Pictures!

Better late than never. Here are some pictures from the Columbus Trip.
Here's Han Solo lookin' hot even without Harrison Ford:


And The Husband looking hot as always:


And, not to be geeky, but here is a quilt from the COSI museum:

Testing, 1..2..3

Good Morning!  I am trying out email publishing of my blog.  What do you think?  Did it work?

We went to look at some land yesterday.  Turns out it is shaped like a giant flag, with sixty feet of road frontage that continues straight back for 950 some feet before opening up to about 9 acres.  Hmm.  Do we want a driveway that is three and a half football fields long?  That's pretty darn long.  Also the site was pretty far out there.  It was 25 minutes from The Husband's workplace, and 35 minutes from our house.  That means few visits from The Parents.  So.  We're putting that thought on hold, even though the land is super-affordable.  The first step really has to be selling our own home successfully.  After that entire year of being on the market and not getting anywhere I think we're both a little afraid of getting burned this shot around.

Anyway.  There has been little quilting progress this week because of the cousin's wedding and other events, plus I just don't get much done on weekdays.  I did get my newest newsletter from the local quilt shop and I am thinking of taking a class.  What do you think?  Basic piecing, or basic appliqué?  Maybe I should start with piecing.  I know I've been doing that but maybe I have some really bad habits or something. 

shopping spree

I just got back from the local mega-fabric store. I did pretty well, I think. Yesterday I discovered that I'd lost my thimble, and I couldn't do any quilting without it. The Husband thought this was no great tragedy because I've been "leaving it all over the floor for weeks." Which is not true. It may have been knocked to the floor, but for the most part I keep it in my sewing case which is shoved ever-so-nicely under the couch. Anyway, nyah to him because the loss of my thimble prompted a shopping spree. I am now the proud owner of:

A new thimble

A seam ripper

5 new rotary blades

and 20 new quilting betweens, size 9 (needles for your non-quilters) since I've been quilting The Girl's quilt with bent needles that should have long ago met their demise.

Also, last night I started browsing back through some of my previous posts. Just a trip down memory lane, I guess. You know what? My posts used to be a whole lot funnier. This prompts me to wonder: at what point does one's obsession cease to be funny? Food for thought. Have a great weekend!

And the book train rolls on

Yesterday Chalicat came to visit and brought me a birthday gift: a notebook filled with blank pages and page protectors and folders to jot and store my quilt ideas AND a book called, "365 Foundation Quilt Blocks" by Linda Causee. What, you might ask, is foundation quilting? Darned if I know. But I've got a book to learn about it!!! Actually I did look through the book briefly and foundation quilting is done by tracing a pattern onto paper or fabric (the foundation) and sewing pieces to it in a specific order to create a block. It is so cool.

AND...

The machine quilting book I ordered from eBay arrived. I am about to fall over with excitement. It is called "The Complete Book of Machine Quilting" by Robbie and Tony Fanning. It is an older book (1980) but I think it should serve it's purpose well.

So. I got to thinking. What a windfall! I can use the foundation piecing book, which mostly has 7x7 inch patterns, to create little quilts (maybe doll quilts for The Girl and The Nieces?) and practice machine quilting on them without worrying about ruining a quilt top that I spent months creating! How awesome is that? I am so jazzed.

I was thinking I would machine stitch part of The Girl's flower quilt. Now I am wondering if that is such a good idea. Would that diminish it's value? Vote in the comment!

Yet another book

I've been thinking about my slow-quilting insecurity and decided I should try machine quilting. I've never done that before, though. And where do I turn for help whenever I don't know how to do something? To books, of course! I found a fairly inexpensive (less than 10 dollars) book on how to machine quilt on eBay the other day. I am anxiously awaiting it's arrival.

In the meantime, I have about a million ideas for quilt patterns zig-zagging around my head. Oh, and I think I am going to use the Charms fabric from Columbus in a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt. I wanted a traditional feeling pattern to go along with the more contemporary (read: hippie) feel of the fabrics.

I think I may have already blogged that. Sorry for that repitition there. But what can you expect when there is stuff zig-zagging around in there?

Am I really that slow?

Last night was quilt night, which was nice. I wore red, white & blue so I got the 30% off quilt items coupon. Woo hoo! Unfortunately nothing really caught my eye. I did need some new quilting needles and also a little ruler, so I spent a whopping three bucks.

Anyway. During show and tell I obviously had nothing to show because I am working on the same darn thing every time. I am starting to feel a little odd about this. I now have an urge to produce something for show and tell. I have been making slow steady progress on The Girl's quilt, but that still has months of work to go. Sigh. Maybe I should try making one of those miniature quilts, and then I could attempt machine quilting without too much guilt...

Awesome quilt shop! (with disclaimer)

This is the end of the summer vacation, folks. The Husband and I have been off most of the week and we took this opportunity to go to Columbus to visit some friends & see the Star Wars exhibit at COSI. We had a great time meeting up with the friends, and the kids really enjoyed COSI though they didn't think much of the Star Wars exhibit. I'll try to post some pictures of it tomorrow. The Husband thought it was "all right".

Also, I decided it is time I branch out and visit other (possibly more wordly?) quilt shops. So before we left I got directions to The Glass Thimble and set out to see it during naptime one day. It was...how can I say it? Awesome. It had room after room after room of fabric. Every time I turned a corner I was sure I'd come to the end, and I hadn't! I found this awesome bundle of fat quarters by Amy Butler called Charms. I have admired it online before but I was always leery of the price. But I found it on SALE!!! So, I picked up the bundle along with two green prints for The Boy's quilt, which I am still collecting a few greens for.

Then...on to check out. What is it with me and quilt shops? First, I couldn't find the checkout. It wasn't by the door I entered from. I finally noticed it in a room with some books. Someone was helping a customer pick fabrics for a quilt class so I lingered. And lingered. And lingered. Then the phone rang. The clerk (who turned out to be the owner, which pains me) went to answer. She proceeded to talk for an extended period...and during this time, she chit chatted casually and loudly about a customer that she had caught shoplifting. At first she said she wouldn't name the customer. And then she did. Ouch. So I waited some more, several times floating real close to the cash register, trying to casually imply that I was ready to check out. She ignored me. I finally gave up and went to find another clerk. She thankfully sprang into action and took me back to the cash register where the owner was still carrying on about something on the phone. About midway through the transaction she hung up and walked away without acknowledging that she had kept me waiting for her gossip to come to a conclusion. (Which I think it was pretty obvious that she had kept me waiting, since I brought someone from the other side of the store to check me out while she gabbed.) The clerk then mentioned that the shop is for sale and that they think they have a buyer. I hope the new shopkeeper a) keeps it open, b) expands their selection back to 9000 bolts (7000 bolts is their current inventory, which I know is nothing to sneeze at because it certainly impressed me) and c) has some tact. Perhaps the impending sale has er, stunted the owner's own sense of tact.

Post-Columbus, we headed to Mount Vernon for a family reunion. It was nice but anticlimactic. Next year we know our summer vacation should start with the reunion, not end with it.

Hoping to post some pictures soon!