road trip!!!!

today was my jaunt to the quilter's gathering in nashua, nh. i try and go every year. they have a terrific show (by invitation) and always a great selection of classes and fun things. this year i took a half-day workshop with kathy kansier on crazy quilting with batiks AND beading! now, i have avoided the embellishment road up until now, but i have to say after today, it does interest me. but, since i focus mainly on quilting, i am going to be very careful NOT to jump in with both feet up to my armpits; meaning, i am not going to get addicted to this area of quilting simply because i don't have time. my primary goal is to make the quilts i want to make and use up as much fabric as i can. speaking of fabric, this christmas lights half yard followed me home, i swear, it jumped into my tote and came back to maine with me. this is the type of christmas light i have on my tree and i love them. yes, i know they are not "efficient" or "green" and even give off heat and i do have to watch them carefully, but i don't care. i love them all the same. the little twinkle lights just don't have the glow. i love to turn off all the lights and put on the tree and just sit there feeling their warmth, smelling the pine needles and loving the colors.

just plain

rain in maine. no problem, it isn't SNOW! seriously, any kind of weather that does not confine me to an artificially-cooled space or prevent transportation is ok with me. that being said, since it's friday i've a few unimportant things to do. sew, of course, the library and maybe vacuum my room. other than that and job hunting, my life is pretty boring. once i have some kind of income, i will probably head to the local pool and see if i can get in better shape which might go a long way to enticing employers to hire me, even at my "advanced" (? what) age. fortunately, my brain still lives and my memory is sufficient to work and i can still pass those important neuro test markers to indicate such.

as maine goes.....

so goes the nation, is the phrase. our (probably) new governor is the general manager of marden's, the astounding store that sells fabric for ridiculously low prices. he ran on a platform of jobs. he is a self-made man and i'm only hoping that the jobs he intends to create are not AT marden's, because i don't think you can run a household on salaries at marden's. i could be wrong, though. at any rate, let's wait and see exactly WHAT jobs come to maine and for how long. at this point, maine is nearly economically dead. in the 9 years i've been here, i've only worked for about 4, so maine has not been good for me in hardly any respect.

yesterday's finish

it's awaiting a dunk in the washer to remove the chalk lines, but i can post it here for you to see. it's a mini-Amish quilt, log cabin pattern, barn raising style. i have PLENTY of solid strips to make a dozen of these if i wanted. i do have more mini-Amish quilts planned, as well as a couple bed size in progress. hmm, now if i could just get harrison ford here....

one block done

so now that it's started, i am hoping to do at least a block a day, which will get this finished way before the end of the year. it's getting the 30s-style cross-hatch design, plus each of the butterflies is outlined. it doesn't currently have a border but i am going to add a 2" black border around the entire thing and then bind in black. i don't really like sewing on black fabric, but this will finish it off nicely i think....

got pins?

this is what happens when UFOs get finished, the pins that are holding them together get put back into the pin cushion. see that chunky one in the lower left corner? those are all the pins i took out of HALF the hawaiian when it got basted last weekend (not counting those still on the floor). yep, and i have another half to go yet. and, i confess, i have another little box of those yellow flower pins in the sewing table. i couldn't find many of them, you see, and so i (gulp) bought another box. so, at the joann notions sale next week, guess what i won't be buying....

a happy monday

no special reason at all, just that i'm happy my arm is nearly fully recovered, brother #2 called this morning, have gotten some sewing done and had time to read as well. it's also happy as there were no horrid, vile offshore callers to listen to and no forked-tongue employer in my life today either. will have some photos of finishes tomorrow probably.

Halloween Memory

a blast from the past! this is me and brother #1 circa 1958 or so. aren't we scary? sometimes i still feel like a hobo of sorts.....today's tricks include my health insurance terminating but at least they extended it for the entire month, which i didn't expect. treats? well, get to work on some sewing projects and I did sleep the entire night last night, no waking up at all. finally it seems the arm is nearly 100%, so that was a real treat. another week or so and i'll have some funds, a really BIG treat. now if i just get my unemployment OR a job, either one, that'll give November a terrific start.

see?

after about 5 hours of basting, i've gotten this much done, which is nearly 1/4 of the entire applique. the very center part is also done. i was hoping i might finish it this weekend, but not unless i baste around the clock, which isn't going to happen. today i also worked on my winter tote for the upcoming swap. good thing i picked up some of the items before the job went south. at any rate, i did free up a significant number of pins by completing this much. this is an excellent project for snow days.

another "process"

that would be basting the hawaiian quilt. at the moment it's just pinned but i took a detour from my current "to do" list and decided to see how much i could get basted while my roomie is away for a few days. i had to put up the folding banquet table and it's really in the way, so it's much easier to do with just one person here. nearly all my tiny applique pins are holding this down, so i wanted to get them back in their little box. it would be nice if i could complete the basting process but not sure if i can. i do have a few other things that really need to be done. ***** our warmish weather is about to disappear. everything is relative, though, and as long as there isn't any snow, i'm happy. even in the most bitter cold weather, if there isn't snow i'm still happy. i hate it when sidewalks and roads are slippery and cars have to be cleaned off. i'm definitely not a winter gal at all.