Winning attitude

I've had to check my attitude a bit this past week.  Things haven't quite gone according to plan.  But I'm proud of myself for seeking and latching onto that ever-present silver lining.

First, lots of great ideas for names for the Charm Quilt.  The Random Number Generator selected commenter #11, Colorslut, as the winner of the 25 Charm Squares from me, which will be going out in the mail soon.

But before the name could be decided, there was a minor incident.  You see, my washer is on the blink again, so I brought the quilt to town with me to wash at the laundrymat along with the rest of my laundry.  I thought I'd be fine since I always pre-wash my fabrics, but I brought a couple of Shout Color Catchers to throw in, just in case.  Of course, I forgot that not all the  Charm Squares came from my stash, so some of them were from fabric that had never been washed.  And wouldn't you know it, some of the fabrics ran.  Not a lot, just enough to annoy me, and here I was, at a laundrymat half an hour from my home and a tight schedule and no extra color catchers, etc.  I had no choice but to take the quilt home with me.

I did a quick search online before leaving town, though, to see if there was something I should buy and soak the quilt in to fix the problem before drying the quilt.  Someone mentioned RIT Color Remover.  OK, I know where to find that, so I picked it up on my way home.  I put the quilt in some water to soak with this Color Remover, sure that soon my quilt would be back to its former glory and all clean and crinkly to boot.

WRONG!

Here's the before picture:

Here's the after picture:

I didn't cry.  I didn't cuss.  I didn't vomit, even though I felt a bit ill when I saw just how many COLORS had been REMOVED from my newly completed quilt and how unevenly they were removed.  Instead, I reassured myself that at least now, I would get to keep a quilt that I had made, since there was no way I was going to give something this UGLY to someone else.  My hubby made a great point - that it could be my home theater cuddle quilt since it is so dark down there that no one would be able to see it.  Now, I'm just kinda wishing I had ruined a larger quilt...but not really.

So now, I'm having no problems coming up with names for this puppy...

All Washed Up

 Faded Dreams

 Butt Ugly

I could go on and on...

Live and learn, right?  Any of you have some TRIED AND TRUE methods to share with me to get just a tiny bit of color running out of a quilt top without going all Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor from Home Improvement on it like I did?

The week wasn't all ugly.  I took Friday off to attend the first day of our annual Guild Quilt Retreat.  My checkboard flimsy

turned into this:

I was surprised at how quickly it went together, but also at how much the top shrank down.  What started out at 40.5" x 36" is now 22" X 25".  There was quite a bit of leftover fabric that COULD have been waste, but not for this Bonnie Hunter protoge!  I cut down what I could to make a pieced border (which I hope to get on there tonight), and the rest went into my 1.5" squares tin.  And being famous for being a scrap collector, many of my fellow retreat-ers gave me their leftovers as well.  I was able to add lots of variety to my 1.5", 2" and 2.5" squares tins.  And I'm happy to say I got it all trimmed up while I was there, so no scraps that still needed cutting came home with me.

Saturday was another "look for the silver lining" day.  I was invited to be a vendor and demonstrator at the Old Middlebrook Village Day in a nearby town.  It is an old-timey event with live music, food, and crafters.  I went last year, too, and it was lots of fun for not just me, but my kids, too.  Wouldn't you know it - it rained ALL DAY LONG!  A few hardy souls came out, but mostly it was just us vendors huddling under our tents, trying to stay warm and dry.  I'm so glad I was a hand-quilting demonstrator - not only did my quilt keep me warm throughout the day, but I also was able to make some progress quilting my Pick and Choose quilt.  Plus, I did sell a couple of things, enough to buy the kids and myself lunch and make a couple purchases from other vendors.  So, I spent a day sewing while my children cavorted about having a ball, and I made enough to break even on the day.  That's not all bad, right?

I will say that yesterday I did nothing except eat, nap and read.  After all the disappointment of the week, I needed some time to recharge my batteries so I could come to work with a winning attitude today.

Quilt Weekend

My weekend began on Thursday afternoon when I placed an out-of-office auto reply on my email and changed my voicemail greeting to let people know I wouldn't be available until Monday. Aaahhh, freedom! But I was so tired, that I didn't really enjoy Thursday night, just got the kids into bed and hit the sack myself.

But Friday morning was another story altogether...

I didn't have the time or inclination to pull together fabrics and cut for the project that was featured at this year's quilt retreat, so I just grabbed some works in progress to work on - my Bright Futures Quilt that I am hand quilting, along with a snowball "I Spy" quilt and my Bonnie Hunter "Virginia Bound" quilt. Judi came through and lent me her machine to use - an Elna. Now, my machine is a $99 Singer from Wal-Mart. It is the only machine I have ever used. Once I figured out how to thread her machine and set the needle for a 1/4 inch seam, (over half an hour later), I started sewing. Oh, my! The difference was like the difference between my first car, an (at the time) 15-year-old two-tone tan Chevy Chevette, and my brand-new F150 Lariat SuperCrew pickup truck with heated leather seats, a tonneau cover, a moonroof, power everything and all the other bells and whistles. All of a sudden, I'm not so focused on fixing my own machine, and I am dreaming of getting a new one. It sewed like a dream! I didn't know what I was missing!

Anyway, day 1 of the retreat was fabulous. Our instructor was Barbara Cline, who specializes in Y-seams. I need to learn how to do Y-Seams, but this just isn't the time. Here's the class sample:

and here are some of the quilts the class was making:

She had samples and patterns for some of her other quilts there as well:

I loved this demin and flannel quilt, and hope to make something similar sometime this year.

In the meantime, here's what I was working on:

It was so nice to have all day to just quilt and hang out with friends. When I got home, after the delicious potluck dinner, always one of the highlights of the retreat, I felt so energized that I told the kids to round up some firewood - we were going to have a campfire! We stayed out late, roasting hot dogs and then marshmallows and trying to pick constellations out of the sky. My kids are so much fun - they are always up for anything.

Saturday was Day 2 of the retreat. We began with our monthly business meeting, which I missed because I brought the boys with me and we were running late. Another quilter has a daughter who is a few years older than Jason, and they all play very well together, so while they were with me all day, they didn't cut into my sewing time at all. I did get there in time for the slideshow and trunk show by Barbara Cline, though. I love that she didn't just show us her quilts, she also showed us her family. She's a neat lady. She has 6 sisters and one sister-in-law, and they all get together for 9 (yes, N-I-N-E!!) consecutive days each year for a sewing retreat. It gives me grand thoughts for my 2-day retreat with my sister every year... It was also cool to see the quilts that will be featured in her book that is coming out later this year, Star Strcuk Quilts. In short, they are AMAZING!

The woman who opened a quilt shop in the next town over last year set up a booth at the retreat.

I bought some Warm & Natural Batting for my Orphan Quilt, and I hope to put that together this week, maybe even in time for the drive-in next weekend. I also inherited some more juvenile scraps from a generous guild member, so I spent quite a bit of time on Saturday cutting, rather than sewing. The 6-inch blocks will go into my snowball "I Spy" quilt, and the other squares will go into their respective tins for use in a future project.

It is great to have a reputation as a scrap quilter - I am always getting surprise bags of fabric scraps.

The retreat wrapped up around 3 PM on Saturday. It was held at the Virginia Horse Center where they were also hosting a Spring Premiere Equestrian event. From our retreat room, we could look down on a Jumper competition in the coliseum, and I had been wanting to see more all weekend.

So, instead of going straight home, the kids and I loaded all my sewing stuff into the car, and walked around. It was fun, but I can tell that I'll be fending off frequent and fervent requests from the boys for a horse or pony for some time to come.

Last night, the boys and I went to the drive-in to see "How To Train Your Dragon" and "Sherlock Holmes." My brother came with his girlfriend and her two kids, and we had a great time, although my brother and I were the only two to stay awake through both movies.

Today, I slept in, and have spent most of the afternoon on the porch with Arlene Sachitano's "Quilt As You Go", a Harriet Truman mystery. It isn't my favorite series, but it will do. Oh, and how can I forget, while driving around this past week and weekend, I listened to all of Jennifer Chiaverini's "The Aloha Quilt." It was a good one, one with a current plot rather than one with lots of flashbacks to previous novels like some of her most recent books. I have already read those books; I don't want a new book to just relive what I've already read! If you like her Elm Creek Quilts books, then I recommend this one. And it has got me itching to try a quilt in the Hawaiin style, although that will have to wait until I get some others off my plate.

Between the retreat, the book, and the book on CD, I have immersed myself in quilting this weekend, and I must say, I feel better than I have, both physically and emotionally, than I have in months. Quilt therapy, there is nothing better!

Holding on until Friday

Remember this simple quilt top, my Bright Future baby quilt?

Yesterday morning before work, I sandwiched it and basted it and started quilting it with freehand baptist fans. I'm hoping to steal a few moments here and there to work on it, because this week is shaping up to be pretty intense at work. Which would be OK if last week hadn't been intense and I hadn't had to work all weekend this past weekend.

Friday is the carrot I am dangling in front of myself. That is day 1 of the annual quilt guild retreat, and I have had that day earmarked for vacation since the date was set months ago. Judi is letting me borrow her machine, and while I have no idea when I'll have a chance to prepare my fabrics for the workshop, I plan to be there. Only 3 more days. I can do anything for 3 days, right?

In the meantime, I am listening to The Aloha Quilt in the car, and really enjoying it. I find myself driving slower, hoping to prolong "storytime" as much as possible, and sitting in the car once I arrive at my destination, just until the end of this chapter. Sound familiar, anyone?