The FAVORITE fat dog

Here she is in all her glory.

I love this dog.

Sam

Bag Photos

Here are the "bag" photos.

The dog's name is Beans. He bleongs to DD#1. Beans has a brother. His name is Cheese.

Yes, Beans & Chees. DD#1 has a sense of humor.

Sam

Re-Usable Bags

I made my own re-useable bags. I have 5 (I thought I had 6 but one's gone missing) of the Wal-Mart re-usable black bags. they function well enough. BUT #1 they say "Wal-Mart" on them. #2 they are BLACK and #3 I can not get them clean. (or clean LOOKING). It's more of #3 than of #2 !! Well...I decided that I needed to get off my keester & make one! Or 9.....
I had about 10 yards of pillow ticking. I bought it a while ago to make a dust ruffle for one of the rooms. I would still like to do that, but right now, i want the bags more than I want another dust ruffle. I simplified the construction. It is the exact same size. i made the little loop too . And I even found an old applique that I sewed on it! Raggeddy Ann! I some Hello Kitty appliques and one of Gumby & Pokey (remeber THEM< ?) Anyway - I have only finished ONE. But I have 8 more cut out.
My prototype turned out pretty good. And I LIKE them.

I got more PP Pineapple blocks finsihed too. I found some in my scrap bin that were a little more than half done -so getting so many done so quickly was sort of like a cheat.....I forgot I had that many done....Ha Ha -

I have to run down to the basement & grab my "bag" & then add it to this post. I'll likely post the pics in another post.

Sam

Seven Sisters Quilt

This is the raffle Quilt that I am quilting for the Collinsville Quilt Walk. I was supposed to have it done last Saturday - but we were working on the wall in the shop again. I NEED the wall up, so i had to put off quilting.

This is a traditional english paper-pieced Seven Sisters pattern. It reminds me of a Chinese Checkers board. I am going to buy lots of raffle tickets because I really like this one! the muslin background is a tone on tone print with little roses on it. So I chose to quilt it with a pantograph called "Rosewood" by Willow Leaf Studio. It has rose buds on it & compliments the quilt very well. I am usning monofiliament thread on the top too.

this post also shows you the progress we have made on the "studio" too !

Sam

Kitty & Her Mittens

Okay - I have already got a bunch of grief from people I know because I got the cat declawed. This is Fiona. My "Grand Cat". DD#2 had her at her apartment at college. Got too busy & couldn't take care of the cat PROPERLY. Not right now. Since DD#1 is living "at home" now, the cat came home. She is a farily GOOD cat. Very active, very affectionate, and very curious. She also tears furniture up with her claws......Fiona has scratched up DD#2's chair, my recliner (not superbad, but noticible to me!) and she's been clawing my living room rug. Well, I made the decision to have her declawed. That was last Thursday. Brought her home on Friday & she had these bandages on. They didn't seem to be bothering her. Saturday she started chewing the bandages off. Sunday she broke open her wounds & bled all over the masterbedroom floor. DD#1 & I spent all day Sunday cleaning the carpet. Pre-cleaning & steam cleaning. It finally came out, but Fiona is in confinement. I put her in the dog crate. It's a HUGE dog crate. She has food, she has water & even her own litter box. We have to keep shredded paper in the box instead of regular litter, until her wounds heal. did you know that cats really DON'T like shredded paper??? She is miseralbe. Yowling & crying. I feel terrible...but what can I do? I get furniture, what?, every 10 years??? I have not been successful in changing or curtailing her behavior - so the claws had to go! Soon as her scabs start healing - she can come out....She really is a good cat & once we're past this little hurdle, she'll even be better because she can't do any damage.

Sam (who is feeling like a cat hater, but I'm NOT)

My Messes - Plural !

Photo #1 is of my upstairs sewing room. It's still a work in progress & it's always pretty messy. I am working on PP Pineapple blocks from my scrap bin(s) and tend to keep a huge pile of scraps on the sewing table to choose from. It's a nice work space. Under the ironing station is the plastic bins with kits in them. I more downstairs.....

Photo #2 is of the stack of fabrics that I have gathered for the *new* paper pieced Pineapple Quilt called "Color Me Blue" (that may NOT always be it's name.....we'll see....) Awesome stack of fabrics, isn't it? You also see scraps that I have turned into 4-patch units. These are the left overs from the strip set units from the Star Struck Quilt. I will , eventually, turn these into baby quilts to gift away.

Photo #3 are the COMPLETED PP Pineapple blocks. I thought I only had 10. There are 13. I just love them! They are so colorful & eclectic at the same time. Civil War Repros & Thimbleberries are the predominant prints.....

I'm NOT getting any sewing done if I am getting posting done!!

Sam

Quilt Guild Meeting

I went to the Quilt Guild meeting tonight. It starts at 6:30 PM - but turns out that most of the guiild members get there in the morning & spend all day. So? It was a very short meeting. I walked into a very full house & was required to introduce myself. It went well, the ladies were all really friendly. It is held at a Church of Christ & they have a d=storage room & then another room with tables, cutting mats etc. They had Show-And-Tell - I'm glad that there are other overachievers! Good Company, I hope!!! They also meet on the 4th Saturday. Sort of like a "sew-in". I hope to come to that one.
It will be the Saturday following the AQS show in Nashville. I am taking off Thursday & Friday & have a friend coming from Alabama (Hey Kat!) & she has to be back in AL to see her DS#1 play football. (You should see this kid....he's going to be a lady killer.....a real treat for the eyes, that one!)
I have plans of being on a fabric diet while at the show....I need 4 yards of white(or what reads white...for the *new* PP Pineapple...) and then I neeed to replenish BLUES. Dark Blues. I'm a little short in that department. I don't need anything. I counted them up & I have MORE than 20 quilt kits ready to be sewn. Either in progress quilt "kits" , purchased quilt kits, or kits I made up with fabric & pattern because it was somehting I'm interested in. We are NOT even going to discuss the fabric that isn't included in kits. We just aren't....
Anyways.............
I was home by 7:15 PM & had dinner with DD#1. I had put a pork roast into a crock pot this morning just because I wasn't going to be home to cook. It was SOOO good. I know it has more taste because it has more FAT!!
Gotta go, I am going to grab about an hours time worth of sewing before beddy-bye. I have to get DH up at 1:30 AM - he has to be in East TN for some training......I'm glad I don't need that training!

See Ya !

Sam

A NEW project

I have been working on 2 quilt projects since we moved in. I mean personal quilts...I have been working on a "Star Struck" quilt (pattern by Bonnie Hunter!) in Green & Cream stars with gold & brown accents. And also a scrappy PP Pineapple. I have all my subunits for the Star Struck sewn & have the GOLD accents sewn on. I got very bored with it & lack sewing the BROWN accent squares on all the units. I put that away for a bit...I drug out the Scrappy PP Pineapple blocks. WHOO - HOO, one day when this Pineapple gets done, it's going to be one of my favorites. I just know it. I think i got the foundation off the internet & I enlarged the block. They will finish about 9 inches and each block has 37 pieces in it! I have 15 blocks done & I am working on 40 more. I am not sure how many blocks I'll actually need.....but 55 MIGHT be half. that's why I don't work on it all the time..
But my post is to tell you about a NEW project that I have been gathering fabrics for this weekend. A blue & white Pineapple Variation. It is also PP. And it's gong to be a super favorite. It was a FREE pattern (gotta love those right?) off the Quilters Newsletter website. It is called "Color Me Blue" . Very stunning. i simply could not resist. I know, I know....2 PP Pineapples???? Well, why not? I like the movement of them. I like PP'ing, and I like blue. (red is my favorite color but I tried to visualize the quilt in red & decided that it would be too Christmassy and I REALLY, REALLY want it on my bed....) I figure by the time I get these 2 PP Pineapples completed, I'll likely NEVER make another one again!
Ah ! But you didn't know I was making TWO Ocean Waves Quilts too, did you ? Yep! Ala-Bonnie-Hunter (again) I am making 1 Ocean Waves with a red background & 1 with a blue backgroud. Why 2? I don't know...maybe because I am terrible, terrilbe , TERRIBLE to give my quilts away & then totally dislike myself for doing so...I figure if I make TWO then if either of the DD's "borrow" one, I still have one. Same for when I "gift" one away...I'll still have ONE for myself.
Total selfishness...

It's time for sleep - I hear my feather pillow calling. Monday is back to work

Oh
Oh
Oh, yeah - tomorrow I go to a "local" quilt guild. I'm not much on "organized" guilds....and I am trying real hard not to go tot he first metting with a preconceived idea of what type of people I will meet. For all my vivaciousness, loud mouth, outspokenness, acting ou for a reaction type personality. I am SHY. Yep - I'm really a shy person.....totally scared that I will shunned. But I NEED some "quilting buddies", I relly miss my freinds in Alabama, Badly. Sometimes more than just badly....

Sam

For the record

When you look at the photos , in the below post, my "studio" is the area on the RIGHT of the photos.
Stucturally we couldn't "center" the wall in the basement area, so my area is smaller than the work shop. I'm fine with that. No-one, not even DH complains that I have TWO sewing rooms. Yep, TWO ! Aren't I just the lucky girl?

Sam

New Studio

Okay folks - anyone that has been reading my blog for any amount of time knows that this time LAST year DH & I started building a 2 car garage. 24'X36' - 3 bays. 2 were to be my long arm studio & 1 was DH's wood shop work shop. We FINSIHED the garage in March & moved from Alabama to Tennessee in the last week of May.

WELL........the new house is bigger, but not all in the same places as the last house - so we had to do some rearranging. I have my personal sewing room in a portion of the upstairs bouns room & my longarm machine in an area of the basement. I have the majority of my books and fabrics and patterns down in the basement - but that will only be until I can get the storage arranged in a manner I like - upstairs. I will leave the cabinets in the basement (because I need the storage for my customers' quilts, batting, backing and books....) mainly because the cabinets that I DO have are no longer made & I really have a preferrence for matching mess.....so until I can get enough matching cabinets UPSTAIRS - my STUFF stays in the basement.

Well today we started the wall in the basement that will separate MY studio & DH's wood shop work area. We sort of knocked out 2 projects...we had to remove a bunch of the dropped ceiling tiles in order to start the framing of the wall & we needed to check to make sure that there wasn't still anything wet....

Here are the pictures of the progress. It's going to be a little messy for me to quilt for the next few weeks, but that will be okay. I have 3 (actually 6) sutomer quilts waiting in the wings - and I'll have to use the shop vac to get everything (insert sawdust here...) cleaned up !!!! But now that we hae started, DH & I will NOT stop until it's completed. I really like my space. It's not a big as the studio in Alabama - but , oh well....

We had some help today too. BIL is the one on the scaffold. DH is the one in the burgundy t-shirt.

We also bought another light to intall in my half of the studio. I can hardly wait until it's finished!!!!

The biggest drwaback to having it boxed in (not complaining here - just stating a fact...) since it will be closed off, we'll have to get a 2nd de-humidifier to keep any dampness away. The one we have does a great job! Sucks all moisture right out - but it won't through that wall! It's just not that good!

Talk at you all later!

Sam

DD#1

I couldn't get this phot on the last post...

Daughters & Neice

DD#2 turned 22 this week. DD#1 made her a recipe box. D-neice came to visit & HER b-day was the latter part of last month. I got photos of them all. D-neice is the one pictured with the beautiful dark , dark brown hair. DD#2 is the red-head in the UAB t-shirt & DD#1 is the one snarling, in pink. She didn't want to smile. These are my "girls", all of them! Aren't they just beautiful? I think so!

Last week DD#1, DH & I went to Alabama to move DD#2 to a new apartment. Not *newer*, just new to her. I guess if you say it FAST enough it's "new-her". It's closer to campus.....it was so hot, terribly rotten hot! But it's done & she's moved & WHOO-Hoo only 2 more semesters to go! Oh, happy day! D-neice wil be graduating high-school the same month as DD#2 will be graduating college.

I am proud of them all. I will be breathing down D-neice's neck all through college. No sense treating her any different than the other 2!

See ya !

Sam

Appliance Issues

Came home Friday afternoon and was going to do some power sewing. I thought I had an hour or longer before anyone came home. Well I piddled around & soon DD#1 came home, I noticed water on the kitchen floor, lot's of water....,under the fridge! A huge puddle. I directed DD#1 to go down to the basement to see how bad it might be - she runs down stairs & comes back up & says "It's bad, real bad. We need towels , lot's of towels....!!!!!!!!!!" Well, I had the fridge pulled away from the wall & got the water supply to the ice maker & water turned off - the water stopped flowing & we threw towels down on the floor & we both run downstairs to the basement - Oh my GOSH it looked like it was raining in the basement. the dropped ceiling looked like huge drooping diapers hanging off the ceiling. The towels were very ineffective. We found the shop vac & plugged it in & DD#1 started sucking up water & I got the biggest broom I could find to start pushing water toward the vacum. it was still raining down there. It took us about 2 hours to get it vacuumed up - Once the water was stopped, the raining came to be a little drizzle. We got trash cans & coolers under the biggest dripping pieces of ceiling.

It's still drying now, and we still don't know the extent of the damage under the hardwood floors. the photo I have attached, you have to look really hard , but you can see where the individual boards are cupped up. We have discussed sanding them down & refinishing them - but DH said everything he's read said that we need to leave them alone to dry completely & THEN make a decision. It's not as noticible as it seems, you can FEEL it more than see it. We have to get all the ceiling tiles taken down in the basement & get the insulation down & make sure that there is nothing wet in the floor construction. We still have a big fan blowing down there.

I am glad, glad, glad that the water leak didn't center over my Nolting machine! I suppose that is horribly selfish...I hope no-one thinks so...but It would have had to be sent to the manufacturer for a check up & make sure it wasn't damaged or had water sitting in it!! I am also glad that we had not started construction on the wall separating our 2 work shops...It would have been damaged in this little water escapade!

We still alck getting an appliance repair man out to "see" the fridge - right now - no ice maker or waer out of the door. No big loss....not right now!

Sam

Living Room "After" Photos

When they got here with the furniture, they got the couch about 80% through the front door and decided that they couldn't, it was too big. It has to come through the kitchen door. It looks really BLANK in there - but we're not hanging anything on the walls until we paint. Same color - just not a flat paint.

Oh yes! EUREKA ! I finally found the installation CD for my camera......so? Now I can post photos! Happy dance, Happy Dance, Happy Dance !!

Sam

Living Room "Before" Photos

This is what the living room looked like BEFORe the furniture got delivered.

The Waiting Game

I am home from work this morning waitning ont he new living room furniture to be delivered. It's supposed to be here between 9AM & Noon. It's 9:30AM, I am not patient.
I took photos of the empty living room but I am clueless how to get the photos off my digital camera (because I can't find the install cd for it) to post them on my blog. Very frustrating.
I have swept the floors, swiffer wet jetted the floors & vacumed the rug too. I am also (while waiting impatiently) doing my least favorite chore in the whole wide world. LAUNDRY. Figured I could catch up on it while I wait. I hate to try & start anything for fear I won't hear the truck. I have plenty of PROJECTS that I can occupy my time with, I assure you.
Last year, I started a (quiltville pattern) Star Struck Quilt. Green & Cream Stars & then the accent colors are gold & brown. It will be beautiful. Funny thing is, it's MOSTLY green & even DD#1 commented that I don't USUALLY make anything in that color. I also do not have anything in my stash to use as the borders (when it DOES get done). I'll have to go to the fabric store to find soemthing. Darn it! A trip to the fabric store! How awful....
Honestly - I think I started thsi quilt a year (or longer) ago as a graduation gift for my neice. Her favorite color is green. I ran out of time to complete the quilt. So i ended up gifting her a quilt that I already had finished peicing. All I had to do was quilt it & bind it & then DD#2 took it to CA for the graduation when she went.
As everyone that knows me knows...I am horrible with deadlines. Just horrible. So I am finishing the Star Struck for ME ! A little out of my "normal" colors.....but it will be beautiful when done.
Sitting home is boring. I have so much work to do at "work" because it's so close to the end of the month. I hate being off during such a crucial time period, but DH couldn't stay home & DD#1 was home sick yesterday - so she couldn't stay home today either....It was me or nothing.
Maybe I can figure out the camera before too long & I can finally post photos...one hopes.....

See Y'all later!
Sam in Middle TN

An "Ah-Ha!" Moment

Yesterday - DD#1 & I met up witha frined from AL in Franklin, TN - we had a very high priced sandwich at a shop in downtown Franklin. It WAs high priced , but it was also GOOD! I had roast beef, DD#1 had chicken salad. Then we went to Stitcher's Garden. It was my first time in that shop. I had heard a lot about them. They had bolt after bolt after bolt of fabric. And then more bolts. It was an endless maze of fabric, dead ends too. There were SO many bolts of fabric, you couldn't see them all. Stacked so high you couldn't see them all. That didn't deter me though...I dropped a hefty sum (not my regular schedule, I assure you....) I bought a brown print , for borders. A flag print for a patriotic quilt, and r/w/b 2.5 inch strips for the same thing...and then I bought .....oh.....25 fat quarters.....? it was a full bag. Then my freind & I parted company - she was there to visit her daughter...
My DD#1 & I went to Michael's. She is making something - can't tell because if I say what she's making, it will give it all away .....then we went to Ashley Furniture. They had called to try & set up a delivery date for a our furniture. Delivery date is now set for Tuesday 7/29! I am SO excited.
But - the Ah-Ha moment is because TODAY I have successfully quilted an entire quilt with MONOFILAMENT thread! Happy Dance - Happy Dance!!! The ONLY time I had to rethread was when I ran out of bobbin thread. I am so excited about that. I can't tell you how many times I have tried to quilt with mono thread, only to have it knot, have it break, have it make loops on the back...no matter how hard I tried, I could NOT use it on my other/older machine! Ultimately - I refused to use it , if a customer wanted mono thread, they had to take their quilt elsewhere......I am sure that it was a total operator error - no doubt- but I tried it today on my Nolting and had absolutely no problems. It looks GREAT. I am happy, happy, happy!
I have not loaded the camera software onto DD#1's computer - soooo, I can't load photos.....soon, I promise, soon!
DD#1 bathed all the BIG dogs today. Chelsea smells so much better now! Bourbon is shiny & slick & big boy Briscoe is probably 5 pounds of hair lighter! Sleek, all of them! Thank You DD#1!
gotta go
talk to you all later!
Comments?
Sam

July Already !

It's been a month & I just got DSL hooked up at the house. No easy feat....a whole new story. I am using DD#1's computer - I really need to replace mine! I don't have the camera software installed - be doing that this week.
I don't have any photos to attach. We only JUST ordered furniture this weekend. Every weekend that we have been here has been WIDE OPEN - no joke. The last weekend in June my niece & I flew to Texas - landed in Houston - rented a truck - packed up DD#1's apartment , loaded it and started towards nashville on Saturday. DD#1's car broke down in Lake Charles , Louisiana. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a tow dolly for a car after 3 PM on a Saturday? In pouring rain, no less. got it loaded & drove to Nashville. Keep in mind, the rental truck only had 2 seats, we had to get a patio chair out of the truck and stuck in the center...that was fun...3 adults, 2 dogs....rental truck & car on a tow dolly - we looked oh so unprofessional. But we did get to Nashville.
the 4th of July weekend - DD#1 accompanied me to Ohio. North of Cleveland. That is as far north as Ihave ever been in my life. Why Ohio? i sold the Gammill to a lady up there. DD#1 & I delivered it. It was a little hairly getting up there. #1 we were tired, #2 I was apprehensive, #3 DH said he was apprehensive. Turns out the lady I sold it too was really nice. The inside of her house looked so much like ours it was un-canny. Not furniture, just style. Nearly the same age, lifestyle etc. i am so glad that her husband is handy. He helped us assemble the table & get the machine going. I stayed to help her see me use it & how to thread it & load a quilt, etc. It was a crash course & I think it was helpful but surely not enough time. DD#1 & I got back to Nashville about 8 PM on Saturday. It was a nice trip, hauling that 14' trailer was interesting. You need a lot of space to change lanes with that thing trailing behind you!
This weekend I had my sister to the house for a BBQ - it stormed - rained , wind - it didn't ruin anything - but it made smoking on the deck interesting.....
At any rate. That's the "check in". Now that I have access to a computer, I can POST more often.

See Ya !
Sam

Checking In !

I still do not have the internet hooked up at the new house.
The move went well. At least everything is moved IN but certainly not unpacked. All I really lack unpacking is my sewing rooms. Yes, roomS. Plural. I have the longarm sewing room in the basement. Which has the majority of my fabric & patterns. Then I have the sewing room AREA upstairs in the bonus room. Once I get through June - I'll get the internet hooked up & post more! But I just have "other" things to do right now!

See Ya !
Sam

The Countdown

Well I officially have work days left before our big move to TN. You know? In January, I was scared & really not sure I wanted to go. But now? I am READY. We close on the new house on Friday the 23rd & the moving company is arriving on Monday May 26th. Yes, Memorial Day. They are starting to pack , said it would be 2 days to pack , one & a half to laod & then GO ! The worst part of all this is that the loading & unloading will all have to be shuttled. There is no way a semi-truck (18 wheeler) can get down my driveway in AL and the road in front of the house in TN isn't wide enough to stay parked long enough to un-load....so EVERYTHING has to be shuttled.
DH & I have been going over & over & then over again, how we'll move the animals. We never seem to discuss the same strategy twice. He wants me to borrow a cat carrier for the cat. I told him I'd put him in a clothes hamper & tape it closed just like we did 10 years ago. DH said that would not be humane. We had a long , very long discussion ragarding the differences between a cat carrier & a clothes hamper would be. I pointed out that the clothes hamper was bigger. DH stated it was a dignity thing...honestly? I NEVER , EVER thought that DH would be worried over the cat! He wasn't 10 years ago.....maybe he's become more fond of the cat? Perhaps.....There's no telling. But - bottom line? I'm NOT buying a cat carrier. He can go in the laundry hamper. I'll make it up to the cat by feeding him tuna....
I am quilting my last customer quilt this weekend. I can't take anymore until after we get moved & set up. My "customer" quilt that is on the rails this evening is from my freind & co-worker, Kyra. It is SO pretty! Pinks & browns. It's for her baby girl & she wants butterflies on it. I am using tha "Butterfly Charm" pantograph from Willow Leaf Studios ( I love thier patterns!) and I am using Perma Core Thread in a tan color called (oddly enough) "Mother Goose" It's more tan than pink, but blends really well with either.

I don't know how long the blogger lets you go without posting, so I'll TYR to post a little more often this week before the big move, but I can't tell how long it will be before I get back on. I don't know if the house has cable, DSL or dial up - that's not something I had put in my name yet. It cost $500 just to get the utilities in my name for next week!

Good night!

Sam