Last days

I have 5 days left working my current job, including today.  There are a lot of "lasts" taking place.  Last weekend was my last work trip - I presented at a conference at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL.  It was bittersweet - even though I miss my family when I am gone, I enjoy traveling for work.  I tried to really relish this trip - after lunch the first day, I took a 3-mile walk around the neighborhood.  I was very excited when I saw a shop sign that read "Forget Me Knot".  Doesn't that make you think of thread of yarn or something fiber related?  I rushed over.

OK, a consignment shop of women's clothing, not what I was hoping for, but not a complete loss, either.  They actually had some really neat stuff in there, and I left with a dress and a pair of shoes, but I left behind several things that the me who hadn't just quit her job and decided to start her own business would have snapped up in a heartbeat.  Gotta be more frugal now that my income isn't going to be as stable.  But if you are ever visiting Chicago and like consignment shops, this one was tops, as far as I'm concerned!

On the plane, I got nearly all the hand quilting done in the rainbow chevron baby quilt.  I bet I have less than an hour of quilting left.  I should get it done so I can get it to the baby before she gets too big!  But instead of quilting, I've been painting.  They put a new bathroom floor down in my new shop, and so they pulled out the toilet and sink.  That was the perfect time to paint, right?  So even though I had to do it after work and after karate, I spent the last two evenings first priming and then painting.  Can you say "sore"?  But no more painting until my lease starts on August 1.  At that time, I plan to have lots of help to get the store prettied up in no time.

Here's what I was covering up - I've never painted over wallpaper before, but the landlady encouraged me to try it, rather than take the wallpaper off.  That's why I really had to prime first.  No after photo yet, but I painted the room Sherwood Green, one of the colors that will be on the exterior.

I also stitched up a storm so I could present Adam with his quilt top, made from his mother's shirts, on Father's Day.  It was 11:30 PM when I finished, but it was still Sunday and he was still awake, so that counts, right?  When he realized what the material was, he brought it up to his face to inhale, to see if her scent still lingered there.  The lump that formed in my throat is still there.  I think he likes it.  Now to get it finished!

There's a lot coming down the pipe for me.  As soon as I am finished here on Sunday, we are headed north to spend time with family for 2 weeks.  As soon as I get back, I'll be teaching at the summer art camp.  I have so much prep work to do that it makes my head hurt!  But I'll get it done.  And I'll enjoy doing it.

SO exciting!

It seems like everything in my life is exciting to me these days!

Here I am making my first deposit into my business checking account - my first summer camper's deposit!  I have 2 of 12 spots filled so far, and 2 months left to fill up the rest.

Yes, I gave the teller my phone and asked her to take my photo!

I've been much busier than I'd like, what with finishing up at my current job, planning a new business, a karate test (today!), a new puppy, etc, but I am still making progress on my hubby's quilt made from his mom's shirts, and I haven't given up hope of having the top pieced to present to him on Father's Day this Sunday.  I also think I want this one to be my entry into the County Fair Quilt Show this year.

The bottom left is already sewn together, that row through the middle is sewn together but not sewn to the bottom right section yet.  Playing with border ideas, trying to use up every scrap of the shirt sleeves and fronts for the front of the quilt and piece the shirt backs together for the back of the quilt.  The white is from 3 white oxford style shirts of hers, so it is all up-cycled shirt fabric.

And back to the puppy...we found the puppy's owners :(

But they are willing to let us have her since she's been gone over 2 weeks and they thought she was gone for good and since we've already invested in her by taking her to the vet. :)

Turns out her name is Belle.  I think that goes much more nicely with Biscuit than Jumpy.  Besides, she responds to Belle already.  Biscuit and Belle, my canine buddies!

What's exciting in YOUR life these days?

Can you tell?

The shirt stripe box quilt made from my MIL's quilt is getting bigger every day, so I needed to clear my design wall to make room.  An inner border, a pieced border and an outer border later, and this Spiral Log Cabin quilt was ready to come off the wall and into the "to be quilted" pile.

I LOVE IT!  It is 51" square.  Why did it take me so long to finish it, you ask?  Ah, the usual lament of the scrap quilter - I ran out of my background fabric.  I searched locally for more, but to no avail.  But I found another fabric that was close enough for me.  Can you tell that the background in the borders is different than the background in the blocks?  Take a closer look...

But you know what?  I don't care.  I've said it before, but the first quilting book I read, and the one that has had the greatest impact on me, is Roberta Horton's Scrap Quilts: The Art of Making Do. 

Do you have a book that has helped you to define your approach to quilting?

And back to the shirt stripe box quilt - it wasn't quite speaking to me until I turned the blocks on point.  BINGO!  This, I love!

As if that weren't enough sewing, I also sewed the binding onto the front of the last of the Hurricane Sandy Quilts that I have quilted.  Now to just have some waiting time to sew down the back.

The other thing I did this weekend was set up a website for the Quilt Camp for kids that I'll be running this summer just before my shop opens its doors to the public.  I put the link out on an announcement email at the University today and already got 4 emails from interested parties.  After work today, I printed out my corresponding brochure with the little tear off slips at the bottom and posted them in 8 or 9 places around town.  I am SO EXCITED about all this!  Can you tell?

Getting it done!

It was one of those days, one of those rare days, when I seemed to just be on the ball, getting done everything I set out to get done.  Some of that was sewing:

I finally finished the pillows for the READY afterschool program students who didn't finish during our classes.  I love that they went scrappy like I did.

I also like the fun fabrics they picked out for the pillow backs.

I'll get these to the students on Monday - just in time, since the last day of school is Tuesday!

I finally made that bifold fabric wallet I wanted to make for myself.  I used this tutorial and here's what I came up with.

Sewing through those thick seams was a challenge, but what I loved about this tutorial is that she had us sew with a 1/2" seam allowance and then trim down to 1/4".  I felt more confident about catching all layers that way.  I can't wait to fill it with my cards and cash and start using it tomorrow.  I've had that brown outside fabric for ages and could never decide what to do with it.  I love brown!

While working on these two things, I managed a couple more blocks for my hubby's quilt from his mother's shirts.

I'm thrilled at how closely these stripes are lining up without me having to work too hard to match them.

I wonder if I can have the top pieced in time to present that to him on Father's Day?  Hmmm.  I might need to make that my goal.  As far as quilting, I saved all the buttons I cut off the shirts, and I hope to tie it with those buttons.  Can you sew buttons on with a sewing machine?  I love the idea of the buttons, but the thought of sewing them all on by hand doesn't excite me.

Some of what I got done was business related.  I got my federal employer ID number and my VA retail sales tax certificate.  I got my local business license and paid my estimated business taxes for the year (strange to pay taxes BEFORE I even open!).  I opened my business bank accounts.  I figure if I just tackle one step at a time, this seemingly huge undertaking will seem less overwhelming.  Oh, and yesterday, I visit a Baby Lock dealer and decided on the Grace for my classroom sewing machines.  They are over 4 lbs lighter than the Janomes, and there was a pricing special going on that saved me over $400 on the set of 6 machines.

Finally, I got our summer pool pass, and visiting the pool with the boys.  While there, I swam 10 lengths (gotta ease my way back into my summer lap swimming) and disassembled two more of my MIL's shirts.  But while there, a woman saw me cutting and said, " Are you the quilt lady?  The one I read about in the newspaper?"

How flattering! (But this is a small town - anyone know that country song that tells how EVERYONE is famous in a small town?  That's us.)

But what was more flattering is that she works for our local newspaper and told me she's been wanting to do a story on me.  Could the timing be any better with me opening my shop later this summer?  The trip to the pool turned out to be even better than I had hoped!

I get by with a little help from my friends

A surefire way to keep your mind off feeling blue is to keep busy and surround yourself with others.  That was the strategy this past weekend.  We visited my husband's grandmother in Southeastern Virginia.  I though we were just going to a cookout, but there were at least 50 people there, so it felt more like a family reunion to me.  I knew next to no one, but pull out a quilt to work on, and all of a sudden you are surrounded by interested folks.  That was my strategy, and it worked wonderfully!  Everyone has a quilt story to share.  I even found a cousin who designs cards and signs, and he's working on a design for me for my new business.  Plus, I'm halfway done hand quilting the second rainbow baby quilt!

Back at home, I worked on the quilt blocks from my MIL's shirts.  I need to pull out some of them with wider stripes to give my eyes a break - those tiny stripes make me seasick!  But so far, everything is lining up pretty well, although I'm not being a stickler about it.  Let's face it, I'm not much of a stickler for rules and things being orderly.

The larger blocks are 8.5", the smaller are 4.5".  So far, I've used 4 sleeves total - who knew there was that much fabric in a sleeve???

Then yesterday afternoon we went to a cookout at a local friend's house (that's right - two days in one weekend when I didn't have to cook dinner!), and I was working on cutting up the rest of the shirts when a quilter friend got some scissors and gave me a hand.  My friends are the best!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

Memories

On this Saturday eight years ago (although the date was the 28th of May, not the 25th), I was sitting at work, talking with a colleague when I got the phone call.  Without even saying "Hello," my cousin Khadijah sobbed, "Uncle Craig is dead!"  I went home immediately, stunned.  My father was gone.  My larger-than-life, fun-loving, vibrant, effusive father had died in a car accident.  The thought that kept running through my head was, "Donald will never get to meet him."  I was 9 months pregnant at the time, and Donald was born 3 weeks later.

No worries, Dad, Donald has met you many times over in the stories we tell and the photos we share.

Dad graduated from college the year I turned 11.  I see that I get my aversion to ironing from him!

Luckily, he was able to meet Jason several times.  In every photo, Jason is gazing at him, enthralled.

One of my favorite photos - my dad and my brother

So this Memorial Day weekend, my father, who served in the US Air Force, occupies my thoughts.

He looked quite dapper in his uniform (with my grandmom)

So does my mother-in-law.  Knowing that she was dying didn't make losing her any easier.  I wailed after losing my father that I never had a chance to say "goodbye."  Having had that chance with Wilma, I realize there isn't enough time or words to say all that needs saying.

I've started making my husband a quilt from his mother's shirts.  She loved striped cotton oxford-type shirts, usually in blue, so I'm making a Kaffe Fassett inspired Shirt-Stripe Boxes quilt.  Luckily, she had a TON of them!  I've disassembled several shirts, but have only made one square so far.

First block made from Wilma's shirts

It is hard to cut and sew with tears in your eyes.