Lazy Days of Summer

This is my one and only quilting finish this summer. There are so many other distractions when the weather turns sunny and warm that quilting takes a back seat for me. I did get this one quilted and bound. I pieced the top back in January, 2007 at our guild's RI retreat as well as another more autumny( is that a word?) top which I am ready to load on my frame when we get a rainy day. Until then, I am doing some hand quilting while I watch TV or reading. I just finished "Little Bee" which was recommended on someone's blog and really enjoyed it.

We just got back from our weekend in Baltimore where we watched our Red Sox beat the stuffing out of the Orioles. Camden Yards is a great ballpark and we had fabulous seats for both of the games.

While I was in Baltimore, I finally got to meet The Calico Cat (Amy) as well as her hubby and of course, the Calico Kitten, Jacob. He is sooo cute and was very good during our sushi lunch. Amy is one of the lucky gals whose hubby is fabulous with the baby. It was fun to spend a couple of hours together talking about babies, the pros and cons of family vacations, and of course, quilting. I hope my next trip Amy and I will get to fondle some fabric!

This weekend has been spent cleaning and doing some needed maintenance work in the garden. I did receive our guild's newsletter which had details about our Annual Gathering in October. Carol Doak will be teaching classes and there was news of a retreat in March. On Tuesday, some of our members are getting together for dinner and an evening of shopping at a local quilt shop. I see more fabric in my future!

Lastly, for those who have emailed me about my son, thanks for your concern. He is getting back into the swing of things. The ringing in his ear is gone, he had the stitches removed and he is pretty much back to normal. Oh and he bought himself a nice new helmet to wear!

Hope everyone is enjoying these lazy days of summer!

My visit to the Mile Hile City

I don't have any quiltiness to show but we have had some excitement around here lately. We were planning on going to visit my DS in Vail in September but last Friday as I was wandering the supermarket aisles, I got a call from my son, or so I thought. When I answered it was a doctor from Vail Medical Center informing me that Alex had been involved in an accident while riding his longboard ( for those of you unfamiliar, it is a skateboard but longer and used primarily for cruising around). Apparently, he had time between jobs and was returning a video to the library. He was on the paved bike trail that goes through Vail and as he turned a corner, there were bikers ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE PATH. Alex tried to swerve around them and lost his balance. He fell hard and was knocked unconscious. The bikers who were in the way took off but thankfully, a woman saw him fall and called 911. She stayed with him til the ambulance arrived and tried to visit him at Vail but was not allowed since she wasn't family. However, she did write him a note and left her number. We have been in touch with her to thank her for stopping and helping Alex.

When I got the call Friday morning, he had spent the night at Vail and they were transporting him to Denver as he had a small brain bleed on the CT scan and Vail doesn't have a neurologist on staff. After talking to the neurologist in Denver Friday night, Bob and I decided to fly out there. We left at 5:3o am EST from Hartford and got into Denver around 2:00 pm.

Alex spent a couple of days in ICU for observation but thankfully, he is going to be fine. He has a few stitches in his head and some ringing in his ear which should go away over the next month.

We took him back to Vail on Monday afternoon and got a brief tour of the area, which is absolutely gorgeous. This picture is of Alex at Vail Ski Resort with some of the rails that are being built and will be installed in the terrain park where he works this coming winter.



Here is me and Alex and the longboard. The ambulance crew left it at Vail Medical. Vail has a special holding area for skis, snowboards and apparently skateboards that come into the ER. We picked his board up on Monday.

Here's Alex and Dad. This river/stream runs behind Alex's condo in Vail. During the rafting season, he took rafters down the river as a guide while working for the river rafting company.

We headed back to Denver Monday afternoon and decided to stay an extra day to take a look around the city. We absolutely LOVED Denver. The people are super friendly and helpful, the city is nicely laid out with lots of public transportation so it's easy to get around. There are lots of fabulous restaurants and some good local beer. We went to the Botanical Gardens which were gorgeous and even got to take in a Rockies game on Tuesday night. The tickets ranged from $4 to $50! If you are a Red Sox or Yankees fan, you know what a bargain that is. We got tickets the day of the game, 10 rows from the field on the first base line. Coors Field is really nice and although the Rockies lost ( they need some help in the bullpen) we had a great time and met some really nice people.

All in all, what started out as a nightmare ended on a good note. We stayed at the Sheraton Downtown in Denver and I can't say enough good things about the staff there. They were sooo accomodating during this crazy time, from sending up a basket so we had some snacky stuff in the room, extending our check out time with no additional charges or hassles, letting us keep Alex in the room for no additional charge and having the van take us to and from the hospital whenever we wanted. Mr. Bonilla, the front desk supervisor, was an angel and made this part of our trip easy.

Don't know how much quilting I'll be getting done in the next few weeks. We are headed to Baltimore on Friday for our Red Sox weekend. Dandylion, I'll be getting in touch with you by email so we can hopefully meet on Saturday!

Til then, Quilt til you Wilt!~

Long time, no blog

If I told you that I was on a secret mission for the CIA would you believe me?! Well, that and the arrival of summer (finally!) is the reason I am over 30 days away. Usually I am "lurking " around, leaving comments like breadcrumbs all over blogland so you know I am still alive but I haven't even been doing that!! And boy are things going on!! In just a few quick stops, I found that Libby, our Simple Girl, ( and I mean that in a nice way! LOL) has just about sold her house and will be close to me in a few short weeks!! I can't wait!! We are already planning our first quilting adventure!! Debra is being driven insane by her appliances and the Calico Kitten is just about on the move, Watch out Amy, once they are mobile there is no stopping them!

I have been working both at my job and in the garden as well as attending numerous family graduation, birthday and anniversary parties but I do have some quiltiness to show you.

My Uncle Sams were completed for the 4th of July. I am trying to pull a pattern or kit that has been hanging around and actually making them! What a novel idea! This one goes back about 5 years or so.

And you may remember the 2nd Round Robin I was doing with some of the gals from my guild. The kimono block was my center block. Well, the five of us finally all got together for lunch and the finished tops were returned to their owners about two weeks ago.

This is what I got back! I absolutely love it. These gals are sooo talented.

The dragon is my favorite part which was added by Bev who was a new addition to the group. Her applique work is outstanding! Bev is 70 years young and although she is a Yankees fan, she was a great addition to the group! I also love the Chinese lanterns and Pagodas which Lisa added. This one is not getting thrown in the box to "age". I will be finishing it very soon.

The summer quilt that I was working on has been quilted and I am in the process of sewing down the binding. I have been doing some hand quilting on another old UFO which is almost complete. I hope to show those in the next week or so. Summer has always been a slow blogging season for me so please forgive me for my absence. Once the leaves and the temperatures start to fall, I'll be back on a more regular basis.

Lastly, I have to thank Nellie of Nellie's Needles for sending me this lovely mini lake piece as part of her Pay it Forward. I have it hanging in my office at work. Thanks Nellie! It is fabulous!

Hope all is well in your corner of the world! Til we meet again, Quilt til you wilt!

30 things I've done since my last post

Well, it's been 30 days (actually 32) since I posted so here are 30 things that I've done since then, both the QUILTY AND THE NON QUILTY!


First the Quilty, or at least fiber related!

1. I made a summer bathrobe. I had a silky slippery one but it never stayed tied, much to my DH's delight. But I couldn't find a nice cottony one. Then I remembered that I had a whole closet of cotton. I pulled two pieces of novelty fabric with coffee cups and coffee pots all over and Ta Da! a>
2. and 3. I made a scarf and two infant hats to add to my Charity knitting goal. The next knitting project is pink mittens to go with a hat I made earlier in the winter. I love this ruffle scarf pattern. It is so easy and works up quick.

4. I made this sunflower quilt from a kit I bought about a year ago. This only took a couple of hours and finishes at 8.5 x 15 inches.

5. I pulled a PIG from the POKE to finish. My summer plaid lap quilt now has borders, the batting and I'm piecing the back. I hope to have it on my frame by next week.

6. I finished my Quilt of Valor and sent it to Victoria in NY. It has been safely received and she will take it with others to Camp LeJeune.

7 I started reading Friday Night Knitting Club. A great easy summer read!

8 I spent Memorial Day on the beach in Ocean Grove, NJ. It was warm and wonderful to put my toes into the sand again.

9 I rode my bike three times with my friends in NJ over the long weekend.

10,I bought Green Day tickets for the upcoming tour which will be in Hartford in July. My son got me listening years ago. I loved American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown is great!

11. I vacuumed at least 6 times and each time I picked up a cat hairball the size of a small kitten! I am loving my new Bissell vacuum. It really gets up the cat hair. It's not a Dyson but I couldn't see spending $500 on a machine that cleans. I need to save that money for a machine that sews!

12. I started watching The Fashion Show on Bravo. I know it's a knockoff of Project Runway but I like it!

13. I booked airline tickets and hotel for a long weekend in Baltimore. We are going to see TWO RED SOX GAMES at Camden Yard at the end of July.

14. I joined a gym. The pounds have been creeping on and my treadmill motor is on its last legs. To repair it would cost more than the gym and i really need some new motivation so Cardio Express here I come!

15. I took my first BODY FAT BLASTER class and I never felt sooo old or sooo out of shape!! I was sore as heck but I'm determined to stick with it.

16. I' got in touch with a few old friends from HS through Facebook and we have set up a little reunion for August. It started with 4 friends and through FB, the numbers are growing.

17. I cut my lawn with our new nonmotorized lawn mower. We got it last year but this is my first try at it. What a workout!! The kids in the neighborhood had never seen one and I had a small crowd and volunteers help me cut it the first time out!

18. I took a week of long over due VACATION! I didn't go anywhere and just puttered around the house and decompressed! It was really great.

19. I got a massage to aid in the decompression.

20. I had my haircut.

21. I bought some new clothes. This was not the pleasant experience I anticipated and prompted me to do #14.

22. I saw Southside Johnny in Worcester with my DH and some SSJ friends. Always a good time!

23. I helped my DH pick out a new car. We got a Toyota Yaris. It reminded us of the old VW bug he had when we first started dating. It's a five speed, great on gas and fun to zip around in.

24. I bought some new silverware. Ours was a little shabby and the funny thing is the new pattern I picked out is almost identical to the old one. I guess I really like it!! LOL!

25. I cleaned out all of my son's old clothes and junk and gave it to Goodwill. On his last visit, I told him to take it, ask me to hold it or it was going!

26. I painted the fence in our backyard.

27. I got caught up on some TV watching. I finished looking at all of the "Saving Grace" episodes, "Brothers and Sisters", and "Mad Men". That cleared some space on the DVR.

28. I washed my kitchen floor on my hands and knees. This is a dreaded project that gets done every six months or so. I have a laminate floor which I love but it has little grooves that need to be scrubbed a couple of times a year. My Dh thinks I'm nuts!

29. I saw the movie "Wolverine" which was awesome. I love those X-Men movies!

30. I MISSED ALL OF YOU!!! I have been trying to do some blog reading but I'm definitely behind. Our office is finally fully staffed and (keep your fingers crossed!!) I'm going back to my 3 day week next week. I hope to be caught up and back up to speed blogwise very soon!!

Til then Quilt til you wilt!!!

Slowdown in Production

Look at this. This is the extent of quilt production at Quilt til You Wilt! It' s sad, really sad. Last Sunday afternoon I had a couple of free hours and this is what I did. Now,although I have two projects that needed to be finished yesterday,I did this instead. Why?? Well, I walked into my bathroom and saw the tissue box with the snowman on it and down the crazy path I skipped.

And to boot, it was not a very enjoyable project because the directions were not very clear. But I persevered and now have a tissue box cover. Ta da!

I am in a funk, not only quiltwise,but lifewise. Maybe I should rename this blog Wilt til you Quilt. I just can't seem to get out of first gear. There is a lot of bucking and starts and stops going on. My 3 day work week is back to 5 which has really wreaked havoc with family life and keeping the household running smoothly. We are again searching for a paralegal that can stay more than 3 weeks. You would think in this economy they would be breaking down the door!!

One bright spot is that my son has been home for a visit from Colorado. It didn't take him more than 2-3 days to turn our guest room back into his room (for those of you with sons, you know of what I speak, LOL). He is a little beat up from a season of snow, living with three guys in a two bedroom apartment and lousy eating habits. Our first trip together was to the doctor. He had an earache and has an ear infection. But a few days of loads of sleep and Mom's cooking has him on the road to recovery. He heads back to Colorado on Tuesday. I miss him already. He is headed to Vermont to visit friends this weekend.

Tomorrow it is supposed to rain. I can't remember the last time I was happy about rain on the

weekend. I hope to be holed up in my sewing room finishing my Round Robin and putting the label and binding on my QOV to be shipped out next week.

The other bright spot is all of you out there doing stuff. I have been squeezing in some blog reading while I eat lunch at my desk every day and that has helped. Ok, enuf of the whining!!!

I think I will end with gratitudes:

I have a job, I know lots of people don't right now.

I have a loving family,

I have food on the table and a roof over my head.

and I have my quilting friends, here in CT and out on the innernets.

Check back with me next week, I promise to be better company.

Machine Quilters Expo

I spent the weekend at the MQX show in Manchester, NH. I have wanted to go for a couple of years and finally made it. I took two classes aimed at beginners with machine quilting frames and came away with some terrific tips and more confidence in quilting on my frame. I again spent lots of time looking (and yearning for) a longarm but the long and the short of it (no pun intended) is that I am short on space for the longarm setup. I did spend a bit of time playing with a Nolting Fun Quilter which is a 17" machine which would fit on my Gracie frame. I'm leaning towards this option. Now to get my DH to lean in that direction! How do I get him to finance yet another machine??? Ladies, all ideas are WELCOME!!!

My friend Diane and I had a great time staying at the Hilton Garden Inn. Our room overlooked the minor league baseball park. This was the view from our window. Too bad the Fisher Cats were away-in New Britain CT!

We saw some fabulous quilts. There are so many talented quilters out there! Here are a couple of my favorites.

We also spent gobs of $$$. I bought the quick zip system for my quilting frame which will make the loading process easier and though I promised myself I would not buy any fabric, I did. There was a gal with Japanese fabric and loads of taupes. I couldn't help myself!!

On Saturday night, we got together with my cousin,Mary. She and I were inseparable during our teen years (12-15) and I haven't seen her since my mom's 70th birthday party which was 2 years ago. It was sooo great to see her and catch up with her and all of her family's activities.

On our way home, Diane twisted my arm and we hit the outlet mall nearby. There was a Chico's outlet there and we both stimulated the economy a bit in there. All in all, a wonderful weekend!

Lastly, my son arrived home today from Colorado for a two week visit!! I can't believe it has been six months since he left. He is still in love with Colorado and will be returning to a new apartment and a new job as a landscaping foreman in Vail. He'll do this til the snow flies again and he returns to his position at the ski resort. We are making plans to visit him this summer once all the snow has melted!!

Work is very busy leaving little time for quilting. I did finish another knitted hat for charity and I continue to work on the Round Robin. Our exchange is just a week or two away so I hope to complete it this weekend. I'll try to post pics of that this weekend.

Til then,

Quilt til you wilt ~~~

A special Award for Special Ladies

This blog invests and believes in the PROXIMITY -- nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these blogs!”

I was presented with this award from Kay. Thanks, Kay and RIGHT BACK AT YA!! I don't usually like this stuff but this one award is neat because it focuses on the friendship of blogging. There are a few gals out there that I share a special kinship which has developed from our love of quilting and now extends to a more personal level. I follow over 100 bloggers so to pick only eight is tough, but here is my list:

Debra
Libby
Finn
Amy
Kate
Wil
Joanne
Patti

All of these ladies are super quilters, some are traditional, some are arty and they all love quilting and fabric. But for me, the sharing of bits and pieces of their personal lives makes their blogs more interesting. They are moms and wives, they have jobs and family dilemmas, they are women in different stages of life and they share that with me and others through their blogs. That's why this award is for them.

Check them out!

Quilt of Valor

I started this on Friday during our sewcial and finished the top this afternoon. It was really easy! It was 2 yards of a focus fabric and 7 FQs. The pattern is called "A Path Less Traveled" by M'liss Rae Hawley. The binding will be dark or navy blue.

Next up, my Round Robin and doing my taxes!!! Have a great week!

March Madness

And it is maddening of late!! I know it's been two weeks since my last post but I have been working feverishly on the Fairy quilt. I showed a block in my last post. At our last Friday "sew"cial, I put on the borders, pieced the back and made the binding. Here is a photo of Bridie's quilt prior to the quilting. We try to get together every Friday morning and we alternate houses. It's amazing how quickly the time goes! I find I get lots done.



Isn't Diane's Storm at Sea gorgeous?? It is all paper pieced and she has been working on it bit by bit since our retreat in January.

This is Linda's mystery quilt which our guild did on drop in Mondays this winter.

Since that Friday, I have quilted the fairies, sewn down the binding. Now all I have to do is add the label tonight while watching TV and it will go into the mail tomorrow. Bridie's birthday is today so this will be late but I'm hoping that she won't be too hard on Auntie once she receives it.

Just a side note, I have been looking for something to use for marking other than chalk and several people had suggested Crayola WASHABLE markers. I tested them on several pieces of fabric and found that it does work well. I used it on Bridie's quilt ( I know, I'm brave or insane, one or the other) but thankfully it did come out, though it required two washings.

A couple of people had asked about my St. Patrick's Day. It was quieter than usual. Though a good friend (and an Irishman) that I had not heard from in a looonng time stopped by the house with a little pot of shamrocks! What a sweetie! Sure made this Irish colleen's day brighter.

If you have been reading my blog for a while you know that I am not only a quilt fanatic but a women's college basketball fanatic. We are now in the midst of March Madness. My DH and I have been watching lots of games. Our Lady Huskies are predicted to go all the way this year! As a surprise and a fantastic finish to my sewing room makeover, DH got me a hi-def flat screen which will be going on the wall so I can sew and watch at the same time. It also eliminates the big tv and cart from the corner. Yeah!! more room for fabric!

In other non-quilty news, my DS, Alex, has decided to stay in Colorado after the season at Vail is over and will be starting a new job as a foreman for a garden center. He hopes to be back at Vail next year. Oh, and he got the cast off his wrist and is back to snowboarding again. He called to tell us they had another 12 inches of snow overnight. He is planning to come home for a week or so between the end of Vail's season in April and the start of his new job in May. It has been six months since we've seen him. I can't wait to have him home again!

My sister called from Florida to tell me that my nephew will be in CT training for a new job next week. Pilot Pen is closing shop in CT and moving to Jacksonville and he got a job with them so he is coming up here to corporate offices to get acclimated. This is great news as he has been laid off for about 5 months. So we will try to get together and have dinner with him. And my sis had good news of her own, she passed her CPA exam. Yeah!

I'm also back to 4 days a week at work since we had someone leave and the new person doesn't start til May 11th. So I am working more hours which is ok. The extra money will pay for a few things we want to do around the house.

Seww, as you can see, I am very very busy right now. When Debra put out the call for QOVs, I promised her I would make one. I have the fabric and pattern picked for that. I hope to start it this Friday at our next "sew"cial. I'll post pics of that top when it is finished. Til then,

Quilt til you wilt!!!!

Sewing Room makeover

As I mentioned last weekend, I was in the midst of a sewing room makeover. I have moved from the smaller bedroom to the larger one and everything is now pretty much in place. My DH repainted the room and reconfigured the closet. The carpet was cleaned and everything was moved in.


I was hoping to do this makeover in two steps. First, the actual furniture and whatnot one weekend and then the fabric stash and other things from the closet on another weekend. However, while I was out to the grocery store, my DH did me a "favor" and pulled everything out of the closet. Needless to say, he did it in quite a different way than I would have! But it forced me to go through and weed out a tiny bit as well as reorganize everything.


Here's the pictures of my old empty closet and pictures of me and a portion of my stash:

And here are the after pictures of my new and improved sewing room. This is my cutting corner with design wall and bookcase.

Here is my quilting table, sewing machine table which has an extension on the back for machine quilting and my tv. I'm hoping to get rid of my old tv and stand and put a flat screen mounted onto the wall in the next couple of weeks. That will free up some more space. All of those storage bins under the frame are my stash management bins ala Bonnie of Quiltville fame, and a portion of my fat quarters in photo boxes by color.

Here is one side of the closet. I added a set of cubbies for my yarn stash.

And this is the other side. It has sliding doors on it which I have thought about using as a design wall but I'm still pondering that. The stuff on the right is one of those hanging shoe holders. I am using it to hold glue, glue guns, starch, 505 spray, and other stuff.

I have to say it is all a girl could ask for. I'm truly blessed to have the space and an understanding DH that encourages me to do what I love. It was quite a project but well worth the work.

The guest room is still a disaster but the closet has been painted and reconfigured and my DH will be painting that room this weekend so I can get it back together before my mom comes through on her way back from Florida in April.

In other quilting news, I am now working on Bridie's fairy quilt. The blocks are almost all together. Here's a sneak peek at one of the blocks. I hope to have the top finished by the weekend. Her birthday is March 26th. Hopefully, I can get it done and mailed to her on time.

I have decided to go to the MQX show in Manchester, NH in April. My friend who owned the LQS is going with me. Anyone out in blogland planning to attend???? I would love to meet up with a fellow blogger !

Oh, and lastly, I am now able to reduce my pigs by one with no work on my part at all! How did I do it?? Well, it was thanks to Debra . I sent her two or three quilt tops for her homeless teen project and she has transformed the yellow and blue quilt top. Take a look here! Thanks to Debra my poke is roomier and a quilt will be finding a new home.