10 for christmas. She said cash was always the right size and color. For our birthdays - it was lemon pie. mmmm. Seeing those brown strips framing my blocks brings both an overwhelming fondness and tears to my eyes as memories of her and her simple but amazing life come to mind. She set the framework for my life and the quilt will always feel little bit like a hug. I think I can even smell the chocolate chip cookies and fresh baked rolls.

The daily grind

Part of my job involves hauling participants around to places that help them get back on their feet or aid in meeting their basic needs. Today it was taking a woman to the local thrift stores - of which we have 3. We made it to 2 before she had my car at capacity. We started out at the largest, thinking we'd find LOTS of items but hit the jackpot at the 2nd. While she hunted up necessities, I dug through the fabric and craft areas again. You know - just to keep myself entertained. The big shop had lots of bins but mostly polyester and decorator fabrics. I did find a jar full of neat buttons and a small bag of embellishments. I have this idea to make up bags and pincushions. I'm not particularly good at doing either but in my head they are going to be SPECTACULAR! At the 2nd shop I think I won prize of the day. I found 2 BOLTS of fabric tucked away on a corner shelf. I only had a little pocket money and was sweating it as I wasn't sure of pricing at this shop but I REFUSED to lay those bolts down. I barely even looked at anything else. And even though it was just myself and my client in the shop I had almost this panicky feeling that someone would steal the bolts or I'd be told they weren't for sale. When I finally checked out - I'd picked up a remnant as well still with the walmart wrapper and price. The clerk said "50 cents is too much for that, how about a quarter." well okay - kinda steep for a thrift store but it's charity. Now I'm really sweating the cost of the bolts. I'm chanting to myself to stay calm. I've got $6 on me. I'll just send Greg back later - no big deal. just breathe. Clerk says - "how about $1 a piece on the fabric rolls" OMG! I nearly fainted. As I was carrying my prize to the car I noticed the kids toy bin. ON TOP, were two of the little pillows I'd made for my clients last Christmas. I'd attempted to make hot pads with Sunbonnet sue on them. I'd NO idea what I was doing and when my co-worker helped sew - she got frustrated and started gluing the pieces on with an office glue stick. Then I didn't have any batting so used the innards of an old pillow and the result were these odd little pillows. I'd made 15 of them. I figure most went in the trash so I was tickled to see these propped up in the toy bin, marked 50 cents each.

The GREAT stash hunt

We've developed a naughty little habit here in the B. household. Everytime we are at the store, pass a thrift store, or even smell a fabric department - we grab little bits of this and that to add to our stash. Our drawers and tabletops are overflowing and I feel I'm running out of time to get projects in progress completed. Even when I dig in the stash to start something new there's never enough of the this and that and I've got to go get something specific to finish it out. This spurs a new spending spree for those just have to have finds. Now I really don't know what I'm going to do with that 2/3rd yrd of camo fabric but I had a light bulb moment when it touched my hand - so I bought it. My favorite splurge, though, is digging in those thrift store bins, piles upon piles of fabric and going up to the counter, watching Donna stuff it in a grocery sack and then asking me for $2. God, I love that and I end up with some really cool, hard to find prints from way back when. Not to mention how much easier it is on my pocket book. I really want to purchase a long arm machine and I was about to break the cardnial credit rule (DON'T)- when my friend suggested we start our on craft business to make the money for it. Oh, I tell you, the ideas are nearly drowning me! And suddenly, this growing stash.... doesn't seem big enough.

Therapy

Last year Greg and I went through a really rough patch. Opposite work shifts, lack of sleep, bad choices and crazy arguments. Thus surfaced a side issue that everthing got centered around. Not the real reason for any of our circumstances but where the blame started ending up. I have PCOS and in 15 yrs of togetherness, I've never conceived. We both want a family and struggle with Dr's ideas of treatment and the money that goes with it. At my last appointment it was discovered that the cause of some of my recent discomfort needs to be removed. I seem to require this about every 5 years so I should be use to this by now, but it always feels like a step backward and I struggle with keeping hope alive. I threw myself into a kind of quilting freenzy the past couple of weeks while the thoughts and choices behind the decision to have surgery jumbled around in my head. I think quilting is highly theraputic. Anything that taps into the Right side = the creative side of your brain aids in healing emotionally. The 9-patches have been a little tedious and have been PERFECT for this senario. This morning I got my pre-registration call for the pre-registration appointment for the surgery. This seems highly wasteful of time and money - particurly mine. I give them all the valid info - that I know I will be asked for again in the morning when I have to appear in person for the actual pre-registration appointment. Then the hospital staffer tells me that the hospital is requiring a DEPOSIT on these services because I'll have both a deductible and likely co-insurance. I was shocked and appauled. I've no doubt I'll have a bill after the procedure but it seems my insurance company ought to have a crack at paying it before I'm told what's my share. What if I don't have this done? What if something happens to me prior to the date. I worked myself up into quite a tizzy. What's the point of having insurance if I have to pay the hospital up front. They wanted 1/2 my deductible w/out ever running my insurance, w/o knowing if I'd already met my deductible for the year etc. Why has customer service become synomous with "politely snatch the money?" They offered to charge it to my credit card. I don't know how much you all know about different types of debt but Hospital debt and credit debt process MUCH differently and are governed differently. It is better to have a payment plan with the hospital than to charge this to a card. If my local hospital had the equipment or my Dr offered services at another hospital I would have rescheduled elsewhere I was so upset. So it's back to another row of the 9-patches, maybe when they are all pressed and sewn, I'll feel more at peace.

1st post

It's 3am and I've got to be to work by 10. Looks like it will be another short night. My husband has a blog on here, Flat Out Quilting, and after a few attempts of trying to comment on his posts he set me up with a new account that works so that I might continue with the joy of leaving him snarky little comments when he thinks he's clever and cute. I've actually been inspired by his blogging and the motivation it's given him to challenge himself in his quilting projects. We've just finished up our first quilting class together. It was taught by a local woman who holds the classes in her home - we all stand around her cutting table. She designed the layout and then shows us one block per night. We started in Feb. and will be meeting to show off our completed quilt tops on Oct. 1st. I'm setting mine on point and Greg is taking the easy way out!. On point turned out to not be nearly as troublesome as I expected. I had to cut a 26 3/4'' square and my cutting mat is only 23''. I know, I know - go buy the bigger mat? Sorry, my table is too small too. I put good use to a magnetic cutting mat normally used for scrapbooking, a bit of duct tape, a tape measure and a lot of folding and praying. I'm working on the borders now. For the on point design, the class leader wanted a 3" 9-patch border. I'm in day six of cutting and sewing, cutting, sewing... and I'm not sure there's an end in sight!