Monday Night

Most of my Monday nights are spent this way:

2.5 hours in the car (driving to/from New Orleans with a stop for coffee)
2.0 hours at rehearsal
2.0 hours boozing and whoring laughing, talking, and eating with a good friend

The drive gives me time to listen to audio books or talk to myself.  (Daddy always says that's the best way to have an intelligent conversation). 

Rehearsals keep my mind and fingers nimble.

Visiting with Marika restores my sanity.

Double Wedding Ring

A year and a half or so ago I started work on a scrappy Double Wedding Ring quilt.  I made a couple of arcs then stalled.  Last year my friend Kaelin hosted a Double Wedding Ring quilt along on her blog.  I thought, at the time, "Perfect!  This will get me going again with my work."  But, that didn't happen either.  While mom was working on her quilt top here after Christmas, I took the time I had to do a little more work.  The scrappiness and paper piecing made it easier to put down and pick-up as needed while I worked with my mom.  Besides the scrap bin was finally so full I couldn't get the lid on any longer!

Now I'm hooked.  I spent time Saturday piecing, sewing, cutting, and ironing.  I just love busywork.  There's something about it that makes me feel like I both have time for my (constant) inner dialog and that I'm accomplishing something.  I'd have gotten more completed, but I ran out of paper arcs.  Bummer. 

So do you think I spent the time I had after I ran out of paper arcs to get the laundry done this weekend? 

No.

So, I made it home from San Francisco

lol

It was a great trip.  I was home, saw my brother, his fiancee, and a ton of friends that I dearly miss.  A trip to Napa, plenty of good meals, a visit with the Wade/Davis family, and Brad and Jim's annual Wine and Cheese Party were all highlights of the 10 days I spent in the Bay Area. 

I feel so bad that I didn't take any photos when I visited my friends Doug and Elisabeth; but fun, conversation, wine, and great smoked ribs won over my brain cells for that evening.  Next fall we're traveling to the Bay Area for my brother's Halloween wedding.  That should be a trip to remember!

Christmas has also come and gone since I blogged last.  Mom and Dad came out for 2 weeks and we were very happy to have them here.  I really love nothing more than doing all the things I love to do at Christmas, like decorate and cook, while my mom and dad putter around me.  Mom and I did some quilting the week after Christmas.  She made a throw quilt for my brother and I did some piecing on my double wedding ring scrap quilt.  Then, we set my mom's new sewing machine up on my quilting frame and she quilted the quilt top she made for my brother!  I'm so proud of her.  It looks good.  I can't wait to see it bound and washed.

We did have a very very sad day over the holidays.  Our 21 year old siamese kitty, Koshka, died on January 2nd.  He's been an old man cat for a while, in fact I'd gone to singing "Old Man Koshka" to him to the tune of "Old Man River".  We weren't really surprised that his time with us was over, based on his age.  Though, he had just been to the vet three weeks earlier for his annual where he was pronounced old but healthy.  So his quick decent from being normal Old Man Kitty to unable to move was a surprise.  It was a quick and quiet death and we miss him dearly but know he's remembered fondly and now free.

The last couple weeks have been completely non-productive.  First I felt sorry for myself and mourned Koshka's death, then I got the flu.  Any, boy did I ever get the flu!  So, I spent a whole week in bed with my little wiener dog and the occasional meal that Bran would bring me hoping it would help make me feel better.  Bran got me a Kindle Touch for Christmas (it was one of those perfect presents that I didn't know I wanted that he's so good at) which got a lot of use a couple of those bed ridden days.

I'm now getting back on with real life, and just in time too.  Rehearsals start for both the Tulane Symphony and the New Orleans Civic Symphony this coming week, I've got work projects to complete, plants that need re-potted, and OMG the Christmas tree to get the down.

Countdown to California

I've been super busy over the last two weeks.  Fall really is one of my favorite times of year.  I get so excited that the weather is cooler and that we're getting closer to Christmas that I start cleaning everything.  I'm not so much a "spring cleaner" as I am a "fall cleaner".  As Bran was dragging down my Halloween decorations out of the attic I started looking around and OMG what a mess.  I started cleaning the windows just to cheer myself up (and let in that late afternoon fall sun) when Bran noticed.  So, after the boxes were brought down he went outside and started cleaning the outsides of the windows.  WTH?  I've only got to wash the insides of the windows?  What a man!  I'll keep him.  :)

 

To thank him for being so wonderful I baked him some Pumpkin Monkey Bread.  Lucky for me he loves it when I cook AND he loves anything pumpkin or spice.

 

 

Fall also means the annual Franklinton Parish Fair with my in-laws and football.  We spent the day with my in-laws at the fair last Wednesday.  The fair is adorable.  Nowhere near the size of the Alameda County Fair I used to go to with my family, but it still has everything you need or want from a fair: quilts, preserves, vendors, garden clubs, student projects, and livestock.

Last Sunday, after Tulane Symphony rehearsal, Bran and I went to the Colts vs Saints game at the Superdome.  Oh, I'm sorry it's now the "Mercedes-Benz Superdome".  We got to the Superdome about an hour and a half before the game started.  I like getting to the games early because we can get into the parking lot easily, get our game hotdogs and eat 'em before I start to be worried that the Jumbo-Tron will somehow catch me stuffing a hotdog down my throat for all to see, stalk TV sports casters without a crowd (I see you Bob Costas), and people watch.  Oh, I love a good people watch.  Our tickets for this game also came with passes to the new club level at the Superdome.  So we took a little walk and checked out the elite club level, where we were impressed by the public areas and not so impressed with the $14.00 Bloody Marys.  However, it was a damn good Bloody Mary.  It wasn't a really exciting game though - we stomped the Colts at 62-7.

What's better than a quilt in the afternoon of a crisp fall day?  Nothing - and Mr. Kitty agrees.

 I love how the quilt looks like stained glass from the backside.

My California trip is coming up fast - only a couple more days before I leave!  I'll be super busy for the 10 days I'm in California and hope to spend some of that time quilting/crafting with Jim.  I've bundled up my vintage sheet hourglass blocks and will take them with me.  If nothing else to show Jim, but if we get a chance to sew I'll work on completing that quilt top.  He mentioned he's got a big heavy quilt he'd like to get tied - so we may have our own little personal quilting bee and tie that baby up for him.  :)

Best Kind of Friends

OK, So I want everyone to know that I've got the best kind of friends!  (Not just the friends included in this blog post, but all of 'em!)

Last weekend was the Sewing Summit in Salt Lake City and I was just getting over some kind of crazy ass bug.  As well as not feeling well I was in a really weird place in my head.  I hadn't been to Salt Lake City since I lived in Layton about 20 years ago with my ex-husband.  Being in the city brought back all sorts of memories all tangled up in happy and sad, good and bad.  It was an exhausting head trip.

I ended up feeling like the turd in the punchbowl, which made things all even worse in my head.  But, my friends just ignored my strangeness - which is exactly how I like it when I'm not feeling well (both physically and mentally).  lol.  Thanks NOMQG for just letting me be.  I loves you guys like no others - even when I'm stuck in Kaelin's damn covered wagon.

 

We did a little sight seeing around town and got to meet one of the city's hospitality club members.  She had some interesting things to say that reminded me of this little slice of my favorite British comedy.

But, I digress...more about having the best kind of friends.  My best friend (Bran Bran the muffin man) felt so bad that I felt so bad that he called one of my closest friends and arranged for me to fly to San Francisco (Oakland really) to spend a week.  So, I get my trip to California this year, and get to see my friends back home.  Isn't that the most wonderful man ever?  Plus Brad who will put me up for the week while he's preparing for his annual wine and cheese party and taking an extra day off this year so we can take a day trip to Napa.  Best kind of friends.  I'm so excited about my trip home that my previous funk has just dissipated to nothing.

Here's a little mail happy from Kaelin.  Only friends know that it's proper to address your mail in care of your dogs.  :D

 

Wanna know what sewing I got completed this week?  I got the quilt that was on the frame 2 weeks ago quilted and I finished all the blue vintage sheets hourglass blocks.  I think I'm going to mail both to "myself" in California and bind the one quilt and complete the hourglass quilt top with Jim.

I have no rehearsal this afternoon so I guess I'm going to get up and get some sewing and housework done.  Before I go though...here's a funny little video I shot last night of Bette Nuggs.  (Yes, Encino Man is one of my favorite movies, why do you ask?)

I Need More Hours in a Day

Why is it when I have the most on my plate at one time I get sick?  Ugh.  I ended up sleeping all of Thursday and Friday and I'm still tired, weak, and achy.  Now I'm stressed about the work I missed at the end of the week last week, the sewing I didn't get done, and the crazy amount of cleaning and decorating that begins for me in October.  On top of that stress I've got to conduct a training class this Wednesday and I leave Thursday for the Sewing Summit in Salt Lake City, so I'll have a second week that I will have to try to make up for the following week.

So enough of my boo-hooing for myself. I've got stuff to share!

First, and I know you've seen a TON of these on my blog, here's my mom's Christmas Mod Bento Box on the quilting frame.  I got the quilting completed last week sometime.  I still have to bind it.  Mom and Dad are coming for Christmas this year, so I'm not rushing to get this completed.  I figured if it was done by the time they got here it would be soon enough.  You would think my Christmas fabric stash would be dwindling, but no.  meh.

Speaking of Christmas fabric.  (Ha!)  I've completed this lattice Christmas quilt.  This quilt was born from my head and kinda unplanned (like most of my work).  Inspired by "what can I do with this layer cake in my stash".  So I started cutting, and realized that I did not have enough fabric in the layer cake to make a twin sized quilt.  So, I went to the trusty Internet and bought a second layer cake.  When I got the second layer cake in I proceeded to continue cutting and ended up cutting all the fabric on the same diagonal.  Yeah, that won't make diamonds...don't try.  So, I ordered a THIRD layer cake, which by this time was almost impossible to find, to complete this project.  Figures I'm trying to use up my stash and now I have enough fabric to make another one of these.   

My fabric hoard stash includes a pile of vintage sheets and vintage sheet fat quarters.  So, I've started sorting out the fabric into cohesive groups.  Beginning with the "blue daisies" I've got almost enough hourglass blocks to make a twin sized quilt.  I did order some Kona cotton in a couple of light blue shades to make the few blocks I'll need to finish this quilt, and enough for the back and binding.  The fabric came in Tuesday, but obviously I didn't get any work done on this quilt this week.

Once my mom's quilt was off the frame I put on another quilt and started the quilting.  You know - I could sew for days and never get tired of it.

The one little bit of seasonal work I got completed this week was the "changing of the mugs".  Bran pulled my fall and Halloween decorations out of the attic for me on Monday night while I was at rehearsal and I was able to switch out my everyday mugs with my Halloween ones.  Based on the week I just had this may be all the Halloween decorating I get completed this year.  ;)

Fall!

One of my favorite seasons started yesterday - FALL!  I love it when the days are shorter, the weather cooler, and the need for a quilt is doubled!  ;)

You may (or may not know) that I'm a fabric hoarder.  OK, if you know me pretty well you know I'm kinda an "everything" hoarder.  haha.  Either way, because I know I'm buying fabric faster than I'm using it I've challenged myself to create quilts with what fabric I have on hand.  The following quilt is not exactly my style - though I'm loving the one patch scrap quilt look lately.  I finished the quilt top this morning and it is actually really really cute in person.  Keep a look out for it if you love it, or think you know someone that would love it, because I may end up listing it in my shop after it's quilted and been subjected to it's "crinkly good" wash.  I plan on backing it with muslin, quilting it with a gold/orange color, and binding it with Kona Spice.

As much as I'm not "in love" with the quilt fabrics, above, I am in love with the selection below.  I actually started pulling fabric for two other quilts when I realized they'd look good together.  My question though, before I start cutting (which I'm ITCHING to do): do I make another one patch quilt out of the fabrics below?  Or, do I do a "Pickles" version where the white would be replaced by Kona Charcoal?  If I do the "Pickles" version I'd have enough fabric to do two quilts allowing me to keep one of them for myself and list the other in my shop.  If I do the one patch version I'll only have enough fabric for one quilt that will be MINE all MINE!  haha.  So, what do you think?

In case you weren't already jealous of my insane fabulousness.  (Just pretend ok?  It makes me feel good.)  I thought I'd leave you with a taste of my office life.  I work the "real job" from home three days a week, where I HAVE to share my office space.  Lucky for me my office mates are usually pretty quiet.  That is until the hubby, who also works from home, stops by for a chat.  Then the little fuzzy nug-a-rooni has to dash under my desk where she remains until the second he's out of my door, then she's back in her bed.  Funny little Bette Nuggers.